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Abstract There is no consensus about whether relatively large mediastinal tumors (≥ 5.0 cm) are suitable for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Therefore, this study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of intercostal approach VATS for large-sized anterior mediastinal tumors (5.0–10.0 cm) with no invasion to the surrounding tissues and organs. A total of 129 patients with anterior mediastinal tumors who received surgery in our hospital between January 2018 and July 2022 were consecutively enrolled. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on mediastinal tumor diameter: Group A (tumor size between 1.0 and 4.9 cm) and Group B (tumor size between 5.0 and 10.0 cm). The primary endpoints were operation time, blood loss, and postoperative pain, and the secondary endpoints were the volume of drainage, drainage duration, postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative complications. Significant differences were found in the volume of drainage between the two groups (Group A: 218.4 ± 140.6, Group B: 398.9 ± 369.3, P 0.05). In addition, there existed no significant differences in the postoperative complications. Intercostal approach VATS is regarded as a feasible and safe surgical method for large-sized anterior mediastinal tumors (5.0–10.0 cm) with no invasion to the surrounding tissues and organs.

Abstract Two‐dimensional (2D) non‐layered materials, along with their unique surface properties, offer intriguing prospects for sensing applications. Introducing mechanical degrees of freedom is expected to enrich the sensing performances of 2D non‐layered devices, such as high frequency, high tunability, and large dynamic range, which could lead to new types of high performance nanosensors. Here, we demonstrate 2D non‐layered nanomechanical resonant sensors based on β‐In2S3, where the devices exhibit robust nanomechanical vibrations up to the very high frequency (VHF) band. We show that such device can operate as pressure sensor with broad range (from 10−3 Torr to atmospheric pressure), high linearity (with a nonlinearity factor as low as 0.0071), and fast response (with an intrinsic response time less than 1 μs). We further unveil the frequency scaling law in these β‐In2S3 nanomechanical sensors and successfully extract both the Young's modulus and pretension for the crystal. Our work paves the way towards future wafer‐scale design and integrated sensors based on 2D non‐layered materials.

Due to the increasing number of international exchanges, foreign users have gradually become a significant consumer segment. Many of them are not proficient in the local language. Providing them with native language services will be an important trend, both from a business and a humanistic perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the fast-food restaurant ordering system that can provide multilingual services for foreigners, and to investigate factors that influence fast food restaurant consumers to adopt multilingual self-service ordering systems. Based on the characteristics of foreign users, we have proposed experience factors such as convenience, translation quality, social anxiety, and the Flow. According to research, the convenience of the service has a strong direct impact on consumers' intention to use, social anxiety has a weak direct impact on consumers' intention to use, and translation quality has a weak direct impact on consumers' intention to use through the intermediate variable of social anxiety. Particularly, Flow experience is not associated with intention to use. The Flow state is one in which users are completely immersed and do not notice time or the surroundings when the perceived difficulty of a task matches their abilities. The purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of the customer evaluation criteria for multilingual self-service systems, as well as to establish the MSSS model for future research on multilingual self-service systems.

This study adopts a cross-linguistic perspective and investigates how musical expertise affects the perception of duration and pitch in language. Native speakers of Chinese (N = 44) and Estonian (N = 46), each group subdivided into musicians and non-musicians, participated in a mismatch negativity (MMN) experiment where they passively listened to both Chinese and Estonian stimuli, followed by a behavioral experiment where they attentively discriminated the stimuli in the non-native language (i.e., Chinese to Estonian participants and Estonian to Chinese participants). In both experiments, stimuli of duration change, pitch change, and duration plus pitch change were discriminated. We found higher behavioral sensitivity among Chinese musicians than non-musicians in perceiving the duration change in Estonian and higher behavioral sensitivity among Estonian musicians than non-musicians in perceiving all types of changes in Chinese, but no corresponding effect was found in the MMN results, which suggests a more salient effect of musical expertise on foreign language processing when attention is required. Secondly, Chinese musicians did not outperform non-musicians in attentively discriminating the pitch-related stimuli in Estonian, suggesting that musical expertise can be overridden by tonal language experience when perceiving foreign linguistic pitch, especially when an attentive discrimination task is administered. Thirdly, we found larger MMN among Chinese and Estonian musicians than their non-musician counterparts in perceiving the largest deviant (i.e., duration plus pitch) in their native language. Taken together, our results demonstrate a positive effect of musical expertise on language processing.

Microplastics (MPs) are increasingly becoming recognized as worldwide environmental contaminants, exerting a substantial impact on the safety of city rivers. This study explored the temporal variance in MPs in different rainfall seasons, including spring, plum, and autumn rains. The Qinhuai River has large spatial fluctuations in MPs at six sampling sites, with an average concentration of 466.62 ± 153.69 items/L, and higher MP abundance was found downstream of spring rain and upstream of autumn rain. Among the different rainfall seasons, the variations in microplastics at various sampling sites were more stable in the plum rain season, with an average concentration of 473.67 ± 105.17 items/L, while the concentrations of TP and TN in the plum rain season were higher than those in other rain seasons. Transparent MPs had the highest abundance at many sampling sites in all seasons, and large-sized MPs (270–5000 μm) occurred more in the autumn rain season. PVC was more prevalent in autumn, but PET decreased in the plum rain season. Interestingly, more fibers, PET, and large-sized MPs were found in the autumn rain. The index of hazard scores of plastic polymers (H) revealed that the studied river was at a severe pollution level (IV), which was highly influenced by PVC and PC. In addition, the pollution load index (PLI) value in different rain seasons indicated slight pollution (I). At the same time, it was higher in autumn rains than in other seasons due to the higher variance in MPs. Therefore, the ecological risk of microplastics in the Qinhuai River should be seriously considered, along with seasonal variance and the PVC and PC polymers. Our research is expected to provide valuable assistance in improving the management of urban rivers.

Abstract In vitro and in vivo models play integral roles in preclinical drug research, evaluation, and precision medicine. In vitro models primarily involve research platforms based on cultured cells, typically in the form of two‐dimensional (2D) cell models. However, notable disparities exist between 2D cultured cells and in vivo cells across various aspects, rendering the former inadequate for replicating the physiologically relevant functions of human or animal organs and tissues. Consequently, these models failed to accurately reflect real‐life scenarios post‐drug administration. Complex in vitro models (CIVMs) refer to in vitro models that integrate a multicellular environment and a three‐dimensional structure using bio‐polymer or tissue‐derived matrices. These models seek to reconstruct the organ‐ or tissue‐specific characteristics of the extracellular microenvironment. The utilization of CIVMs allows for enhanced physiological correlation of cultured cells, thereby better mimicking in vivo conditions without ethical concerns associated with animal experimentation. Consequently, CIVMs have gained prominence in disease research and drug development. This review aimed to comprehensively examine and analyze the various types, manufacturing techniques, and applications of CIVM in the domains of drug discovery, drug development, and precision medicine. The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the progress made in CIVMs and their potential future use in these fields.

Long-term consumption of high-carbohydrate feed may adversely affect intestinal health of fish; however, the underlying roles remain ambiguous. This study examined the effects of varying carbohydrate levels on the intestinal flora of common carp and assessed how microbial metabolites influence intestinal health. Two hundred seventy common carps were chosen and distributed randomly into three groups that fed diets containing starch at levels of 15% (low-carbohydrate diet [LCD]), 28% (medium-carbohydrate diet [MCD]), and 45% (high-carbohydrate diet [HCD]) for 60 days. A significant increase in final body weight, weight gain rate, and specific growth rate within the MCD group, while feed conversion ratio exhibited a decrease in comparison to the other groups (p

Among the polyphenolic compounds commonly found in green tea, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is known to have various functions, including the promotion of antioxidant and myofiber growth in mammals. However, the effect of EGCG on common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) remains poorly understood. To evaluate the role of EGCG on juvenile common carp, 255 fish (initial weight 17.33 ± 0.34 g) were fed with five experimental diets containing 0, 0.05, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 g/kg EGCG. The results showed that diet supplementation with 0.05–0.5 g/kg EGCG supplementation significantly enhanced the specific growth rate (SGR) and reduced the feed conversion ratio (FCR). Weight gain rate (WGR) was significantly enhanced in the 0.25 and 0.5 g/kg EGCG groups. As for antioxidants, 0.25–1 g/kg EGCG significantly reduced protein carbonyl (PC) content and upregulated superoxide dismutase (sod) gene expression in the muscle. As for muscle nutritional composition, 0.05–0.5 g/kg EGCG increased total amino acid (TAA) and flavor amino acid (FAA) contents, likely via the rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Muscle n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) content was increased with 0.5 g/kg EGCG, presumably owing to the upregulation of fatty acyl elongase 5 (elovl5), long-chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetase 6 (acsl6), and peroxisome proliferator-actiated receptor α (pparα). Dietary EGCG (0.05–1 g/kg) significantly increased muscle hardness and chewiness, accompanied by an increase in myofiber density. EGCG supplementation (0.25–1 g/kg) increased the pH value and reduced lactate contents in the muscle. However, muscle crude lipid and hydroxyproline contents significantly decreased with 1 g/kg EGCG. Overall, quadratic regression analysis of WGR, SGR, TAA, and FAA showed that optimal EGCG (0.46–0.52 g/kg) dietary supplementation improved the growth and nutritional composition of juvenile common carp.

Background: The primary cause of acute cardiovascular events with high mortality is the rupture of atherosclerotic plaque followed by thrombosis. Sodium Danshensu (SDSS) has shown potential in inhibiting the inflammatory response in macrophages and preventing early plaque formation in atherosclerotic mice. However, the specific targets and detailed mechanism of action of SDSS are still unclear. Objective: This study aims to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of SDSS in inhibiting inflammation in macrophages and stabilizing vulnerable plaques in atherosclerosis (AS). Materials and Methods: The efficacy of SDSS in stabilizing vulnerable plaques was demonstrated using various techniques such as ultrasound, Oil Red O staining, HE staining, Masson staining, immunohistochemistry, and lipid analysis in ApoE-/- mice. Subsequently, IKKβ was identified as a potential target of SDSS through protein microarray, network pharmacology analysis, and molecular docking. Additionally, ELISA, RT-qPCR, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence were employed to measure the levels of inflammatory cytokines, IKKβ, and NF-κB pathway-related targets, thereby confirming the mechanism of SDSS in treating AS both in vivo and in vitro. Finally, the impact of SDSS was observed in the presence of an IKKβ-specific inhibitor. Results: Initially, the administration of SDSS led to a decrease in the formation and area of aortic plaque, while also stabilizing vulnerable plaques in ApoE-/- mice. Furthermore, it was identified that IKKβ serves as the primary binding target of SDSS. Additionally, both in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that SDSS effectively inhibits the NF-κB pathway by targeting IKKβ. Lastly, the combined use of the IKKβ-specific inhibitor IMD-0354 further enhanced the beneficial effects of SDSS. Conclusions: SDSS stabilized vulnerable plaques and suppressed inflammatory responses by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway through its targeting of IKKβ.

Real-time visual-aided navigation and path strategy for pneumonoconiosis and efficient 3D visualization of pulmonary vessels are of great research and clinical significance in the treatment of lung diseases. The complex structure of lung tissue limits the application of deep learning in pulmonary vascular visualization due to the lack of vascular labeling datasets. Also, the existing methods have large computational complexity and are low efficiency. This study proposes a method for high-quality 3D visualization of pulmonary vessels based on low-cost segmentation and fast reconstruction, consisting of three steps: 1) Pulmonary vessel feature extraction from lung CT images using self-supervised learning, 2) Segmentation of pulmonary sparse vessels in lung CT images using self-supervised transfer learning, and 3) 3D reconstruction of pulmonary vessels based on segmentation results of step (2) using interpolation. The accuracy of pulmonary vascular contour segmentation was improved from 91.31% using the sparse coding to 98.65% using our proposed method (27,270 test sample points); the classifier evaluation accuracy was improved from 95.33% to 98.26%, and the average running time of the model with the test set data was 44 ms per slice. the segmentation results can automatically generate a complete vascular tree model with an average time of 10.8s ± 1 1.6s. The results demonstrate that the proposed method provides fast and accurate 3D visualization of pulmonary vessels, and is promising for more precise and reliable information for pneumonoconiosis patients.

Soil amelioration in coastal saline areas plays an important role in alleviating land resource shortages, improving regional ecological environments, ensuring food security, and promoting economic development. Plastic mulching (M) and the combination of freezing saline water irrigation and plastic mulching (WIM) are successful amelioration practices that dramatically reduce the salinity of surface soil and facilitate plant growth in coastal saline soil. However, the bacterial responses that are closely related to these amelioration practices in coastal saline soil remain poorly understood. In this study, bacterial richness and diversity, community composition, and potential ecological functions in the rhizosphere and bulk soils of cotton in M and WIM treatments, along with a control treatment, were investigated using high-throughput sequencing in a coastal saline field. The results showed that both the M and WIM treatments increased bacterial richness and alpha diversity, which were in general significantly higher in bulk soil than in rhizosphere soil. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and the Bray–Curtis dissimilarity analysis revealed that the bacterial community in rhizosphere soil was assembled far from those in the control and bulk soils and behaved more specifically in rhizosphere soil than in bulk soil. The relative abundances of most of the dominant phyla showed opposite trends of variation in bulk and rhizosphere soils compared to those in control soil in both M and WIM treatments; in particular, the specific bacterial groups of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria decreased in bulk soil but significantly increased in rhizosphere soil. Functional groups of chemoheterotrophy, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, and nitrate reduction were predominant in rhizosphere rather than bulk soil, according to the Functional Annotation of Prokaryotic Taxa. These findings improve the understanding of the mechanism of bacterial responses to amelioration practices M and WIM in coastal saline soils and provide valuable information for the development of amelioration techniques based on agricultural practices and soil microbiome to enhance plants’ adaptability to saline soil in the future.

ABSTRACT: With increasing challenges towards continued scaling and improvement in performance faced by electronic computing, mechanical computing has started to attract growing interests. Taking advantage of the mechanical degree of freedom in solid state devices, micro/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) could provide alternative solutions for future computing and memory systems with ultralow power consumption, compatibility with harsh environments, and high reconfigurability. In this review, MEMS/NEMS-enabled memories and logic processors were surveyed, and the prospects and challenges for future on-chip mechanical computing were also analyzed.

Appropriate deep application of fertilizer is the key basis for improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). However, the effects of different deep application methods and fertilizer types on nutrient migration, NUE and biomass in wheat season are unclear. Therefore, in this study, a barrel planting test with multilayer fertilization (15N labeled urea (U) and coated urea (CU)) was conducted in a long-term positioning trial of winter wheat in the North China Plain (NCP). We quantified the migration of fertilizer N (Ndff) in soil–plant–atmosphere and its effects on wheat biomass and NUE based on surface (Usur, CUsur), layered-strip (Ustr, CUstr) and layered-mix fertilization (Umix, CUmix) of U and CU. Compared with surface fertilization, the concentration of mineral N in root zone (0–40 cm) was increased by Ustr and Umix (8.6–50.3%), and the concentration of ammonium N was decreased by CUstr and CUmix (49.6–76.0%), but there was no change in the nitrate N. The biomass and total N absorption of wheat tissues (straw and root) were increased by 12.3–38.9% under Ustr and CUstr. Meanwhile, the distribution of Ndff in the 0–10 cm soil was decreased under Ustr and CUstr, but it was increased in the 10–30 cm soil, thereby promoting the absorption of Ndff in wheat tissues by 12.3–28.7%. The rates of absorption and loss of Ndff were the highest (57.6–58.5%) and the lowest (4.5%) under Ustr and CUstr, respectively, compared with other treatments. Consequently, layered-strip fertilization optimized the migration and utilization of Ndff within the soil–plant–atmosphere system. This approach equalized distribution, enhanced absorption and minimized losses of Ndff, resulting in an increase in NUE by 9.6–16.7%. Under the same treatment, CU was more suitable for crop nutrient requirements than U, which was more conducive to the improvement of NUE. Our findings will provide a scientific basis for the precise directional fertilization of winter wheat in the NCP.

Atherosclerosis, the main pathological basis of cardiovascular disease, is a chronic inflammatory disease that severely affects the quality of human life. Resveratrol (Res) is a natural polyphenol that is a major component of many herbs and foods. The present study analyzed resveratrol from the perspective of visualization and bibliometric analysis and found that resveratrol is closely related to the inflammatory response in cardiovascular diseases (associated with atherosclerosis). To explore the specific molecular mechanism of resveratrol, network pharmacology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used, in which HIF-1α signaling may be a key pathway in the treatment of AS. Furthermore, we induced the polarization of macrophage RAW264.7 to M1 type to generate inflammatory response by the combination of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (200 ng/mL) + interferon-γ (IFN-γ) (2.5 ng/mL). LPS and IFN-γ increased the inflammatory factor levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 in RAW264.7, and the proportion of M1-type macrophages also increased, but the expression of inflammatory factors decreased after resveratrol administration, which confirmed the anti-inflammatory effect of resveratrol in AS. In addition, we found that resveratrol downregulated the protein expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/NF-κB/hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α). In conclusion, resveratrol has a significant anti-inflammatory effect, alleviates HIF-1α-mediated angiogenesis, and prevents the progression of AS through the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

A 56-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of genistein on growth, lipid metabolism, antioxidant capacity, and immunity of common carp fed with high-carbohydrate or high-fat diets. Five diets were used to feed fish: control diet (5% fat; CO), high-fat diet (11% fat; HF), high-carbohydrate diet (45% carbohydrate; HC), and HF or HC diet with 500 mg/kg genistein (FG or CG). Results showed that final body weight (FW) and specific growth rate (SGR) were significantly reduced, but the supplementation with genistein resulted in higher values of FW and SGR than the HF or HC group. Both high carbohydrate and high fat belong to high-energy diets, which may promote lipid deposition. Genistein obviously decreased liver triglyceride (TG) content and alleviated hepatic fat vacuolation in the HF and HC groups. The expression of lipid metabolism genes (cpt-1 and atgl) was markedly higher in the FG group than in the HF group. The lipid synthesis-related genes (fas, acc, and pparγ) were elevated in high-energy diets but recovered to the control level or reduced after genistein treatments. With respect to fatty acid transporter genes, fatp increased in the FG group, and cd36 increased in the CG group. Furthermore, the antioxidant and immune indexes, such as total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), acid phosphatase (ACP), and lysozyme (LZM) activities, were decreased, while malonate aldehyde (MDA) content, activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were enhanced in the HF and HC groups. The antioxidant and immunity values could be ameliorated by treatment with genistein. Moreover, the transcript levels of antioxidant-related genes (cat, gr, and nrf2) in the liver and anti-inflammatory factors (tgf-β and il-10) and lyz in the head kidney tissue were promoted, although the expression levels of proinflammatory factors (tnf-α and il-6) declined in the genistein supplementation group, which confirmed the antioxidant and immune-enhancing effects of genistein. Therefore, 500 mg/kg genistein could ameliorate the negative effects of high-energy diets on immunity.

Drug development for Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia, has been a long-standing challenge. Saponins, which are steroid or triterpenoid glycosides with various pharmacological activities, have displayed therapeutic potential in treating Alzheimer’s disease. In a comprehensive review of the literature from May 2007 to May 2023, we identified 63 references involving 40 different types of saponins that have been studied for their effects on Alzheimer’s disease. These studies suggest that saponins have the potential to ameliorate Alzheimer’s disease by reducing amyloid beta peptide deposition, inhibiting tau phosphorylation, modulating oxidative stress, reducing inflammation, and antiapoptosis. Most intriguingly, ginsenoside Rg1 and pseudoginsenoside-F11 possess these important pharmacological properties and show the best promise for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. This review provides a summary and classification of common saponins that have been studied for their therapeutic potential in Alzheimer’s disease, showcasing their underlying mechanisms. This highlights the promising potential of saponins for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Interpersonal verbs like disappoint and praise in Lucy disappointed/praised Mary because she… bias the potential cause of the event to one of the antecedent noun phrases (henceforth NPs) (e.g., Lucy for disappoint whereas Mary for praise). Using Chinese as its materials, this study investigated how verb-based implicit causality affects online pronoun resolution in backward concession (e.g., Lucy disappointed/praised Mary although she…), an intersubjective discourse relation where the subordinate although-clause forms an indirect relationship with the preceding main clause. Experiment 1 was a baseline experiment with the typical structure where implicit causality is found to be effective, i.e., backward causality. Results showed a clear modulation effect of implicit causality on pronoun resolution such that as verb bias strength decreases, participants were faster in processing sentences that disambiguate the pronoun to the verb-inconsistent NP. However, this modulation effect was not observed in Experiment 2 where we used the same verbs but replaced because with although. There was no preference for the pronoun to be disambiguated toward the verb-consistent NP or the verb-inconsistent NP in backward concession. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 were replicated in Experiment 3 where we directly compared causal and concessive relations. We suggest that the absent effect of verb-based implicit causality in backward concession could be attributed to the intersubjective nature of the concessive relation. Discourse devices such as although indicate speakers’ subjective perspective and comprehenders are able to quickly accommodate the speaker’s point of view during online discourse processing.

In future data centers, applications will make heavy use of far memory (including disaggregated memory pools and NVM). The access latency of far memory is more widely distributed than that of local memory accesses. This makes the efficiency of traditional out-of-order load/store mechanism in most general-purpose processors decrease in this scenario. Therefore, this work proposes an in-core asynchronous memory access unit to fully utilize the far memory resources.

Abstract Background The gonad is the major factor affecting animal reproduction. The regulatory mechanism of the expression of protein-coding genes involved in reproduction still remains to be elucidated. Increasing evidence has shown that ncRNAs play key regulatory roles in gene expression in many life processes. The roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in reproduction have been investigated in some species. However, the regulatory patterns of miRNA and lncRNA in the sex biased expression of protein coding genes remains to be elucidated. In this study, we performed an integrated analysis of miRNA, messenger RNA (mRNA), and lncRNA expression profiles to explore their regulatory patterns in the female ovary and male testis of Pelodiscus sinensis. Results We identified 10,446 mature miRNAs, 20,414 mRNAs and 28,500 lncRNAs in the ovaries and testes, and 633 miRNAs, 11,319 mRNAs, and 10,495 lncRNAs showed differential expression. A total of 2814 target genes were identified for miRNAs. The predicted target genes of these differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and lncRNAs included abundant genes related to reproductive regulation. Furthermore, we found that 189 DEmiRNAs and 5408 DElncRNAs showed sex-specific expression. Of these, 3 DEmiRNAs and 917 DElncRNAs were testis-specific, and 186 DEmiRNAs and 4491 DElncRNAs were ovary-specific. We further constructed complete endogenous lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks using bioinformatics, including 103 DEmiRNAs, 636 DEmRNAs, and 1622 DElncRNAs. The target genes for the differentially expressed miRNAs and lncRNAs included abundant genes involved in gonadal development, including Wt1, Creb3l2, Gata4, Wnt2, Nr5a1, Hsd17, Igf2r, H2afz, Lin52, Trim71, Zar1, and Jazf1. Conclusions In animals, miRNA and lncRNA as master regulators regulate reproductive processes by controlling the expression of mRNAs. Considering their importance, the identified miRNAs, lncRNAs, and their targets in P. sinensis might be useful for studying the molecular processes involved in sexual reproduction and genome editing to produce higher quality aquaculture animals. A thorough understanding of ncRNA-based cellular regulatory networks will aid in the improvement of P. sinensis reproductive traits for aquaculture.

Abstract High tumor mutation burden (TMB), which is associated with increased tumor immunogenicity, has been identified to predict improved response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). As host immunity is also significant to eliminate cancer cells, however, its clinical impact on cancer immunotherapy is still largely unknown. Here we explored the influence of age, which is an important characteristic to evaluate immune response of patients, on TMB-based predictive system for ICIs therapy in NSCLC. Our results showed that high TMB was capable of predicting better durable clinical benefit (DCB) in agelow group, while it was insignificant in agehigh group. Besides, the predictive power of TMB for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was better in agelow group than in agehigh group. Our study illustrated that the predictive value of TMB for ICIs therapy was better in young patients than in elderly patients in NSCLC.

Summary: The differentiation of lymphatic progenitors is a crucial step in lymphangiogenesis. However, its underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we found that noncanonical protease-activated receptor 1 (par1) regulates the differentiation of lymphatic progenitors in zebrafish embryos. Loss of par1 function impaired lymphatic differentiation by downregulating prox1a expression in parachordal lymphangioblasts and caused compromised thoracic duct formation in zebrafish. Meanwhile, the G protein gnai2a, a par1 downstream effector, was selectively required for lymphatic development in zebrafish, and its mutation mimicked the lymphatic phenotype observed in par1 mutants. Interestingly, mmp13, but not thrombin, was required for lymphatic development in zebrafish. Furthermore, analyses of genetic interactions confirmed that mmp13b serves as a par1 upstream protease to regulate lymphatic development in zebrafish embryos. Mechanistically, par1 promotes flt4 expression and phospho-Erk1/2 activity in the posterior cardinal vein. Taken together, our findings highlight a function of par1 in the regulation of lymphatic differentiation in zebrafish embryos.

The porous aerostatic bearing is a new supporting structure that is widely used in precision and ultraprecision engineering and the aerospace and other fields. The aerostatic bearing has a good bearing capacity and static stiffness. In this work, the numerical and experimental research on the static characteristics of an aerostatic bearing based on a porous SiC ceramic membrane is presented. The porous ceramic membrane prepared by reactive sintering, with a porosity of 25.8% and a pore size of 20.55 μm, was used as the restrictor to fabricate the aerostatic bearing. It was found that the ceramics have good permeability, and the permeability coefficient reached 2.78 × 10−13 m2 using permeability-test experiments. The effects of the gas-supply pressure and permeability coefficient on the static characteristics of the aerostatic bearing based on porous ceramics were analyzed using Fluent simulation calculation. When the gas-supply pressure was 0.5 MPa and the gas-film thickness was 6 μm, the static stiffness of the aerostatic bearing reached a maximum of 20.9 N/μm, while the bearing capacity was 632.5 N. The numerical results of the static characteristics of the aerostatic bearing are highly consistent with the experimental results, which verifies the accuracy of the Fluent simulation, and provides convenience for studying the static characteristics of aerostatic bearings.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Notonecta amplifica Kiritshenko, 1930 (Hemiptera: Notonectidae) was sequenced by high-throughput sequencing (HTS). The whole length is 15,150 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNA (rRNAs) and a 528 bp control region (D-loop). The nucleotide is with a base composition of A (43.01%), G (10.32%), C (13.87%) and T (32.80%). The total length of the coding sequences encoding 3,694 amino acids is 11,113 bp, accounting for 73.35%. The lengths of 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA are 800 and 1,251 bp, respectively. The Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of 20 taxa indicate that N. amplifica is closely related to Notonecta montandoni, with posterior probability value of 1.00. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence would provide useful genetic information for future taxonomic and phylogenetic classification of N. amplifica.

Abstract Background This study evaluated the individual and combined diagnostic performance of the bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs)-on-Beads (BoBs™) assay and conventional karyotyping for the prenatal detection of chromosomal abnormalities in pregnant women who were 35 or more years-old. Method The primary outcome was concordance of any numerical, structural, or submicroscopic chromosomal abnormalities between BoBs™ and conventional karyotyping of amniotic fluid specimens from pregnant women at 17 to 22 weeks gestation. Results We examined samples from 4852 pregnant women. BoBs™ indicated that 4708 samples were normal (97.03%), and 144 were abnormal (2.97%); conventional karyotyping indicated that 4656 (95.96%) samples were normal and 196 (4.04%) were abnormal. The combined use of both methods indicated that 4633 of 4852 samples were normal (95.49%) and 219 of 4852 samples (4.51%) were abnormal. The kappa coefficient of the combined test was 0.70, indicating substantial consistency between BoBs™ and conventional karyotyping (95% CI = 0.65–0.76, P

In the preparation of (Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O3 lead-free piezoelectric ceramics, different Ca2+ and Zr4+ contents will greatly affect the phase structure, microstructure, and electrical properties of the ceramics. XRD shows that all samples have pure perovskite phase structure, and the (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(ZryTi1−y)O3 ceramics morphotropic phase boundary region from tetragonal phase to rhombohedral phase near 0.08 ≤ y ≤ 0.1. From the dielectric temperature curve, the phase transition temperature (TO-T) was found near room temperature at 0.12 ≤ x ≤ 0.18 for the (Ba1−xCax)(Zr0.1Ti0.9)O3 ceramics. Both Ca2+ and Zr4+ increase have a significant decrease on the Curie temperature Tc. All samples were revealed as relaxers with diffusivities in the range 1.29 ≤ γ ≤ 1.82. Different from the undoped ceramics, ceramics doped with Ca and Zr ions exhibit saturated P–E hysteresis loops, and their ferroelectric properties are significantly optimized. In particular, the (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Zr0.1Ti0.9)O3 ceramic demonstrated optimal properties, namely d33 = 330 pC/N, kp = 0.41, εr = 4069, Pr = 4.8 μC/cm2, and Ec = 3.1 kV/cm, indicating that it is a viable lead-free piezoelectric contender. Variations in Ca and Zr content have a significant effect on the crystal grain sizes and densities of ceramics, which is strongly associated with their piezoelectricity.

Abstract Background Surgery is an important part of multidisciplinary treatment strategy for locally advanced lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), but insufficient evidence supports the feasibility and safety of video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced LSCC. This study aims to compare perioperative data and long-term survival of locally advanced LSCC patients between VATS and thoracotomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods We retrospectively collected the clinical and pathological information of patients with locally advanced LSCC who underwent surgical resection after neoadjuvant chemotherapy from October 2013 to October 2017. All patients were divided into two groups (thoracotomy and VATS) and were compared the differences in perioperative, oncological and survival outcomes. Results A total of 81 patients were analyzed in this study (67 thoracotomy and 14 VATS). VATS provided less postoperative pain (P = 0.005) and produced less volume of chest drainage (P = 0.019) than thoracotomy, but the number of resected lymph nodes was less in VATS group (P = 0.011). However, there was no significant difference in the number of resected lymph node stations and the rate of nodal upstaging between two groups. The mean disease free survival (DFS) was 32.7 ± 2.7 months for the thoracotomy group and 31.8 ± 3.0 months for the VATS group (P = 0.335); the corresponding overall survival (OS) was 41.7 ± 2.2 months and 36.4 ± 4.1 months (P = 0.925). Conclusion In selected patients with locally advanced LSCC, VATS played a positive role in postoperative recovery and associated similar survival outcome compared with thoracotomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The single-channel Al2O3-based porous ceramic membrane tubes (PCMT) were prepared with different grain size of Al2O3 powders by extrusion molding process, combing the traditional solid-phase sintering method. The effects of raw grain size and sintering temperature on the microstructure, phase structure, density, and porosity were investigated. The results revealed that with further increase in sintering temperature, the density of porous ceramics increases, while the porosity decreases, and the pore size decreases slightly. The pore size and porosity of porous ceramics increase with the increase in raw grain size, while the density decreases. Future, in order to study the water filtration of PCMT, the effect of porosity on the pressure distribution and flow velocity different cross-sectional areas with constant feed mass flow was analyzed using Fluent 19.0. It was found that an increase in the porosity from 30% to 45% with constant feed mass flow influenced transmembrane pressure, that varied from 216.06 kPa to 42.28 kPa, while the velocity change at the outlet was not obvious. Besides, it was observed that the surface pressure is almost constant along the radial direction of the pipe, and the velocity of water in the PCMT is increasing with the decreasing of distance to the outlet. It was also verified that the porosity being 39.64%, caused transmembrane pressure reaching to 77.83 kPa and maximum velocity of 2.301 m/s. These simulation and experimental results showed that the PCMT have good potential for water filtration.

The present study assessed the effects of different ratios of dietary linolenic acid (LNA) to linoleic acid (LA) from vegetable oils on growth performance, ovarian steroidogenesis, plasma sex steroid hormone, and tissue fatty acids accumulation in juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio). With fish oil, peanut oil, and perilla oil as lipid source, five experimental diets containing 32% crude protein and 8% crude lipid were formulated with LNA/LA ratios of 0.97 (control diet), 0.02, 0.46, 1.09, and 1.53, respectively. The diets were assigned to 15 tanks (50 L) of carp, and the fish (8.10 ± 0.11 g, n = 25) were manually fed to apparent satiation twice daily in triplicate groups for 16 weeks. The survival rate and feed conversion ratio were not significantly different among treatments (P > 0.05). Results demonstrated that fish fed diet with LNA/LA ratio of 1.09 exhibited the highest body weight gain, and was no significantly different with fish fed control diet. Fish fed diet with LNA/LA ratio of 1.53 showed the highest gonadosomatic index (P < 0.05). The expression of StAR, 17β-HSD and Cyp19a1a in ovary were up-regulated, and plasma E2 increased with increasing of dietary LNA/LA ratios (P < 0.05). Fish fed diet with LNA/LA ratio of 0.02 showed the lowest plasma E2 and T. The expression of Fads6-a and Elovl5-a in liver expressed higher in fish fed with dietary LNA/LA ratio of 1.09. LNA, LA, Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) contents in liver were significantly affected by dietary LNA/LA ratios. LNA content in liver and LNA and ARA content in ovary increased with the increasing of dietary LNA/LA ratios. Results of this study indicated that dietary LNA/LA ratios alter both growth and ovarian development, and provided evidence that balanced LNA/LA ratio was beneficial for growth and ovarian development of juvenile common carp.

Axial force has a great influence on the dynamic behavior and the impact resistance of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members. Based on numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, the impact response and deflection calculation method for axially loaded CFST members subjected to lateral impact are investigated in this paper. The nonlinear numerical model of an axially loaded CFST member considering the strain rate effects has been established, and the simulation accuracy has been validated by comparing with existing test results. The contrastive investigation is carried out to illustrate the influence of axial load on the variation pattern of impact force for CFST members under various structural and impact parameters, and its result indicates that the impact force-time histories for CFST members with different axial loads are mainly characterized by rectangular pulse and triangular pulse. Moreover, a simplified calculation method considering the effect of axial force is proposed based on the equivalent single degree of freedom (SDOF) method, devoted to predicting the deflection of axially loaded CFST members subjected to lateral impact. The comparisons with the numerical simulation prove that the deflection calculation method has a reasonable accuracy; thus, the proposed method can be utilized in the damage assessment and anti-impact design for CFST members subjected to lateral impact and axial load.

Air bearing has been widely applied in ultra-precision machine tools, aerospace and other fields. The restrictor of the porous material is the key component in air bearings, but its performance is limited by the machining accuracy. A combination of optimization design and material modification of the porous alumina ceramic membrane is proposed to improve performance within an air bearing. Porous alumina ceramics were prepared by adding a pore-forming agent and performing solid-phase sintering at 1600 °C for 3 h, using 95-Al2O3 as raw material and polystyrene microspheres with different particle sizes as the pore-forming agent. With 20 wt.% of PS50, the optimum porous alumina ceramic membranes achieved a density of 3.2 g/cm3, a porosity of 11.8% and a bending strength of 150.4 MPa. Then, the sintered samples were processed into restrictors with a diameter of 40 mm and a thickness of 5 mm. After the restrictors were bonded to aluminum shells for the air bearing, both experimental and simulation work was carried out to verify the designed air bearing. Simulation results showed that the load capacity increased from 94 N to 523 N when the porosity increased from 5% to 25% at a fixed gas supply pressure of 0.5 MPa and a fixed gas film thickness of 25 μm. When the gas film thickness and porosity were fixed at 100 μm and 11.8%, respectively, the load capacity increased from 8.6 N to 40.8 N with the gas supply pressure having been increased from 0.1 MPa to 0.5 MPa. Both experimental and simulation results successfully demonstrated the stability and effectiveness of the proposed method. The porosity is an important factor for improving the performance of an air bearing, and it can be optimized to enhance the bearing’s stability and load capacity.

This paper presents a new modification of the nanostructure of CaSO4·2H2O crystals containing nanopores. This nanoporous structure was achieved in phosphogypsum samples that were modified by sodium carbonate and alum. The effects of sodium carbonate and alum on the properties of phosphogypsum were studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods were used to explore the micro-mechanism of the composite system. Subsequently, molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the nanopore structures of the modified CaSO4·2H2O. The results show that the addition of sodium carbonate and alum reduced the absolute dry density by 23.1% compared with the original phosphogypsum sample, with a bending strength of 2.1 MPa and compressive strength of 7.5 MPa. In addition, new hydration products, sodium sulfate and sodium aluminum sulfate, were formed in the sample doped with sodium carbonate and alum. A new nanostructure of CaSO4·2H2O crystal containing nanopores was formed. Molecular simulations show that the hydration products were responsible for the surface nanopore formation, which was the main factor leading to an increase in mechanical strength. The presented nanopore structure yields lightweight and high strength properties in the modified phosphogypsum.

In the present study, three modification methods, including water washing, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and styrene–acrylic emulsion, were used to modify waste rubber powders. The influence of rubber powders on the mechanical properties and frost resistance of magnesium oxychloride cement was examined, and the different modification mechanisms were also analyzed. Based on the analysis of hydrophilic properties after modification, styrene–acrylic emulsion achieved the best modification effect, while water washing produced the least modification effect; regarding mechanical properties, magnesium oxychloride cement mixed with NaOH modified rubber powders achieved the best modification effect, in which the 28 d flexural strength and compressive strength increased by 41.2% and 59.6%, respectively. During the freeze-thaw cycles, the mass loss of specimens was reduced with an increase in the content of rubber powders. In addition, after 300 cycles, the relative dynamic modulus of elasticity of the blank sample was about 28.12%, while that of the magnesium oxychloride cement mixed with NaOH modified rubber powders was approximately 42.38%. In general, the properties of the modified rubber powder–magnesium oxychloride cement composite material can meet the requirements for engineering materials, which provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the application of rubberized magnesium oxychloride cement.

The energy absorption characteristic of steel tube material and concrete material is an important indicator to reflect the impact resistance of circular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members. In order to efficiently simulate the material energy absorption of the steel tube and concrete under lateral impact, a nonlinear finite element model considering the material strain rate of the circular CFST member was established and validated based on the drop weight tests. Then, the energy absorption mechanism of circular CFST members subjected to lateral impact was investigated including the revelation of the energy absorption process and the determination of the energy absorption distribution for the steel tube material and concrete material, which are obtained respectively based on the comprehensive analysis of dynamic response and innovative establishment of the segmented numerical model. In addition, the influence of impact momentum on energy absorption process and the effect of impact location on energy absorption distribution are further carried out. The observations of this investigation can provide reference for the anti-impact design and damage reinforcement of circular CFST members subjected to lateral impact.

Programmed death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death 1 ligand (PD-L1) pathway is a key mechanism of immune regulation, and its abnormal activation in tumor tissues suggests that PD-1/PD-L1 pathway may participate in the regulation of tumor immune escape. Driver gene mutation which is known as a key factor in the tumorigenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), was also reported to play a important role in the process of tumor immune escape. It indicates that there is an interaction between driver gene and PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. The purpose of this paper is to review the relationship between PD-1/PD-L1 pathway and lung cancer driver gene, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Kirsten rate sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) and echinoderm microtubuleassociated protein-like 4 - anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) and to summarize the role of lung cancer driver gene and PD-1/PD-L1 pathway interaction in the tumorigenesis and progression of NSCLC.

The local delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs to tumor sites is an effective approach for achieving therapeutic drug concentrations in solid tumors. Injectable implants with the ability to form in situ represent one of the most promising technologies for intratumoral chemotherapy. However, many issues must be resolved before these implants can be applied in clinical practice. Herein, we report a novel injectable in situ-forming implant system composed of n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (NBCA) and ethyl oleate, and the sol–gel phase transition is activated by anions in body fluids or blood. This newly developed injectable NBCA ethyl oleate implant (INEI) is biodegradable, biocompatible, and non-toxic. INEI solidifies in several seconds after exposure to body fluids or blood, and the implant’s in vivo degradation time can be controlled. In addition, the pore sizes formed by the polymerization of NBCA can be decreased by increasing the NBCA concentration in the implants. Therefore, the drug retention/release time can be adjusted from a few weeks to several months by changing the concentration of NBCA in the implant formulation. Anti-tumor experiments in animal models showed that the average growth inhibition rate of xenografted human breast cancer cells by the paclitaxel-loaded INEI (40% NBCA) was 80%, and they also indicated that tumors in some of the mice were completely eliminated by just a single dosage injection. For the epirubicin-loaded INEI (50% NBCA), the average growth inhibition rate of xenografted human liver cancer cells was 58%. Thus, the chemotherapeutic drug-loaded INEIs exhibited excellent therapeutic efficacy for local chemotherapy.

Marine science and numerical modeling (MASNUM) is widely used in forecasting ocean wave movement, through simulating the variation tendency of the ocean wave. Although efforts have been devoted to improve the performance of MASNUM from various aspects by existing work, there is still large space unexplored for further performance improvement. In this paper, we aim at improving the performance of propagation solver and data access during the simulation, in addition to the efficiency of output I/O and load balance. Our optimizations include several effective techniques such as the algorithm redesign, load distribution optimization, parallel I/O and data access optimization. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach achieves higher performance compared to the state-of-the-art work, about 3.5x speedup without degrading the prediction accuracy. In addition, the parameter sensitivity analysis shows our optimizations are effective under various topography resolutions and output frequencies.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Electrona carlsbergi was obtained, which was 18,282 bp in size and including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 23 transfer RNAs and 1 control region. The overall nucleotide composition is 27.92% for A, 24.66% for T, 30.90% for C and 16.52% for G. Among 23 tRNA genes, 8 tRNAs were encoded on the L-strand. Further, the phylogenetic tree, which based on complete mtDNA sequences, revealed that the E. carlsbergi was genetically closest to species E. antarctica and Krefftichthys anderssoni. This study could provide a basic data for the studies on evolution for low temperature adaptability, stock evaluation and conservation genetics.

Chaenodraco wilsoni, a species of Channichthyidae, inhabits in southern ocean. The total length of complete mitochondrial genome of C. wilsoni is 17,432 bp, which encoded 37 genes. Similar to most Antarctic fishes, the ND6/tRNA (glu) translocation and an additional non-coding region linked with ND6 have also occurred in C. wilsoni. The ML tree supports that C. wilsoni has closer relationship with Chionodraco species. Our research will provide more molecular biology information about C. wilsoni and deepen the understanding of Antarctic fishes.

Antarctic krill Euphausia superba is a very important species in Antarctic ecosystem. The mitochondrial genome of E. superba was completed with 16,591 bp in length, gene arrangement and order was the same as previous studies. The overall A + T content is 68.91% and the control region A + T content is 78.17%. Alignment with other two partial mitochondrial genome revealed that ND2 region possessed many unusual variation sites. The phylogenetic tree showed that E. superba clustered with other two species of Euphausiacea. This study filled in the gap of the krill mitogenome and suggested putative markers for population study.