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One-dimensional copper sulfide (CuS) wires were realized by the acrylamide-assisted hydrothermal process using Cu(NO3)2 and thiourea (NH2CSNH2) as reactants at 100 °C. A copper sulfide/carbon nanotube (CNTs) composite was fabricated as a similar method with the addition of CNTs. The samples are characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and Raman scattering spectra, respectively. The influence of reaction temperature and amine on the morphologies of CuS nanocrystals was investigated. As anode materials for sodium-ion batteries, the electrochemical studies show that the CuS/CNT composite electrode delivers a higher reversible capacity of 428.1 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 for the 100th cycle, because CNTs can be a conductive agent to provide a fast path for electron transportation, compared with the bare CuS wires (280 mAh·g−1 after 100 cycles). The synthesis results indicate that the amine-directed synthesis strategy of copper sulfide could be extended for the preparation of other metal sulfide nanostructures. Further, the incorporation of the CNT matrix into the copper sulfide is an effective approach to enhance the electrochemical performance of CuS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric engineering plays a crucial role in the process of device miniaturization. Herein we investigate the electrical properties of bilayer GaSe metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), considering hetero-gate-dielectric construction, dielectric materials and GaSe stacking pattern. The results show that device performance strongly depends on the dielectric constants and locations of insulators. When high-k dielectric is placed close to the drain, it behaves with a larger on-state current (Ion) of 5052 µA/µm when the channel is 5 nm. Additionally, when the channel is 5 nm and insulator is HfO2, the largest Ion is 5134 µA/µm for devices with AC stacking GaSe channel. In particular, when the gate length is 2 nm, it still meets the HP requirements of ITRS 2028 for the device with AA stacking when high-k dielectric is used. Hence, the work provides guidance to regulate the performance of the two-dimensional nanodevices by dielectric engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the flocking behavior of a Cucker-Smale model with a leader and noise is studied in a finite time. The authors present a Cucker-Smale system with two nonlinear controls for a complex network with stochastic synchronization in probability. Based on the finite-time stability theory of stochastic differential equations, the sufficient conditions for the flocking of stochastic systems in a finite time are obtained by using the Lyapunov function method. Finally, the numerical simulation of the particle system is carried out for the leader and noise, and the correctness of the results is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the dispersion process of the underground toxic gas carbon monoxide (CO) into the refuge chamber during a mine disaster and enhance the survival rate of trapped miners, a simplified model of an underground refuge chamber and the main roadway was constructed. The impact of temperature and pressurized air volume on CO dispersion into the refuge chamber has been examined through both analog experiments and numerical simulations, and the reliability of the simulation results was verified. The results indicate that CO dispersion into the refuge chamber through the top of the protective isolation door occurs when the temperature in the refuge chamber is lower than that of the toxic gas. When the temperature of the toxic gas is higher, it tends to enter the refuge chamber through the bottom of the protective isolation door. The evolution of CO concentration in the transition chamber can be divided toxic survival chamber can be categorized into a sudden decline stage and a stable stage. And a flexible isolation door designed to control the entry of toxic gases into the refuge chamber was implemented, and its impact on CO dispersion has been compared and analyzed. When the temperature of the main roadway is 50 °C and the temperature of the refuge chamber is 20 °C, the required pressurized air volume to maintain the CO concentration within the safe threshold (24 ppm) is reduced to 69.6% of that needed without the isolation door, thereby significantly reducing the infiltration of harmful gases from the main roadway into the refuge chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shade avoidance helps plants maximize their access to light for growth under crowding. It is unknown, however, whether a priming shade avoidance mechanism exists that allows plants to respond more effectively to successive shade conditions. Here, we show that the shade-intolerant plant Arabidopsis can remember a first experienced shade event and respond more efficiently to the next event on hypocotyl elongation. The transcriptional regulator PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 7 (PIF7) and the histone H3K27-demethylase RELATIVE OF EARLY FLOWERING 6 (REF6) are identified as being required for this shade avoidance memory. RNA-sequencing analysis reveals that shade induction of shade-memory-related genes is impaired in the pif7 and ref6 mutants. Based on the analyses of enrichments of H3K27me3, REF6 and PIF7, we find that priming shade treatment induces PIF7 accumulation, which further recruits REF6 to demethylate H3K27me3 on the chromatin of certain shade-memory-related genes, leading to a state poised for their transcription. Upon a second shade treatment, enhanced shade-mediated inductions of these genes result in stronger hypocotyl growth responses. We conclude that the transcriptional memory mediated by epigenetic modification plays a key role in the ability of primed plants to remember previously experienced shade and acquire enhanced responses to recurring shade conditions. Cheng et al. find that priming shade treatment can be memorized and triggers faster hypocotyl elongation upon subsequent exposure to shade. During shade memory, PIF7 and REF6 are required to maintain low levels of H3K27me3 and hyper-induction of shade-memory-related genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Accurate segmentation of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) lesions from MR images plays an important role in surgical planning and decision but is still challenging for radiologists and clinicians. In this study, we introduce a novel transformer-based model, designed for the end-to-end segmentation of FCD lesions from multi-channel MR images. Methods: The core innovation of our proposed model is the integration of a convolutional neural network-based encoder-decoder structure with a multiscale transformer to augment the feature representation of lesions in the global field of view. Transformer pathways, composed of memory- and computation-efficient dual-self-attention modules, leverage feature maps from varying depths of the encoder to discern long-range interdependencies among feature positions and channels, thereby emphasizing areas and channels relevant to lesions. The proposed model was trained and evaluated on a public-open dataset including MR images of 85 patients using both subject-level and voxel-level metrics. Results: Experimental results indicate that our model offers superior performance both quantitatively and qualitatively. It successfully identified lesions in 82.4% of patients, with a low false-positive lesion cluster rate of 0.176 ± 0.381 per patient. Furthermore, the model achieved an average Dice coefficient of 0.410 ± 0.288, outperforming five established methods. Conclusion: Integration of the transformer could enhance the feature presentation and segmentation performance of FCD lesions. The proposed model has the potential to serve as a valuable assistive tool for physicians, enabling rapid and accurate identification of FCD lesions. The source code and pre-trained model weights are available at https://github.com/zhangxd0530/MS-DSA-NET. Critical relevance statement: This multiscale transformer-based model performs segmentation of focal cortical dysplasia lesions, aiming to help radiologists and clinicians make accurate and efficient preoperative evaluations of focal cortical dysplasia patients from MR images. Key Points: The first transformer-based model was built to explore focal cortical dysplasia lesion segmentation. Integration of global and local features enhances the segmentation performance of lesions. A valuable benchmark for model development and comparative analyses was provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the non-isothermal co-pyrolysis of walnut shell (WS), Enteromorpha clathrata (EN), and their blends (WEB) was studied using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). For all the samples, three different decomposition stages were identified by the thermogravimetric analysis. At the same temperature, the mass loss of WEB was always stable between the values of WS and EN. In addition, different heating rates resulted in different TG–DTG profiles. The interaction between WS and EN showed a gradual enhancement with temperature increase, and the most significant interaction was generated when the blending proportion of WS and EN was 7:3. The Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS), Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO), and masterplots methods were used to determine the kinetic triplets. The results show that for different blending ratios, the effective activation energies of WS and EN co-pyrolysis vary from 86.21 to 247.86 kJ mol−1 when the conversion rate is 0.2–0.8. The most appropriate mechanism for the pyrolysis of 70WS30EN is g(α)=[-ln(1-α)]1/2 with kinetic parameters: apparent activation energy 86.21 kJ mol-1 and pre-exponential factor 8.99 × 1016 s−1. The findings in this paper provide a reference for further research on the co-pyrolysis of aquatic and terrestrial biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced bone mass and structural brittleness of bone tissue are symptoms of osteoporosis. It increases bone fragility and fracture susceptibility in the thigh, spine, wrist, and other places. It is a painless, quiet illness that goes unnoticed until a fracture happens. So far, a lot of research has been done on the diagnosis of osteoporosis. This volume of research indicates that due to significant advances in medicine, the introduction of new methods for the diagnosis of osteoporosis still has a special place. In this paper, image processing and SVM methods have been used to achieve an osteoporosis diagnosis system. The system designed in this study has good data by collecting data including 50 sample images of the tibia compared to other research in this field. Also, in the proposed system, for the first time in the field of osteoporosis diagnosis in the feature extraction section, the histogram feature is used along with the tissue features, in which case the designed system has been upgraded to a desirable accuracy of 83.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene and tannic acid were modified by magnetic agitation and ultrasonic dispersion. Modified graphene compounding with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) is prepared an expanded flame retardant system (AGT), which AGT was selected as the main flame retardant and sepiolite (SEP) as co-flame retardant in this work. Five modifiers including tannic acid (TA), oleic acid (YS), oleic acid amide (YSXA), thaumatin (TW) and oleyl amine (YA) were introduced to make modified SEP (SEP@M and M represents respectively TA, YS,YSXA,TW and YA). FTIR spectroscopy was performed on SEP modified by different modifiers at 1: 8, 1: 10, and 1: 15 ratios. The effect of modifier on the dispersion of SEP in Ethylene propylene diene (EPDM) adhesive and the optimum ratio of SEP modification were studied. Finally, the effect of the combination system on the flame retardant performance of EPDM/AGT/SEP@M composites was analyzed, and the smoke retardant mechanism of SEP coflame retardant and expansion flame retardant system in matrix materials was investigated. Experimental results showed that EPDM/AGT/SEP8@YS1 achieved a V-0 grade with an oxygen index of 44.92% compared to the blank control group. The thermal release rate of EPDM/AGT/SEP8@YS1 decreased by 49.8% and the smoke release rate and total smoke release rate decreased by 75.3% and 41.9%, respectively, compared to pure EPDM. In addition, the tensile and tear strength of EPDM/AGT/SEP8@YS1 was increased by 26.14% and 9.91%, respectively, compared to EPDM/AGT/SEP in mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prognostic analysis of lung invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma (IMA) is deficient due to the lack of a universally recommended histological grading system, leading to unregulated treatment approaches. Objective: We aimed to examine the clinical trajectory of IMA and assess the viability of utilizing the existing grading system for lung invasive non-mucinous adenocarcinoma in the context of IMA. Methods: We retrospectively collected clinicopathological data from 265 IMA patients. Each case re-evaluated the tumor grade using the following three classification systems: the 4th Edition of the World Health Organization classification system, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) grading system, and a two-tier grading system. We performed a comparative analysis of these grading systems and identified the most effective grading system for IMA. Results: The study comprised a total of 214 patients with pure IMA and 51 patients with mixed IMA. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates for pure IMA and mixed IMA were 86.7% and 57.8%, respectively. All three grading systems proved to be effective prognostic classifiers for IMA. The value of area under the curve at 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS was highest for the IASLC grading system compared with the other grade systems and the clinical stage. The IASLC classification system was an independent prognostic predictor (p = 0.009, hazard ratio 2.243, 95% confidence interval 1.219–4.127). Conclusion: Mixed IMA is more aggressive than pure IMA, with an OS rate on par with that of high-grade pure IMA. The IASLC grading system can better indicate prognosis and is recommended for lung IMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Cortex Periplocae (CP) has a wide range of pharmacological effects, as well as toxic side effects. The main toxic components of it are cardiac glycosides, which tend to cause cardiotoxicity. Currently, it has also been reported in studies to cause hepatotoxicity, but it is not clear whether the hepatotoxicity is related to the toxicity caused by the reactive metabolites. This study aims to investigate the target components of CP that generate reactive metabolic toxicity. The fluorescent probe method was used to detect glutathione (GSH)-trapped reactive metabolites in a co-incubation system of CP extract with rat liver microsomes. Identification of GSH conjugates was performed by LC–MS/MS and that of the possible precursor components that produce reactive metabolites was conducted by UPLC–Q-TOF/MS. Cell viability assays were performed on HepG2 and L02 cells to determine the cytotoxicity of the target components. The findings of our study demonstrate that the extract derived from CP has the ability to generate metabolites that exhaust the intracellular GSH levels, resulting in the formation of GSH conjugates and subsequent cytotoxic effects. Through the utilization of the UPLC–Q-TOF/MS technique, we were able to accurately determine the molecular weight of the precursor compound in CP to be 355.1023. The primary evidence to determining the GSH conjugetes relies on the appearance of characteristic product ions resulting from central neutral loss (CNL) scanning of 129 Da and product scanning of m/z 660 in the positive MS/MS spectrum. Through analysis, it was ultimately ascertained that the presence of chlorogenic acid (CGA) and its isomers, namely neochlorogenic acid (NCGA) and cryptochlorogenic acid (CCGA), could lead to the production of GSH conjugates, resulting in cytotoxicity at elevated levels. Taking these findings into consideration, the underlying cause for the potential hepatotoxicity of CP was initially determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorine-containing Ti-extraction blast furnace slag (TEBFS) is a solid waste produced during titanium removal from high-titanium blast furnace slag. Large amounts of TEBFS affect the local environment and severely limit further process development. A lightweight calcium silicate board was successfully prepared via hydrothermal synthesis. When the mass ratio of TEBFS: Portland cement: diatomite: calcium hydroxide: quartz was 46∶15∶17∶13.9∶8.1, the bulk density, bending strength, and thermal conductivity of the sample were 1.23 g/cm3, 8.2 MPa, and 0.299 W/(m·K), respectively. The overall sample performance met the D1.3 category requirements in the national standard. After being immersed in water with stirring at 30 °C for 60 min, the sample exhibited a curing chlorine efficiency of 40.6%. Mechanical grinding increased slag activity and sample performance. Grinding for 3 min, the activity index of the slag was 72.74%, and the bending strength of the sample increased to 8.7 MPa. Increasing the pozzolanic activity of the slag and reducing the amount of aggregate produced between particles had a positive effect on optimizing sample performance. This paper provides a feasible method for the diversification and clean utilization of TEBFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multimodal sentiment analysis focuses on the fusion of multiple modalities. However, modality representation learning is a key step for better modality fusion, so how to fully learn the sentiment information of non-text modalities is a problem worth exploring. In addition, how to further improve the accuracy of sentiment polarity prediction is also a work to be studied. To solve the above problems, we propose a multimodal sentiment analysis model with effective context semantic modality fusion and sentiment polarity correction (CSMF-SPC). Firstly, we design a low-rank multimodal fusion network based on context semantic modality (CSM-LRMFN). CSM-LRMFN uses the bi-directional long short-term memory network to extract the context semantic features of non-text modalities, and the BERT to extract the features of text modality. Then, CSM-LRMFN adopts a low-rank multimodal fusion method to fully extract the interaction information among modalities with contextual semantics. Different from previous studies, to improve the accuracy of sentiment polarity prediction, we design a weight self-adjusting sentiment polarity penalty loss function, which makes the model learn more sentiment features that are conducive to model prediction through backpropagation. Finally, a series of comparative experiments are conducted on the CMU-MOSI and CMU-MOSEI datasets. Compared with the current representative models, CSMF-SPC achieves better experimental results. Among them, the Acc-2 (including zero) metric is increased by 1.41% and 1.58% on the word-aligned and unaligned CMU-MOSI datasets respectively; it is improved by 1.50% and 2.14% respectively on the CMU-MOSEI dataset, which indicates that the improvement of CSMF-SPC is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stapokibart/CM310, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the interleukin-4 receptor α chain, has shown promising treatment benefits in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis in previous phase II clinical trials. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of stapokibart in adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Methods: Enrolled patients who previously completed parent trials of stapokibart received a subcutaneous stapokibart 600-mg loading dose, then 300 mg every 2 weeks up to 52 weeks. Efficacy outcomes included the proportions of patients with ≥ 50%/75%/90% improvements from baseline of parent trials in the Eczema Area and Severity Index, Investigator's Global Assessment, and weekly average of the daily Peak Pruritus Numerical Rating Scale. Results: In total, 127 patients were enrolled, and 110 (86.6%) completed the study. At week 52, the Eczema Area and Severity Index-50/75/90 response rates were 96.3%, 87.9%, and 71.0%, respectively. An Investigator's Global Assessment 0/1 with a ≥ 2-point reduction was achieved in 39.3% of patients at week 16, increasing to 58.9% at week 52. The proportions of patients with ≥ 3-point and ≥ 4-point reductions in the weekly average of daily Peak Pruritus Numerical Rating Scale scores were 80.2% and 62.2%, respectively, at week 52. Improvement in patients' quality of life was sustained over a 52-week treatment period. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 88.2% of patients, with an exposure-adjusted event rate of 299.2 events/100 patient-years. Coronavirus disease 2019, upper respiratory tract infection, and conjunctivitis were the most common treatment-emergent adverse events. Conclusions: Long-term treatment with stapokibart for 52 weeks showed high efficacy and good safety profiles, supporting its use as a continuous long-term treatment option for atopic dermatitis. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04893707 (15 May, 2021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid immunity against SARS-CoV-2 has not been well studied in pregnancy. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of neutralizing antibodies (nAb) and binding antibodies in pregnant individuals who received mRNA vaccination, natural infection, or both. A third vaccine dose augmented nAb levels compared to the two-dose regimen or natural infection alone; this effect was more pronounced in hybrid immunity. There was reduced anti-Omicron nAb, but the maternal-fetal transfer efficiency remained comparable to that of other variants. Vaccine-induced nAbs were transferred more efficiently than infection-induced nAbs. Anti-spike receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG was associated with nAb against wild-type (Wuhan-Hu-1) following breakthrough infection. Both vaccination and infection-induced anti-RBD IgA, which was more durable than anti-nucleocapsid IgA. IgA response was attenuated in pregnancy compared to non-pregnant controls. These data provide additional evidence of augmentation of humoral immune responses in hybrid immunity in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-linked polymers with covalent adaptable networks (CANs) can be reprocessed under external stimuli owing to the exchangeability of dynamic covalent bonds. Optimization of reprocessing conditions is critical since increasing the reprocessing temperature costs more energy and even deteriorates the materials, while reducing the reprocessing temperature via molecular design usually narrows the service temperature range. Exploiting CO2 gas as an external trigger for lowering the reprocessing barrier shows great promise in low sample contamination and environmental friendliness. Herein, we develop a type of CANs incorporated with ionic clusters that achieve CO2-facilitated recyclability without sacrificing performance. The presence of CO2 can facilitate the rearrangement of ionic clusters, thus promoting the exchange of dynamic bonds. The effective stress relaxation and network rearrangement enable the system with rapid recycling under CO2 while retaining excellent mechanical performance in working conditions. This work opens avenues to design recyclable polymer materials with tunable dynamics and responsive recyclability. Cross-linked polymers with covalent adaptable networks are reprocessed under external stimuli at high temperatures which might deteriorate their performance. Here, the authors introduce carbon dioxide responsive ionic clusters into covalent adaptable polymer networks to facilitate the exchange of dynamic bonds providing materials with a rapid recycling and good mechanical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-Exos) have been shown to promote angiogenesis after ischemic stroke, in which microRNAs (miRs) are believed to play an important role in exosome-mediated therapeutic effects, though the mechanism is still not clear. In this study, a series of molecular biological and cellular assays, both in vitro and in vivo, were performed to elucidate the role of exosomal miR-486 in angiogenesis following cerebral ischemic and its molecular mechanisms. Our results revealed that BMSC-Exos significantly improved neurological function and increased microvessel density in ischemic stroke rats. In vitro assays showed that BMSC-Exos promoted the proliferation, migration, and tube formation ability of oxygen–glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) injured rat brain microvascular endothelial cells (RBMECs). Importantly, BMSC-Exos increased the expression of miR-486 and phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-Akt) and down-regulated the protein level of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that transfection with miR-486 mimic enhanced RBMECs angiogenesis and increased p-Akt expression, while inhibited PTEN expression. On the other hand, the miR-486 inhibitor induced an opposite effect, which could be blocked by PTEN siRNA. It was thus concluded that exosomal miR-486 from BMSCs may enhance the functional recovery by promoting angiogenesis following cerebral ischemic injury, which might be related to its regulation of the PTEN/Akt pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we establish the existence of standing wave solutions for a class of nonlinear fractional Schrödinger-Poisson system involving nonlinearity with subcritical and critical growth. We suppose that the potential V satisfies either Palais-Smale type condition or there exists a bounded domain Ω such that V has no critical point in ∂ Ω . To overcome the "lack of compactness" of the problem, we combine Del Pino-Felmer's penalization technique with Moser's iteration method and some ideas from Alves [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with developmental disabilities lack sufficient physical activity in their daily lives. The purpose of this study was to see if children with developmental disabilities who participated in stair-climbing exercises had better physical performance and health status than children with developmental disabilities who did not. This study adopted a pre-and-post-test experimental design, enrolling 30 subjects (experimental group, 15; control group, 15) with developmental disabilities aged 5–7 years from pediatric rehabilitation treatment departments of two regional teaching hospitals in Taiwan. The experimental group received stair-climbing exercises and physical therapy twice a week for eight consecutive weeks. The primary outcomes were health-related physical fitness assessment items, including body composition (body mass index: BMI), cardiorespiratory fitness (stair-climbing test), muscular fitness (knee-bend sit-ups), and flexibility (Chair Sit and Reach Test). The post-test measurements of BMI, cardiorespiratory fitness, sit-ups, and muscular flexibility of children in the experimental group were significantly better than the pre-test measurements. The stair-climbing exercise training results for cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, and muscular flexibility in the experimental group were significantly better than those in the control group. Stair-climbing exercise improves the physical fitness of children with developmental disabilities. The results of this study suggest that children with developmental disabilities should be encouraged to engage in this convenient and easy stair-climbing exercise to improve physical performance and health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to establish a uniform standard for the interpretation of HER2 gene and protein statuses in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). We also intended to explore the clinical pathological characteristics, molecular features, RNA expression and immune microenvironment of HER2-positive ICC. Methods: We analyzed a cohort of 304 ICCs using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to identify HER2 status. Comprehensive analyses of the clinicopathological, molecular genetic, and RNA expression characterizations of ICCs with varying HER2 statuses were performed using next-generation sequencing. We further investigated the tumor microenvironment of ICCs with different HER2 statuses using IHC and multiplex immunofluorescence staining. Results: HER2/CEP17 ratio of ≥ 2.0 and HER2 copy number ≥ 4.0; or HER2 copy number ≥ 6.0 were setup as FISH positive criteria. Based on this criterion, 13 (4.27%, 13/304) samples were classified as having HER2 amplification. The agreement between FISH and IHC results in ICC was poor. HER2-amplified cases demonstrated a higher tumor mutational burden compared to non-amplified cases. No significant differences were observed in immune markers between the two groups. However, an increased density of CD8 + CTLA4 + and CD8 + FOXP3 + cells was identified in HER2 gene-amplified cases. Conclusion: FISH proves to be more appropriate as the gold standard for HER2 evaluation in ICC. HER2 gene-amplified ICCs exhibit poorer prognosis, higher mutational burden, and T cell exhaustion and immune suppressed microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the safety and effectiveness of PTPBD for CBD stones in the elderly population. Methods: Patients aged 60 years or older, who underwent PTPBD or ERCP for CBD stones between January 2021 and December 2023, were included in this study and divided into either the PTPBD group or the ERCP group based on the procedure they underwent. Baseline characteristics, intraoperative and postoperative outcomes were collected and analyzed using SPSS 25.0. Results: A total of 145 cases were enrolled in the study. In terms of intraoperative complications, one patient in the ERCP group experienced hemorrhaging, while one patient in the PTPBD group experienced acute pain. However, neither of these patients were in a serious condition and only required observation. Stone removal procedures were successfully conducted in approximately 95% of cases in both the PTPBD and ERCP groups (95.8 and 94.8%, respectively; P > 0.999). ERCP failures were observed in one patient with a previous Billroth II anastomosis and two patients with unconventional anatomy of the esophagus and stomach. There was no statistically significant difference in postoperative complications between the PTPBD group and the ERCP group (P > 0.05). The length of hospital stays did not differ between the PTPBD group and the ERCP group (P = 0.537 > 0.05). Conclusion: PTPBD can be used in patients who have complicated anatomical issues that make the ERCP procedure difficult. In comparison, PTPBD is a similarly safe, effective, and minimally invasive technique for extracting CBD stones in elderly patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) with the advantages of high theoretical capacity and tunnel structure has attracted considerable promising candidates for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Nevertheless, the intrinsic low electronic conductivity of VO2 results in an unsatisfactory electrochemical performance. Herein, a flower-like VO2/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composite was obtained by a facile hydrothermal method. The unique flower-like morphology shortens the ion transport length and facilitates electrolyte infiltration. Meanwhile, the CNT conductive networks is in favor of fast electron transfer. A highly reversible zinc storage mechanism was revealed by ex-situ X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As a result, the VO2/CNTs cathode exhibits a high reversible capacity (410 mAh·g−1), superior rate performance (305 mAh·g−1 at 5 A·g−1), and excellent cycling stability (a reversible capacity of 221 mAh·g−1 was maintained even after 2000 cycles). This work provides a guide for the design of high-performance cathode materials for aqueous zinc metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological side effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor mobilization in related donors of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) and impacts of psychological/physical side effects on harvest outcomes remain largely unknown. We prospectively analyzed 349 consecutive related peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donors for allo-HCT at the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of Medicine from March 2021 to August 2023. Higher baseline peripheral blood white blood cell counts (p = 0.046), monocyte counts (p < 0.001), platelet counts (p = 0.001), and hemoglobin (p < 0.001) had a positive correlation to CD34+ cell counts in the first leukapheresis, while female donors (male vs. female, p < 0.001) and older age (> 40 vs. < = 40, p = 0.003) were negatively related to CD34+ cell counts. Bone pain was the most observed physical side effect and was more frequent in female donors (p = 0.032). The incidence of fatigue was higher in female donors and older donors (female vs. male, p = 0.016; > 40 vs. < = 40, p = 0.015). Donor depression (pre vs. during mobilization, p < 0.001), anxiety (pre vs. during mobilization, p = 0.043) and insomnia (pre vs. during mobilization, p = 0.011) scores increased during the mobilization period. Donors with higher depression, anxiety and stress scores at admission were more likely to experience nausea. At 1 month after the last leukapheresis, the counts of white blood cell, neutrophil, monocyte and hemoglobin were significant lower than baseline counts, while the platelet counts recovered to baseline. The mobilization and harvest process can increase the depression, anxiety and insomnia scores. Poor psychological status of the donor can aggravate the occurrence of physical side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anchor reinforced vegetation system (ARVS) comprises high performance turf reinforcement mats (HPTRM), vegetation and anchors. It is a new attempt to apply the system in expansive soil slope protection. The goal of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of ARVS in protecting newly excavated expansive soil slopes. The field tests on the bare slope, grassed slope and ARVS protective slope were carried out, including natural and artificial rainfall. During the test, the soil water content, soil deformation, and anchor axial force were monitored, and then the slope protection mechanism of ARVS was analyzed. It was found that ARVS can effectively protect expansive soil slopes compared with bare slopes and grassed slopes. The vegetation and HPTRM form a reinforced turf, and the anchors fix it to the slope surface, thus restraining the expansion deformation. The axial force on the anchor of ARVS includes frictional resistance and tensile force transmitted by HPTRM, which is maximum at the early stage of support. The neutral point of the anchor of ARVS moves deeper under atmospheric action, but the vegetation and HPTRM on the slope surface can limit this movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the high coexistence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (ASD + ADHD), the underlying neurobiological basis of this disorder remains unclear. Altered brain structural asymmetries have been verified in ASD and ADHD, respectively, making brain asymmetry a candidate for characterizing this coexisting disorder. Here, we measured the gray matter (GM) volume asymmetry in ASD + ADHD versus ASD without ADHD (ASD-only), ADHD without ASD (ADHD-only), and typically developing controls (TDc). High-resolution T1-weighted data from 48 ASD + ADHD, 63 ASD-only, 32 ADHD-only, and 211 matched TDc were included in our study. We also assessed brain-behavior relationships and the effects of age on GM asymmetry. We found that there were both shared and disorder-specific GM volume asymmetry alterations in ASD + ADHD, ASD-only, and ADHD-only compared with TDc. This finding demonstrates that ASD + ADHD is neither an endophenocopy nor an additive pathology of ASD and ADHD, but an entirely different neuroanatomical pathology. In addition, ASD + ADHD displayed altered GM volume asymmetries in the prefrontal regions responsible for executive function and theory of mind compared with ASD-only. We also found significant effects of age on GM asymmetry. The present study may provide structural insights into the neural basis of ASD + ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to NSF (2017), even though the number of minority students in America's college-age population has been on the rise, those who choose Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as their majors are significantly fewer. There is an urgent need for African Americans, being the underrepresented minorities in STEM-related domains, be provided with opportunities to increase their presence and achievements (Hansen, Palakal & White, Journal for STEM Education Research, 1–26 2023). This paper was to develop an active flipped learning (AFL) model to enhance engineering students learning. Instructional video, audio, lecture notes, and reading materials are developed while initiating active learning activities in class to engage students in active flipped learning. By monitoring 103 students' engagement and identifying their motivation and learning strategies, a custom-tailored plan to fit each underrepresented student in STEM was formed, valued by two indicators: Engaged Learning Index and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. After practicing the longitudinal research for three years from 2016 to 2018, some results were found during the procedure through ANOVA and correlation analysis on the collected data. The AFL model effectively promotes underrepresented students' performance in various science disciplines such as engineering, physics, and mathematics, such as helpful to foster underrepresented students' deep understanding of STEM disciplines and making them more engaged in STEM learning. In the future, the AFL can be potentially expanded to other institutions to help all students succeed in STEM classrooms and careers, to increase the national STEM literacy and be applied to non-STEM majors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) have facilitated the discovery of previously unrecognized subtypes within prostate cancer (PCa), offering new insights into cancer heterogeneity and progression. In this study, we integrated scRNAseq data from multiple studies, comprising publicly available cohorts and data generated by our research team, and established the Human Prostate Single cell Atlas (HuPSA) and Mouse Prostate Single cell Atlas (MoPSA) datasets. Through comprehensive analysis, we identified two novel double-negative PCa populations: KRT7 cells characterized by elevated KRT7 expression and progenitor-like cells marked by SOX2 and FOXA2 expression, distinct from NEPCa, and displaying stem/progenitor features. Furthermore, HuPSA-based deconvolution re-classified human PCa specimens, validating the presence of these novel subtypes. We then developed a user-friendly web application, "HuPSA–MoPSA" (https://pcatools.shinyapps.io/HuPSA-MoPSA/), for visualizing gene expression across all newly established datasets. Our study provides comprehensive tools for PCa research and uncovers novel cancer subtypes that can inform clinical diagnosis and treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small ground anchors are widely used to fix securing tents in disaster relief efforts. Given the urgent nature of rescue operations, it is crucial to obtain prompt and accurate estimations of their pullout capacity. In this study, a stacking machine learning (ML) model is developed for the rapid estimation of pullout capacity offered by small ground anchors used for temporary tents, leveraging cone penetration data. The proposed stacking model incorporates three ML algorithms as the base regression models: K-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector regression (SVR), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). A dataset comprising 119 in-situ anchor pullout tests, where the cone penetration data were measured, is utilized to train and assess the stacking model performance. Three metrics, i.e., coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE), are employed to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the proposed model and compare its performance against four popular ML models and an empirical formula to highlight the advantages of the proposed stacking approach. The results affirm that the proposed stacking model outperforms other ML models and the empirical approach as achieving higher R2 and lower MAE and RMSE and more predicted data points falling within 20% error line. Thus, the proposed stacking model holds promising potential as a solution for efficiently predicting the pullout capacity of small ground anchors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents of children with retinoblastoma, the most common primary ocular malignant tumour in childhood, bear a heavy caregiving burden and are very susceptible to fatigue. However, little is known about their current status of fatigue and factors influencing fatigue; therefore,this study, based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms, and included 317 parents of children with retinoblastoma in China, whose general demographic data were collected, and on whom the fatigue severity scale (FSS), the generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7) and 2-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-2) were administered, from 9 March to 1 June 2020. The parents' FSS score and fatigue incidence were 4.41 ± 1.14 and 67.19%, respectively. The fatigue level was positively correlated with anxiety, depression, education, times of hospitalisations, and treatment types (r = 0.125–0.468, P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with health status, sleep quality, economic status, and family economic situation (r = − 0.120 to − 0.322, P < 0.05). Parent's anxiety level, being an only child and female sex of child influenced parents' fatigue. Healthcare personnel need to focus their attention on this high-risk fatigue group and implement appropriate interventions to reduce their fatigue level, promote their physical and mental health, and facilitate better care for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The calculation of electron density distribution using density functional theory (DFT) in materials and molecules is central to the study of their quantum and macro-scale properties, yet accurate and efficient calculation remains a long-standing challenge. We introduce ChargE3Net, an E(3)-equivariant graph neural network for predicting electron density in atomic systems. ChargE3Net enables the learning of higher-order equivariant features to achieve high predictive accuracy and model expressivity. We show that ChargE3Net exceeds the performance of prior work on diverse sets of molecules and materials. When trained on the massive dataset of over 100K materials in the Materials Project database, our model is able to capture the complexity and variability in the data, leading to a significant 26.7% reduction in self-consistent iterations when used to initialize DFT calculations on unseen materials. Furthermore, we show that non-self-consistent DFT calculations using our predicted charge densities yield near-DFT performance on electronic and thermodynamic property prediction at a fraction of the computational cost. Further analysis attributes the greater predictive accuracy to improved modeling of systems with high angular variations. These results illuminate a pathway towards a machine learning-accelerated ab initio calculations for materials discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anion exchanger 3 (AE3) is pivotal in regulating intracellular pH across excitable tissues, yet its structural intricacies and functional dynamics remain underexplored compared to other anion exchangers. This study unveils the structural insights into human AE3, including the cryo-electron microscopy structures for AE3 transmembrane domains (TMD) and a chimera combining AE3 N-terminal domain (NTD) with AE2 TMD (hAE3NTD2TMD). Our analyzes reveal a substrate binding site, an NTD-TMD interlock mechanism, and a preference for an outward-facing conformation. Unlike AE2, which has more robust acid-loading capabilities, AE3's structure, including a less stable inward-facing conformation due to missing key NTD-TMD interactions, contributes to its moderated pH-modulating activity and increased sensitivity to the inhibitor DIDS. These structural differences underline AE3's distinct functional roles in specific tissues and underscore the complex interplay between structural dynamics and functional specificity within the anion exchanger family, enhancing our understanding of the physiological and pathological roles of the anion exchanger family. This study provides structural insights into human AE3's role in pH regulation in excitable tissues, highlighting its structural differences from AE2 in anion transport regulation and their sensitivity to inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Named entity recognition is a fundamental subtask for knowledge graph construction and question-answering in the agricultural diseases and pests field. Although several works have been done, the scarcity of the Chinese annotated dataset has restricted the development of agricultural diseases and pests named entity recognition(ADP-NER). To address the issues, a large-scale corpus for the Chinese ADP-NER task named AgCNER was first annotated. It mainly contains 13 categories, 206,992 entities, and 66,553 samples with 3,909,293 characters. Compared with other datasets, AgCNER maintains the best performance in terms of the number of categories, entities, samples, and characters. Moreover, this is the first publicly available corpus for the agricultural field. In addition, the agricultural language model AgBERT is also fine-tuned and released. Finally, the comprehensive experimental results showed that BiLSTM-CRF achieved F1-score of 93.58%, which would be further improved to 94.14% using BERT. The analysis from multiple aspects has verified the rationality of AgCNER and the effectiveness of AgBERT. The annotated corpus and fine-tuned language model are publicly available at https://doi.org/XXX and https://github.com/guojson/AgCNER.git. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in CRISPR technology, particularly the development of base editors, revolutionize genetic variant research. When combined with model organisms like zebrafish, base editors significantly accelerate and refine in vivo analysis of genetic variations. However, base editors are restricted by protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequences and specific editing windows, hindering their applicability to a broad spectrum of genetic variants. Additionally, base editors can introduce unintended mutations and often exhibit reduced efficiency in living organisms compared to cultured cell lines. Here, we engineer a suite of adenine base editors (ABEs) called ABE-Ultramax (Umax), demonstrating high editing efficiency and low rates of insertions and deletions (indels) in zebrafish. The ABE-Umax suite of editors includes ABEs with shifted, narrowed, or broadened editing windows, reduced bystander mutation frequency, and highly flexible PAM sequence requirements. These advancements have the potential to address previous challenges in disease modeling and advance gene therapy applications. CRISPR base editors are limited by protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequences and specific editing windows. Here, authors developed ABE-Ultramax, a suite of adenine base editors with high efficiency, low indel rates, and flexible PAM requirements, enabling precise biallelic editing in zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natalisin (NTL) is a conserved neuropeptide, only present in insects, that has been reported to regulate their sexual activity. In this study, we investigated the involvement of NTL in the reproductive behaviors of a major invasive pest, Spodoptera frugiperda. We identified NTL precursor-encoded transcripts, and evaluated their transcript levels in different stages and tissues of S. frugiperda. The results showed that the NTL transcript level was expressed in both male and female pupae and both male and female adults in the later stage. It was highly expressed in male pupae, 3-day-old male and female adults, and 5-day-old male adults. In different tissues, the expression level is higher in the male and female adult brain and male testis. Immunohistochemical staining of the brain of S. frugiperda female and male adults revealed that three pairs of brain neurons of S. frugiperda adults of both sexes secreted and expressed NTL. To study the role of NTL in reproductive behaviors, NTL was silenced in S. frugiperda male and female adults by RNA interference (RNAi) technology, the results showed that silencing NTL could significantly affect the sexual activity behavior of the adults, reducing the calling rate of females, the courtship rate of males, and the mating rate. In summary, this study emphasizes the important role of NTL in regulating the mating behavior and sexual activity of S. frugiperda in both male and female adults, potentially laying a foundation to employ NTL as a new insect-specific target to control populations of pest insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microsized bismuth (Bi) with in-situ constructed three-dimensional (3D) porous network has been considered as a promising anode for high-performance potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). However, the mechanism of the in-situ porous evolution of microsized Bi during the charge/discharge process is still mysterious. Herein, various electrolytes are employed to disclose the origin of porous evolution of microsized Bi in PIBs. Experimentally and theoretically, the 3D porous network originates from the uniform interfacial charge distribution on the Bi surface in the linear ether-based electrolyte. In addition, the universality of the interfacial charge distribution mechanism was verified by microsized Sn and Sb. The in-situ constructed 3D porous network of Bi enables a superior potassium storage performance in a wide temperature range from −40 to 40 °C. More importantly, the K0.9Mn0.7Ni0.3O2∥Bi full cell delivers excellent cycling stability (a high capacity retention of 88.44% even after 2,000 cycles) and good temperature tolerance. This work gives a distinct clarification of the origin of the porous evolution of microsized Bi during cycling, which is critical for developing high-performance PIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an innovative approach, the Adaptive Orthogonal Basis Method, tailored for computing multiple solutions to differential equations characterized by polynomial nonlinearities. Departing from conventional practices of predefining candidate basis pools, our novel method adaptively computes bases, considering the equation’s nature and structural characteristics of7 the solution. It further leverages companion matrix techniques to generate initial guesses for subsequent computations. Thus this approach not only yields numerous initial guesses for solving such equations but also adapts orthogonal basis functions to effectively address discretized nonlinear systems. Through a series of numerical experiments, this paper demonstrates the method’s effectiveness and robustness. By reducing computational costs in various applications, this novel approach opens new avenues for uncovering multiple solutions to differential equations with polynomial nonlinearities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second-order nonlinear Hall effect (NLHE) in non-centrosymmetric materials has recently drawn intense interest, since its inherent rectification could enable various device applications such as energy harvesting and wireless charging. However, previously reported NLHE systems normally suffer from relatively small Hall voltage outputs and/or low working temperatures. In this study, we report the observation of a pronounced NLHE in tellurium (Te) thin flakes at room temperature. Benefiting from the semiconductor nature of Te, the obtained nonlinear response can be readily enhanced through electrostatic gating, leading to a second-harmonic output at 300 K up to 2.8 mV. By utilizing such a giant NLHE, we further demonstrate the potential of Te as a wireless Hall rectifier within the radiofrequency range, which is manifested by the remarkable and tunable rectification effect also at room temperature. Extrinsic scattering is then revealed to be the dominant mechanism for the NLHE in Te, with symmetry breaking on the surface playing a key role. As a simple elemental semiconductor, Te provides an appealing platform to advance our understanding of nonlinear transport in solids and to develop NLHE-based electronic devices. The nonlinear Hall effect (NLHE) in non-centrosymmetric materials could enable various device applications, but it is usually limited by small voltage outputs and low operational temperatures. Here, the authors report NLHE in semiconducting tellurium thin flakes, showing a second-harmonic voltage output up to 2.8 mV at 300 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To define the characteristics of fundus manifestations in patients after SARS-CoV-2 infection with multimodal imaging techniques. This is a retrospective multicenter and multimodal imaging study including 90 patients. All patients with a visual complaint occurring immediately after SARS-CoV-2 infection were referred to six clinics between December 2022 and February 2023. Demographic information and the temporal relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and visual symptoms were documented. The characteristics of the fundus lesions were evaluated using multimodal imaging. Ninety patients from six hospitals were included in this study, including 24 males (26.67%) and 66 (73.33%) females. Seventy-eight patients (86.66%) (146 eyes) were diagnosed with Acute Macular Neuroretinopathy (AMN). The AMN patients were primarily young women (67.95%). Sixty-eight patients (87.18%) had AMN in both eyes. Thirty-eight eyes (24.36%) included Purtscher or Purtscher-like lesions. optical coherence tomography and infrared retinal photographs can show AMN lesions well. Eleven cases were diagnosed with simple Purtscher or Purtscher-like retinopathy (2 cases, 2.22%), Vogt‒Koyanagi‒Harada (VKH) syndrome or VKH-like uveitis (3 cases, 3.33%), multiple evanescent white-dot syndrome (MEWDS) (2 cases, 2.22%), and rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) (5 cases, 5.56%). After SARS-CoV-2 infection, diversified fundus lesions were evident in patients with visual complaints. In this report, AMN was the dominant manifestation, followed by Purtscher or Purtscher-like retinopathy, MEWDS, VKH-like uveitis, and ROCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to investigate the impact of nanosecond pulse laser drilling on the quality of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). The effects of laser parameters, including laser power, scan speed, pulse width and laser frequency on micro-hole quality and the thermal damage generated during the drilling process were analyzed. 0.4 mm diameter micro-holes were drilling using a 1064 nm fiber laser, using univariate and orthogonal experimental method. The results indicate that pumping at the entrance leads to a significant increase in hole diameter and heat-affected zone (HAZ) width at both the entrance and exit, as laser power, pulse width and frequency increase, and scanning speed decrease. The width of the HAZ at the exit is dependent on whether the energy reaches the carbon fiber ablation threshold. The holes were tapered and the hole taper was closely related to the change in laser parameters at the entrance and exit of the hole. A taper of approximately 0.3 was achieved with a combination of 99 W, 50 mm/s, 13 ns and 1500 kHz. The experiments indicate that laser power and pulse width are crucial factors that affect the quality of micro-hole processing. However, nanosecond laser drilling can result in thermal damage defects, including striations, micro-cracks, delamination, voids and surface fiber 'fish scale' peeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inositol hexaphosphate (InsP6) is the major storage form of phosphorus in seeds. Reducing seed InsP6 content is a breeding objective in agriculture, as InsP6 negatively impacts animal nutrition and the environment. Nevertheless, how InsP6 accumulation is regulated remains largely unknown. Here, we identify a clade of receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases (RLCKs), named Inositol Polyphosphate-related Cytoplasmic Kinases 1-6 (IPCK1-IPCK6), deeply involved in InsP6 accumulation. The InsP6 concentration is dramatically reduced in seeds of ipck quadruple (T-4m/C-4m) and quintuple (C-5m) mutants, accompanied with the obviously increase of phosphate (Pi) concentration. The plasma membrane-localized IPCKs recruit IPK1 involved in InsP6 synthesis, and facilitate its binding and activity via phosphorylation of GRF 14-3-3 proteins. IPCKs also recruit IPK2s and PI-PLCs required for InsP4/InsP5 and InsP3 biosynthesis respectively, to form a potential IPCK-GRF-PLC-IPK2-IPK1 complex. Our findings therefore uncover a regulatory mechanism of InsP6 accumulation governed by IPCKs, shedding light on the mechanisms of InsP biosynthesis in eukaryotes. Inositol hexaphosphates (InsP6) are ubiquitous in eukaryotes and regulates a plethora of cellular functions. Here the authors identify a set of receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases that work in concert with 14-3-3- proteins to regulate InsP6 synthesis and accumulation and Pi homeostasis in Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomic clocks with higher frequency stability and accuracy than traditional space-borne atomic clocks are the cornerstone of long-term autonomous operation of space-time-frequency systems. We proposed a space cold atoms clock based on an intracavity cooling scheme, which captures cold atoms at the center of a microwave cavity and then executes in situ interactions between the cold atoms and microwaves. As a result of the microgravity environment in space, the cold atoms can interact with the microwaves for a longer time, which aids in realizing a high-precision atomic clock in space. This paper presents the overall design, operational characteristics, and reliability test results of the space atomic clock based on the intracavity cooling scheme designed for the operation onboard the China space station. In addition, the engineering prototype performance of the space cold atoms microwave clock is also presented. The ground test results for the clock show a fractional frequency stability of 1.1 × 10−12 τ−1/2 reaching 2.5 × 10−15 at 200,000 s, providing solid technical and data support for its future operation in orbit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the clinicopathologic information and CT imaging features of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancer (GC) and establish CT-based radiomics models to predict the EBV status of GC. Methods: This retrospective study included 144 GC cases, including 48 EBV-positive cases. Pathological and immunohistochemical information was collected. CT enlarged LN and morphological characteristics were also assessed. Radiomics models were constructed to predict the EBV status, including decision tree (DT), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM). Results: T stage, Lauren classification, histological differentiation, nerve invasion, VEGFR2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, and Ki67 differed significantly between the EBV-positive and -negative groups (p = 0.015, 0.030, 0.006, 0.022, 0.028, 0.030, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). CT enlarged LN and large ulceration differed significantly between the two groups (p = 0.019 and 0.043, respectively). The number of patients in the training and validation cohorts was 100 (with 33 EBV-positive cases) and 44 (with 15 EBV-positive cases). In the training cohort, the radiomics models using DT, LR, RF, and SVM yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.905, 0.771, 0.836, and 0.886, respectively. In the validation cohort, the diagnostic efficacy of radiomics models using the four classifiers were 0.737, 0.722, 0.751, and 0.713, respectively. Conclusion: A significantly higher proportion of CT enlarged LN and a significantly lower proportion of large ulceration were found in EBV-positive GC. The prediction efficiency of radiomics models with different classifiers to predict EBV status in GC was good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Environmental and lifestyle factors play an etiological role in the pathogenesis of different glomerular diseases. Thus, exploring the epidemic characteristics of renal disease in different nationalities and regions is important. Materials and methods: Patients who underwent renal biopsy from October 2008 to October 2022 were included. The proportion and change tendency of glomerular diseases and the differences between the sexes and different ages and races were analyzed. Results: There were 15,146 cases of glomerular diseases (98.5%), involving 7538 males (49.8%) and 7608 females (50.2%). The mean age was 37.0 years (range 0–80 years). The proportion of membranous nephropathy (MN) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) showed an increased trend. The most common primary glomerulonephritis (PGN) was IgA nephropathy (IgAN, 44.6%), followed by minimal-change disease (MCD, 24.3%) and MN (15.4%). Lupus nephritis (LN, 30%) accounted for the largest proportion of SGNs, followed by Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis (HSPN, 20.9%) and DN (19.8%). Compared with adults aged 18–60 years old, MCD and HSPN were more common in children and MN and DN in elderly individuals, statistically significant differences. Additionally, the sex and age distribution of PGN and SGN between the Tibetan and Han populations differed significantly, whereby LN was higher in the Han population and HSPN in the Tibetan population. Conclusion: The distribution of glomerular diseases showed age, sex and race differences. This research will be beneficial for providing epidemiological evidence for clinical diagnosis, disease prevention and public health decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfide-based all-solid-state lithium metal batteries (ASSLMBs) have received extensive attention due to their high energy density and high safety, while the poor interface stability between sulfide electrolyte and lithium metal anode limits their development. Hence, a hybrid SEI (LICl/LiF/LiZn) was constructed at the interface between Li5.5PS4.5Cl1.5 sulfide electrolyte and lithium metal. The LiCl and LiF interface phases with high interface energy effectively induce the uniform deposition of Li+ and reduce the overpotential of Li+ deposition, while the LiZn alloy interface phase accelerates the diffusion of lithium ions. The synergistic effect of the above functional interface phases inhibits the growth of lithium dendrites and stabilizes the interface between the sulfide electrolyte and lithium metal. The hybrid SEI strategy exhibits excellent electrochemical performance on symmetric batteries and all-solid-state batteries. The symmetrical cell exhibits stable cycling performance over long duration over 500 h at 1.0 mA cm−2. Moreover, the LiNbO3@NCM712/Li5.5PS4.5Cl1.5/Li-10%ZnF2 battery exhibits excellent cycle stability at a high rate of 0.5 C, with a capacity retention rate of 76.4% after 350 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we prepared Pd nanoparticle (NP) catalysts using XC-72 carbon supports through a tailored deposition–precipitation method. Our primary objective was to unravel the size effects of Pd NPs on hydrogenation of tetraacetyldibenzylhexaazaisowurtzitane (TADBIW), a pivotal intermediate for synthesis of high energy density materials hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20). The controlled modulation of Pd NP size ranged from a mere 1.8 nm to 7.4 nm. Remarkably, our investigations into TADBIW hydrogenation unveiled a fascinating trend: the ultrasmall-sized Pd NPs with a diameter of 1.8 nm exhibited excellent yield and reaction rates. In stark contrast, their larger-sized counterparts demonstrated diminished catalytic activities. To disclose the size-dependent nature, various characterization techniques were employed, including XRD, TEM, XPS, CO and H2 pulse chemisorption. The comprehensive analysis revealed that the ultrasmall-sized Pd possessed more positively charged sites and exhibited higher dispersion. This unique configuration facilitated an accelerated adsorption of hydrogen and the electron-rich substrate TADBIW. Notably, this phenomenon led to a reduction in the activation energy through a thermodynamic effect, thereby enhancing overall catalytic performance. Our results strongly suggested that the ultrasmall-sized Pd NPs can exert a dominated influence on the physical and chemical states of the active sites, playing a key role in triggering the adsorption and activation of the substrate TADBIW. These findings not only deepen our understanding of the intricate connections between Pd NP size and catalytic activity but also open new avenues for advancing the design and optimization of catalysts in the hydrodebenzylation methodologies and synthesis of related compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, stepped slot-type grooves are utilized to develop coplanar waveguide (CPW) spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission lines (TLs). The equivalent circuit model is developed to analyze the effect of the stepped slot-type grooves. And it is found that all the three proposed SSPP TLs exhibit lower asymptotic frequency and more compact size than conventional SSPP TLs based on uniform grooves. Moreover, the dispersion features can be controlled flexibly by changing the impedance ratio of the stepped slot-type grooves. And among the three proposed SSPP TLs (Type A, Type B, and Type C), Type C SSPP TL has the most compact size. Consequently, based on Type C SSPP TL, an ultra-compact plasmonic low-pass filter (LPF) is designed to validate the design theory. Good agreement is observed between the simulated and measured results for which reflection coefficient is lower than − 10 dB in passband from 0 to 1.73 GHz and good shape factor of 1.09 for the transition from the passband to the stopband. Besides, the proposed plasmonic low-pass filter occupies very compact size, indicating that the proposed plasmonic filter can find potential applications in compact plasmonic system design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Producing syngas from dry reforming of methane is fascinating but challenging because of coking and sintering. Herein, fine Ni nanoparticles surrounded by Al2O3 are constructed by ion-exchange inverse loading method. The dual confinement composed of physical barrier originated from Al2O3 surroundings and chemical bonding sourced from NiAl2O4 spinel is present on pitaya-like Ni@Al2O3 catalysts. Mixed acid–base property of Ni@Al2O3 mediates the co-conversion of CH4 and CO2. On the one hand, the acidity of Al2O3, accelerates the pyrolysis of CH4. On the other hand, the basicity originated form ample O2− promotes the chemisorption of CO2 and oxidisation of carbon deposition using CO2 as oxidiser. Based on the dual confinement and cooperation of acid–base sites, Ni@Al2O3 survive severe coking with a CO2 conversion above 85% and no sign of deactivation. The metal-oxide interface is investigated focusing on physical–chemical confinement and properties, including electronic interaction, mixed acid–base property, and chemisorption of probe molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]