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The increasing volume of motorized traffic not only negatively impacts the structural preservation and overall planning of individual buildings within the block but also disrupts the originally harmonious and pleasant spatial environment of the area. Walking, as a primary mode of urban transportation, plays a crucial role in preserving the unique characteristics of historical blocks, enhancing the quality of the urban environment, and achieving long-term sustainable urban development. This study takes the Five Avenues historical block as a case, assessing the current walking environment from the perspective of Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE). Machine learning techniques (including web scraping, the TF-IDF algorithm, and the LDA model) were employed to collect and analyze user feedback data, assisting in constructing walking environment satisfaction indicators. A total of 19 key factors affecting walking satisfaction were identified. Paired sample t-tests, ANOVA, and reliability and validity analyses were applied to examine the feasibility and practicality of the questionnaire content. Finally, using Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA), the improvement priorities for walking environment indicators were clearly defined. Although the overall satisfaction index of the Five Avenues is comparatively high, unobstructed pathways have the greatest impact on walking environment satisfaction, followed by the rationality of guiding signage facilities, and then by public security management and facility maintenance. Furthermore, visitors prioritize factors such as the cultural recognizability of the area, travel convenience, green space accessibility, and the sidewalk width proportion; they are less focused on the functional aspects of the walkways. Based on the analysis results from POE and machine learning, targeted strategies for improving the walking environment in historical blocks were proposed, aiming to provide a more comprehensive basis for improving the walking environments of similar blocks.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic joint disease, with physical exercise being a widely endorsed strategy in its management guidelines. Exerkines, defined as cytokines secreted in response to acute and chronic exercise, function through endocrine, paracrine, and/or autocrine pathways. Various tissue-specific exerkines, encompassing exercise-induced myokines (muscle), cardiokines (heart), and adipokines (adipose tissue), have been linked to exercise therapy in OA. Exerkines are derived from these kines, but unlike them, only kines regulated by exercise can be called exerkines. Some of these exerkines serve a therapeutic role in OA, such as irisin, metrnl, lactate, secreted frizzled-related protein (SFRP), neuregulin, and adiponectin. While others may exacerbate the condition, such as IL-6, IL-7, IL-15, IL-33, myostatin, fractalkine, follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1), visfatin, activin A, migration inhibitory factor (MIF), apelin and growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15. They exerts anti-/pro-apoptosis/pyroptosis/inflammation, chondrogenic differentiation and cell senescence effect in chondrocyte, synoviocyte and mesenchymal stem cell. The modulation of adipokine effects on diverse cell types within the intra-articular joint emerges as a promising avenue for future OA interventions. This paper reviews recent findings that underscore the significant role of tissue-specific exerkines in OA, delving into the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms involved.

Abstract Background Ocular adnexal B-cell lymphoma (OABL) is a rare subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The molecular characteristics of OABL remain poorly understood. We performed an integrated study to investigate the proteotranscriptome landscape and identify novel molecular characteristics and biomarkers of OABL. Methods Integrated quantitative proteome and transcriptome were performed on 40 OABL 12 idiopathic orbital inflammation, 6 reactive lymphoid hyperplasia, and 13 aesthetic orbital plastic surgery specimens. Complete clinicopathologic and prognostic data of the patients were recorded. Results We identified high global protein-mRNA concordance as a novel characteristic of OABL. High concordance was related to OABL recurrence. By integrated expression profile, motif enrichment and trend analysis, we found that alternative splicing is inflammation-independently dysregulated in OABL. After portraying the aberrant alternative splicing event landscape, we demonstrated the oncogenic role of ADAR, a core splicing regulator that regulates the splicing of Rho GTPase and cell cycle members. We found that ADAR regulates cell proliferation and Rho GTPase inhibitor sensitivity of lymphoma. We identified DNAJC9 as a potential biomarker for OABL in proteomic analyses. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent staining showed the nuclear staining of DNAJC9 was significantly higher in extranodal marginal zone lymphomas compared with inflammation specimens. Conclusions These results provide an integrated gene expression profiling and demonstrate that high global protein-mRNA concordance is a prognosis-related molecular characteristic of OABL. We portray the alternative splicing events landscape of OABL, and reveal the oncogenic role of ADAR. We identified strong nuclear staining of DNAJC9 as a promising pathology diagnostic biomarker for extranodal marginal zone lymphomas.

Triangular silver nanoplates exhibit excellent optical and catalytic properties in many fields, such as catalysts, sensors and bio-medicine. In this paper, triangular nanoplates were generated just in the presence of sodium citrate through a light-induced ripening process, which were converted from spherical silver nanoparticles by reducing silver nitrate with sodium borohydride. By using UV–Vis spectroscopy, particle size analyzer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Ag+ concentration analysis, the effects of precursors during the preparation of triangular nanoplates were systematically investigated and the optimal experimental conditions were determined. Based on density functional theory (DFT), the adsorption energies of citrate ion, malate ion and tartronate ion on Ag (111), (110) and (100) were calculated. In addition, theoretical calculations coupled with experimental observations showed that citrate ion as capping agent could more preferentially bind to Ag (111) and thus blocked Ag (111) while only allowing extensive growth along the lateral direction. This well explains sodium citrate is an efficient agent in preparing triangular silver nanoplates.

The partial differential equation learning model is applied to another high-level visual-processing problem: face recognition. A novel feature selection method based on partial differential equation learning model is proposed. The extracted features are invariant to rotation and translation and more robust to illumination changes. In the evaluation of students’ concentration in class, this paper firstly uses the face detection algorithm in face recognition technology to detect the face and intercept the expression data, and calculates the rise rate. Then, the improved model of concentration analysis and evaluation of a college Chinese class is used to recognize facial expression, and the corresponding weight is given to calculate the expression score. Finally, the head-up rate calculated at the same time is multiplied by the expression score as the final concentration score. Through the experiment and analysis of the experimental results in the actual classroom, the corresponding conclusions are drawn and teaching suggestions are provided for teachers. For each face, a large neighborhood set is firstly selected by the k-nearest neighbor method, and then, the sparse representation of sample points in the neighborhood is obtained, which effectively combines the locality of k-nearest neighbor and the robustness of sparse representation. In the sparse preserving nonnegative block alignment algorithm, a discriminant partial optimization model is constructed by using sparse reconstruction coefficients to describe local geometry and weighted distance to describe class separability. The two algorithms obtain good clustering and recognition results in various cases of real and simulated occlusion, which shows the effectiveness and robustness of the algorithm. In order to verify the reliability of the model, this paper verified the model through in-class practice tests, teachers’ questions, and interviews with students and teachers. The results show that the proposed joint evaluation method based on expression and head-up rate has high accuracy and reliability.

Prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), are a group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders infecting both humans and animals. Recent works have demonstrated that the soluble prion protein oligomer (PrPO), the intermediate of the conformational transformation from the host-derived cellular form (PrPC) to the disease-associated Scrapie form (PrPSc), exerts the major neurotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. Rabbits show strong resistance to TSEs, the underlying mechanism is unclear to date. It is expected that the relative TSEs-resistance of rabbits is closely associated with the unique properties of rabbit prion protein oligomer which remain to be addressed in detail. In the present work, we prepared rabbit prion protein oligomer (recRaPrPO) and human prion protein oligomer (recHuPrPO) under varied conditions, analyzed the effects of pH, NaCl concentration and incubation temperature on the oligomerization, and compared the properties of recRaPrPO and recHuPrPO. We found that several factors facilitated the formation of prion protein oligomers, including low pH, high NaCl concentration, high incubation temperature and low conformational stability of monomeric prion protein. RecRaPrPO was formed more slowly than recHuPrPO at physiological-like conditions (< 57°C, < 150 mM NaCl). Furthermore, recRaPrPO possessed higher susceptibility to proteinase K and lower cytotoxicity in vitro than recHuPrPO. These unique properties of recRaPrPO might substantially contribute to the TSEs-resistance of rabbits. Our work sheds light on the oligomerization of prion proteins and is of benefit to mechanistic understanding of TSEs-resistance of rabbits.

To the best of our knowledge, the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) in oxidative stress-induced PC12 cell damage is unknown. Using a PC12 cell model with H2O2 treatment, the present study investigated the expression levels of apoptosis-related genes and neuronal apoptosis after oxidative stress injury. The present study further investigated the protective effect and mechanism of pioglitazone, a PPARγ agonist. PC12 cells treated with H2O2 were used as a model of oxidative stress injury. An MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to detect the effect of H2O2 on PC12 cell viability and the protective effect of pioglitazone. A TUNEL assay was used to detect neuronal apoptosis. The expression levels of PPARγ, Bax, Bcl-2 and caspase-3 were examined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting. H2O2 reduced PC12 cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. H2O2 significantly upregulated the protein expression levels of Bax and the cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3 ratio (P<0.01), decreased the protein expression levels of Bcl-2 (P<0.01), and increased the apoptosis rate of PC12 cells. Pioglitazone significantly reduced the protein expression levels of Bax and the cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3 ratio (P<0.01), increased the expression levels of Bcl-2 (P<0.01), decreased the Bax/Bcl-2 expression ratio (P<0.01) and increased the viability of H2O2-damaged PC12 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with the PPARγ antagonist GW9662 or PPARγ small interfering RNA counteracted the protective effect of pioglitazone on PC12 cells to different extents (P<0.01). Therefore, the present study reported the role of PPARγ in protecting PC12 cells against oxidative stress injury, which may lead to novel therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aims Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of ocular adnexa (OA-EMZL) is the most frequent type of ocular adnexal lymphomas, with a high rate of disease recurrence. Precise patient stratification based on disease recurrence is understudied. This study aims to identify risk factors of distant recurrence (DR) and local recurrence (LR) to construct a prognostic model optimising rapid decision of therapeutic strategies. Methods A total of 104 patients diagnosed with OAEMZL between January 2011 and February 2020 were enrolled. Propensity score matching was performed for DR and LR groups. A nomogram was generated using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Results After matching, different independent risk factors of DR and LR were identified. Monocyte percentage (p=0.015) and M category >0 (p=0.043) were significant independent risk factors of DR. Epiphora (p<0.001) was the significant independent risk factor of LR. Three factors (monocyte percentage, M category >0, age >60) were integrated into the nomogram to predict the risk of DR. It had a relatively better discriminative ability for distant recurrence-free survival (C-index: 3-year, 0.784; 6-year, 0.801) than IPI score (C-index: 3- year, 0.663; 6-year, 0.673) in the cohort of all patients. Conclusion Our analyses suggested DR and LR as two distinct prognostic events, and additionally identified novel risk factors of them. The nomogram may serve as a practical tool for the prognostic estimation and rapid decision of therapeutic strategies for patients with OAEMZL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial peptides, as natural preservatives, had a wide application prospect in the food industry due to their high efficiency, stability and safety. To determine the optimal fermentation condition for producing antifungal peptides from Lacticaseibacillus paracasei ALAC, this study took the antibacterial zone as the indicator, the effects of fermentation time, fermentation temperature, initial pH and inoculum volume on the production of antimicrobial peptides were studied by single factor experiments and the response surface optimization was performed using Box-Behnken design on three parameters that significantly affect fermentation time, inoculation amount, and initial pH. Results showed that, when the inoculum amount of 4%, initial pH of 7.0, and fermentation time of 24 h, under this condition, the antibacterial substances produced by fermentation had the best antibacterial activity, with a diameter of 17.33±0.17 mm, this result could provide a theoretical basis for the production of antimicrobial peptide powder and its application in food.

Over the past decade, there has been significant and rapid developments in organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). Despite the fact that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PVSCs has increased from 3.8% to 25.8%, approaching that of commercial single crystalline Si solar cells, the market is still dominated by Si-based photovoltaic (PV) technology. This can be attributed to the challenges associated with upscaling PVSCs, improving device stability, and reducing the toxicity of PVSCs, which are hurdles in commercializing perovskite PV technologies. In particular, the toxicity due to lead leakage of PVSCs makes it difficult for them to enter the market. Hence, in this article, the structure and working principle of PVSCs are first summarized. Then, the toxicity of PVSCs is discussed, including the impacts of organic solvents and perovskite precursor materials on the health and environment. In this section, examples of advanced strategies for reducing the toxicity of PVSCs are also provided. Finally, challenges and a perspective for developing nontoxic PVSCs are given.

The design of the coating architecture plays an important role in improving the mechanical performance of the hard coating. In present work, several novel multilayered diamond/β-SiC composite architectures were deposited on cemented tungsten carbide substrates by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) observation reveals periodic multilayered configurations with diamond/β-SiC composite layers and microcrystalline diamond (MCD) or nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) layers. Moreover, Rockwell indentation, scratch and nano-indentation tests indicate that multilayered diamond/β-SiC composite and MCD coating possess not only good adhesion (52.9 ± 0.5 N) and crack propagation resistance, but also high hardness (83.6 ± 3.5 GPa) and modulus (856.1 ± 87.5 GPa) among all as-deposited coatings. For this configuration, the hardness of the coating is inherited from the MCD layer, while the low residual stress, enhanced adhesion and crack propagation resistance are due to the composite coating and multilayer architecture. Thus, the mechanical properties of diamond coating are improved by the innovative diamond/β-SiC composite multilayer, which provides a potential approach for high-performance diamond coated cutting tools. Keywords: Diamond/β-SiC, Composite, Multilayer, Adhesion, Hardness