Search

The discrepancy in data distribution between training and testing scenarios, as well as the inductive bias of convolutional neural networks towards image styles, reduces the model's generalization ability. Many unsupervised domain generalization methods based on feature decoupling suffer from an initial neglect of explicit decoupling of content and style features, resulting in content features that still contain considerable redundant information, thereby restricting improvements in generalization capability. To tackle this problem, this paper optimizes the learning process of domain‐invariant (content) features into an information compression issue, minimizing redundancy in content features. Furthermore, to enhance decoupled learning, this paper introduces innovative cross‐domain loss functions and image reconstruction modules that explicitly decouple and merge content and style across different domains. Extensive experiments demonstrate the method's significant enhancements over recent cutting‐edge approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantity and quality of dietary fats have a significant impact on human health. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different cooking oils (olive oil (OO), soybean oil (SO), and blended oil (BO)) on growth, glucolipid metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress of rats fed normal and high‐fat diets. The results showed that the OO‐fed group had lower concentrations of serum triglyceride (TG), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), malondialdehyde (MDA), oxidized LDL‐C (ox‐LDL‐C), and serum total cholesterol (TC) than the normal‐fat SO‐fed group, and rats in the BO‐fed group had lower values of serum interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF‐α), and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) than the normal‐fat SO‐fed groups. However, higher serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) activity was observed in the OO‐fed group, while those fed with BO had higher serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and GSH‐Px activities. Generally, most health‐beneficial fatty acid profiles have a high content of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), an appropriate saturated fatty acid (SFA)/MUFA/poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratio, and a low n‐6/n‐3 PUFA ratio, while diets contained a high content of fat is detrimental to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an ultra‐soft neural probe with a temporary high‐strength U‐section coating of polyethylene glycol (PEG) for the first time. Its fabrication is compatible with MEMS processes, and an ultrathin U‐section coating over the probe's back and sidewall is precisely formed by spinning and cold laser cutting. With this novel coating, the probe has both minimized cross‐sectional area and sufficient mechanical strength for low‐invasive penetration into the brain. Besides, the remained ultra‐soft deformable probe after PEG dissolution is expected to be the next generation of neural implants for chronic recording. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glioma, a type of malignant brain tumor, has become a challenging health issue globally in recent years. Methods: In this study, we investigated the potential therapeutic role of scoparone in glioma and the underlying mechanism. Initially, transcriptome sequencing was conducted to identify genes that exhibited differential expression in glioma cells treated with scoparone compared to untreated cells. Subsequently, the impact of scoparone on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioma cells was assessed in vitro using a range of assays including cell viability, colony formation, wound healing, and transwell assays. Moreover, the apoptotic effects of scoparone on glioma cells were evaluated through flow cytometry and western blot analysis. Furthermore, we established a glioma xenograft mouse model to assess the in vivo antitumor activity of scoparone. Lastly, by integrating transcriptome analysis, we endeavored to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed antitumor effects of scoparone by examining the expression levels of RhoA/ROCK1 signaling pathway components using western blot analysis and qRT‐PCR. Results: Our transcriptome sequencing results revealed that scoparone significantly downregulated RhoA/ROCK1 signaling in glioma cells. Furthermore, scoparone treatment inhibited glioma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and promoted cell apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, scoparone reduced tumor growth and prolonged survival in a glioma xenograft mouse model, and improved the toxicity of temozolomide. Finally, our results showed that the antitumor effects of scoparone were mediated by the suppression of RhoA/ROCK1 signaling. Conclusion: Scoparone could be a promising therapeutic agent for glioma by suppressing RhoA/ROCK1 signaling. These findings pave the way for future research endeavors aimed at the development and optimization of scoparone‐based therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium–sulfur batteries with high energy density are considered to be one of the most promising candidates for the next‐generation energy storage devices. Electrolyte as the medium for Li+ transportation between the electrodes, also plays a crucial role in inhibiting the dissolution and diffusion of lithium polysulfides in Li–S batteries. The working mechanism of Li–S batteries in different electrolytes is classified into "solid‐liquid‐solid" and "solid‐solid" conversions. Under the "solid‐liquid‐solid" conversion, Li–S batteries would inevitably face the challenges such as "shuttle effect" that lead to poor cycle performance, and under the "solid‐solid" conversion, they would face interface mismatch that limits the utilization of sulfur with low energy density, while both conversion mechanisms cause uncontrollable Li dendrites on anode. According to the conversion mechanism, electrolytes can be divided into ether‐based, ionic liquid‐based, gel polymer electrolytes, and polymer‐based solid‐state electrolytes with "solid‐liquid‐solid" conversion, as well as carbonate‐based electrolytes and oxide/sulfide‐based solid‐state electrolytes with "solid‐solid" conversion. Based on the conversion mechanism of active materials in different electrolytes, the current status on the strategies from multiple perspectives are summarized to improve the electrochemical performance, with the hope to provide a comprehensive guideline toward the development of suitable electrolytes for Li–S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin and its cell components continuously subject to extrinsic and intrinsic mechanical forces and are mechanical sensitive. Disturbed mechanical homeostasis may lead to changes in skin functions. Gravity is the integral mechanical force on the earth, however, how gravity contributes to the maintenance of skin function and how microgravity in space affects the wound healing are poorly understood. Here, using microgravity analogs, we show that simulated microgravity (SMG) inhibits the healing of cutaneous wound and the accumulation of dermal fibroblasts in the wound bed. In vitro, SMG inhibits the migration of human foreskin fibroblast cells (HFF‐1), and decreases the F‐actin polymerization and YAP (yes‐associated protein) activity. The SMG‐inhibited migration can be recovered by activating YAP or F‐actin polymerization using lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) or jasplakinolide (Jasp), suggesting the involvement of F‐actin/YAP signaling pathway in this process. In SMG rats, LPA treatment improves the cutaneous healing with increased dermal fibroblasts in the wound bed. Together, our results demonstrate that SMG attenuates the cutaneous wound healing by inhibiting dermal fibroblast migration, and propose the crucial role of F‐actin/YAP mechano‐transduction in the maintenance of skin homeostasis under normal gravity, and YAP as a possible therapeutic target for the skin care of astronauts in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the complexity of production processes increases, the diversity of data types drives the development of network monitoring technology. This paper mainly focuses on an online algorithm to detect serially correlated directed networks robustly and sensitively. First, we consider a transition probability matrix to resolve the double correlation of primary data. Further, since the sum of each row of the transition probability matrix is one, it standardizes the data, facilitating subsequent modeling. Then we extend the spring length based method to the multivariate case and propose an adaptive cumulative sum (CUSUM) control chart on the strength of a weighted statistic to monitor directed networks. This novel approach assumes only that the process observation is associated with nearby points without any parametric time series model, which is in line with reality. Simulation results and a real example from metro transportation demonstrate the superiority of our design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural color fabrication attracting significant interest for science and art is usually restricted by costly and time‐consuming structuring processes or inerasable characteristics of structures. Herein, by developing a universal, low‐cost technical solution—the nanosecond laser irradiation of ink (Solvent Black 7) layers coated on metal—laser‐induced heterogeneous permanent/erasable nanostructures (LIHPEN) are produced successfully on multiple metals, especially noble metals, without ablation damage to intrinsic surfaces. LIHPEN consist of uniform laser‐induced periodic surface structures produced by surface plasmon polariton excitation of metals and can be extended into 2D hybrid micro/nanostructures by introducing the direct laser interference patterning technique. LIHPEN technology operated under a large processing parameter window can realize space‐selective erasability of prepared structures by controlling processing parameters, which determine the ink‐layer carbonization degree and thus the permanent or erasable characteristic. Because ink layers can be coated manually, in addition to realizing digital scanning patterns, LIHPEN technology can be integrated with traditional artistic techniques to solidify and color artworks without risk of information loss and leakage in digital copying. LIHPEN with good durability can exhibit vivid structural colors on metals, demonstrating its great potential in fields of artwork iridescent coloring, encryption, and anti‐counterfeiting, particularly those requiring customization, personalization, and rewritability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent studies have revealed the relationship between Fc Fragment of IgE Receptor Ig (FCER1G) and human tumours, there is still a lack of a more comprehensive pan‐cancer analysis of FCER1G as an immune‐related gene. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern and prognostic value of FCER1G based on multiple databases. Subsequently, we further explored the role of FCER1G in tumour proliferation and metastasis, as well as its genomic alterations and DNA methylation levels, we next assessed the association between FCER1G and the immune infiltrating cells of the tumour microenvironment in different cancers and verified it by immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between FCER1G and immune checkpoint genes expression and its predictive power in the immune checkpoint blockade treatment cohorts were used to evaluate the importance of FCER1G in immunotherapy. Enrichment analysis of FCER1G‐associated partners was also performed. In addition, we substantiated the expression of FCER1G in specific cell types of different tumours using single‐cell RNA sequencing data from different databases. Our research results showed that FCER1G is up‐regulated in most tumour. Positive associations were found between FCER1G expression and tumour prognosis, proliferation, and metastasis, we also found that FCER1G is closely related to the tumour microenvironment and tumour immunity. Moreover, FCER1G‐associated partners were enriched in pathways associated with neutrophils activation. Finally, we confirmed that FCER1G was mainly expressed in monocyte/macrophages of the tumour microenvironment. In conclusion, our findings provided a comprehensive understanding of FCER1G in oncogenesis and tumour immunology among various tumours and demonstrated its potential value in prognosis prediction and tumour immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oilseed crops are widely planted and are closely associated with human nutrition and health. Globally, increased nitrogen (N) deposition has a significant impact on agricultural production; however, in‐depth knowledge of oilseed crop yields and quality is still lacking. Here, we performed a global meta‐analysis from 128 published papers with 462 paired observations to evaluate the response of oilseed crop yields, yield composition, protein, and oil content to simulated N deposition. The meta‐analysis showed that simulated N deposition significantly increased oilseed crop yields in a dose‐dependent and duration‐dependent manner. The yield compositions were also changed by N deposition, where pod numbers per plant (PNP) and seed weights per pod were significantly increased. Interestingly, our analysis identified PNP as the key factor determining the oilseed crop yield response to simulated N deposition. Additionally, the form of N deposition had no striking influence on either yields or yield components, whereas differences in the sensitivity in rape responses reflected differences in crop species. In terms of oilseed crop quality, although simulated N deposition increased the seed protein content in a dose‐dependent manner, there was a significant negative impact on the seed oil content. Furthermore, this negative correlation between seed oil content and biomass under simulated N deposition implies adverse effects caused by a dilution effect. Overall, our results suggest discrete responses of oilseed crop yield, seed protein and oil content to simulated N deposition. This study has ecological and biological implications for oilseed crop yield and quality responses facing global N deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the association of short or long sleep duration with breast cancer risk have reported inconsistent results. We quantitatively assessed this association by conducting a meta-analysis based on the evidence from observational studies. In April 2013, we performed electronic searches in PubMed, EmBase and the Cochrane Library to identify studies examining the effect of sleep duration on breast cancer incidence. The odds ratio (OR) was used to measure any such association in a random-effects model. The analysis was further stratified by confounding factors that could bias the results. A total of six studies (two case-control and four cohort studies) involving 159,837 individuals were included in our meta-analysis. Our study did not show an association between either short or long sleep duration and breast cancer risk (short sleep duration data: pooled OR = 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.90-1.14, p = 0.853; long sleep duration data: pooled OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.86-1.04, p = 0.251). Moreover, we did not identify any statistically significant association between sleep duration and breast cancer risk in all the subgroup analyses. In conclusion, our findings indicate that sleep duration has no effect on breast cancer risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]