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Background: Pulmonary high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas(pHGNEC) encompassing small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) are clinically aggressive tumors with poor prognosis. The role of surgery and prognostic factors guiding management remain unclear. We aimed to analyze prognosis following resection and identify predictive variables. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed 259 patients undergoing pHGNEC resection from 2001–2023. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier curves. Prognostic factors were assessed with Cox regression and visualized using nomogram tools. Results: Minimally invasive surgery was associated with better OS (p = 0.001) and DFS (p = 0.001). Higher T stage predicted worse OS (T2 p = 0.044, T4 p = 0.007) and DFS (T2 p = 0.020, T4 p = 0.004). Advanced TNM stage III (OS p = 0.018; DFS p = 0.015) and IV (OS p < 0.001; DFS p < 0.001) also correlated with poorer prognosis. In the SCLC subgroup, elevated preoperative CEA independently predicted worse OS (p = 0.012) and DFS (p = 0.004). T4 disease (OS p < 0.001; DFS p = 0.002) and advanced TNM staging (stage III OS p = 0.043; DFS p = 0.045; stage IV OS p < 0.001, DFS p < 0.001) were associated with worse outcomes. In LCNEC patients, VATS resection improved OS (p = 0.048) and DFS (p = 0.027) despite conversion. Prior malignancy predicted worse OS (p < 0.001). Advanced TNM disease (stage III OS p = 0.047; stage IV OS p = 0.003, DFS p = 0.005) were also negative prognostic factors. The prognostic nomogram incorporating above variables effectively stratified risk. Calibration plots revealed good correlation between predicted and actual survival. Conclusions: We identified minimally invasive surgery, early TNM stage, younger age, and normal preoperative CEA as positive prognostic factors following pHGNEC resection. Our study provides an applicable prognostic nomogram to facilitate personalized pHGNEC management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study investigates the genetic structure and population dynamics of invasive bullfrogs in China employing cutting-edge genomic technologies. By analyzing microsatellite loci and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the study identifies three distinct genetic subpopulations of bullfrogs and explores their origins and dispersal pathways. Findings reveal the varying degrees of gene flow between the subpopulations and a severe bottleneck effect followed by a rapid population expansion. Comparison with American bullfrog populations highlights the differences in genetic diversity and suggests potential multiple introductions. The introduction and subsequent range expansion of the American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is part of a rising trend of troublesome biological invasions happening in China. This detrimental amphibious invasive species has strong adaptability. After its introduction and spread, it established its own ecological niche in many provinces of China, and its range has continued to expand to more areas. Previous studies recorded the introduction time of bullfrogs and calculated the changes in their genetic diversity in China using mitochondria, but the specific introduction route in China is still unknown. Expanding upon previous research, we employed whole-genome scans (utilizing 2b-RAD genomic sequencing) to examine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and microsatellites within Lithobates catesbeianus to screen the genomes of these invasive amphibian species from eight Chinese provinces and two U.S. states, including Kansas, where bullfrogs originate. A total of 1,336,475 single nucleotide polymorphic loci and 17 microsatellite loci were used to calculate the genetic diversity of bullfrogs and their migration pathways. Our results suggest that the population in Hunan was the first to be introduced and to spread, and there may have been multiple introductions of subpopulations. Additionally, the genetic diversity of both the SNP and microsatellite loci in the Chinese bullfrog population was lower than that of the US population due to bottleneck effects, but the bullfrogs can adapt and spread rapidly. This study will offer crucial insights for preventing and controlling future introductions into the natural habitats in China. Additionally, it will assist in devising more precise strategies to manage the existing populations and curtail their continued expansion, as well as aim to improve clarity and originality while mitigating plagiarism risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding urban human mobility, particularly trip purposes, is essential for optimizing traffic management, personalized recommendations, and urban planning. However, in real-world scenarios, trip purposes cannot be directly extracted from the trajectory data. To address this issue, we propose a geometry-driven neural topic model for trip purpose inference. We integrate trajectory data with nearby POI data using a geometry-driven technique to enhance the interpretability of the results. Furthermore, our model captures the semantics and relationships of the data in a high-dimensional space and identifies latent topics representing distinct trip purposes. These learned topics are analyzed using clustering algorithms to group similar trips, enabling trip purpose inference. And we evaluate our model using the trajectory data of Shenzhen and Chengdu, and compare it with baseline models. The results demonstrate that our model performs well. Furthermore, we analyze trajectory data containing trip purpose information to gain insight into human mobility patterns and the influence of trip purposes, paving the way for potential implications and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate two types of the conditional strong law of large numbers with a new notion of conditionally independent random variables under G-expectation which are related to the symmetry G-function. Our limit theorem demonstrates that the cluster points of empirical averages fall within the bounds of the lower and upper conditional expectations with lower probability one. Moreover, for conditionally independent random variables with identical conditional distributions, we show the existence of two cluster points of empirical averages that correspond to the essential minimum and essential maximum expectations, respectively, with G-capacity one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effects of metformin (MET) monotherapy and pioglitazone plus MET (PIOMET) therapy on gonadal and metabolic profiles in normal-weight women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: Sixty normal-weight women with PCOS were recruited between January and September 2022 at the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. They were randomly assigned to the MET or PIOMET groups for 12 weeks of MET monotherapy or PIOMET therapy. Anthropometric measurements, menstrual cycle changes, gonadal profiles, and the oral glucose insulin-releasing test (OGIRT) were performed at baseline and after the 12-week treatment. Results: Thirty-six participants completed the trial. MET and PIOMET therapies improved menstrual cycles after the 4- and 12-week treatments; however, there was no statistical difference between the two groups. PIOMET therapy improved luteinizing hormone (LH), luteinizing hormone/follicle stimulating hormone (LH/FSH) ratio, and free androgen index (FAI) levels after the 4-week treatment, whereas MET monotherapy only improved total testosterone (TT) levels compared to baseline (P < 0.05). Both MET and PIOMET therapies improved TT and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels after the 12-week treatment (P < 0.05). In addition, only PIOMET therapy significantly improved sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), FAI, and androstenedione (AND) levels than the baseline (P < 0.05). PIOMET therapy improved SHBG and AMH levels more effectively than MET monotherapy (P < 0.05). Furthermore, PIOMET treatment was more effective in improving blood glucose levels at 120 and 180 min of OGIRT compared to MET monotherapy (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In normal-weight women with PCOS, PIOMET treatment may have more benefits in improving SHBG, AMH, and postprandial glucose levels than MET monotherapy, and did not affect weight. However, the study findings need to be confirmed in PCOS study populations with larger sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofilm dispersal contributes to bacterial spread and disease transmission. However, its exact mechanism, especially that in the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is unclear. In this study, the cellulase activity of the M. tuberculosis Rv0062 protein was characterized, and its effect on mycobacterial biofilm dispersal was analyzed by observation of the structure and components of Rv0062-treated biofilm in vitro. Meanwhile, the metabolite factors that induced cellulase-related biofilm dispersal were also explored with metabolome analysis and further validations. The results showed that Rv0062 protein had a cellulase activity with a similar optimum pH (6.0) and lower optimum temperature (30 °C) compared to the cellulases from other bacteria. It promoted mycobacterial biofilm dispersal by hydrolyzing cellulose, the main component of extracellular polymeric substrates of mycobacterial biofilm. A metabolome analysis revealed that 107 metabolites were significantly altered at different stages of M. smegmatis biofilm development. Among them, a decrease in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) promoted cellulase-related biofilm dispersal, and this effect was realized with the down-regulation of the bacterial signal molecule c-di-GMP. All these findings suggested that cellulase promotes mycobacterial biofilm dispersal and that this process is closely associated with biofilm metabolite alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish live in an aquatic environment rich in various microorganisms and pathogens. Fish mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) plays a very important role in immune defence. This study was conducted to characterize the immune response mediated by CcIgZ3 in common carp (Cyprinus carpio.) and investigate the proliferating CcIgZ3+ B lymphocytes in gill. We determined the expression of CcIgZ3 in many different tissues of common carp following stimulation by intraperitoneal injection of TNP-LPS (2,4,6-Trinitrophenyl hapten conjugated to lipopolysaccharide) or TNP-KLH (2,4,6-Trinitrophenyl hapten conjugated to Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin). Compared with TNP-KLH, TNP-LPS can induce greater CcIgZ3 expression in the head kidney, gill and hindgut, especially in the gill. The results indicate that the gill is one of the main sites involved in the immune response mediated by CcIgZ3. To examine the distribution of CcIgZ3+ B lymphocytes, immunohistochemistry (IHC) experiments were performed using a polyclonal antibody against CcIgZ3. The results indicated that CcIgZ3 was detected in the head kidney, hindgut and gill. To further examine whether CcIgZ3+ B lymphocytes proliferate in the gills, proliferating CcIgZ3+ B cells were analysed by immunofluorescence staining using an anti-CcIgZ3 polyclonal antibody and an anti-PCNA monoclonal antibody. CcIgZ3 and PCNA (Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen) double-labelled cells in the gills were located within the epithelial cells of the gill filaments of common carp stimulated with TNP-LPS at 3 dps and 7 dps, and relatively more proliferating CcIgZ3+ B cells appeared in the gills of common carp at 7 dps. These data imply that CcIgZ3+ B cells in the gills might be produced by local proliferation following TNP-LPS stimulation. In summary, compared with those in TNP-KLH, CcIgZ3 preferentially affects the gills of common carp following challenge with TNP-LPS. CcIgZ3+ B cells proliferate in the gills to quickly produce the CcIgZ3 antibody. In addition, CcIgZ3+ B cells can be activated to induce a strong immune response very early locally in the gill and produce the antibody CcIgZ3, which helps exert an immune-protective effect. These results suggest that an effective vaccine can be designed to promote production of the mucosal antibody CcIgZ3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the phenomenon of knowledge overload becomes more and more obvious, the automatic summarization technology still needs to break through the bottleneck in order to improve the application value and expand the scope of the application. Traditional training paradigms for extractive summarization systems suffer from the inconsistency in training and evaluation. In this paper, we propose an innovative and interpretable contrastive learning based framework for extractive summarization called DCDSum , which comprises a D iverse Oracle evaluator, a C ontrastive learning extractor, and a D ynamic Top-k selector. Different from previous models that consider the extractive summarization task as a sequence labeling problem, our contrastive learning extractor treats it as a sentence reranking problem and introduces contrastive loss to achieve it, which can bridge the gap between objective function and evaluation metrics. The experimental results demonstrate the outstanding performance of our approach on the CNN/DailyMail, XSum, and PubMed datasets, achieving highly competitive results. In particular, our method achieves ROUGE-1 of 44.65, ROUGE-2 of 21.32, and ROUGE-L of 40.87 on the CNN/DailyMail dataset. The outcomes across various evaluation metrics substantiate that the Diverse Oracle extraction algorithm adeptly captures a broader array of sentences with reduced redundancy, consequently enhancing the interpretability of the DCDSum framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fear response is a crucial adaptive mechanism for coping with environmental changes, and the individuals have different levels of fearfulness. The purpose of this study was to determine the status of the immune response and gut health in hens with different fear responses. A total of 80 healthy 75-wk-old native Lindian chickens were individually housed in conventional cages and categorized into high (TH) and low (TL) levels of fearfulness using the tonic immobility (TI) test. The immunological status and intestinal health of the laying hens were assessed, and the intestinal microbial community was sequenced using 16S rRNA testing. The results showed that the immune-related genes of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, and IgG were significantly upregulated in the spleen of TH hens compared with hens in the TL group (P < 0.01). The inflammatory immune-related genes Toll-like receptor (TLR)2, TLR4, nuclear factor (NF)-κB, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, IL-10, and IgG were significantly increased in the intestinal tract, whereas IL-4, IgA, and the intestinal barrier gene claudin-4 were significantly decreased in TH hens (P < 0.05). In addition, serum concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, interferon (IFN)-α and IgG were significantly higher in TH hens (P < 0.01). A high fear response also led to changes in gut microbial diversity, with a higher Simpson's index and lower β-diversity similarity than hens with a low-fear response (P < 0.05). The TH group showed an increase in 8 genera, including Bacillaceae and Coprococcus , whereas the genus Anaerorhabdus decreased (P < 0.05). The gut microbiota has also been associated with gut barrier genes, and inflammatory cytokines. Bartonella stimulates IL-1β and IgG secretion, whereas Lactobacillus inhibits IL-6 secretion, and Coprococcus and Subdoligranulum are associated with the maintenance of intestinal barrier function. The results of this study suggest that laying hens with high fear response levels have a more sensitive immune response and a more enriched gut microbiota, which may have positive effects on adapting to a complex environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geopolymer has emerged as an environmentally sustainable alternative to cement for soil stabilization. Although machine learning technology exhibits great potential in designing the geopolymer, its current applications are limited to specific types of geopolymer. This study introduces a composition-based method to develop a machine learning model that facilitates the mix design of diverse types of geopolymer. A unique dataset comprising 990 mix designs of geopolymer for soil stabilization was established. Based on this dataset, a composition-informed machine learning model was developed to predict the unconfined compressive strength of geopolymer-stabilized soils. By using the developed model, a generic framework for the mix design of diverse types of geopolymer is proposed. The performance of the developed model and the effectiveness of the mix designs derived from the proposed framework was evaluated by using datasets that are independent of the dataset established in this study. The results show that the developed model enables the reasonable predictions of the strength of geopolymer-stabilized soils. The mix designs formulated based on the proposed framework is comparable to those derived from experimental studies. The proposed framework can serve as a cost-effective and efficient toolkit for the mix design of diverse of types of geopolymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, motivate by quantile in the field statistics and bounded linex loss function a novel robust bounded quantile loss is proposed for improving the performance of support vector machine (SVM) and support vector regression (SVR). The bounded quantile loss has some important properties such as asymmetry, non-convexity, which make SVM and SVR based on bounded quantile (BQ-SVM and BQ-SVR) robust to noise. The Fisher consistency and generalization error bound of BQ-SVM guarantees the generalization capability of BQ-SVM. In addition, we derive the influence functions of BQ-SVM and BQ-SVR to show that they are less sensitive to outliers. However, the non-convexity of the proposed bounded quantile makes it difficult to optimize. We utilize the concave-convex procedure (CCCP) technique to solve the proposed models. A host of numerical studies on artificial and benchmark datasets are conducted, and various evaluation criteria were considered to demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that our proposed methods is more robust compare to classical and advanced methods when the dataset contains outliers in both classification and regression applications. • A novel bounded quantile loss (L b q loss) is proposed for robust learning problems. • The support vector machines based methods with L b q loss (BQ-SVM and BQ- SVR) are robust. • The designed ClipDCD-based CCCP algorithm is efficient to solve the BQ-SVM and BQ-SVR. • Numerical and theoretical results demonstrate the effectiveness of BQ-SVM and BQ-SVR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Long-term, multi-regional and monthly time-scale optimization models are developed. • Spatial mismatch and monthly fluctuations in demand and resources are considered. • Retrofitting of natural gas infrastructure for hydrogen supply is studied. Low-carbon transition of energy systems features more natural gas and hydrogen consumption to replace coal and oil. Planning of natural gas and hydrogen supply systems with multiple supply sources, end-consumers, large infrastructures and spatio-temporal mismatches are challenging tasks. In this study, two long-term, multi-regional and monthly time-scale optimization models for natural gas and hydrogen supply systems are developed respectively. China is taken as a case. The natural gas demand will initially increase and then decrease, leading to a premature decommissioning of infrastructure. A coupling model is established to explore the retrofitting of decommissioned natural gas infrastructure for hydrogen supply. Results show that 44.14 % decommissioned pipelines and 34.17 % decommissioned storage facilities of natural gas supply system can be retrofitted, with an annual increase of 63.98 % and 62.80 % in hydrogen pipelines and storage facilities, and a 9.15 % reduction in transition costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Performing of hey1 spatio-temporal expression pattern in zebrafish embryonic inner ear. • New role exploring of Pi4kb on the development of vestibular apparatus of zebrafish. • Underlying mechanism elucidation of Pi4kb and BMP-Hey1 axis in the development of cristae hair cells in zebrafish (a good visual model of studying development). Phosphatidylinositol 4 kinase-β (PI4KB) plays critical roles in human genetic diseases. In zebrafish, Pi4kb is strongly expressed in hair cells (HCs), which are necessary for detecting sound vibrations, head movements, and water motion. However, the role of PI4KB in HC or semicircular canal development is unclear. Herein, we report that pi4kb morphants exhibit insensitivity to sound stimulation and abnormal morphological vestibular organs, including cilium loss in HCs of the cristae and semicircular canal malformation. As bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling is associated with HC and semicircular canal development, we analyzed the expression of BMP-related genes; the phosphorylated Smad1/5/9 (p-Smad1/5/9) expression was markedly reduced in otic HCs. RNA-sequencing data indicated that the transcriptional levels of BMP membrane receptor 2 (bmpr2a and bmpr2b) and hes-related family of bHLH transcription factors with YRPW motif 1 (hey1), a direct downstream target gene of p-Smad, were significantly reduced in the pi4kb morphants, as verified using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. Co-injection of hey1 mRNA and pi4kb morpholino notably recovered vestibular apparatus development, including the number and length of cilia in HCs of the cristae and semicircular canal formation. Collectively, these results suggest that Pi4kb is involved in vestibular apparatus development in zebrafish by regulating BMP membrane receptor 2 and p-Smad1/5/9 levels, thereby affecting the transcriptional activation of the target gene hey1. This study sheds light on the interaction between Pi4kb and the BMP-Hey1 signaling axis, which is critical for HC and semicircular canal formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brewing industry generates a large amount of distillation waste, causing environmental pollution and resource wastage. In this study, a putative gene encoding feruloyl esterase detected in 33 bins using metagenomic sequencing, was expressed to exogenously to generate a recombinase with a molecular weight of 40.8 KDa. The feruloyl esterase has been optimized through codon optimization and signal peptide truncation to exhibit optimal activity at pH 6.0 and 50 °C, specifically when using 4-nitrophenyl trans-ferulate as its substrate. By employing this enzyme, p -coumaric acid and ferulic acid were simultaneously produced using brewing waste of distilled spent grain with husk. The yield of the two phenolic acids amounted to 91.2 μg and 89.25 μg from 1 g of distilled spent grain with husk, respectively. Although the yield obtained was lower than that from wheat bran and corn cob, the strategy serves as a model for the high-value utilization of brewing waste and has hold application potential. The integration of enzyme catalysis and metagenomic sequencing revealed a significant importance for clean production from agricultural processing industrial waste. The strategy for ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid production from distilled spent grain with husk by catalysis of a feruloyl esterase from Metagenomic sequencing of forest soils. Natural biomass containing hemicellulose could be degraded by the feruloyl esterase to produce high-value chemicals. It provided a gentle and environmentally friendly method for the biomass utilization. [Display omitted] • An encoding gene for feruloyl esterase was obtained through metagenomic sequencing. • The enzyme catalyzed the co-production of p -coumaric acid and ferulic acid. • A method for recovering chemicals from distilled spent grain with husk is provided. • The yield of p -coumaric acid and ferulic acid amounted to 91.2 μg/g and 89.25 μg/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, pseudo-bilayer planar heterojunction (PPHJ) all-polymer solar cells (APSCs) were constructed on the basis of the commonly used PY-IT and PM6 as the acceptor and donor, respectively. A nonfullerene small molecular acceptor (NF-SMA) BTP-eC9 was incorporated into the PY-IT layer as the solid additive in consideration of its similar building block to PY-IT. BTP-eC9 can serve as a photon capture reinforcer and morphology-regulating agent to realize more adequate photon capture, as well as a more orderly molecular arrangement for effective carrier transport. By incorporating 2 wt% BTP-eC9, the efficiency of PM6/PY-IT-based PPHJ-APSCs was boosted from 15.11% to 16.47%, accompanied by a synergistically enhanced short circuit current density (JSC, 23.36 vs. 24.08 mA cm−2) and fill factor (FF, 68.83% vs. 72.76%). In another all-polymer system, based on PBQx-TCl/PY-DT as the active layers, the efficiency could be boosted from 17.51% to 18.07%, enabled by the addition of 2 wt% L8-BO, which further verified the effectiveness of using an NF-SMA as a solid additive. This work demonstrates that incorporating an NF-SMA as a solid additive holds great potential for driving the development of PPHJ-APSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical molecular tomography (OMT) is a potential pre-clinical molecular imaging technique with applications in a variety of biomedical areas, which can provide non-invasive quantitative three-dimensional (3D) information regarding tumor distribution in living animals. The construction of optical transmission models and the application of reconstruction algorithms in traditional model-based reconstruction processes have affected the reconstruction results, resulting in problems such as low accuracy, poor robustness, and long-time consumption. Here, a gates joint locally connected network (GLCN) method is proposed by establishing the mapping relationship between the inside source distribution and the photon density on surface directly, thus avoiding the extra time consumption caused by iteration and the reconstruction errors caused by model inaccuracy. Moreover, gates module was composed of the concatenation and multiplication operators of three different gates. It was embedded into the network aiming at remembering input surface photon density over a period and allowing the network to capture neurons connected to the true source selectively by controlling three different gates. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, numerical simulations were conducted, whose results demonstrated good performance in terms of reconstruction positioning accuracy and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenylalanine, as an essential aromatic amino acid, is not only needed for protein and vital molecules such as neurotransmitter and hormone synthesis but also a substrate for the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids and various bioactive compounds. The metabolism of phenylalanine is dynamic and transitory, which would otherwise inhibit cell growth. Therefore, it is challenging and imperative to monitor intracellular phenylalanine bioavailability in real time, which has great significance for evaluating the effectiveness of introducing pathway-specific genetic modifications to enhance phenylalanine generation. In this study, we proposed a live-cell biomonitoring system to assess phenylalanine bioavailability in real time in cyanobacteria based on codon degeneracy and species-specific usage bias. The biomonitoring system was generated through genetic modification of phenylalanine codons in the chloramphenicol antibiotic resistance gene to wholly preferred and rare codons, in combination with an orthogonal constitutive promoter Trc to express these genes. Cyanobacterial cells equipped with a preferred codon-based gene showed a significant growth advantage over those with rare codons under antibiotic pressure, while the delayed growth caused by rare codon-based genes could be rescued by supplementing phenylalanine in the cultivation medium. Increasing intracellular phenylalanine bioavailability could promote rare codon-based gene containing cell growth to a similar level as wild-type strains harboring preferred codon-based gene, providing a live-cell visualized screening method to relatively define phenylalanine content from either random mutation libraries or pathway-specific engineering cyanobacterial chassis before conducting labor-intensive quantitative measurements. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vegetation coverage of temperate grasslands in China has changed substantially due to climate change during the past decades, which significantly affects the function of grassland ecosystems. To appropriately carry out adaptive management and protect temperate grassland vegetation, it is important to understand the variations in fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) of China's temperate grasslands and how they are responding to climate change. Using the GIMMS NDVI and climatic datasets, this study explored the dynamics of FVC and their climatic drivers across the temperate grassland region of China during 1982∼2015. The results showed that the growing season mean FVC increased by 0.12% per year during 1982∼2015. The increases in precipitation and minimum temperature in the growing-season (especially in spring) could enhance the FVC of various vegetation types. In summer, the FVC of temperate steppe and desert steppe could drastically increase with increasing precipitation. In addition, this study found that the impacts of daytime and night-time warming on the FVC of temperate grasslands were asymmetric. Daytime warming can moderately increase FVC of temperate grasslands, while night-time warming could significantly increase it. Furthermore, the increase in summer daytime and night-time temperatures leads to a weak decrease and a moderate increase in FVC, respectively. This asymmetric effect was more evident for the temperate steppe and desert steppe in the central area. In autumn, the temperatures increase had significant positive impacts on the FVC of temperate meadows and steppes. This study highlights the differences in the impacts of climate change at different time scales on the FVC of grasslands with various vegetation types, and indicates that the asymmetric influences of daytime and night-time temperatures in different seasons on FVC must be included in calculating the vegetation coverage of China's temperate grasslands. The results could provide information for maintaining grassland ecosystem functions and managing environmental systems. • The FVC of temperate grasslands has increased by 0.12% per year from 1982 to 2015. • Increases in growing season precipitation and minimum temperature enhanced the FVC. • Nighttime and daytime temperatures have asymmetric effects on the FVC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The modification of biochar enhances its ability to remove ECs. • Characteristics and evaluation of different modification methods. • ECs adsorbed by modified biochar based on several adsorption mechanisms. • Modified biochar acts as catalyzer to induce the degradation of ECs. • Establishing a unified evaluation standard is the goal for the future. The increasing concern over emerging contaminants (ECs) in aqueous solutions is driven by their potential risks to public health. Handling ECs becomes an urgent mission in the world. Biochar has been applied for ECs removal in wastewater for its low cost and satisfactory efficiency, while its practical applications are hindered by the limited adsorption capacity. To improve the removal efficiency of biochar on ECs, diverse techniques (acid-base modification, metal compound modification, steam activation, magnetization, heteroatom doping, and ball milling) have been applied to modify biochar and imbue it with a range of physicochemical attributes. This leads to unique adsorption outcomes, behaviors, and mechanisms. Herein, effective modification methods, effects and mechanisms of modified biochar on the removal of typical ECs including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), micro(nano)plastics, and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in aqueous solution have been systematically discussed. Modified biochar has upgraded removal performance towards ECs, and the removal mechanisms generally follow two pathways: adsorption and catalytic degradation. Future efforts should focus on establishing standardized evaluation criteria for cost, effectiveness, and environmental risk, and leverage artificial intelligence to broaden the applications of modified biochar in ECs removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida) is a significant zoonotic pathogen that has the ability to infect various animals. The inflammatory response caused by P. multocida and the negative regulatory mechanism are not completely understood. NOD-like receptor family CARD-containing 3 (NLRC3), an intracellular member of the NLR family, has been reported as a negative regulator in human. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of rabbit NLRC3 (rNLRC3) in P. multocida infection. Our findings revealed a negative correlation between the expression of rNLRC3 and inflammatory cytokines during P. multocida infection. The expression of rNLRC3 was reduced at the initial stage of P. multocida infection and then recovered. Furthermore, rNLRC3 significantly inhibited the activation of NF-κB by reducing phosphorylation and nuclear import of p65 in response to P. multocida infection. Additionally, overexpression of rNLRC3 attenuated the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β , IL-6 , IL-8 , and TNF-α. Moreover, we demonstrated that rNLRC3 diminished NF-κB activation by interacting with rTRAF4 and rTRAF6. Overexpression of rNLRC3 promoted P. multocida proliferation, while P. multocida proliferation decreased after knockdown of rNLRC3. We also found that the NACHT-LRR domain is a functional domain of rNLRC3 that regulates the NF-κB pathway. Our study suggests that rNLRC3 negatively regulates P. multocida -induced NF-κB signaling in rabbits. It can serve as a checkpoint to prevent dysfunctional inflammation. • rNLRC3 inhibit P. multocida -induced NF-κB. • NOD-LRR is functional domain. • rNLRC3 diminish NF-κB by interacting with rTRAF4 and 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an intelligent insole that contains five wide-range flexible capacitive pressure sensors is developed. The output signal of these five sensors is collected and processed by a portable microprocessor system, which is then transmitted to a cloud platform via a Wi-Fi module. The ensuing data visualization is constructed with a WeChat mini-program. The wide-range flexibility is achieved by employing composition materials with a high pressure-sensitive effect. A novel approach is proposed to fabricate flexible pressure-sensitive dielectrics, thereby significantly enhancing the sensitivity and detection range of pressure sensors. The fabrication process involves utilizing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a flexible substrate, incorporating nano-iron powder and polyvinylidene fluoride as sensitizing materials, and applying an external magnetic field to control the distribution of iron nanoparticles during the curing process of PDMS. Furthermore, a motion detection system tailored for these flexible sensors is developed. By integrating sensor networks with Internet of things technology, the application potential of wide-range flexible pressure sensors in kinematics and medical rehabilitation fields can be effectively realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The multi-material FDM technique is utilized to fabricate the IPC structures. • The mechanical behavior of IPC structures is investigated by FEM and experiment. • The Gibson-Ashby model is used to evaluate property and deformation mechanism. • The property enhancement effect of IPC structures is analyzed quantitatively. The triple periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures have received widespread attention due to their excellent mechanical properties, such as high specific strength and energy absorption. However, these structures are prone to suffering catastrophic damage due to stress concentration and shear deformation in actual loading environments, affecting their load-bearing performance. In this work, interpenetrating phase composite (IPC) structures were fabricated by filling thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as a soft material into the diamond minimal surface structure using the multi-material fused deposition modeling technique, and their mechanical behavior was investigated numerically and experimentally. The effects of topological types and volume fractions on the performance of IPC structures were investigated. It is shown that the IPC structure undergoes stretching-dominated deformation, and its strength and toughness are significantly improved compared to the TPMS structure. Due to the addition of a complementary phase structure made of TPU, stress concentration and shear failure are reduced. The global deformation of the IPC structure and stress distribution of the TPMS phase are more uniform, effectively protecting the entire structure from catastrophic failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sorafenib resistance is becoming increasingly common and disadvantageous for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment. Ferroptosis is an iron dependent programmed cell death underlying the mechanism of sorafenib. Iron is crucial for synthesis of cofactors essential to mitochondrial enzymes and necessary for HCC proliferation, while mitochondrial iron overload and oxidative stress are associated with sorafenib induced ferroptosis. However, the crosstalk among iron homeostasis and sorafenib resistance is unclear. Methods: We conducted bioinformatics analysis of sorafenib treated HCC datasets to analyze GCN5L1 and iron related gene expression with sorafenib resistance. GCN5L1 deleted HCC cell lines were generated by CRISPR technology. Sorafenib resistant HCC cell line was established to validate dataset analysis and evaluate the effect of potential target. Results: We identified GCN5L1, a regulator of mitochondrial acetylation, as a modulator in sorafenib-induced ferroptosis via affecting mitochondrial iron homeostasis. GCN5L1 deficiency significantly increased sorafenib sensitivity in HCC cells by down-regulating mitochondrial iron transporters CISD1 expression to induce iron accumulation. Mitochondrial iron accumulation leads to an acceleration in cellular and lipid ROS. Sorafenib resistance is related to CISD1 overexpression to release mitochondrial iron and maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis. We combined CISD1 inhibitor NL-1 with sorafenib, which significantly enhanced sorafenib-induced ferroptosis by promoting mitochondrial iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation. The combination of NL-1 with sorafenib enhanced sorafenib efficacy in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that GCN5L1/CISD1 axis is crucial for sorafenib resistance and would be a potential therapeutic strategy for sorafenib resistant HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pangenomes are replacing single reference genomes to capture all variants within a species or clade, but their analysis predominantly leverages graph-based methods that require multiple high-quality genomes and computationally intensive multiple-genome alignments. K-mer decomposition is an alternative to graph-based pangenomes. However, how to directly use k-mers for the population genetic analyses is unknown. Here, we developed a novel strategy that uses the variants of k-mer count in the genome for population analyses. To test the effectivity of this method, we compared it directly to the SNP-based method on the analysis of population structure and genetic diversity of 267 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains within two simulated datasets and a real sequence dataset. The population structure identified with k-mers recapitulates that obtained using SNPs, indicating the effectiveness of k-mer-based approach, and higher genetic diversity within real dataset supported k-mers contained more genetic variants. Based on k-mer frequency, we found not only SNP but also some insertion/deletion and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) fragments related to the adaptive evolution of S. cerevisiae. Our study creates a framework for the alignment- and reference-free (ARF) method in population genetic analyses, which will be more pronounced in the species with no complete genome or highly diverged species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the predominant malignancies globally. Percutaneous thermal ablation (PTA) has gained widespread use among NSCLC patients, with the potential to elicit immune responses but limited therapeutic efficacies for advanced-stage disease. T-helper type 9 (Th9) cells are a subset of CD4+ effector T cells with robust and persistent anti-tumor effects. This study proposes to develop PTA-Th9 cell integrated therapy as a potential strategy for NSCLC treatment. Methods: The therapeutic efficacies were measured in mice models with subcutaneously transplanted, recurrence, or lung metastatic tumors. The tumor microenvironments (TMEs) were evaluated by flow cytometry. The cytokine levels were assessed by ELISA. The signaling molecules were determined by quantitative PCR and Western blotting. The translational potential was tested in the humanized NSCLC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model. Results: We find that PTA combined with adoptive Th9 cell transfer therapy substantially suppresses tumor growth, recurrence, and lung metastasis, ultimately extending the survival of mice with NSCLC grafts, outperforming both PTA and Th9 cell transfer monotherapy. Analysis of TMEs indicates that combinatorial therapy significantly augments tumor-infiltrating Th9 cells, boosts anti-tumor effects of CD8+ T cells, and remodels tumor immunosuppressive microenvironments. Moreover, combinatorial therapy significantly strengthens the regional and circulation immune response of CD8+ T cells in mice with tumor lung metastasis and induces peripheral CD8+ T effector memory cells in mice with tumor recurrence. Mechanically, PTA reinforces the anti-tumor ability of Th9 cells primarily through upregulating interleukin (IL)-1β and subsequently activating the downstream STAT1/IRF1 pathway, which could be effectively blocked by intercepting IL-1β signaling. Finally, the enhanced therapeutic effect of combinatorial therapy is validated in humanized NSCLC PDX models. Conclusions: Collectively, this study demonstrates that combinatorial therapy displays robust and durable anti-tumor efficacy and excellent translational potential, offering excellent prospects for translation and emerging as a promising approach for NSCLC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Cardanol was applied to capture excess carbon dioxide from industry. • The bio-based NIPUs were synthesized from cardanol and carbon dioxide. • The comprehensive improvement effect of +5 valence of P was better than that of +3. • The modification of the intrinsic structure achieved eminent adhesion performance. Under the background of fossil fuel depletion and global warming, the large amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2) produced by industrial production was a renewable, clean and natural C1 feedstock that was becoming an ideal feedstock to produce value-added chemicals. The synthesis of non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPU) from cyclic carbonates as intermediate products was a typical way to realize the efficient recycling of CO 2. To improve the low carbonization, flammability and poor mechanics of NIPU and expand its application scenarios, the NIPU was synthesized from biological cardanol and CO 2 by a relatively green synthesis route, and modified by flame retardants containing different valence phosphorus. Compared with ECH-CarCO 2 -HMDA, the char residue of PO-CarCO 2 -HMDA and PP-CarCO 2 -HMDA increased by 248.8 % and 172.7 % respectively under nitrogen atmosphere, and 345.7 % and 151.9 % respectively under air atmosphere. More importantly, the peaks of heat release rate of modified NIPUs were reduced by 30.0 % and 18.4 %, and their total heat release were decreased by 15.2 % and 10.4 %, respectively. After various characterization analysis, this was mainly due to the generation of heat-stable structure containing phosphorus and oxygen during the burning process. Simultaneously, the toughness of PO-CarCO 2 -HMDA and PP-CarCO 2 -HMDA increased by 261.0 % and 105.1 %. In addition, the synthetic NIPU as an adhesive in different materials was also explored, and the adhesion strength can reach 2.47 MPa. This study provided a new idea for preparing bio-based NIPU which was more widely used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the common illnesses that affect women's physical and mental health is urinary tract infection (UTI). The disappointing results of empirical anti-infective treatment and the lengthy time required for urine bacterial culture are two issues. Antibiotic misuse is common, especially in females who experience recurrent UTI (rUTI). This leads to a higher prevalence of antibiotic resistance in the microorganisms that cause the infection. Antibiotic therapy will face major challenges in the future, prompting clinicians to update their practices. New testing techniques are making the potential association between the urogenital microbiota and UTIs increasingly apparent. Monitoring changes in female urinary tract (UT) microbiota, as well as metabolites, may be useful in exploring newer preventive treatments for UTIs. This review focuses on advances in urogenital microbiology and organismal metabolites relevant to the identification and handling of UTIs in an attempt to provide novel methods for the identification and management of infections of the UT. Particular attention is paid to the microbiota and metabolites in the patient's urine in relation to their role in supporting host health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal diagnosis of Berry syndrome, a rare combination of cardiac anomalies including aortopulmonary window (APW), aortic origin of the right pulmonary artery (RPA), interrupted aortic arch (IAA), hypoplastic aortic arch, or coarctation of the aorta (COA), poses a significant challenge. Due to the rarity of the disease, and the limited case reports available to features the complex malformation of Berry syndrome postpartum, this article introduces an innovative approach to visually showcase this unusual disease. The proposed method provides a comprehensive display of the structural deformities, offering valuable insights for clinical practitioners seeking to comprehend this condition. Case presentation: In this report, we present a case where fetal echocardiography aided in diagnosing Berry syndrome, which was later confirmed through postpartum cardiovascular casting. Our experience highlights the importance of using the three-vessel view to diagnose APW and aortic origin of the right pulmonary artery. Additionally, obtaining true cross-sectional and sagittal views by continuously scanning from the three-vessel-trachea view to the long-axis view of the aortic arch is necessary to image IAA or coarctation of the aortic arch. Conclusions: Early and accurate prenatal diagnosis of Berry syndrome is feasible and our cardiovascular cast can perfectly display the microvascular morphology of the fetal heart, which may have great application prospects for postpartum diagnosis and teaching of complex cardiac abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the friction and wear properties of alloys, AlCrTiVNbx high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with various Nb contents were prepared using the arc melting technique and then annealed at 1000 °C for 2 h. The microstructure and hardness changes in the AlCrTiVNbx (x = 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5) HEAs after casting and annealing were studied via scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, optical microscopy and the Vickers hardness test. The MFT-EC400 ball disc reciprocating friction and wear tester was used to investigate the wear resistance of the HEAs before and after annealing. The results show that the annealed AlCrTiVNbx HEAs changed from a single-phase structure to a multi-phase structure, and the content of the face-center cubic (FCC) phase and hexagonal close-packed (HCP) phase further increases with the increase in Nb content. The hardness value of the annealed HEAs is greatly enhanced compared with the casting state, and the hardness of the Nb0.5 HEA is increased from 543 HV to 725 HV after annealing. The wear resistance of the alloys after the annealing treatment is also greatly improved, among which Nb0.5 has the best wear resistance. The average friction coefficient of Nb0.5 is 0.154 and the wear rate is 2.117 × 10−5 mm3/(N·m). We believe that the precipitation strengthening after the annealing treatment and the lubrication effect of the FCC phase are the reasons for the significant improvement in wear resistance. The morphology of the samples indicates that the wear mechanism of the alloy includes adhesive wear, abrasive wear and a certain degree of oxidation wear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel sorbitan monooleate-based siloxane derived from a plant source was successfully synthesized. • The plant-based phloretin and sorbitan monooleate-based siloxane were introduced into the cashew shell-based WPU network. • The resulting cashew shell oil-based WPU exhibited high transparency, strong toughness, and good water resistance. • The incorporation of phloretin and sorbitan monooleate-based siloxane imparted outstanding UV resistance and anti-corrosion properties to the system. • The resulting cashew shell oil-based WPU showed outstanding UV resistance and anti-corrosion properties to the system. The increasingly severe energy shortage and growing environmental problems have accelerated the rapid development of sustainable polymer materials. Hereon, a novel method was proposed for the synthesis of cashew nut shell oil-based waterborne polyurethane (WPUs), which exhibited excellent toughness, transparency, water resistance, UV resistance and corrosion resistance. Specifically, the sorbitan monooleate-based siloxane (MSP) was prepared via a thiol-ene click chemistry reaction. Subsequently, the plant-based phloretin (PRT) and MSP were introduced as polyols into the skeleton of WPUs through the molecular structure design strategy. Series of high bio-based content (91 %) WPUs networks were obtained via pre-polymerization and self-emulsification methods. The properties of their dispersions and films were thoroughly investigated, and it was found that the addition of MSP and PRT enhanced the overall performance of WPUs film. For instance, there was a significant increase in T g. Additionally, they exhibited a maximum tensile strength of 31.5 MPa and a maximum toughness of 53 MJ/m3, which were the most outstanding among all reported plant oil-based WPU systems so far, indicating excellent tear resistance. Interestingly, the water absorption rate of PSWPU-40 was reduced to 7.1 %, suggesting good water resistance, which resolved the contradiction between the mechanical properties and water resistance of the current plant oil-based WPU systems. The PSPWU films exhibited promising application prospects, exemplified by its ability to effectively shield the entire UV range. Furthermore, its coating demonstrated outstanding anti-corrosion properties with a maximum anticorrosion efficiency of 97.1 %. It could be attributed to the synergistic effect of a self-crosslinking structure, higher crosslinking density, a tighter network structure, and stronger intermolecular forces (H-bond). This work provided a meaningful guide for the application and development of high-performance bio-based WPU functional coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ratio of solid–liquid contact area is directly proportional to pore pressure. • Presence of pore pressure shows more obvious effect than further increase. • Error of modified kinetics equation is 33.60% lower than original one. • Interaction at certain pressure can be used to forecast that at other pressure. • Error of forecast method is 41.00% lower than original kinetics equation. Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is an effective technology to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2) content in atmosphere, while due to the insufficient mastery of deterioration laws of reservoir rocks caused by CO 2 , the extensive application of carbon storage projects is hindered by the leakage risk. Therefore, it was aimed to study the kinetics mechanism of pore water pressure on CO 2 -water–rock interactions. First, the pressure effect on water–rock interactions was studied to obtain the relationship between ratio of solid–liquid contact area Ψ and pore pressure, and the controlling mechanism of Ψ on reaction rate r i was verified. On this basis, the pressure effect on CO 2 -water–rock interactions was further studied. Considering the effects on Ψ and solution acidity, the original CO 2 -applicable kinetics equation was modified to reduce the error of calculating reaction rate by 33.60% on average. Meanwhile, a forecast method was proposed for the reaction rate under different pressure conditions, and the average calculation error was 41.00% lower than that of original kinetics equation. After verifying the accuracy of these two theoretical methods to calculate reaction rate, the reliability to calculate porosity evolution process was further verified, and the calculation errors could be reduced by 29.52% and 31.81%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible thin-film dielectric capacitors have attracted significant attention among researchers under the current trend of integration and portability in electronic devices. In this work, lead-free relaxor ferroelectric 0.85Na 0.5 Bi 0.5 (Ti 0.97 Fe 0.03)O 3 - 0.10BiFeO 3 -0.05SrTiO 3 (NBFT-BFO-STO) solid-solution thin film is synthesized via sol-gel method onto Pt/Mica to obtain NBFT-BFO-STO dielectric capacitor. Artificial aging process is taken for modulating polarization behavior via defect engineering. Higher polarization linearity is noted, reflected by the increased discrepancy in maximum polarization and remanent polarization (P m – P r), higher breakdown strength (E BD) and delayed saturation polarization (Δ P / P m). Accordingly, the highest values of W rec and η , reaching 23.61 J/cm3 and 75.48% respectively, are obtained at 20 kHz, which are approximately raised by 59.0% and 26.0%, respectively, compared with the fresh state. Excellent thermal stability and anti-fatigue characteristics are obtained with minimal changes of <1.15%, <1.18%, <0.25% for W rec , W and η , respectively in the range of 50–150 °C and <2.05%, <2.14%, <1.06%, respectively after 108 switching cycles. The interaction mechanisms for artificial aging process on the polarization response are explored based on Rayleigh Law and Finite-element simulation for exploring electric flux density and Von Mises stress. These findings provide a new route to modulate polarization behavior of NBT-based thin film for dielectric energy storage application. • Aging is taken for modulating polarization behavior of flexible NBFT-BFO-STO. • High polarization linearity and stability are detected. • W rec and η are increased by 59.0% and 26.0%, respectively at RT and 20 kHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • From 2000 to 2020, green space increased more than did blue space in central Nanjing. • Fringe-type expansion of urban green–blue space (UGBS) was most common in central Nanjing. • Average annual solar radiation, DEM, slope, and aspect are natural factors influencing the evolution of UGBSs. • Population density is a socio-economic factor affecting the evolution of UGBSs. Urban green–blue space (UGBS) plays a crucial role in Chinese cities, occupying more than half of the built-up areas. Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving factors of UGBS in central Nanjing during rapid urbanization is important for studying UGBS evolution in high-density urban-area environments, providing a fundamental basis for related research and policy formulation. This study utilized remote sensing images to estimate the extent of UGBS from 2000 to 2020 and analyzed the evolution using the intensity of area change, a land transfer matrix, the multi-order adjacency index, and a boosted regression tree model. This study revealed the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving factors of UGBSs in central Nanjing from 2000 to 2020: (1) between 2000 and 2020, there was a 4.0% net increase in the total area of UGBSs in central Nanjing. (2) UGBS primarily showed marginal-type expansion, accompanied by proximity-type expansion. Spatially, new green–blue patches tended to cluster around large pre-existing natural green–blue patches. Furthermore, the expansion of UGBS shifted from the urban periphery to the urban interior. (3) Natural factors exerted a greater influence (88.3%) than socioeconomic factors (11.7%) on the expansion of UGBS. Average annual radiation (43.4%), elevation (16.5%), slope (15%), aspect (13.4%), and population density (2.8%) were the primary driving factors. Our results contribute to understanding changes in UGBS and the driving factors behind these changes, thereby providing support for the future planning, protection, and sustainable development of UGBS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PLAU is known as a selected serine protease converting plasminogen to plasmin. The role of PLAU in the development of pan-cancer, especially bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) remains unclear. A variety of online tools and cancer databases, including TCGA, GETx, HPA database, GSCALite, UALCAN, ESTIMATE, CIBERSORT, ssGSEA algorithms and SangerBox website, were applied to investigate the associations between PLAU expression and prognosis, genetic alterations, pathway activation, and tumor immunity in pan-cancer. Through cBioPortal and STITCH platforms, the oncogenic role of PLAU and related targeting medicines in BLCA were also explored. We verified the expression of PLAU in pan-cancer cells and its function in bladder cancer cell lines using wet-lab experiments. PLAU expression levels were significantly higher in most cancer tissues. PLAU had a certain accuracy in the diagnosis of various types of cancers (90 % AUC > 0.700). In BLCA, PLAU has abundant methylated sites and showed statistical differences in clinical features. PLAU was involved in tumor immune infiltration, and especially positively correlated with neutrophil infiltration. High-expressed PLAU indicated poorer prognosis in the BLCA patients receiving Atezolizumab. A high mRNA and protein expression levels of PLAU were observed in pan-cancer cell lines, especially BLCA cells. Knockdown of PLAU inhibited the invasive, proliferative, and aggressive phenotypes of bladder cancer cells. Immunohistochemical staining validated PLAU's higher expression in BLCA tissues than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. And overexpression of PLAU was associated with more advanced TNM stage, and high infiltrating depth. Our study revealed that PLAU can serve as a potential therapeutic target and prognostic marker for various malignancies, especially BLCA. • Integrated analyses on multi-omics characteristics of PLAU on tumor microenvironment, immunotherapy, and prognosis. • A high expression level of Plasminogen Activator was related to a short Overall Survival in most cancer types. • PLAU expression is positively correlated with neutrophils infiltration in cancers. • High-expressed PLAU indicated poorer prognosis in the bladder cancer patients receiving Atezolizumab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex differences in health status and life expectancy are widely accepted to exist. The mechanisms underlying it are still poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to clarify the influences and contributions of sex on the gut microbiome in healthy centenarians and to explore the different roles played by the gut microbiome in healthy aging between the sexes. Taking covariates of different dimensions into account (social demographics, anthropometry, the activities of daily living, dietary structure, mental state, blood tests, lifestyle and disease history), our data showed that sex was one of the most significant covariates affecting the gut microbiome of healthy centenarians at both the species and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Orthology (KO) levels. The beta diversity between the sexes were significantly different (Adonis test: p = 0.011, R2 = 0.031), and the male centenarians had a greater alpha diversity than the females (Simpson and Shannon test: P<0.05). At the species level, we identified 31 species enriched in males and 7 species enriched in females. The composition and function patterns of the microbiome varied between the sexes. Further functional analysis showed that males' gut microbiome exhibited greater resistance to oxidative stress compared to females. In contrast to men, the species associated with healthy aging dominated among healthy female centenarians, while the species associated with unhealthy aging were relatively rare. The present study reveals that the gut microbiome structure and resistance to oxidative stress in healthy centenarians differ between the sexes and provides new insights into the possible sex-specific role of the gut microbiome in healthy aging. • In the study of healthy aging, sex differences are factors that cannot be ignored. • Sex was a significant covariable affecting gut microbiome of healthy centenarians at both species and KO levels. • The gut microbiome pattern and resistance to oxidative stress differed between the sexes. • Gut microbiome of male and female centenarians exhibit unique features even if they are in the same state of healthy aging. • Overall, the gut microbiome may act as a sex-specific modulator of healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SiC/SiC composites play a pivotal role in aerospace and energy applications for their excellent resistance to high temperatures, corrosion, oxidation, and low density. This paper delves into the ablation behavior irradiated by a femtosecond laser, examining both qualitative and quantitative aspects through micro/nanostructure and component analysis. The findings reveal significant disparities in elements, compositions, and chemical states across the ablation zones, transition zones, and marginal zones. Moreover, a detailed discussion on the active and passive oxidation mechanisms in the ablation zone is presented. Notably, the oxidation product SiO 2 acts as a barrier, impeding oxygen penetration into the material interior. • Revealing the ablation behavior of SiC/SiC composites by femtosecond laser. • Characterizing qualitatively and quantitatively the changes in the ablation, transition, and marginal zones. • Explaining the formation of typical features such as flocculent particles, cake particles, et al. • Identifying the oxidation mechanism of SiC/SiC composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]