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Abstract Efficient and accurate available capacity estimation of lithium-ion batteries is crucial for ensuring the safe and effective operation of electric vehicles. However, incomplete charging cycles in practical applications challenge conventional methods. Here we manipulate fragmented charge capacity data to estimate available capacity without complete charging information. Considering correlation, charging time, and initial state of charge, 36 feature combinations are available for estimation. The basic machine learning model is established on 11,500 cyclic samples, and a transfer learning model is fine-tuned and validated on multiple datasets. The validation results indicate that the best root-mean-square error for the basic model is 0.012. Furthermore, the RMSE demonstrates consistent stability across different datasets in the transfer learning model, with fluctuations within 0.5% when considering feature combinations across cycles with spacings of 5, 10, and 20. This work highlights the promise of available capacity estimation using actual, readily accessible fragmented charge capacity data.

Abstract At present, there is insufficient evidence to evaluate the prognosis of patients with sepsis. This study anazed the clinical data of 822 sepsis patients in the ICU of a tertiary Grade A hospital to construct and validate a nomogram model for predicting the 28-day mortality risk in sepsis patients. The model was constructed using multivariate logistic regression analysis to screen for independent risk factors affecting prognosis, and a mortality risk prediction model was built based on these independent risk factors. The performance of the model was evaluated using the Hosmer–Lemeshow test, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), calibration plot, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Multivariate logistic regression identified five independent risk factors for 28-day mortality in sepsis patients: Age, SOFA score, CRP, Mechanical ventilation, and the use of Vasoactive drugs. The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for these factors were 1.037 (1.024–1.050), 1.093 (1.044–1.145), 1.034 (1.026–1.042), 1.967 (1.176–3.328), and 2.515 (1.611–3.941), respectively, with all P-values

Abstract Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men in the United States. While PCa initially responds to androgen deprivation therapy, a significant portion progresses to castration-resistant PCa. Approximately 20–25% of these cases acquire aggressive neuroendocrine (NE) features, ultimately leading to neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). In this study, we investigated the expression of stathmin 1 (STMN1) across PCa subtypes using bioinformatics, western blotting, and immunohistochemical staining analyses in human and murine models. We found that elevated STMN1 expression correlated with high Gleason Scores, increased cell proliferation, and poor clinical outcomes in PCa patients. Notably, STMN1 expression was significantly higher in NEPC compared to prostate adenocarcinoma, suggesting its role in NEPC progression. Findings from TRAMP tumors, a murine NEPC model, further supported these results. In conclusion, STMN1 expression is elevated in advanced PCa, particularly in NEPC, suggesting its involvement in the progression of aggressive forms of PCa. While STMN1 shows potential as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for aggressive PCa, further studies are necessary to establish its clinical utility.

Background In this study, effective antigens of mRNA vaccine were excavated from the perspective of ICD, and ICD subtypes of PRAD were further distinguished to establish an ICD landscape, thereby determining suitable vaccine recipients.Research design and methods TCGA and MSKCC databases were applied to acquire RNA-seq data and corresponding clinical data of 554 and 131 patients, respectively. GEPIA was employed to measure prognostic indices. Then, a comparison of genetic alterations was performed utilizing cBioPortal, and correlation of identified ICD antigens with immune infiltrating cells was analyzed employing TIMER. Moreover, ICD subtypes were identified by means of consensus cluster, and ICD landscape of PRAD was depicted utilizing graph learning-based dimensional reduction.Results In total, 4 PRAD antigens were identified in PRAD, including FUS, LMNB2, RNPC3, and ZNF700, which had association with adverse prognosis and infiltration of APCs. PRAD patients were classified as two ICD subtypes based on their differences in molecular, cellular, and clinical features. Furthermore, ICD modulators and immune checkpoints were also differentially expressed between two ICD subtype tumors. Finally, the ICD landscape of PRAD showed substantial heterogeneity among individual patients.Conclusions In summary, the research may provide a theoretical foundation for developing mRNA vaccine against PRAD as well as determining appropriate vaccine recipients.

BackgroundWe aimed to explore the clinical features and predictive factors for visual prognosis of neurosyphilis-associated optic atrophy (NSAOA).MethodsThis retrospective observational study included 17 patients (33 eyes) with NSAOA who received standard anti-ocular syphilis treatment. LogMAR (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), visual field, and optical coherence tomography, were recorded at baseline, short-term (within one month after treatment), and long-term (> 6 months) follow-up. Patients with at least one eye with LogMAR BCVA of ≥1.3 at the last follow-up visit were categorized as the blind group. A change ≥0.2 on the LogMAR BCVA indicated improvement or deterioration.ResultsThe mean age was 58.5 years, and 15 patients were males. The mean time between the onset and treatment was 10.1 months. Thirteen patients had Argyll-Robertson pupils. The unblinded group had younger age, shorter disease duration, better baseline visual acuity, higher baseline cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) titer and CSF total protein counts than the blind group. BCVA of most eyes improved after treatment but experienced deterioration during the follow-up. The deteriorated group of eyes had lower baseline visual field parameters, thinner inferior peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. The long-term LogMAR BCVA moderately negatively correlated with CSF VDRL titers before and after treatment.ConclusionThe diagnosis is often delayed in NSAOA, and the overall visual prognosis is poor. Older age, longer symptom duration, worse baseline vision, thinner RNFL thickness, and lower CSF VDRL titer and total protein counts are significantly associated with worse long-term visual prognosis. The correlation between syphilis serologic test and visual prognosis is poor. It is recommended to reexamine CSF in the follow-up.

Reservoir slope stability during water level drawdown has drawn increasing concern in geotechnical engineering in recent years. In this study, an efficient reliability analysis framework based on the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) surrogate model is employed to evaluate the failure probability of unsaturated slopes subjected to the rapid drawdown considering the depth-dependent properties of spatially varying soils. A c-φ slope is selected as an illustrative example to investigate the coupled influence of the non-stationary characteristic of shear strength parameters and saturated hydraulic conductivity, as well as water level drawdown velocity, maximum drop height and scale of fluctuation on the slope failure probability. Results show that the adopted framework can estimate the low-level probability of slope failure with high accuracy and efficiency. It is found that the velocity and maximum height of water level drawdown have a significant effect on the unsaturated slope stability. Furthermore, it is recommended that the depth-dependent non-stationary soil properties be considered in most cases to ensure a more accurate result.

As a biologically essential transition metal, copper is widely involved in various enzymatic reactions and crucial biological processes in the body. It plays an increasingly important role in maintaining normal cellular metabolism and supporting the growth and development of the human body. As a trace element, copper maintains the dynamic balance of its concentration in body fluids through active homeostatic mechanisms. Both excess and deficiency of copper ions can impair cell function, ultimately leading to cell damage and death. Cuproptosis is a novel form of cell death where copper ions cause cell death by directly binding to the lipoylated components of the citric acid cycle (CAC) in mitochondrial respiration and interfering with the levels of iron-sulfur cluster (Fe-S cluster) proteins, ultimately causing protein toxic stress. Its primary characteristics are Cu2+ concentration dependence and high expression in mitochondrial respiratory cells. Recent research has revealed that, compared to other forms of programmed cell death such as apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy, cuproptosis has unique morphological and biochemical features. Cuproptosis is associated with the occurrence and development of various diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. This article focuses on a review of the relevance of cuproptosis in gastric cancer (GC).

Abstract Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR), caused by the necrotrophic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is one of the most devastating diseases for several major oil-producing crops. Despite its impact, the genetic basis of SSR resistance in plants remains poorly understood. Here, through a genome-wide association study, we identify a key gene, BnaA07. MKK9, that encodes a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase that confers SSR resistance in oilseed rape. Our functional analyses reveal that BnaA07.MKK9 interacts with BnaC03.MPK3 and BnaC03.MPK6 and phosphorylates them at the TEY activation motif, triggering a signaling cascade that initiates biosynthesis of ethylene, camalexin, and indole glucosinolates, and promotes accumulation of H2O2 and the hypersensitive response, ultimately conferring resistance. Furthermore, variations in the coding sequence of BnaA07.MKK9 alter its kinase activity and improve SSR resistance by ~30% in cultivars carrying the advantageous haplotype. These findings enhance our understanding of SSR resistance and may help engineer novel diversity for future breeding of oilseed rape.

Solving the university timetabling problem is crucial as it ensures efficient use of resources, minimises scheduling conflicts, and enhances overall productivity. This paper presents a comprehensive review of university timetabling problems using integer programming algorithms. This study explores various integer programming techniques and their effectiveness in optimising complex scheduling requirements in higher education institutions. We analysed 95 integer programming-based models developed for solving university timetabling problems, covering relevant research from 1990 to 2023. The goal is to provide insights into the evolution of these algorithms and their impact on improving university scheduling. We identify that the implementation rate of models using integer programming is 98%, which is much higher than 34% implementation rates using meta-heuristics algorithms from the existing review. The integer programming models are analysed by the problem types, solutions, tools, and datasets. For three types of timetabling problems including course timetabling, class timetabling, and exam timetabling, we dive deeper into the commercial solvers CPLEX (47), Gurobi (11), Lingo (5), Open Solver (4), C++ GLPK (4), AIMMS (2), GAMS (2), XPRESS (2), CELCAT (1), AMPL (1), and Google OR-Tools CP-SAT (1) and identify that CPLEX is the most frequently used integer programming solver. We explored the uses of machine learning algorithms and the hybrid solutions of combining the integer programming and machine learning algorithms in higher education timetabling solutions. We also identify areas for future work, which includes an emphasis on using integer programming algorithms in other industrial areas, and using machine learning models for university timetabling to allow data-driven solutions.

This paper was commenced with an exploration of the system composition and security events of satellite Internet, conducted a comprehensive assessment of risks associated with entities such as satellites, terminals, ground stations, mission control, and operation center, secondly extends to communication pathways, encompassing access links, inter-satellite links, feeder links, TT＆amp;C links, and ground networks, then delved into data-related risks, covering operational data, regulatory content, public privacy, and outbound data, furthermore, addresses challenges posed by emerging technologies.Finally, proposed corresponding countermeasures for potential threats and concludes by outlining crucial research directions for understanding the evolving security landscape of satellite Internet.

In this study, we selected Sitona callosus, one of the primary insect pests of alfalfa, as the experimental insect and infected it with Beauveria bassiana. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were conducted to explore alterations in gene expression and metabolic processes in S. callosus at 48, 96, and 144 h post infection with B. bassiana. The transcriptomic analysis unveiled that B. bassiana infection boosted immune responses in tubercula, affecting carbohydrate metabolism, cytochrome P450 activity, lysosome function, apoptosis regulation, phagosome formation, glutathione metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and pathogen response pathways. Subsequent metabolomics analysis confirmed that glycerophospholipids, carboxylic acids and derivatives, organooxygen compounds, keto acids and derivatives, and azane immune metabolites were significantly upregulated in response to B. bassiana infection. Additionally, we utilized the Pearson correlation coefficient method to examine the relationships between differentially expressed immune-related genes and metabolites, revealing notably strong correlations between these two sets of variables. By leveraging the WGCNA method to analyze immune metabolite data for immune-related genes, we identified hub genes crucial at various stages of immune activation. These central genes predominantly included C-type lectin receptors for pattern recognition, cytochrome P450 enzymes linked to detoxification processes, and cathepsin proteases. By combining transcriptome and metabolome analyses, it was determined that autophagy and arachidonic acid metabolism play significant roles in the response of S. callosus to infection by B. bassiana. This research will facilitate the understanding of the immune response to B. bassiana infection in adult S. callosus, laying a theoretical groundwork for future biological control strategies targeting S. callosus.

Abstract Background Initiation of early antithrombotic therapy after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is crucial. We aimed to investigate whether early antithrombotic therapy influences early neurological deterioration (END) in AIS patients with postinterventional cerebral hyperdensity (PCHD) immediately after mechanical thrombectomy (MT). Methods We retrospectively analyzed 108 consecutive anterior circulation AIS patients with PCHD immediately after MT. All patients were divided into END group and non-END group and END was defined as an increase of four points or more on the postinterventional National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score within the first 72 h after MT. Early antithrombotic therapy was defined as patients with PCHD who received antithrombotic therapy within 24 h after MT. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the association between early antithrombotic therapy and the risk of END. Results Among 108 patients, 27 (25%) patients developed END. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that early use of antithrombotic therapy (OR = 0.229, 95%CI = 0.083–0.626, P = 0.004) was an independent protector of END and postinterventional low density shadow exceeding 1/3 of the vascular territory (OR = 4.000, 95%CI = 1.157–13.834, P = 0.029) was an independent risk factor for END. Conclusion Antithrombotic therapy within 24 h after MT maybe associated with the reduced risk of END in anterior circulation AIS patients with PCHD.

Cadmium (Cd) exposure is considered as non-infectious stressor to human and animal health. Recent studies suggest that the immunotoxicity of low dose Cd is not directly apparent, but disrupts the immune responses when infected with some bacteria or virus. But how Cd alters the adaptive immunity organ and cells remains unclear. In this study, we applied lipopolysaccharide (LPS, infectious stressor) to induced inflammation in spleen tissues and T cells, and investigated the effects after Cd exposure and the underlying mechanism. Cd exposure promoted LPS-induced the expressions of the inflammatory factors, induced abnormal initiation of autophagy, but blocked autophagic flux. The effects Cd exposure under LPS activation were reversed by the autophagy promoter Rapamycin. Under LPS activation conditions, Cd also induced oxidative stress by increasing the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA), and reducing total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) activity. The increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity after Cd exposure might be a negative feedback or passive adaptive regulation of oxidative stress. Cd-increased autophagic flux inhibition and TNF-α expression were reversed by ROS scavenger α-tocopherol (TCP). Furthermore, under LPS activation condition, Cd promoted activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/IκBα/NFκ-B signaling pathway and increased TLR4 protein stability, which were abolished by the pretreatment of Rapamycin. The present study confirmed that, by increasing ROS-mediated inhibiting autophagic degradation of TLR4, Cd promoted LPS-induced inflammation in spleen T cells. This study identified the mechanism of autophagy in Cd-aggravated immunotoxicity under infectious stress, which could arouse public attention to synergistic toxicity of Cd and bacterial or virus infection.

Abstract Background The evidence for the association between white matter hyperintensity (WMH) severity and neurological deterioration (ND) in patients with single subcortical infarction (SSI) remains unclear and whether the association between them is modified by anterior circulation parent artery steno‐occlusion (PAS) is unknown. Herein, we aimed to prospectively investigate the internal relevance. Methods In this prospective study, the severity of WMH and PAS were assessed in 288 consecutive patients with anterior circulation SSI arriving at our hospital, a tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with Fudan University, 24 h after onset from January 2017 to December 2018. The multivariable logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between WMH severity and the risk of ND within 7 days after stroke onset as well as the interactive effect between WMH severity and PAS on ND among patients with SSI. Results PAS modified the association between WMH severity and ND among patients with SSI (pinteraction = .029). After multivariate adjustment, the odds ratios of moderate‐severe WMH associated with ND were 1.61 (95% CI, 0.50–5.19; ptrend = .428) for patients with PAS, and 0.37 (95% CI, 0.14–0.97; ptrend = .043) for those without PAS. Adding WMH severity to conventional risk factors improved risk prediction for ND in patients without PAS (net reclassification improvement: 48.2%, p = .005; integrated discrimination index: 2.5%, p = .004) but not in those with PAS. Conclusion There was a modified effect of PAS on the association between WMH severity and ND within 7 days after stroke onset among patients with anterior circulation SSI, which deserves more research attention. WMH was negatively associated with ND in anterior circulation SSI patients without PAS.

BackgroundNeuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPCa) is the most aggressive type of prostate cancer (PCa). However, energy metabolism, one of the hallmarks of cancer, in NEPCa has not been well studied. Pyruvate kinase M (PKM), which catalyzes the final step of glycolysis, has two main splicing isoforms, PKM1 and PKM2. The expression pattern of PKM1 and PKM2 in NEPCa remains unknown.MethodsIn this study, we used immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence staining, and bioinformatics analysis to examine the expression of PKM1 and PKM2 in mouse and human prostatic tissues.ResultsWe found that PKM2 was the predominant isoform expressed throughout prostate development and PCa progression, with slightly reduced expression in murine NEPCa. PKM1 was mostly expressed in stromal cells but low-level PKM1 was also detected in prostate basal epithelial cells. Its expression was absent in the majority of prostate adenocarcinoma (AdPCa) specimens but present in a subset of NEPCa. Additionally, we evaluated the mRNA levels of ten PKM isoforms that express exon 9 (PKM1-like) or exon 10 (PKM2-like). Some of these isoforms showed notable expression levels in PCa cell lines and human PCa specimens.DiscussionOur study characterized the expression pattern of PKM1 and PKM2 in prostatic tissues including developing, benign, and cancerous prostate. These findings lay the groundwork for understanding the metabolic changes in different PCa subtypes.

Enhancing urban resilience (UR) is the pivotal strategy for achieving sustainable development. Given that land serves as the cornerstone of urban activities, it is imperative to examine the relationship between land marketization (LM) and urban resilience amidst the profound market-oriented land reforms in China. After establishing the conceptual framework of urban resilience, this paper assesses the temporal and spatial dynamics and empirically investigates the impact of land marketization on urban resilience, drawing on data from 282 cities across China, spanning from 2001 to 2021. Our findings reveal several important insights. First, due to its public bidding and competitive pricing mechanisms, land marketization is a powerful measure to foster urban resilience and enables cities to flexibly respond to various challenges and changes. Second, the indirect mechanisms, including optimizing resource allocation, upgrading industrial structure, and fostering technological innovation, are crucial pathways through which land marketization affects urban resilience. Finally, the impact of land marketization on urban resilience varies across regions and city size. Cities with better geographic locations, larger population sizes, and lower administrative levels are more significantly affected than others. These findings reveal the importance of land marketization in strengthening urban resilience, thereby providing theoretical guidance and empirical references for cities to enhance urban resilience through land marketization.

Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is the third leading cause of hospital-acquired acute kidney injury. Cellular senescence is associated with CI-AKI. P16INK4a (p16) is a cell cycle regulator and link to aging and senescence. We found that the expression of p16 was elevated in CI-AKI renal tissues, however its role in CI-AKI remains insufficiently understood. In this study, we used p16 knockout (p16KO) mice and wild-type (WT) littermates to establish CI-AKI mice model to elucidate the impact of p16 on CI-AKI. The results showed that serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) levels were markedly reduced in p16KO CI-AKI mice. Both immunohistochemistry and western blot analyses confirmed that p16 knockout alleviated renal cell apoptosis. Furthermore, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were attenuated by downregulating NLRP3 and NF-κB inflammasomes. Additionally, ROS levels were diminished via activating Nrf2/Keap-1 pathway in p16KO CI-AKI mice. Collectively, our findings suggest that p16 deletion exerts protective effects against apoptosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress in CI-AKI mice model, p16 deletion might be a potential therapeutic strategy for ameliorating CI-AKI.

Objective: The incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is increasing yearly. With the use of thrombolysis or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the mortality rate of acute myocardial infarction has been significantly reduced. However, reperfusion can cause additional myocardial injury. There is still a lack of effective drugs to treat I/R injury, and it is urgent to find new therapeutic drugs. Methods: In this study, network pharmacology was used to predict potential targets and biological processes involved in Muscone-mediated treatment of acute myocardial infarction. To model ischemia‒reperfusion injury, a hypoxia-reoxygenation model and in vivo ischemia‒reperfusion injury C57BL/6 mice model was constructed. Mice were treated with Muscone i.p. for 4 weeks. We detected the cardiac function on day 28.The expression levels of the apoptotic proteins Caspase-3 and Bax and the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 were detected by immunoblotting after Muscone treatment of AC16 cells and in vivo. Additionally, the gene expression levels of the PUMA and p53 were analyzed by qRT‒PCR. Molecular docking was used to evaluate the binding energy between Muscone and NLRP3-related proteins. Immunoblotting and qRT‒PCR were used to assess the expression levels of NLRP3 signaling pathway-related proteins (NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1) and the NLRP3 gene, respectively. Moreover, the extracellular acidification rate of AC16 cells was measured using the Seahorse system to evaluate glycolysis levels after Muscone treatment. The expression of the key glycolytic enzyme PKM2 was analyzed by immunoblotting and qRT‒PCR. Finally, ChIP‒qPCR was performed to determine the levels of histone modifications (H3K4me3, H3K27me3, and H2AK119Ub) in the PKM2 promoter region. Results: GO functional enrichment analysis revealed that muscone was involved in regulating the biological processes (BP) of AMI, which mainly included negative regulation of the apoptosis signaling pathway, the response to lipopolysaccharide, and blood pressure regulation. The cellular components (CC) involved in muscone-mediated regulation of AMI mainly included lipid rafts, membrane microdomains, and membrane regions. The molecular functions (MF) involved in muscone-mediated regulation of AMI mainly included oxidoreductase activity, nuclear receptor activity, and transcription factor activity. In vitro results indicated that muscone treatment could inhibit the expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3 in AC16 cells after ischemia‒reperfusion while increasing the expression level of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Muscone significantly suppressed the transcription levels of p53 and PUMA in AC16 cells. Molecular docking suggested that muscone could bind well with the Cryo-EM structure of NEK7(PDB ID:6NPY). Further investigation of inflammatory pathways revealed that muscone could inhibit the expression level of NLRP3 in AC16 cells and reduce the expression levels of Caspase-1 and Caspase recruitment domain. Fluorescent quantitative PCR experiments showed that muscone significantly inhibited the transcription of NLRP3. Moreover, we found that muscone could enhance the glycolytic efficiency of AC16 cells, which may be related to the increased protein expression of PKM2 in AC16 cells. Fluorescent quantitative PCR showed that muscone could increase the transcription level of PKM2. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed that muscone treatment increased the expression level of H3K4me3 in the PKM2 promoter region and inhibited the levels of H3K27me3 and H2AK119Ub in the PKM2 promoter region. Conclusion: Muscone promoted myocardial glycolysis and inhibited NLRP3 pathway activation to improve myocardial ischemia‒reperfusion injury.

As a high efficiency hydrogen-to-power device, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) attracts much attention, especially for the automotive applications. Real-time prediction of output voltage and area specific resistance (ASR) via the on-board model is critical to monitor the health state of the automotive PEMFC stack. In this study, we use a transient PEMFC system model for dynamic process simulation of PEMFC to generate the dataset, and a long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning model is developed to predict the dynamic performance of PEMFC. The results show that the developed LSTM deep learning model has much better performance than other models. A sensitivity analysis on the input features is performed, and three insensitive features are removed, that could slightly improve the prediction accuracy and significantly reduce the data volume. The neural structure, sequence duration, and sampling frequency are optimized. We find that the optimal sequence data duration for predicting ASR is 5 s or 20 s, and that for predicting output voltage is 40 s. The sampling frequency can be reduced from 10 Hz to 0.5 Hz and 0.25 Hz, which slightly affects the prediction accuracy, but obviously reduces the data volume and computation amount.

As they are the core components of the drive motor in electric vehicles, the accurate fault diagnosis of rolling bearings is the key to ensuring the safe operation of electric vehicles. At present, intelligent diagnostic methods based on current signals (CSs) are widely used owing to the advantages of the easy collection, low cost, and non-invasiveness of CSs. However, in practical applications, the fault characteristics of the CS are weak, resulting in diagnostic performance that fails to meet the expected standards. In this paper, a diagnosis method is proposed to address this problem and enhance the diagnosis accuracy. Firstly, CSs from two phases are processed by periodic resampling to enhance data features, which are then fused through splicing operations. Subsequently, a feature enhancement module is constructed using multi-scale feature fusion for decomposing the input. Finally, a diagnosis model is constructed by using an improved channel attention module (CAM) for enhancing the diagnosis performance. The results from experiments containing two different types of bearing datasets show that the proposed method can extract high-quality fault features and improve the diagnosis accuracy, presenting great potential in intelligent fault diagnosis and the maintenance of electric vehicles.

The composite stiffened plate has garnered significant attention in the lightweight design of ship structures due to its superior mechanical properties. Although it reduces the structural weight, it also increases vibration sensitivity. Thus, investigating the vibration characteristics of the composite stiffened plate is crucial. This paper proposed a theoretical model based on the energy principle and the improved Fourier series method (IFSM) to analyze the composite stiffened plate vibration characteristics. The model demonstrates high reliability and accuracy, as confirmed through convergence analysis and comparison with experimental results from the published literature. Results indicate that geometry and material parameters significantly impact the natural frequency and can mitigate vibration responses by increasing thickness and stiffness. Additionally, ply design parameters markedly influence the vibration of composite stiffened plates, enhancing low-frequency vibration performance through optimal ply design. The structural parameters of the stiffeners, particularly the height and number of stiffeners, play a crucial role, enhancing stiffness and reducing the vibration responses of the composite stiffened plates.

The self-supervised learning (SSL) technique, driven by massive unlabeled data, is expected to be a promising solution for semantic segmentation of remote sensing images (RSIs) with limited labeled data, revolutionizing transfer learning. Traditional ‘local-to-local’ transfer from small, local datasets to another target dataset plays an ever-shrinking role due to RSIs’ diverse distribution shifts. Instead, SSL promotes a ‘global-to-local’ transfer paradigm, in which generalized models pre-trained on arbitrarily large unlabeled datasets are fine-tuned to the target dataset to overcome data distribution shifts. However, the SSL pre-trained models may contain both useful and useless features for the downstream semantic segmentation task, due to the gap between the SSL tasks and the downstream task. To adapt such pre-trained models to semantic segmentation tasks, traditional supervised fine-tuning methods that use only a small number of labeled samples may drop out useful features due to overfitting. The main reason behind this is that supervised fine-tuning aims to map a few training samples from the high-dimensional, sparse image space to the low-dimensional, compact semantic space defined by the downstream labels, resulting in a degradation of the distinguishability. To address the above issues, we propose a class distinguishability-enhanced self-training (CDEST) method to support global-to-local transfer. First, the self-training module in CDEST introduces a semi-supervised learning mechanism to fully utilize the large amount of unlabeled data in the downstream task to increase the size and diversity of the training data, thus alleviating the problem of biased overfitting of the model. Second, the supervised and semi-supervised contrastive learning modules of CDEST can explicitly enhance the class distinguishability of features, helping to preserve the useful features learned from pre-training while adapting to downstream tasks. We evaluate the proposed CDEST method on four RSI semantic segmentation datasets, and our method achieves optimal experimental results on all four datasets compared to supervised fine-tuning as well as three semi-supervised fine-tuning methods.

Ischemic stroke (IS) remains a serious threat to human health. Neuroinflammatory response is an important pathophysiological process after IS. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a member of the non-coding RNA family, are highly expressed in the central nervous system and widely involved in regulating physiological and pathophysiological processes. This study reviews the current evidence on neuroinflammatory responses, the role of circRNAs in IS and their potential mechanisms in regulating inflammatory cells, and inflammatory factors affecting IS damage. This review lays a foundation for future clinical application of circRNAs as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Context Sasanquasaponin (SQS) is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine proved to have a wide range of pharmacological functions.Objective The objective of this study is to explore the effect and underlying mechanism of SQS in the treatment of prostate cancer (PC).Materials and methods PC cell lines (22Rv1 and PC-3) were treated with SQS (0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 μM) for 12 or 24 h. The viability of cells was evaluated, while the mRNA and protein levels of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes in PC cell lines were measured (Groups: Control, TGF-β1, TNF-α, TGF-β1 + TNF-α, and TGF-β1 + TNF-α + SQS). The migration and invasion abilities of PC cell lines were evaluated (Groups: Control, SQS). Finally, the antitumour effect of SQS (25, 50,100, and 200 mg/kg) in BALB/c nude mice (6 weeks, 18–20 g) was evaluated (Groups: Control, Vehicle, 25, 50,100, and 200 mg/kg SQS). The study duration was 1 month.Results SQS inhibited the viability and the number of colonies of 22Rv1 or PC-3 cells. The IC50 of SQS of 12 and 24 h in these two cells was 3.25, 1.82, 4.76, and 4.70 μM, respectively. SQS inhibited the adhesion, migration, and invasion of PC cells. It also inhibited the expression of EMT-related markers of PC cells. The PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Smad2/3 signalling pathways were activated in the process of EMT, and SQS could significantly reduce the activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Smad2/3 pathways. Finally, SQS inhibited the growth of xenograft tumours in vivo.Conclusions SQS inhibited EMT in PC by regulating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Smad pathways.

Selenium (Se), one of the indispensable nutrients for both human health and animal growth, participates in various physiological functions, such as antioxidant and immune responses and metabolism. The role of dietary Se, in its organic and inorganic forms, has been well documented in domestic animals. Furthermore, many feeding strategies for different animals have been developed to increase the Se concentration in animal products to address Se deficiency and even as a potential nutritional strategy to treat free radical-associated diseases. Nevertheless, studies on investigating the optimum addition of Se in feed, the long-term consequences of Se usage in food for animal nutrition, the mechanism of metallic Se nanoparticle (SeNP) transformation in vivo, and the nutritional effects of SeNPs on feed workers and the environment are urgently needed. Starting from the absorption and metabolism mechanism of Se, this review discusses the antioxidant role of Se in detail. Based on this characteristic, we further investigated the application of Se in animal health and described some unresolved issues and unanswered questions warranting further investigation. This review is expected to provide a theoretical reference for improving the quality of food animal meat as well as for the development of Se-based biological nutrition enhancement technology.

Abstract Aim of the study We aimed to elucidate the synergistic effect and potential mechanism of New Baitouweng Decoction (NBD) combined with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in rats with DSS-induced ulcerative colitis (UC). Materials and methods Colitis was induced by 5% (w/v) dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days. NBD or NBD combined with FMT were administered to the colitis rats. Body weight and disease activity index were measured, and the colon histological change was imaged to further examine the efficacy of NBD and FMT. The specific effects of NBD on STAT3/NF-κB signaling pathway and gut microbiota in rats with UC were also investigated. Results The efficacy of NBD in combination with FMT was demonstrated by the lower disease activity index scores; increased tight junction proteins expression; and a lower expression of macrophage marker (F4/80) in colon tissues. NBD combined with FMT elevated the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids and inhibited activation of the JAK2/STAT3/NF-κB related proteins. Furthermore, 16SrDNA sequencing indicated that the gut microbiota in rats with UC was perturbed, in contrast to that in healthy rats. After treatment with NBD and FMT, the diversity and abundance of intestinal flora showed clear improvements. Spearman correlation analysis indicated a strong correlation between specific microbiota and fecal concentrations of acetate, propionate and butyrate. Conclusions The protective mechanism of NBD combined with FMT may be linked to regulation NF-κB/STAT3 and restoration of the intestinal flora.

The pile responses induced by adjacent tunnel excavation have been a hot research topic in geotechnical engineering. Tunnel excavation may exert disturbance to the surrounding soil mass and then influence the adjacent pile foundations. In this paper, the random finite difference analysis considering the spatial variations of soil properties is conducted to explore the effect of tunnel excavation on the adjacent pile response by varying the distance of pile away from the tunnel centerline (D), the pile length (L), the pile diameter (dp), the tunnel depth (h), and the anisotropic ratio between the horizontal and the vertical scales of fluctuation (δx/δy). A set of pile response curves are developed to assess the influence of tunnel excavation on the adjacent passive pile foundations in spatially variable clays and provide guidelines for the tunnel excavation in the complex constructed environment.

Environmental and occupational exposure to cadmium (Cd) poses a serious threat to human health. Recent studies indicate that Cd perturbs the immune system and increases the risk of pathogenicity and mortality of bacterial or virus infection. However, the underlying mechanism of Cd-modulated immune responses remains unclear. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of Cd in the immune function of mouse spleen tissues and its primary T cells with Concanavalin A (ConA, a well-known T cell mitogen) activation condition, and elucidate the molecular mechanism. The results showed that Cd exposure inhibited ConA-induced the expressions of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) in mouse spleen tissues. Furthermore, the transcriptomic profile by RNA-sequence reveals that: (1) Cd exposure can alter immune system process; (2) Cd may affect the NFκB signaling pathway. Both in vitro and in vivo results showed that Cd exposure reduced ConA-activated toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9)-IκBα-NFκB signaling, and the expressions of TLR9, TNF-α and IFN-γ, which were effectively reversed by autophagy-lysosomal inhibitors. All these results confirmedly demonstrated that, by promoting the autophagy-lysosomal degradation of TLR9, Cd suppressed immune response under ConA activation condition. This study provides insight on the mechanism of Cd immunnotoxicity, which might contribute to the prevention of Cd toxicity in the future.

Abstract Background To summarize our clinical experience of cryoablation in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) of Chinese population and to evaluate the long-term outcomes of laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) cryoablation (LCA) as well as percutaneous CT-guided cryoablation (PCA) for biopsy-proven T1a and T1b RCC. Methods This was a multi-center, retrospective study investigating T1 stage RCC patients from 2011 to 2021. The patients were treated by LCA or PCA according to individual situation. Overall survival (OS), cancer-related survival (CSS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated for oncological outcomes, and kidney function, complications, and hospital stay were used to estimate technical outcomes. Results A total of 163 consecutive patients were included. Among them, 59 cases were treated by LCA and PCA was performed in 104 cases. All operations were processed successfully. Mean diameter of the mass was (2.9±1.4) cm; median blood volume was 45ml (10~200 ml). The mean operation time was 84.0 ± 24.5 min. The median postoperative hospital stay was 3 days (1~6 days). Compared with LCA, procedure time of PCA was shortened, the volume of bleeding was reduced, and the hospital stay was decreased. The overall adverse events rate was 9.8% (16/163). The mean preoperative and postoperative eGFR of LCA were 77.6±15.3 ml/min and 75.6±17.4 ml/min, respectively. Analogously, the values of PCA were 78.7±12.9 ml/min and 76.7±14.3 ml/min. Mean follow-up time was 64.2 ± 30.2 months (range, 7–127 months). Local recurrence was observed in 13 patients (8.0%), 4 (6.8%) cases of LCA and 9 (8.7%) cases of PCA. PFS at 5 and 10 years were 95.5% and 69.2% for LCA and 96.7% and 62.8% for PCA. In total, 26 patients (16.0%) (11 patients from LCA and 15 from PCA) died throughout the follow-up period. OS at 5 and 10 years were 93.8% and 31.4% for LCA, and 97.4% and 52.7% for PCA. Six patients (3.7%) (3 cases from LCA and 3 from PCA) died of metastatic RCC. CCS for LCA were 98.0% and 82.8% at 5 and 10 years, while the data were 100% and 86.4% for PCA. Conclusion LCA and PCA for T1 stage RCC provides satisfactory long-term oncological and renal function preservation outcomes, with acceptable complication rates.

Abstract Despite the known influence of continuous cropping on soil microorganisms, little is known about the associated difference in the effects of continuous cropping on the community compositions of soil bacteria and fungi. Here, we assessed soil physicochemical property, as well as bacterial and fungal compositions across different years (Uncropped control, 1, 6, 11, 16, and 21 years) and in the watermelon system of a gravel mulch field in the Loess Plateau of China. Our results showed that long-term continuous cropping led to substantial shifts in soil bacterial and fungal compositions. The relative abundances of dominant bacterial and fungal genera (average relative abundance > 1.0%) significantly varied among different continuous cropping years (P

In order to utilize lemon seed resources effectively , the antioxidant activities of its protein and enzymolysis peptide were studied. Lemon seed protein(LSP) was extracted from lemon seed meal powder with the alkaline extraction and acid precipitation. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the extraction process of LSP and analyze its amino acid composition. Papain, trypsin, compound protease and flavor protease were applied on the enzymatic hydrolysis of LSP. The antioxidant capacity (scavenging capacity of 1,1- diphenyl -2- picrylhydrazyl radical (\begin{document}$\mathrm{D}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{H}\cdot$\end{document}), hydroxyl radical(\begin{document}$\cdot \mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}$\end{document}) and superoxide anion(\begin{document}${\mathrm{O}}_{2}^{-}\cdot$\end{document})) of the enzymatic hydrolysate was studied, and the infrared spectrum analysis of the above four enzymatic peptides was carried out. The results showed that, the optimum extraction conditions of LSP were as follows: pH was 10.5, extraction time was 60 min, liquid-to-material ratio was 41:1 mL/g, and extraction temperature was 40 ℃. Under these conditions, the actual extraction rate of protein from lemon seed reached 12.25% ± 0.01%. The essential amino acids of LSP were complete in variety, accounting for 31.8% of the total amino acids. The flavor protease-hydrolyzed peptide had strong antioxidant capacity. The IC50 of papain enzymolysis peptide, trypsin-hydrolyzed peptide, peptide of compound protease and peptide of flavourzyme against DPPH free radical scavenging was 3.54, 1.75, 1.52 and 1.02 mg/mL, respectively. The IC50 against \begin{document}$\cdot \mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}$\end{document} free radical scavenging was 8.77, 8.92, 8.29 and 5.02 mg/mL, respectively. The IC50 against \begin{document}$\cdot \mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}$\end{document} free radical scavenging was 2.70, 0.90, 0.97 and 0.81 mg/mL. Theinfrared reflectance spectroscopy analysis suggested that all four samples had absorption peaks near 3400, 1600, 1300, and 1000 cm-1, and contained functional groups with antioxidant activity. The study considered that LSP had high antioxidant activity and nutritional value, and could be used as a functional component in the development of antioxidant-related functional foods and health care products.

In geotechnical engineering, the transparent soil (also called transparent media) technique is an effective tool for conducting experimental tests and investigating the displacement characteristics and stress distribution of soils. It plays a vital role in the observation of internal soil deformations. This study aims to briefly review the current state of some of the common materials used to formulate transparent soil models and the application of the transparent soil technique to underground construction over the last 20 years. To this end, the basic concepts of transparent soils are introduced. Then, several representative applications of transparent soil in underground construction (i.e., soil deformations induced by the penetration of pile foundations, tunnel excavation-induced movements, and structural responses caused by braced excavations) are presented. Because some research gaps may exist, certain potential research topics are proposed. This review can serve as a guideline for researchers performing experiments using transparent soils.

Although Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu solder (SAC305) has higher reliability, there are a large number of harmful voids in solder joints. Larger voids can reduce thermal conductivity of solder joints. However, as a microstructure growth inhibitor, the influences of Ag nanoparticles on voids growth are not clear at present. Herein, we prove that Ag nanoparticles can increase SAC305 solderability, but promote voids growth. Ag nanoparticles and SAC305 solder paste were mixed by mechanical stirring for 0.5 h. Next, SAC305- x Ag _P ( x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 wt%) was obtained. The results indicated that solder solderability was improved increasingly with Ag nanoparticles addition. The lower the amount of nanoparticles added, the greater the final loss. After being aged at 100 °C for 150 h, the voids stopped growing. Due to the violent reaction between Ag nanoparticles and flux, the final voids growth rate became faster, and the average voids size changed from 14.34% to 24.91%.

In an urbanization process, infrastructure elements such as tunnels and deep excavations are widely used to service the development of cities. Owing to the lengthy geological processes of geomaterials and the limited availability of site-specific test data, soil and rock properties exhibiting spatial variability are frequently encountered in geological and geotechnical engineering. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the application of spatial variability in tunneling and deep excavation over the past 20 years. It is found that the spatial variability is generally modeled as a random field (RF) in finite element software, based on random field theory (RFT). This model has been widely used in the design, stability evaluation, and probabilistic analysis of tunnels and excavations. Previous works have proven that the performance of tunnels and deep excavations can be better captured by considering the spatial variability, as compared with conventional deterministic analysis methods. Nonetheless, current research still faces many factual scientific problems. Therefore, this paper also identifies some research gaps, as well as recommendations for further investigations.

Abstract Background Rice sheath blight, caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn (teleomorph: Thanatephorus cucumeris), is one of the most severe diseases in rice (Oryza sativa L.) worldwide. Studies on resistance genes and resistance mechanisms of rice sheath blight have mainly focused on indica rice. Rice sheath blight is a growing threat to rice production with the increasing planting area of japonica rice in Northeast China, and it is therefore essential to explore the mechanism of sheath blight resistance in this rice subspecies. Results In this study, RNA-seq technology was used to analyse the gene expression changes of leaf sheath at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 h after inoculation of the resistant cultivar ‘Shennong 9819’ and susceptible cultivar ‘Koshihikari’ with R. solani. In the early stage of R. solani infection of rice leaf sheaths, the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the inoculated leaf sheaths of resistant and susceptible cultivars showed different regularity. After inoculation, the number of DEGs in the resistant cultivar fluctuated, while the number of DEGs in the susceptible cultivar increased first and then decreased. In addition, the number of DEGs in the susceptible cultivar was always higher than that in the resistant cultivar. After inoculation with R. solani, the overall transcriptome changes corresponding to multiple biological processes, molecular functions, and cell components were observed in both resistant and susceptible cultivars. These included metabolic process, stimulus response, biological regulation, catalytic activity, binding and membrane, and they were differentially regulated. The phenylalanine metabolic pathway; tropane, piperidine, and pyridine alkaloid biosynthesis pathways; and plant hormone signal transduction were significantly enriched in the early stage of inoculation of the resistant cultivar Shennong 9819, but not in the susceptible cultivar Koshihikari. This indicates that the response of the resistant cultivar Shennong 9819 to pathogen stress was faster than that of the susceptible cultivar. The expression of plant defense response marker PR1b gene, transcription factor OsWRKY30 and OsPAL1 and OsPAL6 genes that induce plant resistance were upregulated in the resistant cultivar. These data suggest that in the early stage of rice infection by R. solani, there is a pathogen-induced defence system in resistant rice cultivars, involving the expression of PR genes, key transcription factors, PAL genes, and the enrichment of defence-related pathways. Conclusion The transcriptome data revealed the molecular and biochemical differences between resistant and susceptible cultivars of rice after inoculation with R. solani, indicating that resistant cultivars have an immune response mechanism in the early stage of pathogen infection. Disease resistance is related to the overexpression of PR genes, key transcriptome factors, and PAL genes, which are potential targets for crop improvement.

Background Chronic changes caused by a high‐fat diet (HFD) may be associated with weakened lung function in obese patients. However, few studies have focused on the role of senescent cells in HFD‐induced pulmonary fibrosis. This study aimed to determine whether (i) obesity causes the accumulation of aging cells in the lungs, (ii) p16 accumulation in aging epithelial cells or fibroblasts exacerbates long‐term HFD‐induced senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis (SAPF) and (iii) p16 deletion or clearance of aging cells ameliorates HFD‐induced SAPF through inactivation of the inflammasome and metabolic remodelling. Methods Twelve‐month old male mice of p16INK4a (hereafter p16) knockout (p16−/−) and wild‐type (WT), ApoE knockout (ApoE−/−) and ApoE−/−p16−/− were fed a HFD to induce obesity, and the effects of treatment with the senolytic drug ABT263 or the SGK1 specific inhibitor EMD638683 on fibrosis, inflammaging, gene expression, integrin‐inflammasome signalling and metabolism were examined. A549 and IMR‐90 cells were transduced with p16‐overexpressing adenovirus, and treated with palmitic and oleic acids (P&O) to induce steatosis in vitro. Results We found that long‐term HFD promoted the expression of p16 and the increase of senescent cells in the lung. P16 knockout or ABT263 treatment alleviated pulmonary fibrosis, the increase of senescent cells and senescence‐associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in HFD‐fed mice, as well as in P&O‐treated A549 and IMR‐90 cells. RNA sequencing and bioinformatics analyses revealed that p16 knockout inhibited activation of the integrin‐inflammasome pathway and cellular glycolysis. Mass spectrometry, co‐immunoprecipitation and GST pull‐down assays demonstrated that p16 bound to the N‐terminal of SGK1, thereby interfering with the interaction between the E3 ubiquitin ligase NEDD4L and SGK1, and subsequently inhibiting K48‐polyubiquitin‐dependent degradation of SGK1 mediated by the NEDD4L–Ubch5 complex. EMD638683 was found to alleviate HFD‐induced pulmonary fibrosis and activation of the integrin‐inflammasome pathway. Conclusion P16 accumulation promoted activation of integrin– inflammasome pathway and cell glycolysis by binding to the N– terminal of SGK1, intefering with the interaction between the E3 ubiquitin ligase NEDD4L and SGK1, thereby inhibiting K48– polyubiquitin– dependent degradation of SGK1 mediated by the NEDD4L–Ubch5 complex. ABT263 or EMD638683 could be used as potential drugs to treat pulmonary fibrosis in obese patients.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a mycotoxin widely present in animal feed and human food, posing a serious threat to animal and human health. This study was aim to illustrate the mechanism of the protective role of MT against AFB1-induced hepatotoxicity, as well as to explore the feasibility of enhancing the tolerance of poultry to AFB1 by upregulating the expression of hepatic MT. After being exposed to AFB1 (50 ng/kg) primary duckling hepatocytes, the cell viability, the antioxidant index (SOD and GPx) and the mRNA levels of MT downstream genes (PTGR, p53, TrxR, AR and Bcl-2) significantly (p

Background and objectiveProteinuria and glomerular endotheliosis are characteristics of glomerular injury in preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder in human pregnancy. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) are biomarkers of acute/chronic renal tubule injury. To determine if tubule injury occurs in preeclampsia, we determined maternal plasma and urine NGAL and KIM-1 levels and evaluated NGAL and KIM-1 expression in kidney biopsy specimens from women with preeclampsia.MethodsPrenatal and postpartum maternal blood and urinary samples were collected from three groups of pregnant women: normal pregnancy (n = 100), preeclampsia (n = 83), and pregnancy complicated with chronic hypertension (n = 20). Plasma and urine levels of NGAL and KIM-1 were measured by ELISA. Kidney biopsy tissue sections from patients with preeclampsia (n = 5) were obtained from Pathology Archives and processed to determine NGAL and KIM-1 expression by immunostaining and high kidney solution images were assessed by electron microscopy (EM).ResultsPrenatal plasma and urine levels of NGAL and KIM-1 were significantly higher in preeclamptic than in normal controls, p < 0.01. In normal pregnancy, both plasma and urine levels of NGAL and KIM-1 at 24–48 h after delivery and 6–8 weeks postpartum were relatively comparable to that of antenatal levels. In preeclampsia, urine, but not plasma, NGAL levels were reduced at 6–8 weeks postpartum compared to the antenatal levels, p < 0.05. Although maternal and urine KIM-1 levels were reduced at 6–8 weeks postpartum compared to the antenatal levels in preeclampsia, the levels were still higher than those in normal pregnancy. Positive expression of NGAL and KIM-1 was detected in proximal tubule epithelial cells in kidney tissue specimens from preeclampsia but not in non-pregnancy controls. EM examination showed glomerular and tubular injury in preeclampsia.ConclusionOur findings of increased maternal levels and urine secretion of NGAL and KIM-1, along with the upregulation of NGAL and KIM-1 expression in tubular epithelial cells in preeclampsia, provide plausible evidence that tubular injury exists in preeclampsia. The higher postpartum NGAL and KIM-1 levels in preeclamptic pregnancies indicate that tubular injury would not resolve within 2–3 months after delivery and suggest that proper follow-up and management of kidney function in women with preeclampsia would be necessary to reduce chronic kidney diseases in those women later in life.

Stem cell-derived exosomes (SC-EXO) was an emerging therapeutic agent in regenerative medicine. Intratunical injection of SC-EXO is considered as a prospective approach for erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment. However, high vascularization of cavernous body makes effective retention a major challenge for SC-EXO intratunical injection. In this study, a Polydopamine nanoparticles (PDNPs) incorporated poly (ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone-co-lactide) (PDNPs-PELA) thermosensitive hydrogels were fabricated by a facile in situ polymerization for intratunical administration of adipose stem cell-derived exosomes (EXO). The hydrogels exhibited sol-gel transition at body temperature. Moreover, the in-situ polymerization of PDNPs using poly (ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone-co-lactide) (PELA) block copolymer as a template was found to be more stable dispersion in the gel system. After being encapsulated into the hydrogel, EXO shows sustained release behavior within two weeks. In vivo animal experiments revealed that exosomes released from hydrogel lead to the healing of endothelial cells and neurons, increase of the cavity's pressure, thereby restoring the erectile function. In particular, since the PDNPs in thermosensitive gels have excellent photoacoustic performance, the hydrogel can be accurately delivered into the tunica albuginea by the guidance of real-time photoacoustic imaging. These results suggest that the as-prepared PDNPs-PELA has a promising future as an injectable exosome carrier for ED treatment.

Cancer is the second most common cause of mortality in the world. One of the unresolved difficult pathological mechanism issues in malignant tumors is the imbalance of substance and energy metabolism of tumor cells. Cells maintain life through energy metabolism, and normal cells provide energy through mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to generate ATP, while tumor cells demonstrate different energy metabolism. Neuroendocrine control is crucial for tumor cells’ consumption of nutrients and energy. As a result, better combinatorial therapeutic approaches will be made possible by knowing the neuroendocrine regulating mechanism of how the neuroendocrine system can fuel cellular metabolism. Here, the basics of metabolic remodeling in tumor cells for nutrients and metabolites are presented, showing how the neuroendocrine system regulates substance and energy metabolic pathways to satisfy tumor cell proliferation and survival requirements. In this context, targeting neuroendocrine regulatory pathways in tumor cell metabolism can beneficially enhance or temper tumor cell metabolism and serve as promising alternatives to available treatments.

Background and objectiveCOVID-19 infection in pregnancy significantly increases risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, little is known how the innate immunity at the placental maternal-fetal interface responds to COVID-19 infection. Type I IFN cytokines are recognized as a key component of the innate immune response against viral infection. In this study, we specifically evaluated expression of IFN antiviral signaling molecules in placentas from women infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy.MethodsExpression of IFN activation signaling pathway molecules, including cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS), stimulator of interferon genes (STING), interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7), mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS), and IFNβ were determined in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) placental tissue sections (villous and fetal membrane) by immunostaining. A total of 20 placentas were examined, 12 from COVID-19 patients and 8 from non-COVID-19 controls. Patient demographics, clinical data, and placental pathology report were acquired via EPIC medical record review.ResultsExcept BMI and placental weight, there was no statistical difference between COVID and non-COVID groups in maternal age, gestational age at delivery, gravity/parity, delivery mode, and newborn gender and weight. In COVID-exposed group, the main pathological characteristics in the placental disc are maternal and fetal vascular malperfusion and chronic inflammation. Compared to non-COVID controls, expression of IFN activation pathway molecules were all upregulated with distinct cell-type specific distribution in COVID-exposed placentas: STING in villous and decidual stromal cells; IRF3 in cytotrophoblasts (CTs) and extra-villous trophoblasts (EVTs); and TLR7 and MAVS in syncytiotrophoblasts (STs), CTs, and EVTs. Upregulation of STING, MAVS and TLR7 was also seen in fetal endothelial cells.ConclusionsSTING, IRF3, TLR7, and MAVS are key viral sensing molecules that regulate type I IFN production. Type I IFNs are potent antiviral cytokines to impair and eradicate viral replication in infected cells. The finding of cell-type specific distribution and activation of these innate antiviral molecules at the placental maternal-fetal interface provide plausible evidence that type I IFN pathway molecules may play critical roles against SARS-CoV-2 infection in the placenta. Our findings also suggest that placental maternal-fetal interface has a well-defined antiviral defense system to protect the developing fetus from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The separation of acetylene (C2H2) from carbon dioxide (CO2) and the purification of ethylene (C2H4) from C2H2 are quite essential processes for the chemical industry. However, these processes are challenging due to their similar physical properties, including molecule sizes and boiling points. Herein, we report an N-rich cage-based microporous metal-organic framework (MOF), [Cd5(Tz)9](NO3) (termed as Cd-TZ, TZ stands for tetrazole), and its highly efficient separation of C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/C2H4. Single-component gas adsorption isotherms reveal that Cd-TZ exhibits high C2H2 adsorption capacity (3.10 mmol g-1 at 298 K and 1 bar). The N-rich cages in Cd-TZ can trap C2H2 with a higher isosteric heat of adsorption (40.8 kJ mol-1) than CO2 and C2H4 owing to the robust host-guest interactions between the noncoordinated N atoms and C2H2, which has been verified by molecular modeling studies. Cd-TZ shows a high IAST selectivity for C2H2/CO2 (8.3) and C2H2/C2H4 (13.3). The breakthrough simulations confirm the potential for separating C2H2/CO2 and the purification of C2H4 from C2H2.

Abstract Background Frogeye leaf spot (FLS) is a destructive fungal disease that affects soybean production. The most economical and effective strategy to control FLS is the use of resistant cultivars. However, the use of a limited number of resistant loci in FLS management will be countered by the emergence of new high-virulence Cercospora sojina races. Therefore, we identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) that control resistance to FLS and identified novel resistant genes using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 234 Chinese soybean cultivars. Results A total of 30,890 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were used to estimate linkage disequilibrium (LD) and population structure. The GWAS results showed four loci (p

There have been considerable methodological developments of Bayes factors for hypothesis testing in the social and behavioral sciences, and related fields. This development is due to the flexibility of the Bayes factor for testing multiple hypotheses simultaneously, the ability to test complex hypotheses involving equality as well as order constraints on the parameters of interest, and the interpretability of the outcome as the weight of evidence provided by the data in support of competing scientific theories. The available software tools for Bayesian hypothesis testing are still limited however. In this paper we present a new R package called BFpack that contains functions for Bayes factor hypothesis testing for the many common testing problems. The software includes novel tools for (i) Bayesian exploratory testing (e.g., zero vs positive vs negative effects), (ii) Bayesian confirmatory testing (competing hypotheses with equality and/or order constraints), (iii) common statistical analyses, such as linear regression, generalized linear models, (multivariate) analysis of (co)variance, correlation analysis, and random intercept models, (iv) using default priors, and (v) while allowing data to contain missing observations that are missing at random.

In recent years cybersecurity has become a major concern in the adaptation of smart applications. A secure and trusted mechanism can provide peace of mind for users, especially in smart homes where a large number of IoT devices are used. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) provide promising results for detecting any security attacks on smart applications. However, due to the complex nature of the model used for this technique, it is not easy for common users to trust ANN-based security solutions. Also, the selection of the right hyperparameters for ANN architecture plays a crucial role in the accurate detection of security attacks. This paper proposes Multi-tiered ANN Model for Intrusion Detection (MAMID) that is a novel and scalable solution for optimal hyperparameter selection to detect security attacks with high accuracy. The explainability analysis of the predictions made by the model is also provided for establishing trust among users. The approach considers a subset of the dataset for quick, scalable and optimal selection of hyperparameters to reduce the overhead of the process of ANN architecture design. Using a very recent IoT dataset the proposed approach showed high performance for intrusion detection with 99.9%, 99.7%, and 97.7% accuracy for binary, category, and subcategory classification of attacks. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous research work has been able to achieve attack detection at the subcategory level beyond 90%.

ObjectiveOblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) has unique advantages in the treatment of discogenic low back pain (DBP). However, there are few studies in this area, and no established standard for additional posterior internal fixation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of OLIF stand-alone vs. combined with percutaneous pedicle screw fixation (PPSF) in the treatment of DBP.MethodsThis retrospective case-control study included forty patients. All patients were diagnosed with DBP by discography and discoblock. Perioperative parameters (surgery duration, blood loss, and muscle damage), complications, Visual analog scale (VAS), and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were assessed. Imaging data including cage subsidence, cage retropulsion, fusion rate, and adjacent spondylosis degeneration (ASD) were analyzed.ResultsThere were 23 patients in the OLIF stand-alone group and 17 patients in the OLIF + PPSF group. The mean surgery duration, blood loss, and muscle damage in the OLIF stand-alone group were significantly better than those in the OLIF + PPSF group (P 0.05). There was no significant difference in the VAS and ODI scores between the two groups before surgery (P > 0.05), and VAS and ODI scores significantly improved after surgery (P 0.05). At the last follow-up, there was no significant difference in cage subsidence, fusion rate, ASD and complication rate between the two groups (P > 0.05).ConclusionOLIF stand-alone and OLIF + PPSF are both safe and effective in the treatment of DBP, and there is no significant difference in the long-term clinical and radiological outcomes. OLIF stand-alone has the advantages of surgery duration, blood loss, muscle damage, and early clinical effect. More clinical data are needed to confirm the effect of OLIF stand-alone on cage subsidence and ASD. This study provides a basis for the clinical application of standard DBP treatment with OLIF.

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a severe disease with a high disability, recurrence, and mortality rates. Autophagy, a highly conserved process that degrades damaged or aging organelles and excess cellular components to maintain homeostasis, is activated during IS. It influences the blood–brain barrier integrity and regulates apoptosis. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are novel non-coding RNAs involved in IS-induced autophagy and participate in various pathological processes following IS. In addition, they play a role in autophagy regulation. This review summarizes current evidence on the roles of autophagy and circRNA in IS and the potential mechanisms by which circRNAs regulate autophagy to influence IS injury. This review serves as a basis for the clinical application of circRNAs as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in the future.