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Electrochemical dissolution behavior of laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) Ti–6Al–4V alloy is investigated in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiostatic polarization, and Mott–Schottky analysis. To investigate the effect of microstructure on the corrosion passivation film and corrosion resistance, the microstructure (martensitic α′/α + β phases and α grain boundaries (αGB)) of L-PBF Ti–6Al–4V alloys was modified via heat treatment. The microstructural results indicate that the heat treatment at 950 °C (HT-950) lead to a higher volume fraction of β phase and finer α-laths, compared with those under other heat treatment temperatures. Intriguingly, the corrosion resistance of the HT-950 sample is significantly higher than that of the others because the refinement of grains contributes to preventing corrosion. The stable passivation film is attributed to the decrease in donor density (oxygen vacancies) and vacancy diffusion coefficients with increasing the film formation potential. This work illustrates the mechanism of passivation film during the corrosion process of L-PBF Ti–6Al–4V alloy, and would be helpful to develop additively manufactured Ti–6Al–4V alloys with a better corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoelectric power generation is an emerging renewable energy technology, while its widespread application has been limited by its constrained output capacity. The figure of merit (ZT ) of thermoelectric materials serves as a crucial metric for performance assessment. However, researchers primarily focus on increasing the numerical value of ZT , neglecting the fact that a high ZT does not directly translate into superior performance. In this study, we employed finite element simulations to analyze the temperature-dependent properties of thermoelectric materials and examined the impact of the Seebeck coefficient, electrical and thermal conductivity on output performance of thermoelectric generators (TEG) during operation. The results reveal that a high ZT does not guarantee superior output performance. Conversely, thermal property of materials exerts more influence on output capacity than electrical property. Through appropriate adjustments, the maximum output power can be increased by up to 13%, or the maximum efficiency can be enhanced by 6% even maintaining the same ZT . Furthermore, we discuss the practical scenarios during operation and demonstrate that excessive external loads or low thermal conductivity can induce significant thermal stress on the thermoelectric device. This study would provide valuable reference for future optimal utilization of TEG to achieve high output performance and stable operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite element model was established to predict the thermal and stress fields in selective laser melting of Ti55531 alloy. The temperature distribution, melt pool dimension, and solidification parameters on the different scanning speeds were evaluated and analyzed. The results show that the temperature and dimension of the melt pool decrease as the scanning speed increases. The maximum cooling rate and solidification rate are about 1.38 × 104 ℃/s and 0.95 mm/s, respectively, obtained at scanning speed of 1000 mm/s, while the minimum cooling rate and solidification rate are approximately 5.80 × 103 ℃/s and 0.2 mm/s, respectively, obtained at scanning speed of 200 mm/s. Relatively high scanning speed improves the instability of the solid/liquid interface and is beneficial for obtaining fine grains. In addition, the thermal stress exhibits a tendency to increase with the laser moves forward, and the residual stress increases sharply mainly during the cooling period. The maximum residual stress reached 878 MPa with a scanning speed of 1000 mm/s. The simulations and experiment results exhibit good agreement. A surface heat source with Gaussian distribution was used to realize the numerical simulation of SLM under different scanning speeds, which provides a good reference for the optimization of deposition parameters of Ti55531 alloy and the production of good-quality deposited components in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time difference of arrival is a common method to find the leakage point of water pipeline. The leakage point localization is achieved by calculating the time delay between the signals reaching different sensors. Mainstream time delay estimation algorithms based on signal correlation analysis are susceptible to the introduction of noise signals, low sampling rates, and signal clipping, resulting in inaccurate localization results. The article analyzed the impact of different interference factors and proposed a new time delay estimation algorithm based on signal cross-zero information modulation (CZIM) to address these problems. By normalizing the amplitude of the two signals at the detection points on both sides of the pipeline leakage position, two sets of sparse signal sequences with only two eigenvalues of 0 and 1 are obtained. The error coefficient function is calculated by a similar traversal method to finally index the time delay. In this paper, the principle and characteristics of the algorithm are analyzed and compared with the most commonly used GCC method. In both numerical simulations and actual pipe leakage localization experiments, the CZIM algorithm has shown its wide applicability, low impact by low sampling rate, and adaptability to low signal-to-noise ratios, etc. At the same time, the algorithm is simple in design and has a small amount of calculation and can meet the demand for real-time data processing, providing a new idea for the development of acoustic localization technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel non-metallic carbon-based catalyst co-doped with boron and nitrogen (B,N) was successfully synthesized. By precisely controlling the carbonization temperature of a binary mixed ionic liquid, we selectively modified the doping site structure, ultimately constructing a B,N co-doped frustrated Lewis acid-base pair catalyst. This catalyst exhibited remarkable catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability in the dehydrochlorination reaction of 1,1,2-trichloroethane (TCE). Detailed characterization and theoretical calculations revealed that the primary active center of this catalyst was the BN3 configuration. Compared to conventional graphitic N structures, the BN3 structure had a higher p-band center, ensuring superior adsorption and activation capabilities for TCE during the reaction. Within the BN3 site, three negatively charged nitrogen atoms acted as Lewis bases, while positively charged boron atoms acted as Lewis acids. This synergistic interaction facilitated the specific dissociation of chlorine and hydrogen atoms from TCE, significantly enhancing the 1,1-dichloroethene selectivity. Through this research, we not only explored the active site structure and catalytic mechanism of B,N co-doped catalysts in depth but also provided an efficient, selective, and stable catalyst for the dehydrochlorination of TCE, contributing significantly to the development of nonmetallic catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human hematopoiesis starts at early yolk sac and undergoes site- and stage-specific changes over development. The intrinsic mechanism underlying property changes in hematopoiesis ontogeny remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed single-cell transcriptome of human primary hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) at different developmental stages, including yolk-sac (YS), AGM, fetal liver (FL), umbilical cord blood (UCB) and adult peripheral blood (PB) mobilized HSPCs. These stage-specific HSPCs display differential intrinsic properties, such as metabolism, self-renewal, differentiating potentialities etc. We then generated highly co-related gene regulatory network (GRNs) modules underlying the differential HSC key properties. Particularly, we identified GRNs and key regulators controlling lymphoid potentiality, self-renewal as well as aerobic respiration in human HSCs. Introducing selected regulators promotes key HSC functions in HSPCs derived from human pluripotent stem cells. Therefore, GRNs underlying key intrinsic properties of human HSCs provide a valuable guide to generate fully functional HSCs in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to identify key genes regulating tumor infiltrating plasma cells (PC) and provide new insights for innovative immunotherapy. Methods: Key genes related to PC were identified using machine learning in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients. A prognostic model called PC scores was developed using TCGA data and validated with GEO cohorts. We assessed the molecular background, immune features, and drug sensitivity of the high PC scores group. Real-time PCR was utilized to assess the expression of hub genes in both localized LUAD patients and LUAD cell lines. Results: We constructed PC scores based on seventeen PC-related hub genes (ELOVL6, MFI2, FURIN, DOK1, ERO1LB, CLEC7A, ZNF431, KIAA1324, NUCB2, TXNDC11, ICAM3, CR2, CLIC6, CARNS1, P2RY13, KLF15, and SLC24A4). Higher age, TNM stage, and PC scores independently predicted shorter overall survival. The AUC value of PC scores for one year, three years, and five years of overall survival were 0.713, 0.716, and 0.690, separately. The nomogram model that integrated age, stage, and PC scores showed significantly higher predictive value than stage alone (P < 0.01). High PC scores group exhibited an immune suppressing microenvironment with lower B, CD8 + T, CD4 + T, and dendritic cell infiltration. Docetaxel, gefitinib, and erlotinib had lower IC50 in high PC groups (P < 0.001). After validation through the local cohort and in vitro experiments, we ultimately confirmed three key potential targets: MFI2, KLF15, and CLEC7A. Conclusion: We proposed a prediction mode which can effectively identify high-risk LUAD patients and found three novel genes closely correlated with PC tumor infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph convolutional network (GCN) has led to state-of-the-art performance for structured data. The superior performance would be partly due to the convolutional operations that operate over local neighborhoods. However, the distant long-range dependencies in data are still challenging to capture since it requires deep stacks of convolutional operations. Moreover, missing links in structured data might further hurt the performance. This paper introduces non-locality augmented graph convolution blocks into GCN to capture long-range or even disconnected dependencies. Specifically, we propose a dictionary-based non-locality encoding approach in which the non-local information is encoded by both graph convolution and dictionary-based implicit convolution. Unlike previous non-local approaches, our non-local block does not rely on the exhaustive computation of the relationship of data pairs. Thus, it is suitable for GCN, which typically models a large number of data samples. What's more, the proposed non-local blocks could be embedded into arbitrarily GCN architectures. We demonstrate the efficacy of our non-local block on four benchmark datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study is nationwide multicenter epidemiological research, aimed at investigating the distribution changes and seasonal patterns of various airborne allergens among preschool children with allergic rhinitis (AR) in different regions of China, and analyzing the clinical correlation between sensitization to various airborne allergens and AR symptoms in children. Information on children was collected through standard questionnaires, and total IgE (tIgE) and specific IgE (sIgE) for 11 inhalant allergens were tested. The results showed that dust mites are the primary allergens for preschool AR children (39%). Among pollen allergens, Amb a had the highest positivity rate (8.1%), followed by Art v (7.8%). The sensitization rates for two mites peaked in May (46.9% and 40.6%). Art v peaked in August (21.5%), while Amb a had peaks in May (12.7%) and August (17.8%). The sensitization peaks for various tree pollens mainly occurred in August. In the Eastern monsoon region, the sensitization rate to mites was significantly higher than in the Northwest arid and semi-arid regions; whereas, for pollen allergens, the sensitization rates to Amb a, Pla a, Pin a, Pop d, and Bet v were significantly higher in the Northwest arid and semi-arid regions than in the Eastern monsoon region. The correlation among various tree pollens, specifically between Pla a, Pin r, Pop d, and Bet v was strong (0.63 ~ 0.79), with a cross-overlapping percentage of 53.9%. Children with multiple pollen sensitizations had higher cumulative nasal symptom scores than those negative for pollen (P < 0.01). Children with only pollen sensitization had higher cumulative rhinitis symptom scores than the all-negative group (P < 0.0001) and the mite-only sensitization group [P < 0.05], while the mite-only sensitization group also had higher scores than the all-negative group [P < 0.05], and the group sensitized to both pollen and mites had lower scores than the pollen-only group [P < 0.05]. This study indicates that sensitization to mites and grass pollens exhibits significant regional differences, with grass pollen allergies primarily occurring in autumn, sensitization to pollens in general exhibits a pronounced seasonal pattern. Moreover, pollen sensitization aggravates nasal and ocular symptoms in AR children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: This review introduces the potential of 2D electronics for post-Moore era and discusses their current progress in digital circuits, analog circuits, heterogeneous integration, sensing circuits, artificial intelligence chips, and quantum chips in sequence. A comprehensive analysis of the current trends and challenges encountered in the development of 2D materials is summarized. An in-depth roadmap outlining the future development of 2D electronics is presented, and the most accessible and promising avenues for 2D electronics are suggested. Due to the constraints imposed by physical effects and performance degradation, silicon-based chip technology is facing certain limitations in sustaining the advancement of Moore's law. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as highly promising candidates for the post-Moore era, offering significant potential in domains such as integrated circuits and next-generation computing. Here, in this review, the progress of 2D semiconductors in process engineering and various electronic applications are summarized. A careful introduction of material synthesis, transistor engineering focused on device configuration, dielectric engineering, contact engineering, and material integration are given first. Then 2D transistors for certain electronic applications including digital and analog circuits, heterogeneous integration chips, and sensing circuits are discussed. Moreover, several promising applications (artificial intelligence chips and quantum chips) based on specific mechanism devices are introduced. Finally, the challenges for 2D materials encountered in achieving circuit-level or system-level applications are analyzed, and potential development pathways or roadmaps are further speculated and outlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately predicting prognosis subcutaneous leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is crucial for guiding treatment decisions in patients. The objective of this study was to develop prediction models for cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with subcutaneous LMS. The collected cases of diagnosed subcutaneous LMS were randomly divided into a training cohort and a validation cohort at a 6:4 ratio based on tumor location and histological code. The X-tile program was utilized to determine the optimal cutoff points for age index. Univariate and Cox multivariate regression analyses were conducted to identify independent risk factors for subcutaneous LMS patients. Nomograms were constructed to predict CSS, and their performance was assessed using C-index and calibration plots. Additionally, a decision tree model was established using recursive partitioning analysis to determine the total score for CSS prediction in subcutaneous LMS patients based on the nomogram model. A total of 1793 patients with subcutaneous LMS were found. X-tile software divides all patients into ≤ 61 years old, 61–82 years old, and ≥ 82 years old. The most important anatomical sites were the limbs (including the upper and lower limbs, 48.0%). Only 6.2% of patients received chemotherapy, while 44% had a history of radiotherapy and 92.9% underwent surgery. The independent risk factors for patients with subcutaneous LMS were age, summary stage, grade, and surgery. CSS was significantly decreased in patients with distant metastases, which showed the highest independent risk predictor (HR 4.325, 95% CI 3.010–6.214, p < 0.001). The nomogram prediction model of LMS was constructed based on four risk factors. The C-index for this model was 0.802 [95% CI 0.781–0.823] and 0.798 [95% CI 0.768–0.829]. The training cohort's 3-, 5-, and 10-year AUCs for CSS in patients with subcutaneous LMS were 0.833, 0.830, and 0.859, and the validation cohort's AUC for predicting CSS rate were 0.849, 0.830, and 0.803, respectively. Recursive segmentation analysis divided patients into 4 risk subgroups according to the total score in the nomogram, including low-risk group < 145, intermediate-low-risk group ≥ 145 < 176, intermediate-high-risk group ≥ 176 < 196, and high-risk group ≥ 196; The probability of the four risk subgroups is 9.1%, 34%, 49%, and 79% respectively. In this retrospective study, a novel nomogram or corresponding risk classification system for patients with subcutaneous LMS were developed, which may assist clinicians in identifying high-risk patients and in guiding the clinical decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oligocene Zhuhai sandstones are significant reservoirs for hydrocarbons in the Baiyun Sag, South China Sea. For effective appraisal, exploration and exploitation of such a deep-water hydrocarbon sandstone, samples of five wells from depths of 850 m to 3 000 m were studied. A series of comprehensive petrographic and geochemical analyses were performed to unravel the diagenetic features and their impact on the reservoir quality. Petrographically, the sandstones are dominated by feldspathic litharenites and lithic arenites with fine to medium grain sizes and moderate to good sorting. The reservoir quality varies greatly with a range of porosity from 0.2% to 36.1% and permeability from 0.016 × 10−3 µm2 to 4 301 × 10−3 µm2, which is attributed to complex diagenetic evolution related to sedimentary facies; these include compaction, cementation of calcite, dolomite, siderite and framboidal pyrite in eogenetic stage; further compaction, feldspar dissolution, precipitation of ferrocalcite and ankerite, quartz cements, formation of kaolinite and its illitization, precipitation of albite and nodular pyrite, as well as hydrocarbon charge in mesogenetic stage. The dissolution of feldspar and illitization of kaolinite provide internal sources for the precipitation of quartz cement, while carbonate cements are derived from external sources related to interbedded mudstones and deep fluid. Compaction is the predominant factor in reducing the total porosity, followed by carbonate cementation that leads to strong heterogeneity. Feldspar dissolution and concomitant quartz and clay cementation barely changes the porosity but significantly reduces the permeability. The high-quality reservoirs can be concluded as medium-grained sandstones lying in the central parts of thick underwater distributary channel sandbodies (>2 m) with a high content of detrital quartz but low cement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gut microbiota that exists in the human gastrointestinal tract is incredibly important for the maintenance of general health as it contributes to multiple aspects of host physiology. Recent research has revealed a dynamic connection between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system, that can influence neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). Indeed, imbalances in the gut microbiota, or dysbiosis, play a vital role in the pathogenesis and progression of human diseases, particularly NDs. Herbal medicine has been used for centuries to treat human diseases, including NDs. These compounds help to relieve symptoms and delay the progression of NDs by improving intestinal barrier function, reducing neuroinflammation, and modulating neurotransmitter production. Notably, herbal medicine can mitigate the progression of NDs by regulating the gut microbiota. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the potential mechanisms by which herbal medicine regulates the gut microbiota in the treatment of NDs can help explain the pathogenesis of NDs from a novel perspective and propose novel therapeutic strategies for NDs. In this review, we investigate the potential neuroprotective effects of herbal medicine, focusing on its ability to regulate the gut microbiota and restore homeostasis. We also highlight the challenges and future research priorities of the integration of herbal medicine and modern medicine. As the global population ages, access to this information is becoming increasingly important for developing effective treatments for these diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeleton-based action recognition is an attractive issue in computer vision. Recent lightweight attention mechanisms (e.g. coordinate attention) have proven to be highly effective in skeleton-based action recognition. However, since long-range dependencies are captured along spatial and temporal directions, respectively, coordination attention cannot capture accurate long-range dependencies in the entire spatio-temporal domain and inevitably leads to inaccurate spatio-temporal location. In this work, we propose an efficient and lightweight attention mechanism, called coordinate enhanced attention, which consists of spatial-temporal recalibration and channel scaling. Spatial-temporal recalibration aims to capture precise long-range dependencies directly in the entire spatial-temporal domain. And channel scaling is introduced to efficiently utilize the multi-channel weight information. Our coordinate enhanced attention is efficient and lightweight, which can be easily integrated into classical neural networks. On two large-size datasets for skeleton-based action recognition (i.e. NTU RGB+D 60 and NTU RGB+D 120), our coordinate enhanced attention obtains consistent improvements. Experiments on two popular object detection datasets (i.e. COCO and Pascal VOC) and semantic segmentation dataset (i.e. Cityscapes) indicate that the proposed coordinate enhanced attention outperforms other lightweight attention mechanisms, which further validates its transferable ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) provides a novel therapeutic strategy for injured hearts by activating cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways. However, little information is available on the metabolic pattern and arteriogenesis of VSMCs after MI. VNS has been shown to stimulate the expression of CPT1α, CPT1β, Glut1, Glut4 and SDF-1α in coronary VSMCs, decreasing the number of CD68-positive macrophages while increasing CD206-positive macrophages in the infarcted hearts, leading to a decrease in TNF-α and IL-1β accompanied by a reduced ratio of CD68- and CD206-positive cells, which were dramatically abolished by atropine and mecamylamine in vivo. Knockdown of SDF-1α substantially abrogated the effect of VNS on macrophagecell alteration and inflammatory factors in infarcted hearts. Mechanistically, ACh induced SDF-1α expression in VSMCs in a dose-dependent manner. Conversely, atropine, mecamylamine, and a PI3K/Akt inhibitor completely eliminated the effect of ACh on SDF-1α expression. Functionally, VNS promoted arteriogenesis and improved left ventricular performance, which could be abolished by Ad-shSDF-1α. Thus, VNS altered the VSMC metabolism pattern and arteriogenesis to repair the infarcted heart by inducing SDF-1α expression, which was associated with the m/nAChR-Akt signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present era faces adverse effects of the strides recorded in economic advancements of the prior generations thus leading the present generation to growth dilemma. Consequently, there is a conscientious consideration for the ecological effects of economic growth. To resolve the preceding issue, due consideration must be given to harmless growth of which eco-digitalization, green financing, green technology, energy transition, and regularity quality are key determinants. Despite the aforesaid importance, empirical studies advancing this nexus are scarce. Hence, this study contributes to environment empirics by providing empirical evidence for the impacts of the highlighted indicators on sustainable environment in the USA. The study explores quarterly data from 1996Q1 to 2019Q4 based on the novel non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The pretests' outcomes show that long-run nexus exists among the variables, whereas the Zivot-Andrew uncovers breakpoint years in the observations. The main findings show that eco-digitalization, green financing, green technology, and renewable energy promote sustainable environment. On the flip side, non-renewable energy and regulatory quality hinder the pathways to sustaining the environment in the USA. Robustness analyses conducted based on FMOL, DOLS, and CCR provide substantial support and validity for the main results. Furthermore, the causality nexus lends empirical support for the existence of bidirectional and unidirectional causalities in the empirical model. Policy insights that drive the paths to sustainability in the US are suggested based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propagation and exchange of electrical signals between neurons mainly depend on the controllability of synapses. These electrical signals will affect the dynamic characteristics of ion channels on the neuron membrane and the firing activity of neurons can be changes. Polarization and magnetization of media exposed to electromagnetic field encode energy distribution and the neural activities will be changed greatly. The incorporation of memristors is effective to estimate the energy effect from the physical field on neurons. In this work, a charge-controlled memristor (CCM) and a magnetic flux-controlled memristor (MFCF) are connected in parallel to a FitzHugh–Nagumo (FHN) neural circuit for building a new neural circuit, which can perceive modulation from external electric and magnetic fields. Furthermore, the dynamical equation of the memristive neural circuit and the field energy of electrical elements are obtained based on Kirchhoff's law and Helmholtz's theorem. The firing patterns of the memristive neuron and energy proportion can be controlled when the external electric and magnetic fields are adjusted. Continuous energy injection into the memristive channels enables memristive synapses to become self-adaptive under energy flow. Noisy disturbance and radiation are applied to discern the occurrence of coherent resonance in this memristive neuron. The results can be used to explore the collective behaviors and creation of heterogeneity in networks in the presence of an electromagnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gold nanoparticles/785 porous silicon photonic crystals (Au NPs/785 PSi PhCs) were used as substrates in combination with a low-concentration serum surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection scheme to obtain spectral signals from healthy individuals and cervical cancer patients. The best principal component scores were selected by principal component analysis (PCA) combined with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) to analyze the spectral differences distinguishing healthy and cervical cancer patients. The accuracy of the two models was 97.9% and 96.9%, respectively. SERS technique based on Au NPs/785 PSi PhCs has great potential to improve the screening of cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease with limited therapeutic targets or clinical outcome predictors. This study aimed to gain more insights into the underlying immunological pathways and prognostic biomarkers of SLE. Integrated analyses of RNA-seq data from 64 SLE and 62 healthy controls, examining 27 immune cell types to explore the key pathways and driver genes in SLE pathogenesis. Single-cell RNA sequencing data from the skin and kidney were used to determine the association of COX5A expression with organ damage. The associations of COX5A with SLE phenotypes were further evaluated in two independent cohorts, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to assess the value of COX5A as a biomarker for disease activity and organ damage in SLE. We found that oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is the most significantly altered metabolic pathway in SLE, especially in effector T cells. Notably, we identified an OXPHOS-related enzyme, COX5A, whose expression was significantly higher in effector T cells than in naïve T cells and showed associations with disease activity, organ damage, and steroid treatment of SLE. Furthermore, ROC curves showed that COX5A is a robust biomarker for disease activity, kidney involvement, and new-onset skin lesions, with the area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.880, 0.801, and 0.805, respectively. Our results identified the OXPHOS signature as a prominent feature in SLE T cells, and COX5A as a potential candidate biomarker for disease activity and organ damage in SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Auricularia is a genus of edible jelly fungi whose highly plastic fruiting bodies lack differentiation between stalks and caps, making accurate identification of similar species difficult. Auricularia villosula (A. villosula) is a wild edible mushroom that is also used in traditional Chinese medicine. Here, we sequenced and assembled its mitochondrial genome using Illumina short reads. The complete sequence is 230,069 bp in length with a GC content of 30.1%. It harbors 41 genes (25 tRNA, 2 rRNA, and 14 protein-coding): 2 on the N strand (−) and 29 on the J strand (+). Analysis of nucleotide composition revealed positive GC (0.027) and AT (0.002) skews. The mitochondrial genome included a very large intergenic region (22,840 bp) between cytochrome b (CytB) and tRNATyr, lacked overlapping nucleotides between genes, and used non-standard start codons for some genes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that A. villosula was distant from other species of Polyporales, Agaricales, and Russulales. The A. villosula mitogenome sequence will be useful for future taxonomic and genetic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modification of biochar is essential to improve its properties and then promote its adsorption effect. In this study, modified biochar derived from peanut shell was prepared by KOH treatment. Adsorption behavior and mechanisms toward tetracycline (TC) by biochar were investigated. The results showed that KOH modification significantly changed the surface morphology, pore structure, elemental composition, functional groups, minerals, and carbon defects of biochar. The content of C, H, N, and S of biochar decreased as well as the content of O and ash increased after KOH modification. Surface area and pore volume of KBC were 1271.97 m2·g−1 and 0.653 cm3·g−1, which was 5.8 and 5.4 folds than that of BC, respectively. KOH modification also changed the Ca, Si minerals components in biochar. Moreover, the functional groups in biochar also significantly changed after modification, especially O- and N-containing groups. More carbon defects occurred in KBC due to the KOH reactions. Pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir model can better describe the adsorption processes of TC on biochars. The maximum adsorption capacity of TC on KBC reached 356.19 mg∙g−1 at 318.15 K. KBC has a stable removal effect to TC in a wide pH range and under the interference of co-existing ions. Pore filling and π-π interaction were the main adsorption mechanisms for TC removal by KBC. Therefore, KOH-modified peanut shell-derived biochar has a potential to act as an adsorbent to remove TC from aqueous solutions or immobilization in soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-grained sketch-based image retrieval has become an important research topic in the computer vision area. To take advantage of more fine-grained information, we proposed a multi-feature fusion network for fine-grained sketch-based image retrieval. Multi-feature consists of a coarse-grained feature and two fine-grained features which can make better use of fine-grained information. Moreover, a mixed attention module is introduced into the network to extract more discriminating features. Finally, we use the DR-triplet loss to achieve more optimal directions of pair displacements to improve the retrieval performance. Experiments on two extended FG-SBIR datasets, QMUL-Shoe and QMUL-Chair, prove the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Agaricus bisporus (A. bisporus) is highly valued for its nutritional benefits and delicious taste, making it one of the most widely cultivated, highest yielding, and most consumed edible mushrooms worldwide. The yield and quality of A. bisporus were affected by its culture medium and environment. Among the culture base, the precise impact of calcium on A. bisporus cultivation and the dynamic changes in calcium concentration and chemical environment during the cultivation process remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the changes in calcium content and forms during the growth of A. bisporus and their implications for mushroom growth and nutrition. Results: Through the analysis of samples collected during the composting phase, mycelial development phase, and A. bisporus harvesting phase, the role of calcium in the growth process of button mushrooms is revealed. During the composting phase, the calcium content remains relatively stable, suggesting a consistent calcium source in the compost. The fermentation process shows a significant decrease in carbon content and an increase in oxygen content, indicating the degradation and oxidation of organic matter. In the mycelial development phase, both the cover soil and compost experience a decrease in calcium content, with a more pronounced reduction observed in the covering soil, indicating its primary role as an energy source for enzymatic activity and metabolic processes of the mycelium. During the A. bisporus harvesting phase, the changes in calcium, carbon, and oxygen content become less prominent, indicating a stable state of fruiting bodies growth that no longer requires a significant supply of organic matter. Conclusions: Analysis of calcium forms reveals the presence of different calcium compounds, likely influenced by soil calcium sources, microbial activities, and mushroom metabolic byproducts. Calcium plays a crucial regulatory role in the growth and quality of A. bisporus. This study provides valuable insights into the significance of calcium in A. bisporus growth and offers theoretical guidance for optimizing mushroom production and quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Artery of Percheron (AOP) as main feeder artery of arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is extremely rare. Two cases of thalamic AVM fed by AOP have been reported to date and only one AVM been removed by microsurgery when attempt of intervention embolization failed. Midbrain AVM fed by AOP has not been reported yet. Case presentation: Here, we presented the first successful embolized case of midbrain AVM supplied by the AOP in a 10-year-old boy, who suffered dual oculomotor nerve palsy and secondary hemorrhage before embolization. During endovascular embolization, selective angiography by 1.2 Fr. Magic microcatheter showed an intranidal aneurysm located on the distal AOP. Two injections of a 1:4 ratio mixture of NBCA-MS completely occlude the nidus and intranidal aneurysm with no complications occurred. The child recovered well and the oculomotor deficits improved. Conclusion: This case highlighted that AOP is a clinically significant branch associated with AVM in midbrain and thalamus. Moreover, intervention embolization of midbrain AVM fed by AOP is a considerable therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pore fluids control the diagenetic processes and storage spaces of deep clastic rock reservoirs and have become a major area of interest within the fields of sedimentology and petroleum geology. This paper aims to relate the diagenetic processes of the Oligocene Zhuhai sandstones in the Baiyun Sag to pore fluids varying with burial depth. The types and distribution patterns of authigenic minerals are investigated through analysis of petrographic, mineralogical, and geochemical features to illustrate the origin and flow patterns of pore fluids and their influences on reservoir diagenesis. Strong cementation of eogenetic carbonate cement near the sandstone–mudstone interface was a consequence of material migration from adjacent mudstones on a large scale. The pore fluids were mainly affected by microbial methanogenesis and carbonate mineral dissolution in adjacent mudstones during eogenesis. The pore fluids were diffusively transported in a relatively open geochemical system within a local range. Support for this model is provided by the heavier stable isotopic values present in eogenetic calcite and dolomite. Feldspar dissolution during early mesogenesis was spatially accompanied by the precipitation of authigenic quartz and ferroan carbonate cement. Pore fluids in this period were rich in organic acids and CO2, and their migration mechanism was diffusive transport. The obviously lighter carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of the ferroan calcite support this inference. During late mesogenesis, the input of deep hydrothermal fluid might have been partly responsible for the precipitation of ankerite, barite and authigenic albite. Oil charging may have inhibited carbonate cementation and compaction, accordingly preserving porosity, and together with authigenic kaolinite, might have promoted the transition of the reservoir from water wet to oil wet to the benefit of oil entrapment. The findings reported here shed new light on the evaluation and prediction of sandstone reservoirs that have experienced multiple periods of fluid flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diosgenin, a steroidal sapogenin, obtained from Trigonella foenum-graecum, Dioscorea, and Rhizoma polgonati, has shown high potential and interest in the treatment of various cancers such as oral squamous cell carcinoma, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, glioma, and leukemia. This article aims to provide an overview of the in vivo, in vitro, and clinical studies reporting the diosgenin's anticancer effects. Preclinical studies have shown promising effects of diosgenin on inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and growth, promoting apoptosis, inducing differentiation and autophagy, inhibiting tumor cell metastasis and invasion, blocking cell cycle, regulating immunity and improving gut microbiome. Clinical investigations have revealed clinical dosage and safety property of diosgenin. Furthermore, in order to improve the biological activity and bioavailability of diosgenin, this review focuses on the development of diosgenin nano drug carriers, combined drugs and the diosgenin derivatives. However, further designed trials are needed to unravel the diosgenin's deficiencies in clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contrasting genome size between homosporous and heterosporous plants is fascinating. Different from the heterosporous seed plants and mainly homosporous ferns, the lycophytes are either heterosporous (Isoetales and Selaginellales) or homosporous (Lycopodiales). Many lycophytes are the resource plants of Huperzine A (HupA) which is invaluable for treating Alzheimer's disease. For the seed-free vascular plants, several high-quality genomes of heterosporous Selaginella, homosporous ferns (maidenhair fern, monkey spider tree fern), and heterosporous ferns (Azolla) have been published and provided important insights into the origin and evolution of early land plants. However, the homosporous lycophyte genome has not been decoded. Here, we assembled the first homosporous lycophyte genome and conducted comparative genomic analyses by applying a reformed pipeline for filtering out non-plant sequences. The obtained genome size of Lycopodium clavatum is 2.30 Gb, distinguished in more than 85% repetitive elements of which 62% is long terminal repeat (LTR). This study disclosed a high birth rate and a low death rate of the LTR-RTs in homosporous lycophytes, but the opposite occurs in heterosporous lycophytes. we propose that the recent activity of LTR-RT is responsible for the immense genome size variation between homosporous and heterosporous lycophytes. By combing Ks analysis with a phylogenetic approach, we discovered two whole genome duplications (WGD). Morover, we identified all the five recognized key enzymes for the HupA biosynthetic pathway in the L. clavatum genome, but found this pathway incomplete in other major lineages of land plants. Overall, this study is of great importance for the medicinal utilization of lycophytes and the decoded genome data will be a key cornerstone to elucidate the evolution and biology of early vascular land plants. Key message: The first homosporous lycophyte genome of Lycopodium clavatum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (IPSO) is proposed for solving global optimization and hyperparameter optimization. This improvement is proposed to reduce the probability of particles falling into local optimum and alleviate premature convergence and the imbalance between the exploitation and exploration of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The IPSO benefits from a new search policy named group-based update policy. The initial population of IPSO is grouped by the k-means to form a multisubpopulation, which increases the intragroup learning mechanism of particles and effectively enhances the balance between the exploitation and exploration. The performance of IPSO is evaluated on six representative test functions and one engineering problem. In all experiments, IPSO is compared with PSO and one other state-of-the-art metaheuristics. The results are also analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The experimental results show that IPSO is very competitive and often better than other algorithms in the experiments. The results of IPSO on the hyperparameter optimization problem demonstrate its efficiency and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postoperative recurrence and metastasis are the main reasons for the poor prognosis of osteosarcoma (OS). Currently, an ideal predictor for not only prognosis but also drug sensitivity and immunotherapy responses in OS patients is urgently needed. Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in tumour progression, which suggests its immense potential for predicting prognosis and responses to immunotherapy for OS. Angiogenesis patterns in OS were explored in depth in this study to construct a prognostic model called ANGscore and clarify the underlying mechanism involved in the immune microenvironment. The efficacy and robustness of the model were validated in multiple datasets, including bulk RNA-seq datasets (TARGET-OS, GSE21257), a single-cell RNA-seq dataset (GSE152048) and immunotherapy-related datasets (GSE91061, GSE173839). OS patients with a high ANGscore had a worse prognosis, accompanied by the immune desert phenotype. Pseudotime and cellular communication analyses in scRNA-seq data revealed that as the ANGscore increased, the malignant degree of cells increased, and IFN-γ signalling was involved in tumour progression and regulation of the tumour immune microenvironment. Furthermore, the ANGscore was associated with immune cell infiltration and the response rate to immunotherapy. OS patients with high ANGscore might be resistant to uprosertib, and be sensitive to VE821, AZD6738 and BMS.345541. In conclusion, we established a novel ANGscore system by comprehensively analysing the expression pattern of angiogenesis genes, which can accurately differentiate the prognosis and immune characteristics of OS populations. Additionally, the ANGscore can be used for patient stratification during immunotherapy, and guide individualized treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new metaheuristic algorithm called bacteria phototaxis optimizer (BPO). It is designed to solving optimization issues. Inspired by the bacteria phototaxis under the control of photosensory proteins in nature, and based on the basic law of bacterial colony growth and evolution, we have designed the photosensory protein concentration, phototaxis motion and growth operators. These three operators exhibit a highly adaptive and information interaction mechanism. The goal is to simulate the phototaxis process of bacteria and form a complete model of BPO. At the same time, BPO is compared with eight most representative as well as newly generated metaheuristics. Its performance is verified by using 23 well-known benchmark functions with three different types. Additionally, we have conducted several evaluation processes, such as qualitative and quantitative analysis as well as parametric and nonparametric tests. Finally, five classical engineering design problems are used to further test the effectiveness of the algorithm in solving constrained problems. The aforementioned experimental results show that compared with other algorithms, BPO has better accuracy, convergence, and robustness and shows strong competitiveness and optimization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H3 K27M-mutant diffuse midline glioma (H3 K27M-mt DMG) is a rare, highly invasive tumor with a poor prognosis. The prognostic factors of H3 K27M-mt DMG have not been fully identified, and there is no clinical prediction model for it. This study aimed to develop and validate a prognostic model for predicting the probability of survival in patients with H3 K27M-mt DMG. Patients diagnosed with H3 K27M-mt DMG in the West China Hospital from January 2016 to August 2021 were included. Cox proportional hazard regression was used for survival assessment, with adjustment for known prognostic factors. The final model was established using the patient data of our center as the training cohort and data from other centers for external independent verification. One hundred and five patients were ultimately included in the training cohort, and 43 cases from another institution were used as the validation cohort. The factors influencing survival probability in the prediction model included age, preoperative KPS score, radiotherapy and Ki-67 expression level. The adjusted consistency indices of the Cox regression model in internal bootstrap validation at 6, 12, and 18 months were 0.776, 0.766, and 0.764, respectively. The calibration chart showed high consistency between the predicted and observed results. The discrimination in external verification was 0.785, and the calibration curve showed good calibration ability. We identified the risk factors that affect the prognosis of H3 K27M-mt DMG patients and then established and validated a diagnostic model for predicting the survival probability of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key to skeleton-based action recognition is how to extract discriminative features from skeleton data. Recently, graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are proven to be highly successful for skeleton-based action recognition. However, existing GCN-based methods focus on extracting robust features while neglecting the information of feature distributions. In this work, we aim to introduce Fisher vector (FV) encoding into GCN to effectively utilize the information of feature distributions. However, since the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is employed to fit the global distribution of features, Fisher vector encoding inevitably leads to losing temporal information of actions, which is demonstrated by our analysis. To tackle this problem, we propose a temporal enhanced Fisher vector encoding algorithm (TEFV) to provide more discriminative visual representation. Compared with FV, our TEFV model can not only preserve the temporal information of the entire action but also capture fine-grained spatial configurations and temporal dynamics. Moreover, we propose a two-stream framework (2sTEFV-GCN) by combining the TEFV model with the GCN model to further improve the performance. On two large-scale datasets for skeleton-based action recognition, NTU-RGB+D 60 and NTU-RGB+D 120, our model achieves state-of-the-art performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acoustic sensors with ultrahigh sensitivity, broadband response, and high resolution are essential for high-precision nondestructive weak signal detection technology. In this paper, based on the size effect of an ultrahigh-quality (Q) calcium fluoride (CaF2) resonator, a weak acoustic signal is detected by the dispersive response regime in which an acoustic, elastic wave modulates the geometry and is converted to a resonance frequency shift. Through the structural design of the resonator, the sensitivity reaches 11.54 V/Pa at 10 kHz in the experiment. To our knowledge, the result is higher than that of other optical resonator acoustic sensors. We further detected a weak signal as low as 9.4 µPa/Hz1/2, which greatly improved the detection resolution. With a good directionality of 36.4 dB and a broadband frequency response range of 20 Hz–20 kHz, the CaF2 resonator acoustic sensing system can not only acquire and reconstruct speech signals over a long distance but also accurately identify and separate multiple voices in noisy environments. This system shows high performance in weak sound detection, sound source localization, sleep monitoring, and many other voice interaction applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have demonstrated increasing promise. In this context, we provide a review on swarm intelligence algorithms that play an extremely important role in multiple UAV collaborations. The study focuses on four aspects we consider relevant for the topic: collision avoidance, task assignment, path planning, and formation reconfiguration. A comprehensive investigation of selected typical algorithms that analyses their merits and demerits in the context of multi-UAV collaboration is presented. This research summarises the basic structure of swarm intelligence algorithms, which consists of several fundamental phases; and provides a comprehensive survey of swarm intelligence algorithms for the four aspects of multi-UAV collaboration. Besides, by analysing these key technologies and related applications, the research trends and challenges are highlighted. This broad review is an outline for scholars and professionals in the field of UAV swarms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral perovskites (CPs) have attracted enormous attentions since they have combined chirality and optoelectrical properties well which is promising in circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) application and of great importance for future spin-optoelectronics. However, there is a key contradiction that in chiral perovskites chirality distorts the crystal structure, leading to poor photoluminescence (PL) properties. Achieving the balance between chirality and PL is a major challenge for strong CPL from chiral perovskites. Differently, two-dimensional (2D) chiral perovskite has shown fascinating chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect which can act as spin injector under ambient conditions. Here, we propose an effective strategy to achieve high CPL activity generated from quantum dots (QDs) by introducing 2D chiral perovskite as a chiral source, providing spin polarized carriers through the CISS effect. The as-synthesized QDs/CP composites exhibit dissymmetry factors (glum) up to 9.06 × 10−3. For the first time, we performed grazing incident wide angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) measurements, showing the chirality originates from the distorted lattices caused by the large chiral organic cations. Besides, time-resolved PL (TR-PL) measurements verify the enhanced CPL activity should be attributed to the charge transport between two components. These findings provide a useful method to achieve CPL in QDs/2D chiral perovskite heterojunctions which could be promising in spin-optoelectronics application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, an ultrafine-grained high-Nb–TiAl alloy with a nominal composition of Ti–45Al–8Nb–0.2W–0.2B (at%) was prepared by cryomilling and subsequent spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The chemical composition, particle size, morphology and crystallite size of cryomilled powder were studied. It is found that cryomilling can effectively reduce the particle size and enhance grain refinement. The ingots sintered at 900 and 1000 °C show an equiaxed near-γ microstructure with grain sizes < 700 nm, while the sample sintered at 1100 °C exhibits duplex microstructure. Especially, the one sintered at 1000 °C has excellent mechanical properties, whose compression yield strength, fracture strength, bending strength and plastic strain achieve 1310, 2174, 578 MPa and 16.8%, respectively. The reasons for the effect of cryomilling and the mechanical behavior of sintered ingots were discussed. It is suggested that cryomilling in combination with SPS is an effective way to synthesize high-Nb–TiAl alloy with ultrafine-grained structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ciprofol is a novel 2, 6-disubstituted phenolic derivative anesthetic that binds to the gamma-aminobutyric acid-A receptor. Aim: To determine the equally potent dose of ciprofol compared with propofol as an induction agent for general anesthesia in patients undergoing selective surgery, and to assess its safety. Method: A total of 109 patients undergoing selective non-emergency, non-cardiothoracic or non-neurosurgical surgery requiring tracheal intubation for general anesthesia were enrolled. Ten patients per group were assigned to ciprofol-0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 mg/kg, and propofol-2.0 or 2.5 mg/kg groups, respectively to receive an intravenous bolus dose. An additional 20 patients were enrolled in the ciprofol-0.3, 0.5 or propofol-2.0 mg/kg groups. The primary outcome was the success rate of induction defined as a Modified Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation (MOAA/S) ≤ 1 after the initial bolus dose. The secondary outcomes included the time to reach MOAA/S ≤ 1, the time to loss of the eyelash reflex, the incidences and severity of adverse events (AEs). Results: The success rates were 100% for all 5 groups. The mean time to MOAA/S ≤ 1 and the time to loss of the eyelash reflex were not different among the 5 groups, regardless of whether a top-up dose was needed. There were no significant differences in the incidences and severity of AEs in the dose ranges investigated of ciprofol vs. propofol. Conclusion: The efficacy and safety of a single bolus dose of ciprofol-0.5 mg/kg for the general anesthesia induction in selective surgery patients was comparable to that of propofol-2.0 mg/kg. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03698617, retrospectively registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been demonstrated as a potential therapeutic agent in acute kidney injury (AKI). However, little is known about the mechanisms of action of BMSC-derived EVs in AKI. Based on this, our research was designed to investigate the mechanism behind BMSC-derived EVs controlling inflammation and pyroptosis during AKI. Methods: Peripheral blood from AKI patients was used for detection of microRNA (miR)-223-3p, HDAC2, and SNRK expression. An AKI rat model was established, and HK-2 cell injury was induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to establish a cellular model. Co-culture with BMSC-derived EVs and/or gain- and loss-of-function assays were conducted in LPS-treated HK-2 to evaluate the functions of BMSCs-EVs, miR-223-3p, HDAC2, and SNRK. AKI rats were simultaneously injected with EVs and short hairpin RNAs targeting SNRK. The interactions among miR-223-3p, HDAC2, and SNRK were evaluated by RIP, ChIP, and dual-luciferase gene reporter assays. Results: Patients with AKI had low miR-223-3p and SNRK expression and high HDAC2 expression in peripheral blood. Mechanistically, miR-223-3p targeted HDAC2 to accelerate SNRK transcription. In LPS-treated HK-2 cells, BMSCs-EVs overexpressing miR-223-3p increased cell viability and diminished cell apoptosis, KIM-1, LDH, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, NLRP3, ASC, cleaved caspase-1, and IL-18 expression, and GSDMD cleavage, which was nullified by HDAC2 overexpression or SNRK silencing. In AKI rats, BMSCs-EV-shuttled miR-223-3p reduced CRE and BUN levels, apoptosis, inflammation, and pyroptosis, which was abrogated by SNRK silencing. Conclusion: Conclusively, BMSC-derived EV-encapsulated miR-223-3p mitigated AKI-induced inflammation and pyroptosis by targeting HDAC2 and promoting SNRK transcription. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 in Zhejiang Province, China, to evaluate the body burdens of metals and metalloids associated with renal dysfunction in populations living near electroplating industries. We recruited 236 subjects and performed physical examinations, determined the blood and urinary levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), and selenium (Se) by an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), and measured three renal impairment biomarkers, namely nacetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), retinol-binding protein (RBP), and β2-microglobulin (BMG). The proportion of abnormal nasal symptoms in the exposure group (10.1%) was much higher than in the control group (0; p < 0.05). The blood and urinary levels of As, Cd, and Se in the exposure group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). The blood levels of Mn and Pb, as well as the urinary levels of Cr and Ni, were significantly higher in the exposure group than in the control group (p < 0.05). The exposure group demonstrated higher levels of NAG, RBP, and BMG than the control group (0.51 vs. 0.14 mg/g creatinine, 12.79 vs. 9.26 IU/g creatinine, and 1.39 vs. 0.78 mg/g creatinine, respectively; p < 0.05). Urinary BMG was positively correlated with urinary Cd levels (r = 0.223, p < 0.05), while urinary RBP was correlated with blood Cd levels (r = 0.151, p < 0.05) and urinary Cd, Cr, Ni, and Se levels (r = 0.220, 0.303, 0.162, and 0.306, respectively; p < 0.05). In conclusion, our study indicated that a population living in the vicinity of electroplating industries had high body burdens of certain metals and metalloids associated with non-negligible renal dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high enhancement activity of litchi-like gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) is prepared in deep eutectic solvent (DES), and the prepared Au NPs as SERS active substrate exhibits excellent sensitivity when rhodamine 6G (R6G) is used as a probe molecule for detection. The enhancement factor (EF) is calculated to be about 1.8 × 1012, and the minimum detected concentration is outstanding in R6G aqueous solution at 10−12 M. In addition, the microtrace determination of penicillin G sodium (PG) in camel milk powder produced in Xinjiang was successfully achieved by using the prepared Au NPs. This work provides an environmentally friendly, simple, and rapid method to prepare efficient and sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) materials. Meanwhile, it also uncovers a new possibility for the development of various nanoparticles with SERS prepared using DES as reactive solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescence plays an important role in determining the color appearance of fluorescing minerals. This paper discusses the color mechanism in the red spinel and the color effects from the light source as well as the background on the spinel color. Excitation-Emission Matrices (EEMs) fluorescence spectroscopy was utilized to characterize the fluorescence of natural Cr-doped magnesia-alumina spinel from Myanmar. EMP, LA-ICP-MS, and optical spectroscopy were applied to study the spinel's chemical compositions and color mechanism. X-Rite Ci-7800 spectrophotometer, which is useful to measure colors for fluorescing minerals, was employed to acquire color data of spinel in daylight and incandescent light. The results indicated the higher value of Cr/Fe makes pinkish-red spinel has a much stronger red fluorescence effect than dark-red spinel. The two narrow absorption bands at ~ 25,500 cm−1 (with a broad absorption band at ~ 24,100 cm−1) and ~ 18,570 cm−1 in the optical absorption spectrum are assigned to spin-allowed electronic d-d transitions 4A2g → 4T1g(F) and 4A2g → 4T2g(F) in Cr3+ at the M site. The EEMs spectra of the pinkish-red spinels show twin emissions at 706 nm excited both by ~ 380 nm and ~ 535 nm radiations, which is the key to the bright neon red color in pinkish-red spinel. The colorimetry study suggests the strong red fluorescence produced by < 460 nm radiation contributes more than 10% lightness and chroma in pinkish-red spinel under daylight. The lightness and the chroma of the spinels grow with the decrease of the background grayscale. The differentiation of spinel colors in dark conditions is lower than that in a bright environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bisphenol A (BPA) reportedly exerts concentration-dependent effects on plant growth, based on hydroponic exposure experiments. However, this pattern might differ in soil substrate, and the effects of different BPA concentrations in soil on crop germination as well as symbiotic relationship with rhizobia remain largely unclear. In this study, we evaluated the effects of different BPA concentrations (0, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, and 320 mg/kg air-dry soil) on soybean growth index, germination, and root nodule by soil culture experiments. Results showed that low-dose BPA (10 mg/kg) treatment resulted in a 38.0 and 59.4% increase in total biomass and yield, respectively, while germination time was shortened by 10.1%. Conversely, high-dose BPA treatment significantly inhibited total biomass, yield, and germination time by an average of 39.9, 35.4, and 31.3% in 160 and 320 mg/kg, respectively. Root nodule biomass decreased in all BPA treatments, especially significantly decreased evenly by 66.6% in high concentrations of 160 and 320 mg/kg. Furthermore, germination time significantly explained variations of total biomass and yield by 19.2 and 18.3%, whereas nodule biomass significantly explained by 40.4 and 26.2%, respectively. The structural equation modeling revealed that BPA inhibited soybean total biomass and yield by prolonging germination time and inhibiting soybean nodule formation, while nodule biomass exhibited a larger path coefficient (0.553 and 0.475) than germination time (− 0.252 and − 0.280), suggesting a more important role of soybean nodule. Collectively, these findings provide invaluable insights into the mechanisms underlying the effects of BPA on crop growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration and transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) caused by landfill leachate leakage affected the phylogenetic development of bacterial communities in groundwater around the landfill. Previous studies mainly focused on the hydrochemical properties of DOM in groundwater contaminated by landfill leachate and the relationships between groundwater quality parameters and bacterial communities. However, the changes in DOM components and bacterial communities caused by landfill leachate leakage and their correlations remained unclear. In this work, we analyzed the evolution characteristics of DOM and identified the bacterial communities and their corresponding functions in groundwater around the landfill. The results showed that DOM content in groundwater increased after the diffusion of landfill leachate to groundwater. Significant differences in characteristics between DOM components were presented at different locations in the landfill leachate plume due to the physical dilution and bacterial degradation of DOM. One of the obvious manifestations was the tendency of humic acid-like substances to accumulate at downstream points. Samples from the contaminated aquifer had higher diversity and abundance of bacterial communities than those in the uncontaminated aquifer. Anaerobic or facultative anaerobic bacteria played predominant roles in contaminated groundwater, due to the input of organic matter, nitrate, and ammonia nitrogen. Redundancy analysis indicated that the content of fulvic acid-like DOM had a conspicuous impact on the composition of bacterial communities in the polluted groundwater. Vogesella were the dominant bacteria at the genus level in groundwater around the landfill. Furthermore, Vogesella were significant for microbial utilization and played an important role in the production of fulvic acid-like DOM. These results indicated that landfill leachate pollution posed a potential threat to the structure and function of bacterial communities in groundwater, and provided a basis for exploring the interaction between DOM composition and bacterial communities in groundwater plume contaminated by landfill leachate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain a force-sensitive composite structure with high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, this paper proposes a method for preparing flexible force-sensitive composites by backfilling PDMS into a carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge using a vacuum-assisted method. Compared with CNTs/PDMS force-sensitive composites with different content prepared by the traditional solution blending method, the CNT sponge/PDMS force-sensitive composite prepared by the vacuum-impregnation method demonstrated sensitivity of 70 in a strain range of 35–50% at a thickness of 1 mm with a low filler content of 1 wt.%, and also showed excellent cyclic stability. The EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) reached 34.56 dB in the X band, and it still maintained high EMI SE (33.68 dB) after 500 repeated stretching cycles, which would be sufficient for commercial applications. The prepared CNT sponge/PDMS force-sensitive composite not only meets the basic sensitivity at low content (only 1 wt.%) but also has high EMI SE (34.56 dB) due to its high electrical conductivity (53 S/m), which makes it have potential applications in flexible stress sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Footprint data have large intra-class variances and small inter-class variances; therefore, the key to the footprint recognition problem is to mine and learn the discriminative local details in the footprint images. In this paper, an algorithm based on a multi-scale confusion and filling mechanism is proposed to address the problem of footprint recognition from the perspective of fine-grained image recognition. Firstly, the pressure footprint image is divided evenly into several sub-regions, and the score of each sub-region is calculated by a joint confidence function. Secondly, using the filling mechanism of the Region Filling Module, the region with the lowest score in the split image is filled with a higher one for data enhancement. Then, the filled image is confused once using the Multi-Scale Region Confusion Module, and the regions with high confidence score are confused again to obtain an image with multi-scale information. Finally, the footprint features of the filled image and the confused image are extracted by the backbone network and optimized by the joint loss function to carry out the task of footprint recognition. Comprehensive experiments show that the proposed algorithm achieves 89.3%, 93.4% and 86.5% on three benchmark dataset including CUB-200-2011, Aircraft and Stanford Dogs. Meanwhile, it obtains 97.8% on the footprint dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]