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Developing photocatalysts with desired activity and stability toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline seawater is of prime significance but still pressingly challenging. Herein, cuprum nanoclusters (CuNCs) are anchored on the surface of cadmium sulphide homojunctions (CdS‐H) with unsaturated edge sulphur (S) by an in situ photoreduction technique, which promotes the stability and hydrogen evolution of photocatalyst in the process of alkaline seawater hydrogen (H2) evolution (15.5 mmol g−1 h−1) with an apparent quantum yield of 11.0% at 450.0 nm. It is comprehensively confirmed that the unsaturated edge S not only effectively anchored Cu NCs but also promoted the adsorption of chloride ion (Cl−) ions, which suppressed the oxidation of lattice S and modulated the stability of the photocatalyst in alkaline seawater. The photothermal effect induced by the anchored Cu NCs accelerated the reaction kinetics, and the directional migration of the photocarrier at the metal‐semiconductor interface is demonstrated via the in situ method. This work affords a new perspective to rational design photocatalysts with high stability and superior performance in alkaline seawater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress is a prominent abiotic factor that adversely influences the growth and development of Bupleurum chinense during its seedling stage, negatively impacting biomass and secondary metabolite production, thus affecting yield and quality. To investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the response of B. chinense seedlings under drought stress, this study employed comprehensive physiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses. The results revealed that under drought stress, the root soluble sugar and free proline content in B. chinense seedlings significantly increased, while the activities of SOD, POD, and CAT increased in the leaves. These findings indicate the presence of distinct response mechanisms in B. chinense to cope with drought stress. Integrated analysis further identified significant correlations between genes and metabolites related to amino acid biosynthesis in the leaves, as well as genes and metabolites associated with acetaldehyde and dicarboxylic acid metabolism. In the roots, genes and metabolites related to plant hormone signaling and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle showed significant correlations. These findings provide vital views into the molecular-level response mechanisms of B. chinense under drought stress. Moreover, this study establishes the groundwork for identifying drought-tolerant genes and breeding drought-resistant varieties, which could improve the drought tolerance of medicinal plants and have broader implications for agriculture and crop production in water-scarce areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi beam forward looking sonar plays an important role in underwater detection. However, due to the complex underwater environment, unclear features, and susceptibility to noise interference, most forward looking sonar systems have poor recognition performance. The research on MFLS for underwater target detection faces some challenges. Therefore, this study proposes innovative improvements to the YOLOv5 algorithm to address the above issues. On the basis of maintaining the original YOLOv5 architecture, this improved model introduces transfer learning technology to overcome the limitation of scarce sonar image data. At the same time, by incorporating the concept of coordinate convolution, the improved model can extract features with rich positional information, significantly enhancing the model's detection ability for small underwater targets. Furthermore, in order to solve the problem of feature extraction in forward looking sonar images, this study integrates attention mechanisms. This mechanism expands the receptive field of the model and optimizes the feature learning process by highlighting key details while suppressing irrelevant information. These improvements not only enhance the recognition accuracy of the model for sonar images, but also enhance its applicability and generalization performance in different underwater environments. In response to the common problem of uneven training sample quality in forward looking sonar imaging technology, this study made a key improvement to the classic YOLOv5 algorithm. By adjusting the bounding box loss function of YOLOv5, the model's over sensitivity to low-quality samples was reduced, thereby reducing the punishment on these samples. After a series of comparative experiments, the newly proposed CCW-YOLOv5 algorithm has achieved detection accuracy in object detection mAP@0.5 Reached 85.3%, and the fastest inference speed tested on the local machine was 54 FPS, showing significant improvement and performance improvement compared to existing advanced algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular senescence is closely related to DNA damage, proteasome inactivity, histone loss, epigenetic alterations, and tumorigenesis. The mammalian proteasome activator PA200 (also referred to as PSME4) or its yeast ortholog Blm10 promotes the acetylation-dependent degradation of the core histones during transcription, DNA repair, and spermatogenesis. According to recent studies, PA200 plays an important role in senescence, probably because of its role in promoting the degradation of the core histones. Loss of PA200 or Blm10 is a major cause of the decrease in proteasome activity during senescence. In this paper, recent research progress on the association of PA200 with cellular senescence is summarized, and the potential of PA200 to serve as a therapeutic target in age-related diseases is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding gain bandwidth into the L-band for erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) is a crucial strategy to overcome limitations in prevalent C-band focused commercial silica-based EDFAs, significantly boosting optical network transmission capacity. Herein, we synthesized Er3+-doped broadband near-infrared emission tellurite glasses utilizing the melt quenching process, systematically exploring the impact of ZnCl 2 on the glass structure and optical properties. The 82TeO 2 –3Nb 2 O 5 –15ZnCl 2 –3Er 2 O 3 (TNZ15) glass emerged as a standout candidate for broadband amplifiers around wavelength at 1.55 μm. With escalating ZnCl 2 concentration, a discernible red shift in the emission peak wave lines was observed, accompanied by an expansion of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) from 98 nm to 106 nm. Noteworthy characteristics of all samples included exceptional thermal stability and elevated near-infrared (NIR) transmittance. Application of the Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory facilitated the calculation of J-O parameter intensity, providing deeper insights into the optical behavior of the materials. Finally, the evaluation of TNZ15 planar optical waveguides, employing the vertical top pumping mode of two 980 nm LEDs, encompassed both the C-band (1530–1565 nm) and the L-band (1565–1625 nm). The results underscore the potential of TNZ15 glass as a promising gain material for broadband optical amplifiers and lasers, offering valuable insights into the development of next-generation optical amplification technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we study the mechanisms of X‐ray induced darkening in the Dy/Al/P co‐doped silica glasses at visible wavelengths and explore the role of P/Al ratio played in the enhancement of irradiation resistance. The absorption, emission spectra and lifetime, Raman, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of pristine and irradiated Dy‐silica glasses as a function of P/Al ratio were measured and analyzed. The Si‐related defects (Si‐E′ and non‐bridge oxygen hole center), Al‐related defects (Al‐E′ and Al‐related oxygen hole center), P‐related defects (P‐OHC and P2), and Dy2+ ions were studied and analyzed. Results demonstrate that increasing P/Al is efficient to suppress the photodarkening in Dy‐silica glasses at visible wavelengths. Results imply that Dy‐silica glasses with P/Al > 1 may be a promising candidate for efficient visible fiber lasers operated at around 575 nm wavelength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type IV collagen is an integral component of basement membranes. Mutations in COL4A1, one of the key genes encoding Type IV collagen, can result in a variety of diseases. It is clear that a significant proportion of mutations that affect splicing can cause disease directly or contribute to the susceptibility or severity of disease. Here, we analyzed exonic mutations and intronic mutations described in the COL4A1 gene using bioinformatics programs and identified candidate mutations that may alter the normal splicing pattern through a minigene system. We identified seven variants that induce splicing alterations by disrupting normal splice sites, creating new ones, or altering splice regulatory elements. These mutations are predicted to impact protein function. Our results help in the correct molecular characterization of variants in COL4A1 and may help develop more personalized treatment options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Elastic band resistance training in elderly individuals can improve physical fitness and promote mental health in addition to other benefits. This systematic review aimed to review, summarize, and evaluate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodological studies on the use of elastic band resistance training in elderly individuals, and to investigate the influence of elastic band resistance training on the physical and mental health of elderly individuals, as well as their preferences and obstacles in training. Methods: A convergent separation approach was used to synthesize and integrate the results, specifically the mixed systematic review approach recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The extensive search strategy included electronic database searches in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and CINAHL. The researchers rigorously screened the literature, extracted and analyzed the data, and evaluated the quality of the included studies using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Results: Twenty-eight studies were included, of which 25 were quantitative studies, 2 were qualitative studies, and 1 was a mixed-methods study. A total of 1,697 subjects were investigated across all studies. Quantitative evidence supports the notion that elastic band resistance training can improve upper and lower limb flexibility, endurance, upper strength, physical balance, and cardiopulmonary function and enhance the mental health of elderly individuals. Participants in the qualitative study reported some preferences and obstacles with band resistance training, but most participants reported physical benefits. Conclusions: Despite the heterogeneity between studies, this review is the first systematic review to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of elastic band resistance training in older adults. It not only shows the influence of elastic band resistance training on the physical and mental health of the elderly, but also emphasizes the preference and obstacles of elderly individuals face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response styles present a threat to the validity of data from Likert scales. This study evaluates a brief personality test administered by interviewers to a diverse Chinese sample, focusing on two factors with direct impacts on response styles, the midpoint designs and the inclusion of reversely-worded items. We randomly assign respondents into three midpoint designs: masked midpoint, explicit midpoint and removed midpoint. Cronbach's alpha tends to be low and is not drastically affected by midpoint designs. Score reliability estimates from the removed and explicit midpoint designs are above or close to.60 along the whole score range for openness, but not the other subscales. The masked midpoint design presents some advantages in criterion relationship validity evidence based on correlations with demographic, behavioral, subjective and cognitive variables. Dropping reversely-worded items increases the estimates of Cronbach's alpha, but shows no positive effects on the criterion relationship validity. In conclusion, for interviewer-administered brief personality scales applied to Chinese respondents, masked midpoint design that aims to reduce a possible overuse of midpoint presents some advantages in the overall psychometric properties, but the inclusion of reversely-worded items shows mixed effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sleep disorders are a prevalent non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), although reliable biological markers are presently lacking. Objectives: To explore the associations between sleep disorders and serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels in individuals with prodromal and early PD. Methods: The study contained 1113 participants, including 585 early PD individuals, 353 prodromal PD individuals, and 175 healthy controls (HCs). The correlations between sleep disorders (including rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)) and serum NfL levels were researched using multiple linear regression models and linear mixed-effects models. We further investigated the correlations between the rates of changes in daytime sleepiness and serum NfL levels using multiple linear regression models. Results: In baseline analysis, early and prodromal PD individuals who manifested specific behaviors of RBD showed significantly higher levels of serum NfL. Specifically, early PD individuals who experienced nocturnal dream behaviors (β = 0.033; P = 0.042) and movements of arms or legs during sleep (β = 0.027; P = 0.049) showed significantly higher serum NfL levels. For prodromal PD individuals, serum NfL levels were significantly higher in individuals suffering from disturbed sleep (β = 0.038; P = 0.026). Our longitudinal findings support these baseline associations. Serum NfL levels showed an upward trend in early PD individuals who had a higher total RBDSQ score (β = 0.002; P = 0.011) or who were considered as probable RBD (β = 0.012; P = 0.009) or who exhibited behaviors on several sub-items of the RBDSQ. In addition, early PD individuals who had a high total ESS score (β = 0.001; P = 0.012) or who were regarded to have EDS (β = 0.013; P = 0.007) or who exhibited daytime sleepiness in several conditions had a trend toward higher serum NfL levels. Conclusion: Sleep disorders correlate with higher serum NfL, suggesting a link to PD neuronal damage. Early identification of sleep disorders and NfL monitoring are pivotal in detecting at-risk PD patients promptly, allowing for timely intervention. Regular monitoring of NfL levels holds promise for tracking both sleep disorders and disease progression, potentially emerging as a biomarker for evaluating treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current nursing procedure after fractional carbon dioxide (fCO2) is complex and needs to be optimized. The present study was conducted to evaluate the assisting effect of filament coating system after fCO2 laser treatment. Methods: Chinese individuals aged from 18 to 65 years diagnosed as photoaging or atrophic acne scar were recruited and each participant was treated with one single pass of fCO2 laser. A split face was randomly assigned as treatment side or control side. For control side, conventional procedure was topically applied respectively, including desonide cream two times for 3 days, fusidic acid cream two times for 7 days, and recombinant human epidermal growth factor (RhEGF) gel four times for 7 days; for treating side, a filament coating system was applied immediately after one application of fusidic acid cream, desonide cream and RhEGF, and removed 3 h later, for 3 days. Erythema, edema, crust, and pain on both sides were scored from 0 to 10 before and 1, 2, 4, and 7 days after fCO2 laser treatment. Stratum corneum hydration (SCH) and sebum of forehead and cheek on both sides were also measured by using Corneometer‐Sebumeter. Results: Twenty photoaging and 11 atrophic acne scar participants finished the observation. All of them complained of erythema, edema, crust, and pain after fCO2 laser treatment, and the scores decreased as time passed by. There were no statistical significances of erythema, edema, crust, pain, SCH, and sebum between treating side and control side at each observation time. Conclusion: Filament coating system was effective, safe, convenient, and economic in assisting recovery of ablative fCO2 laser, which might be a new option for additional nursing procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gait recognition is one of the most promising video-based biometric technologies. The edge of silhouettes and motion are the most informative feature and previous studies have explored them separately and achieved notable results. However, due to occlusions and variations in viewing angles, their gait recognition performance is often affected by the predefined spatial segmentation strategy. Moreover, traditional temporal pooling usually neglects distinctive temporal information in gait. To address the aforementioned issues, we propose a novel gait recognition framework, denoted as GaitASMS, which can effectively extract the adaptive structured spatial representations and naturally aggregate the multi-scale temporal information. The Adaptive Structured Representation Extraction Module (ASRE) separates the edge of silhouettes by using the adaptive edge mask and maximizes the representation in semantic latent space. Moreover, the Multi-Scale Temporal Aggregation Module (MSTA) achieves effective modeling of long-short-range temporal information by temporally aggregated structure. Furthermore, we propose a new data augmentation, denoted random mask, to enrich the sample space of long-term occlusion and enhance the generalization of the model. Extensive experiments conducted on two datasets demonstrate the competitive advantage of proposed method, especially in complex scenes, i.e., BG and CL. On the CASIA-B dataset, GaitASMS achieves the average accuracy of 93.5% and outperforms the baseline on rank-1 accuracies by 3.4% and 6.3%, respectively, in BG and CL. The ablation experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of ASRE and MSTA. The source code is available at https://github.com/YanSun-github/GaitASMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document summarizes a study on prenatal screening for copy number variants (CNVs) in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene using non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) data. The study analyzed data from a large population of reproductive-age women in China and identified 33 different pathogenic/likely pathogenic maternal CNVs in the DMD gene. The study found that approximately 40% of offspring inherited true-positive maternal CNVs, and 1.63% of male offspring could potentially be prenatally diagnosed and managed using this method. The study provides important information for genetic counseling and DMD/BMD screening worldwide. [Extracted from the article]

Reflux hypersensitivity (RH) is a subtype of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The Rome IV criteria separated RH from the original nonerosive reflux disease subgroup and classified it as a new functional oesophageal disease. Recently, the pathogenesis of RH has become the focus of research. According to the latest research reports, upregulation of acid-sensitive receptors, distribution of calcitonin gene-related peptide-positive nerve fibres, and psychiatric comorbidity have key roles in the pathogenesis of RH. This work reviews the latest findings regarding RH mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the safe and stable operation of 5G base stations, it is essential to accurately predict their power load. However, current short‐term prediction methods are rarely applied rationally in pertinent circumstances to the features of base station power load over time. For high accuracy and generalization capabilities, this work proposes a hybrid approach that combines gated recurrent unit (GRU) with particle swarm optimization (PSO) and completes ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN). The complex load is decomposed into multiple components to improve the fit of the neural network. To deal with the nonlinearity that constrains the modal aliasing and data noise, CEEMDAN is used to reconstruct the trend and noise sequences. The GRU network is utilized to improve the neural network fitness and obtain long‐term features. In addition, PSO is used to optimize the number of neurons and the learning rate of the GRU. Compared with existing neural network GRUs, the RMSE is reduced by 16.6, the mean absolute error is reduced by 11.97, and the coefficient of R2 is improved by 0.13, indicating that the model has a better fitting effect. The comparisons prove that the proposed model has better accuracy than the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moslae Herba (MH) can be used for both medicine and food and has a long history of medicine. MH has the effects of sweating and relieving the exterior, removing dampness and harmonizing, and is mainly used for colds caused by damp heat in summer. It is called "Xiayue Zhi Mahuang" in China. So far, 123 chemical compounds have been isolated and identified from MH, including flavonoids, terpenoids, phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids, and other chemical compounds. Its chemical components have a wide range of pharmacological activities, including antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, analgesic sedation, antipyretic, immune regulation, insecticidal, and other effects. In addition, because of its aromatic odor and health care function, MH also has development and utilization value in food, chemical, and other fields. This paper reviewed the research progress of MH in botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacology and provided a possible direction for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study models a container routing problem using multimodal transportation to improve its economy, timeliness, and reliability. Pickup and delivery time windows are simultaneously formulated in optimization to provide the shipper and the receiver with time-efficient services, in which early pickup and delayed delivery can be avoided, and nonlinear storage periods at the origin and the destination can be minimized. Furthermore, the capacity uncertainty of the multimodal network is incorporated into the advanced routing to enhance its reliability in practical transportation. The LR triangular fuzzy number is adopted to model the capacity uncertainty, in which its spread ratio is defined to measure the uncertainty level of the fuzzy capacity. Due to the nonlinearity introduced by the time windows and the fuzziness from the network capacity, this study establishes a fuzzy nonlinear optimization model for optimization problem. A chance-constrained linear reformulation equivalent to the proposed model is then generated based on the credibility measure, which makes the global optimum solution attainable by using Lingo software. A numerical case verification demonstrates that the proposed model can effectively solve the problem. The case analysis points out that the formulation of pickup and delivery time windows can improve the timeliness of the entire transportation process and help to achieve on-time transportation. Furthermore, improving the confidence level and the uncertainty level increases the total costs of the optimal route. Therefore, the shipper and the receiver must prepare more transportation budget to improve reliability and address the increasing uncertainty level. Further analysis draws some insights to help the shipper, receiver, and multimodal transport operator to organize a reliable and cost-efficient multimodal transportation under capacity uncertainty through confidence level balance and transportation service and transfer service selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf senescence is the terminal stage of leaf development, and its initiation and progression are closely controlled by the integration of a myriad of endogenous signals and environmental stimuli. It has been documented that WRKY transcription factors (TFs) play essential roles in regulating leaf senescence, yet the molecular mechanism of WRKY-mediated leaf senescence still lacks detailed elucidation in crop plants. In this study, we cloned and identified a tobacco WRKY TF gene, designated NtWRKY70b, acting as a positive regulator of natural leaf senescence. The expression profile analysis showed that NtWRKY70b transcript levels were induced by aging and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and downregulated upon hydrogen sulfide (H2S) treatment. The physiological and biochemical assays revealed that overexpression of NtWRKY70b (OE) clearly promoted leaf senescence, triggering increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decreased H2S content, while disruption of NtWRKY70b by chimeric repressor silencing technology (SRDX) significantly delayed the onset of leaf senescence, leading to a decreased accumulation of ROS and elevated concentration of H2S. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression levels of various senescence-associated genes and ROS biosynthesis-related genes (NtRbohD and NtRbohE) were upregulated in OE lines, while the expression of H2S biosynthesis-related genes (NtDCD and NtCYSC1) were inhibited in OE lines. Furthermore, the Yeast one-hybrid analysis (Y1H) and dual luciferase assays showed that NtWRKY70b could directly upregulate the expression of an ROS biosynthesis-related gene (NtRbohD) and a chlorophyll degradation-related gene (NtPPH) by binding to their promoter sequences. Accordingly, these results indicated that NtWYKY70b directly activated the transcript levels of NtRbohD and NtPPH and repressed the expression of NtDCD and NtCYCS1, thereby promoting ROS accumulation and impairing the endogenous H2S production, and subsequently accelerating leaf aging. These observations improve our knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms of WRKY TFs controlling leaf senescence and provide a novel method for ensuring high agricultural crop productivity via genetic manipulation of leaf senescence in crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended energy levels and transition data for the Yb LVII are calculated with the GRASP2018 package, which is based on the multiconfiguration Dirac–Hartree–Fock and relativistic configuration methods. Complete and consistent data sets of energy levels, transition rates and lifetimes for electric-dipole (E1), electric-quadrupole (E2), magnetic-dipole (M1), and magnetic-quadrupole (M2) transitions among all these levels are given in this calculation. Three methods of uncertainty estimators are used to evaluate the accuracy of transition data. The computed results are also compared with other theoretical computations. The present results are reported as benchmarks for future calculations and measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytophthora root and stem rot of soybean (Glycine max), caused by the oomycete Phytophthora sojae, is an extremely destructive disease worldwide. In this study, we identified GmEIL1, which encodes an ethylene‐insensitive3 (EIN3) transcription factor. GmEIL1 was significantly induced following P. sojae infection of soybean plants. Compared to wild‐type soybean plants, transgenic soybean plants overexpressing GmEIL1 showed enhanced resistance to P. sojae and GmEIL1‐silenced RNA‐interference lines showed more severe symptoms when infected with P. sojae. We screened for target genes of GmEIL1 and confirmed that GmEIL1 bound directly to the GmERF113 promoter and regulated GmERF113 expression. Moreover, GmEIL1 positively regulated the expression of the pathogenesis‐related gene GmPR1. The GmEIL1‐regulated defence response to P. sojae involved both ethylene biosynthesis and the ethylene signalling pathway. These findings suggest that the GmEIL1‐GmERF113 module plays an important role in P. sojae resistance via the ethylene signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a form of dementia that frequently displays significant visual dysfunction and relatively preserved cognitive and executive functions, thus hindering early diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to investigate possible fundus markers in PCA patients and compare them with those of typical Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients to seek potential diagnostic patterns. Methods: Age-matched PCA and AD patients and healthy controls (HC) completed optometry, intraocular pressure measurement, neuropsychologic assessments, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) examination in one visit. Overall, six outcomes of thicknesses of various retinal layers and seven outcomes of the retinal microvascular network were calculated. After adjusting for age, sex, and years of education, the OCT and OCTA results were analyzed using analysis of covariance and generalized linear models. Correlation analyses were performed using Spearman correlation, and ROC curves were plotted. Results: Twelve PCA patients, nineteen AD patients, and thirty HC, aged 45–80 years were included. Fifty HC, thirty AD, and twenty PCA eyes were available for foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area analysis; forty-nine HC, thirty-four AD, and eighteen PCA eyes were available for OCT and OCTA assessments. PCA patients had thinner retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell layer + inner plexiform layer than HC in the 0–3 mm circle and 1–3 mm ring. Few structural differences were observed between the AD group and the other two groups. The flow area of the superficial capillary plexus and the intermediate capillary plexus was smaller in the PCA group than in the HC group in the 0–1 mm circle, 0–3 mm circle. MMSE performed better than any combination of optical parameters in identifying AD and PCA from HC (AUC = 1), while the combination of MoCA, retinal thickness and vascular density of ICP in the 1-3 mm ring, with flow area of ICP in the 0-1 mm circle showed the strongest ability to distinguish PCA from AD (AUC = 0.944). Conclusions: PCA patients exhibited similar impairment patterns to AD patients in the fundus structure and microvascular network. OCTA may aid in the non-invasive detection of AD and PCA, but still remains to be substantiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) is a generalized form of the Fourier transform (FT), it is another important class of time–frequency analysis tool in signal processing. In this paper, we study the two-dimensional (2D) FRFT in the polar coordinates setting. First, Parseval theorem of the 2D FRFT in the polar coordinates is obtained. Then, according to the relationship between 2D FRFT and fractional Hankel transform (FRHT), the convolution theorem for the 2D FRFT in polar coordinates is obtained. It shows that the FRFT of the convolution of two functions is the product of their respective FRFTs. Moreover, the fast algorithm for the convolution theorem of the 2D FRFT is discussed. Finally, the sampling theorem for signal is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation Drug–target interaction (DTI) prediction aims to identify interactions between drugs and protein targets. Deep learning can automatically learn discriminative features from drug and protein target representations for DTI prediction, but challenges remain, making it an open question. Existing approaches encode drugs and targets into features using deep learning models, but they often lack explanations for underlying interactions. Moreover, limited labeled DTIs in the chemical space can hinder model generalization. Results We propose an interpretable nested graph neural network for DTI prediction (iNGNN-DTI) using pre-trained molecule and protein models. The analysis is conducted on graph data representing drugs and targets by using a specific type of nested graph neural network, in which the target graphs are created based on 3D structures using Alphafold2. This architecture is highly expressive in capturing substructures of the graph data. We use a cross-attention module to capture interaction information between the substructures of drugs and targets. To improve feature representations, we integrate features learned by models that are pre-trained on large unlabeled small molecule and protein datasets, respectively. We evaluate our model on three benchmark datasets, and it shows a consistent improvement on all baseline models in all datasets. We also run an experiment with previously unseen drugs or targets in the test set, and our model outperforms all of the baselines. Furthermore, the iNGNN-DTI can provide more insights into the interaction by visualizing the weights learned by the cross-attention module. Availability and implementation The source code of the algorithm is available at https://github.com/syan1992/iNGNN-DTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates a green multimodal routing problem with soft time window. The objective of routing is to minimize the total costs of accomplishing the multimodal transportation of a batch of goods. To improve the feasibility of optimization, this study formulates the routing problem in an uncertain environment where the capacities and carbon emission factors of the travel process and the transfer process in the multimodal network are considered fuzzy. Taking triangular fuzzy numbers to describe the uncertainty, this study proposes a fuzzy nonlinear programming model to deal with the specific routing problem. To make the problem solvable, this study adopts the fuzzy chance-constrained programming approach based on the possibility measure to remove the fuzziness of the proposed model. Furthermore, we use linear inequality constraints to reformulate the nonlinear equality constraints represented by the continuous piecewise linear functions and realize the linearization of the nonlinear programming model to improve the computational efficiency of problem solving. After model processing, we can utilize mathematical programming software to run exact solution algorithms to solve the specific routing problem. A numerical experiment is given to show the feasibility of the proposed model. The sensitivity analysis of the numerical experiment further clarifies how improving the confidence level of the chance constraints to enhance the possibility that the multimodal route planned in advance satisfies the real-time capacity constraint in the actual transportation, i.e., the reliability of the routing, increases both the total costs and carbon emissions of the route. The numerical experiment also finds that charging carbon emissions is not absolutely effective in emission reduction. In this condition, bi-objective analysis indicates the conflicting relationship between lowering transportation activity costs and reducing carbon emissions in routing optimization. The sensitivity of the Pareto solutions concerning the confidence level reveals that reliability, economy, and environmental sustainability are in conflict with each other. Based on the findings of this study, the customer and the multimodal transport operator can organize efficient multimodal transportation, balancing the above objectives using the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angelicae sinensis radix is commonly used in Chinese medicine and is also widely used as a spice and condiment in many countries. Due to the different geographical sources and processing methods, the contents of chemical components are different and affect the quality of Angelica sinensis radix. A simple and efficient method was established to comprehensively evaluate the quality of Angelica sinensis radix by combining HPLC fingerprint and single-standard multi-component quantitative analysis. With ferulic acid as a single marker, the contents of eight main active ingredients, including ferulic acid, senkyunolide I, senkyunolide H, coniferyl ferulate, E-ligustilide, E-butylidenephthalide, Z-ligustilide, and Z-butylidenephthalide, were simultaneously determined in 30 min by reliable relative correction factor. The overall chemical profiles of Angelica sinensis radix were compared by fingerprint similarity evaluation, the specific content level of each component was compared by simultaneous content determination of multiple components of a single standard, and the specific different components of Angelica sinensis radix before and after processing were analyzed by chemometrics. The established method was successfully applied to the quality evaluation of 44 batches of Angelica sinensis radix from 4 different origins and 45 batches of Angelica sinensis radix with different processing methods. This study proposed a simple, rapid, low-cost, and reliable quality comprehensive evaluation method for ASR from different origins and processing methods, which may be readily transferred and applied to other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the durability of two kinds of fiber-reinforced composite materials, and obtain the degradation mechanism and failure model in a hygrothermal environment, E-glass- fiber-reinforced composite materials, glass fiber-reinforced epoxy vinyl ester and glass fiber-reinforced unsaturated polyester (named GF/VE and GF/UP, respectively) were chosen to suffer rigorous hygrothermal aging. Their mechanical performance was monitored during the aging process to evaluate their durability. The cause of deterioration of the composite was comprehensively analyzed. Based on the analysis results of attenuated total-reflectance-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), the change mechanism of chain structure of the resin molecule was proposed. SEM (scanning electron microscopy), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to analyze the microstructure and degradation mechanism of the fiber and the interface between fiber and matrix. The degradation mechanism of the composite system, including the resin, the fiber and the interface, was obtained, and it was found that the deterioration of the matrix resin caused by the hygrothermal environment was the main factor leading to the decline in composites performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cerebral microbleeds (CMB) play an important role in neurodegenerative pathology. Objective: The present study aims to test whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) level is linked to CMBs in elderly people. Methods: A total of 750 participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) who had measurements of GAP-43 and CMBs were included in the study. According to the presence and extent of CMBs, participants were stratified into different groups. Regression analyses were used to assess cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between GAP-43 and CMBs. Results: Participants with CMB were slightly older and had higher concentrations of CSF GAP43. In multivariable adjusted analyses for age, gender, APOEɛ4 status, and cognitive diagnoses, higher CSF GAP-43 concentrations were modestly associated with CMB presence (OR = 1.169, 95% CI = 1.001–1.365) and number (β= 0.020, SE = 0.009, p = 0.027). Similarly, higher CSF GAP43 concentrations were accrual of CMB lesions, associated with higher CMB progression (OR = 1.231, 95% CI = 1.044–1.448) and number (β= 0.017, SE = 0.005, p = 0.001) in the follow up scan. In stratified analyses, slightly stronger associations were noted in male participants, those 65 years and older, carriers of APOEɛ4 alleles, and with more advanced cognitive disorders. Conclusions: CSF GAP-43 was cross-sectionally associated with the presence and extent of CMBs. GAP-43 might be used as a biomarker to track the dynamic changes of CMBs in elderly persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium is an essential nutrient required to maintain brain health throughout life, and adequate magnesium intake is positively associated with cognitive performance in older adults. However, sex differences in magnesium metabolism have not been adequately assessed in humans. We investigated sex differences in the effect of dietary magnesium intake and the risk of different types of cognitive impairment in older Chinese adults. We collected and assessed dietary data and cognitive function status in people aged 55 years and older in northern China who participated in the Community Cohort Study of Nervous System Diseases from 2018 to 2019 to explore the relationship between dietary magnesium intake and the risk of each type of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in sex-specific cohorts of older adults. The study included 612 people: 260 (42.5%) men and 352 (57.5%) women. Logistic regression results showed that for the total sample and women's sample, high dietary magnesium intake reduced the risk of amnestic MCI (ORtotal = 0.300; ORwomen = 0.190) and multidomain amnestic MCI (ORtotal = 0.225; ORwomen = 0.145). The results of restricted cubic spline analysis showed that the risk of amnestic MCI (ptotal = 0.0193; pwomen = 0.0351) and multidomain amnestic MCI (ptotal = 0.0089; pwomen = 0.0096) in the total sample and women's sample gradually decreased with increasing dietary magnesium intake. The results suggest that adequate magnesium intake may have a preventive effect against the risk of MCI in older women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the drawbacks of the slow convergence speed and lack of individual information exchange in the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm, this study proposes an improved cuckoo search algorithm based on a sharing mechanism (ICSABOSM). The enhanced algorithm reinforces information sharing among individuals through the utilization of a sharing mechanism. Additionally, new search strategies are introduced in both the global and local searches of the CS. The results from numerical experiments on four standard test functions indicate that the improved algorithm outperforms the original CS in terms of search capability and performance. Building upon the improved algorithm, this paper introduces a numerical solution approach for differential equations involving the coupling of function approximation and intelligent algorithms. By constructing an approximate function using Fourier series to satisfy the conditions of the given differential equation and boundary conditions with minimal error, the proposed method minimizes errors while satisfying the differential equation and boundary conditions. The problem of solving the differential equation is then transformed into an optimization problem with the coefficients of the approximate function as variables. Furthermore, the improved cuckoo search algorithm is employed to solve this optimization problem. The specific steps of applying the improved algorithm to solve differential equations are illustrated through examples. The research outcomes broaden the application scope of the cuckoo optimization algorithm and provide a new perspective for solving differential equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the relationship between the vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) and patient outcomes in surgical settings. Methods: Two independent reviewers searched PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and CNKI databases from November 2010, when the VIS was first published, to December 2022. Additional studies were identified through hand-searching the reference lists of included studies. Eligible studies were those published in English that evaluated the association between the VIS and short- or long-term patient outcomes in both pediatric and adult surgical patients. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan Manager version 5.3, and quality assessment followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklists. Results: A total of 58 studies comprising 29,920 patients were included in the systematic review, 34 of which were eligible for meta-analysis. Early postoperative VIS was found to be associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation (OR 5.20, 95% CI 3.78–7.16), mortality (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.05–1.12), acute kidney injury (AKI) (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.13–1.41), poor outcomes (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01–1.04), and length of stay (LOS) in the ICU (OR 3.50, 95% CI 2.25–5.44). The optimal cutoff value for the VIS as an outcome predictor varied between studies, ranging from 10 to 30. Conclusion: Elevated early postoperative VIS is associated with various adverse outcomes, including acute kidney injury (AKI), mechanical ventilation duration, mortality, poor outcomes, and length of stay (LOS) in the ICU. Monitoring the VIS upon return to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) could assist medical teams in risk stratification, targeted interventions, and parent counseling. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42022359100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop an ultrasound-driven clinical deep learning radiomics (CDLR) model for stratifying the risk of testicular masses, aiming to guide individualized treatment and minimize unnecessary procedures. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 275 patients with confirmed testicular lesions (January 2018 to April 2023) from two hospitals, split into training (158 cases), validation (68 cases), and external test cohorts (49 cases). Radiomics and deep learning (DL) features were extracted from preoperative ultrasound images. Following feature selection, we utilized logistic regression (LR) to establish a deep learning radiomics (DLR) model and subsequently derived its signature. Clinical data underwent univariate and multivariate LR analyses, forming the "clinic signature." By integrating the DLR and clinic signatures using multivariable LR, we formulated the CDLR nomogram for testicular mass risk stratification. The model’s efficacy was gauged using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), while its clinical utility was appraised with decision curve analysis(DCA). Additionally, we compared these models with two radiologists' assessments (5–8 years of practice). Results: The CDLR nomogram showcased exceptional precision in distinguishing testicular tumors from non-tumorous lesions, registering AUCs of 0.909 (internal validation) and 0.835 (external validation). It also excelled in discerning malignant from benign testicular masses, posting AUCs of 0.851 (internal validation) and 0.834 (external validation). Notably, CDLR surpassed the clinical model, standalone DLR, and the evaluations of the two radiologists. Conclusion: The CDLR nomogram offers a reliable tool for differentiating risks associated with testicular masses. It augments radiological diagnoses, facilitates personalized treatment approaches, and curtails unwarranted medical procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-axis electrical discharging machining (EDM) is the most commonly used manufacturing method for shrouded blisks. The discharge points and discharge gap distance are time-varying in a multi-axis EDM process. It is difficult to obtain an optimal servo feedrate. In traditional multi-axis EDM servo control systems, servo sensitivity is usually chosen as a smaller constant to avoid arc discharges. Thus, the servo feedrate is lower than the material removal rate in a machining process. The open circuit rate is high and the machining efficiency is decreased. This paper proposes an adaptive servo sensitivity control algorithm for multi-axis EDM of shrouded blisks. Servo sensitivity is adjusted according to discharge status, so as to decrease the open circuit rate and to improve the machining efficiency. Experiment results show that the proposed adaptive servo sensitivity control algorithm can improve the machining efficiency of shrouded blisks by 28.02% without deteriorating surface integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This investigation delves into the intricate mechanisms of autophagy-dependent cisplatin resistance in bladder cancer. Our primary objective is to unveil the precise role of SIRT1, a deacetylase enzyme, in orchestrating cisplatin resistance through autophagic pathways in the cisplatin-resistant T24/DDP cell line. The findings demonstrate that inhibiting autophagy diminishes drug resistance, while SIRT1 overexpression intensifies this resistance by stimulating autophagy. Significantly, silencing SIRT1 elevates Beclin1 acetylation, suppressing autophagy and attenuating cisplatin resistance. This nuanced understanding of SIRT1-mediated cisplatin resistance not only furthers our theoretical foundation, but also furnishes potential therapeutic targets. Autophagy-dependent cisplatin resistance poses a challenge in bladder cancer treatment. SIRT1, a protein deacetylase, is involved in autophagy regulation. However, the precise mechanism through which SIRT1 mediates cisplatin resistance in bladder cancer via autophagy remains unclear. In this study, we developed a cisplatin-resistant T24/DDP cell line to investigate this mechanism. The apoptosis rate and cell viability were assessed using flow cytometry and the CCK8 method. The expression levels of the relevant RNA and protein were determined using RT-qPCR and a Western blot analysis, respectively. Immunoprecipitation was utilized to validate the interaction between SIRT1 and Beclin1, as well as to determine the acetylation level of Beclin1. The findings indicated the successful construction of the T24/DDP cell line, which exhibited autophagy-dependent cisplatin resistance. Inhibiting autophagy significantly reduced the drug resistance index of these cells. The T24/DDP cell line showed a high SIRT1 expression level. The overexpression of SIRT1 activated autophagy, thereby further promoting cisplatin resistance in the T24/DDP cell line. Conversely, inhibiting autophagy counteracted the cisplatin-resistance-promoting effects of SIRT1. Silencing SIRT1 led to increased acetylation of Beclin1, the inhibition of autophagy, and a reduction in the cisplatin resistance of the T24/DDP cell line. Introducing a double mutation (lysine 430 and 437 to arginine, 2KR) in Beclin-1 inhibited acetylation and activated autophagy, effectively reversing the decreased cisplatin resistance resulting from SIRT1 silencing. In summary, our study elucidated that SIRT1 promotes cisplatin resistance in human bladder cancer T24 cells through Beclin1-deacetylation-mediated autophagy activation. These findings suggest a potential new strategy for reversing cisplatin resistance in bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The associations between neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been well-studied, yet gaps remain. Objective: We aimed to examine the associations of four subsyndromes (hyperactivity, psychosis, affective symptoms, and apathy) of NPSs with cognition, neurodegeneration, and AD pathologies. Methods: Totally 1,040 non-demented elderly (48.07% males) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) were included. We assessed the relationships between NPSs and AD neuropathologies, cognition, neurodegeneration, and clinical correlates in cross-sectional and longitudinal via multiple linear regression, linear mixed effects, and Cox proportional hazard models. Causal mediation analyses were conducted to explore the mediation effects of AD pathologies on cognition and neurodegeneration. Results: We found that individuals with hyperactivity, psychosis, affective symptoms, or apathy displayed a poorer cognitive status, a lower CSF amyloid-β (Aβ) level and a higher risk of clinical conversion (p < 0.05). Hyperactivity and affective symptoms were associated with increasing cerebral Aβ deposition (p < 0.05). Except psychosis, the other three subsyndromes accompanied with faster atrophy of hippocampal volume (p < 0.05). Specific NPSs were predominantly associated with different cognitive domains decline through an 8-year follow-up (p < 0.05). Moreover, the relationships between NPSs and cognitive decline, neurodegeneration might be associated with Aβ, the mediation percentage varied from 6.05% to 17.51% (p < 0.05). Conclusions: NPSs could be strongly associated with AD. The influences of NPSs on cognitive impairments, neurodegeneration might be partially associated with Aβ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Depressive tendency refers to the early stage of the onset of depression disorder, which can also have a negative impact on individuals' quality of life. However, there are many numerous depression-related scales that are primarily used to evaluate depression disorders with relatively severe symptom severity. And considering the characteristics of the Chinese cultural background, relatively few corresponding scales are currently developed. This study aimed to develop and validate a depressive tendency questionnaire for Chinese middle school students, based on the psychological structure of depressive tendency in the context of Chinese culture.Methods: The initial version of the questionnaire was developed through literature reviews, open surveys, and in-depth interviews. The questionnaire was revised based on the predictions made from 865 middle school students (M=15.84, SD=1.50). Finally, the formal questionnaire was developed through valid administration to 1205 students (M=15.63, SD=1.82), using confirmatory factor analysis, reliability, and validity testing, as well as measurement invariance analysis.Results: The questionnaire consisted of 30 items, including negative self, cognitive function, personal reserve, and social support. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the questionnaire fitted the data with well construct validity. Measurement invariance indicates no gender and grade differences in the questionnaire scores. The questionnaire demonstrates good reliability and validity, meeting the requirements of psychometrics.Conclusion: From a theoretical point of view, we clarified the psychological structure of depressive tendencies among Chinese middle school students, providing a theoretical and empirical basis for subsequent related research. From a practical point of view, the formal questionnaire plays a positive role in the smooth development of mental health counseling, education, and other work in middle schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zexieyin formula (ZXYF), a traditional Chinese herbal formula recorded in the Huangdi Neijing to have efficacy in relieving spleen dampness and heat accumulation syndrome, which is also the key pathogenesis of atherosclerosis (AS). The efficacy has demonstrated by our previous studies. However, the intrinsic mechanism of ZXYF for treating vascular inflammation and the effect of inflammatory response on plaque are not known. Currently, plaque stabilization is crucial for the prognosis of AS. Our study mainly focused on the therapeutic effects of ZXYF on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced vascular inflammation and vulnerable plaques (VP) in mice and explored its underlying mechanism. Male apolipoprotein E knockout (APOE−/−) mice were fed HFD for 8 weeks to establish a VP model. During this period, the mice were also administered ZXYF, while atorvastatin (ATO) was used as a positive control. Aortic plaque area and morphology were detected by oil red staining and HE staining. Aortic plaque collagen content was detected by Masson staining. M1/M2 type macrophages were detected using immunofluorescence (IF). The study analyzed the levels of inflammation-related cytokines (IL-1β, IL-10, IL-6), MAPK/NF-κB pathway proteins, and NLRP3 inflammasomes (NLRP3, Caspase-1) using Western blot. Additionally, the levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in the aorta were analyzed using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The plaque instability index was calculated for each group using the vulnerable plaque formula. In this study, APOE−/− mice were fed high-fat diet for 8 weeks. The results of oil-red and HE staining indicated a significant increase in the aortic plaque area of the mice, which exhibited a typical VP phenotype. ZXYF and ATO significantly improved AS plaques and prevented plaque rupture. HFD exacerbated vascular inflammation, stimulated macrophage conversion to M1-type through the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, and released pro-inflammatory factors such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1α, and IL-6. These factors activated NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to cellular death. However, ZXYF could reverse this trend and promote the conversion of macrophages to the anti-inflammatory M2 type. The anti-inflammatory effect of ATO was not significant. Moreover, HFD promoted the release of MMP-2 and MMP-9 from macrophages, which degraded plaque collagen, and induced a decrease in plaque SMC content, resulting in a thinning of the plaque fibrous cap. In contrast, ZXYF inhibited the decomposition of plaque collagen and increased the content of plaque smooth muscle cells (SMC) by reducing macrophage secretion of MMPs, thereby stabilizing plaques. Although ATO could reverse the decrease in plaque collagen and SMC content, its effect on MMPs was not significant. Finally, we calculated the vulnerability index to assess the overall risk of the plaque vulnerability phenotype. In line with these findings, ZXYF and ATO were able to effectively reverse the increase in the vulnerability index caused by HFD and lower the risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Our results suggested that ZXYF could reduce inflammation and increase plaque stability by inhibiting the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, which provided a theoretical basis for clinical application and subsequent research. [Display omitted] • Zexieyin formula (ZXYF) has efficacy in the treatment of atherosclerosis (AS). • ZXYF inhibited vascular inflammation by preventing macrophage, decreasing the secretion of MMPs or activation of NLRP3 in aorta. • This study will promote the use of ZXYF in patients with AS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sec-hexyl acetate was synthesized by the addition-esterification of 1-hexene. The activity of zinc-exchanged phosphotungstic acid catalysts is decided by the equilibrium relationship between the two different active sites, and the Lewis acid site can improve the adsorption capacity of the catalyst for acetic acid molecules. The in-situ FT-IR spectrum experiment confirms that the reaction rate of alkene isomerization is greater than that of the addition-esterification, and a higher temperature is not conducive to the generation of acetate. [Display omitted] The addition-esterification reaction of fatty acids and alkenes is an important method for replacing the Fischer-Speier esterification due to its 100 % atomic utilization. In this study, sec -hexyl acetate was synthesized through the addition-esterification of 1-hexene. At the same time, five different zinc-exchanged phosphotungstic acid catalysts were prepared using the ion exchange method, and their catalytic activities in the addition-esterification were tested and compared. Results indicate that the Zn 0.5 H 2.0 PW- I catalyst exhibits the best performance in six different catalysts, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of Brönsted and Lewis acids. The activity of catalysts is determined by the equilibrium relationship between Brönsted and Lewis acidity. In the addition-esterification of alkenes, the main activity center is the Brönsted acid site, while the Lewis acid site can improve the adsorption capacity of the catalyst for acetic acid molecules. Moreover, the preparation methods have a significant impact on the activity of catalysts. In addition, the in-situ FT-IR spectrum experiment confirms that the reaction rate of alkene isomerization is greater than that of addition-esterification, and a higher temperature is not conducive to the generation of acetate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Organic fertilizer (OF) is beneficial for crop yield and quality, however, most phosphorus in OF are organic forms, and cannot be utilized until they are hydrolyzed to inorganic phosphate (Pi). Although root-secreted acid phosphatases (APases) play an important role in hydrolyzing organic phosphorus (Po), it is unclear whether they improve the utilization efficiency of OF, and whether purple acid phosphatase (PAP) genes function in plants’ utilization of OF.We report a 10-year field study of OF application to rice, and the response of root-secreted APase activity to organic fertilization. Wild type (WT), OsPAP10c overexpressing, and OsPAP10c deficient rice were used to evaluate the role of this gene on the regulation of root-secreted APase activity and its response to OF.Over 10 years of OF application, the APase activity of rice root secretions increased, over rice that had been fertilized with chemical fertilizer (CF). The APase activity in the rhizosphere soil of OF treated rice increased as well compared to CF treated rice. In PAP10c-OE rice, APase activity in the root secretions was greater than in WT rice, the activity in pap10c rice was less than in WT in OF treatment.OF application enhances the APase activity of rice root secretions and improves the APase activity in the rhizosphere soil, which facilitates the hydrolysis of Po in OF. This hydrolysis generated sufficient available Pi for rice growth and production. OsPAP10c positively regulates root-secreted APase activity and Po utilization efficiency in rice in OF treated fields.Methods: Organic fertilizer (OF) is beneficial for crop yield and quality, however, most phosphorus in OF are organic forms, and cannot be utilized until they are hydrolyzed to inorganic phosphate (Pi). Although root-secreted acid phosphatases (APases) play an important role in hydrolyzing organic phosphorus (Po), it is unclear whether they improve the utilization efficiency of OF, and whether purple acid phosphatase (PAP) genes function in plants’ utilization of OF.We report a 10-year field study of OF application to rice, and the response of root-secreted APase activity to organic fertilization. Wild type (WT), OsPAP10c overexpressing, and OsPAP10c deficient rice were used to evaluate the role of this gene on the regulation of root-secreted APase activity and its response to OF.Over 10 years of OF application, the APase activity of rice root secretions increased, over rice that had been fertilized with chemical fertilizer (CF). The APase activity in the rhizosphere soil of OF treated rice increased as well compared to CF treated rice. In PAP10c-OE rice, APase activity in the root secretions was greater than in WT rice, the activity in pap10c rice was less than in WT in OF treatment.OF application enhances the APase activity of rice root secretions and improves the APase activity in the rhizosphere soil, which facilitates the hydrolysis of Po in OF. This hydrolysis generated sufficient available Pi for rice growth and production. OsPAP10c positively regulates root-secreted APase activity and Po utilization efficiency in rice in OF treated fields.Results: Organic fertilizer (OF) is beneficial for crop yield and quality, however, most phosphorus in OF are organic forms, and cannot be utilized until they are hydrolyzed to inorganic phosphate (Pi). Although root-secreted acid phosphatases (APases) play an important role in hydrolyzing organic phosphorus (Po), it is unclear whether they improve the utilization efficiency of OF, and whether purple acid phosphatase (PAP) genes function in plants’ utilization of OF.We report a 10-year field study of OF application to rice, and the response of root-secreted APase activity to organic fertilization. Wild type (WT), OsPAP10c overexpressing, and OsPAP10c deficient rice were used to evaluate the role of this gene on the regulation of root-secreted APase activity and its response to OF.Over 10 years of OF application, the APase activity of rice root secretions increased, over rice that had been fertilized with chemical fertilizer (CF). The APase activity in the rhizosphere soil of OF treated rice increased as well compared to CF treated rice. In PAP10c-OE rice, APase activity in the root secretions was greater than in WT rice, the activity in pap10c rice was less than in WT in OF treatment.OF application enhances the APase activity of rice root secretions and improves the APase activity in the rhizosphere soil, which facilitates the hydrolysis of Po in OF. This hydrolysis generated sufficient available Pi for rice growth and production. OsPAP10c positively regulates root-secreted APase activity and Po utilization efficiency in rice in OF treated fields.Conclusion: Organic fertilizer (OF) is beneficial for crop yield and quality, however, most phosphorus in OF are organic forms, and cannot be utilized until they are hydrolyzed to inorganic phosphate (Pi). Although root-secreted acid phosphatases (APases) play an important role in hydrolyzing organic phosphorus (Po), it is unclear whether they improve the utilization efficiency of OF, and whether purple acid phosphatase (PAP) genes function in plants’ utilization of OF.We report a 10-year field study of OF application to rice, and the response of root-secreted APase activity to organic fertilization. Wild type (WT), OsPAP10c overexpressing, and OsPAP10c deficient rice were used to evaluate the role of this gene on the regulation of root-secreted APase activity and its response to OF.Over 10 years of OF application, the APase activity of rice root secretions increased, over rice that had been fertilized with chemical fertilizer (CF). The APase activity in the rhizosphere soil of OF treated rice increased as well compared to CF treated rice. In PAP10c-OE rice, APase activity in the root secretions was greater than in WT rice, the activity in pap10c rice was less than in WT in OF treatment.OF application enhances the APase activity of rice root secretions and improves the APase activity in the rhizosphere soil, which facilitates the hydrolysis of Po in OF. This hydrolysis generated sufficient available Pi for rice growth and production. OsPAP10c positively regulates root-secreted APase activity and Po utilization efficiency in rice in OF treated fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by nature, this study employed the Bouligand structures, as observed in the dactyl club of mantis shrimp, to enhance the performance of 3D-printed Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites (3DP-SHCC). Twenty sets of printed and mold-cast specimens were prepared to investigate the effects of Bouligand structures on the flexural performance of 3DP-SHCC. Three printing patterns (parallel, cross, and Bouligand printing) and five pitch angles (15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°) were used for the Bouligand printing pattern. The results showed that the flexural performance of parallel-printed SHCC exhibited significant directionality. The flexural strength and toughness of parallel-printed SHCC in the X direction were 1.28 times and 3.27 times greater than the mold-cast SHCC. However, the flexural strength and toughness in the Y direction were 0.58 times and 0.25 times those of the mold-cast SHCC. The cross-printed and Bouligand-printed SHCC alleviated the directionality. The flexural performance of cross-printed SHCC was lower than that of the mold-cast SHCC. Compared to parallel-printed SHCC, the flexural strength and toughness of Bouligand-printed SHCC increased by 1.25 to 1.73 times and 3.48 to 5.10 times, respectively, in the Y direction. Bouligand-printing twisted the fiber angles, enabling effective crack bridging across multiple directions and endowing the SHCC with uniform mechanical properties in various directions. The Bouligand structures provided valuable inspiration for optimizing 3DP-SHCC structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes is a common chronic metabolic disease. The frequent fluctuation of glucose is the main cause of most diabetes complications, which in turn causes harm to the health of patients. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has attracted much attention in the rapid detection of glucose due to its unique molecular fingerprinting ability, ultra-high sensitivity and fast response. However, due to the low affinity between glucose and SERS substrate, poor signal, susceptibility to complex environmental interference, and poor stability of SERS detection, it is still a challenge for SERS to accurately and sensitively determine glucose in complex environments. In this work, we encapsulated 4-mercaptobutyronitrile (4-MBN) as an internal standard (IS) in Au@Ag NRs inside and then Au@4-MBN@Ag NRs, Leucomalachite Green (LMG), glucose oxidase (GOx) and horseradish peroxidase (HPR) were encapsulated in ZIF-8 to prepare a tandem enzyme catalytic ratiometric SERS sensor Au@4-MBN@Ag@LMG@ZIF-8(GOx, HPR) for the detection of glucose in saliva. Because ZIF-8 enhanced the catalytic activity of the enzyme, the ability of glucose enrichment, and weakens the aggregation of Ag NRs. The internal standard signal molecule improves the accuracy and sensitivity of detection. The ratiometric Raman signal I 412 /I 2233 of glucose has a good linear relationship with the concentration in the range of 0.1–100 μM, and the limit of detection (LOD) could be down to 0.03 μM. At the same time, it has excellent selectivity, repeatability and accuracy. The recovery rate of glucose in saliva is 96.50%–105.56 %, which proves the feasibility of the method. The Au@4-MBN@Ag@LMG@ZIF-8(GOx, HPR) sensor prepared in this study showed excellent SERS performance, which was able to detect glucose quickly, sensitively and accurately. This work provides a new strategy for the design of enzyme-catalyzed SERS sensors. [Display omitted] • A novel ratiometric glucose SERS sensor was successfully prepared. • Au@4-MBN@Ag NR is individually encapsulated in ZIF-8 crystals to improve SERS signal stability. • As a stationary carrier, ZIF-8 can effectively prevent biological and chemical degradation. • Detection of ratiometric Raman improves the sensitivity and accuracy of detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response of mesophyll conductance (gm) to CO2 plays a key role in photosynthesis and ecosystem carbon cycles under climate change. Despite numerous studies, there is still debate about how gm responds to short‐term CO2 variations. Here we used multiple methods and looked at the relationship between stomatal conductance to CO2 (gsc) and gm to address this aspect. We measured chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and online carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) at different CO2 mole fractions in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaves. The variable J and Δ based methods showed that gm decreased with an increase in CO2 mole fraction, and so did stomatal conductance. There were linear relationships between gm and gsc across CO2 mole fractions. gm obtained from A‐Ci curve fitting method was higher than that from the variable J method and was not representative of gm under the growth CO2 concentration. gm could be estimated by empirical models analogous to the Ball‐Berry model and the USO model for stomatal conductance. Our results suggest that gm and gsc respond in a coordinated manner to short‐term variations in CO2, providing new insight into the role of gm in photosynthesis modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic reaction shows great potential in environmental protection and energy conversion. However, it suffers from insufficient photocatalytic performance, which inhibits further application. The efficient separation of photogenerated charge carriers can contribute to the photocatalytic activity. Despite great progress in recent years, there is an absence of a systematic and solid understanding of the internal correlation between charge carriers' dynamics and photocatalytic performance. In this contribution, we focus on the photocatalytic mechanism and advanced modulation strategies of photogenerated charge carriers. In particular, the materials applied in photocatalysis are clarified and analyzed. Moreover, progressive techniques and theoretical calculations have been summarized to ascertain the transfer pathways of electrons and holes. Finally, the challenges and development tendencies in the future have been forecasted, which may be beneficial for the design of high-performance photocatalysts in solar energy conversion. • The latest regulation strategies of charge carriers have been summarized. • Correlations of photogenerated charge carriers and performance are explored. • Advanced characterization techniques have been reviewed. • The development of photocatalysis in the future has been forecasted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The absence of heterozygosity (AOH) is a kind of genomic change characterized by a long contiguous region of homozygous alleles in a chromosome, which may cause human genetic disorders. However, no method of low-pass whole genome sequencing (LP-WGS) has been reported for the detection of AOH in a low-pass setting of less than onefold. We developed a method, termed CNVseq-AOH, for predicting the absence of heterozygosity using LP-WGS with ultra-low sequencing data, which overcomes the sparse nature of typical LP-WGS data by combing population-based haplotype information, adjustable sliding windows, and recurrent neural network (RNN). We tested the feasibility of CNVseq-AOH for the detection of AOH in 409 cases (11 AOH regions for model training and 863 AOH regions for validation) from the 1000 Genomes Project (1KGP). AOH detection using CNVseq-AOH was also performed on 6 clinical cases with previously ascertained AOHs by whole exome sequencing (WES). Results: Using SNP-based microarray results as reference (AOHs detected by CNVseq-AOH with at least a 50% overlap with the AOHs detected by chromosomal microarray analysis), 409 samples (863 AOH regions) in the 1KGP were used for concordant analysis. For 784 AOHs on autosomes and 79 AOHs on the X chromosome, CNVseq-AOH can predict AOHs with a concordant rate of 96.23% and 59.49% respectively based on the analysis of 0.1-fold LP-WGS data, which is far lower than the current standard in the field. Using 0.1-fold LP-WGS data, CNVseq-AOH revealed 5 additional AOHs (larger than 10 Mb in size) in the 409 samples. We further analyzed AOHs larger than 10 Mb, which is recommended for reporting the possibility of UPD. For the 291 AOH regions larger than 10 Mb, CNVseq-AOH can predict AOHs with a concordant rate of 99.66% with only 0.1-fold LP-WGS data. In the 6 clinical cases, CNVseq-AOH revealed all 15 known AOH regions. Conclusions: Here we reported a method for analyzing LP-WGS data to accurately identify regions of AOH, which possesses great potential to improve genetic testing of AOH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemic maps, by incorporating outbreak characteristics and visually presenting the data, have become the primary means for the public to grasp spatiotemporal risk insights. This study aims to provide design strategies to enhance the readability and risk perception effectiveness of epidemic maps, optimizing their visual design to improve information acquisition efficiency and risk perception efficacy. Employing a synthesis of event-related potentials and questionnaires, we integrate participants’ subjective perceptions for six epidemic map types with EEG metrics, probing the cognitive underpinnings as they engage with diverse symbol and risk categorizations. The results reveal significant differences in participants’ subjective risk perception scores across the six types of epidemic maps, with notable variances in the amplitude and latency of P200 and P300 components triggered by these different maps. The above findings indicate: (1) Point-symbol epidemic maps exhibit a higher arousal level, more effectively capturing individual attention; (2) Area-symbol characteristics in low-risk contexts aid in enhancing information retrieval efficiency; (3) High-level risk information garners more attentional resources from individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaming disorder (GD) and hazardous gaming (HG) have a high incidence among adolescents and young adults and have caused various negative consequences. Interpersonal interaction deficits are closely related to GD and HG, however, the underlying brain mechanisms are still unclear. The current study recruited 46 healthy subjects and 32 subjects with GD/HG. Gaming time and frequency, gaming disorder risks, life events, strengths, and difficulties were measured with scales. Subjects were randomly paired into 12 HC-HC dyads, 15 GD/HG-HC dyads, and 7 GD/HG-GD/HG dyads and in pairs completed a real-world cooperating video game — "Tied Together" with functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning recording in the prefrontal cortex. The inter-brain synchronization in each region of the PFC between dyads was calculated by wavelet to transform coherence to measure brain-to-brain synchronization. We found subjects with GD/HG reported higher risks of gaming. The highest IBS in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex significantly decreased in the GD/HG-HC and GD/HG-GD/HG dyads compared with healthy controls. A decreasing highest IBS of the left dlPFC was related to a decreasing level of peer problems. We declare limitations of age gaps of samples, undistinguishing GD from HG, use of sub-samples, and the broad concept of interpersonal interaction. The current study found a decreased highest IBS in the left dlPFC among adolescents and young adults with gaming diseases. It may provide new prevention and treatment insights into gaming disorders targeting disrupted interpersonal interaction. • Higher risks of gaming among subjects with gaming disorder/ hazardous gaming • Decreased highest IBS in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the HC-GD/HG and GD/HG-GD/HG dyads • A decreasing highest IBS of the left dlPFC was related to decreasing peer problems [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance pose a global public risk for human health, and nonantimicrobial pharmaceuticals play an important role in this process. Herein, five nonantimicrobial pharmaceuticals, including acetaminophen (ACT), clofibric acid (CA), carbamazepine (CBZ), caffeine (CF) and nicotine (NCT), tetracycline-resistant strains, five ARGs (sul 1, sul 2, tet G, tet M and tet W) and one integrase gene (intI 1), were detected in 101 wastewater samples during two typical sewage treatment processes including anaerobic-oxic (A/O) and biological aerated filter (BAF) in Harbin, China. The impact of nonantibiotic pharmaceuticals at environmentally relevant concentrations on both the resistance genotypes and resistance phenotypes were explored. The results showed that a significant impact of nonantibiotic pharmaceuticals at environmentally relevant concentrations on tetracycline resistance genes encoding ribosomal protection proteins (RPPs) was found, while no changes in antibiotic phenotypes, such as minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), were observed. Machine learning was applied to further sort out the contribution of nonantibiotic pharmaceuticals at environmentally relevant concentrations to different ARG subtypes. The highest contribution and correlation were found at concentrations of 1400–1800 ng/L for NCT, 900–1500 ng/L for ACT and 7000–10,000 ng/L for CF for tetracycline resistance genes encoding RPPs, while no significant correlation was found between the target compounds and ARGs when their concentrations were lower than 500 ng/L for NCT, 100 ng/L for ACT and 1000 ng/L for CF, which were higher than the concentrations detected in effluent samples. Therefore, the removal of nonantibiotic pharmaceuticals in WWTPs can reduce their selection pressure for resistance genes in wastewater. [Display omitted] • Target selection tendency towards tetracycline resistance genes code RPPs. • Significant concentration differences in the impact of different pollutants on ARGs. • Removal of non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals reduce selection stress on ARGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zexieyin formula (ZXYF) has been identified to have therapeutic actions of atherosclerosis (AS). It's unknown that whether ZXYF has therapeutic potential of atherosclerosis (AS) with cognitive impairment (CI) and its underlying mechanisms. To elucidate therapeutic effect of ZXYF for AS with CI as well as its underlying mechanisms in AS with CI mice model. To establish AS with CI model, we fed ApoE−/− mice with high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks. Oil red O staining (ORO) and Hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE) were used to detect aortic plaque area. Morris water maze (MWM) and Y-maze were used to measure cognitive function and cognitive improvement after administration of ZXYF and atorvastatin (ATO). Network pharmacology was used to screen for potential mechanisms for improving cognitive function. Western blot was used to detect expressions of MAPK, Aβ and synaptic proteins in hippocampus. HFD caused and accelerated the AS in ApoE−/− mice, while it was easier able to produce CI than normal mice. Administration of ZXYF or ATO for 8 weeks significantly reduced aortic plaque area in ORO and HE tests, and improved cognitive abilities in MWM and Y-maze tests. Network pharmacology results showed that MAPK or synaptic proteins were highly associated with CI. HFD contributed to abnormal expressions of MAPK (pERK, pP38, pJNK), NF-kB, synaptic proteins (PSD95, synapsin1) and β-amyloid (Aβ) in hippocampus, which were all reversed by ZXYF. However, ERK and PSD95 expressions were not reversed by ATO in hippocampus. ZXYF mitigated AS, further alleviating CI by modulating MAPK signaling, relating to synaptic proteins enhancing and Aβ protein decreasing in the hippocampus. This study firstly lit up the new clinical application of ZXYF, which might promote the use of ZXYF in AS and CI patients. [Display omitted] • Long-term HFD caused atherosclerosis with cognitive impairment only in ApoE−/− mice but not in WT mice. • Zexieyin formula mitigated atherosclerosis to relieve cognitive impairment by modulating MAPK signaling, synaptic proteins and β-amyloid in hippocampus. • This study firstly shed light on clinical application of Zexieyin formula for the treatment of comorbidities such as atherosclerosis with cognitive impairment in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodic floods and ebb tides driven by seawater affect arsenic (As) behavior in coastal wetlands, which is not fully understood. In this study, we combined DGT, high-throughput sequencing, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) techniques for the first time to investigate the effects of flood and ebb tide on As transformation and mobility in a typical coastal tidal flat wetland by laboratory experiments. In the flood-tide stage, more As was released into the water solution, and As(III) concentration in water solution was notably higher (51 μg/L) than in the ebb-tide stage, especially in SA (sodium acetate addition) treatment. As-methylation also occurred in this stage. The release of As was attributed to the reductive dissolution of amorphous and crystalline Fe oxides bound As induced by microbes. Fusibacter , Sva1033 , Bradyrhizobium , Ralstonia , and Desulfobacter were primarily involved in the reduction of As, Fe, and S. The copy numbers of arsC were 20–148 times higher than arrA , suggesting that the detoxification reduction pathway was the primary mechanism of direct As-reduction in the flood-tide stage. However, 2-D high-resolution DGT techniques revealed that the concentrations of As(III) and total As in pore water of sediments in the ebb-tide stage were higher than those in the flood-tide stage. The detected aioA gene indicated that As was oxidized in the sediment surface, resulting in As stabilization by crystalline iron minerals, whereas more As(III) were accumulated in pore water. The reduction pathway mediated by arrA may play a prominent role in the ebb-tide stage. This study provides new insights into As release processes in coastal wetlands in seawater environments, which further deepens our understanding of As biogeochemical cycling behavior in different natural environments. [Display omitted] • As Reduction and methylation occurred in coastal tidal flat sediments. • As(III) release in water solution was higher in the flood tide stage. • As Detoxification reduction was the primary mechanism in flood tide stage. • As(III) release in pore water of coastal sediments was higher in ebb tide stage. • As Reduction pathway mediated by arrA played a prominent role in the ebb tide stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis, a complex clinical syndrome characterized by an exaggerated host response to infection, often necessitates hospitalization and intensive care unit admission. Delayed or inaccurate diagnosis of sepsis, coupled with suboptimal treatment strategies, can result in unfavorable outcomes, including mortality. Maresins, a newly discovered family of lipid mediators synthesized from docosahexaenoic acid by macrophages, have emerged as key players in promoting inflammation resolution and the termination of inflammatory processes. Extensive evidence has unequivocally demonstrated the beneficial effects of maresins in modulating the inflammatory response associated with sepsis; however, their bioactivity and functions exhibit remarkable diversity and complexity. This article presents a comprehensive review of recent research on the role of maresins in sepsis, aiming to enhance our understanding of their effectiveness and elucidate the specific mechanisms underlying their actions in sepsis treatment. Furthermore, emerging insights into the management of patients with sepsis are also highlighted. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing an accurate quality prediction model is an essential prerequisite for quality management in diesel engine manufacturing factories. However, the large production scale and non-linear relationship between features and the diesel engine power significantly aggravate the complexity of establishing a power prediction model. The identification of key features can not only improve the prediction performance but also facilitate the control of product quality. The mainstream feature selection methods estimate features on a whole static sampling space, which ignores dynamic correlation among candidate features, selected features, and the label variable. This paper focuses on the relevance between the candidate features and diesel engine quality, the complementary and redundancy between the candidate features and selected features, proposing a conditional mutual information-based dynamic feature selection method for the prediction of diesel engine quality. Then, a high-accuracy AdaBoost model is proposed with support vector regression-partial swarm optimization (SVR-PSO) as weak learners, showing a satisfactory non-linear fitting ability and a convenient parameter optimization process. Finally, several cases are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. The proposed feature selection method shows a better performance than common feature selection methods on UCI datasets. Results on diesel engine power prediction declare that the proposed AdaBoost-SVR-PSO model is an effective quality prediction method compared with adaptive boosting, multilayer perception, and gradient boosting decision tree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]