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Aim Materials and Methods Results Conclusions To identify an optimized strategy for the large‐scale production of nanovesicles (NVs) that preserve the biological properties of exosomes (EXOs) for use in periodontal regeneration.NVs from dental follicle stem cells (DFSCs) were prepared through extrusion, and EXOs from DFSCs were isolated. The yield of both extruded NVs (eNVs) and EXOs were quantified through protein concentration and particle number analyses. Their pro‐migration, pro‐proliferation and pro‐osteogenesis capacities were compared subsequently in vitro. Additionally, proteomics analysis was conducted. To further evaluate the periodontal regeneration potential of eNVs and EXOs, they were incorporated into collagen sponges and transplanted into periodontal defects in rats. In vivo imaging and H&E staining were utilized to verify their biodistribution and safety. Micro‐Computed Tomography analysis and histological staining were performed to examine the regeneration of periodontal tissues.The yield of eNVs was nearly 40 times higher than that of EXOs. Interestingly, in vitro experiments indicated that the pro‐migration and pro‐proliferation abilities of eNVs were superior, and the pro‐osteogenesis potential was comparable to EXOs. More importantly, eNVs exhibited periodontal regenerative potential similar to that of EXOs.Extrusion has proven to be an efficient method for generating numerous eNVs with the potential to replace EXOs in periodontal regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary trans 10, cis 12-conjugated linoleic acid (t10c12-CLA) is a potential candidate in anti-obesity trials. A transgenic mouse was previously successfully established to determine the anti-obesity properties of t10c12-CLA in male mice that could produce endogenous t10c12-CLA. To test whether there is a different impact of t10c12-CLA on lipid metabolism in both sexes, this study investigated the adiposity and metabolic profiles of female Pai mice that exhibited a dose-dependent expression of foreign Pai gene and a shift of t10c12-CLA content in tested tissues. Compared to their gender-match wild-type littermates, Pai mice had no fat reduction but exhibited enhanced lipolysis and thermogenesis by phosphorylated hormone-sensitive lipase and up-regulating uncoupling proteins in brown adipose tissue. Simultaneously, Pai mice showed hepatic steatosis and hypertriglyceridemia by decreasing gene expression involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. Further investigations revealed that t10c10-CLA induced excessive prostaglandin E2, adrenaline, corticosterone, glucagon and inflammatory factors in a dose-dependent manner, resulting in less heat release and oxygen consumption in Pai mice. Moreover, fibroblast growth factor 21 overproduction only in monoallelic Pai/wt mice indicates that it was sensitive to low doses of t10c12-CLA. These results suggest that chronic t10c12-CLA has system-wide effects on female health via synergistic actions of various hormones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem which is concerned with filter-based neural control for switched uncertain nonlinear systems with incomplete measurement is studied in this paper. Filters are used to estimate unknown states, while neural networks approximate unknown functions. Data loss, saturation and other problems often occur during data transmission. An appropriate control law is designed by a backstepping method to solve this problem. Through using the average dwell time, it is proved that the switching system tends to be stable in a certain time. The analysis of probabilistic stability is also carried out to ensure that the system can achieve uniformly ultimately boundedness. Finally, the effectiveness of the previous design is proved by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD), a major microvascular complication of diabetes, is characterized by its complex pathogenesis, high risk of chronic renal failure, and lack of effective diagnosis and treatment methods. GSK3β (glycogen synthase kinase 3β), a highly conserved threonine/serine kinase, was found to activate glycogen synthase. As a key molecule of the glucose metabolism pathway, GSK3β participates in a variety of cellular activities and plays a pivotal role in multiple diseases. However, these effects are not only mediated by affecting glucose metabolism. This review elaborates on the role of GSK3β in DKD and its damage mechanism in different intrinsic renal cells. GSK3β is also a biomarker indicating the progression of DKD. Finally, the protective effects of GSK3β inhibitors on DKD are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing penetration of wind and solar energies, the accompanying uncertainty that propagates in the system places higher requirements on the expansion planning of power systems. A source-grid-load-storage coordinated expansion planning model based on stochastic programming was proposed to suppress the impact of wind and solar energy fluctuations. Multiple types of system components, including demand response service entities, converter stations, DC transmission systems, cascade hydropower stations, and other traditional components, have been extensively modeled. Moreover, energy storage systems are considered to improve the accommodation level of renewable energy and alleviate the influence of intermittence. Demand-response service entities from the load side are used to reduce and move the demand during peak load periods. The uncertainties in wind, solar energy, and loads were simulated using stochastic programming. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model is verified through numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) emitters with narrow emission spectra have garnered significant attention in future organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays. However, current C=O/N‐embedded MR‐TADF systems still lack satisfactory performance in terms of electroluminescence bandwidths and external quantum efficiencies (EQEs). In this study, a C=O/N‐embedded green MR‐TADF emitter, featuring two acridone units incorporated in a sterically protected 11‐ring fused core skeleton, is successfully synthesized through finely controlling the reaction selectivity. The superior combination of multiple intramolecular fusion and steric wrapping strategies in the design of the emitter not only imparts an extremely narrow emission spectrum and a high fluorescence quantum yield to the emitter but also mitigates aggregation‐induced spectral broadening and fluorescence quenching. Therefore, the emitter exhibits leading green OLED performance among C=O/N‐based MR‐TADF systems, achieving an EQE of up to 37.2 %, a full width at half maximum of merely 0.11 eV (24 nm), and a Commission Internationale de l′Éclairage coordinate of (0.20, 0.73). This study marks a significant advance in the realization of ideal C=O/N‐based MR‐TADF emitters and holds profound implications for the design and synthesis of other MR‐TADF systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) emitters with narrow emission spectra have garnered significant attention in future organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays. However, current C=O/N‐embedded MR‐TADF systems still lack satisfactory performance in terms of electroluminescence bandwidths and external quantum efficiencies (EQEs). In this study, a C=O/N‐embedded green MR‐TADF emitter, featuring two acridone units incorporated in a sterically protected 11‐ring fused core skeleton, is successfully synthesized through finely controlling the reaction selectivity. The superior combination of multiple intramolecular fusion and steric wrapping strategies in the design of the emitter not only imparts an extremely narrow emission spectrum and a high fluorescence quantum yield to the emitter but also mitigates aggregation‐induced spectral broadening and fluorescence quenching. Therefore, the emitter exhibits leading green OLED performance among C=O/N‐based MR‐TADF systems, achieving an EQE of up to 37.2 %, a full width at half maximum of merely 0.11 eV (24 nm), and a Commission Internationale de l′Éclairage coordinate of (0.20, 0.73). This study marks a significant advance in the realization of ideal C=O/N‐based MR‐TADF emitters and holds profound implications for the design and synthesis of other MR‐TADF systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a novel organic transformation involving rhodium-catalyzed divergent dehydroxylation/alkenylation of hydroxyisoindolinone with vinylene carbonate is reported, and a series of architecturally rigid and widely used spirolactams are obtained with excellent functional group tolerance and high selectivity. Remarkably, the promising vinylene carbonate reagent presents a distinct chemical reactivity as a vinyl-oxygen cyclic synthon and first transfers the C–H bond to spiroheterocycle scaffolds. Moreover, another chemoselectivity, direct dehydrogenative coupling with vinylene carbonate, is also presented. This protocol is compatible with green chemistry and only releases H2O and CO2 as byproducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycolysis has a major role in cancer progression and can affect the tumor immune microenvironment, while its specific role in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains poorly studied. We obtained publicly available data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases and used R software to analyze the specific role of glycolysis in LUAD. The Single Sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) indicated a correlation between glycolysis and unfavorable clinical outcome, as well as a repression effect on the immunotherapy response of LUAD patients. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed a significant enrichment of MYC targets, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), hypoxia, G2M checkpoint, and mTORC1 signaling pathways in patients with higher activity of glycolysis. Immune infiltration analysis showed a higher infiltration of M0 and M1 macrophages in patients with elevated activity of glycolysis. Moreover, we developed a prognosis model based on six glycolysis-related genes, including DLGAP5, TOP2A, KIF20A, OIP5, HJURP, and ANLN. Both the training and validation cohorts demonstrated the high efficiency of prognostic prediction in this model, which identified that patients with high risk may have a poorer prognosis and lower sensitivity to immunotherapy. Additionally, we also found that Th2 cell infiltration may predict poorer survival and resistance to immunotherapy. The study indicated that glycolysis is significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with LUAD and immunotherapy resistance, which might be partly dependent on the Th2 cell infiltration. Additionally, the signature comprised of six genes related to glycolysis showed promising predictive value for LUAD prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siniperca undulata and S. obscura (Centrarchiformes: Sinipercidae) are small Chinese perches, living in creeks and streams in southern China. While they have sympatric distribution and occupy similar macrohabitat, their body sizes and ecological niches have many differences. Determining the genome sequences of S. undulata and S. obscura would provide us an essential data set for better understanding their genetic makeup and differences that may play important roles in their adaptation to different niches. We determined the genome sequences of both S. undulata and S. obscura using 10× genomics technology and the next-generation sequencing. The assembled genomes of S. undulata and S. obscura were 744 and 733 Mb, respectively. Gene family analysis revealed that there were no overlap between S. undulata and S. obscura in terms of rapid expanding and rapid contracting genes families, which were related to growth, immunity, and mobility. Positive selection analyses also cooperated that the function of selected genes involve growth, athletic ability, and immunity, which may explain the preference of different niches by S. undulata and S. obscura. Pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent analyses for the two species suggested that populations of both S. undulata and S. obscura showed a rising trend between 90 and 70 Ka probably due to the mild environment during the last interglacial period. A stage of population shrinking occurred from 70 to 20 Ka, which was in with the Tali glacial period in eastern China (57-16 Ka). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed electronic and oxide ionic conduction was enabled in digermanate-type La2−xCaxGe2O7−x/2 containing Ge3O10 chains and isolated GeO4 units by substitution of La3+ with Ca2+. The structure and solid solution limit of Ca doped La2Ge2O7 were studied by systematic experiments, including rotation electron diffraction (RED), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and neutron powder diffraction (NPD) experiments, etc. The preferred occupation of Ca2+ and oxygen vacancies was investigated by Rietveld analysis of the NPD data. The obtained conducting material La1.925Ca0.075Ge2O6.963 exhibits superior thermal stability and an order of magnitude improvement in conductivity compared to the parent La2Ge2O7 (∼9 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 1000 °C). BVEL calculations reveal that the oxygen vacancies were stabilized and transported within the framework of La2Ge2O7 by sharing oxygen and oxygen exchange between the adjacent Ge3O10 chains and GeO4 units, exhibiting a three-dimensional oxide ion transport nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This cross-sectional study examined the levels of self-stigma, hope, and family functioning among Chinese people with mental illness (MI). We also investigated the mediating role of family functioning in the relationship between self-stigma and hope. Method: Three-hundred thirty participants with MI (Mage = 42.73, SD = 14.11, 52.09% female, 61.74% schizophrenia) were surveyed. Hayes' PROCESS macro analysis (Model 4) was performed to verify the mediating effect. Results: The analysis revealed that 43.1% of the respondents had a high level of self-stigma, 68.5% indicated a low/moderate level of hope, and 54% had moderate/severe impairment in family functioning. This supports the partial mediating effect of family functioning on the relationship between self-stigma and hope. Conclusions: The self-stigmatizing experiences of Chinese people with MI adversely impair normal family functioning and reduce hope, limiting recovery prospects. Relevant results highlight the influence of the family environment on the psychological mechanisms of PMI. Limitations and future research directions are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effects of heavy ion irradiation is significant for materials and devices applied in the field of nuclear radiation detection. In this paper, the relationship between heavy ions (20 MeV Cl) and electric performance in CdZnTe crystals has been investigated. A damage layer is introduced 6 μm below the CdZnTe crystal surface and dominated by donor defects according to the SRIM (stopping and range of ions in matter) calculation and Hall effect results. The current–voltage (I–V) is asymmetrical, which is attributed to the n+/n homojunction formed by the damage layer. The barrier height of the homojunction increases from 0.845 to 0.946 eV with radiation fluence. For low irradiation fluences, the I–V curves follow the Schottky emission model at a bias of 0–100 V because of barrier lowering due to the applied field and the image force. When the irradiation fluence is greater than 2.5 × 1012 n cm−2, the increasing leakage current after 40 V voltage conforms to the Poole–Frenkel (PF) effect caused by deep traps. The carrier mobility largely decreases from ∼1100 cm2 V−1 s−1 to 267–658 cm2 V−1 s−1 due to the scattering of ionized impurities. The energy resolving capability of γ-rays deteriorates from ∼8% to 15.3–26.8% by the trapping effect. The photopeak of the γ spectrum could not be recognized when the fluence reached 1.4 × 1013 n cm−2. This work provides important irradiation protection reference data for CdZnTe devices in various high-fluence application fields, such as industrial monitoring and nuclear spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new type of flexible retaining structure, reinforced soil retaining wall is widely used in civil engineering and highway engineering because of good seismic performance and economy. The residual displacement under seism is one of the most important parameters to evaluate the seismic performance of reinforced soil retaining wall. The related theoretical research is rare. Taking the pseudo-dynamic method and kinematic differential equation as the theoretical basis, considering the residual deformation under large magnitude, a theoretical method is proposed to calculate the residual displacement of reinforced soil retaining wall under seismic. The rationality and accuracy of the theoretical method is verified by centrifuge model test. The results would provide some reference for the performance design and damage evaluation of reinforced soil retaining wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless Sensor Networks are booming with the development of computer technology, network communication technology, and sensor technology. However, the question of how to use fewer nodes to achieve maximum coverage still exists. In this paper, a two-layer Surrogate-Assisted Phasmatodea Population Evolution (SAPPE) is proposed for 3D coverage of wireless sensors by combining the characteristics of meta-heuristic algorithms and surrogate models. In this algorithm, Radial Basis Function Networks are used to construct the surrogate model, and the two surrogate models are global surrogate-assisted and local surrogate-assisted, respectively. The global-surrogate model is used to smooth the fitness function, and the local surrogate-assisted model is used to find the optimal value accurately. They use the same archive DataBase (DB) to store particle positions and true fitness values. However, the number of particles involved in the creation of the surrogate-assisted model is different. Seven benchmark functions are used to test and analyze the algorithm, and the results show that the algorithm has good performance. Also, the algorithm verified the significance of the algorithm using Wilcoxon rank test. The result shows that the proposed algorithm is effective compared with PPE, PSO, PPSO, FMO, and BA. This paper compares the number of nodes and coverage radius using different algorithms to ensure maximum coverage. The result shows that the SAPPE algorithm has better performance in terms of 3D coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of big data, there are numerous duplicate code snippets on the Internet, it is especially necessary to make use of them to build new software projects. In this paper, we present a toolkit (KG4Py) for generating a knowledge graph of Python files in GitHub repositories and conducting semantic search with the knowledge graph. In KG4Py, we remove all duplicate files in 317 K Python files and perform static code analyses of these files by using a concrete syntax tree (CST) to build a code knowledge graph of Python functions. We integrate a pre-trained model with an unsupervised model to generate a new model, and combine this new model with a code knowledge graph for the purpose of searching code snippets with natural language descriptions. The experimental results show that KG4Py achieves good performance in both the construction of the code knowledge graph and the semantic search of code snippets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective phage cocktails consisting of multiple virus types are essential for successful phage therapy against pandrug-resistant pathogens, including Salmonella enterica serovar (S.) Typhimurium. Here we show that a Salmonella phage, F118P13, with non-productive infection and a lytic phage, PLL1, combined to inhibit pandrug-resistant S. Typhimurium growth and significantly limited resistance to phages in vitro. Further, intraperitoneal injection with this unique phage combination completely protected mice from Salmonella-induced death and inhibited bacterial proliferation rapidly in various organs. Furthermore, the phage combination treatment significantly attenuated the inflammatory response, restored the generation of CD4+ T cells repressed by Salmonella, and allowed macrophages and granulocytes to participate in immunophage synergy to promote bacterial clearance. Crucially, the non-productive phage F118P13 is less likely to be cleared by the immune system in vivo, thus providing an alternative to phage cocktail against bacterial infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is one of the fatal cancers worldwide, and over 60% of patients are lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Our clinical data demonstrated that DNA methylation of the promoter region of miR-126-3p was upregulated, which led to the decreased expression of miR-126-3p in 67 cases of lung cancer tissues, implying that miR-126-3p acted as a tumor suppressor. Transduction of miR-126-3p is a potential therapeutic strategy for treating LUAD, yet the physiological environment and properties of miRNA challenge current transduction approaches. Methods: We evaluated the expression of miR-126-3p in 67 pairs of lung cancer tissues and the corresponding adjacent non-tumorous tissues by Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The relationship between the overall survival of lung cancer patients and miR-126-3p was analyzed by the Cancer Genome Atlas cohort database (Oncolnc, http://www.oncolnc.org). We analyzed DNA methylation Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) analysis. To determine whether ADAM9 is the direct target of miR-126-3p, we performed the 3′-UTR luciferase reporter assay. The protein levels in the cells or tissues were evaluated with western blotting (WB) analysis. The biodistribution of nanoparticles were monitored by in vivo tracking system. Results: We describe the development of novel stealth and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2)-activated biomimetic nanoparticles, which are constructed using MMP2-responsive peptides to bind the miR-126-3p (known as MAIN), and further camouflaged with red blood cell (RBC) membranes (hence named REMAIN). REMAIN was able to effectively transduce miRNA into lung cancer cells and release them via MMP2 responsiveness. Additionally, REMAIN possessed the advantages of the natural RBC membrane, including extended circulation time, lower toxicity, better biocompatibility, and immune escape. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo results demonstrated that REMAIN effectively induced apoptosis of lung cancer cells and inhibited LUAD development and progression by targeting ADAM9. Conclusion: The novel style of stealth and MMP2-activated biomimetic nanoparticles show great potential in miRNA delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osimertinib-based therapy effectively improves the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutations. However, patients will have cancer progression after approximately one year due to the occurrence of drug resistance. Extensive evidence has revealed that lipid metabolism and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) are associated with drug resistance, which deserves further exploration. Methods: An osimertinib resistance index (ORi) was built to investigate the link between lipid metabolism and osimertinib resistance. The ORi was constructed and validated using TCGA and GEO data, and the relationship between ORi and immune infiltration was discussed. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis based on the M2/M1 macrophage ratio determined the hub gene TIAM2 and the biological function of TIAM2 in LUAD was verified in vitro. Results: ORi based on nine lipid metabolism-related genes was successfully constructed, which could accurately reflect the resistance of LUAD patients to osimertinib, predict the prognosis, and correlate with M2-like TAM. Additionally, TIAM2 was found to increase osimertinib tolerance, enhance cell motility, and promote M2-like TAM polarization in LUAD. Conclusions: The lipid metabolism gene is strongly connected with osimertinib resistance. TIAM2 contributes to osimertinib resistance, enhances cell motility, and induces M2-like TAM polarization in LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural products (NPs) and their derivatives are important resources for drug discovery. There are many in silico target prediction methods that have been reported, however, very few of them distinguish NPs from synthetic molecules. Considering the fact that NPs and synthetic molecules are very different in many characteristics, it is necessary to build specific target prediction models of NPs. Therefore, we collected the activity data of NPs and their derivatives from the public databases and constructed four datasets, including the NP dataset, the NPs and its first-class derivatives dataset, the NPs and all its derivatives and the ChEMBL26 compounds dataset. Conditions, including activity thresholds and input features, were explored to access the performance of eight machine learning methods of target prediction of NPs, including support vector machines (SVM), extreme gradient boosting, random forests, K-nearest neighbor, naive Bayes, feedforward neural networks (FNN), convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks. As a result, the NPs and all their derivatives datasets were selected to build the best NP-specific models. Furthermore, the consensus models, as well as the voting models, were additionally applied to improve the prediction performance. More evaluations were made on the external validation set and the results demonstrated that (1) the NP-specific model performed better on the target prediction of NPs than the traditional models training on the whole compounds of ChEMBL26. (2) The consensus model of FNN + SVM possessed the best overall performance, and the voting model can significantly improve recall and specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-uniformly distributed data in unbalanced datasets have the phenomenon of data stacking and data scattering. However, most traditional metric learning algorithms often overemphasize the intra-class compactness and inter-class dispersion of data. When dealing with the typical non-uniformly distributed data, these traditional methods may distort a few classes of data in the embedding space and finally reduce the classification accuracy. To solve these problems, we propose a novel metric learning method based on constructing a uniform data hypersphere via simulated forging approach (CUDH-SF). CUDH-SF aims to achieve a uniformly distributed embedding space through conducting local forging and global forging on the original data, so that the problem of data stacking and data scattering can be more effectively alleviated. Although the uniform data hypersphere changes the absolute position of the original data, it does not change its relative relationship, that is, the geometric structure of the data can be maintained. Such data transformation is helpful to strengthen the representation ability of the input data, so that the subsequent distance-based classifiers can better construct the decision boundary. Moreover, CUDH-SF does not have the parameters needed for tuning in the validation set, which makes it easier to use. Extensive experiments on eight datasets demonstrate the better performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common histological subtype of lung cancer (LC) and one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. LUAD has a low survival rate owing to tumour invasion and metastasis. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are precursors of distant metastasis, which are considered to adopt the characteristics of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Therefore, analysing the risk factors of LUAD from the perspective of CTCs may provide novel insights into the metastatic mechanisms and may help to develop diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.Methods: A total of 447 patients from TCGA dataset were included in the training cohort, and 460 patients from the GEO dataset were included in the validation cohort. A CTC-related-gene risk model was constructed using LASSO penalty-Cox analysis, and its predictive value was further verified. Functional enrichment analysis was performed on differentially expressed genes (DEGs), followed by immune correlation analysis based on the results. In addition, western blot, CCK-8 and colony formation assays were used to validate the biological function of RAB26 in LUAD.Results: A novel in-silico CTC-related-gene risk model, named the CTCR model, was constructed, which successfully divided patients into the high- and low-risk groups. The prognosis of the high-risk group was worse than that of the low-risk group. ROC analysis revealed that the risk model outperformed traditional clinical markers in predicting the prognosis of patients with LUAD. Further study demonstrated that the identified DEGs were significantly enriched in immune-related pathways. The immune score of the low-risk group was higher than that of the high-risk group. In addition, RAB26 was found to promote the proliferation of LUAD.Conclusion: A prognostic risk model based on CTC-related genes was successfully constructed, and the relationship between DEGs and tumour immunity was analysed. In addition, RAB26 was found to promote the proliferation of LUAD cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Pyroptosis is a form of programmed cell death, playing a significant role in cancer. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor. The poor prognosis in GBM due to temozolomide (TMZ) resistance has been widely discussed. Such being the case, the correlation between TMZ resistance and pyroptosis is seldom investigated. On this basis, this paper aims to explore the potential prognostic value of genes related to TMZ resistance and pyroptosis as well as their relationship to the immune microenvironment in GBM. Methods. A total of 103 patients from TCGA were assigned to a training cohort; 190 from CGGA were assigned to a validation cohort. The prognostic risk model reflecting pyroptosis and TMZ resistance was built from the training cohort using multivariate Cox regression and performed validation. RT-qPCR was used to examine the expression of 4 genes from the risk signature. FOXP3 was selected for overexpression and verified using the western blot. The TMZ IC50 of FOXP3-overexpressed cell lines was determined by CCK8. Results. A four genes-based risk signature was established and validated, separating GBM patients into high- and low-risk groups. Compared with the low-risk group, the high-risk group presented worse clinical survival outcomes. Its differential expressed genes were enriched in immune-related pathways and closely related to the immune microenvironment. Moreover, RT-qPCR results suggested that FOXP3, IRF3, and CD274 were significantly upregulated in TMZ-resistant strains, while TP63 was downregulated. FOXP3-overexpressed GBM cell lines had higher TMZ IC50, implying an increased resistance of TMZ. Conclusion. A novel gene signature relevant to pyroptosis and TMZ resistance was constructed and could be used for the prognosis of GBM. The four genes from the risk model might play a potential role in antitumor immunity and serve as therapeutic targets for GBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of big data, there are numerous duplicate code snippets on the Internet, it is especially necessary to make use of them to build new software projects. In this paper, we present a toolkit (KG4Py) for generating a knowledge graph of Python files in GitHub repositories and conducting semantic search with the knowledge graph. In KG4Py, we remove all duplicate files in 317 K Python files and perform static code analyses of these files by using a concrete syntax tree (CST) to build a code knowledge graph of Python functions. We integrate a pre-trained model with an unsupervised model to generate a new model, and combine this new model with a code knowledge graph for the purpose of searching code snippets with natural language descriptions. The experimental results show that KG4Py achieves good performance in both the construction of the code knowledge graph and the semantic search of code snippets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhinogobius similis is distributed in East and Southeast Asia. It is an amphidromous species found mostly in freshwater and sometimes brackish waters.We have obtained a high-resolution assembly of the R. similis genome using nanopore sequencing, high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C), and transcriptomic data. The assembled genome was 890.10Mb in size and 40.15% in GC content. Including 1373 contigs with contig N50 is 1.54Mb, and scaffold N50 is 41.51Mb. All of the 1373 contigs were anchored on 22 pairs of chromosomes. The BUSCO evaluation score was 93.02% indicating high quality of genome assembly. The repeat sequences accounted for 34.92% of the whole genome, with retroelements (30.13%), DNA transposons (1.64%), simple repeats (2.34%), and so forth. A total of 31,089 protein-coding genes were predicted in the genome and functionally annotated using Maker, of those genes, 26,893 (86.50%) were found in InterProScan5. There were 1910 gene families expanded in R. similis, 1171 gene families contracted and 170 gene families rapidly evolving. We have compared one rapidly change gene family (PF05970) commonly found in four species (Boleophthalmus pectinirostris, Neogobius melanostomus, Periophthalmus magnuspinnatus, and R. similis), which was found probably related to the lifespan of those species. During 400–10Ka, the period of the Guxiang Ice Age, the population of R. similis decreased drastically, and then increased gradually following the last interglacial period. A high-resolution genome of R. similis should be useful to study taxonomy, biogeography, comparative genomics, and adaptive evolution of the most speciose freshwater goby genus, Rhinogobius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new DPV-5G BS-ES communication and power mutual coupling system is developed. • A BSSCP model is proposed to minimize the number of 5G base station deployments. • The ISOM model is used to optimize the microgrid connection lines in 3D space. • Economically optimal simulation experiments are conducted for different PV systems. The emergence of ultra-dense 5G networks and a large number of connected devices will bring with them significant increases in energy consumption, operating costs, and CO 2 emissions. At the same time, the deployment of distributed photovoltaic (DPV) in megacities plays an important role in promoting the integration of "building-photovoltaic", adjusting the city's clean energy supply system, and building a green, and low-carbon smart city. The development of a new "DPV-5G Base Station-Energy Storage (DPV-5G BS-ES)" coupled DC microgrid system and its pre-deployment investment costs are fundamental factors to be considered when the problem of large-scale DPV and BS deployment in cities has to be addressed. There are almost no published papers on this issue in the literature, which only consider the problem of maximizing the deployment of 5G BS service coverage or only perform optimization analyses for the performance of microgrid systems without considering the economic optimality and low-carbon green issues in the construction of urban utilities. In order to solve the problem of 5G BS deployment and economic optimization of topology in the "DPV-5G BS-ES" coupled DC microgrid system, a novel deployment strategy is proposed in this paper. The strategy is divided into: (a) The Geographic Information System (GIS) for extracting and analyzing 3D data from all buildings in the area. (b) A GIS-based formulation of a mixed integer quadratic constrained planning model (BSSCP) under discrete fixed radius coverage constraints is used to delineate building clusters within the area and determine the optimal deployment location of 5G BS under each sub-cluster. (c) An Improved Self-Organizing Mapping (ISOM) model combines GIS and microgrid performance parameters to address the economically optimal connection of grid lines for DPV in 3D space. (d) Simulation experiments were conducted for the power output and profitability of eight different PV panels and tracking systems to calculate the economically optimal type of DPV generation hardware. The experimental results show that the BSSCP model proposed in this study reduced the 5G BS deployment cost input by up to 35.8974 % compared to that of the control experimental model. Meanwhile, the ISOM model obtained an average reduction of 52.3741 % in the cost of connecting cables for the optimized 25 DPV planning and DC microgrid topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activity‐based E2 conjugating enzyme (E2)‐ubiquitin (Ub) probes have recently emerged as effective tools for studying the molecular mechanism of E3 ligase (E3)‐catalyzed ubiquitination. However, the preparation of existing activity‐based E2‐Ub probes depends on recombination technology and bioconjugation chemistry, limiting their structural diversity. Herein we describe an expedient total chemical synthesis of an E2 enzyme variant through a hydrazide‐based native chemical ligation, which enabled the construction of a structurally new activity‐based E2‐Ub probe to covalently capture the catalytic site of Cys‐dependent E3s. Chemical cross‐linking coupled with mass spectrometry (CXMS) demonstrated the utility of this new probe in structural analysis of the intermediates formed during Nedd4 and Parkin‐mediated transthiolation. This study exemplifies the utility of chemical protein synthesis for the development of protein probes for biological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activity‐based E2 conjugating enzyme (E2)‐ubiquitin (Ub) probes have recently emerged as effective tools for studying the molecular mechanism of E3 ligase (E3)‐catalyzed ubiquitination. However, the preparation of existing activity‐based E2‐Ub probes depends on recombination technology and bioconjugation chemistry, limiting their structural diversity. Herein we describe an expedient total chemical synthesis of an E2 enzyme variant through a hydrazide‐based native chemical ligation, which enabled the construction of a structurally new activity‐based E2‐Ub probe to covalently capture the catalytic site of Cys‐dependent E3s. Chemical cross‐linking coupled with mass spectrometry (CXMS) demonstrated the utility of this new probe in structural analysis of the intermediates formed during Nedd4 and Parkin‐mediated transthiolation. This study exemplifies the utility of chemical protein synthesis for the development of protein probes for biological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of contour levees for rice irrigation represents a major landscape management activity with impacts on irrigation water use efficiency, crop management decisions, and food production. However, levee distribution information traditionally relies on local field surveys because remote sensing approaches are complicated by irregular spacing, shape, and landscape variability within the field. In this paper the authors develop a deep learning approach capable of identifying rice fields with contour style levee irrigation practices from open-source aerial imagery. To generate a levee-identification scheme, a hybrid ResNet/Unet model is built from the commonly known Residual Network (ResNet) architecture for multi-layer deep learning strategies. The model takes a 320 × 320 RGB aerial landscape image from the US National Agricultural Imagery Program as input along with label data to then generate a probability map of the distribution of farm fields that use contour levees within the image. In performing this task, the model generates a 0.991 receiver operating characteristic curve score. The model continues to perform well under the introduction of clouds, data augmentation, or minor reductions in spatial resolution. Throughout these tests, the model performed within 0.2 of its original score, except for when the image quality was reduced to 60 m wherein the model score dropped to 0.691. Via these tests the model demonstrates potential to function well given different spatial extents or potential satellite remote sensing with moderate (10 m) resolutions. This model provides a proof-of-concept for the use of aerial imagery and a deep learning strategy for irrigation-type mapping practices. • Contour levee identification method using aerial images yields ROC score of 0.991. • A ResNet/UNet hybrid provides ample performance for remote sensing applications. • The method is insensitive to simulated cloud cover up to 40% opacity. • Performance degrades with a decrease in resolution from 1 m to less than 10 m. • The introduction of dense static noise could present a challenge for the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the ERA-5 monthly reanalysis data and precipitation observations, this paper analyses the interdacal dry-wet transition and its mechanism in the Tarim Basin(TB) during summer. From the long-term perspective(1961–2021), TB is in a trend of "wet in the west and dry in the east". By taking a nine-year moving average of the precipitation(PRE), the research period is divided into three subperiods: P1(1961–1987), P2(1988–2009) and P3(2010−2021). From P1 to P3, the regional averaged Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index(SPEI) demonstrates an interdecadal turning of "wetting to drying". During P2(1988–2009), the dynamic component of water vapor increases the zonal moisture transport, causing a slight increase in PRE. The potential evapotranspiration(PET) is weakened by the increase in PRE and relative humidity(RH), the decrease in 2-m temperature(T2m) and 10-m wind speed(10UV), resulting in the humidification of the TB. In the P3(2010–2021), the non-linear component of water vapor increases moisture convergence in the western TB, causing a significant increase in PRE. However, the decrease in RH, accompanied by increases in T2m and UV10, results in a rapid increase in PET. The TB gets dry. The South Asian high(SAH) develops southeastward, guiding more water vapor transport from the upstream westerly and the tropical Indian Ocean. The Western Pacific subtropical high(WPSH) extends northwestward, increasing water vapor convergence in the western TB. The main reason for the increased precipitation changes from increased water vapor advection to enhanced water vapor convergence. The differences in PRE formation and T2m amplitude cause the interdecadal change in RH, deriving an interdecadal transition of wet and dry in the TB. Our findings may deepen the understanding of climate change, and provide a scientific support for ecological development, and global climate governance in arid/semi-arid regions. • TB has been presented an interdacal dry-wet transition in summer. • The summer SPEI in the TB is consistent with the interdacadal variations of PET. • The SAH and the WPSH modulate the moisture transport pathways and precipitation formation, influence the dry-wet transition in the TB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of bacteriophages to control foodborne bacterial pathogens in foods has gained traction in recent years. Poultry meat is a major source of Campylobacter jejuni, and a target for the application of bacteriophages. To offer the prospect of a post-harvest control measure, the bacteriophage must function at refrigeration temperatures, where C. jejuni does not grow but can survive. Here, we report actions of three classes of Campylobacter bacteriophage at 4 °C. The pre-incubation of broth cultures at 4 °C before a shift to 42 °C under conditions that support the growth of the host bacteria revealed differences in the time to lysis compared with cultures incubated at 42 °C. The pre-adsorption of the bacteriophage to a sub-population of bacteria is consistent with the observation of asynchronous infection. To ascertain whether the bacteriophages adsorb and infect (the commitment to replicate), we investigated bacteriophage transcription at 4 °C. RNA transcripts for all the bacteriophage host combinations were detected after 15 min, indicating that the interaction is not merely passive. Bacteriophages can infect C. jejuni at refrigeration temperatures, but the infection does not proceed to lysis in the absence of host cell division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The short-term photovoltaic (PV) power prediction is mainly used to prevent photovoltaic power generation fluctuations, grid overvoltage, reverse current, and islanding effects. At the same time, the mid-term PV power forecast is of great significance to improving the availability of PV power generation and the benefit of PV grid connection. Because of the significant differences in time scales between mid-term and short-term power prediction, the short-term power prediction model or method cannot be directly applied to mid-term power prediction. Therefore, few scholars have developed effective short-to-mid-term power forecasting strategies for photovoltaics. As a result, this research proposes a prediction model based on a fast cull outlier algorithm (FC), a decision tree (DT), least squares support vector regression (LSSVR), and an improved whale bat optimization algorithm (IWBOA), which is used for the prediction of the short-to-mid-term photovoltaic power on different time scales, one day and one month in advance. The FC algorithm is used to analyze the difference between the overall data and the abnormal data in the local density and distance to remove the outliers in the original data set. The revised DT model differentiates the data according to climate characteristics to obtain different input data subsets with the best correlation and constructs an independent LSSVR-based model corresponding to the data subsets. The WOA algorithm is improved by independently designing the Chebyshev chaotic initialization strategy, chaotic adaptive inertia weight and BOA algorithm, and the kernel function width and penalty factor of each short-to-mid-term independent sub-PV power prediction model are optimized by IWBOA, thereby improving the computational speed and prediction accuracy of the LSSVR model. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is evaluated using actual data from photovoltaic power plants in China. The regression coefficient (R2), mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) of short-term forecasting ability of the FCDT-IWBOA-LSSVR model established in this paper are 0.99657, 0.22009, 0.32515, and 0.20959, respectively, while the R2, MSE, RMSE, and MAE of medium-term forecasting ability are 0.98374, 1.91371, 1.38336, and 0.6256. The calculation results show that the prediction accuracy of the FCDT-IWBOA-LSSVR model is higher than that of the WOA-LSSVR, PSO-LSSVR, PSO-BP, I-ACO-SVR, ANN, EMS-DSM-RT, 5 ML, and ELM models. • Short-to-mid-term photovoltaic power generation prediction model established. • The FC algorithm analyze local density and distance for data and remove outliers. • The DT model differentiates the data according to climate characteristics. • The IWBOA was used to optimize the parameters of the LSSVR prediction model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Cuproptosis‐related genes are closely related to lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), which can be analyzed via the analysis of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). To date, the clinical significance and function of cuproptosis‐related lncRNAs are still not well elucidated. Further analysis of cuproptosis‐related prognostic lncRNAs is of great significance for the treatment, diagnosis, and prognosis of LUAD. Methods: In this study, a multiple machine learning (ML)‐based computational approach was proposed for the identification of the cuproptosis‐related lncRNAs signature (CRlncSig) via comprehensive analysis of cuproptosis, lncRNAs, and clinical characteristics. The proposed approach integrated multiple ML algorithms (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis, univariate and multivariate Cox regression) to effectively identify the CRlncSig. Results: Based on the proposed approach, the CRlncSig was identified from the 3450 cuproptosis‐related lncRNAs, which consist of 13 lncRNAs (CDKN2A‐DT, FAM66C, FAM83A‐AS1, AL359232.1, FRMD6‐AS1, AC027237.4, AC023090.1, AL157888.1, AL627443.3, AC026355.2, AC008957.1, AP000346.1, and GLIS2‐AS1). Conclusions: The CRlncSig could well predict the prognosis of different LUAD patients, which is different from other clinical features. Moreover, the CRlncSig was proved to be an effective indicator of patient survival via functional characterization analysis, which is relevant to cancer progression and immune infiltration. Furthermore, the results of RT‐PCR assay indicated that the expression level of FAM83A‐AS1 and AC026355.2 in A549 and H1975 cells (LUAD) was significantly higher than that in BEAS‐2B cells (normal lung epithelial). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The herbal tea made from the leaves and stems of Cyclocarya paliurus is thought to be more flavorful than those made from the leaves only. However, evidence supporting this view is not available yet. 53 VOCs and 54 non-VOCs were identified via HS-SPME-GC-MS and UPLC-Q-TOF/MS, respectively, which were found to vary dramatically in three groups of samples (combination of stems and leaves, separated leaves, and separated stems). 11 VOCs and 18 non-VOCs potential markers are responsible for the change of metabolic effects through the biosynthesis of flavonoids, the synthesis of terpenoids, and the oxidation of fatty acids and carotenoids. In response, the stems were effective to enhance fatty odors, the initial astringency and bitterness and the aftertaste of sweetness of the leaves. Stems are conducive to increasing total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity of Cyclocarya paliurus herbal extract because of the increase in polyphenols. In addition, the stems have the potential to be used as raw materials for nerolidol and polyphenols extraction. This study has been the first to determine the contribution of stem to the flavor of Cyclocarya paliurus herbal tea and these results provide the theoretical basis for making Cyclocarya paliurus herbal tea with stems. [Display omitted] • An untargeted metabolomics approach was applied to C. paliurus herbal tea. • The first study to determine the contribution of stems to C. paliurus herbal tea. • 29 characteristic metabolites were obtained by using OPLS-DA analysis. • Metabolic pathways of VOCs and non-VOCs in C. paliurus herbal tea were studied. • The stems of C. paliurus are rich in flavonoids and nerolidol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although helically chiral heterohelicenes are widely adopted in chiroptical studies, those with circularly polarized thermally activated delayed fluorescence (CP‐TADF), which are highly valuable for circularly polarized organic light‐emitting diodes (CP‐OLEDs), are rarely realized. Moreover, the core skeletons of known CP‐TADF heterohelicenes are limited to the p‐ and n‐doped structures with multiresonance effect. In this study, a new type of helically chiral CP‐TADF heterohelicenes featuring a fused donor–acceptor core skeleton is successfully designed and constructed. Enantiomers possessing high configurational stability are achieved and separated, and they efficiently emit CP light with dissymmetry factors reaching 3.1 × 10−3 in doped films. Owing to the excellent photophysical properties, a high‐performance CP‐OLED with the maximum external quantum efficiency of up to 20.0% and an electroluminescence dissymmetry factor reaching 2.9 × 10−3 is obtained. This new type of CP‐TADF heterohelicenes provides a large space for the development of high‐performance CP‐TADF materials for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the response of fine root production (FRP), mortality (FRM) and turnover (FRT) to nitrogen (N) addition, we have conducted 12 years of continuous N addition experiments in the natural secondary forest in Northeast China. According to the local N deposition, three N treatments were set up. The response of FRP, FRM and FRT to N addition during the growing season was studied. The results showed that N addition would lead to phosphorus (P) limitation, and fine roots could increase the absorption of N and P by increasing their diameter. The increase in the diameter of fine roots led to a decrease in the FRT, and the soil layer also affected the FRT. Nitrogen addition increased the FRP and FRM in all soil layers. Nitrogen addition did not change the seasonal variation of FRP and FRM. The highest value of FRP occurred in May, and the lowest value of FRM occurred in August. Nitrogen addition increased the total number (TNLR) and surface area (TSALR) of live fine root in all soil layers. The TNLR and TSALR decreased with the deepening of soil layer. Collectively, fine roots may respond to environmental stress through self-regulation and changing growth strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of renewable energy, the primary frequency control (PFC) is becoming more critical and significant to ensure the stability of the electrical power system. As the main role of PFC, the thermal power unit tends to in a wide operation interval, and the changes in PFC characteristics along with working conditions are inevitable. By decomposing and quantifying the dynamic energy conversion process, this paper proposes a novel mechanism to evaluate the PFC capability for the supercritical thermal power plants that covered 30%–100% of the rated load. In the mechanism, a refined steam turbine model is established to reflect the short‐term dynamic response of PFC by combining it with the coupling characteristics of the main steam valve and main steam pressure in the later phase. Meanwhile, as a new prior assessment index, the equivalent electricity has been put forward to quantify the PFC capability for the power plant. In a case study of a 600 MW supercritical power plant, the capacities of PFC under 30%–50% of the rated load are quantified for the first time. Comparison results between theoretical calculation and real PFC test show that the proposed PFC capability assessment mechanism has acceptable accuracy of 96.1%, which could be effective to assess the frequency response reserve and stability margin in the grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: New-born piglets often fail to thrive during suckling without any obvious signs of clinical disease, which causes significant economic loss and suffering. This is, in part, caused by enhanced production values, with too many piglets produced for the sow to provide adequate nutrition to its offspring. These piglets may not be receiving enough milk from the sow and may be removed to controlled environment pens and fed a complete commercial milk replacer to provide adequate nutrition and enhanced care. However, milk replacers do not traditionally contain the milk sugars found in sow milk that stimulate the development of a healthy immune system and gut microbiota. In this study, the effects of supplementing milk replacer with simple milk sugars on gut health, the microbiome and immune-protective goblet cells were investigated. Commercial milk replacer supplemented with milk sugars significantly increased the abundance of beneficial gut bacteria, improved gut health and the numbers of protective immune goblet cells. Results indicate that milk sugars given in milk replacer may be a useful addition in the husbandry of non-thriving, poorly performing piglets when moved to environmentally controlled pens away from sows and fit siblings by modulating their microbiome and gut health performance. Poorly performing piglets receiving commercial milk replacers do not benefit from the naturally occurring probiotic galacto-oligosaccharides otherwise found in sow milk. Study objectives were to investigate the effects of complete milk replacer supplemented with galacto-oligosaccharides on the microbiome, gut architecture and immunomodulatory goblet cell expression of poorly performing piglets that could benefit from milk replacement feeding when separated from sows and housed with fit siblings in environmentally controlled pens. The study is novel in that it is one of the first to investigate the effects of supplementing complete milk replacer with galacto-oligosaccharides in poorly performing piglets. Gastrointestinal tract samples were collected from piglets, and the microbiome composition was assessed by 16s ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene sequencing. Gut architectural features, villus/crypt ratio and enumeration of goblet cells in tissues were assessed by histopathological techniques. The most abundant taxa identified at the genus level were Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Prevotella, Lactococcus and Leuconostoc. Milk replacer plus galacto-oligosaccharides significantly improved gut architectural features and villus/crypt ratio throughout the gastrointestinal tract, increased the number of goblet cells and revealed a differential abundance of beneficial probiotic bacteria, particularly Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. In these respects, galacto-oligosaccharide-supplemented milk replacer may be a useful addition to animal husbandry in poorly performing, non-thriving animals when moved to environmentally controlled pens away from sows and fit siblings, thereby modulating the microbiome and gastrointestinal tract performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pullorum disease caused by Salmonella Pullorum remains an important disease for the poultry industry due to high morbidity and mortality in many countries. Phage therapy is becoming an alternative strategy to control multidrug-resistant Salmonella infections in young chicks. However, how bacteriophages affect the growth performance of chicks infected with S. Pullorum remains poorly understood. Herein, we assessed the therapeutic efficacy of Salmonella phage CKT1 against hypervirulent arthritis - causing S. Pullorum. The results showed that single phage treatment after hypervirulent S. Pullorum infection significantly improved body weight loss of chicks. Compared with enlarged liver and spleen in only Salmonella challenged group, phage administration substantially reduced the liver/body and spleen/body weight ratios, bacterial loads in organs and the degree of hepatic sinusoidal dilatation and congestion. Moreover, phage CKT1 can enter the organs of chicks and stay for at least 3 d in liver and spleen, and promote higher serum levels of IL-6 production within 6 d postinfection, indicating phage-induced bacterial lysis may be involved in inflammatory immune response to S. Pullorum infection. Analysis of the microbiome of gastrointestinal tract of chicks demonstrated that Salmonella challenge significantly reduced the relative abundances of Lachnoclostridium and Blautia, resulting in remarkably increased Escherichia-Shigella and Klebsiella becoming the predominant bacterial taxa. In contrast, the use of phage CKT1 significantly reduced Escherichia-Shigella and Klebsiella populations in intestine, permitting the proliferation of beneficial microbiota in Firmicutes including Lachnoclostridium, Ruminococcus, Lactobacillus , and Pseudoflavonifractor. In addition, phage alone treatments did not affect the normal gut microbiota structure of chicks, and phage therapy on Salmonella infected chicks increased bacteria species richness in the cecum. These results suggest that Salmonella phage CKT1 could improve growth performance of chicks challenged with S. Pullorum by normalizing the abnormal intestinal microbiome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in vitro oxygen microenvironment profoundly affects the capacity of cell cultures to model physiological and pathophysiological states. Cell culture is often considered to be hyperoxic, but pericellular oxygen levels, which are affected by oxygen diffusivity and consumption, are rarely reported. Here, we provide evidence that several cell types in culture actually experience local hypoxia, with important implications for cell metabolism and function. We focused initially on adipocytes, as adipose tissue hypoxia is frequently observed in obesity and precedes diminished adipocyte function. Under standard conditions, cultured adipocytes are highly glycolytic and exhibit a transcriptional profile indicative of physiological hypoxia. Increasing pericellular oxygen diverted glucose flux toward mitochondria, lowered HIF1α activity, and resulted in widespread transcriptional rewiring. Functionally, adipocytes increased adipokine secretion and sensitivity to insulin and lipolytic stimuli, recapitulating a healthier adipocyte model. The functional benefits of increasing pericellular oxygen were also observed in macrophages, hPSC-derived hepatocytes and cardiac organoids. Our findings demonstrate that oxygen is limiting in many terminally-differentiated cell types, and that considering pericellular oxygen improves the quality, reproducibility and translatability of culture models. Synopsis: Cell culture is considered a microenvironment with high oxygen. Here, terminally-differentiated cells are shown to be deprived of pericellular oxygen in standard culture systems. mandating tight control of oxygen provision and consumption conditions to ensure experimental reproducibility and translatability to physiology. Cells of various types cultured in standard medium volumes are hypoxic due to oxygen consumption exceeding diffusion rates. Increasing oxygen supply to cultured cells enhances glucose oxidation and anabolic reactions, and causes widespread transcriptional changes. Increased oxygen supply improves the differentiation and function of differentiated cellular models such as adipocytes, macrophages, hPSC-derived hepatocytes and cardiac organoids. Transcriptional responses to limited oxygen in cultured cells match those driven by hypoxia in vivo. Standard cell culture medium volumes dictate a hypoxic pericellular in vitro microenvironment due to oxygen consumption exceeding diffusion rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate detection of x-ray radiation is essential for tissue equivalence detection and safety control during medical radiotherapy. Here, a promising radiation detector based on organic 1,8-naphthalimide (C12H7NO2, NTI) single crystals is proposed. NTI single crystals with dimensions of 8 × 2 × 1 mm3 were synthesized by an optimized solvent-cooling method, and the crystal structure was characterized to elucidate the anisotropy mechanism. The coplanar detector made by NTI has a leakage current of less than 0.1 pA at an electric field strength of 1 kV cm−1 and provides excellent detection of 5.49 MeV α-particles (241Am) with a full-energy peak resolution of up to 32.3%. The calculated electron mobility (μ e) and electron mobility-lifetime product (μ τ)e were 7.9 cm2 V−1s−1 and 1.56 × 10−6 cm2 V−1, respectively. Additionally, the detection limit of the NTI detector was 0.35 µGy s−1 in the electric field strength range of 0.2–1.0 kV cm−1 under a 20 kV x-ray beam with a high sensitivity of 56.2 μC Gy−1cm−2. Consequently, the NTI detector achieves an excellent spatial resolution of 0.8–0.9 lp mm−1 in terms of x-ray imaging capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, single crystals of the organic compound TPB (1,3,5-triphenylbenzene) have been viewed as a scintillator material for indirect X-ray detection. We here attempt to explore their potential for direct detection. A TPB single crystal with a size of up to 20 × 6 × 4 mm3 and without obvious growth steps was obtained using a solvent volatilization method. It has an orthorhombic structure with a high-quality FWHM of as low as 0.059 and preferred grown orientations along (131) and (220). AFM images clarify the two-dimensional nucleation growth mechanism. The fitted bandgap of the as-grown crystal is about 3.65 eV. TPB detectors with vertical and coplanar electrodes with a resistivity of 2.56 × 1013 Ω cm and 6.68 × 1013 Ω cm, respectively, were prepared. The mobilities for electrons (μe) and holes (μh) for the coplanar device were calculated to be 1.12 cm2 V−1 s−1 and 1.02 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. Under a 50 kV X-ray beam, the detection limit is as low as 0.35 μGy s−1, and the sensitivity reaches 2.72 μC Gy−1 cm−2. The TPB devices have the ability to detect 241Am@5.49 MeV α particles, showing the full-energy peak collected from the holes with an energy resolution of 39.13% at 700 V. The mobility lifetime product of the TPB devices for electrons (μτ)e and holes (μτ)h were calculated to be up to 2.24 × 10−5 cm2 V−1 and 4.04 × 10−5 cm2 V−1, respectively. The TPB detector could present a spectral response to 241Am@59.5 keV γ-rays from the holes with an energy resolution of 44.25% at 1000 V, which shows the potential for both direct and indirect detection of high-energy radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a method for accurately calculating radio frequency (RF) power in a standing wave transmission line system. The proposed approach utilizes two directional couplers in conjunction with a low‐level radio frequency control system. RF power is determined through the application of proposed equations derived from amplitude and phase measurements of coupling signals obtained from the two directional couplers. Experimental validation of the method is conducted using two directional couplers with directivities of 26 and 28 dB, respectively, operating at 162.5 MHz across the entire wavelength. Results indicate that employing a single directional coupler yields average power errors of approximately 6.6% and 5.8%, respectively. However, by implementing the proposed method, the measurement error can be reduced to approximately 1.0%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical quality and biochemical properties of green tea processed from different tea shoot maturity has largely remained unexplored thus far. Total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content decreased during tea shoot maturation. Three in-vitro bioactivities, namely α-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase inhibitory and antioxidant activity showed a similar changing trend. A significant correlation between TPC and TFC, and these bioactivities was found. Non-targeted metabolomic analysis revealed that green tea processed from different tea shoot maturity had obvious differences. Variable importance analysis and S-plot gave 32 characteristic metabolites responsible for the discrimination of different green teas. Orthogonal partial least square analysis was used calculate the correlation coefficient between each characteristic metabolite and the values of three in-vitro bioactivities. Several important differential bioactive metabolites were obtained using the above analysis. This study explored the metabolic change in green tea during the process of tea shoot ripening, thus providing unique tea quality information for green tea production. • TPC, TFC, and α-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase inhibitory and antioxidant activity decreased during tea shoot maturation. • TPC and TFC contributed significantly to these three in-vitro bioactivities. • Non-targeted metabolomic successfully separated green tea processed from different tea shoot maturity. • 32 characteristic metabolites closely related to tea shoot growth were found. • Several important differential bioactive metabolites were obtained using OPLS analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) refer to a certain subpopulation within the tumor entity that is characterized by restricted cellular proliferation and multipotent differentiation potency. The existence of CSCs has been proven to contribute to the heterogeneity of malignancies, accounting for intensified tumorigenesis, treatment resistance, and metastatic spread. Dormancy was proposed as a reversible state of cancer cells that are temporarily arrested in the cell cycle, possessing several hallmarks that facilitate their survival within a devastating niche. This transient period is evoked to enter an actively proliferating state by multiple regulatory alterations, and one of the most significant and complex factors comes from local and systemic inflammatory reactions and immune components. Although CSCs and dormant cancer cells share several similarities, the clear relationship between these two concepts remains unclear. Thus, the detailed mechanism of immune cells interacting with CSCs and dormant cancer cells also warrants elucidation for prevention of cancer relapse and metastasis. In this review, we summarize recent findings and prospective studies on CSCs and cancer dormancy to conclude the relationship between these two concepts. Furthermore, we aim to outline the mechanism of immune components in interfering with CSCs and dormant cancer cells to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention of relapse and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Changes in the phenolics of navel orange were investigated during maturation. • Several phenolic acids and antioxidant activities significantly decrease during maturation. • Partial least-squares discriminate analysis showed good separation of fruits at different maturity. • A significant correlation between antioxidant activities and some phenolic acids was found. Ripe navel orange has abundant amounts of phenolic compounds. Few studies monitored changes in these compounds during ripening. In this study, the effects of navel orange maturation on dynamic changes in antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and phenolic acids were investigated. Five growth stages of navel orange were studied, and nine phenolic acids were detected via high performance liquid chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC – QQQ – MS). Results showed that antioxidant activity, TFC and TPC decreased gradually with fruit ripening. The concentrations of most phenolic acids also declined during fruit maturation, except for free fractions of sinapic acid and bound fractions of ferulic and caffeic acids. Ferulic acid was the most dominant of all phenolic acids at all growth stages. Partial least-squares showed significant differences among fruits of different maturities. A significant correlation between antioxidant capacity, TPC, TFC and some phenolic acids was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crosslinked ciprofloxacin (CIP) and polymethyltrimethoxysilane (PMTMS) with an inner micro-arc oxidation (MAO) coating was designed to improve the corrosion resistance and antibacterial property of magnesium alloy AZ31. Surface morphology and roughness of the obtained coating were characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and three-dimensional surface profilometry. Structural components and chemical compositions of the composite coatings were detected via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS). Corrosion resistance of the coatings was investigated by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization curves and hydrogen evolution measurements. Cytocompatibility and antibacterial performance of the coatings were probed using in vitro cytotoxicity tests (MTT), live/dead cell staining and plate counting method. Results indicate that the MAO/CIP-PMTMS coating possesses enhanced corrosion resistance, antibacterial ability and cytocompatibility. It provides a way to effectively curb the sudden release and short release period of drugs, due to the reversible esterification reaction between -COOH in CIP and Si-OH in PMTMS during the coating formation and degradation process. And it holds a great potential in the applications of medical devices and bone implant materials. [Display omitted] • A MAO/CIP-PMTMS coating is prepared on AZ31 alloy with bird-nest-like structure. • Coating displays anticorrosion and antibacterial ability with low cytotoxicity. • Load and release of the drug with no obvious burst release is successfully achieved. • Sustained release of the drug is achieved by reversible esterification reaction. • A new coating preparation method for the anti-infection Mg bone implants is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model for predicting intrinsic fatigue crack growth rates (ICGRs) in welded aluminum plates. The prediction model is based on the Walker equation and the influence of weld material strength on fatigue crack growth rates is further considered. ICGRs of friction stir welded 2024-T3 aluminum specimens under constant amplitude loading condition and constant stress intensity factor range loading condition are predicted using the model and compared with the experimental results. Good agreement between the predicted ICGRs and experimental results demonstrate the validity of the prediction model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung adenocarcinoma is a major public health problem with the low 5-year survival rate (15%) among cancers. Aberrant alterations of meiotic genes, which have gained increased attention recently, might contribute to elevated tumor risks. However, systematic and comprehensive studies based on the relationship between meiotic genes and LUAD recurrence and treatment response are still lacking. In this manuscript, we first confirmed that the meiosis related prognostic model (MRPM) was strongly related to LUAD progression via LASSO-Cox regression analyses. Furthermore, we identified the role of PPP2R1A in LUAD, which showed more contributions to LUAD process compared with other meiotic genes in our prognostic model. Additionally, repression of PPP2R1A enhances cellular susceptibility to nelfinavir-induced apoptosis and pyroptosis. Collectively, our findings indicated that meiosis-related genes might be therapeutic targets in LUAD and provided crucial guidelines for LUAD clinical intervention. Highlights: Meiotic genes-related risk score (MRS) is a promising prediction feature with high reliability and accuracy for LUAD patients. PPP2R1A is overexpressed in LUAD and associated with malignancy. Nelfinavir inhibited cell viability and yields anti-tumor effects in LUAD cells. PPP2R1A silencing sensitizes cancer cells to nelfinavir induced cell apoptosis and pyroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]