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Abstract Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is one of the important factors leading to death in patients undergoing fracture surgery. This study aims to investigating the predictive value of the Caprini score combined with thrombus molecular markers for the risk of DVT in patients after traumatic fracture surgery. A total of 342 patients who underwent surgery for traumatic fractures were included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups based on the occurrence of DVT after surgery: the DVT group (n = 57) and the non-DVT group (n = 285). A univariate analysis and logistic regression analysis were conducted on clinical factors and laboratory indicators that might be associated with DVT in patients with traumatic fractures. A predictive model for DVT risk was then constructed by combining thrombus molecular markers with the Caprini score. The median age of all patients was 65 years (54–75 years), the postoperative Caprini score was 9 (6–11), and the length of hospital stay was 11 days (8–16 days). In univariate analysis, age (P = 0.029), postoperative Caprini score (P

The poor dispersion stability and susceptibility to oxidation significantly restrict the practical application of MoS2 as a lubricant additive. Here, MoS2 nanocomposite powders with magnesium silicate hydroxide (MSH) reinforcement and amorphous carbon protection were prepared via a straightforward two-step procedure. Detailed studies of the structure, phase composition, tribological properties, and lubrication mechanism of the composite powder have been conducted. The results demonstrated that the morphology of the composite powders was rod-shaped MSH coated with amorphous carbon and layered MoS2. The introduction of amorphous carbon into the MSH/MoS2 composite powders results in enhanced dispersion and a reduction in corrosion to copper sheets. Furthermore, the addition of 1.0 wt% MSH/MoS2/C nanoparticles to PAO-6 led to a decrease in the COF of the lubricating oil from 0.104 to 0.063. Meanwhile, the wear rate of the friction pair decreased from 5.91 × 10−7 mm3 N−1 m−1 to 2.22 × 10−7 mm3 N−1 m−1. The excellent performance could be attributed to the introduction of amorphous carbon effectively prevents the oxidation of MoS2 within the additive, leading to improved friction and wear resistance. The tribo-film, composed of MSH, Fe2O3, FeS, MoS2, graphite, and amorphous carbon, demonstrates remarkable capabilities in reducing friction and wear.

Abstract The root system is important for the growth and development of spinach. To reveal the temporal variability of the spinach root system, root traits of 40 spinach accessions were measured at three imaging times (20, 30, and 43 days after transplanting) in this study using a non-destructive and non-invasive root analysis system. Results showed that five root traits were reliably measured by this system (RootViz FS), and two of which were highly correlated with manually measured traits. Root traits had higher variations than shoot traits among spinach accessions, and the trait of mean growth rate of total root length had the largest coefficients of variation across the three imaging times. During the early stage, only tap root length was weakly correlated with shoot traits (plant height, leaf width, and object area (equivalent to plant surface area)), whereas in the third imaging, root fresh weight, total root length, and root area were strongly correlated with shoot biomass-related traits. Five root traits (total root length, tap root length, total root area, root tissue density, and maximal root width) showed high variations with coefficients of variation values (CV ≥ 0.3, except maximal root width) and high heritability (H2 > 0.6) among the three stages. The 40 spinach accessions were classified into five subgroups with different growth dynamics of the primary and lateral roots by cluster analysis. Our results demonstrated the potential of in-situ phenotyping to assess dynamic root growth in spinach and provide new perspectives for biomass breeding based on root system ideotypes.

Objective With mechanical thrombectomy (MT), we investigated the prognostic importance of aortic arch calcification (AoAC) and carotid sinus calcification (CaSC) for symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) and poor outcome in acute large artery occlusion (LAO). Methods In this retrospective observational study, we calculated pre-cranial artery calcification burden (PACB) scores (burden score of AoAC and CaSC) using the AoAC grading scale score plus Woodcock visual score. The outcome measure was sICH per the European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study III definition. A 3-month modified Rankin scale score 3–6 was designated as poor outcome. Results Compared with patients who had PACB

Spinach is a nutritious leafy vegetable growing worldwide. Here, the authors report a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome assembly of spinach and genome resequencing of 305 accessions, and provide insights into spinach domestication and the genetic basis of agronomic traits.

Robots, as the creation of humans, became an irreplaceable component in human society. With the advancement of technologies, robots have become more and more intelligent and have been widely used in many fields, such as disease diagnosis, customer services, healthcare for the older people, and so on. As robots made our lives much more convenient than ever before, they also brought many potential risks and challenges in technology, security, and ethic. To better understand the development of robots, we proposed a concept of a robot’s living space and analyzed the role of robots in our society. In this paper, we focus on setting a theoretical framework of the robot’s living space to further understand the human-robot relationship. The research in this paper contains three central aspects. First, we interpret the concept of the robot’s living space and the functions of each space. Second, we analyze and summarize the relative technologies which support robots living well in each space. Finally, we provide advice and improvement measures based on a discussion of potential problems caused by the developments of robots. With the trend of robots humanization and human-robot society integration, we should seriously consider how to collaborate with intelligent robots to achieve hybrid intelligence. To build a harmonious human-robot integrated society, studying the robot’s living space and its relationship with humans is the pre-requisite and roadmap.

To reduce the environmental pollution caused by medical protective materials, such as masks and protective clothing, biodegradable antibacterial materials have received more and more attention in recent years. In this study, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and poly(butylene-adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) were electrospun together and then treated with nano-TiO 2 to develop and evaluate a biodegradable, antibacterial nanofiber membrane for medical protective fabric. The SEM images displayed that the nanofiber membrane with a mass fraction of 13 and a mass ratio of 50:50 PHBV/PBAT had the smallest diameter and the best morphology of all samples. In addition, the mechanical properties test and water contact angle test results demonstrated that the PBAT/PHBV composite nanofiber membrane had better mechanical properties and hydrophobicity without compromising its fundamental structure than pure PHBV. The addition of TiO 2 nanoparticles decreased the fiber diameter of this nanofiber membrane. When the TiO 2 concentration was 1.0 wt%, the average fiber diameter was 367 nm, which might approach the sub-micron level. Meanwhile, the presence of TiO 2 reduced adhesion between fibers of the PBAT/PHBV membrane, resulting in a more uniform fiber distribution. Additionally, the elongation at the break of the PHBV/PBAT/TiO 2 nanofiber membrane with 1.0 wt% TiO 2 was raised from (135 ± 5)% to (203 ± 2)%. The PHBV/PBAT/TiO 2 nanofiber membrane containing 1.0 wt% TiO 2 inhibited Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus , and its antibacterial rate was over 98%. In this research, we successfully prepared composite materials that were both biodegradable and antibacterial, which can be applied in the field of medical protection. It can promote the development of protective textile materials in the direction of functionalization and degradation.

Summary Med‐ORF10, a single‐domain protein with unknown function encoded by a gene located in a gene cluster responsible for the biosynthesis of a novel antitumour antibiotic medermycin, shares high homology to a group of small proteins widely distributed in many aromatic polyketide antibiotic pathways. This group of proteins contain a nuclear transport factor‐2 (NTF‐2) domain and appear to undergo an evolutionary divergence in their functions. Gene knockout and interspecies complementation suggested that Med‐ORF10 plays a regulatory role in medermycin biosynthetic pathway. Overexpression of med‐ORF10 in its wild‐type strain led to significant increase of medermycin production. It was also shown by qRT‐PCR and Western blot that Med‐ORF10 controls the expression of genes encoding tailoring enzymes involved in medermycin biosynthesis. Transcriptome analysis and qRT‐PCR revealed that Med‐ORF10 has pleiotropic effects on more targets. However, there is no similar conserved domain available in Med‐ORF10 compared to those of mechanistically known regulatory proteins; meanwhile, no direct interaction between Med‐ORF10 and its target promoter DNA was detected via gel shift assay. All these studies suggest that Med‐ORF10 regulates medermycin biosynthesis probably via an indirect mode.

Abstract A sensitive and accurate ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of EVT201 and its two metabolites, Ro46-1927 and Ro18-5528, in human urine. Different sample preparation methods were compared, and solid-phase extraction (SPE) was finally employed. Separation conditions and mass spectrometry parameters were optimized to achieve complete separation and enough sensitivity. Finally, the three analytes were separated on an Acquity BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) with a gradient mobile phase. The gradient elution consisted of acetonitrile (containing 0.1% formic acid) and 10 mM ammonium formate (containing 1% acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid) at a flow rate of 0.50 mL/min. Detection was performed on an electrospray ionization (ESI) source in positive mode with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The method was fully validated in accordance with the bioanalysis guidance in Chinese Pharmacopoeia. It showed satisfying linearity, accuracy, and precision in the range of 0.2–200 ng/mL for all the three analytes. The mean extraction recoveries were 85.2%, 65.6%, 87.9%, and 86.4% for EVT201, Ro46-1927, Ro18-5528, and the IS, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the bioanalysis of 833 urine samples to determine the concentration of EVT201 and its two metabolites simultaneously.

BackgroundAortic arch calcification (AoAC) is associated with plaque development and cardiovascular events. We aimed to estimate the predictive value of AoAC for stroke recurrence in patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS).MethodsConsecutive patients with ESUS who were admitted to our center between October 2019 and October 2020 and who had a 1-year follow-up of stroke recurrence were retrospectively reviewed. According to our AoAC grading scale (AGS), AoAC was classified into four grades based on chest computed tomography (CT) findings: no visible calcification (grade 0), spotty calcification (grade 1), lamellar calcification (grade 2), and circular calcification (grade 3).ResultsOf the 158 patients with ESUS (age, 62.1 ± 14.5 years; 120 men) enrolled, 24 (15.2%) had recurrent stroke within a 1-year follow-up. The Cox regression analysis showed that stroke history [hazard ratio (HR), 4.625; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.828–11.700, p = 0.001] and AoAC (HR, 2.672; 95% CI, 1.129–6.319; p = 0.025) predicted recurrent stroke. AGS grade 1 was associated with a significantly higher risk of stroke recurrence than AGS grade 0 (HR, 5.033; 95% CI, 1.858–13.635, p = 0.001) and AGS grade 2 plus 3 (HR, 3.388; 95% CI, 1.124–10.206, p = 0.030). In patients with AoAC, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that AGS had a good value in predicting stroke recurrence in patients with ESUS, with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.735 (95% CI = 0.601–0.869, p = 0.005).ConclusionsAortic arch calcification, especially spotty calcification, had a good predictive value for stroke recurrence in patients with ESUS.

The origin, evolution, and formation mechanism of MgO-based inclusions in Si-Mn-killed steel were studied in industrial trials with systematical samplings of the refining ladle, casting tundish, and as-cast bloom. In the present study, there were large numbers of MgO-based non-metallic inclusions, which started to form in the LF final process, and the MgO content in the lime-silicate slag increases from LF to VD process. The reason for the formation of MgO-based inclusions in refining process was analyzed using FactSage8.1 software. It was found that MgO-based inclusions were caused by the violent reaction between the slag and steel and the serious erosion of MgO-C refractory. The MgO solubility decreased in the lime-silicate slag and precipitated the periclase phase with basicity increasing. The solubility of MgO increased with an increase in the temperature. Measures were taken to optimize the refining process based on the above result. By increasing the slag basicity and increasing the content of MgO in the slag, erosion of the MgO-C refractory was reduced and the number of MgO-based non-metallic inclusions decreased from 0.2 to 0.04 per square millimeter.

We report on a rapid and efficient method to self-assemble high-quality monolayer or multilayers of bare silica microsphere (MS) at the water/air interface. The key to our method is forming an ultra-thin 1-butanol layer achieved by using the mixed suspension with a proper volume ratio of ethanol and 1-butanol (2:1) on the water surface. This ultra-thin 1-butanol can deliver, confine and keep the movement of the SiO2 MS at the air/water interface throughout the self-assembly process, which is of crucial importance for achieving the high-quality of the assembled monolayer. By our method, the hexagonal-close-packed arrangement monolayers of bare SiO2 MS with millimeter-sized (~mm) single-domain regions are successfully fabricated for different sizes (diameters: 300, 480, 730, and 990 nm). In addition, the multilayers fabricated by the layer-by-layer transferring technique present the typical photonic bandgap materials feature in the measured transmission spectra. The fabricated high-quality monolayer or multilayers of bare SiO2 MS could be compatible with the high-temperature material grown process and may find potential applications in optoelectronics and photocatalysis.

Incorporating prior knowledge into recurrent neural network (RNN) is of great importance for many natural language processing tasks. However, most of the prior knowledge is in the form of structured knowledge and is difficult to be exploited in the existing RNN framework. By extracting the logic rules from the structured knowledge and embedding the extracted logic rule into the RNN, this paper proposes an effective framework to incorporate the prior information in the RNN models. First, we demonstrate that commonly used prior knowledge could be decomposed into a set of logic rules, including the knowledge graph, social graph, and syntactic dependence. Second, we present a technique to embed a set of logic rules into the RNN by the way of feedback masks. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to the sentiment classification and named entity recognition task. The extensive experimental results verify the effectiveness of the embedding approach. The encouraging results suggest that the proposed approach has the potential for applications in other NLP tasks.

Rhabdopeptides are synthesized by non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and the multiple NRPS subunits interact through docking domains (DD). Here the authors provide insights into DD interaction patterns and present the structures of three N-terminal docking domains (NDD) and a NDD-CDD complex and derive a set of recognition rules for DD interactions.

Abstract Background Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is one of the major causative agents of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), which is sometimes associated with severe central nervous system disease in children. There is currently no specific medication for EV71 infection. Quercetin, one of the most widely distributed flavonoids in plants, has been demonstrated to inhibit various viral infections. However, investigation of the anti-EV71 mechanism has not been reported to date. Methods The anti-EV71 activity of quercetin was evaluated by phenotype screening, determining the cytopathic effect (CPE) and EV71-induced cells apoptosis. The effects on EV71 replication were evaluated further by determining virus yield, viral RNA synthesis and protein expression, respectively. The mechanism of action against EV71 was determined from the effective stage and time-of-addition assays. The possible inhibitory functions of quercetin via viral 2Apro, 3Cpro or 3Dpol were tested. The interaction between EV71 3Cpro and quercetin was predicted and calculated by molecular docking. Results Quercetin inhibited EV71-mediated cytopathogenic effects, reduced EV71 progeny yields, and prevented EV71-induced apoptosis with low cytotoxicity. Investigation of the underlying mechanism of action revealed that quercetin exhibited a preventive effect against EV71 infection and inhibited viral adsorption. Moreover, quercetin mediated its powerful therapeutic effects primarily by blocking the early post-attachment stage of viral infection. Further experiments demonstrated that quercetin potently inhibited the activity of the EV71 protease, 3Cpro, blocking viral replication, but not the activity of the protease, 2Apro, or the RNA polymerase, 3Dpol. Modeling of the molecular binding of the 3Cpro-quercetin complex revealed that quercetin was predicted to insert into the substrate-binding pocket of EV71 3Cpro, blocking substrate recognition and thereby inhibiting EV71 3Cpro activity. Conclusions Quercetin can effectively prevent EV71-induced cell injury with low toxicity to host cells. Quercetin may act in more than one way to deter viral infection, exhibiting some preventive and a powerful therapeutic effect against EV71. Further, quercetin potently inhibits EV71 3Cpro activity, thereby blocking EV71 replication.

We study theoretically the Fano resonances (FRs) produced by the near-field coupling between the lowest-order (dipolar) sphere plasmon resonance and the dipolar cavity plasmon mode supported by an Ag nanoshell or the hybrid mode in a simple three-layered Ag nanomatryushka constructed by incorporating a solid Ag nanosphere into the center of Ag nanoshell. We find that the linewidth of dipolar cavity plasmon resonance or hybrid mode induced FR is as narrow as 6.8 nm (corresponding to a high Q-factor of ~160 and a long dephasing time of ~200 fs) due to the highly localized feature of the electric-fields. In addition, we attribute the formation mechanisms of typical asymmetrical Fano line profiles in the extinction spectra to the constructive (Fano peak) and the destructive interferences (Fano dip) arising from the symmetric and asymmetric charge distributions between the dipolar sphere and cavity plasmon or hybrid modes. Interestingly, by simply adjusting the structural parameters, the dielectric refractive index required for the strongest FR in the Ag nanomatryushka can be reduced to be as small as 1.4, which largely reduces the restriction on materials, and the positions of FR can also be easily tuned across a broad spectral range. The ultranarrow linewidth, highly tunability together with the huge enhancement of electric fields at the FR may find important applications in sensing, slow light, and plasmon rulers.

Spinach is an economically important vegetable crop but previous genomic resources were of limited use for comparative and functional analyses. Here, Xuet al. present a high quality draft spinach genome and transcriptome data for multiple Spinaciaaccessions providing insight into Caryophyllales genome evolution.

Background: The endothelial epsin 1 and 2 endocytic adaptor proteins play an important role in atherosclerosis by regulating the degradation of the calcium release channel inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 1 (IP3R1). In this study, we sought to identify additional targets responsible for epsin-mediated atherosclerotic endothelial cell activation and inflammation in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Atherosclerotic ApoE−/− mice and ApoE−/− mice with an endothelial cell-specific deletion of epsin 1 on a global epsin 2 knock-out background (EC-iDKO/ApoE−/−), and aortic endothelial cells isolated from these mice, were used to examine inflammatory signaling in the endothelium. Results: Inflammatory signaling was significantly abrogated by both acute (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS)) and chronic (oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)) stimuli in EC-iDKO/ApoE−/− mice and murine aortic endothelial cells (MAECs) isolated from epsin-deficient animals when compared to ApoE−/− controls. Mechanistically, the epsin ubiquitin interacting motif (UIM) bound to Toll-like receptors (TLR) 2 and 4 to potentiate inflammatory signaling and deletion of the epsin UIM mitigated this interaction. Conclusions: The epsin endocytic adaptor proteins potentiate endothelial cell activation in acute and chronic models of atherogenesis. These studies further implicate epsins as therapeutic targets for the treatment of inflammation of the endothelium associated with atherosclerosis.

Elevated temperatures limit plant growth and reproduction and pose a growing threat to agriculture. Plant heat stress response is highly conserved and fine-tuned in multiple pathways. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is a cold tolerant but heat sensitive green leafy vegetable. In this study, heat adaptation mechanisms in a spinach sibling inbred heat-tolerant line Sp75 were investigated using physiological, proteomic, and phosphoproteomic approaches. The abundance patterns of 911 heat stress-responsive proteins, and phosphorylation level changes of 45 phosphoproteins indicated heat-induced calcium-mediated signaling, ROS homeostasis, endomembrane trafficking, and cross-membrane transport pathways, as well as more than 15 transcription regulation factors. Although photosynthesis was inhibited, diverse primary and secondary metabolic pathways were employed for defense against heat stress, such as glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, vitamin metabolism, and isoprenoid biosynthesis. These data constitute a heat stress-responsive metabolic atlas in spinach, which will springboard further investigations into the sophisticated molecular mechanisms of plant heat adaptation and inform spinach molecular breeding initiatives.

Excessive accumulation of nitrate in spinach is not only harmful to human beings, but also limits the efficiency of nitrogen usage. However, the underlying mechanism of nitrate accumulation in plants remains unclear. This study analyzed the physiological and molecular characteristics of nitrate uptake and assimilation in the spinach varieties with high or low nitrate accumulation. Our results showed that the variety of spinach with a high nitrate content (So18) had higher nitrate uptake compared to the variety with a low nitrate content (So10). However, the nitrate reductase activities of both varieties were similar, which suggests that the differential capacity to uptake and transport nitrate may account for the differences in nitrate accumulation. The quantitative PCR analysis showed that there was a higher level of expression of spinach nitrate transporter (SoNRT) genes in So18 compared to those in So10. Based on the function of Arabidopsis homologs AtNRTs, the role of spinach SoNRTs in nitrate accumulation is discussed. It is concluded that further work focusing on the expression of SoNRTs (especially for SoNRT1.4, SoNRT1.5 and SoNRT1.3) may help us to elucidate the molecular mechanism of nitrate accumulation in spinach.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is one of most important leafy vegetables because of its high nutritional value and high oxalate content, which can be toxic with negative effects on human nutrition. Ammonium and nitrate can effectively regulate oxalate accumulation, although the mechanisms underlying the oxalate biosynthesis and regulation are still undetermined in plants. In the present study, we identified 25 putative genes that are involved in the oxalate biosynthetic and degradation pathway, before analyzing the oxalate content and the expression levels of the corresponding proteins under normal growth conditions, with or without ammonium and nitrate treatments, using high and low oxalate-accumulated spinach genotypes. The two cultivars exhibited different profiles of total oxalate and soluble oxalate accumulation. The high oxalate concentrations in spinach were as a result of the high transcription levels of the genes that are involved in oxalate biosynthesis under normal growth conditions, such as SoGLO2, SoGLO3, three SoOXACs, SoMLS, SoMDH1, SoMDH2, and SoMDH4. The results revealed that the ammonium and nitrate were able to control the oxalate content in leaves, possibly because of the different transcription levels of the genes. The oxalate content is regulated by complex regulatory mechanisms and is varied in the different varieties of spinach. The results from this research may be used to assist the investigation of the mechanism of oxalate regulation and breeding for reduced oxalate content in spinach.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is an economically important vegetable crop. Here we describe the complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of spinach, which has a length of 329,613 bp and a GC content of 43.4%. It is separated by a pair of directly repeated elements of 7286 bp, to form a large single copy region of 229,375 bp and a small single copy region of 85,666 bp. The genome contains 29 protein-coding genes, 4 pseudogenes, 24 tRNA genes, and 3 rRNA genes. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that spinach was closely related to Beta vulgaris (sugar beet), both belonging to the Amaranthaceae family.

Medermycin and kalafungin, two antibacterial and antitumor antibiotics isolated from different streptomycetes, share an identical polyketide skeleton core. The present study reported the discovery of kalafungin in a medermycin-producing streptomycete strain for the first time. A mutant strain obtained through UV mutagenesis showed a 3-fold increase in the production of this antibiotic, compared to the wild type strain. Heterologous expression experiments suggested that its production was severely controlled by the gene cluster for medermycin biosynthesis. In all, these findings suggested that kalafungin and medermycin could be accumulated by the same streptomycete and share their biosynthetic pathway to some extent in this strain.