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Forward-looking imaging of airborne scanning radar is widely used in situation awareness, autonomous navigation and terrain following. When the radar is influenced by unintentional temporally sporadic electromagnetic interference or abnormal equipment performance, the echo signal contains outliers. Existing super-resolution methods can suppress outliers and improve azimuth resolution, but the real-time computing problem is not considered. In this study, we propose an airborne scanning radar super-resolution method to achieve fast forward-looking imaging when echo data are abnormal. First, we propose using the Student-t distribution to model noise. Then, the expectation-maximization method is used to estimate the parameters. Inspired by the truncated singular value decomposition method, we introduce the truncated unitary matrix into the estimation formula of the target scattering coefficient. Finally, the size of inverse matrix is reduced and the computational complexity of parameter estimation is reduced through matrix transformation. The simulation results show that the proposed method can improve the azimuth resolution of forward-looking imaging in a shorter time, and suppress outliers in echo data.

Abstract The vehicle platoon lane changing is significant for alleviating road congestion and diminishing transportation energy consumption. However, the lane changing strategy for a group of vehicles is still a great challenge in this field. This paper investigates the vehicle platoon lane changing problems, in which the safety and efficiency in the lane changing procedure are both taken into consideration. Since the safety of the platoon lane changing would be affected by the lane changing gap and the length of the platoon, a novel platoon lane changing strategy is proposed by using the deep Q‐network. In detail, the proposed platoon lane changing strategy contains two layers, where the first one is a decision layer and the other one is the verification layer. In the decision layer, the deep Q‐network is employed to improve the lane changing efficiency. Then, the verification layer is presented to enhance the platoon lane changing safety. In final, some typical platoon lane changing scenarios are provided in an existing ramp containing a vehicle platoon and some random vehicles. The related numerical simulations are conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approaches.

The structural transformation of coal and rock mass is a common core scientific problem to solve many technical problems in coal mines. Carbon dioxide phase change blasting has become one of the effective methods for coal and rock mass cracking due to its advantages of safety, controllability, and easy energy regulation. In order to determine the mechanism of carbon dioxide phase change blasting and expand the application of phase change blasting in engineering, the principle of carbon dioxide phase change blasting and the equipment for cracking were analyzed. Statistical comparisons were made between different methods for calculating the energy of phase change blasting. Compared to traditional explosive blasting, phase change blasting belongs to a low energy fracturing method. By analyzing the propagation characteristics of carbon dioxide phase change jet, the synergistic effect of medium stress initiation and high-pressure gas in phase change blasting is determined. Under medium impact, the coal and rock mass are subjected to tensile stress damage, resulting in radial initial fracture. Under the combined action of shock wave and unloading wave, multiple initiation characteristics are formed, and high-pressure gas further expands in multiple fractures, driving them to expand outward, Clarified the synergistic cracking process of phase change blasting stress gas. Further research was conducted on the effects of factors such as energy release direction, coal rock mass properties, blasting parameters, initial geostress, drilling layout parameters, and drilling groove characteristics on the cracking effect of phase change blasting. The energy release direction plays a direct role in the failure of coal rock mass, leading to asymmetric damage and failure. The compressive strength and cracking spacing of coal rock mass are key factors affecting the cracking effect. The initial geostress, drilling layout parameters, and drilling groove characteristics affect the development and propagation characteristics of cracks. In terms of the engineering application of phase change blasting fracturing, the multiple crack seepage characteristics of phase change blasting were revealed, the crack and permeability enhancement effect of high gas coal seams were determined, the coal cutting characteristics before and after presplitting were compared, the feasibility of presplitting to increase lump coal rate was verified, and the collapse characteristics of presplitting roof in phase change blasting were explored. Further expansion should be made towards the direction of multi rate fractturing caused by phase change blasting, multi-scale analysis of damage and failure, coupling of multiple physical fields during the cracking process and carbon dioxide phase delayed change blasting, which will expand the application scenarios of carbon dioxide phase change blasting.

This article investigates the volatilization characteristics of binary and ternary fuel blends of cottonseed partially hydrogenated biodiesel, ethanol, and conventional diesel. The vapor pressure, enthalpy of evaporation, and activation energy of the fuel blends were obtained by thermogravimetric analysis and kinetic calculation. The physicochemical properties of the fuel blends showed that the ternary fuel blend of suitable mixing ratio had satisfactory cetane number, improved oxidation stability, and oxygen content with a significant decrease in the kinematic viscosity. In addition, the vapor pressure of the PHCME ternary fuel blends was increased by 18.4%, 17.2%, and 20.4% compared with PHCME binary fuel blends, and the enthalpies of evaporation of the ternary fuel blends increased slightly with different mixing ratios. The activation energy of PHCME ternary fuel blends was decreased by 3.5%, 6.8%, and 16.3% respectively, compared to the PHCME binary fuel blends. In conclusion, ethanol addition in the PHCME fuel blend improved the volatilization characteristics and the kinematic viscosity of the fuel blend without a significant adverse effect on the fuel properties of hydrogenated biodiesel.

Sulfur forms an immiscible liquid upon saturation in magma, and sulfide droplets are commonly found in fresh mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that the fine-grained and weakly phyric MORB samples exhibited hypocrystalline to vitreous textures. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of MORB glasses exhibits nanoscale sulfide droplets (10–15 nm) with rounded shapes and smooth edges, showing crystalline and homogeneous composition. Elemental distribution included S, Fe, Cu, and Ni, while Si, Al, and O were lacking. Prior research clarified the immiscibility between sulfide and silicate melts, impacting the size distribution of sulfide droplets. This is the first report on nanoscale sulfide droplets within MORB glasses, and these results suggest that nanoscale sulfide droplets represent the initial phase of sulfide saturation. Such an insight may prove useful in understanding how siderophile and chalcophile elements behaved during sulfide crystallization. In addition, this study determines the immiscibility of sulfides and silicate melts that occur in the early nanometer stage. Therefore, it is speculated that immiscibility phenomena may occur in the nanometer stage during magma evolution.

Iron is a critical redox-active element in geothermal water, and the presence of nanoparticulate Fe is essential in comprehending the intricate cycling of iron and related elements within the natural geothermal ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the mineral properties of Fe-bearing nanoparticles in a hot spring located in Shanxi Province. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) is utilized for the examination of the morphology, chemical composition, and crystalline structure of Fe-bearing nanoparticles. The findings show that Fe-bearing nanoparticles can exist as single particles measuring 50–200 nm in size, as well as aggregate to form nanoparticle aggregations. The morphology of Fe-bearing nanoparticles mainly includes triangle, axiolitic, and irregular shapes. The selected area electron diffraction patterns reveal the crystal form, amorphous form, and the transition from amorphous to crystalline forms of these nanoparticles. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis indicates that these nanoparticles primarily consist of O and Fe in composition, along with various trace elements including N, Al, Si, Ca, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Mo. These results reveal that goethite and hematite can occur in hot spring. Various in size and modality, tend to cluster into each other, and multiple crystalline states indicate that these iron-bearing nanoparticles are formed through natural processes. In addition, the iron-bearing nanoparticles with biomimetic morphologies (cell-like or microorganism-like shapes) may be produced through microbial activity. The biomimetic properties also imply that these nanoparticles may be readily available for biological processes. Significantly, our findings further validate that the shape of iron oxide nanoparticles can serve as an indicator of pH and temperature of the hot spring.

Abstract Background There were a few studies that examined the longitudinal association between living alone and depressive symptoms, and the vast majority of them were conducted in patients with certain diseases, such as heart failure, cancer, and glaucoma. This study aimed to examine the association between living alone and depressive symptoms in a large representative older Chinese population. Methods The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data from 2015 to 2018 were used. Living alone was defined as participants who did not live with others ever or more than 11 months in the past year at baseline. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D10). The multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between living alone and depressive symptoms. Results There were 5,311 and 2,696 participants ≥ 60 years old included in the cross-sectional and cohort analysis, respectively. The risk of depressive symptoms in participants who lived alone was significantly higher than those who lived with others in both cross-sectional (OR:1.33; 95%CI:1.14,1.54) and cohort analysis (OR:1.23; 95%CI:0.97,1.55). There was a significant interaction between financial support and living alone (P interaction = 0.008) on the risk of depressive symptoms. Stratified analyses showed that, compared to those who lived with others, the risk of depressive symptoms in participants who lived alone increased by 83% (OR:1.83; 95%CI:1.26,2.65) in participants receiving lower financial support. However, we did not find statistically significant associations in participants with medium (OR:1.10; 95%CI: 0.74,1.63) and higher financial support (OR: 0.87; 95%CI: 0.53,1.41). Conclusion Living alone was associated with a higher risk of depressive symptoms in the Chinese older population, and this association was moderated by the receipt of financial support. Living alone may be an effective and easy predictor for early identification of high-risk populations of depression in the older population.

Abstract Background DNA methylation is associated with cardiovascular (CV) disease. However, in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients, the role of gene methylation in the development of CV disease is under-studied. We aimed to identify the CV disease-related DNA methylation loci in patients with T2D and to explore the potential pathways underlying the development of CV disease using a two-stage design. Methods The participants were from the Jinan Diabetes Cohort Study (JNDCS), an ongoing longitudinal study designed to evaluate the development of CV risk in patients with T2D. In the discovery cohort, 10 diabetic patients with CV events at baseline were randomly selected as the case group, and another 10 diabetic patients without CV events were matched for sex, age, smoking status, and body mass index as the control group. In 1438 T2D patients without CV disease at baseline, 210 patients with CV events were identified after a mean 6.5-year follow-up. Of whom, 100 patients who experienced CV events during the follow-up were randomly selected as cases, and 100 patients who did not have CV events were randomly selected as the control group in the validation cohort. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing and Targeted Bisulfite Sequencing were used to measure the methylation profiles in the discovery and validation cohort, respectively. Results In the discover cohort, 127 DMRs related to CV disease were identified in T2D patients. Further, we validated 23 DMRs mapped to 25 genes, of them, 4 genes (ARSG, PNPLA6, NEFL, and CRYGEP) for the first time were reported. There was evidence that the addition of DNA methylation data improved the prediction performance of CV disease in T2D patients. Pathway analysis identified some significant signaling pathways involved in CV comorbidities, T2D, and inflammation. Conclusions In this study, we identified 23 DMRs mapped to 25 genes associated with CV disease in T2D patients, of them, 4 DMRs for the first time were reported. DNA methylation testing may help identify a high CV-risk population in T2D patients.

Abstract In all-day-all-weather tasks, well-aligned multi-modality images pairs can provide extensive complementary information for image-guided UAV target detection. However, multi-modality images in real scenarios are often misaligned, and images registration is extremely difficult due to spatial deformation and the difficulty narrowing cross-modality discrepancy. To better overcome the obstacle, in this paper, we construct a General Cross-Modality Registration (GCMR) Framework, which explores generation registration pattern to simplify the cross-modality image registration into a easier mono-modality image registration with an Image Cross-Modality Translation Network (ICMTN) module and a Multi-level Residual Dense Registration Network (MRDRN). Specifically, ICMTN module is used to generate a pseudo infrared image taking a visible image as input and correct the distortion of structural information during the translation of image modalities. Benefiting from the favorable geometry correct ability of the ICMTN, we further employs MRDRN module which can fully extract and exploit the mutual information of misaligned images to better registered Visible and Infrared image in a mono-modality setting. We evaluate five variants of our approach on the public Anti-UAV datasets. The extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed architecture achieves state-of-the-art performance.

Wildfires significantly affect climate and environmental changes, closely tied to extreme weather responses. Vegetation combustion emits greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, CO), warming the climate. Climate shifts, in turn, impact vegetation growth, altering combustible material types and quantities, thus affecting wildfire intensity, duration, and frequency. Wildfires profoundly affect ecosystems, influenced by factors like atmospheric oxygen and climate. Their combustion gases impact climate and vegetation growth. Recent advancements in studying ancient wildfires include analyzing nanoparticles as key indicators. This study discovered six types of nanoparticles in ancient wildfire remains, with sizes ranging from 50 nm to 500 nm and diverse compositions including elements such as C, O, Mg, Al, Ti, Fe, S, Ca, and P. These findings indicate that wildfires generate a variety of nanoparticles, offering new insights into ancient fire events. Elemental analysis revealed low magnesium but high calcium and aluminum levels, suggesting a warm, humid paleoclimate during these fires. The presence of high Ti-O ratios and carbon-rich nanoparticles points to ground fires with incomplete combustion. This research underscores the significance of nanoparticles in understanding the history and characteristics of ancient wildfires.

Karst groundwater is a crucial water source, but it has faced significant environmental risks in recent years. The complexity of the groundwater system necessitates innovative approaches to studying karst groundwater. This paper focuses on the karst groundwater of the Baotu Spring area in Jinan. Using the nanoparticle tracking analysis instrument, it is observed that the collected groundwater contains many natural nanoparticles, with particle sizes mainly ranging from 76.3 to 621.8 nm and concentrations primarily between 0.31 and 5.0 × 105 Particles/L. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) is used to study the characteristics of naturally occurring nanoparticles in the karst groundwater. The results show that the karst groundwater mainly contains particles of Ca, Na, Fe, Al, Si, and other elements, which exist in granular and irregular forms. The size of individual particles varies from 40 to 600 nm, and they are mostly amorphous and monocrystalline. The characteristics of the particles suggest that the direct recharge area mainly receives infiltration from atmospheric precipitation, with minimal influence from human activities and agriculture. In contrast, the indirect recharge and discharge areas are more significantly affected by external environments, including domestic sewage, industrial wastewater discharge, and agricultural fertilizers. These findings also suggest that elements can be transported in particle form during water-rock interactions, potentially playing a significant role in the cycling of elements between water and rocks. The particles in the study area are situated in a relatively oxidized environment, suggesting that fracture and oxidation are the main processes for particle formation. Particles can effectively transport metallic elements in groundwater, offering fresh perspectives on the migration of these elements and acting as carriers for inorganic substances, thereby increasing their mobility in aquatic environments. Given the widespread presence of natural nanoparticles in the water cycle system, some stable nanoparticles can serve as new types of groundwater tracing agents during the groundwater migration process.

Abstract Background Pyrethroids have been widely used in the United States and worldwide. Few studies examined the effect of pyrethroids exposure on sleep problems among adolescents. Objectives This study investigated the associations between pyrethroids exposure and sleep problems in male and female adolescents. Methods The data were used from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2014. In this study, 3-Phenoxybenzoic Acid (3-PBA) was used as a validated biomarker for pyrethroids exposure. The association between urinary 3-PBA and sleep problems was analyzed using logistic regression models. Results A total of 805 adolescents aged 16–20 years old were included in this study. The proportion of sleep problems was higher in females than in males (10.18% vs.7.35%, P = 0.154). A significant interaction was found between sex and 3-PBA (P interaction = 0.021) in the risk of sleep problems. A positive association of 3-PBA exposure with sleep problems was observed in male adolescents after adjusting for all the other covariates (OR = 4.04, 95% CI 1.31, 12.42). No statistically significant association was observed in female adolescents. Conclusions A positive association was observed between pyrethroids exposure and sleep problems in male adolescents, but not in female adolescents. More studies are required to confirm our findings.

Abstract Background Safely inhibiting the formation of scar in the glaucoma filtration surgery (GFS) has always been an issue for clinical glaucoma doctors. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents can reduce angiogenesis, and anti-placental growth factor (PIGF) agents can affect reactive gliosis. However, the effect of conbercept, which can bind to both VEGF and PIGF, on human Tenon’s fibroblasts (HTFs) is unknown. Methods HTFs were cultured in vitro and treated with conbercept or bevacizumab (BVZ). No drug was added to the control group. The effects of drugs on cell proliferation were assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and the collagen type I alpha1(Col1A1) mRNA expression level was measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). HTF cell migration after drug interventions was evaluated using the scratch wound assay along with the measurement of the expression levels of VEGF and PIGF in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, as well as the detection of the VEGF(R) mRNA expression level in HTFs using qPCR. Results After the addition of conbercept (0.01, 0.1, and 1 mg/mL) to the cultured HTFs or HUVECs, no significant cytotoxicity was observed compared with the control group, while the cytotoxicity of 2.5 mg/mL BVZ on HTFs was obvious. Conbercept significantly inhibited HTF cell migration and Col1A1 mRNA expression level in HTFs. It was superior to BVZ in inhibiting HTF migration. After the intervention with conbercept, the expression level of PIGF and VEGF in HUVECs significantly decreased; and the inhibitory effect of conbercept on the expression level of VEGF in HUVECs was weaker than that of BVZ. Conbercept was more advantageous than BVZ in inhibiting the expression level of VEGFR-1 mRNA in HTFs. However, its effect in terms of inhibiting the expression level of VEGFR-2 mRNA in HTFs was weaker than that of BVZ. Conclusion The results suggested the low cytotoxicity and significant anti-scarring effect of conbercept in HTF with significant anti-PIGF and inferior anti-VEGF effects compared with BVZ, thus providing a better understanding of the role of conbercept in the GFS wound healing process.

Karst areas are widespread in China and can be divided into southern karst and northern karst based on the geographical boundary of Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River. In northern karst regions, karst springs are the predominant landform. Previous studies on karst springs have predominantly focused on macroscopic perspectives, such as water chemistry characteristics, with less attention given to the microscopic characteristics of springs. Therefore, this study focused on the Jinan Baotu Spring area, representative of a typical northern karst region, and investigated the natural nanoparticles present in different aquifers at various depths from a microscopic point of view. Through the observation of nanoparticle tracking analyzer (NTA), numerous nanoparticles were identified in the groundwater samples. The particle size range of the particles contained in groundwater is mainly concentrated in the range of 150–500 nm, and the particle concentration is mainly concentrated in the range of 1.5–5.0 × 105 Particles/L. The microstructure, chemical composition, and element distribution of these nanoparticles were analyzed using TEM-EDS techniques. The results unveiled the presence of Ti-bearing nanoparticles in various groundwater layers, including both crystalline and amorphous states, as well as nanoparticles exhibiting the coexistence of crystal and amorphous structures. By comparing the measured lattice spacing with PDF cards, the crystalline Ti-bearing nanoparticles were identified as rutile, brookite, anatase, ilmenite, pseudorutile, and ulvospinel. Furthermore, the main components of the amorphous Ti-bearing nanoparticles predominantly consisted of Ti or a mixture of Ti and Fe. EDS analysis further indicated that the Ti-bearing nanoparticles carried additional metal elements, such as Zn, Ca, Mn, Mo, Cr, and Ni, suggesting their potential role as carriers of metal elements during groundwater transportation. This discovery provided new insights into the migration of metal elements in groundwater and underscores the capacity of nanoparticles to enhance the mobility of inorganic substances within the water environment. Notably, brookite was detected in three different areas, including the direct discharge area, indirect recharge area, and discharge area, which may indicate that some special natural nanoparticles could serve as natural mineral tracer particles in the process of groundwater migration.

Purpose: Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) cases caused by hypertension often have poor prognoses. The use of dehydrant agents, such as mannitol, is common to reduce intracranial pressure and alleviate cerebral edema, but they may also pose a risk of worsening kidney function. This study aimed to investigate the impact of impaired kidney function on the outcomes of surgically treated hypertensive ICH patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a consecutive cohort of patients who underwent surgical intervention due to hypertension-related ICH at our institute between December 1, 2017, and January 31, 2022. Demographic, clinical, radiological, and prognostic data were collected. Patients were categorized into two groups based on 90-day mortality: group A [overall survival (OS) ≤3 months] and group B (OS >3 months). Survival analysis was performed to identify factors associated with poor outcomes. Results: Among the 232 eligible patients, group A exhibited significantly impaired kidney function, as indicated by mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at admission, postoperative, 3-day postoperative, and 7-day postoperative time points (91.9, 82.5, 73.5, 75.2 ml/min/1.73 m2). In contrast, group B did not show significant changes in kidney function (mean eGFR for the corresponding time points: 108.1, 106.5, 111.5, 109.6 ml/min/1.73 m2). The 3-day postoperative eGFR showed the strongest predictive ability for assessing prognosis [areas under the curve (AUC): 0.617, 0.675, 0.737, 0.730]. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified low Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (3–8), ventricle intrusion of hematomas, cardiac failure, larger hematoma volume, infection, and lower 3-day postoperative eGFR as adverse factors for survival. Conclusions: Preserving kidney function is crucial for achieving favorable outcomes in hypertensive ICH cases. Impaired 3-day postoperative eGFR emerged as an independent risk factor for overall survival. Patients with cardiac failure, infection, and larger hematoma volume should receive careful management to improve outcomes.

This study proposes a multi-rank range-spread target detection method for multi-channel array radar under a non-Gaussian clutter background. The method aims to detect the target from real clutter using the multi-channel array radar. First, a multi-rank range-spread target model was formulated using a subspace matrix with a rank greater than one and the coordinate vectors of corresponding range bins. Then, by exploiting the persymmetric structure information of the clutter covariance matrix under the detection scenario, wherein the radar receiver units were central symmetric in space or time, a small sample estimation strategy for the parameters to be solved through the unitary transformation was constructed. Further, a non-Gaussian clutter background multi-rank range-spread target detection method was designed based on the generalized likelihood ratio, Rao, and Wald tests. Finally, a theoretical derivation proved that the proposed detection method has the constant false alarm rate property. The experimental results based on both the simulated and measured data showed that the proposed detection method can ensure the constant false alarm rate property of the clutter covariance matrix. Additionally, compared with the existing detection methods, the proposed detection method improves the target detection performance under small sample support. Besides, the proposed detection method effectively improves the robustness of target detection under the condition of steering vector mismatch.

IntroductionIn children, erythromelalgia is a rare chronic pain syndrome characterized by erythema, severe burning pain, and itching of affected feet. Unfortunately, there is no definitive therapy available currently.Case reportHere, we report a case of primary erythromelalgia and the treatment response in a 10-year-old boy, whose genetic findings for mutations in the SCN9A gene were positive and skin biopsy results were diagnosed as small fiber neuropathy, while he has suffered from excruciating burning pain, itching, erythema, and recurrent infections over the past 3 years. He did not respond well to conventional treatment, and the only way to receive minimal relief was to immerse his feet in ice water. After a successful trial of spinal cord stimulation (SCS), the implantable pulse generator (IPG) was successfully implanted without complications, and it proved partial response to therapy.ConclusionThere is no specific, efficient treatment for pediatric erythromelalgia currently, but this case demonstrates neuromodulation serves as part of the multimodal regimen to treat pediatric erythromelalgia.

Zinc cadmium sulfide solid (Zn _x Cd _1− _x S) related composites received great attention in photocatalytic hydrogen production because of their tunable bandgap and strong visible light absorption range. But sulfide-based metal materials commonly suffer from photo-corrosion issues. It is very important to construct the photocatalysts with high efficient activity and photostability for H _2 production. Herein, we successively prepared ZnCdS/ZnS (ZCS/ZS) heterostructures, ZnCdS/ZnS/MoS _2 (ZCS/ZS/M) heterostructures decorated ZCS/ZS with MoS _2 quantum dots, then we obtained x -C@ZCS/ZS and x -C@ZCS/ZS/M heterostructures encapsulated ZCS/ZS and ZCS/ZS/M with carbon layer. The performance of the photocatalytic hydrogen production showed that sample 0.05-C@ZCS/ZS/M has a remarkable photocatalytic H _2 evolution rate of 15.231 mmol·h ^−1 ·g ^−1 with noble metal-free co-catalysts. This rate was approximately 21 times higher than that of the pristine ZCS/ZS photocatalyst. The optimized sample reveals an excellent stability, without activity losses after 10 h. The improved photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the unique heterojunction structure formed by ZCS/ZS and MoS _2 . Additionally, the carbon films played a crucial role in providing excellent stability by spatially separating the sites for redox reactions, thereby inhibiting the recombination of photo-generated electron–hole pairs.

ABSTRACT: Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterise the whole genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant (MDR) Proteus mirabilis strain ChSC1905 isolated from a swine farm in China. Methods: The genome was sequenced by Illumina NovaSeq and Oxford Nanopore platforms, and it was assembled via Canu v.1.5. The acquired antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) were identified by ResFinder. A conjugation experiment was carried out to determine the mobilisation of integrative and conjugative element. Results: Strain ChSC1905 exhibited a MDR phenotype. The genome of strain ChSC1905 was 4 038 038 bp in length with a GC content of 39.1%, which contained 3645 coding sequences and 110 RNA genes. A total of 23 acquired ARGs were identified, among which 21 ARGs including the clinically important resistance genes blaCTX-M-65, cfr, fosA3, and aac(6′)-Ib-cr were located on a SXT/R391 integrative and conjugative element (ICE). BLAST analysis showed that this new SXT/R391-family ICE (ICEPmiChnChSC1905 of 143 689 bp) was involved in sequence inversion mediated by ISVsa3 and genetic rearrangement mediated by IS26, and it could be transferred to E. coli EC600. Conclusion: In this study, we report the genome sequence of MDR P. mirabilis strain ChSC1905 that harboured a novel SXT/R391-family ICE (ICEPmiChnChSC1905) involved in genetic rearrangement in China, which promotes the diversity of ICE and should receive more attention.

The micro-nanoparticles found in geothermal fluids exhibit distinct characteristics that hold great potential for detecting deeply concealed geothermal resources. Utilizing a nanoparticle tracking analyzer (NTA), we conducted observations on karst geothermal fluids collected from the central region of Shandong Province, specifically Jinan and Zibo. Our investigation revealed the presence of a significant quantity of naturally occurring micro-nanoparticles within these geothermal fluids, with particle sizes typically falling in the range of 100 nm to 5 μm. To gain a comprehensive understanding of these micro-nanoparticles, we subjected them to a detailed analysis, encompassing their type, shape, crystal structure, and chemical composition. This in-depth examination was carried out using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Our findings, supported by TEM images and energy dispersive spectroscopy, indicated that these micro-nanoparticles in the geothermal fluid samples predominantly exhibit amorphous characteristics and possess irregular or nearly spherical shapes, often accompanied by rough edges. Furthermore, it was evident that the composition of these micro-nanoparticles primarily consists of carbonates, sulfates, and chlorides, which contain elements such as Fe, Ca, and Na. The distinctive features of these micro-nanoparticles provide valuable insights into the properties of the high-temperature reservoirs and aquifers from which they originate. As a result, we firmly assert that natural micro-nanoparticles can significantly contribute to the detection and comprehensive study of concealed geothermal resources within the Earth. This novel approach offers a promising method for exploring and gaining a deeper understanding of these hidden geothermal resources.

Environmental nanoparticles are known to be present in various aquatic environments, exerting significant influences on water quality, particularly in water distribution systems. However, there has been a notable dearth of research on the presence and impact of environmental nanoparticles in mineral water, a unique water resource. In this study, we employed Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) and conducted High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) to address this research gap. This groundbreaking study represents the first comprehensive exploration of environmental nanoparticles within natural mineral water from Zibo City, Shandong Province, China. The results of the NTA showed that the concentration of the particles was 5.5 × 105 particles/mL and the peak diameter of the size distribution was 180 nm. The HRTEM showed that the nanoparticles were granular, pinniform, rodlike, and flakey in shape, and some of the nanoparticles existed in aggregation. The energy-dispersive spectrometry results showed that most of the nanoparticles contained O, Mg, Ca, Si, Fe, Ti, and P, and some of them also contained F, V, S, and Mn. When combined with the characteristics of the selected area electron diffraction pattern, the nanoparticles were confirmed to be Ca-bearing nanoparticles, attapulgite nanorods, MnO2 nanosheets, and TiO2 nanoparticles. These findings shed light on a novel manifestation of elemental compositions in mineral water. Furthermore, considering the chemical and physical attributes of both the nanoparticles and mineral water, it is highly plausible that these environmental nanoparticles result from the weathering of minerals. The presence of these nanoparticles within mineral water offers a unique opportunity to advance our comprehension of nanoparticle behavior across diverse systems. Significantly, the realm of environmental nanoparticle science holds paramount importance for ongoing endeavors in ensuring water safety, enhancing treatment processes, and facilitating effective remediation procedures.

Ionically crosslinked networks are extremely effective in reinforcing double-network (DN) hydrogels. But the simultaneous improvement of both homogeneity and ionic crosslinking density remains as a challenge for toughing DN hydrogels. Herein, an in situ inhibition method is proposed to solve this problem. In this method, inhibitor is generated in situ to form a physical barrier around the ionic crosslinker, thereby decreasing the ionic crosslinking rate and further toughening DN hydrogels in a controllable manner. The chemical structure, micromorphology and mechanical properties were investigated, and molecular dynamics simulations were performed to reveal the inhibition mechanism. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images confirm the formation of inhibitors. It is revealed that the introduction of inhibitor can decrease ionic crosslinking rate, leading to an improvement in homogeneity and mechanical properties. The fracture energy of alginate-Ca2+/polyacrylamide (PAAm) DN hydrogels is up to 19,638 ± 947 J/m2, which is notably larger than the previously reported values (9000–16,000 J/m2). The inhibitor does not affect the chemical structures, thermal stability and micromorphology. This in situ inhibition method has significant potential to become a general method to toughen DN hydrogels containing ionically crosslinked networks, which will greatly promote the usage of hydrogels in diverse engineering applications.

Abstract Background Inflammation is integral to the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke and a prime target for the development of new stroke therapies. The aim of the present study is to seek out the regulatory mechanism of circCDC14A in neuroinflammatory injury in tMCAO mice. Methods The expression level of circCDC14A in peri-infarct cortex and plasma of mice were detected by qPCR. The localization of circCDC14A in peripheral blood cells and peri-infarct cortex of tMCAO mice were explored by in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence colocalization staining. Lentivirus were microinjected into lateral ventricular of brain or injected into tail vein to interfere with the expression of circCDC14A, thus their effects on behavior, morphology, and molecular biology of tMCAO mice were analyzed. Results The expression of circCDC14A in plasma and peri-infarct cortex of tMCAO mice significantly increased, and circCDC14A was mainly localized in neutrophils peripherally while in astrocytes in peri-infarct cortex centrally. Tail vein injection of lentivirus to interfere with the expression of circCDC14A significantly reduced the infarct volume (P

Abstract Extracting energy from ocean waves has become a heated topic since the energy crisis of the 2000s. Among all the different concepts and designs of Wave Energy Converter (WEC), point absorber is a widely adopted type with great potential, and various configurations and constraints are applicable to it. Here, the point absorber WECs with four different set‐up configurations are explored: single body heaving WEC, two‐body heaving WEC, two‐body WEC with a flat plate (Reference Model 3), and a two‐body WEC with a cylinder‐shaped second body. Dynamic models are established for each case and wave tank tests are conducted for verification. The results show that the power capture of a point absorber can benefit from several aspects: the two‐body WEC with a streamlined shape can double the wave capture width ratio (up to 66.5%) over the single‐body WEC or Reference Model 3, while coupling other motion or mooring dynamics can further improve the capture width ratio by 12% by increasing the relative motion stroke.

Objectives: To assess the association of road traffic noise exposure with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) risk, and to explore the potential moderation effect of obesity.Methods: A total of 305,969 participants from the UK Biobank Cohort - an open access cohort of 500,000 participants recruited in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2006 and 2010 - were included in the study. A Cox proportional hazard model was fitted to assess the association between road traffic noise exposure and T2D.Results: A total of 19,303 participants were diagnosed with T2D during the 11.9-year median follow-up period. For every 10 dB increase in road traffic noise, there was a 4% increase in T2D risk (HR = 1.04, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.07). Besides, a significant positive interaction was observed between obesity and road traffic noise (P interaction

Multimodal sensing is crucial for soft robots’ environmental interaction and closed‐loop control. The sensing signals of mechanical deformation and temperature changes are often hard to differentiate manually. Herein, two hydrogel sensors are used for simultaneously proprioceptive, thermoceptive, and mechanoreceptive sensing. These stretchable sensors show high sensitivity to strain and temperature changes. Then, a machine learning model composed of a 1D convolutional neural network and a feed‐forward neural network is utilized to decode the sensing signal for various stimuli identification. It is demonstrated that the proposed method can accurately predict the soft actuator's body posture changes, such as bending, twisting, and stretching. In addition, the model can discern contact events with or without thermal stimuli. This data‐driven method for multimodal sensing discrimination might pave the way for future intelligent soft robots.

BackgroundEpidemiologic evidence linking environmental noise to obesity and hypertension remains scarce, especially in children, and the results remain inconclusive. This study aims to examine the cross-sectional associations of self-reported residential noise exposure with obesity and hypertension in children and adolescents.MethodsAs an ongoing study, a representative sample of the children aged 6–9 years in Chongqing were selected in 2014. In 2019, self-reported residential noise (answer categories: “very quiet,” “moderately quiet,” “slightly quiet,” and “not at all quiet”) data were collected, and 3,412 participants with completed data were included in the analyses.ResultsParticipants living in a quieter area had a significantly lower risk of obesity than those living in a noisy area (very quiet: OR = 0.50, 95%CI: 0.29–0.88, P = 0.015; moderately quiet: OR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.36–1.02, P = 0.059). Similar associations were observed for abdominal obesity, although did not reach statistical significance. Consistently, residential noise exposure was significantly associated with body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio. Self-reported residential noise exposure was positively associated with systolic blood pressure (β = −1.808; 95%CI = −3.495, −0.110; P = 0.037). When sleep quality, study stress, BMI, and vegetable/fruits consumption were further adjusted, all effect estimates decreased, and no statistical association was observed between noise exposure and blood pressure. Furthermore, we found that the mediating effects of obesity on the associations of self-reported residential noise exposure with hypertension were 6.8% (% of total effect mediated = 0.068, 95%CI: −2.58, 3.99), although did not reach statistical significance.ConclusionsSelf-reported residential noise exposure was associated with a higher risk of obesity or abdominal obesity. Also, self-reported residential noise exposure was positively associated with hypertension, and obesity may partially mediate this association, but did not reach statistical significance.

The current air cargo loading plan handles the Air Cargo Palletization Problem (ACPP) and the Aircraft Weight and Balance Problem (WBP) separately, which has an impact on the optimization of the payload and the aircraft’s center of gravity (CG). Thanks to improvements in computer processing power, the joint combinatorial optimization of ACPP and WBP is now feasible. Three integer linear programming models are proposed: a Bi-objective Optimization Model (BOM), a Combinatorial Optimization Model (COM), and an Improved Combinatorial Optimization Model (IOM). The objectives of the models are the maximum loading capacity and the lowest CG deviation from a specified target CG. The models also consider a wide range of restrictions in the actual packing and stowage procedures, such as volume, weight, loading position, aircraft balance, and other aspects of aircraft and unit load devices. Four scenarios with various conditional metrics for three models are solved for the B777F aircraft using Gurobi. The results of the computations demonstrate that the BOM has the fastest solution speed, but the CG deviation is the largest, and in several cases the CG deviation results are unacceptable. The COM has the longest solution time, which is difficult to tolerate in practice. Despite taking a little longer to solve computationally than the BOM, the IOM offers the best optimization solution.

Over the last couple of decades, numerous piezoelectric footwear energy harvesters (PFEHs) have been reported in the literature. This paper reviews the principles, methods, and applications of PFEH technologies. First, the popular piezoelectric materials used and their properties for PEEHs are summarized. Then, the force interaction with the ground and dynamic energy distribution on the footprint as well as accelerations are analyzed and summarized to provide the baseline, constraints, potential, and limitations for PFEH design. Furthermore, the energy flow from human walking to the usable energy by the PFEHs and the methods to improve the energy conversion efficiency are presented. The energy flow is divided into four processing steps: (i) how to capture mechanical energy into a deformed footwear, (ii) how to transfer the elastic energy from a deformed shoes into piezoelectric material, (iii) how to convert elastic deformation energy of piezoelectric materials to electrical energy in the piezoelectric structure, and (iv) how to deliver the generated electric energy in piezoelectric structure to external resistive loads or electrical circuits. Moreover, the major PFEH structures and working mechanisms on how the PFEHs capture mechanical energy and convert to electrical energy from human walking are summarized. Those piezoelectric structures for capturing mechanical energy from human walking are also reviewed and classified into four categories: flat plate, curved, cantilever, and flextensional structures. The fundamentals of piezoelectric energy harvesters, the configurations and mechanisms of the PFEHs, as well as the generated power, etc., are discussed and compared. The advantages and disadvantages of typical PFEHs are addressed. The power outputs of PFEHs vary in ranging from nanowatts to tens of milliwatts. Finally, applications and future perspectives are summarized and discussed.

Circular RNAs (CircRNAs) have shown promising potential in the diagnosis and the prediction of outcomes of stroke. This study aimed to explore the potential value of circRNAs for identifying acute neurological deterioration and estimating long-term survival for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). One hundred healthy controls and 200 patients with AIS within 72 h were recruited, 140 of whom were admitted within 24 h after onset. CircRNA levels in peripheral blood were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Compared to the controls, the levels of three circRNAs were significantly increased in three subgroups of patients, including large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke, small artery occlusion (SAO) stroke, and cardioembolism (CE) stroke (all P < 0.001). Among, LAA stroke patients had higher levels of circular RNA FUNDC1 (circFUNDC1) compared to SAO stroke patients (P = 0.015). CircFUNDC1 levels were positively correlated with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores on the 7th day only in LAA patients (P = 0.048, r = 0.226). It should be noted that the levels of circFUNDC1 in patients with early neurological deterioration (END), admitted within 24 h after onset, were significantly higher than those without END (P = 0.013). In addition, circFUNDC1 levels positively correlated with baseline NIHSS scores (P = 0.016, r = 0.203) or the 7th day NIHSS scores (P = 0.001, r = 0.289) in patients within 24 h after onset. Importantly, after 18 months of follow-up, a significant difference was observed on survival Kaplan-Meier curves (P = 0.042) between AIS patients with low (below cut-off) or high circFUNDC1 levels (above cut-off). Circulating circFUNDC1 could be a potential biomarker for predicting acute-phase outcome and long-term survival in AIS.

Modeling is regarded as a suitable tool to improve biomass pyrolysis in terms of efficiency, product yield, and controllability. However, it is crucial to develop advanced models to estimate products' yield and composition as functions of biomass type/characteristics and process conditions. Despite many developed models, most of them suffer from insufficient validation due to the complexity in determining the chemical compounds and their quantity. To this end, the present paper reviewed the modeling and verification of products derived from biomass pyrolysis. Besides, the possible solutions towards more accurate modeling of biomass pyrolysis were discussed. First of all, the paper commenced reviewing current models and validating methods of biomass pyrolysis. Afterward, the influences of biomass characteristics, particle size, and heat transfer on biomass pyrolysis, particle motion, reaction kinetics, product prediction, experimental validation, current gas sensors, and potential applications were reviewed and discussed comprehensively. There are some difficulties with using current pyrolysis gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) for modeling and validation purposes due to its bulkiness, fragility, slow detection, and high cost. On account of this, the applications of Py-GC/MS in industries are limited, particularly for online product yield and composition measurements. In the final stage, a recommendation was provided to utilize high-temperature sensors with high potentials to precisely validate the models for product yield and composition (especially CO, CO2, and H2) during biomass pyrolysis.

Abstract Background Light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is the most common type of systemic amyloidosis with poor prognosis. Currently, the predictors of cardiac involvement and prognostic staging systems are primarily based on conventional echocardiography and serological biomarkers. We used three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (STE-3D) measurements of strain, hypothesizing that it could detect cardiac involvement and aid in prediction of mortality. Methods We retrospectively analysed 74 consecutive patients with biopsy-proven AL amyloidosis. Among them, 42 showed possible cardiac involvement and 32 without cardiac involvement. LV global longitudinal strain (GLS), global radial strain, global circumferential strain and global area strain (GAS) measurements were obtained. Results The GLS and GAS were considered significant predictors of cardiac involvement. The cut-off values discriminating cardiac involvement were 16.10% for GLS, 32.95% for GAS. During the median follow-up of 12.5 months (interquartile range 4–25 months), 20 (27%) patients died. For the Cox proportional model survival analysis, heart rate, cardiac troponin T, NT-proBNP levels, E/e’, GLS, and GAS were univariate predictors of death. Multivariate Cox model showed that GLS ≤ 14.78% and cardiac troponin T ≥ 0.049 mg/l levels were independent predictors of survival. Conclusions STE-3D measurements of LV myocardial mechanics could detect cardiac involvement in patients with AL amyloidosis; GLS and cardiac biomarkers can provided prognostic information for mortality prediction.

To meet the enormous demand for smart manufacturing, industrial robots are playing an increasingly important role. For industrial operations such as grinding 3C products, numerous demands are placed on the compliant interaction ability of industrial robots to interact in a compliant manner. In this article, an adaptive compliant control framework for robot interaction is proposed. The reference trajectory is obtained by single-point demonstration and DMP generalization. The adaptive feedforward and impedance force controller is derived in terms of position errors, and they are input into an admittance controller to obtain the updated amount of position deviation. The compliant interaction effect is achieved, which is shown that the grinding head fits on the curved surface of a computer mouse, and the interaction force is within a certain expected range in the grinding experiment based on the performance an Elite robot. A comparative experiment was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in a more intuitive way.

This analysis aims to investigate the association between household pesticide exposure and hypertension risk, and to determine whether smoking plays a role in this association. We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years 1999–2014, including a total of 32,309 U.S. adult participants who were 20 years or older. Smoking status and pesticide exposure were self-reported. Blood pressure was measured by trained personnel using a mercury sphygmomanometer, according to a standardized protocol. We observed an increased risk of hypertension (OR [odds ratio] = 1.10, 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1.01–1.18) in participants with exposure to household pesticides. Moreover, a significant interaction between smoking status and pesticide exposure on hypertension was observed (P = 0.022). Stratified analysis showed that household pesticide exposure was associated with a 29% higher risk of hypertension (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.08–1.53) in smokers. However, for non-smokers, this association was not significant. Similar trends were found for systolic and diastolic blood pressures. In addition, we investigated the associations between pesticide metabolites in urine/serum and hypertension and found that several metabolites of dioxins, furans, and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls were significantly associated with a higher risk of hypertension. This study suggests that household pesticide exposure is associated with an elevated risk of hypertension. We also report that smoking may accentuate the effect of pesticide exposure on hypertension.

Uniformly accelerated rotation of maneuvering targets can lead to quadratic phase terms, after translational motion compensation, which causes the cross-range signal in a certain range cell to be multicomponent linear frequency modulated (LFM) signals. Due to the time-varying Doppler frequencies of scatterers, ISAR image obtained by the conventional range-Doppler (RD) algorithm is blurred severely. To solve this problem, a new imaging method based on optimized matching Fourier transform (MFT) is proposed in this paper. In the new method, the equivalent rotation of targets is described by the rotation ratio (RR) which is the same for all scatterers on the target. The quadratic phase components caused by target's angular acceleration can be compensated by MFT, as soon as the RR is obtained. The estimation of RR is achieved according to the optimal imaging result with the image entropy as the cost function. As a result, the blurring of the ISAR image is eliminated effectively and a well-focused image is got. From the experimental results using simulated data, it can be concluded that the proposed method based on optimized MFT is effective in ISAR imaging of non-uniform rotating targets in terms of image quality and computational efficiency.

The formation of columbite-group mineral phases in peraluminous granite has not been demonstrated to date. Here, a nanoscale study of the columbite-tantalite mineral in the Zhaojinggou Nb-Ta deposit in North China Craton elucidated its formation mechanism and the role of fluids in Nb-Ta mineralization. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of a focused ion beam cut of the columbite-tantalite mineral revealed a comparatively well-ordered mineral structure. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the presence of Nb, Ta, Mn, W, Fe, Sn, and Pb in the columbite-tantalite mineral. Furthermore, detailed TEM images depicted the nanoscale hydrothermal fluid occurring within the columbite-group mineral grain as well as between columbite-tantalite mineral and quartz grains. K, Al, Si, and O were found to be enriched in the hydrothermal fluid that was present between the quartz grains and the columbite-tantalite mineral. It did not react with the mineral grains of the columbite group. The ultrastructure of the columbite-tantalite mineral suggested the columbite-group mineral in the Zhaojinggou Nb-Ta deposit formed during magmatic crystallization rather than from hydrothermal fluids. Furthermore, HR-TEM images provided the first nanoscale observations of the fluid-mediated mineral dissolution and amorphous phase formation. This study also revealed that the mineral dissolution, element transport, and reprecipitation were significantly influenced by the fluid amorphous phase in the Nb-Ta deposits.

Learning from demonstration (LfD) is one of the promising approaches for fast robot programming. Most learning systems learn both movements and stiffness profiles from human demonstrations. However, they rarely consider the unknown environment interaction. In this paper, a robot human-like learning framework is proposed, where it can learn human skills through demonstration and complete the interaction task with an unknown environment. Firstly, the desired trajectory was generated by dynamic movement primitive (DMP) based on human demonstration. Then, an adaptive optimal admittance control scheme was employed to interact with environments with the reference adaptation method. Finally, the experimental study was conducted, and the effectiveness of the framework proposed in this paper was verified via a group of curved surface wiping experiments on a balloon with unknown model parameters.

Spinodal decomposition is an important mechanism of exsolution. However, spinodal decomposition has not been observed in natural sulfide intergrowths. We utilized focused ion beam (FIB) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques to confirm spinodal decomposition in natural sulfide intergrowths (chalcopyrite and bornite). According to FIB and TEM analyses, spinodal decomposition occurred as small and curving alternating dark and bright fluctuations in natural bornite–chalcopyrite intergrowths. Due to the low temperature that drove the exsolution mechanism, fluctuations ~10 nm wide and 20–200 nm long contained non-stoichiometric and tetragonal bornite and chalcopyrite. The corresponding electron diffraction of spinodal decomposition displayed a satellite spot in the [−210] direction for bornite, and the (200)* and (224)* of chalcopyrite paralleled the (24−2)* and (242)* of bornite, respectively. These observations all agreed with spinodal decomposition, two coexisting phases formed with a crystallographic orientation relationship, which indicated the first observation of spinodal decomposition in natural sulfide intergrowths. These findings confirmed that spinodal decomposition is a mechanism for natural crystal growth. As spinodal decomposition is larger in extent and faster than nucleation and growth, other Cu ore deposits may also form via this mechanism.

With the development of minimally invasive technologies in the medical field, more and more technologies can replace surgical thoracotomy and relieve the pain of disease via minimally invasive methods. We reported a case of aortic valve stenosis combined with left ventricular outflow track obstruction treated by two minimally invasive techniques, transcatheter aortic valve replacement and transthoracic echocardiography–guided percutaneous intramyocardial septal radiofrequency ablation, and followed up for 2 years.

Soft robots made of hydrogels are suited for underwater exploration due to their biocompatibility and compliancy. Yet, reaching high dexterity and actuation force for hydrogel-based actuators is challenging. Meanwhile, real-time proprioception is critical for feedback control. Moreover, sensor integration to mimic living organisms remains problematic. To address these challenges, we introduce a hydrogel actuator driven by hydraulic force with a fast response (time constant 0.83 s). The highly stretchable and conductive hydrogel (1400% strain) is molded into the PneuNet shape, and two of them are further assembled symmetrically to actuate bi-directionally. Then, we demonstrate its bionic application for underwater swimming, showing 2 cm/s (0.19 BL/s) speed. Inspired by biological neuromuscular systems’ sensory motion, which unifies the sensing and actuation in a single unit, we explore the hydrogel actuator’s self-sensing capacity utilizing strain-induced resistance change. The results show that the soft actuator’s proprioception can monitor the undulation in real-time with a sensitivity of 0.2%/degree. Furthermore, we take a finite-element method and first-order differential equations to model the actuator’s bending in response to pressure. We show that such a model can precisely predict the robot’s bending response over a range of pressures. With the self-sensing actuator and the proposed model, we expect the new approach can lead to future soft robots for underwater exploration with feedback control, and the underlying mechanism of the undulation control might offer significant insights for biomimetic research.

A global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based multistatic radar is explored for target localization and kinematic state estimation. Since any point on the earth can be illuminated by a minimum of four satellites of each GNSS constellation at any time, GNSS-based passive radars can be inherently considered multistatic radars. In this paper, a method for jointly estimating the target position and velocity by utilizing both the time delays and Doppler shifts has been proposed, and an analytical accuracy analysis is also provided. In the new method, the bistatic range and Doppler for each path are firstly estimated by the range-Doppler (RD) method, and then by using the bistatic ranges and Doppler shifts. The least squares method is applied to estimate the target position and velocity simultaneously. Compared with the precedent target localization and velocity estimation method, the proposed method achieves a better estimation result with simple procedures. Simulation results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

ABSTRACT: Avian infectious bronchitis (IB), caused by avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), is an acute and highly contagious disease that is extremely harmful to the poultry industry throughout the world. The cross-using of different attenuated live vaccine strains has led to the occurrence of diverse IBV serotypes. In this study, we isolated an IBV strain from a chicken farm in southwest China and designated it CK/CH/SCMY/160315. Construction of a phylogenetic tree based on full S1 gene sequence analysis suggested that CK/CH/SCMY/160315 bears similarity to GI-28, and further comparison of S1 amino acid residues revealed that CK/CH/SCMY/160315 showed mutations and deletions in many key positions between LDT3-A and other GI-28 reference strains. Importantly, CK/CH/SCMY/160315 was identified as a novel recombinant virus derived from live attenuated vaccine strains H120 (GI-1), 4/91 (GI-13), LDT3-A (GI-28), and the field strain LJL/08-1 (GI-19), identifying at least 5 recombination sites in both structural and accessory genes. Pathogenicity analysis indicated that CK/CH/SCMY/160315 caused listlessness, sneezing, huddling, head shaking, and increased antibody levels in the inoculated chickens. To further describe pathogenicity of this novel strain, we assessed viral load in different tissues and conducted hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of the trachea, lungs and kidneys. Our results provide evidence for the continuing evolution of IBV field strains via genetic recombination and mutation, leading to outbreaks in the vaccinated chicken populations in China.

Background: Identification of early modifiable factors is crucial to delay or prevent the development of cognitive impairment and reduce the social and economic burden.Objective: This study aimed to examine the longitudinal associations of childhood neighborhood quality (CNQ) with the risk of later-life cognitive dysfunction and the role of body mass index (BMI) in this association.Methods: A total of 8,289 community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly population from wave 2011, wave 2013, and wave 2015 of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were included. Cognitive function and CNQ were measured by standardized questionnaires. Multilevel linear regression models were used to estimate the associations of CNQ and cognitive function. The interactions of BMI with CNQ in the progress of cognitive function were also estimated.Results: The participants with higher CNQ had a significantly low risk of cognitive impairment than those with lower CNQ score (β = 0.067, 95% CI: 0.031, 0.103), and the results remained similar (β = 0.039, 95% CI: 0.004, 0.075) after controlling other confounding variables. Furthermore, there was an interaction between BMI with CNQ score (P < 0.001) for the risk of cognitive impairment. In BMI-stratified analysis, we found that the association of CNQ and cognitive function was not statistically significant in overweight or obese population (β = 0.019, 95% CI: −0.032, 0.070), but was statistically significant in people with lower BMI (β = 0.059, 95% CI: 0.010, 0.107).Conclusions: Higher CNQ score is significantly associated with the lower risk of cognitive dysfunction in adulthood. BMI may moderate the associations of CNQ with the risk of cognitive function.

Abstract Background Myocardial infarction (MI) is a common cause of mortality in people. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) has been shown to exert therapeutic potential to treat myocardial infarction (MI). However, in patients with diabetes, the diabetic environment affected MSCs activity and could impair the efficacy of treatment. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) has been shown to attenuate MI by suppressing inflammation. In current study, the combination of MSC transplantation with IL-10 was evaluated in a diabetic mice model with MI. Methods We engineered bone marrow derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) to overexpress IL-10 by using CRISPR activation. We established the diabetic mice model with MI and monitored the IL-10 expression after BM-MSCs transplantation. We also evaluated the effects of BM-MSCs transplantation on inflammatory response, cell apoptosis, cardiac function and angiogenesis. Results CRISPR activation system enabled overexpression of IL-10 in BM-MSCs. Transplantation of BM-MSCs overexpressing IL-10 resulted in IL-10 expression in heart after transplantation. Transplantation of BM-MSCs overexpressing IL-10 inhibited inflammatory cell infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokines production, improved cardiac functional recovery, alleviated cardiac injury, decreased apoptosis of cardiac cells and increased angiogenesis. Conclusion In summary, we have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of IL-10 overexpressed BM-MSCs in the treatment of MI in diabetic mice.

Asset management was a common RFID-based Internet-of-Things (IoT) application scene. RFID tags in the equipment warehouse were usually large, and the communication between the reader and the tag was prone to data collision problems, which affected the recognition efficiency of the device. In practical applications, due to the structural characteristics of the micro-strip UHF RFID tag antenna, the traditional inter-coupling impedance expression had large errors and insufficient accuracy in predicting the mutual coupling effect, such as system frequency shift. In this paper, the 3D initialization model of the tag was used to indirectly extract the electrical parameter values by the ANSYS HFSS software. At the same time, the dual-tag was taken as an example to derive the transimpedance expression between the dense tags to extract the corresponding coupling parameters. Finally, various tag-intensive scenarios in the actual environment were tested and the derivation formula was verified, and the dual-tag UHF RFID near-field frequency shift affected by the environmental factors, such as relative position, attachment, and the stacking method, was discussed. The mutual coupling effect on the minimum transmit power of the reader antenna was also studied. The experimental results showed that the average error of the formula calculated by this method was significantly smaller than that of the traditional formula. When the tag spacing was less than 30 mm, the derived mutual impedance expression was applied to the frequency shift calculation error range (1.6-7.3 MHz). For dense tag systems, the error was less than 9.8% when the number of tags was greater than 7, and the prediction accuracy was higher than the superposition method. The research results provided a theoretical and practical basis for the rapid identification and location of power assets during the dense RFID tag environment.

Calorimeters, which can be used for rapid thermal characterization of biomolecules, are getting intense attention in drug development. This paper presents a novel MEMS-based differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for direct thermal characterization of protein samples. The DSC consisted of a pair of temperature sensors made by vanadium oxide (VOx) film with a temperature coefficient of resistivity of −0.025/K at 300 K, a microfluidic device with high thermal insulation (2.8 K/mW), and a Peltier heater for linear temperature scanning. The DSC exhibited high sensitivity (6.1 µV/µW), low noise (0.4 µW), high scanning rate (45 K/min), and low sample consumption volume (0.63 µL). The MEMS DSC was verified by measuring the temperature-induced denaturation of lysozyme at different pH, and then used to study the thermal stability of a monoclonal antibody (mAb), an antigen-binding fragment (Fab), and a dual variable domain immunoglobulin (DVD-Ig) at pH = 6. The results showed that lysozyme is a stable protein in the pH range of 4.0–8.0. The protein stability study revealed that the transition temperatures of the intact Fab fragment, mAb, and DVD proteins were comparable with conformational stability results obtained using conventional commercial DSC. These studies demonstrated that the MEMS DSC is an effective tool for directly understanding the thermal stability of antibodies in a high-throughput and low-cost manner compared to conventional calorimeters.

Quickly and accurately segmenting the left ventricular (LV) myocardium from ultrasound images and measuring the thickness of the interventricular septum and LV wall play an important role in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, the segmentation of the LV myocardium is a challenging task due to image blurring and individual differences. We attempted to perform LV segmentation in ultrasound images using the encoder–decoder architecture of U-Net and other networks and found it to be not accurate enough. Therefore, we propose a novel multi-task cascaded convolutional neural network (called MTC-Net) to segment the LV myocardium from echocardiography. MTC-Net contains two parts: One is pre-trained Resnet-34 followed by two decoder branches for mask and boundary detection, and the other module is pre-trained with many improved novel encoder–decoder architectures for extracting more detailed features. Both parts of the network use the atrous spatial pyramid pooling module to capture high-level text information. A hybrid loss function is engaged for mask and contour prediction. The network is trained and evaluated with echocardiographic images, which are labeled manually by doctors. The comparison study with other networks shows that MTC-Net has better accuracy and performance. MTC-Net achieves state-of-the-art performance on the test set. The mean value of the dice coefficient is 0.9442 and the mean value of intersection over union is 0.8951.

Copper can persist stably in the environment for prolonged periods. Except for inducing antibiotic resistance in bacteria, copper ions (Cu2+) can facilitate the horizontal transfer of plasmid DNA. However, whether and how Cu2+ can accelerate the conjugative transfer of SXT/R391 integrative and conjugative element (ICE) is still largely unknown. In this study, Proteus mirabilis ChSC1905, harboring an SXT/R391 ICE that carried 21 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), was used as a donor, and Escherichia coli EC600 was used as a recipient. Cu2+, at subinhibitory and environmentally relevant concentrations (1–10 μmol/L), significantly accelerated the conjugative transfer of SXT/R391 ICE across bacterial genera (from P. mirabilis to E. coli) (p < 0.05). The combined analyses of phenotypic tests and genome-wide sequencing indicated that reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell membrane permeability were critical in the enhanced conjugative transfer of SXT/R391 ICE. Furthermore, the expression of genes related to cell adhesion and ATP synthesis was also significantly upregulated on exposure to Cu2+ at a concentration of 5 μmol/L. This study clarified the potential mechanisms of Cu2+ to promote the conjugative transfer of SXT/R391 ICE, revealing the potential risk imposed by Cu2+ on the horizontal transfer of SXT/R391 ICE-mediated ARGs.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of myocardial biopsy using a new approach, the Liwen procedure. Background. Myocardial biopsy is essential when other methods could not differentiate other etiologies from hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). Our previous work using intramyocardial radiofrequency ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (Liwen procedure) may provide another approach to obtain the myocardial samples. Method. Seventeen patients with HOCM were enrolled for biopsies through percutaneously accessed intramyocardial septum and evaluated possible complications. Results. We obtained 31 specimens from 17 patients with a success rate of sample acquisition 100.0%. The number of myocardial samples taken per patient was 1.8 ± 0.8, and the average length of all samples was 16.7 ± 5.6 mm which could be used for pathological diagnosis. The complications included pericardial effusion with and without tamponade in one patient (5.9%), and no incidence of nonsustained and sustained ventricular tachycardia, conduction abnormity, perforation, stroke, and pneumothorax. The inhospital and 30-day mortality was 0%. Conclusion. This study has shown that myocardial biopsy of the Liwen procedure is relatively safe and technically feasible with adequate tissue sampling, which may help pathological diagnosis and further research of HOCM of diverse etiologies. This trial is registered with NCT04355260.