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Abstract Background Preoperative frailty is a risk factor associated with postoperative delirium (POD), which has attracted more attention from clinicians, but no research has shown that it is related to elderly patients undergoing craniotomy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of preoperative frailty on POD in older patients, especially those who underwent craniotomy. Methods From October 2022 to May 2023, older patients who underwent elective craniotomy were collected. Assess the occurrence of frailty using the FRAIL scale one day before surgery. Evaluate the occurrence of POD using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) within three days after surgery. Participants were divided into two groups, one group being POD, Logistic regression analysis was used to find the risk variables for POD, and the predictive value of preoperative frailty to POD was determined by using the operating characteristic curve of the subjects. Results A total of 300 patients were included in this study, among whom 83 patients (27.7%) exhibited preoperative frailty and 69 patients (23.0%) experienced POD. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis indicate that preoperative frailty (OR: 8.816, 95% CI: 3.972–19.572), preoperative hypoalbuminemia (OR: 0.893, 95% CI: 0.811–0.984), low BMI (OR: 0.793, 95% CI: 0.698–0.901), and prolonged operative duration (OR: 1.007, 95% CI: 1.004–1.010) are independent risk factors for POD in older patients who underwent craniotomy. We constructed a risk prediction model using these factors, which had an area under the ROC curve of 0.908 (95% CI: 0.869–0.947, P

Abstract Typical weak signal search experiments rely on resonant effects, where the resonance frequency is scanned over a broad range, resulting in significant time consumption. In this study, we demonstrate an accelerated strategy that surpasses the typical resonance-bandwidth limited scan step without compromising sensitivity. We apply this method to an alkali-noble-gas spin system, achieving an approximately 30-fold increase in scanning step size. Additionally, we obtain an ultrahigh sensitivity of 1.29 fT ⋅ Hz−1/2 at around 5 Hz, corresponding to an energy resolution of approximately 1.8 × 10−23eV ⋅ Hz−1/2, which is among the highest quantum energy resolutions reported. Furthermore, we use this sensor to search for axion-like particles, setting stringent constraints on axion-like particles (ALPs) in the 4.5–15.5 Hz Compton-frequency range coupling to neutrons and protons, improving on previous limits by several-fold. This accelerated strategy has potential applications in other resonant search experiments.

ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the efficacy of stem cell-derived exosomes for treating ischemic stroke and to screen for the optimal administration strategy.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases for relevant studies published from their inception to 31 December 2023. Conventional and network meta-analyses of the routes of administration, types, and immune compatibility of stem cell-derived exosomes were performed using the cerebral infarct volume (%) and modified neurological severity score (mNSS) as outcome indicators.ResultsA total of 38 randomized controlled animal experiments were included. Conventional meta-analysis showed that compared with the negative control group: intravenous administration significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%) and mNSS; intranasal administration significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%); and intracerebral administration significantly reduced the mNSS. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (ADSC-Exos), bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-Exos), dental pulp stem cell-derived exosomes (DPSC-Exos) and neural stem cell-derived exosomes (NSC-Exos) significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%) and mNSS; Endothelial progenitor cell-derived exosomes (EPC-Exos), embryonic stem cell-derived exosomes (ESC-Exos), induced pluripotent stem cell-derived exosomes (iPSC-Exos) and neural progenitor cell-derived exosomes (NPC-Exos) significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%); Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (UCMSC-Exos) significantly reduced the mNSS; and there was no significant difference between urogenital stem cell-derived exosomes (USC-Exos) and negative controls. Engineered modified exosomes had better efficacy than unmodified exosomes. Both allogeneic and xenogeneic stem cell-derived exosomes significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%) and the mNSS. The network meta-analysis showed that intravenous administration was the best route of administration for reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%) and mNSS. Among the 10 types of stem cell-derived exosomes that were administered intravenously, BMSC-Exos were the best type for reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%) and the mNSS. Allogeneic exosomes had the best efficacy in reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%), whereas xenogeneic stem cell-derived exosomes had the best efficacy in reducing the mNSS.ConclusionThis meta-analysis, by integrating the available evidence, revealed that intravenous administration is the best route of administration, that BMSC-Exos are the best exosome type, that allogeneic exosomes have the best efficacy in reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%), and that xenogeneic exosomes have the best efficacy in reducing mNSS, which can provide options for preclinical studies. In the future, more high-quality randomized controlled animal experiments, especially direct comparative evidence, are needed to determine the optimal administration strategy for stem cell-derived exosomes for ischemic stroke.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024497333, PROSPERO, CRD42024497333

Background Diagnosis of the cause of cerebral thrombi is vital for recurrence prevention but also challenging. The presence of the microbiome has recently been confirmed in thrombus, suggesting a novel approach to distinguish cerebral thrombi of different origins. However, little is known about whether there is heterogeneity in microbiological colonization of cerebral thrombi of different sources. Methods and Results Forty patients experiencing acute ischemic stroke were included and clinical data were collected. Metagenomic next‐generation sequencing was adopted to detect bacterial and genomic signatures of human cerebral thrombi samples. We found similar species diversity between the large‐artery atherosclerosis thrombi and cardioembolic thrombi but different species composition and distribution of cerebral thrombus microbiota. Compared with the group with cardioembolism, the group with large‐artery atherosclerosis showed a significantly higher relative abundance of Ralstonia insidiosa among the top 10 bacterial species in cerebral thrombi. Twenty operational taxonomy units were correlated with 11 clinical indicators of ischemic stroke. The Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed 9 different enriched biological processes (translation and carbohydrate metabolic process, etc). The enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways included ribosome, butanoate metabolism, and sulfur metabolism. Conclusions This study, based on the approach of metagenomic next‐generation sequencing, provides a diagnostic microbiological method to discriminate individuals with cardioembolic thrombi from those with large‐artery atherosclerosis thrombi with human cerebral thrombi samples. Our findings provide a fresh perspective on microbial heterogeneity of cerebral thrombi and demonstrate biological processes and pathway features of cerebral thrombi.

As one of the developed genetically modified (GM) maize varieties in China, CC-2 has demonstrated promising commercial prospects during demonstration planting. The establishment of detection methods is a technical prerequisite for effective supervision and regulation of CC-2 maize. In this study, we have developed an event-specific quantification method that targets the junction region between the exogenous gene and the 5’ flanking genomic DNA (gDNA) of CC-2. The accuracy and precision of this method were evaluated across high, medium, and low levels of CC-2 maize content, revealing biases within ±25% and satisfactory precision data. Additionally, we determined the limits of quantification of the method to be 0.05% (equivalent to 20 copies) of the CC-2 maize. A collaborative trial further confirmed that our event-specific method for detecting CC-2 produces reliable, comparable, and reproducible results when applied to five different samples provided by various sources. Furthermore, we calculated the expanded uncertainty associated with determining the content level of CC-2 in these samples.

Coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) technology has been widely used in short-reach optical communication systems. By using the same technology in a solid-state photonics-based Lidar, one can achieve significant cost reduction. Beam steering is realized through diffraction of light wave upon grating couplers. However, current design has a small viewing angle and a low angular resolution. We propose a configuration based on Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) waveguide grating coupler. The viewing angle is increased by 2.5 times with light signals propagating bidirectionally. The angular resolution is doubled through interleaving beams with trans-electrical (TE) polarization and beams with trans-magnetic (TM) polarization. By optimizing the design of a single grating coupler, the output beams are evenly distributed and the transmittance is improved. With 4 CWDM lasers being the source, a 34° beam angle of view and an angular resolution of 1.9° are demonstrated.

Gastrointestinal cancers account for approximately one-third of the total global cancer incidence and mortality with a poor prognosis. It is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Most of these diseases lack effective treatment, occurring as a result of inappropriate models to develop safe and potent therapies. As a novel preclinical model, tumor patient-derived organoids (PDOs), can be established from patients’ tumor tissue and cultured in the laboratory in 3D architectures. This 3D model can not only highly simulate and preserve key biological characteristics of the source tumor tissue in vitro but also reproduce the in vivo tumor microenvironment through co-culture. Our review provided an overview of the different in vitro models in current tumor research, the derivation of cells in PDO models, and the application of PDO model technology in gastrointestinal cancers, particularly the applications in combination with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, tumor microenvironment simulation, drug screening, drug development, and personalized medicine. It also elucidates the ethical status quo of organoid research and the current challenges encountered in clinical research, and offers a forward-looking assessment of the potential paths for clinical organoid research advancement.

Background: To evaluate the factors affecting personal protective equipment (PPE) associated with headaches in healthcare workers during the first hit of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China in order to provide evidence for improving the prevention and treatment of PPE-associated headaches in frontline medical personnel. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the baseline characteristics and the prevalence of the PPE-associated headaches among frontline healthcare workers at Wuhan Taikang Hospital were objectively evaluated by means of a questionnaire survey. We obtained predictors of PPE-associated headaches frequency by multiple regression analyses. The path analysis model was applied to determine the interrelationships between the variables related to PPE-associated headaches frequency. Results: Among the 520 participants, 436 (83.85 %) reported PPE-associated headaches during the anti-epidemic period. Compare with non-PPE-associated headache, age, PHQ-9 score >10, nurses, and PSQI>5were statistically significant found in participants with PPE-associated headaches. Multivariable linear regression showed that the occupation(nurse), pre-existing primary headache diagnosis, headache intensity and depression were risk factors for the frequency of PPE-associated headaches. The path analysis model observed that direct effects from occupation (nurse), pre-existing primary headache diagnosis, headache intensity and depression on the frequency of PPE-associated headaches. Depression indirectly mediated the effects of headache intensity and sleep quality on headache frequency. (All P

Abstract In a solid-state photonics-based Lidar, all essential components can be integrated into a silicon chip. It is simple and effective to use a tunable laser source to implement Lidar’s beam steering. However, how to effectively increase the steering angle in a small wavelength tuning range is usually a key challenge due to the limited material and waveguide dispersion. In Silicon-on-insulator waveguide, we design a novel solid-state Lidar using two trans-electrical (TE) polarized beams counter-propagating towards each other. Two corresponding output beams from just a single grating coupler (GC) can be seamlessly combined to double the beam steering angle. Furthermore, a low-priced solid-state Lidar is designed for TE polarized beams counter-propagating towards each other by using wavelength division multiplexed laser array.

Abstract The ultralight boson represents a promising dark matter candidate exhibiting unique wave-like behaviors. These properties could transfer to the dark mediator, such as the kinetic mixing dark photon, which can be a link between the dark and Standard Model sectors, resulting in periodic oscillations of its mass. We propose a method to detect ultralight dark matter using dark mediators in collider and beam dump experiments, distinguishing it from conventional atomic, molecular, and optical methods. The time-varying nature of dark mediator mass exhibits a double-peak spectrum, reducing traditional constraints by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude, due to decreased luminosity exposure in each resonant mass bin. To enhance sensitivity, we utilize event time-stamps in the CMS Open Data and demonstrate that this technique boosts sensitivity by approximately one order of magnitude compared to the time-blind method. Moreover, it proves effective in detecting the invisible decay of the dark mediator.

Mastitis typically arises from bacterial invasion, where host cell apoptosis significantly contributes to the inflammatory response. Gram-positive bacteria predominantly utilize the virulence factor lipoteichoic acid (LTA), which frequently leads to chronic breast infections, thereby impacting dairy production and animal husbandry adversely. This study employed LTA to develop models of mastitis in cow mammary gland cells and mice. Transcriptomic analysis identified 120 mRNAs associated with endocytosis and apoptosis pathways that were enriched in the LTA-induced inflammation of the Mammary Alveolar Cells-large T antigen (MAC-T), with numerous differential proteins also concentrated in the endocytosis pathway. Notably, actin-related protein 2/3 complex subunit 3 (ARPC3), actin-related protein 2/3 complex subunit 4 (ARPC4), and the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) are closely related. STRING analysis revealed interactions among ARPC3, ARPC4, and HSP70 with components of the apoptosis pathway. Histological and molecular biological assessments confirmed that ARPC3, ARPC4, and HSP70 were mainly localized to the cell membrane of mammary epithelial cells. ARPC3 and ARPC4 are implicated in the mechanisms of bacterial invasion and the initiation of inflammation. Compared to the control group, the expression levels of these proteins were markedly increased, alongside the significant upregulation of apoptosis-related factors. While HSP70 appears to inhibit apoptosis and alleviate inflammation, its upregulation presents novel research opportunities. In conclusion, we deduced the development mechanism of ARPC3, ARPC4, and HSP70 in breast inflammation, laying the foundation for further exploring the interaction mechanism between the actin-related protein 2/3 (ARP2/3) complex and HSP70.

The substitution of chemical fertilizers with organic manure plays a critical role in sustainable crop production. Nevertheless, organic amendments promote the global warming potential (GWP) in rice paddies due to increased methane (CH4) emissions. Increasing evidence shows that lime application can reduce CH4 emissions from acidic paddy soils; however, it is still not clear whether liming can reduce the GWP in rice fields under organic manure substitution. A two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the impacts of pig manure substitution and lime application on grain yield, CH4 and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in a subtropical double-cropped rice field in China. The experiment consisted of three treatments: CF (100% chemical nitrogen fertilizer), 1/2N + M (50% of the applied nitrogen substituted by pig manure, M represents manure), and 1/2N + M + L (lime amendment with 50% of the applied nitrogen substituted with pig manure, L represents lime). On average, 1/2N + M reduced rice yield by 5.65% compared to CF, while the lime application had no effect on rice yield. Mean cumulative CH4 emissions were 218.8% higher in 1/2N + M than in CF, whereas 1/2N + M + L reduced CH4 emissions by 36.6% compared to 1/2N + M. Neither pig manure substitution nor lime application affected N2O emissions. Consequently, 1/2N + M increased the GWP and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) by 214.6% and 228.3%, respectively, compared to CF. In contrast, 1/2N + M + L reduced the GWP and GHGI by 36.4% and 36.5% compared to 1/2N + M. Lime application can mitigate CH4 emissions and GWP induced by pig manure amendment in double-cropped rice fields.

Abstract Background The oXiris is a novel filter for continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) featuring an adsorption coating to adsorb endotoxins and remove inflammatory mediators. Given that no consensus has been reached on its potential benefits in treating sepsis, a meta-analysis was conducted to assess its impact on the clinical outcomes of this patient population. Methods Eleven databases were retrieved to find relevant observational studies and randomized controlled trials. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool were used to assess the quality of the included studies. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) process was employed to assess the certainty of evidence. The 28-day mortality was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were 7-, 14-, and 90-day mortality, length of intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay, ICU and hospital mortality, norepinephrine (NE) dose, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and lactate levels, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score. Results The meta-analysis, pooling data from 14 studies, involving 695 patients, showed significant reductions in 28-day mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36–0.77, p = 0.001] and length of ICU stay [weighted mean difference (WMD) − 1.91; 95% CI − 2.56 to − 1.26, p

The operations of the operators are important for nuclear safety, but conventional operating experience feedback and common data-driven methods make it difficult to explicitly find valuable information hidden in these operational sequences that can help the operator to provide advice at the operational level. During the nuclear power plant (NPP) operation, a large amount of historical operating data is accumulated, which records the operational sequences of the operators and the state parameters of equipment. Therefore, this paper proposes the use of association rule techniques to mine the NPP operating data to discover the operational characteristics of operators and reveal their possible impact on the NPP operation. This work helps to improve the operational performance of operators and prevent human-factor events. To this end, the concept of state switching values for describing the operating states of NPPs is proposed to enable the proposed method to be adapted to different practical application scenarios. A sequence segmentation method is proposed to be able to transform historical NPP operating data into a sequence data set for association rule mining. Furthermore, an ensemble algorithm based on sequence pattern mining and sequence rule mining and its postprocessing method are designed. The empirical study was carried out using 20 batches of historical operating data of the cold start-up. A total of 164 original association rules are generated using the proposed method and were analyzed by experts. The recommendations were made for 4 different cases that would improve the operational performance of the operators.

Abstract Phototherapy is a conducive and non-invasive strategy for cancer therapy under light irradiation. Inspiringly, fluorescence imaging in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000–1700 nm) holds a great promise for imaging-guided phototherapy with deep penetration and high spatiotemporal resolution. However, most phototherapeutics still face great challenges, including complicated synthesis of agents, potential biotoxicity and unsatisfied therapeutic outcomes. Herein, a near-infrared laser triggered molecular photosensitizer FEPT, modified with triphenylphosphine PEGylation (PEG2000-TPP), is developed for NIR-II imaging-guided mitochondria-targeting synergistic photothermal therapy (PTT)/photodynamic therapy (PDT)/immune therapy (IMT). The mitochondria-targeting photosensitizer FEPT can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hyperpyrexia upon 808 nm laser irradiation, resulting in mitochondrial dysfunction and photo-induced apoptosis via caspase-3 pathway. Phototherapy-induced hyperthermia or ROS triggers the release of immunogenic intracellular substrates from dying tumor cells, thereby promoting the activation of antitumor immunity. Herein, this work provides a practicable strategy to develop a molecular phototheranostic platform for imaging-guided cancer therapy via mitochondria-targeting. Graphical Abstract

Meat adulteration caused by economic intentions has long been concerning food safety. Accurate quantification of meat products can distinguish between artificial adulteration and unintentional contamination during its processing or packaging. After determining the species-specific constant and the correlation between mass fraction and copy number of each species, we developed an effective approach-based droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) platform that can identify target species with high detection sensitivity: 13 copies of beef, 6 copies of lamb, 13 copies of pork, 13 copies of chicken, 6 copies of duck, and 6 copies of turkey. Using this method, a level as low as 1% of the adulterated ingredients blended in beef and lamb was accurately quantified. Following the addition of reference species, several quantitative equations were constructed for simultaneous analysis of different species in commercial processed products; even the animal components with a minimum content of 0.5% can be quantified to judge whether the label ingredients are fraudulent. This suggests the feasibility of the proposed strategy for the accurate identification and quantification of animal-derived adulteration according to the processing degree and food commodity.

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) is a major global disease with chronic cerebral blood flow reduction. It is also the main cause of cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases. Pyroptosis, a novel form of cell death, is characterized by the rupture of the cell membrane and the release of pro-inflammatory mediators. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have identified the involvement of pyroptosis and its mediated inflammatory response in the pathological process of CCH. Therefore, preventing the activation of pyroptosis following CCH is beneficial to inhibit the inflammatory cascade and reduce brain injury. In this review, we discuss the research progress on the relationship between pyroptosis and CCH, in order to provide a reference for research in related fields.

Abstract The coannihilation mechanism is a well-motivated alternative to the simple thermal freeze-out mechanism, where the dark matter relic density can be obtained through the coannihilation with a partner particle of similar mass with dark matter. When the partner particle is neutral, the inelastic nature of dark matter can help it to escape the direct detection limits. In this work, we focus on the coannihilation scenario in which the annihilation cross section is dominated by the partner-partner pair annihilation. We pay special interest on the parameter space where the coannihilation partner is long-lived, which leads to displaced signatures at the collider. In such case, it opens the heavy mass parameter space for the coannihilation dark matter, comparing with those dominated by the partner-dark matter annihilation. Specifically, we study an inelastic scalar dark matter model with a specific parameter space, which realizes the domination of partner-partner pair annihilation. Then, we study two different realizations of the coannihilation partner decay and the existing constraints from the relic abundance, direct and indirect dark matter detection and the collider searches. We focus on the channel that the long-lived coannihilation partner decays to dark matter plus leptons. The high-luminosity LHC can reach good sensitivities for such heavy dark matter and coannihilation partner around 100–700 GeV.

A natural gas pipeline system (NGPS), as a crucial energy transportation network, exhibits intricate systemic characteristics. Both uncertain disturbances and complex characteristics result in higher requirement of supply safety. The investigation into NGPS resilience addresses the constraints of pipeline integrity and reliability, centering around the vulnerability, robustness, and recovery of an NGPS. Based on a literature review and practical engineering insights, the generalized concept of NGPS resilience is elucidated. The research methodologies of NGPS resilience are classified into three types: indicator construction method, process analysis method, and complex networks method. The practical applications of NGPS resilience research are analyzed, which are based on NGPS operation safety, information safety, and market safety. The ongoing applications and detailed measures are also concluded, which can guide the researchers and engineers from NGPS resilience.

IntroductionThe establishment of intestinal microbiota and the maintenance of its equilibrium structure plays an important role in Tibetan pigs during different growth stages. Understanding the structure and function of the intestinal microbiota at different growth stages of Tibetan pigs can provide a theoretical basis for guiding nutritional regulation and feeding management in different stages.MethodsFecal samples were collected from the Tibetan piglets at different growth stages, and the 16S rRNA was sequenced to analyze the changes of intestinal microbiota.ResultsAlpha and Beta diversity indexes showed that the diversity of the intestinal microbiota did not change during the three growth stages, and the main components of intestinal microbiota were not significantly different. At the phylum level, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant and abundant at different growth stages and were not restricted by age. At the genus level, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium were the most dominant in the TP10d and TP40d groups, Streptococcus was the most dominant in the TP100d group, followed by Treponema_2 and Lactobacillus. Fusobacteria, Gluconobacter, and Synergistetes were found to be specific genera of 10-day-old Tibetan piglets by LEfSe combined with LDA score. The change of diet made Tenericutes and Epsilonbacteraeota, which are closely related to digestive fiber, become specific bacteria at the age of 40 days. With the consumption of oxygen in the intestine, obligate anaerobes, such as Verrucomicrobia, Fibrobacter, and Planctomycetes, were the characteristic genera of 100 days. KEGG function prediction analysis showed that the intestinal microbiota function of Tibetan pigs changed dynamically with the growth and development of Tibetan piglets.DiscussionIn conclusion, the structure and composition of the intestinal microbiota of Tibetan pigs are significantly different at different growth and development stages, which plays an important role in their immune performance.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important pathogens causing mastitis in dairy cows. It mainly utilizes the properties of its pathogenic factor, lipoteichoic acid (LTA), to elicit a host-cell inflammatory response and evade the host-cell immune response. Arachidonic acid (AA) has a regulatory role in the inflammatory response, cell metabolism, and apoptosis. The study aimed to establish a cell model by determining the optimal concentration of LTA and AA for cell induction using the Cell Counting Kit−8 assay and the quantitative polymerase chain reaction of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, and IL-6. MAC-T cells were planted in 36 10-cm2 culture dishes at a density of 1 × 107 cells per dish. They were treated with LTA for 24 h to constitute the LTA group and with AA for 12 h to constitute the AA group. The cells were pretreated with LTA for 24 h followed by treatment with AA for 12 h to constitute the LTA + AA group. Using proteomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses, this study determined that LTA can regulate the expression of Actin Related protein 2/3 complex (ARPC)3, ARPC4, Charged Multivesicular Body Protein 3, protein kinase cGMP-dependent, NF-κB Inhibitor Alpha,and other genes to affect cellular metabolism, immune regulation and promote apoptosis. In contrast, AA was observed to regulate the expression of genes such as ARPC3, ARPC4, Charged Multivesicular Body Protein 3, Laminin Gamma 1, Insulin Receptor, Filamin B, and Casein Kinase 1 Epsilon to inhibit cellular apoptosis and promote immune regulation, which provides a theoretical basis for future studies.

In recent years, pathogenic infections have been a growing health threat due to the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria, so photothermal therapy (PTT) has gained considerable interest in biological and medical fields, owing to its noninvasive and highly effective properties. However, it is hard to achieve selective bacteria targeting while generating a large amount of heat at infected sites. Cationic electrostatic interaction is considered to be a common antimicrobial strategy. Herein, an organic molecule named RT-MN was synthesized with four positively charged quaternary ammonium salts that can bind to negatively charged bacteria. Under near-infrared 808 nm laser irradiation, RT-MN could be efficiently converted into a large amount of heat to eradicate bacteria. In addition, its good water solubility and biological safety proved that RT-MN has excellent biological application prospects. Overall, four such positively charged photosensitizer RT-MN, as a non-antibiotic treatment for resistant bacteria, could be promising for the exploration of highly effective antibacterial agents.

Microribonucleic acids (miRNAs) play significant roles in the regulation of biological processes and in responses to biotic or abiotic environmental stresses. Therefore, it is necessary to quantitatively detect miRNAs to understand these complicated biological regulation mechanisms. This study established an ultrasensitive and highly specific method for the quantitative detection of miRNAs using simple operations on the ground of the ligation reaction of ribonucleotide-modified deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) probes. This method avoids the complex design of conventional reverse transcription. In the developed assay, the target miRNA miR156b was able to directly hybridize the two ribonucleotide-modified DNA probes, and amplification with universal primers was achieved following the ligation reaction. As a result, the target miRNA could be sensitively measured even at a detection limit as low as 0.0001 amol, and differences of only a single base could be detected between miR156 family members. Moreover, the proposed quantitative method demonstrated satisfactory results for overexpression-based genetically modified (GM) soybean. Ligation-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) therefore has potential in investigating the biological functions of miRNAs, as well as in supervising activities regarding GM products or organisms.

As an effective tool for genetically modified organism (GMO) quantification in complex matrices, digital PCR (dPCR) has been widely used for the quantification of genetically modified (GM) canola events; however, little is known about the quantification of GM canola events using endogenous reference gene (ERG) characteristics by dPCR. To calculate and quantify the content of GM canola using endogenous reference gene (ERG) characteristics, the suitability of several ERGs of canola, such as cruciferin A (CruA), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (BnAcc), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEP), cruciferin storage (BnC1), oleoyl hydrolase (Fat(A)), and high-mobility-group protein I/Y (HMG-I/Y), was investigated by droplet dPCR. BnAcc and BnC1 were more specific and stable in copy number in the genome of Brassica napus L. than the other genes. By performing intra-laboratory validation of the suitability of ERG characteristics for the quantification of GM canola events, the ddPCR methods for BnAcc and BnC1 were comprehensively demonstrated in dPCR assays. The methods could provide technical support for GM labeling regulations.

The plant dormancy period in the riparian zone affects the activity of microorganisms and their related nitrogen (N) process, which necessitates an investigation of the influence of the dormancy period on the microbial community. This study sampled two groups of soils (ashore and offshore soils) of two typical plants (Acorus calamus, Canna indica) in rhizosphere soils and bulk soils during the dormancy period to study the microbial communities. The results suggested that in ashore soils, especially in Canna indica soils, there was a lower abundance of N-related genes (4.79 × 106 copies/g) due to relatively competitive ecological niche competition because of possible sufficient substrate. Therefore, microbial communities still play a major role in the removal of N-related nutrients during plants’ dormancy period. In addition, the results also showed that during the plant dormancy period, the cell necrosis processes accounted for relatively lower proportions (15.75%, 7.54%, 21.46%, and 5.23% in ashore and offshore Canna indica and ashore and offshore Acorus calamus, respectively), suggesting an unexpected fairly strong microbial survival ability in the dormancy period compared to the commonly expected weak microbial state. This high microbial vitality provides us insight into the restoration of riparian soils during the plant dormancy period.

The abundant visual information contained in multi-view images is widely used in computer vision tasks. Existing visual relationship detection frameworks have extended the feature vector to improve model performance. However, single view information can not fully reveal the visual relationships in complex visual scenes. To solve this problem and explore the multi-view information in a visual relationship detection (VRD) model, a novel multi-view VRD framework based on a monocular RGB image and an estimated depth map is proposed. The contributions of this paper are threefold. First, we construct a novel multi-view framework which fuses information of different views extracted from estimated RGB-D images. Second, a multi-view image generation method is proposed to transfer flat visual space to 3D multi-view space. Third, we redesign the visual relationship balanced classifier which can process multi-view feature vectors simultaneously. Detailed experiments were conducted on two datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multi-view VRD framework. The experimental results showed that the multi-view VRD framework resulted in state-of-the-art zero-shot learning performance in specific depth conditions.

Nuclear power plant operating data are characterized by a large variety, strong coupling, and low data value density. When using machine learning techniques for fault diagnosis and other related research, feature selection enables dimensionality reduction while maintaining the physical meaning of the original features, thus improving the computational efficiency and generalization ability of the learning model. In this paper, a correlation-based feature selection algorithm is developed to implement feature selection of nuclear power plant operating data. The proposed algorithm is verified by experiments and compared with traditional correlation-based feature selection algorithms. The experiments and comparison results show that the proposed algorithm is effective in realizing the dimensionality reduction of nuclear power plant operating data.

A simple and efficient protocol for the synthesis of dibenzyl carbonates has been developed. The reaction was accomplished using benzyl halides and Cs2CO3 as the starting materials in the presence of atmospheric pressure of CO2, affording a variety of the dibenzyl carbonates in good to excellent yields under rather mild conditions.

The aim of this study was to reveal the mechanism of enhanced ram sperm motility induced by heavy ion radiation (HIR) after in vitro liquid storage. Ram semen was stored for 24 hours at 5°C and then irradiated with 0.1 Gy carbon ion radiation (CIR). In comparison to nonirradiated (NIR) sperm, the motility, viability, and adenosine triphosphate content were all higher in CIR sperm, and the reactive oxygen species levels were lower. Moreover, 87 differential mitochondrial protein spots were detected in 2-dimensional gels between CIR and NIR sperm and were identified as 52 corresponding proteins. In addition, 33 differential proteins were involved in a main pathway network, including COX5B, ERAB/HSD17B10, ETFA, SDHB, and SOD2, which are known to be involved in cell communication, energy production, and antioxidant responses. We used immunoblotting and immunofluorescence to analyze the content and localization of these proteins, respectively, and the levels of these proteins in CIR sperm were lower than those in NIR sperm. An understanding of the molecular function of these proteins could provide further insight into the mechanisms underlying high sperm motility induced by HIR in rams.

This study investigated the toxicity of heavy ion radiation to mice testis by microRNA (miRNA) sequencing and bioinformatics analyses. Testicular indices and histology were measured following enterocoelia irradiation with a 2 Gy carbon ion beam, with the testes exhibiting the most serious injuries at 4 weeks after carbon ion radiation (CIR) exposure. Illumina sequencing technology was used to sequence small RNA libraries of the control and irradiated groups at 4 weeks after CIR. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses implicated differential miRNAs in the regulation of target genes involved in metabolism, development, and reproduction. Here, 8 miRNAs, including miR-34c-5p, miR-138, and 6 let-7 miRNA family members previously reported in testis after radiation, were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to validate miRNA sequencing data. The differentially expressed miRNAs described here provided a novel perspective for the role of miRNAs in testis toxicity following CIR.