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Alongside the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technologies, the complexity of society continues to escalate, and the design of multi-agent system rules becomes increasingly crucial, optimize participant engagement and addressing the issue of fairness and equilibrium win rates. The card game Legends of the Three Kingdoms (LTK), as a complex multi-agent system, represents an important abstraction of real-world scenarios, requiring the implementation of proper incentive mechanisms. Based on the mechanism and Stackelberg, this paper optimizes player strategies and system fairness. Firstly, we constructed a multi-agent Stackelberg game model for team battles. Then, we analyzed the impact of decision-making factors on players. Subsequently, we defined three kinds of fairness and improved the incentive mechanism. The results indicate that our mechanism optimizes participants' game behaviors, enhancing fairness among team players. Win rates were improved from 56.2% VS 43.8% to 51.4% VS 48.6%. With three different fairness measures, the win percentage fairness increased by 72 %, and the first elimination fairness increased by about 79 %. Our research provides a reference for understanding and analyzing complex computational models and facilitates the resolution of various resource allocation and system design issues.

Abstract Powdery mildew (PM), triggered by Oidium neolycopersici, represents a significant threat and a major concern for the productivity of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.). The presence of susceptibility (S) genes in plants facilitates pathogen proliferation and their dysfunction can lead to a recessively inherited broad-spectrum and durable type of resistance. Past studies have demonstrated that disrupting the function of DND1 (Defense No Death 1) increases plant resilience against various pathogens, such as powdery mildew (PM), but this comes at the cost of negatively affecting the overall health and vigor of the plant. To investigate the possibility of minimizing the adverse effects of the dnd1 mutation while boosting disease resistance, a CRISPR-Cas9 construct with four single guide RNAs targeting three exons of SlDND1 (Solyc02g088560.4.1) was designed and introduced into the tomato variety Moneymaker (MM) through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Three T1 lines (named E1, E3 and E4) were crossed with MM and then selfed to produce TF2 families. All the TF2 plants in homozygous state dnd1/dnd1, showed reduced PM symptoms compared to the heterozygous (DND1/dnd1) and wild type (DND1/DND1) ones. Two full knock-out (KO) mutant events (E1 and E4) encoding truncated DND1 proteins, exhibited clear dwarfness and auto-necrosis phenotypes, while mutant event E3 harbouring deletions of 3 amino acids, showed normal growth in height with less auto-necrotic spots. Analysis of the 3D structures of both the reference and the mutant proteins revealed significant conformational alterations in the protein derived from E3, potentially impacting its function. A dnd1/dnd1 TF2 line (TV181848-9, E3) underwent whole-genome sequencing using Illumina technology, which confirmed the absence of off-target mutations in selected genomic areas. Additionally, no traces of the Cas9 gene were detected, indicating its elimination through segregation. Our findings confirm the role of DND1 as an S-gene in tomato because impairment of this gene leads to a notable reduction in susceptibility to O. neolycopersici. Moreover, we provide, for the first time, a dnd1 mutant allele (E3) that exhibits fitness advantages in comparison with previously reported dnd1 mutant alleles, indicating a possible way to breed with dnd1 mutants.

Abstract As an acne sequela, post-acne scarring (PSA) has huge negative impact on sufferers’ quality of life because of aesthetical embarrassment. Transdermal delivery of botulinum toxin-A (BTXA) is a promising strategy for PAS treatment, but currently reported approaches are far from satisfactory. In this work, phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol (PC/Chol) nanoliposomes were utilized for encapsulation and transdermal delivery of BTXA. The composition, structure, morphology, size, size distribution, etc. of as-prepared BTXA@liposome nanoparticles were investigated in detail. Simulated transdermal delivery assay indicated that the diffusion depth of the BXTA@liposome nanoparticles was nearly 8 times that of pure BTXA and reached 380 μm. 12 facial PSA patients were recruited to evaluate the curative effect of the BTXA@liposome nanoparticles on PSA. Through ECCA (échelle d’évaluation clinique des cicatrices d’acné) scoring and self-evaluation of patients, the resultant data indicated that compared to hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel treatment the BTXA@liposome/HA hydrogel treatment could better relieve PSA to some extent but didn’t show significant advantage. Further work is needed to verify the feasibility and curative effect of this method in PSA treatment in the future. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Background Continuing care is needed for the growing number of chronically ill patients who struggle with health problems after discharge. This study aims to elucidate the development process, functionalities, service protocols, and utilization of an Internet Plus Care (IPC) platform devised by our hospital to offer healthcare services to discharged patients. Methods This was a mixed study. After describing the development process, function and usage of IPC platform, we retrospectively collect data such as the general information of service recipients and service providers, service items, and service prices through the IPC platform from January 2021 to September 2023 to characterize these services. Results 69 nurses delivered a total of 788 services to 211 patients through the IPC platform. The majority of services (N = 652, 82.7%) were delivered offline, with almost half of the recipients (N = 384, 48.7%) being elderly individuals. 46.4% of nurses provided services ≥ 3 times. Furthermore, 26.5% of patients received services three or more times. Notably, patients’ care requirements exhibited variations across age groups, with wound care (n = 243, 63.3%), pressure injuries care (n = 50, 13.0%), and replacement of indwelling nasogastric tubes (n = 20, 5.2%) emerging as the top three services favored by the elderly. Conclusions The IPC platform demonstrates potential in delivering diverse health services to patients; however, the involvement of nurses and patients needs to be enhanced. It is necessary to implement relevant safeguard policies to promote the effective use of IPC platform for health management of discharged patients in the future. What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community? The prevalence of chronic diseases is on the rise, and patients with chronic diseases continue to struggle with health problems after discharge and require extended treatment and rehabilitation. Our study proves that IPC platform presents a promising avenue for addressing these challenges. It is anticipated that governmental authorities will undertake comprehensive policy, legislative, and medical insurance reforms to facilitate the extensive adoption of IPC platform-based services.

Abstract Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is the most common histiocytic disorder in children, and liver involvement in LCH is rare. This retrospective study reported the clinical features and prognosis of patients with hepatic LCH. Liver involvement was defined by histopathological findings, liver dysfunction or abnormalities, or ultrasound imaging. A total of 130 patients (14.5%) with hepatic LCH out of 899 in the LCH population were enrolled. Patients with liver involvement had greater frequencies of skin, lung, hearing system, and haematologic system involvement, and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (P

ObjectiveThis study was to investigate the developmental characteristics of executive function (EF) in obese adolescents and the time-course effects of a 14-week exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training on EF in this population.MethodsThe experimental group of 28 obese junior high school students participated in the exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training, while the control group of 24 healthy weight junior high school students engaged in the regular recess exercise. EF, including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, was assessed 1 week prior to the exercise intervention and at 12 and 14 weeks post-intervention. Changes in EF sub-functions in both groups at different time points during the exercise intervention were analyzed.ResultsThe findings revealed that obese junior high school students exhibited lower levels of inhibition (p = 0.003, Cohen’s d = 0.848) and cognitive flexibility (p = 0.013, Cohen’s d = 0.706) compared to their healthy weight peers. The exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training led to significant improvements in EF among obese junior high school students, with inhibition (p

Background: Perivascular spaces (PVS) visible on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are significant markers associated with various neurological diseases. Although quantitative analysis of PVS may enhance sensitivity and improve consistency across studies, the field lacks a universally validated method for analyzing images from multi-center studies. Methods: We annotated PVS on multi-center 3D T1-weighted (T1w) images acquired using scanners from three major vendors (Siemens, General Electric, and Philips). A neural network, mcPVS-Net (multi-center PVS segmentation network), was trained using data from 40 subjects and then tested in a separate cohort of 15 subjects. We assessed segmentation accuracy against ground truth masks tailored for each scanner vendor. Additionally, we evaluated the agreement between segmented PVS volumes and visual scores for each scanner. We also explored correlations between PVS volumes and various clinical factors such as age, hypertension, and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in a larger sample of 1020 subjects. Furthermore, mcPVS-Net was applied to a new dataset comprising both T1w and T2-weighted (T2w) images from a United Imaging scanner to investigate if PVS volumes could discriminate between subjects with differing visual scores. We also compared the mcPVS-Net with a previously published method that segments PVS from T1 images. Results: In the test dataset, mcPVS-Net achieved a mean DICE coefficient of 0.80, with an average Precision of 0.81 and Recall of 0.79, indicating good specificity and sensitivity. The segmented PVS volumes were significantly associated with visual scores in both the basal ganglia (r = 0.541, p < 0.001) and white matter regions (r = 0.706, p < 0.001), and PVS volumes were significantly different among subjects with varying visual scores. Segmentation performance was consistent across different scanner vendors. PVS volumes exhibited significant associations with age, hypertension, and WMH. In the United Imaging scanner dataset, PVS volumes showed good associations with PVS visual scores evaluated on either T1w or T2w images. Compared to a previously published method, mcPVS-Net showed a higher accuracy and improved PVS segmentation in the basal ganglia region. Conclusion: The mcPVS-Net demonstrated good accuracy for segmenting PVS from 3D T1w images. It may serve as a useful tool for future PVS research.

A powder-metallurgy MoNbTaTiV refractory high-entropy alloy synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering was subjected to hot deformations at different temperatures and strain rates. The microstructural morphologies were characterized, and component element segregation was elucidated. With grain refinement and lattice strain increase, the large inhomogeneous milled powder became refined and homogeneous after the MA. Component element segregation was observed at relatively low deformation temperatures and high strain rates. As the deformation temperature increased and the strain rate decreased, the segregation gradually disappeared, which was attributed to dislocation movement.

A novel underwater in-situ wire-based laser additive manufacturing (ULAM) technology is proposed for the in-service repair of underwater components in nuclear power plant. Duplex stainless steel (DSS) obtained in air and underwater environments were analysed using material characterisation and testing methods. The effects of underwater additive environments on the microstructure evolution, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the specimens were investigated. The results show that the laser heat input is consumed to balance the heat loss of the water-cooled base material during the underwater laser additive manufacturing process, leading to a reduction in the heat input to the molten pool. Underwater specimen exhibit a two-phase balance, with small ferrite grain boundary angles, resulting in better tensile strength and corrosion resistance. Laser reheat treatment leads to a phase change in microstructure, which can enhance the microhardness and the tensile strength. The ULAM system can meet the requirements of actual engineering for cladding layer.

Protein hydrolysates and peptides in fermented dairy products exhibit antioxidant activities. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant properties of casein and whey protein hydrolysates derived from three lactic acid bacteria. The assessment involved the observation of Reactive oxygen species (ROS), Malondialdehyde (MDA) content, Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), cell morphology and chromatin in H2O2 induced HepG2 cell model. Casein hydrolyzed by Lactobacillus reuteri exhibited higher antioxidant activity. ROS content decreased by 44.7 %, while SOD and CAT activities increased by 48 % and 194 %, respectively. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the peptide VKEAMAPK derived from Lactobacillus reuteri’s casein hydrolysate possessed significant antioxidant potential. The docking analysis of VKEAMAPK peptide and Keap1 protein showed that they were stably bound outside the Kelch domain and formed a non-competitive inhibition effect. Additionally, this study lights on the antioxidant properties of milk-derived peptides screened from hydrolysates.

The AT-hook motif nuclear localized (AHL) gene family is a highly conserved transcription factors involved in plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, AHLs have not been systematically analyzed in radish (Raphanus sativus). Therefore, we performed genome-wide identification and expression pattern, gene structure, and function verifications of radish AHLs. We identified 52 radish AHLs (RsAHL1–RsAHL52), which were unevenly distributed across nine chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the RsAHLs were divided into two clades (A and B) and subdivided into three types (I, II, and III). Collinearity analysis revealed that the 52 RsAHLs produced 49 repeat events. Tissue expression profiles revealed differential expression of RsAHLs across different tissues, with higher expression observed in flower organs, particularly petals and anthers. qRT-PCR results indicated that RsAHLs responded to abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate, and abiotic stress (low and high temperatures and drought). Additionally, RsAHL14 induced a dwarf phenotype in tomato plants, and RsAHL14-overexpression tomato plants presented significantly decreased expression levels of the gibberellin (GA) synthetic genes ent-Copalyl diphosphatase, GA3ox-3/-4/-5, and GA20ox-1/-2/-3, but significantly increased expression of the degradation gene GA2ox-1/-3. Thus, RsAHL14 might affect plant growth by regulating GA content. Collectively, our study comprehensively identified RsAHLs in radish and provided a reference for further research on these genes.

Due to the influence of rainy and foggy weather, obtaining clear images becomes more challenging, often resulting in low visibility, poor contrast, and missing detail information. To address these issues, a robust image defogging algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the input image undergoes conversion into a detailed image, with attenuation and redefinition of its three color channels. Color compensation and balance are then applied based on the principle of minimizing color loss. Secondly, the problem of image darkening is tackled through an improved atmospheric scattering model (EASM) and the dark channel a priori algorithm. The defogging results exhibit noticeable enhancements in terms of bright colors and clear details. In the natural images showcased in the paper, the proposed algorithm achieves improvements in information entropy, the fog density evaluator (FADE), and the natural image quality evaluator (NIQE) by 0.46%, 9.7%, and 12.0%, respectively, compared to the suboptimal algorithm. In the synthetic image datasets I-HAZE and O-HAZE, there are enhancements in information entropy by 0.19% and 0.76%, respectively, and in NIQE by 1.05% each, albeit slightly lower than the sub-optimal results. The structural similarity (SSIM) also sees improvements of 6.3% and 10.9% compared to the suboptimal results in FADE. These findings demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm over the latest defogging algorithms in terms of information entropy, FADE, NIQE, and SSIM, underscoring its high robustness and promising application prospects.

Abstract Background The patients with multisystem and risk organ involvement Langerhans cell histiocytosis (MS-RO + LCH) have poor prognosis. The patients with MS-LCH who failed front-line therapy have a high mortality rate and the standard salvage treatment has not been established. The combination of cytarabine (Ara-c), vincristine (VCR) and prednisone might be effective for refractory/relapse MS-RO + LCH, with low toxicity. Methods We retrospectively analyzed pediatric refractory/relapse MS-RO + LCH patients treated with the low-dose Ara-c (100mg/m2/d×5days) or high-dose Ara-c (500mg/m2/d×5days) combined with vindesine (VDS) and prednisone in a single center. The efficacy, outcomes and adverse events were analyzed. Results From January 2013 to December 2016, 13 patients receiving the low-dose Ara-c chemotherapy (LAC) and 7 patients receiving the high-dose Ara-c chemotherapy (HAC) were included in the study. 11 (84.6%) of the 13 patients treated with the LAC regimen and 6 (85.7%) of the 7 patients treated with the HAC regimen had response after four courses of the therapy. All patients in the study were alive during follow-up and the 3-year event-free survival rate (EFS) was 53.7% and 85.7% in the LAC and HAC groups. The most frequent adverse event was Grade 1/2 myelosuppression, which was observed in 38.5% (5/13) and 42.9% (3/7) of the patients receiving the LAC and HAC regimen. Conclusions A combination of Ara-c, VDS and prednisone was effective and safe for some patients with refractory/relapse MS-RO + LCH. The high-dose Ara-c regimen was associated with a numerically higher EFS rate.

[Objective] To reduce friction brake wear and ensure emergency braking performance under electric braking, a safety monitoring device based on a two-stage emergency braking control is installed on Beijing Subway Airport Line vehicles to manage the emergency braking process. [Method] Starting from the control method, the device switching method for the two-stage emergency braking control mode is elucidated. The device is equipped with multiple speed acquisition channels to monitor multi-channel axle speeds in real-time, calculate the vehicle running speed, braking acceleration, and braking distance, establish the vehicle emergency braking control performance, and control the traction or braking system to apply emergency braking. During the vehicle emergency braking, the device prioritizes applying Level I emergency braking by controlling the vehicle traction and braking systems. When the performance of vehicle Level I emergency braking does not meet the requirements, the device switches to send emergency braking commands to the traction and braking systems, changing the method of applying emergency braking, and controlling the vehicle to apply Level II emergency braking. [Result & Conclusion] Field tests and on-board operations validate through inspection that the average criterion for device braking acceleration is approximately 1.26 m/s2 under the condition of 40 km/h train speed. The actual average braking acceleration is around 1.27 m/s2, indicating that the computation model conforms to the actual state of the vehicle emergency braking. The braking performance meets the braking acceleration requirements, effectively leveraging the vehicle electric braking capability while ensuring emergency braking performance. This approach reduces frictional wear of the vehicle braking system, lowers the risk of wheel slippage, and enhances vehicle availability.

Accurate load forecasting is critical for electricity production, transmission, and maintenance. Deep learning (DL) model has replaced other classical models as the most popular prediction models. However, the deep prediction model requires users to provide a large amount of private electricity consumption data, which has potential privacy risks. Edge nodes can federally train a global model through aggregation using federated learning (FL). As a novel distributed machine learning (ML) technique, it only exchanges model parameters without sharing raw data. However, existing forecasting methods based on FL still face challenges from data heterogeneity and privacy disclosure. Accordingly, we propose a user-level load forecasting system based on personalized federated learning (PFL) to address these issues. The obtained personalized model outperforms the global model on local data. Further, we introduce a novel differential privacy (DP) algorithm in the proposed system to provide an additional privacy guarantee. Based on the principle of generative adversarial network (GAN), the algorithm achieves the balance between privacy and prediction accuracy throughout the game. We perform simulation experiments on the real-world dataset and the experimental results show that the proposed system can comply with the requirement for accuracy and privacy in real load forecasting scenarios.

The softening of aluminum–lithium alloy welded joints generally leads to a reduction in mechanical properties. In this study, a piece of 2A97-T3 aluminum–lithium alloy with a thickness of 2.8 mm was selected as the test material, and the tool and process used for wire-filled stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW) were developed. By increasing the bearing area of the softening zone, an equal-strength T-joint was manufactured. Good weld formation was obtained when the rotation speed was set to 2000 rpm and the welding speed ranged from 100 to 120 mm/min. The thickness of the softening zone was controlled by adjusting the reserved gap between the shoulder and the workpiece. The softening mechanism of the weld joint was revealed. The softening was attributed to the coarsening of the main precipitated phases (T1 and θ′ phases) in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the dissolution of precipitated phases in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ). Grain refinement in the nugget zone (NZ) led to a certain fine-grained strengthening effect, although the precipitated phase was almost completely dissolved. Due to the thermal effect of second-pass welding, the hardness value of the NZ and HAZ in the center of the skin further decreased, and the minimum hardness was approximately 70% that of the base material. Tensile testing results indicated that the softening effect was largely offset by the increased bearing area of the softening zone, resulting in the successful welding of high-strength Al-Li alloy T-joints with equal strength. The strength coefficient was found to be 0.977.

Hydrothermal carbonation carbon (HTCC) is emerging as a promising material for the adsorption and photodegradation of environmental contaminants. However, the chemical and structural properties of HTCC derived from different lignocellulose biomass have obvious impacts on adsorption and photodegradation. This work employed three different lignocellulose components, including cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin to synthesize HTCC within a hydrothermal temperature range of 210~290 °C. In comparison to HTCC derived from cellulose and hemicellulose, HTCC derived from lignin (HTCC-L) demonstrated the optimal synergistic adsorption and photodegradation ability for TC degradation, achieving a 63.5% removal efficiency within 120 min. Characterization highlighted the crucial involvement of oxygenated functional groups, especially carboxyl groups, presented on the surface of HTCC-L in TC adsorption. Moreover, the photodegradation of HTCC-L was found to follow a non-radical mechanism, characterized by the charge transformation occurring between the excited unpaired electrons of HTCC-L and TC adsorbed on its surface. This work clarified the differences in HTCC derived from different lignocellulose components on the adsorption and photodegradation of organic pollutants, and provided a novel perspective on the application of HTCC in water treatment.

Summary: The importance of trained immunity in antitumor immunity has been increasingly recognized, but the underlying metabolic regulation mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this study, we find that squalene epoxidase (SQLE), a key enzyme in cholesterol synthesis, is required for β-glucan-induced trained immunity in macrophages and ensuing antitumor activity. Unexpectedly, the shunt pathway, but not the classical cholesterol synthesis pathway, catalyzed by SQLE, is required for trained immunity induction. Specifically, 24(S),25-epoxycholesterol (24(S),25-EC), the shunt pathway metabolite, activates liver X receptor and increases chromatin accessibility to evoke innate immune memory. Meanwhile, SQLE-induced reactive oxygen species accumulation stabilizes hypoxia-inducible factor 1α protein for metabolic switching into glycolysis. Hence, our findings identify 24(S),25-EC as a key metabolite for trained immunity and provide important insights into how SQLE regulates trained-immunity-mediated antitumor activity.

Exercise can induce brain plasticity. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a functional neuroimaging technique that exploits cerebral hemodynamics and has been widely used in the field of sports psychology to reveal the neural mechanisms underlying the effects of exercise. However, most existing fNIRS studies are cross-sectional and do not include exercise interventions. In addition, attributed to differences in experimental designs, the causal relationship between exercise and brain functions remains elusive. Hence, this systematic review aimed to determine the effects of exercise interventions on alterations in brain functional activity in healthy individuals using fNIRS and to determine the applicability of fNIRS in the research design of the effects of various exercise interventions on brain function. Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang, and Weipu databases were searched for studies published up to June 15, 2021. This study was performed in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Two investigators independently selected articles and extracted relevant information. Disagreements were resolved by discussion with another author. Quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias method. Data were pooled using random-effects models. A total of 29 studies were included in the analysis. Our results indicated that exercise interventions alter oxygenated hemoglobin levels in the prefrontal cortex and motor cortex, which are associated with improvements in higher cognitive functions (e.g., inhibitory control and working memory). The frontal cortex and motor cortex may be key regions for exercise-induced promotion of brain health. Future research is warranted on fluctuations in cerebral blood flow during exercise to elucidate the neural mechanism underlying the effects of exercise. Moreover, given that fNIRS is insensitive to motion, this technique is ideally suited for research during exercise interventions. Important factors include the study design, fNIRS device parameters, and exercise protocol. The examination of cerebral blood flow during exercise intervention is a future research direction that has the potential to identify cortical hemodynamic changes and elucidate the relationship between exercise and cognition. Future studies can combine multiple study designs to measure blood flow prior to and after exercise and during exercise in a more in-depth and comprehensive manner.

Background: Arterial pulsation has been suggested as a key driver of paravascular cerebrospinal fluid flow, which is the foundation of glymphatic clearance. However, whether intracranial arterial pulsatility is associated with glymphatic markers in humans has not yet been studied. Methods: Seventy-three community participants were enrolled in the study. 4D phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to quantify the hemodynamic parameters including flow pulsatility index (PIflow) and area pulsatility index (PIarea) from 13 major intracerebral arterial segments. Three presumed neuroimaging markers of the glymphatic system were measured: including dilation of perivascular space (PVS), diffusivity along the perivascular space (ALPS), and volume fraction of free water (FW) in white matter. We explored the relationships between PIarea, PIflow, and the presumed glymphatic markers, controlling for related covariates. Results: PIflow in the internal carotid artery (ICA) C2 segment (OR, 1.05; 95 % CI, 1.01–1.10, per 0.01 increase in PI) and C4 segment (OR, 1.05; 95 % CI, 1.01–1.09) was positively associated with the dilation of basal ganglia PVS, and PIflow in the ICA C4 segment (OR, 1.06, 95 % CI, 1.02–1.10) was correlated with the dilation of PVS in the white matter. ALPS was associated with PIflow in the basilar artery (β, -0.273, p, 0.046) and PIarea in the ICA C2 (β, -0.239, p, 0.041) and C7 segments (β, -0.238, p, 0.037). Conclusions: : Intracranial arterial pulsatility was associated with presumed neuroimaging markers of the glymphatic system, but the results were not consistent across different markers. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings.

Abstract Epidemic spatial–temporal risk analysis, e.g., infectious number forecasting, is a mainstream task in the multivariate time series research field, which plays a crucial role in the public health management process. With the rise of deep learning methods, many studies have focused on the epidemic prediction problem. However, recent primary prediction techniques face two challenges: the overcomplicated model and unsatisfactory interpretability. Therefore, this paper proposes an Interpretable Spatial IDentity (ISID) neural network to predict infectious numbers at the regional weekly level, which employs a light model structure and provides post-hoc explanations. First, this paper streamlines the classical spatio-temporal identity model (STID) and retains the optional spatial identity matrix for learning the contagion relationship between regions. Second, the well-known SHapley Additive explanations (SHAP) method was adopted to interpret how the ISID model predicts with multivariate sliding-window time series input data. The prediction accuracy of ISID is compared with several models in the experimental study, and the results show that the proposed ISID model achieves satisfactory epidemic prediction performance. Furthermore, the SHAP result demonstrates that the ISID pays particular attention to the most proximate and remote data in the input sequence (typically 20 steps long) while paying little attention to the intermediate steps. This study contributes to reliable and interpretable epidemic prediction through a more coherent approach for public health experts.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to explore the adjuvant effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in patients with venous leg ulcer (VLU) undergoing surgeries and non-surgeries. Literatures were searched from Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, Pubmed, Wan fang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and VIP from inception to November 15, 2022. The risk ratio (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) were used as effect size for categorical variables and continuous variables, respectively, with 95% confidence interval (95%CI). The heterogeneity was assessed using Q-test and quantified as I2. Sensitivity analysis was performed for all outcomes. A total of 11 studies were finally included in this study, with a total of 617 patients (313 in the HBOT group and 304 in the control group). Results showed that HBOT in combination with surgeries was associated with shorter ulcer healing time (WMD: −13.76, 95%CI: −20.42 to −7.10), lower VAS score (WMD: −0.95, 95% CI: −1.83 to −0.07), and smaller ulcer area (WMD: −2.64, 95%CI: −3.86 to −1.42). HBOT in combination with non-surgeries was associated with higher ulcer PAR (WMD: 20.82, 95%CI: 5.86 to 35.79), but no statistical significance was found in the improvement of ulcer area (WMD: 0.79, 95% CI: −1.54 to 3.12). Our results indicating that HBOT had a good adjuvant effect in surgeries to treat VLU, and its effect in non-surgeries needed further studies.

Objective To analyze the current situation of direct exemption of clinical blood fess for voluntary blood donors and their family members in Henan Province, in order to improve and fully implement the policy. Methods According to the policy on blood fees exemption issued by China and Henan Province in 2019,the data of hospitals in 18 prefecture-level cities in Henan from 2020 to 2021 were continuously collected from the system of clinical blood fees exemption,including the way of exemption,the number of people (times) of exemption,exemption amount, the proportion of blood fees exemption and the total exemption rate. The experience gained in the past two years after the implementation of the policy was summarized,and the existing problems and causes were analyzed. Results The rates of direct exemption of blood fees in Henan Province in 2020 and 2021 were 34.53% (8 709/25 221) and 71.68%(23 587/32 906) (P

Surface albedo measures the proportion of incoming solar radiation reflected by the Earth’s surface. Accurate albedo retrieval from remote sensing data usually requires sufficient multi-angular observations to account for the surface reflectance anisotropy. However, most middle and high-resolution remote sensing satellites lack the capability to acquire sufficient multi-angular observations. Existing algorithms for retrieving surface albedo from single-direction reflectance typically rely on land cover types and vegetation indices to extract the corresponding prior knowledge of surface anisotropic reflectance from coarse-resolution Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) products. This study introduces an algorithm for retrieving albedo from directional reflectance based on a 3 × 3 BRDF archetype database established using the 2015 global time-series Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) BRDF product. For different directions, BRDF archetypes are applied to the simulated MODIS directional reflectance to retrieve albedo. By comparing the retrieved albedos with the MODIS albedo, the BRDF archetype that yields the smallest Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) is selected as the prior BRDF for the direction. A lookup table (LUT) that contains the optimal BRDF archetypes for albedo retrieval under various observational geometries is established. The impact of the number of BRDF archetypes on the accuracy of albedo is analyzed according to the 2020 MODIS BRDF. The LUT is applied to the MODIS BRDF within specific BRDF archetype classes to validate its applicability under different anisotropic reflectance characteristics. The applicability of the LUT across different data types is further evaluated using simulated reflectance or real multi-angular measurements. The results indicate that (1) for any direction, a specific BRDF archetype can retrieve a high-accuracy albedo from directional reflectance. The optimal BRDF archetype varies with the observation direction. (2) Compared to the prior BRDF knowledge obtained through averaging method, the BRDF archetype LUT based on the 3 × 3 BRDF archetype database can more accurately retrieve the surface albedo. (3) The BRDF archetype LUT effectively eliminates the influence of surface anisotropic reflectance characteristics in albedo retrieval across different scales and types of data.

Amid increasingly stringent global environmental regulations, marine engines are undergoing an essential transition from conventional fossil fuels to alternative fuels to meet escalating regulatory requirements. This study evaluates the effects of injection pressure, the timing of ammonia injection, and the pre-injection of ammonia on combustion and emissions, aiming to identify optimal operational parameters for low-speed marine engines. A three-dimensional model of a large-bore, low-speed marine engine in a high-pressure diffusion mode was developed based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Simulations were conducted under 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% loads with a high ammonia energy substitution rate of 95%. The results indicate that, compared to traditional pure diesel operation, adjusting the injection pressure and the ammonia injection timing, along with employing appropriate pre-injection strategies, significantly enhances in-cylinder pressure and temperature, improves thermal efficiency, and reduces specific fuel consumption. Additionally, the dual-fuel strategy using diesel and ammonia effectively reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 37.5% and carbon dioxide emissions by 93.7%.

Abstract The objective was to correlate CD47 gene expression with resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in tumor tissue of gynecological cancer (GC). Further, we sought to assess the efficacy of targeting CD47 pathway alone and in combination in pre-clinical ovarian cancer (OC) models. We performed transcriptomic analyses in GC treated with ICI. Signaling pathway enrichment analysis was performed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Immune cell abundance was estimated. CD47 expression was correlated with other pathways, objective response, and progression-free survival (PFS). Anti-tumor efficacy of anti-CD47 therapy alone and in combination was investigated both in-vitro and in-vivo using cell-line derived xenograft (CDX) and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. High CD47 expression associated with lower response to ICI and trended toward lower PFS in GC patients. Higher CD47 associated negatively with PDL1 and CTLA4 expression, as well as cytotoxic T-cells and dendritic cells but positively with TGF-β, BRD4 and CXCR4/CXCL12 expression. Anti-CD47 significantly enhanced macrophage-mediated phagocytosis of OC cells in-vitro and exhibited potent anti-tumor activity in-vivo in OC CDX and PDX models. In-vitro treatment with PARPi increased CD47 expression. Anti-CD47 led to significantly enhanced in-vitro phagocytosis, enhanced STING pathway and synergized in-vivo when combined with PARP inhibitors in BRCA-deficient OC models. This study provides insight on the potential role of CD47 in mediating immunotherapy resistance and its association with higher TGF-β, BRD4 and CXCR4/CXCL12 expression. Anti-CD47 showed potent anti-tumor activity and synergized with PARPi in OC models. These data support clinical development of anti-CD47 therapy with PARPi in OC.

Abstract Cloud computing has gained popularity in recent years, but with its rise comes concerns about data security. Unauthorized access and attacks on cloud-based data, applications, and infrastructure are major challenges that must be addressed. While machine learning algorithms have improved intrusion detection systems in cloud data security, they often fail to consider the entire life cycle of file processing, making it difficult to detect certain issues, especially insider attacks. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a novel approach to analyzing data file processing in multi-cloud environments using process mining. By generating a complete file processing event log from a multi-cloud environment, the proposed approach enables detection from both control flow and performance perspectives, providing a deeper understanding of the underlying file processing in its full life cycle. Through our case study, we demonstrate the power and capabilities of process mining for file security detection and showcase its ability to provide further insights into file security in multi-cloud environments.

Abstract Ensuring the rational and orderly circulation of medical supplies during a public health emergency is crucial to quickly containing the further spread of the epidemic and restoring the order of rescue and treatment. However, due to the shortage of medical supplies, there are challenges to rationalizing the allocation of critical medical supplies among multiple parties with conflicting interests. In this paper, a tripartite evolutionary game model is constructed to study the allocation of medical supplies in the rescue environment of public health emergencies under conditions of incomplete information. The game’s players include Government-owned Nonprofit Organizations (GNPOs), hospitals, and the government. By analyzing the equilibrium of the tripartite evolutionary game, this paper makes an in-depth study on the optimal allocation strategy of medical supplies. The findings indicate that: (1) the hospital should reasonably increase its willingness to accept the allocation plan of medical supplies, which can help medical supplies allocate more scientifically. (2) The government should design a reasonable reward and punishment mechanism to ensure the rational and orderly circulation of medical supplies, which can reduce the interference of GNPOs and hospitals in the allocation process of medical supplies. (3) Higher authorities should strengthen the supervision of the government and the accountability for loose supervision. The findings of this research can guide the government in promoting better circulation of medical supplies during public health emergencies by formulating more reasonable allocation schemes of emergency medical supplies, as well as incentives and penalties. At the same time, for GNPOs with limited emergency medical supplies, the equal allocation of emergency supplies is not the optimal solution to improve the efficiency of emergency relief, and it is simpler to achieve the goal of maximizing social benefits by allocating limited emergency resources to the demand points that match the degree of urgency. For example, in Corona Virus Disease 2019, emergency medical supplies should be prioritized for allocation to government-designated fever hospitals that are have a greater need for medical supplies and greater treatment capacity.

The second most common cancer among men is prostate cancer, which is also the fifth leading reason for male cancer deaths worldwide. Bone metastases are the main factor affecting the prognosis of prostate cancer. Consequently, antitumor and anti-prostate cancer-induced bone destruction medicines are urgently needed. We previously discovered that aminooxyacetic acid hemihydrochloride (AOAA) suppressed bone resorption and osteoclast growth by decreasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and limiting oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Here, we evaluated the impacts of AOAA on prostate cancer RM-1 cells in vitro. It’s found that AOAA significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness, decreased ATP levels, increased ROS, halted the cell cycle phase, and triggered apoptosis. AOAA also decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and the ability to uptake glucose, suggesting that the antitumor effects of AOAA were expressed through the inhibition of OXPHOS and glycolysis. Furthermore, we assessed the effects of AOAA in vivo using a prostate cancer-induced bone osteolysis mice model. AOAA also delayed tumor growth and bone destruction in vivo. On the whole, our findings imply that AOAA may potentially have therapeutic effects on prostate cancer and prostate cancer-induced osteolysis.

Abstract Background Little is known about DNMT3A expression and its prognostic significance in childhood B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Methods We determined DNMT3A mRNA expression in 102 children with B-ALL. Correlations with relapse-free survival (RFS) and common clinical characteristics were analyzed. DNMT3A was stably knocked out by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology in Reh and 697 B-ALL cell lines. Cell proliferation activity after treated with daunorubicin (DNR) was determined by CCK8 assay in DNMT3A KO Reh and 697 cell lines. Results DNMT3A expression in B-ALL patients who were in continuous complete remission (CCR) was higher than in those who got relapse (P = 0.0111). Receiver operating characteristic curve showed prognostic significance of DNMT3A expression (P = 0.003). Low expression of DNMT3A (≤ 0.197) was significantly correlated with poor RFS (P

Abstract：: Influence of initial grain size on the formation of bimodal-grained microstructure and mechanical properties of a Mg-11Gd-3Y-0.5Nd–Zr alloy was investigated. The results indicate that the fraction of unrecrystallized (un-DRXed) grains in bimodal-grained microstructure was governed by the initial grain size, and the fraction increases with the increasing of initial grain size. Formation of un-DRXed grains in samples with a small initial grain size is induced by the uneven distribution of grain size, in which coarser grains is more difficult to recrystallize. However, the recrystallization behavior in samples with large initial grain size is mainly affected by the difference in orientation among grains, and grains with orientation that are not favored for slip are difficult to recrystallize. The strength increases while the elongation decreases with the increasing of initial grain size. The sample with the highest initial grain size (178 μm) accordingly shows the best ultimate tensile strength of 459 MPa. The higher strength is mainly due to the higher texture strengthening and hetero-deformation induced (HDI) strengthening provided by higher fraction of un-DRXed grains.

Temperature and pressure play key roles in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) precipitable water vapor (PWV) retrieval. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) have released their latest reanalysis product: the modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) and the fifth-generation ECMWF reanalysis (ERA5), respectively. Based on the reanalysis data, we evaluate and analyze the accuracy of the surface temperature and pressure products in China using the the measured temperature and pressure data from 609 ground meteorological stations in 2017 as reference values. Then the accuracy of the two datasets and their performances in estimating GNSS PWV are analyzed. The PWV derived from the pressure and temperature products of ERA5 and MERRA-2 has high accuracy. The annual average biases of pressure and temperature for ERA5 are −0.07 hPa and 0.45 K, with the root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.95 hPa and 2.04 K, respectively. The annual average biases of pressure and temperature for MERRA-2 are −0.01 hPa and 0.38 K, with the RMSE of 1.08 hPa and 2.66 K, respectively. The accuracy of ERA5 is slightly higher than that of MERRA-2. The two reanalysis data show negative biases in most regions of China, with the highest to lowest accuracy in the following order: the south, north, northwest, and Tibet Plateau. Comparing the GNSS PWV calculated using MERRA-2 (GNSS MERRA-2 PWV) and ERA5 (GNSS ERA5 PWV) with the radiosonde-derived PWV from 48 co-located GNSS stations and the measured PWV of the co-location radiosonde stations, it is found that the accuracy of GNSS ERA5 PWV is better than that of GNSS MERRA-2 PWV. These results show the different applicability of surface temperature and pressure products from MERRA-2 and ERA5 data, indicating that both have important applications in meteorological research and GNSS water vapor monitoring in China.

Abstract Background The high incidence of intraoperative glucose dysregulations in liver transplantation (LT) is related to the lack of highly orchestrated control of intraoperative blood glucose. Glucose monitoring based on a single arterial blood gas test can only provide a simple glucose profile and is insufficient in monitoring intraoperative glycemic variability (GV), which is not conducive to controlling GV and may have a lag in the management of hyper/hypoglycemia. Continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which has been successfully applied in the management of chronic disease in diabetes, provides more detailed blood glucose records and reflect GV parameters such as coefficient of variation (CV%). However, its effectiveness and accuracy for guiding blood glucose management in major surgeries remains unclear. Methods This is a single-center, randomized, controlled, superiority trial. One hundred and eighty patients scheduled for orthotopic LT will be recruited and randomized into two groups. All patients are monitored for intraoperative glucose using CGM combined with arterial blood gas (ABG). In the intervention group (group CG), ABG will be performed when CGM value is 10.0 mmol/L, or the rate of change of CGM value > 1.67 mmol/(L·min). In the control group (group G), intraoperative ABG tests will be performed every 2 h, and the frequency of ABG tests will be adjusted based on the previous arterial glucose result. Patients in both groups will have their blood glucose adjusted according to arterial glucose values and a uniform protocol. Surgical and other anesthetic management is completed according to standard LT practices. Discussion This study intends to investigate the effectiveness of CGM-based intraoperative glucose management and its impact on the prognosis of LT patients by comparing the GV, mean glucose values, and the incidence of hypo/hypoglycemic events guided by the above two glucose monitoring methods. Trial registration This study is registered at www.chictr.org.cn on January 4, 2022, under the registration number ChiCTR2200055236.

Multi-angular remote sensing observation contains crucial information on forest structure parameters. Here, our goal is to examine the ability of multi-angular indices, which are constructed by the typical-angular reflectances in red and NIR bands from MODIS observations, for the retrieval of forest biomass based on the field-measured above-ground biomass (AGB) data. Specifically, we employed the updated version of the MCD43A1 BRDF parameter product as an input for BRDF models to reconstruct the MODIS typical-angular reflectances. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects of different configurations of BRDF models and solar zenith angles (SZA) on forest AGB estimation using our developed multi-angular indices. The semivariogram analysis strategy combined with Landsat ground-surface reflectance data was employed to determine the MODIS pixel heterogeneity; the survey data from field sites of homogeneous pixels was used in our analysis and validation. The results show that our developed multi-angular indices based on a hot-revised BRDF model, under a SZA of 45°, when combined with forest cover information, can account for up to 72% of the variation forest AGB, with an RMSE = 45 Mg/ha. We also found that different kernels for the BRDF models influenced the weight parameters of the biomass inversion equation but did not significantly affect the estimated AGB. In conclusion, our method can enable the better usage of MODIS multi-angular observations for forest AGB estimation.

Thinopyrum intermedium (2n=6x=42, StStJrJrJvsJvs) is resistant or tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses, making it suitable for developing perennial crops and forage. Through five cycles of selection, we developed 24 perennial wheatgrass lines, designated 19HSC-Q and 20HSC-Z, by crossing wheat-Th. intermedium partial amphiploids with Th. intermedium. The cold resistance, morphological performance, chromosome composition, and yield components of these perennial lines were investigated from 2019 to 2022. Six lines of 19HSC-Q had higher 1,000-kernel weight, grains per spike, and tiller number than Th. intermedium, as well as surviving -30°C in winter. Lines 19HSC-Q14, 19HSC-Q18, and 19HSC-Q20 had the best performances for grain number per spike and 1,000-kernel weight. The 20HSC-Z lines, 20HSC-Z1, 20HSC-Z2, and 20HSC-Z3, were able to survive in the cold winter in Harbin and had been grown for two years. Sequential multicolor GISH analysis revealed that the Jvs subgenome of Th. intermedium were divided into two karyotypes, three pairs of type-I Jvs chromosomes and four pairs of type-II Jvs chromosomes. Both Th. intermedium and the 24 advanced perennial wheatgrass lines had similar chromosome compositions, but the translocations among subgenome chromosomes were detected in some lines with prominent agronomic traits, such as 19HSC-Q11, 19HSC-Q14, 19HSC-Q18, 19HSC-Q20, and the three 20HSC-Z lines. The chromosome aberrations were distinguished into two types: the large fragment translocation with St-Jr, Jvs-St, Jr-IIJvs, and Jvs-Jr and the small fragment introgression of Jr-St, St-IJvs, and Jvs-Jr. These chromosomal variations can be used to further analyze the relationship between the subgenomes and phenotypes of Th. intermedium. The results of this study provide valuable materials for the next selection cycle of cold-resistant perennial wheatgrass.

There is no uniform regimen for refractory Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). We retrospectively described patients with refractory multisystem and risk organ involvement LCH treated with the low-dose (Ara-c, 100 mg/m2/d × 5day; 2-CDA, 5 mg/m2/d × 5day) chemotherapy (LDC) and the intermediate-dose (Ara-c, 500 mg/m2/d × 5day; 2-CDA, 9 mg/m2/d × 5day) chemotherapy (IDC). 26 patients and 10 patients receiving the LDC and IDC regimen from January 2013 to December 2016 were included in the study. The overall response rate exhibited no significant difference between the LDC and IDC groups after four courses (76.9% vs 90%, P = 0.375) and eight courses (80.8% vs 100%, P = 0.135) of treatment. No statistical differences in the overall survival rate were observed between the two groups, but 5-year event-free survival rate of patients in the IDC group was higher than that in the LDC group at the median follow-up of 6.16 and 5.07 years (88.9% vs 52.9%, P = 0.033). The patients in the IDC group had more severe myelosuppression than those in the LDC group (grade 3/4 myelosuppression, 80% vs 19.2%, P = 0.001). The intermediate-dose regimen of 2CDA and Ara-c had a higher event-free survival rate and a similar overall survival rate compared with the low-dose regimen.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) leads to a series of degenerative spine diseases. Clinical treatment of IVDD is mainly surgery, lacking effective drugs to alleviate intervertebral disc degeneration. In this study, we analysed the mRNA sequencing dataset of human degenerative intervertebral disc tissues and revealed the participation of ferroptosis in IVDD. Furthermore, we confirmed that TNF-α, an important cytokine in IVDD, induces ferroptosis in nucleus pulposus cells. Subsequently, a ferroptosis inhibitors screening strategy using multiple ferroptosis indicators was developed. Through the screen of various natural compounds, cynarin, a natural product enriched in Artichoke, was discovered to inhibit ferroptosis of nucleus pulposus cells. Cynarin can dose-dependently inhibit the catabolism of nucleus pulposus cells, increase the expression of key ferroptosis-inhibiting genes (GPX4 and NRF2), inhibit the increment of cellular Fe2+, lipid peroxides, and reactive oxygen species. It can also prevent mitochondria shrinkage, reduce mitochondria cristae density in ferroptosis, and prevent IVDD in the rat model. In conclusion, cynarin is a potential candidate for the drug development for IVDD.

PurposeIntrauterine adhesion (IUA) is the most common cause of uterine infertility. This study aims to evaluate whether platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) treatment can stimulate damaged endometrium regeneration in rats.MethodsFirst, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and ELISAs were used to evaluate the microstructure of PRF. Then, mechanical damage was used to establish an IUA rat model. A total of 40 SD female rats were randomized to three groups: PRF transplantation group, IUA group, and sham group. Rats were sacrificed at 3, 7, and 14 days and uteruses were obtained for further analysis. Finally, functional and histological recovery of the damaged endometrium was analyzed by pregnancy test, HE staining, Masson’s staining, and immunohistochemistry.ResultsPRF has two distinct zones, platelets and fibrin zone. Long and narrow fibrin fibers interconnected with each other and formed a three-dimensional, flexible, and elastic structure; platelet aggregates were trapped in fibrin fibers, and each platelet is associated with several fibrin fibers. PRF exudates promoted endometrial stromal cell proliferation and migration in vitro. PRF transplantation was beneficial for maintaining uterine structure, promoting endometrial luminal epithelium and endometrial gland regeneration, and decreasing fibrotic areas in vivo.ConclusionIntrauterine administration of PRF was demonstrated to be effective in preventing IUA and stimulating damaged endometrium regeneration in rats. This study not only provided a promising method for its potential in endometrial regeneration in women who suffer from uterine infertility but also may prevent IUA after intrauterine surgery in clinical cases.

The construction industry has long been criticized for recurring accidents, wherein opportunistic behaviors are the primary cause of losing faith and increasing risk, infringing upon the interests of the state, society and people. While government regulation can be crucial in curbing opportunistic behaviors, the existing mixed strategy game model fails to accurately capture the strategic interactions between the government, owner, supervisor, and contractor. To bridge this gap, we propose a multi-stage dynamic game model with asymmetric information in the context of a typical construction project, wherein two urgent opportunistic behaviors may arise: moral hazard and covert collusion. According to project characteristics, the regulatory issues are further classified as hidden information for general projects and hidden effort for dominant projects. On this basis, the government's optimal regulation strategies are derived, i.e., the optimal fines for poor quality and the optimal fine coefficient for quality effort reduction. Subsequently, several significant managerial implications are presented to summarize and analyze impacts of government regulation on construction projects. The findings show that government regulation can achieve systemic optimality but may hurt the owner's interests in some cases. This could potentially hinder the healthy development of the construction industry as the owner may forgo purchasing the construction project. Furthermore, general projects are more vulnerable to opportunistic behaviors as opposed to dominant projects. The developed model and derived regulatory strategy can assist the government in more effectively governing and controlling opportunistic behaviors. This research also contributes several valuable managerial insights into the domain of government regulation on construction projects.

Melon (Cucumis melo L.) production is often restricted by a plethora of pests and diseases, including powdery mildew and downy mildew caused respectively by the fungal species Podosphaera xanthii/Golovinomyces orontii and oomycete species Pseudoperonospora cubensis. Many efforts have been directed on identification of resistant sources by screening (wild) melon germplasm. In the current review, we summarized such efforts from various publications of the last 50 plus years. Resistance to powdery mildew has been identified in 239 melon accessions and downy mildew resistance in 452 accessions of both C. melo and the wild relative species C. figarei. Among the resistance sources, C. melo var. cantalupensis accessions PMR 45, PMR 5, PMR 6, and WMR 29 as well as C. melo var. momordica accessions PI 124111, PI 124112, and PI 414723 have been considered as the most valuable germplasm because multiple resistance genes have been identified from these accessions and are widely used in melon resistance breeding. Further genetic mapping in a number of resistant sources has enabled identification of 25 dominant genes, two recessive genes and seven QTLs conferring powdery mildew resistance, as well as eight dominant genes and 11 QTLs for downy mildew resistances. Based on the reported sequences of associated markers, we anchored physically (many of) these genes and QTLs to chromosomes of the melon cv. DHL92 genome. In addition to presenting a comprehensive overview on powdery mildew and downy mildew resistance in (wild) melon germplasm, we suggest strategies aiming at breeding melon with durable and broad-spectrum resistance to pathogens and pests.

Glucosinolates (GSLs) and their degradation products in radish confer plant defense, promote human health, and generate pungent flavor. However, the intact GSLs in radish have not been investigated comprehensively yet. Here, an accurate qualitative and quantitative analyses of 15 intact GSLs from radish, including four major GSLs of glucoraphasatin (GRH), glucoerucin (GER), glucoraphenin (GRE), and 4-methoxyglucobrassicin (4MGBS), were conducted using UHPLC-HRMS/MS in combination with UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS. Simultaneously, three isomers of hexyl GSL, 3-methylpentyl GSL, and 4-methylpentyl GSL were identified in radish. The highest content of GSLs was up to 232.46 μmol/g DW at the 42 DAG stage in the ‘SQY’ taproot, with an approximately 184.49-fold increase compared to the lowest content in another sample. That the GSLs content in the taproots of two radishes fluctuated in a similar pattern throughout the five vegetative growth stages according to the metabolic profiling, whereas the GSLs content in the ‘55’ leaf steadily decreased over the same period. Additionally, the proposed biosynthetic pathways of radish-specific GSLs were elucidated in this study. Our findings will provide an abundance of qualitative and quantitative data on intact GSLs, as well as a method for detecting GSLs, thus providing direction for the scientific progress and practical utilization of GSLs in radish.

Viral diseases caused by new outbreaks of viral infections pose a serious threat to human health. Wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), considered one of the world's largest and most widely distributed rodents, are host to various zoonotic pathogens. To further understand the composition of the virus community in wild brown rats and explore new types of potentially pathogenic viruses, viral metagenomics was conducted to investigate blood, feces, and various tissues of wild brown rats captured from Zhenjiang, China. Results indicated that the composition of the virus community in different samples showed significant differences. In blood and tissue samples, members of the Parvoviridae and Anelloviridae form the main body of the virus community. Picornaviridae, Picobirnaviridae, and Astroviridae made up a large proportion of fecal samples. Several novel genome sequences from members of different families, including Anelloviridae, Parvoviridae, and CRESS DNA viruses, were detected in both blood and other samples, suggesting that they have the potential to spread across organs to cause viremia. These viruses included not only strains closely related to human viruses, but also a potential recombinant virus. Multiple dual-segment picornaviruses were obtained from fecal samples, as well as virus sequences from the Astroviridae and Picornaviridae. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these viruses belonged to different genera, with multiple viruses clustered with other animal viruses. Whether they have pathogenicity and the ability to spread across species needs further study.

Based on the study of the marine environmental capacity, a water quality model and a response field-based linear programming method are adopted here. Water quality control objectives are taken as the constraint conditions, according to the requirements of Jinpu Bay’s functional zoning. The pollutant response coefficient and water quality background value are combined with the values of the water concentration quality control points set in each functional area and the target value of the functional area wherein they are located. The maximum allowable emission intensity of inorganic nitrogen, phosphate and chemical oxygen demand (COD) can be calculated using the linear programming method of the maximum allowable emission of pollutants at estuaries or sewage outfall points on Jinpu Bay. The research results reveal the diffusion of marine pollutants and the marine environmental capacity of Jinpu Bay. Some rivers need to reduce the discharge intensity and some other outlets still have a certain residual capacity. Based on this, the environmental capacity of Jinpu Bay was evaluated, and a technical reference is provided for the economic development of the region and the formulation of pollutant emission control policies.

The Leaf Area Index (LAI) is a crucial vegetation parameter for climate and ecological models. Reflectance anisotropy contains valuable supplementary information for the retrieval of properties of an observed target surface. Previous studies have utilized multi-angular reflectance data and physically based Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) models with detailed vegetation structure descriptions for LAI estimation. However, the optimal selection of viewing angles for improved inversion results has received limited attention. By optimizing directional observations and integrating the PROSAIL and Ross–Li models, this study aims to enhance LAI estimation from MODIS BRDF data. A dataset of 20,000 vegetation parameter combinations was utilized to identify the directions in which the PROSAIL model exhibits higher sensitivity to LAI changes and better consistency with the Ross–Li BRDF models. The results reveal significant variations in the sensitivity of the PROSAIL model to LAI changes and its consistency with the Ross–Li model over the viewing hemisphere. In the red band, directions with high sensitivity to LAI changes and strong model consistency are mainly found at smaller solar and viewing zenith angles. In the near-infrared band, these directions are distributed at positions with larger solar and viewing zenith angles. Validation using field measurements and LAI maps demonstrates that the proposed method achieves comparable accuracy to an algorithm utilizing 397 viewing angles by utilizing reflectance data from only 30 directions. Moreover, there is a significant improvement in computational efficiency. The accuracy of LAI estimation obtained from simulated multi-angle data is relatively high for LAI values below 3.5 when compared with the MODIS LAI product from two tiles. Additionally, there is also a slight improvement in the results when the LAI exceeds 4.5. Overall, our results highlight the potential of utilizing multi-angular reflectance in specific directions for vegetation parameter inversion, showcasing the promise of this method for large-scale LAI estimation.

Abstract Objectives We aimed to explore whether body mass index (BMI) and albumin were associated with overall survival (OS) in individuals who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for cancer. Methods Three-hundred twenty-nine consecutive patients who underwent PD for cancer were enrolled from January 2020 to December 2020. All clinicopathological information was extracted based on medical records. The survival follow-ups were regularly performed and ended on June 30, 2021. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and univariate and multivariate Cox proportional-hazards models were used to assess the association of BMI and albumin with OS. Results Of the 329 patients, 186 (56.5%) were male, and median age at admission was 65.0 (56.0–71.0) years. There were 258 patients (78.4%) with BMI < 25.0 kg/m2 and 89 patients (27.05%) with albumin < 35.0 g/L respectively. In overall cohort, BMI < 25.0 kg/m2 was associated with OS (adjusted HR = 3.516, 95% CI = 1.076–11.492, P = 0.037). In contrast, albumin < 35.0 g/L did not affect OS. Subgroup analysis showed, in patients with pancreas lesion, BMI < 25.0 kg/m2 had a higher risk for OS compared to BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2 (adjusted HR = 3.209, 95% CI = 0.985–10.451, P = 0.048), while albumin < 35.0 g/L was not linked to OS. In patients with lesion in ampulla of Vater, duodenum, or common bile duct, there was no significant association of BMI and albumin with OS. Conclusions BMI, rather than serum albumin, was associated with OS in patients who underwent PD for cancer.

Abstract Background Intestinal inflammation is prevalent in chicken, which results in decreased growth performance and considerable economic losses. Accumulated findings established the close relationship between gut microbiota and chicken growth performance. However, whether gut microbiota impacts chicken growth performance by lessening intestinal inflammation remains elusive. Results Seven-weeks-old male and female chickens with the highest or lowest body weights were significantly different in breast and leg muscle indices and average cross-sectional area of muscle cells. 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated Gram-positive bacteria, such as Lactobacilli, were the predominant species in high body weight chickens. Conversely, Gram-negative bacteria, such as Comamonas, Acinetobacter, Brucella, Escherichia-Shigella, Thermus, Undibacterium, and Allorhizobium-Neorhizobium-Pararhizobium-Rhizobium were significantly abundant in low body weight chickens. Serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS) level was significantly higher in low body weight chickens (101.58 ± 5.78 ng/mL) compared with high body weight chickens (85.12 ± 4.79 ng/mL). The expression of TLR4, NF-κB, MyD88, and related inflammatory cytokines in the jejunum was significantly upregulated in low body weight chickens, which led to the damage of gut barrier integrity. Furthermore, transferring fecal microbiota from adult chickens with high body weight into 1-day-old chicks reshaped the jejunal microbiota, mitigated inflammatory response, and improved chicken growth performance. Conclusions Our findings suggested that jejunal microbiota could affect chicken growth performance by mitigating intestinal inflammation. Video Abstract

Organic luminescent materials attract attention due to their wide application range, but many organic luminogens suffer from severe quenching effect in the aggregate state. Here, the authors demonstrate a macrocyclization induced emission enhancement by linking luminophores through methylene bridges to give a macrocycle.

Osteoarthritic (OA) is characterized by progressive destruction of joint cartilage. Here, the authors show that microRNA-17 plays a dual role in maintaining cartilage homeostasis and in the prevention of osteoarthritis, by targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-1α as well as multiple matrix-degrading enzymes.

Abstract Background Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (encoded by ALDH1A1) has been shown to protect against Parkinson’s disease (PD) by reducing toxic metabolites of dopamine. We herein revealed an antisense Alu element insertion/deletion polymorphism in intron 4 of ALDH1A1, and hypothesized that it might play a role in PD. Methods A Han Chinese cohort comprising 488 PD patients and 515 controls was recruited to validate the Alu insertion/deletion polymorphism following a previous study of tag-single nucleotide polymorphisms, where rs7043217 was shown to be significantly associated with PD. Functional analyses of the Alu element insertion were performed. Results The Alu element of ALDH1A1 was identified to be a variant of Yb8 subfamily and termed as Yb8c4. The antisense Yb8c4 insertion/deletion polymorphism (named asYb8c4ins and asYb8c4del, respectively) appeared to be in a complete linkage disequilibrium with rs7043217 and was validated to be significantly associated with PD susceptibility with asYb8c4ins serving as a risk allele (P = 0.030, OR = 1.224, 95% CI = 1.020–1.470). Multiple functional analyses including ALDH1A1 mRNA expression in blood cells of carriers, and reporters of EGFP and luciferase showed that the asYb8c4ins had a suppressive activity on gene transcription. Mechanistic explorations suggested that the asYb8c4ins induced no changes in CpG methylation and mRNA splicing of ALDH1A1 and appeared no binding of transcription factors. Conclusions Our results consolidate an involvement of ALDH1 in PD pathogenesis. The asYb8c4 polymorphism may be a functional output of its linkage disequilibrium-linked single nucleotide polymorphisms.