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Objectives: To differentiate squamous cell hyperplasia (SCH) (benign) from squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) malignant) using textural features extracted from CT images and thereby, facilitate the preoperative medical diagnosis and treatment of throat cancers without the need for sample biopsies. Methods: In total, 100 throat cancer patients were selected for this retrospective study. The cases were collected from the Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China, from June 2017 to January 2019. The patients were separated into a training and validation cohort consisting of 70 and 30 cases, respectively. The Artificial Intelligence Kit software (A.K. software) was used to extract the radiomics features from the CT images. These features were further processed using the minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) methods to obtain a subset of optimal features. The radiomics model was validated based on area-under-the-curve (AUC) values, accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity using the R-studio software. Results: The diagnostic accuracy, specificity, PPV, NPV, and AUC values obtained for the training cohort was 0.91, 0.9, 0.93, 0.9, and 0.96 CT angiography (CTA), 0.93, 0.93, 0.95, 0.90, and 0.96 computed tomography normal (CTN), and 0.92, 0.87, 0.91, 0.96, and 0.96 CT venogram (CTV). These values were subsequently confirmed in the validation cohort. Conclusion: The radiomics-based prediction model proposed in this study successfully differentiated between SCH and SCC throat cancers using CT imaging, thereby facilitating the development of accurate preoperative diagnosis based on specific biomarkers and cancer phenotypes.

A metal-organic framework material, an iron-doped ZIF-8 loaded with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (FZM), was fabricated and used to adsorb tetracycline (TC) in this investigation. The adsorption impact and mechanism of TC on FZM were revealed using batch adsorption experiments and characterization analyses. The effects of Fe doping amount, pH, temperature, beginning concentration, and coexisting ions on the adsorption effect of TC were explored. It was discovered that Fe doping amount of 75 mg, pH of 6, and initial concentration of 100 mg/L produced the optimum adsorption effect. TC adsorption was also enhanced by the presence of Ca2+. The adsorption process of TC on FZM followed the pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models, indicating that chemisorption was the dominant factor in the removal process of TC and the reaction was multilayer adsorption, with a theoretical maximum saturation capacity of 1111.11 mg/g fitted according to the Langmuir model, which was better than most other adsorbents. The procedure of TC adsorption on FZM. The adsorption process on FZM is a spontaneous, heat-absorbing process, and the adsorption capacity increases as the temperature rises. According to the findings of the FTIR study undertaken before and after adsorption, the mechanism of TC on FZM is predominantly intermolecular hydrogen bonding, surface complexation, π-π interactions, and electrostatic interactions. The projected adsorption capacity of TC was 599.78 mg/g under optimal adsorption circumstances of pH 7.1, temperature 312.5 K, and injection amount 64.43 mg/L, with a divergence of 1.73 % from the actual value, according to the response surface optimization studies. Furthermore, FZM has high reusability, and after four cycles of trials, the adsorption capacity of TC on FZM may still be greater than 370 mg/g, with a 15% loss. The cost of treating 100 mg/L of TC effluent was estimated to be around 8.35 US$/m3, indicating that FZM had excellent application possibilities for TC removal.

BACKGROUND We aimed to develop and evaluate a deep learning-based method for fully automatic segmentation of knee joint MR imaging and quantitative computation of knee osteoarthritis (OA)-related imaging biomarkers. MATERIAL AND METHODS This retrospective study included 843 volumes of proton density-weighted fat suppression MR imaging. A convolutional neural network segmentation method with multiclass gradient harmonized Dice loss was trained and evaluated on 500 and 137 volumes, respectively. To assess potential morphologic biomarkers for OA, the volumes and thickness of cartilage and meniscus, and minimal joint space width (mJSW) were automatically computed and compared between 128 OA and 162 control data. RESULTS The CNN segmentation model produced reasonably high Dice coefficients, ranging from 0.948 to 0.974 for knee bone compartments, 0.717 to 0.809 for cartilage, and 0.846 for both lateral and medial menisci. The OA-related biomarkers computed from automatic knee segmentation achieved strong correlation with those from manual segmentation: average intraclass correlations of 0.916, 0.899, and 0.876 for volume and thickness of cartilage, meniscus, and mJSW, respectively. Volume and thickness measurements of cartilage and mJSW were strongly correlated with knee OA progression. CONCLUSIONS We present a fully automatic CNN-based knee segmentation system for fast and accurate evaluation of knee joint images, and OA-related biomarkers such as cartilage thickness and mJSW were reliably computed and visualized in 3D. The results show that the CNN model can serve as an assistant tool for radiologists and orthopedic surgeons in clinical practice and basic research.

Herein, an iron-doped ZIF-8-loaded multi-walled carbon nanotube (FZM) was synthesized and its adsorption performance on tetracycline (TC) was investigated. The experimental conditions (solution pH, temperature, adsorbent dose) were optimized by Box-Behnken design (BBD) in response surface methodology (RSM). The results show that the adsorption effect of TC by FZM is optimal under the conditions of temperature = 298 K, pH = 6, and contact time = 360 min. The adsorption processes of TC by FZM follow the pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models, indicating that chemisorption is the dominant factor and the adsorption reaction is multi-layer, with a theoretical maximum saturation capacity of 1111.11 mg/g at 298 K. The adsorption thermodynamic results indicate that the adsorption of TC by FZM is a spontaneous and endothermic process. The mechanism of TC adsorption by FZM possibly occurs through hydrogen bonding, surface complexation, π-π interaction, and electrostatic interaction. From the statistical results, the optimal adsorption capacity of TC by FZM is 599.78 mg/g at a pH of 7.1, a temperature of 312.5 K, and an adsorbent dose of 64.43 mg/L, with a deviation of 1.73% from the actual value. Furthermore, regeneration experiments demonstrate that FZM has excellent reusability with a 15% loss of adsorption capacity after four cycles. This study provides some insights to study the adsorption behavior of TC by MOFs and the optimization of the adsorption experimental conditions, and also shows the potential of FZM for TC removal.

Linalool, as a fragrant monoterpene, is an important feedstock for food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics industries. Although our previous study had significantly increased linalool production by the directed evolution of linalool synthase and overexpression of the whole mevalonate pathway genes, the engineered yeast strain suffered from dramatically reduced biomass. Herein, a stress-free linalool-producing yeast cell factory was constructed by the combinational regulation of linalool synthase and farnesyl diphosphate synthase instead of multienzyme overexpression. First, the expression level of linalool synthase was successfully enhanced by introducing a N-terminal SKIK tag, which improved linalool production by 3.3-fold. Subsequently, the modular assembly of linalool synthase and dominant negative farnesyl diphosphate synthase via short peptide tags efficiently converted geranyl pyrophosphate to linalool. Additional downregulation of the native farnesyl diphosphate synthase led to the highest reported linalool production (80.9 mg/L) in yeast. This combinatorial modulation strategy may also be applied to the production of other high-value monoterpenes.

Cu doped TiO2 can help to understand the magnetic origin of TiO2-based diluted magnetic semiconductors. As such, herein, we calculated the systems of TiO2 with different valence states and concentrations of Cu substituted for Zn as well as Cu substitution and vacancy complex defects. For the substitution ratio of 1/48, ferromagnetism appears only in Cu0 substitution system. By increasing the concentration of Cu to 1/24, Cu2+ substitution system also shows a ferromagnetic ground state when the Cu substitutions are not separated by empty regions (low charge density regions) and along the (111) direction. The Cu substitution and oxygen vacancy complex defect systems are easily polarized due to carriers induced by vacancy. Carriers change the bond of Ti ions around the defect, and arouse residual magnetic moment; however, the contribution of carriers to the electronic structure had a saturation limit. Oxygen vacancy leads to the formation of non-ferromagnetic coupling between two Cu substitutions in a 2 × 2 × 2 supercell. Cu substitution and Ti vacancy composite defect give rise to the weakening of p–d hybridization, and the lattice distortion caused by defects and the strong interaction of Cu–O bond is the source of ferromagnetism. The room-temperature ferromagnetism in Cu doped monocrystalline TiO2 samples could be mediated by vacancies or carriers.

Layered transition metal dichalcogenides with excellent nonlinear absorption properties have shown remarkable performance in acting as ultrafast photonics devices. In our work, palladium diselenide (PdSe2) nanosheets with competitive advantages of wide tunable bandgap, unique puckered pentagonal structure and excellent air stability are prepared by the liquid-phase exfoliation method. Its ultrafast absorption performance was verified by demonstrating conventional and dissipative soliton operations within Er-doped fiber lasers. The minimum pulse width of the conventional soliton was 1.19 ps. Meanwhile, dissipative soliton with a 46.67 mW output power, 35.37 nm spectrum width, 14.92 ps pulse width and 2.86 nJ pulse energy was also generated successfully. Our enhanced experiment results present the excellent absorption performance of PdSe2 and highlight the capacity of PdSe2 in acting as ultrafast photonics devices.

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of standard-dose (SD) daptomycin with those of high-dose (HD) daptomycin in complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTIs) in an Asian population. Materials and Methods: Patients from three medical centers diagnosed with cSSTIs were screened in the clinical information system. Patients included in the analysis were divided into two groups: those who received daptomycin at doses ≥ 6 mg/kg (HD group) and those receiving 4 mg/kg (SD group). The demographics and clinical treatment information were analyzed. Results: Overall, 155 patients were recruited, including 108 patients in the SD group and 47 patients in the HD group. The rate of healthcare-associated infections was higher in the HD group (61.70% vs. 37.04%), demonstrating a statistically significant difference (P = 0.005). Compared with the SD group, the HD group had statistically significant early clinical stabilization (72.34% vs 52.78%, P = 0.023). The results of the multivariate analysis indicated that HD daptomycin was an independent effector for early clinical stabilization (HR=0.394, P

Two-dimensional layered monoelemental materials (Xenes) with excellent optoelectronic properties have various property-related applications, such as energy, biomedicine, and optoelectronic devices. Xenes also show excellent performance in acting as saturable absorbers (SAs) for obtaining ultrafast laser operations. Few-layer tellurene as a typical Xenens exhibits distinct optoelectronic properties and promising practical application potential, and its nonlinear optical absorption characteristics and related ultrafast modulation applications have been investigated preliminarily. However, tellurene-based SAs to demonstrate large-energy mode-locked operations, which have special applications in industrial and scientific research areas, are seldom studied. In this work, we focus on the preparation of tellurene-based SAs and explore its applications in demonstrating large-energy mode-locked operations [dissipative soliton (DS) and noise-like pulses (NLP)]. For DS operation, the maximum average output power, pulse width, and largest pulse energy are 23.61 mW, 5.87 ps, and 1.94 nJ, respectively. NLP operation with a recorded average output power of 106.6 mW and a pulse energy of 8.76 nJ is also generated, which shows significant enhancement in comparison to previously reported Xenes-based works. Our contribution reveals the great potential and capacity of tellurene-based SAs in obtaining large-energy pulse operations and further promotes the explorative investigation of Xenes-based optoelectronic devices.

Athlete balance control ability plays an important role in different types of sports. Accurate and efficient evaluations of the balance control abilities can significantly improve the athlete management performance. With the rapid development of the athlete training field, intelligent and automatic evaluations have been highly demanded in the past years. This study proposes a deep learning-based athlete balance control ability evaluation method through processing the time-series movement pressure measurement data. An end-to-end model structure is proposed, which directly analyzes the raw data and provides the evaluation results, which largely facilitates practical utilization. A multi-scale feature extraction scheme is employed, by exploring the learned features in different scales. A residual connected neural network architecture is further proposed. By using the short-cut connection, the deep neural network model can be more efficiently trained. Experiments on the real athlete balance control ability tests are carried out for validations. Through comparisons with different related methods, the results show the proposed deep multi-scale residual connected neural network model is well suited for the athlete balance control ability evaluation problem, and promising for actual applications in the real scenarios.

Abundant research findings have proved the value of two-dimensional (2D) materials in the study of nonlinear optics in fiber lasers. However, there remains two problems: how to reduce the start-up threshold, and how to improve the damage threshold, of fiber lasers based on 2D materials. A 15.1 mW low-threshold mode-locked fiber laser, based on a Cr2Si2Te6 saturable absorber (SA) prepared by the liquid-phase exfoliation method, is demonstrated successfully in this work. This provides a useful and economical method to produce SAs with low insertion loss and low saturation intensity. Besides, multiple high-order harmonics, from the fundamental frequency (12.6 MHz) to the 49th-order harmonic (617.6 MHz), mode-locked operations are recorded. The experimental results indicate the excellent potential of Cr2Si2Te6 as an optical modulator in exploring the soliton dynamics, harmonic mode locking, and other nonlinear effects in fiber lasers.

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity is a highly concerning issue, and the mechanism by which DOX induces cardiotoxicity is likely to be multifactorial. NADPH oxidase (NOX) is associated with DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. Setanaxib (GKT137831), a preferential direct inhibitor of NOX1 and NOX4, can delay or prevent the progression of many cardiovascular disorders by inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. In this study, we investigated the role of GKT137831 in ameliorating DOX-induced cardiotoxicity and the potential mechanisms of its action.Methods and Results: The mice model of cardiotoxicity induced by DOX was established, and GKT137831 treatment was performed at the same time. Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) were treated with DOX or GKT137831 for in vitro experiments. We found that DOX administration impaired cardiac function in vivo, reflected by decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and fractional shortening (FS%). DOX also impaired the viability of NRCMs in vitro. In addition, DOX increased the levels of NOX1 and NOX4 expression and ROS production and the cardiomyocyte apoptosis rate, both in vivo and in vitro. GKT137831 improved cardiac function, as indicated by the increased LVEF and FS%. In vitro, GKT137831 improved NRCM viability. It also decreased ROS production and the cardiomyocyte apoptosis rate. Apoptotic indices, such as cleaved PARP (c-PARP), cleaved caspase 3 (CC3) and BAX expression levels, were decreased, and the antiapoptotic index of Bcl-2 expression was increased. DOX markedly activated phosphorylated JNK, ERK and p38 proteins in NRCMs. Specific inhibitors of JNK (SP600125), ERK (PD98059) or p38 (SB203580) inhibited DOX-induced apoptosis of NRCMs. GKT137831 pretreatment inhibited excessive DOX-induced MAPK pathway activation.Conclusion: This study revealed that GKT137831 can alleviate DOX-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis by inhibiting NOX1/4-driven ROS production. The upregulation of MAPK pathway induced by NOX1/4-derived ROS production may be the potential mechanism of GKT137831 action. GKT137831 may be a potential drug candidate to ameliorate DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.

Antimicrobial bioactivity-guided isolation of the root extract of Rumex dentatus L. resulted in the characterization of nineteen natural products, including three undescribed compounds (rumexs A-C). Rumexs A and B are rare anthraquinone-anthrone dimers consisting of an emodin-10-C-glycoside linked via C-10 to C-7 of a chrysophanol moiety. They differed only in their configuration at C-10; their absolute configurations were determined by NOESY and ECD analysis. LC-HRMS analysis was performed to identify nineteen compounds. Anthraquinone derivatives such as anthraquinone aglycone, oxanthrone C-glycoside, anthraquinone O-glycoside and anthraquinone dimer were found to be the dominant components of R. dentatus. In addition, naphthol, naphthoquinone, chromone, flavonoid, isocoumarin, and lignanamide derivatives were also identified. Chrysophanol and emodin were the most abundant compounds in the crude ethanol extract; their contents were determined by HPLC to be 7.38 and 5.74 mg/g, respectively. The fractions and isolated compounds were tested for their inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Escherichia coli. Most of them showed inhibitory activity against S. aureus, some fractions and 2-methoxy-6-acetyl-7-methyljuglone exhibited moderate inhibitory activity against C. albicans, and 2-methoxy-6-acetyl-7-methyljuglone had moderate inhibitory effects against E. coli. Emodin exhibited inhibitory activity against NO release in LPS-reduced RAW264.7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner.

From the Rwandan genocide to the Arab Spring movement, it has been well known that social networks, offline or online, and mass media can collectively change and amplify public opinions, however there are few theoretical models to characterize the persuasion process. In this paper, we propose an opinion dynamics model based on invasion process with media effect and committed agents, and analytically obtain the fraction of each opinion at the steady state. We find that the relative proportion of committed agents plays a vital role in influencing corresponding opinion formation, and social networks can enhance the influence of committed agents through the interaction between individuals. Mass media can affect individuals not only directly due to exposure but indirectly due to social interactions. This paper reveals the influence of mass media and committed agents on the final distribution of opinions through a persuasion process, and lays the foundation for building more general models that consider individual heterogeneity and external influences.

Lung cancer has ranked first in incidence and mortality among all malignant tumors. Lung nodules are one of the early features of lung cancer. The early detection of lung nodules can help reduce the mortality rate of lung cancer. However, the detection performance of lung nodules is low due to their diverse shapes and small size. In this paper, an improved YOLOv5 method is proposed for lung nodule detection. By adding an attention mechanism to the feature extraction network, the feature expression capability is effectively improved. The method of feature fusion has also changed to make feature fusion more adequate. The experiments are conducted using the publicly available dataset provided by the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC). The experimental results show that the improved network has stronger feature expression and more adequate feature fusion capability compared with the original YOLOv5 network. The index of AP is improved by 1.4%.

We describe 3 similar cases of rickettsial disease that occurred after tick bites in a mountainous rural area of Shandong Province, China. Next-generation sequencing indicated the etiologic agent of 1 patient was Rickettsia conorii subspecies indica. This agent may be more widely distributed across China than previously thought.

ERA5 is the latest fifth-generation reanalysis global atmosphere dataset from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, replacing ERA-Interim as the next generation of representative satellite-observational data on the global scale. ERA5 data have been evaluated and applied in different regions, but the performances are inconsistent. Meanwhile, there are few precise evaluations of ERA5 precipitation data over long time series have been performed in Chinese mainland. This study evaluates the temporal-spatial performance of ERA5 precipitation data from 1979 to 2018 based on gridded-ground meteorological station observational data across China. The results showed that ERA5 data could capture the annual and seasonal patterns of observed precipitation in China well, with correlation coefficient values ranging from 0.796 to 0.945, but ERA5 slightly overestimated precipitation in the summer. Nonetheless, the results also showed that the accuracy of the precipitation products was strongly correlated with topographic distribution and climatic divisions. The performance of ERA5 shows spatial inherently across China that the highest correlation coefficient values locate in eastern, Northwestern and North China and the lowest biases locate in Southeast China. This study provides a reliable data assessment of the ERA5 data and precipitation trend analyses in China. The results provide accuracy references for the further use of precipitation satellite data for hydrological calculations and climate numerical simulations.

Objective Over-proliferation of synovium is a key event of invasive pannus formation and cartilage damage in the progression of RA disease. At the same time, ferroptosis may play a pivotal role in maintaining the balance of proliferation and death of synovium. In this study, we firstly evaluated the ferroptosis level in RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) and then explored the role of glycine in ferroptosis. Methods Ferroptosis was evaluated in RA synovium and FLS. The therapeutic effect of glycine on RA was evaluated by clinical and histopathological score and cytokine level in a CIA mouse model. The influence of glycine on ferroptosis was evaluated by mitochondrial morphology observation and membrane potential assay in RA FLS. Methylase expression was detected to explore the mechanism behind the effect of glycine on glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) methylation. Results Compared with healthy controls, ferroptosis decreased in the RA synovium and FLS, with a decrease in Acyl Coenzyme A Synthetase Long Chain 4 (ACSL4) and an increase in Ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1), GPX4 and cystine/glutamate antiporter solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11). Although both oxidation and antioxidation levels of lipids were higher in RA FLS than in healthy controls, the increase in antioxidation was slightly higher than oxidation. RNA-seq and verification showed that glycine regulated the ferroptosis pathway through increase S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) concentration and decrease the expression of GPX4 and FTH1 by promoting SAM-mediated GPX4 promoter methylation and reducing FTH1 expression in RA FLS. Conclusions In summary, we confirmed a decline in ferroptosis in RA and explored that glycine enhanced ferroptosis via SAM-mediated GPX4 promoter methylation and ferritin decrease.

Background Brucellosis is endemic in many areas in China. The current diagnosis of Brucellosis predominantly relies on the traditional bacterial culture and serum agglutination test. In this study, we aimed to explore the value of ELISA in the diagnosis of Brucellosis in Chinese population. Methods We recruited 235 patients with a diagnosis of Brucellosis at different clinical stages: 117 in acute, 78 in subacute, and 40 in chronic. We also recruited 248 control patients who presented with similar clinical symptoms but with a different diagnosis other than Brucellosis. In addition, 90 healthy volunteers were also recruited. Bacterial culture, agglutination test and ELISA assay were performed to detect Brucella spp. Results Among 235 patients with Brucellosis, 51 (21.7%) was positive for bacterial culture, 150 (63.8%) were positive by agglutination test, and 232 (98.7%) were positive by ELISA (IgG and/or IgM). When we stratified the patients based on the disease stages (acute, subacute and chronic), ELISA was the most sensitive method and showed a highest positive rate in all stages. By Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve analysis of ELISA results, we found that measurement of IgG level was superior to measurement of IgM level (AUC, 0.993 versus 0.877). Since the measurement of IgG itself missed rare cases in acute phase, we recommended measuring IgG and IgM simultaneously by ELISA for the diagnosis of Brucellosis. In term of the specificity of ELISA in the diagnosis of Brucellosis, our study showed that only 1.6% (4/248) non-Brucellosis patients were positive by ELISA; all positive cases were IgM only and none showed positive IgG. Similar results were found in healthy volunteers. In summary, our study concluded that ELISA is the most sensitive and specific method to detect Brucellosis in Chinese population. Conclusions ELISA assay is sensitive, fast, and convenient to detect Brucellosis. It shows the high sensitivity and specifity and should be used as a routine lab test when Brucellosis is suspected in clinical practice.

Semantic integration and working memory both decline with age. However, it remains unclear whether the semantic integration decline is independent of working memory decline or whether it can be solely explained by the latter factor. In this event-related potentials experiment, 43 younger adults and 43 cognitively healthy older adults read semantically congruent and incongruent sentences. After controlling for working memory, behavioral accuracy was significantly lower in the older adults than in the younger adults. In addition, the semantic integration related N400 effect (incongruent vs. congruent) for correct trials was apparent in the whole brain in the younger adults but restricted to the posterior region in the older adults. The results clarify the relationship between working memory and semantic integration, and clearly demonstrate that semantic integration decline is independent of working memory decline during aging.

Type I interferon (IFN) response is central for host defense against viral infection. Tripartite motif 27 (TRIM27) is implicated in antiviral innate immune response; however, whether it affects the replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the underlying mechanisms remain uncharacterized. Here, we show that TRIM27 expression is induced in Huh7.5 human hepatoma cells infected with HCV or stimulated with type I IFNs in vitro. In addition, TRIM27 overexpression increases and its knockdown decreases viral RNA and protein levels, suggesting that TRIM27 positively regulates HCV replication. Mechanistically, TRIM27 inhibits type I IFN response against HCV infection through inhibiting IRF3 and NF-κB pathways, since TRIM27 mutant unable to inhibit these two inflammatory pathways fails to promote HCV replication. Taken together, this study identifies TRIM27 as a novel positive regulator of HCV replication, and also implicates that targeting TRIM27 may serve as a therapeutic strategy for controlling HCV replication.

Investigations of optical solitons have always been a hot topic due to their important scientific research value. In recent years, ultrafast lasers based on two-dimensional materials such as saturable absorbers (SAs) have become the focus of optical soliton research. In this work, various soliton operations are demonstrated in Er-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs) based on SAs. First, a low-threshold passively mode-locked EDFL with traditional soliton output is constructed, and the pump threshold is as low as 10.1 mW. Second, by adjusting the net dispersion of the cavity, stable dissipative soliton operation can also be obtained. Traditional soliton mode-locked operation with controllable Kelly sidebands from first order to fourth order is realized by adjusting the pump power in a double-ended pumped structure, and the SNR is as high as 55 dB. All results prove that used as SA material has great potential and wide application prospects in investigating optical soliton operations in mode-locked fiber lasers with both normal and anomalous dispersion.

Background Brucellosis is a common zoonotic disease that is prevalent in many areas worldwide. This infectious disease can occasionally affect the central nervous system but intracranial arteries are rarely involved. Case presentation A 17-year-old female who had a history of recurrent fever for 1 month was admitted for subarachnoid hemorrhage due to cerebral aneurysm rupture. Surgery was performed to fix the aneurysm, but the patient had persistent fever after the surgery. Cerebrospinal fluid testing showed a high white blood cell count and elevated protein level but no pathogen was identified in the first two tests. Brucella melitensis was identified in the third cerebrospinal fluid culture, and a diagnosis of brucellosis was finally rendered. The patient was subsequently treated with anti-Brucella medications and her symptoms improved significantly at the last follow-up. Conclusion Although extremely rare, Brucella-induced cerebral aneurysms can occur and this should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cerebrovascular accidents, especially in Brucella epidemic areas.

Surgery is the main treatment for liver cancer in clinic owing to its low sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but this results in high mortality, recurrence, and metastasis rates. It is a feasible strategy to construct tumor microenvironments activated by nanotheranostics agents for the diagnosis and therapy of liver cancer. This study reports on a nanotheranostic agent (MONs@PDA-ICG) with manganese oxide nanoflowers (MONs) as core and polydopamine (PDA) as shell loading, with ICG as a photosensitizer and photothermal agent. MONs@PDA-ICG can not only produce ROS to kill cancer cells but also exhibit good photothermal performance for photothermal therapy (PTT). Importantly, O2 generated by MONs decomposition can relieve the tumor hypoxia and further enhance the treatment effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT). In addition, the released Mn2+ ions make MONs@PDA-ICG serve as tumor microenvironments responsive to MRI contrast for highly sensitive and specific liver cancer diagnosis.

In this study, zirconium selenide (ZrSe2) was successfully prepared as the saturable absorber in an erbium-doped fiber laser for demonstrating mode-locked operation, for which the saturation intensity and modulation depth were 10.12 MW cm−2 and 23.10%, respectively. The narrower pulse width of mode-locked operation was 1.27 ps. The maximum average output power and pulse energy were 16.75 mW and 3.75 nJ, which were significant improvements for a ZrSe2-based fiber laser. Our study results further proved that ZrSe2, as an ultra-fast optical device, has excellent performance in ultra-short pulse fiber lasers.

Linalool, as a fragrant monoterpene, is an important feedstock for food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics industries. Although our previous study had significantly increased linalool production by the directed evolution of linalool synthase and overexpression of the whole mevalonate pathway genes, the engineered yeast strain suffered from dramatically reduced biomass. Herein, a stress-free linalool-producing yeast cell factory was constructed by the combinational regulation of linalool synthase and farnesyl diphosphate synthase instead of multienzyme overexpression. First, the expression level of linalool synthase was successfully enhanced by introducing a N-terminal SKIK tag, which improved linalool production by 3.3-fold. Subsequently, the modular assembly of linalool synthase and dominant negative farnesyl diphosphate synthase via short peptide tags efficiently converted geranyl pyrophosphate to linalool. Additional downregulation of the native farnesyl diphosphate synthase led to the highest reported linalool production (80.9 mg/L) in yeast. This combinatorial modulation strategy may also be applied to the production of other high-value monoterpenes.

For the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the presence of N-glycosylated proteins on the surface of two flagella is crucial for both cell-cell interaction during mating and flagellar surface adhesion. However, it is not known whether only the presence or also the composition of N-glycans attached to respective proteins is important for these processes. To this end, we tested several C. reinhardtii insertional mutants and a CRISPR/Cas9 knockout mutant of xylosyltransferase 1A, all possessing altered N-glycan compositions. Taking advantage of atomic force microscopy and micropipette force measurements, our data revealed that reduction in N-glycan complexity impedes the adhesion force required for binding the flagella to surfaces. This results in impaired polystyrene bead binding and transport but not gliding of cells on solid surfaces. Notably, assembly, intraflagellar transport, and protein import into flagella are not affected by altered N-glycosylation. Thus, we conclude that proper N-glycosylation of flagellar proteins is crucial for adhering C. reinhardtii cells onto surfaces, indicating that N-glycans mediate surface adhesion via direct surface contact.

Today, in the 1920s of the 21st century, financial media has spread all over people's daily life, profoundly changing people's lifestyle and behavior habits. As one of the organizations of news communication institutions, the Propaganda department of colleges and universities is also facing the challenge of readjusting the development path.

To evaluate the associations of inflammatory factors and serological test results with complicated brucellosis, we recruited 285 patients with a diagnosis of brucellosis between May 2016 and September 2019. The patients were subsequently classified into two groups according to the presence of complications. We collected demographic and clinical information and routine laboratory test results in addition to anti-Brucella IgG and IgM levels. Anti-Brucella IgG and IgM were uniformly tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in this study. Among the 285 patients with brucellosis, 111 (38.95%) had complicated brucellosis. Osteoarthritis occurred more often in the subacute and chronic stages than in the acute stage (P = 0.002). Genital infection occurred more frequently in the acute stage than in the other stages (P = 0.023). Fever was not frequently observed in complicated cases (P < 0.001). The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-Brucella IgM and IgG levels were higher in complicated-brucellosis patients than in uncomplicated-brucellosis patients (P < 0.001). Anti-Brucella IgG, with an area under the curve of 0.885 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.847 to 0.924), was the most robust indicator of complicated brucellosis. Positive culture, anti-Brucella IgM, the ESR, and CRP could be considered indicators, but their efficacy was weaker than that of IgG. In conclusion, a high ESR, high CRP, high anti-Brucella IgM and IgG levels, and positive culture were indicators of complicated brucellosis; among these, anti-Brucella IgG was the most robust biomarker.

Background As a natural phenolic acid product of plant source, caffeic acid displays diverse biological activities and acts as an important precursor for the synthesis of other valuable compounds. Limitations in chemical synthesis or plant extraction of caffeic acid trigger interest in its microbial biosynthesis. Recently, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been reported sporadically for biosynthesis of caffeic acid via free plasmid‑mediated pathway assembly. However, the production was far from satisfactory and even relied on the addition of precursor. Results In this study, we first established a controllable caffeic acid pathway by employing a modified GAL regulatory system in S. cerevisiae and realized de novo biosynthesis of 313.8 mg/L caffeic acid from glucose. Combinatorial engineering strategies including eliminating the tyrosine-induced feedback inhibition, deleting genes involved in competing pathways and overexpressing rate-limiting enzymes led to about 2.5-fold improvement in the caffeic acid production, reaching up to 769.3 mg/L in shake-flask cultures. To our knowledge, this is the highest ever reported titer of caffeic acid de novo synthesized by engineered yeast. Conclusions Caffeic acid production in S. cerevisiae strain was successfully improved by adopting a glucose-regulated GAL system and comprehensive metabolic engineering strategies. This work showed the prospect for microbial biosynthesis of caffeic acid and laid the foundation for constructing biosynthetic pathways of its derived metabolites.

In our work, a

For the unicellular algaChlamydomonas reinhardtii, the presence ofN-glycosylated proteins on the surface of two flagella is crucial for both cell-cell interaction during mating and flagellar surface adhesion. It is unknown whether the composition ofN-glycans attached to respective proteins is important for these processes. To this end, we examined severalC. reinhardtiiinsertional mutants and a CRIPSR/Cas9 knockout mutant of xylosyltransferase 1A, all possessing alteredN-glycan compositions. Taking advantage of atomic force microscopy and micropipette force measurements, our data revealed that reduction inN-glycan complexity impedes the adhesion force required for binding the flagella to surfaces. In addition, polystyrene bead binding and transport is impaired. Notably, assembly, Intraflagellar Transport and FMG-1B transport into flagella are not affected by alteredN-glycosylation. Thus, we conclude that properN-glycosylation of flagellar proteins is crucial for adheringC. reinhardtiicells onto surfaces, indicating thatN-glycans mediate surface adhesion via direct surface contact.

Beating is the usual way to harvest Chinese hickory (Carya cathayensis Sarg.) nuts because of large size of trees and scattered distribution of nuts. To ensure the effective transmission of vibration energy and improve the efficiency of vibratory harvest, different modes of excitation force generated by different combinations of eccentric mass were analyzed. Firstly, the finite element model of a dwarf Chinese hickory tree was established. Harmonic response analysis was applied to determine the steady-state response when a sinusoidal load was exerted to the dwarf Chinese hickory tree model, and the maximum acceleration response can be obtained under the excitation frequency of about 22 Hz. Next, the flexible model of the dwarf Chinese hickory tree was imported into ADAMS through the data exchange function. The corresponding load was imposed on the tree model in ADAMS to simulate the response of the dwarf Chinese hickory tree to the excitations of different combinations of eccentric mass. The results show that when the treetop of one branch was excited, only the response of this excited branch was strong but those of other branches were low. When the trunk bifurcation was excited, all branches had high and similar response value. While the trunk was excited, all responses were low. Three-dimensional force generated by the combination of orthogonal eccentric masses was exerted to the tree. All the acceleration responses of the branches had the lowest standard deviation and coefficient of variation for different excitation points. Therefore the orthogonal eccentric masses have the potential to make the tree branches vibrate effectively and evenly in the process of vibratory harvesting, which may improve the harvesting efficiency.

To evaluate the associations of inflammatory factors and serological test results with complicated brucellosis, we recruited 285 patients with a diagnosis of brucellosis between May 2016 and September 2019. The patients were subsequently classified into two groups according to the presence of complications. We collected demographic and clinical information and routine laboratory test results in addition to anti-Brucella IgG and IgM levels. Anti-Brucella IgG and IgM were uniformly tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in this study. Among the 285 patients with brucellosis, 111 (38.95%) had complicated brucellosis. Osteoarthritis occurred more often in the subacute and chronic stages than in the acute stage (P = 0.002). Genital infection occurred more frequently in the acute stage than in the other stages (P = 0.023). Fever was not frequently observed in complicated cases (P

Room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) was observed in unirradiated rutile TiO

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a promising analytical tool in nanoscale detection because of its high sensitivity and selectivity. This review focuses on recent advances in SERS-based detection of DNA and RNA. First, nanostructure-based SERS-active substrates are introduced. Using label-free and labeled SERS, target biomolecules such DNA, RNA and microRNA have been successfully detected. Finally, applications in pathogen diagnosis are discussed. The prospects and challenges of SERS-based bioanalysis are highlighted.

In our work, Cr2Si2Te6, a novel two-dimensional (2D)-layered ferromagnetic insulator, was used as a saturable absorber (SA) for demonstrating a pulsed Er-doped fiber laser (EDFL) based on its nonlinear saturable absorption properties. The modulation depth and saturation intensity of the Cr2Si2Te6-based SA are 6.61% and 10.77 MW/cm2, respectively. When the pump power is 60.3 mW, the 13th harmonic mode-locked generation is obtained, the 3 dB optical spectrum bandwidth is 1.392 nm and the central wavelength is 1568.032 nm. When the pump power is higher than 170.3 mW, the EDFL works at the fundamental repetition frequency of 1.23 MHz with a signal-to-noise ratio of 25 dB. The experimental results reveal that Cr2Si2Te6 SA has enormous potential in demonstrating ultrafast fiber lasers and provide references for future research based on Cr2Si2Te6 as ultrafast optical modulators.

In this experiment, the Zirconium Diselenide (ZrSe2) was successfully manufactured as the saturable absorber (SA), the modulation depth and saturable intensity of 3.94% and 13.38 MW/cm−2, for demonstrating single-, dual-wavelength pulses within an Er-doped fiber laser (EDFL). The pulse duration of single-wavelength pulses was approximately 1.65 ps. The central wavelengths of dual-wavelength pulses were 1559.4 and 1559.8 nm. The results fully suggested that ZrSe2 nanosheets have widely potential in ultra-fast pulse lasers due to its excellent saturable absorber characteristics.

At present, only little is known about the enzymatic machinery required for N-glycosylation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, leading to the formation of N-glycans harboring Xyl and methylated Man. This machinery possesses new enzymatic features, as C. reinhardtii N-glycans are independent of β1,2-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I. Here we have performed comparative N-glycoproteomic analyses of insertional mutants of mannosidase 1A (IM Man1A ) and xylosyltransferase 1A (IM XylT1A ). The disruption of man1A affected methylation of Man and the addition of terminal Xyl. The absence of XylT1A led to shorter N-glycans compared to the wild type. The use of a IM Man1A xIM XylT1A double mutant revealed that the absence of Man1A suppressed the IM XylT1A phenotype, indicating that the increased N-glycan trimming is regulated by core β1,2-Xyl and is dependent on Man1A activity. These data point toward an enzymatic cascade in the N-glycosylation pathway of C. reinhardtii with interlinked roles of Man1A and XylT1A. The results described herein represent the first step toward a functional characterization of the enzymatic N-glycosylation machinery in C. reinhardtii.