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Iron (Fe) deficiency is a pervasive nutritional disorder, and producing vegetables enriched with Fe as a dietary source is imperative. Herein, Fe3O4, FeO(OH), alpha-Fe2O3, beta-Fe2O3, gamma-Fe3O4, and nZVI nanoparticles (NPs) were applied in soil as fertilizer to enhance the Fe nutrition in cherry radish. The highest enhancement of Fe content (58%) was observed in Fe3O4 treatment at 100 mg kg- 1, followed by FeO(OH) (49%), alpha-Fe2O3 (24%), nZVI (14%), beta-Fe2O3 (13%) and gamma-Fe3O4 (4%). The daily intake of Fe was 97-104% and 77-91% with Fe3O4 and FeO (OH) at 100-200 mg kg- 1, respectively. Moreover, the zinc, vitamin C and crude protein contents were also increased by 37, 48 and 67% under Fe3O4 treatment as compared to control. Fe3O4 at 100 mg kg- 1 also increased the essential amino acids (phenylalanine, leucine and isoleucine) contents by 11-14%. These data suggest that Fe3O4 and FeO(OH) NPs could be effective nanofertilizers to enhance Fe nutrition in plants.

The ubiquitous presence of nanoplastics (NPx) and microplastics (MPx) in the environment has been demonstrated, and as such, the exposure scenarios, mechanisms of plant response, and ultimate risk must be determined. Here, we performed a meta-analysis of the most recent literature investigating the effect of MPx/NPx on plant species under laboratory and field conditions so as to evaluate the current state of knowledge. Effects of MPx/NPx exposure in plants vary as a function of plant species, and interestingly, nonsignificant responses are reported in staple crops. We found that NPx (<100 nm) more negatively affected plant development parameters, photosynthetic pigments, and biochemical indicators than did MPx (>100 nm). Surprisingly, NPx exposure exhibited negligible effects on germination rate, although root morphology was negatively affected. Alternatively, MPx negatively affected (14%) germination and generally exhibited nonsignificant effects on root morphology. The effect of MPx/ NPx on plant health decreases with increasing exposure time. No specific trends were evident for the production of biochemical enzymes as related to MPx/NPx concentration or size. Furthermore, we provided a framework for additional investigative work to address the knowledge gaps and to enable accurate assessment of the fate and risk of these materials to environmental and human health.

Iron (Fe) deficiency is a pervasive nutritional disorder, and producing vegetables enriched with Fe as a dietary source is imperative. Herein, Fe3O4, FeO(OH), alpha-Fe2O3, beta-Fe2O3, gamma-Fe3O4, and nZVI nanoparticles (NPs) were applied in soil as fertilizer to enhance the Fe nutrition in cherry radish. The highest enhancement of Fe content (58%) was observed in Fe3O4 treatment at 100 mg kg- 1, followed by FeO(OH) (49%), alpha-Fe2O3 (24%), nZVI (14%), beta-Fe2O3 (13%) and gamma-Fe3O4 (4%). The daily intake of Fe was 97-104% and 77-91% with Fe3O4 and FeO (OH) at 100-200 mg kg- 1, respectively. Moreover, the zinc, vitamin C and crude protein contents were also increased by 37, 48 and 67% under Fe3O4 treatment as compared to control. Fe3O4 at 100 mg kg- 1 also increased the essential amino acids (phenylalanine, leucine and isoleucine) contents by 11-14%. These data suggest that Fe3O4 and FeO(OH) NPs could be effective nanofertilizers to enhance Fe nutrition in plants.

Yuan He,1,2 Zhi-Jun Duan,1 Cheng-Fang Wang,2 Yu-Shan Wei,3 Ming-Xu Cai2 1Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, People’s Republic of China; 2Healthcare Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of the Scientific Research Management, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhi-Jun DuanDepartment of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86 41183635963Email duanzhijun12@outlook.com; cathydoctor@sina.comObjective: The present study aimed to explore the relationship between metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and gastroesophageal reflux symptoms (GERS).Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional observational study. The study population was 3002 subjects from a single hospital who underwent a health checkup from September 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020. The diagnosis of MAFLD was based on the diagnosis of fatty liver in the subject by ultrasound or computed tomography (CT) and the presence of one of the following conditions: overweight or obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 23), type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic abnormalities. The subjects were divided into the GERS group (n = 305) and the non-GERS group (n = 2697) based on the presence or absence of GERS, based on the GerdQ score.Results: The prevalence of MAFLD was significantly higher in the GERS group than in the non-GERS group (p = 0.001). In the univariate analysis of risk factors for GERS, MAFLD was identified as a risk factor for GERS (OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.176– 1.913; p = 0.001). With adjustment of confounding factors such as BMI, waist circumference, lipid levels, and blood pressure, the correlation between MAFLD and GERS was attenuated but still s

The presence of manufactured nano-objects (MNOs) in various consumer or their (future large-scale) use as nanoagrochemical have increased with the rapid development of nanotechnology and therefore, concerns associated with its possible ecotoxicological effects are also arising. MNOs are releasing along the product life cycle, consequently accumulating in soils and other environmental matrices, and potentially leading to adverse effects on soil biota and their associated processes. Earthworms, of the group of Oligochaetes, are an ecologically significant group of organisms and play an important role in soil remediation, as well as acting as a potential vector for trophic transfer of MNOs through the food chain. This review presents a comprehensive and critical overview of toxic effects of MNOs on earthworms in soil system. We reviewed pathways of MNOs in agriculture soil environment with its expected production, release, and bioaccumulation. Furthermore, we thoroughly examined scientific literature from last ten years and critically evaluated the potential ecotoxicity of 16 different metal oxide or carbon-based MNO types. Various adverse effects on the different earthworm life stages have been reported, including reduction in growth rate, changes in biochemical and molecular markers, reproduction and survival rate. Importantly, this literature review reveals the scarcity of long-term toxicological data needed to actually characterize MNOs risks, as well as an understanding of mechanisms causing toxicity to earthworm species. This review sheds light on this knowledge gap as investigating bio-nano interplay in soil environment improves our major understanding for safer applications of MNOs in the agriculture environment.

The presence of manufactured nano-objects (MNOs) in various consumer or their (future large-scale) use as nanoagrochemical have increased with the rapid development of nanotechnology and therefore, concerns associated with its possible ecotoxicological effects are also arising. MNOs are releasing along the product life cycle, consequently accumulating in soils and other environmental matrices, and potentially leading to adverse effects on soil biota and their associated processes. Earthworms, of the group of Oligochaetes, are an ecologically significant group of organisms and play an important role in soil remediation, as well as acting as a potential vector for trophic transfer of MNOs through the food chain. This review presents a comprehensive and critical overview of toxic effects of MNOs on earthworms in soil system. We reviewed pathways of MNOs in agriculture soil environment with its expected production, release, and bioaccumulation. Furthermore, we thoroughly examined scientific literature from last ten years and critically evaluated the potential ecotoxicity of 16 different metal oxide or carbon-based MNO types. Various adverse effects on the different earthworm life stages have been reported, including reduction in growth rate, changes in biochemical and molecular markers, reproduction and survival rate. Importantly, this literature review reveals the scarcity of long-term toxicological data needed to actually characterize MNOs risks, as well as an understanding of mechanisms causing toxicity to earthworm species. This review sheds light on this knowledge gap as investigating bio-nano interplay in soil environment improves our major understanding for safer applications of MNOs in the agriculture environment.

The total charge-changing cross-sections and the partial cross-sections for projectile fragments (PFs) production for the fragmentation of 12C on C, Al, Cu, Pb and CH2 targets at the highest energy of 290AMeV were studied. It was found that the total charge-changing reaction cross-sections and the partial reaction cross-sections of PFs production were independent of the beam energy, and increased with increase of mass of target for the same beam energy. The total charge-changing reaction cross-section was the same as the prediction of Bradt–Peters semi-empirical formula, PHITS and NUCFRG2 simulation models. The partial cross-section of PFs production increased with the increase of the mass of target, and it was the same as the prediction of NUCFRG2 models. The mean scattering angle of projectile particle was smaller than the average emission angle of PF, and the width of scattering angle distribution of projectile particle was smaller than that of emission angle distribution of PFs. The mean emission angle of PFs does not obviously depend on the target mass and beam energy in our studied beam energy regions.

The nuclear charge pickup cross-sections of 12C on CH2, C, Al, Cu and Pb targets at the highest energy of 288MeV/n were investigated using CR-39 nuclear track detector. The cross-section for H was calculated from those measured on C and CH2 targets. The dependence of charge pickup cross-section on target mass was investigated. It was found that the nuclear charge pickup cross-section of 12C at our studied beam energies seems to exponentially depend on the target mass with the fitting exponent b∼0.9, which can be well explained by the peripheral and the surface collisions of the nuclear charge pickup reactions.

The presence of manufactured nano-objects (MNOs) in various consumer or their (future large-scale) use as nanoagrochemical have increased with the rapid development of nanotechnology and therefore, concerns associated with its possible ecotoxicological effects are also arising. MNOs are releasing along the product life cycle, consequently accumulating in soils and other environmental matrices, and potentially leading to adverse effects on soil biota and their associated processes. Earthworms, of the group of Oligochaetes, are an ecologically significant group of organisms and play an important role in soil remediation, as well as acting as a potential vector for trophic transfer of MNOs through the food chain. This review presents a comprehensive and critical overview of toxic effects of MNOs on earthworms in soil system. We reviewed pathways of MNOs in agriculture soil environment with its expected production, release, and bioaccumulation. Furthermore, we thoroughly examined scientific literature from last ten years and critically evaluated the potential ecotoxicity of 16 different metal oxide or carbon-based MNO types. Various adverse effects on the different earthworm life stages have been reported, including reduction in growth rate, changes in biochemical and molecular markers, reproduction and survival rate. Importantly, this literature review reveals the scarcity of long-term toxicological data needed to actually characterize MNOs risks, as well as an understanding of mechanisms causing toxicity to earthworm species. This review sheds light on this knowledge gap as investigating bio-nano interplay in soil environment improves our major understanding for safer applications of MNOs in the agriculture environment.

Verifying quantum systems has attracted a lot of interests in the last decades. In this paper, we initialise the model checking of quantum continuous-time Markov chain (QCTMC). As a real-time system, we specify the temporal properties on QCTMC by signal temporal logic (STL). To effectively check the atomic propositions in STL, we develop a state-of-the-art real root isolation algorithm under Schanuel’s conjecture; further, we check the general STL formula by interval operations with a bottom-up fashion, whose query complexity turns out to be linear in the size of the input formula by calling the real root isolation algorithm. A running example of an open quantum walk is provided to demonstrate our method.

Zhi-Yong Zhang, Ming-Xu Li, Hai Yu, Jun Zhao, Feng-Lin Xiao, Fang Xuan, Yi-Xin Zhao Department of Nephrology, The Sixth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ming-Xu LiDepartment of Nephrology, The Sixth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, No. 6 Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-18600310159Email lmx1964bw@sina.comPurpose: Chronic renal failure has become a major public health concern and treatment strategies are urgently needed. We aimed to investigate whether combination of hemodialysis modes was superior to regular hemodialysis for patients under maintenance hemodialysis.Patients and Methods: A total of 144 patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) were enrolled in this single-center retrospective study. Patients received regular hemodialysis (HD) were included in HD group (n=52), patients received regular HD plus hemodiafiltration (HDF) in HD/HDF group (n=47), patients received the combination of regular HD, HDF and hemoperfusion (HP) in HD/HDF/HP group (n=45). After 1-month and 24-months treatment, therapeutic effects were assessed in terms of nutritional status, control of complications, dialysis adequacy, mean arterial pressure (MAP), infection rate and living quality.Results: When patients received 1-month treatment, there were no statistically significant differences among three groups. After 24-months treatment, patients in HD/HDF and HD/HDF/HP group presented with better dialysis adequacy, lower MAP and infection rate, higher serum albumin, hemoglobin and calcium levels, lower serum phosphorus and intact parathyroid hormone levels, lower incidence of malnutrition and the Hamilton Depression Scale score, higher the Barthel Index score than HD group (P< 0.05). The levels of calcium, phosphorus and intact parathyroid hormone in HD/HDF/HP group were lower than those in HD/HDF group (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Our finding highl

His paper studies the dynamics of stable regions for relatively long time intervals (practical stability) in the vicinity of the triangular equilibrium points of a binary asteroid with mass ratio µ larger than Rouths critical mass ratio µ R = (9 - v 69) / 18 . The study is based in a detailed analysis of the Poincaré map for values of the Jacobi constant associated to stable periodic orbits around the triangular points. Solar perturbation is then taken into consideration and the evolution of the stable region is presented, Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

Svrha ovog istraživanja je analiza odnosa između inovacija i internacionalizacije, kao i testiranje prezentiranog modela istraživanja. Istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno 486 kompanija iz Kine i dokazano je da internacionalizacija pozitivno utječe na sva četiri tipa inovacija, i to proizvoda, procesa, marketinga i organizacije. Također je dokazano i da se za postizanje inovacija u području marketinga i organizacije naročito preporučuje tzv. internacionalizacija visoke razine. Istraživanje je također dokazalo da je direktni kontakt sa stranim kupcima od iznimnog značaja za ostvarivanje većih koristi od internacionalizacije u kontekstu unapređenja sva četiri tipa inovacija., The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between innovation and internationalization in Chinese companies and to test presented research model. During the research process, 486 companies from China were analyzed and all four types, product, process, marketing and organizational innovations are proved to be positively influenced by internationalization. In addition to this, it is proved that for improvement of marketing and organizational innovation high-level of internationalization is highly recommended. What is more, this research has proved that direct contact with foreign customers is extremely important for having higher benefits of internationalization in the context of improvement of all four types of innovation.

The dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) belongs to the dopamine D2-like receptor family and is principally located in the ventral striatum. However, previous studies reported D3R overexpression in the dorsal striatum following l-DOPA treatment in parkinsonian animals. This fact has drawn attention in the importance of D3R in l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID). Here, we used D3R knockout mice to assess the role of D3R in LID and rotational sensitization in the hemiparkinsonian model. Mice lacking D3R presented a reduction in dyskinesia without interfering with the antiparkinsonian l-DOPA effect and were accompanied by a reduction in the l-DOPA-induced rotations. Interestingly, deleting D3R attenuated important molecular markers in the D1R-neurons such as FosB, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and histone-3 (H3)-activation. Colocalization studies in D1R-tomato and D2R-green fluorescent protein BAC-transgenic mice indicated that l-DOPA-induced D3R overexpression principally occurs in D1R-containing neurons although it is also present in the D2R-neurons. Moreover, D3R pharmacological blockade with PG01037 reduced dyskinesia and the molecular markers expressed in D1R-neurons. In addition, this antagonist further reduced dyskinetic symptoms in D1R heterozygous mice, indicating a direct interaction between D1R and D3R. Together, our results demonstrate that D3R modulates the development of dyskinesia by targeting D1R-mediated intracellular signaling and suggest that decreasing D3R activity may help to ameliorate LID

In order to improve offline map matching accuracy of low-sampling-rate GPS, a map matching algorithm based on conditional random fields (CRF) and route preference mining is proposed. In this algorithm, road offset distance and the temporal-spatial relationship between the sampling points are used as features of GPS trajectory in CRF model, which can utilize the advantages of integrating the context information into features flexibly. When the sampling rate is too low, it is difficult to guarantee the effectiveness using temporal-spatial context modeled in CRF, and route preference of a driver is used as replenishment to be superposed on the temporal-spatial transition features. The experimental results show that this method can improve the accuracy of the matching, especially in the case of low sampling rate.

Enzymatic syntheses of cefaclor with immobilized penicillin acylase in organic cosolvents under kinetic control were carried out. KcPGA from Kluyvera citrophila was selected as the best catalyst among the three species of immobilized penicillin acylase. Ethylene glycol, glycerol, methanol, ethyl estate and polyethyleneglycol (PEG) were selected accordingly and cefaclor syntheses were preformed respectively. Best results in terms of yield were obtained in ethylene glycol, with which further studies were investigated and the maximum yield was Y = 93.5 %. The optimal conditions were pH 6.5, temperature θ = 5 °C, 3 mol D-phenylglycine methyl ester (PGME) per mol 7-aminodesacetoxymehtyl-3-chlorocephalosporin acid (7ACCA) and x = 30 % ethylene glycol fraction. Under above mentioned conditions, the yield was Y = 91.1 %.

The differences in the waveform of Cerebral EP (Evoked Potential)s ; SEP, VEP and AEP, among healthy subjects, schizophrenics, manic-depressives and epileptics were investigated. In 585 subjects of both sexes comprising these diagnostic groups, 6 channels of EPs, each 2 channels for each sensory modality, were recorded simultaneously/ parallelly from each subject, without assigning a mental task. Then, waveforms of the g-m (group mean) EPs of each diagnostic group were superimposed for inspection. Peak latencies and inter-peak amplitudes of individual EPs were statistically tested among (ANCOVA) and between (Scheffe’s multiple comparison test) these diagnostic groups for each channel (modality), and for each sex. The waveforms of g-m EPs of each diagnostic group differed from each other. The differences of latencies and inter-peak amplitudes among these diagnostic groups attained to the significant level (P<0.05), with more significant differences between healthy subjects and each of these pathological diagnostic groups than between each of these pathological diagnostic groups, for each sex. Thus the differences in the waveform of EPs among these diagnostic groups were confirmed even taking the effect of medication on EPs into consideration. These results might suggest the existence of a waveform for individual EPs specific to each of these diagnostic groups, for each sex.

Flavonoids from Marchantia Convoluta (MCF) were studied for their ability to inhibit the proliferation of 2.2.15 cells. All concentration of MCF inhibited the secretion of HBsAg and HBeAg in the cultured medium by 2.2.15 cells. Analysis of morphological changes of MCF-treated cells by phase-contrast microscopy revealed a possible mode of action for MCF: inhibition of proliferation of 2.2.15 cells by inducing apoptosis.

Flavonoids from Marchantia Convoluta (MCF) were studied for their ability to inhibit the proliferation of 2.2.15 cells. All concentration of MCF inhibited the secretion of HBsAg and HBeAg in the cultured medium by 2.2.15 cells. Analysis of morphological changes of MCF-treated cells by phase-contrast microscopy revealed a possible mode of action for MCF: inhibition of proliferation of 2.2.15 cells by inducing apoptosis.

The proposed Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is for dynamic buffer tuning at the user/server level. It eliminates buffer overflow on-line by ensuring that the buffer length always cover the queue length adaptively. The FLC contributes to prevent the AQM (active queue management) resources dished out at the system level from being wasted and to shorten the service roundtrip time (RTT) by reducing retransmission caused by user-level buffer overflow at the reception side. Combining fuzzy logic and the conventional PIDC model creates the FLC that operates with the {0,?}2 objective function. The fuzzy logic maintains the given safety margin about the reference point, which is symbolically represented by “0” in {0,?}2 . The short execution time of the FLC makes it suitable for supporting time-critical applications over the Internet.

Stimulation of dopamine D1 receptors has profound effects on addictive behavior, movement control, and working memory. Many of these functions depend on dopaminergic systems in the striatum and D1-D2 dopamine receptor synergies have been implicated as well. We show here that deletion of the D1 dopamine receptor produces a neural phenotype in which amphetamine and cocaine, two addictive psychomotor stimulants, can no longer stimulate neurons in the striatum to express cFos or JunB or to regulate dynorphin. By contrast, haloperidol, a typical neuroleptic that acts preferentially at D2-class receptors, remains effective in inducing catalepsy and striatal Fos/Jun expression in the D1 mutants, and these behavioral and neural effects can be blocked by D2 dopamine receptor agonists. These findings demonstrate that D2 dopamine receptors can function without the enabling role of D1 receptors but that D1 dopamine receptors are essential for the control of gene expression and motor behavior by psychomotor stimulants