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To effectively replace diseased and damaged thoracic vertebrae, a series of three-dimensional (3D) printed titanium (Ti) alloy (Ti6Al4V) thoracic fusion cages with varying volume ratio of reinforced scaffolds are designed, and their structure-function relationships are investigated systematically. It is demonstrated that the mechanical strength of fusion cage is gradually enhanced as the scaffold volume increases, which may be attributed to its textural transformation from α phase to β phase. The compressive, shear, and fatigue of fusion cages successfully attain the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 23089), when the scaffold volume ratio exceeds 15%. Furthermore, the biomechanical analyses, including stress distributions and subsidence in flexion, extension, axial rotation, and lateral bending sections of fusion cages, further shed light on their potential clinical applications. This work deeply deciphers the intrinsic connection between biomechanical property and material texture of the thoracic fusion cages, offering valuable insights into their strengthening mechanism, which providing a guidance for the precise design and quick synthesis of other 3D-printed Ti6Al4V implants.

To realize economical and effective removal of hazardous 4-nitrophenol from the environment, we developed an easily recyclable ZnO nanowire array decorated with Cu nanoparticles. Its salix argyracea-shaped structure not only provides a platform to achieve stable and good dispersion of Cu nanoparticles, but also offers a great deal of catalytically active sites. The density functional theory calculations reveal that ZnO and Cu have a very beneficial synergistic effect on their catalytic capability. This synergy is ascribed to the electronic localization occurring at ZnO/Cu interface, which helps improve Cu nanoparticle's ability to adsorb electro-negatively 4-nitrophenolate ions and to capture hydrogen radicals, thereby accelerating the hydrogen transfer from metal hydride complex to 4-nitrophenol. Benefiting from these characteristics, it exhibits high efficiency and reusability towards the catalytic reduction of waste 4-nitrophenol to valuable 4-aminophenol with a rate constant of 43.02 × 10−3 s−1 and an average conversion of 96.5% in 90 s during 10 cycles. This activity is superior to that of most reported noble- or non-noble-metal powder, bulk, coating, and array catalysts, indicating its competitive advantages in cost and efficiency, as well as enticing application prospects.

Abstract Background Autophagy is a crucial process of cellular self-destruction and component reutilization that can affect the accumulation of total fatty acids (TFAs) and carotenoids in microalgae. The regulatory effects of autophagy process in a docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and carotenoids simultaneously producing microalga, Crypthecodinium sp. SUN, has not been studied. Thus, the autophagy inhibitor (3-methyladenine (MA)) and activator (rapamycin) were used to regulate autophagy in Crypthecodinium sp. SUN. Results The inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA was verified by transmission electron microscopy, with fewer autophagy vacuoles observed. Besides, 3-MA reduced the glucose absorption and intracellular acetyl-CoA level, which resulting in the decrease of TFA and DHA levels by 15.83 and 26.73% respectively; Surprisingly, 3-MA increased intracellular reactive oxygen species level but decreased the carotenoids level. Comparative transcriptome analysis showed that the downregulation of the glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and tricarboxylic acid cycle may underlie the decrease of acetyl-CoA, NADPH and ATP supply for fatty acid biosynthesis; the downregulation of PSY and HMGCR may underlie the decreased carotenoids level. In addition, the class I PI3K-AKT signaling pathway may be crucial for the regulation of carbon and energy metabolism. At last, rapamycin was used to activate autophagy, which significantly enhanced the cell growth and TFA level and eventually resulted in 1.70-fold increase in DHA content. Conclusions Our findings indicate the mechanisms of autophagy in Crypthecodinium sp. SUN and highlight a way to manipulate cell metabolism by regulating autophagy. Overall, this study provides valuable insights to guide further research on autophagy-regulated TFA and carotenoids accumulation in Crypthecodinium sp. SUN.

Less research has been conducted on the association between camellia oil’s (CO) phenolic composition and antioxidant capability. In this study, the phenolic profile of CO and its connection to antioxidant capacity were examined utilizing a combination of widely-targeted phenolic metabolomics and multivariate statistical analysis. A total of 751 phenolics were discovered. The WGCNA was used to link phenols to antioxidants, yielding 161 antioxidant-related phenols from the blue module. In response to several antioxidant assays, 59 (FRAP), 59 (DPPH), and 53 (ABTS) phenolics were identified as differential phenolic markers (DPMs). Further stepwise multiple linear regression revealed six DPMs that substantially influenced the antioxidant capacities. Nine metabolic pathways and their associated network mechanisms for the most significant phenolics were developed. This study sheds light on the phenolic content of CO, elucidates their role in antioxidant activity, and lays the groundwork for improving extraction techniques and generating improved product.

As one of the main seismic imaging methods, conventional reverse time migration (RTM) may not produce high-quality images in areas with non-flat surfaces and anisotropy because the complex surfaces have a great impact on seismic wave simulation, resulting in strong scattering waves. In addition, in isotropic acoustic (ISO) RTM, the neglection of the anisotropic effects will lead to incorrect travel times during source and receiver wavefield extrapolation. To overcome these problems, we develop a topographic pseudo-acoustic vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) RTM algorithm based on the body-fitted grid. In this method, we first derive anisotropic pseudo-acoustic wave equations in the curvilinear coordinate system. Then, the Lebedev grid finite-difference scheme is used to update these equations to simulate wavefields. Finally, we use the source-normalized cross-correlation imaging condition to realize RTM. Numerical tests are performed to evaluate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed method. The imaging results show that the proposed method can remove the effect of surface topography and anisotropy on seismic wave propagation and improve migration imaging precision.

Based on production practice, it is known that the mixing scraper is an important mechanical part that the planetary mixer directly contacts with the concrete. Its structural shape will directly affect the mixing effect of the mixer, and the inclination angle of the mixing scraper is one of the most important factors affecting the mixing efficiency of the mixer. In this paper, based on the discrete element numerical analysis method, a three-dimensional simulation model of the vertical axis planetary concrete mixer is established, and the concrete mixing process is simulated, and the inclination angle of the mixing scraper is optimized based on the simulation results. An automatic precast concrete mixing experiment platform was built, and the simulation results were verified experimentally. The research results show that the experimental data and the simulation results are very consistent, which verifies the accuracy of the discrete element dynamics simulation model. It can be seen from the simulation and experimental results that the mixing efficiency of the mixer is the highest when the inclination angle of the mixing blade is 45°, and the number of collisions between different types of material particles in the mixing tank is the highest.

Abstract Purpose Rectal tumor segmentation on post neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has great significance for tumor measurement, radiomics analysis, treatment planning, and operative strategy. In this study, we developed and evaluated segmentation potential exclusively on post-chemoradiation T2-weighted MRI using convolutional neural networks, with the aim of reducing the detection workload for radiologists and clinicians. Methods A total of 372 consecutive patients with LARC were retrospectively enrolled from October 2015 to December 2017. The standard-of-care neoadjuvant process included 22-fraction intensity-modulated radiation therapy and oral capecitabine. Further, 243 patients (3061 slices) were grouped into training and validation datasets with a random 80:20 split, and 41 patients (408 slices) were used as the test dataset. A symmetric eight-layer deep network was developed using the nnU-Net Framework, which outputs the segmentation result with the same size. The trained deep learning (DL) network was examined using fivefold cross-validation and tumor lesions with different TRGs. Results At the stage of testing, the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), 95% Hausdorff distance (HD95), and mean surface distance (MSD) were applied to quantitatively evaluate the performance of generalization. Considering the test dataset (41 patients, 408 slices), the average DSC, HD95, and MSD were 0.700 (95% CI: 0.680–0.720), 17.73 mm (95% CI: 16.08–19.39), and 3.11 mm (95% CI: 2.67–3.56), respectively. Eighty-two percent of the MSD values were less than 5 mm, and fifty-five percent were less than 2 mm (median 1.62 mm, minimum 0.07 mm). Conclusions The experimental results indicated that the constructed pipeline could achieve relatively high accuracy. Future work will focus on assessing the performances with multicentre external validation.

Abstract Introduction Anemia and malnutrition are recognized indicators of suboptimal physical condition in chronic inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to examine the association between anemia, low body mass index (BMI), and clinical outcomes in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Method This cross-sectional analysis utilized data from the multicenter ChinaSpA cohort. A total of 4146 participants with axSpA were categorized into four groups based on BMI and hemoglobin levels: those with both anemia and low BMI, those with anemia only, those with low BMI only, and those with neither condition. Logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze the association between anemia, low BMI, inflammation status, functional impairment, and disease activity. Results Anemia was present in 13.94%, low BMI in 11.99%, and both conditions in 2.15% of axSpA participants. Those with both anemia and low BMI showed significantly higher levels of inflammation (hypersensitive C-reactive protein [hsCRP] 30.60 mg/L vs. 8.44 mg/L), functional impairment (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index [BASFI] 3.80 vs. 2.10), and disease activity (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index [BASDAI] 4.52 ± 2.04 vs. 3.67 ± 2.21; Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score calculated with C-reactive protein [ASDAS_CRP] 3.51 ± 1.10 vs. 2.62 ± 1.21) compared to those without these conditions. After adjusting for sex and age, significant associations were observed between elevated hsCRP levels and the presence of low BMI (odds ratio [OR] 1.44, 95% CI 1.17–1.78), anemia (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.56–2.32), and their concurrent presence (OR 3.59, 95% CI 2.22–5.80). Similarly, increased BASFI was significantly associated with low BMI (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.25–1.97), anemia (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.19–1.80), and their combination (OR 3.11, 95% CI 2.02–4.78). Conclusion All-cause anemia and low BMI are prevalent complications in patients with axSpA, exhibiting a significant correlation with elevated inflammation status and functional impairment. The simultaneous occurrence of anemia and low BMI particularly exacerbates clinical outcomes, emphasizing the critical role of comprehensive nutritional assessment and management in the therapeutic strategy for axSpA.

Abstract Background The induction of lipid and astaxanthin accumulation in microalgae is often achieved through abiotic stress. However, this approach usually leads to oxidative stress, which results in relatively low growth rate. Phytohormones, as important small molecule signaling substances, not only affect the growth and metabolism of microalgae but also influence the intracellular reactive oxygen species level. This study aimed to screen phytohormones that could promote the fatty acids and astaxanthin yield of heterotrophic Chromochloris zofingiensis without causing oxidative damage, and further investigate the underlying mechanisms. Results In the present study, among all the selected phytohormones, the addition of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) could effectively promote cell growth along with the yield of total fatty acids (TFA) and astaxanthin in heterotrophic C. zofingiensis. Notably, the highest yields of TFA and astaxanthin were achieved at 100 μM SA, 43% and 97.2% higher compared with the control, respectively. Interestingly, the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, which are usually increased with elevated TFA content under abiotic stresses, were significantly decreased by SA treatment. Comparative transcriptome analysis unveiled significant alterations in overall carbon metabolism by SA. Specifically, the upregulation of fatty acid synthesis pathway, upregulation of β-carotene-4-ketolase (BKT) in carotenoid synthesis aligned with biochemical findings. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis highlighted ABC transporters and GTF2B-like transcription factor as potential key regulators. Conclusion This study found that salicylic acid can serve as an effective regulator to promote the celling growth and accumulation of fatty acids and astaxanthin in heterotrophic C. zofingiensis without ROS elevation, which provides a promising approach for heterotrophic production of TFA and astaxanthin without growth inhibition. Graphical Abstract

With the wide application of IoT technologies in the power sector, power IoT faces serious security challenges, which can be severely affected by malicious attacks and unauthorised access. Meanwhile, devices in power IoT are usually resource-constrained and deployed in a decentralised manner, making them vulnerable to physical attacks. Therefore, a robust and reliable lightweight authentication scheme needs to be constructed to guarantee its information security. A lightweight authentication scheme for the power IoT based on Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) and Chebyshev chaotic map is proposed in this paper, which achieves two-way authentication and session key negotiation between gateways and terminal devices. Comparing with traditional authentication schemes, the PUF and Chebyshev chaotic map used in this scheme have high security and lower resource overhead. PUF is used to generate Challenge and Response Pairs (CRPs) for two-way authentication and key negotiation without storing any secret information about authentication in the device memory. At the same time, Chebyshev chaotic map is used to protect the transmission of secret information such as CRPs in insecure channels. The solution is therefore resistant to attacks such as physical, machine learning modelling and impersonation, ensuring the information security of the authentication process. The proposed scheme is analyzed and verified using the formal verification tool ProVerif and improved BAN logic along with informal methods. The verification results show that the scheme satisfies 12 security properties such as two-way authentication and user anonymity. Comparative analysis with existing related authentication schemes shows that the proposed scheme has low computation and communication costs while guaranteeing security, thus rendering it suitable for resource-constrained terminal devices in the power IoT.

On-board processing has become an inevitable choice for the development of remote-sensing satellites. For the satellites with dual-line array asynchronous push-broom mode, image registration is crucial for pixel localization and alignment between dual-band strip data. However, due to the high computational complexity of feature detection and feature extraction, it is still a challenge to realize real-time registration for on-board edge devices with limited computing power and power consumption. Therefore, this article proposes a hardware-optimized architecture with high-performance and low-energy for on-board registration based on “ARM+FPGA”. On one hand, optimized methods for the image registration algorithm are proposed from both software and hardware perspectives, providing a solution for on-board registration. On the other hand, in the face of the current interface environment of satellites, a design scheme for versatile hardware architecture is proposed. It provides a foundational technical route for hardware deployment of on-board processing. Experimental results show that in this hardware-accelerated architecture, the average acceleration effect of registration algorithm can reach 15 times compared to the unoptimized version. In addition, the average power consumption is reduced by 60%, and the hardware resource utilization is less than 40%. Importantly, the algorithm's accuracy remains unaffected by these optimizations. The on-board intelligent processing payload deployed with this hardware architecture has been successfully launched and validated in February 2022 in the orbit of the MN200Sar-1 satellite from China. It improves the real-time capability for on-board processing, and aims to achieve a new imaging mechanism where target and information transmission replace strip image transmission.

Abstract Background The early allopolyploid Brassica napus was a hybrid of two Brassica species, that had undergone a whole genome duplication event followed by genome restructuring, including deletions and small scale duplications. A large number of homologous genes appeared functional divergence during species domestication. Due to the high conservation of de novo glycerolipid biosynthesis, multiple homologues of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases (GPATs) have been found in B. napus. Moreover, the functional variances among these homologous GPAT-encoding genes are unclear. Results In this study, four B. napus homologous genes encoding glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase 9 (BnaGPAT9) were characterized. Although a bioinformatics analysis indicated high protein sequence similarity, the homologues demonstrated tissue-specific expression patterns and functional divergence. Yeast genetic complementation assays revealed that BnaGPAT9-A1/C1 homologues but not BnaGPAT9-A10/C9 homologues encoded functional GPAT enzymes. Furthermore, a single nucleotide polymorphism of BnaGPAT9-C1 that occurred during the domestication process was associated with enzyme activity and contributed to the fatty acid composition. The seed-specific expression of BnGPAT9-C1 1124A increased the erucic acid content in the transformant seeds. Conclusions This study revealed that BnaGPAT9 gene homologues evolved into functionally divergent forms with important roles in erucic acid biosynthesis.

The phenolic profiles and antioxidant activities during walnut maturation are not well understood. This study used UPLC-MS/MS to evaluate phenolic content in walnuts, including free, esterified, and bound forms, at different maturation stages. Findings showed that free phenolics were predominant, comprising 44.57 % in kernels and 56.54 % in pellicles. In vitro assays showed antioxidant capacity decreased with maturation, with IC50 values of 0.87–84.43 μg/mL in pellicles and 48.51–712.30 μg/mL in kernels. Most monomeric phenols decreased in concentration as the fruit ripened. OPLS-DA identified 5 and 8 maturity-sensitive phenolics (MSPs) in kernels and pellicles, respectively, with fold changes from 2.32 to 1664.72. Pearson correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between MSPs and antioxidant activity (r > 0.75, p

There is very little information on the impacts of pre/post-harvest stresses on oilseeds. Individual and combined insect (pre-harvest) and heat stress (post-harvest) impacts on the metabolic profile of camellia oilseeds (COs) were investigated using a combination of widely-targeted metabolomics and network pharmacology. A total of 1875 metabolites were identified. In response to individual and combined stresses, 169 (insect),149 (heat), and 21 (insect + heat) metabolites were screened as differential metabolic markers (DEMs), Terpenoids, phenolic acids, and flavonoids are the most impacted metabolite species, accounting for almost 49% of total DEMs. Then network pharmacological analysis identifies 98 key active ingredients (AIs) in CO. A single stress may induce CO to impede cardiovascular system function, but the combined stress induced AI-promoting effects of CO in the urinary system. The individual and combined perturbed biological mechanisms were related to the flavonoid biosynthesis and the biosynthesis of various plant secondary metabolites pathway, respectively.

ObjectiveTo compare the prognostic differences between non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with mild and severe checkpoint inhibitor-associated pneumonitis (CIP), and explore the causes of death and prognostic risk factors in NSCLC patients with severe CIP.MethodsA retrospective study of a cohort of 116 patients with unresectable stage III or IV NSCLC with any grade CIP from April 2016 to August 2022 were conducted. To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with different CIP grades, patients were divided into mild CIP group (grade 1-2, n=49) and severe CIP group (grade 3-5, n=67) according to the grade of CIP. To explore the OS-related risk factors in the severe CIP group, the patients were divided into a good prognosis (GP) group (≥ median OS, n=30) and a poor prognosis (PP) group (< median OS, n=37) based on whether their overall survival (OS) were greater than median OS. Baseline clinical and laboratory data were collected for analysis.ResultsThe median OS of all NSCLC patients combined with CIP was 11.4 months (95%CI, 8.070–16.100), The median OS for mild CIP and severe CIP was 22.1 months and 4.4 months respectively (HR=3.076, 95%CI, 1.904-4.970, P

Introduction Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a catastrophic event with devastating physical, social and occupational consequences for patients and their families. The number of patients with acute SCI in China continues to grow rapidly, but there have been no large prospective cohort studies of patients with acute SCI. This proposed study aims to establish a multicentre, extensive sample cohort of clinical data and biological samples of patients in China, which would aid the systematisation and standardisation of clinical research and treatment of acute SCI, thus reducing the heavy burden of acute SCI on patients and society.Methods and analysis The Chinese Real-World Evidence for Acute Spinal Cord Injury (ChiRES) study is an observational, multicentre cohort study of patients with acute SCI admitted to the Qilu Hospital of Shandong University and other participating centres with prospective collection of their clinical data and biological samples. We aim to recruit 2097 patients in this study. Demographics, disease history, emergency intervention information, motor and sensory examinations, surgical information, medication information and rehabilitation evaluation will be recorded. This will facilitate the development of a prediction model for complications and prognosis of patients with acute SCI and an evaluation of the current management of acute SCI. Among these variables, detailed information on surgical treatment will also be used to assess procedures for acute SCI treatment. Outcome measurements, including the International Standard for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury examinations, the occurrence of complications and death, will be performed repeatedly during follow-up. We will analyse imaging data and blood samples to develop SCI imaging markers and biomarkers.Ethics and dissemination This study protocol has been approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Qilu Hospital of Shandong University and all other participating centres. The findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and academic conferences.

Abstract Background Ensiling technology holds promise for preserving and providing high-quality forage. However, the preservation of rice straw poses challenges due to its high lignocellulosic content and low water-soluble carbohydrate levels. Developing highly effective lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for rice straw silage remains a priority. Results This study evaluated the impact of three LAB strains, Lactobacillus brevis R33 (Lac33), L. buchneri R17 (Lac17), and Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides (Leu), on the fermentation quality of rice straw silage. Rice straw silage inoculated with Lac33 alone or in combination with other strains exhibited significantly lower neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (66.5% vs. 72.3%) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (42.1% vs. 47%) contents, along with higher lactic acid (19.4 g/kg vs. not detected) and propionic acid (2.09 g/kg vs. 1.54 g/kg) contents compared to control silage. Bacterial community analysis revealed Lactobacillus dominance (> 80%) and suppression of unwanted Enterobacter and Clostridium. Metabolomic analysis highlighted increased carbohydrates and essential amino acids, indicating improved nutrient values in Lac33-inoculated rice straw silage and a potential explanation for Lac33 dominance. Conclusions This research identified a highly efficient LAB candidate for rice straw silage, advancing our comprehension of fermentation from integrated microbiology and metabolomic perspectives.

Abstract A neuron’s regenerative capacity is governed by its intrinsic and extrinsic environment. Both peripheral and central neurons exhibit cell-type-dependent axon regeneration, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Glia provide a milieu essential for regeneration. However, the routes of glia-neuron signaling remain underexplored. Here, we show that regeneration specificity is determined by the axotomy-induced Ca2+ transients only in the fly regenerative neurons, which is mediated by L-type calcium channels, constituting the core intrinsic machinery. Peripheral glia regulate axon regeneration via a three-layered and balanced modulation. Glia-derived tumor necrosis factor acts through its neuronal receptor to maintain calcium channel expression after injury. Glia sustain calcium channel opening by enhancing membrane hyperpolarization via the inwardly-rectifying potassium channel (Irk1). Glia also release adenosine which signals through neuronal adenosine receptor (AdoR) to activate HCN channels (Ih) and dampen Ca2+ transients. Together, we identify a multifaceted glia-neuron coupling which can be hijacked to promote neural repair.

Addressing the challenge of achieving precise subtype classification of breast cancer histopathology images with limited resources, a lightweight model incorporating multi-stage information fusion and an attention mechanism is proposed for this task. Using MobileNetV3 as the backbone, a multi-stage fusion strategy captures the rich image information in breast cancer histopathology images. Additionally, the selective kernel (SK) attention mechanism is introduced in the initial stages of feature extraction, while an improved squeeze-and-excitation coordinate attention (SCA) mechanism is integrated in the later stages to enhance the extraction of both underlying and semantic features. The final feature representations for subtype classification are determined based on the attention map weights computed at each stage. The experimental results demonstrate the model’s outstanding recognition performance on the BreakHis dataset, achieving subtype classification accuracies of 96.259%, 94.763%, 95.511%, and 94.015% at four different magnifications.

Rice, a globally important food crop, faces significant challenges due to salt and drought stress. These abiotic stresses severely impact rice growth and yield, manifesting as reduced plant height, decreased tillering, reduced biomass, and poor leaf development. Recent advances in molecular biology and genomics have uncovered key physiological and molecular mechanisms that rice employs to cope with these stresses, including osmotic regulation, ion balance, antioxidant responses, signal transduction, and gene expression regulation. Transcription factors such as DREB, NAC, and bZIP, as well as plant hormones like ABA and GA, have been identified as crucial regulators. Utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology for gene editing holds promise for significantly enhancing rice stress tolerance. Future research should integrate multi-omics approaches and smart agriculture technologies to develop rice varieties with enhanced stress resistance, ensuring food security and sustainable agriculture in the face of global environmental changes.

Osmotic stress is a major threaten to the growth and yield stability of Brassica napus. Post-translational modification with O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is ubiquitous in plants, and participates in a variety of signal transduction and metabolic regulation. However, studies on the role of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) in osmotic stress tolerance of plants are limited. In previous study, a O-glycosyltransferase, named BnaC09.OGT, was identified from the B. napus variety ‘Zhongshuang 11’ by yeast one hybrid with promoter of BnaA01.GPAT9. It was found that BnaC09.OGT localized in both nucleus and cytoplasm. The spatiotemporal expression pattern of BnaC09.OGT exhibited tissue specificity in developmental seed, especially in 15 days after pollination. In view of osmotic stress inducing, the BnaC09.OGT overexpression and knockout transgenic lines were constructed for biological function study. Phenotypic analysis of BnaC09.OGT overexpression seedlings demonstrated that BnaC09.OGT could enhance osmotic stress tolerance than WT and knockout lines in euphylla stage under 15% PEG6000 treatment after 7 days. In addition, compared with WT and knockout lines, overexpression of BnaC09.OGT had significantly higher activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD and POD), higher content of soluble saccharide, and while significantly less content of malondialdehyde, proline and anthocyanidin under 15% PEG6000 treatment after 7 days. On the other hand, the unsaturated fatty acid content of BnaC09.OGT overexpression was significantly higher than that of WT and knockout lines, so it is speculated that the BnaC09.OGT could increase unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis for osmotic stress tolerance by promoting the expression of BnaA01.GPAT9 in glycerolipid biosynthesis. In summary, the above results revealed that the function of BnaC09.OGT provides new insight for the analysis of the pathway of O-glycosylation in regulating osmotic stress tolerance in B. napus.

The liver plays pivotal roles in nutrient metabolism, and correct hepatic adaptations are required in maternal nutrient metabolism during pregnancy. In this review, hepatic nutrient metabolism, including glucose metabolism, lipid and cholesterol metabolism, and protein and amino acid metabolism, is first addressed. In addition, recent progress on maternal hepatic adaptations in nutrient metabolism during pregnancy is discussed. Finally, the factors that regulate hepatic nutrient metabolism during pregnancy are highlighted, and the factors include follicle-stimulating hormone, estrogen, progesterone, insulin-like growth factor 1, prostaglandins fibroblast growth factor 21, serotonin, growth hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, prolactin, thyroid stimulating hormone, melatonin, adrenal hormone, leptin, glucagon-like peptide-1, insulin glucagon and thyroid hormone. Our vision is that more attention should be paid to liver nutrient metabolism during pregnancy, which will be helpful for utilizing nutrient appropriately and efficiently, and avoiding liver diseases during pregnancy.

Abstract Neutrophils have a pathogenic function in inflammation via releasing pro-inflammatory mediators or neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). However, their heterogeneity and pro-inflammatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that CXCR4hi neutrophils accumulate in the blood and inflamed skin in human psoriasis, and correlate with disease severity. Compared to CXCR4lo neutrophils, CXCR4hi neutrophils have enhanced NETs formation, phagocytic function, neutrophil degranulation, and overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in vitro. This is accompanied by a metabolic shift in CXCR4hi neutrophils toward glycolysis and lactate release, thereby promoting vascular permeability and remodeling. CXCR4 expression in neutrophils is dependent on CREB1, a transcription factor activated by TNF and CXCL12, and regulated by de novo synthesis. In vivo, CXCR4hi neutrophil infiltration amplifies skin inflammation, whereas blockade of CXCR4hi neutrophils through CXCR4 or CXCL12 inhibition leads to suppression of immune responses. In this work, our study identifies CREB1 as a critical regulator of CXCR4hi neutrophil development and characterizes the contribution of CXCR4hi neutrophils to vascular remodeling and inflammatory responses in skin.

Abstract Layered superconductors exhibit strong anisotropic responses to magnetic fields in out-of-plane and in-plane orientations, due to their distinct vortex structures and upper critical field values. Here, we utilize the planar tunnel junction technique to perform continuous magnetic field-dependent dI/dV spectroscopy measurements on 2H-NbSe2 under different field orientations. We observe characteristic kink features for weak in-plane magnetic fields, but the overall behaviors are quite similar for different field orientations despite the distinct vortex generation processes and widely different upper critical field values. Especially, the generic square root dependence of the Fermi level density of state on magnetic field indicates that the Doppler shift plays a central role in the low energy excitations of 2H-NbSe2 in the presence of magnetic field.

There is a scarcity of data on how the lipid composition of oily seeds changes in response to biotic stress. Yellow peach moth (Conogethes punctiferalis) has caused massive economic losses on the pecan (Carya illinoinensis) industry. Lipidomics is used in this study to determine the lipid composition of pecan and how it changes in response to insect attack. Pecan had 167 lipids, including 34 glycerolipids (GL), 62 glycerophospholipids (GP), 17 fatty acyls (FA), 41 sphingolipids (SP), and 13 saccharolipids (SL). The effects of biotic stress on lipids, particularly GL and GP, were significant. Biotic stress significantly reduced the lipid content of chains longer than 48. Forty-four significantly different lipids were discovered as potential biomarkers for distinguishing non-infected pecans from infested pecans. In addition, we used bioinformatics to identify the five most important metabolic pathways in order to investigate the processes underlying the changes. Our discoveries may offer valuable insights for enhancing pecan production in the future and contribute novel perspectives towards enhancing the nutritional value of pecans.

In this investigation, we leverage the combination of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Release 9, Survey Validation 3, and Year 1 data sets to estimate the conditional luminosity functions and conditional stellar mass functions (CLFs and CSMFs) of galaxies across various halo mass bins and redshift ranges. To support our analysis, we utilize a realistic DESI mock galaxy redshift survey (MGRS) generated from a high-resolution Jiutian simulation. An extended halo-based group finder is applied to both MGRS catalogs and DESI observation. By comparing the r - and z -band luminosity functions (LFs) and stellar mass functions (SMFs) derived using both photometric and spectroscopic data, we quantified the impact of photometric redshift (photo- z ) errors on the galaxy LFs and SMFs, especially in the low-redshift bin at the low-luminosity/mass end. By conducting prior evaluations of the group finder using MGRS, we successfully obtain a set of CLF and CSMF measurements from observational data. We find that at low redshift, the faint-end slopes of CLFs and CSMFs below ∼10 ^9 h ^−2 L _⊙ (or h ^−2 M _⊙ ) evince a compelling concordance with the subhalo mass functions. After correcting the cosmic variance effect of our local Universe following Chen et al., the faint-end slopes of the LFs/SMFs turn out to also be in good agreement with the slope of the halo mass function.

The hot deformation behavior of Mg-9.16Gd-3.03Y-1.44Zn-0.61Zr alloy was examined by hot compression experiments at 623–753 K with strain rates 0.1–20 s−1. Flow stress-strain curves developed an Arrhenius-type equation with adjustment for strain. The influence of strain on microstructure evolution was studied by optical microscope. The results showed that with the increase of deformation, LPSO phase broken and kinked and interacted with dislocations to promote nucleation of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) grains. In addition, the effects of temperature and strain rate on DRX during hot compression were examined using electron back-scatter diffraction. The results demonstrated that the volume fraction of DRX grains improved as temperature and strain rate increased. The alloys could adapt to plastic deformation caused mostly by continuous and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization. Transmission electron microscopy was then utilized to observe the phase structure. The dynamic precipitates occurred after hot compression, and the LPSO phase was broken and kinked, which coordinated the plastic deformation. Using the Avrami equation, the DRX dynamic model of the alloy at 0.1 s−1 was established for the first time.

Low efficiency is one of the major concerns associated with absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC). The performance of ARC is affected by internal parameters such as the solution distribution ratio and the generator outlet solution concentration, especially to the absorption-generation heat exchange (AGX) LiBr–water variable-effect ARC. Therefore, the performance of the AGX variable-effect ARC was optimized and analyzed. AGX variable-effect ARC thermodynamic model has been implemented in Engineering Equation Solver (EES). Operation parameters including temperatures of all the units of ARC, solution distribution ratio, and generator outlet solution concentration had been optimized. The effects of the solution distribution ratio and generator outlet solution concentration on constraint conditions, coefficient of performance (COP), exergy efficiency (ηex), and operating range had also been analyzed. Multi-island genetic algorithm (MIGA) was used to optimize the solution distribution ratio and generator outlet solution concentration. The results showed that the optimal COP for the AGX cycle was from 0.885 to 1.249 for THGfrom 95 °C to 140 °C. The optimized COP was increased by 10.65% on average and 45.49% on maximum, compared with the COP obtained at the same temperature. The MIGA optimization method had proven to be an effective and robust tool that could be utilized to the optimization of AGX variable-effect ARC.

Abstract Enantioselective recognition and separation are the most important issues in the fields of chemistry, pharmacy, agrochemical, and food science. Here, we developed two optically active diamines showing aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) that can discriminate 5 kinds of chiral acids with high enantioselectivity. Especially, a very high fluorescence intensity ratio (Il/Id) of 281 for (±)‐Dibenzoyl‐d/l‐tartaric acid was obtained through the collection of fluorescence change after interaction with chiral AIE‐active diamine. By virtue of AIE property and intermolecular acid‐base interaction, enantioselective separation was facilely realized by simple filtration of the precipitates formed by chiral AIE luminogen (AIEgen) and one enantiomer in the racemic solution. The chiral HPLC data indicated that the precipitates of AIEgen/chiral acid possessed 82% l‐analyte (the enantiomeric excess value was assessed to be 64% ee). Therefore, this method can serve as a simple, convenient, and low‐cost tool for chiral detection and separation.

Dysfunction of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) facilitates imbalanced immune responses and tissue hyperinflammation. However, the heterogeneous functions of skin ECs and their underlying mechanism in dermatoses remain to be determined. Here, focusing on the pathogenic role of skin ECs in psoriasis, we characterized the molecular and functional heterogeneity of skin ECs from healthy individuals and psoriasis patients at the single-cell level. We found that endothelial glycocalyx destruction, a major feature of EC dysfunction in psoriasis, was a driving force during the process of T cell extravasation. Interestingly, we identified a skin EC subset, IGFBP7hi ECs, in psoriasis. This subset actively responded to psoriatic-related cytokine signaling, secreted IGFBP7, damaged the endothelial glycocalyx, exposed the adhesion molecules underneath, and prepared the endothelium for immune-cell adhesion and transmigration, thus aggravating skin inflammation. More importantly, we provided evidence in a psoriasis-like mouse model that anti-IGFBP7 treatment showed promising therapeutic effects for restoring the endothelial glycocalyx and alleviating skin inflammation. Taken together, our results depict the distinct functions of EC clusters in healthy and psoriatic skin, identify IGFBP7hi ECs as an active subset modulating vascular function and cutaneous inflammation, and indicate that targeting IGFBP7 is a potential therapeutic strategy in psoriasis.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has been a pivotal international instrument for global biodiversity conservation since 1992. The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) aims to provide a pathway for the CBD for the present decade. However, the practicalities of land use and biodiversity conservation pose significant challenges. Drawing from diverse literature and reports, we identify nine implementation challenges for the GBF. These encompass harmonising conservation with sustainable development, integrating local values and indigenous knowledge, adopting a holistic landscape approach, and prioritising effective local governance. A shift from broad targets to explicit conservation metrics is vital. We propose strategies emphasising building institutional capacity for localised, participatory conservation and policy-making processes. This article offers suggestions for improving the GBF’s implementation and shaping future policy frameworks.

Abstract Bumetanide, a drug being studied in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may act to restore gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) function, which may be modulated by the immune system. However, the interaction between bumetanide and the immune system remains unclear. Seventy-nine children with ASD were analysed from a longitudinal sample for a 3-month treatment of bumetanide. The covariation between symptom improvements and cytokine changes was calculated and validated by sparse canonical correlation analysis. Response patterns to bumetanide were revealed by clustering analysis. Five classifiers were used to test whether including the baseline information of cytokines could improve the prediction of the response patterns using an independent test sample. An immuno-behavioural covariation was identified between symptom improvements in the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the cytokine changes among interferon (IFN)-γ, monokine induced by gamma interferon and IFN-α2. Using this covariation, three groups with distinct response patterns to bumetanide were detected, including the best (21.5%, n = 17; Hedge’s g of improvement in CARS = 2.16), the least (22.8%, n = 18; g = 1.02) and the medium (55.7%, n = 44; g = 1.42) responding groups. Including the cytokine levels significantly improved the prediction of the best responding group before treatment (the best area under the curve, AUC = 0.832) compared with the model without the cytokine levels (95% confidence interval of the improvement in AUC was [0.287, 0.319]). Cytokine measurements can help in identifying possible responders to bumetanide in ASD children, suggesting that immune responses may interact with the mechanism of action of bumetanide to enhance the GABA function in ASD.

ObjectivePrevious observational studies have suggested that antioxidant imbalance is correlated with neurodegenerative diseases, while its cause–effect remains unclear. Thus, the goal of the present study is to explore the causal relationship between 11 antioxidant biomarkers and 3 most common neurodegenerative diseases [Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD)].MethodsA bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study was performed to investigate the causal effects by using 3 main methods (Variance Weighted (IVW), Weighted Median (WM), and MR-Egger regression) in the European population. The data of 11 antioxidant biomarkers were obtained from the open database by the most up-to-date Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), the summary statistics of PD and ALS were obtained from the International Parkinson’s Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC) (33,674 cases, and 449,056 controls), and the International Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Genomics Consortium (IALSC) (20,806 cases and 59,804 controls), respectively. For AD, we specifically used two recently published GWAS data, one from the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP) (21,982 cases and 41,944 controls), and the other from a large meta-analysis (71,880 cases and 383,378 controls) as validation data.ResultsBased on the Bonferroni correction p

Cerebral ischaemia‒reperfusion injury (IRI), during which neurons undergo oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R), is a notable pathological process in many neurological diseases. N1-methyladenosine (m1A) is an RNA modification that can affect gene expression and RNA stability. The m1A landscape and potential functions of m1A modification in neurons remain poorly understood. We explored RNA (mRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA) m1A modification in normal and OGD/R-treated mouse neurons and the effect of m1A on diverse RNAs. We investigated the m1A landscape in primary neurons, identified m1A-modified RNAs, and found that OGD/R increased the number of m1A RNAs. m1A modification might also affect the regulatory mechanisms of noncoding RNAs, e.g., lncRNA–RNA binding proteins (RBPs) interactions and circRNA translation. We showed that m1A modification mediates the circRNA/lncRNA‒miRNA–mRNA competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) mechanism and that 3' untranslated region (3’UTR) modification of mRNAs can hinder miRNA–mRNA binding. Three modification patterns were identified, and genes with different patterns had intrinsic mechanisms with potential m1A-regulatory specificity. Systematic analysis of the m1A landscape in normal and OGD/R neurons lays a critical foundation for understanding RNA modification and provides new perspectives and a theoretical basis for treating and developing drugs for OGD/R pathology-related diseases.

Drosophila melanogaster relies solely on innate immunity to defend against various microbial pathogens. Although it is well-known that the adaptor protein Imd undergoes K63-linked ubiquitination to activate the downstream signaling cascades, its involvement with K48-linked ubiquitination and what is responsible for controlling this modification remain largely unknown. In this study, we explored the immunological function of CG4968, which encodes a typical ovarian tumour-associated protease (OTU)-type deubiquitinase (Dub) in flies. Our in vitro and vivo evidence demonstrated that CG4968 plays a positive role in governing the immune deficiency (IMD), but not the Toll innate immune response in an OTU domain-dependent manner. Mechanistically, we found that CG4968 is associated with Imd to restrict its K48-linked ubiquitination, thereby contributing to its turnover. Collectively, our study uncovered a novel regulatory mechanism involving the K48-linked ubiquitination of Imd in Drosophila innate immunity.

In this work, we combine the CALYPSO method with DFT calculations to conduct a comprehensive structural search of Ta2Bn (n = 10 ∼ 20) clusters. Among all the candidate structures obtained by CALYPSO searching, the structures of ground state Ta2Bn clusters at each size are determined according to their total energy and symmetry. The relative stability analysis indicates that the ground state Ta2B16 and Ta2B18 clusters with the unique bicyclic boron ring and two Ta atoms as axes exhibit excellent stability in the studied range, with their HOMO-LUMO gaps of 2.374 and 2.640 eV, respectively. The bonding analyses reveal that the strong interaction between two Ta atoms and the outer B16/18 bicyclic ring dominates their significant stability, especially the interaction between Ta-d AOs and B-s/p AOs. It is confirmed that both Ta2B16 and Ta2B18 have strong aromaticity by examining the isochemical shielding surface (ICSS). Finally, the strong coupling between their outer boron rings (B16/18) and two Ta atoms inside the structures of Ta2B16 and Ta2B18 is further elucidated by the electronic absorption spectrum (UV–vis and CTS).

Abstract While most existing works ignore securing the communication of control signals in microgrids' centralized secondary frequency control, here, a stochastic game between the microgrid control centre (MGCC) and the attacker for enhancing the vulnerability of the MGCC to false data injection (FDI) attack (wireless spoof attack) is proposed. The vulnerability to wireless spoof attack is assessed based on the controllability Gramian when the FDI attack is modelled as the malicious control input that aims to drive the microgrid state to undesired values. In the formulated zero‐sum two‐player Markov game, the state is uniquely associated with the vulnerability index defined by the trace of the controllability Gramian with respect to the attack input. Moreover, the utility function of the stochastic game includes not only the costs related to conducting spoof attack and encryption actions but also the possible remedy costs associated with the resulted vulnerability levels. In turn, the potential impacts of the cyber‐layer action choices on the performance of the physical power system are considered when designing the optimal attack and defence strategies. A distribution feeder system with four distributed generators (DGs) is used for simulation studies. The vulnerability assessment results show that the vulnerability level increases when the attacker compromises more on the communication links between the MGCC and DGs. In the simulated game, mixed stationary attack and defence strategies are predominate when considering the uncertainty of the other player.

Abstract Background Endothelial cells (ECs) derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) are a valuable cell resource for cardiovascular regeneration. To avoid time-consuming preparation from primary autologous cells, the allogeneic iPSC-ECs are being expected to become “off-the-shelf” cell products. However, allorejection caused by HLA mismatching is a major barrier for this strategy. Although the “hypoimmunogenic” iPSCs could be simply generated by inhibition of HLA-I expression via β-2 microglobulin knockout (B2M KO), the deletion of HLA-I expression will activate natural killer (NK) cells, which kill the HLA-I negative cells. To inhibit NK activation, we proposed to generate HLA-matched iPSCs based on patient’s HLA genotyping by HLA exchanging approach to express the required HLA allele. Methods To establish a prototype of HLA exchanging system, the expression of HLA-I molecules of iPSCs was inhibited by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated B2M KO, and then HLA-A*11:01 allele, as a model molecule, was introduced into B2M KO iPSCs by lentiviral gene transfer. HLA-I-modified iPSCs were tested for their pluripotency and ability to differentiate into ECs. The stimulation of iPSC-EC to allogeneic T and NK cells was detected by respective co-culture of PBMC-EC and NK-EC. Finally, the iPSC-ECs were used as the seeding cells to re-endothelialize the decellularized valves. Results We generated the iPSCs only expressed one HLA-A allele (HLA-A *11:01) by B2M KO plus HLA gene transfer. These HLA-I-modified iPSCs maintained pluripotency and furthermore were successfully differentiated into functional ECs assessed by tube formation assay. Single HLA-A*11:01-matched iPSC-ECs significantly less induced the allogeneic response of CD8+ T cell and NK cells expressing matched HLA-A*11:01 and other HLA-A,-B and -C alleles. These cells were successfully used to re-endothelialize the decellularized valves. Conclusions In summary, a simple HLA-I exchanging system has been created by efficient HLA engineering of iPSCs to evade both of the alloresponse of CD8+ T cells and the activation of NK cells. This technology has been applied to generate iPSC-ECs for the engineering of cellular heart valves. Our strategy should be extremely useful if the “off-the-shelf” and “non-immunogenic” allogeneic iPSCs were created for the common HLA alleles.

Background: Osteoporosis, which is a bone disease, is characterized by low bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures. The heel bone mineral density is often used as a representative measure of overall bone mineral density. Lipid metabolism, which includes processes such as fatty acid metabolism, glycerol metabolism, inositol metabolism, bile acid metabolism, carnitine metabolism, ketone body metabolism, sterol and steroid metabolism, etc., may have an impact on changes in bone mineral density. While some studies have reported correlations between lipid metabolism and heel bone mineral density, the overall causal relationship between metabolites and heel bone mineral density remains unclear. Objective: to investigate the causal relationship between lipid metabolites and heel bone mineral density using two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis. Methods: Summary-level data from large-scale genome-wide association studies were extracted to identify genetic variants linked to lipid metabolite levels. These genetic variants were subsequently employed as instrumental variables in Mendelian randomization analysis to estimate the causal effects of each lipid metabolite on heel bone mineral density. Furthermore, metabolites that could potentially be influenced by causal relationships with bone mineral density were extracted from the KEGG and WikiPathways databases. The causal associations between these downstream metabolites and heel bone mineral density were then examined. Lastly, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the robustness of the results and address potential sources of bias. Results: A total of 130 lipid metabolites were analyzed, and it was found that acetylcarnitine, propionylcarnitine, hexadecanedioate, tetradecanedioate, myo-inositol, 1-arachidonoylglycerophosphorine, 1-linoleoylglycerophoethanolamine, and epiandrosterone sulfate had a causal relationship with heel bone mineral density (p < 0.05). Furthermore, our findings also indicate an absence of causal association between the downstream metabolites associated with the aforementioned metabolites identified in the KEGG and WikiPathways databases and heel bone mineral density. Conclusion: This work supports the hypothesis that lipid metabolites have an impact on bone health through demonstrating a causal relationship between specific lipid metabolites and heel bone mineral density. This study has significant implications for the development of new strategies to osteoporosis prevention and treatment.

Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is widely consumed as a pain reliever and an anti-inflammatory as well as anti-platelet agent. Recently, our studies using the animal model of Drosophila demonstrated that the dietary supplementation of aspirin renovates age-onset intestinal dysfunction and delays organismal aging. Nevertheless, it remains probable that aspirin plays functional roles in other biological activities, for instance antiviral defense reactions. Intriguingly, we observed that the replications of several types of viruses were drastically antagonized in Drosophila macrophage-like S2 cells with the addition of aspirin. Further in vivo experimental approaches illustrate that adult flies consuming aspirin harbor higher resistances to viral infections with respect to flies without aspirin treatment. Mechanistically, aspirin positively contributes to the Drosophila antiviral defense largely through mediating the STING (stimulator of interferon genes) but not the IMD (immune deficiency) signaling pathway. Collectively, our studies uncover a novel biological function of aspirin in modulating Drosophila antiviral immunity and provide theoretical bases for exploring new antiviral treatments in clinical trials.

China is the world’s largest walnut producer. There is still a scarcity of comprehensive information on the nutritional quality of Chinese walnuts and the influence of soil on walnut quality. In this study, 273 samples and the corresponding soils from the main English walnut (Juglans regia L.)-producing areas in China were collected. The results revealed that walnut oil contained a high percentage of linoleic acid and γ-tocopherol, with an average content of 62.36% and 77.70%, respectively. Walnut flour is rich in nutritional elements, with the highest content of macro-element K at 3961.29 mg kg−1. In addition, 12 micro-elements with concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 42.34 mg/kg were discovered in walnut flour. The total amino acid profile of walnut flour contains 27.23% of the seven essential amino acids, with the highest amount allocated to leucine at 2.07 g 100 g−1. The Pearson correlation analysis revealed that almost all amino acids showed a significant positive correlation (p < 0.01, r > 0.70). The soil’s content in terms of three trace elements (Fe, Cu, and Zn) has the greatest influence on the nutritional qualities of walnuts. Furthermore, the pH of the soil played a role in determining the qualities of the walnut. These findings provide fundamental information for the consumer selection and trade of walnuts, as well as guidance for the development of high-quality walnuts in China.

The Einstein Probe (EP) is a small scientific satellite committed to time-domain astronomy and high-energy astrophysics. One of the main payloads in the EP is the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT). To get a quantity of in-orbit data as a reference, data from the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) were adopted. The Insight-HXMT is dedicated to perform hard x-ray all-sky surveys, which has a parallel in-orbit environment with the EP. In this paper, we simulated the in-orbit background of an FXT by the Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System, which is the first general-purpose heavy ion transport Monte Carlo code, which has a simulated range from 0.01 meV to 1 TeV. The influence from protons in the EP orbital environment and the secondary rays caused by the shielding materials around the detector have been mainly considered. The Super Monte Carlo Simulation Program for nuclear and radiation Processes has been used to define the materials of the shielding structure. An isotropic source of protons and a complete shielding structure have been constructed in this simulation. First, the spectrum of background between 0.5 and 15 keV has been calculated. Second, we simulated the types of reactions and the fluxes of secondary particles, and all of them were calculated with the same model in the first step. Finally, we considered the effectiveness of the outermost shielding with different materials. Among the calculated spectra of background, we found two conspicuous energy responses with high counts, separately located in 7.345 keV (5 eV) and 8.045 keV (5 eV). Compared with the in-orbit data from the low energy x-ray telescope in the Insight-HXMT, the simulated results are credible. Considering the combination of the simulated types of reactions and fluxes of secondary particles, we could mostly judge that the secondary photons brought the photoelectric effects, which caused the two conspicuous responses in the spectrum of background. In addition, copper was the most suitable material for the outermost shielding in this simulation.

Objective This study aims to investigate the effect of the pretreatment of S-ketamine on postoperative depression (POD) for breast cancer patients with mild/moderate depression. Methods The present randomized, double-blinded controlled trial included 303 breast cancer patients with mild/moderate depression from June 2017 to June 2018. All patients were randomly divided into three groups: (1) control group, patients treated with normal saline; (2) racemic ketamine group, patients treated with racemic ketamine; (3) S-ketamine group, patients treated with S-ketamine. Operation time, blood loss and hospital stay and complications were recorded. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score was recorded, and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) scores, serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) were measured at three days, one week, one month and three months after surgery. Results No significant difference was found in operation time, bleeding volume and complication rate. In both groups, the VAS scores at one day and three days after surgery were significantly lower. The HAMD-17 scores were significantly lower, and the serum levels of both BDNF and 5-HT were remarkably higher at three days, one week and one month after surgery. Meanwhile, the HAMD-17 scores were remarkably lower, while the serum levels of BDNF and 5-HT were remarkably higher in the S-ketamine group. The BDNF and 5-HT levels were negatively correlated with the HAMD-17 score. Conclusion S-ketamine is more effective for reducing POD for breast cancer patients.