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Decellularized scaffolds retain the main bioactive substances of the extracellular matrix, which can better promote cell proliferation and matrix reconstruction at the defect site, and have great potential for morphological and functional restoration in patients with tissue defects. Due to the safety of the material source of allogeneic decellularized scaffolds, there is a great limitation in their clinical application, so the preparation and evaluation of xenodermal acellular scaffolds have attracted much attention. In terms of skin tissue structure and function, porcine skin has a high degree of similarity to human skin and has the advantages of sufficient quantity and no ethical issues. However, there is a risk of immune rejection after xenodermal acellular scaffold transplantation. To address the above problems, this paper focuses on porcine dermal decellularized scaffolds prepared using two common decellularization preparation methods and compares the decellularization efficiency, retention of active components of the extracellular matrix, structural characterization of the decellularized scaffolds, and the effect of porcine dermal decellularized scaffolds on mouse Raw264.7 macrophages, so as to make a functional evaluation of the active components and immune effects of porcine dermal decellularized scaffolds, and to provide a reference for filling trauma-induced defects in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a high-performance electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorber is prepared by the in situ growth of BN and SiC into a self-assembled 3D graphene skeleton via chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). The porous conductive graphene network extends the transmission path of incident microwaves by multiple scattering, and the ceramic coating effectively improves the impedance matching degree. Notably, the EMW absorbing performance of 3D-rGO/BN/SiC can be regulated by the high-temperature oxidation in air. Compared to the original absorbers, after being oxidized at 600 °C for 4 h in air, the optimal RLmin of the composites drops to −47.1 dB and the broadest EAB reaches 11.96 GHz, which can be attributed to the enhanced impedance matching degree. The controllable fabrication of 3D-rGO/BN/SiC composites can provide a guideline for rational design and fabrication of high-performance EMW absorbing materials in practical applications under medium oxidizing temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fused silica with surface structures has potential applications in microfluidic, aerospace and other fields. To fabricate structures with high dimensional accuracy and surface quality is of paramount importance. However, it is indeed a challenge to strike a balance between accuracy and efficiency at the same time. Here, a temporally shaped femtosecond laser Bessel-beam-assisted etching method with dual-control of incubation effect is proposed to achieve this balance. Instead of layer-by-layer ablation continuously with Gaussian pulses, silica is modified discretely by double pulse Bessel beam with one single layer. During the modification process, incubation effect is dual-controlled in single shot process and spatial scanning process to generate even modified region efficiently. Then, the modified region is etched to form designed structures such as microholes, grooves, etc. The proposed method exhibits high efficiency for fabrication of surface structures in fused silica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Gut microbiota imbalance and sarcopenia are frequently observed in older adults. Gut microbiota and their metabolites are considered risk factors contributing to the heightened risk of sarcopenia, but whether these associations are causal remains unclear. Methods We conducted linkage disequilibrium score regression and 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) methods with single-nucleotide polymorphisms sourced from large-scale genome-wide association studies as instrumental variables to examine the causal associations linking gut microbiota with their metabolites to the sarcopenia. Following the MR analysis, subsequent sensitivity analyses were conducted to reinforce the robustness and credibility of the obtained results. Results MR analysis yielded compelling evidence demonstrating the correlation between genetically predicted gut microbiota and metabolites and the risk of sarcopenia. The abundance of Porphyromonadaceae , Rikenellaceae , Terrisporobacter , and Victivallis was found to be associated with walking pace. Our study also found suggestive associations of 12 intestinal bacteria with appendicular lean mass, and of Streptococcaceae , Intestinibacter , Paraprevotella , Ruminococcaceae UCG009 , and Sutterella with grip strength. Specifically, we identified 21 gut microbiota-derived metabolites that may be associated with the risk of sarcopenia. Conclusions Utilizing a 2-sample MR approach, our study elucidates the causal interplay among gut microbiota, gut microbiota-derived metabolites, and the occurrence of sarcopenia. These findings suggest that gut microbiota and metabolites may represent a potential underlying risk factor for sarcopenia, and offer the promise of novel therapeutic focal points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The light absorption enhancement (Eabs) of black carbon (BC) coated with non‐BC materials is crucial in the assessment of radiative forcing, yet its evolution during photochemical aging of plumes from biomass burning, the globe's largest source of BC, remains poorly understood. In this study, plumes from open burning of corn straw were introduced into a smog chamber to explore the evolution of Eabs during photochemical aging. The light absorption of BC was measured with and without coating materials by using a thermodenuder, while the size distributions of aerosols and composition of BC coating materials were also monitored. Eabs was found to increase initially, and then decrease with an overall downward trend. The lensing effect dominated in Eabs at 520 nm, with an estimated contribution percentages of 47.5%–94.5%, which is far greater than light absorption of coated brown carbon (BrC). The effects of thickening and chemical composition changes of the coating materials on Eabs were evaluated through comparing measured Eabs with that calculated by the Mie theory. After OH exposure of 1 × 1010 molecules cm−3 s, the thickening of coating materials led to an Eabs increase by 3.2% ± 1.6%, while the chemical composition changes or photobleaching induced an Eabs decrease by 4.7% ± 0.6%. Simple forcing estimates indicate that coated BC aerosols exhibit warming effects that were reduced after aging. The oxidation of light‐absorbing CxHy compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), to CxHyO and CxHyO>1 compounds in coating materials may be responsible for the photobleaching of coated BrC. Plain Language Summary: Understanding how black carbon (BC) coated with non‐BC materials affects light absorption is crucial for assessing its impact on the Earth's climate. However, there is limited knowledge about how this process changes when BC, particularly from biomass burning, is exposed to light. Biomass burning is a significant global source of BC. This study investigated the changes in light absorption of BC from burning corn straw as it aged in a controlled environment. We measured the light absorption of BC with and without its coating materials. Our results showed that the main cause of increased light absorption was the lensing effect of the coating materials, which was more significant than the light absorption by the coating materials themselves. We also discovered that as the coating materials thickened, BC absorbed more light. However, changes in the chemical composition of the coating materials led to a decrease in total absorption. These findings suggest that while coated BC initially has a warming effect on the climate, this effect diminished as the BC ages. The decrease is likely due to the breakdown of light‐absorbing compounds in the coating materials, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Key Points: Photochemical evolution of light absorption enhancement (Eabs) of black carbon from corn straw burning was studied in a chamberAfter an initial increase Eabs decreased and then remained unchanged during photochemical agingThe photobleaching impacted more on Eabs than the thickening of coating aerosols during photochemical aging [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holographic femtosecond laser printing technology is widely used in the fabrication of micropatterns because of its high efficiency and flexibility. However, speckle noise and energy fluctuations limit the quality of the printed structure. In this study, an improved complex‐amplitude modulation holographic femtosecond laser printing method for high‐quality micropattern fabrication is proposed. The holographic light field is divided into a signal area and a surrounding noise area. To improve laser uniformity, phase modulation is applied in the signal region to eliminate the speckle noise caused by unconstrained phase interference, and weighted amplitude modulation is introduced in the signal area to improve the calculation accuracy. To precisely control laser energy density, weighted energy efficiency modulation is introduced in the noise region to disperse the energy that exceeds the material damage threshold. Under the synergistic control of laser uniformity and energy density, high‐quality micro‐pattern structures are printed efficiently. A high‐quality millimeter‐sized multifocal zone plate with micron accuracy is fabricated with the splicing printing method, demonstrating the potential of micropattern processing and the fabrication of functional devices such as binary optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast cancer has emerged as the foremost cause of female mortality worldwide, with triple negative breast cancer accounting for approximately 10–15% of all breast cancer cases. The triple negative breast cancer family has obvious familial heritability, but no potential pathogenic variation was found in BRCA1/2. Case presentation: The patient was a 56-year-old woman of Han ethnicity. The clinical characteristics of this patient with breast cancer were summarized, peripheral blood of one normal female and two patients with breast cancer in this family was collected, DNA was extracted, and the potential pathogenic variation was analyzed by whole exome sequencing. The normal female and two patients with breast cancer in this family shared a maternal grandmother. The proband's right breast mass was punctured, and the biopsy showed invasive carcinoma of the right breast, grade II–III, with necrosis. No mutation was found in BRCA1/2 gene test; immunohistochemical of surgical specimens showed triple negative breast cancer. Three mutation types and 17 gene mutation sites were detected through bioinformatics prediction analysis on the basis of co-segregation of genotype and phenotype within the family and whole exome sequencing results. Combined with the Cancer Genome Atlas database comprehensive analysis, the MT1E c.G107A (p.C36Y) mutation may be a potential pathogenic site. Conclusions: Through whole exome sequencing, we identified a total of 17 potential pathogenic mutation loci, none of which have been reported thus far. Therefore, our work expanded the gene mutation spectrum of familial hereditary triple negative breast cancer, which can provide more basis for family genetic counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-existing concealed goafs underneath open-pit slopes (PCO-goafs) pose a serious threat to the stability of open-pit slopes (OP-slopes), which is a common problem worldwide. In this paper, the variable weight-target approaching method, equilibrium beam theory, Pratt's arch theory, and numerical simulation are used to analyze the management solutions and stability of five PCO-goaf groups in the Nannihu molybdenum mine located in Luoyang City, Henan Province, China. The five PCO-goaf groups, numbered 1#, 2#, 3#, 4#, and 5#, are divided into four hazard classes, ranging from extremely poor to good stability. The stability of 1#, 2#, and 4# is poor and must be managed by filling, and the design strength of backfill is 1.2 MPa; caving is used to treat 3# and 5#, and the safe thickness of the overlying roof is calculated to be 10.5–41 m. After treatment, the safety coefficient of the slope is greater than 1.2, indicating that the slope is stable. This study provides insight and guidance for the safe operation of open-pit mines threatened by the existence of PCO-goafs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of luminescent materials for optical information encryption has received great attention in recent years. However, single-mode luminescent materials greatly limit their information capacity and encryption level. Here, a broad range of gadolinium gallate-based oxide persistent material systems with tuneable persistent luminescence (PersL) are rationally designed by the construction of electron–hole defect pair structures between Bi3+ and a set of lanthanide ions (Ln3+) (Ln = Eu, Sm, Tb, Dy, Pr and Ce). These phosphors exhibited excellent quadruple-mode luminescence including photoluminescence (PL), PersL, thermoluminescence (TL) and photo-stimulated luminescence (PSL). In particular, a quadruple-mode 'morning glory' encrypted pattern using these multimode persistent phosphors as storage media demonstrates multilevel optical information storage accompanied with dynamical encryption. These findings described here provide a universal methodology to construct a novel class of persistent materials with tuneable PersL emission and high information storage capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing high value-added utilization of waste cotton provides a promising approach for the sustainable development. Herein, the carboxylated cellulose aerogels (CCAs) featuring in micro/nanostructure and directional channel are fabricated from cotton fabrics via the ingenious combination of selective oxidation, high-speed cutting, and freeze-drying. The as-prepared 2.0-CCA demonstrates not only excellent adsorption capacity for cationic dyes in water but also recyclability due to the abundant carboxyl groups (3.20 mmol/g) and the robust porous structure. And it shows a static maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of 751 mg/g and a dynamic breakthrough amount more than 700 mg/g for methylene blue (MB), more efficient than most reported cellulose-based adsorbents. In addition, the 2.0-CCA shows a high equilibrium adsorption capacity (qe) about 680 mg/g for MB at pH = 6 and keeps qe above 600 mg/g even in a broad pH range of 3‒10, indicating a high tolerance to the solution pH value. At an ion concentration lower than 0.25 mol/L, the additional cations such as Na+ and K+ or anions such as Cl‒, SO42‒, and NO3‒ show a little effect on the qe (higher than 500 mg/g) of 2.0-CCA for MB. The treated dye wastewater can be recycled for fabric dyeing, and there is no significant color difference (∆E) between fabrics dyed with dye liquors prepared with fresh or recycled water. The theoretical study confirms the importance of the electrostatic attraction between carboxyl groups of 2.0-CCA and dye molecules for the efficient adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate the association of single‐point insulin sensitivity estimator (SPISE) index with future cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: SPISE index (= 600 × high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol [mg/dL]0.185/triglycerides [mg/dL]0.2 × body mass index [kg/m2]1.338) was calculated in 10 190 participants. Cox proportional hazard regression models were applied to evaluate the association between SPISE index and future cardiovascular outcomes. Restricted cubic spline analyses and two‐piecewise linear regression models were employed to explore the nonlinear association and to determine the threshold value. Subgroup and interaction analyses were conducted to test the robustness of the results. Results: After fully adjusting for well‐established metabolic confounders, higher SPISE index was significantly associated with lower risk of future cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes (major adverse cardiovascular event [MACE]): hazard ratio [HR] 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.90–0.98, p = 0.0026; overall mortality: HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.86–0.93, p < 0.0001; cardiovascular disease [CVD] mortality: HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.79–0.92, p < 0.0001; congestive heart failure (CHF): HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.67–0.78, p < 0.0001; major coronary events: HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.87–0.95, p < 0.0001. There was a nonlinear association between SPISE index and future cardiovascular outcomes (the threshold value was 5.68 for MACE, 5.71 for overall mortality, 4.64 for CVD mortality, 4.48 for CHF, and 6.09 for major coronary events, respectively). Conclusions: Higher SPISE index was independently associated with lower risk of future cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes patients after full adjustment for well‐established metabolic confounders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its adverse environmental and human health hazards, addressing the elimination of nitric oxide (NO) has become a pressing concern for modern society. Currently, electrochemical NO reduction provides a new alternative to traditional selective catalytic reduction technology under mild reaction conditions. However, the complexity and variability of products make the coverage of NO an influencing factor that needs to be investigated. Hence, this study delves into the coverage-sensitive mechanism of electrochemical NO reduction on cost-effective perovskite catalysts, using SrTiO3 as an example, through density functional theory calculations. Phase diagrams analysis reveals that the coverage range from 0.25 to 1.00 monolayer (ML) coverage is favorable for NO adsorption. Gibbs free energy results indicate that the selectivity is significantly influenced by NO coverage. NH3 is likely to be generated at low coverage, while N2O and N2 are more likely to be produced at high coverage through a dimer mechanism. Charge analysis suggests that the charge transfer and Ti–O bond strength between reactants and catalysts are crucial factors. This work not only provides deep insights into coverage-sensitive reaction mechanisms but also is a guideline towards further rational design of high-performance perovskite catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In eukaryotes, the nuclear membrane that encapsulates genomic DNA is composed of an inner nuclear membrane (INM), an outer nuclear membrane (ONM), and a perinuclear space. SUN proteins located in the INM and KASH proteins in the ONM form the SUN-KASH NM-bridge, which functions as the junction of the nucleocytoplasmic complex junction. Proteins containing the SUN domain showed the highest correlation with differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) in the wheat response to fungal stress. To understand the characteristics of SUN and its associated proteins in wheat responding to pathogen stress, here we investigated and comprehensive analyzed SUN- and KASH-related proteins among the DAPs under fungi infection based on their conserved motifs. In total, four SUN proteins, one WPP domain-interacting protein (WIP), four WPP domain-interacting tail-anchored proteins (WIT), two WPP proteins and one Ran GTPase activating protein (RanGAP) were identified. Following transient expression of Nicotiana benthamiana, TaSUN2, TaRanGAP2, TaWIT1 and TaWIP1 were identified as nuclear membrane proteins, while TaWPP1 and TaWPP2 were expressed in both the nucleus and cell membrane. RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated that the transcription of TaSUN2, TaRanGAP2 and TaWPP1 were strongly upregulated in response to fungal infection. Furthermore, using the bimolecular fluorescence complementation, the luciferase complementation and a nuclear and split-ubiquitin-based membrane yeast two-hybrid systems, we substantiated the interaction between TaSUN2 and TaWIP1, as well as TaWIP1/WIT1 and TaWPP1/WPP2. Silencing of TaSUN2, TaRanGAP2 and TaWPP1 in wheat leaves promoted powdery mildew infection and hyphal growth, and reduced the expression of TaBRI1, TaBAK1 and Ta14-3–3, indicating that these NM proteins play a positive role in resistance to fungal stress. Our study reveals the characteristics of NM proteins and propose the preliminary construction of SUN-WIP-WPP-RanGAP complex in wheat, which represents a foundation for detail elucidating their functions in wheat in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter family is one of the largest protein families in plants and plays an essential role in addressing biotic and abiotic stresses. Wheat, a vital global grain crop, faces multifaceted safety challenges, primarily from fungal diseases like stripe rust and powdery mildew. In the present study, we identified the whole genome of the wheat ABC family, and 463 nonredundant ABC genes were identified. The ABC family can be divided into nine evolutionary branches and eight subfamilies based on phylogenetic tree analysis. This paper delved deeper into characterizing the gene structure, promoter region, and gene expression within the TaABC family. Segmental duplication was the main reason for the expansion of the TaABC genes. Ka/Ks analysis suggested that most TaABC genes were intensely purified and selected. The collinear analysis of TaABC and other species showed that the ABC genes were conserved in evolution. RNA-seq data and qPCR data from wheat infected with powdery mildew or stripe rust showed that most TaABC genes were induced to change expression. The candidate genes TaABCB15-3B and TaABCG38 exhibited responsiveness to powdery mildew in resistant/susceptible wheat, while remaining unresponsive to stripe rust. Our findings serve as a valuable reference for gaining a deeper understanding of the function and evolution of TaABCs, aiding in the identification of enduring disease resistance genes within the TaABCs of wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The cell wall is the major interface for arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. However, the roles of cell wall proteins and cell wall synthesis in AM symbiosis remain unclear. We reported that a novel wall‐associated kinase 13 (GhWAK13) positively regulates AM symbiosis and negatively regulates Verticillium wilt resistance in cotton.GhWAK13 transcription was induced by AM symbiosis and Verticillium dahliae (VD) infection. GhWAK13 is located in the plasma membrane and expressed in the arbuscule‐containing cortical cells of mycorrhizal cotton roots.GhWAK13 silencing inhibited AM colonization and repressed gene expression of the mycorrhizal pathway. Moreover, GhWAK13 silencing improved Verticillium wilt resistance and triggered the expression of immunity genes. Therefore, GhWAK13 is considered an immune suppressor required for AM symbiosis and disease resistance. GhWAK7A, a positive regulator of Verticillium wilt resistance, was upregulated in GhWAK13‐silenced cotton plants. Silencing GhWAK7A improved AM symbiosis. Oligogalacturonides application also suppressed AM symbiosis. Finally, GhWAK13 negatively affected the cellulose content by regulating the transcription of cellulose synthase genes.The results of this study suggest that immunity suppresses AM symbiosis in cotton. GhWAK13 affects AM symbiosis by suppressing immune responses. See also the Commentary on this article by Giovanetti & Genre, 242: 1851–1853. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal program enumeration (SPE) can generate a great number of test programs for validating the correctness of compilers or interpreters. The classic SPE generates programs by exhaustively enumerating all possible variable usage patterns into a given syntactic structure. Even though it is capable of producing many test programs, the exhaustive enumeration strategy generates a large number of invalid programs, which may waste plenty of testing time and resources. To address the problem, this article proposes a tree-based SPE technique. Compared to the state-of-the-art, the key merit of the tree-based approach is that it allows us to take the dependency information into consideration when producing test programs and, thus, make it possible to (1) directly generate non-equivalent programs and (2) apply dominance relations to eliminate invalid test programs that have undefined variables. Hence, our approach significantly saves the cost of the naïve SPE approach. We have implemented our approach into an automated testing tool, IFuzzer, and applied it to test eight different implementations of Python interpreters, including CPython, PyPy, IronPython, Jython, RustPython, GPython, Pyston, and Codon. In three months of fuzzing, IFuzzer detected 142 bugs, of which 87 have been confirmed to be previously unknown bugs, of which 34 have been fixed. Compared to the state-of-the-art SPE techniques, IFuzzer takes only 61.0% of the time cost given the same number of testing seeds and improves 5.3% source code function coverage in the same time budget of testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SiCf/SiC composites, as promising materials for the hot‐section components of turbine engines, are susceptible to hot corrosion due to the steam environments. Especially, under rotational and thermal stress, numerous microcracks may be generated in the SiCf/SiC ceramic matrix, which can trigger the rapid invasion of corrosive gases and deteriorate the composite mechanical properties. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate the degradation mechanisms of SiCf/SiC with precracks existing. Here, the corrosion behavior of precracked SiCf/SiC in the Na2SO4‐wet‐oxygen environment was evaluated. By comparing mechanical evolution under different corrosion conditions, microfailure mechanisms of SiCf/SiC were revealed. The results indicate that brittle cracking of the matrix and oxidation erosion of fibers are the key factors in reducing the tensile strain of composites. Specifically, the composite damage resistance increases at 67 MPa‐1300°C. At this point, the prestress level is moderate and close to the matrix cracking limit. The prefabricated microcracks can be healed at 1300°C by liquid oxidation products, which hinders cracks bridging large‐scale. This study is conducive to a better understanding of failure mechanisms of SiCf/SiC in complex service environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteochondral allograft (OCA) transplantation involves grafting of natural hyaline cartilage and supporting subchondral bone into the cartilage defect area to restore its biomechanical and tissue structure. However, differences in biomechanical properties and donor-host matching may impair the integration of articular cartilage (AC). This study analyzed the biomechanical properties of the AC in different regions of different sites of the knee joint and provided a novel approach to OCA transplantation. Intact stifle joints from skeletally mature pigs were collected from a local abattoir less than 8 h after slaughter. OCAs were collected from different regions of the joints. The patella and the tibial plateau were divided into medial and lateral regions, while the trochlea and femoral condyle were divided into six regions. The OCAs were analyzed and compared for Young's modulus, the compressive modulus, and cartilage thickness. Young's modulus, cartilage thickness, and compressive modulus of OCA were significantly different in different regions of the joints. A negative correlation was observed between Young's modulus and the proportion of the subchondral bone (r = − 0.4241, P < 0.0001). Cartilage thickness was positively correlated with Young's modulus (r = 0.4473, P < 0.0001) and the compressive modulus (r = 0.3678, P < 0.0001). During OCA transplantation, OCAs should be transplanted in the same regions, or at the closest possible regions to maintain consistency of the biomechanical properties and cartilage thickness of the donor and recipient, to ensure smooth integration with the surrounding tissue. A 7 mm depth achieved a higher Young's modulus, and may represent the ideal length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to promote the accurate recognition and application of visual navigation robots to the environment, this paper carried out research on the road pattern recognition of a vision-guided robot based on improved YOLOv8 on the basis of road pattern calibration and experimental sampling. First, an experimental system for road image shooting was built independently, and 21 different kinds of road pattern image data were obtained by sampling roads with different weather conditions, road materials, and degrees of damage. Second, the road pattern recognition model based on the classical neural network Resnet 18 was constructed for model training and testing, and the initial recognition of road pattern was realized. Third, the YOLOv8 target detection model was introduced to build the road pattern recognition model based on YOLOv8n, and the model was trained and tested, improving road pattern recognition accuracy and recognition response speed by 3.1% and 200%, respectively. Finally, to further improve the accuracy of road pattern recognition, improvement research was carried out on the YOLOv8n road pattern recognition model based on the C2f-ODConv module, the AWD adaptive weight downsampling module, the EMA attention mechanism, and the collaboration of the three modules. Three network architectures, classical CNN (Resnet 18), YOLOv8n, and improved YOLOv8n, were compared. The results show that four different optimization models can further improve the accuracy of road pattern recognition, among which the accuracy of the improved YOLO v8 road pattern recognition model based on multimodule cooperation is the highest, reaching more than 93%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dots (CDs) are nanoscale carbon materials with unique optical properties and biocompatibility. Their applications are limited by their tendency to aggregate or oxidize in aqueous environments. Turning weakness to strengths, CDs can be incorporated with hydrogels, which are three-dimensional networks of crosslinked polymers that can retain large amounts of water. Hydrogels can provide a stable and tunable matrix for CDs, enhancing their fluorescence, stability, and functionality. CDs@hydrogels, known for their ease of synthesis, strong binding capabilities, and rich surface functional groups, have emerged as promising composite materials. In this review, recent advances in the synthesis and characterization of CDs@hydrogels, composite materials composed of CDs and various types of natural or synthetic hydrogels, are summarized. The potential applications of CDs@hydrogels in fluorescence sensing, adsorption, drug delivery, antibacterial activity, flexible electronics, and energy storage are also highlighted. The current challenges and future prospects of CDs@hydrogels systems for the novel functional materials are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global obesity pandemic has led to an alarming rise in the prevalence of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), making it a substantial clinical and economic burden on society. Early detection and effective treatment of MAFLD are imperative to mitigate its impact. This cross-sectional study was conducted involving 4634 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2017–2018 cycle. Transient elastography (TE) was used to diagnose MAFLD and assess the extent of liver steatosis and fibrosis. Multivariate logistic regression models were utilized to examine the association between the triglyceride and glucose index-waist circumference (TyG-WC) and the risk of MAFLD, liver fibrosis, and steatosis. A positive association between TyG-WC and MAFLD persisted across all three models: model1: OR = 8.44, 95% CI: 6.85–10.38 (unadjusted), model2: OR = 8.28, 95% CI: 6.53–10.50 (partially adjusted), and model3: OR = 7.98, 95% CI: 4.11–15.46 (fully adjusted). Further investigation through interaction and stratified analysis revealed that this association was more pronounced in the non-obese and Non-Hispanic White persons groups. Moreover, a non-linear relationship analysis unveiled threshold and saturation effects between TyG-WC and MAFLD. Specifically, a TyG-WC value of approximately 600 may represent the threshold effect for MAFLD risk, while 1200 may signify the saturation effect of MAFLD risk. Finally, a robust correlation between TyG-WC and the severity of liver steatosis and fibrosis was found. The findings suggest that the TyG-WC index exhibits excellent predictive value for MAFLD in the general American population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emphasis on producing high-energy and insensitive composite microspheres has increased in energetic materials. However, few methods are available for preparing good spherical and morphological composite microspheres. To produce composite microspheres that are both high-energy and safe, in this article, a continuous pipe-stream self-assembly device was constructed to produce FOX-7/HMX composite microspheres continuously and taking advantage of the principle that PVA and Tween-80 can reduce the surface tension of the microspheres in water. In comparison with the molding powders produced by the kneading way, the FOX-7/HMX composite microspheres prepared by this device had fewer surface defects, a denser structure, a more spherical shape, and a smaller range of particle sizes. The mechanical properties of the pressed columns were better, with maximum compressive strength and strain increased by 44.2% and 21.4%, respectively; and the flowability and bulk density were also improved to some extent (angle of repose: energetic microspheres vs kneading method molding powder, 26.6° vs 51.1°; bulk density: energetic microspheres vs kneading method molding powder, 0.522 vs 0.426 g/cm3). Mechanical sensitivity has also been significantly reduced. This article provides innovative ideas for preparing high-energy and insensitive composite microspheres using a continuous pipe-stream self-assembly device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon carbide fiber‐reinforced SiC ceramic matrix composites (SiCf/SiC CMCs) based on a domestic KD‐SA SiC fiber were exposed to a wet oxygen atmosphere for 135 h at 800, 1100, and 1300°C. The evolution of the microstructure and mechanical properties of SiCf/SiC CMCs have been systematically investigated following oxidation. For weight change, CMC‐1300 showed the greatest gain (0.394%), followed by CMC‐1100 (0.356%) and CMC‐800 (0.149%). The volatilization of boron oxide (B2O3) combined with the slight oxidation of the SiC matrix at 800°C caused crack deflection and fiber pull‐out. The complete dissipation of the interphase could be found when the oxidation temperature increases to 1100°C, generated a fracture surface with brittle fracture characteristics. At 1300°C, crystalline SiO2 hindered oxygen diffusion, with evidence of fiber pull‐out. Based on thermodynamic calculations and microscopic observations, we propose a mechanism to explain the thermal degradation of SiCf/SiC CMCs. This work offers valuable guidance for the fabrication of SiCf/SiC CMCs that are suitable for high‐temperature applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covering 1963 to 2023 Monoterpene indole alkaloids are the main sub-family of indole alkaloids with fascinating structures, stereochemistry, and diverse bioactivities (e.g., anticancer, anti-malarial and anti-arrhythmic etc.). Vallesamidine alkaloids and structurally more complex schizozygane alkaloids are small groups of rearranged monoterpene indole alkaloids with a unique 2,2,3-trialkylated indoline scaffold, while schizozygane alkaloids can generate a further rearranged skeleton, isoschizozygane, possessing a tetra-substituted, bridged tetrahydroquinoline core. In this review, the origin and structural features of vallesamidine and schizozygane alkaloids are introduced, and a discussion on the relationship of these alkaloids with aspidosperma alkaloids and a structural rearrangement hypothesis based on published studies is followed. Moreover, uncommon skeletons and potential bioactivities, such as anti-malarial and anti-tumour activities, make such alkaloids important synthetic targets, attracting research groups globally to accomplish total synthesis, resulting in impressive works on novel total synthesis, formal synthesis, and construction of key intermediates. These synthetic endeavours are systematically reviewed and highlighted with key strategies and efficiencies, providing different viewpoints on molecular structures and promoting the extension of chemical space and mining of new active scaffolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatty acid vesicles (FAVs), with their unique bionic structure, play a crucial role in models for protocells, food manufacturing, and drug delivery systems. However, FAVs are highly sensitive to changes in pH, which imposes strict constraints on their development in food and medicine. Therefore, in this study, the pH window of vesicles formed by oleic acid (OA) was migrated and expanded by introducing a nonionic surfactant, Tween80 (TW80), which resulted in a more stable pH environment for FAVs. Acid–base titration combined with particle size confirmed that different ratios of TW80 and OA expanded the pH window from 8.2–10 to 1.99–7.49, as determined by potential and turbidity. The intermolecular forces of TW80/OA composite vesicles were determined by infrared spectroscopy. Vitamin C (VC) was used as a model drug, and the TW80/OA/VC vesicles showed an encapsulation rate of 48.87% and a drug-loading capacity of 13.13% at a VC concentration of 1 mg/mL, pH = 5.5, and T = 25 °C. The vesicles were also found to have a high VC concentration and a high drug loading capacity. The in vitro release experiments demonstrated that the TW80/OA/VC vesicles could accomplish the drug release process in a physiological environment. The results of in vitro free radical scavenging experiments showed that the TW80/OA/VC vesicles could maximize the scavenging rate of DPPH free radicals up to 97.61%. This study can provide a fundamental theoretical basis for applying drug carrier vesicles in cosmetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocompatible fatty acids are natural biological materials which exhibit widespread biomedical applications. Nevertheless, their application in vesicle forms is hampered by strong pH sensitivity and poor stability to changes in ionic strength, temperature, and storage. In the investigation, the incorporation of alkyl glycoside (APG), a surfactant with non-ionic properties, into the oleic acid (OA) vesicles was undertaken as a means to address this issue. The newly formed OA/APG composite vesicles form in a pH range of between 5.4 and 7.4, which is close to the pH range of the physiological environment. The stability studies results showed that the OA/APG composite vesicles have excellent stability in terms of ionic strengths, temperature and storage. The formation of NAR-loaded OA/APG composite vesicles was demonstrated through FT-IR, DSC and XRD. In vitro topical delivery and skin retention studies confirmed that the composite vesicles improve skin permeation rate and have better skin permeation behavior. Antioxidant activity experiments confirmed that the antioxidant effect composite vesicles were significantly increased as compared to the naringenin (NAR). This finding has theoretical implications for the use of drug-loaded fatty acid vesicles in cosmetics industries and topical delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging during storage and confinement pressure during launch are the two major loading conditions that affect the integrity of solid rocket motors. In comparison to other component materials, solid propellants, as highly filled composites, have a low modulus and fracture toughness and are therefore common sources of failure. The key to improving the integrity of the solid rocket motor is in assessing the health of the solid propellants during storage or launch. To address this issue, we revised the previous model for the progressive damage viscoelasticity of solid propellants to include the effect of chemical aging during storage and the influence of confinement pressure during launch. Specifically, the increase in relaxation time due to aging and the nonequilibrium volume dilatation characteristics under triaxial tension and compression of solid propellants have been considered. To validate the developed model, standard relaxation tests and uniaxial tensile tests on solid propellants without aging were used to calibrate the model parameters. Furthermore, the model was validated by comparison with uniaxial tensile tests under confined pressure after aging and well predicts the aging temperature/time‐dependent mechanical responses of solid propellants. After validation, the developed model was used to study the influence of confinement pressure on microscopic damage evolution and macroscopic volume expansion. Overall, the developed model can be used for the analysis of the integrity of the solid rocket motor after the aging process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inertial Measurement Unit-based methods have great potential in capturing motion in large-scale and complex environments with many people. Sparse Inertial Measurement Unit-based methods have more research value due to their simplicity and flexibility. However, improving the computational efficiency and reducing latency in such methods are challenging. In this paper, we propose Fast Inertial Poser, which is a full body motion estimation deep neural network based on 6 inertial measurement units considering body parameters. We design a network architecture based on recurrent neural networks according to the kinematics tree. This method introduces human body shape information by the causality of observations and eliminates the dependence on future frames. During the estimation of joint positions, the upper body and lower body are estimated using separate network modules independently. Then the joint rotation is obtained through a well-designed single-frame kinematics inverse solver. Experiments show that the method can greatly improve the inference speed and reduce the latency while ensuring the reconstruction accuracy compared with previous methods. Fast Inertial Poser runs at 65 fps with 15 ms latency on an embedded computer, demonstrating the efficiency of the model.Inertial Measurement Units-based motion capture effective application in large scale and complex environments depends on improved efficiency and reduced latency. Here, authors propose a full body motion estimation deep neural network based on 6 IMUs, which runs at 65 fps with 15 ms latency on an embedded computer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wheeled chassis, which is the carrying device of the existing handling robot, is mostly only suitable for flat indoor environments and does not have the ability to work on outdoor rugged terrain, greatly limiting the development of chassis driven handling robots. On this basis, this paper innovatively designs a four-wheel-driving Ackerman chassis with strong vibration absorption and obstacle surmounting capabilities and conducts performance research and optimization on it through quantitative experiments and dynamic simulation. Firstly, based on the introduction of the working principle and structure of the four-wheel-driving Ackerman carrier chassis, a multi-sensor distributed dynamic performance test system is constructed through the analysis of the chassis performance evaluation index. Then, according to the quantitative operation experiment of the chassis, the vibration and acceleration characteristics of the chassis at different positions of the chassis, the amount of slip and straightness of the chassis under different running distance, and the operating characteristics of the chassis under different road conditions and different damping springs conditions were analyzed respectively, which verified the rationality of the chassis design. Finally, by constructing the chassis dynamics simulation model; the influence law of chassis structure; and performance parameters such as chassis wheelbase, guide rod structure, and parameters, wheel friction coefficient and assembly error on the dynamic characteristics of the chassis is studied, and the optimal structure of the four-wheel-driving Ackerman chassis is determined while it is verified based on the simulation results. The research shows that the four-wheel-driving Ackerman chassis has good vibration performance and stability and has strong adaptability to different roads. After optimization, the vibration performance, stability, amount of slip, and straightness of the chassis structure are significantly improved, and the straightness is reduced to 0.399%, which is suitable for precise carriage applications on the chassis. The research has important guiding significance for promoting the development and application of wheeled chassis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-image deraining remains a formidable challenge. Its objective is not only to eliminate rain streaks from the target image but also to restore its spatial details and high-level contextual structure. Recently, numerous CNN-based methods have been introduced for this purpose. While these methods can adeptly remove rain streaks, they often face difficulties in restoring high-quality, rain-free images while preserving clear and precise structures—especially when those structures resemble rain streaks. To extract a diverse array of feature information for image structure restoration, we introduce a network called the Structure Recovery Ensemble Network (SRENet). This network comprises three learners, each designed with three parallel subnetworks. This arrangement allows for the acquisition of a broader range of structural features by transitioning from deep vertical networks to horizontal parallelization across multiple subnetworks. To extract structural features without interference from rain streak information, we employ an independent loss strategy in which each learner is trained to address different specific challenges in the image deraining process, such as rain removal and structure restoration. Additionally, we design a guided fusion module to seamlessly integrate features from the various learners and subnetworks. Comprehensive experiments on benchmark datasets confirm that our proposed method sets new state-of-the-art standards. On the synthetic datasets, SRENet achieved average improvements of 0.85% in SSIM and 0.81% in PSNR compared to mainstream benchmarks. On real-world rainy images, SRENet demonstrates improvements of 6.71% in NIQE and 11.4% in BRISQUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers and downstream reservoirs formed a connected river-reservoir system that played an important role in regulating the aquatic environment. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollution in individual river or reservoir has caused widespread concern. However, the distribution and potential environmental behaviour of PAHs in the river-reservoir system are still scarce. This study focused on the occurrence, distribution, and risk assessment of PAHs in a representative river-reservoir system in South China. The concentration of Σ16PAHs in the water phase of the river-reservoir system was 102.2 − 407.6 ng/L and at a low level compared to other typical aquatic environment, with the main monomer being naphthalene. The PAHs in the river system were mainly from the volatilization of petroleum products, while they were from combustion and petroleum volatilization sources in the reservoir system. For the river system, higher runoff and temperature could contribute to the volatilization of low molecular weight PAHs and their solubility in the water phase. In contrast, longer hydraulic retention time in the reservoir system could reduce the occurrence level of 3-ring PAHs through the biogeochemical cycles. Redundancy analysis further indicated that significant factors affecting PAHs in river system and reservoir system were different. In common, the water temperature could influence the PAHs both in the river system and reservoir system. Generally, the ecological risk of PAHs in the water phase was at a moderate risk and their health risk was at a low risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injury to the brain after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) results from numerous complex cellular mechanisms. At present, effective therapy for ICH is limited and a better understanding of the mechanisms of brain injury is necessary to improve prognosis. There is increasing evidence that ion channel dysregulation occurs at multiple stages in primary and secondary brain injury following ICH. Ion channels such as TWIK-related K+ channel 1, sulfonylurea 1 transient receptor potential melastatin 4 and glutamate-gated channels affect ion homeostasis in ICH. They in turn participate in the formation of brain edema, disruption of the blood-brain barrier, and the generation of neurotoxicity. In this review, we summarize the interaction between ions and ion channels, the effects of ion channel dysregulation, and we discuss some therapeutics based on ion-channel modulation following ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common pathological type of lung cancer, but the early diagnosis rate is low. The RNA-binding ubiquitin ligase MEX3C promotes tumorigenesis in several cancers but its mechanism of action in LUAD is unclear. In this study, the biological activity of MEX3C was assessed in LUAD. MEX3C and RUNX3 mRNA levels in the tissues of LUAD patients were determined using reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR. The involvement of MEX3C in the growth and metastasis of LUAD cells was measured by EdU assay, CCK-8, colony formation, Transwell assay, TUNEL, and flow cytometry. Expression of apoptosis and epithelial–mesenchymal transition related proteins were determined using western blotting analysis. LUAD cells transfected with si-MEX3C were administered to mice subcutaneously to monitor tumor progression and metastasis. We found that MEX3C is strongly upregulated in LUAD tissue sections, and involved in proliferation and migration. A549 and H1299 cells had significantly higher levels of MEX3C expression compared to control HBE cells. Knockdown of MEX3C dramatically decreased cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and accelerated apoptosis. Mechanistically, we demonstrate MEX3C induces ubiquitylation and degradation of tumor suppressor RUNX3. Moreover, RUNX3 transcriptionally represses Suv39H1, as revealed by RNA pull-down and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. The in vivo mice model demonstrated that knockdown of MEX3C reduced LUAD growth and metastasis significantly. Collectively, we reveal a novel MEX3C-RUNX3-Suv39H1 signaling axis driving LUAD pathogenesis. Targeting MEX3C may represent a promising therapeutic strategy against LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bi‐mode Insulated Gate Transistor (BIGT), owing to its notable attributes in power density and compact dimensions, holds promising applications in the realm of high power converters. However, its characteristic of the voltage drop in diode mode controlled by gate‐emitter voltage poses significant challenges for low‐loss operation. This paper investigates the relationship between BIGT's on‐state voltage drop in diode mode and its gate‐emitter voltage in detail. By combining simulation and experimental analysis, recommended the gate‐emitter voltage values are provided. Furthermore, a novel driver optimization scheme is proposed to automatically lower the gate voltage during reverse conduction, which can effectively reduce the reverse on‐state losses of the BIGT. Experimental validation demonstrates a 10.6% reduction in reverse on‐state voltage drop, showcasing the efficacy of the proposed driver optimization scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammation in the testes induced by infection and autoimmunity contributes significantly to male infertility, a public health issue. Current therapies using antibiotics and broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory drugs are ineffective against non-bacterial orchitis and induce side effects. This highlights the need to explore the pathogenesis of orchitis and develop alternative therapeutic strategies. In this study, we demonstrated that Gasdermin D (GSDMD) was activated in the testes during uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC)-induced acute orchitis, and that GSDMD in macrophages induced inflammation and affected spermatogenesis during acute and chronic orchitis. In testicular macrophages, GSDMD promoted inflammation and antigen presentation, thereby enhancing the T-cell response after orchitis. Furthermore, the pharmacological inhibition of GSDMD alleviated the symptoms of UPEC-induced acute orchitis. Collectively, these findings provide the first demonstration of GSDMD's role in driving orchitis and suggest that GSDMD may be a potential therapeutic target for treating orchitis. Synopsis: Inflammation in the testis triggered by infection or an autoimmune disorder may lead to male infertility. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC)-induced orchitis and experimental autoimmune orchitis (EAO) mouse models were used to identify the critical role of the Gasdermin D (GSDMD)-mediated pyroptosis in the pathogenesis of orchitis. The cleavage of GSDMD in testis is induced by UPEC infection. Gsdmdfl/flCx3cr1-cre mice are protected from UPEC-induced acute orchitis and chronic EAO. GSDMD deficiency reduces inflammatory response and antigen presentation capacities of macrophages, thereby impairing CD8 + T-cell response. The FDA-approved drug DMF inhibiting GSDMD activation alleviates UPEC-induced acute orchitis. Inflammation in the testis triggered by infection or an autoimmune disorder may lead to male infertility. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC)-induced orchitis and experimental autoimmune orchitis (EAO) mouse models were used to identify the critical role of the Gasdermin D (GSDMD)-mediated pyroptosis in the pathogenesis of orchitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: The intestinal development in early life is profoundly influenced by multiple biological components of breast milk, in which milk-derived extracellular vesicles (mEVs) contain a large amount of vertically transmitted signal from the mother. However, little is known about how maternal fiber-rich diet regulates offspring intestinal development by influencing the mEVs. Results: In this study, we found that maternal resistant starch (RS) consumption during late gestation and lactation improved the growth and intestinal health of offspring. The mEVs in breast milk are the primary factor driving these beneficial effects, especially enhancing intestinal cell proliferation and migration. To be specific, administration of mEVs after maternal RS intake enhanced intestinal cell proliferation and migration in vivo (performed in mice model and indicated by intestinal histological observation, EdU assay, and the quantification of cyclin proteins) and in vitro (indicated by CCK8, MTT, EdU, and wound healing experiments). Noteworthily, miR-146a-5p was found to be highly expressed in the mEVs from maternal RS group, which also promotes intestinal cell proliferation in cells and mice models. Mechanically, miR-146a-5p target to silence the expression of ubiquitin ligase 3 gene NEDD4L, thereby inhibiting DVL2 ubiquitination, activating the Wnt pathway, and promoting intestinal development. Conclusion: These findings demonstrated the beneficial role of mEVs in the connection between maternal fiber rich diet and offspring intestinal growth. In addition, we identified a novel miRNA-146a-5p-NEDD4L-β-catenin/Wnt signaling axis in regulating early intestinal development. This work provided a new perspective for studying the influence of maternal diet on offspring development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Pinene is a biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) that significantly contributes to secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in the atmosphere due to its high emission rate, reactivity, and SOA yield. However, the SOA yield measured in chamber studies from α-pinene photooxidation is limited in a purified air matrix. Assessing SOA formation from α-pinene photooxidation in real urban ambient air based on studies conducted in purified air matrices may be subject to uncertainties. In this study, α-pinene photooxidation and SOA yield were investigated in a smog chamber in the presence of NO and SO2 under purified air and ambient air matrices. With the accumulation of ozone (O3) during the photooxidation, an increasing part of α-pinene was consumed by O3 and finally nearly half of the α-pinene was oxidized by O3, facilitating the production of highly oxidized organic molecules and thereby SOA formation. Although the ambient air we introduced as matrix air was largely clean, with initial organic aerosol mass concentrations of ~1.5 μg m−3, the α-pinene SOA yield in the ambient air matrix was 42.3 ± 5.3%, still higher than that of 32.4 ± 0.4% in the purified air matrix. The chemical characterization of SOA by the high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) revealed that CxHy accounted for 53.7 ± 1.1% of the total signal in the ambient air matrix experiments, higher than 48.1 ± 0.3% in the purified air, while CxHyO and CxHyO>1 together constituted 45.0 ± 0.9% in the ambient air matrix, lower than 50.1 ± 1.0% in the purified air. The O:C ratio in the ambient air matrix experiments was 0.41 ± 0.01, lower than 0.46 ± 0.01 in the purified air. The higher SOA yield of α-pinene in the ambient air matrix compared to that in the purified air matrix was partly due to the presence of initial aerosols in the ambient air, which facilitated the low volatile organic compounds produced from photochemical oxidation to enter the aerosol phase through gas-particle partitioning. The in-situ aerosol acidity calculated by the ISORROPIA-II model in the ambient air matrix experiments was approximately six times higher than that in purified air, and the higher SOA yield in the ambient air matrix experiments might also be attributed to acid-catalyzed SOA formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have achieved remarkable success in associating thousands of genetic variants with complex traits. However, the presence of linkage disequilibrium (LD) makes it challenging to identify the causal variants. To address this critical gap from association to causation, many fine-mapping methods have been proposed to assign well-calibrated probabilities of causality to candidate variants, taking into account the underlying LD pattern. In this manuscript, we introduce a statistical framework that incorporates expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) information to fine-mapping, built on the sum of single-effects (SuSiE) regression model. Our new method, SuSiE2, connects two SuSiE models, one for eQTL analysis and one for genetic fine-mapping. This is achieved by first computing the posterior inclusion probabilities (PIPs) from an eQTL-based SuSiE model with the expression level of the candidate gene as the phenotype. These calculated PIPs are then utilized as prior inclusion probabilities for risk variants in another SuSiE model for the trait of interest. By prioritizing functional variants within the candidate region using eQTL information, SuSiE2 improves SuSiE by increasing the detection rate of causal SNPs and reducing the average size of credible sets. We compared the performance of SuSiE2 with other multi-trait fine-mapping methods with respect to power, coverage, and precision through simulations and applications to the GWAS results of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and body mass index (BMI). Our results demonstrate the better performance of SuSiE2, both when the in-sample linkage disequilibrium (LD) matrix and an external reference panel is used in inference. Author summary: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have proven powerful in detecting genetic variants associated with complex traits. However, there are challenges in distinguishing the causal variants from other variants strongly correlated with them. To better identify causal SNPs, many fine-mapping methods have been proposed to assign well-calibrated probabilities of causality to candidate variants. We introduce a statistical framework that incorporates expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) information to fine-mapping, which can improve the accuracy and efficiency of association studies by prioritizing functional variants within the risk genes before evaluating the causation. Our new fine-mapping framework, SuSiE2, connects two sum of single-effects (SuSiE) models, one for eQTL analysis and one for genetic fine-mapping. The posterior inclusion probabilities from an eQTL-based SuSiE model are utilized as prior inclusion probabilities for risk variants in another SuSiE model for the trait of interest. Through simulations and real data analyses focused on body mass index and Alzheimer's disease, we demonstrate that SuSiE2 improves fine-mapping results by increasing statistical power, having appropriate coverage, and reducing the average size of credible sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing growth in installed capacity for renewable energy sources has progressively replaced traditional thermal power units as synchronous power contributors. This transition has led to a reduction in system inertia and resources for frequency regulation, creating a need for renewable energy and energy storage to participate in system frequency modulation. Empirical studies indicate that the current market mechanism for frequency modulation auxiliary services, which predominantly rely on thermal power, is suboptimal for leveraging the unique capabilities of diverse frequency modulation resources. This inadequacy hinders the power industry's pursuit of the "dual carbon" goals -- carbon neutrality and carbon peak. Hence, this paper proposes a joint clearing model for the involvement of renewable energy and energy storage in the frequency modulation auxiliary service market. It considers performance differences and employs the Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to guide the optimization of the weights of frequency modulation performance indicators for various frequency modulation resources. This approach allows renewable energy, energy storage, and thermal power to maximize the benefits of their own differentiated advantages in various frequency modulation performance indicators. Consequently, this fosters an increased share of renewable energy within the system while ensuring frequency stability, thereby expediting the achievement of the power industry's "dual carbon" goals. Finally, computational analyses substantiate that the proposed joint clearing model, accounting for performance differentials, can enhance the renewable energy share in the system and simultaneously reduce the societal costs associated with frequency modulation services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photooxidative coupling of benzylic amines using naturally abundant O2 as an oxidant under visible light irradiation is an alternative green approach to synthesis imines and is of both fundamental and practical significance. We investigated the photophysical properties of flavin (FL) that is a naturally available sensitizer and its derivatives, i.e. 9-bromoflavin (MB-FL), 7,8-dibromoflavin (DB-FL) and 10-phenylflavin (Ph-FL), as well as the performance of these FL-based sensitizers (FLPSs) in the photooxidative coupling of benzylic amines to imines combining experimental and theoretical efforts. We showed that chemical functionalization with Br and phenyl effectively improves the photophysical properties of these FLPSs, in terms of absorption in the visible light range, singlet oxygen quantum yields, triplet lifetime, etc. Apart from nearly quantitative selectivity for the production of imines, the performance of DB-FL is superior to those of other FLPSs, and it is among the best photocatalysts for imine synthesis. Specifically, 0.5 mol% DB-FL is capable of converting 91% of 0.2 mmol benzylamine and more than 80% of 0.2 mmol fluorobenzylic amine derivatives into their corresponding imines in 5 h batch runs. Mechanistic investigation finely explained the observed photophysical properties of FLPSs and highlighted the dominant role of electron transfer in FLPS sensitized coupling of benzylic amines to imines. This work not only helps to understand the pathways for photocatalysis with FLPSs but also paves the way for the design of novel and efficient PSs to promote organic synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binary ethosome vesicles have been developed as flexible lipid vesicles for the enhanced physicochemical stability and skin delivery of drugs. This work aimed to prepare phloretin-loaded propylene glycol ethosomes (PHL-PGEs) to improve their stability, skin permeability and antioxidant activity. PHL-PGEs were prepared via the ethanol injection method and optimized using different weight ratios of ethanol to propylene glycol (PG). When the ethanol/PG mass ratio changed from 10:0 to 0:10, the encapsulation efficiency and stability of ethosomes increased. At a PHL concentration of 1mg/mL, the EE% was 89.42 ± 2.42 and the DL% was 4.21 ± 0.04, which exhibited their highest values. The encapsulation of the PHL in the PHL-PGEs was strengthened via XRD analysis and FTIR analysis. The results of the in vitro percutaneous permeability test demonstrated that the combined use of ethanol and PG exhibited a notable enhancement in skin permeability, and the skin retention of PHL-PGEs was 1.06 times that of PHL-ethosomes (PHL-Es) and 2.24 times that of the PHL solution. An in vitro antioxidant activity study indicated that solubility and antioxidant activity was potentiated via the nanoencapsulation of phloretin. Therefore, these results confirm the potential of this nanocarrier to enhance physicochemical stability, skin permeability and antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent luminescent anti-counterfeiting materials and techniques are highly required to protect products and the rights and interests of consumers. However, traditional persistent materials maintain almost unchanged persistent luminescence (PersL) color after cessation of excitation and a characteristic that can be easily imitated using sophisticated forgery techniques. Herein, Zn3Ga2Ge2O10 (ZGGO):Cr,Mn phosphors with "chameleon" PersL behavior are developed. Strong red and green PersL can be obtained simultaneously after the cessation of UV excitation. In addition to the color changes observed in photoluminescence (PL), these phosphors exhibit a dynamic shift in PersL color from green to yellow/red within a single phosphor with a time delay or in response to an environment temperature increase. The mechanism of the temperature-dependent changeable color in PersL is proposed based on different carrier paths for different traps via temperature management. Persistent materials easily integrate the advantages of changeable PL color by excitation wavelength management and PersL colors via temperature management into the same phosphor. Especially, these phosphors are simultaneously used in information storage and multi-level encryption, promising enormous potential for next-generation anti-counterfeiting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms leading to changes in mesoscale chromatin organization during cellular aging are unknown. Here, we used transcriptional activator-like effectors, RNA-seq and superresolution analysis to determine the effects of genotoxic stress on oocyte chromatin structure. Major satellites are organized into tightly packed globular structures that coalesce into chromocenters and dynamically associate with the nucleolus. Acute irradiation significantly enhanced chromocenter mobility in transcriptionally inactive oocytes. In transcriptionally active oocytes, irradiation induced a striking unfolding of satellite chromatin fibers and enhanced the expression of transcripts required for protection from oxidative stress (Fermt1, Smg1), recovery from DNA damage (Tlk2, Rad54l) and regulation of heterochromatin assembly (Zfp296, Ski-oncogene). Non-irradiated, senescent oocytes exhibit not only high chromocenter mobility and satellite distension but also a high frequency of extra chromosomal satellite DNA. Notably, analysis of biological aging using an oocyte-specific RNA clock revealed cellular communication, posttranslational protein modifications, chromatin and histone dynamics as the top cellular processes that are dysregulated in both senescent and irradiated oocytes. Our results indicate that unfolding of heterochromatin fibers following acute genotoxic stress or cellular aging induced the formation of distended satellites and that abnormal chromatin structure together with increased chromocenter mobility leads to chromosome instability in senescent oocytes. Super-resolution imaging and RNA clock analyses show that exposure of mouse oocytes to ionizing radiation compromises chromatin organization and dramatically accelerates biological aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive use of neonicotinoids on food crops for pest management has resulted in substantial environmental contamination. It is imperative to develop an effective remediation material and technique as well as to determine the evolution pathways of products. Here, novel ball-milled nitrogen-doped biochar (NBC)-modified zero-valent iron (ZVI) composites (named MNBC-ZVI) were fabricated and applied to degrading neonicotinoids. Based on the characterization results, NBC incorporation introduced N-doped sites and new allying heterojunctions and achieved surface charge redistribution, rapid electron transfer, and higher hydrophobicity of ZVI particles. As a result, the interaction between ZVI particles and thiamethoxam (a typical neonicotinoid) was improved, and the adsorption–desorption and reductive degradation of thiamethoxam and ·H generation steps were optimized. MNBC-ZVI could rapidly degrade 100% of 10 mg·L−1 thiamethoxam within 360 min, its reduction rate constant was 12.1-fold greater than that of pristine ZVI, and the electron efficiency increased from 29.7% to 57.8%. This improved reactivity and selectivity resulted from increased electron transfer, enhanced hydrophobicity, and reduced accumulation of iron mud. Moreover, the degradation of neonicotinoids occurred mainly via nitrate reduction and dichlorination, and toxicity tests with degradation intermediates revealed that neonicotinoids undergo rapid detoxification. Remarkably, MNBC-ZVI also presented favorable tolerance to various anions, humic acid, wastewater and contaminated soil, as well as high reusability. This work offers an efficient and economic biochar-ZVI remediation technology for the rapid degradation and detoxification of neonicotinoids, significantly contributes to knowledge on the relevant removal mechanism and further advances the synthesis of highly reactive and environmentally friendly materials. Highlights: N-doped BC (NBC) incorporation induced charge redistribution and hydrophobicity of ZVI. NBC incorporation optimized reductive degradation of thiamethoxam and ·H generation. NBC enhanced thiamethoxam adsorption and weakened atomic H adsorption. Neonicotinoids undergo rapid detoxification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]