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Background: SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies exist in human milk expressed by lactating parents after vaccination. In the existing research, the effects of vaccine types on human milk are inconsistent. Research Aim: This study aims to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the existing observational studies to compare the positive rates of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in human milk according to mRNA and adenovector-based vaccination. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, Elsevier Science Direct and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched for relevant articles published from December 30, 2019 to February 15, 2023. Observational studies were considered eligible provided they reported data on SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in human milk. The risk of bias in non-randomized studies of interventions (ROBINS-I) tool, the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) were used to assess risk of bias. Seven studies, including 511 lactating participants, were included in this review and meta-analysis. Results: The positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 IgA is higher in mRNA vaccine groups than in adenovector-based vaccine groups (OR = 4.80, 95% CI [3.04, 7.58], p < 0.001). The positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 IgG was higher in mRNA vaccines than in adenovector-based vaccines. Conclusions: Compared to adenovector-based vaccines, mRNA vaccines present a higher positivity rate of IgA and IgG in human milk after vaccination. In other words, mRNA vaccinations may offer breastfed children a higher level of protection than adenovector-based vaccinations. Further high-quality data is still required to substantiate these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is normally carried out under conditions with electrolyte cooling. However, the effect of the temperature of the electrolytes on the PEO behavior and properties of the resulting coatings is seldom investigated. In this study, PEO of pure Al was carried out in a dilute aluminate electrolyte with the electrolyte temperature being controlled under low (~10–30 °C), medium (~40–50 °C) and high (~70–80 °C) temperature ranges, respectively. The morphology, microstructure, composition and phase component of the coatings fabricated under the different temperature ranges were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The corrosion resistances of the coatings were evaluated by electrochemical methods. The hardness of the coatings and substrate following the PEO treatment in the different electrolyte temperature ranges were also tested. It was found that a higher electrolyte temperature resulted in a higher growth rate and rougher coatings. Moreover, the α-Al2O3 content was reduced as the electrolyte temperature increased. The highest corrosion resistance was registered for the coating obtained under the lowest temperature range, whereas the corrosion resistance of the coating obtained under the highest temperature range was the worst. The higher growth rate under high electrolyte temperatures was associated with the increased kinetics of the PEO reactions. However, the temperature of the electrolyte should be controlled under a suitable range to ensure reasonable coating properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, obesity has become one of the major diseases that affect human health and consume human health resources, especially when it causes comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. Many studies have demonstrated that obesity is associated with the development of chronic kidney disease and can exacerbate the progression of end-stage renal disease. This review described the mechanisms associated with the development of obesity-associated nephropathy and the current relevant therapeutic modalities, with the aim of finding new therapeutic targets for obesity-associated nephropathy. The mechanisms of obesity-induced renal injury include, in addition to the traditional alterations in renal hemodynamics, the involvement of various mechanisms such as macrophage infiltration in adipose tissue, alterations in adipokines (leptin and adiponectin), and ectopic deposition of lipids. At present, there is no "point-to-point" treatment for obesity-induced kidney injury. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors, sodium-dependent glucose transporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors and bariatric surgery described in this review can reduce urinary protein to varying degrees and delay the progression of kidney disease. In addition, recent studies on the therapeutic effects of intestinal flora on obesity may reduce the incidence of obesity-related kidney disease from the perspective of primary prevention. Both of these interventions have their own advantages and disadvantages, so the continuous search for the mechanism of obesity-induced related kidney disease will be extremely helpful for the future treatment of obesity-related kidney disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, jamming strategies for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) pertaining to target detection and identification, such as the creation of false targets, electromagnetic (EM) deception, and signal spoofing, have been increasingly emphasized. Distinct from traditional SAR jamming approaches, the introduction of an innovative artificial material cloak in SAR target jamming presents augmented capabilities. These methods demonstrate a proficient redirection of incident EM waves in specific or arbitrary directions, effectively masking the vital information linked to critical targets. This study introduces a broadband SAR target jamming system employing an information metasurface that incorporates intelligent information processing algorithms in conjunction with a space-time-coding digital metasurface, endowing it with the capacity to adeptly modulate incident EM waves. This integration facilitates a versatile approach to jamming, enabling the deployment of multi-mode protective measures against critical targets. The conducted simulation and experiment results validate the system's ability to adjustably produce EM deception and generate multiple false targets independently of the SAR system. The outcomes of this research significantly advance the practicality of SAR protection strategies, pushing the boundaries toward more dynamic, broadband, and controllable scenarios, thereby substantially improving the concealment of critical targets in highly sensitive conflict areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ti and its alloys have received wide attention in marine engineering. However, the limited anti-biofouling capability may hinder their wide application. In the present work, micro-arc oxidation (MAO) with and without the introduction of ultrasonic vibration (UV) has been conducted on metallic Ti substrate in an aqueous solution containing Na2Cu-EDTA to produce a Cu-modified TiO2 coating. Microstructural characterization reveals that the introduction of UV increased the thickness of the coating (ranging from ~13.5 μm to ~26.2 μm) compared to the coating (ranging from ~8.1 μm to ~12.8 μm) without UV. A relatively higher Cu content (~2.13 wt.%) of the coating with UV relative to the coating (~1.39 wt.%) without UV indicates that UV enhances the incorporation of Cu into TiO2. Further, both electrochemical properties and the response to sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) were evaluated, revealing that UV introduction endows Cu-modified TiO2 coating with enhanced corrosion resistance and antifouling capability. The present results suggest that ultrasound-auxiliary micro-arc oxidation (UMAO) obviously enhances the surface performance of Ti alloys for promising applications in marine engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat load prediction is essential to discover blast furnace (BF) anomalies in time and take measures in advance to reduce erosion in the ironmaking process. However, owing to the redundancy of the high dimensional data and the multi-granularity features of the state monitoring data, the general prediction model is hard to accurately predict the heat load, especially the rapid change caused by physical and chemical reactions. Therefore, this paper puts forward an attention-based one-dimension convolution neural network (1DCNN) combined with a bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network for heat load prediction. Firstly, the two-stage data pre-processing realizes dimension reduction and key variable selection. Secondly, fine-grained features are extracted by 1DCNN, and the BiLSTM extracts the coarse-grained features for prediction output. Moreover, an attention branch is added to the 1DCNN to extract the critical fine-grained features when the heat load changes rapidly. Finally, experiments are carried out with the actual industrial data from a BF ironmaking process. The efforts show that the proposed prediction model presents better performances in the result of different metrics and has higher accuracy than the traditional prediction algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach to "treating waste with waste" was proposed to prepare porous ceramsite for the treatment of sewage containing Ag+ with total phosphorus tailings as raw material. The porous ceramsite with bulk density of 1.11 g/cm3 was fabricated via rotary granulation technique, followed by sintering at 1085 °C, whose compressive strength, water absorption, and hydrochloric acid solubility were 1.23MPa, 43.8%, and 15%, respectively. Effects of NaCl concentration, solid-liquid ratio, modification temperature, and modification time were studied in this study. After the porous ceramsite was modified by 1 mol/L NaCl solution at 70 °C for 4 h, the removal rate of Ag+ for modified ceramsite reached 99.9%. The high Ag+ removal rate was related to the surface microstructure of porous ceramsite. Numerous micro pores appeared on the surface of ceramsite after NaCl modification, which provided more contact sites for the adsorption of Ag+ by the adhered Cl− on ceramsite surface. The high removal rate of modified ceramsite for Ag+ makes it a highly promising for application in sewage disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Browning is one of the main phenomena limiting the production of fresh-cut sweetpotatoes. This study investigated the anti-browning effect of citrus peel extracts and the key components and modes of action associated with browning in fresh-cut sweetpotatoes. Five different concentrations of citrus peel extract (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 g/L) were selected to ensure storage quality; and the physical and chemical properties of fresh-cut sweetpotato slices were analysed. A concentration of 2 g/L of citrus peel extract significantly inhibited the browning of fresh-cut sweetpotatoes. The results showed that the browning index and textural characteristics of fresh-cut sweetpotatoes improved significantly after treatment with citrus peel extract; all the citrus peel extract solutions inhibited browning to some extent compared to the control. In addition; LC-IMS-QTOFMS analysis revealed a total of 1366 components in citrus peel extract; the evaluation of citrus peel extract monomeric components that prevent browning in fresh-cut sweetpotato indicated that the components with better anti-browning effects were citrulloside, hesperidin, sage secondary glycosides, isorhamnetin and quercetin. The molecular docking results suggest that citrullosides play a key role in the browning of fresh-cut sweetpotatoes. In this study, the optimum amount of citrus peel extract concentration was found to be 2 g/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the optimal reinsurance and investment problem of the insurance company. During the optimization phase, the existence of capital deposit requires that the insurer's wealth should be above the given minimum value. The aim is to minimize the distance between the wealth and the given target at the terminal time. We first convert the value function's domain to a rectangle and then derive the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation via the dynamic programming principle. By solving the explicit solutions for the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, we obtain the expression of the optimal reinsurance and investment policy. In the last, several examples are presented to illustrate the sensitivity analysis of different parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying osteoclast differentiation provides insights into bone loss and even osteoporosis. The specific mechanistic actions of cullin 4A (CUL4A) in osteoclast differentiation and resultant osteoporosis is poorly explored. We developed a mouse model of osteoporosis using bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) and examined CUL4A expression. It was noted that CUL4A expression was increased in the bone marrow of OVX mice. Overexpression of CUL4A promoted osteoclast differentiation, and knockdown of CUL4A alleviated osteoporosis symptoms of OVX mice. Bioinformatic analyses were applied to identify the downstream target genes of microRNA‐340‐5p (miR‐340‐5p), followed by interaction analysis. The bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) were isolated from femur of OVX mice, which were transfected with different plasmids to alter the expression of CUL4A, Zinc finer E‐box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), miR‐340‐5p, and Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4). ChIP assay was performed to detect enrichment of ZEB1 promoter by H3K4me3 antibody in BMMs. ZEB1 was overexpressed in the bone marrow of OVX mice. Overexpression of CUL4A mediated H3K4me3 methylation to increase ZEB1 expression, thus promoting osteoclast differentiation. Meanwhile, ZEB1 could inhibit miR‐340‐5p expression and upregulate HMGB1 to induce osteoclast differentiation. Overexpressed ZEB1 activated the TLR4 pathway by regulating the miR‐340‐5p/HMGB1 axis to induce osteoclast differentiation, thus promoting the development of osteoporosis. Overall, E3 ubiquitin ligase CUL4A can upregulate ZEB1 to repress miR‐340‐5p expression, leading to HMGB1 upregulation and the TLR4 pathway activation, which promotes osteoclast differentiation and the development of osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new fungicides is vital for safeguarding crops and ensuring sustainable agriculture. Building on our previous finding that 4-(3,4-dichloroisothiazole)-7-hydroxy coumarins can be used as fungicidal leads, 44 novel coumarin ester derivatives were designed and synthesized to evaluate whether esterification could enhance their fungicidal activity. In vitro fungicidal bioassays indicated that compound 2ai displayed good activity against Alternaria solani, Botrytis cinereal, Cercospora arachidicola, Physalospora piricola and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, with an EC50 value ranging from 2.90 to 5.56 μg/mL, comparable to the lead compound 1a, with its EC50 value ranging from 1.92 to 9.37 μg/mL. In vivo bioassays demonstrated that compounds 1a, 2ar and 2bg showed comparable, excellent efficacy against Pseudoperonospora cubensis at a dose of 25 µg/mL. Our research shows that the esterification of 4-(3,4-dichloroisothiazole) 7-hydroxycoumarins results in a fungicidal activity equivalent to that of its lead compounds. Furthermore, our density functional theory (DFT) calculations and 3D-QSAR modeling provide a rational explanation of the structure–activity relationship and offer valuable insights to guide further molecular design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel K/Ka dual-band input coupler for the gyrotron traveling wave tube is theoretically and experimentally investigated. This input coupler mainly consists of three modules, a Y-type power division coupler, a coaxial cavity coupler, and a Bragg reflector. When the dual-band coupler operates in K-band, the Y-type coupler couples out the TE11 mode, and simulation results show the −1 dB bandwidth is 3.3 GHz in the frequency range of 17.9–21.2 GHz. In Ka-band, the TE21 mode coupled out by the coaxial cavity coupler, the −1 dB bandwidth is 3.5 GHz within 33.7–37.2 GHz, and the reflection coefficient keeps a pretty low level. The prototype was fabricated and measured to further verify the designed dual-band input coupler's performance. The back-to-back cold test results show that the −3 dB bandwidth of the K-band is about 2.5 GHz, and the −3 dB bandwidth of the Ka-band is 2.44 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limited antifouling capability of Ti-based components could jeopardize their applications in petroleum engineering. In this work, a Cu-enriched TiO2 coating has been fabricated using an ultrasound-auxiliary micro-arc oxidation (UMAO) method. The Cu enrichment of TiO2 affects its morphology, phase component and chemical configuration, leading to the slightly enhanced corrosion resistance of the Cu-enriched TiO2 coating relative to that free of Cu. Finally, the antifouling capability against sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is significantly improved by preventing the formation of biofilm after the Cu enrichment of TiO2, which potentially widens its application in petroleum engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the miniaturization of electronic devices, electronic packaging has become increasingly precise and complex, which presents a significant challenge in terms of heat dissipation. Electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs), particularly silver epoxy adhesives, have emerged as a new type of electronic packaging material, thanks to their high conductivity and stable contact resistance. However, while there has been extensive research on silver epoxy adhesives, little attention has been paid to improving their thermal conductivity, which is a critical requirement in the ECA industry. In this paper, we propose a straightforward method for treating silver epoxy adhesive with water vapor, resulting in a remarkable improvement in thermal conductivity to 9.1 W/(m·K), three times higher than the sample cured using traditional methods (2.7 W/(m·K)). Through research and analysis, the study demonstrates that the introduction of H2O into the gaps and holes of the silver epoxy adhesive increases the path of electron conduction, thereby improving thermal conductivity. Furthermore, this method has the potential to significantly improve the performance of packaging materials and meet the needs of high-performance ECAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enrichment of phosphorus (P) in groundwater (GW) has been regarded as one of the most important sources of water eutrophication, but its sources and mechanisms have remained unclear. This study focused on hydraulic change show that drove the migration of P in an agricultural groundwater system, Jianghan Plain, Central China. Based on four rounds of field investigation over different seasons and across two consecutive years. Seasonable water table fluctuations (WLFs) reached 1.6 m and 3.8 m in GW and surface water (SW), respectively. Moreover, the concentrations of P in GW were obviously higher than those in SW where 54.1% of all GW samples presented higher content of P than the World Health Organization (WHO) limit of 0.4 mg/L with the highest one arriving to 1.97 mg/L. Although the trends and amplitudes varied at different points and depths, the spatial and temporal distribution of P corresponded with the local WLFs that were responsible for the enrichment of GW P. On the one hand, WLFs changed hydraulic conditions to enhance the migration of soluble P in the unsaturated zone into the aquifer. On the other hand, WLFs resulted in changes to the redox conditions or to the GW hydrochemical compositions, which promoted the dissolution of Fe or Mn containing P. These caused the release and enrichment of P in GW. Therefore, this study helps understand the geochemical cycling of P and improves GW management in the local GW system, Jianghan Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed an artificial synaptic device based on the HfO2 nanocrystals synthesized using a simple hydrothermal method. The metal–insulator–metal (MIM) structure device is designed and fabricated by combining a ceramic-like preparation technique and a standard electrode preparation method. The MIM device shows robust bipolar resistance switching characteristics with high endurance and long retention. High concentration hafnium vacancies are determined, and the formation/rupture of the conductive filament model is proposed to be responsible for the switching behavior between a high resistance state (HRS) and a low resistance state (LRS). In addition, the artificial synaptic device is simulated by applying an external pulse signal with different repetition rates and pulse widths, which exhibits synaptic functions of short term plasticity and long term plasticity. This study demonstrates that HfO2 with abundant hafnium vacancies is a potential prototype material that can be fabricated as an artificial synaptic device for mimicking the synapse of the human brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the classic branching process, the Galton-Watson process has obtained intensive attentions in the past decades. However, this model has two idealized assumptions–discrete states and time-homogeneity. In the present paper, we consider a branching process with continuous states, and for any given n ∈ N , the branching law of every particle in generation n is determined by the population size of generation n. We consider the case that the process is extinct with Probability 1 since in this case the process will be substantially different from the size-dependent branching process with discrete states. We give the extinction rate in the sense of L 2 and almost surely by the form of harmonic moments, that is to say, we show how fast { Z n − 1 } grows under a group of sufficient conditions. From the result of the present paper, we observe that the extinction rate will be determined by an asymptotic behavior of the mean of the branching law. The results obtained in this paper have the more superiority than the counterpart from the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ångström method is a promising thermal diffusivity measurement method for microfibers. Based on the heat-loss Ångström method and micro-Ångström method, the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) Ångström method can be used to shorten the testing time and enhance the testing robustness of thermal conductivity. The FFT Ångström uses multi-frequency superimposed input signals and then uses the FFT for frequency division analysis. Since different frequencies are input at the same time, the measuring time is greatly reduced. Moreover, because different frequencies are input in the same environment, the random and environmental perturbations of the frequencies are the same, enhancing the fitting robustness. In contrast, the single feeding strategy is relatively time-consuming, and its measurement homogeneity for different frequencies cannot be guaranteed. By comparing the measurement results from a multi-frequency input and separated single-frequency input, the FFT shows good feasibility and robustness. It may also have great potential in other types of thermal wave measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Germanium (Ge) metastructure with switching features from broadband plasmon‐induced transparency (PIT) and electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) is presented, which forms a broadband PIT through the near‐field coupling between the localized plasmon resonance and the Mie resonance employing four gold cut wires as bright plasmon resonators and four C‐shaped dielectric rings as dark plasmon resonators. A wide transparent window above 0.9 is achieved covering from 0.622 to 0.823 THz with a relative bandwidth of 27.8%. In addition, through phase modulation, a magnetic dipole is generated by the constructive interference of the near‐field coupling of the three resonators to realize the PIT to EIA conversion. In addition, a grid‐like metastructure is introduced to realize the PIT to EIA conversion by phase modulation. To enhance the EIA bandwidth, another layer of C‐shaped reflection plate resonator is introduced to increase the dark mode loss, and a layer of frequency selective surface composed of cross‐shaped resonators is also used. Thus under the dual effect, a wide absorption window above 0.75 is achieved covering from 0.647 to 0.756 THz with a relative bandwidth of 15.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a small and efficient model for predicting NOx emissions from coal-fired boilers. The raw data collected are processed by the min–max scale method and converted into a multivariate time series. The overall model's architecture is mainly based on building blocks consisting of separable convolutional neural networks and efficient channel attention (ECA) modules. The experimental results show that the model can learn good representations from sufficient data covering different operation conditions. These results also suggest that ECA modules can improve the model's performance. The comparative study shows our model's strong performance compared to other NOx prediction models. Then, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the model proposed in this paper in terms of predicting NOx emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual metrology (VM) is widely used for yield management and control in semiconductor manufacturing owing to its high real-time inspection, low cost, and convenient maintenance. However, the multimodal characteristics of batch processes are ignored in the existing yield VM models. The adaptive multimodal division and modal sample imbalance have also not been considered. Therefore, a data-driven adaptive VM model based on the Gath–Geva fuzzy clustering (GGFC) and multitask learning deep belief network (MLDBN) is proposed to solve the problems above. First, the GGFC model is designed to realize the feature extraction of the batch direction and the modal division of the time and variable directions. Second, the partition coefficient and classification entropy indexes are designed to determine the modal categories automatically and establish the SMOTE model to deal with the imbalance of multimodal samples. Third, the local features of multimodal are extracted by the designed MLDBN models. After that, the batch direction features and the multi-features extracted from multimodal are used as the improved MLDBN parameters to realize the fusion prediction. Finally, experiments are carried out by the accurate industrial data from a multibatch wafer fabrication process. The efforts show that the proposed VM model presents better performances in the result of different indicators and has higher accuracy and robustness than the traditional models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Internet of Things scenarios, the problem of restricted energy and limited computation capability of user node usually exists. To address the problem, a multiple‐input‐multiple‐output full‐duplex multi‐hop relay simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) mobile‐edge computing (MEC) system is proposed in this paper, where energy harvesting model is non‐linear. With the aid of MEC and SWIPT, user node equipped with power splitting receiver can locally execute computation tasks or offload partial or all of it to access point associated with an MEC server by using its battery energy, and harvest energy to replenish its battery while downloading the computation results. In addition, the system introduces full‐duplex multi‐hop relay and non‐linear energy model to improve network coverage and model practical energy harvesting circuit. Aiming at minimising the system energy consumption, an energy efficient optimisation problem is formulated while satisfying the latency and energy constraints. Since the original problem is non‐linear and non‐convex, it is converted into two subproblems and successive convex approximation‐based algorithm and geometric programming‐based algorithm based alternating optimisation technique are adopted to solve them. Numerical results verify the superiority of the proposed optimisation scheme compared with other benchmark schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete materials are widely used in tunnel engineering. In China, the cold regions have gradually become the main area for highway and railway construction. Affected by high altitude, low temperature, turbulent wind, and other conditions, freezing damage, such as tunnel icing, occurs in concrete materials, which seriously affects the quality and operational safety of tunnels in cold regions. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a quantitative analysis of various factors affecting freezing damage to protect concrete materials in tunnels. This paper summarizes various freezing damage phenomena in tunnels in cold regions and divides them into three types: water seepage and hanging ice type freezing damage, lining interface type freezing damage, and tunnel foundation ice accumulation type freezing damage. Based on the qualitative evaluation of each factor, the affiliation of each factor was divided. Then, the influence weight of each factor on freezing damage was obtained through the analytic hierarchy process, and then each factor was ranked. This study is helpful to the selection of anti-freezing measures for tunnels in cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The lesions besides lateral ventricle and motor recovery following rehabilitation have hardly been studied. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the size, location of infarction beside the lateral ventricle and motor recovery following rehabilitation. METHODS: A prospective cohort of 55 patients submitted to a Rehabilitation Medical Center between January 2015 and June 2019 who suffered a single cerebral infarction beside the lateral ventricle were included in the study. The size and distance between the posterior margin and the frontal-middle line (FML) of the lesion were measured. Follow-up was conducted until the recovery was no longer progressing. Barthel index and Brunstrom stages were used to evaluate the outcome (full recovery, partial recovery and poor recovery). Variance analysis and nonparametric test were used for the comparison between groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen the factors affecting the outcomes. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to compare the volume of infarction, behind the FML and the outcomes. RESULTS: Among the 55 patients, the outcome was full recovery (n = 28), partial recovery (n = 13) and poor recovery (n = 14). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that volume and location of the infarction were significantly correlated with the outcome (p = 0.039, 0.050). The lesion volume in the full recovery patients was significantly smaller than that in the poor recovery patients (p < 0.01). The posterior edge of the lesion in the full recovery patients behind the FML was statistically significant compared with that in the poor recovery patients (p < 0.01). Spearman correlation analysis showed that the motor recovery was negative correlation to lesion volume (r = –0.508, P < 0.01) and location (r = –0.450, P < 0.01) of the infarction. CONCLUSION: The motor recovery of patients with cerebral infarction beside lateral ventricle is related to the volume and location of the lesion. The larger the volume of the lesion, and the farther the posterior margin of the lesion to the FML, the worse the motor recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Internet of Things scenarios, the problem of restricted energy and limited computation capability of user node usually exists. To address the problem, a multiple‐input‐multiple‐output full‐duplex multi‐hop relay simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) mobile‐edge computing (MEC) system is proposed in this paper, where energy harvesting model is non‐linear. With the aid of MEC and SWIPT, user node equipped with power splitting receiver can locally execute computation tasks or offload partial or all of it to access point associated with an MEC server by using its battery energy, and harvest energy to replenish its battery while downloading the computation results. In addition, the system introduces full‐duplex multi‐hop relay and non‐linear energy model to improve network coverage and model practical energy harvesting circuit. Aiming at minimising the system energy consumption, an energy efficient optimisation problem is formulated while satisfying the latency and energy constraints. Since the original problem is non‐linear and non‐convex, it is converted into two subproblems and successive convex approximation‐based algorithm and geometric programming‐based algorithm based alternating optimisation technique are adopted to solve them. Numerical results verify the superiority of the proposed optimisation scheme compared with other benchmark schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine and valine are synthesized via a common biosynthetic pathway. Ketol-acid reductoisomerase (KARI) is the second enzyme in this pathway. In addition to its role in BCAA biosynthesis, KARI catalyzes two rate-limiting steps that are key components of a cell-free biofuel biosynthesis route. For industrial applications, reaction temperature and enzyme stability are key factors that affect process robustness and product yield. Here, we have solved the cryo-EM structure (2.94 Å resolution) of a homododecameric Class I KARI (from Campylobacter jejuni) and demonstrated how a triad of amino acid side chains plays a crucial role in promoting the oligomerization of this enzyme. Importantly, both its thermal and solvent stability are greatly enhanced in the dodecameric state when compared to its dimeric counterpart (apparent melting temperatures (Tm) of 83.1 °C and 51.5 °C, respectively). We also employed protein design (PROSS) for a tetrameric Class II KARI (from Escherichia coli) to generate a variant with improved thermal and solvent stabilities. In total, 34 mutations were introduced, which did not affect the oligomeric state of this enzyme but resulted in a fully functional catalyst with a significantly elevated Tm (58.5 °C vs. 47.9 °C for the native version). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Potassium (K+) channels have been demonstrated to play a prominent involvement in nociceptive processing. Kir7.1, the newest members of the Kir channel family, has not been extensively studied in the CNS, and its function remains largely unknown. The present study investigated the role of spinal Kir7.1 in the development of pathological pain. Methods and Results: Neuropathic pain was induced by spared nerve injury (SNI). The mechanical sensitivity was assessed by von Frey test. Immunofluorescence staining assay revealed that Kir7.1 was predominantly expressed in spinal neurons but not astrocytes or microglia in normal rats. Western blot results showed that SNI markedly decreased the total and membrane expression of Kir7.1 in the spinal dorsal horn accompanied by mechanical hypersensitivity. Blocking Kir7.1 with the specific antagonist ML418 or knockdown kir7.1 by siRNA led to mechanical allodynia. Co‐IP results showed that the spinal kir7.1 channels were decorated by SUMO‐1 but not SUMO‐2/3, and Kir7.1 SUMOylation was upregulated following SNI. Moreover, inhibited SUMOylation by GA (E1 inhibitor) or 2‐D08 (UBC9 inhibitor) can increase the spinal surface Kir7.1 expression. Conclusion: SUMOylation of the Kir7.1 in the spinal cord might contribute to the development of SNI‐induced mechanical allodynia by decreasing the Kir7.1 surface expression in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain is a major clinical problem with limited treatment options. Here, we show that metformin relieves bortezomib (BTZ)-evoked induction and maintenance of neuropathic pain by preventing the reduction in the expression of Beclin-1, an autophagy marker, in the spinal dorsal horn. Application of rapamycin or 3-methyladenine, autophagy inducer and inhibitor, respectively, affected the mechanical allodynia differently. Co-application of 3-methyladenine and metformin partially inhibited the effect of metformin in recovering Beclin-1 expression and in reducing the pain behavior in rats subjected to BTZ treatment. BTZ treatment also reduced the expression of AMPKa2 in the dorsal horn, which was recovered by metformin treatment. Overexpression of AMPKa2 attenuated the BTZ-evoked reduction in Beclin-1 expression and mechanical allodynia, whereas intrathecal injection of AMPKa2 siRNA decreased the Beclin-1 expression and induced mechanical allodynia in naive rats. Moreover, BTZ treatment increased the GATA3 expression in the dorsal horn, and GATA3 siRNA attenuated the AMPKa2 downregulation and mechanical allodynia induced by BTZ. Chromatin immunoprecipitation further showed that BTZ induced an increased recruitment of GATA3 to multiple sites in the AMPKa2 promoter region. Furthermore, decreased acetylation and increased methylation of histone H3 in the AMPKa2 promoter in the spinal dorsal horn was detected after BTZ treatment. Our findings suggest that metformin may regulate AMPKa2-mediated autophagy in the dorsal horn and alleviate the behavioral hypersensitivity induced by BTZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many living phenomena, the behavior of social animals (such as ants, fish stocks, and birds) has attracted great attention, and many theories and models have emerged to simulate the behavior of biological communities. These studies are important in theory and practice and have wide application potential in optimization methods and product design, which leads to the so-called cluster intelligence. Development of the 3D animation system can be closely combined with cluster intelligence, and the full application of cluster intelligence is conducive to continuously improve the stability of animation system design, for animation system design to bring continuous design inspiration. The purpose of the development platform is to promote the development of enterprise projects, record each stage of the animation process in 3D, form a complete industrial chain, ensure the traceability and resilience of the whole process, and provide a comprehensive and effective solution for 3D animation production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating gradients of nanostructure on the surface has found broad applications such as enhanced optical spectroscopy, optical storage of information, and broadband solar energy harvesting. Here, a facile strategy is presented for fabricating gradient nanoparticle arrays with tunable size. It takes a ZnO:Ga microwire as the starting material, and the Ga3+ doping gradient along the microwire is induced by the high voltage applied. Such a doping gradient facilitates the formation of a temperature gradient in a Joule heating process. And this temperature gradient produced by this technique can be as high as 800 °C/mm, which could be later used for gradient annealing of thin metal films. After annealing, the thin metal films turn to gradient nanoparticle arrays. The obtained gradient nanoparticle arrays are confirmed effective in multi-wavelength surface enhanced Raman scattering enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Splitting tensile real time acoustic emission tests were carried out on rock–shotcrete binary specimens under the action of different corrosive waters in different periods. The effect of corrosion on the damage process of the binary interface was studied from a mesoscopic point of view. The results showed that the physical and chemical properties of the binary specimens were changed due to corrosion, resulting in a decrease in the tensile strength. Moreover, the corrosion effect of the acid solution is relatively strong throughout the whole corrosion cycle. It can be seen that the acoustic emission signal can reflect the interface microcrack propagation and inoculation process from the stress–strain curve, the ringing count, and the cumulative energy correspondence. Furthermore, the peak point of each parameter decreases with deepening the corrosion degree in different corrosive environments. The same-step variation in numerical value can provide certain early warning information. The application of acoustic emission B value indicates that the failure mode of the interface of the binary body develops from the failure of large internal cracks to the failure of continuous small cracks as the corrosion intensifies. The damage model established based on acoustic emission cumulative ringing count can better characterize the coupling relationship between corrosion-load-damage of the binary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we conducted a study of the Zhangsanxi karst groundwater system in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China, and used the results to develop a method for identifying the aquifer medium and its structural characteristics. To begin, rainfall, underground river flow dynamics, and groundwater level dynamics in the Zhangsanxi karst groundwater system were subjected to high-resolution monitoring to elucidate the groundwater system's rainfall-hydrological response characteristics under varying rainfall amounts and intensities. Next, an exponential attenuation curve was employed to analyze how the law of attenuation applies to underground river discharge and groundwater level during a typical rainfall event. Finally, we determined the degree of karst development at different depths, so the data can serve as a reference for local decision makers regarding karst water disaster prevention and water resource utilization. The results show that the flow response lag time in the karst groundwater system depicts good correlation with the rainfall amount but is also affected by the rainfall intensity. Thus, under conditions of identical rainfall, increasing rainfall intensity corresponds to a progressively shorter underground river flow lag time. The area's rainfall can be divided into four types, based on its concentration and intensity characteristics. The underground river flow generally has no evident response to type I rainfall, while the flow response lag time to types II III and IV rainfall is approximately 110, 60, and 40 h, respectively. Furthermore, the Zhangsanxi karst system's water-bearing medium is dominated by karst fissures and pores, which account for about 2/3 of its open space. Large karst conduits and caves account for the remaining 1/3. The degree of karst development in this system depicts evident depth variation but, overall, tends to increase as a function of burial depth. Responsible editor: Xianliang Yi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Both percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) and open fenestration discectomy (OFD) are effective and safe surgical procedures for the treatment of LDH. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the surgical outcomes of percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy (PEID) and OFD for single-segment huge lumbar disc herniation (HLDH). Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 91 patients diagnosed with single-segment HLDH and treated with OFD or PEID. Visual analog scale (VAS), modified Japanese orthopedic association (mJOA) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) were used to assess clinical outcomes at preoperation and postoperatively at 3, 6, 12, and 24months. Modified Macnab criteria were applied to evaluate clinically satisfaction at the final follow-up. Results: In both groups, the VAS and ODI scores at 3, 6, 12, and 24months postoperatively showed a significant decrease and the mJOA score at 3, 6, 12, and 24months postoperatively was significantly increased compared to preoperative results (P< 0.001). According to Macnab criteria at the final follow-up, the overall clinically satisfactory rate was 86.67% in the OFD group and 86.96% in the PEID group. There were no significant differences in VAS, ODI, and mJOA scores between the two groups at preoperation and postoperative 3, 6, 12, and 24months, respectively. In the PEID group, the length of hospitalization and the length of incision were significantly shorter than that in the OFD group (P< 0.0001). However, there was no significant difference in operative time between groups (P=0.81). Conclusion: Collectively, postoperative clinical results were equally favorable for both procedures, with no statistically significant difference between PEID and OFD at the two-year of follow-up. No serious complication was observed in two groups. Compared with the traditional surgery, PEID has the following benefits: less trauma, less bleeding, speedy recovery, and shorter hospitalization. Therefore, PEID may be a promising alternative to traditional surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-one novel 3,4-dichloroisothiazolocoumarin-containing strobilurins were rationally designed and synthesized. Preliminary bioassay showed that compounds 7c, 7h and 7l exhibited over 80% inhibitory rate against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum at 50 μg/mL, 7c exhibited good activity against S. sclerotiorum with median effective concentration (EC50) of 4.08 μg/mL, while the positive control coumoxystrobin showed EC50 of 1.00 μg/mL. In addition, 7d showed better fungicidal activity with a lower EC50 value of 7.65 μg/mL against Botrytis cinerea than that of positive control trifloxystrobin with its EC50 value of 21.96 μg/mL. This study indicated that 3,4-dichloroisothiazolocoumarin-containing strobilurin was a promising fungicide lead deserved for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The furnace combustion state of coal-fired power plants is difficult to accurately monitor during low-load and dynamic operation conditions, thus hindering the secure and economic operation of such power plants. In this study, a novel combustion state judgment system based on flame images of coal-fired boilers is proposed. First, an unsupervised deep learning model CBAM-SCAE, which is integrated with a convolutional block attention module (CBAM) and stacked convolutional autoencoder (SCAE), is constructed to extract combustion features from flame images. Next, the feature dimension is reduced by principal component analysis to calculate the combustion state index and fluctuation degree, which are then used to evaluate combustion stability. Finally, the results of the proposed judgment system are compared with the combustion-related variables and the flame detection system equipped in the power plant. The correlation coefficient between the combustion state index and the combustion-related variables exceeds 0.7; in addition, the unstable state of flame combustion is detected 22 s in advance by the proposed judgment system compared with the flame detection signal. Furthermore, the judgment system does not rely on manual data labeling during the evaluation process, which facilitates its practical application. • A quantitative system is defined to evaluate combustion stability of the furnace. • A CBAM-SCAE model is constructed to extract combustion features from flame images. • The attention mechanism is introduced to focus on flame global characteristics. • The judgment system does not rely on manual data labeling during the evaluation. • Unstable combustion is detected 22s in advance compared with plant equipped signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New targeted chemotherapy agents greatly improved five-year survival in NSCLC patients, but which were susceptible to drug resistance. NVP-AUY922, terminated in phase II clinical trials, exhibited promising anti-NSCLC (non-small-cell lung cancer) activity targeting to Hsp90N (heat shock protein), which demonstrated advantages in overcoming drug resistance as a broad-spectrum anti-cancer target. It was expected to develop novel anti-NSCLC drugs to overcome drug resistance by the structural optimization of NVP-AUY922. However, the absence of high-resolution complex crystal structure of Hsp90N-NVP-AUY922 blocked the way. Herein, 1.59 Å-resolution complex crystal structure of Hsp90N-NVP-AUY922 (PDB ID 6LTI) was successfully determined by X-ray diffraction. Meanwhile, there was a strong binding capability between NVP-AUY922 and its target Hsp90N verified by TSA (ΔTm, −15.56 ± 1.78°C) and ITC (K d, 5.10 ± 2.10 nM). Results by the complex crystal structure, TSA and ITC verified that NVP-AUY922 well accommodated in the ATP-binding pocket of Hsp90N to disable the molecular chaperone activity of Hsp90. Therefore, NVP-AUY922 exhibited approving inhibitory activity on NSCLC cell line H1299 (IC50, 2.85 ± 0.06 μM) by inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing cell cycle arrest and promoting cell apoptosis. At the basis of the complex crystal structure and molecular interaction analysis, thirty-two new NVP-AUY922 derivatives were further designed, and among which twenty-eight new ones display enhanced binding force with Hsp90N by molecular docking evaluation. The results would promote anti-NSCLC new drug development to overcome drug resistance based on the lead compound NVP-AUY922. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-one novel pyrazole–thiazole carboxamide derivatives were rationally designed and synthesized. Bioassay results indicated that 6d (EC50 = 5.11 μg/mL) and 6j (EC50 = 8.14 μg/mL) exhibited better in vitro activities than fluxapyroxad (EC50 = 11.93 μg/mL) and thifluzamide (EC50 = 22.12 μg/mL) against Rhizoctonia cerealis. Particularly, compound 6j showed promising in vivo protective activity against Rhizoctonia solani and Puccinia sorghi Schw. with 80% and 90% inhibition at 10 μg/mL, respectively. Our studies found that pyrazole–thiazole is a promising fungicide lead deserving for further derivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the functional connectivity (FC) between the bilateral thalamus and the other brain regions in patients with vestibular migraine (VM). Methods: Resting-state fMRI and 3D-T1 data were collected from 37 patients with VM during the interictal period and 44 age-, gender-, and years of education-matched healthy controls (HC). The FC of the bilateral thalamus was analyzed using a standard seed-based whole-brain correlation method. Furthermore, the correlations between thalamus FC and clinical characteristics of patients were investigated using Pearson's partial correlation. Results: Compared with HC, VM patients showed decreased FC between the left thalamus and the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral insular and right supplementary motor cortex. We also observed decreased FC between the right thalamus and the left insular and ACC in VM patients. Furthermore, patients with VM also exhibited increased FC between the left thalamus and the right precuneus and middle frontal gyrus, between the right thalamus and superior parietal lobule. FC between the right thalamus and the left insular was negatively correlated with disease duration (p = 0.019, r = − 0.399), FC between the left thalamus and the left ACC was negatively correlated with HIT-6 score (p = 0.004, r = − 0.484). Conclusion: VM patients showed altered FC between thalamus and brain regions involved in pain, vestibular and visual processing, which are associated with specific clinical features. Specifically, VM patients showed reduced thalamo-pain and thallamo-vestibular pathways, while exhibited enhanced thalamo-visual pathway, which provided first insight into the underlying functional brain connectivity in VM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ultra-thin vapor chamber (UTVC) is an efficient heat transfer component that meets the heat dissipation requirement of miniaturized electronic devices. Heat dissipation is one of the most important issues for UTVCs. With decreasing thickness, the mechanical strength of heat pipes and vapor chambers drops dramatically, and inevitable surface damage occurs during conventional contact thermal testing. Here, we demonstrate a non-contact thermal testing method using laser heating and infrared temperature measurement to evaluate the thermal performance of UTVCs. This non-contact method allows UTVCs to reach a steady-state sooner than traditional contact methods. Use of the characteristic thermal resistance is proposed for more straightforward evaluation of the UTVC thermal performance in non-contact testing setups. This non-contact thermal testing method has proved to be an efficient testing method for UTVCs due to its rapidity, accuracy, and non-destructiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]