Search

A sequential template-engaged method was applied to design and construct unique Pt-NiCoFeP@NiCoFe-PBA hollow nanocages. Impressively, constructing heterointerfaces and incorporating ultralow Pt could induce strong synergistic effects and modify electronic configurations to optimize the binding energy of intermediates, thus achieving prominent electrocatalytic performance. [Display omitted] • Exploiting a partial phosphidation strategy to ingeniously construct heterostructures. • Ultralow Pt-loading to regulate electronic structure and increase active sites of catalysts. • Three-dimensional cage-like nanostructure could promote efficient charge transfer. • Pt-NiCoFeP@NiCoFe-PBA exhibits admirable electrocatalytic activity toward OER. Developing highly efficient electrocatalysts based on appropriate heterojunction engineering and electronic structure modification for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been extensively recognized as an effective approach to increase the efficiency of water splitting. Herein, ultralow Pt-loaded (1 %) NiCoFeP@NiCoFe-PBA hollow nanocages with well-defined heterointerfaces and modified electronic environment are successfully fabricated. As expected, the obtained Pt-NiCoFeP@NiCoFe-PBA exhibits outstanding performance with a low overpotential of 255 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 57.2 mV dec-1. More specifically, the highly open three-dimensional structure, exquisite interior voids and abundant surface defects endow Pt-NiCoFeP@NiCoFe-PBA nanocages with more electrochemical active sites. Meanwhile, experimental results and mechanism studies also reveal that the construction of heterogeneous interfaces as well as incorporation of noble metals could readily induce strong synergistic effects and significantly tailor electronic configurations to optimize the binding energy of the intermediates, thereby achieving prominent OER performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We herein successfully prepared the surface-bulged trimetallic PdAgCu nanospheres which showed superb photoelectronic response performance to EGOR. [Display omitted] • The surface-bulged trimetallic PdAgCu NSs were prepared via a facial co-reduction strategy. • The incorporation of Cu into PdAg NSs can modify the optical absorption property. • The photoelectrocatalytic performances of PdAgCu NSs were further enhanced with the assistance of visible light. • The introduction of Cu can strengthen the whole SPR effect of PdAgCu NSs. The notable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of some metals has been applied to improve the efficiency of alcohol oxidation reactions, whereas the comprehensive investigation of Cu-assisted photoelectrocatalysis remains challenging. We herein successfully prepared trimetallic PdAgCu nanospheres (NSs) with abundant surface bulges for the advanced ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) and compared them with bimetallic PdAg NSs to investigate the performance enhancement mechanism. Impressively, the as-optimized PdAgCu NSs exhibited superb mass activity and electrochemical stability. Moreover, under visible light illumination, the mass activity of PdAgCu NSs increased to 1.62 times compared to that in the dark, and in contrast, the mass activity of PdAg NSs only increased to 1.48 times that in the dark. A mechanistic study indicated that the incorporation of Cu not only strengthens the whole SPR effect of PdAgCu NSs but also further modifies the electronic structure of Pd. This work highlighted that the incorporation of Cu into PdAg NSs further enhanced the photoelectrocatalytic performance and increased noble metal atom utilization, which may provide guidance to fabricate novel and promising nanocatalysts in the field of photoelectrocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 1. Combination of two thermal stability enhancing strategies. • 2. Combined with a variety of factors affecting thermal stability for analysis. • 3. Enhances thermal stability by intramolecular π-π stacking interaction. • 4. α-Diimine nickel catalysts with highly activity at elevated temperature. In ethylene polymerization catalyzed by α-diimine nickel complex, the introduction of 1,2-diketopyracene backbone could greatly improve thermal stability, and the bulky benzhydryl-substituted aniline has the same effect. Herein, two strategies above were combined to obtain α-diimine nickel complexes with different numbers of benzhydryl substitutions at the ortho- and para -positions of aniline. In ethylene polymerization, all complexes exhibited high polymerization activity and enhanced thermal stability. Among them, Ni3 had the best thermal stability. Furthermore, in the analysis of thermal stability, the analytical methods of computational chemistry were used and multiple influencing factors such as steric hindrance effect, electronic effect, complex stability and non-covalent interaction were combined. It is believed that the π-π stacking interaction can greatly improve the catalytical activity of Ni3 at elevated temperature probably due to the inhibition of chain transfer reactions. Thus the thermal stability of α-diimine nickel complex, expressed by the appearance polymerization activity, is determined by the combined effect of multiple influencing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing cobalt-based catalysts with a high abundance of oxygen vacancies (V o) and exceptional V o utility efficiency for the prompt removal of stubborn contaminants through peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation poses a significant challenge. Herein, we reported the synthesis of the reduced Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 nanosheets, i.e. Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r, via Mg doping and followed by NaBH 4 reduction, aiming to degrade tetracycline (TC). Various characterization results illustrated that NaBH 4 reduction imparted higher V o utility efficiency to Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r, along with an ample presence of reduced Co2+ species and an increased surface area, thereby substantially elevating PMS activation capability. Notably, Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r achieved more than 97.9% degradation of 20 mg/L TC within 10 min, showing an over 8-fold increase in reaction rate relative to the Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 (k obs : 0.3285 min−1 vs 0.0399 min−1). The high removal efficiency of TC was sustained across a broad pH range of 3–11, even in the presence of common anions and humic acid. Radical quenching trials, EPR outcomes, and electrochemical analysis indicated that neither radicals nor 1O 2 were the primary active species. Instead, electron transfer pathway played a dominant role in TC degradation. The Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r displayed excellent recyclability and versatility. Even after the fifth cycle, it maintained an impressive 83.0% removal of TC. Furthermore, it exhibited rapid degradation capabilities for various pollutants, including levofloxacin, pefloxacin, ciprofloxacin, malachite green, and rhodamine B. The TC degradation pathway was proposed based on LC-MS determination of its degradation intermediates. This study showcases an innovative strategy for the rational design of an efficient cobalt-based activator, leveraging electron transfer pathways through PMS activation to degrade antibiotics effectively. Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r nanosheets were fabricated via Mg-doping and NaBH 4 reduction strategy, exhibiting more Co2+ active sites, V o level and fast TC removal kinetic. The electron transfer played a major role in TC degradation in the Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r/PMS system, while the SO 4 •−, •OH and singlet oxygen were less dominant. [Display omitted] • Simple synthesis of profound Mg-doped Co 3 O 4 -r via subsequent NaBH 4 reduction. • The activator exhibits high V o intensity and utility efiiciency. • The activator performs well in real water matrices and across a broad pH range. • Degradation of TC was proposed to follow an electron transfer pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional data analysis offers a set of statistical methods concerned with extracting insights from intrinsically infinite-dimensional data and has attracted considerable amount of attentions in the past few decades. In this paper, we study robust functional linear regression model with a scalar response and a functional predictor in the framework of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces. A gradient descent algorithm with early stopping is introduced to solve the corresponding empirical risk minimization problem associated with robust loss functions. By appropriately selecting the early stopping rule and the scaling parameter of the robust losses, the convergence of the proposed algorithm is established when the response variable is bounded or satisfies a moment condition. Explicit learning rates with respect to both estimation and prediction error are provided in terms of regularity of the regression function and eigenvalue decay rate of the integral operator induced by the reproducing kernel and covariance function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary alkali-activated binder was prepared by blast furnace slag (GGBS), recycled powder (RP) and waste glass powder (WGP) using simplex centroid design method. By measuring the fluidity, setting time, drying shrinkage and mechanical property of specimen, the complementary effect of GGBS, RP and WGP was discussed. The reaction mechanism and microstructure were explored by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results reveal that the addition of RP could significantly reduce the fluidity and setting time of paste, while WGP can obviously improve the rheological property and play a retarding role. The workability of paste can be effectively regulated by mixing RP and WGP together. Whether added alone or in combination, RP and WGP can effectively improve the shrinkage performance. In the ternary system, GGBS can be rapidly activated and form a skeleton structure. The fine RP particles can play a good role in filling the structure, and the pozzolanic reaction of WGP gradually occurs, which makes the microstructure more compact. The incorporation of GGBS, RP and WGP can promote the growth of hydration products, improve the density of microstructure, and form a certain complementary effect. • A ternary solid waste system was designed using simplex centroid design method. • The complementary effect of GGBS, RP and WGP was discussed. • The microstructure and reaction mechanism were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon two overlapped, body-unfitted meshes, a type of unified-field monolithic fictitious domain-finite element method (UFMFD-FEM) is developed in this paper for moving interface problems of dynamic fluid-structure interactions (FSI), which is accompanied with high-contrast physical coefficients across the interface and with contacting collisions between the structure and fluidic channel wall in the immersed FSI case. In particular, the proposed novel numerical method consists of a monolithic, stabilized mixed finite element method within the frame of fictitious domain/immersed boundary method (FD/IBM) for generic fluid-structure-contact interaction (FSCI) problems in the Eulerian–updated Lagrangian description, while involving the no-slip type of interface conditions on the fluid-structure interface, and the repulsive contact force/stress on the structural surface when the immersed structure contacts the fluidic channel wall. The developed UFMFD-FEM for FSI/FSCI problems can deal with the structural motion with large rotational and translational displacements and/or large deformation in an accurate and efficient fashion, which is first validated by two benchmark FSI problems and one FSCI model problem, then by experimental results of a realistic FSCI scenario – the microfluidic deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) problem that is applied to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood cells in the blood fluid through a cascaded filter DLD microchip in practice, where a particulate fluid with the pillar obstacles effect in the fluidic channel, i.e., the effects of fluid-structure interaction and structure collision, play significant roles to sort particles (cells) of different sizes with tilted pillar arrays. The developed unified-field, monolithic fictitious domain-based mixed finite element method can be seamlessly extended to more sophisticated, high dimensional FSCI problems with contacting collisions between the moving elastic structure and fluidic channel wall. • A fluid-structure-contact interaction (FSCI) model involving the interaction and collision effects is developed. • A mixed FEM in the monolithic fictitious domain frame is developed with respect to a unified variable pair of velocity and pressure. • Advanced algorithms are designed to handle structural collision, nonlinear system and interpolation between fictitious fluid and structure. • Numerical approaches are validated by benchmark problems, self- and physically designed DLD problems. • Numerical simulations carried out by the developed UFMFD-FEM can help to optimize the design of DLD microchips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the most common type of diabetes. However, research on the relationship between blue light exposure and diabetes development is limited. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between blue light exposure and T2D incidence and whether it is affected by sleep duration, physical activity, outdoor activity time, and genetic susceptibility. A total of 471,686 participants without diabetes were recruited from the UK Biobank cohort. T2D incidence was assessed using hospital inpatient records. Blue light exposure was calculated based on the time spent watching TV, using a computer, and playing computer games, which was determined using an online questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the survival relationship between blue light exposure and T2D, as well as the potential modification effects. A total of 18,738 cases of T2D were documented during the median follow-up of 13.04 years. After adjusting for potential confounders, the participants with heavy blue light exposure had a greater risk of T2D compared to those with mild blue light exposure (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12–1.23). A significant association between blue light exposure and T2D risk was observed among the participants with heavy physical activity (HR = 1.39, 95%CI: 1.25–1.55), healthy sleep habits (HR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.10–1.36), higher outdoor activity time (HR = 1.14, 95%CI: 1.07–1.22), or high genetic susceptibility (HR = 1.24, 95%CI: 1.14–1.35). However, this association became non-significant among the participants with low genetic susceptibility (HR = 1.05, 95%CI: 0.97–1.15). The present study showed that blue light exposure is associated with a greater risk of T2D independent of classical T2D risk factors. • Prospectively examine the relationship between the blue light exposure and the T2D. • Behavioral factors did not modify the relationship of blue light exposure and T2D. • Combined effect and interaction of blue light exposure and SNP on T2D were examined. • Longer exposure to blue light was associated with a higher incidence of T2D. • The finding implicated the development of personalized prevention strategies on T2D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herringbone gear pairs are widely utilized in high-power transmission devices. However, the current modification methods for these gear pairs are predominantly based on techniques designed for other types of gear pairs, which may not fully capture the specific transmission characteristics of herringbone gear pairs. Consequently, a novel three-dimensional modification approach focused on transmission characteristics of herringbone gear pairs is proposed to address vibration reduction and uniform load distribution. The relationship between gear modification and transmission characteristics is established, enabling the determination of optimal profile and axial modification parameters by integrating the targets of vibration reduction and uniform load distribution. Experimental validation is conducted to verify the models describing the transmission characteristics of herringbone gear pairs. Furthermore, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the optimization design methodology for three-dimensional modification. The results exhibit a significant reduction in vibrations in both the circumferential and axial directions, by approximately 11-fold and 1050-fold, respectively, while substantially improving the issue of partial load. In addition, the comparative results also indicate that it is difficult to achieve the goal of vibration reduction and uniform load distribution by using the same modification method for the tooth at the left and right ends of the herringbone gear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The typical lake wetlands in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are important wintering sites of cranes in China. The spatiotemporal evolution of crane populations and their habitats has great value in clarifying the pivotal role of regional lake wetlands in biodiversity conservation. Therefore, 2562 data points of four crane species were selected in this study. The data reflected the distributional position of the cranes over the period 2000–2020. Twelve surrounding environmental factors were selected to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution in the study area by using the MaxEnt model. The Jackknife method was used to identify the main environmental factors affecting the choice of crane habitats. The results indicated that: (1) Developed land in the study area increased by 42,795.81 hm2. The crane populations were mainly distributed in the farmland and mudflat, and their number decreased yearly. (2) From 2000 to 2020, the area of suitable crane habitat experienced an overall decrease. Specifically, the mid-suitable area dwindled by 6234.23 hm2, marking a substantial reduction of 52.05 %. Similarly, the most suitable area saw a decline of 786.41 hm2, representing a noteworthy decrease of 71.09 %. (3) The findings from the analysis of influencing factors revealed a dynamic pattern over the years. Habitat type, water density, and distance to water were the main influencing factors in the study area from 2000 to 2020. This study provides a new perspective on the conservation and structural habitat restoration of crane populations in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. [Display omitted] • The potential habitats of crane populations were simulated by MaxEnt model. • The population and habitat evolution mechanism of cranes was revealed. • Suggestions for structured conservation of wintering sites have been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel compounds were evaluated as inhibitors targeting EGFR primary mutants (L858R, Del19) and drug-resistant mutant T790M. • Both enzymatic and cellular assays led to the identification of compound 7o. • 7o exhibited potent antitumor effects on NSCLC in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we identified a newly synthesized compound 7o with potent inhibition on EGFR primary mutants (L858R, Del19) and drug-resistant mutant T790M with nanomolar IC 50 values. 7o showed strong antiproliferative effects against EGFR mutant-driven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells such as H1975, PC-9 and HCC827, over cells expressing EGFRWT. Molecular docking was performed to investigate the possible binding modes of 7o inside the binding site of EGFRL858R/T790M and EGFRWT. Analysis of cell cycle evidenced that 7o induced cell cycle arrest in G1 phases in the EGFR mutant cells, H1975 and PC-9, which resulted in decreased S-phase populations. Moreover, compound 7o induced cancer cell apoptosis in in vitro assays. In addition, 7o inhibited cellular phosphorylation of EGFR. In vivo , oral administration of 7o caused rapid tumor regression in H1975 xenograft model. Therefore, 7o might deserve further optimization as cancer treatment agent for EGFR mutant-driven NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ru-modified NiFe MOF nanosheet array was elaborately designed via self-driven galvanic replacement reaction (GRR), which exhibits dramatically enhanced HER, OER and UOR catalytic property as a multifunctional electrocatalyst. [Display omitted] • Ru-modified NiFe MOF nanosheet array was designed via self-driven galvanic replacement reaction. • Enhanced catalytic potency benefitted from spontaneous electronic reconstruction in the interface. • The Ru-NiFe- x /NF are endowed with richer high-valence Ni active species. • The Ru-NiFe- x /NF can operate as multifunctional electrocatalyst with high current density. Urea electro-oxidation reaction (UOR) has been a promising strategy to replace oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by urea-mediated water splitting for hydrogen production. Naturally, rational design of high-efficiency and multifunctional electrocatalyst towards UOR and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of vital significance, but still a grand challenge. Herein, an innovative 3D Ru-modified NiFe metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoflake array on Ni foam (Ru-NiFe- x /NF) was elaborately designed via spontaneous galvanic replacement reaction (GRR). Notably, the adsorption capability of intermediate species (H*) of catalyst is significantly optimized by Ru modification. Meanwhile, rich high-valence Ni active species can be acquired by self-driven electronic reconstruction in the interface, then dramatically accelerating the electrolysis of water and urea. Remarkably, the optimized Ru-NiFe-③/NF (1.6 at% of Ru) only requires the overpotential of 90 and 310 mV to attain 100 mA cm−2 toward HER and OER in alkaline electrolyte, respectively. Impressively, an ultralow voltage of 1.47 V is required for Ru-NiFe-③/NF to deliver a current density of 100 mA cm−2 in urea-assisted electrolysis cell with superior stability, which is 190 mV lower than that of Pt/C-NF||RuO 2 /NF couple. This work is desired to explore a facile way to exploit environmentally-friendly energy by coupling hydrogen evolution with urea-rich sewage disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst is one of the most significant influential factors for the application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. This work introduces a mass-producible high-performance PtZn alloy integrative structure ORR catalyst, synthesized with the atomically dispersive metal-organic framework precursors. This PtZn catalyst displays excellent catalytic activity with the onset reduction potential of 1.0 V RHE @ 0.16 mA cm−2 (Reversible hydrogen electrode; RHE) and the half-wave potential of 0.934 V RHE for the ORR catalysis. The calculated specific activity and mass activity at 0.9 V are 9.44 A m−2 and 544 A g Pt −1, respectively, which are 5.62 times and 5.77 times as high as the commercial Pt/C. The mass activity is remarkably higher than the target put forward by the Department of Energy (DOE; 440 A g Pt −1). Furthermore, this PtZn catalyst also exhibits outstanding stability after the 10,000 potential cyclic degeneration test. The ORR current is much higher than Pt/C in the whole potential range not only before but also after the 10,000 potential cycles with identical Pt loading. This catalyst has a multifarious active-site catalytic structure with PtZn alloyed particles and atomically dispersive metal-N active sites on the N -doped graphited carbon matrix, exhibiting appealing ORR catalytic activity and sound stability for the application and scalable production of fuel cell catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological evidence for the adverse effect of phthalate exposure on respiratory health is on the rise, but cross-sectional studies regarding its effects on lung function are limited and contradictory, especially in adults. To assess the associations between individual and a mixture of urinary phthalate metabolites and adult pulmonary function in the United States, and to identify which ones were primarily responsible for impaired respiratory function. We obtained a cross-sectional data on 3788 adults aged 20 years and older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007–2012). Respiratory function was evaluated using spirometry, and phthalate exposure was assessed by measuring the levels of ten urinary phthalate metabolites. The effects of individual and mixed phthalate metabolites exposure on lung function were assessed using multivariate linear regression models and the repeated holdout weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models, respectively, after adjusting for potential confounders including age, gender, family poverty income ratio, body mass index, and serum cotinine. When modeled as continuous variables or quantiles, urinary phthalate metabolites, including mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-n-butyl phthalate, mono-iso-butyl phthalate, mono-benzyl phthalate, mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate, mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate, mono-(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (MECPP), mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate, and mono-carboxyoctyl phthalate, were identified to be negatively associated with forced vital capacity in percent predicted values (ppFVC) and forced expiratory volume in the first second in percent predicted values (ppFEV1). In addition, per each decile increase in the WQS index, ppFVC (β = −2.87, 95% CI: −3.56, −2.08) and ppFEV1 (β = −2.53, 95% CI: −3.47, −1.54) declined significantly, primarily due to the contribution of MEP and MECPP. Furthermore, there were no significant interactions between co-exposure to urinary phthalate metabolites and each covariate. Our findings reveal that urinary phthalate metabolites are significantly associated with adult respiratory decrements, with diethyl and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate contributing the most to the impaired lung function. • MEP and MECPP exhibiting the greatest contribution to the adult lung function decline. • Urinary phthalate metabolites co-exposure associated with 2.8% reductions in ppFVC. • Urinary phthalate metabolites co-exposure associated with 2.5% reductions in ppFEV1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banana shrimp (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) is a common cultural species worldwide. With the development of the shrimp farming industry, increasing number of diseases have emerged and cause huge impacts. Decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV1) is a new virus of the family Iridoviridae isolated in China that causes very high mortality in shrimp. In this study, DIV1 and PBS were injected into two groups of shrimp, and hemocytes were collected for comparative transcriptomic analysis. We confirmed that F. merguiensis was the new host of DIV1 by nested PCR. A total of 100,759 unigenes were assembled from the control group and the DIV1 infected group, with an average length of 733.06 bp and N50 of 1136 bp. Significant hits were found in 21,465 unigenes compared to known sequences in major databases including COG (33.30%), GO (42.17%), KEGG (46.76%), KOG (61.37%), Pfam (66.90%), Swissprot (54.21%) and Nr (93.86%). A total of 1003 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 929 up-regulated genes and 74 down-regulated genes. Several known immune-related genes, including caspase, C-type lectin, Wnt5 and integrin , were among the differentially expressed transcripts. A total of 14,459 simple sequence repeats, including 8128 monomers, 3276 dimers, 1693 trimers, 150 quadmers, 4 pentamers and 16 hexamers, were found in the transcriptomic dataset. Our study is the first comprehensive investigation of the transcriptomic response to DIV1 infection in F. merguiensis. Collectively, these results not only provide valuable information for characterizing the immune mechanisms of the shrimp responses to DIV1 infection, they open new ways for the study of the molecular mechanisms of DIV1 infection in F. merguiensis. • F. merguiensis is one of the hosts of DIV1. • Transcriptomic analysis of F. merguiensis challenged with DIV1. • A lot of DEGs were enriched in many immune-related pathways. • Lysosome and phagosome were induced during against DIV1 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a common hip disease characterized by abnormal development of the acetabulum and femoral head. In most cases, DDH ultimately leads to osteoarthritis. Anomalous biomechanical force plays an important role in cartilage degeneration in DDH. However, in addition to mechanical wear, the underlying molecular mechanisms in cartilage degeneration in DDH remain unclear. This study analyzed the effect of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-H19 on DDH cartilage degradation. To elucidate the specific role of lncRNA H19, we established an intermittent cyclic mechanical stress (ICMS) cell force model to simulate abnormal biomechanical environment in vitro. Then, the roles of lncRNA-H19 were also determined in vivo by establishing a model of swaddling DDH. We observed that patients with DDH possessed low levels of lncRNA-H19, COL2A1, and Aggrecan but high levels of MMP3 and Adamts5. The same results were also obtained in a DDH rat model. Furthermore, the data suggested that ICMS promoted cartilage degeneration and caused reorientation of the cytoskeleton, and lncRNA H19 helped inhibit cartilage degeneration. Bioinformatics analysis and lncRNA sequencing were performed, and luciferase assays showed that lncRNA H19 and Dusp5 are both direct targets of miR-483–5p. Moreover, Dups5 plays a negative role in ICMS-induced cartilage degradation by activating the Erk and p38 pathways. In vivo, lncRNA H19 had protective effects on the swaddling DDH model. These findings indicate that lncRNA-H19 played a positive role in cartilage degradation in DDH through the lncRNA H19/miR-483–5p/Dusp5 axis. • Patients with DDH possessed low levels of lncRNA-H19. • lncRNA H19 and Dusp5 are both direct targets of miR-483–5p. • lncRNA-H19 has protective effects on the swaddling DDH model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microglia, being the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, play an important role in maintaining tissue homeostasis and contributes towards brain development under normal conditions. However, when there is a neuronal injury or other insult, depending on the type and magnitude of stimuli, microglia will be activated to secrete either proinflammatory factors that enhance cytotoxicity or anti-inflammatory neuroprotective factors that assist in wound healing and tissue repair. Excessive microglial activation damages the surrounding healthy neural tissue, and the factors secreted by the dead or dying neurons in turn exacerbate the chronic activation of microglia, causing progressive loss of neurons. It is the case observed in many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This review gives a detailed account of the microglia-mediated neuroinflammation in various neurodegenerative diseases. Hence, resolving chronic inflammation mediated by microglia bears great promise as a novel treatment strategy to reduce neuronal damage and to foster a permissive environment for further regeneration effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a classical ratio-dependent predator-prey model with the generalized Holling type III functional response, it was previously investigated in [20] by Hsu and Huang for global stability of an equilibrium, and in [21] by Huang, Ruan and Song for subcritical Hopf and Bogdanov-Takens bifurcations. Here in this model when prey reproduces much faster than predator, by using geometric singular perturbation theory, we achieve much richer new dynamical phenomena than the existing ones, such as the existence of canard cycles, canard explosion and relaxation oscillations, heteroclinic and homoclinic orbits, cyclicity of slow-fast cycles, and the coexistence of the Hopf cycle and the relaxation oscillation. On global stability of the equilibrium we also provide less restricted conditions than the existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We designed, synthesized and evaluated a series of highly effective PARP/CDK6 dual inhibitions. • P4i could effectively inhibit the proliferation of the three TNBC cells. • P4i could induce DNA damage in TNBC cells with wild-type BRCA. Inhibition of PARP is synthetic lethal with defects in BRCA, which provide effective targeted therapy strategy for BRCA mutation type of TNBC patients. However, approximately 80% of TNBC patients do not have BRCA mutations. Recent studies have shown that CDK4/6 inhibitors can increase the sensitivity of wild-type BRCA cells to PARP inhibitors. We designed a series of dual PARP and CDK6 inhibitors, and the most promising compound, P4i , showed good inhibitory activity against PARP1 and CDK6 and good inhibitory effects on MDA-MB-231 (IC 50 = 1.96 μM), MDA-MB-468 (IC 50 = 2.81 μM) and BT-549 (IC 50 = 2.37 μM) cells with wild-type BRCA. Compared with Olaparib, the inhibition capacity of the three BRCA wild-type (MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and BT-549) cells was about 10–20 times higher, and even better than the combination of Olaparib and Palbociclib. As a novel PARP multifunctional molecule, it is a potential compound for the treatment of BRCA wild-type TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the pungent flavor quality of soilless cultivated Chinese chives (Allium tuberosum Rottler), the effect of foliar spraying with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) was studied. Electronic nose analysis showed that 500 μM MeJA significantly promoted the accumulation of aromatic compounds and organic sulfides in soilless-cultivated Chinese chives, as well as the content of pungent flavor metabolites, such as enzymatic pyruvic acid (24.9%–69.9%) and the garlic odor compounds alliin (22.1%–51.4%) and methionine (8.0%–62.7%). Using the HS-SPME-GC-MS technique, fifteen species of 186 volatile metabolites were detected in Chinese chive leaves treated with MeJA, and the sulfur compounds were dominating between them (49.6%–61.7%). Metabolomics and chemometrics analysis identified the volatile biomarkers of MeJA-treated substrate culture and hydroponic Chinese chives as dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl tetrasulfide, diallyl disulphide and allyl methyl sulfide, and methyl 2- propenyl disulfide, dimethyl tetrasulfide compound, respectively. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis indicated that MeJA treatment enhanced the pungency of Allium tuberosum mainly by increasing the accumulation of dimethyl sulfide and allyl sulfide compounds. Current study provides theoretical and technical basis for improving the pungent flavor quality of soilless-cultivated Chinese chives. • E-nose analysis confirmed that MeJA promoted an increase sulfide (1.8%). • MeJA enhanced pungent flavor of Chinese chives (47.4%). • MeJA enhanced garlic odor compounds alliin (36.8%) and methionine (35.4%). • Dimethyl and allyl sulfide as biomarkers of pungent in substrate-grown Chinese chive. • Dimethyl sulfide as a biomarker of pungent in hydroponic Chinese chive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe@CoMo 2 S 4 /Ni 3 S 2 /NF catalysts with enhanced conductivity, enlarged electochemical active areas and modulated electronic structure for efficient water splitting. [Display omitted] Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a multi-electron transfer process, whose intrinsic sluggish dynamic restricts the whole process of overall water splitting (OWS). To address this issue, a porous transition metal sulfide (TMS) catalyst with rich heterojunctions was prepared by vulcanization and trace Fe doping of CoMo-based metal–organic framework (MOF). In this work, the nanoflower composed of ultrathin 2D nanosheets anchored on a nickel foam presents a layered interface that contributes to the exposure of active regions. The resulting electrode denoted as Fe@CoMo 2 S 4 /Ni 3 S 2 /NF required a low overpotential (η 10 = 167 mV @ 10 mA cm−2, η 50 = 260 mV @ 50 mA cm−2) in 1.0 M KOH for OER and a small cell voltage (E = 1.513 V @ 10 mA cm−2) to power OWS when coupled with commercial Pt/C. It also exhibited splendid morphological and chemical stability with virtually invariant polarization curve and flower-like appearance after 1000 CV cycles, as well as long-term durability over 100 h with a constant current density of 10 mA cm−2. This work revealed the multi-anionic regulation mechanism in the surface reconstruction of sulfide electrocatalysts, and verified that Co/Mo/Ni-based oxysulfide was the true active substance of OER, which inspired the understanding and design of multi-anionic regulated electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract The fabrication of nanomaterials with tunable shape and size has attracted much attention in chemical and physical fields. It is particularly significant to study the effect of catalyst particle size on catalytic performance in the field of catalysis. At present, there are relatively few studies in this field, the main challenge lies in the difficulty of synthesizing catalysts with uniform size. If the particle size of a certain size is not uniform, it is meaningless to compare the catalytic performance with that of other catalysts for size effect. Herein, we successfully synthesized the monodisperse PdAg nanoparticles with three different sizes by changing the type of reducing agents. Among the three catalysts, the PdAg-S NPs (PdAg-Small nanoparticles) with an average size of 3.1 nm exhibited superior electrocatalytic performances of ethylene glycol and glycerol oxidation reactions, which were obviously better than others size PdAg NPs catalysts and commercial Pd/C catalyst. This work revealed the size effect of PdAg nanoparticles in the alcohols electrooxidation and provided a simple method in the design of different sizes of nanocrystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) is of much significance for bone formation, the imbalance of it would result in osteoporosis and other pathological bone defects. Increasing evidences showed that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and miRNAs played vital roles in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation. LncRNA KCNQ1OT1 was often regarded as an imprinted lncRNA and was related to tumor progression, while its function in osteogenic differentiation remained unclear. Method qRT-PCR was performed to detect the expression of KCNQ1OT1, miR-214 and osteogenesis-related genes BMP2, Runx2, OPN, and OCN. Western blotting was carried out to detect osteogenesis-related markers. The osteoblastic phenotype was evidenced by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and Alizarin Red S accumulation detection. Bioinformatics and luciferase assays were used to predict and validate the interaction between KCNQ1OT1 and miR-214 as well as BMP2 and miR-214. Results KCNQ1OT1 was significantly up-regulated during the process of osteogenic induction while miR-214 was contrarily down-regulated. Knockdown of KCNQ1OT1 inhibited osteogenic differentiation and down-regulated BMP2 and osteogenesis-related genes. It was also confirmed that KCNQ1OT1 directly interacted with miR-214. Meanwhile, miR-214 could bind to 3′UTR of BMP2 and therefore inhibited its expression. Furthermore, co-transfection of miR-214 inhibitor could rescue the down-regulation of BMP2 and osteogenesis-related genes and osteogenic differentiation suppression induced by KCNQ1OT1 knockdown. Moreover, miR-214 inhibitor significantly reversed the decreased protein levels of p-Smad1/5/8, Runx2 and Osterix induced by shKCNQ1OT1. Conclusions KCNQ1OT1 positively regulated osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs by acting as a ceRNA to regulate BMP2 expression through sponging miR-214. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Ketamine, an FDA-approved N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is commonly used for general pediatric anesthesia. Accumulating evidence has indicated that prolonged exposure to ketamine induces widespread apoptotic cell death in the developing brains of experimental animals. Although mitochondria are known to play a pivotal role in cell death, little is known about the alterations in mitochondrial ultrastructure that occur during ketamine-induced neurotoxicity. The objective of this pilot study was to utilize classic and contemporary methods in electron microscopy to study the impact of ketamine on the structure of mitochondria in the developing rat brain. While transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to comprehensively study mitochondrial inner membrane topology, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) was used as a complementary technique to compare the overall mitochondrial morphology from a representative treated and untreated neuron. In this study, postnatal day 7 (PND-7) Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with ketamine or saline (6 subcutaneous injections × 20 mg/kg or 10 ml/kg, respectively, at 2-h intervals with a 6-h withdrawal period after the last injection, n=6 each group). Samples from the frontal cortex were harvested and analyzed using TEM or SBF-SEM. While classic TEM revealed that repeated ketamine exposure induces significant mitochondrial swelling in neurons, the newer technique of SBF-SEM confirmed the mitochondrial swelling in three dimensions (3D) and showed that ketamine exposure may also induce mitochondrial fission, which was not observable in the two dimensions (2D) of TEM. Furthermore, 3D statistical analysis of these reconstructed mitochondria appeared to show that ketamine-treated mitochondria had significantly larger volumes per unit surface area than mitochondria from the untreated neuron. The ultrastructural mitochondrial alterations demonstrated here by TEM and SBF-SEM support ketamine's proposed mechanism of neurotoxicity in the developing rat brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, different precursors were used to prepare FeOOH and the ozonation catalytic activity was s investigate by using ibuprofen as the degradation substrate. It could be found that FeOOH prepared from ferric sulfate performed higher activity. Subsequently, the catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, scanning electron microscope and N 2 adsorption-desorption techniques. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer showed that the synthesized FeOOH consisted of α-FeOOH and β-FeOOH mainly. Scanning electron microscope showed that their appearance and morphology were significantly different, and the FeOOH prepared from ferric sulfate had a larger specific surface area, resulting in its better catalytic activity. Finally, the hydroxyl groups and pH zpc of the catalyst surface were measured. It was also found that the FeOOH prepared from ferric sulfate owned more hydroxyl groups and the pH zpc of the surface was closer to the pH of the degradation substrate, which illustrated the reasons for the increased catalytic activity. In addition, the degradation kinetics conformed to the pseudo first-order kinetic model and the hydroxyl radicals played an important role in the reaction process. Graphical abstract SEM images of different FeOOH catalysts: (a) SO 4 2−-FeOOH; (b) Cl−-FeOOH; (c) NO 3 −-FeOOH. Image 1 Highlights • FeOOH prepared from ferric sulfate performed higher activity. • Differences appeared in the morphology of FeOOH by different precursors. • FeOOH prepared from ferric sulfate owned larger specific surface area. • The hydroxyl radicals played an important role in the reaction process. • The degradation kinetics conformed to the pseudo first-order kinetic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We consider the kernel-based coefficient least squares learning algorithm for regression with l q -regularizer, 1 < q ≤ 2. Our error analysis is carried out under more general conditions. The kernel function may be non-positive definite and the output sample values satisfy the moment hypothesis rather than the uniform boundedness. We derive the capacity dependent error bounds of the algorithm by constructing the stepping stone function for the indefinite kernels. When the output values are bounded, we obtain a learning rate that can be arbitrarily close to the best rate O (m − 1) under some mild conditions of the regression function and the hypothesis space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease that is regarded as a local inflammatory response caused by joint instability and accompanied by the progressive degeneration of articular cartilage. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in the maintenance of articular cartilage remain a subject of debate and research. This study aims to analyze the roles of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) CIR and autophagy in cartilages and determine their overall contribution to the degradation of extracellular matrix. Patients with OA possessed high levels of lncRNA-CIR and MMP3 and low level of COL2A1. The levels of autophagy-related proteins, including LC3B I/II and beclin-1, increased from 12 h to 48 h. The use of si-lncRNA-CIR reversed the trend compared with that in the OA group. The negative effect of lncRNA-CIR was assessed in vivo by establishing a model of surgically induced OA. Moreover, si-lncRNA-CIR-treated joints exhibited fewer OA changes than saline-treated joints. Results were confirmed by histopathological grading of the models by using the Osteoarthritis Research Society International Scoring System and the outcomes of immunohistochemistry for LC3B-II and MMP-3. Overall, lncRNA-CIR played a negative role in the OA process by activating autophagy. Highlights • Patients with OA possessed high levels of lncRNA-CIR. • Suppression of lncRNA-CIR decreased the level of autophagy and relieved cartilage degeneration. • Negative effects of lncRNA-CIR on surgically induced OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms regulating feeding is crucial to unraveling the pathogenesis of obesity. The study primary explored the effects of orexin-A and neuropeptide Y (NPY) signaling in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) on feeding and glucose-sensitive (GS) neuron activity in rats. Microinjection of orexin-A into the PVN promoted feeding and modulated the spontaneous firing of GS neurons. Those effects were eliminated by pre-injection of the orexin-A receptor-1 (OX1R) antagonist SB-334867 and weaken by the NPY-1 receptor (NPY-1R) antagonist BMS-193885. After orexin-A administration into the PVN, the number of c-fos cells in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) was significantly higher than that in the group receiving normal saline. Furthermore, most cells exhibited co-expression of NPY and c-fos, indicating activation of NPY neurons in the ARC by PVN-administered orexin-A, which might be involved in feeding regulation. These findings indicate that orexin-A and NPY signaling in the PVN are essential to regulating GS neuronal excitability and feeding in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse effects related to central nervous system (CNS) function in pediatric populations may, at times, be difficult, if not impossible to evaluate. Prolonged anesthetic exposure affects brain excitability and anesthesia during the most sensitive developmental stages and has been associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, aberrant lipid metabolism and synaptogenesis, subsequent neuronal damage, as well as long-term behavioral deficits. There has been limited research evaluating whether and how anesthetic agents affect cellular lipids, the most abundant components of the brain other than water. Therefore, this review discusses: (1) whether the observed anesthetic-induced changes in lipid profiles seen in preclinical studies represents early signs of neurotoxicity; (2) the potential mechanisms underlying anesthetic-induced brain injury; and (3) whether lipid biomarker(s) identified in preclinical studies can serve as markers for the early clinical detection of anesthetic-induced neurotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of Pd-based nanosheets were synthesized by precisely controlling the feed ratio of Pd and Ru. Notably, Ru-PdRu heterostructure nanosheets, comprised of Ru and PdRu heterogeneous interface are endowed with sufficient catalytic active sites and modulated electronic structure, showing excellent performance towards alcohol oxidation reaction. [Display omitted] Fabricating 2D nanomaterials with heterogeneous structure is a feasible way to improve catalytic performance owing to its large surface area and tunable electron structure. However, such a category has not been widely reported in the field of alcohol oxidation reaction (AOR). In this work, we reported a new type of heterostructure nanosheet with Ru nanoparticles decorated around the edge of PdRu nanosheets (Ru-PdRu HNSs). Particularly, strong electronic interaction and sufficient active sites attributed to the construction of heterogeneous interface, is the key to the superior electrocatalytic behavior of Ru-PdRu HNSs towards methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR), and glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR). Remarkably, owing to the enhanced electron transfer brought by the introduction of the Ru-PdRu heterogeneous interface, these novel nanosheets are highly durable. Apart from being able to maintain the highest current density after 4000 s chronoamperometry test, Ru-PdRu HNSs can be reactivated with negligible activity loss in MOR and GOR test after four consecutive i-t experiments. Impressively, in the EGOR test, after reactivation, the current density is step-wisely increased, making it one of the best AOR electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To adaptively identify the transient modal parameters for linear weakly damped structures with slow time-varying characteristics under unmeasured stationary random ambient loads, this paper proposes a novel operational modal analysis (OMA) method based on the frozen-in coefficient method and limited memory recursive principal component analysis (LMRPCA). In the modal coordinate, the random vibration response signals of mechanical weakly damped structures can be decomposed into the inner product of modal shapes and modal responses, from which the natural frequencies and damping ratios can be well acquired by single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) identification approach such as FFT. Hence, for the OMA method based on principal component analysis (PCA), it becomes very crucial to examine the relation between the transformational matrix and the modal shapes matrix, to find the association between the principal components (PCs) matrix and the modal responses matrix, and to turn the operational modal parameter identification problem into PCA of the stationary random vibration response signals of weakly damped mechanical structures. Based on the theory of “time-freezing”, the method of frozen-in coefficient, and the assumption of “short time invariant” and “quasistationary”, the non-stationary random response signals of the weakly damped and slow linear time-varying structures (LTV) can approximately be seen as the stationary random response time series of weakly damped and linear time invariant structures (LTI) in a short interval. Thus, the adaptive identification of time-varying operational modal parameters is turned into decompositing the PCs of stationary random vibration response signals subsection of weakly damped mechanical structures after choosing an appropriate limited memory window. Finally, a three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) structure with weakly damped and slow time-varying mass is presented to illustrate this method of identification. Results show that the LMRPCA algorithm, which is robustness to Gauss measurement noise disturbances, can well identify the transient modal parameters (transient natural frequencies & transient modal shapes) for weakly damped and slow LTV structures online only from non-stationary random response signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a common musculoskeletal disorder characterized by a mismatch between acetabulum and femoral head. Mechanical force plays an important role during the occurrence and development of abnormities in acetabulum and femoral head. In this study, we established a mechanical force model named cyclic compressive stress (Ccs). To analyze the effect of Ccs on DDH, we detected special genes in chondrocytes and osteoblasts. Results showed that Ccs downregulated chondrogenesis of ADTC5 in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, the mRNA level of Scinderin (Scin) considerably increased. We established lentivirus-SCIN(GV144-SCIN) to transfect hBMSCs, which were treated with different Ccs levels (0.25 Hz*5 cm, 0.5 Hz*5 cm, and 1 Hz*10 cm); the result showed that overexpression of Scin upregulated osteogenesis and osteoclastogenesis. By contrast, expression of chondrocyte-specific genes, including ACAN, COL-2A, and Sox9, decreased. Further molecular investigation demonstrated that Scin promoted osteogenesis and osteoclastogenesis through activation of the p -Smad1/5/8, NF-κB, and MAPK P38 signaling pathways, as well as stimulated the expression of key osteoclast transcriptional factors NFATc1 and c -Fos. Moreover, Scin-induced osteogenesis outweighed osteoclastogenesis in defective femur in vivo. The results of the analysis of Micro-CT confirmed these findings. Overall, Ccs influenced the development of DDH by promoting osteogenesis and cartilage degradation. In addition, Scin played a vital role in the development of DDH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium has good antitumor effects in vitro, but the hypoxic microenvironment in solid tumors makes its clinical efficacy unsatisfactory. We hypothesized that the combination with oxygen therapy might improve the treatment efficacy of selenium in hypoxic tumors through the changes of redox environment. In this work, two selenium compounds, Na 2 SeO 3 and CysSeSeCys, were selected to interrogate their therapeutic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) under different oxygen levels. In tumor-bearing mice, both selenium compounds significantly inhibited the tumor growth, and combined with oxygen therapy further reduced the tumor volume about 50 %. In vitro HepG2 cell experiments, selenium induced autophagy and delayed apoptosis under hypoxia (1 % O 2), while inhibited autophagy and accelerated apoptosis under hyperoxia (60 % O 2). We found that, in contrast to hypoxia, the hyperoxic environment facilitated the H 2 Se, produced by the selenium metabolism in cells, to be rapidly oxidized to generate H 2 O 2 , leading to inhibit the expression level of Nrf2 and to increase that of phosphorylation of p38 and MKK4, resulting in inhibiting autophagy and accelerating apoptosis. Once the Nrf2 gene was knocked down, selenium compounds combined with hyperoxia treatment would further activate the MAPK signaling pathway and further increase apoptosis. These findings highlight oxygen can significantly enhance the anti-HCC effect of selenium compounds through regulating the Nrf2 and MAPK signaling pathways, thus providing novel therapeutic strategy for the hypoxic tumors and pave the way for the application of selenium in clinical treatment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cucurbitacin B (CuB, C 32 H 46 O 8), the most abundant and active member of cucurbitacins, which are highly oxidized tetracyclic triterpenoids. Cucurbitacins are widely distributed in a variety of plants and mainly isolated from plants in the Cucurbitaceae family. CuB is mostly obtained from the pedicel of Cucumis melo L. Modern pharmacological studies have confirmed that CuB has a broad range of pharmacological activities, with significant therapeutic effects on a variety of diseases including inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes mellitus, and cancers. In this study the PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched from 1986 to 2022. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 98 out of 2484 articles were selected for a systematic review to comprehensively summarize the pharmacological activity, toxicity, and pharmacokinetic properties of CuB. The results showed that CuB exhibits potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, and anti-cancer activities mainly via regulating various signaling pathways, such as the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (JAK/STAT3), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2/antioxidant responsive element (Nrf2/ARE), nuclear factor (NF)-κB, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt, cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase-2A/protein phosphatase-2A (CIP2A/PP2A), Wnt, focal adhesion kinase (FAK), Notch, and Hippo-Yes-associated protein (YAP) pathways. Studies of its toxicity and pharmacokinetic properties showed that CuB has non-specific toxicity and low bioavailability. In addition, derivatives and clinical applications of CuB are discussed in this paper. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an open exactly solvable system coupled to an environment with nontrivial spectral density, we connect the features of quantum and classical correlations with some features of the environment, initial states of the system, and the presence of initial system–environment correlations. Some interesting features not revealed before are observed by changing the structure of environment, the initial states of system, and the presence of initial system–environment correlations. The main results are as follows. (1) Quantum correlations exhibit temporary freezing and permanent freezing even at high temperature of the environment, for which the necessary and sufficient conditions are given by three propositions. (2) Quantum correlations display a transition from temporary freezing to permanent freezing by changing the structure of environment. (3) Quantum correlations can be enhanced all the time, for which the condition is put forward. (4) The one-to-one dependency relationship between all kinds of dynamic behaviors of quantum correlations and the initial states of the system as well as environment structure is established. (5) In the presence of initial system–environment correlations, quantum correlations under local environment exhibit temporary multi-freezing phenomenon. While under global environment they oscillate, revive, and damp, an explanation for which is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the empirical spectral distribution of Spearman's rank correlation matrices, under the assumption that the observations are independent and identically distributed random vectors and the features are correlated. We show that the limiting spectral distribution is the generalized Marc̆enko–Pastur law with the covariance matrix of the observation after standardized transformation. With these results, we compare several classical covariance/correlation matrices including the sample covariance matrix, Pearson's correlation matrix, Kendall's correlation matrix and Spearman's correlation matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Co, N co‑doped CNTs with in-situ anchored NiFe alloys are used as an oxygen catalyst. • Well-formed tubular Co-N@CNTs offers enough binding sites for anchoring NiFe alloys. • The Co-N x -C species on Co-N@CNTs can provide effective active sites to stabilize ORR. • In situ formed NiOOH/FeOOH from NiFe alloy are favored as active species for OER. • Synergistic effects between NiFe alloys and Co-N x -C species improve ORR/OER activity. Transition metal alloys have emerged as promising catalysts for oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER) because of their intermetallic synergy and tunable redox properties. However, for alloy nanoparticles, it is quite challenging to suppress the self-aggregation and promote the bifunctional activity. Anchoring alloys in heteroatoms-doped carbon matrix with excellent electro-conductibility is a powerful strategy to form strongly-coupled alloy-carbon nanohybrids. Here, highly-dispersed NiFe alloys are evenly in-situ anchored on the surface of Co, N co-doped carbon nanotubes (NiFe/Co-N@CNTs) via a gravity-guided chemical vapor deposition and self-assembly strategy. Stably-structured NiFe/Co-N@CNTs possesses a tubular skeleton with diameters of 80–100 nm and a hydrophilic surface. For ORR, half-wave potential of NiFe/Co-N@CNTs (0.87 V vs RHE) is higher than that of Pt/C (0.85 V). Strong synergies between NiFe alloys and Co-N x species facilitate the charge transfer on one-dimensional conductive structure to boost the 4e- ORR kinetics. For OER, NiFe/Co-N@CNTs has a lower overpotential (300 mV) than RuO 2 (400 mV) at 10 mA cm−2 due to in-situ formation of highly-active NiOOH/FeOOH species (as indicated by in-situ X-ray diffraction) at the catalytic sites on NiFe alloy. Rechargeable Zn-air battery (ZAB) with NiFe/Co-N@CNTs-based air–cathode exhibits promising open-circuit potential (1.52 V) and charge–discharge cycling stability (350 h). This alloy-carbon integrating strategy is meaningful for promoting dispersion, activity and stability of non-noble metal alloys for oxygen electrocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Our previous study showed a set of increased miRNAs in serum or urine from nephrotic syndrome children. In this study, we investigated the renal expression of these miRNAs in nephrotic children and explored their role in pathogenesis and as potential indicators to differentiate subtypes of kidney diseases. Methods We enrolled 52 children with six different subtypes of nephropathy, and 8 normal kidney tissues were used as controls. RT-qPCR was used to quantify the expression of miR-191, miR-151-3p, miR-150, miR-30a-5p and miR-19b in renal tissues. Results miR-191 and miR-151-3p exhibited significantly higher and lower intrarenal expression in all six subtypes of kidney diseases compared to controls. miR-19b was upregulated in three subtypes, and miR-30a-5p and miR-150 were downregulated in two and four subtypes, respectively. The intrarenal expression of miR-150 was significantly different between minimal change disease (MCD) and some other subtypes. The renal levels of these miRNAs correlated significantly with some renal functions and immune parameters. Bioinformatics showed that some target genes of these miRNAs were associated with immune and renal pathological changes. Conclusions These five miRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of nephropathy in children. miR-150 is a potential typing indictor to differentiate MCD from other nephropathy subtypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the least squares regression algorithm with a generalized coefficient regularization term. A novel error decomposition involving a constructive stepping-stone function is introduced. By choosing appropriate parameters for the constructive function we finally derive a satisfactory learning rate under some condition for the goal function and capacity of the hypothesis space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), an emerging persistent contaminant that is commonly encountered during daily life, has been shown to exert toxic effects on the central nervous system (CNS). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the neurotoxicity of PFOS remain largely unknown. It has been widely acknowledged that the inflammatory mediators released by hyper-activated microglia play vital roles in the pathogenesis of various neurological diseases. In the present study, we examined the impact of PFOS exposure on microglial activation and the release of proinflammatory mediators, including nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxidative species (ROS). We found that PFOS exposure led to concentration-dependent NO and ROS production by rat HAPI microglia. We also discovered that there was rapid activation of the ERK/JNK MAPK signaling pathway in the HAPI microglia following PFOS treatment. Moreover, the PFOS-induced iNOS expression and NO production were attenuated after the inhibition of ERK or JNK MAPK by their corresponding inhibitors, PD98059 and SP600125. Interestingly, NAC, a ROS inhibitor, blocked iNOS expression, NO production, and activation of ERK and JNK MAPKs, which suggested that PFOS-mediated microglial NO production occurs via a ROS/ERK/JNK MAPK signaling pathway. Finally, by exposing SH-SY5Y cells to PFOS-treated microglia-conditioned medium, we demonstrated that NO was responsible for PFOS-mediated neuronal apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For numerical simulation of detonation, computational cost using uniform meshes is large due to the vast separation in both time and space scales. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is advantageous for problems with vastly different scales. This paper aims to propose an AMR method with high order accuracy for numerical investigation of multi-dimensional detonation. A well-designed AMR method based on finite difference weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme, named as AMR&WENO is proposed. A new cell-based data structure is used to organize the adaptive meshes. The new data structure makes it possible for cells to communicate with each other quickly and easily. In order to develop an AMR method with high order accuracy, high order prolongations in both space and time are utilized in the data prolongation procedure. Based on the message passing interface (MPI) platform, we have developed a workload balancing parallel AMR&WENO code using the Hilbert space-filling curve algorithm. Our numerical experiments with detonation simulations indicate that the AMR&WENO is accurate and has a high resolution. Moreover, we evaluate and compare the performance of the uniform mesh WENO scheme and the parallel AMR&WENO method. The comparison results provide us further insight into the high performance of the parallel AMR&WENO method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell death is important in the elimination of damaged cells such as virus-infected cells and also is closely involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I), one cytosolic RNA innate sensor, can trigger antiviral innate response by inducing production of type I interferons (IFN-I). However, the function of RIG-I, once translocated from cytoplasm to nucleus at the late stage of viral infection when IFN-I production is almost terminated, remains poorly understood. Here, we reported that RIG-I is accumulated in the nucleus of macrophages and fibroblasts after virus infection, and nuclear RIG-I is present in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SLE patients. We found that nuclear RIG-I interacts with the first 20 amino acids of apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1 (APEX1) and attenuates the anti-apoptotic properties of APEX1, therefore promoting apoptosis of virus-infected cells to suppress viral infection through an IFN-I-independent way at the late stage of viral infection. Together, our findings reveal a non-canonical role of nuclear RIG-I in the induction of cellular apoptosis, besides its activation of IFN-I expression as the cytosolic innate sensor. This study provides new insight to the regulation of infection, IFN-I and autoimmune diseases by nuclear RIG-I-APEX1 interaction. • RIG-I is present in nucleus of virus-infected cells and PBMCs from SLE patients. • Nucleus-localized RIG-I inhibits virus replication in an IFN-I-independent way. • Nucleus-localized RIG-I promotes apoptosis and restricts virus yields. • RIG-I binds APEX1 in nucleus to suppress the anti-apoptotic effect of APEX1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a dynamic principal–agent relationship where a stochastic outside opportunity (offer) arises each period for the risk averse agent. Termination is costly, but it allows the agent to pursue the available outside opportunity and the principal to return to an external market to hire a new agent. The principal acts strategically with respect to the agent's outside offers and we show that it is optimal to terminate the current relationship if and only if the agent's outside offer is above a cutoff level. The optimal contract generates both voluntary and involuntary terminations. Severance compensation arises endogenously and we show that it may be paid only in involuntary terminations. Conditional on termination, the size of the optimal severance compensation depends positively on the agent's current compensation, but negatively on his outside offer. The optimal contract dictates an inverted-U relationship between compensation and the probability of termination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we revisit a discrete predator–prey model with a non-monotonic functional response, originally presented in Hu, Teng, and Zhang (2011) [6] . First, by citing several examples to illustrate the limitations and errors of the local stability of the equilibrium points E 3 and E 4 obtained in this article, we formulate an easily verified and complete discrimination criterion for the local stability of the two equilibria. Here, we present a very useful lemma, which is a corrected version of a known result, and a key tool in studying the local stability and bifurcation of an equilibrium point in a given system. We then study the stability and bifurcation for the equilibrium point E 1 of this system, which has not been considered in any known literature. Unlike known results that present a large number of mathematical formulae that are not easily verified, we formulate easily verified sufficient conditions for flip bifurcation and fold bifurcation, which are explicitly expressed by the coefficient of the system. The center manifold theory and Project Method are the main tools in the analysis of bifurcations. The theoretical results obtained are further illustrated by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Co/Co 3 Fe 7 heterostructure is constructed by using an in-situ growth strategy. • NCNTs mitigates the corrosion of active sites to stabilize bifunctional activity. • Interfacial interactions activate electron transfer/redistribution to boost activity. • A small potential difference (0.62 V) obtains a superior charge/discharge capacity. • Zn-air battery shows high power density (165 mW cm−2) and cycling stability (300 h). In oxygen electrocatalysis, how to rationally design low-cost catalysts with reasonable structure and long-term stability is a crucial issue. Here, an in-situ growth strategy is used to construct a shaped structure encapsulating a uniformly-dispersed Co/Co 3 Fe 7 heterojunction in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (Co/Co 3 Fe 7 @NCNTs). Hollow CoFe layered-double-hydroxide prisms act as sacrifices for in-situ growth of Co/Co 3 Fe 7 nanoparticles, which also catalyze the growth of bamboo-like NCNTs. Tubular structure not only accelerates the charge transfer through the interactions between Co and Co 3 Fe 7 , but also limits the aggregation of the particles, thereby promoting the 4e- oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER) kinetics and stabilizing the bifunctional activity. Co/Co 3 Fe 7 @NCNTs-800 (pyrolyzed at 800 °C) shows exceptional ORR activity (half-wave potential of 0.89 V) and methanol tolerance. Meanwhile, Co/Co 3 Fe 7 @NCNTs-800 shows a small OER overpotential of 280 mV, which increases by only 9 mV after 1000 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles. The outstanding bifunctionality (potential gap of 0.62 V) is ascribed to the electronic structure modulation at the Co/Co 3 Fe 7 heterointerface. Notably, it also has a high performance as an air–cathode for rechargeable zinc-air battery, showing high power density (165 mW cm−2) and specific capacity (770.5 m Ah kg−1). This work provides a new reference for promoting the development of alloy catalysts with heterogeneous interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Stable isotope and multi-element compositions of muskmelon were analyzed. • Geographical differences of muskmelon in Xinjiang were compared by ANOVA. • LDA modeling of muskmelon origin was achieved using multi-variate data. • LDA accuracies were 91.9 % for Hami PGI muskmelon products. • This strategy can be as an alternative tool for combating origin mislabeling. Xinjiang muskmelon is a popular fruit in China that is exported worldwide. In particular, Hami muskmelon is classified as a protected geographical indication (PGI) product, and consequently it is more desirable and sells at a higher market price than products from other regions. Origin mislabeling and fraudulent substitution of Hami PGI muskmelon products by non-PGI products are frequently reported, which damages its reputation and market advantage. In this study, the geographical origin of muskmelon from Xinjiang was investigated using stable isotopes and multi-element analyses with chemometrics. Four stable isotopes (δ 13C, δ 15N, δ 2H, δ 18O) and seventeen elemental contents (Na, Al, P, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, As, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, Pb) of 239 batches of muskmelon were collected from 13 administrative regions distributed across Xinjiang Province. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare these regional differences using stable isotopes and multi-elements, and showed that a single variable could not fully classify all sample origins. A multivariate model was developed using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) based on stable isotope and multi-element data. The discriminant accuracies of 13 localities across Xinjiang Province was unsatisfactory with values as low as 46.2 % for Changji. Muskmelon from Kashi were misclassified as Aksu (20 %) and Bazhou (16.7 %) respectively. Further LDA modeling was undertaken after the 13 administrative regions were reduced to 6 geographical production regions from Xinjiang. Classification accuracies improved significantly; 100 % for Altay, 91.9 % for Hami and more than 79.1 % for other regions. Therefore, this strategy may be a useful and complementary tool to combat origin mislabeling of Hami PGI muskmelons from other Xinjiang regions, effectively ensuring food integrity and promoting origin certainty of PGI Hami muskmelon from Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a shrinkage estimator for the population mean is proposed under known quadratic loss functions with unknown covariance matrices. The new estimator is non-parametric in the sense that it does not assume a specific parametric distribution for the data and it does not require the prior information on the population covariance matrix. Analytical results on the improvement of the proposed shrinkage estimator are provided and some corresponding asymptotic properties are also derived. Finally, we demonstrate the practical improvement of the proposed method over existing methods through extensive simulation studies and real data analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

During the COVID-19 epidemic period, people showed a stronger connection to the environment within their communities. Although tree canopy in residential areas has been shown to positively affect psychological distress, it is not clear whether the COVID-19 epidemic played a role in this process. Elucidation of the relationship between tree canopy and the impact on psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic could provide valuable information as to the best methods to help individuals cope with urban mental stress events. A total of 15 randomly selected residential areas of Beijing were enrolled in this repeated cross-sectional study. A total of 900 residents were included in the two-waves of the investigation (450 residents per wave) before and during the COVID-19 epidemic (i.e., May 2019 and May 2020). Psychological distress was estimated using the 12-question General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Tree canopy coverage (TCC) was measured through visual interpretation based on the 2013 data sources (World View 2 satellite imagery of Beijing urban areas with a resolution of 0.5 m). The demographic characteristics, distance to the nearest surrounding green or blue space, residential area house price, household density, and construction year were also collected in this study. A multivariate logistic regression, relative risk due to interaction (RERI), and synergy index (SI) were used to explore the relationships among tree canopy, COVID-19, and psychological distress. The negative impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mental health was significant, with the prevalence of psychological distress increased 7.84 times (aOR = 7.84, 95% CI = 4.67–13.95) during the COVID-19 epidemic period. Tree canopy coverage in the group without psychological distress was significantly higher than that of the psychologically distressed group (31.07 ± 11.38% vs. 27.87 ± 12.97%, P = 0.005). An increase in 1% of TCC, was related to a 5% decrease in the prevalence of psychological distress (aOR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.93–0.98). An antagonism joint action between tree canopy and the COVID-19 epidemic existed (RERI = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.72–1.47; SI = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.05–0.52), and persisted enhancing only in medium (26.45%–33.21%) and above TCC level. Correlation of GHQ items and TCC significantly differed between the COVID-19 non-epidemic and epidemic periods, with the effects of tree canopy on GHQ-12 items covering topics, such as social function and depression, presumably absent because of epidemic limitations. This study indicates that the COVID-19 epidemic harmed mental health and verified the positive effects of residential tree canopy on psychological distress in Beijing. We suggest paying more attention to residents in areas of low TCC and dealing with psychological distress caused by public health stress events based on tree canopy strategies. • More tree canopy in residential areas was associated with better mental health. • The prevalence of psychological distress increased 7.84 times during the COVID-19 epidemic period. • The antagonism joint action between tree canopy and the COVID-19 epidemic persisted enhancing only in medium (26.45%–33.21%) and above tree canopy coverage level. • The COVID-19 epidemic limitation changed the effects of tree canopy on different GHQ-12 items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this work, we redefined two important statistics, the CLRT test [Z. Bai, D. Jiang, J. Yao, S. Zheng, Corrections to LRT on large-dimensional covariance matrix by RMT, The Annals of Statistics 37 (6B) (2009) 3822–3840] and the LW test [O. Ledoit, M. Wolf, Some hypothesis tests for the covariance matrix when the dimension is large compared to the sample size, The Annals of Statistics (2002) 1081–1102] on identity tests for high dimensional data using random matrix theories. Compared with existing CLRT and LW tests, the new tests can accommodate data which has unknown means and non-Gaussian distributions. Simulations demonstrate that the new tests have good properties in terms of size and power. What is more, even for Gaussian data, our new tests perform favorably in comparison to existing tests. Finally, we find the CLRT is more sensitive to eigenvalues less than 1 while the LW test has more advantages in relation to detecting eigenvalues larger than 1. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]