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Nitric oxide (●NO) participates in many biological activities, including enhancing DNA radiosensitivity in ionizing radiation-based radiotherapy. To help understand the radiosensitization of ●NO, we report reaction dynamics between ●NO and the radical cations of guanine (a 9HG●+ conformer) and 9-methylguanine (9MG●+). On the basis of the formation of 9HG●+ and 9MG●+ in the gas phase and the collisions of the radical cations with ●NO in a guided-ion beam mass spectrometer, the charge transfer reactions of 9HG●+ and 9MG●+ with ●NO were examined. For both reactions, the kinetic energy-dependent product ion cross sections revealed a threshold energy that is 0.24 (or 0.37) eV above the 0 K product 9HG (or 9MG) + NO+ asymptote. To interrogate this abnormal threshold behavior, the reaction potential energy surface for [9MG + NO]+ was mapped out at closed-shell singlet, open-shell singlet, and triplet states using density functional and coupled cluster theories. The results showed that the charge transfer reaction requires the interaction of a triplet-state surface originating from a reactant-like precursor complex 3[9MG●+(↑)⋅(↑)●NO] with a closed-shell singlet-state surface evolving from a charge-transferred complex 1[9MG⋅NO+]. During the reaction, an electron is transferred from π∗(NO) to perpendicular π∗(9MG), which introduces a change in orbital angular momentum. The latter offsets the change in electron spin angular momentum and facilitates intersystem crossing. The reaction threshold in excess of the 0 K thermochemistry and the low charge-transfer efficiency are rationalized by the vibrational excitation in the product ion NO+ and the kinetic shift arising from a long-lived triplet intermediate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct laser acceleration of electrons in near-critical-density (NCD) carbon nanotube foams (CNFs) has its advantages in the high-efficiency generation of relativistic electrons and broadband x-rays. Here, we report the first simultaneous measurement on the spectra of laser-driven electrons and x-rays from CNFs at moderately relativistic intensities of around 5 × 10 19 W / c m 2 . The density and thickness of the CNFs were scanned in the experiments, indicating the optimized electron temperature of 5.5 MeV and x-ray critical energy of 5 keV. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirm that the electrons, with a temperature significantly higher than the pondermotive scale, are directly accelerated by the laser along the NCD plasma channel, while the bright x-rays are emitted by these electrons through betatron radiation or Thomson backscattering inside the channel. The simultaneously generated electrons and x-rays, automatically synchronized with the femtosecond laser driver, are suitable for applications such as bi-modal radiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transverse skin of dolphins exhibits a remarkable drag reduction effect. Although previous studies have identified the drag reduction effect of transverse grooves, no clear guidelines exist regarding the impact of groove parameters on turbulent drag reduction. Hence, this paper suggests a novel numerical study using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes method to investigate the influence of half-sine wave structure parameters on turbulent drag. The results showed that the aspect ratio of shape parameters significantly affected the drag reduction rate by altering the flow velocity and drag distribution near the wall and increasing the viscous sublayer thickness. Moreover, a novel index friction pressure ratio F P r was introduced to evaluate the drag reduction. It was revealed that the ratio F P r was stable at optimal drag reduction effect regardless of the velocity. By optimizing the F P r , a maximum drag reduction of 29.3% was achieved. These findings provide insight for optimizing transverse groove in drag-reducing surface applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: DNA damage in cumulus cells hinders oocyte maturation and affects steroid hormone secretion. It is crucial to identify the key factors that regulate cellular DNA damage and steroid hormone secretion. (2) Methods: Treatment of bovine cumulus cells with bleomycin to induce DNA damage. The effects of DNA damage on cell biology were determined by detecting changes in DNA damage degree, cell cycle, viability, apoptosis, and steroid hormones. It was verified that mir-302d targeted regulation of CDKN1A expression, and then affected DNA damage and steroid hormone secretion in cumulus cells. (3) Results: Bleomycin induced increased DNA damage, decreased G1-phase cells, increased S-phase cells, inhibited proliferation, promoted apoptosis, affected E2 and P4 secretion, increased CDKN1A expression, and decreased miR-302d expression. Knockdown of CDKN1A reduced DNA damage, increased G1-phase cells, decreased G2-phase cells, promoted proliferation, inhibited apoptosis, increased E2 and P4 secretion, and increased the expression of BRCA1, MRE11, ATM, CDK1, CDK2, CCNE2, STAR, CYP11A1, and HSD3B1. The expression of RAD51, CCND1, p53, and FAS was decreased. Overexpression of CDKN1A resulted in the opposite results. miR-302d targets CDKN1A expression to regulate DNA damage and then affects the cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, steroid hormone secretion, and the expression of related genes. (4) Conclusions: miR-302d and CDKN1A were candidate molecular markers for the diagnosis of DNA damage in bovine cumulus cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affective lability is an important feature of psychopathology. However, there is limited relevant research involving adolescents. To fill this research gap, the present study assessed the relationship between childhood trauma and affective lability among adolescents using a moderated mediation model. A total of 3738 students were recruited from four high schools in Shenzhen, China, between September and December 2019. The participants completed self-reported questionnaires measuring childhood trauma, affective lability, body image dissatisfaction, and the experience of being bullied. Linear regression and moderated mediation analyses were used in this study. Linear regression analysis showed that emotional abuse and body image dissatisfaction positively predicted affective lability in boys and girls (all p < 0.001). Body image dissatisfaction mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and affective lability. In the moderated mediation model, being bullied moderated the direct path from emotional abuse to affective lability (p = 0.0236, p = 0.0188), and gender did not have a significant moderating effect on any direct or indirect path (all p > 0.05). A causal relationship could not be ascertained due to the cross-sectional design, and the results cannot be generalized to other populations. The findings support that childhood trauma has an impact on affective lability in adolescents. Specifically, body image dissatisfaction and being bullied affect the relationship between emotional abuse and affective lability. • Emotional abuse positively predicted affective lability among adolescents. • Body image dissatisfaction mediates the relationship between emotional abuse and affective lability among adolescents. • Experiences of being bullied moderate the relationship between emotional abuse and affective lability among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibition of amyloid‐β peptide (Aβ) aggregation is a promising therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease (AD), as Aβ aggregation is generally believed to trigger AD pathology. Pre‐fibril Aβ‐oligomers induce membrane disruption and are crucial to neurotoxicity. We have previously designed a short peptide called cyclic helical amyloid surface inhibitor (cHASI) that can selectively bind to the Aβ fibril surface. Here, we use cHASI to efficiently inhibit the surface‐catalysed secondary nucleation process of Aβ in a lipid membrane environment. By incubating Aβ monomers with lipid vesicles, we show that during the assembly of Aβ into amyloid fibrils, oligomers are formed that markedly disrupt the lipid bilayer. Remarkably, when Aβ monomers are incubated with cHASI, although Aβ forms amyloid fibrils via primary nucleation and elongation, this pathway to fibrils does not damage the lipid bilayer. This indicates that only oligomers produced during secondary surface nucleation disrupt membrane integrity. The protective effect of cHASI is confirmed by cytotoxicity assays. Our study highlights the therapeutic potential for inhibiting the secondary nucleation process in Aβ aggregation, rather than inhibiting all pathways to fibril formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood trauma (CT) can lead to long-term psychiatric disturbances. The current study investigated the prevalence of CT and its associated risk factors among Chinese adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Adolescents were recruited from a large study on mental health in the Hunan province of China in 2014. The study had a two-phase cross-sectional design. Patients with mental disorders (n = 907) and healthy subjects (n = 2,240) completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire–Short Form. Of all types of CT, emotional neglect (EN; 48.44%-68.82%) and physical neglect (PN; 60.0%-72.1%) were most common among adolescents. The experience of emotional abuse (EA), physical abuse (PA), sexual abuse (SA), EN, and multiple types of trauma (≥3) was higher among adolescents with psychiatric disorders than the healthy comparison group. Moreover, the results of logistic regression analysis showed that living in semi-urban areas and villages, having a sibling, and having bad-to-average academic performance were risk factors for CT among adolescents with psychiatric disorders (p <.05). In additional, the results of logistic regression analysis revealed that being a left-behind child and bad academic performance were risk factors for experiencing multiple types (≥3) of CT (p <.05), while being female and having siblings were found to be protective factors against (≥3) CT (p <.05). In summary, the prevalence rate of CT (especially multiple types of trauma) is high among adolescents with psychiatric disorders. These results indicate the importance of reducing CT to limit the likelihood of psychiatric disorders, especially among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyze the dynamic changes of thyroid hormone and cortisol hormone (COR) and their relationship with prognosis in patients with severe craniocerebral injury. Methods. A retrospective analysis of 48 patients with severe craniocerebral injury who were admitted to our hospital from January 2014 to January 2017 was performed. According to the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) after 3 months of treatment, the patients were divided into a favorable prognosis group (GOS score = 4-5) and a poor prognosis group (GOS score = 1–3). Clinical data such as ICU hospitalization time and mechanical ventilation time between the two groups were collected and compared. The GCS score was evaluated and recorded at 24 h and 7 d after injury, respectively. The fasting venous blood was collected from patients at 24 h and 7 d after injury, and the levels of thyrotropin (TSH), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and free thyroxine (FT4) were detected by the time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay, while the cortisol (COR) levels were examined by the chemiluminescence assays. The prognostic risk factors of patients with severe craniocerebral injury were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. A nomogram prediction model was constructed based on the results of the logistic analysis. The value of each factor in predicting the prognosis of patients with severe craniocerebral injury was analyzed using the ROC curve. Results. Significant differences existed between the poor prognosis group and the favorable prognosis group in age, whether complicated with a cerebral hernia, intracranial hematoma volume, admission time, ICU hospitalization time, GCS score, and mechanical ventilation time (P < 0.05). At 24 h after injury, the levels of TT4, FT3, and FT4 in the poor prognosis group were significantly lower than those in the favorable prognosis group (P < 0.05). On the 7th day after the injury, the levels of FT3, FT4, TT3, TT4, and TSH in the poor prognosis group were prominently lower than those in the favorable prognosis group (P < 0.05). At 24 h after injury, the COR level in the poor prognosis group was observably higher than that in the favorable prognosis group (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age, complicated with a cerebral hernia, length of stay in ICU, FT3, FT4, TT4, and COR were the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with severe craniocerebral injury (P < 0.05), while the GCS score was the protective factor (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) of ICU length of stay, GCS score, FT3, and FT4 to predict the prognosis of patients with severe craniocerebral injury was better with 0.841, 0.885, 0.881, and 0.850, respectively. The survival curve drawn by the K-M method showed that high levels of serum FT3, FT4, and TT4 and low levels of COR were conducive to improve the overall survival time of patients (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Abnormal levels of thyroid hormone and cortisol hormone were found in patients with severe craniocerebral injury. Age, combined brain herniation, ICU length of stay, FT3, FT4, TT4, COR, and GCS scores were all prognostic factors in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. These factors have high value in judging the death and survival of patients with severe craniocerebral injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infects piglets and causes serious diarrhea as well as vomiting, dehydration, and death. The trimeric S protein plays a crucial role in the induction of neutralizing antibodies, and many neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against PEDV S protein have been developed. However, these mAbs exclusively target the S1 protein. In this study, we obtained a neutralizing mAb, 5F7, against the S2 protein of PEDV, and this mAb could neutralize new variant genotype 2 PEDV strains (LNCT2), as well as a genotype 1 PEDV strain (CV777), in vitro. The core sequence of the epitope was found in amino acid sequence 1261 aa~1337 aa. These findings confirm that the S2 protein possessed neutralizing epitopes and provided knowledge to aid further research on this virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight pairs of dihydrohomoisoflavonoids (1 − 8), including four pairs of enantiomeric aglycones [(R , S)-portulacanones B (1) and C (2) and (R , S)-oleracones C (3) and Q (4)] and four pairs of epimeric glycosides [portulacasides A−D and epiportulacasides A−D (5 − 8)], were obtained from Portulaca oleracea L. Among them, (R , S)-oleracone Q (4) and four pairs of epimeric glycosides (5 − 8) were reported for the first time. The 50% EtOH fraction from the 70% EtOH extract prevented HepG2 human liver cancer cell damage induced by N -acetyl- p -aminophenol (APAP), and the cell survival rate was 62.3%. Portulacaside B (6a), which was isolated from the 50% EtOH fraction, exhibited hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. The compound increased the survival rate of APAP-damaged HepG2 human liver cancer cells from 40.0% to 51.2% and reduced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages, resulting in an inhibitory rate of 46.8%. Portulacaside B (3 S - 6a) reduced NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages, resulting in an inhibitory rate of 46.8%, and increased the survival rate of APAP-damaged HepG2 human liver cancer cells from 40.0% to 51.2%. [Display omitted] • Five pairs of undescribed homoisoflavonoids were got from Portulaca oleracea L. • Structures were determined based on HRMS, NMR and ECD data. • Portulacaside B showed anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resistance switching (RS) effect is one of the main research directions of the next generation of non-volatile memory devices. RS properties are mainly attained using different metallic or alloy electrodes; however, conductive oxides are also being investigated due to their excellent conductivity, thermal stability and oxidation resistance. Herein, a conductive oxide, i.e., YBCO, is used as an electrode for investigating the RS effect. The Pt/HfO 2 /YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x (YBCO) heterostructure is prepared using the pulsed laser deposition method, and the RS characteristics of HfO 2 and the influence of oxygen ions (Ö2−) migration on YBCO resistance during the RS effect are systematically studied. First, the difference in the RS effect of HfO 2 in the case of YBCO oxide electrode and Pt electrode is comparatively studied. It is found that the oxide electrode not only renders better oxidation resistance but also serves as the Ö2− storage layer to promote the occurrence of RS effect, resulting in relatively low "Set" and "Reset" voltages. The mechanism of RS generation can be explained using the oxygen vacancies (OV2+) conductive filament (CF) model. The electrical transport characteristics of HfO 2 mainly change from the Ohmic conduction mechanism to the space charge-limited current (SCLC) mechanism in the high-resistance state of HfO 2 , and mainly conforming to the SCLC mechanism in the low-resistance state of HfO 2. With the decrease in temperature, the structure still demonstrates an obvious RS effect, and the resistance of high-resistance HfO 2 and "Set" voltage of the RS effect increases slightly. Furthermore, during the RS process of HfO 2 , it is observed that the resistance of YBCO during the superconducting transformation process significantly increases under a positive bias voltage (YBCO with high potential) due to the migration and injection effects of Ö2−. However, any significant change in YBCO resistance is not observed under the non-superconducting state and after superconducting transformation. At the same time, any change in YBCO resistance is not observed under a negative bias voltage. In addition, due to slight changes in the carrier concentration of YBCO, the magnetization curves of the Pt/HfO 2 /YBCO structure in HRS are slightly higher than LRS. These results provide experimental references for further research on the RS mechanism and development of adjustable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the photocatalytic performance of m-BiVO4 materials, iridium doping in m-BiVO4(0 0 1) crystal was studied using CAmbridge Serial Total Energy Package calculation module based on density functional theory. By calculating the formation energy of Ir doped in m-BiVO4 crystal at different doping positions and different content, model of Bi atom substituted by 6.25% Ir with the Ef of 0.887 eV was selected as a research object. The splitting and transferring of Ir 5d orbit from high localised state to two peaks of state density distributed on sides of conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB) are benefitted for electron transfer and charges redistribution. The band gap value decreased from 2.218 to 1.203 eV after doping Ir element and three hybrid energy bands arised between the VB and CB. The energy range of VB and CB is −5.68∼0.40 eV and 1.90∼7.42 eV, which is mainly the contribution of interaction between O 2p orbit and V 3d orbit, V 3d orbit and Bi 6p orbit, respectively. The iridium doping introduced the impurity levels near the Fermi energy level (EF), narrowed the band gap and reduced the transition energy barrier of photo-generated electrons and made the electrons transition process more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sol–gel method is a low-cost material preparation method; however, it is difficult to obtain a stable sol containing easily hydrolyzable metal ions via this method. In this study, a stable hafnium(IV) oxide (HfO 2) sol was prepared by adding benzoyl acetone (BzAcH) modifier. Infrared absorption spectroscopy results showed that the BzAcH additive chelated with the Hf4+ ions in the sol, thus improving the hydrolysis resistance of the HfO 2 sol, which in turn improved its stability. It was also found that the BzAcH-modified HfO 2 gel film exhibited ultraviolet (UV) photosensitivity. After UV exposure, the film did not dissolve easily in organic solvents. Based on these properties, the micro processing of the HfO 2 film was preliminarily explored, and HfO 2 microstructures were successfully obtained. Additionally, the relative permittivity (ε r) of HfO 2 exhibited minimum (∼10.9) and maximum (∼20.6) values at heat-treatment (HT) temperatures of 350 and 450 °C, respectively. With the continuous increase in the HT temperature, ε r first decreased and then increased slightly. Moreover, the current–voltage curves showed that the Pt/HfO 2 /LaNiO 3 (LNO) structure exhibited a pronounced bipolar resistive switching (RS) effect, which was attributed to the fact that LNO could be used as an electrode and an oxygen vacancy (OV2+) storage layer for RS materials. Notably, the oxygen ions in HfO 2 with a low degree of crystallinity are more likely to migrate within its body (which makes it easier to form OV2+s), therefore, the "Set" voltage of low-crystallinity HfO 2 films is lower than that of high-crystallinity HfO 2 films. The RS mechanism can be explained by the OV2+ conductive filament model. These results are of great practical significance for the low-cost preparation of HfO 2 and the application of LNO as an oxide electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel 0–3 type Sr 0.7 Bi 0.2 TiO 3 : Al 2 O 3 composite ceramic is designed for dielectric capacitor applications. A superior energy density of 5.96 J/cm3, a high current density of 1099 A/cm² and a remarkable power density of 198 MW/cm³ are concurrently achieved in the ceramic specimen due to the great enhancement of the breakdown strength. The microstructure and physical property characterization confirm that highly insulating Al 2 O 3 particles existed in the ceramic matrix. It is evident that reduced grain sizes, the enhanced band gap energy and the increased activation energy contribute to the improvement of the breakdown strength. Ulteriorly, numerical simulations reveal that the primary factor might be ascribed to the decreased grain size. These findings demonstrate that the 0–3 type Sr 0.7 Bi 0.2 TiO 3 : Al 2 O 3 composite ceramic is a promising candidate for energy storage applications. • A novel 0–3 type composite ceramic are prepared by introducing Al 2 O 3 into the SBT relaxor ceramic in this work. • A superior W rec of 5.96 J/cm3 is achieved, which should be ascribed to the greatly enhanced E b. • The presence of highly insulating Al 2 O 3 particles, the reduced grain sizes, the enhanced band gap energy and the increased activation energy synergistically contribute to the improvement of the breakdown strength. • Numerical simulations reveal that the primary factor might be ascribed to the decreased grain size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Available data on the temporal and geographical distribution of Middle–early Late Ordovician trilobites in South China were reviewed under a high-resolution biostratigraphical framework to investigate the diversity dynamics and explain the faunal turnover and radiation pattern of trilobites during the Middle Ordovician. Three macroevolutionary phases are recognized on the basis of the diversity changes at taxonomic levels. Cluster analysis shows three trilobite groups, two distinct trilobite faunas and three faunal turnovers through nine time slices. Three trilobite groups (Groups A, B and C) are coupled with three macroevolutionary phases, and characterized by different proportions of the Whiterock Fauna. Two distinct trilobite faunas (Early–Middle Ordovician and Late Ordovician Trilobite Faunas) and three faunal turnovers could be recognized at different similarity coefficients, their replacements were mainly affected by changes of sea level and substrate conditions. The trilobite radiation was manifested by the development, expansion and domination of the Whiterock Fauna (part of the Paleozoic Evolutionary Fauna) through the Middle Ordovician. The first diversity acme of trilobites occurred during the Dapingian–early Darriwilian, while the radiation centre gradually shifted from inner platform to outer platform environments. From the end Darriwilian onwards, elements of the Whiterock Fauna had further developed and dominated all environmental settings from the inner platform to the lower slope, coinciding with the second and more extensive radiation of trilobites in South China. Two phases of radiation may have been directly triggered by two major transgressions during the late Dapingian–early Darriwilian and the late Darriwilian–early Sandbian respectively. In addition, climate cooling and various substrate conditions, as well as the increased oxygen levels in the atmosphere and marine water, nutrients and tectonic movements during the Middle Ordovician may have provided essential conditions for the trilobite radiation. • Three macroevolutionary phases of South China trilobites based on diversity changes. • Heatmap of trilobites based on cluster analysis shows trilobite groups and faunal turnovers. • Development, expansion and domination of the Whiterock Fauna along environmental gradients. • Status of the Whiterock Fauna in the macroevolution of the Ordovician trilobite and Paleozoic Fauna. • Trilobite radiations of South China were closely related to sea level changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many crack segmentation techniques based on supervised learning have been widely employed in civil infrastructure maintenance. However, the accuracy of these supervised learning algorithms is heavily impacted by the quantity and quality of labels, while it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to manually annotate the crack locations. To address this issue, a new semi-supervised algorithm is proposed to leverage both labeled and unlabeled data through a cross-teacher-pseudo-supervision framework and cross-augmentation strategy. The proposed method employs two pairs of teacher–student models to mutually supervise each other using pseudo-labels generated from their respective teacher models. To boost the performance of the proposed algorithm, input, feature, and network perturbances are applied during training. In addition, there is no additional computation and storage overhead in the test phase. In comparative experiments, the proposed method achieves superior performance over that of several existing algorithms on four public crack datasets. Specifically, on the four datasets, the proposed method outperforms the supervised-only baseline by 0.92%, 1.29%, 4.14%, and 5.38% respectively, in mean intersection over union under the labeled ratio of 5%, and by 0.76%, 1.06%, 1.79% and 1.35% under the ratio of 10%. Additionally, detailed ablation experiments further confirm the efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low pressure superheated steam drying (LPSSD) is an attractive drying method, which can retain nutrients in fruits and vegetables well. To obtain high quality drying products, it is necessary to understand the main factors affecting the quality attribute of drying sample. Therefore, green turnip was selected as the drying sample and sensitivity analysis method was used to identify the main influencing factors of product quality, such as color, re-hydration performance and Vitamin C during LPSSD. The results showed that the drying temperature had the greatest influence on the color change and vitamin C retention of green turnip. The total color difference ΔE* increased with the elevated drying temperature. The drying pressure had the greatest influence on re-hydration performance and the re-hydration ratio decreased with the elevated drying pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies identified an association between schizophrenia and emotional instability. However, the relationship between schizotypal personality traits and emotional instability has not been explored to date. Furthermore, both mediating and moderating factors need to be identified.Methods: A total of 2936 students completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), the Affective Lability Scale-Short Form (ALS-SF), and the Davos Assessment of Cognitive Biases Scale (DACOBS).Results: 1) The total scores of DACOBS (and all dimensions) and ALS-SF (and all dimensions) in the high schizotypal personality trait group were higher than in the low schizotypal personality trait group (all P < 0.05). 2) SPQ score and DACOBS social cognition problems, subjective cognitive problems, jumping to conclusions bias, and external attribution bias subscale scores positively predicted the total score of ALS-SF (or the dimensions of ALS-SF) in both male and female populations (all P < 0.05). 3) In the male population, DACOBS social cognition problems, subjective cognitive problems, jumping to conclusions bias, and external attribution bias subscale scores mediated the relationship between SPQ score and ALS-SF total score (or its subscales). In the female population, DACOBS attention for threat bias, external attribution bias, jumping to conclusions bias, social cognition problems, and subjective cognitive problems subscale scores mediated the relationship between SPQ score and ALS-SF total score (or its subscales). 4) Gender exerted a moderating effect on this relationship between SPQ score and ALS-SF total/anxiety-depression score (all P < 0.05).Conclusions: Schizotypal personality traits might influence emotional instability through cognitive biases, and the degree of this influence varies depending on gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the most important complications of diabetes mellitus, having a high disability fatality rate. Qiweitangping is a Chinese medicine to control diabetes (type 1 and type 2 diabetes) and complications, having been used in clinic for more than 20 years, with the expected therapeutic effect. In a previous clinical study, the total effective rate of the drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes reached 92.7%. However, the mechanism of the treatment process is unclear. Therefore, this research was conducted to explore the mechanism of treating diabetic coronary heart disease with the assistance of bioinformatics methods. Methods. The TCMSP database was used to collect the effective chemical constituents of Qiweitangping and the target genes of the chemical constituents, and the related genes of diabetic CHD were obtained from the GeneCard database. Furthermore, the intersection was found between the target gene of the drug and the related gene of the disease to obtain the candidate genes; the STRING database and DAVID database were used to perform protein interaction analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis on the candidate genes. Also, molecular docking was used for auxiliary verification. Finally, a "drug component-gene target-pathway" network was constructed by using Cytoscape software. Results. Sixty-two effective chemical components including naringin, diosgenin, formogenin, isorolin, and isocryptanshinone, fifty-nine candidate target genes (such as AKT1, CASP3, and VEGF-A), and thirty-nine related pathways in Qiweitangping were obtained. In addition, two pairs (CASP-naringenin and STAT3-cryptotanshinone) of molecular docking results showed good affinity (<−5.00 kcal/mol). Conclusion. The results of the study indicate that Qiweitangping treats diabetic CHD with multiple chemical components. Its mechanism of action may be related to the HIF-1 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and ErbB signaling pathway. STAT3 and CASP genes have been verified by molecular docking to have a relatively good combination with Qiweitangping. This study is the theoretical basis for further experimental study on the treatment mechanism of diabetic CHD with Qiweitangping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with rheumatic diseases are often more susceptible to different bacteria and viruses because of immune impairment, but it is not clear whether there is a higher risk of infection and a more serious course of disease for novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). We performed this systematic review and meta analysis to assess the risk and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic diseases compared with the general population. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Science databases from January 1, 2020 to October 20, 2020 to determine epidemiological information related to patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19, including clear risk estimate or data that could be converted and extracted. We included 26 observational studies, totaling about 2000 patients with rheumatic diseases of whom were infected with COVID-19. Meta-analysis showed that the risk of COVID-19 infection in rheumatic patients was significantly higher than that in the general population (OR = 1.53, 95% CI 1.24–1.88, P = 0.000). In terms of hospitalization and severe clinical outcomes associated with COVID-19, we found that rheumatic patients showed similar results to the reference population (hospitalization OR = 1.36, 95% CI 0.81–2.29, P = 0.247; admitted to ICU OR = 1.94, 95% CI 0.88–4.27, P = 0.098; death OR = 1.29, 95% CI 0.84–1.97, P = 0.248). The presence of comorbidities, hypertension, lung diseases were significantly associated with the increased risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization in rheumatic patients and anti-TNF drugs were associated with lower hospitalization risk. Older age was related to severe COVID-19. Our meta-analysis indicated that rheumatic patients were at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection but might not lead to a more serious disease process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been demonstrated that childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with an increased risk of depression and psychotic symptoms. However, there is still a lack of studies on the prevalence of co-occurring severe depression and psychotic symptoms (CSDPS) and the association between CM and CSDPS among college students. We aim to investigate the prevalence and demographic distribution of CSDPS among Chinese college students and to examine its relationship with CM. A total of 7351 college students aged 18 and above completed the survey. Finally, 6854 valid questionnaires were included for further analysis. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the item for witnessing domestic violence were used to assess the CM. The Prodromal Questionnaire-16 and the depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety and Stress-21 scale were used to assess psychotic symptoms and depressive symptoms. The prevalence of CSDPS was 1.47 % among the college students. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that emotional abuse and emotional neglect were associated with an increased risk of CSDPS (all p < 0.05). The risk of CSDPS was dramatically increased for individuals who had experienced ≥3 types of CM (OR = 22.929, p < 0.001), as compared to those who had experienced 1‐2 types of CM (OR = 4.452, p < 0.001) and those without the experience of CM. CM was found to be associated with an increased risk of CSDPS among the college students. Notably, experiencing more types of CM was also associated with a higher risk of CSDPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a bounding-box-based normalization method for raw skeleton data. • A Gaussian voxelization approach is devised to represent posture configurations. • We design a unified framework called 3D PostureNet for posture recognition. • We propose and release a large-scale writing posture dataset. Image-based posture recognition is a very challenging problem as it is difficult to acquire rich 3D information from postures in 2D images. Existing methods founded on 3D skeleton cues could alleviate this issue, but they are not particularly efficient due to the application of handcrafted features and traditional classifiers. This paper presents a novel and unified framework for skeleton-based posture recognition, applying powerful 3D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to this issue. Technically, bounding-box-based normalization for the raw skeleton data is proposed to eliminate the coordinate differences caused by diverse recording environments and posture displacements. Moreover, Gaussian voxelization for the skeleton is employed to expressively represent the posture configuration. Thereby, an end-to-end framework based on 3D CNN, called 3D PostureNet, is developed for robust posture recognition. To verify its effectiveness, a large-scale writing posture dataset is created and released in this work, including 113,400 samples of 30 subjects with 15 postures. Extensive experiments on the public MSRA hand gesture dataset, body pose dataset and the proposed writing posture dataset demonstrate that 3D PostureNet achieves significantly superior performance on both skeleton-based human posture and hand posture recognition tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Our objective was to comprehensively present the evidence of preoperative risk factors for short-term postoperative mortality of acute mesenteric ischemia after laparotomy. Methods. PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched from January 2000 to January 2020. Studies evaluating the postoperative risk factors for short-term postoperative mortality of acute mesenteric ischemia after laparotomy were included. The outcome extracted were patients' demographics, medical history, and preoperative laboratory tests. Results. Twenty studies (5011 patients) met the inclusion criteria. Studies were of high quality, with a median Newcastle-Ottawa Scale Score of 7. Summary short-term postoperative mortality was 44.38% (range, 18.80%–67.80%). Across included studies, 49 potential risk factors were examined, at least two studies. Meta-analysis of predictors based on more than three studies identified the following preoperative risk factors for higher short-term postoperative mortality risk: old age (odds ratio [OR], 1.90, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57–2.30), arterial occlusive mesenteric ischemia versus mesenteric venous thrombosis (OR, 2.45, 95% CI 1.12–5.33), heart failure (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.03–1.72), renal disorders (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.24–2.07), and peripheral vascular disease (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.00–1.91). Nonsurvivors were older (standardized mean difference [SMD], 0.32, 95% CI 0.24–0.40), had higher creatinine levels (SMD 0.50, 95% CI 0.25–0.75), and had lower platelet counts (SMD −0.32, 95% CI −0.50 to −0.14). Conclusion. The short-term postoperative mortality of acute mesenteric ischemia who underwent laparotomy is still high. A better understanding of these risk factors may help in the early identification of high-risk patients, optimization of surgical procedure, and improvement of perioperative management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergetic effects in Au–Ag bimetallic nanoclusters (BNCs) more favorably enhanced electrochemical redox induced electrochemiluminescence (ECL) over photoexcitation induced photoluminescence (PL); this not only led to Au–Ag BNCs with enhanced bandgap-engineered ECL compared to Au NCs, but it also generated surface-defect related ECL to enhance the total ECL intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined (a) the relationship that interpersonal problems and depression share with the intensity of mobile phone use and (b) their effects on suicide-related behaviors (SRBs) and self-harming behaviors among adolescents.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, adolescents were recruited from 11 middle and high schools in Shenzhen, China. They completed self-reported measures that assessed mobile phone use, their history of SRBs (i.e., suicidal ideation, suicidal planning, and attempted suicide) and self-harming behaviors, depression, and interpersonal problems.Results: Interpersonal problems and depression mediated the relationship between high-intensity mobile phone use and the risk for SRBs and self-harming behaviors among Chinese adolescents.Conclusions: The findings delineate the pathways through which interpersonal problems and depression increase the risk for SRBs and self-harming behaviors among adolescents who report high-intensity mobile phone use. Future studies should develop interventions that alleviate interpersonal problems and depressive symptoms to reduce the risk for SRBs and self-harming behaviors among adolescents who report high-intensity mobile phone use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), a member of the genus Alphacoronavirus, is the predominant cause of severe enteropathogenic diarrhea in swine. A simple, rapid, specific, and sensitive method is critical for monitoring PEDV on pig farms. In this study, a simple and rapid lateral flow immunoassay detection system that integrates europium (Eu) (III) chelate microparticles was developed to identify PEDV in fecal swabs. This newly developed diagnostic sandwich immunoassay utilizes lateral flow test strips (LFTSs). The fluorescence peak heights of the test line (HT) and the control line (HC) were measured using a fluorescence strip reader, and the HT/HC ratio was used for quantitation. The limit of detection of PEDV with this LFTS was ??ten times the median tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) per mL??. Fecal swab samples were used to determine the cutoff value. Field samples, various PEDV strains and other viruses were used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the Eu (III) chelate microparticle-based LFTSs, which were 97.8% and 100%, respectively, with a cutoff value of 0.05, as compared with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In samples from piglets experimentally infected with PEDV, the results were in high agreement with those obtained by RT-PCR. Epidemiological surveillance of PEDV using the LFTSs ??in areas threatened by African swine fever virus?? suggested that the PEDV positive rate on pig farms had significantly decreased, mainly due to the implementation of strict biosecurity measures. The results indicate that the Eu (III) chelate microparticle-based LFTS system is a rapid, sensitive, and reliable method for the identification of PEDV, indicating its suitability for epidemiological surveillance of PEDV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immobilization of compartmentalized microscale objects in 3D hydrogels provides a step towards the modular assembly of soft functional materials with tunable architectures and distributed functionalities. Herein, we report the use of a combination of micro‐compartmentalization, immobilization, and modularization to fabricate and assemble hydrogel‐based microreactor assemblies comprising millions of functionalized polysaccharide–polynucleotide coacervate droplets. The heterogeneous hydrogels can be structurally fused by interfacial crosslinking and coupled as input and output modules to implement a UV‐induced photocatalytic/peroxidation nanoparticle/DNAzyme reaction cascade that generates a spatiotemporal fluorescence read‐out depending on the droplet number density, intensity of photoenergization, and chemical flux. Our approach offers a route to heterogeneous hydrogels with endogenous reactivity and reconfigurable architecture, and provides a step towards the development of soft modular materials with programmable functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immobilization of compartmentalized microscale objects in 3D hydrogels provides a step towards the modular assembly of soft functional materials with tunable architectures and distributed functionalities. Herein, we report the use of a combination of micro‐compartmentalization, immobilization, and modularization to fabricate and assemble hydrogel‐based microreactor assemblies comprising millions of functionalized polysaccharide–polynucleotide coacervate droplets. The heterogeneous hydrogels can be structurally fused by interfacial crosslinking and coupled as input and output modules to implement a UV‐induced photocatalytic/peroxidation nanoparticle/DNAzyme reaction cascade that generates a spatiotemporal fluorescence read‐out depending on the droplet number density, intensity of photoenergization, and chemical flux. Our approach offers a route to heterogeneous hydrogels with endogenous reactivity and reconfigurable architecture, and provides a step towards the development of soft modular materials with programmable functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The potential mechanisms underlying cyber victimization and the resulting psychological and physical symptoms remain unclear. Thus, the present study investigated whether Internet addiction mediates the association between peer victimization (e.g., cyberbullying) and psychological and physical symptoms. Furthermore, it was assessed whether physical exercise moderates the hypothetical mediation. Methods: 1854 students from 11 middle and high schools in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, were sampled for this study. Psychological and physical symptoms were assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF, while Internet addiction was evaluated using the Internet addiction test by Young. Cyber victimization was measured using a single question. In addition, this study examined whether Internet addiction mediated the association between cyber victimization and both psychological and physical symptoms. Additional work was conducted to test if physical exercise played a moderating role in the mediation hypothesized above. Mediation and moderation were analyzed using PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results: Regression analysis showed that both cyber victimization (β = − 0.102, p < 0.05) and Internet addiction (β = − 0.278, p < 0.05) significantly predicted psychological and physical symptoms and demographic variables were controlled. Further mediation analysis suggested that Internet addiction mediated the relationship between cyber victimization and psychological and physical symptoms. The 95% CI (confidence interval) of the direct effect was (− 4.283, − 1.696) and the indirect effect (− 1.904, − 0.820), respectively, excluding zero. Finally, moderation analysis indicated that physical exercise moderated the relationship between Internet addiction and psychological and physical symptoms (p = 0.047). Conclusions: Internet addiction plays a mediating role in the association between cyber victimization and both psychological and physical symptoms, Thus, addressing Internet addiction among cyberbullying victims is worthwhile. Furthermore, physical exercise alleviates negative impacts on health and should thus be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of collision energy (Ecol) and six different H2CO+ vibrational states on the title reaction have been studied over the center-of-mass Ecol range from 0.1 to 2.6 eV, including measurements of product ion recoil velocity distributions. Ab initio and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus calculations were used to examine the properties of complexes and transition states that might be important in mediating the reaction. Reaction is largely direct, despite the presence of multiple deep wells on the potential surface. Five product channels are observed, with a total reaction cross section at the collision limit. The competition among the major H2+ transfer, hydrogen transfer, and proton transfer channels is strongly affected by Ecol and H2CO+ vibrational excitation, providing insight into the factors that control competition and charge state “unmixing” during product separation. One of the more interesting results is that endoergic charge transfer appears to be controlled by Franck-Condon factors, implying that it occurs at large inter-reactant separations, contrary to the expectation that endoergic reactions should require intimate collisions to drive the necessary energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the effects of collision energy (Ecol) and five different H2CO+ vibrational modes on the reaction of H2CO+ with C2D4 over the center-of-mass Ecol range from 0.1 to 2.1 eV. Properties of various complexes and transition states were also examined computationally. Seven product channels are observed. Charge transfer (CT) has the largest cross section over the entire energy range, substantially exceeding the hard sphere cross section at high energies. Competing with CT are six channels involving transfer of one or more hydrogen atoms or protons and one involving formation of propanal, followed by hydrogen elimination. Despite the existence of multiple deep wells on the potential surface, all reactions go by direct mechanisms, except at the lowest collision energies, where short-lived complexes appear to be important. Statistical complex decay appears adequate to account for the product branching at low collision energies, however, even at the lowest energies, the vibrational effects are counter to statistical expectations. The pattern of Ecol and vibrational mode effects provide insight into factors that control reaction and interchannel competition. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects on the title reaction of collision energy (Ecol) and five H2CO+ vibrational modes have been studied over a center-of-mass Ecol range from 0.1 to 2.3 eV. Electronic structure and Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus calculations were used to examine properties of various complexes and transition states that might be important. Only the hydrogen abstraction (HA) product channel is observed, and despite being exoergic, HA has an appearance energy of ∼0.4 eV, consistent with a transition state found in the electronic structure calculations. A precursor complex-mediated mechanism might possibly be involved at very low Ecol, but the dominant mechanism is direct over the entire Ecol range. The magnitude of the HA cross section is strongly, and mode specifically affected by H2CO+ vibrational excitation, however, vibrational energy has no effect on the appearance energy. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasiclassical, direct dynamics trajectories, calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G** level of the theory, have been used to study the energy transfer dynamics and collision-induced dissociation (CID) of formaldehyde cation in collisions with Ne. Effects of varying collision energy were probed for ground state H[SUB2]CO[SUP+], and H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] with excitation in three different vibrational modes: ν[SUP+,SUB5] (in-plane CH[SUB2] rock), ν[SUP+,SUB4] (out-of-plane bend), and ν[SUP+,SUB5] (asym. CH stretch). The trajectories are in excellent agreement with an earlier detailed experimental study of state-selected H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] CID. Energy disposal branching between product recoil, vibrational energy, and rotational excitation is found to vary with collision energy, vibrational state, impact parameter, and orientation. An analysis of the trajectories illustrates how mode-specific vibrational excitation effects the efficiency of translational-to-vibrational (T→V) energy transfer to promote CID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects on the title reaction of collision energy (E[SUBcol]), five H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] vibrational modes, and deformation vibrations of methane have been studied, including the measurement of product integral and differential cross sections over a center-of-mass E[SUBcol] range from 0.09-3.3 eV. Electronic structure and RRKM calculations are reported, providing an additional mechanistic insight. The total reaction efficiency is well below unity, despite there being two exoergic reaction pathways with no activation barriers. The energetically more favorable channel corresponds to H elimination (HE) from an intermediate complex, however, this channel accounts for only ∼15% of the total reaction cross section at low E[SUBcol] and is negligible at high energies. The dominant channel, hydrogen abstraction (HA) by H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] from methane, is dominated by a complex-mediated mechanism at low E[SUBcol], switching over to a direct hydrogen-stripping mechanism at high E[SUBcol]. Both HA and HE are inhibited in a strongly mode-specific fashion by H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] vibrational excitations, and greatly enhanced by excitation of methane deformation vibrations. The strong mode specificity indicates that the reaction-limiting step occurs early in the collisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacuum ultraviolet pulsed field ionization-photoelectron (PFI-PE) spectra for CS[SUB2] have been obtained in the energy range of 13.2-17.6 eV, revealing complex vibronic structures for the CS[SUB2,SUP+](&Btilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBu,SUP+] and &Ctilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBg,SUP+]) states. The PFI-PE spectra for CS[SUB2,SUP+](&Btilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBu,SUP+] and &Ctilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBg,SUP+]) are dominated by v[SUB1,SUP+] (symmetric stretching) mode. However, PFI-PE bands due to the v[SUB2,SUP+] (bending) and v[SUB3,SUP+] (antisymmetric stretching) modes with both even and odd quanta are clearly resolved. The simulation of rotational contours resolved in the origin PFI-PE bands yields accurate ionization energies of 14.4742±0.0005 eV (116742±4 cm[SUP-1]) and 16.1883±0.0005 eV (130567±4 cm[SUP-1]) for the formation of CS[SUB2,SUP+](&Btilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBu,SUP+] and &Ctilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBg,SUP+]) states from CS[SUB2](&Xtilde;[SUP1]∑[SUBg,SUP+]), respectively. The PFI-PE bands for [SUP2]∑[SUBu,SUP+](3[SUB0,SUP3]) and [SUP2]∑[SUBg,SUP+](3[SUB0,SUP3]) at 14.805 and 14.965 eV, which are in near energy resonance with the 0 K dissociation thresholds for the formation of S[SUP+]([SUP4]S)+CS(&Xtilde;[SUP1]∑[SUP+]; v"=0 and 1) from CS[SUB2], respectively, are found to be enhanced. These enhancements are rationalized by the prompt dissociation of excited CS[SUB2] in high-n (n&ges;100) Rydberg states prior to PFI. Three-dimensional potential energy functions (PEFs) for CS[SUB2,SUP+](2[SUP2]II[SUBu], &Btilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBu,SUP+], and &Ctilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBg,SUP+]) states have been generated theoretically using the complete active space self-consistent field and internally contracted multireference configuration interaction methods. On the basis of these PEFs, the harmonic frequencies for CS[SUB2,SUP+](2[SUP2]II[SUBu], (&Btilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBu,SUP+] and &Ctilde;[SUP2]∑[SUBg,SUP+]) and vibronic energy levels for CS[SUB2,SUP+](&Btilde... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vacuum ultraviolet pulsed field ionization (PFI)-photoelectron (PFI-PE) spectrum of CO[sub 2] has been measured in the energy region of 19.0-20.0 eV. The PFI-PE vibrational bands resolved for CO[sup +, sub 2] are overwhelmingly dominated by the origin band along with weak vibrational bands corresponding to excitations of the v[sup +, sub 1] (symmetric stretching), v[sup +, sub 2] (bending), and v[sup +, sub 3] (antisymmetric stretching) modes. The simulation of the rotational contour resolved in the origin PFI-PE band yields a value of 19.3911±0.0005 eV for the ionization energy of CO[sub 2] to form CO[sup +, sub 2](C [sup 2]&Zigma;[sup +, sub g])./ A PFI-PE peak is found to coincide with each of the 0 K dissociation thresholds for the formation of O[sup +]([sup 4]S) + CO(X [sup 1]&Zigma;[sup +]) and CO[sup +] (X ²&Zigma;[sup +] ) +O(³P). This observation is tentatively interpreted to result from the lifetime switching effect, arising from the prompt dissociation of excited CO[sub 2] in high-n (n ≥ 100) Rydberg states prior to PFI. We have also examined the decay pathways for state-selected CO[sup +, sub 2] in the internal energy range of 5.2-6.2 eV using the PFI-PE-photoion coincidence scheme. The coincidence TOF data show unambiguously the formation of O[sup +]([sup 4]S) + CO(X 1&Zigma;[sup +]; v″ = 0,1) and CO[sup +](X ²&Zigma;[sup +] ; v[sup +] = 0,1) + O(³P). Analysis of the kinetic energy releases of fragment ions suggests that the dissociation of excited CO[sup +, sub 2] involved is nonstatistical and proceeds with an impulsive mechanism. Potential energy functions (PEFs) for the CO[sup +, sub 2] (C ²&Zigma;[sup +, sub g]) state and the lowest quartet states of CO[sup +, sub 2], together with their spin-orbit interactions, have been calculated using the complete active space self-consistent field and internal contracted multireference configuration... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of collision energy (E[SUBcol]) and five different H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] vibrational modes on the title reaction have been studied, including measurements of product ion recoil velocity distributions. A series of ab initio and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus calculations were used to examine properties of various complexes and transition states that might be important. Four product channels are observed. Proton transfer (PT) dominates at low E[SUBcol], and is suppressed by E[SUBcol] but mildly enhanced by H[SUB2]CO[SUP+] vibrational excitation. PT occurs by a direct mechanism at high energies, but appears to be mediated by reactantlike complexes at low energies. The other major low energy channel corresponds to H[SUP+,SUB2] transfer, and the majority of these product ions go on to eliminate CO, producing H[SUB2]S[SUP+]. Both H[SUP+,SUB2] transfer and H[SUB2]S[SUP+] channels are strongly inhibited by E[SUBcol] and vibrational excitation, which is interpreted in terms of competition with other channels. Charge transfer occurs in short time scale collisions at all energies, and is strongly enhanced by E[SUBcol] and by vibrational excitation. The vibrational effects for all channels are mode specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a study of collision-induced dissociation (CID) of H[sub 2]CO[sup +], including measurement of the effects of collision energy (E[sub co1)] and five different H[sub 2]CO[sup +] vibrational modes on the CID integral and differential cross sections. CID was studied for collision with both Xe and Ne, and the Ne results provide a very detailed probe of energy transfer collisions leading to CID. The CID appearance threshold is found to depend only on total energy, but for all energies above threshold, vibrational energy is far more effective at driving CID than E[sub co1], with some mode-specificity. Results are fit with an impact parameter-based mechanism, and considerable insight is obtained into the origins of the E[sub co1] and vibrational effects. A series of ab initio and RRKM calculations were also performed to help interpret the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quorum quenching (QQ) is an effective method to control membrane biofouling in aerobic membrane bioreactors (AeMBRs). However, it is not clear if QQ is feasible in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). In this study, Microbacterium. sp that has QQ capability was embedded in alginate beads, known as QQ beads (QQB), and applied in a lab-scale AnMBR to investigate their potential in fouling control. With the addition of QQB, the operating period of AnMBR-QQB reactor was prolonged by about 8–10 times at constant flux operation before reaching the pre-set maximum transmembrane pressure (TMP). The concentration of Acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) in the bulk liquid was significantly higher during the 'TMP jump' period compared to QQB and control phases, while AHLs in the membrane foulants were remarkably lower in QQB phase compared to control phase. Furthermore, a much lower level of soluble microbial production (SMP) was observed in QQB phases. Extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), protein in particular, was reduced by 39.73–80.58% in the cake layer of the membrane from QQB phases. Significant changes of organic functional groups were observed in cake layer from QQB membrane as compared with that from control membrane. At the end of operation, bio-polymer (BP), building blocks (BB) and low molecular weight (LMW) organic matters increased in the foulant from control phases but such increase was not observed in QQB phase. After long-term operation, revival of QQB is required due to the declined activity for AHLs degradation. Image 1 • A novel method for AnMBR membrane biofouling control was developed. • Microbacterium. sp were found to have a quorum quenching effect anaerobically. • AHLs in biocake was the main factor determining biofilm formation. • QQB presence reduced the CDOC attached onto membrane surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Gzhelian (Late Pennsylvanian) reefs of the Amushan Formation in eastern Inner Mongolia, North China, were formed by filamentous microbes and phylloid algae. Loosely accumulated prostrate phylloid algae provided substrates for growth of filamentous microbes to construct a rigid reef framework. Filamentous microbes grew parallel to the surfaces of phylloid algae, forming micritic encrustations. Subsequent developed stage of the filamentous microbes, growing perpendicularly to the phylloid algae surfaces, produced the peloid-A aggregations (concentrated areas of peloids of A type). The remaining spaces in the phylloid algal–microbial frameworks were filled by microbes that grew perpendicularly to the phylloid algae surfaces, generating peloid-B aggregations (concentrated areas of peloids of B type). Microbial sediment with various proportions of phylloid algae is a significant character of the Gzhelian buildups in the subtropical North China. North China buildups have similar reef-building organisms to the typical Tethyan buildups, but have a different construction model. As such, the subtropical North China buildups are considered as a sub-type of the tropical Tethyan buildups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a method to generate collimated γ-ray/hard X-ray flash with high energy conversion efficiency and high peak brilliance by shooting a double-layer target with a readily available ultra-intense laser pulse. The target is composed of a homogeneous tens-of-micrometer-thick slightly underdense plasma (SUP) slab in front of an ultrathin foil. For optimal targets, particle-in-cell numerical simulations reveal that nonlinear Thomson scattering from directly accelerated superponderomotive electrons leads to the generation of a γ-ray flash with a peak brilliance of 1.6 × 10 22 photons / s / mm 2 / 0.1 % BW at the MeV energy level at a laser intensity of 8.5 × 10 20 W / cm 2 . The dependence of the emission on the target parameters is systematically studied. Compared with using slightly overdense plasma, the use of SUP results in the enhancement of the photon number and brightness of the γ-ray flash by a factor of 10 and 40, respectively. The underlying physics of the enhancement is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The mechanisms underlying the relationship between life events and psychological distress are unclear. However, evidence of genetic involvement, including the neuropeptide S receptor gene (NPSR1), exists.Methods: A total of 600 Chinese adults were enrolled in this cross-sectional study using random cluster sampling. Demographic information, measures of life events and psychiatric symptoms, and fasting blood samples were collected.Results: Significant correlations were observed among life-event scores, somatization, and psychological distress (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms). Regression revealed life-event scores and somatization predicted anxiety, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress, while controlling for sex, age, income, education, and marital status. Structural equation modeling indicated that somatization mediated the association between life-event scores and psychological distress. Moreover, the mediating effect was influenced by the NPSR1 gene, suggesting that the NPSR1 polymorphisms rs324981, rs6947841, and rs6972158 influenced the association between life-event scores and somatization (ps < 0.05). The NPSR1 polymorphisms rs12673132 significantly affected the relationship of somatization with psychological distress (p < 0.05).Conclusions: In conclusion, somatization mediated the association between life-event scores and psychological distress. The current study is the first to demonstrate this relationship with a Chinese sample, whereby the NPSR1 gene affects the mediating effect of somatization on the association between life-event scores and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The optimal dosage of QQ bacteria in anaerobic digestion was determined to be 5 mg strain /g beads. • The QQ bacteria addition caused acetate accumulation in acidogenesis step. • QQ promoted acidogenesis more than hydrolysis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis step. • QQ shifted microbes in acetogenesis and methanogenesis step rather than performance. In our previous study, quorum quenching (QQ) bacteria can effectively enhance methane production in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) while mitigating membrane biofouling. However, the mechanism of such enhancement is unclear. In this study, we analyzed the potential effects from separated hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis steps. The cumulative methane production improved by 26.13%, 22.54%, 48.70% and 44.93% at QQ bacteria dosage of 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 mg strain /g beads , respectively. It was found that the presence of QQ bacteria enhanced acidogenesis step resulting in higher volatile fatty acids (VFA) production, while it had no obvious influence on hydrolysis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis steps. The substrate (glucose) conversion efficiency in acidogenesis step was also accelerated (1.45 folds vs control within first eight hours). The abundance of hydrolytic fermentation gram-positive bacteria and several acidogenic bacteria, such as Hungateiclostridiaceae , was promoted in QQ amended culture, which enhanced VFA production and accumulation. Although the abundance of acetoclastic methanogen Methanosaeta reduced by 54.2% on the 1st day of QQ beads addition, the overall performance of methane production was not affected. This study revealed that QQ had a greater impact on the acidogenesis step in the anaerobic digestion process, though the microbial community in acetogenesis and methanogenesis steps was altered. This work can provide a theoretical basis for using QQ technology to slow down the rate of membrane biofouling in anaerobic membrane bioreactors while increasing methane production and maximizing economic benefits. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biomimetic sharkskin riblet has attracted more attention in engineering and research owing to the economic benefit of drag-reducing and antifouling properties. Although several works have optimized the parameters for a number of riblet designs, there is not yet a study dedicated to optimizing for rectangular cuboidal riblet parameters. Hence, this work proposes a new numerical optimization of riblet orientations and arrangements of a three-dimensional rectangular cuboidal riblet. The shear-stress transport k-omega was adopted as an appropriate turbulence model for the simulation. The results showed that the riblets efficiently improved drag reduction regardless of the flow state. Riblets oriented perpendicularly to the flow direction showed the greatest performance of 11.3% and 6% in the laminar and turbulent flow, respectively. Moreover, the analysis of the flow field characteristics near the wall revealed a significant improvement in terms of reduction in near-wall velocity and shear stress. This work offers new perspectives on the role of the intricate multifunctional architecture of shark-scale structures in improving swimming speed and opening new doors for marine and underwater applications. • A numerical study of 3D shark riblets with different orientation and arrangement. • The SST k − ω model was adapted and laminar and turbulent conditions were discussed. • Simplified riblets greatly improved drag reduction regardless of the flow state. • Maximum performance was 11.3% and 6% in laminar and turbulent flow, respectively. • A significant reduction in near-wall velocity and shear stress was revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine red beds (MRBs) occur in many locations in the world during the Telychian Stage but it is unclear how they were related with the highly dynamic Silurian Earth system. To address this question, we conducted a case study involving geochronology, palaeogeographic reconstruction, facies analysis and sea-level history of the middle Telychian MRBs on the western Yangtze Platform of South China. Their distribution pattern indicates that the clastic MRBs owe their origin to the nearby oldlands. Facies analysis indicates that rocks during the study interval generally fall into three depositional belts: shallow subtidal, deep subtidal and shaly basinal belts. A chronostratigraphic framework constrained by both biostratigraphic data and eustatic events shows that, during the early Monoclimacis crenulata interval, olive-gray strata dominated both shallower (shallow and deep subtidal belts) and deeper (shaly basinal belt) settings, while distribution of the MRBs was restricted to deeper waters (shaly basinal belt) on the open-sea side of the platform. This situation changed after the middle M . crenulata interval when the MRB deposition was dominant in both shallower and deeper settings. The diachronous onset pattern of the MRBs coincided with prominent transitions in climatic conditions (from cooler to warmer), eustatic states (from regression to transgression), benthic faunas (decline of normal marine fauna and development of euryhaline assemblages) and reduced primary productivity in the shelf settings, most likely indicative of a change between different oceanic modes. Comparative studies suggest that, the widespread Telychian MRBs in both shallow and deeper water settings owe their origin to a very low organic carbon burial rate, which could be results of higher oxygen content in the ocean water and lower primary productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lab-scale two-stage Anoxic/Oxic with MBR (AO/AO-MBR) system was operated for 81 days for leachate treatment with different reflux ratio (R). The best system performances were observed with a R value of 150%, and the average removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia and total nitrogen were 85.6%, 99.1%, and 77.6%, respectively. The microbial community were monitored and evaluated using high-throughput sequencing. Proteobacteria were dominant in all process. Phylogenetic trees were described at species level, genus Thiopseudomonas , Amaricoccus , Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter played significant roles in nitrogen removal. Co-occurrence analyzing top 20 genera showed that Nitrosomonas - Nitrobacter presented perfect positive relationship, as well as Paracoccus - Brevundimonas and Pusillimonas - Halobacteriovorax . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the classification of high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery, this paper presents a novel classification method for such imagery using deep neural networks. Deep learning methods, such as a fully convolutional network (FCN) model, achieve state-of-the-art performance in natural image semantic segmentation when provided with large-scale datasets and respective labels. To use data efficiently in the training stage, we first pre-segment training images and their labels into small patches as supplements of training data using graph-based segmentation and the selective search method. Subsequently, FCN with atrous convolution is used to perform pixel-wise classification. In the testing stage, post-processing with fully connected conditional random fields (CRFs) is used to refine results. Extensive experiments based on the Vaihingen dataset demonstrate that our method performs better than the reference state-of-the-art networks when applied to high-resolution remote sensing imagery classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-stage anoxic/oxic combined membrane bioreactor (A/O-A/O-MBR) process was used to treat leachate generated from Shenyang Laohuchong landfill, and the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) was studied. A long HRT of 9 d and a short HRT of 5 d showed negative effect on the stability of process, resulting in a higher organic concentration of effluent than that with a HRT of 7 d, while the highest removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (NH 4 + -N) and total nitrogen (TN) were achieved with a HRT of 7 d, which was 82.4%, 99.1% and 75.3% respectively. The analysis of microbial communities by high-throughput sequencing showed that phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the dominant bacteria, which accounted for 36.63–42.39%, 29.21–38.66%, respectively. For genus classification, the most representative of Ferruginibacter , unclassified-Saprospiraceae and Nitrosomonas accounted for 20.76–35.11% totally. The other communities, including Nitrobacter , Planctomyces , Rhodobacteraceae and Nitrospirae , were also developed for organic degradation and denitrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during sleep are often contaminated by muscle and ocular artefacts, which can affect the results of spectral power analyses significantly. However, the extent to which these artefacts affect EEG spectral power across different sleep states has not been quantified explicitly. Consequently, the effectiveness of automated artefact‐rejection algorithms in minimizing these effects has not been characterized fully. To address these issues, we analysed standard 10‐channel EEG recordings from 20 subjects during one night of sleep. We compared their spectral power when the recordings were contaminated by artefacts and after we removed them by visual inspection or by using automated artefact‐rejection algorithms. During both rapid eye movement (REM) and non‐REM (NREM) sleep, muscle artefacts contaminated no more than 5% of the EEG data across all channels. However, they corrupted delta, beta and gamma power levels substantially by up to 126, 171 and 938%, respectively, relative to the power level computed from artefact‐free data. Although ocular artefacts were infrequent during NREM sleep, they affected up to 16% of the frontal and temporal EEG channels during REM sleep, primarily corrupting delta power by up to 33%. For both REM and NREM sleep, the automated artefact‐rejection algorithms matched power levels to within ~10% of the artefact‐free power level for each EEG channel and frequency band. In summary, although muscle and ocular artefacts affect only a small fraction of EEG data, they affect EEG spectral power significantly. This suggests the importance of using artefact‐rejection algorithms before analysing EEG data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]