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Abstract For a long time, the decline in lung function has been regarded as a potential factor associated with the risk of osteoporosis (OP). Although several observational studies have investigated the relationship between lung function and OP, their conclusions have been inconsistent. Given that Mendelian randomization (MR) studies can help reduce the interference of confounding factors on outcomes, we adopted this approach to explore the causal relationship between lung function and OP at the genetic level. To investigate the potential causality between lung function (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEF) and OP, we conducted a MR analysis employing three approaches: inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, and weighted median. We used Cochran’s Q test to detect potential heterogeneity, MR-Egger regression to evaluate directional pleiotropy, and the MR-PRESSO method to evaluate horizontal pleiotropy. In addition, we used MR-PRESSO and MR radial methods to exclude SNPs exhibiting pleiotropic outliers. Upon identification of potential outliers, we removed them and subsequently ran MR analysis again to assess the reliability of our findings. The MR analysis suggested that there was no causal effect of lung function (FVC, PEF, FEV1/FVC, FEV1) on OP, which is consistent with the. results after excluding potential outliers using MR-PRESSO and MR radial. methods. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the reliability and consistency of these. results. The study concluded that there is no causal link between lung function and OP. The association found in observational studies might be attributable to shared risk factors.

IntroductionImmunogenic cell death (ICD) is capable of activating the anti-tumor immune response of the organism; however, it is concurrently a complex process involving multiple factors. The specific factors that impact the occurrence of ICD remain undefined.MethodsThrough cluster analysis, patient specimens retrieved from the TARGET, TCGA, and GEO AML databases were categorized into two subtypes based on the expression levels of ICD-related genes: ICD-high and ICD-low. We compared the prognostic survival outcomes, pathway enrichment analysis, and immune cell infiltration between these two subtypes. Additionally, we identified factors related to AML development from multiple databases and verified the role of these factors both in vivo and in vitro in activating the immune response during the occurrence of ICD. Results and discussionIn the ICD-high subtype, there was a notable increase in the abundance of immune cell populations, along with the enrichment of pathways pertinent to the activation of various immune cells. Despite these immunological enhancements, this subgroup demonstrated a poorer prognosis. This phenomenon was consistently observed across various additional AML datasets, leading us to hypothesize that elevated expression of ICD genes does not invariably correlate with a favorable prognosis. Notably, STK10 exhibited elevated expression in AML, was associated with a poor prognosis, and showed synchronous expression patterns with ICD genes. Inhibition of STK10 led to the activation of ICD and the induction of an antitumor response. Moreover, when combined with other ICD inducers, it produced a synergistic anti-tumor effect. Our results reveal the impact of STK10 on ICD and underscore its key role in initiating ICD.

Sleep deprivation (SD) is commonplace in today’s fast-paced society. SD is a severe public health problem globally since it may cause cognitive decline and even neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. Melatonin (MT) is a natural chemical secreted by the pineal gland with neuroprotective effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect and mechanism of MT on chronic sleep deprivation-induced cognitive impairment. A 3-week modified multi-platform method was used to create the SD rat model. The Morris water maze test (MWM), Tissue staining (including Hematoxylin and Eosin (H & E) staining, Nissl staining, and immunofluorescence), Western blot, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were used to investigate the protective effect and mechanism of MT in ameliorating cognitive impairment in SD rats. The results showed that MT (50 and 100 mg/kg) significantly improved cognitive function in rats, as evidenced by a shortening of escape latency and increased time of crossing the platform and time spent in the quadrant. Additionally, MT therapy alleviated hippocampus neurodegeneration and neuronal loss while lowering levels of pathogenic factors (LPS) and inflammatory indicators (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, iNOS, and COX2). Furthermore, MT treatment reversed the high expression of Aβ42 and Iba1 as well as the low expression of ZO-1 and occludin, and inhibited the SD-induced TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. In summary, MT ameliorated spatial recognition and learning memory dysfunction in SD rats by reducing neuroinflammation and increasing neuroprotection while inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. Our study supports the use of MT as an alternate treatment for SD with cognitive impairment.

ObjectiveThis paper puts forward a hybrid digital twin monitoring system for structural health to realize the whole-life health monitoring of ships. MethodThe proposed model collects and feeds back the deformation of key cabin structures in real time in order to improve the information and safety management capabilities of shipping. The singular value decomposition method is used to compress and reduce the dimensions of the physical field information formed by multiple groups of loads to obtain the specific standard orthogonal basis, create the response surface model of the relationship between the basis vector and the load, and output a finite element reduced order model based on the real-time input load. The Kriging interpolation algorithm based on geostatistics is used to arrange points according to the specific topological structure, and the real-time sensor data and supplementary point data output by the reduced model are fused and corrected through the Kalman filter algorithm to jointly calculate the deformation of the monitored object. Finally, through the construction of a deformation monitoring software and hardware system, the whole process of physical characteristic collection and visualization is realized. ResultsUnder the preset load, the hardware acquisition system can stably collect data while the supporting application program can visualize the acquisition process in real time according to the expected requirements. ConclusionThe proposed structural health hybrid digital twin monitoring system meets the needs of ship health monitoring and has certain reference significance for the future development of highly integrated and intelligent ships.

Infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm significantly endanger human health worldwide. Biofilms are closely associated with antibiotic resistance because biofilms significantly undermine the efficacy of antibiotics. A novel ultrasound-launched targeted nanoparticle was developed to universally destroy biofilm, target bacteria, deliver antibiotics, and efficiently kill bacteria via ultrasonic cavitation and antibacterial sonodynamic therapy. The nanoparticle consisted of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) loading ciprofloxacin and perfluoropentane with a bacteria-targeted antibody installed on the nanoparticle for binding to specific bacteria. The nanoparticle exhibited a sensitive response to ultrasound and the rapid liquid-gas phase transition of perfluoropentane resulted in a cavitation effect that destroyed the extracellular polymeric substances of the biofilm and allowed deep penetration of the antibiotics. In addition, ciprofloxacin induced additional reactive oxygen species production under ultrasound stimulation, leading to an enhanced bactericidal effect and potent anti-infective activity in vivo. This study presents an effective strategy to tackle the extracellular polymeric substance barriers for overcoming antibiotic resistance and removing a biofilm.

Despite the fact that physical and chemical processes have been widely proposed to explicate the stabilization mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC), thebioavailability of SOC linked to soil physical structure, microbial community structure, and functional genes remains poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the SOC division based on bioavailability differences formed by physical isolation, and to clarify the relationships of SOC bioavailability with soil elements, pore characteristics, and microbial activity. Results revealed that soil element abundances such as SOC, TN, and DOC ranked in the same order as the soil porosity as clay > silt ≥ coarse sand > fine sand in both top and sub soil. In contrast to silt and clay, which had reduced SOC bioavailability, fine sand and coarse sand had dramatically enhanced SOC bioavailability compared to the bulk soil. The bacterial and fungal community structure was significantly influenced by particle size, porosity, and soil elements. Copiotrophic bacteria and functional genes were more prevalent in fine sand than clay, which also contained more oligotrophic bacteria. The SOC bioavailability was positively correlated with abundances of functional genes, C degradation genes, and copiotrophic bacteria, but negatively correlated with abundances of soil elements, porosity, oligotrophic bacteria, and microbial biomass (p

Although zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) have bright prospects in wide fields like gas storage/separation, catalysis and medicine, etc., their large-scale applications are bottlenecked by the absence of their low-cost commercial production technique. Here, we report an unconventional method suitable for environmentally friendly and low-cost mass-production of ZIFs. In this method, taking the synthesis of ZIF-8 as an example, ZnO was used instead of Zn(NO3)2 in traditional solvent synthesis methods and CO2 was introduced to dissolve ZnO in aqueous solution of 2-methylimidazole (HMeim) and form water soluble salt ([ZnMeim]+[MeimCOO]-) at room temperature. Then, by removing CO2 through heating or vacuuming, Meim-ions are produced and instantaneously assemble with [ZnMeim]+s to generate ZIF-8 without any by-product. Due to the absence of strong acid anions (such as NO3− and Cl− et al.) in solution, the washing of filter cake required in the conventional approaches could be omitted and the filtrate containing only water and HMeim could be reused completely. This method is really green as no waste gas or liquid generates because CO2 and water could be recycled perfectly. It overcomes almost all bottlenecks occurred in commercial production of ZIF-8 when using traditional methods. A pilot plant was established for mass-production of ZIF-8 and hundreds kilograms of ZIF-8 was produced, which indicates that the new method is not only environmentally friendly but also low cost and commercial accessibility. It is expected that the new method would open an avenue for commercial applications of ZIFs.

PDC bits have been working in a worn state for a long time. To explore its cutting performance and avoid premature failure of the bit, this paper analyzes the load on the worn teeth and the drilling characteristics of the bit through single tooth cutting experiment and full-scale wear bit drilling experiment. The result shows that the worn teeth bear larger load compared with the new teeth, and the phenomenon of blunt rubbing is common in the process of rock cutting after the cutting teeth are “rounded”. Under the same depth, the greater the wear height is, the more obvious the load fluctuation appears. Through the full-scale bit drilling experiment, it is found that compared with the new bit, the worn bit can produce a smoother bottom hole, which is not beneficial for PDC bits' teeth intruding into the rock. With the increase of wear degree, the mechanical rate of penetration decreases and the mechanical specific energy increases. When the wear is greater than 3 mm, the mechanical specific energy and mechanical rate of penetration are not sensitive to weight on bit. With the increase of wear degree, the vibration degree of the bit decreases, and there is little difference in the radial acceleration value of the bit regardless of the wear degree.

The separation of butane isomers, raw materials in petrochemical industry, is challenging. Here the authors report the separation of n-butane and isobutane using a metal-organic framework slurry; the separation can be performed at large scale in a pilot-scale separation tower.

On the basis of geosynchronous earth orbit multi-beam satellite communication systems, this paper designed the process of user random access to the network and specifi c signaling interaction under the agile beam mechanism, and proposed the scheduling strategy and allocation scheme of the agile signaling beam.This scheme increased the fl exibility of access resource allocation under the premised of ensured that all users could accessed the network, eff ectively improved the utilization rate of satellite network resources.The request of user access to the satellite communication network belongs to the burst type, it is more suitable to use the random competition access, so this paper based on the general random competition access strategy, proposed an adaptive random competition access algorithm based on the heat value, based on the heat value predicted by the network side, the user selects diff erent random access strategies for access.Through the simulation and analysis of the optimization algorithm, it is proved that the algorithm could eff ectively reduced the probability of access collision under various network loads, so as to achieved the purpose of users quickly accessing the network.

Bearings are broadly applied in various types of industrial systems. Fault diagnosis, as a promising way for reliability of modern industrial internet of thing applications, has attracted increasing attention from both academia and industry fields. Being ideal modeling and inference tool in uncertainty situations, Bayesian network (BN) is becoming increasingly popular in many systems. However, in practical uncertain and complicated engineering surroundings, it’s difficult or expensive to collect massive labeled fault data for the sake of fault diagnosis model learning. To address the issue of BN parameter learning under small data set conditions, this paper proposes a Varying Coefficient Transfer Learning (VCTL) algorithm based on aggregation and transfer learning, that considers both knowledge from the resource domain and the resource relevance contributions. The balancing weight function is designed to determine whether the learning task in the resource domain is activated. Relevance weight factors are proposed to measure the relevance of resource and target parameters quantitatively, by combing parameter information from resource domains with those obtained from the target domain, using maximum a posterior (MAP) or maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). Finally, the target parameters are aggregated with both the target initial parameters and the parameter knowledge from the resource domain. Based on VCTL, a bearing fault diagnosis approach is proposed and verified. The experimental results show that, under the condition of the small data set, learning accuracy of VCTL algorithm with varying coefficient aggregation is better than MLE algorithm, MAP algorithm or state-of-the-art parameter transfer method, local linear pooling transfer learning (LoLP) algorithm. Under the condition of sufficient data set, learning accuracy of VCTL algorithm approaches the classical MLE or MAP, and the correctness of the proposed algorithm is verified. Moreover, we illustrate the successful application to real-world bearing fault diagnosis case with VCTL, where we had access to expert-provided resource knowledge and real fault diagnosis data.

Objectives To synthesise current evidence from systematic reviews (SRs) regarding the efficacy and safety of non-pharmacological interventions to prevent and treat pain in newborn infants.Design Overview of SRs.Data sources We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Database, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP) and Google Scholar to identify all relevant SRs published in the last 5 years.Eligibility criteria for selecting studies We included SRs that evaluated the efficacy and safety of non-pharmacological interventions for neonatal pain.Data extraction and synthesis Two reviewers independently extracted the data, assessed the methodological quality using a Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2 and graded the evidence quality with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE).Results A total of 29 SRs were included in this overview, of which 28 focused on procedural pain and only 1 focused on postoperative pain. Based on AMSTAR 2, seven reviews were found to be of ‘high quality‘, eight of ‘moderate quality’, five of ‘low quality’ and nine of ‘critically low quality’. The GRADE results suggested that facilitated tucking, kangaroo care, sweet solutions, familiar odour or combined non-pharmacological interventions, such as a combination of sucrose and non-nutritive sucking, were effective and safe in reducing pain from medical procedures in neonates. However, sucrose alone was less effective than local anaesthesia or a combination of the two during circumcision.Conclusions Facilitated tucking, small volumes of sweet solutions, kangaroo care and familiar odour were recommended. Scientific implementation strategies should be developed to promote the clinical use of these effective non-pharmacological interventions. Meanwhile, further rigorous trials and SRs are needed to identify the best non-pharmacological approaches for pain from common surgery and illnesses in neonates.PROSPERO registration number CRD42021292583.

Abstract Sustained activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a critical contributor in tumorigenesis and chemoresistance, thus making it an attractive cancer therapeutic target. Here, SH2 domain‐containing adapter protein F (SHF) is identified as a tumor suppressor in glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) and its negative regulation of STAT3 activity is characterized. Mechanically, SHF selectively binds and inhibits acetylated STAT3 dimerization without affecting STAT3 phosphorylation or acetylation. Additionally, by blocking STAT3‐DNMT1 (DNA Methyltransferase 1) interaction, SHF relieves methylation of tumor suppressor genes. The SH2 domain is documented to be essential for SHF's actions on STAT3, and almost entirely replaces the functions of SHF on STAT3 independently. Moreover, the peptide C16 a peptide derived from the STAT3‐binding sites of SHF inhibits STAT3 dimerization and STAT3/DNMT1 interaction, and achieves remarkable growth inhibition in GBM cells in vitro and in vivo. These findings strongly identify targeting of the SHF/STAT3 interaction as a promising strategy for developing an optimal STAT3 inhibitor and provide early evidence of the potential clinical efficacy of STAT3 inhibitors such as C16 in GBM.

Ethiopia has been gaining attention in recent years as an emerging source of high-quality emerald. Ethiopian emerald samples with different colors ranging from dark green to light green were selected to study the gemological properties, chemical composition, and spectral characteristics. The Ethiopian emeralds were examined using conventional gemological instruments, including X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, LA-ICP-MS, UV/Vis/NIR, infrared spectrometry, and Raman spectrometry, providing a wealth of data and research information related to Ethiopian emeralds. The EDXRF results show that the chemical composition of Ethiopian emeralds is distinctly regional compared to emeralds of Colombian origin, being low in Cr, low in V, and high in Fe. LA-ICP-MS results demonstrate consistent results for Cr (734.34 to 1644.3 ppmw), V (89.61 to 106.61 ppmw), and Fe (4468.04 to 5022.3 ppmw) based on the chemical composition analysis by EDXRF. In addition, the LA-ICP-MS assay revealed that the combination of alkali metals (Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs) and some trace elements (Sc, V, Cr, and Fe) could distinguish the Ethiopian emeralds from those from other regions. The Ethiopian emerald had absorption of Fe2+, Cr3+, V3+, and Fe3+, and the typical absorption intensity of Fe2+ (around 850 nm) was higher than that of Fe3+ (around 371 nm) in the UV/Vis/NIR spectra. The infrared spectrum of samples indicated that the absorption of type II H2O was higher than type I H2O in the emeralds from Ethiopia, which is consistent with the high content of alkali metals detected by LA-ICP-MS that would lead to an increase in the content of type II H2O. The Raman spectra showed absorption at 410 cm−1, 569 cm−1, 687 cm−1, 995 cm−1, and 1067 cm−1, with an emerald species recognition pattern. The gas–liquid two-phase inclusions of the emerald in this area were mainly CO2 and H2O, and the samples contained typical dark inclusions of magnesium-rich biotite sheets that revealed the tectonic-magmatic-related geological environment in this region.

Grassland restoration can play a critical role in regulating ecosystem carbon cycling, especially for changes in methane (CH4) flux. However, how grassland restoration measures affect soil CH4 flux remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the relationships between soil CH4 flux and properties of both plant communities and soil under different grassland restoration measures (shallow ploughing, harrowing and natural recovery) in a field experiment conducted during the growing season in a semiarid grassland in northern China using the static chamber method. Soil was a CH4 sink across all three restoration measures. Compared to natural recovery, shallow ploughing significantly enhanced and harrowing significantly decreased soil CH4 uptake. The rates of soil CH4 uptake were positively associated with litter production and belowground biomass and negatively associated with plant taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. Soil temperature, NH4+-N concentration, and soil organic matter quality had positive effects on CH4 uptake rate, but soil moisture and NO3−-N concentration had negative effects on CH4 uptake rate. Our results elucidate the pathway through which shallow ploughing facilitates soil CH4 uptake in a semiarid grassland and thus highlights its role in sustaining ecosystem multifunctionality as a measure for grassland restoration.

Abstract The global community decorates their homes based on personal decisions and contextual influences of their larger cultural and economic surroundings. The extent to which spatial patterns emerge in residential decoration practices has been traditionally difficult to ascertain due to the private nature of interior home spaces. Yet, measuring these patterns can reveal the presence of geographic culture hearths and/or globalization trends. In this work, we collected over one million geolocated images of interior living spaces from a popular home rental website, Airbnb (http://airbnb.com), and used transfer learning techniques to automatically detect the presence of key stylistic objects: plants, books, decor, wall art and predominance of vibrant colors. We investigated patterns of home decor practices for 107 cities on six continents, and performed a deep dive into six major U.S. cities. We found that world regions show statistically significant variation in decorative element prevalence, indicating differences in geographic cultural trends. At the U.S. neighborhood level, elements were only weakly spatially clustered and found to not correlate with socio-economic neighborhood variables such as income, unemployment rates, education attainment, residential property value, and racial diversity. These results may suggest that American residents in different socio-economic environments put similar effort into personalizing and caring for their homes. More broadly, our results represent a new view of worldwide human behavior and a new application of machine learning techniques to the exploration of cultural phenomena.

It is of great significance to develop gadolinium (Gd) contrast agents (CAs) for pH-responsive and tumor targeting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Silkworm sericin (SS) is a natural biomacromolecule from silkworm cocoon with good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and a variety of biological activities. Here, sericin was covalently cross-linked with gadolinium acetate (GAH) via Schiff's base reaction, and then blended with gadolinium chloride (GdCl3) through electrostatic adsorption to yield SS@GAH-GdCl3 nanoparticles. Zeta potential showed SS@GAH-GdCl3 could respond pH change naturally, and freely realize the transition from negative surface potential in pH 7.5 to positive surface potential in pH 5.8. The T1 weighted MR images in solution indicated that SS@GAH-GdCl3 has higher T1 relaxivity in pH 5.8 than that in pH 7.4, and magnevist under 3.0 T magnetic field. Further, the T1 weighted MR images in vivo suggested that SS@GAH-GdCl3 could target tumors and accumulate around tumor tissues to achieve MR imaging on the tumor up to 2 h. Moreover, SS@GAH-GdCl3 is stable without any leakage of gadolinium ions. SS@GAH-GdCl3 is cytocompatible and does not cause hemolysis, inflammation, tissue damage, and the change of serum biochemical indicators and body weight in vivo. SS@GAH-GdCl3 has exhibited great potentials as a high-performance GdCA for pH-responsive and tumor targeting MRI.

Abstract Objective To identify the most prominent and replicable fractional anisotropy (FA) alterations of white matter associated with obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) in tract‐based spatial statistics (TBSS) studies. Methods We reviewed previous TBSS studies (n = 20) in OCD and performed a meta‐analysis (n = 16) of FA differences. Results No between‐group differences in FA were detected in the pooled meta‐analysis. However, reduced FA was identified in the genu and anterior body of corpus callosum (CC) in adult OCD. FA reductions in the anterior body of CC were associated with a later age of onset in adult patients with OCD. For pediatric OCD, decreased FA in earlier adolescence and increased FA in later adolescence were seemingly related to an altered trajectory of brain maturation. Conclusions Absent in the pooled sample but robust in adults, disrupted microstructural organization in the anterior part of CC indicates a bias of deficits toward connections in interhemispheric connections of rostral neocortical regions, which could lead to deficits of interhemispheric communication and thus contribute to cognitive and emotional deficits in adult OCD. The correlation between FA in the anterior body of CC and older illness onset suggests that patients with later adult onset of illness may represent a biologically distinct subgroup. For pediatric OCD, alterations in neurodevelopmental maturation may contribute to inconsistent patterns of FA alteration relative to controls during adolescence. While most studies of OCD have emphasized alterations of within hemisphere fronto‐striatal circuits, these results indicate that between hemisphere connectivity of this circuitry may also represent important pathophysiology of the illness.

In our previous work, we observed that the structure of zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) decomposed in the presence of water during the CO2 capture process. However, the structure of ZIF-8 was perfectly retained after adding 5 wt. % or more 2-methylimidazole (HMeim) into the solution. In this work, we investigated the pore structural stability of ZIF-8 when it was suspended in five other alkaline solutions. The results show that the ZIF-8 suspended in monoethanolamine (MEA), methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), and HMeim can still maintain the topological structure whereas the ZIF-8 converted to ZIF-61 and Zn2(Bim)4, respectively, when it came into contact with imidazole (Him) and benzimidazole (HBim). In addition, MEA, MDEA, and HMeim solutions could protect the porous structure of ZIF-8 when ZIF-8 slurry was used for CO2 capture. Nevertheless, the structure of ZIF-8 also collapsed when the concentration of alkaline was lower than 10 wt. %.

A large amount of COG (coke oven gas) is produced from coking plants every year, which contains 55–60% H2. In this work, the breakthrough separation of H2 from COG with ZIF-8/ethylene glycol-water slurry was studied. Following the investigation of the (ab-ad)sorption isotherms of the single component gas CH4 and H2, the main components of coke oven gas, in different slurries and their corresponding viscosities, and the influence of the operating conditions on the dynamic performance of CH4/H2 separation in slurry were studied in a bubble column. Low temperature, inlet flow rate, high pressure, and solid content can extend the breakthrough time, where the longest breakthrough time interval between H2 and CH4 can be as long as 70 min, meaning the high purity of H2 product could be obtained easily. All the results of this work prove the feasibility of the slurry method to separate CH4/H2 mixture and provide a theoretical basis for practical industrial applications.

Abstract Reducing the dosage of chemotherapeutic drugs via enhancing the delivery efficiency using novel nanoparticles has great potential for cancer treatment. Here, we focused on improving mitoxantrone delivery by using cholesterol-substituted pullulan polymers (CHPs) and selected a suitable nano-drug size to inhibit the growth of bladder cancer cells. We synthesized three kinds of CHPs, named CHP-1, CHP-2, CHP-3. Their chemical structures were identified by NMR, and the degree of cholesterol substitution was 6.82%, 5.78%, and 2.74%, respectively. Their diameters were 86.4, 162.30, and 222.28 nm. We tested the release rate of mitoxantrone in phosphate-buffered saline for 48 h: the release rate was 38.73%, 42.35%, and 58.89% for the three CHPs. The hydrophobic substitution degree in the polymer was associated with the self-assembly process of the nanoparticles, which affected their size and therefore drug release rate. The release of the three drug-loaded nanoparticles was significantly accelerated in acid release media. The larger the nanoparticle, the greater the drug release velocity. At 24 h, the IC50 value was 0.25 M, for the best inhibition of mitoxantrone on bladder cancer cells. 3-(4,5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) experiments demonstrated that drug-loaded CHP-3 nanoparticles with the largest size were the most toxic to bladder cancer cells. Immunofluorescence and flow cytometry revealed that drug-loaded CHP-3 nanoparticles with the largest size had the strongest effect on promoting apoptosis of bladder cancer cells. Also, the three drug-loaded nanoparticles could all inhibit the migration of MB49 cells, with large-size CHP-3 nanoparticles having the most powerful inhibition.

The integrated satellite-terrestrial network can provide broadband wireless access in a wide coverage, efficient, and cost-effective manner, and is regarded as one of the most promising infrastructures for future heterogeneous network toward fifth generation. With the development of next generation of high throughput satellites (HTS), the application of the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band HTS is viewed as a vital role in the future integrated satellite-terrestrial network. Considering the rain attenuation is the dominant fading factor of the mmWave channel, we first propose a practical time-varying rain attenuation prediction model based on the autoregressive-moving-average (ARMA) model. Then, we develop an adaptive coding transmission (ACT) scheme based on the analog fountain codes combine the ARMA mmWave channel prediction model. The key parameters are selected based on a tradeoff between the decoding failure probability, block length, and overhead for our ARMA-based ACT scheme. Simulation results show that our proposed ACT scheme can effectively improve the throughput.

Silver-based hybrid nanomaterials are receiving increasing attention as potential alternatives for traditional antimicrobial agents. Here, we proposed a simple and eco-friendly strategy to efficiently assemble zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on sericin-agarose composite film to impart superior antimicrobial activity. Based on a layer-by-layer self-assembly strategy, AgNPs and ZnO were immobilized on sericin-agarose films using the adhesion property of polydopamine. Scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction spectroscopy were used to show the morphology of AgNPs and ZnO on the surface of the composite film and analyze the composition and structure of AgNPs and ZnO, respectively. Water contact angle, swelling ratio, and mechanical property were determined to characterize the hydrophilicity, water absorption ability, and mechanical properties of the composite films. In addition, the antibacterial activity of the composite film was evaluated against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The results showed that the composite film not only has desirable hydrophilicity, high water absorption ability, and favorable mechanical properties but also exhibits excellent antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It has shown great potential as a novel antimicrobial biomaterial for wound dressing, artificial skin, and tissue engineering.