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Globally, uveitis is a collection of intraocular inflammatory disorders that affect mainly the uvea, resulting in irreversible blindness and a heavy socioeconomic burden. Excessive autoimmune inflammation and oxidative stress are major drivers that contribute to the initiation and progression of uveitis. Nevertheless, current therapeutic methods for uveitis are limited and are accompanied by several serious adverse effects. Recently, nanotechnology-based antioxidant strategies have provided novel options for the treatment of ocular diseases. Although curcumin (CUR) has prominent antioxidant capacity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging ability, its low bioavailability and undetermined mechanisms limit its extensive application. This investigation demonstrated that esterified hyaluronic acid-curcumin nanoparticles (HA-CUR NPs) with superior aqueous dispersion exhibited exceptional antioxidant enzyme mimetic activity, incorporating superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), and free radical scavenging ability. Further in vitro and in vivo experimental results validated the protective function of HA-CUR NPs against oxidative stress-induced damage and inflammatory responses, attenuated pathological progression, relieved microvascular damage, and regulated fundus blood flow in retinal vascular networks. This may be attributable to the specific ability of HA-CUR NPs to target the CD44 receptor and activate the Keap1/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, suggesting a potential mechanism. In summary, this study revealed that HA-CUR NPs, which are composed of a natural product and biomacromolecules with outstanding artificial antioxidant enzyme activities, may be novel agents for effectively and safely treating uveitis and other ROS-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lichen planus is a chronic skin lesion characterized by pruritic violaceous papules, which has a high risk of morbidity. Skin microbiota plays an important role in the maintenance of cutaneous mucosal barrier and human health and immune homeostasis. Studies have shown that skin microbiota may play a role in the pathogenesis of lichen planus, but it is not yet clear. MR studies have been performed to determine causal associations. Lichen planus samples from Finn database were extracted from published GWAS data, including 6,411 cases and 405,770 controls; skin microbiota samples were gathered from a meta-analysis of German population-based GWAS, which included 1,656 skin samples from two cohorts: KORA FF4 (n = 353) and PopGen (n = 294), comprising 4,685,714 SNPs. The IVW method was used as the main statistical method, supplemented by three methods: MR-Egger, weighted median and weighted mode. FDR correction and MR Steiger test were used to reduce false positives. IVW method revealed a negative correlation between Burkholderia in the moist anterior elbow and lichen planus (OR: 0.934, 95% CI: 0.910–0.986, P = 0.017). These associations remained stable following false discovery rate correction (P < 1e-5). Our study highlights a possible causal role of Burkholderia in the development of lichen planus and suggests that Burkholderia may reduce the occurrence of lichen planus by affecting macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a critical component of a train, the railway wagon bogie adapter has higher quality requirements. During the forging process, external loads can induce voids, cracks, and other defects in the forging, thereby reducing its service life. Hence, studying the damage behavior of the forging material, specifically AISI 1035 steel, becomes crucial. This study involved obtaining stress–strain curves for AISI 1035 steel through uniaxial tensile tests at temperatures of 900 °C, 1000 °C, and 1100 °C, with strain rates of 0.1 s−1, 1 s−1, and 10 s−1. Subsequently, SEM was used to observe samples at various deformation stages. The damage parameters, q 1 ,   q 2 and q 3 in the GTN model "a computational model used to analyze and simulate material damage which can effectively capture the damage behavior of materials under different loading conditions" were then calibrated using the Ramberg–Osgood model and stress–strain curve fitting. Image Pro Plus software v11.1 quantified the sample porosity as f 0 , f n , f c and f F . A finite element model was established to simulate the tensile behavior of the AISI 1035 steel samples. By comparing the damage parameters of f 0 , f n , f c and f F obtained by the finite element method and experimental method, the validity of the damage parameters obtained by the finite element inverse method could be verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the investigation of active ingredients from natural products, current technologies relying on drug–target affinity recognition analysis face significant challenges. This is primarily due to their limited specificity and inability to provide downstream pharmacodynamic information, such as agonistic or antagonistic activity. In this study, a two-point method was developed by immobilizing M3 acetylcholine receptor (M3R) through the combination of the conformation-specific peptide BJ-PRO-13a and the HaloTag trap system. We systematically assessed the specificity of the immobilized M3R using known M3R antagonists (pirenzepine and atropine) and agonists (cevimeline and pilocarpine). By frontal analysis and nonlinear chromatography, the performance of immobilized M3R was evaluated in terms of binding kinetics and thermodynamics of four drugs to the immobilized M3R. Additionally, we successfully identified two M3R antagonists within an extract from Daturae Flos (DF), specifically hyoscyamine and scopolamine. Our findings demonstrate that this immobilization method effectively captures receptor-ligand binding interactions and can discern receptor agonists from antagonists. This innovation enhances the efficiency of receptor chromatography to determine binding-affinity in the development of new drugs, offering promise for the screening and characterization of active compounds, particularly within complex natural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is mainly concerned with the existence, uniqueness and Poisson stability (including stationarity, periodicity, almost periodicity and almost automorphy) of solutions for a class of stochastic partial differential equations driven by Lévy noise, where the involved coefficients are assumed to be strictly monotone. Based on the variational method, we establish the well-posedness of L 2 -bounded solution and then prove that it has the same characters of periodicity, almost periodicity and almost automorphy as the coefficients of the equation. Moreover, we also investigate the additive noise case under strong monotone condition. In particular, we illustrate our results by applying to concrete models such as stochastic reaction-diffusion equations, stochastic porous media equations and stochastic p -Laplace equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study evaluated the differences and agreement between a new Scheimpflug camera (Scansys) and a swept-source anterior segment optical coherence tomographer (CASIA 2) for measurements of the anterior segment of the eye in normal subjects. Methods: This prospective study included 84 eyes from 84 normal adult subjects who underwent three consecutive measurements with the Scansys and the CASIA 2 in random order. The mean keratometry (Km), astigmatism magnitude (AST), J0, and J45 vectors for both anterior and posterior corneal surfaces, central corneal thickness (CCT), thinnest corneal thickness (TCT), and anterior chamber depth (ACD) were obtained by both devices. The difference between these two devices was assessed using paired t test and violin plots. Bland–Altman plots and 95% limits of agreement (LoAs) were used to evaluate agreement. Results: No statistically significant differences between the two devices were found for the anterior AST, anterior J45, and posterior J45 (P > 0.05). The remaining parameters were statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05), but the differences not clinically significant. The violin plots showed that the distribution and probability density of the measured parameters were similar for both devices. Bland–Altman plots revealed high agreement for the measured parameters between the Scansys and CASIA 2, with narrow 95% LoAs. Conclusions: In terms of assessing parameters for the anterior segment, our study indicated that Scansys and CASIA 2 generally showed significant agreement. The two devices used in this study's assessment of all the parameters can be used interchangeably in refractive analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NaI as electrolyte additive is used to inhibit Zn dendrite growth, which achieves excellent electrochemical performance of Zn-ion batteries. [Display omitted] • The NaI additive can promote uniform deposition of Zn in charge/discharge process. • NaI can adsorb on specific crystal faces Zn (0 0 2) and inducing negative charge to achieve uniform zinc deposition. • The Zn||Zn can operate over 1,100 h at10 mA cm−2/10 mAh cm−2, and DOD can reach 51.3 %. • The VO 2 ||Zn full-cell maintains of the capacity retention of 75.7 % over 300 cycles at 1 A g−1. Aqueous rechargeable Zn-ion batteries (ARZIBs) are promising for energy storage. However, the Zn dendrite and corrosive reactions on the surface of Zn anode limit the practical uses of ARZIBs. Herein, we present a valid electrolyte additive of NaI, in which I- can modulate the morphology of Zn crystal growth by adsorbing on specific crystal surfaces (0 0 2), and guide Zn deposition by inducing a negative charge on the Zn anode. Simultaneously, it enhances the reduction stability of water molecules by participating in the solvation structure of Zn(H 2 O) 6 2+ by forming ZnI(H 2 O) 5 +. At 10 mA cm−2, the assembled Zn symmetrical batteries can run stably over 1,100 h, and the depth of discharge (DOD) can reach 51.3 %. At 1 A g−1, the VO 2 ||Zn full-cell in 2 M ZnCl 2 electrolyte with 0.4 M NaI (2 M ZnCl 2 -0.4 M NaI) maintains of the capacity retention of 75.7 % over 300 cycles. This work offers an insight into inorganic anions as electrolyte additives for achieving stable zinc anodes of ARZIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Head and Neck cancers (HNC) are a heterogeneous group of upper aero-digestive tract cancer and account for 931,922 new cases and 467,125 deaths worldwide. About 90% of these cancers are of squamous cell origin (HNSCC). HNSCC is associated with excessive tobacco and alcohol consumption and infection with oncogenic viruses. Genotyping tumour tissue to guide clinical decision-making is becoming common practice in modern oncology, but in the management of patients with HNSCC, cytopathology or histopathology of tumour tissue remains the mainstream for diagnosis and treatment planning. Due to tumour heterogeneity and the lack of access to tumour due to its anatomical location, alternative methods to evaluate tumour activities are urgently needed. Liquid biopsy approaches can overcome issues such as tumour heterogeneity, which is associated with the analysis of small tissue biopsy. In addition, liquid biopsy offers repeat biopsy sampling, even for patients with tumours with access limitations. Liquid biopsy refers to biomarkers found in body fluids, traditionally blood, that can be sampled to provide clinically valuable information on both the patient and their underlying malignancy. To date, the majority of liquid biopsy research has focused on blood-based biomarkers, such as circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumour cells (CTCs), and circulating microRNA. In this review, we will focus on ctDNA as a biomarker in HNSCC because of its robustness, its presence in many body fluids, adaptability to existing clinical laboratory-based technology platforms, and ease of collection and transportation. We will discuss mechanisms of ctDNA release into circulation, technological advances in the analysis of ctDNA, ctDNA as a biomarker in HNSCC management, and some of the challenges associated with translating ctDNA into clinical and future perspectives. ctDNA provides a minimally invasive method for HNSCC prognosis and disease surveillance and will pave the way in the future for personalized medicine, thereby significantly improving outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Excessiv generalization of fear contributes to the development and maintenance of pain. Prior research has demonstrated the importance of perception in fear generalization and found that individuals in painful conditions exhibited perceptual bias. However, the extent to which perceptual bias in pain affects the generalization of pain‐related fear and its underlying neural activity remains unclear. Methods: Here, we tested whether perceptual bias in experimental pain individuals led to the overgeneralization of pain‐related fear by recording behavioral and neural responses. To this end, we established an experimental pain model by spraying capsaicin on the surface of the seventh cervical vertebra of the participant. A total of 23 experimental pain participants and 23 matched nonpain controls learned fear conditioning and then completed the fear generalization paradigm combined with the perceptual categorization task. Results: We found that the novel and safety cues were more likely to be identified as threat cues in the experimental group, resulting in higher US expectancy ratings compared to the control group. The event‐related potential results showed that the experimental group exhibited earlier N1 latency and smaller P1 and late positive potential amplitudes than those in the control group. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the experimental pain individuals exhibited an excessive generalization of fear affected by perceptual bias and reduced their attentional allocation to pain‐related fear stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the measurements of corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) obtained by a new anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique combined with a Placido topographer (the MS-39 device) in eyes with prior small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and compare them to the measurements obtained by a Scheimpflug camera combined with a Placido topographer (the Sirius device). Methods: A total of 56 eyes (56 patients) were included in this prospective study. Corneal aberrations were analyzed for the anterior, posterior, and total cornea surfaces. Within-subject standard deviation (Sw), test–retest repeatability (TRT), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to assess the intraobserver repeatability and interobserver reproducibility. The differences were evaluated by paired t-test. Bland–Altman plots and 95% limits of agreement (95% LoA) were used to evaluate the agreement. Results: High repeatability was observed for anterior and total corneal parameters, with Sw value < 0.07, TRT ≤ 0.16, and ICCs > 0.893, but not trefoil. For the posterior corneal parameters, ICCs varied from 0.088 to 0.966. Regarding interobserver reproducibility, all Sw values were ≤ 0.04 and TRT ≤ 0.11. ICCs ranged from 0.846 to 0.989, from 0.432 to 0.972, and from 0.798 to 0.985 for the anterior, total, and posterior corneal aberrations parameters, respectively. The mean difference in all aberrations was ≤ 0.05 μm. All parameters showed a narrow 95% LoA. Conclusion: The MS-39 device achieved high precision in both anterior and total corneal measurements; the precision of posterior corneal higher-order RMS, astigmatism II, coma, and trefoil was lower. The two technologies used by the MS-39 and Sirius devices can be used interchangeably for measuring corneal HOAs after SMILE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its increasing application in pursing potential ligands, the capacity of receptor affinity chromatography is greatly challenged as most current research studies lack a comprehensive characterization of the ligand–receptor interaction, particularly when simultaneously determining their binding thermodynamics and kinetics. This work developed an immobilized M3 muscarinic receptor (M3R) affinity column by fixing M3R on amino polystyrene microspheres via the interaction of a 6-chlorohexanoic acid linker with haloalkane dehalogenase. The efficiency of the immobilized M3R was tested by characterizing the binding thermodynamics and kinetics of three known drugs to immobilized M3R using a frontal analysis and the peak profiling method, as well as by analyzing the bioactive compounds in Daturae Flos (DF) extract. The data showed that the immobilized M3R demonstrated good specificity, stability, and competence for analyzing drug–protein interactions. The association constants of (−)-scopolamine hydrochloride, atropine sulfate, and pilocarpine to M3R were determined to be (2.39 ± 0.03) × 104, (3.71 ± 0.03) × 104, and (2.73 ± 0.04) × 104 M−1, respectively, with dissociation rate constants of 27.47 ± 0.65, 14.28 ± 0.17, and 10.70 ± 0.35 min−1, respectively. Hyoscyamine and scopolamine were verified as the bioactive compounds that bind to M3R in the DF extract. Our results suggest that the immobilized M3R method was capable of determining drug–protein binding parameters and probing specific ligands in a natural plant, thus enhancing the effectiveness of receptor affinity chromatography in diverse stages of drug discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hainan Province, China, has been an endemic region with high transmission of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Indigenous malaria caused by P. vivax was eliminated in Hainan in 2011, while imported vivax malaria remains. However, the geographical origin of P. vivax cases in Hainan remains unclear. Methods: Indigenous and imported P. vivax isolates (n = 45) were collected from Hainan Province, and the 6 kb mitochondrial genome was obtained. Nucleotide (π) and haplotype (h) diversity were estimated using DnaSP. The numbers of synonymous nucleotide substitutions per synonymous site (dS) and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions per nonsynonymous site (dN) were calculated using the SNAP program. Arlequin software was used to estimate the genetic diversity index and assess population differentiation. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of P. vivax was performed using MrBayes. A haplotype network was generated using the NETWORK program. Results: In total, 983 complete mitochondrial genome sequences were collected, including 45 from this study and 938 publicly available from the NCBI. Thirty-three SNPs were identified, and 18 haplotypes were defined. The haplotype (0.834) and nucleotide (0.00061) diversity in the Hainan populations were higher than China's Anhui and Guizhou population, and the majority of pairwise FST values in Hainan exceeded 0.25, suggesting strong differentiation among most populations except in Southeast Asia. Most Hainan haplotypes were connected to South/East Asian and China's others haplotypes, but less connected with populations from China's Anhui and Guizhou provinces. Mitochondrial lineages of Hainan P. vivax belonged to clade 1 of four well-supported clades in a phylogenetic tree, most haplotypes of indigenous cases formed a subclade of clade 1, and the origin of seven imported cases (50%) could be inferred from the phylogenetic tree, but five imported cases (42.8%) could not be traced using the phylogenetic tree alone, necessitating epidemiological investigation. Conclusions: Indigenous cases in Hainan display high genetic (haplotype and nucleotide) diversity. Haplotype network analysis also revealed most haplotypes in Hainan were connected to the Southeast Asian populations and divergence to a cluster of China's other populations. According to the mtDNA phylogenetic tree, some haplotypes were shared between geographic populations, and some haplotypes have formed lineages. Multiple tests are needed to further explore the origin and expansion of P. vivax populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work the existence and uniqueness of strong solutions are established for a class of stochastic integral evolution equations with locally monotone and non-Lipschitz coefficients. In particular, our results can be applied to a large class of stochastic partial differential equation models with hereditary or memory effects such as quasilinear SPDEs like stochastic porous medium equations and semilinear SPDEs like stochastic 2D Navier—Stokes equations with hereditary or memory terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the first human virus identified with oncogenic properties, encodes a class of microRNAs known as miR-BART (BamHI-A rightward transcript microRNAs). This study investigates the pivotal role of EBV-miR-BART14-3p in the progression of gastric cancer, particularly focusing on its effects on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cell proliferation, and migration. EBV-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC) is distinguished by unique genomic and epigenomic characteristics, with EBV miRNAs significantly influencing tumor biology by regulating gene expression. Our research demonstrates that EBV-miR-BART14-3p facilitates gastric cancer cell migration and invasion by targeting the tumor suppressor gene LACTB, which in turn activates the Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling pathway, a critical driver of EMT. The suppression of LACTB in EBVaGC highlights its crucial role in inhibiting tumor progression. These findings position EBV-miR-BART14-3p as a key player in gastric cancer development and underscore its potential as both a prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target for EBVaGC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Sensitive indicators of nursing quality focus on the core elements of nursing quality management. Nursing-sensitive quality indicators will play an increasingly important role in the macro and micro management of nursing quality in my country. Objective. This study were aimed at formulating the sensitive index management of orthopedic nursing quality based on individual nurses for improvement of the quality of orthopedic nursing. Methods. Based on the previous literature, the existing challenges in the early application of the orthopedic nursing quality evaluation index were summarized. Moreover, the management system of the orthopedic nursing quality-sensitive index based on individual nurses was devised and implemented, including monitoring the structure and result indices of individual nurses on duty and sampling the process indicators of patients managed by individual nurses. At the quarter-end, the data analysis was performed and fed back to determine the key points of the changes in the quality of specialized nursing affecting the individual, and the PDCA method was utilized for persistent improvement. The changes of sensitive indices of orthopedic nursing quality before (July-December 2018) and 6 months after implementation (July-December 2019) were compared. Results. There were significant differences in other indices (accuracy of limb blood circulation assessment/accuracy of pain assessment/postural care pass rate/accuracy of rehabilitation behavioral training/satisfaction of discharged patients) (P < 0.05). Conclusion. The formulation of an individual-based orthopedic nursing quality-sensitive index management system modifies the traditional quality management model, improves the specialized nursing level, contributes to the accurate core competence training of specialized nursing, and improves the quality of specialized nursing of individual nurses. Consequently, there is an overall improvement in the specialized nursing quality of the department, and fine management is attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change is a major predictor for variations in soil bacteria, which plays a key role in maintaining soil multifunctionality and function of terrestrial ecosystems. The effects of land use change on the soil bacterial community in an alpine region at the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) were still unclear. In this study, we investigated soil bacterial profiles under grazed grassland, enclosed grassland, continuous cropland, rotation cropland and abandoned cropland in the Tianzhu alpine agro-pastoral ecotone. Our results showed that Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria were the most three abundant phyla regardless of land use change, accounting for over 60% of the total. Cultivation declined soil bacterial alpha diversity without recovering even after abandonment. Over 73% variations in bacterial diversity can be explained by soil physical and chemical properties. In addition, soil moisture could be the main driver for the difference in bacterial structure between croplands and others. Soil bulk density, pH, organic carbon and total nitrogen contents seem to be the key factors determining the difference in bacterial structure between abandoned croplands and others. Our results have implications for comprehensive understanding about the responses of the soil bacterial community to land use change in alpine regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NASICON-type compounds as artificial layer is used to inhibit dendrite growth, which achieves good electrochemical performance of Zn-ion batteries. [Display omitted] Aqueous rechargeable Zn-ion batteries (ARZIBs) have attracted much attention owing to their safety, high energy density and environmental friendliness. However, dendrite formation and corrosive reactions on Zn anode surface limit the development of ARZIBs. Here, Ga3+-doped NaV 2 (PO 4) 3 with Na superionic conductor (NASICON) structure [NVP-Ga(x), x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75] have been exploited as the high-efficiency artificial layer to stabilize Zn anode. The optimal NVP-Ga(0.5) layer can homogenize ion flux and promote uniform deposition of zinc, the dendrite growth and the parasitic reactions can be greatly inhibited. The symmetric cell based on this unique protection layer can stably operate over 1,300 h at 0.5 mA cm−2 with 0.5 mAh cm−2. Benefitting from the high-performance Zn metal anode, the full batteries paired with MnO 2 cathode deliver a high discharge capacity of 106 mAh/g with the capacity retention rate of 85 % after 8,000 cycles. This work provides an advanced strategy to stabilize Zn anode for the industrialization of ARZIBs in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluid overload is a common complication in patients who are on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Blood pressure is the traditional indicator of fluid status in these patients. However, it has poor sensitivity. Blood pressure variability (BPV) can detect fluctuations in blood pressure sooner and more accurately and be useful for the assessment of fluid volume in hemodialysis patient. However, there are limited relevant studies involving patients on CAPD. This retrospective study included 175 patients on CAPD who underwent regular assessment of the peritoneal dialysis adequacy at 2–3-month intervals at our center from January 2018 to December 2020. The overhydration (OH) value was measured using a body composition monitor. Blood pressure measurements obtained in each visit over one-year follow-up were used to determine each patient's BPV under peritoneal dialysis. The patients were divided into the normal volume (OH ≤2 L), mild volume overload (OH 2–4 L), and severe volume overload groups (OH ≥4 L). There was no significant between-group difference in the mean blood pressure (p > 0.05). However, the systolic and diastolic BPV values were significantly higher in the severe volume overload group than in the other groups (p < 0.05). Further correlation and regression analysis showed volume overload severity and BPV existed positive association, and BPV was also significantly associated with PD volume related indexes, including diabetes mellitus, blood parathyroid hormone levels, Kt/V and subjective global assessment scores in the volume overloaded group (p < 0.05). All these results suggested BPV may be a useful indicator for fluid status in PD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cationic surfactant type additive TMA 2 SO 4 is used to suppress zinc dendrites and improve the life time of zinc ion batteries. [Display omitted] Recently, zinc metal has been considered as a promising metal anode for aqueous rechargeable metal ion batteries due to its low electrochemical potential and high theoretical capacity. However, zinc metal suffers from hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and dendrite growth during plating/stripping. Here, we propose a low-cost, effective and non-toxic electrolyte additive, tetramethylammonium sulfate hydrate (TMA 2 SO 4), as a simple cationic surfactant additive for zinc-ion batteries, to trigger the smooth Zn deposition during charging and discharging process. It is found that TMA 2 SO 4 enable the realization of the deposition of Zn ions along the surface of zinc foil laterally without stacking and thus dendrite growth and side reactions are greatly mitigated by the electrolyte additive of TMA 2 SO 4 even when the amount of the additive is as low as 0.25 mM. As a result, the TMA 2 SO 4 additive induces excellent cycling stability over 1800 h at the current density of 0.5 mA cm−2 with the limited capacity of 0.5 mAh cm−2 for the Zn-Zn symmetrical cell. Moreover, the electrolyte with TMA 2 SO 4 can well match with MnO 2 cathode, which achieves the high initial capacity of 181.3 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 and long-term cycling stability with the capacity retention of 98.72 % after 200 cycles for the Zn/MnO 2 full cell. This work provides a general electrolyte design strategy to suppress zinc dendrite growth and side reactions to achieve long-lifespan zinc metal anodes for aqueous zinc ion batteries by electrostatic shielding effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes age-dependent neurological and cognitive declines. The treatments for Alzheimer's disease pose a significant challenge, because the mechanisms of disease are not being fully understood. Malfunction of the blood–brain barrier is increasingly recognized as a major contributor to the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease, especially at the early stages of the disease. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly characterized, while few molecules can directly target and improve blood–brain barrier function in the context of Alzheimer's disease. Here, we showed dysfunctional blood–brain barrier in patients with Alzheimer's disease reflected by perivascular accumulation of blood-derived fibrinogen in the hippocampus and cortex, accompanied by decreased tight junction proteins Claudin-5 and glucose transporter Glut-1 in the brain endothelial cells. In the APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, blood–brain barrier dysfunction started at 4 months of age and became severe at 9 months of age. In the cerebral microvessels of APP/PS1 mice and amyloid-β-treated brain endothelial cells, we found suppressed Wnt/β-catenin signalling triggered by an increase of GSK3β activation, but not an inhibition of the AKT pathway or switching to the Wnt/planar cell polarity pathway. Furthermore, using our newly developed optogenetic tool for controlled regulation of LRP6 (upstream regulator of the Wnt signalling) to activate Wnt/β-catenin pathway, blood–brain barrier malfunction was restored by preventing amyloid-β-induced brain endothelial cells impairments and promoting the barrier repair. In conclusion, targeting LRP6 in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in the brain endothelium can alleviate blood–brain barrier malfunction induced by amyloid-β, which may be a potential treatment strategy for Alzheimer's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experimental temperature is 613.15~763.15 K, and the strain rate is 0.01~10 s−1. The hot compression creep test of the 6082-T6 aluminum alloy sample is carried out by Gleeble-3500 hot compression simulation compressor, and its creep behavior is studied by scanning electron microscope. The results show that the DRX crystal has an irregular shape and that content of the Mg phase, Si phase, and Mn phase in the crystal are the main factors to change the color of DRX crystal. Temperature and strain rate are important factors affecting dynamic recrystallization. Reducing temperature and increasing strain rate will weaken dynamic recrystallization, and DRX critical condition and peak stress (strain) will increase. The constitutive equation of hot creep of 6082 aluminum alloy was established by introducing the work hardening rate-rheological stress curve, and the relationship between DRX critical condition, peak stress (strain) and parameter Z during creep was explored. Based on the Av rami equation, the prediction equation of the DRX volume fraction is established. With the increase of strain, DRX volume fraction is characterized by slow increase, then rapid increase and then slowly increase. In the hot -forming extrusion process of 6082 aluminum alloy, according to the volume fraction prediction equation, the DRX can be reduced, and the internal structure of the material can be optimized by changing the extrusion conditions and particle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Mg-Si series aluminum alloy is a heat-treatment-strengthened alloy. Research on the impact resistance of Al-Mg-Si series aluminum alloy is of great significance to expand its application in engineering. Taking 6082-T6 aluminum alloy as the concrete research object, using the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) device, the dynamic mechanical response of the material under different temperatures and average strain rates was studied, and the service performance of the material under extreme conditions was determined. The absolute temperature rise was introduced to optimize the existing constitutive model. The results show that when the environment temperature is 298.15~473.15 K under high-speed impact, the internal thermal softening effect of the material is dominant in the competition with the work hardening, resulting in a decrease in the flow stress of the material. Through the analysis of the real stress–strain curve, it was found that the elastic modulus of the material was negatively correlated with the strain rate, negatively correlated with the temperature, and showed an obvious temperature-softening effect. Yield strength was negatively correlated with temperature and positively correlated with strain rate, which showed an obvious strain rate hardening effect. Based on SEM microscopic analysis, it was found that under given conditions, adiabatic shear bands appeared in some samples, and their internal structures demonstrated obvious change. It was judged that when high-speed impact occurs, cracks are induced at the shear bands, and the cracks will continue to develop along the adiabatic shear bands, resulting in many oblique cracks which will gradually become larger and eventually lead to material failure. Finally, based on the model, the strain rate and temperature softening terms were improved, and a rise in adiabatic temperature rise was introduced. The improved model can better describe the strain rate effect of the material and accurately describe its flow stress. It provides a theoretical basis for the engineering application of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, full adaptive Kalman filters are designed for continuous-time nonlinear fractional-order systems (FOSs) containing unknown parameters and fractional-orders. First, the estimated FOS is discretized using the Grünwald–Letnikov difference method to transform the fractional-order differential equation into a difference equation. Then, in terms of the nonlinear function contained in the investigated system, the Taylor expansion formula is adopted to linearize the discretized equation. Based on the method of augmented vector, an augmented state equation is established by state equations, unknown parameter equations, and fractional-order equation to achieve the state estimation. Besides, the sigmoid function is brought to ensure that the estimation of the fractional-order is performed in a suitable range. Because the covariance matrices of noises are difficult to be measured in physical systems, we also concern the problems on the state estimation, parameter estimation, and fractional-order estimation under the cases that the covariance matrix of process noise is unknown or the covariance matrix of measurement noise is unknown. Considering that the initial value can produce an error of state estimation and parameter identification for the FOS defined under the Caputo sense, the augmented vector method is used to achieve the initial value compensation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is validated by four examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no safe level of air pollution for human health. Traffic-related particulate matter (PM 2.5) is a major in-utero toxin, mechanisms of action of which are not fully understood. BALB/c dams were exposed to an Australian level of traffic PM 2.5 (5 µg/mouse/day, intranasal, 6 weeks before mating, during gestation and lactation). Male offspring had reduced memory in adulthood, whereas memory was normal in female littermates, similar to human responses. Maternal PM 2.5 exposure resulted in oxidative stress and abnormal mitochondria in male, but not female, brains. RNA-sequencing analysis showed unique sex-related changes in newborn brains. Two X-chromosome-linked histone lysine demethylases, Kdm6a and Kdm5c , demonstrated higher expression in female compared to male littermates, in addition to upregulated genes with known functions to support mitochondrial function, synapse growth and maturation, cognitive function, and neuroprotection. No significant changes in Kdm6a and Kdm5c were found in male littermates, nor other genes, albeit significantly impaired memory function after birth. In primary foetal cortical neurons, PM 2.5 exposure suppressed neuron and synaptic numbers and induced oxidative stress, which was prevented by upregulation of Kdm6a or Kdm5c. Therefore, timely epigenetic adaptation by histone demethylation to open DNA for translation before birth may be the key to protecting females against prenatal PM 2.5 exposure-induced neurological disorders, which fail to occur in males associated with their poor cognitive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with studying the problem of compositional input-to-state safety (ISSf) using input-to-state safe barrier functions (ISSf-BFs) for nonlinear systems given as an interconnection of subsystems. A sufficient condition is proposed to verify ISSf for nonlinear interconnected systems, which allows that only some subsystems are ISSf and the others are not. The idea behind the sufficient condition is to establish ISSf of nonlinear interconnected systems based on ISSf of some lower dimensional subsystems, in conjunction with a general type of interconnection between subsystems. Also, a necessary condition is derived by using additively separable ISSf-BFs, which provides a tool for analyzing ISSf of interconnected subsystems. Meanwhile, the necessary condition indicates that the ISSf problem of the overall nonlinear system can be divided into decoupled subproblems, which is dealt with less computational effort. In particular, a sufficient and necessary condition of compositional ISSf is obtained. Finally, three examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ZIF-8 artificial layer with hydrophobicity is used to inhibit Zn corrosion and dendrite growth. [Display omitted] Aqueous Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs) combine the high power density of supercapacitors with the high energy density of batteries. However, the growth of dendrite and spontaneous Zn corrosion damage the service life of ZHSCs and further seriously restrict their large-scale application in energy storage fields. Herein, we study the corrosion mechanism of Zn metal in ZnSO 4 solution and report a method for the modification of Zn anode with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) layer grown in-situ. The obtained ZIF-8 layer with hydrophobicity can not only inhibit Zn corrosion and induce Zn electroplating/peeling on the Zn surface, but also promote uniform deposition of Zn during charge/discharge processes. As a result, the prepared dendrite-free Zn electrode shows low polarization (89.0 mV at 10 mA cm−2) and high cycling stability (over 800 h at 10 mA cm−2), and the developed ZHSC maintains a high capacity retention of 96% after 13,000 cycles at 5 A g−1. Furthermore, a solar power supply system is assembled by the ZHSC and monocrystalline silicon plates to certify the utility of the device, and it can light a LED successfully. This study provides a simple and inexpensive strategy to manipulate the Zn electrodeposition behavior from dendrites to non-dendritic structures, which builds a way for the development of practical ZHSCs with mild electrolytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To minimize twin birth rate by establishing an elective single cleavage embryo transfer strategy based on a twin live birth prediction model from fresh double cleavage embryos transfer (cleavage DET) patients.Methods: A total of 2478 patients underwent fresh cleavage DET in Nanjing Tower Hospital were enrolled to establish the twin live birth prediction model by logistic regression analysis and the cutoff value was calculated by ROC curve. Another 300 fresh cleavage DET patients and 550 cleavage single-embryo transfer (SET) patients were selected to testify the sensitivity, specificity and usefulness of this model.Results: The twin live birth probability (TLBP) = eX/(eX + 1), e is a natural logarithm, X = -1.763 - (0.319 × female age) + (0.329 × endometrial thickness) + (0.282 × the number of transferred top embryos) - (0.314 × previous transfer times), and the cutoff value of TLBP was 24.2%. The sensitivity of this model for predicting twin live birth was 75.6%, while the specificity was 52.5% in the external validation of 300 DET patients. Furthermore, the validation of 550 SET patients showed that the live birth rate of TLBP value positive patients was significantly higher than that in negative patients (54.3% vs. 35.5%, p < .001). When adopted an elective single cleavage embryo transfer strategy, the patients with a positive TLBP value choose SET, while still undergo DET who with a negative TLBP value, the live birth rate would maintain as 56.7%; however, the twin birth rate would significantly decline to 7.4%.Conclusion: Female age, endometrial thickness, the number of transferred top embryos and previous embryo transfer times were critical variables for the twin live birth prediction model. An elective single cleavage embryo transfer strategy according to this model can maintain the relatively high live birth rate, meanwhile get the acceptable low twin birth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Through agriculture and industry, humans are increasing the deposition and availability of nitrogen (N) in ecosystems worldwide. Carbon (C) isotope tracers provide useful insights into soil C dynamics, as they allow to study soil C pools of different ages. We evaluated to what extent N enrichment affects soil C dynamics in experiments that applied C isotope tracers. Methods: Using meta-analysis, we synthesized data from 35 published papers. We made a distinction between "new C" and "old C" stocks, i.e., soil C derived from plant C input since the start of the isotopic enrichment, or unlabeled, pre-existing soil C. Results: Averaged across studies, N addition increased new soil C stocks (+30.3%), total soil C stocks (+6.1%) and soil C input proxies (+30.7%). Although N addition had no overall, average, effect on old soil C stocks and old soil C respiration, old soil C stocks increased with the amount of N added and respiration of old soil C declined. Nitrogen-induced effects on new soil C and soil C input both decreased with the amount of extraneous N added in control treatments. Conclusion: Although our findings require additional confirmation from long-term field experiments, our analysis provides isotopic evidence that N addition stimulates soil C storage both by increasing soil C input and (at high N rates) by decreasing decomposition of old soil C. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the widely reported saturating response of plant growth to N enrichment also applies to new soil C storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway promotes gliogenesis but the kinetic role of RAF1, a key RAF kinase, in the induction of astrocytogenesis remains to be elucidated. To address this challenge, we determine the temporal functional outcome of RAF1 during mouse neural progenitor cell differentiation using an optogenetic RAF1 system (OptoRAF1). OptoRAF1 allows for reversible activation of the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway via plasma membrane recruitment of RAF1 based on blue light-sensitive protein dimerizer CRY2/CIB1. We found that early light-induced OptoRAF1 activation in neural progenitor cells promotes cell proliferation and increased expression of glial markers and glia-enriched genes. However, delayed OptoRAF1 activation in differentiated neural progenitor had little effect on glia marker expression, suggesting that RAF1 is required to promote astrocytogenesis only within a short time window. In addition, activation of OptoRAF1 did not have a significant effect on neurogenesis, but was able to promote neuronal neurite growth. Unlabelled Image • Applied optogenetics to study the RAF1 signaling outcome during astrocytogenesis. • Early OptoRAF1 activation promotes cell proliferation and astrocytogenesis. • Delayed OptoRAF1 activation, however, failed to induce astrocytogenesis. • OptoRAF1 did not significantly affect neurogenesis, but promotes neurite growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: By using the Grünwald‐Letnikov (G‐L) difference method and the Tustin generating function method, this study presents extended Kalman filters to achieve satisfactory state estimation for fractional‐order nonlinear continuous‐time systems that containing some unknown parameters with the correlated fractional‐order colored noises. Based on the G‐L difference method and the Tustin generating function method, the difference equations corresponding to fractional‐order nonlinear continuous‐time systems are constructed respectively. The first‐order Taylor expansion is used to linearize the nonlinear functions in the estimated system, which provides the system model for extended Kalman filters. Using the augmented vector method, the unknown parameters are regarded as new state vectors, and the augmented difference equation is constructed. Based on the augmented difference equation, extended Kalman filters are designed to estimate the state of fractional‐order nonlinear systems with process noise as fractional‐order colored noise or measurement noise as fractional‐order colored noise. Meanwhile, the extended Kalman filters proposed in this paper can also estimate the unknown parameters effectively. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed extended Kalman filters is validated in simulation with two examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Ni 2 P@C yolk-shell nanocomposite have been synthesized. • Ni 2 P@C nanocomposite exhibited excellent LIBs and SIBs performance. • Enhanced performance was ascribed to the advantageous structural design. Abstract Ni 2 P@Carbon (Ni 2 P@C) yolk-shell nanocomposite have been synthesized through a phosphorization-in-nanooctahedron combined with an annealing strategy. As an anode material, the as-obtained Ni 2 P@C nanocomposite presents excellent lithium/sodium storage performance for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium ion batteries (SIBs). The significantly enhanced electrochemical properties are attributed to the electrochemical conductivity of the carbon shell and the yolk-shell nanoarchitecture, which provides buffer space to remit the volume changes of Ni 2 P during cycles process, enlarges the contact area of electrolyte/electrode and shortens the diffusion path of Li+ (Na+)/electrons. As the anode in LIBs, the Ni 2 P@C nanocomposite delivers a discharge capacity of 512.3 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles. The specific capacity could be still 398.1 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1 even after 1000 cycles. As an anode for SIBs, the reversible capacity of the Ni 2 P@C nanocomposite is 291.9 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 300 cycles. The enhanced performance of Ni 2 P@C nanocomposite electrode can be ascribed to the advantageous structural design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have been described as important immunosuppressive cells for maternal immune tolerance. The aim of this study was to detect whether there was any association between the peripheral blood MDSCs level and in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment outcomes. Methods: This prospective observational study randomly recruited 85 women who underwent IVF treatment from May 2016 to June 2016. The levels of peripheral blood granulocytic MDSC (G-MDSC), monocytic MDSC (M-MDSC) and their relations to IVF treatment outcomes were analyzed. Results: The circulating G-MDSC level was significantly increased in the clinical pregnant group when compared to that in the nonclinical pregnant group (p = .014), while M-MDSC had no significant difference. The G-MDSC level was an independent predictive factor for clinical pregnancy with odds ratios 12.7 (95% CI: 1.53-105.4, p = .018) when using multiple logistic regression analysis. A receiver operating characteristic analysis (area under curve = 0.634) found the clinical pregnancy rate in women with G-MDSC >2.38% was higher than that in women below this level (96 versus 66.7%, p = .004). The high G-MDSC level in the peripheral blood was associated with clinical pregnancy, with a sensitivity of 37.5%, specificity of 95.2%. Conclusion: High circulating G-MDSC level was associated with elevated clinical pregnancy rate. G-MDSC might be a new therapeutic target for better IVF treatment outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low degradability of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influents negatively affects its ability to effectively remove pollutants through wastewater treatment processes. Proactive assessment of urban sewer system performance is highly valued in the selection of targeted countermeasures for this occurrence. In this study, a fluorescence spectrum interpretation approach was developed to identify the causes of low biodegradability of WWTP influent by using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and fluorescence regional integration (FRI) of excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy. Statistical analysis was also used to further interpret the PARAFAC- and FRI-derived data. The urban sewer catchment served by a WWTP in Wuhan City, China, was used as the test site to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. The results showed that electronics manufacturing industrial wastewater and groundwater input into the urban sewer would significantly decrease the biodegradability of the WWTP influents, and these sources were characterized by much lower fluorescence peak intensities, especially for protein-like substances, including tryptophan-like T and tyrosine-like B1 and B2. The potential conversion of high freshness T into low freshness B2 within the sewer may also contribute to this undesirable scenario. The ratio of peak T to peak B2 and the ratio of the FRI fraction of region I to that of region II can be used together to determine the predominance of industrial wastewater and groundwater. T/B2 < 1.3 indicates the entry of industrial wastewater or groundwater into urban sewers, and I/II > 0.5 further confirms the input of industrial wastewater. Accordingly, the low biodegradability of the WWTP influents in our study site is mostly due to the inflow of industrial wastewater rather than groundwater infiltration into the urban sewers. Therefore, actions should be focused on the surveillance of industrial wastewater rather than widespread sewer inspection and repairs. In this way, this methodology is cost-effective in aiding targeted countermeasures to improve the urban sewer system performance. [Display omitted] • PARAFAC and FRI were used to interpret fluorescence data of in-sewer flow. • T/B2 and I/II indicate the entry of industrial wastewater or groundwater into sewer. • Tryptophan-like T could be converted into tyrosine-like B2 within the urban sewer. • Fluorescence interpretation aids the assessment of urban sewer system performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common malignancy globally. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) originates from squamous cells and 90% of HNC are HNSCC. The gold standard for diagnosing HNSCC is tissue biopsy. However, given tumour heterogeneity, biopsies may miss important cancer-associated molecular signatures, and more importantly, after the tumour is excised, there is no means of tracking response to treatment in patients. Captured under liquid biopsy, circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), may identify in vivo molecular genotypes and complements tumour tissue analysis in cancer management. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Scopus and the Cochran Library between 2012 to early 2023 on ctDNA in HNSCC using publications written in English. We summarise 20 studies that compared mutational profiles between tumour tissue DNA (tDNA) and ctDNA, using a cohort of 631 HNSCC patients and 139 controls. Among these studies, the concordance rates varied greatly and the most mutated and the most concordant gene was TP53, followed by PIK3CA, CDKN2A, NOTCH1 and FAT1. Concordant variants were mainly found in Stage IV tumours, and the mutation type is mostly single nucleotide variants (SNV). We conclude that, as a biomarker for HNSCC, ctDNA demonstrates great promise as it recapitulates tumour genotypes, however additional multi-central trials are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The in-situ grown ZnCr 2 O 4 interface protective layer can promote uniform deposition of Zn in charge/discharge process. • ZnCr 2 O 4 enable rapid desolvation of Zn(H 2 O) 6 2+ and improve Zn2+ platting/stripping kinetics for dense Zn deposition. • The ZCO@Zn||ZCO@Zn can operate over 1500 h at 1 mA cm−2 with 1 mAh cm−2. • The NH 4 V 4 O 10 //ZCO@Zn full-cell exhibits the capacity retention of 83.3 % at 3 a g−1 after 1000 cycles. Aqueous rechargeable Zn-ion batteries (ARZIBs) have attracted much attention owing to their safety, high energy density and environmental friendliness. However, zinc dendrites and corrosive reactions during platting/stripping on the surface of Zn anodes limit the practical applications of ARZIBs. Herein, the hydrophilic and zinophilic ZnCr 2 O 4 interface layer is grown in situ on the surface of Zn metal to stabilize Zn anode. The in-situ grown ZnCr 2 O 4 interface protective layer constrains the 2D diffusion of Zn2+and homogenizes the surface electric field, guiding preferentially horizontal deposition of Zn2+ along the Zn foil surface. In addition, the in situ ZnCr 2 O 4 interface layer possesses strong hydrophilicity and zinophilicity to enable rapid desolvation of Zn(H 2 O) 6 2+ and improve Zn2+ platting/stripping kinetics for dense Zn deposition without dendrite Zn growth. Consequently, the symmetric cell with ZnCr 2 O 4 -protected Zn anode can stably operate more than 1500 h at 1 mA cm−2 with 1 mAh cm−2, while the Cu||ZCO@Zn half-cell presents a high average Coulombic efficiency of over 99.7 % during cycling for more than 100 cycles. In addition, the NH 4 V 4 O 10 ||ZCO@Zn full cell exhibits the capacity retention of 83.3 % at 3 A g−1 after 1000 cycles. This investigation provides a feasible strategy to efficiently inhibit zinc dendrites by in-situ constructing hydrophilic-zinophilic artificial protective coating on the surface of Zn anodes. ZnCr 2 O 4 as in-situ grown hydrophilic-zinophilic protective layer is used to inhibit Zn dendrite growth, which achieves excellent electrochemical performance of Zn-ion batteries. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-strength aerospace aluminium alloy, 25 mm thick plate, has been friction stir welded using four different process variants. The process variants used were stationary shoulder single pass, conventional shoulder single pass, stationary shoulder dual pass and conventional shoulder dual pass. The goal of the reported work was to investigate effects of different process variants on residual stress. Defect-free welds were produced by all process variants. Through thickness average, longitudinal, residual stress in both as-welded and post-weld heat-treated conditions is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Individuals with high pain sensitivity show overgeneralization of pain-related fear. • More attention resources are allocated in high pain sensitivity individuals. • Individuals with high pain sensitivity show lower pain threshold. Fear generalization contributes to the development and maintenance of pain. Pain sensitivity has been proposed to predict the strength of fear responses to aversive stimuli. However, whether individual variation in pain sensitivity affects pain-related fear generalization and its underlying cognitive processing remains unclear. To address this gap, we recorded behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data among 22 high pain sensitivity (HPS) and 22 low pain sensitivity (LPS) healthy adults when exposed to a fear generalization paradigm. The behavioral results indicate that the HPS group displayed higher unconditioned stimulus expectancy and greater fear, arousal, and anxiety ratings to conditioned stimulus and generalization stimulus than the LPS group (all p values < 0.05). The ERP results showed that the HPS group exhibited a larger late positive potential evoked by GS2, GS3 and CS- (all p < 0.005) but a smaller N1 evoked by all CS and GSs (all p values < 0.05) relative to the LPS group. These findings suggest that individuals with a high level of pain sensitivity allocate more attention resources to pain-related threatening stimuli, which contributes to an overgeneralization of pain-related fear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

publisher‐imprint‐name Springer volume‐issue‐count 1 issue‐article‐count 0 issue‐toc‐levels 0 issue‐pricelist‐year 2017 issue‐copyright‐holder The Author(s) issue‐copyright‐year 2017 article‐contains‐esm No article‐numbering‐style Unnumbered article‐registration‐date‐year 2017 article‐registration‐date‐month 4 article‐registration‐date‐day 20 article‐toc‐levels 0 toc‐levels 0 volume‐type Regular journal‐product ArchiveJournal numbering‐style Unnumbered article‐grants‐type OpenChoice metadata‐grant OpenAccess abstract‐grant OpenAccess bodypdf‐grant OpenAccess bodyhtml‐grant OpenAccess bibliography‐grant OpenAccess esm‐grant OpenAccess online‐first false pdf‐file‐reference BodyRef/PDF/40169_2017_Article_146.pdf target‐type OnlinePDF issue‐type Regular article‐type ReviewPaper journal‐subject‐primary Medicine & Public Health journal‐subject‐secondary Medicine/Public Health, general journal‐subject‐collection SC11 --> Background: Glypican‐3 (GPC3) is a cell surface‐bound proteoglycan which has been identified as a potential biomarker candidate in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung carcinoma, severe pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The aim of our review is to evaluate whether GPC3 has utility as a disease‐specific biomarker, to discuss the potential involvement of GPC3 in cell biology, and to consider the changes of GPC3 gene and protein expression and regulation in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer, severe pneumonia, and ARDS. Results: Immunohistochemical studies have suggested that over‐expression of GPC3 is associated with a poorer prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Expression of GPC3 leads to an increased apoptosis response in human lung carcinoma tumor cells, and is considered to be a candidate lung tumor suppressor gene. Increased serum levels of GPC3 have been demonstrated in ARDS patients with severe pneumonia. Conclusions: Glypican‐3 could be considered as a clinically useful biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung carcinoma, and ARDS, but further research is needed to confirm and expand on these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have been described as important immunosuppressive cells for maternal immune tolerance. The aim of this study was to detect whether there was any association between the peripheral blood MDSCs level and in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment outcomes. Methods: This prospective observational study randomly recruited 85 women who underwent IVF treatment from May 2016 to June 2016. The levels of peripheral blood granulocytic MDSC (G-MDSC), monocytic MDSC (M-MDSC) and their relations to IVF treatment outcomes were analyzed. Results: The circulating G-MDSC level was significantly increased in the clinical pregnant group when compared to that in the nonclinical pregnant group (p = .014), while M-MDSC had no significant difference. The G-MDSC level was an independent predictive factor for clinical pregnancy with odds ratios 12.7 (95% CI: 1.53-105.4, p = .018) when using multiple logistic regression analysis. A receiver operating characteristic analysis (area under curve = 0.634) found the clinical pregnancy rate in women with G-MDSC >2.38% was higher than that in women below this level (96 versus 66.7%, p = .004). The high G-MDSC level in the peripheral blood was associated with clinical pregnancy, with a sensitivity of 37.5%, specificity of 95.2%. Conclusion: High circulating G-MDSC level was associated with elevated clinical pregnancy rate. G-MDSC might be a new therapeutic target for better IVF treatment outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a cell surface-bound proteoglycan which has been identified as a potential biomarker candidate in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung carcinoma, severe pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The aim of our review is to evaluate whether GPC3 has utility as a disease-specific biomarker, to discuss the potential involvement of GPC3 in cell biology, and to consider the changes of GPC3 gene and protein expression and regulation in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer, severe pneumonia, and ARDS. Results: Immunohistochemical studies have suggested that over-expression of GPC3 is associated with a poorer prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Expression of GPC3 leads to an increased apoptosis response in human lung carcinoma tumor cells, and is considered to be a candidate lung tumor suppressor gene. Increased serum levels of GPC3 have been demonstrated in ARDS patients with severe pneumonia. Conclusions: Glypican-3 could be considered as a clinically useful biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung carcinoma, and ARDS, but further research is needed to confirm and expand on these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2195 Al-Li alloy is one of the most important structural materials in the aerospace industry in recent years because of its advantages, such as low density, high strength, good thermal stability and high corrosion resistance, which effectively improves the carrying capacity of spacecraft. In this study, isothermal tensile tests are conducted on a Gleeble-3500 thermo-mechanical simulator at temperatures of 380–470 °C and strain rates of 0.1–5 s−1 to explore the hot deformation and establish the processing map of 2195-O Al-Li alloy, and annealing temperature is 400 ℃. The changes in fracture micromorphology, grain size and microstructural evolution under different deformation parameters are analyzed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) experiments of tensile specimens. show that the established constitutive equation can accurately predict the hot deformation behavior of the alloy. The fracture mechanism of the tensile specimens is ductile fracture at temperatures of 380–440 °C. When the temperature rises to 470 °C, the fracture mechanism of the specimens changes to brittle fracture and local overburning occurs on the fracture surface. Compared with the deformation temperature, the influence of deformation strain rate on the fracture morphology is not obvious. The average grain size of the specimens at temperatures of 380–440 °C increases with increasing temperature and the minimum grain size is 2.92 µm when the temperature is 440 °C. When the temperature rises to 470 °C, the grains begin to coarsen and the plasticity of 2195 is reduced. Based on the processing map, the optimal processing area is within 405–465 °C and 0.1–1 s−1. [Display omitted] • Establish the constitutive model and processing maps of 2195 Al-Li alloy. • Analyze the microstructure of typical areas of the thermal processing map. • Analyze the influence of deformation parameters on microstructure evolution and grain size. • Study the fracture mechanism of materials under different process parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GBasis is a free and open-source Python library for molecular property computations based on Gaussian basis functions in quantum chemistry. Specifically, GBasis allows one to evaluate functions expanded in Gaussian basis functions (including molecular orbitals, electron density, and reduced density matrices) and to compute functionals of Gaussian basis functions (overlap integrals, one-electron integrals, and two-electron integrals). Unique features of GBasis include supporting evaluation and analytical integration of arbitrary-order derivatives of the density (matrices), computation of a broad range of (screened) Coulomb interactions, and evaluation of overlap integrals of arbitrary numbers of Gaussians in arbitrarily high dimensions. For circumstances where the flexibility of GBasis is less important than high performance, a seamless Python interface to the Libcint C package is provided. GBasis is designed to be easy to use, maintain, and extend following many standards of sustainable software development, including code-quality assurance through continuous integration protocols, extensive testing, comprehensive documentation, up-to-date package management, and continuous delivery. This article marks the official release of the GBasis library, outlining its features, examples, and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the largest country in grain production and consumption with the greatest emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) in the world. To learn the historical changes and regional differences in GHG emission of the major grain crop production can provide important references to the mitigation of GHG emission in the country and other similar countries. Therefore, we quantified the carbon footprints of rice ( Oryza sativa L.), wheat ( Triticumaestivum L.) and maize ( Zea mays L.) production based on agricultural inputs in the country over the period of 1978–2012. The results showed that area-scaled carbon footprint of rice, wheat and maize production increased gradually from 1286, 937 and 895 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 -eq) ha −1 in 1978–2682, 2978 and 2294 kg CO 2 -eq ha −1 in 2012, respectively, and the average increase rates for the three crops were correspondingly 41, 60 and 41 kg CO 2 -eq ha −1 a −1 . During the last ten years, however, all the average yield-scaled carbon footprints of rice, wheat and maize decreased by 0.11 kg CO 2 -eq kg −1 10a −1 . Chemical fertilizer contributed the largest ratio to the total GHG emission by 66, 68 and 76% for rice, wheat and maize, respectively. Significant increasing contribution ratio to the carbon footprint was found in the electricity used for crop irrigation. There were large differences in both the area- and yield-scaled carbon footprints among the cropping regions with the lowest GHG emission occurring in the major cropping regions. Our findings indicate a great potential to reduce GHG emission of grain production through optimizing the spatial layout of cropping region and enhancing chemical fertilizer use efficiency. Further efforts also need to be made on water-saving irrigation to decrease the electricity usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel digital constant output current controller with demagnetization-time compensation for flyback converter is proposed in this paper. The secondary winding demagnetization time is sampled from the comparison module output signal by output voltage sampling state machine. The ratio between and switching period is kept constant by bidirectional counter module to achieve constant output current based on invariable primary-side peak-current. Meanwhile, demagnetization-time compensation is proposed in order to enhance load regulation ratio. The compensation acquired from a look-up table, is utilized to compensate the impacts caused by the delay from the process of sampling the signal of . The digital controller (DC) is implemented by hardware description language Verilog HDL. Experimental results of the proposed 2A constant current output flyback converter based on FPGA(EP2C8Q208C8N) indicate that the constant current precision is within 1% in a wide range of universal-input AC voltage from 110V to 240V and the voltage load range between 2V and 8V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new coordination polymers [Mn(3,4-pbc)2]n(1) and [Mn2(4,3-pbc)4(H2O)]n(2) (3,4-pbc=3-pyrid-4-ylbenzole acid and 4,3-pbc=4-pyrid-3-ylbenzole acid ) were obtained by solvothermal reaction and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds1and2are both three-dimensional frameworks with pcu and dia topological net, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to International Diabetes Federation Diabetes Atlas statistics, diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss in blinding diseases. The underlying cause of retinal vasculopathy progression in diabetic patients is hyperglycemia and hypoxia features in microvascular region. Hence, cyanobacteria are used as carriers to load both gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with glucose oxidase‐like activity and iridium nanoparticles (Ir NPs) with catalase‐like activity, respectively (Cyano@Au@Ir). The Au NPs nanozyme first degrades glucose into hydrogen peroxide, which is further decomposed into H2O and O2 by the Ir NPs to complete the cascade hypoglycemic reaction. Based on the unique light transmittance of eyeball and the accumulation of light in the retinal area, the sustainable O2 production by Cyano greatly alleviates the hypoxia of microenvironment, leading to the decrease of angiogenic growth factor and hypoxia‐inducible factor expressions. Simultaneously, the highly expressed peroxide in the DR microenvironment can also be eliminated by Ir NPs for anti‐inflammatory property. Furthermore, it is demonstrated in DR animal model that Cyano@Au@Ir significantly reduces neovascular progression and vascular leakage. This novel treatment mode fundamentally degrades blood glucose, continuously supplies O2, and scavenges free radicals for comprehensive microenvironment regulation, providing inspirations for solving fundus complications of DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • What and how land-use change affects soil respiration in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. • Field monitoring with five land-uses in an alpine agro-pastoral ecotone. • Enclosed grassland had the highest soil respiration while the lowest in abandonment. • Quantified causal pathways from land-use change to variations in soil respiration. • Grasslands benefits for both low soil respiration and high soil C storage. Land-use change alters soil carbon (C) storage in terrestrial ecosystem through affecting soil respirations (Rs). However, the long-term effects of land-use change on Rs are poorly understood. We undertook a field experiment to examine the effects of long-term land-use change on Rs. The land-use types included grazed grassland (GGL), enclosed grassland (EGL), continuous cropland (CCL), rotation cropland (RCL) and abandoned cropland (ACL) in an alpine agro-pastoral ecotone in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China. Our results showed that the accumulative Rs was shown a decreasing order of EGL > CCL > RCL > GGL > ACL, with the highest value of 12.2 t CO 2 ha−1 and the lowest value of 5.3 t CO 2 ha−1. Soil bulk density, moisture, pH and C/N ratio were the key factors regulating Rs with land-use change in Tianzhu alpine agro-pastoral ecotone. Soil pH and C/N ratio regulated Rs indirectly by affecting bacterial diversity, while soil moisture had indirect impacts on Rs mainly by regulating microbial biomass. The net effects of soil bulk density on Rs was mainly through the direct pathway. Considering the soil C stocks showed an increasing order of ACL < RCL < CCL < GGL < EGL, even though ACL had the lowest Rs , grasslands probably the favorable land-use type in alpine agro-pastoral ecotone. Our findings highlight the importance of the land-use change on Rs , which may need to be incorporated into regional and global models for better predicting C-climate feedbacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A modified version of the dynamically dimensioned search (MDDS) is introduced for automatic calibration of watershed simulation models. The distinguishing feature of the MDDS is that the algorithm makes full use of sensitivity information in the optimization procedure. The Latin hypercube one-factor-at-a-time (LH-OAT) technique is used to calculate the sensitivity information of every parameter in the model. The performance of the MDDS is compared to that of the dynamically dimensioned search (DDS), the DDS identifying only the most sensitive parameters, and the shuffled complex evolution (SCE) method, respectively, for calibration of the easy distributed hydrological model (EasyDHM). The comparisons range from 500 to 5000 model evaluations per optimization trial. The results show the following: the MDDS algorithm outperforms the DDS algorithm, the DDS algorithm identifying the most sensitive parameters, and the SCE algorithm within a specified maximum number of function evaluations (fewer than 5000); the MDDS algorithm shows robustness compared with the DDS algorithm when the maximum number of model evaluations is less than 2500; the advantages of the MDDS algorithm are more obvious for a high-dimensional distributed hydrological model, such as the EasyDHM model; and the optimization results from the MDDS algorithm are not very sensitive to either the variance (between 0.3 and 1) for randn′ used in the MDDS algorithm or the number of strata used in the Latin hypercube (LH) sampling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The stabilities and electronic properties of gold clusters containing up to six atoms trapped inside cyclo[8]thiophene (CS8), cyclo[8]selenophene (CSe8), and cyclo[8]tellurophene (CTe8) nanoaggregates have been studied using the M06 functional. The 6-31G(d) basis set was used for all atoms except Au and Te, for which the LANL2DZ(d,p) pseudopotential basis set was applied. Single-point energy calculations were performed with the 6-311G(d,p) basis set for all atoms except for Au and Te, for which the cc-TZVP-pp pseudopotential basis set was used. Among the three studied macrocycles, only CS8 and CSe8 were found to be capable of nanoaggregate formation. In the lowest-energy conformer of CTe8, the tellurophene fragments adopt an anti orientation, thus impeding a tubular arrangement of the macrocycles. The formation of gold clusters inside the CS8 and CSe8 nanoaggregates is a thermodynamically favorable process, and could represent a potentially useful method of stabilizing metal nanowires. The binding energy between the nanoaggregate and the gold cluster is always higher for selenium-containing complexes than for sulfur-containing ones because Se has a higher affinity than S for Au in such complexes. Interactions of the gold cluster with the nanoaggregate walls can change the geometry of the most stable isomer for the cluster. The relative energies of different isomers are rather similar, suggesting that they coexist. For nanoaggregates containing Au clusters, the cluster geometry when it is inside a nanoaggregate is different from the geometry of the cluster when it is not inside the nanoaggregate, due to the geometric restrictions imposed by the nanoaggregate cavity. The reorganization energy needed to change the geometry leads to lower binding energies for these complexes compared to those of some smaller systems, although the formation of a complex between Au and a nanoaggregate with six CS8 or CSe8 macrocycles is still thermodynamically viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liner is affixed to the inner side of the ball mill cylinder to protect the cylinder. Through isothermal compression experiments, Arrhenius constitutive models, peak strain models, critical strain models, dynamic recrystallization dynamic models, and grain size models suitable for the forging process of Mn–Cr–Ni–Mo steel used in ball mill liners were established. By utilizing Deform software, a 3D thermo‐force‐structure coupling model for the hot forging process of ball mill liners was constructed, and the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization and average grain size during forging was predicted. The response surface model was employed to investigate how process parameters interacted with each other and affected microstructure uniformity in ball mill liners. After optimization, the optimal parameters were determined: initial forging temperature at 1200 °C, forging speed at 30 mm s−1, and friction coefficient at 0.3. Subsequently, a hot forging experiment on ball mill liners was conducted using these optimized parameters; samples were analyzed through backscattered electron diffraction device experiments and microscopic tissue observations. Results demonstrated that microstructural changes observed during actual forging processes aligned with numerical simulation results—thus verifying both the accuracy of the Mn–Cr–Ni–Mo steel material model and numerical simulation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]