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This research analyzes the clinical data, whole-exome sequencing results, and in vitro minigene functional experiments of a child with developmental delay and intellectual disability. The male patient, aged 4, began experiencing epileptic seizures at 3 months post-birth and has shown developmental delay. Rehabilitation training was administered between the ages of one and two. There were no other significant family medical histories. Through comprehensive family exome genetic testing, a hemizygous variant in the 11th exon of the OPHN1 gene was identified in the affected child: c.1025 + 1G > A. Family segregation analysis confirmed the presence of this variant in the patient's mother, which had not been previously reported. According to the ACMG guidelines, this variant was classified as a likely pathogenic variant. In response to this variant, an in vitro minigene functional experiment was designed and conducted, confirming that the mutation affects the normal splicing of the gene's mRNA, resulting in a 56 bp retention on the left side of Intron 11. It was confirmed that OPHN1: c.1025 + 1G > A is the pathogenic cause of X-linked intellectual disabilities in the child, with clinical phenotypes including developmental delay and seizures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article mainly studies the strong convergence properties for randomly weighted maximum partial sums of arrays of row-wise extended negatively dependent (END, for short) random variables, including the complete moment convergence and complete f-moment convergence. The results obtained in this paper extend the corresponding ones in the literature. As an application, we investigate the complete consistency of the estimators of nonparametric regression models based on END random errors by using the complete convergence that we established. Then we provide comprehensive simulation studies to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical results based on the finite sample performance. Finally, an application to a real data set is illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON) leads to vision loss. This study aimed to investigate a new method that can directly evaluate the change in muscle cone inner volume (MCIV) and distinguish DON orbits from non-DONs. Materials and methods: This study included 54 patients (108 orbits) who were diagnosed with thyroid eye disease and treated at the Beijing Tongren Hospital between December 2019 and September 2021. The extraocular muscle volume (EOMV), orbital fat volume (OFV), and bony orbit volume (BOV) of the patients were measured using three-dimensional reconstruction. MCIV was measured using artificially defined boundaries. The associations between these volumes and clinical indicators were studied, and the diagnostic efficacy of these volumes for DON was described using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of MCIV/BOV (%) combined with EOMV/BOV (%) reached 0.862 (p < 0.001), with a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 76.1%. Conclusion: The combination of MCIV/BOV (%) and EOMV/BOV (%) is a good indicator for the diagnosis of DON, which aids in the early detection and intervention of DON. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous robot-based orchard operations will become an alternative solution in the field of precision agriculture. One of the keys to robotic work is to achieve autonomous navigation that is as accurate as possible to ensure the most accurate working effect. In this work, we propose an orchard path fitting and navigation method based on the fusion of improved A-Star algorithm and Support Vector Machine Regression (SVR) to meet the requirements of autonomous navigation crawler platform for autonomous navigation in orchard environment and ensure accuracy. In this study, the actual speed and turning radius of the left and right tracks of the crawler platform were collected under 5 different slopes and 400 sets of different theoretical speed combinations of left and right tracks through the design nesting test, and the motion model of the crawler platform was constructed based on SVR. Orchard point cloud data were obtained by 3D solid-state LiDAR, and the improved A-star algorithm was used to fit the navigation path and calculate the turning curvature radius. Taking this curvature radius as the optimal navigation target value, the motion model predicts the optimal theoretical speed of left and right tracks, which is used as a reference for autonomous navigation. The comparison experiment of autonomous navigation was carried out in two modes: traditional and improved A-Star algorithm. The results show that the average values of the maximum lateral and longitudinal deviation of the improved automatic navigation method between orchards row are 6.90 cm and 9.88 cm, respectively. Compared with the method combined with the traditional A-Star algorithm and SVR, the values were 8.94 cm and 10.88 cm and were optimized by 29.57% and 10.12%, respectively. The autonomous navigation method proposed in this paper can meet the needs of orchards rows autonomous navigation, and can be widely applied to different orchard site environments (slope, ground obstacles, bad surface conditions), which can provide reference for the production practices of unmanned orchards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees suffer from low resources in the workplace because of multiple work roles in project-based organization (PBO). Based on the conservation of resources theory (COR), this study identifies both employee resilience and organizational support as critical personal and job resources. It then examines how servant leadership enhances employee work engagement in PBO through the mediating roles of employee resilience and organizational support. This study uses a questionnaire-based quantitative research design to collect data from 437 employees in PBO. The collected data were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test hypotheses. The research findings indicate that servant leadership positively affects work engagement. Additionally, the relationship between servant leadership and work engagement is mediated by employee resilience and organizational support. This study deepens the understanding of how servant leadership promotes work engagement in PBO by providing personal and job resources. The findings deepen our understanding of how servant leadership enhances work engagement in PBO. The findings also provide implications for PBO to enhance sustainable well-being at work and organizational productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To research the effect of hydrogen permeation on the friction characteristics of the seal materials on the hydrogen equipment, the molecular models of 10% PEEK/PTFE composites and its frictional models were established, respectively, and molecular dynamics (MDs) and giant canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) methods were used to simulate the diffusion coefficient, dissolution coefficient and permeability coefficient of the hydrogen in PEEK/PTFE composites. The effect of a different amount of hydrogen on the friction and wear of PEEK/PTFE composites was also studied. The results showed that few permeations of the hydrogen gas mainly demonstrated having a positive effect on the surface of the PEEK/PTFE composites, and the wear rate of the PEEK/PTFE composites showed a slight decreasing trend. The wear rate of the PEEK/PTFE composites gradually decreased when more hydrogen molecules penetrated the matrix. With the further penetration of the hydrogen molecules, the wear rate and friction coefficient of the PEEK/PTFE composites rapidly increased, showing a negative effect. With the further penetration of the hydrogen molecule, the friction coefficient of the composite displayed a small fluctuation and then a rapid decreasing trend. Meanwhile, effective improvement measures were proposed, and the introduction of the graphene was verified to be effective to reduce the negative effect of the hydrogen permeation, thereby improving the friction performance of the PEEK/PTFE composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Clinical Message: The etiology of primary pulmonary angiosarcoma is still unknown. Here we report a case of primary pulmonary angiosarcoma originated from a tuberculous scar and presented as aggressive deterioration with uncontrolled bleeding from capillaries with angiodysplasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucella, a zoonotic facultative intracellular pathogenic bacterium, poses a significant threat both to human health and to the development of the livestock industry. Alanine racemase (Alr), the enzyme responsible for alanine racemization, plays a pivotal role in regulating virulence in this bacterium. Moreover, Brucella mutants with alr gene deletions (Δalr) exhibit potential as vaccine candidates. However, the mechanisms that underlie the detrimental effects of alr knockouts on Brucella pathogenicity remain elusive. Here, initially, we conducted a bioinformatics analysis of Alr, which demonstrated a high degree of conservation of the protein within Brucella spp. Subsequent metabolomics studies unveiled alterations in amino acid pathways following deletion of the alr gene. Furthermore, alr deletion in Brucella suis S2 induced decreased resistance to stress, antibiotics, and other factors. Transmission electron microscopy of simulated macrophage intracellular infection revealed damage to the cell wall in the Δalr strain, whereas propidium iodide staining and alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase assays demonstrated alterations in cell membrane permeability. Changes in cell wall properties were revealed by measurements of cell surface hydrophobicity and zeta potential. Finally, the diminished adhesion capacity of the Δalr strain was shown by immunofluorescence and bacterial enumeration assays. In summary, our findings indicate that the alr gene that regulates amino acid metabolism in Brucella influences the properties of the cell wall, which modulates bacterial adherence capability. This study is the first demonstration that Alr impacts virulence by modulating bacterial metabolism, thereby providing novel insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of Brucella spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urinary incontinence is a urinary disorder in which urine leaks out involuntarily. This disorder seriously affects the quality of life of patients. For patients with mild incontinence, conservative treatment and medication may be the ideal treatment modality, but for patients with severe incontinence, an artificial urinary sphincter is currently a better treatment option. Methods: In order to design an ideal artificial urinary sphincter, this article first searched and collected literature based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses searched strategy by selecting specific subject terms and reviewed the artificial urinary sphincters that are currently in the research stage based on different activation methods. Results: In response to the deficiencies of the existing artificial urinary sphincter, this article discusses the future optimization of the artificial urinary sphincter from three aspects: individual improvement of the artificial urinary sphincter, engineering design elements, and optimization of the artificial urinary sphincter manufacturing process. Conclusions: The manufacture of an idealized artificial urinary sphincter capable of meeting clinical needs is of great importance to improve the quality of life of patients. However, this approach is a reasonable option to explore and should not be overestimated until further evidence is available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with hardware-dependent methods, light field (LF) reconstruction algorithms enable requiring the densely sampled light field (DSLF) more economical and convenient. Most of the current LF reconstruction methods either directly apply multiple convolutional layers to the input views to generate DSLF or warp the input views to novel viewpoints based on the estimated depth and then blend to obtain the DSLF. These two types of methods produce either blurry results in texture areas or distortions near the boundaries of depth discontinuities. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end learning-based approach, which combines the characteristics of the above two methods from a parallel and complementary perspective, to reconstruct a high-quality light field. Our method consists of three sub-networks, i.e., two parallel sub-networks termed as ASR-Net and Warp-Net, and the refine sub-network termed as Refine-Net. ASR-Net directly learns an intermediate DSLF through deep convolutional layers, and Warp-Net warps the input views based on the estimated depth to obtain other intermediate DSLFs that maintain high-frequency texture information. These intermediate DSLFs are adaptively fused through the learned attention maps, and a fusion DSLF with the advantages of two types of intermediate DSLFs is obtained. Finally, the residual map learned from the intermediate DSLFs is added to the fusion DSLF to get a better one. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method on several LF datasets compared with the state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalysis has attracted tremendous attention due to its great potential in environmental remediation, greener energy production and chemical synthesis. Developing highly efficient and easily recyclable photocatalysts is highly desirable for the practical applications. Herein, a novel macro-sized hierarchical porous titanosilicate (MHPTS) was prepared by the multi-template method to control the macroscopic shape and multiple levels of pore structures. MHPTS has uniform pass-through macropores, large pore volume, high specific surface area and mechanical strength, and the macropore wall is a continuous micro-mesoporous nanofilm. The in situ growth of nanocrystal TiO2 on the pore wall of MHPTS forms the macro-sized hierarchical nanostructured composite TiO2/MHPTS, which integrates the advantages of macro-sized macroporous materials and micro-mesoporous nanomaterials. MHPTS exhibits high photocatalytic degradation performance towards Rhodamine B (RhB) owing to its unique structure. On this basis, the incorporation of nano TiO2 into MHPTS remarkably improves the photocatalytic activity. This great improvement can be attributed to the highly dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles and the synergistic effect of MHPTS and TiO2 nanoparticles. The formation of Ti–O-Si bonds at the interface leads to the enhanced adsorption capacity for RhB and light absorption ability. The possible photodegradation mechanism is proposed according to the results of trapping experiments and photoelectrochemical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baculovirus infection induces apoptosis in host cells, and apoptosis significantly affects virus production. Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) can regulate apoptosis, but the regulatory mechanism is unclear. Here, we found that AcMNPV infection induced different apoptosis responses in different Spodoptera exigua cell lines. In the early stages of viral infection (1–6 h), Se-1 cells underwent severe apoptosis, while Se-3 cells underwent very slight apoptosis. In the late stages of viral infection (12–72 h), Se-1 cells continued to undergo apoptosis and formed a large number of apoptotic bodies, while the apoptosis of Se-3 cells was inhibited and no apoptotic bodies were formed. To determine the reasons for the apoptosis differences in the two cell lines, we measured the expression of the six S. exigua cysteine-dependent aspartate specific protease genes (SeCaspase-1 to -6) and the three AcMNPV antiapoptotic protein genes (iap1, iap2 and p35) during viral infection. We found that SeCaspase-1 to -6 were all activated in Se-1 cells and inhibited in Se-3 cells, whereas iap1, iap2 and p35 were all inhibited in Se-1 cells and normally expressed in Se-3 cells. And p35 was expressed earlier than iap1 and iap2 in Se-3 cells. Otherwise, Se-1 and Se-3 cells would all be apoptotic when infected with the recombinant p35 knockout AcMNPV, whereas only Se-1 cells were apoptotic, but Se-3 cells were not apoptotic when infected with the recombinant p35 repair AcMNPV. Combined with the fact that the expression of P35 protein is inhibited in Se-1 cells but normally expressed in Se-3 cells during the infection of recombinant p35 repair AcMNPV, we proposed that the different expression of P35 is an important reason for the apoptosis differences between the two cell lines. We also found that some genes associated with apoptosis can probably regulate the expression of P35. However, the major upstream regulators of P35 and their mechanisms are still unclear and will be studied in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous progress of remote sensing image object detection tasks in recent years, researchers in this field have gradually shifted the focus of their research from horizontal object detection to the study of object detection in arbitrary directions. It is worth noting that some properties are different from horizontal object detection during oriented object detection that researchers have yet to notice much. This article presents the design of a straightforward and efficient arbitrary-oriented detection system, leveraging the inherent properties of the orientation task, including the rotation angle and box aspect ratio. In the detection of low aspect ratio objects, the angle is of little importance to the orientation bounding box, and it is even difficult to define the angle information in extreme categories. Conversely, in the detection of objects with high aspect ratios, the angle information plays a crucial role and can have a decisive impact on the quality of the detection results. By exploiting the aspect ratio of different targets, this letter proposes a ratio-balanced angle loss that allows the model to make a better trade-off between low-aspect ratio objects and high-aspect ratio objects. The rotation angle of each oriented object, which we naturally embed into a two-dimensional Euclidean space for regression, thus avoids an overly redundant design and preserving the topological properties of the circular space. The performance of the UCAS-AOD, HRSC2016, and DLR-3K datasets show that the proposed model in this paper achieves a leading level in terms of both accuracy and speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Existing artificial anal sphincter studies have shown that biomechanical compatibility problem between artificial anal sphincter and rectum caused by long‐term morphological changes of the tissue surrounding the implanted prosthesis can lead to device failure or tissue ischemic necrosis. In this article, a mechanical artificial anal sphincter with constant force clamping is designed based on the superelasticity of shape memory alloys, which improved the biomechanical compatibility of implantable artificial anal sphincter. Methods: Firstly, the anatomical structure and the biomechanical properties of the rectum are analyzed to obtain the size parameters and material parameters of the rectal model. Secondly, a novel artificial anal sphincter with constant force is designed to improve the biomechanical compatibility between the artificial sphincter and the rectum. Thirdly, the static analysis of artificial anal sphincter is carried out by finite element analysis. Results: The simulation results show that the artificial anal sphincter can maintain a constant clamping force of 4 N within a certain variation range of intestinal tissue thickness, which verifies the constant force characteristic of the artificial anal sphincter. The constant clamping force of the artificial anal sphincter to the rectum is 4 N that is greater than the clamping force 3.99 N required to close the rectum, which verifies the effectiveness the artificial anal sphincter. The surface contact stress and the minimum principal stress of the rectum in the clamping state are less than the pressure threshold, which verifies the safety of the artificial anal sphincter. Conclusions: The novel artificial anal sphincter has better biomechanical compatibility and improves the mechanical match between artificial sphincter and intestinal tissue. This study may provide more reasonable and effective simulation data for in vivo experiments of artificial anal sphincter in future, which may provide theoretical and technical support for further research about clinical application of artificial anal sphincter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies revealed the association of abnormal methylomic changes with Alzheimer's disease (AD) but there is a lack of systematic study of the impact of methylomic alterations over the molecular networks underlying AD. METHODS: We profiled genome‐wide methylomic variations in the parahippocampal gyrus from 201 post mortem control, mild cognitive impaired, and AD brains. RESULTS: We identified 270 distinct differentially methylated regions (DMRs) associated with AD. We quantified the impact of these DMRs on each gene and each protein as well as gene and protein co‐expression networks. DNA methylation had a profound impact on both AD‐associated gene/protein modules and their key regulators. We further integrated the matched multi‐omics data to show the impact of DNA methylation on chromatin accessibility, which further modulates gene and protein expression. DISCUSSION: The quantified impact of DNA methylation on gene and protein networks underlying AD identified potential upstream epigenetic regulators of AD. Highlights: A cohort of DNA methylation data in the parahippocampal gyrus was developed from 201 post mortem control, mild cognitive impaired, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains.Two hundred seventy distinct differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were found to be associated with AD compared to normal control.A metric was developed to quantify methylation impact on each gene and each protein.DNA methylation was found to have a profound impact on not only the AD‐associated gene modules but also key regulators of the gene and protein networks.Key findings were validated in an independent multi‐omics cohort in AD.The impact of DNA methylation on chromatin accessibility was also investigated by integrating the matched methylomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucella suis, the causative agent of brucellosis, poses a significant public health and animal husbandry threat. However, the role of the alanine racemase (alr) gene, which encodes alanine racemase in Brucella, remains unclear. Here, we analyzed an alr deletion mutant and a complemented strain of Brucella suis S2. The knockout strain displayed an unaltered, smooth phenotype in acriflavine agglutination tests but lacked the core polysaccharide portion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Genes involved in the LPS synthesis were significantly upregulated in the deletion mutant. The alr deletion strain exhibited reduced intracellular viability in the macrophages, increased macrophage-mediated killing, and upregulation of the apoptosis markers. Bcl2, an anti-apoptotic protein, was downregulated, while the pro-apoptotic proteins, Bax, Caspase-9, and Caspase-3, were upregulated in the macrophages infected with the deletion strain. The infected macrophages showed increased mitochondrial membrane permeability, Cytochrome C release, and reactive oxygen species, activating the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. These findings revealed that alanine racemase was dispensable in B. suis S2 but influenced the strain's rough features and triggered the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway during macrophage invasion. The deletion of the alr gene reduced the intracellular survival and virulence. This study enhances our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying Brucella's survival and virulence and, specifically, how alr gene affects host immune evasion by regulating bacterial LPS biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urinary incontinence is a common clinical problem in the world today. Artificial urinary sphincter is a good treatment approach for severe urinary incontinence, which is designed to mimic the action of the human urinary sphincter and assist patients to regain urinary function. Methods: There are many control methods based on artificial urinary sphincter, such as hydraulic control, electromechanical control, magnetic control, and shape memory alloy control. In this paper, the literature was first searched and documented based on PRISMA search strategy for selected specific subject terms. Then, a comparison of artificial urethral sphincters based on different control methods was conducted, and the research progress of magnetically controlled artificial urethral sphincters was reviewed, and their advantages and disadvantages were summarized. Finally, the design factors for the clinical application of magnetically controlled artificial urinary sphincter are discussed. Results: As magnetic control allows for non‐contact force transfer and does not generate heat, it is proposed that magnetic control may be one of the more promising control methods. The design of future magnetically controlled artificial urinary sphincters will need a variety of considerations, including the structural design of the device, manufacturing materials, manufacturing costs, and convenience. In addition, validation of the safety and effectiveness of the device and device management are equally important. Conclusions: The design of an ideal magnetically controlled artificial urinary sphincter is of great importance to enhance patient treatment outcomes. However, there are still great challenges to be faced for the clinical application of such devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy of locking plate and intramedullary nail fixations in the treatment of patients with OTA/AO type 11C proximal humerus fractures. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with OTA/AO type 11C1.1 and 11C3.1 proximal humerus fractures who underwent surgery at our institution from June 2012 to June 2017. Perioperative indicators, postoperative morphological parameters of the proximal humerus, and Constant–Murley scores were evaluated and compared. Results: Sixty-eight patients with OTA/AO type 11C1.1 and 11C3.1 proximal humerus fractures were enrolled in this study. Overall, 35 patients underwent open reduction and plate screw internal fixation, and 33 patients underwent limited open reduction and locking of the proximal humerus with intramedullary nail internal fixation. The total cohort had a mean follow-up duration of 17.8 months. The mean operation time of the locking plate group was significantly longer than that of the intramedullary nail group (P < 0.05), while the mean bleeding volume was significantly higher in the locking plate group than that in the intramedullary nail group (P < 0.05). The initial neck–shaft angles, final neck–shaft angles, forward flexion ranges, or Constant–Murley scores did not show significant differences between the two groups (P > 0.05). Complications, including screw penetrations, acromion impingement syndrome, infection, and aseptic necrosis of the humeral head, occurred in 8 patients (8/35, 22.8%) in the locking plate group and 5 patients in the intramedullary nail group (5/33, 15.1%; including malunion and acromion impingement syndrome), with no significant difference between the groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Similar satisfactory functional results can be achieved with locking plates and intramedullary nailing for OTA/AO type 11C1.1 and 11C3.1 proximal humerus fractures, with no significant difference in the number of complications between these two techniques. However, intramedullary nailing has advantages over locking plates for OTA/AO type 11C1.1 and 11C3.1 proximal humerus fractures in terms of operation time and bleeding volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The inositol polyphosphate‐5‐phosphatase D (INPP5D) gene encodes a dual‐specificity phosphatase that can dephosphorylate both phospholipids and phosphoproteins. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in INPP5D impact risk for developing late onset sporadic Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). Methods: To assess the consequences of inducible Inpp5d knockdown in microglia of APPKM670/671NL/PSEN1Δexon9 (PSAPP) mice, we injected 3‐month‐old Inpp5dfl/fl/Cx3cr1CreER/+ and PSAPP/Inpp5dfl/fl/Cx3cr1CreER/+ mice with either tamoxifen (TAM) or corn oil (CO) to induce recombination. Results: At age 6 months, we found that the percent area of 6E10+ deposits and plaque‐associated microglia in Inpp5d knockdown mice were increased compared to controls. Spatial transcriptomics identified a plaque‐specific expression profile that was extensively altered by Inpp5d knockdown. Discussion: These results demonstrate that conditional Inpp5d downregulation in the PSAPP mouse increases plaque burden and recruitment of microglia to plaques. Spatial transcriptomics highlighted an extended gene expression signature associated with plaques and identified CST7 (cystatin F) as a novel marker of plaques. Highlights: Inpp5d knockdown increases plaque burden and plaque‐associated microglia number.Spatial transcriptomics identifies an expanded plaque‐specific gene expression profile.Plaque‐induced gene expression is altered by Inpp5d knockdown in microglia.Our plaque‐associated gene signature overlaps with human Alzheimer's disease gene networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prosthetic socket is the key part connecting the prosthesis and the stump. It needs to be functional, safe, and comfortable at the same time. However, the volume fluctuation of the stump causes the incompatibility between the stump and the socket. This paper designs an adaptive prosthetic socket with rope-driven to fit stump volume fluctuation. The designed adaptive prosthetic socket with constant force characteristic using superelastic shape memory alloy may solve the problem of uneven pressure on the stump due to stump volume fluctuation and adapt stump volume. To obtain a good constant force range, the constant force characteristic of the socket is optimized and validated by finite element analysis. The experimental results show that the constant force mechanism using the C-shaped shape memory alloy sheets can obtain good constant force characteristics, and the socket can apply a constant force to the stump to solve the problem of uneven pressure distribution between the stump and the socket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in-situ formation mechanism of MgAl2O4 was introduced, focusing on the formation process by solid phase reaction and gas phase reaction as well as the phenomenon of secondary spinelization. The influencing factors of the in-situ MgAl2O4 formation and its effect on the microstructure and the properties of materials were systematically summarized for the Al2O3-MgO-MgAl2O4 system and the carbon-containing refractories systems. It was pointed out that the in-situ formation of MgAl2O4, including secondary spinelization, can regulate the microstructure and the service performance of materials. Its expansion effect can not only offset the shrinkage caused by sintering to improve the corrosion resistance of refractories, but also seriously restrict the reliability of functional refractories. The composition, the particle size, the atmosphere, and the temperature are important factors affecting the in-situ formation of MgAl2O4. In the carbon-containing materials systems, the solid-solid reaction and the gas-solid reaction coexist to produce MgAl2O4, which provides an effective way to further regulate the microstructure and the properties of materials through the reaction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aims to explore the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the risk of epilepsy using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods: We collected summary statistics of seven psychiatric traits from recent largest genome‐wide association study (GWAS), including major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), bipolar disorder (BIP), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and insomnia. Then, MR analysis estimates were performed based on International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) consortium data (ncase = 15,212 and ncontrol = 29,677), the results of which were subsequently validated in FinnGen consortium (ncase = 6260 and ncontrol = 176,107). Finally, a meta‐analysis was conducted based on the ILAE and FinnGen data. Results: We found significant causal effects of MDD and ADHD on epilepsy in the meta‐analysis of the ILAE and FinnGen, with corresponding odds ratios (OR) of 1.20 (95% CI 1.08–1.34, p =.001) and 1.08 (95% CI 1.01–1.16, p =.020) by the inverse‐variance weighted (IVW) method respectively. MDD increases the risk of focal epilepsy while ADHD has a risk effect on generalized epilepsy. No reliable evidence regarding causal effects of other psychiatric traits on epilepsy was identified. Conclusions: This study suggests that major depressive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may causally increase the risk of epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although residual tetracycline, NH4+-N, and P in aquaculture wastewater have been frequently detected, their simultaneous removal has received little attention. The simultaneous and efficient removal of tetracycline, NH4+-N, COD, and P in aquaculture wastewater was achieved with a laboratory-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) under different influent C/N ratios. The results suggested that tetracycline could be degraded efficiently without using an additional organic carbon source. Most of the tetracycline (>80%), NH4+-N (>73%), TN (>68%), TP (>59%), and COD (>78%) were synchronously removed under the higher C/N ratios. The electron transport system activity (ETSA), dissolved organic matter (DOM), and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were evaluated for biofilm performance during aquaculture wastewater remediation. The results indicated that the protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS) concentrations, and fluorescence intensities were significantly different because the influent C/N ratios changed the biofilm activity. The ETSA values were lowest when tetracycline was the sole carbon source, which suggested that tetracycline affected the nitrification activity of biofilms. Sphingobacteriia, Betaproteobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria were identified as the dominant bacterial classes. This study provides a new strategy for the removal of tetracycline and nutrients from aquaculture wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease, with the characteristics of neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) and senile plaque (SP) formation. Although great progresses have been made in clinical trials based on relevant hypotheses, these studies are also accompanied by the emergence of toxic and side effects, and it is an urgent task to explore the underlying mechanisms for the benefits to prevent and treat AD. Herein, based on animal experiments and a few clinical trials, neuroinflammation in AD is characterized by long-term activation of pro-inflammatory microglia and the NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasomes. Damaged signals from the periphery and within the brain continuously activate microglia, thus resulting in a constant source of inflammatory responses. The long-term chronic inflammatory response also exacerbates endoplasmic reticulum oxidative stress in microglia, which triggers microglia-dependent immune responses, ultimately leading to the occurrence and deterioration of AD. In this review, we systematically summarized and sorted out that exercise ameliorates AD by directly and indirectly regulating immune response of the central nervous system and promoting hippocampal neurogenesis to provide a new direction for exploring the neuroinflammation activity in AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Characteristic analysis and existence forms of corn fiber were reviewed. • Off-line and in-situ corn fiber conversion development was discussed. • Lessons learned from cellulosic ethanol process offer a new way to utilize corn fiber. • Future studies are needed to determine its economic feasibility. Due to the rising demand for green energy, bioethanol has attracted increasing attention from academia and industry. Limited by the bottleneck of bioethanol yield in traditional corn starch dry milling processes, an increasing number of studies focus on fully utilizing all corn ingredients, especially kernel fiber, to further improve the bioethanol yield. This mini-review addresses the technological challenges and opportunities on the way to achieving the efficient conversion of corn fiber. Significant advances during the review period include the detailed characterization of different forms of corn kernel fiber and the development of off-line and in-situ conversion strategies. Lessons from cellulosic ethanol technologies offer new ways to utilize corn fiber in traditional processes. However, the commercialization of corn kernel fiber conversion may be hampered by enzyme cost, conversion efficiency, and overall process economics. Thus, future studies should address these technical limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic aerogels (MAs) are self-supported porous nanomaterials with excellent catalytic activity, which could be a promising candidate for high-performance nanozymes. The interface regulation by heteroatom and vacancies is an effective strategy for boosting the enzyme-mimicking activity. Herein, magnetic RuCo aerogels with doping of boron and oxygen vacancies were prepared by a one-pot spontaneous NaBH4 gelation method under a low temperature. The three-dimensional network structure with high specific surface area and interlinked pores of RuCo aerogels afford abundant active sites to facilitate the interaction with substrates. Moreover, the monolithic structure avoided conventional aggregation, thus enhancing stability during catalysis. Introducing elemtal boron and oxygen vacancies adjusted the electronic structure of RuCo aerogels to achieve enhanced enzyme-like performances. It is found that the RuCo aerogel nanozyme can mimic nature peroxidase, demonstrating their viable applications in the bioassay of H2O2 and glucose. The constructed glucose sensor possesses acceptable sensitivity and stability with a linear range of 0.002 ~ 5 mM and a low detection limit (1.66 μM). This work provides insights into the rational design of advanced nanozymes and paves the avenue for the applications of metallic aerogels in the bioassay field. A boron-doped RuCo bimetallic aerogel with rich oxygen vacancies was prepared by a facile self-assembly method under an ice bath. The unique physical and electronic structure of RuCo aerogel results in the improvement of the intrinsic peroxidaselike activity, and thus, a sensitive and robust colorimetric glucose sensor could be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supercritical lens can create a sub-diffraction-limited focal spot in the far field, providing a promising route for the realization of label-free super-resolution imaging through the point scanning mechanism. However, all of the reported supercritical lenses have circular shape configurations, and produce isotropic sub-diffraction-limited focal spots in the focal plane. Here, we propose and experientially demonstrate a sub-diffraction transverse optical needle by using an elliptical supercritical lens. Through breaking the circular symmetry and introducing ellipticity to the lens, a uniform sub-diffractive transverse optical needle with lateral length and width of 6λ/NA and 0.45λ/NA, respectively, was successfully created in the focal plane. Further, elliptical sector-shape cutting with an optimized apex angle of 60 degrees can lead to suppressed subsidiary focusing for improved uniformity and condensed field intensity of the transverse optical needle. The demonstration of sub-diffractive transverse optical needle with a high aspect ratio (length to width ratio) of 13:1 may find potential applications in line-scanning microscopy for video-rate label-free super-resolution imaging, and also enable advances in the fields from laser manufacturing to optical manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light field (LF) spatial super-resolution (SR) aims to restore a high-resolution LF image from a degraded low-resolution one. However, due to the complexity of high-dimensional LF images, the existing LF spatial SR methods failed to fully incorporate the correlation between sub-aperture images of the LF. To mitigate this problem, we propose a hierarchical feature fusion network (LF-HFNet) for LF spatial SR with two novel components, namely feature interaction module and residual spatial and channel attention block. By cascading several residual spatial-angular separable convolution blocks with concatenation connections, the former can fully utilize the hierarchical and complementary information between SAIs. And the latter can adaptively rescale the feature responses for emphasizing informative features. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world LF datasets demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods with higher PSNR/SSIM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing easily recyclable noble metal nanoparticle‐based heterogeneous catalysts is highly desirable for the practical applications. Herein, a millimeter‐sized hierarchical porous titanosilicate (HPTS) was prepared by the multi‐template method. Various characterization results reveal that HPTS combines the structural advantages of monolith materials and nanomaterials. HPTS is used as an advanced support to construct the Ag/HPTS catalysts via the Ag+ in situ reduction on its pore wall. Ag/HPTS shows high catalytic activity for 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) reduction with the TOF values of 3.91 min−1, which can be attributed to the ultrafine Ag NPs (2.04 nm) and the unique structure of HPTS. The 3D pass‐through macroporous channels facilitate mass transfer. The mesopores with ultra‐short channel remarkably enhance the accessibility of the active sites. The abundant mesopores and micropores effectively confine the Ag NPs size. Moreover, Ag/HPTS demonstrated good stability and recyclability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abnormal lipid accumulation has been recognized as a key element of immune dysregulation in microglia whose dysfunction contributes to neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia play essential roles in the clearance of lipid-rich cellular debris upon myelin damage or demyelination, a common pathogenic event in neuronal disorders. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) plays a pivotal role in brain lipid homeostasis; however, the apoE isoform-dependent mechanisms regulating microglial response upon demyelination remain unclear. Methods: To determine how apoE isoforms impact microglial response to myelin damage, 2-month-old apoE2-, apoE3-, and apoE4-targeted replacement (TR) mice were fed with normal diet (CTL) or 0.2% cuprizone (CPZ) diet for four weeks to induce demyelination in the brain. To examine the effects on subsequent remyelination, the cuprizone diet was switched back to regular chow for an additional two weeks. After treatment, brains were collected and subjected to immunohistochemical and biochemical analyses to assess the myelination status, microglial responses, and their capacity for myelin debris clearance. Bulk RNA sequencing was performed on the corpus callosum (CC) to address the molecular mechanisms underpinning apoE-mediated microglial activation upon demyelination. Results: We demonstrate dramatic isoform-dependent differences in the activation and function of microglia upon cuprizone-induced demyelination. ApoE2 microglia were hyperactive and more efficient in clearing lipid-rich myelin debris, whereas apoE4 microglia displayed a less activated phenotype with reduced clearance efficiency, compared with apoE3 microglia. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that key molecules known to modulate microglial functions had differential expression patterns in an apoE isoform-dependent manner. Importantly, apoE4 microglia had excessive buildup of lipid droplets, consistent with an impairment in lipid metabolism, whereas apoE2 microglia displayed a superior ability to metabolize myelin enriched lipids. Further, apoE2-TR mice had a greater extent of remyelination; whereas remyelination was compromised in apoE4-TR mice. Conclusions: Our findings provide critical mechanistic insights into how apoE isoforms differentially regulate microglial function and the maintenance of myelin dynamics, which may inform novel therapeutic avenues for targeting microglial dysfunctions in neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]