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Decentralized federated learning (DFL) may serve as a useful framework for machine learning (ML) tasks in multicentered studies, maximizing the use of clinical data without data sharing. We aim to propose the first workflow of DFL for ML tasks in multicentered studies, which can be as powerful as those using centralized data. A DFL workflow was developed with 4 steps: registration, local computation, model update, and inspection. A total of 598 participants with acromegaly from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and 120 participants from Xuanwu Hospital were enrolled. The cohort from Peking Union Medical College Hospital was further split into 5 centers. Nine clinical features were incorporated into ML-based models trained based on 4 algorithms: logistic regression (LR), gradient boosted decision tree, support vector machine (SVM), and deep neural network (DNN). The area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic curves was used to evaluate the performance of the models. Models trained based on DFL workflow performed better than most models in LR (P < 0.05), all models in DNN, SVM, and gradient boosted decision tree (P < 0.05). Models trained on DFL workflow performed as powerful as models trained on centralized data in LR, DNN, and SVM (P > 0.05). We demonstrate that the DFL workflow without data sharing should be a more appropriate method in ML tasks in multicentered studies. And the DFL workflow should be further exploited in clinical researches in other departments and it can encourage and facilitate multicentered studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) scene reconstruction for moving objects remains a challenging research topic. It is crucial to effectively capture feature representations from dynamic and complex scenarios. Consequently, this work introduces the integration of multi-scale attention and dilated convolution to create an enhanced deep-learning structure for this purpose. Therefore, this paper proposes a 3D reconstruction method for moving objects based on multi-scale attention and a dilated convolutional neural network (CNN). Specifically, a multi-scale attention algorithm framework that incorporates dilated CNNs is designed to extract multi-scale features of moving targets. The dilated CNN is incorporated to enhance the model's perception ability and receptive field while maintaining a lightweight structure. This integrated design aims to achieve automatic learning targeted at features and scene information at different scales. By increasing the effective range of information perception and further enhancing the quality of reconstruction results, a coordinate system is established for 3D scene reconstruction of moving targets. Finally, a comparative analysis of subjective vision, visualization, and reconstruction algorithms is conducted using real-world cases. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits significant advantages in the 3D scene reconstruction task of moving targets compared to traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universal protein coatings have recently gained wide interest in medical applications due to their biocompatibility and ease of fabrication. However, the challenge persists in protein activity preservation, significantly complicating the functional design of these coatings. Herein, an active dual‐protein surface engineering strategy assisted by a facile stepwise protein–protein interactions assembly (SPPIA) method for catheters to reduce clot formation and infection is proposed. This strategy is realized first by the partial oxidation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (LZM) for creating stable nucleation platforms via hydrophobic interaction, followed by the assembly of nonoxidized BSA (pI, the isoelectric point, ≈4.7) and LZM (pI ≈11) through electrostatic interaction owing to their opposite charge under neutral conditions. The SPPIA method effectively preserves the conformation and functionality of both BSA and LZM, thus endowing the resultant coating with potent antithrombotic and bactericidal properties. Furthermore, the stable nucleation platform ensures the adhesion and durability of the coating, resisting thrombosis and bacterial proliferation even after 15 days of PBS immersion. Overall, the SPPIA approach not only provides a new strategy for the fabrication of active protein coatings but also shows promise for the surface engineering technology of catheters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemostatic materials facilitate rapid hemostasis and significantly mitigate the potential of fatal hemorrhage in civilian and military traumas. However, most existing hemostatic materials are limited in material‐dependent forms and fail to integrate multifunctionality, thus constraining their versatility for differing settings and wound healing capacity. Herein, a facile, versatile armor strategy is proposed to endow various biomaterials with rapid hemostasis, infection prevention, and tissue healing capabilities. The armor is fabricated on the surface of substrates first through chemical cross‐linking of adhesive catechol (phenol) and collagen (polyamine) inspired by insect sclerotization, followed by zinc ions (Zn2+) chelation based on mussel‐inspired metal‐phenol coordination chemistry, referred to "metal‐phenol‐polyamine system". This armor facilitates clot formation by promoting platelet aggregation and activating both intrinsic and extrinsic coagulation pathways. Moreover, the integrated Zn2+ endows the armor with potent antibacterial properties against both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. Consequently, this strategy armors a hemostatic sponge that effectively controls bleeding in rabbit hemorrhage models and successfully facilitates the complete healing of epidermal traumas in rats within 14 days. This metal‐phenol‐polyamine system‐assisted armor provides a potential and universal strategy for efficient hemostasis and wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic lesions are common lesions of the sellar region with various pathological types, including pituitary apoplexy, Rathke's cleft cyst, cystic craniopharyngioma, etc. Suggested surgical approaches are not unique when dealing with different cystic lesions. However, cystic lesions with different pathological types were hard to differentiate on MRI with the naked eye by doctors. This study aimed to distinguish different pathological types of cystic lesions in the sellar region using preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Radiomics and deep learning approaches were used to extract features from gadolinium-enhanced MRIs of 399 patients enrolled at Peking Union Medical College Hospital over the past 15 years. Paired imaging differentiations were performed on four subtypes, including pituitary apoplexy, cystic pituitary adenoma (cysticA), Rathke's cleft cyst, and cystic craniopharyngioma. Results showed that the model achieved an average AUC value of 0.7685. The model based on a support vector machine could distinguish cystic craniopharyngioma from Rathke's cleft cyst with the highest AUC value of 0.8584. However, distinguishing cystic apoplexy from pituitary apoplexy was difficult and almost unclassifiable with any algorithms on any feature set, with the AUC value being only 0.6641. Finally, the proposed methods achieved an average Accuracy of 0.7532, which outperformed the traditional clinical knowledge-based method by about 8%. Therefore, in this study, we first fill the gap in the existing literature and provide a non-invasive method for accurately differentiating between these lesions, which could improve preoperative diagnosis accuracy and help to make surgery plans in clinical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is commonly used to obtain vivo images to characterize diseases but results in radiation exposure to patients. Low-dose CT (LDCT) provides CT images of clinical quality with reduced cumulative radiation dose. Iterative image reconstruction methods with effective regularization are used for LDCT but generally require more computing resources and induce higher computational load than the conventional filtered backprojection (FBP) methods. The high computational demand of the iterative reconstruction (IR) with notably increased reconstruction time precludes its routine clinical application. In this work, we focus on the FPGA acceleration of a compute-intensive full IR (full-IR) algorithm based on the Mumford–Shah regularization. At the algorithmic level, we propose a beam-based asynchronous update algorithm to reduce the computational cost and alleviate the conflicts. At the hardware-level, we first present pipeline-friendly optimization for the original algorithm to increase the computation throughput. We then apply the LDCT-specific tiling strategy to improve the data reuse rate. The experimental results show that our implementation takes 8.5 min to reconstruct a typical physical phantom with the image quality comparable with the vendor’s result. The FPGA implementation achieves 11.6 × throughput against the state-of-the-art GPU version. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serial equivalency enables easier regression testing and customer support in production-grade parallel CAD tools. While existing parallel routing techniques have become sufficiently advanced to provide good speedup, support for serial equivalency still has been very limited or ignored because it was considered costly. In this paper, we present a serial-equivalent parallel router that not only provides significant speedup but also produces the same result as the serial router. This parallel router primarily leverages a dependency-aware scheduling algorithm to facilitate the serial equivalency. Moreover, regardless of how many processor cores are used, this scheduling algorithm also enables parallel router to have the same result as the serial router. In scheduling algorithm, according to the original net order of serial router, all of the nets are scheduled to a series of different stages. Specifically, the independent nets are scheduled to the same stage and they can be routed in parallel while the dependent nets are scheduled in different stages and they are processed in serial. Note that the parallel routing of independent nets can be explored in static and dynamic fashions, and the data synchronization between dependent stages is implemented in MPI-based message queue. Experimental evaluations using ten large designs from the academic VTR benchmark suite show that our parallel router can scale to 32 processor cores at least to provide an average $19.13 \times $ speedup compared to the state-of-the-art academic VPR router. And most importantly, our parallel router can maintain the serial equivalency which achieves the same results as the serial router. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first parallel router that provides significant speedup with a serial equivalency guarantee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality upsampling of sparse 3D point clouds is critically useful for a wide range of geometric operations such as reconstruction, rendering, meshing, and analysis. In this paper, we propose a data-driven algorithm that enables an upsampling of 3D point clouds without the need for hard-coded rules. Our approach uses a deep network with Chamfer distance as the loss function, capable of learning the latent features in point clouds belonging to different object categories. We evaluate our algorithm across different amplification factors, with upsampling learned and performed on objects belonging to the same category as well as different categories. We also explore the desirable characteristics of input point clouds as a function of the distribution of the point samples. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of our algorithm in single-category training versus multi-category training scenarios. The final proposed model is compared against a baseline, optimization-based upsampling method. The results indicate that our algorithm is capable of generating more accurate upsamplings with less Chamfer loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bisphenol A (BPA), a ubiquitous endocrine disruptor, is implicated in the cognitive deficits observed in both children and animals. Especially, BPA-induced spatial memory deterioration during the whole development phase of rodents has been well delineated. However, whether BPA exposure on the different development phases exerts similar effects on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) dependent visual memory is still elusive. Here, we chose two exposure windows, the whole gestation and lactation phases (E0∼P21) and the whole juvenile and adolescent phases (P22∼P60), for exposing rats to BPA. The visual memory of those rats was accessed by object recognition testing in the open field after BPA exposure and a constant recovery interval. The results revealed a substantial decline of visual memory under both exposure conditions, accompanied by an increase in anxiety-like behavior in BPA-exposed rats. Notably, after a 20-day recovery period, those behavioral changes induced by BPA exposure during P22∼60, not E0∼P21, were reversed compared to the control rats. According to morphological analysis of those rats after recovery, we found that the spine density of pyramidal neurons in the PFC were significant decreased in rats with BPA exposure during E0∼P21 and there was no difference between rats with or without BPA exposure during P22∼P60. Additionally, a similar change trend in excitatory receptors expression was observed under both exposure conditions. After an additional 20 days of recovery, the behavioral changes in rats with perinatal BPA exposure reverted to the normal status. Our present findings illuminate the dynamic effects of BPA on PFC-dependent functions across two crucial early developmental stages of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein and cell adhesion on temporary intravascular devices can lead to thrombosis and tissue embedment, significantly increasing complications and device retrieval difficulties. Here, we propose an endothelial glycocalyx-inspired dynamic antifouling surface strategy for indwelling catheters and retrievable vascular filters to prevent thrombosis and suppress intimal embedment. This strategy is realized on the surfaces of substrates by the intensely dense grafting of hydrolyzable endothelial polysaccharide hyaluronic acid (HA), assisted by an amine-rich phenol-polyamine universal platform. The resultant super-hydrophilic surface exhibits potent antifouling property against proteins and cells. Additionally, the HA hydrolysis induces continuous degradation of the coating, enabling removal of inevitable biofouling on the surface. Moreover, the dense grafting of HA also ensures the medium-term effectiveness of this dynamic antifouling surface. The coated catheters maintain a superior anti-thrombosis capacity in ex vivo blood circulation after 30 days immersion. In the abdominal veins of rats, the coated implants show inhibitory effects on intimal embedment up to 2 months. Overall, we envision that this glycocalyx-inspired dynamic antifouling surface strategy could be a promising surface engineering technology for temporary intravascular devices. This study provides an endothelial glycocalyx-mimicking dynamic antifouling surface strategy for temporary intravascular devices. With the synergy of hydrated antifouling surface and durable dynamic interface, this strategy enhances the anti-thrombosis capacities of catheters and suppresses intimal embedment of retrievable vascular filters, representing a promising potential to advance the application of temporary intravascular devices. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • The negative difference effect of Mg is fathomed in a revisited view. • The exposed area of Mg is enlarged under galvanostatic anodic polarization. • The anodic hydrogen is associated with exposed fresh Mg. • The anodic hydrogen is mainly released by chemical reaction between Mg and water. Abstract The driving force of hydrogen evolution (HE) on Mg anode was investigated by continuously enlarging the exposed area of fresh Mg via mechanical rubbing and chemical attack during anodic polarization. The data show that release of hydrogen on Mg anode was mainly associated with exposed Mg. Meanwhile, the differences in anodic HE behaviors obtained with two exposure methods indicate that hydrogen was predominantly generated via chemical reaction between Mg and electrolyte on Mg anode surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Soil depth reflects the quantity and ecosystem service functions of soil resources. However, there is no universal standard to measure soil depth at present, and digital soil mapping approaches for predicting soil depth at the regional scale remain immature. Using observation of soil profile morphology, we compared the soil depth nomenclatures from the World Reference Base for Soil Resources, Chinese Soil Taxonomy, and Soil Taxonomy. For this study, shallow soils were defined as those with an effective soil depth < 100 cm. Based on legacy data and field soil survey, the spatial distribution of shallow soils in Xinjiang, China, and the main controlling environmental factors were explored. Results showed that shallow soils in Xinjiang are mainly distributed in high altitude regions such as the Tian Mountains. At the regional scale, significant correlations were observed between soil depth and climate factors, as well as between soil depth and vegetation fractional coverage. Contrary to previous conclusions at small spatial scales, terrain attributes could not explain soil depth variation at the regional scale. This study addressed knowledge gaps on soil depth prediction at regional scales while elucidating climate‐vegetation‐soil coevolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address insufficient corrosion control of polymer-coated magnesium, we apply a hydrophobic stearic acid (SA) thin layer underlying the poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) coatings on Mg. The SA imbedded polymer-coated Mg showed apparently smaller corrosion current density than the direct-coated counterparts. More importantly, they exhibited manifestly slower and more stable long-term in vitro immersion degradation than the direct polymer-coated Mg up to 21 days. Moreover, the scratch testing disclosed their undercutting corrosion was suppressed evidently. The strengthened corrosion control by the imbedded layer is attributed to its kinetic barrier, hydrophobic nature as well as shielding effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behavior of Zn was compared with those of Fe and Mg in a long-term course of immersing in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) as biodegradable metal for bio-implants application. The comparison focused on corrosion rate, mode, products and surface characteristics along the immersion degradation up to 21 days. For transient assays, the open circuit potential and corrosion rate placed Zn between Fe and Mg. However, in a long-term course the corrosion rate of Zinc developed faster than Fe and Mg. This was ascribed to its unique localized corrosion and corrosion products changing in contrast to Fe and Mg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive afforestation has been conducted in dryland regions of Northwest China since 1978. With the impending effects of climate change, it is necessary to reconsider the effects of artificial vegetation on soil and water conservation at decadal and regional scales. Using long-term official and synthesized data, the vegetation's impacts on reducing water loss and their ecological water requirement were studied in four provinces (e.g., Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang). Results showed that vegetation of the four provinces was dominated by grass, while artificial forest had taken up 13% of the total forest area. At the plot scale, vegetation could reduce runoff and sediment by 44% and 83%, respectively. At the regional scale, soil erosion areas showed a decreasing trend, especially after the year 2000. In Inner Mongolia and Gansu, both runoff coefficients and water resource amounts showed decreasing trends. As such, future large-scale afforestation might be ecologically unsustainable in these two provinces. However, the runoff coefficients and water resource amounts of Qinghai and Xinjiang showed increases, mainly linked to climate change. This study helps elucidate the paradox of vegetation restoration in arid regions, and gives some suggestions for ecological restoration in other drylands of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid expansion of radiological imaging data has placed a significant burden on radiologists, increasing the risk of diagnostic errors. Vision-language models offer a promising solution to alleviate this workload and improve diagnostic accuracy within the medical imaging domain. However, most current models rely solely on training data to activate general-purpose performance, which often results in inadequate understanding and generation of high-quality outputs in complex and specialized medical scenarios due to insufficient domain knowledge. To address this limitation, we propose a Vision-Language Model with Multi-Granular Knowledge Fusion (MGKF) that integrates diverse sources of knowledge to enhance performance across medical imaging tasks. Our model dynamically incorporates multi-granular knowledge, including medical entities, their definitions, and retrieved auxiliary knowledge. We improve the semantic alignment of visual and textual information through fine-tuning, introduce a pre-generation mechanism to incorporate this multi-granular knowledge, and ultimately enhance the model’s ability to apply medical knowledge during inference. Experimental results across multiple medical imaging tasks, including Medical Report Generation, Medical Image Captioning, and Medical Visual Question Answering, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MGKF model. This work provides valuable insights into the integration of specialized knowledge in medical imaging and contributes to reducing diagnostic errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodegradable zinc (Zn) and Zn-based alloys have been recognized as promising biomaterials for biomedical implants. Sterilization is an essential step in handling Zn-based implants before their use in clinical practice and there are various sterilization methods are available. However, how these treatments influence the Zn-based biomaterials remains unknown and is of critical relevance. In this study, three commonly-applied standard sterilization methods, namely gamma irradiation, hydrogen peroxide gas plasma and steam autoclave, were used on pure Zn and Zn 3Cu (wt%) alloy. The treated Zn and Zn Cu alloy were investigated to compare the different influences of sterilizations on surface characteristics, transient and long-term degradation behavior and cytotoxicity of Zn and Zn alloy. Our results indicate that autoclaving brought about apparently a formation of inhomogeneous zinc oxide film whereas the other two methods produced no apparent alterations on the material surfaces. Consequently, the samples after autoclaving showed significantly faster degradation rates and more severe localized corrosion, especially for the Zn Cu alloy, owing to the incomplete covering and unstable zinc oxide layer. Moreover, the autoclave-treated Zn and Zn Cu alloy exhibited apparent cytotoxic effects towards fibroblasts, which may be due to the excessive Zn ion releasing and its local concentration exceeds the cellular tolerance capacity. In contrast, gamma irradiation and hydrogen peroxide gas plasma had no apparent adverse effects on the biodegradability and cytocompatibility of Zn and Zn Cu alloy. Our findings may have significant implications regarding the selection of suitable sterilization methods for Zn-based implant materials among others. • Sterilization influences on degradation and cytotoxicity of Zn & Zn Cu alloy were compared. • Steam autoclaving accelerated their degradation and elicited more severe localized corrosion. • Steam autoclaving posed adverse fibroblasts cytotoxicity for both Zn and Zn Cu alloy. • Gamma irradiation or H 2 O 2 gas plasma showed only marginal effects on these two aspects. • Appropriate sterilization must be cautiously selected for Zn-based implants among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Mg ions incorporated phytic acid (PA) and zoledronic acid (ZA) of metal-organic complex coating was built on Mg substrate. This coating aims to fulfill the corrosion controlling and differential regulation on osteoblast vs. osteoclast responses simultaneously. PA and ZA molecules were co-immobilized on the alkaline pretreated Mg by a facile one-step dip-coating method. Such immobilization process was executed by the chelation reaction between PA/ZA molecules and in-situ released Mg ions. This coating showed a homogeneous structure with metal-organic like framework. The electrochemical corrosion resistance and long-term degradation behavior of coated samples were remarkably improved. Consequently, the well-controlled Mg ion release, as well as the osteo-compatible PA molecule, promoted the proliferation of pre-osteoblast cells (MC3T3-E1). Moreover, this coating significantly suppressed both the proliferation and differentiation of osteoclast cells owing to the nature of ZA. This metal-organic complex coating offers a promising modifying strategy for Mg-based orthopedic implants for osteoporotic fracture healing. [Display omitted] • Mg ions incorporated PA and ZA metal-organic complex coating deposited on Mg. • ZA participated the chelation with Mg ions and improved the coating intermixing. • The coating showed high efficacy of corrosion protection due mainly to kinetic effect. • The coated Mg had differential regulation on osteo -blast vs. -clast cells responses. • Such coating shows promising prospects in Mg-based orthopedic implants application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the response surface method was used to study the technology of dyeing wool fiber with walnut green peel pigment under the microwave-assisted method. The optimized pigment extraction process were: ethanol volume fraction 60%, extraction time 1 min, liquid-material ratio 24:1, microwave power 450 W, and the optimized mordant fixation process were: mordant fixation time 3 min, microwave power 270 W, amount of mordant fixing agent 7%, reducing agent dosage 22 g/L. The results showed that the use of microwave-assisted and new mordant fixing agent lanthanum chloride greatly improved the extraction efficiency of pigments, saved extraction costs, and significantly shortened the mordant fixation time, resulting in an environmentally friendly mordant fixation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc (Zn) and its alloys have been considered promising absorbable metals for medical implants. However, the dynamic interaction between Zn-based materials and human blood after implantation remains unclear. In this study, a modified Chandler-Loop system was applied to assess the blood compatibility and initial degradation behavior of a Zn–4.0Cu (wt%) alloy (Zn-4Cu) and Zn with human peripheral blood under circulation conditions. In this dynamic in vitro model, the Zn-4Cu and Zn showed sufficient blood compatibility. The numbers of erythrocytes, platelets, and leukocytes were not significantly altered, and appropriate activations of the coagulation and complement system were observed. Concerning initial degradation behavior, the product layers formed on the surfaces comprise a mixture of organic and inorganic compounds while the inorganic constituents decrease toward the outer surface. Considering the corrosion morphology and electrochemical behaviors, Zn-4Cu exhibited milder and more uniform degradation than Zn. Additionally, long-term degradation tests of 28 days in human peripheral blood, human serum, and Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS) demonstrated that the Zn-4Cu showed relatively uniform degradation in blood and serum. On the contrary, in DPBS, severe localized corrosion appeared along the grain boundary of the secondary phase, which was likely attributed to the acceleration of galvanic corrosion. The Zn was found with localized corrosion impeded in the blood albeit with apparently developed deep pitting holes in the serum and DPBS. Unlabelled Image • Dynamic interplay between human blood and Zn-4Cu (wt%) alloy investigated. • Zn-4Cu alloy showed sufficient blood compatibility surveyed by Chandler-Loop. • Zn-4Cu alloy exhibited mild and uniform degradation in flowing blood. • Zn-4Cu alloy might be a promising candidate material for biodegradable implants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Drip irrigation was better than rainwater harvesting for enhancing apple yield. • Plastic film mulching was more productive than grass mulching. • Rainwater harvesting increased soil water storage by 13.7 %. • Optimized irrigation approaches further increased water use efficiency by 17.2 %. Rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation are commonly used water saving techniques ensuring agricultural sustainability in drylands of northwest China. However, few studies have compared the advantages and shortcomings of these two techniques. A meta-analysis of 22 study cases across four provinces/regions in northwest China (i.e., Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Xinjiang) was conducted. The effects of varied rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation techniques on apple yield, soil water storage, and water use efficiency were evaluated. Results showed that 38.5 % apples (by weight) are produced in northwest China currently. Drip irrigation could improve apple yield by 54.3 %, even more so than rainwater harvesting which offered a 19.1 % improvement. For rainwater harvesting, plastic film mulching was more effective for improving apple yield than grass mulching. Compared with control values, rainwater harvesting can increase 0–200 cm soil water storage by 13.7 %. Optimized drip irrigation methods, such as partial root-zone drying and infiltration enhancing pipe, can enhance water use efficiency by 17.2 %. This study highlights the importance of integrating rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation techniques for improving water productivity, preventing land degradation and desertification, as well as eradicating poverty in arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, zinc‑copper (Zn Cu) alloys were investigated regarding their feasibility as absorbable metals for osteosynthesis implants, especially in the craniomaxillofacial area. Mechanical properties and in vitro corrosion behavior of as-rolled Zn-xCu (x = 1, 2 and 4 wt%) alloys were systematically evaluated and screened. The as-rolled Zn 4Cu alloy had mechanical properties that were superior to the most absorbable craniomaxillofacial osteosynthesis materials recently reported. The addition of Cu to Zn showed to have no apparent effect on the corrosion rates of the samples. The rolling process on Zn and Zn 1Cu resulted in more uniform corrosion than on as-cast counterparts after 28 days immersion. Furthermore, the Zn 4Cu alloys exhibited no apparent cytotoxic effect towards L929, TAg or Saos-2 cells. Proliferation rates of TAg and Saos-2 cells were shown to be activated by specific Zn ion concentrations in the as-rolled Zn 4Cu alloy extracts. Analysis of in vitro antibacterial properties revealed that the as-rolled Zn 4Cu alloy possessed the potential to inhibit biofilm formation of mixed oral bacteria. We conclude that the as-rolled Zn 4Cu alloy might be a promising material for fabrication of craniomaxillofacial osteosynthesis implants. Unlabelled Image • Mechanical strength of Zn Cu alloys was significantly enhanced by rolling. • No marked increase in the corrosion rate after the addition of Cu to Zn. • As-rolled Zn 4Cu showed excellent cytocompatibility and antibacterial properties. • As-rolled Zn 4Cu might be a promising craniomaxillofacial osteosynthesis material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urea supplements, such as humic acids, could enhance fertilizer nitrogen use effectiveness. Melting is superior to mixing for humate urea application; however, the effects of diverse humate ureas from various coal sources on soil N supply remain unclear. This study compared the properties of two humic acids from different coal sources (HA1, weathered coal; HA2, lignite coal), and their impact on soil mineral N supply and the nitrate–ammonium ratio under flooded and 60% water-filled pore space (WFPS) over a 14-day incubation. Humate ureas stimulated soil mineral N accumulation and balanced the soil nitrate–ammonium ratio at 1:1; however, no significant difference existed between the two humate ureas under 60% WFPS. Humate urea enhanced soil ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) retention and delayed nitrate nitrogen (NH4−-N) release, leading to soil mineral N retention, especially in lignite humic acid urea (H2AU) treatments from lignite under flooding. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and linear regression revealed that humic acids elevated soil redox potential (Eh) and electrical conductivity (EC), stimulating soil N mineralization and adjusting the optimal nitrate–ammonium ratio. Humate urea improved soil mineral N supply compared to traditional urea treatments, and humic acids from lignite were more beneficial for crop cultivation from a mineral soil N supply perspective. These findings enhance our understanding of humate urea benefits and aid in optimizing humic acids application for N management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Cavernous sinus invasion (CSI) plays a pivotal role in determining management in pituitary adenomas. The study aimed to develop a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to diagnose CSI in multiple centers. Methods: A total of 729 cases were retrospectively obtained in five medical centers with (n = 543) or without CSI (n = 186) from January 2011 to December 2021. The CNN model was trained using T1-enhanced MRI from two pituitary centers of excellence (n = 647). The other three municipal centers (n = 82) as the external testing set were imported to evaluate the model performance. The area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curve values (AUC-ROC) analyses were employed to evaluate predicted performance. Gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) was used to determine models' regions of interest. Results: The CNN model achieved high diagnostic accuracy (0.89) in identifying CSI in the external testing set, with an AUC-ROC value of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.88–0.97), better than CSI clinical predictor of diameter (AUC-ROC: 0.75), length (AUC-ROC: 0.80), and the three kinds of dichotomizations of the Knosp grading system (AUC-ROC: 0.70–0.82). In cases with Knosp grade 3A (n = 24, CSI rate, 0.35), the accuracy the model accounted for 0.78, with sensitivity and specificity values of 0.72 and 0.78, respectively. According to the Grad-CAM results, the views of the model were confirmed around the sellar region with CSI. Conclusions: The deep learning model is capable of accurately identifying CSI and satisfactorily able to localize CSI in multicenters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus (P) deficiencies are widespread in calcareous soils. The poor availability of nitrogen (N) and P in soils often restricts crop growth. However, the effects of P addition on plant growth and plant nutrient transport changes during the establishment of Leymus chinensis fields in Xinjiang are not clear. We investigated the responses of Leymus chinensis biomass and nutrient absorption and utilization to changes in soil N and P by adding P (0, 15.3, 30.6, and 45.9 kg P ha−1 year−1) with basally applied N fertilizer (150 kg N ha−1 year−1). The results showed that (a) Principal component analysis (PCA) of biomass, nutrient accumulation, soil available P, and soil available N during the different periods of Leymus chinensis growth showed that their cumulative contributions during the jointing and harvest periods reached 95.4% and 88%, respectively. (b) Phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) increased with the increase of P fertilizer gradient and then decreased and the maximum PUE was 13.14% under moderate P addition. The accumulation of biomass and nutrients in Leymus chinensis can be effectively improved by the addition of P fertilizer at 30.6 kg ha−1. Different P additions either moderately promoted or excessively inhibited Leymus chinensis growth and nutrient utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The development of new technologies for use in field soil survey has produced powerful new quantitative tools for assessing soil physicochemical properties in-situ. One such technology, portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) spectrometry, has shown considerable promise in evaluating elemental concentrations in soils for a wide variety of applications. Less research is available on how PXRF can be applied to quantify soil physical properties (e.g. soil texture). This study evaluated the feasibility of predicting soil clay and sand contents from PXRF data on 584 soil samples collected from highly diverse regions of Louisiana and northeastern New Mexico (Capulin Volcano National Monument), USA. An Innov-X Delta Premium PXRF was used to sequentially scan soil samples under both field and laboratory conditions and assess 15 elements (K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Rb, Sr, Zr, Ba, and Pb). Elemental concentrations were then related to soil textural data processed through traditional laboratory methods with multiple linear regression. Among all elements evaluated, Fe and Rb showed particular significance for soil textural prediction. The regression models for sand and clay contents of both study sites were strongly correlated to soil textural separates with PXRF-soil texture R2 of 0.862, 0.959, 0.892, and 0.780 for Louisiana sand and clay, and Capulin sand and clay, respectively. Independent validation sub-datasets confirmed that PXRF readings can be used to estimate soil textural parameters with high R2 values of 0.854, 0.682, 0.975, 0.891, 0.875, and 0.876, and low RMSE values of 5.53%, 5.92%, 2.68%, 6.26%, 5.43%, and 2.66%, for Louisiana sand, silt, and clay and Capulin sand, silt, and clay, respectively. The RMSE values of clay are substantially lower than those reported in previous studies using other proximal sensing techniques. While regional differences may require localized standardization of the PXRF with a unique combination of elements germane to the study area, PXRF shows considerable promise as a technique for rapidly assessing soil textural separates in-situ. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Zinc (Zn) and its alloys have been considered as potential materials for osteosynthesis implants. Nonetheless, the relatively slow degradation rates within bone environments impede their further application. Herein, sandblasting surface treatment with two Al 2 O 3 particle sizes (125 μm and 250 μm) was employed to accelerate the degradation rates of Zn and two Zn alloys, a Zn 4Ag and a Zn-2Ag-1.8Au-0.2V (wt%). The degradation processes of Zn and Zn alloys were significantly increased after sandblasting treatment mainly due to the increased surface roughness and embedded Al 2 O 3 particles in the surfaces. However, an increase of sandblasting particle size from 125 μm to 250 μm did not affect the degradation rates. Moreover, the mean relative metabolic activities of Saos-2 osteoblasts below 70% were observed for alloys treated with 250 μm Al 2 O 3 particles, indicating apparent cytotoxic effects. The results showed that the size of the sandblasting particles had no direct effect on the degradation rate but on the cytotoxicity. Therefore, sandblasting treatment with appropriate particles might be a promising surface modification to accelerate the biodegradability of Zn and its alloys. Unlabelled Image • Zn and its alloys were sandblasted using alumina oxide abrasives of different size. • Degradation rate of Zn and its alloys was significantly accelerated after sandblasting. • Cytotoxicity of Zn and its alloys can be minimized by careful sandblasting particle selection. • Sandblasting might be a promising approach to adjust biodegradability of Zn and its alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium and its alloys are promising biodegradable materials because of their light weight and superior mechanical properties. However, the high corrosion susceptibility of magnesium is the main obstacle that hinders the application of Mg in biomedical applications. In this article, two approaches have been employed to fabricate hybrid films of hexamethylene diamine tetrakis (methylene phosphonic acid) (HMDTMPA) and hydroxyapatite (HA) on Mg. The direct dipping method involves an immersion in a single solution containing both calcium, phosphate, and the organic compound. However, it results in poor-quality loose films, due to unstable film of monocalcium phosphate monohydrate (MCPM). The other method involves immersion in two separated solutions: Ca-P solution and HMDTMPA solution. Our results showed that the corrosion resistance was enhanced about 12-times compared with HMDTMPA film due to the formation of a stable hybrid film of dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD). The mechanism of formation of anti-corrosion DCPD was discussed on the light of SEM, EDS, FTIR, XRD and XPS. Unlabelled Image • New high-performance, anti-corrosion HMDTMPA/HA hybrid coatings was developed on Mg. • Direct (1step) and indirect (2steps) immersion methods were used to deposit the hybrids. • The 1-step method yielded a loose phase of monocalcium phosphate monohydrate (MCPM) • The 2-steps method formed a dense phase of dicalcium phosphate dehydrate (DCPD). • The dense HMDTMPA/HA hybrid film showed high anti-corrosion properties in SBF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is a major environmental issue in Hong Kong, and ozone (O 3) is one of the most concerned pollutants because of its notable rising trend during the past three decades. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the main precursors to O 3 formation, but their characteristics over coastal water in Hong Kong were not well studied due to a lack of observations. We conducted sixteen cruise campaigns and collected 109 VOC canister samples over Hong Kong coastal water between August 2020 and July 2021. 95 VOC species were analyzed from the samples by a GC-MSD/ECD/FID system to investigate their concentration distributions, reactivities, and potential emission sources. The average concentrations of alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, alkynes, halocarbons, and alkyl nitrates over Hong Kong coastal water were 8.94 ± 5.64 ppbv, 1.18 ± 1.09 ppbv, 1.90 ± 1.48 ppbv, 1.05 ± 0.63 ppbv, 3.82 ± 1.23 ppbv, and 0.09 ± 0.04 ppbv, respectively. Source apportionment results from positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis suggest that liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) usage (24.9%), biomass burning (19.4%), gasoline evaporation (16.2%), ship emissions (15.6%), solvent usage (14.8%), and aged air mass (9.1%) were main VOC sources over Hong Kong coastal water during the study period. Toluene, ethene and m + p -xylene were found to be the top contributors to the O 3 formation over Hong Kong coastal water, while isoprene had less O 3 formation contributions compared with land measurements. This study provides important insights into the reactivities and sources of VOCs over Hong Kong coastal water and serves as a stepping stone to understanding the VOC characteristics and O 3 formation mechanisms in a complex coastal environment. • VOCs characteristics and source appointments over Hong Kong coastal water were presented. • On-land anthropogenic emissions had greater influences on VOCs than those from vessel emissions. • A reactivity-oriented control strategy is recommended to comprehensively address O 3 pollution in the PRD region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negation is a common and complex phenomenon in natural language, which will reverse the truth value of knowledge extracted from sentences and make knowledge validation indispensable. Negation detection at the granularity of knowledge triples is still a challenging and minimally explored task, especially in the biomedical domain where multiple knowledge triples frequently exist in one sentence and the same triple can express quite distinct meanings under different contexts. In this paper, we illustrate and define the label conflict problem in biomedical negation detection and propose CL-GSAN , a novel C ontrastive L earning-based G ated S tructured A ttention N etwork for identifying the negated knowledge triples from the biomedical text. CL-GSAN jointly performs fine-grained knowledge-context modeling within a sentence via a gating mechanism and learns the target triple's context representations by considering the semantic divergence of claims via contrastive learning. Experimental results demonstrate that CL-GSAN obtains promising performance on three biomedical corpora, including the C hinese M edical K nowledge N egation (CMKN) corpus constructed by us to facilitate fine-grained, i.e., triple-level, knowledge negation detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polydopamine (PDA) layer was sandwiched between a TiO 2 coating and Mg substrate to enhance the corrosion protection. The PDA layer was covalently immobilized on Mg, and the TiO 2 was coated by liquid phase deposition subsequently on it. The hybrid TiO 2 /PDA coated Mg exhibited significantly smaller free corrosion current density as well as a remarkably lower degradation rate in vitro (up to 21 days) in phosphate buffered saline compared to direct TiO 2 coated and untreated Mg. The efficacy is ascribed to the organic PDA layer which suppresses the electric pathway of galvanic corrosion cell and therefore corrosion rate of magnesium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological applications of remote-sensing techniques are generally limited to images after atmospheric correction, though other radiometric correction data are potentially valuable. In this article, six spectral vegetation indices (VIs) were derived from a SPOT 5 image at four radiometric correction levels: digital number (DN), at-sensor radiance (SR), top of atmosphere reflectance (TOA) and post-atmospheric correction reflectance (PAC). These VIs include the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), ratio vegetation index (RVI), slope ratio of radiation curve (K), general radiance level (L), visible-infrared radiation balance (B) and band radiance variation (V). They were then related to the leaf area index (LAI), acquired from in situ measurement in Hetian town, Fujian Province, China. The VI–LAI correlation coefficients varied greatly across vegetation types, VIs as well as image radiometric correction levels, and were not surely increased by image radiometric corrections. Among all 330 VI–LAI models established, the R 2 of multi-variable models were generally higher than those of the single-variable ones. The independent variables of the best VI–LAI models contained all VIs from all radiometric correction levels, showing the potentials of multi-radiometric correction images in LAI estimating. The results indicated that the use of VIs from multiple radiometric correction images can better exploit the capabilities of remote-sensing information, thus improving the accuracy of LAI estimating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Alendronate-embedded zinc phosphate hybrid coating on biodegradable Zn. • The hybrid coating was more compact and denser than the sole ZnP coating. • The coating reduced corrosion rate and Zn2+ release of Zn in SBF. • The coating supported a uniform long-term immersion degradation of Zn in PBS. • The coated Zn showed a balanced pro-osteoblast & anti-osteoclast osteofuntionality. An alendronate (AL)-embedded zinc phosphate (ZnP) coating was synthesized on biodegradable Zn to control its corrosion and long-term degradation while maintaining its bio-functionality. The AL molecules were well incorporated into the ZnP and the hybrid coating was homogeneously compact and dense. The coating not only reduced the corrosion current density and the Zn2+ release rate, but also ensured a uniform long-term degradation behavior of Zn in PBS. The coating retained a desirable balanced osteo-functionality of pro-osteoblast and anti-osteoclast response. The above achieved performance can be credited to the nature of the organic-inorganic components of this coating and its high quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is being used in various biomedical devices thanks to its bio-inertness, nontoxicity, and an elastic modulus near to that of human cortical bone. However, its oral and maxillofacial applications remain challenging owing to is hydrophobicity, lack of biocompatibility, and infectious complications. To address this problem, a biocompatible nanogranular-structured TiO 2 coating assisted by a mediating layer of pre-grafted polydopamine (PDA) was deposited onto PEEK to modify its surface. The PDA-mediated TiO 2 coated PEEK showed a unique surface layer of single anatase phase. The surface tended to become more hydrophilic with increased TiO 2 deposition, and even turned super-hydrophilic with a sufficient amount of deposited TiO 2. In vitro cell culture tests verified that such prepared PEEK improved adhesion and proliferation of both fibroblast and osteoblast cells, decreased the inflammatory reaction by suppressing TNF-α expression for macrophages, as well as enhanced the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans bacteria attachment when compared to only PDA coated and uncoated PEEK. Such a superior bio-performance is apparently correlated with anatase TiO 2 , as well as its improved physiochemical surface states, including altered surface energy. The PDA-mediated TiO 2 nanostructured coating may bode well for oral and maxillofacial implants applications of PEEK. Unlabelled Image • Mussel-inspired PDA layer mediated liquid phase deposited TiO 2 on PEEK. • Unique nanogranular-structure of anatase TiO 2 and superhydrophilicity obtained. • Excellent cytocompatibility for both fibroblast and osteoblast cells achieved. • The modified PEEK had a superior antibacterial property to S. aureus , S. mutans. • The modified PEEK bodes well for oral and maxillofacial implants application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It remains challenging to build up a multifunctional coating onto biodegradable magnesium (Mg) for biomedical use. In this study, a small amount of titanium dioxide (TiO 2) has been incorporated in situ into phytic acid (PA) coating when it was chemically deposited on Mg substrate targeted to biodegradable implant applications. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation was utilized in the liquid phase deposition of TiO 2 to improve the quality of coating (PA&TiO 2 -UV). This PA&TiO 2 -UV coating was compact, thicker and more hydrophilic compared with sole PA or TiO 2 coating. The PA&TiO 2 -UV coated Mg presented a seven times lower electrochemical corrosion current density as well as significantly slower in vitro degradation rate up to 500 h in phosphate buffer saline as compared to the direct PA coated Mg. In addition, the UV irradiation showed remarkably to promote the MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells adhesion and proliferation especially after 7 days of culture. Further, the PA&TiO 2 -UV coating adhered more firmly on Mg substrate after 90° bending than the other coatings, indicating a better mechanical compliance on Mg substrate. These results make this PA&TiO 2 -UV complex coating bodes well for biodegradation slowing-down, osteo-compatible as well as mechanical compliant modification of Mg for orthopedic implants applications. Unlabelled Image • UV-assisted deposited TiO 2 incorporated into PA coating was constructed on Mg. • Inorganic TiO 2 incorporated improved magnificently the quality of PA coating. • Significantly small degradation rate was obtained on PA&TiO 2 -UV coated Mg. • The UV-assisted PA&TiO 2 complex coating had a good adhesive strength on Mg. • UV-irradiated coated Mg sample promoted bone cells adhesion and proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]