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Purpose: Delirium has a significant impact on millions of people globally and is closely linked to an unfavorable prognosis for complications. Observational studies suggest that plasma metabolites may play significant roles as markers and effectors of delirium, but causal relationships have not yet been elucidated. Based on the most recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, our study aims to present novel insights into the genetic relationship between delirium and plasma metabolites. This investigation offers potential clues for utilizing plasma metabolites as predictors of delirium development. Methods: We performed a thorough Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal relationship between 1,091 individual metabolites and 309 metabolite ratios in plasma with respect to delirium. Inverse-variance weighting (IVW) was employed as the primary estimation method, while MR-Egger and weighed median methods were utilized to assess the robustness of the results. Sensitivity analyses encompassing the MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) test, Cochran Q test, leave-one-out analysis and MR Egger intercept analysis were also undertaken. Additionally, the MR Steiger test was performed to explore any potential reverse causal effect of metabolites on delirium. Results: A total of 63 types of plasma metabolites associated with delirium were detected using the IVW method (p < 0.05). Among the known metabolites, our analysis revealed that two specific metabolites (1-palmitoyl-2-palmitoleoyl-gpc (16:0/16:1) and homovanillate) and a metabolite ratio (phosphate to oleoyl-linoleoyl-glycerol (18:1 to 18:2)) demonstrated a consistent and significant causal relationship with delirium across all analysis methods. Finally, no evidence of pleiotropy was detected in our analysis. Conclusions: Our study has revealed a causal association between blood metabolites and the risk of delirium. homovanillate is known to be associated with immunity and redox, 1-palmitoyl-2-palmitoleoyl-gpc (16:0/16:1) and metabolite ratio (phosphate to oleoyl-linoleoyl-glycerol (18:1 to 18:2)) may play a role in lipid regulation. These findings may provide fresh insights into the identification of suitable diagnostic markers and potential treatment strategies focused on specific plasma metabolites in patients with delirium. However, further experiments are required to gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homing pigeons are promising biomonitors of atmospheric metal pollution that may influence human health and environmental sustainability. However, exact interactions between respiratory and oral exposure and associations between atmospheric and pulmonary metal concentrations and effects are lacking. The current experiments measure differences in homing pigeon tissue cadmium, lead, and mercury concentrations due to diet and atmospheric exposure, and changes in pulmonary lesions associated with changing seasonal atmospheric metal concentrations. Forty 6-week-old homing pigeons were raised for 9 months in experiment 1, and seventy-five pigeons from different age groups were necropsied in winter, spring/summer, and autumn in experiment 2. Results indicate that atmospheric metal concentrations influence lung cadmium and lead concentrations, that atmospheric metal concentrations fluctuated seasonally and were greatest in fine particulate matter (PM2.1) during winter, and the rate of lung cadmium and lead accumulations reflected temporal changes. There were significant correlations between lung metal concentrations and alveolar macrophage lesions. Time (10 months) and higher metal concentrations (266 ng/g for Cd and 16,442 ng/g for Pb) are both important factors in the production of pulmonary dust cells. Our experiments indicate that homing pigeons can provide specific information on diseases resulting from atmospheric pollution exposure and that these data can assist in public health decisions and environmental regulations to promote sustainable development of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relationship between Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathology and cognition was not exactly consistent. Objective: To explore whether the association between AD pathology and cognition can be moderated by frailty. Methods: We included 1711 participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. Levels of cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-β, p-tau, and t-tau were identified for AD-related pathology based on the amyloid-β/tau/neurodegeneration (AT[N]) framework. Frailty was measured using a modified Frailty Index-11 (mFI-11). Regression and interaction models were utilized to assess the relationship among frailty, AT(N) profiles, and cognition. Moderation models analyzed the correlation between AT(N) profiles and cognition across three frailty levels. All analyses were corrected for age, sex, education, and APOEɛ4 status. Results: In this study, frailty (odds ratio [OR] = 1.71, p < 0.001) and AT(N) profiles (OR = 2.00, p < 0.001) were independently associated with cognitive status. The model fit was improved when frailty was added to the model examining the relationship between AT(N) profiles and cognition (p < 0.001). There was a significant interaction between frailty and AT(N) profiles in relation to cognitive status (OR = 1.12, pinteraction = 0.028). Comparable results were obtained when Mini-Mental State Examination scores were utilized as the measure of cognitive performance. The association between AT(N) profiles and cognition was stronger with the levels of frailty. Conclusions: Frailty may diminish patients' resilience to AD pathology and accelerate cognitive decline resulting from abnormal AD-related pathology. In summary, frailty contributes to elucidating the relationship between AD-related pathology and cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of functional cross-linked polystyrenes was synthesized by the free radical copolymerization of divinylbenzene with functional styrenes and utilized as heterogeneous catalysts for the coupling of epoxides with CO2. Investigations showed that the cross-linked copolymer functionalized by quaternary ammonium chloride (CP1) exhibited high catalytic activity in the coupling reaction and thermostability at elevated temperatures. Thus, CP1 was easily recycled from the reaction mixture by filtration and reused without obvious loss of activity. Moreover, the activity of CP1 can be greatly enhanced by adding conventional Lewis acids such as anhydrous FeCl3 or AlCl3. Thus, copolymer 1/FeCl3 composites (1/1 molar ratio) transformed propylene oxide and CO2 to propylene carbonate in 92% yield in 10 h at 110 °C with the composite catalyst loading of 0.25 mol% with respect to propylene oxide and can be reused after simple filtration without significant decline of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient adherence status to the newly introduced family‐based Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection control and management strategy remains unclear, so are its influencing factors. We aim to investigate family members' adherence and its influencing factors during the family‐based H. pylori infection management practice for related disease prevention. Materials and Methods: Based on our previously family‐based H. pylori survey in 2021, 282 families including 772 individuals were followed up 2 years after the initial survey to compare if the investigation and education might improve family member's adherence. The participant's adherence to H. pylori infection awareness, retest, treatment, publicity, gastroscopy, and hygiene habits were followed up, and their influencing factors were also analyzed. Results: The overall participant's adherence to recommendations on H. pylori awareness, retest, treatment, publicity, gastroscopy, and hygiene habits were 77% (187/243), 67.3% (138/205), 60.1% (211/351), 46.5% (107/230), 45.6% (159/349), and 39.1% (213/545), respectively; and all showed improvements compared with their prior survey stages. The top reasons for rejection to treatment, retest, and gastroscopy were forgetting or unaware of H. pylori infection (30.3%), busy (32.8%), and asymptomatic (67.9%), respectively. Independent risk factor for low adherence to treatment was occupation (e.g., staff: OR 4.49, 95% CI 1.34–15.10). Independent favorable factors for treatment adherence were individuals at the ages of 18–44 years (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.04–0.89) and had a large family size (e.g., four family members: OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.06–0.41); for retest adherence, it was individuals at the ages of 60–69 years (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.06–0.97); for gastroscopy adherence, it was individuals at the age of 60–69 years (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.28–0.75), and with gastrointestinal symptoms (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.36–0.90). Conclusions: Family‐based H. pylori management increases individual adherence to treatment, retest, and awareness, and there are also improved adherence to gastroscopy, publicity, and personal hygiene recommendations; further efforts are required to enhance the individual adherence rate for related disease prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common neurologic disorder among elderly patients after non-cardiac surgery, which leads to various negative outcomes. Sleep disorder is considered an important cause of POD. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the Chinese traditional five-element music intervention could reduce POD by improving sleep quality in elderly patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Methods: A total of 132 patients aged 65 to 90 years who underwent non-cardiac surgery were randomized to two groups: the intervention (n = 60) and the control group (n = 63). Patients in the intervention group were subjected to the Chinese traditional five-element music intervention during the perioperative, while patients in the control group had no music intervention. POD was evaluated using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) in the first 5 days after surgery. The Richards‒Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) was used to assess subjective sleep quality. The levels of nocturnal melatonin and cortisol in saliva were measured on the preoperative and the first 2 postoperative days. Results: The incidence of POD within 5 days was 27.0% in the control group and 11.7% in the intervention group. Preoperative PSQI and MMSE scores were associated with POD. The RCSQ scores on the first postoperative day were significantly decreased in the two groups compared to the preoperative day. Compared to the control group, the RCSQ scores showed a significant improvement in the intervention group on the first postoperative day. Compared to the control group, the level of saliva melatonin in the intervention group showed a significant increase on the first postoperative day. However, there was no statistical difference in cortisol levels between the two groups. Conclusions: Chinese traditional five-element music intervention decreased the incidence of POD in elderly patients who underwent noncardiac surgery via improving sleep quality, which may be associated with increased levels of melatonin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE), is a noteworthy complication in individuals with gastric cancer, but the current diagnosis and treatment methods lack accuracy. In this study, we developed a t-PAIC chemiluminescence kit and employed chemiluminescence to detect the tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor complex (t-PAIC), thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT), plasmin-α2-plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC) and thrombomodulin (TM), combined with D-dimer and fibrin degradation products (FDP), to investigate their diagnostic potential for venous thrombosis in gastric cancer patients. The study assessed variations in six indicators among gastric cancer patients at different stages. Results: The t-PAIC reagent showed LOD is 1.2 ng/mL and a linear factor R greater than 0.99. The reagents demonstrated accurate results, with all accuracy deviations being within 5%. The intra-batch and inter-batch CVs for the t-PAIC reagent were both within 8%. The correlation coefficient R between this method and Sysmex was 0.979. Gastric cancer patients exhibited elevated levels of TAT, PIC, TM, D-D, FDP compared to the healthy population, while no significant difference was observed in t-PAIC. In the staging of gastric cancer, patients in III-IV stages exhibit higher levels of the six markers compared to those in I-II stages. The ROC curve indicates an enhancement in sensitivity and specificity of the combined diagnosis of four or six indicators. Conclusion: Our chemiluminescence assay performs comparably to Sysmex's method and at a reduced cost. The use of multiple markers, including t-PAIC, TM, TAT, PIC, D-D, and FDP, is superior to the use of single markers for diagnosing VTE in patients with malignant tumors. Gastric cancer patients should be screened for the six markers to facilitate proactive prophylaxis, determine the most appropriate treatment timing, ameliorate their prognosis, decrease the occurrence of venous thrombosis and mortality, and extend their survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, two novel Fe(III)-reducing bacteria, SG10T and SG198T of genus Geothrix, were isolated from the rice field of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. Strains SG10T and SG198T were strictly anaerobic, rod-shaped and Gram-stain-negative. The two novel strains exhibited iron reduction ability, utilizing various single organic acid as the elector donor and Fe(III) as a terminal electron acceptor. Strains SG10T and SG198T showed the highest 16S rRNA sequences similarities to the type strains of Geothrix oryzisoli SG189T (99.0–99.5%) and Geothrix paludis SG195T (99.0–99.7%), respectively. The phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA gene and genome 120 conserved core genes showed that strains SG10T and SG198T belong to the genus Geothrix. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between the phylogenetic neighbors and the two isolated strains were 86.1–94.3% and 30.7–59.5%, respectively. The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, C16:0 and iso-C13:0 3OH, and MK-8 was the main respiratory quinone. According to above results, the two strains were assigned to the genus Geothrix with the names Geothrix campi sp. nov. and Geothrix mesophila sp. nov. Type strains are SG10T (= GDMCC 1.3406 T = JCM 39331 T) and SG198T (= GDMCC 62910 T = KCTC 25635 T), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or ischemic stroke demonstrate an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction. Accumulating evidence indicates that ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD) may interact with the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration (AT[N]) biomarkers to promote dementia. However, the precise pathological mechanisms remain to be fully characterized. Objective: To elucidate the interrelationships among ICVD, ATN biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and cognition. Methods: A total of 2524 participants were recruited from the CABLE study. ICVD referred to TIA/ischemic stroke. Cognitive performance was assessed by China Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (CM-MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment-b (MoCA-b). Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the associations of ICVD with CSF ATN biomarkers and cognition. Causal mediation analyses were used to identify whether the association was mediated by ATN biomarkers. Results: ICVD was associated with higher total-tau (t-tau) (p = 2.828×10–2) and poorer cognition (CM-MMSE: p = 1.539×10–5, MoCA-b: p = 4.552×10–6). Additionally, no discernible correlation surfaced between ICVD and amyloid-β (Aβ) 42 (p = 6.910×10–1) or phosphorylated tau (p-tau) (p = 4.324×10–1). The influence of ICVD on cognitive function was partially mediated by CSF t-tau (CM-MMSE: proportion: 2.74%, MoCA-b: proportion: 2.51%). Subgroup analyses revealed the influences of t-tau were especially evident in male (CM-MMSE: proportion: 5.45%, MoCA-b: proportion: 5.38%) and mid-life group (CM-MMSE: proportion: 9.83%, MoCA-b: proportion: 5.31%). Conclusions: These results delineated t-tau as a potential mediator for the influence of ICVD on cognition. Targeting brain ischemia and alleviating neuronal injury induced by ischemia may be a promising approach for preventing cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review and meta‐analysis evaluate the impact of ultrasound‐guided subsheath versus extrasheath sciatic nerve blocks on postoperative wound pain in tibial and foot surgeries, crucial for effective pain management and patient recovery. Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, this study used a PICO framework, focusing on patients undergoing tibial and foot surgeries and comparing the efficacy and safety of subsheath and extrasheath sciatic nerve blocks. The literature search spanned four databases without time restrictions, assessing various outcomes like success rate, onset time, duration of analgesia and complication rates. Quality assessment employed the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool, and statistical analyses included heterogeneity assessment, fixed‐effect and random‐effects models, sensitivity analysis and publication bias evaluation using funnel plots and Egger's linear regression test. From an initial pool of 1213 articles, six met the inclusion criteria. The subsheath group showed a significantly higher success rate of complete sensory blockade within 30 min compared with the extrasheath group (OR = 5.39; 95% CI: 2.82–10.28; p < 0.01). No significant differences were found in procedure duration or incidence of nerve‐related complications between the two techniques. The subsheath approach also demonstrated a quicker onset time of sensory blockade (MD = −8.57; 95% CI: −11.27 to −5.88; p < 0.01). Sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of the results, and no significant publication bias was detected. Ultrasound‐guided subsheath sciatic nerve blocks are more effective than extrasheath blocks in achieving rapid and complete sensory blockade for tibial and foot surgeries, with a quicker onset time and comparable safety profile. Subsheath injections are thus recommended as a preferred method for anaesthesia and postoperative pain management in these surgical procedures, enhancing overall patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty is a vulnerability state increasing the risk of many adverse health outcomes, but little is known about the effects of frailty on neuropsychiatric health. Objective: To explore the associations between frailty and the risk of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) in Alzheimer's disease (AD), especially in its different clinical stages. Methods: We included 2,155 individuals assessed using modified frailty index-11 (mFI-11), Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). The relationships between frailty and NPSs were explored with logistic regression models and Cox proportional hazard regression models. Causal mediation analyses were conducted to explore the mediation factors between frailty and NPSs. Results: Among mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participants, frailty was cross-sectionally associated with an increased risk of apathy, and longitudinally associated with increased risk of depression and apathy. Among AD participants, frailty was cross-sectionally associated with increased risk of depression and anxiety, and longitudinally associated with an increased risk of apathy. Among participants with cognitive progression, frailty was associated with increased risk of depression and apathy. In MCI participants, the influence of frailty on NPSs was partially mediated by hippocampus volume, whole brain volume, and monocytes, with mediating proportions ranging from 8.40% to 9.29%. Conclusions: Frailty was associated with NPSs such as depression, anxiety, and apathy among MCI, AD, and cognitive progression participants. Atrophy of the hippocampus and whole brain, as well as peripheral immunity may be involved in the potential mechanisms underlying the above associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing popularity and development of electric vehicles, the demand for electric vehicle charging is also constantly increasing. To meet the diverse charging needs of electric vehicle users and improve the efficiency of charging infrastructure, this study proposes an optimization strategy for electric vehicle charging and discharging. This method considers both the user's travel mode and the operational efficiency of the charging pile. Firstly, a probability model based on travel spatiotemporal variables and Monte Carlo algorithm were used to simulate the travel trajectory of electric vehicles, providing a data foundation for optimizing the charging and discharging schemes of electric vehicles. Then, with the dual objective of minimizing the operating costs of charging piles and user charging costs, a linear programming model was constructed to optimize the charging and discharging strategies of electric vehicles. Finally, the model was validated using an apartment building as an example. The results indicate that, under the normal travel habits of users, with the goal of minimizing company expenses, the annual cost of the company reaches its minimum at a certain number of charging piles. When the cost of electric vehicle users dominates the objective function, they will pay more attention to battery degradation, significantly reducing their willingness to participate in discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new compounds (1–2, 4) along with ten known ones (3, 5–13), were isolated from the whole plant of Erigeron breviscapus. Compounds 1 and 2, two novel C10 acetylenic acids and compound 4, a jasmone glucoside were elucidated by the detailed analysis of 1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS spectra, and experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD). Compounds 1–3 represent the first example of acetylenic acids incorporating C10 skeleton from E. breviscapus. In addition, the antioxidant effects of all compounds were evaluated by ferric reducing power, 2,2′-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate acid) (ABTS) and 2.2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assays. Our results indicated the significant antioxidant activity of caffeoylquinic acids. Additionally, compounds 10–11 and 13 played protective role on alcoholic liver injury cells in a dose-dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition-metal-based nanozymes show great potential for chemiluminescence (CL) detection due to their stability, excellent catalytic properties, good biocompatibility, and facile synthesis. In this study, bimetallic CoMoO4 nanorods with high peroxidase activity were synthesized using a hydrothermal method, followed by calcination treatment. The as-synthesized CoMoO4 nanorods were utilized as catalysts for CL for the first time. They enhance the CL intensity of the luminol/hydrogen peroxide system by nearly 750-fold. Furthermore, a sensitive and rapid platform for dopamine detection was established based on the quenching effect of dopamine on the CL signal of this system. The proposed CL method for dopamine exhibited a linear range of 10–500 nM and a detection limit of 1.98 nM. Moreover, dopamine in serum samples was successfully measured using a standard addition method, showing a satisfactory recovery of 97.2–104.3%. This work provides robust support for the development of efficient and sensitive platforms for CL detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is proven to have neuroprotective protective effects. Nevertheless, the impact of RIPC on postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in patients undergoing general anesthesia is controversial. This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to assess the effect of RIPC on POCD in adults after general anesthesia. Methods: Relevant literature was obtained by searching Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases in July 2022. RCTs were included to assess the influences of RIPC on POCD in adults following general anesthesia. Two investigators independently performed literature screening, data extraction, and quality assessment based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The incidence of POCD, operation time, and hospital stay were analyzed by Review manager5.4 software. Results: Thirteen RCTs with 1122 participants were selected for this meta-analysis. Compared to the control group, RIPC decreased the incidence of POCD (OR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.31–0.82), as well as reduced the duration of hospitalization (MD = − 0.98, 95% CI − 1.69 to − 0.27), but did not prolong operative time (MD = − 2.65, 95% CI − 7.68 to 2.37). Conclusion: RIPC reduced the incidence of POCD in adult patients after general anesthesia and accelerated their discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pulmonary complications after thoracic surgery are common and associated with significant morbidity and high cost of care. Goal-directed fluid therapy (GDFT) could reduce the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) and facilitate recovery in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. However, whether GDFT could reduce the incidence of PPCs in patients undergoing thoracic surgery was unclear. The present meta-analysis was designed to assess the impact of Goal-directed Fluid Therapy on PPCs in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing GDFT with other conventional fluid management strategies in adult patients undergoing thoracic surgery were identified. Databases searched included PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. Review Manager 5.4 (The Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK) software was used for statistical analysis. Heterogeneity was analyzed using I2 statistics, and a standardized mean difference with 95% CI and P value was used to calculate the treatment effect for outcome variables. The primary study outcomes were the incidence of PPCs. Secondary outcomes were the total volume infused, the length of hospitalization, the incidence of cardiac complications, and the incidence of renal dysfunction. Subgroup analysis was planned to verify the definite role of GDFT. Results: A total of 6 RCTs consisting of 680 patients were included in this meta-analysis, which revealed that GDFT did not reduce the incidence of PPCs in patients undergoing thoracic surgery (RR, 0.57; 95% CI 0.29–1.14). However, GDFT decreased the total intra-operative fluid input (MD, − 244.40 ml; 95% CI − 397.06 to − 91.74). There was no statistical difference in the duration of hospitalization (MD; − 1.31, 95% CI − 3.00 to 0.38), incidence of renal dysfunction (RR, 0.62; 95% CI 0.29–1.35), and incidence of cardiac complications (RR, 0.62; 95% CI 0.27–1.40). Conclusions: The results of this meta-analysis indicate that GDFT did not reduce the postoperative incidence of pulmonary complications in individuals undergoing thoracic surgery. However, considering the small number of contributing studies, these results should be interpreted with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) often involves significant postoperative pain, necessitating effective analgesia. This meta‐analysis compares the analgesic efficacy of local infiltration anaesthesia (LIA) and femoral nerve block (FNB) in managing postoperative wound pain following TKA. Adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this meta‐analysis was structured around the PICO framework, assessing studies that directly compared LIA and FNB in TKA patients. A comprehensive search across PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library was conducted without time restrictions. Studies were included based on specific criteria such as participant demographics, study design and outcomes like pain scores and opioid consumption. Quality assessment utilized the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool. The statistical approach was determined based on heterogeneity, with the choice of fixed‐ or random‐effects models guided by the I2 statistic. Sensitivity analysis and evaluation of publication bias using funnel plots and Egger's linear regression test were also conducted. From an initial pool of 1275 articles, eight studies met the inclusion criteria. These studies conducted in various countries from 2007 to 2016. The meta‐analysis showed no significant difference in resting and movement‐related Visual Analogue Scale scores post‐TKA between the LIA and FNB groups. However, LIA was associated with significantly lower opioid consumption. The quality assessment revealed a low risk of bias in most studies, and the sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of these findings. There was no significant publication bias detected. Both LIA and FNB are effective in controlling postoperative pain in TKA patients, but LIA offers the advantage of lower opioid consumption. Its simplicity, cost‐effectiveness and opioid‐sparing nature make LIA the recommended choice for postoperative analgesia in knee replacement surgeries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabrication of high-performance and low-cost metal-based compounds as electrocatalysts by a simple strategy is crucial for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this study, MnS-MoS2 nanosheets were in situ grown on a laser-ablated Mo plate (MnS-MoS2/LA-Mo) through a one-step hydrothermal method. Benefiting from the high electrochemical activity area, good electrical conductivity, superhydrophilic/aerophobic surfaces, and ultrathin nanosheets, MnS-MoS2/LA-Mo exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and structure stability, delivering a low overpotential of 85 mV in a 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte and 176 mV in a 1 M KOH electrolyte, respectively, at the current density of 10 mA cm–2, exhibiting low charge-transfer resistance and exceptional long-term stability. This work provides a simple method for preparing efficient self-supporting nonprecious metal electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein-templated molecularly imprinted polymers have limitations such as poor mass transfer, slow recognition kinetics, and difficulties in isolation and purification due to their large molecular sizes, complex structures, and flexible conformations. To address these limitations and obtain lysozyme (Lyz)-imprinted polymers, a molecularly imprinted polymer (UiO66@DES-MIPs) was prepared for the first time by using Lyz as a template molecule, a metal–organic framework (UiO66-NH2) as a matrix, and a water-compatible deep eutectic solvent (DES) as a functional monomer. The introduction of UiO66-NH2 by the solvothermal method with a large specific surface area and favorable stability and resistance to environmental disturbances into the MIPs can reduce the "embedding" phenomenon and acquire a higher binding capacity and fast mass transfer. In addition, a water-soluble binary DES (1:2 molar ratio of choline chloride to 1,3 dimethylurea) prepared by a hydrothermal method as a functional monomer generates multiple forces with Lyz, increasing the hydrophilicity of UiO66@DES-MIPs and contributing to the formation and stabilization of the imprinted sites. Consequently, UiO66@DES-MIPs exhibited good selectivity, water compatibility, and fast adsorption equilibrium (the adsorption equilibrated at 243.87 ± 4.88 mg g−1 in 90 min). Besides, reusability experiments indicated that the UiO66@DES-MIPs could be recycled six times without obvious loss of adsorption capacity. The imprinting factor of UiO66@DES-MIPs is 3.67. The isolation and purification of Lyz from egg white confirmed the practicability of UiO66@DES-MIPs. The high adsorption capacity and specific recognition make this polymer a promising candidate for the isolation and purification of biological macromolecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, two novel Fe(III)-reducing bacteria, SG10T and SG198T of genus Geothrix, were isolated from the rice field of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. Strains SG10T and SG198T were strictly anaerobic, rod-shaped and Gram-stain-negative. The two novel strains exhibited iron reduction ability, utilizing various single organic acid as the elector donor and Fe(III) as a terminal electron acceptor. Strains SG10T and SG198T showed the highest 16S rRNA sequences similarities to the type strains of Geothrix oryzisoli SG189T (99.0–99.5%) and Geothrix paludis SG195T (99.0–99.7%), respectively. The phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA gene and genome 120 conserved core genes showed that strains SG10T and SG198T belong to the genus Geothrix. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between the phylogenetic neighbors and the two isolated strains were 86.1–94.3% and 30.7–59.5%, respectively. The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, C16:0 and iso-C13:0 3OH, and MK-8 was the main respiratory quinone. According to above results, the two strains were assigned to the genus Geothrix with the names Geothrix campi sp. nov. and Geothrix mesophila sp. nov. Type strains are SG10T (= GDMCC 1.3406 T = JCM 39331 T) and SG198T (= GDMCC 62910 T = KCTC 25635 T), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is a serious complication for diabetic patients involving nervous system. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small-noncoding RNAs which are dysregulated in neuropathic pain, and might be critical molecules for pain treatment. Our previous study has shown miR-184-5p was significantly downregulated in DNP. Therefore, the mechanism of miR-184-5p in DNP was investigated in this study. A DNP model was established through streptozotocin (STZ). The pharmacological tools were injected intrathecally, and pain behavior was evaluated by paw withdrawal mechanical thresholds (PWMTs). Bioinformatics analysis, Dual-luciferase reporter assay and fluorescence-in-situ-hybridization (FISH) were used to seek and confirm the potential target genes of miR-184-5p. The expression of relative genes and proteins was analyzed by quantitative reverse transcriptase real-time PCR (qPCR) and western blotting. MiR-184-5p expression was down-regulated in spinal dorsal on days 7 and 14 after STZ, while intrathecal administration of miR-184-5p agomir attenuates neuropathic pain induced by DNP and intrathecal miR-184-5p antagomir induces pain behaviors in naïve mice. Chemokine CC motif ligand 1 (CCL1) was found to be a potential target of miR-184-5p and the protein expression of CCL1 and the mRNA expression of CCR8 were up-regulated in spinal dorsal on days 7 and 14 after STZ. The luciferase reporter assay and FISH demonstrated that CCL1 is a direct target of miR-184-5p. MiR-184-5p overexpression attenuated the expression of CCL1/CCR8 in DNP; intrathecal miR-184-5p antagomir increased the expression of CCL1/CCR8 in spinal dorsal of naïve mice. This research illustrates that miR-184-5p alleviates DNP through the inhibition of CCL1/CCR8 signaling expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a slow step in electrocatalytic water splitting. NiFe layered double hydroxides (LDH) have shown promise as affordable OER electrocatalysts, but their performance is hindered by poor charge transfer and sluggish kinetics. To address this, we doped NiFe LDH with sulfur (S) using an in situ electrodeposition method. By growing S-doped NiFe LDH on Cu nanoarrays, we created core–shell structures that improved both the thermodynamics and kinetics of OER. The resulting S-NiFe LDH@Cu core–shell nanoarrays exhibited enhanced activity in water oxidation, with a low potential of 236 mV (at 50 mA cm−2) and a small Tafel slope of 50.64 mV dec−1. Moreover, our alkaline electrolyzer, based on these materials, demonstrated remarkable activity, with a low voltage of 1.56 V at 100 mA cm−2 and excellent durability. The core–shell nanoarray structures provided a larger electroactive surface area, facilitated fast electron transport, and allowed for effective gas release. These findings highlight the potential of S-NiFe LDH@Cu core–shell nanoarrays as efficient OER electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sex difference exists in the prevalence of dementia and cognitive decline. The impacts of sex-specific reproductive risk factors across the lifespan on the risk of dementia or cognitive decline are still unclear. Herein, we conducted this systemic review and meta-analysis to finely depict the longitudinal associations between sex-specific reproductive factors and dementia or cognitive decline. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched up to January 2023. Studies focused on the associations of female- and male-specific reproductive factors with dementia or cognitive decline were included. Multivariable-adjusted effects were pooled via the random effect models. Evidence credibility was scored by the GRADE system. The study protocol was pre-registered in PROSPERO and the registration number is CRD42021278732. Results: A total of 94 studies were identified for evidence synthesis, comprising 9,839,964 females and 3,436,520 males. Among the identified studies, 63 of them were included in the meta-analysis. According to the results, seven female-specific reproductive factors including late menarche (risk increase by 15%), nulliparous (11%), grand parity (32%), bilateral oophorectomy (8%), short reproductive period (14%), early menopause (22%), increased estradiol level (46%), and two male-specific reproductive factors, androgen deprivation therapy (18%), and serum sex hormone–binding globulin (22%) were associated with an elevated risk of dementia or cognitive decline. Conclusions: These findings potentially reflect sex hormone-driven discrepancy in the occurrence of dementia and could help build sex-based precise strategies for preventing dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wave energy has emerged as a focal point in marine renewable energy research. Accurate prediction of wave power plays a pivotal role in enhancing power supply reliability. This paper introduces an innovative wave power prediction method that combines seasonal–trend decomposition using LOESS (STL) with a dual-channel Seq2Seq model. The decomposition model addresses the issue of component redundancy in current input decomposition methods, thereby uncovering key components. The prediction model improves upon the limitations of current prediction models that directly concatenate multiple features, allowing for a more detailed consideration of both trend and periodic features. The proposed approach begins by decomposing the power sequence based on tidal periods and optimal correlation criteria, effectively extracting both trend and periodic features. Subsequently, a dual-channel Seq2Seq model is constructed. The first channel employs temporal pattern attention to capture the trend and stochastic fluctuation information, while the second channel utilizes multi-head self-attention to further enhance the extraction of periodic components. Model validation is performed using data from two ocean buoys, each with a five-year dataset. The proposed model achieves an average 2.45% reduction in RMSE compared to the state-of-the-art method. Both the decomposition and prediction components of the model contribute to this increase in accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth-order WENO-Z scheme proposed by Borges et al., using a linear combination of low-order smoothness indicators, is designed to provide a low numerical dissipation to solve hyperbolic conservation laws, while the power q in the framework of WENO-Z plays a key role in its performance. In this paper, a novel global smoothness indicator with fifth-order accuracy, which is based on several lower-order smoothness indicators on two-point sub-stencils, is presented, and a new lower-dissipation WENO-Z scheme (WENO-NZ) is developed. The spectral properties of the WENO-NZ scheme are studied through the ADR method and show that this new scheme can exhibit better spectral results than WENO-Z no matter what the power value is. Accuracy tests confirm that the accuracy of WENO-Z with q = 1 would degrade to the fourth order at first-order critical points, while WENO-NZ can recover the optimal fifth-order convergence. Furthermore, numerical experiments with one- and two-dimensional benchmark problems demonstrate that the proposed WENO-NZ scheme can efficiently decrease the numerical dissipation and has a higher resolution compared to the WENO-Z scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we design a fast and accurate lightweight semantic segmentation method for mobile robots. Accurate semantic segmentation usually requires obtaining high-resolution feature maps with strong semantic representation. Among the widely utilized methods, dilated convolution is computationally intensive and the feature pyramid accuracy is not as accurate. Inspired by the Flow Alignment Module (FAM) proposed by SFNet, we propose a Semantic Guided Upsampling Module (SGUM) for learning semantic offsets between neighboring level feature maps to solve the semantic misalignment problem and effectively fuse high level semantic features into low-level high-resolution feature maps. The integration of the SGUM into the semantic segmentation network with different backbones shows better performance than other methods on various datasets, showing the effectiveness of the SGUM on semantic feature fusion as well as its generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chemiluminescent immunoassay for human serum Cystatin C (Cys C) was established using a direct-antibody sandwich model. The immunoassay kit uses magnetic separation technology, using magnetic particles as the reaction solid phase, alkaline phosphatase as the marker enzyme, and a new chemiluminescent substrate APLS as the substrate. It has the characteristics of high sensitivity and short reaction time. This product uses high-affinity antibodies, resulting in a high specificity. The established method showed good accuracy, uniformity, and stability. The limit of detection was 2.39 ng/mL. The intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) was 3.36%–6.00%, the interassay CV was 4.12%–5.35%, and the recovery rate was 99.07%. The correlation coefficient (r) of Cys-C kit was 0.999388 ≥ 0.9900. The accuracy of the developed method was tested by automatic chemiluminescence instrument (P > 0.05). The lowest titer was 0.92500, and the highest was 1.10000. The developed method showed a good correlation with the product from Roche by comparing these two kits in 240 clinical samples from China. In total, 1392 clinical patient from China samples were measured using the reagent kit developed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ajania Poljakov, an Asteraceae family member, grows mostly in Asia's arid and semi-desert areas and is a significant commercial and decorative plant. Nevertheless, the genus' classification has been disputed, and the evolutionary connections within the genus have not been thoroughly defined. Hence, we sequenced and analyzed Ajania's plastid genomes and combined them with ETS data to assess their phylogenetic relationships. Results: We obtained a total of six new Ajania plastid genomes and nine ETS sequences. The whole plastome lengths of the six species sampled ranged from 151,002 bp to 151,115 bp, showing conserved structures. Combined with publicly available data from GenBank, we constructed six datasets to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships, detecting nucleoplasmic clashes. Our results reveal the affinities of Artemisia, Chrysanthemum and Stilpnolepis to Ajania and validate the early taxonomy reclassification. Some of the plastid genes with low phylogenetic information and gene trees with topological differences may have contributed to the ambiguous phylogenetic results of Ajania. There is extensive evolutionary rate heterogeneity in plastid genes. The psbH and ycf2 genes, which are involved in photosynthesis and ATP transport, are under selective pressure. Plastomes from Ajania species diverged, and structural aspects of plastomes may indicate some of the real evolutionary connections. We suggest the ycf1 gene as a viable plastid DNA barcode because it has significant nucleotide diversity and better reflects evolutionary connections. Conclusion: Our findings validate the early Ajania taxonomy reclassification and show evolutionary rate heterogeneity, genetic variety, and phylogenetic heterogeneity of plastid genes. This research might provide new insights into the taxonomy and evolution of Ajania, as well as provide useful information for germplasm innovation and genetic enhancement in horticultural species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this current study, we theoretically study how anisotropic parabolic potential affects polaron n excited state in strongly coupled polar crystals (KBr, KCl, RbCl) in asymmetric Gaussian potential quantum wells, through the combined approach of one unitary transformation and linear combination operator. In the restriction limit of strong coupling, we derive rigorous results for excited state energy. By using this combination method, polaron energy and electron energy are compared which energy both polaron and electron is affected by confined potential. In addition, the relationship between energy difference and coupling strength is also discussed. It is hoped that the theoretical results reveal a promising and importance of further study of polaron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been recommended for the treatment of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). We aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of washed microbiota transplantation (WMT), a new method of FMT, for CDI across various medical settings. Methods: This multicenter real‐world cohort study included CDI patients undergoing WMT. The primary outcome was the clinical cure rate of CDI within 8 weeks after WMT. Secondary outcomes included the CDI recurrence rate and reduction in total abdominal symptom score (TASS) during the follow‐up period. Adverse events related to WMT were recorded. Results: Altogether 90.7% (49/54) of CDI patients achieved clinical cure after treated with WMT. The cure rate was 83.3% for cases with severe and complicated CDI (ScCDI) (n = 30) and 100% for non‐ScCDI cases (n = 24) (P = 0.059). No difference was observed in the clinical cure rate between patients with first and recurrent CDI (91.9% vs 88.2%, P = 0.645). One week post‐WMT, TASS showed a remarkable decrease compared to that at baseline (P < 0.001). Totally, 8.2% (4/49) of patients suffered CDI recurrence during the follow‐up period. A WHO performance score of 4, age ≥65 years, higher TASS score, and higher Charlson comorbidity index score were potential risk factors for efficacy (P = 0.018, 0.03, 0.01, 0.034, respectively). Four (3.8%) transient adverse events related to WMT were observed. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the attractive value of WMT for CDI. Early WMT may be recommended for CDI, especially for those in serious condition or with complex comorbidities. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, no. NCT03895593 (registered on 27 March 2019). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is an evolutionary algorithm for solving global optimization problems. PSO has a fast convergence speed and does not require the optimization function to be differentiable and continuous. In recent two decades, a lot of researches have been working on improving the performance of PSO, and numerous PSO variants have been presented. According to a recent theory, no optimization algorithm can perform better than any other algorithm on all types of optimization problems. Thus, PSO with mixed strategies might be more efficient than pure strategy algorithms. A mixed strategy PSO algorithm (MSPSO) which integrates five different PSO variants was proposed. In MSPSO, an adaptive selection strategy is used to adjust the probability of selecting different variants according to the rate of the fitness value change between offspring generated by each variant and the personal best position of particles to guide the selection probabilities of variants. The rate of the fitness value change is a more effective indicator of good strategies than the number of previous successes and failures of each variant. In order to improve the exploitation ability of MSPSO, a Nelder–Mead variant method is proposed. The combination of these two methods further improves the performance of MSPSO. The proposed algorithm is tested on CEC 2014 benchmark suites with 10 and 30 variables and CEC 2010 with 1000 variables and is also conducted to solve the hydrothermal scheduling problem. Experimental results demonstrate that the solution accuracy of the proposed algorithm is overall better than that of comparative algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are numerous challenges facing the modern food and agriculture industry that urgently need to be addressed, including feeding a growing global population, mitigating and adapting to climate change, decreasing pollution, waste, and biodiversity loss, and ensuring that people remain healthy. At the same time, foods should be safe, affordable, convenient, and delicious. The latest developments in science and technology are being deployed to address these issues. Some of the most important elements within this modern food design approach are encapsulated by the MATCHING model: Meat-reduced; Automation; Technology-driven; Consumer-centric; Healthy; Intelligent; Novel; and Globalization. In this review article, we focus on four key aspects that will be important for the creation of a new generation of healthier and more sustainable foods: emerging raw materials; structural design principles for creating innovative products; developments in eco-friendly packaging; and precision nutrition and customized production of foods. We also highlight some of the most important new developments in science and technology that are being used to create future foods, including food architecture, synthetic biology, nanoscience, and sensory perception. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2022.2033683 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface phase diagrams (SPDs) are essential for understanding the dependence of surface chemistry on reaction condition. For multi-component systems such as metal alloys, the derivation of such diagrams often relies on separate first-principles global optimization tasks under different reaction conditions. Here we show that this can be significantly accelerated by leveraging the fact that all tasks essentially share a unified configurational search space, and only a single expensive electronic structure calculation is required to evaluate the stabilities of a surface structure under all considered reaction conditions. As a general solution, we propose a Bayesian evolutionary multitasking (BEM) framework combining Bayesian statistics with evolutionary multitasking, which allows efficient mapping of SPDs even for very complex surface systems. As proofs of concept, we showcase the performance of our methods in deriving the alloy SPDs for two heterogeneous catalytic systems: the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the gas phase steam methane reforming (SMR) reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal muscle and thermogenic adipose tissue are both critical for the maintenance of body temperature in mammals. However, whether these two tissues are interconnected to modulate thermogenesis and metabolic homeostasis in response to thermal stress remains inconclusive. Here, we report that human and mouse obesity is associated with elevated Musclin levels in both muscle and circulation. Intriguingly, muscle expression of Musclin is markedly increased or decreased when the male mice are housed in thermoneutral or chronic cool conditions, respectively. Beige fat is then identified as the primary site of Musclin action. Muscle-transgenic or AAV-mediated overexpression of Musclin attenuates beige fat thermogenesis, thereby exacerbating diet-induced obesity and metabolic disorders in male mice. Conversely, Musclin inactivation by muscle-specific ablation or neutralizing antibody treatment promotes beige fat thermogenesis and improves metabolic homeostasis in male mice. Mechanistically, Musclin binds to transferrin receptor 1 (Tfr1) and antagonizes Tfr1-mediated cAMP/PKA-dependent thermogenic induction in beige adipocytes. This work defines the temperature-sensitive myokine Musclin as a negative regulator of adipose thermogenesis that exacerbates the deterioration of metabolic health in obese male mice and thus provides a framework for the therapeutic targeting of this endocrine pathway. Interorgan communications play key roles in the regulation of whole-body energy metabolism. Here, the authors report the myokine Musclin as a negative regulator of beige adipose thermogenesis and systemic energy homeostasis through Tfr1/PKA signalling mediated muscle fat crosstalk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind turbine gearbox condition monitoring (C&M) is a key technology to promote wind farm maintenance cost reduction and power generation improvement. Existing gearbox C&M methods usually adopt the component‐by‐component modelling approach. Firstly, this approach is inefficient in modelling; secondly, due to the thermal conduction effect, abnormalities in one gearbox component usually affect other components, making it difficult to identify the source of faults. To solve these problems, a normal behaviour model (NBM) combining data adaptive noise reduction and an improved variational auto‐encoder (VAE) is proposed, which can monitor the operational condition of multiple components of one gearbox simultaneously and takes into account the correlation between components when warning of the specific abnormal component. As verified by practical cases, the method balances the modelling accuracy and efficiency of the multi‐component NBM and achieves effective early warning and accurate localization of gearbox abnormalities. The proposed model has lower false alarm and missed alarm rates compared to other single‐component and multi‐component NBMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geo-sensory time series, such as the air quality and water distribution, are collected from numerous sensors at different geospatial locations in the same time interval. Each sensor monitors multiple parameters and generates multivariate time series. These time series change over time and vary geographically; hence, geo-sensory time series contain multi-scale spatial-temporal correlations, namely inter-sensor spatial-temporal correlations and intra-sensor spatial-temporal correlations. To capture spatial-temporal correlations, although various deep learning models have been developed, few of the models focus on capturing both correlations. To solve this problem, we propose simultaneously capture the inter- and intra-sensor spatial-temporal correlations by designing a joint network of non-linear graph attention and temporal attraction force(J-NGT) consisting two graph attention mechanisms. The non-linear graph attention mechanism can characterize node affinities for adaptively selecting the relevant exogenous series and relevant sensor series. The temporal attraction force mechanism can weigh the effect of past values on current values to represent the temporal correlation. To prove the superiority and effectiveness of our model, we evaluate our model in three real-world datasets from different fields. Experimental results show that our model can achieve better prediction performance than eight state-of-the-art models, including statistical models, machine learning models, and deep learning models. Furthermore, we conducted experiments to capture inter- and intra-sensor spatial-temporal correlations. Experimental results indicate that our model significantly improves performance by capturing both inter- and intra-sensor spatial-temporal correlations. This fully shows that our model has a greater advantage in geo-sensory time series prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal-based nanomaterials exhibit promising potential as highly active and low-cost electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting, which can be achieved via elaborating compositional modulation and structural manipulation. This, however, normally involves multiple or even complex synthetic procedures. Herein, we report a simple one-step sulfidation of FeMnZn multi-metal skeletons for the preparation of highly efficient electrocatalysts. The incorporation of Mn and Zn induced a hierarchical nano/micro sheet-to-sheet morphology supported on an open porous skeleton (FeMnZn/Mn-FeS, FMZS2), which not only facilitates electron/ion transport but also expands the accessible surface. Meanwhile, Mn is introduced to optimize the adsorption/desorption ability of intermediates on the S sites in FeS. The resultant effect leads to remarkable electrocatalytic performance with good durability. Notably, the optimized FMZS2 delivers 20 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of 118 mV for the HER and 100 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 390 mV for the OER, outperforming Pt/C and IrO2 catalysts, respectively. Moreover, the assembled alkaline electrolyzer also has good overall water splitting capability, which is better than that of the noble metal ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refractories subject to loading and unloading repeatedly because of physical effects and thermal stress attack in the service process, which is an important issue shortening the service life of the thermal equipment. Therefore, researches of predicting the service life of refractories under cyclic loading have the guiding significance. The present work investigated the synthesis of ZnAl2O4 and discussed its effects on the alumina castables. The results show that the optimized generation temperature of ZnAl2O4 phase is 1400°C and the hysteresis loop in the curves of cyclic loading reveals a general trend of first sparse and then dense. The cycle times of the specimen with 3 wt.% ZnAl2O4 is 50 times, and the time from starting to loop to fracture is about 4300 s. The fatigue resistance of the specimen with 3 wt.% ZnAl2O4 is superior to ZA-0 and ZA-1.5. The new method of cyclic loading was innovatively adopted in refractories, which provide data and theoretical support for the thermal shock evaluation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anaerobic, Gram-staining-negative, rod shaped, nitrogen-fixing strain designed SG202T, was isolated from paddy soil collected from Fujian Province in China. Strain SG202T showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the type strain Sulfurospirillum multivorans DSM 12446T (98.5%). Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and conserved core genes from genomes indicated that strain SG202T branched with members of the genus Sulfurospirillum. Growth was observed at 25–37 °C (optimum 30 °C), pH 6.0–10.5 (optimum 7.5), and 0–0.6% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 0.2%). Strain SG202T contained MK-6 as the menaquinone and C16:1ω7c (40.6%), C16:0 (33.3%), C18:1ω7c (13.6%) and C14:0 (9.0%) as the major fatty acids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 39.0%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between strain SG202T and its closely related species S. multivorans DSM 12446T, Sulfurospirillum halorespirans DSM 13726T, Sulfurospirillum arsenophilum DSM 10659T and Sulfurospirillum diekertiae ACSDCET were 81.3, 81.5, 84.4, 82.2% and 24.5, 24.5, 27.9, 25.2%, respectively. All these values were lower than the recommended species delineation thresholds of ANI (95–96%) and dDDH (70%). Strain SG202T possessed core genes (nifHDK) of nitrogen fixation, and nitrogenase activities (3470.45 μmol C2H4 g−1 protein h−1) was examined using the acetylene reduction assay. Based on the observed physiological properties, chemotaxonomic characteristics and genome analysis, strain SG202T is recognized as a novel species of the genus Sulfurospirillum, for which the name Sulfurospirillum oryzae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SG202T (= GDMCC 1.3379T= JCM 35596T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common postsurgical complication. The early identification of its risk factors is the first step toward reducing POD. The predictive factors for POD in patients after major abdominal surgery remain obscure. Therefore, this meta‐analysis aimed to comprehensively summarize the risk factors of POD after major abdominal surgery. Methods: POD studies published between January, 1900 and June 2022 were obtained by searching PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, and Medline. Two authors independently reviewed the studies to extract the risk factors and assessed the quality of related articles using the Newcastle‐Ottawa Scale. Data were recorded, and a meta‐analysis was performed using Review Manager version 5.4.1. Results: Ten studies including total 2900 patients undergoing major abdominal surgery, were eligible for analysis, 608 of whom developed POD, for a cumulative incidence of 21%. This pooled analysis suggested the statistically significant risk factors for POD were age, higher American Society of Anesthesiologists grade, lower preoperative Mini‐Mental State Examination score, cognitive impairment, preoperative Katz‐ADL score <6, preoperative and postoperative hypoalbuminemia, lower preoperative insulin‐like growth factor‐1 levels, and longer duration of anesthesia. Conclusion: POD is common in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. This meta‐analysis identified risk factors that may aid the early detection of POD and play a prominent role in preventing POD. Key points: Our report was the first to comprehensively summarize the related risk factors for postoperative delirium (POD) after major abdominal surgery; the results of this pooled analysis suggested the statistically significant risk factors for POD were age, higher American Society of Anesthesiologists grade, lower preoperative Mini‐Mental State Examination score, cognitive impairment, preoperative Katz‐ADL score <6, preoperative and postoperative hypoalbuminemia, lower preoperative insulin‐like growth factor‐1 levels, and longer durations of anesthesia, which may better predict the risk of POD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, ozonation was used to oxidize the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes to produce oxygen-containing groups. The preparation and properties of ozonation-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes and natural latex wet-processed composites were investigated experimentally. Ozone-modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes increase the oxygen-containing functional group's activity, strengthen the acidity, and increase the hydrophilicity. This allows sufficient processing time for later incorporation with natural rubber latex. In wet mixing, flash evaporation was used to quickly remove moisture to prevent the oxidative rupture of the alkenes bond of the rubber molecular chain due to the use of a high temperature for a long time. The results showed that after 3 days of ozone modification, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes showed an increased number of hydroxyl groups, which increased their hydrophilicity. Because of this, the bonding interface with natural rubber was strengthened. During the wet mixing process, their dispersion was better, and the tensile strength of the vulcanizate increased by 20.4%, the elongation at break increased by 12.8%, the tear strength increased by 53.7%, and the rolling resistance decreased by 11.4%. The performance of multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified by ozone oxidation was significantly improved, indicating that ozone treatment provides an environmentally friendly oxidation modification technology with promising prospects in the rubber industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the precipitation behavior of the T1-phase on each {111}Al habit plane was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which was observed along two < 110 > Al zone axes in an Al-Cu-Li single crystal during creep aging. The results indicate that the oriented-precipitation of T1-phase in the Al-Cu-Li single crystal was originally determined during creep aging. The number densities of the T1-phase on the habit planes of (111)Al and (1 1)Al is noticeably higher than those of the T1-phase on the habit planes of ( 11)Al and (11 )Al in the same Al-Cu-Li single crystal when the external stress is loaded along the direction close to [111]Al orientation. It implies that the T1-phase tends to preferentially precipitate on the habit planes that are perpendicular to the loading direction during creep aging. This work provides the initial experimental evidence of the oriented-precipitation of the T1-phase in Al-Cu-Li alloy, and proposes the possibility of regulating the precipitation distribution of the T1-phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anaerobic, Gram-staining-negative, rod-shaped, Fe(III)-reducing strain, designated SG189T, was isolated from paddy soil in Fujian Province, China. Growth occurred at 20–35 ℃ (optimum 30 ℃), pH 6.5–8.0 (optimum 7.0) and 0–0.2% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 0%). The strain SG189T showed the highest 16S rRNA sequences similarities to the type strains of Geothrix fermentans DSM 14018T (98.9%), "Geothrix terrae" SG184T (99.0%) and "Geothrix alkalitolerans" SG263T (99.3%). ANI and dDDH values between strain SG189T and the most closely related Geothrix species were 86.5–87.1% and 31.5–32.9%, which lower than the cut-off values (ANI 95–96% and dDDH 70%) for prokaryotic species delineation. Further, genome-based phylogenomic trees constructed using 81 core genes (UBCG2) and 120 conserved genes (GTDB) showed that strain SG189T formed a clade with members of the genus Geothrix. The menaquinone was shown to be MK-8, and the major fatty acids were iso-C15:0 and iso-C13:0 3OH. The genomic DNA G + C content was 68.2%. Additionally, we found that strain SG189T possessed ability to reduce ferric iron, and strain SG189T could reduce 10 mM of ferric citrate in 10 days with lactate as the sole electron donor. Based on the observed physiological and biochemical properties, chemotaxonomic characteristics, ANI and dDDH values, SG189T represents a novel species of the genus Geothrix, for which the name Geothrix oryzisoli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SG189T (= GDMCC 1.3408T = JCM 39324T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, generative adversarial networks have successfully synthesized images through text descriptions. However, there are still problems that the generated image cannot be deeply embedded in the text description semantics, the target object of the generated image is incomplete, and the texture structure of the target object is not rich enough. Consequently, we propose a network framework, cross-domain feature fusion generative adversarial network (CF-GAN), which includes two modules, feature fusion-enhanced response module (FFERM) and multi-branch residual module (MBRM), to fine-grain the generated images with the way of deep fusion. FFERM can integrate both the word-level vector features and image features deeply. MBRM is a relatively simple and innovative residual network structure instead of the traditional residual module to extract features fully. We conducted experiments on the CUB and COCO datasets, and the results reveal that the Inception Score has improved from 4.36 to 4.83 (increased by 10.78%) on the CUB dataset, compared with AttnGAN. Compared with DM-GAN, the Inception Score has increased from 30.49 to 31.13 (increased by 2.06%) on the COCO dataset. Extensive experiments and ablation studies demonstrate the proposed CF-GAN's superiority compared to other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a systematic theoretical study of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic activity of C2N/GaN heterostructure is carried out based on first principles. An indirect bandgap of 1.99 eV and type‐II band alignment are formed in the C2N/GaN heterostructure, which can facilitate the spatially efficient separation of photogenerated carrier pairs, and the band edge position matches the reduction potential of water. The catalytic performance of the HER reaction at the C and N sites is compared and that the N site is better in performance is found, but still requires a potential barrier of 0.60 eV. In order to improve the catalytic performance of the C2N/GaN heterostructure, an N atom is replaced by a P atom to obtain P‐C2N/GaN. The band alignment of the P‐C2N/GaN heterostructure is still type‐II, and the band edges satisfy the reduction potential of water. Fortunately, the P or N sites play a crucial role in the HER process with a relatively low overpotential of 0.38 eV, which suggests that P‐C2N/GaN can improve the catalytic performance of the heterojunction. Overall, the P‐C2N/GaN heterostructure has suitable band gap values and band edges, and efficient charge separation in the heterostructure makes it a promising HER catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]