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The n-octane hydroconversion catalysts were prepared by the impregnation of nanosized HZSM-5 with ammonium heptamolybdate or phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) precursors and were characterised by SEM, BET, FT-IR, UV–Vis, XRD, Py-IR and NH3-TPD. The hydroconversion of n-octane over a little phosphorus doping on the n-octane hydroconversion activity of MoO3/ZSM-5 catalysts has been investigated in order to obtain light isomers, alkanes and aromatic products with high octane number. In particular, the use of PMA increases the ability of aromatization and producing light iso-alkanes for nanosized HZSM-5 zeolites. The yield of total aromatics and i/nratio over PMA-based MoO3/ZSM-5 catalysts reached 31.7 and 3.3 after 10 h of continuous reaction, respectively. When 0.2 wt% of phosphorus is added to the catalyst prepared from heptamolybdate, the activity is suppressed. A mixture of monoclinic β-MoO3and orthorhombic α-MoO3favors increasing aromatization performance over nanosized HZSM-5 zeolites, and orthorhombic α-MoO3is beneficial to the production of light iso-alkanes. It could be attributed to the difference between orthorhombic α-MoO3and monoclinic β-MoO3as well as the structural dissimilarity between the two phases on nanosized HZSM-5 zeolites. The improved activity of n-octane hydroconversion over these catalysts and the mechanism of hydroconversion is discussed.

Engineering exosomes with nanomaterials usually leads to the damage of exosomal membrane and bioactive molecules. Here, pathological angiogenesis targeting exosomes with magnetic imaging, ferroptosis inducing, and immunotherapeutic properties is fabricated using a simple coincubation method with macrophages being the bioreactor. Extremely small iron oxide nanoparticle (ESIONPs) incorporated exosomes (ESIONPs@EXO) are acquired by sorting the secreted exosomes from M1-polarized macrophages induced by ESIONPs. ESIONPs@EXO suppress pathological angiogenesis in vitroand in vivowithout toxicity. Furthermore, ESIONPs@EXO target pathological angiogenesis and exhibit an excellent T1-weighted contrast property for magnetic resonance imaging. Mechanistically, ESIONPs@EXO induce ferroptosis and exhibit immunotherapeutic ability toward pathological angiogenesis. These findings demonstrate that a pure biological method engineered ESIONPs@EXO using macrophages shows potential for targeted pathological angiogenesis therapy.

We consider the reconstruction of brain activity from electroencephalography (EEG). This inverse problem can be formulated as a linear regression with independent Gaussian scale mixture priors for both the source and noise components. Crucial factors influencing the accuracy of the source estimation are not only the noise level but also its correlation structure, but existing approaches have not addressed the estimation of noise covariance matrices with full structure. To address this shortcoming, we develop hierarchical Bayesian (type-II maximum likelihood) models for observations with latent variables for source and noise, which are estimated jointly from data. As an extension to classical sparse Bayesian learning (SBL), where across-sensor observations are assumed to be independent and identically distributed, we consider Gaussian noise with full covariance structure. Using the majorization-maximization framework and Riemannian geometry, we derive an efficient algorithm for updating the noise covariance along the manifold of positive definite matrices. We demonstrate that our algorithm has guaranteed and fast convergence and validate it in simulations and with real MEG data. Our results demonstrate that the novel framework significantly improves upon state-of-the-art techniques in the real-world scenario where the noise is indeed non-diagonal and full-structured. Our method has applications in many domains beyond biomagnetic inverse problems.

Interest in the use of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) in cancer therapy has increased in recent years. Targeting bromodomain and extra terminal domain (BET) proteins, especially bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), has shown inhibitory effects on basal-like breast cancer (BLBC). However, the bioavailability of BRD4 PROTACs is restricted by their non-selective biodegradability and low tumor-targeting ability. We demonstrated that 6b (BRD4 PROTAC) suppresses BLBC cell growth by targeting BRD4, but not BRD2 and BRD3, for cereblon (CRBN)-mediated ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Compound 6b also inhibited expression of Krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) transcription factor, a key oncoprotein in BLBC, controlled by BRD4-mediated super-enhancers. Moreover, 6b inhibited HCC1806 tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model. The combination of 6b and KLF5 inhibitors showed additive effects on BLBC. These results suggest that BRD4-specific PROTAC can effectively inhibit BLBC by downregulating KLF5, and that 6b has potential as a novel therapeutic drug for BLBC.

Electromagnetic source imaging (ESI) requires solving a highly ill-posed inverse problem. To seek a unique solution, traditional ESI methods impose various forms of priors that may not accurately reflect the actual source properties, which may hinder their broad applications. To overcome this limitation, in this article, a novel data-synthesized spatiotemporally convolutional encoder–decoder network (DST-CedNet) method is proposed for ESI. The DST-CedNet recasts ESI as a machine learning problem, where discriminative learning and latent-space representations are integrated in a CedNet to learn a robust mapping from the measured electroencephalography/magnetoencephalography (E/MEG) signals to the brain activity. In particular, by incorporating prior knowledge regarding dynamical brain activities, a novel data synthesis strategy is devised to generate large-scale samples for effectively training CedNet. This stands in contrast to traditional ESI methods where the prior information is often enforced via constraints primarily aimed for mathematical convenience. Extensive numerical experiments as well as analysis of a real MEG and epilepsy EEG dataset demonstrate that the DST-CedNet outperforms several state-of-the-art ESI methods in robustly estimating source signals under a variety of source configurations.

The radiation sensitivity of the Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) device depends on the basic memory cell and peripheral circuits, and the influence of peripheral circuits is difficult to measure and classify, especially for the internal low dropout regulator (LDO) modules. In this paper, the LDO with radiation-tolerant bipolar bandgap was designed and fabricated to provide power supply for Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator (FDSOI) SRAM test chips. The LDO induced Single Event Effects (SEE) for SRAM devices were investigated by pulsed laser and heavy ion irradiation tests. The simulation and irradiation results show that the hardened LDO has high SEE tolerance, while a few upset errors for memory units were induced by the transient turbulence of the internal LDO in test chips. The characterization results of LDOs provide specific insights into radiation sensitivity and impacts on the whole chips, and contribute to the full evaluation of high-reliable circuits and systems for space applications.

Decoding brain activity from non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) is crucial for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and the study of brain disorders. Notably, end-to-end EEG decoding has gained widespread popularity in recent years owing to the remarkable advances in deep learning research. However, many EEG studies suffer from limited sample sizes, making it difficult for existing deep learning models to effectively generalize to highly noisy EEG data. To address this fundamental limitation, this paper proposes a novel end-to-end EEG decoding algorithm that utilizes a low-rank weight matrix to encode both spatio-temporal filters and the classifier, all optimized under a principled sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) framework. Importantly, this SBL framework also enables us to learn hyperparameters that optimally penalize the model in a Bayesian fashion. The proposed decoding algorithm is systematically benchmarked on five motor imagery BCI EEG datasets ($N=192$N=192) and an emotion recognition EEG dataset ($N=45$N=45), in comparison with several contemporary algorithms, including end-to-end deep-learning-based EEG decoding algorithms. The classification results demonstrate that our algorithm significantly outperforms the competing algorithms while yielding neurophysiologically meaningful spatio-temporal patterns. Our algorithm therefore advances the state-of-the-art by providing a novel EEG-tailored machine learning tool for decoding brain activity.

In next-generation wireless networks, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are foreseeable to support a large number of antennas at the transceiver as well as a large number of reflecting elements at the RIS. To fully unleash the potential of RIS, the phase shifts of RIS elements should be carefully designed, resulting in a high-dimensional non-convex optimization problem that is hard to solve with affordable computational complexity. In this paper, we address this scalability issue by partitioning RIS into sub-surfaces, so as to optimize the phase shifts in sub-surface levels to reduce complexity. Specifically, each sub-surface employs a linear phase variation structure to anomalously reflect the incident signal to a desired direction, and the sizes of sub-surfaces can be adaptively adjusted according to channel conditions. We formulate the achievable rate maximization problem by jointly optimizing the transmit covariance matrix and the RIS phase shifts. Under the RIS partitioning framework, the RIS phase shifts optimization reduces to the manipulation of the sub-surface sizes, the phase gradients of sub-surfaces, as well as the common phase shifts of sub-surfaces. Then, we characterize the asymptotic behavior of the system with an infinitely large number of transceiver antennas and RIS elements. The asymptotic analysis provides useful insights on the understanding of the fundamental performance-complexity tradeoff in RIS partitioning design. We show that in the asymptotic domain, the achievable rate maximization problem has a rather simple form with an explicit physical meaning of optimization variables. We develop an efficient algorithm to find an approximately optimal solution to the asymptotic problem via a one-dimensional (1D) grid search. Moreover, we discuss the insights and impacts of the asymptotic result on finite-size system design. By applying the asymptotic result to a finite-size system with necessary modifications, we show by numerical results that the proposed design achieves a favorable tradeoff between system performance and computational complexity.

Reconstructing complex brain source activity at a high spatiotemporal resolution from magnetoencephalography (MEG) or electroencephalography (EEG) remains a challenging problem. Adaptive beamformers are routinely deployed for this imaging domain using the sample data covariance. However adaptive beamformers have long been hindered by 1) high degree of correlation between multiple brain sources, and 2) interference and noise embedded in sensor measurements. This study develops a novel framework for minimum variance adaptive beamformers that uses a model data covariance learned from data using a sparse Bayesian learning algorithm (SBL-BF). The learned model data covariance effectively removes influence from correlated brain sources and is robust to noise and interference without the need for baseline measurements. A multiresolution framework for model data covariance computation and parallelization of the beamformer implementation enables efficient high-resolution reconstruction images. Results with both simulations and real datasets indicate that multiple highly correlated sources can be accurately reconstructed, and that interference and noise can be sufficiently suppressed. Reconstructions at 2-2.5mm resolution ( $\sim $ 150K voxels) are possible with efficient run times of 1–3 minutes. This novel adaptive beamforming algorithm significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art benchmarks. Therefore, SBL-BF provides an effective framework for efficiently reconstructing multiple correlated brain sources with high resolution and robustness to interference and noise.

Simultaneously estimating brain source activity and noise has long been a challenging task in electromagnetic brain imaging using magneto- and electroencephalography. The problem is challenging not only in terms of solving the NP-hard inverse problem of reconstructing unknown brain activity across thousands of voxels from a limited number of sensors, but also for the need to simultaneously estimate the noise and interference. We present a generative model with an augmented leadfield matrix to simultaneously estimate brain source activity and sensor noise statistics in electromagnetic brain imaging (EBI). We then derive three Bayesian inference algorithms for this generative model (expectation-maximization (EBI-EM), convex bounding (EBI-Convex) and fixed-point (EBI-Mackay)) to simultaneously estimate the hyperparameters of the prior distribution for brain source activity and sensor noise. A comprehensive performance evaluation for these three algorithms is performed. Simulations consistently show that the performance of EBI-Convex and EBI-Mackay updates is superior to that of EBI-EM. In contrast to the EBI-EM algorithm, both EBI-Convex and EBI-Mackay updates are quite robust to initialization, and are computationally efficient with fast convergence in the presence of both Gaussian and real brain noise. We also demonstrate that EBI-Convex and EBI-Mackay update algorithms can reconstruct complex brain activity with only a few trials of sensor data, and for resting-state data, achieving significant improvement in source reconstruction and noise learning for electromagnetic brain imaging.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) excels in portraying rapid neural dynamics at the level of milliseconds, but its spatial resolution has often been lagging behind the increasing demands in neuroscience research or subject to limitations imposed by emerging neuroengineering scenarios, especially those centering on consumer EEG devices. Current superresolution (SR) methods generally do not suffice in the reconstruction of high-resolution (HR) EEG as it remains a grand challenge to properly handle the connection relationship amongst EEG electrodes (channels) and the intensive individuality of subjects. This study proposes a deep EEG SR framework correlating brain structural and functional connectivities (Deep-EEGSR), which consists of a compact convolutional network and an auxiliary fully connected network for filter generation (FGN). Deep-EEGSR applies graph convolution adapting to the structural connectivity amongst EEG channels when coding SR EEG. Sample-specific dynamic convolution is designed with filter parameters adjusted by FGN conforming to functional connectivity of intensive subject individuality. Overall, Deep-EEGSR operates on low-resolution (LR) EEG and reconstructs the corresponding HR acquisitions through an end-to-end SR course. The experimental results on three EEG datasets (autism spectrum disorder, emotion, and motor imagery) indicate that: 1) Deep-EEGSR significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art counterparts with normalized mean squared error (NMSE) decreased by 1%–6% and the improvement of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) up to 1.2 dB and 2) the SR EEG manifests superiority to the LR alternative in ASD discrimination and spatial localization of typical ASD EEG characteristics, and this superiority even increases with the scale of SR.

AbstractThe pharmacokinetics (PK) of several drugs including antimicrobials might be highly altered during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy. We present the change of voriconazole (VRC) PK during ECMO in a critically ill patient who received intravenous VRC at a maintenance dose of 200 mg every 12 h for empirical antifungal therapy. Two PK profiles were drawn before and after the initiation of ECMO therapy. Though the trough levels (both C0and C12) with ECMO were slightly lower than that without ECMO (12.58 and 12.84 vs.14.02 μg/mL), the peak levels and the area under the concentration-time curve from 0 h to 6 h (AUC0–6) were comparable (16.36 vs.16.06 μg/mL and 90.78 vs.91.45 μg·h/mL, respectively), indicating that VRC plasma exposure during ECMO therapy did not greatly decrease in our patient. The circuit factors including the type of membrane should be taken into account to further identify the effects of ECMO on the PK of VRC.

Microstructural classification is typically done manually by human experts, which gives rise to uncertainties due to subjectivity and reduces the overall efficiency. A high-throughput characterization is proposed based on deep learning, rapid acquisition technology, and mathematical statistics for the recognition, segmentation, and quantification of microstructure in weathering steel. The segmentation results showed that this method was accurate and efficient, and the segmentation of inclusions and pearlite phase achieved accuracy of 89.95% and 90.86%, respectively. The time required for batch processing by MIPAR software involving thresholding segmentation, morphological processing, and small area deletion was 1.05 s for a single image. By comparison, our system required only 0.102 s, which is ten times faster than the commercial software. The quantification results were extracted from large volumes of sequential image data (150 mm2, 62,216 images, 1024 × 1024 pixels), which ensure comprehensive statistics. Microstructure information, such as three-dimensional density distribution and the frequency of the minimum spatial distance of inclusions on the sample surface of 150 mm2, were quantified by extracting the coordinates and sizes of individual features. A refined characterization method for two-dimensional structures and spatial information that is unattainable when performing manually or with software is provided. That will be useful for understanding properties or behaviors of weathering steel, and reducing the resort to physical testing.

The importance of parathyroid glands (PGs) protection is increasingly recognized by thyroid surgeons in the field of minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy (MIVAT). However, current techniques for intra-operative identification and vascularity assessment of the PGs are contentious and complex. This study presents the design and validation of a miniaturized device for fusion near-infrared autofluorescence (NIRAF) based on Raman spectroscopy and laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) via an image fusion algorithm for functional protection of PGs in the MIVAT. Our light source components include an integrated light emitting diode (LED) light source fiber, an NIRAF optical fiber, an acquisition optical fiber, and a laser speckle optical fiber in the endoscopic system to achieve identification and vascularity assessment of PGs using a single endoscopic probe. It has been validated in ex vivo tissue experiments that the fluorescence intensity detected by the device was equivalent to that of the marker indocyanine green (ICG) in visual images and superior to that of the thyroid and all other tissues in the neck. Based on clinical studies, MIVAT using functional fluorescence endoscopy, compared with the White light pattern group, the NIRAF combined with LSCI modality group increased the number of intra-operative confirmations of the PGs (P < 0.001), declined the decrease in parathyroid hormone (PTH) (P < 0.05) and calcium levels (P < 0.05) on the first postoperative day, and reduced the incidence of symptomatic hypocalcemia (P < 0.05). Our device may reduce the incidence of postoperative permanent hypoparathyroidism. Application of an miniaturized functional fluorescence endoscope for real-time and label-free PGs identification and vascularity assessment in MIVAT could be realized.

Little is known about suicide mortality among people with HIV in low-income and middle-income countries. This study aimed to assess suicide mortality and its temporal change among people with HIV after diagnosis, then describe potential risk factors.

The thermal insulation performance of riser is very important to the shrinkage porosity and solidification structure of ingot, but it is difficult to significantly improve due to the limit of thermal conductivity of riser material. A new type of hollow insulation riser was proposed based on the low thermal conductivity of air, which aims to improve the thermal insulation performance of riser. A 14.5-t steel ingot was prepared using the hollow insulation riser, and the casting temperature was 1500 °C. The temperature evolution of the external surface of mold during solidification was measured using an infrared temperature instrument. A numerical model was established to simulate the porosity and solidification structure of ingot. The reliability of numerical simulation was verified by comparing simulation and experimental results. Results show that the insulation performance of the riser can be significantly improved through application of the hollow insulation sleeve. Compared with solid insulation sleeve, the shrinkage cavity depth was decreased and the position of porosity was raised when hollow insulation riser was applied.

Skeletal muscle dysfunction is one of the most common comorbidities in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The occurrence of respiratory failure in COPD is common and leads to the patient's death. The diaphragm is the most important muscle in the respiratory system and plays a key role in the onset of respiratory failure. This study explores the feasibility of ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) to measure diaphragmatic stiffness and evaluates its changes in COPD patients. In total, 77 participants (43 patients with stable COPD and 34 healthy controls) were enrolled. All subjects underwent complete diaphragmatic ultrasound SWE measurements and pulmonary function tests. The diaphragmatic stiffness was indicated via diaphragmatic shear wave velocity (SWV) at functional residual capacity (FRC). A trained operator performed the ultrasound SWE examinations of the first 15 healthy controls thrice to assess the reliability of diaphragmatic SWE. A good to excellent reliability was found in diaphragmatic SWV at FRC (ICC = 0.93, 95%CI 0.82–0.98). As compared to the control group, the diaphragmatic SWV at FRC was considerably high in the COPD group (median 2.5 m/s versus 2.1 m/s, P= .008). Diaphragmatic SWV at FRC was linked to forced expiratory volume in one second (r= −0.30, P= .009), forced vital capacity (r= −0.33, P= .003), modified Medical Research Council score (r= 0.30, P= .001), and COPD assessment test score (r= 0.48, P< .001). Ultrasound SWE may be employed as an effective tool for quantitative evaluation of diaphragm stiffness and can help in personalized management of COPD, such as treatment guidance and follow‐up monitoring.

In reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) aided communications, the existing passive beamforming (PB) design involves polynomial complexity in the number of reflecting elements, and thus is difficult to implement due to a massive number of reflecting elements. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a reflection-angle-based cascaded channel model by adopting the generalized Snell’s law, in which the dimension of the variable space involved in optimization is significantly reduced, resulting in a simplified hierarchical passive beamforming (HPB) design. We develop an efficient two-stage HPB algorithm, which exploits the angular domain property of the channel, to maximize the achievable rate of the target user. Simulation results demonstrate the appealing performance and low complexity of the proposed HPB design.

At present, the existing thermal interface materials (TIMs) cannot meet the heat dissipation requirements of some high-power density electronic devices. In this study, Bi-based low melting point alloy was made into a thermal conductive sheet to reduce the interface thermal resistance. The thermal conductivity of a thermal conductive sheet was found to be 37.83 W/(m·K), 10 times higher than Dow Corning 5021 thermal grease. In addition, the surface morphology of the Bi-based alloy thermal conductive sheet was changed in this experiment, which was divided into textured and planer type, and the measured interface thermal resistance values lower than Dow Corning 5021 thermal grease by approximately 30% and 27%, respectively. The results prove this Bi-based alloy thermal conductive sheets have the ideal heat dissipation performance and their wide application prospects in high-power density electronic devices.

Objective:To determine whether nasal submucosal injection of low-concentration epinephrine improved the surgical field visualization and physician satisfaction compared to placebo or without intervention. Methods:A literature search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Database was conducted from inception to January 10, 2023. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Meta-analyses were performed using Review Manager (RevMan version 5.3; the Cochrane Collaboration). Quality was assessed by 2 reviewers using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. And we used funnel plots to visually assess the risk of publication bias. Results:We included a total of 11 studies with 492 patients, all of which were randomized controlled trials. Among the studies, 4 had a low risk of bias, 4 had a moderate risk of bias, and 3 had a high risk of bias. Five studies reported visual bleeding grade in the surgical field (P= 0.07) and total blood loss (P= 0.16), 8 studies reported preoperative baseline heart rate (P= 0.58) and baseline mean arterial pressure (MAP) (P= 0.78), and 9 studies reported intraoperative heart rate (P= 0.27) and MAP (P= 0.56), which showed no significant differences in these parameters between the 2 groups. None of these outcomes were statistically significant between the epinephrine group and the control group. Conclusion:There is insufficient evidence to support the nasal submucosal application of low-concentration epinephrine to improve surgical field dryness and reduce total surgical bleeding.

A cost-effective approach is urgently needed to utilize molybdenum tailings (MoT), a mining byproduct with rising output. This study explored the preparation of molybdenum tailings collaborative fly ash (FA) geopolymers (MFG) from mechanically activated MoT and FA raw materials. Orthogonal experiments investigated the impacts of various parameters on the compressive strengths of the MFG. The macroscopic properties of MFG with different mixture ratios were evaluated. The microstructures and components of the MFG were characterized using various methods. Fractal dimensions (Ds) of pore structures in the MFG samples were determined. Carbon emissions resulting from the production of MFG geopolymers were calculated and evaluated using Low carbon Assessment. The findings showed that increasing the content of mechanically activated MoT in the MFG system decreased flowabilities and prolonged setting times. The optimal MoT-to-FA ratio for achieving the highest compressive strength of 31.26MPa was 1:4, resulting in a Si/Al ratio of 2.03 in the MFG system. XRD, TG, SEM-EDS, and FTIR analyses confirmed the primary product of the MFG was a glassy hydrated sodium-aluminum silicate (N-A-S-H) gel. MIP analysis revealed that addition of mechanically activated MoT improved the pore structure of the MFG, leading to smaller pores. Additionally, for MFG composed solely of MoT or FA, the Dswas smaller, and smaller particles of the raw materials also led to smaller Dsvalues. Conversely, when the raw materials were mixed, larger Dsvalues were observed, and a closer volume fraction for the two raw materials resulted in larger Dsvalues. Furthermore, the carbon emission analysis revealed that the carbon emissions of MFG geopolymers were reduced by 45.4%-64.3% compared to traditional OPC slurries.

As a revolutionary hardware technology that can reconfigure the propagation environment, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have been regarded as a promising solution to enhance wireless networks. In this paper, we consider a multiuser multiple-input single-output (MISO) wireless power transfer (WPT) system, which is assisted by several RISs. In order to improve energy efficiency and reduce hardware cost, we consider that the energy transmitter (ET) in the WPT system is equipped with a constant-envelope analog beamformer, instead of a digital beamformer. Focusing on user fairness, we study a minimum received power maximization problem by jointly optimizing the ET beamforming and the RIS phase shifts, subject to the constant-envelope constraints. We iteratively solve this non-convex max-min problem by leveraging both the successive convex approximation (SCA) method and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and show attractive performance gain brought by RISs.

Based on a facile and universal method using noncovalent bonding, here, polymer‐modified covalent organic framework materials (COFs) were rapidly prepared. PNIPAM‐modified COF (COF‐PNIPAM) was synthesized by electrostatic self‐assembly between COF prepared by low‐cost melamine and terephthalaldehyde and carboxyl‐terminated poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) prepared via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The carboxyl‐terminated PNIPAM was characterized by Gel Permeation Chromatography and Ultraviolet and Visible Spectroscopy (UV–vis). COF and COF‐PNIPAM were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopes, Scanning Electron Microscope, Transmission Electron Microscope, X‐Ray Diffractomer (XRD), and Brunner‐Emmet‐Teller (BET) measurements. The results showed that the COF‐PNIPAM was successfully prepared. The Pickering emulsion properties of the COF‐PNIPAM in a water‐to‐toluene mixed system were studied, and when the water‐to‐oil ratio is 2:1, a stable emulsion can be obtained. However, the results show that the PNIPAM chains of COF‐PNIPAM nearly lose their temperature responsiveness. A novel method for polymer modification of COF was proposed via noncovalent bonding, which was convenient and easy to implement. The positively charged amino groups of COF and the carboxyl‐terminated groups of HOOC‐PNIPAM‐SH were combined by self‐assembly in water to obtain the COF‐PNIPAM. The emulsifying properties of the obtained copolymer COF‐PNIPAM as Pickering emulsifier were studied.

Riblet is one of the most promising passive drag reduction techniques in turbulent flows. In this paper, hot-wire measurements on a turbulent boundary layer perturbed by a drag-reducing riblet surface are carried out to further understand the riblet effects on the turbulent flows and the drag reduction mechanism. Compared with the smooth case, different energy variations in the near-wall region and the logarithmic region are observed over riblets. Then, by using a spectral filter of a given wavelength, the time series of the hot-wire data are decomposed into large- and small-scale components. It is indicated that large-scale structures in the logarithmic region impose a footprint (amplitude modulating effect) on the near-wall small-scale structures. By quantifying this footprint, it is found that the interactions between large- and small-scale structures over riblets are weakened in the near-wall region. Furthermore, the bursting process of large and small scales is studied. For both large- and small-scale structures, a shorter bursting duration and a higher bursting frequency are observed over the riblet surface, which indicates that riblets impede the formation of large- and small-scale bursting events. The flow physics behind these phenomena are also discussed in detail.

Rabies is a serious public health problem in Asia and Africa. Approximately 99% of cases result from a bite by an infected dog. The high rabies risk countries are generally characterized by rapid urbanization; however, the prevalence and risk factors for rabies in urban dogs in developing countries remain unclear. Beijing, the capital of China, has been undergoing rapid urbanization, and implemented compulsory rabies immunization for dogs on October 1, 2014. We evaluated the effects of this immunization policy and investigated the dynamics and determinants of the spread of dog rabies virus (RABV) in Beijing. Between 2013 and 2018, the positive rate of rabies in biting dogs declined significantly; 79.6% of these were stray dogs. Reconstructed spatiotemporal diffusion for RABV presents a more central distribution within Beijing and a surrounding dissemination of virus lineage toward suburban areas, indicating that rabies is self-sustaining in Beijing. Continuous RABV phylogeographic reconstructions and logistic regression analysis of rabies cases revealed that rabies tended to remain in commercial areas, high-rise residences, demolition areas, and high-GDP, high-population and high-accessibility areas. Demolition areas, where many residents have abandoned their pets, are recognized as high-risk areas for rabies. Our findings reveal that the implementation of the immunization policy in Beijing has been effective in prevention and control of canine rabies, and because the prevalence of canine rabies results from multiple factors, emphasize the important role of multi-sectoral cooperation in rabies prevention and control.

Carbapenem is one of the few available drugs to treat multidrug-resistance Gram-negative bacteria infections. Recently, the plasmid-mediated spread of the carbapenem resistance gene blaNDMposes a significant threat to public health, requiring global monitoring and surveillance. Here, we used both short-read (n= 2461) and long-read (n= 546) sequencing data to characterize the global distribution of blaNDM. We analyzed the replicon type of blaNDM-positive plasmids and found that the dominant plasmid type was different in diverse geographical locations. Although blaNDMgene has been transferred across diverse countries, its genetic backgrounds are highly conserved, and the mobile genetic element ISAba125, IS5, and IS26may play an important role in the mobilization of blaNDM. A significant association was observed between host origin and gene presence/deletion variation on IncX3 plasmid, which may be a key factor in the bacterial adaption to diverse hosts. In this study, we analyzed the diversity, distribution and transmission of blaNDM-positive plasmids from a global perspective, and emphasize the importance of plasmid analysis for understanding the evolution and adaptation of blaNDM-positive plasmids and their co-evolution with bacterial genomes (resistome).

The human intestinal tract is considered the most important reservoir of the opportunistic pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is often overlooked but critical due to its antimicrobial resistance and virulence. Public health interventions to control this pathogen require a comprehensive understanding of its epidemiology and genomics.  In the current study, we identified P. aeruginosastrains from 2,605 fecal samples collected between 2021 to 2022. Among these samples, 574 were from ICU inpatients in Zhejiang province, while 2,031 were obtained from healthy individuals residing in ten different provinces in China. The prevalence of P. aeruginosaintestinal carriage was found to be higher in ICU inpatients (10.28%, 95% CI: 7.79%–12.76%) than that in healthy individuals (3.99%, 81/2,031, 95% CI: 3.14%–4.84%). Similarly, the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa(CRPA) was higher in ICU inpatients (32.2%) compared to healthy individuals (7.41%). The population structure analysis of our isolates revealed a predominantly non-clonal distribution, with 41 distinct sequence types identified among 59 P. aeruginosaisolates from ICU inpatients and 38 different STs among 81 P. aeruginosaisolates from healthy individuals. These findings suggest that the individual acquisition of P. aeruginosais more frequent than patient-to-patient transmission, as evidenced by the polyclonal population structure. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and genome analysis indicated that P. aeruginosastrains from ICU inpatients exhibited significantly higher resistance rates to most antimicrobials and harbored a greater number of acquired resistance genes compared to strains from healthy individuals. Notably, in ICU inpatients, we identified three isolates of ST463, all of which shared the conserved Tn3-TnpR-ISKpn8-blaKPC-ISKpn6genetic context. Additionally, five isolates carrying the qacE gene were also identified, these findings suggest that small-scale transmission events may still occur within the ICU setting, posing significant challenges for clinical management. With regard to virulence factors, we observed similar profiles between the two groups, except for phzA2, phzB2,and pilA, which were statistically higher in isolates from healthy individuals. This may be because the accumulating resistance mutations in ICU-derived P. aeruginosaare linked to a decrease in virulence.

System-wide, comprehensive, primary health care (PHC)-oriented health reforms are infrequently introduced in low-income and middle-income countries and often poorly studied. China initiated a large-scale reform in 2015 that included multiple policies: partial gatekeeping, a family physician scheme, and increased system integration. These policies aimed to build a PHC-oriented health system and improve primary care utilisation. This study assessed the heterogeneous effects of the reforms on health service utilisation and health outcomes across regions and over time.

Single event effects of 1-T structure programmable read-only memory (PROM) devices fabricated with a 130-nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor-based thin/thick gate oxide anti-fuse process were investigated using heavy ions and a picosecond pulsed laser. The cross sections of a single event upset (SEU) for radiation-hardened PROMs were measured using a linear energy transfer (LET) ranging from 9.2 to 95.6 MeV cm2mg−1. The result indicated that the LET threshold for a dynamic bit upset was ~ 9 MeV cm2mg−1, which was lower than the threshold of ~ 20 MeV cm2mg−1for an address counter upset owing to the additional triple modular redundancy structure present in the latch. In addition, a slight hard error was observed in the anti-fuse structure when employing 209Bi ions with extremely high LET values (~ 91.6 MeV cm2mg−1) and large ion fluence (~ 1 × 108ions cm−2). To identify the detailed sensitive position of a SEU in PROMs, a pulsed laser with a 5-μm beam spot was used to scan the entire surface of the device. This revealed that the upset occurred in the peripheral circuits of the internal power source and I/O pairs rather than in the internal latches and buffers. This was subsequently confirmed by a 181Ta experiment. Based on the experimental data and a rectangular parallelepiped model of the sensitive volume, the space error rates for the used PROMs were calculated using the CRÈME-96 prediction tool. The results showed that this type of PROM was suitable for specific space applications, even in the geosynchronous orbit.

BackgroundPatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) commonly have higher intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEPi). A breathing exercise programme strategy employing an appropriate PEEP may improve their pulmonary functional capacity, exercise tolerance and health-related quality of life. Breathing with an expiratory resistive load, which is a method of modulating spontaneous breathing against PEEPi, has not been fully studied in patients with COPD. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of changing spontaneous breathing in home-based conditions and regulating spontaneous breathing with breathing exercises in patients with COPD.MethodsThis was a prospective randomised trial including 64 patients with a diagnosis of stage III or IV COPD. Patients were randomised into two groups: standard treatment and standard treatment combined with breathing exercise rehabilitation. The effects of the treatments on the COPD assessment test (CAT) score, 6‐minute walk test (6MWT) results and pulmonary function were compared at 0, 6, 12 and 18 months within and between the two groups.ResultsAll outcomes showed no significant differences between the two groups at the beginning of the study, while the 6MWT and CAT scores exhibited clinically and statistically significant improvements (p<0.001) by the end of the study. At month 18, the change in the predicted percentage of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1%pred) differed between the two groups (p<0.05). In addition, there were statistically significant differences in the 6MWT results, CAT scores and FEV1%pred values between the baseline and month 18 (p<0.0001) in the intervention group.ConclusionsImprovements in 6MWT results, pulmonary function and CAT scores are associated with a successful response to breathing against PEEPi in patients with COPD.Trial registrationThis trial was registered at research registry.com (identifier research registry 4816).

ABSTRACTThiol-disulfide glutaredoxin systems of bacterial cytoplasm favor reducing conditions for the correct disulfide bonding of functional proteins, and therefore were employed by bacteria to defend against oxidative stress. Listeria monocytogeneshas been shown to encode a putative glutaredoxin, Grx (encoded by lmo2344), while the underlying roles remain unknown. Here we suggest an unexpected role of L. monocytogenesGrx in oxidative tolerance and intracellular infection. The recombinant Grx was able to efficiently catalyze the thiol-disulfide oxidoreduction of insulin in the presence of DTT as an election donor. Unexpectedly, the deletion of grxresulted in a remarkably increased tolerance and survival ability of this bacteria when exposed to various oxidizing agents, including diamide, and copper and cadmium ions. Furthermore, loss of grxsignificantly promoted bacterial invasion and proliferation in human epithelial Caco-2 cells and murine macrophages, as well as a notably increasing invasion but not cell-to-cell spread in the murine fibroblasts L929 cells. More importantly, L. monocytogeneslacking the glutaredoxin exhibited more efficient proliferation and recovery in the spleens and livers of the infected mice, and hence became more virulent by upregulating the virulence factors, InlA and InlB. In summary, we here for the first time demonstrated that L. monocytogenesglutaredoxin plays a counterintuitive role in bacterial oxidative resistance and intracellular infection, which is the first report to provide valuable evidence for the role of glutaredoxins in bacterial infection, and more importantly suggests a favorable model to illustrate the functional diversity of bacterial Grx systems during environmental adaption and host infection.

The microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of Mg–2Zn–0.6Zr alloy under the as-cast and as-extruded conditions were investigated. Microstructure analysis indicated the remarkable grain refinement by extrusion, as well as notable reductions in volume fraction and size of precipitate phases. As compared with the as-cast alloy, the as-extruded alloy exhibited better mechanical performance, especially in yield strength which was promoted from 51 to 194 MPa. Refined grains, dispersive precipitate phases and texture were thought to be the main factors affecting the improved performance in strength. The electrochemical measurement and immersion test revealed the corrosion rate of Mg–2Zn–0.6Zr alloy by extrusion decreased from 1.68 to 0.32 mm/year. The reasons for the enhanced corrosion resistance were mainly attributed to the decreased volume fraction and Volta potential of the precipitate phases, the refinement of the grain size, as well as the formation of more protective corrosion film.

The effect of aging temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe-16Mn-1.3C-0.3V steel was investigated. After a series of heat treatment experimental processes, including solution treatment at 1080 oC for 1 h then aging treatment at 350 oC, 400 oC, 450 oC, 500 oC and 550 oC for 1 h respectively, the microstructure of V alloyed high manganese austenitic steels were studied using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental steel had the best comprehensive performance after aging treated at 450 oC for 1 h. It presented hardness of 249HB, impact toughness of 215 J·cm-2, tensile strength of 707 MPa, yield strength of 421 MPa and elongation of 30.8%. With the aging temperature increased, the amount of precipitates increased and precipitates gradually transformed from globularity to needle. EDS analysis showed the most striking difference between two types carbides. That the globular carbide had a lot of vanadium element, which could cause the hardness of globular carbide higher than needle-like carbide. TEM showed the size of these globular carbide particles were 10~100 nm. SADP demonstrated that the fine globular precipitate was vanadium carbide (VC).

This study aims to review China's national policies related to non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control at the primary health care (PHC) level since China's 2009 health system reform. Policy documents from official websites of China's State Council and 20 affiliated ministries were screened, where 151 out of 1,799 were included. Thematic content analysis was performed, and fourteen ‘major policy initiatives’ were identified, including the basic health insurance schemes and essential public health services. Several areas showed to have strong policy support, including service delivery, health financing, and leadership/governance. Compared with WHO recommendations, several gaps remain, including lack of emphasis on multi-sectoral collaboration, underuse of non-health-professionals, and lack of quality-oriented PHC services evaluations. Over the past decade, China continues to demonstrate its policy commitment to strengthen the PHC system for NCD prevention and control. We recommend future policies to facilitate multi-sectoral collaboration, enhance community engagement, and improve performance evaluation mechanisms.

Human antigen R (HuR), also known as ELAVL1, is a widely expressed RNA-binding protein (RBP) that has a significant impact on the development and advancement of tumors. Our previous study found that 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) may impede the proliferation and increase apoptosis in gastric cancer cells by reducing the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of HuR. However, how posttranscriptional regulation influences HuR functions in gastric cancer remains to be elucidated. Here, we demonstrated that miR-325-3p has the potential to regulate the expression level of HuR by directly binding to its 3′UTR, which in turn led to a significant reduction in proliferation and an increase in apoptosis in gastric cancer cells. In addition, xenograft experiment showed that knockdown of HuR or overexpression of miR-325-3p group exhibited smaller tumor sizes after transplant of gastric cancer cells into zebrafish larvae. Thus, our findings offer new insights into the pathogenesis of gastric cancer and may potentially assist in identifying novel targets for drug therapy.