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The anti-tumor immune response is greatly hindered by the protumor polarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Cancer-related inflammation plays a central role in TAMs protumor polarization. Our study explored the unique positive feedback loop between inflammasome and complement in TAMs. The present study identified NOD-like receptors family pyrin domain containing 12 (NLRP12) formed positive feedback with C1qA and drove TAMs protumor polarization via the LILRB4/NF-κB pathway. In addition, NLRP12 was predominantly expressed in TAMs and was associated with poorer prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients. Knocking down LILRB4 inhibited TAMs protumor polarization. NLRP12-overexpressing TAMs promoted tumor cells’ malignant progression and inhibited T cells’ proliferation and cytotoxic function. Lastly, NLRP12 knockout (NLRP12−/−) reversed macrophage polarization, enhanced T-cell anti-tumor immunity, and suppressed tumor growth. Our findings highlighted the essential role of NLRP12/C1qA positive feedback loop and the LILRB4/NF-κB pathway in promoting TAMs protumor polarization. Inhibition of NLRP12 suppressed tumor development and promoted immune response. NLRP12 may be a promising target for LUAD immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional radar systems use fixed patterns and constant electromagnetic wave transmission to illuminate targets, but they often do not effectively use prior information about targets and consume significant radar resources. Cognitive radar has emerged as a way to improve resource efficiency and address these shortcomings. A joint waveform design and resource allocation strategy for cognitive radar that incorporates target situational awareness is proposed. This method integrates the interacting multiple model algorithm and the Unscented Kalman Particle Filter to achieve target situation awareness as prior knowledge. By combining the target attitude and the frequency response function of the target radar cross section at different time points in the prior knowledge, a joint beam control and power allocation strategy is formulated and transformed into an optimization problem. In addition, a cognitive pulse‐to‐pulse frequency agile waveform design method is proposed to support multiple target tracking under complex motion models. Simulation experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in obtaining accurate target situation information, achieving beam control, and optimizing power allocation. The designed waveforms can enhance radar target detection performance and improve low probability of intercept characteristics by adjusting the pulse repetition interval. This method has significant technical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, in order to reduce the probability of the radar waveform intercepted by the passive detection system, the time-bandwidth product of the radar waveform is increased, and the detection probability of the radar waveform to the target is improved. This paper tackles the holographic RF stealth radar and proposes a joint coding waveform based on the linear frequency modulation (LFM) waveform. Joint coding uses complementary codes to perform phase-coding, and combines the codewords optimized by genetic algorithm in order to perform discrete frequency-coding waveform. The joint coding waveform model is theoretically analyzed, and the ambiguity function, pulse compression and target detection probability of the joint coding waveform are obtained by numerical simulation. In addition, the complexity of the algorithm and the low probability of intercept (LPI) characteristic of the joint coding waveform are analyzed. The results show that the joint coding waveform has an approximate "pushpin" ambiguity function, ultra-low sidelobe characteristics, better RF stealth and target detection performance. Finally, it has good application prospects in the current battlefield environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federated learning (FL) has been considered as a promising paradigm for enabling distributed training/learning in many machine-learning services without revealing users’ local data. Driven by the growing interests in exploiting FL in wireless networks, this paper studies the Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) assisted FL in which a group of end-devices (EDs) form a NOMA cluster to send their locally trained models to the cellular base station (BS) for model aggregation. In particular, we consider that the BS adopts wireless power transfer (WPT) to power the EDs (for their data transmission and local training) in each round of FL iteration, and formulate a joint optimization of the BS’s WPT for different EDs, the EDs’ NOMA-transmission for sending the local models to the BS, the BS’s broadcasting of the aggregated model to all EDs, the processing-rates of the BS and EDs, as well as the training-accuracy of the FL, with the objective of minimizing the system-wise cost accounting for the total energy consumption as well as the FL convergence latency. In spite of the strict non-convexity of the joint optimization problem, we analytically characterize the BS’s and all EDs’ optimal processing-rates, based on which we propose a layered algorithm for finding the optimal solutions for the joint optimization problem via exploiting monotonic optimization. Numerical results validate that our algorithm can achieve the optimal solution as LINGO’s global-solver (i.e., a commercial optimization package) while significantly reducing the computation-time. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that our NOMA assisted FL can reduce the system cost compared to the benchmark FL scheme with the fixed local training-accuracy by more than 70% and the conventional frequency division multiple access (FDMA) based FL by 78%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To detect moving weak targets in the dual function radar communication (DFRC) system of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform, a modified hybrid integration method is addressed in this paper. A high-speed aircraft can cause range walk (RW) and Doppler walk (DW), rendering traditional detection methods ineffective. To overcome RW and DW, this paper proposes an integration approach combining DFRC and OFDM. The proposed approach consists of two primary components: intra-frame coherent integration and hybrid multi-inter-frame integration. After the echo signal is re-fragmented into multiple subfragments, the first step involves integrating energy across fixed situations within intra-frames for each subcarrier. Subsequently, coherent integration is performed across the subfragments, followed by the application of a Radon transform (RT) to generate frames based on the properties derived from the coherent integration output. This paper provides detailed expressions and analyses for various performance metrics of our proposed method, including the communication bit error ratio (BER), responses of coherent and non-coherent outputs, and probability of detection. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of the present study was to obtain information on the use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors by oncologists in China through a national questionnaire survey.Methods: Between the 7th and 25th of July in 2019, a questionnaire designed by the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology Immuno-Oncology (CSCO IO) Committee on the current status of the use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors was distributed online and offline to cancer-related medical departments in thirty different provinces and autonomous regions of China. The national questionnaire consisted of three sections as follows: general information, current status of the application of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in the clinic, and oncologists' concerns regarding utilization.Results: The valid response rate of the current status survey was 76.3%. The proportion of senior doctors (physician-in-charge or a more superior position for more than 3 years) among the respondents was relatively high (67.0% in 588). Of the respondents, 59.2% had prescribed PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors during clinical treatment, and the most frequent reason for not prescribing these inhibitors was the choice "do not understand the mechanism and the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors". In addition, 77.9% of the prescribers used the medications in an off-label situation, and the most important motivation for this use was the fact that "there were indications abroad but not domestically". In addition, 77.9% of the prescribers believed that "immunotherapy-related adverse effects could be controlled or intervened through follow-up management". The prescribers were mostly concerned about "how to identify pseudoprogression and hyperprogression" and "immunity-related adverse effects management".Conclusion: The present study highlights the current status of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in China. Increasing numbers of medical oncologists are interested in PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, and they are in need of immunotherapy education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefiting from the cost-performance advantage, large-tow carbon fiber (LCF) is under the rapid development and shows great application potential in various products like wind turbine blade and hydrogen storage cylinder. However, the numerous and densely stacked monofilaments of LCF require further researches on wetting behavior, laying the foundation for improving the mechanical strength of composite. Here, the established strategy for optimizing the wettability of LCF at dual-scale reveals the microscopic wetting mechanism driven by surface energy and capillary wicking. Firstly, at microscale, the relationship between surface energy and dynamic wetting behavior of single fiber is accurately established by dynamic contact angle and molecular kinetic theory (MKT), and the positive correlation between wettability and interfacial strength is verified. At macroscale, the quantification of fiber bundle wettability is achieved by infiltration rate constant. Meanwhile, the overall wettability of fiber bundle is evaluated and improved through the capillary wicking theory and tension-driven optimization mechanism. Such mechanism is further validated by an increase in infiltration rate constant of 144.7% and composites tensile strength of 16.4%, demonstrating that tension-driven optimization mechanism opened viable opportunities and inspirations for the enhancement of mechanical properties in LCF reinforced polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a wireless sensor network, the signal received by the terminal processor is usually a complex single channel hybrid chaotic signal. The engineering needs to separate the useful signal from the mixed signal to perform the next transmission analysis. Since chaotic signals are nonlinear and unpredictable, traditional blind separation algorithms cannot effectively separate chaotic signals. Aiming to correct these problems—based on the particle filter estimation algorithm—an extended Kalman particle filter algorithm (EPF) and an unscented Kalman particle filter algorithm (UPF) are proposed to solve the single channel blind separation problem of chaotic signals. Mixing chaotic signals of different intensities performs blind source separation. Using different evaluation indexes carries out the experiment and performance can be analyzed. The results show that the proposed algorithm effectively separates the mixed chaotic signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Uses the characteristic that RCS of wideband targets has various frequency response under different radiation frequencies. • The target RCS frequency response function is predicted by HMM. • In the process of joint cognitive frequency selection and power allocation, active radar transmits a set of broadband multi-frequency pulses, and uses passive radar to receive echo. It includes the information interaction between passive radar and active radar. • Joint cognitive frequency transmission and power allocation of active radar based on target RCS information. In the Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) radar system, in order to optimize the radar target detection performance, the energy consumption should be reduced while improving the target detection performance. Based on the Hidden Markov Model (HMM), this paper proposes an optimization algorithm for target detection performance joint cognitive frequency transmission and power allocation combined with the target Radar Cross Section (RCS) frequency response function prediction. The algorithm uses the target RCS's characteristics with different frequency response functions at different frequencies. The radar transmits a set of broadband pulse signals with different frequencies at the current time to irradiate the target and obtain the echo. The passive receiving system processes the echo to obtain the target RCS frequency response measurement value, and determines it as a priori information. The RCS frequency response function of the target at the subsequent time is predicted by the prior information and HMM, and the complete RCS prediction information of the target is obtained. Finally, using the radar equation, the radar transmitting power is calculated through the maximum frequency response function in the predicted values at different times and its corresponding transmitting frequency. The optimized information is then transmitted to the detection radar to complete the joint cognitive frequency transmission and power allocation. The simulation results show that the method used in this paper can lead to more accurate prediction information than the traditional algorithm, efficiently reduce the target detection transmitting power, and improve the radar target detection and LPI performance, which has a high engineering application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Conclusions Emergency department (ED) visits at end‐of‐life may cause financial strain and serve as a marker of inadequate access to community services and health care. We sought to examine end‐of‐life ED use, total healthcare spending, and out‐of‐pocket spending in a nationally representative sample.Using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data, we conducted a pooled cross‐sectional analysis of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65+ years with a date of death between July 1, 2015 and December 31, 2021. Our primary outcomes were ED visits, total healthcare spending, and out‐of‐pocket spending in the 7, 30, 90, and 180 days preceding death. We estimated a series of zero‐inflated negative binomial models identifying patient characteristics associated with the primary outcomes.Among 3812 older adult decedents, 610 (16%), 1207 (31.7%), 1582 (41.5%), and 1787 (46.9%) Medicare beneficiaries had ED visits in the final 7, 30, 90, and 180 days, respectively, of life. For Medicare beneficiaries with at least one ED visit in the final 30 days of life, the median total and out‐of‐pocket costs were, respectively, $12,500 and $308, compared, respectively, with $278 and $94 for those without any ED visits (p < 0.001 for both comparisons). Having a diagnosis of dementia (odds ratio [OR] 0.71; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.51–0.99; p = 0.04) and being on hospice status during the year of death (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.48–0.66; p = <0.001) were associated with a decreased likelihood of having an ED visit. Having dementia was associated with a decreased likelihood of having any healthcare spending (OR 0.50; 95% CI 0.36–0.71; p = 0.001) and any out‐of‐pocket spending (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.36–0.72; p = <0.001).One in three older adults visit the ED in the last month of life, and approximately one in two utilize ED services in the last half‐year of life, with evidence of associated considerable total and out‐of‐pocket spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anonymous tracking technology of network watermarking is limited by the deployment of tracking devices in traditional network structure, resulting in poor scalability and reusability. Software Defined Network (SDN) boasts more freedom thanks to its separation of the control plane from the data plane. In this paper, a new anonymous communication tracking model SDN-based Anonymous Communication Tracking (SACT) is proposed, which introduces network watermarking into SDN and combines IP time hidden channel and symbol expansion technology. In addition, we introduce a hopping protection mechanism to improve the anti detection ability of the watermark as well. The experimental results show that in a variety of simulated network environments, SACT achieves excellent detection rate and bit error rate, thus it is sufficient to determine the communication relationship between the two parties. Meanwhile, SACT solves the deployment problem of anonymous tracking and improves the availability and scalability of covert communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Plant diseases, which seriously damage crop production, are in most cases caused by fungal pathogens. In this study, we found that the Raf‐like MAPKKKs STY8 (SERINE/THREONINE/TYROSINE KINASE 8), STY17, and STY46 negatively regulate resistance to the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea through jasmonate response in Arabidopsis. Moreover, STY8/STY17/STY46 homologs negatively contribute to chitin signaling. We further identified MKK7 as the MAPKK component interacting with STY8/STY17/STY46 homologs. MKK7 positively contributes to resistance to B. cinerea and chitin signaling. Furthermore, we found that STY8/STY17/STY46 homologs negatively affect the accumulation of MKK7, in accordance with the opposite roles of MKK7 and STY8/STY17/STY46 homologs in defense against B. cinerea. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms precisely regulating plant immunity via Raf‐like MAPKKKs. Significance Statement: We found that STY8/STY17/STY46 homologs negatively regulate plant resistance through modulating the MKK7 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autistic youth are more likely to experience traumatic events and may be more likely to develop trauma-related symptoms. However, accurately identifying trauma-related symptoms in autistic youth can be challenging. We examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related diagnoses in youth with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a large, pediatric psychiatric emergency department (ED) in a diverse urban setting. Between March 2019 and November 2021, 2728 patients presented at our emergency psychiatric ED. Youth with ASD were 42% less likely to receive trauma-related diagnoses (prevalence ratio 0.58, 95% CI 0.41, 0.80) compared with youth without ASD. One possible explanation for this finding is that trauma-related symptoms are under-detected in youth with ASD during emergency psychiatric evaluations. There is a need for trauma screening and diagnostic instruments specifically tailored to the unique needs of youth with ASD to ensure optimal assessment and care.Autistic youth are more likely to experience maltreatment, victimization, and other traumatic events. However, it can be difficult to identify trauma-related symptoms in autistic youth, especially in those with limited verbal communication. In this study, we compared the prevalence of trauma-related diagnoses given to youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to those given to youth without ASD who presented to a specialized pediatric psychiatric emergency department. We found that youth with ASD were 42% less likely to receive trauma-related diagnoses than youth without ASD. As there is evidence that youth with ASD are no less likely to experience traumatic events compared with youth without ASD, one possible explanation for this result is that trauma-related symptoms are missed during emergency psychiatric evaluations. Developing trauma screening instruments specifically designed for the needs of youth with ASD is an outstanding need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SQUINT (SQN) regulates plant maturation by promoting the activity of miR156, which functions primarily in the miR156–SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE9 (SPL9) module regulating plant growth and development. Here, we show that SQN acts in the jasmonate (JA) pathway, a major signaling pathway regulating plant responses to insect herbivory and pathogen infection. Arabidopsis thaliana sqn mutants showed elevated sensitivity to the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea compared with wild type. However, SQN is not involved in the early pattern-triggered immunity response often triggered by fungal attack. Rather, SQN positively regulates the JA pathway, as sqn loss-of-function mutants treated with B. cinerea showed reduced JA accumulation, JA response and sensitivity to JA. Furthermore, the miR156–SPL9 module regulates plant resistance to B. cinerea: mir156 mutant, and SPL9 overexpression plants displayed elevated sensitivity to B. cinerea. Moreover, constitutively expressing miR156a or reducing SPL9 expression in the sqn-1 mutant restored the sensitivity of Arabidopsis to B. cinerea and JA responses. These results suggest that SQN positively modulates plant resistance to B. cinerea through the JA pathway, and the miR156–SPL9 module functions as a bridge between SQN and JA to mediate plant resistance to this pathogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurturin (NRTN) is one of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family ligands crucial for neuron growth, differentiation and maintenance. Recent studies showed NRTN promotes an aggressive pancreatic cancer phenotype, and predicts shorter survival in lung cancer patients. However, its expression and function in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. Herein, we found NRTN was enriched in CRC cells, and predicted poor patients outcomes. Upregulated NRTN enhanced the migration and invasion of CRC cells and vascularization of endothelial cells. In mechanism, NRTN promoted ZEB1/N-cadherin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A expression in CRC cells, which were responsible for tumor cell motility and angiogenesis, respectively. More importantly, NRTN inhibition prevented CRC metastasis and angiogenesis in vivo. In conclusion, NRTN promotes CRC cells motility and tumor angiogenesis via inducing ZEB1/N-cadherin and VEGF-A overexpression. It is a potential therapeutic target and negative prognostic biomarker for CRC patients. • NRTN is highly expressed in CRC and correlated with poor patient survival. • NRTN promotes CRC cells motility via enhanced ZEB1 and N -cadherin expression. • NRTN induces angiogenesis via upregulating VEGF-A expression in CRC cells. • NRTN promotes CRC metastasis in mice models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recently developed pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 bursting in Wuhan, China, has quickly spread across the world. We report the clinical characteristics of 82 cases of death from COVID-19 in a single center. Clinical data on 82 death cases laboratory-confirmed as SARS-CoV-2 infection were obtained from a Wuhan local hospital's electronic medical records according to previously designed standardized data collection forms. All patients were local residents of Wuhan, and a large proportion of them were diagnosed with severe illness when admitted. Due to the overwhelming of our system, a total of 14 patients (17.1%) were treated in the ICU, 83% of deaths never received Critical Care Support, only 40% had mechanical ventilation support despite 100% needing oxygen and the leading cause of death being pulmonary. Most of the patients who died were male (65.9%). More than half of the patients who died were older than 60 years (80.5%), and the median age was 72.5 years. The bulk of the patients who died had comorbidities (76.8%), including hypertension (56.1%), heart disease (20.7%), diabetes (18.3%), cerebrovascular disease (12.2%), and cancer (7.3%). Respiratory failure remained the leading cause of death (69.5%), followed by sepsis/MOF (28.0%), cardiac failure (14.6%), hemorrhage (6.1%), and renal failure (3.7%). Furthermore, respiratory, cardiac, hemorrhagic, hepatic, and renal damage were found in 100%, 89%, 80.5%, 78.0%, and 31.7% of patients, respectively. On admission, lymphopenia (89.2%), neutrophilia (74.3%), and thrombocytopenia (24.3%) were usually observed. Most patients had a high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio of >5 (94.5%), high systemic immune-inflammation index of >500 (89.2%), and increased C-reactive protein (100%), lactate dehydrogenase (93.2%), and D-dimer (97.1%) levels. A high level of IL-6 (>10 pg/ml) was observed in all detected patients. The median time from initial symptoms to death was 15 days (IQR 11–20), and a significant association between aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.002), alanine aminotransferase (p = 0.037) and time from initial symptoms to death was remarkably observed. Older males with comorbidities are more likely to develop severe disease and even die from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Respiratory failure is the main cause of COVID-19, but the virus itself and cytokine release syndrome-mediated damage to other organs, including cardiac, renal, hepatic, and hemorrhagic damage, should be taken seriously as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]