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In this paper, a highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance-based photonic crystal fiber sensor for low refractive index (RI) sensing and detection is proposed. To excite the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode, Au and TiO2 were coated on the top and bottom of the sensor in the shape of notched rings. The utilization of TiO2 has the potential to augment the interplay between the core and surface SPP modes, leading to an enhancement of the sensitivity of the sensor. The finite element method was applied for evaluating the sensor's performance. The attainment of optimal wavelength sensitivity of 21,500 nm/RIU and matching resolution of 4.65 × 10–6 RIU was achieved through the refinement of structural parameters within the low RI detection range of 1.18–1.28. The findings of the study hold promise for potential applications in the fields of medical diagnostics and identification of low RI environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The effectiveness of robot-assisted surgery remains contentious due to the lack of high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to elevate the level of evidence. We aimed to evaluate the postoperative radiographic outcomes of robot-assisted (RAS-THA) versus manual (M-THA) total hip arthroplasty. Methods: This multicenter RCT was performed from March 1, 2021 to December 1, 2021. Patients were randomly assigned to routine M-THA or to RAS-THA that used the TRex-RS orthopedic joint surgical navigation system. The primary outcome was to compare the acetabular component orientation, femoral stem alignment, femoral canal fill ratio, and leg length discrepancy between RAS-THA and M-THA using postoperative radiography. Subgroup analyses of the two groups stratified by surgical approach, gender, and BMI were also conducted. Results: Seventy-three participants were randomly allocated to the RAS-THA group, while seventy-two participants were assigned to the M-THA group. Compared to the M-THA group, the RAS-THA group exhibited less variability in the preoperative planning of the vertical center of rotation (VCOR; P < 0.001), demonstrated a significant advantage in femoral stem alignment (P = 0.004), and showed pronounced decreases in inequality and in the variability in leg length discrepancy (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the Lewinnek safe-zone ratio (P = 0.081) and the femoral canal fill ratio (P > 0.05) between the two groups. Further subgroup analysis also showed that the RAS-THA group had fewer horizontal center of rotation (HCOR) and leg length differences when stratified by surgical approach, gender, and overweight status. Conclusion: This RCT found that, regardless of the surgical approach, gender, or body mass index, RAS-THA can effectively improve the postoperative VCOR and significantly reduce the variability of leg length difference. RAS-THA should be considered an effective method to enhance surgical precision by achieving less variability in challenging patients with leg length discrepancies. Trial registration: ChiCTR2100044124. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu12Sb4S13 has received great attention due to its remarkable thermoelectric properties among medium-temperature range. Herein, the effect of rare earth element Pr substitution at Cu site of Cu12Sb4S13 is comprehensively investigated. Heavy rare earth element Pr substitution can induce strong mass fluctuation and strain-field fluctuation, resulting in intense phonon scattering and decreased lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, a low lattice thermal conductivity κL of 0.42 W m−1 K−1 is obtained at 748 K in Cu11.7Pr0.3Sb4S13 sample. Additionally, the substitution of Pr for Cu can function as donors, tuning the hole concentration and optimizing the thermopower over the entire temperature range, with a maximum thermopower of 165 μV K−1 at 748 K. Correspondingly, a peak ZT of~0.9 is obtained at 748 K in Cu11.7Pr0.3Sb4S13 sample, due to the significantly reduced thermal conductivity and slightly enhanced power factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu12Sb4S13 has received great attention due to its remarkable thermoelectric properties among medium-temperature range. Herein, the effect of rare earth element Pr substitution at Cu site of Cu12Sb4S13 is comprehensively investigated. Heavy rare earth element Pr substitution can induce strong mass fluctuation and strain-field fluctuation, resulting in intense phonon scattering and decreased lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, a low lattice thermal conductivity κL of 0.42 W m−1 K−1 is obtained at 748 K in Cu11.7Pr0.3Sb4S13 sample. Additionally, the substitution of Pr for Cu can function as donors, tuning the hole concentration and optimizing the thermopower over the entire temperature range, with a maximum thermopower of 165 μV K−1 at 748 K. Correspondingly, a peak ZT of~0.9 is obtained at 748 K in Cu11.7Pr0.3Sb4S13 sample, due to the significantly reduced thermal conductivity and slightly enhanced power factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Octyl gallate (GAC8) as a bioactive compound has excellent antibacterial effectiveness, but its poor hydrophilicity limits its applications. In this work, GAC8 was encapsulated into hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCyD) cavity to form an inclusion complex (GAC8/HPβCyD-IC), and their antibacterial activities were investigated. Phase solubility test suggested that the aqueous solubility of GAC8 was prominently enhanced after forming the inclusion complex. The aqueous solution of GAC8/HPβCyD-IC yielded uniform fiber morphology with ~ 900 nm average fiber diameter. The fabricated GAC8/HPβCyD-IC nanofibers (GAC8/HPβCyD-IC NFs) were characterized by 1H NMR, FT-IR, XRD, DSC, and TGA, revealing successful synthesis of GAC8/HPβCyD-IC NFs and the thermal stability of GAC8 was enhanced by inclusion complexation with HPβCyD. Furthermore, GAC8/HPβCyD-IC NFs possessed antibacterial activity against E. coli (12.5 mm zone of inhibition), S. aureus (18.5 mm zone of inhibition). The results of DNA and protein leakage in the experiment indicated that GAC8/HPβCyD-IC NFs can disrupt the membrane integrity of bacteria. Meanwhile, GAC8/HPβCyD-IC NFs suppressed the colony growth of E. coli on Chinese giant salamander meat. Overall, the nanofibers encapsulating GAC8/HPβCyD-IC were potential antibacterial food packaging materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitamin C (VC), encompasses a group of related water-soluble substances, which plays an important role in the physiologic processes and health of aquatic animals. Most aquatic animals have a limited capacity to synthesize VC, thus obtaining VC mainly from diets. To date, VC has been widely used as an aquatic feed additive due to its antioxidant, free radical scavenging, and anti-inflammatory abilities. However, the requirement for VC varies greatly among different aquatic animals. This updated review presents a general picture of the possible physiological function of VC for farmed aquatic animals, with emphasis on the information on growth, antioxidant status, immunity, diseases prevention, and reproductive performance, as well as the synergistic effects of VC with other micronutrients such as vitamin E, glucans, and metal elements during recent years. Furthermore, the interaction between dietary VC and the intestinal microbiota of aquatic animals have also been discussed. Understanding the beneficial function and mechanism of VC is of great significance for extending the application of VC in the aquaculture industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Understanding microbial compositions and functions in arable soils is crucial for effective agroecosystem management. While many studies have explored this topic, large-scale investigations are lacking, resulting in the absence of consistent and reliable patterns of communities and functions of soil microorganisms. Methods: To address this gap, we performed an integrated analysis of published sequencing data from the soils of three main arable fields: upland, paddy, and paddy-upland rotation. Results: Bacterial diversity (richness, Shannon) was highest in upland soils. Actinobacteria and Planctomycetes were enriched in upland soils, while Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Nitrospirae preferred paddy and paddy-upland rotation soils. Bacteria in upland soils have a greater functional potential to decompose aromatic compounds, as well as for chitinolysis and ureolysis. Methanotrophy, methylotrophy, sulfur-related respiration, and most nitrogen metabolic processes were enriched in paddy fields. Bacteria in upland soils are characterized by increased dormancy potential and a faster response to resource input than those in paddy and paddy-upland rotation soils. Stochastic processes poorly contribute to the bacterial assembly in paddy soils, indicating strong environmental filtering due to anaerobic conditions. The spatial turnover in bacterial community composition was much faster than the functional potential, indicating high functional redundancy, especially in paddy soils. Edaphic factors were the major contributors to bacterial composition, whereas the cropland type influenced the predicted functions. Conclusions: Land use defines microbial composition, functional attributes, and ecological characteristics (e.g., dormancy potential, assembly processes, and functional redundancy). These findings deepen our knowledge of microbial biogeographic patterns in soils of agricultural ecosystems and provide new insights into sustainable cropland management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G be a special linear group over the real, the complex or the quaternion, or a special unitary group. In this note, we determine all special unipotent representations of G in the sense of Arthur and Barbasch–Vogan, and show in particular that all of them are unitarizable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a challenge to make thorough but efficient experimental designs for the coupled mineral dissolution and precipitation studies in a multi-mineral system, because it is difficult to speculate the best experimental duration, optimal sampling schedule, effects of different experimental conditions, and how to maximize the experimental outputs prior to the actual experiments. Geochemical modeling is an efficient and effective tool to assist the experimental design by virtually running all scenarios of interest for the studied system and predicting the experimental outcomes. Here we demonstrated an example of geochemical modeling assisted experimental design of coupled labradorite dissolution and calcite and clayey mineral precipitation using multiple isotope tracers. In this study, labradorite (plagioclase) was chosen as the reactant because it is both a major component and one of the most reactive minerals in basalt. Following our isotope doping studies of single minerals in the last ten years, initial solutions in the simulations were doped with multiple isotopes (e.g., Ca and Si). Geochemical modeling results show that the use of isotope tracers gives us orders of magnitude more sensitivity than the conventional method based on concentrations and allows us to decouple dissolution and precipitation reactions at near-equilibrium condition. The simulations suggest that the precise unidirectional dissolution rates can inform us which rate laws plagioclase dissolution has followed. Calcite precipitation occurred at near-equilibrium and the multiple isotope tracer experiments would provide near-equilibrium precipitation rates, which was a challenge for the conventional concentration-based experiments. In addition, whether the precipitation of clayey phases is the rate-limiting step in some multi-mineral systems will be revealed. Overall, the modeling results of multi-mineral reaction kinetics will improve the understanding of the coupled dissolution–precipitation in the multi-mineral systems and the quality of geochemical modeling prediction of CO2 removal and storage efficacy in the basalt systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphate was removed from aqueous environment by corundum-hollow-spheres supported caclined hydrotalcite (cHT) thin films. Mg-Al-CO3 hydrotalcite (HT) thin films were deposited on corundum-hollow-sphere substrates by hydrothermal homogeneous precipitation at 120 °C for 30–240 min and cHT thin films were obtained by annealing of the HT thin films at 500 °C for 180 min. Their crystal phase, morphology and microstructure were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that homogeneous, well-crystallized and hierarchical flower-like thin films were deposited firmly on the surface of the corundum. The mechanism of nucleation and growth of the HT thin films was fitted well with the anion coordination polyhedron growth unit model. To determine the absorption of phosphate by this adsorbent, different bed depth (10–30 cm) and flow rate (1.0–3.0 mL/min) were examined by column experiments. The highest removal efficiency of phosphate amounted to 98.5 % under optimum condition (pH = 7.2). The adsorption capacity increased as the bed depth increased and decreased as the flow rate increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field observations in sedimentation and erosion-prone areas indicate that most natural sand deposits may contain a certain amount of non-plastic fines and are often under anisotropic stress conditions. A series of triaxial compression tests were performed on clean and silty sand with fines content fc ranging from 0 to 20% at an initial mean effective stress of p0′ = 100 kPa and varying consolidation conditions to understand the impact of initial stress anisotropy on undrained shear behavior. The results indicate that the state parameter ψ is a superior predictor for characterizing the responses of sand-fines mixtures compared to the global void ratio and relative density. A comparison of the behavior of clean and silty sand with a constant ψ (= − 0.03) confirms that the sample with 10% fc exhibits the strongest dilation and greatest shear resistance, irrespective of the consolidation conditions. It is also demonstrated that the initial stress anisotropy with a comparably higher static stress ratio ηs typically diminishes the shear strength of mixtures. However, the influence of initial stress anisotropy on soil stiffness is not unilateral. The sample consolidated to a negative ηs is stiffer than that under isotropic consolidation, while the presence of a positive ηs leads to a decrease in the secant Young's modulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CACNA1A gene encodes the alpha-1A subunit of P/Q type voltage-gated calcium channel Cav2.1, which is associated with a broad clinical spectrum and variable symptomatology. While few patients with progressive ataxia caused by CACNA1A missense variants have been reported, here we report three unrelated Chinese patients with progressive ataxia due to de novo missense variants in the CACNA1A gene, including a novel pathogenic variant (c.4999C > G) and a previously reported pathogenic variant (c.4037G > A). Our findings and a systematic literature review show the unique phenotype of progressive ataxia caused by missense variants and enlarge the genetic and clinical spectrum of CACNA1A. This suggests that in addition to routine screening for dynamic mutations, screening for CACNA1A variants is important for clinicians facing patients with progressive ataxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Above- and belowground biodiversity determines the capacity of ecosystems to provide multiple functions simultaneously (i.e., multifunctionality), while their relative importance along environmental gradients remains unclear. Our objective of this study was to investigate how plant and microbial diversity along an altitudinal gradient affected soil multifunctionality in grasslands.The effects of plant and microbial (including bacteria, fungi and archaea) diversity on soil multifunctionality were estimated along a 2300 m altitudinal gradient across six grassland types in the Tianshan Mountain, China. The soil multifunctionality was calculated based on 12 parameters related to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous cycling, and soil nutrient status.The relative importance of plant and microbial diversity to soil multifunctionality shifted at an altitude of 1900 m while threshold for each soil function varied along altitudinal gradient. At low altitudes (< 1900 m), plant species richness showed a robust positive effect and had a more substantial impact on soil multifunctionality than microbial diversity. Altitude had a significant effect on plant species richness via indirect means by altering soil moisture. At high altitudes (> 1900 m), soil multifunctionality was influenced by a combination of plant and microbial diversity. Similarly, fungal richness was positively associated with soil multifunctionality, while archaeal richness had the opposite effect.The effect of plant and soil microbial diversity on soil multifunctionality was mediated by altitude in grasslands, which can guide the restoration efforts aimed to maximize soil multifunctionality in grassland ecosystems.Methods: Above- and belowground biodiversity determines the capacity of ecosystems to provide multiple functions simultaneously (i.e., multifunctionality), while their relative importance along environmental gradients remains unclear. Our objective of this study was to investigate how plant and microbial diversity along an altitudinal gradient affected soil multifunctionality in grasslands.The effects of plant and microbial (including bacteria, fungi and archaea) diversity on soil multifunctionality were estimated along a 2300 m altitudinal gradient across six grassland types in the Tianshan Mountain, China. The soil multifunctionality was calculated based on 12 parameters related to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous cycling, and soil nutrient status.The relative importance of plant and microbial diversity to soil multifunctionality shifted at an altitude of 1900 m while threshold for each soil function varied along altitudinal gradient. At low altitudes (< 1900 m), plant species richness showed a robust positive effect and had a more substantial impact on soil multifunctionality than microbial diversity. Altitude had a significant effect on plant species richness via indirect means by altering soil moisture. At high altitudes (> 1900 m), soil multifunctionality was influenced by a combination of plant and microbial diversity. Similarly, fungal richness was positively associated with soil multifunctionality, while archaeal richness had the opposite effect.The effect of plant and soil microbial diversity on soil multifunctionality was mediated by altitude in grasslands, which can guide the restoration efforts aimed to maximize soil multifunctionality in grassland ecosystems.Results: Above- and belowground biodiversity determines the capacity of ecosystems to provide multiple functions simultaneously (i.e., multifunctionality), while their relative importance along environmental gradients remains unclear. Our objective of this study was to investigate how plant and microbial diversity along an altitudinal gradient affected soil multifunctionality in grasslands.The effects of plant and microbial (including bacteria, fungi and archaea) diversity on soil multifunctionality were estimated along a 2300 m altitudinal gradient across six grassland types in the Tianshan Mountain, China. The soil multifunctionality was calculated based on 12 parameters related to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous cycling, and soil nutrient status.The relative importance of plant and microbial diversity to soil multifunctionality shifted at an altitude of 1900 m while threshold for each soil function varied along altitudinal gradient. At low altitudes (< 1900 m), plant species richness showed a robust positive effect and had a more substantial impact on soil multifunctionality than microbial diversity. Altitude had a significant effect on plant species richness via indirect means by altering soil moisture. At high altitudes (> 1900 m), soil multifunctionality was influenced by a combination of plant and microbial diversity. Similarly, fungal richness was positively associated with soil multifunctionality, while archaeal richness had the opposite effect.The effect of plant and soil microbial diversity on soil multifunctionality was mediated by altitude in grasslands, which can guide the restoration efforts aimed to maximize soil multifunctionality in grassland ecosystems.Conclusion: Above- and belowground biodiversity determines the capacity of ecosystems to provide multiple functions simultaneously (i.e., multifunctionality), while their relative importance along environmental gradients remains unclear. Our objective of this study was to investigate how plant and microbial diversity along an altitudinal gradient affected soil multifunctionality in grasslands.The effects of plant and microbial (including bacteria, fungi and archaea) diversity on soil multifunctionality were estimated along a 2300 m altitudinal gradient across six grassland types in the Tianshan Mountain, China. The soil multifunctionality was calculated based on 12 parameters related to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous cycling, and soil nutrient status.The relative importance of plant and microbial diversity to soil multifunctionality shifted at an altitude of 1900 m while threshold for each soil function varied along altitudinal gradient. At low altitudes (< 1900 m), plant species richness showed a robust positive effect and had a more substantial impact on soil multifunctionality than microbial diversity. Altitude had a significant effect on plant species richness via indirect means by altering soil moisture. At high altitudes (> 1900 m), soil multifunctionality was influenced by a combination of plant and microbial diversity. Similarly, fungal richness was positively associated with soil multifunctionality, while archaeal richness had the opposite effect.The effect of plant and soil microbial diversity on soil multifunctionality was mediated by altitude in grasslands, which can guide the restoration efforts aimed to maximize soil multifunctionality in grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]