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Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of fibrotic colorectal lesions is difficult and has a high complication rate. There are only a few reports on the utility of orthodontic rubber band (ORB) traction in reducing the difficulty of this procedure. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for perforation when applying ORB traction during ESD of fibrotic colorectal lesions. We continuously collected the clinical data of 119 patients with fibrotic colorectal lesions who underwent ESD with ORB and clip traction between January 2019 and January 2024. Possible risk factors for perforation were analyzed. The median ORB-ESD operative time was 40 (IQR 28–62) min, and the en bloc and R0 resection rates were 94.1% and 84.0%, respectively. Perforation occurred in 16 of 119 patients (13.4%). The lesion size, lesion at the right half of the colon or across an intestinal plica, the degree of fibrosis, operation time, and the surgeon's experience were associated with perforation during ORB-ESD (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that lesions in the right colon (OR 9.027; 95% CI 1.807–45.098; P = 0.007) and those across an intestinal plica (OR 7.771; 95% CI 1.298–46.536; P = 0.025) were independent risk factors for perforation during ORB-ESD. ORB-ESD is an effective and feasible approach to treat fibrotic colorectal lesions. Adequate preoperative evaluation is required for lesions in the right colon and across intestinal plicas to mitigate the risk of perforation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, first, the environmental challenges and cracking characteristics during the construction of plateau concrete on the Sichuan–Tibet route were revealed. Then, using a multi-field coupled shrinkage model with hydration temperature humidity constraints, the early and long-term cracking risks in the core of plateau pier bodies were investigated. Later, the effects of tensile strength, pouring interval age and adiabatic temperature rise on the cracking risk were analyzed. Finally, various control measures for high-altitude concrete cracking were proposed. The results indicated that the complex environment of the plateau led to different forms of cracks in the pier body, especially vertical cracks in the straight sections. The long-term risk of core cracking in the plateau pier body is significantly greater than the risk of early cracking. This risk was strongly influenced by factors such as the concrete tensile strength, pouring interval age and adiabatic temperature rise, which should be given more attention. Deformation compensation can significantly enhance the peak and residual deformation capacities of plateau concrete, with peak values greater than 900 με and residual deformation greater than 200 με at day 60, as well as its resistance to cracking. Strategies such as adopting radiant cooling techniques, improving construction techniques and implementing effective management measures can all play a vital role in improving the cracking resistance of highland concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of detection and identification technology, infrared stealth is of great value to realize anti-reconnaissance detection of military targets. At present, infrared stealth materials generally have deficiency, such as complex structure, inconvenient radiation regulation and cumbersome preparation steps, which greatly limit the practical application of infrared stealth materials. In view of the above deficiency of infrared stealth materials, we proposed a kind of multilayer film for infrared stealth using VO2 thermochromism based on the temperature response mechanism of tuna to adjust its color, and through the intelligent reversible radiation regulation mechanism to meet the infrared stealth requirements of tanks in different actual scenes. The results show that when the temperature increases from 300 K to 373 K, the peak emissivity of the film decreases from 94% to 20% in the 8–14 µm band after structural optimization, which can realize the infrared stealth of the high temperature target in the 8–14 µm band. The average emissivity of the multilayer film for infrared stealth at 3–5 µm and 8–14 µm band can be reduced to 34% and 27% at 373 K, and the peak emissivity at 5–8 µm band can reach 65%, realizing dual-band infrared stealth in the 3–5 µm and 8–14 µm bands and heat dissipation in the 5–8 µm band. The multilayer film for infrared stealth based on VO2 thermochromism designed by the authors can meet the characteristics of simple film structure, convenient radiation regulation and simple preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One approach that shows promising for producing hydrogen fuel from solar energy is photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The main challenge is to design effective photoanodes. Although bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is an ideal photoanode in terms of absorbing visible light, serious electron–hole recombination and poor charge transport limit its application as a photoanode of PEC. Dye sensitization is the key method to improve electron transfer and light utilization. Herein, an enhanced dye (rhodamine B, RhB)-sensitized BiVO4/BiOCl system was explored. The results show that the process of RhB sensitization BiVO4 requires BiOCl as a bridge. The RhB-sensitized BiVO4/BiOCl system exhibits excellent photoelectrochemical activity, which is attributed to its enhanced photoinduced electron transport and wider visible light response range. This inspiration comes from the mythical story of China, "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl Meet at the Magpie Bridge". The combination of dye sensitization and BiVO4/BiOCl heterojunction explored an energy-saving, efficient and green light-induced system to improve the PEC efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracing the historical development of soil salinization and monitoring its current status are crucial for understanding the driving forces behind it, proposing strategies to improve soil quality, and predicting future trends. To comprehensively understand the evolution of research on the remote sensing inversion of soil salinity, a scientific bibliometric analysis was conducted on research from the past two decades indexed in the core scientific databases. This article analyzes the field from various perspectives, including the number of publications, authors, research institutions and countries, research fields, study areas, and keywords, in order to reveal the current state-of-the-art and cutting-edge research in this domain. Special attention was given to topics such as machine learning, data assimilation methods, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing technology, soil inversion under vegetation cover, salt ion inversion, and remote sensing model construction methods. The results indicate an overall increase in the volume of publications, with key authors such as Metternicht, Gi and Zhao, Gengxing, and major research institutions including the International Institute for Geoinformatics Science and Earth Observation and the Chinese Academy of Sciences making significant contributions. Notably, China and the USA have made substantial contributions to this field, with research areas extending from Inner Mongolia's Hetao irrigation district to the Mediterranean region. Research in the remote sensing domain focuses on various methods, including hyperspectral imaging for salinized soil inversion, with an increasing emphasis on machine learning. This study enriches researchers' knowledge of the current trends and future directions of remote sensing inversion of soil salinization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Oxidative stress is closely related to animal health. Bupleuri Radix, a well-known Chinese herb, has an important antioxidant capacity. In this study, we discovered that supplementing Bupleuri Radix to the diet could reduce oxidative stress during the growth stage of Shanbei fine-wool sheep. In addition, we analyzed the antioxidant mechanism of Bupleuri Radix by combining metabolomics and microbiomics and discovered that Bupleuri Radix may increase the antioxidant capacity of Shanbei fine-wool sheep by regulating rumen bacteria and metabolites. The findings indicate that implementing appropriate nutrition strategies can improve the health of Shanbei fine-wool sheep. Oxidative stress (OS) in ruminants is closely associated with disease; thus, improving antioxidant capacity is an important strategy for maintaining host health. Bupleuri Radix (BR) could significantly improve host health and stress levels. However, the clear antioxidant mechanism of the function of BR remains unknown. In the current study, LC-MS metabolomics combined with 16S rRNA gene sequencing was employed to explore the effects of BR on rumen microbiota and metabolites in Shanbei Fine-Wool Sheep (SFWS), and Spearman correlation analyses of rumen microbiota, metabolites, and OS were performed to investigate the mechanism of antioxidant function of BR. Our results indicated that as SFWS grows, levels of OS and antioxidant capacity increase dramatically, but providing BR to SFWS enhances antioxidant capacity while decreasing OS. Rumen microbiota and OS are strongly correlated, with total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) showing a significant negative correlation with Succiniclasticum and a positive correlation with Ruminococcus. Importantly, the Chao1 index was significantly negatively correlated with malondialdehyde (MDA) and positively correlated with superoxide dismutase (SOD) and T-AOC. Two biomarkers connected to the antioxidant effects of BR, 5,6-DHET and LPA (a-25:0/0:0), were screened according to the results of metabolomics and Spearman analysis of rumen contents, and a significant relationship between the concentration of rumen metabolites and OS was found. Five metabolic pathways, including glycerolipid, glutathione, nucleotide, D-amino acid, and inositol phosphate metabolism, may have a role in OS. The integrated results indicate that rumen microbiota and metabolites are strongly related to OS and that BR is responsible for reducing OS and improving antioxidant capacity in post-weaned SFWS. These findings provide new strategies to reduce OS occurring during SFWS growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand prevention and control are the main tasks of desertification control. The MU Us Sandy Land (MUSL), one of China's four main deserts, frequently experiences droughts and has a very fragile biological environment. Climate change is the main factor leading to drought, and it may result in more serious drought situations in the future. The Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) was established using land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index data. In this paper, we investigate spatial and temporal change characteristics, future change trends, and the time-lag effect of TVDI on climate factors at different scales in MUSL from 2001 to 2020 using Sen + Mann–Kendall trend analysis, Hurstexponent, partial correlation analysis, and lag analysis methods. The results show that (1) the overall drought shows a spatial characteristic of gradually alleviating from west to east (TVDI = 0.6). A significant drying trend dominated 38.5% of the pixels in the fall (Z = 1.99), and a highly significant drying trend dominated the rest of the three seasons (Z average = 2.95) and the whole year (Z = 3.47). (2) In the future, dry autumn, winter, and the whole year will be dominated by continuous drying, and spring and summer will mainly change from dry to wet. The main relationships between winter TVDI and temperature (−0.06) and precipitation (−0.07) were negative, while evapotranspiration (0.18) showed a positive correlation. The six land use types in spring, summer, fall, and the whole year were primarily non-significantly positively correlated with temperature and evapotranspiration. (3) At the seasonal scale, the sensitive factors in spring and autumn were opposite, with spring TVDI responding quickly to precipitation (0.3 months) and being less sensitive to temperature (1.8 months) and evapotranspiration (2 months). At the interannual scale, desert land TVDI was most sensitive to precipitation (2.6 months) and least responsive to temperature (3 months). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aurora kinase B (AURKB) is an attractive and potential molecular target for cervical cancer therapy. To date, a variety of AURKB inhibitors are developed to suppress cervical tumors. Nevertheless, direct use of these small molecule inhibitors may cause severe side effects to patients, limiting their further clinical applications. Herein, a rationally designed hydrogelator Nap‐Phe‐Phe‐Arg‐Arg‐Lys‐Ser‐OH (S) is employed to co‐assemble AZD1152‐HQPA (AZD, an AURKB inhibitor) to develop an AURKB‐responsive hydrogel Gel S/AZD for enhanced cervical tumor suppression. Upon AURKB activation, hydrogelator S in Gel S/AZD evolves into its hydrophilic phosphate Nap‐Phe‐Phe‐Arg‐Arg‐Lys‐Ser(H2PO3)‐OH (Sp), triggering the disassembly of Gel S/AZD to release AZD in a sustained manner. Cell assays reveal that AURKB‐responsive release of AZD from Gel S/AZD potently induces the growth arrest and apoptosis of cervical cancer cells by downregulating the expression level of AURKB downstream protein phospho‐histone H3 (pH3). In vivo studies demonstrate that compared with free AZD, Gel S/AZD shows a superior tumor suppressive effect in orthotropic cervical tumor models. It is envisioned that the Gel S/AZD might be applied in clinic cervical cancer treatment in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mimetic enzymes are devised as alternates or supplements of natural enzymes in broad fields but regulating their activities in a switchable manner remains challenging. Herein, we proposed an enzymatic self-assembly/disassembly strategy to address this issue. A peptide molecule NapFFEYIH (YH) was rationally designed which, after self-assembling into nanofibers, lined up the histidine moieties to form active hydrolysis centers for mimicking hydrolase activity. Enzymatic dephosphorylation of NapF-FEYpIH (YpH) by alkaline phosphatase to yield YH also turned "ON" the hydrolase activity. In turn, phosphorylation of YH by phosphokinase epidermal growth factor receptor to yield YpH disassembled the nanofibers and thus turned the activity "OFF". As such, the "ON"/"OFF" of the mimetic hydrolase activities could be regulated under physiological conditions through ALP/EGFR-mediated self-assembly/disassembly of histidine nanofibers. This work provides a feasible strategy for the on-demand fabrication of artificial enzymes with controllable and superior activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective absorptive nanofluid can pre-absorb certain sunlight wavelength that cannot be used by PV and transmits remaining sunlight to the surface of PV, which can decouple PV from the thermal receiver spatially. In order to improve the harvesting of electricity and high-temperature thermal nanofluid, it is important to design an optimal optical filter window (transmit sunlight with wavelengths of 732–1067 nm to the surface of the photovoltaic cell and absorb the remaining sunlight). However, designing optimal optical filter is facing following challenges: (1) inherently narrow selective absorptivity property of single nanoparticle; (2) simplified numerical calculation method calculating transmittance; (3) ignoring the shape of the nanoparticle. In this study, the idea of using multiple nanoparticles coupling effect to design an optical filter is proposed, which can superimpose the narrow absorption bandwidth of different nanoparticles to obtain a wide absorption bandwidth of the whole system. In addition, an improved transmission method considering light-matter interaction at air/vessel and liquid/vessel interfaces is adopted to compute the transmittance. The results calculated by improved transmission method are more accurate than widely used traditional Lambert-Beer law, which is verified by experimental test. Furthermore, the effect of nanoparticle shape on spectral transmittance is also investigated, which shows that spiny Ag can approximately extend absorbance from 400 nm to 600 nm compared to nanosphere silver. Finally, the results show that optical filter efficiency of nanofluids with multiple nanoparticles coupling (Ag, spiny Ag, ZnO, ITO) can reached up to 35%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Thymic carcinoma and thymic neuroendocrine tumor (NET) are rare and are more likely to develop second malignancies. The purpose of this study was to explore the incidence and lifetime risk of second malignancies in thymic carcinoma and thymic NET. Methods: The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and the age-adjusted cancer incidence of the thymic carcinoma and thymic NET patients with second malignancies were retrospectively calculated by using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Prognosis results were also determined by Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox regression. Results: 1130 patients with thymic carcinoma (73 patients had second malignancies) and 263 patients with thymic NET (19 patients had second malignancies) from 2000 to 2018 are included. Patients with thymic carcinoma (SIR: 1.36, 95% CI 1.08–1.69) and with thymic NET (SIR: 1.73, 95% CI 1.13–2.54) demonstrate an increased overall risk of developing second malignancies in various organ systems. The age-adjusted cancer incidence of second malignancies in patients with thymic carcinoma is 3058.48 per 100,000 persons (4178.46 per 100,000 persons in patients with thymic NET). Age at diagnosis is a significant risk factor for the development of second malignancies. Conclusion: The incidence of second malignancies in patients with thymic carcinoma and thymic NET is significantly higher than the patients in the normal population. The occurrence of second malignancies is not related to the use of different treatments. It is important to extend the follow-up period and add other screening methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a highly prevalent and aggressive malignancy, and timely diagnosis of ESCC contributes to an increased cancer survival rate. However, current detection methods for ESCC mainly rely on endoscopic examination, limited by a relatively low participation rate. Herein, ferric‐particle‐enhanced laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (FPELDI MS) is utilized to record the serum metabolic fingerprints (SMFs) from a retrospective cohort (523 non‐ESCC participants and 462 ESCC patients) to build diagnostic models toward ESCC. The PFELDI MS achieved high speed (≈30 s per sample), desirable reproducibility (coefficients of variation < 15%), and high throughput (985 samples with ≈124 200 data points for each spectrum). Desirable diagnostic performance with area‐under‐the‐curves (AUCs) of 0.925–0.966 is obtained through machine learning of SMFs. Further, a metabolic biomarker panel is constructed, exhibiting superior diagnostic sensitivity (72.2–79.4%, p < 0.05) as compared with clinical protein biomarker tests (4.3–22.9%). Notably, the biomarker panel afforded an AUC of 0.844 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.806–0.880) toward early ESCC diagnosis. This work highlighted the potential of metabolic analysis for accurate screening and early detection of ESCC and offered insights into the metabolic characterization of diseases including but not limited to ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial presents a collection of innovative research studies that contribute to advancing sustainable energy solutions. The studies cover a range of topics, including the integration of solar energy with advanced materials, the performance enhancements of solar collectors, the use of biogas as a clean alternative in public transport, and methods for enhancing the production of natural gas hydrates. The research also explores energy efficiency and storage methods, optimization of clean energy processes, and the impact of policy instruments on clean energy adoption. The studies emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of clean energy research and the need for collaborative efforts to address climate change. [Extracted from the article]

The five northwestern provinces face numerous challenges in sustainable development, particularly water scarcity, economic imbalances, and ecological degradation. This study aims to deeply assess the region's water resource conditions, the current status of economic development, and the health of the ecosystem while exploring the relationships and coupling mechanisms among them. Using the obstacle model, the research analyzes the primary barriers affecting these three significant factors in the region. The study further reveals a continually improving trend of coordinated development within the water–economic–ecological system in the five northwestern provinces of China, indicating that water usage per ten thousand GDP is the primary obstacle. This research enriches our understanding of the development in China's five northwestern provinces and provides a theoretical foundation for achieving sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to the one-step forming demand on engineering construction applications, the sand-in-water multi-color coatings is usually used via a one-step spraying process which often brings about the sagging problem. In order to solve this problem, coating manufacturers generally control the viscosity of coatings. However, this single treatment method might causes some new problems such as storage stability, color point and discharge during construction. In this article, the dosage of emulsion and thickening agent is adjusted while the mass ratio of other components is not changed to investigate the effects of the thixotropy, viscosity and intercoat on the sagging performance of coatings. Thus, the optimized parameters such emulsion dosage, coatings viscosity are obtained to solve the sagging property of coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon plays an important role in global climate change. The mechanisms of carbon sources and carbon sinks have also received wide attention from society, and the physical and chemical characteristics of riverine ions can reflect the chemical weathering of rocks and carbon sink capacity of river basins. Based on the data on river, rainwater, and rock samples from 2019, this study used various methods, such as ion ratio diagrams and ternary diagrams, to analyze the chemical characteristics of water; the chemical weathering and carbon sink effects of rocks were also calculated while assuming three scenarios based on the main sources of ions in the Naqu River. The results showed that for the whole catchment, the main ion sources in the river were: carbonate rock chemical weathering > silicate rock chemical weathering > evaporite dissolution > atmospheric precipitation input. According to the calculations, in the three scenarios, the carbonate weathering rates were 16.84, 11.32, and 14.08 t/km2/yr, and the carbon sink capacities were 66.47, 121.13, and 93.80 mol/km2/yr, respectively; the evaporite weathering rates were 2.20, 9.63, and 5.92 t/km2/yr, respectively. The silicate chemical weathering rate and carbon sink capacity did not change significantly in either scenario, with 6.82 t/km2/yr and 248.6 mol/km2/yr, respectively. This study quantified the ion sources in the Naqu River basin and accurately analyzed their chemical genesis, which helps in understanding the role of the rivers of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in the global carbon cycle and global climate change, in addition to providing a reference for the scientific development of the Nujing River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Basin holds significance as a vital ecological shield and economic hub within China. Adapting land utilization practices and optimizing landscape patterns are of paramount significance in preserving the ecological equilibrium of the Yellow River Basin while fostering high-quality economic development. In this study, we selected the Yellow River Basin in Henan Province as our research area. We use a land use transition matrix and FRAGSTATS 4.2 software to analyze changes in land use and landscape patterns within the study area from 1990 to 2020. Furthermore, Geographical Detector is employed to explore the impact of different natural and social economic factors that have influenced the progress of the landscape surface pattern in the study area. Finally, to identify the zonal aggregation effects of primary components in connection with landscaping feature indices at the city dimension, we use bivariate local spatial autocorrelation. The results are as follows: (1) In terms of land use change characteristics, the area of cultivated land, grassland, shrubs, and bare land shows a decreasing tendency, the area of construction land and forest land shows an increasing tendency, and the water area fluctuates and changes. Most of the cultivated land is shifted to construction land, followed by forest land, construction land, and cultivated land mainly transferred from grassland. (2) At the level of type in terms of shifting landscape patterns, cultivated land, forest land, water, and construction land have a more complex landscape shape, reduced fragmentation, and better natural connectivity. At the overall level, the overall landscape pattern indices are relatively stable, with more patch types and a more balanced distribution. (3) The findings regarding influencing factors reveal that the primary industry output value, population, secondary industry output value, and temperature are the principal driving forces behind the progress of the landscape surface pattern. The main drivers have changed over time in different regions. As indicated by the findings from bivariate local spatial autocorrelation analysis, at the city scale, the leading cause of landscape fragmentation in Luoyang is the primary industry output value, while in Xinxiang, landscape fragmentation is primarily driven by the secondary industry output value and temperature. In this study, we introduce the bivariate local spatial autocorrelation method to analyze the clustering effects of key influencing factors and landscape patterns at the city scale. This is crucial for the harmonized growth of land use planning and the urban economy in the Yellow River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fibrous mediastinitis (FM) is a rare mediastinal lesion characterized by proliferation of fibrous tissue within the mediastinum. Previous reports have shown that this lesion can be caused by histoplasmosis and tuberculosis. In extremely rare cases, FM can also be caused by autoimmune diseases such as antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis and large-vessel arteritis. Case presentation: In our case, we report unexpected fibrous mediastinitis found after robotic thymectomy in a patient with myasthenia gravis (MG). The preoperative imaging indicated no obvious lesion in the mediastinum and the patient denied histories of both histoplasmosis and tuberculosis. After the operation, both proliferation of fibrous tissue and ectopic germinal centres (GCs) could be found in the thymus. Conclusion: This rare case might enrich our knowledge of the relationship between FM and autoimmune diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The splitting of carbon dioxide through the two-step solar thermochemical cycle presents enormous potential, for it holds the dual functionalities of solar fuel production and carbon-based energy recovery. However, the industrialization of this technology is impeded by two critical factors: The absence of fully developed oxygen carriers and advanced reaction devices that deliver exceptional performance. In order to identify a potentially effective oxygen carrier, 50 wt% NiO-modified CoFe2O4 is selected as the active component and characterized by means of thermogravimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy, so as to clarify its oxygen exchange capacity, micromorphology and elemental composition in high-temperature thermochemical cycles. Further, nanoparticle-coated foam-structured materials are prepared in combination with SiC ceramic foam for experimental testing in a high-flux solar reactor. The results indicate that a peak CO yield of 1.96 mL min−1 g−1 can be gained in a 1500–1250 K preliminary test, demonstrating the application potential of the material. In contrast to conventional redox materials, the CO2 activity of the materials synthesized in this study exhibits an enhancement with rising oxidation temperature. It means that isothermal cycles can potentially achieve higher conversion and fuel yield than non-isothermal cycles, while simultaneously reducing the amount of irreversible heat loss during high-temperature cycling. Although the estimated steady-state thermal efficiency of the solar reactor can reach up to 42%, further optimization of the reactor design is necessary to enhance energy conversion efficiency, as it is partially limited by the dimensions of the reaction chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicase-like transcription factor (HLTF) belongs to the family of SWI/SNF proteins, which has been reported to exert oncogenic function in several human cancers. However, to date, its functional role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been revealed. Here, we found that HLTF was highly expressed in HCC tissues compared to nontumor tissues. Additionally, upregulation of HLTF was significantly associated with poor prognosis of patients with HCC. Functional experiments demonstrated that knockdown of HLTF expression significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells in vitro, and suppressed tumor growth in vivo. In conclusion, our results suggest that upregulation of HLTF is associated with the development of HCC, and HLTF may be a potential therapeutic target for HCC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Lenvatinib is a first‐line drug commonly used in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its clinical efficacy is very limited due to drug resistance. Therefore, there is a great need to explore its combination with other agents to achieve better therapeutic effects. Metformin has been demonstrated to show an anti‐cancer effect. This study aimed to investigate the combined effect of lenvatinib with metformin in HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo and elucidate the possible molecular mechanisms. Methods: Flow cytometry, colony formation, CCK‐8 and transwell assays were used to study the effect of Lenvatinib–Metformin combination on the malignant behaviour of HCC cells in vitro. Constructing an animal model of tumour‐bearing to study the effect of combined drugs on HCC in vivo. Western blot experiments were performed to assess the relationship between AKT and FOXO3 and the cellular translocation of FOXO3. Results: Our results suggested that Lenvatinib and Metformin synergistically inhibited HCC growth and motility. Mechanistically, the combination of Lenvatinib and Metformin synergistically suppressed the activation of the AKT signalling pathway, which in turn reduced the phosphorylation level of downstream effector FOXO3 and induced its nuclear aggregation. In vivo studies further confirmed the synergistic suppression of lenvatinib with metformin in HCC growth. Conclusion: The Lenvatinib–Metformin combination may provide a potential therapeutic strategy to improve the prognosis of HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherently intermittent feature of solar energy requires reliable energy conversion and storage systems for utilizing the most abundant solar energy. Phase change materials are potential solutions to store a large amount of heat produced by solar light. However, few of the phase change materials have the ability to efficiently convert solar energy into heat; additionally, phase change materials need to be encapsulated in porous substrates for enhancing their leaking resistance and photo-to-thermal performance. In this work, monolithic MXene aerogels, fabricated by Al3+ cross-linking and freeze-drying, were used as the encapsulation and photothermal materials. The composites phase change materials of MXene/polyethylene glycol can be made with a large polyethylene glycol loading above 90 wt% with the maximum of 97 wt%, owing to the large porosity of MXene aerogels. The low content of MXene has a limited impact on the phase transition temperature and enthalpy of polyethylene glycol, with an enthalpy retention rate ranging from 89.2 to 96.5% for 90–97 wt% polyethylene glycol loadings. MXene aerogels greatly improve the leaking resistance of polyethylene glycol above its melting point of 60 °C, even at 100 °C. The composites phase change materials also show outstanding cycling stability for 500 cycles of heat storage and release, retaining 97.7% of the heat storage capability. The optimized composite phase change material has a solar energy utilization of 93.5%, being superior to most of the reported results. Our strategy produces promising composite phase change materials for solar energy utilization using the MXene aerogels as the encapsulation and photothermal materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study optimized the fermentation conditions for producing glucanase from Burkholderia pyrrocinia B1213 using Jiuzao, a residue from Baijiu distillation, as the carbon source. The effects of Jiuzao particle size and concentration, type of nitrogen source, urea concentration, initial pH, inoculum size, loading volume, shaking speed, temperature, surfactant type and incubation time on glucanase production by B. pyrrocinia B1213 were investigated separately through single factor design. Then, five variables, Jiuzao concentration, inoculum size, initial pH, temperature and incubation time, were found to significantly affect glucanase production using the Plackett-Burman design. Following, the optimal conditions for glucanase production by B. pyrrocinia B1213 were found using the steepest ascent path and response surface methodology designs as: particle size, 40-60 mesh; Jiuzao concentration, 58.4 g/L; urea concentration, 8 g/L; initial pH, 6; loading volume, 15 mL/250 mL; inoculum size, 0.63% (v/v); temperature, 26 °C; shaking speed, 160 rpm; and incubation time, 120 h. Under these conditions, the glucanase activity of the B. pyrrcinia B1213 strain was 1336 U/mL, producing the biological enzymes needed in Baijiu making from a by-product. This study has provided experimental data and theoretical information for using B. pyrrcinia B1213 in Baijiu production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain-specific serine/threonine-protein kinase 2 (BRSK2) plays critical roles in insulin secretion and β-cell biology. However, whether BRSK2 is associated with human type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has not been determined. Here, we report that BRSK2 genetic variants are closely related to worsening glucose metabolism due to hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance in the Chinese population. BRSK2 protein levels are significantly elevated in β cells from T2DM patients and high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice due to enhanced protein stability. Mice with inducible β-cell-specific Brsk2 knockout (βKO) exhibit normal metabolism with a high potential for insulin secretion under chow-diet conditions. Moreover, βKO mice are protected from HFD-induced hyperinsulinemia, obesity, insulin resistance, and glucose intolerance. Conversely, gain-of-function BRSK2 in mature β cells reversibly triggers hyperglycemia due to β-cell hypersecretion-coupled insulin resistance. Mechanistically, BRSK2 senses lipid signals and induces basal insulin secretion in a kinase-dependent manner. The enhanced basal insulin secretion drives insulin resistance and β-cell exhaustion and thus the onset of T2DM in mice fed an HFD or with gain-of-function BRSK2 in β cells. These findings reveal that BRSK2 links hyperinsulinemia to systematic insulin resistance via interplay between β cells and insulin-sensitive tissues in the populations carrying human genetic variants or under nutrient-overload conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of information technology and communication technology, several online recovery platforms have introduced offline channels to encourage customers to participate in product acquisition and improve profits. Motivated by this reverse supply chain practice, we develop a game theory model under three scenarios (single offline channel, single online channel, and dual-channel structures) to assess the effect of a newly added offline channel for online recovery platforms and explore the factors that have significant impacts on the dual-channel strategy for recovery platforms. We conduct static analyses to solve the model and perform a numerical study to examine the robustness of the results. The results reveal that a recovery platform can always gain more profit and set lower recovery prices under the dual-channel structure. However, the relatively high shipping cost might cause the recovery platform to recover a smaller quantity under the dual-channel structure compared with the single offline channel structure. In addition, the recovery platform is more likely to adopt a dual-channel structure with low shipping cost, high average hassle cost or hassle cost uncertainty, and less uncertainty on the reservation value. Moreover, the recovery platform can use the price difference between online and offline channels as a tool to split product holders and induce them to choose the most appropriate channel. Our findings highlight the profit and recovery quantity benefits brought by the dual-channel structure, and provide management insights for recovery platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to realize the monitoring of deformation in the urban area of Hohhot city, this paper uses the permanent scatterer synthetic aperture radar interferometry (PS-InSAR) technique to perform temporal interferometric processing on 25 scenes of Sentinel-1A data from March 2017 to April 2021 in the urban area of Hohhot city to extract the surface subsidence information in the urban area and analyze the causes of subsidence in the main subsidence centers. The results show that there are five obvious centres of subsidence in the urban area of Hohhot, and that the overall average annual surface subsidence rate is 3.65 mm/a, with an average cumulative subsidence of 15.50 mm. The subsidence is mainly due to over-exploitation of groundwater. Given that the free Sentinel-1A data has the advantages of short time baseline and sufficient number of images, it is conducive to InSAR time series analysis, which can meet similar urban surface deformation monitoring work and serve urban safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This pattern recognition method can effectively identify vibration signals collected by a phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometer (Φ-OTDR) and improve the accuracy of alarms. An alignment-free end-to-end multi-vibration event detection method based on Φ-OTDR is proposed, effectively detecting different vibration events in different frequency bands. The pulse accumulation and pulse cancellers determine the location of vibration events. The local differential detection method demodulates the vibration event time-domain variation signals. After the extraction of the signal time-frequency features by sliding window, the convolution neural network (CNN) further extracts the signal features. It analyzes the temporal relationship of each group of signal features using a bidirectional long short-term memory network (Bi-LSTM). Finally, the connectionist temporal classification (CTC) is used to label the unsegmented sequence data to achieve single detection of multiple vibration targets. Experiments show that using this method to process the collected 8563 data, containing 5 different frequency bands of multi-vibration acoustic sensing signal, the system F1 score is 99.49% with a single detection time of 2.2 ms. The highest frequency response is 1 kHz. It is available to quickly and efficiently identify multiple vibration signals when a single demodulated acoustic sensing signal contains multiple vibration events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We celebrate the legacies of our friend and mentor Professor Lianshou Liu who was one of the pioneers for the phenomenology of multi-particle interactions and initiated the physics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions in China. In this article, we discuss some of the recent exciting experimental observations on the collective phenomena including collectivity, chirality, criticality, strangeness production, and thermal equilibrium in high-energy nuclear collisions. Future directions, especially the physics at high baryon density, will be discussed with a focus on the first-order phase boundary and hyperon–nucleon interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a Cp*Rh(III)‐catalyzed C−H arylation of ferrocenethionamides with arylboronic acids for the synthesis of aryl‐ferrocenes under mild and base‐free conditions, using Ag2CO3 as oxidant. The reaction results in high yields and excellent regioselectivity accommodating a broad scope of substrate range and functional group compatibility, and provides an alternative protocol for the generation of highly functionalized aryl‐ferrocene compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesopelagic fish, the most important daily vertically migrating community in the oceans, are characterized by high lipid content which may obscure the interpretation of stable isotopes analysis. Demersal fish, which are important consumers in the food web dominated by mesopelagic fish, also have a high lipid content. Here we collected 127 fish samples from the South China Sea and evaluated the effect of lipid contents on δ13C of mesopelagic and demersal fish. In lipid-extracted mesopelagic fish, the C/N content ratio (<5.5) shows a clear correlation with Δδ13C (the offset of bulk and lipid-extracted δ13C values), especially in non-migratory and semi-migratory species; these values were less correlation in demersal fish. Based on our results, we suggest that mesopelagic and demersal fish in different regions of the South China Sea should be studied separately using appropriate correction models and less fit for the traditional model. Moreover, the C/N content ratio should be used cautiously for establishing the lipid normalization model, especially for the fish in migratory mesopelagic fish and demersal fish. Our results also reveal that mesopelagic fish across nearby regions could be analyzed together. The new models described here can be applied in future studies of mesopelagic and demersal fish in the South China Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to introduce an "eight-step modularized procedure (M-RET)" for trans-subxiphoid robotic extended thymectomy for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Its safety and feasibility were further verified in this study. Materials and methods: This retrospective study included 87 consecutive MG patients who underwent trans-subxiphoid robotic extended thymectomy at our institution between September 2016 and August 2021. According to different resection models, patients were divided into two groups: traditional trans-subxiphoid robotic extended thymectomy group (T-RET group) and eight-step modularized technique group (M-RET group). Baseline demographic characteristics and operation-related parameters were collected and compared between the two groups. Results: There were 41 (47.1%) patients in the M-RET group and 46 (52.9%) patients in the T-RET group. The M-RET group resected a greater amount of mediastinal adipose tissues and required more dissection time (median and interquartile range: 135.0, 125.0 to 164.0 v. 120.0, 105.0 to 153.8, P = 0.006) compared with the T-RET group. There were no statistically significant differences in terms of the intraoperative blood loss, duration of chest drainage, length of hospital stay, and postoperative complications between the two groups. There was no mortality or conversion in each of the two groups and all patients recovered well upon discharge. Conclusion: The eight-step modularized technique of trans-subxiphoid robotic extended thymectomy was verified to be a safe, effective, radical procedure, which offers unique superiority over ectopic thymic tissue resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common glass without spectral regulation effect cannot offer an energy‐saving function, and radiative cooling technology without visible transparency cannot satisfy the illumination and esthetic demands. Herein, the concept of utilizing a biomimetic beetle cuticle structure, guided by principles of Chinese Taoist philosophy, is proposed to accomplish efficient radiative regulation. Subsequently, low‐cost biomimetic radiative cooling (Bio‐RC) glass is presented, which can reduce the temperature of buildings throughout daytime by blocking near‐infrared (NIR) radiation, conveying visible light, and emitting heat within the atmospheric window. Utilizing only three layers of thin films, Bio‐RC glass achieves multi‐band spectral regulation, avoids a complicated preparation process, and has the potential for large‐scale production. Spectrometry reveals that Bio‐RC glass exhibits an effective visible light transmissivity of 80.5%, a mean NIR transmissivity of 10.3%, and an effective emissivity of 94.8% within the atmospheric window. A one‐month rooftop test demonstrates that Bio‐RC glass achieves a maximum cavity temperature reduction of 18.1 °C compared with common glass. Energy consumption analysis indicates that Bio‐RC glass can conserve approximately 23.4% of the total energy consumption per year compared with common glass. The proposed Bio‐RC glass can lower the temperature during daylight while preserving transparency and esthetics, making it suitable for application in buildings and vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most common commercial oils in the Chinese market are two petrol types with octane levels of 93 and 97. To determine the source spectrum of air pollutant emissions, we herein investigated the specific emission sizes of the total suspended particles (TSP), total carbon (TC), elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from a petrol engine fueled with 93# and 97# petrol in 2016 (based on Chinese national IV gasoline standard). We found that while 93# emitted a higher TSP content, 97# emitted greater TC, EC, OC, and PAHs. The highest carbon contents were found in the < 0.25 µm and 0.44–1.0 µm size fractions for the 93# and 97# petrol, respectively. OC content showed a significant positive correlation with EC, and EC2 (at 740 ℃) was the main carbon fragment in both petrol exhausts. The highest PAH content occurred in the 0.25–0.44 µm size-bin, differing from the results for TC, EC, and OC, and medium molecular weight (4 rings) PAHs were the primary component in the emissions. These results indicate that fuel composition and octane sensitivity have a prominent effect on the size distributions of TC (including EC, OC, and PAHs). Thus, more studies on the carbon content at specific emission sizes in petrol exhaust should be conducted to clarify the main factors impacting these variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the incentives of firms to share demand information in two competing supply chains. We consider a model in which each supply chain consists of a manufacturer and a retailer, and the manufacturers decide their products' carbon emissions reduction levels. Through information sharing, manufacturers can adjust their wholesale price and the level of carbon emissions reduction according to the demand signal. The results reveal that information sharing always benefits the manufacturer. Information-sharing arrangements are more likely to occur when the manufacturer's carbon emissions reduction efficiency or the customer's low-carbon product preference is relatively high. Moreover, under Cournot competition, the retailer's incentive to share information increases when information is less accurate or the competition is less intense. By sharing demand information, manufacturers will invest more in reducing the carbon emissions of their products. Therefore, there are two effects of information sharing: the "economic effect" on the benefits of all parties and the "environmental effect" on reducing carbon emissions. Our findings highlight the economic and environmental incentives of information sharing in the supply chain and the synthesis impacts of low-carbon preferences, efficiency of carbon emissions reduction, and the competition intensity on the retailer's incentives to share information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) represents a top therapeutic target in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. EGFR expression is intricately modulated by receptor endocytosis, during which EGFR ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation play fundamental roles to govern receptor fate. This study aims to uncover novel aspects of the endocytic regulation of EGFR trafficking by deubiquitylases. Methods: The expression and ubiquitylation of EGFR in non-small cell lung cancer cells treated with deubiquitylase inhibitors were assessed by immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses. The intracellular EGFR distribution was investigated using immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy assays, and colocalizations with endocytic compartments were examined using GFP-tagged Rab proteins as markers. The influence of the proteasomal deubiquitylase inhibitor b-AP15 on EGF- and HSP90 inhibitor-induced EGFR downregulation was evaluated by immunoblotting. The anticancer effects of b-AP15 were assessed by cell proliferation, colony formation and flow cytometry assays, as well as xenograft animal models. Results: We found that b-AP15 caused a dramatically enhanced ubiquitylation of EGFR in lung cancer cells. Treatment with b-AP15 decreased cell surface EGFR levels and accumulated EGFR on recycling endosomes marked with Rab4A and Rab11A. b-AP15 effectively repressed EGF- and HSP90 inhibitor-induced EGFR degradation. Lung cancer cells exposed to b-AP15 showed markedly reduced cell propagation and significantly increased cell apoptosis. Furthermore, b-AP15 effectively inhibited tumor xenograft growth in nude mice. Conclusion: Proteasomal USP14 and UCHL5 act collectively to promote cell surface recovery of EGFR. Inhibition of proteasomal deubiquitylase activity induces increased EGFR ubiquitylation and retention on recycling endosomes. The USP14 and UCHL5 dual inhibitor b-AP15 elicits potent tumor-suppressive effects to deter cell proliferation and induce apoptotic cell death in lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rare ectopic mediastinal parathyroid adenoma can result in persistent or recurrent hyperparathyroidism. In this article, we summarized the perioperative outcomes of six patients with mediastinal parathyroid adenoma. All patients underwent minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Abnormal accumulation of sestamibi was observed in four of five patients for preoperative localization of adenoma. Postoperatively, the blood calcium dropped quickly. In addition, we found adenoma function was negatively related to adenoma volume in these patients. In conclusion, although MIS is feasible for parathyroid adenoma, blood calcium should be monitored in a timely manner to avoid hypocalcemia postoperatively. In addition, sestamibi might be a potential pitfall when locating parathyroid adenoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

They further analyzed the meaning of happy rivers from five levels, including water security, water resources, water environment, water ecology, and water culture. Affected by global climate change and rapid socio-economic development, China faces serious water security issues, especially in terms of water shortages, flood disasters, and water-related ecological and environmental problems. Zhang et al. [[10]] analyzed the water-saving level in 31 provinces in China using support vector machine model and found that the water-saving level is high in Beijing City, Henan Province and Zhejiang Province. [Extracted from the article]

A metal‐free, economical and effective method for intramolecular haloamination/cyclization of non‐functionalized olefins was developed. In the presence of K2S2O8 and sodium halide, 2‐allyl aniline can be converted into corresponding 2‐iodo, bromo and chloromethyl indolines skeleton compounds in good to excellent yields. Mechanism research suggested that the reaction didn't involve radical addition pathway. Introduction [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional project management in the construction industry has the uniqueness of exclusive customization, the irreversibility of the project, the immobility of the project address, the long-term nature of the project, and the dynamic nature of the project. Based on these characteristics, the complexity and difficulty of project management in the construction industry are determined. Modern engineering is no longer satisfied with the traditional basic needs, but develops in a green, environmental friendly and efficient way. On the one hand, the project is required to meet good use requirements and meet the most basic functional requirements. On the other hand, the project construction process is required to meet the requirements of green environmental protection and ecological harmony. Therefore, the maintenance cost and operation cost corresponding to modern projects have become the key to the sustainable and healthy development of the engineering construction industry. Based on this, this paper will take the construction industry as an example to fully analyze the current situation and existing problems faced by the current project cost management. Through the research on the full life-cycle project cost management mode of the construction industry, the random matrix weight algorithm is creatively introduced, and the adaptive full life-cycle project cost management extended target tracking algorithm is proposed, which cuts the corresponding full life-cycle project cost management model into multiple submodels, and the corresponding management subobjectives are constructed from the submodel, and the expansion status of the corresponding subobjectives is described and analyzed in detail using the inverse distribution description, so as to accurately estimate the effect and target weight coefficient required by the management subobjectives, and finally realize the efficient, reasonable and scientific operation of the construction industry's whole life-cycle project cost management, so as to maximize economic benefits. An experimental verification is carried out for a specific construction company. The verification results show that the full life-cycle project cost management scheme based on random matrix weight algorithm proposed in this paper has obvious advantages in management efficiency, cost control, process control, and other aspects compared with the traditional management scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Monochasma savatieri Franch. ex Maxim is a medicinally valuable herb. However, the collection and protection of the wild germplasm resources of M. savatieri are still insufficient, and their genetic diversity and population structure have been poorly studied. Results: We collected and examined 46 M. savatieri individuals from Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces for genetic diversity and population structure, using 33 newly developed expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers. Applying these markers, we detected a total of 208 alleles, with an average of 6.303 alleles per locus. The polymorphic information content varied from 0.138 to 0.884 (average: 0.668), indicating a high level of polymorphism. At the population level, there was a low degree of genetic diversity among populations (I = 0.535, He = 0.342), with Zhejiang individuals showing the highest genetic diversity among the four populations (Fst = 0.497), which indicated little gene flow within the M. savatieri populations (Nm = 0.253). Mantel test analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between geographical and genetic distance among populations (R2 = 0.3304, p < 0.05), and structure and principal coordinate analyses supported classification of populations into three clusters, which was consistent with the findings of cluster analysis. Conclusions: As a rare medicinal plants, the protection of M. savatieri does not look optimistic, and accordingly, protective efforts should be beefed up on the natural wild populations. This study provided novel tools and insights for designing effective collection and conservation strategies for M. savatieri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a navigation situation assessment method for autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in a cooperative hunting environment. By virtue of the repulsion function expressed in the artificial potential field, the navigation situation of hunting ASVs and target ASVs is firstly described. And the hunting situation is also constructed to describe the cooperative hunting. Based on the navigation situation and the hunting situation, a navigation situation assessment method for cooperative hunting of multiple ASVs is designed, where the number of hunting vehicles and the hunting radius can be successfully computed. Simulation results show that this proposed situation assessment method can give an optimised formation pattern and provide an effective reference for cooperative hunting of ASVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which assessed the seismic performance of plate-shell integrated concrete liquid-storage structures (PSICLSS) using a scale test model for shaking table testing. The dynamic responses of the PSICLSS under unidirectional and bidirectional earthquakes were tested. Among the data collected are the hydrodynamic pressure, liquid sloshing height, and residual displacement of the PSICLSS.

A feasibility study was performed to determine if CT-based radiomics could play an augmentative role in predicting neoadjuvant rectal score (NAR), locoregional failure free survival (LRFFS), distant metastasis free survival (DMFS), disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). The NAR score, which takes into account the pathological tumour and nodal stage as well as clinical tumour stage, is a validated surrogate endpoint used for early determination of treatment response whereby a low NAR score (< 8) has been correlated with better outcomes and high NAR score (> 16) has been correlated with poorer outcomes. CT images of 191 patients with LARC were used in this study. Primary tumour (GTV) and mesorectum (CTV) were contoured separately and radiomics features were extracted from both segments. Two NAR models (NAR > 16 and NAR < 8) models were constructed using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and the survival models were constructed using regularized Cox regressions. Area under curve (AUC) and time-dependent AUC were used to quantify the performance of the LASSO and Cox regression respectively, using ten folds cross validations. The NAR > 16 and NAR < 8 models have an average AUCs of 0.68 ± 0.13 and 0.59 ± 0.14 respectively. There are statistically significant differences between the clinical and combined model for LRFFS (from 0.68 ± 0.04 to 0.72 ± 0.04), DMFS (from 0.68 ± 0.05 to 0.70 ± 0.05) and OS (from 0.64 ± 0.06 to 0.66 ± 0.06). CTV radiomics features were also found to be more important than GTV features in the NAR prediction model. The most important clinical features are age and CEA for NAR > 16 and NAR < 8 models respectively, while the most significant clinical features are age, surgical margin and NAR score across all the four survival models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vein hierarchical structure has high efficiency of component transportation capacity, it has been widely used in energy storage, solar thermochemical reactions, and photocatalysis. In this paper, the idea of packed-bed latent heat thermal heat storage system (LHTESS) with biomimetic vein hierarchical structure is proposed to improve the heat transfer rate and heat storage efficiency of the packed-bed LHTESS. The size of heat storage unit changes along the axial and radial direction under the same porosity as the conventional uniform structure. The effects of inlet velocity on the completion rate, temperature distribution, pressure drop, and liquid fraction of the conventional structure and biomimetic structure are analyzed. The numerical results indicate that the biomimetic vein hierarchical structure can ameliorate the temperature inhomogeneity, increase the heat transfer area, and improve the thermal response of the packed-bed compared with the conventional uniform structure. The maximum increase of liquid fraction is 25% under different inlet velocities, and the average completion rate of phase change material and system in charge process is increased by 12% and 6%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease that mainly affects neuromuscular junctions and is usually associated with immune disorders in the thymoma. The competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis has been demonstrated to be an intrinsic mechanism regulating the development of several autoimmune diseases; however, the mechanism where the ceRNA network regulates immune cells in patients with thymoma-associated MG (TAMG) has rarely been explored. Methods: RNA-seq data and clinical information of 124 patients with thymoma were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether they were diagnosed with MG. We applied the propensity score matching method to reduce the incidence of baseline confounders. We then constructed a ceRNA network with differentially expressed RNAs between the groups based on four public databases. The expression of genes of interest was validated by qPCR. Moreover, we predicted the immune cells that infiltrated the thymoma and then analyzed the association between immune cells and RNA in the ceRNA network. To further determine the function of the mRNAs associated with immune cells in patients with TAMG, we performed gene set enrichment analysis in thymoma patients with MG. Results: After matching, 94 patients were included in the following analysis. A total of 847 mRNAs, 409 lncRNAs, and 45 miRNAs were differentially expressed between the groups. The ceRNA network, including 18 lncRNAs, four miRNAs, and 13 mRNAs, was then constructed. We then confirmed that CHST4 and LINC00452, miR-204-3p and miR-204-5p were differentially expressed between patients with TAMG and thymoma patients without MG (NMG) by qPCR. Moreover, we found that the percentage of predicted regulatory T (Treg) cells was significantly decreased in patients with TAMG. Further analysis indicated that the LINC00452/miR-204/CHST4 axis might regulate thymic regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the progression of MG. Conclusions: In this research, we constructed a ceRNA network involved in the progression of TAMG, discovered that thymic Tregs were significantly decreased in patients with TAMG, and assumed that the LINC00452/miR-204/CHST4 axis may regulate thymic Tregs in the development of TAMG. These findings may deepen our understanding of the roles of the ceRNA network in regulating TAMG and highlight the function of CHST4 in recruiting peripheral T cells in the progression of TAMG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrathin, transparent, and free‐standing films assembled from low‐dimensional nanomaterials (LDMs) are promising for various applications, including transparent heaters and membranes. However, the intact separation of the assembled films, especially those with controlled ultrathin thickness from deposited substrates, is a tremendous challenge, particularly for fast peeling off via self‐detaching. Herein, we propose a versatile method to rapidly peel off ultrathin assembled LDM films, including three types of carbon nanotubes, vermiculite, Ag nanowires, and carbon nanotube@graphene, by dissolving the MXene interlayer from the layer‐by‐layer filtered MXene/LDM Janus films using diluted H2O2. The MXene sacrificial interlayers play dual roles, including physical isolation of LDM films from filter membranes and the production of bubbles that buoy ultrathin LDM films, making them free‐standing. The integrality and self‐detaching rate of the LDM films are determined by the loading and reactivity of the MXene interlayers. The intact LDM films can self‐detach in 80 s by dissolving the optimized MXene interlayer and producing bubbles. The as‐made free‐standing ultrathin LDM films can be transferred to arbitrary substrates and exhibit outstanding performance as transparent heaters. This scalable method provides an efficient and versatile method to produce ultrathin, transparent, and free‐standing LDM films and finds new applications for the growing MXene family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopts a gravitational centre model in examining the relationships between China's outbound tourism flows to the ASEAN and the ASEAN inbound tourism flows/international tourism receipts from 2002 to 2016. The results reveal there are spatiotemporal differences between the gravitational centres of China's outbound tourism flows to the ASEAN and the ASEAN inbound tourism flows; the results suggest that Chinese tourists to the ASEAN prefer different destinations from other international visitors. Spatiotemporal differences also exist between the gravitational centres of China's outbound tourism flows and international tourism receipts in the ASEAN, which indirectly indicates that China's outbound tourism flows have no obvious effect on total international tourism receipts in the ASEAN. Additionally, the effects are not the same across countries in the ASEAN. The results will have important practical significance for tourism economic development in the ASEAN and strengthening China-ASEAN tourism friendly cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]