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Abstract Achieving precise and controllable hierarchical self-assembly of functional nanoclusters within crystal lattices to create distinct architectures is of immense significance, yet it creates considerable challenges. Here we successfully synthesized a silver nanowheel Ag40, along with its optically pure enantiomers S-/R-Ag40. Each species possesses an internal nanospace and exhibits host-guest interactions. These structures are constructed from primary building blocks (Ag9). By manipulating the surface anions and guest molecules, the nanowheels function as secondary building blocks, spontaneously organizing into complex double- and triple-helical crystalline superstructures or one-dimensional chains {Ag41} n through conformational matching and diverse noncovalent interactions. Moreover, we demonstrate that the water-mediated complex specifically assembled with uridine monophosphate nucleotides, resulting in chiral assemblies of Ag40 that exhibit chiroptical activity for specific recognition. Our findings provide insights into the efficient construction of assemblies with hollow frameworks and propose strategies for superstructure engineering by manipulating surface motifs.

Wetland vegetation is the most crucial primary producer in wetland ecosystems and serves as an indicator of ecosystem health. After 2003, significant changes occurred in the “river-lake relationship” between Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River, with intensified dry conditions in autumn and winter leading to a shortened inundation period for sandbanks and significant changes in the community structure and spatial distribution of wetland vegetation. By coupling a Gaussian model with a population dynamics model, this study simulated the response of wetland vegetation to inundation duration under different hydrological year types, revealing the relationship between vegetation distribution and inundation duration. Key parameters, such as growth and mortality rates, were identified, and the vegetation succession and spatial distribution of Poyang Lake wetlands were simulated for five representative years: a wet year (2010), a normal year (2001), a dry year (2006), an extreme wet year (1998), and an extreme dry year (2022). The results showed that the response of wetland vegetation to inundation duration followed a Gaussian curve, with each species exhibiting an optimal range of inundation durations. Mortality rates increased when the duration fell outside this range. In 2010, the total area of wetland vegetation was similar to that in a normal year, but the proportions of different plant species varied significantly. Compared to 2001, the areas of Phalaris arundinacea and Polygonum criopolitanum increased by 50.92 % and 24.86 %, respectively, while the areas of Phragmites australis and Triarrhena lutarioriparia decreased by 71.66 % and 83.49 %. In 1998, the total vegetation area shrank considerably, with a 54.74 % reduction compared to 2001 and a 64.32 % reduction compared to 2006. In contrast, the total wetland vegetation area reached its maximum in the extreme dry year of 2022, increasing by 41.35 % compared to 2001. Among dominant species, Carex spp., Cynodon dactylon, and Phragmites australis expanded significantly in dry years, while Phalaris arundinacea and Polygonum criopolitanum were better adapted to flood conditions.

ObjectiveTo design and test a device which is capable of accurately measuring and dynamically adjusting the axial pressure at the fracture end in real-time. MethodsUpon completion of the design, the pressure measurement and adjustment device was implemented in a canine tibial fracture external fixation model. A pressure sensor was mounted at the fracture end, and the displayed values of the pressure sensor were used as the standard for comparison. The relationship between the displayed values of the measurement and adjustment device and the pressure sensor under identical conditions was examined. ResultsThe device was utilized in external fixation models of tibial fractures in five beagles. A linear correlation was observed between the displayed values of the device and the pressure sensor at the fracture end. The measurement values from the device could be transformed into fracture end pressure through the application of coefficients, thereby facilitating accurate measurement and dynamic adjustment of the fracture end pressure. ConclusionThe pressure measurement and adjustment device at the fracture end is easy to operate, enabling precise measurement and dynamic regulation of the pressure at the fracture end. It is well-suited for animal experiments aimed at investigating the impact of axial compression on fracture healing, demonstrating promising potential for experimental applications.

Abstract Prolonged extremely warm ocean temperatures have great impacts on both natural ecosystems and human communities. These phenomena (i.e., marine heatwaves) could be easily monitored globally by satellite-based sea surface temperatures; however, the choice of datasets may lead to potential uncertainties in the marine heatwave assessment. Here we compared the marine heatwaves using three commonly used satellite products to illustrate the uncertainties over Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Distinct differences were found in the occurrence, duration, and long-term trend of marine heatwaves over both coastal and open oceans, while some discrepancies could become comparable with the obtained metrics themselves. Although differences in mean sea surface temperatures or their variances among datasets could not explain the abovementioned discrepancies, different sensors, procedures, and sea ice treatments in each dataset may contribute partially. Overall, our study suggests that the use of multiple datasets is crucial for evaluations of extreme events.

Forest gaps serve as crucial starting points for forest self-renewal. Within these gaps, soil enzymes play an essential role in driving nutrient transformation and species renewal. However, how forest gap renewal regulates soil fertility through soil enzyme across various soil depths remains unclear. This investigation delved into the dynamics of soil enzymes and nutrients within karst forest gaps at four developmental age stages: Infancy (30 years) across different soil depths (0–10 cm, 10–20 cm, and 20–30 cm). The study determined the contents of CNP and the activities of soil enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase, catalase, protease, and alkaline phosphatase. Two-way ANOVA was employed to assess the variations in gap ages and soil depths, along with their interaction. Redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to reveal the correlations between soil enzyme activities and CNP fertility indicators. The results indicated that gap age significantly influenced the activities of alkaline phosphatase, polyphenol oxidase, and protease, as well as the contents of total and available nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic carbon, alongside the ratios of N/P, C/N, and C/P. Catalase activity, however, did not vary significantly with gap age, although soil depth influenced these parameters, excluding total phosphorus and the C/N ratio. Notably, in the 0–10 cm soil layer, alkaline phosphatase activity, total nitrogen, available nitrogen, and organic carbon contents significantly increased with gap age increase, followed by a significant decrease after the middlescence stage. In the 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm soil layers, Alkaline phosphatase and polyphenol oxidase activities, along with N/P and C/N ratios initially decreased and then increased with gap age increase. During the Infancy, Youth, and Middlescence stages, Polyphenol oxidase and protease activities, CNP contents, as well as N/P and C/P ratios generally decreased with soil depth increase or after an increase in the 10–20 cm soil layer. RDA highlighted the variational positive and negative correlations between soil enzyme activities and CNP fertility indicators across soil depths during forest gap renewal, with explanatory rates ranging from 88.05 % to 94.67 % across soil layers. Overall, this study suggests that forest gap renewal significantly influences soil enzymes, CNP content and stoichiometry, modifying soil CNP content through stoichiometric regulation across different soil depths, and ultimately sustaining soil fertility via soil enzymes.

Background Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation is involved in many types of arterial diseases, including neointima hyperplasia, in which Ca2+ has been recognized as a key player. However, the physiological role of Ca2+ release via inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) from endoplasmic reticulum in regulating VSMC proliferation has not been well determined. Methods and Results Both in vitro cell culture models and in vivo mouse models were generated to investigate the role of IP3Rs in regulating VSMC proliferation. Expression of all 3 IP3R subtypes was increased in cultured VSMCs upon platelet‐derived growth factor‐BB and FBS stimulation as well as in the left carotid artery undergoing intimal thickening after vascular occlusion. Genetic ablation of all 3 IP3R subtypes abolished endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release in cultured VSMCs, significantly reduced cell proliferation induced by platelet‐derived growth factor‐BB and FBS stimulation, and also decreased cell migration of VSMCs. Furthermore, smooth muscle–specific deletion of all IP3R subtypes in adult mice dramatically attenuated neointima formation induced by left carotid artery ligation, accompanied by significant decreases in cell proliferation and matrix metalloproteinase‐9 expression in injured vessels. Mechanistically, IP3R‐mediated Ca2+ release may activate cAMP response element–binding protein, a key player in controlling VSMC proliferation, via Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II and Akt. Loss of IP3Rs suppressed cAMP response element–binding protein phosphorylation at Ser133 in both cultured VSMCs and injured vessels, whereas application of Ca2+ permeable ionophore, ionomycin, can reverse cAMP response element–binding protein phosphorylation in IP3R triple knockout VSMCs. Conclusions Our results demonstrated an essential role of IP3R‐mediated Ca2+ release from endoplasmic reticulum in regulating cAMP response element–binding protein activation, VSMC proliferation, and neointima formation in mouse arteries.

Nostoc commune (Nostoc commune Vaucher ex Born & Flahault) is widely distributed in grasslands within the subtropical region. Because of its morphological changes are more sensitive to moisture, it may affect the soil’s response to infiltration-runoff processes, thus significantly influencing soil moisture dynamics, runoff, and soil loss. However, the exact effects of this phenomenon are not yet fully understood. This study established a one-year monitoring experiment of soil moisture, runoff and soil erosion in the karst area of Southwest China from September 2021 to November 2022. Using bare soil (CK) as the control, two treatments of Nostoc commune cover at 100 % coverage (C1) and 50 % coverage (C2) were set up in 3 repetitions to investigate the shallow soil’s response to Nostoc commune cover and rainfall and to quantify the effects of land cover and rainfall type on runoff and soil loss. The results showed that Nostoc commune cover significantly increased the shallow-soil water content, and the effect of increasing soil water content was more significant with increasing coverage. The cumulative soil water increment (CSWI) varied greatly under different types of rainfall due to the high water-absorbing capacity of Nostoc commune. The CSWI showed C1 C2 > CK under heavy rain and rainstorm events. The temporal pattern of soil moisture changed greatly under different cover treatments and rainfall events. In particular, the response time under different rainfall types varied from 10 min to 250 min. The runoff depth and soil loss in CK were 1.19–2.15 times and 1.92–14.43 times that of C1 and C2, respectively. This indicates that Nostoc commune cover has a significant effect on controlling runoff and soil erosion. In addition, the sensitivity of runoff and soil loss to the maximum 10-min rainfall intensity was higher than that of the maximum 30-min rainfall intensity, which was attributed to the rapid swelling of Nostoc commune in the hydration process, which greatly reduced runoff and soil erosion. This study can contribute to further understanding the hydrological process and soil erosion characteristics under different surface covers in humid karst areas.

Feature representation is a crucial issue in multimodal image registration. The handcrafted features extracted by traditional methods are highly sensitive to nonlinear radiation differences, while supervised learning methods are limited by deficient labeled samples in the remote sensing field. Therefore, this article proposes a consistency feature representation learning method for multimodal image registration, which involves mapping data into a common feature space to realize the accurate alignment of remote sensing images. First, a contrastive network with a spatial attention mechanism is driven to enhance the capability to highlight high-level features of images. Second, a positive sample augmentation strategy is implemented with contrastive loss, which helps the model learn the inherent features better, and imposes constraints on the sample similarity to optimize the feature projection. Finally, a multimodal image registration framework is proposed to enhance the stability of feature matching. The proposed framework achieves accurate feature extraction and consistency feature description for multimodal images, ensuring robustness against nonlinear radiometric differences. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method obtains more reliable registration results on the SEN1-2 dataset. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm achieves superior performance on data from other modalities, indicating strong generalization ability.

Abstract Background For complete revascularization, patients with diffuse coronary artery disease should have a coronary endarterectomy and a coronary artery bypass graft (CE-CABG). Sadly, CE can lead to a lack of endothelium, which raises the risk of thrombotic events. Even though daily dual antiplatelet therapies (DAPT) have been shown to reduce thrombotic events, the risk of perioperative thrombotic events is high during the high-risk period after CE-CABG, and there is no consistent protocol to bridge DAPT. This trial aims to compare safety and efficacy between tirofiban and heparin as DAPT bridging strategies after CE-CABG. Methods In phase I, 266 patients undergoing CE-CABG will be randomly assigned to tirofiban and heparin treatment groups to compare the two treatments in terms of the primary safety endpoint, chest tube drainage in the first 24 h. If the phase I trial shows tirofiban non-inferiority, phase II will commence, in which an additional 464 patients will be randomly assigned. All 730 patients will be studied to compare major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) between the groups in the first 30 days after surgery. Discussion Given the possible benefits of tirofiban administration after CE-CABG, this trial has the potential to advance the field of adult coronary heart surgery. Trial registration chictr.org.cn, ChiCTR2200055697. Registered 6 January 2022. https://www.chictr.org.cn/com/25/showproj.aspx?proj=149451 . Current version: 20,220,620.

Background: Viral pneumonia, a pressing global health issue, necessitates innovative therapeutic approaches. Acyclovir, a potent ring-opening antiviral agent with broad-spectrum activity, faces water solubility, oral bioavailability, and drug resistance challenges. The aim of this study was to increase the efficacy of acyclovir through respiratory delivery by encapsulating it within albumin-modified lipid nanoparticles and formulate it as a spray. Methods: Nanoparticles was synthesized via the reverse evaporation method; its physicochemical characteristics were rigorously evaluated, including particle size, zeta potential, morphology, encapsulation efficiency, drug loading, and release profile. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles and its therapeutic potential against viral pneumonia were assessed through cellular and animal model experiments. Result s: Nanoparticles exhibited a spherical morphology, with a mean particle size of 97.48 ± 5.36 nm and a zeta potential of 30.28 ± 4.72 mv; they demonstrated high encapsulation efficiency (93.26 ± 3.27%), drug loading (11.36 ± 0.48%), and a sustained release profile of up to 92% under neutral conditions. Notably, nanoparticles showed low cytotoxicity and efficient intracellular delivery of acyclovir. In vitro studies revealed that nanoparticles significantly reduced interleukin-6 levels induced by influenza virus stimulation. In vivo, nanoparticles treatment markedly decreased mortality, attenuated the inflammatory markers interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α levels, and mitigated inflammatory lung injury in mice with viral pneumonia. Conclusions: In this study, albumin was modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) containing cationic lipid nanoparticles (LN) to prepare albumin-modified lipid nanoparticles encapsulating acyclovir (ALN-Acy), which can effectively deliver Acy into tissues and cells, prolong the survival of mice, and reduce lung injury and inflammatory factors. White albumin LN can be used as efficient drug delivery carriers, and the delivery of Acy via albumin LN is expected to be a therapeutic strategy for treating inflammatory diseases.

Study region: The Baiyangdian Lake, Xiong’an New Area of Hebei Province, China. Study focus: The construction of water transfer projects provides feasible measures for lake space and ecology restoration, with a critical issue in this practice being how to efficiently utilize multiple sources of water replenishments to improve the water quality of the water-receiving lakes. This study developed a hydrodynamic and water quality model for the Baiyangdian Lake, which receives water from upstream reservoirs within its basin and from two water transfer projects in other basins. Simulation scenarios with varied proportions of this lake receiving water from these sources were set up in the model, and the optimal water replenishment scheme for the best improvement in water quality was determined. New hydrological insights for the region: The multi-source water replenishment can effectively enhance the environment of the water-receiving lakes, and water transported from other basins has a more positive effect than that released from the local basin; additionally, water quality was found to be more improved during non-flood seasons compared to flood seasons. Under the preferred water replenishment scheme, the average concentrations of ammonia, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus in the core areas all decreased by more than 10%. However, the water replenishment may induce divergence in water quality indicators and aquatic system evolutions in the water-receiving lakes, making the lake environment fragmented. This study proposes to further exploit the water quality improvement benefits of multi-source water replenishments while mitigating its potential risks by enhancing hydrological connectivity in the water-receiving areas and integrating water quality monitoring and mathematical modeling.

Background Only a subset of patients with gastric cancer experience long-term benefits from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Currently, there is a deficiency in precise predictive biomarkers for ICI efficacy. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a pathomics-driven ensemble model for predicting the response to ICIs in gastric cancer, using H&E-stained whole slide images (WSI).Methods This multicenter study retrospectively collected and analyzed H&E-stained WSIs and clinical data from 584 patients with gastric cancer. An ensemble model, integrating four classifiers: least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, k-nearest neighbors, decision trees, and random forests, was developed and validated using pathomics features, with the objective of predicting the therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibition. Model performance was evaluated using metrics including the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. Additionally, SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis was used to explain the model’s predicted values as the sum of the attribution values for each input feature. Pathogenomics analysis was employed to explain the molecular mechanisms underlying the model’s predictions.Results Our pathomics-driven ensemble model effectively stratified the response to ICIs in training cohort (AUC 0.985 (95% CI 0.971 to 0.999)), which was further validated in internal validation cohort (AUC 0.921 (95% CI 0.839 to 0.999)), as well as in external validation cohort 1 (AUC 0.914 (95% CI 0.837 to 0.990)), and external validation cohort 2 (0.927 (95% CI 0.802 to 0.999)). The univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the prediction signature of pathomics-driven ensemble model was a prognostic factor for progression-free survival in patients with gastric cancer who underwent immunotherapy (p

The formation of the gas mixture in the cylinder has a significant effect on the combustion and emission of the engine. The main difference between a conventional engine and a free piston engine is that the piston movement mode is different. Therefore, a new coupled iterative method is adopted in this paper to study the injection position and duration of hydrogen fuel in a free piston engine where diesel fuels hydrogen, and reveal its influence on gas mixing and combustion in the cylinder of a free piston engine. The results show that it is suitable to spray hydrogen 55 mm from TDC. At this time, the mass fraction of H2 in the cylinder is relatively uniform, the cumulative heat release is about 620 J, and the pressure and temperature are relatively low, which are 7.2 MPa and 1529 K respectively. The duration of hydrogen injection is 0.4 ms, at this time, the mixing degree in the cylinder and the gas flow speed are better, although there is a little shortage of unburned equivalent ratio, but this has little impact on the overall, and the final cumulative heat release reaches 655 J.

Abstract Large lattice expansion/contraction with Li+ intercalation/deintercalation of electrode active materials results in severe structural degradation to electrodes and can negatively impact the cycle life of solid-state lithium-based batteries. In case of the layered orthorhombic MoO3 (α-MoO3), its large lattice variation along the b axis during Li+ insertion/extraction induces irreversible phase transition and structural degradation, leading to undesirable cycle life. Herein, we propose a lattice pinning strategy to construct a coherent interface between α-MoO3 and η-Mo4O11 with epitaxial intergrowth structure. Owing to the minimal lattice change of η-Mo4O11 during Li+ insertion/extraction, η-Mo4O11 domains serve as pin centers that can effectively suppress the lattice expansion of α-MoO3, evidenced by the noticeably decreased lattice expansion from about 16% to 2% along the b direction. The designed α-MoO3/η-Mo4O11 intergrown heterostructure enables robust structural stability during cycling (about 81% capacity retention after 3000 cycles at a specific current of 2 A g−1 and 298 ± 2 K) by harnessing the merits of epitaxial stabilization and the pinning effect. Finally, benefiting from the stable positive electrode–solid electrolyte interface, a highly durable and flexible all-solid-state thin-film lithium microbattery is further demonstrated. This work advances the fundamental understanding of the unstable structure evolution for α-MoO3, and may offer a rational strategy to develop highly stable electrode materials for advanced batteries.

Silique development exerts significant impacts on crop yield. CRPs (Cysteine-rich peptides) can mediate cell–cell communication during plant reproduction and development. However, the functional characterization and regulatory mechanisms of CRPs in silique development remain unclear. In this study, we identified many CRP genes downstream of the CRP gene TPD1 (TAPETUM DETERMINANT1) during silique development using a microarray assay. The novel Arabidopsis thaliana pollen-borne CRPs, the PCP-Bs (for pollen coat protein B-class) gene AtPCP-Ba, along with TPD1, are essential for silique development. The AtPCP-Ba was significantly down-regulated in tpd1 flower buds but up-regulated in OE-TPD1 flower buds and siliques. The silencing of AtPCP-Ba compromised the wider silique of OE-TPD1 plants and inhibited the morphology of OE-TPD1 siliques to the size observed in the wild type. A total of 258 CRPs were identified with the bioinformatic analysis in Arabidopsis, Brassica napus, Glycine max, Oryza sativa, Sorghum bicolor, and Zea mays. Based on the evolutionary tree classification, all CRP members can be categorized into five subgroups. Notably, 107 CRP genes were predicted to exhibit abundant expression in flowers and fruits. Most cysteine-rich peptides exhibited high expression levels in Arabidopsis and Brassica napus. These findings suggested the involvement of the CRP AtPCP-Ba in the TPD1 signaling pathway, thereby regulating silique development in Arabidopsis.

This study was conducted with the primary objective of assessing the performance of cfDNA methylation in the detection of colorectal cancer (CRC). Five tumor tissue, 20 peripheral blood leucocyte, and 169 cfDNA samples were collected for whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) analysis. Bioinformatic analysis was conducted to identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and their functional characteristics. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) was used to validate the methylation levels of DMRs in the tissues and leucocytes. cfDNA samples from CRC patients and healthy controls were used to evaluate the performance of the DMR analysis. WGBS analysis revealed a decrease in DNA methylation levels in the CpG context in CRC tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. A total of 132 DMRs in cfDNA were identified as potential markers for diagnosing CRC. In a cohort of 95 CRC patients and 74 healthy controls, a combination of the three DMRs (DAB1, PPP2R5C, and FAM19A5) yielded an AUC of 0.763, achieving 64.21% sensitivity and 78.38% specificity in discriminating CRC patients from healthy controls. This study provides insights into DNA methylation patterns in CRC and identifies a set of DMRs in cfDNA with potential diagnostic value for CRC. These DMRs hold promise as biomarkers for CRC detection, offering promise for non-invasive CRC diagnosis. Further research is warranted to validate these findings in larger cohorts.

Abstract Substantial progress has been made in using deep learning for cancer detection and diagnosis in medical images. Yet, there is limited success on prediction of treatment response and outcomes, which has important implications for personalized treatment strategies. A significant hurdle for clinical translation of current data-driven deep learning models is lack of interpretability, often attributable to a disconnect from the underlying pathobiology. Here, we present a biology-guided deep learning approach that enables simultaneous prediction of the tumor immune and stromal microenvironment status as well as treatment outcomes from medical images. We validate the model for predicting prognosis of gastric cancer and the benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in a multi-center international study. Further, the model predicts response to immune checkpoint inhibitors and complements clinically approved biomarkers. Importantly, our model identifies a subset of mismatch repair-deficient tumors that are non-responsive to immunotherapy and may inform the selection of patients for combination treatments.

Abstract Background Babesia gibsoni, the causative agent of canine babesiosis, belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa. The development of in vitro culture technology has driven research progress in various kinds of omics studies, including transcriptomic analysis of Plasmodium spp. between in vitro and in vivo environments, which has prompted the observation of diagnostic antigens and vaccine development. Nevertheless, no information on Babesia spp. could be obtained in this respect, which greatly hinders the further understanding of parasite growth and development in the blood stage. Methods In this study, considerable changes in the morphology and infectivity of continuous in vitro cultured B. gibsoni (Wuhan isolate) were observed compared to in vivo parasites. Based on these changes, B. gibsoni (Wuhan isolate) was collected from both in vivo and in vitro cultures, followed by total RNA extraction and Illumina transcriptome sequencing. The acquired differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were validated using qRT-PCR, and then functionally annotated through several databases. The gene with the greatest upregulation after in vitro culture was cloned from the genome of B. gibsoni (Wuhan isolate) and characterized by western blotting and indirect immunofluorescence assay for detecting the native form and cellular localization. Results Through laboratory cultivation, multiple forms of parasites were observed, and the infectivity of in vitro cultured parasites in dogs was found to be lower. Based on these changes, Illumina transcriptome sequencing was conducted, showing that 377 unigenes were upregulated and 334 unigenes were downregulated. Notably, an AP2 transcription factor family, essential for all developmental stages of parasites, was screened, and the transcriptional changes in these family members were tested. Thus, the novel AP2 transcription factor gene (BgAP2-M) with the highest upregulated expression after in vitro adaptation was selected. This gene comprises an open reading frame (ORF) of 1989 base pairs encoding a full-length protein of 662 amino acids. BgAP2-M contains one AP2 domain and one ACDC conserved domain, which may be involved in the nuclear biology of parasites. The prepared polyclonal antibodies against the BgAP2-M peptides further detected a native size of ~ 73 kDa and were localized to the nuclei of B. gibsoni. Conclusion This study presents a thorough transcriptome analysis of B. gibsoni in vivo and in vitro for the first time, contributing to a detailed understanding of the effects of environmental changes on the growth and development of parasites in the blood stage. Moreover, it also provides a deeper investigation for the different members of the ApiAP2 transcription factor family as various life stage regulators in Babesia spp. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Bright and efficient chiral coinage metal clusters show promise for use in emerging circularly polarized light-emitting materials and diodes. To date, highly efficient circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CP-OLEDs) with enantiopure metal clusters have not been reported. Herein, through rational design of a multidentate chiral N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand and a modular building strategy, we synthesize a series of enantiopure Au(I)-Cu(I) clusters with exceptional stability. Modulation of the ligands stabilize the chiral excited states of clusters to allow thermally activated delayed fluorescence, resulting in the highest orange-red photoluminescence quantum yields over 93.0% in the solid state, which is accompanied by circularly polarized luminescence. Based on the solution process, a prototypical orange-red CP-OLED with a considerably high external quantum efficiency of 20.8% is prepared. These results demonstrate the extensive designability of chiral NHC ligands to stabilize polymetallic clusters for high performance in chiroptical applications.

Object detection on very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing images is a crucial task that has seen remarkable progress in developing deep learning techniques. However, deep learning-based methods rely heavily on the quality and quantity of labeled data. Although few-shot object detection (FSOD) can mitigate this dependency, existing methods still face challenges, including domain shifts between base and novel classes, misclassification due to class similarities, and limited ability to acquire effective information from a few samples. VHR remote sensing images exacerbate these issues due to their greater intra-class diversity and weaker inter-class separability. To address these issues, we propose a new FSOD network, the Adaptive Meta-Knowledge Transfer Network (AMTN). AMTN adaptively transfers meta-knowledge from the source domain to the target domain by effectively obtaining valid information and keeping a stronger discriminative ability towards objects of similar classes in low-shot scenarios. Specifically, considering that VHR remote sensing images’ higher frequency domain resolution provides richer frequency domain information, we employ a Spatial-Frequency Joint Enhancement (SFJE) model to achieve dual enhancement of query image features by fusing information across the spatial and frequency domains. Moreover, we propose the Adaptive Reweighting (AR) loss to enhance the sensitivity of novel class detection in limited sample scenarios. Finally, we propose Sim-Meta loss for discriminability enhancement of similar classes. Our AMTN has demonstrated effectiveness and stability through multiple rounds of experiments on the largescale DIOR dataset while also achieving rapid transfer of meta-knowledge.

The rhodopsin-like receptor GPR119 plays a crucial role in glucose homeostasis and is an emerging target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this study, we analyzed the structure of GPR119 with the agonist APD597 bound and in complex with the downstream G protein trimer by single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Structural comparison in combination with function assay revealed the conservative and specific effects of different kinds of GPR119 agonists. The activation mechanism of GPR119 was analyzed by comparing the conformational changes between the inactive and active states. The interaction between APD597 derivatives and synthetic agonists with GPR119 was analyzed by molecular docking technique, and the necessary structural framework was obtained. The above conclusions can provide structural and theoretical basis for the development of therapeutic drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Accurate control of compressor speed is crucial for enhancing the heating performance of heat pump air conditioning systems and extending the driving range of electric vehicles. Based on traditional PID control and fuzzy PID control strategies, a control system utilizing the WOA-PID (Whale Optimization Algorithm)fuzzy control strategy is proposed to regulate the compressor speed and achieve optimal passenger compartment temperature control.The results demonstrate that, compared to traditional PID control and fuzzy PID control, the WOA-PID fuzzy control strategy results in significantly reduced overshooting of the passenger compartment temperature, as well as increased COP (Coefficient Of Performance)values. Specifically, when the target temperature is set at 18 °C, the WOA-PID fuzzy control strategy achieves a temperature overshoot amount of only 0.01 °C, and increases the COP by 0.10 and 0.01 compared to traditional PID control and fuzzy PID control, respectively. Similarly, when the target temperature is set at 25 °C, the WOA-PID fuzzy control strategy achieves a temperature overshoot amount of only 0.08 °C, and increases the COP by 0.14 and 0.07 compared to traditional PID control and fuzzy PID control, respectively. These improvements optimize the maximum overshooting amount and adjustment time of the passenger compartment temperature, effectively enhancing the heating performance of the system.

Functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) is a common type of tricuspid regurgitation (TR), particularly in cases of left heart valve disease. Historically, cardiac surgeons have not placed much emphasis on FTR and instead focused primarily on managing left heart valve disease. However, as research has progressed, it has become evident that severe TR significantly impacts the prognosis of heart valve surgery. Furthermore, significant improvements in postoperative cardiac function and quality of life have been observed when addressing the tricuspid valve alongside left heart disease management. This article aims to review current approaches for and timing of the surgical management of FTR while also analyzing the limitations of existing tricuspid surgical strategies.

Aim: C1q/TNF-related protein 6 (CTRP6) is a novel adipokine involved in insulin resistance. Thus, we aim to investigate the expression profile of CTRP6 in the plasma, adipose tissue and placenta of GDM patients and mice. Methods: Chinese Han pregnant women (GDM n = 9, control n = 10) with a scheduled caesarean section delivery were recruited. A number of high-fat diet (HFD) induced-pregnancy C57BL/6 mice were chosen as an animal model of GDM. Circulating levels of CTRP6 and adiponectin were examined by ELISA. CTRP6 expression in adipose tissue and placenta were detected by real-time qPCR and WB. Result: Plasma CTRP6 levels were decreased during the first and second trimesters in mice, as well as the second and third trimesters in patients, while they were increased at delivery in GDM patients and mice. Plasma CTRP6 levels were significantly correlated with WBC, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure and fasting blood glucose. Moreover, CTRP6 mRNA expression in the subcutaneous (sWAT) and omental white adipose tissue (oWAT), as well as in the placenta, was significantly higher in GDM human patients at cesarean delivery. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of Ctrp6 was increased in the sWAT and visceral WAT (vWAT), whilst decreased in the interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT), of GDM mice at cesarean delivery. Conclusion: Dynamically expressed CTRP6 may be served as a candidate target for treatment of GDM.

Background Despite remarkable benefits have been provided by immune checkpoint inhibitors in gastric cancer (GC), predictions of treatment response and prognosis remain unsatisfactory, making identifying biomarkers desirable. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a CT imaging biomarker to predict the immunotherapy response in patients with GC and investigate the associated immune infiltration patterns.Methods This retrospective study included 294 GC patients who received anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy from three independent medical centers between January 2017 and April 2022. A radiomics score (RS) was developed from the intratumoral and peritumoral features on pretreatment CT images to predict immunotherapy-related progression-free survival (irPFS). The performance of the RS was evaluated by the area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to construct predictive nomogram of irPFS. The C-index was used to determine the performance of the nomogram. Bulk RNA sequencing of tumors from 42 patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas was used to investigate the RS-associated immune infiltration patterns.Results Overall, 89 of 294 patients (median age, 57 years (IQR 48–66 years); 171 males) had an objective response to immunotherapy. The RS included 13 CT features that yielded AUCs of 12-month irPFS of 0.787, 0.810 and 0.785 in the training, internal validation, and external validation 1 cohorts, respectively, and an AUC of 24-month irPFS of 0.805 in the external validation 2 cohort. Patients with low RS had longer irPFS in each cohort (p

Abstract The experiments of underwater discharges in an anechoic pool were carried out and analysis of the time-frequency characteristics of the acoustic signals was conducted based on Variational Mode Decomposition and Hilbert–Huang Transform (VMD-HHT). We propose a relative center frequency difference method to determine the decomposition numbers K which has to be given before the application of VMD and the result is satisfying. The HHT spectrum and marginal spectrum are obtained, then, some valuable conclusions are drawn. The high-frequency components of the acoustic signal are mainly attributed to the shock wave, and the low-frequency components mostly result from the bubble pulse. The frequency range of the acoustic signal is basically from 0 to 90kHz, and the ratio of energy in the low-frequency band(0–4kHz) to that of the total acoustic signal is up to 55.56%. Furthermore, this ratio versus gaps is also explored and it has the minimum at the gap of 1.5 mm which is the optimal gap for the peak pressure and radiated energy of the acoustic signal. Therefore, we can not obtain the maximum energy of the acoustic signal and the maximum ratio in the low-frequency band simultaneously.

Nitrogen (N) in different forms has been demonstrated to play significant roles in plants. However, little is known about molybdenum (Mo) effects on N absorption and utilization in grapevine seedlings grown under different N sources. The present study used a sand culture system to analyze the impact of Mo application (0 μM; 1 μM) on N absorption and utilization in grapevine (Vitislabrusca × V. vinifera ‘Shine Muscat’ (rootstock 3309 m)) young potted seedlings under different N sources (NO3−, NH4NO3 and NH4+). The different N forms and Mo application significantly influenced dry matter accumulation, and root architecture and activity. The effects of Mo on total N content followed the order of (NH4NO3 > NO3− > NH4+). Moreover, Mo and N induced VvMOT1 and VvNRT1.1 expression synergistically. Mo supply altered the utilization of NO3−, NO2−, and NH4+ in grapevines under different N sources. NH4NO3 showed the highest effect while NH4+ the least. Furthermore, the 15N-labeling experiment showed that the 15N content in shoot and root and the 15N-use efficiency were the highest after Mo application under NH4NO3 source, indicating the synergistic effects of Mo with the co-application of NO3− and NH4+ sources. The study’s findings provide insights on Mo and N fertilizer utilization for cultivation and production practices in fruits.

Calmodulin-like interacting protein kinases play an important role in plant response to abiotic stresses and development. But the role of the CIPK gene in grapevine is unknown. In this study, VyCIPK1, isolated from the Chinese wild grape V. Yanshanesis, was strongly induced by salt stress. Overexpressing VyCIPK1 could induce AOC and AOS, and result in notably increased jamonate levels in tobacco. Under salt stress, transgenic plants showed higher germination rate, leaf number, and fresh weight than wild-type plants. Moreover, transgenic plants displayed higher chlorophyll content, catalase activity, peroxidase activity, superoxide dismutase activity, and lower malondialdehyde content, H2O2, and O2- content than that of wild type under salt stress conditions. And the stress-related genes, including ERD10C, ERD10D, LEA5, POD, SOD, and CAT, were up-regulated in transgenic plants. Our founding demonstrated that the VyCIPK1 has the potential for grape molecular breeding of salt tolerance as a candidate gene.

Summary: Volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs) are hexamers of LRRC8 proteins that are crucial for cell volume regulation. N termini (NTs) of the obligatory LRRC8A subunit modulate VRACs activation and ion selectivity, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we report a 2.8-Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of human LRRC8A that displays well-resolved NTs. Amino-terminal halves of NTs fold back into the pore and constrict the permeation path, thereby determining ion selectivity together with an extracellular selectivity filter with which it works in series. They also interact with pore-surrounding helices and support their compact arrangement. The C-terminal halves of NTs interact with intracellular loops that are crucial for channel activation. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that low ionic strength increases NT mobility and expands the radial distance between pore-surrounding helices. Our work suggests an unusual pore architecture with two selectivity filters in series and a mechanism for VRAC activation by cell swelling.

Study region: Baiyangdian Lake, the largest freshwater lake on the North China Plain, is located in Xiong'an New Area of Hebei Province. Study focus: Physical, chemical, and biological reactions are active at the sediment-water interface and have a complex impact on the interfacial transport process. Based on the theory of the effective diffusion coefficient, combined with the analysis of sediment, in-situ observations, and a hydrodynamic model, we built a multi-approach framework to accurately estimate the interfacial mass flux and its temporal and spatial variations. New hydrological insights for the region: The results showed that the NH4+-N release flux across the interface varies between 6.12 and 62.30 mg m−2 d−1. The transport processes in the Nanliuzhuang and Mapeng regions were dominated by the dispersive regime, whereas those in the remaining regions were dominated by the molecular regime. Under extreme weather conditions, such as typhoons, the mass flux is more than five times that under windless conditions. At this time, the framework to estimate the interfacial mass flux based on the effective diffusivity coefficient (FEIMF-EDC) can better reflect the sudden increase in mass flux caused by short-term strong hydrodynamic disturbances. This framework has a good application effect in shallow lakes with obvious spatiotemporal heterogeneity of sediment and hydrodynamics and can provide a basis for accurately formulating plans for water environment monitoring and management.

Cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a disfiguring and incurable disease characterized by skin-homing malignant T cells surrounded by immune cells that promote CTCL growth through an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Preliminary data from our phase I clinical trial of anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (anti–PD-L1) combined with lenalidomide in patients with relapsed/refractory CTCL demonstrated promising clinical efficacy. In the current study, we analyzed the CTCL TME, which revealed a predominant PD-1+ M2-like tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) subtype with upregulated NF-κB and JAK/STAT signaling pathways and an aberrant cytokine and chemokine profile. Our in vitro studies investigated the effects of anti–PD-L1 and lenalidomide on PD-1+ M2-like TAMs. The combinatorial treatment synergistically induced functional transformation of PD-1+ M2-like TAMs toward a proinflammatory M1-like phenotype that gained phagocytic activity upon NF-κB and JAK/STAT inhibition, altered their migration through chemokine receptor alterations, and stimulated effector T cell proliferation. Lenalidomide was more effective than anti–PD-L1 in downregulation of the immunosuppressive IL-10, leading to decreased expression of both PD-1 and PD-L1. Overall, PD-1+ M2-like TAMs play an immunosuppressive role in CTCL. Anti–PD-L1 combined with lenalidomide provides a therapeutic strategy to enhance antitumor immunity by targeting PD-1+ M2-like TAMs in the CTCL TME.

The phytohormone gibberellic acid (GA3) is widely used in the table grape industry. However, there is a paucity of information concerning the effects of GA3 on fruit quality and sink strength. This study investigated the effects of exogenous GA3 treatments (elongating cluster + seedless + expanding, T1; seedless + expanding, T2; expanding, T3; and water, CK) on the content of sugars, organic acids, and endogenous hormones and sink strength. Results showed that T2 treatment displayed the highest fructose and glucose levels at 100 days after treatment (DAT), whereas its effect on tartaric acid, malic acid, and citric acid concentrations at 80 and 100 DAT was relatively weak. Under GA3 treatments, GA3, IAA, and CTK contents increased, whereas ABA content decreased at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 48 h. Analysis of sugar phloem unloading revealed that T2 treatment exhibited the highest values during softening and ripening stages. Our findings indicate that appropriate GA3 application can positively influence sink strength by regulating sink size and activity, including berry size enlargement, sugar phloem unloading, and sugar accumulation in grape sink cells.

Soil aggregate breakdown is the first key factor that causes soil erosion. At present, research on the mechanisms of soil aggregate breakdown during rainfall is common. However, the research to on quantifying the relative contributions of internal and external forces to aggregate breakdown remains limited. This paper was conducted to analyse the relative contribution of internal and external forces to aggregate disintegration and the factors affecting aggregate stability during rainfall. Soil aggregates with a series of textures were selected as test soil samples; deionized water was employed as the soaking solution and rainfall material in static disintegration experiments and rainfall simulation tests. The effect of internal force (soil hydrophilicity) on aggregate disintegration was analysed by the static disintegration method, and the combined effects of internal force (soil hydrophilicity) and external force (raindrop impact) on soil aggregate breakdown were analysed by rainfall simulation experiments. The results indicated that external force caused more severe soil aggregate breakdown than internal force, and the crushed aggregate was mainly distributed in the range of 2–0.25 mm. With increasing rainfall kinetic energy, the degree of aggregate breakdown increased gradually, and the degree of aggregation of the soil particles decreased gradually. Furthermore, soil aggregates with a high clay content (> 30%) were more stable than medium-clay (20–30%) and low-clay (< 20%) soil aggregates, and the correlation coefficient provided a good representation of the relationship between the clay content and soil aggregate stability index (ASI). Therefore, external force contributed more to soil aggregate breakdown than internal force during rainfall, and clay plays an important role in aggregate stability. The results of this study are of great significance for elaborating the mechanism and factors affecting aggregate breakdown.

Tumour microenvironment has been linked with immunotherapy response in gastric cancer. Here, the authors use CT-based radiomics to predict neutrophils-to-lymphocyte ratio and response to immunotherapy.

Abstract Chemoresistance remains the primary challenge of clinical treatment of gastric cancer (GC), making the biomarkers of chemoresistance crucial for treatment decision. Our previous study has reported that p21-actived kinase 6 (PAK6) is a prognostic factor for selecting which patients with GC are resistant to 5-fluorouracil/oxaliplatin chemotherapy. However, the mechanistic role of PAK6 in chemosensitivity remains unknown. The present study identified PAK6 as an important modulator of the DNA damage response (DDR) and chemosensitivity in GC. Analysis of specimens from patients revealed significant associations between the expression of PAK6 and poorer stages, deeper invasion, more lymph node metastases, higher recurrence rates, and resistance to oxaliplatin. Cells exhibited chemosensitivity to oxaliplatin after knockdown of PAK6, but showed more resistant to oxaliplatin when overexpressing PAK6. Functionally, PAK6 mediates cancer chemoresistance by enhancing homologous recombination (HR) to facilitate the DNA double-strand break repair. Mechanistically, PAK6 moves into nucleus to promote the activation of ATR, thereby further activating downstream repair protein CHK1 and recruiting RAD51 from cytoplasm to the DNA damaged site to repair the broken DNA in GC. Activation of ATR is the necessary step for PAK6 mediated HR repair to protect GC cells from oxaliplatin-induced apoptosis, and ATR inhibitor (AZD6738) could block the PAK6-mediated HR repair, thereby reversing the resistance to oxaliplatin and even promoting the sensitivity to oxaliplatin regardless of high expression of PAK6. In conclusion, these findings indicate a novel regulatory mechanism of PAK6 in modulating the DDR and chemoresistance in GC and provide a reversal suggestion in clinical decision.

The structural performance of shield tunnel structures is highly susceptible to degradation under complex environmental loads, with the most common manifestation being bolt preload loss. In this study, a shield tunnel numerical simulation model was established to analyze the seismic response of shield tunnels with varying degrees of bolt preload loss. Firstly, the deformation patterns of shield tunnel structures under seismic loads were analyzed. Subsequently, ellipticity and joint opening were selected as seismic resilience assessment indicators based on the mechanical response. A seismic resilience assessment model was then established, including three states: normal state, affected state, and recovered state. The results show a direct relationship between the recovery capacity of tunnel structures and the initial performance of the lining structure, as well as the magnitude of the load. The lower the degree of structure degradation, the greater the structural recovery capacity. Additionally, there is a positive correlation between residual deformation and the initial performance loss of shield tunnel structures, as well as the intensity of seismic loads. This study contributes to enriching the theoretical framework for the seismic resilience assessment of shield tunnels, which have significant implications and provide valuable references for engineering safety.

Pedestrian detection models in autonomous driving systems heavily rely on deep neural networks (DNNs) to perceive their surroundings. Recent research has unveiled the vulnerability of DNNs to backdoor attacks, in which malicious actors manipulate the system by embedding specific triggers within the training data. In this paper, we propose a tailored camouflaged backdoor attack method designed for pedestrian detection in autonomous driving systems. Our approach begins with the construction of a set of trigger-embedded images. Subsequently, we employ an image scaling function to seamlessly integrate these trigger-embedded images into the original benign images, thereby creating potentially poisoned training images. Importantly, these potentially poisoned images exhibit minimal discernible differences from the original benign images and are virtually imperceptible to the human eye. We then strategically activate these concealed backdoors in specific scenarios, causing the pedestrian detection models to make incorrect judgments. Our study demonstrates that once our attack successfully embeds the backdoor into the target model, it can deceive the model into failing to detect any pedestrians marked with our trigger patterns. Extensive evaluations conducted on a publicly available pedestrian detection dataset confirm the effectiveness and stealthiness of our camouflaged backdoor attacks.

Multi-source image registration has often suffered from great radiation and geometric differences. Specifically, grayscale and texture from similar landforms in different source images often show significantly different visual features, and these differences disturb the corresponding point extraction in the following image registration process. Considering that edges between heterogeneous images can provide homogeneous information and more consistent features can be extracted based on image edges, an edge consistency radiation-change insensitive feature transform (EC-RIFT) method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the noise and texture interference are reduced by preprocessing according to the image characteristics. Secondly, image edges are extracted based on phase congruency, and an orthogonal Log-Gabor filter is performed to replace the global algorithm. Finally, the descriptors are built with logarithmic partition of the feature point neighborhood, which improves the robustness of the descriptors. Comparative experiments on datasets containing multi-source remote sensing image pairs show that the proposed EC-RIFT method outperforms other registration methods in terms of precision and effectiveness.

This study aimed to explore the effects of different starch source diets on the growth performance and hepatopancreas RNA-seq of grass carp. Juvenile grass carp (initial body weight of 39.4 ± 1.6 g) were fed diets containing 25% corn (CO), potato (PO), and wheat (WH) starch for 8 weeks, respectively. The weight gain ratio (WGR) was significantly lower, whereas the visceral somatic index (VSI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly higher in the CO group than those in the PO and WH groups. These indicators did not significantly differ between the PO and WH groups. Hepatopancreas RNA-seq analysis showed that 536, 514, and 647 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out in the comparisons of PO vs. WH, PO vs. CO, and CO vs. WH. The DEGs were mainly enriched in the several known pathways involved in steroid biosynthesis, cell cycle, fatty acid metabolism, and fat digestion and absorption according to Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. The major DEGs related to lipid and carbohydrate metabolism were analyzed, in which lipogenesis-related DEGs (fasn, acc1, scd1, elovl6, and me1), fat digestion and absorption-related DEGs (fabp7, apoa1, apoa4, and pla2), and glycometabolism-related DEGs (gk, g6pd, and pepck) were down-regulated in the PO group compared with those in the CO and WH groups. Conversely, steroid synthesis-related DEGs (hmgcs, fdft1, sqle, lss, cyp51, msmo1, nsdhl, ugt, cyp1b1, and cyp7a1) were up-regulated in the PO group. These results indicate that the long-term PO ingestion could modulate hepatic lipid metabolism by reducing fatty acid biosynthesis and increasing bile acid biosynthesis. PO may be healthier in contrast to CO alone, which may not be suitable as a starch source in grass carp diet.

The oceanic positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) network requires high-quality underwater acoustic message transmission. Turbo equalization technology has exhibited superior performance for underwater acoustic (UWA) communications compared with conventional channel equalizers. To overcome the performance reduction caused by severe doubly selective UWA channels, the virtual space-time diversity soft direct-adaptation turbo equalization is proposed for UWA communications. The proposed scheme improves the ability of the typical turbo equalizer to deal with both Doppler and multipath effects for time varying channels. We utilize a fractionally spaced soft interference cancellation equalizer (FS-SE) instead of a hard decision to constitute the soft-input soft-output (SISO) equalizer. Combined with another virtual time-reversal mirror equalizer component, we can obtain virtual space and time diversity with only a single receiving transducer and mitigate the error propagation phenomenon of the feedback filter. To satisfy the sparse UWA channel, the ℓp,q-PRLS algorithm is applied to adaptive updates for FS-SE. In the proposed scheme, an adjustable interpolator and digital phase-locked loop are embedded into the equalizer to overcome the residual Doppler frequency shift and recover the timing distortion. Results of simulations and field lake trial show that the proposed scheme achieves better performance than existing ones under the same equalizer order.

Evapotranspiration in the hydrologic cycle realizes the energy and water transport in the atmosphere. Evapotranspiration differences concerning land-use types provide data for studying the evapotranspiration of river basins. To investigate the evapotranspiration in the reservoir under artificial regulation, we selected the river basin in the Sanmenxia Reservoir as the study area. Data sources are two-period Landsat8 OIL_TIRS remote sensing images during the growing season of wetland plants. Based on meteorological data in this river basin, we investigated the evapotranspiration differences of different land-use types using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land model. The FAO Penman–Monteith formula verified the remote sensing inversion results. Analysis shows that significant differences were manifested between wetland and non-wetland landscapes in evapotranspiration among different land-use types. Non-wetland landscapes accounted for about 97.23% of the river basin's total area, but their daily average evapotranspiration was only 7.26 mm/d. Those of wetland landscapes were 2.77% and 12.17 mm/d. In this river basin, the differences between the wetland and non-wetland landscapes in evapotranspiration are mainly associated with plant diversity, vegetation coverage and surface temperature (beyond other driving factors like meteorological and hydrological solar radiation factors). HIGHLIGHTS Evapotranspiration data of different land types that support study on the hydrological cycle process in the watershed.; SEBAL model based on satellite remote sensing data and geographic information system technology.; The model simulation results have been verified by the Penman–Monteith formula.;

Dongguan has experienced the most rapid urbanization since the Chinese reform and opening policy. To analyze the urban expansion in this city, in this study, 12 land use/land cover maps were produced using a multiple classifiers system on the Google Earth Engine platform. A long time-series land use dataset from 1987 to 2020, was achieved. The results indicate that, during the past 33 years, the urban area increased by 13.84 times and reached 1483.06 km2 in 2020, whereas cultivated land and forest continually decreased because of rapid urbanization. By analyzing the changes in urban forms and landscape indexes, Dongguan experienced a diffusion–coalescence–diffusion phase, and its urban expansion can be divided into three stages: The early-age urbanization stage (1987–1996), the rapid urbanization stage (1996–2011), and the intensive urbanization stage (2011–2020). The development of the economic and dual-level administration of Dongguan expanded the urban area surrounding the towns and traffic corridors, and, finally, formed a connected urban area. The urban expansion, just like sparking spots firing the prairie, is special and conforms to a Dongguan urbanization pattern.

Albino tea cultivars are mutant tea plants with altered metabolisms. Current studies focus on the leaves while little is known about the flowers. To evaluate tea flowers from different albino cultivars, the chemical composition and anti-cholesterol activity of tea flowers from three albino cultivars (i.e., Baiye No.1, Huangjinya, and Yujinxiang) were compared. According to the results, tea flowers from Yujinxiang had more amino acids but less polyphenols than tea flowers from the other two albino cultivars. A reduced content of procyanidins and a high chakasaponins/floratheasaponins ratio were characteristics of tea flowers from Yujinxiang. In vitro anti-cholesterol activity assays revealed that tea flowers from Yujinxiang exhibited stronger activity in decreasing the micellar cholesterol solubility, but not in cholesterol esterase inhibition and bile salt binding. It was noteworthy that there were no specific differences on the chemical composition and anti-cholesterol activity between tea flowers from albino cultivars and from Jiukeng (a non-albino cultivar). These results increase our knowledges on tea flowers from different albino cultivars and help food manufacturers in the cultivar selection of tea flowers for use.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening disease that currently lacks a cure. Although stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) have shown promising effects in the treatment of ALI, their underlying mechanisms and responsible components have yet to be identified. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 6 (PCSK6) is a gene involved in inflammation and a potential target of miR-21-5p, a microRNA enriched in stem cell-derived sEVs. The current study investigated the role of PCSK6 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI and its interaction with miR-21-5p. Notably, our results showed that PCSK6 expression was positively correlated with LPS stimulation. Knockdown of PCSK6 ameliorated LPS-induced inhibition of proliferation and upregulation of permeability in human BEAS-2B cells, whereas PCSK6 overexpression displayed the opposite effects. BEAS-2B cells were able to actively internalize the cocultured bone mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived sEVs (BMSC-sEVs), which alleviated the cell damage caused by LPS. Overexpressing PCSK6, however, eliminated the therapeutic effects of BMSC-sEV coculture. Mechanistically, BMSC-sEVs inhibited PCSK6 expression via the delivery of miR-21-5p, which is directly bound to the PCSK6 gene. Our work provides evidence for the role of PCSK6 in LPS-induced ALI and identified miR-21-5p as a component of BMSC-derived sEVs that suppressed PCSK6 expression and ameliorated LPS-induced cell damage. These results reveal a novel molecular mechanism for ALI pathogenesis and highlight the therapeutic potential of using sEVs released by stem cells to deliver miR-21-5p for ALI treatment.

Abstract Background As cancer is one of the main leading causes of mortality, a series of monotherapies such as chemotherapy, gene therapy and radiotherapy have been developed to overcome this thorny problem. However, a single treatment approach could not achieve satisfactory effect in many experimental explorations. Results In this study, we report the fabrication of cyclic RGD peptide (cRGD) modified Au4-iron oxide nanoparticle (Au4-IO NP-cRGD) based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) as a multifunctional theranostic system. Besides Au4 cluster-based fluorescence imaging and enhanced radiotherapy, iron oxide (IO) nanocluster could realize magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and Fenton reaction-based chemotherapy. Abundant toxic reactive oxygen species generated from X-ray irradiation and in situ tumor-specific Fenton reaction under acidic microenvironment leads to the apoptotic and necrotic death of cancer cells. In vivo studies demonstrated good biocompatibility of Au4-IO NP-cRGD and a high tumor suppression rate of 81.1% in the synergistic therapy group. Conclusions The successful dual-modal imaging and combined tumor therapy demonstrated AIE as a promising strategy for constructing multifunctional cancer theranostic platform. Graphical Abstract

BackgroundPatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at increased risk for COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality. Antibody response to COVID-19 vaccine in T2DM patients is not very clear. The present work aims to evaluate the antibody response to the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in this population.MethodsTwo groups of subjects with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection were included: 63 T2DM patients and 56 non-T2DM controls. Each participant received two doses of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. IgG antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 (anti-N/S IgG) and receptor binding domain (RBD) proteins (anti-RBD IgG) were quantitatively evaluated by the electrochemiluminescence immunoassays, respectively.ResultsIt was observed that the positive rates and titers of anti-N/S IgG and anti-RBD IgG in T2DM patients were significantly lower than those in controls, respectively (anti-N/S: 85.7 vs. 98.2%, P = 0.034; 25.48 vs. 33.58 AU/ml P = 0.011; anti-RBD: 85.7 vs. 96.4%, P = 0.044; 15.45 vs. 22.25 AU/ml, P = 0.019). Compared to non-T2DM subjects, T2DM patients with uncontrolled glycemia showed lower positive antibody rates and titers (anti-N/S IgG: 75% and 13.30 AU/ml; anti-RBD IgG: 75% and 11.91 AU/ml, respectively, all P < 0.05), while T2DM patients with controlled glycemia had similar positive antibody rates and titers (anti-N/S IgG: 94.3% and 33.65 AU/ml; and anti-RBD IgG: 94.3% and 19.82 AU/ml, respectively, all P > 0.05).ConclusionIn the analysis performed, the data indicate that T2DM patients with uncontrolled glycemia showed a lower level of IgG antibodies compared to non-diabetic controls and individuals with controlled glycemia when immunized with the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine.

Summary: Lysine benzoylation (Kbz) is a newly discovered protein post-translational modification (PTM). This PTM can be stimulated by benzoate and contributes to gene expression. However, its regulatory enzymes and substrate proteins remain largely unknown, hindering further functional studies. Here we identified and validated the lysine acetyltransferase (KAT) HBO1 as a “writer” of Kbz in mammalian cells. In addition, we report the benzoylome in mammalian cells, identifying 1747 Kbz sites; among them at least 77 are the HBO1-targeted Kbz substrates. Bioinformatics analysis showed that HBO1-targeted Kbz sites were involved in multiple processes, including chromatin remodeling, transcription regulation, immune regulation, and tumor growth. Our results thus identify the regulatory elements of the Kbz pathway and reveal the non-canonical enzymatic activity and functions of HBO1 in cellular physiology.

Heart valve replacement, as a safe and effective treatment for severe valvular heart disease, can significantly improve hemodynamics in patients. However, such patients then require lifelong anticoagulant therapy. Warfarin, a cheap and highly effective vitamin K antagonist, remains the major anticoagulant recommended for lifelong use following mechanical heart valve replacement. However, the effect of warfarin anticoagulant therapy is complicated by physiological differences among patients and non-compliance with treatment at different degrees. Effective management of warfarin therapy after heart valve replacement is currently an important issue. Portable coagulometers and the emergence of the Internet have provided new opportunities for long-term management of anticoagulation therapy, but the safety and affordability of this approach remain to be fully evaluated. This paper reviews recent progress on the use of portable coagulometers and the Internet in the management of warfarin anticoagulation therapy following mechanical heart valve replacement, which offers opportunities for reducing complications during postoperative anticoagulation and for facilitating patient compliance during follow-up.

In this article, the authors analyzed the nonlinear effects of projective synchronization between coupled memristive neural networks (MNNs) and their applications. Since the complete signal transmission is difficult under parameter mismatch and different projective factors, the delays, which are time-varying, and uncertainties have been taken to realize the projective synchronization of MNNs with multi-links under the nonlinear control method. Through the extended comparison principle and a new approach to dealing with the mismatched parameters, sufficient criteria have been determined under different types of projective factors and the framework of the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF) for projective convergence of the coupled MNNs. Instead of the classical treatment for secure communication, the concept of error of synchronization between the drive and response systems has been applied to solve the signal encryption/decryption problem. Finally, the simulations in numerical form have been demonstrated graphically to confirm the adaptability of the theoretical results.