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Abstract In this paper, we investigate the decoding performance and corresponding decoding strategies for polar-coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system operating under multipath fading channels. Multipath fading channels lead to frequency selective fading of the OFDM signal, resulting in varying levels of noise interference across different subcarriers after equalization. Furthermore, frequency selective fading induces burst errors in the equalized information, thereby significantly degrading the decoding performance. To address these issues, we propose two schemes in this paper to enhance the decoding performance of polar-coded OFDM system. Firstly, we integrate the channel state information of each subcarrier into the generation of soft information for the polar codes decoder, in order to alleviate the degradation of decoding performance caused by variations in signal-to-noise ratio across subcarriers during OFDM demodulation. Secondly, we introduce a packet interleaving design after the polar codes encoder to enhance the robustness of polar codes against burst errors. Simulation results demonstrate that the combined application of these two decoding strategies significantly outperforms the conventional scheme in terms of transmission performance over multipath fading channels. The findings of this study suggest that, within the context of future wireless communication systems utilizing Polar-OFDM, the concurrent implementation of our two proposed decoding strategies is essential for achieving robust error correction performance in the OFDM system.

A new newt species, Hypselotriton huanggangensis sp. nov., is described based on nine specimens collected from Huanggangshan Mountains, Yanshan County, Jiangxi, China. Morphologically, the new species is characterized by the combination of nine external characters: (1) obvious black patches with clear boundaries on the whole body; (2) ground color of the dorsal body tan; (3) ground color of venter bright orange; (4) skin rough; (5) vertebral ridge weak; (6) fingers and toes overlapping when forelimb and hindlimb adpressed towards each other along body; (7) postocular orange spot absent; (8) small white warty glands around the eye; (9) two discontinuous longitudinal lines formed by white warty glands from neck to lateral parts of tail. Molecularly, the new species forms an independent clade with strong support in the phylogenetic trees of the genus based on the mitochondrial locus of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) gene fragments. The new species distinctly differs from H. fudingensis by differences in its body measurements, vertebral ridge, dorsal black patches, and ventral black patches. Furthermore, the new species and H. fudingensis are geographically isolated by a series of high mountain ranges, including the Wuyishan and Jiufengshan Mountains. The number of Hypselotriton species is now 11.

Abstract Hard carbon is regarded as a promising anode candidate for sodium‐ion batteries due to its low cost, relatively low working voltage, and satisfactory specific capacity. However, it still remains a challenge to obtain a high‐performance hard carbon anode from cost‐effective carbon sources. In addition, the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is subjected to continuous rupture during battery cycling, leading to fast capacity decay. Herein, a lignin‐based hard carbon with robust SEI is developed to address these issues, effectively killing two birds with one stone. An innovative gas‐phase removal‐assisted aqueous washing strategy is developed to remove excessive sodium in the precursor to upcycle industrial lignin into high‐value hard carbon, which demonstrated an ultrahigh sodium storage capacity of 359 mAh g−1. It is found that the residual sodium components from lignin on hard carbon act as active sites that controllably regulate the composition and morphology of SEI and guide homogeneous SEI growth by a near‐shore aggregation mechanism to form thin, dense, and organic‐rich SEI. Benefiting from these merits, the as‐developed SEI shows fast Na+ transfer at the interphases and enhanced structural stability, thus preventing SEI rupture and reformation, and ultimately leading to a comprehensive improvement in sodium storage performance.

This study assessed the impact of active dry yeast (ADY) on nutrient digestibility and rumen fermentation, using both in vitro and in vivo experiments with lambs. In vitro, ADYs were incubated with rumen fluid and a substrate mixture to assess gas production, pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA) profiles, and lactate concentration. In vivo, Hu lambs were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments: a control group and four groups receiving one of two dosages of either Vistacell or Procreatin7. Growth performance, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation parameters, and bacterial community composition were measured. Pro enhanced the propionate molar proportion while it decreased the n-butyrate molar proportion. Vis reduced the lactate concentration in vitro. In the in vivo experiment, Vis increased the propionate molar proportion and the Succinivibrionaceae_UCG-001 abundance while it decreased the n-butyrate molar proportion and the Lachnospiraceae_ND3007 abundance. Additionally, Vis showed a greater impact on improving the NDF digestibility and total VFA concentration in vivo compared to Pro. Overall, the effects of ADYs on rumen fermentation were found to vary depending on the specific ADY used, with Vis being the most suitable for lamb growth. It was observed that Vis promoted propionate fermentation and Succinivibrionaceae_UCG-001 abundance at the expense of reduced n-butyrate fermentation and Lachnospiraceae_ND3007 abundance. Importantly, differences were noted between the outcomes of the in vitro and in vivo experiments concerning the effects of ADYs on rumen fermentation, highlighting the need for caution when generalizing batch culture results to the in vivo effects of ADYs.

Abstract Emotions shared by posters on social media can have a profound impact on individuals and society. This was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine the types, trends, and dynamics of emotions communicated by the public, government, and media, this study collected 67,689 public posts, 36,740 government posts, and 126,988 media posts on Sina Weibo during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The vector autoregression model and Granger causality analysis were used to measure affective agenda networks and examine affective agenda dynamics. The findings show that the public, government, and media predominantly expressed positive emotions on Sina Weibo. The findings also reveal the significant influence of government emotions on media emotions, which subsequently affects public emotions. This study extends agenda-setting theory by integrating the dimension of emotional contagion. It underscores the potential for government and media to shape public emotions during health crises in order to maintain social order and increase compliance with emergency policies.

Abstract Nitrogen plays a significant role in influencing various physiological processes in plants, thereby impacting their ability to withstand abiotic stresses. This study used hydroponics to compare the effects of three nitrogen supply levels (1N, 1/2N and 1/4N) on the antioxidant capacity of rice varieties JJ88 (nitrogen efficient) and XN999 (nitrogen inefficient) with different nitrogen use efficiencies. The results show that compared with the XN999 variety, the JJ88 variety has stronger adaptability to low-nitrogen conditions, which is mainly reflected in the relatively small decrease in dry weight and net photosynthetic rate (Pn); In the early stage of low-nitrogen treatment (0–7 d), the $${\mathbf{O}}_{2}^{-}$$ O 2 - production rate, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of JJ88 variety increased relatively slightly, but the superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxide The activity of enzyme (POD) and catalase (CAT) increased significantly; After low-nitrogen treatment, the ASA–GSH cycle enzyme activity of JJ88 variety was relatively high, and the dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) activity after 14 days of low-nitrogen treatment was higher than that of 1N treatment; The content of reduced ascorbic acid (ASA) in non-enzymatic antioxidants was lower than that of 1N treatment after 14 days of low nitrogen treatment; The contents of oxidized dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) and carotenoids (Car) were higher than those of 1N treatment after 21d and 14d of low nitrogen treatment respectively; The contents of reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and proline (Pro) showed a larger upward trend during the entire low-nitrogen treatment period. In summary, the JJ88 rice variety has a strong ability to regulate oxidative stress and osmotic damage under low nitrogen conditions. It can slow down plant damage by regulating antioxidant enzyme activity and antioxidant content. This provides a basis for achieving nitrogen reduction and efficiency improvement in rice and the breeding of nitrogen-efficient varieties.

Objective To study the changes of platelet components(PC), apheresis platelets (AP) and pooled platelet concentrates (PPC) production of 19 provincial blood centers before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods The data related to the collection of AP and the preparation of PPC from 2016 to 2021 of 19 provincial blood centers was collected. The production of PC, AP and PPC during the four years before the epidemic (i.e. 2016-2019) and during the COVID-19 epidemic (i.e. 2020 and 2021) were calculated respectively, and the change of production was analyzed. Results The total production of PC in 19 blood centers steadily increased from 2016 to 2019, with a decrease of 4.16% in 2020 and an increase of 15.60% in 2021, exceeding the output before the COVID-19 epidemic. In 2020, the production of PC of 42.11% (8/19) blood centers decreased compared with 2019, while 94.74% (18/19) in 2021 increased compared with 2020. The changes of AP output was basically consistent with the trend of PC. The total production of PPC in 2017 and 2018 both doubled compared to the previous year, while decreased by 67.98% in 2019, increased by 30.38% in 2020 and decreased by 27.08% in 2021. Conclusion The total production of PC kept increasing steadily between 2016 and 2019, but decreased in 2020 under the COVID-19 epidemic, with some blood centers being significantly affected. In 2021, with the strong support from government and various measures by blood centers, the total production of PC increased.

Leymus chinensis is a dominant halophytic grass in alkalized grasslands of Northeast China. To explore the alkali-tolerance mechanism of L. chinensis, we applied a widely targeted metabolomic approach to analyze metabolic responses of its root exudates, root tissues and leaves under alkali-stress conditions. L. chinensis extensively secreted organic acids, phenolic acids, free fatty acids and other substances having -COOH or phosphate groups when grown under alkali-stress conditions. The buffering capacity of these secreted substances promoted pH regulation in the rhizosphere during responses to alkali stress. L. chinensis leaves exhibited enhanced accumulations of free fatty acids, lipids, amino acids, organic acids, phenolic acids and alkaloids, which play important roles in maintaining cell membrane stability, regulating osmotic pressure and providing substrates for the alkali-stress responses of roots. The accumulations of numerous flavonoids, saccharides and alcohols were extensively enhanced in the roots of L. chinensis, but rarely enhanced in the leaves, under alkali-stress conditions. Enhanced accumulations of flavonoids, saccharides and alcohols increased the removal of reactive oxygen species and alleviated oxygen damage caused by alkali stress. In this study, we revealed the metabolic response mechanisms of L. chinensis under alkali-stress conditions, emphasizing important roles for the accumulation and secretion of organic acids, amino acids, fatty acids and other substances in alkali tolerance.

The dried Mume fructus (MF) is a special food and herbal medicine with a long history of processing and application. The browning index (BI) of Prunus mume (PM) is pivotal in determining the medicinal value and edible quality of MF. Exploring the BI of PM holds significant importance for both the selection of PM varieties and understanding the formation mechanism of high-quality MF. This study systematically analyzed the physicochemical properties, BI, and quality indicators of four PM varieties (Qingzhu Mei, Yesheng Mei, Nangao Mei, and Zhaoshui Mei) after processing into MF. The results showed significant differences in eight physicochemical indicators among the four PM varieties (p < 0.05). Notably, Qingzhu Mei exhibited the highest titratable acid content, Nangao Mei had the most prominent soluble solid and soluble sugar content, and Zhaoshui Mei showed outstanding performance in reducing sugar, soluble protein, and free amino acids. Regarding drying characteristics, Yesheng Mei and Nangao Mei required a shorter drying time. In terms of BI, Nangao Mei exhibited the greatest degree of browning and its color appearance was darker. When considering quality evaluation, Nangao Mei excelled in rehydration ability and extract content, while Zhaoshui Mei demonstrated outstanding levels of total phenols, total flavonoids, and total antioxidant capacity. Overall, the evaluation suggested that the Nangao Mei variety was more suitable for MF processing. These research results provide a valuable theoretical foundation for understanding the BI of PM varieties and serve as a reference for the selection of PM varieties as raw materials for processing MF.

Zearalenone (ZEA), a mycotoxin produced mainly by fungi belonging to Fusarium species in foods and feeds, causes a serious hazard to humans and animals. Numerous studies have revealed that ingesting ZEA can disrupt the reproductive function and impair the reproductive process in animals. This experiment was to investigate the toxicological effect and the mechanism of ZEA exposure on reproduction in pigs during early stages of pregnancy. In the present study, we treated with 0 to 80 μmol/L ZEA for 12 or 24 h in trophoblast ectoderm (pTr) cells. The results showed that ZEA had significantly decreased cell proliferation (P

Abstract Background Countries across the globe have released many COVID-19 mobile apps. However, there is a lack of systematic empirical investigation into the factors affecting the adoption and evaluation of COVID-related apps. This study explores what factors at the country level and the app levels would influence the adoption and evaluation of COVID-19 apps. Methods We collected data on 267 COVID-19 apps in App Store and Google Play. The number of installs, ratings, reviews and rating scores were used as indicators of adoption and evaluation. Country-level predictors include the number of infected cases and the political system (i.e., democratic vs. non-democratic). App-level predictors include developer (i.e., government vs. non-government) and functions. Four app functions were coded for analysis: providing health information, contact tracing, home monitoring, and consultation. Negative binomial regression and OLS (Ordinary Least Square) regression were used to analyze the data. Results Our analyses show that apps developed by countries with more infected cases (B = 0.079, CI (Confidence Interval) = 0.000, 0.158; P = .049) and by non-governmental institutions (B=-0.369, CI=-0.653, -0.083; P = .01) received more positive rating scores. Apps with home monitoring function received lower rating scores (B=-0.550, CI=-0.971, -0.129; P = .01). Regarding adoption, apps developed by governments were more likely to be installed (IRR (Incident Rate Ratio) = 8.156, CI = 3.389, 19.626; P

Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels, a member of the Umbelliferae family, is commonly known as Danggui (Angelica sinensis, AS). AS has the functions of blood tonic, menstrual pain relief, and laxatives. Accurate classification of AS grades is crucial for efficient market management and consumer health. The commonly used method to classify AS grades depends on the evaluator’s observation and experience. However, this method has issues such as unquantifiable parameters and inconsistent identification results among different evaluators, resulting in a relatively chaotic classification of AS in the market. To address these issues, this study introduced a computer vision-based approach to intelligently grade AS. Images of AS at five grades were acquired, denoised, and segmented, followed by extraction of shape, color, and texture features. Thirteen feature parameters were selected based on difference and correlation analysis, including tail area, whole body area, head diameter, G average, B average, R variances, G variances, B variances, R skewness, G skewness, B skewness, S average, and V average, which exhibited significant differences and correlated with grades. These parameters were then used to train and test both the traditional back propagation neural network (BPNN) and the BPNN model improved with a growing optimizer (GOBPNN). Results showed that the GOBPNN model achieved significantly higher average testing precision, recall, F-score, and accuracy (97.1%, 95.9%, 96.5%, and 95.0%, respectively) compared to the BPNN model. The method combining machine vision technology with GOBPNN enabled efficient, objective, rapid, non-destructive, and cost effective AS grading.

Co-processing of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWI-FA) during iron ore sintering is a potentially feasible path for harmless and resourceful utilization. In this paper, the mineralization behavior of high calcium water-washed municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (WM-FA) during iron ore sintering was studied through high temperature in-situ, diffusion couple and sintering experiments, and the corresponding regulation technology was put forward. When adding 1.0 wt.% WM-FA, the tumbler index of sinter was slightly reduced from 69.20% to 68.82%. This index dropped to 62.43% with increasing the proportion of WM-FA to 2.0 wt.%. Potential reason indicated that WM-FA showed higher soft melting temperature than that of sintering mixture, resulted in its insufficient mineralization property. By adding 20 wt.% iron ore into the WM-FA pellets, the mineralization reaction inside and outside WM-FA was significantly improved, and a large amount of CaO·Fe2O3 liquid phase was formed. The tumbler index of sinter increased from 62.43% to 68.35%. Research findings provides a certain theoretical basis for the treatment of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash in the sintering process, and is of great significance to the green and sustainable development of iron and steel industry and cities.

Objective To investigate the establishment of multi-center haemovigilance (HV) and the monitoring of adverse reactions to blood donation (ARBD), in order to provide basis for the management of blood donors. Methods The operation of HV was investigated by questionnaire. The total number of blood donations (including plateletpheresis) and ARBD cases occurred in each blood center from 2014 to 2018 were analyzed. Results Among the 24 blood centers in this survey, only nine got HV operated. The incidence of ARBD of 19 blood centers that fulfilled the questionnaire was in the range of (0.003~1.151) %. The change trend of number and incidence of ARBD cases were indeterminate. Conclusion Most blood centers did not got HV established. The incidence of ARBD varied greatly and was indeterminate. The application of HV should be further improved to strengthen ARBD management.

Aiming at the defect that the traditional artificial potential field method（APF） is easy to fall into the local minimum in the obstacle avoidance path planning of the 6-DOF dual-manipulator system，an improved APF algorithm combined with an improved rapidly-exploring random trees（RRT） algorithm is proposed for obstacle avoidance path planning. The working space of the dual-manipulator system is analyzed，and the possibility of the interference of the dual-manipulator system is confirmed. For the path planning of the dual-manipulator，the improved APF is used to plan the path of the main manipulator，and it is used as the dynamic obstacle of the slave manipulator to plan the motion path of the slave manipulator. The improved RRT is used to adaptively select the temporary target points to solve the problem of falling into the local minimum when planning the path of the slave manipulator. The improved APF is used to plan the remaining path of the slave manipulator. Simulation analysis shows that the improved APF-RRT algorithm can solve the obstacle avoidance path planning problem of the dual-manipulator system more quickly and accurately than the traditional algorithm.

Abstract Aims Fabry disease (FD) is an X‐linked genetic disease caused by mutations in the GLA gene that leads to deficient activity of lysosomal enzymes, accumulation of globotriaosylceramide in multi‐organ systems, and variant clinical manifestations. We aimed to detail the clinical and genetic spectrum of FD in Chinese families. Methods and results Five male probands with unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy and their family members were investigated. Genetic screening was available in 11 subjects of the 5 families, 10 of whom proved to be carriers of either GLA gene mutation, including 3 previous reported missense mutations (c.128G > A, c.811G > A, c.950T > C), 1 novel missense mutation (c.37G > C), and 1 novel deletion mutation (c.1241delT). A total of 17 patients were definitely or possibly diagnosed of FD, given their clinical manifestations and hereditary nature of FD. Echocardiography demonstrated normal cardiac structure and function in six female patients. Electrocardiographic pre‐excitation occurred in 80% (4/5) of men and 16.7% (1/6) of women. Six patients (6/14, 42.9%) had chronic kidney disease with decreased renal function and all were male (6/7, 85.7%). Six patients presented with acroparesthesia, hypohidrosis, or both. Three female patients and two male patients experienced sudden death, and one male patient with the mutation (c.128G > A) died of progressive heart failure, between 41 and 66 years of age. Conclusions We reported five unrelated families of FD with different GLA mutations. Clinical manifestations were highly heterogeneous between male and female patients even within the same family. Female patients showed relatively low risks of structural heart disease and renal insufficiency. However, the long‐term outcomes might be adverse in both sexes. Our study underlines the importance of molecular screening of the GLA gene for early identification and clinical decision making in patients with FD.

The accurate identification of the origin of Chinese medicinal materials is crucial for the orderly management of the market and clinical drug usage. In this study, a deep learning-based algorithm combined with machine vision was developed to automatically identify the origin of Angelica sinensis (A. sinensis) from eight areas including 1859 samples. The effects of different datasets, learning rates, solver algorithms, training epochs and batch sizes on the performance of the deep learning model were evaluated. The optimized hyperparameters of the model were the dataset 4, learning rate of 0.001, solver algorithm of rmsprop, training epochs of 6, and batch sizes of 20, which showed the highest accuracy in the training process. Compared to support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbors (KNN) and decision tree, the deep learning-based algorithm could significantly improve the prediction performance and show better robustness and generalization performance. The deep learning-based model achieved the highest accuracy, precision, recall rate and F1_Score values, which were 99.55%, 99.41%, 99.49% and 99.44%, respectively. These results showed that deep learning combined with machine vision can effectively identify the origin of A. sinensis.

Drip irrigation has a close relationship with the growth and development of maize grains and yield formation in semiarid areas. To explore the response mechanism of grain yield formation to drip irrigation quotas, a 2-year pond planting experiment was conducted under controlled conditions, by using two maize varieties with differences in drought resistance as experimental materials. Six treatments were set up, including CK1 (drought-resistant variety, 500 mm), T1 (drought-resistant variety, 350 mm), T2 (drought-resistant variety, 200 mm), CK2 (drought-sensitive variety, 500 mm), T3 (drought-sensitive variety, 350 mm), and T4 (drought-sensitive variety, 200 mm). The changes in maize grain filling characteristics, related hormones, enzyme activity related to starch synthesis, sugars and amino acids contents, and yield were analysed. The results showed that 100-grain weight at different filling times, filling rate, average filling rate, auxin, cytokinin, acid sucrose invertase, sucrose synthase, starch synthase, and adenosine diphosphate glucose pyro phosphorylase activities in maize grains decreased and the abscisic acid content and content of various amino acids and sugars in grains increased with the decrease in drip irrigation quota. The percentage of changes in drought-sensitive maize varieties was relatively high. The maize yield decreased with the decrease in drip irrigation quota. In summary, there was no significant difference in grain filling characteristics, hormone content, starch synthesis enzyme activity, and yield between maize treated with T1 (drought-resistant variety, 350 mm) and the control treatment. This effectively maintained grain growth and yield formation, achieving the goal of water saving and stable yields.

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in the developed countries. Type II transmembrane serine proteases 4 (TMPRSS4) is a newly discovered transmembrane protein, which may be related to the invasion, metastasis of the tumor and the poor prognosis. This study aims to investigate the role of TMPRSS4 in endometrial cancer and the detailed molecular mechanism. The results showed that TMPRSS4 was highly expressed in human endometrial cancer cells (HEC1A and Ishikawa). TMPRSS4 knockdown inhibited proliferation of endometrial cancer cells. In TMPRSS4 knockdown cells, the invasion of cells was significantly supressed. The expression of E-cadherin was significantly enhanced, while the levels of fibronectin and vimentin decreased in TMPRSS4 knockdown cells, which indicated thatTMPRSS4 knockdown attenuated the EMT of cancer cells. TMPRSS4 positively regulated the activation of MAPK and AKT signaling pathways in endometrial cancer. In conclusion, this study indicated that TMPRSS4 may be associated with the progression of endometrial cancer through promoting proliferation, invasion and EMT via activation of MAPK and AKT in endometrial cancer cells. TMPRSS4 may be a new and more effective target or therapeutic strategy for treating endometrial cancer.

Abstract Polyanionic compounds have large compositional flexibility, which creates a growing interest in exploring the property limits of electrode materials of rechargeable batteries. The realization of multisodium storage in the polyanionic electrodes can significantly improve capacity of the materials, but it often causes irreversible capacity loss and crystal phase evolution, especially under high‐voltage operation, which remain important challenges for their application. Herein, it is shown that the multisodium storage in the polyanionic cathode can be enhanced and stabilized by increasing the entropy of the polyanionic host structure. The obtained polyanionic Na3.4Fe0.4Mn0.4V0.4Cr0.4Ti0.4(PO4)3 cathode exhibits multicationic redox property to achieve high capacity with good reversibility under the high voltage of 4.5 V (vs Na/Na+). Exploring the underlying mechanism through operando characterizations, a stable trigonal phase with reduced volume change during the multisodium storage process is disclosed. Besides, the enhanced performance of the HE material also derives from the synergistic effect of the diverse TM species with suitable molarity. These results reveal the effectiveness of high‐entropy concept in expediting high‐performance polyanionic cathodes discovery.

Aiming at the problem that the traditional artificial potential field method cannot constrain the overall posture of the dual manipulator system when planning the path of the dual manipulator system，and it is easy to fall into the local extreme point，the artificial potential field method is improved. Use the D-H method to analyze the kinematics of the dual-manipulator system，use the cylindrical-hemisphere bounding box model as the collision detection model. The construction of a new potential energy function dual-manipulator system is used to plan the path，use the method of constructing virtual target points to help the manipulator escape local extreme points. Simulation experiments show that the improved algorithm overcomes the shortcomings of local minima and realizes the path planning of the dual-manipulator system.

Kalman filter is commonly used in data filtering and parameters estimation of nonlinear system, such as projectile's trajectory estimation and control. While there is a drawback that the prior error covariance matrix and filter parameters are difficult to be determined, which may result in filtering divergence. As to the problem that the accuracy of state estimation for nonlinear ballistic model strongly depends on its mathematical model, we improve the weighted least squares method (WLSM) with minimum model error principle. Invariant embedding method is adopted to solve the cost function including the model error. With the knowledge of measurement data and measurement error covariance matrix, we use gradient descent algorithm to determine the weighting matrix of model error. The uncertainty and linearization error of model are recursively estimated by the proposed method, thus achieving an online filtering estimation of the observations. Simulation results indicate that the proposed recursive estimation algorithm is insensitive to initial conditions and of good robustness.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety and feasibility of rotational atherectomy (RA) in retrograde chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention (CTO-PCI) by analyzing immediate and long-term outcomes.BackgroundRecent evidence supports the safety and feasibility of RA in CTO-PCI. However, few studies have focused on the use of RA in a retrograde approach to percutaneous revascularization of chronic total occlusion (CTO) lesions and information on long-term outcomes is lacking.MethodsA total of 329 patients who underwent retrograde CTO-PCI, out of 1496 consecutive CTO-PCI patients from April 2017 to July 2020, were retrospectively recruited from the 2nd Cardiology Department of the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. 16 patients underwent RA (RA group) whilst 313 did not (non-RA group).ResultsTechnical (87.5% vs. 87.5) and procedural (85.9% vs. 87.5) success rates were similar between both groups. There was no difference concerning major procedural complications between groups (12.5% vs. 19.2%; p > 0.75). No in-hospital MACCEs was recorded in the RA group while there were eight MACCEs in the non-RA group (p > 0.99). In the RA group, 2 cases recorded perforation (1 target vessel perforation case and 1 branch vessel perforation), and 55 cases of vessel perforations/dissections were recorded in non-RA group including 18 target vessel perforations, 2 branch vessel perforations, 35 collateral vessel perforations (one patient died from cardiac tamponade). No difference was found in terms of the perforation rate between the two groups (p > 0.99). Over a mean follow-up period of 26.47 ± 14.46 months, use of RA in retrograde CTO-PCI did not result in an increased mortality rate [hazard ratio (HR) 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.31–8.21, p = 0.65], major adverse cardiac and cerebral events (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.35–2.79, p = 0.99) or overall rehospitalization rate (HR 1.27, 95% CI 0.44–3.67, p = 0.67). Adjusted Kaplan–Meier curves according to Cox regression model suggested several predictors influencing the all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, MACCEs, stroke rate, non-fatal myocardial infarction, target vessel recanalization rate and rehospitalization rate in the comparison.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that the in-hospital outcomes and long-term follow up events were the same between RA and non-RA retrograde CTO-PCI patients. RA offered an option for skillful operators in difficult cases when the lesion was severely calcified in retrograde CTO-PCI.

Abstract Background Ameloblastic carcinoma (AC) is an odontogenic malignant tumor which is closely related to benign ameloblastoma. Because of its rarity, diagnosis and treatment are difficult. In this study, we summarized and analyzed the clinical and biological characteristics of AC. Results Fifteen patients with AC and a median age of 53 years were identified. Among of them, five patients who were tested carried a BRAF-V600E mutation. Two patients presented with cervical lymph nodes and lung metastases. Primary AC was more invasive, and the bone destruction ability of the primary type was more radical than that of the secondary type. Conclusions This study revealed that the BRAF-V600E mutation was related to the aggressive behavior of AC, and early radical resection is crucial. Moreover, targeted therapy may be a new direction in the future.

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effects of substituting corn starch (CS) with barley starch (BS) on the growth performance, nutrient digestion, rumen fermentation, and bacterial community of fattening Hu sheep. Seventy-two Hu lambs with similar initial body weight (BW, 29.70 ± 1.70 kg) were randomly assigned to four treatments, with 18 lambs per group. The four experimental diets have identical starch contents but with different starch sources as 100% starch from corn (BS-0), 33% starch from barley and 67% starch from corn (BS-33), 67% starch form barley and 33% starch from corn (BS-67), and 100% starch from barley (BS-100). All lambs were reared in individual units and fed high-concentrate diets (85% concentrate in diets based on dry matter [DM]). The experimental period included 7 days for adaptation and 63 days for data collection. Sixteen ruminal cannulated Hu sheep were divided into 4 groups and received the four experimental diets to determine the dynamics of ruminal pH. The average daily gain (ADG), and BW gain of lambs linearly decreased (p < 0.05), whereas the feed to gain ratio linearly increased (p < 0.05) with increasing dietary proportions of BS. Digestibility of DM, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, starch, and gross energy (GE) decreased (p < 0.05) with increasing dietary BS contents. Ruminal mean pH decreased (p < 0.05) with increasing proportions of dietary BS, accompanied with linearly increased (p < 0.05) time and area of ruminal pH below 5.80 or 5.60. Increasing dietary proportions of BS linearly decreased (p < 0.05) the molar proportion of acetate, but linearly increased (p < 0.05) the molar proportion of propionate. Sheep of the BS-0 and BS-33 treatments had a less (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Selenomonas ruminantium than that of sheep of the BS-67 treatment, but a greater (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Ruminococcus albus than that of sheep of the BS-100 treatment (p < 0.05). In conclusion, feeding a high-concentrate corn-based diet for fattening Hu sheep improved the performance and rumen fermentation parameters when compared to the barley-based diet.

The effects of drying temperature and air velocity on the drying characteristics, color, bioactive compounds, rehydration ratio, and microstructure of Ophiopogonis Radix during hot air impingement drying (HAID) were explored in the current study. The experimental results showed that the drying temperature and air velocity had a significant impact on the drying characteristics and quality attributes of dried products except for the rehydration ratio. The drying time decreased from 720 to 240 min with the increase of drying temperature from 50 to 70 °C. Increasing the air velocity from 6 to 12 m/s enhanced the drying process of Ophiopogonis Radix, while the extension of air velocity to 15 m/s lowered the drying rate. The samples that were dried at a lower drying temperature obtained lower color difference. Properly increasing the drying temperature or air velocity could increase the total polysaccharide and flavonoid contents of dried products. Additionally, a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model was developed to predict the moisture ratio of Ophiopogonis Radix during the drying process. The optimal BPNN with 3-11-1 topology were obtained to predict the moisture ratio of Ophiopogonis Radix during HAID and performed with an acceptable performance.

This study aimed to explore the effects of different levels of barley starch instead of corn starch on the rumen fermentation and microflora when feeding a corn-based diet to Hu sheep. Thirty-two male Hu sheep equipped with permanent rumen fistulas were selected and fed in individual metabolic cages. All sheep were randomly divided into four groups (eight sheep in each group) and fed with four diets containing a similar starch content, but from different starch sources, including 100% of starch derived from corn (CS), 33% of starch derived from barley + 67% of starch derived from corn (33 BS), 67% of starch derived from barley + 33% of starch derived from corn (67 BS) and 100% of starch derived from barley (100 BS). The experimental period included a 14 d adaptation period and a 2 d continuous data collection period. The results showed that the molar proportions of acetate, isobutyrate, butyrate and isovalerate and the ratio of acetate to propionate in the 67 BS and 100 BS groups decreased compared with the CS and 33 BS groups (p < 0.001), while the molar proportions of propionate and valerate increased (p < 0.001). The combination of 33% barley starch and 67% corn starch in the diet improved the production of TVFAs (p = 0.007). The OTUs and Shannon indexes of the CS and 33 BS groups were higher than the 67 BS and 100 BS groups (p < 0.001), and the Chao1 and Ace indexes were higher than the 100 BS group (p < 0.05). In addition, the 33 BS group had increased the relative abundances of Bacteroidetes, Prevotella and Ruminococcus and the abundances of Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, Streptococcus bovis, Selenomonas ruminantium and Prevotella brevis relative to the CS group (p < 0.05). These results indicate that the substitution of 33% of the CS with BS did not change the rumen fermentation pattern relative to the CS group, and increased the richness and diversity of the rumen microbes in Hu sheep compared with other two starch substitute groups.

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) is a seasonal plant with high medicinal and aesthetic value, and drying is an effective practice to enhance its storability after harvesting. The effects of hot air drying (HAD), combined infrared and hot air drying (IR-HAD), and sequential IR-HAD and HAD (IR-HAD + HAD) on the drying behavior, color, shrinkage, aroma profiles, phenolic compounds, and microstructure of chrysanthemum cakes were studied. Results showed that the increasing temperature resulted in a decrease in drying time and an increase in drying rate and moisture diffusivity. The Logarithmic and Page models exhibited superior fit in describing the dehydration process. Among the three drying strategies, IR-HAD was more effective in reducing energy consumption, improving shrinkage, water holding capacity, water binding capacity and cellular microstructure, while IR-HAD + HAD showed better inhibitory effect on color deterioration. Furthermore, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that different drying strategies dramatically influenced the aroma profiles in samples, and IR-HAD obtained the highest concentration of volatiles. The results of ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) indicated that the introduction of infrared radiation contributed to increasing the contents of chlorogenic acid, luteolin, total phenolic and flavonoid. These suggested that IR-HAD was a promising technique for drying medicinal chrysanthemum.

A change of an aspartic acid to asparagine of Taq (Thermus aquaticus) DNA polymerase is a gain of function mutation that supports faster PCR: the extension times for PCR amplification can be 2–3 times shorter. Surprising results from negative controls led to the discovery of strand-displacement ability and reverse transcriptase activity of Taq D732N DNA polymerase. We demonstrate that the mutant enzyme can, by itself, catalyze RT-PCR, and RT-LAMP assays. Residue 732 is on the surface of the enzyme, not near the active site.

Enhancing the drying rate and dried products quality, as well as energy efficiency, is very tempting for the drying industry. Recently, a lot of investigations have illustrated that the drying temperature, air velocity, and sample thickness have significant influences on the drying process. However, few investigations took into account the relative humidity (RH) as an important hot-air-drying parameter in the drying process. Therefore, in the current work, white radish slabs were used to explore the drying characteristics and quality under the drying condition of a constant RH, decreasing the RH step by step and decreasing RH automatically, together with a constant air velocity of 1 m·s−1 and a drying temperature of 60 °C. Compared to continuous dehumidification, the step-down RH process was conducive to the material center temperature rise in the early stage of drying. When the material central temperature was increased and then the RH was reduced, the drying rate was increased and the overall drying time was shortened. The automatic-down RH control drying process includes three dehumidification processes. The respective RH control values were 40%, 30%, and 20% and the respective durations were 180 min, 90 min, and 60 min. The comprehensive quality evaluation showed that the comprehensive score of the automatic-down RH control process at 60 °C was the highest, which was 0.85. The L* and b* values of the automatic-down RH control were 26.0 and 1.67, respectively, which were better than those of the step-down RH, constant 20% RH, and constant 40% RH. The maximum rehydration ratio was 3.96 under the automatic-down RH control condition, and the quality was good. The lowest energy consumption under the condition of the automatic-down RH control was 0.90 kW·h·kg−1. The present work contributes to a better understanding of the effect of the RH on the drying characteristics and quality of white radish slices, which is useful for enhancing the drying rate and dried products’ quality as well as energy efficiency.

Abstract Background Pre-weaning milk replacer (MR) feeding program is a key factor affecting the health and welfare of lambs during their weaning. Weaning stress is well known as an inducement that negatively impacts the immune system of young ruminants, whose physiological and immune state is closely linked to the community of microbiota in their intestines. This study had two objectives: 1) To evaluate the innate immune response to weaning stress at both the physiological and molecular level; 2) To investigate changes to the jejunal chyme and mucosal adhesive microbiota between the control and high plane of MR groups. Results In this experiment, the plasma concentrations of cortisol, norepinephrine (NE) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) were higher in the C than the H group (P

Abstract Background Sudden cardiac death (SCD) induced by malignant ventricular tachycardia (MVT) among young adults with right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D) is a devastating event. Parts of ARVC/D patients have a mutation in genes encoding components of cardiac desmosomes, such as desmoglein-2 (DSG2), plakophilin-2 and desmoplakin. Case presentation Here we report a potentially pathogenic mutation in the DSG2 gene, which was identified in a family with ARVC/D using Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and Sanger Sequencing. In all, Patient III:1 with ARVC/D carried the compound heterozygous mutations of DSG2 p.F531C and KCNE5 p.D92E/E93X, which were both inherited from her mother (II:2), who died of SCD. Carriers of DSG2p.F531C showed various phenotypes, such as ARVC/D, SCD, MVT and dilated cardiomyopathy. For III:1, there were significant low-voltage regions in the inferior-apical, inferior-lateral wall of the right ventricular epicardium and outflow tracts of the right ventricle. Under the guidance of a three-dimensional mapping system, MVT was successfully ablated with an epicardial–endocardial approach targeting for late, double or fragmental potentials after implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) electrical storms. No VT recurrence was observed during the one year of follow-up. Conclusions When coexisting with heterozygous KCNE5 p.D92E/E93X, heterozygous DSG2 p.F531C as a genetic background was found to predispose to ARVC/D, SCD and MVT, which were successfully ablated using an epicardial–endocardial approach.

The objective of this study was to develop an efficient drying technology for poria cubes in order to improve product quality. Poria cubes were dried using different methods, including air impingement drying, infrared-assisted air impingement drying, vacuum drying, two-stage vacuum drying, and infrared-assisted air impingement drying. The results were compared with those from hot air drying. For the two-stage drying, the tested conditions were the first stage of vacuum drying with temperatures between 65–85 °C and a switching moisture ratio of 70–90%. The second stage infrared-assisted air impingement drying also had temperatures 65–85 °C. The drying kinetics (effective moisture diffusivity (Deff), Biot number (Bi), and mass transfer coefficient (k) were studied via the product qualities (broken ratio, firmness, microstructure, and water-soluble polysaccharide content) and specific energy consumption (SEC) of the drying processes. The results showed that two-stage drying led to the lowest drying time and energy consumption, and also obtained the best qualities. Box–Behnken experimental design with response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the two-stage operating conditions as 82 °C under vacuum drying until a moisture content of 81% and a temperature of 69 °C with infrared-assisted air impingement drying was achieved. These findings suggested that two-stage vacuum and infrared-assisted air impingement drying is a promising method for producing high quality and energy efficient dried poria cubes.

Dynamic path planning of unknown environment has always been a challenge for mobile robots. In this paper, we apply double Q-network (DDQN) deep reinforcement learning proposed by DeepMind in 2016 to dynamic path planning of unknown environment. The reward and punishment function and the training method are designed for the instability of the training stage and the sparsity of the environment state space. In different training stages, we dynamically adjust the starting position and target position. With the updating of neural network and the increase of greedy rule probability, the local space searched by agent is expanded. Pygame module in PYTHON is used to establish dynamic environments. Considering lidar signal and local target position as the inputs, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are used to generalize the environmental state. Q-learning algorithm enhances the ability of the dynamic obstacle avoidance and local planning of the agents in environment. The results show that, after training in different dynamic environments and testing in a new environment, the agent is able to reach the local target position successfully in unknown dynamic environment.

Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is increasingly prevalent among patients with bipolar disorder (BD), raising concerns in psychology and mental health. Investigating the incidence and factors associated with NSSI is crucial for developing prevention and intervention strategies., Methods: NSSI behaviors were identified using the Ottawa Self-injury Inventory. The Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale supplemented with questions for the DSM-5 specifier of mixed features (CUDOS-M) and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Hypo-)Manic Episode with Mixed Features-DSM-5 Module (MINI-M) were used to evaluate clinical symptoms. Non-parametric tests, chi-square tests, point-biserial correlation and logistic regression analyses were employed for the purposes of data analysis., Results: The enrolled sample comprised 1044 patients with BD from 20 research centers across China. Out of 1044 individuals, 446 exhibited NSSI behaviors, with 101 of them being adolescents, leading to a prevalence of 78.3 % among adolescent patients. The most common methods for females and males were "cutting" (41.2 %) and "hitting" (34.7 %), respectively. By binary logistic regression analysis, young age, female, bipolar type II disorder, with suicidal ideation and mixed states, depressive symptoms and without family history of mental disorder were correlates of NSSI in patients with BD (P < 0.05)., Limitations: As a cross-sectional study, causality between NSSI behaviors and associated factors cannot be established. Reporting and recall biases may occur due to self-rating scales and retrospective reports., Conclusion: Our study indicates a concerning prevalence of NSSI, particularly among young patients with BD in China. Future research should focus on understanding NSSI behaviors in this population and developing effective interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We have no conflicts of interest concerning this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

It is essential for the development of highly efficient polymeric photocatalysts for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. Nevertheless, the non-uniform molecular structures and sluggish reaction pathway of polymeric photocatalysts lead to low conversion efficiency. In this work, we report sulfur-contained phenolic resins with regulated conjugation for photocatalytic H2O2 production. Due to the substitution of sulfur for methylene in the phenolic resin structure, the conjugation degree of the material is adjusted, resulting in the formation of a built-in electric field. This effectively enhances the charge separation capability, enabling charge carriers to react faster with substrates. Through in-situ characterization and theoretical calculations, we have unveiled that the introduction of sulfur can modulate the reaction pathway of phenolic resin materials, enabling a dual-pathway photocatalytic H2O2 production mediated by non-radical species. Impressively, the sulfur-contained resin photocatalyst showcases exceptional H2O2 production activity with a solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency of 1.4% exceeding most reported systems, and generates 25 mmol m-2 of H2O2 under natural sunlight through large-scale equipment. This work provides a facile strategy to separate the photogenerated electron-hole pairs of polymer photocatalysts to achieve efficient artificial photosynthesis., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Insomnia is the most prevalent sleep disturbance during childhood and can result in extensively detrimental effects. Children's insomnia involves a complex interplay of biological, neurodevelopmental, social-environmental, and behavioral variables, yet remains insufficiently addressed. This study aimed to investigate the multifactorial etiology of childhood insomnia from its genetic architecture and social-environmental variables to its neural instantiation and the relationship to mental health. This cohort study uses 4340 participants at baseline and 2717 participants at 2-year follow-up from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We assessed the joint effects of polygenic risk score (PRS) and socioeconomic status (SES) on insomnia symptoms and then investigated the underlying neurodevelopmental mechanisms. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied to investigate the directional relationships among these variables. SES and PRS affected children's insomnia symptoms independently and additively (SES: β = -0.089, P = 1.91 × 10 -8 ; PRS: β = 0.041, P = 0.008), which was further indirectly mediated by the deviation of inferior precentral sulcus (β = 0.0027, P = 0.0071). SEM revealed that insomnia (β = 0.457, P < 0.001) and precentral development (β = -0.039, P = 0.009) significantly mediated the effect of SES&#95;PRS (accumulated risks of PRS and SES) on psychopathology symptoms. Furthermore, baseline insomnia symptoms, SES&#95;PRS, and precentral deviation significantly predicted individual total psychopathology syndromes (r = 0.346, P < 0.001). These findings suggest the additive effects of genetic and socioenvironmental factors on childhood insomnia via precentral development and highlight potential targets in early detection and intervention for childhood insomnia., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential nonfinancial competing interests., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In this paper, we investigate the decoding performance and corresponding decoding strategies for polar-coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system operating under multipath fading channels. Multipath fading channels lead to frequency selective fading of the OFDM signal, resulting in varying levels of noise interference across different subcarriers after equalization. Furthermore, frequency selective fading induces burst errors in the equalized information, thereby significantly degrading the decoding performance. To address these issues, we propose two schemes in this paper to enhance the decoding performance of polar-coded OFDM system. Firstly, we integrate the channel state information of each subcarrier into the generation of soft information for the polar codes decoder, in order to alleviate the degradation of decoding performance caused by variations in signal-to-noise ratio across subcarriers during OFDM demodulation. Secondly, we introduce a packet interleaving design after the polar codes encoder to enhance the robustness of polar codes against burst errors. Simulation results demonstrate that the combined application of these two decoding strategies significantly outperforms the conventional scheme in terms of transmission performance over multipath fading channels. The findings of this study suggest that, within the context of future wireless communication systems utilizing Polar-OFDM, the concurrent implementation of our two proposed decoding strategies is essential for achieving robust error correction performance in the OFDM system., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: Obesity is a risk factor for chronic diseases. The prevalence of obesity is rapidly increase and a significant social inequality exists. This study aimed to analyse obesity prevalence and complications in different regions and occupations in China., Study Design: Multicentre cross-sectional study., Methods: Data from 62,893 adults in 10 Chinese provinces were collected in 2022. Measures included body mass index (BMI), metabolic status and complications. Analysis was stratified by gender, age, region and occupation, with results adjusted for age and gender., Results: The average BMI was 23.81 ± 3.42 kg/m 2 , with overweight and obesity prevalence at 34.29 % and 11.24 %, respectively. North China had the highest obesity rate (27.93 %), followed by West (26.64 %), South (25.37 %) and East China (20.06 %). Functionaries (e.g. as civil servants, corporate executives) had higher BMI than employees or intellectual professionals, while workers had higher BMI than farmers. Intellectual professionals had the lowest rates of metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) at 4.90 % and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUO) at 3.47 %, followed by employees (MHO 6.63 %, MUO 4.45 %) and functionaries (MHO 6.74 %, MUO 4.94 %). Workers had the highest MHO prevalence rate at 8.51 %, while farmers had the highest MUO rate at 6.16 %. Obesity-associated complications were 1.5-3 times more common among obese individuals than those in the normal BMI category, with inequality observed across different occupational groups., Conclusions: In China, a large number of adults with obesity have poor metabolic health, highlighting the importance of considering metabolic status when addressing obesity-related chronic diseases. Addressing the inequality in obesity rates can inform public health strategies to tackle the increasing problem of obesity and its associated complications in China., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The BCL2 interacting protein 3-like (BNIP3L) protein is involved in multiple myeloma (MM) development and progression. This study aims to explore the connection between BNIP3L single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and MM., Methods: SNaPshot was used to examine six SNP loci of the BNIP3L gene in enrolled subjects. The relationship between these loci and MM susceptibility and prognosis was explored. Survival analysis was used to evaluate the impact of different factors on patient survival., Results: The rs2874670 AA genotype and A allele were associated with increased MM risk ( P < 0.05). The CCACAC haplotype had a higher frequency in MM, while CCGCAC had a higher frequency in normal patients (all P < 0.05). Patients with R-ISS stage I and II had higher survival rates than those with stage III ( P < 0.05). Patients, who received chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation, had longer survival time than those who only received chemotherapy ( P < 0.05). Low levels of LDH and β2-MG were associated with better survival rates ( P < 0.05). Cox regression identified that LDH levels, β2-MG levels, and R-ISS staging were the risk factors for the death of MM. Mann-Whitney U test found a significant difference in survival time between MM patients with different BNIP3L rs2874670 genotypes after BD chemotherapy ( P < 0.05)., Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to find that BNIP3L rs2874670 could increase MM susceptibility in China. Different BNIP3L rs2874670 genotypes may affect the prognosis of MM patients receiving BD chemotherapy.

The proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cells is a complex physiological process involving various transcription factors and small RNA molecules. This study aimed to understand the regulatory mechanisms underlying these processes, focusing on interferon-related development factor 2 (IFRD2) as a target gene of miRNA-2400 in bovine skeletal MuSCs (MuSCs). IFRD2 was identified as a target gene of miRNA-2400 involved in regulating the proliferation and differentiation of bovine skeletal MuSCs. Our results indicate that miR-2400 can target binding the 3'UTR of IFRD2 and inhibit its translation. mRNA and protein expression levels of IFRD2 increased significantly with increasing days of differentiation. Moreover, overexpression of the IFRD2 gene inhibited proliferation and promoted differentiation of bovine MuSCs. Conversely, the knockdown of the gene had the opposite effect. Overexpression of IFRD2 resulted in the inhibition of ERK1/2 phosphorylation levels in bovine MuSCs, which in turn promoted differentiation. In summary, IFRD2, as a target gene of miR-2400, crucially affects bovine skeletal muscle proliferation and differentiation by precisely regulating ERK1/2 phosphorylation., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Uneven energy distribution of femtosecond lasers presents a significant challenge for single-spot analysis, which often leads to concave ablation craters. This study assesses the performance of a femtosecond laser ablation system for in situ analysis using novel galvanometer scanners. A galvanometer rapidly moved the laser beam focus to create craters with a small beam spot. We first examined the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) signal sensitivity to laser parameters, establishing a strong linear correlation with the laser energy, repetition rate, scanning ablation area, and galvanometer scanning frequency. Elemental fractionation analysis of NIST SRM 610 suggests minimal bias, with fractionation indices of different elements approaching unity. Subsequently, the elemental concentration of six reference material glasses was measured by fsLA-ICP-MS to evaluate the elemental quantification capabilities of the Galvo-femtosecond laser (Galvo-fsLA). The laser's capability for in situ U-Pb dating was demonstrated by concordant U-Pb ages of five zircon reference materials that are highly consistent with the ID-TIMS ages reported previously. Finally, the reliability of the new Galvo-fsLA for isotope analysis was verified by the accurate determination of radiogenic Hf, Pb isotopes, and stable Cu isotopes, all agreeing well with their reference values within uncertainties. These assessments underscore the significant potential of Galvo-fsLA for enhanced accuracy and precision of single-spot in situ analysis.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been pursued due to their high theoretical energy density and superb cost-effectiveness. However, the dissolution-conversion mechanism of sulfur inevitably leads to shuttle effects and interface passivation issues, which impede Li-S battery practical application. Herein, the approach of adopting transition metal salts (CoI 2 ) to engineering the electrolyte is proposed. Different from anchored transition metal catalysts in the cathode, soluble cobalt ions can chemically reduce and solidify polysulfides, alleviating the dependence of sulfur conversion on the conductive interface while suppressing the shuttle effect. Importantly, all elements in CoI 2 are in the lowest valence state and solid complexes are formed after the redox reaction, which prevents the migration of high valent Co 3+ to the anode, thus overcoming the poor compatibility between redox mediator and Li anode. Notably, I 3 - has the function of eliminating dead sulfur and dead lithium, which we apply to Li-S batteries. After activating I 3 - at a certain frequency, Li-S batteries indeed achieve a longer and more stable cycle life. By combining the regulatory behavior of anions and cations, the electrolyte is engineered for Li-S batteries with high capacity, long lifespan, and excellent rate performance.

In recent years, adhesive thermal interface materials have attracted much attention because of their reliable adhesion properties on most substrates, preventing moisture, vibration impact, or chemical corrosion damage to components and equipment, as well as solving the heat dissipation problem. However, thermal interface materials have a huge contradiction between strong adhesion and high thermal conductivity. Here, we report a polymer-based thermal interface material consisting of polydimethylsiloxane/spherical aluminum fillers, which possesses both adhesion properties (adhesion strength of 3.59 MPa and adhesion toughness of 1673 J m -2 and enhanced thermal conductivity of 3.90 W m -1 K -1 ). These excellent properties are attributed to the modified chain structure by introducing acrylate accelerators into the polydimethylsiloxane network, thereby striking a balance between interfacial toughness and intrinsic dissipation. The addition of thermally conductive aluminum fillers not only increases the thermal conductivity but also improves the bulk energy dissipation of the thermal interface material. This work provides a novel strategy for designing a novel thermal interface material, leading to new ideas in long-term applications in high-power electronics.

Exploring the link between gut microbiota and chronic gastritis (CG), and assessing the potential mediating influence of blood metabolites. Using aggregated data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore the genetic links between gut microbiota (412 types) and CG (623,822 cases). Furthermore, we utilized a two-step MR approach to measure the extent to which blood metabolites (1,400 types) mediate the impact of gut microbiota on CG. Through MR, we identified that three genetically predicted gut microbiota increased the risk of CG: the ubiquinol-8 biosynthesis pathway (OR 1.149, 95%CI 1.022-1.291), Odoribacter from the Porphyromonadaceae family (OR 1.260, 95%CI 1.044-1.523), and Coprococcus from the Lachnospiraceae family (OR 1.125, 95%CI 1.010-1.253). Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that genetically predicted CG affects the risk of gut microbiota. Four blood metabolites mediated the proportionate changes in genetically predicted gut microbiota: levels of 4-hydroxyphenylacetate levels by 14.9% (95% CI -0.559%, 30.3%), palmitoleate (16:1n7) levels, and the phosphate to alanine ratio together mediated the same microbiota by 6.97% (95% CI -1.61%, 15.6%) and 7.91% (95% CI -1.67%, 17.5%), while the phosphate to alanine ratio and X-12839 levels together mediated the same microbiota by 8.48% (95% CI -2.87%, 19.8%) and 10.7% (95% CI 0.353%, 21.1%). In conclusion, our research has confirmed a causal link between gut microbiota, blood metabolites, and CG. Metabolites such as 4-hydroxyphenylacetate levels, palmitoleate (16:1n7) levels, the phosphate to alanine ratio, and X-12839 levels have relatively significant mediating roles between gut microbiota and CG. These metabolites may influence the occurrence and development of CG by regulating inflammatory responses, energy metabolism, and gut barrier function. However, the majority of the influence of gut microbiota on CG remains unclear, necessitating further research into other potential mediating risk factors. Clinically, it is crucial to focus on patients suffering from CG who exhibit dysbiosis of gut microbiota.IMPORTANCEThe results indicate that interactions between particular gut microbiota and blood metabolites may significantly contribute to the onset and progression of CG. These findings offer new insights and potential targets for early diagnosis, personalized treatment, and prevention of CG., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This study aims to identify potential efficacy-related biomarkers and investigate the mechanism of Youjing granule (YG) in improving spermatogenic function in rats based on metabolomics combined with network pharmacology. We obtained YG-containing serum from Sprague-Dawley rats, compared it with control group serum and analyzed it using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy to identify potential biomarkers and investigate the mechanism of YG in improving spermatogenic function in rats. Six important differential biomarkers, comprising putrescine, amidine, arginine, d-fructose-6-phosphate, l-proline and galactose, were identified in the YG-containing serum and then used to explore the potential mechanisms. The ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry technology was adopted for the rapid separation, identification and analysis of chemical components of YG in blood. A total of 69 detected chromatographic peaks were revealed. The binding energy between core compounds and key proteins is low, among which dipsacoside B is the best. The outcomes suggest that YG may improve spermatogenic function in rats by facilitating the development of spermatogonial stem cells, counteracting oxidative stress and controlling cellular apoptosis. Youjing granule may also affect the energy required for sperm production or influence sperm growth and maturation., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The Arabidopsis BLADE-ON-PETIOLE (BOP) genes are primarily known for their roles in regulating leaf and floral patterning. However, the broader functions of BOPs in regulating plant traits remain largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated the role of the Gossypium hirsutum BOP1 gene in the regulation of fibre length and plant height through the brassinosteroid (BR) signalling pathway. Transgenic cotton plants overexpressing GhBOP1 display shorter fibre lengths and reduced plant height compared to the wild type. Conversely, GhBOP1 knockdown led to increased plant height and longer fibre, indicating a connection with phenotypes influenced by the BR pathway. Our genetic evidence supports the notion that GhBOP1 regulates fibre length and plant height in a GhBES1-dependent manner, with GhBES1 being a major transcription factor in the BR signalling pathway. Yeast two-hybrid, luciferase complementation assay and pull-down assay results demonstrated a direct interaction between GhBOP1 and GhSUMO1, potentially forming protein complexes with GhBES1. In vitro and in vivo SUMOylation analyses revealed that GhBOP1 functions in an E3 ligase-like manner to mediate GhBES1 SUMOylation and subsequent degradation. Therefore, our study not only uncovers a novel mechanism of GhBES1 SUMOylation but also provides significant insights into how GhBOP1 regulates fibre length and plant height by controlling GhBES1 accumulation., (© 2024 The Author(s). Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, neural ensembles in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit responsible for encoding recent memories undergo reactivation to facilitate the process of memory consolidation. This reactivation is widely acknowledged as pivotal for the formation of stable memory and its impairment is closely associated with memory dysfunction. To date, the neural mechanisms driving the reactivation of neural ensembles during NREM sleep remain poorly understood. Here, we show that the neural ensembles in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) that encode spatial experiences exhibit reactivation during NREM sleep. Notably, this reactivation consistently coincides with isolated theta waves. In addition, we found that the nucleus reuniens (RE) in the midline thalamus exhibits typical theta waves during NREM sleep, which are highly synchronized with those occurring in the MEC in male mice. Closed-loop optogenetic inhibition of the RE-MEC pathway specifically suppressed these isolated theta waves, resulting in impaired reactivation and compromised memory consolidation following a spatial memory task in male mice. The findings suggest that theta waves originating from the ventral midline thalamus play a role in initiating memory reactivation and consolidation during sleep., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The quality of Artemisia Argyi Folium (AAF), a traditional Chinese food ingredient, is intrinsically linked to its geographical origin, which this study explores through phenolic compounds and mineral elements. The contents of 17 phenols and 18 minerals differed significantly between geographically distinct samples according to UHPLC and ICP-MS, respectively. Chemometrics indicated that a supervised model, orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), outperformed unsupervised methods at classifying AAF samples by their origins. Phenols were more effective at distinguishing samples from seven provinces, while minerals were adept at differentiating samples from the Dabie Mountain region (three provinces) and those from four other provinces. Six phenols and 10 minerals were important variables for discrimination. Complex correlations were observed between the contents of various phenols and minerals in AAF, with minerals possibly affecting the accumulation of phenols. This study provides an approach for distinguishing geographically distinct AAF samples and determining their geographical origins., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)