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The behavior of a novel multimechanophore-functionalized graft copolymeric assembly in response to ultrasound stimulation was studied in detail.

Drug repurposing is an attractive strategy for identifying new indications for existing drugs. Three approved antidepressants have advanced into clinical trials for cancer therapy. In particular, further medicinal chemistry efforts with tranylcypromine (TCP) have led to the discovery of several TCP-based histone lysine specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) inhibitors that display therapeutic promise for treating cancer in the clinic. Thus repurposing antidepressants could be a promising strategy for cancer treatment. In this review, we illustrate the anticancer mechanisms of action of antidepressants and also discuss the challenges and future directions of repurposing antidepressants for anticancer drug discovery, to provide an overview of approved antidepressant cancer therapies.

Heat-sealable isomeric co-polyimide (CPI) films with enhanced atomic oxygen (AO) resistance and mechanical strength were synthesized from 2,3,3′,4′-oxydiphthalic anhydride (aODPA), 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA), and 2,5-bis [(4-aminophenoxy)phenyl]diphenylphosphine oxide (BADPO). We investigated how the molecular structure and diamine ratio affected the thermal properties, solubility, mechanical properties, AO resistance and heat-sealability. The diphenylphosphine oxide (DPO) side group decreased the CPI film mechanical strength and its higher ODA reactivity increased the molecular weight. At 10 mol% ODA in the aODPA-BADPO system, the CPI film exhibited increased tensile strength with no detriment to the AO resistance. Meanwhile, the CPI films demonstrated good heat-sealability indicated by a completely merged interface after heat sealing.

(1) Background: To prevent excessive caloric intake, a food labeling strategy is widely adopted by governments. Physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels prove to be effective in reducing calorie intake. However, previous literature has mainly discussed the effect of PACE labels on consumers’ purchase intention for high-calorie foods but has not analyzed whether consumers evaluate food brands negatively after inhibiting the consumers’ purchase intention for high-calorie foods. Therefore, the aims of this study are to explore the negative effects of PACE labels on consumers’ food brand evaluation and the underlying psychological mechanism. (2) Methods: This study manipulated the two calorie-information labeling (standard calorie label and PACE labels) in two studies, involving potato chips and chocolate products. It also adopted a prevention focus and anticipated enjoyment of food consumption variables to detect the moderation effects between consumers’ promotion focus and PACE labels. (3) Results: Results show that compared with calorie labels, PACE labels have a more negative influence on consumers’ food brand evaluation. Furthermore, consumers stimulated by PACE labels develop a stronger prevention focus, thereby reducing their anticipated enjoyment of food brands, and ultimately leading to lower brand evaluations. In addition, when consumers have a promotion focus before choosing food, PACE labels cannot reduce their anticipated enjoyment and food brand evaluation for food brands. (4) Conclusions: While focusing on the negative effect of PACE labels on consumers’ purchase intention for high-calorie foods, it should also be noted that PACE labels have a negative effect on food brand evaluation. Therefore, food enterprises should try their best to activate consumers’ promotion focus through various environmental cues, so as to avoid a double negative effect on consumers’ food purchases and brand evaluations.

TraditionalIn this study, we propose an improved NIPS method, which calculates the SD in theA total of 3,219 pregnant samples have been used for validating the proposed method on detecting fetal trisomy syndromes (T13, T18, and T21), in which eight false negative (FN) samples have been corrected as true positive (TP) and eight false positive (FP) samples have been fixed as true negative (TN) with our proposed adaptive-SD method. Another 6592 samples were used to compare the two methods on detecting five recurrent fetal copy number variation (CNV) syndromes, in which the FP samples have decreased from 99 to 39.Our adaptive-SD NIPS method shows more power on detecting both trisomy syndromes and five recurrent CNVs in the pregnant samples with diverse read counts. Besides, our proposed method contributes to lower FP and FN samples than the traditional

Repeated food scandals in China have prompted growing consumer consciousness on food safety and health. Organic food, considered to be of higher quality, is being increasingly demanded by Chinese consumers. This study examines preferences for organic labels to provide insight on the sustainable development of the Oolong tea industry. Research was conducted using the choice experiment (CE) method in Fujian and Guangdong Provinces. The results demonstrate that place of origin, organic label, and brand attributes are all significant factors affecting the purchase of Oolong. Also, people demonstrated significantly positive attitudes toward organic labels and preferred Oolong tea from Fujian Province to those from Guangdong Province and Taiwan. Increasing trust can enhance consumer preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for organic labels. Contrary to previous studies, people have a higher WTP for Chinese organic labels than Japanese and American ones. This is probably because respondents are more familiar with domestic Oolong tea and trust more in Chinese organic certification. This provides an opportunity for domestic producers to tailor their organic food labels and better satisfy consumer demands. These findings suggest that the Chinese government should take more responsibility for reducing food-related fraud and thus improve consumer trust regarding organic food.

(1) Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic that arouse much attention from governments, companies and scholar. Physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels are introduced as a more effective nudge invention on less-calorie ordering. However, the effects of PACE labels are controversial in previous literature, thus, the research objective is to explore the effects of different PACE labels and furtherly to explore the underlying psychological mechanism; (2) Methods: Across four scenario-based experiments, involving potato chips, chocolate and cookies, this study manipulated the three calorie-information labeling (standard calorie label, long time PACE and short time PACE labels). Meanwhile, the mediating mechanism of the effects involving anticipatory guilt and the moderation effects between consumers’ future self-continuity and PACE labels are also measured; (3) Results: Results show that compared with the short time PACE and calorie labels, the longtime PACE labels have more negative influence on consumers’ purchase intention for unhealthy food. What’s more, the anticipatory guilt has negative effect of PACE labels as consumers are often prone to feeling guilty in the process of unhealthy food consumption. In addition, individuals with high future self-continuity have higher self-control and take more consideration of future outcomes, they are reluctant to choose unhealthy food than others; (4) Conclusions: Unhealthy food with a long time PACE label has more negative effect on consumers’ purchase intention rather than a short time PACE label. At the same time, companies that produce healthy foods should actively participate in the movement to label calories through the PACE labels.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can potentially regulate various aspects of cellular activity including differentiation and development, metabolism, proliferation, apoptosis and activation, and its functions and mechanisms in physiological and pathological states are widely reported, thanks in large part to advances in transcriptomic and genomic research techniques and database management technologies. Liver fibrosis is typically characterized by a reversible wound healing response, often accompanied by excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix. In recent years, a series of lncRNAs have been investigated and found to act as competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) involved in several cellular-level regulatory processes that play an important role in the development of liver fibrosis, such as the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which play an important role in the accelerated progression of liver fibrosis, and the associated alterations in cell cycle, proliferation profile have been shown to be mediated by lncRNA-Alu-mediated overexpression of the p21 transcriptional regulator (lncRNA APTR). This review aims to discuss the functions and mechanisms of lncRNAs in the development and regression of liver fibrosis and to explore the major lncRNAs involved in the signaling pathways regulating liver fibrosis, with the aim of elaborating the mechanisms mediated by lncRNA dysregulation and providing new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for liver fibrosis.

Structure Learning for Bayesian network (BN) is an important problem with extensive research. It plays central roles in a wide variety of applications in Alibaba Group. However, existing structure learning algorithms suffer from considerable limitations in real world applications due to their low efficiency and poor scalability. To resolve this, we propose a new structure learning algorithm LEAST, which comprehensively fulfills our business requirements as it attains high accuracy, efficiency and scalability at the same time. The core idea of LEAST is to formulate the structure learning into a continuous constrained optimization problem, with a novel differentiable constraint function measuring the acyclicity of the resulting graph. Unlike with existing work, our constraint function is built on the spectral radius of the graph and could be evaluated in near linear time w.r.t. the graph node size. Based on it, LEAST can be efficiently implemented with low storage overhead. According to our benchmark evaluation, LEAST runs 1 to 2 orders of magnitude faster than state of the art method with comparable accuracy, and it is able to scale on BNs with up to hundreds of thousands of variables. In our production environment, LEAST is deployed and serves for more than 20 applications with thousands of executions per day. We describe a concrete scenario in a ticket booking service in Alibaba, where LEAST is applied to build a near real-time automatic anomaly detection and root error cause analysis system. We also show that LEAST unlocks the possibility of applying BN structure learning in new areas, such as large-scale gene expression data analysis and explainable recommendation system.

(1) Background: Labeling is one of the significant strategies to guide sustainable consumption behaviors. Nowadays, multi labels being displayed on the front-of-pack of food products is a common phenomenon. However, labels seldom operate solo, and competition or complement effects may be exerted on different labels. Therefore, the research objective is to explore the interaction effect when nutrition and low-carbon labels appear simultaneously, (2) Methods: Across four scenario-based experiments, including ice cream, yogurt, steak, and toast, this study manipulated the separate and joint occurrences of low-carbon and nutrition labels, the interaction effect of joint labels was tested, and the serial mediation model, which includes resource allocation and anticipated enjoyment of food consumption, was verified, (3) Results: Results show that people have a positive preference for the nutrition label and the carbon label, respectively, while these two labels working simultaneously attenuate the positive effect of the single label. When facing nutrition and carbon labels simultaneously, people would infer partial resources are allocated to healthy and environmental aspects so they have a lower anticipated enjoyment from food consumption. Thus, these two labels working simultaneously attenuate the positive effect of the single label, and consumers have a lower evaluation of food products. In addition, the joint backfire on the effect is only exerted on people with a higher level of zero-sum bias and only when joint labels have a high consistency of labels, (4) Conclusions: This study solved the contradictory problem of the joint effect of positive labels. The findings in this research contribute to promote sustainable food consumption. We suggest that similar labels should be avoided in the same front-of-pack of food, and manufacturers need to use ads to bring down consumers’ zero-sum bias.

Background: Since numerical calorie labels have limited effects on less-calorie food ordering, an alternative called physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels, which exhibit calories using visible symbols and the minutes of exercise to burn off the calories, may be more effective in reducing calories ordered. Methods: By using a choice experiment (CE) approach, the aims of this study were to estimate the effects of PACE labels on consumer preferences for healthy and unhealth food. Red date walnuts and potato chips were used as the representatives of healthy and unhealthy foods respectively in this study. Moreover, future time perspective (FTP) is an individual trait variable of consumers, which has been recognized as a significant driver of healthy behaviors. We also included FTP into the interaction with PACE labels. Results: Firstly, the results were opposite between the healthy and unhealthy food groups. Respondents showed significantly more positive attitudes toward red date walnuts (i.e., healthy food) with PACE labels, while they showed significantly more negative preferences for chips (i.e., unhealthy food) with PACE labels. Secondly, people with higher FTP are preferred red date walnuts with PACE labels, while PACE labels on chips could undermine the preferences of respondents with higher FTP. Thirdly, we found that women (vs. men) were less inclined to choose healthy food with standard calorie labels and labels showing the minutes of running to burn off the calories, as well as that the elderly (vs. younger) people in the healthy food group preferred the labels showing the minutes of running to burn off the calories. People with a higher body mass index (BMI) were reluctant to purchase walnuts with the information about the minutes of walking. Conclusions: Results from this study showed that PACE labels have significant effects on consumers’ preferences for food products.

The novel HLA-A*11:155 allele differs from the closest allele A*11:01:01:01 in exon 3.

Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1/KDM1A) has emerged as a promising epigenetic target for disease treatment. Several LSD1 inhibitors have advanced into clinical trials. Following our last annual review on LSD1 inhibitors in 2020 (Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2021, 214, 113254), in this review we aim to update LSD1 inhibitors including natural products, synthetic compounds and cyclic peptides reported during 2021. Design strategies, structure-activity relationships, binding model analysis and modes of action are highlighted. In particular, two FDA-approved antihypertensive drugs raloxifene and fenoldopam were repurposed as reversible LSD1 inhibitors. The clinical candidate TAK-418 for treating neurodevelopmental disorders and PET imaging agent [

Although a high-gain learning rate can offer ideal tracking performance in adaptive control in theory, it can also lead to high-frequency oscillations in practice due to the unmodeled dynamics of the system. In aircraft structural damage scenarios, the strong uncertainty and the safety-critical nature of the problem make this conflict critical. In this paper, a novel virtual-command-based model reference adaptive control (MRAC) scheme for flight control is proposed. In the new framework, the direct relationship between the learning law and the actual tracking error is broken; instead, a virtual command is introduced as the input to the standard MRAC controller. The key feature is that even when the virtual tracking error is large, the actual tracking error can be maintained within a small range; thus, the MRAC learning rate does not necessarily need to be large to suppress the virtual transient tracking error, which is greatly beneficial for the robustness of the MRAC controller. The proposed method is illustrated by the attitude control of the 6-DOF nonlinear Generic Transport Model in a scenario with a broken left wing tip.

Pathogens pose a significant threat to public health worldwide. Despite many technological advances in the rapid diagnosis of pathogens, sensitive pathogen detection remains challenging because target pathogenic bacteria usually exist in complex samples at very low concentrations. Here, the construction of multivalent brush-like magnetic nanoprobes and their application for the efficient enriching of pathogens are demonstrated. Brush-like magnetic nanoprobes were constructed by modification with poly-L-lysine (PLL) onto amino-modified magnetic beads, followed by coupling of PEG (amine-PEG5000-COOH) to the amine sites of PLL. Subsequently, vancomycin (Van), a small-molecule antibiotic with affinity to the terminal peptide (D-alanyl-D-alanine) on the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria, was conjugated to the carboxyl of the PEG. The use of multivalent brush-like magnetic nanoprobes (Van-PEG-PLL-MNPs) results in a high enrichment efficiency (>94%) and satisfactory purity for Listeria monocytogenes (employed as a model) within 20min, even at bacterial concentrations of only 102cfumL-1. Integrated with the enrichment of the Van-PEG-PLL-MNP nano-platform and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection, Listeria monocytogenes can be rapidly and accurately detected at levels as low as 10cfumL-1. The approach described herein holds great potential for realizing rapid and sensitive pathogen detection in clinical samples.

Herein, we show that a molecular assembly offers tremendous opportunities of affording existing building units with new physicochemical properties, holding promise in wide applications. Herein, we develop a facile covalent assembly using a natural occurring linker, genipin, to efficiently transform a traditional chemo drug, doxorubicin, into a nanophotomedicine. A possible mechanism is proposed, in which doxorubicin reacts with genipin through covalent bonding to produce poorly soluble units, which further form nuclei and mediate the interfacial assembly to generate uniform nanoparticles. Such assembled nanophotomedicine shows remarkably enhanced singlet oxygen generation ability (about 1000 folds), leading to a much higher photodynamic activity. Moreover, this self-carried nanodrug exhibits adjustable size, excellent colloidal stability, high capacity and preferable endocytosis. These favorable features lead to greatly improved anticancer efficiency under light at the same dosage, compared to that of pure doxorubin. We believe this study brings a new dimension to develop advanced drug delivery systems by molecular assembly.

Owing to the complexity of aircraft structural damage, directly measuring the pattern and severity of damage using onboard sensors is difficult. This paper proposes a linear parameter-varyi...

The novel HLA-C*08:125 allele differs from the closest allele C*08:02:01:01 in exon 3.

Background: Carbohydrate-rich (CR) foods are essential parts of the Chinese diet. However, CR foods are often given less attention than animal-based foods. The objectives of this study were to analyze the carbon emissions caused by CR foods and to generate sustainable diets with low climate impact and adequate nutrients. Methods: Twelve common CR food consumption records from 4857 individuals were analyzed using K-means clustering algorithms. Furthermore, linear programming was used to generate optimized diets. Results: Total carbon emissions by CR foods was 683.38g CO2eq per day per capita, accounting for an annual total of 341.9Mt CO2eq. All individuals were ultimately divided into eight clusters, and none of the popular clusters were low carbon or nutrient sufficient. Optimized diets could reduce about 40% of carbon emissions compared to the average current diet. However, significant structural differences exist between the current diet and optimized diets. Conclusions: To reduce carbon emissions from the food chain, CR foods should be a research focus. Current Chinese diets need a big change to achieve positive environmental and health goals. The reduction of rice and wheat-based foods and an increase of bean foods were the focus of structural dietary change in CR food consumption.

Herein, we report on the unidirectional branched assembly of diphenylalanine dipeptide through a one-step rapid evaporation process. Large numbers of crystalline tubular branches with smooth surfaces are developed from a hexagonal solid microrod mimicking a "Christmas tree". Density functional theory suggests the formation of tubular diphenylalanine aggregates with cis isomers. The diphenylalanine branched assembly shows good optical waveguide properties that can transmit light homogeneously along the crystal fibers as well as harvest light from the tips of branches to the microrod terminals. These findings hold importance in the development of bioinspired optical fibers for information transmission in a microscale.

Sodium (Na) metal is not only the frequently used counter electrode in half-cell evaluation for Na storage materials, but also the essential anode for emerging room-temperature Na metal batteries (SMBs) in various types such as Na-sulfur, Na-oxygen, and Na-carbon dioxides batteries. Recent research into the Na metal employed in batteries has placed a spotlight on enhancing electrochemical stability of Na metal anode by addressing the problems of undesired dendrite growth and instable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). Especially, the latter is recognized to be more responsible for performance failure in Na metal anode. Here, this review is focused to summarize the recent advancement of the interphase engineering chemistries of Na metal anode. The main origins of performance failure regarding interphase chemistries are comparatively described in detail, emphasizing that health SEI formed on Na-metal surface has a decisive role in anodic electrochemical behaviors. Subsequently, the representative strategies involved with constructing stable interphase are highlighted including electrolyte modulations, artificial coating and conductive matrix. Finally, future prospects into interphase chemistries of Na metal anode are proposed in the last section. This review will provide a clear figure of the state-of-art status research and the development trend of Na metal anode.

The food production is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it has attracted many researchers’ attention. In the present study, carbon footprints (CFs) of wheat-based foods and potato during cultivation, transportation, storage, and processing phases were investigated according to the LCA (life cycle assessment) principle. The results showed that wheat-based products were associated with much higher carbon emissions than potato per kilogram of edible portion. Cultivation phase is the most important stage, and carbon emissions per kg food increased with more machining process. For different carbon emission sources, fertilization, electricity use, and N2O emissions are the top three contributors. On the other hand, CFs of foods were evaluated based on carbohydrate based-, protein based-, fat based-, dietary fiber based-, and nutrient density based functional units. CF values of product per functional unit varied depending on the functional unit used. When the macro-nutrients were considered, the low-carbon emissions competitiveness of potato over wheat flour was reduced significantly. In this research, nutrient density used as the basis of functional unit could be more appropriate than individual nutrient alone to illustrate the environmental impacts of different foods. In summary, consumption of more standard grade flour and potato instead of tailared flour (grade one) could cut a considerable amount of GHG emissions in China.

Upcycled food, a new kind of food, provides an effective solution to reduce the food waste from the source on the premise of food security for human beings. However, the commercial success of upcycled food and its contribution to environmental sustainability are determined by consumers’ purchase intentions. In order to overcome consumers’ unfamiliarity with upcycled food and fear of new technology, based on the cue utility theory, we adopted scenario simulation through online questionnaires in three experiments to explore how mental simulation can improve consumers’ product evaluation and purchase intentions for upcycled food. Through ANOVA, the t-test, and the Bootstrap methods, the results showed that, compared with the control group, consumers’ product evaluation and purchase intentions for upcycled food in the mental simulation group significantly increased. Among them, consumers’ inspiration played a mediation role. The consumers’ future self-continuity could moderate the effect of mental simulation on consumers’ purchase intentions for upcycled food. The higher the consumers’ future self-continuity, the stronger the effect of mental simulation. Based on the above results, in the marketing promotion of upcycled food, promotional methods, such as slogans and posters, could be used to stimulate consumers, especially the mental simulation thinking mode of consumer groups with high future self-continuity, thus improving consumers’ purchase intentions for upcycled food.

Rice and potato are Chinese traditional foods. In this research, carbon footprints (CFs) of rice-based (RBSF) and potato-based (PBSF) staple foods were investigated. A great number of studies related to food CFs are often concerned about agricultural cultivation. However, the predominant source stage was cooking for the boiled potato and processing for the mashed potato in this research, accounting for 58.8% and 71.6% of their total CF, respectively. To support effective policies that reduce carbon emissions, assessments of the product CFs at a wider system boundary are more reliable. In addition, the types showed significant impacts on the food CFs, as the CF value of late indica rice was about 1.7 times more than that of early indica rice with a similar processing level. Therefore, adjustment of rice planting proportion and area could reduce agricultural carbon emissions. Sensitivity analysis showed that appropriately increasing the cooking amount in a batch enhances environmental benefits. When the cooking amount was reduced from four portions to one portion, the CF value was increased by 30%–45% for the RBSB and 89.5% for the boiled potato. On the other hand, different functional units were employed to evaluate the food CFs. CF values per functional unit for a same type of food varied greatly depending on the functional unit applied. Nutrient density (ND) based functional unit is more suitable to exactly reveal the environmental impacts of foods. When the ND based functional unit was used, CF values of polished rice and mashed potato indicated strong unsustainability. The results in this study showed that boiled potato consumed as the staple food is beneficial from both environmental and nutritional viewpoints. However, PBSF prepared by potato powder was not an eco-friendly food choice. The strategy of developing potato as staple food deserves serious consideration by Chinese government.

Ulvan lyase, specifically depolymerizing ulvan to unsaturated sulfated oligosaccharides with diverse biological activities, is becoming more and more popular. To provide an economical fermentative strategy, Catenovulum sp. LP cultured in low-cost medium that directly used Ulva prolifera as the main carbon source was used to produce ulvan lyase. The fermentation conditions were established in a shake flask containing 5% (w/v) U. prolifera powder, 0.2% K2HPO4, 0.4% NH4Cl, 0.5% NaCl, and 0.05% MgSO4. In a 5-L fermentor, series of strategies were used to systematically discuss the fermentation process. The enzyme with the best activity was obtained by the condition of a two-stage temperature (28–32 °C), initial pH 7.0, 1.5 vvm and two-stage agitation (200–400 rpm). The fermentation kinetic model of substrate consumption indicated that a shorter culture time may improve the ulvan lyase activity. Moreover, 10.09% improvement in enzyme activity was observed in a 30-L fermentor by shortening the fermentation time to 20 h. This fermentation method offers a promising prospect to enlarge the production of ulvan lyase and also provides a potential possibility to mildly prepare bioactive unsaturated oligosaccharides.