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Biomass-derived carbon materials represents promising electrode materials for supercapacitors owing to wide range of precursor sources, large specific surface area, intrinsic heteroatom doping, and controllable pore structure. Additionally, increasing attention has been garnered for significant role in alleviating environmental problems, enhancing waste utilization, and promoting sustainable energy storage applications. This paper summarizes recent advances of biomass-derived carbon materials for supercapacitors with focus on main sources of biomass precursors, preparation strategies and nanostructure for biomass-derived carbon. Then, the pore structure, specific surface area and electrochemical performance of biomass carbon constructed by different strategies (carbonization method, activation method and heteroatom doping) are elaborated. The effect of nanoscale pore structure on their performance is emphasized. Finally, the development prospects and main challenges of biochar in supercapacitors are proposed. This review would provide valuable insights for future development and efficient utilization of biomass carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partial-to-partial point cloud registration is a fundamental and challenging task in the three-dimensional computer vision. In this letter, we propose a novel Hierarchical Channel-Spatial Interaction Network (HCSINet), which can hierarchically explore information interaction in terms of the channel and spatial dimensions, enabling well partial point cloud perception for partial-to-partial registration. Specifically, the Channel-wise Feature Interaction (CFI) module is regarded as the basic unit of the encoder sub-network, which achieves feature hierarchical interaction to learn the overlapping scores and intuitively improve the importance of overlapping areas. Furthermore, to improve the discrimination of the overlapping points, the Co-Attention-based Spatial Association (CA-SA) module progressively excavates multi-scale spatial correlation of overlapping points by conjointly computing collaborative attention. Experimental results verify the validity of our HCSINet, which achieves competitive partial-to-partial registration performances compared to existing traditional and deep learning-based methods. The source code is publicly available . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Clinical Message: Good's syndrome (GS) presents with thymoma, hypogammaglobulinemia, and recurrent infection. The manifestations of patients diagnosed with GS and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) gastroenteritis are rare and non‐specific. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve the prognosis of the rare disease. Good's syndrome (GS), a rare acquired immunodeficiency condition, is characterized by thymoma, hypogammaglobulinemia, and low peripheral B‐lymphocyte count. GS tends to occur in individuals aged 40–60 years, resulting in increased risk of recurrent infections with various conditional pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) can cause pneumonia, retinitis, encephalitis, and enteritis in GS patient, but CMV infection in the alimentary tract is usually underestimated, delayed diagnosed and misdiagnosed. In this study, we reported a female patient with GS and chronic diarrhea due to CMV infection and reviewed the literature to conclude the characteristics of this rare condition to improve the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of CMV gastroenteritis in patients with GS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately modeling fastener lateral dynamics and its parameters is crucial for predicting stick–slip vibrations on curved tracks and rail corrugation defects. Nonetheless, the complex lateral force transmission within fasteners, leading to nonlinear stiffness characteristics, poses a challenge to the accuracy of conventional linear spring-damper models like the Kelvin-Voigt model (KV model) in representing the true behavior of fasteners. Hence, this study presents a theoretical dynamic model that incorporates the nonlinear lateral stiffness characteristics of fasteners and investigates its impact on wheel-rail stick-slip vibrations. Using segmented fasteners employed in subway systems as a case study, a series of indoor experiments is conducted to evaluate the nonlinear lateral stiffness characteristics of the fastener system. Then through finite element simulations of lateral force transmission in fasteners, these characteristics are classified into three stages: shear, slip, and collision, with a particular focus on the influence of elastic pad friction coefficients at each stage. Subsequently, A theoretical dynamic model for fastener lateral stiffness is developed by combining the Kelvin-Voigt model with the Berg friction model. This model is integrated into a vehicle-track spatial coupling model to formulate a predictive model for wheel-rail stick-slip vibrations on curved track sections. Lastly, the model's accuracy is verified for a specific operational scenario involving a subway curve segment by comparing measured rail displacements with simulation outcomes. Furthermore, the study explores the impact of nonlinear lateral stiffness characteristics of fasteners on wheel-rail stick-slip vibrations. The findings indicate that the occurrence of lateral slip in fasteners markedly decreases lateral damping, leading to high-frequency oscillations in rail stick-slip forces. Consequently, it is recommended to prevent fastener lateral slip during service operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection causes pneumonia and sepsis. Previous research found that X‐ray radiation can induce P. aeruginosa to release outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) of relatively consistent sizes. This study found that OMVs derived from X‐ray‐irradiated P. aeruginosa can significantly inhibit lung leakage, inflammatory cell infiltrating into lung, and the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, IL‐1β and TNFα caused by P. aeruginosa infection under preventive and therapeutic administration conditions. Under the same conditions, OMVs also significantly alleviated pathological characteristics of lung injury, including pulmonary edema, pulmonary hemorrhage, and alveolar wall thickening. OMVs also significantly reduced bacterial burdens in peritoneal cavity, accompanied by a reduction in the number of viable bacteria capable of forming bacterial colonies. Pretreating macrophages and neutrophils with OMVs enhances their bactericidal ability. When bacteria were cocultured with treated cells, the number of viable bacteria capable of forming bacterial colonies was significantly reduced. OMVs themselves have not been shown to cause any lung injury or affect bacterial viability. Therefore, OMVs derived from X‐ray‐irradiated P. aeruginosa may not only be applied in prevention and treatment of diseases associated with P. aeruginosa infection, but also served as an excellent vaccine development platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the age structure, growth pattern, mortality and exploitation rates of Leuciscus chuanchicus in the upstream Ningxia section of the Yellow River, four sampling surveys were conducted between 2022 and 2023. A total of 472 individuals were measured for their total length (TL) and body weight (W). Age determination was performed using otoliths. The collected samples had a range of total lengths from 4.52 to 37.45 cm, body weights ranging from 0.68 to 552.43 g, and ages ranging from 1 to 7 years old. The relationship between total length and body weight was expressed as W = 0.0052 L3.19 for all samples, which indicates that the growth of L. chuanchicus adheres to allometry. The Von Bertalanffy growth equation revealed that the fish had an asymptotic total length (L∞) of approximately 37.9 cm with a growth coefficient (K) value of approximately 0.461 yr−1. Using the age-based catch curve method, the calculated total instantaneous mortality rate (Z) for all samples was determined as being equal to approximately 1.1302 yr−1. Additionally, three methods were used to estimate the average instantaneous rate of natural mortality (M), resulting in an approximate value of 0.7167 yr−1 for all samples. Furthermore, the instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) for all samples was calculated as 0.4134 yr−1, leading us to determine that the exploitation rate (E) is 0.3658. It was concluded that the growth rate of L. chuanchicus in the upstream of the Yellow River is relatively fast, and L. chuanchicus has not been subjected to excessive exploitation, yet its relatively high natural mortality rate underscores the need for targeted management measures aimed at preserving its habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sandwich plasmonic coupled surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) tape is proposed prepared by peeling the chemical printed silver nanocorals (AgNCs) from Cu sheet with adhesive tape, which can sample targets from food surface and sandwich them between substrates and Cu sheet for SERS detection. The solid-to-solid transformation method for fabricating SERS tapes can effectively avoid the weakening of tape stickiness during the preparation process. The sandwich plasmonic coupled structure of AgNC substrate, targets, and Cu sheet display excellent SERS activity (EF = 1.62 × 107) for sensitive determination of analytes. In addition, due to the high heat conductivity of Cu sheet, the thermal effect of laser irradiation during SERS detection cannot damage the AgNC tapes, which ensures the reproducibility of subsequent quantification. The sandwich plasmonic coupled SERS tape is demonstrated to quantify malachite green (MG) and methyl parathion (MP) with good linear coefficients (> 0.98) by two typical calibration plots under different concentration ranges. The limit of detection (LOD) of the method is 0.17 ng/cm2 and 0.48 μg/cm2 (S/N = 3) for MG and MP. This method can realize the quantitative determination of MP and MG on the surface of fruits and fish scale with recoveries of 93–113%. The satisfactory detection results demonstrate the proposed sandwich plasmonic coupled AgNC tape can be successfully applied to SERS-based point-of-care testing (POCT) for pesticide residue determination, which will provide a new path for designing and constructing SERS tapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the variable gain extended state observer, a finite-time fault-tolerant control strategy is developed for the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle with actuator faults and external disturbances. Firstly, a novel variable gain extended state observer is designed to estimate the unknown external disturbances, which mitigates the initial peaking phenomenon existing in traditional extended state observer-based methods. Meanwhile, the neural networks are applied to accurately approximate unknown couplings online. Moreover, with the help of the projection operator technique, the unknown actuator faults are observed in real time. Combined with the backstepping framework, the finite-time robust fault-tolerant control scheme is constructed and the stability is strictly proved via Lyapunov's theory. Finally, the validity of the developed control scheme is demonstrated through numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The large-scale application of pyrethroids and organophosphorus pesticides has great benefits for pest control. However, the increase of cancer incidence rate in recent years has also caused public concern about the health risks of pesticides. Hence, we utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to assess the association and risk between pesticide exposure and several cancers, along with the comprehensive impact of oxidative stress. In this study, six cancers and six common pesticides were included to analyze their correlation and risk. And the levels of eight oxidative stress marks and two inflammatory markers were used for stratified analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate the odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. Machine learning prediction models were established to evaluate the importance of different exposure factors. Results: According to the data analyzed, each pesticide increased the risk of three to four out of six cancers on average. Iron, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and gamma glutamyl transferase levels positively correlated with cancer risk in most cases of pesticide exposure. Except for demographic factors, factors such as AST, iron, and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid showed high contributions to the random forest model, which was consistent with our expectations. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the prediction model had sufficient accuracy (74.2%). Conclusion: Our results indicated that specific pesticide exposure increased the risk of cancer, which may be mediated by various oxidative stress mechanisms. Additionally, some biochemical indicators have the potential to be screened for cancer prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cleaning is one of the most important steps in the harvesting process, and the prolonged and high-load operation of the vibrating sieve can decrease its reliability. To uncover the structural flaws of the cleaning sieve in the crawler combine harvester and establish a foundation for quality inspection, this paper proposes a method for durability testing and analysis using vibration and strain signals. Via the modal analysis of the cleaning sieve, the most susceptible areas for fault signals are identified. Subsequently, a specialized test rig exclusively designed for the examination of the durability of the cleaning sieve is constructed. After following 96 h of uninterrupted operation, the vibration plate of the cleaning sieve sustains damage, resulting in atypical noise. A signal analysis reveals that the primary vibration signal of the cleaning sieve primarily consists of a fundamental frequency of 5 Hz, corresponding to the driving speed, as well as a frequency doubling signal of 50 Hz. After the occurrence of damage, the peak amplitude of the received vibration signal increases by over 86.3%. Furthermore, the strain gauge sensor situated on the support plate of the rear sieve detects anomalous signals with frequencies exceeding 300 Hz, which are accompanied by a considerable rise in the power spectral density. This research has significant importance for enhancing the service life of the cleaning sieve and optimizing the overall machine efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic condition of the central nervous system that causes paralysis of the limbs. Micro electric fields (EF) have been implicated in a novel therapeutic approach for nerve injury repair and regeneration, but the effects of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles that are induced by micro electric fields (EF-sEVs) stimulation on SCI remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether EF-sEVs have therapeutic effects a rat model of SCI. EF-sEVs and normally conditioned human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells-derived small extracellular vesicles (CON-sEVs) were collected and injected intralesionally into SCI model rats to evaluate the therapeutic effects. We detect the expression of candidate long noncoding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lncRNA-MALAT1) in EF-sEVs and CON-sEVs. The targets and downstream effectors of lncRNA-MALAT1 were investigated using luciferase reporter assays. Using both in vivo and in vitro experiments, we demonstrated that EF-sEVs increased autophagy and decreased apoptosis after SCI, which promoted the recovery of motor function. We further confirmed that the neuroprotective effects of EF-sEVs in vitro and in vivo correlated with the presence of encapsulated lncRNA-MALAT1 in sEVs. lncRNA-MALAT1 targeted miR-22-3p via sponging, reducing miR-22-3p's suppressive effects on its target, SIRT1, and this translated into AMPK phosphorylation and increased levels of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Collectively, the present study identified that the lncRNA-MALAT1 in EF-sEVs plays a neuroprotective role via the miRNA-22-3p/SIRT1/AMPK axis and offers a fresh perspective and a potential therapeutic approach using sEVs to improve SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most severe cancers in the world, and its early detection is crucial for saving patients. There is an inevitable necessity to develop the automatic noninvasive OSCC diagnosis approach to identify the malignant tissues on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images. Methods: This study presents a novel Multi‐Level Deep Residual Learning (MDRL) network to identify malignant and benign(normal) tissues from OCT images and trains the network in 460 OCT images captured from 37 patients. The diagnostic performances are compared with different methods in the image‐level and the resected patch‐level. Results: The MDRL system achieves the excellent diagnostic performance, with 91.2% sensitivity, 83.6% specificity, 87.5% accuracy, 85.3% PPV, and 90.2% NPV in image‐level, with 0.92 AUC value. Besides, it also implements 100% sensitivity, 86.7% specificity, 93.1% accuracy, 87.5% PPV, and 100% NPV in the resected patch‐level. Conclusion: The developed deep learning system expresses superior performance in noninvasive oral squamous cell carcinoma diagnosis, compared with traditional CNNs and a specialist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumour immunotherapy has achieved remarkable clinical success in many different types of cancer in the past two decades. The outcome of immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer patients has been linked to the quality and magnitude of T cell, NK cell, and more recently, B cell within the tumour microenvironment, suggesting that the immune landscape of a tumour is highly connected to patient response and prognosis. It is critical to understanding tumour immune microenvironments for identifying immune modifiers of cancer progression and developing cancer immunotherapies. The infiltration of solid tumours by immune cells with anti-tumour activity is both a strong prognostic factor and a therapeutic goal. Recent approaches and applications of new technologies, especially single-cell mRNA analysis in dissecting tumour microenvironments have brought important insights into the biology of tumour-infiltrating immune cells, revealed a remarkable degree of cellular heterogeneity and distinct patterns of immune response. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in the understanding of tumour infiltrated lymphocytes, their prognostic benefit, and predictive value for immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of malignancies, especially hematological tumors, but toxicities have tempered its success. The main impediments to the development of CAR-T cell therapies are the following: cytokine release syndrome (CRS), immune-effector-cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS), tumor lysis syndrome (TLS), and on-target/off-tumor toxicity (OTOT). This review summarizes these side effects' underlying mechanisms and manifestations over time. It provides potential prevention and treatment according to the consensus grading, stressing the significance of establishing strategies that anticipate, reduce, and navigate the beginning of these side effects. It is essential to fully comprehend the mechanisms underlying these toxicities to create efficient treatment and preventive approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automatic carrier landing process is a significant and complex due to the plant variation of carrier-based aircraft. To reasonably identify the stability interval for specific performance, an adaptive control strategy based on the guardian map approach is proposed. Prescribed performance, namely, stability margin, damping requirements, or flying quality requirements, is analytically formulated using a guardian map. The null space of guardian maps restricts the prescribed performance regarding the poles' location. The feasible corridor of control parameters is generated based on the null space of guardian maps. Besides, a velocity-adaptive prescribed performance control method is proposed to conduct the attitude control of carrier-based aircraft. Simulation shows that the short-period mode of carrier-based aircraft will be driven from unstable to stable as the velocity decreases. Moreover, simulation results demonstrate the proposed control method and indicate that the attitude loop control of carrier-based aircraft possesses more underdamped responses as the velocity decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of the threshing performance of a large combine harvester being reduced due to the non-adjustable diameter of the threshing drum, a variable-diameter threshing drum with movable radial plates based on the principle of concentric regulation was studied. It was mainly composed of a mechanism for adjusting the diameter by moving the radial plates, six fixed threshing tooth rods, six retractable threshing tooth rods and the single piston rod hollow hydraulic cylinder. The threshing gap can be adjusted by a stepless change of the drum diameter. By using RecurDyn simulation and field performance tests, the adjustable ranges of diameter and gap of the movable variable-diameter threshing drum were 670~710 mm and 10~30 mm. Based on the feed amount of the combine, the rotation speed of the threshing drum and the threshing gap (the diameter of the drum) as the influencing parameters, and the grain entrainment loss rate, grain un-threshed rate and grain breakage rate as the evaluation indexes, the three-factor and three-level response surface tests were carried out, and the result data were analyzed using Design-Expert 13.0. The optimal threshing gap and rotation speed of the threshing drum were determined under different feeding quantities. A comparative test was carried out to adjust and fix the threshing gap and rotation speed of the threshing drum in real time according to the change in feeding amount. The results showed that when the working parameter combination under different feeding amounts was adjusted in real time, the entrainment loss rate was 0.65%, the un-threshed rate was 0.063% and the breakage rate was 0.47%. Compared with the threshing gap and the rotation speed of the threshing drum being fixed, the entrainment loss rate, the un-threshed rate and the breakage rate were reduced by 44.9%, 27.6% and 34.1%, respectively. A threshing drum with variable diameter was provided for a large multi-crop harvesting combine to realize the concentric stepless adjustment of the threshing gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a large number of countries have connected and distributed photovoltaics in remote rural areas, aiming to promote the use of clean energy in rural areas. The solar energy that is not used in time needs to be discarded, resulting in a large amount of wasted energy. Rural areas are closely related to agricultural production, and solar energy can be used for agricultural nitrogen fixation to supplement the nitrogen needed by crops and effectively use the upcoming waste of solar energy. A photovoltaic-driven plasma reactor for nitrogen fixation in agriculture was designed in this study. The air inlet and outlet holes are arranged above and below the reactor to facilitate air entry and directly interact with the gliding arc generated at the bottom of the electrode to achieve atmospheric nitrogen fixation in agriculture. The characteristics of gliding arc development in the process of nitrogen fixation in agriculture were studied experimentally. There are two discharge modes of the gliding arc discharge: one is steady arc gliding mode (A-G Mode), and the other is breakdown gliding mode (B-G Mode). By collecting discharge signals, different discharge modes of gliding arc discharge were analyzed, and the effect of the air flow rate on the discharge period and discharge mode ratio distribution is discussed. The effects of the air flow rate on the yield, specific energy input, and energy consumption in plasma agriculture were studied. The experimental results show that with an increase in the air flow rate, the B-G mode takes up a larger proportion and the gliding arc discharge period is shortened. However, the higher the proportion of the B-G mode, the more unfavorable the production of nitrogen oxides. Although the nitrogen oxides generated by the system are not particularly excellent compared with the Haber-Bosch ammonia process (H-B process), the access to distributed photovoltaic roofs in rural and remote areas can effectively use available resources like water, air, and solar, and avoid energy waste in areas where wind and solar are abandoned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Surgery is still an effective treatment option for adult degenerative scoliosis (ADS), but how to predict patients' significant amount of the improvement in quality of life remains unclear. The previous studies included an inhomogeneous population. This study aimed to report the results about concentrating on the amount of immediate changes in spinopelvic radiographic parameters to predict the amount of mid-term improvement in quality of life in ADS patients. Materials and methods: Pre-operative and immediately post-operative radiographic parameters included Cobb angle, coronal vertical axis (CVA), sagittal vertical axis (SVA), lumbar lordosis (LL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), pelvic incidence (PI) and LL/PI matching (PI–LL). Quality of life scores were evaluated pre-operatively and at the final follow-up using Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and visual analogue scale (VAS). The amount of immediate changes in spinopelvic radiographic parameters (Δ) and the amount of mid-term improvement in quality of life (Δ) were defined, respectively. Results: Patients showed significant change in radiographic parameters, ODI and VAS pre- and post-surgery, except CVA and PI. Univariate analysis showed a significant correlation between ΔTK, ΔLL, ΔCVA and the amount of mid-term improvement in quality of life, but multivariate analysis did not get a significant result. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that ΔSVA was still a significant predictor of ΔVAS and ΔODI. The changes in the other radiographic parameters were not significant. The equations were developed by linear regression: ΔODI = 0.162 × ΔSVA − 21.592, ΔVAS = 0.034 × ΔSVA − 2.828. In the ROC curve for ΔSVA in the detection of a strong ΔODI or ΔVAS, the cut-off value of ΔSVA was − 19.855 mm and − 15.405 mm, respectively. Conclusions: This study shows that ΔSVA can predict the amount of mid-term improvement in quality of life in ADS patients. The changes in the other radiographic parameters were not significant. Two equations were yielded to estimate ΔODI and ΔVAS. ΔSVA has respective cut-off value to predict ΔODI and ΔVAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a rapid modeling method and robust analysis of hypersonic vehicles using multidisciplinary integrated techniques. First, the geometrical configuration is described using parametric methods based on the class–shape technique. Aerodynamic forces and moments are estimated for the specific configuration using engineering methods. Moreover, the nonlinear model is simplified by the polynomial fitting expressions, and the linear variable parameter model is obtained for the tracking control design and dynamic characteristic analysis with the aid of the sensitivity analysis and gap metric methods. A velocity-driven trajectory design method is deduced for hypersonic ascent, and the tracking control law is developed to realize the flight process from the initial point to the cruise point. Furthermore, a robust analysis process based on gap margin is proposed for climb trajectory tracking. Simulation results are provided to verify the feasibility of the proposed modeling method and show that the flight control of a hypersonic vehicle is more sensitive to altitude variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion has been considered standard management for cervical myelopathy and radiculopathy. However, the option of using self-locking stand-alone cages or cage-with-plate in three-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion still remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and imaging outcomes of the two procedures in multilevel anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Methods: Sixty-seven patients who underwent three-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion were enrolled in this study, of which 31 patients underwent surgery using self-locking stand-alone cages (group cage) and 36 patients using cage-with-plate (group plate). For the evaluation of clinical outcomes, modified Japanese Orthopedic Association scores, visual analogue scale for neck pain, neck disability index, Odom's criteria and dysphagia status were measured. Imaging outcomes were evaluated by cervical sagittal angle, fusion segmental Cobb's angle, fusion segmental height, range of motion, cage subsidence rate, fusion rate and adjacent segment degeneration. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software (version 19.0). Results: Both groups showed improvement in modified Japanese Orthopedic Association scores, visual analogue scale for neck pain and neck disability index, after surgery, and there was no significant difference between the groups. The occurrence rate of dysphagia is significantly lower in the group cage compared with the group plate (p < 0.05). The postoperative cervical sagittal angle, fusion segmental Cobb's angle, fusion segmental height and cage subsidence rate in the group plate were significantly superior to that in the group cage (p < 0.05). However, the rate of adjacent segment degeneration was significantly lower in the group cage compared with the group plate (p < 0.05). Both groups showed no significant difference in terms of fusion rate (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The self-locking stand-alone cages are effective, reliable and safe in anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for the treatment of cervical myelopathy and radiculopathy. Self-locking stand-alone cages showed a significantly lower rate of dysphagia and adjacent segment degeneration, while anterior cervical cage-with-plate could provide stronger postoperative stability and maintain better cervical spine alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mother-to-child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been greatly reduced with the advance of intervention technology. However, adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) are still common, and little is known about the driving forces of APOs among pregnant women living with HIV in China. Between January 2004 and December 2020, a total of 638 pregnancies among pregnant women living with HIV were enrolled in this study, 84 (13.2%) pregnancies with 87 APOs were reported. Preterm birth (3.8%), ectopic pregnancy (3.4%), spontaneous abortion (2.0%), and embryo arrest (1.7%) were the most common APOs in pregnant women living with HIV. Exposure to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) during the first trimester (RR = 4.077, 95% CI: 0.521, 1.484, P<0.001) and the first CD4+ T lymphocyte count (CD4 count)≤ 350/μl (RR = 2.227, 95% CI: 0.063, 0.991, P = 0.026) were risk factors of APOs. The age≤ 30 years (RR = −2.513, 95% CI: −1.067, −0.132, P = 0.012) was associated with the decreasing of APOs. Encouraging people to initiate combination antiretroviral therapy and reach a high CD4 count level before pregnancy would be helpful to prevent APOs. Pregnant women exposed to ARVs in the first trimester needed more attention for APOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese mugwort (Artemisia argyi Lév. et Vaniot) is an important traditional Chinese medicine plant that is ubiquitously disturbed in Asia. However, the molecular mechanisms that reflect the natural evolution of Artemisia argyi remain unclear. In this study, a high-quality draft assembly of the allotetraploid A. argyi (ArteW1-Tongbai) was conducted utilizing PacBio long-read sequencing and Hi-C technologies. The assembly is about 7.20 Gb with a contig N50 length of 0.87 Mb. The allotetraploid genome of ArteW1-Tongbai is highly heterozygous and rich in repeat sequences (the heterozygous ratio is 1.36%, and the repeat rate is 86.26%). A total of 139,245 protein-coding genes were identified. The KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that 846 species-specific genes were related to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. The plants with allopolyploid genomes can potentially exhibit a better adaptive capacity to environmental stresses and accumulation of secondary metabolites. Therefore, the genome assembly serves as a valuable reference for Artemisia, the genus characterized by species richness and diverse specialized metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies mainly focused on the antecedents of voice, yet little research has investigated how sense of power divergently affected voice behavior with different contents. Following the recent literature on voice content and the approach/inhibition theory of power, we argue that sense of power positively influences constructive voice behavior through situational promotion focus but negatively affects defensive voice behavior through situational prevention focus. Moreover, we argue that supervisor openness moderates the relationship between situational regulatory focus and voice behavior. The results of a scenario-based study (N = 95) and a time-lagged field survey (N = 375) indicate that: (1) sense of power is positively related to constructive voice behavior and negatively related to defensive voice behavior; (2) situational promotion focus and situational prevention focus mediate the effect of sense of power on constructive voice behavior and defensive voice behavior, respectively; and (3) the indirect effects of sense of power on constructive and defensive voice behavior via situational regulatory focus are contingent on supervisor openness. The implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As postmenopausal osteoporotic fractures can cause higher rates of disability and mortality in women; it is essential to analyze the factors associated with primary and recurrent fractures in postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) patients.Methods: Retrospective analysis of 2478 PMOP patients aged ≥ 50 years who attended the Shanghai General Hospital from January 2007 to December 2016, including 1239 patients with no fractures and 1239 patients with histories of fractures (1008 in the primary fracture group and 231 in the re-fracture group). All patients' basic clinical data, serum biochemical and bone metabolic markers, bone mineral density (BMD), and other indicators were recorded uniformly. Comparing the differences between the clinical characteristics of patients with primary and recurrent fractures, as well as the differences in the clinical characteristics of patients with primary and recurrent fractures in combination with different diseases, further analyses the risk factors for primary and recurrent fractures in PMOP patients. SPSS.26 was used for statistical analysis.Results: Compared to the unfractured group, the fractured group was older and had lower height and bone mineral density (all P < 0.01), with the re-fractured group having lower BMD at each key site than the primary fracture group (all P < 0.01). Analysis of the combined disease subgroups showed that serum BGP levels were lower in the primary and re-fracture patients with diabetes than in the non-diabetic subgroup (P < 0.05), and serum CTX levels were lower in the re-fracture group with diabetes than in the primary fracture group with diabetes (P < 0.05). Patients with recurrent fractures with cardio-vascular diseases had lower BMD than the subgroup without cardio-vascular diseases (P < 0.05) and also had lower BMD than the group with primary fractures with cardio-vascular diseases (P < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age, overweight, low lumbar spine and total hip BMD were risk factors for primary and recurrent fractures; and comorbid chronic liver and kidney diseases were risk factors for primary fractures.Conclusion: PMOP patients with advanced age, overweight, low bone mineral density, and comorbid chronic liver and kidney diseases are at greater risk of fractures and require early intervention to reduce fractures occurrence. Moreover, those who are elderly, overweight, and have low bone density should also be aware of the risk of re-fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on expectation states theory, we examined the mechanism underlying the effect of employees' sense of power on supervisors' voice endorsement, and tested our hypothesized model on a sample of 307 employees from 60 work teams. We used a two-time lagged design and paired questionnaire survey. Our analysis indicated that employees' sense of power enhanced supervisors' voice endorsement, and supervisors' perceived voice constructiveness mediated this relationship. Multilevel analyses showed that power distance negatively moderated the influence of sense of power on perceived voice constructiveness and negatively moderated its indirect effect on voice endorsement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the seeding qualification rate and stability of the air-suction vibrating disc type seed meter on the rice seedling raising line, in this paper, an improved wireless sensor network node layout optimization algorithm was proposed, and the operation monitoring system of the seed meter was designed using the Internet of Things and configuration software. In the system, the upper computer software adopted the Kingview software, the lower computer took the STM32F429IGT and CC2530 as the core controllers, and ZigBee was selected for data transmission to build the wireless sensor network. The acquisition of field status information and the sending of control instructions were realized through the sensor nodes constructed by the CC2530 core controller. The data was sent to the coordinator node in real-time through the wireless sensor network. The coordinator node realized the bidirectional transmission of data with Kingview and the upper computer control instructions forwarding using the ASCII protocol The host computer monitoring and management software was developed based on configuration software to realize real-time data monitoring, access database storage, fault alarm, control command sending and other functions. The experimental results showed that the detection accuracy of the system for the seeding amount and missed seeding amount was 94.3% and 95.6%, respectively, which could realize the monitoring of the primary working status of the seed meter. The system realized effective data transmission and data remote wireless transmission function, which provided sufficient theoretical and data support for the performance optimization of the seed meter, and laid a good foundation for the visualization and intelligence of information data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Many studies have shown that chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1), also known as YKL-40, is associated with asthma. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the role of serum YKL-40 in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of asthma, severity grading, and determination of disease state. Methods: The PubMed, Ovid, and Cochrane databases were searched. A total of 17 articles involving 5696 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. Results: The results showed that the level of YKL-40 was significantly higher in asthmatic patients than in the normal group regardless of age and residential location, and increased with severity and acute exacerbation (p < 0.05). YKL-40 levels were significantly different between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, and also between asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACO) and asthma (p < 0.05). Conclusion: YKL-40 may act as a potential serological marker for the diagnosis of asthma, assessment of severity, indicator of the disease state, and differential diagnosis of COPD, ACO, and asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, different percentage Zn-doped SnO2 nanoparticles are synthesized by sol–gel process. The crystalline size and band gap of 3 at% Zn-doped SnO2 nanoparticle are decreased from 27.4 to 13.6 nm and from 3.37 to 3.28 eV, respectively, deduced by the results of XRD and UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy compared with un-doped SnO2. Zn-doped SnO2 film as a photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) was characterized and investigated by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Conduction band (CB) of the Zn-doped SnO2 is adjusted from − 4.78 to − 4.64 eV via 3 at% Zn concentrations. By adjusting the Zn concentrations, energy offset between the SnO2 and dye is reduced, which accelerates the charge transfer. The cells were estimated once at the interval of one day within 18 days after fabrication. Power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3 at% Zn-doped SnO2 DSCs increases step by step and achieves 5.18% as the cell is tested after 5 days. This slowly increasing phenomenon of PCE in pure and Zn-doped SnO2 DSCs differs from that of TiO2 and ZnO DSCs. This phenomenon is a different direction for DSCs, revealing the nature of this phenomenon and possibly a breakthrough in efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The single HST (Hydro Static Transmission) mechanical differential transmission gearbox of crawler combine harvester is subjected to the impact of alternating loads in the field operation, resulting in its fatigue failure. The traditional durability fatigue test can improve the fault-free working time of machinery, but it is not suitable for agricultural machinery with time-varying load frequency bandwidth and stress amplitude. Therefore, in this paper, a fault diagnosis method based on order analysis was proposed considering the comprehensive influence of load amplitude and frequency on the fatigue life of gearbox. The location and the corresponding type of fault were found by comparing the spectral line peak changed before and after. Then, the test verification was carried out on the gearbox assembly fatigue test bench according to the compiled load spectrum. The results show that the analysis results of the fault diagnosis method based on order analysis were consistent with the unpacking inspection, which had reference significance for the research on the fault diagnosis method of the crawler combined harvester gearbox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the core components of high-end manufacturing equipment, the linear motor (LM) plays an important role in high efficiency and high quality production of the equipment. In this article, a high-precision robust control method with periodic dynamic compensation is proposed for the most common repetitive trajectory tracking task in the manufacturing industry. To overcome the influence of unknown periodic dynamics on the control accuracy, a B-spline wavelet neural network observer is designed to estimate the uncertainties. Moreover, the control framework in the form of robust control is employed to ensure the stability of the closed-loop system under other unknown aperiodic disturbance. Finally, the high-precision control for LM-driven stage in high-speed environment is realized, and the comparative experiments show that the control accuracy of the proposed method is significantly improved at least 28.9% compared with the other three existing control methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tissue engineering, hydrogel scaffolds allow various cells to be cultured and grown in vitro and then implanted to repair or replace the damaged areas. Here in this work, kartogenin (KGN), an effectively chondro-inductive non-protein bioactive drug molecule, was incorporated into a composite hydrogel comprising the positively charged chitosan (CS) and methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) polymers to fabricate appropriate microenvironments of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) for cartilage regeneration. Based on the combination of physical chain entanglements and chemical crosslinking effects, the resultant GelMA-CS@KGN composite hydrogels possessed favorable network pores and mechanical strength. In vitro cytotoxicity showed the excellent biocompatibility for facilitating the cell growth, adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. The long-term sustainable KGN release from the hydrogel scaffolds in situ promoted the chondrogenic differentiation that can be employed as an alternative candidate for cartilage tissue regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ica gene of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) plays a vital role in its growth and biofilm formation. Among them, IcaA and IcaB are critical proteins for synthesizing extracellular polysaccharides and biofilms in S. aureus. To investigate whether the formation of S. aureus biofilms can be inhibited through the IcaA and IcaB proteins by the presence of linezolid. The icaA and icaB genes of S. aureus ATCC 25923 were silenced by homologous recombination. The critical roles of icaA and icaB in S. aureus were analysed by observing the growth curve and biofilm formation after linezolid treatment. Then, the effect of linezolid on the morphology of S. aureus was observed by scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the potential binding ability of linezolid to Ica proteins was predicted by molecular docking. The icaA- and icaB -silenced strains were successfully constructed, and the sensitivity of S. aureus to linezolid was decreased after icaA and icaB silencing. Scanning electron microscopy showed that linezolid caused invagination of the S. aureus surface and reduced the production of biofilms. Molecular docking results showed that linezolid could bind to IcaA and IcaB proteins. IcaA and IcaB are potential targets of linezolid in inhibiting the biofilm formation of S. aureus (ATCC 25923). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among food crops, rice has the largest planting area, the highest yield per unit area and the largest total yield in China. However, cleaning performance is reduced by the high moisture content of rice during the harvesting process. In order to decrease the adhesion among wet rice threshed mixtures and improve the cleaning performance, the method of hot airflow cleaning was proposed. Firstly, the fluidization characteristics of wet sticky rice under the action of hot air were compared with those of dry particles. In this work, the minimum suspension velocity and the fastest suspension time were used and quantified to characterize the fluidization characteristics. It was found that the minimum suspension velocity and the fastest suspension time of the wet rice threshed mixture are both higher than those of dry particles due to the liquid bridge force. Moreover, the dispersion degree of the wet rice threshed mixture can be improved by the hot airflow due to the decrease in the surface water content of impurities. Secondly, the influence of the temperature and vibration frequency in the air-and-screen cleaning device on the dispersion characteristics of the wet rice threshed mixture were investigated. The accumulation mass was measured to quantify the dispersion degree. It was found that the increase in vibration frequency has little effect on the dispersion of the wet rice threshed mixture. The accumulation mass on the front of the sieve decreases slightly with the increase in the gas temperature range from ambient temperature to 30 °C. Then, the dispersion degree increases rapidly when the temperature exceeds 40 °C. The dispersion effect is the best when the temperature is 50 °C and the vibration frequency is 5 Hz. These results provide a basis for the cleaning of the wet rice threshed mixture in a combine harvester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CAD technology has brought great convenience and effect to the design. This paper proposes to update the comparative analysis of the basic classical landscape grid space structure by constructing a landscape grid space design. According to the actual situation of domestic landscape grid space design and drawing, this paper highlights the role of CAD technology in landscape grid space design and drawing and provides an important basis for the subsequent application of CAD software in landscape grid space design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For aerospace vehicles with uncertainty, strong nonlinearity, and high-performance requirements, the model predictive control (MPC) method has attracted many researchers' attention with its unique advantages. Although this method has a good effect, it is computationally expensive, especially for the nonlinear MPC. In addition, it cannot guarantee the stability performance requirements and limited flexibility in dealing with large initial errors. To overcome these limitations, this article is implemented to obtain a control scheme that can handle uncertainty, initial deviation, and has less online calculation. To ensure the stability requirements, the guardian maps (GM) theory is combined with multimodel predictive control, and a switching rule based on GM is proposed. Then, fully considering the characteristics of linear matrix inequalities used, the idea of "offline design and online optimization" is adopted to solve the control law, which reduces the burden of online computing. Furthermore, in the case of large initial errors, a transient trajectory design method is established to reconstruct the trajectory online, and to modify the tracking command. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the designed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoacoustic Doppler flow measurement based on continuous wave laser excitation owns the merit of clearly presenting the Doppler power spectra. Extending this technique to dual wavelengths can gain the spectral information of the flow sample extra to the flow speed information. An experimental system with two laser diodes respectively operated at 405 nm and 660 nm wavelengths is built and the flow measurement with black and red dyed polystyrene beads is performed. The measured Doppler power spectra can vividly reflect the flow speed, the flow direction, as well as the bead color. Since it is straightforward to further apply the same principle to multiple wavelengths, we can expect this type of spectroscopic photoacoustic Doppler flow measurement will be developed in the near future which will be very useful for studying the metabolism of the slowly moving red blood cell inside microvessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare workers' voice is of importance in decreasing medical accidents and improving the efficacy of hospital units. To investigate the impact and the underlying mechanisms of supervisors' negative mood on healthcare workers' voice behavior, based on the mood contagion perspective, we designed a cross-sectional study, with 299 healthcare workers from mainland China completed the questionnaires. The results indicated supervisors' negative mood was positively related to healthcare workers' negative mood, which further led to less constructive voice and more defensive voice. Moreover, the healthcare worker's emotional intelligence aspect of self-emotion appraisal moderated this relationship, but not others-emotion appraisal. We believe healthcare workers' supervisors should pay attention to their negative mood expression and regulation. In the hope of reducing being influenced by supervisors' negative mood, training about noticing and recognizing their own emotions are needed for healthcare workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are few effective therapies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon the outbreak of the pandemic. To compare the effectiveness of a novel genetically engineered recombinant super-compound interferon (rSIFN-co) with traditional interferon-alpha added to baseline antiviral agents (lopinavir–ritonavir or umifenovir) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe COVID-19. In this multicenter randomized (1:1) trial, patients hospitalized with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 received either rSIFN-co nebulization or interferon-alpha nebulization added to baseline antiviral agents for no more than 28 days. The primary endpoint was the time to clinical improvement. Secondary endpoints included the overall rate of clinical improvement assessed on day 28, the time to radiological improvement and virus nucleic acid negative conversion. A total of 94 patients were included in the safety set (46 patients assigned to rSIFN-co group, 48 to interferon-alpha group). The time to clinical improvement was 11.5 days versus 14.0 days (95% CI 1.10 to 2.81, p =.019); the overall rate of clinical improvement on day 28 was 93.5% versus 77.1% (difference, 16.4%; 95% CI 3% to 30%); the time to radiological improvement was 8.0 days versus 10.0 days (p =.002), the time to virus nucleic acid negative conversion was 7.0 days versus 10.0 days (p =.018) in the rSIFN-co and interferon alpha arms, respectively. Adverse events were balanced with no deaths among groups. rSIFN-co was associated with a shorter time of clinical improvement than traditional interferon-alpha in the treatment of moderate-to-severe COVID-19 when combined with baseline antiviral agents. rSIFN-co therapy alone or combined with other antiviral therapy is worth to be further studied. There are few effective therapies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon the outbreak of the pandemic. Interferon alphas, by inducing both innate and adaptive immune responses, have shown clinical efficacy in treating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. In this multicenter, head-to-head, randomized, clinical trial which included 94 participants with moderate-to-severe COVID-19, the rSIFN-co plus antiviral agents (lopinavir–ritonavir or umifenovir) was associated with a shorter time of clinical improvement than interferon-alpha plus antiviral agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To date, whether the immune response for SARS-CoV-2 infection among people living with HIV(PLWH) is different from HIV-naïve individuals is still not clear.Methods: In this cohort study, COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Wuhan between January 15 and April 1, 2020, were enrolled. Patients were categorized into PLWH and HIV-naïve group. All patients were followed up regularly (every 15 days) until November 30, 2020, and the immune response towards SARS-CoV-2 was observed.Results: Totally, 18 PLWH and 185 HIV-naïve individuals with COVID-19 were enrolled. The positive conversion rates of IgG were 56% in PLWH and 88% in HIV-naïve patients respectively, and the peak was on the 45th day after COVID-19 onset. However, the positive rate of IgG dropped to 12% in PLWH and 33% among HIV-naïve individuals by the end of the study. The positive conversion rate of IgG among asymptomatic carriers is significantly lower than that among patients with moderate disease (AOR = 0.24, 95% CI 0.07-0.85). PLWH had a lower IgG seroconversion rate (AOR = 0.11, 95% CI 0.03-0.39) and shorter IgG duration (AHR = 3.99, 95% CI 1.43-11.13) compared to HIV-naïve individuals. Patients with higher lymphocyte counts at onset had a lower positive conversion rate (AOR = 0.30, 95% CI 0.10-0.87) and shorter duration for IgG (AHR = 4.01, 95% CI 1.78-9.02).Conclusions: The positive conversion rate of IgG for SARS-CoV-2 was relatively lower and quickly lost in PLWH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]