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We consider the Cauchy problem in Rn${\bf R}^{n}$ for the wave equation with a higher derivative term. We derive sharp growth estimates of the L2$L^{2}$‐norm of the solution itself for the case of n=1$n = 1$ and n=2$n = 2$. By imposing the weighted L1$L^{1}$‐initial velocity, we can get the lower and upper bound estimates of the solution itself. For the case of n≥3$n\ge 3$, we observe that the L2$L^{2}$‐growth behavior of the solution never occurs in the (L2∩L1)$(L^{2}\cap L^{1})$‐framework of the initial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saline lakes contributions to the carbon cycle is crucial to the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) carbon budget. Here, based on the 8‐year direct measurement of CO2 flux over the Qinghai Lake (QHL) and 83 collected CO2 flux data estimated by pCO2 sampling from 45 lakes over the QTP, we identified the interannual variations of CO2 flux and its response to the extreme climate events. Results showed: (a) the QHL CO2 absorption weakened in the spring, autumn and winter and turn to CO2 emissions in the summer during 2013–2020; (b) with higher Ts and less precipitation, coupling of positive Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño enhanced the summer CO2 emissions; and (c) the PDO and ENSO had obvious superposition effect on the decrease of CO2 absorption in autumn. Our results show the potential mechanism of lake CO2 flux responses to extreme climate and further defines the significance of the QTP carbon budget and cycling. Plain Language Summary: The CO2 flux at the water‐air interface is especially important since it directly affects the accurate evaluation of the global carbon budget. However, lacking of long‐term continuous observation data left an undeniable gap on the interannual variations of CO2 flux and its respond to extreme climate events (the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation: ENSO and PDO) in saline lakes, although they are globally significant. Here, based on the 8‐year direct measurement of CO2 flux by eddy covariance system over the QHL and 83 collected CO2 flux data estimated by pCO2 sampling from 45 lakes over the QTP. This study found a weakening of CO2 absorption in the spring, autumn and winter, and an enhancing of CO2 emissions in the summer in QHL during 2013–2020, and first reported a notable transformation of carbon sink to source of saline lakes for responding to the extreme climate events. Moreover, the enhancing of CO2 emissions may be stronger in saline lakes than that in fresh lakes over QTP. The results firstly show the potential mechanism of lake CO2 flux responses to extreme climate and further defines the significance of the QTP carbon budget and cycling. Key Points: The QHL CO2 absorption weakened in spring, autumn and winter, and even turn to CO2 emissions in summer during 2013–2020In‐phase PDO and El Niño events enhanced the summer CO2 emissions in saline lake over QTPRising in Ts and decreasing in precipitation dominated the CO2 variations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/Aims Methods Results Discussion Conventional F wave analysis involves a relatively uniform physiological environment induced by supramaximal stimulations. The F wave characteristics in a dynamic physiological condition, however, are rarely investigated. This study aimed to improve understanding of F wave properties in the more dynamic process by introducing a novel method to analyze F waves based on the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) scan technique.Twenty four healthy subjects participated in the study. The CMAP scan was applied to record muscle responses in the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles, respectively. F wave characteristics including mean F wave amplitude and latency (F‐M latency), persistence and activating threshold were quantified.An average of 200 F waves per muscle were obtained from the CMAP scan recording. Weak to moderate correlations between F wave amplitude and stimulating intensity were observed in most of the APB (19 muscles; r = 0.33 ± 0.14, all p < .05) and ADM (23 muscles, r = 0.46 ± 0.16, all p < .05) muscles. Significantly longer mean F latency and lower activating F‐threshold were found in the ADM muscles (F‐M latency: APB: 25.43 ± 2.39 ms, ADM: 26.15 ± 2.32 ms, p < .05; F‐threshold: APB: 7.68 ± 8.96% CMAP, ADM: 2.35 ± 2.42% CMAP, p < .05).This study introduces new features of F waves using the CMAP scan technique and identifies differences of F wave characteristics between the hand muscles. The CMAP scan based F waves analysis can be combined with the motor unit number estimation to assess functional alterations in motor neurons in neurological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown an association between periodontitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)‐related diseases. However, a causal relationship between these two diseases remains unclear. To examine the causal relationship between these two diseases, we conducted a bidirectional two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using genetic markers as proxies. Methods: Statistical summary was obtained from a large genome‐wide association study (GWAS) on NAFLD (N = 342,499), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, N = 342,499), fibrosis (N = 339,081), cirrhosis (N = 342,499), fibrosis/cirrhosis (N = 334,553), and periodontitis (N = 34,615) in the European ancestry. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the main method to estimate the bidirectional association. Sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the rigidity of the results. Results: Limited evidence indicated positive causal associations between genetically predicted NAFLD and periodontitis (IVW odds ratio [OR], 1.094; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.006–1.189; p = 0.036) and between cirrhosis and periodontitis (IVW OR, 1.138; 95% CI, 1.001–1.294; p = 0.048). However, the opposite trend did not indicate a causative effect of periodontitis on NAFLD‐related diseases. The sensitivity analysis revealed no obvious pleiotropy or heterogeneity. Conclusions: Our MR analysis provides new evidence in favor of the moderate causal impact of NAFLD on periodontitis. The causal effects of periodontitis on NAFLD‐related diseases warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Periodontitis is induced by the imbalance between osteoblast and osteoclast activity, which leads to periodontal tissue destruction. Macrophages play a vital role in periodontitis. However, the hypoxic periodontal environment will also induce macrophage apoptosis within a short time. Apoptotic bodies (ABs) are the major products generated from apoptotic cells, but whether macrophage‐derived ABs play a regulatory role as their mother cells in periodontitis remains unknown. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of ABs on osteoblasts. Method: ABs derived from hypoxia‐induced macrophages were co‐cultured with osteoblasts and the impact of ABs on osteoblast differentiation in vitro was assessed. In vivo, periodontitis model was established and macrophages‐derived ABs were injected into the gingival sulcus. The effects of ABs on periodontal bone resorption were determined. Results: The results showed that ABs significantly inhibit osteoblast differentiation and promoted alveolar bone resorption in periodontitis. MicroRNA (miRNAs) array analysis was performed and revealed that miR‐483‐5p is the key miRNA in ABs. Dual luciferase reporter assays were performed and confirmed that miR‐483‐5p targeted Col1A1 mRNA and attenuated its expression. Conclusion: Macrophage‐derived ABs inhibit osteoblast differentiation via the transfer of miR‐483‐5p, which downregulates Col1A1 expression and finally suppresses osteogenic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To boost the power conversion efficiency of silicon/perovskite tandem solar cells, pyramid‐textured structures have been investigated and introduced into devices. However, high‐quality pyramid‐shaped single crystal preparation is an obstacle in tandem device development. Perovskite crystals obtained using general methods are cubic because of their structural symmetry and rapid growth rate. In this study, based on mass transfer boundary layer theory, a pyramid‐shaped perovskite single crystal is successfully obtained using an asymmetrically spatial confinement‐induced crystallization method. The synthesized pyramid crystals exhibited high crystallinity and enhanced optical absorption. A photodetector constructed using the as‐grown crystal exhibited high‐performance properties, including a responsivity of 9.4 A W−1, photo‐to‐dark current ratio of 2.3 × 104, and detectivity of 2.1 × 1011 Jones. Its unique insensitivity to the incident photon direction is also characterized. The flexible photodetector also exhibited excellent responsivity under different bending curvature radii. Additionally, the light‐trapping effect and absorption superiority of pyramid crystals over cuboid crystals are well established based on a semi‐empirical analytical model. This breakthrough in pyramid‐shaped perovskite crystal preparation provides a promising approach for the development of novel tandem solar cells and other optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodegradable conductive films are crucial for the sustainable development of wearable electronics. In this work, a flexible and degradable conductive film was prepared based on a carefully designed interface of polylactic acid (PLA) electrospun fibers and silver nanowires (AgNWs). The amphiphilic triblock copolymer was added to PLA solution for electrospinning, followed by solvent posttreatment to induce the hydrophilic block of the amphiphilic triblock copolymer to migrate to the fiber surface. Dopamine can be uniformly polymerized on the surface of hydrophilic PLA fibers, and the prepared PLA@PDA fiber film can form a good interface combination with AgNWs. The electrical conductivity of AgNWs/PLA@PDA flexible film can reach 258.5 S cm−1, showing obvious Joule heating effect and good mechanical properties. Degradation experiments showed that in phosphate buffered saline, the PLA molecular chain showed a dynamic equilibrium due to the scission and rearrangement of the ester groups and degraded slowly, while AgNWs/PLA@PDA degraded rapidly under alkaline conditions. Our study provides a simple and controllable method to prepare flexible degradable electronic films, which is expected to be applied to flexible wearable bioelectrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Incontinence seriously affects the lives of middle‐aged and older people. Pelvic floor muscle assessment is very important for incontinence, and handgrip strength can be used as an auxiliary diagnostic tool. Our study aims to find new cutoff points of handgrip strength as early indicators of incontinence and analyze the association between low handgrip strength and incontinence among Chinese middle‐aged and older people. Methods: Participants were recruited from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longevity Study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to find the handgrip strength cutoff point. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore other incontinence‐related risk factors. Results: The study included 10,229 middle‐aged and older people. Compared with normal handgrip strength participants, medium strength participants had 1.510 [men, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.017–2.243] and 1.792 (women, 95% CI = 1.294–2.480) times greater risk of incontinence, and low strength participants had 2.420 (men, 95% CI = 1.787–3.277) and 1.516 (women, 95% CI = 1.130–2.032) times greater risk of incontinence. Trend test results showed that the risk of incontinence increased with decreasing handgrip strength in middle‐aged and older people. Conclusions: Our study suggests that handgrip strength < 31 kg in men and < 20.5 kg in women is significantly associated with higher risk of incontinence in Chinese middle‐aged and older people. The risk of incontinence increases with decreasing handgrip strength. Handgrip strength should be measured in routine physical examinations in middle‐aged and older people for timely assessment and intervention in incontinence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To discuss the imaging manifestations and the utility of preoperative ultrasonography (US), contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (CE‐CT) and contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE‐MRI) in diagnosing the pediatric head and neck lymphatic malformations (HNLMs). Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 170 children who were referred to our hospital in the past 9 years for the treatment of HNLMs. Results: The diagnostic rates of US, CE‐CT and CE‐MRI were 93.0% (146/157), 94.7% (143/151) and 100% (45/45), respectively. As in multilocular cases, intracystic septa detection rate was 91.5% (130/142), 50.4% (68/135) and 88.1% (37/42), and which had a statistical difference (χ2 = 25.8131, p < 0.05). US showed capsule contents anechoic in 51.0% (80/157) cases, hypoechoic or mixed echoic in 49.0% (77/157) cases, and flocculent or dotted echo floating in 36.9% (58/157) cases. CT showed low density of the capsule contents without enhancement in 69.5% (105/151) cases and mixed density with enhancement in 30.4% (46/151) cases. Liquid–liquid levers were seen in 8.6% (13/151) cases. MRI showed T1WI high signal and T2WI low signal of the capsule contents without enhancement in 28.9% (13/45) cases and mixed density in 71.1% (32/45) cases. Liquid–liquid levers were seen in 46.7% (21/45) cases. There were statistically significant differences between pure HNLMs and intracystic hemorrhage in capsule content (echo, density, signal), enhancement, and liquid–liquid lever (all p < 0.05). Among US, CE‐CT and CE‐MRI, intracystic hemorrhage diagnostic accuracy had a statistical difference (χ2 = 25.4152, p < 0.05). Conclusions: For clinical diagnosis and evaluation of HNLMs, we suggest that US combined with CE‐CT for acute cases, and for stable cases, US combined with CE‐MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of reuterin, a bioactive isolated from the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) on periodontal tissue regeneration, and provide a new strategy for periodontitis treatment in the future. Background: Data discussing the present state of the field: Probiotics are essential for maintaining oral microecological balance. Our previous study confirmed that probiotic L. reuteri extracts could rescue the function of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and promote soft tissue wound healing by neutralizing inflammatory Porphyromonas gingivalis—LPS. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by bacteria seriously leading to tooth loss. In this study, we isolated and purified reuterin from an extract of L. reuteri to characterize from the extracts of L. reuteri to characterize its role in promoting periodontal tissue regeneration and controlling inflammation in periodontitis. Methods: Chromatographic analysis was used to isolate and purify reuterin from an extract of L. reuteri, and HNMR was used to characterize its structure. The inflammatory cytokine TNFα was used to simulate the inflammatory environment. Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) were treated with TNFα and reuterin after which their effects were characterized using scratch wound cell migration assays to determine the concentration of reuterin, an experimental periodontitis model in rats was used to investigate the function of reuterin in periodontal regeneration and inflammation control in vivo. Real‐time PCR, dye transfer experiments, image analysis, alkaline phosphatase activity, Alizarin red staining, cell proliferation, RNA‐sequencing and Western Blot assays were used to detect the function of PDLSCs. Results: In vivo, local injection of reuterin promoted periodontal tissue regeneration of experimental periodontitis in rats and reduced local inflammatory response. Moreover, we found that TNFα stimulation caused endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in PDLSCs, which resulted in decreased osteogenic differentiation. Treatment with reuterin inhibited the ER stress state of PDLSCs caused by the inflammatory environment and restored the osteogenic differentiation and cell proliferation functions of inflammatory PDLSCs. Mechanistically, we found that reuterin restored the functions of inflammatory PDLSCs by inhibiting the intercellular transmission of ER stress mediated by Cx43 in inflammatory PDLSCs and regulated osteogenic differentiation capacity. Conclusion: Our findings identified reuterin isolated from extracts of the probiotic L. reuteri, which improves tissue regeneration and controls inflammation, thus providing a new therapeutic method for treating periodontitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early/late heterobimetallic complexes are widely recognized as one of the most effective catalysts for activating coupling reactions. Herein, DFT calculations were used to investigate the specific mechanisms of terminal alkyne dimerization facilitated by two types of Zr/Co complexes: the bis (phosphinoamide) complex B and the mono (phosphinoamide) complex C. In addition, their reaction activities were compared with that of three ligand‐bridged Zr/Co complex A. The results show that the activated mechanisms of the three reactions are similar, all of them contain inner‐ and outer‐sphere mechanisms, and the inner one is the optimal process. Compared to A, the terminal alkyne dimerizations activated by B and C have the lower energy barriers and better selectivity for the E‐isomer; thus, the mono‐ and bis‐(phosphinoamide) Zr/Co complexes are expected to show better activity and selectivity than tris (phosphinoamide) complexes. The stereoselectivity of E‐, Z‐, and gem‐isomers is controlled by the reductive elimination process. The IRI analysis reveals that the selectivity for E‐ and Z‐isomers is influenced due to the notable repulsion and vdW interaction between the second alkyne and the MeNPMe2 ligand. Our work provides a theoretical basis for experimental applications and offers inspiration for the design of high selectivity heterobimetallic complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater biotreatment systems harbor a rich diversity of microorganisms, and the effectiveness of biotreatment systems largely depends on the activity of these microorganisms. Specifically, viruses play a crucial role in altering microbial behavior and metabolic processes throughout their infection phases, an aspect that has recently attracted considerable interest. Two metagenomic approaches, viral‐like particle‐concentrated (VPC, representing free viral‐like particles) and non‐concentrated (NC, representing the cellular fraction), were employed to assess their efficacy in revealing virome characteristics, including taxonomy, diversity, host interactions, lifestyle, dynamics, and functional genes across processing units of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Our findings indicate that each approach offers unique insights into the viral community and functional composition. Their combined use proved effective in elucidating WWTP viromes. We identified nearly 50,000 viral contigs, with Cressdnaviricota and Uroviricota being the predominant phyla in the VPC and NC fractions, respectively. Notably, two pathogenic viral families, Asfarviridae and Adenoviridae, were commonly found in these WWTPs. We also observed significant differences in the viromes of WWTPs processing different types of wastewater. Additionally, various phage‐derived auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were active at the RNA level, contributing to the metabolism of the microbial community, particularly in carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus cycling. Moreover, we identified 29 virus‐carried antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) with potential for host transfer, highlighting the role of viruses in spreading ARGs in the environment. Overall, this study provides a detailed and integrated view of the virosphere in three WWTPs through the application of VPC and NC metagenomic approaches. Our findings enhance the understanding of viral communities, offering valuable insights for optimizing the operation and regulation of wastewater treatment systems. Highlights: This study comprehensively compared viral‐like particle‐concentrated (VPC) and non‐concentrated (NC) metagenomic approaches in virome investigation, highlighting their respective efficacies in detecting different viral communities and functional elements in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).Eukaryotic viruses belonging to Cressdnaviricota were the most prevalent in VPC metagenomes, while bacterial viruses belonging to Uroviricota were the most abundant in NC metagenomes.Diverse phage‐born auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were discovered in the virome of WWTPs, and a large array of AMGs involved in biogeochemical cycles like carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus cycling showed transcriptional activation in wastewater treatment systems.A tiny proportion (less than 0.08% of viral operational taxonomic units) of viruses was discovered to harbor antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (29 phage‐born ARGs) only in the cellular fraction, and phage‐born ARG types primarily included macrolide–lincosamide–streptogramin, tetracycline, and aminoglycoside resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immune mechanism underlying hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss, particularly type I inflammatory response, during pegylated interferon‐α (PEG‐IFN) therapy remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to elucidate such immune mechanisms. Overall, 82 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), including 41 with HBsAg loss (cured group) and 41 uncured patients, received nucleos(t)ide analogue and PEG‐IFN treatments. Blood samples from all patients, liver tissues from 14 patients with CHB, and hepatic perfusate from 8 liver donors were collected for immune analysis. Jurkat, THP‐1 and HepG2.2.15 cell lines were used in cell experiments. The proportion of IFN‐γ+ Th1 cells was higher in the cured group than in the uncured group, which was linearly correlated with HBsAg decline and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels during treatment. However, CD8+ T cells were weakly associated with HBsAg loss. Serum and intrahepatic levels of Th1 cell‐associated chemokines (C‐X‐C motif chemokine ligand [CXCL] 9, CXCL10, CXCL11, IFN‐γ) were significantly lower in the cured patients than in patients with a higher HBsAg quantification during therapy. Serum from cured patients induced more M1 (CD68+CD86+ macrophage) cells than that from uncured patients. Patients with chronic HBV infection had significantly lower proportions of CD86+ M1 and CD206+ M2 macrophages in their livers than healthy controls. M1 polarization of intrahepatic Kupffer cells promoted HBsAg loss by upregulating the effector function of tissue‐resident memory T cells with increased ALT levels. IFN‐γ+ Th1 activates intrahepatic resident memory T cells to promote HBsAg loss by inducing M1 macrophage polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface enhanced resonance Raman (SERS) is a powerful optical technique, which can help enhance the sensitivity of Raman spectroscopy aided by noble metal nanoparticles (NPs). However, current SERS‐NPs are often suboptimal, which can aggregate under physiological conditions with much reduced SERS enhancement. Herein, a robust one‐pot method has been developed to synthesize SERS‐NPs with more uniform core diameters of 50 nm, which is applicable to both non‐resonant and resonant Raman dyes. The resulting SERS‐NPs are colloidally stable and bright, enabling NP detection with low‐femtomolar sensitivity. An algorithm has been established, which can accurately unmix multiple types of SERS‐NPs enabling potential multiplex detection. Furthermore, a new liposome‐based approach has been developed to install a targeting carbohydrate ligand, i.e., hyaluronan, onto the SERS‐NPs bestowing significantly enhanced binding affinity to its biological receptor CD44 overexpressed on tumor cell surface. The liposomal hyaluronan (HA)‐SERS‐NPs enabled visualization of spontaneously developed breast cancer in mice in real time guiding complete surgical removal of the tumor, highlighting the translational potential of these new glyco‐SERS‐NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kidney fibrosis is a common fate of chronic kidney diseases (CKDs), eventually leading to renal dysfunction. Yet, no effective treatment for this pathological process has been achieved. During the bioassay‐guided chemical investigation of the medicinal plant Wikstroemia chamaedaphne, a daphne diterpenoid, daphnepedunin A (DA), is characterized as a promising anti‐renal fibrotic lead. DA shows significant anti‐kidney fibrosis effects in cultured renal fibroblasts and unilateral ureteral obstructed mice, being more potent than the clinical trial drug pirfenidone. Leveraging the thermal proteome profiling strategy, cell division cycle 42 (Cdc42) is identified as the direct target of DA. Mechanistically, DA targets to reduce Cdc42 activity and down‐regulates its downstream phospho‐protein kinase Cζ(p‐PKCζ)/phospho‐glycogen synthase kinase‐3β (p‐GSK‐3β), thereby promoting β‐catenin Ser33/37/Thr41 phosphorylation and ubiquitin‐dependent proteolysis to block classical pro‐fibrotic β‐catenin signaling. These findings suggest that Cdc42 is a promising therapeutic target for kidney fibrosis, and highlight DA as a potent Cdc42 inhibitor for combating CKDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main‐group metallomimetics provide a new way to replace transition metal complexes to activate inert small molecules under mild conditions. In this work, the activation mechanisms of CO2, iPrNCO, and iPrNCNiPr by (μ‐Hydrido) diborane anion ([1H]−) have been investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Two different activation sites, BB versus BH bond of [1H]−, are investigated and compared. The results show that these inert molecules can be activated by [1H]− through cycloadditions under mild conditions. The reactions with iPrNCO and iPrNCNiPr are dynamic and thermodynamic controlling, the obtained products are related not only to the energy barrier but also to the stability of the products. Moreover, the competition for BB/BH bond site activation is directly related to the steric effect of small molecules. CO2, which is without steric hindrance, can only be activated by the BB bond, whereas iPrNCNiPr can only be activated by the BH bond due to the large steric effect. The medium iPrNCO can be activated not only by the BB bond but also by the BH bond. Our study provides theoretical explanations for the reaction activity and chemoselectivity controlling of the title reaction, and displays the potential applications for compounds containing boron‐boron bonds and inert small molecule activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the important ecological responses of ecosystem to global climate change, forest expansion can alter land surface energy budget and local microclimate. Land surface temperature (LST) and soil temperature (ST) indicate the above‐ and below‐ground thermal state, respectively. However, the lack of studies on the relationships between LST and ST changes after forest expansion hinders our understanding of the vegetation‐microclimate interactions, especially during the dormant season. We quantified the change of LST (∆LST) and ST (∆ST) after forest expansion in the dormant season on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau (QTP), and then explored their differences and linkages. The results showed that forest expansion significantly decreased LST by 0.75 ± 0.20°C, while significantly increased ST in three layers (0–7, 7–28, and 28–100 cm) by 0.31 ± 0.06, 0.29 ± 0.05, and 0.20 ± 0.04°C, respectively. The decreased LST was conducive to the preservation of snow, leading to larger snow depth, larger fractional snow cover and more snow cover days in forests than grasslands, which further promoted the increased ST through enhanced thermal insulation. Furthermore, it is suggested that the cooling impact of forest expansion on LST and warming impact on ST would both be stronger at humid sites than at dry sites. These findings will contribute to understand the vegetation‐microclimate‐snow interactions and the decoupling phenomenon between LST and ST in the dormant season influenced by vegetation change. Plain Language Summary: Forest expansion is happening almost all over the world, altering land surface energy cycle. However, it is unclear that whether the temperature above ground and below ground are changing similarly or divergently. Land surface temperature (LST) and soil temperature (ST) indicate the above‐ and below‐ground thermal state, respectively. In this work, we quantified the change of these two temperatures after forest expansion in the dormant season on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, and then explored their relationships. The results showed that forest expansion significantly decreased LST by 0.75 ± 0.20°C, while significantly increased ST in three layers (0–7, 7–28, and 28–100 cm) by 0.31 ± 0.06, 0.29 ± 0.05, and 0.20 ± 0.04°C, respectively. Cooler land surface was conducive to the preservation of snow, leading to deeper, wider, and longer lasting snow cover in forests than grasslands, which further promoted the warmer soil through enhanced thermal insulation. Furthermore, it is suggested that humid environmental conditions would cause stronger contrasting temperature responses above and below ground after forest expansion. These findings will contribute to understand the temperature decoupling phenomenon influenced by vegetation change. Key Points: Land surface temperature (LST) and soil temperature (ST) were decoupled after forest expansion in the dormant seasonThe decrease of LST and increase of ST were associated through snow cover changeThe contrasting temperature responses were more prominent at humid sites than at dry sites [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser‐driven projection display puts forward urgent demand for color converter materials to simultaneously achieve balanced‐spectrum properties and strong heat dissipation. Herein, this work develops a novel optofunctional composite by coupling Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ transparent ceramics (TC) with CaAlSiN3:Eu2+ phosphor‐in‐glass film (PiGF) for the first time. Remarkably, this new material architecture design enables a balance between the spectrum properties and heat dissipation ability, and can yield high‐quality white light with brightness of over 2500 lm, luminous efficacy (LE) of over 200 lm W−1, correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3700–4100 K, and improved color rendering index (CRI) of 60–70. Furthermore, the PiGF@TC‐converted laser projection system is also successfully designed, showing natural and real color restoration. Additionally, the combined action of thermal quenching and optical excitation intensity quenching is confirmed for the luminescence saturation upon high‐power blue laser driven. The main mechanism of optical quenching is identified to be energy upconversion dominated by second‐order nonlinear processes. The findings described here suggest a step toward developing the admirable laser‐driven color converters for next‐generation lighting sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust amorphous glass protected CsPbBr3 (CsPbBr3@glass) perovskite quantum dots (PeQDs) with ultra‐pure green emission and superior long‐term stability are highly desirable for developing wide‐color‐gamut liquid crystal displays. However, most of the reported CsPbBr3@glass nanocomposites are subject to low external quantum efficiency (EQE). This work demonstrates that ZrO2 additive has an "accumulation" effect on the borosilicate glass network structure to promote in situ nucleation/growth of PeQDs inside glass rather than self‐crystallization. This effect is beneficial in reducing surface defects, improving the quality of PeQDs, and thus boosting radiative recombination of excitons. As a consequence, the as‐prepared CsPbBr3@glass shows a record EQE of up to 75% and can pass the accelerated aging tests at 85 °C/85% RH for 1000 h and blue light irradiation over 2000 h. Finally, a prototype display using CsPbBr3@glass‐based straight‐down backlit unit is designed and gains more favorable responses in blind selection tests for its high brightness of 2647 cd m−2 and high color purity of 88%. The findings will pave the way for realizing the commercial application of CsPbBr3@glass nanocomposite in PeQDs‐converted backlit display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) is an important treatment for the drug and nutrition administration in neonates. We aimed to evaluate the effects and safety of PICC placement through upper versus lower limb vein in neonates, to provide insights into the clinical PICC nursing care. Design: A meta‐analysis. Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct, China national knowledge infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, China Weipu Database, China Biomedical Literature Database for published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the placement of PICC via upper limb and lower limb venipuncture. Two reviewers independently evaluated and cross‐checked the quality of the included studies in accordance with the quality standards of the Cochrane Manual. We used RevMan 5.3 software for statistical processing. Results: A total of 12 RCTs were included in this meta‐analysis. Meta‐analysis indicated that compared with upper limb veins, PICC insertion through lower limb veins is beneficial to increase the one‐time puncture success rate (relative risk [RR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.68–0.79) and the indwelling time (mean difference [MD] = −3.60, 95% CI: −5.35 to −1.86), reduce the operation time (MD = 10.37, 95% CI: 7.48–13.26), estimated bleeding volume (MD = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.34–0.75), incidence of catheter ectopia (RR = 2.46, 95% CI: 1.81–3.35), PICC‐associated infection (RR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.65–4.83), exosmosis (RR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.49–4.04, p <.001) and phlebitis (RR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.03–1.90). No significant difference in the Incidence of catheter obstruction between the upper and lower limb veins (RR = 1.20, 95% CI: 0.73–1.97, p =.48) was found. Public Contribution: There are certain advantages in neonatal PICC puncture through the lower limb vein. The lower limb vein may be the preferred choice for neonatal PICC puncture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recasting is the adult rephrasing of a child's immediately preceding utterance. It has been shown to have outstanding effects on promoting language development in autistic children. This study used lag sequential analysis to explore the impact of mothers' conversational styles on the communicative behavior of autistic children when using recasting. This study recruited 30 Chinese autistic children (aged 3–6 years) and their mothers. The utterances of the children and their mothers during 30‐min interactions were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. The mothers' conversational styles were determined by the percentages of child‐dominant, mother‐dominant, and equality styles. The results indicated that mothers' conversational styles were predominantly child‐dominant, differing from the expected mother‐dominant style that is typical in Eastern cultures and traditions. However, some mothers still demonstrated a significant proportion of mother‐dominant style in their conversation, while some exhibited a considerable amount of equality style. Moreover, mothers with a mainly child‐dominant style and minimal use of mother‐dominant and equality styles used recasting after the child's response, triggering the child to initiate new topics. Mothers with a child‐dominant style combined with prominent mother‐dominant features implemented untargeted self‐recasting, the children did not respond significantly. Mothers with a child‐dominant style combined with prominent equality features used recasting after the children responded, initiated, or expanded the conversation, which often facilitated the child's expansion of the conversation. These findings provide suggestions for designing parent‐mediated early language interventions for autistic children. Lay Summary: Conversational interaction styles of Chinese mothers and their autistic children were characterized by child‐dominant conversation. Mothers with different conversational styles applied recasting differently, with different effects on their children's language expansion behavior. These findings provide suggestions for designing parent‐mediated early language interventions for autistic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desert algae are important components of the desert soil crust and play an essential role in desert soil ecosystem development. Owing to their special habitat, desert algae are often exposed to harsh environments, among which drought represents the most common stress. Green algae are considered to have drought tolerance potential; however, only a few studies have investigated this. In this study, we selected the green alga Chlorella sp., which was isolated from desert soil, and studied its physiological response to polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000‐induced drought stress. The results showed that drought stress can affect the photosynthetic efficiency of Chlorella sp., reduce its water retention ability, and destroy its ultrastructure. However, Chlorella sp. can cope with drought stress through a series of physiological regulatory strategies. Protective strategies include quick recovery of photosynthetic efficiency and increased chlorophyll content. In addition, induced synthesis of soluble proteins, lipids, and extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), and accumulation of osmotic regulatory substances, such as sucrose and trehalose, also contribute to improving drought tolerance in Chlorella sp. This study provides insights into the physiological responses of Chlorella sp. to drought stress, which may be valuable for understanding the underlying drought adaptation mechanisms of desert green algae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The root–shoot biomass ratio (R:S) changing the soil water redistribution is not well understood due to a lack of nondestructive technology to characterize the coexistence of plants and soil. This study aims to assess the correlations of the R:S ratios of Achnatherum splendens with soil water content by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) on the north‐western Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP). During the growing season, an experimental plot including bare patches (BK) and low‐ (LD) and high‐density (HD) A. splendens subplots was designed to quantify soil volumetric water content under different soil depths and antecedent total precipitation conditions for 7 days (AP7). The results showed that the R:S ratio was positive with soil water content in the surface soil layer of 0–10 cm. The synergistic effect of the R:S ratio on soil water in the surface soil layer promoted an increase in surface soil water. However, the nonsynergistic effect in the middle soil layer weakened the soil water increasing, and the effect of the R:S ratio on soil water in the deep soil layer of 40–80 cm was not obvious. In HD, soil water increased between 0.08% and 0.95% and was highest under AP7 > 20 mm conditions. In LD, soil water increased in the surface and deep soil layers but decreased in the middle soil layer, especially under AP7 = 10–20 mm conditions (−1.23%). These findings provide valuable insights that patchy alpine grass survival strategy under future climate change on the QTP, and the results are beneficial to the development of soil–plant–atmosphere continuum models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodontitis, a chronic infectious disease, primarily arises from infections and the invasion of periodontal pathogens. This condition is typified by alveolar bone loss resulting from host immune responses and inflammatory reactions. Periodontal pathogens trigger aberrant inflammatory reactions within periodontal tissues, thereby exacerbating the progression of periodontitis. Simultaneously, these pathogens and metabolites stimulate osteoclast differentiation, which leads to alveolar bone resorption. Moreover, a range of systemic diseases, including diabetes, postmenopausal osteoporosis, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, can contribute to the development and progression of periodontitis. Many studies have underscored the pivotal role of gut microbiota in bone health through the gut‐alveolar bone axis. The circulation may facilitate the transfer of gut pathogens or metabolites to distant alveolar bone, which in turn regulates bone homeostasis. Additionally, gut pathogens can elicit gut immune responses and direct immune cells to remote organs, potentially exacerbating periodontitis. This review summarizes the influence of oral microbiota on the development of periodontitis as well as the association between gut microbiota and periodontitis. By uncovering potential mechanisms of the gut‐bone axis, this analysis provides novel insights for the targeted treatment of pathogenic bacteria in periodontitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospun nanofibers (NFs) have shown excellent properties including high porosity, abundant active sites, controllable diameter, uniform and designable structure, high mechanical strength, and superior resistance to external destruction, which are ideal nanoreactors for in situ characterizations. Among various techniques, in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has enabled operando observation at the atomic level due to its high temporal and spatial resolution combined with excellent sensitivity, which is of great importance for rational materials design and performance improvement. In this review, the basic knowledge of in situ TEM techniques and the advantages of electrospun nanoreactors for in situ TEM characterization are first introduced. The recent development in electrospun nanoreactors for studying the physical properties, structural evolution, phase transition, and formation mechanisms of materials using in situ TEM is then summarized. The electrochemical behaviors of carbon nanofibers (CNFs), metal/metal oxide NFs, and solid‐electrolyte interphase for different rechargeable batteries are highlighted. Finally, challenges faced by electrospun nanoreactors for in situ TEM characterization are discussed and potential solutions are proposed to advance this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently mutated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variant Omicron has very high infectivity and a strong ability to evolve and evade immunity. We collected six sets of sera from uninfected individuals and individuals recovering from breakthrough infections who completed homologous or heterologous booster immunization and assessed their susceptibility against the BA.5.2.48, BF.7.14, XBB.1.5, XBB.1.5.4, and XBB.1.16 subvariants. The results demonstrated that the Omicron variants possess an exceptional potential to evade the immune barriers strengthened by vaccine administration and natural infections in the population, particularly XBB.1.16, and showed that heterologous boosters exhibit higher vaccine efficacy compared with homologous boosters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc is a very important and ubiquitous element, which is present in oral environment, daily diet, oral health products, dental restorative materials, and so on. However, there is a lack of attention to the role of both extracellular or intracellular zinc in the progression of periodontitis and periodontal regeneration. This review summarizes the characteristics of immunological microenvironment and host cells function in several key stages of periodontitis progression, and explores the regulatory effect of zinc during this process. We find multiple evidence indicate that zinc may be involved and play a key role in the stages of immune defense, inflammatory response and bone remodeling. Zinc supplementation in an appropriate dose range or regulation of zinc transport proteins can promote periodontal regeneration by either enhancing immune defense or up‐regulating local cells proliferation and differentiation functions. Therefore, zinc homeostasis is essential in periodontal remodeling and regeneration. More attention is suggested to be focused on zinc homeostasis regulation and consider it as a potential strategy in the studies on periodontitis treatment, periodontal‐guided tissue regeneration, implant material transformation, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers fractional optimal control problems (FOCPs) including both integer‐order and Atangana–Baleanu Caputo derivatives. First, the existence and uniqueness of the solution of a fractional Cauchy problem is given. Then, applying calculus of variations and Lagrange multiplier method, we present necessary optimality conditions of FOCPs and sufficient optimality conditions are also given under some assumptions. Next, a collection method is developed to derive numerical solutions by using shifted Legendre polynomials. Finally, error estimate of numerical solutions is also provided, and numerical examples further show the accuracy and feasibility of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite extensive characterization of the state and function of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), the use of transcription factors to define the HSC population is still limited. We show here that the HSC population in mouse bone marrow can be defined by the distinct expression levels of Spi1 and Gata1. By using a double fluorescence knock‐in mouse model, PGdKI, in which the expression levels of PU.1 and GATA‐1 are indicated by the expression of GFP and mCherry, respectively, we uncover that the HSCs with lymphoid and myeloid repopulating activity are specifically enriched in a Lin−PU.1dimGATA‐1− (LPG) cell subset. In vivo competitive repopulation assays demonstrate that bone marrow cells gated by LPG exhibit haematopoietic reconstitution activity which is comparable to that of classical Lin−Sca1+c‐kit+ (LSK). The integrated analysis of single‐cell RNA sequence data from LPG and LSK‐gated cells reveals that a transcriptional network governed by core TFs contributes to regulation of HSC multipotency. These discoveries provide new clues for HSC characterization and functional study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a long‐standing challenge to break the tradeoffs between different mechanical property indicators such as the strength versus toughness in the design of lightweight lattice materials. To tackle this challenge, a hierarchical lattice metamaterial with modified face‐centered cubic (FCC) cell configuration, inspired by the glass sponge skeletal system, is proposed. The proposed lattice metamaterial simultaneously possesses high strength, high energy absorption, considerable toughness, as well as controllable deformation patterns through integration of both bionic features of double diagonal reinforcement and hierarchical circular modification. The compressive strength and energy absorption can reach 69.13 MPa and 53.39 J cm3, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed lattice also exhibits exceptionally high damage tolerance compared with existing lattice metamaterials with comparable strength by attenuating stress and deformation concentration that may cause catastrophic collapse. This design approach combines the advantages of tensile‐dominated and bending‐dominated lattices. Quantitatively, in terms of specific strength, specific energy absorption, and crushing force efficiency, the modified hierarchical circular FCC (MHCFCC) lattice metamaterial outperforms the Octet lattice by 14.85%, 53.28%, and 110.52%, respectively. This multibionic feature integration approach provides advanced design strategies for high‐performance architected metamaterials with promising application potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust estimates of wetland soil organic carbon (SOC) pools are critical to understanding wetland carbon dynamics in the global carbon cycle. However, previous estimates were highly variable and uncertain, due likely to the data sources and method used. Here we used machine learning method to estimate SOC storage and their changes over time in China's wetlands based on wetland SOC density database, associated geospatial environmental data, and recently published wetland maps. We built a database of wetland SOC density in China that contains 809 samples from 181 published studies collected over the last 20 years as presented in the published literature. All samples were extended and standardized to a 1‐m depth, on the basis of the relationship between SOC density data from soil profiles of different depths. We used three different machine learning methods to evaluate their robustness in estimating wetland SOC storage and changes in China. The results indicated that random forest model achieved accurate wetland SOC estimation with R2 being.65. The results showed that average SOC density of top 1 m in China's wetlands was 25.03 ± 3.11 kg C m−2 in 2000 and 26.57 ± 3.73 kg C m−2 in 2020, an increase of 6.15%. SOC storage change from 4.73 ± 0.58 Pg in 2000 to 4.35 ± 0.61 Pg in 2020, a decrease of 8.03%, due to 13.6% decreased in wetland area from 189.12 × 103 to 162.8 × 103 km2 in 2020, despite the increase in SOC density during the same time period. The carbon accumulation rate was 107.5 ± 12.4 g C m−2 year−1 since 2000 in wetlands with no area changes. Climate change caused variations in wetland SOC density, and a future warming and drying climate would lead to decreases in wetland SOC storage. Estimates under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 1‐2.6 (low‐carbon emissions) suggested that wetland SOC storage in China would not change significantly by 2100, but under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5‐8.5 (high‐carbon emissions), it would decrease significantly by approximately 5.77%. In this study, estimates of wetland SOC storage were optimized from three aspects, including sample database, wetland extent, and estimation method. Our study indicates the importance of using consistent SOC density and extent data in estimating and projecting wetland SOC storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The absence of thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF‐1) is associated with a lower frequency of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of TTF‐1 expression on the clinical response to EGFR‐tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment in patients with advanced LUAD. Methods: The data of patients with advanced LUAD who were admitted to the Beijing Tiantan Hospital and Peking University Cancer Hospital (China) between April 2009 and May 2023 was retrospectively analyzed. Results: A total of 227 patients diagnosed with advanced LUAD were included, of which 28.2% (64/227) had TTF‐1‐negative adenocarcinoma, while 54.6% (124/227) harbored EGFR mutations. Negative TTF‐1 expression significantly correlated with male sex (68.8% vs. 42.3%, p < 0.001), history of heavy smoking (57.8% vs. 36.2%, p = 0.003), poorly differentiated tumors (86.5% vs. 43.2%, p < 0.001), and lower frequency of EGFR mutations (26.6% vs. 65.6%, p < 0.001) compared with TTF‐1 positivity. Multivariable logistic regression showed that low prevalence of EGFR mutations (p < 0.001) and male sex (p = 0.006) were independent predictive factors for the negative expression of TTF‐1. Patients lacking TTF‐1 also exhibited worse overall response rate (ORR; 23.5% vs. 54.2%, p = 0.019), disease control rate (DCR; 58.8% vs. 89.7%, p = 0.003), and median progression‐free survival (PFS; 2.9 vs. 11.6 months, p < 0.001) following treatment with EGFR‐TKIs compared to the TTF‐1‐positive patients with EGFR mutations. Conclusions: Patients with TTF‐1‐negative and EGFR‐mutant LUAD show a diminished response to EGFR‐TKIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Plants employ various molecular mechanisms to maintain primary root elongation upon salt stress. Identification of key functional genes, therein, is important for improving crop salt tolerance. Through analyzing natural variation of the primary root length of Arabidopsis natural population under salt stress, we identified NIGT1.4, encoding an MYB transcription factor, as a novel contributor to maintained root growth under salt stress. Using both T‐DNA knockout and functional complementation, NIGT1.4 was confirmed to have a role in promoting primary root growth in response to salt stress. The expression of NIGT1.4 in the root was shown induced by NaCl treatments in an ABA‐dependent manner. SnRK2.2 and 2.3 were shown to interact with and phosphorylate NIGT1.4 individually. The growth of the primary root of snrk2.2/2.3/2.6 triple mutant was shown sensitive to salt stress, which was similar to nigt1.4 plants. Using DNA affinity purification sequencing, ERF1, a known positive regulator for primary root elongation and salt tolerance, was identified as a target gene for NIGT1.4. The transcriptional induction of ERF1 by salt stress was shown absent in nigt1.4 background. NIGT1.4 was also confirmed to bind to the promoter region of ERF1 by yeast one‐hybrid experiment and to induce the expression of ERF1 by dual‐luciferase analysis. All data support the notion that salt‐ and ABA‐elicited NIGT1.4 induces the expression of ERF1 to regulate downstream functional genes that contribute to maintained primary root elongation. NIGT1.4‐ERF1, therefore, acts as a signaling node linking regulators for stress resilience and root growth, providing new insights for breeding salt‐tolerant crops. Significance Statement: A new role of NIGT1.4 in promoting root growth under salt stress through ABA signaling pathways was demonstrated, in which NIGT1.4 acts directly upstream of ERF1, a known key regulator for many stress‐responsive genes and auxin actions in the root. By using both forward and reverse genetic approaches, new genes in regulating root growth under salt stress were identified, and a signaling link between ABA and auxin was discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC Ag) levels for treatment failure prediction in patients with cervical cancer. Methods: A quantity of 985 patients satisfying the eligibility criteria were included, with a median follow‐up duration of 63.7 months. The optimal cutoff value for pretreatment SCC Ag levels was verified by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Five‐year disease‐free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and local control (LC) rates were evaluated utilizing the Kaplan‐Meier method. Log‐rank test and Cox proportional hazards model was implemented to recognize independent prognostic predictors. Results: The optimal pretreatment SCC Ag cutoff value was 8.85 ng/mL. Patients with pretreatment SCC Ag levels ≥ 8.85 ng/mL presented significantly inferior 5‐year DFS (63.8% vs. 81.8%), OS (71.7% vs. 88.7%), and LC (80.5% vs. 91.0%) compared to those with levels < 8.85 ng/mL (all p < 0.001). The results of the multivariate analysis indicated that the pretreatment SCC Ag level was an independent predictor of treatment failure (HR,1.772; 95% CI, 1.366 to 2.299; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Pretreatment SCC Ag is an effective prognostic factor in patients with cervical cancer undergoing definitive radiotherapy, with a ROC‐identified cutoff value of 8.85 ng/mL and elevated SCC Ag indicates unfavorable outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual Question Answering (VQA) aims to appropriately answer a text question by understanding the image content. Attention‐based VQA models mine the implicit relationships between objects according to the feature similarity, which neglects the explicit relationships between objects, for example, the relative position. Most Visual Scene Graph‐based VQA models exploit the relative positions or visual relationships between objects to construct the visual scene graph, while they suffer from the semantic insufficiency of visual edge relations. Besides, the scene graph of text modality is often ignored in these works. In this article, a novel Dual Scene Graph Enhancement Module (DSGEM) is proposed that exploits the relevant external knowledge to simultaneously construct two interpretable scene graph structures of image and text modalities, which makes the reasoning process more logical and precise. Specifically, the authors respectively build the visual and textual scene graphs with the help of commonsense knowledge and syntactic structure, which explicitly endows the specific semantics to each edge relation. Then, two scene graph enhancement modules are proposed to propagate the involved external and structural knowledge to explicitly guide the feature interaction between objects (nodes). Finally, the authors embed such two scene graph enhancement modules to existing VQA models to introduce the explicit relation reasoning ability. Experimental results on both VQA V2 and OK‐VQA datasets show that the proposed DSGEM is effective and compatible to various VQA architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional approaches for monitoring human gait have severe spatial and temporal restrictions with complex analysis methods and high cost, which are powerless to promote the development of intelligent life involving fitness, sport training, and healthcare. Herein, a portable smart insole system with high spatial resolution and simple manufacturing process to measure plantar pressure distribution anytime, anywhere for gait analysis is proposed. An insole‐shaped array of 104 piezoresistive sensors with highly robust characteristics is assembled, exhibiting a good pressure‐sensing uniformity. The smart insole not only detects the subtle displacement of the center of gravity of the body, but also exhibits a real‐time, high‐resolution thermodynamic diagram of the plantar pressure distribution during human activities. More importantly, the function of motion intelligence identification can be realized by regionalizing and digitizing the whole plantar pressure distribution, achieving an average recognition accuracy of 83.32% among six predefined motions. These results imply that the carbon fiber‐based smart insole can provide an effective approach for convenient gait analysis and motion identification, which has a great potential in the application of future intelligent life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuronal excitability is a critical feature of central nervous system development, playing a fundamental role in the functional maturation of brain regions, including the hippocampus, cerebellum, auditory and visual systems. The present study aimed to determine the mechanism by which hypoxia causes brain dysfunction through perturbation of neuronal excitability in a hypoxic neonatal mouse model. Functional brain development was assessed in humans using the Gesell Development Diagnosis Scale. In mice, gene transcription was evaluated via mRNA sequencing and quantitative PCR; furthermore, patch clamp recordings assessed potassium currents. Clinical observations revealed disrupted functional brain development in 6‐ and 18‐month‐old hypoxic neonates, and those born with normal hearing screening unexpectedly exhibited impaired central auditory function at 3 months. In model mice, CA1 pyramidal neurons exhibited reduced spontaneous activity, largely induced by excitatory synaptic input suppression, despite the elevated membrane excitability of hypoxic neurons compared to that of control neurons. In hypoxic neurons, Kcnd3 gene transcription was upregulated, confirming upregulated hippocampal Kv4.3 expression. A‐type potassium currents were enhanced, and Kv4.3 participated in blocking excitatory presynaptic inputs. Elevated Kv4.3 activity in pyramidal neurons under hypoxic conditions inhibited excitatory presynaptic inputs and further decreased neuronal excitability, disrupting functional brain development in hypoxic neonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To examine specific correlates that may affect retention outcomes of neural stem cell therapy trials in families screened for cerebral palsy. Design: A prospective correlational study. Methods: Primary caregivers completed surveys of psychological resilience, care burden and family caregiver tasks. The overall data and differences between groups were analysed and compared. Results: Resilience was negatively correlated with the care ability and closely related to the monthly household income and educational level of the caregivers. Factors affecting the final retention rate included the type of disease, number of combined disorders, monthly household income, primary caregivers' education level and resilience. Conclusion: Economic level, literacy and psychological status may affect trial retention. These findings can provide tips for preparing for subsequent screening, identification and intervention in stem cell clinical trials. Implication for the Profession and/or Patient Care: The study results may provide nursing care tips to make recruitment more efficient, reduce trial costs, support patient‐centredness and accelerate trial progress. No Patient or Public Contribution: The target population involves the primary caregivers of children living with cerebral palsy. However, neither patients nor the public contributed to the design or conduct of the study, analysis, or interpretation of the data, or preparation of the manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish the geometric ergodicity for general stochastic functional autoregressive (linear and nonlinear) models with heavy‐tailed errors. The stationarity conditions for a generalized random coefficient autoregressive model (GRCAR(p)) are presented as a corollary. And then, a conditional self‐weighted M‐estimator for parameters in the GRCAR(p) is proposed. The asymptotic normality of this estimator is discussed by allowing infinite variance innovations. Simulation experiments are carried out to assess the finite‐sample performance of the proposed methodology and theory, and a real heavy‐tailed data example is given as illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing 2D materials with intrinsic magnetism is an essential issue owing to their wide potential applications in spintronics. Here, a type of transition metal tetraborides, TMB4, (TM = TiCo) monolayers were systematically investigated by employing first principles calculations. Our results showed that the predicted structures hold buckled motif, ultrahigh stability and large magnetic anisotropy energy. It is revealed that CrB4, MnB4, and FeB4 monolayers are robust ferromagnetism, differently, TiB4, VB4, and CoB4 monolayers are stable anti‐ferromagnetism. Based on the Monte Carlo simulation, the critical temperatures of these magnetic systems are around 177–755 K. Most importantly, CoB4 monolayer is confirmed to be an antiferromagnetic semiconductor with out‐of‐plane magnetic easy axis and out‐of‐plane piezoelectricity with large piezoelectric stress coefficients. Our study suggests that the 2D TMB4s hold promising applications for spintronic devices and piezoelectric devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sonodynamic therapy demonstrates tremendous potential in biomedicine due to its non‐invasiveness, deep tissue penetration, and spatiotemporal controllability. However, the lack of favorable nanosonosensitizers with prominent reactive oxygen species generation capability and green chemical constituents remains a significant challenge for its broad biomedical applications. Herein, a homologous bismuth‐based nanosonosensitizer (Bi‐HJ) is designed and fabricated by direct defect engineering for combinational tumor therapy. Specifically, self‐derived Schottky heterojunction and oxygen vacancies are concurrently constructed in Bi‐HJ, which prominently promotes the separation of ultrasound‐triggered electron–hole pairs and improves the charge utilization efficiency. With the porous structure, Bi‐HJ is loaded with a metabolic regulation drug atovaquone to block the mitochondrial respiration for oxygen‐economized sonodynamic tumor suppression. The strong near‐infrared absorption of Bi‐HJ imparted by oxygen vacancies allows the implementation of photothermal therapy. Accordingly, Bi‐HJ rationally combines two therapeutic modalities and metabolic regulation function, as well as computed tomography imaging ability, thus achieving effective tumor theranostics in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, this study provides new insight into the fabrication of homologous nanosonosensitizers without the introduction of other constituents for synergistically enhanced tumor therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]