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Background Current diagnostic methods cannot effectively distinguish between latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and active tuberculosis (ATB). This study aims to explore novel non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for LTBI and to elucidate possible molecular mechanisms of LTBI pathogenesis.Methods Three GEO datasets (GSE19439, GSE19444, and GSE62525) were utilized to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional enrichment studies were then performed on these DEGs. To ascertain potential diagnostic biomarkers, we utilized two different machine learning techniques: LASSO and RF. ROC curves were constructed in both the training and validation datasets to assess the diagnostic efficacy. The expression of identified biomarkers was verified by RT-qPCR in our own Chinese cohort. Using CIBERSORT, we estimated the abundances of 22 immune cell types in LTBI group, and subsequently analyzed the relationship between biomarker expression and immune cell infiltration.Results 166 DEGs were identified between ATB and LTBI groups, which are primarily associated with immune responses, inflammatory signaling pathways, and infection factors. Following that, 22 candidate diagnostic biomarkers for LTBI were selected in the machine learning process. Three up-regulated genes, MORN3, LLGL2, and IFT140, whose expression levels were not previously reported in TB, were validated using the training and validation cohort datasets. In our own Chinese cohort, we also found that MORN3 and LLGL2 showed good diagnostic effect using RT-qPCR method. Finally, we revealed the specific infiltration features of immune cells in LTBI and observed a notable correlation between potential marker expression and immune cells.Conclusions MORN3 and LLGL2 emerged as candidate diagnostic biomarkers for LTBI, following the elucidation of the key immune cell types involved. Our findings will contribute to providing a potential target for early noninvasive diagnosis of LTBI patients.

Abstract Background In addition to functioning as a precise monitoring mechanism in cell cycle, the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is reported to be involved in regulating multiple metabolic processes by facilitating the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of key enzymes. Fatty acid oxidation is a metabolic pathway utilized by tumor cells that is crucial for malignant progression; however, its association with APC/C remains to be explored. Methods Cell cycle synchronization, immunoblotting, and propidium iodide staining were performed to investigate the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 C (CPT1C) expression manner. Proximity ligation assay and co-immunoprecipitation were performed to detect interactions between CPT1C and APC/C. Flow cytometry, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2 H-tetrazolium, inner salt (MTS) assays, cell-scratch assays, and transwell assays and xenograft transplantation assays were performed to investigate the role of CPT1C in tumor progression in vitro and in vivo. Immunohistochemistry was performed on tumor tissue microarray to evaluate the expression levels of CPT1C and explore its potential clinical value. Results We identified CPT1C as a novel APC/C substrate. CPT1C protein levels exhibited cell cycle-dependent fluctuations, peaking at the G1/S boundary. Elevated CPT1C accelerated the G1/S transition, facilitating tumor cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, CPT1C enhanced fatty acid utilization, upregulated ATP levels, and decreased reactive oxygen species levels, thereby favoring cell survival in a harsh metabolic environment. Clinically, high CPT1C expression correlated with poor survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusions Overall, our results revealed a novel interplay between fatty acid utilization and cell cycle machinery in tumor cells. Additionally, CPT1C promoted tumor cell proliferation and survival by augmenting cellular ATP levels and preserving redox homeostasis, particularly under metabolic stress. Therefore, CPT1C could be an independent prognostic indicator in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Seed reserve mobilization is a crucial physiological process during seed germination. Enhancing the reserve mobilization in sweet corn is vital for seed germination and seedling growth. In this study, a genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) was conducted to predict candidate genes for regulating the weight of mobilized reserved seeds (WMRS) and kernel weight (KW) in sweet corn. GWAS was performed using the BLINK model with the maize 56K SNP chip. The results indicated that there was a positive correlation between the WMRS and KW, with coefficients of variation of 68.18% and 44.63%. Association analysis identified thirteen SNPs associated with two traits, and linkage disequilibrium analysis revealed that eight of these SNPs were in strong linkage. A total of 298 candidate genes were identified within the confidence interval, of which 79 were annotated. About 20 candidate genes were identified through the comparison of homologous genes in Arabidopsis. These genes were enriched in regulating ribosome biogenesis, signal transduction, hormone synthesis, and RNA degradation processes. This study provides important insights into the genetic mechanisms governing germination traits in sweet corn, aiding further research into the localization and cloning of genes involved in the mobilization of reserve materials.

Abstract Knowledge of x-ray free electron lasers’ (XFELs) pulse characteristics delivered to a sample is crucial for ensuring high-quality x-rays for scientific experiments. XFELs’ self-amplified spontaneous emission process causes spatial and spectral variations in x-ray pulses entering a sample, which leads to measurement uncertainties for experiments relying on multiple XFEL pulses. Accurate in-situ measurements of x-ray wavefront and energy spectrum incident upon a sample poses challenges. Here we address this by developing a virtual diagnostics framework using an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict x-ray photon beam properties from electron beam properties. We recorded XFEL electron parameters while adjusting the accelerator’s configurations and measured the resulting x-ray wavefront and energy spectrum shot-to-shot. Training the ANN with this data enables effective prediction of single-shot or average x-ray beam output based on XFEL undulator and electron parameters. This demonstrates the potential of utilizing ANNs for virtual diagnostics linking XFEL electron and photon beam properties.

RG-I pectin has excellent health benefits, but its raw materials are relatively scarce, and its complex structure often breaks down its side-chain structure during the extraction process. In this study, the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of a branched-chain-rich pectin gained from watermelon peel were demonstrated, and the structure–function relationships of RG-I-enriched pectin and emulsification properties were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high-performance anion exchange chromatography, high-performance gel permeation chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and methylation analyses reveal it as acetylated, low-methoxylated pectin, rich in RG-I side chains (MW: 1991 kDa, RG-I = 66.17%, methylation degree: 41.45%, (Ara + Gal)/Rha: 20.59%). RPWP outperforms commercial citrus pectin in emulsification and stability, significantly preventing lipid oxidation in emulsions. It also exhibits free radical scavenging abilities, contributing to its effectiveness in preventing lipid oxidation. Emulsions made with RPWP show higher viscosity and form a weak gel network (G′ > G″), enhancing stability by preventing phase separation. These findings position watermelon peel as a good source of RG-I pectin and deepen our understanding of RPWP behavior in emulsion systems, which may be useful in the food and pharmaceutical fields.

BackgroundMotor imagery therapy (MIT) showed positive effects on upper limbs motor function. However, the mechanism by which MIT improves upper limb motor function is not fully understood. Therefore, our purpose was to investigate the changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and outside the sensorimotor network (SMN) induced by MIT associated with improvement in upper limb motor function in stroke patients.MethodsA total of 26 hemiplegic stroke patients were randomly divided into MIT (n = 13) and control (n = 13) groups. Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity Scale (FMA-UL), Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were evaluated in the two groups before treatment and 4 weeks after treatment. The efficacy of MIT on motor function improvement in stroke patients with hemiplegia was evaluated by comparing the FMA-UL and MBI scores before and after treatment in the two groups. Furthermore, the FC within the SMN and between the SMN and the whole brain was measured and compared before and after different treatment methods in stroke patients. The correlation analysis between the improvement of upper limbs motor function and changes in FC within the SMN and between the SMN and the whole brain was examined.ResultsThe FCs between ipsilesional primary motor cortex (M1.I) and contralateral supplementary motor area (SMA.C), M1.I and ipsilesional SMA (SMA.I), and SMA.C and contralateral dorsolateral premotor cortex (DLPM.C) significantly increased in the control group but decreased in the MIT group; while the FC between SMA.C and contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (S1.C) significantly increased in the control group but showed no significant difference in the MIT group. The FCs between M1.I and the ipsilesional hippocampal gyrus and ipsilesional middle frontal gyrus significantly decreased in the control group but increased in the MIT group; while the FC in the contralateral anterior cingulate cortex significantly increased in the MIT group but there was no significant difference in the control group. The results of the correlation analysis showed that the differences in abnormal intra-FCs within the SMN negatively correlated with the differences in FMA and MBI, and the difference in abnormal inter-FCs of the SMN positively correlated with the differences in FMA and MBI.ConclusionsMIT can improve upper limb motor function and daily activities of stroke patients, and the improvement effect of conventional rehabilitation therapy (CRT) combined with MIT is significantly higher than that of CRT alone. CRT may improve the upper limb motor function of stroke patients with hemiplegia mainly through the functional reorganization between SMN, while MIT may mainly increase the interaction between SMN and other brain networks.

Rice drought resistance is a complicated quantitative feature involving a range of biological and agronomic variables, but little is known about the underlying genetics and regulatory mechanisms that regulate drought tolerance. This study used 120 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), derived from a cross between drought tolerant Lvhan 1 and susceptible Aixian 1. The RILs were subjected to drought stress at the first ear stage, and phenotypic data of 16 agronomic and physiological traits under varying conditions were investigated. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) on the drought resistance index of traits was carried out. A total of 9 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with drought-related traits were identified on chromosomes 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, which includes QTLs for plant height (PH) qPH10.1, effective panicles number (EPN) qEPN6.1, panicle length (PL) qPL9.1, thousand-grain weight (TGW) qTGW2.1, qTGW6.1, qTGW8.1, leaf length (LL) qLL7.1, leaf width (LW) qLW7.1, and leaf area (LA) qLA7.1. The fraction of phenotypic variation explained by individual QTL varied from 10.6% to 13.9%. Except for days to flowering (DTF), the mean values of all traits under normal water management conditions were considerably higher than those under drought conditions. Except for the DTF, the drought resistance index of all rice traits was less than 1, indicating that drought treatment reduced the EPN, FGPP, SSR, PH, and LA, which affected the growth and development of rice. The drought resistance index of DTF was 1.02, indicating that drought prolonged the heading time of rice and diminish the yield parameters. Along with identifying QTLs, the results also predicted ten candidate genes, which are directly or indirectly involved in various metabolic functioning related to drought stress. The identification of these genomic sites or QTLs that effectively respond to water scarcity will aid in the quest of understanding the drought tolerance mechanisms. This study will facilitate the marker-assisted rice breeding and handy in the breeding of drought-tolerant rice varieties.

The newly constructed time-resolved atomic, molecular and optical science instrument (TMO) is configured to take full advantage of both linear accelerators at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the copper accelerator operating at a repetition rate of 120 Hz providing high per-pulse energy as well as the superconducting accelerator operating at a repetition rate of about 1 MHz providing high average intensity. Both accelerators power a soft X-ray free-electron laser with the new variable-gap undulator section. With this flexible light source, TMO supports many experimental techniques not previously available at LCLS and will have two X-ray beam focus spots in line. Thereby, TMO supports atomic, molecular and optical, strong-field and nonlinear science and will also host a designated new dynamic reaction microscope with a sub-micrometer X-ray focus spot. The flexible instrument design is optimized for studying ultrafast electronic and molecular phenomena and can take full advantage of the sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulse generation program.

Bolbitis multipinna is an endemic fern found in Yunnan, China. In the case of the chloroplast genome, Illumina Hiseq X-Ten was used, and it revealed a conserved quadripartite structure of 152,437 bp, including a large single-copy (LSC) region of 82,618 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 21,403 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat regions of 24,208 bp (IRa and IRb). The chloroplast genome of B. multipinna contains 132 genes, including 89 protein-coding genes, 35 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. By using the maximum-likelihood method and the Bayesian analysis on the chloroplast genomes of 15 species ferns, the phylogenetic analysis revealed that B. multipinna is closely related to B. heteroclita.

GATA transcription factor is crucial for plant growth and development, physiological metabolism, and environmental response, which has been reported in many plants. Although the identification of maize GATA genes has been reported previously, the number of maize GATA genes was incomplete, and the expression patterns of maize GATA genes were not analyzed. Therefore, in this study, the GATA gene family of maize (Zea mays L.) was systematically analyzed. Forty-one GATA family genes were identified in the maize and were divided into four groups. The gene structure of each subgroup was basically consistent with that of the motif. The maize GATA genes were distributed on 10 chromosomes, including 3 and 17 pairs of tandem and segmental duplication genes, respectively. Fourteen types of cis-acting elements were identified in the promoter sequences of maize GATA family genes, involving four categories: light response, stress, hormone, and growth and development. The tissue-specific expression analysis of maize GATA family genes revealed that 4 GATA genes were highly expressed in almost all the maize tissues, and 11 GATA genes were not expressed in almost all tissues. The other maize GATA family genes showed a tissue-specific expression pattern. The results of RNA-seq reanalysis of publicly available transcriptome sequencing big data revealed that the gene ZmGATA37 was significantly down-regulated in response to abiotic stresses including high temperature, low temperature, drought, waterlogging, and salt, and significantly up-regulated in response to biotic stresses including smut disease, Maize Iranian mosaic virus infection, beet armyworm and aphid infestations. This indicated that the ZmGATA37 gene plays an important role in maize growth and development. Our findings offer new insight into the potential role of GATA transcription factors in abiotic and biotic stresses and provide a theoretical groundwork for the molecular mechanisms underlying maize adaptation to such stress.

Abstract Background Zinc transporters have been found to be associated with the pathogenesis of numerous human diseases including cancer. As the most lethal gynecologic malignancy, ovarian cancer is characterized by rapid progression and widespread metastases. However, the function and underlying mechanism of zinc transporters in ovarian cancer metastasis remain unclear. Methods The relationship between zinc transporter gene expressions and clinical outcomes of ovarian cancer was assessed with the online database Kaplan-Meier plotter ( http://kmplot.com/analysis/ ). Immunohistochemistry was performed to investigate the prognostic importance of ZIP13. The expression of ZIP13 in ovarian cancer cell lines was depleted to explore its effect on proliferation, adhesion, migration, and invasion both in vitro and in vivo assays. RNA-Seq, quantitative RT-PCR, and western blot analysis were performed to explore ZIP13-regulated downstream target genes. Results The expressions of several zinc transporters were highly associated the clinical outcomes of ovarian cancer patients. Among them, high ZIP13 expression was an independent prognostic factor for poor survival in patients with ovarian cancer. ZIP13 knockout suppressed the malignant phenotypes of ovarian cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Further investigation revealed that ZIP13 regulated intracellular zinc distribution and then affected the expressions of genes involved in extracellular matrix organization and cytokine-mediated signaling pathway. This led to the activation of Src/FAK pathway with increased expressions of pro-metastatic genes but decreased expressions of tumor suppressor genes. Conclusions ZIP13 is shown to be a novel driver of metastatic progression by modulating the Src/FAK signaling pathway, which may serve as a promising biomarker for prognostic evaluation and targeted therapy in ovarian cancer.

ObjectiveSelected patients with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent primary tumor resection have witnessed a survival benefit. Whether additional lymph node dissection (LND) would result in a better effect remain unknown. We investigated the prognostic impact of LND on patients with stage IV NSCLC who received primary tumor resection (PTR).MethodsPatients with stage IV NSCLC who underwent PTR were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from 2004 to 2016. Propensity-score matching was performed to minimize the confounding effect, and lung cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) were compared after matching. Multivariable Cox regression was used to identify prognostic factors and to adjust for covariates in subgroup analysis. The effect of the number of lymph nodes examined on the CSS was evaluated by repeating the Cox analysis in a binary method.ResultsA total of 4,114 patients with stage IV NSCLC who receive surgery met our criteria, of which 2,622 (63.73%) underwent LND and 628 patients were identified 1:1 in LND and non-LND groups after matching. Compared with the non-LND group, the LND group had a longer CSS (median: 23 vs. 16 months, p < 0.001) and OS (median: 21 vs. 15 months, p < 0.001). Multivariable regression showed that LND was independently associated with favorable CCS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69–0.89, P < 0.001] and OS (HR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.70–0.89, P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis suggested that LND is an independent favorable predictor to survival in the surgical patients who were older age (>60 years old), female, T3-4, N0, and M1a stage and those who underwent sublobar resection. In addition, a statistically significant CCS benefit was associated with an increasing number of lymph nodes examined through 25 lymph nodes.ConclusionsLND with a certain range of lymph nodes number examined was associated with improved survival for patients with stage IV NSCLC who received primary tumor resection. The results may have implications for guidelines on lymph nodes management in selective advanced NSCLC for surgery.

Even frequently used in wheat breeding, we still have an insufficient understanding of the biology of the products via distant hybridization. In this study, a transcriptomic analysis was performed for six Triticum aestivum-Thinopyrum elongatum substitution lines in comparison with the host plants. All the six disomic substitution lines showed much stronger “transcriptomic-shock” occurred on alien genomes with 57.43–69.22% genes changed expression level but less on the recipient genome (2.19–8.97%). Genome-wide suppression of alien genes along chromosomes was observed with a high proportion of downregulated genes (39.69–48.21%). Oppositely, the wheat recipient showed genome-wide compensation with more upregulated genes, occurring on all chromosomes but not limited to the homeologous groups. Moreover, strong co-upregulation of the orthologs between wheat and Thinopyrum sub-genomes was enriched in photosynthesis with predicted chloroplastic localization, which indicates that the compensation happened not only on wheat host genomes but also on alien genomes.

Zinc is an essential element and serves as a structural or catalytic component in many proteins. Two families of transporters are involved in maintaining cellular zinc homeostasis: the ZIP (SLC39A) family that facilitates zinc influx into the cytoplasm, and the ZnT (SLC30A) family that facilitates zinc efflux from the cytoplasm. Zinc dyshomeostasis caused by the dysfunction of zinc transporters can contribute to the initiation or progression of various cancers, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer. In addition, intracellular zinc fluctuations lead to the disturbance of certain signaling pathways involved in the malignant properties of cancer cells. This review briefly summarizes our current understanding of zinc dyshomeostasis in cancer, and discusses the potential roles of zinc or zinc transporters in cancer therapy.

In order to study the influence of vehicle-liquid coupling dynamic response on the vehicle stability when the tank truck is turning or changing lanes, a liquid sloshing model was established and solved by computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS/Fluent together with liquid Navier-Stokes and flow control equations. Combining the liquid sloshing model and the rigid body model of the three-degree-of-freedom tank truck, the vehicle-liquid coupling dynamics model of the tank truck was obtained, and could be used to analyze the influence of liquid sloshing on the lateral stability of the tank truck with or without control strategy. The simulation results show that the fuzzy differential braking control strategy, which can effectively enhance the side rollover resistant capability of a vehicle and reduce the probability of traffic accidents during tank truck transportation, will be of guiding significance for tank truck transportation.

Zinc homeostasis has been known to play a role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, but the precise molecular mechanisms regulating the expression of ZIP transporters during reperfusion are still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether ER Stress/CaMKII/STAT3 pathway plays a role in the regulation of cellular zinc homeostasis. Zinc deficiency increased mRNA and protein expressions of the ER stress relevant markers Chop and Bip, and STAT3 phosphorylation in H9c2 or HL-1 cells, an effect that was abolished by ZnCl2. ER calcium concentration [(Ca2+)ER] was decreased and cytosolic calcium concentration [(Ca2+)I] was increased at the condition of normoxia or ischemia/reperfusion, indicating that zinc deficiency triggers ER stress and Ca2+ leak. Further studies showed that upregulation of STAT3 phosphorylation was reversed by Ca2+ chelator, indicating that intracellular Ca2+ is important for zinc deficiency-induced STAT3 activation. In support, zinc deficiency enhanced ryanodine receptors (RyR), a channel in the ER that mediate Ca2+ release, and Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII) phosphorylation, implying that zinc deficiency provoked Ca2+ leak from ER via RyR and p-CaMKII is involved in STAT3 activation. Moreover, inhibition of STAT3 activation blocked zinc deficiency induced ZIP9 expression, and resulted in increased Zn2+ loss in cardiomyocytes, further confirming that STAT3 activation during reperfusion promotes the expression of ZIP9 zinc transporter to correct the imbalance in zinc homeostasis. In addition, suppressed STAT3 activation aggravated reperfusion injury. These data suggest that the ER Stress/CaMKII/STAT3 axis may be an endogenous protective mechanism, which increases the resistance of the heart to I/R.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered to be a transitional state between normal aging and Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Recent studies have indicated that executive function (EF) declines during MCI. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated the neural basis of EF deficits in MCI. Herein, we investigate the changes of regional brain spontaneous activity and functional connectivity (FC) of the executive control network (ECN) between high EF and low EF groups.Methods: According to EF composite score (ADNI-EF) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), we divided MCI into two groups, including the MCI-highEF group and MCI-lowEF group. Resting-state functional MRI was utilized to investigate the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and ECN functional connectivity across 23 healthy controls (HC), 11 MCI-highEF, and 14 MCI-lowEF participants. Moreover, a partial correlation analysis was carried out to examine the relationship between altered fALFF or connectivity of the ECN and the ADNI-EF.Results: Compared to HC, the MCI-highEF participants demonstrated increased fALFF in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), as well as decreased fALFF in the right precentral gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus (MFG). The MCI-lowEF participants demonstrated increased fALFF in the cerebellar vermis and decreased fALFF in the left MFG. Additionally, compared to HC, the MCI-highEF participants indicated no significant difference in connectivity of the ECN. Furthermore, the MCI-lowEF participants showed increased ECN FC in the left cuneus and left MFG, as well as decreased ECN functional connectivity in the right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG). Notably, the altered fALFF in the left MFG was positively correlated to ADNI-EF, while the altered fALFF in cerebellar vermis is negatively correlated with ADNI-EF across the two MCI groups and the HC group. Altered ECN functional connectivity in the right PHG is negatively correlated to ADNI-EF, while altered ECN functional connectivity in the left cuneus is negatively correlated to ADNI-EF across the three groups.Conclusions: Our current study demonstrates the presence of different patterns of regional brain spontaneous activity and ECN FC in the MCI-highEF group and MCI-lowEF group. Furthermore, the ECN FC of the MCI-highEF group was not disrupted, which may contribute to retained EF in MCI.

Research on the flowering habit of rapeseed is important for the selection of varieties adapted to specific ecological environments. Here, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the days-to-flowering trait were identified using a doubled haploid population of 178 lines derived from a cross between the winter type SGDH284 and the semi-winter type 158A. A linkage map encompassing 3268.01 cM was constructed using 2777 bin markers obtained from next-generation sequencing. The preliminary mapping results revealed 56 QTLs for the days to flowering in the six replicates in the three environments. Twelve consensus QTLs were identified by a QTL meta-analysis, two of which (cqDTF-C02 and cqDTF-C06) were designated as major QTLs. Based on the micro-collinearity of the target regions between B. napus and Arabidopsis, four genes possibly related to flowering time were identified in the cqDTF-C02 interval, and only one gene possibly related to flowering time was identified in the cqDTF-C06 interval. A tightly linked insertion–deletion marker for the cqFT-C02 locus was developed. These findings will aid the breeding of early maturing B. napus varieties.

Extreme multistability has frequently been reported in autonomous circuits involving memory-circuit elements, since these circuits possess line/plane equilibrium sets. However, this special phenomenon has rarely been discovered in non-autonomous circuits. Luckily, extreme multistability is found in a simple non-autonomous memcapacitive oscillator in this paper. The oscillator only contains a memcapacitor, a linear resistor, a linear inductor, and a sinusoidal voltage source, which are connected in series. The memcapacitive system model is firstly built for further study. The equilibrium points of the memcapacitive system evolve between a no equilibrium point and a line equilibrium set with the change in time. This gives rise to the emergence of extreme multistability, but the forming mechanism is not clear. Thus, the incremental integral method is employed to reconstruct the memcapacitive system. In the newly reconstructed system, the number and stability of the equilibrium points have complex time-varying characteristics due to the presence of fold bifurcation. Furthermore, the forming mechanism of the extreme multistability is further explained. Note that the initial conditions of the original memcapacitive system are mapped onto the controlling parameters of the newly reconstructed system. This makes it possible to achieve precise control of the extreme multistability. Furthermore, an analog circuit is designed for the reconstructed system, and then PSIM circuit simulations are performed to verify the numerical results.

Silver nanoparticles were biosynthesized from Conyzacanadensis leaf extract with the help of a microwave oven. The UV-vis spectrum showed the maximum absorption at 441 nm, corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope images showed that the synthesized silver nanoparticles were spherical or near-spherical with an average diameter of 43.9 nm. X-ray diffraction demonstrated nanoparticles with a single-phase cubic structure. As-synthesized silver nanoparticles displayed prominent antifungal activity against Bipolaris maydis. The colony inhibition rate reached 88.6% when the concentration of nanosilver colloid was 100 μL·mL−1 (v/v). At such a concentration, no colony formation was observed on the solid plate. The diameter of the inhibition zone was 13.20 ± 1.12 mm. These results lay the foundation for the comprehensive control of plant pathogens using an environmentally friendly approach.

Vehicle detection plays a crucial role in the field of autonomous driving technology.However, directly applying deep learning-based object detection algorithms to complex road scene images often leads to subpar performance and slow inference speeds in vehicle detection. Achieving a balance between accuracy and detection speed is crucial for real-time object detection in real-world road scenes. This paper proposes a high-precision and fast vehicle detector called the feature-guided bidirectional pyramid network (FBPN). Firstly, to tackle challenges like vehicle occlusion and significant background interference, the efficient feature filtering module (EFFM) is introduced into the deep network, which amplifies the disparities between the features of the vehicle and the background. Secondly, the proposed global attention localization module (GALM) in the model neck effectively perceives the detailed position information of the target, improving both the accuracy and inference speed of themodel. Finally, the detection accuracy of small-scale vehicles is further enhanced through the utilization of a four-layer feature pyramid structure. Experimental results show that FBPN achieves an average precision of 60.8% and 97.8% on the BDD100K and KITTI datasets, respectively, with inference speeds reaching 344.83 frames/s and 357.14 frames/s. FBPNdemonstrates its effectiveness andsuperiority by striking a balance betweendetection accuracy andinference speed, outperforming several state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory is widely used throughout the chemical sciences, but suffers from over-emphasis on charge delocalisation. Here, the authors experimentally probe the energies of two states of a diamine cation and show how a self-interaction correction allows for the accurate prediction of both states.

Morphological transition and iron metabolism are closely relevant to Candida albicans pathogenicity and virulence. In our previous study, we demonstrated that C. albicans Aft2 plays an important role in ferric reductase activity and virulence. Here, we further explored the roles of C. albicans Aft2 in numerous cellular processes. We found that C. albicans Aft2 exhibited an important role in iron metabolism through bi-directional regulation effects on iron-regulon expression. Deletion of AFT2 reduced cellular iron accumulation under iron-deficient conditions. Furthermore, both reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were remarkably increased in the aft2Δ/Δ mutant, which were thought to be responsible for the defective responses to oxidative stress. However, we found that over-expression of C. albicans AFT2 under the regulation of the strong PGK1 promoter could not effectively rescue Saccharomyces cerevisiae aft1Δ mutant defects in some cellular processes, such as cell-wall assembly, ion homeostasis and alkaline resistance, suggesting a possibility that C. albicans Aft2 weakened its functional role of regulating some cellular metabolism during the evolutionary process. Interestingly, deletion of AFT2 in C. albicans increased cell surface hydrophobicity, cell flocculation and the ability of adhesion to polystyrene surfaces. In addition, our results also revealed that C. albicans Aft2 played a dual role in regulating hypha-specific genes under solid and liquid hyphal inducing conditions. Deletion of AFT2 caused an impaired invasive growth in solid medium, but an increased filamentous aggregation and growth in liquid conditions. Moreover, iron deficiency and environmental cues induced nuclear import of Aft2, providing additional evidence for the roles of Aft2 in transcriptional regulation.

In this study, one rice population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was used to determine the genetic characteristics of seed reserve utilization during the early (day 6), middle (day 10) and late (day 14) germination stages. The seedling dry weight (SDW) and weight of the mobilized seed reserve (WMSR) were increased, while the seed reserve utilization efficiency (SRUE) decreased, during the process of seed germination. The SDW and WMSR were affected by the seed weight, while the SRUE was not affected by the seed weight. A total of twenty unconditional and twenty-one conditional additive QTLs and eight epistatic QTLs were identified at three germination stages, and the more QTLs were expressed at the late germination stage. Among them, twelve additive and three epistatic QTLs for SDW, eight additive and three epistatic QTLs for WMSR and thirteen additive and two epistatic QTLs for SRUE were identified, respectively. The phenotypic variation explained by each additive QTL, epistatic QTL and QTL × development interaction ranged from 6.10 to 23.91%, 1.79 to 6.88% and 0.22 to 2.86%, respectively. Two major additive QTLs qWMSR7.1 and qSRUE4.3 were identified, and each QTL could explain more than 20% of the total phenotypic variance. By comparing the chromosomal positions of these additive QTLs with those previously identified, eleven QTLs might represent novel genes. The best four cross combinations of each trait for the development of RIL populations were selected. The selected RILs and the identified QTLs might be applicable to improve rice seed reserve utilization by the marker-assisted selection approach.

The newly constructed time-resolved atomic, molecular and optical science instrument (TMO) is configured to take full advantage of both linear accelerators at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the copper accelerator operating at a repetition rate of 120 Hz providing high per-pulse energy as well as the superconducting accelerator operating at a repetition rate of about 1 MHz providing high average intensity. Both accelerators power a soft X-ray freeelectron laser with the new variable-gap undulator section. With this flexible light source, TMO supports many experimental techniques not previously available at LCLS and will have two X-ray beam focus spots in line. Thereby, TMO supports atomic, molecular and optical, strong-field and nonlinear science and will also host a designated new dynamic reaction microscope with a submicrometer X-ray focus spot. The flexible instrument design is optimized for studying ultrafast electronic and molecular phenomena and can take full advantage of the sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulse generation program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]