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The behaviors of unsteady flow structures and corresponding hydrodynamics for a pitching hydrofoil are investigated numerically and theoretically in the present paper. The aims are to derive the total lift by finite-domain impulse theory for sub-cavitating flow (σ = 8.0) and cavitating flow (σ = 3.0), and to quantify the distinct impact of individual vortex structures on the transient lift to appreciate the interplay among cavitation, flow structures, and vortex dynamics. The motion of the hydrofoil is set to pitch up clockwise with an almost constant rate from 0° to 15° and then back to 0°, for the Reynolds number, 7.5 × 105, and the frequency, 0.2 Hz, respectively. The results reveal that the presence of cavities delays the migration of the laminar separation bubble (LSB) from the trailing edge (TE) to the leading edge (LE), consequently postponing the hysteresis in the inflection of lift coefficients. The eventual stall under the sub-cavitation regime is the result of LSB bursting. While the instabilities within the leading-edge LSB induce the convection of cavitation-dominated vortices under the cavitation regime instead. Having validated the lift coefficients on the hydrofoil through the finite-domain impulse theory using the standard force expression, the Lamb vector integral emerges as the main contribution to the generation of unsteady lift. Moreover, the typical vortices’ contributions to the transient lift during dynamic stall are accurately quantified. The analysis indicates that the clockwise leading-edge vortex (−LEV) contributes positively, while the counterclockwise trailing-edge vortex (+TEV) contributes negatively. The negative influence becomes particularly pronounced after reaching the peak of total lift, as the shedding of the concentrated wake vortex precipitates a sharp decline due to a predominant negative lift contribution from the TEV region. Generally, the vortices’ contribution is relatively modest in sub-cavitating flow, but it is notably more significant in the context of incipient cavitating flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The global incidence of thyroid cancer (THCA) has significantly risen in recent years. This study aims to investigate the role and mechanisms of PTEN in epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion and migration of THCA cells. Methods: PTEN expression in THCA was analyzed through bioinformatics databases. RT-qPCR and Western blot analyses were performed to quantify PTEN levels in the Nthy-ori 3–1 cell line and three THCA cell types (TPC-1, B-CPAP, FTC-133). TPC-1 cells were transfected with a PTEN overexpression plasmid and treated with the Wnt activator. Cell viability and apoptosis were assessed via CCK-8 and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression levels of E-Cadherin, N-Cadherin, and Vimentin in TPC-1 cells were evaluated using Western blot. The invasive, migratory, and wound-healing abilities of the cells were examined using Transwell and scratch assays. Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway was assessed through Western blot. Results: PTEN expression was significantly lower in THCA cells, particularly in TPC-1 cells compared to other cell lines. PTEN overexpression led to decreased viability in TPC-1 cells, increased apoptosis, and a rise in E-Cadherin levels while reducing N-Cadherin and Vimentin levels, thereby inhibiting EMT. Furthermore, PTEN overexpression diminished the invasive, migratory and wound-healing capabilities of TPC-1 cells and suppressed activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Treatment with the Wnt activator partially counteracted the effects of PTEN overexpression on TPC-1 cells. Conclusion: PTEN functions to inhibit EMT and the invasive and migratory characteristics of THCA cells by blocking the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors such as increasing mental pressure and poor living habits in modern society have led to an increase in the incidence of male reproductive diseases, including poor semen quality, testicular malignancy, and congenital developmental defects. The decline of male fertility deserves our attention. Resveratrol (3,4′, 5-trihydroxy-trans-Stilbene, 3,4′,5-trihydroxy), a polyphenol widely found in plant foods, is expected to enhance testicular function and promote breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases related to the male reproductive system. A large number of studies have shown that in male animals, resveratrol can enhance testicular function and spermatogenesis by activating SIRT1 expression and resist the damage of the testicular system by adverse factors. This article reviews the basic protective pathways of resveratrol against testicular and sperm damage, which involve oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, inflammatory damage, and mitochondrial function. The healthcare framework of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM/3PM) is by far the most beneficial for healthcare and is suitable for the management of chronic diseases. This review also summarizes the health benefits of resveratrol on male reproduction in the context of PPPM/3PM by comprehensively collecting and reviewing the available evidence, thus leading to a working hypothesis that resveratrol can personalize prevention and protection of male reproductive function. It provides a new perspective and direction for future research on the health effects of resveratrol in improving male reproductive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is a mitochondrial enzyme primarily involved in the detoxification of alcohol-derived aldehyde and endogenous toxic aldehydes. It exhibits widespread expression across various organs and exerts a broad and significant impact on diverse acute cardiovascular diseases, including acute coronary syndrome, acute aortic dissection, hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, and heart failure. The ALDH2 rs671 variant represents the most prevalent genetic variant in East Asian populations, with carriage rates ranging from 30 to 50% among the Chinese population. Given its widespread presence in the body, the wide range of diseases it affects, and its high rate of variation, it can serve as a crucial tool for the precise prevention and treatment of acute cardiovascular diseases, while offering individualized medication guidance. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in factors affecting ALDH2 activity, encompassing post-transcriptional modifications, modulators of ALDH2, and relevant clinical drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1957 H2N2 influenza pandemic virus [A(H2N2)pdm1957] has disappeared from humans since 1968, while H2N2 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are still circulating in birds. It is necessary to reveal the recurrence risk and potential cross-species infection of these AIVs from avian to mammals. We find that H2 AIVs circulating in domestic poultry in China have genetic and antigenic differences compared to the A(H2N2)pdm1957. One H2N2 AIV has a dual receptor-binding property similar to that of the A(H2N2)pdm1957. Molecular and structural studies reveal that the N144S, and N144E or R137M substitutions in hemagglutinin (HA) enable H2N2 avian or human viruses to bind or preferentially bind human-type receptor. The H2N2 AIV rapidly adapts to mice (female) and acquires mammalian-adapted mutations that facilitated transmission in guinea pigs and ferrets (female). These findings on the receptor-binding, infectivity, transmission, and mammalian-adaptation characteristics of H2N2 AIVs provide a reference for early-warning and prevention for this subtype. The authors identify one emerging H2N2 AIV, reveal the molecular basis of human-type receptor binding of the H2N2 AIV and pandemic strains, and evaluate the public risk of H2N2 AIV by its infection, transmission and mammalian-adaptation features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distant supervised relation extraction has been increasingly popular in recent years, which generates datasets automatically without human intervention. However, the distant supervised assumption has the limitation that the generated datasets have inevitable labeling errors. This paper proposes the method of Hierarchical Symmetric Cross Entropy for Distant Supervised Relation Extraction (HSCERE) to alleviate the impact of the noisy labels. Specifically, HSCERE simultaneously utilizes two extractors with the same network structure for collaborative learning. This collaborative learning process guides the optimization of the extractor through a joint loss function, namely Hierarchical Symmetric Cross Entropy (HSCE). Within the HSCE loss, the predicted probability distribution of the extractors serves as the supervisory signal, guiding the optimization of the extractors on two levels to reduce the impact of noisy labels. The two levels include the internal optimization within each extractor and the collaborative optimization between extractors. Experiments on generally used datasets show that HSCERE can effectively handle noisy labels and can be incorporated into various methods to enhance their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impaired basic academic skills (e.g., word recognition) are common in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The underlying neuropsychological and neural correlates of impaired Chinese reading skills in children with ADHD have not been substantially explored. Three hundred and two children with ADHD (all medication-naïve) and 105 healthy controls underwent the Chinese language skill assessment, and 175 also underwent fMRI scans (84 ADHD and 91 controls). Between-group and mediation analyses were applied to explore the interrelationships of the diagnosis of ADHD, cognitive dysfunction, and impaired reading skills. Five ADHD-related brain functional networks, including the default mode network (DMN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN), were built using predefined regions of interest. Voxel-based group-wise comparisons were performed. The ADHD group performed worse than the control group in word-level reading ability tests, with lower scores in Chinese character recognition (CR) and word chains (WS) (all P < 0.05). With full-scale IQ and sustained attention in the mediation model, the direct effect of ADHD status on the CR score became insignificant (P = 0.066). The underlying neural correlates for the orthographic knowledge (OT) and CR differed between the ADHD and the control group. The ADHD group tended to recruit more DMN regions to maintain their reading performance, while the control group seemed to utilize more DAN regions. Children with ADHD generally presented impaired word-level reading skills, which might be caused by impaired sustained attention and lower IQ. According to the brain functional results, we infer that ADHD children might utilize a different strategy to maintain their orthographic knowledge and character recognition performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depressive disorder is a significant public health problem worldwide, which adversely affects children and adolescents’ health. Impaired fasting blood glucose (IFG) is more common in depressive disorder, which becomes a clinical problem that needs to be focused on. The study purposed to determine the prevalence and related factors of IFG in Chinese children and adolescents with depressive disorder and the relationship between triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio and IFG. This research encompassed 756 individuals aged 8 to 18 with major depressive disorders, all diagnosed under DSM-5 criteria at the Third People’s Hospital of Fuyang from January 2020 to December 2021. We detected fasting blood glucose (FBG) and lipid levels and assessed the suicidal behaviors and depressive symptoms severity of each participant. The sociodemographic and included study variables were collected and analyzed. Our study employed multiple logistic regression to discern independent factors affecting IFG in conjunction with depressive disorders among children and adolescents. The prevalence of IFG was 6.5% (49/756). IFG was positively correlated with FBG, BMI, TG, TG/HDL-C, and was negatively correlated with gender and the type of antidepressant drug taken. Binary logistic analysis showed that male (OR = 2.57, 95% CI: 1.43–4.63, P = 0.002) and higher levels of TG (OR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.11–2.38, P = 0.013) were independently associated with IFG in children and adolescents with depressive disorder. The incidence of IFG in children and adolescents with depressive disorder was high and was positively related to the TG/HDL-C ratio. The evaluation and management of IFG in pediatric depression should extend beyond pharmacological interventions. Comprehensive strategies in both assessment and management of IFG are essential to address this condition effectively in young patients facing depressive disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dissolution behavior of crystal-originated particle (COP) in 300 mm Czochralski silicon under argon annealing was investigated. The latex sphere equivalent size distributions of defects along the depth direction in silicon wafers annealed under different conditions were quantified utilizing chemical–mechanical polishing and localized light scattering inspection. The interstitial oxygen concentration profiles were quantified by secondary ion mass spectrometry, and the distributions of oxygen precipitation within annealed wafers were obtained based on peak analysis. Furthermore, the classical theoretical model was employed to elucidate the depth-dependent dissolution of COP. Based on the initial COP sizes and oxygen concentrations, the relationship between COP sizes and depth after annealing was calculated. The depth distributions of defects obtained by combining the dissolution of COP from calculation with the changes of oxygen precipitation were found to be highly consistent with the measurement results. These findings could enhance the understanding of the mechanism of COP dissolution, which contributes to the production of defect-free silicon wafers for nanometre-scale integrated circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating the molecular dependencies behind the cancer-type specificity of driver mutations may reveal new therapeutic opportunities. We hypothesized that developmental programs would impact the transduction of oncogenic signaling activated by a driver mutation and shape its cancer-type specificity. Therefore, we designed a computational analysis framework by combining single-cell gene expression profiles during fetal organ development, latent factor discovery, and information theory-based differential network analysis to systematically identify transcription factors that selectively respond to driver mutations under the influence of organ-specific developmental programs. After applying this approach to VHL mutations, which are highly specific to clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), we revealed important regulators downstream of VHL mutations in ccRCC and used their activities to cluster patients with ccRCC into three subtypes. This classification revealed a more significant difference in prognosis than the previous mRNA profile-based method and was validated in an independent cohort. Moreover, we found that EP300, a key epigenetic factor maintaining the regulatory network of the subtype with the worst prognosis, can be targeted by a small inhibitor, suggesting a potential treatment option for a subset of patients with ccRCC. This work demonstrated an intimate relationship between organ development and oncogenesis from the perspective of systems biology, and the method can be generalized to study the influence of other biological processes on cancer driver mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Chinese nurses in promoting physical activity among cancer survivors and the relationships between these attributes and to identify the factors hindering nurses’ clinical practice. Methods: Nurses from oncology-related departments of 10 public tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province completed self-administered questionnaires that included information about demographics; knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physical activity promotion; and barriers to clinical practice. The STROBE statement for observational studies was applied. Results: A total of 502 valid questionnaires were obtained. The average standardized scores of knowledges, attitudes, and practice were 75.33%, 82.36%, and 62.60%, respectively. Oncology specialist nurses and nurses who had received relevant training had higher levels of knowledge, nurses from general hospitals reported higher levels of practice, and nurses who had learned the relevant guidelines were better in terms of knowledge, attitude, and level of practice. Attitude had a statistically significant mediating effect between knowledge and practice. Lack of time, lack of multidisciplinary clinical teams, and lack of clear guidelines were the most frequently reported barriers to practice. Conclusion: In China, nurses have a moderate level of knowledge and practice in promoting physical activity among cancer survivors, but a positive attitude. Numerous barrier factors present challenges in nurses’ clinical practice. Attitude plays a partial mediating role between knowledge and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical studies of the diffusional isotope effect in solids are still stuck in the 1960s and 1970s. With the development of high spatial resolution mass spectrometers, isotopic data of mineral grains are rapidly accumulated. To dig up information from these data, molecular-level theoretical models are urgently needed. Based on the microscopic definition of the diffusion coefficient (D), a new theoretical framework for calculating the diffusional isotope effect (DIE(v)) (in terms of D*/D) for vacancy-mediated impurity diffusion in solids is provided based on statistical mechanics formalism. The newly derived equation shows that the DIE(v) can be easily calculated as long as the vibration frequencies of isotope-substituted solids are obtained. The calculated DIE(v) values of 199Au/195Au and 60Co/57Co during diffusion in Cu and Au metals are all within 1% of errors compared to the experimental data, which shows that this theoretical model is reasonable and precise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prognosis for patients with esophageal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) followed by surgery has shown improvement in recent years. We sought to identify the critical factors contributing to enhanced survival outcomes. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively examined 427 patients with esophageal cancer treated with nCRT and esophagectomy across two periods: P1 (from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2011) and P2 (from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2017). The introduction of the CROSS regimen and total meso-esophagectomy in P2 prompted an evaluation of their effects on perioperative outcomes and overall survival (OS). Results: During P2, the occurrence of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy increased significantly from 3.9 to 16.8% (p < 0.001), while pneumonia and in-hospital mortality rates remained unchanged. The median OS improved from 19.2 to 29.2 months (p < 0.001) between P1 and P2. Multivariable analysis identified higher nodal yields and the achievement of major response as favorable prognostic factors. Conversely, an involved circumferential resection margin (CRM), an advanced ypN stage, and pneumonia were independently associated with poor outcomes. Patients treated during P2 had a lower prevalence of involved CRM (10% vs. 25.1%, p < 0.001), a higher rate of major response (52.7% vs. 34.8%, p < 0.01), and a greater nodal yield (27.8 vs. 10.9, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The clinical outcomes following nCRT and surgery have improved significantly over time. This progress can be attributed to multiple factors, with the primary drivers being the refinement of nCRT protocols and the application of radical surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olea europaea L. (OEL) fruits play a significant role in the Mediterranean diet. OEL fruits contain abundant bioactive components and have been reported to possess potential antioxidant and xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibition effects. However, the active components for XOD inhibition effects and related mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, the antioxidant activity of OEL fruits was assessed and showed a good effect on antioxidants. After that, the XOD inhibition effects of OEL fruits were investigated. The results indicated that OEL fruits also have a good impact on inhibiting XOD, with IC50 values of 208.2 ± 1.58 μg/mL. Under the optimal experimental conditions, six potential XOD ligands in OEL fruits were screened out and three phenylethanol analogues were identified (hydroxytyrosol, 3,4-dihydroxy phenyl ethyl acetate, oleuropein). Compared to the inactivated group, 3,4-dihydroxy phenyl ethyl acetate had the highest affinity, indicating it might be the main component of the OEL fruits that inhibit XOD. Molecular docking results elucidated that the potential active components mainly form hydrogen bonds with XOD. The results showed that OEL fruits possessed potential antioxidant and XOD inhibitory effects and that the affinity ultrafiltration (UF) method is an effective method to screen potential ligands for XOD from natural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Soil salinization is a growing environmental problem and a major factor limiting crop production. Growing salt-adapted crops may allow farmers to utilize farmland with high salt concentrations. For example, leaves of the halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (also known as 'ice plant') are consumed raw, cooked, or pickled. Here, we examine the mechanism by which salt improved the quality of this vegetable crop and provide theoretical support for planting M. crystallinum in saline soils or growing it in hydroponic facilities. Methods: Four-leaf stage M. crystallinum seedlings were treated with 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 mM NaCl for 4 weeks and then plant growth and ion, nutrient and betacyanin contents were measured. Results: Compared to the control (0 mM NaCl), treatment with 50 and 100 mM NaCl significantly improved M. crystallinum growth and increased the contents of nutrients (protein, dietary fiber, organic acids, and soluble sugars) and betacyanins. By contrast, treatment with 150–300 mM NaCl had the opposite effect. Genes encoding the betacyanin biosynthesis enzymes tyrosinase, DODA, 5-GT, and CYP76AD1 were upregulated in plants treated with 100 mM NaCl. Four betacyanin derivatives were also identified in this species. Conclusions: Treatment with 100 mM NaCl significantly improved the growth, nutrient contents and betacyanin contents of this species, thereby improving its commercial value. These findings thus provide guidance for hydroponic or field growth of this emerging vegetable crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensemble learning serves as a straightforward way to improve the performance of almost any machine learning algorithm. Existing deep ensemble methods usually naïvely train many different models and then aggregate their predictions. This is not optimal in our view from two aspects: (1) Naïvely training multiple models adds much more computational burden, especially in the deep learning era; (2) Purely optimizing each base model without considering their interactions limits the diversity of ensemble and performance gains. We tackle these issues by proposing deep negative correlation classification (DNCC), in which the accuracy and diversity trade-off is systematically controlled by decomposing the loss function seamlessly into individual accuracy and the "correlation" between individual models and the ensemble. DNCC yields a deep classification ensemble where the individual estimator is both accurate and "negatively correlated". Thanks to the optimized diversities, DNCC works well even when utilizing a shared network backbone, which significantly improves its efficiency when compared with most existing ensemble systems, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmark datasets and network structures demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), one of the most important building blocks, has attracted tremendous concerns, and the routes for FDCA synthesis from non-edible hemicellulose are of vital importance from the views of the circular economy. Herein, a multistep process towards hemicellulose-to-FDCA conversion is proposed, including hemicellulose-to-furfural conversion and sequential oxidation to furoic acid (FA), following with cesium furoate (FA-Cs) preparation and its direct carboxylation with carbon dioxide (CO2). The overall conversion yield of the targeted FDCA product towards the hemicellulose-to-FDCA pathway reaches 29.6%. Many efforts are made on the direct carboxylation reaction of FA-Cs with CO2 using Cs2CO3 as a catalyst. Results show that FDCA with 56.47% yield is achieved via direct carboxylation of FA-Cs at 290 °C for 12 h with 40 mL/min of flowing CO2. Different from the previous reports, it is demonstrated that drying methods of FA-Cs show significant effects on the yield and properties of the targeted FDCA product. It is found that the conventional drying method is more suitable than the vacuum drying method. From the putative reaction mechanism, the roles of CO2 and Cs2CO3 are elucidated. CO2 plays a direct role in carboxylation reaction, and excessive Cs2CO3 can deteriorate FDCA yield due to the occurrence of decomposition. Interestingly, biochar generated during carboxylation reaction is a promising potential adsorbent, which can efficiently adsorb methylene blue with a removal rate of 96% and an adsorption amount of 80 mg/g. This present work can provide an integrated strategy for both hemicellulose valorization and CO2 utilization in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ras guanine nucleotide-releasing protein 1 (RasGRP1), a Ras activator, is upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other kinds of cancer and is associated with the poor prognosis of patients. However, little is known about the underlying regulatory mechanisms of RasGRP1 in the context of cancer. Here, we report that RasGRP1 physically interacted with the adaptor protein Src homolog and collagen homolog 3 (Shc3). Moreover, RasGRP1 C-terminus domain (aa 607–797) bound to the central collagen-homology 1 (CH1) domain of Shc3. Subsequently, Shc3 enhanced the RasGRP1 tyrosine phosphorylation rate and stability by inhibiting its ubiquitination. Notably, the phosphorylation-mimicking mutants of RasGRP1, RasGRP1 Y704A, and Y748A, rescued the phosphorylation and ubiquitination levels of RasGRP1 in HCC cells. Further investigation showed that the RasGRP1 and Shc3 interaction induced activation of Ras and c-Jun, resulting in cell proliferation in vitro. Moreover, the regulation of Shc3/RasGRP1/Ras/c-Jun signal transduction was confirmed in vivo using the subcutaneous xenograft mouse model. Thus, we propose that continuous Shc3 overexpression may be a possible mechanism for maintaining RasGRP1 stability and that persistent activation of Ras/c-Jun signaling through the interaction of RasGRP1 and Shc3 is a key event increasing cell proliferation. Our findings suggest that the interaction of RasGRP1 and Shc3 plays an important role in HCC tumorigenesis and suggests the potential clinical usage of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Recently, tensor decompositions have attracted increasing attention and shown promising performance in processing multi-dimensional data. However, the existing tensor decompositions assume that the correlation along one mode is homogeneous and thus cannot characterize the multiple types of correlations (i.e., heterogeneous correlation) along the mode in real data. To address this issue, we propose a heterogeneous tensor product that allows us to explore this heterogeneous correlation, which can degenerate into the classic tensor products (e.g., mode product and tensor–tensor product). Equipped with this heterogeneous tensor product, we develop a generalized tensor decomposition (GTD) framework for third-order tensors, which not only induces many novel tensor decompositions but also helps us to better understand the interrelationships between the new tensor decompositions and the existing tensor decompositions. Especially, under the GTD framework, we find that new tensor decompositions can faithfully characterize the multiple types of correlations along the mode. To examine the effectiveness of the new tensor decomposition, we evaluate its performance on a representative data compression task. Extensive experimental results on multispectral images, light field images, and videos compression demonstrate the superior performance of our developed tensor decomposition compared to other existing tensor decompositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) is a spoilage microorganism widely distributed in vegetables, dairy products, and various environments and can cause serious foodborne illnesses. Renowned for its environmentally friendly, safe, and non-toxic properties, rose essential oil (REO) is widely recognized as an exceptional natural antibacterial agent. In the present study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis to elucidate the inhibition mechanism of REO against S. maltophilia at both cellular and metabolic levels. The results demonstrated that REO treatment of cells resulted in the disruption of cell structure and leakage of cellular contents. Remarkable changes in the morphology of bacterial cells were observed under both scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. At the metabolic level, multiple metabolic pathways were disrupted after REO treatment, including amino acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, and aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis. These results shed new light to the inhibition mechanism of REO against S. maltophilia and provide a theoretical basis for the development of effective essential oil preservatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While KRAS mutation is the leading cause of low survival rates in lung cancer bone metastasis patients, effective treatments are still lacking. Here, we identified homeobox C10 (HOXC10) as a lynchpin in pan-KRAS-mutant lung cancer bone metastasis. Through RNA-seq approach and patient tissue studies, we demonstrated that HOXC10 expression was dramatically increased. Genetic depletion of HOXC10 preferentially impeded cell proliferation and migration in vitro. The bioluminescence imaging and micro-CT results demonstrated that inhibition of HOXC10 significantly reduced bone metastasis of KRAS-mutant lung cancer in vivo. Mechanistically, the transcription factor HOXC10 activated NOD1/ERK signaling pathway to reprogram epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and bone microenvironment by activating the NOD1 promoter. Strikingly, inhibition of HOXC10 in combination with STAT3 inhibitor was effective against KRAS-mutant lung cancer bone metastasis by triggering ferroptosis. Taken together, these findings reveal that HOXC10 effectively alleviates pan-KRAS-mutant lung cancer with bone metastasis in the NOD1/ERK axis-dependent manner, and support further development of an effective combinatorial strategy for this kind of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current image-text matching methods implicitly align visual-semantic segments within images, and employ cross-modal attention mechanisms to discover fine-grained cross-modal semantic correspondences. Although region-word pairs constitute local matches across modalities, they may lead to inaccurate measurements of relevance when viewed from a global perspective of image-text relationships. Additionally, cross-modal attention mechanisms may introduce redundant or irrelevant region-word alignments, which can reduce retrieval accuracy and limit efficiency. To address these challenges, we propose a Dual perception Attention and local-global Similarity Fusion framework(DASF). Specifically, We combine two types of similarity matching, global and local, to establish a more accurate correspondence between images and text by simultaneously considering global semantics and local details during the matching process. Simultaneously, we integrate dual-perception attention mechanisms to learn the relationship between images and text, utilizing attention polarity to determine the degree of matching and better consider contextual and semantic information, thereby reducing interference from irrelevant regions. Extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets, Flickr30K and MSCOCO, demonstrate the superior effectiveness of our DASF, achieving state-of-the-art performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infections caused by pathogenic Escherichia coli are a serious threat to human health, while conventional antibiotic susceptibility tests (AST) have a long turn-around time, and rapid antibiotic susceptibility methods are urgently needed to save lives in the clinic, reduce antibiotic misuse and prevent emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We optimized and validated the feasibility of a novel rapid AST based on SYBR Green I and Propidium Iodide (SGPI-AST) for E. coli drug susceptibility test. A total of 112 clinical isolates of E. coli were collected and four antibiotics (ceftriaxone, cefoxitin, imipenem, meropenem) were selected for testing. Bacterial survival rate of E. coli was remarkably linearly correlated with S value at different OD600 values. After optimizing the antibiotic concentrations, the sensitivity and specificity of SGPI-AST reached 100%/100%, 97.8%/100%, 100%/100% and 98.4%/99% for ceftriaxone, cefoxitin, imipenem and meropenem, respectively, and the corresponding concordances of the SGPI-AST with conventional AST were 1.000, 0.980, 1.000 and 0.979, respectively. The SGPI-AST can rapidly and accurately determine the susceptibility of E. coli clinical isolates to multiple antibiotics in 60 min, and has the potential to be applied to guide the precise selection of antibiotics for clinical management of infections caused by pathogenic E. coli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, research on organ-on-a-chip technology has been flourishing, particularly for drug screening and disease model development. Fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells engage in crosstalk through paracrine signaling and direct cell–cell contact, which is essential for the normal development and function of the heart. Therefore, to faithfully recapitulate cardiac function, it is imperative to incorporate fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells into a heart-on-a-chip model. Here, we report the development of a human heart-on-a-chip composed of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells. Vascular endothelial cells cultured on microfluidic channels responded to the flow of culture medium mimicking blood flow by orienting themselves parallel to the flow direction, akin to in vivo vascular alignment in response to blood flow. Furthermore, the flow of culture medium promoted integrity among vascular endothelial cells, as evidenced by CD31 staining and lower apparent permeability. The tri-culture condition of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells resulted in higher expression of the ventricular cardiomyocyte marker IRX4 and increased contractility compared to the bi-culture condition with iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts alone. Such tri-culture-derived cardiac tissues exhibited cardiac responses similar to in vivo hearts, including an increase in heart rate upon noradrenaline administration. In summary, we have achieved the development of a heart-on-a-chip composed of cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells that mimics in vivo cardiac behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isotope effects are pivotal in understanding silicate melt evaporation and planetary accretion processes. Based on the Hertz–Knudsen equation, the current theory often fails to predict observed isotope fractionations of laboratory experiments due to its oversimplified assumptions. Here, we point out that the Hertz-Knudsen-equation-based theory is incomplete for silicate melt evaporation cases and can only be used for situations where the vaporized species is identical to the one in the melt. We propose a new model designed for silicate melt evaporation under vacuum. Our model considers multiple steps including mass transfer, chemical reaction, and nucleation. Our derivations reveal a kinetic isotopic fractionation factor (KIFF or α) αour model = [m(1species)/m(2species)]0.5, where m(species) is the mass of the reactant of reaction/nucleation-limiting step or species of diffusion-limiting step and superscript 1 and 2 represent light and heavy isotopes, respectively. This model can effectively reproduce most reported KIFFs of laboratory experiments for various elements, i.e., Mg, Si, K, Rb, Fe, Ca, and Ti. And, the KIFF-mixing model referring that an overall rate of evaporation can be determined by two steps jointly can account for the effects of low PH2 pressure, composition, and temperature. In addition, we find that chemical reactions, diffusion, and nucleation can control the overall rate of evaporation of silicate melts by using the fitting slope in ln(− lnf) versus ln(t). Notably, our model allows for the theoretical calculations of parameters like activation energy (Ea), providing a novel approach to studying compositional and environmental effects on evaporation processes, and shedding light on the formation and evolution of the proto-solar and Earth-Moon systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquake-induced rock landslides in the eastern mountains of the Tibetan Plateau, especially landslides with weak interlayers pose a significant threat to major construction projects. Prestressed anchor cable is one of the main reinforcement methods of rock slopes. This paper combines shaking table model tests and numerical simulation to study the reinforcement effect and dynamic response characteristics of prestressed anchor cables applied to rock slopes with weak interlayers under strong earthquakes. The research results show that prestressed anchor cables can effectively reinforce slopes with weak interlayers. A small cable inclination, a small spacing and a high prestress are recommended in the seismic reinforcement design of prestressed anchor cable. In addition, the characteristics of slope progressive damage and prestress loss under the earthquake are found by the shaking table test. The results have been applied in hazard prevention and control of rock slopes on the Chengdu-Lanzhou Railway at the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is prevalent in the aging society. Despite body weight reduction, the prevalence of NAFLD has been increasing with aging for unknown reasons. Here, we investigate the association of DNA methylation age acceleration, a hallmark of aging, with risk of NAFLD. Genome-wide DNA methylation profiles were measured in 95 participants who developed type 2 diabetes during 4-year follow-up, and 356 randomly sampled participants from Shanghai Changfeng Study. DNA methylation age was calculated using the Horvath's method, and liver fat content (LFC) was measured using a quantitative ultrasound method. Subjects with highest tertile of DNA methylation age acceleration (≥ 9.5 years) had significantly higher LFC (7.2% vs 3.1%, P = 0.008) but lower body fat percentage (29.7% vs 33.0%, P = 0.032) than those with lowest tertile of DNA methylation age acceleration (< 4.0 years). After adjustment for age, sex, alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, BMI, waist circumference, and different type blood cell counts, the risk of NAFLD was still significantly increased in the highest tertile group (OR, 4.55; 95% CI, 1.06–19.61). Even in subjects with similar LFC at baseline, DNA methylation age acceleration was associated with higher increase in LFC (4.0 ± 10.7% vs 0.9 ± 9.5%, P = 0.004) after a median of 4-year follow-up. Further analysis found that 6 CpGs of Horvath age predictors were associated with longitudinal changes in LFC after multivariate adjustment and located on genes that might lead to fat redistribution from peripheral adipose to liver. Combination of the key CpG methylation related to liver fat content with conventional risk factors improves the performance for NAFLD prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a prominent manifestation of user-generated content (UGC), micro-video has emerged as a pivotal medium for individuals to document and disseminate their daily experiences. In particular, micro-videos generally encompass abundant content elements that are abstractly described by a group of annotated labels. However, previous methods primarily focus on the discriminability of explicit labels while neglecting corresponding implicit semantics, which are particularly relevant for diverse micro-video characteristics. To address this problem, we develop a deep low-rank semantic factorization (DLRSF) method to perform multi-label classification of micro-videos. Specifically, we introduce a semantic embedding matrix to bridge explicit labels and implicit semantics, and further present a low-rank-regularized semantic learning module to explore the intrinsic lowest-rank semantic attributes. A correlation-driven deep semantic interaction module is designed within a deep factorization framework to enhance interactions among instance features, explicit labels and semantic embeddings. Additionally, inverse covariance analysis is employed to unveil underlying correlation structures between labels and features, thereby making the semantic embeddings more discriminative and improving model generalization ability simultaneously. Extensive experimental results on three available datasets have showcased the superiority of our DLRSF compared with the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a heterogeneous inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease with an unpredictable course towards progressive disability. Treating progressive MS is challenging due to limited insights into the underlying mechanisms. We examined the molecular changes associated with primary progressive MS (PPMS) using a cross-tissue (blood and post-mortem brain) and multilayered data (genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic) from independent cohorts. In PPMS, we found hypermethylation of the 1q21.1 locus, controlled by PPMS-specific genetic variations and influencing the expression of proximal genes (CHD1L, PRKAB2) in the brain. Evidence from reporter assay and CRISPR/dCas9 experiments supports a causal link between methylation and expression and correlation network analysis further implicates these genes in PPMS brain processes. Knock-down of CHD1L in human iPSC-derived neurons and knock-out of chd1l in zebrafish led to developmental and functional deficits of neurons. Thus, several lines of evidence suggest a distinct genetic-epigenetic-transcriptional interplay in the 1q21.1 locus potentially contributing to PPMS pathogenesis. This study identifies distinct genetic-epigenetictranscriptional interplay at the 1q21.1 locus in relation to neuronal deficits in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy provides remarkable clinical benefits for multiple cancer types. However, the overall response rate to ICB therapy remains low in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study aimed to identify biomarkers of ICB therapy for ESCC and interrogate its potential clinical relevance. Methods: We investigated gene expression in 42 treatment-naïve ESCC tumor tissues and identified differentially expressed genes, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and immune-related genes signatures associated with differential immunotherapy responses. We systematically assessed the tumor microenvironment using the NanoString GeoMx digital spatial profiler, single-cell RNA-seq and multiplex immunohistochemistry in ESCC. Finally, we evaluated the associations between HLA-A-positive tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) and patients' responses to ICB in 60 ESCC patients. Results: Tumor infiltrating B lymphocytes and several immune-related gene signatures, such as the antigen presenting machinery (APM) signature, are significantly elevated in ICB treatment responders. Multiplex immunohistochemistry identified the presence of HLA-A+ TLSs and showed that TLS-resident cells increasingly express HLA-A as TLSs mature. Most TLS-resident HLA-A+ cells are tumor-infiltrating T (TIL-T) or tumor-infiltrating B (TIL-B) lymphocytes. Digital spatial profiling of spatially distinct TIL-T lymphocytes and single-cell RNA-seq data from 60 ESCC tumor tissues revealed that CXCL13-expressing exhausted TIL-Ts inside TLSs are reactivated with elevated expression of the APM signature as TLSs mature. Finally, we demonstrated that HLA-A+ TLSs and their major cellular components, TIL-Ts and TIL-Bs, are associated with a clinical benefit from ICB treatment for ESCC. Conclusions: HLA-A+ TLSs are present in ESCC tumor tissues. TLS-resident TIL-Ts with elevated expression of the APM signature may be reactivated. HLA-A+ TLSs and their major cellular components, TIL-Ts and TIL-Bs, may serve as biomarkers for ICB-treated ESCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a shaking table test was conducted on long-short composite anti-slide piles, the development process and dynamic response of cracks in a pile-supported slope were observed, and the failure mechanism of the slope was explored. The experiment showed that the failure of the pile-supported slope under an earthquake was a gradual process; cracks first occur at the top of the slope, where the support action of the piles was weak. As the input seismic action increased, cracks developed downwards along the slope. Owing to the support effect of the long-short anti-slide composite piles, the transmission path of the cracks changed, and the cracks developed along the top of the composite piles, ultimately leading to overtop failure. When cracks appeared on the slope or near final failure, the acceleration response law of the supported slope undergone a sudden change, which was an important indicator of slope instability. The distribution of dynamic soil stress on the pile body was greatly affected by the input peak ground acceleration, and the maximum bending moment of the long-short composite anti-slide piles was located near the weak interlayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing intensity of human activity is exposing more people and property in hill regions to geohazards (including rockfall, landslide, debris flow, et al.). In tectonically weak and humid (TWH) hilly areas, such as the Jiangxi Province, a large proportion of the losses in geohazards are caused by cut slope house-building (CSHB) landslides. The house is the "first line of defense" of a household against geohazards. However, previous studies mainly studied cut slope landslides themselves to reduce disaster losses, but few conducted analyses from the perspective of house damage. Considering the situation, this study makes an inventory of house damage information related to CSHB landslides in Jiangxi Province from 2019 to 2022 and analyzes the house damage characteristics, effects of influencing factors on house damage, and prevention suggestions in TWH hilly areas. Some main findings can be summarized as follows: (i) The main house with a brick-concrete structure will not collapse under the influence of 81.07% cut slope landslides; (ii) the first floor needs to be reinforced due to its high frequency of damage; (iii) the ancillary houses should be placed in front of the main house or on diagonal sides away from the cut slope and should not be set up as high-activity functional areas; (iv) the kitchen is the functional area with the most severe damage closely related to layout pattern and stability characteristics. Our study contributes to subsequent analysis of house damage or physical vulnerability, and disaster loss reduction in TWH hilly areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention has been paid to the association between outdoor air pollutants and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Xi'an has special basin topography and meteorological conditions as well as developed industries. All these make the outdoor air pollution in Xi 'an serious. Thus, we wish to assess the association between outdoor air pollutants and AECOPD in Xi'an, China. Daily AECOPD inpatient and outpatient visits in 2018 were collected from the eight first-class large general hospitals at grade 3. Data on pollutants and weather conditions in Xi 'an from January 1 to December 31, 2018 were accessed from Xi 'an Environmental Protection Bureau and Xi 'an Meteorological Bureau. Spearman rank correlation, linear regression, and generalized additive models were used for data analysis. Outdoor air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and CO) increase the risk of AECOPD. The impact of air pollutants on AECOPD patients has a hysteresis effect. PM10, PM2.5, CO, and NO2 are associated with acute exacerbation in female COPD patients. PM10, PM2.5, CO, SO2, and NO2 are associated with acute exacerbation in old COPD patients (70 < age ≤ 80 years old). CO is associated with acute exacerbation in COPD Patients with eosinophils absolute count ≥ 300/μL. PM10 is associated with acute exacerbation in COPD patients with eosinophils absolute count < 100/μL. Exposure to PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and CO is positively associated significantly with hospital visits for AECOPD in Xi'an. Various air pollutants have different associations with different types of AECOPD patients. The relationship between O3 and AECOPD still needs to be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precise positioning issue of oblique aerial image has been widely studied in recent years. However, there are still some deficiencies in applying the existing methods to highly time-sensitive engineering. For the real-time positioning issues of oblique images involved in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle's (UAV's) patrolling applications, existing photogrammetry method cannot meet the real-time positioning requirements, existing binocular vision method cannot meet the dynamic and precise positioning requirements, existing optical flow method cannot meet the absolute positioning requirements, and existing multi-source feature matching method cannot meet the robust positioning requirements. In order to meet the real-time, dynamic, precise, absolute and robust positioning requirements of UAV's patrolling images, a real-time positioning model for UAV's patrolling images based on airborne LiDAR point cloud fusion is proposed. First, a precise Digital Surface Model (DSM) is generated by rasterizing and imaging the raw airborne LiDAR point cloud, in which a pixel's grayscale is exactly equal to elevation of local area covered by the pixel. Second, the generated DSM and UAV's patrolling image are fused under specific geometric constrains, so as to realize real-time positioning of UAV's patrolling image pixel by pixel. Finally, more precise positioning of selected key points on UAV's patrolling image can be realized by performing Principal Component Analysis (PCA)on the raw airborne LiDAR point cloud that surrounds the selected key points. The above methods are analyzed and verified by three groups of practical experiments, and results indicate that the proposed model can achieve real-time positioning of a single UAV's patrolling image (4000 × 6000 pixels) with an accuracy of 0.5 m within 0.38 seconds in arbitrary areas, and can further realize precise positioning of any selected key point on UAV's patrolling image with an accuracy of 0.2 m in 0.001 seconds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The CRISPR system is an adaptive immune system found in prokaryotes that defends host cells against the invasion of foreign DNA1. As part of the ongoing struggle between phages and the bacterial immune system, the CRISPR system has evolved into various types, each with distinct functionalities2. Type II Cas9 is the most extensively studied of these systems and has diverse subtypes. It remains uncertain whether members of this family can evolve additional mechanisms to counter viral invasions3,4. Here we identify 2,062 complete Cas9 loci, predict the structures of their associated proteins and reveal three structural growth trajectories for type II-C Cas9. We found that novel associated genes (NAGs) tended to be present within the loci of larger II-C Cas9s. Further investigation revealed that CbCas9 from Chryseobacterium species contains a novel β-REC2 domain, and forms a heterotetrameric complex with an NAG-encoded CRISPR–Cas-system-promoting (pro-CRISPR) protein of II-C Cas9 (PcrIIC1). The CbCas9–PcrIIC1 complex exhibits enhanced DNA binding and cleavage activity, broader compatibility for protospacer adjacent motif sequences, increased tolerance for mismatches and improved anti-phage immunity, compared with stand-alone CbCas9. Overall, our work sheds light on the diversity and ‘growth evolutionary’ trajectories of II-C Cas9 proteins at the structural level, and identifies many NAGs—such as PcrIIC1, which serves as a pro-CRISPR factor to enhance CRISPR-mediated immunity.Comprehensive analyses of Cas9 proteins shed light on the evolution of the CRISPR–Cas9 system, and identify a pro-CRISPR accessory protein in bacteria that boosts CRISPR-mediated immunity by enhancing the DNA binding and cleavage activity of Cas9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relation extraction is an important task in information extraction, which aims to identify the relation between two given entities. The algorithm based on distant supervision can automatically generate a large amount of annotated data, which becomes the main method to deal with the task of relation extraction. However, previous studies rely too much on the precision of supervision information and ignore the effective supervision information hidden in the case of mislabeling, which leads to the loss of supervision information. To solve this problem, we propose the distantly supervised relation extraction model based on residual attention and self-learning. The model uses residual attention to extract features, and then uses self-learning idea to generate corrected labels for training data, which are added into the training process as supervisory signals to prevent parameter error updates caused by noisy labels. The model can not only reduce the problem of mislabeling caused by distant supervision, but also makes full use of the available supervisory information in the data to improve data utilization. Experiments show that compared with the existing mainstream baseline methods, the proposed model has higher precision and recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well-known that the equilibrium isotope fractionation of mercury (Hg) includes classical mass-dependent fractionations (MDFs) and nuclear volume effect (NVE) induced mass-independent fractionations (MIFs). However, the effect of the NVE on these kinetic processes is not known. The total fractionations (MDFs + NVE-induced MIFs) of several representative Hg-incorporated substances were selected and calculated with ab initio calculations in this work for both equilibrium and kinetic processes. NVE-induced MIFs were calculated with scaled contact electron densities at the nucleus through systematic evaluations of their accuracy and errors using the Gaussian09 and DIRAC19 packages (named the electron density scaling method). Additionally, the NVE-induced kinetic isotope effect (KIE) of Hg isotopes are also calculated with this method for several representative Hg oxidation reactions by chlorine species. Total KIEs for 202Hg/198Hg ranging from − 2.27‰ to 0.96‰ are obtained. Three anomalous 202Hg-enriched KIEs (δ202Hg/198Hg = 0.83‰, 0.94‰, and 0.96‰,) caused by the NVE are observed, which are quite different from the classical view (i.e., light isotopes react faster than the heavy ones). The electron density scaling method we developed in this study can provide an easier way to calculate the NVE-induced KIEs for heavy isotopes and serve to better understand the fractionation mechanisms of mercury isotope systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene editing allows for precise editing and modification of specific target genes within an organism's genome. The CRISPR/Cas9 technology has become the most widely used gene editing technique. Ornamental traits determine the aesthetic value of plants, and improving ornamental traits has become a research hotspot. The gene editing technology mediated by the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been widely applied in crop genetics and breeding, and there are increasing reports of its application in flowers. This article reviews specific cases of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in ornamental plants, summarizes its current application status and enormous potential in ornamental plants, and hopes to provide a reference for its better application in flower breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of conservation mounting, starch paste made from wheat flour is the glue of choice to paste reinforcing strips and backing papers, often Xuan paper, for mending and decorating aged and damaged paper-based Chinese artworks. To keep objects intact and select appropriate conservation materials, this research explored the applicability of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis for the characterization of contemporary unsized Xuan paper with and without starch. In particular, partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to predict the degree of polymerization (DP) of the paper, i.e., one of the most important properties of paper materials, and principal component analysis (PCA) was used to detect starch and to distinguish between papers with different amounts of starch. Using 12 contemporary unsized Xuan papers, the NIR-PLS method for DP prediction was validated, and the best-performed model was generated using the logarithmic transformation of DP−1 as a response variable, with root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of DP 128. The NIR-PCA method was also found to be applicable to separate starch-free papers and papers treated with starch, and the results indicate that the higher the content of starch, the better PCA classification performs. This research provides supporting data for the non-destructive characterization of Xuan paper-based objects and differentiates between Xuan paper before and after treatment with starch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the application of MRI-based vertebral bone quality (VBQ) score in assessing bone mineral density (BMD) for patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). We reviewed the data of AIS patients between January 2021 and October 2023 with MRI, whole-spine plain radiographs, quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and general information. VBQ score was calculated using T1-weighted MRI. Univariate analysis was applied to present the differences between variables of patients with normal BMD group (QCT Z-score > − 2.0) and low BMD group (QCT Z-score ≤ − 2.0). The correlation between VBQ score and QCT Z-score was analyzed with Pearson correlation test. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine the independent factors related to low BMD. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn to analyze the diagnostic performance of VBQ score in distinguishing low BMD. A total of 136 AIS patients (mean age was 14.84 ± 2.10 years) were included, of which 41 had low BMD. The low BMD group had a significantly higher VBQ score than that in normal group (3.48 ± 0.85 vs. 2.62 ± 0.62, P < 0.001). The VBQ score was significantly negative correlated with QCT Z score (r = − 0.454, P < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, VBQ score was independently associated with low BMD (OR: 4.134, 95% CI 2.136–8.000, P < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve indicated that the diagnostic accuracy of the VBQ score for predicting low BMD was 81%. A sensitivity of 65.9% with a specificity of 88.4% could be achieved for distinguishing low BMD by setting the VBQ score cutoff as 3.18. The novel VBQ score was a promising tool in distinguishing low BMD in patients with AIS and could be useful as opportunistic assessment for screening and complementary evaluation to QCT before surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common component in the manufacture of daily plastic consumer goods. Recent studies have suggested that prenatal exposure to BPA can increase the susceptibility of offspring to mental illness, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we performed transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling in the adult mouse brain following prenatal exposure to low-dose BPA. We observed a sex-specific transcriptional dysregulation in the cortex, with more significant differentially expressed genes was observed in adult cortex from male offspring. Moreover, the upregulated genes primarily influenced neuronal functions, while the downregulated genes were significantly associated with energy metabolism pathways. More evidence supporting impaired mitochondrial function included a decreased ATP level and a reduced number of mitochondria in the cortical neuron of the BPA group. We further investigated the higher-order chromatin regulatory patterns of DEGs by incorporating published Hi-C data. Interestingly, we found that upregulated genes exhibited more distal interactions with multiple enhancers, while downregulated genes displayed relatively short-range interactions among adjacent genes. Our data further revealed decreased H3K9me3 signal on the distal enhancers of upregulated genes, whereas increased DNA methylation and H3K27me3 signals on the promoters of downregulated genes. In summary, our study provides compelling evidence for the potential health risks associated with prenatal exposure to BPA, and uncovers sex-specific transcriptional changes with a complex interplay of multiple epigenetic mechanisms. 1. Distinct chromatin interaction pattern of DEGs in the cortex of adult male offspring in response to prenatal BPA exposure. 2. Upregulated genes exhibited intensive and long-range chromatin interactions, with decreased H3K9me3 modification on the distal enhancers. 3. Downregulated genes were featured by promoter-promoter interactions among adjacent genes and increased DNA methylation and H3K27me3 modification at the promoter regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotics researchers have been focusing on developing autonomous and human-like intelligent robots that are able to plan, navigate, manipulate objects, and interact with humans in both static and dynamic environments. These capabilities, however, are usually developed for direct interactions with people in controlled environments, and evaluated primarily in terms of human safety. Consequently, human-robot interaction (HRI) in scenarios with no intervention of technical personnel is under-explored. However, in the future, robots will be deployed in unstructured and unsupervised environments where they will be expected to work unsupervised on tasks which require direct interaction with humans and may not necessarily be collaborative. Developing such robots requires comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of similar design approaches and techniques. Yet, issues regarding the reproducibility of results, comparing different approaches between research groups, and creating challenging milestones to measure performance and development over time make this difficult. Here we discuss the international robotics competition called RoboCup as a benchmark for the progress and open challenges in AI and robotics development. The long term goal of RoboCup is developing a robot soccer team that can win against the world’s best human soccer team by 2050. We selected RoboCup because it requires robots to be able to play with and against humans in unstructured environments, such as uneven fields and natural lighting conditions, and it challenges the known accepted dynamics in HRI. Considering the current state of robotics technology, RoboCup’s goal opens up several open research questions to be addressed by roboticists. In this paper, we (a) summarise the current challenges in robotics by using RoboCup development as an evaluation metric, (b) discuss the state-of-the-art approaches to these challenges and how they currently apply to RoboCup, and (c) present a path for future development in the given areas to meet RoboCup’s goal of having robots play soccer against and with humans by 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]