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This paper considers the out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization problem under the setting that both style distribution shift and spurious features exist and domain labels are missing. This setting frequently arises in real-world applications and is underlooked because previous approaches mainly handle either of these two factors. The critical challenge is decoupling style and spurious features in the absence of domain labels. We propose a structural causal model (SCM) for the image generation process to address this challenge, considering both style distribution shifts and spurious features. The proposed SCM enables us to design a new framework called IRSS, which can gradually separate style distribution and spurious features from images by introducing adversarial neural networks and multi-environment optimization, thus achieving OOD generalization. Moreover, it does not require additional supervision (e.g., domain labels) other than the images and their corresponding labels. Experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that IRSS outperforms traditional OOD methods and solves the problem of Invariant risk minimization degradation, enabling the extraction of invariant features under distribution shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent and deadly malignancies worldwide. Recently, ferroptosis, a novel form of regulated cell death characterized by iron dependency and lipid peroxidation, has garnered significant attention from researchers. The mechanisms underlying ferroptosis, including intracellular iron levels, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant system regulation, offer new insights into cancer treatment strategies. This study aims to explore the emerging role of ferroptosis in the context of immunotherapy for CRC, highlighting its potential mechanisms and clinical applications. We employed a comprehensive review of current literature to elucidate the biological mechanisms of ferroptosis, its relationship with CRC, and the interplay between ferroptosis and immunotherapy. Ferroptosis reshapes the tumor microenvironment (TME) by regulating intracellular iron levels, lipid metabolism, and antioxidant systems, significantly enhancing the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Meanwhile, traditional Chinese medicine therapies promote antitumor immunity by modulating the TME and inducing ferroptosis. Additionally, advances in nanotechnology have facilitated precise therapy by enabling targeted delivery of ferroptosis inducers or immunomodulators, transforming "cold" tumors into "hot" tumors and further boosting ICI efficacy. This study comprehensively reviews the latest developments in ferroptosis, immunotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and nanotechnology in CRC, highlighting the importance of ferroptosis-related biomarkers and novel inducers for personalized treatment. In summary, ferroptosis offers a promising strategy to overcome CRC therapy resistance and enhance immunotherapy efficacy, warranting further investigation and translational application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern agriculture has caused extensive soil pesticide contamination, which is a global concern. This study explored the potential of bamboo charcoal (BC) to alleviate quinclorac-induced stress in tobacco plants. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of BC and vinasse fertilizer (VF) on the growth and physiological parameters of tobacco plants subjected to quinclorac stress. At 30, 60, and 90 d after transplantation, BC and VF exhibited pronounced restorative effects on quinclorac-stressed tobacco plants. The treatments improved plant height, leaf length, and leaf width, and enhanced leaf quality and various biochemical indicators. Treatment with 500 g VF + 4% BC resulted in the lowest residual quinclorac levels in both the soil and leaves. Treatment with 500 g VF + 2% BC resulted in the most significant recovery of agronomic traits, whereas 500 g VF + 0.5% BC was the most effective in enhancing leaf quality. However, the effectiveness of BC decreased with time following application, and furthermore, quinclorac may be released from the BC. In conclusion, BC shows promise in alleviating the adverse effects of quinclorac stress in tobacco plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to conduct a two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) to explore the potential causality between BMI, and IMID and biomarkers. Methods: The summary statistics for BMI (n = 322,154), at genome-wide significant level, were derived from the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits consortium (GIANT). The outcome data for IMID (Psoriasis, vitiligo, Atopic dermatitis (AD), acne, Bullous diseases, Dermatitis herpetiformis, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Alopecia Areata (AA), Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and Systemic sclerosis), and biomarkers were obtained from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The TSMR analyses were performed in four methods, including inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, MR-Egger regression, the weighted median estimator (WME) and simple mode. Results: The IVW analysis showed that the per standard deviation (SD) increase in BMI increased a 57% risk of psoriasis. We also observed the suggestive evidence of a causal relationship between BMI and AD and HS. This analysis did not support causality of Vitiligo, Acne, Bullous pemphigoid, Dermatitis herpetiformis, SLE, AA and Systemic sclerosis. The higher risk of BMI may be explained by higher levels of Triglycerides, C-reactive protein (CRP), Interleukin 6, Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and Neutrophil count. The high-density lipoprotein (HDL) has an inverse relationship with BMI. No influences were defined for Total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), Rheumatoid factor (RF), Basophil count and Eosinophil count. Conclusion: Our two-sample MR analysis proved the causal evidence for the associations between BMI and IMID, including psoriasis, AD and HS, which might be related to the elevated expression of biomarkers, including Triglycerides, CRP, Interleukin 6, ESR and neutrophil count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy aids cardiac repair and regeneration, but the low rate of MSC survival and engulfment in the infarcted heart remains a major obstacle for routine clinical application. Here, an injectable suspension of human acellular amniotic membrane (HAAM) that may serve as synergistic cell delivery vehicle for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI) by improving MSC homing and survival is developed. The results demonstrate that compared with MSC transplantation alone, HAAM‐loaded MSCs have higher survival and engraftment rates in infarcted tissue, alleviated hypoxia‐induced myocardial damage, achieved higher improvements in cardiac function, promoted angiogenesis, and reduced myocardial fibrosis. In addition, HAAM‐loaded MSCs increase N‐cadherin levels and thereby enhance the efficacy of MSCs in treating MI. This study provides a new approach for MSC‐based cardiac repair and regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐1D chain antiferromagnets with reduced structural dimensionality are a rich playground for investigating novel quantum phenomena. We report the synthesis, crystal structure, and magnetism of two novel quasi‐1D antiferromagnets, β‐PbCu2(TeO3)2Cl2 (I) and PbCu2(TeO3)2Br2 (II). Their magnetic frameworks are constructed via Cu‐based quasi‐1D [Cu(2)O4]∞ zigzag chains with square‐planar [Cu(1)O2X2] (X=Cl or Br) separated among 1D chains. Specific heat measurements show λ peaks at ~9 K and ~19 K for I and II, respectively. Moreover, both broad maximums (χmax=90 K for I and 80 K for II) and small kinks (TN≈9 K for I and 19 K for II) have been observed in magnetic susceptibility measurements of I and II. Bonner–Fisher model fitting, and theoretical analyses were performed to evaluate the magnetic exchange interactions. Our experimental and theoretical results and structure‐properties relationship analysis reveal the coexistence of short‐ and long‐range magnetic ordering from the cooperative effect of 1D [CuO4]∞ chains and [CuO2X2] quadrilateral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐1D chain antiferromagnets with reduced structural dimensionality are a rich playground for investigating novel quantum phenomena. We report the synthesis, crystal structure, and magnetism of two novel quasi‐1D antiferromagnets, β‐PbCu2(TeO3)2Cl2 (I) and PbCu2(TeO3)2Br2 (II). Their magnetic frameworks are constructed via Cu‐based quasi‐1D [Cu(2)O4]∞ zigzag chains with square‐planar [Cu(1)O2X2] (X=Cl or Br) separated among 1D chains. Specific heat measurements show λ peaks at ~9 K and ~19 K for I and II, respectively. Moreover, both broad maximums (χmax=90 K for I and 80 K for II) and small kinks (TN≈9 K for I and 19 K for II) have been observed in magnetic susceptibility measurements of I and II. Bonner–Fisher model fitting, and theoretical analyses were performed to evaluate the magnetic exchange interactions. Our experimental and theoretical results and structure‐properties relationship analysis reveal the coexistence of short‐ and long‐range magnetic ordering from the cooperative effect of 1D [CuO4]∞ chains and [CuO2X2] quadrilateral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silk fibroin (SF) extracted from silk is non-toxic and has excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, making it an excellent biomedical material. SF-based soft materials, including porous scaffolds and hydrogels, play an important role in accurately delivering drugs to wounds, creating microenvironments for the adhesion and proliferation of support cells, and in tissue remodeling, repair, and wound healing. This article focuses on the study of SF protein-based soft materials, summarizing their preparation methods and basic applications, as well as their regenerative effects, such as drug delivery carriers in various aspects of tissue engineering such as bone, blood vessels, nerves, and skin in recent years, as well as their promoting effects on wound healing and repair processes. The authors expect SF soft materials to play an important role in the field of tissue repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

F-P (Fabry–Perot) pressure sensors have a wide range of potential applications in high-temperature, high-pressure, and high-dynamic environments. However, existing demodulation methods commonly rely on spectrometers, which limits their application to high-frequency pressure signal acquisition. To solve this problem, this study developed a self-compensated, three-wavelength demodulation system composite with an F-P pressure sensor and a thermocouple to construct a comprehensive sensing system. The system produces accurate pressure measurements in high-temperature, high-pressure, and high-dynamic environments. In static testing at room temperature, the sensing system shows excellent linearity, and the pressure sensitivity is 158.48 nm/MPa. In high-temperature testing, the sensing system maintains high linearity in the range of 100 °C to 700 °C, with a maximum pressure-indication error of about 0.13 MPa (0~5 MPa). In dynamic testing, the sensor exhibits good response characteristics at 1000 Hz and 5000 Hz sinusoidal pressure frequencies, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) greater than 37 dB and 45 dB, respectively. These results indicate that the sensing system proposed in this study has significant competitive advantages in the field of high-temperature, high-speed, and high-precision pressure measurements and provides an important experimental basis and theoretical support for technological progress in related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banchang is the largest Cu-Mo deposit (348 Mt @ 0.32% Cu and 428 Mt @ 0.07% Mo) in the Qinling orogenic belt, Central China. Orebodies are hosted in the contact between several granitoid dikes and graphite-bearing marble of the Neoproterozoic Yanlinggou Formation. Wallrock alteration comprises garnet skarn, pyroxene skarn, chlorite skarn, and stockwork chlorite-altered marble. Three hydrothermal stages are indicated: (I) prograde skarn stage, (II) retrograde skarn stage, and (III) main sulfides stage. New zircon U-Pb data show two magmatic events, including early Paleozoic granite porphyry (442 − 427 Ma), and late Mesozoic biotite monzogranite porphyry and late Mesozoic granite porphyry (147 − 146 Ma). The zircon trace element compositions show that the late Mesozoic granitoids with ∆FMQ = -0.7 to 2.3 (avg. 0.5; EuN/EuN* > 0.6) resemble the Cu ore-related granitoid in the Qinling orogenic belt and indicate high oxygen fugacity and water contents in the magma. The early Paleozoic granitoids have ∆FMQ= -2.4 to 0.6 (avg. -0.7; EuN/EuN* < 0.2). Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) on the prograde garnet and pyroxene reveal predominantly andradite (And40 − 94Gro0−51) and diopside (Di53 − 98Hd10−55) compositions, respectively. The garnet Fe3+ contents decreases whereas the pyroxene Fe2+ contents increases from the late Mesozoic granitoid dikes to the marble. This suggests a gradual evolution of the skarn from an oxidized to a reduced state. Stage III sulfide minerals have δ34S = -2.1 to 4.8‰, indicating a magmatic origin. The temporal-spatial relationships, magmatic oxygen fugacity and water contents, zoning of prograde skarn minerals, and the source of sulfur indicate a genetic link between the skarn mineralization and late Mesozoic granitoid dikes. This study proposes a distal Cu-Mo skarn ore deposit model associated with granitoid dikes and some implications for mineral exploration in the Qinling orogenic belt and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depressive symptoms and aggression often co-occur, and previous studies have found different bidirectional links between depressive symptoms and aggression, suggesting inconsistent developmental cascades. Moreover, it is unclear whether different functions of aggression are differentially associated with depressive symptoms over time. The present study examined the longitudinal associations of reactive and proactive aggression with depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Adolescents (n = 942, 50.7% girls; mean age = 12.54 years, SD = 0.42) were surveyed annually over three years (2019–2021). Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to disentangle between- and within-person effects. The results showed moderate between-person associations of depressive symptoms with the two aggressive functions. And depressive symptoms were more highly associated with reactive aggression than with proactive aggression. However, the state-level bidirectional cross-lagged associations between reactive and proactive aggression and depressive symptoms were not significant. This study highlights the stable trait-like association between depressive symptoms and reactive aggression, and the absence of state-level bidirectional cross-lagged associations challenges previous developmental cascades in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two species of the long-legged sac spider genus Cheiracanthium C. L. Koch, 1839 collected from China are diagnosed and described as new to science: Cheiracanthium bannaensis sp. nov. (♂♀) from Yunnan Province and C. bifurcatum sp. nov. (♂♀) from Xinjiang Uyger Autonomous Region. Photos of the habitus and copulatory organs are given. In addition, DNA barcode information of the two new species is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cargo content in small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) changes under pathological conditions. Our data shows that in obesity, extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1) protein levels are significantly increased in circulating sEVs, which is dependent on integrin-β2. Knockdown of integrin-β2 does not affect cellular ECM1 protein levels but significantly reduces ECM1 protein levels in the sEVs released by these cells. In breast cancer (BC), overexpressing ECM1 increases matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) and S100A/B protein levels. Interestingly, sEVs purified from high-fat diet-induced obesity mice (D-sEVs) deliver more ECM1 protein to BC cells compared to sEVs from control diet-fed mice. Consequently, BC cells secrete more ECM1 protein, which promotes cancer cell invasion and migration. D-sEVs treatment also significantly enhances ECM1-mediated BC metastasis and growth in mouse models, as evidenced by the elevated tumor levels of MMP3 and S100A/B. Our study reveals a mechanism and suggests sEV-based strategies for treating obesity-associated BC. Extracellular vesicles are reported to regulate tumorigenesis. Here, the authors show that under obesity conditions, increased extracellular matrix protein 1 protein levels in circulating small extracellular vesicles induce breast cancer growth and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern data center topologies often take the form of a multi-rooted tree with rich parallel paths to provide high bandwidth. However, various path diversities caused by traffic dynamics, link failures and heterogeneous switching equipment widely exist in the production datacenter network. Therefore, the multi-path load balancer in data center should be robust to these diversities. Although prior fine-grained schemes such as RPS and Presto make the best use of available paths, However, they are prone to experiencing packet reordering problem under the asymmetric topology. The coarse-grained solutions such as ECMP and LetFlow effectively avoid packet reordering, but easily lead to under-utilization of multiple paths. To cope with these inefficiencies, we propose a load balancing mechanism called PDLB, which adaptively adjusts flowcell granularity according to path diversity. PDLB increases flowcell granularity to alleviate packet reordering under large degrees of topology asymmetry, while reducing flowcell granularity to obtain high link utilization under small degrees of topology asymmetry. PDLB is only deployed on the sender without any modification on switch. We evaluate PDLB through large-scale NS2 simulations. The experimental results show that PDLB reduces the average flow completion time by up to ∼ 8-53% over the state-of-the-art load balancing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The longer ongoing benefits of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in China are still unclear. We aimed to explore the changes in five STDs (AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, gonorrhoea, and syphilis) before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, from 2010 to 2021. Methods: The number of the monthly reported cases of the five STDs were extracted from the website to construct the Joinpoint regression and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. Eight indicators reflecting NPIs were chosen from the COVID-19 Government Response Tracker system. The STDs and eight indicators were used to establish the Multivariable generalised linear model (GLM) to calculate the incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Results: With the exception of hepatitis B, the other four STDs (AIDS, hepatitis C, gonorrhoea, and syphilis) had a positive average annual percent change over the past 12 years. All the ARIMA models had passed the Ljung–Box test, and the predicted data fit well with the data from 2010 to 2019. All five STDs were significantly reduced in 2020 compared with 2019, with significant estimated IRRs ranging from 0.88 to 0.92. In the GLM, using data for the years 2020 (February–December) and 2021, the IRRs were not significant after adjusting for the eight indicators in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the incidence of the five STDs decreased rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A recovery of STDs in 2021 was found to occur compared with that in 2020, but the rising trend disappeared after adjusting for the NPIs. Our study demonstrated that NPIs have an effect on STDs, but the relaxation of NPI usage might lead to a resurgence. The long-term benefits of COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in China are still unclear. Our study found that the incidence of the five STDs decreased rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A recovery of STDs was found to occur in 2021 compared with that in 2020, but the rising trend disappeared after adjusting for the NPIs. Our study demonstrated that NPIs have a long-term effect on STDs, but relaxation of NPI usage might lead to a resurgence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Datacenter applications generate diverse flows, including deadline flows and non‐deadline flows. The deadline flows require to complete within strict deadline, while non‐deadline flows seek a shorter flow completion time. The state‐of‐the‐art deadline‐aware methods either transmit deadline flows with best‐effort at high priority, resulting in the starvation of non‐deadline flows, or blindly restrict the sending rates of deadline flows, leading to a high deadline missing ratio. To meet the different requirements of mix‐flows, a novel traffic‐aware rate control (TRC) method is proposed. TRC dynamically adjusts the sending rates of deadline flows according to their deadlines and the predicted future traffic patterns. If the intense competition is predicted among deadline flows, TRC will adopt a more aggressive manner to transmit the current deadline flows to avoid bandwidth contention in the future, reducing the deadline missing ratio. Otherwise, TRC will conservatively transmit deadline flows and complete these flows near their respective deadlines, relinquishing the excess bandwidth to non‐deadline flows. Meanwhile, TRC schedules non‐deadline flows in accordance with their sizes, minimizing the average FCT. The performance of TRC in large‐scale scenarios is evaluated through NS2 simulations. The test results show that TRC reduces the deadline missing ratio of deadline flows and the FCT of non‐deadline flows by up to 69.5% and 78.7% compared to the state‐of‐the‐art deadline‐aware schemes, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the influence of atmospheric turbulence, the detector, and background noise, the subaperture image of an extended scene Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor will have a low signal-to-noise ratio, which will introduce errors to the offset estimation and reduce the accuracy of the slope measurement. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a cross-correlation subaperture image preprocessing method, which uses the generalized Anscombe transform to convert the Gauss–Poisson noise into Gaussian noise and introduces residual feedback on the basis of BM3D to achieve the efficient denoising of subaperture images. The simulation results show that compared with the three commonly used denoising algorithms, the proposed method improves the relative error of the subaperture offset calculation by 51.96% and the corresponding Zernike coefficient of distorted reconstruction wavefront by 85.56%, which realizes the improvement in the detection accuracy on the basis of effectively retaining image details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the issue of the simultaneous reconstruction of intensity and phase information in multiscale digital holography, an improved deep-learning model, Mimo-Net, is proposed. For holograms with uneven distribution of useful information, local feature extraction is performed to generate holograms of different scales, branch input training is used to realize multiscale feature learning, and feature information of different receptive fields is obtained. The up-sampling path outputs multiscale intensity and phase information simultaneously through dual channels. The experimental results show that compared to Y-Net, which is a network capable of reconstructing intensity and phase information simultaneously, Mimo-Net can perform intensity and phase reconstruction simultaneously on three different scales of holograms with only one training, improving reconstruction efficiency. The peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity of the Mimo-Net reconstruction for three different scales of intensity and phase information are higher than those of the Y-Net reconstruction, improving the reconstruction performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In adaptive optics systems, the precision wavefront sensor determines the closed-loop correction effect. The accuracy of the wavefront sensor is severely reduced when light energy is weak, while the real-time performance of wavefront sensorless adaptive optics systems based on iterative algorithms is poor. The wavefront correction algorithm based on deep learning can directly obtain the aberration or correction voltage from the input image light intensity data with better real-time performance. Nevertheless, manually designing deep-learning models requires a multitude of repeated experiments to adjust many hyperparameters and increase the accuracy of the system. A wavefront sensorless system based on convolutional neural networks with automatic hyperparameter optimization was proposed to address the aforementioned issues, and networks known for their superior performance, such as ResNet and DenseNet, were constructed as constructed groups. The accuracy of the model was improved by over 26%, and there were fewer parameters in the proposed method, which was more accurate and efficient according to numerical simulations and experimental validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that can lead to joint damage and even permanent disability, seriously affecting patients' quality of life. At present, the complete cure for RA is not achievable, only to relieve the symptoms to reduce the pain of patients. Factors such as environment, genes, and sex can induce RA. Presently, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, DRMADs, and glucocorticoids are commonly used in treating RA. In recent years, some biological agents have also been applied in clinical practice, but most have side effects. Therefore, finding new mechanisms and targets for treating RA is necessary. This review summarizes some potential targets discovered from the perspective of epigenetics and RA mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modal-free optimization algorithms do not require specific mathematical models, and they, along with their other benefits, have great application potential in adaptive optics. In this study, two different algorithms, the single-dimensional perturbation descent algorithm (SDPD) and the second-order stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm (2SPGD), are proposed for wavefront sensorless adaptive optics, and a theoretical analysis of the algorithms' convergence rates is presented. The results demonstrate that the single-dimensional perturbation descent algorithm outperforms the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) and 2SPGD algorithms in terms of convergence speed. Then, a 32-unit deformable mirror is constructed as the wavefront corrector, and the SPGD, single-dimensional perturbation descent, and 2SPSA algorithms are used in an adaptive optics numerical simulation model of the wavefront controller. Similarly, a 39-unit deformable mirror is constructed as the wavefront controller, and the SPGD and single-dimensional perturbation descent algorithms are used in an adaptive optics experimental verification device of the wavefront controller. The outcomes demonstrate that the convergence speed of the algorithm developed in this paper is more than twice as fast as that of the SPGD and 2SPGD algorithms, and the convergence accuracy of the algorithm is 4% better than that of the SPGD algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiders are important models for evolutionary studies of web building, sexual selection and adaptive radiation. The recent development of probes for UCE (ultra‐conserved element)‐based phylogenomic studies has shed light on the phylogeny and evolution of spiders. However, the two available UCE probe sets for spider phylogenomics (Spider and Arachnida probe sets) have relatively low capture efficiency within spiders, and are not optimized for the retrolateral tibial apophysis (RTA) clade, a hyperdiverse lineage that is key to understanding the evolution and diversification of spiders. In this study, we sequenced 15 genomes of species in the RTA clade, and using eight reference genomes, we developed a new UCE probe set (41 845 probes targeting 3802 loci, labelled as the RTA probe set). The performance of the RTA probes in resolving the phylogeny of the RTA clade was compared with the Spider and Arachnida probes through an in‐silico test on 19 genomes. We also tested the new probe set empirically on 28 spider species of major spider lineages. The results showed that the RTA probes recovered twice and four times as many loci as the other two probe sets, and the phylogeny from the RTA UCEs provided higher support for certain relationships. This newly developed UCE probe set shows higher capture efficiency empirically and is particularly advantageous for phylogenomic and evolutionary studies of RTA clade and jumping spiders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon nitride is a material compatible with CMOS processes and offers several advantages, such as a wide transparent window, a large forbidden band gap, negligible two-photon absorption, excellent nonlinear properties, and a smaller thermo-optic coefficient than silicon. Therefore, it has received significant attention in the field of silicon photonics in recent years. The preparation of silicon nitride waveguides using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition methods results in lower loss and better process repeatability. However, due to the higher temperature of the process, when the thickness of the silicon nitride film exceeds 300 nm on an 8-inch wafer, it is prone to cracking due to the high stress generated by the film. Limited by this high stress, silicon nitride waveguide devices are typically developed on wafers with a thickness of 4 inches or less. In this work, we successfully fabricated a 400 nm-thick silicon nitride waveguide on an 8-inch wafer using a Damascene method similar to the CMOS process for copper interconnects and demonstrated propagation losses of only 0.157 dB/cm at 1550 nm and 0.06 dB/cm at 1580 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinel is a precious gem with a long history, but people are far less familiar with it. Previous studies on Mogok spinel from Myanmar focused on inclusion analysis, chromogenic mechanism with a single-color gemstone and heat treatment, whereas systematic studies on varicolored gem-grade spinel are lacking. In this study, the gemological and geochemical analysis of four colors of spinel samples from Mogok were carried out for basic gemology, inclusion morphology and identification, spectroscopy and geochemistry. The aim was to explore the occupation of elements of spinels in the crystal structure, as well as the chromogenic mechanism of varicolored spinels and the geological and geodynamic conditions of the formation. Mogok spinel samples are characterized by octahedral negative crystals filled with calcite and chondrodite inclusions, indicating that they are derived from a marble metamorphic-type deposit. The spinel samples of four colors are magnesia–alumina spinel (MgAl2O4). The contents of V and Cr in Mogok spinel are generally high, with a significant high content of Zn being the most characteristic, and trace elements vary greatly. The infrared spectra of spinel samples in different colors are basically similar. According to the UV–Vis spectrum, pink and red samples are mainly colored by Cr and/or V, whereas orange samples are mainly colored by V. Two wide absorption bands in the range 300~600 nm are mainly attributed to the spin-allowed transition and spin-forbidden transition of Cr3+ and/or V3+. The purple samples are mainly colored by Fe and the UV–Vis spectrum is mainly attributed to the spin-forbidden transition of TFe2+. This study is a favorable supplement to the research on Mogok spinels of various colors from multiple perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, carbon fiber reinforced polyimide (CF/PI) composites via surface modification using metal mesh were obtained. The interfacial adhesion performance of metal mesh and composites, mechanical properties and electrical properties of composites were characterized. The results revealed that introducing metal mesh on CF/PI composites surface obviously decreased the resistivity of composites, which was of great significance for lightning protection. For the mechanical properties, the short‐beam shear strength and flexural properties of modified composites slightly declined, and the failure mode of samples did not change significantly. From microscopic failure morphology and finite element analysis, it can be illustrated that the crack generated from edge may lead to the mechanical properties changes of metal mesh modified sample. Based on practical application condition, the performance change rule of modified composite system after thermal treatment was also reported. This study enables a surface modification thought as a promising way for the application of high temperature resistant CF/PI composite system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ongoing benefits of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) for respiratory infectious diseases in China are still unclear. We aimed to explore the changes in seven respiratory infectious diseases before, during, and after COVID-19 in China from 2010 to 2021. Methods: The monthly case numbers of seven respiratory infectious diseases were extracted to construct autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. Eight indicators of NPIs were chosen from the COVID-19 Government Response Tracker system. The monthly case numbers of the respiratory diseases and the eight indicators were used to establish the Multivariable generalized linear model (GLM) to calculate the incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Results: Compared with the year 2019, the percentage changes in 2020 and 2021 were all below 100% ranging from 3.81 to 84.71%. Pertussis and Scarlet fever started to increase in 2021 compared with 2020, with a percentage change of 183.46 and 171.49%. The ARIMA model showed a good fit, and the predicted data fitted well with the actual data from 2010 to 2019, but the predicted data was bigger than the actual number in 2020 and 2021. All eight indicators could negatively affect the incidence of respiratory diseases. The seven respiratory diseases were significantly reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2019, with significant estimated IRRs ranging from 0.06 to 0.85. In the GLM using data for the year 2020 and 2021, the IRRs were not significant after adjusting for the eight indicators in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated the incidence of the seven respiratory diseases decreased rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. At the end of 2021, we did see a rising trend for the seven respiratory diseases compared to the year 2020 when the NPIs relaxed in China, but the rising trend was not significant after adjusting for the NPIs indicators. Our study showed that NPIs have an effect on respiratory diseases, but Relaxation of NPIs might lead to the resurgence of respiratory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac fibrosis is a common cause of most cardiovascular diseases. Leonurine, an alkaloid from Herba leonuri, had been indicated to treat cardiovascular diseases due to its cardioprotective effects. Recently, pyroptosis, a programmed form of cell death that releases inflammatory factors, has been shown to play an important role in cardiovascular diseases, especially cardiac fibrosis. This study examined the novel mechanism by which leonurine protects against cardiac fibrosis. In rats with isoprenaline-induced cardiac fibrosis, leonurine inhibited the expression of proteins related to pyroptosis and improved cardiac fibrosis. In vitro, leonurine inhibited the expression of proteins related to pyroptosis and fibrosis. Additionally, leonurine regulated the TGF-β/Smad2 signalling pathway and inhibited pyroptosis to protect cardiomyocytes and improve cardiac fibrosis. Therefore, leonurine might improve cardiac fibrosis induced by isoprenaline by inhibiting pyroptosis via the TGF-β/Smad2 signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern data centers, the congestion-aware load balancing makes rerouting decisions according to the traffic load. However, it is difficult to accurately obtain network load status using limited congestion information. Recently, In-band Network Telemetry (INT) has been embedded in the latest merchant silicones to support information collection of realtime traffic state from network equipments. In this paper, we present High Precision Load Balancing (HPLB), which is a load balancing method based on in-band network telemetry. With INT, HPLB collects the load information of each node on the transmission path and feeds it back to the near-source switch, which then selects the forwarding path according to the leaf-to-leaf congestion information. The test results of large-scale evaluation show that, compared with ECMP, RPS, DRILL and CONGA, HPLB reduces the flow completion times by ∼ 6-71% and improves link utilization by ∼ 13-80%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern data centers often host multiple applications with diverse network demands. To provide fair bandwidth allocation to several thousand traversing flows, Approximate Fair Queueing (AFQ) utilizes multiple priority queues in switch to approximate ideal fair queueing. However, due to limited number of queues in programmable switches, AFQ easily experiences high packet loss and low link utilization. In this paper, we propose Elastic Fair Queueing (EFQ), which leverages limited priority queues to flexibly achieve both high network utilization and fair bandwidth allocation. EFQ dynamically assigns the free buffer space in priority queues for each packet to obtain high utilization without sacrificing flow-level fairness. The results of simulation experiments and real implementations show that EFQ reduces the average flow completion time by up to 82% over the state-of-the-art fair bandwidth allocation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falling asleep at the wrong time can place an individual at risk of immediate physical harm. However, not sleeping degrades cognition and adaptive behavior. To understand how animals match sleep need with environmental demands, we used live-brain imaging to examine the physiological response properties of the dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB) following interventions that modify sleep (sleep deprivation, starvation, time-restricted feeding, memory consolidation) in Drosophila. We report that dFB neurons change their physiological response-properties to dopamine (DA) and allatostatin-A (AstA) in response to different types of waking. That is, dFB neurons are not simply passive components of a hard-wired circuit. Rather, the dFB neurons intrinsically regulate their response to the activity from upstream circuits. Finally, we show that the dFB appears to contain a memory trace of prior exposure to metabolic challenges induced by starvation or time-restricted feeding. Together, these data highlight that the sleep homeostat is plastic and suggests an underlying mechanism. Falling asleep at the wrong time can be dangerous. This study shows that both time-restricted feeding and acute starvation enhance subsequent waking by reducing sleep drive. Thus, internal state modulates sleep-promoting neurons to help animals maintain wakefulness in life-threatening conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we describe our efforts to reproduce results reported in the SC19 article by Hidayetoğlu et al., titled “MemXCT: Memory-Centric X-ray CT Reconstruction with Massive Parallelization”. MemXCT's single-device performance, parallelized via OpenMP and MPI, was characterized using AMD Zen2 CPU cores and NVIDIA V100 GPU devices running on the Microsoft Azure cloud. We were able to reproduce most of the results, and exceed the performance of larger inputs, on an AMD EPYC HBv2 cluster. We were also able to reproduce the strong scaling trends for optimized CPU and GPU versions. Slight variations in performance of the CPU version were observed due to differences in the underlying hardware, input size, and number of available nodes. Digital artifacts from these experiments are available at: 10.5281/zenodo.5598108 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of FibroTouch and serological models on staging hepatic fibrosis in chronic liver diseases. Methods: We recruited 850 patients undergoing liver biopsy and received FibroTouch test before or after liver biopsy within one week, blood was taken for the routine inspection before the operation within one week. The serological models were calculated by the blood results and routine clinical information. The diagnostic value of FibroTouch and six serological models was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Results: Patients with severe liver fibrosis had significantly higher AST, ALT, GGT, RDW, ALP, and FT-LSM. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of FT-LSM for the liver diagnosis of S≥2, S≥3 and S = 4 was 0.75(95% confidence interval [CI]:0.72–0.78), 0.83(95% CI: 0.80–0.86), and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.81–0.89), respectively. The optimal cut-off of FT-LSM for diagnosing S≥2, S≥3 and S = 4 was 8.7, 10.7, and 12.3, respectively. Conclusions: Our study showed the FibroTouch has a higher diagnostic value compared with the non-invasive serological models in staging the fibrosis stage. The cut-off of FibroTouch and five serological models (APRI, FIB-4, S-index, Forns, and PRP) increased with the severe of fibrosis stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta-optics has achieved major breakthroughs in the past decade; however, conventional forward design faces challenges as functionality complexity and device size scale up. Inverse design aims at optimizing meta-optics design but has been currently limited by expensive brute-force numerical solvers to small devices, which are also difficult to realize experimentally. Here, we present a general inverse-design framework for aperiodic large-scale (20k × 20k λ2) complex meta-optics in three dimensions, which alleviates computational cost for both simulation and optimization via a fast approximate solver and an adjoint method, respectively. Our framework naturally accounts for fabrication constraints via a surrogate model. In experiments, we demonstrate aberration-corrected metalenses working in the visible with high numerical aperture, poly-chromatic focusing, and large diameter up to the centimeter scale. Such large-scale meta-optics opens a new paradigm for applications, and we demonstrate its potential for future virtual-reality platforms by using a meta-eyepiece and a laser back-illuminated micro-Liquid Crystal Display. The authors present a general inverse-design framework for large-area 3D meta-optics that show engineered focusing. Such meta-optics, in combination with a laser-illuminated micro-LCD, open a path towards a future virtual reality platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) acts as a regulator of the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway by deacetylating the non-histone protein myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88) at lysine residues, which is an adapter protein for the Toll-like receptor (TLR) and interleukin (IL)-1β receptor. Over-activated immune responses, induced by infiltrated immune cells, excessively trigger the NF-κB signaling pathway in other effector cells and contribute to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It has also been reported that HDAC6 can promote the activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway. In the present study, we showed that HDAC6 protein level was increased in the synovium tissues of adjuvant-induced arthritis rats. In addition, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor S-propargyl-cysteine (SPRC) can inhibit HDAC6 expression and alleviate inflammatory response in vivo. In vitro study revealed that HDAC6 overexpression activated the NF-κB signaling pathway by deacetylating MyD88. Meanwhile, sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) or HDAC6 inhibitor tubastatin A (tubA) suppressed the pro-inflammatory function of HDAC6. Furthermore, the reduced expression of HDAC6 appeared to result from transcriptional inhibition by S-sulfhydrating specificity protein 1 (Sp1), which is a transcription factor of HDAC6. Our results demonstrate that Sp1 can regulate HDAC6 expression, and S-sulfhydration of Sp1 by antioxidant molecular H2S ameliorates RA progression via the HDAC6/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root colonization and plant probiotic function are important traits of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Bacillus velezensis SC60, a plant endophytic strain screened from Sesbania cannabina, has a strong colonization ability on various plant roots, which indicates that SC60 has a preferable adaptability to plants. However, the probiotic function of the strain SC60 is not well-understood. Promoting plant growth and suppressing soil-borne pathogens are key to the plant probiotic functions. In this study, the genetic mechanism of plant growth-promoting and antibacterial activity of the strain SC60 was analyzed by biological and bioinformatics methods. The complete genome size of strain SC60 was 3,962,671 bp, with 4079 predicted genes and an average GC content of 46.46%. SC60 was designated as Bacillus velezensis according to the comparative analysis, including average nucleotide polymorphism (ANI), digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH), and phylogenetic analysis. Genomic secondary metabolite analyses indicated two clusters encoding potential new antimicrobials. The antagonism experiments revealed that strain SC60 had the ability to inhibit the growth of a variety of plant pathogens and its closely related strains of Bacillus spp., which was crucial to the rhizospheric competitiveness and growth-promoting effect of the strain. The present results further suggest that B. velezensis SC60 could be used as a PGPR strain to develop new biocontrol agents or microbial fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging latency-sensitive services such as smart grid and tactile internet require deterministic network performance including deterministic end-to-end latency, latency jitter and bounded packet loss rate. To empower standard Ethernet with such capability, we provide a deterministic forwarding system named DLCC with end-to-end congestion control and queue management available at common hardwares to provide bounded delay over Internet. Meanwhile, DLCC provides a per-hop delay correction scheme to minimize delay variation under dynamic scenarios. Compared with other schemes, DLCC effectively reduces the delay jitter by up to 90% and is able to quickly converge to the required end-to-end delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the diagnostic performance of mNGS in varying patient populations and with varying infection types has previously been studied,[9],[10] its application in HIV patients with suspected opportunistic infections requires further examination. Materials and Methods Study Design and Patient Population We retrospectively investigated 46 suspected opportunistic infections in PLWH hospitalized atHangzhou Xixi Hospital from January 2020 to August 2021 and collected 49 total samples (3 patients provided 2 samples). Keywords: metagenomic next-generation sequencing; infection; aetiological diagnosis; HIV; opportunistic infections EN metagenomic next-generation sequencing infection aetiological diagnosis HIV opportunistic infections 1767 1775 9 05/11/22 20220401 NES 220401 Introduction AIDS remains a major global health threat. The CD4 SP + sp T cell count of patients with clear pathogens was significantly lower than that of patients with unclear pathogens (68 (16-168.5) vs 165.5 (61-294.25) P=0.043, Figure 2). [Extracted from the article]

The present study aims to explore the influence of masculine/feminine changes on the attractiveness evaluation of one's own face, and examine the relationship of this attractiveness evaluation and the similarities between masculine/feminine faces and original faces. A picture was taken from each participant and considered as his or her original self-face, and a male or female face with an average attractiveness score was adopted as the original other face. Masculinized and feminized transformations of the original faces (self-face, male other face, and female other face) into 100% masculine and feminine faces were produced with morphing software stepping by 2%. Thirty female participants and 30 male participants were asked to complete three tasks, i.e., to "like" or "not like" the original face judgment of a given face compared to the original face, to choose the most attractive face from a morphed facial clip, and to subjectively evaluate the attractiveness and similarity of morphed faces. The results revealed that the acceptable range of masculine/feminine transformation for self-faces was narrower than that for other faces. Furthermore, the attractiveness ratings for masculinized or femininized self-faces were correlated with the similarity scores of the faces with the original self-faces. These findings suggested that attractiveness enhancement of self-face through masculinity/femininity must be within reasonable extent and take into account the similarity between the modified faces and the original self-face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to explore the influence of masculine/feminine changes on the attractiveness evaluation of one's own face, and examine the relationship of this attractiveness evaluation and the similarities between masculine/feminine faces and original faces. A picture was taken from each participant and considered as his or her original self-face, and a male or female face with an average attractiveness score was adopted as the original other face. Masculinized and feminized transformations of the original faces (self-face, male other face, and female other face) into 100% masculine and feminine faces were produced with morphing software stepping by 2%. Thirty female participants and 30 male participants were asked to complete three tasks, i.e., to "like" or "not like" the original face judgment of a given face compared to the original face, to choose the most attractive face from a morphed facial clip, and to subjectively evaluate the attractiveness and similarity of morphed faces. The results revealed that the acceptable range of masculine/feminine transformation for self-faces was narrower than that for other faces. Furthermore, the attractiveness ratings for masculinized or femininized self-faces were correlated with the similarity scores of the faces with the original self-faces. These findings suggested that attractiveness enhancement of self-face through masculinity/femininity must be within reasonable extent and take into account the similarity between the modified faces and the original self-face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to explore the influence of masculine/feminine changes on the attractiveness evaluation of one's own face, and examine the relationship of this attractiveness evaluation and the similarities between masculine/feminine faces and original faces. A picture was taken from each participant and considered as his or her original self-face, and a male or female face with an average attractiveness score was adopted as the original other face. Masculinized and feminized transformations of the original faces (self-face, male other face, and female other face) into 100% masculine and feminine faces were produced with morphing software stepping by 2%. Thirty female participants and 30 male participants were asked to complete three tasks, i.e., to "like" or "not like" the original face judgment of a given face compared to the original face, to choose the most attractive face from a morphed facial clip, and to subjectively evaluate the attractiveness and similarity of morphed faces. The results revealed that the acceptable range of masculine/feminine transformation for self-faces was narrower than that for other faces. Furthermore, the attractiveness ratings for masculinized or femininized self-faces were correlated with the similarity scores of the faces with the original self-faces. These findings suggested that attractiveness enhancement of self-face through masculinity/femininity must be within reasonable extent and take into account the similarity between the modified faces and the original self-face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state-of-the-art datacenter load balancing designs commonly optimize bisection bandwidth with homogeneous switching granularity. Their performances surprisingly degrade under mixed traffic containing both short and long flows. Specifically, the short flows suffer from long-tailed delay, while the throughputs of long flows also degrade dramatically due to low link utilization and packet reordering. To solve these problems, we design a traffic-aware load balancing (TLB) scheme to adaptively adjust the switching granularity of long flows according to the load strength of short ones. Under the heavy load of short flows, the long flows use large switching granularity to help short ones obtain more opportunities in choosing short queues to complete quickly. On the contrary, the long flows reroute flexibly with small switching granularity to achieve high throughput. Furthermore, under extremely bursty scenario, we utilize the packet slicing scheme for long flows to release bandwidth for short ones. The experimental results of NS2 simulation and testbed implementation show that TLB significantly reduces the average flow completion time of short flows by 16%-67% over the state-of-the-art load balancers and achieves the high throughput for long flows. Moreover, for extreme bursty case, at the acceptable throughput degradation of long flows, TLB with packet slicing reduces the deadline missing ratio of bursty short flows by up to 80%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyvinylamine (PVAm) was investigated as a pretreatment auxiliary for salt-free reactive dyeing of calcium alginate fibers in this study. The effects of pretreatment conditions and dyeing conditions on the dye exhaustion (E%) were studied by using six reactive dyes. Relatively high E% of 91–98% and 61–80% were obtained by using three monochlorotriazine/sulfatoethylsulfone reactive dyes and three dichloro-s-triazine reactive dyes, respectively. The dyed fibers were able to maintain high color fastness and tensile strength. Adsorption isotherm of reactive dyeing and XPS analysis were also applied to investigate the mechanism of multi-interactions among reactive dyes, PVAm, and calcium alginate fiber. It was concluded that PVAm was an effective pretreatment auxiliary for salt-free dyeing of alginate fibers with reactive dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]