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Reducing the use of fossil fuels is critical to human society. In recent years, electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction has attracted widespread attention. A suitable CO2 reduction catalyst is essential to convert CO2 into more valuable chemical products with high selectivity and efficiency. In this paper, a highly selective ZnAlCe-Ternary metal hydroxides (ZnAlCe-THs) nanocomposite electrocatalyst material was designed and prepared, and its performance as an electrocatalyst for catalytic reduction of CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO) was explored. The layered structure of ZnAlCe-THs nanocomposites facilitates electron transfer as well as CO2 and proton transfer, providing a high specific surface area for the electroactive sites of the electrocatalytic reduction reaction. At the same time, the ZnAlCe-THs catalyst generates CO at an overpotential of − 0.5 V. At − 1.2 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE), the bias current density is about 10.46 mA cm−2 with high selectivity of 89.3% Faraday efficiency. Its excellent electrochemical properties make it a good catalyst for the selective reduction of CO2 to CO. In this paper, ZnAlCe-Ternary mental hydroxides (ZnAlCe-THs) with a layered hydrotalclike structure were prepared by hydrothermal and co-precipitation methods. It showed excellent catalytic performance in the electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide with a Faraday efficiency of 89.3% at − 1.2 V vs. RHE and a current density of 10.46 mA cm−2 for higher selectivity for CO. In addition, the ZnAlCe-THs catalyst is stable and it can operate for 5 h without particularly significant deactivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have a significantly higher prevalence of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) than normal subjects, although the underlying association is unclear. The raw data involved were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis were used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and modular signature genes (MSGs). Genes intersecting DEGs and MSGs were considered hub genes for IPF and LUAD. Machine learning algorithms were applied to capture epithelial cell–derived signature genes (EDSGs) shared. External cohort data were exploited to validate the robustness of EDSGs. Immunohistochemical staining and K-M plots were used to denote the prognostic value of EDSGs in LUAD. Based on EDSGs, we constructed a TF–gene–miRNA regulatory network. Molecular docking can validate the strength of action between candidate drugs and EDSGs. Epithelial cells, 650 DEGs, and 1773 MSGs were shared by IPF and LUAD. As for 379 hub genes, we performed pathway and functional enrichment analysis. By analyzing sc-RNA seq data, we identified 1234 marker genes of IPF epithelial cell–derived and 1481 of LUAD. And these genes shared 8 items with 379 hub genes. Through the machine learning algorithms, we further fished TRIM2, S100A14, CYP4B1, LMO7, and SFN. The ROC curves emphasized the significance of EDSGs in predicting the onset of LUAD and IPF. The TF–gene–miRNA network revealed regulatory relationships behind EDSGs. Finally, we predicted appropriate therapeutic agents. Our study preliminarily identified potential mechanisms between IPF and LUAD, which will inform subsequent studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Proper topic selection is an essential prerequisite for the success of research. To study this, this article proposes an important concerned factor of topic selection-topic popularity, to examine the relationship between topic selection and team performance. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopt extracted entities on the type of gene/protein, which are used as proxies as topics, to keep track of the development of topic popularity. The decision tree model is used to classify the ascending phase and descending phase of entity popularity based on the temporal trend of entity occurrence frequency. Through comparing various dimensions of team performance – academic performance, research funding, relationship between performance and funding and corresponding author's influence at different phases of topic popularity – the relationship between the selected phase of topic popularity and academic performance of research teams can be explored. Findings: First, topic popularity can impact team performance in the academic productivity and their research work's academic influence. Second, topic popularity can affect the quantity and amount of research funding received by teams. Third, topic popularity can impact the promotion effect of funding on team performance. Fourth, topic popularity can impact the influence of the corresponding author on team performance. Originality/value: This is a new attempt to conduct team-oriented analysis on the relationship between topic selection and academic performance. Through understanding relationships amongst topic popularity, team performance and research funding, the study would be valuable for researchers and policy makers to conduct reasonable decision making on topic selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purging plug determines the downtime and usage efficiency of the ladle‐refining process. Therefore, the optimization of its geometry can improve the ladle performance. Herein, suitable boundary conditions for numerical simulations are derived by combining water model experiments with numerical simulations. Furthermore, the influence of various parameters, such as the distribution shape of the circular slits and spacing between the circles on the bubble size, is investigated. The results show that rectangular distribution facilitates the reduction of bubble size compared to circular distribution because of the larger slit spacing to bubble diameter (Sds) of the rectangular distribution. In addition, distributing more circular slits around the edge of the purging plug reduces the pressure gradient generated by the velocity difference from the center of the bubble plume to the sides and increases Sds, which can decrease the probability of coalescence. Therefore, it is beneficial to reduce the overall bubble size in the ladle when the circular slits are more distributed at the edge of the purging plug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: We develop an efficient visible‐light photoreodox‐catalyzed hydrodecarboxylation and deuterodecarboxylation of fatty acids for alkanes and deuterium alkanes. The key to the efficient transformation should attribute to the co‐catalysis of the suitable methoxy substituted acridine photocatalyst (Mes‐1,3,6,8‐tetramethoxy‐Acr‐3",5"‐dimethoxy‐Ph) and the hydrogen atom transfer catalyst 4′,4′‐dimethyl diphenyldisulfane, possibly via facilitating of quenching the active alkyl radicals to overcome the competitive homocoupling products, olefins via the disproportionation, cracking products via the C—C bond β‐scission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A homogeneous electrochemical deposition method was used in this study of CdAl nanoparticles onto CP fibers at −1.1, −1.2, −1.3, and −1.4 V vs. RHE to prepare highly active, selective, and stable CdAl-LDHs nanocatalysts. The electrochemically deposited materials exhibited extremely high CO selectivity during CO 2 RR, with the CO FE reaching 99.71% at −1.6 V vs. RHE and a partial current density of 22.13 mA cm−2. The CdAl-LDHs maintained excellent CO FE along with high CO partial current density. Remarkably, the CdAl-LDHs demonstrated outstanding electrochemical performance that exceeded most of the reported CO 2 reduction to CO electrocatalysts, maintaining stable electrocatalytic performance for more than 30 h with the FE remaining stable at about 99% and a current density at 10.05 mA cm−2 with little decay. [Display omitted] • CdAl nanoparticles with high activity, selectivity and stability were directly deposited on CP fibers by electrochemical deposition method. • The materials prepared by electrochemical deposition exhibit extremely high CO selectivity in the CO 2 RR process, with Faraday efficiency up to 99.71 %. • CdAl-LDHs can maintain the electrocatalytic performance for more than 30 h, and in this process, and the Faraday efficiency can be stable at about 99 %. Layered bimetallic hydroxides are at the forefront of current research in electrocatalytic materials. Although there is considerable research on various bimetallic hydroxides, the study of bimetallic hydroxides for electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide is limited. In this paper, cadmium-aluminum layered bimetallic hydroxide nanoparticles (CdAl-LDHs) were prepared using a simple electrochemical deposition method. The prepared CdAl-LDHs was characterized in detail, and its potential application as an electrocatalyst was discussed. CdAl-LDHs prepared using different methods showed different selectivity in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to CO. The nanomaterial exhibits excellent CO selectivity in a reaction chamber using 2 %-BMIM(PF 6)(1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate)/DMF(N-N dimethyl formamide) as the electrolyte. The CdAl-LDHs prepared by electrochemical deposition exhibited a maximum CO partial current density of 22.13 mA cm−2 with a remarkable CO Faraday efficiency (FE) of 99.71 %, which is comparable to or even higher than that of noble metal catalysts. This high selectivity for CO indicates its potential as an alternative to expensive noble metal catalysts. Moreover, the catalyst demonstrated high stability over 30 h of continuous operation with stable FE of around 99 % and a current density of around 10.5 mA cm−2, with minimal degradation during the entire reaction cycle. In addition, the catalyst showed a low HER current density of less than 0.1 mA cm−2 at all tested potentials, indicating that the catalyst maintains a high level of CO 2 conversion over the entire range of tested potentials. This suggests its great potential for industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mouse thrombosis model was established by kappa-carrageenan to observe the inhibitory effect of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus KSFY07 (LDSB-KSFY07) on thrombosis and the oxidative stress response. Mouse serum, liver tissue-related indicators, and intestinal microbial composition were measured by examining the expression of microbes in mouse faeces using a biochemical kit, slice observations, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) experiments. The results showed that LDSB-KSFY07 effectively reduced the degree of black tail in thrombotic mice, increased activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and decreased thrombin time (TT), fibrinogen (FIB), and prothrombin time (PT) in thrombotic mice. LDSB-KSFY07 was also able to reduce malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and increase superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels in the serum and liver tissues of thrombotic mice. Pathological observations showed that LDSB-KSFY07 reduced liver tissue lesions and tail vein thrombosis. Further, experimental results showed that LDSB-KSFY07 was able to upregulate the mRNA expression of copper/zinc-SOD (Cu/Zn-SOD), manganese-SOD, and GSH-Px in the liver tissue of thrombotic mice. Moreover, LDSB-KSFY07 was also able to downregulate the mRNA expression of NF-κB p65, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and E-selectin in tail vein vascular tissue. Meanwhile, LDSB-KSFY07 could raise plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) mRNA expression and reduce tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) expression in heart and tail vein vascular tissues of thrombotic mice. A mouse faeces examination revealed that LDSB-KSFY07 could also upregulate Bacteroides, Lactobacterium, and Bifidobacterium microbial expression and downregulate Firmicutes expression in the gut. These results indicate that LDSB-KSFY07 was able to inhibit mouse thrombosis and reduce liver oxidative stress damage in thrombus mice and show that high concentrations of LDSB-KSFY07 provided a better response similar to that of the drug heparin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing pressure on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget nowadays, it is such a major challenge to cut waste and improve efficiency in the research funding allocation. To meet this challenge, this paper explores research hotspots and disciplinary trends of the biomedical area, and discusses the relationship between these factors and the government funding, thereby uncovering biomedical hotspots of interest to academia and the evolution law of the U.S. federal government funding through an entitymetrics analysis. Considering that the rapid proliferation of biomedical literature provides large amounts of information resources for knowledge discovery, entities extracted from articles in PubMed and NIH-funded projects during 1988–2017 are taken as experimental data. They are divided into four categories: species, diseases, genes, and drugs. Subsequently, a comparative analysis of entity trajectories in the four domains is performed, which includes occurrence frequency calculations of disease entities to explore frequency variation trends in high-frequency entities and the situation of the distribution of research funds. Finally, we conduct an evolutionary analysis of two sides, respectively: the relationship between research popularity and the amount of funding; the relationship between research popularity and the number of funded projects. The results suggest that research on gene and disease entities is at the stage of rapid development. Diseases with high prevalence rate and mortality and diseases associated with genetic factors will be the emphasis of research trends in the future. The distribution of NIH grant appears obvious long tail effect and can influence overall trends in the heat of research topics.. We also find that there is a strong linear correlation between the research popularity of bio-entities, and the amount and number of funding grants, respectively. However, the impact of the amount and number of grant funds on the entity research popularity is decreasing. The above results indicate the extensive applicability of entitymetrics in funding research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present research, the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum YS4 (LP-YS4) on colitis were tested in an oxazolone-induced mouse model. BALB/c mice were induced by oxazolone and then treated with LP-YS4. The serum levels of mice were analyzed using commercial kits and the protein and mRNA expression levels of mouse colon tissue were detected by Western blotting and qPCR assay, respectively. The results demonstrated that LP-YS4 significantly (P < 0.05) increased the colon length and ratio of colon weight/length in mice with colitis and attenuated the negative effects of colitis. The results also showed that treatment with LP-YS4 significantly reduced the serum concentrations of ET-1, SP, and IL-10 while significantly increasing those of SS, VIP, and IL-2 in colitis mice (P < 0.05). In addition, LP-YS4 significantly increased the activities of GSH and SOD while decreasing those of MPO and MDA in the colon tissue of colitis mice (P < 0.05). LP-YS4 also significantly upregulated the mRNA and protein expression of c-Kit, eNOS, nNOSe, and SCF in colitis mice while significantly downregulating the relative expression of iNOS. In summary, LP-YS4 could reduce the negative effects of colitis, and such effects were better than those of the common probiotic Lactobacillus bulgaricus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain sensitive analytical detection methods, many unique materials have been developed and made them promising candidates for biosensing. In this study, a type of core-shell gold nanorods, GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS, possessing peroxidase-like activity was prepared in a simple, facile manner. A colorimetric strategy for detection of blood glucose, insulin and differentiating type 1 and type 2 diabetes was developed based on the unique GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS. The sensitive colorimetric approach for detection of glucose in the dynamic range of 2.5–200 μM was first established based on the catalytic performance of GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS. Meanwhile, the catalytic activity of the peroxidase-like GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS can be regulated by introducing the high affinity and specific reaction between DNA aptamer and insulin on the surface of GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS, which allows the colorimetric assay to be extended to the detection of insulin, and a quantitative analysis of insulin based on the specific recognition can be implemented at the range from 0.014 to 1.08 μU/mL. Furthermore, colorimetric approach coupling peroxidase-like performance and specific recognition on the surface of GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS nanoparticles was developed to measure glucose/insulin ratio and directly differentiate type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Practical human serum samples were tested and only the glucose/insulin ratio greater than 2.2 (μU/mL) may lead to the appearance of color change. The coupling of this different bioassay on the same nanoparticles reflects the versatility and integration characteristics of the colorimetric assay and is highly promising for improving diabetes management. Image 1 • Core-shell gold nanorods, GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS, possessing peroxidase-like activity were prepared with facile method. • A colorimetric assay for detection of blood glucose and insulin was developed based on GNR@Au 2 S/AuAgS/CuS nanoparticles. • Strategy coupling peroxidase-like performance and specific recognition was developed to measure glucose/insulin ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring of hydrogen source from renewable biomass, such as glucose in alkaline solution, for hydrogenation reactions had been studied since 1860s. According to proposed pathway, only small part of hydrogen source in glucose was utilized. Herein, the utilization of a hydrogen source from renewable lignocellulosic biomass, one of the most abundant renewable sources in nature, for a hydrogenation reaction is described. The hydrogenation is demonstrated by reduction of nitroarenes to arylamines in up to 95 % yields. Mechanism studies suggest that the hydrogenation occurs via a hydrogen transformation pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Fluorescent eggshell membrane-templated gold nanoclusters (Au-ESM) can be obtained in a facile and low-cost manner in this study. The fluorescence of the Au-ESM may be significantly quenched by mercapto-compounds and peroxidase-like activity of Au-ESM could be regulated by the reaction process with glutathione. Moreover, the catalytic activity of the mimetic enzyme membrane could be modulated by immunoreactions. An immunoassay for colorimetric determination of staphylococcal enterotoxins B (SE-B) using colored gold nanoparticles was established based on the catalytic activity adjusted by the target molecules. This colorimetric assay can detect SE-B at the concentration range of 0.4–20 ng/mL and the limit of detection (LOD) is 0.12 ng/mL. As a practical application, the proposed colorimetric assay was further utilized to detect SE-B in food samples such as flour, corn and rice, requiring very low volume of sample and exhibiting great sensitivity and high accuracy, which provides promising platform for development of point-of-care diagnostic devices with biomedical and food safety applications. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • A regulatable peroxidase-like egg shell membrane embedded gold nanoclusters (Au-ESM) was prepared with simple method. • The Au-ESM serves as substrate to develop plasmonic colorimetric assay for detecting staphylococcal enterotoxin B. • The colorimetric assay provides rapid detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin B in food samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • UV-induced peroxidase-like activity of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) was prepared with simple method. • A colorimetric assay was developed by integrating the AuNC-chitosan composite membrane with varying colored GNPs serving as output signal. • The extendable colorimetric strategy was used to differentiate pathogenic bacteria and detect SE-B with high sensitivity. Abstract In this study, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) in the presence of chitosan were prepared assisted by UV irradiation, which exhibit peroxidase-like property tested with H 2 O 2 /3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The chitosan-AuNCs composite membrane also behaves peroxidase-like property and was characterized by TEM, AFM and SEM, which reveal the formed membrane was homogeneous and the AuNCs are predominantly spherical and well-dispersed without agglomeration in the membrane. A colorimetric assay was established by integrating immunoreactions occurred on the enzyme mimicking AuNC-chitosan composite membrane with varying colored GNPs serving as output signal. Three kinds of bacteria were chosen to serve as model bacteria to evaluate the selectivity of this sensor and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), can be easily differentiated from Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis). Such a colorimetric sensing is an extendable strategy due to the recognition element of probe may be replaceable on the catalytic AuNC-chitosan composite membrane. Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SE-B) as low as 1.0 × 10−12 g/mL may be sensitively detected by naked-eye readout. As a practical application, the developed colorimetric strategy was used for rapid onsite screening strategy for S. aureus and detecting SE-B in food samples. This colorimetric strategy provides promising platform for rapid onsite screening pathogenic bacteria and detection of enterotoxin in food safety and environmental monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between incident light and surface electrons in conductive nanoparticles produces localized plasmon oscillations with a resonant frequency that strongly depends on the composition, size, geometry, and dielectric environment. Hybrid heterostructure materials combining two or more materials in one structure represent a powerful way to achieve unique properties and multifunctionality compared to those of the individual nanoparticle components. Hybrid gold nanorods and gold nanoclusters (GNR/AuNCs) heterostructures prepared by intimate integration of GNRs with AuNCs exhibit both localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) property and peroxidase-like activity. It is found that the catalytic activity of the AuNC/GNR heterostructure could be remarkably enhanced by LSPR induced by photon–plasmon coupling in the visible to near-infrared (NIR) region. Meanwhile, the catalytic activity of enzyme-like AuNC/GNRs may be regulated by immunoreactions to realize specific recognition of a target analyte. Accordingly, a fast colorimetric assay within 5 min for the detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA) was developed based on a AuNC/GNRs heterostructure mask regulated by the target molecule under photon-plasmon coupling. The color intensity is inversely proportional to the PSA concentration, and quantitative analysis may be achieved in a range of 10 and 200 pg mL−1. This sensor was practically applied to detect PSA levels in prostate cancer serum samples and the determined values agreed well with those measured by the hospital using standard methods. This indicates that the AuNC/GNRs heterostructure-based assay has high accuracy for the analysis of practical samples. Moreover, the new method has the advantages of very fast determination and low sample volume requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Some studies suggest that creep parameters should be determined using a greater quantity of creep test data to provide more reliable prediction regarding the deformation of soft soils. This study aims to investigate the effect of loading duration on model updating. One‐dimensional consolidation data of intact Vanttila clay under different loading durations collected from the literature is used for demonstration. The Bayesian probabilistic method is used to identify all unknown parameters based on the consolidation data during the entire consolidation process, and their uncertainty can be quantified through the obtained posterior probability density functions. Additionally, the optimal models are also determined from among 9 model candidates. The analyses indicate that the optimal models can describe the creep behavior of intact soft soils under different loading durations, and the adopted method can evaluate the effect of loading duration on uncertainty in the creep analysis. The uncertainty of a specific model and its model parameters decreases as more creep data are involved in the updating process, and the updated models that use more creep data can better capture the deformation behavior of an intact sample. The proposed method can provide quantified uncertainty in the process of model updating and assist engineers to decide whether the creep test data are sufficient for the creep analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of late, various constitutive models have been proposed in the literature for the purpose of capturing the various complex physical mechanisms governing the creep behavior of soft soil. However, the more complex the model, the greater the number of associated uncertain parameters it has, and the less robustness it is. In this study, the Bayesian model class selection approach is applied to select the most plausible/suitable model describing the creep behavior of soft soil using laboratory measurements. In total, one elastic plastic (EP) model and eight elastic viscoplastic (EVP) models are investigated. To assess the performance of the different models in the prediction of creep behavior of soft soils, Bayesian model class selection is respectively performed using the oedometer test data from the intact samples of Vanttila clay and reconstituted samples of Hong Kong Marine Clay collected from the literature. All unknown model parameters are identified simultaneously by adopting the transitional Markov Chain Monte Carlo (TMCMC) method, and their uncertainty is quantified through the obtained posterior probability density functions (PDFs). The result shows that the proposed method is an excellent candidate for identifying the most plausible model and its associated parameters for different kinds of soft soils. The approach also provides uncertainty evaluation of the model prediction based on the given data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many disturbance rejection methods have been proposed for processes with dead-time, while these existing methods may not work well under multiple periodic disturbances. In this paper, a multiple periodic disturbance rejection is proposed under the Smith predictor configuration for processes with long dead-time. One feedback loop is added to compensate periodic disturbance while retaining the advantage of the Smith predictor. With information of the disturbance spectrum, the added feedback loop can remove multiple periodic disturbances effectively. The robust stability can be easily maintained through the rigorous analysis. Finally, simulation examples demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method for processes with long dead-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Dexmedetomidine (DEX) has been reported to attenuate inflammation in rats. The present retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate whether intraoperative administration with DEX could reduce the incidence of postoperative systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in patients following percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Patients and methods: A total of 251 patients were included in the analysis. Among these patients, 175 received intravenous DEX infusion during the intraoperative period and 76 did not. The primary outcome measures were the incidences of postoperative SIRS and fever. Secondary outcomes included patient-controlled analgesia (tramadol) requirements, length of postoperative hospitalization stay, serum creatinine (Scr) and serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration, and adverse events (bradycardia, hypotension, renal artery thrombosis). Results: Administration of DEX not only significantly attenuated the incidence of SIRS and fever (P=0.029, P=0.042, respectively), but also reduced analgesia requirements (P=0.028). The length of postoperative hospitalization stay, Scr and BUN concentration, and adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. Further univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that intraoperative DEX administration was a protective factor against SIRS after PCNL (OR 0.476 [95% CI: 0.257-0.835]; P=0.019). Conclusion: Intraoperative administration of DEX might be associated with reductions in the incidences of SIRS and fever after PCNL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new metal-free oxidative cascade methylation/cyclization of benzene-linked 1,7-enynes to construct methylated polyheterocyclic scaffold skeletons is described. In this transformation, three new C-C bonds and two new rings are formed. Notably, di- tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) acts not only as a radical initiator but also as an efficient methyl source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Medicinal diets have a history of more than 2000 years. Locally referred to as yaoshan (Chinese: 药膳), a medicinal diet is understood in China as a dietary product that combines herbs and food with the purpose of preventing and treating diseases or improving health under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory. Medicinal diets are used in Chinese people's daily life and in specialized restaurants. Hundreds of Chinese materia medica (CMM) are used in medicinal diets; however, a comprehensive evaluation of medicinal diets is lacking. Aims of the study This is an exploratory study that aims to identify the CMM that are most frequently used in medicinal diets and to provide an updated view of the current situation of medicinal diets in China. Materials and methods A field study of 1221 people in 32 Chinese provinces was conducted over a period of approximately 6 months and included various types of interviews as well as a written questionnaire. Two approaches were used to analyse the data collected in the survey: (1) estimating the frequency of CMM consumed in daily diets; and (2) collecting CMM used in medicinal diet restaurants. Complementary information on the selected CMM was obtained from relevant databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, CNKI, and Web of Science. Results Ten CMM were reported as commonly used by more than 50% of the participants. Among these 10 species, most medicinally used parts were seeds and fruits. Pharmacological data from the literature revealed that these species are associated with a wide spectrum of biological properties, including antitumour (80%), antioxidant (50%), anti-diabetic (40%), antilipemic (40%), anti-aging (40%), antimicrobial (40%) and cardioprotective (40%) activities. Our survey shows that most medicinal diet restaurants are located in the eastern part of China, with the greatest numbers being found in Beijing and Guangzhou. Only Dioscoreae Rhizoma, Lycii Fructus, Chrysanthemi Flos and Longan Arillus were frequently consumed both in daily diets and at medicinal diet restaurants. Some of the similarities shared by these 4 species include an extensive history of use (>2000 years); a sweet flavour; and antioxidant, antidiabetic, antilipemic and cardioprotective effects. Conclusions The 10 most commonly consumed CMM possess various biological effects that are currently target the most frequent health problems for the majority of the population. The development of medicinal diet restaurants has certain regional restrictions and is associated with the local climate environment and dietary culture. The data revealed by this study provided useful information for commercial exploitation of medicinal diets and their components and serve as a basis for further studies on various aspects of medicinal diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel strategy through strong metal-support interaction and incorporation of Er was proposed. • Monodisperse MoO 2 /Mo 2 N 3 clusters were synthesized by supramolecular-confinement pyrolysis. • Hollow capsules structure and graphitic carbon accelerate electron and mass transfer. • Er-MoO 2 /Mo 2 N 3 @P,NC shows high efficiency electrocatalytic and structural stability during HER. The realization of a hydrogen-based economy with robust hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts remains a challenge. In this study, we prepared MoO 2 /Mo 2 N 3 heterostructure nanoclusters co-doped with nitrogen, phosphorus, and erbium for the first time. The introduction of the nitrogen and phosphorus atoms into the transition metal increases the d-electron density and contracts the d-band, which leads to a rearranged electronic structure of the MoO 2 /Mo 2 N 3 heterojunction. The coupling of the rare earth erbium dopant with the valence band of the heterojunction leads to the redistribution of the electron density in the catalyst and promotes covalent interaction with the adsorbed intermediates, thereby optimizing the Gibbs free energy of intermediate adsorption and improving the catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Not only is an efficient and economical catalyst for electrolytic aquatic hydrogen production provided in this work, but a new synthesis scheme is also proposed for the rational synthesis of homologous core–shell polymetallic nanostructures with broad application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric particles can undergo nucleation, coagulation, chemical-aging, dissolution-precipitation or other atmospheric processes, resulting in complex multicomponent aerosols. The coexisting species have potentially important consequences in the heterogeneous reactions of multicomponent aerosol particles with polluted gases, which are still poorly understood. The effect of coexisting Na 2 SO 4 on heterogeneous uptake of NO 2 on CaCO 3 particles is investigated in a broad RH range. The combination of DRIFTS, Raman, SEM and IC provides qualitative and quantitative information about the formation of nitrate and other surface species. Ca(NO 3 ) 2 and NaNO 3 are generated on mixed CaCO 3 -Na 2 SO 4 particles under dry condition. Both the amount of NO 3 − formed and the NO 3 − formation rates for the mixtures can be predicted based on the linear addition of those for pure CaCO 3 and Na 2 SO 4 particles under dry condition. The further reaction of Ca(NO 3 ) 2 with Na 2 SO 4 could lead to the formation of crystal NaNO 3 and CaSO 4 ·0.5H 2 O at 30% RH. Coagulation between Ca 2 + and SO 4 2 − in surface adsorbed water is observed after part conversion of CaCO 3 to Ca(NO 3 ) 2 , resulting in the formation of CaSO 4 ·2H 2 O at 80% RH. The amount of NO 3 − formed on the mixtures is dramatically enhanced relative to the predictions at 30% and 80% RH. The findings presented here highlight the role of coexisting species in the heterogeneous reactions of trace gases with multicomponent aerosols due to the complexity of atmospheric particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the first acceptorless dehydrogenation of tetrahydroquinolines (THQs), indolines, and other related N-heterocycles, by merging visible-light photoredox catalysis and cobalt catalysis at ambient temperature, is described. The potential applications to organic transformations and hydrogen-storage materials are demonstrated. Primary mechanistic investigations indicate that the catalytic cycle occurs predominantly by an oxidative quenching pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the first acceptorless dehydrogenation of tetrahydroquinolines (THQs), indolines, and other related N-heterocycles, by merging visible-light photoredox catalysis and cobalt catalysis at ambient temperature, is described. The potential applications to organic transformations and hydrogen-storage materials are demonstrated. Primary mechanistic investigations indicate that the catalytic cycle occurs predominantly by an oxidative quenching pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a method of predicting the soil water retention curve (SWRC) of a soil using a set of measured SWRC data from a soil with the same texture but different initial void ratio. The relationships of the volumetric water contents and the matric suctions between two samples with different initial void ratios are established. An adjustment parameter ( β ) is introduced to express the relationships between the matric suctions of two soil samples. The parameter β is a function of the initial void ratio, matric suction or volumetric water content. The function can take different forms, resulting in different predictive models. The optimal predictive models of β are determined for coarse-grained and fine-grained soils using the Bayesian method. The optimal models of β are validated by comparing the estimated matric suction and measured data. The comparisons show that the proposed method produces more accurate SWRCs than do other models for both coarse-grained and fine-grained soils. Furthermore, the influence of the model parameters of β on the predicted matric suction and SWRC is evaluated using Latin Hypercube sampling. An uncertainty analysis shows that the reliability of the predicted SWRC decreases with decreasing water content in fine-grained soils, and the initial void ratio has no apparent influence on the reliability of the predicted SWRCs in coarse-grained and fine-grained soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore effective factors of surgical effect for patients with cleft lip and palate, and to construct the predictive model of surgical effect, which provide reference for improving the effect of cleft lip and palate surgery. Methods: This study has been ethically reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Guiyang Stomatological Hospital before the study began.A total of 997 cases of cleft lip and palate surgical treatment in Guiyang Stomatological Hospital from 2015 to 2020 were collected. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors influencing the surgical outcome, and a score system was established by assigning values to the influencing factors using the nomogram. Data of 110 patients were verified, and decision curve analysis was used to evaluate the predicted results. Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that the number of surgeries, surgical methods, breast milk, prenatal examination, nutrition during pregnancy and labor intensity during pregnancy were independent risk factors for poor surgical results (all P<0.05). The predictive model was built by including the number of surgeries, surgical methods, breast milk, prenatal examination, nutrition and labor intensity during pregnancy into the predictive scoring system. The critical value was 273, the area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.733(95%CI:0.704~0.76), the sensitivity was 89.57%, and the specificity was 48.14%.When the external validation data of 110 patients were brought into the score, the AUC of poor diagnostic value reached 74.5%, P<0.05, which was close to the modeling accuracy of 73.3%. Conclusion: This study constructed a predictive model of surgical effect for patients with cleft lip and palate, which can be used for the clinical prediction of cleft lip and palate patients in Guizhou Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilisation of British Currency (GBP) as an electrode substrate is demonstrated for the first time. Termed Regal electrochemistry, a 5 pence (5p) coin (GBP) is electrically wired using a bespoke electrochemical cell and is electrochemically characterised using the outer-sphere redox probe hexaammineruthenium(iii) chloride. The electroanalytical utility of the 5p coin electrode is demonstrated towards the novel, proof-of-concept sensing of lead(ii) ions using square-wave voltammetry in model buffer solutions over the linear range 5–2000 nM exhibiting a limit of detection (3σ) of 1.97 nM. Interestingly, the actual cost of the electrode is 2.5 pence (GBP) since both sides of the coins can be utilised and provide a cheap yet reproducible and disposable metallic electrode substrate that is electrochemically useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human detection still suffers from occlusion, complex backgrounds, and scale-variant problems. Projecting three-dimensional (3D) points onto the ground to generate an orthographic top view (OTV) image for detection can effectively alleviate these problems. However, depth sensors may be placed arbitrarily, making it difficult to create OTV images by the dense point cloud converted from a depth image. We focus on the generation of OTV images and human detection via the constructed OTV image. First, we propose a ground plane extraction method that is well suitable for various camera positions and orientations in complex scenes. Next, points are converted to a uniform coordinate system by ground parameters and encoded to generate a three-channel OTV image. Then, the mainstream two-dimensional (2D) network is employed to detect the human directly on OTV images and further obtain the 3D bounding box by computing the mapping from the OTV image. Besides, we propose a semiautomated annotation method to solve the problem of few OTV image annotations. The proposed method is evaluated on the EPFL dataset, including two subsets, and achieves state-of-the-art performance compared with the existing approaches. Moreover, our 2D and 3D human detection method can run more than 26FPS on the CPU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of fluorine atoms on the terminal group of nonfullerene small molecular acceptors (NFSMAs) is generally considered an effective method to improve device efficiency. However, it is still unknown how the thermal stability of the device changes after the introduction of fluorine atom. In this study, the influence of terminal fluorine substitution on the thermal stability of organic solar cells (OSCs) was investigated by choosing ITIC and ITIC-4F as acceptors. Although the efficiency of the ITIC-4F-based device was improved after the introduction of fluorine atoms, the compatibility between ITIC-4F and the polymer donor was worse compared with ITIC. The poor compatibility between ITIC-4F and the polymer donor gave rise to the precipitation of ITIC-4F from the polymer network during thermal annealing, leading to the aggregation and crystallization of ITIC-4F, which destroyed the optimal morphology of the active layer. Therefore, the efficiency of the ITIC-4F-based device decreased by 34.8% after 24 h of thermal annealing at 150 °C, while for the ITIC-based device, the efficiency decreased by only 5.4% after thermal annealing at 150 °C for 24 h. These results showed that although the efficiency of the device could be improved by adding fluorine atoms to the end groups of ITIC, the thermal stability of the device would also be poor when PBTIBDTT was used as the donor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedestrian detection is vitally important in many computer vision tasks but still suffers from some problems, such as illumination and occlusion if only the RGB image is exploited, especially in outdoor and long-range scenes. Combining RGB with depth information acquired by 3D sensors may effectively alleviate these problems. Therefore, how to utilize depth information and how to fuse RGB and depth features are the focus of the task of RGB-D pedestrian detection. This paper first improves the most commonly used HHA method for depth encoding by optimizing the gravity direction extraction and depth values mapping, which can generate a pseudo-color image from the depth information. Then, a two-branch feature fusion extraction module (TFFEM) is proposed to obtain the local and global features of both modalities. Based on TFFEM, an RGB-D pedestrian detection network is designed to locate the people. In experiments, the improved HHA encoding method is twice as fast and achieves more accurate gravity-direction extraction on four publicly-available datasets. The pedestrian detection performance of the proposed network is validated on KITTI and EPFL datasets and achieves state-of-the-art performance. Moreover, the proposed method achieved third ranking among all published works on the KITTI leaderboard. In general, the proposed method effectively fuses RGB and depth features and overcomes the effects of illumination and occlusion problems in pedestrian detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the expression of sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1), the regulatory subunit of the NCCa-ATP channel, and to investigate the protective effects of gliclazide following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)/reperfusion in male Wistar rats. Adult rats underwent 2h of the left MCAO using the intraluminal thread technique before reperfusion. The core areas of the infarct at different reperfusion time points were examined for the mRNA level and protein expression of SUR1 using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting respectively. Gliclazide was administered intravenously into the right jugular vein for 12h simultaneously with the reperfusion. The number of apoptotic cells was determined using the TUNEL assay. The neurological functional deficits were evaluated using Bederson׳s test, and the cerebral infarction volume was visualized with TTC staining. We found up-regulation of SUR1 mRNA and protein levels in ischemic infarct tissues after reperfusion following MCAO, and SUR1 mRNA and protein were maximally upregulated 8–12h after a 2-hour ischemia. The treatment with low-dose of gliclazide reduced the total number of TUNEL-positive cells, the neurological functional deficits and the brain infarct volume. These results suggest that the SUR1-regulated NCCa-ATP channel may be associated with MCAO/reperfusion injury and the infarct-reducing effects of intravenous treatment with gliclazide may be due, in part, to the blocked upregulation of SUR1 expression, the decreased infarct size and the reduced apoptosis in the ischemia–reperfusion brain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the winter of 2022/2023, the national average temperature was -2.9°C, which was higher than the same period of the perennial value (1991-2020). The average precipitation in winter was 31.3mm, 20.4% less than that in the same period. The national average sunshine was close to perennial value, and the eastern part of Southwest China was more than the same period. Most regions of the winter wheat areas in the north have abundant light and heat conditions, within many large range of rain and snow weather, most of the moisture is suitable to wheat safe winter and turn green. Most regions of the southern is enough warm and sunshine hours for the growth and development of rape, wheat, winter crops and economic forest fruits. However, the phase of drought in Guizhou, southern of Sichuan and Yunnan and the phase of low temperature in regions south of the Yangtze River were not good to the steady growth of summer crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped 40Bi 2 O 3 -30GeO 2 -15Ga 2 O 3 -15Na 2 O glass was papered by melt-quenching method. The thermal properties and spectroscopic were studied. The glass has good thermal stability and the maximum phonon energy is 750 cm−1, which is benefited for 1.53 μm emission. According to the J-O theory and absorption spectra, the J-O intensity parameters were calculated, the spectral quality factor χ = Ω 4 /Ω 6 of BGGN4 glass is 2.236. Under 980 nm excitation, the 1.53 μm luminescence characteristics of these glasses were studied. When the Er3+/Yb3+ ions doping concentration ratio (mol%) reaches 0.5:1.0, the maximum fluorescence intensity can be obtained, and the maximum emission cross section is 6.4 × 10−21cm2. The maximum stimulated gain coefficient in the 1.53 μm band is 4.6 cm−1. Finally, the up-conversion emission and energy transition mechanism of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped BGGN glass were studied. The results indicate the prepared Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped bismuth germanate glass have good gain performance and is an ideal 1.53 μm laser gain material. • Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped 40Bi 2 O 3 -30GeO 2 -15Ga 2 O 3 -15Na 2 O glass was prepared by melt-quenching method. • The prepared glass has relatively low maximum phonon energy (750 cm−1). • Large σ emi indicate good gain properties of prepared glass. • Up-conversion and energy transfer mechanism are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a positron acceleration scheme in which a laser-driven positron beam is injected into a solid target hit by a laser beam and accelerated in the sheath field on the target back side. The positron beam injection and acceleration in the target have been investigated with numerical simulation. The feasibility of such an acceleration scheme was proved according to the simulation results, which show that a 10 MeV positron beam can be accelerated up to 30 MeV. The dependency of the positron beam properties on the positron injection location, injection time, and target thickness was studied. Related acceleration details were obtained and analyzed. The acceleration scheme provides a method in positron energy controlling and its related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the first known fabrication of palladium screen-printed macroelectrodes which are electrochemically characterised, and their potential usefulness in analytical applications explored towards the sensing of formaldehyde, hydrazine and protons with limits of detection (3 σ) of 1.6 mM, 4.0 μM and 41.5 μM determined for each of the analytes, respectively. Proof of concept for the potential sensing of both hydrogen and methane gas is also explored. Such applications demonstrate the plethora of potential uses for screen-printed sensors, particularly those fabricated utilising palladium, giving rise to the niche market of sensors capable for the utilisation away from the laboratory and within the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We report the fabrication of screen printed microelectrode arrays which are comprised of six working electrodes (50μm radii) which are separated from their nearest neighbour by an average distance of 2272 (±0.3)μm and arranged in a circular configuration around a common counter and reference electrode. Due to their facile fabrication, different inks can be used to give rise to both graphite- and gold-based screen printed microelectrode arrays. Additionally due to their fabrication design, the microelectrodes comprising the array are sufficiently separated to ensure no diffusional overlap which is commonly encountered by microelectrode arrays reported within the literature. The electrochemical sensing characteristics of the graphite screen printed microelectrode arrays are evaluated using acetaminophen, dopamine and nitrite giving rise to limits of detection (3σ) of 4.29, 3.24 and 5.24μM respectively. Further to this, the gold-based screen printed microelectrode arrays are explored towards the electroanalytical sensing of chromium (VI) yielding a limit of detection (3σ) of 8.28μM. Proof-of-concept is further demonstrated through the determination of chromium (VI) within an environmental (canal water) sample. Due to the analytically useful responses observed at the graphite and gold screen printed microelectrode arrays, these disposable and economical electrodes hold promise for in-the-field sensing applications. Additionally the working electrode composition can be readily changed through the use of the desired screen printing ink (i.e. Pd, Pt, Cu, etc.) allowing the tailoring of the electrode surface enabling electrocatalytic microelectrode arrays to be readily derived. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) is implicated in the prognosis of multiple cancers with low level expression associated with metastasis and early death in breast cancer. Despite this significance, mechanisms that regulate ALCAM gene expression and ALCAM's role in adhesion of pre-metastatic circulating tumor cells have not been defined. We studied ALCAM expression in 20 tumor cell lines by real-time PCR, western blot and immunochemistry. Epigenetic alterations of the ALCAM promoter were assessed using methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing. ALCAM's role in adhesion of tumor cells to the vascular wall was studied in isolated perfused lungs. Results: A common site for transcription initiation of the ALCAM gene was identified and the ALCAM promoter sequenced. The promoter contains multiple cis-active elements including a functional p65 NF-κB motif, and it harbors an extensive array of CpG residues highly methylated exclusively in ALCAM-negative tumor cells. These CpG residues were modestly demethylated after 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine treatment. Restoration of high-level ALCAM expression using an ALCAM cDNA increased clustering of MDA-MB-435 tumor cells perfused through the pulmonary vasculature of ventilated rat lungs. Anti-ALCAM antibodies reduced the number of intravascular tumor cell clusters. Conclusion: Our data suggests that loss of ALCAM expression, due in part to DNA methylation of extensive segments of the promoter, significantly impairs the ability of circulating tumor cells to adhere to each other, and may therefore promote metastasis. These findings offer insight into the mechanisms for down-regulation of ALCAM gene expression in tumor cells, and for the positive prognostic value of high-level ALCAM in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM/CD166) is expressed by hematopoietic stem cells. However, its role in hematopoietic differentiation has not previously been defined. Results: In this study, we show that ALCAM expression is silenced in erythromegakaryocytic progenitor cell lines. In agreement with this finding, the ALCAM promoter is occupied by GATA-1 in vivo, and a cognate motif at -850 inhibited promoter activity in K562 and MEG-01 cells. Gain-of-function studies showed that ALCAM clusters K562 cells in a process that requires PKC. Induction of megakaryocytic differentiation in K562 clones expressing ALCAM activated PKC-δ and triggered apoptosis. Conclusions: There is a lineage-specific silencing of ALCAM in bi-potential erythromegakaryocytic progenitor cell lines. Marked apoptosis of ALCAM-expressing K562 clones treated with PMA suggests that aberrant ALCAM expression in erythromegakaryocytic progenitors may contribute to megakaryocytopenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the ionization dynamics of atoms by chirped attosecond pulses using the strong field approximation method. The pulse parameters are carefully chosen in the regime where the strong field approximation method is valid. We analyse the effects of the chirp of attosecond pulses on the energy distributions and the corresponding left-right asymmetry of the ionized electrons. For a single chirped attosecond pulse, the ionized electrons can be redistributed and the left-right asymmetry shows oscillations because of the introduction of the chirp. For time-delayed double attosecond pulses at different intensities with the weaker one chirped, exchanging the order of the two pulses shows a relative shift of the energy spectra, which can be explained by the different effective time delays of different frequency components because of the chirp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new organically modified silicate (ormosil) material was synthesized as a matrix to encapsulate enzyme labeled antibody for preparation of immunosensors. The ormosil matrix was prepared by hydrolyzing tetraethyoxysilane and (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane in weak alkali solution. It possessed three-dimensional ordered nanoporous structure with high electrical conductivity and good mechanical stability. Its hydrophilicity provided a microenvironment for retaining the biological activity of the immobilized protein. Particularly, using horseradish peroxidase-labeled human chorionic gonadotrophin antibody (HRP-anti-hCG) as a model, the immobilized HRP showed direct electron transfer at about −35mV with a rate constant of 15.8±3.8s−1. By a simple one-step immunoreaction between human serum chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in sample solution and the immobilized HRP-anti-hCG, the differential pulse voltammetric peak current of HRP decreased linearly with an increasing hCG concentration from 0.5 to 50mIU/ml with a relatively low limit of detection of 0.3mIU/ml at 3σ. Excellent analytical performance, fabrication reproducibility and operational stability of the proposed biosensor indicated its promising application in clinical diagnostics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The excellent direct electron transfer (DET) of enzyme labeled to antibody immobilized in designer organically modified silicate (ormosil) sol–gel was achieved at an electrode, which was used to construct a novel reagentless immunosensor for antigen determination. The synthesized ormosil architecture provided a hydrophilic interface for retaining the activity of immobilized enzyme labeled immunocomponent. The proposed immunosensor for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) prepared by immobilizing horseradish peroxidase-labeled CEA antibody (HRP-anti-CEA) in the architecture showed a surface-controlled electrode process attributed to the DET between electrode and HRP with a rate constant of 5.94±0.40s−1. The formation of immunocomplex upon incubation in CEA or sample solution led to block of DET and linearly decrease in voltammetric response over CEA concentration ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 and 3.0 to 120ngml−1. The limit of detection for CEA was 0.4ngml−1. The immunosensor showed good accuracy and acceptable storage stability, precision and reproducibility. The proposed method was simple, low-cost and potentially attractive for clinical immunoassays. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Health promoting lifestyle is an important influencing factor of individual health status. This study aims to assess the health promoting lifestyle of community residents in China, and explore its association with their health management intention and behaviors during the integrated healthcare system reform. Methods: A total of 666 residents were recruited from six county level hospitals and 12 community health centers from July to August 2019 in Zhejiang Province, China. Health promoting lifestyle was measured by the Chinese version Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II scale (HPLP-II). Results: The average total score of HPLP-II among our sample was 130.02±23.19. Among the six domains, interpersonal relationship had the highest average score (2.68±0.50), and physical activity scored the lowest (2.21±0.59). Total score of HPLP-II scale was negatively associated with being male (β = -0.13, p<0.01; Ref: female), positively associated with being students (β = 0.15, p<0.01; Ref: self-employed), and positively associated with a monthly per capita income of more than 8000 RMB (β = 0.15, p<0.01; Ref: less than 3000 RMB). The domain scores of HPLP-II were significantly correlated with residents' health management intention and their behavior on following doctors' advice or not. Conclusions: The health promoting lifestyles of community residents in China are at moderate levels. Improving residents' healthy lifestyle levels might be helpful for changing their health management intentions or behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By collecting a large amount of data from various preloading engineering projects, a settlement prediction database was established including up to 15 feature parameters, such as final measured time, magnitude of surcharge loading, porosity ratio, internal friction angle, and others. Furthermore, a settlement prediction model of soft foundation based on random forest (RF) model was also developed. To enhance the accuracy of settlement prediction, the improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA), which incorporates several enhancements such as the use of Logistic-tent chaotic mapping, adaptive nonlinear inertia-decreasing weight parameters, and Levy flight strategy, was proposed to optimize the hyperparameters of the RF model. The optimization results of various algorithms on benchmark functions revealed that the ISSA algorithm excelled in terms of accuracy and stability when compared to conventional algorithms such as particle swarm optimization and butterfly optimization. The ISSA-RF settlement prediction model was subsequently constructed and applied to practical projects. The results demonstrated that the ISSA-RF model exhibited superior prediction accuracy and applicability compared to the RF model. It can therefore provide valuable guidance for the planning and implementation of preloading engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most abundant renewable sources in nature. Herein, we have developed the utilization of renewable formic acid from lignocellulosic biomass as a hydrogen source and a carbon source for the selective hydrogenation and further N‐methylation of various quinolines and the derivatives, various indoles under mild conditions in high efficiencies. N‐methylation of various anilines is also developed. Mechanistic studies indicate that the hydrogenation occurs via a transfer hydrogenation pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• TBBPA and metabolites were first identified and quantified simultaneously in vivo. • Six TBBPA metabolites were identified in vivo , two of which were first detected. • The distribution of TBBPA metabolites in tissues of fish was first studied. • Methanol/water and methylene dichloride/n-hexane were promising extraction. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is extensively used as brominated flame retardant. TBBPA and some of its metabolites had been identified as endocrine disrupter with potential health risk. Understanding the distribution characters of TBBPA and its metabolites in fish is essential to evaluate the potential impacts of TBBPA on aqueous ecosystem. This study developed a simple method to identify and quantify TBBPA and its metabolites simultaneously in tissues of alult zebrafish by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography couple with Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Orbitrap-HRMS). Six TBBPA metabolites were identified in liver, kidney, gill and muscle of adult zebrafish exposed to water containing different TBBPA levels, two of them, 1,3-dibromo-2‑methoxy‑5-vinylbenzene and 2,6-dibromo-4-nitrophenol were first detected. TBBPA and its metabolites were mainly distributed in the livers and kidneys of zebrafish. The levels of TBBPA and metabolites reached maximum on exposed day 3, then decreased gradually in liver and kidney. TBBPA oxidative cleavage products and TBBPA-monosulfate were the dominant metabolites. UHPLC-Orbitrap-HRMS provided an effective solution to study the distribution and metabolite characters of TBBPA in aquatic organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus plantarum KFY02 (LP-KFY02) was isolated from naturally fermented yoghurt in Xinjiang. We previously demonstrated that LP-KFY02 has good biological activity in vitro. In this study, LP-KFY02 was used to ferment grape skin, and the LP-KFY02 fermented grape skin extract solution (KFSE) was examined for its antioxidant ability in a human embryonic kidney (293T) cell oxidative damage model caused by H2O2 and its inhibitory effect on human hepatoma (HepG2) cells. The results showed that KFSE reduced the degree of oxidative damage in 293T cells, increased the relevant expression levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), and GSH-peroxidase (GSH-Px), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and decreased the expression levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO). The expression of genes and proteins of SOD, CAT, GSH, and GSH-Px was up-regulated. In addition, KFSE-induced growth inhibition appeared to be through induction of cell-cycle arrest. This induction was accompanied by a reduction in the expression of cell-cycle genes, such as cyclin-D1 and CDK4. In addition, KFSE induced gene expression of p21, the apoptosis gene wild-type p53 and the caspase family. At the protein expression level, Bax and Caspase-8 were up-regulated, and the inflammatory marker Nuclear Factor Kappa-B (NF-κB) was down-regulated. The fermentation solution polyphenols were separated and identified as epicatechin gallate, coumarin, new chlorogenic acid, rutin, resveratrol, chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid, etc. by HPLC. Overall, these results demonstrate that KFSE significantly attenuated oxidative damage in 293T cells and inhibited tumor growth in HepG2 cancer cells, induces cell-cycle arrest and affects proteins involved in cell-cycle regulation and proliferation. This suggests that KFSE may also be explored as a neo-adjuvant to expansion of hepatoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights With the renewal of electromagnetic shielding materials, conducting polymer electromagnetic shielding composites stand out. In the article, ferric tetraoxide‐modified reduced graphene oxide (RGO@Fe3O4), silver nanowires (AgNWs) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K30) were blended to form a solution colloid, and polyvinylidene fluoride/carbon nanotubes (PVDF/MWCNTs)‐3 wt% composite film was used as the substrate, then the PVDF‐based bilayer composite films were prepared by vacuum‐assisted filtration (VNF).When RGO@Fe3O4 was added in the amount of 10 mL, the electrical conductivity of PVDF/MWCNTs/RGO@Fe3O4‐10 bilayer composite film is 1.7 × 101 S·m−1, the total electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMI SET) was 20.4 dB, of which the absorption loss accounted for 82.4%, and the specific electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (SSE/t) was 590.9 dB/(cm2·g−1). After the addition of 25 mL AgNWs, the electrical conductivity of PVDF/MWCNTs/RGO@Fe3O4/AgNWs‐25 bilayer composite film up to 4.9 × 104 S·m−1, the EMI SET was 94.4 dB, of which the absorption loss accounted for 85.4%, and the specific electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (SSE/t) was 3629.3 dB/(cm2·g−1). It indicates that the electromagnetic shielding mechanism of both bilayer composite films is dominated by absorption loss. The addition of RGO@Fe3O4/AgNWs increases the electrical conductivity and electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of the bilayer composite films more than RGO@Fe3O4. The successful preparation of this bilayer composite film makes it possible to form lightweight superconducting nanoparticles from high‐density metal‐modified carbon‐based materials, which provides an easy method for the preparation of highly conductive electromagnetic shielding composites. In this article, well dispersed highly conductive‐doped nanomaterials Fe3O4@RGO were prepared and characterized by hydrothermal synthesis. In this article, silver nanowires with good conductivity and high aspect ratio were prepared and characterized by liquid phase polyol method. In this article, three‐dimensional mesh PVDF‐based bilayer composite films with more excellent electromagnetic shielding properties were prepared by solution blending and vacuum‐assisted filtration using PVDF/MWCNTs‐3 wt% composite films as substrates. In this article, the electromagnetic shielding mechanism of bilayer composite films is discussed from the knowledge of three‐dimensional aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jet grouting column is widely used in ground improvements of hydraulic and geotechnical structures. Estimation of the diameter of the jet grouting column is indispensable to the design of those structures. Existing prediction models of the jet grouting column perform poorly when applied to the recently emerged double and triple-jet grouting systems and cannot quantify the prediction uncertainties. This study has compiled a global-wide jet grouting database and proposed an explicit model that is suitable for all three popular jet grouting systems (i.e., single, double, and triple). The Bayesian inference method was employed to estimate the regression parameters for the proposed model and quantify the prediction uncertainty. The proposed model is compared with a widely used empirical model through a cross-validation procedure. The comparisons show the proposed model is free of systematic errors and has much higher accuracy than the existing method, although the two have similar complexities in terms of the number of unknown regression parameters. The new model can reasonably quantify the prediction uncertainty in the sense that the 95% confidence interval of jet grouting column diameter covers the actual value with a probability of around 95%. To facilitate practice use, analytical formulas have been derived to calculate the statistics of jet grouting column diameter. This unique feature developed here to quantify the prediction uncertainty provides a potentially fundamentally new tool for engineers to estimate the jet grouting column diameter and assess the associated prediction errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are an important group of microorganisms in the food industry. LAB with health benefits are considered natural elements promoting consumer health. The study investigated the anti‐obesity effects of Lactobacillus plantarum CQPC01 (LP‐CQPC01) on high‐fat diet‐induced mice. Liver morphology, liver function indexes, lipid indexes, and inflammatory factors in the serum and liver were determined. Expressions of lipid metabolism‐related gene were also detected by qPCR. LP‐CQPC01 slowed the HFD‐induced increase in body weight, decreased the organ indexes, alleviated hepatic lipid accumulation, and inhibited the increased adipose cell volume. LP‐CQPC01 decreased lipid levels of serum and liver, and the contents of pro‐inflammatory factors, and increased the IL‐4 and IL‐10 contents. LP‐CQPC01 downregulated the expressions of the C/EBP‐α and PPARγ mRNA and upregulated CYP7A1, CPT1, LPL, CAT, SOD1, and SOD2 mRNA. Our results indicated that LP‐CQPC01 is a potential probiotic for preventing or alleviating high‐energy intake‐related lipid conditions. Practical applications: Obesity is a factor of a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to suppress the occurrence of fat accumulation in time. This study investigated the effect of LP‐CQPC01 on lipid regulation in mice fed a high‐fat diet (HFD) and clarified the mechanism of strain to alleviate obesity by enhancing the decomposition of cholesterol and detoxification of fat. LP‐CQPC01 reduced fat accumulation without oxidative damage, and was confirmed by the attenuated pathological changes of liver. This research can serve as a significant reference for future research, prevention, and treatment of high‐energy intake‐related lipid conditions, and the development of functional foods with anti‐obesity activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]