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Abstract Drawing on narrative transportation theory, we propose that when people consume a cultural product, they consume their emotions and memories through collective storytelling. Such emotions and memories are amplified by user comments on social media, enhancing the product’s influence and triggering audience engagement. We collected public data from NetEase Cloud Music—a major music streaming platform in mainland China—to investigate how the emotions and memories expressed in user comments influence the songs’ impact. Findings indicate that autobiographical narratives and negative emotions in user comments significantly boost a song’s influence. Moreover, user comments are particularly effective in promoting emerging artists with limited resources compared to their more established counterparts. This study advances the narrative transportation theory by emphasizing the role of active audiences and collective storytelling. Empirically, it extends the existing literature on the factors influencing cultural products on music streaming platforms in a non-Western context.

Mud volcanoes, common seafloor features in subduction zone forearcs, provide crucial insights into deep hydrogeological systems associated with plate subduction. Despite their widespread occurrence, the factors governing their uneven distribution remain unclear, and their internal physical properties are poorly understood. Using multiple seismic reflection profiles and high-resolution P-wave velocity (Vp) models, we examined the distribution and physical properties of mud diapirs in the Hyuga-nada subduction zone, southwest Japan, impacted by the Kyushu-Palau ridge seamount chain entering the junction of the Nankai Trough and the Ryukyu Trench. Our seismic reflection data revealed more than 60 diapiric structures, some breaching the seafloor, while others remain buried beneath shallow sediments. These diapirs predominantly occur where the subducting slab is 10–20 km deep, mainly on the leading edge of a large subducting seamount. Notably, there is a significant absence of diapirs directly above the seamount and within approximately 50 km of the trench axis. The findings suggest that once the slab reaches depths greater than 10 km, thermogenic hydrocarbon gas production, which gains significant buoyancy, drives upwelling fluid flows in the overriding plate. The ridge subduction also contributes to diapir distribution by enhancing dehydration of underthrust sediments on the downdip side and creating a porous fracture network in the upper plate. The Vp structure of an exposed mud volcano indicates that it contains methane levels similar to those in the Kumano-nada region of the central Nankai Trough. Buried mud diapirs, rooted in fluid- and gas-rich reservoirs at 1–5 km depths below the seafloor, exhibit significantly lower seismic velocities (Vp < 3.0 km/s), indicating higher fluid and hydrocarbon gas concentration at depth. These observations suggest the forearc wedge in the Hyuga-nada area contains more extensive fluid/gas reservoirs than previously recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the rapid advancement of shared electric bicycles has exerted a significant influence upon the interrelationship between shared electric bicycles and other modes of transportation. The present paper conducts a spatiotemporal analysis concerning shared electric bicycles within Kunming, a pivotal tourist destination. Four models are compared to investigate the impact of the constructed environment on the interplay of shared electric bicycles. Moreover, this investigation stratifies interconnection scenarios into two distinct categories, viz., access to and egress from other forms of public transportation. Furthermore, the interconnection modes are divided into two types: shared electric bicycle connections with buses and shared electric bicycle connections with subways. For the selection of feature factors, the XGBoost machine learning algorithm is harnessed to compare the importance indices of relevant factors. The research findings suggest that, for the interconnection of shared electric bicycles with subways and buses, it is advisable to increase the deployment of shared electric bicycles in the vicinity of the two types of transportation nodes and their adjacent workplaces in the Chenggong area. By taking into consideration the influence of the constructed environment upon the interplay of shared electric bicycles, this study effectively promotes the spatiotemporal scheduling of shared electric bicycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carmine radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is cultivated in Fuling, Chongqing, for its red color. Dof-TFs are critical in regulating plant growth, development, stress responses, and signal transduction.This work comprehensively examined the structure, evolution, and expression of the carmine radish Dof gene and its behavior under cadmium (Cd) stress. The radish genome has 59 RsDofs, which are divided into nine clusters (A: 8, B1: 10, B2: 10, C1: 3, C2.1: 5, C2.2: 4, C3: 11, D1: 4, and D2: 4). Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed significant Dof gene family resemblance between Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus. Perhaps segment duplication resulted in RsDof gene family expansion. Cd stress-induced RsDof expression patterns were studied using an RNA-seq atlas and qRT-PCR. The majority of RsDofs were tissue-specific and Cd-sensitive. The involvement of RsDof genes in Cd stress response and anthocyanin synthesis was verified using qRT-PCR. RsDof33 is involved in Cd stress response and anthocyanin synthesis. A. thaliana overexpressed the recombinant fusion protein RsDof33-GFP, which was localized to the nucleus, resulting in fewer rosette leaves, delayed flowering, and higher anthocyanin concentration. RsDof33-expressing plants had significantly higher transcript levels of the auxin biosynthetic genes YUCCA (AtYUC2), auxin efflux carrier (AtPIN4), and AtKNAT2, which are involved in leaf shape development, as well as AtPAL, AtCHS, AtCHI, AtDFR, AtLDOX, and AtUF3GT. These findings indicate that RsDofs are critical to plant development and stress responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pivotal role of type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1s) in the field of dendritic cell (DC)-based tumor immunotherapies has been gaining increasing recognition due to their superior antigen cross-presentation abilities and essential role in modulating immune responses. This review specifically highlights the C-type lectin receptor family 9 member A (Clec9a or DNGR-1), which is exclusively expressed on cDC1s and plays a pivotal role in augmenting antigen cross-presentation and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses while simultaneously mitigating off-target effects. These effects include the enhancement of the cDC1s cross-presentation, reducing autoimmune responses and systemic inflammation, as well as preventing the non-specific activation of other immune cells. Consequently, these actions may contribute to reduced toxicity and enhanced treatment efficacy in immunotherapy. The exceptional ability of Clec9a to cross-present dead cell-associated antigens and enhance both humoral and CTL responses makes it an optimal receptor for DC-based strategies aimed at strengthening antitumor immunity. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the molecular characterization, expression, and signaling mechanisms of Clec9a. Furthermore, it discusses the role of Clec9a in the induction and functional activation of Clec9a+ cDC1s, with a particular focus on addressing the challenges related to off-target effects and immune tolerance in the development of tumor vaccines. Additionally, this review explores the potential of Clec9a-targeted approaches to enhance the immunogenicity of tumor vaccines and addresses the utilization of Clec9a as a delivery target for specific agonists (such as STING agonists and αGC) to enhance their therapeutic effects. This novel approach leverages Clec9a's capacity to improve the precision and efficacy of these immunomodulatory molecules in tumor treatment. In summary, this review presents compelling evidence positioning Clec9a as a promising target for DC-based tumor immunotherapy, capable of enhancing the efficacy of vaccines and immune responses while minimizing adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic technology has received widespread attention as an effective means of treating organic pollutants in wastewater, but the development of effective and sustainable photocatalysts remains a serious challenge. In this study, a novel Mn0.2Cd0.8S (MCS)/Bi4O5Br2 (BOB) heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully prepared by a two-step solvothermal method. The photocatalytic activity of the MCS/BOB heterojunction photocatalyst for degrading Rhodamine B (RhB) is significantly enhanced relative to Mn0.2Cd0.8S and Bi4O5Br2. When the molar content of Mn0.2Cd0.8S was 15% of Bi4O5Br2, the prepared 15% MCS/BOB had the best photocatalytic performance toward RhB with the degradation rate of 91.7% under 60 min of visible light irradiation. The apparent rate constant of 15% MCS/BOB is 10 and 7 times higher than that of Mn0.2Cd0.8S and Bi4O5Br2, respectively. The excellent photocatalytic performance is associated with the increased specific surface area, extended light absorption range, and proper construction of Z-scheme heterojunction that facilitate effective charge separation and excellent redox capacity. In addition, the heterojunction photocatalyst shows remarkable photocatalytic stability. This study constructs a novel and effective Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst and promotes the exploration of photocatalyst in the purification of organic wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slope units provide comprehensive geomorphological information and have been widely utilized in landslide susceptibility studies. However, studies on the impact of the quantity of slope unit divisions on landslide susceptibility assessment are relatively scarce. This study, taking Songpan County in China as a case, obtained five different quantities of slope units. We refined the initial fifteen factors through geographical detector and multicollinearity analysis methods and trained the data using three machine learning models. The best overall performance, was chosen for landslide susceptibility mapping. It analyzed the proportions of different landslide susceptibility categories under varying quantities of slope units and grid units, in conjunction with the disaster activity intensity index (R). The configuration with 20,470 slope units yielded the best results, having the smallest proportion of high and very-high susceptibility areas, at 15.5% and achieving the highest R value of 5.26. The results indicate that the quantity of slope units affects the contribution of landslide influencing factors. Compared to grid units, the q values of factors in different quantities of slope units changed, indirectly affecting the factor selection results. When using slope units for landslide susceptibility mapping, it is crucial to consider their quantity, as the quality of landslide susceptibility mapping does not improve with finer division of slope units, and evaluating landslide susceptibility with slope units does not necessarily yield better results than with grid units. Selecting an appropriate number of slope units can make the landslide susceptibility results more scientific and accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate and analyze the symptom clusters of patients with advanced thyroid cancer and provide a basis for developing targeted symptom management measures. Methods: Patients who visited a multidisciplinary outpatient service for advanced thyroid cancer at a tertiary A hospital in Sichuan Province from April 2022 to April 2023 were selected using convenience sampling. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory-Thyroid Cancer module (MDASI-THY). Symptom clusters were extracted by exploratory factor analysis. Results: Disturbed sleep had the highest incidence (75.7%) and severity (3.0 points), while mood distress had the highest incidence (63.5%) and severity (2.0 points) of symptom interference. Three symptom clusters were identified: mood-fatigue-sleep, digestive tract-sensation, and thyroid cancer-specific symptom clusters. Conclusion: Patients with advanced thyroid cancer have multiple symptom clusters that seriously affect their daily lives. Health care professionals should conduct targeted observation and preventive treatment to reduce the burden of symptoms on patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both endoscopic thyroid lobectomy and conventional thyroid lobectomy are effective modalities for treating papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC). However, their respective psychological and sleep quality ramifications in patients remain largely unexplored. Materials and methods: Patients diagnosed with PTMC who underwent thyroid lobectomy at our institution between July 15, 2021, and July 15, 2022, were prospectively recruited. Psychological distress and sleep quality were assessed at five intervals (hospital admission, hospital discharge, and 1, 3, and 6 months posttreatment) utilizing four validated scales. The PTMC patients who completed the questionnaires diligently were subsequently categorized into either the endoscopic thyroid lobectomy group (trial group) or the conventional thyroid lobectomy group (control group). A propensity score matching (PSM) cohort was then established to examine longitudinal and cross-sectional alterations in psychological parameters. Results: Out of 602 eligible PTMC patients, 560 individuals completed all the questionnaires diligently during the follow-up period (response rate: 93.02%). This cohort comprised 176 patients (31.43%) who underwent endoscopic thyroid lobectomy and 384 patients (68.57%) who underwent conventional thyroid lobectomy. Following PSM, a comprehensive set of 176 matched patient pairs was successfully established. Both groups of patients exhibited a decline in sleep quality throughout the 6-month postoperative follow-up period; however, patients in the control group experienced concomitant elevation in anxiety levels. The PSQI scores of patients in the control group were markedly higher than those in the trial group across all follow-up time points, whereas the HAMA, HADS, and HEI scale scores did not significantly differ between the two groups. Conclusions: In terms of sleep quality and psychological well-being, endoscopic thyroid lobectomy is superior to conventional thyroid lobectomy for PTMC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carotenoids are naturally occurring pigments found in plants and certain microorganisms. Some carotenoids act as precursors to vitamin A, which is essential for various health aspects, including vision, immune function, and skin health. Carotenoids, including α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, are known to reduce the risk of age-related diseases and promote healthy aging. This study examines the relationship between dietary carotenoid levels and biological age. This study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2009 to 2018, and 19,280 participants were included. The Phenotypic Age (PhenoAge) was used to measure biological age, and the Klemera-Doubal Method (KDM) was employed in sensitivity analyses. Biological age acceleration was determined by calculating the residuals of PhenoAge or KDM after regressing them against chronological age. Weighted multivariate linear and logistic regressions were conducted to examine the relationship between carotenoids and biological age acceleration. Additionally, restricted cubic spline regression, subgroup analysis, interaction analysis, and sensitivity analyses were employed for further examination. Both linear regression and logistic regression analyses indicated that participants with higher carotenoid intake exhibited lower rates of phenotypic age acceleration, with α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin, and lycopene all demonstrating protective effects. Restricted cubic spline regression indicates non-linear associations between carotenoid levels and phenotypic age acceleration. Subgroup analyses revealed that younger participants, females, and individuals with hypertension or diabetes benefited more from higher carotenoid intake. Sensitivity analyses further confirmed the robustness of inverse relationship. The WQS analysis identifies β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin as the most influential compounds. Higher dietary intake of carotenoids is associated with reduced biological age acceleration, underscoring their protective role against aging. Further longitudinal studies are needed to establish causal relationships and explore the underlying mechanisms of carotenoid benefits on aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-modal retrieval for chest X-ray images and diagnostic reports is the automated process of fetching reports or related images from an extensive medical records database using specific queries. Current methods for cross-modal retrieval of chest X-ray images and diagnostic reports often struggle with the fine-grained semantic representation alignment between chest X-ray images and text reports. However, these methods do not use the structured information in reports well, making it hard to interpret and align the image and text representation effectively, leading to poor retrieval performance. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for cross-modal retrieval of chest X-ray images and diagnostic reports based on a report entity graph and dual attention mechanisms. Specifically, we first employ the X-ray image encoder to extract fine-grained visual semantic representations of the X-ray images, and we use the report encoder to extract text features and anatomical entity features from the diagnostic reports. Moreover, a Graph Convolutional Neural Network (GCN) is utilized to effectively capture the semantic relationships among the report entities. To simulate the different levels of attention radiologists pay when reading chest X-ray images and reports, we designed a dual attention: intra-attention and inter-attention. The intra-attention mechanism is proposed to fuse global features with local representations that contain fine-grained structures and rich details in images and reports, respectively. The inter-modal attention mechanism is designed to establish accurate connections between the medical report entities and the fine-grained representations of the chest radiograph images. Our method achieves approximately 6.2%, 3.9%, and 4.9% improvements in report retrieval tasks and 7.4%, 4.0%, and 5.5% improvements in X-ray image retrieval tasks over the latest HSR method on three commonly used chest radiograph datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in tropical cyclone (TC) genesis over the western North Pacific (WNP) remain uncertain due to challenges in accurately simulating TC formation in climate models. As an alternative approach, this study investigates future changes in the newly proposed dynamical genesis potential index (DGPI) over the WNP to infer future TC genesis using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models. Under the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) 585 scenario, DGPI projections reveal negative anomalies in the tropical western and central WNP but positive anomalies in the subtropical WNP and tropical eastern WNP. These changes suggest an eastward and poleward shift in TC genesis locations. However, the opposing DGPI anomalies across regions largely offset each other, resulting in minimal basin-wide changes in DGPI. The El Nino-like sea surface temperature (SST) and subtropical north Pacific SST warming pattern collectively contribute to the anomalous DGPI distribution by modifying the Walker circulation and the subtropical meridional temperature gradient. The projections also exhibit substantial uncertainty in both basin-wide magnitude and spatial distribution, linked to the diversity in tropical and subtropical SST patterns across the North Pacific. These findings identify key changes in large-scale dynamical conditions and their associated uncertainties, providing critical insights for understanding future WNP TC activity under warming scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance superelastic materials with a combination of high superelastic stress, large elastic recovery strain, and stable elastic modulus over a wide temperature range are highly desired for a variety of technological applications. Unfortunately, it is difficult to achieve these multi-functionalities simultaneously because most superelastic materials have to encounter the modulus softening effect and the limited superelastic stress, whereas most Elinvar-type materials show small elastic strain limit. Here, we report a (TiZrHf)44Ni25Cu15Co10Nb6 high-entropy alloy that meets all these requirements. This alloy also shows good cyclic stability, thermally-stable capacity for elastic energy storage, high micro-hardness and good corrosion resistance, allowing it to operate stably in hostile environments. We show that its multi-functionalities stem from a natural composite microstructure, containing a highly-distorted matrix phase with strain glass transition and various structural and compositional heterogeneities from micro- to nano-scale. Our findings may provide insight into designing high-entropy alloys with unconventional and technologically-important functional properties. Designing superelastic materials with high critical stress, large recovery strain and temperature-independent modulus is desired but challenging. Here, the authors achieve these properties in a high-entropy alloy with multi-scale heterogeneities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scoliosis is a prevalent condition among adolescents, and the spinal manipulation is one of the conservative treatment methods for scoliosis patients. Impairment in movement function stands out as a typical characteristic in cases of scoliosis. This study utilized a single-arm clinical trial design involving 35 patients aged 18 to 20 with idiopathic scoliosis (IS) and Cobb angles ranging from 10° to 30°. The treatment protocol consisted of spinal manipulation sessions three times a week, each lasting 40 min, administered over a span of six weeks. Pre- and post-intervention assessments focused on the Cobb angle and lower limb kinematics and kinetics during functional movements such as level walking, stair ascent, and descent. Patients with IS showed improvements in the Cobb angle, as well as changes in lower limb kinematics and kinetics during functional activities, such as walking and stair navigation, following six weeks of spinal manipulation intervention. The study further demonstrated that spinal manipulation reduced lower limb’s sagittal joint mobility, increased stability in individuals with IS. Patients with IS exhibited significant changes in lower limb kinematics and kinetic following spinal manipulation, which may serve as a potential mechanism underlying the alteration of the Cobb angle. Future studies, particularly RCTs, are needed to further validate the effectiveness of spinal manipulation in treating IS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned weapon system-of-systems (UWSoS) require advanced resilience mechanisms to sustain mission-critical performance under adversarial conditions. This paper presents the meta-path-guided causal inference (MPGCI) framework, which seamlessly integrates meta-path-based feature extraction, causal disentanglement, and reinforcement learning to significantly enhance UWSoS resilience. The meta-path pool enables efficient neighbor sampling, effectively capturing complex higher-order network dependencies, while a directed acyclic graph aligns features with underlying causal structures, mitigating the effects of semantic drift. Furthermore, an actor-critic network, constrained by meta-paths, optimizes task allocation and recovery strategies in dynamic, evolving environments. By embedding meta-paths across the framework, MPGCI ensures precise feature alignment and adaptive resilience. Experimental results demonstrate MPGCI's superior performance compared to state-of-the-art methods, highlighting its robustness in maintaining operational stability and facilitating rapid recovery in complex scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have confirmed that elevated glucose levels could lead to renal fibrosis through the process of ferroptosis. Liraglutide, a human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue, is a potential treatment option for diabetes. This study aimed to examine the potential of liraglutide (LIRA) in inhibiting ferroptosis and reducing high glucose-induced renal fibrotic injury in mice, and whether the Fsp1-CoQ10-NAD(P)H signal pathway is a mechanism for this effect. In our study, we used db/db mice to simulate Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The mice were intraperitoneally injected with LIRA (200 µg/kg/d) daily for 6 weeks. Renal function, pathologic changes, lipid peroxidation levels, iron levels, and ferroptosis were assessed. First, LIRA ameliorated renal dysfunction and fibrosis in db/db mice. Second, LIRA inhibited lipid peroxidation by up-regulating T-SOD, GSH-Px, and GSH activities as well as down-regulating the levels of 8-OHDG, MDA, LPO, 4-HNE, 12-Lox, and NOX4 in db/db mice. In addition, LIRA attenuated iron deposition by decreasing the expression of TfR1 and increasing the expression of FPN1. Meanwhile, LIRA reduced high levels of high glucose-induced cell viability decline and intracellular lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, LIRA inhibited ferroptosis by adjusting the Fsp1-CoQ10-NAD(P)H pathway in vivo and in vitro. These findings suggested that LIRA attenuated kidney fibrosis injury in db/db mice by inhibiting ferroptosis through the Fsp1-CoQ10-NAD(P)H pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laparoscopic exploration (LE) is crucial for diagnosing intra-abdominal metastasis (IAM) in advanced gastric cancer (GC). However, overlooking single, tiny, and occult IAM lesions during LE can severely affect the treatment and prognosis due to surgeons' visual misinterpretations. To address this, we developed the artificial intelligence laparoscopic exploration system (AiLES) to recognize IAM lesions with various metastatic extents and locations. The AiLES was developed based on a dataset consisting of 5111 frames from 100 videos, using 4130 frames for model development and 981 frames for evaluation. The AiLES achieved a Dice score of 0.76 and a recognition speed of 11 frames per second, demonstrating robust performance in different metastatic extents (0.74–0.76) and locations (0.63–0.90). Furthermore, AiLES performed comparably to novice surgeons in IAM recognition and excelled in recognizing tiny and occult lesions. Our results demonstrate that the implementation of AiLES could enhance accurate tumor staging and assist individualized treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robustness against measurement uncertainties is crucial for gas turbine engine diagnosis. While current research focuses mainly on measurement noise, measurement bias remains challenging. This study proposes a novel performance-based fault detection and identification (FDI) strategy for twin-shaft turbofan gas turbine engines and addresses these uncertainties through a first-order Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy inference system. To handle ambient condition changes, we use parameter correction to preprocess the raw measurement data, which reduces the FDI's system complexity. Additionally, the power-level angle is set as a scheduling parameter to reduce the number of rules in the TSK-based FDI system. The data for designing, training, and testing the proposed FDI strategy are generated using a component-level turbofan engine model. The antecedent and consequent parameters of the TSK-based FDI system are optimized using the particle swarm optimization algorithm and ridge regression. A robust structure combining a specialized fuzzy inference system with the TSK-based FDI system is proposed to handle measurement biases. The performance of the first-order TSK-based FDI system and robust FDI structure are evaluated through comprehensive simulation studies. Comparative studies confirm the superior accuracy of the first-order TSK-based FDI system in fault detection, isolation, and identification. The robust structure demonstrates a 2%–8% improvement in the success rate index under relatively large measurement bias conditions, thereby indicating excellent robustness. Accuracy against significant bias values and computation time are also evaluated, suggesting that the proposed robust structure has desirable online performance. This study proposes a novel FDI strategy that effectively addresses measurement uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the existence of solutions of Hilfer-Katugampola fractional differential equations with boundary conditions. We first establish existence theory of solutions for the mentioned problem by the fixed point theory and the measure of noncompactness. Then we investigate the ε-approximate solution to our concerned problem via a generalized Gronwall inequality. Finally, as the application of abstract results, we give an example to illustrate our main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of climate warming and humidification, the so-called 'divergence problem' reduces the stability of tree rings in response to climate, and affects the reliability of tree-ring reconstruction. Investigation of the divergence problem is crucial to improve our understanding of the response patterns of trees to climate warming, and provide a scientific basis for accurate climate reconstruction. Based on tree-ring width data for Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) growing at low elevations in the eastern Altay Mountains, we analyzed the relationship between radial growth of trees and climatic factors in the context of abrupt climate change in this region. We calculated the proportional contribution of five climatic factors to the radial growth of trees, and discussed the response mechanism of radial growth of L. sibirica in combination with large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. The radial growth of L. sibirica was mainly constrained by water availability. Before climate warming (1961–1990), the radial growth of L. sibirica was mainly limited by temperature in the previous June. After abrupt climate warming (1991–2020), there was a significant positive correlation between growth and soil moisture in the previous winter, suggesting that high temperatures in the following spring would limit tree radial growth if water availability was low. The attribution analysis results revealed that, before 1990, the proportional of relative contribution of temperature to radial growth of trees exceeded 60%. Since 1990, the proportional of relative contribution of water (precipitation and volumetric soil water) to growth of L. sibirica increased. This might reflect the combined effects of local climatic conditions and changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-hole blasting has shown its superior performance in achieving large-scale mining and improving excavation efficiency. While the increasing charge length, coupled with the rising charge weight, prompts a closer examination of the induced vibration and traditional vibration prediction laws. In light of the fact that the induced vibration depends heavily on the evaluation of vibration characteristics of a single long blasthole, a systemic illustration of the wave propagation induced by a long blasthole was first presented, taking into account various conditions. Subsequently, experiments with six charge lengths were conducted in an underground mine to clarify the variation of waveform and peak particle velocity (PPV). Finally, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element model with consideration of the free surface, was developed and validated against the experimental data. The influences of free surface, charge length, detonation position, and velocity of detonation (VoD) were comprehensively investigated to ascertain the vibration characteristics. The experimental and numerical results allow the following conclusions: (1) free surfaces not only increase PPVs but also decrease PPV-attenuation rate, while Mach waves enhance damage and vibration performance in the near-field region. (2) In the presence of a free surface, increasing charge length elevates the PPV level in the near-field and far-field, while it becomes constant in a narrow region of the medium-field. However, as the length exceeds 11.6 m with the effect of Mach waves, the PPV and waveform become independent of the charge length. (3) Different initiation modes mainly affect the near-field vibration; (4) The dominant frequency (DF) falls below 400 Hz with abundant frequency spectra at considerable charge lengths. The results state that the charge weight-scaling laws should be carefully used for long-blasthole vibration. Highlights: Effects of charge length, free surface, detonation position, and VoD are investigated for a long blasthole. The charge weight-scaling laws should be cautiously used for long blasthole vibration. Increasing charge length combined with free surfaces leads to an elevated PPV level in the near- and far- fields, rather than the medium-field. The amplitude is independent of a substantial charge length with the effect of Mach waves. Initiation mode and VoD primarily affect the near-field vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studied the microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance of AZ61 magnesium (Mg) alloy with and without homogenization treatment before extrusion. After homogenization treatment, the size of the second phase decreases, resulting in a more uniform microstructure of the extruded sample. Compared to the as-extruded sample, the yield strength (176.04 MPa) and tensile strength (266.3 MPa) of the homogenization-extruded samples were higher than those of the as-extruded samples, and the elongation after pre-homogenization treatment is 16.1%. The homogenization-extruded samples showed higher corrosion resistance in the potential dynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests. The mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the homogenization-extruded samples were improved due to the microstructure improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the added value of additional 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT following CT for primary staging, detection of postoperative recurrence, and management of gastric cancer patients. Methods: We retrospectively included patients with gastric cancers who underwent contrast-enhanced computed tomography (ceCT), followed by 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT within 30 days. 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT was performed for initial staging or detection of postoperative recurrence. Two nuclear medicine physicians and a radiologist independently decided on imaging-based staging. Pre-68Ga-FAPI PET/CT treatment decisions were made by a simulated tumor board and post-68Ga-FAPI PET/CT decisions were extracted from medical records. We evaluated the impact of 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT with inconsistent new findings based on the initial findings from ceCT and the resulting changes in treatment strategies. Results: We included 112 patients, 84 for initial staging and 28 for detection of postoperative recurrence. Compared to CT, 29 new findings in 24 patients were diagnosed as, or ruled out, cancer involvement on 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT. Among the 112 patients, 21 patients (18.8%) experienced changes in stage or postoperative recurrence. Among patients for initial staging, 14 had stage changes, with 10 being upstaged and 4 being downstaged. Among patients for detection of postoperative recurrence, 7 more patients were diagnosed with tumor recurrence. New findings of 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT led to treatment change in 20/112 (17.9%) patients, which was deemed of major change in 19 patients and minor change in 1 patient. Conclusions: 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT is valuable for precise staging and detection of postoperative recurrence of gastric cancers, and has the potential to influence management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-task learning for joint medical image segmentation and classification holds promise for enhancing diagnostic accuracy and reliability in clinical settings. Current approaches often rely on unidirectionally bootstrapping one task with a single high-level feature from another, which fails to leverage valuable information fully and can lead to suboptimal outcomes and diagnostic errors. Multi-task learning frameworks based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) or Vision Transformers (ViTs) have achieved significant success in medical image analysis. However, CNNs struggle with long sequence information, and ViTs are computationally intensive. Based on this, in this paper, we propose a novel Uncertainty Bidirectional Guidance of multi-task Mamba network (UBGM) for efficient and reliable medical image analysis. UBGM’s encoder utilizes a Mamba structure, excelling in remote modeling and maintaining computational efficiency with linear complexity. The uncertainty coarse segmentation guidance module performs interactive learning between tasks, generating multiple high-level features for classification and coarse segmentation results by incorporating uncertainty. To better utilize segmentation information, we designed an uncertainty classification decoder to produce category information and features for assisted segmentation correction. Real bidirectional guidance is achieved by the mutual assistance of both tasks, improving model performance. Experiments on public datasets demonstrate that UBGM outperforms existing benchmark models, showing potential for high performance and reliability in multi-task networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brittleness index is a significant mechanical parameter of rocks, widely applied in various geotechnical engineering. However, existing methods for evaluating brittleness indices have their limitations. In this study, we analyzed the energy evolution characteristics before and after peak stress in both radial and axial directions and proposed a new brittleness index considering radial strain energy evolution. The proposed method was validated through experiments. The results indicate that as confining pressure increases, rock brittleness gradually decreases. The widely used rock strength-based, elastic parameter-based, and modulus-based brittleness indices fail to reflect this trend. Only energy-based brittleness indices and the new brittleness index proposed in this paper align with this trend. However, existing energy-based indices do not consider radial energy evolution. For rocks with similar axial energy evolution characteristics but significant radial energy evolution differences, the energy-based brittle index will give the same brittleness index, which fails to evaluate brittleness characteristics accurately. The brittleness index proposed in this paper can provide accurate value for brittleness index and objective evaluations. Therefore, this new method in this study is more precise and exhibits significant advantages, compared with other mentioned brittleness index evaluation methods. Highlight: Considering the energy evolution characteristics before and after peak stress in both radial and axial directions, a new brittleness index was proposed. Compared with the existing brittleness index, this paper's method can better respond to the effect of confining pressure on the brittleness of the rock, which conforms to the rock property. Due to the consideration of radial energy evolution, this paper's method can more accurately characterize the brittleness of rocks with large differences in radial damage characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrusion Detection System (IDS) plays an important role in the cybersecurity for preventing the platform from network attacks. To improve the overall performance of IDS, researchers have introduced machine learning methods to classify network behaviors. As the Internet develops and cyberspace expands, the network environment becomes increasingly diverse and complex. As a result, the traditional and single machine learning methods limit the development of intrusion detection systems, and it is difficult to resist the exponential growth of network attacks. To solve this problem, we propose a novel intrusion detection method based on the hybrid feature selection and stacking ensemble techniques to improve the performance of the intrusion detection system. We first apply the hybrid feature selection technique based on the filtering and embedding methods to reduce the feature dimensions. The filtering method uses the information gain rate, while the embedding method uses the feature importance from the random forest model and determines the best feature subset through the hybrid strategy. On the basis of this, a random forest binary classifier is constructed for each category before a multi-classifier is constructed by the aggregation strategy-based stacking ensemble mechanism to determine the specific type of network behavior. The experimental results show that, on the UNSW-NB15 dataset, the proposed method achieved an accuracy of 80.83% with only 9 selected best features (45 in total), which is an improvement of 5.37% compared to the baseline method. On the CICIDS2017 dataset, the accuracy of proposed model reached 99.97% with 27 features selected (75 in total), outperforming the baseline methods. The detection and recognition performance of our proposed method is better than that of traditional machine learning methods and other well-known ensemble methods in terms of accuracy, F1-Score, Cohen’s Kappa score, and false alarm rate. This indicates that our proposed model could be a useful tool in intrusion detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials have garnered recognition for their notable surface effects and demonstration of superior mechanical properties. Previous studies on the surface effects of nanomaterials, employing the finite element method, often relied on simplified two-dimensional models due to theoretical complexities. Consequently, these simplified models inadequately represent the mechanical properties of nanomaterials and fail to capture the substantial impact of surface effects, particularly the curvature dependence of nanosurfaces. This study applies the principle of minimum energy and leverages the Steigmann-Ogden surface theory of nanomaterials to formulate a novel finite element surface element that comprehensively accounts for surface effects. We conducted an analysis of the stress distribution and deformation characteristics of four typical 2D and 3D nanomaterial models. The accuracy of the developed surface element and finite element calculation method was verified through comparison with established references. The resulting finite element model provides a robust and compelling scientific approach for accurately predicting the mechanical performance of nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the role of semiquantitative parameters derived from 18F-FDG PET/CT in characterizing pediatric malignant kidney tumors. Methods: 54 children with pathologically confirmed renal malignancies who underwent pretreatment 18F-FDG PET/CT were retrospectively reviewed. Association between PET-derived semiquantitative parameters, including maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), and tumor histology, disease stage, and loss of heterozygosity were analyzed. Results: Of the 54 patients, 43 had Wilms tumor (WT), 4 had clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK), 3 had rhabdoid tumor of kidney, 2 had renal cell carcinoma, and 2 had congenital mesoblastic nephroma. 18F-FDG PET/CT detected all primary renal tumors, with SUVmax ranging from 1.2 to 14.5. PET-derived parameters showed no significant differences among different tumor types, except for CCSK, which exhibited lower FDG uptake compared to WT (SUVmax 3.60 ± 1.02 vs. 6.10 ± 2.25, p = 0.034). Higher MTV, TLG, and lactate dehydrogenase were associated with stage IV disease. ROC analysis showed that TLG had the highest AUC (0.931) for predicting stage IV disease in the whole cohort, while SUVmax had the highest AUC (0.867) for predicting stage IV and V in WT. Furthermore, Children with 1q gain exhibited higher MTV in WT (447 ± 354 vs. 207 ± 189, p = 0.041). Conclusion: PET-derived semiquantitative parameters highly associated with disease stage both in the overall cohort of renal malignancies and specifically in the WT group. Additionally, volumetric metabolic indices might provide further insights into loss of heterozygosity in children with WT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information security plays an important role in every aspect of life to protect data from stealing and deciphering. However, most of the previously reported works were based on pure algorithm layer or pure physical layer encryptions, which have certain limitations in security. In this paper, a nondeterministic message encryption communication scheme is proposed based on a spin-space-frequency multiplexing metasurface (SSFMM), which integrates both algorithmic and physical layer encryptions, and can also produce multiple different ciphertexts for the same message to prevent the message from being cracked through frequency analysis, thus greatly enhancing the security of the information. To be specific, an SSFMM is first designed as a physical-layer meta-key, which can generate eight independent dot matrix holograms with different spin, space, and frequency characteristics. The target message is then encrypted based on these dot matrix holograms combined with algorithmic operations, and the encrypted message is converted into a quick response (QR) code for easy sending to the target users. Once the target user gets that QR code, he/she can scan it to obtain the encryption information, and then recover the target message according to the pre-agreed encryption protocol combined with the eight dot matrix holograms of SSFMM. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed encryption scheme was experimentally validated at the microwave frequency band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of ground motion induced by underground blasting is a growing concern due to increased mining of large underground deposits. A numerical analysis is first conducted on the wave propagation characteristics, taking into account geological conditions and ground topography, and it is compared to that resulting from open-pit blasts. Then systemic experiments are conducted at two ore blocks in an underground mine. Predictions are made for peak particle velocity (PPV), frequency, and their combination for ground motions, which are then compared to inside rock vibrations induced by the same ore block blasts. Due to traditional inadequate prediction, the response spectral analysis and the normalized pseudo velocity response spectra (NPVRS) are employed to create a novel approach for illustrating ground motions. The results of numerical calculation and experimental analysis allow for the following conclusions: the wave propagation induced by underground blasting along the ground surface is more complex than that from open-pit blasts; the effect of charge weight on ground vibration decreases with a power factor (n) in the scaling attenuation equation lower than 1/3, as opposed to the typically acceptance of n being 1/2 for open-pit blasts and 1/3 for inside rock vibration induced by underground blasting; the frequency significantly drops from inside rock to ground surface; the NPVRS is a reasonable indicator for quantifying ground motions at specific positions with connecting structural responses, the relative displacement in the concerning frequency range of 5–20 Hz is linearly proportional to ground peak amplitudes. Highlights: A systematic experimental work on surface ground motion induced by underground blasting Comparison of inside rock and ground vibration from underground blasting Decreasing effect of charge weight on ground vibration induced by underground blasting Normalized pseudo velocity response spectra (NPVRS) can be simplified as the same at a specific position for effectively predicting ground vibrations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We aimed to explore the curative effects of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) combined with Tislelizumab and Lenvatinib on unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients and methods: From September 2021 to September 2023, 42 patients with unresectable HCC who were treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were enrolled in this retrospective single-arm study. They received HAIC combined with Tislelizumab and lenvatinib. Baseline characteristics, laboratory indicators before and after treatment, and imaging findings were collected from medical records. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR), and the secondary endpoints included disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and safety indicators. Results: A total of 199 HAIC treatments were performed, with a median of 5.5 times (3.75–6.0 times). Based on the mRECIST and RECIST1.1 criterion, the ORR was 71.4% and 57.1%, the DCR was 92.9% and 92.9%. Up to the follow-up date of October 1, 2024, the median PFS was 14.0 months (95% CI, 11.6–16.4 months), and the median OS was 26.0 months.The incidence of any grade of adverse events was 97.6%. The most commonly reported treatment-related grade 3–4 adverse events included thrombocytopenia (28.6%), elevated total bilirubin (19%), and abdominal pain (16.7%). There was no treatment-related death. Conclusion: For unresectable HCC, HAIC combined with tirelizumab and lenvatinib has good anti-tumor efficacy and acceptable adverse reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: A chitinase gene ScChiVII1 which is involved in defense against pathogen stress was characterized in sugarcane. Chitinases, a subclass of pathogenesis-related proteins, catalyze chitin hydrolysis and play a key role in plant defense against chitin-containing pathogens. However, there is little research on disease resistance analysis of chitinase genes in sugarcane, and the systematic identification of their gene families has not been reported. In this study, 85 SsChi and 23 ShChi genes, which were divided into 6 groups, were identified from the wild sugarcane species Saccharum spontaneum and Saccharum hybrid cultivar R570, respectively. Transcriptome analysis and real-time quantitative PCR revealed that SsChi genes responded to smut pathogen stress. The chitinase crude extracted from the leaves of transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants overexpressing ScChiVII1 (a homologous gene of SsChi22a) inhibited the hyphal growth of Fusarium solani var. coeruleum and Sporisorium scitamineum. Notably, the chitinase and catalase activities and the jasmonic acid content in the leaves of ScChiVII1 transgenic N. benthamiana increased after inoculation with F solani var. coeruleum, but the salicylic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde contents decreased. Comprehensive RNA sequencing of leaves before (0 day) and after inoculation (2 days) revealed that ScChiVII1 transgenic tobacco enhanced plant disease resistance by activating transcription factors and disease resistance-related signaling pathways, and modulating the expression of genes involved in the hypersensitive response and ethylene synthesis pathways. Taken together, this study provides comprehensive information on the chitinase gene family and offers potential genetic resources for disease resistance breeding in sugarcane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the intricate interplay among cleaner energy, environmental policies, fiscal spending, trade and their impacts on green economic growth (GEG), and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) in the G-7 countries from 1990 to 2021. It fills a significant gap in the current literature by utilizing advanced second-generation panel data analysis techniques, particularly the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributive lag (CS-ARDL) technique. Primarily, it finds that environmental policy and cleaner energy correlate with reduced CO2e levels, highlighting their crucial role in environmental protection and carbon mitigation. Contrarily, the study reveals a complex effect of fiscal spending, showing that its impact on CO2e varies over short and long-term periods, potentially leading to environmental degradation. Additionally, environmental policy and cleaner energy adoption are linked with a boost in green growth, underlining their significance for sustainable development. The study's results also support the theory that embracing eco-friendly technologies is crucial for sustaining and enhancing environmental quality. Furthermore, panel causality tests provide consistent results, supporting the argument for green growth and environmental sustainability advocacy among policymakers in G-7 countries. These insights offer a holistic understanding of the dynamics influencing environmental outcomes and present a factual rationale for informed policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endothelial dysfunction plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of sepsis. This study aims to explore the effect and mechanism of forkhead box A1 (FOXA1) on vascular endothelial cell injury in sepsis. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, cell viability, apoptosis, and inflammatory factors including IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 were measured using LDH kits, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, and ELISA respectively. RT-qPCR or Western blot determined the expression of FOXA1 or neuropilin-2 (NRP2) in cells. The binding between FOXA1 and NRP2 was confirmed using ChIP and dual-luciferase assays. Functional rescue experiments were performed to verify the effect of FOXA1 siRNA or NRP2 siRNA on cell injury. LPS treatment induced endothelial cell injury in a concentration-dependent manner. FOXA1 expression was elevated after LPS treatment. FOXA1 silencing reduced LDH release, enhanced cell viability, suppressed apoptosis, and declined inflammation factors. Mechanistically, FOXA1 bound to the NRP2 promoter to suppress the transcription of NRP2. Functional rescue experiments revealed that knockdown of NRP2 offset the protective effect of knockdown of FOXA1 on cell injury. In conclusion, FOXA1 exacerbates LPS-insulted endothelial cell injury in sepsis by repressing the transcription of NRP2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commonly used trial-and-error method of biodegradable Zn alloys is costly and blindness. In this study, based on the self-built database of biodegradable Zn alloys, two machine learning models are established by the first time to predict the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and immersion corrosion rate (CR) of biodegradable Zn alloys. A real-time visualization interface has been established to design Zn-Mn based alloys; a representative alloy is Zn-0.4Mn-0.4Li-0.05Mg. Through tensile mechanical properties and immersion corrosion rate tests, its UTS reaches 420 MPa, and the prediction error is only 0.95%. CR is 73 µm/a and the prediction error is 5.5%, which elevates 50 MPa grade of UTS and owns appropriate corrosion rate. Finally, influences of the selected features on UTS and CR are discussed in detail. The combined application of UTS and CR model provides a new strategy for synergistically regulating comprehensive properties of biodegradable Zn alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metformin has a long history of clinical application and has been shown to have outstanding ability in lowering glucose. Recent advances have further revealed its broad modulatory ability beyond glucose-lowering, expanding the scope of metformin applications. Metformin has now been applied as a viable lipid-lowering strategy in non-hyperglycemic obese patients. However, the benefits and underlying pharmacological mechanisms of metformin administration in non-hyperglycemic populations remain to be explained. Our study aimed to systematically investigate the differences in the lipid-lowering function and pharmacological mechanisms of metformin in high- and low-sugar conditions to facilitate the development of individualized metformin use regimens for different clinical patients. We constructed macrophage-derived foam cell models in vitro for subsequent analysis. ORO results showed that metformin significantly reduced lipid accumulation in macrophages in both high and low glucose environments, but the lipid decline was higher in the high glucose environment. By mutual validation and joint analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics, significant differences in metformin transcriptional and metabolic patterns existed among high and normal glucose environments. The significant alterations of genes such as DGKA, LPL, DGAT2 and lipid metabolites such as LysPA and LysPC partially explained the glucose-dependent pharmacological function of metformin. In conclusion, our study confirmed that the lipid-lowering effect of metformin depends on the extracellular glucose concentration, and systematically studied the molecular mechanism of metformin in different glycemic environments, which provides a certain reference value for the subsequent in-depth study and clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on the effect of calcareous cementation on rock resistivity has been limited to qualitative analysis, while quantitative research has been lacking. Therefore, a quantitative study on the effect of calcium on rock resistivity is carried out based on the effective medium H-B theory; then, a new electrical conduction model suitable for the evaluation on oil–gas potential of calcium-bearing shaly formations is established accordingly. First, the repeatability of two parallel artificial cores is analyzed with petrophysical parameters to insure the accuracy of the artificial core technology. Then, 51 artificial rock samples with different calcium and clay content but basically with consistent quartz particle size distribution are made using artificial core technology, and the resistivity of these artificial rock samples saturated with different salinity water is measured experimentally. Next, considering the salt exclusion effect of clay pore water and its dispersion distribution, the effective medium Hanai-Bruggeman resistivity model is improved by treating the clay pore water as a dispersed phase. The improved model is more accurate and reasonable when compared with the oil testing results and the sealed coring results. Then, based on the improved effective medium Hanai-Bruggeman resistivity model, the relationship between the cementation exponent and calcium content and that between the cementation exponent with clay content was established. Meanwhile, the relationship among the cementation exponent, calcium content and clay content was established. These were done using the resistivity experimental data of the artificial cores with different clay and calcium contents, while being saturated with water of different salinities. Finally, treating the calcareous particles as a dispersed phase, the established relationship among the cementation exponent, calcium content and clay content was added to the improved model, after which a new electrical conduction model suitable for calcium-bearing shaly sandstone formation was formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Score-based diffusion models have shown promising results in unpaired image-to-image translation (I2I). However, the existing methods only perform unpaired I2I in pixel space, which requires high computation costs. To this end, we propose guiding stochastic differential equations in latent space (Latent-SDE) that extracts domain-specific and domain-independent features of the image in the latent space to calculate the loss and guides the inference process of a pretrained SDE in the latent space for unpaired I2I. To refine the image in the latent space, we propose a latent time-travel strategy that increases the sampling timestep. Empirically, we compare Latent-SDE to the baseline of the score-based diffusion model on three widely adopted unpaired I2I tasks under two metrics. Latent-SDE achieves state-of-the-art on Cat → Dog and is competitive on the other two tasks. Our code will be freely available for public use upon acceptance at https://github.com/zhangXJ147/Latent-SDE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnO varistor samples generally have poor preparation repeatability. In this work, ZnO varistor samples A and B with the same preparation technique showed significant differences in properties, and the reasons were explored in detail. Nonlinear coefficient (α) values of 42.59 and 72.68, and leakage current density of 0.013 mA/cm2 and 0.002 mA/cm2 were found for samples A and B, respectively, which are markedly different between the samples. However, samples A and B showed the same phases. In addition, samples A and B exhibited mean grain size (d) of 2.21 μm and 2.47 μm, double Schottky barrier height (φB) of 0.45 eV and 0.48 eV, and grain boundary resistivity (ρgb) of 5.32 × 106 Ω m and 5.40 × 106 Ω m, respectively, which were all similar between the two samples. According to the low-temperature dielectric spectral analyses, the values of k1 of samples A and B, reflecting the concentration of interstitial zinc, were 14.06 and 11.09, and the values of k2 reflecting the concentration of oxygen vacancy were 7.48 and 3.35, respectively. Therefore, the obvious difference in the electrical properties between samples A and B may be caused mainly by the obvious difference in the concentration of oxygen vacancy. Thus, this work provides evidence of the effects of oxygen vacancy on the electrical properties of ZnO varistors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Until now calculations of the radiative lifetimes of Rydberg atoms have mainly involved the states with principal quantum number n ≤ 80. In this paper, we calculate the lifetimes of the nS, nP, and nD states of Li with n up to 145 at temperatures 0, 77, 300 and 600 K using a B-spline and model potentials. The results of the calculations agree well with the existing theoretical values. In addition, we obtain the anticipated scaling laws of the radiative lifetimes, for the S, P, and D states, respectively by a fitting, and analyze the physical natures based on the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The survival benefit from later-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) remains disappointing. Here, in a real-world study, we were aimed to evaluate which choice will affect the survival of mCRC patients after standard treatment in Chinese patients. Methods: A total of 129 patients with refractory mCRC were involved in the study. They received targeted monotherapy or combined with chemo-agents or PD-1 inhibitor before death. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were reviewed and evaluated from clinical features and treatment options. Results: Among the 129 patients, the median age was 56 years (25–81). The mOS from third-line was 12.5 months. OS of patients who treated with chemo plus targeted therapy group in third-line was shown to be superior to pd-1 inhibitor in combination with antiangiogenic agents or antiangiogenic monotherapy group (15.6 m vs. 10.5 m vs. 8.4 m, p < 0.05). Patients had received triplet-drugs (bevacizumab plus low-dose irinotecan and oxaliplatin) and had prolonged survival compared to those had not (21.3 m vs 10.3 m, p = 0.004). OS between patients who had immunotherapy history or not was not significantly different (p > 0.05). The mPFS was 3.5 months in patients who had administered with antiangiogenic targeted agents plus anti-pd-1 and 4.7 months in chemo plus targeted therapy group and 2.2 months in the other group. In the triplet drugs group, preliminary results showed that ORR was 13.3% and DCR was 80%. The median PFS was 5.1 m, and the median OS was 10.6 m. Conclusions: Triplet drugs resulted in significantly longer overall survival, and immunotherapy may have limited benefit in MSS type CRC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to identify the pathogen responsible for Hedera nepalensis leaf blight and investigate effective biocontrol strategies, samples were collected from 10 significantly infected areas at Southwest Forestry University; four to six infected leaves were gathered from each area, followed by the isolation and purification of strains from the infected plant leaves using tissue isolation and hyphae-purification techniques. We conducted an examination of the biological characteristics and compared the inhibitory effects of different concentrations of Phomopsis sp. (50%, 25%, 16.7%, 12.5%, and 10%) with 20 µg/mL of synthetic fungicides (Mancozeb, Carbendazim, Polyoxin, and Hymexazol) on the pathogen, while also assessing the control efficacy of Phomopsis sp. against the pathogen in the greenhouse. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, β-tubulin (TUB), and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF) analysis revealed that the highly virulent strain causing H. nepalensis leaf blight was Apiospora intestini. Additionally, it was found that 25% Phomopsis sp. significantly inhibited Apiospora intestini when compared to synthetic fungicides, and Phomopsis sp. supernatant possesses both protective and curative effects against the plant diseases caused by Apiospora intestini. The results of this study serve as a reference for the prevention and treatment of H. nepalensis leaf blight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cervical cancer (CC) ranks as the second highest cause of morbidity and mortality among young women; however, there are currently no age-specific definitions for young cervical cancer or prognostic models tailored to this demographic. Data on CC diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Age stratification is based on the relationship between age and cancer-specific mortality, as demonstrated by restricted cubic spline analyses (RCS). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were employed to identify independent prognostic factors in the young CC group. Two novel nomograms for this population were developed and validated using an external validation cohort obtained from a local hospital database, evaluated with concordance index (C-index) and calibration plots. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were utilized to compare the accuracy of the established models against the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system (2018). A total of 27,658 patients from the SEER database were classified into three age groups (<36 years, 36-60 years, >60 years) based on RCS analyses, with 4,990, 16,922, and 5,746 patients in each group, respectively. The independent prognostic factors identified for young CC included stage, tumour size, grade, histologic type, and surgical intervention. The results of the C-index and calibration in both the training and validation sets confirmed that the two nomograms can accurately predict the occurrence and prognosis of young CC patients. The area under the curve (AUC) values indicated that these models demonstrated higher efficacy in predicting overall survival (OS) compared to the FIGO staging system (2018). These models could potentially serve as effective tools for clinicians to estimate the prognosis of young CC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]