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Lithium‐sulfur batteries utilizing sulfide solid electrolytes hold considerable potential for achieving both high energy density and enhanced safety. However, the substantial volume changes experienced by sulfur during cycling result in mechanical stress accumulation, leading to mechanical degradation and thereby degrading overall electrochemical performance. In this study, a stress‐buffer strategy is proposed to address this challenge by engineering a mechanically resilient crosslinked structure for the composite sulfur cathode. This structure is accomplished through the integration of a highly flexible thermoplastic elastomer (ethylene vinyl acetate, EVA), which enables stress release during sulfur volume variations by the repeated stretching and shrinking of EVA, thereby maintaining stable ionic/electronic diffusion channels within the electrode. By virtue of the mechanically stable architecture, the stress evolution experienced by the entire sulfur electrode is substantially reduced, witnessing a remarkable decrease of ≈33.7%. Consequently, the S‐EVA composite cathode demonstrates exceptional electrochemical performance, especially cycling stability. Notably, the S‐EVA composite cathode, with a high loading of 7.5 mg cm−2, exhibits stable cycling performance close to 3.0 mAh cm−2 within 50 cycles. This work not only offers novel insights into mitigating the mechanical stress within the electrode but also paves the way for developing durable high‐performance all‐solid‐state batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affective dynamics have been identified as a correlate of a broad span of mental health issues, making them key candidate transdiagnostic factors. However, there remains a lack of knowledge about which aspects of affective dynamics – especially as they manifest in the course of daily life – relate to a general risk for mental health issues versus specific symptoms. We leverage an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study design with four measures per day over a two-week period to explore how negative affect levels, inertia, lability, and reactivity to provocation and stress in the course of daily life relate to mental health symptoms in young adults (n = 256) in the domains of anxiety, depression, psychosis-like symptoms, behaviour problems, suicidality, and substance use. Dynamic structural equation modelling (DSEM) suggested that negative affect levels in daily life were associated with depression, anxiety, indirect and proactive aggression, psychosis, anxiety, and self-injury; negative affective lability was associated with depression, physical aggression, reactive aggression, suicidal ideation, and ADHD symptoms; negative affective inertia was associated with depression, anxiety, physical aggression, and cannabis use; and emotional reactivity to provocation was related to physical aggression. The cross-sectional design, the limited span of mental health issues included, and the convenience nature and small size of the sample are limitations. Findings suggest that a subset of mental health symptoms have shared negative affective dynamics patterns. Longitudinal research is needed to rigorously examine the directionality of the effects underlying the association between affective dynamics and mental health issues. • This study used EMA to assess affective dynamics and examined their association with a range of mental health issues. • No affective dynamics component was found to be associated with all of the mental health symptoms included in this study. • Findings imply that dysfunctional affective processes may be makers for mental health symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence is characterised by a peak in sensation seeking accompanied by gradually developing self-control skills. Adolescents typically show steeper delay discounting performance than other age groups; a feature that is transdiagnostically related to a variety of mental health disorders. However, delay discounting performance is not a singular mental process but involves both risk/reward and future orientation elements, usually operationalised as probability/risk and time discounting tasks, respectively. To clarify the specific relations between the risk/reward and future orientation elements of delay discounting and different types of mental health problems, two bi-factor models and a series of structural equation models (SEMs) were fitted to multi-informant (parent and adolescent self-reported) mental health data from a large UK study. A transdiagnostic promotive role of future orientation was found using bi-factor modelling to separate general and dimension-specific mental health variation; however, this was limited to parent reports. In addition, future orientation was negatively associated with conduct problems and ADHD symptoms, but positively associated with emotional problems. Risk aversion was negatively associated with conduct problems, but positively associated with emotional and peer problems. The findings highlight that risk/reward and future orientation elements of delay discounting play partly distinct roles in different mental health problems and can serve both promotive and risk roles during adolescence. Findings also illuminate which elements of delay discounting should be intervention targets for different mental health concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to systematically explore the relationships between various adipokines and risks of endometrial atypical hyperplasia (EAH), type I endometrial cancer (EC), and type II EC. We enrolled 219 patients in this study, including 39 EAH, 87 type I EC, 38 type II EC and 55 control individuals. We subsequently explored the association of adipokine levels and the leptin-to-adiponectin (L/A) ratio with EAH, type I EC, and type II EC. The plasma leptin level and L/A ratio were significantly higher in the EAH group than in the control group (p = 0.012). Leptin, resistin, vaspin, and visfatin levels were significantly higher in the type I EC group; however, the adiponectin level was lower in the type I EC, which resulted in a higher L/A ratio. Notably, the L/A ratio and visfatin level in the type II EC group were significantly higher. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that a higher leptin level was significantly associated with a higher EAH risk (p = 0.012). Higher leptin level (p = 0.042) and L/A ratio (p = 0.027) were significantly associated with an increased type I EC risk. By contrast, higher leptin (p = 0.059) and visfatin (p = 0.003) levels, higher L/A ratio (p = 0.033), and lower adiponectin level (p = 0.042) were associated with an increased type II EC risk. We suggested that adipokines are potentially correlated with EAH and EC risks. What is already known on this subject? EAH and EC are considered significantly correlated with obesity and the related insulin resistance. Studies reported that some of the adipokines mediate obesity-related EC risk. What do the results of this study add? We systematically explored whether the adipokines produced from adipose tissue, including leptin, adiponectin, resistin, vaspin, and visfatin as well as the L/A ratio were associated with increased EAH, type I EC, and type II EC risks; whether they are independent risk factors for EAH and EC. Moreover, we analysed the underlying roles of these adipokines in EC tumorigenesis and development. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? This study aimed to systematically explore the relationships between various adipokines and risks of EAH, type I EC, and type II EC, to suggest that adipokine levels correlated with EAH and EC risks, and to analyse the underlying molecular mechanisms linking adipokines with endometrial carcinogenesis. It is helpful to improve our understanding of EC tumorigenesis and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive screen time among adolescents is discussed as a significant public health concern. Identifying adolescent longitudinal patterns of time spent on regularly-used media screens and understanding their young adulthood mental health and behavioral issue correlates may help inform strategies for improving these outcomes. This study aimed to characterize joint developmental patterns of time spent on videogames, surfing/chatting the Internet, and TV/DVDs during adolescence (at ages 11, 13, 15, 17) and their associations with mental health (i.e., depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-injury) and behavioral issues (i.e., substance use, delinquency, aggression) in early adulthood (at age 20). A parallel-process latent class growth analysis was used to model data from a diverse community-ascertained sample of youth in Zurich, Switzerland (n = 1521; 51.7% males). Results suggested that a five-class model best fitted the data: (1) low-screen use, 37.6%; (2) increasing chatting/surfing, 24.0%; (3) moderate-screen use, 18.6%; (4) early-adolescence screen use, 9.9%; and (5) increasing videogame and chatting/surfing, 9.9%. After adjusting for baseline levels of outcomes (primarily at age 11), the trajectory groups differed in their associations with adulthood outcomes of mental health and behavioral problems, indicating the importance of problematic screen usage patterns in predicting these outcomes. Future research to test the directionality of these associations will be important. These findings suggest which patterns of screen use may be a marker for later mental health and behavioral issues in different domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidence has suggested that parental mental illness and child internalizing and externalizing problems tend to co-occur and engender risk for adverse child outcomes; however, there is considerable heterogeneity in their joint developmental trajectories. This study aimed to evaluate the joint developmental trajectories of maternal and paternal psychological distress and child internalizing and externalizing problems from early childhood to middle adolescence. Given that suicide and self-harm are major public health issues in adolescence and often occur in the context of other mental health issues, we also examined the association between these joint trajectories and these outcomes in adolescence. Parallel-process latent class growth analysis was applied to 14 years of follow-up data from a large-scale, nationally representative sample of youths participating in the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (MCS; n = 12,520, 50.9% male). Results showed the best-fitting solution had four trajectory classes: (1) low symptoms, 59.0%; (2) moderate symptoms in children, 22.5%; (3) notable symptoms in fathers, 10.7%; and (4) co-occurring maternal and child symptoms, 7.8%. The trajectory groups differed in their self-harm and suicide attempts in adolescence, underscoring the possible importance of the roles of both parental distress and child problem behaviors processes in these outcomes. Future studies will be valuable to rigorously test the directionality and the respective roles of parents and children in this association. Our findings suggest the need for two-generation mental health intervention programs that are tailored based on co-developmental trajectory group membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-polycrystalline Sn2S3/Sn3S4/FeS/Fe7S8 sulfides anchored on graphene were synthesized via annealing SnS2 and Fe followed by homogeneously combining them with exfoliated graphite. When applied as an anode for a sodium-ion battery, the reversible capacity reached 863 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1. This facial materials synthesis method may be applied in various fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior work suggests that multiple forms of victimization were associated with higher suicide risk among adolescents. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. The present study aimed to understand the relationships between the multiple forms of victimization and suicidality by examining the potential mediators of sleep duration and depression. Data for this study came from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The hypothesized mediation model included 13,677 American adolescents in 9th through 12th-grade students (48.6 % female) were analyzed using Mplus 7.4, and suicidality (including suicidal ideation, plan, and attempts) as the outcome variables and the multiple forms of victimization (including bullying at school, being threatened at school, electronic bullying, sexual victimization, sexual dating victimization, and physical dating victimization) as the main explanatory variable. The relationships between the multiple forms of victimization and suicide risk were mediated by sleep duration, depression, and also serially mediated by sleep duration and depression. This is a cross-sectional study, and the results cannot inform the causality between these variables. This investigation only included adolescent sleep duration, and other specific sleep problem indicators should be included. Longer sleep duration is an important protective factor, pointing the way forward for developing suicide prevention strategies and targeted interventions for adolescents. • The current study was carried out from the 2019 YRBS, including 13,677 American adolescents. • Four forms of victimization were associated with three types of suicidality. • In these four forms of victimization-suicidality link, sleep duration acted as a mediator. • Sleep duration and depression serially mediated the relations between four types of victimization and suicidality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: The composite cathode composition, preparation method, and chemical compatibility play critical roles in constructing triple-phase interfaces. Understanding the electrolyte degradation is critical for boosting the high-performance composite sulfur cathode. The volume change of sulfur challenges the mechanical stability of composite sulfur cathode. Lithium–sulfur batteries with liquid electrolytes have been obstructed by severe shuttle effects and intrinsic safety concerns. Introducing inorganic solid-state electrolytes into lithium–sulfur systems is believed as an effective approach to eliminate these issues without sacrificing the high-energy density, which determines sulfide-based all-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries. However, the lack of design principles for high-performance composite sulfur cathodes limits their further application. The sulfur cathode regulation should take several factors including the intrinsic insulation of sulfur, well-designed conductive networks, integrated sulfur-electrolyte interfaces, and porous structure for volume expansion, and the correlation between these factors into account. Here, we summarize the challenges of regulating composite sulfur cathodes with respect to ionic/electronic diffusions and put forward the corresponding solutions for obtaining stable positive electrodes. In the last section, we also outlook the future research pathways of architecture sulfur cathode to guide the develop high-performance all-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3,n-fused (n = 4–7) tricyclic indoles are pervasive motifs, embedded in a variety of biologically active molecules and natural products. Thus, numerous catalytic methods have been developed for the synthesis of these skeletons over the past few decades. In particular, palladium-catalyzed transformations have received much attention in recent years. This review summarizes recent developments in the synthesis of these tricyclic indoles with palladium-catalyzed domino reactions and their applications in the total synthesis of representative natural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With abundant electroactive sites and rapid ion diffusion paths, ultrathin dichalcogenides such as MoS2 demonstrate enormous potential as anodes for sodium/potassium‐ion batteries (SIBs/PIBs). However, ultrahigh‐aspect‐ratio nanosheets are very easy to aggregate and re‐stack, drastically weakening their intrinsic merits. Here a sustainable dichalcogenide anode is designed via crumpling carbon‐pillared atomic‐thin MoS2 nanosheets with CNTs into an elastic ball structure (C‐p‐MoS2/CNTs). In this architecture, the glucose‐derived carbon pillars atomic‐thin MoS2 nanosheets and broadens interlayer spacing, ensuring fast Na+/K+ diffusion; CNTs act as 3D scaffolds to impede re‐stacking of MoS2 while providing high‐speed pathways for electrons; the integration of flexible atomic‐thin sheets and high‐toughness CNTs further endows the balls with great elasticity to release the cycling stress. Consequently, the C‐p‐MoS2/CNTs material delivers high reversible capacities, outstanding cycling stability, and superior rate performance as anodes for both SIBs and PIBs. Pairing with Na3V2(PO4)2F3 cathode, the sodium‐ion coin‐cell could operate at a rate up to 50 C at high mass loading of 9.4 mg cm−2 and manifest ultrastable cycling stability at 40 C over 600 cycles. Impressively, the assembled pouch cell can be cycled stably with a high energy density of 188 Wh kg−1. This study is anticipated to provide inspiration for designing innovative metal dichalcogenides as battery anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to systematically explore the relationships between various adipokines and risks of endometrial atypical hyperplasia (EAH), type I endometrial cancer (EC), and type II EC. We enrolled 219 patients in this study, including 39 EAH, 87 type I EC, 38 type II EC and 55 control individuals. We subsequently explored the association of adipokine levels and the leptin-to-adiponectin (L/A) ratio with EAH, type I EC, and type II EC. The plasma leptin level and L/A ratio were significantly higher in the EAH group than in the control group (p = 0.012). Leptin, resistin, vaspin, and visfatin levels were significantly higher in the type I EC group; however, the adiponectin level was lower in the type I EC, which resulted in a higher L/A ratio. Notably, the L/A ratio and visfatin level in the type II EC group were significantly higher. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that a higher leptin level was significantly associated with a higher EAH risk (p = 0.012). Higher leptin level (p = 0.042) and L/A ratio (p = 0.027) were significantly associated with an increased type I EC risk. By contrast, higher leptin (p = 0.059) and visfatin (p = 0.003) levels, higher L/A ratio (p = 0.033), and lower adiponectin level (p = 0.042) were associated with an increased type II EC risk. We suggested that adipokines are potentially correlated with EAH and EC risks. What is already known on this subject? EAH and EC are considered significantly correlated with obesity and the related insulin resistance. Studies reported that some of the adipokines mediate obesity-related EC risk. What do the results of this study add? We systematically explored whether the adipokines produced from adipose tissue, including leptin, adiponectin, resistin, vaspin, and visfatin as well as the L/A ratio were associated with increased EAH, type I EC, and type II EC risks; whether they are independent risk factors for EAH and EC. Moreover, we analysed the underlying roles of these adipokines in EC tumorigenesis and development. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? This study aimed to systematically explore the relationships between various adipokines and risks of EAH, type I EC, and type II EC, to suggest that adipokine levels correlated with EAH and EC risks, and to analyse the underlying molecular mechanisms linking adipokines with endometrial carcinogenesis. It is helpful to improve our understanding of EC tumorigenesis and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Grade III meconium stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) is a common obstetric disease, and has the greatest impact on poor maternal and neonatal outcomes. Question or Hypothesis or Aim: There is no consensus on treatment, especially on the timing of delivery. Methods: We collected the medical records of 345 women who gave birth with grade III MSAF and analyzed the difference in baseline characteristics and maternal and neonatal outcomes relative to different labor stage, observation times in the first stage of labor, and the presence or absence of abnormal fetal heart rate (FHR) or thick amniotic fluid. Findings: Higher rate of cesarean section was observed when grade III MSAF was found in active labor. Intervention occurred at an observation time of 90– 120 min, but there were no significant differences in maternal or neonatal outcomes shown when the observation time was greater than 3 or 4 hours. However, a higher rate of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit was demonstrated in cases with grade III MSAF with abnormal FHR either in the first or second stage of labor or in cases with thick MSAF in the second stage of labor. Discussion: Higher rate of composite adverse neonatal outcomes was found when secondary MSAF (a transition from clear AF to MSAF) was diagnosed > 3 h before delivery. Conclusion: In the first stage of labor, an observation time of greater than 4 hours might be possible after grade III MSAF is found if the labor has progressed and is without abnormal FHR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relation between cyber-victimization and suicidality among adolescents has been well documented; however, the mechanisms underlying this association have not been well investigated. Drawing upon the interpersonal theory of suicide, this study aimed to examine the mediating mechanisms (i.e., thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness) underlying longitudinal, bidirectional relations between cyber-victimization and suicidal ideation/attempts among adolescents and explore gender differences in the mechanisms. Participants were 497 Chinese adolescents (46.1% male; M age = 13.28, SD =.66), who completed the assessment of cyber-victimization, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness, suicidal ideation/attempts at three-time points. The time interval between each two assessments is two weeks. Results showed the reciprocal relations between cyber-victimization and thwarted belongingness/perceived burdensomeness, between thwarted belongingness and suicidal ideation/suicide attempts, and between perceived burdensomeness and suicide attempts. Longitudinal mediation analyses indicated that Time 2 thwarted belongingness mediated the relation between Time 1 cyber-victimization and Time 3 suicidal ideation/suicide attempts. Besides, the reverse pathway from Time 1 suicidal ideation to Time 3 cyber-victimization was also mediated by Time 2 thwarted belongingness, but it was only significant in females, as suggested by multiple-group analyses. According to the aforementioned results, the interpersonal theory of suicide provides a useful framework for understanding relations between cyber-victimization and suicidality. Findings suggest that intervention targeted at improving the need to belong may help reduce suicide risk and lower cyber-victimization. Anti-cyber-victimization should be integrated into suicide intervention and prevention programs, and gender differences should be taken into account in order to enhance the program's effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a consequence of long-term coevolution and natural selection, the leaves of mulberry (Morus alba) trees have become the best food source for silkworms (Bombyx mori). Nevertheless, the molecular and genomic basis of defense response remains largely unexplored. In the present study, we assessed changes in the transcriptome changes of mulberry in response to silkworm larval feeding at 0, 3, and 6 h. A total of 4709 (up = 2971, down = 1738) and 3009 (up = 1868, down = 1141) unigenes were identified after 3 and 6 h of silkworm infestation, respectively. MapMan enrichment analysis results show structural traits such as leaf surface wax, cell wall thickness and lignification form the first physical barrier to feeding by the silkworms. Cluster analysis revealed six unique temporal patterns of transcriptome changes. We predicted that mulberry promoted rapid changes in signaling and other regulatory processes to deal with mechanical damage, photosynthesis impairment, and other injury caused by herbivores within 3–6 h. LRR-RK coding genes (THE1, FER) was predicted participated in perception of cell wall perturbation in mulberry responding to silkworm feeding. Ca2+ signal sensors (CMLs), ROS (OST1, SOS3), RBOHD/F, CDPKs, and ABA were part of the regulatory network after silkworm feeding. Jasmonic acid (JA) signal transduction was predicted to act in silkworm feeding response, 10 JA signaling genes (such as OPR3, JAR1, and JAZ1) and 21 JA synthesis genes (such as LOX2, AOS, and ACX1) were upregulated after silkworm feeding for 3 h. Besides, genes of "alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism" and "phenylpropanoid biosynthesis" were activated in 3 h to reprogram secondary metabolism. Collectively, these findings provided valuable insights into silkworm herbivory-induced regulatory and metabolic processes in mulberry, which might help improve the coevolution of silkworm and mulberry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that bullying victimization is associated with higher suicidal risk among young people; however, the mechanisms underlying this relation have not been well examined. The current study aimed to illuminate the developmental links between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation by examining the mediating roles of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and substance use. The study sample consisted of n = 1465 participants (51.7% male) from the normative z-proso study. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models and three waves of longitudinal data (ages 15, 17, and 20), the hypothesized mediation effects at the within-person level were tested while partialling out between-person confounds. The results suggested that, at the within-person level, bullying victimization did not predict subsequent suicidal ideation via depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or substance use. However, age 15 bullying victimization predicted within-person increases in age 17 depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. In addition, depressive symptoms at age 15 and tobacco and cannabis use at age 17 were associated with within-person increases in bullying victimization at ages 17 and 20, respectively. The results also indicated that cannabis use and suicidal ideation were positively and reciprocally related over time. Future studies collecting data at multiple timescales are needed to understand proximal and longer-term mechanisms underlying the relation between bullying victimization and suicidality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bullying, suicide, and self‐injury are significant issues among young people. Extensive research has documented bullying victimization associations with suicidal ideation and self‐injury; however, the modeling approaches used have mostly not addressed the relations between these constructs at the within‐person level, and it is these links that are critical for testing developmental theories and guiding intervention efforts. This examined the within‐person, bidirectional relations between these constructs in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Methods: Participants were from the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z‐proso). Random intercept cross‐lagged panel models (RI‐CLPMs) were fit to general and sexual bullying victimization and suicidal ideation data at ages 15, 17, and 20 (n = 1465), and general and sexual victimization and direct self‐injurious behavior data at ages 13, 15, 17, and 20 (n = 1482). Results: There was a positive within‐person effect of age 15 general bullying victimization on age 17 suicidal ideation (β =.10) and age 17 suicidal ideation on age 20 general bullying victimization (β =.14). Conclusions: General bullying victimization and suicidal ideation may have detrimental effects on each other over development but at different stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A scalable microstructure engineering strategy for developing mechanically reinforced Ni-rich cathodes. • A well-designed polycrystalline Ni-rich cathode consisting of densely packed large-size primary particles. • Superior rate performance (31.7 mAh g−1 at 4C) and cyclic stability (84.1% after 100 cycles at 0.2C). Mechanical integrity is crucial for the intra-particle ionic/electronic transfer in all-solid-state batteries. However, electrode particles suffer severe electrochemo-mechanical degradations during electrode compaction and high-voltage operation, which is extremely true in the popular high-energy cathodes of fragile polycrystalline Ni-rich oxides composed of loosely stacked nanoparticles. Herein, we develop mechanically reinforced polycrystalline Ni-rich cathodes consisting of densely packed large-size primary particles based on a scalable microstructure engineering strategy. The structural characterization and finite element simulation results demonstrate that this well-designed microstructure of cathodes can suppress the stress/strain accumulation and formation of cracks, and thus maintain the original microstructure and highly percolated ionic/electronic networks. All-solid-state batteries based on mechanically reinforced Ni-rich cathodes achieve significantly improved specific capacity, rate capability, and cyclic stability. This work provides a new sight for designing advanced cathodes to boost the development of high-power and long-life all-solid-state batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrode microstructure is one of the primary factors determining the electrochemical properties of all‐solid‐state batteries (ASSBs). However, the key principles of electrode design to realize fast ionic/electronic transport pathways are not well elucidated. Herein, the correlation between electrode microstructure and electrochemical behaviors is studied through different electrode design in terms of energy‐density‐related electrode composition and Ni‐rich layered oxides particle size distribution. A positive relation between particle size and mass fraction in electrode design is revealed, that is, as the particle size increases, more cathode materials are required to enable the fast reaction kinetics. The well interconnected active particles and solid electrolytes construct the highly percolated ionic/electronic transfer networks, which determines the overall electrochemical properties. The findings in this work give a new insight into electrode design to promote the development of high‐energy and high‐power ASSBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial cellulose (BC), a nanostructured material, is renowned for its excellent properties. However, its production by bacteria is costly due to low medium utilization and conversion rates. To enhance the yield of BC, this study aimed to increase BC yield through genetic modification, specifically by overexpressing bcsC and bcsD in Gluconacetobacter xylinus , and by developing a modified culture method to reduce medium viscosity by adding water during fermentation. As a result, BC yields of 5.4, 6.2, and 6.8 g/L were achieved from strains overexpressing genes bcsC , bcsD , and bcsCD , significantly surpassing the yield of 2.2 g/L from wild-type (WT) strains. In the modified culture, the BC yields of all four strains increased by >1 g/L with the addition of 20 mL of water during fermentation. Upon comparing the properties of BC, minimal differences were observed between the WT and pbcsC strains, as well as between the static and modified cultures. In contrast, BC produced by strains overexpressing bcsD had a denser microstructural network and exhibited demonstrated higher tensile strength and elongation-to-break. Compared to WT, BC from bcsD overexpressed strains also displayed enhanced crystallinity, higher degree of polymerization and improved thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aim to establish the inhibitors of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) as second-line therapy for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods: Published clinical trials in the PubMed, Medline, Embase databases on PD-1 inhibitors for the treatment of ESCC were searched, along with an additional search on abstracts from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) from inception to September 2021. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were synthesized using STATA.Results: A total of 1970 patients (PD-1 inhibitors: 987; chemotherapy: 983) were enrolled in five randomized controlled trials. Compared with conventional chemotherapy, second-line PD-1 inhibitors significantly improved the OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66-0.81; P < 0.001) and ORR (relative risk [RR] = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.16-3.05; P = 0.01) of advanced ESCC patients, especially significantly prolonged the OS in the patients with positive programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status (HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.53-0.77; P < 0.001); but did not better PFS (HR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.68-1.14; P = 0.330) and DCR (RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.59-1.37; P = 0.603). Moreover, PD-1 inhibitors were associated with statistically lower incidences of grade 3-5 TRAEs.Conclusion: Second line PD-1 inhibitors significantly improved the OS and ORR of patients with advanced ESCC, especially the OS of those with positive PD-L1 expression, and did not result in significant improvement in PFS and DCR. Compared to chemotherapy, second-line PD-1 inhibitors had superior safety profiles for the treatment of advanced ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RGB-D salient object detection aims at identifying attractive objects in a scene by combining the color image and depth map. However, due to the differences between RGB-D image pairs, it is a key issue to utilize cross-modal data effectively. In this paper, we propose a novel RGB-D salient object detection method via cross-modal joint feature extraction and low-bound fusion loss. A two-stream framework is designed to generate the saliency maps for the RGB image and depth map. During the feature extraction, a cross-modal joint feature extraction module (CFM) is proposed to capture valuable joint features from the two streams. The CFM explores complementary information from the feature extraction and feeds the joint features to the aggregation stage of the network. Then, the fusion block (FB) is utilized to aggregate the multi-scale features of each stream and the joint features to generate the updated features. In addition, a low-bound fusion loss is designed to constrain the predictions of the two streams, to improve the lower bound of saliency values and generate a distinct saliency map. Experimental results on five datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves superior performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the mechanism underlying signal variation is an important goal in the study of animal communication. Several potential causes have been proposed for signal variation, including environmental noise (e.g. wind, sound), energy limitation, and predation risk, among others, but the physiological control of many signals are often unclear. Here, we examined the correlation between tail display signal variation and energy metabolic activity using an Asian agamid lizard Phrynocephalus vlangalii. Individual tail display signals were observed in the field, and blood lactate concentration as well as 2 energy metabolic enzymes was assayed. Our results showed that average tail coil speed was positively associated with blood lactate concentration, while tail coil duration was negatively associated with LDH activity. We also found that average tail lash speed was positively associated with blood lactate concentration, suggesting that the tail display behavior of P. vlangalii was regulated by anaerobic metabolism. Furthermore, the correlation between tail display behavior and energy metabolism was not sex‐dependent. Taken together, our research provides insight into the physiological mechanisms underlying tail display variation in lizards, and suggests that tail display variation likely transmits important information on individual body condition and resource holding potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) long-term nucleic acid positive patients (hereinafter referred to as CLTAPs).Methods: Patients were recruited from the Xiaogan Central Hospital between 16 January 2020 and 28 March 2020. Among the 562 cases of patients with laboratory-identified COVID-19 infection by real-time polymerase chain reaction (qtPCR), 19 cases of COVID-19 patients with more than 41 days from the first to the last time of nucleic acid test were selected as the study group, and 76 cases of age- and gender-matched COVID-19 patients were selected as the control group (hereinafter referred to as C-CLTAPs). Demographic characteristics, clinical symptoms, laboratory examination and computed tomography (CT) imaging characteristics were retrospectively analyzed.Results: On admission, among the 562 cases of patients with COVID-19, there were 398 cases of ordinary COVID-19 patients, 99 cases of severe COVID-19 patients and 99 cases of critical COVID-19 patients. CLTAPs had milder clinical symptoms and longer viral shedding time in comparison to C-CLTAPs. Compared to C-CLTAPs, CLTAPs had a lower infection index at admission. CLTAPs used less oxygen therapy and a higher proportion of hydroxychloroquine treatment in comparison to C-CLTAPs. In comparison to C-CLTAPs, CLTAPs showed slower pulmonary CT progression and faster pulmonary CT absorption.Conclusion: In this study, out of the 562 cases, we found 19 CLTAPs. The clinical differences between CLTAPs and C-CLTAPs were compared and analyzed. We hope that these finding can provide a theoretical basis for the treatment of CLTAPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual systems theories of adolescent risk-taking propose that the socioemotional and self-regulation systems develop at different rates, resulting in a peak in sensation-seeking in adolescence at a time when self-regulation abilities are not yet fully mature. This "developmental imbalance" between bottom-up drives for reward and top-down control is proposed to create a period of vulnerability for high-risk behaviors such as delinquency, substance use, unprotected sex, and reckless driving. In this study, data from the Swiss longitudinal normative z-proso study (n = 1522, n = 784 male; aged 11, 13, 15, 17, and 20) were used to test whether the presence of a developmental imbalance between sensation-seeking and self-regulation is associated with trajectories of engagement in delinquency across early adolescence to adulthood. Using a latent class growth analysis of sensation-seeking, self-regulation, and delinquency, it was found that a model with 3 classes was optimal in the whole sample and male sub-sample, including one class characterized by a developmental imbalance and corresponding adolescent peak in delinquency. In females, there was no evidence for a class that could be described according to the trajectories hypothesized in dual systems theory. This study's results support the claim that a developmental imbalance may drive an adolescent increase in delinquency. However, this applies only to a small subgroup of individuals, particularly males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary A novel hybrid‐multiplexed fifteen‐switch converter (HM‐15SC) topology, which can simultaneously output a set of three‐phase AC and three sets of DC, is proposed to address the problems of a single type of power electronic converter and the complexity of coordinated control of AC/DC hybrid systems for smart grid. In this paper, we conduct a detailed analysis of the topology and operating principles of HM‐15SC. This includes an examination of the converter's effective switching states in relation to output voltage, current paths, and maximum voltage stress. In addition, a modulation strategy combining single‐leg independent model prediction current control (SL‐MPCC) and time‐sharing cooperative (TSC) ideas is proposed to establish a single‐leg AC current prediction model, which effectively reduces the prediction arithmetic under the premise of realizing three‐leg independent prediction control and optimal control of AC/DC hybrid outputs. Finally, we verify the feasibility and superiority of the proposed HM‐15SC topology and its modulation strategy using the Typhoon HIL 402 platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Question: What are the localization, characteristics and potential for tissue regeneration of two perivascular stem cells, namely CD34+ adventitial cells and CD146+ pericytes, in human endometrium?Summary Answer: Human endometrial CD34+ adventitial cells (located in the outermost layer of blood vessels and mainly in the basal layer) and CD146+ pericytes showed mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) phenotypes in in vitro culture, but presented limited potential to regenerate endometrium.What Is Known Already: Periodic endometrial regeneration is considered to be maintained by MSCs. Blood vessel wall, regarded as stem cell niche, harbors a large reserve of progenitor cells that may be integral to the origin of MSCs. However, a lack of validated markers has hampered the isolation of putative endometrial MSCs. Currently, CD146+ pericytes and Sushi Domain Containing 2 (SUSD2) positive cells have been identified in the endometrial perivascular region as sharing MSCs characteristics.Study Design, Size, Duration: The locations of adventitial cells and pericytes in the human endometrium were identified by immunofluorescence staining (n = 4). After CD34+CD146-CD45-CD56-CD144- adventitial cells and CD146+CD34-CD45-CD56-CD144- pericytes were isolated from the endometrium of normal women (n = 6) by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, their characteristics were investigated in culture. Adventitial cells and pericytes were induced to differentiate, respectively, into vascular endothelial-like cells or endometrial stromal-like cells in vitro, with their potential explored by in vivo xenotransplantation (n = 2 in each group) and eutopic transplantation (n = 2 in each group).Participants/materials, Setting, Methods: CD34+ adventitial cells and CD146+ pericytes were cultured in the inducing medium to differentiate into endothelial-like cells in vitro, and then analyzed for CD31, von Willebrand factor immunofluorescent staining and tube formation. They were also cultured to differentiate into endometrial stromal cells in vitro, with the expression of vimentin and CD13 being detected by western blot before and after induction, and the expression of prolactin and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 being determined as well. Single dispersed CD34+ adventitial cells and CD146+ pericytes were respectively transplanted under the kidney capsule of NOG mice to investigate their differentiation potential in vivo. A eutopic transplantation model was constructed by grafting recellularized uterine matrix loaded up with CM-Dil labeled adventitial cells or pericytes into the injury region of nude rat's uterus.Main Results and the Role Of Chance: CD34+ adventitial cells were mainly located at the outmost layer of endometrial large vessels, while CD146+ pericytes were found surrounding the inner endothelial cells of microvessels. A small proportion of CD34+ adventitial cells expressed SUSD2. The number of adventitial cells was ∼40 times higher than that of pericytes in the endometrium. Both adventitial cells and pericytes showed MSC phenotypes after in vitro culture. After in vitro induction into endometrial endothelial-like cells and stromal-like cells, adventitial cells showed higher plasticity than pericytes and a closer correlation with stromal-like cells. In the mouse xenotransplantation model, vimentin+ cells, CD31+ endothelial-like cells and CD146+ pericyte-like cells could be observed after adventitial cells were transplanted. CM-Dil-labeled adventitial cells or pericytes could survive in the immunocompromised nude rats after eutopic transplantation, and vimentin+ cells were detected. In addition, CM-Dil-labeled adventitial cells or pericytes did not express α-smooth muscle actin or E-cadherin after transplantation.Large Scale Data: N/A.Limitations, Reasons For Caution: CD34 was chosen as a novel marker to isolate adventitial cells from human endometrium according to previous literature. The association of endometrial CD34+ adventitial cells and SUSD2+ MSCs should be further investigated.Wider Implications Of the Findings: The decellularized uterine matrix model might be useful in endometrial stem cell therapy.Study Funding/competing Interest(s): L.D. is supported by grants from National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1004700), Nature Science Foundation of China (81871128, 81571391) and Nanjing Medical Science Development Project (ZKX16042). H.S. is supported by a grant from Jiangsu Province Social Development Project (BE2018602). X.Z. was supported by grants from the Postgraduate Innovative Project of Jiangsu Province (KYCX19-1177). The authors declare no conflict of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization of multi-objective dynamic economic-grid fluctuation dispatch (MODEGD) involves simultaneous optimization of two competing objectives, fuel cost and grid fluctuation, while fulfilling constraints. In this paper, an improved version of the multi-objective marine predator algorithm (IMOMPA), is proposed for solving MODEGD considering plug-in electric vehicles. The IMOMPA algorithm improves upon the existing multi-objective marine predator algorithm in three key ways. Firstly, the initial population's diversity is enhanced using opposition learning combined with chaotic mapping. Secondly, a nonlinear convergence factor is introduced to speed up the convergence. Finally, the spiral search mechanism from the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) is incorporated to improve the algorithm's global search ability. By testing the performance of IMOMPA on ZDT series and DTLZ series multi-objective benchmark functions, IMOMPA shows strong local search capability, better robustness, and better convergence speed and convergence accuracy. Moreover, connecting plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) to the grid (V2G), can mitigate grid fluctuations and balance peak demand periods. To validate the feasibility of the proposed IMOMPA, numerical experiments are performed on multi-objective benchmark functions and generation units of varying scales. The results demonstrate the superiority of the IMOMPA algorithm compared to other alternatives. • The improved multi-objective marine predator algorithm has stronger local search capability and higher solution accuracy. • Multi-objective dynamic economic dispatch is a new model that considers grid fluctuation. • A series of non-dominated solutions are gained instead of a single solution. • The diversity of solutions is essentially improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The polynomial output weights of PESN are constructed by partial input variables. • The forward and backward selection methods are used to choose input variables for PESN. • An accelerating scheme is introduced into BS-PESN to simplify training process. • The effectiveness of FS-PESN and BS-PESN is illustrated by different regression datasets. As extension of traditional echo state networks (ESNs), the polynomial echo state networks (PESNs) have been proposed in our previous work (Yang et al., 208) by employing the polynomial function of complete input variable as output weight matrix. In practice, the generalization performance and computational burden of PESNs are perturbed by redundant or irrelevant inputs. To construct output weights with a suitable subset of input variables, the forward selection based PESN (FS-PESN) and backward selection based PESN (BS-PESN) are proposed. Firstly, the forward selection method is used in FS-PESN to choose the input variable which incurs the maximum reduction on objective function, and the backward selection shame is introduced in BS-PESN to remove the input variable which leads to the smallest increment on objective function. Then, the iterative updating strategies are designed to avoid repetitive computations in FS-PESN and BS-PESN. Specially, an accelerating scheme is introduced into BS-PESN to simplify training process. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate effectiveness of the proposed techniques in terms of generalization ability and testing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-sulfur batteries hold broad prospects as the low-cost and high-energy storage system. However, the practical application is limited by the intrinsic insulating nature of sulfur and severe shuttle effect of soluble polysulfide intermediates. Herein, we demonstrate a convenient self-assembly strategy for encapsulating carbon nanotubes in nitrogen-doped hollow carbon shells, to construct a nitrogen-doped tube-in-tube carbon nanostructure (NTTC) as a host material of sulfur. In this peculiar structure, the highly conductive carbon nanotube cores facilitate the electron transfer while the hollow porous structure is capable of accommodating high sulfur content of 70 wt% in the composites. Moreover, the nitrogen doping helps to alleviate the shuttle effect owing to enhanced chemisorption towards polysulfides. Benefiting from these merits, the NTTC/S composite with the high areal mass loading of ~2.5 mg cm−2 presents a high reversible capacity (1346.9 mAh g−1 at 0.05 C) and excellent rate capability (533.5 mAh g−1 at 3C). More impressively, NTTC/S electrode exhibits good cycling stability at a high rate of 2 C corresponding to slight capacity decay of 0.055% per cycle over 500 discharge/charge cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon/ZnCo2O4 nanoparticles' hybrid highly dispersed within a carbon nanotube nest were synthesized by the carbonization of in situ formed MOF-74-ZnCo/CNT hybrid materials. Results demonstrated that the synthesized mixed transition metal oxides/carbon/CNT composite provided a stable energy density of 800 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1. It could also provide a reversible capacity of 430 mAh g−1 under a high current of 2000 mA g−1 even after 1000 cycles. The outstanding performances of C/ZnCo2O4@CNT can be accredited to the synergistic effects from the porous nanostructured bi-metal oxides, the carbon and the CNT nest. These properties can improve the conductance of the material, alleviate the stress on ZnCo2O4 nanoparticles through accommodating the volume variation during lithium exchange processes, and offer fast diffusion roads for ions and more active sites for lithium storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicidal ideation is considered to be the first step on the pathway to suicide. Despite the fact that suicidal ideation is surprisingly prevalent among preadolescent children in China and elsewhere, and despite its possible increase during the transition into adolescence, its developmental patterns and predictors during this period are unclear, thus precluding a meaningful understanding of its determinants and possible trajectories. Thus, this study aimed to identify suicidal ideation trajectories and multisystemic predictors covering the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence. A total of 715 Chinese elementary school students (Mage = 8.95, SD = 0.71; 54.5% was male) participated in assessments at six time points, using six-month assessment intervals. Growth mixture modeling analyses extracted three distinct trajectories of suicidal ideation: "low-stable" (86.4%), "moderate-increasing" (7.1%) and "high-start" (6.5%). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that social anxiety and academic anxiety served as risk factors for the adverse developmental trajectories of suicidal ideation; whereas self-esteem, life satisfaction, and academic achievement served as protective factors for the positive developmental trajectory of suicidal ideation. The identification of three subgroups with unique predictors highlights the importance of individual difference considerations in understanding the progression of suicidal ideation in childhood and adolescence and the need for specific programs tailored to the unique characteristics of the relevant trajectories. Furthermore, given that suicidal ideation may start in a proportion of middle childhood youths and continue into adolescence, the middle childhood period should provide an important window of opportunity for large-scale screening and prevention of the escalation of suicidality in adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study assessed the interrelationships between Ras association domain family protein 1a (RASSF1A) gene hypermethylation, PD-L1 protein expression, and the clinicopathological characteristics of 112 ovarian cancer (OC) samples.Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded OC tissue samples from surgical resection were assessed. Bisulfite pyrosequencing and immunohistochemistry were applied to detect RASSF1A gene methylation and PD-L1 protein expression in tumor cells, respectively. RASSF1A gene methylation and PD-L1 protein expression levels were analyzed against clinicopathological features and prognosis through standard statistical methods.Results: Of the 112 OC samples, 49.1% (55/112) exhibited RASSF1A gene hypermethylation. The frequency of RASSF1A hypermethylation was significantly higher in nonserous subtype (73.0%), early stage (66.7%), and nonrecurrent OC (62.9%, p < 0.05). Among all samples, 61.6% (69/112) were positive for PD-L1 protein expression in tumor cells. No significant differences in PD-L1 expression were identified for age, menstrual status, histological type, tumor location, grade, stage, lymph node metastasis, or prognosis (p > 0.05). RASSF1A methylation and PD-L1 expression were not correlated (p > 0.05).Conclusions: This was the first study linking RASSF1A hypermethylation variability to PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of OC. Epigenetic alteration of RASSF1A was closely associated with nonserous subtype, early stage, and nonrecurrent OC, indicating that RASSF1A hypermethylation may play a role in early detection of OC. Expression of PD-L1 had no relationship with the studied clinicopathological characteristics or RASSF1A hypermethylation in the 112 OC samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic economic dispatch (DED) problem is a typical complex constrained optimization problem with non-smooth, nonlinear, and nonconvex characteristics, especially considering practical situations such as valve point effects and transmission losses, and its objective is to minimize the total fuel costs and total carbon emissions of generating units during the dispatch cycle while satisfying a series of equality and inequality constraints. For the challenging DED problem, a model of a dynamic economic dispatch problem considering fuel costs is first established, and then an improved grey wolf optimization algorithm (IGWO) is proposed, in which the exploitation and exploration capability of the original grey wolf optimization algorithm (GWO) is enhanced by initializing the population with a chaotic algorithm and introducing a nonlinear convergence factor to improve weights. Furthermore, a simple and effective constraint-handling method is proposed for the infeasible solutions. The performance of the IGWO is tested with eight benchmark functions selected and compared with other commonly used algorithms. Finally, the IGWO is utilized for three different scales of DED cases, and compared with existing methods in the literature. The results show that the proposed IGWO has a faster convergence rate and better global optimization capabilities, and effectively reduces the fuel costs of the units, thus proving the effectiveness of IGWO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Read the original article Zhu X, Huang S, Tang Y, et al. I Int J Womens Health i . 2023;15:7-23. The authors have advised that the Funding statement was missed from page 22 of the published paper. B Funding b The work was supported by Project of Jiangsu Health Commission (H2019008), National Natural Science Foundation of China (81971407), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20191070) and Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China (2021M691332). [Extracted from the article]

Abstract Although the development of elementary school students' behavioral school engagement in Western societies has received much research attention, longitudinal research on its development and predictors in China is still sparse. This two-year, four-wave, accelerated longitudinal study investigated the developmental trajectory of behavioral school engagement across Grades 3–6 among Chinese school students. Based on positive psychology constructs, we investigated the longitudinal relations between subjective well-being (SWB) in school and behavioral school engagement. Data were collected from self-report questionnaires completed by 1057 children (572 males, M age = 9.4) from Grades 3–5 at the time of the first assessment. Analyses of latent growth curve models indicated a curvilinear trend of behavioral school engagement with an initial increase followed by a slight decrease. Analyses of autoregressive cross-lagged models showed that SWB in school and behavioral school engagement were reciprocally predictive over time. Although cross-cultural research is needed, our findings suggest a possible, unique influence of Chinese culture in shaping the developmental pattern of Chinese students' behavioral school engagement and the role of school-aged children's SWB in school in their behavioral school engagement. Limitations and implications of this study were discussed. Highlights • Cross-lagged models were used to examine the longitudinal relations between SWB in school and behavioral school engagement. • This study investigated the development of behavioral school engagement across Grades 3–6 among Chinese school students. • This study indicated that SWB in school and behavioral engagement were reciprocally predictive over time. • Gender and grade level differences in the relations between SWB in school and behavioral school engagement were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Image captioning aims to describe the content of images with a sentence. It is a natural way for people to express their understanding, but a challenging and important task from the view of image understanding. In this paper, we propose two innovations to improve the performance of such a sequence learning problem. First, we give a new attention method named triple attention (TA-LSTM) which can leverage the image context information at every stage of LSTM. Then, we redesign the structure of basic LSTM, in which not only the stacked LSTM but also the paralleled LSTM are adopted, called as PS-LSTM. In this structure, we not only use the stack LSTM but also use the parallel LSTM to achieve the improvement of the performance compared with the normal LSTM. Through this structure, the proposed model can ensemble more parameters on single model and has ensemble ability itself. Through numerical experiments, on the public available MSCOCO dataset, our final TA-PS-LSTM model achieves comparable performance with some state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has seen an explosion in popularity in recent years; however, an improved understanding of how to minimise (selective) non‐adherence is needed. Methods: We examined a range of respondent characteristics predictors of adherence (defined as the number of EMA surveys completed) in the D2M EMA study. Participants were a sample of n = 255 individuals drawn from the longitudinal z‐proso cohort who completed up to 4 EMA surveys per day for a period of 2 weeks. Results: In unadjusted analyses, lower moral shame, lower self‐control, lower levels of self‐injury, and higher levels of aggression, tobacco use, psychopathy, and delinquency were associated with lower adherence. In fully adjusted analyses with predictors selected using lasso, only alcohol use was related to adherence: beer and alcopops to higher adherence and spirits to lower adherence. Conclusions: These findings provide potential insights into some of the psychological mechanisms that may underlie adherence in EMA. They also point to respondent characteristics for which additional or tailored efforts may be needed to promote adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodologies are commonly used to illuminate the predictors and impacts of experiencing subjective stress in the course of daily life. The validity of inferences from this research is contingent on the availability of measures of perceived momentary stress that can provide valid and reliable momentary stress scores. However, studies of the development and validation of such measures have been lacking. In this study, we use an EMA data collection design to examine the within‐ and between‐ person reliability and criterion validity and between‐person gender measurement invariance of a brief EMA‐adapted measure of a widely used trait measure of stress: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Scores showed high internal consistency reliability and significant correlations with a range of criterion validity measures at both the within‐ and between‐person level. Gender measurement invariance up to the scalar level also held for scores. Findings support the use of the EMA‐adapted PSS presented in the current study for use in community‐ascertained samples to address research questions relating to the influences on and effects of momentary stress and their gender differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: In advanced, platinum resistant or refractory ovarian cancer (OC), the therapeutic efficacy of carboplatin is controversial. Although anti‐programmed death‐1/programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐1/PD‐L1) pathway blockages show great potential in cancer treatment, the antitumor effect of single anti‐PD‐L1 pathway monoclonal antibody (mAb) is not obvious in advanced or some poorly immunogenic tumors, including OC. We compared the effects of single or combined carboplatin and anti‐PD‐L1 mAb treatments and explored the possible antitumor mechanisms in a murine ID8 OC model. Methods: C57BL/6 mice with established peritoneal ID8 OC were intraperitoneally injected with single or combined carboplatin and anti‐PD‐L1 mAb. The formation time of ascites and their overall survival were recorded. The compositions of tumor‐associated immune cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: A single treatment of carboplatin and combined carboplatin/PD‐L1 mAb induced a strong anti‐ascites response. Mice treated with carboplatin presented the longest overall survival, followed by the combined remedy. Mechanistic investigation of the tumor microenvironment revealed that carboplatin and carboplatin/PD‐L1 mAb increased antitumor effector CD4+, CD8+ T cells and decreased immunosuppressive regulatory T and myeloid suppressor cells, giving rise to remarkably higher ratios of effector CD4+, CD8+ T cells to regulatory T cells and myeloid suppressor cells in the peritoneal cavity. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report to compare the antitumor effect and potential mechanisms between carboplatin, PD‐L1 mAb and their combination strategies in a murine ID8 OC model. The results of this study may deepen our understanding of OC and aid future preclinical experiments or clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superparamagnetic and flexible FeO nanowire arrays were fabricated by the controlled electrostatic assembly of iron oxide nanoparticles and poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) in an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. The micrograph of iron oxide nanowire arrays was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The magnetic hysteresis loops obtained by a vibrating sample magnetometer confirm that the nanowire arrays have superparamagnetic properties. The filling ratio of iron oxide nanoparticles and polymers in the AAO template was affected by four factors, including the concentration of iron oxide nanoparticles, the pore diameter of the AAO template, the charge ratio of iron oxide nanoparticles and PDADMAC, and the molecular weight of polyacrylic acid. The effect of the AAO template on the diameter and length of the nanowire arrays was also analyzed. In addition, the nanowire arrays were shown to be flexible because of the presence of polymers. These nanowire arrays with superparamagnetic and flexural properties have potential applications in sensor probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a facile aqueous synthesis of carbon dots (CDs) was developed by using natural kelp as a new carbon source. Through hydrothermal carbonization of kelp juice, fluorescent CDs were prepared and the CDs’ surface was modified with polyethylenimine (PEI). The PEI-modified CDs were conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) to fabricate CDs-FITC composites. To exploit broad applications, the CDs-FITC composites were developed as fluorescent sensing or imaging platforms of pH and Cu 2+ . Analytical performances of the composites-based fluorescence (FL) sensors were evaluated, including visual FL imaging of pH in glass bottle, ratiometric FL sensing of pH in yogurt samples, visual FL latent fingerprint and leaf imaging detection of [Cu 2+ ], dual-signal FL sensing of [Cu 2+ ] in yogurt and human serum samples. Experimental results from ratiometric, visual, dual-signal FL sensing and imaging applications confirmed the high feasibility, accuracy, stabilization and simplicity of CDs-FITC composites-based FL sensors for the detection of pH and Cu 2+ ions in real samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the mainstay of malignant cancer treatments. However, with the development of immunology, the emerging immunotherapy represents a rational and alternative approach for the treatment of human cancer, including ovarian cancer (OC). Based on a body of evidence and the clinical success of immunotherapy in many malignancies, it is confirmed that blocking the programmed death 1 (PD-1) and its ligands in OC is feasible and valid both in animal models and patients. Immunotherapy may play a significant role in the future clinical management and improve the prognosis of OC. This review will focus on the biological functions, treatment response, toxicity and viable target of PD-1 and its ligands in OC. Recognition of the multiple functions of PD-1 and its ligands in ovarian cancer will serve to deepen our understanding of the nature of OC, develop novel immunotherapy approaches and discover possible diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in future clinical decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pt nano-particles are loaded onto the surface of an active carbon material through in-situ electrochemical reduction. With 0.66 % mole percentage of Pt, the kinetics of electrochemical hydrogen insertion into porous carbon material is significant improved. The enhancement resulted from the H underpotential deposition on Pt surface and subsequent H spillover from Pt surface to carbon interlayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has become a popular method of gathering information about participants as they go about their daily lives. However, participant non-compliance, especially non-random compliance, in EMA is a concern. Better knowledge of the moment-to-moment factors that predict prompt non-response can inform the design of strategies to mitigate it.Method: We used data from a general population young adult (n = 260) EMA study, 'decades-to-minutes' (D2M) and fitted dynamic structural equation models (DSEMs) to explore a range of candidate momentary predictors of missing the next prompt.Results: We found that higher levels of stress, overall negative affect, and the specific negative affective state of 'upset' at a given prompt predicted a greater likelihood of missing the next prompt. However, no other specific affective states, alcohol use, experiencing social provocations nor aggressive behaviour predicted missing the next prompt.Limitations: The primary limitation of the present study was a lack of information on predictors concurrent with missed prompts.Conclusions: Findings point to the potential value of gathering information on momentary negative affect (especially feeling upset) and stress to help inform strategies that intervene to prevent application disengagement at optimal moments and to feed into strategies to mitigate bias due to non-random non-response in EMA studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We propose a space-time diurnal method to predict short-term freeway travel times. [•] The method considers spatial and temporal correlation and diurnal pattern of travel times. [•] We use two distributions to model the 5-min average travel time. [•] This method provides the distribution of predicted travel times and their prediction intervals. [•] Travel time data from neighboring links can be used to improve prediction of travel times. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The emphasis on renewable energy and concerns about the environment have led to large-scale wind energy penetration worldwide. However, there are also significant challenges associated with the use of wind energy due to the intermittent and unstable nature of wind. High-quality short-term wind speed forecasting is critical to reliable and secure power system operations. This article begins with an overview of the current status of worldwide wind power developments and future trends. It then reviews some statistical short-term wind speed forecasting models, including traditional time series approaches and more advanced space-time statistical models. It also discusses the evaluation of forecast accuracy, in particular, the need for realistic loss functions. New challenges in wind speed forecasting regarding ramp events and offshore wind farms are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fluorescence anomalous phase advance (FAPA) is a newly discovered spectroscopy phenomenon: instead of lagging behind the modulated light, fluorescence signal can exhibit FAPA as if it precedes the excitation source in time. While FAPA offers a promising technique for probing dark state lifetime, the underlying mechanism is not fully elucidated. Herein we investigate frequency-domain phase fluorometry as a result of intricate interplay between a short-lived fluorescent state and a long-lived dark state. In particular, the quantitative dependence on modulation frequency, excitation intensity, nonradiative decay, intersystem crossing and dark-state lifetime are explored respectively. A comprehensive view of phase fluorometry emerges consequently. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The synthesis of spherical polymer brushes consisting of a nano-SiO2 core modified by γ-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy-silane and a shell of linear polyacrylamide by grafting polymerization was described. The spherical polymer brushes were characterized by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). After cleavage of the ester group that connected the polymers to the surface, the molecular weight of the brushes was determined by Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). The results showed that the average diameter of spherical polymer brushes was ca. 140nm while weight average molecular weight and surface grafting density were 1.407×103 g/mol and 1.016×10−4 mol/g respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]