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This study focuses on the occurrence status and removal efficiency of microplastics in wastewater treatment plant processes. Analysis of effluent and sludge samples from the Wulongkou and Shuangqiao wastewater treatment plants in Zhengzhou revealed an overall microplastic removal efficiency of 95.64% and 92.53%, respectively, indicating the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants in reducing microplastic emissions. Microplastics primarily exist in forms such as fiber, fragment, floc, film, and grain. Fibers are predominant in the effluent of the Wulongkou plant, while fibers and films predominate in the effluent of the Shuangqiao plant. Moreover, microplastics are predominantly sized below 500 μm, with larger microplastics (2–5 mm) exhibiting higher removal efficiencies after secondary treatment. Analysis of microplastic types revealed that PE is the most common type in the effluent of the Wulongkou plant, while the Shuangqiao plant predominantly contains PE and PA66. The abundance of microplastics in sludge samples was found to be 6.4 ± 0.8 items/g and 11.3 ± 2.3 items/g, highlighting sludge as an important sink for microplastics. Surface analysis of microplastics revealed characteristics such as wrinkles and cracks, with energy-dispersive spectroscopy indicating significant adsorption of heavy metal elements such as Zn, Hg, and Pb onto microplastic surfaces in sludge. These findings underscore the importance of microplastic removal in wastewater treatment processes and provide scientific evidence for the control and management of microplastic pollution in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the problem of robustly estimating the posterior distribution for the setting where observed data can be contaminated with potentially adversarial outliers. We propose Rob-ULA, a robust variant of the Unadjusted Langevin Algorithm (ULA), and provide a finite-sample analysis of its sampling distribution. In particular, we show that after T = O ˜ (d / ε acc) iterations, we can sample from pT such that dist (p T , p *) ≤ ε acc + O ˜ (ϵ) , where ϵ is the fraction of corruptions and dist represents the squared 2-Wasserstein distance metric. Our results for the class of posteriors p * which satisfy log-concavity and smoothness assumptions. We corroborate our theoretical analysis with experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets for mean estimation, regression and binary classification. for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A Mn-doped nickel iron layered double hydroxides (Mn-doped NiFe-LDH) supported on nickel foam was developed, and could act as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for the coupling MOR and HER. • The methanol-to-formate faradaic efficiency was determined to be 99.5 % at an external potential of 1.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. • This electrocatalyst is able to drive a current density of 131.1 mA cm−2 with a decay of merely 12.2 % over continuous 120 h testing in co-electrocatalysis of water/methanol solution. Electrochemical upgrading methanol into value-added formate at the anode in alkaline media enables the boosting production of hydrogen fuel at the cathode with saved energy. To achieve such a cost-effective and efficient electrocatalytic process, herein this work presents a Mn-doped nickel iron layered double hydroxides supported on nickel foam, derived from a simple hydrothermal synthesis. This developed electrocatalyst could act as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for methanol-to-formate with a high faradaic efficiency of nearly 100 %, and for hydrogen evolution reaction, at an external potential of 1.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Additionally, a current density of 131.1 mA cm−2 with a decay of merely 12.2 % over 120 h continuous long-term testing was generated in co-electrocatalysis of water/methanol solution. Further density functional theoretical calculations were used to unravel the methanol-to-formate reaction mechanism arising from the doping of Fe and/or Mn. This work offers a good example of co-electrocatalysis to produce formate and green hydrogen fuel using a bifunctional electrocatalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The structurals stability, electronic structure, density of states (DOS), and optical properties of B-doped arsenene under biaxial tensile and compressive strains were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The doping system was found to exhibit good stability. The introduction of B atom transformed the originally indirect band gap of arsenene into a direct band gap. Under compressive strain, the band gap remained direct, gradually decreasing in value. In contrast, under tensile strain, the direct band gap occurred a transition into an indirect band gap, of which value initially increasing and then decreasing with an increasing strain. The static dielectric constant was increased under both compressive and tensile strains, but compressive strain had a stronger effect. Compressive strain led to an increase in the imaginary peak of the dielectric function, while tensile strain resulted in a decrease. Moreover, as compressive strain increased, the absorption and loss function peak initially blue-shifted and then red-shifted, while tensile strain caused a gradual red-shift of the absorption peak. Method: All DFT calculations were performed using Quantum Espresso software; the structures were optimized using generalized gradient approximation (GGA-PBE), and electronic structure and optical properties are performed using Heyd-Sceria-Ernzerhof (HSE06). The cut-off energy was set as 70 Ry, the Monkhorst–Pack grid was set to 10 × 10 × 1, the atomic convergence criterion was set as 1.0 × 10−6 Ry, and the convergence criterion of interatomic force was set as 1.0 × 10−4 Ry/Bohr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is one of the most lethal types of cancer, and KRAS oncogene occurs in over 90% of cases. P21-activated kinases (PAK), containing six members (PAK1 to 6), function downstream of KRAS. PAK1 and PAK4 play important roles in carcinogenesis, but their combinational effect remains unknown. In this study, we have determined the effect of dual inhibition of PAK1 and PAK4 in PDA progression using knockout (KO) cancer cell lines. Methods: Murine wild-type (WT) and PAK1KO pancreatic cancer cell lines were isolated from PAK1+/+ and PAK1−/− KPC (LSL-KrasG12D/+; LSL-Trp53 R172H/+; Pdx-1-Cre) mice. KPC PAK4KO and KPC PAK1&4 KO cell lines were generated from KPC WT and KPC PAK1KO cell lines respectively using the CRISPR-CAS9 gene knockout technique. PAK WT and KO cell lines were used in mouse models of pancreatic tumours. Cells and tumour tissue were also used in flow cytometry and proteomic studies. A human PDA tissue microarray was stained by immunohistochemistry. Results: Double knock out of PAK1 and PAK4 caused complete regression of tumour in a syngeneic mouse model. PAK4KO inhibited tumour growth by stimulating a rapid increase of cytotoxic CD8+ T cell infiltration. PAK1KO synergistically with PAK4KO increased cytotoxic CD8+ T cell infiltration and stimulated a sustained infiltration of CD8+ T cells at a later phase to overcome the immune evasion in the PAK4KO tumour. The human PDA tissue microarray study showed the important role of PAK1 and PAK4 in intra-tumoral T-cell function. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that dual inhibition of PAK1 and PAK4 synergistically suppressed PDA progression by stimulating cytotoxic CD8 + T cell response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gonadotropin precisely controls mammalian reproductive activities. Systematic analysis of the mechanisms by which epigenetic modifications regulate the synthesis and secretion of gonadotropin can be useful for more precise regulation of the animal reproductive process. Previous studies have identified many differential m6A modifications in the GnRH-treated adenohypophysis. However, the molecular mechanism by which m6A modification regulates gonadotropin synthesis and secretion remains unclear. Results: Herein, it was found that GnRH can promote gonadotropin synthesis and secretion by promoting the expression of FTO. Highly expressed FTO binds to Foxp2 mRNA in the nucleus, exerting a demethylation function and reducing m6A modification. After Foxp2 mRNA exits the nucleus, the lack of m6A modification prevents YTHDF3 from binding to it, resulting in increased stability and upregulation of Foxp2 mRNA expression, which activates the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway to promote gonadotropin synthesis and secretion. Conclusions: Overall, the study reveals the molecular mechanism of GnRH regulating the gonadotropin synthesis and secretion through FTO-mediated m6A modification. The results of this study allow systematic interpretation of the regulatory mechanism of gonadotropin synthesis and secretion in the pituitary at the epigenetic level and provide a theoretical basis for the application of reproductive hormones in the regulation of animal artificial reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While endoscopic step‐up approach with delayed drainage (more than 28 days from diagnosis) was shown to produce the best outcomes in the treatment of pancreatic walled‐off necrosis (WON), we assessed our single centre experience of early versus delayed endoscopic drainage of pancreatic necrotic collections. Methods: Patients who underwent endoscopic drainage of pancreatic necrotic collections between 2011 and 2022 under Monash Health were identified. They were excluded if below 18 years old or their follow up data were missing. The included patients' medical records, pathology results, and imaging findings were retrospectively reviewed. Results: A total of 60 patients were included. 31.58% required percutaneous drainage and 15% received either endoscopic or surgical necrosectomy. The disease related mortality was 8.47% and the average length of stay (LOS) was 70.92 days. No significant difference was shown in disease‐related mortality (10.5% vs. 7.5%, P = 0.697) or LOS (75.35 vs. 68.7, P = 0.644) between early and delayed drainage cohorts, but patients who received early drainage have higher qSOFA score on the day of drainage (2 vs. 0, P = 0.004). Discussion: Repetitive endoscopic drainage with selective percutaneous drainage is effective in the management of pancreatic necrotic collections. Early drainage should be considered in patients who developed severe sepsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) has proven beneficial for patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. However, the application of ERAS in the context of metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC) remains undefined. This study aims to establish a medical pathway rooted in the ERAS concept, with the ultimate goal of scrutinizing its efficacy in enhancing postoperative outcomes among patients suffering from MESCC. An observational cohort study. A total of 304 patients with MESCC who underwent surgery were collected between January 2016 and January 2023 at two large tertiary hospitals. Surgery-related variables, patient quality of life, and pain outcomes. Surgery-related variables in the study included surgery time, surgery site, intraoperative blood loss, and complication. From January 2020 onwards, ERAS therapies were implemented for MESCC patients in both institutions. Thus, the ERAS cohort included 138 patients with MESCC who underwent surgery from January 2020 to January 2023, whereas the traditional cohort consisted of 166 patients with MESCC who underwent surgery from January 2016 to December 2019. Clinical baseline characteristics, surgery-related features, and surgical outcomes were collected. Patient quality of life was evaluated using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scale (FACT-G), and pain outcomes were assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Comparison of baseline characteristics revealed that the two cohorts were similar (all p>.050), indicating comparable distribution of clinical characteristics. In terms of surgical outcomes, patients in the ERAS cohort exhibited lower intraoperative blood loss (p<.001), shorter postoperative hospital stays (p<.001), lower perioperative complication rates (p=.020), as well as significantly shorter time to ambulation (P<0.001), resumption of regular diet (p<.001), removal of urinary catheter (p<.001), initiation of radiation therapy (p<.001), and initiation of systemic internal therapy (p<.001) compared with patients in the traditional cohort. Regarding pain outcomes and quality of life, patients undergoing the ERAS program demonstrated significantly lower VAS scores (p<.010) and higher scores for physical (p<.001), social (p<.001), emotional (p<.001), and functional (p<.001) well-being compared with patients in the traditional cohort. The ERAS program, renowned for its ability to expedite postoperative recuperation, emerges as a promising approach to ameliorate the recovery process in MESCC patients. Not only does it exhibit potential in enhancing pain management outcomes, but it also holds the promise of elevating the overall quality of life for these individuals. Future investigations should delve deeper into the intricate components of the ERAS program, aiming to unravel the precise mechanisms that underlie its remarkable impact on patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Investigations into the rivaroxaban response from the perspective of genetic variation have been relatively recent and wide in scope, whereas there is no consensus on the necessity of genetic testing of rivaroxaban. Thus, this systematic review aims to thoroughly evaluate the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and rivaroxaban outcomes. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Chinese databases were searched to 23 October 2022. We included cohort studies reporting the pharmacogenetic correlation of rivaroxaban. Outcomes measured included efficacy (all-cause mortality, thromboembolic events and coagulation-related tests), safety (major bleeding, clinically relevant non-major bleeding [CRNMB] and any hemorrhage), and pharmacokinetic outcomes. A narrative synthesis was performed to summarize findings from individual studies according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and the reporting guideline for Synthesis Without Meta-Analysis. Results: A total of 12 studies published between 2019 and 2022 involving 1364 patients were included. Ten, one, and six studies focused on the ABCB1, ABCG2, and CYP gene polymorphisms, respectively. Pharmacokinetic outcomes accounted for the majority of the outcomes reported (n = 11), followed by efficacy (n = 5) [including prothrombin time (PT) or international normalized ratio (n = 3), platelet inhibition rate (PIR) or platelet reactivity units (PRUs; n = 1), thromboembolic events (n = 1)], and safety (n = 5) [including major bleeding (n = 2), CRNMB (n = 2), any hemorrhage (n = 1)]. For ABCB1 gene polymorphism, the relationship between PT and ABCB1 rs1045642 was inconsistent across studies, however there was no pharmacogenetic relationship with other efficacy outcomes. Safety associations were found in ABCB1 rs4148738 and major bleeding, ABCB1 rs4148738 and CRNMB, ABCB1 rs1045642 and CRNMB, and ABCB1 rs2032582 and hemorrhage. Pharmacokinetic results were inconsistent among studies. For ABCG2 gene polymorphism, no correlation was observed between ABCG2 rs2231142 and dose-adjusted trough concentration (Cmin/D). For CYP gene polymorphisms, PIR or PRUs have a relationship with CYP2C19 rs12248560, however bleeding or pharmacokinetic effects did not show similar results. Conclusions: Currently available data are insufficient to confirm the relationship between clinical or pharmacokinetic outcomes of rivaroxaban and gene polymorphisms. Proactive strategies are advised as a priority in clinical practice rather than detection of SNP genotyping. Clinical Trials Registration: PROSPERO registration number CRD42022347907. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adenopituitary secretes follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH), which plays a crucial role in regulating the growth, development, and reproductive functions of organisms. Investigating the process of FSH synthesis and secretion can offer valuable insights into potential areas of focus for reproductive research. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a significant paracrine/autocrine factor within the body, and studies have demonstrated its ability to stimulate FSH secretion in animals. However, the precise mechanisms that regulate this action are still poorly understood. In this research, in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that the activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) by EGF induces the upregulation of miR‐27b‐3p and that miR‐27b‐3p targets and inhibits Foxo1 mRNA expression, resulting in increased FSH synthesis and secretion. In summary, this study elucidates the precise molecular mechanism through which EGF governs the synthesis and secretion of FSH via the EGFR/miR‐27b‐3p/FOXO1 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fat-forming solitary fibrous tumor is a rare and specific subtype of solitary fibrous tumor. In this case, a mass of 8.3 cm in diameter was found in a 59-year-old male patient's right retroperitoneum, as revealed by abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) images. The tumor exhibited a well-circumscribed nature and histological features characterized by a combination of hemangiopericytomatous vasculature and mature adipose tissue, comprising around 70% of the total tumor composition. Immunohistochemistry staining revealed diffuse positive expression of STAT6 and CD34 in the tumor cells. Based on these findings, the final diagnosis was determined to be a fat-forming solitary fibrous tumor located in the retroperitoneum. It is important to consider other potential differential diagnoses, including angiomyolipoma, dedifferentiated liposarcoma, spindle cell lipoma, and atypical lipomatous tumor/well-differentiated liposarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband optical satellites have been widely used for fine monitoring of coastal waters and inland lakes for their high spatial resolution. Atmospheric correction (AC) is one of the essential data processing steps for remote sensing of water environments with high spatial resolution satellites. Most broadband optical satellites, such as HY-1C Coastal Zone Imager (CZI) with a spatial resolution of 50 m, lack of near-infrared and shortwave infrared bands needed for atmospheric correction, making accurate AC difficult. Auxiliary aerosol data is often needed for accurate AC of broadband optical satellite data, which suffers from the differences in spatial resolution and imaging time between auxiliary data and satellite data. Furthermore, existing AC algorithms always perform AC pixel by pixel, which ignores the spatial relationship between adjacent pixels. Taking HY-1C CZI as an example, this paper proposes a novel atmospheric correction algorithm based on deep learning (SSACNet). Considering the inherent spatial-spectral features of satellite images, the SSACNet combines 2D and 3D convolution. The 3D convolution was used to mine the spatial and spectral features of the image and 2D convolution was explored to perform spatial information compensation. The SSACNet was trained and evaluated using the spatio-temporally synchronized dataset of HY-1C CZI and Landsat8 Operational Land Imager (OLI). The evaluation results by in-situ data show that the SSACNet has good performance, with the average correlation coefficient of 0.89, and the absolute percentage deviation (APD) of four bands ranging from 21.53 % to 35.41 %. Compared with the quasi-synchronous Landsat8 OLI remote sensing reflectance (R rs), the APD is less than 10 %. Compared with traditional atmospheric correction algorithms, SSACNet has significantly improved the spatial and spectral information fidelity. In addition, SSACNet also shows good applicability, as it can be used in both clear ocean waters and turbid coastal waters. This study lays a foundation for the quantitative remote sensing of water environment by broadband optical satellites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to chemical drugs, therapeutic proteins exhibit higher specificity and activity and are generally well-tolerated by the human body. However, the limitations, such as poor stability both in vivo and in vitro as well as difficulties in penetrating cell membranes, hinder their widespread application. To overcome the challenges, a highly efficient protocol was developed and implemented for the recombinant expression of the therapeutic protein azurin and secretion into minicells derived from probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917. The novel coupled production with a delivery system of therapeutic proteins based on minicells was obtained through purification to enhance protein activity, circulation characteristics, and targeting specificity. This protein drug carrier integrates the production of carrier materials and the loading of expression proteins. The drug carrier also protects the encapsulated polypeptide drugs from enzymatic or gastric acid degradation until they are released. Escherichia coli Nissle 1917-derived minicells have natural targeting to colon cancer cells, low toxicity, and can accumulate for a long time after penetrating tumor tissue. This self-produced protein drug delivery system simplified the process of protein preparation, and its inhibitory effect on different types of colon cancer cells was verified by CCK-8 cytotoxicity assay, cancer cell invasion, and migration assay. This work provided a simple method to prepare minicell drug delivery systems for protein drug production and a novel approach for the transport of recombinant protein drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To report a rare case of cystoid macular edema (CME) as a presentation of acute hydroxychloroquine-related retinal toxicity A 37-year-old female patient visited our ophthalmology department in October 2019 complaining of bilateral blurred vision and metamorphopsia for 3 days. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 6/6 in the right eye and 6/7.5 in the left eye under the Snellen E chart. Before presentation, she had taken hydroxychloroquine as a "reproduction-facilitating medication" prior to the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures with the daily dose of 200 mg for 1 week in March 2019 and 400 mg for 1 month in September 2019. She also took a combination of several herbal medicine including "Angelica sinensis" for 6 months in this period. On examination, typical signs of hydroxychloroquine maculopathy such as bilateral paracentral retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) change in blue autofluorescence and loss of the paracentral ellipsoid zone in optical coherence tomography ("flying saucer sign") were noted. CME was also found in fluorescein angiography. Her symptoms improved gradually after cessation of hydroxychloroquine and herb medicine without any further treatment. Resolution of bilateral CME was revealed at 16 weeks with final bilateral BCVA 6/6. Although rare, acute hydroxychloroquine maculopathy could occur in patients with concomitant usage of medications that could interfere with P450 enzymes system. Careful acquisition of drug history and serial ophthalmological examinations are advised in using hydroxychloroquine for disease management even for a short period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a \partial \bar \partial-manifold X with trivial canonical bundle and carrying a metric \omega such that \partial \bar \partial \omega =0, we introduce the concept of small deformations of X polarised by the Aeppli cohomology class [\omega ]_A of a strong Kähler with torsion metric \omega. There is a correspondence between the manifolds polarised by [\omega ]_A in the Kuranishi family of X and the Bott-Chern classes that are primitive in a sense that we define. We also investigate the existence of a primitive element in an arbitrary Bott-Chern primitive class and compare the metrics on the base space of the subfamily of manifolds polarised by [\omega ]_A within the Kuranishi family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To reveal the underlying roles that pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) played in human spermatogenic dysfunction. Methods: One discovery set and three validation sets were employed to inspect the previously reported 33 PRGs in the human testis with different status of spermatogenesis. PRGs that differentially expressed in all sets were considered as key differentially expressed pyroptosis-related genes (PR-DEGs). The relationships between key PR-DEGs and samples' clinicopathological, therapeutic, and immune patterns were respectively studied. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNS-seq) analyses were conducted to show the expression changes and related mechanisms of key PR-DEGs at a single-cell resolution. Results: CASP4 and GPX4 were identified as two key PR-DEGs. These two genes were significantly dysregulated in spermatogenic dysfunctional samples, but with opposite tendency. CASP4 was negatively correlated with Johnsen scores but positively correlated with follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels (all p < 0.05), while GPX4 exhibited significant positive correlations with Johnsen scores and negative relevance with FSH. For treatments, both molecules showed a prospective value of being predictors for sperm retrieval surgeries. Moreover, CASP4 and GPX4 were potential immunoregulators in the testicular immune microenvironment and showed significant correlations to testicular macrophages and mast cell infiltration. In scRNA-seq analyses, GPX4 was highly expressed in germ cells, which therefore suffered a sharp reduction with the loss of germ cells in spermatogenic dysfunction. On the other hand, CASP4 were basically somatic cell–derived, and the proportion of CASP4-positive Leydig cells significantly increased in disease testes (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: In all, we revealed two key PRGs of human testes that might be functional in spermatogenic dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the safe and stable operation of wind turbines, it is essential that the blades have sufficient bending stiffness to prevent excessive deflection and tower impact. A method combining static loading test and numerical analysis is proposed to solve the problem of identifying the cross-sectional bending stiffness of actual blades. Two working conditions, namely multi-point static test and single-point static calibration, are considered. A mathematical model of a cantilever beam with an initial small curvature and variable cross section is established. By fitting the deflection measurement data obtained from the static loading test, the deflection differential equation is solved by the finite difference method to obtain expressions for the cross-sectional bending stiffness under large and small deflection. The analysis results of several blade models show that the bending stiffness identification error for most blade sections is less than 10%, confirming the effectiveness of this method. This provides a practical and theoretical basis for the design, analysis, and refinement of test parameters for large-scale blades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea fog is a weather hazard along the coast and over the ocean that seriously threatens maritime activities. In the deep learning approach, it is difficult for convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to fully consider global context information in sea fog research due to their own limitations, and the recognition of sea fog edges is relatively vague. To solve the above problems, this paper puts forward an ECA-TransUnet model for daytime sea fog recognition, which consists of a combination of a CNN and a transformer. By designing a two-branch feed-forward network (FFN) module and introducing an efficient channel attention (ECA) module, the model can effectively take into account long-range pixel interactions and feature channel information to capture the global contextual information of sea fog data. Meanwhile, to solve the problem of insufficient existing sea fog detection datasets, we investigated sea fog events occurring in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea and their territorial waters, extracted remote sensing images from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data at corresponding times, and combined data from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), cloud and sea fog texture features, and waveband feature information to produce a manually annotated sea fog dataset. Our experiments showed that the proposed model achieves 94.5% accuracy and an 85.8% F1 score. Compared with the existing models relying only on CNNs such as UNet, FCN8s, and DeeplabV3+, it achieves state-of-the-art performance in sea fog recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shock vibration environments frequently occur and threaten the reliability of products in aerospace engineering. This work deals with the shock response spectra replication control method for multi-shaker vibration test systems. Two synthetic methods for reconstitution of shock response signals with specified shock response spectra are presented. One is the random delay superposition method and the other is the filtering superposition method. The former utilizes a random time delay vector satisfying a normal distribution to simulate a shock response signal with symmetrical attenuated oscillation features while the latter is employed when the measured shock records are available. A time-domain inverse system method is formulated to obtain the multi-input drive signals based on a finite-difference equation. The multi-input multi-output frequency response functions are estimated first and then used to construct the inverse system. The multi-output shock response spectra are calculated by response signals from control sensors. A closed-loop iteration control procedure is provided to correct the drive signals according to the deviations between the responses and corresponding reference values. A numerical simulation and a triaxial vibration test are carried out and the results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality single-phase multicolor emission phosphor is a prerequisite for efficient luminescence devices, but the system design and quantity preparation are still facing substantial challenges. Herein, Gd 2 O 2 S-based phosphors with high crystallinity, good dispersibility, and relatively good size uniformity were obtained by optimizing the type and components of flux based on the conventional solid-state method. By single-doping system study, the emission properties of matrix and activated ions are expounded, meanwhile the composition and co-excitation wavelength of co-doping system are designed. In the co-doping system, we mainly realized adjustable emission, interionic energy transfer, and application performance analysis. Firstly, multicolor emission in the range of yellow, orange and white was achieved through the modulation of dopant type and concentration as well as excitation wavelength. Secondly, the phenomena of spectral overlap (between Dy3+ and Sm3+), fluorescence intensity change (606 nm of Sm3+) and the monotonically decreasing fluorescence lifetime (Dy3+ at 578 nm) were evidence of energy transfer in the co-doping system. The theoretical fitting demonstrates that the energy transfer process of Dy3+→Sm3+ is primarily based on the quadrupole-quadrupole interaction mechanism. In addition, the cathodoluminescence spectra, temperature-dependent emission spectra, and magnetic properties tests have demonstrated the characteristics of multicolor adjustable emission (electron-beam excitation), excellent thermal stability, and good paramagnetic properties of the co-doping phosphors, further indicating that the Gd 2 O 2 S:Dy3+/Sm3+ system phosphors have potential as an excellent optical-magnetic bifunctional material in the fields of luminescence and bioimaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate bathymetric data in shallow water is of increasing importance for navigation safety, coastal management, and marine transportation. Satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) is widely accepted as an effective alternative to conventional acoustic measurements in coastal areas, providing high spatial and temporal resolution combined with extensive repetitive coverage. Many previous empirical SDB approaches are unsuitable for precision bathymetry mapping in various scenarios, due to the assumption of homogeneous bottom over the whole region, as well as the neglect of various interfering factors (e.g., turbidity) causing radiation attenuation. Therefore, this study proposes a bottom-type adaption-based SDB approach (BA-SDB). Under the consideration of multiple factors including suspended particulates and phytoplankton, it uses a particle swarm optimization improved LightGBM algorithm (PSO-LightGBM) to derive depth of each pre-segmented bottom type. Based on multispectral images of high spatial resolution and in situ observations of airborne laser bathymetry and multi-beam echo sounder, the proposed approach is applied in shallow water around Yuanzhi Island, and achieves the highest accuracy with an RMSE value of 0.85 m compared to log-ratio, multi-band, and classical machine learning methods. The results of this study show that the introduction of water-environment parameters improves the performance of the machine learning model for bathymetric mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) possesses excellent antibacterial effects on pathogenic enterobacteria. The microcins MccM and MccH47 produced in EcN played critical roles, but they are understudied and poorly characterized, and the individual antibacterial mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, three EcN mutants (ΔmcmA, ΔmchB, and ΔmcmAΔmchB) were constructed and compared with wild-type EcN (EcN wt) to test for inhibitory effects on the growth of Escherichia coli O157: H7, Salmonella enterica (SE), and Salmonella typhimurium (ST). The antibacterial effects on O157: H7 were not affected by the knockout of mcmA (MccM) and mchB (MccH47) in EcN. However, the antibacterial effect on Salmonella declined sharply in EcN mutants ΔmcmA. The overexpressed mcmA gene in EcN::mcmA showed more efficient antibacterial activity on Salmonella than that of EcN wt. Furthermore, the EcN::mcmA strain significantly reduced the abilities of adhesion and invasion of Salmonella to intestinal epithelial cells, decreasing the invasion ability of ST by 56.31% (62.57 times more than that of EcN wt) while reducing the adhesion ability of ST by 50.14% (2.41 times more than that of EcN wt). In addition, the supernatant of EcN::mcmA culture significantly decreased the mRNA expression and secretion of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 on macrophages induced by LPS. The EcN::mcmA strain generated twice as much orange halo as EcN wt by CAS agar diffusion assay by producing more siderophores. MccM was more closely related to the activity of EcN against Salmonella, and MccM-overproducing EcN inhibited Salmonella growth by producing more siderophores-MccM to compete for iron, which was critical to pathogen growth. Based on the above, EcN::mcmA can be developed as engineered probiotics to fight against pathogenic enterobacteria colonization in the gut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control method for the multi-axial half sine shock on random vibration test is studied in this article. From the Fourier spectrum analysis, it is found that the power of the half sine shock is mainly concentrated within a specific frequency band, which is only related to the sine frequency of the half sine shock. Compared with the broadband random signal, the frequency band occupies a small range. Therefore, a mixed signal separation method is proposed for the shock on random vibration control test. Firstly, the Fourier spectrum is divided into two parts, and then the Empirical Wavelet Transform (EWT) is used to extract the shock component from the mixed signal. Afterward, the random component is obtained by subtracting the shock component from the mixed signal. According to the deviations between each component and the specified references, the amplitudes of the shock component and the Power Spectral Densities (PSDs) of the random component are controlled by the amplitude correction algorithm and the matrix power control algorithm, respectively. An experiment with tri-axial shaker is implemented and the results show that the proposed method is feasible for the multi-axial half sine shock on broadband random vibration control test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant efforts have been made in recent years to produce healthier wines, with the primary goal of reducing the use of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which poses health risks. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of three plant-derived polyphenols (dihydromyricetin, resveratrol, and catechins) as alternatives to SO2 in wine. After a three-month aging process, the wines were evaluated using analytical techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography, colorimetry, gas chromatography–olfactometry–mass spectrometry, as well as electronic nose and electronic tongue analyses, with the purpose to assess parameters including antioxidant activity, color, contents of volatile aroma compounds, and sensory characteristics. The results demonstrated various degrees of improvement in the antioxidant activity, aromatic intensity, and sensory characteristics of wines using polyphenols. Notably, dihydromyricetin (200 mg/L) exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity, with increases of 18.84%, 23.28%, and 20.87% in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2'azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), and ferric-ion-reducing antioxidant power assays, respectively. Resveratrol (200 mg/L) made the most significant contribution to volatile aroma compounds, with an 8.89% increase in the total content of alcohol esters. In E-nose analysis, catechins (200 mg/L) showed the highest response to aromatic compounds and the lowest response to volatile sulfur compounds, while also exhibiting the best sensory characteristics. Therefore, the three plant-derived polyphenols investigated here exhibited the potential to enhance wine quality as alternatives to SO2. However, it is important to consider the specific impact of different polyphenols on wine; hence, suitable antioxidants should be selected in wine production according to specific requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infertility is a global health problem that carries a high social and economic burden. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been developed in mainland China for over 30 years. We aimed to evaluate the accessibility and equity of distribution of ART facilities in mainland China from 2006 to 2018 and quantify the population with reduced geographic access to ART services. A retrospective study was conducted to describe the trend and analyse the equity of distribution of ART clinics in 2006, 2012, and 2018. The accessibility of ART clinics in mainland China increased significantly in the 12 years to 2018 (p ˂ 0.05). Eastern China had the most extensive coverage, followed by the central region, while the western region had the least coverage (p ˂ 0.05). The Gini coefficient for the distribution of ART clinics in 2018 was 0.213, indicating that the equity of distribution of ART clinics was relatively balanced over the country. However, at the end of 2018, there were still 354.9 million people (25.4% of the population) living in 148 cities without access to any ART clinics, which has spurred more targeted policies and cost-effective measures to improve the accessibility and availability of ART services in such areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of matrix cations has a significant influence on the morphology and properties of oxysulfide fluorescent materials. In this study, rose-shaped Y 2 O 2 S:Tb3+, disc-shaped La 2 O 2 S:Tb3+, and spherical Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb3+ micro/nano phosphors with varying matrix cations were synthesized by the solvothermal method. The differences in the morphologies of the three phosphors were mainly attributed to the electronegativity and ionic-radius mismatch of the matrix cations. In the photoluminescence test, the differences in the characteristic emission intensities mainly originated from the discrepancy in the bandgap energies and defect concentrations, whereas the differences in the characteristic-emission-peak positions were closely related to the positions of the charge-transfer states of the three matrixes. The emission intensities of the three phosphors were determined to be in the order of La 2 O 2 S:Tb3+ > Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb3+ > Y 2 O 2 S:Tb3+ by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. This order is due majorly to the effect of the morphological differences on the stacking density, which, in turn, affects the electron-beam penetration depth and the emission intensity. The analysis of the temperature-dependent emission spectra revealed that the T 50 values of all three phosphors were higher than 473 K, highlighting their high color stability. In addition, the differences in the magnetic properties of the three phosphors mainly originated from the matrix cations and activator ions. This work provides insights into the manipulation of the luminescence properties and microstructures of materials via the substitution of matrix cations, which could further improve the tunability of rare-earth oxysulfide fluorescent materials in the field of luminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has majorly impacted public health and economies worldwide. Although several effective vaccines and drugs are now used to prevent and treat COVID-19, natural products, especially flavonoids, showed great therapeutic potential early in the pandemic and thus attracted particular attention. Quercetin, baicalein, baicalin, EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), and luteolin are among the most studied flavonoids in this field. Flavonoids can directly or indirectly exert antiviral activities, such as the inhibition of virus invasion and the replication and inhibition of viral proteases. In addition, flavonoids can modulate the levels of interferon and proinflammatory factors. We have reviewed the previously reported relevant literature researching the pharmacological anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of flavonoids where structures, classifications, synthetic pathways, and pharmacological effects are summarized. There is no doubt that flavonoids have great potential in the treatment of COVID-19. However, most of the current research is still in the theoretical stage. More studies are recommended to evaluate the efficacy and safety of flavonoids against SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Plant cyclic nucleotide gated channels (CNGCs) facilitate cytosolic Ca2+ influx as an early step in numerous signaling cascades. CNGC‐mediated Ca2+ elevations are essential for plant immune defense and high temperature thermosensing. In the present study, we evaluated phenotypes of CNGC2, CNGC4, CNGC6, and CNGC12 null mutants in these two pathways. It is shown CNGC2, CNGC4, and CNGC6 physically interact in vivo, whereas CNGC12 does not. CNGC involvement in immune signaling was evaluated by monitoring mutant response to elicitor peptide Pep3. Pep3 response cascades involving CNGCs included mitogen‐activated kinase activation mediated by Ca2+‐dependent protein kinase phosphorylation. Pep3‐induced reactive oxygen species generation was impaired in cngc2, cngc4, and cngc6, but not in cngc12, suggesting that CNGC2, CNGC4, and CNGC6 (which physically interact) may be components of a multimeric CNGC channel complex for immune signaling. However, unlike cngc2 and cngc4, cngc6 is not sensitive to high Ca2+ and displays no pleiotropic dwarfism. All four cngc mutants showed thermotolerance compared to wild‐type, although CNGC12 does not interact with the other three CNGCs. These results imply that physically interacting CNGCs may, in some cases, function in a signaling cascade as components of a heteromeric channel complex, although this may not be the case in other signaling pathways. Significance Statement: We demonstrate that cyclic nucleotide gated channel (CNGC)2 and CNGC4 interact with CNGC6, and the attenuation of Pep triggered immunity in a null cngc6 mutant may be a result of the downstream involvement of CNGC6 in extracellular ATPinduced immune signaling. CNGC proteins could act as thermosensors in plants to acquire thermotolerance under mildly higher temperature conditions when necessary to survive under harmful heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that develops in middle-aged and older adults. The development of a gait detection for PD patients to assist doctors in diagnoses is a crucial research target. This work develops an explainable learning architecture that involves deep learning, machine learning, data selection, feature evaluation and data balancing mechanisms, for gait detection in PD patients. The results obtained for these patients and healthy individuals are analyzed with different algorithms. Application of the research architecture that is developed in this study significantly increased the overall rate of identification; specifically, when used proposed architecture with XGBoost and deep learning achieves accuracy rates as high as 97.32% and 98.41%, respectively. The goal is to provide an early detection system that can serve as a reference for doctors when making a diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized membrane-bounded particles, released by all cells and capable of transporting bioactive cargoes, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, to regulate a variety of biological functions. Seminal plasma is enriched in EVs, and extensive evidence has revealed the role of EVs (e.g. prostasomes and epididymosomes) in the male genital tract. Recently, EVs released from testicular cells have been isolated and identified, and some new insights have been generated on their role in maintaining normal spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis in the testis. In the seminiferous tubules, Sertoli cell-derived EVs can promote the differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), and EVs secreted from undifferentiated A spermatogonia can inhibit the proliferation of SSCs. In the testicular interstitium, EVs have been identified in endothelial cells, macrophages, telocytes, and Leydig cells, although their roles are still elusive. Testicular EVs can also pass through the blood–testis barrier and mediate inter-compartment communication between the seminiferous tubules and the interstitium. Immature Sertoli cell-derived EVs can promote survival and suppress the steroidogenesis of Leydig cells. Exosomes isolated from macrophages can protect spermatogonia from radiation-induced injury. In addition to their role in intercellular communication, testicular EVs may also participate in the removal of aberrant proteins and the delivery of antigens for immune tolerance. EVs released from testicular cells can be detected in seminal plasma, which makes them potential biomarkers reflecting testicular function and disease status. The testicular EVs in seminal plasma may also affect the female reproductive tract to facilitate conception and may even affect early embryogenesis through modulating sperm RNA. EVs represent a new type of intercellular messenger in the testis. A detailed understanding of the role of testicular EV may contribute to the discovery of new mechanisms causing male infertility and enable the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of infertile men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is a common complication of diabetes. Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced changes of protein in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and spinal cord dorsal horn (SCDH) are critical for DNP genesis. However, which proteins change remains elusive. Here, the DNP model was established by a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ, accompanied by increased fasting blood glucose (FBG), decreased body weight (BW), and decreased paw withdrawal latency (PWL). Proteins change in L4-L6 DRGs and SCDH of rats were detected. Western blot and immunofluorescence results showed that expression levels of phosphorylated protein kinase C (p-PKC), transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1), Substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the DRG and the SCDH of rats were increased after STZ injection. A preliminary study from our previous study showed that 2 Hz electroacupuncture (EA) effectively alleviates DNP. However, the analgesic mechanism of EA needs further elucidation. Here, EA at the bilateral Zusanli (ST36) and KunLun (BL60) acupoints was applied for one week, and to investigate the effect on DNP. EA reversed thermal hyperalgesia in DNP rats and downregulated the expression of p-PKC, TRPV1, SP, and CGRP in DRG and SCDH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic oxidation is considered one of the most effective ways to remove formaldehyde from indoor air. However, the use of powder photocatalysts is limited by their low adsorption capacity and strong aggregation tendency. Hence, there is a need for a composite material with good cycling stability and high degradation efficiency. In the present study, a unique wood-based composite is produced by arranging Cu–TiO2 nanoparticles on porous structured wood. The porous structure of wood can adsorb formaldehyde, and the abundant functional groups on the surface can act as a reaction platform for anchoring the Cu–TiO2 nanoparticles. Cu doping facilitates electron interaction between TiO2 and Cu, promotes the transfer of charge carriers, lowers the electron–hole recombination rate, and improves the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of formaldehyde. The photocatalytic efficiency of the wood-based composites was highest (85.59%) when the n(Cu)/n(Ti) ratio was 7%. After nine cycles, the wood composites still had a high degradation rate, indicating good recyclability. Overall, this wood composite is an eco-friendly and promising material for indoor air filtration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung adenocarcinomas manifesting as subsolid nodules (SSN‐LUADs) possess distinct dormant behaviour. This study was designed to compare the immune landscapes of normal lungs (nLungs), SSN‐LUADs and LUADs manifesting as solid nodules (SN‐LUADs) so as to better understand the status of anti‐tumour immunity in SSN‐LUADs. Mass cytometry by time‐of‐flight analysis was performed on 299, 570 single cells from nLung, SSN‐LUAD and SN‐LUAD tissues. The immune cells were identified by phenotype, and the percentages of different immune cell subclusters were compared between SSN‐LUADs, SN‐LUADs and nLungs. Elevated percentage of CD8+ T cells were identified in SSN‐LUADs compared with in nLungs and SN‐LUADs. Elevated CD56bright NK cells and decreased CD56dim NK cells were identified in both SSN‐LUADs and SN‐LUADs compared with in nLungs. The immune landscape of SSN‐LUAD fits the theory of equilibrium phase of immunoediting, thus functional adaptive anti‐tumour immunity but impaired innate anti‐tumour immunity potentially contributes to the maintaining of its dormant behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐entropy‐alloy (HEA) nanoparticles with excellent photothermal conversion performances have been proven effective for solar steam generation abilities, but it remains a challenge to fabricate a macroscale evaporator through them. Here, assisting by the unique anisotropic porous structures of balsawood matrixes, a sustainable HEA‐nanoparticles‐balsawood (HEA‐BW) composited evaporator, in which two compositions construct an asymmetric surface wettability that the top surface of HEA nanoparticles acts as a hydrophobic photothermal area, while the bottom hydrophilic surface of balsawood allows for rapid water transportation, is assembled. The most efficient 8‐HEA‐BW realized an average optical absorption greater than 97% over the entire solar spectrum (250–2500 nm) and an excellent evaporation rate of 2.58 kg m−2 h−1 with a surface temperature of 80 °C under one sun irradiation. Surprisingly, a stable solar desalination performance of such composited evaporator can be observed in a 10‐cycles long‐term evaluation of the hypersaline water (20 wt% salinity) with an average evaporation rate of 1.65 kg m−2 h−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shenling Baizhu San has beneficial effects on the metabolism of the gut microbiota, however, the mechanisms underlying microbiota metabolites mediated anti-inflammation signaling are not well understood. Previously, we have demonstrated that supplementation with Shenling Baizhu San alleviated antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). The current study intends to investigate the dynamic modulation of Shenling Baizhu San polysaccharides (SP) on colitis from the gut microbiota metabolites perspective. Administration of SP effectively relieved colitis induced by DSS in mice, including alleviating body weight loss, the downregulation of colon proinflammatory mediators, and the promotion of intestinal injury repair. Whereas, the efficacy was eliminated by antibiotics, which demonstrated that the efficacy of SP was dependent on the gut microbiota. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) showed that the efficacy of SP can be transferred to gut microbiota. Serum metabolomics analysis showed that supplementation with SP significantly promoted tryptophan metabolism, which was consistent with the changed structure of the gut microbiota, including Bacteroides , Bifidobacterium and Ruminococcus regulated by SP. Especially, the tryptophan metabolites-kynurenine (KYN) activated the expression of amplifying aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and Cyp1A1 to promote IL-10 expression in colon. These data suggested that SP positively affected colitis in mice by regulating tryptophan metabolic function of their gut microbiota. [Display omitted] • Extract polysaccharides from SP as a prebiotic to treat colitis in mice • SP altered gut microbiota and serum metabolic function, especially tryptophan metabolism • KYN activated the expression of AhR and Cyp1A1 to promote IL-10 level in colon [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenolics are the main bioactive substances of Huangshan Gongju, a famous chrysanthemum of China, but their digestive characteristics are still unknown. To explore the digestive properties of Huangshan Gongju phenolics, the flower was extracted and subjected to simulated digestions, and their phenolic profile and activity were analyzed. The results indicated that the total phenolics content and antioxidant activity of the extract varied with the simulated digestion steps, and they generally decreased in the oral and small intestine digestions but increased in the gastric digestion, and high correlations were detected between the total phenolics content and antioxidant activity (0.873 < r < 0.979, p <.01). The change of phenolic profile during the simulated digestions was similar to that of total phenolics content, and six individual phenolics were identified and quantified, and three of them, including chlorogenic acid, apigenin‐7‐O‐rutinoside, and apigenin‐7‐O‐6″‐acetylglucoside showed higher recovery (>64.29%), implying they may be the main functional phenolics of Huangshan Gongju. Practical applications: This study proved that most phenolics in Huangshan Gongju were relatively stable during digestion. The finding may guarantee the application of Huangshan Gongju in the field of functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in dogs is a syndrome that could be primary or secondary due to pulmonary disease, pulmonary thromboembolism, heartworm disease, and heart failure. Due to the inability of right heart catheterization in veterinary patients, there is a lack of differential criteria between PH forms. In some acute cases, it is impossible to provide a full EchoCG or catheterization study. In this situation, circulating markers may be useful to discover the possible mechanism of PH form and provide specific therapy. Aim: Following all previous data in human and veterinary studies, we assumed that plasm concentration of serotonin, endothelin-1 (ET-1), and vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGF-D) would show a predominance in affected part of pulmonary circulation. Methods: We studied 59 small-breed dogs of different sexes and ages. Groups were formed according to a primary pathology: healthy dogs (n = 8); dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) and postcapillary PH (PostPH, n = 23); dogs with MMVD and precapillary PH (PrePH, n = 28). Animals in the study were diagnosed with the primary disease by standard echocardiographic methods and algorithms. Blood samples were collected at the moment of presentation and frozen in a -80°C fridge. For biochemistry analysis, we used species-specific ELISA kits, provided by Cloud-Clone Corp. (USA). The tests were provided by the means of Almazov National Medical Research Center, IEM laboratory. Results: Dogs with EchoCG-proved PostPH had a higher concentration of VEGF-D in comparison to control and PrePH (p <0.001, for both). There was no difference between the control and PrePH groups (p >0.05). ET-1 was higher in PrePH in comparison to PostPH and control dogs (p <0.001, for both). In addition, there was no difference between the control and PostPH groups (p >0.05). Serotonin concertation did not have a difference between controls and PostPH. However, it was higher in PrePH than in control (p <0.033) and PostPH group (p <0.006). Receiver operating curve analysis showed that plasma concentrations of ET-1 (0.99) and VEGF-D (0.92) had high effectiveness in the differentiation of PostPH and PrePH. Conclusion: This study showed a correlation between circulating biomarkers (serotonin, ET-1, and VEGF-D). We found a connection between ET-1 and right-sided heart failure as well as VEGF-D and left heart failure in the PH context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric correction (AC) is the basis for quantitative water remote sensing, and adjacency effects form an important part of AC for medium- and high-spatial-resolution optical satellite images. The 6S radiative transfer model is widely used, but its background reflectance function does not take the radiance changes at water–land boundaries into account. If the observed land possesses bright features, the radiance of the adjacent water will be affected, leading to deviations in the AC results and increasing the uncertainty of water depth-based optical quantitative remote sensing. In this paper, we propose a model named WL-AE (a correction model for water–land boundary adjacency effects), which is based on the obvious radiance differences at water–land boundaries. This model overcomes the problem by which the background reflectance calculation is not terminated due to the highlighting pixel. We consider the influences of different R n s (neighborhood space) on the target pixel. The effective calculation of the equivalent background reflectance of the target pixel is realized, and the influence of the land area anomaly highlighting the pixel on the adjacent water is avoided. The results show that WL-AE can effectively improve the entropy and contrast of the input image and that the water–land boundary is greatly affected by adjacency effects, especially in the green and near-infrared bands, where the M r c (mean rate of change) are as high as 14.2% and 20.1%, respectively. In the visible wavelength, the S d of R r c (the relative rate of change) is positively correlated with R n s , and the S d reaches 16.9%. Although the adjacency effect is affected by ground object types, its influence area remains within 3 km offshore. Based on the WL-AE and 6S results, the comparative test regarding bathymetric inversion shows that the influence is significant in the 0–5 m depth section. In Penang, the MRE of the 0–4 m inversion results is 31.4%, which is 10.5% lower than that of the 6S model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic nanocarriers are a promising therapeutic delivery strategy. However, these systems are often hampered by inherent disadvantages such as strong biotoxicity and poor biocompatibility. To overcome these issues, biological carriers with commonly used chemotherapy drugs have been developed. In this work, engineered bacterial ghosts (BGs) originated from probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) were devised to specifically target acidic extracellular environments of tumor tissue. To improve the production efficiency and safety, a novel lysis protein E from phage α3 was applied to produce EcN BGs under high growth densities in high quality. In addition, the acidity-triggered rational membrane (ATRAM) peptides were displayed in EcN BGs to facilitate specific cancer cell internalization within the acidic tumor microenvironment before drug release. In conclusion, the engineered EcN BGs offer a promising means for bionic bacteria construction for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve wine safety and quality, the pulsed electric field (PEF) offers a rapid, nonthermal, and highly effective technology for inactivating key wine spoilage yeasts while maintaining the organoleptic qualities. PEF can be readily integrated into existing industrial processes and offers relatively low energy consumption and high‐throughput production that could benefit winemakers worldwide. In this review, studies of PEF treatment combined with other techniques for enhancing wine quality and safety, the processing principles of PEF, equipment parameters, and the sterilization mechanism are summarized. In addition, the main limitations and advantages of PEF technology and the prospects of PEF technology in combination with other technologies for sulfur dioxide (SO2) substitution in winemaking in the future are discussed. Practical applications: In recent years, several physical and chemical methods have been applied in wine processing to reduce or substitute the use of SO2. Among them, PEF is emerging as one of the most promising and green technologies. The present review aims to provide new perspectives on the application of PEF technology for improving aspects of wine quality and wine storage and report on the development of the optimization conditions of PEF in winemaking for industrial purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this case, various characterization technologies have been employed to probe dissociation mechanism of cellulose in N , N -dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride (DMAc/LiCl) system. These results indicate that coordination of DMAc ligands to the Li+–Cl− ion pair results in the formation of a series of Li x (DMAc) y Cl z (x = 1, 2; y = 1, 2, 3, 4; z = 1, 2) complexes. Analysis of interaction between DMAc ligand and Li center indicate that Li bond plays a major role for the formation of these Li x (DMAc) y Cl z complexes. And the saturation and directionality of Li bond in these Li x (DMAc) y Cl z complexes are found to be a tetrahedral structure. The hydrogen bonds between two cellulose chains could be broken at the nonreduced end of cellulose molecule via combined effects of basicity of Cl− ion and steric hindrance of [Li (DMAc) 4 ]+ unit. The unique feature of Li bond in Li x (DMAc) y Cl z complexes is a key factor in determination of the dissociation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been recognized as safe microorganism that improve micro-flora disturbances and enhance immune response. A well-know traditional herbal medicine, Acanthopanax senticosus (As) was extensively utilized in aquaculture to improve growth performance and disease resistance. Particularly, the septicemia, skin wound and gastroenteritis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila threaten the health of aquatic animals and human. However, the effects of probiotic fermented with A. senticosus product on the immune regulation and pathogen prevention in fish remain unclear. Here, the aim of the present study was to elucidate whether the A. senticosus fermentation by Lactobacillus rhamnosus improve immune barrier function. The crucian carp were fed with basal diet supplemented with L. rhamnosus fermented A. senticosus cultures at 2 %, 4 %, 6 % and 8 % bacterial inoculum for 8 weeks. After trials, the weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR) were significantly increased, especially in LGG-6 group. The results confirmed that the level of the CAT, GSH-PX, SOD, lysozyme, and MDA was enhanced in fish received with probiotic fermented product. Moreover, the L. rhamnosus fermented A. senticosus cultures could trigger innate and adaptive immunity, including the up-regulation of the C3, C4, and IgM concentration. The results of qRT-PCR revealed that stronger mRNA transcription of IL-1β, IL-10, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and MyD88 genes in the liver, spleen, kidney, intestine and gills tissues of fish treated with probiotic fermented with A. senticosus product. After infected with A. hydrophila , the survival rate of the LGG-2 (40 %), LGG-4 (50 %), LGG-6 (60 %), LGG-8 (50 %) groups was higher than the control group. Meanwhile, the pathological damage of the liver, spleen, head-kidney, and intestine tissues of probiotic fermentation-fed fish could be alleviated after pathogen infection. Therefore, the present work indicated that L. rhamnosus fermented A. senticosus could be regard as a potential intestine-target therapy strategy to protecting fish from pathogenic bacteria infection. The dietary supplementation of different doses lactic acid bacteria fermented herbal Acanthopanax senticosus preparation for crucian carp (Carassius auratus) could improve the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immune parameters and disease resistance against Aeromonas hydrophila. [Display omitted] • Different concentrations of L. rhamnosus fermented A. senticosus cultures were orally administration with crucian carp. • L. rhamnosus -fermented A. senticosus cultures improve the innate immune response in crucian carp. • L. rhamnosus fermented A. senticosus could up-regulate the level of IL-1β,IL-10,IFN-γ,TNF-α and MyD88 in various tissues. • L. rhamnosus fermented A. senticosus could be regard as a potential intestine-target therapy strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glyphosate (Gly), as a common organophosphorus pesticides (OPs), is being overly put into usage and it should be monitored in a timely manner. Herein, optically well-performing quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis to create a fluorescent sensing assay that responds to OPs and quantitatively detects Gly. The mechanism of sensing is based on OPs inhibiting enzyme activity and accompanying pH changes in the system. It can respond to multiple OPs (trichlorphon, methamidophos and chlorpyrifos). Particularly, the quantification of Gly is outstanding with a detection range of 0.2 ∼ 1.8 mg/L and the detection limit as low as 0.015 mg/L. This system has not only good selectivity and repeatability, but also reliable application potential. In spiked experiments, a recovery of 96.50∼107.00% was demonstrated. Fluorescent sensing assay coupled with enzyme inhibition provides a novel choice for pesticide detection and offers considerable value in related fields. • Enzyme inhibition-sensor for detecting organophosphorus pesticides (OPs). • The fluorescence sensing signal output has ultra-long stability (∼40 days). • The sensor is highly quantitative and specifically selective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial ghosts (BGs) are nonliving empty bacterial shells without cytoplasm retaining original morphology and identical antigenicity of natural bacteria, making them high potential and promising vaccine candidates and delivery vehicles. However, the low yield of commonly used BGs preparation methods limits its mass production and widely application. In order to improve BGs production, E. coli phage ID52 lysis protein E was introduced to generating BGs for the first time. Above all, we compared the lysis activity of lysis protein of E. coli phage φX174 and E. coli phage ID52 as well as the effects of promoters on the lysis activity of ID52-E, which shown that the lysis activity and BGs formation rate of protein ID52-E was significantly higher than protein φX174-E. Further, the lysis activity of ID52-E was significantly improved under the control of L-arabinose inducible promoter which initial induction OD600 reached as high as 2.0. The applicability of lysis protein ID52-E induced by L-arabinose was proved by preparing probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 BGs and pathogenic Salmonella typhimurium BGs in mass production. This paper introduced a novel and highly efficient method for BGs preparation depending on recombinant expression of E. coli phage ID52-E under eco-friendly and reasonable price inducer L-arabinose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion is extremely common, especially unilateral artery, which can result in a significant incidence of cerebral infarction.Objective: To assess the value of whole-brain computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging combined with dynamic CT angiography (dCTA) in the evaluation of pial collateral circulation in patients with MCA occlusion.Methods: Whole-brain CTP and dCTA images were acquired in 58 patients with unilateral MCA occlusion. All patients were divided into three groups according to the American Society of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology/Society of Interventional Radiology (ASITN/SIR) collateral score (by CTA). The CTP parameters were analysed, including relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF), relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), relative mean transit time (rMTT), and relative time to peak (rTTP). Patients were followed up with the modified Rankin scale (mRS). All cases in this study were confirmed by DSA.Results: The CTP parameters of the MCA blood supply area on the affected side of patients with different degrees of stenosis were significantly different from those on the unaffected side. There are significant differences in the CTP parameters and openings of the Willis circle in patients with different degrees of stenosis. Significant differences were found in the number of patients with good prognosis.Conclusions: Whole-brain CT perfusion combined with dynamic CTA can structurally and functionally evaluate the establishment of pial collateral circulation and its effect on cerebral hemodynamic changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of convex functions is an interesting area of research due to its huge applications in pure and applied mathematics special in optimization theory. The aim of this paper is to introduce and study a more generalized class of convex functions. We established Schur (S), Hermite-Hadamard (HH), and Fejér (F) type inequalities for introduced class of convex functions. The results presented in this paper extend and generalize many existing results of the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open in new tab Download slide Open in new tab Download slide OBJECTIVES Spread through air spaces (STAS) is a unique pattern of invasion in primary lung cancers. However, little is known about STAS in pulmonary metastases (PMs). This study was to investigate the incidence of STAS among PMs and the association between STAS and clinicopathological characteristics of PMs. METHODS A total of 127 patients who underwent metastasectomy at our institution from June 2009 to December 2019 were retrospectively analysed. Survival analysis was performed in 40 patients with PM from colorectal cancer (CRC). RESULTS STAS was identified in 33.1% of patients (42 of 127) with PMs. STAS was found in PMs of various primary cancers, including CRC, breast cancer, renal cell carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma and osteogenic and soft tissue sarcoma, but the incidence varies. PMs originating from epithelial tissue showed higher incidence of STAS than those from mesenchymal tissue (45% vs 11%, P  < 0.001). Elder age (P  = 0.006) and primary sites (P  < 0.001) were significantly correlated with STAS. In patients with PMs from CRC, the presence of STAS was an independent predictor of shorter recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio = 10.25, P  = 0.002) and poor overall survival (hazard ratio = 4.75, P  = 0.047) by multivariable analysis. CONCLUSIONS STAS might be a lung-specific tumour invasion pattern and STAS is commonly observed in PMs of different origins. The incidence of STAS was significantly higher in PMs originating from epithelial tissues than those from mesenchymal tissues. Presence of STAS was an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with PM from CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Chinese provincial governments reformulate the general central policies into implementable local policy outputs? How does this vary across provinces? Despite considerable research on policy implementation in China, strategies of policy reformulation remain understudied. To better understand these strategies, this article proposes a four-scenario typology: an innovative strategy, a defensive strategy, a conservative strategy, and a perfunctory strategy. Using a novel 2003–2017 dataset of provincial documents that were reformulated from central social policy mandates, as well as a preliminary case study of the Household Registration System reform, this article explores the spatial and temporal dynamics of policy reformulation in provincial China. The findings shed light on the complexity of policy implementation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a rare case of non-communicating rudimentary horn pregnancy (RHP). The patient presented with lower abdominal pain and underwent laparoscopic surgery in which the gestational tissue was removed without excision of the rudimentary horn and ipsilateral fallopian tube. Unicornuate uteri often coexist with rudimentary horns, most of which are non-communicating. RHP is rare, and symptomatic women tend to complain of abdominal pain. Once RHP is suspected, the clinician should monitor the patient for signs of hypovolemic shock, such as hypotension, because the RHP can rupture owing to the poorly developed musculature. Early surgical intervention with removal of the rudimentary horn along with the ipsilateral fallopian tube is generally suggested to prevent future ectopic pregnancy. The theory of sperm transmigration from the contralateral oviduct has been hypothesized in non-communicating RHP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A terahertz plasmonic metasensor is demonstrated for simultaneous measurement of relative humidity (RH) and temperature at the first time. Double golden rings can excite electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) with dual plasmonic resonances. By studying the relationship between resonance frequencies at both resonance dips and environmental parameters, the RH sensitivities are 0.14 GHz/% (−282 nm/%) at low frequency (dip A) and 0.27 GHz/% (−210 nm/%) at high frequency (dip C), while the temperature sensitivities are 1.35 GHz/°C (−2718 nm/°C) at dip A and 2.45 GHz/°C (−1906 nm/°C) at dip C. Additionally, the influences of temperature and RH are proven independent on frequency shifts, indicating a suitability with RH and temperature changes simultaneously. The proposed metasenor covers advantages of polarization-incident insensitivity, high sensitivity, easy integration and low cost, making wide applications in industrial manufacturing, clinical medicine, weather forecasting and human health. • Terahertz dual parameters (humidity and temperature) plasmonic metasensor is demonstrated. • The excited electromagnetic induced transparency shows advantages of polarization insensitive and high sensitivity. • The feasible experimental scheme of temperature and humidity sensing has been demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]