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The grain size effect is an important factor in determining the material removal behavior of polycrystalline silicon (p-Si). In the present study, to improve the understanding of nanoscale machining of p-Si, we performed molecular dynamics simulation of nanometric cutting on a p-Si workpiece and discussed the grain size effect on material removal behavior and subsurface damage formation. The simulation results indicate that when cutting on the polycrystal workpiece, the material removal process becomes unstable compared with single crystals. Higher removal efficiency, less elastic recovery and higher frictional coefficient are observed as the average grain size decreases. In the subsurface workpiece, when the grain size decreases, slip along grain boundaries merges as a nonnegligible process of the plastic deformation and suppresses the elastic deformation ahead of the cutting tool. It is also revealed that when cutting on a polycrystal workpiece with smaller grains, the average stress decreases while the workpiece temperature increases due to the impediment of heat transfer by grain boundaries. These results could provide a fundamental understanding in the material deformation mechanism of p-Si during nanoscale machining.

Leaf vein drip irrigation emitter is a new type of drip irrigation emitter. The flow channel achieves energy dissipation through flow diversion, turning, and sudden contraction. In this study, three design schemes (B1, B2, and B3) were proposed by optimizing the flow channel structure to improve the hydraulic performance, and the feasibility of the schemes was verified by combining them with experiments. The results show that the flow index of the three structural optimization designs were 0.52, 0.51, and 0.50, with errors of less than 5% compared to the measured results. Compared to the original structure A1 (with a flow index of 0.53), the hydraulic performance was improved by 0.4%, 3.2%, and 5.7%. Compared with A1 and B1, the turbulence kinetic energy of the main flow region of the B2 and B3 structures was significantly increased, and the proportion of low turbulence kinetic energy area had decreased. The increase in turbulent kinetic energy drove the liquid to remain turbulent, increasing the ability of particulate matter to flow out of the flow channel. The irregular changes in the velocity field in the high-speed zone result in a large velocity gradient, which maximizes the turbulent kinetic energy and entropy generation in the area. Among the four flow channel structures, the region with the highest turbulence dissipation was located in the upper part of the internal structure of the flow channel. There were apparent vortex regions in flow channels A1, B1, and B3 for energy dissipation, with energy dissipation coefficients being 6.07–8.51. However, the average flow velocity in this region was only about 0.2 m/s, and particulate matter was easily trapped. When the particle diameter increased, compared with the other three design structures, B2 had the best particle passage ability. Combined with the muddy water experiment, the optimized flow channel B2 anti-clogging performance improved by 30.8%. This study can provide a reference for further improving the hydraulic performance of drip irrigation emitters.

BackgroundThe subarachnoid space is continuous with the perivascular compartment in the central nervous system. However, whether the topography and severity of enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) correlates with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) remains unknown. Based on the underlying arteriopathy distributions, we hypothesized that EPVS in basal ganglia (BG-EPVS) are more closely associated with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) than other SAH without aneurysm.MethodsMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 271 consecutive SAH survivors with and without aneurysm were analyzed for EPVS and other markers of imaging data. In the subgroup analysis, we compared the clinical characteristics and EPVS of SAH participants with and without pre-existing known risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, and smoking history) using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsPatients with aSAH (n = 195) had a higher severity of BG-EPVS and centrum semiovale EPVS (CSO-EPVS) than those without aneurysm (n = 76). Importantly, BG-EPVS predominance pattern (BG-EPVS>CSO-EPVS) only existed in aSAH survivors rather than other SAH without aneurysm. In the subgroup analysis, interestingly, we also found that a high degree of BG-EPVS showed an independent relationship with aSAH in patients without pre-existing risk factors (e.g., hypertension).ConclusionIn this cohort study, BG-EPVS predominance pattern was associated with aSAH patients compared with those without aneurysm. Moreover, BG-EPVS still showed a strong association with aSAH survivors without pre-existing vascular risk factors. Our present study suggested the BG-EPVS as a potential MRI-visible characteristic would shed light on the pathogenesis of glymphatic function at the skull base for aSAH.

The core component of a properly functioning drip irrigation system is the drip irrigation emitter. Irrigation water containing impurities and sand particles can easily lead to clogging of the drip irrigation emitter, reducing the efficiency of the drip irrigation system. In this paper, orthogonal tests were used to optimize the flow channel structure, combined with the computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method (CFD-DEM) to analyze the flow index and sand particle motion characteristics. Clear water tests and short-cycle anticlogging tests were used to validate the results of the numerical simulation, and the relationship between the hydraulic performance and anti-clogging performance was revealed via linear regression. The results showed that the structural parameters of drip irrigation emitters were important factors affecting the flow index and sand movement characteristics. The order from largest to smallest was the turning angle, amount of interdental reference, flow channel depth, flow channel width, and width of the top base. The sand passage rate and the percentage decrease in velocity can be used as important indicators of anti-clogging performance, and there was a negative correlation between the two indicators. The flow channel with a 65° turning angle had the lowest flow index, and the sand passage rate can reach up to 91.48%; the reason was that the main flow region velocity was higher, the vortex region and the sand energy loss were small, which was not easy to clog. The equation for the relationship between flow index and sand passage rate was a negative correlation for drip irrigation emitters between a 65° and 75° turning angle. The drip irrigation emitter with a 65° turning angle had better hydraulic performance and anti-clogging performance.

The research object was a Francis turbine, and the working conditions at 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 1% opening were determined by the opening size of the guide vane. Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) was adopted as a turbulence model method to conduct three-dimensional unsteady turbulent numerical simulation of the entire flow channel of a Francis turbine, and the flow situation of various parts of the turbine under different working conditions was obtained. The flow characteristics of each component under different working conditions were analyzed, and the hydraulic performance of each part was evaluated. The factors that affected the stability of hydraulic turbines were identified, and their formation mechanisms and evolution laws were explored. The results show that the guide vane placement angle was reasonable in the guide vane area, and the hydraulic performance was fine. The impact on the stability of the hydraulic turbine was small. Further research showed that the hydraulic performance was poor in the runner area, and there were flow separation and detachment phenomena in the flow field. This created a channel vortex in the runner blade channel. The channel vortex promoted the lateral flow of water and had a significant impact on the stability of the hydraulic turbine. The diffusion section of the draft tube can dissipate most of the kinetic energy of the water flow in the draft tube area, and it had a good energy dissipation effect. However, the was a large pressure difference between the upper and lower regions of the diffusion section, and it generated a backflow phenomenon. It created vortex structures in the draft tube, and the stability of the hydraulic turbine was greatly affected.

Abstract Anaerobic digestion technology mitigates agricultural organic waste pollution, thereby alleviating the energy crisis. Biochar materials increase the utilisation rate of biomass resources and promote the enrichment and growth of microorganisms. Biochar is an effective exogenous additive that stabilises the anaerobic digestion, improves anaerobic digestion efficiency and gas production. Herein, biochar materials were prepared from rice straw utilising the sequencing batch anaerobic digestion process. The biochar microstructure was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, and microbial succession and metabolic pathways were analysed using 16S rRNA sequencing to reveal the molecular mechanisms. Rice straw biochar addition increased gas production during anaerobic fermentation. SEM revealed that numerous cocci and microbacteria became agglomerated and attached to the surface and pores of biochar, which was revealed by BET analysis to be a good habitat for microorganisms. After anaerobic digestion, the specific surface area and total pore volume of biochar decreased. 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that biochar affected the abundance of certain bacteria and archaea. Biochar had no obvious effect on the function of bacterial flora but inhibited carbohydrate metabolism by bacteria and glycan biosynthesis and metabolism by archaea in the anaerobic fermentation system while promoting lipid metabolism by archaea. Biochar addition inhibited acetic acid production in the anaerobic fermentation system and promoted methane production based on hydrogen and carbon dioxide levels.

The disposal of livestock wastes is an urgent task in China. Compost is highly regarded for its ability to treat livestock wastes and protect arable land. In particular, some problems of livestock manure in cold regions, such as low efficiency because of low environmental temperature in winter, urgently need to be solved. In order to provide valuable composting information in the cold area at low environmental temperatures, the composting experiments were carried out with cow manure and corn stalk as substrates. The properties and bacterial community of compost samples in different stages were investigated. The electrical conductivity (EC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and organic matter (OM) of the final compost were 551 μS/cm, 1.12, 0.77, and 63.5%, respectively. No E. coli or Ascaris eggs were detected. The temperature was the key factor to affect the physical-co-chemical and biological properties. The absolutely dominant genera were Sporosarcina, Virgibacillus, Flavobacterium, and Steroidobacter in heating, high temperature, cooling, and maturing stages, respectively. Also, these bacteria could act as biological indicators during the composting process. Cryobacterium, Caldicoprobacter, Virgibacillus, and Sporosarcina were relatively novel genera in the compost piles in a cold environment. The biodegradation of exogenous substances mainly occurs in the initial and maturing stages. It is proven that composting can be carried out successfully in early spring or later autumn after a harvest.

Objective. To investigate the clinical application of the three-dimensional (3D) radiomics model of the CT image in the diagnosis and identification of ureteral calculus and phlebolith. Method. Sixty-one cases of ureteral calculus and 61 cases of phlebolith were retrospectively investigated. The enrolled patients were randomly categorized into the training set (n = 86) and the testing set (n = 36) with a ratio of 7 : 3. The plain CT scan images of all samples were manually segmented by the ITK-SNAP software, followed by radiomics analysis through the Analysis Kit software. A total of 1316 texture features were extracted. Then, the maximum correlation minimum redundancy criterion and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm were used for texture feature selection. The feature subset with the most predictability was selected to establish the 3D radiomics model. The performance of the model was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was also calculated. Additionally, the decision curve was used to evaluate the clinical application of the model. Results. The 10 selected radiomics features were significantly related to the identification and diagnosis of ureteral calculus and phlebolith. The radiomics model showed good identification efficiency for ureteral calculus and phlebolith in the training set (AUC = 0.98; 95%CI: 0.96–1.00) and testing set (AUC = 0.98; 95%CI: 0.95–1.00). The decision curve thus demonstrated the clinical application of the radiomics model. Conclusions. The 3D radiomics model based on plain CT scan images indicated good performance in the identification and prediction of ureteral calculus and phlebolith and was expected to provide an effective detection method for clinical diagnosis.

An easily scoring system to predict the risk of cognitive impairment after minor ischemic stroke has not been available. We aimed to develop and externally validate a nomogram for predicting the probability of post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) among hospitalized population with minor stroke. Moreover, the association of Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) with PSCI is also investigated. We prospectively conducted a developed cohort on collected data in stroke center from June 2017 to February 2018, as well as an external validation cohort between June 2018 and February 2019. The main outcome is cognitive impairment defined as

Background: Poststroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) has been increasingly recognized in patients, but some stroke survivors appear to show cognitive improvement beyond the acute stage. The risk factors associated with cognitive recovery after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) onset have not yet been sufficiently investigated in prospective studies.Objective: We aimed to identify the trajectory of post-ICH cognitive impairment and the association of potential prognostic factors with follow-up cognitive recovery beyond early PSCI.Methods: In this stroke center-based cohort study, 141 consecutive dementia-free patients with spontaneous ICH were included and underwent Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) evaluation for cognitive function at baseline (within 2 weeks of ICH onset) and the shortened MoCA (short-MoCA) at a 6-month follow-up. To explore the prognostic factors associated with trajectory of cognition after an ICH onset, we adjusted for demographic and vascular risk factors, using multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: Of the 141 ICH patients, approximately three quarters (106/141) were diagnosed with early PSCI (MoCA score

To explore the performance of the ground source thermal energy management system under the cold and heat sources, based on the cold and heat auxiliary technology, a ground source thermal energy composite management system is constructed and simulated. The constructed ground source heat pump-refrigeration unit-hybrid heating management system of urban heating networks, as well as the simple system, are analyzed and investigated in terms of power consumption and underground temperature control. The research results show that the constructed ground source heat pump-refrigeration unit-hybrid heating management system of the urban heating network has lower power and energy consumption than a simple system during the same period, which meets the economic requirements and guarantees the system with relatively low energy consumption. For underground temperature control, the constructed system is more stable than a simple system without excessive temperature fluctuations. The operation control strategy of the constructed system is mainly for chiller units, heat pump units, cooling towers, source side, and side circulation water pump modules. In summary, the constructed ground source heat pump-refrigeration unit-hybrid heating management system of an urban heating network based on the ground source heat pump meets the requirements for energy consumption and temperature control and can operate the control strategy normally. The results are significant for subsequent researches on the ground source thermal energy management system based on cold and heat auxiliary technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Despite recent developments, it is hard to profile all multi-omics single-cell data modalities on the same cell. Thus, huge amounts of single-cell genomics data of unpaired observations on different cells are generated. We propose a method named UnpairReg for the regression analysis on unpaired observations to integrate single-cell multi-omics data. On real and simulated data, UnpairReg provides an accurate estimation of cell gene expression where only chromatin accessibility data is available. The cis-regulatory network inferred from UnpairReg is highly consistent with eQTL mapping. UnpairReg improves cell type identification accuracy by joint analysis of single-cell gene expression and chromatin accessibility data.

The chromatin accessibility landscape and gene regulatory network of pancreatic cancer has not been fully characterised. Here, the authors perform multi-omics analysis of 84 pancreatic cancer organoid lines and reveal gene regulatory networks and distinct molecular subtypes.

Systems genetics holds the promise to decipher complex traits by interpreting their associated SNPs through gene regulatory networks derived from comprehensive multi-omics data of cell types, tissues, and organs. Here, we propose SpecVar to integrate paired chromatin accessibility and gene expression data into context-specific regulatory network atlas and regulatory categories, conduct heritability enrichment analysis with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary statistics, identify relevant tissues, and estimate relevance correlation to depict common genetic factors acting in the shared regulatory networks between traits. Our method improves power upon existing approaches by associating SNPs with context-specific regulatory elements to assess heritability enrichments and by explicitly prioritizing gene regulations underlying relevant tissues. Ablation studies, independent data validation, and comparison experiments with existing methods on GWAS of six phenotypes show that SpecVar can improve heritability enrichment, accurately detect relevant tissues, and reveal causal regulations. Furthermore, SpecVar correlates the relevance patterns for pairs of phenotypes and better reveals shared SNP-associated regulations of phenotypes than existing methods. Studying GWAS of 206 phenotypes in UK Biobank demonstrates that SpecVar leverages the context-specific regulatory network atlas to prioritize phenotypes’ relevant tissues and shared heritability for biological and therapeutic insights. SpecVar provides a powerful way to interpret SNPs via context-specific regulatory networks and is available at https://github.com/AMSSwanglab/SpecVar, copy archived at swh:1:rev:cf27438d3f8245c34c357ec5f077528e6befe829.

Tibetan adaptation to the high-altitude environment represents a case of natural selection during recent human evolution. Here the authors investigated the chromatin and transcriptional landscape of umbilical endothelial cells from Tibetan and Han Chinese donors and provide genome-wide characterization of the hypoxia regulatory network associated high-altitude adaptation.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a complex disease characterized by dysfunctions in the heart, adipose tissue, and cerebral arteries. The elucidation of the interactions between these three tissues in HFpEF will improve our understanding of the mechanism of HFpEF. In this study, we propose a multilevel comparative framework based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially correlated gene pairs (DCGs) to investigate the shared and unique pathological features among the three tissues in HFpEF. At the network level, functional enrichment analysis revealed that the networks of the heart, adipose tissue, and cerebral arteries were enriched in the cell cycle and immune response. The networks of the heart and adipose tissues were enriched in hemostasis, G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) ligand, and cancer-related pathway. The heart-specific networks were enriched in the inflammatory response and cardiac hypertrophy, while the adipose-tissue-specific networks were enriched in the response to peptides and regulation of cell adhesion. The cerebral-artery-specific networks were enriched in gene expression (transcription). At the module and gene levels, 5 housekeeping DEGs, 2 housekeeping DCGs, 6 modules of merged protein–protein interaction network, 5 tissue-specific hub genes, and 20 shared hub genes were identified through comparative analysis of tissue pairs. Furthermore, the therapeutic drugs for HFpEF-targeting these genes were examined using molecular docking. The combination of multitissue and multilevel comparative frameworks is a potential strategy for the discovery of effective therapy and personalized medicine for HFpEF.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common reproductive endocrine disease characterized by persistent anovulation and hyperandrogenism, affecting approximately 8–10% of women of childbearing age and occupying an important position in the etiology of infertility. There is increasing evidence that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the development of PCOS, but the potential regulatory mechanism is still unclear. This study performed high-throughput lncRNA sequencing of follicular fluid exosomes in non-PCOS infertility patients and PCOS infertility patients. The sequencing results led to the identification of 1,253 upregulated and 613 downregulated lncRNAs from a total of 1,866 detected candidates. There was no significant difference between the PCOS patients and non-PCOS patients in body mass index (BMI) or the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level. However, luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), serum prolactin (PRL), and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels were clearly upregulated in PCOS patients compared to those in non-PCOS patients. There was also an increase in LH/FSH (>2) in the PCOS patients. Functional analysis showed pathways related to endocytosis, the Hippo, the MAPK, and HTLV-1 infection. These results suggest that lncRNAs may play an important role in the pathogenesis of PCOS and may be potential targets for the diagnosis and treatment of PCOS.

Summary: Transcription factors (TFs) define cellular identity either by activating target cell program or by silencing donor program as demonstrated by intensive cell reprogramming studies. Here, we propose an extended minimum set cover model with stable selection (3Scover) to systematically identify silencing TFs, named safeguard TFs, from omics data. First, a cell type-TF specificity network is constructed to systematically link cell types with their specifically expressed TFs. Then we search the minimum TF set to cover this network with “many but one specificity” characteristic and integrate many subsampling models for a stable solution. 3Scover identified 30 safeguard TFs in human and mouse. These safeguard TFs are significantly enriched in the experimentally discovered reprogramming panel with their protein-protein interactors. In addition, they tend to interact closely with chromatin regulators, negatively regulate transcription, and function earlier in development. Collectively, 3Scover allows us to probe master TFs and combinatorial regulation in controlling cell identity.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of neuregulin1β (NRG1β) on PC12 cell injury induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) and its mechanism. Methods OGD/R models of PC12 cells were established and randomly divided into control group (routinely cultured), model group (OGD/R-treated), and intervention group (treated with OGD/R and intervened by NRG1β). The cell viability of each group was measured by cell counting kit-8. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured by fluorescence intensity analysis. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the absorbance ratio of reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) were measured by fluorescence spectrophotometry. Mitochondrial damage in each group was observed under a transmission electron microscope. The expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) was measured by Western blot. Results Compared with the control group, the model group had significantly decreased cell viability (t=25.76,P