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Zero-plane is an important reference level included in the logarithmic velocity profile. The prediction of the zero-plane displacement remains challenging, especially in open-channel flows with submerged vegetation. In this study, we first review the existing formulas for estimating the zero-plane displacement. Then, we conducted a series of laboratory experiments of open-channel flows with submerged rigid vegetation, by varying flow rate, water depth, vegetation density, and stem diameter. By utilizing particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique, the spatio-temporal averaged (double-averaged) flow velocity and Reynolds shear stress profiles were obtained. The data analysis shows that the zero-plane displacement is almost proportional to the surface layer depth for the shallow flow cases. As the flow depth increases, the zero-plane displacement tends to be constant and increases with decreasing vegetation density. This result substantiates the hypothesis that the zero-plane displacement is related to large-scale eddies. Lastly, a heuristic model is developed to explain possible variations of the large-scale eddies, which yields a formula for predicting the zero-plane displacement for flows subjected to submerged rigid vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mushroom poisoning contributes significantly to global foodborne diseases and related fatalities. Amanita mushrooms frequently cause such poisonings; however, identifying these toxic species is challenging due to the unavailability of fresh and intact samples. It is often necessary to analyze residues, vomitus, or stomach extracts to obtain DNA sequences for the identification of species responsible for causing food poisoning. This usually proves challenging to obtain usable DNA sequences that can be analyzed using conventional molecular biology techniques. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a DNA mini-barcoding method for the identification of Amanita species. Following the evaluation and optimization of universal primers for DNA mini-barcoding in Amanita mushrooms, we found that the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene sequence primer ITS-a was the most suitable DNA barcode primer for identifying Amanita species. Forty-three Amanita samples were subsequently amplified and sequenced. The sequences obtained were analyzed for intra- and inter-species genetic distances, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The findings indicated that the designed primers had strong universality among the Amanita samples and could accurately identify the target gene fragment with a length of 290 bp. Notably, the DNA mini-barcode accurately identified the 43 Amanita samples, demonstrating high consistency with the conventional DNA barcode. Furthermore, it effectively identified DNA from digested samples. In summary, this DNA mini-barcode is a promising tool for detecting accidental ingestion of toxic Amanita mushrooms. It may be used as an optimal barcode for species identification and traceability in events of Amanita-induced mushroom poisoning. Key points: • Development of a DNA mini-barcoding method for Amanita species identification without fresh samples. • The ITS-a primer set was optimized for robust universality in Amanita samples. • The mini-barcode is suitable for screening toxic mushroom species in mushroom poisoning cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to advances in methods for site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into proteins, a large number of UAAs with tailored chemical and/or physical properties have been developed and used in a wide array of biological applications. In particular, UAAs with specific spectroscopic characteristics can be used as external reporters to produce additional signals, hence increasing the information content obtainable in protein spectroscopic and/or imaging measurements. In this Review, we summarize the progress in the past two decades in the development of such UAAs and their applications in biological spectroscopy and microscopy, with a focus on UAAs that can be used as site-specific vibrational, fluorescence, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes. Wherever applicable, we also discuss future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The production of succinic acid (SA) from biomass has attracted worldwide interest. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is preferred for SA production due to its strong tolerance to low pH conditions, ease of genetic manipulation, and extensive application in industrial processes. However, when compared with bacterial producers, the SA titers and productivities achieved by engineered S. cerevisiae strains were relatively low. To develop efficient SA-producing strains, it's necessary to clearly understand how S. cerevisiae cells respond to SA. Results: In this study, we cultivated five S. cerevisiae strains with different genetic backgrounds under different concentrations of SA. Among them, KF7 and NBRC1958 demonstrated high tolerance to SA, whereas NBRC2018 displayed the least tolerance. Therefore, these three strains were chosen to study how S. cerevisiae responds to SA. Under a concentration of 20 g/L SA, only a few differentially expressed genes were observed in three strains. At the higher concentration of 60 g/L SA, the response mechanisms of the three strains diverged notably. For KF7, genes involved in the glyoxylate cycle were significantly downregulated, whereas genes involved in gluconeogenesis, the pentose phosphate pathway, protein folding, and meiosis were significantly upregulated. For NBRC1958, genes related to the biosynthesis of vitamin B6, thiamin, and purine were significantly downregulated, whereas genes related to protein folding, toxin efflux, and cell wall remodeling were significantly upregulated. For NBRC2018, there was a significant upregulation of genes connected to the pentose phosphate pathway, gluconeogenesis, fatty acid utilization, and protein folding, except for the small heat shock protein gene HSP26. Overexpression of HSP26 and HSP42 notably enhanced the cell growth of NBRC1958 both in the presence and absence of SA. Conclusions: The inherent activities of small heat shock proteins, the levels of acetyl-CoA and the strains' potential capacity to consume SA all seem to affect the responses and tolerances of S. cerevisiae strains to SA. These factors should be taken into consideration when choosing host strains for SA production. This study provides a theoretical basis and identifies potential host strains for the development of robust and efficient SA-producing strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The addition of an organophosphate esterase inhibitor, dichlorvos, stabilized remdesivir (RDV) during equilibrium dialysis for plasma protein binding (PPB) determination. • Dichlorvos did not impact the unbound fraction (f u) of RDV in plasma, and an equilibrium dialysis method for RDV was developed with the addition of dichlorvos. • Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) was more stable than RDV by a factor of 3 but was not stabilized by dichlorvos. Fit-for-purpose acceptance criteria for equilibrium dialysis (ED) were implemented during PPB method development for TAF. • PPB methods for RDV and TAF were qualified and applied to PPB determinations for clinical studies. Remdesivir (RDV) and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) are prodrugs designed to be converted to their respective active metabolites. Plasma protein binding (PPB) determination of these prodrugs is important for patients with possible alteration of free fraction of the drugs due to plasma protein changes in renal impairment, hepatic impairment, or pregnancy. However, the prodrugs' instability in human plasma presents a challenge for accurate PPB determination. In this research work, two approaches were used in the method development and qualification for PPB assessment of RDV and TAF. For RDV, dichlorvos was used to inhibit esterase activity to stabilize the prodrug in plasma during equilibrium dialysis (ED). The impact of dichlorvos on protein binding was evaluated and determined to be insignificant by comparing the unbound fraction (f u) determined by the ED method with dichlorvos present and the f u determined by an ultrafiltration method without dichlorvos. In contrast to RDV, TAF degradation in plasma is ∼3-fold slower, and TAF stability cannot be improved by dichlorvos. Fit-for-purpose acceptance criteria for the TAF PPB method were chosen, and an ED method was developed based on these criteria. These two methods were then qualified and applied for PPB determinations in clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Music therapy is often used to relieve anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients, but the clinical effect of music therapy on breast cancer patients is still controversial. This study was a systematic review to investigate the effects of music intervention on anxiety, depression, pain, and quality of life in breast cancer patients. Method: A computer search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library repositories was conducted. We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), published in English until October 2023, on the effects of music interventions on anxiety, depressive symptoms, pain levels, and quality of life in breast cancer patients. The Cochrane Manual of Systematic Review 5.3 was used to evaluate the quality of the included references, and Stata15.0 software was selected for meta-analysis of the study indicators. Results: A total of 10 articles were included in this study, including 593 patients. Meta-analysis showed that music intervention could effectively alleviate anxiety symptoms [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI): -3.17-1.07], depression symptoms (SMD: -0.77, 95% CI: -1.47-0.07), and pain degree (SMD: -3.47, 95% CI: -6.45--0.48). There was no significant difference in the improvement of patients' quality of life (SMD: -0.07, 95% CI: -0.48-0.34). Conclusion: Music intervention can effectively relieve anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with breast cancer, and reduce the degree of pain, but demonstration of its ability to improve the quality of life of patients requires additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: phosphinates; P-stereogenic centers; nickel catalysis; cross-coupling; asymmetric catalysis EN phosphinates P-stereogenic centers nickel catalysis cross-coupling asymmetric catalysis 1819 1823 5 08/29/23 20230915 NES 230915 Graph P-Stereogenic organic phosphorus compounds, especially chiral phosphinic acid derivatives, are useful in medicinal chemistry, pesticide chemistry, organic materials science, and biochemistry. Moreover, when we employed aryl iodides with a free amino ( B 26 b ) or hydroxy group ( B 27 b ) at the I para i -position of the aryl ring, P-chiral phosphinates were obtained in moderate yields (71 and 68%) and high ee values (88 and 81% ee). [41] However, we found aryl iodides with different electronic properties all gave the corresponding P-chiral phosphinates with moderate to high ee values (62-82% ee); in other words, the enantioselectivity was only slightly affected by the electronic properties of the aryl iodides. During the preparation of our manuscript, Duan and our group separately reported Ni(0)-catalyzed intermolecular reactions of nonactivated aryl halides [39] and Ni(II)-catalyzed intermolecular reactions of heterocyclic halides, [40] respectively. [Extracted from the article]

Ovulation disorder is the main cause of infertility in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). By summarizing the literature, the author found that acupuncture showed certain curative effects and advantages in the treatment of PCOS infertility. In this paper, the effects of acupuncture on the ovulation disorder infertility in PCOS can be described from six different aspects. Acupuncture can adjust the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis to restore the new dynamic balance, correct hormone disorders, and improve ovarian function. Acupuncture can improve blood flow microcirculation, promote the absorption and dissipation of inflammation, improve chronic inflammation and reduce the inhibition of follicle development. Acupuncture can regulate the PI3K/Akt/m TOR autophagy signaling pathway, reduce the level of autophagy in ovarian granulosa cells, reduce follicular atresia and improve the polycystic changes of the ovary. Acupuncture can affect the Kisspeptin signaling pathway, reduce the expression level of Kisspeptin and promote the development and maturation of follicles. Acupuncture can balance and regulate the disorder of glucose and lipid metabolism in ovary, restore the internal environment of ovary, make cells proliferate and differentiate normally and facilitate the follicle development. Acupuncture can improve endometrial receptivity and increase pregnancy rate by regulating endometrial pinocytosis, integrin αVβ3, estrogen progesterone receptor, homeobox gene A10 and other small molecules. From these aspects, the paper aims to explore the possible mechanism and pathway of action in acupuncture treating ovulation disorder infertility in PCOS, in order to provide theoretical references for clinical treatment. The paper also puts forward some thoughts on the mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of PCOS. It is expected that further research can be carried out to clarify the mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of PCOS ovulation disorder infertility [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Most studies have supported the view that individuals prefer to reward the in-group and discriminate against the out-group in response to unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game. However, the current study advanced a different view, that is, the "black sheep effect", in which in-group members were punished more severely compared with out-group members. This study aimed to incorporate proposer identity and allocation motive as possible explanations for offer rejection.Methods: In the current study, the in-group and out-group identities were distinguished by their health condition, and the allocation motive was defined according to its benefit maximization. With a total of 89 healthy college student participants, a mixed design of 2 (proposer identity: out-group vs in-group) × 2 (allocation motive: selfish vs random) × 2 (offer type: unfair vs fair) was used in the Ultimatum Game. Event-related potential (ERP) technology was used, and ERPs were recorded while participants processed the task.Results: The behavioral result showed that the "black sheep effect" was found on the fair offer when a random allocation motive was used. Our ERP result suggested that feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 were modulated by proposer identity but not by allocation motive. However, the allocation motive interacted with proposer identity affecting FRN and P300 when the fair offer was proposed.Conclusion: These findings demonstrated that the "black sheep effect" was related to the experience of the out-group member, such as disadvantage or distress, but it was also modulated by allocation motive. Meanwhile, the out-group (depressed college students) captured more attention because they violated individual expectations, according to the P300. This finding plays an integral role in understanding the mechanism of response to the "black sheep effect".Plain Language Summary: People prefer to receive fair offers compared to unfair offers, but they are more tolerant to in-group members compared with out-group members when facing unfair offers. However, what would you do if you knew the in-group members were making you the smallest offer possible with a self-interested motive to maximize their own gains? We used the Ultimatum Game (UG) to explore this issue. We invited 89 colleges to participate in this study, and they were randomly divided into in-group member, out-group member, selfish motive, and random motive groups. Then, we used event-related potential (ERP) technology to examine cognitive processing. We found the "back sheep effect" on the fair offer, which means that people prefer to accept the out-group member's offer when they had a random motive. We also found different feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 between the in-group and out-group members. In addition, the "black sheep effect" was found in the fair offers when the proposer presented a random motive. This finding plays an important role in understanding the mechanism of response to fair or unfair offers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) has been one of the most significant functional materials for its prominent property change during phase transition. Here the modulation in crystallinity and morphology of VO2 thin film is achieved by femtosecond laser direct writing. Both the local crystallization from an amorphous phase and self-organized periodical structures are generated due to the well-controlled femtosecond laser energy deposition and controlled accumulation. The dynamic evolution of either the volumetric or surface nano-/micro-structure depends strongly on the femtosecond laser conditions, revealed by changes of the Raman bands and reflectance spectra at visible wavelengths. Based on the distinguishable color display performance of differently processed regions, a four-color-level image has been drawn on a VO2 thin film. This work proposes an elaborate "annealing by light" and optical property modulation method for the VO2, paving the way to producing complex integrated multi-functional devices for color display and data storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The weekend effect, i.e., the concentration of air pollutants is different from weekends to weekdays, has been explored since the 1970 s. In most studies, the weekend effect is referred to the change of O 3 , i.e., lower emission of NO x on weekends leads to a higher concentration of O 3 . Determining whether it is true can provide insight into the strategy of air pollution controlling. In this study, we explore the weekly cycle of cities of China based on the weekly cycle anomaly (WCA), which is proposed in this paper. The advantage of using WCA is that we can avoid the influence of other change components such as the daily cycle and the seasonal cycle. The p values of the significant tests from all cities are analyzed for obtaining a whole picture of the weekly cycle of air pollution. The result shows that the concept of the weekend effect is not proper for cities in China, as many cities reach the valley phase of the emission on weekdays but not weekends. Thus, researches should not pre-assume that the weekend is the low emission scenario. We focus on the anomaly of O 3 on the peak and the valley of the emission scenario estimated by the NO 2 concentration. Through the analysis of the distribution of the p values of all cities, we show that almost all cities in China have weekly cycle of O 3 corresponding to the weekly cycle emission of NO x , i.e., O 3 of the peak time of NO 2 is less than valley time. The cities of the strong weekly cycle are located in four regions, i.e., the Beijing-Tianjing-Hebei region, the Shandong Peninsula Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta, and these regions are also the regions with relatively severe pollution levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation T cell heterogeneity presents a challenge for accurate cell identification, understanding their inherent plasticity, and characterizing their critical role in adaptive immunity. Immunologists have traditionally employed techniques such as flow cytometry to identify T cell subtypes based on a well-established set of surface protein markers. With the advent of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), researchers can now investigate the gene expression profiles of these surface proteins at the single-cell level. The insights gleaned from these profiles offer valuable clues and a deeper understanding of cell identity. However, CD45RA, the isoform of CD45 which distinguishes between naive/central memory T cells and effector memory/effector memory cells re-expressing CD45RA T cells, cannot be well profiled by scRNA-seq due to the difficulty in mapping short reads to genes. Results In order to facilitate cell-type annotation in T cell scRNA-seq analysis, we employed machine learning and trained a CD 45 RA + / − classifier on single-cell mRNA count data annotated with known CD45RA antibody levels provided by cellular indexing of transcriptomes and epitopes sequencing data. Among all the algorithms we tested, the trained support vector machine with a radial basis function kernel with optimized hyperparameters achieved a 99.96% accuracy on an unseen dataset. The multilayer perceptron classifier, the second most predictive method overall, also achieved a decent accuracy of 99.74%. Our simple yet robust machine learning approach provides a valid inference on the CD45RA level, assisting the cell identity annotation and further exploring the heterogeneity within human T cells. Based on the overall performance, we chose the support vector machine with a radial basis function kernel as the model implemented in our Python package scCD45RA. Availability and implementation The resultant package scCD45RA can be found at https://github.com/BrubakerLab/ScCD45RA and can be installed from the Python Package Index (PyPI) using the command "pip install sccd45ra." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the moon on mental activities remain contentious. Few studies have investigated associations between lunar phases and different types of bipolar disorder (BD) episodes. In the current study, 7,452 patients with BD from three hospitals were enrolled. Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of episode types, and the effects of lunar phase were examined for each type. The cosinor analysis revealed moon-related rhythmicity in admissions for BD in a period of 14.75 days. There were fewer admissions around the new moon and the full moon. There was no significant difference between different groups in acrophase. There was possibly a temporal lag between the onset of BD and hospitalization. Thus, it is too early to draw firm conclusions about the impact of lunar phases on BD. Sleep might be a middle way from moon effect to admissions of BD. These results have implications for future disease prevention strategies and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing facial expressions is crucial for adaptive social interaction. Prior empirical research on facial expression processing has primarily focused on isolated faces; however, facial expressions appear embedded in surrounding scenes in everyday life. In this study, we attempted to demonstrate how the online car‐hailing scene affects the processing of facial expression. This study examined the processing of drivers' facial expressions in scenes by recording event‐related potentials, in which neutral or happy faces embedded in online car‐hailing orders were constructed (with type of vehicle, driver rating, driver surname, and level of reputation controlled). A total of 35 female volunteers participated in this experiment and were asked to judge which facial expressions that emerged in scenes of online car‐hailing were more trustworthy. The results revealed an interaction between facial expression scenes, brain areas, and electrode sites in the late positive potential, which indicated that happy faces elicited larger amplitudes than did neutral ones in the parietal areas and that scenes with happy facial expressions had shorter latencies than did those with neutral ones. As expected, the late positive potential evoked by happy facial expressions in a scene was larger than that evoked by neutral ones, which reflected motivated attention and motivational response processes. This study highlights the importance of scenes as context in the study of facial expression processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the function of miR‐3529‐3p in lung adenocarcinoma and MnO2‐SiO2‐APTES (MSA) as a promising multifunctional delivery agent for lung adenocarcinoma therapy. Methods: Expression levels of miR‐3529‐3p were evaluated in lung carcinoma cells and tissues by qRT‐PCR. The effects of miR‐3529‐3p on apoptosis, proliferation, metastasis and neovascularization were assessed by CCK‐8, FACS, transwell and wound healing assays, tube formation and xenografts experiments. Luciferase reporter assays, western blot, qRT‐PCR and mitochondrial complex assay were used to determine the targeting relationship between miR‐3529‐3p and hypoxia‐inducible gene domain family member 1A (HIGD1A). MSA was fabricated using MnO2 nanoflowers, and its heating curves, temperature curves, IC50, and delivery efficiency were examined. The hypoxia and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was investigated by nitro reductase probing, DCFH‐DA staining and FACS. Results: MiR‐3529‐3p expression was reduced in lung carcinoma tissues and cells. Transfection of miR‐3529‐3p could promote apoptosis and suppress cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis. As a target of miR‐3529‐3p, HIGD1A expression was downregulated, through which miR‐3529‐3p could disrupt the activities of complexes III and IV of the respiratory chain. The multifunctional nanoparticle MSA could not only efficiently deliver miR‐3529‐3p into cells, but also enhance the antitumor function of miR‐3529‐3p. The underlying mechanism may be that MSA alleviates hypoxia and has synergistic effects in cellular ROS promotion with miR‐3529‐3p. Conclusions: Our results establish the antioncogenic role of miR‐3529‐3p, and demonstrate that miR‐3529‐3p delivered by MSA has enhanced tumor suppressive effects, probably through elevating ROS production and thermogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To add to the limited data that exist on the selection of drugs to prevent mother‐to‐child transmission (MTCT) of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Methods: This is a prospective cohort study that enrolled mothers with HBV‐DNA ≥2 × 105 IU/ml. All enrolled mothers received either tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) or telbivudine (LdT) to prevent HBV transmission. Results: A total of 270 mothers received TDF treatment and 275 mothers received LdT treatment. The predelivery decline in HBV‐DNA in the TDF group was higher than the LdT group (3.92 ± 0.93 log IU/ml vs. 3.76 ± 0.94 log IU/ml, P = 0.043). In the primary analysis, the MTCT rate of the TDF group was comparable to that of the LdT group, both in the intention‐to‐treat analysis (1.5% [4/275] vs. 1.8% [5/273], P > 0.99) and the per‐protocol analysis (0% in both groups, P > 0.99). The alanine aminotransferase elevation rates in the TDF group were lower than in the LdT group (17.3% vs. 27.4%, P = 0.005). Less anorexia and more arthralgia were observed in the LdT group than the TDF group. Conclusions: TDF and LdT are both effective in preventing MTCT of HBV, but they may cause different adverse events. TDF is more effective in reducing HBV viral load and had fewer alanine aminotransferase abnormalities than LdT. Synopsis: TDF and LdT are both effective in preventing hepatitis B transmission during pregnancy, but TDF is more effective and with fewer ALT abnormalities than LdT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic right upper lobectomy (UVATRUL), as a common procedure for thoracic surgeons, is difficult to manipulate and has some inherent challenges. To solve both of problems, we summarized a series of techniques as the three steps method and investigated its feasibility on the patients of right upper lung cancer. Methods: Forty-eight patients with right upper lobe lung cancer who underwent the three steps method UVATRUL in our hospital from January 2020 to May 2022 were selected as the three steps method group. Forty-seven patients who underwent the traditional UVATRUL were selected as the traditional method group. The intraoperative condition and postoperative condition of the two groups were retrospectively analysed. Multiple linear regression analysis was carried out to analyze the relationship between positive results and surgical method. Results: All patients had successfully completed their surgeries. There was no significant difference between the two groups in respect of intraoperative blood loss, rate of conversion, day one thoracic drainage volume, chest tube indwelling time, incidence of postoperative complications, number of lymph node, and postoperative hospital stay (P > 0.05). Operative time of the three steps method group was significantly shorter than the traditional method group (P < 0.001), and number of reloads used was also significantly less than the traditional method group (P = 0.014). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that operative time (β = − 0.470, P < 0.001), and number of reloads (β = − 0.254, P = 0.007) correlated with surgical method. Conclusion: Compared with the traditional UVATRUL, the three steps method trims the surgery procedures, shortens the operative time, and reduces the use of reloads which makes it an effective procedure for UVATRUL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving matching constraints between various components is important in analog integrated circuit (IC) layout design, as it can reduce the impact of layout parasitics on the performance of IC. When automating analog integrated circuit layout design, identifying accurate matching constraints is an essential step before placement and routing. The matching relationship between devices strongly depends on circuit's topology and design expertise. This work focuses on differential circuits with various topologies and proposes a supervised learning framework that incorporates symmetry analysis. The heterogeneous multi-relationship graph representation is proposed to capture circuit's topology and extract matching constraints. Additionally, a symmetry analysis algorithm and filtering method based on matching levels are investigated to enhance the model's performance. The experimental results demonstrate that this work maintains a low false alarm rate and outperforms other matching constraint detection algorithms in terms of F 1 score and accuracy. • A supervised learning framework is designed for constraint extraction. • A heterogeneous multi-relationship graph is proposed to represent the topologies of circuits. • Symmetry analysis algorithm can further optimize the constrain extraction. • Constraints are extracted more accurately using the method proposed in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large bandgap is critical for the applications of quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulators at room temperature. Based on the first-principles calculations, we predict that the methyl and ethynyl functionalized TlSb monolayers, namely, TlSb(CH3)2 and TlSb(C2H)2 films, own QSH states with large bandgaps of 0.13 and 0.272 eV, which possess potential applications at room temperature. For TlSb(CH3)2, the QSH phase arises from the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) induced s-p band inversion, while for TlSb(C2H)2, the QSH phase results from the SOC induced p-p bandgap opening. The QSH effect is further characterized by the Z2 topological invariant and topologically protected edge states. Significantly, the QSH states in TlSb(CH3)2 and TlSb(C2H)2 films are robust against external strain and various methyl/ethynyl coverages, making them especially flexible in the substrate selection. Besides, we find that h-BN is an ideal substrate for TlSb(CH3)2 and TlSb(C2H)2 films to keep QSH states with large bandgaps. Thus, the methyl and ethynyl functionalized TlSb films may be good QSH effect platforms for the design and fabrication of topological electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel metal-organic framework (MOF) based on 2,6-di(1H-imidazol-1-yl)naphthalene (L) and biphenyl-3,4′,5-tricarboxylic acid (H3bptc), namely [Co(L)(Hbptc)(H2O)] (1), has been prepared. 1 has a distinct infinite chain structure, further linked together by winding interactions to give the three-dimensional (3D) network structure. 1 was characterized by X-ray crystallography, infrared spectra (IR) spectroscopy, elemental and thermal analysis. Photoluminescence studies revealed that 1 shows a strong emission at 361 nm upon excitation at 290 nm at room temperature. Moreover, 1 can efficiently detect Fe3+ ions by luminescence quenching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in cancer development and progression; however, their contributions to gastric cancer metastasis remain largely unknown. By lncRNA microarray screening, our study showed that 453 lncRNAs are dysregulated in gastric cancer tissues with or without lymph node metastasis, of which lnc-LEMGC ranks as one of the most significantly downregulated lncRNAs. Lnc-LEMGC inhibited cell migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo, by combining with protein DNA-PKcs. Importantly, nucleotides 1300-1800 of lnc-LEMGC prevented DNA-PKcs phosphorylation of serine 2056 and partially abrogated the effects of downstream effectors, ErbB1, SRC and protein tyrosine kinase 2 (FAK), in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway. The results of this study extend our knowledge of lncRNA's molecular mechanisms, in which lnc-LEMGC functions by directly suppressing the phosphorylation of its combined protein DNA-PKcs and inactivating the DNA-PKcs downstream EGFR signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. With the increasing incidence of thyroid cancer (TC), associations between genetic polymorphisms and TC risk have attracted a lot of attention. Considering that the results of associations of genetic variants with TC were usually inconsistent based on publications until now, we attempted to comprehensively evaluate the real evidence of associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and TC risk. Method. We performed meta-analyses on 36 SNPs in 23 genes associated with TC susceptibility based on the data from 99 articles and comprehensively valued the epidemiological evidence of significant associations through the Venice criteria and false-positive report probability (FPRP) test. OR and P value were also calculated for 19 SNPs in 13 genes based on the insufficient data from 22 articles. Results. 19 SNPs were found significantly associated with TC susceptibility. Of these, strong epidemiological evidence of associations was identified for the following seven SNPs: POU5F1B rs6983267, FOXE1 rs966423, TERT rs2736100, NKX2-1 rs944289, FOXE1 rs1867277, FOXE1 rs2439302, and RET rs1799939, in which moderate associations were found in four SNPs and weak associations were found in eight SNPs. In addition, probable significant associations with TC were found in nine SNPs. Conclusion. Our study systematically evaluated associations between SNPs and TC risk and offered reference information for further understanding of polymorphisms and TC susceptibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Non-small-cell lung carcinoma (abbreviated as NSCLC) progresses rapidly and lacks appropriate biological markers. Recent studies have shown that long noncoding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT-1) has potential application value for clinically diagnosing lung carcinoma. Thus, this study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis for assessing if MALAT-1 has a relationship to NSCLC outcome. Methods. This study conducted the search of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal, SinoMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, Wanfang database, and PubMed from inception to September, 1, 2021. The published article about MALAT-l expression for NSCLC patients was analyzed. We used combined hazard rates under the confidence interval of 95% for examining the relationship of MALAT-l and NSCLC.Results. In this meta-analysis, we found that 10 studies were included, and MALAT-1 expressions were distinctly related to an unfavorable overall survival (HR: 2.34 (1.65, 3.33); I2 = 76%). Considering the merger's clinical heterogeneity, for meta-analysis, we used the random-effects method. Conclusion. Overexpression of MALAT-1 showed correlations to the less effective outcome of NSCLC. MALAT-1 might be a new NSCLC prognosis marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the survival outcome between radical hysterectomy and simple hysterectomy with radiation therapy in patients with stage II endometrial cancer. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study based on the SEER database from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 2015. Results: Of 577 patients were enrolled in the study, 117 patients received radical hysterectomy and 460 patients received simple hysterectomy combined with vaginal brachytherapy. All patients received external beam radiation therapy after the surgery. The median follow‐up duration was 82.77 ± 1.44 months. No differences were found on the baseline information between two groups. Both the 5‐year overall survival (62.31% vs. 78.48%, p < 0.001) and 5‐year cause‐specific survival (74.60 vs. 85.38%, p = 0.01) were shorter in radical hysterectomy than in simple hysterectomy combined with vaginal brachytherapy group. However, the positive outcomes were further validated in patients with high‐risk endometrial cancer, not in patients with grade 1–2 low‐risk endometrial cancer both on cause‐specific survival and overall survival. In patients with grade 3 low‐risk endometrial cancer, the tendency was only found with lower overall survival not cause‐specific survival. Conclusions: This study revealed that in patients' high‐risk stage II endometrial cancer, radical hysterectomy was associated with shorter survival outcome than simple hysterectomy combined with vaginal brachytherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging the outstanding nonlinear optical properties and the ultra‐high spatial confinement of light, microresonators based on lithium niobate (LN) thin films have emerged as intriguing elements in various frontiers such as integrated photonic circuits and quantum photonics. A number of applications have been realized based on LN thin‐film microresonators toward various on‐chip devices. In this paper, the recent advances of microresonators based on LN thin films are reviewed, including essential techniques used in fabrication/characterization and a detailed overview of applications, ranging from frequency conversion, electro‐optic modulation, frequency combs, microwave‐to‐optical transducers, quantum photonics, to lasing. A short summary and perspective is presented to indicate possible research topics related to LN thin‐film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main observation and conclusion: An HPLC‐UV‐guided separation was performed and four pairs of unprecedented macathiohydantoin dimers, lepithiohydimerins A—D (1—4) bearing a rare disulfide bond were isolated from the tubers of Maca. Their structures were unambiguously confirmed by NMR spectroscopic, X‐ray crystallographic and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analyses. At the concentration of 20 μmol/L, compounds 2‐1, 2‐2, and 4‐1 increased the viability of PC12 cells with the cell viability at (72.06 ± 1.14)%, (72.64 ± 1.49)%, and (70.93 ± 1.22)%, respectively. Furthermore, the serial concentration experiment showed that they can protect PC12 cells in a dose‐dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many experimental and theoretical studies have established the specific anion, as well as cation, effects on the hydrogen-bond structures at the air/water interface of electrolyte solutions. However, the ion effects on the top-most layer of the air/water interface, which is signified by the non-hydrogenbonded so-called "free OH" group, have not been explicitly discussed or studied. In this report, we present the measurement of changes of the orientational angle of the "free OH" group at the air/water interface of the sodium fluoride (NaF) solutions at different concentrations using the interface selective sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG-VS) in the ssp and ppp polarizations. The polarization dependent SFG-VS results show that the average tilt angle of the "free OH" changes from about 36.6° ± 0.5° to 44.1° ± 0.6° as the NaF concentration increases from 0 to 0.94 M (nearly saturated). Such tilt angle change is around the axis of the other O-H group of the same water molecule at the top-most layer at the air/water interface that is hydrogen-bonded to the water molecules below the top-most layer. These results provide quantitative molecular details of the ion effects of the NaF salt on the structure of the water molecules at the top-most layer of the air/water interface, even though both the Na+ cation and the F- anion are believed to be among the most excluded ions from the air/water interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intercostal artery pseudoaneurysm is rare and at the risk of rupture. The aetiology is always reported to be iatrogenic and traumatic injury. Embolisation is the most common therapeutic method. Here, we report a case of spontaneous intercostal artery pseudoaneurysm and cured by combining covered stent grafting and surgical management.Case Presentation: A 60-year-old man complained of acute right back pain for 5 h. Computed tomography showed right massive hemothorax and a giant mass with distinct feeding vessel originated from the thoracic aorta within the right hemithorax. Thoracocentesis was performed, and then a covered stent was positioned across the origin of the feeding vessel. The patient was diagnosed with intercostal artery pseudoaneurysm. Finally, we successfully resected the pseudoaneurysm and ligated the proximal part of the artery. Histologic examination have proved the diagnosis. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 10. There is no recurrence reported during follow-up.Conclusions: Spontaneous intercostal artery pseudoaneurysm is extremly rare. Delayed hemothorax due to rupture of the pseudoaneurysm may occur years after the formation. Early diagnosis is important and a combined treatment of endovascular intervention and surgical management is feasible, especially for the case of ruptured large tumour-like mass presentation of the pseudoaneurysm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mislabelling is a significant manifestation of food fraud. Traditional Sanger sequencing technology is the gold standard for seafood species identification. However, this method is not suitable for analysing processed samples that may contain more than one species. This study tested the feasibility of next-generation sequencing in identifying mixed salmon products. Salmon samples containing up to eight species were amplified using 16S rRNA mini-barcode primers, and sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq2500 platform. All species were accurately identified, and mixtures as low as 1% (w/w) could be detected. Furthermore, this study conducted a market survey of 32 products labelled as salmon. For pure and mixed fish products, Sanger and next-generation sequencing techniques were respectively used for species identification, and for NGS results, we also used real-time PCR method to cross-validate the mixed products to further verify the accuracy of the DNA metabarcoding technology established in this study. DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of commercial salmon food products revealed the presence of mislabelling in 16 of 32 (50%) samples. The developed DNA barcoding and metabarcoding methods are useful for the identification of salmon species in food and can be used for quality control of various types of salmon products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By preparing a sensor system around isolated exceptional points, one can obtain a great enhancement of the sensitivity benefiting from the non‐Hermiticity. However, this comes at the cost of reduction of the flexibility of the system, which is critical for practical applications. By generalizing the exceptional points to exceptional surfaces, it has been theoretically proposed recently that enhanced sensitivity and flexibility can be combined. Here, an exceptional surface is experimentally demonstrated in a non‐Hermitian photonic sensing system, which is composed of a whispering‐gallery‐mode microresonator and two nanofiber waveguides, resulting in a unidirectional coupling between two degenerate counter‐propagating modes with an external optical isolator. The system is simple, robust, and can be easily operated around an exceptional surface. On the one hand, sensitivity enhancement is observed by monitoring the resonant frequency splitting caused by small perturbations. This demonstration of exceptional‐surface‐enhanced sensitivity paves the way for practical non‐Hermitian sensing applications. On the other hand, the suppression of frequency splitting around the exceptional surface is also shown for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wenchang chicken, a prized local breed in Hainan Province of China renowned for its exceptional adaptability to tropical environments and good meat quality, is deeply favored by the public. However, an insufficient understanding of its population architecture and the unclear genetic basis that governs its typical attributes have posed challenges in the protection and breeding of this precious breed. To address these gaps, we conducted whole-genome resequencing on 200 Wenchang chicken samples derived from 10 distinct strains, and we gathered data on an array of 21 phenotype traits. Population genomics analysis unveiled distinctive population structures in Wenchang chickens, primarily attributed to strong artificial selection for different feather colors. Selection sweep analysis identified a group of candidate genes, including PCDH9, DPF3, CDIN1 , and SUGCT , closely linked to adaptations that enhance resilience in tropical island habitats. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) highlighted potential candidate genes associated with diverse feather color traits, encompassing TYR, RAB38, TRPM1, GABARAPL2, CDH1, ZMIZ1, LYST, MC1R , and SASH1. Through the comprehensive analysis of high-quality genomic and phenotypic data across diverse Wenchang chicken resource groups, this study unveils the intricate genetic backgrounds and population structures of Wenchang chickens. Additionally, it identifies multiple candidate genes linked to environmental adaptation, feather color variations, and production traits. These insights not only provide genetic reference for the purification and breeding of Wenchang chickens but also broaden our understanding of the genetic basis of phenotypic diversity in chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Species substitution is one of the forms of food fraud for economic gain. The vast majority of existing DNA typing methods are targeted methods that developed for the determination of the specific species in food products. However, these methods are inappropriate for the analysis of unknown food products or a blend of more than one species. This study aimed to investigate the ability of high-throughput DNA metabarcoding to identify mammalian and avian species in mixed products. Next-generation sequencing of a short segment of the 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) mitochondrial gene was performed. Duplicate samples and two different databases produced very similar results. Although the relative abundance of reads obtained from each species could not make a quantitative assessment of the original species composition, this method still has the potential to determination of high and low contents of animal species in mixed products. Subsequently, we performed a market survey to identify animal species in 27 meat and poultry products sold in China using the developed DNA metabarcoding approach. The results indicated the presence of mislabeling of processed meat and poultry products. Highlights • High throughput metabarcoding was used for species identification in meat and poultry products. • DNA metabarcoding can determinate of high and low contents of animal species in mixed products. • Twenty-seven meat and poultry products sold in China were tested using the developed method. • The results indicated the presence of mislabeling in processed meat and poultry products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychotic major depression (PMD) is a subtype of depression with a poor prognosis. Previous studies have failed to find many differences between patients with PMD and those with non-psychotic major depression (NMD) or schizophrenia (SZ). We compared sociodemographic factors (including season of conception) and clinical characteristics between patients with PMD, NMD, and schizophrenia. Our aim was to provide data to help inform clinical diagnoses and future etiology research. Methods: This study used data of all patients admitted to Shandong Mental Health Center from June 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017. We analyzed cases who had experienced an episode of PMD (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes F32.3, F33.3), NMD (F32.0–2/9, F33.0–2/9), and SZ (F20–20.9). Data on sex, main discharge diagnosis, date of birth, ethnicity, family history of psychiatric diseases, marital status, age at first onset, education, allergy history, and presence of trigger events were collected. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated using logistic regression analyses. Missing values were filled using the k-nearest neighbor method. Results: PMD patients were more likely to have a family history of psychiatric diseases in their first-, second-, and third-degree relatives ([OR] 1.701, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.019–2.804) and to have obtained a higher level of education (OR 1.451, 95% CI 1.168–1.808) compared with depression patients without psychotic features. Compared to PMD patients, schizophrenia patients had lower education (OR 0.604, 95% CI 0.492–0.741), were more often divorced (OR 3.087, 95% CI 1.168–10.096), had a younger age of onset (OR 0.934, 95% CI 0.914–0.954), less likely to have a history of allergies (OR 0.604, 95% CI 0.492–0.741), and less likely to have experienced a trigger event 1 year before first onset (OR 0.420, 95% CI 0.267–0.661). Season of conception, ethnicity, and sex did not differ significantly between PMD and NMD or schizophrenia and PMD. Conclusions: PMD patients have more similarities with NMD patients than SZ patients in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics. The differences found between PMD and SZ, and PMD and NMD correlated with specificity of the diseases. Furthermore, allergy history should be considered in future epidemiological studies of psychotic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the effect of general and subarachnoid (spinal) anesthesia on the incidence of postoperative delirium and cognitive impairments in elderly Chinese patients. Methods: Elderly Chinese patients (n = 281) aged 65 - 79 years (mean age = 74.12 ± 4.15 years) who underwent proximal femoral fracture surgery were recruited over a 1-year period for this study. The patients were evaluated using neuropsychological assessment battery (NAB) 24 h before surgery, and on the first day 1 month after surgery. Data on activity of daily living (ADL) (in this case toileting at the time of discharge) were recorded and analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference in the number of patients that developed postoperative delirium between the two anesthesia groups (p > 0.05). Although the trail making test (TMT) scores (parts A and B) were increased on the first day 1 month after surgery, there were no significant differences in NAB results between the two groups (p > 0.05). Patients who received subarachnoid (spinal) anesthesia had significantly higher dependency for toileting at the time of discharge than those who received general anesthesia (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These results show that general and subarachnoid (spinal) anesthesia do not cause postoperative delirium and cognitive dysfunction in elderly Chinese patients who underwent proximal femoral fracture surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global myocardial work (MW) analysis by pressure-strain loops (PSL) allows the non-invasive assessment of left ventricular (LV) function. We aimed to investigate the relationship between LV global MW and the degree of coronary artery stenosis in suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with normal LV ejection fraction and regional wall motion. A total of 164 suspected CAD patients were divided into four groups according to coronary artery angiography. The results showed that global work efficiency (GWE) as the most significant predictor in all MW parameters had the optimal cut-off value of 94.5% for detecting moderate stenosis, and the sensitivity and specificity was 89.7% and 85.8%, respectively. A cut-off value of 94.0% for GWE was the most significant predictor of severe stenosis, and the sensitivity and specificity was 81.4% and 76.1%, respectively. In conclusion, LV global MW is a sensitive tool in detecting the degree of coronary artery stenosis and a potential valuable method to provide early diagnosis for CAD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure, elastic, electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional (2D) MI2 (M = Pb, Ge, Cd) under strain are systematically studied by the first-principles method. It is proved that the monolayer structure of 2D-MI2 is stable by phonon spectra. Moreover, the large ideal strain strength (40%), the large range of strain and the elastic constants of far smaller than other 2D materials indicate that the single-layer PbI2 and GeI2 possess excellent ductility and flexibility. By applying appropriate strain to the structure of 2D-MI2, the band gaps of single-layer MI2 can be effectively controlled (PbI2: 1.04 ∼ 3.03 eV, GeI2: 0.43 ∼ 2.99 eV and CdI2: 0.54 ∼ 3.36 eV). It is found that the wavelength range of light absorbed by these three metal iodides is 82–621 nm, so 2D-MI2 has great absorption intensity for ultraviolet light in a large wavelength range, and the strain of structure can effectively regulate the optical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three species of Scheffersomyces were identified during a diversity study of yeasts. All three are associated with insects and rotting wood in China. Phylogenetic analyses of a genomic dataset combining ITS and nrLSU revealed that these new collections are distinct from known species, thus three new species are introduced i.e. S. jinghongensis, S. paraergatensis, and S. anoplophorae. In our phylogenetic analyses, Scheffersomyces jinghongensis possesses a strong independent lineage and is closely related to S. titanus. S. paraergatensis is closely related to S. ergatensis, while S. anoplophorae is related to S. stambukii. Several differences in physiological traits and molecular data indicate that S. jinghongensis, S. paraergatensis, and S. anoplophorae are three newly identified species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating evidence demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) played important regulatory roles in many cancer types. However, the role of lncRNAs in gastric cancer (GC) progression remains unclear.Methods: RT-qPCR assay was performed to detect the expression of HNF1A-AS1 in gastric cancer tissues and the non-tumourous gastric mucosa. Overexpression and RNA interference approaches were used to investigate the effects of HNF1A-AS1 on GC cells. Insight into competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) mechanisms was gained via bioinformatics analysis, luciferase assays and an RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay, RNA-FISH co-localisation analysis combined with microRNA (miRNA)-pulldown assay.Results: This study displayed that revealed expression of HNF1A-AS1 was associated with positive lymph node metastasis in GC. Moreover, HNF1A-AS1 significantly promoted gastric cancer invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. In addition, HNF1A-AS1 was demonstrated to function as a ceRNA for miR-30b-3p. HNF1A-AS1 abolished the function of the miRNA-30b-3p and resulted in the derepression of its target, PIK3CD, which is a core oncogene involved in the progression of GC.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that HNF1A-AS1 worked as a ceRNA and promoted PI3K/AKT signalling pathway-mediated GC metastasis by sponging miR-30b-3p, offering novel insights of the metastasis mechanism in GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in China, and no therapies have proven effective to prevent it. Popular belief holds that the lunar cycle affects human physiology, behavior, and health. The aim of our study is to determine whether the lunar cycle impacts the incidence of stroke subtypes [intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), transient ischemic attack (TIA) and ischemic stroke (IS)]. We retrospectively extracted the discharge registry data of all patients with first-ever acute stroke hospitalized in the affiliated hospital of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine during 2002–2015. The onset times of stroke were assigned to four primary lunar phases based on NASA definitions. Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the association between the lunar cycle and stroke incidence with adjustment for age, sex and season. A total of 5,965 patients with stroke (4,909 admissions for ischemic stroke IS, 754 admissions for ICH, and 302 admissions for TIA) were evaluated in our study. Subgroup analysis indicated that the admission rates of different sexes for IS tended to have opposite variation during the four moon phases. More female patients were admitted during the new moon than in the first and third quarters, while fewer male patients were admitted during the new moon than in the first and third quarters (χ2 = 15.589, P =.001). Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that men were more likely to be admitted for IS in the first quarter than during the new moon (odds ratio [OR] = 1.252, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.076–1.456) (P =.004), and a corresponding trend was also identified for the third quarter (OR = 1.235, 95% CI = 1.062–1.437) (P =.006). No significant gender differences were shown in ICH or TIA. No sex difference is obvious during the full moon. Moon phases seem to affect both genders, but in very different ways. It seems that the new moon is a protective factor for male ischemic stroke patients and a risk factor for female ones. Woman tends to be more vulnerable than ever at the new moon, so deserves more attention and care. The mechanisms underlying this observation are worth studying further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Findings on the effect of the lunar cycle on mental illness are conflicting. We investigated the association between the lunar cycle and a number of psychiatric presentations of schizophrenia and determined which subtypes were susceptible to lunar phases. Methods: We evaluated 13,067 patients admitted to Zhumadian Psychiatric Hospital between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2017 (73 lunar cycles). Patients were retrospectively assigned to lunar phase based on their admission date: new moon +/− 1 day, first quarter +/− 1 day, full moon +/− 1 day, and third quarter +/− 1 day. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10), was used for diagnosis. We used a Chi-squared goodness of fit test to evaluate the distribution of admissions across the lunar phase and R*C Chi-squared tests to compare age, sex, birth season, and clinical subtype distributions by phase. We used multiple logistic regression to further identify the relationship between clinical subtype and lunar phase. Results: Psychiatric admissions for schizophrenia varied significantly across the lunar cycle (χ2 = 36.400, p<.0001), peaking in the first quarter, followed by the full moon, and lowest at the new moon. Using unspecified schizophrenia (F20.9) as reference, people with paranoid schizophrenia (F20.0) were more likely to be admitted in the full moon than in other phases (odds ratio: 1.157, 95% confidence interval: 1.040–1.286) (p <.05); other subtypes showed no admission differences during the four lunar phases (p >.05). Conclusions: Psychiatric admissions for schizophrenia show lunar periodicities. People with schizophrenia tend to be stable in the new moon, but their condition is easily aggravated during the first quarter and full moon. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia are more susceptible to deterioration at the full moon, so merit more attention and care from communities, families, and hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropathic pain is one of the most common and notorious neurological diseases. The changes in cerebral structures after nerve injury and the corresponding contributions to neuropathic pain are not well understood. Here we found that the majority of glutamatergic neurons in the area 2 of midcingulate cortex (MCC Cg2Glu) were inhibited by painful stimulation in male mice. Optogenetic manipulation revealed that these neurons were tonically involved in the inhibitory modulation of multimodal nociception. We further identified the projections to GABAergic neurons in the zona incerta (ZIGABA) mediated the pain inhibitory role. However, MCC Cg2Glu became hypoactive after nerve injury. Although a brief activation of the MCC Cg2Glu to ZIGABA circuit was able to relieve the aversiveness associated with spontaneous ongoing pain, consecutive activation of the circuit was required to alleviate neuropathic allodynia. In contrast, glutamatergic neurons in the area 1 of MCC played opposite roles in pain modulation. They became hyperactive after nerve injury and only consecutive inhibition of their activity relieved allodynia. These results demonstrate that MCC Cg2Glu constitute a component of intrinsic pain inhibitory circuitry and their hypoactivity underlies neuropathic pain. We propose that selective and persistent activation of the MCC Cg2Glu to ZIGABA circuit may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human UBL4A/GdX, encoding an ubiquitin-like protein, was shown in this study to be upregulated by viral infection and IFN stimulation. Then the functions of UBL4A in antiviral immune response were characterized. Overexpression of UBL4A promoted RNA virus-induced ISRE or IFN-β or NF-κB activation, leading to enhanced type I IFN transcription and reduced virus replication. Consistently, knockdown of UBL4A resulted in reduced type I IFN transcription and enhanced virus replication. Additionally, overexpression of UBL4A promoted virus-induced phosphorylation of TBK1, IRF3, and IKKα/β. Knockdown of UBL4A inhibited virus-induced phosphorylation of TBK1, IRF3, and IKKα/β. Coimmunoprecipitation showed that UBL4A interacted with TRAF6, and this interaction was enhanced upon viral infection. Ubiquitination assays showed that UBL4A promoted the K63-linked ubiquitination of TRAF6. Therefore, we reveal a novel positive feedback regulation of UBL4A in innate immune response combating virus invasion by enhancing the K63-linked ubiquitination of TRAF6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing deep learning techniques for image fusion either learn image mapping (LIM) directly, which renders them ineffective at preserving details due to the equal consideration to each pixel, or learn detail mapping (LDM), which only attains a limited level of performance because only details are used for reasoning. The recent lossless invertible network (INN) has demonstrated its detail-preserving ability. However, the direct applicability of INN to the image fusion task is limited by the volume-preserving constraint. Additionally, there is the lack of a consistent detail-preserving image fusion framework to produce satisfactory outcomes. To this aim, we propose a general paradigm for image fusion based on a novel conditional INN (named DCINN). The DCINN paradigm has three core components: a decomposing module that converts image mapping to detail mapping; an auxiliary network (ANet) that extracts auxiliary features directly from source images; and a conditional INN (CINN) that learns the detail mapping based on auxiliary features. The novel design benefits from the advantages of INN, LIM, and LDM approaches while avoiding their disadvantages. Particularly, using INN to LDM can easily meet the volume-preserving constraint while still preserving details. Moreover, since auxiliary features serve as conditional features, the ANet allows for the use of more than just details for reasoning without compromising detail mapping. Extensive experiments on three benchmark fusion problems, i.e., pansharpening, hyperspectral and multispectral image fusion, and infrared and visible image fusion, demonstrate the superiority of our approach compared with recent state-of-the-art methods. The code is available at https://github.com/wwhappylife/DCINN [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain sensitization after partial infraorbital nerve transection (p-IONX) in mice not only presents in orofacial region, but also spreads to distant body parts. The roles of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in orofacial pain and the spreading process are still unclear. Here, we found that mice with deficient TLR4 because of Tr4 gene point mutation (C3H/HeJ) or spontaneous deletion (C57BL/10ScNJ) developed tactile allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in the vibrissal pad in a parallel way to their respective wild types (C3HeB/FeJ or C57BL/6J) after p-IONX. However, allodynia in the hind paw was absent in mice with TLR4 deficiency. Pharmacological antagonism of TLR4 with LPS-RS, administered either intracisternally or intrathecally, abrogated allodynia in the hind paw without affecting the hypersensitivity in the vibrissal pad and hyperalgesia in the hind paw. Although TNF-α expression was upregulated in both the medulla and lumbar cord, the expression of TLR4 downstream molecule MyD88 increased only in the lumbar cord after p-IONX in wild types. By contrast, hind paw hypersensitivity after partial sciatic nerve ligation was significantly attenuated by TLR4 deletion. The hypersensitivity, which did not spread to the vibrissal pad, was accompanied with upregulation of MyD88 in the lumbar cord rather than in the medulla. These results suggest that TLR4 participates in the spread of allodynia component of orofacial pain to distant body sites, but not trigeminal neuropathic pain or the spread of its hyperalgesia component. This study suggests that TLR4 may serve as a potential target for the management of widespread allodynia associated with orofacial pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report on the polarization dependent nonresonant second harmonic generation (SHG) measurement of the interfacial water molecules at the aqueous solution of the following salts: NaF, NaCl, NaBr, KF, KCl, and KBr. Through quantitative polarization analysis of the SHG data, the orientational parameter D (D=≤cos θ≥/) value and the relative surface density of the interfacial water molecules at these aqueous solution surfaces were determined. From these results, we found that addition of each of the six salts caused an increase in the thickness of the interfacial water layer at the surfaces to a certain extent. Noticeably, both the cations and the anions contributed to the changes, and the abilities to increase the thickness of the interfacial water layer were in the following order: KBr>NaBr>KCl>NaCl∼NaF>KF. Since these changes cannot be factorized into individual anion and cation contributions, there are possible ion pairing or association effects, especially for the NaF case. We also found that the orientational parameter D values of the interfacial water molecules changed to opposite directions for the aqueous solutions of the three sodium salts versus the aqueous solutions of the three potassium salts. These findings clearly indicated unexpected specific Na+ and K+ cation effects at the aqueous solution surface. These effects were not anticipated from the recent molecular dynamics simulation results, which concluded that the Na+ and K+ cations can be treated as small nonpolarizable hard ions and they are repelled from the aqueous interfaces. These results suggest that the electrolyte aqueous solution surfaces are more complex than the currently prevalent theoretical and experimental understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sum frequency generation vibrational spectra of the water molecules at the NaF and KF aqueous solution surfaces showed significantly different spectral features and different concentration dependence. This result is the first direct observation of the cation effects of the simple alkali cations, which have been believed to be depleted from the aqueous surface, on the hydrogen bonding structure of the water molecules at the electrolyte solution surfaces. These observations may provide important clues to understand the fundamental phenomenon of ions at the air/water interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]