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Recently, it has been realized that in some systems internal space rotation can induce energy amplification for scattered waves, similar to rotation in real space. In particularly, it has been shown that energy extraction is possible for a Q-ball, a stationary non-topological soliton that is coherently rotating in its field space. In this paper, we generalize the analysis to the case of boson stars, and show that the same energy extraction mechanism still works for boson stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental flow is increasingly used in restoring degraded riparian vegetation. To assess the impact of environmental flow on plant community characteristics and to provide a scientific basis for the subsequent restoration and management of the riparian vegetation at Yongding River (Beijing Section), field surveys were conducted before and after environmental flow application in 2022. Before environmental flow application, sixty-nine species were identified, and the number of species increased to ninety-six species after environmental flow application. Community similarity analysis found that riparian vegetation communities were dominated by emergent hygrophytic plants and the introduced Xanthium italicum had the largest contribution before environmental flow application. The environmental flow increased the proportion of submerged plants, four submerged plant species were among the top ten species contributing to dissimilarity. Canonical correspondence analysis found that soil total nitrogen and organic matter significantly influenced riparian plant richness. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis showed that after environmental flow application, the similarity of plant communities in the mountain and plain sections increased. However, it is worth noting that the invasive species Bidens frondosa became dominant in the mountain section, whereas the invasive species Xanthium italicum was widely distributed in the plain section after environmental flow application. The results showed that environmental flow increased mountain section’s vegetation uniformity and plant species richness in the plain section, enhancing plant communities similarity in both regions. Environmental water application supports the spread of both native and invasive species; thus, future management should prioritize the timing of environmental flow to prevent invasive species’ widespread dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition-edge sensor (TES) as a type of low-temperature superconducting detector offers superior sensitivity due to its low thermal noise. In this work, we present a prototype TES bolometer designed for cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurements. This TES is made of aluminum doped with a low concentration of manganese (2000 ppm by atomic percentage), and is deposited on the SiNx membrane which connects to the silicon substrate via narrow legs. In order to calculate its electrothermal parameters we have performed dark characterizations, which include measuring voltage-current (IV) curve at different bath temperatures, square-wave time response at various bias voltages, and noise level. This TES bolometer shows a noise equivalent power (NEP) of about 5 × 10 - 17 W/ Hz , which meets the requirement of CMB observation. However, its saturation power is smaller and time constant is larger than what are expected. We have analyzed the reasons and will make corresponding improvements in our future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing mobile robots mostly use graph search algorithms for path planning, which suffer from relatively low planning efficiency owing to high redundancy and large computational complexity. Due to the limitations of the neighborhood search strategy, the robots could hardly obtain the most optimal global path. A global path planning algorithm, denoted as EDG*, is proposed by expanding nodes using a well-designed expanding disconnected graph operator (EDG) in this paper. Firstly, all obstacles are marked and their corners are located through the map pre-processing. Then, the EDG operator is designed to find points in non-obstruction areas to complete the rapid expansion of disconnected nodes. Finally, the EDG* heuristic iterative algorithm is proposed. It selects the candidate node through a specific valuation function and realizes the node expansion while avoiding collision with a minimum offset. Path planning experiments were conducted in a typical indoor environment and on the public dataset CSM. The result shows that the proposed EDG* reduced the planning time by more than 90% and total length of paths reduced by more than 4.6%. Compared to A*, Dijkstra and JPS, EDG* does not show an exponential explosion effect in map size. The EDG* showed better performance in terms of path smoothness, and collision avoidance. This shows that the EDG* algorithm proposed in this paper can improve the efficiency of path planning and enhance path quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a low-cost and multifunctional sensing and monitoring device would be a meaningful endeavor. In this research, a novel spirooxazine with a two double-bonded structure, designated as (1-butyl-3,3-dimethylspiro[indoline-2,3'-naphtho[2,1-b] [1, 4]oxazine]-5,8'-diyl)bis(methylene)bis(2-methylacrylate) (SO-DB), was successfully synthesized and incorporated as a functional cross-linker into a polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate hydrogel system. Notably, this hydrogel system based on a single responsive component exhibits photo-pH dual responsiveness, which avoids the addition of multiple components that may affect other properties of the hydrogel. Particularly, in comparison to traditional surface grafting and physical blending, crosslinking with SO-DB leads to the formation of a denser and stronger three-dimensional polymer network in the stimuli-responsive hydrogel. Under UV light irradiation, spirooxazine absorbs energy and undergoes cleavage of the Cspiro-O bond, transforming the molecule from a colorless closed-ring state to an open-ringed photomerocyanine (PMC) state. Under acidic conditions, hydrophobic spirooxazine undergoes a reversible protonation open-ring reaction, forming a stable intermediate form, a protonated photomerocyanine (PMCH). Furthermore, the addition of SO-DB as a crosslinking agent to the hydrogel system increases its stability and fatigue resistance, and maintains good repeatability over 24 light cycles and 7 pH cycles without performance loss. Such approach to generate stimulus-responsive hydrogels could have great potential in both wearable biosensors and food packaging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the microstructure evolution, crack initiation and propagation, and β-Sn recrystallization behavior of nano-intermetallic compound (nano-IMC)-mixed solder joints were investigated during thermal cycles. Further, the influence of the nano-IMC on the creep characteristics of solder joints is discussed. Results showed that the IMC layer and Ag3Sn coarsened with increasing thermal cycles. Under cyclic stress, crack initiation at the solder joint corner of the chip side propagated along the IMC layer with increasing thermal cycles. β-Sn grains recrystallized near the crack on the solder joints, and this phenomenon can be inhibited by introducing an appropriate amount of nano-IMC. However, when excessive IMC was added (SAC305 + 20 wt% Sn–10Cu), Cu6Sn5 particles accumulated and grew in the solder joint with increasing thermal cycles. Thus, the dislocation pinning effect was weakened, and β-Sn grains recrystallized under cyclic stress. Nanoindentation experiments demonstrate that the addition of nano-IMC reduces the stress sensitivity index as well as increase the stress index and creep resistance of the solder joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological agents known as anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) drugs are frequently utilized in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this study, we analyzed the shared processes of pyroptosis in Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), as well as explored the correlation between the burden of pyroptosis and the results of anti-TNF treatment based on bioinformatics analyses. We identified CAPS1, CASP5, GSDMD, AIM2, and NLRP3 as the hub genes, with AIM2 being the most effective indicator for predicting the response to anti-TNF therapy. We also noticed that non-responders received anti-TNF therapy exhibited elevated AIM2 protein expression. Subsequently, we conducted a cluster analysis based on AIM2-inflammasome-related genes and discovered that patients with a higher burden of AIM2 inflammasome displayed stronger immune function and a poor response to anti-TNF therapy. Overall, our study elucidates the pathway of pyroptosis in IBD and reveals AIM2 expression level as a potential biomarker for predicting the effectiveness of anti-TNF therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction of band topology and disorder can give rise to intriguing phenomena. One paradigmatic example is the topological Anderson insulator, whose nontrivial topology is induced in a trivial system by disorders. In this study, we investigate the effect of purely non-Hermitian disorders on topological systems using a one-dimensional acoustic lattice with coupled resonators. Specifically, we construct a theoretical framework to describe the non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulator phase solely driven by disordered loss modulation. Then, the complete evolution of non-Hermitian disorder-induced topological phase transitions, from an initial trivial phase to a topological Anderson phase and finally to a trivial Anderson phase, is revealed experimentally using both bulk and edge spectra. Interestingly, topological modes induced by non-Hermitian disorders to be immune to both weak Hermitian and non-Hermitian disorders. These findings pave the way for future research on disordered non-Hermitian systems for novel wave manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Current research on autonomous mobile robots focuses primarily on perceptual accuracy and autonomous performance. In commercial and domestic constructions, concrete, wood, and glass are typically used. Laser and visual mapping or planning algorithms are highly accurate in mapping wood panels and concrete walls. However, indoor and outdoor glass curtain walls may fail to perceive these transparent materials. In this study, a novel indoor glass recognition and map optimization method based on boundary guidance is proposed. First, the status of glass recognition techniques is analyzed comprehensively. Next, a glass image segmentation network based on boundary data guidance and the optimization of a planning map based on depth repair are proposed. Finally, map optimization and path-planning tests are conducted and compared using different algorithms. The results confirm the favorable adaptability of the proposed method to indoor transparent plates and glass curtain walls. Using the proposed method, the recognition accuracy of a public test set increases to 94.1%. After adding the planning map, incorrect coverage redundancies for two test scenes reduce by 59.84% and 55.7%. Herein, a glass recognition and map optimization method is proposed that offers sufficient capacity in perceiving indoor glass materials and recognizing indoor no-entry regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-Cu-content-mixed solder paste comprising Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) + 20 wt% Sn–xCu (x = 3, 5, 8, and 10) was prepared in this study. The melting characteristics, wetting properties, liquid solder joint fluidity, melt viscosity, and surface tension of the mixed solder paste as well as the interfacial reaction mechanism and the shear properties of the mixed solder joints were investigated. The findings indicate that during the initial reflow, the solderability and wettability of the mixed solder paste are comparable to those of SAC305. However, during the second reflow, the overflow capability of the solder joint is restrained. Additionally, after the initial reflow, the mixed solder joint becomes a high Cu alloy, its composition deviates from the Sn–Ag–Cu eutectic point, and the liquidus temperature increases when remelted. For example, the liquidus temperature of SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–10Cu is 71 °C higher than that of SAC305 (225.7 °C) during the second heating. Furthermore, during the second reflow process, the increased liquidus temperature of the mixed solder joints leads to higher melt viscosity and surface tension. The surface tension of the SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–10Cu liquid alloy is 235.73 times that of SAC305, while the fluidity of the solder joints is restrained. In addition, a thin intermetallic compound (IMC) layer with larger grain is formed at the Cu/solder interface in the mixed solder joints. The thickness of the IMC layers at the Cu/solder interface in the mixed solder joints are as follows: 2.63 μm for SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–3Cu, 1.87 μm for SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–5Cu, 2.19 μm for SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–8Cu, and 2.21 μm for SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–10Cu. All of these values are lower than the thickness of the IMC layer in SAC305 (3.39 μm). In addition, we found that the addition of reinforced particles did not reduce the shear strength of the solder joints after multiple reflows. The shear strength of SAC305, SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–3Cu, SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–5Cu, SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–8Cu, and SAC305 + 20-wt% Sn–10Cu were 43.04, 42.69, 43.10, 43.19, and 43.77 MPa, respectively, and all solder joints exhibited ductile fracture after shear tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient utilization of elemental sulfur (S8) for developing high value-added chemicals is a global concern considering its abundant sources and yearly accelerating environmental issues. However, it has been a long-standing challenge to directly transform elemental sulfur to sulfur-containing polymer, especially via an environmentally benign manner. Herein, a unique chemo-differentiating multicomponent polymerization (MCP) of elemental sulfur, chloroform, and diamine is reported to construct polythiourea based on amine-involved two sequential reactions including isothiocyanation and nucleophilic addition. This strategy features isocynide-free monomers as starting materials, mild conditions, high molecular weights (up to 72,900 g/mol) and desired yields (up to 83%). With the advantages of inactive isocyanation and active nucleophilic addition, the stoichiometric balance of amine and isothiocyanate could be delicately controlled to afford various polythioureas with high molecular weights. The polythioureas have been further utilized in the Cu-based aqueous catalysis and Hg-based ion adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying mechanisms linking physical activity to better health are not fully understood. Here we examined the associations between physical activity and small circulatory molecules, the metabolome, to highlight relevant biological pathways. We examined plasma metabolites associated with self-reported physical activity among 2217 participants from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study. Metabolic profiling was conducted using the mass spectrometry-based Metabolon platform (LC/GC–MS), measuring 828 known metabolites. We replicated our findings in an independent subset of the study (n = 2971) using untargeted LC–MS. Mendelian randomisation was carried out to investigate potential causal associations between physical activity, body mass index, and metabolites. Higher vigorous physical activity was associated (P < 0.05/828 = 6.03 × 10–5) with circulatory levels of 28 metabolites adjusted for age, sex and body mass index. The association was inverse for glutamate and diacylglycerol lipids, and direct for 3–4-hydroxyphenyllactate, phenyl lactate (PLA), alpha-hydroxy isovalerate, tiglylcarnitine, alpha-hydroxyisocaproate, 2-hydroxy-3-methylvalerate, isobutyrylcarnitine, imidazole lactate, methionine sulfone, indole lactate, plasmalogen lipids, pristanate and fumarate. In the replication panel, we found 23 untargeted LC–MS features annotated to the identified metabolites, for which we found nominal associations with the same direction of effect for three features annotated to 1-(1-enyl-palmitoyl)-2-oleoyl-GPC (P-16:0/18:1), 1-(1-enyl-palmitoyl)-2-linoleoyl-GPC (P-16:0/18:2), 1-stearoyl-2-dihomo-linolenoyl-GPC (18:0/20:3n3 or 6). Using Mendelian randomisation, we showed a potential causal relationship between body mass index and three identified metabolites. Circulatory metabolites are associated with physical activity and may play a role in mediating its health effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE) has opened an exciting direction for unveiling unusual physics and phenomena in non-Hermitian system. Despite notable theoretical breakthroughs, actual observation of NHSE's whole evolvement, however, relies mainly on gain medium to provide amplified mode. It typically impedes the development of simple, robust system. Here, we show that a passive system is fully capable of supporting the observation of the complete evolution picture of NHSE, without the need of any gain medium. With a simple lattice model and acoustic ring resonators, we use complex-frequency excitation to create virtual gain effect, and experimentally demonstrate that exact NHSE can persist in a totally passive system during a quasi-stationary stage. This results in the transient NHSE: passive construction of NHSE in a short time window. Despite the general energy decay, the localization character of skin modes can still be clearly witnessed and successfully exploited. Our findings unveil the importance of excitation in realizing NHSE and paves the way towards studying the peculiar features of non-Hermitian physics with diverse passive platforms. In this work the authors uncover a transient non-Hermitian skin effect. Using a passive system, they confirm the exact evolution of NHSE by leveraging the complex-frequency excitation. This demonstration can be extended to other non-Hermitian phenomena in various passive systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mosquito transmit numbers of parasites and pathogens resulting in fatal diseases. Species identification is a prerequisite for effective mosquito control. Existing morphological and molecular classification methods have evitable disadvantages. Here we introduced Deep learning techniques for mosquito species identification. A balanced, high-definition mosquito dataset with 9900 original images covering 17 species was constructed. After three rounds of screening and adjustment-testing (first round among 3 convolutional neural networks and 3 Transformer models, second round among 3 Swin Transformer variants, and third round between 2 images sizes), we proposed the first Swin Transformer-based mosquito species identification model (Swin MSI) with 99.04% accuracy and 99.16% F1-score. By visualizing the identification process, the morphological keys used in Swin MSI were similar but not the same as those used by humans. Swin MSI realized 100% subspecies-level identification in Culex pipiens Complex and 96.26% accuracy for novel species categorization. It presents a promising approach for mosquito identification and mosquito borne diseases control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a frontier imaging technique for biomedical applications, photoacoustic (PA) imaging has been developed rapidly. The development of new design strategies and excellent PA imaging reagents to boost PA conversion is eagerly desirable for high quality PA imaging but complicated to realize. Herein, we develop a new strategy in which PA imaging reagents with better properties can be easily optimized by polymerization. A series of new PA imaging reagents were designed and synthesized. The polymerization strategy can effectively promote the PA signal by specifically increasing the thermal-to-acoustic conversion efficiency. As these materials shared the same building units, the optimized effectiveness of polymerization strategy in terms of near-infrared light-harvesting capacity and thermal-to-acoustic conversion efficiency are discussed, rationally. The polymers with intense intramolecular motion exhibit an amplified PA signal by elevating thermal-to-acoustic conversion and its higher light-harvesting capability at redshifted region. The simultaneously strong PA signal and photothermal conversion efficiency of p-TTmB NPs enable precise PA imaging and effective photothermal therapy. This work highlights a simple and available design guideline of polymerization for amplifying the PA effect and optimizing existing materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At-home sampling is key to large scale seroprevalence studies. Dried blood spot (DBS) self-sampling removes the need for medical personnel for specimen collection but facilitates specimen referral to an appropriately accredited laboratory for accurate sample analysis. To establish a highly sensitive and specific antibody assay that would facilitate self-sampling for prevalence and vaccine-response studies. Paired sera and DBS eluates collected from 439 sero-positive, 382 sero-negative individuals and DBS from 34 vaccine recipients were assayed by capture ELISAs for IgG and IgM antibody to SARS-CoV-2. IgG and IgM combined on DBS eluates achieved a diagnostic sensitivity of 97.9% (95%CI 96.6 to 99.3) and a specificity of 99.2% (95% CI 98.4 to 100) compared to serum, displaying limits of detection equivalent to 23 and 10 WHO IU/ml, respectively. A strong correlation (r = 0.81) was observed between serum and DBS reactivities. Reactivity remained stable with samples deliberately rendered inadequate, (p = 0.234) and when samples were accidentally damaged or 'invalid'. All vaccine recipients were sero-positive. This assay provides a secure method for self-sampling by DBS with a sensitivity comparable to serum. The feasibility of DBS testing in sero-prevalence studies and in monitoring post-vaccine responses was confirmed, offering a robust and reliable tool for serological monitoring at a population level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photochromic materials with stable properties during long-term use have a very broad application prospect. Herein, five kinds of spirooxazines (SO1-SO5) with antioxidant properties were successfully synthesized by blending and covalently bonding antioxidants. Then various photochromic polyacrylate laminating adhesives (PA1-PA7) with good fatigue resistance were prepared by incorporating spirooxazines into polyacrylate. Among them, this study used 2, 6 -di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT) as the main antioxidant, and tris (2, 4-di-tert-butylphenyl) phosphite (168) as the auxiliary antioxidant. Upon ultraviolet (UV) activation, these PA films possessed superior photochromism and light responsiveness. Importantly, unlike traditional physical blending photochromic polymers, SO2 was successfully covalently bonded into PA through reaction (PA6), effectively improving the fatigue resistance and thermal stability of the PA film. Doping with BHT, it further improved the photochromic properties of the compound film (PA7). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a half-decade since the first direct detection of gravitational waves, which signifies the coming of the era of the gravitational-wave astronomy and gravitational-wave cosmology. The increasing number of the detected gravitational-wave events has revealed the promising capability of constraining various aspects of cosmology, astronomy, and gravity. Due to the limited space in this review article, we will briefly summarize the recent progress over the past five years, but with a special focus on some of our own work for the Key Project "Physics associated with the gravitational waves" supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. In particular, (1) we have presented the mechanism of the gravitational-wave production during some physical processes of the early Universe, such as inflation, preheating and phase transition, and the cosmological implications of gravitational-wave measurements; (2) we have put constraints on the neutron star maximum mass according to GW170817 observations; (3) we have developed a numerical relativity algorithm based on the finite element method and a waveform model for the binary black hole coalescence along an eccentric orbit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Horizontal neck wrinkle formation is gaining more attention among cosmetic practitioners and clients. To date, hyaluronic acid products are one of the most common treatment options for this aesthetic concern. However, different therapeutic strategies should be given to solve the problem due to multiple etiological reasons. Given that oxidative damage plays a critical role in neck wrinkle formation, anti-oxidative compounds are now considered by physicians when making a treatment plan. Aims To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a non-cross-linked hyaluronic acid filler in combination with L-carnosine in treating horizontal neck wrinkles. Methods Thirteen patients with a Wrinkle Assessment Scale (WAS) of 2–5 for horizontal neck wrinkles were treated with L-carnosine-containing non-cross-linked hyaluronic acid. Participants were followed-up for 3 months after treatment. The post-treated WAS scores evaluated by physicians were collected when patient satisfaction was surveyed. Any post-treatment adverse events were recorded. Results With a single injection of the above filler, the physician-evaluated WAS scores improved by at least one score at one month and the improvement kept consistent as far as three months after injection. According to the last follow-up visit, 11/13 patients were satisfied with the treatment effect of their neck wrinkle. Moreover, adverse events were rare after filler injection, except for local complications that were considered common reactions to the filler injection procedure. Conclusion The non-cross-linked hyaluronic acid filler containing L-carnosine is safe and effective for treating horizontal neck wrinkles. Level of Evidence IV This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Granite residual soil presents a strong disintegration phenomenon when it encounters water, thus contributing to geological disasters such as collapsing erosion. Disintegration characteristics are closely related to the initial moisture content and temperature. However, the relevant quantitative assessment is still lacking. In this study, the disintegration of granite residual soil in the collapsing erosion zone of southern China was analyzed. Disintegration tests were performed to measure the total disintegration time after the soil samples had been soaked in water. The disintegration process was captured by measuring the weight change over time. Based on the disintegration rate and characteristics of the disintegrative deposit, the effects of dry density, initial moisture content, and temperature on granite residual soil disintegration were evaluated. The results show that the effects of dry density on the disintegration rate are not obvious, and an increase in dry density only delays the time when the soil sample enters the rapid disintegration stage. The initial moisture content has a considerable effect on the disintegration rate, and the disintegration rate increases as the initial moisture content increases. Furthermore, as the temperature increases, the disintegration rate increases. An increase in temperature greatly accelerates the entry of water molecules into the soil sample, thus potentially damaging the aggregation between particles and increasing the disintegration rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are indolent pancreatic tumors derived from neuroendocrine cells in pancreatic islets. To date, reliable predictors for identifying patients at high risk for recurrence after curative cancer resection are lacking. We aimed to determine independent predictors for high-risk PanNETs and patient outcomes after surgery. Methods: We analyzed relevant clinicopathological parameters in 319 consecutive patients of derivation cohort 1 and 106 patients of validation cohort 2 who underwent pancreatectomy and were diagnosed with PanNETs. Association of tumor characteristics with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) was evaluated using Cox regression. Results: PanNET grade 3 (G3), pancreatic duct dilatation, and perineural invasion were independent prognostic factors for RFS and were significantly associated with early recurrence (within 1.5 years) of PanNETs after curative resection (P = 0.019, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, respectively). Using these factors, we established a novel risk factor panel (R-panel), which predicted early recurrence (P < 0.001, HR = 15.02, 95% CI 5.76–39.19). Predictive accuracy of this R-panel was favorable, with a C-index of 0.853, higher than AJCC TNM staging (0.713). We further built an integrated staging system combining R-panel scoring and TNM staging, which improved predictive probability of TNM staging. Finally, we showed that adjuvant therapy with long-acting somatostatin analogs (SSAs) significantly reduced postoperative recurrence (P < 0.001) and prolonged long-term survival (P = 0.021) in patients with the above risk factors. Conclusion: We identified a novel risk factor panel, which includes PanNET G3, pancreatic duct dilatation, and perineural invasion; this panel predicted early recurrence of PanNETs after curative resection. Patients with these risk factors can benefit from adjuvant therapy with SSAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological phases of matter are classified based on their Hermitian Hamiltonians, whose real-valued dispersions together with orthogonal eigenstates form nontrivial topology. In the recently discovered higher-order topological insulators (TIs), the bulk topology can even exhibit hierarchical features, leading to topological corner states, as demonstrated in many photonic and acoustic artificial materials. Naturally, the intrinsic loss in these artificial materials has been omitted in the topology definition, due to its non-Hermitian nature; in practice, the presence of loss is generally considered harmful to the topological corner states. Here, we report the experimental realization of a higher-order TI in an acoustic crystal, whose nontrivial topology is induced by deliberately introduced losses. With local acoustic measurements, we identify a topological bulk bandgap that is populated with gapped edge states and in-gap corner states, as the hallmark signatures of hierarchical higher-order topology. Our work establishes the non-Hermitian route to higher-order topology, and paves the way to exploring various exotic non-Hermiticity-induced topological phases. Losses, due to their non-Hermitian nature, are generally disregarded or even considered harmful when looking for non-trivial topological phases. Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate that higher-order topology can emerge as a result of introducing losses in an acoustic crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the critical adsorption behaviors of flexible polymer chains under the action of an external driving force F parallel to an attractive flat surface. The critical adsorption temperature Tc decreases linearly with increasing F, indicating that the driving force suppresses the adsorption of polymer. The conformation of polymer is also affected by the driving force. However, the effect of F is dependent on the competition between the driving force and temperature. Under strong force or at low temperature, the polymer is stretched along the direction of the force, while under weak force or at high temperature, the polymer is not stretched. When the force is comparable to the temperature, the polymer may be stretched perpendicular to the driving force, and below Tc, we observe conformational transitions from parallel to perpendicular and again to parallel by decreasing the temperature. We found that the perpendicular stretched conformation leads the polymer chain to synchronously move along the direction of the driving force. Moreover, the conformational transitions are attributed to the competition and cooperation between the driving force and the temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the critical behavior is important for classifying different configuration states. Recently, machine learning is capable of discriminating polymer states in the presence of human supervision. Here, we introduce an unsupervised approach based on the self-organizing map (SOM) and the autoencoder network to locate critical phase transitions from raw configuration without the necessity for manual feature engineering. High-dimensional configuration data can be encoded to low-dimensional codes by employing neural network of multilayer restrictive Boltzmann machines and the intermediate code can also be reconstructed to high-dimensional input vector. And then the codes are used to cluster different configuration states for polymers adsorbed on the homogeneous and the stripe-patterned surface by the SOM network and K-Means method. This work presents an unusual tool to identify polymer configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to introduce a method in extracting and quantifying the information flow in complex system, which takes into account the temporal structure of the time series at multiple scales. It is important that the method should be able to reflect the intrinsic mechanism of information interaction faithfully. The proposed multiscale permutation mutual information (MPMI) method studies the mutual information based on permutation pattern and multiscale concept from multiscale sample entropy and is initially tested on artificially generated signals for proof of concept by comparing the MPMI results of the iterative amplitude adjusted Fourier transform surrogates and the original series. It is subsequently applied to quantify the information interaction of traffic time series. MPMI results can detect the relationship between neighboring detectors and the effect of traffic accidents on information interaction between speed and volume. MPMI method uncovers the information interaction and provides valuable insight into the underlying mechanisms in traffic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

10-hydroxy-cis-12 octadecenoic acid (10-HOE) is a type of octadecenoic acid with a hydroxyl on the C10 carbon. It is generated from linoleic acid (LA) catalyzed by linoleate hydratase in lactobacilli, which was initially named as myosin-cross-reactive antigen (MCRA). In lactobacilli, 10-HOE is the first intermediate in the production of conjugated LA (CLA). Although MCRA from bifidobacteria can generate 10-HOE, the precise role of 10-HOE in CLA production in bifidobacteria remains unknown. In the current work, 10-HOE and LA were added to the medium as the substrate both separately and synchronously to analyze their influence on CLA production. Using 10-HOE as the substrate, bifidobacteria were able to generate CLA by first converting it to LA, followed by CLA accumulation. Recombinant MCRA catalyzed the conversion of 10-HOE to LA, indicating that bifidobacterial MCRA can account for the reversible conversion between LA and 10-HOE. This is the first report to demonstrate the precise role of 10-HOE in the process of CLA production among bifidobacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To determine inter-lab reliability in sleep stage scoring using the 2014 American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) manual. To understand in-depth reasons for disagreement and provide suggestions for improvement. Methods: This study consisted of 40 all-night polysomnographys (PSGs) from different samples. PSGs were segmented into 37,642 30-s epochs. Five doctors from China and two doctors from America scored the epochs following the 2014 AASM standard. Scoring disagreement between two centers was evaluated using Cohen's kappa (κ). After visual inspection of PSGs of deviating scorings, potential disagreement reasons were analyzed. Results: Inter-lab reliability yielded a substantial degree (κ = 0.75 ± 0.01). Scoring for stage W (κ = 0.89) and R (κ = 0.87) achieved the highest agreement, while stage N1 (κ = 0.45) reflected the lowest. Considering the relative disagreement ratio, N2-N3 (22.09%), W-N1 (19.68%), and N1-N2 (18.75%) were the most frequent combinations of discrepancy. American and Chinese doctors showed certain characteristics in the scoring of discrepancy combination W-N1, N1-N2, and N2-N3. There are seven reasons for disagreement, namely "on-threshold characteristic" (29.21%), "context influence" (18.06%), "characteristic identification difficulty" (8.81%), "arousal-wake confusion" (7.57%), "derivation inconsistence" (2.15%), "on-borderline characteristic" (0.92%), and "misrecognition" (33.27%). Conclusions: This study demonstrated the sleep stage scoring agreement of the 2014 AASM manual and explored potential sources of labeling ambiguity. Improvement measures were suggested accordingly to help remove ambiguity for scorers and improve scoring reliability at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from mobile phones have been classified as potentially carcinogenic. No study has investigated use of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), a source of RF-EMF with wide occupational use, and cancer risks.Methods: We investigated association of monthly personal radio use and risk of cancer using Cox proportional hazards regression among 48,518 police officers and staff of the Airwave Health Monitoring Study in Great Britain.Results: During median follow-up of 5.9 years, 716 incident cancer cases were identified. Among users, the median of the average monthly duration of use in the year prior to enrolment was 30.5  min (inter-quartile range 8.1, 68.1). Overall, there was no association between personal radio use and risk of all cancers (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.98, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.93, 1.03). For head and neck cancers HR = 0.72 (95% CI: 0.30, 1.70) among personal radio users vs non-users, and among users it was 1.06 (95% CI: 0.91, 1.23) per doubling of minutes of personal radio use.Conclusions: With the limited follow-up to date, we found no evidence of association of personal radio use with cancer risk. Continued follow-up of the cohort is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TINs) indicate poor prognosis for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Activated neutrophils can generate neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Little is known about the presence and prognostic significance of tumor-infiltrating NETs in PDAC.Methods: This study enrolled 317 patients, in two independent sets (training and validation), who underwent curative pancreatectomy for PDAC in Shanghai Cancer Center. TINs and NETs were identified by immunohistochemical staining for CD15 and citrullinated histone H3, respectively. The relationship between clinicopathological features and outcomes was analyzed. Accuracy of prognostic prediction models was evaluated using concordance index (C-index) and Akaike information criterion (AIC).Results: NETs were associated with OS (both, P < 0.001) and RFS (both, P < 0.001) in the training and validation sets. Tumor-infiltrating NETs predicted poor postsurgical survival of patients with PDAC. Moreover, multivariate analysis identified NETs and AJCC TNM stage as two independent prognostic factors for OS and RFS. Combination of NETs with the 8th edition TNM staging system (C-index, 0.6994 and 0.6669, respectively; AIC, 1067 and 1126, respectively) generated a novel model that improved the predictive accuracy for survival in both sets (C-index, 0.7254 and 0.7117, respectively; AIC, 1047 and 1102, respectively). The model combining presence of NETs with the 7th edition AJCC TNM staging system also had improved predictive accuracy.Conclusions: NETs were an independent prognostic factor in PDAC and incorporation of NETs along with the standard TNM stating system refined risk-stratification and predicted survival in PDAC with improved accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide. Although the standard of care in pancreatic cancer has improved, prognoses for patients remain poor with a 5-year survival rate of < 5%. Angiogenesis, namely, the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, is an important event in tumor growth and hematogenous metastasis. It is a dynamic and complex process involving multiple mechanisms and is regulated by various molecules. Inhibition of angiogenesis has been an established therapeutic strategy for many solid tumors. However, clinical outcomes are far from satisfying for pancreatic cancer patients receiving anti-angiogenic therapies. In this review, we summarize the current status of angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer research and explore the reasons for the poor efficacy of anti-angiogenic therapies, aiming to identify some potential therapeutic targets that may enhance the effectiveness of anti-angiogenic treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An agarase gene containing 1 302 bp was cloned from Microbulbifer sp. AG1. It encoded a mature protein of 413 amino acids plus a 20-residue signal peptide. The recombinant enzyme without the signal peptide was expressed and purified from Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). When agarose was used as a substrate, the optimal temperature and pH for the enzyme were 60°C and 7.5, respectively. The recombinant agarase showed excellent thermostability with 67% and 19% of residual activities after incubation at 50°C and 60°C for 1 h, respectively. Except SDS, the recombinant agarase had a relatively good resistance against the detected inhibitors, detergents and urea denaturant. Thin layer chromatography analysis and enzyme assay using p-nitrophenyl-α/β-Dgalactopyranoside revealed that the recombinant agarase was a β-agarase that degraded agarose into neoagarotetraose as the main end product. The enzymatic hydrolysis products with different degree of polymerization exhibited the antioxidant activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the lead-free composite solder was fabricated by mixing Ni element with Sn-0.7Cu-10Bi solder. The effect of nickel (Ni) addition on the growth behavior of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) between Sn-0.7Cu-10Bi-xNi (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20, in wt%) solder and Cu substrate during the soldering process was studied. The microstructure and the IMCs growth of the solder joints under thermal aging were systematically investigated. The results shown that the addition of Ni element has a slightly influence on melting point of the solder. Moreover, the addition of Ni element can change Cu6Sn5 shape from scalloped-like structure into flat-like one. Moreover, the results reveal that Ni can considerably inhibit the growth and reduce the thickness of Cu6Sn5. The thickness of Cu6Sn5 ranges from 3.07 to 8.42 µm after aging process The diffusion coefficient (D) is 1.80 × 10−3 µm2 h−1 and growth rate (dH/dt) is 4.08 × 10−7 µm s−1 of the Cu6Sn5 when the Ni content come to 0.15 wt%. The (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 phase formed in the IMCs layer when Ni was added to the solder, and it can effectively hinder the diffusion of Cu atoms and depressed the growth rate of Cu6Sn5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Platelets are believed to promote tumor growth and metastasis in several tumor types. The prognostic role of blood platelets in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains controversial, and the prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating platelets (TIPs) remains unknown.Methods: A total of 303 patients who underwent curative pancreatectomy for PDAC were enrolled from two independent centers in China and divided into three cohorts. Paired preoperative blood samples and surgical specimens from all patients were analyzed. The correlations between patient outcomes and preoperative blood platelet counts and the presence of TIPs, respectively, were analyzed. TIPs were identified by immunohistochemical staining of CD42b. Prognostic accuracy was estimated by concordance index (C-index) and Akaike information criterion (AIC).Results: TIPs, but not preoperative blood platelet counts, were associated with overall survival (OS; all P < 0.001) and recurrence-free survival (RFS; all P < 0.001) in the training, testing, and validation sets. Positive CD42b expression predicted poor postsurgical survival. Incorporation of TIPs improved the predictive accuracy of the 8th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system for OS in each of the three cohorts (C-index: 0.7164, 0.7569, and 0.7050, respectively; AIC: 472, 386, and 1019, respectively). The new predictor system was validated by incorporating TIPs with the 7th edition AJCC TNM staging system (C-index: 0.7052, 0.7623, and 0.7157; AIC: 476, 386, and 1015).Conclusion: TIPs were an independent prognostic factor that could be incorporated into the AJCC TNM staging system to refine risk stratification and predict surgical outcomes of patients with PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5-[(Formyloxy)methyl]furfural (FMF), an analogue of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) is becoming more attractive due to its superior stability and hydrophobicity, which make it easier to refineand store. In the present study, FMF was produced from fructose by one-pot approach in pure formic acid media or by a two-step approach via HMF in choline chloride (ChCl)/fructose deep eutectic solvents (DES) system. A favorable FMF yield of 63.22% was reached by two-step approach. In addition, the effects of reaction parameters, such as temperature and acidity, on preparation of FMF from fructose were systematically investigated. The dehydration of fructose into HMF was confirmed as the rate-controlling step in the consecutive reaction. Ultimately, the separation and purification procedures of FMF were put forward. The FMF with a purity of 98.8% was obtained finally. Meanwhile, the FMF purified by saturated sodium bicarbonate solution showed an excelled storage stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of N classification is controversial in several prognostication systems proposed for pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (pNENs). The widely accepted modified European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (mENETS) system suggests this contradiction may be related to T classification.Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from 981 patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (1973–2012; cohort 1) and 140 patients from the Pancreatic Cancer Institute of Fudan University (2006–2016; cohort 2). All patients had resected well- to moderately differentiated locoregional pNENs, whereby the mENETS system was adopted. Factors related to N1 classification and the association between N and T classifications were analyzed, and N classification prognosis based on T classification was assessed.Results: In cohorts 1 and 2, tumor size (2–4 cm: p < 0.001 and p = 0.037, respectively; > 4 cm: p < 0.001 and p = 0.012, respectively) and tumors extending beyond the pancreas (p < 0.001 and p = 0.016, respectively), which are factors for T classification, affected N1 classification. For tumors limited to the pancreas, the N1 classification was associated with tumor size (p < 0.001 and p = 0.046, respectively) and predicted poor disease-specific survival (DSS), while for tumors extending beyond the pancreas, the N1 classification did not affect patient outcomes. Findings obtained with data from the SEER database were reproducible with our institutional data.Conclusions: N classification is associated with T classification, limiting the value of N1 classification for the pNENs tumor-node-metastasis system. A new risk model is necessary to predict patient outcomes and guide clinical practice for the prognosis of pNENs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orexin, released from the hypothalamus, has been implicated in various basic non-somatic functions including feeding, the sleep-wakefulness cycle, emotion, and cognition. However, the role of orexin in somatic motor control is still little known. Here, using whole-cell patch clamp recording and immunostaining, we investigated the effect and the underlying receptor mechanism of orexin-A on neurons in the globus pallidus internus (GPi), a critical structure in the basal ganglia and an effective target for deep brain stimulation therapy. Our results showed that orexin-A induced direct postsynaptic excitation of GPi neurons in a concentration-dependent manner. The orexin-A-induced excitation was mediated via co-activation of both OX1 and OX2 receptors. Furthermore, the immunostaining results showed that OX1 and OX2 receptors were co-localized in the same GPi neurons. These results suggest that the central orexinergic system actively modulates the motor functions of the basal ganglia via direct innervation on GPi neurons and presumably participates in somatic-non-somatic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio parahaemolyticus expresses one major virulence determinant T6SS2, which is constituted into three putative operons, i.e., VPA1027-1024, VPA1043-1028, and VPA1044-1046. CalR, a LysR-type transcriptional regulator, was originally identified as a repressor of the swarming motility and T3SS1 gene expression. As shown in this study, CalR binds to the promoter-proximal region of each of the three operons to activate their transcription, and moreover, CalR activates the adhesion of V. parahaemolyticus to HeLa cells. In addition, competitive EMSAs demonstrated that CalR acts as an antagonist of H-NS in V. parahaemolyticus. Collectively, these studies confirmed a new physiological role for CalR in V. parahaemolyticus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cerebellum, a hindbrain motor center, also participates in regulating nonsomatic visceral activities such as feeding control. However, the underlying neural mechanism is largely unknown. Here, we investigate whether the cerebellar medial nucleus (MN), one of the final outputs of the cerebellum, could directly project to and modulate the feeding-related neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN), which has been traditionally implicated in feeding behavior, energy balance, and body weight regulation. The retrograde tracing results show that both GABAergic and glutamatergic projection neurons in the cerebellar MN send direct projections to the VMN. Electrical stimulation of cerebellar MN elicits an inhibitory, excitatory or biphasic response of VMN neurons. Interestingly, the VMN neurons modulated by cerebellar MN afferents not only receive phasic and tonic inputs from the gastric vagal nerves, but also are sensitive to peripheral glycemia and ghrelin signals. Moreover, a summation of inputs from the cerebellar MN and gastric vagal afferents occurs on single glycemia/ghrelin-sensitive neurons in the VMN, and the immunostaining result show that the axons from the cerebellar MN and the projections from the nucleus tractus solitarius, which conveys the gastric vagal inputs to hypothalamus, converge on single VMN glycemia/ghrelin-sensitive neurons. These results demonstrate that the somatic information forwarded by the cerebellar MN, together with the feeding signals from periphery, converge onto single VMN neurons, suggesting that a somatic-visceral integration related to feeding may occur in the VMN and the cerebellum may actively participate in the feeding regulation through the direct cerebellar MN-VMN projections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AphA and OpaR are the master regulators of quorum sensing in Vibrio parahaemolyticus and there is reciprocal negative regulation between AphA and OpaR. The histone-like nucleoid structure (H-NS) protein is a global transcriptional repressor of horizontally transferred genes, but a few prokaryotic genes, for example flagella genes, are stimulated by H-NS. The regulation of opaR by H-NS was investigated using the following methods: primer extension, LacZ fusion, quantitative RT-PCR, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. One transcription start site located at 74 bp upstream of opaR was detected and its activity was induced by H-NS. Therefore, a single H-NS-dependent promoter was transcribed for opaR in V. parahaemolyticus. Because the H-NS protein could not bind to the upstream region of opaR and H-NS does not regulate aphA, indirect activation of the transcription of opaR by H-NS cannot be mediated by the AphA repressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]