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A consumption-driven economy refers to an economic growth model primarily driven by domestic consumption and is a common goal for the economic growth of various countries. To explore the impact of industrial digitalization on a consumption-driven economy, this paper conducts an empirical study based on data from 31 provinces in China from 2013 to 2021. The empirical test results indicate: first, industrial digitalization significantly promotes the development of a consumption-driven economy, mainly reflected in the improvement of economic foundation and consumption levels, but shows no significant effect on improving the consumption structure. Second, mechanism analysis results show that industrial digitalization can promote the development of a consumption-driven economy by fostering innovation and advancing the industrial structure. Third, heterogeneity analysis results reveal that the promotion effect of industrial digitalization on the consumption-driven economy exists only in eastern and central China but not in western China, indicating that industrial digitalization in underdeveloped areas cannot exert a positive effect on the consumption-driven economy.

At a global level, the supply of protein sources is insufficient to support the current magnitude of pig production. Moreover, given the exorbitant expense of conventional protein feed options like soybean meal and fish meal, it becomes imperative to promptly explore alternative sources of protein feed for the sustainable advancement of the pig industry. Cottonseed meal, a by-product from the extraction of cottonseed oil, exhibits significant potential as a protein source for pig feed owing to its high protein content, high yield, low cost, well-balanced amino acid composition, and sufficient accessibility. However, cottonseed meal possesses several anti-nutritional factors, especially gossypol, which adversely affect growth and reproductive performance, resulting in the limited utilization of cottonseed meal in pig feed. To maximize the benefits of cottonseed meal and promote its application in pig production, it is imperative to acquire comprehensive knowledge regarding its nutritional value and current utilization. In this review, we initially presented a summary of the nutritional values of cottonseed meal, primary anti-nutritional factors, and effective approaches for improving its utilization as a protein source feed. Subsequently, we comprehensively summarized the latest research progress of cottonseed meal application in pig nutrition over the past decade. The outcome of this review serves as a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for the research and application of cottonseed meal in pig nutrition and promotes the reduction of soybean meal utilization in the pig industry.

Abstract Background The Prunus sibirica seeds with rich oils has great utilization, but contain amygdalin that can be hydrolyzed to release toxic HCN. Thus, how to effectively reduce seed amygdalin content of P. sibirica is an interesting question. Mandelonitrile is known as one key intermediate of amygdalin metabolism, but which mandelonitrile lyase (MDL) family member essential for its dissociation destined to low amygdalin accumulation in P. sibirica seeds still remains enigmatic. An integration of our recent 454 RNA-seq data, amygdalin and mandelonitrile content detection, qRT-PCR analysis and function determination is described as a critical attempt to determine key MDL and to highlight its function in governing mandelonitrile catabolism with low amygdalin accumulation in Prunus sibirica seeds for better developing edible oil and biodiesel in China. Results To identify key MDL and to unravel its function in governing seed mandelonitrile catabolism with low amygdalin accumulation in P. sibirica. Global identification of mandelonitrile catabolism-associated MDLs, integrated with the across-accessions/developing stages association of accumulative amount of amygdalin and mandelonitrile with transcriptional level of MDLs was performed on P. sibirica seeds of 5 accessions to determine crucial MDL2 for seed mandelonitrile catabolism of P. sibirica. MDL2 gene was cloned from the seeds of P. sibirica, and yeast eukaryotic expression revealed an ability of MDL2 to specifically catalyze the dissociation of mandelonitrile with the ideal values of K m (0.22 mM) and V max (178.57 U/mg). A combination of overexpression and mutation was conducted in Arabidopsis. Overexpression of PsMDL2 decreased seed mandelonitrile content with an increase of oil accumulation, upregulated transcript of mandelonitrile metabolic enzymes and oil synthesis enzymes (involving FA biosynthesis and TAG assembly), but exhibited an opposite situation in mdl2 mutant, revealing a role of PsMDL2-mediated regulation in seed amygdalin and oil biosynthesis. The PsMDL2 gene has shown as key molecular target for bioengineering high seed oil production with low amygdalin in oilseed plants. Conclusions This work presents the first integrated assay of genome-wide identification of mandelonitrile catabolism-related MDLs and the comparative association of transcriptional level of MDLs with accumulative amount of amygdalin and mandelonitrile in the seeds across different germplasms and developmental periods of P. sibirica to determine MDL2 for mandelonitrile dissociation, and an effective combination of PsMDL2 expression and mutation, oil and mandelonitrile content detection and qRT-PCR assay was performed to unravel a mechanism of PsMDL2 for controlling amygdalin and oil production in P. sibirica seeds. These findings could offer new bioengineering strategy for high oil production with low amygdalin in oil plants.

The stability of metal nanoclusters (NCs) on graphene supports is crucial for their applications in catalysis. Here, we report on the preparation of a composite material comprising Au NCs on graphene support with multi-curvature defects through the vapor deposition of porous Au and in situ heating, followed by a preliminary exploration of its structural stability. Transmission electron microscopy revealed dense encapsulation of Au NCs within the spatial folds of the graphene support, with their structure and position remaining stable over 1 min at 800 °C, indicating exceptional structural stability. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that this stabilizing effect is attributed to the unique electronic properties of the graphene surface, particularly its spatial curvature and topology with defects. Graphene surfaces with multi-curvature defects exhibit a stronger anchoring effect toward Au NCs compared to planar graphene. This work provides a theoretical basis for advancing the design and optimization of graphene-supported metal cluster catalysts.

A few observational neuroimaging investigations have reported subcortical structural changes in the individuals who recovered from the coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but the causal relationships between COVID-19 and longitudinal changes of subcortical structures remain unclear. We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to estimate putative causal relationships between three COVID-19 phenotypes (susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity) and longitudinal volumetric changes of seven subcortical structures derived from MRI. Our findings demonstrated that genetic liability to SARS-CoV-2 infection had a great long-term impact on the volumetric reduction of subcortical structures, especially caudate. Our investigation may contribute in part to the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying COVID-19-related neurological and neuropsychiatric sequelae.

Abstract Previous observational investigations suggest that structural and diffusion imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) are associated with major neurodegenerative diseases; however, whether these associations are causal remains largely uncertain. Herein we conducted bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses to infer the causal relationships between structural and diffusion IDPs and major neurodegenerative diseases using common genetic variants-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) as instrumental variables. Summary statistics of genome-wide association study (GWAS) for structural and diffusion IDPs were obtained from 33,224 individuals in the UK Biobank cohort. Summary statistics of GWAS for seven major neurodegenerative diseases were obtained from the largest GWAS for each disease to date. The forward MR analyses identified significant or suggestively statistical causal effects of genetically predicted three structural IDPs on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and multiple sclerosis. For example, the reduction in the surface area of the left superior temporal gyrus was associated with a higher risk of AD. The reverse MR analyses identified significantly or suggestively statistical causal effects of genetically predicted AD, Lewy body dementia (LBD), and FTD on nine structural and diffusion IDPs. For example, LBD was associated with increased mean diffusivity in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus and AD was associated with decreased gray matter volume in the right ventral striatum. Our findings might contribute to shedding light on the prediction and therapeutic intervention for the major neurodegenerative diseases at the neuroimaging level.

The impact of financialization on R&D innovation in enterprises exhibits typical nonlinear dynamic characteristics. Based on this, in this study we constructed a threshold regression model to test the moderate range that can maintain the positive relationship between financialization and R&D innovation of enterprises, and also analyzed the nonlinear influencing mechanism by setting the interaction term. Considering the differences in factor intensity of various industries, in this research we also tested the heterogeneity in the moderate range among different industries. Using annual data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2019, the following empirical findings were obtained: First, the impact of enterprise financialization on R&D innovation presents a nonlinear feature, i.e., a typical threshold feature. The level of enterprise financialization first positively affects the R&D innovation of enterprises, and after it reaches a certain turning point, the financialization behavior negatively affects the R&D innovation of enterprises. Second, the nonlinear feature of the mechanism by which enterprise financialization affects R&D innovation is reflected in the substitute effect, and there are disparities among different financialization levels. Third, industries with varying levels of factor intensity not only demonstrate differences in moderate intervals, but also exhibit significant disparities in the degree of impact exerted by financialization on innovation.

Our objective was to systematically evaluate the impact of substituting fish meal (FM) with poultry by-product meal (PBM) in fish feed on the growth and hepatic health of loach. Six diets with different levels of PBM (0 %-PBM0, 10 %-PBM10, 30 %-PBM30, 50 %-PBM50, 70 %-PBM70 and 90 %-PBM90 were formulated. After 8 weeks feeding trial, the highest weight gain (WG) was observed in 55 % PBM replacement ratio. Meanwhile, the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) were observed in 41.56 % PBM replacement ratio. In addition, dietary PBM induced hepatic oxidative stress including increasing the activity of aminotransferase from PBM0 to PBM50 group, whereas the activity of those enzymes was decreased from PBM50 to PBM90 group. Meanwhile, histological analysis showed that the lipid vacuoles in the liver were increased from PBM0 to PBM50 group, then decreased from PBM50 to PBM90 group (P< 0.05). Moreover, primary bile acid biosynthesis was the only one pathway enriched in top 20 significant pathways by transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis. Specifically, the key bile acid synthesis gene CYP7a1 was down-regulated, while CYP7b1 evinced an up-regulated pattern in PBM50 group compared to PBM0 group. In short, the PBM replacement ratio of up to 50 % in diets was appropriate for rearing loach, while higher PBM replacement ratio resulted in extremely oxidative stress in the liver.

The effect of dietary niacinamide (NAM) on the growth performance and liver lipid metabolism of swamp eel have been poorly investigated. Therefore, a 120-day feeding trial was conducted to provide different levels of NAM in diet and an untargeted lipidome analysis was performed to address this subject. We found that dietary NAM improved the growth performance of swamp eel. It also decreased the contents of glucose and lipids, including glucose, glycogen, TG, and NEFA, as well as fat accumulation in liver, but increased HDL-C content. We speculated that NAM inhibited lipid accumulation in liver by decreasing the key enzyme activity of LPL, HL and LPS. Fatty acid profile analysis showed that the contents of MUFA and PUFA, such as palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid were significantly increased, while the contents of SFA, such as myristic acid, stearic acid, and palmitic acid were decreased in liver by dietary NAM. Lipidome analysis also indicated that the majority of differential lipid metabolites belonged to glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, which were enriched in the pathways of insulin resistance, adipocytokine signaling pathway, cholesterol metabolism, fat digestion and absorption, lipid and atherosclerosis, and lipid cell lipolysis regulation. These findings gave scientific evidences and novel insights into the metabolic responses to dietary NAM in swamp eel, and provided basic knowledge for using NAM as a feed additive in swamp eel production.

Abstract Spontaneous reversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to normal cognition (NC) is little known. Based on the data of the Genetics of Personality Consortium and MCI participants from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, the authors investigate the effect of polygenic scores (PGS) for personality traits on the reversion of MCI to NC and its underlying neurobiology. PGS analysis reveals that PGS for conscientiousness (PGS‐C) is a protective factor that supports the reversion from MCI to NC. Gene ontology enrichment analysis and tissue‐specific enrichment analysis indicate that the protective effect of PGS‐C may be attributed to affecting the glutamatergic synapses of subcortical structures, such as hippocampus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and caudate nucleus. The structural covariance network (SCN) analysis suggests that the left whole hippocampus and its subfields, and the left whole amygdala and its subnuclei show significantly stronger covariance with several high‐cognition relevant brain regions in the MCI reverters compared to the stable MCI participants, which may help illustrate the underlying neural mechanism of the protective effect of PGS‐C.

The UK Biobank (UKB) has the largest adult brain imaging dataset, which encompasses over 40,000 participants. A significant number of Mendelian randomization (MR) studies based on UKB neuroimaging data have been published to validate potential causal relationships identified in observational studies. Relevant articles published before December 2023 were identified following the PRISMA protocol. Included studies (n = 34) revealed that there were causal relationships between various lifestyles, diseases, biomarkers, and brain image-derived phenotypes (BIDPs). In terms of lifestyle habits and environmental factors, there were causal relationships between alcohol consumption, tea intake, coffee consumption, smoking, educational attainment, and certain BIDPs. Additionally, some BIDPs could serve as mediators between leisure/physical inactivity and major depressive disorder. Regarding diseases, BIDPs have been found to have causal relationships not only with Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, psychiatric disorders, and migraine, but also with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, poor oral health, osteoporosis, and ankle sprain. In addition, there were causal relationships between certain biological markers and BIDPs, such as blood pressure, LDL-C, IL-6, telomere length, and more.

This paper is concerned with the problem of integral sliding mode control for a class of T-S fuzzy systems based on a fuzzy event triggering mechanism. Firstly, two types of integral sliding switching functions are presented, which include the continuous state dependent sliding mode surface and the triggering state dependent surface. The former is used to analyze the reachability of the sliding surface, while the latter is used to design the event-triggered integral sliding mode controller. Secondly, the fuzzy triggering mechanism is proposed, which consists of the fuzzy membership function and the state information. It provides an important guarantee for the boundedness of the sliding variable error. Thirdly, the event-triggered sliding mode control law is designed based on the triggering state dependent integral sliding mode surface and fuzzy triggering mechanism, the event-triggered sliding mode control law with asynchronous premise variables is designed. Furthermore, the uniformly positive upper bound for the internal execution time can be obtained, which means that there is no Zeno phenomenon. Finally, two simulation examples are presented to illustrate the validity and advantages of the proposed method.

Evidence showed that N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification plays a pivotal role in influencing RNA fate and is strongly associated with cell growth and developmental processes in many species. However, no information regarding m6A modification in Eimeria tenella is currently available. In the present study, we surveyed the transcriptome-wide prevalence of m6A in sporulated oocysts and unsporulated oocysts of E. tenella. Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) analysis showed that m6A modification was most abundant in the coding sequences, followed by stop codon. There were 3,903 hypermethylated and 3,178 hypomethylated mRNAs in sporulated oocysts compared with unsporulated oocysts. Further joint analysis suggested that m6A modification of the majority of genes was positively correlated with mRNA expression. The mRNA relative expression and m6A level of the selected genes were confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) and MeRIP-qPCR. GO and KEGG analysis indicated that differentially m6A methylated genes (DMMGs) with significant differences in mRNA expression were closely related to processes such as regulation of gene expression, epigenetic, microtubule, autophagy-other and TOR signaling. Moreover, a total of 96 DMMGs without significant differences in mRNA expression showed significant differences at protein level. GO and pathway enrichment analysis of the 96 genes showed that RNA methylation may be involved in cell biosynthesis and metabolism of E. tenella. We firstly present a map of RNA m6A modification in E. tenella, which provides significant insights into developmental biology of E. tenella.

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) is an important component of natural water bodies and can significantly influence the photolytic behavior of water pollutants. A comprehensive understanding of the photochemical behavior of water pollutants in natural waters requires consideration of the presence of SPM. In this study, montmorillonite–humic acid (MMT-HA) composite particles were synthesized to simulate SPM in natural waters and their effects on the photolysis of tetracycline (TC) were investigated. The results demonstrated that the presence of MMT-HA composite particles in water significantly enhanced the photolysis of TC, with the photolytic kinetics following a pseudo-first-order model. Electron spin resonance spectra and free radical quenching experiments indicated that the photoactive components (MMT and humic acids) in the composite particles induced the generation of reactive oxygen species under light exposure, further contributing to the enhanced photolysis of TC. Comparative analysis of the free radical signals and adsorption experiments revealed that the accelerated photolysis of TC was also related to the interfacial interaction between the MMT in the composite particles and the TC molecules. The formation of surface complexes between TC molecules and the negatively charged sites on the MMT surface facilitated light absorption and electron transfer, thereby accelerating the photolysis of TC. Photoproduct analysis indicated that the primary degradation pathways of TC in the composite particle systems included the addition of hydroxyl radicals to the aromatic ring, as well as demethylation, deamination and dehydration in the side chains. This study shows that SPM in water bodies can affect the photochemical behavior of pollutants and should be taken into account when assessing the phototransformation of pollutants in natural waters.

BackgroundAlphaviruses are a diverse group of pathogens that have garnered considerable attention due to their impact on human health. By investigating alphavirus receptors, researchers can elucidate viral entry mechanisms and gain important clues for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases. This study presents an in-depth analysis of the research progress made in the field of alphavirus receptors through bibliometric analysis.MethodsThis study encompasses various aspects, including historical development, annual publication trends, author and cited-author analysis, institutional affiliations, global distribution of research contributions, reference analysis with strongest citation bursts, keyword analysis, and a detailed exploration of recent discoveries in alphavirus receptor research.ResultsThe results of this bibliometric analysis highlight key milestones in alphavirus receptor research, demonstrating the progression of knowledge in this field over time. Additionally, the analysis reveals current research hotspots and identifies emerging frontiers, which can guide future investigations and inspire novel therapeutic strategies.ConclusionThis study provides an overview of the state of the art in alphavirus receptor research, consolidating the existing knowledge and paving the way for further advancements. By shedding light on the significant developments and emerging areas of interest, this study serves as a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, and policymakers engaged in combating alphavirus infections and improving public health.

Bradykinesia, a debilitating symptom characterized by impaired movement initiation and reduced speed in Parkinson’s disease (PD), is associated with abnormal oscillatory activity in the motor cortex-basal ganglia circuit. We investigated the interplay between abnormal beta and gamma oscillations in relation to bradykinesia in parkinsonian rats. Our findings showed reduced movement activities in parkinsonian rats, accompanied by enhanced high beta oscillations in the motor cortex, which are closely associated with movement transitional difficulties. Additionally, gamma oscillations correlated with movement velocity in control rats but not in parkinsonian rats. We observed selective coupling between high beta oscillation phase and gamma oscillation amplitude in PD, as well as cortical high beta-broadband gamma phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) negatively influencing locomotor activities in control and PD rats. These findings suggest a collaborative role of cortical beta and gamma oscillations in facilitating movement execution, with beta oscillations being linked to movement initiation and gamma oscillations associated with movement speed. Importantly, the aberrant alterations of these oscillations are closely related to the development of bradykinesia. Furthermore, PAC hold promise as a biomarker for comprehensive assessment of movement performance in PD.

Summary: Under conditions of dietary amino acid balance, decreasing the dietary crude protein (CP) level in pigs has a beneficial effect on meat quality. To further elucidate the mechanism, we explored the alteration of muscle fiber characteristics and key regulators related to myogenesis in the skeletal muscle of pigs fed a protein restricted diet. Compared to pigs fed a normal protein diet, dietary protein restriction significantly increased the slow-twitch muscle fiber proportion in skeletal muscle, succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, the concentrations of ascorbate, biotin, palmitoleic acid, and the ratio of s-adenosylhomocysteine (SAM) to s-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), but the fast-twitch muscle fiber proportion, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, the concentrations of ATP, glucose-6-phosphate, SAM, and SAH in skeletal muscle, and the ratio of serum triiodothyronine (T3) to tetraiodothyronine (T4) were decreased. In conclusion, we demonstrated that dietary protein restriction induced skeletal muscle fiber remodeling association the regulation of FGF21-ERK1/2-mTORC1 signaling in weaned piglets.

One of the possible approaches in the formation of the geometric part of the finite-element model in the process of teaching students is the use of the language IronPython in SpaceClaim environment with the purpose of subsequent modeling on the platform ANSYS WorkBench. The comparative advantages of Design Modeler and SpaceClaim for such a problem are described. An example of using this approach in a real learning process is given.

Abstract Leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor-1 (LAIR1), an immune receptor containing immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibiory motifs (ITIMs), has emerged as an attractive target for cancer therapy. However, the intrinsic function of LAIR1 in gliomas remains unclear. In this study, the poor prognosis of glioma patients and the malignant proliferation of glioma cells in vitro and in vivo were found to be closely correlated with LAIR1. LAIR1 facilitates focal adhesion kinase (FAK) nuclear localization, resulting in increased transcription of cyclin D1 and chemokines/cytokines (CCL5, TGFβ2, and IL33). LAIR1 specifically supports in the immunosuppressive glioma microenvironment via CCL5-mediated microglia/macrophage polarization. SHP2Q510E (PTP domain mutant) or FAKNLM (non-nuclear localizing mutant) significantly reversed the LAIR1-induced growth enhancement in glioma cells. In addition, LAIR1Y251/281F (ITIMs mutant) and SHP2Q510E mutants significantly reduced FAK nuclear localization, as well as CCL5 and cyclin D1 expression. Further experiments revealed that the ITIMs of LAIR1 recruited SH2-containing phosphatase 2 (SHP2), which then interacted with FAK and induced FAK nuclear localization. This study uncovered a critical role for intrinsic LAIR1 in facilitating glioma malignant progression and demonstrated a requirement for LAIR1 and SHP2 to enhance FAK nuclear localization.

Abstract Introduction Thymosin drugs are commonly used for the treatment of viral infections due to their immunomodulatory effects. The comprehensive clinical efficacy of Thymalfasin therapy for COVID-19 associated pneumonia is not yet fully researched, another issue, whether the use of thymosin drugs can reduce the rate of COVID-19 progression to severe pneumonia has not been well documented. The aim of the present study was to multi-angle evaluate the clinical efficacy of Thymalfasin therapy for COVID-19 pneumonia by retrospective review of the clinical data of 338 inpatients with common COVID-19 infection who received treatment in our hospital. Methods The primary index of observation was whether progression to severe pneumonia occurred within a week after admission, and the secondary indexes were the length of hospital stay, time of negative conversion of COVID-19 antigen, the number of peripheral lymphocytes and white blood cells (WBC), and C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels,and the control of pneumonia related symptoms, for example, fever, listlessness, inflammatory exudate area shown on lung CT (%). Results The length of hospital stay of patients in Thymalfasin group was significantly shorter than that of patients in the control group (p

Enhancing the naturalness and rhythmicity of generated audio in end-to-end speech synthesis is crucial. The current state-of-the-art (SOTA) model, VITS, utilizes a conditional variational autoencoder architecture. However, it faces challenges, such as limited robustness, due to training solely on text and spectrum data from the training set. Particularly, the posterior encoder struggles with mid- and high-frequency feature extraction, impacting waveform reconstruction. Existing efforts mainly focus on prior encoder enhancements or alignment algorithms, neglecting improvements to spectrum feature extraction. In response, we propose BERTIVITS, a novel model integrating BERT into VITS. Our model features a redesigned posterior encoder with residual connections and utilizes pre-trained models to enhance spectrum feature extraction. Compared to VITS, BERTIVITS shows significant subjective MOS score improvements (0.16 in English, 0.36 in Chinese) and objective Mel-Cepstral coefficient reductions (0.52 in English, 0.49 in Chinese). BERTIVITS is tailored for single-speaker scenarios, improving speech synthesis technology for applications like post-class tutoring or telephone customer service.

Abstract Depressive disorder prevalence in patients with schizophrenia has been reported to be 40%. People with low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to suffer from schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the causal relationship between schizophrenia and depression and the potential mediating role of SES remains unclear. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted to explore the bidirectional causal relationship between schizophrenia and MDD with the largest sample size of European ancestry from public genome-wide association studies (sample size ranged from 130,644 to 480,359). Inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the primary analysis, and several canonical MR methods were used as validation analyses. The mediating role of SES (educational years, household income, employment status, and Townsend deprivation index) was estimated by the two-step MR method. MR analyses showed that genetically predicted schizophrenia was associated with an increased risk of MDD (IVW odds ratio [OR] = 1.137 [95% CI 1.095, 1.181]). Reversely, MDD was also associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia (IVW OR = 1.323 [95% CI 1.118, 1.565]). The mediation analysis via the two-step MR method revealed that the causal effect of schizophrenia on MDD was partly mediated by the Townsend deprivation index with a proportion of 10.27%, but no significant mediation effect was found of SES on the causal effect of MDD on schizophrenia. These results suggest a robust bidirectional causal effect between schizophrenia and MDD. Patients with schizophrenia could benefit from the early and effective intervention of the Townsend deprivation index.

Abstract Background L-lysine is widely used for feed and special diet products. The transformation of fermentation strains plays a decisive role in the development of these industries. Based on the mutation breeding theory and metabolic engineering methods, this study aimed to improve the regeneration rate of high-lethality protoplasts by combining multiple mutagenesis and homologous cell fusion techniques to efficiently concentrate multiple dominant mutations and optimize the L-lysine production strain Escherichia coli QDW. Results In order to obtain the best protoplasts, the optimal enzymolysis time was selected as 4 h. The optimal lysozyme concentration was estimated at 0.8 mg/mL, because the protoplast formation rate and regeneration rate reached 90% and 30%, respectively, and their product reached the maximum. In this study, it was necessary that UV mutagenesis be excessive to obtain an expanded mutation library. For high lethality protoplasts, under the premise of minimal influence on its recovery, the optimal time for UV mutagenesis of protoplasts was 7 min, and the optimal time for thermal inactivation of protoplasts at 85 ℃ was 30 min. After homologous fusion, four fusion strains of E. coli were obtained, and their stability was analyzed by flow cytometry. The L-lysine yield of QDW-UH3 increased by 7.2% compared with that of QDW in a fermentation experiment, which promoted the expression of key enzymes in L-lysine synthesis, indicating that the combination of ultraviolet mutagenic breeding and protoplast fusion technology improved the acid-production level of the fusion strain. Conclusion This method provides a novel approach for the targeted construction of microbial cell factories.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of dietary protein and lipid levels on the growth performance and homeostasis of the intestinal flora in Paramisgurnus dabryanus. An 8-week 3 × 3 two-factorial experiment was conducted to investigate the interaction between dietary crude protein (CP: 30%, 35%, 40%) and ether extract (EE: 6%, 10%, 14%) on the growth rate and the intestinal microflora of P. dabryanus. A total of 2,160 fish (5.19 ± 0.01 g) were randomly allotted to 36 aquariums each with 60 fish. Fish were fed the experimental diet twice daily. Results revealed that weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio and net protein utilization significantly increased when increasing protein levels from 30% to 40% (P

Blockchain technology has attracted significant attention since its publication. However, most existing blockchain platforms are isolated systems, which makes it difficult to exchange data among different blockchains. The industry has proposed the notary schemes to enhance blockchain interoperability, which can exchange messages among different blockchains through a notary. However, conventional notary schemes are centralized, which suffers from single point of failures. To address these issues, this paper proposes a distributed cross-chain notary model with regulatory mechanisms, based on improved threshold group signatures. We improve the group signature scheme by setting up a group of tracing authorities to achieve distributed tracing. Furthermore, we incorporate this signature scheme into our notary scheme, where a group of notaries signs cross-chain transactions using group signatures. We also introduce a group of regulators to reveal the true identities of malicious notaries when disputes occur. Finally, we prove the security of our signature scheme based on the Random Oracle Model. In our experiments, when the number of notaries is 102 and the threshold is 2/3 of that, it takes 166 ms to set up and generate signature. Also, it takes 161 ms for regulators to reveal the true identities of malicious notaries.

Optimal carbohydrate level in diets could improve growth and feed efficiency，whereas HC (high carbohydrate) diets usually induce the liver injury in reared fish. While SA (sodium acetate) has demonstrated its potential to alleviate liver injury in mammals, the mechanism underlying its impact on liver health in fish remains elusive. This study aims to elucidate the effect of dietary SA on liver injury in the female Monopterus albus. In our study, groups of M. albus were fed with different diets: NC (normal, 20% carbohydrate), HC (high carbohydrate, 32% carbohydrate) and HC+A (HC supplemented with 0.2% SA) diets, in separate, for a consecutive period of 56 days. Our findings showed that HC+A diets improved growth (weight gain rate, from 263.27 ± 9.87–292.34 ± 6.18%) and FE (feed efficiency, from 67.28 ± 2.18–75.91 ± 1.90%) (P

Abstract Background A laser doppler flowmetry (LDF) test can reflect the pulp vitality caused by the change in pulp blood flow (PBF). This study aimed to investigate the PBF of the permanent maxillary incisors using LDF and to calculate the clinical reference range and coincidence rate for pulp vitality using PBF as an indicator. Methods School-age children (7–12 years) were recruited randomly. A total of 455 children (216 female and 239 male) were included in this study. An additional 395 children (7–12 years) who attended the department due to anterior tooth trauma from October 2015 to February 2018 were included to assess the clinical occurrence rate. The PBF was measured using LDF equipment and an LDF probe. Results The clinical reference range of PBF values for the permanent maxillary incisors (teeth 11, 12, 21, and 22) in children were from 7 to 14 perfusion units (PU), 11 (6.016; 11.900 PU), 12 (6.677; 14.129 PU), 21 (6.043;11.899 PU), and 22 (6.668; 14.174 PU). There was a statistically significant correlation between PBF and children’s age (p

For earthquake-damaged reinforced concrete structures, the static loading test method is adopted to carry out loading tests under cyclic loading on reinforced concrete beams with different reinforcement rates and columns with different axial compression ratios, and the effect of reinforcing and repairing the damaged reinforced concrete structure by using adhesive steel plates and carbon fiber cloth is investigated. Through comparative studies of structural hysteresis curves and skeleton curves under different reinforcement methods, it is concluded that reinforcement has significantly improved the hysteresis characteristics and ductility of members, and the seismic performance of the carbon fiber reinforcement method is better than that of the steel plate reinforcement. This study provides valuable references and suggestions for practical earthquake-damaged building reinforcement and repair works and seismic reinforcement works.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a prevalent contaminant in feed and food, posing a serious threat to the health of both humans and animals. The pig stands as an ideal subject for the study of DON due to its recognition as the most susceptible animal to DON. In this study, the IPEC-J2 cells were utilized as an in vitro model to explore the potential of SeMet in alleviating the intestinal toxicity and oxidative injury in intestinal epithelial cells when exposed to DON. Cells were treated either with or without 4.0 μM SeMet, in combination with or without a simultaneous treatment with 0.5 μg/mL DON, for a duration of 24 h. Then, cells or related samples were analyzed for cell proliferation, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, gene expressions, and protein expressions. The results showed that SeMet mitigated the cellular toxicity caused by DON, evidenced by elevated cell proliferation and the reduced LDH release of IPEC-J2 cells in the SeMet + DON group vs. the DON group. Moreover, the SeMet treatment markedly promoted antioxidant functions and decreased the oxidative injury in IPEC-J2 cell, which is indicated by the decreased ROS level and up-regulated mRNA levels of GPX1, TXNRD1, Nrf2, and GCLC in IPEC-J2 cells in the SeMet + DON group vs. the DON group. However, in both the absence and presence of exposure to DON, the SeMet treatment did not affect the protein expression of MAPK (JNK, Erk1/2, and P38) and phosphorylated MAPK (p-JNK, p-Erk1/2, and p-P38) in IPEC-J2 cells. Collectively, SeMet alleviated the DON-induced oxidative injury in porcine intestinal epithelial cells independent of the MAPK pathway regulation.

BackgroundType 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a polygenic metabolic disorder that accelerates brain aging and harms cognitive function. The underlying mechanism of T2DM-related brain functional changes has not been clarified.MethodsResting-fMRI data were obtained from 99 T2DM and 109 healthy controls (HCs). Resting-state functional connectivity networks (RSNs) were separated using the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) method, and functional connectivity (FC) differences between T2DM patients and HCs within the RSNs were detected. A partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to test the relation between gene expression from Allen Human Brain Atlas (AHBA) and intergroup FC differences within RSNs. Then the FC differences-related gene sets were enriched to determine the biological processes and pathways related to T2DM brain FC changes.ResultThe T2DM patients showed significantly increased FC in the left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) of the precuneus network (PCUN) and the right MOG / right precuneus of the dorsal attention network (DAN). FC differences within the PCUN were linked with the expression of genes enriched in the potassium channel and TrkB-Rac1 signaling pathways and biological processes related to synaptic function.ConclusionThis study linked FC and molecular alterations related to T2DM and suggested that the T2DM-related brain FC changes may have a genetic basis. This study hoped to provide a unique perspective to understand the biological substrates of T2DM-related brain changes.

IntroductionSoil microorganisms are an important component of soil ecosystems with an indispensable role in forest ecosystems. We analyzed the soil microbial diversity in birch secondary forest formed by natural restoration or artificial reconstruction after interference by burning, clear cutting, and gradient cutting, and the Betula platyphylla Suk undisturbed forest in the Greater Khingan Mountains in China.MethodsIllumina high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the characteristics of the soil microbial community during the restoration process of birch secondary forest caused by the different types of interference. The relationships between bacteria and fungi were analyzed. The gene functions of the soil bacterial community and the ecological functions of soil fungi were predicted using PICRUSt and FunGuild, respectively.ResultsAt the phylum level, the species and quantity of bacteria were more abundant than that of fungi. At the genus level, no obvious differences in the abundance of bacteria were observed; there were obvious differences in the abundance of fungi. Among the eight sample plots, the artificial larch forest belt had the highest bacterial and fungal alpha diversity, which was slightly higher than undisturbed forest, while the other sample plots were significantly lower. Gradual cutting pure birch forest bacteria and fungi had the highest beta diversity, and artificial larch forest belt bacteria and heavy burn sample plot fungi had the lowest beta diversity. Samples from the cutting and burning sample plots were significantly different from the undisturbed forest at the phylum level of Acidobacteriae, Acidimicrobiia, Mortierellomycetes and Sordariomycetes. We found statistical differences in biomarkers between bacterial and fungal communities in undisturbed forest and artificial larch forest belt and burn sample plots. PICRUSt prediction and FunGuild prediction showed that soil bacterial and fungal communities were rich in gene and ecological functions, respectively. In the microbial network, the stability or anti-interference performance of the fungal community was higher than that of bacteria.ConclusionOur data reveal the characteristics of the soil microbial community during the restoration process of Betula platyphylla Suk secondary forest under different types of disturbance, which is of great significance for understanding the role of soil microorganisms in the forest ecological cycle.

Nonlinear optical properties of metal-organic framework can be tuned for potential optical applications. Here the authors demonstrate an enhancement the nonlinear absorption coefficient of MOF film by applying external electric field.

Lipid is an important source of energy in fish feeds, and the appropriate fat content can improve the efficiency of protein utilization. However, excessive lipid content in the feed can lead to abnormal fat deposition in fish, which has a negative effect on the growth of fish. Therefore, the effects of feed lipid levels on swamp eel were studied. Essential functional genes were screened using transcriptomics. We divided 840 fish into seven groups (four replicates). A mixture of fish and soybean oils (1:4), 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, and 12% was added to the basic feed were named groups one to seven (L1-L7), respectively. Isonitrogenous diets were fed swamp eel for 10 weeks. Growth performance, visceral index, nutritional components, and biochemical indexes were measured and analyzed. Livers of the 0%, 6%, and 12% groups were subjected to transcriptome sequencing analysis. The results of our study showed that: the suitable lipid level for the growth of swamp eel was 7.03%; the crude fat content of whole fish, liver, intestine, muscle, and skin increased with the increase of lipid level, with some significant difference, and excess fat was deposited in skin tissue; triglyceride, total cholesterol, and free fatty acid contents increased with the increase of feed lipid level. High-density lipoprotein levels in the L3 and L4 groups were higher than in the other groups. Blood glucose concentrations in the L5, L6, and L7 groups increased; the liver tissue structure was damaged when the lipid level was too high. two-hundred-and-twenty-eight differentially expressed genes were found. Several critical pathways regulating glucose metabolism and energy balance (e.g., glycerolipid metabolism, glycolysis synthesis, degradation of ketone bodies, and Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription signaling pathway) were enriched in swamp eel compared with the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. Suitable lipid levels (7.03%) can promote the growth of swamp eel, and excessive lipid levels can cause elevated blood lipids and lead to liver cell damage. Regulatory mechanisms may involve multiple metabolic pathways for glucose and lipid metabolism in eels. This study provides new insights to explain the mechanism of fat deposition due to high levels of lipid and provides a basis for the production of efficient and environmentally friendly feed for swamp eel.

Solar energy, as an environmentally sustainable power source, is gaining increasing popularity worldwide, driving a surge in the number of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants. China, which has a prominent role in this domain, requires continuous updates to its PV plant data for spatiotemporal analyses. However, there remains an absence of a comprehensive and timely dataset of PV plants across China, leaving PV installation dates and other crucial attributes for comprehensive analyses underexplored. This study leverages Sentinel-2 data as a primary source to propose an optimized deep learning approach for PV plant extraction in China. Statistical analyses of PV plant attributes, including its installation date, size, site slope, and site land cover, were implemented from multiple data sources. Comprehensive analyses were conducted to unravel their spatiotemporal development patterns in the 21st century. The results indicate that as of 2023, China boasts 4347 PV plants, collectively spanning 4146 km ^2 , which are predominantly concentrated in Northwest and North China. 2016 and 2017 marked substantial growth in China’s PV plants, while other years exhibited stability. These plants exhibit the distinct spatial characteristics of installing smaller PV plants on flat terrain covered by vegetation or barren land. Over time, a notable trend in the installation of China’s PV plants has been the increasing preference for establishing larger ones in smooth terrain, with a focus on preventing damage to natural resources. The results reveal China’s optimization of PV plant site selection and construction strategies, aligning with global environmental goals and sustainable energy practices.

It is crucial to investigate the characteristics of meteorological drought in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region to improve the accuracy of agriculture and water resource monitoring and management. In this study, using instrumental observation data from 85 meteorological stations in the BTH region during 1961–2023 derived from the National Meteorological Information Center, we first calculated the meteorological drought comprehensive index (MCI) and analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of the MCI. In the BTH region, the MCI intensity from May to June was the most severe in the intraseasonal variation. The trend of the decreasing drought intensity in May–June has occurred for the past 60 years. The southern region in the BTH region was more likely to experience droughts. Next, the spatial patterns of the top two EOF modes of the May–June MCI were depicted. The primary spatial pattern of the BTH, which was characterized by consistent changes in the MCI throughout the entire BTH region, could be represented by the first mode’s R2 of 69.01%. Then, we compared the spatial pattern of the MCI intensity under different return periods. Using the May–June MCI of 1961–2023, the drought intensity gradually increased from northwest to southeast for the 10-, 20-, and 50-year return periods. However, the drought intensity decreased and then increased from northwest to southeast based on the 1991–2023 MCI. Notably, a 20-year return period of severe drought affected Beijing and northern Hebei in 2023. Finally, we discussed the linkages of drought in the BTH region and atmospheric circulation/sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, which were calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient and wavelet coherence. We suggest that the MCI variations in the BTH region may be related to the SST anomalies of the Indian Ocean in 1961–1990 and the Pacific Ocean in 1991–2023, respectively. The abovementioned studies have enlightened us to focus on predicting the Pacific SST for drought, which will facilitate agricultural production and water resource management in the BTH region.

LiV3O8 with nanorod structure was prepared by hydrothermal-solid method. In this work, the structure and morphology of LiV3O8 were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, XPS, etc., and the electrochemically switched ion exchange (ESIX) performance of LiV3O8 synthesized at different calcination temperatures was investigated. The experiment results show that LiV3O8 calcined at 500 ℃ had evenly nanorod morphological structure and the best electrochemical performance. The lithium ion adsorption capacity of LiV3O8 film reached 36.36 mg/g at 100 mg/L Li+ solution by ESIX technology. Moreover, LiV3O8 exhibited high selectivity and stability towards Li+. The selectivity factors of Li+/K+ and Li+/Mg2+ reached 38.43 and 4.75, respectively, when the initial molar ratios of Li+/K+/Mg2+ is 1∶1∶1. The lithium ion adsorption capacity of LiV3O8 film still maintained 98.3% of the initial value after 5 cycles.

Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen is a major tree species with high economic and ecological value in the Greater Khingan Mountains coniferous forest of Northeast China. Reconstructing the priority Conservation Area of Larix gmelinii under Climate could provide a scientific basis for its germplasm conservation and management. The present study used ensemble and Marxan model simulations to predict species distribution areas and delineate priority conservation areas for Larix gmelinii in relation to productivity characteristics, understory plant diversity characteristics, and climate change impacts. The study revealed that the Greater Khingan Mountains and the Xiaoxing'an Mountains, with an area of approximately 300 974.2 km2, were the most suitable for L. gmelinii. The stand productivity of L. gmelinii in the most suitable area was significantly higher than that in the less suitable and marginally suitable areas, but understory plant diversity was not dominant. The increase in temperature under future climate change scenarios will reduce the potential distribution and area under L. gmelinii; the species will migrate to higher latitudes of the Greater Khingan Mountains, while the degree of niche migration will gradually increase. Under the 2090s-SSP585 climate scenario, the most suitable area for L. gmelinii will completely disappear, and the climate model niche will be completely separated. Therefore, the protected area of L. gmelinii was demarcated with a target of the productivity characteristics, understory plant diversity characteristics and climate change sensitive area, and the current key protected area was 8.38 × 104 km2. Overall, the study’s findings will lay a foundation for the protection and rational development and utilization of cold temperate coniferous forests dominated by L. gmelinii in the northern forested region of the Greater Khingan Mountains.

BackgroundPostoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (PA-TACE) has been increasing widely used to improve the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, clinical outcomes vary from patient to patient, which calls for individualized prognostic prediction and early management.MethodsA total of 274 HCC patients who underwent PA-TACE were enrolled in this study. The prediction performance of five machine learning models was compared and the prognostic variables of postoperative outcomes were identified.ResultsCompared with other machine learning models, the risk prediction model based on ensemble learning strategies, including Boosting, Bagging, and Stacking algorithms, presented better prediction performance for overall mortality and HCC recurrence. Moreover, the results showed that the Stacking algorithm had relatively low time consumption, good discriminative ability, and the best prediction performance. In addition, according to time-dependent ROC analysis, the ensemble learning strategies were found to perform well in predicting both OS and RFS for the patients. Our study also found that BCLC Stage, hsCRP/ALB and frequency of PA-TACE were relatively important variables in both overall mortality and recurrence, while MVI contributed more to the recurrence of the patients.ConclusionAmong the five machine learning models, the ensemble learning strategies, especially the Stacking algorithm, could better predict the prognosis of HCC patients following PA-TACE. Machine learning models could also help clinicians identify the important prognostic factors that are clinically useful in individualized patient monitoring and management.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary rare earth (RE) supplementation on production performance, egg quality, serum biochemical parameters, antioxidant capacity, intestinal morphology, and gut microbiota in late-phase laying hens. A total of 960 Lohmann Pink laying hens (380 d old) were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 dietary treatments in a 21-day feeding trial. There were 6 replicates in each treatment, with 32 hens per replicate. The five experimental diets were supplemented with 0, 150, 300, 450, and 600 g/t RE in the basal diet. Compared with the control group, hens fed the 150 g/t RE diet had a greater average egg weight during the third week of the experimental period (p

To maintain the ecosystem services of wetlands, this study developed an estimation method for suitable normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values by the integration of ecological water savings and phytoremediation requirements based on experiments and literature surveys in Baiyangdian Lake, North China. In terms of ecological water savings (namely, reducing wetland water consumption by reducing vegetation evapotranspiration), the upper limit of the reed community area was determined by the water replenishment plan of the lake to achieve water balance. In terms of phytoremediation, Grade III of the Chinese water quality grade scale, the target water quality of the lake, was considered to calculate the lower limit of the reed community area for the purpose of good water quality. Considering the two aspects of the requirements of ecological water savings and phytoremediation comprehensively, the suitable reed planning area and NDVI threshold were determined. The results indicated that the suitable reed planting area was 138.05 ∼ 146.43 km2, and the NDVI threshold was 0.155 ∼ 0.316 in the high-water-lever situation (6.8 ∼ 7.0 m). Concurrently, the appropriate reed planting area was 122.39 ∼ 128.24 km2, and the NDVI threshold was 0.137 ∼ 0.277 in the low-water-lever situation (6.5 ∼ 6.8 m). These findings expanded the use of NDVI in the relationship research between wetland vegetation patterns and water resource utilisations, providing support for making vegetation pattern adjustment decisions for wetland protection and restoration in water-scarce regions.

InstructionThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the three-year success rate of the treatment for early childhood caries (ECC) under general anesthesia in different periods (2011 and 2018).MethodsChildren (

Modeling the probability distribution of rows in structured electronic health records and generating realistic synthetic data is a non-trivial task.Tabular data usually contains discrete columns, and traditional encoding approaches may suffer from the curse of feature dimensionality.Poincaré Ball model was utilized to model the hierarchical structure of nominal variables and Gaussian copula-based generative adversarial network was employed to provide synthetic structured electronic health records.The generated training data are experimentally tested to achieve only 2% difference in utility from the original data yet ensure privacy.

ALBINO3 (ALB3) protein functions in the insertion and assembly of thylakoid membrane protein complexes and plays a critical role for chloroplast development in Arabidopsis. However, the biological function of ALB3 homologs in rice, OsALB3, remains elusive. Here, we identified a rice mutant, yellow leaf and lethal1 (yll1), that displayed yellow leaves and died at the seedling stage. The content of chlorophyll in yll1, compared with wild type, was significantly decreased. Transmission electron microscopy observation shows that the chloroplast of yll1 lacks thylakoid membranes. The causal mutation, which is located in OsALB3, was isolated by Mutmap+ combined with a simple mutation filtering process. Knockout of OsALB3 leads to yellow leaves and seedling lethality, mimicking the phenotype of yll1. OsALB3 is widely expressed and OsALB3 is chloroplast-localized. Moreover, the content of light-harvesting chlorophyll-binding proteins in yll1 is reduced. Together, our study demonstrated the essential role of OsALB3 in chloroplast development and provided clues to the possible conserved molecular function of ALB3 in rice.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits and safety of transperitoneal and retroperitoneal pyeloplasty for ureteropelvic junction obstruction by a meta-analysis. We searched the databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase database from their inception to December 1st, 2020. Relevant literatures comparing retroperitoneal pyeloplasty with transperitoneal pyeloplasty were identified. A meta-analysis was conducted with Revman 5.3. The main outcomes included success rate, operative time, hospital stay, conversion rate of open surgery, overall complications, and detailed postoperative complications/indicators. 15 studies with 1881 patients were included. The results revealed that there were no significant differences between two approaches in success rate [OR = 1.51, 95%CI (0.94, 2.41), p = 0.09], hospital stay [MD = 0.21, 95%CI (−0.12, 0.54), p = 0.21] and overall complications [OR = 1.07, 95%CI (0.76, 1.50), p = 0.69]. The retroperitoneal approach was associated with longer operative time [MD = −26.91, 95%CI (−40.97, −12.84), p

Convolutional neural network-based image super-resolution methods have achieved great success in recent years. However, the huge memory and computational costs make most of the existing methods difficult to be applied to resource-constrained scenarios such as edge devices. To tackle this problem, we propose a generic, lightweight and efficient feature fusion block to replace the commonly used 1*1 convolution. In addition, we propose the enhanced shallow residual blocks to improve the super-resolution performance. By combining these two novel blocks, we design an efficient similar feature fusion network for single image super-resolution, based on the observation that cross-layer features of the same channel usually have high similarities. The similar feature fusion block utilizes similarity as a guide for feature clustering, enabling efficient and high-performance cross-layer feature fusion. On the other hand, the enhanced shallow residual blocks are used as the base feature extraction model for the network to improve super-resolution performance in conjunction with the feature fusion module. In the enhanced shallow residual blocks, we combine convolution with identity connection to maintain the similarity of cross-layer features that are fed into the similar feature fusion block. The spatial attention mechanism is also introduced to reinforce the useful spatial features. Experimental results on the benchmark datasets show that the proposed method can achieve comparable results to state-of-the-art methods with a small number of parameters.

Polysaccharides from Enteromorpha prolifera (EP) possess important benefits in the management of obesity and associated metabolic diseases, but to date, the underlying mechanism linking this alleviative effect of EP to gut microbiota remains obscure. This study aimed to investigate the effects of EP in improving lipid metabolism disorders and intestinal barrier disruption in mice with high-fat diet (HFD), and its association with modulation of gut microbiota. C57BL/6 mice were fed a control diet or a HFD with or without 5% EP for 12 weeks. Factors related to lipid metabolism, insulin signaling and intestinal barrier integrity, as well as the involvement of gut microbiota and metabolites, were measured. EP supplementation reduced HFD-induced adiposity and mitigated insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis and elevation of serum lipopolysaccharides (LPS). HFD impaired intestinal barrier integrity while improved due to EP. Moreover, EP administration ameliorated HFD-induced gut dysbiosis, as revealed by the increased short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria (e.g., Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Alloprevotella, and Ruminococcus) and gut barrier-protective Akkermansia muciniphila and decreased endotoxin-producing bacteria (e.g., Desulfovibrionaceae and Bilophila), accompanied by enrichment in intestinal SCFA content and reduction in circulating LPS level. The change of dominant bacterial genera is significantly correlated with improved metabolic profiles and intestinal permeability induced by EP. In conclusion, our results indicate that EP can attenuate HFD-induced metabolic disorders along with restoration of gut barrier integrity and lowering of circulating endotoxin, and these improvements are associated with modulation of gut microbiota composition and related metabolites. These data deepen mechanistic understanding of the anti-obesity and metabolic improving effects of EP.

BackgroundColon cancer (CC) is a common tumor, but its pathogenesis is still not well understood. Competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) theory, ferroptosis and tumor immune infiltration may be the mechanisms of the development of cancer. The purpose of the study is to seek genes connected with both immunity and ferroptosis, and provide important molecular basis for early noninvasive diagnosis and immunotherapy of CC.MethodsWe extracted messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) data of CC from The Cancer Genome Atlas database (TCGA), identified the differentially expressed mRNA (DEmRNA), miRNA (DEmiRNA) and lncRNA (DElncRNA), then constructed a ceRNA network. Venn overlap analysis was used to identify genes associated with immunity and ferroptosis in ceRNA network. The expression and prognosis of target genes were analyzed via Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and PrognoScan database, and we analysed the related functions and signaling pathways of target genes by enrichment analysis. The correlation between target genes and tumor immune infiltrating was explored by CIBERSORT and spearman correlation analysis. Finally, the expression of target genes was detected via quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) in CC and normal colon tissues.ResultsResults showed that there were 4 DElncRNA, 4 DEmiRNA and 126 DEmRNA in ceRNA network. NADPH oxidase 4 protein (NOX4) was a DEmRNA associated with immunity and ferroptosis in ceRNA network. NOX4 was highly expressed in CC and connected with unfavourable prognosis. NOX4 was obviously enriched in pathways connected with carcinogenesis and significantly correlated with six kinds of immune cells. Immune checkpoints and NOX4 spearman correlation analysis showed that the expression of NOX4 was positively related to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)-PDCD1, programmed cell death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1)-CD274 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4).ConclusionsTo conclude, our study suggests that NOX4 is associated with both ferroptosis and tumor immunity, and might be a biomarker associated with the carcinogenesis, prognosis of CC and a potential target of CC immunotherapy.

BackgroundImmunotherapy might be a promising auxiliary or alternative systemic treatment for early-stage lung adenocarcinomas manifesting as ground-glass nodules (GGNs). This study intended to investigate the PD-L1 expression in these patients, and to explore the non-invasive prediction model of PD-L1 expression based on radiomics.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the PD-L1 expression of patients with postoperative pathological diagnosis of lung adenocarcinomas and with imaging manifestation of GGNs, and divided patients into positive group and negative group according to whether PD-L1 expression ≥1%. Then, CT-based radiomic features were extracted semi-automatically, and feature dimensions were reduced by univariate analysis and LASSO in the randomly selected training cohort (70%). Finally, we used logistic regression algorithm to establish the radiomic models and the clinical-radiomic combined models for PD-L1 expression prediction, and evaluated the prediction efficiency of the models with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.ResultsA total of 839 “GGN-like lung adenocarcinoma” patients were included, of which 226 (26.9%) showed positive PD-L1 expression. 779 radiomic features were extracted, and 9 of them were found to be highly corelated with PD-L1 expression. The area under the curve (AUC) values of the radiomic models were 0.653 and 0.583 in the training cohort and test cohort respectively. After adding clinically significant and statistically significant clinical features, the efficacy of the combined model was slightly improved, and the AUC values were 0.693 and 0.598 respectively.ConclusionsGGN-like lung adenocarcinoma had a fairly high positive PD-L1 expression rate. Radiomics was a hopeful noninvasive method for predicting PD-L1 expression, with better predictive efficacy in combination with clinical features.

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are both important risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We aimed to investigate whether a T2DM-specific polygenic risk score (PRSsT2DM) can predict the conversion of aMCI to AD and further explore the underlying neurological mechanism. All aMCI patients were from the Alzheimer’s disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database and were divided into conversion (aMCI-C, n = 164) and stable (aMCI-S, n = 222) groups. PRSsT2DM was calculated by PRSice-2 software to explore the predictive efficacy of the aMCI conversion to AD. We found that PRSsT2DM could independently predict the aMCI conversion to AD after removing the common variants of these two diseases. PRSsT2DM was significantly negatively correlated with gray matter volume (GMV) of the right superior frontal gyrus in the aMCI-C group. In all aMCI patients, PRSsT2DM was significantly negatively correlated with the cortical volume of the right superior occipital gyrus. The cortical volume of the right superior occipital gyrus could significantly mediate the association between PRSsT2DM and aMCI conversion. Gene-based analysis showed that T2DM-specific genes are highly expressed in cortical neurons and involved in ion and protein binding, neural development and generation, cell junction and projection, and PI3K-Akt and MAPK signaling pathway, which might increase the aMCI conversion by affecting the Tau phosphorylation and amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation. Therefore, the PRSsT2DM could be used as a measure to predict the conversion of aMCI to AD.

Numerous studies shown that particulate matter in the ambient environment has a significant impact on the health of the respiratory system. To understand the interrelationships between urban built environment, transportation operations and health, this study proposes an innovative approach that uses real-world GPS datasets to calculate energy consumption and emissions from transportation. The experiment used the traffic operation state in the Fourth Ring Road of Beijing as the research object and tested the impact of using the Regional speed optimization (RSO) strategy based on Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) on energy consumption and emissions during peak hours. The impact of traffic emission on the health of roadside pedestrians is also considered. Changes in PM2.5 concentrations around four different built-up areas were calculated and compared. The computational experiments indicate that the PM2.5 pollutants exhausted by the traffic on the Ring Road during peak hours can reach up to 250 μg/m3, while the traffic emission on general roads near residential areas is only 50 μg/m3. Adopting Regional speed optimization can reduce the energy consumption of the road network by up to 18.8%. For roadside runners, the PM2.5 inhalation caused by night running in commercial and recreational areas is about 1.3-2.6 times that of night running in residential areas. Compared with morning or night running, the risk of respiratory disease caused by PM2.5 inhalation was about 10.3% higher than commuter running behavior. The research results provide a useful reference for energy conservation and emission reduction control strategies for different road types in cities and help existing cities to establish a traveler health evaluation system caused by traffic operation.