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Abstract Background This study aimed to investigate the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) versus chemotherapy on the prognosis of real‐world diffuse pleural mesothelioma patients in China. Methods Clinical data of 90 patients with diffuse pleural mesothelioma from 2019 to 2022 were collected from Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital. Patients were divided into two groups: the ICIs‐treated group (n = 46) and the chemotherapy‐only group (n = 44). The efficacy and safety of immunotherapy relative to chemotherapy at different treatment stages were explored. Results The median progression‐free survival (PFS) was 10.0 and 7.0 months, and the median overall survival (OS) was 24.7 and 15.8 months in the ICIs‐treated group and the chemotherapy group, respectively. The ICIs‐treated group showed an 11% increase in objective response rate (ORR) (52.2% vs. 41.0%) and an 8.0% increase in disease control rate (DCR) (78.3% vs. 70.0%) compared to the chemotherapy group. The Kaplan–Meier curves demonstrated significant PFS (HR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.38–0.98; p = 0.038) and OS (HR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.26–0.86; p = 0.011) benefits of receiving immunotherapy over chemotherapy alone. Subgroup analysis according to treatment timing showed the same trend. Conclusion In patients with nonsurgical diffuse pleural mesothelioma, immunotherapy achieved better survival benefits compared to chemotherapy in both first‐ and second‐/third‐line treatments. The early addition of immunotherapy improved survival in patients with nonsurgical diffuse pleural mesothelioma.

Abstract Background Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative disease that progresses rapidly and has a poor prognosis. This study aimed to assess the value of video oculomotor evaluation (VOE) in the differential diagnosis of MSA and Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods In total, 28 patients with MSA, 31 patients with PD, and 30 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls (HC) were screened and included in this study. The evaluation consisted of a gaze‐holding test, smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM), random saccade, and optokinetic nystagmus (OKN). Results The MSA and PD groups had more abnormalities and decreased SPEM gain than the HC group (64.29%, 35.48%, 10%, p

Abstract Asthenozoospermia (AZS) is a prevalent contributor to male infertility, characterized by a substantial decline in sperm motility. In recent years, large‐scale studies have explored the interplay between the male reproductive system's microecology and its implications for reproductive health. Nevertheless, the direct association between seminal microecology and male infertility pathogenesis remains inconclusive. This study used 16S rDNA sequencing and multi‐omics analysis to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the seminal microbial community and metabolites in AZS patients. Patients were categorized into four distinct groups: Normal, mild AZS (AZS‐I), moderate AZS (AZS‐II), and severe AZS (AZS‐III). Microbiome differential abundance analysis revealed significant differences in microbial composition and metabolite profiles within the seminal plasma of these groups. Subsequently, patients were classified into a control group (Normal and AZS‐I) and an AZS group (AZS‐II and AZS‐III). Correlation and cross‐reference analyses identified distinct microbial genera and metabolites. Notably, the AZS group exhibited a reduced abundance of bacterial genera such as Pseudomonas, Serratia, and Methylobacterium‐Methylorubrum in seminal plasma, positively correlating with core differential metabolite (hexadecanamide). Conversely, the AZS group displayed an increased abundance of bacterial genera such as Uruburuella, Vibrio, and Pseudoalteromonas, with a negative correlation with core differential metabolite (hexadecanamide). In vitro and in vivo experiments validated that hexadecanamide significantly enhanced sperm motility. Using predictive metabolite‐targeting gene analysis and single‐cell transcriptome sequencing, we profiled the gene expression of candidate target genes PAOX and CA2. Protein immunoblotting techniques validated the upregulation protein levels of PAOX and CA2 in sperm samples after hexadecanamide treatment, enhancing sperm motility. In conclusion, this study uncovered a significant correlation between six microbial genera in seminal plasma and the content of the metabolite hexadecanamide, which is related to AZS. Hexadecanamide notably enhances sperm motility, suggesting its potential integration into clinical strategies for managing AZS, providing a foundational framework for diagnostic and therapeutic advancements.

Abstract Due to its ability to adapt to a variety of electromagnetic (EM) environments, the sensing‐enabled metasurface has garnered significant attention. However, large‐scale EM‐field sensing to obtain more information is still very challenging. Here, an adaptive information metasurface is proposed to enable intelligent sensing and wave manipulating simultaneously or more specifically, to realize intelligent target localization and beam tracking adaptively. The metasurface is composed of an array of meta‐atoms, and each is loaded with two PIN diodes and a sensing‐channel structure, for polarization‐insensitive and programmable beamforming and sensing. By controlling the state of the PIN diode, the proposed meta‐atom has 1‐bit phase response in the designed frequency band, while the sensing loss keeps higher than ‐10 dB for both “ON” and “OFF” states. Hence there is nearly no interaction between the beamforming and sensing modes. Experiments are conducted to show multiple functions of the metasurface, including intelligent target sensing and self‐adaptive beamforming, and the measured results are in good agreement with the numerical simulations and theoretical calculations.

Abstract With the increasing number of flexible distributed energy resources, it is difficult for the distribution network to control various devices directly. Therefore, managing and dispatching the resources in a cluster way is required. This article proposes an equivalent model‐based asynchronous dispatch framework, which is composed of three layers, the distribution network, clusters, and distributed energy resources. With this framework, economic dispatch is carried out with the equivalent models of clusters, simplifying the dispatch problem of the distribution network. The numerical test results show that the proposed method can significantly reduce the calculation time and maintain high accuracy in the economic dispatch problem.

Abstract Chromosomal instability (CIN) is closely associated to the early detection of several clinical tumours. In this study, the authors first established a novel prognostic model of melanoma using the hub genes of CIN, based on the datasets of The cancer genome atlas‐skin cutaneous melanoma (TCGA‐SKCM) and GSE65904 cohorts. Based on the risk scores of our model, the disease‐specific survival (DSS) prognosis was worse in the high‐risk group. Combining risk score, stage, age, ulceration, and clark factors, a Nomogram was generated to predict 1, 3, 5‐year survival rates, which indicated a good clinical validity. Our finding also showed a correlation between high/low risk and tumour infiltration levels of ‘activated CD8 T cells’ and ‘effector memory CD8 T cells’. Moreover, the authors first performed a CIN‐based tumour clustering analysis using TCGA‐SKCM cases, and identified two melanoma clusters, which exhibit the distinct DSS prognosis and the tumour‐infiltrating levels of CD8 T cells. Taken together, a promising CIN‐related prognostic signature and clustering for melanoma cases were first established in our study.

Abstract Globally, land alkalinization affecting agricultural development. Considering the increasingly serious effects of alkaline stress on agriculture and environment, phytoremediation may be an efficient way to addressed land alkalinization. Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is a saline‐alkaline‐tolerant crop and bioenergy crop. However, the molecular mechanism of alkaline response on broomcorn millet remains large gap. To explore the alkaline stress on broomcorn millet and the mitigation of 24‐epicastasterone (BR), the effects of CK (nutrient solution only), CB (nutrient solution + 0.5 mg L−1 BR), AS (alkaline stress), and AB (alkaline stress + 0.5 mg L−1 BR) on TA289 (alkaline‐tolerant) and SA223 (alkaline‐sensitive) were investigated. Alkaline stress enhanced reactive oxygen species and membrane lipid peroxidation. BR boosted antioxidant enzyme activities to reduce oxidative stress. Simultaneously, BR attenuated Na+ toxicity and maintained ion homeostasis. Additionally, BR significantly maintained the physiological structure and photosynthetic properties. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were applied to further evaluate the effect of BR on photosynthetic and antioxidant defense. The results showed that BR significantly reduced the transcriptional responses of photosynthesis and antioxidant defense and promoted the accumulation of effective metabolites such as biliverdin, l‐glutamate, and phosphoric acid. Taken together, BR application can significantly alleviate the damage of alkaline stress to broomcorn millet by altering transcriptional expression and metabolite accumulation and is a simple and effective strategy to alleviate alkaline stress. This study reveals the molecular mechanism of BR to enhance photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense of broomcorn millet under alkaline stress, which provides theoretical support for the cultivation of bioenergy crops on alkaline lands and the breeding of alkaline‐tolerant bioenergy varieties.

Background The association of age at coronary heart disease (CHD) onset with incident dementia remains unexplored. This study aimed to examine whether younger onset age of CHD is associated with a higher risk of incident dementia. Methods and Results Data were obtained from the UK Biobank. Information on the diagnosis of CHD and dementia was collected at baseline and follow‐ups. Propensity score matching method and Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association between different ages at CHD onset and incident dementia. A total of 432 667 adults (mean±SD age, 56.9±8.1 years) were included, of whom 11.7% had CHD. Compared with participants without CHD, participants with CHD exhibited higher risks of developing all‐cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia. More importantly, younger age at CHD onset (per 10‐year decrease) was significantly associated with elevated risks of all‐cause dementia (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25 [95% CI, 1.20–1.30]; P

Abstract With the overconsumption of disposable plastics, there is a considerable emphasis on the recycling of waste plastics to relieve the environmental, economic, and health‐related consequences. Here, a sulfur‐assisted pyrolysis strategy is demonstrated for versatile upcycling of plastics into high‐value carbons with an ultrahigh carbon‐atom recovery (up to 85%). During the pyrolysis process, the inexpensive elemental sulfur molecules are covalently bonded with polymer chains, and then thermally stable intermediates are produced via dehydrogenation and crosslinking, thereby inhibiting the decomposition of plastics into volatile small hydrocarbons. In this manner, the carbon products obtained from real‐world waste plastics exhibit sulfur‐rich skeletons with an enlarged interlayer distance, and demonstrate superior sodium storage performance. It is believed that the present results offer a new solution to alleviate plastic pollution and reduce the carbon footprint of plastic industry.

Abstract Aiming at the occluded real‐world face images across illumination, pose, expression, and resolution variations, a robust face recognition for occluded real‐world images using constrained probabilistic sparse network is presented. A constrained probabilistic sparse representation network is constructed to obtain the features of all the training images from a global perspective, and the new network nodes are generated through the random combination of the training images. In the probabilistic sparse representation network, the probabilities of each class of the sparse subspace that the occluded test images individually belong to are defined and calculated. The final classifications of the test images are determined by the joint maximum probability of the network nodes. Meanwhile the second‐order gradient constraint is the first introduced in the probabilistic sparse representation network. It is found that the constraint uses the adjacent pixels of the face images to obtain the local texture similarity, and further use the local texture similarity to distinguish the occlusion and non‐occlusion parts. Thus the constraint can reduce the influence of the occlusion part on face recognition. Extensive experiments with the 12 existing methods on the five face databases demonstrate that the recognition rate of the proposed method is the best than the non‐deep learning methods compared, and the proposed method can obtain nearly the same recognition rate with an advantage of a very less time consumption compared to the state‐of‐the‐art deep learning methods.

Abstract Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) has potential applications as a new source of bioenergy owing to its high‐yielding C4 attribute. Besides, it has a short life cycle, high harvest index, low planting costs, and strong adaptability and resistance. This study comprehensively reveals the sodium ion (Na+) toxicity resistance strategies from germination to the seedling stage, root to leaf, outside to inside, macro to micro, and the phenotype to the mechanism. Comparative phenotypic and physiological analysis suggested that salt‐tolerant proso millet (ST 47) had better salt tolerance, biomass accumulation, and osmo‐protection than salt‐sensitive proso millet (SS 212). Microstructural analysis indicated that ST 47 could maintain better internal surfaces and intact structures to resist Na+ toxicity and maintain optimal growth. Further, digital RNA sequence analysis indicated that ST 47 could maintain better Na+ and K+ homeostasis by coordinated regulation of transporter genes; the abundance of transcripts involved in chlorophyll metabolism and photosynthesis pathways was higher in ST 47 than SS 212, which contributed to the biomass accumulation. These results suggest that ST 47 resists Na+ toxicity via coordinated physiological, morphological, and molecular mechanisms. Therefore, this crop can serve as an emerging salt‐tolerant bioenergy crop for sustainable saline agriculture and simultaneous phytoremediation.

Activation of NOD-like receptor (NLR) signaling pathway can promote downstream cytokine and proinflammatory cytokines release, and inflammation induced by excess nutrients leads to renal metabolic injury. How the NLRs influence metabolic progress and then lead to the renal injury remains poorly investigated. Compared with rodents, minipigs are more similar to humans and are more ideal animal models for human disease research. In this study, we established a diabetic minipig model through a high-sugar and high-fat diet combined with streptozotocin (STZ) injection. Blood biological markers and renal pathological markers, expression of NLRP subfamily members (NLRP1 and NLRP3) and their downstream cytokines (precursors of IL-1β and IL-18 and mature forms of IL-1β and IL-18), expression of NLRC subfamily members (NLRC1, NLRC2, and NLRC5) and their downstream nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway molecules (IKKβ, IκBα, and NF-κB p65), and inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and interleukin-6 (IL-6)) were systematically evaluated. The expression of NLRP3 and its downstream cytokine signaling molecules, the precursors of IL-1β and IL-18, and the mature forms of IL-1β and IL-18 was significantly upregulated. The expression levels of NLRC1, NLRC2, and NLRC5 and activation of the downstream NF-κB pathway molecules phospho-IKKβ, phospho-IκBα, NF-κB p65, and phospho-NF-κB p65 were significantly increased. The TNF-α and IL-6 levels were significantly increased in diabetic pig kidneys. The TGF-β/Smad signaling molecules, TGF-β and P-SMAD2/3, were also increased. These results suggested that the metabolic inflammation activated by NLRs might play an important role in diabetic renal injuries.

Abstract Background Ovarian cancer (OC) is the deadliest gynecological cancer. The absence of biomarkers in early detection and chemotherapy resistance is a principal cause of treatment failure in OC. Methods In this study, next generation sequencing (NGS) was used to sequence the mRNA of 44 OC patients including 14 chemotherapy insensitive and 18 sensitive patients. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from OC patients (compared with healthy controls) and chemotherapy sensitive patients (compared with chemotherapy insensitive patients) were identified by edgeR v3.12.0 in R v3.2.2, which were enriched using Gene Ontology (GO) database and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway (KEGG). The common DEGs in cancer occurring and chemotherapy sensitivity were further screened. Among them, genes participating in chemotherapy sensitivity associated pathways were regarded as chemotherapy sensitivity‐related key genes. Quantitative real‐time PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to verify the expression of the key genes. Results We found 1588 DEGs between OC patients and healthy controls (HCs), which were mainly enriched in cell cycle pathway. Meanwhile, 249 DEGs were identified between chemotherapy sensitive and insensitive OC patients, which were mainly enriched in MAPK signaling pathway, ERBB signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and IL‐17 signaling pathway. Thirty‐five DEGs were shared in chemotherapy sensitivity group and cancer occurring group. Among them, there are five genes (JUND, JUNB, MUC5B, NRG1, and NR4A1) participating in the above four chemotherapy sensitivity‐related pathways. It is remarkable that JUND is in the upstream of MUC5B in IL‐17 signaling pathway and their expressions were verified by qPCR and IHC. Conclusions The expression levels of the key genes related to chemotherapy sensitivity might be used as biomarkers to predict the treatment outcome and as a target to improve prognosis.

Background TP73 antisense RNA 1 (TP73‐AS1) is a long noncoding RNA which has been shown to be involved in the progression of multiple malignant tumors. Previous studies have demonstrated the oncogenic role of TP73‐AS1 in breast cancer. However, its molecular mechanism remains largely unknown in breast tumorigenesis. Methods Expression of TP63‐AS1, miRNA‐125a‐3p (miR‐125a) and metadherin (MTDH) was detected by real‐time quantitative PCR and western blotting. The malignancy was evaluated by cell counting kit 8 (CCK‐8), transwell assays, flow cytometry and western blotting. The target binding was confirmed by dual luciferase reporter assay. Xenograft tumor model was performed to detect tumor growth in vivo. Results Expression of TP73‐AS1 was higher in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Biologically, its knockdown could promote cell apoptosis rate, and inhibit proliferative capacity, migration and invasion ability in HCC‐70 and MB231 cells, accompanied with higher cleaved caspase 3 level and lower Ki67, N‐cadherin and Vimentin level. Moreover, TP73‐AS1 downregulation restrained the tumor growth of HCC‐70 cells in vivo. Mechanically, TP73‐AS1 functioned as a molecular “sponge” for miR‐125a to modulate MTDH, a downstream target of miR‐125a. Intriguingly, both miR‐125a overexpression and MTDH silencing exerted a tumor‐suppressive effect in the malignant progression of HCC‐70 and MB231 cells, which was counteracted by TP73‐AS1 upregulation and miR‐125a downregulation, respectively. Conclusion Knockdown of TP73‐AS1 inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion, but facilitated apoptosis in breast cancer cells in vitro through targeting miR‐125a and upregulating MTDH, suggesting a novel TP73‐AS1/miR‐125a/MTDH pathway in the malignant progression of breast cancer.

Abstract Next‐generation inter‐chip communication requires ultrafast ultra‐compact interconnects. Designer plasmonics offers a possible route towards this goal. Further development of the plasmonic technique to circuit applications requires the direct amplification of plasmonic signals on a compact platform. However, significant signal distortions and limited operational speeds prevent the application of traditional MOS‐based amplifiers to plasmonics. Up to day, the amplification of surface plasmons without phase distortion has remained a scientific challenge. In this work, the concept of parametric amplification (PA) is transplanted to the plasmonics and is realized experimentally an ultrathin reconfigurable PA using a spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) waveguide integrated with tunable and nonlinear varactors. The measured parametric gain in the experiment can reach up to 9.14 dB within a short nonlinear propagation length, for example, six SSPP wavelengths, in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction. By tuning the bias voltage of varactors, the phase‐matching condition can be precisely controlled over a broad frequency band, enabling the authors to realize the multi‐frequency PA of plasmonic signals. Measured phase responses confirm that the plasmonic parametric amplifier can significantly suppress the signal distortions as compared with the traditional MOS‐based amplifier, which is a property highly desired for ultrafast wireless communication systems and integrated circuits.

Abstract Recently, programmable metamaterials or metasurfaces have been developed to dynamically edit electromagnetic waves for realizing different functions in the same platform. However, the proposed programmable metasurfaces can only control reflected or transmitted wavefronts in half‐space. Here, a “Janus” digital coding metasurface with the capabilities to program various electromagnetic functions in the reflected (with R‐codes) and transmitted (with T‐codes) waves simultaneously is presented. Three PIN diodes are employed to design the metaparticle, and the state of the PIN diodes can be switched to change the reflected and transmitted phases independently. Three schemes achieved by the proposed programmable metasurface are provided as illustrative examples, including anomalous deflections, beam focusing, and scattering reduction in the full space. As a proof‐of‐concept, a prototype composed of 10 × 20 metaparticles is fabricated and the measured results are in good agreement with the designs and numerical results, validating the full‐space modulations enabled by the programmable metasurface. It is expected that the new programmable metasurface can broaden the applications in stealth technologies, imaging systems, and the next generation of wireless communications.

Recently, programmable metasurfaces have aroused great attention for various applications such as beam manipulation, wireless communication, and holograms by modulating the spatial phase or amplitude. However, programmable amplitude‐coding modulations have rarely been investigated due to the difficulty in realizing dynamic control of amplitude. Herein, a real‐time programmable amplitude‐coding metasurface with multifrequency modulation is proposed by integrating PIN diodes and chip attenuators to the metaelement. The element is encoded as “11,” “10,” and “00,” corresponding to the ON/OFF states of two diodes. By switching the two states of the PIN diode, the metaelement exhibits distinctly reflected amplitude responses in three frequencies (2.98, 4.11, and 5.73 GHz). For the whole metasurface, the magnitude of the reflected beam can be modulated with some specific coding patterns. To verify the performance, six coding patterns with 10 × 10 metaelements are designed, and four of them are measured. Experimental results are fundamentally consistent with theoretical designs and simulations. Further a wireless communication demonstration is designed and implemented to perform direct modulation of digital signals without using mixers required in the conventional wireless communication systems. It is envisioned that this work will find applications in new architecture encrypted communication and imaging systems.

Summary Corynebacterium glutamicum is an important industrial microorganism, but the availability of tools for its genetic modification has lagged compared to other model microorganisms such as Escherichia coli. Despite great progress in CRISPR‐based technologies, the most feasible genome editing method in C. glutamicum is suicide plasmid‐mediated, the editing efficiency of which is low due to high false‐positive rates of sacB counter selection, and the requirement for tedious two‐round selection and verification of rare double‐cross‐over events. In this study, an rpsL mutant conferring streptomycin resistance was harnessed for counter selection, significantly increasing the positive selection rate. More importantly, with the aid of high selection efficiencies through the use of antibiotics, namely kanamycin and streptomycin, the two‐step verification strategy can be simplified to just one‐step verification of the final edited strain. As proof of concept, a 2.5‐kb DNA fragment comprising aroGfbrpheAfbr expressing cassettes was integrated into the genome of C. glutamicum, with an efficiency of 20% out of the theoretical 50%. The resulting strain produced 110 mg l−1 l‐tyrosine in shake‐flask fermentation. This updated suicide plasmid‐mediated genome editing system will greatly facilitate genetic manipulations including single nucleotide mutation, gene deletion and gene insertion in C. glutamicum and can be easily applied to other microbes.

Abstract Human epidermal growth factor receptor‐2 (HER‐2) overexpression in breast tumor tissues is associated with a poor prognosis but may benefit from treatment with trastuzumab. The extracellular domain (ECD) of HER‐2 can be measured in serum and which has been a new inspection item in clinical laboratory of several hospitals. However, whether serum HER‐2 ECD can be a marker of HER‐2 status in tumor tissues still confused clinicians. This study is a retrospective observation to explore the correlation between serum HER‐2 ECD shedding and tissue HER‐2 status in breast cancer patients. Meanwhile, we will further uncover the potential clinical significance of serum HER‐2 ECD detection. A total of 545 unselected breast cancer patients from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center were enrolled in this study. At primary diagnosis without any treatment, serum HER‐2 ECD was measured on ADVIA Centaur assay; meanwhile, tissue HER‐2 from core needle biopsy was tested through immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). We showed that serum HER‐2 ECD concentration was related to tissue HER‐2 status. Nevertheless, 36.9% of patients with tissue HER‐2 overexpression had low levels of HER‐2 ECD shedding (

This study investigated the inhibitory effects of the Ethanol Extract (EE), Free Phenolic (TF), Esterified Phenolic (TE) and Insoluble-bound Phenolic (TI) from Rhus chinensis Mill. fruits on α-glucosidase, Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 (DPP-IV), and the formation of Advanced Glycation End (AGE) products. Results showed that the TF had the strongest inhibition against α-glucosidase and DPP-IV with IC50 of 0.56 ± 0.04 and 66.08 ± 1.36 μg/mL, respectively (p < 0.05). TI exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect on the formation of AGEs with IC50 of 0.43 ± 0.03 mg/mL (p < 0.05). Two major compounds (myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside and quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside) showed additive or synergistic effects on α-glucosidase inhibition, while displayed antagonistic effect on DPP-IV inhibition. Correlation analysis indicated that myricetin-3-O-(6″-galloyl) glycoside and myricetin O-gallate contributed significantly on α-glucosidase inhibition, while di-O-galloyl-glucoside and its isomer may contribute remarkably toward DPP-IV inhibition. Protocatechuic acid and myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside showed a positive correlation with the suppression of AGEs formation. Those results may provide some scientific information for exploring R. chinensis fruits as nutraceuticals and/or functional foods to prevent or improve diabetes.

Bubble dissolution during the flood discharge creates high total dissolved gas (TDG) concentration zones downstream of the dams. The dissipation of supersaturated TDG is a very slow process. Thus, the elevated TDG may remain through the water body for hundreds of kilometers downstream and lead to gas bubble disease (GBD) and even mortality in fish. To improve the navigation conditions of waterways, dikes (i.e., a solid structure) of varied sizes and shapes are commonly constructed. However, this would affect the dissipation and transportation of the supersaturated TDG. It would significantly change the turbulence intensity and hydropressure of the flow, which dominates the dissipation of TDG. Therefore, TDG distribution in the waterway differs from that in the natural river. In this study, a numerical simulation of the TDG at the Yangtze River’s upper reaches (one of the inland waterways in China) was conducted with the establishment of a two-dimensional TDG dissipation model. The effect of the dikes’ size and shape was analyzed to assess the influence of the regulation structures on the dissipation and transportation of the supersaturated TDG. Meanwhile, simulation in the study area with the natural topography was also set as blank control. Based on that, impact evaluation of TDG supersaturation on fish under different simulation scenarios was made. This study can provide a scientific basis for reducing the adverse effect of supersaturated TDG in fish and the construction of ecological waterway therefore.

Objective. To investigate microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and identify the valuable miRNA biomarkers in diagnosing and monitoring SLE. Methods. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed to assess miRNA amounts in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from four SLE cases and four healthy controls. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was carried out for validating candidate miRNAs in 32 SLE cases and 32 healthy controls. In addition, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was completed to evaluate diagnostic performance. Finally, the associations of candidate miRNAs with various characteristics of SLE were analyzed. Results. A total of 157 miRNAs were upregulated, and 110 miRNAs were downregulated in PBMCs from SLE cases in comparison to healthy controls, of which the increase of miR-183-5p and decrease of miR-374b-3p were validated by qPCR and both showed good diagnostic performance for SLE diagnosis. Besides, miR-183-5p expression levels displayed a positive association with SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and anti-dsDNA antibody amounts. Conclusion. Our data indicated that miR-183-5p is a promising biomarker of SLE.

In view of the damage of dynamic stress to the rock surrounding a mine roadway during coal mining, based on the actual geological conditions of Zhuji mine in Huainan, China, a UDEC model was established to study the influences of the thickness and strength of the direct roof above the coal seam and the anchorage effect on the stability of the roadway. The failure mechanism and effect of the dynamic stress on the rock surrounding a mine roadway were revealed. Under dynamic stress, cracks appear near the side of the roadway where the stress is concentrated. These cracks rapidly expand to the two sides of coal and rock mass. At the same time, the coal and rock mass at the top of the roadway fall, and finally, the two sides of coal and rock mass were broken and ejected into the roadway, causing a rock burst. However, when the same dynamic stress is applied to the roadway after supports are installed, there is no large-deformation failure in the roadway, which shows that, under certain conditions, rock bolting can improve the stability and seismic resistance of the surrounding coal and rock mass. Furthermore, by simulating the failure of surrounding rock with different strengths and thicknesses in the immediate roof, it is found that the thinner the roof, the greater the influence of the dynamic stress on the roadway; the stronger the roof is, the more likely the rock burst will occur with greater intensity under the same dynamic stress. A numerical simulation method was used to analyze the factors influencing rock bursting. The results provide a theoretical basis for research into the causes and prevention of rock bursts in deep mining areas.

Although there are many existing analytical studies of tidal groundwater level fluctuations in coastal aquifer systems, few of them focus on an offshore submarine aquifer. Here, we consider tidal groundwater head fluctuations in a submarine leaky confined aquifer overlain by a semipermeable seabed. Both the seabed and the confined aquifer are assumed to extend horizontally infinitely. A one-dimensional mathematical model is established to describe the problem, and the analytical solution is derived. The impacts of the tidal loading efficiency, hydraulic conductivity and elastic storage of the semipermeable layer and aquifer on the groundwater head fluctuations in the aquifer system are analyzed and discussed. Solution analyses indicated that tidal loading effects tend to enhance the amplitude of the tidal groundwater fluctuation in the confined aquifer system and to reduce the phase shift between the groundwater head and the sea tide fluctuations.