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There has been considerable interest exploring how the utility of an outcome impacts the probability with which it is mentally simulated. Earlier studies using varying methodologies have yielded divergent conclusions with different directions of the influence. To directly examine such mental process, we employed a random generation paradigm in which all the outcomes were either equally (i.e., followed a uniform distribution) or unequally (i.e., a binomial distribution) probable. While our results revealed individual differences in how the utility influenced responses, the overall findings suggested that it is the outcomes' probabilities, not their utilities, that guide this process. Notably, an initial utility-independent bias emerged, with individuals displaying a tendency to start with smaller values when all outcomes are equally likely. Our findings offer insights into the benefits of studying the mental sampling processes and provide empirical support for particular sampling models in this domain.

Recent decision making theories have explained behaviour using mental sampling mechanisms where people imagine possible outcomes to guide their choices. Simultaneously, work in other domains has found evidence of particular mental sampling patterns, such as autocorrelations between samples and moderation by prior assumptions, which current decision making theories do not generally consider. Here, we seek to unify this work, developing a new sampling model of preferential choice incorporating these findings in other domains. Our model, based on the Autocorrelated Bayesian Sampler, predicts choice, reaction time, confidence and valuation from a common underlying process. We find a strong correspondence between our model's predictions and empirical choice data, though performance remains below leading explanations for such tasks. Our model does however cover a broader set of response types than existing theories, suggesting the advantages of considering of a wider range of behaviours than are commonly examined in current decision making studies.

Abstract Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritic disease, and phenotypic modification of chondrocytes is an important mechanism that contributes to the loss of cartilage homeostasis. This study identified that Fascin actin-bundling protein 1 (FSCN1) plays a pivotal role in regulating chondrocytes phenotype and maintaining cartilage homeostasis. Proteome-wide screening revealed markedly upregulated FSCN1 protein expression in human OA cartilage. FSCN1 accumulation was confirmed in the superficial layer of OA cartilage from humans and mice, primarily in dedifferentiated-like chondrocytes, associated with enhanced actin stress fiber formation and upregulated type I and III collagens. FSCN1-inducible knockout mice exhibited delayed cartilage degeneration following experimental OA surgery. Mechanistically, FSCN1 promoted actin polymerization and disrupted the inhibition of Decorin on TGF-β1, leading to excessive TGF-β1 production and ALK1/Smad1/5 signaling activation, thus, accelerated chondrocyte dedifferentiation. Intra-articular injection of FSCN1-overexpressing adeno-associated virus exacerbated OA progression in mice, which was mitigated by an ALK1 inhibitor. Moreover, FSCN1 inhibitor NP-G2-044 effectively reduced extracellular matrix degradation in OA mice, cultured human OA chondrocytes, and cartilage explants by suppressing ALK1/Smad1/5 signaling. These findings suggest that targeting FSCN1 represents a promising therapeutic approach for OA.

Water injection for oil displacement is one of the most effective ways to develop fractured-vuggy carbonate reservoirs. With the increase in the number of rounds of water injection, the development effect gradually fails. The emergence of high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection technology allows increased production from old wells. Although high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection technology has been implemented in practice for nearly 10 years in fractured-vuggy reservoirs, its mechanism remains unclear, and the water injection curve is not apparent. In the past, evaluating its effect could only be done by measuring the injection-production volume. In this study, we analyze the mechanism of high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection. We propose a fluid exchange index for high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection and establish a discrete model suitable for high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection curves in fractured-vuggy reservoirs. We propose the following mechanisms: replenishing energy, increasing energy, replacing energy, and releasing energy. The above mechanisms can be identified by the high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection curve of the well HA6X in the Halahatang Oilfield in the Tarim Basin. By solving the basic model, the relative errors of Reservoirs I and II are found to be 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively, and the application of field examples demonstrates that our proposed high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection indicator curve is reasonable and reliable. This research can provide theoretical support for high-pressure capacity expansion and water injection technology in fracture-vuggy carbonate reservoirs.

Abstract Background As a currently incurable but preventable disease, the prevention and early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has long been a research hotspot. Amyloid deposition has been shown to be a major pathological feature of AD. Notably, not all the people with amyloid-beta (Aβ) pathology will have significant cognitive declines and eventually develop AD. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the risk factors for cognitive decline in Aβ-positive participants. Methods We included 650 non-demented participants who were Aβ-positive at baseline from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. Mixed effects and COX regression models were applied to assess 37 potential risk factors. Mixed effects models were employed to assess the temporal associations between potential risk factors and four cognitive assessment scales. COX regression models were used to assess the impact of potential risk factors on cognitive diagnosis conversion. Univariate and multivariate analyses were applied to the above models. Additionally, we used the Cochran-Armitage trend test to examine whether the incidence of cognitive decline increased with the number concurrent of risk factors. Results Six factors (low diastolic pressure, low body mass index, retired status, a history of drug abuse, Parkinsonism, and depression) were the identified risk factors and four factors (a history of urinary disease, musculoskeletal diseases, no major surgical history, and no prior dermatologic-connective tissue diseases) were found to be suggestive risk factors. The incidence of cognitive decline in the Aβ-positive participants gradually increased as the number of concurrent risk factors increased (p for trend = 0.0005). Conclusions Our study may facilitate the understanding of the potential pathological processes in AD and provide novel targets for the prevention of cognitive decline among participants with Aβ positivity.

Abstract Understanding the nitrogen isotopic variations of individual amino acids (AAs) is essential for utilizing the nitrogen isotope values of individual amino acids (δ15N-AA) as source indicators to identify proteinaceous matter originating from biomass combustion processes. However, the nitrogen isotope effects (ε) associated with the degradation of individual amino acids during combustion processes have not been previously explored. In this study, we measured the nitrogen isotope values of residual free amino acids -following a series of controlled combustion experiments at temperatures of 160–240 °C and durations of 2 min to 8 h, as described in Part 1. δ15N values of proline, aspartate, alanine, valine, glycine, leucine, and isoleucine are more positive than their initial δ15N values after prolonged combustion. Variations in δ15N values of the most AAs conform to the Rayleigh fractionation during combustion and their nitrogen isotope effects (ε) are greatly impacted by their respective combustion degradation pathways. This is the first time the ε values associated with the degradation pathways of AAs during combustion have been characterized. Only the ε values associated with Pathway 1 (dehydration to form dipeptide) and 2 (simultaneous deamination and decarboxylation) are found to be significant and temperature-dependent, ranging from + 2.9 to 6.4‰ and + 0.9‰ to + 3.8‰, respectively. Conversely, ε values associated with other pathways are minor. This improves the current understanding on the degradation mechanisms of protein nitrogen during biomass burning.

Abstract Objective Inflammation, malnutrition, and cancer are intricately interconnected. Despite this, only a few studies have delved into the relationship between inflammatory malnutrition and the risk of death among cancer survivors. This study aimed to specifically investigate the association between the categorically defined Naples prognostic score (NPS) and the prognosis of cancer survivors. Methods Data from 42,582 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999–2018) were subjected to analysis. Naples prognostic scores (NPS) were computed based on serum albumin (ALB), total cholesterol (TC), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), and participants were stratified into three groups accordingly. Cancer status was ascertained through a self-administered questionnaire, while mortality data were sourced from the National Death Index up to December 31, 2019. Multiple logistic regression was employed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) between NPS and cancer prevalence within the U.S. community population. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the Log-rank test were utilized to compare survival disparities among the three groups. Additionally, Cox proportional regression was utilized to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% CI. Results The incidence of cancers was 9.86%. Among the participants, 8140 individuals (19.1%) were classified into Group 0 (NPS 0), 29,433 participants (69.1%) into Group 1 (NPS 1 or 2), and 5009 participants (11.8%) into Group 2 (NPS 3 or 4). After adjusting for confounding factors, the cancer prevalence for the highest NPS score yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 1.64 (95% CI: 1.36, 1.97) (P(for trend)

Abstract Osteoporosis (OP) is a bone metabolism disease that is associated with inflammatory pathological mechanism. Nonetheless, rare studies have investigated the diagnostic effectiveness of immune-inflammation index in the male population. Therefore, it is interesting to achieve early diagnosis of OP in male population based on the inflammatory makers from blood routine examination. We developed a prediction model based on a training dataset of 826 Chinese male patients through a retrospective study, and the data was collected from January 2022 to May 2023. All participants underwent the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXEA) and blood routine examination. Inflammatory markers such as systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) was calculated and recorded. We utilized the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model to optimize feature selection. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to construct a predicting model incorporating the feature selected in the LASSO model. This predictive model was displayed as a nomogram. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, C-index, calibration curve, and clinical decision curve analysis (DCA) to evaluate model performance. Internal validation was test by the bootstrapping method. This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Ethic No. JY2023012) and conducted in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. The predictive factors included in the prediction model were age, BMI, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, neuropathy, thyroid diseases, fracture history, SII, PLR, C-reactive protein (CRP). The model displayed well discrimination with a C-index of 0.822 (95% confidence interval: 0.798–0.846) and good calibration. Internal validation showed a high C-index value of 0.805. Decision curve analysis (DCA) showed that when the threshold probability was between 3 and 76%, the nomogram had a good clinical value. This nomogram can effectively predict the incidence of OP in male population based on SII and PLR, which would help clinicians rapidly and conveniently diagnose OP with men in the future.

Abstract Rectal adenocarcinoma (READ) is a common malignant tumor of the digestive tract. Growing studies have confirmed Ras GTPase-activating proteins are involved in the progression of several tumors. This study aimed to explore the expression and function of Ras GTPase-activating proteins in READ. In this study, we analyzed RNA sequencing data from 165 patients with READ and 789 normal tissue samples, identifying 5603 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 2937 upregulated genes and 2666 downregulated genes. Moreover, we also identified two dysregulated genes, RASA4 and SYNGAP1, among six Ras GTPase-activating proteins. High NF1 expression was associated with longer overall survival, while high SYNGAP1 expression showed a trend towards extended overall survival. Further analysis revealed the mutation frequency and copy number variations of Ras GTPase-activating proteins in various cancer samples. Additionally, DNA methylation analysis demonstrated a negative correlation between DNA methylation of Ras GTPase-activating proteins and their expression. Moreover, among Ras GTPase-activating proteins, we focused on SYNGAP1, and experimental validation confirmed that the overexpression of SYNGAP1 in READ significantly suppressed READ cell proliferation and increased apoptosis via regulating the Wnt/β-Catenin signaling pathway. These findings underscored the potential significance of SYNGAP1 in READ and provide new insights for further research and treatment.

Abstract The effective flow of electrons through bulk electrodes is crucial for achieving high-performance batteries, although the poor conductivity of homocyclic sulfur molecules results in high barriers against the passage of electrons through electrode structures. This phenomenon causes incomplete reactions and the formation of metastable products. To enhance the performance of the electrode, it is important to place substitutable electrification units to accelerate the cleavage of sulfur molecules and increase the selectivity of stable products during charging and discharging. Herein, we develop a single-atom-charging strategy to address the electron transport issues in bulk sulfur electrodes. The establishment of the synergistic interaction between the adsorption model and electronic transfer helps us achieve a high level of selectivity towards the desirable short-chain sodium polysulfides during the practical battery test. These finding indicates that the atomic manganese sites have an enhanced ability to capture and donate electrons. Additionally, the charge transfer process facilitates the rearrangement of sodium ions, thereby accelerating the kinetics of the sodium ions through the electrostatic force. These combined effects improve pathway selectivity and conversion to stable products during the redox process, leading to superior electrochemical performance for room temperature sodium-sulfur batteries.

Abstract The low‐light environment is integral to everyday activities but poses significant challenges in object detection. Due to the low brightness, noise, and insufficient illumination of the acquired image, the model's object detection performance is reduced. Opposing recent studies mainly developing using supervised learning models, this paper suggests LIDA‐YOLO, an approach for unsupervised adaptation of low‐illumination object detectors. The model improves the YOLOv3 by using normal illumination images as the source domain and low‐illumination images as the target domain and achieves object detection in low‐illumination images through an unsupervised learning strategy. Specifically, a multi‐scale local feature alignment and global feature alignment module are proposed to align the overall attributes of the image and feature biases such as background, scene, and target layout are thus reduced. The experimental results of LIDA‐YOLO on the ExDark dataset achieved the highest performance mAP score of 56.65% compared to several current state‐of‐the‐art unsupervised domain adaptation object detection methods. Compared to I3Net, the performance improvement is 4.04%, and compared to OSHOT, the performance improvement is 6.5%. LIDA‐YOLO achieves a performance improvement of 2.7% compared to the supervised baseline method YOLOv3. Overall, the suggested LIDA‐YOLO model requires fewer samples and presents a stronger generalization ability than previous works.

The size and composition of particulate matter (PM) are pivotal in determining its adverse health effects. It is important to understand PM's retention by plants to facilitate its atmospheric removal. However, the distinctions between the size and composition of naturally fallen PM (NFPM) and leaf-deposited PM (LDPM) are not well-documented. Here we utilize a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer, coupled with a PM resuspension chamber, to analyze these differences. We find that LDPM particles are 6.8–97.3 % larger than NFPM. Employing a neural network algorithm based on adaptive resonance theory, we have identified distinct compositional profiles: NFPM predominantly consists of organic carbon (OC; 31.2 %) and potassium-rich components (19.1 %), whereas LDPM are largely composed of crustal species (53.9–60.6 %). Interestingly, coniferous species retain higher OC content (11.5–13.7 %) compared to broad-leaved species (0.5–1.2 %), while the levoglucosan content exhibit an opposite trend. Our study highlights the active role of tree leaves in modifying PM composition beyond mere passive capture, advocating for a strategic approach to species selection in urban greening initiatives to enhance PM mitigation. These insights provide guidance for urban planners and environmentalists in implementing nature-based solutions to improve urban air quality.

BackgroundThis study presents real-world evidence on the clinical outcomes of the Alberta Complementary Health Integration Project (ABCHIP), which utilized acupuncture to address pain and mental health issues in two vulnerable populations in Alberta: youth (aged 24 and below) and elderly (aged 55 and above).MethodsOver 282 days, a total of 606 patients received 5,424 acupuncture treatments. Tailored to each patients’ specific pain and mental health concerns, an individualized treatment plan was selected, following a standard treatment protocol lasting 1 to 3 months. Patients were evaluated at least twice: initially and upon completing therapy. Primary treatment outcomes were assessed using various measures, including the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ9), PROMIS Anxiety 8a and its pediatric form PROMIS Anxiety-Pediatric, PROMIS Short Form v1.0 Fatigue 8a and its pediatric counterpart PROMIS Pediatric Short Form v2.0 Fatigue 10a, PROMIS Short Form v1.1 Anger 5a and its version PROMIS SF v2.0 5a, and EQ-5D-5L. These measures gauged pain reduction, improved sleep quality, reduced depression, anxiety, fatigue, anger, and quality of life, respectively.ResultsAnalysis of data from 500 patients who received at least 6 acupuncture sessions through ABCHIP showed statistically significant improvements in clinical outcomes. Among this group, the subgroup of 235 patients who received at least 12 sessions demonstrated the most favorable treatment outcomes, including an 75.5% reduction in pain severity, a 53.1% improvement in sleep quality, a 78.4% drop in depression, a 41.1% decline in anxiety, a 43.7% decrease in fatigue, a 38.2% decrease in anger, and a 42.6% improvement in overall quality of life.ConclusionIntegrating acupuncture with usual care demonstrates promise in enhancing mental health, alleviating chronic and general pain, and improving overall quality of life. The findings suggest that integrative programs, such as ABCHIP, present an effective approach to addressing pain and mental health concerns in vulnerable populations, providing valuable insights for future healthcare interventions.

Abstract Myocardial infarction (MI), a consequence of coronary artery occlusion, triggers the degradation of ferritin, resulting in elevated levels of free iron in the heart and thereby inducing ferroptosis. Targeting myocardial ferroptosis through the chelation of excess iron has therapeutic potential for MI treatment. However, iron chelation in post ischemic injury areas using conventional iron‐specific chelators is hindered by ineffective myocardial intracellular chelation, rapid clearance, and high systemic toxicity. A chitosan‐desferrioxamine nanosponge (CDNS) is designed by co‐crosslinking chitosan and deferoxamine through noncovalent gelation to address these challenges. This architecture facilitates direct iron chelation regardless of deferoxamine (DFO) release due to its sponge‐like porous hydrogel structure. Upon cellular internalization, CDNS can effectively chelate cellular iron and facilitate the efflux of captured iron, thereby inhibiting ferroptosis and associated oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. In MI mouse models, myocardial injection of CDNS promotes sustainable retention and the suppression of ferroptosis in the infarcted heart. This intervention improves cardiac function and alleviates adverse cardiac remodeling post‐MI, leading to decreased oxidative stress and the promotion of angiogenesis due to ferroptosis inhibition by CDNS in the infarcted heart. This study reveals a nanosponge‐based nanomedicine targeting myocardial ferroptosis with efficient iron chelation and efflux, offering a promising MI treatment.

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to compare the therapeutic value and treatment-related complications of radical hysterectomy with those of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for locally resectable (T1a2–T2a1) stage IIIC1r cervical cancer. Methods A total of 213 patients with locally resectable stage IIIC1r cervical cancer who had been treated at Jiangxi Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital between January 2013 and December 2021 were included in the study and classified into two groups: surgery (148 patients) and CCRT (65 patients). The disease-free survival (DFS) rate, overall survival (OS) rate, side effects, and economic costs associated with the two groups were compared. Results 43.9% (65/148) patients in the surgical group had no pelvic lymph node metastasis, and 21of them did not require supplementary treatment after surgery due to a low risk of postoperative pathology. The median follow-up time was 46 months (range: 7–108 months). The five-year DFS and OS rates of the surgery group were slightly higher than those of the CCRT group (80.7% vs. 75.1% and 81.6% vs. 80.6%, respectively; p > 0.05). The incidences of grade III–IV gastrointestinal reactions in the surgery and CCRT groups were 5.5% and 9.2%, respectively (p = 0.332). Grade III–IV myelosuppression was identified in 27.6% of the surgery group and 26.2% of the CCRT group (p = 0.836). The per capita treatment cost was higher for the surgery group than for the CCRT group (RMB 123, 918.6 0 vs. RMB 101, 880.90, p = 0.001). Conclusion The therapeutic effects and treatment-related complications of hysterectomy and CCRT are equivalent in patients with locally resectable stage IIIC1r cervical cancer, but surgery can provide accurate lymph node information and benefit patients with unnecessary radiation.

Objective To explore the effect of omeprazole combined with different probiotics on regulating intestinal flora in reducing functional dyspepsia (FD) in children. Methods Two hundreds children with FD admitted to the Pediatric Department of Foshan Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2022 to February 2023 were selected as the study subjects. They were randomly divided into omeprazde(omep) group, groups of omeprazole +yeast(yeast group), +clostridium butyricum(clos group), and +bifidobacterium(bifi group) respectively. Results After treatment, serum level of IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, hs-CRP, VIP, SS, Enterobacter and Enterococcus in all groups significantly decreased as compared with the finding before treatment (P＜0.05). Those targets in the three combined treatment groups were significantly lower compared to the ome group; After treatment, the serum MOT level,bifidobacteria, and lactobacilli in each group were significantly increased (P＜0.05), and the results from three combined treatment groups demonstrated notably higher levels compared to the omep group(P＜0.05); The scores of symptoms in all groups showed a significant alleviation after the treatment(P＜0.05). Additionally, the three combined treatment groups exhibited significantly lower symptom scores than the group treated with omeprazole alone (P＜0.05). There was no difference in the incidence of adverse reactions during treatment among the groups. Conclusions Omeprazole combined with different probiotics have achieved good results in the treatment of FD in children.

In recent years, extensive research had centered on the application of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) in fruit preservation, with a predominant focus on climacteric fruits. However, the development of efficient sustained-release products remained insufficient, and the effects of 1-MCP on the quality of non-climacteric fruits such as strawberry in postharvest were not fully understood. This research investigated the creation of a 1-MCP hydrogel-based controlled release product for strawberry preservation. The hydrogel system used in the preservative was synthesized using hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) and acrylic acid (AA) as monomers, with polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) serving as a cross-linking agent. 1-MCP sustained-release hydrogel, which was referred to as 1-MCP hydrogel, was prepared by wrapping 1-MCP powder in a porous water gel system in an aqueous solvent system and initiated by diphenyl phosphorus oxide (TPO). The 1-MCP hydrogel was applied to the preservation of strawberry stored at room temperature. The results showed that the 1-MCP hydrogel had excellent 1-MCP sustained release performance, and could release 1-MCP evenly and slowly. Its release rate was 7% of the 1-MCP powder group and 3% of the 1-MCP powder solution group, respectively, at 12 h, achieving a long-term effective release. Fruit preservation experiments showed that the 1-MCP hydrogel group maintained a lower weight loss rate and decay rate, which were 20% and 21% lower than the control group on day 6, respectively. In addition, 1-MCP hydrogel maintained better fruit color, higher hardness, soluble solids content (TSS), and titratable acid content (TA). On day 2, the a* value, b* value and L* value of the experimental group were 11%, 11%, and 6% higher than the control group, respectively. The hardness, TSS, and TA on day 6 were 21%, 15%, and 18% higher than the control group, respectively. To sum up, 1-MCP hydrogel has multiple functions, such as the sustained release of 1-MCP, improving fruit quality. It is also convenient to prepare and can be used in the postharvest preservation of strawberries and potentially other fruit.

Highlights The LiNO3-implanted electroactive β phase polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene was built as an artificial solid electrolyte interphase layer for dendrite suppression. The electronegatively charged polymer layer can capture Li ion on its surface to form Li-ion charged channels and recompense the ionic flux of electrolytes via continuous supply of Li ion. The modified Li anode achieved a long cycle life over 2000 h under ultrahigh Li utilization of 50% in symmetric cell and worked in full cell for 100 cycles at harsh condition of extremely low N/P of 0.83.

ABSTRACTShort text semantic similarity is a crucial research area in nature language processing, which is used to predict the similarity between two sentences. Due to the sparsity features of short texts, words are isolated in the sentence and the correlations of words are ignored, it is very difficult to calculate the global semantic information. Based on this, short text semantic graph (STSG) model based on dependency parsing and pre-trained language models is proposed in this paper. It utilizes the syntactic information to obtain word dependency relationships and incorporate it into pre-trained language models to enhance the global semantic information of sentences. So it can address the semantic sparsity more effectively. A text semantic graph layer based on the graph attention network (GAT) is also realized, which regards word vectors as node features and word dependency as edge features. The attention mechanism of GAT can identify the importance of different word correlations and solve the word dependency modeling effectively. On the challenging short text semantic benchmark dataset MRPC, the STSG model achieves an F1-score of .946, which is further improved 2.16% over previous SOTA approaches. At the time of writing, STSG has achieved a new SOTA performance on the MRPC dataset.

PurposeSpecific nutrients found in food, such as minerals, antioxidants, and macronutrients, have a significant impact on immune function and human health. However, there is currently limited research exploring the relationship between specific nutrients, immune system function, and thyroid dysfunction commonly observed in autoimmune thyroid diseases, which manifest predominantly as hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the connections between dietary traits and thyroid dysfunction, as well as the potential mediating role of immune cells, using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.MethodsThe two-step MR analysis used single-nucleotide polymorphisms as instruments, with a threshold of p < 5e−08 for nutrients and thyroid dysfunction, and p < 5e−06 for immune cells. Data from different GWAS databases and UK Biobank were combined to analyze 8 antioxidants and 7 minerals, while the data for 4 macronutrients came from a cohort of 235,000 individuals of European. The outcome data (hypothyroidism, N = 3340; hyperthyroidism, N = 1840; free thyroxin [FT4], N = 49,269; thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH], N = 54,288) were source from the ThyroidOmics consortium. Immune trait data, including 731 immune phenotypes, were collected from the GWAS catalog.ResultsThe results revealed that nutrient changes, such as lycopene, toenail and blood selenium, and α-tocopherol, impacted the immune system. Immune cells also affected thyroid function, with cDC cells promoting hypothyroidism and median fluorescence intensity (MFI) phenotypes correlating strongly with FT4 levels. Toenail and blood selenium reduce the relative cell counts (RCC) phenotypes of immune cells (CD62L− plasmacytoid DC %DC and transitional B cells %Lymphocyte), thereby diminishing its promoting effect on hypothyroidis. Furthermore, toenail and blood selenium mainly impacted phenotypes in three types of T cells (CD25 + ⁣ + CD8br, CD3 on CD45RA− CD4+, and CD45RA on Terminally Differentiated CD8br), reinforcing the negative regulation of FT4 levels.ConclusionThe role of immune cells as mediators in the relationship between nutrients and thyroid dysfunction highlights their potential as diagnostic or therapeutic markers. Toenail and blood selenium levels can indirectly impact hypothyroidism by influencing the RCC levels of two types of immune cells, and can indirectly affect FT4 levels by influencing three types of T cells.

BackgroundSpondylitis caused by Brucella infection is a rare but challenging condition, and its successful management depends on timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment. This study reports two typical cases of thoracic and lumbar brucellosis spondylitis, highlighting the pivotal roles of real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) detection and surgical intervention.Case presentationCase 1 involved a 49-year-old male shepherd who presented with a 6-month history of fever (40°C), severe chest and back pain, and 2-week limited lower limb movement with night-time exacerbation. Physical examination revealed tenderness and percussion pain over the T9 and T10 spinous processes, with grade 2 muscle strength in the lower limbs. CT showed bone destruction of the T9 and T10 vertebrae with narrowing of the intervertebral space, whereas MRI demonstrated abnormal signals in the T9–T10 vertebrae, a spinal canal abscess, and spinal cord compression. The Rose Bengal plate agglutination test was positive. Case 2 was a 59-year-old man who complained of severe thoracolumbar back pain with fever (39.0°C) and limited walking for 2 months. He had a 2.5 kg weight loss and a history of close contact with sheep. The Rose Bengal test was positive, and the MRI showed inflammatory changes in the L1 and L2 vertebrae. Diagnosis and treatment: real-time PCR confirmed Brucella infection in both cases. Preoperative antimicrobial therapy with doxycycline, rifampicin, and ceftazidime-sulbactam was administered for at least 2 weeks. Surgical management involved intervertebral foraminotomy-assisted debridement, decompression, internal fixation, and bone grafting under general anesthesia. Postoperative histopathological examination with HE and Gram staining further substantiated the diagnosis. Outcomes: both patients experienced significant pain relief and restored normal lower limb movement at the last follow-up (4–12 weeks) after the intervention.ConclusionReal-time PCR detection offers valuable diagnostic insights for suspected cases of brucellosis spondylitis. Surgical treatment helps in infection control, decompression of the spinal cord, and restoration of stability, constituting a necessary and effective therapeutic approach. Prompt diagnosis and comprehensive management are crucial for favorable outcomes in such cases.

Abstract Conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to valuable chemicals and feedstocks through electrochemical reduction holds promise for achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating global warming. C2+ products are of interest due to their higher economic value. Since the CO2 to C2+ conversion process involves multiple steps, tandem catalytic strategies are commonly employed in the design of electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) catalysts and systems/reactors. Among the diverse catalysts that are capable of reducing CO2 to CO, Cu stands out for more efficiently further converting CO to C2+ products. In this review, the emerging Cu‐based tandem catalysts and their impact on CO2RR performance, focusing on three positional relationships are summarized. It delves into the integration of tandem catalytic strategies into membrane electrolyzers, utilizing catalyst‐coated substrate (CCS) and catalyst‐coated membrane (CCM) technologies. Several typical examples are presented to illustrate this integration. Finally, the challenges and prospects of applying tandem strategies in the development of CO2RR catalysts/systems, as well as their device‐level implementation are indicated.

Abstract Background and Aim The microsurface structure reflects the degree of damage to the glands, which is related to the invasion depth of early gastric cancer. To evaluate the diagnostic value of quantitative microsurface structure analysis for estimating the invasion depth of early gastric cancer. Methods White‐light imaging and narrow‐band imaging (NBI) endoscopy were used to visualize the lesions of the included patients. The area ratio and depth‐predicting score (DPS) of each patient were calculated; meanwhile, each lesion was examined by endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS). Results Ninety‐three patients were included between 2016 and 2019. Microsurface structure is related to the histological differentiation and progression of early gastric cancer. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that when an area ratio of 80.3% was used as a cut‐off value for distinguishing mucosal (M) and submucosal (SM) type 0–II gastric cancers, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 82.9%, 80.2%, and 91.6%, respectively. The accuracies for distinguishing M/SM differentiated and undifferentiated early gastric cancers were 87.4% and 84.8%, respectively. The accuracy of EUS for distinguishing M/SM early gastric cancer was 74.9%. DPS can only distinguish M‐SM1 (SM infiltration

The contents of selenomethionine (SeMet) and selenomethylcysteine (SeMC) in Selenium-Enriched black garlic extract (Se-BGE), a popular functional food in Asian countries, were 2.9 ± 0.6 μg/g and 12.2 ± 2.3 μg/g by PITC pre-column derivatization UPLC-MS method. Improved histological injury, significant extension of the median survival time, and attenuated serum levels of alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin and SOD activity were observed in the acute liver failure (ALF) rats treated with Se-BGE (1.0 g/mL). 1HNMR-based metabonomics revealed that serum levels of lactate, pyruvate, betaine, choline, taurine, and glycine were restored, and 16S rDNA sequencing analysis showed that the composition and number of the intestinal flora were regressed to healthy levels in ALF rats treated by Se-BGE. Serum choline and betaine showed significant correlations with g_Lactobacillus and g_Escherichia. Our findings demonstrated that Se-BGE protects against LPS/D-GalN-induced ALF in rats, possibly due to antioxidation, metabolism, and intestinal flora regulations of Se-BGE.

C18H15FN4O, triclinic, P 1‾ $\overline{1}$ (no. 2), a = 8.8914(5) Å, b = 10.5705(7) Å, c = 16.4831(9) Å, α = 96.673(5)°, β = 99.397(5)°, γ = 95.062(5)°, V = 1508.93(16) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt (F) = 0.0477, wRref (F 2) = 0.1232, T = 293 K.

Abstract Background Identifying the key factors that underlie complex traits during domestication is a great challenge for evolutionary and biological studies. In addition to the protein-coding region differences caused by variants, a large number of variants are located in the noncoding regions containing multiple types of regulatory elements. However, the roles of accumulated variants in gene regulatory elements during duck domestication and economic trait improvement are poorly understood. Results We constructed a genomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics map of the duck genome and assessed the evolutionary forces that have been in play across the whole genome during domestication. In total, 304 (42.94%) gene promoters have been specifically selected in Pekin duck among all selected genes. Joint multi-omics analysis reveals that 218 genes (72.01%) with selected promoters are located in open and active chromatin, and 267 genes (87.83%) with selected promoters were highly and differentially expressed in domestic trait-related tissues. One important candidate gene ELOVL3, with a strong signature of differentiation on the core promoter region, is known to regulate fatty acid elongation. Functional experiments showed that the nearly fixed variants in the top selected ELOVL3 promoter in Pekin duck decreased binding ability with HLF and increased gene expression, with the overexpression of ELOVL3 able to increase lipid deposition and unsaturated fatty acid enrichment. Conclusions This study presents genome resequencing, RNA-Seq, Hi-C, and ATAC-Seq data of mallard and Pekin duck, showing that selection of the gene promoter region plays an important role in gene expression and phenotypic changes during domestication and highlights that the variants of the ELOVL3 promoter may have multiple effects on fat and long-chain fatty acid content in ducks.

Abstract To investigate the occurrence and 90-day mortality of cancer patients following unplanned admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), as well as to develop a risk prediction model for their 90-day prognosis. We prospectively analyzed data from cancer patients who were admitted to the ICU without prior planning within the past 7 days, specifically between May 12, 2021, and July 12, 2021. The patients were grouped based on their 90-day survival status, and the aim was to identify the risk factors influencing their survival status. A total of 1488 cases were included in the study, with an average age of 63.2 ± 12.4 years. The most common reason for ICU admission was sepsis (n = 940, 63.2%). During their ICU stay, 29.7% of patients required vasoactive drug support (n = 442), 39.8% needed invasive mechanical ventilation support (n = 592), and 82 patients (5.5%) received renal replacement therapy. We conducted a multivariate COX proportional hazards model analysis, which revealed that BMI and a history of hypertension were protective factors. On the other hand, antitumor treatment within the 3 months prior to admission, transfer from the emergency department, general ward, or external hospital, high APACHE score, diagnosis of shock and respiratory failure, receiving invasive ventilation, and experiencing acute kidney injury (AKI) were identified as risk factors for poor prognosis within 90 days after ICU admission. The average length of stay in the ICU was 4 days, while the hospital stay duration was 18 days. A total of 415 patients died within 90 days after ICU admission, resulting in a mortality rate of 27.9%. We selected 8 indicators to construct the predictive model, which demonstrated good discrimination and calibration. The prognosis of cancer patients who are unplanned transferred to the ICU is generally poor. Assessing the risk factors and developing a risk prediction model for these patients can play a significant role in evaluating their prognosis.

Abstract A set of high-quality pan-genomes would help identify important genes that are still hidden/incomplete in bird reference genomes. In an attempt to address these issues, we have assembled a de novo chromosome-level reference genome of the Silkie (Gallus gallus domesticus), which is an important avian model for unique traits, like fibromelanosis, with unclear genetic foundation. This Silkie genome includes the complete genomic sequences of well-known, but unresolved, evolutionarily, endocrinologically, and immunologically important genes, including leptin, ovocleidin-17, and tumor-necrosis factor-α. The gap-less and manually annotated MHC (major histocompatibility complex) region possesses 38 recently identified genes, with differentially regulated genes recovered in response to pathogen challenges. We also provide whole-genome methylation and genetic variation maps, and resolve a complex genetic region that may contribute to fibromelanosis in these animals. Finally, we experimentally show leptin binding to the identified leptin receptor in chicken, confirming an active leptin ligand-receptor system. The Silkie genome assembly not only provides a rich data resource for avian genome studies, but also lays a foundation for further functional validation of resolved genes.

Abstract Background The advancement of single-cell sequencing has progressed our ability to solve biological questions. Cell type annotation is of vital importance to this process, allowing for the analysis and interpretation of enormous single-cell datasets. At present, however, manual cell annotation which is the predominant approach remains limited by both speed and the requirement of expert knowledge. Methods To address these challenges, we constructed a hierarchically organized marker map through manually curating over 26,000 cell marker entries from about 7000 publications. We then developed WISE, a weighted and integrated gene set enrichment method, to integrate the prevalence of canonical markers and ordered differentially expressed genes of specific cell types in the marker map. Benchmarking analysis suggested that our method outperformed state-of-the-art methods. Results By integrating the marker map and WISE, we developed a user-friendly and convenient web server, ACT ( http://xteam.xbio.top/ACT/ or http://biocc.hrbmu.edu.cn/ACT/ ), which only takes a simple list of upregulated genes as input and provides interactive hierarchy maps, together with well-designed charts and statistical information, to accelerate the assignment of cell identities and made the results comparable to expert manual annotation. Besides, a pan-tissue marker map was constructed to assist in cell assignments in less-studied tissues. Applying ACT to three case studies showed that all cell clusters were quickly and accurately annotated, and multi-level and more refined cell types were identified. Conclusions We developed a knowledge-based resource and a corresponding method, together with an intuitive graphical web interface, for cell type annotation. We believe that ACT, emerging as a powerful tool for cell type annotation, would be widely used in single-cell research and considerably accelerate the process of cell type identification.