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Background: Renal Syndrome Hemorrhagic Fever (HFRS) continues to pose a significant public health threat to the well-being of the population. Given that the spread of HFRS is susceptible to meteorological factors, we aim to probe into the meteorological drivers of HFRS. Thus, novel techniques that can discern time-delayed non-linear relationships from nonlinear dynamical systems are compulsory. Methods: We analyze the epidemiological features of HFRS in Weifang City, 2011–2020, via the employment of the Empirical Dynamic Modeling (EDM) method. Our analysis delves into the intricate web of time-delayed non-linear associations between meteorological factors and HFRS. Additionally, we investigate the repercussions of minor perturbations in meteorological variables on future HFRS incidence. Results: A total of 2515 HFRS cases were reported in Weifang from 2011 to 2020. The average weekly incidence was 4.81, and the average weekly incidence was 0.52 per 1,000,000. The propagation of HFRS is significantly impacted by the mean weekly temperature, relative humidity, cumulative rainfall, and wind speed, and the ρCCM converges to 0.55,0.48,0.38 and 0.39, respectively. The graphical representation of the relationship between temperature (lagged by 2 weeks) and the incidence of HFRS exhibits an inverted U-shaped curve, whereby the incidence of HFRS culminates as the temperature reaches 10 °C. Moreover, temperature, relative humidity, cumulative rainfall, and wind speed exhibit a positive correlation with HFRS incidence, with a time lag of 4–6 months. Conclusions: Our discoveries suggest that meteorological factors can drive the transmission of HFRS both at a macroscopic and microscopic scale. Prospective alterations in meteorological conditions, for instance, elevations in temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation will instigate an upsurge in the incidence of HFRS after 4–6 months, and thus, timely public health measures should be taken to mitigate these changes. Author summary: Renal Syndrome Hemorrhagic Fever (HFRS) is a serious disease caused by the Hantavirus and transmitted by rodents. Meteorological factors, such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind speed, can influence the occurrence, spread, and outbreak of HFRS. However, the relationship between climate change and its impact on the disease is complex, and more research is needed to provide a strong scientific basis for the development of adaptation strategies. This study employs a novel technique called Empirical Dynamic Modeling (EDM) to investigate the time-delayed non-linear relationships between meteorological factors and HFRS outbreaks in Weifang. The results show that meteorological factors can drive the transmission of HFRS both at a macroscopic and microscopic scale. The relationship between temperature (lagged by 2 weeks) and HFRS incidence exhibits an inverted U-shaped curve, with the highest incidence occurring at 10 °C. Changes in meteorological conditions, such as increases in temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation, can lead to an upsurge in the incidence of HFRS after 4–6 months. The findings of this study are crucial for public health officials and policymakers to take timely measures to mitigate the impact of climate change on the spread of HFRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable progress has been made in the experimental studies on laser-induced terahertz (THz) radiation in liquids. Liquid THz demonstrates many unique features different from the gas and plasma THz. For example, the liquid THz can be efficiently produced by a monochromatic laser. Its yield is maximized with a longer driving-pulse duration. It is also linearly dependent on the excitation pulse energy. In two-color laser fields, an unexpected unmodulated THz field was measured, and its energy dependence of the driving laser is completely different from that of the modulated THz waves. However, the underlying microscopic mechanism is still unclear due to the difficulties in the description of ultrafast dynamics in complex disordered liquids. Here we propose a shift-current model. The experimental observations could be reproduced by our theory successfully. In addition, our theory could be further utilized to investigate the nuclear quantum effect in the THz radiation in H2O and D2O. This work provides fundamental insights into the origin of the THz radiation in bulk liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of bus system attractiveness is primarily caused by low‐level service quality and reliability. As an essential technology for bus operation management, online bus speed control has proven to be a flexible and effective solution to mitigate bus bunching and enhance the service level of bus operation systems. In this study, we propose a robust nonlinear decision mapping (RNDM) approach that uses real‐time key bus system states to control bus speeds and accounts for uncertainties associated with passenger demands at stations and traffic speeds of interstation links. We develop this approach through a design process that involves learning the input–output mapping relation of a nonlinear programming simulation‐based optimization (NLPSO) method using regression tree with AdaBoost. Critical parameters of the fitted regression tree with AdaBoost are then optimized offline using a distributionally robust simulation‐based optimization (DRSO) model that is solved by a simulation‐based optimization (SO) algorithm. The resulting RNDM method effectively handles two types of uncertainties, expressed by two ambiguity sets of probability distributions, and ensures good bus operation performance even under worst‐case uncertainty levels. Numerical experiments reveal that the RNDM, NLPSO, and integer programming SO (IPSO) methods successfully mitigate bus bunching and improve service efficiency and robustness, compared to the no‐control scenario. Furthermore, the RNDM method outperforms NLPSO and IPSO in terms of comprehensive performance under uncertainties and demonstrates practical operability. In conclusion, this study presents an innovative general framework that uses a nonlinear decision mapping optimized offline by an SO approach to address online simulation‐based optimal decision‐making problems under uncertainties, which can be applied to solve similar problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the incumbent state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) on the births of new private‐owned enterprises (POEs) in China is a central concern for the government and society. In this paper, we apply agglomeration theories to distinguish the linkages between SOEs and POEs. Using China's 2008 economic census, the 2007 Input‐Output Table, and the 2005 population census, we measure the formation of new POEs at the city‐industry level, and the agglomeration forces of distance proximity to inputs, outputs, labor, and technology. More explicitly, we measure the extent to which local SOEs provide relevant inputs, consume outputs, employ similar workers, and use similar technology. Our findings indicate that overall, incumbent SOEs hinder the formation of new POEs. For manufacturing, the entry of new POEs is significantly lower in places where more upstream SOEs are concentrated. For services, the entry of new POEs is significantly lower in places where more upstream and downstream SOEs are concentrated. However, the agglomeration effects from the incumbent POEs are either insignificant or significantly positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a stochastic SIR epidemic model with vertical transmission and varying total population size. Firstly, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solution for the stochastic model. Secondly, we establish three thresholds λ 1 , λ 2 and λ 3 of the model. The disease will die out when λ 1 < 0 and λ 2 < 0 , or λ 1 > 0 and λ 3 < 0 , but the disease will persist when λ 1 < 0 and λ 2 > 0 , or λ 1 > 0 and λ 3 > 0 and the law of the solution converge to a unique invariant measure. Moreover, we find that when λ 1 < 0 some stochastic perturbations can increase the threshold λ 2 , while others can decrease the threshold λ 2 . That is, some stochastic perturbations enhance the spread of the disease, but others are just the opposite. On the other hand, when λ 1 > 0 , some stochastic perturbations increase or decrease the threshold λ 3 with different parameter sets. Finally, we give some numerical examples to illustrate obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel derivatives of 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) were synthesized by introducing aromatic or heterocyclic structures to extend the side chain, thereby enhancing their interaction with amino acid residues in the active pocket of the target protein. These compounds were structurally characterized using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. The compounds were subsequently evaluated for their inhibitory effects on HIV-1 protease and cell viability in the human cancer cell lines K562 and HeLa and the mouse cancer cell line CT26. Towards HIV-1 protease, compounds 28 and 32, which featured the introduction of heterocyclic moieties at the C3 position of GA, exhibited the highest inhibition, with inhibition rates of 76% and 70.5%, respectively, at 1 mg/mL concentration. Further molecular docking suggests that a 3-substituted polar moiety would be likely to enhance the inhibitory activity against HIV-1 protease. As for the anti-proliferative activities of the GA derivatives, incorporation of a thiazole heterocycle at the C3- position in compound 29 significantly enhanced the effect against K562 cells with an IC50 value of 8.86 ± 0.93 µM. The introduction of electron-withdrawing substituents on the C3-substituted phenyl ring augmented the anti-proliferative activity against Hela and CT26 cells. Compound 13 exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against Hela cells with an IC50 value of 9.89 ± 0.86 µM, whereas compound 7 exerted the strongest inhibition against CT26 cells with an IC50 value of 4.54 ± 0.37 µM. These findings suggest that further modification of GA is a promising path for developing potent novel anti-HIV and anticancer therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Australian Faculty of Radiation Oncology Genitourinary Group (FROGG) developed prostate bed clinical target volume (CTV) contouring guidelines which were subsequently used to develop the National EviQ guidelines for adjuvant and salvage post‐prostatectomy radiotherapy (PPRT). These guidelines were based mainly upon consensus agreement. With the advent of prostate‐specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET), sites of recurrence can now be detected with low prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) levels following radical prostatectomy. We evaluated sites of recurrence in patients treated with FROGG/EviQ CTVs to inform upcoming modifications of these guidelines. Methods: At our institution, we use the FROGG/EviQ guidelines for PPRT. From 2015, patients with PSA failure following PPRT have been re‐staged using PSMA PET imaging. We identified patients with PET‐avid local, nodal, and distant recurrences, fusing them with original treatment plans to determine whether recurrences were within or outside the prostate bed CTV. Regional nodal failures were reviewed to determine if they were within current elective node contouring guidelines. Results: Ninety‐four patients had positive PSMA PET following PPRT. Nine (9.6%) recurrences were local, seven being local‐only. One local recurrence (1.1%) was just superior to the contoured prostate bed CTV, located within the vas deferens. Seventy‐three (77.7%) patients had a component of node failure, with 56 (59.6%) having node‐only failure. Sites of nodal relapses were covered by standard contouring guidelines 60.3% of the time. Conclusion: The low recurrence rate outside of current prostate bed CTV contouring guidelines is consistent with other studies using contemporary contouring, and validates the efficacy of the current FROGG/EviQ prostate bed CTV definition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) Faculty of Radiation Oncology Genitourinary Group (FROGG) guidelines and online EviQ protocols incorporate prostate‐specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)‐guided dose‐escalated intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (DE‐IMRT) for newly diagnosed lymph node (LN) positive prostate cancer. We evaluated late toxicity and efficacy outcomes following the FROGG and EviQ approach. Methods: Patients with LN‐positive‐only metastases on PSMA‐PET imaging were offered curative therapy with 3 months neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) followed by DE‐IMRT and 3 years adjuvant ADT. IMRT was delivered via volumetric arc therapy (VMAT). We aimed to deliver 81 Gy in 45 fractions (Fx) to the prostate and PET‐positive LNs, and 60 Gy in 45 Fx to elective pelvic nodes, contoured using the PIVOTAL guidelines. Results: Forty‐five patients were included. The median number of PET‐positive nodes boosted was 2 (range 1–6) and median boost volume 1.16 cc (range 0.15–4.14). Seventeen (38%) patients had PET‐positive nodes outside of PIVOTAL contouring guidelines. With 60 months median follow‐up, disease‐free, metastasis‐free, prostate cancer‐specific and overall survival were 88.1%, 95.3%, 100% and 91.5%. There were no in‐field nodal failures. Late grade 1, 2 and 3 gastrointestinal toxicities occurred in 4%, 2% and 0% of patients, and genitourinary toxicity in 18%, 18% and 4%. Lower limb grade 2 lymphoedema occurred in three patients (7%). Conclusion: Outcomes following FROGG guidelines and EviQ are promising, with high long‐term disease control and low toxicity. Contouring guidelines require modification due to the high rate of PET‐positive nodes demonstrated beyond recommended coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high‐cycle fatigue (HCF) and very‐high‐cycle fatigue (VHCF) behavior of Ti‐6Al‐4V manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (L‐PBF) was investigated to reveal the effects of surface roughness and stress ratio on fatigue performance. Fatigue tests were performed by an ultrasonic vibration machine with a frequency of 20 kHz. The fatigue strength of surface‐polished specimens is generally higher than that of as‐built specimens in HCF and VHCF regimes. Fatigue cracks initiated from the subsurface of as‐built and surface‐polished L‐PBF Ti‐6Al‐4V. The values of size and depth for the defects that acted as fatigue crack origins present large scattering for L‐PBF Ti‐6Al‐4V due to the interaction between surface roughness and subsurface defects. For surface‐polished L‐PBF Ti‐6Al‐4V, fatigue cracks have almost the same resistance to propagation at both stress ratios of R = −1 and 0.7. Highlights: Fatigue strength of surface‐polished specimens higher than as‐built L‐PBF Ti‐6Al‐4VFatigue crack initiation from lack‐of‐fusion defects in subsurface defect‐enriched layerDefect & surface roughness with greater effect on crack initiation than stress ratioCrack propagation much easier in as‐built than surface‐polished L‐PBF Ti‐6Al‐4V [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data about postoperative infections in male adults with spinal cord injury are scarce. We aimed to evaluate the association between prior exposure to pressure ulcers (PU) and the risk of postoperative infections in male adults with spinal cord injury (SCI). We conducted a prospective study of male adults receiving surgery of SCI from January 2007 to December 2019. Postoperative infection included septicemia, pneumonia, surgical incision infection and urinary tract infection. A logistic regression analysis was applied. Risk ratios (RRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. There were 408 patients with SCI in this study, which comprised 204 patients with prior PU and 204 patients without. The rate of postoperative infections within 14 days in patients with PU was 23.5%, which was higher than that of patients without PU (6.9%). The amounts to a 4.18-folds elevated risk of any postoperative infections with 14 days in patients with PU (RR: 4.18, 95% CI: 2.30–7.60, p-value: <0.001). With respect to specific infections, positive associations in pneumonia (RR: 4.18, 95% CI: 2.30–7.60, p-value: <0.001), surgical incision infection (RR: 4.18, 95% CI: 2.30–7.60, p-value: <0.001), and urinary tract infection (RR: 4.18, 95% CI: 2.30–7.60, p-value: <0.001) were also statistically significant. These results did not materially alter adjustment for potential risk factors. The study suggests an elevated risk of postoperative infections after surgery for SCI in male patients with prior exposure to pressure ulcers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a two-stage surrogate-assisted meta-heuristic algorithm named SDAMA-SPS to solve computationally expensive problems with high dimensions. In this algorithm, a surrogate-assisted monkey algorithm with dynamic adaptation (SDAMA) is presented to globally search for the best solution of the first stage, and a surrogate-based perturbation search (SPS) is designed to perform a more intensive local search for the final optimal solution. In the first stage, a global radial basis function (RBF) surrogate model is constructed with all historical solutions and is used to evaluate the positions of monkeys in the climb process and watch-jump process. Such global RBF model is updated with the positions of monkeys and their real objective function values after the second round of the climb process for each iteration. In the second stage, a local RBF surrogate model is built with a set of current best solutions, which can help to select the most promising sample so as to further locally improve the solution searched in the first stage. Experimental studies are conducted on eight benchmark optimization problems with the number of dimensions varying from 30 to 100, and numerical results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better performance than five other state-of-the-art surrogate-assisted algorithms with a limited budget of function evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C16H12O3, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 10.9636(14) Å, b = 12.1767(12) Å, c = 10.1557(13) Å, β = 116.588(16)°, V = 1212.4(3) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0366, wRref(F2) = 0.1019, T = 250.00(10) K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to craft adversarial queries for image retrieval, which uses image features for similarity measurement. Many commonly used methods are developed in the context of image classification. However, these methods, which attack prediction probabilities, only exert an indirect influence on the image features and are thus found less effective when being applied to the retrieval problem. In designing an attack method specifically for image retrieval, we introduce opposite-direction feature attack (ODFA), a white-box attack approach that directly attacks query image features to generate adversarial queries. As the name implies, the main idea underpinning ODFA is to impel the original image feature to the opposite direction, similar to a U-turn. This simple idea is experimentally evaluated on five retrieval datasets. We show that the adversarial queries generated by ODFA cause true matches no longer to be seen at the top ranks, and the attack success rate is consistently higher than classifier attack methods. In addition, our method of creating adversarial queries can be extended for multi-scale query inputs and is generalizable to other retrieval models without foreknowing their weights, i.e., the black-box setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an arterial signal control stochastic simulation‐based optimization model with traffic safety and efficiency as biobjectives and solves it by a biobjective surrogate‐based promising area search (BOSPAS) method. In this model, traffic safety and efficiency are indexed by the average potential collision energy (APCE) and the vehicular throughput of the arterial road, respectively, and the arterial signal control plan is designed in a ring‐and‐barrier structure. In the BOSPAS method, each solution is evaluated by traffic simulation only once and stochastic evaluation noises of the sampled solutions are smoothed by a shrinking ball method to approximate their biobjective expectations. Based on the solutions and their estimated biobjective values, two surrogate models of biobjectives are constructed and optimized to obtain the nondominated solutions, which will guide the establishment of the joint promising area for sampling in the next iteration. In the numerical experiments, BOSPAS is first tested to outperform three other counterparts (i.e., nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II [NSGA‐II], biobjective efficient global optimization [BOEGO], and biobjective promising area search [BOPAS]) by a stochastic FON function from the aspects of convergence and diversity. It is then applied to optimize the signal control plan of an arterial road with six four‐leg signalized intersections in Changsha, China. The numerical results show that the nondominated solutions by BOSPAS perform better than those by NSGA‐II, BOEGO, and BOPAS under limited simulation budgets, and also mostly outperform three solutions by Synchro, MAXBAND, and MULTIBAND, especially in reducing APCE. In contrast with the field‐implemented signal plan, the optimized ones by BOSPAS improve the APCE and the vehicular throughput of the arterial road by at most 50.2% and 24.8%, respectively. Moreover, considering the vehicular throughput of arterial road as one objective may have a negative effect on the vehicular throughput of the overall road network. In conclusion, BOSPAS is promising to address biobjective optimization problems characterized by costly evaluation, high dimensions, and stochastic noises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mesoporous porous carbon (PC-KOH + Urea) with ultra-high specific surface area (SSA) was prepared from steam exploded poplar through urea-assisted KOH activation. The obtained PC-KOH + Urea had an ultra-high SSA of 3316 m2 g−1 and a total pore volume (VT) of 1.96 cm3 g−1, much higher than that of PC-KOH and PC-Urea, produced by KOH and urea activation alone, respectively. Meanwhile, PC-KOH + Urea possessed extremely high mesopores surface area (Smeso) (2183 m2 g−1) and mesopore volume (Vmeso) (1.46 cm3 g−1). In addition, urea can also serve as nitrogen source to dope nitrogen into PC-KOH + Urea, resulting in nitrogen content of 3.29%. To study the effects of urea on pore-forming, thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and thermogravimetric infrared technology (TG-IR) were adopted. It can be assumed that the ultra-high SSA of PC-KOH + Urea was mainly attributed to the reactions between pyrolysis products of urea and carbon. With ultra-high SSA, mesopore-dominated structure, and nitrogen doping, PC-KOH + Urea exhibited a high specific capacitance of 335.3 F g−1 at current density of 0.5 A g−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. In cyclic stability measurement, the capacitance retentions of PC-KOH + Urea were 99.6% after 4000 cycles. Thus, urea-assisted KOH activation was a feasible method to produce porous carbon with excellent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of environmental and human influences, several types of surface deterioration emerge on historic buildings, resulting in a decline in the quality of these structures and even threats to their safety. In the conventional approach, assessing the surface damage on a structure involves the time-consuming and labor-intensive judgment and evaluation of trained professionals. In this study, it is suggested that the YOLOv4 machine learning model be used to automatically find five types of damage to historical gray-brick buildings. This would make the job go more quickly. This study uses the gray-brick wall buildings in the buffer zone of the global cultural heritage in Macau as an example. In total, 1355 photographs were taken on-site of the gray-brick walls, and the five most common types of damage were identified. By slicing and labeling the photos, a training set of 1000 images was created, and through 200-generation model training, the model can accurately identify and effectively identify the damage state of the gray bricks and enhance the quality judgment and evaluation of the exterior walls of historical buildings. Experiments allow us to reach the following conclusions: (1) The damage to the gray-brick ancient buildings in Macau is affected by the subtropical maritime climate. Missing paint, stains, and cracks are the main contributors to gray-brick wall damage. (2) Machine learning can help determine the type of damage to old gray-brick buildings, which is useful for managing and protecting historical buildings. (3) The model in this study can identify five types of damage: missing, cracking, plant or microbial erosion, yellowing, and pollution on the exterior walls of ancient gray-brick buildings. It is helpful to accurately identify and evaluate the damaged condition of the gray-brick wall and formulate corresponding protection schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aging of the human body and the reduction in its physiological capacities, falls have become a huge threat to individuals' physical and mental health, leading to serious bodily damage to the elderly and financial pressure on their families. As a result, it is vital to design a fall detection algorithm that monitors the state of human activity. This work designs a human fall detection algorithm based on hierarchical decision making. First, this work proposes a dimensionality reduction approach based on feature importance analysis (FIA), which optimizes the feature space via feature importance. This procedure reduces the dimension of features greatly and reduces the time spent by the model in the training phase. Second, this work proposes a hierarchical decision-making algorithm with an XGBoost model. The algorithm is divided into three levels. The first level uses the threshold approach to make a preliminary assessment of the data and only transfers the fall type data to the next level. The second level is an XGBoost-based classification algorithm to analyze again the type of data which remained from the first level. The third level employs a comparison method to determine the direction of the falling. Finally, the fall detection algorithm proposed in this paper has an accuracy of 98.19%, a sensitivity of 97.50%, and a specificity of 98.63%. The classification accuracy of the fall direction reaches 93.44%, and the algorithm can efficiently determine the fall direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been determined through extensive studies that autophagy, the Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor containing pyrin domain 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and apoptotic responses in macrophages jointly contribute to atherogenesis and its development in the presence of lipid abnormalities. Few studies have investigated in full-scale if the intervention time for lipids abnormality or NLRP3 activation have a significant effect on autophagy, NLRP3 or the apoptotic status in macrophages. Methods: Human THP-1 monocyte-derived macrophages were established by challenging THP-1 monocytes with 80 µg/ml oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) for specific durations. Foam cell formation was observed by Oil Red O (ORO) staining. Western blots were employed to determine protein expression. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and immunofluorescence microscopy were applied to observe the autophagic status of cells. Cell apoptosis was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). Results: The cells were treated with ox-LDL for 12 h and 36 h, which were considered to represent early and advanced stages of atherogenesis for this study. The results showed that inhibition of ox-LDL phagocytosis by cytochalasin D in the early stage improved autophagic status, reduced NLRP3 activation and the apoptotic response significantly. In contrast, cytochalasin D had little effect on blocking the detrimental effect of ox-LDL at the advanced stage. Moreover, the changes in autophagy, apoptosis and NLRP3 expression after treatment with small interfering (si) RNA targeting NLRP3 in the early and advanced stages of atherogenesis were consistent with the above data. Conclusions: Interventions against lipid disorders or inflammatory reactions in the early or advanced stages of atherogenesis may have different results depending on when they are applied during the process of atherosclerotic pathogenesis. These results may help improve therapeutic strategies for atherosclerosis prevention. Furthermore, a healthy lifestyle should still be recommended as the most important and inexpensive measure to prevent atherogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been determined through extensive studies that autophagy, the Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor containing pyrin domain 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and apoptotic responses in macrophages jointly contribute to atherogenesis and its development in the presence of lipid abnormalities. Few studies have investigated in full-scale if the intervention time for lipids abnormality or NLRP3 activation have a significant effect on autophagy, NLRP3 or the apoptotic status in macrophages. Methods: Human THP-1 monocyte-derived macrophages were established by challenging THP-1 monocytes with 80 µg/ml oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) for specific durations. Foam cell formation was observed by Oil Red O (ORO) staining. Western blots were employed to determine protein expression. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and immunofluorescence microscopy were applied to observe the autophagic status of cells. Cell apoptosis was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). Results: The cells were treated with ox-LDL for 12 h and 36 h, which were considered to represent early and advanced stages of atherogenesis for this study. The results showed that inhibition of ox-LDL phagocytosis by cytochalasin D in the early stage improved autophagic status, reduced NLRP3 activation and the apoptotic response significantly. In contrast, cytochalasin D had little effect on blocking the detrimental effect of ox-LDL at the advanced stage. Moreover, the changes in autophagy, apoptosis and NLRP3 expression after treatment with small interfering (si) RNA targeting NLRP3 in the early and advanced stages of atherogenesis were consistent with the above data. Conclusions: Interventions against lipid disorders or inflammatory reactions in the early or advanced stages of atherogenesis may have different results depending on when they are applied during the process of atherosclerotic pathogenesis. These results may help improve therapeutic strategies for atherosclerosis prevention. Furthermore, a healthy lifestyle should still be recommended as the most important and inexpensive measure to prevent atherogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is higher harmonics and electromagnetic interference caused by high-power-density switching power supply during high-frequency and normal operations which affects power quality of switching power supply and also impacts the environment. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a dual digital signal processor (DSP) controller suitable for unified power quality regulators and designs high-power-density switching power supply control system for promoting green environment. The overall structure of the system is divided into two parts, the power main circuit and the control circuit. In the main power circuit, the electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter is used to filter the input AC voltage and convert it into a stable DC voltage. A high-frequency inverter is used to invert the DC voltage into a high-frequency AC voltage to achieve harmonic control and reactive power compensation. In the control circuit, dual DSP controller is used to improve real-time detection, control of the output voltage, and current and driver temperature of the high-power-density switching power supply, while high-precision analysis and processing system collect different information and then achieve the power quality control of the switching power supply based on system software to keep this environment green. The experimental results suggest that the harmonic content of the experimental objects controlled by the system is reduced by 16.7% compared with the existing power quality control and the absolute error of the system is less than 0.02 V which improves the de-noising performance. The power generation systems require that the consumption of natural resources and renewable energy solutions can assist in saving the natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited information about the transfer of antidepressants and antipsychotics across the human placenta. The objective of the current review was to systematically screen the scientific literature using relevant keywords to collect quantitative data on placental transfer of these drugs in humans and to give an overview of current modeling approaches used in this context. The collected data encompassed clinically measured fetal:maternal (F:M) concentration ratios (ie, the ratio between drug concentrations measured in the umbilical cord and drug concentrations measured in the mother) and transfer data obtained from ex vivo cotyledon perfusion experiments. These data were found for 18 antidepressants and some of their pharmacologically active metabolites, and for 10 antipsychotics and the metabolites thereof. Based on the collected data, similar maternal and fetal exposure could be observed for only a few compounds (eg, norfluoxetine and desvenlafaxine), whereas for most drugs (eg, paroxetine, sertraline, and quetiapine), fetal exposure appeared to be on average lower than maternal exposure. Venlafaxine appeared to be an exception in that the data indicated equivalent or higher concentrations in the umbilical cord than in the mother. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models were sporadically used to investigate maternal pharmacokinetics of antidepressants or antipsychotics (eg, for sertraline, aripiprazole, and olanzapine), although without explicitly addressing fetal drug exposure. It is recommended that PBPK modeling is applied more frequently to these drugs. Although no substitute for clinical studies, these tools can help to better understand pregnancy‐induced pharmacokinetic changes and ultimately contribute to a more evidence‐based pharmacotherapy of depression and psychosis in pregnant subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multiphasic FE model of the lumbar intervertebral disc was developed. • The disc nutrient response was evaluated under different axial forces. • Sustained weight-bearing activities could deteriorate disc nutrient environment. • Tensile force might have a nonnegligible role in improving nutrient levels. Understanding the role of mechanical force on tissue nutrient transport is essential, as sustained force may affect nutrient levels within the disc and initiate disc degeneration. This study aims to evaluate the time-dependent effects of different compressive force amplitudes as well as tensile force on glucose concentration and cell viability within the disc. Based on the mechano-electrochemical mixture theory, a multiphasic finite element model of the lumbar intervertebral disc was developed. The minimum glucose concentration and minimum cell density in both normal and degenerated discs were predicted for different compressive force amplitudes, tensile force, and corresponding creep time. Under high compressive force, the minimum glucose concentration exhibited an increasing and then decreasing trend with creep time in the normal disc, whereas that of the degenerated disc increased, then decreased, and finally increased again. At steady state, a higher compressive force was accompanied by a lower glucose concentration distribution. In the degenerated disc, the minimum cell density was negatively correlated with creep time, with a greater range of affected tissue under a higher compressive force. For tensile force, the minimum glucose concentration of the degenerated disc raised over time. This study highlighted the importance of creep time, force magnitude, and force type in affecting nutrient concentration and cell viability. Sustained weight-bearing activities could deteriorate the nutrient environment of the degenerated disc, while tensile force might have a nonnegligible role in effectively improving nutrient levels within the degenerated disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methylglyoxal (MGO), a highly reactive precursor of advanced glycation end products, is endogenously produced and prevalent in various food products. This study aimed to characterize protein modifications in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells induced by MGO and identify potential biomarkers for its exposure and toxicity. A shot-gun proteomic analysis was applied to characterize protein modifications in cells incubated with and without exogenous MGO. Seventy-seven proteins were identified as highly susceptible to MGO modification, among which eight, including vimentin and histone H2B type 2-F, showing concentration-dependent modifications by externally added MGO, were defined as biomarkers for exogenous MGO exposure. Remarkably, up to 10 modification sites were identified on vimentin. Myosin light polypeptide 6 emerged as a biomarker for MGO toxicity, with modifications exclusively observed under cytotoxic MGO levels. Additionally, proteins like serine/threonine-protein kinase SIK2 and calcyphosin, exhibiting comparable or even higher modification levels in control compared to exogenous MGO-treated cells, were defined as biomarkers for endogenous exposure. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that motor proteins, cytoskeleton components, and glycolysis proteins were overrepresented among those highly susceptible to MGO modification. These results identify biomarkers for both endogenous and exogenous MGO exposure and provide insights into the cellular effects of endogenously formed versus externally added MGO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) envelope protein (E) has been characterized as an important structural protein that plays critical roles in the interplay with its host to affect the virus life cycle. Stress granules (SGs) are host translationally silent ribonucleoproteins, which are mainly induced by the phosphorylation of eIF2α in the PERK/eIF2α signaling pathway. Our previous study found that PEDV E protein caused endoplasmic reticulum stress response (ERS)-mediated suppression of antiviral proteins' translation. However, the link and the underlying mechanism by which PEDV induces SGs formation and suppresses host translation remain elusive. In this study, our results showed that PEDV E protein significantly elevated the expression of GRP78, CANX, and phosphorylation of PERK and eIF2α, indicating that the PERK/eIF2α branch of ERS was activated. PEDV E protein localized to the ER and aggregated into puncta to reconstruct ER structure, and further induced SGs formation, which has been caused through upregulating the G3BP1 expression level. In addition, a significant global translational stall and endogenous protein translation attenuation were detected in the presence of E protein overexpression, but the global mRNA transcriptional level remained unchanged, suggesting that the shutoff of protein translation was associated with the translation, not with the transcription process. Collectively, this study demonstrates that PERK/eIF2α activation is required for SGs formation and protein translation stall. This study is beneficial for us to better understand the mechanism by which PEDV E suppresses host protein synthesis, and provides us a new insight into the host translation regulation during virus infection. • PEDV E protein activates PERK/eIF2α branch of endoplasmic reticulum stress response (ERS). • PEDV E protein localizes to the ER and aggregates into puncta to reconstruct ER structure. • PEDV E protein induces stress granules (SGs) formation through upregulating the G3BP1 expression level. • PEDV E protein suppresses the cellular global protein synthesis at the translation stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Repair of peripheral nerve defect presents a considerable challenge for reconstructive surgeons. The aim of this study is to develop a brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) from poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres for the treatment of the peripheral nerve defect. Method: BDNF microspheres were prepared by using an oil-in-water emulsification-solvent evaporation method. The morphology, particle size, encapsulation efficiency, drug loading and sustained release performance of microspheres was observed and calculated. Adipose mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) were isolated and expanded. ADSCs were divided into four groups: control, BDNF, blank microsphere and BDNF microsphere groups. Cell count kit-8 (CCK-8) assays were used to assess cell proliferation. Cell migration was determined by Transwell assays. Twenty-eight male Sprague–Dawley rats underwent transection damage model on the right sciatic nerve. The wet weight ratio of the gastrocnemius muscle was calculated by comparing the weight of the gastrocnemius muscle from the operated side to that of the normal side. Neuroelectrophysiological testing was performed to assess nerve function recovery. Nerve regeneration was evaluated by histological analysis and immunohistochemical staining. Results: The microspheres were spherical and had uniform size (46.38 ± 1.00 μm), high encapsulation efficiency and high loading capacity. In vitro release studies showed that BDNF-loaded microspheres had good sustained release characteristics. The duration of BDNF release was extended to more than 50 days. BDNF or BDNF microsphere promote the proliferation and migration of ADSCs than control group (P < 0.05). Compared with control group, BDNF significantly decreased the nerve conduction velocity (NCV) and compound amplitude (AMP) (P < 0.05). The nerve fibers in the BDNF microsphere group were closely arranged and uniformly distributed than control group. Conclusion: BDNF/PLGA sustained-release microsphere could promote the migration of ADSCs and promoted neural differentiation of ADSCs. Moreover, BDNF/PLGA sustained-release microsphere ameliorated nerve conduction velocity and prevented neuralgic amyotrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The body of the new typical dry gasholder is a large stiffened cylindrical shell. Under the constraints of experimental and economic conditions, buckling characteristics of the body of gasholder are generally studied by scaled model experiments. Taking discrete orthogonally T -shaped stiffened cylindrical shells as the research object, generalized similitude requirements and scaling laws of the structure under external pressure are presented based on discrete stiffened theory and energy method. For partial scaled models with dimple/eigen-mode imperfection and material properties, partial similitude for nonlinear buckling of discrete stiffened cylindrical shells under external pressure is mainly investigated. The results show that using scaling laws for nonlinear buckling of stiffened cylindrical shells under external pressure, scaled models can accurately predict nonlinear buckling characteristic of prototypes. As the deviation of Poisson's ratio between materials of the model and the prototype increases, the deviation of nonlinear buckling characteristic between the predicted prototype and its prototype increases gradually. At the same time, scaled generalized similitude requirements and scaling laws can provide useful reference for the model design and experimental verification of nonlinear buckling of discrete orthogonally stiffened cylindrical shells with initial geometrical imperfection under external pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progesterone is an important natural hormone regulating ovulation and menstruation. The present study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics and safety of two formulations of progesterone in Chinese postmenopausal females under fasting and fed conditions. The study adopted a single‐dose, open‐label, randomized, three‐period bioequivalence design. A total of 96 subjects were enrolled and randomly assigned to the fasting cohort or fed cohort. A high‐fat meal (890 kcal) was used in the fed study. The reference‐scaled average bioequivalence method was used for bioequivalence evaluation. A high‐fat meal led to a 22‐fold higher peak concentration (Cmax) and a 7‐fold higher area under the curve (AUC) while time to reach Cmax and half‐life was not significantly affected. The concentration–time curve displayed double peaks suggesting the existence of enterohepatic circulation. The test/reference geometric mean ratios for Cmax and AUC under fasting and fed conditions are all within the range of 80% to 125%. All adverse events (AEs) that occurred during the trial were mild and did not cause drop‐out, though these AEs occurred more frequently under fed state. In conclusion, the two formulations of progesterone are bioequivalent in Chinese subjects under fasting and fed conditions. Drug label modification regarding food effects needs further discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collision system size dependence of light (anti-)nuclei and (anti-)hypertriton production is investigated using the parton and hadron cascade (PACIAE) model plus dynamically constrained phase-space coalescence (DCPC) model in 10 B+ 10 B, 12 C+ 12 C, 16 O+ 16 O, 20 Ne+ 20 Ne, 27 Al+ 27 Al, 40 Ar+ 40 Ar, 63 Cu+ 63 Cu, 96 Ru+ 96 Ru, 197 Au+ 197 Au, and 238 U+ 238 U collisions at s NN = 200 GeV. The yield ratios of deuteron to proton, helium-3 to proton, hypertriton to Λ -hyperon are predicted for various collision systems. In this study, we find the yield ratios between anti-(hyper-)nuclei are significantly suppressed compared to the ratios between the (hyper-)nuclei. It is also interesting to see the strangeness population factor s 3 shows a non-smooth dependence of atomic mass number A around 12 to 27, which can be related to the relative size of the produced nuclei and the emission source of different collision systems. Our present study provides a reference for a upcoming collision system scan program at RHIC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a constrained multiobjective robust simulation optimization (CMRSO) method to address black-box problems with multiple objectives and constraints under uncertainties, especially when multiple objectives and constraints are evaluated by costly simulations. Neighborhood exploration is first performed for each iterate to search for its infeasible neighbors and worst-case feasible neighbors with the help of kriging surrogate models of constraints and multiple objectives. Next, a local move direction and a proper step size are determined to obtain an updated iterate that stays away from previous infeasible neighbors and worst-case feasible neighbors. These two steps are repeated until no feasible local move direction exists or the computational budget is exhausted. By evolving iteratively and independently from a set of initial solutions, multiple final solutions will generate a set of robust efficient solutions. Finally, the CMRSO method is applied to a synthetic constrained biobjective optimization problem and a network-wide signal timing simulation optimization (SO) problem under cyber-attacks. Our study shows the effectiveness of CMRSO even with a limited computational budget, indicating that it may be a promising tool for solving simulation-based problems with multiple objectives and constraints under uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Inconsistency between vegetation greenness and productivity occurred mainly after 2000. • Significant greening in humid areas has not led to a synchronous increase in productivity. • Prolonged drought significantly reduced vegetation productivity but promoted greening in humid zones. • Vegetation greenness and productivity responses to prolonged drought were opposite in humid and arid ecosystems. Recent studies have shown that climate stress may cause asynchronous changes between greenness and productivity, but the mechanism how greenness and productivity respond to drought remains unclear. The significant greening of vegetation in China has attracted worldwide attention; nevertheless, it is unclear whether large-scale greening will translate into productivity in the context of recent droughts. In this study, we used the vegetation index dataset to extract long-term trends in vegetation greenness and productivity from 1982 to 2018, and then chose the multi-scale Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) index to measure how vegetation greenness and productivity change in response to drought. The results show that significant vegetation greening did not cause a simultaneous increase in productivity during 1982–2018. Vegetation greenness and productivity trends were relatively consistent before 2000 and diverged after 2000, especially during the prolonged drought of 2000–2009. The opposite trend between greenness and productivity in humid ecosystems during drought periods mainly caused this trend difference. In humid ecosystems, short-term drought promotes vegetation greening, while long-term drought has no significant impact on greenness. However, the inhibitory effect of drought on productivity deepens with an increase in drought duration. Therefore, prolonged droughts offset vegetation greenness-induced gross primary productivity. We also found that prolonged drought causes a significant decrease in greenness but has little effect on productivity in arid ecosystems, possibly because vegetation productivity is more sensitive to soil water than atmospheric drought. Our results highlight the complexity of vegetation growth in the context of climate change. Furthermore, it is crucial to pay attention to the impact of climate stress on regional carbon sequestration functions, considering the significant carbon sink potential of forest areas in southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concomitant administration of ritonavir and oxycodone may significantly increase the plasma concentrations of oxycodone. This study was aimed to simulate DDI between ritonavir and oxycodone, a widely used opioid, and to formulate dosing protocols for oxycodone by using physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling. We developed a ritonavir PBPK model incorporating induction and competitive and time-dependent inhibition of CYP3A4 and competitive inhibition of CYP2D6. The ritonavir model was evaluated with observed clinical pharmacokinetic data and validated for its CYP3A4 inhibition potency. We then used the model to simulate drug interactions between oxycodone and ritonavir under various dosing scenarios. The developed model captured the pharmacokinetic characteristics of ritonavir from clinical studies. The model also accurately predicts exposure changes of midazolam, triazolam, and oxycodone in the presence of ritonavir. According to model simulations, the steady-state maximum, minimum and average concentrations of oxycodone increased by up to 166% after co-administration with ritonavir, and the total exposure increased by approximately 120%. To achieve similar steady-state concentrations, halving the dose with an unchanged dosing interval or doubling the dosing interval with an unaltered single dose should be practical for oxycodone, whether formulated in uncoated or controlled-release tablets during long-term co-medication with ritonavir. The results revealed exposure-related risks of oxycodone-ritonavir interactions that have not been studied clinically and emphasized PBPK as a workable method to direct judicious dosage. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoparticle surfactants, formed at liquid–liquid interfaces by the interactions between functional groups on nanoparticles and polymers having complementary end-functionality, have been recently proposed as an excellent interface stabilizer to cover liquid droplets for applications of substance encapsulation and delivery. However, the effects of nanoparticle surfactants on the production of liquid droplets in a microfluidic channel have not been comprehensively understood yet, which is a key prerequisite for achieving various functions in real applications. In this study, we have performed a systematic investigation on the effects of nanoparticle surfactants on droplet formation in a flow-focusing microchannel by using microfluidic experiments and theoretical analysis. We have found that simultaneously adding carboxylated nanoparticles into the dispersed phase and amino-terminated polymers into the continuous phases significantly decreases the droplet size but increases the production rate. More importantly, we have indicated that the combined effect of nanoparticles and polymers is much greater than the sum of their individual effects, which is mainly attributed to the significant reduction of the oil–water interfacial tension by the formation of nanoparticle surfactants. Besides, via analyzing the competition between hydrodynamic and interfacial forces acting on the droplet, we have established a theoretical criterion for the prediction of the droplet size with considering the effects of nanoparticle surfactants, which shows a good agreement with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work considers the problem of unsupervised domain adaptation in person re-identification (re-ID), which aims to transfer knowledge from the source domain to the target domain. Existing methods are primary to reduce the inter-domain shift between the domains, which however usually overlook the relations among target samples. This paper investigates into the intra-domain variations of the target domain and proposes a novel adaptation framework w.r.t three types of underlying invariance, i.e., Exemplar-Invariance, Camera-Invariance, and Neighborhood-Invariance. Specifically, an exemplar memory is introduced to store features of samples, which can effectively and efficiently enforce the invariance constraints over the global dataset. We further present the Graph-based Positive Prediction (GPP) method to explore reliable neighbors for the target domain, which is built upon the memory and is trained on the source samples. Experiments demonstrate that 1) the three invariance properties are complementary and indispensable for effective domain adaptation, 2) the memory plays a key role in implementing invariance learning and improves the performance with limited extra computation cost, 3) GPP can facilitate the invariance learning and thus significantly improves the results, and 4) our approach produces new state-of-the-art adaptation accuracy on three re-ID large-scale benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C11H12BrNO2, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 7.5143(12) Å, b = 11.8968(15) Å, c = 12.9852(13) Å, β = 105.575(14)°, V = 1118.2(3) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0607, wRref(F2) = 0.1615, T = 293.00(10) K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder significantly decreasing patients' lives of quality and placing huge economic burden on our society. Existing studies indicated that the therapeutic effects maintained for a period of time after the treatments were discontinued. It is clinically important to assess these post-treatment therapeutic effects (PTTE), which prevent IBS from relapsing. To assess the PTTE in pinaverium treatment and obtain high-quality evidence to justify the use of PTTE for long-term IBS management, we performed this controlled, double blind study on patients with IBS who were randomized to pinaverium 50 mg (n = 132) or placebo (n = 132), three times daily, for 4 weeks, and were followed up for 57 weeks after the treatments. The primary endpoints were abdominal pain and stool consistency. The secondary endpoints were pain frequency and stool frequency. The tertiary endpoints were global overall symptom and adverse events. Three days after pinaverium was discontinued, endpoints rebounded only 23.2–42.8% (P < 0.015 cf. placebo). The PTTE (P < 0.05 cf. placebo) lasted 9–17 weeks, which is similar to other antispasmodics with a 15-week treatment in striking contrast to ≥ 1 year PTTE in cognitive behavior therapy and < 1 week PTTE in serotonin antagonist treatment indicating that PTTE length markedly depends on the medication class used for the treatment and less depends on treatment length. After 17 weeks, the stage could be considered as an IBS natural history [no significant differences between pinaverium and placebo (all endpoints' P's > 0.05)], during which an average of 51.5–56.4% of patients (pool pinaverium and placebo data together) had IBS symptoms. These results provide clinical insights into efficient and cost-effective management of refractory IBS, and lend support to the IBS management that the selection of a therapy should consider both its effectiveness during treatment and its PTTE after the treatment. Trial registration number: NCT02330029 (16/08/2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curvilinear cylindrical gear drives are similar to double-helical gear drives as they can avoid the axial thrust during the meshing process. Whether curvilinear cylindrical gear drives are better than double-helical gear drives is a problem to be solved. In this paper, a new gear-generating method for curvilinear gears is proposed based on the theory of gearing. Two different single-side face-milling cutters are used for the generation of concave and convex tooth surfaces, respectively. The curvilinear gear sets being generated have line contact in the meshing process. For the sake of comparison, the double-helical gear sets involved in the comparison study are also a kind of gear sets with line contact. This article includes the following: (1) Comparison of transmission errors and stresses of two types of gear sets with the same contact ratio; (2) Derivation of tooth surface equations, transmission error analysis, and finite element analysis; (3) Four numerical examples which show the advantages and disadvantages of curvilinear cylindrical gear drives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A comparative study of urban expansion and WESs in two megacities was conducted. • In Chengdu, urban expansion had an edge-based pattern that encompassed city-wide. • In Wuhan, suburban expansion is growing rapidly due to leapfrogging development. • Urban expansion has larger negative effects on WY and WP in Wuhan's suburbs. • Ecological land in the megacities' center suffered from indirect loss of WESs. The megacity expansion that continues to occur in developing countries is an unavoidable trend at this stage, yet there exists a dearth of knowledge regarding the comprehensive impacts of urban expansion on water-related ecosystem services (WESs) within these areas. Taking Chengdu and Wuhan, two megacities in the upper and middle Yangtze River Economic Belt in China as the study area, this study first compare the magnitude, rate, spatial divergence, and the mode of urban expansion; then evaluate its impact on three typical types of WESs, i.e., water yield (WY), water purification (WP), and habitat quality (HQ) using spatial econometric models and bivariate Moran's I. The research findings show that Chengdu's suburbs tend to experience edge-based expansion along rivers, while Wuhan's city center also spreads outward in edge-based from the river junctions of the Yangtze and Han rivers. Urban expansion negatively impacts all three types of WESs, and its effect in Chengdu is greater than in Wuhan. WY in the suburbs of Wuhan is severely impacted by urban expansion, while WP in the suburbs of Chengdu is as well. HQ in Chengdu's city center suffers the largest negative impact. The study also reveals a spatial spillover effect of urban expansion, with extensive negative externalities on all WESs in the city centers of both cities and positive externalities on WY and WP in the southwestern suburbs of Chengdu. Based on these results, we suggest that megacities in developing countries should focus on protecting HQ in the city center and limiting cross-regional edge-based expansion in suburbs. Attention should be paid to the water-ecological protection of the suburb rivers. City managers should consider ecological zoning geared toward the conservation of WESs to address the adverse impacts of expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During an earthquake, the brace of a multistorey X-braced steel frame experiences out-of-plane instability. After the brace becomes unstable, the middle span of the brace-intersected beam exhibits a large imbalance force. This force causes a significant vertical displacement in the middle of the brace-intersected beam. To address this issue, an improved multistorey X-braced steel frame is proposed. Adding an arc energy-dissipation structure to the original structure adjusts the bearing capacity of the brace and ensures that the brace does not lose stability. The deformation of the arc energy-dissipation structure reduces the vertical displacement of the brace-intersected beam. A finite element model of the improved multistorey X-braced steel frame is established, and the seismic performance of the structure is analysed. The analysis shows that the brace of the improved multistorey X-braced steel frame does not experience instability, and the lateral bearing capacity is increased by 20%. The vertical displacement in the middle of the brace-intersected beam is small. The improved multistorey X-braced steel frame exhibits good seismic performance. • Seismic performance of improved multistorey X-braced steel frame was studied. • Improved multistorey X-braced steel frame can solve the out-of-plane instability of brace. • The problems of large unbalanced force and vertical deformation of brace-intersected beam were solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-grained 3D shape recognition (FGSR) is crucial for real-world applications. Existing methods face challenges in achieving high accuracy for FGSR due to high similarity within sub-categories and low dissimilarity between them, especially in the absence of part location or attribute annotations. In this paper, we propose V2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$^2$$\end{document}MLP, a multi-view representation-oriented MLP network dedicated to FGSR, using only class labels as supervision. V2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$^2$$\end{document}MLP comprises two key modules: the cross-view interaction MLP (CVI-MLP) and the cross-view fusion MLP (CVF-MLP). The CVI-MLP module captures contextual information, including local and global contexts through cross-view interactions, to extract discriminative view features that reinforce subtle differences between sub-categories. Meanwhile, the CVF-MLP module performs cross-view aggregation from space and view dimensions to obtain the final 3D shape features, minimizing information loss during the view feature fusion process. Extensive experiments on three categories from the FG3D dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of V2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$^2$$\end{document}MLP in learning discriminative features for 3D shapes, achieving state-of-the-art accuracy for FGSR. Additionally, V2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$^2$$\end{document}MLP performs competitively for meta-category recognition on the ModelNet40 dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a challenge to understand the experimental data on both the nuclear modification factor and elliptic flow of D 0 mesons in p −Pb collisions at LHC energies. In this work, we study these collisions with an improved multi-phase transport model. By including the independent fragmentation and a significant Cronin effect (i.e., transverse momentum broadening) for charm quarks, we provide the first simultaneous description of the D 0 meson R pA and v 2 data at p T ≤ 8 GeV/ c. The model also reasonably describes the D 0 meson p T spectra and the low- p T charged hadron spectra, R pA and v 2. Our results show that both parton interactions and the Cronin effect are important for the D 0 meson R pA , while parton interactions are mostly responsible for the D 0 meson v 2. It is thus essential to include the Cronin effect for the simultaneous description of the D 0 meson R pA and v 2. This work implies that the Cronin effect could also be important for heavy hadrons in large systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-doping is a prospective strategy to improve the adsorption efficiency of adsorbents. Herein, N-doped porous carbons (PCs) were synthesized from industrial alkali lignin (IAL) with urea assistance for adsorbing methylene blue (MB). The nitrogen content and pore structure could be adjusted by changing urea dosage. The PCs were characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N 2 adsorption-desorption experiments, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Zeta potential. The optimized weight ratio of urea to IAL was 1:1. NLC -1 synthesized under this condition possessed high micropore volumes (V micro) and mesopore volumes (V meso), namely 0.3531 and 0.3480 cm3/g, respectively, and the specific surface area (SSA) of NLC -1 reached 1131 m2/g. The adsorption capacities of PCs for MB were compared and discussed. Notably, the as-obtained NLC -1 exhibited the highest adsorption capacity of 785.8 mg/g. This was attributed to the pore filling and the appropriate N content (3.780%). The adsorbing process of MB onto NLC -1 was well reproduced by the Langmuir model. Furthermore, the kinetic data conformed to the pseudo-second-order (PSO) model, and the MB adsorption process was spontaneous according to the thermodynamic parameters. Overall, this study indicates that PCs from IAL have a great potential for MB adsorption. [Display omitted] • Novel N-doped porous carbon was prepared from industrial alkali lignin. • NLC-1 exhibited a large specific surface area and well-developed pore structure. • N-doping is beneficial to the adsorption capacity of methylene blue. • At pH= 12, the maximum adsorption capacity of methylene blue was 785.8 mg/g. • The adsorption mechanism of methylene blue on NLC-1 was elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold a great promise for cell-based therapy in the field of regenerative medicine. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravenous infusion of human umbilical cord-derived MSCs (HUC-MSCs) in patients with aging frailty. Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, participants diagnosed with aging frailty were randomly assigned to receive intravenous administrations of HUC-MSCs or placebo. All of serious adverse events and AEs were monitored to evaluate the safety of treatment during the 6-month follow-up. The primary efficacy endpoint was alteration of physical component scores (PCS) of SF-36 qualities of life at 6 months. The secondary outcomes including physical performance tests and pro-inflammatory cytokines, were also observed and compared at each follow-up visits. All evaluations were performed at 1 week, 1, 2, 3 and 6 months following the first intravenous infusion of HUC-MSCs. Results: In the MSCs group, significant improvements in PCS of SF-36 were observed from first post-treatment visit and sustained throughout the follow-up period, with greater changes compared to the placebo group (p = 0.042). EQ-VAS scores of MSCs group improved significantly at 2 month (p = 0.023) and continued until the end of the 6-month visit (p = 0.002) in comparison to the placebo group. The timed up and go (TUG) physical performance test revealed significant group difference and showed continual enhancements over 6 months (p < 0.05). MSC transplantation improved the function of 4-m walking test (4MWT) compared with the placebo group with a decrease of 2.05 s at 6 months of follow-up (p = 0.21). The measurement of grip strength revealed group difference with MSCs group demonstrating better performance, particularly at 6 months (p = 0.002). Inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-17) exhibited declines in MSCs group at 6 months compared to the placebo group (p = 0.034 and 0.033, respectively). There was no difference of incidence of AEs between the two groups. Conclusion: Intravenous transplantation of HUC-MSCs is a safe and effective therapeutic approach on aging frailty. The positive outcomes observed in improving quality of life, physical performance, and reducing chronic inflammation, suggest that HUC-MSC therapy may be a promising potential treatment option for aging frailty. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrial.gov; NCT04314011; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04314011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia is considered one of the most promising zero-carbon fuels for internal combustion engines. However, its poor combustion performance often leads to low efficiency and high unburned ammonia emissions in compression ignition engines. Recognizing that hydrogen can significantly enhance the combustion characteristics of ammonia, this paper explores the impact of hydrogen addition on the combustion and emission characteristics of ammonia-diesel dual fuel mode. The results indicate that with the addition of hydrogen, the heat release rate and maximum in-cylinder pressure noticeably increased under medium to high engine loads. Although NOx emissions saw a significant rise, the addition of hydrogen, combined with early diesel injection timing, inhibited N 2 O emissions. The indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) increased remarkably, reaching up to 50 %. For low-load conditions, early diesel injection resulted in a weak reactivity and low heat release rate, leading to ammonia emissions surpassing 10,000 ppm. By elevating intake heating to 55 °C, ammonia emissions were significantly reduced, improving ITE to 45 %. In conclusion, the research suggests that a high ITE can be achieved across a broad range of engine load conditions in ammonia-diesel dual-fuel combustion mode with the strategic addition of hydrogen and optimization of injection timing. • Impacts of hydrogen addition on the ammonia-diesel dual-fuel combustion mode were explored. • 50 % indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) can be reached with 10 % hydrogen for medium-high loads. • By intake heating to 55 °C and 10 % hydrogen, ITE was improved to 45 % under low load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In computer artificial intelligence, there is great potential in research on the protection of Suzhou's traditional gardens, a world cultural heritage site. As a special material in Suzhou's traditional garden architecture, shedthin tile is widely used in roof base laying and is one of the important materials for building roofs. However, professionals need to reach the roof and spend much time and effort assessing the damage before repairing it. Therefore, the main goals of this study are to investigate a machine learning-based method for finding targets and determining the type of surface damage on a shedthin tile using the YOLOv4 model trained in this study. Using 500 shedthin tile on-site photos as training samples, the model was trained for 750 epochs. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) An object detection method based on machine learning can efficiently and accurately identify damage content, overcoming the manpower and time–cost limitations of traditional assessment methods. (2) The detection model in this study has an accuracy of 85.89% for water stain recognition of shedthin tiles, 93.29% for surface scaling, 87.37% for color aberration, and 96.15% for too wide a gap. The comprehensive accuracy is 90.20%, which meets the basic testing requirements. (3) The model demonstrated its robustness and reliability in complex environments in application tests in actual scenarios, providing a methodological reference for computer vision and target detection technology in cultural heritage protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) in China declined for the first time in 2020. • Proportion of incineration mode may increase significantly in the coming years. • China's sanitation industry investment relies heavily on local governments. • There is an urgent need to expand investment channels for sustainable MSW treatment. This study aims to analyze the development trend of municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment in China from 2011 to 2020, and provide insights into the challenges and opportunities of sustainable MSW management. Our analysis shows that MSW generation declined in 2020, which could be attributed to a combination of factors, including the low urban population growth rate, the implementation of the garbage classification policy, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also found that the shift from landfill to incineration is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, although there are still several structural problems, such as an imbalance in treatment capacity among regions and cities, and uncertainty about whether the increase in incineration treatment capacity can meet overall demand due to the high volume of MSW generation. Our analysis highlights the heavy dependence on government investment for MSW treatment mode change, which is difficult due to the expanding deficit between fiscal revenue and expenditure of local governments. Correlation coefficient analysis shows a significant positive correlation between the proportion of incineration and sanitation investment, and a significant negative correlation between the proportion of landfill treatment and sanitation investment. To address these challenges, we propose technological advancement and management optimization to reduce the cost of MSW treatment, as well as expansion of investment channels through green funds, taxation relief, and other means to promote high-quality and sustainable development of the MSW treatment industry. These changes could accelerate the transformation of China's MSW treatment industry from policy promotion-dependent to market-oriented sustainable operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effects of powder storage condition is helpful to improve the mechanical properties of powder metallurgy (PM) and additive manufacturing (AM) superalloys. In this work, nickel-based FGH96 superalloy powders were stored under ambient air (relatively dry) and humid (25 °C/95%RH and 90 °C/95%RH) atmospheres and then consolidated by hot isostatic pressing (HIP). The powders and corresponding bulk alloys were characterized by XPS, OM, FESEM, EPMA, EBSD, and TEM. The results indicate that the humid atmosphere mainly affects the gas content, chemical state, and oxide/hydroxide layer thickness of powders, leading to highest values of oxygen content (∼450 ppm), hydrogen content (∼25 ppm), and NiO/Ni(OH) 2 thickness (∼13.9 nm) for 90 °C/95%RH powders, and further forms much severe prior particle boundaries (PPBs) defects in HIPed alloy. The detrimental PPBs are composed of large-sized γ', MC carbides-(Ti, Nb)C, Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 oxides. In comparison with ambient air powders compact, the strength of 90 °C/95%RH powders compact is unexpectedly increased, which is due to the internal grains pinned inside the original particle boundaries by higher severity degree of PPBs, and leads to the increase of grain boundary strength. Meanwhile, the ductility is significantly decreased, because the fracture mode transited from ductile transgranular fracture to brittle inter-particle debonding. The study reveals the relationship between humid atmosphere and properties of both powders and bulk alloys, and intends to obtain good combination of strength and ductility for PM Ni-based superalloys. • The characteristics of Ni-based superalloy powders under ambient air and humid atmospheres were comparatively investigated. • Higher humid atmosphere results in higher oxygen content and much severe PPBs defects. • PPBs are composed of large-sized γ', (Ti, Nb)C, Al 2 O 3 , and ZrO 2. • Higher severity degree of PPBs obviously decreases the ductility but slightly increases the strength of FGH96 superalloy. • The increase of grain boundary strength contributes to the increase of yield strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the synthesis of novel vinpocetine derivatives (2–25) and their biological evaluation. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were fully characterized using techniques such as 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. The inhibitory activity of the synthesized compounds on PDE1A was evaluated, and the results revealed that compounds 3, 4, 5, 12, 14, 21, and 25 exhibited superior inhibitory activity compared to vinpocetine. Compound 4, with a para-methylphenyl substitution, showed a 5-fold improvement in inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 3.53 ± 0.25 μM. Additionally, compound 25, with 3-chlorothiazole substitution, displayed an 8-fold increase in inhibitory activity compared to vinpocetine (IC50 = 2.08 ± 0.16 μM). Molecular docking studies were conducted to understand the binding models of compounds 4 and 25 within the active site of PDE1A. The molecular docking study revealed additional binding interactions, such as π–π stacking and hydrogen bonding, contributing to the enhanced inhibitory activity and stability of the ligand–protein complexes. Overall, the synthesized vinpocetine derivatives demonstrated promising inhibitory activity on PDE1A, and the molecular docking studies provided insights into their binding modes, supporting further development of these compounds as potential candidates for drug research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive disease with rapid progression and poor prognosis due to multidrug resistance (MDR). Piperine (PIP) shows promise as a P-gp inhibitor, capable of sensitizing chemotherapeutic drugs and exhibiting antitumor properties. This study explores the inhibitory mechanism of PIP on P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and its capacity to enhance the sensitivity of paclitaxel (PTX). We subsequently evaluated the efficacy and safety of albumin nanoparticles that co-encapsulate PTX and PIP (PP@AN). The results demonstrated that PIP enhanced the accumulation of PTX intracellularly, as determined with HPLC/MS/MS analysis. PIP was also found to increase cell sensitivity to PTX. Furthermore, we explored the inhibitory mechanism of PIP on P-gp, utilizing molecular docking simulations, RT-qPCR, and Western blot analysis. PIP appears to compete with the active paclitaxel binding site on P-gp, affecting ATPase activity and downregulating the MDR1 gene and P-gp expression. In summary, PIP could inhibit P-gp and act as a sensitizer in the treatment of TNBC with PTX. Moreover, stable and uniform PP@AN was successfully formulated, resulting in a significant increase in drug accumulation within cells as well as the downregulation of P-gp in tumors at the optimal ratio (PTX:PIP = 1:2). This led to an improvement in the antitumor effect in vivo while also reducing hepatotoxicity and hemototoxicity following chemotherapy. This study comprehensively investigated PIP's inhibitory effect and mechanism on P-gp. We present a new approach for co-delivering PIP and PTX using albumin nanoparticles, which reduced toxicity and improved therapeutic efficacy both in vivo and in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]