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The metabolic benefits associated with long-term physical activity are well appreciated and growing evidence suggests that it involves the gut microbiota. Here we re-evaluated the link between exercise-induced microbial changes and those associated with prediabetes and diabetes. We found that the relative abundances of substantial amounts of diabetes-associated metagenomic species associated negatively with physical fitness in a Chinese athlete students cohort. We additionally showed that those microbial changes correlated more with handgrip strength, a simple but valuable biomarker suggestive of the diabetes states, than maximum oxygen intake, one of the key surrogates for endurance training. Moreover, the causal relationships among exercise, risks for diabetes, and gut microbiota were explored based on mediation analysis. We propose that the protective roles of exercise against type 2 diabetes are mediated, at least partly, by the gut microbiota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of Review: The purpose of this literature review was to determine if medications used to treat osteoporosis are also effective for treating osteoarthritis (OA). Recent Findings: A total of 40 relevant articles were identified. Studies were categorized into those (1) discussing estrogen and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), (2) bisphosphonates, (3) parathyroid hormone (PTH) analogs, and (4) denosumab, and (5) prior review articles. A large amount of evidence suggests that estrogen and SERMs are effective at reducing OA symptoms and disease progression. Evidence suggests that bisphosphonates, the most common medications used to treat osteoporosis, can reduce OA symptoms and disease progression. In vivo studies suggest that PTH analogs may improve the cartilage destruction associated with OA; however, few human trials have examined its use for OA. Denosumab is approved to treat osteoporosis, bone metastases, and certain types of breast cancer, but little study has been done with respect to its effect on OA. Summary: The current evidence indicates that medications used to treat osteoporosis are also effective for treating OA. Estrogen, SERMs, and bisphosphonates have the most potential as OA therapies. Less is known regarding the effectiveness of PTH analogs and denosumab in OA, and more research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotics are widely used in aquaculture to treat the bacterial diseases. However, the improper use of antibiotics could lead to environmental pollution and development of resistance. As a safe and eco-friendly alternative, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are commonly explored as therapeutic agents. In this study, a mutant strain of Tetraselmis subcordiformis containing AMP NZ2114 was developed and used as an oral drug delivery system to reduce the use of antibiotics in turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) aquaculture. The gut, kidney, and liver immune-related genes and their effects on gut digestion and bacterial communities in turbot fed with NZ2114 were evaluated in an 11-day feeding experiment. The results showed that compared with the group fed with wild-type T. subcordiformis, the group fed with T. subcordiformis transformants containing NZ2114 was revealed with decreased levels of both pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α and IL-1β), inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Vibrio splendidus demonstrated by the in vitro simulation experiments, and increased richness and diversity of the gut microbiota of turbot. In conclusion, our study provided a novel, beneficial, and low-cost method for controlling bacteria in turbot culture through the oral drug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premature ovarian failure (POF) caused by chemotherapy is a growing concern for female reproductive health. The use of metformin (MET), which has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects, in the treatment of POF damaged by chemotherapy drugs remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact of MET on POF caused by cyclophosphamide (CTX) combined with busulfan (BUS) and M1 macrophages using POF model mice and primary granule cells (GCs). Our findings demonstrate that intragastric administration of MET ameliorates ovarian damage and alleviates hormonal disruption in chemotherapy-induced POF mice. This effect is achieved through the reduction of inflammatory and oxidative stress-related harm. Additionally, MET significantly relieves abnormal inflammatory response, ROS accumulation, and senescence in primary GCs co-cultured with M1 macrophages. We also observed that this protective role of MET is closely associated with the AMPK/PPAR-γ/SIRT1 pathway in cell models. In conclusion, our results suggest that MET can protect against chemotherapy-induced ovarian injury by inducing the expression of the AMPK pathway while reducing oxidative damage and inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past studies of sentiment analysis have mainly applied algorithms based on vocabulary categories and emotional characteristics to detect the emotionality of text. However, the collocation of state-changing words and emotional vocabulary affects emotions. For example, adverbs of degree strengthen emotions, and negative adverbs reverse emotions. This study investigated the weighted effect of state-changing words on emotion. The research material comprised 73 state-changing words that were collocated with four emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. A total of 84 participants participated in the vocabulary assessment. The results revealed that state-changing words could be classified into four types: intensifying, weakening, neutralizing, and reversing. In a comparison of the weighting factors among emotions, the weighting effect of the same state-changing word in the positive emotion category was particularly evident. The results could serve as a reference for follow-up studies on detecting emotions in text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation (DT) is a strategic priority for commercial banks in China. It is important to explore the relationship between DT and bank systemic risk to maintain financial stability and promote high-quality development of banks. Based on the data of China's listed commercial banks from Q3 2010 to Q1 2022, this paper empirically tests the influence mechanism, heterogeneity influence and action channels of DT on bank systemic risk. This paper finds that DT reduces the bank systemic risk. The higher the degree of DT, the lower the bank systemic risk. Innovation effect and cost effect play multiple mediating roles in the reduction of bank systemic risk by DT. The innovation of bank products, sales channels, organizations and other aspects to enhance the competitiveness and income of banks, while reducing the information asymmetry between the supply chain and the industrial chain, taking cost and risk sharing, reduces the bank systemic risk. This paper enriches the research on the impact of bank DT on systemic risk and provides empirical support for bank risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accuracy of Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) sequencing has significantly improved thanks to new flowcells, sequencing kits, and basecalling algorithms. However, novel modification types untrained in the basecalling models can seriously reduce the quality. Here we reports a set of ONT-sequenced genomes with unexpected low quality due to novel modification types. Demodification by whole-genome amplification significantly improved the quality but lost the epigenome. We also developed a reference-based method, Modpolish, for correcting modification-mediated errors while retaining the epigenome when a sufficient number of closely-related genomes is publicly available (default: top 20 genomes with at least 95% identity). Modpolish not only significantly improved the quality of in-house sequenced genomes but also public datasets sequenced by R9.4 and R10.4 (simplex). Our results suggested that novel modifications are prone to ONT systematic errors. Nevertheless, these errors are correctable by nucleotide demodification or Modpolish without prior knowledge of modifications. The authors report excessive amounts of modification-mediated errors in Listeria strains during Nanopore sequencing that are due to novel modifications that were untrained in the Nanopore basecalling model. A whole-genome amplification and a reference-based computational methods (Modpolish) can correct these modification-mediated errors without the need for demodification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rotation of a C = C bond in an alkene can be efficiently accelerated by creating the high-strain ground state and stabilizing the transition state of the process. Herein, the synthesis, structures, and properties of several highly twisted alkenes are comprehensively explored. A facile and practical synthetic approach to target molecules is developed. The twist angles and lengths of the central C = C bonds in these molecules are 36–58° and 1.40–1.43 Å, respectively, and confirmed by X-ray crystallography and DFT calculations. A quasi-planar molecular half with the π-extended substituents delivers a shallow rotational barrier (down to 2.35 kcal/mol), indicating that the rotation of the C = C bond is as facile as that of the aryl-aryl bond in 2-flourobiphenyl. Other versatile and unique properties of the studied compounds include a broad photoabsorption range (from 250 up to 1100 nm), a reduced HOMO-LUMO gap (1.26–1.68 eV), and a small singlet-triplet energy gap (3.65–5.68 kcal/mol). The rotation of a carbon double bond in an alkene can be efficiently accelerated by creating the high strain ground state and stabilizing the transition state of the process. Here, the authors report the synthesis, structures, and properties of several highly twisted alkenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-scale learning frameworks have been regarded as a capable class of models to boost semantic segmentation. The problem nevertheless is not trivial especially for the real-world deployments, which often demand high efficiency in inference latency. In this paper, we thoroughly analyze the design of convolutional blocks (the type of convolutions and the number of channels in convolutions), and the ways of interactions across multiple scales, all from lightweight standpoint for semantic segmentation. With such in-depth comparisons, we conclude three principles, and accordingly devise Lightweight and Progressively-Scalable Networks (LPS-Net) that novelly expands the network complexity in a greedy manner. Technically, LPS-Net first capitalizes on the principles to build a tiny network. Then, LPS-Net progressively scales the tiny network to larger ones by expanding a single dimension (the number of convolutional blocks, the number of channels, or the input resolution) at one time to meet the best speed/accuracy tradeoff. Extensive experiments conducted on three datasets consistently demonstrate the superiority of LPS-Net over several efficient semantic segmentation methods. More remarkably, our LPS-Net achieves 73.4% mIoU on Cityscapes test set, with the speed of 413.5FPS on an NVIDIA GTX 1080Ti, leading to a performance improvement by 1.5% and a 65% speed-up against the state-of-the-art STDC. Code is available at https://github.com/YihengZhang-CV/LPS-Net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study developed an Adolescents' Uncertainty Scale (AUS), with the aim of understanding individual differences in uncertainty among adolescents. In the pretest phase, 507 ninth-grade students were recruited. After exploratory factor analyses, a 25-item AUS with four dimensions—irresoluteness, instability, lack of self-knowledge, and uncertainty of future—was obtained. During the formal testing phase, 3106 ninth grade students were recruited. The internal consistency reliability of the subscales was between.85 and.90, and the overall reliability was.95. Confirmatory factor analysis also indicated that the four-dimension model had acceptable internal validity. To assess external validity, 1967 ninth-grade students were recruited. Gathering the data of students' test anxiety and academic achievement, the results revealed that uncertainty partially mediated the effect of academic achievement on test anxiety, which is in line with the uncertainty-of-stress model (USM). On the basis of the preliminary results, the scale may be used for counseling and by educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph theory can be used to address problems with complex network structures. Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) involve complex abnormal connections between chambers, vessels, and organs. We proposed a new method to represent CHDs based on graph theory, wherein vertices were defined as the spaces through which blood flows and edges were defined by the blood flow between the spaces and direction of the blood flow. The CHDs of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and transposition of the great arteries (TGA) were selected as examples for constructing directed graphs and binary adjacency matrices. Patients with totally repaired TOF, surgically corrected d-TGA, and Fontan circulation undergoing four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were included as examples for constructing the weighted adjacency matrices. The directed graphs and binary adjacency matrices of the normal heart, extreme TOF undergoing a right modified Blalock–Taussig shunt, and d-TGA with a ventricular septal defect were constructed. The weighted adjacency matrix of totally repaired TOF was constructed using the peak velocities obtained from 4D flow MRI. The developed method is promising for representing CHDs and may be helpful in developing artificial intelligence and conducting future research on CHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leverage of large volumes of web videos paired with the query (short phrase for searching the video) or surrounding text (long textual description, e.g., video title) offers an economic and extensible alternative to supervised video representation learning. Nevertheless, modeling such weakly visual-textual connection is not trivial due to query polysemy (i.e., many possible meanings for a query) and text isomorphism (i.e., same syntactic structure of different text). In this paper, we introduce a new design of mutual calibration between query and text to achieve more reliable visual-textual supervision for video representation learning. Specifically, we present Bi-Calibration Networks (BCN) that novelly couples two calibrations to learn the correction from text to query and vice versa. Technically, BCN executes clustering on all the titles of the videos searched by an identical query and takes the centroid of each cluster as a text prototype. All the queries constitute the query set. The representation learning of BCN is then formulated as video classification over text prototypes and queries, with text-to-query and query-to-text calibrations. A selection scheme is also devised to balance the two calibrations. Two large-scale web video datasets paired with query and title, named YOVO-3M and YOVO-10M, are newly collected for weakly-supervised video feature learning. The video features of BCN with ResNet backbone learnt on YOVO-3M (3M YouTube videos) obtain superior results under linear protocol on action recognition. More remarkably, BCN trained on the larger set of YOVO-10M (10M YouTube videos) with further fine-tuning leads to 1.3% gain in top-1 accuracy on Kinetics-400 dataset over the state-of-the-art TAda2D method with ImageNet pre-training. Source code and datasets are available at https://github.com/FuchenUSTC/BCN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle shape and surface roughness affect both the macro- and micro-mechanical behaviour of natural sands. In geotechnical practice, the global shape of sands is generally characterized by visual comparison to reference charts or by static image analysis with a limited number of particles. Meanwhile, due to the difficulty in measuring surface roughness of sand grains, it is usually ignored in the quantification of particle morphology. In this study, the global shape of four types of natural sand, Leighton Buzzard sand (LBS), beach sand (BS), carbonate sand (CS), and completely decomposed granite soil (CDG), was measured by a dynamic particle shape analyser, and quantified using three parameters, i.e., aspect ratio, sphericity and convexity. The influence of mineralogy, depositional environment, and particle size on the global shape has been thoroughly discussed. Among the four sands, the shape descriptors of LBS are the highest, indicating the most spherical and rounded shape, because of the aqueous traction transportation. The sphericity of CDG increases with decreasing particle size due to the abrasion or collapsing of asperities of coarser particles under subsequent weathering. The surface roughness of LBS, BS and CS was successfully measured by an optical interferometer, and quantitatively characterized by the flattened root-mean square roughness (RMSf). The RMSf of particles with different mineralogy and sizes all tends to be stable at relatively larger size of field of view. Among the tested granular materials, the surface of CS particles is the roughest and most variable, and the finer the CS particles, the rougher the surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid widespread concerns about the mental health of teenagers, this quasi-experimental study examines the effects of a classroom humor intervention on 268 seventh graders' positive emotions, as well as their sense of humor and language ability. The participants completed self-report measures and a language exam before and after the intervention, which lasted six weeks. Analysis of covariance and mediation analysis were used to evaluate the effects. The results supported the researchers' hypotheses that the humor intervention would significantly increase learners' positive emotions, sense of humor, and language ability. The mediation analysis revealed that sense of humor mediated the relationship between the humor intervention and positive emotions, and that neither sense of humor nor positive emotion was the sole factor contributing to the observed learning gains. The study concludes that the intervention helped foster a learner-friendly environment in which the participants increased their positive emotions, sense of humor and language ability simultaneously, and makes recommendations for practitioners and future researchers on that basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of natural silk production in the spider major ampullate (Ma) gland endows dragline silk with extraordinary mechanical properties and the potential for biomimetic applications. However, the precise genetic roles of the Ma gland during this process remain unknown. Here, we performed a systematic molecular atlas of dragline silk production through a high-quality genome assembly for the golden orb-weaving spider Trichonephila clavata and a multiomics approach to defining the Ma gland tri-sectional architecture: Tail, Sac, and Duct. We uncovered a hierarchical biosynthesis of spidroins, organic acids, lipids, and chitin in the sectionalized Ma gland dedicated to fine silk constitution. The ordered secretion of spidroins was achieved by the synergetic regulation of epigenetic and ceRNA signatures for genomic group-distributed spidroin genes. Single-cellular and spatial RNA profiling identified ten cell types with partitioned functional division determining the tri-sectional organization of the Ma gland. Convergence analysis and genetic manipulation further validated that this tri-sectional architecture of the silk gland was analogous across Arthropoda and inextricably linked with silk formation. Collectively, our study provides multidimensional data that significantly expand the knowledge of spider dragline silk generation and ultimately benefit innovation in spider-inspired fibers. The genetic basis of spider major ampullate (Ma) gland silk production remains unknown. Hu et al. unveil a molecular atlas of this gland for the golden orb-weaving spider combining genome assembly and multiomics, revealing the single-cell spatial architecture of silk production in the Ma gland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the mechanisms of Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BYHWD) modulating the gut microbiome and trimethylamine oxide (TAMO) to exert cardioprotective effects. Methods: Ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery was performed in rats to induce heart failure (HF). Except for the sham-operation group (n=10), 36 operation-induced models were randomized into 3 groups using a random number table (n=12 in each group): the model group, the BYHWD group (15.02 g/kg BYHWD), and the positive group (4.99 g/kg metoprolol succinate). After 4-week treatment (once daily by gavage), echocardiography was applied to evaluate the cardiac function and the Tei index (the ratio of ventricular isovolumic contraction time (IVCT) and isovolumic diastolic time (IVRT) to ejection time (ET)) was calculated; hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was observed to characterize the pathology of the myocardium and small intestinal villi. D-lactic acid was detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Expressions of occludin, claudin-1, and zonula occludens (ZO-1) were detected by Western blot. 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (16S rRNA) sequencing was used to explore the changes in the intestinal flora. TMAO was detected via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results: In the echocardiography, the Tei index was considerably lower in the positive and BYHWD groups compared with the model group (P<0.05). Besides, BYHWD improved the pathology of myocardium and small intestine of HF rats and lowered the D-lactic acid content in the serum, when compared with the model group (P<0.05). BYHWD also improved the expression of occludin and claudin-1 (P<0.05); in the gut microbiota analysis, BYHWD slowed down modifications in the structure distribution of gut microbiota and regulated the diversity of intestinal flora in HF rats. The content of TMAO in the serum was significantly lowered by BYWHT compared with the model group (P<0.05). Conclusion: BYHWD may delay progression of HF by enhancing the intestinal barrier structure, and regulating intestinal flora and TAMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steady momentum of innovations has convincingly demonstrated the high capability of attention mechanisms for the sequence to sequence learning. Nevertheless, the computation of attention across a sequence is often independent in either hard or soft mode, thereby resulting in undesired effects such as repeated modeling. In this paper, we introduce a new design to holistically explore the interdependencies between attention histories and locally emphasize the strong focus of each attention on image captioning. Specifically, we present a contextual and selective attention network (namely CoSA-Net) that novelly memorizes contextual attention and brings out the principal components from each attention. Technically, CoSA-Net writes/updates the attended image region features into memory and reads from memory when measuring attention in the next time step to leverage contextual knowledge. Only the regions with the top-k highest attention scores are selected, and each region feature is individually employed to compute an output distribution. The final output is an attention-weighted mixture of all k distributions. In turn, the attention is then upgraded by the posterior distribution conditioned on the output. Our CoSA-Net is appealing given that it is pluggable to the sentence decoder in any neural captioning model. Extensive experiments on the COCO image captioning dataset demonstrate the superiority of CoSA-Net. More remarkably, integrating CoSA-Net to a one-layer long short-term memory (LSTM) decoder increases CIDEr-D performance from 125.2% to 128.5% on the COCO Karpathy test split. When further endowing a two-layer LSTM decoder with CoSA-Net, the CIDEr-D score is boosted to 129.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to remediate the phytotoxicity of quinclorac to tomato by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), the adsorption of quinclorac to MWCNTs was monitored and the effect of MWCNTs on the phytotoxicity of quinclorac to tomato in soil were studied. The results showed that the Linear equation and Freundlich equation can well fit the adsorption isotherm of quinclorac in the soil containing MWCNTs. The adsorption of quinclorac in soil was significantly enhanced by the addition of MWCNTs; the Kd of soil (1% MWCNTs) was 28.7 times of pure soil. The quinclorac had an obvious inhibitory effect on the growth of tomatoes; serious phytotoxicity was also induced even at the lowest concentration of 0.025 mg/kg. With the MWCNTs content in soil increased to 0.5% and 1%, the phytotoxicity of quinclorac to tomatoes decreased significantly, and the height and fresh weight of tomatoes were even higher than those of the control group, indicating that MWCNTs can promote the growth of tomato. These results provide a reference for resolving the problem of phytotoxicity induced by residual herbicides in farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitin-like modifier 1 ligating enzyme 1 (UFL1) is a unique E3 ligase of the UFMylation system. Recent studies have shown that this enzyme plays a crucial role in the processes of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) and apoptosis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can cause injury to ovarian granule cells and hinder follicular development by triggering ER stress and apoptosis. Our study aimed to investigate the mechanism by which UFL1 alleviates ER stress and apoptosis caused by LPS in human granulosa-like cells (KGNs). In this study, we found that the protein levels of UFL1 were increased obviously under LPS stimulation in KGNs and that ER stress and apoptosis were further aggravated when UFL1 was knocked down; in contrast, these events were rescued when UFL1 was overexpressed. Next, we showed that the levels of ferroptosis-related proteins were relatively altered, accompanied by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Fe2+, following the inhibition of UFL1 expression. In contrast, the overexpression of UFL1 reversed the ferroptosis process by regulating the P53/SLC7A11 (solute carrier family 7, member 11, SLC7A11) system and autophagy in response to LPS stimulation. Furthermore, apoptosis and ER stress in KGNs are rescued by the administration of the ferroptosis inhibitor ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1). Collectively, our research demonstrated a new mechanism for UFL1 that can alleviate ER stress and apoptosis stimulated by LPS; this occurred via the regulation of the ferroptosis pathway in KGNs and may provide a new strategy for research in the field of reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We mainly study the nonexistence of quasi-harmonic spheres and harmonic spheres into spheres of any dimension which omits a neighbourhood of totally geodesic submanifold of co-dimension 2. We will show that such target admits no quasi-harmonic spheres and harmonic spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of microalgae cultured in wastewater to produce high-value products has gained considerable attention. We studied the ability of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum to remove nutrients from diluted swine wastewater (SW) and simultaneously produce fucoxanthin. The alga had the strongest capability to remove nutrients from the SW when the dilution ratio of SW to water was 1:1. Under this condition the removal efficiencies of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) were 97.17 ± 0.14%, 92.02 ± 0.02%, and 98.42 ± 0.06%, respectively. The highest fucoxanthin concentration was 28.41 ± 2.41 mg L−1, which was comparable to previously reported levels. This study demonstrates that P. tricornutum has great potential in swine wastewater treatment integrated with fucoxanthin production. It provides an environmentally friendly approach for natural pigment production and resource recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the zero-inflated non-central negative binomial (ZINNB) distribution is introduced. Some of its basic properties are obtained. In addition, we use the maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the parameters of the ZINNB distribution, and illustrate its application by fitting the actual data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is an economically important fish. It can spawn many times during a breeding season, and there are no obvious morphological characteristics to distinguish male and female juvenile fish. So far, little is known about the genes regulating their sexual development in this species. Here, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis of the testis, ovary, and somatic tissue to identify sex-related genes in the largemouth bass. A total of 51,672 unigenes were obtained via the transcriptome analysis, and 5900 differential expression genes (DEGs), including 3028 up-regulated and 2872 down-regulated DEGs, were obtained in the somatic tissue, testis, and ovary. DEGs were retrieved by making comparisons: somatic tissue vs testis (1733-up and 1382-down), testis vs ovary (841-up and 807-down), and ovary vs somatic tissue (454-up and 683-down). Finally, functional annotation identified 22 key sex-related DEGs, including 13 testis-biased DEGs (dmrt1, cyp11b1, sox9, spata4, spata22, spata17, fshr, fem-1a, wt1, daz1, amh, vasa, and piwi1) and 9 ovary-biased DEGs (foxl2, gdf9, zp3, sox3, cyp19a, bmp15, fem-1b, fig. la, and piwi2). This result was further confirmed by the tissue expression detection via RT-PCR and RT-qPCR. Protein–protein interacting (PPI) network analysis revealed that the testis-specific dmrt1 interacts directly with the testis-biased DEGs (cyp11b1 and spata4) and the ovary-biased DEGs (foxl2, gdf9, zp3, sox3, cyp19a, and bmp15), suggesting that the dmrt1 as a sex-determining gene can play a dual role through inducing the testis-biased DEGs and inhibiting the ovary-biased DEGs during the testicular development. Our present results provide useful molecular data for a better understanding of sexual development in the largemouth bass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A membrane of triolein-embedded cellulose acetate membrane (TECAM), as an integrative passive sampler, was applied to adsorb 28 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from pure water and sea water in order to probe into the influence of concentration fluctuation and water matrix. The results demonstrated the temporal variations of PCBs concentrations in TECAM followed the first-order kinetics model. The periodic refreshment of solution and matrix effects of sea water significantly prolonged the time that PCBs reached equilibrium stage. The refreshment facilitated the uptake mass in TECAM. On the contrary, the matrix effects of sea water and dissolved organic matter (DOM) declined the PCBs absorption to TECAM. The average logKP values of PCBs in pure water were about 1.2 log unit higher than those in sea water in the experiments that the solution was not refreshed, while the difference of average logKP values narrowed to 0.3 log unit if the PCBs solutions were periodically refreshed. The correlation between logKP and logKOW values fitted the quadratic curve well, which was similar to semi-permeable membrane device (SPMD). The appropriate sampling times (t94%) ranged from 98.8 to 819 h (mean 500 h) for pure water with refreshment, much longer than those in sea water with refreshment (80.1~410 h, mean 189 h). The t94% values in the solution with high DOM content increased significantly, up to 409 h. Furthermore, comparing the two experiments that the spiked pure water and sea water solution were refreshed frequently, the estimated sampling rates (Rs) in pure water (0.154~2.06 L/day with a mean value of 0.605 L/day) were slightly lower than those in sea water (0.292~3.84 L/day with a mean value of 1.69 L/day). However, the Rs values in sea water with DOM declined sharply to 0.042 L/day. Therefore, concentration fluctuation, matrix effect, and DOM contents of sea water evidently posed significant influence on dynamic parameters of TECAM absorption, which would be screened and probed detailed in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myocyte enhancer factor 2C (MEF2C) is associated with hyperactivity and might be a novel risk gene for susceptibility to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association between MEF2C genetic variants and ADHD in the Chinese Han population. A total of 215 patients with ADHD and 233 controls were recruited for this study. The Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham version IV questionnaire was used to evaluate the clinical features of ADHD. In silico analysis was used to annotate the biological functions of the promising single nucleotide polymorphisms. Our findings indicated that MEF2C rs587490 was significantly associated with ADHD in the multiplicative model (OR = 0.640, p = 0.002). Participants with the rs587490 TT allele exhibited less hyperactivity/impulsivity than those with the rs587490 CC allele. Furthermore, the expression quantitative trait loci analysis suggested that rs587490 could regulate the gene expression of MEF2C in the hippocampus, putamen, thalamus, and frontal white matter. Our study concluded that the MEF2C rs587490 T allele is significantly associated with a reduced risk of ADHD in the Chinese Han population, which provides new insight into the genetic etiology of ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While common, computer presentations given during classroom lectures do not always improve learning effects; thus, this study incorporated three elements into technology-assisted classroom lectures: emphasis, augmentation, and integration. These three elements cannot be implemented simultaneously when using PowerPoint (PPT) presentations during classroom lectures. Therefore, the virtual and physical integration of augmented reality (AR) was employed to establish an assisted course lecturing tool for implementing these three elements. Teachers can refer to important content from textbooks (emphasis) while lecturing, and students can then use an AR device to scan the content and to call out related supplementary materials (augmentation) in facilitating their learning. These scanning and calling out functions of AR enable teachers to integrate technology-assisted tools with textbooks to enhance the effectiveness of classroom lectures. The pre- and posttest quasi-experimental research design was used to determine differences in the learning outcomes of two groups of AR-assisted and PPT-based course lectures. The experimental results indicate that the AR-assisted lecture was significantly more effective than the PPT-based lecture, and a similar result was obtained from a delayed test. According to interviews held with students, during the AR-assisted lecture, the students tended to focus on only one teaching medium and on the textbook content. By contrast, students of the PPT-based lecture became distracted while focusing on two different media sources simultaneously, resulting in the textbook content often being neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We measured the expression of the histone demethylase lysine-specific demethylase 5B (KDM5B) in the bowels of patients with Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) and investigated the molecular mechanism by which KDM5B promotes the migration of neuronal PC12 cells. Methods: KDM5B expression was detected in the ganglionic and aganglionic colon of patients with HSCR (n = 10) and controls (n = 10). The expression and localization of KDM5B were assessed using immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence staining. Real-time PCR and Western blotting were performed to quantify KDM5B expression. The migration was determined using Transwell and wound-healing assays. G-LISA, GTPase pulldown and luciferase-based reporter gene assays were performed to evaluate the key components of Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling in vitro. Results: Our current study showed that KDM5B colocalized with neurons. KDM5B expression was reduced in HSCR specimens, while the aganglionic segments showed the greatest reduction. KDM5B knockdown inhibited the migration of PC12 cells. Moreover, inhibition of KDM5B decreased the expression of key genes in the Wnt/PCP pathway, and its inhibitory effect on PC12 cell migration was reversed by Wnt5a treatment. Conclusions: KDM5B promotes neuronal migration via the Wnt/PCP pathway. A potential role for KDM5B in altered enteric nervous system development in HSCR warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop a radiomics signature based on multisequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to preoperatively predict peritoneal metastasis (PM) in ovarian cancer (OC). Methods: Eighty-nine patients with OC were divided into a training cohort including patients (n = 54) with a single lesion and a validation cohort including patients (n = 35) with bilateral lesions. Radiomics features were extracted from the T2-weighted images (T2WIs), fat-suppressed T2WIs, multi-b-value diffusion-weighted images (DWIs), and corresponding parametric maps. A radiomics signature and nomogram incorporating the radiomics signature and clinical predictors were developed and validated on the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Results: The radiomics signature generated by 6 selected features showed a favorable discriminatory ability to predict PM in OC with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.963 in the training cohort and an AUC of 0.928 in the validation cohort. The nomogram, comprising the radiomics signature, pelvic fluid, and CA-125 level, showed more favorable discrimination with an AUC of 0.969 in the training cohort and 0.944 in the validation cohort. Net reclassification index with values of 0.548 in the training cohort and 0.500 in the validation cohort. Conclusion: Radiomics signature based on multisequence MRI serves as an effective quantitative approach to predict PM in OC patients. A nomogram of radiomics signature and clinical predictors could further improve the prediction ability of PM in patients with OC. Key Points: • Multisequence MRI-based radiomics showed a favorable discriminatory ability to predict PM in OC. • The nomogram incorporating the radiomics signature and clinical predictors was clinically useful to preoperatively predict PM in patients with OC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-grained calcareous silt interlayers with a non-uniform thickness are distributed discontinuously in the hydraulically reclaimed foundation of island-reefs in the South China Sea. Because of their high compressibility and low strength, these interlayers commonly cause differential foundation settlement and result in the cracking of buildings, which poses a potential safety hazard. In this study, consolidated-drained triaxial shear tests were conducted to investigate the effect of fines content (FC) on the shear strength of calcareous sand. The brittleness index and dilatancy coefficient were introduced to quantify the strain-softening and dilatancy of calcareous sand. The mechanism by which the FC affects the calcareous sand strength was revealed in terms of the particle shape and soil structure. Under a constant effective confining pressure, an increase in FC led to a gradual decrease in peak strength, a weakening of strain-softening characteristics, less dilation, and a linear decrease in apparent cohesion for calcareous sand. The internal friction angle of calcareous sand peaked at a FC of 10%. Compared with quartz sand, calcareous sand has the more irregular particle shape. An increase in FC weakened the interlocking between calcareous sand particles, which decreased the shear strength. The research results are of great significance for slope stability analysis and for the foundation treatment of island reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human microbiome is expected to be a new and promising tool for classification of human epithelial materials. Vaginal fluids are one of the most common biological samples in forensic sexual assault cases, and its identification is crucial to accurately determine the nature of the case. With the development of molecular biology technologies, the concept of vaginal microflora in different physiological states, ethnic groups, and geography is constantly improved. In this study, we conducted high-throughput sequencing of the V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene in vaginal samples from Henan, Guangdong, and Xinjiang populations, in an attempt to reveal more information about the vaginal microflora in different regions. The results showed that the bio-geographical factors might affect the relative abundance of some vaginal microflora, but there was no significant difference in the composition of dominant bacteria in the vagina, which was mainly composed of Lactobacillus and Gardnerella. However, prediction models based on the random forest algorithm suggested that we might be able to distinguish vaginal fluids from populations of different regions according to the species-level OTUs in low abundance. It is promising that microbiome-based methods could provide more personal information when being attempted to trace the origin of body fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reciprocal interactions between pathogens and hosts are complicated and profound. A comprehensive understanding of these interactions is essential for developing effective therapies against infectious diseases. Interferon responses induced upon virus infection are critical for establishing host antiviral innate immunity. Here, we provide a molecular mechanism wherein isoform switching of the host IKKε gene, an interferon-associated molecule, leads to alterations in IFN production during EV71 infection. We found that IKKε isoform 2 (IKKε v2) is upregulated while IKKε v1 is downregulated in EV71 infection. IKKε v2 interacts with IRF7 and promotes IRF7 activation through phosphorylation and translocation of IRF7 in the presence of ubiquitin, by which the expression of IFNβ and ISGs is elicited and virus propagation is attenuated. We also identified that IKKε v2 is activated via K63-linked ubiquitination. Our results suggest that host cells induce IKKε isoform switching and result in IFN production against EV71 infection. This finding highlights a gene regulatory mechanism in pathogen-host interactions and provides a potential strategy for establishing host first-line defense against pathogens. Chang et al. show that Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection upregulates IKKε isoform 2 (IKKε v2), which in turn activates interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7). This study suggests that host cells trigger IKKε isoform switching to increase the production of interferon against EV71 infection, providing a potential strategy for boosting host's antiviral defense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the electromechanical function detected by acoustic cardiography before and after radiofrequency ablation therapy (RFA) in paroxysmal AF (PAF) patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Seventy-five symptomatic PAF patients and 69 patients without arrhythmia were enrolled. Thirty-seven PAF patients received RFA therapy. Acoustic cardiographic exam was performed to check S3 and S4 heart sound, electromechanical activation time (EMAT), LV systolic time percentage (LVST), and systolic dysfunction index (SDI) in all participants. Furthermore, 37 PAF patients also received follow-up acoustic cardiography postRFA. PAF had impaired electromechanical systolic function compared with health participants (%EMAT 14.69 ± 3.62 vs. 10.84 ± 2.62; %LVST 40.83 ± 5.14 vs. 36.70 ± 3.87; SDI 4.75 ± 1.61 vs. 3.26 ± 0.96 all p < 0.001). RFA can improve electromechanical systolic function. Improvement below 13.1% could predict the recurrent AF postcatheter ablation. Higher degree of improved electromechanical systolic function postRFA contribute to lower recurrence of AF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germ cell-specific genes play an important role in establishing the reproductive system in sexual organisms and have been used as valuable markers for studying gametogenesis and sex differentiation. Previously, we isolated a vasa transcript as a germ cell marker to trace the origin and migration of germ cells in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense. Here, we identified a new germ cell-specific marker MnTdrd RNA and assessed its temporal and spatial expression during oogenesis and embryogenesis. MnTdrd transcripts were expressed in high abundance in unfertilized eggs and embryos at cleavage stage and then dropped significantly during late embryogenesis, suggesting that MnTdrd mRNA is maternally inherited. In situ hybridization of ovarian tissue showed that MnTdrd mRNA was initially present in the cytoplasm of previtellogenic oocyte and localized to the perinuclear region as the accumulation of yolk in vitellogenic oocyte. Whole-mount in situ hybridization of embryos showed that MnTdrd-positive signals were only localized in one blastomere until 16-cell stage. In the blastula, there were approximately 16 MnTdrd-positive blastomeres. During embryonized-zoea stage, the MnTdrd-positive cells aggregated as a cluster and migrated to the genital rudiment which would develop into primordial germ cells (PGCs). The localized expression pattern of MnTdrd transcripts resembled that of the previously identified germ cell marker vasa, supporting the preformation mode of germ cell specification. Therefore, we concluded that MnTdrd, together with vasa, is a component of the germ plasm and might have critical roles in germ cell formation and differentiation in the prawn. Thus, MnTdrd can be used as a novel germ cell marker to trace the origin and migration of germ cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gentianella acuta (G. acuta), as a folk medicine, was used to treat heart disease by the Ewenki people in Inner Mongolia. However, the effect of G. acuta on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is not clear. To explore the mechanisms of G. acuta on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced AMI, rats were administered G. acuta for 28 days, then injected intraperitoneally with ISO (85 mg/kg) on days 29 and 30. An electrocardiogram helped to evaluate the myocardial injury. Serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatinine kinase (CK) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were evaluated, and haematoxylin eosin, Masson's trichrome staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining were used to detect myocardial histological changes. Radioimmunoassay was used to measure serum tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and interleukin (IL)-6. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit was used to analyse serum galectin-3 (Gal-3) levels. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were used to examine relevant molecular events. The results revealed that pre-treatment with G. acuta decreased the elevation in the ST segment; reduced serum LDH, CK and AST levels; alleviated cardiac structure disorder; and reduced inflammatory infiltration, abnormal collagen deposition and cardiomyocyte apoptosis that were induced by ISO. Furthermore, pre-treatment with G. acuta inhibited serum Gal-3 levels and Gal-3 expression in heart tissue, and also impeded TLR4/MyD88/NF-кB signalling activation, which ultimately prevented the expression of inflammatory cytokines. The study indicated that pre-treatment with G. acuta protects against ISO-induced AMI, and the protective role may be related to inhibiting Gal-3/TLR4/MyD88/NF-кB inflammatory signalling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of biological traces provides vital evidence in forensic reconstruction at crime scenes, especially in sexual offences. Compared with traditional presumptive or confirmatory methods, the microbiome-based method has been proven to be of great value in body fluid identification. Mixture of body fluids or tissue is common in sexual assault cases; thus, it is essential to determine the sources of mixed samples. In this study, 60 samples consisting of skin, saliva, and a mixed model of saliva deposited on facial skin were collected from a population living in Guangdong. Through 16s rDNA high-throughput sequencing, we identified the predominant microbes in saliva samples, viz., Haemophilus parainfluenzae T3T1, Neisseria flava, Gemella haemolysans, Prevotella melaninogenica, and Actinomyces odontolyticus; in skin samples, Cutibacterium acnes and Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum were the predominant species. The microbial composition of the same body fluid or tissue is similar in different individuals. However, among different body fluids or tissue, the composition of microflora in saliva is more stable than that on skin. Additionally, the microbial community in the mixed model of saliva deposited on facial skin from the same and different individuals was clearly determined by the constituent fluids or tissue, apart from the differences among the donors. Overall, the microbiome-based method may have good potential as a tool for identifying single and mixed body fluid or tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the interfacial properties between carbon fibers (CFs) and polycarbonate (PC) resin, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were deposited onto desized CF surfaces using an ultrasonic-assisted electrophoretic deposition method, forming a multi-scaled hierarchical structure. The results showed that morphologies and geometrical structures of the as-prepared hierarchical structures could be readily tailored by varying in length and concentration of the CNT suspension. The optimum conditions were determined to be CNT length of 1-5 μm with suspension concentration of 0.5–1 wt%. A post-treatment, in combination of a polymer binder and laser irradiation, was followed to solidify the morphology and geometry of the CNT network structures formed by the CNTs with length 1-5 μm, which allowed a 22.9% ± 1.6% improvement in the interfacial bonding strength than that without the post-treatment and 68.1% ± 2.3% improvement than bare CF, evaluated by a single-filament fragmentation test. It was the well-defined CNT porous network structures that are favorable for thermoplastic resin infiltration through channels for resin flow and capillary action, thus enhancing the composite interfacial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to explore the bacterial community composition and the functions of core microbiota in Eucommia ulmoides bark. The bark samples of E. ulmoides were collected from Wangcang Sichuan Province, Cili Hunan Province, and Zunyi Guizhou Province, in China, respectively. Through the high-throughput sequencing methods and techniques, the community composition, core microbiota, and function of the bacteria were studied. The bacterial community of E. ulmoides bark consisted of 9 phyla, 11 classes, 22 orders, 28 families, 31 genera, and 37 OTUs. At the genus level, the dominant genus was the unclassified bacteria of Cyanobacteria, with a relative abundance of 97.01%. The bacterial communities of E. ulmoides bark from different areas have their unique units except for the common microbiota. The core microbiota of bacteria included an unclassified genus of Cyanobacteria, an unclassified genus of Mitochondria, Pseudomonas, Sphingobium, Rhizobium, Novosphingobium, Enterobacter, Rhodococcus, Curtobacterium, and Ralstonia. FAPROTAX function prediction suggested that the core microbiota has a substantial potential for photoautotrophy, phototrophy, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, chemoheterotrophy. Ten taxa composed the core microbiota, and the majority of them were related to the pharmacologically active ingredients of E. ulmoides bark. The research provides a scientific basis for the biological marker of genuineness and microbial technology for improving the content of medicinal ingredients of E. ulmoides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop a prognostic nomogram based on the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade for prediction of the long-term survival of patients with intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after transarterial chemoembolization combined with microwave ablation (TACE-MWA).Methods: We retrospectively studied 546 consecutive patients with intermediate-stage HCC according to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer guidelines who underwent TACE-MWA between January 2000 and December 2016. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed. The predictive value of the ALBI grade was investigated. The prognostic nomogram was constructed using the independent predictors assessed by the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.Results: After a median follow-up of 35.0 months (range, 4.0-221.0 months), 380 patients had died. The median OS was 35.0 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 30.84-39.16 months), and the median PFS was 6.5 months (95% CI, 6.13-6.87 months). The ALBI grade was validated as an independent predictor of OS (p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses showed that Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score more than 0, presence of liver cirrhosis, a-fetoprotein level above 400 ng/mL, tumor size greater than 5 cm, tumor number more than 3, advanced ALBI grade, and treatment sessions of TACE or MWA fewer than 3 were independently associated with overall mortality. The prognostic nomogram incorporating these eight predictors achieved good calibration and discriminatory abilities with a concordance index of 0.770 (95% CI, 0.746-0.795).Conclusions: The prognostic nomogram based on the ALBI grade resulted in reliable efficacy for prediction of individualized OS in patients with intermediate-stage HCC after TACE-MWA.Key Points: • TACE-MWA was associated with a median overall survival of 35.0 months for patients with intermediate-stage HCC. • A prognostic nomogram was built to predict individualized survival of patients with intermediate-stage HCC after TACE-MWA. • The prognostic nomogram incorporating eight predictors achieved good calibration and discriminatory abilities with a concordance index of 0.770. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a gradient-boosting-based machine learning approach for predicting the PM2.5 concentration in Taiwan. The proposed mechanism is evaluated on a large-scale database built by the Environmental Protection Administration, and Central Weather Bureau, Taiwan, which includes data from 77 air monitoring stations and 580 weather stations performing hourly measurements over 1 year. By learning from past records of PM2.5 and neighboring weather stations' climatic information, the forecasting model works well for 24-h prediction at most air stations. This study also investigates the geographical and meteorological divergence for the forecasting results of seven regional monitoring areas. We also compare the prediction performance between Taiwan, Taipei, and London; analyze the impact of industrial pollution; and propose an enhanced version of the prediction model to improve the prediction accuracy. The results indicate that Taipei and London have similar prediction results because these two cities have similar topography (basin) and are financial centers without domestic pollution sources. The results also suggest that after considering industrial impacts by incorporating additional features from the Taichung and Thong-Siau power plants, the proposed method achieves significant improvement in the coefficient of determination (R2) from 0.58 to 0.71. Moreover, for Taichung City the root-mean-square error decreases from 8.56 for the conventional approach to 7.06 for the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let R be the polynomial residue ring F q 2 + u F q 2 , where F q 2 is the finite field with q 2 elements, q is a power of a prime p, and u is an indeterminate with u 2 = 0. We introduce a Gray map from R to F q 2 p and study (1 - u) -constacyclic codes over R. It is proved that the image of a (1 - u) -constacyclic code of length n over R under the Gray map is a distance-invariant linear cyclic code of length pn over F q 2. We give some necessary and sufficient conditions for (1 - u) -constacyclic codes over R to be Hermitian dual-containing. In particular, a new class of 2 m -ary quantum codes is obtained via the Gray map and the Hermitian construction from Hermitian dual-containing (1 - u) -constacyclic codes over the ring F 2 2 m + u F 2 2 m . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a class of ℤ p ℤ p s -additive cyclic codes generated by pairs of polynomials, where p is a prime number. The generator matrix of this class of codes is obtained. By establishing the relationship between the random ℤ p ℤ p s -additive cyclic code and random quasi-cyclic code of index 2 over ℤ p , the asymptotic properties of the rates and relative distances of this class of codes are studied. As a consequence, we prove that ℤ p ℤ p s -additive cyclic codes are asymptotically good since the asymptotic GV-bound at 1 + p s − 1 2 δ is greater than 1 2 , the relative distance of the code is convergent to δ, while the rate is convergent to 1 1 + p s − 1 for 0 < δ < 1 1 + p s − 1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that both particle shape and mineralogy could have a great effect on the particle strength. However, due to the complexity of nature grains, it is difficult to distinguish the influence of particle shape from mineralogy. This paper shows measurements of the particle shape and mineralogy of carbonate sand, completely decomposed granite, Leighton Buzzard sand and pumice sand. The particle shape of carbonate sand and completely decomposed granite is similar, but the mineral of carbonate sand is carbon dioxide while the mineral of completely decomposed granite is mica and feldspar. It is found that the single particle strength of completely decomposed granite is higher than that of carbonate sand, and the particle breakage caused by one-dimensional compressing tests of completely decomposed granite is higher than that of carbonate sand. The mineralogy of both completely decomposed granite and Leighton Buzzard sand are quartz, but completely decomposed granite is more heterogeneous, result in the single particle strength of completely decomposed granite is much lower than that of Leighton Buzzard sand. It is also found the particle breakage from the one-dimensional compression test for completely decomposed is larger than Leighton Buzzard sand. It should be noted that carbonate sand is stronger than completely decomposed granite after quantitatively analysis the particle shape, particle breakage and compressibility behavior although carbonate sand has extremely irregular shape such as a branch shape, and also several pores. On the other hand, although Leighton Buzzard sand, completely decomposed granite and also pumice sand to some extent have composition of silica, the crystal of those three is completely different, result in the strength or compressibility are quite different. It seems that particle shape is not a major factor to affect strength or compressibility, but the mineralogy could be a major factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of word associations has become increasingly widespread. However, the association norms produced by traditional free association tests tend not to exceed 10,000 stimulus words, making the number of associated words too small to be representative of the overall language. In this study we used text corpora totaling over 400 million Chinese words, along with a multitude of association measures, to automatically construct a Chinese Lexical Association Database (CLAD) comprising the lexical association of over 80,000 words. Comparison of the CLAD with a database of traditional Chinese word association norms shows that word associations extracted from large text corpora are similar in strength to those elicited from free association tests but contain a much greater number of associative word pairs. Additionally, the relatively small numbers of participants involved in the creation of traditional norms result in relatively coarse scales of association measurement, whereas the differentiation of association strengths is greatly enhanced in the CLAD. The CLAD provides researchers with a great supplement to traditional word association norms. A query website at www.chinesereadability.net/LexicalAssociation/CLAD/ affords access to the database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaginal fluid and saliva are of great importance in forensic sciences. The identification of vaginal fluid or saliva is especially important in criminal cases. Microbes are considered as a promising marker for the identification of body fluids. In this study, 18 salivary fluids and 18 vaginal fluid samples were collected from 18 healthy women of the Han population in Guangdong province, China. The microbes of the above samples were analyzed by 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that the microbes whose proportions are over 1% in saliva samples distributed across 12 genera and 57 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), and in vaginal fluid distributed across 4 genera and 9 OTUs. The microbes that dominated in saliva were quite different from those dominated in vaginal fluids. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) algorithm was used to screen out the specific microbes of the studied samples, and the results showed that the specific microbes in saliva samples are Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Veillonella parvula, and Aggregatibacter segnis, while in vaginal fluid is Lactobacillus iners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison to the description of particle size and shape, the surface roughness, which mainly affects the inter-particle friction, is more difficult to measure and quantify. One difficulty arises from the variability between particles and the heterogeneity of roughness within one particle. In this study, optical interferometry, which has the advantage of non-contact measurements of the particle surface, was adopted to measure the surface roughness of a quartzitic sand (Leighton Buzzard sand–LBS). The roughness was determined as the root mean square deviation (RMSf) of the surface from the mean plane over a field of view of 106.6 * 106.6 μm2. This size of field of view is limited compared to the whole surface area of one particle. Three fractions of LBS particles were used to study the effect of particle size on the surface roughness and the roughness was measured at different points across the surface of coarse particles to assess the number of measurement points required for surface roughness quantification. The measurements revealed the followings. (1) The roughness of LBS can be measured by optical interferometry, mainly due to the high reflectivity of the quartz and the rounded particle shape. (2) RMSf of LBS with different particle sizes increases with the size of field of view first and tends to converge at larger sizes. (3) Surfaces of medium size (1.18–2.36 mm) particles are the smoothest. (4) Roughness of one particle varies at different measurement points, with no correlation between the mean value of RMSf and the number of points measured, while the standard deviation reaches a constant value only after a specific number of measurement points, 3 for 1.18–2.36 mm particles and 5 for 2.36–5 mm particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image is becoming a predominant medium for social interactions. Automatically expressing opinions on an image, which we refer to as image commenting, has great potential to improve user engagement and thus becomes an emerging yet very challenging research topic. The machine-generated comments should be both relevant to image content and natural as human language. To deal with these challenges, we propose a novel two-stage approach, consisting of similar image search and comment ranking. In the first step, given an image, visually similar images are discovered by k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) search from a large image dataset. The comments associated with these images are exploited as candidates to mimic how viewers respond to this given image. In the second step, ranking canonical correlation analysis (RCCA), which is an extension of CCA by jointly learning a cross-view embedding space and a bilinear similarity function between the views of image and comment, is exploited for ranking the candidate comments. To create a benchmark for this emerging task, we collect a dataset with 426K images with 11 million associated comments. We show that our approach achieves superior performance and can suggest viewer-level comments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The booming of wearable electronics has nourished the progress on developing multifunctional energy storage systems with versatile flexibility, which enable the continuous and steady power supply even under various deformed states. In this sense, the synergy of flexible energy and electronic devices to construct integrative wearable microsystems is meaningful but remains quite challenging by far. Herein, we devise an innovative supercapacitor/sensor integrative wearable device that is based upon our designed vanadium nitride-graphene (VN-G) architectures. Flexible quasi-solid-state VN-G supercapacitor with ultralight and binder-free features deliver a specific capacitance of ~ 53 F·g−1 with good cycle stability. On the other hand, VN-G derived pressure sensors fabricated throughout a spray-printing process also manifest favorably high sensitivity (40 kPa−1 at the range of 2-10 kPa), fast response time (~ 130 ms), perfect skin conformability, and outstanding stability under static and dynamic pressure conditions. In turn, their complementary unity into a self-powered wearable sensor enables the precise detection of physiological motions ranging from pulse rate to phonetic recognition, holding promise for in-practical health monitoring applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In spite of several proposed predictors for premature ventricular complex (PVC)-induced cardiomyopathy (PVC-CMP), the specific ECG features of idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) PVC-CMP remain unknown.Methods: A total of 130 patients (49 males, mean age 44 years) with symptomatic and drug-refractory idiopathic RVOT PVCs undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) were enrolled. The patients were categorized into two groups, including those with and without RVOT PVC-CMP (left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 50%, n = 25 and LVEF ≥ 50%, n = 105, respectively). The 12-lead PVC morphologies were assessed.Results: Patients with RVOT PVC-CMP had a lower LVEF (42 ± 5% vs. 60 ± 7%, P < 0.01) and higher PVC burden (24 ± 14% vs. 15 ± 11%, P = 0.02) when compared to patients without RVOT PVC-CMP. The PVC features in those with PVC-CMP displayed a significantly wider QRS duration (143 ± 14 ms vs. 132 ± 17 ms, P < 0.01) and higher peak deflection index (PDI; 0.60 ± 0.07 vs. 0.55 ± 0.08, P < 0.01). A multivariate analysis demonstrated that the QRS duration (odds ratio (OR) 1.130, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.020-1.253, P = 0.02) and PDI (OR 1.240, 95% CI 1.004-1.532, P = 0.04) were independently associated with RVOT PVC-CMP. Based on the receiver-operating characteristic analysis, a QRS duration > 139 ms and PDI > 0.57 could predict RVOT PVC-CMP (area under the curve (AUC) 0.710 and AUC 0.690, respectively). The elimination and suppression of PVCs by RFCA resulted in the recovery of the LVEF in RVOT PVC-CMP.Conclusions: The ECG parameters, including a wider QRS duration and higher PDI, could predict the development of RVOT PVC-CMP, which could be effectively treated by RFCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, the visual analogue scale (VAS) has been proposed to overcome the limitations of ordinal measures from Likert-type scales. However, the function of VASs to overcome the limitations of response styles to Likert-type scales has not yet been addressed. Previous research using ranking and paired comparisons to compensate for the response styles of Likert-type scales has suffered from limitations, such as that the total score of ipsative measures is a constant that cannot be analyzed by means of many common statistical techniques. In this study we propose a new scale, called the Visual Analogue Scale for Rating, Ranking, and Paired-Comparison (VAS-RRP), which can be used to collect rating, ranking, and paired-comparison data simultaneously, while avoiding the limitations of each of these data collection methods. The characteristics, use, and analytic method of VAS-RRPs, as well as how they overcome the disadvantages of Likert-type scales, ranking, and VASs, are discussed. On the basis of analyses of simulated and empirical data, this study showed that VAS-RRPs improved reliability, response style bias, and parameter recovery. Finally, we have also designed a VAS-RRP Generator for researchers’ construction and administration of their own VAS-RRPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]