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Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the presence of astrocyte antibodies in patients, excluding aquaporin‐4 or glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) antibodies, while evaluating associated biomarkers and pathologies. Methods: Patient serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were tested for antibodies using tissue‐ and cell‐based assays. Neurofilament light chain (NFL) and GFAP in the CSF were detected using single‐molecule array (SIMOA). Results: 116 patients accepted SIMOA. Fifteen functional neurological disorders patients without antibodies were designated as controls. Thirty‐five patients were positive for astrocyte antibodies (Anti‐GFAP: 7; Anti‐AQP4: 7; unknown antibodies: 21, designed as the double‐negative group, DNAP). The most frequent phenotype of DNAP was encephalitis (42.9%), followed by myelitis (23.8%), movement disorders (19.0%), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis‐like (ALS‐like) disease (14.2%). The levels of CSF GFAP and NFL in DNAP were higher than in the control (GFAP: 1967.29 [776.60–13214.47] vs 475.38 [16.80–943.60] pg/mL, p < 0.001; NFL: 549.11 [162.08–2462.61] vs 214.18 [81.60–349.60] pg/mL, p = 0.002). GFAP levels decreased in DNAP (n = 5) after immunotherapy (2446.75 [1583.45–6277.33] vs 1380.46 [272.16–2005.80] pg/mL, p = 0.043), while there was no difference in NFL levels (2273.78 [162.08–2462.61] vs 890.42 [645.06–3168.06] pg/mL, p = 0.893). Two brain biopsy patterns were observed: one exhibited prominent tissue proliferation and hypertrophic astrocytes, with local loss of astrocytes, while the other showed severe astrocyte depletion with loss of neurofilaments around the vessels. Eighteen patients received immunotherapy, and improved except one with ALS‐like symptoms. We identified anti‐vimentin in this patient. Discussion: There are unidentified astrocyte antibodies. The manifestations of double‐negativity are heterogeneous; nevertheless, the pathology and biomarkers remain consistent with astrocytopathy. Immunotherapy is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming polyolefin waste into liquid alkanes through tandem cracking‐alkylation reactions catalyzed by Lewis‐acid chlorides offers an efficient route for single‐step plastic upcycling. Lewis acids in dichloromethane establish a polar environment that stabilizes carbenium ion intermediates and catalyzes hydride transfer, enabling breaking of polyethylene C−C bonds and forming C−C bonds in alkylation. Here, we show that efficient and selective deconstruction of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) to liquid alkanes is achieved with anhydrous aluminum chloride (AlCl3) and gallium chloride (GaCl3). Already at 60 °C, complete LDPE conversion was achieved, while maintaining the selectivity for gasoline‐range liquid alkanes over 70 %. AlCl3 showed an exceptional conversion rate of 5000 gLDPEmolcat-1h-1 ${{{\rm g}}_{{\rm L}{\rm D}{\rm P}{\rm E}}{{\rm \ }{\rm m}{\rm o}{\rm l}}_{{\rm c}{\rm a}{\rm t}}^{-1}{{\rm \ }{\rm h}}^{-1}}$ , surpassing other Lewis acid catalysts by two orders of magnitude. Through kinetic and mechanistic studies, we show that the rates of LDPE conversion do not correlate directly with the intrinsic strength of the Lewis acids or steric constraints that may limit the polymer to access the Lewis acid sites. Instead, the rates for the tandem processes of cracking and alkylation are primarily governed by the rates of initiation of carbenium ions and the subsequent intermolecular hydride transfer. Both jointly control the relative rates of cracking and alkylation, thereby determining the overall conversion and selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming polyolefin waste into liquid alkanes through tandem cracking‐alkylation reactions catalyzed by Lewis‐acid chlorides offers an efficient route for single‐step plastic upcycling. Lewis acids in dichloromethane establish a polar environment that stabilizes carbenium ion intermediates and catalyzes hydride transfer, enabling breaking of polyethylene C−C bonds and forming C−C bonds in alkylation. Here, we show that efficient and selective deconstruction of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) to liquid alkanes is achieved with anhydrous aluminum chloride (AlCl3) and gallium chloride (GaCl3). Already at 60 °C, complete LDPE conversion was achieved, while maintaining the selectivity for gasoline‐range liquid alkanes over 70 %. AlCl3 showed an exceptional conversion rate of 5000 gLDPEmolcat-1h-1 ${{{\rm g}}_{{\rm L}{\rm D}{\rm P}{\rm E}}{{\rm \ }{\rm m}{\rm o}{\rm l}}_{{\rm c}{\rm a}{\rm t}}^{-1}{{\rm \ }{\rm h}}^{-1}}$ , surpassing other Lewis acid catalysts by two orders of magnitude. Through kinetic and mechanistic studies, we show that the rates of LDPE conversion do not correlate directly with the intrinsic strength of the Lewis acids or steric constraints that may limit the polymer to access the Lewis acid sites. Instead, the rates for the tandem processes of cracking and alkylation are primarily governed by the rates of initiation of carbenium ions and the subsequent intermolecular hydride transfer. Both jointly control the relative rates of cracking and alkylation, thereby determining the overall conversion and selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering corrosion on mechanical property of Mg alloy in simulated body fluid, cold-sprayed Zn coating was prepared onto Mg alloy substrate in order to improve its tensile strength after immersion in stimulated body fluid. Tensile strength and corrosion behaviors of bare and Zn-coated Mg alloy were investigated after different immersion time. Results show that comparing with deep and large corrosion pits on bare samples after immersion, Zn-coated Mg alloys exhibited shallow and small corrosion scars on Zn coating, and the Zn coating effectively delayed the corrosion attacks on Mg alloy substrates. The pH increment and Mg ion release in immersion medium for Zn-coated samples were lower than that of bare samples due to the corrosion protection of cold-sprayed Zn coating. Zn-coated Mg alloys after immersion of 28 days exhibited an ultimate tensile strength of 247.2 ± 9.2 MPa and yield strength of 181.7 ± 6.8 MPa, which was higher than that of bare Mg alloys by 11.9% and 16.7%. The main fracture mechanism of the bare and Zn-coated Mg alloys during tensile testing transformed from ductile fracture to brittle fracture after immersion, which can be attributed to stress concentration caused by localized corrosion pits. Improvement in tensile strength of Zn-coated Mg alloy after immersion was discussed from the viewpoint of corrosion attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional response materials showing potential applications in the fields of sensors and optoelectronic devices have attracted widespread attention. However, the synergistic effect of multiple properties in a molecular compound remains a challenge. Herein, we report a multifunctional response material (TPA)2MnBr4 (1), (TPA+ = tetrapropylamine), which undergoes a reversible structural phase transition at 403/370 K. The phase transition further induces a switchable dielectric anomaly and luminescence response. Moreover, the reversible conversion of the χMT value and fluorescence emission was also observed near the phase transition temperature. This work provides a new impetus for the development of Mn(II)-based multifunctional response materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an indispensable role in the study of complex diseases in humans. Traditional biological experiments to detect miRNA-disease associations are expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it is necessary to propose efficient and meaningful computational models to predict miRNA-disease associations. In this study, we aim to propose a miRNA-disease association prediction model based on sparse learning and multilayer random walks (SLMRWMDA). The miRNA-disease association matrix is decomposed and reconstructed by the sparse learning method to obtain richer association information, and at the same time, the initial probability matrix for the random walk with restart algorithm is obtained. The disease similarity network, miRNA similarity network, and miRNA-disease association network are used to construct heterogeneous networks, and the stable probability is obtained based on the topological structure features of diseases and miRNAs through a multilayer random walk algorithm to predict miRNA-disease potential association. The experimental results show that the prediction accuracy of this model is significantly improved compared with the previous related models. We evaluated the model using global leave-one-out cross-validation (global LOOCV) and fivefold cross-validation (5-fold CV). The area under the curve (AUC) value for the LOOCV is 0.9368. The mean AUC value for 5-fold CV is 0.9335 and the variance is 0.0004. In the case study, the results show that SLMRWMDA is effective in inferring the potential association of miRNA-disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dispersion curves for surface wave recordings are required input for many surface wave inversion methods to image subsurface shear wave velocity distribution, while the conventional extraction of dispersion curves requires significant amount of human interaction. This step impedes efficiency enhancement of surface wave analysis and its automation. In this paper, we present an unsupervised learning scheme to achieve efficient automatic picking of dispersion curves of the fundamental mode for surface wave gathers. This scheme is composed of four major steps: computing a frequency velocity(f‐v) spectrum for the surface wave gather using a high‐resolution Tau‐p transform improved by the iteratively shrinkage Thresholding algorithm (ISTA) algorithm, generating clusters points along the dispersion energy in the f‐v spectrum via a weighted Kmeans algorithm, filtering these cluster points by principal component analysis (PCA) and Local Outlier Factor (LOF) algorithms to remove the erroneous clusters, and fitting the remaining clusters to form the dispersion curve. Tests with synthetic and field noisy surface wave recordings demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach and its potential in automatic processing of noisy surface wave data sets. Key Points: An automatic scheme is developed to pick surface wave dispersion curves, and training data sets are not neededHigh resolution dispersion spectrum computation and simultaneous denoising of multiple curves enables reliable picking resultsA key technique for automatic processing of surface wave data to facilitate real‐time imaging and subsurface monitoring [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymeric materials capable of spontaneously healing physical damages and restoring various functions have been attracting growing interest. Among these, the category of water-insensitive self-healing materials emerges as a promising research focus due to their reliable self-healing and stable mechanical properties in high-humidity environments and even underwater. In this review, an update on the significant advancements in the design of water-insensitive self-healing polymers is presented, which are based on various unique chains. Their advantages and limitations are discussed. Additionally, a series of typical dynamic interactions that are used to enable autonomous self-healing in underwater environments is highlighted. Moving beyond these fundamental designs, the diverse opportunities to leverage recent synthetic advancements in water-insensitive self-healing materials for the progression of soft electronic applications are systematically discussed. Ultimately, the significant challenges and remaining opportunities to present a comprehensive view of the future development of water-insensitive self-healing materials are highlighted. This review aims to stimulate further innovation in this burgeoning and emerging field of intrinsic healable materials, interfacing with dynamic chemistry and soft electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haze weather can lead to reduced visibility of captured images, affecting daily production and life. In this paper, a new defogging technique for multi-exposure images combined with prior algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the transmittance of different regions of the haze image is calculated to obtain more accurate prior information. Secondly, gamma correction is applied to the prior map to obtain a set of multiple underexposure images. Thirdly, for the difference between global features and local details in image defogging, the multiple underexposure image set is decomposed into base and detail layers using guided filtering, and the fusion weight maps of the base layers image patches and the detail layers Laplacian decomposition are constructed, respectively. Finally, the haze-free image is reconstructed and restored. The haze image is selected from a standard dataset with different haze concentrations and compared with the commonly used haze removal algorithms. The defogging effect of this algorithm has better performance in visual effect and objective evaluation index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional materials with working temperatures near room temperature are crucial for practical applications. Until now, it is still a great challenge to obtain such materials. In this paper, a complex of (C5NH13Cl)2MnBr4 (1) with a structural phase transition near room temperature is reported. The phase transition induces switchable magnetic properties, dielectric anomalies and luminescent response over the same range of temperatures. It is the first time the synergetic effect of magnetism, dielectricity and luminescence near room temperature have been observed in the same molecular complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a mononuclear Co(II) compound [Co(H2O)6]Cl2·2C6H12N4·4H2O (1) was synthesized and characterized. X‐ray single crystal diffraction analyses shows that the Co(II) ion adopts almost perfect octahedral coordination geometry with O6 donors provided by six water molecules. Magnetic properties studies show it has strong in‐plane anisotropy with D = +66.7 cm−1. AC susceptibility measurements indicate it is a field‐induced SMM with Ueff = 56.11 K via Raman relaxation process and/or direct process. It is rare for Co(II) ion in cobalt‐based compound showing almost perfect octahedral coordination geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This patient had a compound mutation in the exon, the missense mutation c.342T>G[2] and deletion c.868 869delAG.[3],[4] The c.868 869delAG has been reported as a rare mutation in Caucasian PPD and identified for the first time in Chinese patients. Learning points for clinicians Progressive pseudorheumatoid (PPD) arthritis is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder resulting from mutations in the Wnt-1 inducible signaling pathway protein-3 (WISP3) gene. Coronal T2-weighted image of the hip (N) and axial T1-weighted image of the hip (O): an abnormal signal of the femoral head and hips bilaterally and narrow joint space at left hip. [Extracted from the article]

Our aim of this study was to identify risk factors and develop a prediction model for unplanned neurological intensive care unit (NICU) events after elective infratentorial brain tumor resection in order to propose an individualized admission to the NICU tailored to patient needs. Patients admitted to our NICU between September 2018 and May 2021 after elective infratentorial brain tumor resection were reviewed. Prolonged NICU stays and unplanned NICU admissions were defined as unplanned NICU events. The prognostic model of unplanned NICU events was developed using a forward stepwise logistic regression analysis, and external validation was evaluated. The C-statistic was used to assess discrimination, and a smooth, nonparametric calibration line was used to assess calibration graphically in the model. Of the 1,710 patients in the development cohort, unplanned NICU events occurred in 162 (9.5%). Based on the lesion type, a Karnofsky Performance Status score <70 at admission, longer duration of surgery, bleeding in the operative area evident on postoperative computed tomography, higher fibrinogen and blood glucose levels at admission, and more intraoperative blood loss were independently associated with unplanned NICU events. The external validation test showed good discrimination (C-statistic = 0.811) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow P = 0.141) for unplanned NICU events. Several patient and operative characteristics are associated with a greater likelihood of the occurrence of unplanned NICU events. In the future, we may be able to provide better help for the resource allocation of NICUs according to these risk factors and prediction models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in Oncology Letters, has been retracted due to concerns about the data presented. A reader noticed that the data in Figure 3C of the article were very similar to data that had already been published in a different article by different authors. Since the contentious data had been published prior to the submission of this article, the editor decided to retract it. The authors were asked for an explanation but did not respond. The editor apologizes for any inconvenience caused. [Extracted from the article]

MutS homolog 2 (MSH2) is a crucial participant in human DNA repair, and lots of the studies functionally associated with it were begun with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). MSH2 has also been reported to take part in the progresses of various tumors' formation. With the help of GTEx, CCLE, and TCGA pan-cancer databases, the analysis of MSH2 gene distribution in both tumor tissues and normal control tissues was carried out. Kaplan-Meyer survival plots and COX regression analysis were conducted for the assessment into the MSH2's impact on tumor patients' clinical prognosis. In an investigation to the association of MSH2 expression with immune infiltration level of various tumors and a similar study on tumor immune neoantigens, microsatellite instability was subsequently taken. It was found that high expression of MSH2 is prevalent in most cancers. MSH2's efficacy on clinical prognosis as well as immune infiltration in tumor patients revealed a fact that expression of MSH2 in prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD), brain lower-grade glioma (LGG), breast-invasive carcinoma (BRCA), and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) posed a significant correlation with the immune cell infiltration level of patients. Likewise as above, MSH2's expression comes in a similar trend with tumor immune neoantigens and microsatellite instability. MSH2's expression in the majority of tumors is a direct factor to the activation of tumor-associated pathways as well as immune-associated pathways. MSH2's early screening or even therapeutic target role for sarcoma (SARC) diagnosis is contributing to the efficiency of early screening and overall survival in SARC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biodegradable Mg/MgO composite coating was deposited onto AZ31B magnesium alloy by high-velocity suspension flame spraying technique using nano-sized MgO and micron-sized Mg powders. Phase constitution, microstructure, mechanical property and corrosion behavior of Mg/MgO composite coatings with different Mg/MgO ratios were investigated. Mg/MgO composite coatings with different Mg/MgO ratios presented rough and porous surfaces with typical features of solid-fluid co-deposition and exhibited well bonding coating/substrate interfaces with some pores within the coatings. Mg/MgO composite coatings prepared by co-deposition of Mg/MgO mixed powder were mainly composed of Mg rather than MgO indicating superior deposition of Mg. Microhardness, elastic modulus and tensile strength of Mg/MgO composite coatings were influenced by the Mg/MgO ratio. Mg/MgO composite coatings presented a limited corrosion protection for Mg alloy substrate after immersion in Hanks' simulated body fluid for different times. Corrosion behavior of Mg/MgO composite coatings was also discussed. This study proposed a strategy to prepare biodegradable Mg/MgO composite coating on metal substrates for potential applications in the implant field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the photoelectric current generated by a driving light with nonclassical photon statistics. Due to the nonclassical input photon statistics, it is no longer enough to treat the driving light as a planar wave as in classical physics. We make a quantum approach to study such problems, and find that: when the driving light starts from a coherent state as the initial state, our quantum treatment well returns the quasi-classical driving description; when the the driving light is a generic state with a certain P function, the full system dynamics can be reduced as the P function average of many 'branches'—in each dynamics branch, the driving light starts from a coherent state, thus again the system dynamics can be obtained in the above quasi-classical way. Based on this quantum approach, it turns out the different photon statistics does make differences to the photoelectric current. Among all the classical light states with the same light intensity, we prove that the input light with Poisson statistics generates the largest photoelectric current, while a nonclassical sub-Poisson light could exceed this classical upper bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the effect of Cr 3 C 2 and Y 2 O 3 additions on cermet coatings, agglomerated and sintered multimodal WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co and WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co–1Y 2 O 3 cermet powders were deposited as new type of WC-based cermet coatings on plain carbon steel substrate by high velocity oxy-fuel flame spraying. Microstructures, phases, and mechanical properties of both WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co and WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co–1Y 2 O 3 coatings were examined and compared with those of WC-12Co coating. Results showed that WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co and WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co–1Y 2 O 3 cermet coatings presented homogeneous microstructures with multimodal carbide particles well distributed in binder matrix, and exhibited phases similar to the feedstock without decomposed phase. However, WC-12Co coating showed the existence of some serious decomposed phases including W 2 C and amorphous Co 3 W 3 C. Morphologies of individual splats on WC-Co substrate clearly demonstrated liquid–solid two phase deposition behaviors of three types of powders in which carbide particles were mainly present in solid state and Co in liquid state. Furthermore, fracture toughness, elastic modulus, and wear resistance of WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co and WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co–1Y 2 O 3 coatings were found to be higher than those of WC-12Co coating owing to synergistic effects of Cr 3 C 2 , Y 2 O 3 , and multimodal carbides. Surface morphologies of worn out WC-12Co, WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co, and WC-10Cr 3 C 2 –12Co–1Y 2 O 3 coatings indicated that wear mechanism mainly included gouging and peeling off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the corrosion resistance and bioactivity of biodegradable Mg alloy substrate, novel Zn-HA/Zn double-layer coatings with different HA/Zn ratios in weight were deposited on AZ91D substrates by cold spraying. Phase compositions and microstructures of as-sprayed coatings and coatings after corrosion tests were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrochemical corrosion behaviors of both Zn-HA/Zn double-layer coatings were investigated in Hanks' simulated body fluid using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results showed that both the pure Zn coating and HA/Zn composite coatings presented the similar phase compositions with their primary powders in addition to Zn oxidizations. Zn powders were plastically deformed and partially oxidized due to its low melting point, while HA powders were mainly crashed into fragments and hill-like splats. Both Zn under layer and HA/Zn upper layer were well bonded and presented dense structures, differences in HA/Zn upper layers were related to the HA/Zn ratios. Potentiodynamic polarization and EIS measurements illustrated that the cold-sprayed Zn-HA/Zn double-layer coatings not only improve the corrosion resistance of Mg alloy substrates, but also enhance its bioactivity due to the HA existed in composite upper layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new cold spraying shot peening (CS-SP) technology was used to produce surface nanocrystallization (SNC) of AZ91D magnesium alloy for the first time. The structure characteristics of SNC layer on AZ91D alloy were investigated by means of X-ray diffractometer (XRD), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The microhardness distribution of AZ91D specimen after CS-SP treatment was tested by a microhardness tester. The wear property and the coefficient of friction (COF) of AZ91D alloy before and after CS-SP treatment were investigated using the sliding wear tester. Experimental results showed that SNC layer with thickness about 40 μm can be prepared on AZ91D alloy by the CS-SP process. The average grain size of SNC layer was in range of 50–80 nm and a large number of deformation twin bands existed beneath the nanocrystalline layer. The microhardness of AZ91D specimen after CS-SP treatment exhibited a gradient distribution with the depth and the microhardness value of the outermost layer was up to 160 Hv 0.025 about twice as that of the matrix. In comparison with the untreated one, the AZ91D alloy after CS-SP treatment showed the lower COF and the enhanced wear resistance. • Surface nanocrystallization of AZ91D alloy was induced by cold spray shot peening. • The hardened layer consisted of nanograin region and deformation twin bands region. • The average grain size of nanograin region was in a range of 50–80 nm. • The microhardness variation of harden layer in the depth showed a gradient decrease. • The treated AZ91D alloy exhibited the improved mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subject words represent the brief information of the text. Text automatic summary reflects its theme and core content. In this paper, the research is conducted on multi-feature fusion algorithm on subject words extraction and summary generation of Tibetan network text. Firstly, Tibetan web pages are collected and preprocessing is conducted to extract the useful information from web pages. Secondly, BCCF algorithm of word segmentation is utilized to cut the text's words. Then multi-feature fusion algorithm is proposed to extract the subject words of the text. The algorithm takes into account the multi-factors such as the word's frequency, length, type to calculate the words' weight and effectively select the text's subject words. For text summary generation, the algorithm of the sentence weight calculation is designed in terms of the word frequency, position and so on. The algorithm of text summary generation is to compute the sentences' weight, remove the redundant sentences and form the text summary. The experiments show that multi-feature fusion algorithm of the subject words extraction and the summary generation have reached the better achievement. The research is useful and helpful to the study of Tibetan information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Collision processes of solid-state nano-sized ceramic particles were investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in order to clarify their bonding mechanisms. Effect of particle temperature on particle bonding formation was examined, and collision behavior of nano-sized TiO 2 particle was discussed in terms of particle deformations. Microstructures and bonding qualities of bonded nano-sized TiO 2 particles induced by high velocity collision were examined by high resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) to verify the MD results. Simulation results demonstrate that the bonding formation of nano-sized TiO 2 particles can be attributed to the atomic displacement and lattice distortion in localized impact region of particle boundaries. TEM microstructure results prove simulation results and indicate effective chemical bonding formations between nano-particles at low temperature by high velocity collision. Quantitative results show that the high temperature is beneficial to the particle bonding formation. The asperity around nano-sized ceramic particles surface contributes to the displacement and lattice distortion in localized impact region under the high impact compressive pressure. The fact demonstrates a new mechanism of nano-scale ceramic particle bonding formation induced by the localized atomic displacement. The study present opens up a promising prospect of fabricating functional equipment with nano-scale ceramic particles with high velocity collision at ambient temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To slow down the corrosion rate and increase the bioactivity of magnesium alloys, biodegradable hydroxyapatite/magnesium (HA/Mg) composite coating was deposited onto AZ91D alloy substrate by high-velocity suspension flame spray technique using nano-sized HA and micron-sized Mg powders. Microstructures and phase constitutions of HA/Mg composite coating were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Corrosion resistance of composite coating was also evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS). The result shows that the HA/Mg composite coating mainly consisted of Mg and HA in addition to a few of MgO phases. The coating showed a rough surface morphology with homogeneous elemental distribution and a lamellar structure in cross section as well as well-bonded coating/substrate interface. Mg particles presented superior deposition during spraying due to their higher melting degree compared to HA particles. AZ91D alloy substrate was significantly protected from corrosion in HBSS by the HA/Mg composite coating with Mg dissolution on surfaces of the composite coating. This strategy can offer a new route to fabricate HA/Mg composite coatings on other metal substrates for use in biodegradable implant fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare with enhancing effects of TiO 2 and ZrO 2 reinforcement particles in hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings, HA/TiO 2 and HA/ZrO 2 composite coatings have been deposited on 316 L stainless steel substrates by high-velocity suspension flame spray (HVSFS) technique with the addition contents of 10 wt% and 30 wt% for both TiO 2 and ZrO 2 . Phase structures and compositions of all coatings were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Surface morphologies and microstructures were characterized by scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM). Vickers hardness, Young's modulus, tensile strength, wear rate and corrosion resistance were also measured and compared for both HA/TiO 2 and HA/ZrO 2 composite coatings. Results show that TiO 2 particles induced thermal decompositions of HA in HA/TiO 2 composite coatings rather than ZrO 2 in HA/ZrO 2 composite coatings. Both the HA/TiO 2 and HA/ZrO 2 composite coatings exhibited rough surfaces with spherical/flattened splats and nanoparticle agglomerates as well as bonded coating/substrate interfaces. Although mechanical properties of all composite coatings were improved with increasing addition contents of reinforcements, HA/TiO 2 composite coatings showed slightly higher mechanical properties than HA/ZrO 2 composite coatings at the same addition content due to higher melting degrees of HA/TiO 2 powders. Both HA/TiO 2 and HA/ZrO 2 composite coatings exhibited comparable and increased corrosion-resist performances in Hanks' simulation body fluids compared to the bare substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In photodynamic therapy (PDT), the elevated glutathione (GSH) of cancer cells have two sides for treatment efficacy, activation pre-drug by removing activity suppressor part (advantages) and consumption reactive oxygen species (ROS) to confer PDT resistance (disadvantages). Preparation all-in-one system by simple method to make best use of the advantages and bypass the disadvantages still were remains a technical challenge. Herein, we report a robust PDT nanoparticle with above function based on a self-assembled pyridine modified Zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc-DTP). The activity suppressor and active part of ZnPc-DTP were linked by disulfide bond. After targeting cancer cells, GSH can react with ZnPc-DTP nanoparticles by cutting disulfide bond to release its active part (ZnPc-SH) and oxidize GSH. In vitro and in vivo results indicated that ZnPc-SH can effective suppress tumor growth under the low antioxidant tumor microenvironment (TME). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHA) coatings were deposited onto 316L stainless steel substrates using an in-house developed warm spraying system. Microstructures of the coatings were comprehensively investigated. Microhardness, tensile strength and wear resistance of the CHA coatings were examined. In addition, bioactivities of the coatings were studied after immersing in simulated body fluid (SBF). Results show that the as-sprayed coatings exhibited typical lamellar architectures consisting of partially melted and flattened splats, i.e., with molten shells and un-molten cores of original powders. The CHA coatings had nearly identical Ca/P ratios, crystalline structures and phase constitutions to those of the feedstock powders, indicating that undesired decompositions caused by overheating can be avoided by employing the warm spraying process. Microhardness and tensile strength of as-sprayed coatings were around 690 and 11.4-20.6 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the warm-sprayed CHA coating exhibited a high resistance against abrasion wear when sliding took place with polymers. After being immersed in Hank’s SBF for 28 and 60 days, new apatite was formed on the coating surface corroborating the good biocompatibility of the coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the mechanical and electrochemical properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) coating, nanostructured HA/Ti (nHA/Ti) composite coatings with different Ti contents of 30, 50 and 70 wt% were deposited on 316L stainless steel (SS) substrates by high-velocity suspension flame spray (HVSFS) and compared to HVSFS-deposited nanostructured HA (nHA) coatings. Microstructures and phase compositions of as-sprayed coatings were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The deposition mechanism of nanostructured HA/Ti composite coatings was also examined. Microhardness and Young's modulus were measured. Electrochemical corrosion behaviors of all coatings were tested in Hanks’ simulated body fluid using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results showed that the nHA/Ti composite coatings contained HA and Ti in addition to some Ti-O compounds. Compared to nHA coatings, nHA/Ti composite coatings presented dense and typical lamella structures formed mostly by flattened splats. Microhardness and Young's modulus of nHA/Ti composite coatings increased with increasing Ti content. Potentiodynamic polarization and EIS measurements illustrated that nHA/Ti composite coatings had excellent corrosion resistance compared to nHA coatings and bare SS substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local and systemic metastasis is the main reason for the poor survival rate of patients with ovarian cancer (OC). MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are short non-coding RNAs that serve critical roles in the initiation and progression of OC. The present study demonstrated that expression of miR-19b was significantly increased in OC tissues and cell lines. Analysis of clinicopathological features revealed that the increased expression of miR-19b was associated with advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage and lymphatic metastasis of OC patients. Loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that the silencing of miR-19b reduced the migration and invasion of OVCAR-3 cells; contrarily, the overexpression of miR-19b facilitated the migration and invasion of CAOV-3 cells. Furthermore, miR-19b regulated the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and the activity of the PTEN/RAC serine/threonine-protein kinase pathway in vitro. Notably, the results of dual-luciferase reporter assays indicated that PTEN was a direct downstream target of miR-19b in OC. Taken together, the results of the current study demonstrated that miR-19b serves an oncogenic role in the progression of OC, and could potentially act as a biomarker and therapeutic target for OC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve mechanical properties of HA coatings, nano-structured HA/TiO 2 multilayer coatings composed of TiO 2 bond layer, HA/TiO 2 intermediate layer with different TiO 2 contents and HA top layer were prepared by a high velocity suspension flame spraying (HVSFS) method using nano-sized HA and TiO 2 powders. Phase constitution, compositions and microstructures were characterized by XRD, XPS, FTIR and SEM. Mechanical properties of multilayer coatings were investigated in comparison with the pure HA coating. Results show that multilayer coatings were mainly composed of HA and TiO 2 phases, and presented well-bonded coating/substrate interfaces and porous surfaces as well as graded chemical compositions in coating thickness. Microhardness and Young's modulus of HA/TiO 2 intermediate layers were increased with the TiO 2 contents due to its reinforcement, and HA/TiO 2 multilayer coatings revealed gradual mechanical properties from the TiO 2 bond layer to HA top layer. Tensile strengths of HA/TiO 2 double-layer coatings were improved due to TiO 2 reinforcement in comparison with the pure HA coating. Wear properties of HA/TiO 2 multilayer coatings were tested by a pin-on-disc method and were improved due to the presence of intermediate layers resulting in lower wear rates than that of the pure HA coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light, electricity, magnetism, and heat are manifestations of energy that are strongly interrelated and can be converted into each other under certain conditions. The molecular complex (C5NH13Cl)2MnBr4 shows a structural phase transition near room temperature that further induces the switchable magnetic properties, dielectric anomalies and fluorescent response over the same range of temperature. This is the first observation of the synergetic effect of magnetism, dielectricity and fluorescence near room temperature in a molecule, which well represents the strong interrelation between the light, electricity, magnetism, and heat. More information can be found in the Research Article by Y. Peng, Y. Song, Z.‐B. Hu and co‐workers (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202300598). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cover Feature: Near-Room-Temperature Synergetic Response of Magnetism, Dielectricity and Luminescence Based on (C5NH13Cl)2MnBr4 (Chem. Eur. J. 38/2023) Dielectricity, luminescence, magnetism, molecular materials, synergetic response Keywords: dielectricity; luminescence; magnetism; molecular materials; synergetic response EN dielectricity luminescence magnetism molecular materials synergetic response 1 1 1 07/10/23 20230706 NES 230706 B Light, electricity, magnetism, and heat b are manifestations of energy that are strongly interrelated and can be converted into each other under certain conditions. [Extracted from the article]

• A novel process treated high-strength, recalcitrant textile dyeing wastewater. • Anaerobic granular sludge process removed 97% COD of the wastewater. • Integrated anaerobic–aerobic process removed 99% COD from a feed of 20,862 mg COD/L. • Anaerobic process has high feed loading, small footprint and little sludge production. • Anaerobic granular process possesses better stability than anaerobic counterparts. Eco-friendly treatment of complex textile and dyeing wastewaters poses a pressing environmental concern. An approach adopting different treatment paths and integrated anaerobic–aerobic processes for high-strength and recalcitrant textile dyeing wastewater was examined. The study demonstrated that over 97% of suspended solids (SS) and more than 70% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) were removed by polyaluminum chloride pre-coagulation of suede fabric dyeing stream. Up to 58% of COD and 83% of SS were removed through hydrolysis pretreatment of other low-strength streams. Notable COD removal of up to 99% from a feed of 20,862 mg COD/L was achieved by integrated anaerobic–aerobic treatment of high strength stream. Besides achieving high COD removal of 97%, the anaerobic granular sludge process demonstrated multi-faceted attributes, including high feed loading, smaller footprint, little sludge production, and good stability. The integrated anaerobic–aerobic treatment offers a robust and viable option for highly contaminated and recalcitrant textile dyeing wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is a major solar activity that affects the earth, thus CMEs detection is of great importance for space weather forecast, disaster prevention and reduction. We model the detection of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) as the classification of the brightest block in the current running difference image. Because CMEs usually correspond to the areas with high gray values or complex texture features, multiple features including gray features and texture features are extracted to represent the brightest block. And classifier is designed based on these features. Our method includes four steps: first, because the CMEs spread along the radial direction of the sun, in order to facilitate the analysis, the original coordinate is transformed into the polar coordinate; Secondly, because the typical appearance of the CMEs is bright or complex texture enhancement, we use the brightest block to represent the whole image; Thirdly, we extract the gray, texture and HOG features of the brightest gray blocks. Finally, we use the extracted features to design decision trees as the base classifiers, and AdaBoost is used to obtain the final ensemble classifier. As far as we know, this is the first time that the learning based classification framework is presented in the CMEs detection. Moreover, multiple feature fusion is first used to model the various CMEs. Experimental results show that the integration of multi-feature based detection algorithm proposed can achieve better detection results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Anaerobic–anoxic–oxic treatment treats high-strength PPS wastewater. • High feed chemical oxygen demand of up to 7,043 mg/L. • 0.11 g TKN/L.d and 400 mg NH 3 /L was removed. • 1470 mg/L sulfide was transformed with good process stability. • A2O scheme offers resilient and robust treatment for high-strength PPS wastewater. This paper outlines an integrated anaerobic–anoxic–oxic (A2O) treatment scheme for high-strength, highly recalcitrant wastewater from the production of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) resins and their composite chemicals. An integrated anaerobic granular sludge blanket (GSB) and anoxic–oxic (AO) reactor indicated that the A2O removed chemical oxygen demand (COD) of up to 7,043 mg/L with no adverse impact from high total dissolved solids (25,000 mg/L) on the GSB COD removal and effluent suspended solids. At a Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) nitrification load of 0.11 g TKN/L.d and 400 mg NH 3 /L, almost 99 % of the NH 3 was degraded with effluent NH 3 < 5 mg/L, meeting the limit of 35 mg/L. High S2- levels of up to 1470 mg/L can be transformed through aerobic microbial degradation to meet a limit of 1.0 mg/L. With proper microbial acclimation and process designs, the integrated A2O scheme offers a resilient and robust treatment for high-strength recalcitrant PPS wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The thin film is fabricated by alternate sputtering technique. • The (1 1 2) diffraction peaks of the thin films have excellent preferred orientation. • The band gap is widened and the partially filled IBs are formed in the thin film. • Three additional sub-band-edge responses are revealed respectively. Abstract Ti-substituted CuGaS 2 (Ti-CGS) thin film, a well candidate intermediate band (IB) material, has been successfully synthesized via a well synthetic route by alternate sputtering. The results revealed that the film have a compact morphology and are comprised of a crystalline chalcopyrite single phase Ti-CGS. Due to the presentation of Ti atoms, the IBs were introduced and additional sub-band-edge responses were directly observed in absorption spectroscopy. In the Ti-CGS thin film, except an intrinsic band-edge response observed at 510 nm ('A', 2.31 eV), two distinct sub-band-edge responses are observed at 856 nm ('B', 1.45 eV) and 1418 nm ('D', 0.87 eV). Besides, one weak sub-band-edge responses are found at 1102 nm ('C', 1.13 eV), which is in accord with theoretical prediction. The present report might provide a promising fabrication process for discovering the multiple IBs in the Ti-CGS film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zero-dimensional (0D) hybrid metal halides have attracted much attention due to their rich composition, excellent optical stability, large exciton binding energy, etc. Photoelectric switchable multifunctional materials can integrate multiple physical properties (e.g., ferroelectricity, photoluminescence, magnetic, etc.) into one device and are widely used in many fields such as smart switches, sensors, etc. However, multifunctional materials with thermal energy storage, stimulant dielectric response, and light-emitting properties are rarely reported. Here, we synthesized a new organic–inorganic hybrid metal halide single crystal [TEMA]2MnBr4 (1) (TEMA+ = triethylmethylammonium). Compound 1 undergoes a reversible phase transition at a high temperature of 344/316 K, having a large thermal hysteresis of 28 K and exhibits high stability dielectric switching characteristics near the phase transition temperature. The single crystal exhibits green emission at 513 nm under UV excitation, originating from the 4T1g(G) → 6A1g(S) transition of Mn2+ ions. Excitingly, this single crystal's photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) is as high as 80.78%. This work provides a strategy for the development of organic-inorganic hybrid optoelectronic multifunctional materials with high-efficient light emission and switchable dielectric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to explore new, noninvasive treatment options for spinal cord injuries (SCI), this study investigated the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) for SCI rat models. SCI was induced by a modified Allen’s weight-drop method. We investigated the response of EA at Dazhui (GV 14) and Mingmen (GV 4) acupoints to understand the effects and mechanisms of EA in neuroprotection and neuronal function recovery after SCI. BBB testing was used to detect motor function of rats’ hind limbs among groups, and EA was shown to promote the recovery of SCI rats’ motor function. Nissl staining showed a restored neural morphology and an increase in the quantity of neurons after EA. Also, the antiapoptosis role was exposed by TUNEL staining. Western blotting analysis was used to determine the protein expression of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) in spinal cord tissue. Compared to the sham group, the expression levels of NT-3 were significantly decreased and EA was shown to upregulate the expression of NT-3. The present study suggests that the role of EA in neuroprotection and dorsal neuronal function recovery after SCI in rats, especially EA stimulation at GV 14 and GV 4, can greatly promote neuronal function recovery, which may result from upregulating the expression of NT-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the innate immune injury and repair mechanism during recovery from Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) induced myocarditis, we established an acute viral myocarditis recovery model by infecting BALB/c mice with CVB3. Histopathological examination of cardiac tissues after infection showed a gradual increase of myocardial injury to the maximum degree at 8 dpi (days post infection), followed by a recovery process with reduced viral replication. We also measured expression changes of innate immune genes in heart after 4, 8 and 12 days of infection using innate immune real-time PCR array. The results showed expression alterations in many Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) genes upon CVB3 infection, which activated multiple important signaling pathways during recovery process. The expression of TLRs, RLRs, PKR and cytokines were strongly induced and reached the peak at 4 dpi in early myocarditis stage, followed by a gradual reduction in recovery stage, during which the levels were even lower than normal at 12 dpi. The strong correlation between cardiac histopathology score and chemokine expression level suggested that the chemokines might play a role in pathological changes during early myocarditis stage. In addition, we also found that both cell survival signaling pathways (AKT1, p38MAPK) and antiviral signaling pathways (IKKα/β/ε) were activated and promoted the recovery during late myocarditis stage. Altogether, our observations improved the understanding of formation and progression of the pathological lesions, as well as the repair mechanism for acute viral myocarditis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral spoof surface plasmon polaritons in the terahertz region, resulting from a coherent superposition of TM and HE modes, can be generated by normally exciting helically corrugated metal wire with a linearly polarized Gaussian light. The handedness of the chiral SPP depends on the handedness of the helical groove. The chirality of the surface wave causes a spiral spatial extent of average power whose period is determined by the difference in the wave vector between two modes. Simultaneously, highly circular polarization of a confined surface wave emerges from the chirality of the geometry. Moreover, the polarization state is heavily dependent on working frequency relative to the characteristic frequency of each mode. This type of chiral SPP, originating from the helical groove, makes helically corrugated metal wire useful for some special applications, such as circularly polarized sources for terahertz near-field microscopy or terahertz sensors for chiral biomolecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new rare α-pyrone (=2 H-pyran-2-one) derivatives, rhodanthpyrones A and B ( 1 and 2, resp.), together with fourteen known compounds, 3- 16, were isolated from the whole plants of Gentiana rhodantha. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses. This is the first report on the occurrence of α-pyrone derivatives in the genus Gentiana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bonding of TiO nano-particle/substrate is a critical factor influencing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. In order to reveal the bonding properties at TiO nano-particle/substrate interface, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis was adopted to TiO coatings prepared by three different approaches. In the HRTEM analysis, the effective bonding mode is allowed to distinguish from the false image overlapping. Results show that large areas of effective bonding between nano-TiO particles and the substrate surface formed in the room temperature cold sprayed coating and mechanically pressed coating, while only limited interface areas with the effective bonding were observed in the coating deposited by non-pressed method. These results confirm that both high impact pressure during the room temperature cold spraying and mechanical pressure contribute to the bonding formation at the particle/substrate interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Lagrange duality method, this paper investigates a multi-period mean-variance portfolio selection problem under uncertain exit time and stochastic market environment. We assume that all the assets in the market are risky, and there are only a finite number of states in the market and the state transition process follows a time varying Markov chain, and the random returns of the assets over every period not only depend on the time but also depend on the market state. Firstly, by using the dynamic programming technique and the Lagrange duality method, we obtain the explicit expressions for the efficient investment strategy and the efficient frontier. Then, we provide and prove a multi-period version of two fund separation theorem. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the results obtained in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a continuous-time mean-variance model, this paper considers a portfolio selection problem under inflation when time-horizon is uncertain. Different from most of the existing literature, the financial market considered in this paper consists of only risky assets. First of all, incorporating the uncertain factors of inflation and uncertain time-horizon, a mean-variance portfolio selection model with only risky assets is constructed. Second, closed-form expressions for efficient investment strategy and efficient frontier are derived by employing stochastic dynamic programming and Lagrange dual principle. Third, some special cases are discussed. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the results obtained in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies suggest the higher the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) the greater the risk of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the relationship between RDW and long-term outcome in CAD patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a drug-eluting stent (DES) remains unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the long-term effect of RDW in patients treated with drug-eluting stent for CAD. Methods: In total of 2169 non-anemic patients (1468 men, mean age 60.2±10.9 years) with CAD who had undergone successful PCI and had at least one drug-eluting stent were included in this study. Patients were grouped according to their baseline RDW: Quartile 1 (RDW<12.27%), Quartile 2 (12.27%≤RDW<13%), Quartile 3 (13%≤RDW<13.5%), and Quartile 4 (RDW≥13.5). Results: The incidence of in-hospital mortality and death or myocardial infarction was significantly higher in Quartiles 3 and 4 compared with Quartile 1 (P<0.05). After a follow-up of 29 months, the incidence of all-cause death and stent thrombosis in Quartile 4 was higher than in Quartiles 1, 2, and 3 (P<0.05). The incidence of death/myocardial infarction/stroke and cardiac death in Quartile 4 was higher than in Quartiles 1 and 2 (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that RDW was an independent predictor of all-cause death (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.15–1.62, P<0.001) and outcomes of death/myocardial infarction/stroke (HR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.04–1.39, P = 0.013). The cumulative survival rate of Quartile 4 was lower than that of Quartiles 1, 2, and 3 (P<0.05). Conclusion: High RDW is an independent predictor of long-term adverse clinical outcomes in non-anemic patients with CAD treated with DES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarized the Chinese literatures in the previous 5 years about the pre-clinical animal researches on the application of electro-acupuncture (EA) treatment for depression, searched in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The efficiency of EA treatment for depression and the mechanism of it were discussed, to shed light on new ideas and new fronts for the further research on depression in clinical or pre-clinical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to take advantage of hybrid materials in their structural diversity and richness of their photoelectric properties, the research in polar materials has been extended to metal‐organic compounds in recent years. The main synthesis strategy is to use the molecular dynamics. Here, we describe that the second harmonic generation (SHG) switching effect can be effectively achieved by combination of coordination distortion of metal ions with s2 electrons and molecular dynamics. We synthesized a noncentrosymmetric complex, (1S,4S)‐(+)‐2‐aza‐5‐oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane)2[SbCl5], and found that it undergoes an isomorphic phase transition at 382 K. Accompanying the phase transition, the SHG experiences a switching process, and its strength changes from 0.2 times of that of KDP to only noise level. Systematic characterization reveals that the significant change of coordination distortion of the Sb3+ and the change of thermal motion of organic cations lead to the SHG switching effect. This finding shows that the combination of lone pair electron effect of metal ion and molecular dynamics characteristics would be a feasible strategy in development of polar hybrid materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recently Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) for single-hidden-layer feedforward neural networks (SLFN) has been attracting attentions for its faster learning speed and better generalization performance than those of traditional gradient-based learning algorithms. However, ELM may need high number of hidden neurons and lead to ill-condition problem due to the random determination of the input weights and hidden biases. In this paper, a hybrid learning algorithm is proposed to overcome the drawbacks of ELM, which uses an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to select the input weights and hidden biases and Moore–Penrose (MP) generalized inverse to analytically determine the output weights. In order to obtain optimal SLFN, the improved PSO optimizes the input weights and hidden biases according to not only the root mean squared error (RMSE) on validation set but also the norm of the output weights. The proposed algorithm has better generalization performance than traditional ELM and other evolutionary ELMs, and the conditioning of the SLFN trained by the proposed algorithm is also improved. Experiment results have verified the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Selenoprotein W (SelW) was thought to play an antioxidant role in mammals. Because chicken SelW has no cysteine (Cys) at the residue 37 (Cys37) that is required for the presumed antioxidant function in mammals, this study was conducted to determine whether chicken SelW possessed the same function. Methods: Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) technology was applied to suppress the SelW expression in chicken embryonic myoblasts. Thereafter, these myoblasts were treated with different concentrations of H2O2 and assayed for cell viability, apoptosis rate, reactive oxygen species (ROS) status, and expression levels of apoptosis-related genes and proteins (Bax, Bcl-2, and caspase-3). Results: Silencing of the myoblast SelW gene decreased their cell viability, and increased their apoptosis rate and susceptibility to H2O2. While the knockout down of SelW up-regulated Bax and caspase-3 and down-regulated Bcl-2, the induced oxidative injuries were alleviated by treatment with a ROS scavenger, N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC). Conclusion: Chicken SelW protected embryonic myoblasts against cell apoptosis mediated by endogenous and exogenous H2O2. General significance: Chicken SelW possesses antioxidant function similar to the mammalian homologues despite the lack of Cys37 in the peptide. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The electron transport property in TiO2 film was investigated to understand the significant improvement of the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) by using in situ substrate heating and in situ particle heating approaches through the vacuum cold spraying technology, which accelerates the powder to impact on the substrate surface and form a film. Results showed that the particle connection and thereby electron transport property in TiO2 film was improved more significantly by in situ particle and substrate heating than by conventional post-sintering of TiO2 film. An equivalent circuit model was proposed to explain the relationship between the short-circuit current density and electron transport property. The result suggested the existence of synergistic effects of high temperature and impact compaction on the nano-TiO2 film in vacuum cold spray process. Furthermore, due to the ability of retaining substrate at a low temperature, in situ particle heating approach could be applied to deposit the TiO2 film for plastic-based flexible solar cells, presenting a high efficiency of 4.4%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Exposure to high levels of manganese (Mn) can result in cardiotoxicity in animals. However, little is known about the effect of excess Mn on poultry hearts. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary Mn on chicken cardiac injuries and the possible mechanisms of this process. In the present study, 400 fifty-day-old Hy-line brown cocks were randomly divided into four groups, and were fed either a commercial diet (containing 100mg/kg Mn) or a Mn-supplemented diet containing 600mg/kg, 900mg/kg, or 1800mg/kg Mn for 30, 60 or 90 days, respectively. Next, we examined several biomarkers of cardiac injury, including biochemical blood serum analyses, electrocardiogram assays, histological analyses, ultra-structural assays and apoptosis assays. To investigate the possible mechanisms of Mn-induced cardiotoxicity, we examined the effect of MnCl2 on mitochondrial function and metal ion homeostasis. We found that subchronic MnCl2 exposure induced damage in chicken hearts. Further investigations indicated that possible mechanisms for Mn-induced chicken cardiac injury included the disruption of mitochondrial metabolism and the alteration of ion homeostasis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]