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Background To evaluate the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of fermented Ophiocordyceps sinensis mycelium (FOSM) products for preventing contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI).Methods Randomized controlled trials were searched from four Chinese and four English electronic databases and three clinical trial registries up to July 2023. Methodological quality was assessed by using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool 2.0. Risk difference (RD) or risk ratio (RR) and mean difference (MD) were calculated along with the 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results Fourteen trials testing three types of FOSM products (Bailing, Zhiling, and Jinshuibao capsules) involving 1271 participants injected contrast agents were included. For the risk of bias, all trials were rated as some concerns. Compared with routine preventive procedure (RPP) (saline hydration and alprostadil), FOSM products plus RPP showed beneficial effects in reducing the incidence of CA-AKI (14.62% and 5.35%, respectively; RD −0.06, 95% CI −0.09 to −0.03). Subgroup analysis showed that Bailing/Jinshuibao plus RPP demonstrated lower incidence of CA-AKI compared to RPP. However, there was no statistically significant difference between Zhiling with RPP and RPP in the incidence of CA-AKI. Additionally, only when FOSM products were taken before injection of the contrast, it was superior to RPP in reducing the incidence of CA-AKI. There was no statistical difference in adverse events between these two groups.Conclusions Low certainty evidence suggests that preventive oral use of FOSM products as an adjuvant agent was safe and might decrease the incidence of CA-AKI. However, high-quality placebo-controlled trials are needed to confirm its benefit.

Abstract Rammed earth is a kind of cleaning material, widely used in all kinds of buildings in the world. The Great Wall of ancient China is a typical world cultural site built from rammed earth. The rammed earth Great Wall of Shanhaiguan is close to Bohai Bay, which has suffered from long-term erosion by rain, causing a series of problems such as soil loss, collapse and gully flushing. The protection materials of the rammed earth site have always puzzled scholars. However, during the rainy season, it was found that some of the walls at Xiaowan Gouge and Nantuzhuang Gouge in the Shanhaiguan Great Wall had unwashed traces, the soil surface of the walls was intact, and the anti-erosion ability of the walls was significantly higher than that of other places. In order to explore the reasons for its strong anti-erosion ability in the natural state of rammed earth wall, guide the protection of rammed earth Great Wall, and carry out different experimental tests to explore its anti-erosion reasons and internal mechanisms. Firstly, the characteristics of rammed soil were understood through the composition test of rammed soil, and the indoor and outdoor erosion test was carried out to determine that the anti-erosion reason was the protection of gray-green soil crust. The property and composition of soil crust were determined through the immersion test and genome sequencing. Finally, the protection mechanism of soil crust was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the clinical and preclinical efficacy of SMI in treating CHF, and to summarize the relevant mechanisms of action in order to provide evidence for its role in CHF treatment.Methods: A systematic computerized search of eight databases and three registry systems was performed, with the time frame spanning from the inception of the databases to 30 June 2023. Strict procedures were used for data extraction, quality assessment, and data analysis. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using RoB-2 and SYRCLE tools. Statistical analysis was performed using Rev Man 5.4 software, using either fixed-effects or random-effects models.Results: A total of 25 clinical trials (including test group 1,367 patients, control group 1,338 patients) and 11 animal studies (including 201 animals) were included in this review. The meta-analysis of clinical studies showed that SMI can improve cardiac function indicators (LVEF, LVFS, LVEDV, LVESV, LVEDD, LVESD) (p < 0.00001), reduce BNP/NT-proBNP levels (p < 0.01), and improve inflammatory markers (hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-6) (p < 0.00001) and endothelin (ET) levels (p < 0.0001). In animal studies, SMI demonstrated improved cardiac function (LVEF, LVFS) (p < 0.05), and improved heart failure markers (NT-proBNP, p < 0.05) when compared to control groups.Conclusion: This study represents the first meta-analysis which includes both preclinical and clinical studies on SMI. Clinical and animal studies have shown that SMI can improve cardiac function in CHF patients through its anti-apoptotic effects, antioxidant activities, anti-inflammatory effects, and improvement of myocardial metabolism. This study has certain limitations in terms of literature quality, quantity, and follow-up time. Therefore, the conclusions drawn from this study may require further validation through larger-scale, high-quality RCT trials.

BackgroundObservational studies have demonstrated associations between menstrual disorders, dysmenorrhea, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, it remains unclear whether these associations are causal. This study is to investigate whether menstrual disorders and dysmenorrhea causally affect the risk of CVD.MethodsThe summary data for menstrual disorders (excessive menstruation and irregular menses) and dysmenorrhea were obtained from FinnGen study, summary data for CVD were obtained from UK Biobank and meta-analysis. The inverse-variance-weighted method was mainly used in the Mendelian randomization for causality analysis. Sensitivity analyses were performed by several methods under different model assumptions.ResultsGenetic liability to excessive menstruation was associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation (odds ratio (OR), 1.078 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.015-1.145]; P=0.014), but a lower risk of hypertension (OR, 0.994 [95% CI: 0.989-0.999]; P=0.016). Irregular menses was associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation (OR, 1.095 [95% CI: 1.015-1.182]; P=0.02), hypertension (OR, 1.007 [95% CI: 1.000-1.013]; P=0.047), myocardial infarction (OR, 1.172 [95% CI: 1.060-1.295]; P=0.02), ischemic heart disease, (OR, 1.005 [95% CI: 1.000-1.010]; P=0.037) and coronary heart disease (OR, 1.004 [95% CI: 1.001-1.008]; P=0.026). Dysmenorrhea was associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation (OR, 1.052 [95% CI: 1.014-1.092]; P=0.008) and Ischemic stroke (cardioembolic) (OR, 1.122 [95% CI: 1.002-1.257]; P=0.046). After Benjamini-Hochberg correction, irregular menses was associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction.ConclusionWe confirmed a causal relationship of excessive menstruation, irregular menses and dysmenorrhea on cardiovascular outcomes independent of sex hormone levels, with an emphasis on the link between irregular menses and myocardial infarction. These clinical features can be utilized as markers to identify women at higher risk of developing CVD in the future, recommending early clinical intervention of menstrual diseases.

Rammed earth, a commonly used building material in ancient times, differs from natural sedimentary layers in that it is more compact. Buildings constructed from historical rammed earth sites frequently encounter the issue of rainwater erosion. Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is commonly applied to sand soil treatment, yet reports on its use for stabilizing rammed earth are scarce. This study focused on the rammed earth of the Shanhaiguan Great Wall and explored the efficacy of MICP in mitigating rain erosion through permeation tests, splash experiments, and scouring trials. The findings indicate that the forms of rain erosion damage under MICP treatment vary across different operational conditions. In laboratory experiments, as the concentration of the cementation solution increases, the amount of calcium carbonate crystals also increases. However, the permeability, splash resistance, and rain erosion resistance initially increase and then decrease. When the cementation solution concentration is 1.0 mol/L, the penetration rate is the highest, lasting 712.55 s. The splash pit rate is the lowest, at only 1.2 mm, and the soil erosion rate is the lowest, at only 4.13%. The rain erosion resistance in the field test exhibit the same trend, and the optimal concentration is 1.2 mol/L. The optimal concentration mechanism involves the aggregation of calcium carbonate crystals at suitable cementation solution concentrations, which begin to fill the soil particle pores, effectively resisting rainwater erosion. At lower concentrations of the cementation solution, calcium carbonate crystals are merely adsorbed by soil particles without blocking the pores. Due to the high compressibility of rammed earth, which results in lower porosity, a higher concentration of the cementation solution leads to rapid pore clogging by excessive calcium carbonate crystals, which accumulate on the surface to form a white crust layer. The MICP technique can effectively alleviate rainwater erosion in rammed earth, and the optimal concentration needs to be tailored to the porosity of the rammed earth. This mechanism was also validated in field scouring experiments on the Shanhaiguan Great Wall’s rammed earth.

A novel controller using fixed-time sliding mode (FTSM) and fixed-time disturbance observer (FTDO) is proposed to achieve trajectory tracking control of robotic manipulators. First, the mathematical model is established for robots with dynamic model uncertainties and external disturbances. An FTSM control strategy is presented where the integral terms of position errors are introduced into the existing sliding mode surface (SMS) to reduce the steady-state error of the system. The exponential form in the integral terms can provide an appropriate control force for tracking systems when the position errors are far from the sliding surface for a long time. Then, an FTDO is designed to obtain a precise estimation of lumped disturbances which can be used to weaken the impact of disturbances on the control accuracy. Finally, the fixed-time convergence properties of the tracking control system are demonstrated using Lyapunov stability theory. Simulation research is carried out to illustrate that the proposed control strategy has strong robustness and fast-tracking speed.

Background: Chinese patent medicines (CMPs) have curative effectiveness in preventing coronary restenosis. However, the relative efficacy between different CPMs has not been sufficiently investigated.Methods: Randomized clinical trials were searched from electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, VIP, WanFang, SinoMed, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Bayesian network meta-analysis was performed to analyze CPMs’ efficacy in preventing angiographic restenosis, recurrence angina, acute myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization after percutaneous coronary intervention.Results: This network meta-analysis included 47 trials with 5,077 patients evaluating 11 interventions. Regarding angiographic restenosis, the efficacy of CPMs (except Xuezhikang capsule) combined with standard treatment (Std) was superior to Std alone, and Guanxin Shutong capsule plus Std reduced the risk of angiographic restenosis by 76% (relative risk 0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.11–0.45, and very low to moderate certainty of evidence), most likely the best intervention. Fufang Danshen dripping pill combined with Std showed superiority over other interventions for relieving recurrence angina, which can reduce the risk by 83% (RR 0.17, 95% CI 0.04–0.51, very low to moderate certainty of evidence) compared to Std alone. In acute myocardial infarction after percutaneous coronary intervention, compared with Std alone, Danhong injection plus Std displayed a significant effect (RR 0.11, 95% CI 0.00–0.69, very low to moderate certainty of evidence) and was the best treatment probably. Chuanxiongqin tablet plus Std was the most effective treatment for reducing target lesion revascularization by 90% (RR 0.10, 95% CI 0.00–0.60, very low to moderate certainty of evidence) compared with Std alone.Conclusion: The results indicated that CPMs combined with Std reduced the risk of coronary restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to significant data limitations.

This article studies an event-triggered fixed-time trajectory tracking control problem of an n-joint manipulator system. Firstly, a fixed-time disturbance observer is proposed to reconstruct the total disturbance composed of external disturbances and model uncertainties, using the estimation as feedforward compensation to enhance the system robustness. Subsequently, based on the backstepping framework, a fixed-time controller with an event-triggering mechanism is designed for the manipulator to ensure the convergence of tracking errors to zero within a fixed time. Additionally, two event-triggering conditions are devised to reduce the transmission time of control input and the computation time of control output. Simultaneously, Zeno behavior is excluded through theoretical proof, validating the fixed-time stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, simulation verification is conducted on a two-joint manipulator, with results confirming the effectiveness of the control strategy.

Protection of cultural relics and sites is of great significance. In this study, the new gray-green thin-layer biological crust on the rammed soil surface at the Shanhaiguan Great Wall in China was found. The emergence of this material has substantially improved the resistance of the rammed Earth Great Wall to rain erosion. 16S rRNA gene sequencing on the surface crusts of rammed Earth was performed. Results show the biological crusts were mainly algae-based composite crusts containing fungi. At the genus level, microalgae and Sphingomycetes were predominant. Under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), algae filaments dominated by filamentous algae overlapped and intertwined with each other. Furthermore, polysaccharide organic matter secreted by algae formed a covering film. The two formed a complex spatial network structure to envelop soil particles, which enhances erosion resistance. The conformable biological crusting is expected to be used as a new civil engineering material for the protection of rammed Earth sites in the future.

Chronic occlusion of large intracranial arteries is the main cause of ischemic stroke in China. Patients with symptomatic intracranial artery occlusion and hemodynamic impairment are at high risk of recurrent stroke. Chronic occlusion of the intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery is a common type of intracranial artery occlusion. Medical management is regarded as the standard treatment for this disease. With the development of endovascular treatment, some patients with chronic cerebral artery occlusion have achieved satisfactory results with endovascular therapy. We reported a patient with symptomatic chronic occlusion of the ophthalmic segment of the internal carotid artery. Simple balloon angioplasty was performed, and the occluded ophthalmic segment of the internal carotid artery was successfully recanalized without perioperative complications. At 4 months follow-up, the internal carotid artery remained patent and perfusion of the right cerebral hemisphere improved dramatically. In addition, we briefly reviewed the relevant literature.

Objective: Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is a complex clinical problem that often leads to further myocardial injury. Curcumin is the main component of turmeric, which has been proved to have many cardioprotective effects. However, the cardioprotective potential of curcumin remains unclear. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the clinical and preclinical (animal model) evidence regarding the effect of curcumin on myocardial I/R injury.Methods: Eight databases and three register systems were searched from inception to 1 November 2022. Data extraction, study quality assessment, data analyses were carried out strictly. Then a fixed or random-effects model was applied to analyze the outcomes. SYRCLE’s-RoB tool and RoB-2 tool was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. RevMan 5.4 software and stata 15.1 software were used for statistical analysis.Results: 24 animal studies, with a total of 503 animals, and four human studies, with a total of 435 patients, were included in this study. The meta-analysis of animal studies demonstrated that compared with the control group, curcumin significantly reduced myocardial infarction size (p < 0.00001), and improved the cardiac function indexes (LVEF, LVFS, LVEDd, and LVESd) (p < 0.01). In addition, the indexes of myocardial injury markers, myocardial oxidation, myocardial apoptosis, inflammation, and other mechanism indicators also showed the beneficial effect of curcumin (p < 0.05). In terms of clinical studies, curcumin reduced the incidence of cardiac dysfunction, myocardial infarction in the hospital and MACE in the short term, which might be related to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative property. Dose-response meta-analysis predicted, 200 mg/kg/d bodyweight was the optimal dose of curcumin in the range of 10–200 mg/kg/d, which was safe and non-toxic according to the existing publications.Conclusion: Our study is the first meta-analysis that includes both preclinical and clinical researches. We suggested that curcumin might play a cardioprotective role in acute myocardial infarction in animal studies, mainly through anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptosis, and anti-fibrosis effects. In addition, from the clinical studies, we found that curcumin might need a longer course of treatment and a larger dose to protect the myocardium, and its efficacy is mainly reflected on reducing the incidence of myocardial infarction and MACE. Our finding provides some meaningful advice for the further research.

IntroductionCleft palate (CP) is one of the most common congenital birth defects in the craniofacial region, retinoic acid (RA) gavage is the most common method for inducing cleft palate model. Although several mechanisms have been proposed to illuminate RA-induced cleft palate during embryonic development, these findings are far from enough. Many efforts remain to be devoted to studying the etiology and pathogenesis of cleft palate. Recent research is gradually shifting the focus to the effect of retinoic acid on gut microbiota. However, few reports focus on the relationship between the occurrence of CP in embryos and gut microbiota.MethodsIn our research, we used RA to induce cleft palate model for E10.5 the feces of 5 RA-treated pregnant mice and 5 control pregnant mice were respectively metagenomics analysis.ResultsCompared with the control group, Lactobacillus in the gut microbiome the RA group was significantly increased. GO, KEGG and CAZy analysis of differentially unigenes demonstrated the most abundant metabolic pathway in different groups, lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis, and histidine metabolism.DiscussionOur findings indicated that changes in the maternal gut microbiome palatal development, which might be related to changes in Lactobacillus and These results provide a new direction in the pathogenesis of CP induced by RA.

Zooplanktons are important food organisms of fishes, and their spatial and temporal distribution pattern has an important influence on the growth and reproduction of fishes in local habitats. The Yangtze River Estuary of China is rich in fishery resources, but the knowledge on the distribution pattern of zooplankton in this area is still very limited. The diel vertical migration (DVM) patterns and seasonal variations of the crustacean community, and their relationship with environmental factors were investigated in the south branch of the Yangtze Estuary, from June 2017 to May 2018. The results showed that the dispersion patterns of dominant crustacean taxa in the Yangtze Estuary were mostly aggregated. Migration amplitudes of crustacean were greater in spring and summer than in autumn and winter, and different migratory patterns occurred in different seasons. Sinocalanus dorrii, Schmackeria inopinus, Mesmackeria leuckarti, Bosmina longirostris, and B. fatalis, unlike S. forbesi, showed a significant DVM. The DVM patterns of crustaceans was possibly influenced by light dentisy, temperature, and total dissolved solids in the water column, and the fish predation effect; whereas, the nutrient concentration and pH were not supposed to be key factors.

Rapid development of aquaculture industry and increasing demand of various inputs (especially antibiotics), are suspected to promote the occurrence and spread of ARGs in aquaculture related environments. However, the occurrences of ARGs under different freshwater aquaculture practices are rarely known. Here, we investigated the seasonal profiles of the main ARGs, intI1 and bacteria in waters from three kinds of predominant freshwater aquaculture practices around the Honghu Lake (China), as well as their co-occurrences and interrelationships with antibiotics, heavy metals and general water quality. The results indicate that quinolone resistance genes (qnrB), tetracycline resistance genes (tetB and tetX) and sulfonamide resistance genes (sul1 and sul2) were the top five predominant ARGs with seasonal variations of abundance. Fish ponds were of the highest absolute abundances of tested ARGs than the other two modes. Crayfish ponds and their adjacent ditches shared similar ARGs profile. Different subtypes of ARGs belonging to the same class of resistance were varied in abundances. Some bacteria were predicted to carry different ARGs, which indicating multi-antibiotic resistances. Moreover, the combined environmental factors (antibiotics, heavy metals and water quality) partially shaped the profiles of ARGs and bacteria composition. Overall, this study provides new comprehensive understanding on the characterization of ARGs contamination in different freshwater aquaculture practices from the perspectives of environmental chemistry, microbiology and ecology. The results would benefit the optimization of aquaculture practices toward environmental integrity and sustainability.

Reducing crop loss to diseases is urgently needed to meet increasing food production challenges caused by the expanding world population and the negative impact of climate change on crop productivity. Disease-resistant crops can be created by expressing endogenous or exogenous genes of interest through transgenic technology. Nevertheless, enhanced resistance by overexpressing resistance-produced genes often results in adverse developmental affects. Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) are translational control elements located in the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of eukaryotic mRNAs and may repress the translation of downstream genes. To investigate the function of three uORFs from the 5′-UTR of ACCELERATED CELL 11 (uORFsACD11), we develop a fluorescent reporter system and find uORFsACD11 function in repressing downstream gene translation. Individual or simultaneous mutations of the three uORFsACD11 lead to repression of downstream translation efficiency at different levels. Importantly, uORFsACD11-mediated translational inhibition is impaired upon recognition of pathogen attack of plant leaves. When coupled with the PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENE 1 (PR1) promoter, the uORFsACD11 cassettes can upregulate accumulation of Arabidopsis thaliana LECTIN RECEPTOR KINASE-VI.2 (AtLecRK-VI.2) during pathogen attack and enhance plant resistance to Phytophthora capsici. These findings indicate that the uORFsACD11 cassettes can be a useful toolkit that enables a high level of protein expression during pathogen attack, while for ensuring lower levels of protein expression at normal conditions.

Phytoplankton community structure, abundance, and species' spatial and temporal distributions were examined for the Backshore Wetland of Expo Garden in Shanghai from September 2009 to August 2010. A total of 371 phytoplankton species were identified from 109 genera 8 phyla. There were 18 dominant species in total, and Phormidium tenue was dominant during four seasons. The mean annual abundance and biomass were 711.11 × 104 cells/L and 5.70 mg/L, respectively. The seasonal changing trend of existing stocks was bimodal, with main peaks of density and biomass occurring in the winter and a secondary peaks occurring in the summer. The Shannon–Wiener diversity index (H′), the Margalef species richness index (D), and Pielou's species evenness index (J) showed a clear seasonal trend. All of the indices showed a changing pattern, with the highest recorded values from the summer to autumn and the lowest recorded values from the winter to spring. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that environmental factors, including water temperature, nitrate nitrogen, and pH were the main influencing factors to the change of phytoplankton community structure in the Backshore Wetland of Expo Garden in Shanghai. Keywords: Backshore wetland, Phytoplankton, Community structure, Environmental factor

Vertical organic spin valve (OSV)-based organic spintronic devices with additional degree of freedom to utilize and control the magnetoresistance (MR) by spin of electrons, have attracted a lot of interests for both foundation science and future functional device applications. Herein the effects of temperature, bias voltage and direction of magnetic field on the MR of the OSV are investigated to disclose the mechanisms. Specifically, the MR shows angular dependence with the value tuned from negative to positive by rotating the field direction from in-plane to out-of-plane, corresponding to the angular dependent spin moment. A domain-switch model is proposed to simulate the resistance changes in OSV device. The research provides a new route to tune the MR in organic spintronic devices, which is significant for future functional device applications.

Phytophthora genomes encode a myriad of Crinkler (CRN) effectors, some of which contain putative kinase domains. Little is known about the host targets of these kinase-domain-containing CRNs and their infection-promoting mechanisms. Here, we report the host target and functional mechanism of a conserved kinase CRN effector named CRN78 in a notorious oomycete pathogen, Phytophthora sojae. CRN78 promotes Phytophthora capsici infection in Nicotiana benthamiana and enhances P. sojae virulence on the host plant Glycine max by inhibiting plant H2O2 accumulation and immunity-related gene expression. Further investigation reveals that CRN78 interacts with PIP2-family aquaporin proteins including NbPIP2;2 from N. benthamiana and GmPIP2-13 from soybean on the plant plasma membrane, and membrane localization is necessary for virulence of CRN78. Next, CRN78 promotes phosphorylation of NbPIP2;2 or GmPIP2-13 using its kinase domain in vivo, leading to their subsequent protein degradation in a 26S-dependent pathway. Our data also demonstrates that NbPIP2;2 acts as a H2O2 transporter to positively regulate plant immunity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the phosphorylation sites of PIP2 proteins and the kinase domains of CRN78 homologs are highly conserved among higher plants and oomycete pathogens, respectively. Therefore, this study elucidates a conserved and novel pathway used by effector proteins to inhibit host cellular defenses by targeting and hijacking phosphorylation of plant aquaporin proteins.

Regularity criteria of the weak solutions to the three-dimensional (3D) incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations are discussed. Our results imply that the scalar pressure field π plays an important role in the regularity problem of MHD equations. We derive that the weak solution u,b is regular on 0,T, which is provided for the scalar pressure field π in the Besov spaces.

Inkjet printing has become a promising, efficient, inexpensive, scalable technique for materials deposition, mask-less and digital patterning in many device applications. Meanwhile, the ink preparation remains a challenge especially for printing functional oxide materials. Based on the principles of inkjet printing (especially relevant for piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet printer) and the process of the conversion of liquid ink into solid thin films of oxide materials, we present two approaches to the design and tailoring of inks: (i) oxide particle suspensions (e.g. SiO2, TiO2, Fe3O4) and (ii) metal-acetates precursor solutions for directly printing oxide thin films (e.g. ZnO, MgO, ITO and so forth). The solution inks are stable and produce tunable oxide films with high density and smooth surface. For some of the inks containing multi-type acetates with possible phase separation even before calcinations, we have developed a chelating procedure in order to tailor the films into single-phase homogeneity. The work lays a foundation for inkjet printing of oxides films for functional applications in electronic, photonic and energy devices.

Compared to conventional vehicles Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) provide fairly high fuel economy with lower emissions. To enhance HEV performance in terms of fuel economy and emissions, and ensure user satisfaction with driving performance, the need for simultaneous optimization for the main parameters of powertrain components and control system is inevitable. However, this problem is challenging due to the large amount of coupling design parameters, conflicting design objectives and nonlinear constraints. Considering the defect of the methods which convert multi-objective optimization problems into single-objective ones, a comprehensive methodology based on the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithms II (NSGA II) to achieve parameter optimization for powertrain components and control system simultaneously and successfully find the Pareto-optimal solutions set is presented in this paper. A case simulation is carried out and simulated by ADVISOR, The simulation results show that this method can produce many Pareto-optimal solutions and a satisfactory solution can be selected by decision-makers according to their requirements. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithms proposed in this paper.

The emergence of three-dimensional (3D) porous heterostructure that integrates the advantages of two materials offers prospects to resolve the serious shuttle effect and slow reaction kinetics in lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries. In this work, an electron modulation strategy of “donor–acceptor” is constructed by uniformly grafting NiTe2 onto MXene (denoted as NiTe2@MXene) to inhibit the restacking of MXene and the aggregation of NiTe2 nanoparticles, serving as a functional heterostructure catalyst for shuttling blockers and kinetics promoters. The as-obtained 3D porous NiTe2@MXene heterostructure provides highly-exposed active interfaces, fast electron transfer channels, abundant defect sites, and rapid stepwise sulfur conversion, as fully demonstrated by the optical images, theoretical calculations, and pouch cell. Consequently, the batteries with NiTe2@MXene-modified separator deliver a remarkable cycling performance at 1C (with a capacity decreasing rate of only 0.0287% per cycle) over 500 cycles. Even under a high sulfur loading (8.31 mg cm−2) and a limited electrolyte/sulfur ratio (E/S = 6.52 mL mg−1 ), an outstanding areal capacity of 7.3 mA h cm−2 is achieved. The above results indicate that the electronic modulation of the NiTe2@MXene heterostructure achieves the best electrocatalytic activities for polysulfides conversion and practical application, providing unique insights into the design of 3D porous MXene-based heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases, characterized by endothelial dysfunction and lipid accumulation. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key regulators of endothelial cell behavior. This study aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA NORAD in endothelial cell proliferation and as a potential therapeutic target for atherosclerosis. A total of 75 CAD patients and 76 controls were recruited, and plasma NORAD levels were measured using qRT-PCR. HUVECs were transfected with si-NORAD to evaluate its effects on cell cycle, proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Plasma NORAD levels were significantly elevated in CAD patients. The NORAD-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA regulatory network was constructed based on GEO database, and G1/S-specific cyclin-D1 (CCND1) was identified as one of the hub factors. NORAD deficiency suppressed cell migration and induced G1 cell cycle arrest in HUVECs by downregulating CCND1 in vitro. NORAD upregulated CCND1 in HUVECs via sponging miR-106a that inhibited cell migration. The dual-luciferase assay confirmed the direct targeting of miR-106a by NORAD, and overexpression of miR-106a inhibited HUVEC proliferation and migration. Si-NORAD transfection resulted in induced early apoptosis, increased intracellular ROS levels, decreased GSH levels, and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. Additionally, si-NORAD decreased the expression of GPX4, FTH1, KEAP1, NCOA4, and Nrf2, while increasing Xct levels, confirming the involvement of ferroptosis. Our findings reveal that NORAD plays a critical role in endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis, and its silencing induces ferroptosis. The regulatory network involving NORAD, miR-106a, and their target genes provides a potential therapeutic avenue for atherosclerosis.

Abstract Blood exchange therapy, specifically Whole blood exchange (WBE), is increasingly being utilized in clinical settings to effectively treat a range of diseases. Consequently, there is an urgent requirement to establish convenient and clinically applicable animal models that can facilitate the exploration of blood exchange therapy mechanisms. Our study conducted continuous WBE in rats through femoral and tail vein catheterization using dual-directional syringe pumps. To demonstrate the applicability of continuous WBE, drug-induced hemolytic anemia (DIHA) was induced through phenylhydrazine hydrochloride (PHZ) injection. Notability, the rats of DIHA + WBE group all survived and recovered within the subsequent period. After the implementation of continuous WBE therapy day (Day 1), the DIHA + WBE group exhibited a statistically significant increase in red blood cells (RBC) (P = 0.0343) and hemoglobin (HGB) levels (P = 0.0090) compared to DIHA group. The rats in the DIHA + WBE group exhibited a faster recovery rate compared to the DIHA group, indicating the successful establishment of a continuous blood exchange protocol. This experimental approach demonstrates not just promising efficacy in the treatment of DIHA and offers a valuable tool for investigating the underlying mechanisms of blood exchange. Furthermore, it has a great potential to the advancement of biomedical research such as drug delivery exploration.