Search

Objectives: In Pakistan, cutaneous leishmaniasis is an emerging tropical disease and a very high number (>70%) of children are afflicted by this marring infection. This study aimed to scrutinise the prevalence, spatial distribution and socio‐demographic and behavioural risk factors associated with cutaneous leishmaniasis in children aged <5–15 years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Methods: A total of 1, 559 clinically confirmed records of children diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis (January–December) from 2020 and 2022 were obtained from selected district hospitals. In addition, a risk factors‐related questionnaire was administered to 1, 011 households (400 in 2020 and 611 in 2022) in nine districts during a household survey. Results: The maximum number of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases was recorded in 2022 (n = 877, 56.25%) as compared to 2020 (n = 682, 43.75%). The hospital records showed a greater number of male patients in the 2022 cohort (n = 603, 68.76%). The highest number of cases were observed in children aged 5–9 years in 2022 (n = 282, 32.16%) and 2020 (n = 255, 37.39%). In 2020 and 2022, cutaneous leishmaniasis cases showed peak aggregation in March (n = 118, 17.3%) and January (n = 322, 36.72%). From a spatial analysis, the maximum number of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases was recorded at 59–1700 m elevation in various land‐use/land‐cover and climatic regions with quaternary alluvium rock formations. A multivariate logistic regression model analysis of risk factors from the households survey suggested that age group, socio‐economic status, construction materials of the house, use of insect repellents, Afghan refugee camps in the village/district, knowledge and biting times of sand flies, frequent use of mosquito bed nets, presence of domestic animals in the house, knowledge of the transmission period and peak month of leishmaniasis infection increased the risk of acquiring cutaneous leishmaniasis (p value < 0.05). Conclusion: Our analysis demonstrated that cutaneous leishmaniasis in children is influenced by a variety of environmental, socio‐demographic and behavioural risk factors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The increase in recorded cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in children in 2022 compared to 2020 suggests that the infection likely extended to new foci in the province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study included 227 patients, among whom 27.7% (63/227) were diagnosed with tumors spread through air spaces (STASs), which have been shown to be associated with shorter recurrence-free survival and poor prognosis. A prediction model was developed to forecast tumor STAS in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma pathology images. The radiomics prediction model demonstrated good performance, with an AUC value of 0.83. This prediction model can assist pathologists in the diagnostic processes of clinical practice. The presence of spread through air spaces (STASs) in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma is a significant prognostic factor associated with disease recurrence and poor outcomes. Although current STAS detection methods rely on pathological examinations, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) offers opportunities for automated histopathological image analysis. This study developed a deep learning (DL) model for STAS prediction and investigated the correlation between the prediction results and patient outcomes. To develop the DL-based STAS prediction model, 1053 digital pathology whole-slide images (WSIs) from the competition dataset were enrolled in the training set, and 227 WSIs from the National Taiwan University Hospital were enrolled for external validation. A YOLOv5-based framework comprising preprocessing, candidate detection, false-positive reduction, and patient-based prediction was proposed for STAS prediction. The model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.83 in predicting STAS presence, with 72% accuracy, 81% sensitivity, and 63% specificity. Additionally, the DL model demonstrated a prognostic value in disease-free survival compared to that of pathological evaluation. These findings suggest that DL-based STAS prediction could serve as an adjunctive screening tool and facilitate clinical decision-making in patients with early-stage lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There have been previous studies and earlier systematic review on the relationship between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and radiation exposure. With the diversification of current test methods, this study intended to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the IBD radiation exposure in recent years. Methods: Three databases (PUBMED, EMBASE, and MEDICINE) for relevant literature up to May 1, 2023 were searched. The statistical data meeting requirements were collated and extracted. Results: 20 papers were enrolled. The overall high radiation exposure rate was 15% (95% CI = [12%, 19%]) for CD and 5% (95% CI = [3%, 7%]) for UC. The pooled result found that high radiation exposure rate was 3.44 times higher in CD than in UC (OR = 3.44, 95% CI = [2.35, 5.02]). Moreover, the average radiation exposure level in CD was 12.77 mSv higher than that in UC (WMD = 12.77, 95% CI = [9.93, 15.62] mSv). Furthermore, radiation exposure level of CD after 2012 was higher than those before 2012 (26.42 ± 39.61vs. 23.76 ± 38.46 mSv, P = 0.016), while UC did not show similar result (11.99 ± 27.66 vs. 10.01 ± 30.76 mSv, P = 0.1). Through subgroup analysis, it was found that disease duration (WMD = 2.75, 95% CI = [0.10, 5.40] mSv), complications (OR = 5.09, 95% CI = [1.50, 17.29]), and surgical history (OR = 5.46, 95% CI = [1.51, 19.69]) significantly increased the proportion of high radiation exposure. Conclusion: This study found that radiation exposure level of IBD patients was high, which revealed the radiation risk in the process of diagnosis and treatment of IBD patients. In the future, longer follow-up and prospective studies are needed to reveal the relationship between high radiation exposure and solid tumorigenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the structural stability, elastic properties, structural transformation, and critical concentration of Ni3Al and Ni3M (M = Ti, Ta, Nb) using L12, D024, and DO22 structures, along with three-dimensional supercells featuring stacking faults along [ 10 1 ¯ ] , [ 01 1 ¯ ] , [111] directions. First-principles calculations revealed that the most stable structures for Ni3Al, Ni3Ti, Ni3Ta, and Ni3Nb are L12, D024, DO22, and DO22, respectively. Notably, the bulk modulus, Young′s modulus, shear modulus, and isotropy of Ni3Ti, Ni3Ta, and Ni3Nb surpassed those of Ni3Al, with increased ductility, except for Ni3Ti. By substituting Al atoms with 0–8 Ti, Ta, and Nb atoms in a 32-atom Ni3Al structure, the critical concentration for the transformation from L12 to D024 or DO22 ranged between 18.75 at. % and 21.88 at. %, and between 15.63 at. % and 18.75 at. %, respectively. This critical concentration was influenced by the dynamic interplay among Ti, Ta, Nb, and Al atoms interacting with Ni atoms. The structural transformation from L12 to D024 or DO22 can be attributed to the reduction in the superlattice extrinsic stacking fault energies or the anti-phase boundary energies, respectively, a consequence of the redistribution of charge density between Ti, Ta, Nb atoms and Ni atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric turbulence parameters, such as turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate, are of great significance in weather prediction, meteorological disasters, and forecasting. Due to the lack of ideal direct detection methods, traditional structure function methods are mainly based on Kolmogorov's assumption of local isotropic turbulence and the well-known -5/3 power law within the inertial subrange, which limits their application. Here, we propose a method for directly measuring atmospheric turbulence parameters using coherent Doppler wind lidar, which can directly obtain atmospheric turbulence parameters and vertical structural features, breaking the limitations of traditional methods. The first published spatiotemporal distribution map of the power-law exponent of the inertial subrange is provided in this study, which indicates the heterogeneity of atmospheric turbulence at different altitudes and also indicates that the power-law exponent at high altitudes does not fully comply with the -5/3 power law, proving the superiority of our method. We analyze the results under different weather conditions, indicating that the method still holds. The turbulent kinetic energy and power-law index obtained by this method are continuously compared with the results obtained with an ultrasonic anemometer for a month-long period. The results of the two have high consistency and correlation, verifying the accuracy and applicability of the proposed method. The proposed method has great significance in studying the vertical structural characteristics of atmospheric turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroporation, or the use of electric pulses to facilitate the intracellular delivery of DNA, RNA, and other molecules, is a well‐established technique, that has been demonstrated to significantly augment the immunogenicity of DNA/mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. However, the clinical translation of traditional electroporators has been limited due to high costs, large size, complex user operation, and poor tolerability in humans due to nerve stimulation. In prior work, we introduced ePatch: an ultra‐low‐cost, handheld, battery‐free electroporator employing a piezoelectric pulser coupled with a microneedle electrode array that showed enhanced immunogenic responses to an intradermal SARS‐CoV‐2 DNA vaccine in mice. The current study shifts focus from efficacy to tolerability, hypothesizing that ePatch's microneedle array, which localizes the electric field to the superficial skin strata, will minimize nerve stimulation and improve patient comfort. We tested this hypothesis in 14 healthy adults, monitoring pain and other potential adverse effects associated with electroporation. Compared to the insertion of a traditional hypodermic needle, the ePatch was less painful. Adverse effects such as pain, tenderness, erythema and swelling at the application sites were minimal, transient, and statistically indistinguishable between the experimental and placebo ePatch application, suggesting excellent tolerability towards electroporation. In summary, ePatch has a favorable tolerability profile in humans and offers the potential for the safe use of electroporation in a variety of clinical settings, including DNA and mRNA vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Single-cell Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high throughput sequencing (scATAC-seq) has gained increasing popularity in recent years, allowing for chromatin accessibility to be deciphered and gene regulatory networks (GRNs) to be inferred at single-cell resolution. This cutting-edge technology now enables the genome-wide profiling of chromatin accessibility at the cellular level and the capturing of cell-type-specific cis-regulatory elements (CREs) that are masked by cellular heterogeneity in bulk assays. Additionally, it can also facilitate the identification of rare and new cell types based on differences in chromatin accessibility and the charting of cellular developmental trajectories within lineage-related cell clusters. Due to technical challenges and limitations, the data generated from scATAC-seq exhibit unique features, often characterized by high sparsity and noise, even within the same cell type. To address these challenges, various bioinformatic tools have been developed. Furthermore, the application of scATAC-seq in plant science is still in its infancy, with most research focusing on root tissues and model plant species. In this review, we provide an overview of recent progress in scATAC-seq and its application across various fields. We first conduct scATAC-seq in plant science. Next, we highlight the current challenges of scATAC-seq in plant science and major strategies for cell type annotation. Finally, we outline several future directions to exploit scATAC-seq technologies to address critical challenges in plant science, ranging from plant ENCODE(The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project construction to GRN inference, to deepen our understanding of the roles of CREs in plant biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational techniques can speed up the identification of hits and accelerate the development of candidate molecules for drug discovery. Among techniques for predicting relative binding affinities, the most consistently accurate is free energy perturbation (FEP), a class of rigorous physics-based methods. However, uncertainty remains about how accurate FEP is and can ever be. Here, we present what we believe to be the largest publicly available dataset of proteins and congeneric series of small molecules, and assess the accuracy of the leading FEP workflow. To ascertain the limit of achievable accuracy, we also survey the reproducibility of experimental relative affinity measurements. We find a wide variability in experimental accuracy and a correspondence between binding and functional assays. When careful preparation of protein and ligand structures is undertaken, FEP can achieve accuracy comparable to experimental reproducibility. Throughout, we highlight reliable protocols that can help maximize the accuracy of FEP in prospective studies. Free energy perturbation (FEP) is a well-recognized computational technique to predict the relative affinities of protein-ligand interactions, however, the exact accuracy of FEP prediction remains uncertain. Here, the authors assess the current accuracy of the leading FEP workflow by assembling a benchmark dataset, and highlight reliable protocols to maximize the accuracy of FEP in prospective studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: 3,4-Bisnitrofurazanfuroxan (DNTF) is a typical high energy density compound (HEDC), it has high crystal density and detonation parameters, but also high mechanical sensitivity. To decrease its mechanical sensitivity, the DNTF based polymer bonded explosives (PBXs) was designed. The pure DNTF crystal and PBXs models were established. The stability, sensitivity, detonation performance and mechanical properties of DNTF crystal and PBXs models were predicted. Results show that PBXs models containing fluorine rubber (F2311) and fluorine resin (F2314) have higher binding energy, meaning that DNTF/F2311 and DNTF/F2314 is relatively more stable. PBXs models have higher value of cohesive energy density (CED) than pure DNTF crystal, DNTF/F2311 and DNTF/F2314 have the highest value of CED, implying that the sensitivity of PBXs is effectively decreased, DNTF/F2311 and DNTF/F2314 is more insensitive. PBXs have lower crystal density and detonation parameters than DNTF, the energy density is declined, DNTF/F2314 has higher energetic performance than other PBXs. Compared with pure DNTF crystal, engineering moduli (tensile modulus, shear modulus, bulk modulus) of PBXs models are obviously decreased, but Cauchy pressure is increased, implying that the mechanical properties of PBXs is superior to pure DNTF component, the PBXs containing F2311 or F2314 have more preferable mechanical properties. Consequently, DNTF/F2311 and DNTF/F2314 have the best comprehensive properties and is more attractive among the designed PBXs, indicating that F2311 and F2314 are more advantageous and promising in ameliorating properties of DNTF. Methods: The properties of DNTF crystal and PBXs models were predicted through molecular dynamics (MD) method under Materials Studio 7.0 package. The MD simulation was performed with isothermal-constant volume (NVT) ensemble, and the force field was chosen as COMPASS force field. The temperature was set as 295 K, the time step was 1 fs and the total MD simulation time was 2 ns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The Nuclear protein 1 gene was first discovered in acute pancreatitis and functions as an oncogene in cancer progression and drug resistance. However, the role of Nuclear protein 1 in bladder transitional cell carcinoma (BTCC) is still unclear. Methods. The Cancer Genome Atlas database and immunohistochemical analysis were adopted to evaluate Nuclear protein 1 expression in BTCC. We applied lentivirus-mediated small-interfering RNA to down-regulate the expression of Nuclear protein 1 in BTCC cell lines. We further performed an Affymetrix microarray and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to assess the genes and signaling pathways related to Nuclear protein 1. Results. We found that Nuclear protein 1 expression was up-regulated in BTCC and positively related to the degree of BTCC malignancy. Compared with Caucasian patients with BTCC, Nuclear protein 1 expression was attenuated in Asian patients. The Affymetrix microarray showed that lipopolysaccharide was the upstream regulatory factor of Nuclear protein 1 in BTCC. The GSEA indicated that Nuclear protein 1 expression was associated with signaling pathways in cancer, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) pathways, and RNA degradation. The expression of Nuclear protein 1 was negatively correlated with PPARG (R = − 0.290 , P < 0.001), but not with PPARA (R = 0.047 , P = 0.344) and PPARD (R = − 0.055 , P = 0.260). Conclusions. The study findings indicate that Nuclear protein 1 is positively associated with the malignancy degree of BTCC and that Nuclear protein 1 expression is negatively correlated with PPARG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anionic High-entropy materials have seldom been reported as a new library of water oxidation electrocatalysts owing to great difficulty in uniformly distributing multiple elements with different physicochemical properties and harsh synthesis conditions. Herein, a series of amorphous quasi-high-entropy carbonates for the first time is prepared via a facile low-temperature hydrothermal route. The optimized CoCrFeMnMoCO 3 with hydrothermal treatment of 6 h can serve as a promising oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst for water splitting on account of amorphous structure rendering more exposed active sites, superior synergistic effect realizing surface component self-optimization, high-valence ferritic species (Fe(3+δ)+) providing high catalytic activity and high-entropy stabilization guaranteeing long-term OER performance, thus exhibiting the low overpotentials of 302 and 355 mV at the current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively, the small Tafel slope of 36.7 mV dec−1, and excellent durability longer than 38 h, dramatically exceeding its corresponding crystalline counterpart and benchmark RuO 2 catalyst, as well as yielding the current density of 10 mA cm−2 with impressive low voltage of 1.56 V while used as bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. This study lights a broad avenue to design other anionic high-entropy materials as promising OER catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticancer peptides and polymers represent an emerging field of tumor treatment and can physically interact with tumor cells to address the problem of multidrug resistance. In the present study, poly(l-ornithine)-b-poly(l-phenylalanine) (PLO-b-PLF) block copolypeptides were prepared and evaluated as macromolecular anticancer agents. Amphiphilic PLO-b-PLF self-assembles into nanosized polymeric micelles in aqueous solution. Cationic PLO-b-PLF micelles interact steadily with the negatively charged surfaces of cancer cells via electrostatic interactions and kill the cancer cells via membrane lysis. To alleviate the cytotoxicity of PLO-b-PLF, 1,2-dicarboxylic-cyclohexene anhydride (DCA) was anchored to the side chains of PLO via an acid-labile β-amide bond to fabricate PLO(DCA)-b-PLF. Anionic PLO(DCA)-b-PLF showed negligible hemolysis and cytotoxicity under neutral physiological conditions but recovered cytotoxicity (anticancer activity) upon charge reversal in the weakly acidic microenvironment of the tumor. PLO-based polypeptides might have potential applications in the emerging field of drug-free tumor treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great development po-tential in the field of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. In this theoretical research work, we propose a novel 3d transition metals (TM)-embedded rectangular tetracyanoquinodimethane (TM-rTCNQ) as a potential high-performance sulfur host. The calculated results show that all TM-rTCNQ structures have excellent structural stability and metallic properties. Through exploring different adsorption patterns, we discovered that TM-rTCNQ (TM = V, Cr, Mn, Fe and Co) monolayers possess moderate adsorption strength for all polysulfide species, which is mainly due to the existence of the TM-N4 active center in these frame systems. Especially for the non-synthesized V-rCTNQ, the theoretical calculation fully predicts that the material has the most suitable adsorption strength for polysul-fides, excellent charging-discharging reaction and Li-ion diffusion performance. Additionally, Mn-rTCNQ, which has been synthesized experimentally, is also suitable for further experimental con-firmation. These findings not only provide novel MOFs for promoting the commercialization of Li-S batteries, but also provide unique insights for fully understanding their catalytic reaction mecha-nism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinicopathological presentation of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations has been seldom studied. Our study enrolled patients with stage I and II lung adenocarcinoma between January 2014 and December 2017 at the National Taiwan University Hospital. Clinicopathological features and prognosis were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed depending on EGFR mutation status. EGFR mutations were detected in 622 (60%) out of 1034 patients. Compared to the group without EGFR mutations, the group with EGFR mutations had more patients above 65 years of age (p < 0.001), more non-lepidic histological subtypes (p < 0.001), higher CEA levels (p = 0.044), higher grade of pleural (p = 0.02) and lymphovascular (p = 0.001) invasion, higher histological grade (p < 0.001), and a more advanced pathological stage (p = 0.022). In multivariate analysis, there was no significant difference in PFS or OS between the EGFR mutant and wild-type groups. In subtype analysis, the tumors with an L858R mutation had a more lepidic predominant histological type (p = 0.019) and less lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.011). No significant differences in PFS or OS were detected between the exon 19 deletion and L858R mutation groups. In early-stage lung adenocarcinoma, EGFR mutation may be considered as a treatment response predictor for tyrosine kinase inhibitors, instead of a predictor of clinical prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: KIAA0586, also known as Talpid3, plays critical roles in primary cilia formation and hedgehog signaling in humans. Variants in KIAA0586 could cause some different ciliopathies, including Joubert syndrome (JBTS), which is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of autosomal recessive neurological disorders. Methods and Results: A 9-month-old girl was diagnosed as JBTS by the "molar tooth sign" of the mid-brain and global developmental delay. By whole-exome sequencing, we identified a single nucleotide variant c.3303G > A and a 1.38-kb deletion in KIAA0586 in the proband. These two variants of KIAA0586 were consistent with the mode of autosomal recessive inheritance in the family, which was verified using Sanger sequencing. Conclusions: This finding of a compound heterozygote with a 1.38-kb deletion and c.3303G > A gave a precise genetic diagnosis for the patient, and the novel 1.38-kb deletion also expanded the pathogenic variation spectrum of JBTS caused by KIAA0586. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food packaging plays a vital role in protecting food products from environmental damage and preventing contamination from microorganisms. Conventional food packaging made of plastics produced from unrenewable fossil resources is hard to degrade and poses a negative impact on environmental sustainability. Natural biopolymers are attracting interest for reducing environmental problems to achieve a sustainable society, because of their abundance, biocompatibility, biodegradability, chemical stability, and non-toxicity. Active packaging systems composed of these biopolymers and biopolymer-based composites go beyond simply acting as a barrier to maintain food quality. This review provides a comprehensive overview of natural biopolymer materials used as matrices for food packaging. The antioxidant, water barrier, and oxygen barrier properties of these composites are compared and discussed. Furthermore, biopolymer-based composites integrated with antimicrobial agents—such as inorganic nanostructures and natural products—are reviewed, and the related mechanisms are discussed in terms of antimicrobial function. In summary, composites used for active food packaging systems can inhibit microbial growth and maintain food quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the paper is to reveal discrepancies of turbulent variables over different surfaces (sea, island, land) based on the measurements taken on three towers during (including before and after) seven typhoon episodes from 2008 to 2018. The atmospheric stability, turbulent spectrum, friction velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, dissipative heating, and gust factor are examined. The similar turbulent characteristics over sea and on the island reinforce the previous conclusion that the turbulent measurements on the island mainly represent the sea surface. The turbulent characteristics over sea and on land are very different due to the different underlying surface roughness. The unstable (stable) condition dominates on the sea (land) surface. Turbulent spectra both over sea and on land follow the canonical Kolmogorov's power law with the −5/3 slope. The cospectra on land are more peaked than those over sea. All of the friction velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, and dissipative heating increase with increasing 10 m wind speed, and those on land are much larger than those over sea. The distributions of gust factors widen and shift to higher on land than those over sea. The distributions of gust factors at heights of 10 m and 40 m are biased to higher values than those at heights of 160 m and 320 m on land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cigarette smoking (CS) leads to several adverse health effects, including diseases, disabilities, and even death. Post-operative and trauma patients who smoke have an increased risk for complications, such as delayed bone or wound healing. In clinical trials, microcurrent (MC) has been shown to be a safe, non-invasive, and effective way to accelerate wound healing. Our study aimed to investigate if MC with the strength of 100 μA may be beneficial in treating CS-related healing impairment, especially in regard to angiogenesis. In this study, we investigated the effect of human keratinocyte cells (HaCaT) on angiogenesis after 72 h of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) exposure in the presence or absence of 100 μA MC. Cell viability and proliferation were evaluated by resazurin conversion, Sulforhodamine B, and Calcein-AM/Hoechst 33342 staining; the pro-angiogenic potential of HaCaT cells was evaluated by tube formation assay and angiogenesis array assay; signaling pathway alterations were investigated using Western blot. Constant exposure for 72 h to a 100 μA MC enhanced the angiogenic ability of HaCaT cells, which was mediated through the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. In conclusion, the current data indicate that 100 μA MC may support wound healing in smoking patients by enhancing angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upconversion (UC) nanostructures, which can upconvert near-infrared (NIR) light with low energy to visible or UV light with higher energy, are investigated for theranostic applications. The surface of lanthanide (Ln)-doped UC nanostructures can be modified with different functional groups and bioconjugated with biomolecules for therapeutic systems. On the other hand, organic molecular-based UC nanostructures, by using the triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) UC mechanism, have high UC quantum yields and do not require high excitation power. In this review, the major UC mechanisms in different nanostructures have been introduced, including the Ln-doped UC mechanism and the TTA UC mechanism. The design and fabrication of Ln-doped UC nanostructures and TTA UC-based UC nanostructures for theranostic applications have been reviewed and discussed. In addition, the current progress in the application of UC nanostructures for diagnosis and therapy has been summarized, including tumor-targeted bioimaging and chemotherapy, image-guided diagnosis and phototherapy, NIR-triggered controlled drug releasing and bioimaging. We also provide insight into the development of emerging UC nanostructures in the field of theranostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the meteorological, ozone (O3), and vertical observation data of 2020, this study sought to evaluate the daily variation in O3, particularly the characteristics of nocturnal ozone pollution. We also discuss the effect of local and mesoscale horizontal transport and vertical mixing on the formation of nocturnal O3 pollution. Distinct seasonal characteristics of the daily O3 variation in Shenzhen were identified. In particular, significant nocturnal peaks were found to regularly occur in the winter and spring (November–December and January–April). The monthly average of daily variation had a clear bimodal distribution. During the period, O3 pollution frequently occurred at night, with the maximum hourly O3 concentration reaching 203.5 μg/m3. Nocturnal O3 pollution was closely associated with horizontal transport and vertical mixing. During the study period, the O3 maximum values were recorded on 68 nights, primarily between 23:00 and 03:00, with occasional observation of two peaks. The impact of horizontal transport and vertical mixing on the nocturnal secondary O3 maximum values was elaborated in two case studies, where vertical mixing was mainly associated with low-level jets, with strong wind shear enhancing turbulent mixing and transporting O3 from the upper layers to the surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of synchrophasor measurement techniques, ambient signal-based load modeling is recently proposed to track the time-varying characteristics of power loads. On this basis, the hardware realization of this approach, which includes the local load modeling devices and the data center, is proposed and tested with the field measurement data from China Southern Power Grid. In this way, practical load model parameters can be identified from field measurement data both online and offline by the hardware system. To begin with, the hardware system, which is the first realization of an ambient signal-based load modeling algorithm, offers sufficient field measurements for load modeling. Then, the identification results of the field measurements verify the effectiveness of the ambient signal-based load modeling algorithm. Besides, the identified load model parameters for different substations during different times demonstrate the time-varying and the distributed characteristics of power loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive power is the core problem of voltage stability and economical operation in power systems. Aiming at the problem that multi-objective normalization reactive power optimization function is dependent on weight, an integrated synthesis of adaptive multi-objective particle swarm optimization (ISAMOPSO) is proposed to achieve weight adaptive. Through seven test functions and three algorithm comparison experiments, it is proved that the ISAMOPSO algorithm has stronger global search capability and better convergence. Considering the optimal access position and capacity of distributed generation (DG), the ISAMOPSO algorithm is used for three-objective reactive power optimization. Finally, the results indicate that the ISAMOPSO algorithm can not only provide a variety of optimization schemes to meet different needs, but also realize dynamic reactive power optimization, which further proves that the algorithm can provide effective technical support for solving reactive power optimization problems in practical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although genetic transformation has opened up a new era for cotton molecular breeding, it still suffers from the limitation problem of long transformation periods, which slows down the generation of new cotton germplasms. In this study, LT gene (SV40 large T antigen), which promotes the transformation efficiency of animal cells, was codon-optimized. Its overexpression vector was transformed into cotton. It was observed that EC (embryogenic callus) formation period was 33% shorter and transformation efficiency was slightly higher in the LT T0 generation than that of control. RNA-seq data of NEC (non-embryonic callus) and EC from LT and control revealed that more DEGs (differential expression genes) in NEC were identified than that of EC, indicating LT mainly functioned in NEC. Further KEGG, GO, and transcription factor analyses showed that DEGs were significantly enriched in brassinosteroid biosynthesis pathways and that bHLH, MYB, and AP2/ERF were the top three gene families, which are involved in EC formation. In addition, the key genes related to the auxin pathway were differentially expressed only in LT overexpression NEC, which caused early response, biosynthesis, and transportation of the hormone, resulting in EC earlier formation. In summary, the results demonstrated that LT can promote somatic embryogenesis in cotton, which provides a new strategy for improving cotton transformation and shortening EC formation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green manufacturing, which takes environmental effect and production benefit into consideration, has attracted increasing concern with the target of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality proposed. As a critical process in the manufacturing system, shop scheduling is also an important method for enterprises to achieve green manufacturing. Therefore, it is necessary to consider both production benefits and environmental objectives in shop scheduling, which are symmetrical and equally important. In addition, noise pollution has become an important environmental issue that cannot be ignored in the manufacturing processes, but which has been paid less attention in previous studies. Thus, the MODABC algorithm, with the optimization objectives of simultaneously minimizing lead-time/tardiness cost and job-shop noise pollution emission is proposed in this paper. We designed a discrete permutation-based two-layer encoding mechanism to generate the initial population. Then, three crossover methods were used to perform nectar update operations in the employed bee search phase, and three neighbourhood structures were used to improve the onlooker bee search operations. Finally, the MODABC algorithm was compared with other classical MOEAs. The results demonstrate that MODABC can provide non-dominated solution set with good convergence and distribution, and show significant superiority in solving green single-machine multi-objective scheduling problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the energy efficiency of transportation systems is essential for accelerating decarbonization. Integrating regenerative braking energy (RBE) in subway stations is challenging for power systems. The existing multimodal transport of electric bicycles and subways lends subway station energy storage resources to manage the RBE. In this article, we proposed a virtual power plant (VPP) scheme comprising subway stations, electric bicycles, and photovoltaic systems. We developed an optimization model to manage the charging of distributed electric bicycles to integrate the RBE and reduce the total electricity bill of the VPP. We applied the proposed model to Beijing Subway Lines 5 and 13 and investigated the benefits of the VPP scheme and multimodal transport. The results indicate that the VPP can integrate 42% of the RBE and generate a high profit rate. • A VPP consisting of E-bike and subway is proposed. • The E-bike battery capacities along two Beijing subway lines are estimated. • An optimization model to dispatch and plan the VPP is developed. • The E-bike batteries can store a great proportion of the regenerative braking energy. • The economic potential of the VPP for two Beijing subway lines is remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of economic globalization, distributed hybrid flow shop scheduling problem (DHFSSP) has become prevalent in realistic manufacturing systems. Moreover, to accord with the actual production scenarios and satisfy the requirement of manufacturing market, it is imperative to comprehensively explore various complex manufacturing scenarios (e.g., production assembly) and production-constrained resources (e.g., worker resources) in DHFSSP. However, the integration mode of DHFSSP, assembly shop problem (ASP), and dual-resource constraints (DRC) has not been reported in existing literature. Thus, to fill out this research gap, this paper first attempts to investigate DAHFSSP-DRC with minimization the total tardiness (T T D). To solve this problem, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and a knowledge-based iterated greedy algorithm (KBIG) are presented. The novelties of KBIG are as follows: (1) An efficient decoding is developed to improve the solution's quality; (2) A knowledge-based NEH (KB-NEH) initialization strategy is presented to generate an initial solution; (3) A knowledge-based destruction and construction is designed to improve the exploration capability; (4) A product-based local search is proposed to enhance the exploitation capability. Additionally, to validate the proposed model, we implement CPLEX to solve it on 24 small-sized instances. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed KBIG, extensive experiments are conducted to compare with other 7 comparison algorithms on 405 large-sized instances. Experimental results illustrate that KBIG is superior to its competitors. • This paper first investigates DAHFSSP-DRC with minimization TTD. • A MILP model and a KBIG are proposed for DAHFSSP-DRC. • The importance level of different knowledge is considered in KBIG. • Experimental results prove the effectiveness of MILP model and KBIG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the guidance of the advanced manufacturing philosophy, green scheduling and energy efficiency have received considerable attention from enterprises and countries. Meanwhile, distributed manufacturing is becoming widespread due to the exploration of the business. Thus, this paper investigates the energy-efficient scheduling of the distributed flexible job shop problem (EEDFJSP) with the goal of minimizing the makespan and total energy consumption (T E C). Considering the difficulty of simultaneously optimizing both objectives, a knowledge-guided bi-population evolutionary algorithm (KBEA) is proposed to address this issue. Firstly, a problem-specific initialization strategy based on a four-vector representation is presented, which corresponds to four sub-problems including factory assignment, operation sequence, machine assignment, and speed assignment. Secondly, five different types of evolutionary operators with adaption strategy is designed to guide the bi-population to complete efficient evolution. Thirdly, a knowledge-guided local search strategy is used to enhance the exploitation capability of the algorithm. Furthermore, an elaborately-designed energy-saving strategy based on knowledge is developed to further reduce energy consumption. Additionally, to verify the effectiveness of the proposed KBEA, extensive experiments are conducted to compare with other 7 comparison algorithms on 39 instances. Experimental results manifest that KBEA is superior to its competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Global warming effect caused by excessive emission of greenhouse gases, such as CO 2 from modern industries, are emerging as serious environmental problem nowadays. Many strategies have been developed to address this issue, including solar energy utilization, green plants cultivation and coal desulfurization. These existing strategies always need sophisticated equipment and harsh reaction conditions, and are usually with limited efficiency. With the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, it is becoming an effective strategy to directly capture and convert CO 2 with nanomaterials into valuable chemicals under gentle conditions. Herein, we summarize recent progress on nanomaterials for adsorption and conversion of CO 2 under gentle conditions, including various physical and chemical processes, and artificial photosynthesis. Future perspective and research direction of nanomaterials for CO 2 adsorption and conversion have been put forward on the basis of existing research works and our experimental experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel constant power charging strategy is proposed for LCC resonant capacitor charging power supply (CCPS) in this article, which combines the advantages of discontinuous current mode (DCM) and continuous current mode (CCM) to increase the charging speed of capacitor and the utilization of input grid capacity. In order to implement the multimode constant power control (CPC) strategy, a steady-state model of LCC series-parallel resonant converter is built by state plane analysis, and the analytical expressions for output voltage, average output current, and switching frequency are derived. By the analytical expressions, this control strategy directly determines the relationship of the output voltage and the switch frequency, so the frequency control curve of the pulse frequency modulation could be realized easily. Accordingly, the converter operating along the control curve can take advantage of high average and low peak current of CCM, small switching loss of DCM. Finally, the accuracy of LCC state plane model and the effectiveness of multimode CPC are verified by the simulation and a 2-kW CCPS experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a nonparametric method for evaluating the relative efficiency of a set of decision-making units (DMUs) with multiple inputs and outputs. As an extension of the DEA, a multiplicative two-stage DEA model has been widely used to measure the efficiencies of two-stage systems, where the first stage uses inputs to produce the outputs, and the second stage then uses the first-stage outputs as inputs to generate its own outputs. The main deficiency of the multiplicative two-stage DEA model is that the decomposition of the overall efficiency may not be unique because of the presence of alternate optima. To remove the problem of the flexible decomposition, in this paper, we maximize the sum of the two-stage efficiencies and simultaneously maximize the two-stage efficiencies as secondary goals in the multiplicative two-stage DEA model to select the decomposition of the overall efficiency from the flexible decompositions, respectively. The proposed models are applied to evaluate the performance of 10 branches of China Construction Bank, and the results are compared with the results of the existing models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common female malignancies in the world. Chemotherapeutic resistance is the major cause of BC therapy failure, leading to tumor recurrence and metastasis. Studies have illustrated the close relationship between glycolysis and BC progression and drug resistance. The key glycolysis regulator, PFKFB3 makes a difference during BC progression and drug resistance. However, the mechanism remains to be unknown. Methods: Mass spectrometry analyses were used to found that PIM2 was a potential new binding protein of PFKFB3. Co‐immunoprecipitated and western blot were used to verify the interaction between PIM2 and PFKFB3 in BC and the molecular mechanism by which PIM2 phosphorylates PFKFB3 in regulating the protein function. PFKFB3 mutant forms were used to demonstrate the need for PFKFB3 in BC drug resistance. Results: We identified that PIM2 is a new binding protein of PFKFB3. We used biochemical methods to determine that PIM2 can directly bind and change the phosphorylation of PFKFB3 at Ser478 to enhance PFKFB3 protein stability through the ubiquitin‐proteasome pathway. Importantly, phosphorylation of PFKFB3 at Ser478 promoted glycolysis, BC cell growth, and paclitaxel resistance together with PIM2 in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that PIM2 mediates PFKFB3 phosphorylation thus regulates glycolysis and paclitaxel resistance to promote tumor progression in BC and provides preclinical evidence for targeting PFKFB3 as a new strategy in BC treatment to battle paclitaxel resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low-consumption water purification system is firstly constructed based on a new dual-reaction-center (DRC) catalyst molybdenum-doped zinc sulfide (Mo-ZnS, MZS) with a confined nonequilibrium surface. The extremely strong electron trapping ability of the Mo site is realized by the substitution of Mo for ZnS lattice. In this way, the electrons of emerging contaminants (ECs) are efficiently transferred to the nonequilibrium surface through the oriented interface process (Mo-S-Zn bond bridge), and obtained by the natural dissolved oxygen (DO) to generate hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) under trace H 2 O 2 trigger without light and electricity assistant. The highest yield of H 2 O 2 is even up to ∼230 % of the initial value, and the ECs removal can reach 100 % within 60 min, which is far superior to conventional Fenton catalysts. This work realized the efficient utilization of the contaminant electrons through the construction of Mo-S-Zn bond bridge, which greatly reduced the energy consumption of water purification and improved the resourcefulness of ECs. [Display omitted] • DRC catalyst MZS with the confined nonequilibrium surface is first prepared. • MZS shows excellent performance for water purification. • Efficient H 2 O 2 generation is achieved without light and electricity assistant. • The highest H 2 O 2 concentration reaches up to ∼230 % of the initial concentration. • ECs electrons are efficiently utilized in ORR processes and water purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has investigated an integrated control of active front steering (AFS) and direct yaw-moment control (DYC) for vehicle systems. First of all, the desired yaw rate and sideslip angle are estimated by using a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) model of the vehicle system. On this basis, the actual sideslip angle is estimated by means of an observer. Then, the sliding mode control (SMC) is developed for AFS and DYC, respectively, to guarantee that the actual yaw rate and the sideslip angle track their reference signals. Additionally, the disturbance observer (DOB) technique is introduced to further improve the control performance. Finally, the simulation results validate the superiority of the AFS and DYC integrated control by using CarSim software during the following conditions: double lane change and side wind disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A tourniquet is a device commonly used to control massive hemorrhage during knee replacement surgery. However, the question remains whether the use of tourniquets affects the permeability of the bone cement around the knee prosthesis. Moreover, the long-term effects and stability of the knee prosthesis are still debatable. The aim of this study was to examine whether the use of a tourniquet increases the thickness of the cement mantle and affects the postoperative blood loss and pain during primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) using meta-analysis. Methods: We searched the Cochrane Central Library, MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, CNKI, and Wang Fang databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on primary TKA, from inception to November 2019. All RCTs in primary TKA with and without a tourniquet were included. The meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software. Results: A total of eight RCTs (677 knees) were analyzed. We found no significant difference in the age and sex of the patients. The results showed that the application of tourniquet affects the thickness of the bone cement around the tibial prosthesis (WMD = 0.16, 95%CI = 0.11 to 0.21, p < 0.00001). However, in our study, there was no significant difference in postoperative blood loss between the two groups was observed (WMD = 12.07, 95%CI = − 78.63 to 102.77, p = 0.79). The use of an intraoperative tourniquet can increase the intensity of postoperative pain (WMD = 1.34, 95%, CI = 0.32 to 2.36, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Tourniquet application increases the thickness of the bone cement around the prosthesis and may thus increase the stability and durability of the prosthesis after TKA. The application of an intraoperative tourniquet can increase the intensity of postoperative pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has investigated an integrated control of active front steering (AFS) and direct yaw-moment control (DYC) for vehicle systems. First of all, the desired yaw rate and sideslip angle are estimated by using a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) model of the vehicle system. On this basis, the actual sideslip angle is estimated by means of an observer. Then, the sliding mode control (SMC) is developed for AFS and DYC, respectively, to guarantee that the actual yaw rate and the sideslip angle track their reference signals. Additionally, the disturbance observer (DOB) technique is introduced to further improve the control performance. Finally, the simulation results validate the superiority of the AFS and DYC integrated control by using CarSim software during the following conditions: double lane change and side wind disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of ambient signals-based load modelling are more sensitive to phasor measurement unit (PMU) measurement errors due to the relatively smaller disturbance magnitudes of ambient signals. To analyse the impact of PMU measurement errors, the stochastic distributions and frequency spectra of PMU measurement errors are required. In this study, the measurement errors of Sifang CDS361 PMU are experimentally tested, and then their impacts on load modelling results are analysed. The following contributions have been made in this study. Firstly, the stochastic distributions and frequency spectra of PMU measurement errors are experimentally tested, from which it can be concluded that systematic errors occupy a larger proportion compared with accidental errors. Secondly, the impacts of PMU measurement errors on load modelling results are analysed. It can be concluded that accidental errors have more severe impacts on the accuracy of both dynamic and static load models. Besides, systematically errors also impact the accuracy of static load models. Thirdly, the function of low-pass filters in recovering measurement signals from PMU measurement errors and enhancing the accuracy of load modelling results are validated. It can be further concluded that load model parameters can be accurately identified with current PMU measurement accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of ambient signals‐based load modelling are more sensitive to phasor measurement unit (PMU) measurement errors due to the relatively smaller disturbance magnitudes of ambient signals. To analyse the impact of PMU measurement errors, the stochastic distributions and frequency spectra of PMU measurement errors are required. In this study, the measurement errors of Sifang CDS361 PMU are experimentally tested, and then their impacts on load modelling results are analysed. The following contributions have been made in this study. Firstly, the stochastic distributions and frequency spectra of PMU measurement errors are experimentally tested, from which it can be concluded that systematic errors occupy a larger proportion compared with accidental errors. Secondly, the impacts of PMU measurement errors on load modelling results are analysed. It can be concluded that accidental errors have more severe impacts on the accuracy of both dynamic and static load models. Besides, systematically errors also impact the accuracy of static load models. Thirdly, the function of low‐pass filters in recovering measurement signals from PMU measurement errors and enhancing the accuracy of load modelling results are validated. It can be further concluded that load model parameters can be accurately identified with current PMU measurement accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The validity of performance evaluation is determined by, and therefore greatly influenced by, the accuracy of data set. To address such imprecise and negative data problems widely spread in the real world, this paper proposes a second-order cone based robust data envelopment analysis (SOCPR-DEA) model, which is more robust to data variety. Further, this new computational tractable model is applied to analyze 13 new-energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturers from China. The findings support that the SOCPR-DEA model could well mitigate the deficiency caused by data variety, and the evidence from Chinese NEV industry shows that a focus strategy is more likely to enhance a firm's efficiency especially at its emerging stage, and the efficiency is more sensitive with production cost than other factors such as research and development, sales income, earnings per share, and predicted income. In addition, this paper also gives some industrial implications and policy suggestions based on these interesting findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible supercapacitors have been demonstrated to be ideal energy storage devices owing to their lightweight and flexible nature and their high power density. However, conventional film-shaped devices struggle to meet the requirements of application in complicated situations, including medical instruments and wearable electronics. Here we report a hollow-structured flexible tubular supercapacitor prepared from a scalable method with the same diameter as electric wires. This new supercapacitor design allows for a large specific capacitance of 102 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 with excellent air-working stability over 10,000 cycles. It also shows a high energy density of 14.2 Wh kg−1 with good rate capability even at a current density of 10 A g−1, which is superior to commercial devices (3–10 Wh kg−1). Moreover, the device delivers a stable energy storage capacity when encountering different flexible conditions, such as elongated, tangled and bent states, showing wide potentials in flexible and even wearable applications. Especially, it retains stable specific capacitance even after 500 bending cycles with a bending angle of 180°. The two-step fabrication method of these flexible tubular supercapacitors may allow for possible mass production, as they could be easily integrated with other functional components, and used in realistic scenarios that conventional film devices struggle to realize. Flexible supercapacitors are versatile energy storage devices owing to their light weight, flexibility and high power density. Here a scalable, flexible, tubular supercapacitor possessing the diameter of an electrical wire is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand for high-performance ultra-high-definition video coding leads to H.265/high-efficiency video coding (HEVC), where the increased computational complexity and data/timing dependence hinder its coding throughput. To address these challenges, this paper presents four algorithm adaptations and a fully parallel hardware architecture for an H.265/HEVC intra encoder. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully parallel H.265/HEVC intra encoder. This design supports 35 prediction modes and all coding tree unit partitions. All PUs are independently processed in four prediction engines for high parallelism. An appropriate set of intra prediction modes, RDO candidates, and CABAC rate estimate instances is assigned to each prediction engine, where internal computational tasks are pipelined and scheduled to maximize the processing throughput. Compared with the HM-15.0 software, the proposed algorithm adaptations lead to a reduction of 27% in computational workload, while the average BD-rate and BD-PSNR are 4.39% and −0.21 dB, respectively. This BD-rate is lower than the existing designs with the same video resolution. FPGA implementation of the proposed design shows that it operates at 120 MHz and supports 45 fps of 1080P video sequences using 201-K logic elements and 120-KB on-chip SRAM. ASIC implementation of the proposed design in TSMC 90-nm technology shows that its clock frequency reaches 320 MHz with a hardware gate count of 2288 K, and that it supports real-time encoding of 30 fps of 4-K video sequences. Compared with the state-of-the-art designs, our proposed design demonstrates advantages in computational complexity, bit rate, video quality, throughput, reliability, and flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Liddle syndrome (LS) is a rare autosomal dominant disease caused by mutations in genes coding for epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) subunits. The aim of this study was to identify the mutation responsible for the LS in an extended Chinese family. Methods: DNA samples from the proband with early-onset, treatment-resistant hypertension, and hypokalemia and 19 additional relatives were all sequenced for mutations in exon 13 of the β-ENaC and γ-ENaC genes, using amplification by polymerase chain reaction and direct DNA sequencing. Results: Genetic testing of exon 13 of SCNN1B revealed duplication of guanine into a string of 3 guanines located at codon 602. This frameshift mutation is predicted to generate a premature stop codon at position 607, resulting in truncated β-ENaC lacking the remaining 34 amino acids, including the crucial PY motif. Among a total of 9 participants with the identical mutation, different phenotypes were identified. Tailored treatment with amiloride was safe and effective in alleviating disease symptoms in LS. No mutation of SCNN1G was identified in any of the examined participants. Conclusions: We report here a family affected by LS harboring a frameshift mutation (c.1806dupG) with a premature stop codon deleting the PY motif of β-ENaC. Our study demonstrates that the earlier LS patients are diagnosed by genetic testing and treated with tailored medication, the greater the likelihood of preventing or minimizing complications in the vasculature and target organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential effects of engineered metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) on bacterial nitrogen fixation are of great concern. Herein, the impact and mechanism of the increasing-used MONPs, including TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and ZnO nanoparticles (TiO 2 NP, Al 2 O 3 NP, and ZnONP, respectively), on nitrogenase activity was studied at the concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 mg L−1 using associative rhizosphere nitrogen-fixing bacteria Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501. Nitrogen fixation capacity was inhibited by MONPs in an increasing degree of TiO 2 NP < Al 2 O 3 NP < ZnONP. Realtime qPCR analysis showed that the expressions of nitrogenase synthesis-related genes, including nifA and nifH , were inhibited significantly when MONPs were added. MONPs could cause the explosion of intracellular ROS, and ROS not only changed the permeability of the membrane but also inhibited the expression of nifA and biofilm formation on the root surface. The repressed nifA gene could inhibit transcriptional activation of nif -specific genes, and ROS reduced the biofilm formation on the root surface which had a negative effect on resisting environmental stress. This study demonstrated that MONPs, including TiO 2 NP, Al 2 O 3 NP, and ZnONP, inhibited bacterial biofilm formation and nitrogen fixation in the rice rhizosphere, which might have a negative effect on the nitrogen cycle in bacteria-rice system. [Display omitted] • MONPs inhibited nitrogenase activity of P. stutzeri A1501 both in medium and on rice root surface. • ROS induced by MONPs repressed nifA expression and enhanced membrane permeability. • Abundance and biofilm formation of P. stutzeri A1501 on root surface decrease when MONPs were added. • Nitrogen fixation and biofilm were inhibited in an increasing degree of TiO 2 NP < Al 2 O 3 NP < ZnONP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autotrophic carbon-fixing bacteria affect carbon sequestration in coastal wetland systems. However, it remains uncertain how carbon-fixing bacterial communities and their carbon-fixing genes play crucial roles in soil carbon fixation and respond to plant community change. Here, we explored changes in soil properties, carbon-fixing genes, and bacterial community structure associated with 5-year-old Spartina alterniflora (SA5), 15-year-old SA (SA15), 21-year-old SA (SA21), and native plants Suaeda salsa (SS) and Phragmites australis (PA) compared to in bare flat (BF) at three soil layers (0–10, 10–30, and 30–60 cm) in coastal salt marsh wetlands. The soil organic carbon (SOC) content, absolute abundance of carbon-fixing genes (cbbM and cbbL), and relative abundance of dominant carbon-fixing genera in all soil layers significantly differed among plant communities (P < 0.05). The effect of plant community on these factors was more pronounced than that of soil depth. The SOC content peaked in SA15 soil. The absolute abundance of cbbM and cbbL was significantly higher in plant soil than in BF soil (P < 0.05). The dominant bacterial genus with carbon-fixing genes in BF, SA5, and SA15 soils was Sulfurovum , in SA21 soil was Bacillus , and in SS and PA soils was Thioalkalispira. Salinity was the key driver affecting the community structure of carbon-fixing bacteria. The soil physicochemical properties of coastal salt marsh wetlands changed with the plant community and soil depth, resulting in shifts in the carbon-fixing bacterial communities. Our findings suggest that plant community change can strongly influence carbon-fixing bacterial communities and highlight the importance of microbial carbon fixation in soil carbon accumulation in coastal salt marsh wetlands. • Soil organic carbon content peaked in the 15-year-old Spartina alterniflora soil. • Plant community change strongly affects carbon-fixing bacteria. • Salinity was the key driver of the carbon-fixing bacterial community structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Considering the spatial–temporal correlation of random matrices, a system operating state analysis method based on the single-ring theorem and correlation coefficient analysis is proposed to provide the basis for low-quality PMU data identification to determine the reasons for PMU data mutations. • Starting from singular value decomposition and reconstruction, a low-quality PMU data identification method based on the spatial–temporal correlation between original data and low-rank reconstructed data is proposed under different operating states. • The physical meanings of singular value decomposition are analyzed, and a dynamic threshold selection method is adopted for low-quality PMU data identification criteria based on the spatial–temporal correlation to improve the identification accuracy. With the high access of renewable energy, complex and changeable transmission networks, and frequent load interactions, the dynamic characteristics of low-carbon power systems have become more complex and random. The 10 ms-level dynamic measurement data of Phasor Measurement Unit are the basis for dynamic awareness, control and decision. However, the phenomenon of low-quality data usually exists in PMU measurements. Considering the spatial–temporal correlation reflected by the random matrix single-ring theorem and correlation coefficients, two system operating states and two types of low-quality PMU data are determined. Based on singular value decomposition and reconstruction, the distribution of the residuals between the original data and reconstructed data is analyzed to realize low-quality PMU data identification. To improve the identification accuracy, a dynamic threshold selection method of spatial–temporal correlation analysis is proposed for identification criteria. The feasibility and applicability of this method has been verified in the simulation data of IEEE 39 bus system and PMU measured data of the practical power grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite improvements in neonatal cardiac surgery and postoperative care, hospitalized death for infants with low birth weight remains high.Objective: This study sought to identify predictors of postoperative outcomes in low-birth-weight infants undergoing congenital heart surgery and establish nomograms to predict postoperative intensive-care unit (ICU) stay.Methods: From June 2009 to June 2018, a retrospective review of 114 infants with low birth weight (≤2.5 kg) undergoing congenital heart surgery was conducted at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. Purely surgical ligation of patent ductus arteriosus was excluded from this study. A total of 26 clinical variables were chosen for univariate, multivariate, and Cox regression analysis, and 14 variables were analyzed as predictors of postoperative outcomes. Nomograms were established to predict risk of postoperative cardiac ICU (CICU) stay, postoperative neonatal ICU (NICU) stay, and total ICU length of stay in infants with cardiac diseases.Results: Two variables were independent predictors in multiple logistic regression analysis of hospitalized death: operation weight and Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (STAT) risk categories. Six variables were independent predictors in the Cox model of postoperative ICU length of stay, including sex, prematurity, birth weight, preoperative stay time in NICU, diagnostic classification, and STAT risk categories. We calculated concordance-index values to estimate the discriminative ability of models of risk of postoperative CICU stay, postoperative NICU stay, and total ICU length of stay, with values of 0.758 (95% CI 0.696-0.820), 0.604 (95% CI 0.525-0.682), and 0.716 (95% CI 0.657-0.776), which indicated the possibility of true-positive results.Conclusion: Our findings might help clinicians predict postoperative outcomes and optimize therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the difficulty and high cost of collecting sufficient data in the real world, driving simulators are used in many studies as an alternative data source, which can provide a much easier and safer way to collect driving data. However, because of the inherent differences between the virtual and real world, the recognition model for driving behavior trained using simulation-based data cannot fit the real driving scenes well. To fill the gap between simulation and real data, a knowledge transfer framework is proposed in this paper. Two transfer learning (TL) methods namely semi-supervised manifold alignment (SMA) and kernel manifold alignment (KEMA) are used in the proposed framework to map the data collected from the virtual and real world to one latent common space. A typical lane-changing scenario is selected for a case study. Three classifiers are trained in the latent space and used to do the lane-changing behavior recognition in the real world. In this way, sufficient simulation data are transferred to supplement the training set with few labeled real data, and thus improve the performance of behavior recognition in the real world. Compared with the traditional methods without knowledge transfer, classifiers combined with TL can reduce the error rate of recognition from around 30% (when only the real data are used) or higher than 50% (when only the simulation data are used) to as low as 11%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High computational complexity and heavy data/timing dependency in high efficiency video coding (HEVC) hinder the throughput of video encoding. In order to address both design challenges, we present high-performance algorithm adaptations and high-throughput hardware architecture for the HEVC intra encoders. Particularly, the chroma intra prediction includes the derived luma mode, which greatly improves the worst-case video compression performance. Compared with the HM-15.0 reference software, the proposed algorithms reduce the computational workload by 22%, while the average BD-Rate and BD-PSNR for classes A-F and 4K are 2.79% and −0.13 dB, respectively. This BD-Rate is lower than existing designs in the literature with the same video resolution. The field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of proposed design shows it operates at 120 MHz and supports 45 f/s of 1080P video sequences using 196K logic elements and 127-KB on-chip SRAM. The application-specified integrated circuit (ASIC) implementation of the proposed design in TSMC 90 nm technology shows that its clock frequency reaches 320 MHz with a hardware gate count of 2186K and power consumption of 290 mW, and it supports real-time encoding of 4K videos at 30 f/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Since its discovery in Escherichia coli , the emergence and rapid spread of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene mcr - 1 have become a public health concern. Livestock manure is a potentially important reservoir of mcr - 1 because colistin has been widely used in livestock production. Efforts made to accurately quantify the prevalence of mcr - 1 in livestock manure and the dynamic changes therein during thermophilic composting have been few and far between. In this study, mcr - 1 in 51 collected samples from four kinds of livestock manures was detected and quantified. In total, 16 manure samples were found to be mcr - 1 positive, with a detection frequency of 31% in 51 samples. The numbers of mcr - 1 gene copies in 12 positive manure samples with a high prevalence of mcr - 1 were 107–109 copies/g dry weight. During composting, >90% of mcr - 1 in the manure was eliminated in 15 days at high temperature (44–65 °C), and mcr - 1 was completely undetectable after 22 days. The reduction of mcr - 1 following manure composting may be ascribed to the decreased number of potential mcr - 1 –harboring bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas. The results indicated that thermophilic composting effectively eliminated mcr - 1 and inhibited its spread from livestock manure to the environment. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The detection frequency of colistin resistance gene mcr - 1 was 31% in livestock manures. • 107–109 copies/g dry weight of mcr - 1 was observed in manures with a high mcr - 1 prevalence. • mcr - 1 was completely undetectable in livestock manures after composting for 22 days. • mcr - 1 reduction during composting owed to the decreased number of potential mcr - 1 –harboring bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that is commonly accompanied by inflammation. Scoparone is a biologically active constituent isolated from Artemisia capillaris and possesses anti-inflammatory activity. However, the effect of scoparone on inflammatory response in OA has not been authenticated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of scoparone in OA in vitro . Our results showed that IL-1β treatment significantly inhibited the cell viability of chondrocytes, whereas the inhibition effect was attenuated by scoparone in a dose-dependent manner. IL-1β also efficiently induced the production of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), MMP-3, MMP-13, ADAMTS-4 and ADAMTS-5 in chondrocytes. However, scoparone dose-dependently suppressed the induction. In addition, scoparone repressed IL-1β-induced the expression of iNOS and COX-2 in chondrocytes. Furthermore, the activation of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway induced by IL-1β was diminished by scoparone treatment. Taken together, these findings indicated that scoparone inhibited the expression of inflammatory mediators in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes via regulating the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway. Thus, scoparone may be used as a new therapeutic agent for the treatment of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]