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The mitochondria are an important organelle in cells responsible for producing energy, and its abnormal function is closely related to the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis. Finding key genes associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in osteoarthritis can provide new ideas for the study of its pathogenesis. Firstly, 371 differential expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained through bioinformatics analysis of the GSE12021 and GSE55235 datasets in the GEO database, and 24 mitochondria-related DEGs (Mito-DEGs) were obtained by crossing differential genes with mitochondrial related genes. Next, KEGG and GO analysis of Mito-DEGs showed that upregulated Mito-DEGs were mainly enriched in small molecule catabolic process and tryptophan metabolism, while downregulated Mito-DEGs were mainly enriched in acetyl-CoA metabolic process and fatty acid biosynthesis. Furthermore, the key genes ME2 and MAOB were obtained through protein–protein interaction network analysis and lasso cox analysis of the 24 Mito-DEGs. In addition, the comparison results of immune cell scores showed differences between T cells CD4 memory resting, T cells regulatory (Tregs), Mast cells resting, and Mast cells activated in the OA group and the control group. More importantly, the potential regulatory mechanisms of key genes were studied through GSEA analysis and their correlation with immune infiltrating cells, immune checkpoints, m6A, and ferroptosis. Finally, in LPS-induced C28/I2 cells, silencing MAOB reduced inflammation injury and inhibited mitochondrial damage. Our research findings suggest that MAOB may hold potential as a target for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous sandstone geothermal water is an important geothermal resource, which is a low-carbon and clean resource, but lacks systematic research on a regional scale. The northern part of Jinan City is rich in geothermal resources, specifically porous sandstone thermal reservoirs. However, there is still incomplete research on the mechanism of geothermal genesis and the hydrochemical characteristics of geothermal water in porous sandstone. This study aims to address this gap by collecting 21 groundwater samples from northern Jinan and comparing their conventional ion and isotope characteristics to investigate the hydrochemical characteristics during the formation of geothermal water and uncover the genesis mechanism of porous sandstone geothermal water. The results indicate that the geothermal water is classified as Na-Cl type and Na-SO4-Cl type. The hydrochemical characteristics of geothermal water are primarily influenced by water–rock interaction and groundwater mixing. The water source primarily comes from the atmospheric precipitation in the Taiyi mountains, with an altitude of 910.75–1542.2 m.s.a.l.. The estimated temperature of the thermal reservoir ranges from 51 to 78 °C, and the depth of geothermal water circulation is estimated to be between 1316 and 2216 m. Based on the characteristics of the geothermal field, including the "cap rock, water source, heat source, reservoir, and channel," a conceptual model of the porous sandstone geothermal water flow system is proposed. This model offers novel insights into the genesis mechanism of geothermal water under similar geological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA) is a promising metaheuristic bionics algorithm, which has been designed by the shuffled complex evolution and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) framework. However, it is easily trapped into local optimum and has the low optimization accuracy when it is used to optimize complex engineering problems. To overcome the shortcomings, a novel modified shuffled frog leaping algorithm (MSFLA) with inertia weight is proposed in this paper. To extend the scope of the direction and length of the updated worst frog (vector) of the original SFLA, the inertia weight α was introduced and its meaning and range of the new parameters are fully explained. Then the convergence of the MSFLA is deeply analyzed and proved theoretically by a new dynamic equation formed by Z-transform. Finally, we have compared the solution of the 7 benchmark functions with the original SFLA, other improved SFLAs, genetic algorithm, PSO, artificial bee colony algorithm, and the grasshopper optimization algorithm with invasive weed optimization. The testing results showed that the modified algorithms can effectively improve the solution accuracy and convergence property, and exhibited an excellent ability of global optimization in high-dimensional space and complex function problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: A novel strong fertility restorer gene Rf12 for C-type cytoplasmic male sterility of maize was finely mapped on chromosome 2. Its best candidate gene Zm00001d007531 is predicted to encode a p-type PPR protein. The lack of strong restorer gene of maize CMS-C greatly limits its application in hybrid seed production. Therefore, the cloning of maize CMS-C novel strong restorer genes is necessary. In this study, a strong restorer line ZH91 for maize CMS-C was found, and the novel restorer gene named Rf12 in ZH91 had been mapped in a 146 kb physical interval on maize chromosome 2. Using the third-generation high-throughput sequencing (ONT), the whole genome sequence of ZH91 was got, and with integrating the annotation information of the reference genome B73_RefGen_v4 and B73_RefGen_v5, four candidate genes were predicted in ZH91 within the mapping region. Then using gene cloning, stranded specific RNA sequencing, qRT-PCR analysis and subcellular localization, Zm00001d007531 was identified as the most likely candidate gene of Rf12. Zm00001d007531 encodes a p-type PPR protein with 19 PPR motifs and targets mitochondria and chloroplast. Stranded specific RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR results both show that the expression of Zm00001d007531 between anthers of near-isogenic lines C478Rf12Rf12 and C478rf12rf12 was significantly difference in pollen mother cell stage. And the result of sequence alignment for Zm00001d007531 gene in 60 materials showed that there are twelve SNPs in CDS region of Zm00001d007531 were tightly linked to the fertility. The finding of a novel strong restorer germplasm resource ZH91 for maize CMS-C can greatly promote the application of maize CMS-C line in maize hybrid seeds production, and the identification of candidate gene Zm00001d007531 can accelerate the backcrossing process of maize CMS-C strong restorer gene Rf12 to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Twins (DTs) are widely used for design, manufacturing, prognostics, and decision support for operations. One critical challenge in optimizing DTs usually involves multi-fidelity (MF) models and data, such as multi-resolution computational simulation and experimental testing. The MF strategies provide advantages of high accuracy with low computational and experimental cost in DTs. A novel MF optimization framework is proposed in this paper to demonstrate and validate its potential application in DTs. First, MF data aggregation using convolutional neural networks (MDACNN) is introduced to integrate low-fidelity (LF) and high-fidelity (HF) models and data. It can fully utilize the LF data to learn the relationship across multiple fidelities. With MDACNN, predictions can be made with high accuracy compared to HF models. Next, MDACNN is integrated into the neural optimization machine (NOM), an optimization framework based on NNs. NOM is explicitly designed for optimizing NN objective functions based on the stochastic gradient descent method. The integrated model is named MF neural optimization machine (MFNOM). A numerical example is presented to illustrate the procedure of implementing MFNOM. Two engineering applications are presented for both MF simulation models and experimental data. The first problem focuses on the multi-resolution finite element simulation for structures and materials. Coarse and fine meshes are applied for simulation. The properties of multi-phase heterogeneous materials are optimized to minimize the stress in the simulation domain. The second problem investigates the internal defects in additively manufacturing. Low/high resolution and full/partial field scanning data are utilized to build DTs. MFNOM is used to design pore size and orientation to reduce the risk caused by irregular pores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize, a monoecious crop, is a model plant for studying the regulation of floral organ development. In a previous study, we found that ZmMYB150 is significantly downregulated in sterile anthers by analyzing transcriptome data of the cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) line C48-2 and its maintainer line 48-2. To elucidate the functional mechanism of ZmMYB150 in maize reproductive development, we cloned ZmMYB150, and sequence analysis showed it is a typical R2R3-MYB transcription factor (TF). Tissue-specific analysis revealed ZmMYB150 to be specifically highly in anthers. The subcellular localization in tobacco leaves proved that ZmMYB150 is located in the nucleus. Co-expression analysis identified 876 genes that may be coexpressed with ZmMYB150, and sequence alignment analysis showed that the coexpressed genes ZmMYB116 and ZmPIP5K6 are homologous to Arabidopsis male fertility-related genes. Furthermore, a yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assay revealed that ZmMYB150 interacts with ZmPIP5K6. qRT-PCR analysis showed that ZmMYB150 is specifically highly expressed at the late stage of normal anther development, but no expression during the whole stages of sterile anther development. Tobacco transient expression system was used to confirm that ZmMYB150 can be regulated by miR159e-3p at the translational level. Our results lay a foundation for further understanding of the regulatory mechanism of MYB TFs in maize reproductive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel nonlocal lattice particle method for modeling elastic deformation of cubic crystals was proposed and verified in this paper. Different from all other numerical models, the lattice particle method decomposes the grain domain into regularly packed discrete material particles according to the internal crystal lattice. Two most common Bravais cubic lattices, i.e., the body-centered cubic lattice and the face-center cubic lattice, were studied in this work. Model parameters were derived in terms of the three elastic material constants based on energy equivalency and theory of hyper-elasticity. Different from coordinates transformation used in the classical continuum mechanics theory, rotation of the discretization lattice is employed to equivalently represent the material anisotropy while capturing the underlying microstructure in the proposed model. The validity and prediction accuracy of the proposed model were established by comparing the predicted directional Young's modulus and the resolved shear stress of different slip systems against analytical solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male sterility is widely utilized for hybrid seed production. In this study, two new found male sterile mutants SauS4 and SauS5 were obtained from space flighted seeds of maize inbred line RP125. Then, genetic analysis, molecular markers identification, and cytological observation were conducted to confirm their male sterile types. For genetic analysis, the above two male sterile mutants were continuously backcrossed with two maize inbred line 18Hong and RP125, and four stable male sterile lines SauS4(18Hong), SauS5(18Hong), SauS4(RP125), SauS5(RP125) were generated by six-generation backcross. Restoring and maintaining relationship analysis showed that both Hui313 and Zifeng1 didn't rescue the male sterility SauS4(18Hong) and SauS5(18Hong). Using CMS mitochondria-specific primers for PCR detection suggested that only a 440 bp band unique to CMS-T type was amplified in SauS4(18Hong), SauS5(18Hong), SauS4(RP125), and SauS5(RP125). Sequencing results showed that these bands sequences were identical in DNA level which compared with T-urf13. Cytological observations showed that the main abortion stages of SauS4 and SauS5 were at the middle stage of uninucleate microspores under the two nuclear backgrounds of 18Hong and RP125, exhibiting the characteristics of sporophyte sterility. All the above results pointed out the two male sterile mutants SauS4 and SauS5 belonged to the CMS-T type. Interestingly, some mitochondrial genome difference between SauS4(RP125) and SauS5(RP125) were revealed by AFLP analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baotu spring, known widely as the most famous spring in China, has experienced continuous water level drops, especially during the dry season. Artificial recharge (AR) to groundwater via the Yufu river has been conducted to maintain the required water level to keep regional springs flowing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of recharge on groundwater. A three-dimensional numerical model was built to simulate groundwater level changes after recharge was applied to the Yufu river. The model was calibrated using hydraulic heads measured at multiple monitoring wells. The results showed that AR is an effective way to maintain the groundwater level in a region where groundwater was excessively exploited for irrigation and industry use. In the studied region, the response of groundwater level to AR near the Yufu river was faster in the west than that in the east as a result of different hydrogeologic conditions. Furthermore, different springs responded differently to AR. For example, the water level increases at the Baotu and Heihu springs were 0.06 m and 0.04 m, respectively, whereas other springs experienced decreases. This implies that a more detailed hydrogeologic characterization is necessary to determine the preferential flow paths and low permeability layers in order to maximize the effect of AR for sustainable groundwater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideal plant for cultivation in space would provide as many nutrients from as few inputs as possible. Here, we discuss how biotechnology could be used to produce a potato cultivar suitable for humans in space. The logistical and practical challenges of supplying food for long-term space missions are substantial. In this comment, the authors discuss potential biotechnological approaches that could be used to aid the production of food crops in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To clone and characterize the squalene synthase from Siraitia grosvenorii (SgSQS). Results: The gene encoding SgSQS was cloned. SgSQS has 417 amino acid residues with an pI of 7.3. There are 32 phosphorylation sites in its sequence: S as well as S play important roles in regulation of enzyme activity. The enzyme is a monomeric protein with a cave-like active center formed by α helixes and has two transmembrane domains at its C-terminus. SgSQS mRNA expression in stem and root were about twice as much as that in leaf and peel. Full-length SgSQS with measurable catalytic activity was expressed in Escherichia coli. SgSQS activity was optimal at 37 °C and pH 7.5 respectively. Conclusion: SgSQS gene was cloned, and the molecular structure and biochemical function of SgSQS were characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tibetan sheep have been observed with mineral deficiencies and marginal deficiencies in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Adequate amounts of essential minerals are critical to maximize the productivity and health of livestock. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of 6 months of mineral block supplementation on the antioxidants, immunity, and health of Tibetan sheep. The study was conducted in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The consumed values of mineral blocks were measured. Blood samples were collected at the end of the experiment to evaluate the trace elements, malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) activities, and antioxidant enzyme activities. Additionally, levels of IgA, IgG, IgM, IL-2, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), triiodothyronine (T3), tyroxine (T4), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were determined. The toxic effects of the mineral block were also monitored. For Tibetan sheep, the average consumed value of mineral block was 13.09 g per day per sheep. Mineral block supplementation significantly increased the serum levels of Mn, Fe, and Se ( P < 0.01), decreased the level of MDA ( P < 0.05), and increased GSH activity ( P < 0.05). Additionally, the mineral block-treated sheep blood had greater total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activities ( P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) than control sheep. Moreover, the mineral block supplementation improved the levels IgA, IgM, and IGF-1 ( P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). Additionally, there were no significant histopathological changes in the organs of Tibetan sheep after long-term treatment with the mineral block. The results demonstrated that the mineral block was non-toxic and safe; the protective effects of the mineral block might be caused by an increase in the antioxidant defense system, as well as an increase in the benefits from immunity-related parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and highly sensitive gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method combined with solid-phase extraction cleanup was established for the comprehensive determination of 16 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in various kinds of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs). A solid-phase extraction (SPE) purification strategy, including three parallel procedures, was developed depending on sample type, and satisfactory purification performances were achieved for all selected CHMs. The limits of detection ranged from 0.12 to 1.08 μg kg for the analyzed PAHs. The average recoveries were in the range of 65.9 % to 100.8 %, except for naphthalene (43.8 %-75.9 %), and the relative standard deviations were ≤12.8 %. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of PAHs in 24 CHMs including five roots, three stems, four flowers, two fruits, four seeds, three leaves, and three barks. In the samples analyzed, all 16 PAHs are present. Their sum ranges from 21.1 to 2236.3 μg kg. The entire procedure was shown to be effective and conveniently fast, and may serve as an alternative screening protocol for the determination of PAHs in CHMs. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A generalized 2D non-local lattice spring model, the Volume-Compensated Particle Model (VCPM), is proposed for the study of fracture phenomena of homogeneous isotropic solids in this paper. In the proposed VCPM, both the pairwise local and the multi-body non-local interaction forces among particles are considered. Special focus is on the investigation of the failure anisotropy or directional preference of the crack path while modeling fracture phenomena within the framework of regular lattice spring models. Different from random network models, a generalized regular lattice framework to include multiple non-local forces from neighboring particles is proposed to eliminate/reduce this well-known failure anisotropy issue. Several benchmarks are tested to assess the performance of the proposed methodology. Discussions and conclusions are drawn based on the current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method was developed for analyzing benzene series (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and styrene; abbreviate as BTEXS) in fish sample by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), which was simplified the sample pretreatment process using matrix removal method by aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) of acetonitrile-KHPO-HO. The interaction of protein with BTEXS was investigated via the equilibrium dialysis coupled with GC-MS. The results of equilibrium dialysis indicated that the combination among BTEXS and protein was very strong. In suitable concentration of acetonitrile aqueous solution, a slow but full protein denaturation takes place, which causes the unfolding of protein and the release of BTEXS. Then, the BTEXS were extracted into upper phase of ATPS of acetonitrile-KHPO-HO with high extraction efficiencies. This method has been applied to the determination of seven benzene series (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, p-xylene, o-xylene, and styrene) residues in the fish sample. The detection limits were in the range of 1.1 ∼ 4.3 ng/g, and the spiked recoveries were 81.4 ∼ 97.8 %, with RSD 1.3 ∼ 5.1 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general framework for probabilistic fatigue damage prognosis using maximum entropy concept is proposed and developed in this paper. The fatigue damage is calculated using a physics-based crack growth model. Due to the stochastic nature of fatigue crack propagation process, uncertainties arising from the underlying physical model, parameters of the model and the response variable measurement noise are considered and integrated into this framework. Incorporating all those uncertainties, a maximum relative entropy (MRE) approach is proposed to update the statistical description of model parameters and narrow down the prognosis deviations. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation is then employed to generate samples from updated posterior probability distributions and provide statistical information for the maximum relative entropy updating procedure. A numerical toy problem is given to demonstrate the proposed MRE prognosis methodology. Experimental data for aluminum alloys are used to validate model predictions under uncertainty. Following this, a detailed comparison between the proposed MRE approach and the classical Bayesian updating method is performed to illustrate advantages of the proposed prognosis framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple analytical approximation is proposed in this paper to calculate the crack tip opening displacement under general random variable amplitude loadings. This approximation is based on a modified Dugdale model for cyclic loadings. The discussion is first given under constant amplitude loading and is extended to several simple cases under variable amplitude loadings. Following this, a general algorithm is proposed under general random variable loadings. Numerical examples are verified with finite element simulations. Following this, hardening effect is included by including a hardening correction function. The proposed analytical approximation is very efficient compared to the direct finite element simulation. The solution can be used for detailed fatigue crack growth analysis under random variable amplitude loadings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

dipose tissue is a readily available source of adult stem cells with multipotent properties suitable for tissue engineering and regenerative medical applications. Peptide hydrogel is a novel biomaterial which provides three-dimensional microenvironments for a variety of cells for tissue grafting. In this study, adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) were isolated from rats, seeded into the peptide hydrogel polymer scaffolds and cultured in Neurobasal (NB) media supplemented with B27, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). Ten days after the culture, some cells were expanded into clonal populations in which the expression of both Nestin and Brdu was detected but only Brdu expression was detected in the cells that were not expanded into clonal populations. Our results suggested that ADSCs in peptide hydrogel polymer scaffolds can be induced to differentiate into cells capable of expressing the neuron-associated markers, self-renewal and self-propagation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a concurrent simulation framework for fatigue crack growth analysis is proposed using a novel small time scale model for fatigue mechanism analysis and the extended finite element method (X-FEM) for fatigue crack growth simulation. The proposed small time scale fatigue model does not require the cycle counting as those using the classical fatigue analysis methods and can be performed concurrently with structural/mechanical analysis. The X-FEM greatly facilitates crack growth simulation without remeshing requirements ahead of the crack tip as in the classical finite element method. The basic concept and theory of X-FEM was briefly introduced and numerical predictions of stress intensity factors are verified with reference solutions under both uniaxial and multiaxial loadings. The small time scale fatigue model is integrated into the numerical simulation algorithm for concurrent fatigue crack growth analysis. Model predictions are compared with available experimental observations for model validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes two quantitative criteria for removing railroad wheels from service, based on real-time structural health monitoring trends that are developed using data collected from trains while in service. The data is collected using wheel impact load detectors (WILDs). These impact load trends are able to distinguish wheels with a high probability of failure from high-impact wheels with a low probability of failure. The trends indicate the critical wheels that actually need to be removed, while at the same time allowing wheels that aren’t critical to remain in service. As a result, the safety of the railroad will be much improved by being able to identify and remove wheels that have high likelihood of causing catastrophic failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear stability criteria for quasi-geostrophic zonally symmetric flow are improved by establishing an optimal Poincaré inequality. The inequality is derived by a variational calculation considering the additional invariant of zonal momentum. When applied to the Eady model in a periodic channel with finite zonal length, the improved nonlinear stability criterion is identical to the linear normal-mode stability criterion provided the channel meridional width is no greater than 0.8605··· times its channel length (which is the geophysically relevant case). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the original version of this Article, there was an error in the legend for Figure 2, whereby the descriptions of panels a, b and c were presented in a different order to the corresponding figure panels. The text ‘a GWAS of duck plumage color, including 76 colored ducks and 30 white Pekin ducks. The gray horizontal dashed lines indicate the Bonferroni significance threshold of the GWAS (1 × 10−9). b Fixation index (FST) of all SNPs along chromosome 13 between mallards and Pekin ducks. Red dots indicate fixed SNPs. c The nucleotide diversity (π) of mallards (blue line) and Pekin ducks (red line) from 16.0 to 17.0 Mb on chromosome 13.’ should have read ‘a Fixation index (FST) of all SNPs along chromosome 13 between mallards and Pekin ducks. Red dots indicate fixed SNPs. b The nucleotide diversity (π) of mallards (blue line) and Pekin ducks (red line) from 16.0 to 17.0 Mb on chromosome 13. c GWAS of duck plumage color, including 76 colored ducks and 30 white Pekin ducks. The gray horizontal dashed lines indicate the Bonferroni significance threshold of the GWAS (1 × 10−9).’ This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]