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Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a common sports injury, and ACL reconstruction is an effective surgery for this trauma. Most cases gain good recovery after surgery, while some patients may experience knee stiffness, which is characterized by joint fibrosis, leading to reduced joint mobility, pain, and dysfunction. Currently, various research studies have been conducted to unveil the mechanisms underlying this condition, identifying pre-, intra-, and post-operative risk factors, and testify the efficacy of different therapeutic methods against it. In this review, we summarize the current progress regarding the advancements in knee fibrosis after ACL reconstruction. The risk factors associated with knee fibrosis are systematically delineated, accompanied by an evaluation of the efficacy of various treatment modalities for both the prevention and mitigation of fibrosis. Furthermore, recommendations for future research directions are proposed, offering a foundational basis for subsequent investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has been widely used in freshwater systems, contributing to the advancements in the monitoring of fish diversity and community species composition. Nevertheless, the accuracy and reliability of eDNA metabarcoding in assessing functional structures and revealing the mechanisms underlying fish community assembly remain unclear. In this study, we combined a traditional survey method (electrofishing) and eDNA metabarcoding to conduct fish stock monitoring in the upper reaches of the Huishui stream. We assessed taxonomic and functional structures, as well as community assembly mechanisms, during dry and wet seasons. The results revealed that, compared with electrofishing surveys, eDNA metabarcoding detected a greater number of species and higher functional richness in both seasons. Despite significant differences in fish taxonomic composition between the seasons, both eDNA and traditional methods indicated that environmental filtering dominated the process of fish community assembly in both dry and wet seasons. We showed that eDNA metabarcoding is comparable to the electrofishing method in monitoring the community composition of stream fish and can accurately and reliably determine fish community assembly mechanisms. Combining functional traits and eDNA is a robust approach for monitoring stream fish community compared to taxonomic uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gut microbiota of fish is crucial for their growth, development, nutrient uptake, physiological balance, and disease resistance. Yet our knowledge of these microbial communities in wild fish populations in their natural ecosystems is insufficient. This study systematically examined the gut microbial communities of seven wild fish species in Chaohu Lake, a fishing-restricted area with minimal water turnover, across four seasons. We found significant variations in gut microbial community structures among species. Additionally, we observed significant seasonal and regional variations in the gut microbial communities. The Chaohu Lake fish gut microbial communities were predominantly composed of the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria(Gamma), Proteobacteria(Alpha), Actinobacteriota, and Cyanobacteria. At the genus level, Aeromonas, Cetobacterium, Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Romboutsia, and Pseudomonas emerged as the most prevalent. A co-occurrence network analysis revealed that C. auratus, C. carpio, and C. brachygnathus possessed more complex and robust gut microbial networks than H. molitrix, C. alburnus, C. ectenes taihuensis, and A. nobilis. Certain microbial groups, such as Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Romboutsia, and Pseudomonas, were both dominant and keystone in the fish gut microbial network. Our study offers a new approach for studying the wild fish gut microbiota in natural, controlled environments. It offers an in-depth understanding of gut microbial communities in wild fish living in stable, limited water exchange natural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiB2 nanoparticles with a bandgap of 0 eV were prepared, and the corresponding nonlinear optical response at 2.85 μm was investigated. Employing a TiB2 as a saturable absorber, a 2.85 μm pulsed Er:Lu2O3 crystal laser with an average output power of 1.2 W was achieved under a maximum pump power of 9.51 W. Laser pulses with durations of ~203 ns were delivered at a repetition rate of 154 kHz, which corresponds to a pulse energy of ~7.8 µJ and a peak power of 39.3 W. As far as we know, the result represents the highest average output power from all Q-switched Er:Lu2O3 crystal lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land-based container with recycling water aquaculture system (C-RAS) has gained popularity in China due to its water conservation and pollution reduction capabilities. However, there is a dearth of theoretical research on this subject. In this study, water from Koi-cultured container and three-stage eco-ponds was sampled over three seasons and then the bacterial communities were analyzed. The findings of this study indicate that the implementation of three-stage eco-ponds significantly enhances water quality. Specifically, during the summer season, eco-ponds exhibit the highest removal efficiencies of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in comparison to other seasons. During winter, the bacterial communities' operational taxonomic units, diversity, and richness experience a substantial decline. The system was dominated by Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Actinobacteriota phyla. The lower relative abundance of Actinobacteriota and Cyanobacteria elucidated the reason for the lower off-flavor compounds in container-cultured fish compared to pond-cultured fish. The bacterial community was significantly influenced by water temperature and pH, as revealed by canonical correspondence analysis. These findings establish a fundamental basis for the development of a healthy and sustainable C-RAS technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent decades, the recognition that uncertainty lies at the heart of modern project management has induced considerable research efforts on robust project scheduling for dealing with uncertainty in a scheduling environment. The literature generally provides two main strategies for the development of a robust predictive project schedule, namely robust resource allocation and time buffering. Yet, the previous studies seem to have neglected the potential benefits of an integration between the two. Besides, few efforts have been made to protect simultaneously the project due date and the activity start times against disruptions during execution, which is desperately demanded in practice. In this paper, we aim at constructing a proactive schedule that is not only short in time but also less vulnerable to disruptions. Firstly, a bi-objective optimisation model with a proper normalisation of the two components is proposed in the presence of activity duration variability. Then a two-stage heuristic algorithm is developed which deals with a robust resource allocation problem in the first stage and optimally determines the position and the size of time buffers using a simulated annealing algorithm in the second stage. Finally, an extensive computational experiment on the PSPLIB network instances demonstrates the superiority of the combination between resource allocation and time buffering as well as the effectiveness of the proposed two-stage algorithm for generating proactive project schedules with composite robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique topological structure of a turtle shell, including the special ribs–scapula relationship, is an evolutionarily novelty of amniotes. The carapacial ridge is a key embryonic tissue for inducing turtle carapace morphologenesis. However, the gene expression profiles and molecular regulatory mechanisms that occur during carapacial ridge development, including the regulation mechanism of rib axis arrest, the development mechanism of the carapacial ridge, and the differentiation between soft-shell turtles and hard-shell turtles, are not fully understood. In this study, we obtained genome-wide gene expression profiles during the carapacial ridge development of Mauremys reevesii using RNA-sequencing by using carapacial ridge tissues from stage 14, 15 and 16 turtle embryos. In addition, a differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis and a gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of three comparison groups were performed. Furthermore, a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis was used to analyze the pathway enrichment of the differentially expressed genes of the three comparative groups. The result displayed that the Wnt signaling pathway was substantially enriched in the CrTK14 vs. the CrTK15 comparison group, while the Hedgehog signaling pathway was significantly enriched in the CrTK15 vs. the CrTK16 group. Moreover, the regulatory network of the Wnt signaling pathway showed that Wnt signaling pathways might interact with Fgfs, Bmps, and Shh to form a regulatory network to regulate the carapacial ridge development. Next, WGCNA was used to cluster and analyze the expression genes during the carapacial ridge development of M. reevesii and P. sinensis. Further, a KEGG functional enrichment analysis of the carapacial ridge correlation gene modules was performed. Interesting, these results indicated that the Wnt signaling pathway and the MAPK signaling pathway were significantly enriched in the gene modules that were highly correlated with the stage 14 and stage 15 carapacial ridge samples of the two species. The Hedgehog signaling pathway was significantly enriched in the modules that were strongly correlated with the stage 16 carapacial ridge samples of M. reevesii, however, the PI3K-Akt signaling and the TGF-β signaling pathways were significantly enriched in the modules that were strongly correlated with the stage 16 carapacial ridge samples of P. sinensis. Furthermore, we found that those modules that were strongly correlated with the stage 14 carapacial ridge samples of M. reevesii and P. sinensis contained Wnts and Lef1. While the navajo white 3 module which was strongly correlated with the stage 16 carapacial ridge samples of M. reevesii contained Shh and Ptchs. The dark green module strongly correlated with the stage 16 carapacial ridge samples of P. sinensis which contained Col1a1, Col1a2, and Itga8. Consequently, this study systematically revealed the signaling pathways and genes that regulate the carapacial ridge development of M. reevesii and P. sinensis, which provides new insights for revealing the molecular mechanism that is underlying the turtle's body structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caizi Lake is an important lake connected to the Yangtze River in Anhui Province and a crucial connection for the Yangtze-to-Huaihe Water Diversion Project. There were marked differences in trophic status of the six sampling sites based on the physicochemical characterization. The Bacterial Eutrophic Index (BEI), used to quantify water quality, was well related to Carlson's trophic state index (TSI) (Spearman's ρ = 0.829, P  < 0.05). Mean TSI and BEI were 54 and 0.58, respectively, indicating that Caizi Lake was slightly eutrophic. Actinobacteriota were the predominant bacterial phylum in the water and Acidobacteriota in sediments. The diversity and composition of the bacterial community was markedly different between sites for water but not sediment samples. Unlike other Yangtze-connected freshwater lakes, the distance-based redundancy analysis revealed that dissolved oxygen affected the composition of the planktonic bacterial community (P  < 0.001), while total phosphorus was the major factor in the sediments (P  < 0.05). The water quality of Caizi Lake has significantly improved since a few years ago. These results contribute to the long-term monitoring of the ecological quality of the water environment along the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the health of rivers is threatened by multiple anthropogenic stressors with increasing frequency, the impacts of different types of industrial pollution with regard to the structure and diversity of the bacterial community in the river have not been fully recorded. In order to study the composition and interaction of bacterial communities and co-occurrence patterns of bacterial communities in rivers polluted by different industries, we sampled the sewage outfalls of textile factory, food manufacturer, steel plant and lighting factory. The result showed that the bacterial community composition significantly differed in the rivers polluted by distinct types of industrial pollution. In addition, correlation-based network analysis showed that the microbial under different industrial pollution types have a nonrandom modular structure, and the nodes in the different modules perform different functions. In summary, adaptive changes in the composition of bacterial communities in rivers and the occurrence of species interactions are responses to different types of industrial pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A three-dimensional thermohydrodynamic (THD) model of a notched mechanical seal is developed based on the commercial software ANSYS Fluent. The flow behavior of hot and cold fluid in and around the notch, namely, the thermal mixing effect, is detailly analyzed. The heat transfer between the notch fluid and the seal rings as well as the cooling effect mechanism of the notch are discussed. Finally, a parametric analysis is conducted to study the effect of notch size, rotational speed and seal gap on heat transport. The results show that the notch fluid locally decreases the notched stator face temperature around the notch boundaries. The reflux occurs between the sealing chamber and notch, which brings the most cooling effect to the notch. The notch depth and width have a significant effect on the heat transfer between the fluid and sealing rings. Because of the non-simplified THD model, the proposed research provides increased reliability of understanding the flow and temperature behavior in the notch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extended Reynolds equation is presented to evaluate the effects of the fluid inertia and cavitation on the performance of spiral-grooved mechanical face seals under high-speed conditions. Segregated finite element procedures are employed to solve the fluid inertia terms and the fluid film pressure distribution with the artificial viscosity stabilization strategy and streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) finite element method. The pressure jump is captured at the sudden variation in film thickness. The fluid inertia effect on the sealing performance is determined at different rotational speeds, groove depths, and spiral angles. The results show that the inertia effect due to the film thickness discontinuities improves the load-carrying capacity and increases the leakage rate. The convective inertia forces in the sealing gap flow promote fluid cavitation. The fluid inertia effect on the sealing performance is closely dependent on the spiral angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface capturing methods are effective means to analyze the micromechanism of cavitation. It is complex to handle the phase change for interface capturing methods since it occurs at the narrow gas–liquid interface. This study proposes a new method to handle the phase change: treating it as the source of vapor inside the bubble. The phase change rate is calculated by the constant-transfer model, and the gas phase is an ideal mixture of non-condensable gas and vapor. In the validation part, the cavitation of a spherical bubble is trigged by the Gaussian pulses and harmonic forcing pressure is simulated, which shows good agreements between the proposed model and the constant-transfer model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]