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Uncertainty exists about whether lowering systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg is superior to that of less than 140 mm Hg, particularly in patients with diabetes and patients with previous stroke.

Rechargeable lithium–oxygen (Li–O2) batteries are known for their ultrahigh theoretical energy density among chemical batteries. However, the low catalytic activity and poor stability of the cathode catalyst are the root issues limiting their practical applications. In this work, a design strategy to enhance the catalytic activity of the TiC material was devised by C surface modification. The carbon-coated core–shell TiC@C nanomaterial was designed, which combined the good electrical conductivity and low density of carbon materials with the excellent catalysis of TiC. The calculated catalytic activities of TiC (100) with and without C coating were compared by first-principles calculations, showing that the TiC (100)@C surface has a lower ORR/OER overpotential. The C layer enhances the conductivity of the TiC (100) surface significantly. This work fully demonstrates the synergistic catalysis of TiC material and C coating, which not only effectively accelerates the practical process by improving the charging and discharging kinetic rate of Li–O2batteries but also provides an efficient catalyst design strategy for other energy-catalytic industries.

The long prediction horizon (LPH) shows remarkable advantages of steady-state operation and current distortions for the finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) using power conversion devices. However, the computation is inevitably increased exponentially, especially for the multi-phase motors. In this article, K-best-sphere decoding algorithm (kSDA) is used to reduce the computational burden by transforming the optimization problem into an integer least-squares (ILSs) problem. The kSDA-based MPC with breadth-first strategy is applied to the dual three-phase surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous machine drive system. The experimental verification is carried out to validate the feasibility of the proposed kSDA-based MPC, which well agrees with the theoretical analysis. In particular, kSDA is a more efficient algorithm to solve the LPH problem by comparing it with SDA.

This study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetic parameters of single oral administration of postchange and prechange abexinostat (CRA‐024781) tosylate tablets in Chinese healthy subjects under fasting conditions, and assess the bioequivalence (BE) of the 2 formulations (Test [T1] and Reference [T2]). This study was a randomized, open‐label, 2‐formulation, fasting administration, single‐dose, 2‐sequence, 2‐cycle, crossover BE study. Thirty‐six subjects were enrolled in the study and 33 subjects completed 2 cycles. The plasma concentrations were determined by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry. The 90% confidence intervals (CIs) for the Cmax, AUC0‐t, and AUC0‐∞of CRA‐024781 and its 2 major metabolites (PCI‐27789 and PCI‐27887, both metabolites are pharmacologically inactive on HDAC1) fell within the acceptable range of 80%‐125%. The results suggest that the CRA‐024781 test preparation (Test [T1]) is bioequivalent to the reference preparation (Reference [T2]) in healthy Chinese subjects under fasting conditions.

In this study, the processing parameters of a laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)-fabricated CoCrNi alloy were systematically investigated for their impact on mechanical properties, microstructure, and fracture characteristics when the relative density exceeds 99%. The maximum relative density of 99.89% was attained at a laser power of 225 W, and scan speed of 1000 mm/s, accompanied by a hardness value of 276.83 HV. However, it is important to note that the highest relative density did not correspond to the maximum σUTS. Tensile testing revealed that increasing the laser power at the same scan speeds led to a decrease in elongation. The LPBF-fabricated CoCrNi alloy exhibited enhanced defect tolerance due to its cellular microstructure, which confined ductile dimple sizes to the nanoscale and impeded crack propagation through pinning effects. At scan speeds of 1000 mm/s and energy densities below 83 J/mm³, an increased presence of unmelted powder and pores was observed. Besides, it was confirmed that the <110> crystallographic texture displayed the strongest orientation within the sample. Theoretical calculations indicated that over 50% of the yield strength is attributed to the dislocation structure. These findings contribute to the process optimization of LPBF, providing a valuable reference for adjusting process parameters to enhance material mechanical properties, particularly when targeting relative densities above 99%.

Pool fires pose a threat to the safety and environmental protection of industrial production. The burning rate is one of the most important burning parameters that determines the behavior of pool fires. Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and Extreme Gradient Boosting Tree (XGBoost) were used to predict the burning rate of n-heptane pool fire with the effect of fuel depth, ullage depth, area and perimeter of pool pans, atmospheric pressure and speed of cross air flow in open spaces. The results show that after optimizing the model parameters using RandomizedSearchCV, both models yielded higher precision evaluation results. Compared with BPNN, the proposed XGBoost model demonstrates better prediction performance, achieving a R2of 0.9744, RMSE of 4.1068, and MAE of 2.5036 in test set. The impact of different hyperparameters and data normalization on model prediction accuracy was explored. The impact of fuel depth, ullage depth, atmospheric pressure, speed of cross air flow, area, and perimeter on burning rate was determined using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) sensitivity analysis. This analysis aids in conducting risk analysis for pool fires, and offers early warning and feasible reference for fire safety hazards.

An intelligent delivery nanoformulation could enhance the utilization efficacy, uptake, and translocation of pesticides in plants. Herein, a redox/pH-triggered and fluorescent smart delivery nanoformulation was designed and constructed by using hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (HMONs) and ZnO quantum dots as the nanocarrier and capping agent, respectively. Boscalid was further loaded to generate Boscalid@HMONs@ZnO with a loading rate of 9.8% for controlling Botrytis cinerea(B. cinerea). The quantity of boscalid released by Boscalid@HMONs@ZnO in a glutathione environment or at pH 3.0 was 1.3-fold and 1.9-fold higher than that in a neutral condition. Boscalid@HMONs@ZnO has 1.7-fold the toxicity index of boscalid technical against B. cinereain antifungal experiments. Pot experiments revealed that the efficacy of Boscalid@HMONs@ZnO was significantly enhanced more than 1.27-fold compared to commercially available water-dispersible granules of boscalid. Due to the fluorescence properties of Boscalid@HMONs@ZnO, pesticide transport’s real-time monitoring of pesticide translocation in tomato plants could be observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Fluorescence images revealed that HMONs@ZnO had been effectively transported via treated leaves or roots in tomato plants. This research showed the successful application of HMONs@ZnO as a nanocarrier for controlling disease and offered an effective avenue to explore the real-time tracking of pesticide translocation in plants.

In this letter, a ±45° dual-polarized heterogeneous stacked patch antenna with stable radiation performance and high efficiency is presented for the 5G massive multiple-input–multiple-output (M-MIMO) base station. It comprises a driven metallic patch (MP) and a parasitic dielectric patch (DP), which induce low- and high-frequency resonant modes, respectively. The excitation of the top DP is achieved by the bottom MP through four supporting dielectric blocks between them, which allow for surface-mounted technology installation of the DP. Furthermore, the utilization of DP for generating high-frequency mode enables the heterogeneous antenna to have an efficiency of >90% in a bandwidth (|S11| &lt; −15 dB) of 14.1% (3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz). The off-center configuration of the four dielectric blocks increases the equivalent dielectric constant of the sidewall of the heterogeneous radiator, resulting in stable radiation patterns. The variations of realized gain and half-power beamwidth are below 0.3 dBi and 5°, respectively.

A contactless varactor-loaded bandwidth-enhanced frequency-reconfigurable (FR) antenna (FRA) is proposed. On account of the different E-field distributions of the TM10 and TM30 modes, six shorting pins are introduced in the voltage zero of the E-field of the TM30 mode to push up the TM10 mode, which helps degenerate two modes to broaden the bandwidth. After that, a pair of frequency tuning lines with varactors attached to one end is partially inserted under the patch in a novel way to continuously tune the two modes simultaneously. The novel varactor-loading scheme obtains a trade-off between a high efficiency of larger than 50% and a frequency tuning range of 22.2% (2.04 GHz to 2.55 GHz). The measured bandwidth exceeds 7.5%, exhibiting a bandwidth enhancement characteristic, and the peak gain varies between 6 and 7.9 dBi over the entire band.

Capitalizing on their unique bistable and reflective attributes, electrophoretic displays (EPDs) provide a paper-like viewing experience with remarkably low power usage. This has driven their broad application across various fields, including eye-friendly E-readers, energy-saving electronic labels, cutting-edge wearable technology, outdoor displays, and intelligent low-power devices. In this study, a dynamic multiwaveform invocation and local time-division refresh (LTDR) technology are introduced. On the one hand, we compressed and modified traditional driving waveform to various extents first, forming optimized traditional driving waveform, fast driving waveform, and speed driving waveform. Subsequently, high-frequency oscillation waveform was incorporated into the fast driving waveform, and a variety of waveforms were dynamically invoked based on different display scenarios. On the other hand, we proposed an LTDR method, to refresh the resetting phase and driving phase in different regions simultaneously, thereby reducing the flicker effects caused by refreshing. The technology could balance display quality with refresh speed and eliminate flicker caused by traditional waveforms completely. Compared to the traditional waveform, the proposed technique can display 16-level grayscales while reducing the driving time and modulation depth by 60% and 95%, respectively, which greatly improves the reading experience of E-paper. In addition, the fast driving waveforms proposed can achieve low flicker and smooth video display in EPDs. Compared with the latest video display technology, its average structural similarity index measure (SSIM) is improved by 60.29% and energy consumption had reduced by 60.00%, which meets the demand for streaming video display on E-paper.

The North Pacific sea surface salinity (SSS) decadal variability (NPSDV) and its potential forcing were evaluated from 25 coupled models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) considering the prospects for decadal climate predictions. The results indicated that the CMIP6 models generally reproduced the spatial patterns of NPSDV. The large standard deviation of the SSS anomaly over the strong current regions, such as the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension (KOE), North Pacific Current (NPC), California Current System (CCS), and Alaskan Coastal Current (ACC), is reflected in the two leading modes of NPSDV: a dipole with out-of-phase loadings in the KOE-NPC versus CCS-ACC and a monopole with positive loading over the KOE-NPC. The order of modes is sensitive to individual models that exhibit discrepancies, especially in temporal phases and power spectra. An autoregressive model of order-1 was used to reconstruct the NPSDV with several forcing terms. The generally weaker influence of forcings in an autoregressive model of order-1 is partly related to the overestimated response time of NPSDV relative to forcings. Most NPSDV variances originate from the persistence of SSS anomalies, but the dominant forcing factors are diverse among models. The model diversity for the NPSDV simulation mainly arises from the influence of the tropical El Niño-Southern Oscillation through teleconnection on the North Pacific Oscillation or Aleutian Low with timescale dependence. Conversely, models that can reproduce the NPSDV well are not dependent on those with larger impacts from the North Pacific oceanic processes.

Immunotherapy elicits a systemic antitumour immune response in peripheral circulating T cells. However, the T cell trafficking circuit between organs and their contributions to antitumour immunity remain largely unknown. Here we show in multiple mouse leukaemia models that high infiltration of leukaemic cells in bone marrow (BM) stimulates the transition of CD8+CD44+CD62L+central memory T cells into CD8+CD44–CD62L–T cells, designated as inter-organ migratory T cells (TIMcells). TIMcells move from the BM to the intestine by upregulating integrin β7and downregulating C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 3 during leukaemogenesis. Upon immunogenic chemotherapy, these BM-derived TIMcells return from the intestine to the BM through integrin α4–vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 interaction. Blocking C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 3 function boosts the immune response against leukaemia by enhancing T cell trafficking. This phenomenon can also be observed in patients with leukaemia. In summary, we identify an unrecognized intestine–BM trafficking circuit of T cells that contributes to the antitumour effects of immunogenic chemotherapy.

To enable the intelligent transportation systems (ITSs), using radars to help extracting the information of road environments is critical. However, the deployment and parameter optimization of radar networks in practical road environments has not been well-explored yet. To fill this gap, we investigate the joint deployment and parameter optimization approach for radar networks in road environments. Considering a general radar network model, we first propose a model-based approach developed under some simplifications of the general model. Then, following the optimization framework of the model-based approach and with the aid of black-box optimization, we propose a non-model-based approach that can jointly optimize the radar deployment and parameter under the general model without any simplifications. Since conducting the non-model-based approach is time-consuming, we further propose a learning-aided approach to accelerate it. We use realistic simulations to evaluate our proposed approaches. Results show that our approaches can outperform the reference schemes.

The combined Ca/Cu process holds promise as a CO2capture technique utilizing chemical looping combustion to provide heat for regenerating CaO-based sorbents in a calcium looping configuration through the Ca/Cu composite sorbents. Developing Ca/Cu composite sorbents with high reactivity is crucial for advancing combined Ca/Cu technology. However, these sorbents encounter a rapid decline in the CO2capture performance, remaining a significant problem to be addressed. Herein, various calcium/copper precursors, comprising copper acetate, copper nitrate, calcium propionate, calcium acetate, calcium formate, and calcium nitrate, were utilized to synthesize Ca/Cu composite sorbents using a Pechini method. The results reveal that the selection of calcium and copper precursors significantly affected the CO2capture performance. Utilizing organic salts as calcium and/or copper precursors proved beneficial in enhancing the CO2capture performance, particularly when employing organic salts with high molecular weights (e.g., copper acetate, calcium propionate, and calcium acetate). The sorbent synthesized using calcium propionate and copper acetate possessed the highest CO2capture performance, achieving a final CO2uptake capacity of 0.22 gCO2/gmaterialin the 10th cycle while retaining 80% of its initial reactivity. In contrast, the sorbent synthesized using calcium nitrate and copper nitrate showed the poorest CO2capture performance, with an initial capacity of 0.18 gCO2/gmaterialand a final capacity of 0.08 gCO2/gmaterialin the 10th cycle. In comparison to the significant impact on the CO2capture performance, the selection of precursors had a minimal effect on oxidation performance. Regardless of the precursors used, all the sorbents exhibited commendable oxidation performance, achieving oxidation conversions exceeding 90%. Additionally, systematic investigations were conducted on process conditions encompassing the reaction atmosphere and temperature during the oxidation and carbonation stages. The findings indicate that process conditions had a greater impact on the CO2capture performance than on the oxidation performance.

• Small-scale plastic deformation in dynamic (>103 s−1) and quasi-staic regime (<100 s−1) are investigated by nanoindentation and nano-impact tests. • Striking difference in deformed microstructure induced by nanoindentation and nano-impact are identified. • The effect of high strain rate on indentation deformed microstructure is presented. • An incipient mechanism of microband formation in nano-impact test is revealed for the first time. Although the rate-dependence of metals has been widely researched, the deformation mechanism under small-scale impact conditions lacked exploration and in-depth understanding. Using quasi-static nanoindentation (strain rate, SR, < 1 s–1) and high strain-rate nano-impact (SR > 103 s–1) with a pyramidal Berkovich tip, this study investigates the influence of SR on the deformation response of an aluminium single crystal (110). The underlying microstructural variance was analyzed using on-axis TKD and TEM. The results show that the impact deformation involves great elastic recovery and different substructural characteristics. In contrast to the uniform sub-grain substructure with medium and high-angle grain boundaries formed during quasi-static indentation, the substructure formed under impact has a more heterogeneous nature including microbands near the surface and sub-grains underneath with dominant low-angle grain boundaries. The significant change in substructure for the impact deformation comes from suppressed thermally activated dislocation motion, leading to the conversion of dislocation glide from wave-like (quasi-static) to planar regime (impacting), and the insufficient rearrangement of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). The heterogeneous microstructure develops due to the competition between high strain-rate-induced planar-slip and strain gradient-induced GND rearrangement, as well as the uneven distribution of SR and strain gradient. Moreover, the underlying incipient mechanism of the microband is proposed, in which successive primary dislocations are nucleated at the surface and glide perpendicular to flanks to pile up. Finally, the influence of SR on indentation size effects is discussed. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alpha-lactalbumin (α-LA) is a major whey protein found in breast milk and plays a crucial role in the growth and development of infants. In this study, Bacillus subtilisRIK1285 harboring AprE signal peptide (SP) was selected as the original strain for the production of α-LA. It was found that α-LA was identified in the pellet after ultrasonic disruption and centrifugation instead of in the fermentation supernatant. The original strain most likely only produced α-LA intracellular, but not extracellular. To improve the expression and secretion of α-LA in RIK1285, a library of 173 homologous SPs from the B. subtilis168 genome was fused with target LALBAgene in the pBE-S vector and expressed extracellularly in RIK1285. SP YjcN was determined to be the best signal peptide. Bands in supernatant were observed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and purified by nickel column to calculate the highest yield signal peptide. In addition, different promoters (PaprE, P43, and Pglv) were compared and applied. The results indicated that the strain RIK1285-pBE-Pglv-YjcN-LALBAhad the highest α-LA yield, reaching 122.04 μg/mL. This study demonstrates successful expression and secretion of human α-LA in B. subtilisand establishes a foundation for simulating breast milk for infant formulas and developing bioengineered milk.

AbstractBackgroundDisplaced posterior segmental bronchus (B2) accompanied by anomalous pulmonary vessels is a very rare condition. There is a risk of unexpected injuries to bronchi and blood vessels when patients with such anomalies undergo surgery for lung cancer, especially thoracoscopic surgery.MethodsWe reported a case of thoracoscopic right upper lobectomy in a patient with a displaced B2and pulmonary vascular variation.ResultsA 74-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a 2.2 cm × 2.1 cm nodule in the right lung. Three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) revealed the combined apical/anterior segmental branch (B1 + 3) taken off the beginning of the right main bronchus (RMB), at the level of the carina. The displaced B2taken off the end of the RMB. The anomalous central vein (CV), which passed between B2and B1 + 3, ran dorsal to the main pulmonary artery (MPA) and directly into the left atrium. The patient consequently underwent uniportal thoracoscopic right upper lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection. The intraoperative findings were completely consistent with 3D-CT.ConclusionsThis paper reports a case of a displaced B2combined with right upper pulmonary vessels malformation. Under the guidance of 3D-CT, the right upper lobectomy was successfully completed by single hole thoracoscopic surgery.

The differences in the sulfidization mechanism of cerussite (PbCO3) and smithsonite (ZnCO3) were comparatively studied by the density functional theory (DFT) method. Pb−S/Zn−S layers over PbCO3/ZnCO3surfaces are constructed to simulate the sulfidization structure. The results of layer distance and Mulliken charge suggest that Pb−S layer formed over PbCO3is stable but Zn−S layer formed over ZnCO3is unstable. Because of the high covalency of Pb−S layer and the high ionicity of Zn−S layer, the sulfidization−xanthate method is effective for cerussite but ineffective for smithsonite flotation. To recover smithsonite, strong ionicity collectors are required, and hence the sulfidization−amine method is applied more to smithsonite flotation. These differences in the sulfide layer structure and flotation behavior of PbCO3and ZnCO3surfaces are mainly attributed to the different polarizabilities of the metal ions (Pb2+and Zn2+) and the ligands (O ligand and S ligand) and the inertness of Zn2+3d10orbital.

Carbon-based microwave absorbing composites with magnetic-dielectric properties and multiple loss mechanism are considered to be an effective choice for solving electromagnetic pollution. In this paper, the PPy/Fe/Fe3O4@C composite was synthesized from MIL-101-Fe derivatives and subsequently coated polypyrrole (PPy) by combining hydrothermal, high-temperature pyrolysis and oxidative polymerization. The effects of pyrolysis temperature and PPy loading on components, microstructures and electromagnetic parameters were investigated. The results showed that the PPy/Fe/Fe3O4@C composite consisted of two-dimensional carbon flakes modified by magnetic particles and laminated conductive polymers. When the PPy loading is moderate, the composite reaches a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −61.38 dB at a 3.1 mm thickness and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 5.81 GHz at the thickness of 2.2 mm. After pyrolysis, the unique three-dimensional structure of carbon sheet stacking, as well as the heterogeneous interface and conductive networks generated by the modification of magnetic particles Fe and Fe3O4and conductive PPy, are beneficial to improve the dielectric and magnetic losses to optimize the impedance matching. These conductive polymer-modified magnetic-dielectric composites have potential for development and application in microwave absorption.

Timely and reliable displacement feedback is essential for high-precision manipulation based on piezoelectric actuators, but this is not available in limited workspace. The charge-based self-sensing technique relies on only piezoelectric characteristics is an alternative method for obtaining the displacement. However, the charge–leakage effect caused by inherent actuator defects and measurement errors significantly degrade its sensing accuracy. This study proposes a displacement estimation method, which is divided into the following two parts. 1) The basic part is utilized to observe disturbance and estimate displacement. 2) The extended part is used to keep the inherent drift of charge sensing method in a tolerable level. Convergence conditions for the proposed method are analyzed using the small-gain theorem. Further, experiments are conducted to evaluate the sensing performance, and the feasibility of the proposed method as displacement feedback. Experimental results show that both the root mean square error (RMSE) and charge drift of the proposed method can be kept below 1%, and it reduces the RMSE by 54.1% compared with strain gauge method when acting as displacement feedback in a closed-loop system.

Objective. Percussion massage guns are commonly used by professional athletes and nonathletes worldwide for warm-up and physical recovery; however, there are no published clinical or evidence-based reports on percussion guns regarding their benefits, indications, contraindications, and even side effects. The purpose of this case report is to describe the first case of rhabdomyolysis as a severe and potentially life-threatening illness following use of a percussion gun. Methods. A young Chinese woman with untreated iron deficiency anemia presented with fatigue and pain in her thigh muscles for 3 days and tea-colored urine for 1 day, after cycling and subsequently receiving percussion gun treatment by her coach for the purpose of massage and relaxing tired muscles. Muscle tenderness and multiple hematomas were found on her thighs, and her urinalysis indicated hemoglobinuria. Her serum creatine kinase was reported as 'undetectably high,' a hallmark of serious muscle damage leading to a diagnosis of severe rhabdomyolysis. Aggressive intravenous fluid resuscitation, urine alkalinization via intravenous alkaline solution, assessment of urine output, and maintenance of electrolyte balance were administered during hospitalization. Results. The patient's clinical presentation gradually improved with the decline of creatine kinase, and she recovered well during follow-up. Conclusion. A case of severe rhabdomyolysis after percussion massage should alert caregivers, sports professionals, and the public to suspect and recognize the potentially serious adverse effects of percussion guns and to ensure that percussion massage guns be used appropriately and safely in rehabilitation therapy, especially in individuals with an underlying disease or condition. Research is needed to examine the benefits, indications, contraindications, and adverse reactions of percussion guns. Keywords: Rhabdomyolysis, Percussive Therapy, Percussion Massage Gun, Trauma, Case Report, Introduction Percussion massage guns are popular devices used by professional athletes and nonathletes worldwide for percussive massage or percussive therapy (ie, neuromuscular vibration therapy). Their manufacturers claim that these devices [...]

Byline: Junsheng. Zhong, Jin. Chen, Ruixiang. Lin, Yuan. Yan, Qingfeng. Lin, Jian. Chen, Zhengyu. Lin Objective: This study aimed to analyze the cases of phrenic nerve injury caused by the [...]

The root of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. (Fuzi) is an herbal medicine used in China that exerts significant efficacy in rescuing patients from severe diseases. A key toxic compound in Fuzi, aconitine (AC), could trigger unpredictable cardiotoxicities with high-individualization, thus hinders safe application of Fuzi. In this study we investigated the individual differences of AC-induced cardiotoxicities, the biomarkers and underlying mechanisms. Diversity Outbred (DO) mice were used as a genetically heterogeneous model for mimicking individualization clinically. The mice were orally administered AC (0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg· kg−1·d−1) for 7 d. We found that AC-triggered cardiotoxicities in DO mice shared similar characteristics to those observed in clinic patients. Most importantly, significant individual differences were found in DO mice (variation coefficients: 34.08%–53.17%). RNA-sequencing in AC-tolerant and AC-sensitive mice revealed that hemoglobin subunit beta (HBB), a toxic-responsive protein in blood with 89% homology to human, was specifically enriched in AC-sensitive mice. Moreover, we found that HBB overexpression could significantly exacerbate AC-induced cardiotoxicity while HBB knockdown markedly attenuated cell death of cardiomyocytes. We revealed that AC could trigger hemolysis, and specifically bind to HBB in cell-free hemoglobin (cf-Hb), which could excessively promote NO scavenge and decrease cardioprotective S-nitrosylation. Meanwhile, AC bound to HBB enhanced the binding of HBB to ABHD5 and AMPK, which correspondingly decreased HDAC-NT generation and led to cardiomyocytes death. This study not only demonstrates HBB achievement a novel target of AC in blood, but provides the first clue for HBB as a novel biomarker in determining the individual differences of Fuzi-triggered cardiotoxicity.

Over decades of development, while phosphoramidite chemistry has been known as the leading method in commercial synthesis of oligonucleotides, it has also revolutionized the fabrication of sequence-defined polymers (SDPs), offering novel functional materials in polymer science and clinical medicine. This review has introduced the evolution of phosphoramidite chemistry, emphasizing its development from the synthesis of oligonucleotides to the creation of universal SDPs, which have unlocked the potential for designing programmable smart biomaterials with applications in diverse areas including data storage, regenerative medicine and drug delivery. The key methodologies, functions, biomedical applications, and future challenges in SDPs, have also been summarized in this review, underscoring the significance of breakthroughs in precisely synthesized materials.

Flexible damping technology considering aseismic materials and aseismic structures seems be a good solution for engineering structures. In this study, a constrained damping structure for underground tunnel lining, using a rubber-sand-concrete (RSC) as the aseismic material, is proposed. The aseismic performances of constrained damping structure were investigated by a series of hammer impact tests. The damping layer thickness and shape effects on the aseismic performance such as effective duration and acceleration amplitude of time-domain analysis, composite loss factor and damping ratio of the transfer function analysis, and total vibration level of octave spectrum analysis were discussed. The hammer impact tests revealed that the relationship between the aseismic performance and damping layer thickness was not linear, and that the hollow damping layer had a better aseismic performance than the flat damping layer one. The aseismic performances of constrained damping structure under different seismicity magnitudes and geological conditions were investigated. The effects of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and tunnel overburden depth on the aseismic performances such as the maximum principal stress and equivalent plastic strain (PEEQ) were discussed. The numerical results show the constrained damping structure proposed in this paper has a good aseismic performance, with PGA in the range (0.2–1.2)gand tunnel overburden depth in the range of 0–300 m.

ABSTRACTMacroautophagy/autophagy contributes to maladaptive kidney repair by inducing pro-fibrotic factors such as FGF2 (fibroblast growth factor 2), but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we show that EGR1 (early growth response 1) was induced in injured proximal tubules after ischemic acute kidney injury (AKI) and this induction was suppressed by autophagy deficiency in inducible, renal tubule-specific atg7(autophagy related 7) knockout (iRT-atg7KO) mice. In cultured proximal tubular cells, TGFB1 (transforming growth factor beta 1) induced EGR1 and this induction was also autophagy dependent. Egr1knockdown in tubular cells reduced FGF2 expression during TGFB1 treatment, leading to less FGF2 secretion and decreased paracrine effects on fibroblasts. ChIP assay detected an increased binding of EGR1 to the Fgf2gene promoter in TGFB1-treated tubular cells. Both Fgf2and Egr1transcription was inhibited by FGF2 neutralizing antibody, suggesting a positive feedback for EGR1-mediated FGF2 autoregulation. This feedback was confirmed using fgf2-deficient tubular cells and fgf2-deficient mice. Upstream of EGR1, autophagy deficiency in mice suppressed MAPK/ERK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) activation in post-ischemic renal tubules. This inhibition correlated with SQSTM1/p62 (sequestosome 1) aggregation and its sequestration of MAPK/ERK. SQSTM1/p62 interacted with MAPK/ERK and blocked its activation during TGFB1 treatment in autophagy-deficient tubular cells. Inhibition of MAPK/ERK suppressed EGR1 and FGF2 expression in maladaptive tubules, leading to the amelioration of renal fibrosis and improvement of renal function. These results suggest that autophagy activates MAPK/ERK in renal tubular cells, which induces EGR1 to transactivate FGF2. FGF2 is then secreted into the interstitium to stimulate fibroblasts for fibrogenesis.Abbreviation:3-MA: 3-methyladenine; ACTA2/α-SMA: actin alpha 2, smooth muscle, aorta; ACTB/β-actin: actin, beta; AKI: acute kidney injury; aa: amino acid; ATG/Atg: autophagy related; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; ChIP: chromatin immunoprecipitation; CKD: chronic kidney disease; CM: conditioned medium; COL1A1: collagen, type I, alpha 1; COL4A1: collagen, type IV, alpha 1; CQ: chloroquine; DBA: dolichos biflorus agglutinin; EGR1: early growth response 1; ELK1: ELK1, member of ETS oncogene family; FGF2: fibroblast growth factor 2; FN1: fibronectin 1; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; HAVCR1/KIM-1: hepatitis A virus cellular receptor 1; IP: immunoprecipitation; LIR: LC3-interacting region; MAP1LC3B/LC3B: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; MAP2K/MEK: mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase; MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase; NFKB: nuclear factor kappa B; PB1: Phox and Bem1; PFT: pifithrin α; PPIB/cyclophilin B: peptidylprolyl isomerase B; RT-qPCR: real time-quantitative PCR; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; TGFB1/TGF-β1: transforming growth factor beta 1; VIM: vimentin

Grain refinement is a crucial technique for enhancing the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of magnesium alloys. In this study, the addition of 0.3 wt% CaO and 0.3 wt% CaCO3successfully refined the AM60 alloy, resulting in a significant reduction in the average grain size from 326 μm to 96 μm (when adding CaCO3). The refined grain size of the as-cast AM60 alloy led to an increase in both tensile strength and yield strength to 118.2 MPa and 72.6 MPa, representing a respective increase of 35% and 23% compared to the alloy without the refiner. As results of EBSD, it is verified that the basal slip system (0001)<112‾0>has a higher Schmid factor after adding CaO, which indicates that this system has higher activity. The substitution reaction between CaO and Mg can produce synergistic effects from the solute effect of Ca and the nucleating effect of residual CaO, which play an important role in grain refinement. Due to the fine grain size and diffuse distribution of the second phase in the AM60-CaCO3alloy and the thermal decomposition of CaCO3, which consumes the aluminum element in the matrix, the content of the β-phase (Mg17Al12) is reduced. Consequently, this reduces the electric coupling effect between the β-phase and the magnesium matrix. The AM60-CaCO3alloy exhibited the most superior corrosion resistance, achieving a corrosion rate of only 1.01 mm y−1, representing a 48.9% reduction in corrosion rate compared to the AM60 alloy.

The oxidation resistance of Mg–Zn–Zr (ZK60) alloys with the addition of minor rare-earth element (RE) oxides (CeO2, La2O3) was investigated in 420 °C in air and pure O2environments. It was revealed that the oxidation behavior of ZK60, ZK60-La2O3and ZK60-CeO2is different. In comparison to typical intergranular oxidation in ZK60 alloy, owing to diverse phase transformations between La and Mg, the La–Mg phase is continuously distributed in the grain boundaries, and furthermore, a dense and protective layer consisting La–Mg intermetallic phase is coated on the surface, which can effectively inhibit the oxidation of the Mg substrate, exhibiting excellent oxidation resistance. However, the presence of discontinuously distributed Ce-rich phases at the grain boundaries and the chain reaction during high-temperature exposure are the reasons for the deterioration of the oxidation resistance in ZK60-CeO2. It is anticipated that our findings will inspire the development of next-generation low-cost and excellent high-temperature performance Mg alloys.

In order to further improve the wear resistance and high-temperature oxidation resistance of titanium alloys, MAO/CoCrFeNi composite coatings with different sputtering times were prepared on TC11 alloy by micro-arc oxidation combined with radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The microstructure and phase composition of the composite coatings were investigated by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. The wear performance at different temperature and high-temperature oxidation resistance of the composite coatings were studied. The results showed that as the sputtering time increases, the phase structure of composite coatings were all FCC phase, and the number of micropore on the composite coatings decreased; At room temperature, since the film thickness is proportional to the hardness, and higher hardness is conducive to the reduction of actual contact area between coating and grinding ball, so the composite coatings sputtered for 6 h had the narrowest wear scar width and the smallest wear weight loss, and its wear mechanisms were oxidative wear and adhesive wear; At 673 K, since the softening of the abrasive chips played a lubricating role, the composite coatings sputtered for 4 h produced the most abrasive chips, so it had the narrowest wear scar width and the smallest wear weight loss, and the wear mechanisms were mainly oxidative wear and adhesive wear, with slight abrasive wear; The composite coatings sputtered for 6 h was still tightly bonded to the substrate after oxidation at 1000 K, and its weight gain is smaller than TC11, which indicated that it has the best high-temperature oxidation resistance.

Laser cladding is a promising surface modification and repair technology for fabricating Inconel 718 parts. However, laser cladding may produce coarse grains and brittle Laves phase, leading to a significant decrease in performance. The application of high-intensity ultrasonic vibration in laser cladding is able to refine grain and reduce Laves phase. This study investigates the distribution characteristics and the evolution mechanism of the grains and Laves phase in laser cladding with high-intensity ultrasonic vibration. The effects of high-intensity ultrasonic vibration on alteration of grain characteristics and the reduction of Laves phase were analyzed and discussed through ultrasonic vibration-assisted laser cladding experiments. Results indicate that high-intensity ultrasonic vibration promoted a columnar-to-equiaxed transition, and reduced the grain size from 75.6 μm to 48.8 μm. Furthermore, the Laves phase had a decrease of 47.1% in the volume fraction, and transformed from a long-striped shape into a fine granular shape, leading to a more homogeneous distribution of elements in Laves phase. The change in the grains and the Laves phase is attributed to dendrite fragmentation and inhibition of element segregation by nonlinear effects of ultrasound including cavitation and acoustic streaming. The findings of this study confirm the significant benefits of applying high-intensity ultrasonic vibration in laser cladding and provide insight into the underlying evolution mechanisms of high-intensity ultrasonic vibration for grains and Laves phase.

The construction of N-fused polycyclic compounds at room temperature viathe combination of transition-metal catalyst and photocatalyst has been reported. This novel work has successfully realized LED irradiated C−H activation of iodonium ylides. The strategy shows wide substrate scope and ideal functional group tolerance. Our work would be useful for the construction of various heterocyclic compounds.

Cell therapy based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) alleviate muscle atrophy caused by diabetes and aging; however, the impact of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells on muscle atrophy following nerve injury and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of human umbilical cord MSCs (hucMSCs) and hucMSC-derived exosomes (hucMSC-EXOs) for muscle atrophy following nerve injury and identified the underlying molecular mechanisms. Sciatic nerve crush injury in rats and the induction of myotubes in L6 cells were used to determine the ameliorating effect of hucMSCs and hucMSC-EXOs on muscle atrophy. Q-PCR and Western blot analyses were used to measure the expression of muscle-specific ubiquitin ligases Fbxo32 (Atrogin1, MAFbx) and Trim63 (MuRF-1). Dual-luciferase reporter gene experiments were conducted to validate the direct binding of miRNAs to their target genes. Local injection of hucMSCs and hucMSC-EXOs mitigated atrophy in the rat gastrocnemius muscle following sciatic nerve crush injury. In vitro, hucMSC-EXOs alleviated atrophy in L6 myotubes. Mechanistic analysis indicated the upregulation of miR-23b-3p levels in L6 myotubes following hucMSC-EXOs treatment. MiR-23b-3p significantly inhibited the expression of its target genes, Fbxo32 and Trim63, and suppressed myotube atrophy. Notably, an miR-23b-3p inhibitor reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-23b-3p on myotube atrophy in vitro. These results suggest that hucMSCs and their exosomes alleviate muscle atrophy following nerve injury. MiR-23b-3p in exosomes secreted by hucMSCs contributes to this mechanism by inhibiting the muscle-specific ubiquitination ligases Fbxo32 and Trim63.Graphical Abstract

The occurrence of subsea pipeline leakage incidents has gradually increased with the rapid development of the offshore oil and gas industry. Research on the fire dynamics of flammable gases leakage underwater is very limited, particularly in understanding the coupling mechanism of flow and combustion on the water surface. This paper presents a systematical investigation on flow characteristics and burning behavior for fire of flammable gases leakage underwater. A series of laboratory-scale fire behavior experiments were conducted through a self-designed experimental platform, consisting of the leakage control module, water tank and measurement apparatus. It was revealed that the leakage flow rate and water depth would influence the flow characteristics and burning behavior significantly. Two different burning conditions were found for the flame burning above the water surface (FBWS), i.e., the stable and self-extinguishing (unstable) burning states. The dimensionless analysis is conducted for the burning conditions, where the critical criterion is developed to distinguish the stable and unstable burning states. The base diameter of stable FBWS is almost 1.6 times of the diameter of bubble plume on the water surface. The flame pulsation frequency and dimensionless flame height (the ratio of height to base diameter of flame) of the stable FBWS are different from thoes of liquid pool fires and gas diffusion fires. Consequently, a correlation between the Strouhal number and the Froude number is correlated. Finally, the correlation between the dimensionless flame height and the dimensionless heat release rate is proposed for the stable FBWS.

As a ductile and ferromagnetic transition metal, nickel possesses exgrainent metallurgical compatibility, corrosion resistance, high electrical conductivity and high temperature stability. This study investigates the influence of energy density on the microstructure and properties of laser powder bed fusion pure nickel. The research results demonstrate that: during the formation process of Ni, with the increase in energy density, the grain texture exhibits anisotropy. The surfaces parallel and perpendicular to the building direction demonstrate strong {111} and {220} textures respectively. Primary and secondary recrystallization leads to increase in texture strength, subsequently affecting the decrease in dislocation density. The {111} texture yields preferentially, while the {220} single-crystal-like microstructure (SCM) requires higher energy density to complete primary recrystallization and trigger the recovery and enhancement of {111} texture. The enhancement in tensile properties is mainly attributed to the improvement of unmelted defects and texture. With the loading of stress, the failure of the structure leads to a decrease in the strength of the optimal texture component. The {220} texture strengthens the bond between different cladding layers along the building direction, resulting in numerous epitaxial grains parallel to the building direction on the fracture surface, significantly increasing the elongation of the specimen.

Neural signals can significantly influence cancer prognosis. However, how cancer cells may proactively modulate the nervous system to benefit their own survival is incompletely understood. In this study, we report an overlapping pattern of brain responses, including that in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, in multiple mouse models of peripheral cancers. A multi-omic screening then identifies leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and galectin-3 (Gal3) as the key cytokines released by these cancer cell types to trigger brain activation. Importantly, increased plasma levels of these two cytokines are observed in patients with different cancers. We further demonstrate that pharmacologic or genetic blockage of cancer cell-derived LIF or Gal3 signaling abolishes the brain responses and strongly inhibits tumor growth. In addition, ablation of peripheral sympathetic actions can similarly restore antitumor immunity. These results have elucidated a novel, shared mechanism of multiple cancer cell types hijacking the nervous system to promote tumor progression.

Trivalent arsenicals such as arsenite (AsIII) and methylarsenite (MAsIII) are thought to be ubiquitous in flooded paddy soils and have higher toxicity than pentavalent forms. Fungi are widely prevalent in the rice rhizosphere, and the latter is considered a hotspot for As uptake. However, few studies have focused on alleviating As toxicity in paddy soils using fungi. In this study, we investigated the mechanism by which the protein TaGlo1, derived from the As-resistant fungal strain Trichoderma asperellumSM-12F1, mitigates AsIIIand MAsIIItoxicity in paddy soils. Taglo1gene expression in Escherichia coliBL21 conferred strong resistance to AsIIIand MAsIII, while purified TaGlo1 showed a high affinity for AsIIIand MAsIII. Three cysteine residues (Cys13, Cys18, and Cys71) play crucial roles in binding with AsIII, while only two (Cys13 and Cys18) play crucial roles for MAsIIIbinding. TaGlo1 had a stronger binding strength for MAsIIIthan AsIII. Importantly, up to 90.2% of the homologous TaGlo1 proteins originate from fungi by GenBank searching. In the rhizospheres of 14 Chinese paddy soils, Taglo1was widely distributed and its gene abundance increased with porewater As. This study highlights the potential of fungi to mitigate As toxicity and availability in the soil–rice continuum and suggests future microbial strategies for bioremediation.

Ovalbumin (OVA) is the principal protein constituent of eggs. As an alternative to eggs, cell-cultured OVA can reduce the environmental impact of global warming and land use. Escherichia coliNissle 1917 (EcN), a probiotic with specific endogenous cryptic plasmids that stably exist in cells without the addition of antibiotics, was chosen as the host for the efficient heterologous expression of the OVA. OVA yield reached 20 mg·L–1in shake flasks using the OVA expression cassette containing a tac promoter (Ptac) upstream of the OVA-coding sequences on the endogenous plasmid pMUT2. Subsequently, we improved the level of the expression of the OVA by employing a dual promoter (PP5combined with Ptacvia a sigma factor binding site 24) and ribosome binding site (RBS) substitution. These enhancements increased the level of production of OVA in shake flasks to 30 and 42 mg·L–1, respectively. OVA by EcNP-P28 harboring plasmid L28 equipped with both dual promoter and the strong RBS8 reached 3.70 g·L–1in a 3 L bioreactor. Recombinant OVA and natural OVA showed similar biochemical characteristics, including secondary structure, isoelectric point, amino acid composition, and thermal stability. This is currently the highest OVA production reported among prokaryotes. We successfully constructed an antibiotic-free heterologous protein expression system for EcN.

Pool fire is a common type of fire accident in the petrochemical industry, which often causes significant casualties and property damage. In most real fire scenarios involving the interaction between pool fire and obstacles, the surrounding obstacles would impact the development of the pool fire significantly, altering the results of fire risk assessment. To address these knowledge gaps, a comprehensive experimental and numerical analysis was conducted to explore the pool fire behavior with plate obstacle. The results show that as the obstacle height decreases or diameter increases gradually, the average burning rate increases obviously. The temperature and flow fields were obtained through numerical simulation, and indentified as three distinct patterns. It was found that the vortices formed near the obstacles facilitate the mixing of air and fuel vapor, thereby changing the fire plume behavior. In addition, the classical model for the plume centerline temperature was modified for pool fire with plate obstacle. This work enhances understanding of pool fire behavior with plate obstacles, which directly contribute to mitigating fire damage and improving energy application safety.

Byline: Rui. Guo, Xianjian. Wang, Jie. Liu, Jin. Chen, Jian. Chen, Qingfeng. Lin, Yuan. Yan, Ping. Liang, Zhengyu. Lin Aims: This study aimed to explore the accuracy of non-invasive temperature [...]