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Abstract Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the association between different levels of physical activity and risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) mellitus among adults with prediabetes in Chinese population. Methods This prospective population-based cohort study included 12,424 participants (mean [SD] age, 52.8 [16.8] years; 82.2% men) with prediabetes at 2014 survey of the Kailuan study. Physical activity information was collected through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form and categorized by metabolic equivalent (MET) of task as low, moderate, and high. Cox regression models were built to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between physical activity levels and incident T2D. Results During a median follow-up of 3.6 years, 2,207 (17.8%) participants developed T2D. The incident rate of T2D were 55.83/1000, 35.14/1000, and 39.61/1000 person-years in the low, moderate, and high physical activity level group, respectively. Both moderate (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.67) and high (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.89) physical activity levels were associated with lower risks of developing T2D compared to low physical activity level (P for trend

Abstract Background The Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI) is a new index to evaluate visceral adipose tissue in the Chinese population. Arterial stiffness (AS) is a kind of degeneration of the large arteries, and obesity is an essential contributing factor to AS. Our study aimed to explore the longitudinal association between CVAI and the risk of AS and to compare the predictive power of CVAI, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) for AS. Methods Between 2010 and 2020, a total of 14,877 participants participating in at least two brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measurements from the Kailuan study were included. The Cox proportional hazard regression models were performed to evaluate the longitudinal association between CVAI and the risk of AS. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to compare the predictive power of CVAI, BMI, and WC for AS. Results After adjusting for potential confounding factors, CVAI was significantly associated with the risk of AS. Compared with the first CVAI quartile, the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% CI of the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 1.30 (1.09–1.56), 1.37 (1.15–1.63), and 1.49 (1.24–1.78), respectively. The area under ROC curve of CVAI was 0.661, significantly higher than BMI (AUC: 0.582) and WC (AUC: 0.606). Conclusion CVAI may be a reliable indicator to identify high-risk groups of AS in the Chinese general population, and the predictive power of CVAI for AS was better than BMI and WC.

Abstract Materials for radiation detection are critically important and urgently demanded in diverse fields, starting from fundamental scientific research to medical diagnostics, homeland security, and environmental monitoring. Low-dimensional halides (LDHs) exhibiting efficient self-trapped exciton (STE) emission with high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) have recently shown a great potential as scintillators. However, an overlooked issue of exciton-exciton interaction in LDHs under ionizing radiation hinders the broadening of its radiation detection applications. Here, we demonstrate an exceptional enhancement of exciton-harvesting efficiency in zero-dimensional (0D) Cs3Cu2I5:Tl halide single crystals by forming strongly localized Tl-bound excitons. Because of the suppression of non-radiative exciton-exciton interaction, an excellent α/β pulse-shape-discrimination (PSD) figure-of-merit (FoM) factor of 2.64, a superior rejection ratio of 10−9, and a high scintillation yield of 26 000 photons MeV−1 under 5.49 MeV α-ray are achieved in Cs3Cu2I5:Tl single crystals, outperforming the commercial ZnS:Ag/PVT composites for charged particle detection applications. Furthermore, a radiation detector prototype based on Cs3Cu2I5:Tl single crystal demonstrates the capability of identifying radioactive 220Rn gas for environmental radiation monitoring applications. We believe that the exciton-harvesting strategy proposed here can greatly boost the applications of LDHs materials.

Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a chronic disease with a serious prognosis, and obesity is a risk factor for CVD. Lipid accumulation product index (LAP) is a new indicator of obesity, waist circumference, and triglycerides were included in the formula, but its association with CVD is inconsistent. Therefore, this study researched the effect of LAP levels on CVD. Methods This prospective cohort study was based on the Kailuan cohort. A total of 95,981 participants who completed the first physical examination in 2006 and had no history of CVD or LAP absence were included. The participants were divided into four groups according to the LAP quartile (Q1 - Q4). Up until December 31, 2022, incidence density was calculated for each group. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of CVD in each group were calculated by the Cox proportional hazards model. Results During a median follow-up period of 15.95 years, 9925 incident CVD events occurred (2123 myocardial infarction and 8096 stroke). There were differences in potential confounders among the four groups (P

Background Emerging evidence suggests a central role for inflammation in cardiac conduction disorder (CCD). It is unknown whether habitual physical activity could modulate the inflammation‐associated risks of incident CCD in the general population. Methods and Results This population‐based cohort was derived from the China Kailuan study, including a total of 97 192 participants without prior CCD. The end points included incident CCD and its subcategories (atrioventricular block and bundle‐branch block). Systemic inflammation was indicated by the monocyte‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (MLR). Over a median 10.91‐year follow‐up, 3747 cases of CCD occurred, with 1062 cases of atrioventricular block and 2697 cases of bundle‐branch block. An overall linear dose‐dependent relationship was observed between MLR and each study end point (all P‐nonlinearity≥0.05). Both higher MLR and physical inactivity were significantly associated with higher risks of conduction block. The MLR‐associated risks of developing study end points were higher in the physically inactive individuals than in those being physically active, with significant interactions between MLR levels and physical activity for developing CCD (P‐interaction=0.07) and bundle‐branch block (P‐interaction

The chemokine co-receptors CXCR4 and CCR5 mediate HIV entry and signal transduction necessary for viral infection. However, to date only the CCR5 antagonist maraviroc is approved for treating HIV-1 infection. Given that approximately 50% of late-stage HIV patients also develop CXCR4-tropic virus, clinical anti-HIV CXCR4 antagonists are needed. Here, we describe a novel allosteric CXCR4 antagonist TIQ-15 which inhibits CXCR4-tropic HIV-1 infection of primary and transformed CD4 T cells. TIQ-15 blocks HIV entry with an IC50 of 13 nM. TIQ-15 also inhibits SDF-1α/CXCR4-mediated cAMP production, cofilin activation, and chemotactic signaling. In addition, TIQ-15 induces CXCR4 receptor internalization without affecting the levels of the CD4 receptor, suggesting that TIQ-15 may act through a novel allosteric site on CXCR4 for blocking HIV entry. Furthermore, TIQ-15 did not inhibit VSV-G pseudotyped HIV-1 infection, demonstrating its specificity in blocking CXCR4-tropic virus entry, but not CXCR4-independent endocytosis or post-entry steps. When tested against a panel of clinical isolates, TIQ-15 showed potent inhibition against CXCR4-tropic and dual-tropic viruses, and moderate inhibition against CCR5-tropic isolates. This observation was followed by a co-dosing study with maraviroc, and TIQ-15 demonstrated synergistic activity. In summary, here we describe a novel HIV-1 entry inhibitor, TIQ-15, which potently inhibits CXCR4-tropic viruses while possessing low-level synergistic activities against CCR5-tropic viruses. TIQ-15 could potentially be co-dosed with the CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc to block viruses of mixed tropisms.

Abstract This study aims to the function of miR-22 original mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) on osteosarcoma (OS) proliferation, migration and invasion. Bio-informatics analysis including GEO2R analysis, Gene Ontology analysis, integration analysis were used to confirmed the target genes (miR-22, Twist1, CADM1) in OS. RT-qPCR and western blotting confirmed the different expression of miR-22, Twist1, CADM1 in OS tissues, MG63 and Saos cell lines. MTS assay, CCK8 assay, colony forming assay, EdU assay were performed to detect the proliferation effect of miR-22 on MG63. Transwell migration assay, transwell invasion assay, wound healing assay were used to verify the migration and invasion effect of miR-22 on MG63. Luciferase reporter assay confirm the binding sites between miR-22 and Twist1. RT-qPCR confirmed miR-22 and CADM1 downregulated and Twist1 upregulated in OS tissues, MG63 and Saos. Exosome original MSC labeled with PKH-26 could be uptake by MG63, which upregulated the expression of miR-22 in MG63. High expression of miR-22 in MG63 inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion, which could be rescued by Twist1. Dual luciferase reporter analysis confirmed Twist1 was a target of miR-22. Exosome modified with miR-22 mimic inhibit proliferation, migration and invasion more efficient than exosome original MSC. miR-22 cargo in exo-MSC could uptake by MG63 and supply MG63 with miR-22, which inhibit MG63 proliferation, migration and invasion through targeting Twist1.

Abstract Background The Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), a simple surrogate measure of visceral fat, is significantly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in the general population. This study aimed to evaluate the association of cumulative CVAI (cumCVAI) exposure and its accumulation time course with CVD risk among patients with hypertension. Methods This prospective study involved 15,350 patients with hypertension from the Kailuan Study who were evaluated at least three times in the observation period of 2006 to 2014 (2006–2007, 2010–2011, and 2014–2015) and who were free of myocardial infarction and stroke before 2014. The cumCVAI was calculated as the weighted sum of the mean CVAI for each time interval (value × time). The time course of CVAI accumulation was categorized by splitting the overall accumulation into early (cumCVAI06 − 10) and late (cumCVAI10 − 14) accumulation, or the slope of CVAI versus time from 2006 to 2014 into positive and negative. Results During the 6.59-year follow-up period, 1,184 new-onset CVD events were recorded. After adjusting for confounding variables, the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD were 1.35 (1.13–1.61) in the highest quartile of cumCVAI, 1.35 (1.14–1.61) in the highest quartile of the time-weighted average CVAI, 1.26 (1.12–1.43) in those with a cumulative burden > 0, and 1.43 (1.14–1.78) for the group with a 10-year exposure duration. When considering the time course of CVAI accumulation, the HR (95% CI) for CVD was 1.33 (1.11–1.59) for early cumCVAI. When considering the combined effect of cumCVAI accumulation and its time course, the HR (95% CI) for CVD was 1.22 (1.03–1.46) for cumCVAI ≥ median with a positive slope. Conclusions In this study, incident CVD risk depended on both long-term high cumCVAI exposure and the duration of high CVAI exposure among patients with hypertension. Early CVAI accumulation resulted in a greater risk increase than later CVAI accumulation, emphasizing the importance of optimal CVAI control in early life.

The persistence and clinical consequences of rabies virus (RABV) infection have prompted global efforts to develop a safe and effective vaccines against rabies. mRNA vaccines represent a promising option against emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, gaining particular interest since the outbreak of COVID-19. Herein, we report the development of a highly efficacious rabies mRNA vaccine composed of sequence-modified mRNA encoding RABV glycoprotein (RABV-G) packaged in core–shell structured lipopolyplex (LPP) nanoparticles, named LPP-mRNA-G. The bilayer structure of LPP improves protection and delivery of RABV-G mRNA and allows gradual release of mRNA molecules as the polymer degrades. The unique core–shell structured nanoparticle of LPP-mRNA-G facilitates vaccine uptake and demonstrates a desirable biodistribution pattern with low liver targeting upon intramuscular immunization. Single administration of low-dose LPP-mRNA-G in mice elicited potent humoral immune response and provided complete protection against intracerebral challenge with lethal RABV. Similarly, single immunization of low-dose LPP-mRNA-G induced high levels of virus-neutralizing antibody titers in dogs. Collectively, our data demonstrate the potential of LPP-mRNA-G as a promising next-generation rabies vaccine used in human and companion animals.

Nematic liquid‐crystal microlens arrays (LC‐MLAs) often exhibit chromatic aberration and low resolution, severely compromising their optical imaging quality. This study proposes an achromatic and resolution enhancement light field (ARELF) deep neural network (DNN) to address these issues. The training set is constructed by incorporating LC‐MLA characteristics’ degradation, retrofitting the vimeo90k dataset. The network's hidden layer is trained to learn about chromatic aberration and low resolution of LC‐MLA while extracting imaging features and fusing the information of complementary features of a light field under varying voltages. The loss function includes both chromatic aberration and overall resolution. The light field images of ZnO LC‐MLA under seven consecutive voltages are used as input to test the proposed DNN model. After experimental verification, the proposed model effectively eliminates chromatic aberration while enhancing the spatial and temporal resolution of LC‐MLA. This novel network can be utilized to optimize the design process of LC‐MLA and significantly improve its imaging performance.

Industrial structure transformation is important for realizing Chinese modernization, and ecological civilization is necessary for building a beautiful China. How to use the construction of ecological civilization to realize industrial structure transformation is a major issue for the economic development of China and other developing countries. The difference-in-differences method was used to evaluate the impact of the ecological civilization pilot policy (ECPP) on industrial structure transformation. The three-stage mediating effect method is used to explore the mechanism channel. Through heterogeneity discussion and spatial spillover analysis method, the effects of ECPP were further understood. The study reveals the following: Overall, the ECPP has promoted the transformation of the industrial structure. Specifically, the ECPP has a significant positive impact on industrial structure rationalization but a negative impact on industrial structure advancement. Several robustness checks support this finding. Second, the mechanism channels are primarily achieved through environmental investment, green finance infusion, and congestion alleviation. Third, good central-local relationships can enhance the trend toward industrial structure rationalization, while unfavorable relationships may pose hindrances to industrial structure advancement. In addition, the effect of the ECPP varies depending on the population density and environmental pollution. Lastly, the ECPP has a spatial positive spillover effect promoting industrial structure rationalization. The results above provide additional information about the effects of ECPPs on industrial structure transformation, both positive and negative, and help the ecological civilization strategy system be adjusted promptly.

BackgroundThe association between mean arterial pressure (MAP) trajectory in young adults and risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and all-cause mortality is not well-characterized. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different MAP trajectory on the risk of CVD and all-cause mortality among the young.MethodsIn the Kailuan cohort study, 19,171 participants aged 18–40 years were enrolled without CVD (including myocardial infarction, stroke, atrial fibrillation and heart failure). The potential hybrid model was used to fit different trajectory patterns according to longitudinal changes of MAP. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for risk of CVD and all-cause mortality were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard regression models for participants with different trajectories.ResultsFive distinct MAP trajectories were identified during 2006–2013. Each of the trajectories was labelled as low-stable, middle-stable, decreasing, increasing, or high-stable. With the low-stable trajectory group as the reference, the multivariate adjusted HR (95%CI) of CVD for the middle-stable, decreasing, increasing and high-stable groups were 2.49 (1.41–4.40), 5.18 (2.66–10.06), 5.91 (2.96–11.80) and 12.68 (6.30–25.51), respectively. The HR (95%CI) for all-cause deaths were 1.27 (0.84–1.94), 2.01 (1.14–3.55), 1.96 (1.04–4.3.72), and 3.28 (1.69–6.37), respectively.ConclusionIn young adults, MAP trajectories were associated with the risk of CVD or all-cause mortality and increasing MAP trajectories within the currently designated “normal” range may still increase the risk for CVD.

Recently, deep-learning-based methods have become the current mainstream of remote sensing image super-resolution (SR) due to their powerful fitting ability. However, they are still unsatisfactory in large-scale factor SR scenarios. The more complicated information distribution of images further increases the difficulty of reconstruction. In this article, we propose a novel residual split attention group (RSAG) to maintain the overall structural and the local details simultaneously. Specifically, an upscale module that makes the network jointly consider hierarchical priors, which assists in the prediction of high-frequency information, and a residual split attention module to adaptively explore and exploit the global structure information in low-level feature space. In addition, an artifact removal strategy is proposed to reduce excessive artifacts and further boost the performance. By progressively connecting the above modules and incrementally fusing the multilevel intermediate feature maps, the fidelity of high-frequency detail information is improved. Finally, we propose a residual split attention network by stacking several RSAGs for reconstructing high-resolution remote sensing images. Extensive experiment results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves better quantitative metrics and visual quality than the state-of-the-art approaches.

Abstract Objective We aimed to examine the association of triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) with risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among postmenopausal women. Methods A total of 7741 participants met the inclusion criteria, and were included in the analysis. The TyG index was calculated as ln (triglyceride [mg/dL] × fasting blood glucose [mg/dL]/2). The participants were classified into four groups by the quartiles of TyG index, and the Q1 group was used as the reference group. The cumulative incidence of CVD for the groups were compared using the Kaplan–Meier curves. The association between the TyG index and risk of CVD among postmenopausal women was assessed by the Cox proportional hazards models (hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence intervals [CI]). Results During a median follow-up of 12 years, a total of 383 (4.95%) participants developed incident CVD. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, a high baseline TyG index (Q4 group) was associated with higher future risk of CVD, the HR (95% CI) of CVD risk was 1.70 (1.21–2.38) in Q4 group compared with the Q1 group. Subgroup analyses showed the Q4 group was significantly associated with the risk of CVD, regardless of age at menopause (younger than 50 years; 50 years and older) and obesity status. Conclusions Higher TyG index at baseline as a marker of insulin resistance (IR), is associated with higher risk of future CVD among postmenopausal women. The TyG index may serve as a simple and easy marker for early identification of high-risk individuals in the postmenopausal women.

Abstract Background The triglyceride–glucose index (TyG index), an alternative indicator of peripheral insulin resistance (IR), is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the general population. The aim of this research was to determine the correlation between early-onset stroke and the TyG index among young Chinese adults. Methods Participants (age ≤ 40 years) who attended their first physical examination in Kailuan General Hospital or its 11 subsidiary hospitals between 2006 and 2012 were enrolled. The subjects were divided into four equal points according to the quartile of the TyG index, with the lowest quartile (Q1) as the reference group. A Cox proportional hazard model was employed to assess the correlation between early-onset stroke incidence and the TyG index. Restricted cubic spline analysis was further conducted to examine nonlinear associations. The TyG index was calculated as Ln [Triglyceride (TG, mg/dL) × Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG, mg/dL)/2]. Results Overall, 35,999 subjects met the inclusion criteria. Their mean age was 30.8 ± 5.7 years, and 77.1% of subjects were males. During a median observation period of 11 years, 281 stroke events occurred (62 hemorrhagic strokes and 219 ischemic strokes). Compared to the Q1 group (as the lowest group), subjects in groups Q2-Q4 had significantly higher risks of early-onset stroke (P

Abstract Background Patients with metabolic syndrome (MS) have a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the possible mechanisms are not fully understood and further exploration of the possible factors influencing the high incidence of CVD in patients with MS is still needed. Objectives This study aims to examine the association between fetal famine exposure and the risk of CVD in adulthood with MS. Methods Of 13,744 MS patients free of CVD selected from the Kailuan Study in 2006 (referred as the baseline survey) were included in the study. China suffered a severe famine from 1959 to 1962, so the participants born during this period were classified as the uterine famine exposed group. All patients were born between January 1, 1949, and December 31, 1974. Based on the date of birth, all patients were divided into the no-exposed group (born between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 1974), uterine famine exposed group (born between January 1, 1959 and December 31, 1962), and childhood famine exposed group (born between January 1, 1949 and December 31, 1958). After following up to December 31, 2019, the weighted Cox regression analysis model was used to calculate the effect of early life famine exposure in MS individuals on the risk of CVD in adulthood. Results During the 12.12 years of follow-up, the incidence of CVD was 5.87%, 10.13%, and 10.90% in the no-exposed group, uterine famine exposed group, and childhood famine exposed group, respectively. Compared with participants in the no-exposed group, the CVD risk and stroke risk increased in participants in the uterine famine exposed group (for CVD, HR: 1.32, 95% CI 1.04–1.67; for stroke, HR:1.37, 95% CI 1.05–1.79), but not in childhood famine exposed group. However, the increased CVD risks were only observed in females or smokers. No increased MI risks were observed for participants in the uterine famine exposed group or childhood famine exposed group. Conclusions Our findings suggested that exposure to famine during uterine life might increase the risk of CVD in adulthood in participants with MS.

Abstract Multiple‐input multiple‐output with frequency diverse array (FDA‐MIMO) radar has drawn great attention due to providing the range‐angle beampattern via designing the transmit beamforming matrix. In this work, the authors investigate the transmit beamforming matrix optimization for Low‐Probability‐of‐Intercept (LPI) of FDA‐MIMO radar, which can accurately control the transmit beam energy to meet the LPI requirements and the clutter suppression. The idea of the transmit beamforming matrix design is to minimise the transmit power in a specific direction and simultaneously maximise the signal‐to‐interference‐plus‐noise ratio under the power constraint on each array element. To this end, a constrained multiple‐ratio fractional programming model with concerning the transmit beam matrix and the receive filter is first constructed, and then, it is transformed into two suboptimisation problems using a circular iterative approach. Moreover, the specific solution of the transmit beamforming matrix is obtained using the quadratic transformation method and the alternating direction method of multipliers algorithm. In addition, the computational complexity is also analysed in this paper. The simulation results demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Abstract Low‐dimensional organic–inorganic hybrid manganese(II) halides are emerging as a highly promising class of candidate materials for X‐ray imaging due to their excellent radioluminescence performance. Here, a red‐emitting (Gua)2MnCl4 (Gua = guanidine, CH6N3+) single crystal scintillator grown by a simple solution‐processing method is reported. (Gua)2MnCl4 crystallizes into a zero‐dimensional (0D) crystal structure consisting of trimeric [Mn3Cl12]6− units. It has a high PLQY of 76% and a large Stokes shift of 125 nm. (Gua)2MnCl4 flexible scintillation screen demonstrates a decent X‐ray detection limit of 145.3 nGyair s−1 and a superior imaging resolution of 8 lp mm−1. These results highlight the potential of low‐dimensional red‐emitting Mn‐based hybrids for X‐ray imaging applications.

ObjectiveThe triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index is considered as a pivotal factor for various metabolic, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular diseases. However, there is currently a paucity of relevant studies on the association between long-term level and change of TyG-index and cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) risk. We aimed to explore the risk of CMDs in relation to the long-term level and change of TyG-index.MethodsBased on the prospective cohort study, a total of 36359 subjects who were free of CMDs, had complete data of triglyceride (TG) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) and underwent four health check-ups from 2006 to 2012 consecutively were followed up for CMDs until 2021. The associations between long-term level and change of TyG-index and CMDs risk were assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression models to compute hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The TyG-index was calculated as ln [TG, mg/dL) × FBG, mg/dL)/2].ResultsDuring the median observation period of 8 years, 4685 subjects were newly diagnosed with CMDs. In multivariable-adjusted models, a graded positive association was observed between CMDs and long-term TyG-index. Compared with the Q1 group, subjects with the Q2-Q4 group had increased progressively risk of CMDs, with corresponding HRs of 1.64(1.47-1.83), 2.36(2.13-2.62), 3.15(2.84-3.49), respectively. The association was marginally attenuated, after further adjustment for the baseline TyG level. In addition, compared with stable TyG level, both loss and gain in TyG level were associated with increased CMDs risk.ConclusionsLong-term elevated level and change of TyG-index are risk factors for the incident CMDs. Elevated TyG-index in the early stage remains to exert cumulative effects on the occurrence of CMDs even after accounting for the baseline TyG-index.

Considering the low probability of intercept problem that the signal-dependent interference and the target were located in the same angle, an improved transmit beamforming design based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) was proposed for multiple-input multiple-output with frequency diverse array radar.The transmit energy was minimized at the target under constraints of the energy at each transmitter and signal clutter-plus-noise ratio requirement.Subsequently, a cyclic algorithm was developed to tackle the non-convex design problem.Firstly, the optimal receive filter was obtained by generalized Rayleigh quotient.And then the transmit beamforming was optimized by employing auxiliary variables and ADMM to solve quadratic programming problem with fractional inequality constraint.Moreover, both the convergence and computational complexity of the proposed algorithm were discussed.Simulation results show that, compared with the semi-denite programming method, the proposed method not only attains the given antenna power, but also achieves the better mainlobe focusing performance at the target.Furthermore, the null levels at the clutter locations and the jamming directions obtained by the proposed method are -50 dB above.

SARS-CoV-2 is an emerging viral pathogen and a major global public health challenge since December of 2019, with limited effective treatments throughout the pandemic. As part of the innate immune response to viral infection, type I interferons (IFN-I) trigger a signaling cascade that culminates in the activation of hundreds of genes, known as interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), that collectively foster an antiviral state. We report here the identification of a group of type I interferon suppressed genes, including fatty acid synthase (FASN), which are involved in lipid metabolism. Overexpression of FASN or the addition of its downstream product, palmitate, increased viral infection while knockout or knockdown of FASN reduced infection. More importantly, pharmacological inhibitors of FASN effectively blocked infections with a broad range of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern. Thus, our studies not only suggest that downregulation of metabolic genes may present an antiviral strategy by type I interferon, but they also introduce the potential for FASN inhibitors to have a therapeutic application in combating emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

Abstract Background Previous studies has shown a significant relationship between baseline triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the long-term effect of TyG index and incident CVD remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the association between cumulative TyG index and the risk of CVD. Method In this study, we recruited individuals participating in Kailuan Study from 2006 to 2013 without stroke, myocardial infarction, and cancer in the four consecutive examinations. Cumulative TyG index was calculated by multiplying the average TyG index and the time between the two consecutive examinations. Cumulative TyG index levels were categorized into four quartile groups: Q1 group, ≤ 50.65 (as reference group), Q2 group, 50.65–53.86, Q3 group, 53.86–57.44, Q4 group, > 57.44. The association between cumulative TyG index and the risk of CVD was estimated by multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. Result A total of 44,064 individuals participated in the final analysis. After a mean follow-up of 6.52 ± 1.14 years, incident CVD, MI and stroke occurred in 2057, 395 and 1695, respectively. The risk of developing CVD increased with the quartile of cumulative in TyG index, after adjustment for multiple potential confounders, the HR for CVD events were 1.25 (1.08–1.44) in Q2, 1.22 (1.05–1.40) in Q3 and 1.39 (1.21–1.61) in Q4, compared to Q1 group. The longer duration of higher TyG index exposure was significantly associated with increased CVD risk. Similar results were obtained in the subgroup and sensitivity analysis. Conclusion Cumulative TyG index was associated with increased risk of CVD. Maintaining an appropriate level of TG and FBG within the desirable range and better control of cumulative TyG index are important for prevention of CVD.

Introduction Multi-modality medical imaging study, especially brain MRI, greatly facilitates the research on subclinical brain disease. However, there is still a lack of such studies with a wider age span of participants. The Multi-modality MEdical imaging sTudy bAsed on KaiLuan Study (META-KLS) was designed to address this issue with a large sample size population.Methods and analysis We aim to enrol at least 1000 subjects in META-KLS. All the participants without contraindications will perform multi-modality medical imaging, including brain MRI, retinal fundus photograph, fundus optical coherence tomography (OCT) and ultrasonography of the internal carotid artery (ICA) every 2–4 years. The acquired medical imaging will be further processed with a standardised and validated workflow. The clinical data at baseline and follow-up will be collected from the KaiLuan Study. The associations between multiple risk factors and subclinical brain disease are able to be fully investigated. Researches based on META-KLS will provide a series of state-of-the-art evidence for the prevention of neurological diseases and common chronic diseases.Ethics and dissemination The Kailuan Study and META-KLS have been approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Kailuan General Hospital (IRB number: 2008 No. 1 and 2021002, respectively). Written informed consent will be acquired from each participant. Results are expected to be published in professional peer-reviewed journals beginning in 2023.Trial registration number NCT05453877.

Abstract Background Although multiple studies have demonstrated a role for exosomes during virus infections, our understanding of the mechanisms by which exosome exchange regulates immune response during viral infections and affects viral pathogenesis is still in its infancy. In particular, very little is known for cytoplasmic single-stranded RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). We have used RVFV infection as a model for cytoplasmic single-stranded RNA viruses to address this gap in knowledge. RVFV is a highly pathogenic agent that causes RVF, a zoonotic disease for which no effective therapeutic or approved human vaccine exist. Results We show here that exosomes released from cells infected with RVFV (designated as EXi-RVFV) serve a protective role for the host and provide a mechanistic model for these effects. Our results show that treatment of both naïve immune cells (U937 monocytes) and naïve non-immune cells (HSAECs) with EXi-RVFV induces a strong RIG-I dependent activation of IFN-B. We also demonstrate that this strong anti-viral response leads to activation of autophagy in treated cells and correlates with resistance to subsequent viral infection. Since we have shown that viral RNA genome is associated with EXi-RVFV, RIG-I activation might be mediated by the presence of packaged viral RNA sequences. Conclusions Using RVFV infection as a model for cytoplasmic single-stranded RNA viruses, our results show a novel mechanism of host protection by exosomes released from infected cells (EXi) whereby the EXi activate RIG-I to induce IFN-dependent activation of autophagy in naïve recipient cells including monocytes. Because monocytes serve as reservoirs for RVFV replication, this EXi-RVFV-induced activation of autophagy in monocytes may work to slow down or halt viral dissemination in the infected organism. These findings offer novel mechanistic insights that may aid in future development of effective vaccines or therapeutics, and that may be applicable for a better molecular understanding of how exosome release regulates innate immune response to other cytoplasmic single-stranded RNA viruses.

ObjectivesTo assess the lateralization of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the auditory cortex of idiopathic tinnitus patients and healthy controls (HCs) using 3D pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (pcASL).MethodsThirty-six patients with idiopathic tinnitus and 43 sex- and age-matched HCs underwent 3D-pcASL scanning using a 3.0 T MRI system. For both groups, region of interest analysis was performed on the primary auditory cortex (PAC), auditory associative cortex (AAC), and secondary auditory cortex (SAC). The clinical data of all subjects were analyzed.ResultsIn both tinnitus patients and HCs, CBF of the left PAC was significantly higher than that of the right (HCs: P = 0.02; patients: P = 0.043), but CBF of the right AAC and SAC was significantly higher than that of the left (AAC: HCs, P < 0.001; patients: P < 0.001. SAC: HCs, P < 0.001; patients: P = 0.001). Compared with HCs, tinnitus patients exhibited significantly higher CBF in the bilateral PAC (right: P = 0.008; left: P = 0.022). CBF in the left PAC was positively correlated with tinnitus severity (r = 0.399, P = 0.016).ConclusionThis study confirms the asymmetry of the auditory cortex and investigates the underlying neuropathology of idiopathic tinnitus in terms of CBF.

Abstract Background The ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in the infection of over 128 million people and has caused over 2.8 million deaths as of April 2021 in more than 220 countries and territories. Currently, there is no effective treatment for COVID-19 to reduce mortality. We investigated the potential anti-coronavirus activities from an oral liquid of traditional medicine, Respiratory Detox Shot (RDS), which contains mostly herbal ingredients traditionally used to manage lung diseases. Results Here we report that RDS inhibited the infection of target cells by lenti-SARS-CoV, lenti-SARS-CoV-2, and hybrid alphavirus-SARS-CoV-2 (Ha-CoV-2) pseudoviruses, and by infectious SARS-CoV-2 and derived Ha-CoV-2 variants including B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.429, B.1.2, B.1.494, B.1.1.207, B.1.258, and B.1.1.298. We further demonstrated that RDS directly inactivates the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. In addition, we found that RDS can also block the infection of target cells by Influenza A virus. Conclusions These results suggest that RDS may broadly inhibit the infection of respiratory viruses.

Background and Objectives: Studies on the association between arterial stiffness and kidney function have generated inconsistent results. Whether arterial stiffness is linked to decline in renal function warrants further study. This study aimed to investigate the association between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and longitudinal change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) among Chinese adults. Methods: In this longitudinal study, 8,264 participants in a community-based cohort had baPWV measured in 2010–2011 and were followed in subsequent surveys through to 2016. During each survey visit, fasting blood samples were collected for serum creatinine and eGFR was calculated. Participants were divided into 5 groups (Q1-Q5) by baPWV quintile. The association between baPWV and longitudinal changes in eGFR was assessed using generalized estimating equation models. Results: A total of 8,045 participants were included in the final analysis. The average age was 54 ± 12 years (age range 24–97 years), and mean eGFR was 93.0 ± 18.6 mL/min/1.73 m2. There was an inverse linear association between baseline baPWV and eGFR change rate (p < 0.001). Compared with Q1 (lowest) group, the mean differences and 95% CI in eGFR decrease rate among Q2–Q5 groups were −0.23 (−0.62, 0.16), −0.67 (−1.06, −0.28), −1.11 (−1.50, −0.72), and −1.30 (−1.69, −0.92) mL/min/1.73 m2 per year, respectively, after adjustment for age, gender, and other potential confounders (p trend < 0.0001). For each 100 cm/s increase in baPWV at baseline, the fully adjusted mean difference in eGFR decrease rate was −0.14 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year (95% CI −0.18, −0.10; p < 0.0001). Compared with participants with baPWV < 1,400 cm/s, the fully adjusted mean difference in eGFR decrease rate was −0.92 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year (95% CI −1.18, −0.66) for those with baPWV ≥ 1,400 cm/s (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Participants with a higher baPWV at baseline had a greater decrease in eGFR over time. Future studies could examine the relationship between baPWV and decline in renal function in higher risk cohorts, and its potential role in targeting reno-protective interventions to those who may benefit from them most.

A transmissive diffuser that is based on polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film has been developed. Liquid crystal E7 and polymer NOA65, at a ratio of 55:45 by weight, were utilized to fabricate the diffuser. With the use of phase separation, diffuser of 7.5 µm PDLC film thickness can be formed after 20 minutes UV irradiation with an ultraviolet lamp (36E @ 365nm). Test results have shown that the proposed diffuser has good classic electro-optical and transmissive imaging features under an external tuneable electric field. The development has a great application potential in augmented reality or mixed reality-type applications.

In this paper, direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation in the presence of non-uniform noise is investigated. To achieve high estimation accuracy, the DOA estimation problem is solved with the use of a matrix completion approach. The matrix completion via alternating projection algorithm (APA) is firstly utilized to find the noise-free covariance matrix of the signal, which is then used to find the DOA by utilizing the conventional subspace-based method. Numerical simulations are performed to verify the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Feature matching is critical in analyzing remote sensing images, aiming to find the optimal mapping between correspondences. Regularization technology is essential to ensure the well-posedness of feature matching. However, current regularization-based methods scarcely consider the geometry structure of the image, which is beneficial for estimating the mapping, especially when the image pairs have a large view or scale change and local distortion. In this article, we introduce manifold regularization to overcome this limit and formulate feature matching as a unified semisupervised latent variable mixture model for both rigid and nonrigid transformations. Especially, we apply a Bayesian model with latent variables indicating whether matches in the putative correspondences are outliers or inliers. Moreover, we employ all the feature points, only part of which have correct matches, to express the intrinsic structure, which is preserved by manifold regularization. Finally, we combine manifold regularization with three different transformation models (e.g., rigid, affine, and thin-plate spline) to estimate the corresponding mappings. Experimental results on four remote sensing image datasets demonstrate that our method can significantly outperform the state of the art.

Focusing on the performance improvement of glass fiber-modified loess, a series of laboratory tests were carried out, and the macroscopic mechanical properties of glass fiber-modified loess were studied by conventional triaxial shear tests. With the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the pores and cracks image analysis system (PCAS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tests, the microscopic properties of the improved loess were studied qualitatively and quantitatively from three aspects: mode of structural contact, pore morphological characteristics and pore structure arrangement characteristics. Finally, the interface zone bond-slip model was used to analyze the internal mechanism of glass fiber and loess interface zone slip. The macroscopic test results show with the same glass fiber length, the shear strength, cohesion and internal friction angle of the modified loess all increased first and then decreased with increasing incorporation of glass fibers. And the optimal ratio of glass fibers is 0.6%. Under the same fiber ratio, the shear strength and cohesion of the improved loess continued to increase with increasing fiber length. The optimal fiber length used in the project was 9 mm. Qualitative analysis of the SEM images show that with the increase in the glass fiber incorporation ratio, the fiber increasingly sutures the cracks in the soil and tightens the soil at both ends of the cracks. Quantitative analysis shows that the proportion of pore area is the largest at the 0.8% mixing ratio, followed by the 0% mixing ratio, and the smallest at the 0.6% mixing ratio. It can be seen from the NMR test results that the T2 spectral distribution curve under the fiber ratios of 0.2%–0.6% is shifted to the left compared with the ratios of 0% and 0.8%. The peak-top signal intensity of the main spectrum peak when the fiber ratio is 0.6% is the weakest.

Summary: HIV-1 infects blood CD4 T cells through the use of CD4 and CXCR4 or CCR5 receptors, which can be targeted through blocking viral binding to CD4/CXCR4/CCR5 or virus-cell fusion. Here we describe a novel mechanism by which HIV-1 nuclear entry can also be blocked through targeting a non-entry receptor, CD2. Cluster of differentiation 2 (CD2) is an adhesion molecule highly expressed on human blood CD4, particularly, memory CD4 T cells. We found that CD2 ligation with its cell-free ligand LFA-3 or anti-CD2 antibodies rendered blood resting CD4 T cells highly resistant to HIV-1 infection. We further demonstrate that mechanistically, CD2 binding initiates competitive signaling leading to cofilin activation and localized actin polymerization around CD2, which spatially inhibits HIV-1-initiated local actin polymerization needed for viral nuclear migration. Our study identifies CD2 as a novel target to block HIV-1 infection of blood resting T cells.

A major barrier to HIV eradication is the persistence of viral reservoirs. Resting CD4+ T cells are thought to be one of the major viral reservoirs, However, the underlying mechanism regulating HIV infection and the establishment of viral reservoir in T cells remain poorly understood. We have investigated the role of IP-10 in the establishment of HIV reservoirs in CD4+ T cells, and found that in HIV-infected individuals, plasma IP-10 was elevated, and positively correlated with HIV viral load and viral reservoir size. In addition, we found that binding of IP-10 to CXCR3 enhanced HIV latent infection of resting CD4+ T cells in vitro. Mechanistically, IP-10 stimulation promoted cofilin activity and actin dynamics, facilitating HIV entry and DNA integration. Moreover, treatment of resting CD4+ T cells with a LIM kinase inhibitor R10015 blocked cofilin phosphorylation and abrogated IP-10-mediated enhancement of HIV latent infection. These results suggest that IP-10 is a critical factor involved in HIV latent infection, and that therapeutic targeting of IP-10 may be a potential strategy for inhibiting HIV latent infection.

Introduction We aimed to investigate the individual and combined effects of age-specific and sex-specific pulse pressure (PP) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) on the incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus.Research design and methods Participants in the Kailuan study cohort who were ≥20 years old, participated in follow-up assessments and underwent baPWV measurements in 2010–2011, 2012–2013, and 2014–2015 were studied. The participants were allocated to four groups according to their PP and baPWV status, each categorized as high or normal, according to age-specific and sex-specific median values. Cox proportional hazards models were used to explore the individual and combined effects of PP and baPWV on the incidence of diabetes mellitus.Results There were 18 619 participants who were followed for 4.27±1.91 years. A total of 877 new cases of diabetes were identified, and the incidence density was 11.03/1000 per year. Using the normal PP and normal baPWV group as the reference group, the multivariable-adjusted HRs and 95% CIs for diabetes mellitus in the high PP and high baPWV groups were 1.08 (0.93 to 1.25) and 1.64 (1.41 to 1.90), respectively. Compared with the normal PP/baPWV group, the HR and 95% CI for diabetes in the normal PP/high baPWV, the high PP/normal baPWV, and high PP/baPWV groups were 1.66 (1.35 to 2.05), 1.09 (0.86 to 1.37), and 1.74 (1.43 to 2.13), respectively.Conclusions High baPWV was independently associated with a higher risk of diabetes mellitus, and individuals with both high baPWV and high PP were at a still higher risk of diabetes mellitus.

In the realm of online learning, social media is emerging as an indispensable tool for student learning. While social media offers benefits for students, it is important to acknowledge that it can also exert adverse effects on them. Drawing inspiration from stress dynamics, coping models, and existing social media literature, our study delves into the ways in which technical stressors (specifically, techno-invasion and techno-overload) and social stressors (encompassing the sense of belonging, social interaction, and social support) give rise to psychological stress among students who excessively depend on social media for learning. This heightened stress subsequently leads to feelings of exhaustion and perceived irreplaceability, ultimately impacting their behavioral outcomes, notably academic performance. The model was tested using survey data collected from a sample of 249 university students in China. From the perspective of technical and social systems, this study presents that excessive usage of social media has the potential to impact the students' academic performance by contributing to their exhaustion and perceived irreplaceability.

In this study, the scattering properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) and its optical features for use in turbulence image simulation are presented. A PDLC cell composed of a liquid crystal/monomer mixture with two indium tin oxide glass substrates, 55 wt.% E7 and 45 wt.% NOA65, is proposed. And this mixture had a thickness of 10 µm. With respect to its scattering properties, it was hypothesized that the proposed PDLC cell could be utilized as an electrically tunable turbulence imaging simulator. The measured results, two dimensional images of the transmission light, under voltages from 0 Vrms to 10 Vrms showed that the PDLC film could effectively simulate turbulence situation of a point light source under atmosphere turbulence condition to a certain extent. This PDLC film had a great potential for application in turbulence imaging simulation.

In this paper, the problem of multidimensional single-tone frequency estimation of sinusoids embedded in white Gaussian noise is investigated. By extracting the two-dimensional (2-D) slice matrices from the multidimensional data, we construct a covariance matrix associated with only one dimension, from which the corresponding frequency is estimated with the utilization of a QR decomposition based iterative method. The frequencies of the remaining dimensions are then obtained following similar procedures. Moreover, the mean square error of the estimated frequencies is devised. The computer simulations are also included to evaluate the performance of the proposed method by comparing with the several state-of-the-art algorithms and Cramér-Rao lower bound.

Purpose: This study evaluated the efficacy of retrobulbar ropivacaine plus dexmedetomidine compared with systemic fentanyl in pediatric vitreoretinal (VR) surgery. Methods: This prospective double-blind, randomized controlled study was performed in 60 children undergoing VR surgery, age from 2 to 7 years. After general anesthesia, the following procedure was administrated: (1) retrobulbar block with 0.5% ropivacaine plus dexmedetomidine 1 μg/kg (group RD, n = 20), (2) retrobulbar block with 0.5% ropivacaine (group RB, n = 20), and (3) control group with general anesthesia only (group F, n = 20). Hemodynamics, postoperative pain scores, anesthetics consumption (remifentanil, propofol, fentanyl), and emergence agitation were recorded. Results: Respiratory depression was observed in 7 of the 20 patients in group F after the laryngeal mask airway was removed in the operating room, compared with none in groups RD and RB. All patients in group F required intraoperative rescue fentanyl (average intraoperative fentanyl consumption, 26.6 ± 12.6 μg per patient). Some rescue fentanyl was required in group RB (three patients required one dose of rescue fentanyl). Patients in group RD required none. Groups RD and RB reported lower pain scores than group F at 4 h postoperatively (RD group: P < 0.001; RB group: P =0.002); pain scores in group RD were lower than that in group F at 6 h postoperatively (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Retrobulbar dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to ropivacaine is a safe and effective alternative to systemic fentanyl. This regimen provides better pain management, hemodynamic stability, and stress response suppression in pediatric VR surgery.

Objective This study aimed to identify the prognostic factors of patients with first-time acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to establish a nomogram for prognostic modeling. Methods We studied 985 patients with first-time AMI using data from the Multi-parameter Intelligent Monitoring for Intensive Care database and extracted their demographic data. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine outcome-related variables. We also tested a new predictive model that includes the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and compared it with the SOFA-only model. Results An older age, higher SOFA score, and higher Acute Physiology III score were risk factors for the prognosis of AMI. The risk of further cardiovascular events was 1.54-fold higher in women than in men. Patients in the cardiac surgery intensive care unit had a better prognosis than those in the coronary heart disease intensive care unit. Pressurized drug use was a protective factor and the risk of further cardiovascular events was 1.36-fold higher in nonusers. Conclusion The prognosis of AMI is affected by age, the SOFA score, the Acute Physiology III score, sex, admission location, type of care unit, and vasopressin use. Our new predictive model for AMI has better performance than the SOFA model alone.

Based on the Zaosheng No. 3 tunnel of the Yinchuan-Xi’an high-speed railway, the surrounding rock pressure, contact pressure of the primary support, and secondary lining and internal force of the secondary lining concrete are systematically tested using a vibrating wire sensor, and the correlation between the advance construction distance and the surrounding rock release rate is studied with finite element software. The results show that the pressure on the surrounding rock is low when the deeply buried soil tunnel is excavated and can be divided into three stages: rapid growth, slow growth, and flattening with time. It is more reasonable to calculate the surrounding rock pressure by using tunnel planning calculations. For the contact pressure, although the value of each measuring point in the inverted arch changes a little, the arch pressure obviously has the characteristics of rapid growth and a sharp rebound. Most of the test points of the second lining concrete show a compression state, which is far less than the ultimate compressive strength. At the same time, the initial support of the tunnel bears a large load, while the secondary lining bears a relatively small force, and the load sharing ratio of the two ranges between 0.1 and 0.7; with the progress of the excavation section, the surrounding rock deformation (deformation release rate) increases gradually. When the excavation face is close to the monitoring section, the deformation (deformation release rate) is the most severe. With the increase in the distance between the excavation section and the monitoring section, the deformation (deformation release rate) tends to be flat.

To study the strength degradation mechanism of compacted loess during dry-wet cycles, 0–5 dry-wet cycles tests and many triaxial compression tests were carried out on loess with an optimal moisture content. During the dry-wet cycles, the loess samples were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance and scanning electron microscopy. Studies have shown that at the macro level, with increasing numbers of wet and dry cycles and increasing cycle amplitude, the cohesive force and internal friction angle of the loess decrease, and the shear strength of the loess deteriorates significantly. At the micro level, with the number of wet and dry cycles increasing, the connection between particles changes from surface-to-surface contacts to point-to-point or point-to-surface contacts. The edges and corners of the particles decrease, the roundness increases, the large pores gradually decrease, the small pores gradually increase, and the fractal dimension gradually increases. In terms of microscopic view, the NMR test shows that with increasing numbers of dry-wet cycles, the T2 peak curve increases, the curve width increases slightly, the peak area gradually increases, and the porosity increases. From the macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic multiscale analysis, the structure of loess is degraded under the action of dry and wet cycles; the strength of the loess is degraded significantly after 0 to 3 cycles and then gradually stabilizes. These research results can provide a certain reference value for the management of loess collapse geological disasters in semiarid climates.

In amplitude modulation radio-based passive radar, the track-before-detect (TBD) procedures are performed to process long time observation data. This work mainly focuses on the tracking of the time-Doppler and time-azimuth traces of multiple target under real scenarios such as low signal-to-noise ratio, hybrid clutter, severe breaking points, and intersecting traces. A new original approach to deal with the TBD problem of this work is developed. Two types of linear equations according to the simplified radio wave propagation model are formulated, which is the key point of the proposed method. We make the theoretical analysis about how the linear equations can be used to track multiple target, and how multiple target’s constant velocities and initial positions can be estimated, which is an additional parameter estimation capability of the proposed method. Both the simulated data and real experimental data are performed with the proposed method and some conventional TBD methods. Several comparisons of the results are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

As a national development plan, ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin has attracted extensive social attention in recent years. Considering the influence of acid rain on the engineering characteristics of loess in this area, we investigated changes in the physical and mechanical characteristics of remolded loess under the combined action of acid rain and dry-wet cycles by means of triaxial tests, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results are as follows: in the acidic environment, the stress-strain relationship of remolded loess undergoes stress hardening after dry-wet cycling. The cohesion and internal friction angle of remolded loess are negatively correlated with the number of cycles. From the multiscale analysis of the dry-wet cycle process under acid rain condition, the T2 spectrum of the test soil has three peaks at the micropore level. With the increasing number of cycles, the spectral area increases gradually, and the sample transitions from small pores to large- and medium-size pores. At the microscopic level, the clay mineral particles among soil particles decrease in size, the contact mode between soil particles develops from stable to unstable, the particles are gradually rounded, and the fractal dimension decreases. Chemical erosion and physical erosion are special features of this experiment. Physical erosion causes particle erosion and pore growth, while chemical erosion includes reactions by feldspar. Together, physical and chemical reactions aggravate the soil deterioration process. These research results have laid a good experimental foundation for the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin.

This study demonstrates a light field display system using a nematic liquid crystal (LC) microlens array (MLA) and a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film. LC-MLA without polarization effects presented high-resolution intermediate 3D images by adopting a depolarization algorithm. The adopted PDLC film modulated the reconstructed 3D images to deliver full-parallax images efficiently with a wide FOV. The experimental result shows that the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) value of photograph accurate display results improves compared to the pure LC-MLA method. The proposed method is an essential step toward high-quality light field display.

Background Night eating has been associated with an elevated risk of obesity, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. However, there is no longitudinal study on whether habitual night eating, regardless of diet quality and energy intake, is associated with arterial stiffness, a major etiological factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. Methods and Results The study included 7771 adult participants without cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes mellitus prior to dietary assessment by a validated food frequency questionnaire in 2014 through 2015. Participants were categorized into 3 groups based on self‐reported night‐eating habits: never or rarely, some days (1–5 times per week), or most days (6+ times per week). Arterial stiffness was assessed by brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity at baseline and repeatedly during follow‐ups. Mean differences and 95% CIs in the yearly change rate of brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity across the 3 groups were calculated, adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, total energy intake, diet quality, sleep quality, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. At baseline, 6625 (85.2%), 610 (7.8%), and 536 (6.9%) participants reported night eating as never or rarely, some days, or most days, respectively. During a mean 3.19 years, we observed a positive association between night‐eating frequency and progression of arterial stiffness (P trend=0.01). The adjusted difference in brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity change rate between the group that ate at night most days and the group that never or rarely ate at night was 14.1 (95% CI, 0.6–27.5) cm/s per year. This association was only significant in women, but not in men (P interaction=0.03). Conclusions In an adult population free of major chronic diseases, habitual night eating was positively associated with the progression of arterial stiffness, a hallmark of arteriosclerosis and biological aging. Registration URL: https://www.chictr.org.cn; Unique identifier: ChiCTR‐TNRC‐11001489.

OBJECTIVE:Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with adverse outcomes in the general population, but its impact on patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. In this study, we assessed the association between AF and risks of all-cause mortality and stroke in Chinese adults with CKD. METHODS:We enrolled adults aged 45 years or older with CKD (defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate

Objective. We aimed to evaluate whether the reduction in serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) favors kidney outcomes. Methods. This study was a subanalysis including patients with impaired fasting glucose or diabetes of the Kailuan cohort study. The predictor was based on two consecutive visits of hs-CRP levels in 2006 and 2008. A total of 3924 patients with hs-CRP≥3 mg/L in 2006 were divided into two groups according to whether the levels of hs-CRP were reduced in 2008: Group 1: no reduction: hs-CRP≥3 mg/L in 2008; Group 2: reduction: hs-CRP

The direction of arrival (DOA) of the target’s echo signal is extremely important for passive detection and tracking. However, it is a challenge to estimate the echo signal’s DOA due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of the echo signal and the serious masking effect. In this paper, a novel method is developed to estimate the DOA of the echo signal through enhancing the desired echo signal and attenuating the interference in range-Doppler domain before performing the DOA estimation. Firstly, the cross-ambiguity functions of the direct path signal and the received array signal are calculated. Then, they are combined to form a single-snapshot virtual array signal. Under certain conditions, the desired echo signal can be enhanced, and the interference can be attenuated simultaneously. After extending the single-snapshot virtual array signal to multi-snapshots, the conventional MUSIC approach can be performed, and the clutter interference can be suppressed significantly through subspace orthogonal meanwhile. Finally, the DOAs of echo signals as well as their corresponding Doppler shifts can be measured on a 2-D direction-Doppler map. The virtual array signal’s construction principle and the gain of echo signal are analyzed theoretically, and some experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.