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Objective To compare the effectiveness between qPCR and trace-level proteins quantitative analysis in detecting the expression of inflammation-associated factors caspase-1 and IL-1β in peripheral blood monocytes from breast cancer patients. Methods Pre- and post-operation peripheral blood samples were collected from 10 breast cancer patients. Monocytes were subsequently isolated and activated by incubation with lipopolysaccharide. The mRNA and protein expression level of caspase-1 and IL-1β in monocytes were examined using qPCR and trace-level proteins quantitative analysis, respectively, and the data were normalized by β-actin. The differences between the two detection methods were compared and evaluated for strengthens and weakness. Results The vast majority of patients showed a notable increase in the number of peripheral blood monocytes after surgical operation. At the mRNA level, compared to preoperative levels, postoperative caspase-1 and IL-1β were both increased in 50% (5/10) and 40% (4/10) of patients, respectively, while the rest showed either a decrease (40% and 50%, respectively) or no significant change (both 10%). In contrast, the results of trace-level proteins quantitative analysis revealed that 60% (6/10) of patients exhibited increased level of postoperative caspase-1 and IL-1β proteins, while the remaining showed a decrease (30% and 20%, respectively) or no significant change (10% and 20%, respectively). Additionally, 50% of patients displayed a significant increase in caspase-1 and IL-1β active cleavage bands by electrophoresis postoperatively. Notably, inconsistent changes in caspase-1 and IL-1β mRNA and protein level after surgery were observed in 30% and 40% of patients respectively. Conclusions The trace-level proteins quantitative analysis is recommended due to its advantages including minimal sample amount requirement, high sensitivity, good repeatability and relatively simple operative procedure. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for assessing the inflammatory status of of patients through clinical sampling of peripheral blood.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of pyroptosis and anti-Caspase-1 treatment on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in rats with acute ocular hypertension. Methods Forty-two SPF male SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group, acute ocular hypertension model group and VX-765 (Caspase-1 inhibitor) intervention group, with the right eye as the experimental eye. Acute ocular hypertension was inflicted by anterior chamber irrigation with normal saline in the model group and intervention group. The rats in the intervention group were further given 4 μL VX-765 (200 μmol/L) solution by intravitreal injection on the modeling day and the next day, and those of the model group were injected with equal volume of normal saline in vitreous cavity at the same time. No such treatment was performed on the rats from the control group. All rats were killed at the seventh day after modeling. Retinal morphology and the density of RGCs were observed by HE staining. The survival of RGCs and average absorbance of retina were observed by immunohistochemical assay. The mRNA levels of Caspase-1, gsdmd, IL-1b and IL-18 were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. The protein expression of Caspase 1-p20, gsdmd-n, IL-1b and IL-18 were detected by Western blotting. Results The retinal thickness was 164.53±1.04 μm in the model group, which was significantly thinner than that in the normal control group (181.44±5.13 μm) and the intervention group (173.15±2.15 μm). The density of RGCs was (332.87±16.37)/mm2 in the model group, obviously lower than that in the normal control group and the intervention group. The average absorbance of retina was 0.443±0.014 in the model group, statistically lower than in the normal control group (0.517±0.015) and the intervention group (0.492±0.006). The differences were statistically significant in above values (P < 0.05). The mRNA relative expression levels of IL-1b and IL-18 were significantly higher in the model group than the control group and intervention group (P < 0.05). The protein levels of Caspase1-p20, gsdmd-n, IL-1b and IL-18 were remarkably higher in the model group than the other 2 groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion Acute ocular hypertendion exposure enhances the expression of the molecules in Caspase-1-dependent pyropotosis pathway. So, inhibiting Caspase-1 activity can reduce the severity of retinal injury, protect RGCs effectively, and reduce RGCs death.

Background: Exosomes and other secretory membrane vesicles, collectively referred to as extracellular vesicles (EVs), have garnered increasing attention in research due to their biological characteristics. Notably, studies have shown promising results regarding the role of stem cell‐derived extracellular vesicles (SC‐EVs) in skin and plastic surgery applications. This study aims to elucidate current trends in SC‐EVs within the context of skin and plastic surgery and offer insights for future research directions in advancing this critical field. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted for relevant studies on SC‐EVs in skin and plastic surgery spanning from 2003 to 2023, utilizing the Web of Science database. Subsequently, data analysis was performed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. Results: A total of 1089 studies were identified, with a noticeable annual increase in publications on SC‐EVs' application in skin and plastic surgery. China emerged as the leading contributor to this field, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University being a notable institution. Stem Cell Research & Therapy and the International Journal of Molecular Sciences were the top journals publishing relevant articles. Author Fu Xiaobing from the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital had the highest publication count in this area. Keyword co‐occurrence analysis revealed six distinct clusters, with "exosomes" being the most prevalent keyword in recent years. Wound healing and skin rejuvenation emerged as primary research focuses and hotspots in this field. Conclusion: This comprehensive review offers insights into global trends surrounding SC‐EVs in skin and plastic surgery. Analysis of journals, institutions, references, and keywords provides valuable guidance for researchers in determining future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the integration of renewable energy expands, effective energy system management becomes increasingly crucial. Distributed renewable generation microgrids offer green energy and resilience. Combining them with energy storage and a suitable energy management system (EMS) is essential due to the variability in renewable energy generation. Reinforcement learning (RL)-based EMSs have shown promising results in handling these complexities. However, concerns about policy robustness arise with the growing number of grid intermittent disruptions or disconnections from the main utility. This study investigates the resilience of RL-based EMSs to unforeseen grid disconnections when trained in grid-connected scenarios. Specifically, we evaluate the resilience of policies derived from advantage actor–critic (A2C) and proximal policy optimization (PPO) networks trained in both grid-connected and uncertain grid-connectivity scenarios. Stochastic models, incorporating solar energy and load uncertainties and utilizing real-world data, are employed in the simulation. Our findings indicate that grid-trained PPO and A2C excel in cost coverage, with PPO performing better. However, in isolated or uncertain connectivity scenarios, the demand coverage performance hierarchy shifts. The disruption-trained A2C model achieves the best demand coverage when islanded, whereas the grid-connected A2C network performs best in an uncertain grid connectivity scenario. This study enhances the understanding of the resilience of RL-based solutions using varied training methods and provides an analysis of the EMS policies generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Exercise is the best medicine" is well known, but the optimal dose of physical activity (PA) for males and females across different age groups is still unknown. This study, using data from the four waves of CHARLS, aimed to determine the optimal PA dose that reduces frailty risks among older adults across various age groups and both sexes. We created a frailty index score using 63 health-related variables and used 0.21 as the frailty cut point. Binary logistic regression was used to compare the effect of vigorous, moderate, and light intensity PA under IPAQ criteria on frailty risk. The study found that regardless of whether males or females, the optimal effect of vigorous-intensity PA in reducing the risk of frailty is consistently observed throughout the entire old age career. Moreover, the age groups at which moderate-intensity PA reduces the risk of frailty were from age 70 for males and from age 80 for females. And light-intensity PA had no effect on reducing the risk of frailty. Moderate and vigorous intensity of PA in older adults should be promoted, but guidelines and recommendations must account for optimal associations with PA dose across genders and age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual gate device with mobility of 20cm2/Vs has been applied to improve power consumption of oxide products, the devices show high on‐state current of more than 45uA, good uniformity of ΔVth 1.03V, PBTS of 2.18V. The optimized pixel design of 14inch WQXGA achieves high aperture ratio of 74% and transmittance of over 9.5%. This 120Hz demo with brightness of 150nit can significantly reduce power consumption by 65%, from 2.1W to 1.27W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the continuous progress of wireless communication and sensor technology has enabled sensors to be better integrated into mobile devices. Therefore, sensor-based Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has attracted widespread attention among researchers, especially in the fields of wearable technology and ubiquitous computing. In these applications, mobile devices' built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes have been typically used for human activity recognition. However, devices such as smartphones were placed in users' pockets and not fixed to their bodies, and the resulting changes in the orientation of the sensors due to users' habits or external forces can lead to a decrease in the accuracy of activity recognition. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of publicly available datasets specifically designed to address the issue of device angle change. The contributions of this study are as follows. First, we constructed a dataset with eight different sensor placement angles using accelerometers and gyroscopes as a prerequisite for the subsequent research. Second, we introduced the Madgwick algorithm to extract quaternion mode features and alleviate the impact of angle changes on recognition performance by fusing raw accelerometer data and quaternion mode features. The resulting study provides a comprehensive analysis. On the one hand, we fine-tuned ResNet and tested its stability on our dataset, achieving a recognition accuracy of 97.13%. We included two independent experiments, one for user-related scenarios and the other for user-independent scenarios. In addition, we validated our research results on two publicly available datasets, demonstrating that our method has good generalization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This was a prospective, randomized, double‐blind, single‐center placebo‐controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of melatonin as an add‐on treatment for infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS). Participants aged 3 months to 2 years with a primary diagnosis of IESS were recruited and assigned to two groups in a 1:1 ratio. Both treatment groups received a combination of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) for 2 weeks, and the treatment group also received melatonin (3 mg) between 20:00 and 21:00 daily, 0.5–1 h before bedtime. The study's primary endpoint was the average reduction rate in spasm frequency assessed by seizure diaries. Secondary endpoints included assessment of the response rate, EEG hypsarrhythmia (Kramer score), and psychomotor development (Denver Developmental Screening Test, DDST). Sleep quality was assessed by using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ), the Infant Sleep Assessment Scale (ISAS), and actigraphy. Safety parameters were also evaluated. Statistical analyses were conducted on intention‐to‐treat and per‐protocol populations. The trial is registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (ChiCTR2000036208). Out of 119 screened patients, 70 were randomized and 66 completed treatments. In the intention‐to‐treat population, there were no significant differences in the average percentage reduction of spasm frequency (median [interquartile range, IQR: Q3–Q1], 100% [46.7%] vs. 66.7% [55.3%], p =.288), the 3‐day response rate (51.4% vs. 37.1%, p =.229), the 28‐day response rate (42.9% vs. 28.6%, p =.212), EEG Kramer scores (2 [3.5] vs. 2 [3], p =.853), or DDST comprehensive months (5 [2.5] vs. 6 [6], p =.239) between the melatonin (n = 35) and placebo (n = 35) groups. However, caregivers reported improved sleep quality after melatonin treatment, with 85.7% reporting regular sleep compared to 42.9% with placebo (42.9%, p <.001). The melatonin group had lower ISAS scores in 4–11‐month‐old patients compared to the placebo (mean ± SD, 29.3 ± 4.4 vs. 35.2 ± 5.9, p <.001). Moreover, the median (IQR) value of sleep‐onset latency was shortened by 6.0 (24.5) min after melatonin treatment, while that in the placebo group was extended by 3.0 (22.0) min (p =.030). The serum melatonin (6:00 h) level (pg/mL) of the children in the melatonin group after treatment was significantly higher than in the placebo group (median [IQR], 84.8 [142] vs. 17.5 [37.6], p <.001). No adverse effects related to melatonin were observed in the study, and there were no significant differences in adverse effects between the melatonin and placebo groups. Although not statistically significant, the results of this randomized clinical trial proved that melatonin supplementation, as an add‐on treatment, can improve spasm control rate in the treatment of IESS. For IESS children treated with ACTH, the addition of melatonin was found to improve sleep quality, shorten sleep onset latency, and increase blood melatonin levels. Moreover, it was observed to be a safe treatment option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic ozonation, with enhanced efficiency and reduced byproduct formation at lower temperatures, proved to be efficient in ethyl acetate (EA) degradation. In this work, MMn2O4 (M = Cu, Co, Ni, Mg) catalysts were prepared via a redox-precipitation method to explore the catalytic ozonation mechanism of EA. Among all the catalysts, CuMn exhibited superior catalytic activity at 120 °C, achieving nearly 100% EA conversion and above 90% CO2 selectivity with an O3/EA molar ratio of 10. Many characterizations were conducted, such as SEM, BET and XPS, for revealing the properties of the catalysts. Plentiful active sites, abundant oxygen vacancies, more acid sites and higher reduction ability contributed to the excellent performance of CuMn. Moreover, the addition of NO induced a degree of inhibition to EA conversion due to its competition for ozone. H2O had little effect on the catalytic ozonation of CuMn, as the conversion of EA could reach a stable platform at ~89% even with 5.0 vol.% of H2O. The presence of SO2 usually caused catalyst deactivation. However, the conversion could gradually recover once SO2 was discontinued due to the reactivation of ozone. A detailed reaction mechanism for catalytic ozonation was proposed via in situ DRIFTS measurements and DFT calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface coatings of cereal plants are dominated by waxy β-diketones crucial for drought resistance and, therefore, grain yield. Here, barley (Hordeum vulgare) wax analyses reveal β-diketone and associated 2-alkanol ester profiles suggesting a common C16 3-ketoacid precursor. Isotope analysis further shows that the major (C31) diketone is synthesized from two plastidial C16 acyl units. Previous studies identified a gene cluster encoding enzymes responsible for β-diketone formation in barley, but left their biochemical functions unknown. Various assays now characterize one of these enzymes as a thioesterase producing long-chain (mainly C16) 3-ketoacids, and another one as a polyketide synthase (PKS) condensing the 3-ketoacids with long-chain (mainly C16) acyl-CoAs into β-diketones. The two enzymes are localized to the plastids and Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER), respectively, implying substrate transfer between these two sub-cellular compartments. Overall, our findings define a two-step pathway involving an unprecedented PKS reaction leading directly to the β-diketone products. Barley plants coat their organs with waxy diketones to protect against late-summer droughts. These diketones are formed by two enzymes, one diverting common fatty acids from normal metabolism and the other one linking two fatty acid units together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hierarchical controller is proposed for achieving high‐accuracy control and the dynamic balance with the presence of multiple faults of actuator, the external disturbance, and the model uncertainties in multicylinder hydraulic press machine (MCHPM). The method divides the controller design into three steps: Virtual fault‐tolerant control law, control allocation algorithm, and actuator control law, which are progressive. First, to precisely compensate the lumped disturbances including the multiple faults of actuator, the external disturbance, and the model uncertainties, a disturbance observer (DO) is developed. By combining the observer with the sliding mode control (SMC), a virtual fault‐tolerant control law is designed. Second, a highly integrated control allocation algorithm for the virtual fault‐tolerant control law is proposed to get the desired driving force, taking into account dynamic control allocation (DCA), multiobjective optimization (MOO) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) simultaneously. Third, taking the driving force obtained from above control allocation algorithm as the desired target, the control law of each cylinder is calculated. The global stability for the whole system is proved by the Lyapunov theory. Lastly, results of simulation and experiment show that the proposed controller can effectively handle different faults and have more superior control performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bird cherry‐oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a key pest of wheat in China. Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) has been widely used due to its biocompatibility, antibacterial activity, environmental friendliness and convenient extraction. This study was aimed at determining the acute toxicity of COS on R. padi and transgenerational effects of sublethal concentrations of COS on the biological characteristics of R. padi. The results indicated that COS possessed acute toxicity against R. padi after 48 h of exposure (LC50: 1227.35 mg/L). The sublethal concentration of COS (LC15: 260 mg/L) induced a decrease in adult longevity, adult prereproductive period and fecundity in the first filial generation (F1). Moreover, in F1 progeny, nymphal (1st–3rd), preadult and total prereproductive period significantly enhanced due to sublethal dose. Moreover, finite rate of increase (λ), the intrinsic rate of increase (r) and net reproductive rate (R0) of F1 progeny were significantly decreased, whereas a sublethal COS concentration exposure significantly increased the mean generation time (T) of F1 progeny. Overall, the study shows that sublethal concentration of COS can significantly suppress population growth of R. padi F1 generation, showing the potential of COS as a biorational option to manage aphids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion recognition is one of the most important research directions in the field of brain–computer interface (BCI). However, to conduct electroencephalogram (EEG)-based emotion recognition, there exist difficulties regarding EEG signal processing; moreover, the performance of classification models in this regard is restricted. To counter these issues, the 2022 World Robot Contest successfully held an affective BCI competition, thus promoting the innovation of EEG-based emotion recognition. In this paper, we propose the Transformer-based ensemble (TBEM) deep learning model. TBEM comprises two models: a pure convolutional neural network (CNN) model and a cascaded CNN-Transformer hybrid model. The proposed model won the abovementioned affective BCI competition's final championship in the 2022 World Robot Contest, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed TBEM deep learning model for EEG-based emotion recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The divergent synthesis of dihydropyrimidouracil and pyrimidouracil derivatives from N‐uracil amidines and tertiaryamines by an oxidative C(sp3)−N cleavage cascade cyclization reaction is first described. This transformation enables the formation of new C(sp3)−N and C(sp2)−N bonds via the selection of different oxidation conditions. The features of this method include tunable product selectivity, excellent chemoselectivity, readily available starting materials, broad substrate scope, good tolerance of functional groups, and moderate to high yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]