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Background: This study describes how New York City (NYC) Health + Hospitals implemented a large-scale Community Health Worker (CHW) program in adult primary care clinics between January 2022 and December 2023 and established metrics to monitor program implementation. This study is timely as healthcare systems consider how to scale high-quality CHW programs. Methods: We collected metrics in the following areas: (1) Workforce demographics, team structure, and training; (2) Enrolled patient demographics; (3) Patient-centered metrics, such as patient counts (e.g. patients outreached and enrolled) and engagement (e.g. median time in program, caseloads per CHW), and goals (e.g. median number of goals identified and completed). Metrics are based on standard data elements captured through CHW documentation in the electronic health record collected during program implementation. Data cleaning is completed using SQL queries and R scripts. Results: In June 2023, there were a total of 97 CHW and 22 CHW Supervisor staff lines in adult primary care across 17 healthcare sites. There were 4.6 CHWs to 1 CHW supervisor on average though this ranged by facility from 1:1 to 1:6. Compared to the population that receives primary care at NYC H + H, CHWs served more African American/Black patients (40% vs. 32%) and an older patient population (35% older than 65 vs. 21% older than 65). From January 2022 to December 2023, 13,812 patients were outreached by CHWs. Of these, 9,069 (66%) were referred by clinicians, 7,331 (53%) were enrolled, and 5,044 (37%) successfully graduated. The median number of goals identified by patients was four, and the median number of goals completed with a CHW per patient was three. The top three goals were primary care engagement (47%), specialty care engagement (46%), and food insecurity (45%). Conclusion: Establishing clear implementation and process metrics helps to ensure that CHWs embedded in health systems can meaningfully engage adult patients in health care, address patient-centered goals, and connect patients to community and government services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The adhesive properties of vitiligo melanocytes have decreased under oxidative stress., cytoskeleton proteins can control cell adhesion. Paeoniflorin (PF) was proved to resist hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress in melanocytes via nuclear factorE2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway. Objectives: This study was to investigate whether PF exerts anti-oxidative effect through influencing cytoskeleton markers or potential signaling pathway. Methods: Human Oxidative Stress Plus array was used to identify the differentially expressed genes between H2O2 + PF group and H2O2 only group, in PIG1 and PIG3V melanocyte cell lines respectively. Western blotting was used to verify the PCR array results and to test the protein expression levels of cytoskeleton markers including Ras homolog family member A (RhoA), Rho-associated kinase 1 (ROCK1) and antioxidative marker Nrf2. Small interfering RNA was used to knock down PDZ and LIM domain 1 (PDLIM1). Results: PF increased the expressions of PDLIM1, RhoA and ROCK1 in H2O2-induced PIG1, in contrast, decreased the expressions of PDLIM1 and ROCK1 in H2O2-induced PIG3V. Knockdown of PDLIM1 increased the expressions of RhoA and Nrf2 in PF-pretreated H2O2-induced PIG1, and ROCK1 and Nrf2 in PF-pretreated H2O2-induced PIG3V. Conclusions: PF regulates RhoA/ROCK1 and Nrf2 pathways in PDLIM1-dependent or independent manners in H2O2-induced melanocytes. In PIG1, PF promotes PDLIM1 to inhibit RhoA/ROCK1 pathway or activates Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, separately. In PIG3V, PF directly downregulates ROCK1 in PDLIM1-independent manner or upregulates Nrf2 dependent of PDLIM1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An apical lesion is caused by bacteria invading the tooth apex through caries. Periodontal disease is caused by plaque accumulation. Peri-endo combined lesions include both diseases and significantly affect dental prognosis. The lack of clear symptoms in the early stages of onset makes diagnosis challenging, and delayed treatment can lead to the spread of symptoms. Early infection detection is crucial for preventing complications. PAs used as the database were provided by Chang Gung Memorial Medical Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan, with permission from the Institutional Review Board (IRB): 02002030B0. The tooth apex image enhancement method is a new technology in PA detection. This image enhancement method is used with convolutional neural networks (CNN) to classify apical lesions, peri-endo combined lesions, and asymptomatic cases, and to compare with You Only Look Once-v8-Oriented Bounding Box (YOLOv8-OBB) disease detection results. The contributions lie in the utilization of database augmentation and adaptive histogram equalization on individual tooth images, achieving the highest comprehensive validation accuracy of 95.23% with the ConvNextv2 model. Furthermore, the CNN outperformed YOLOv8 in identifying apical lesions, achieving an F1-Score of 92.45%. For the classification of peri-endo combined lesions, CNN attained the highest F1-Score of 96.49%, whereas YOLOv8 scored 88.49%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety monitoring of hydraulic structures is a critical task in the field of hydraulic engineering construction. This study developed a method for preprocessing and classifying monitoring data for the identification of gross errors in hydraulic structures. By utilizing linear regression and wavelet analysis techniques, it effectively differentiated various waveform characteristics in data sets, such as Sinusoidal Wave Cyclical, Triangular Wave Cyclical, Seasonal Cyclical, and Weakly Cyclical growth types. In the experiments for gross error identification, the 3σ algorithm, K-medoids algorithm, and Isolation Forest algorithm were applied to test the data. The results showed that the K-medoids algorithm excelled in processing Sinusoidal Wave Cyclical Data Sets; the 3σ algorithm adapted better to Triangular Wave Cyclical Data Sets; the Isolation Forest algorithm performed well in handling data sets with significant anomalies or atypical fluctuations and excelled in scenarios with strong seasonality and large data fluctuations; and for complex Weakly Cyclical Growth Data Sets, all three algorithms were less effective, indicating the potential need for more advanced analysis methods or a combination of multiple techniques. Testing on actual engineering data further confirmed the importance of using specific gross error identification techniques for special data types after data set pre-classification, providing a more effective technical solution for the safety monitoring of hydraulic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses challenges related to imprecise edge segmentation and low center point accuracy, particularly when mushrooms are heavily occluded or deformed within dense clusters. A high-precision mushroom contour segmentation algorithm is proposed that builds upon the improved SOLOv2, along with a contour reconstruction method using instance segmentation masks. The enhanced segmentation algorithm, PR-SOLOv2, incorporates the PointRend module during the up-sampling stage, introducing fine features and enhancing segmentation details. This addresses the difficulty of accurately segmenting densely overlapping mushrooms. Furthermore, a contour reconstruction method based on the PR-SOLOv2 instance segmentation mask is presented. This approach accurately segments mushrooms, extracts individual mushroom masks and their contour data, and classifies reconstruction contours based on average curvature and length. Regular contours are fitted using least-squares ellipses, while irregular ones are reconstructed by extracting the longest sub-contour from the original irregular contour based on its corners. Experimental results demonstrate strong generalization and superior performance in contour segmentation and reconstruction, particularly for densely clustered mushrooms in complex environments. The proposed approach achieves a 93.04% segmentation accuracy and a 98.13% successful segmentation rate, surpassing Mask RCNN and YOLACT by approximately 10%. The center point positioning accuracy of mushrooms is 0.3%. This method better meets the high positioning requirements for efficient and non-destructive picking of densely clustered mushrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food allergy is a significant concern for the health of humans worldwide. In addition to dietary exposure of food allergens, genetic and environmental factors also play an important role in the development of food allergy. However, only the tip of the iceberg of risk factors in food allergy has been identified. The importance of food allergy caused by orally exposed risk factors and constituents, including veterinary drugs, pesticides, processed foods/derivatives, nanoparticles, microplastics, pathogens, toxins, food additives, dietary intake of salt/sugar/total fat, vitamin D, and therapeutic drugs, are highlighted and discussed in this review. Moreover, the epithelial barrier hypothesis, which is closely associated with the occurrence of food allergy, is also introduced. Additionally, several orally exposed risk factors and constituents that have been reported to disrupt the epithelial barrier are elucidated. Finally, the possible mechanisms and key immune cells of orally exposed risk factors and constituents in aggravating food allergy are overviewed. Further work should be conducted to define the specific mechanism by which these risk factors and constituents are driving food allergy, which will be of central importance to the targeted therapy of food allergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To explore the functional and morphological variations of retinal vessels in diabetes with no clinically detectable retinopathy (NDR) and mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) and to establish a high-performance mild NPDR diagnostic model. Methods: Normal subjects and type 2 diabetes patients with NDR and mild NPDR were recruited. Oxygen-saturation-related functional parameter (optical density ratio ODR) and morphological characteristics (fractal dimension Df, vessel area rate VAR, mean vascular diameter Dm, vessel tortuosity τ) of different vascular areas were extracted with single fundus photography and comprehensively analyzed among groups. An interpretable model combining marine predator algorithm (MPA) and support vector machine (SVM) based on characteristic selection was proposed for mild NPDR diagnosis. Results: A total of 91 NDR subjects, 75 mild NPDR subjects, and 111 sex- and age-matched normal controls were analyzed. Increased main vessels ODR, while lower VAR of all areas except outer ring macula, lower Dm of all vessels and decreased τ of all areas were associate with NDR (e.g. main vessels ODR: OR [95%CI] 1.42[1.07–1.89], full macula τ:0.53[0.38–0.74]). Increased ODR of all areas, higher Dm of all areas except inner ring macula, increased inner ring macula τ, while decreased Df of full and inner ring macula, lower VAR of all areas were associate with mild NPDR (e.g. main vessels ODR:5.68[3.03–10.65], inner ring macula VAR: 0.48[0.33–0.69]). The MPA-SVM model with selected characteristics obtained the best diagnosis performance (AUC:0.940 ± 0.014; Accuracy:90.4 ± 3.9%; Sensitivity:89.2 ± 6.4%; Specificity:91.3 ± 6.4%). Conclusions: More significant retinal vascular variations are associate with the incidence of mild NPDR than NDR. High-precision mild NPDR diagnosis is achieved combining the morphological and functional vascular characteristics based on characteristic selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: About 20% of on-treatment patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) experienced low-level viraemia (LLV), which is associated with persistent lowgrade inflammation, fibrosis progression, and increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. We aimed to investigate the high-risk factors related to LLV. Methods: In this retrospective study, patients receiving entecavir (ETV) treatment from January 2018 to January 2023 were enrolled, and were divided into a LLV (HBV DNA 20-2000 IU/mL) cohort and a complete virological response (CVR) (HBV DNA < 20 IU/mL) cohort according to the virological response at week 48 posttreatment. Treatment baseline characteristics were retrieved from electronic medical records. Multivariate logistic regression was performed. Results: Totally, 1653 patients were enrolled, male patients accounted for 73.0%; the median age was 44 years; the mean HBV DNA level was 5.9 Log10 IU/ml. Among them, 472 (28.6%) experienced LLV. Multivariate analysis showed that HBeAg positivity (OR = 2.650, 95% CI: 2.000-3.511, p < 0.001), HBV DNA ≥ 6.0 Log10 IU/mL (OR = 1.370, 95% CI: 1.054-1.780, p = 0.019), qHBsAg ≥ 9000 IU/mL (OR = 4.472, 95% CI: 3.410-5.866, p < 0.001), cirrhosis (OR = 1.650, 95% CI: 1.234-2.207, P = 0.001), LSM ≥ 13.0 kPa (OR = 1.644, 95% CI: 1.203-2.246, p = 0.002), and PLT < 100×109/L (OR = 1.450, 95% CI: 1.094-1.922, p = 0.010) at baseline were related to the development of LLV. Conclusions: High HBV DNA/HBsAg quantification/LSM, low PLT, HBeAg positivity, and liver cirrhosis were high-risk factors associated with LLV in patients receiving entecavir treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the challenge of maintaining water quality in urban landscape lakes in water-scarce cities using transparency as the key indicator. The sensitivity of water transparency to nine water quality parameters, including chlorophyll a and inorganic suspended solids, in 16 urban landscape lakes of the city of Taiyuan was evaluated using the Sobol and Morris sensitivity analysis methods. The results indicate that for water bodies supplied by surface water, critical factors include chlorophyll a and hydraulic retention time. For water bodies supplied by tap water, inorganic suspended solids and total phosphorus are more significant. Water bodies with a dual function of urban flood control should focus on dissolved oxygen, ammonium nitrogen, and chemical oxygen demand. Based on these findings, targeted management strategies are proposed to enhance algae management, control suspended solids input, and adjust water retention times, aiming to improve the transparency and quality of Taiyuan's urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional broadcasting methods often result in fatigue and decision-making errors when dealing with complex and diverse live content. Current research on intelligent broadcasting primarily relies on preset rules and model-based decisions, which have limited capabilities for understanding emotional dynamics. To address these issues, this study proposed and developed an emotion-driven intelligent broadcasting system, EmotionCast, to enhance the efficiency of camera switching during live broadcasts through decisions based on multimodal emotion recognition technology. Initially, the system employs sensing technologies to collect real-time video and audio data from multiple cameras, utilizing deep learning algorithms to analyze facial expressions and vocal tone cues for emotion detection. Subsequently, the visual, audio, and textual analyses were integrated to generate an emotional score for each camera. Finally, the score for each camera shot at the current time point was calculated by combining the current emotion score with the optimal scores from the preceding time window. This approach ensured optimal camera switching, thereby enabling swift responses to emotional changes. EmotionCast can be applied in various sensing environments such as sports events, concerts, and large-scale performances. The experimental results demonstrate that EmotionCast excels in switching accuracy, emotional resonance, and audience satisfaction, significantly enhancing emotional engagement compared to traditional broadcasting methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severity of periodontitis can be analyzed by calculating the loss of alveolar crest (ALC) level and the level of bone loss between the tooth's bone and the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ). However, dentists need to manually mark symptoms on periapical radiographs (PAs) to assess bone loss, a process that is both time-consuming and prone to errors. This study proposes the following new method that contributes to the evaluation of disease and reduces errors. Firstly, innovative periodontitis image enhancement methods are employed to improve PA image quality. Subsequently, single teeth can be accurately extracted from PA images by object detection with a maximum accuracy of 97.01%. An instance segmentation developed in this study accurately extracts regions of interest, enabling the generation of masks for tooth bone and tooth crown with accuracies of 93.48% and 96.95%. Finally, a novel detection algorithm is proposed to automatically mark the CEJ and ALC of symptomatic teeth, facilitating faster accurate assessment of bone loss severity by dentists. The PA image database used in this study, with the IRB number 02002030B0 provided by Chang Gung Medical Center, Taiwan, significantly reduces the time required for dental diagnosis and enhances healthcare quality through the techniques developed in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of neutrophils in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been a subject of debate due to their involvement in antiviral responses and immune regulation. This study aimed to elucidate the neutrophil characteristics in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods: Through flow cytometry and ribonucleic acid-sequencing analysis, the phenotypes and counts of neutrophils were analyzed in patients with CHB. Moreover, the effects of HBeAg on neutrophils and the corresponding pattern recognition receptors were identified. Simultaneously, the cross-talk between neutrophils and natural killer (NK) cells was investigated. Results: Neutrophils were activated in patients with CHB, characterized by higher expression levels of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), cluster of differentiation 86, and interleukin-8, and lower levels of CXC motif chemokine receptor (CXCR) 1 and CXCR2. Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) partially induces neutrophil activation through the Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). A consistent upregulation of the TLR2 and HBeAg expression was observed in patients with CHB. Notably, the genes encoding molecules pivotal for NK-cell function upon NK receptor engagement enriched in neutrophils after HBeAg activation. The HBeAg-activated neutrophils demonstrated the ability to decrease the production of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in NK cells, while the PD-1 and PD-L1 pathways partially mediated the immunosuppression. Conclusions: The immunosuppression of neutrophils induced by HBeAg suggests a novel pathogenic mechanism contributing to immune tolerance in patients with CHB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a swine enteropathogenic coronavirus that affects young pigs, causing vomiting, acute diarrhea, dehydration, and even death. There is growing evidence that PDCoV can undergo cross-species as well as zoonotic transmissions. Due to the frequent outbreaks of this deadly virus, early detection is essential for effective prevention and control. Therefore, developing a more convenient and reliable method for PDCoV detection is the need of the hour. Results: This study utilized a high-affinity monoclonal antibody as the capture antibody and a horseradish peroxidase labeled polyclonal antibody as the detection antibody to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELSA) for PDCoV detection.Both antibodies target the PDCoV nucleocapsid (N) protein. The findings of this study revealed that DAS-ELISA was highly specific to PDCoV and did not cross-react with other viruses to cause swine diarrhea. The limit of detection of the virus titer using this method was 103 TCID50/mL of PDCoV particles. The results of a parallel analysis of 239 known pig samples revealed a coincidence rate of 97.07% (κ = 0.922) using DAS-ELISA and reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). The DAS-ELISA was used to measure the one-step growth curve of PDCoV in LLC-PK cells and the tissue distribution of PDCoV in infected piglets. The study found that the DAS-ELISA was comparable in accuracy to the TCID50 method while measuring the one-step growth curve. Furthermore, the tissue distribution measured by DAS-ELISA was also consistent with the qRT-PCR method. Conclusion: The developed DAS-ELISA method can be conveniently used for the early clinical detection of PDCoV infection in pigs, and it may also serve as an alternative method for laboratory testing of PDCoV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of dentistry, the presence of dental calculus is a commonly encountered issue. If not addressed promptly, it has the potential to lead to gum inflammation and eventual tooth loss. Bitewing (BW) images play a crucial role by providing a comprehensive visual representation of the tooth structure, allowing dentists to examine hard-to-reach areas with precision during clinical assessments. This visual aid significantly aids in the early detection of calculus, facilitating timely interventions and improving overall outcomes for patients. This study introduces a system designed for the detection of dental calculus in BW images, leveraging the power of YOLOv8 to identify individual teeth accurately. This system boasts an impressive precision rate of 97.48%, a recall (sensitivity) of 96.81%, and a specificity rate of 98.25%. Furthermore, this study introduces a novel approach to enhancing interdental edges through an advanced image-enhancement algorithm. This algorithm combines the use of a median filter and bilateral filter to refine the accuracy of convolutional neural networks in classifying dental calculus. Before image enhancement, the accuracy achieved using GoogLeNet stands at 75.00%, which significantly improves to 96.11% post-enhancement. These results hold the potential for streamlining dental consultations, enhancing the overall efficiency of dental services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine a risk scoring system for predicting advanced colorectal neoplasia (ACN) within subcentimetric polyps in a large Asian population. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in Hong Kong SAR, China involving participants who underwent colonoscopy between 2008 and 2015. A random sample of 20 072 subjects were included as the derivation cohort to assess ACN‐associated independent factors using logistic regression modeling. Another 8603 subjects formed a validation cohort. A risk scoring system was developed and its performance was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: The risk scores were assigned based on the following criteria: (a) patients who were admitted from inpatient colonoscopy (2.2) or not (1); (b) with three or more chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, or cancer) (1.7) or not (1); (c) anemia (1.3) or without anemia (1); (d) receiving aspirin (0.5) or not (1); (e) receiving other nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (0.3) or not (1); (f) male (1.2) or female gender (1); (g) age <55 (1), 55–64 (1.4), 65–69 (2), 70 years or above (2.2). ACN was more common in those with scores of 2.192 or higher, and they were classified as high risk (HR). The prevalence of ACN in the validation cohort was 13.28% and 3.56% in the HR and low‐risk groups, respectively. In both the derivation and validation cohorts, AUROC of the risk‐scoring model was 0.7138. Conclusion: Physicians are recommended to utilize this validated score for risk‐stratification of patients having subcentimetric polyps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dry eye disease (DED) is a widespread, multifactorial, and chronic disorder of the ocular surface with disruption of tear film homeostasis as its core trait. Conjunctival goblet cells (CGCs) are specialised secretory cells found in the conjunctival epithelium that participate in tear film formation by secreting mucin. Changes in both the structure and function of CGCs are hallmarks of DED, and imaging assessment of CGCs is important for the diagnosis, classification, and severity evaluation of DED. Existing imaging methods include conjunctival biopsy, conjunctival impression cytology and in vivo confocal microscopy, which can be used to assess the morphology, distribution, and density of the CGCs. Recently, moxifloxacin‐based fluorescence microscopy has emerged as a novel technique that enables efficient, non‐invasive and in vivo imaging of CGCs. This article presents a comprehensive overview of both the structure and function of CGCs and their alterations in the context of DED, as well as current methods of CGCs imaging assessment. Additionally, potential directions for the visual evaluation of CGCs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Canopy density is high during mid‐to‐late soybean growth as a result of dense planting to improve yield, which seriously affects the control of pests and diseases. The dilemmas of difficult droplet penetration, nonuniform deposition, and droplet drift in field spraying remain challenges to the precise control of droplet distribution. This paper proposed a novel spraying application mode combined flexible shield canopy opener (FSCO) with rotor wind. The design of the key components of the new boom‐spraying machine are described. The effects of the comparative spraying modes on spray deposition and droplet drift were studied in a field validation test to explore the feasibility of the novel spraying application. RESULTS: The study found that droplet coverage inside the soybean canopy was significantly affected by spraying mode, rotor wind speed and opener depth. The spraying operation that used the FSCO and rotor wind integrated mode was optimal for droplet uniformity on the adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the canopy leaves, with droplet uniformity indices of 0.966 and 0.934, respectively. At a rotor wind speed of 6 m s−1 and opener depth of 15 cm, the soybean canopy droplet coverage uniformity effect achieved the highest composite score of 0.937. The spraying mode used in this study improved droplet coverage uniformity by 82.30% and droplet anti‐drift performance improved by 99.73% compared to the conventional boom‐spraying mode. CONCLUSION: The study shows validity of the spraying mode combined FSCO with rotor wind to open dense canopy and improved droplet deposition uniformity in canopy and anti‐drift performance. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the significant challenges in deep-water drilling is calculating BHP during kickoff caused by natural gas hydrate decomposition. In this paper, the heat transport theory, seepage mechanics, and hydrate decomposition kinetics serve as the foundation for the hydrate decomposition and bottom hole pressure model. Research shows 42.8 m3 of gas have entered Well X cumulatively, resulting in a 1.66 MPa pressure decrease and a 6.9-hour-recovery period. The monitoring of high saturation and porosity formations needs to be strengthened, and drilling parameters need to be modified to protect the stability of the wellbore, according to the analysis of formation parameters and drilling parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some Brucella spp. are important pathogens. According to the latest prokaryotic taxonomy, the Brucella genus consists of facultative intracellular parasitic Brucella species and extracellular opportunistic or environmental Brucella species. Intracellular Brucella species include classical and nonclassical types, with different species generally exhibiting host preferences. Some classical intracellular Brucella species can cause zoonotic brucellosis, including B. melitensis, B. abortus, B. suis, and B. canis. Extracellular Brucella species comprise opportunistic or environmental species which belonged formerly to the genus Ochrobactrum and thus nowadays renamed as for example Brucella intermedia or Brucella anthropi, which are the most frequent opportunistic human pathogens within the recently expanded genus Brucella. The cause of the diverse phenotypic characteristics of different Brucella species is still unclear. To further investigate the genetic evolutionary characteristics of the Brucella genus and elucidate the relationship between its genomic composition and prediction of phenotypic traits, we collected the genomic data of Brucella from the NCBI Genome database and conducted a comparative genomics study. We found that classical and nonclassical intracellular Brucella species and extracellular Brucella species exhibited differences in phylogenetic relationships, horizontal gene transfer and distribution patterns of mobile genetic elements, virulence factor genes, and antibiotic resistance genes, showing the close relationship between the genetic variations and prediction of phenotypic traits of different Brucella species. Furthermore, we found significant differences in horizontal gene transfer and the distribution patterns of mobile genetic elements, virulence factor genes, and antibiotic resistance genes between the two chromosomes of Brucella, indicating that the two chromosomes had distinct dynamics and plasticity and played different roles in the survival and evolution of Brucella. These findings provide new directions for exploring the genetic evolutionary characteristics of the Brucella genus and could offer new clues to elucidate the factors influencing the phenotypic diversity of the Brucella genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The segmentation and localization of Agaricus bisporus is a precondition for its automatic harvesting. A. bisporus growth clusters can present challenges for precise localization and segmentation because of adhesion and overlapping. A low-cost image stitching system is presented in this research, utilizing a quick stitching method with disparity correction to produce high-precision panoramic dual-modal fusion images. An enhanced technique called Real-Time Models for Object Detection and Instance Segmentation (RTMDet-Ins) is suggested. This approach utilizes SimAM Attention Module's (SimAM) global attention mechanism and the lightweight feature fusion module Space-to-depth Progressive Asymmetric Feature Pyramid Network (SPD-PAFPN) to improve the detection capabilities for hidden A. bisporus. It efficiently deals with challenges related to intricate segmentation and inaccurate localization in complex obstacles and adhesion scenarios. The technology has been verified by 96 data sets collected on a self-designed fully automatic harvesting robot platform. Statistical analysis shows that the worldwide stitching error is below 2 mm in the area of 1200 mm × 400 mm. The segmentation method demonstrates an overall precision of 98.64%. The planar mean positioning error is merely 0.31%. The method promoted in this research demonstrates improved segmentation and localization accuracy in a challenging harvesting setting, enabling efficient autonomous harvesting of A. bisporus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem cell‐derived pancreatic progenitors (SC‐PPs), as an unlimited source of SC‐derived β (SC‐β) cells, offers a robust tool for diabetes treatment in stem cell‐based transplantation, disease modeling, and drug screening. Whereas, PDX1+/NKX6.1+ PPs enhances the subsequent endocrine lineage specification and gives rise to glucose‐responsive SC‐β cells in vivo and in vitro. To identify the regulators that promote induction efficiency and cellular function maturation, single‐cell RNA‐sequencing is performed to decipher the transcriptional landscape during PPs differentiation. The comprehensive evaluation of functionality demonstrated that manipulating LINC MIR503HG using CRISPR in PP cell fate decision can improve insulin synthesis and secretion in mature SC‐β cells, without effects on liver lineage specification. Importantly, transplantation of MIR503HG−/− SC‐β cells in recipients significantly restored blood glucose homeostasis, accompanied by serum C‐peptide release and an increase in body weight. Mechanistically, by releasing CtBP1 occupying the CDH1 and HES1 promoters, the decrease in MIR503HG expression levels provided an excellent extracellular niche and appropriate Notch signaling activation for PPs following differentiation. Furthermore, this exhibited higher crucial transcription factors and mature epithelial markers in CDH1High expressed clusters. Altogether, these findings highlighted MIR503HG as an essential and exclusive PP cell fate specification regulator with promising therapeutic potential for patients with diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel nickel‐catalyzed practical and simple synthesis of thioesters from amides and disulfides has been developed. Diverse substituted aromatic amides are capable of coupling with diaryl or dialkyl disulfides via C−N/S−S bonds cleavage to produce the desirable thioesters in moderate to good yields. This procedure features cheap metals, novel and easily preparative substrates, providing a simple and practical access to a variety of thioesters without toxic thiols or CO gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LC NPs) are a kind of polymer NPs with LC mesogens, which can form special anisotropic morphologies due to the influence of LC ordering. Owing to the stimuli‐responsiveness of the LC blocks, LC NPs show abundant morphology evolution behaviors in response to external regulation. LC NPs have great application potential in nano‐devices, drug delivery, special fibers and other fields. Polymerization‐induced self‐assembly (PISA) method can synthesize LC NPs at high solid content, reducing the harsh demand for reaction solvent of the LC polymers, being a better choice for large‐scale production. In this review, we introduced recent research progress of PISA‐LC NPs by dividing them into several parts according to the LC mesogen, and discussed the improvement of experimental conditions and the potential application of these polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Impaired osteo-/angiogenesis, excessive inflammation, and imbalance of the osteoimmune homeo‑ stasis are involved in the pathogenesis of the alveolar bone defect caused by periodontitis. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of ideal therapeutic strategies for periodontitis that can regenerate the alveolar bone while remodeling the osteoimmune microenvironment. Quercetin, as a monomeric flavonoid, has multiple pharmacological activities, such as pro-regenerative, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects. Despite its vast spectrum of pharmacological activities, quercetin’s clinical application is limited due to its poor water solubility and low bioavailability. Results In this study, we fabricated a quercetin-loaded mesoporous bioactive glass (Quercetin/MBG) nano-delivery system with the function of continuously releasing quercetin, which could better promote the bone regeneration and regulate the immune microenvironment in the alveolar bone defect with periodontitis compared to pure MBG treatment. In particular, this nano-delivery system effectively decreased injection frequency of quercetin while yielding favorable therapeutic results. In view of the above excellent therapeutic effects achieved by the sustained release of quercetin, we further investigated its therapeutic mechanisms. Our findings indicated that under the periodontitis microenvironment, the intervention of quercetin could restore the osteo-/angiogenic capacity of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), induce immune regulation of macrophages and exert an osteoimmunomodulatory effect. Furthermore, we also found that the above osteo immunomodulatory effects of quercetin via macrophages could be partially blocked by the overexpression of a key microRNA——miR-21a-5p, which worked through inhibiting the expression of PDCD4 and activating the NF-κB signaling pathway. Conclusion In summary, our study shows that quercetin-loaded mesoporous nano-delivery system has the potential to be a therapeutic approach for reconstructing alveolar bone defects in periodontitis. Furthermore, it also offers Background Impaired osteo-/angiogenesis, excessive inflammation, and imbalance of the osteoimmune homeo‑ stasis are involved in the pathogenesis of the alveolar bone defect caused by periodontitis. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of ideal therapeutic strategies for periodontitis that can regenerate the alveolar bone while remodeling the osteoimmune microenvironment. Quercetin, as a monomeric flavonoid, has multiple pharmacological activities, such as pro-regenerative, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects. Despite its vast spectrum of pharmaco‑ logical activities, quercetin’s clinical application is limited due to its poor water solubility and low bioavailability. Results In this study, we fabricated a quercetin-loaded mesoporous bioactive glass (Quercetin/MBG) nano-delivery system with the function of continuously releasing quercetin, which could better promote the bone regeneration and regulate the immune microenvironment in the alveolar bone defect with periodontitis compared to pure MBG treatment. In particular, this nano-delivery system effectively decreased injection frequency of quercetin while yielding favorable therapeutic results. In view of the above excellent therapeutic effects achieved by the sustained release of quercetin, we further investigated its therapeutic mechanisms. Our findings indicated that under the periodontitis microenvironment, the intervention of quercetin could restore the osteo-/angiogenic capacity of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), induce immune regulation of macrophages and exert an osteoimmunomodulatory effect. Furthermore, we also found that the above osteo immunomodulatory effects of quercetin via macrophages could be partially blocked by the overexpression of a key microRNA——miR-21a-5p, which worked through inhibiting the expression of PDCD4 and activating the NF-κB signaling pathway. Conclusion In summary, our study shows that quercetin-loaded mesoporous nano-delivery system has the potential to be a therapeutic approach for reconstructing alveolar bone defects in periodontitis. Furthermore, it also offers a new perspective for treating alveolar bone defects in periodontitis by inhibiting the expression of miR-21a-5p in macrophages and thereby creating a favorable osteoimmune microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Penetrating corneal wounds can cause severe vision impairment and require prompt intervention to restore globe integrity and minimize the risk of infection. Tissue adhesives have emerged as a promising alternative to suturing for mitigating postoperative complications. However, conventional water‐soluble adhesives suffer formidable challenges in sealing penetrating corneal wounds due to dilution or loss in a moist environment. Inspired by the robust adhesion of mussels in aquatic conditions, an injectable photocurable bioadhesive hydrogel (referred to as F20HD5) composed of polyether F127 diacrylate and dopamine‐modified hyaluronic acid methacrylate is developed for sutureless closure of corneal full‐thickness wounds. F20HD5 exhibits high transparency, wound‐sealing ability, proper viscosity, biodegradability, and excellent biocompatibility. It allows in situ cross‐linking via visible light, thereby providing sufficient mechanical strength and adhesiveness. In vivo, the adhesive hydrogel effectively closed penetrating linear corneal incisions and corneal injuries with minimal tissue loss in rabbits. During the 56‐day follow‐up, the hydrogel facilitates the repair of the injured corneas, resulting in more symmetrical curvatures and less scarring in distinction to the untreated control. Thus, bioinspired hydrogel holds promise as an effective adhesive for sealing full‐thickness corneal wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in collaboration between medical imaging and artificial intelligence technology. The use of automated techniques for detecting medical symptoms has become increasingly prevalent. However, there has been a lack of research on the relationship between impacted teeth and the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) in DPR images. The severe compression of teeth against the IAN may necessitate the requirement for nerve canal treatment. To reduce the occurrence of such events, this study aims to develop an auxiliary detection system capable of precisely locating the relative positions of the IAN and impacted teeth through object detection and image enhancement. This system is designed to shorten the duration of examinations for dentists while concurrently mitigating the chances of diagnostic errors. The innovations in this research are as follows: (1) using YOLO_v4 to identify impacted teeth and the IAN in DPR images achieves an accuracy of 88%. However, the developed algorithm in this study achieves an accuracy of 93%. (2) Image enhancement is utilized in this study to expand the dataset, with an accuracy of up to 2~3% enhancement in detecting diseases. (3) The segmentation technique proposed in this study surpasses previous methods by achieving 6% higher accuracy in dental diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coordination between osteo-/angiogenesis and the osteoimmune microenvironment is essential for effective bone repair with biomaterials. As a highly personalized and precise biomaterial suitable for repairing complex bone defects in clinical practice, it is essential to endow 3D-printed scaffold the above key capabilities. Results: Herein, by introducing xonotlite nanofiber (Ca6(Si6O17) (OH)2, CS) into the 3D-printed silk fibroin/gelatin basal scaffold, a novel bone repair system named SGC was fabricated. It was noted that the incorporation of CS could greatly enhance the chemical and mechanical properties of the scaffold to match the needs of bone regeneration. Besides, benefiting from the addition of CS, SGC scaffolds could accelerate osteo-/angiogenic differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and meanwhile reprogram macrophages to establish a favorable osteoimmune microenvironment. In vivo experiments further demonstrated that SGC scaffolds could efficiently stimulate bone repair and create a regeneration-friendly osteoimmune microenvironment. Mechanistically, we discovered that SGC scaffolds may achieve immune reprogramming in macrophages through a decrease in the expression of Smad6 and Smad7, both of which participate in the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway. Conclusion: Overall, this study demonstrated the clinical potential of the SGC scaffold due to its favorable pro-osteo-/angiogenic and osteoimmunomodulatory properties. In addition, it is a promising strategy to develop novel bone repair biomaterials by taking osteoinduction and osteoimmune microenvironment remodeling functions into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coordination between osteo-/angiogenesis and the osteoimmune microenvironment is essential for effective bone repair with biomaterials. As a highly personalized and precise biomaterial suitable for repairing complex bone defects in clinical practice, it is essential to endow 3D-printed scaffold the above key capabilities. Results: Herein, by introducing xonotlite nanofiber (Ca6(Si6O17) (OH)2, CS) into the 3D-printed silk fibroin/gelatin basal scaffold, a novel bone repair system named SGC was fabricated. It was noted that the incorporation of CS could greatly enhance the chemical and mechanical properties of the scaffold to match the needs of bone regeneration. Besides, benefiting from the addition of CS, SGC scaffolds could accelerate osteo-/angiogenic differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and meanwhile reprogram macrophages to establish a favorable osteoimmune microenvironment. In vivo experiments further demonstrated that SGC scaffolds could efficiently stimulate bone repair and create a regeneration-friendly osteoimmune microenvironment. Mechanistically, we discovered that SGC scaffolds may achieve immune reprogramming in macrophages through a decrease in the expression of Smad6 and Smad7, both of which participate in the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway. Conclusion: Overall, this study demonstrated the clinical potential of the SGC scaffold due to its favorable pro-osteo-/angiogenic and osteoimmunomodulatory properties. In addition, it is a promising strategy to develop novel bone repair biomaterials by taking osteoinduction and osteoimmune microenvironment remodeling functions into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome that can result in multi-organ dysfunction. MicroRNA (miR)-483-3p was previously demonstrated to be upregulated in sepsis patients; however, its specific functions in sepsis-triggered intestinal injury remain unclarified. Human intestinal epithelial NCM460 cell line was stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic sepsis-induced intestinal injury in vitro. Terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining was utilized for examining cell apoptosis. Western blotting and real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) were used for detecting molecular protein and RNA levels. LPS-induced cytotoxicity was determined by measuring concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), diamine oxidase (DAO) and fatty acid binding protein 2 (FABP2). Luciferase reporter assay was utilized for verifying the interaction between miR-483-3p and homeodomain interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2). Inhibiting miR-483-3p alleviates LPS-triggered NCM460 cell apoptosis and cytotoxicity. miR-483-3p targeted HIPK2 in LPS-stimulated NCM460 cells. Knockdown of HIPK2 reversed the above effects mediated by miR-483-3p inhibitor. Inhibiting miR-483-3p ameliorates LPS-triggered apoptosis and cytotoxicity by targeting HIPK2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane technology has become one of the most promising separation technologies for its energy saving, high separation efficiency, environmental friendliness, and economic feasibility. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with intrinsically high porosity, controllable pore size, uniform pore size distribution and long-range ordered channel structure, have emerged as next-generation materials to fabricate advanced separation membranes. This feature article summarizes some latest studies in the development of pure COF membranes in our lab, including their fabrication and applications in chemical separations. Finally, current challenges facing high-performance COF separation membranes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3 toxins form a tetrameric structure crucial for their insecticidal activity. Each Vip3Aa monomer comprises five domains. Interaction of the first four α-helices in domain I with the target cellular membrane was proposed to be a key step before pore formation. In this study, four N-terminal α-helix-deleted truncations of Vip3Aa were produced and, it was found that they lost both liposome permeability and insecticidal activity against Spodoptera litura. To further probe the role of domain I in membrane permeation, the full-length domain I and the fragments of N-terminal α-helix-truncated domain I were fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP), respectively. Only the fusion carrying the full-length domain I exhibited permeability against artificial liposomes. In addition, seven Vip3Aa-Cry1Ac fusions were also constructed by combination of α-helices from Vip3Aa domains I and II with the domains II and III of Cry1Ac. Five of the seven combinations were determined to show membrane permeability in artificial liposomes. However, none of the Vip3Aa-Cry1Ac combinations exhibited insecticidal activity due to the significant reduction in proteolytic stability. These results indicated that the N-terminal helix α1 in the Vip3Aa domain I is essential for both insecticidal activity and liposome permeability and that domain I of Vip3Aa preserved a high liposome permeability independently from domains II–V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The interaction between food allergens and plant polyphenols has become a safe and effective management strategy to prevent food allergies. Ovalbumin (OVA) is the most abundant allergen in egg whites. Resveratrol (RES) is a plant polyphenol that is abundant in red grapes, berries, and peanuts, and has an anti‐allergic effect on allergy‐related immune cells. However, there is little information about the effect of RES on the allergenicity of OVA. In this study, the effect of RES on the allergenicity of OVA was investigated. RESULTS: Molecular docking and spectroscopic studies indicated that the addition of RES changed the structure of OVA. The digestion and transfer rate of OVA–RES were effectively improved with an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model and Caco‐2 cell model, especially when the molar ratio of OVA–RES was 1:20. Meanwhile, the KU812 cell degranulation assay proved that the potential allergenicity was remarkably decreased while the molar ratios of OVA–RES were increased to 1:20. Furthermore, hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces were the dominating forces to stabilize the OVA–RES complexes. CONCLUSION: All the findings demonstrated that the potential allergenicity of OVA was reduced when interacting with RES, and RES can be a potential food material for preparing a hypoallergenic protein, especially for egg allergy. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The largest C-eigenvalue of piezoelectric tensors determines the highest piezoelectric coupling constant, which reflects the coupling between the elastic and dielectric properties of crystal. Here, a projection method based on discrete normalized dynamical system (PDND) is established for computing the largest C-eigenvalue. Theoretical analysis of the convergence for PDND algorithm is given. In numerical experiments, the longitudinal piezoelectric modulus and the unit uniaxial direction that the extreme piezoelectric effect along took place of different piezoelectric materials are given to display the physical meaning of the C-eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Furthermore, the largest C-eigenvalue and all the corresponding eigenvectors can be obtained, which is the advantage of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the original thickness on the densification, microstructure, and nanoindentation hardness of silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics prepared by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The densification of SiC ceramics with different initial thicknesses ranging from 50 to 2000 µm was investigated in combination with varying SPS sintering temperature at 1700–1900°C. The results indicated that the densification of SiC sample with the initial thickness of 50 µm was complete after sintering at 1700°C. On the contrary, when the initial thickness exceeded 50 µm, it resulted in a porous microstructure. When the initial thickness varied from 50 to 100 µm, dense SiC monolithic could be obtained after sintering at 1800°C. All the samples were fully densified after sintering at 1900°C. The predominant factors for the thickness effect were mainly derived from the unique characteristics of SPS. The hardness of SiC ceramics was measured using nanoindentation, and it was found to have a strong correlation with the initial thickness, mainly attributed to the densification status. The dense SiC product demonstrated nanoindentation hardness with high values of ∼28.0 GPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astroviruses have frequently been found in mammals and poultry, but only a few have been successfully isolated for extensive research. Here, we isolated a strain of porcine astrovirus type 5 (PAstV 5) on LLC-porcine kidney (LLC-PK) cells, from the intestinal contents of diarrhea piglets, namely PAstV 5-HNPDS-01. The complete genome sequence length of this strain was 6,419 nt, which has 77.2%–91.1% nucleotide homology with other PAstV 5 strains and 45.0%–50.0% nucleotide homology with other mammalian astroviruses. The recombination analysis indicated that the recombination events were occurred in ORF 2 region (4,444–5,323 nt) in PAstV 5-HNPDS-01 strain. Subsequently, the pathogenicity of PAstV 5-HNPDS-01 was evaluated in 5-day-old piglets. It showed that the PAstV 5-HNPDS-01 could cause mild diarrhea, growth retardation, minor damage to intestinal villi clinically. Meanwhile, PAstV 5-HNPDS-01 infection could affect the microbiota diversity and composition of cecum in piglet from phylum to genus level. After infected with PAstV 5, there was a significant downregulation of beneficial bacteria, including Faecalibacterium, Bacteroides, Lactobacillus, and Prevotella, while harmful bacteria such as Subdoligranulun showed a significant upregulation. These results provided a research basis for pathogenic mechanisms, vaccine development, and beneficial symbiotic bacteria development for PAstV 5 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Osteosarcoma, the most prevalent malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents, presents a complex pathogenesis characterized by various genetic and epigenetic alterations. This study aims to identify key differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pediatric osteosarcoma, with a focus on those influencing metastasis and patient survival. Materials and Methods: We utilized the GSE33382 dataset from the GEO database for a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis. This included a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, Cox regression, and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis to identify central DEGs associated with osteosarcoma metastasis and patient survival. Results: Our analysis identified 88 DEGs related to osteosarcoma metastasis. Among them, three survival-related central DEGs—C1QA, CD74, and HLA-DMA—were significantly linked to patient outcomes. Further correlation analysis established a strong relationship between these genes, tumor mutation burden (TMB), immune checkpoint gene expression, and overall survival. Notably, C1QA and CD74 exhibited higher expression in non-metastatic osteosarcoma cases, suggesting a potential role in disease progression. Conclusions: The identified DEGs, particularly C1QA, CD74, and HLA-DMA, may serve as critical biomarkers for pediatric osteosarcoma prognosis and potential targets for immunotherapy. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the molecular landscape of osteosarcoma and open new avenues for therapeutic intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-field in situ droplet deposition digitization is beneficial for obtaining feedback on spraying performance and precise spray control, the cost-effectiveness of the measurement system is crucial to its scalable application. However, the limitations of camera performance in low-cost imaging systems, coupled with dense spray droplets and a complex imaging environment, result in blurred and low-resolution images of the deposited droplets, which creates challenges in obtaining accurate measurements. This paper proposes a Droplet Super-Resolution Semantic Segmentation (DSRSS) model and a Multi-Adhesion Concave Segmentation (MACS) algorithm to address the accurate segmentation problem in low-quality droplet deposition images, and achieve a precise and efficient multi-parameter measurement of droplet deposition. Firstly, a droplet deposition image dataset (DDID) is constructed by capturing high-definition droplet images and using image reconstruction methods. Then, a lightweight DSRSS model combined with anti-blurring and super-resolution semantic segmentation is proposed to achieve semantic segmentation of deposited droplets and super-resolution reconstruction of segmentation masks. The weighted IoU (WIoU) loss function is used to improve the segmented independence of droplets, and a comprehensive evaluation criterion containing six sub-items is used for parameter optimization. Finally, the MACS algorithm continues to segment the remained adhesive droplets processed by the DSRSS model and corrects the bias of the individual droplet regions by regression. The experiments show that when the two weight parameters α and β in WIoU are 0.775 and 0.225, respectively, the droplet segmentation independence rate of DSRSS on the DDID reaches 0.998, and the IoU reaches 0.973. The MACS algorithm reduces the droplet adhesion rate in images with a coverage rate of more than 30% by 15.7%, and the correction function reduces the coverage error of model segmentation by 3.54%. The parameters of the DSRSS model are less than 1 M, making it possible to run it on embedded platforms. The proposed approach improves the accuracy of spray measurement using low-quality droplet deposition image and will help to scale-up of fast spray measurements in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, α-In2Se3 has attracted great attention in miniaturizing nonvolatile random memory devices because of its room temperature ferroelectricity and atomic thickness. In this work, we construct two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures α-In2Se3/MoS2 with different ferroelectric polarization and design a 2D graphene (Gr)/In2Se3/MoS2/Gr ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) with the symmetric electrodes. Our calculations show that the band alignment of the heterostructures can be changed from type-I to type-II accompanied by the reversal of the ferroelectric polarization of In2Se3. Furthermore, the ferroelectricity persists in Gr/In2Se3/MoS2/Gr vdW FTJs, and the presence of dielectric layer MoS2 in the FTJs enables the effective modulation of the tunneling barrier by altering the ferroelectric polarization of α-In2Se3, which results in two distinct conducting states denoted as "ON" and "OFF" with a large tunneling electroresistance (TER) ratio exceeding 105%. These findings suggest the importance of ferroelectric vdW heterostructures in the design of FTJs and propose a promising route for applying the 2D ferroelectric/semiconductor heterostructures with out-of-plane polarization in high-density ferroelectric memory devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shenling Baizhu Powder is a traditional Chinese medicine formula that has been used for thousands of years to invigorate spleen, nourish stomach and regulate immune function. The multi-herbal extracts, an improved formular from Shenling Baizhu Powder, were used in our study to investigate its immune-enhancing effects and underling mechanisms. Based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and SPME-GC-MS analysis, 106 chemical compounds were identified from the extracts. In vitro assays indicated that the extracts could promote cell proliferation and NO secretion of RAW264.7 cells. RNA-seq and RT-qPCR showed that RAW264.7 cells treated with extracts increased the expression of pro-inflammatory factors IL-1ß, iNOS, TNF-a, and TGF-ß. Western-Blot revealed that the extracts could significantly enhance ERK phosphorylation level, and slightly increased JNK and p38 phosphorylation levels. These data suggest that multi-herbal extracts have a potential of regulating immune response via the JNK/p38/ERK signalling of MAPK pathways in RAW264.7 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first presents a high-efficient and accurate coupled meshless algorithm for solving the multi-dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation (GPE) in unbounded domain, which is implemented on CUDA-program-based two-GPUs cards. The proposed novel high-performance scheme (RDFPM-PML-GPU) is mainly motived by the items below: (a) a reduced-dimensional finite pointset method (RDFPM) is first presented to solve the 2D/3D spatial derivatives in GPE, which has lower calculated amount than the traditional FPM (TFPM) for the derivatives; (b) the perfectly matched layer (PML) technique is adopted to treat the absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) which is used for the infinite exterior region, and the time-splitting technique is resorted to reduce the computing complexity in PML; (c) a fast parallel algorithm based on CUDA-program is proposed to accelerate the computation in the proposed meshless scheme with local matrix on two GPUs. The numerical convergent rate and advantages of the proposed meshless scheme are demonstrated by solving two examples, which include the comparisons between the proposed RDFPM and TFPM, the merit of easily implemented local refinement point distribution in meshless method, and the merit of PML-ABCs over the zero Dirichlet boundary treatment for unbounded domain. Meanwhile, the high efficiency of the proposed GPU-based parallelization algorithm is tested and discussed by simulating 3D examples, which shows that the speed-up rate is about 500-times of using two-GPUs over a single CPU. Finally, the proposed RDFPM-PML-GPU method is used to predict the long-time evolution of quantum vortex in 2D/3D GPEs describing Bose–Einstein condensates. All the numerical tests show the high-performance and flexible application of the proposed parallel meshless algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a redistributed proximal bundle method for a class of nonconvex nonsmooth optimization problems with inexact information, i.e., we consider the problem of computing the approximate critical points when only the inexact information about the function values and subgradients are available and show that reasonable convergence properties are obtained. We assume that the errors in the computation of functions and subgradients are only bounded and in principle do not have to vanish within the limits. For the nonconvex functions, we design the convexification technique, which ensures that the linearization error of its augmentation function is nonnegative. Meanwhile, for the inexact information, we utilize noise management strategies and update approximate parameters to reduce the impact of inexact information. Based on this method, we can obtain the approximate solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]