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Polarization‐sensitive infrared photodetectors have vast application prospects in imaging systems and polarization sensors due to the addition of new detection dimensions beyond wavelength and intensity. However, most polarization‐sensitive photodetectors are operated in the visible wavelength range and still encounter challenges of limited responsivity (R) and polarization ratio (PR) under short‐wave infrared illumination. To address these issues, a vertical heterostructure of β‐In2Se3‐on‐Te is reported, achieving high‐performance and polarization‐sensitive imaging sensors in the short‐wave infrared (SWIR) region. The high R (2 A/W at 1310 nm and 0.71 A/W at 1550 nm) and specific detectivity (2.14 × 109 Jones at 1310 nm and 7.3 × 108 at 1550 nm) are obtained, which surpasses most photodetectors using anisotropic 2D material in the infrared range. Considering the strong anisotropic nature of Te nanosheets, the device exhibits notable polarization sensitivity with a PR value of 4.95 under 1310 nm laser irradiation. This work proposes a multifunctional photodetector for the great applications of ASCII code transmission and polarization‐sensitive infrared imaging, offering a new opportunity for versatile angle‐resolved optoelectronics in the infrared communication band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The high fibre content of whole plants of Broussonetia papyrifera limits its efficient utilization. Ferulic acid esterase (FAE), in combination with xylanase, can effectively cleave the lignin–carbohydrate complex, promoting the function of cellulase. However, little is known about the impact of these additives on silage. To effectively utilize natural woody plant resources, FAE‐producing Lactiplantibacillus plantarum RO395, xylanase (XY) and cellulase (CE) were used to investigate the dynamic fermentation characteristics, fibre and nitrogen components and microbial community structure during B. papyrifera ensiling. RESULTS: Broussonetia papyrifera was either not treated (CK) or treated with FAE‐producing lactic acid bacteria (LP), CE, XY, LP + CE, LP + XY or LP + CE + XY for 3, 7, 15, 30 or 60 days, respectively. In comparison with those in the CK treatment, the L. plantarum and enzyme treatments (LP + CE, LP + XY and LP + XY + CE), especially the LP + XY + CE treatment, significantly increased the lactic acid concentration and decreased the pH and the contents of acid detergent insoluble protein and NH3‐N (P < 0.05). Enzyme addition improved the degradation efficiency of lignocellulose, and a synergistic effect was observed after enzyme treatment in combination with LP; in addition, the lowest acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre, hemicellulose and cellulose contents were detected after the LP + CE + XY treatment (P < 0.05). Moreover, CE, XY and LP additions significantly improved the microbial community structure, increased the relative abundance of Lactiplantibacillus and Firmicutes, and effectively inhibited undesirable bacterial (Enterobacter) growth during ensiling. CONCLUSION: FAE‐producing L. plantarum and the two tested enzymes exhibited synergistic effects on improving the quality of silage, which indicates that this combination can serve as an efficient method for improved B. papyrifera silage utilization. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saturable absorber is a key component in ultrafast pulsed laser systems, which are pivotal in ultrafast physics, high‐speed communication, etc. 2D materials appear to be superior candidates as saturable absorbers for compact pulsed fiber lasers in recent years due to their wide band response and ease of integration. However, the integration of mode‐locked devices inevitably involves contamination or polymer in the interface between the layered saturable absorber and the fiber, which contributes to a high start‐up threshold for the ultrafast pulsed lasers. This study develops an on‐fiber femtosecond laser with 2D narrow‐gap semiconducting BiCuSeO as a saturable absorber by a fully dry integration process thanks to the controllable growth of freestanding quaternary BiCuSeO nanoflakes. The corresponding thermodynamic growth mechanism is systemically revealed by electron microscopy and bind‐energy calculation. An electrostatic‐force‐assisted transfer method is developed to avoid damage or chemical contamination. The BiCuSeO‐based femtosecond laser shows decent output performance (pulse width, signal‐noise ratio and repetition rate are 395 fs, 61 dB, 17.1 MHz) with an ultra‐low threshold of 30 mW. The strategy of controllable growth of free‐standing 2D material facilitates a clean interface between the saturable absorber and fibers, which is favorable for high‐performance ultrafast photonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discovery of constitutive activation of KIT/PDGFRA tyrosine kinases in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) leads to the development of the targeted drug imatinib. However, the inevitable development of imatinib resistance remains a major issue. Ripretinib is a novel targeted drug that inhibits the activities of a broad spectrum of drug‐resistant KIT/PDGFRA mutants. It was approved in 2020 and is currently recommended by major international guidelines as the fourth‐line and beyond therapy for advanced GISTs. Emerging evidence shows that ripretinib is superior to sunitinib as a second‐line treatment for KIT exon 11‐mutated GISTs due to its activity against highly heterogeneous frequently occurring secondary mutations. This review summarizes current data on the use of ripretinib to treat advanced imatinib‐resistant GISTs. We also propose future research directions to improve the targeted GIST treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating anisotropy and nonlinearity of physical properties in 2D materials is of great importance to the progress of nanoelectronic, nanophotonic, and nano‐optoelectronic applications. In this work, Nb3SeI7, a newly discovered ternary layered material with non‐centrosymmetric lattices, is introduced, which exhibits strong second harmonic generation (SHG), in‐plane anisotropic electricity, and light absorption. Symmetry breaking of 2D Nb3SeI7 induced by the polar off‐center displacement of niobium leads to a high nonlinear optical response with a second‐order susceptibility of 6.71 pm V−1 and a high anisotropic factor of photoresponsivity up to 4.6, which are higher than most of the 2D materials. These properties of 2D Nb3SeI7 create new possibilities for chip‐integrated nonlinear optics devices and future‐proof polarization‐sensitive optoelectronic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a limited set of model samples it has been recently shown that semicrystalline polymers exhibit different morphological characteristics depending on the existence and timescale of intracrystalline chain diffusion (ICD) relative to the kinetics of crystal growth. Here, the generality of these reports for the case of so‐called crystal‐fixed polymers without or very slow ICD is tested by providing a detailed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and small‐angle X‐ray scattering analysis of polybutylene succinate (PBS), a biodegradable polyester. By using a combination of NMR techniques covering different timescales it is shown that there is no intracrystalline dynamics on a time scale faster than 1 s, that is, PBS is crystal‐fixed. An expected crystallinity below 50% and the typical morphology consisting of lamellar crystals with a well‐defined crystal thickness and a broad thickness distribution of the amorphous interlayers are confirmed. By combining these results with differential scanning calorimetry measurements, a more precise value could be provided for the enthalpy of melting than previously available. The mechanical properties at room temperature are furthermore influenced by additional insertion crystallization taking place during cooling, which leads to an increase of the mechanical modulus by a factor of ≈2.5 as compared to the state at the end of isothermal crystallization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uplift and exhumation are important factors affecting the preservation of deposits. The anatomy of uplift‐cooling evolution and exhumation in the East Longshou Mountain is of significant research value in understanding changes in the Jinchuan Ni‐Cu‐PGE deposit since its formation. This study uses apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology to reconstruct the thermal history of the East Longshou Mountain, including the Jinchuan mine, revealing the uplift and exhumation history of the East Longshou Mountain and elucidating the preservation status of the Jinchuan deposit. The AFT ages in the East Longshou Mountain are distributed from 62.3 ± 3.0 Ma to 214.7 ± 14 Ma, with significant differences in ages in distinct areas, the central and pooled ages being consistent within the margin of error. Inverse thermal history models reveal two rapid cooling events associated with exhumation from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (200–100 Ma) and since the Miocene (15–0 Ma), the former attributable to the far‐afield response to the closure of the Paleo‐Tethys Ocean and plate assembly at the southern margin of Eurasia, the latter associated with the initial India‐Eurasia plate collision. A slow cooling event from the Early Cretaceous to the Miocene (100–15 Ma) is thought to be related to the arid environment in northwest China since the Cretaceous. These cooling events have diverse responses and cooling rates in different blocks of the East Longshou Mountain: the southwest and centre of which are mainly cooled over 200–120 Ma and 120–0 Ma, with cooling rates of ~0.25 and ~0.33 °C/Ma (~1.25 and ~0.33 °C/Ma in the centre); the Jinchuan mine primarily cooled over 160–100 Ma, 100–15 Ma and 15–0 Ma, with cooling rates of ~1.33, ~0.25 and ~2.00 °C/Ma. These differentiated coolings imply that the uplift of the East Longshou Mountain before the Miocene (~15 Ma) was integral. Strong uplift then occurred in the vicinity of the mining area, which is a critical period for the uplift of the Jinchuan deposit to the surface, meaning that the Jinchuan deposit was exposed no earlier than the Miocene (~15 Ma). Based on mineralization depth information obtained by previous researchers, in conjunction with the calculation and simulation results of this study, it can be seen that the bulk of the Jinchuan intrusion may still be preserved at depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community stability is a fundamental factor sustaining ecosystem functioning and is affected by species richness and species evenness. The Arctic is warming more rapidly than other biomes, and cryptogam plant species (specifically lichens and bryophytes in this study) are major contributors to tundra biodiversity and productivity. However, to our knowledge, the impacts of warming on cryptogam community stability and the underlying mechanisms have not been investigated. We conducted a 13‐year summer warming experiment in mesic birch hummock tundra vegetation near Daring Lake in the continental interior of low Arctic Canada and recorded patterns of cryptogam species abundance in several different growing seasons. Warming decreased the stability of total community abundance, had no effects on species richness, but increased species evenness and species synchrony. Structural equation model analyses indicated that higher species richness was the principal factor associated with the stronger community abundance stability in the control plots and that this effect was driven primarily by a negative correlation with species synchrony. By contrast, higher species evenness was the principal factor associated with the weakened community abundance stability in the warming plots, and this effect was driven primarily by a positive correlation with species synchrony. Our study suggests that climate warming could reduce cryptogam plant community stability in low Arctic tundra and, therefore, decrease important ecosystem services, including carbon storage and food availability to caribou in northern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distributed‐order time fractional diffusion model with Dirichlet nonhomogeneous boundary conditions on a finite domain is considered. Four choices of continuous distribution weight functions with mean μ and standard deviation σ are investigated to study their impact on both the short‐time and long‐time solution behavior. An implicit numerical method implemented on a graded mesh is proposed to solve the model and the stability and convergence analysis are presented. Semi‐analytic solutions are also derived for these distributions to assess the accuracy of the scheme. Numerical results highlight that the four continuous distribution weight functions produce a short‐time solution behavior that is consistent with those solutions from the classical time fractional partial differential equation with fractional order γ* = μ. There are however long‐time differences in the solution behavior that become more distinguishable as σ increases. In particular, we find a smaller value of σ produces more diffuse profiles and the diffusion rate slows as σ increases. Furthermore, the asymptotic behavior of the solution may be influenced by the time‐fractional orders ranging between the smallest nonzero weight order and mean μ for the continuous uniform and raised cosine distribution weight functions, respectively. Similar findings are also observed for the truncated normal and beta distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding connectivity over different spatial and temporal scales is fundamental for managing of ecological systems. However, controversy exists for wintertime ecological connectivity between the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE) and inner southwestern Yellow Sea. Here, we investigated ecological connectivity between the YRE and inner southwestern Yellow Sea in wintertime by precisely pinpointing the source of the newly colonized populations of a winter‐spawning rocky intertidal invertebrate, Littorina brevicula (Philippi, 1844), on artificial structures along the coast of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) using mitochondrial ND6 sequences and microsatellite data. Clear phylogeographic and genetic differentiation were detected between natural rocky populations south and north of the YRE, which resulted from the lack of hard substrate for rocky invertebrates in the large YRD coast. For the newly colonized populations on the coast of YRD, most individuals (98%) to the south of ~33.5°N were from natural rocky populations to the south of the YRE and most of those (94%) to the north of ~33.5°N were from the northern natural rocky populations, which demonstrated strong ecological connectivity between the inner southwestern Yellow Sea and the YRE in winter time. We presented the first genetic evidence that demonstrated a northward wintertime coastal current in the inner southwestern Yellow Sea, and precisely illustrated the boundary of the coastal current recently proposed by numerical experiment. These results indicated that the YRE serves as an important source of materials and energy for the inner southwestern Yellow Sea in winter, which can be crucial for the function of the Yellow Sea ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim Methods Results Conclusions Insomnia has been implicated in gastrointestinal diseases (GIs), but the causal effect between insomnia and GIs and underlying mechanisms remain unknown.By using the released summary‐level data, we conducted a two‐step Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to examine the relationship between insomnia and four GIs and estimate the mediating role of candidate mediators. The first step was to investigate the causal association between insomnia and GIs using univariable MR analysis. The second step was to estimate the mediation proportion of selected mediators in these associations using multivariable MR analysis. Subsequently, results from different datasets were combined using the fixed‐effect meta‐analysis.Univariable MR analysis provided strong evidence for the causal effects of insomnia on four GIs after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, including peptic ulcer disease (PUD) (odds ratio [OR] = 1.15, 95% interval confidence [CI] = 1.10–1.20, P = 1.83 × 10−9), gastroesophageal reflux (GORD) (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.16–1.22, P = 5.95 × 10−42), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.15–1.22, P = 8.69 × 10−25), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.03–1.05, P = 3.46 × 10−3). In the mediation analysis, body mass index (BMI) and waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR) were selected as mediators in the association between insomnia and PUD (BMI: mediation proportion [95% CI]: 13.61% [7.64%–20.70%]; WHR: 8.74% [5.50%–12.44%]) and GORD (BMI: 11.82% [5.94%–18.74%]; WHR: 7.68% [4.73%–11.12%]).Our findings suggest that genetically instrumented insomnia has causal effects on PUD, GORD, IBS, and IBD, respectively. Adiposity traits partially mediated the associations between insomnia and GIs. Further clinical studies are warranted to evaluate the protective effect of insomnia treatment on GIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delocalized electron and phonon structures are directives for rationally tuning the intrinsic physicochemical properties of 2D materials by redistributing electronic density. However, it is still challenging to accurately manipulate the delocalized electron and systematically study the relationships between physiochemical properties and practical nanodevices. Herein, the effects of delocalized electrons engineering on blue‐arsenic‐phosphorus (β‐AsP)‐based practical devices are systematically investigated via implementing vacancies or heteroatom doping. A tendency of carrier conductivity property from “half‐metal” to “metal” is initially found when tuning the electronic structure of β‐AsP with adjustable vacancy concentrations below 2 at% or above 3 at%, which can be ascribed to the introduction of delocalized electrons that cause asymmetric contributions to the electronic states near the implementation site. In optical logic device simulations, broadband response, triangular wave circuit system signal, and reverse polarization anisotropy are achieved by adjusting the vacancy concentration, while extinction ratios are as high as 1561. The electric and thermic‐logic devices realize the highest available reported giant magnetoresistance (MR) up to 1013% and 1039% at vacancy concentrations of 1.67% and 0.89%, respectively, which is significantly superior to the reports. The results shed light on the electronic delocalization strategy of regulating internal structures to achieve highly efficient nanodevices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) has indicated a higher rate of revision than total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The success of UKA depends on UKA component alignment, fixation, and soft tissue integrity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different tibial component alignments in the coronal plane on the stress distribution in UKA. It was hypothesized that the stress distribution would approach native knee when the tibial component was neutrally positioned. Methods: The left legs from two healthy volunteers were considered to represent the geometric native knee models. All bones within the knee joint were extracted from the three‐dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT). MRI was used to generate cartilage, menisci, and four major ligaments. The UKA components were virtually implanted in the medial compartment of the knee model using MIMICS. A total of five different configurations of UKA tibial obliquity in the coronal plane (neutral, 3° varus, 6° varus, 3° valgus, and 6° valgus) were adopted and investigated. Subject‐specific inhomogeneous material properties of bones were used in the finite element analysis (FEA) model. The von Mises stress in the tibia platform and proximal tibia, and the load distribution between the medial and lateral compartments were extracted and compared among the five different configurations. Results: The inhomogeneous material properties of the trabecular bone were closer to real physics than traditional homogeneous methods. Neutral and 3° varus alignments of the tibial component in the coronal plane have better stress distribution between medial and lateral compartment as healthy knee models, and less stress‐shielding effects than other UKA configurations. The stress pathway under the medial tibia platform in neutral and 3° varus UKA configurations was similar and more obvious than the other three UKA configurations. Notably, the stress of the medial tibia platform in the 3° varus UKA models was more homogenous than the neutral UKA configuration. The 6° varus, 3° valgus, and 6° valgus UKA models had higher stress at the location of anterolateral and posterolateral tibia platform than other UKA configurations. Conclusion: Neutral or 3° varus positioned in the coronal plane for the tibial component could be the optimal alignment for UKA. Excessive varus or valgus obliquity in the coronal plane lead to significant differences in bone stress transfer and load distribution in the knee, and increase the risk of UKA failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A novel concept of limit inferior Φ‐dependent average dwell time (LΦDADT) is first proposed, which is a generalization of various existing concepts of dwell time. Based on the LΦDADT scheme and the multiple Lyapunov function approach, some new sufficient conditions for stability and stabilization of switched systems are established by introducing some inequalities. Those criteria acquired contain most of the established ones based on ADT, limiting ADT, mode‐dependent ADT, Φ‐dependent ADT, etc. Specifically, the stability and stabilization criteria for switched linear systems are listed as linear matrix inequalities that can be examined and calculated easily by the LMI toolbox in Matlab. At last, three typical numerical examples are presented for illustrating the effectiveness and validity of the LΦDADT scheme presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid material system, comprised of metal and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), combines the excellent mechanical performance and lightweight feature of CFRP with the competitive material cost and superior toughness of metal. By virtue of such mingled feature, metal/CFRP hybrid structure exhibits great potential in automotive components. This study aims to investigate the crushing behavior of aluminum/WF‐CFRP (woven fabric CFRP) hybrid columns subjected to dynamic loading condition by comparing with the corresponding individual columns made of single material (aluminum column and WF‐CFRP column). The dynamic axial crushing tests indicate that specific energy absorption of WF‐CFRP column is 45% higher than that of the aluminum column and 27% superior to that of the hybrid column, while the total energy absorption of the hybrid column is about 8% higher than the summation of WF‐CFRP column and aluminum column. Afterward, several finite element models are developed to reveal the underlying energy‐absorbing mechanisms and the influences of each factor for the hybrid columns. The numerical results show that specific energy absorption of the hybrid columns is negatively correlated with the metal volume fraction (Fm), when inner aluminum wall thickness (tm) equals to 1.0 mm. It is also found that crushing process of the hybrid columns with l = 2 (2 CFRP layers) is dominated by the progressive folding of inner aluminum column, leading to a lower damage level of CFRP and lower load carrying capacity. With increasing wrapped CFRP layer number up to 8, the inner aluminum column starts to generate internal inversion deformation mode due to the restriction of the outer CFRP layers, and outer CFRP layers exhibit progressive failure. The energy‐absorbing mechanisms analysis indicates that the internal energy of the internally inversed aluminum column is significantly higher than that of the progressively folded aluminum column, and thus such special deformation mode is capable to offer a more stable and higher load carrying capacity for the hybrid columns. Besides, it is also found that the plastic deformation of the inner aluminum column is the major energy‐absorbing mechanism, which is followed by the crushing failure of outer CFRP layers. The combination mode of thinner aluminum column and thicker CFRP layers tends to offer higher energy‐absorbing capacity, which is much higher than that of the summation of corresponding individual columns. Finally, a complex proportional assessment method is considered to select the optimal configuration achieving the balance of material cost and structural crashworthiness. The present study is expected to provide guideline for design of metal/CFRP hybrid columns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an integrated interpretation for the Mesozoic ‐ Cenozoic tectonothermal evolutionary history of the Permian strata in the Qishan area of the southwestern Weibei Uplift, Ordos Basin. Apatite fission‐track and apatite/zircon (U‐Th)/He thermochronometry, bitumen reflectance, thermal conductivity of rocks, paleotemperature recovery, and basin modeling were used to restore the Meso‐Cenozoic tectonothermal history of the Permian Strata. The Triassic AFT data have a pooled age of ∼180±7 Ma with one age peak and P(χ2)=86%. The average value of corrected apatite (U‐Th)/He age of two Permian sandstones is ∼168±4 Ma and a zircon (U‐Th)/He age from the Cambrian strata is ∼231±14 Ma. Bitumen reflectance and maximum paleotemperature of two Ordovician mudstones are 1.81%, 1.57% and ∼210°C, ∼196°C respectively. After undergoing a rapid subsidence and increasing temperature in Triassic influenced by intrusive rocks in some areas, the Permian strata experienced four cooling‐uplift stages after the time when the maximum paleotemperature reached in late Jurassic: (1) A cooling stage (∼163 Ma to ∼140 Ma) with temperatures ranging from ∼132°C to ∼53°C and a cooling rate of ∼3°C/Ma, an erosion thickness of ∼1900 m and an uplift rate of ∼82 m/Ma; (2) A cooling stage (∼140 Ma to ∼52 Ma) with temperatures ranging from ∼53°C to ∼47°C and a cooling rate less than ∼0.1°C Ma, an erosion thickness of ∼300 m and an uplift rate of ∼3 m/Ma; (3) (∼52 Ma to ∼8 Ma) with ∼47°C to ∼43°C and ∼0.1°C /Ma, an erosion thickness of ∼500 m and an uplift rate of ∼11 m/Ma; (3) (∼8 Ma to present) with ∼43°C to ∼20°C and ∼3°C/Ma, an erosion thickness of ∼650 m and an uplift rate of ∼81 m/Ma. The tectonothermal evolutionary history of the Qishan area in Triassic was influenced by the interaction of the Qinling Orogeny and the Weibei Uplift, and the south Qishan area had the earliest uplift‐cooling time compared to other parts within the Weibei Uplift. The early Eocene at ∼52 Ma and the late Miocene at ∼8 Ma, as two significant turning points after which both the rate of uplift and the rate of temperature changed rapidly, were two key time for the uplift‐cooling history of the Permian strata in the Qishan area of the southwestern Weibei Uplift, Ordos Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) predicts a poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Platelets (PLTs) play an important role in HCC progression and metastasis. However, the relationship between PLTs and PVTT remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the value of PLT counts in the prognosis of HCC patients with PVTT after hepatectomy. Methods: From January 2002 to December 2012, 694 HCC patients with PVTT after hepatectomy were evaluated. The patients were divided into the thrombocytopenia group (PLT < 100 × 109/L), the normal group, and the thrombocytosis group (PLT > 300 × 109/L) based on the preoperative PLT level. A propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used. Results: Before the PSM, PVTT patients with thrombocytopenia exhibited longer recurrence‐free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with those with normal PLT counts (both P < 0.001) or thrombocytosis (P = 0.008 and P = 0.046). For the thrombocytopenia group and the normal group, the 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐year RFS values were 30.0%, 17.6%, and 15.7% and were 10.8%, 6.6%, and 5.8% (P < 0.001), respectively; the 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐year OS values were 61.9%, 37.9%, and 31.2% and were 38.3%, 23.3%, and 16.0% (P < 0.001), respectively. After the PSM, the median survival time was 16.6 versus 8.6 months (P < 0.002) in the two groups. A subgroup analysis revealed that thrombocytopenia is associated with improved OS in those with type I PVTT (P = 0.021) or type II PVTT (P = 0.029). Conclusion: According to the PSM, preoperative thrombocytopenia predicts an increased RFS and OS in HCC patients with PVTT after hepatectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyses the characteristics of geothermal gradient and terrestrial heat flow in the Tianshan‐Altun region on the basis of available published data, such as geothermal gradient, measured temperature during oil test producing, rock thermophysics, and heat flow. Based on the steady‐state heat conduction equation, this paper has set up a 3D model by adopting basin modelling method to carry out deep temperature field simulation, with the aim to determine deep thermal structural parameters, the lithospheric thermal thickness, and the crustal contribution rate to the terrestrial heat flow. The geological section of Golmud‐Ejin Banner and the geological section of West Kunlun‐Tarim‐Tianshan were selected to represent the regional temperature and its thermal structure. The results show that the Tianshan‐Altun region has a low temperature geothermal field (averaging temperature gradient 2.2 °C/100 m, heat flow 56.3 mW/m2). The Qaidam Basin has the highest value (averaging 3.2 °C/100 m, 57.4 mW/m2). The lithospheric thermal thickness of the Tianshan‐Altun region is between 110 and 210 km. There are great differences of lithospheric thermal thickness on both sides of the Altun‐Tagh Fault. The west has thicker thermal lithospheric thickness (160–210 km) than the east (110–180 km). The contribution rate of the crust to the terrestrial heat flow decreases in the following order: the Qaidam Basin, the Jiudong Basin, the Jungger Basin, the Tarim Basin, and the Tuha Basin. Sedimentary basins have higher temperature and thinner thermal lithosphere than tectonic orogens when at the same depth. It can be observed that great thermal differences exist on both sides of the Altun‐Tagh Fault. There are relative similarities of low temperature, deeper thermal structure, and thicker lithospheric thermal thickness among the Tarim Basin, the Junggar Basin, and the Yining Basin in a wide geological area because of their shared deep geological basement. The Qaidam Basin and the Hexi Corridor Basin, which are located to the east of Altun‐Tagh Fault, have higher thermal background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tectonothermal evolution has an important control on maturity and hydrocarbon-generation of source rocks. On the basis of analysis of the present-day geothermal gradient, rock thermophysical parameters and heat flow, the thickness contour and vitrinite reflectance can be identified, and the distribution of thermal anomaly was discussed. The paleogeotemperature and paleogeothermal gradients are calculated after the recovery of the erosional thickness. With the theory of the recovering of the superposed and modified sedimentary basin, the evolutionary history since the end of Triassic, the end of Jurassic, the Late Early Cretaceous is presented for two sets of source rocks recovered in various perspectives of plans, cross-sections, important wells, and typical areas. The impact of tectonothermal evolution on the maturity and hydrocarbon-generation history of the source rocks is discussed. The paleogeothermal gradient (4.0 °C/100 m on average) is higher than the present one (2.9 °C/100 m on average). With the slightly continuous increase since the Late Paleozoic, the paleogeotemperature of the Ordos Basin reached its maximum in Late Early Cretaceous and decreased continuously from then on. The paleogeotemperature and maturity of the source rocks continuously increased before Late Early Cretaceous. The tectonothermal event during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous controlled the source rocks with the high temperature and maturity in the Wuqi-Qingyang-Fuxian. The temperature decreased, and the maturity hardly changed after the Late Cretaceous. The source rocks of the Shanxi Formation reached maturity, high maturity and over-maturity at the Late Triassic, the Late Jurassic, and the Early Cretaceous, respectively. The source rocks of the Yanchang Formation reached low maturity and maturity sequentially all in the Early Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A canned electrical machine is featured by having a can shield in air gap as partition. Considerable ohmic loss generated from the can (can loss) is the most highlighted feature. In this paper, an analytical electromagnetic model is proposed to analyze can loss. The model is divided into calculation of magnetic vector potential and modeling of magnetic saturation. In particular, the loss influenced by salient poles is discussed. The studied canned machine is a 3-phase 12/8 switched reluctance machine as a pump drive. It is stressed that we do not judge and discuss performance of the machine developed but propose a modeling approach to improve the loss calculation approach. The developed method has been validated with simulation and experiments. The model gives accurate calculation of losses for electrical machines of high magnetic saturation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These papers, together with several more to be published in a future special issue, offer the Japanese developmental biology audience and international readers of I DGD i a glimpse into Chinese developmental biology communities. The first one, "Developmental Biology in China (Part 1)", will feature one research article (Xu et al., 2022), one review article (Ma & Mao, 2022), and one historical review (Huang et al., 2022). Huang et al. (2022) give a comprehensive overview of the history and current state of developmental biology in China and highlight some of research activities carried out by members of its community. [Extracted from the article]

Objectives: Tissue microstructure features, namely axon radius and volume fraction, provide important information on the function of white matter pathways. These parameters vary on the scale much smaller than imaging voxels (microscale) yet influence the magnetic resonance imaging diffusion signal at the image voxel scale (macroscale) in an anomalous manner. Researchers have already mapped anomalous diffusion parameters from magnetic resonance imaging data, but macroscopic variations have not been related to microscale influences. With the aid of a tissue model, we aimed to connect anomalous diffusion parameters to axon radius and volume fraction using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging measurements. Experimental design: An ex vivo human brain experiment was performed to directly validate axon radius and volume fraction measurements in the human brain. These findings were validated using electron microscopy. Additionally, we performed an in vivo study on nine healthy participants to map axon radius and volume fraction along different regions of the corpus callosum projecting into various cortical areas identified using tractography. Principal observations: We found a clear relationship between anomalous diffusion parameters and axon radius and volume fraction. We were also able to map accurately the trend in axon radius along the corpus callosum, and in vivo findings resembled the low-high-low-high behaviour in axon radius demonstrated previously. Conclusions: Axon radius and volume fraction measurements can potentially be used in brain connectivity studies and to understand the implications of white matter structure in brain diseases and disorders. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1068-1081, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical comparison of the existing code provisions for the shear strength of concrete beams. The comparison is based on the computerized filtering-out of the inevitable statistical bias from the available multivariate database on shear strength, on an examination of the predicted size effects on shear strength and their underlying hypotheses and on the results of recent high-fidelity numerical simulations of shear failure. In addition to examining the existing models, the present comparison also provides several key considerations for testing the scientific soundness of any model of shear failure in concrete beams, which is necessary for future revisions to the design code provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As representative porphyrin model compounds, the structures of `picket-fence' porphyrins have been studied intensively. The title solvated complex salt {systematic name: (4,7,13,16,21,24-hexaoxa-1,10-diazabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane)potassium(I) [5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2- tert-butanamidophenyl)porphyrinato]iron(II) n-hexane monosolvate}, [K(C18H36N2O6)][Fe(C64H64N8O4)Cl]·C6H14 or [K(222)][Fe(TpivPP)Cl]·C6H14 [222 is cryptand-222 or 4,7,13,16,21,24-hexaoxa-1,10-diazabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane, and TpivPP is meso-α,α,α,α-tetrakis( o-pivalamidophenyl)porphyrinate(2−)], [K(222)][Fe(TpivPP)Cl]·C6H14, is a five-coordinate high-spin iron(II) picket-fence porphyrin complex. It crystallizes with a potassium cation chelated inside a cryptand-222 molecule; the average K-O and K-N distances are 2.81 (2) and 3.05 (2) Å, respectively. One of the protecting tert-butyl pickets is disordered. The porphyrin plane presents a moderately ruffled distortion, as suggested by the atomic displacements. The axial chloride ligand is located inside the molecular cavity on the hindered porphyrin side and the Fe-Cl bond is tilted slightly off the normal to the porphyrin plane by 4.1°. The out-of-plane displacement of the metal centre relative to the 24-atom mean plane (Δ24) is 0.62 Å, indicating a noticeable doming of the porphyrin core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell loss due to apoptosis induced by oxidative stress is a major hurdle for endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)-based therapy. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) plays important roles in many pathophysiological processes by deacetylating various substrates, including forkhead transcription factor (FOXO). However, after deacetylation, the fate of FOXO protein remains to be explored. In the present study, we investigated whether SIRT1 exerted a protective effect on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced EPCs apoptosis and, if so, what the underlying mechanism might be. EPCs were isolated and obtained from human umbilical cord blood by density gradient centrifugation and identified by morphology, tube formation ability, cell surface markers, and the ability to take up acetylated low-density lipoprotein (Dil-Ac-LDL) and bind ulex europaeus agglutinin 1 (FITC-UEA-1). Immunofluorescence showed that SIRT1 is localized in the nucleus of EPCs in the presence or absence of H2O2. SIRT1 protein level in EPCs was increased by the treatment with H2O2 for 24 h. Incubation of EPCs with H2O2 dose dependently induced EPCs apoptosis. SIRT1 overexpression reduced the rate of EPCs apoptosis induced by H2O2, whereas SIRT1 downregulation and EX527, a specific SIRT1 inhibitor, exerted the opposite effect. SIRT1 overexpression decreased the total FOXO3a protein expression, whereas SIRT1 downregulation and EX527 increased the amount of FOXO3a protein. SIRT1 reduced FOXO3a transcriptional activity according to Bim expression. Co-immunoprecipitation assay showed that SIRT1 could bind to FOXO3a, reduce its acetylation level and increase its ubiquitination level. To sum up, our work demonstrated that SIRT1 had a pivotally protective role in the regulation of EPCs apoptosis induced by H2O2 and that SIRT1 protected against apoptosis by inhibiting FOXO3a via FOXO3a ubiquitination and subsequent degradation. J. Cell. Physiol. 230: 2098-2107, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decoupled adaptive control algorithm, namely the combined dynamic gain and adaptive homogeneous domination approach, is introduced to solve the global state feedback stabilization problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. Compared with the conventional adaptive backstepping/tuning functions approach, the algorithm differs in the way of constructing the estimator and handling the nonlinear drifts, and allows the adaptive control law that is decoupled via a dynamic gain to be designed only by choosing some appropriate constants. The proposed adaptive controller guarantees that all the states of the closed-loop system are globally bounded and the system solutions converge to zero asymptotically. Both physical and academic examples are provided to demonstrate the validness of the theory. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why some species are consistently more abundant than others, and predicting how species will respond to global change, are fundamental questions in ecology. Long-term observations indicate that plant species with high stoichiometric homeostasis for nitrogen (HN), i.e., the ability to decouple foliar N levels from variation in soil N availability, were more common and stable through time than low-HN species in a central U.S. grassland. However, with nine years of nitrogen addition, species with high HN decreased in abundance, while those with low HN increased in abundance. In contrast, in climate change experiments simulating a range of forecast hydrologic changes, e.g., extreme drought (two years), increased rainfall variability (14 years), and chronic increases in rainfall (21 years), plant species with the highest HN were least responsive to changes in soil water availability. These results suggest that HN may be predictive of plant species success and stability, and how plant species and ecosystems will respond to global-change-driven alterations in resource availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

`Picket-fence' porphyrin compounds are used in the investigation of interactions of hemes with dioxygen, carbon monoxide, nitric monoxide and imidazole ligands. (Cryptand-222)potassium chlorido[ meso-tetra(α,α,α,α- o-pivalamidophenyl)porphyrinato]manganese tetrahydrofuran monosolvate (cryptand-222 is 4,7,13,16,21,24-hexaoxa-1,10-diazabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane), [K(C18H36N2O6)][Mn(C64H64N8O4)Cl]·C4H8O or [K(222)][Mn(TpivPP)Cl]·THF [systematic name for TpivPP: 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2- tert-butanamidophenyl)porphyrin], is a five-coordinate high-spin manganese(II) picket-fence porphyrin complex. It crystallizes with a potassium cation chelated inside a cryptand-222 molecule; the average K-O and K-N distances are 2.83 (4) and 2.995 (13) Å, respectively. All four protecting tert-butyl pickets of the porphyrin are ordered. The porphyrin plane is nearly planar, as indicated by the atomic displacements and the dihedral angles between the mean planes of the pyrrole rings and the 24-atom mean plane. The axial chloride ligand is located inside the molecular cavity on the hindered porphyrin side and the Mn-Cl bond is tilted slightly off the normal to the porphyrin plane by 3.68 (2)°. The out-of-plane displacement of the metal centre relative to the 24-atom mean plane (Δ24) is 0.7013 (4) Å, indicating a noticeable porphyrin core doming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi are key decomposers of deadwood, but the impact of anthropogenic changes in nutrients and temperature on fungal community and its consequences for wood microbial respiration are not well understood. Here, we examined how nitrogen and phosphorus additions (field experiment) and warming (laboratory experiment) together influence fungal composition and microbial respiration from decomposing wood of angiosperms and gymnosperms in a subtropical forest. Nutrient additions significantly increased wood microbial respiration via fungal composition, but effects varied with nutrient types and taxonomic groups. Specifically, phosphorus addition significantly increased wood microbial respiration (65%) through decreased acid phosphatase activity and increased abundance of fast‐decaying fungi (e.g., white rot), while nitrogen addition marginally increased it (30%). Phosphorus addition caused a greater increase in microbial respiration in gymnosperms than in angiosperms (83.3% vs. 46.9%), which was associated with an increase in Basidiomycota:Ascomycota operational taxonomic unit abundance in gymnosperms but a decrease in angiosperms. The temperature dependencies of microbial respiration were remarkably constant across nutrient levels, consistent with metabolic scaling theory hypotheses. This is because there was no significant interaction between temperature and wood phosphorus availability or fungal composition, or the interaction among the three factors. Our results highlight the key role of tree identity in regulating nutrient response of wood microbial respiration through controlling fungal composition. Given that the range of angiosperm species may expand under climate warming and forest management, our data suggest that expansion will decrease nutrient effects on forest carbon cycling in forests previously dominated by gymnosperm species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymyxin B (PMB) is often considered as the last line of defense for treating carbapenem‐resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP). However, its efficacy is hindered by limited penetration across the blood‐air barrier in the lung due to its low lipid solubility. To simultaneously increase PMB in epithelial lining fluid while suppressing the excessive inflammatory response in the lung, a novel nano‐biomimetic system “Siv‐PMB@G4@MM” is designed and fabricated by encapsulating PMB‐ and anti‐inflammatory Sivelestat (Siv)‐loaded G4 PAMAM dendrimers with macrophage membranes (MM). The Siv‐PMB@G4@MM displayed a superior acidic pH‐responsive release property and can target inflamed lung tissues, greatly increasing the concentrations of PMB and Siv at the infection site. Compared with free drugs, Siv‐PMB@G4@MM demonstrated superior synergistic antibacterial and anti‐inflammatory activities. Moreover, due to the ability of MM to sequester lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and some pro‐inflammatory cytokines, Siv‐PMB@G4@MM further enhanced the anti‐inflammatory potential of Siv. In mouse models of LPS‐induced acute lung injury, pulmonary bacterial infection, and sepsis‐induced pneumonia, Siv‐PMB@G4@MM significantly reduced inflammatory responses and/or bacterial burdens, mitigated neutrophil infiltration and pulmonary edema, and decreased neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) secretion. The highly improved biocompatibility and efficiency of the multifunctional Siv‐PMB@G4@MM presents a promising strategy for the clinical treatment of antibiotic‐resistant bacterial pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous Zn‐ion batteries are an attractive electrochemical energy storage solution for their budget and safe properties. However, dendrites and uncontrolled side reactions in anodes detract the cycle life and energy density of the batteries. Grain boundaries in metals are generally considered as the source of the above problems but we present a diverse result. This study introduces an ultra‐high proportion of grain boundaries on zinc electrodes through femtosecond laser bombardment to enhance stability of zinc metal/electrolyte interface. The ultra‐high proportion of grain boundaries promotes the homogenization of zinc growth potential, to achieve uniform nucleation and growth, thereby suppressing dendrite formation. Additionally, the abundant active sites mitigate the side reactions during the electrochemical process. Consequently, the 15 μm Fs−Zn||MnO2 pouch cell achieves an energy density of 249.4 Wh kg−1 and operates for over 60 cycles at a depth‐of‐discharge of 23 %. The recognition of the favorable influence exerted by UP‐GBs paves a new way for other metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency, duration and magnitude of drought are projected to increase in the next few decades, with consequences for community composition and nutrient utilization of plants. Nutrient resorption, a process facilitating plant nutrient conservation, is a crucial driver for ecosystem nutrient cycling. It remains unknown how would extreme drought affect nutrient resorption of plant communities through changing community composition.We examined the contributions of different processes (richness and identity effect of species losses and species gains, as well as the context dependent effect) related with community compositional changes to the alterations of community‐level nutrient resorption efficiency after 4‐year treatments of chronic drought (66% rainfall reduction from May to August) and intense drought (100% rainfall reduction in June and July) in a temperate steppe in Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia, China.Both chronic and intense drought significantly reduced nutrient resorption efficiency in most of the common species, but did not affect that at the community level. Drought‐induced losses of species made positive contribution to the community‐level nutrient resorption, as they generally had lower nutrient resorption efficiency. Such positive contribution balanced the negative effect of drought on the nutrient resorption of the common species.Our results indicate that drought‐induced changes in community composition, especially those species being lost, were important in mediating the community‐level responses of nutrient resorption to extreme drought in grasslands. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bulk enthalpy of melting of α‐crystals of poly (L‐lactic acid) (PLLA) is evaluated by fast scanning calorimetry (FSC), by correlating the melting enthalpy of samples of different crystallinity with the corresponding heat capacity at 90 °C, that is at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the bulk amorphous phase and lower than the melting temperature. Extrapolation of this relationship for crystals formed at 140 °C towards the heat capacity of fully solid PLLA yields a value of 104.5±6 J g−1 when melting occurs at 180–200 °C. The analysis relies on a two‐phase structure, that is, absence of a vitrified rigid amorphous fraction (RAF) at the temperature of analysis the solid fraction (90 °C). Formation and vitrification of an RAF are suppressed by avoiding continuation of primary crystallization and secondary crystallization during cooling the system from the crystallization temperature of 140 °C to 90 °C, making use of the high cooling capacity of FSC. Small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) confirmed thickening of initially grown lamellae which only is possible if these lamellae are not surrounded by a glassy RAF. Linear crystallinity values obtained by SAXS and calorimetrically determined enthalpy‐based crystallinities agree close to each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Cumulative evidence revealed that the gut microbiota play important role in human health. Polysaccharide from Mung bean [Vigna radiate (Linn.) Wilczek] skin has been confirmed to have a variety of biological activities, but its effect on the gut microbiota has not been considered. This study aimed to investigate the effect of hot water extraction of mung bean skin water‐soluble polysaccharides (MBP‐2) on the gut microbiota of Balb/c mice and its main metabolite short‐chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The results showed that supplementation with MBP‐2 increased the colon length and the production of SCFAs in Balb/c mice, and improved the intestinal microenvironment by producing SCFAs, which is beneficial to the intestinal health of mice. MBP‐2 increased the Chao1 index and ACE index in a dose‐depended manner, and changed the structure of the gut microbiota and significantly promoted the growth of probiotic bacteria in Balb/c mice. The faecal bacterial flora of mice is mainly composed of nine phyla and twenty‐seven genera, MBP‐2 can regulate the composition of intestinal flora by increasing Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Clostridium and decreasing TM7, thereby maintaining intestinal health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parameter optimization coupled with the control strategy and target driving cycle directly affects the performance of vehicles. This paper proposes an optimization approach for a plug‐in hybrid electric truck (PHET), which considers comprehensive performances including fuel economy, emissions, vehicle drivability, safety, and dynamics. First, 10 initial design parameters are selected from powertrain components and a real‐time energy management strategy (EMS). Then, a definitive screening design (DSD) is proposed to simplify the design parameters. Finally, non‐dominated sorting genetic algorithm‐III (NSGA‐III) is proposed to solve a constrained many‐objective optimization problem with 9 objectives, and the design space is refined through a sensitivity analysis. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed optimization approach can achieve significant improvements regarding both the comprehensive performances, power repartition, and system efficiency. The simulation is conducted both on Chinese Heavy‐Duty Commercial Vehicle Test Cycle (CHTC) and Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule for Heavy‐Duty Vehicles (UDDSHDV). In addition, to guide a decision maker (DM) to make trade‐offs among many objectives, preferences are also incorporated into the solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health problems in nurses are prevalent and impairing. To date, no literature has comprehensively synthesised cohort evidence on mental health among nurses. This scoping review aimed to synthesise the existing literature on the risk factors and consequences of mental health problems in nurses. A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, EMBASE, Epistemonikos database, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO from inception to March 2023. We identified 171 cohort studies from 16 countries, mostly (95.3%) from high‐income economies. This review indicated that nurses worldwide encountered significant mental health challenges, including depression, cognitive impairment, anxiety, trauma/post‐traumatic stress disorder, burnout, sleep disorder, and other negative mental health problems. These problems were closely related to various modifiable risk factors such as nurses' behaviours and lifestyles, social support, workplace bullying and violence, shift work, job demands, and job resources. Moreover, nurses' mental health problems have negative effects on their physical health, behaviour and lifestyle, occupation and organisation, and intrapersonal factors. These findings provided an enhanced understanding of mental health complexities among nurses, and shed light on policy enactment to alleviate the negative impact of mental health problems on nurses. Addressing mental health among nurses should be a top priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective management of osteomyelitis remains extremely challenging due to the difficulty associated with treating bone defects, the high probability of recurrence, the requirement of secondary surgery or multiple surgeries, and the difficulty in eradicating infections caused by methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Hence, smart biodegradable biomaterials that provide effective and precise local anti‐infection effects and can promote the repair of bone defects are actively being developed. Here, a novel nano‐micro composite is fabricated by combining calcium phosphate (CaP) nanosheets with drug‐loaded GelMA microspheres via microfluidic technology. The microspheres are covalently linked with vancomycin (Van) through an oligonucleotide (oligo) linker using an EDC/NHS carboxyl activator. Accordingly, a smart nano‐micro composite called "CaP@MS‐Oligo‐Van" is synthesized. The porous CaP@MS‐Oligo‐Van composites can target and capture bacteria. They can also release Van in response to the presence of bacterial micrococcal nuclease and Ca2+, exerting additional antibacterial effects and inhibiting the inflammatory response. Finally, the released CaP nanosheets can promote bone tissue repair. Overall, the findings show that a rapid, targeted drug release system based on CaP@MS‐Oligo‐Van can effectively target bone tissue infections. Hence, this agent holds potential in the clinical treatment of osteomyelitis caused by MRSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant traits can be helpful for understanding grassland ecosystem responses to climate extremes, such as severe drought. However, intercontinental comparisons of how drought affects plant functional traits and ecosystem functioning are rare. The Extreme Drought in Grasslands experiment (EDGE) was established across the major grassland types in East Asia and North America (six sites on each continent) to measure variability in grassland ecosystem sensitivity to extreme, prolonged drought. At all sites, we quantified community‐weighted mean functional composition and functional diversity of two leaf economic traits, specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content, in response to drought. We found that experimental drought significantly increased community‐weighted means of specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content at all North American sites and at the wetter East Asian sites, but drought decreased community‐weighted means of these traits at moderate to dry East Asian sites. Drought significantly decreased functional richness but increased functional evenness and dispersion at most East Asian and North American sites. Ecosystem drought sensitivity (percentage reduction in aboveground net primary productivity) positively correlated with community‐weighted means of specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content and negatively correlated with functional diversity (i.e., richness) on an intercontinental scale, but results differed within regions. These findings highlight both broad generalities but also unique responses to drought of community‐weighted trait means as well as their functional diversity across grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the exponential stability and stabilization of nonlinear systems via fuzzy sampled‐data control technique. The stability and stabilization conditions are obtained through constructing suitable Lyapunov functional which contains the sampling information and the solvable linear matrix inequalities. Then, the dynamics of the nonlinear buck converter system and Lorenz system with the sampled‐data controller is analyzed and designed. Finally, the proposed method is validated with a basic buck converter system model designed to reflect the characteristics of the power metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors in the numerical section. In addition, the superiority of the sufficient conditions obtained is shown by comparing with the existing methods of the Lorentz system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Primary cilia are antenna‐like organelles that conduct physical and chemical signals, which affect cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Some researchers have reported the correlation between primary cilia‐related genes and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: The association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of primary cilia‐related genes and outcome after the first‐line chemotherapy was explored by the Cox regression model. Expression qualitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis was performed to explore the impact of SNPs on gene expression. Tumor Immune Estimation Resource and TISIDB databases were used for investigating the relevance between ODF2L and tumor infiltration immune cells and immunomodulators. Results: We identified that rs4288473 C allele of ODF2L had poor progression‐free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of CRC patients in the additive model (adjusted HRPFS = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.14–1.70, p = 1.36 × 10−3, and adjusted HROS = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.03–1.65, p = 2.62 × 10−2). The stratified analysis indicated that rs4288573 CC/CT genotype was involved with poor prognosis in the irinotecan‐treated subgroup (PPFS = 1.03 × 10−2, POS = 3.29 × 10−3). Besides, ODF2L mRNA expression level was notably up‐regrated in CRC tissues. The C allele of rs4288573 was notably related to higher ODF2L mRNA expression levels based on eQTL analysis. Functionally, knockdown of ODF2L inhibited cell proliferation and decrease the chemoresistance of HCT‐116 and DLD‐1 cells to irinotecan. Conclusion: Our study indicates that rs4288573 in ODF2L is a potential predictor of the chemotherapy prognosis of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This trial was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of cetagliptin added to metformin in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes who had inadequate glycaemic control with metformin monotherapy. Methods: In total, 446 patients with type 2 diabetes on metformin monotherapy were randomized to receive the addition of once‐daily cetagliptin 100 mg, cetagliptin 50 mg and placebo in a 2:2:1 ratio for 24‐week double‐blind treatment. At week 24, patients initially randomized to cetagliptin 50 mg and placebo were switched to cetagliptin 100 mg for 28 weeks open‐label treatment. The primary endpoint was the change in haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) from baseline, and the efficacy analyses were based on an all‐patients‐treated population using an analysis of co‐variance. Results: After 24 weeks, both add‐on therapies led to greater glycaemic control. Reductions in HbA1c from baseline were −1.17 ± 0.794%, −1.23 ± 0.896% in cetagliptin 100 mg and 50 mg plus metformin group, respectively. No difference was observed between the cetagliptin 100 mg and 50 mg plus metformin group. Patients with higher baseline HbA1c levels (≥8.5%) experienced greater reductions in HbA1c. A significantly greater proportion of patients achieved an HbA1c <7.0% with cetagliptin 100 mg (49.4%) and cetagliptin 50 mg (51.1%) plus metformin than metformin monotherapy (14.4%). Both combination therapies also improved the homeostasis model assessment β‐function index and decreased systolic blood pressure. There was no increased risk of adverse effects with combination therapy, and both combination therapies were generally well tolerated. Conclusions: The addition of cetagliptin once daily to metformin was more efficacious and well tolerated than metformin monotherapy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes who had inadequate glycaemic control with metformin monotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To assess the efficacy and safety of the dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor, cetagliptin, as monotherapy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and inadequate glycaemic control. Materials and Methods: In total, 504 eligible patients with T2D were enrolled and randomized to cetagliptin 50 mg once daily, cetagliptin 100 mg once daily or placebo at a ratio of 2:2:1 for 24 weeks of double‐blind treatment, then all patients received cetagliptin 100 mg once daily for 28 weeks of open‐label treatment. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change in HbA1c level from baseline at week 24. Results: After 24 weeks, HbA1c from baseline was significantly reduced with cetagliptin 50 mg (−1.08%) and cetagliptin 100 mg (−1.07%) compared with placebo (−0.35%). The placebo‐subtracted HbA1c reduction was −0.72% with cetagliptin 50 mg and 100 mg. Patients with a baseline HbA1c of 8.5% or higher had a greater HbA1c reduction with cetagliptin than those patients with a baseline HbA1c of less than 8.5%. Both doses studied led to a significantly higher proportion of patients (42.3% with 100 mg and 45.0% with 50 mg) achieving an HbA1c of less than 7.0% compared with placebo (12.9%). Cetagliptin also significantly lowered fasting plasma glucose and 2‐hour postmeal plasma glucose relative to placebo. The incidence of adverse experiences was similar between cetagliptin and placebo. No drug‐related hypoglycaemia was reported. Conclusions: Cetagliptin monotherapy was effective and well tolerated in Chinese patients with T2D who had inadequate glycaemic control on exercise and diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity can stabilise productivity through different mechanisms, such as asynchronous species responses to environmental variability and species stability. Global changes, like intensified drought, could negatively affect species richness, species asynchrony and species stability, but it is unclear how changes in these mechanisms will affect the stability of above‐ground primary productivity (ANPP) across ecosystems.We studied the effects of a 4‐year extreme drought on ANPP stability and the underlying mechanisms (species richness, species asynchrony and species stability) across six grasslands in Northern China. We also assessed the relative importance of these mechanisms in determining ANPP stability under extreme drought.We found that extreme drought decreased ANPP stability, species richness, species asynchrony and species stability across the six grasslands. However, structural equation modelling revealed that species asynchrony, not species richness or species stability, was the most important mechanism promoting stability of ANPP, regardless of drought across the six grasslands.Synthesis. Our results suggest that species asynchrony, not species richness and species stability, consistently buffers ecosystem stability against extreme drought across and within grasslands spanning a broad precipitation gradient. Thus, species asynchrony may be a more general mechanism for promoting stability of ANPP in grasslands in the face of intensified drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasslands are subject to climate change, such as severe drought, and an important aspect of their functioning is temporal stability in response to extreme climate events. Previous research has explored the impacts of extreme drought and post‐drought periods on grassland stability, yet the mechanistic pathways behind these changes have rarely been studied.Here, we implemented an experiment with 4 years of drought and 3 years of recovery to assess the effects of drought and post‐drought on the temporal stability of above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and its underlying mechanisms. To do so, we measured community‐weighted mean (CWM) of six plant growth and nine seed traits, functional diversity, population stability and species asynchrony across two cold, semiarid grasslands in northern China. We also performed piecewise structural equation models (SEMs) to assess the relationships between ANPP stability and its underlying mechanisms and how drought and post‐drought periods alter the relative contribution of these mechanisms to ANPP stability.We found that temporal stability of ANPP was not reduced during drought due to grasses maintaining productivity, which compensated for increased variation of forb productivity. Moreover, ANPP recovered rapidly after drought, and both grasses and forbs contributed to community stability during the post‐drought period. Overall, ANPP stability decreased during the combined drought and post‐drought periods because of rapid changes in ANPP from drought to post‐drought. SEMs revealed that the temporal stability of ANPP during drought and post‐drought periods was modulated by functional diversity and community‐weighted mean traits directly and indirectly by altering species asynchrony and population stability. Specifically, the temporal stability of ANPP was positively correlated with functional divergence of plant communities. CWMs of seed traits (e.g. seed width and thickness), rather than plant growth traits (e.g. specific leaf area and leaf nutrient content), stabilized grassland ANPP. Productivity of plant communities with large and thick seeds was less sensitive to precipitation changes over time.These results emphasize the importance of considering both the functional trait distribution among species and seed traits of dominant species since their combined effects can stabilize ecosystem functions under global climate change scenarios. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asexual reproduction plays a fundamental role in the structure, dynamics and persistence of perennial grasslands. Thus, assessing how asexual reproductive traits of plant communities respond to drought may be key for understanding grassland resistance to drought and recovery following drought.Here, we quantified three asexual reproductive traits (i.e. above‐ground tiller abundance, below‐ground bud abundance and the ratio of tillers to buds) during a 4‐year severe drought and a 2‐year drought recovery period in four grasslands that spanned an aridity gradient in northern China. We also assessed the relationship between these traits and the resistance and recovery of above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP).We found that drought had limited and largely inconsistent effects on asexual reproduction among drought and recovery years and grasslands overall. Drought increased tiller abundance in the first treatment year and reduced bud banks by the fourth treatment year across grasslands. However, neither of the three asexual reproductive traits were correlated with drought resistance of ANPP. Drought legacies differed among the four grasslands with positive, negative and no legacies evident for the three asexual reproductive traits, and no clear relationship with aridity. Bud banks and tiller to bud ratio decreased and increased, respectively, in the first recovery year, but not in the second recovery year. In contrast to drought resistance, community bud abundance was strongly related to recovery, such that communities with higher bud abundance had greater ANPP recovery following drought.Synthesis. These results suggest that asexual reproductive traits may be important drivers of ecosystem recovery after drought, but that variable responses of these asexual reproduction traits during drought complicates predictions of overall grassland responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How biodiversity affects terrestrial productivity is important to the maintenance of ecosystem services under global change. Although the crucial role of plant–soil feedbacks (PSF) in determining diversity–productivity relationship has been increasingly recognized in recent years, its legacy effects on subsequent diversity–productivity relationship are still unclear.We conducted a classic PSF experiment to assess how plant diversity‐conditioned soils influenced subsequent plant diversity–productivity relationships, where three plant diversity levels (1, 4 and 8 species) were planted in soils conditioned at three diversity levels (conditioned by 1, 4 and 8 species for 3 years). In addition, to test the role of soil microbial diversity in mediating the effects of soil conditioning diversity, the three plant diversity levels were planted with low, moderate and high soil biodiversity created by a soil inoculum dilution.The results showed that plant productivities were promoted by mixed‐conditioned soils (4 and 8 species) comparing to mono‐conditioned soils (1 species). Productivity was positively related to planted diversity in mixed‐conditioned soils, while showed no relation with planted diversity in mono‐conditioned soils. Productivity was promoted by soil biodiversity when 4 and 8 species were mixed planted, while did not change when 1 species was planted.Synthesis and applications. Our results highlight that PSF is crucial to strengthen the positive effects of biodiversity on productivity, implying that diversifying cropping systems should be encouraged in agroecosystem management to benefit from positive PSF effects. The importance of soil legacy for optimizing plant productivity is particularly important for conditioning soils with an intermediate number of plant species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasslands are expected to experience droughts of unprecedented frequency and magnitude in the future. Characterizing grassland responses and recovery from drought is therefore critical to predict the vulnerability of grassland ecosystems to climate change. Most previous studies have focused on ecosystem responses during drought while investigations of post‐drought recovery are rare. Few studies have used functional traits, and in particular bud or clonal traits, to explore the mechanisms underlying grassland responses to and recovery from drought.To address this issue, we experimentally imposed a four‐year drought in a C3‐dominated grassland in northeastern China and monitored recovery for 3 years post‐drought. We investigated the immediate and legacy effects of drought on total above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP), ANPP of functional groups (rhizomatous grasses, bunch grasses and forbs), and how the legacy effects were driven by plant species diversity, clonal traits and vegetative traits.We found that drought progressively reduced total ANPP over the 4‐year period. The reductions in total ANPP in the first and third drought years were caused by the decrease in ANPP of bunch grasses only, while that of the second year was caused by declines in ANPP of bunch grasses and forbs, and the fourth year decline was linked to all three functional groups. The post‐drought recovery of ANPP, which occurred despite the continued loss of plant species diversity, was mainly driven by rapid recovery of rhizomatous and bunch grasses, which compensated for the slow response by forbs. The rapid post‐drought recovery of these grasses can be attributed to their relatively large, intact bud and shoot densities post‐drought, as well as the recovery of plant height and specific leaf area. The rapid recovery of grasses possibly restricted the growth and distribution of forbs, resulting in reduced forb ANPP and, consequently, lower species diversity during the recovery period.Synthesis. These results highlight the potential for positive legacy effects of drought on ANPP as well as the important and complementary roles of plant reproductive and vegetative traits in mediating ecosystem recovery from drought in a C3‐dominated grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is no consensus on the optimal regimen for unresectable recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), so this retrospective study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitors (T-L-P) versus TACE combined with lenvatinib (T-L) or TACE alone. Method: Data were collected from 204 patients with unresectable recurrent HCC who received T-L-P, T-L, or TACE alone at three medical centers from January, 2019 to December, 2020 for analysis. The survival outcomes, tumor response, and adverse events were compared between three groups, and risk factors were further investigated. Results: The median overall survival in the T-L-P, T-L, and TACE alone groups were not reached, 25.6, and 15.7 months, respectively (p < 0.001). The median progression-free survival in the T-L-P, T-L, and TACE alone groups were 24.1, 17.3, and 13.7 months, respectively (p < 0.001). The best objective response rate in the T-L-P, T-L, and TACE alone groups were 70.4%, 48.9%, and 42.5%, respectively. The best disease control rate in the T-L-P, T-L, and TACE alone groups were 100.0%, 97.8%, and 87.5%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the T-L-P and T-L groups for Grade 3/4 adverse events. Conclusion: T-L-P regimen was safe and superior to T-L or TACE alone in improving survival for unresectable recurrent HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to increase the magnitude and frequency of extreme drought in most grassland ecosystems. Exploring the responses of below‐ground bud banks and their relationships with above‐ground plant structure and drought is need to explain how climate change will impact grassland ecosystems. However, studies on the response of community‐scale bud and shoot densities to experimental drought along an aridity gradient are rare.We experimentally removed 66% of growing season precipitation for 4 years in three temperate grasslands that spanned an aridity gradient in northern China. We quantified the legacy effects of drought on grass, forb and total community below‐ground bud density, above‐ground shoot density and the ratio of bud to shoot density 1 year following treatment.Below‐ground bud density was lowest at the highest aridity site for the entire community, while above‐ground shoot density was highest at the medium aridity site. Below‐ground bud and above‐ground shoot densities were the lowest at the high aridity site for grasses but the highest for forbs at this site. Bud:shoot ratios decreased with increasing aridity for grasses, yet remained constant for forbs along the aridity gradient. Below‐ground bud density in drought plots remained lower than controls a year following drought at each site. Experimental drought did not alter the below‐ground bud bank for grasses but decreased forb bud banks across sites. Experimental drought had little legacy effects on above‐ground shoot density and bud:shoot ratios for grasses, forbs and the total community at each site.Our results suggest that grass and forb bud banks can differ in their responses to both multi‐year drought along an aridity gradient, and that bud limitation for shoot generation may increase as grasslands get drier. Bud bank responses to climate will impact plant community functioning and resilience. Thus, incorporating bud bank dynamics will improve projections of grassland ecosystems under future climate change. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]