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In this work, GHz and THz complex dielectric spectra of a polyethylene glycol dimethyl ether (2000 g/mol) aqueous solution were studied. The reorientation relaxation of water in this kind of macro-amphiphilic molecule solution can be well described by three Debye models, including under-coordinated water, bulk-like water [water molecules in a tetrahedral hydrogen bond network (bulk water) and bulk water molecules affected by hydrophobic groups], and slow hydrating water (water molecules donating hydrogen bonds to hydrophilic ether groups). The reorientation relaxation timescales of bulk-like water and slow hydration water both show increases with concentration from 9.8 to 26.7 ps and from 46.9 to 100.1 ps, respectively. By estimating the ratios of the dipole moment of slow hydration water to the dipole moment of bulk-like water, we calculated the experimental Kirkwood factors of bulk-like and slow hydrating water. The experimental Kirkwood factor of bulk-like water increased from 3.17 to 3.44 with concentrations, while the experimental Kirkwood factor of slow hydrating water roughly remained constant at 4.13 from concentrations of 15%–60%. The estimated water molecule numbers of three water components around monomers also confirm our sorting for water components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the Mode-I penny-shaped crack problem of an infinite body of one-dimensional hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystal. The problem is transformed into a mixed-boundary value problem in the context of electro-elasticity of quasicrystals, and the corresponding integro-differential equations are analytically solved. Two extreme cases of electrically impermeable and permeable crack surface are considered. By virtue of the generalized potential theory method, the three-dimensional complete analytical solutions of three-dimensional crack problems under symmetric concentrated and uniform loads are expressed in terms of elementary functions. Important parameters in fracture mechanics are explicitly derived, such as crack surface displacements, the distributions of generalized stresses at the crack tip and the corresponding generalized stress intensity factors. The validity of the proposed solutions and the coupling effect of phonon-phason-electric fields are investigagted through numerical examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modification of BT ceramic particles was achieved using hydrogen peroxide and vinyltriethoxysilane, resulting in the production of core–shell-structured nano-materials (VTS@BT). Upon initiation, moderately cross-linked XL-VTS@BT/PVDF composites were prepared by reacting them with modified polyvinylidene fluoride (MDPVDF). As the amount of VTS@BT increased, the dielectric constant of the composite material increased from 7.89 to 19.1, while the dielectric loss increased only slightly from 0.058 to 0.075. Furthermore, as the filling amount of VTS@BT increased, the grain size gradually increased, the nucleation rate decreased, and the addition of crosslinking agents caused a minor transformation of the β-crystalline phase to the α-crystalline phase. The moderate cross-linking improved the breakdown strength and energy storage density of the composite material, with a cross-linked structure composite material at 10wt% addition achieving an energy storage density of 10.36 J/cm3 at an electric field strength of 340MV/m, which was nearly a 57% increase in energy storage density compared to PVDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study investigates the genetic structure and population dynamics of invasive bullfrogs in China employing cutting-edge genomic technologies. By analyzing microsatellite loci and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the study identifies three distinct genetic subpopulations of bullfrogs and explores their origins and dispersal pathways. Findings reveal the varying degrees of gene flow between the subpopulations and a severe bottleneck effect followed by a rapid population expansion. Comparison with American bullfrog populations highlights the differences in genetic diversity and suggests potential multiple introductions. The introduction and subsequent range expansion of the American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is part of a rising trend of troublesome biological invasions happening in China. This detrimental amphibious invasive species has strong adaptability. After its introduction and spread, it established its own ecological niche in many provinces of China, and its range has continued to expand to more areas. Previous studies recorded the introduction time of bullfrogs and calculated the changes in their genetic diversity in China using mitochondria, but the specific introduction route in China is still unknown. Expanding upon previous research, we employed whole-genome scans (utilizing 2b-RAD genomic sequencing) to examine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and microsatellites within Lithobates catesbeianus to screen the genomes of these invasive amphibian species from eight Chinese provinces and two U.S. states, including Kansas, where bullfrogs originate. A total of 1,336,475 single nucleotide polymorphic loci and 17 microsatellite loci were used to calculate the genetic diversity of bullfrogs and their migration pathways. Our results suggest that the population in Hunan was the first to be introduced and to spread, and there may have been multiple introductions of subpopulations. Additionally, the genetic diversity of both the SNP and microsatellite loci in the Chinese bullfrog population was lower than that of the US population due to bottleneck effects, but the bullfrogs can adapt and spread rapidly. This study will offer crucial insights for preventing and controlling future introductions into the natural habitats in China. Additionally, it will assist in devising more precise strategies to manage the existing populations and curtail their continued expansion, as well as aim to improve clarity and originality while mitigating plagiarism risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding urban human mobility, particularly trip purposes, is essential for optimizing traffic management, personalized recommendations, and urban planning. However, in real-world scenarios, trip purposes cannot be directly extracted from the trajectory data. To address this issue, we propose a geometry-driven neural topic model for trip purpose inference. We integrate trajectory data with nearby POI data using a geometry-driven technique to enhance the interpretability of the results. Furthermore, our model captures the semantics and relationships of the data in a high-dimensional space and identifies latent topics representing distinct trip purposes. These learned topics are analyzed using clustering algorithms to group similar trips, enabling trip purpose inference. And we evaluate our model using the trajectory data of Shenzhen and Chengdu, and compare it with baseline models. The results demonstrate that our model performs well. Furthermore, we analyze trajectory data containing trip purpose information to gain insight into human mobility patterns and the influence of trip purposes, paving the way for potential implications and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate two types of the conditional strong law of large numbers with a new notion of conditionally independent random variables under G-expectation which are related to the symmetry G-function. Our limit theorem demonstrates that the cluster points of empirical averages fall within the bounds of the lower and upper conditional expectations with lower probability one. Moreover, for conditionally independent random variables with identical conditional distributions, we show the existence of two cluster points of empirical averages that correspond to the essential minimum and essential maximum expectations, respectively, with G-capacity one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effects of metformin (MET) monotherapy and pioglitazone plus MET (PIOMET) therapy on gonadal and metabolic profiles in normal-weight women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: Sixty normal-weight women with PCOS were recruited between January and September 2022 at the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. They were randomly assigned to the MET or PIOMET groups for 12 weeks of MET monotherapy or PIOMET therapy. Anthropometric measurements, menstrual cycle changes, gonadal profiles, and the oral glucose insulin-releasing test (OGIRT) were performed at baseline and after the 12-week treatment. Results: Thirty-six participants completed the trial. MET and PIOMET therapies improved menstrual cycles after the 4- and 12-week treatments; however, there was no statistical difference between the two groups. PIOMET therapy improved luteinizing hormone (LH), luteinizing hormone/follicle stimulating hormone (LH/FSH) ratio, and free androgen index (FAI) levels after the 4-week treatment, whereas MET monotherapy only improved total testosterone (TT) levels compared to baseline (P < 0.05). Both MET and PIOMET therapies improved TT and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels after the 12-week treatment (P < 0.05). In addition, only PIOMET therapy significantly improved sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), FAI, and androstenedione (AND) levels than the baseline (P < 0.05). PIOMET therapy improved SHBG and AMH levels more effectively than MET monotherapy (P < 0.05). Furthermore, PIOMET treatment was more effective in improving blood glucose levels at 120 and 180 min of OGIRT compared to MET monotherapy (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In normal-weight women with PCOS, PIOMET treatment may have more benefits in improving SHBG, AMH, and postprandial glucose levels than MET monotherapy, and did not affect weight. However, the study findings need to be confirmed in PCOS study populations with larger sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Objectives Methods Results Conclusions Skin type has a strong influence on how sensitive skin develops, with oily skin accounting for a larger proportion of sensitive skin. However, there has not been a scientifically sound questionnaire for determining oily sensitive (OS)‐type skin in prior studies.In order to identify OS‐type skin in the general population, we therefore intend to create an OS‐type skin evaluation questionnaire, develop various thresholds through data analysis and classify skin based on two dimensions of sensitivity and oiliness.A questionnaire with questions regarding subjects' basic information, skin oiliness and skin sensitivity was given to each individual who participated in the study (n = 1297). To define the thresholds for OS‐type skin, receiver‐operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated. The results of the lactic acid stinging test (LAST) and noninvasive instrument information obtained were compared with the thresholds mentioned above to verify the effectiveness of this tool.According to the ROC curves, questionnaire cut‐off values of 11.5, 20.5 and 29.5 can be used to detect mildly, moderately and severely sensitive skin, respectively. In addition, the questionnaire cut‐off values of 22.5 and 31.5 can be used to detect moderately and severely oily skin, respectively. According to our study, the four sensitive‐skin groups' LAST scores differed significantly from one another, while the skin sebum levels differed significantly between the three oily groups. Additionally, the EI and LAST scores were significantly correlated with skin sensitivity levels, whereas sebum, moisture and EI were positively correlated with skin oiliness levels.We developed an OS‐type skin evaluation questionnaire that has been tested and shown scientifically to be a promising method for evaluating OS‐type skin and to completely examine the traits of sensitive and oily skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an energy management strategy (EMS) based on double‐deep Q‐Networks (DDQN) with demand torque prediction (DTP) to optimize the fuel consumption of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) by online utilizing vehicle‐to‐vehicle (V2V) information. The main framework of the EMS is designed as DDQN, combining Q‐learning with the deep neural network to realize real‐time training and online optimization of the torque distribution between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, and given that the model training easily falls into local minima and overestimation, two different Q‐networks are designed to decouple action selection and target evaluation. Meanwhile, BP‐network predicts future demand torque using the ego vehicle speed, front vehicle speed, and distance between the two vehicles to reduce the burden of model training due to the introduction of traffic information. The predicted demand torque is introduced into the DDQN‐based EMS as states, together with the distance traveled in the driving cycle and the current information on HEV. The effectiveness and adaptability to actual driving cycles of the proposed strategy are verified by comparison with DDQN‐based EMS without DTP and rule‐based EMS. The results show that the fuel consumption using DDQN‐based EMS without DTP is reduced by 4.1% compared with rule‐based EMS. The introduction of demand torque prediction resulted in a further 3.9% reduction in fuel consumption. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofilm dispersal contributes to bacterial spread and disease transmission. However, its exact mechanism, especially that in the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is unclear. In this study, the cellulase activity of the M. tuberculosis Rv0062 protein was characterized, and its effect on mycobacterial biofilm dispersal was analyzed by observation of the structure and components of Rv0062-treated biofilm in vitro. Meanwhile, the metabolite factors that induced cellulase-related biofilm dispersal were also explored with metabolome analysis and further validations. The results showed that Rv0062 protein had a cellulase activity with a similar optimum pH (6.0) and lower optimum temperature (30 °C) compared to the cellulases from other bacteria. It promoted mycobacterial biofilm dispersal by hydrolyzing cellulose, the main component of extracellular polymeric substrates of mycobacterial biofilm. A metabolome analysis revealed that 107 metabolites were significantly altered at different stages of M. smegmatis biofilm development. Among them, a decrease in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) promoted cellulase-related biofilm dispersal, and this effect was realized with the down-regulation of the bacterial signal molecule c-di-GMP. All these findings suggested that cellulase promotes mycobacterial biofilm dispersal and that this process is closely associated with biofilm metabolite alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish live in an aquatic environment rich in various microorganisms and pathogens. Fish mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) plays a very important role in immune defence. This study was conducted to characterize the immune response mediated by CcIgZ3 in common carp (Cyprinus carpio.) and investigate the proliferating CcIgZ3+ B lymphocytes in gill. We determined the expression of CcIgZ3 in many different tissues of common carp following stimulation by intraperitoneal injection of TNP-LPS (2,4,6-Trinitrophenyl hapten conjugated to lipopolysaccharide) or TNP-KLH (2,4,6-Trinitrophenyl hapten conjugated to Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin). Compared with TNP-KLH, TNP-LPS can induce greater CcIgZ3 expression in the head kidney, gill and hindgut, especially in the gill. The results indicate that the gill is one of the main sites involved in the immune response mediated by CcIgZ3. To examine the distribution of CcIgZ3+ B lymphocytes, immunohistochemistry (IHC) experiments were performed using a polyclonal antibody against CcIgZ3. The results indicated that CcIgZ3 was detected in the head kidney, hindgut and gill. To further examine whether CcIgZ3+ B lymphocytes proliferate in the gills, proliferating CcIgZ3+ B cells were analysed by immunofluorescence staining using an anti-CcIgZ3 polyclonal antibody and an anti-PCNA monoclonal antibody. CcIgZ3 and PCNA (Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen) double-labelled cells in the gills were located within the epithelial cells of the gill filaments of common carp stimulated with TNP-LPS at 3 dps and 7 dps, and relatively more proliferating CcIgZ3+ B cells appeared in the gills of common carp at 7 dps. These data imply that CcIgZ3+ B cells in the gills might be produced by local proliferation following TNP-LPS stimulation. In summary, compared with those in TNP-KLH, CcIgZ3 preferentially affects the gills of common carp following challenge with TNP-LPS. CcIgZ3+ B cells proliferate in the gills to quickly produce the CcIgZ3 antibody. In addition, CcIgZ3+ B cells can be activated to induce a strong immune response very early locally in the gill and produce the antibody CcIgZ3, which helps exert an immune-protective effect. These results suggest that an effective vaccine can be designed to promote production of the mucosal antibody CcIgZ3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)—the simplest and most common silicone compound—exemplifies the central characteristics of its class and has attracted tremendous research attention. The development of PDMS‐based materials is a vivid reflection of the modern industry. In recent years, PDMS has stood out as the material of choice for various emerging technologies. The rapid improvement in bulk modification strategies and multifunctional surfaces has enabled a whole new generation of PDMS‐based materials and devices, facilitating, and even transforming enormous applications, including flexible electronics, superwetting surfaces, soft actuators, wearable and implantable sensors, biomedicals, and autonomous robotics. This paper reviews the latest advances in the field of PDMS‐based functional materials, with a focus on the added functionality and their use as programmable materials for smart devices. Recent breakthroughs regarding instant crosslinking and additive manufacturing are featured, and exciting opportunities for future research are highlighted. This review provides a quick entrance to this rapidly evolving field and will help guide the rational design of next‐generation soft materials and devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study is aimed to develop and validate a quality of life scale for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with Chinese cultural background, QLICD-SLE (V2.0). Methods: The QLICD-SLE (V2.0) was developed using a systematic approach that involved focus groups, nominal discussions, and pilot testing. A total of 428 SLE patients participated in the scale's assessment. Validity was examined through qualitative analysis, item domain correlation, multidimensional scaling, and factor analysis. Reliability was assessed using Pearson's correlation and Cronbach's alpha coefficients. To evaluate responsiveness, paired T-tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-treatment measurements with the standardised response mean (SRM) being calculated. Results: Correlation and factor analyses demonstrated strong construct validity. When using SF-36 as criteria, the correlation between various domains of QLICD-SLE and SF-36 ranged from 0.55 to 0.70. Test–retest correlation coefficients exceeded 0.71, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients for both measurements in each domain were greater than or equal to 0.75. T-test results showed that both the overall score and most facet scores within each domain showed statistically significant changes after treatment (P < 0.05), indicating reasonable responsiveness. Conclusion: The QLICD-SLE (V2.0) appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the quality of life in patients with SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine has been used worldwide on a large scale because of its potent ability to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and the antibody response induced by the vaccine needs to be elucidated. Thus, we conducted a prospective trial in healthy subjects to observe the antibody response after three doses of inactivated vaccines. Our results showed that neutralizing antibody (NAb) levels were significantly higher after the booster vaccination compared to the second, a 4.9-fold increase, with the peak occurring at 28 days. The NAb level could be maintained for a longer period after the third vaccination, with higher levels still observed after 3 months. We did not observe significantly higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific immunoglobulin G (S-IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) after the third vaccination compared with the second vaccination; this was especially true for SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific immunoglobulin M (S-IgM), which was barely expressed. Notably, those who did not undergo NAb seroconversion after two doses of the vaccine produced high and long-lasting NAb after the third vaccination, confirming that they were not completely unresponsive to the vaccine. The NAb titer in younger subjects (aged 20–40 years) rose 3.4-fold compared with older subjects (aged 40–60 years) after the second vaccination, but the difference was narrowed after the third vaccination (2.8-fold increase). In addition, the levels of antibodies in older men were 3.4-fold lower than those in the older women after the third vaccination. Overall, this study elucidates the dynamic change in antibodies after three doses of vaccination, which provides a reference for the improvement of vaccination strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the numerical approximation of an optimal control problem with fractional Laplacian and state constraint in integral form based on the Caffarelli–Silvestre expansion. The first order optimality conditions of the extended optimal control problem is obtained. An enriched spectral Galerkin discrete scheme for the extended problem based on weighted Laguerre polynomials is proposed. A priori error estimate for the enriched spectral discrete scheme is proved. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method and validate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomolecular condensates are dynamic non-membrane-bound macromolecular high-order assemblies that participate in a growing list of cellular processes, such as transcription, the cell cycle, etc. Disturbed dynamics of biomolecular condensates are associated with many diseases, including cancer and neurodegeneration. Extensive efforts have been devoted to uncovering the molecular and biochemical grammar governing the dynamics of biomolecular condensates and establishing the critical roles of protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs) in this process. Here, we summarize the regulatory roles of ubiquitination (a major form of cellular PTM) in the dynamics of biomolecular condensates. We propose that these regulatory mechanisms can be harnessed to combat many diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study compared short- and long-term outcomes of robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) versus video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for lobectomy in young adults aged ≤ 35 years with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), aiming to assess the superiority of RATS over VATS for this special group of patients. Methods: A total of 1355 consecutive NSCLC cases aged 18–35 years undergoing RATS (n = 105) or VATS (n = 1250) between 2014 and 2021 were retrospectively identified from a prospectively maintained database. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to establish a 1:3 RATS versus VATS ratio. Baseline clinicopathological characteristics, perioperative outcomes, lymph node (LN) assessment, and long-term survival were investigated. Results: Following PSM, 105 and 315 cases were in the RATS and VATS groups, respectively. RATS led to a shorter postoperative hospital stay than VATS (4.0 ± 1.5 vs 4.3 ± 1.7 days, p = 0.02). The two groups were comparable in other perioperative outcomes and postoperative complications (all p > 0.05). Moreover, RATS assessed more LNs (9.4 ± 4.4 vs 8.3 ± 3.6, p = 0.03), especially N1 LNs (4.2 ± 3.1 vs 3.5 ± 2.2, p = 0.02), than VATS. By comparison, no difference in 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS), or recurrence or mortality patterns was found between the two groups (all p > 0.05). Further subgroup analyses also observed similar long-term outcomes between the two groups regarding age, gender, and smoking history. Finally, Cox's analyses found that the surgical approach was not independently correlated with RFS or OS. Conclusion: RATS shortened postoperative hospital stay, assessed more N1 and total LNs, and achieved comparable long-term outcomes to VATS for very young NSCLC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the popularity of modern medicine, medicinal plants remain a cornerstone of treatment for numerous diseases, particularly among ethnic groups and tribal communities around the globe. Ethnomedicine offers advantages such as ease of use, convenience, and economic benefits. Medicinal plant knowledge within Bulang ethnic community of southwest China is a valuable complement to Chinese ethnomedicine systems. Accumulated medical knowledge is due to the extensive length of occupation by Bulang People, considered the earliest inhabitants of Xishuangbanna; this has resulted in the development of various traditional treatment methods with local characteristics and unique curative effects. Therefore, there is exceeding value in exploring the medical knowledge of Bulang. Methods: A total of 175 local informants participated in the interviews and distribution of questionnaires in 10 Bulang villages in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. We documented the community of Bulang's use of medicinal herbs, and we used both the informant consensus factor (ICF) and use value (UV) methodologies to analyze the data. Furthermore, we conducted a comparative study to explore the potential of Bulang traditional medicine by comparing it to traditional Dai medicine. Results: The study recorded 60 medicinal plant species belonging to 41 families and 59 genera, including 22 species of herb, 22 species of shrub, nine species of trees, and seven species of liana. Araceae, Compositae, Lamiaceae and Leguminosae were found to have the highest number of species. The affordability and cultural heritage of Bulang medicine make it advantageous, Investigated Informants report that increased usage of Western medicine (88%), less availability of herbal medicine (95.43%), and the reduction in medicinal plant resources (80.57%) pose significant threats to Bulang medicine. All Bulang medicinal plants are naturally grown, with only 22 per cent being cultivated. Camellia sinensis (0.94) and Zingiber officinale (0.89) showed the highest UV values, while the function of Phyllanthus emblica L. and Houttuynia cordata Thunb. were also noted. The ICF revealed digestive system related diseases were the most commonly treated, with conditions of the motor system using the highest number of plant species. Finally, a comparison with traditional Dai medicine determined that 22 plants (36.67%) of the 60 surveyed had higher medicinal value in Bulang medicine. Conclusion: Bulang communities primarily source medicinal plants from the wild. Should environmental damage lead to the extinction of these medicinal plants, it could result in a shift toward modern Western medicine as a preferred medical treatment. Bulang ethnomedicine is a vital supplement to China's traditional medicine, particularly aspects of ethnic medicine relevant to daily life. Future research should emphasize inter-ethnic medical studies to reveal the untapped potential of medicinal plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rheumatic mitral stenosis(RMS) may leads to left ventricular remodeling (LVR), which can persist even after valve surgery. Identifying markers for early structure and function in patients with rheumatic heart disease who are at risk for adverse LVR after surgery can help determine the optimal timing of intervention. This study aimed to investigate whether preoperative parameters of global left ventricular long-axis strain (LVGLS) and mechanical discretization (MD) could predict postoperative adverse LVR.Methods: A total of 109 adult patients with RMS and 50 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Baseline clinical features, conventional echocardiography results, LVGLS, and MD were compared between the two groups. Pre- and post-surgery echocardiography measurements were collected, and adverse LVR was defined as a> 15% increase in left ventricular end-diastolic volume or > 10% decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction. Binary regression analysis was used to determine independent predictors of poor left ventricular remodeling.Results: The variables associated with adverse LVR in this study were LVGLS (P< 0.001, odds ratio: 1.996, 95% CI: 1.394– 2.856) and MD (P=0.011, odds ratio: 1.031, 95% CI: 1.007– 1.055). The poorly reconstructed group had lower absolute values of LVGLS and higher MD than the healthy control group and the non-poorly reconstructed group. A LVGLS cutoff of − 15.0% was the best predictor for patients with poorly reconstructed LVR (sensitivity: 75.7%; specificity: 100.0%; AUC: 0.93), and a MD cutoff of 63.8ms was the best predictor (sensitivity: 63.8%; specificity: 98.6%; AUC: 0.88).Conclusion: Speckle tracking echocardiography has potential value for predicting the progression of adverse LVR and for identifying non-responders among patients with RMS undergoing surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid and scalable self‐assembly of an amphiphilic 21‐arm star copolymer, (polystyrene‐block‐polyethylene glycol)21 [(PS‐b‐PEG)21] in aqueous solution has been performed by reverse solvent exchange procedure. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) reveal the formation of nanoparticles with narrow size distribution. Further investigation indicates a kinetically controlled self‐assembly mechanism of the copolymers, in which the star topology of the amphiphilic copolymer and deep quenching condition by reverse solvent exchange are key to accelerate intrachain contraction of the copolymer during phase separation. When interchain contraction dominant over interchain association, nanoparticles with low aggregation number could be formed. Thanks to the high hydrophobic contents of the (PS‐b‐PEG)21 polymers, the resulted nanoparticles could encapsulate a high capacity of hydrophobic cargo up to 19.84 %. The kinetically controlled star copolymer self‐assembly process reported here provides a platform for the rapid and scalable fabrication of nanoparticle with high drug loading capacity (LC), which may find broad range of applications in, for example drug delivery, nanopesticide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External ventricular drainage (EVD) is the most common neurosurgical procedure that allows drainage of cerebrospinal fluid and intraventricular blood. A specific time threshold for insertion of an EVD catheter in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage has not been established. This study aimed to evaluate the association of early EVD with functional outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage. Propensity score matching was used to account for baseline imbalances. Modified Rankin Scale score at 3 and 6 months, mortality rates at 3 and 6 months, postoperative complications, time course of edema evolution, and peak perihemorrhagic edema (PHE) were compared in patients who received early EVD versus routine EVD. The rate of favorable outcome at 3 months was higher in the early EVD group compared with the routine EVD group. There were no differences between groups in modified Rankin Scale score at 6 months or mortality rates at 3 and 6 months. Absolute peak PHE and relative PHE volumes were significantly less in the early EVD group compared with the routine EVD group. The incidence of postoperative infections was lower in the early EVD group compared with the routine EVD group. Early EVD was associated with improved functional outcome at 3 months, reduced PHE, and lower rate of infection in intracerebral hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage. However, survival at 3 and 6 months and functional outcome at 6 months were not improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion hydration plays a crucial role in numerous fundamental processes. Various spectroscopic methods are employed to investigate the slowing down of hydration bond dynamics in the proximity of both anions and cations. To date, most of these studies have primarily focused on the properties of binary systems. However, in comparison to ion–water binary systems, ternary systems that involve ions, water, and organic matter are more prevalent in nature and provide more realistic insights into biological processes. This study focuses on ion hydration in water and alcohol mixture using terahertz spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The results reveal a distinct behavior depending on the type of alcohol used. Specifically, the presence of both methanol and ethanol results in the disappearance of absorption peaks associated with NaCl hydrate at low temperatures. In contrast, tert-butanol does not exhibit such an effect, and isopropanol demonstrates a more complex response. By combining these terahertz spectroscopic findings with low-temperature XRD data, we gain insights into the formation, or lack thereof, of NaCl · 2H2O hydrate crystals. Crucially, our observations suggest a dominant correlation between the polarity of the alcohol molecules and its impact on the Na+ hydration. Strongly polar alcohols preferentially solvating the Na+ ion lead to the failure of hydrate formation, while weakly polar alcohols do not have this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immune-related microenvironment of thymic carcinoid has rarely been reported. We analyzed the expression of PD-L1 and VISTA, and the distribution of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and CD68+ macrophages in the thymic carcinoid by immunohistochemical staining, and showed the correlation between these markers and clinical survival, indicating the potential therapeutic prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) has become an essential tool in modern dentistry, allowing dentists to analyze the relationship between teeth and the surrounding tissues. However, traditional manual analysis can be time-consuming and its accuracy depends on the user's proficiency. To address these limitations, deep learning (DL) systems have been integrated into CBCT analysis to improve accuracy and efficiency. Numerous DL models have been developed for tasks such as automatic diagnosis, segmentation, classification of teeth, inferior alveolar nerve, bone, airway, and preoperative planning. All research articles summarized were from Pubmed, IEEE, Google Scholar, and Web of Science up to December 2022. Many studies have demonstrated that the application of deep learning technology in CBCT examination in dentistry has achieved significant progress, and its accuracy in radiology image analysis has reached the level of clinicians. However, in some fields, its accuracy still needs to be improved. Furthermore, ethical issues and CBCT device differences may prohibit its extensive use. DL models have the potential to be used clinically as medical decision-making aids. The combination of DL and CBCT can highly reduce the workload of image reading. This review provides an up-to-date overview of the current applications of DL on CBCT images in dentistry, highlighting its potential and suggesting directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of global warming has become a major global concern, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to mitigate its effects. Photovoltaic power generation is clean, low-carbon energy. Photovoltaic products can convert solar energy into electricity, reducing CO2 emissions to an extent. This paper introduces the life cycle evaluation theory to assess the carbon emissions of photovoltaic curtain walls. PVsyst software allows for the simulation and calculation of power generation under different influencing factors, which provides valuable information about the carbon reduction potential of photovoltaic curtain walls. The evaluation of carbon emissions and their influencing factors using grey correlation analysis further enhances the understanding of the benefits and limitations of photovoltaic curtain walls. According to the results of grey correlation analysis, this paper concludes that the degree of various influencing factors on carbon emission of a photovoltaic curtain wall under different scenarios in descending order is as follows: orientation, location, inclination, shadow occlusion, and seasonal changes. The research findings of this paper provide a theoretical reference for the future development and application of photovoltaic curtain walls. By demonstrating the carbon reduction potential of this technology, this study contributes to promoting the adoption of photovoltaic curtain walls as a sustainable solution to mitigate the effects of global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design of core–shell structure for ceramic filler is an effective way to improve the electric insulation property of polymer matrix. However, it still faces the disadvantage of a low dielectric constant, inhibiting the increase in energy storage density. Herein, we propose an effective strategy for regulating shell thickness to induce dielectric polarization, which simultaneously improves dielectric constant and breakdown strength of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF)‐based nanocomposite incorporated by core–shell structured BaTiO3@SiO2 (BT@SO) nanoparticles. The results show that BT@SO fillers with a moderate SiO2 shell thickness of 15 nm and a low content of 1.0 vol% enhances dielectric constant and breakdown strength of PVDF‐based nanocomposite to 14.7 and 500.5 MV/m, respectively. Compared with pure PVDF, the dielectric constant and breakdown strength of PVDF/BT@SO are increased by 82.2% and 61.3%, respectively. Comprehensively, its discharge energy density is enhanced by 352%, up to 12.2 J/cm3, which is attributed to the high induced polarization of charge confinement and the multi‐function combined effects of SiO2 shell as a deep trap, barrier and adsorption layer. This study provides more insight into the interface control mechanism of core–shell nanostructure, and offers a theoretical basis for designing polymer nanocomposites with high energy storage density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymatic catalysis has fueled considerable interest from chemists due to its high efficiency and selectivity. However, the structural complexity and vulnerability hamper the application potentials of enzymes. Driven by the practical demand for chemical conversion, there is a long-sought quest for bioinspired catalysts reproducing and even surpassing the functions of natural enzymes. As nanoporous materials with high surface areas and crystallinity, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) represent an exquisite case of how natural enzymes and their active sites are integrated into porous solids, affording bioinspired heterogeneous catalysts with superior stability and customizable structures. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the advances of bioinspired MOFs for catalysis, discuss the design principle of various MOF-based catalysts, such as MOF–enzyme composites and MOFs embedded with active sites, and explore the utility of these catalysts in different reactions. The advantages of MOFs as enzyme mimetics are also highlighted, including confinement, templating effects, and functionality, in comparison with homogeneous supramolecular catalysts. A perspective is provided to discuss potential solutions addressing current challenges in MOF catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale plate-like structural components have been widely used in engineering fields. The occurrence and accumulation of structural damage will threaten the integrity of plate-like structures. Guided wave-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technology has been demonstrated as an effective tool to detect small-scale damage at a high sensitivity. Due to the advantages of baseline-free, concentrated sensor arrays and rapid inspection of the full area, Lamb wave-phased array SHM systems have been extensively investigated in recent years. However, the inherent multi-mode characteristic of Lamb waves is well-known to have a significant influence on wave propagation and further development of phased array method. In this study, a single Lamb wave mode extraction method combined with phased array SHM system is proposed based on a concentric piezoelectric active transducer (CPAT). First, a brief review of a Lamb wave-phased array system is presented, including working principle, sensor array, and Lamb wave excitation and sensing. Then, the single mode wave extraction method is performed based on the CPAT. The effectiveness of the single mode wave extraction-based phased array SHM system is first examined numerically. Finally, the proposed phased array system is used to monitor large plate-like structures and the availability and validity of the proposed SHM system is confirmed by an experimental study. This work provides an effective and practical tool to detect damage in large-scale plate-like structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epimedium (EM), also known as barrenwort, is a traditional medicinal plant rich in isopentenyl flavonols, which have beneficial biological activities and can improve human and animal health, but its mechanism is still unclear. In this study, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) were used to analyse the main components of EM, and isopentenyl flavonols such as Epimedin A, B, and C as well as Icariin were the major components of EM. Meanwhile, broilers were selected as model animals to illuminate the mechanism of Epimedium isopentenyl flavonols (EMIE) on gut health. The results showed that supplementation with 200 mg/kg EM improved the immune response, increased cecum short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and lactate concentrations, and improved nutrient digestibility in broilers. In addition, 16S rRNA sequencing showed that EMIE altered the composition of cecal microbiome, increasing the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria (Candidatus Soleaferrea and Lachbospiraceae NC2004 group and Butyricioccus) and reducing that of harmful bacteria (UBA1819, Negativibacillus, and Eisenbergiella). Metabolomic analysis identified 48 differential metabolites, of which Erosnin and Tyrosyl-Tryptophan were identified as core biomarkers. Erosnin and tyrosyl-tryptophan are potential biomarkers to evaluate the effects of EMIE. This shows that EMIE may regulate the cecum microbiota through Butyricicoccus, with changes in the relative abundance of the genera Eisenbergiella and Un. Peptostreptococcaceae affecting the serum metabolite levels of the host. EMIE is an excellent health product, and dietary isopentenyl flavonols, as bioactive components, can improve health by altering the microbiota structure and the plasma metabolite profiles. This study provides the scientific basis for the future application of EM in diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this bibliometric analysis was twofold: to identify the 100 most cited research articles on thymoma and to highlight future research opportunities in light of past and current research efforts. Methods: The Web of Science database was queried to identify the 100 most cited articles on thymoma. Imformations relevant to scientific research were extracted and analyzed: first author, journal, impact factor, type of article, year of publication, country, organization and keywords. Results: The publication year of the top 100 most cited articles ranged from 1981 to 2018, and the number of citations ranged from 97 to 1182. Most of the included articles are original (75/100) and are mainly retrospective studies (52/75). The United States has the most published articles and citations, and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery is the most sourced journal (n = 16). Through VOSviewer analysis, high-density keywords mainly come from thymic carcinoma/invasive thymoma management, immune-related diseases, and laboratory research. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric study on thymoma. We found most of the top 100 most cited articles are original and retrospective research. The United States has the published and cited works. Presently, the hot keywords for thymoma research has gradually tilted towards immune-related diseases and laboratory research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities and global climate change have greatly increased nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) inputs and altered precipitation patterns in alpine meadows. Functional genes are important indicators of microorganisms that drive the nitrogen cycling process; however, the functional gene responses of soil nitrogen cycling to soil N and P availability and drought remain unclear. Separate or combined treatments of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization and drought were conducted on the Zoige Wetland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the abundances of nitrification functional genes AOA amoA and AOB amoA and denitrification functional genes nirS, nirK, and nosZ were measured to explore the response of functional genes to these treatments. Seven treatments, including control (CK), N addition (N), P addition (P), 50% reduction in precipitation (D), N and P addition (NP), N addition with drought (ND), and NP addition with drought (NPD), were investigated. The results indicated that N application significantly increased AOB amoA abundance, while P application and drought had no significant effects on the abundance of functional genes. The combined treatment of N and P addition and drought increased AOB amoA abundance but did not significantly affect AOA amoA abundance, suggesting that AOB amoA was more responsive to soil N and P availability and moisture change than AOA amoA. However, the abundance of denitrification functional genes was not affected by these treatments. Denitrification functional genes were less sensitive to soil N and P availability and moisture change than nitrification functional genes. The integrated effects of N addition, P addition, and drought did not affect the abundance of the above N cycling functional genes. These results indicate that AOB amoA may play a more critical role in the process of ammonia oxidation than AOA amoA in alpine meadows, and the denitrification genes (nirK, nirS, and nosZ) were better than ammoxidation genes (AOA and AOB) at adapting to the soil environmental changes caused by increasing N and P deposition and drought in alpine meadows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting helps to combat illegal activities and deters lawbreakers and potential lawbreakers. From ancient times to the present, public authorities have usually rewarded effective reporting information to build harmonious societies. In this process, protecting the privacy of the whistleblower is a very important issue. Existing blockchain-based anonymous reporting solutions help solve the problem of insufficient anonymity in traditional reporting solutions, but they do not address the issue of hiding the reporting behavior. The disclosure of reporting behavior may alert offenders in advance and negatively impact case handling. This paper proposes an anonymous and covert reporting scheme and rewarding mechanism based on blockchain, which realizes the covertness of the reporting behavior while protecting the privacy of the whistleblower. The proposed scheme uses ring signature and derived address technology to ensure anonymity and achieves covertness by embedding information in the ring signature based on the idea of covert communication. Theoretical analysis proves that the proposed scheme has covertness, anonymity, and unforgeability properties. Experiments show that the proposed scheme takes only 0.08 s to upload data and 0.07 s to verify while achieving covertness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid oxygen chill-down in a straight horizontal pipe was studied experimentally. The effect of the entrance corner was excluded, and much denser wall temperature sensors along the pipe have been set compared to the present studies. In this way, the chill-down process, as well as the development of the flow pattern, has been drawn for every test. As a result, the mechanism of LO2 chill-down would be obtained for various pressure sections. For cases with stable pressure below 1.25 MPa, liquid rewetting in the pipe is controlled by the propagation of quenching fronts. For cases with a higher pressure, liquid rewetting in the second half of the pipe is controlled by the sudden liquid fill-in. Based on the transition points obtained, heat transfer coefficients on the Leidenfrost point and critical heat flux have been correlated for various pressure sections using new approaches. Conclusions show that the correlation equations are dependent on the chill-down mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cornus officinalis is a perennial deciduous tree or shrub. Its mature fruits are extracted and used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, called Shanzhuyu. The characteristic active components of C. officinalis include loganin and morroniside, which belong to iridoid glycosides. 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGS) is a key enzyme in the cytoplasmic mevalonate pathway providing the precursor molecules isopentenyl pyrophosphate and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate for isoprenoid biosynthesis such as sterols, triterpenes, and their derivatives such as iridoid glycosides. Different concentrations of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and ethephon (ETH) solutions were sprayed on C. officinalis seedlings, and the effect of hormones on CoHMGS gene expression was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. The quantitative real-time PCR results showed that 750 mg/L ETH treatment had the most significant induction effect on CoHMGS gene expression. The HPLC analysis of extracts revealed that the treatment could also significantly increase the content of morroniside and loganin in the leaves of C. officinalis. By use of a CoHMGS-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion construct for heterologous expression in tobacco, laser scanning confocal microscopy revealed a cytoplasmic localization. This preliminary study of the CoHMGS gene could prepare the ground for more precisely elucidating the synthesis of secondary metabolite in C. officinalis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growth-promoting antibiotics have been banned by law in the livestock and poultry breeding industry in many countries. Various alternatives to antibiotics have been investigated for using in livestock. Epimedium (EM) is an herb rich in flavonoids that has many beneficial effects on animals. Therefore, this study was planned to explore the potential of EM as a new alternative antibiotic product in animal feed. Methods: A total of 720 1-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acres Plus) were randomly divided into six groups and fed basal diet (normal control; NC), basal diet supplemented with antibiotic (75 mg/kg chlortetracycline; CTC), and basal diet supplemented with 100, 200, 400 or 800 mg/kg EM extract for 6 weeks (EM100, EM200, EM400 and EM800 groups). The growth performance at weeks 3 and 6 was measured. Serum, intestinal tissue and feces were collected to assay for antioxidant indexes, intestinal permeability, lactic acid and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) profiles, microbial composition, and expression of intestinal barrier genes. Results: The average daily feed intake in CTC group at 1–21 d was significantly higher than that in the NC group, and had no statistical difference with EM groups. Compared with NC group, average daily gain in CTC and EM200 groups increased significantly at 1–21 and 1–42 d. Compared with NC group, EM200 and EM400 groups had significantly decreased levels of lipopolysaccharide and D-lactic acid in serum throughout the study. The concentrations of lactic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and SCFAs in feces of birds fed 200 mg/kg EM diet were significantly higher than those fed chlortetracycline. The dietary supplementation of chlortetracycline and 200 mg/kg EM significantly increased ileal expression of SOD1, Claudin-1 and ZO-1 genes. Dietary supplemented with 200 mg/kg EM increased the relative abundances of g_NK4A214_group and Lactobacillus in the jejunal, while the relative abundances of Microbacterium, Kitasatospora, Bacteroides in the jejunal and Gallibacterium in the ileum decreased. Conclusion: Supplementation with 200 mg/kg EM extract improved the composition of intestinal microbiota by regulating the core bacterial genus Lactobacillus, and increased the concentration of beneficial metabolites lactic acid and SCFAs in the flora, thereby improving the antioxidant capacity and intestinal permeability, enhancing the function of tight junction proteins. These beneficial effects improved the growth performance of broilers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder characterized by chronic ovulation dysfunction and overabundance of androgens; it affects 6–20% of women of reproductive age. PCOS involves various pathophysiological factors, and affected women usually have significant insulin resistance (IR), which is a major cause of PCOS. IR and compensatory hyperinsulinaemia have differing pathogeneses in various tissues, and IR varies among different PCOS phenotypes. Genetic and epigenetic changes, hyperandrogenaemia, and obesity aggravate IR. Insulin sensitization drugs are a new treatment modality for PCOS. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Elsevier, and UpToDate databases in this review, and focused on the pathogenesis of IR in women with PCOS and the pathophysiology of IR in various tissues. In addition, the review provides a comprehensive overview of the current progress in the efficacy of insulin sensitization therapy in the management of PCOS, providing the latest evidence for the clinical treatment of women with PCOS and IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trait plasticity (variation of a trait under environmental variability or gradients) and trait integration are both crucial for plant adaption to environmental change. Variations in different suite of root traits such as biomass allocation, morphology and physiology underlie diverse phosphorus (P) acquisition strategies among plants. Yet, how the intraspecific plasticity and integration of root traits influence plant adaptation to different P supply remains obscure. To characterize diverse adaptive strategies in relation to plant P acquisition, eight root traits were assessed in 20 wheat Triticum aestivum genotypes grown in a culture room with low and high P supply. High P supply increased shoot P accumulation and biomass of all wheat genotypes. The shoot P accumulation in genotypes with high P sensitivity (PS: calculated as shoot P content at low P/shoot P content at high P supply) was higher with high P supply and lower with low P supply compared with that in the genotypes with low PS. The high‐PS genotypes exhibited larger variation in root length, root/shoot ratio and rhizosphere pH across P supplies than the low‐PS genotypes, suggesting an integrated response at the whole‐plant level. At low P supply, the high‐PS genotypes had greater root length and specific root length, but lower acid phosphatase activity than the low‐PS genotypes, which suggests contrasting P‐acquisition strategies across the genotypes. Strong co‐variation of root traits occurred across low‐PS genotypes regardless of P supply; conversely, the high‐PS genotypes only exhibited strong trait integration at low P supply, whereas high P supply sharply reduced root trait co‐variation. Our findings suggest that P stress may strengthen root trait integration in wheat plants, and that both plasticity and integration of root traits drive plant adaptive strategies and tolerance to P‐deficiency stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work designed a pH-sensitive sodium alginate hydrogel for combating bacterial infection caused by tissue damage. The antibacterial hydrogels were prepared using sodium alginate, citric acid, and vancomycin by one-step in situ method. Vancomycin (Van) was loaded into hydrogels via reversible imine bonds for controlled drug delivery. The morphology, swelling properties, and antibacterial activity of hydrogel were characterized. The hydrogel shown strong water absorbent behavior and pH-dependent performance. The result under weak acid conditions, the drug release rate of van-loaded gel was faster than neutral and alkaline conditions and followed zero-order kinetic release model, and the cumulative release amount could reach 86.7 % over 320 min. The van-loaded gel had highly effective antibacterial activity in a weak acid environment, the combination of citric acid and vancomycin had a synergistic therapeutic effect for acute infection. The drug-loaded hydrogel shows good biocompatibility. Compared with gauze, the drug-loaded hydrogel exhibited good coagulation properties, high platelet adhesion, high fluid absorption capacity, and proper balance of fluid on the wound bed. This work proposed this simple alginate-based drug delivery system has potential applications in the field of clinical treatment of infections. • SA-CA-Van hydrogels were prepared by a simple physical cross-linking. • SA-CA-Van hydrogels showed high fluid absorption properties and pH-dependent performance. • The cumulative release of SA-CA-Van gel can reach 86.7% in acidic conditions, following zero-order release kinetics. • SA-CA-Van hydrogel have efficient synergistic antibacterial effect for acute bacterial infection. • The SA-CA-Van dressing exhibited good biocompatibility, coagulation properties, and high platelet adhesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus on the problem of estimating the change in the dependency structures of two p -dimensional Gaussian Graphical models (GGMs). Previous studies for sparse change estimation in GGMs involve expensive and difficult non-smooth optimization. We propose a novel method, DIFFEE for estimating DIFF erential networks via an E lementary E stimator under a high-dimensional situation. DIFFEE is solved through a faster and closed-form solution that enables it to work in large-scale settings. Notice that GGM assumes data are generated from a Gaussian distribution. However, the Gaussian assumption is too strict and can not be satisfied with all the real-world data generated from a complex process. Therefore, we further extend DIFFEE to NPN-DIFFEE by assuming that data are drawn from the nonparanormal distribution (a large family of distributions) instead of a multivariate Gaussian distribution. Thus, NPN-DIFFEE is applicable to more general conditions. We conduct a rigorous statistical analysis showing that surprisingly DIFFEE achieves the same asymptotic convergence rates as the state-of-the-art estimators that are much more difficult to compute. Our experimental results on multiple synthetic datasets and one real-world data about brain connectivity show strong performance improvements over baselines, as well as significant computational benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NP) possessing multiple biological activities might be a potential substitute for the combination of ZnSO4 and antibiotic growth promoter in broiler diets. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of dietary ZnO NP as a substitute to the combination of ZnSO4 and xanthomycin for growth, antioxidant capacity, immunity, intestinal barrier and liver function in broilers. Arbor Acres chicks (n = 320) were assigned to 5 treatments with 8 replicates. Birds received a basal diet supplemented with 80 mg/kg ZnSO4 plus 5 mg/kg xanthomycin (ZnSO4 + Xanthomycin) or 0 (negative control, NC), 40, 80, and 160 mg/kg ZnO NP for 42 days. The average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed-to-gain ratio showed dose-dependent increases with the increasing level of dietary ZnO NP during the 21–42 day and 1–42 day stages. The final body weight (42 d) and serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor 1 and growth hormone increased linearly with the increasing level of dietary ZnO NP. In addition, 80 mg/kg ZnO NP increased the serum concentrations of IgA, IgG, IgM, andinterleukin-10 and peroxidase activity, the jejunal mucosal villus height, villus width and goblet cell numbers. Dietary 80 or 160 mg/kg ZnO NP significantly altered mRNA abundances of genes related to antioxidant status, intestinal barrier and immunity in the jejunal mucosa. These results indicated that dietary supplementation with 40–160 mg/kg ZnO NP caused no obvious negative effects on liver function, but effectively improved growth performance, intestinal barrier function, immunity and antioxidant capacity. Dietary 40–160 mg/kg zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NP) improved growth performance and enhanced immunity of broilers without obvious negative effects on liver function. Dietary 40–160 mg/kg ZnO NP improved intestinal barrier and intestinal morphology, and enhanced antioxidant capacity via Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. Doses of 40–80 mg/kg ZnO NP were suggested to alternate the combination of 80 mg/kg ZnSO4 and 5 mg/kg xanthomycin in diets of broilers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiAl-LDH and CoAl-LDH as typical two-dimensional layered materials have been widely used as supercapacitor cathodes due to their special composition, morphology and rich electrochemically active centers. However, a clear strategy to enhance their electrochemical performances remains lacking. Here, with NixCo3−xAl1-LDHs (x = 1, 1.5 and 2, in short: NiCoAl-LDHs) as examples, a Co/Ni ion co-incorporation strategy was used to study the possible effects on their capacitive performance. Our work demonstrated that different cobalt contents in NiCoAl-LDHs show no obvious changes in their crystal structure, morphology, surface area, etc. However, incorporating more cobalt ions into NiCoAl-LDHs will generate more oxygen vacancies, causing more Ni3+ ions to appear on the surface, and higher concentrations of Ni3+ ions and more oxygen vacancies play active roles in enhancing the capacitive performances. The Ni1Co2Al1-LDH electrode with a Ni3+/Ni2+ ratio of 1.44 and an oxygen vacancy concentration of 54.83% delivers a high specific capacitance (728 C g−1 at 1 A g−1) and excellent capacitance retention (93.18% of initial capacitance at 30 A g−1 after 10 000 cycles). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bimetallic catalysts offer unique advantages for improving the hydrogen storage performance of MgH2. Herein, Ni3Fe/BC nanocatalysts were prepared via a simple solid phase reduction method using a low-cost biomass charcoal (BC) material as the carrier. The onset temperature of hydrogen release for the MgH2 + 10 wt% Ni3Fe/BC composite was 184.5 °C, which is 155.5 °C lower than that of pure MgH2. The dehydrogenated composite starts to absorb hydrogen at as low as 30 °C and is able to absorb 5.35 wt% of H2 within 10 min under 3 MPa hydrogen pressure at 150 °C. In comparison to pure MgH2, the apparent activation energies of dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation of MgH2 + 10 wt% Ni3Fe/BC were reduced by 52.89 kJ mol−1 and 23.28 kJ mol−1, respectively. The hydrogen storage capacity of the composite was maintained in 20 de/rehydrogenation cycles, indicating a good cycling stability. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) characterization reveal that the in situ formation of multiphases Mg2Ni and Fe catalysts during the hydrogen uptake and release reaction and the transformation of Mg2Ni/Mg2NiH4 together contribute to the superior hydrogen adsorption and desorption performance of MgH2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) plays an important ecological role in the North Pacific. An analysis of stable isotopes in eye lenses was conducted to investigate the inter- and intravariation of the trophic ecology of stocks at the eastern and western North Pacific throughout the life cycle. δ 13 C and δ 15 N values gradually increased with ontogenetic growth of the squid, which was associated with geographic migrations and increased the trophic level. For both stocks, from the paralarval to the juvenile stage, the trophic niche breadth increased, which might be the reason that the swimming and feeding ability improved as they entered the juvenile stage. Meanwhile, interactions between different ecosystems led to a greater diversity of food sources; thus, their feeding targets were no longer limited to plankton but shifted toward small fish and other cephalopods. Then, from the juvenile to the subadult–adult stage, the trophic niche breadth decreased, which can be explained by that O. bartramii had a selective preference for certain prey as ontogenetic growth proceeded, and they seemed to focus more on larger prey in the subadult–adult stage. Furthermore, the small amount of overlap between early and later life cycles suggested a significant trophic niche separation among different trophic ecologies and spatial ecologies. This study provides an understanding of diet shifts in neon flying squid in the North Pacific Ocean, primarily including diet shifts during their individual development and differences in trophic variation between the two stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiation-induced esophageal injury remains a limitation for the process of radiotherapy for lung and esophageal cancer patients. Esophageal epithelial cells are extremely sensitive to irradiation, nevertheless, factors involved in the radiosensitivity of esophageal epithelial cells are still unknown. Terminal uridyl transferase 4 (TUT4) could modify the sequence of miRNAs, which affect their regulation on miRNA targets and function. In this study, we used transcriptome sequencing technology to identify mRNAs that were differentially expressed before and after radiotherapy in esophageal epithelial cells. We further explored the mRNA expression profiles between wild-type and TUT4 knockout esophageal epithelial cells. Volcano and heatmap plots unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis were performed to classify the samples. Enrichment analysis on Gene Ontology functional annotations and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways was performed. We annotated differential genes from metabolism, genetic information processing, environmental information processing, cellular processes, and organismal systems human diseases. The aberrantly expressed genes are significantly enriched in irradiation-related biological processes, such as DNA replication, ferroptosis, and cell cycle. Moreover, we explored the distribution of transcription factor family and its target genes in differential genes. These mRNAs might serve as therapeutic targets in TUT4-related radiation-induced esophageal injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of deep neural network (DNN) has provided transformative impacts on many fields, including computer vision and video recognition. However, the impact is limited by the need for large, labeled datasets to enable effective training. To address this fundamental problem, we propose a novel inter-network system (Dandelion), providing architecture support (Dandelion-architecture) for data augmentation that trains DNNs with rare images generated by the generative adversarial network (GAN) with orthogonal attributes modified (Dandelion-function. The approach can account for the latency requirement and resource limitation of target applications by exploiting data and computation reuses between the two networks; this amortizes the impact of bottleneck brought by GAN and facilitates design of inter-network accelerator. Moreover, we show how to implement two-network design on 3D architecture to further enhance the accelerator. Our results show that with the generated images, DNN yields 13.6% - 37.5% improvement on accuracy, depending on the data scarcity level. Our architecture achieves at least 30% speedup compared with the baseline while 40% of the overhead brought by the incorporation of GAN is reduced in our design compared with ScaleDeep, and 26.3% of performance improvement over TETRIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible block partition and newly adopted intra coding tools bring significant performance improvement for next generation video coding, and meanwhile introduce non-negligible encoding complexity increment. This paper presents a scalable intra coding optimization (SICO) scheme for the third generation of audio video coding standard (AVS3). The complexity distribution and inheriting relationship among different partitioning, as well as intra prediction modes, are systematically analyzed. Subsequently, low-complexity algorithms are proposed, which could early exclude unlikely coding modes safely. In particular, a data-driven binary classifier is elegantly trained for the determination of coding unit partitioning. Moreover, the preliminary coding information can be exhaustively utilized for the mode decision in a low-cost manner. The proposed method provides scalable intra coding optimizing solutions, which is eligible to cater to various application scenarios. Experimental results show that the proposed method could achieve a wide range of encoding complexity reduction from 18% to 76% with moderate compression performance loss. One implementation of the proposed method has been adopted to the AVS3 reference software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1,3-difluoropropane and its complex with water were characterized by using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy with the aid of quantum chemical calculations. Rotational spectra of the monomer were extended to the 13C isotopologues which lead to a precise structural determination of the two observed conformers. For the 1,3-difluoropropane-water complex, the most stable isomer has been observed and assigned in the supersonic jet expansion. In the observed isomer, water acts as a proton donor and a proton acceptor forming one O–H⋯F weak hydrogen bond and two C–H⋯O weak hydrogen bonds, respectively. The measurements on the three 13C, 18O, and deuterated water allowed determination of the skeleton structure and evaluation of the weak hydrogen bond parameters. Quantum theory of atoms in molecules, non-covalent interaction, and symmetry-adapted perturbation theory analyses were performed to reveal the nature of the intermolecular non-covalent interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceleration of CNNs has gained increasing attention since their success in computer vision. Since the heterogeneous layers cannot be processed by accelerators proposed for convolution layers only, modern end-to-end CNN acceleration solutions either transform diverse computation into matrix/vector arithmetic, which loses data reuse opportunities in convolution, or introduce dedicated functional unit to each kind of layer, which results in underutilization and high update expenses. To enhance the whole-life cost efficiency, we need a solution that is efficient in processing CNN layers and has the generality to apply to all kinds of existing and emerging layers. To this end, we propose GCONV Chain, a method to convert the entire CNN computation into a chain of standard general convolutions (GCONV) that can be efficiently processed by existing CNN accelerators with low-overhead hardware support. This paper comprehensively analyzes the GCONV Chain model and proposes a full-stack implementation to support GCONV Chain. Our results on various CNNs demonstrate that GCONV Chain improves the performance and energy efficiency of existing CNN accelerators by an average of 3.4x and 3.2x respectively. Furthermore, we show that GCONV Chain provides low whole-life costs for CNN acceleration, including both developer efforts and total cost of ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid oxygen chill-down in a vertical exit-contracted pipe was investigated experimentally. The wall temperatures were recorded in detail to describe the filling and chill-down process of the experimental section. Two quenching fronts, the exit one and the inlet one, were detected, and their propagations were found. Results show that the chill-down process is controlled mainly by the formation and propagation of quenching front, which are determined by the pressure level. With the increase of pressure, the roles of both propagation of quenching front and inlet quenching front undergo decreasing. On the vertical section, the effect of circumferential position was discussed in detail and the dominant point was identified, which determines the boiling transition time of the dominated points on the current cross-section. Based on the experimental data, two correlations were suggested for dominant point and dominated points, respectively, to predict heat flux on Leidenfrost, heat transfer coefficient on Leidenfrost, and critical heat flux. One equation was approved to predict heat transfer coefficient on critical heat flux point for both sorts of points. All of these correlations could produce reliable predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millisecond laser processing has advantages in terms of depth, efficiency, and cost. The evolution mechanism of the laser ablation of SiC f /SiC fabricated through melt infiltration remains unclear. Therefore, spatio-temporal multi-scale observation is proposed. The information of gas, plasma, and droplets is collected and analysed. The results reveal that laser power and the type of assist gas considerably affect the material removal, hole morphology, and efficiency. Typical topographies, such as crack propagation, fibre fracture, recasting, and debonding are clarified with various melting temperatures and internal stress induced by temperature gradient. Additionally, the distribution of elements Si and C is exclusive, which is clarified with surface tension, melting temperature difference, chemical reaction, and intervention of assist gas. The simulation model based on heat transfer laws and the birth-death element method verifies the rationality of the evolutionary model of the hole morphology. Moreover, the simulation model established for first pulse ablation in N 2 indicates that a limited increase in maximum depth at high power can be attributed to the plasma shielding effect. This study can guide the processing of parts in the aerospace and nuclear industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]