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Reward processing dysfunction and inhibition control deficiency have been observed in Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, it is still unclear whether the previous reinforcement learning depends on reward/punishment feedback influences on the cognitive inhibitory control of IGD. This study compared the differences between an IGD group and healthy people without game experiences in the probability selection task and the subsequent stop signal task by the method of behavioral experiments, in order to explore whether the reward learning ability is impaired in the IGD group. We also discuss the influence of previous reward learning on subsequent inhibition control. The results showed that (1) during the reward learning phase, the IGD group's accuracy was significantly lower than that of the control group; (2) compared with the control group, the IGD group's reaction times were longer in the transfer phase; (3) for no‐go trials of the inhibitory control phase after reward learning, the accuracy of the reward‐related stimulation in the IGD group was lower than that of punishment‐related or neutral stimulation, but there was no significant difference among the three conditions in the control group. These findings indicated that the reinforcement learning ability of the IGD group was impaired, which further caused the abnormal response to reinforcement stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the severe erosion of kiln refractories for the high‐temperature treatment used during the process of recovering valuable metal elements from waste lithium batteries, this study investigates the low‐cost, no‐firing preparation technology of erosion‐resistant SiC–C–t‐ZrO2 composites with self‐prepared t‐ZrO2–SiC–C powder, as well as silicon carbide and flake graphite as the main raw materials, and phenolic resin as the binding agent. (1) The effects of different t‐ZrO2–SiC–C powder additions and heat treatment temperatures on the properties of SiC–C–t‐ZrO2 composites were studied in details. (2) The erosion resistance of SiC–C–t‐ZrO2 composites to after‐use lithium battery waste was evaluated using the static crucible method. The mechanical properties of the t‐ZrO2–SiC–C composites was the best that its cold modulus of rupture (CMOR) was 11.37 MPa and cold crush strength (CCS) was 41.96 MPa when heat treatment temperature was 600°C and content of t‐ZrO2–SiC–C powder was 10 wt%. At that condition, the bulk density of samples reached to 3.15 g/cm3 and apparent porosity of it was only at 11.09% which means that the samples designed in this work are compacted enough. In the erosion test, the t‐ZrO2–SiC–C composites had an excellent resistance to erosion of lithium battery waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the thermal reflective properties of composite inorganic coatings applied to various wall types. It evaluated the influence of these coatings on the thermal insulation and reflectivity of the walls. The findings indicate that coating application markedly enhances a wall's thermal insulation capabilities and increases its heat flux reflection ratio. These results offer crucial theoretical backing and practical guidance for the future use of coating technologies in construction. By refining the coating formulations and application processes, the thermal insulation properties of walls can be further enhanced, thus making a significant contribution to building energy efficiency and environmental protection. Consequently, this research provides essential references and insights for advancing coating technology in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTA) were prepared by anodization, and then bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) was deposited on TNTA by vacuum impregnation‐chemical precipitation method to prepare Bi2O3@TNTA composite electrodes, which were used to detect 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) as an electrochemical (EC) sensor. The effects of the Bi2O3 loading amount and the pH value of the detection solution on the detection performance were exhaustively studied. Under best conditions, the linear range is 5 μΜ–30 mM, the sensitivity is 0.6696 μA ⋅ μM−1 ⋅ cm−2, and the limit of detection is 0.64 μΜ. The composite electrodes are characterized by outstanding reproducibility, superior stability and strong selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avermectins (AVEs), a family of macrocyclic polyketides produced by Streptomyces avermitilis, have eight components, among which B1a is noted for its strong insecticidal activity. Biosynthesis of AVE "a" components requires 2‐methylbutyryl‐CoA (MBCoA) as starter unit, and malonyl‐CoA (MalCoA) and methylmalonyl‐CoA (MMCoA) as extender units. We describe here a novel strategy for increasing B1a production by enhancing acyl‐CoA precursor supply. First, we engineered meilingmycin (MEI) polyketide synthase (PKS) for increasing MBCoA precursor supply. The loading module (using acetyl‐CoA as substrate), extension module 7 (using MMCoA as substrate) and TE domain of MEI PKS were assembled to produce 2‐methylbutyrate, providing the starter unit for B1a production. Heterologous expression of the newly designed PKS (termed Mei‐PKS) in S. avermitilis wild‐type (WT) strain increased MBCoA level, leading to B1a titer 262.2 μg/mL – 4.36‐fold higher than WT value (48.9 μg/mL). Next, we separately inhibited three key nodes in essential pathways using CRISPRi to increase MalCoA and MMCoA levels in WT. The resulting strains all showed increased B1a titer. Combined inhibition of these key nodes in Mei‐PKS expression strain increased B1a titer to 341.9 μg/mL. Overexpression of fatty acid β‐oxidation pathway genes in the strain further increased B1a titer to 452.8 μg/mL – 8.25‐fold higher than WT value. Finally, we applied our precursor supply strategies to high‐yield industrial strain A229. The strategies, in combination, led to B1a titer 8836.4 μg/mL – 37.8% higher than parental A229 value. These findings provide an effective combination strategy for increasing AVE B1a production in WT and industrial S. avermitilis strains, and our precursor supply strategies can be readily adapted for overproduction of other polyketides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On an annual basis, China's "Two Sessions" draw researchers' attention to the study of interpreting that comes along. However, the related research mostly focuses on interpreting strategies and skills, and rarely involves the interpreter who produces the interpreting. This paper collects both of two interpreters' texts at the press conferences of the "Two Sessions" from 2010 to 2020 to build a parallel corpus. By comparing their interpreting, with the speeches of the leaders of the White House as a comparable corpus, the study seeks to probe into the similarities and differences between the interpreting styles of two interpreters from the linguistic perspective. It is found that when interpreting, the interpreter Sun has richer vocabulary and a higher lexical density than the interpreter Zhang. The interpreting style of Sun is closer to the written style, while Zhang's style is more colloquial. Compared with the transcripts of the U.S. press conference, the linguistic features of Zhang's interpreting is more similar to those in the comparable corpus in vocabulary richness, word length and readability. Therefore, Zhang's interpreting might be more likely to be intelligible and acceptable to English speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To establish accurate and objective dermoscopic diagnostic criteria and grading standards for males and females with androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Methods: Twenty patients each with AGA, diffuse alopecia areata, telogen effluvium, and healthy controls were enrolled in the current study. In addition, 60 patients with grades F1/V1, F2/V2, and F3/V3 AGA (20 cases each) were enrolled. The patients underwent dermoscopic examinations. The sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic criteria were based on the 60 AGA and 60 non‐AGA. In addition, 150 patients diagnosed with AGA clinically and by dermoscopy were enrolled to calculate the accuracy of the grading criteria. Results: The diagnostic criteria included primary, secondary, and exclusion criteria. The grading criteria included three indices, which divided the severity of AGA into grades 1, 2, and 3. The sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic criteria were 98.3% and 96.7% respectively. The accuracy of grade 1, 2, and 3 dermoscopic grading criteria were 96%, 92%, and 100% respectively, with a total accuracy of 96%. Limitations: To test the diagnostic and grading criteria, more patients need to be collected. Conclusions: The dermoscopic diagnostic and grading criteria are objective with good accuracy, which could provide a reasonable basis for the early diagnosis, grading treatment, and improved prognosis for AGA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional neural networks have become a powerful tool for partial 3D object detection. However, their power has not been fully realized for focusing on global information, which is crucial for object detection. In this paper, we resolve the problem with a multi-feature voxel transformer (MVTr), an architecture that extracts long-range relationship features through self-attention between multi-feature voxels. In general, converting a point cloud to a voxel representation can reduce a lot of computation, but it would take a long process for the attention network to pay attention to the car voxels in a huge 3D real scene. To this end, we propose a semantic voxel module which takes semantic voxels as input and cooperates with a sparse and a non-empty voxel module to extract features. And the semantic voxels are generated from image segmentation and point cloud projection, which only retains a large number of car voxels. To further enlarge the attention range while maintaining a favorable computational, we propose two attention mechanisms for multi-head attention: local attention and stumpy attention. Finally, we propose the fusion attention module, which can add channel attention and spatial attention to the 2D backbone network. MVTr combines the semantic information of the image and the 3D information of the point cloud and can be applied to most 3D object detection tasks. Experimental results on KITTI dataset show that our method is effective, and the precision has significant advantages compared to other similar feature fusion-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulation studies have found that adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC) exosomes have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory characteristics. The current study verified their therapeutic potential to elucidate mechanisms of ADSC exosome actions in ultraviolet B (UVB) light-induced skin injury. Exosomes were isolated from ADSCs and hypoxic pretreated ADSCs. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was applied to characterize differential mRNA expression. A UV-induced mice skin injury model was generated to investigate therapeutic effects regarding the exosomes via immunofluorescence and ELISA analysis. Regulatory mechanisms were illustrated using luciferase report analysis and in vitro experiments. The results demonstrated that exosomes from hypoxic pretreated ADSCs (HExos) inhibited UVB light-induced vascular injury by reversing reactive oxygen species, inflammatory factor expression and excessive collagen degradation. NGS showed that HExos inhibits UV-induced skin damage via GLRX5 delivery, while GLRX5 downregulation inhibited the therapeutic effect of HExos on UV-induced skin damage. GLRX5 upregulation increased the protective Exo effect on UV-induced skin and EPC damage by inhibiting ferroptosis, inflammatory cytokine expression and excessive collagen degradation. Therefore, the data indicate that HExos attenuate UV light-induced skin injury via GLRX5 delivery and ferroptosis inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of binder‐free mordenite (MOR) zeolites were successfully prepared by hydrothermal conversion of shaped precursors containing aluminosilicate and MOR seeds. In the synthesis of seed crystals, hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was used as a crystal growth inhibitor as well as a pore filler to adjust the morphology and introduce mesoporous pores. As a result, large aggregates, assembled nanosheets, and flowers‐like MOR were successfully synthesized with these MOR seeds. The effect of seed morphology on the performance of the binder‐free MOR was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, and NH3‐TPD characterization techniques. It was found that the mesopore volume of formed MOR was positively correlated with those of the seeds. The synthesized binder‐free MOR showed high activity (0.28 g methyl acetate gcat−1 h−1), 100% selectivity, and high stability in dimethyl ether (DME) carbonylation to methyl acetate, which can be attributed to the larger surface area and more mesopores. The synthesis of MOR nano‐assemblies via this cost‐effective strategy has a wide range of potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This retrospective study aimed to determine the prevalence and morphological characteristics of accessory mandibular canals (AMCs) in an eastern Chinese population to provide clinical guidance for reducing intraoperative and postoperative complications. Methods: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of 300 Chinese patients were used to identify AMCs according to a modification of Naitoh's classification. The length of the branch (L0) and the upper and lower angles between the branch and mandibular canal were measured on sagittal images. Additionally, the branches were divided into narrow or wide types by calculating the ratio of the branch diameter to the main canal diameter. The location of the bifurcation point was characterized by measuring its distance to the buccal wall of the mandible (L1), lingual wall of the mandible (L2) and alveolar ridge (L3). Results: The prevalence rate of AMCs was 40.7% (95% CI: 35.1–46.3), and the most common type was the retromolar canal, followed by the forward canal, dental canal, trifid mandibular canals (TMCs) or others, inferior canal and buccolingual canal. Twenty-one cases of multiple branches with unusual patterns were observed in the study. The average values of L0, L1, L2 and L3 were 15.05 ± 0.63 mm, 5.79 ± 0.14 mm, 4.40 ± 0.18 mm and 14.61 ± 0.31 mm, respectively. The mean upper angle and lower angle were 141.59° ± 2.44° and 50.64° ± 2.57°, respectively. Approximately 20.8% of the branches were defined as wide type, and no statistical significance was found between different types. Conclusion: AMCs are not rare anatomic variations of the mandibular canal in the eastern Chinese population; thus, CBCT examination is highly recommended for precise evaluation before surgeries involving the mandibles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional e-commerce business chain is being reconstructed around the content of short videos and live streams, and the interest e-commerce is thriving as a new trend in the e-commerce industry. Diversified content promotes the rapid development of interest e-commerce. For consumers, their preferences for different content reflect their consumption level to a certain extent. The purpose of this study is to accurately predict the purchasing power level with the consumer content preference, and provide new ideas for interest e-commerce business. In this paper, the new swarm intelligence algorithm is used to find the optimal misclassification cost, and three cost-sensitive models are established. On this basis, the content preference of interest e-commerce consumers is used to predict the level of purchasing power. The results show that the content preference of interest e-commerce consumers, such as "fashion", "photography" and "interpretation", have a significant effect on the prediction of purchasing power at the 95% confidence level. The accuracies of the optimized cost-sensitive support vector machine in predicting consumer purchasing power are all above 0.9, and the highest is 0.9792. This study effectively alleviates the problem that the classification results tend to be biased towards negative samples, especially when the imbalanced rate of the sample is high. It not only provides researchers with an efficient parameter optimization method, but also reflects the relationship between consumer content preference and purchasing power, providing data support for interest e-commerce operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: DNA‐based nanostructure allows the construction of molecular devices useful in biological computing and information processing. Herein, an addressable and editable DNA information processing system established on a fluorescence intensity signal detection platform to save and encrypt information is proposed. The system operates by encoding information into distinct and changeable units of the trigger strands decoding by fluorescence intensity signal detection. Through toehold‐mediated strand displacement reactions, the trigger strand can be precisely added to and removed from the memorizer and reporter to implement the function of editing, encrypting, and decrypting. Our strategy is simple to implement, requiring only two mixing steps at room temperature for each operation and fluorescence intensity signal detection to read the data. And the system can realize accurate retrieval of specific individual information, eliminating all unnecessary redundant readouts. Because of its point‐to‐point accurate readout and programmability, the system is expected to become a powerful tool for the future development of information storage and sensing of biological molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve a better catalytic performance, it is of great interest to synthesize nanosized zeolites with reduced internal diffusion limitations. Herein, c-axis shortened wheel-like mordenite nanoassemblies were synthesized. The crystal growth along the [001] direction was successfully inhibited with K+ cations as structure breaking agents. The wheel-like crystal is 1.5–2 μm in diameter and 200–300 nm in thickness. The growth of such a unique structure underwent a nonclassical crystallization process including the generation of amorphous worm-like particles and formation of wheel-like crystallites followed by a–b plane oriented growth of the crystals. The obtained MOR wheel-like assemblies possessed larger surface area and external surface area, displayed better mass transfer properties, and exhibited much better catalytic performance than MOR spheroid-like assemblies and conventional bulk MOR zeolite in dimethyl ether (DME) carbonylation reaction, with two and a half times higher the conversion of DME than the bulk MOR, although these samples had identical Si/Al ratios and acid properties. This work provides a simple route to control the zeolite morphology by alkali metal cations and brings forward an effective strategy to prepare zeolite materials with improved catalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a network optimization model for smart energy market management in the context of an uncertain environment. The network optimization considers the stochastic programming approach to capture the randomness of the unknown demands. We utilize the particle swarm optimization technique in the proposed model to solve the proposed optimization problem. The present research is based on the inclusion of stochastic demands and uncertain energy prices. Optimizing produced energy is crucial for efficient usage and meeting the targets. The proposed model also focuses on addressing sustainability concerns by minimizing energy consumption in the scheduling process. An improved particle swarm optimization technique is implemented for energy-efficient production. Parameters such as number of particles, iterations, and energy usage specification are customized. A fitness function is taken that considers both completion time and energy consumption. The optimal of energy consumption is also visualized. The decision makers employ risk aversion in the objective function of the optimization problem to measure the risk deviation of the expected energy management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A close connection between a protozoan parasite and the balance of the other gut microbes of the host has been demonstrated. The calves may be naturally co-infected with many parasites, and the co-effects of parasites on other intestinal microbes of calves remain unclear. This study aims to preliminarily reveal the relationship between intestinal parasites and other intestinal microbes in calves. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from four calves with bloody diarrhea, four calves with watery diarrhea, and seven normal calves, and the microbial flora of the samples were analyzed by whole-genome sequencing. Protozoal parasites were detected in the metagenome sequences and identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, Giardia, Blastocystis, and Entamoeba were detected by metagenomic analysis, and the identified species were Giardia duodenalis assemblage E, Cryptosporidium bovis, Cryptosporidium ryanae, Eimeria bovis, Eimeria subspherica, Entamoeba bovis, and Blastocystis ST2 and ST10. Metagenomic analysis showed that the intestinal microbes of calves with diarrhea were disordered, especially in calves with bloody diarrhea. Furthermore, different parasites show distinct relationships with the intestinal microecology. Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, and Giardia were negatively correlated with various intestinal bacteria but positively correlated with some fungi. However, Blastocystis and Entamoeba were positively associated with other gut microbes. Twenty-seven biomarkers not only were significantly enriched in bloody diarrhea, watery diarrhea, and normal calves but were also associated with Eimeria, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia. Only Eimeria showed a distinct relationship with seven genera of bacteria, which were significantly enriched in the healthy calves. All 18 genera of fungi were positively correlated with Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, and Giardia, which were also significantly enriched in calves with bloody diarrhea. Functional genes related to parasites and diseases were found mainly in fungi. Conclusions: This study revealed the relationship between intestinal protozoan parasites and the other calf gut microbiome. Different intestinal protozoan parasites have diametrically opposite effects on other gut microecology, which not only affects bacteria in the gut, but also is significantly related to fungi and archaea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory (DFT) is employed to investigate the promotion of B(C6F5)3 as a ligand for titanium (or vanadium) catalysts in ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization reactions. The results reveal that (I) Ethylene insertion into TiB (with B(C6F5)3 as a ligand) is preferred over TiH, both thermodynamically and kinetically. (II) In TiH and TiB catalysts, the 2,1 insertion reaction (TiH21 and TiB21) is the primary pathway for 1-hexene insertion. Furthermore, the 1-hexene insertion reaction for TiB21 is favored over TiH21 and is easier to perform. Consequently, the entire ethylene and 1-hexene insertion reaction proceeds smoothly using the TiB catalyst to yield the final product. (III) Analogous to the Ti catalyst case, VB (with B(C6F5)3 as a ligand) is preferred over VH for the entire ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization reaction. Moreover, VB exhibits higher reaction activity than TiB, thus agreeing with experimental results. Additionally, the electron localization function and global reactivity index analysis indicate that titanium (or vanadium) catalysts with B(C6F5)3 as a ligand exhibit higher reactivity. Investigating the promotion of B(C6F5)3 as a ligand for titanium (or vanadium) catalysts in ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization reactions will aid in designing novel catalysts and lead to more cost-effective polymerization production methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-sized ZSM-5 zeolite was prepared via a vapor-phase transport method and then loaded with similar phosphorus content through different ways of phosphorus modification. These zeolites were characterized by XRD, SEM, N2 adsorption–desorption, NH3-TPD, FT-IR, etc., and the catalytic property of the zeolites in toluene alkylation with methanol was studied. The results showed that after phosphorus modification, the ratios of Brønsted to Lewis acid sites (B/L) and weak to strong acid sites (W/S) increased. It was found that higher B/L and W/S ratios of the catalysts were beneficial to improve the catalytic stability in toluene alkylation with methanol. The coke deposition rate of the phosphorus-modified ZSM-5 samples was lower than that of parent ZSM-5. There were great differences in the ratios of B/L and W/S of samples through different ways of phosphorus modification. The phosphorus-modified ZSM-5 using the incipient wetness impregnation method, having the highest ratios of B/L and W/S, exhibited the best catalytic stability and the highest toluene conversion in toluene alkylation with methanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer immunotherapy has been a revolutionary cancer treatment modality because it can not only eliminate primary tumors but also prevent metastases and recurrent tumors. Immunogenic cell death (ICD) induced by various treatment modalities, including chemotherapy, phototherapy, and radiotherapy, converts dead cancer cells into therapeutic vaccines, eliciting a systemic antigen‐specific antitumor. However, the outcome effect of cancer immunotherapy induced by ICD has been limited due to the low accumulation efficiency of ICD inducers in the tumor site and concomitant damage to normal tissues. The boom in smart nanomaterials is conducive to overcoming these hurdles owing to their virtues of good stability, targeted lesion site, high bioavailability, on‐demand release, and good biocompatibility. Herein, the design of targeted nanomaterials, various ICD inducers, and the applications of nanomaterials responsive to different stimuli, including pH, enzymes, reactive oxygen species, or dual responses are summarized. Furthermore, the prospect and challenges are briefly outlined to provide reference and inspiration for designing novel smart nanomaterials for immunotherapy induced by ICD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory (DFT) was used to investigate the three-component coupling reactions of aldehydes, alkynes, and amines (A3 coupling) using N-heterocyclic carbene silver as the catalyst. This study reveals that the addition reaction between the catalyst N-heterocyclic carbene silver and phenylacetylene (PAE) forms Ag_PAE. Subsequently, one hydrogen atom of the Ag_PAE migrates to the nitrogen atom of the Amine. Thereafter, the amine aldehyde condensation reaction generates a molecule of water and an imine ion with (Path one) or without (Path two) another amine catalyst. Path one has a lower reaction barrier than Path two. Subsequently, the imine ion reacts with silver phenylacetylide to generate the A3 coupling reaction product propargylamine (PPA). Furthermore, the triple bond and −N3 group in PPA undergo a cycloaddition reaction and generate the final product (PR). The entire reaction is strongly exothermic, and, therefore, the reaction is easy to conduct. Moreover, conceptual density functional theory calculations confirm the reaction mechanism. Investigating the mechanism of these reactions will be helpful for understanding and developing new synthesis strategies for similar functional compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noninvasive treatments for terminal cancer patients constitute a new trend in tumor treatment. Therefore, phototherapy, including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), has attracted considerable interest. Light and a photosensitizer (PS) are employed in both treatment methods. For PDT, the PS generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) when exposed to light, whereas for PTT, the PS generates heat. In this regard, the systematic design of new PSs has become an active area of phototherapy research in an effort to solve the problems associated with conventional PSs. In the past decade, activatable and heavy‐atom‐free PSs have become significant research areas. Therefore, we discuss our recent contributions to the PDT and PTT in this account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of hierarchical ZSM‐11 nanorods aggregates were prepared by a hydrothermal crystallization method with the addition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The physical and chemical properties of the samples were characterized and the catalytic properties in the direct hydration of cyclohexene to cyclohexanol were also investigated. The characterization results showed that adding CTAB effectively increased the crystallinity of the zeolite, and the external specific surface areas and pore volume of the zeolite increased dramatically. With the increase of CTAB addition, more and more mesopores were formed which could be clearly seen from TEM micrograph. The ratio of Brønsted/Lewis acid decreased first and then increased with the increase of CTAB addition, with the lowest point appeared at the ratio of CTAB/SiO2 of 0.015. The zeolite synthesized at the CTAB/SiO2 ratio of 0.015 exhibited the highest reaction rate with the cyclohexene conversion as high as 14.23 %. The excellent performance of the hierarchical ZSM‐11 nanorods aggregates can be attributed to the lowest Brønsted/Lewis acid ratio and large mesoporous volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. With the decreasing age of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) onset, the incidence of diabetic complications is gradually increasing. We evaluated the independent effect of age at diabetes onset on diabetic retinopathy (DR) development. Methods. A total of 7472 patients with T2DM were enrolled in the National Metabolic Management Center from September 2017 to May 2022. Anthropometry data, laboratory reports, and medical history were collected. The independent association of DR with age at diabetes onset was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression models. In addition, a stratified analysis was performed to determine the effect of confounding variables. Results. Of the 7472 patients recruited, 1642 (21.98%) had DR. Patients with DR had considerably younger ages of diabetes onset than those without DR (45 (38–53) years vs. 50 (43–57) years, P < 0.001). The proportion of patients with T2DM onset at a younger age was higher in the DR group than that in the non-DR group. Participants were divided into four groups according to their age at diabetes onset, namely, ≥60, <40, 40–49, and 50–59 years. Compared with patients with diabetes onset at age ≥ 60 years, those with diabetes onset at <40 years (odds ratio (OR): 5.56, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.731–8.285, P < 0.001), 40–49 years (OR: 2.751, 95% CI: 2.047–3.695, P < 0.001), and 50–59 years (OR: 1.606, 95% CI: 1.263–2.042, P < 0.001) were at an increased risk of DR after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Furthermore, stratification analyses demonstrated that young age at diabetes onset is an independent risk factor for DR. Conclusions. Compared with diabetes onset at an older age, diabetes onset at a younger age is associated with a significantly increased DR risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/Introduction: To investigate the impact of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) on atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes patients with normal bodyweight (OB[−]) in the Chinese population, and to further assess the sex–age differences between them. Materials and Methods: A total of 8,839 type 2 diabetes patients from two of the National Metabolic Management Centers in China were included in this study. Participants were classified into four groups by visceral fat area (VFA; cm2) and body mass index (BMI; kg/m2): VFA < 100 and BMI < 23.9 (VA[−]OB[−]), VFA < 100 and BMI ≥ 23.9 (VA[−]OB[+]), VFA ≥ 100 and BMI < 23.9 (VA[+]OB[−]), VFA ≥ 100 and BMI ≥ 23.9 (VA[+]OB[+]). Atherosclerosis was defined by brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV; cm/s), and we analyzed the association between VFA, BMI and the tertiles of baPWV values. Results: The VA(+)OB(−) prevalence was 3.7% among these participants. Patients with VA(+)OB(−) had the highest baPWV value (P < 0.001) and the highest proportion of the tertile 3 of baPWV (P < 0.001) among four groups, and were significantly associated with baPWV (standardized β = 0.026, P = 0.008). VFA was significantly related to tertile 2 to tertile 3 of baPWV in (OB[−]) type 2 diabetes patients, when compared with tertile 1 of baPWV, respectively. In sex–age stratified analysis, the association of VFA and the tertiles of baPWV showed sex differences. For the 55 years age stratification analysis, there was no age difference in the relationship between VFA and baPWV in (OB[−]) patients. Conclusion: Increased VAT was an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis in female type 2 diabetes patients with normal weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most existing image classification methods have achieved significant progress in the field of natural images. However, in the field of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) where data is scarce and complex, the accurate classification of data is still a thorny problem. In this paper, we propose an Asymmetric Convolutional Transformer Network (ACTNet) for the multi-class (4-class) classification task of DFU. Specifically, in order to strengthen the expressive ability of the network, we design an asymmetric convolutional module in the front part of the network to model the relationship between local pixels, extract the underlying features of the image, and guide the network to focus on the central region in the image that contains more information. Furthermore, a novel pooling layer is added between the encoder and the classification head in the Transformer, which weights the data sequence generated by the encoder to better correlate the features between the input data. Finally, to fully exploit the performance of the model, we pretrained our model on ImageNet and fine-tune it on DFU images. The model is validated on the DFUC2021 test set, and the F1-score and AUC value are 0.593 and 0.824, respectively. The experiments show that our model has excellent performance even in the case of a small dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene (RGO), N-doped graphene (NRG) and N/S co-doped graphene (NSRG) were prepared using an improved Hummers' method and a hydrothermal method. Then, they were used to modify a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for simultaneous determination of Cd(II), Pb(II), Cu(II) and Hg(II) via the method of square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV). The comparative study indicates that NSRG/GCE shows the best electrochemical performance among the three graphene modified electrodes. The doping amounts of N and S, deposition potential, stripping frequency and deposition time have significant influence on the detection performance of NSRG/GCE. Under the optimal experimental conditions, NSRG/GCE exhibits good linearity over a wide concentration range from 0.005 to 2.5 μM for Cd(II) and Hg(II), and from 0.005 to 3.0 μM for Pb(II) and Cu(II). During simultaneous determination of Cd(II), Pb(II), Cu(II) and Hg(II), the limits of detection are 6.5 nM, 1.3 nM, 6.0 nM and 16.1 nM (S/N = 3), and the sensitivities are 25.0, 120.7, 102.4 and 36.0 μA μM−1, respectively. Meanwhile, NSRG/GCE has the advantages of high selectivity, great reproducibility and excellent stability. Moreover, successful detection of metal ions in actual seawater samples manifests that NSRG/GCE can be employed in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planktonic ciliates are an important component of microzooplankton, but there is limited understanding of their responses to changing environmental conditions in the Pacific Arctic Region. We investigated the variations of ciliate community structure and their relationships with environmental features in the Pacific Arctic Region in the summer of 2016 and 2019. The Pacific water was warmer and more saline in 2019 than in 2016. The abundance and biomass of total ciliate and aloricate ciliate were significantly higher in 2019 than those in 2016, while those of tintinnid were significantly lower. The dominant aloricate ciliate changed from large size-fraction (> 30 μm) in 2016 to small size-fraction (10–20 μm) in 2019. More tintinnid species belonging to cosmopolitan genera were found in 2019 than in 2016, and the distribution of tintinnid species (Codonellopsis frigida , Ptychocylis obtusa , and Salpingella sp.1) in 2019 expanded by 5.9, 5.2, and 8.8 degrees further north of where they occurred in 2016. The environmental variables that best-matched tintinnid distributions were temperature and salinity, while the best match for aloricate ciliate distributions was temperature. Therefore, the temperature might play a key role in ciliate distribution. These results provide basic data on the response of the planktonic ciliate community to hydrographic variations and implicate the potential response of microzooplankton to Pacification as rapid warming progresses in the Pacific Arctic Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective strategy to engineer selective photodynamic agents to surmount bacterial‐infected diseases, especially Gram‐positive bacteria remains a great challenge. Herein, we developed two examples of compounds for a proof‐of‐concept study where reactive differences in reactive oxygen species (ROS) can induce selective ablation of Gram‐positive bacteria. Sulfur‐replaced phenoxazinium (NBS‐N) mainly generates a superoxide anion radical capable of selectively killing Gram‐positive bacteria, while selenium‐substituted phenoxazinium (NBSe‐N) has a higher generation of singlet oxygen that can kill both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. This difference was further evidenced by bacterial fluorescence imaging and morphological changes. Moreover, NBS‐N can also successfully heal the Gram‐positive bacteria‐infected wounds in mice. We believe that such reactive differences may pave a general way to design selective photodynamic agents for ablating Gram‐positive bacteria‐infected diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective strategy to engineer selective photodynamic agents to surmount bacterial‐infected diseases, especially Gram‐positive bacteria remains a great challenge. Herein, we developed two examples of compounds for a proof‐of‐concept study where reactive differences in reactive oxygen species (ROS) can induce selective ablation of Gram‐positive bacteria. Sulfur‐replaced phenoxazinium (NBS‐N) mainly generates a superoxide anion radical capable of selectively killing Gram‐positive bacteria, while selenium‐substituted phenoxazinium (NBSe‐N) has a higher generation of singlet oxygen that can kill both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. This difference was further evidenced by bacterial fluorescence imaging and morphological changes. Moreover, NBS‐N can also successfully heal the Gram‐positive bacteria‐infected wounds in mice. We believe that such reactive differences may pave a general way to design selective photodynamic agents for ablating Gram‐positive bacteria‐infected diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the social factors of mental health among older adults has become a hot topic. This study aimed to examine the relationships between internet use, social capital and depressive symptoms in older adults. Our data were derived from a sample of 6,840 respondents aged 60 and over in the 2018 wave of the China Family Panel Studies. The ordinary least square (OLS) regression results showed that both Internet use characteristics (including access, emotional activities, and online time) and social capital components (including contact with adult children and trust) were protective factors for the prevention of depressive symptoms among older adults. The generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM) results displayed that Internet use not only had a negatively direct effect on depressive symptoms, but also generated a negatively indirect effect on depressive symptoms by structural social capital (i.e., contact with adult children), suggesting that structural social capital mediated the above link. Conversely, the indirect effects of internet use on depressive symptoms via cognitive social capital (i.e., interpersonal trust and institutional trust) were significantly positive, indicating that the relationship between Internet use and depressive symptoms was suppressed by cognitive social capital. These findings address the gaps in previous research on older adults' mental health and have practical implications for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are disputes on the legal acceptance of occupational claims and the risk of occupational claim spoiling business environment is skyrocketing. How to manage the risk of occupational claims in the business environment is the subject of urgent research, especially COVID-19 is ravaging the world and the risk of economic crisis is increasing dramatically. In this study, we collected 1784 cases of food occupational claims from the Chinese legal documents website. Using Excel, Review Manager 5.0 and SPSS 19.0, the number of cases prosecuted as "consumers" were obtained by means of textual analysis, and the development process was directly influenced by occupational claims, with 2017 as a great value point (watershed); the rate of losing occupational claim cases has been climbing since 2018; and the risk of losing occupational claims is higher than that of true meaningful consumer advocacy cases (Z = 6.99, p < 0.001), and in 2019, the risk of losing a case was 33.34 times higher than that of an ordinary consumer. The proportion of occupational claims in the total number of food safety disputes is positively correlated with official protective behavior; the failure rate of occupational claims is positively correlated with official regulatory behavior. The results show that occupational claims are being reexamined by society; the continued rise in the number of unsuccessful occupational claims cases indicates a lack of regulatory guidance for their profit-making behavior, the existence of malicious reporting complaints against business behavior, damage to the business environment, and a certain lack of legality. Therefore, it is proposed that laws and regulations should be in line with international standards, highlight the legal thinking and the concept of the rule of law, return to the original legislative intent, and build a five-in-one mechanism of "consumers, operators, media, government, and justice" to coordinate the management of occupational claims, crack down on occupational claims, and contribute to the creation of a good business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are disputes on the legal acceptance of occupational claims and the risk of occupational claim spoiling business environment is skyrocketing. How to manage the risk of occupational claims in the business environment is the subject of urgent research, especially COVID-19 is ravaging the world and the risk of economic crisis is increasing dramatically. In this study, we collected 1784 cases of food occupational claims from the Chinese legal documents website. Using Excel, Review Manager 5.0 and SPSS 19.0, the number of cases prosecuted as "consumers" were obtained by means of textual analysis, and the development process was directly influenced by occupational claims, with 2017 as a great value point (watershed); the rate of losing occupational claim cases has been climbing since 2018; and the risk of losing occupational claims is higher than that of true meaningful consumer advocacy cases (Z = 6.99, p < 0.001), and in 2019, the risk of losing a case was 33.34 times higher than that of an ordinary consumer. The proportion of occupational claims in the total number of food safety disputes is positively correlated with official protective behavior; the failure rate of occupational claims is positively correlated with official regulatory behavior. The results show that occupational claims are being reexamined by society; the continued rise in the number of unsuccessful occupational claims cases indicates a lack of regulatory guidance for their profit-making behavior, the existence of malicious reporting complaints against business behavior, damage to the business environment, and a certain lack of legality. Therefore, it is proposed that laws and regulations should be in line with international standards, highlight the legal thinking and the concept of the rule of law, return to the original legislative intent, and build a five-in-one mechanism of "consumers, operators, media, government, and justice" to coordinate the management of occupational claims, crack down on occupational claims, and contribute to the creation of a good business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of cumulative deformation on the microstructure and texture of tubes were studied by preparing Ti-6Al-4V tubing by cold-rotary swaging (RS) with cross-sectional area deformation (ε) of 27%, 37%, 42%, and 51%. The grains of the tubing samples were obviously refined with increasing cold deformation. Orientation distribution function (ODF) cuts revealed that the maximum density level of the raw material was 4.51, with density reaching 6.68, 7.80, 8.66, and 10.17 for ε of 27%, 37%, 42%, and 51%, corresponding to increases of 48%, 73%, 92%, and 125%, respectively. Moreover, the tilt angle of the maximum density level of all the rotary-swaged tubes was less than 45°. It is thus feasible to use cold-rotary swaging to produce thin-walled Ti-6Al-4V seamless tubing with grain refinement and radial texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft normally open points (SNOPs) connected to distribution networks are instrumental in maintaining uninterrupted power supply and improving power quality during the fault period. In order to achieve the optimal service restoration scheme, a novel bi-level service restoration model based on the robust optimization method is proposed in this paper. The upper level of the proposed model aims at minimizing the risk of load loss. The switch statuses and range of power transmitted by SNOP terminals can be obtained. In the lower level of the model, the interval robust optimization method is adopted to cope with the uncertainties of DGs and loads. If there are no optimal solutions, the upper level model needs to be solved once more to adjust the network topology. Finally, a test system is established to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and solution method. The effects of forecasting errors, the DG penetration, and the ratio of single terminal capacity of SNOP to line capacity on the optimization results are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological restoration actions to improve hydrologic conditions, including the construction of levees and freshwater release have been widely used to restore wetlands degraded by excessive soil salinity in coastal areas. However, the construction of levees for impoundments blocks the connectivity between the restored wetlands and the sea. In addition, freshwater inputs also altered some physical and chemical properties of the water bodies. In this study, stable isotopic compositions of primary producers and the shared consumers were analyzed to evaluate the impacts of these hydrologic changes on the function of the restored wetland ecosystems. After freshwater inputs, due to the change in salinity, the vegetation of the restored wetlands was replaced by the freshwater wetland vegetation. Although significant differences in the composition of basal sources existed, carbon stable isotope analyses indicated that there were no significant changes in source contribution between natural and restored wetlands for the shared consumers, with Suspended POM/ submersed aquatic vegetation being identified as contributing more carbon sources to consumers than emergent macrophytes/sediments. The construction of the impoundments eliminated the natural hydrological connection between the restored wetlands and the ocean, leading to the oligotrophic conditions in restored wetlands. For shared consumers, the δ15N values and trophic level positions in the restored wetlands became significantly lower than that in the natural wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrological connectivity controls the patterns of invertebrate assemblages in wetland ecosystems. With degradation of intertidal wetlands, artificial freshwater release has become an important restoration technique. Hydrological connectivity with tidal creeks is also a key ecological process for intertidal wetlands. However, how hydrologic connectivity affects snail assemblages remains poorly investigated in intertidal wetlands. We studied the differences in snail assemblages in wetlands to understand the effects of hydrological connectivity, wetland to river, and wetland to ocean. We found freshwater connectivity can transform intertidal snail assemblages into freshwater snail assemblages; restored wetlands primarily had freshwater snail species and natural intertidal wetlands mainly supported marine or salt-adapted snail species. Cluster analysis, nMDS plot and ANOSIM analysis showed snail assemblages were influenced strongly by hydrological connectivity. Stenothyra glabra, Oncomelania sp. and Nassarius festivus were indicators of natural intertidal wetlands. Hippeutis cantori, Radix swinhoei and Succinea pfeifferi were indicators of restored wetlands. Our results suggest natural hydrological connectivity with the ocean needs to be maintained when attempting to restore intertidal wetlands. Without this connection, connecting impaired wetlands only to rivers, may not achieve restoration of natural biotic assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and controlling multicomponent co‐assembly is of primary importance in different fields, such as materials fabrication, pharmaceutical polymorphism, and supramolecular polymerization, but these aspects have been a long‐standing challenge. Herein, we discover that liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) into ion‐cluster‐rich and ion‐cluster‐poor liquid phases is the first step prior to co‐assembly nucleation based on a model system of water‐soluble porphyrin and ionic liquids. The LLPS‐formed droplets serve as the nucleation precursors, which determine the resulting structures and properties of co‐assemblies. Co‐assembly polymorphism and tunable supramolecular phase transition behaviors can be achieved by regulating the intermolecular interactions at the LLPS stage. These findings elucidate the key role of LLPS in multicomponent co‐assembly evolution and enable it to be an effective strategy to control co‐assembly polymorphism as well as supramolecular phase transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and controlling multicomponent co‐assembly is of primary importance in different fields, such as materials fabrication, pharmaceutical polymorphism, and supramolecular polymerization, but these aspects have been a long‐standing challenge. Herein, we discover that liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) into ion‐cluster‐rich and ion‐cluster‐poor liquid phases is the first step prior to co‐assembly nucleation based on a model system of water‐soluble porphyrin and ionic liquids. The LLPS‐formed droplets serve as the nucleation precursors, which determine the resulting structures and properties of co‐assemblies. Co‐assembly polymorphism and tunable supramolecular phase transition behaviors can be achieved by regulating the intermolecular interactions at the LLPS stage. These findings elucidate the key role of LLPS in multicomponent co‐assembly evolution and enable it to be an effective strategy to control co‐assembly polymorphism as well as supramolecular phase transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation induced contraction of MgAl2O4 spinel carbon composites reinforced by Al4C3in situ reaction were researched in air using vertical high temperature thermal dilatometer from 25 °C to 1 400 °C. It is shown that oxidation induced contraction of MgAl2O4 spinel carbon composites reinforced Al4C3in situ reaction is the common logarithm of oxidation time t and the oxygen partial pressure P inside MgAl2O4 spinel carbon composites reinforced by Al4C3in situ reaction in air at 1 400 °C is as follows: P=F(−2.75×10−4A+2.13×10−3) lnt. The nonsteady diffusion kinetic equation of O2 at 1 400 °C inside the composites is as follows: J=De lnt. Acceleration of the total diffusional flux of oxygen inside the composites at 1 400 °C is in inverse proportion to the oxidation time. The nonsteady state effective diffusion coefficient De of O2(g) inside the composites decreases in direct proportional to the increase of the amount of metallic aluminium. The method of preventing the oxidation induced contraction of MgAl2O4 spinel carbon composites reinforced by Al4C3in situ reaction is to increase the amount of Al. The slag erosion index of MgO-Al2O3 spinel carbon composite reinforced by Al4C3in situ reaction is 0.47 times that of MgO-CaO brick used in the lining above slag line area of a VOD stainless steel-making vessel. HMOR of MgO-Al2O3 spinel carbon composite reinforced by Al4C3in situ reaction is 26.7 MPa, HMOR of the composite is 3.6 times the same as that of MgO-CaO brick used in the lining above slag line area of a VOD vessel. Its service life is two times as many as that of MgO-CaO brick. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the traditional process of texture testing, the sample to be tested must be flat. Generally, it is quite complicated and difficult to prepare the texture sample for the x-ray diffraction examination since it usually adopts time-consuming corrosion flattening or slice sticking for tubing. In this work, a new method is proposed to measure the texture of curved tube directly by using Eulerian Cradle installed on the x-ray diffractometer. This nondestructive method is favorable for a special defocusing correction sample composed of pure Ti powders with the same curvature radius as that of the tested Ti alloy tubing, and can be used to correct the strength loss caused by the elongated x-ray spot during the tube testing. It is verified that this nondestructive testing method is valid and feasible as compared to the traditional corrosion flattening method of tubing texture measurement. Moreover, this nondestructive testing method is highly effective, more accurate, and time-saving, which can be used for the rapid texture measurement for Ti alloy tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phototheranostic nanoplatforms are of particular interest for cancer diagnosis and imaging‐guided therapy. Herein, we develop a supramolecular approach to fabricate a nanostructured phototheranostic agent through the direct self‐assembly of two water‐soluble phthalocyanine derivatives, PcS4 and PcN4. The nature of the molecular recognition between PcS4 and PcN4 facilitates the formation of nanostructure (PcS4‐PcN4) and consequently enables the fabrication of PcS4‐PcN4 with completely quenched fluorescence and reduced singlet oxygen generation, leading to the high photoacoustic and photothermal activity of PcS4‐PcN4. In vivo evaluations suggest that PcS4‐PcN4 could not only efficiently visualize a tumor with high contrast through whole‐body photoacoustic imaging but also enable excellent photothermal therapy for cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phototheranostic nanoplatforms are of particular interest for cancer diagnosis and imaging‐guided therapy. Herein, we develop a supramolecular approach to fabricate a nanostructured phototheranostic agent through the direct self‐assembly of two water‐soluble phthalocyanine derivatives, PcS4 and PcN4. The nature of the molecular recognition between PcS4 and PcN4 facilitates the formation of nanostructure (PcS4‐PcN4) and consequently enables the fabrication of PcS4‐PcN4 with completely quenched fluorescence and reduced singlet oxygen generation, leading to the high photoacoustic and photothermal activity of PcS4‐PcN4. In vivo evaluations suggest that PcS4‐PcN4 could not only efficiently visualize a tumor with high contrast through whole‐body photoacoustic imaging but also enable excellent photothermal therapy for cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]