Search

Background: Spinocerebellar ataxia 2 (SCA2) with a low range of CAG repeat expansion of ATXN2 gene can present with predominant or isolated parkinsonism that closely resembles Parkinson's disease (PD). This study is aimed at comparing clinical features, disease progression, and nuclear imaging between ATXN2-related parkinsonism (ATXN2-P) and PD. Methods: Three hundred and seventy-seven clinically diagnosed PD with family history were screened by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, whole-exome sequencing or target sequencing, and dynamic mutation testing of 10 SCA subtypes. The baseline and longitudinal clinical features as well as the dual-tracer positron emission tomography (PET) imaging were compared between ATXN2-P and genetically undefined familial PD (GU-fPD). Results: Fifteen ATXN2-P patients from 7 families and 50 randomly selected GU-fPD patients were evaluated. Significantly less resting tremor and more symmetric signs were observed in ATXN2-P than GU-fPD. No significant difference was found in motor progression and duration from onset to occurrence of fluctuation, dyskinesia, and recurrent falls between the two groups. Cognitive impairment and rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder were more common in ATXN2-P. During follow-up, olfaction was relatively spared, and no obvious progression of cognition dysfunction evaluated by Mini-Mental State Examination scores was found in ATXN2-P. PET results of ATXN2-P demonstrated a symmetric, diffuse, and homogenous dopamine transporter loss of bilateral striatum and a glucose metabolism pattern inconsistent with that in PD. Conclusions: Symmetric motor signs and unique nuclear imaging might be the clues to distinguish ATXN2-P from GU-fPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, deep learning has been widely used in vulnerability detection with remarkable results. These studies often apply natural language processing (NLP) technologies due to the natural similarity between code and language. Since NLP usually consumes a lot of computing resources, its combination with quantum computing is becoming a valuable research direction. In this paper, we present a Recurrent Quantum Embedding Neural Network (RQENN) for vulnerability detection. It aims to reduce the memory consumption of classical models for vulnerability detection tasks and improve the performance of quantum natural language processing (QNLP) methods. We show that the performance of RQENN achieves the above goals. Compared with the classic model, the space complexity of each stage of its execution is exponentially reduced, and the number of parameters used and the number of bits consumed are significantly reduced. Compared with other QNLP methods, RQENN uses fewer qubit resources and achieves a 15.7% higher accuracy in vulnerability detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the viability of using hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology for nondestructive detection of moisture content in oilseed rape leaves. Besides, a method (IVISSA-iPLS) coupling interval variable iterative space shrinkage approach (IVISSA) with interval partial least square (iPLS) was introduced to identify characteristic wavelengths. The IVISSA-iPLS algorithm changed the selection target from wavelength points to spectral intervals, reducing the computational burden while increasing the continuity between the selected wavelengths. Subsequently, the characteristic wavelengths selected by the IVISSA-iPLS were used as the input of the least square support vector regression (LSSVR) model to predict the moisture content of oilseed rape leaves. Additionally, the competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), the successive projections algorithm (SPA), the IVISSA, and the iPLS were investigated as wavelength selection algorithms for comparison. The results indicated that the LSSVR models based on the characteristic wavelengths acquired from the IVISSA-iPLS using divided wavelength intervals of 30, demonstrated the highest performance, with R p 2 of 0.9555, RMSEP of 0.0065, and RPD of 4.715. Finally, the optimal prediction model was used to visualize the moisture content of oilseed rape leaves, which offered a more intuitive and effective method for the evaluation of moisture content. The results ascertained the significant possibility of combining HSI with combinatorial algorithms in detecting, quantifying, and visualizing the moisture content of oilseed rape leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cistanche deserticola is a precious Chinese medicinal material with extremely high health care and medicinal value. In recent years, the frequent occurrence of stem rot has led to reduced or even no harvests of C. deserticola. The unstandardized use of farm chemicals in the prevention and control processes has resulted in excessive chemical residues, threatening the fragile desert ecological environment. Therefore, it is urgent to explore safe and efficient prevention and control technologies. Biocontrol agents, with the advantages of safety and environment-friendliness, would be an important idea. The isolation, screening and identification of pathogens and antagonistic endophytic bacteria are always the primary basis. In this study, three novel pathogens causing C. deserticola stem rot were isolated, identified and pathogenicity tested, namely Fusarium solani CPF1, F. proliferatum CPF2, and F. oxysporum CPF3. For the first time, the endophytic bacteria in C. deserticola were isolated and identified, of which 37 strains were obtained. Through dual culture assay, evaluation experiment and tissue culture verification, a biocontrol candidate strain Bacillus atrophaeus CE6 with outstanding control effect on the stem rot was screened out. In the tissue culture system, CE6 showed excellent control effect against F. solani and F. oxysporum, with the control efficacies reaching 97.2% and 95.8%, respectively, indicating its great potential for application in the production. This study is of great significance for the biocontrol of plant stem rot and improvement of the yield and quality of C. deserticola. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold-season windstorms represent an important, and potentially changing, geophysical hazard in the Northeastern United States. Here we employ an integrated research methodology including both a storyline approach, where three intense windstorms from the current climate are subjected to pseudo-global warming (PGW) experiments, and a long-term transient simulation using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. An ensemble of WRF simulations is built for each windstorm using different planetary boundary layer and microphysical parameterizations. The fidelity assessment suggests all ensemble members capture the windstorm evolution in contemporary climate. The configuration with highest fidelity is used in the PGW experiments performed with perturbed temperature fields, constant relative humidity, and deiced Great Lakes. These perturbation simulations indicate some evidence for a reduction of sea level pressure and increases in wind speed over and downwind of the Great Lakes and over the Atlantic Ocean plus an increase in precipitation accumulation but a reduction in snow coverage. These changes are spatially inhomogeneous in terms of magnitude and sign but are consistent with changes in potential vorticity. Alberta Clippers and Colorado Lows dominate the cyclones responsible for historical windstorms and thus are sampled in the PGW simulations. However, the transient simulation suggests an increasing role for tropical cyclones that undergo transition to extratropical cyclones. This reinforces the value of combining information from both PGW perturbation experiments within a storyline context and transient simulations when seeking to quantify the future risk associated with cold-season windstorms under changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep coal is highly susceptible to dynamic disasters such as rock bursts under the influence of mining. Further exploration of the damage mechanism of coal specimens subjected to cyclic disturbance under different stress conditions is necessary. This study conducted cyclic disturbance failure experiments with coal specimens under different confining pressures, and the acoustic emission (AE) and electromagnetic radiation (EMR) signals were collected. The results show that, under the coupling effect of high stress and disturbance loading, the higher the confining pressure, the greater the disturbance the coal specimen can bear, and most of the specimens are fractured in the loading and unloading stage. Compared with uniaxial loading, the EMR response of coal specimens in the compaction stage is weakened after applying confining pressure. It can also be observed that the greater the confining pressure, the more intense the AE and EMR changes during the rupture of the coal specimen. The confining pressure is positively correlated with the degree of coal fragmentation. This correlation implies that the larger the confining pressure, the smaller the fractal dimension of coal fragments. The intrinsic driving mechanism of coal fracturing was analyzed from an energy perspective. The effects of confining pressure and disturbance loading and unloading cause coal specimens to accumulate more elastic strain energy before fracture, decreasing the post-peak fracture energy and residual strain energy. This study has theoretical reference in preventing and controlling dynamic disasters induced by a disturbance in deep coal mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Programmed cell death protein-1/ligand-1 (PD-1/L1) blockade has been a breakthrough in the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but there is still a lack of effective methods to screen patients. Here we report a novel 68 Ga-labeled nanobody [68 Ga]Ga-THP-APN09 for PET imaging of PD-L1 status in mouse models and a first-in-human study in NSCLC patients. Methods: [68 Ga]Ga-THP-APN09 was prepared by site-specific radiolabeling, with no further purification. Cell uptake assays were completed in the human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549, NSCLC cell line H1975 and human PD-L1 gene-transfected A549 cells (A549PD−L1). The imaging to image PD-L1 status and biodistribution were investigated in tumor-bearing mice of these three tumor cell types. The first-in-human clinical translational trial was registered as NCT05156515. The safety, radiation dosimetry, biodistribution, and correlations of tracer uptake with immunohistochemical staining and major pathologic response (MPR) were evaluated in NSCLC patients who underwent adjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. Results: Radiosynthesis of [68 Ga]Ga-THP-APN09 was achieved at room temperature and a pH of 6.0–6.5 in 10 min with a high radiochemical yield (> 99%) and 13.9–27.8 GBq/μmol molar activity. The results of the cell uptake study reflected variable levels of surface PD-L1 expression observed by flow cytometry in the order A549PD−L1 > H1975 > A549. In small-animal PET/CT imaging, H1975 and A549PD−L1 tumors were clearly visualized in an 8.3:1 and 2.2:1 ratios over PD-L1-negative A549 tumors. Ex vivo biodistribution studies showed that tumor uptake was consistent with the PET results, with the highest A549PD−L1 being taken up the most (8.20 ± 0.87%ID/g), followed by H1975 (3.69 ± 0.50%ID/g) and A549 (0.90 ± 0.16%ID/g). Nine resectable NSCLC patients were enrolled in the clinical study. Uptake of [68 Ga]Ga-THP-APN09 was mainly observed in the kidneys and spleen, followed by low uptake in bone marrow. The radiation dose is within a reliable range. Tumor uptake was positively correlated with PD-L1 expression TPS (rs = 0.8763, P = 0.019). Tumor uptake of [68 Ga]Ga-THP-APN09 (SUVmax) in MPR patients was higher than that in non-MPR patients (median SUVmax 2.73 vs. 2.10, P = 0.036, determined with Mann–Whitney U-test). Conclusion: [68 Ga]Ga-THP-APN09 has the potential to be transformed into a kit-based radiotracer for rapid, simple, one-step, room temperature radiolabeling. The tracer can detect PD-L1 expression levels in tumors, and it may make it possibility to predict the response of PD-1 immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. Confirmation in a large number of cases is needed. Trial registration: Clinical Trial (NCT05156515). Registered 12 December 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influences of stocking density on stereotypic behavior, fecal cortisol and the musk secretion of captive Alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) were studied in the Xinglongshan Musk Deer Farm (XMDF) of Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province of Northwest China from the 1st November to the 30th December 2020. The behavior of 26 captive male musk deer was recorded using focal animal sampling and all-occurrence recording, while radioimmunoassay was used to determine fecal cortisol and testosterone levels, and the muscone content was determined by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The results showed that the stereotypy behavior of individuals in high stocking density group (HDG) was more frequent (88.89%) and lasted longer (8.4 ± 1.0%) than of individuals in low density group (LDG) (50% and 4.2 ± 1.7%, respectively) (p < 0.05). The fecal cortisol level of HDG individuals (60.19 ± 5.83 ng g− 1) was significantly higher than that of LDG musk deer (36.34 ± 4.77 ng g− 1) (p < 0.05). There was no difference in muscone content, musk secretion and testosterone level between HDG and LDG individuals (p > 0.05). In musk deer farming of XMDF, the stocking density significantly influenced the health of captive Alpine musk deer, but had no significant impact on the musk secretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pilot's control behavior has a direct impact on aviation safety. To adapt to new flight training reforms, a competency-based assessment method is proposed in this paper. First, assessment scenarios, key competencies and observable behaviours were determined. Then, observable behavior assessment indexes were developed based on standard operating procedures and practical examination standards. Flight training data were analyzed based on curve similarity theory and a time series fast retrieval algorithm, and the assessment indexes were scored. The competency assessment method was established by quantifying "HOW MANY" and "HOW OFTEN" observable behaviors according to the assessment indexes score results. Finally, the fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm was used to classify the assessment values, and assessment results were obtained. A teardrop pattern procedure was used to test the reliability of the assessment method. The results indicate that the correlation coefficient between the model evaluation and the expert evaluation is 0.947 with a significance level of 0.01, reliably and objectively quantifying manual flight performance and improving the scientific nature of manual flight performance assessment methods. Flight training institutions can use this method to establish diverse assessment scenarios and formulate corresponding assessment indexes based on the characteristics of each pilot to reasonably evaluate the manual flight performance of pilot. Targeted training methods can then be adopted for pilot with different performance levels to improve their competency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the evolution and driving mechanisms of East Asian monsoon (EAM) precipitation during the past millennium has received considerable attention. Previous studies have focused on comparisons between relative mean dry/wet conditions and those linked to the Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies during the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA); however, uncertainties remain regarding the relationship between precipitation changes and Pacific SST anomalies under sub-cool internal conditions within the LIA. Herein, we present a composite high-resolution monsoon precipitation record (from 1400 CE to the present) based on chroma and median grain size data from Lake Nvshan sediments in the Jiang-Huai (JH) region, central eastern China. The results indicate that more (less) precipitation in the JH region could be associated with the warm (cold) Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase on inter-decadal scales. We also observed an enhanced modulating effect of the PDO on JH precipitation during the late LIA. These changes in the modulating effect were likely a response to enhanced PDO amplitudes induced by increased effective radiative forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mechanical model for a human–machine interaction force based on the man–machine kinematic chain is established. This is combined with screw theory and a virtual rigid body model for the human–machine interaction force is proposed. This model interprets the basic principle model of the human–machine contact force. The deviation of the human–machine kinematic chain is calculated using the virtual model. In order to carry out the calibration simulation for the model, a 6-sps parallel mechanism is taken as an example to illustrate the construction principle of the human–machine interaction virtual rigid body model. This is calibrated by introducing finite element software. Finally, using the knee exoskeleton as an example, a numerical simulation is introduced. This illustrates the relationship between the driving force of the exoskeleton, the human–machine deviation as well as the virtual stiffness. The modeling method of this paper provides theoretical reference for controller design of human–machine interaction forces in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analog circuit fault diagnosis is widely used to ensure normal operation and fault location electronic equipment. In this study, a new method for fault diagnosis of analog circuits based on classification of Gramian angular summation field and recurrence plot (GAF_RP) images is presented. The proposed method converts the time-response sequence signals of the analog circuit into a GAF_RP image through the Gramian angular summation field, the Gramian angular difference field and the recurrence plot methods. Therefore, more feature information about the time-response sequence signals can be obtained. And the bilinear interpolation method is used to compress the image, which improves the efficiency of neural network training and testing. Finally, an 18-layer residual neural network (ResNet-18) is used to perform feature extraction and learning on the GAF_RP images, to achieve accurate soft fault diagnosis of analog circuits. The simulation and actual experiment verify that this method can realize accurate and reliable soft fault diagnosis of the analog circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop a C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR)-based nomogram for predicting the risk of in-hospital death in sepsis patients. Sepsis patients were selected from the MIMIC-IV database. Independent predictors were determined by multiple Cox analysis and then integrated to predict survival. The performance of the model was evaluated using the concordance index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, and calibration curve. The risk stratifications analysis and subgroup analysis of the model in overall survival (OS) were assessed by Kaplan–Meier (K–M) curves. A total of 6414 sepsis patients were included. C-index of the CAR-based model was 0.917 [standard error (SE): 0.112] for the training set and 0.935 (SE: 0.010) for the validation set. The ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the nomogram was 0.881 in the training set and 0.801 in the validation set. And the calibration curve showed that the nomogram performs well in both the training and validation sets. K–M curves indicated that patients with high CAR had significantly higher in-hospital mortality than those with low CAR. The CAR-based model has considerably high accuracy for predicting the OS of sepsis patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the ability of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT and [18F]FDG PET/CT to stratify the malignancy and invasiveness of thymic epithelial tumours (TETs). Methods: From April 2021 to November 2022, participants with suspected TETs confirmed by histopathology or follow-up imaging were prospectively analysed. All participants underwent [18F]FDG and [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT within 1 week. Clinical characteristics, CT features, and metabolic parameters (maximum standardized uptake value [SUVmax] and tumour-to-mediastinum ratio [TMR]) of subjects with different pathological types and stages were compared. The diagnostic capacities of [18F]FDG and [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT were compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and McNemar's test. Results: Fifty-seven participants were included. [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT was superior to [18F]FDG PET/CT in differentiating thymomas from thymic carcinomas (TCs) (AUC: 0.99 vs. 0.90, P = 0.02). Logistic regression revealed that SUVmax-FAPI (P = 0.04) was a significant predictive factor for TCs. SUVmax-FAPI and TMR-FAPI showed an excellent ability to differentiate low-risk thymomas (types A, AB, and B1), high-risk thymomas (types B2 and B3), and TCs (both P < 0.001). In thymomas, only SUVmax-FAPI (P < 0.001), TMR-FAPI (P < 0.001), and nonsmooth edges (P = 0.02) were significantly higher in the advanced-stage (Masaoka-Koga [MK] stage III/IV) group than in the early-stage group (MK stage I/II). Compared with [18F]FDG PET/CT, [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT showed significantly higher specificity (67% [46 of 69] vs. 93% [64 of 69], P < 0.001) in the detection of lymph node metastases and higher sensitivity (49% [19 of 39] vs. 97% [38 of 39], P < 0.001) in evaluating distant metastases. Both SUVmax-FAPI and TMR-FAPI were correlated with FAP expression (both r = 0.843, P < 0.001). Conclusion: [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT was superior to [18F]FDG PET/CT in evaluating the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, MK staging, and metastatic status of TETs. Trial registration: ChiCTR2000038080, registration date 2020-09-09, https://www.chictr.org.cn/com/25/showproj.aspx?proj=61192 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) is used to study the undrained cyclic behavior and cyclic resistance of dense granular materials under cyclic triaxial loading without stress reversals, and to clarify the effect of initial static shear on liquefaction resistance and the underlying micro-mechanism. A series of undrained stress-controlled cyclic triaxial tests were simulated with different combinations of cyclic stress ratio CSR and initial static shear stress ratio α, where the cyclic behavior of “residual deformation accumulation” was identified. Two types of residual excess pore pressure generation patterns were distinguished by the degree of stress reversal D (D = CSR/ α). The growth rate of residual axial strain is both CSR- and α -dependent. The evolution of internal structure of the granular materials was quantified using a contact-normal-based fabric tensor and mechanical coordination number MCN. The larger α (i.e., smaller consolidation stress ratios in triaxial tests) leads to higher degree of stress-induced fabric anisotropy. The cyclic resistance of dense granular materials increases with initial fabric anisotropy. During cyclic loading, the dense granular materials with higher initial fabric anisotropy exhibited slower reduction in mechanical coordination number between soil particles. The present study shed lights on the underlying mechanism that why the presence of initial static shear is beneficial to the cyclic resistance for dense granular materials under cyclic triaxial test condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with spherical micelles, rod/worm-like micelles not only have extended blood circulation duration, but also exhibit favorable cellular uptake behavior, which is promising for next-generation nanomedicine and biomaterials. However, the controllable fabrication of narrowly dispersed nanorods in aqueous media is still challenging. Herein, the methodology of thermal annealing was developed for the fabrication of helical nanorods as well as a series of nanorods with different lengths. The thermal annealing process generally consisted of adding a percentage of organic solvent (10%(V/V) or 20%(V/V)) to the digital micellar aqueous dispersion, followed by heating at 90 °C for 1 h, then cooling naturally to room temperature, and dialyzing against water to remove the organic solvent. Right-handed helical nanorods were afforded by the treatment of 45 nm digital micelles in the presence of 10%(V/V) dioxane, while left-handed helical nanorods were obtained in the presence of 20%(V/V) dioxane. Meanwhile, the controlled growth of rod-like digital micelles was achieved after thermal annealing in the presence of different types of organic solvents, and the length of the annealed nanorods was correlated with the types of organic solvent. Furthermore, no matter the size of initial digital micelles, they all exhibited similar trend of rod growth in the presence of a certain amount of organic solvent, allowing for controllable formulation of narrowly dispersed nanorods. In addition, supramolecular self-assembly by amphiphilic dendritic oligourethane readily fabricated diverse uniform nanorods in aqueous media. Overall, this work provided an attractive methodology to fabricate uniform digital nanorods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two studies reported in the paper examined (1) the extended parallel process model's (EPPM; Witte 1992) ability to predict and explain college students' COVID-19 vaccination behavior, and (2) the EPPM-related reasons for college students' COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Study 1 was a longitudinal study that measured the EPPM constructs at Time 1 and COVID-19 vaccine behavior two months later at Time 2. For danger control, results indicate that perceived threat and perceived efficacy positively predicted intentions and that intentions positively predicted behavior. For fear control, results indicate that perceived threat positively predicted fear, that perceived efficacy did not predict fear, and that fear negatively predicted defensive avoidance, reactance, and fatalism. Study 2 was a cross-sectional survey that assessed EPPM-related reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Results indicate that the main reasons for vaccine hesitancy were related to response efficacy (i.e., participants were concerned about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine). The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric cancers are highly heterogeneous malignant tumors. To reveal the relationship between differentiation status of cancer cells and tumor immune microenvironments in gastric cancer, single-cell RNA-sequencing was performed on normal mucosa tissue, differentiated gastric cancer (DGC) tissue, poorly differentiated gastric cancer (PDGC) tissue and neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) tissue sampled from surgically resected gastric cancer specimens. We identified the signature genes for both DGC and PDGC, and found that signature genes of PDGC strongly enriched in the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) program. Furthermore, we found that DGC tends to be immune-rich type whereas PDGC tends to be immune-poor type defined according to the density of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. Additionally, interferon alpha and gamma responding genes were specifically expressed in the immune-rich malignant cells compared with immune-poor malignant cells. Through analyzing the mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma, we identified intermediate state malignant cells during the trans-differentiation process from DGC to NEC, which showed double-negative expressions of both DGC marker genes and NEC marker genes. Interferon-related pathways were gradually downregulated along the DGC to NEC trans-differentiation path, which was accompanied by reduced CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell infiltration. In summary, molecular features of both malignant cells and immune microenvironment cells of DGC, PDGC and NEC were systematically revealed, which may partially explain the strong tumor heterogeneities of gastric cancer. Especially along the DGC to NEC trans-differentiation path, immune-evasion was gradually enhanced with the decreasing activities of interferon pathway responses in malignant cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of deep mineral resources is severely restricted by dynamic disasters, such as rock burst, caused by mining disturbances. This study is aimed at investigating the instability failure mechanism and precursory response of coal specimen, with the aid of acoustic emission (AE) monitoring, under triaxial loading and unloading disturbance. The AE time-varying characteristics were analyzed, the crack propagation mode was explored, and the statistical b value and βt value (damage parameters) of AE events were introduced to evaluate the damage state of the loaded coal under disturbance. The results show that: the dynamic disturbance loads will accelerate the deformation process of coal specimen under high static confining stress, resulting in a positive relation between the AE characteristic parameters (AE counts and energy) and the increasing disturbance amplitude. The proportion of low-frequency and high-amplitude AE signals increases with the disturbance amplitude, indicating the disturbance with large amplitude will promote the formation of large-magnitude cracking events. Those stress-induced cracks, judged from the RA-AF value of AE signals, are mainly tensile mode (i.e., mode-I) under the applied disturbance load, but shear cracks are the critical factor affecting the instability and failure of the loaded coal specimen. Both the b value and βt value can reflect the time-varying evolution process of internal damage for the loaded coal specimen. The sudden decreasing of the b value together with the exponential increasing of the βt value can be regarded as a short-impending precursor indicator for the coal instability and failure. The results of this study will provide some experiment basic and theoretical guidance for dynamic disaster monitoring and early-warning during the deep coal mining. Highlights: The instability failure mechanism and the precursory response of coal specimens under triaxial loading and unloading disturbance were investigated. By analyzing the AE characteristic parameters, the internal damage evolution processes, crack propagation mode and the mechanisms of disturbance were studied. The damage accumulation process and precursor warning information of coal instability failure are extracted by the b and βt values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is unknown if acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients presenting with advanced Killip class (III/IV) would benefit from early statin therapy. Therefore, we aimed to explore the relationship between statin therapy within the first 24 h of medical contact and in-hospital outcomes in this patient population in a nationwide registry. Method: In the Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China—ACS project, among ACS patients presenting with Killip class III/IV, we performed the following three analyses: (i) the associations between early statin therapy and risks for in-hospital mortality and ischaemic events; (ii) the dose effect of statins on mortality and (iii) the interaction between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and statins on mortality. Result: Among 104,516 ACS patients, 12,149 presented with advanced Killip class and 89.3% received early statins. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models revealed a 69% reduction in mortality in the statin group (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25–0.39), parallel with a reduction in ischaemic events (adjusted OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.33–0.74), compared with those not receiving early statins, which was consistent in multiple sensitivity analyses. Additionally, the protective association of early statins on in-hospital mortality was observed even among patients that received a low-to-moderate dose. Finally, the short-term survival benefit of early statins was independent of LDL-C. Conclusion: In a nationwide ACS registry, statin therapy initiated within the first 24 h of medical contact was associated with a reduced risk of in-hospital mortality in ACS patients presenting with advanced Killip class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dots (CDs) with yellow-green fluorescence were synthesized by using m-aminophenol and ethylenediamine under mild conditions and applied as a sensor for detecting cysteine (Cys). Cys reacted with p-nitrophenyl acrylate via Michael addition and cyclization to form p-nitrophenol (PNP) which had the UV absorption maximum at 405 nm. PNP quenched the fluorescence of CDs at the excitation wavelength of 420 nm based on inner filter effect. The fluorescence intensity change of CDs was used as an output signal for Cys detection. The probe detected Cys over homocysteine and glutathione in a solution with high selectivity. The system was highly sensitive to Cys with low limit of detection of 0.8 μM and showed a good linear relationship in the range of 1–50 μM. This carbon dots probe has the potential to be applied in biological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

License plate recognition technology is of paramount importance in intelligent transportation. While ideal scenario license plate recognition technology has gradually matured, traditional methods still exhibit limitations in performance under unconstrained scenarios. Although network models based on the recurrent neural network structure address some shortcomings of traditional methods to a certain extent, they constraints in recognition speed. To address these issues, we introduce and implements ALP-Net, a novel structural model, aimed at enhancing the robustness and efficiency of license plate recognition in diverse and challenging scenarios. The model utilizes a fully convolutional structure and custom attention mechanism modules (GFE-Block, ALP-Attention) to ensure speed while significantly improving recognition for low-quality license plates. Introducing synthetic data and a dynamic random perturbation mechanism further enhances the model’s generalization ability. We believe this model can elevate performance while maintaining a low computational complexity. Extensive experiments indicate that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the CCPD dataset and demonstrates robust generalization capabilities on the CLPD and CRPD datasets. The code and datasets can be available from https://github.com/HeYaoting666/ALP-Net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the clinical staging performance of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT compared with that of 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients lesion by lesion. Methods: A total of 134 diagnosed or suspected NSCLC patients were enrolled in the prospective study (ChiCTR2000038080); they received paired 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT and [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT. Of these patients, the retrospective analysis of 74 NSCLC patients with pathological results was conducted from primary tumor (T) diagnosis, lymph node (N), and metastatic lesion (M) staging. The imaging characteristics of the lung nodules and suspected metastases were obtained and analyzed, and the staging performance of 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT and [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT was compared. Results: For T diagnosis, [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 showed better diagnostic performance than 2-[18F]FDG in 79 lung nodules of 72 patients, especially for nonsolid and small-dimension adenocarcinoma nodules. For N staging, 98 lymph nodes (LNs) with pathological results in 37 patients were analyzed. The SUVmax of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 in the nonmetastatic LNs was significantly lower than that in the metastatic LNs. Regarding metastatic LN identification, the calculated optimum cut-off value of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 SUVmax was 5.5, and the diagnostic accuracy using [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 and 2-[18F]FDG criteria was 94% and 30%, respectively (P < 0.001). For M staging, [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 identified more lesions than 2-[18F]FDG (257 vs. 139 lesions) in 14 patients with multiple metastases. Overall, the staging accuracy of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 was better than that of 2-[18F]FDG in 52 patients with different pathological stages [43/52 (82.7%) vs. 27/52 (51.9%), P = 0.001]. Conclusion: Compared with 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT, [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated better staging performance in NSCLC patients with different pathological stages, especially those with localized disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately obtaining the spatial distribution information of fruit tree planting is of great significance to the development of fruit tree growth monitoring, disease and pest control, and yield estimation. In this study, the Sentenel-2 multispectral remote sensing imageries of different months during the growth period of the fruit trees were used as the data source, and single month vegetation indices, accumulated monthly vegetation indices (∑VIs), and difference vegetation indices between adjacent months (∆VIs) were constructed as input variables. Four conventional vegetation indices of NDVI, PSRI, GNDVI, and RVI and four improved vegetation indices of NDVIre1, NDVIre2, NDVIre3, and NDVIre4 based on the red-edge band were selected to construct a decision tree classification model combined with machine learning technology. Through the analysis of vegetation indices under different treatments and different months, combined with the attribute of Feature_importances_, the vegetation indices of different periods with high contribution were selected as input features, and the Max_depth values of the decision tree model were determined by the hyperparameter learning curve. The results have shown that when the Max_depth value of the decision tree model of the vegetation indices under the three treatments was 6, 8, and 8, the model classification was the best. The accuracy of the three vegetation index processing models on the training set were 0.8936, 0.9153, and 0.8887, and the accuracy on the test set were 0.8355, 0.7611, and 0.7940, respectively. This method could be applied to remote sensing classification of fruit trees in a large area, and could provide effective technical means for monitoring fruit tree planting areas with medium and high resolution remote sensing imageries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of network security, although there has been related work on software vulnerability detection based on classic machine learning, detection ability is directly proportional to the scale of training data. A quantum neural network has been proven to solve the memory bottleneck problem of classical machine learning, so it has far-reaching prospects in the field of vulnerability detection. To fill the gap in this field, we propose a quantum neural network structure named QDENN for software vulnerability detection. This work is the first attempt to implement word embedding of vulnerability codes based on a quantum neural network, which proves the feasibility of a quantum neural network in the field of vulnerability detection. Experiments demonstrate that our proposed QDENN can effectively solve the inconsistent input length problem of quantum neural networks and the problem of batch processing with long sentences. Furthermore, it can give full play to the advantages of quantum computing and realize a vulnerability detection model at the cost of a small amount of measurement. Compared to other quantum neural networks, our proposed QDENN can achieve higher vulnerability detection accuracy. On the sub dataset with a small-scale interval, the model accuracy rate reaches 99%. On each subinterval data, the best average vulnerability detection accuracy of the model reaches 86.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf thickness is an important trait in rice (Oryza sativa L.). It affects both photosynthesis and sink-resource efficiency. However, compared to leaf length and length width, reports seldom focused on leaf thickness due to the complicated measurement and minor difference. To identify the quantitative trait loci (QTL) and explore the genetic mechanism regulating the natural variation of leaf thickness, we crossed a high leaf thickness variety Aixiuzhan (AXZ) to a thin leaf thickness variety Yangdao No.6 (YD 6) and evaluated 585 F2 individuals. We further use bulked sergeant analysis with whole-genome resequencing (BSA-seq) to identify five genomic regions, including chromosomes 1, 6, 9, 10, and 12. These regions represented significant allele frequency differentiation between thick and thin leaf thickness among the mixed pool offspring. Moreover, we conducted a linkage mapping using 276 individuals derived from the F2 population. We fine-mapped and confirmed that chromosome 9 contributed the primary explanation of phenotypic variance. We fine-mapped the candidate regions and confirmed that the chromosome 9 region contributed to flag leaf thickness in rice. We observed the virtual cellular slices and found that the bundle sheath cells in YD 6 flag leaf veins are fewer than AXZ. We analyzed the potential regions on chromosome 9 and narrowed the QTL candidate intervals in the 928-kb region. Candidate genes of this major QTL were listed as potentially controlled leaf thickness. These results provide promising evidence that cloning leaf thickness is associated with yield production in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shield tunnelling presents numerous potential risks particularly in complex geological environments. In this study, we propose a novel fuzzy model for assessing the risk of tunnelling in soil-rock mixed strata. The proposed model incorporates the fuzzy setpair analysis (FSPA) method into fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering to overcome the limitations of conventional data normalisation. Data pertaining to tunnelling machine, deformation, and vibration are employed to construct an index system using mutual information algorithms for feature selection. The intercriteria importance though intercriteria correlation is employed to weight the indicators, and the FSPA method is adopted to calculate the connection number. Subsequently, the results are classified by the FCM with a modified objective function that considers the importance of risk indicators to derive the risk level of each ring in real time. The proposed model is applied to a case study of a shield tunnelling project in Guangzhou, China. The analysis results indicate a higher risk level from Ring 1572 onwards, which necessitates a judicious regulation of the thrust force and earth pressure. This novel method provides a practical and reliable tool for guiding risk decisions during the tunnel construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is the most staple food consuming in China. During the past six decades, a large number of indica inbred rice cultivars have been developed. However, seldom studies have focused on evaluating the dynamic changes of grain quality improvement among the major cultivars. Our study evaluated the genetic improvement of 12 quality traits in indica inbred rice cultivars developed in rice breeding programs in South China during 1956–2020. The results indicated that significant improvement had been gained for the appearance quality, cooking and eating quality in the breeding program since the 1990s, while slight genetic improvement was attained before 1990. Among all the 12 traits, MGL (Milled Grain Length), LWR (Length Rate Ratio), GC (Gel Consistency), and ASV (Alkali Spreading Value) were significantly increased among these different cultivars; MGW (Milled Grain Width), CGR (Chalky Grain Rate), CA (Chalkiness Area), and AC (Amylase Content) showed a tremendously decreased trend from last thirty years. However, the other four traits, such as BRR (Brown Rice Rate), MRR (Milled Rice Rate), HMRR (Head Milled Rice Rate), and PC (Protein Content) showed little improvement during the breeding processes in these cultivars. The results also suggested that selecting a slender grain shape would be beneficial for breeding high quality indica rice. We also discussed that improving milling quality, especially HMRR of the high-quality cultivars and nutrition quality for special consumer groups as an meaningful direction for rice breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, a novel aluminium-[18F]fluoride (Al18F)-labelled 1,4,7‑triazacyclononane-N,N′,N″-triacetic acid (NOTA)-conjugated fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) probe, named Al18F-NOTA-FAPI, was developed for fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-targeted tumour imaging; it could deliver hundreds of millicuries of radioactivity using automated synthesis. The tumour detection efficacy of Al18F-NOTA-FAPI was further validated in both preclinical and clinical translational studies. Methods: The radiolabelling procedure of Al18F-NOTA-FAPI was optimized. Cell uptake and competitive binding assays were completed with the U87MG and A549 cell lines to evaluate the affinity and specificity of the Al18F-NOTA-FAPI probe. The biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, radiation dosimetry and tumour imaging efficacy of the Al18F-NOTA-FAPI probe were researched in healthy Kunming (KM) and/or U87MG model mice. After the approval of the ethical committee, the Al18F-NOTA-FAPI probe was translated into the clinic for PET/CT imaging of the first 10 cancer patients. Results: The radiolabelling yield of Al18F-NOTA-FAPI was 33.8 ± 3.2% using manual synthesis (n = 10), with a radiochemical purity over 99% and the specific activity of 9.3–55.5 MBq/nmol. The whole body effective dose of Al18F-NOTA-FAPI was estimated to be 1.24E − 02 mSv/MBq, which was lower than several other FAPI probes (68Ga-FAPI-04, 68Ga-FAPI-46 and 68Ga-FAPI-74). In U87MG tumour-bearing mice, Al18F-NOTA-FAPI showed good tumour detection efficacy based on the results of micro PET/CT imaging and biodistribution studies. In an organ biodistribution study of patients, Al18F-NOTA-FAPI showed a lower SUVmean than 2-[18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-[18F]FDG) in most organs, especially in the liver (1.1 ± 0.2 vs. 2.0 ± 0.9), brain (0.1 ± 0.0 vs. 5.9 ± 1.3), and bone marrow (0.9 ± 0.1 vs. 1.7 ± 0.4). Meanwhile, Al18F-NOTA-FAPI did not show extensive bone uptake, and was able to detect more lesions than 2-[18F]FDG in the PET/CT imaging of several patients. Conclusion: The Al18F-NOTA-FAPI probe was successfully fabricated and applied in fibroblast activation protein-targeted tumour PET/CT imaging, which showed excellent imaging quality and tumour detection efficacy in U87MG tumour-bearing mice as well as in cancer patients. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2000038080. Registered 09 September 2020. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=61192 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop an anti-icing/de-icing system which can be practically used for aircraft wings made of fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) is an ongoing challenge. In this study, we have developed an AlSi50 alloy coating as electrothermal de-icing elements for FRPC structures by using high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) spray. During the spraying process, no burning and degradation of the polymer-based substrate induced by the melted particles occur and the average bond strength of the AlSi50 coating on FRPC substrate is as high as 10.0 MPa. The electrical resistivity of the AlSi50 coating at 26 ºC is about 41.30 × 10−8 Ω.m, which can be compared with that of the standard heating element made of constantan. The thermal infrared image of AlSi50 coating shows the fine uniformity of temperature distribution when electrical current was supplied. It is possible to achieve 60 ºC within 15 min when the applied electrical power is less than 8.5 W. The FRPC structure coated with AlSi50 coatings also shows efficient anti-icing/de-icing performance in icing condition at −30 ºC. The preliminary results suggest that AlSi50 coating has the potential to be applied in fiber-reinforced plastic anti-icing/de-icing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, cadmium (Cd) contamination in paddy soils has become a highly concerning pollution problem. Endophytic microbes in rice not only affect the plant growth but also contribute to ion absorption by the roots. Therefore, they are a promising, ecologically sound means of reducing the Cd transport from soils to shoots and grains of the plant. In this study, a Cd-resistant endophytic bacterium, named 181–22, with high Cd absorption capacity (90.8%) was isolated from the roots of rice planting in heavily Cd-contaminated paddy soils and was identified as Bacillus koreensis CGMCC 19,468. The strain significantly increased fresh weight of roots and shoots (44.4% and 42.7%) and dry weight of roots and shoots (71.3% and 39.9%) and decreased Cd content in the rice roots (12.8%), shoots (34.3%), and grains (39.1%) under Cd stress compared to uninoculated plant by colonizing rice roots via seed inoculation. Moreover, colonization of 181–22 reprogrammed rice physiology to alleviate Cd stress by increasing pigment and total protein content, regulating Cd-induced oxidative stress enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase and reducing malondialdehyde. Thus, B. koreensis 181–22 has the potential to protect rice against Cd stress and can be used as a biofertilizer to bioremediate paddy soils contaminated with Cd. Key points: • Bacillus koreensis 181–22 colonized the inside of rice roots at high numbers via seed inoculation. • B. koreensis 181–22 promoted rice growth and decreased Cd accumulation in grains. • B. koreensis 181–22 regulated the physiological response to alleviated Cd stress in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) serves as a pivotal atmospheric circulation pattern within the North Pacific. It has a considerable influence on the climate of East Asia and North America in the North Pacific Basin, and can also affect the climate of more distant regions via the atmospheric teleconnections. Our study has revealed a significant eastward shift of the southern lobe of the NPO from 178°E to 155°W during the boreal winter (November–December–January–February–March, NDJFM) after 1993/1994 in observations. The eastward shift of the NPO after 1993/1994 leads to stronger subtropical northeasterly trade winds during the boreal winter over the eastern North Pacific. As the strongest climatic factor influencing the strength of the wind-evaporation-sea temperature (WES) feedback mechanism, the enhanced subtropical northeast trade winds after 1993/1994 stimulate a more efficient WES feedback mechanism over the eastern North Pacific. Furthermore, the intensification of the WES feedback mechanism after 1993/1994 subsequently enhances the influence of the NPO on the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welding robot path planning gradually has increasingly widespread attention in automatic production on account of improving the production efficiency in the actual production process. It is a combinational optimization problem to find an optimal welding path for the robot manipulator by arranging the sequence and directions of welding seams. To solve the problem with two objectives, path length and energy consumption, this paper proposed an improved discrete MOEA/D based on a hybrid environment selection (DMOEA/D-HES) with a parallel scheme to search the optimal sequence and directions simultaneously for welding seams. The discretized reproduction and adaptive neighborhood provide a larger search range in solution space to overcome difficulties in duplication and uneven distribution of solutions. Adaptive decomposition method and improved hybrid environment selection promote solutions converge to the optimal direction and further balance convergence and diversity. Eight TSPLIB problems were tested with the proposed algorithm and the other four algorithms. Besides, the algorithm is compared with four multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) on the multi-objective welding robot path planning on the balance beam. The test results indicate DMOEA/D-HES outperforms other algorithms on convergence with a competitive diversity, which is effective to be applied in the actual welding process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bamboos, widely distributed in temperate and tropical Asia, Africa and America, refer to a group of special plants in Poaceae, Bambusoideae. China is rich in bamboo species. However, due to a long flowering cycle, the flowering habit and the flowering structure of many bamboo species are still not well understood. Here, we report a new bamboo species from Guangdong, China and an analysis of its interesting branch development in relation to flowering. Results: This species is similar to G. stellatus, the type species, but differs in the characteristics of its lemma and palea, mid-culm branch complement, and culm-sheath ligules. The initial branches at a culm node do not apically develop flowering structures during a flowering episode; instead, these form on what appears to be specialized flowering branches. Conclusions: The results of morphological comparison support the recognition of Gelidocalamus fengkaiensis as a new species. And during a flowering episode, two branch types ('foliage branch' and 'flowering branch') can be distinguished in this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current serology tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies mainly take the form of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassays or lateral flow assays, which are either laborious, expensive or lacking sufficient sensitivity and scalability. Here we present the development and validation of a rapid, low-cost, solution-based assay to detect antibodies in serum, plasma, whole blood and to a lesser extent saliva, using rationally designed split luciferase antibody biosensors. This new assay, which generates quantitative results in 30 min, substantially reduces the complexity and improves the scalability of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) antibody tests. This assay is well-suited for point-of-care, broad population testing, and applications in low-resource settings, for monitoring host humoral responses to vaccination or viral infection. A rapid, split luciferase test for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in blood and saliva compatible with lyophilization and use in low-resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose three schemes to generate polarization W-states of size n + m , n + m + t , and n + m + t + z without qubit loss, i.e., large-sized W n + m ( W n + m + t and W n + m + t + z ) is generated from one W n and one W m (one W n , one W m , and one W t , and one W n , one W m , one W t , and one W z ). The qubit-loss-free fusion mechanism increases the size of the fusion W states essentially, i.e., reduces the fusion steps, which makes the implementations of the schemes possible within current technology. Ancillary photons, controlled-NOT, Toffoli, Fredkin, and partial-SWAP gates are not required in our schemes. In addition, the number of the coherence states is reduced from 3 to 2, and path couplers are not employed. There is no complete failure output, and all garbage states are recyclable in the W n + m fusion scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let M n + 1 be a closed manifold of dimension 3 ≤ n + 1 ≤ 7 . We show that for a C ∞ -generic metric g on M, to any connected, closed, embedded, 2-sided, stable, minimal hypersurface S ⊂ (M , g) corresponds a sequence of closed, embedded, minimal hypersurfaces { Σ k } scarring along S, in the sense that the area and Morse index of Σ k both diverge to infinity and, when properly renormalized, Σ k converges to S as varifolds. We also show that scarring of immersed minimal surfaces along stable surfaces occurs in most closed Riemannian 3-manifods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present some basic properties concerning the quasiderivation algebra QDer (A) and the quasicentroid algebra QC (A) of a Novikov algebra A. Furthermore, we determine the dimension of Novikov algebras A with condition QDer (A) = End (A) . We also show that the quasiderivations of A can be embedded as derivations in a larger Novikov algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium wilt of tomato caused by the pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) is one of the most devastating soilborne diseases of tomato. To evaluate whether microbial community composition associated with Fol-infected tomato is different from healthy tomato, we analyzed the tomato-associated microbes in both healthy and Fol-infected tomato plants at both the taxonomic and functional levels; both bacterial and fungal communities have been characterized from bulk soil, rhizosphere, rhizoplane, and endosphere of tomatoes using metabarcoding and metagenomics approaches. The microbial community (bacteria and fungi) composition of healthy tomato was significantly different from that of diseased tomato, despite similar soil physicochemical characteristics. Both fungal and bacterial diversities were significantly higher in the tomato plants that remained healthy than in those that became diseased; microbial diversities were also negatively correlated with the concentration of Fol pathogen. Network analysis revealed the microbial community of healthy tomato formed a larger and more complex network than that of diseased tomato, probably providing a more stable community beneficial to plant health. Our findings also suggested that healthy tomato contained significantly greater microbial consortia, including some well-known biocontrol agents (BCAs), and enriched more functional genes than diseased tomato. The microbial taxa enriched in healthy tomato plants are recognized as potential suppressors of Fol pathogen invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scar formation as a result of corneal wound healing is a leading cause of blindness. It is a challenge to understand why scar formation is more likely to occur in the central part of the cornea as compared to the peripheral part. The purpose of this study was to unravel the underlying mechanisms. We applied RNA-seq to uncover the differences of expression profile in keratocytes in the central/peripheral part of the cornea. The relative quantity of mitochondrial RNA was measured by multiplex qPCR. The characterization of mitochondrial RNA in the cytoplasm was confirmed by immunofluoresence microscope and biochemical approach. Gene expression was analyzed by western blot and RT qPCR. We demonstrate that the occurrence of mitochondrial DNA common deletion is greater in keratocytes from the central cornea as compared to those of the peripheral part. The keratocytes with CD have elevated oxidative stress levels, which leads to the leakage of mitochondrial double-stranded RNA into the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic mitochondrial double-stranded RNA is sensed by MDA5, which induces NF-κB activation. The NF-κB activation thereafter induces fibrosis-like extracellular matrix expressions and IL-8 mRNA transcription. These results provide a novel explanation of the different clinical outcome in different regions of the cornea during wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifilamentary Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox (Bi2212) composite wires are the only high-temperature superconducting round wires (RWs) with sufficient critical current density (Jc) for superconducting magnets generating magnetic fields greater than 25 T. Previous works indicated that various voids in Bi2212 filaments and bridges between the adjacent Bi2212 filaments in Bi2212 RWs were generated after heat treatment. Such complicated microstructural structure will inevitably affect its electrical behavior. Previous studies only focus on single microstructural feature, voids or bridges. Hence, we developed a numerical model containing both voids and bridges to explore the comprehensive influence of these two microstructural features. Due to the preliminary results, it shows that the E-J relationships of the models with bridges and with infinity bridges are similar in the case of numerous bridges between filaments. It indicated that we can build a simplified geometry structural model by removing all the bridges and bonding the adjacent filaments directly. And then the parametric study of the voids was carried out and the results explained that the height (diameter) of void is the key factor to dominant its electrical behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heading date is an important agronomic trait of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and is regulated by numerous genes, some of which exhibit functional divergence in a genetic background-dependent manner. Here, we identified a late heading date 7 (lhd7) mutant that flowered later than wild-type Zhonghua 11 (ZH11) under natural long-day (NLD) conditions. Map-based cloning facilitated by the MutMap strategy revealed that LHD7 was on the same locus as OsPRR37 but exhibited a novel function as a promoter of heading date. A single-nucleotide mutation of G-to-A in the coding region caused a substitution of aspartic acid for glycine at site 159 within the pseudo-receiver (PR) domain of OsPRR37. Transcriptional analysis revealed that OsPRR37 suppressed Ghd7 expression in both ZH11 background under NLD conditions and the Zhenshan 97 background under natural short-day conditions. Consistently, the expression of Ehd1, Hd3a and RFT1 was enhanced by OsPRR37 in the ZH11 background. Genetic analysis indicated that the promotion of heading date and reduction in grain yield by OsPRR37 were partially dependent on Ghd7. Further investigation showed that the alternative function of OsPRR37 required an intact Ghd7-related regulatory pathway involving not only its upstream regulators OsGI and PhyB but also its interacting partner Hd1. Our study revealed the distinct role of OsPRR37 in the ZH11 background, which provides a more comprehensive understanding of OsPRR37 function and enriches the theoretical bases for improvement of rice heading date in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) could induce apoptosis and dysfunction of endothelial cells. We aimed to reveal the effects of macrophages on cell proliferation and apoptosis in LPS induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). THP-1 derived macrophages and HUVECs were co-cultured in the presence of LPS. Cell viability was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 and apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. Expression of Ang1, the NF-κB component p65 was evaluated by western blot and quantitative PCR. Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were used to knockdown the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and p65 in HUVECs. Plasmid transfection-mediated overexpression of Ang1 was employed to see its effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis in HUVECs. Macrophages enhanced LPS-induced proliferation impairments and apoptosis in HUVECs, which could be attenuated by siRNA-mediated knockdown of cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-12p70 in macrophages. The dysfunction of HUVECs was tightly associated with reduced Ang1 expression and increased phosphorylated p65 (p-65). Overexpression of Ang1 in HUVECs significantly decreased p-p65, suggesting negatively regulation of p-p65 by Ang1. Overexpression of Ang1, adding recombinant Ang1 or silencing of p65 substantially attenuated the dysfunction of HUVECs in terms of cell proliferation and apoptosis. In conclusions, THP-1-derived macrophages enhance LPS induced dysfunction of HUVECs via Ang1 and NF-κB pathways, suggesting new therapeutic targets for sepsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a few of the isolated DC power-transmission systems with hydropower units (and the associated water hammer effect), inappropriate governor control parameters may weaken the system damping and stability. It has the potential to result in ultra-low-frequency oscillations (ULFO) which is below 0.1 Hz. To carry out this issue, a linearized state-space model of a multi-machine system that includes hydropower and steam turbine governor control systems is presented in this paper. The oscillation mode of ULFO about the damping characteristics of the governor control system is analyzed by the damping torque analysis method. A governor power system stabilizer (GPSS) design model predicated on phase compensation principle to heighten the damping of the governor control system to subdue ULFO is planned. To verify its effectiveness, the designed GPSS is applied to a single-machine system, a 4-machine 2-area system as well as the Yunnan power grid system of China. The simulation results demonstrate that GPSS effectively suppresses ULFO with heightened ULFO damping by the optimized settings of governor control parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we report the molecular characterization of a novel partitivirus from Phomopsis vexans strain PvHZ002, a plant-pathogenic fungus infecting eggplant. The virus was designated "Phomopsis vexans partitivirus 1" (PvPV1). PvPV1 contains two dsRNA segments, dsRNA1 and dsRNA2, which are 1,662 bp and 1,628 bp long, respectively. Each segment contains a single open reading frame, putatively encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (dsRNA 1) and capsid protein (dsRNA 2). A homology search and phylogenetic analysis showed that PvPV1 clustered with viruses of the genus Deltapartitivirus of the family Partitiviridae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of 20 models participating in the atmospheric model intercomparison project (AMIP) is evaluated concerning surface latent (QLH) and sensible (QSH) heat flux over the tropical oceans (30°S–30°N). Biases were calculated by comparing model fluxes to observations from moored buoys and the objectively analyzed air–sea fluxes (OAFlux) database. All 20 AMIP models overestimate QLH with an ensemble mean bias of 20 W m−2, and 18 of the 20 models overestimate QSH with an ensemble mean bias of 5 W m−2 when compared to OAFlux, implying a systematic positive bias over the tropical oceans. A comparison with buoy observations also showed similar biases. To obtain insights into the causes behind model bias, we quantified the contribution from near-surface winds, specific humidity, and temperatures. It is found that near-surface humidity contributes more to the bias in QLH than wind speed, while air temperature contributes more to bias in QSH than wind speed. On the other hand, the root mean squared error (RMSE) in QLH has contributions from both near-surface humidity and wind. The contribution from humidity to the mean bias in QLH is 13 W m−2, with RMSE of 15 W m−2, suggesting a systematic overestimation of sea-air humidity difference in models. The model ensemble, in general, simulates QLH and QSH better than individual models. Models with higher horizontal and vertical resolutions perform better than coarse resolution models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turboshaft engines are different from each other due to manufacturing and installation tolerances. Hence, it is difficult to draw out the physical model from the average component maps and design points to represent the performance of the individual engine. The available test-bed data is usually less than the number of correction coefficients to update the maps, and it is the underdetermined state optimization issue. In this paper, we propose a novel reduced-order optimization, namely PSO-EKF algorithm, combined with prior state estimation for non-linear model correction of the turboshaft engine. This method combines the advantages of PSO and extended Kalman filter (EKF). PSO-EKF method converts partial parameters optimized by PSO into parameters directly solved by EKF. The order of optimization space is reduced. Using the correction coefficient function, a stability improvement strategy is designed to ensure the stability of the optimization process. Compared with the GA and PSO algorithms, experimental verification shows that the method has a faster convergence speed and smaller model error than the general PSO. After the performance map is updated by this method, the error of outputs of the individual model is within 1.4 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove the multiplicity one theorem for min–max free boundary minimal hypersurfaces in compact manifolds with boundary of dimension between 3 and 7 for generic metrics. To approach this, we develop existence and regularity theory for free boundary hypersurface with prescribed mean curvature, which includes the regularity theory for minimizers, compactness theory, and a generic min–max theory with Morse index bounds. As applications, we construct new free boundary minimal hypersurfaces in the unit balls in Euclidean spaces and self-shrinkers of the mean curvature flows with arbitrarily large entropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the 18F-fluoro-dexoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) imaging characteristics of adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) and its significance in differential diagnosis from other connective tissue diseases (CTDs). Methods: FDG PET/CT images of 54 patients with AOSD and 66 with other CTD from patients suffering from fever of unknown origin (FUO) were retrospectively studied and compared with 40 healthy controls. Clinical and PET/CT characteristics of AOSD and other CTDs were compared, and SUVmax (maximum standardized uptake value) was used to analyze the differences of FDG uptake in the blood pool, liver, spleen, bone marrow, and hyperplastic lymph nodes between the AOSD and other CTDs. The SUVmax ratios of the spleen, bone marrow, and lymph nodes to the liver were used to establish the diagnostic criteria for differential diagnosis of AOSD, and its diagnostic efficiency was evaluated. Results: Positive findings are presented in 53/54 (98.1%) AOSD patients and 61/66 (92.4%) other CTD patients in PET/CT imaging. AOSD manifested as diffusely increased FDG uptake in the spleen and bone marrow, and multiple reactive hyperplasia lymph nodes are symmetrically distributed mainly in the neck and axilla, while other organs were seldom involved. Although these abnormalities could be seen in other CTDs, its incidence and uptake value were both higher in AOSD. If two or more of the following three standard were met, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of diagnosing AOSD could reach 90.7%, 92.4%, and 91.7%, respectively: ① spleen SUVmax/liver SUVmax ≥ 1.2 and/or bone marrow SUVmax/liver SUVmax ≥ 1.4; ②symmetrically distributed reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes mainly in the neck and axilla with a lymph node SUVmax/liver SUVmax ≥ 1.8; and ③ no other abnormal uptake found in other organs. Conclusion: Characteristic manifestations in AOSD were found on FDG PET/CT. These findings could help to identify AOSD from the other CTDs, especially in cases of fever of unknown origin, where it can assist in identifying the cause. Key Points • Image characteristics of FDG PET/CT in adult-onset Still's disease were described. • FDG PET/CT helps in identifying adult-onset Still's disease from the other connective tissue diseases. • FDG PET/CT imaging standard for diagnosing adult-onset Still's disease were established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold storage can effectively delay the ripening of 'Nanguo' pears (Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim.). However, the aroma-related esters of 'Nanguo' pears decreased after cold storage. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of intermittent warming (IW) treatment on the formation of aroma-related esters and unsaturated fatty acid synthesis from cold stored pears. IW-treated pears were exposed to 20 ± 1 °C for 1 day every 20 days during storage at 0 ± 0.5 °C, every 21 days was a cycle and a total of 90 days. The pears in control group were stored at 0 ± 0.5 °C for 90 days. After this 90-day storage, both groups of pears (control and IW-treated) were transferred to a shelf life of 12 days at room temperature. The results showed that, compared with the pears in control group, the productions of aroma-related esters and the expression levels of PuLOX1, PuADH3, and PuAAT1 in IW-treated pears were significantly higher during the shelf life (P < 0.05). At the same time, IW-treated pears maintained significantly higher contents of linoleic acid and linolenic acid (P < 0.05), which were precursors of aroma compounds. We also found that the expression of PuFAD2 and PuFAD3 had significant positive correlation with the contents of unsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05). The significantly higher expression levels of PuFAD2 and PuFAD3 in IW-treated pears may have played an important role in the improvement of ester contents (P < 0.05). It could be inferred that IW treatment had an impact on the aroma-related esters of cold-stored 'Nanguo' pears through regulation of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]