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Southeast Asia is a vast economic region with a total population more than 600 million. The region provides a huge market and opportunity for countries in the region to achieve economic growth. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been proposed by China PDR in 2013 where some of Southeast Asian countries are the recipient of the investment projects including Malaysia and Indonesia. Together with Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), both BRI and MPAC projects aim to improve physical connectivity, institutional connectivity and empowered people-to-people connectivity. This study examines how Malaysia and Indonesia have responded and participated in the BRI and MPAC in the aspect of their maritime connectivity and the development of related infrastructure. The early findings indicated that in comparison with Malaysia, Indonesia has been slow and cautious in embracing the BRI due to inefficiency in infrastructure development, various red tape and long-time anti-Chinese sentiments. The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that has been going back since December 2019 has severely hindered the progress of the maritime connectivity projects in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The old Greek aphorism 'Panta Rhei' ('everything flows') is true for all living things in general. As a dynamic process, calcium signaling plays fundamental roles in cellular activities under both normal and pathological conditions, with recent researches uncovering its involvement in cell proliferation, migration, survival, gene expression, and more. The major question we address here is how calcium signaling affects cancer progression and whether it could be targeted to combine with classic chemotherapeutics or emerging immunotherapies to improve their efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having hundreds of big mountains, the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau and its southern boundary, the Hengduan Mountains Region, represent one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. In the so‐called "Third Pole of the earth", diverse effects of climate change and habitat heterogeneity could have driven the evolution of plant adaptive strategies. In this review, we collected and compiled recent sources of reproductive biology in animal‐pollinated plants, stressing the questions that need further attention, including pollination system, pollen limitation, self‐compatibility, and sexual system. We constructed plant–pollinator interaction networks based on the case studies from this region, showing that the majority of pollinators were bees, moths, butterflies, and flies were also important, and bats and birds were rare. As the unpredictable (cold, rainy or windy) weather affects pollinator activities, sexual reproduction seemed to be pollen limited, but available studies show that the exact pattern of pollen limitation is still under debate. Self‐compatibility could be either a solution, or a result from pollen limitation. Moreover, plant sexual systems can be regarded as an integrated module that counters pollen limitation. As phylogenetic relationships were constructed, diverse genera experienced rapid radiation were revealed in these mountainous areas. Further studies of evolutionary transitions in reproductive systems of congeners will unveil potential factors shaping the general pattern of adaptive strategies in animal‐pollinated plants. Further studies will be beneficial in using advanced new techniques, examining phenotypic selection under common gardens, and considering chemical ecology in interactions between plants and florivores, particularly in pollen fate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition, we combined transient expression and ROS burst assays to rapidly validate the FLS2 flagellin epitope recognition spectrum from 29 plant species in an I N. benthamiana FLS2 i double-mutant. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated generation of fls2 mutant in Nicotiana benthamiana for investigating the flagellin recognition spectrum of diverse FLS2 receptors Keywords: Flagellin-sensing 2; flagellin epitope; Nicotiana benthamiana; CRISPR/Cas9; transient assay; reactive oxygen species burst EN Flagellin-sensing 2 flagellin epitope Nicotiana benthamiana CRISPR/Cas9 transient assay reactive oxygen species burst 1853 1855 3 09/23/22 20221001 NES 221001 Plant cell surface pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) mount pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) by recognizing the typical molecular structures of pathogens, termed pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), providing the first line of defence against various phytopathogens. [Extracted from the article]

This work focuses on the controllable fabrication of polymorphic nanostructured carbons consisting of hierarchical pores via "One-for-All" strategy from a single precursor-crude oil. Five kinds of tuned carbons with tremella-, honeycomb-, waxberry-, nanorod- and nanocube-like structures were obtained from crude oil, by employing a facile room temperature curing with structural regulation methods followed by thermal treatment. All the five nanostructured carbons have high specific surface area and large pore volume with hierarchical pores. In short, this study provides an efficient and novel strategy to fabricate controllably porous carbons with desired and multifarious microstructures from a single precursor-crude oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the effect of pelvic reconstruction surgery on the relation of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and overactive bladder (OAB) and the impact of preoperative vaginal oestrogen supplement on vaginal tissue. A total of 100 postmenopausal women with symptomatic POP who underwent pelvic reconstruction surgery (laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy or transvaginal mesh) were enrolled in this study. Preoperative vaginal oestrogen was prescribed in 28 cases. The evaluation tools consisted of POP-Q, urodynamic study, Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS), and urinary NGF. Vaginal maturation index and vaginal specimens for hormone receptors study were investigated during operation to evaluate the effect of topical oestrogen. Follow-up assessments were performed at 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery. Preoperatively, 58 (58%) were POP with OAB. After reconstruction surgery, the OABSS decreased significantly (6.87 ± 0.85 vs 3.77 ± 0.61, p < 0.001) at postoperative 6 months in the group. Remarkable increasing trends of urinary NGF levels are noted till 3 months postoperatively, then decreasing to the baseline level at 6 months postoperative follow-up. Remarkable decrease of mRNA of the androgen receptor and significant higher expression of progesterone receptor (PR) were noted after use of the vaginal oestrogen cream. The severity of OAB in the POP women shows moderate degree according to OABSS. Pelvic reconstruction surgery can significantly improve the OAB symptoms. The surgery induced inflammation effect lasts for about 6 months. Short-term preoperative supplement of topical oestrogen brings alterations of the vaginal epithelium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a newly emerging multivariate statistical process monitoring method, non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) and its variants avoid the positive and negative cancellations between the extracted features because of the purely additive combination of non-negative components. Thus, they make a good match with this reality that the negative values of both observations and decomposed components are physically meaningless in many kinds of industrial processes. However, these methods are effective only for linearly separable problems and are not suitable for dealing with nonlinear process monitoring. In this article, the kernel-based method is integrated into the projective NMF (KPNMF) to improve the accuracy of fault detection, and the appropriate multiplicative update method is proven to be convergent. Furthermore, inspired by the false nearest neighbors (FNNs) method, a new dimensionality reduction approach (KPNMF-FNN) is presented to further reduce the original variables for determining the smallest dimension regression vector needed. Compared with the traditional methods, the proposed approach can greatly reduce the time and storage space required on the premise of maintaining a high fault detection rate and low false alarm rate. The experimental results on the Tennessee Eastman benchmark process and the pumping unit system show that the proposed algorithms have excellent performance and can effectively detect faults under the circumstances of retaining only the top 60% of the original variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to construct and validate a nomogram for predicting blastocyst formation in patients with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) during in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 445 DOR patients who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at the Reproductive Center of Yulin Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2019 to January 2023. A total of 1016 embryos were cultured for blastocyst formation, of which 487 were usable blastocysts and 529 did not form usable blastocysts. The embryos were randomly divided into a training set (711 embryos) and a validation set (305 embryos). Relevant factors were initially identified through univariate logistic regression analysis based on the training set, followed by multivariate logistic regression analysis to establish a nomogram model. The prediction model was then calibrated and validated. Multivariate stepwise forward logistic regression analysis showed that female age, normal fertilization status, embryo grade on D2, and embryo grade on D3 were independent predictors of blastocyst formation in DOR patients. The Hosmer–Lemeshow test indicated no statistical difference between the predicted probabilities of blastocyst formation and actual blastocyst formation (P > 0.05). These results suggest that female age, normal fertilization status, embryo grade on D2, and embryo grade on D3 are independent predictors of blastocyst formation in DOR patients. The clinical prediction nomogram constructed from these factors has good predictive value and clinical utility and can provide a basis for clinical prognosis, intervention, and the formulation of individualized medical plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a devastating fungal disease, leading to huge yield losses in wheat production. Identification of resistance genes and closely linked molecular markers can greatly facilitate breeding resistant wheat cultivars. Shaannong69 conferred high resistance to stripe rust both at the seedling and adult-plant stages. The Pst race CYR31 was used to infect Shaannong69, Huixianhong, F1 and F2 plants and F2:3 lines at the seedling stage in the greenhouse. Genetic analysis identified a single dominant gene, designated as YrSN69, conferring resistance to Pst race CYR31 in Shaannong69. Seventy-four of 176 SNPs with the absolute value of ∆SNP-index more than 0.85 were identified in 753.33–766.18 Mb on chromosome 2BL based on bulked segregant RNA sequencing. Fifteen kompetitive allele-specific PCR markers were developed to genotype susceptible F2 plants derived from the Shaannong69/Huixianhong cross. YrSN69 was mapped on chromosome arm 2BL in a 2.0 cM genetic interval, with genetic distances of 0.2 cM and 1.8 cM to markers 2BC17 and 2BA20, respectively, corresponding to a 3.16 Mb physical region based on the IWGSC RefSeq v1.1 with 44 high-confidence annotated genes. The YrSN69 is likely to be a new allele of Yr72 in comparison with known Yr genes on chromosome 2BL. These results provide a solid foundation for map-based cloning of YrSN69 and marker-assisted selection for pyramiding stripe rust resistance genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop an interactive, non-invasive artificial intelligence (AI) system for malignancy risk prediction in cystic renal lesions (CRLs). Methods: In this retrospective, multicenter diagnostic study, we evaluated 715 patients. An interactive geodesic-based 3D segmentation model was created for CRLs segmentation. A CRLs classification model was developed using spatial encoder temporal decoder (SETD) architecture. The classification model combines a 3D-ResNet50 network for extracting spatial features and a gated recurrent unit (GRU) network for decoding temporal features from multi-phase CT images. We assessed the segmentation model using sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), intersection over union (IOU), and dice similarity (Dice) metrics. The classification model's performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy score (ACC), and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: From 2012 to 2023, we included 477 CRLs (median age, 57 [IQR: 48–65]; 173 men) in the training cohort, 226 CRLs (median age, 60 [IQR: 52–69]; 77 men) in the validation cohort, and 239 CRLs (median age, 59 [IQR: 53–69]; 95 men) in the testing cohort (external validation cohort 1, cohort 2, and cohort 3). The segmentation model and SETD classifier exhibited excellent performance in both validation (AUC = 0.973, ACC = 0.916, Dice = 0.847, IOU = 0.743, SEN = 0.840, SPE = 1.000) and testing datasets (AUC = 0.998, ACC = 0.988, Dice = 0.861, IOU = 0.762, SEN = 0.876, SPE = 1.000). Conclusion: The AI system demonstrated excellent benign-malignant discriminatory ability across both validation and testing datasets and illustrated improved clinical decision-making utility. Critical relevance statement: In this era when incidental CRLs are prevalent, this interactive, non-invasive AI system will facilitate accurate diagnosis of CRLs, reducing excessive follow-up and overtreatment. Key Points: The rising prevalence of CRLs necessitates better malignancy prediction strategies. The AI system demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance in identifying malignant CRL. The AI system illustrated improved clinical decision-making utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and objectives: The study aimed to investigate whether dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI parameters and preoperative radiological features (DCER-Features) add value to the clinicopathologic model for predicting metachronous metastases in rectal cancer patients. Materials and methods: From January 2014 to December 2020, 859 patients in the PACS system were retrospectively screened. Of the initial 722 patients with surgically confirmed rectal cancer and no synchronous metastases, 579 patients were excluded for various reasons such as lack of clinicopathological or radiological information. 143 patients were finally included in this study. And 73 Patients of them developed metachronous metastasis within five years. After stepwise multiple regression analyses, we constructed three distinct models. Model 1 was developed solely based on clinicopathological factors, and model 2 incorporated clinicopathological characteristics along with DCE-MRI parameters. Finally, model 3 was built on all available factors, including clinicopathological characteristics, DCE-MRI parameters, and radiological features based on rectal magnetic resonance imaging. The radiological features assessed in this study encompass tumor imaging staging, location, and circumferential resection margin (CRM) for primary tumors, as well as the number of visible lymph nodes and suspected metastatic lymph nodes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and decision curve analysis (DCA) were conducted to evaluate whether the diagnostic efficiency was improved. Results: The performance of model 3 (including clinicopathologic characteristics and DCER-Features) was the best (AUC: 0.856, 95% CI 0.778–0.886), whereas it was 0.796 (95% CI 0.720–0.828) for model 2 and 0.709 (95% CI 0.612–0.778) for model 1 (DeLong test: model 1 vs model 2, p = 0.004; model 2 vs model 3, p = 0.037; model 1 vs model 3, p < 0.001). The decision curves indicated that the net benefit of model 3 was higher than the other two models at each referral threshold. The calibration plot of the three models revealed an excellent predictive accuracy. Conclusion: This study suggests that DCER-Features have added value for the clinicopathological model to predict metachronous metastasis in patients with rectal cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: As sessile organisms, plants experience variable environments and encounter diverse stresses during their growth and development. Adventitious rooting, orchestrated by multiple coordinated signaling pathways, represents an adaptive strategy evolved by plants to adapt to cope with changing environmental conditions. This study uncovered the role of the miR159a‐PeMYB33 module in the formation of adventitious roots (ARs) synergistically with abscisic acid (ABA) signaling in poplar. Overexpression of miR159a increased the number of ARs and plant height while reducing sensitivity to ABA in transgenic plants. In contrast, inhibition of miR159a (using Short Tandem Target Mimic) or overexpression of PeMYB33 decreased the number of ARs in transgenic plants. Additionally, miR159a targets and cleaves transcripts of PeMYB33 using degradome analysis, which was further confirmed by a transient expression experiment of poplar protoplast. We show the miR159a‐PeMYB33 module controls ARs development in poplar through ABA signaling. In particular, we demonstrated that miR159a promotes the expression of genes in the ABA signaling pathway. The findings from this study shed light on the intricate regulatory mechanisms governing the development of ARs in poplar plants. The miR159a‐PeMYB33 module, in conjunction with ABA signaling, plays a crucial role in modulating AR formation and subsequent plant growth. Significance Statement: The non‐coding small RNA, miR159a, promotes poplar adventitious root (AR) growth by down‐regulating the transcription level of PeMYB33, which provides a reference for further understanding of the regulatory mechanism of AR formation in woody plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dynamic texture refers to a sequence of images with regular and periodic changes in appearance from one image to another. Typical dynamic textures include burning flames, waving flags and flowing water. Given a reference dynamic texture, dynamic texture generation is meant to generate new dynamic textures that are of similar appearance to the reference one but are more diversified in terms of dynamics (i.e., periodic pattern changes). Existing dynamic texture generation algorithms may suffer from partially losing appearance information of the reference dynamic texture, resulting in such problems as structural distortion and blurred edges in the generated dynamic textures. To address this issue, we propose in this paper a structure-preserving dynamic texture generation algorithm based on a new two-stream convolutional networks model with feature reuse strategy (TSCN-FR). The proposed TSCN-FR makes use of spatial co-occurrence feature matrices to capture the spatial structure correlation of dynamic textures, thus alleviating the structural distortion and disordered color patch distribution in the generation of dynamic textures. In addition, an edge-preserving regular term, which uses the edge features of the reference dynamic texture extracted by the LoG operator, is introduced in the training of TSCN-FR to better maintain the edge structure of the reference dynamic texture. The application of our proposed method to dynamic style transferring is also presented. Experimental results have shown that our method for dynamic texture generation improves the existing methods by a clear margin on the ability to keep appearance information of the reference dynamic texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Schistosomiasis japonica remains an important public health concern due to its potential to cause severe outcomes and long-term sequelae. An integrated control strategy implemented in the Peoples' Republic of China has been shown to be effective to control or interrupt the transmission of schistosomiasis. The objective of this study is to estimate the disease burden of schistosomiasis and assess the cost-effectiveness of the integrated control strategy focused on different major interventions at three stages for schistosomiasis control in a lake setting, to provide reference for policy making or planning. Methods: Annual cost data of schistosomiasis control during 2009–2019 were obtained from the control program implementers in Jiangling County, Hubei Province, China. Economic costs are provided in constant 2009 Chinese Yuan (CNY). Epidemiological data of schistosomiasis were collected from the Jiangling county station for schistosomiasis control. Disease burden of schistosomiasis was assessed by calculating years of life lost (YLLs) owing to premature death, years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). DALYs were calculated as the sum of YLLs and YLDs. We then conducted a rudimentary cost-effectiveness analysis by determining the ratio by dividing the difference between the average cost of integrated control strategy at transmission control (2013–2016) or transmission interruption (2017–2019) and the average cost at stage of infection control (2009–2012) with the difference between the DALYs of schistosomiasis at different control stages. Descriptive statistics on the costs and DALYs were used in the analysis. Results: The total economic costs for schistosomiasis control in Jiangling County from 2009 to 2019 were approximately CNY 606.88 million. The average annual economic costs for schistosomiasis prevention and control at stages of infection control (2009–2012), transmission control (2013–2016), and transmission interruption (2017–2019) were approximately CNY 41.98 million, CNY 90.19 million and CNY 26.06 million respectively. The overall disease burden caused by schistosomiasis presented a downward trend. Meanwhile, the disease burden of advanced cases showed an upward trend with the DALY increased from 943.72 to 1031.59 person-years. Most disease burden occurred in the age group over 45 years old (especially the elderly over 60 years old). Taking the infection control stage as the control, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of integrated control strategy was CNY 8505.5 per case averted, CNY 60 131.6 per DALY decreased at transmission control stage and CNY −2217.6 per case averted, CNY −18 116.0 per DALY decreased at transmission interruption stage. Conclusions: The disease burden of schistosomiasis decreased significantly with the implementation of the integrated prevention and control strategy. Surveillance and management on elder population should be strengthened to decrease diseases burden. There remains a need for well-conducted studies that examine the long-term cost-effectiveness of the integrated control strategy for schistosomiasis. Graphic Abstarct: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empty follicle syndrome (EFS) is a serious and complex reproductive complication for infertile women suffering from the recurrent failure of oocyte retrieval in an in vitro fertilization procedure, and its pathogenesis remains obscure. Increasing evidence highlights the genetic basis of EFS occurrence. In this study, we identified two novel missense mutations (c.1127G > A, p.C376Y and c.325C > T, p.R109C), two novel frameshift mutations (c.800_801delAG, p.E267Gfs*80 and c.1815_1825delGGTCCTTTTGC, p.V606Afs*42), one novel nonsense mutation (c.199G > T, p.E67Ter), and three reported mutations (c.769C > T, p.Q257Ter; c.1430 + 1G > T, p.C478Ter and c.1169_1176delTTTTCCCA, p.I390Tfs*16) in five unrelated probands, showing similar EFS manifestations, which expands the mutational spectrum of individuals with autosomal recessive ZP1. Current research will provide a better understanding of the biological functions of ZP1, and some insight into the determination of ZP1 variation as an additional rule for assessing the EFS disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic long-lived luminescent probes featuring thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) or room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) have emerged as highly promising tools for time-resolved luminescence imaging (TRLI) and sensing (TRLS). Their unique advantage lies in their ability to effectively eliminate interference from short-lived background signals. By introducing an appropriate delay time between the short-lived autofluorescence and measure of the long-lived luminescence emitted by the probes, a background-free approach emerges, enabling the accurate detection and imaging of diverse biologically relevant species. This review provides a comprehensive overview of metal-free organic compound-based responsive probes utilizing TADF and RTP for TRLI and TRLS. It offers detailed insights into the design strategies and sensing principles employed by these probes. Furthermore, the review discusses the current challenges faced by researchers in this rapidly expanding field and highlights the future prospects for advancements in this area of study. [Display omitted] • Comprehensive review of recent progress in time-resolved biosensing and imaging using long-lived organic luminescent probes. • Discussion on photophysical properties and design strategies of small organic molecule-based TADF and RTP materials. • Exploration of challenges and future directions in utilizing TADF and RTP materials for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish a Gaussian upper bound of the heat kernel for the Laplace-Beltrami operator on complete Riemannian manifolds with Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature bounded below. As applications, we first prove an L 1 -Liouville property for non-negative subharmonic functions when the potential function of the Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature tensor is of at most quadratic growth. Then we derive lower bounds of the eigenvalues of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on closed manifolds. An upper bound of the bottom spectrum is also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the parameters of a finite-strain visco-elastic–visco-plastic formulation with pressure dependency in both the visco-elastic and visco-plastic parts are identified using as observations experimental data obtained from tension and compression tests at different strain rates ranging from 1 0 − 4 s − 1 to 1 0 3 s − 1 . Because of the high number of parameters of the model, a sequential Bayesian Inference (SBI) framework with data augmentation, which presents several advantages, is developed. First the sequential nature reduces the difficulty of selecting the appropriate prior distributions by considering only parts of the observations at a time. Second, the sequential nature prevents dealing with low likelihood values by considering only a part of the experimental observations at a time, but also subsets of the material parameters to be identified, improving the convergence of the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) random walk. Third, the data augmentation allows considering different number of experimental tests in tension and in compression while preserving the identified model accuracy for both loading modes. This SBI is carried out to infer the properties of Polyamide 12 (PA12) processed by Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) for two different printing directions and it is shown that the models fed by their respective set of inferred parameters can reproduce the different experimental tests. Finally, in order for upcoming structural simulations to benefit from the information related to the uncertainties due to the measurement errors, the identification process and the model limitations, we introduce a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), which is trained using the data obtained from the MCMC random walk. This generator can then serve to produce a synthetic data-set of arbitrary size of the material parameters to be used in finite-element simulations. • Parameters of a visco-elastic–visco-plastic model are inferred for printed Polyamide. • A sequential Bayesian Inference framework for high number of parameters is developed. • Tension and compression tests at 1 0 − 4 s − 1 to 1 0 3 s − 1 strain rates are used as observations. • Tension–compression asymmetry is captured during visco-elasticity and visco-plasticity. • A Generative Adversarial Network is trained to generate material random parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: As a branch of biometrics, face recognition focuses on face features and approaches to distinguishing different individuals through recognizing their faces by virtue of the uniqueness of each face. Face recognition technology using image set, and single image is the main application technology at present. Although the face recognition technology using a single image is relatively mature, it also has some shortcomings. In this paper, Honda/USCD video database is used to compare and analyze the two technologies, and the recognition accuracy of face recognition method based on local binary pattern (LBP) is tested. The results show that the face recognition technology using image sets has better recognition accuracy and can be better applied intelligent shopping, access control system, vehicle access system, intelligent security, identity recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although dexmedetomidine (Dex) has a significant neuroprotective effect in various nerve-damage models, the exact mechanism of which Dex protects cells from oxidative damage is not fully clear. This article recommended the protective effect of Dex on oxidative damage in PC12 cells. The PC12 cells were incubated by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for 24 h and pre-treated by Dex for 30 min. Cell viability, apoptosis, HIF-1α expression and ROS level were detected by CCK-8, apoptosis assay, Western blot and ROS assay, respectively. The miR-199a expression was tested by qRT-PCR. Targeting relationship between miR-199a and HIF-1α was performed by dual luciferase activity assay. The activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR and Wnt/β-catenin pathways was tested by western blot. Dex attenuated H2O2-induced oxidative damage, including the decline of cell viability, the raise of apoptosis and the generation of ROS in PC12 cells by down-regulating miR-199a expression. Moreover, Dex up-regulated HIF-1α expression via decreasing miR-199a level in PC12 cells and miR-199a targeted the 3′-UTR of HIF-1α. In addition, Dex activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR and Wnt/β-catenin pathways by declining miR-199a level. This article illustrated the protective effect of Dex on oxidative damage in PC12 cells. Furthermore, Dex prevented PC12 cells from oxidative injury through the regulation of miR-199a/HIF-1α. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copper-catalyzed hydroamination of styrenes using piv ZPhos as ligand is reported. Enantioselectivities up to 94% are achieved under optimized conditions with aryl and heteroaryl styrenes. A variety of electrophilic O -benzoylhydroxylamines are well tolerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To screen novel mutations in LHCGR responsible for empty follicle syndrome and explore the pathological mechanism of mutations. Methods: Four affected individuals diagnosed with infertility-associated anovulation or oligo-ovulation from three independent families were recruited. Sanger sequencing was used to identify the LHCGR mutations in affected individuals. Western blot was performed to evaluate the effects of mutations on LHCGR protein levels. Immunofluorescence was done to explore the effects of mutations on LHCGR subcellular localization. The ATP levels were measured to infer the functional effects of the mutations on LHCGR. Results: In the present study, three novel biallelic mutations in LHCGR were identified in four affected individuals from three independent families with empty follicle syndrome or oligo-ovulation. All biallelic mutations were inherited from the proband of their parents. The western blot showed that the identified mutations decreased LHCGR protein level and altered the glycosylation pattern. The immunofluorescence showed an ectopic subcellular localization of LHCGR in cultured HeLa cells. Besides, the mutations in LHCGR also reduced the cellular ATP consumption. Conclusion: These findings confirm previous studies and expand the mutational spectrum of LHCGR, which will provide genetic diagnostic marker for patients with empty follicle syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-pot conversion of biomass-based carbohydrates to methyl lactate (MLA), a versatile platform chemical for the production of food additives as well as the starting material of pharmaceutical industry, is an attractive green process. In this study, the Nb/HUSY catalysts with highly catalytic performance are successfully synthesized and used for the production of MLA from fructose. Remarkably, when using 2%Nb/HUSY as catalyst, the highest MLA yield of 56.1% is obtained with complete conversion of fructose under optimal conditions (140 °C for 6 h). The introduction of niobium into HUSY enhances the Lewis acid properties, which facilitates the stepwise process, involving the retro-aldol condensation and dehydration reactions. The as-prepared catalysts have shown promising potential for conversion of fructose to MLA and effectively inhibited the formation of by-products. More importantly, the catalyst exhibits superior stability and could be reused for at least four cycles. Image 1 • A controllable transformation of fructose into green methyl lactate is demonstrated. • The combination of strong Lewis and weak Brønsted acid enhanced catalytic activity. • The Lewis/Brønsted ratios of the Nb/HUSY catalysts can be easily tuned. • The as-prepared catalysts afford superior catalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine how host plant genotype, endophytic fungal species, and their interaction may affect growth and key chemical content and composition in an important orchid species, we assessed four Dendrobium catenatum cultivars co-cultured with three fungi previously isolated from D. catenatum. Fungal endophytes (Tulasnella sp. , Leptosphaeria microscopica , and Guignardia sp.) specifically affected the growth and chemical composition of the four cultivars. Fungal infection significantly increased certain growth traits, especially mid-stem thickness, stem biomass, stem polysaccharide and ethanol-soluble extractive content, and leaf flavonoid and phenol content. Presence or abundance of some key chemical components was also altered by fungal treatment. These increases and alterations were highly dependent on the host genotype. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of Dendrobium and endophytic fungi interactions, and provide vital information for improving the development and use of endophytic fungi in D. catenatum breeding. • Effects of endophytes on performance of host intraspecific genotypes were examined. • Three endophytic fungi and four D. catenatum cultivars were co-cultured. • Some growth traits and specific chemical components were significantly influenced by fungi. • Performance variation depended on endophytes-plant intraspecific genotypes effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precipitation rate and cementation strength of calcium carbonate crystals during the process of microorganism-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) are key factors that affect the application effect of this technology. In order to improve the quality of calcium carbonate formation in the MICP process, egg white protein with a volume fraction of 20%, bovine serum albumin with a mass fraction of 0.3%, sucrose with a mass fraction of 5%, bamboo leaves with a mass concentration of 25 g/L, and bamboo leaf-magnesium chloride (M g 2 + / C a 2 + = 4 : 1) were added during the experiment of different groups of MICP solutions. The results of the solution test study showed that there was no obvious lag period for bacterial growth under the action of organic matrix. The concentration of bacteria in the reaction solution was higher under the action of sucrose and egg white. The conversion rate of Ca2+ under the action of egg white was the fastest, which was about 2.5 times higher than that of the control group. After 14 days of grouting reaction, it was found that the proportion of calcite-type calcium carbonate produced under the action of egg white was the highest, and the Ca element accounted for 66.24% in the solidified material. Sucrose was second; bovine serum albumin was the lowest. The calcium carbonate crystals generated by the control of each organic matrix had a high degree of pore size matching with the tailings under a dry-wet cycle. The structural characteristics of the calcium carbonate crystals, such as crystal form, morphology, and particle size, were mainly due to the interaction between the organic matrix and the calcium carbonate crystals. This study proves that the addition of the organic matrix can improve the formation rate and crystal structure of calcium carbonate during MICP, thus providing a new reference for the development of MICP technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black soldier fly larvae ( Hermetia illucens L.) is a kind of scavenging insect, which can convert organic waste such as animal feces, kitchen waste, and plant residues into its own nutrition, so as to achieve green and efficient transformation of resources. Larvae, especially defatted meal, is a good source of dietary protein. At present, most of the studies on forage fertilization of black soldier fly larvae are focused on protein nutrition, but there are few studies on black soldier fly larvae oil. The paper describes the main components of black soldier fly larvae oil, analyzes its nutritional value as feed, summarizes the main factors affecting the quality of black soldier fly larvae oil, reviews the research progress of using black soldier fly larvae oil instead of traditional feed in livestock, aquatic products, and other animal breeding at home and abroad, and puts forward some shortcomings and improvement methods of black soldier fly larvae oil as feed, to provide a reference for fully exploiting the application potential of the black soldier fly larvae oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive phenotypic profiling of heterogeneous circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at single‐cell resolution has great importance for cancer management. Herein, a novel spectrally combined encoding (SCE) strategy was proposed for multiplex biomarker profiling of single CTCs using a multifunctional nanosphere‐mediated microfluidic platform. Different cellular biomarkers uniquely labeled by multifunctional nanosphere barcodes, possessing identical magnetic tags and distinct optical signatures, enabled isolation of heterogeneous CTCs with over 91.6 % efficiency and in situ SCE of phenotypes. By further trapping individual CTCs in ordered microstructures on chip, composite single‐cell spectral signatures were conveniently and efficiently obtained, allowing reliable spectral‐readout for multiplex biomarker profiling. This SCE strategy exhibited great potential in multiplex profiling of heterogeneous CTC phenotypes, offering new avenues for cancer study and precise medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive phenotypic profiling of heterogeneous circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at single‐cell resolution has great importance for cancer management. Herein, a novel spectrally combined encoding (SCE) strategy was proposed for multiplex biomarker profiling of single CTCs using a multifunctional nanosphere‐mediated microfluidic platform. Different cellular biomarkers uniquely labeled by multifunctional nanosphere barcodes, possessing identical magnetic tags and distinct optical signatures, enabled isolation of heterogeneous CTCs with over 91.6 % efficiency and in situ SCE of phenotypes. By further trapping individual CTCs in ordered microstructures on chip, composite single‐cell spectral signatures were conveniently and efficiently obtained, allowing reliable spectral‐readout for multiplex biomarker profiling. This SCE strategy exhibited great potential in multiplex profiling of heterogeneous CTC phenotypes, offering new avenues for cancer study and precise medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an emerging concern that modern technology‐saturated environments, particularly computer games, are inhibiting the development of children's empathic behaviour and social skills. We argue that the solution is embedded in the problem when hybrid learning design blends real‐life social interpersonal interactions with digital representations. We present theory‐informed design principles for creating tablet games with a focus on promoting empathic perception—a building block for the ability to see, sense and understand other's internal states. Based on these principles, the game Empathy World was developed and trialled in a naturalistic three‐month study in an early childhood education setting. Children learned to perceive empathy‐worthy cues in various scenes and interacted with the tablet game to further their perspective‐taking and to associate emotions with social contexts. The findings from this study show an increase in the selective tendency of children's in‐game perception of empathy‐worthy stimuli and enhanced empathic concern. We argue that future design for learning can utilise the strengths of hybrid design for social development at a larger scale: integrating theoretically informed and rigorously tested digital tools in existing educational and social environments. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Research has examined various developmental benefits of empathy and shown that empathy can be learnt.Digital games can be productive, easy to scale, tools that support learning.Sound design, based on theory‐informed principles, can improve the effectiveness of digital learning games.What this paper adds It synthesises theories and research evidence of empathy and its development.It shows how empathy‐related theoretical ideas and evidence were translated into hybrid design principles for developing empathy games and embedding them into children's social learning environment.It illustrates how theory‐ and evidence‐informed design principles were used to create a digital game to enhance empathic learning of young children in a hybrid technology‐mediated environment.It explores and validates the effectiveness of a hybrid design approach by implementing the digital empathy game in children's natural learning environment and analysing the data by capturing emerging patterns of development stemming from gameplay.Implications for practice and/or policy Pre‐schools could enhance children's empathy learning by integrating specially designed empathy games in existing learning environments.Teachers and parents should be informed about how to create game‐mediated hybrid environments that enhance children's empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following traumatic insult and associated pathogen infection, innate immunity is activated during the perioperative period, especially the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages. The neuroendocrine response is also rapidly activated to regulate excessive inflammation; however, the molecular mechanisms are still not completely clear. This study is aimed at investigating the modulation of NLRP3 inflammasome priming by endogenous glucocorticoids (corticosterone, CORT) and its relationship with xanthine oxidase (XO). RAW264.7 murine macrophages were stimulated with LPS (1 μg/ml). LPS-induced NLRP3 expression was pretreated by CORT at different concentrations (0-900 ng/ml). Then, the effect of higher concentrations of CORT (700 ng/ml) on LPS-induced NLRP3 expression and the effect of allopurinol (250 μg/ml) were observed. Finally, the effects of a CORT antagonist (RU486) on XO expression and activity and NLRP3 expression in macrophages were further analyzed. Supernatant levels IL-1β and IL-18 were measured. The results showed that LPS-induced NLRP3 expression was upregulated further by pretreatment with CORT (300 ng/ml) (P < 0.05); however, higher concentrations of CORT (greater than 700 ng/ml) downregulated NLRP3 expression (P < 0.01) and the expression and activity of XO (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01 , respectively). Allopurinol significantly inhibited NLRP3 expression. However, XO expression and activity, NLRP3 expression, and supernatant IL-1β and IL-18 levels were significantly increased in the RU486 group compared with the CORT group. In conclusion, our results suggested that CORT inhibits LPS-induced NLRP3 inflammasome priming in macrophages. The underlying mechanism is related to the modulation of XO expression and activity, which may be involved in priming and activating the NLRP3 inflammasome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pressure ulcers (PUs) are encountered in all types of care settings. The incidence of PUs in the intensive care unit (ICU) is higher for a variety of reasons. The Braden Scale is a widely used tool to assess the risk of PU, but its predictive power is controversial in ICU settings. In this systematic review and meta‐analysis, we aimed to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the Braden Scale for measurement of risk of PU in adult ICU patients. Methods: A comprehensive literature search in English databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, OVID, and Web of Science), Chinese databases (SinoMed, CNKI, and Wanfang), and gray literature was performed. Studies assessing the predictive value of the Braden Scale for risk of PU in adult ICU patients were searched. Quality of the studies was scored with Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies‐2. Country, study design, setting, blinding, and characteristics of included studies were extracted. Results: Eleven full‐text articles containing 10 044 patients, comprising 1058 patients with PUs were included. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of the Braden Scale for predicting PU risk in ICU adults were 0.89 (95% CI, 0.87‐0.91; I2 = 94.9%, P =.0000) and 0.28 (95% CI, 0.27‐0.29; I2 = 99.2%, P =.0000), respectively. The pooled DOR was 6.29 (95% CI: 4.09‐9.68). The overall weighted AUC was 0.7812 ± 0.0331 (95% CI: 0.7163‐0.8461) and the Q* value was 0.7196 ± 0.0283 (95% CI: 0.6641‐0.7751). Significant heterogeneity was noted among the included studies. Meta‐regression analysis showed that there was no heterogeneity in blinding (P =.074), study design (P =.679), or cut‐off value (P =.821). Conclusions: This meta‐analysis demonstrated that the Braden Scale had a moderate predictive validity with good sensitivity and low specificity in adult critically ill patients. Further development and modification of this tool or generation of a new tool with higher predictive power is warranted for use in ICU populations. Relevance to clinical practice: The first step in prevention of PU is risk assessment. In this meta‐analysis, we aimed to evaluate the predictive power of the Braden Scale for assessing risk of PU in ICU adult patients, which could potentially guide clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transplantation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) into spinal cord injury (SCI) may alleviate neuropathic pain and promote functional recovery. The underlying mechanism likely involves activation of glial cells and regulation of inflammatory factors but requires further validation. SCI was induced in 16 ICR mice using an SCI compression model, followed by injection of lentiviral vector-mediated green fluorescent protein- (GFP-) labeled hUC-MSCs 1 week later. Behavioral tests, histological evaluation, and inflammatory factor detection were performed in the treatment (SCI+hUC-MSCs) and model (SCI) groups. Histological evaluation revealed GFP expression in the spinal cord tissue of the treatment group, implying that the injected MSCs successfully migrated to the SCI. The Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scores showed that motor function gradually recovered over time in both groups, but recovery speed was significantly higher in the treatment group than in the model group. The pain threshold in mice decreased after SCI but gradually increased over time owing to the self-repair function of the body. The corresponding pain threshold of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the model group, indicating the therapeutic and analgesic effects of hUC-MSCs. Expression of IL-6 and TNF-α in the spinal cord tissue of the treated group decreased, whereas glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) expression along with ED1 expression increased compared with those in the model group, suggesting that SCI activated ED1 inflammatory macrophages/microglia, which were subsequently reduced by hUC-MSC transplantation. hUC-MSCs are speculated to enhance the repair of the injured spinal cord tissue and exert an analgesic effect by reducing the secretion of inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α and upregulating the expression of GDNF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Nanoporous Na 2 Fe 1- x Mn x PO 4 F/C composites are synthesized by spray drying method. • Na 2 Fe 0.6 Mn 0.4 PO 4 F/C cathode shows much enhanced sodium storage performance. • Reaction kinetics of Na 2 Fe 0.6 Mn 0.4 PO 4 F/C is revealed by EIS for the first time. • Strategies to enhance the properties of Na 2 Fe 0.6 Mn 0.4 PO 4 F/C are concluded. It is a challenge to develop a facile and scaleable approach to boost the application of high-energy fluorinated iron/manganese phosphate cathode materials for sodium-ions batteries. In this study, for the first time, the porous Na 2 Fe 1- x Mn x PO 4 F/C (x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8) nanocomposites are successfully designed via spray drying, following in-situ pyrolytic carbonization process. To examine this synergetic design, the rate capability, cycling stability, and reaction kinetics of the cathode materials are investigated in detail. It is found that the solid solution Na 2 Fe 0.6 Mn 0.4 PO 4 F/C cathode delivers the high discharge capacities of 94.8 and 30.0 mAh g−1 at 0.05 C and 1.0 C, respectively, and a reversible capacity of 51.0 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C with a capacity retention of 89.3%. Particularly, the cycling stability as well as rate capability of Na 2 Fe 0.6 Mn 0.4 PO 4 F/C are superior to those of the other Na 2 Fe 1- x Mn x PO 4 F/C solid solutions and the two-phase mixture of Na 2 MnPO 4 F/C and Na 2 FePO 4 F/C. Furthermore, the potential strategies to further improve the electrochemical performance of Na 2 Fe 0.6 Mn 0.4 PO 4 F/C cathode are proposed based on the kinetics analysis of its electrochemical impedance spectroscopy spectra at various charge/discharge depths. It is expected that our research strategies and findings can be extended to other electrode materials in Li+/Na+ storage and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies lack a comprehensive evaluation model that combined the subjective perception of the driver and the objective driving environment. This work investigates the characteristics of drivers' behavior risk in highway extra-long tunnels. Real-vehicle tests were conducted in two typical extra-long tunnels and the speed of skilled and unskilled drivers were collected simultaneously. The quantified model of drivers' behavior risk was proposed based on the safety speed difference. The variation characteristics of behavior risk both inside the tunnel and ordinary highway were analysed. Further, the NARX neural network was used to predict real-time speed with the heart rate regarded as the input variable. Results showed that skilled drivers showed the highest behavior risk in the internal zone, while the highest value of unskilled drivers was at the exit zone in the tunnel section. Both two types of drivers presented the highest and the lowest behavior risk on the ordinary highway and the tunnel entrance zone respectively. The proposed NARX model could predict synchronous speed with high accuracy. These results of the present study concern the driver's risk characteristics in Internet of Vehicles and how to establish the automated driver model in the simulation driving environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a team training program to support shared mental model (SMM) development in interprofessional rounds.Design and Participants: A three-arm randomized controlled trial study was conducted for interprofessional teams of 207 health profession learners who were randomized into three groups.Program Description: The full team training program included a didactic training part on cognitive tools and a virtual simulation to support clinical teamwork in interprofessional round. Group 1 was assigned to the full program, group 2 to the didactic part, and group 3 (control group) with no intervention. The main outcome measure was team performance in full scale simulation. Secondary outcome was interprofessional attitudes.Program Evaluation: Teamwork performance and interprofessional attitude scores of the full intervention group were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of the control group. The two intervention groups had significantly higher (P < 0.05) attitude scores on interprofessional teamwork compared with the control group.Discussion: Our study indicates the need of both cognitive tools and experiential learning modalities to foster SMM development for the delivery of optimal clinical teamwork performances. Given its scalability and practicality, we anticipate a greater role for virtual simulations to support interprofessional team training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical application of vehicle fuel cell technology requires solid electrolytes possess not only high proton conductivity, but also stable proton transport channel with a wide operating temperature window. In addition, hierarchically porous materials play a key role in mass transport, such as the concentration and mobility of proton carries. Herein, we present a novel strategy to target this goal. A new hierarchically porous carbazole‐containing polymer (ECUT‐PP) was reported via mechanochemical grinding of [p‐(4‐N‐carbazole)C6H4SiO1.5]8 and anhydrous FeCl3 catalyst at room temperature. Due to the synergistic effects of hierarchical pores, imidazole loaded proton conductor (Im@ECUT‐PP) presents efficient conductivity from 0 °C (2.39×10−7 S/cm) to 200 °C (6.03×10−4 S/cm) under the anhydrous conditions, and its highest temperature is higher than other imidazole‐loaded conductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorylation serves as an important post-translational modification implicated in cellular signaling and regulation. In this work, real-time monitoring of site-specific phosphorylation of p53 protein by several protein kinases, followed by its interaction with MDM2 protein was conducted using surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The binding of phosphorylated p53 to MDM2 yields a smaller SPR signal in comparison with that in the case of unphosphorylated p53 protein. Three specific protein kinases were involved in the in situ phosphorylation of the surface-confined p53 protein, and the binding kinetics between the phosphorylated p53 and MDM2 protein was monitored. The results indicate that phosphorylation of Ser15 and Ser37 at the p53 transactivation domain 1 (TAD1) by DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is critical for inhibiting the p53–MDM2 interaction, and the weaker binding affinity is most likely caused by the hydrophobicity change in the vicinity of the MDM2-binding motif or phosphorylation-induced p53 conformational change. In contrast, phosphorylation of Ser46 at the p53 TAD2 domain by c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 2α2 (JNK2α2) exerts a weaker influence on the binding affinity, whereas phosphorylation of Ser376 and Ser378 at the C-terminus of p53 by protein kinase C (PKC) appears to have little effect. The feasibility of the method for the screening of the DNA-PK inhibitor and the inhibitor of p53–MDM2 interaction has been demonstrated and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of wortmannin and Nutlin-3 (21 nM and 83 nM, respectively) were highly comparable with those obtained by other methods. The proposed method holds great promise for monitoring protein phosphorylation and unraveling the post-translational modification mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present a simple design of a compact and miniaturized wideband bandpass filter (BPF) based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) and microstrip line. Through the order extension, the filtering effect and the order of the Chebyshev response of the designed BPF can be indirectly controlled by preserving square notches (SNs) on the SIW. By introducing one or two SNs in the SIW structure, the resonance frequencies of different modes can be controlled, thus achieving dual- and tri-mode BPFs with wideband and low insert loss. The working principle of the designed BPFs was illustrated by modal analysis, field distribution, and equivalent circuit theory. Based on this, the dual- and tri-mode BPFs with center frequencies of 6.8 and 7 GHz were designed and demonstrated numerically. Further experimental results indicate that the proposed tri-mode BPF has low insertion loss (0.25 dB), compact size (0.27λg2), and wideband bandwidth (60%). In addition, the tri-mode BPF achieves a broadband out-of-band rejection of 1.5f0 (f0 is the center resonance frequency) below the −10 dB level, making it highly promising for various applications in related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stiction is a major failure mode in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Undesirable stiction, which results from contact between surfaces, threatens the reliability of MEMS severely as it breaks the actuation function of MEMS switches, for example. Although it may be possible to avoid stiction by increasing restoring forces using high spring constants, it follows that the actuation voltage has also to be increased significantly, which reduces the efficiency. In our research, an electrostatic-structural analysis is performed to estimate the proper design range of the equivalent spring constant, which is the main factor of restoring force in MEMS switches. The upper limit of equivalent spring constant is evaluated based on the initial gap width, the dielectric thickness, and the expected actuation voltage. The lower limit is assessed on the value of adhesive forces between the two contacting rough surfaces. The MEMS devices studied here are assumed to work in a dry environment. In these operating conditions only the van der Waals forces have to be considered for adhesion. A statistical model is used to simulate the rough surface, and the Maugis’s model is combined with Kim’s expansion to calculate adhesive forces. In the resulting model, the critical value of the spring stiffness depends on the material and surface properties, such as the elastic modulus, surface energy, and surface roughness. The aim of this research is to propose simple rules for design purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emulsifying properties of octenyl succinate starch (OSS), an emulsifier widely used in the food industry, need to be improved further. This work aimed to improve the emulsification properties of OSS based on its complexation with whey protein isolate fibrils (WPIF). The zeta-potential and turbidity results indicated that WPIF and OSS formed soluble electrostatic complexes at a low mixing ratio (r (WPIF/OSS) = 0.10–0.50) and pH 3.0–5.0. According to the FTIR and TEM results of WPIF/OSS complexes, molecular interactions existed between WPIF and OSS. The oil-in-water emulsion with WPIF/OSS complexes as emulsifiers were constructed, and the optimum condition was searched by controlling the pH value of 3.0–7.0, r of 0.10–10.00, and complexes concentration of 0.25–3.00 wt%. The emulsification properties of the WPIF, OSS and WPIF/OSS complexes were evaluated by comparing the particle size, zeta-potential and visual appearance of fresh and stored emulsions. WPIF/OSS complex at r = 0.10, pH = 3.0, and 1.00 wt% total concentration exhibited the best emulsification properties and the best resistance to high salt (200 mM) and high temperature (90 °C). The addition of WPIF/OSS significantly improved the quality of the custard cream. This work used the novel nano-material of WPIF to improve the emulsifying properties of OSS and expanded the application of OSS in food products. [Display omitted] • Soluble complexes were prepared from WPIF and OSS through molecular interaction. • Low pH and low mixing ratio were beneficial for WPIF/OSS emulsions. • Emulsification properties of OSS were significantly improved by adding WPIF. • The addition of WPIF/OSS significantly improved the quality of custard cream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The greatest speed change occurred during the process of switching from the passenger lane to the truck lane. • The inner lane demonstrated higher mean speeds compared to the outer lane. • The 85th percentile speed of the adjacent main lane was lower than that of the acceleration lane. • The time-series speed prediction model using transformer networks could achieve an accuracy of 98.35% in predicting lane-level driving speed for freeway interchange areas. This study investigates the lane-level speed distribution in the freeway interchange area and develops a time-series speed prediction model using Transformer networks. The full-sample real-time speed data from interchange areas under heavy traffic was extracted by the YOLO v3 detection algorithm and Deep-Sort tracking algorithm based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) videos. A short-term prediction model of lane-level driving speed was constructed using the Time-Series Transformer (TST) framework. Results showed that the greatest magnitude of speed change occurred during the process of switching from the passenger lane to the truck lane. The inner lane consistently demonstrated higher mean speeds compared to the outer lane. The TST model proposed in this study could achieve an accuracy of 98.35% in predicting lane-level driving speed. These findings suggest the need to consider the speed transition between passenger and truck lanes in freeway engineering design, marking setting, and optimization of safety facilities. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MDM2 can mediate the degradation of tumor suppressor p53 through an autoregulatory feedback loop, in which MDM2 abolishes wild-type p53 function and accelerates malignant transformation. However, the incorporation of MDM2 antagonist Nutlin-3 could reactivate the transcriptional activity of p53, up-regulate caspase-3, and induce apoptosis. In this work, the simultaneous and label-free monitoring of p53-MDM2 complex and caspase-3 levels in cancer cells before and after Nutlin-3 treatment was conducted using dual-channel surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The p53-MDM2 complex was captured in one fluidic channel covered with consensus double-stranded (ds)-DNA, while the other channel was pre-immobilized with caspase-3-specific biotinylated DEVD-containing peptides. To amplify the SPR signals, the attachment of streptavidin (SA)-conjugated anti-MDM2 antibody in both channels was achieved. The signal diversity before and after Nutlin-3 treatment is indicative of the difference in the levels of the intracellular p53-MDM2 complex and caspase-3. The limit of detection for p53-MDM2 and caspase-3 down to 4.54 pM and 0.03 ng mL−1, respectively, was attained. Upon treatment with Nutlin-3, MCF-7 cancer cells with wild-type p53 showed decreased expression of the p53-MDM2 complex and an increased caspase-3 level, while MDA-MB-231 cancer cells with mutant p53 exhibited an elevated caspase-3 level and unchanged p53-MDM2 complex expression. The apoptosis of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cells upon Nutlin-3 treatment follows a p53-dependent and a p53-independent pathway, respectively. The proposed method is sensitive, selective and label-free, holding great promise for assaying intracellular p53-MDM2 complex and caspase-3 levels and differentiating Nutlin-3-mediated p53-dependent or p53-independent apoptotic pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • NcRNAs and mRNAs involved in the root and shoot meristems of poplar were identified. • The structure and expression of ncRNAs and mRNAs were compared, and their functions were annotated. • LncRNA/circRNA–miRNA–mRNA networks were constructed and validated. Abstract Root and shoot meristems play essential roles in the formation and development of plant tissues and organs. However, little is known about the roles of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the regulation of maintenance and differentiation of root and shoot meristems in Populus. Here, we first identified and characterized many microRNAs (miRNAs), mRNAs, long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) from the root tip and shoot tip of poplar at the genome-wide level. A total of 73,012 mRNAs, 13,099 lncRNAs, 47 circRNAs, and 114 miRNAs were identified by strand-specific RNA sequencing and small RNA sequencing. Differential expression analysis revealed that there were 8501 differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs, 295 DE lncRNAs, 15 DE circRNAs and 45 DE miRNAs, and their functions were annotated. Some lncRNAs and circRNAs have miRNA binding sites, and these ncRNAs may act as functional endogenous pseudo target mimics. Therefore, we constructed lncRNA − peu-miR394a-5p − mRNA, lncRNA − peu-miR166a − mRNA, lncRNA/circRNA − peu-miR396a − mRNA and lncRNA/circRNA − peu-miR160a − PeARF regulatory networks and verified the target genes of these four miRNAs by degradome sequencing. Furthermore, by overexpressing pei-miR160a, we found that pei-miR160a negatively regulated the expression of six PeARFs , five lncRNAs and one circRNA. Our findings provide new insights into the lncRNA/circRNA − miRNA − mRNA networks involved in the development of the root and shoot meristems of Populus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Carbon quantum dots/TiO 2 nanosheets with a majority of (001) facet (CQDs/TiO 2 -001) samples are successfully prepared via a facile method. Compared to TiO 2 -001 and CQDs/P25, the synthesized CQDs/TiO 2 -001 presents a remarkably higher photocatalytic activity for H 2 evolution with a considerable stability. XRD, XPS, HRTEM, FESEM, FTIR, Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, Fluorescence spectroscopy and UV–visible reflectance spectroscopy are adopted to investigate the morphology, structure and properties of synthesized CQDs/TiO 2 -001. The mechanism of the improved photocatalytic activity over CQDs/TiO 2 -001 is also investigated. The results show that the improved photocatalytic activity over CQDs/TiO 2 -001 can be attributed to the synergistic effects of TiO 2 -001 and CQDs: the highly exposed (001) facets of TiO 2 -001 promote the transportation of photogenerated electrons and the loading of CQDs restrains the recombination of electrons-holes on (001) facets. Meanwhile, the visible-light absorption is extended because the CQDs serve as a photosensitizer and sensitize TiO 2 -001 through the newly formed Ti O C bond between the CQDs and TiO 2 -001. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • CQDs/TiO 2 with dominated (001) facet are prepared via a facile method. • CQDs/TiO 2 -001 exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity for H 2 evolution. • Synergistic effect of CQDs and (001) facet leads to superior performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asthma is characterized by chronic airway inflammation, which is the underlying cause of airway remodeling featured by goblet cell hyperplasia, subepithelial fibrosis, and proliferation of smooth muscle. Sevoflurane has been used to treat life-threatening asthma and our previous study shows that sevoflurane inhibits acute lung inflammation in ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic mice. However, the effect of sevoflurane on airway remodeling in the context of chronic airway inflammation and the underlying mechanism are still unknown. Here, female C57BL/6 mice were used to establish chronic airway inflammation model. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), and Sirius red (SR) staining were used to evaluate airway remodeling. Protein levels of α-SMA, VEGF, and TGF-β1 in lung tissues were detected by western blotting analyses and immunohistochemistry staining. Results showed that inhalation of sevoflurane inhibited chronic airway inflammation including inflammatory cell infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in BALF of the OVA-challenged mice. Meanwhile, sevoflurane suppressed airway thickening, goblet cell hyperplasia, smooth muscle hyperplasia, collagen deposition, and fiber hyperplasia in the lung tissues of the mice with airway remodeling. Most notably, sevoflurane inhibited the OVA-induced expressions of VEGF and TGF-β1. These results suggested that sevoflurane effectively inhibits airway remodeling in mouse model of chronic airway inflammation, which may be due to the downregulation of VEGF and TGF-β1in lung tissues. Therefore, our results indicate a potential role of sevoflurane in inhibiting airway remodeling besides its known suppression effect on airway inflammation, and support the use of sevoflurane in treating severe asthma in ICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A micro-mechanical model for failure of unidirectional fiber reinforced epoxy. • The matrix follows a multi-mechanism nonlocal damage viscoelastic–viscoplastic model. • This accounts for size effects of epoxy behavior as matrix phase incomposites. • Localization behavior characterizes the post-failure of composite materials. • Peak stress and critical energy release rate define the homogenized cohesive law. We propose a micro-mechanical numerical model able to predict the nonlinear behavior and failure of unidirectional fiber reinforced high-crosslinked epoxy subjected to transverse loading conditions. Statistical microstructural volume elements (SMVE) of a realistic composite material are generated from the statistical characterization of the fibers distribution and fiber radius estimated from SEM images of a similar material system. The fibers are assumed to be transversely hyperelastic isotropic and the matrix obeys a hyperelastic viscoelastic–viscoplastic constitutive model enhanced by a multi-mechanism nonlocal damage model. This polymer model captures the pressure dependency and strain rate effects. Besides, it also accounts for size effects through its internal length scales, allowing capturing, with the same unique set of parameters, the behaviors of the epoxy as pure material as well as matrix phase in composites, which are experimentally observed to be different. Additionally, since fiber/matrix interfaces of the considered composite material are categorized as strong ones, the true underlying failure mechanism is located in the matrix close to the fibers, and the interface does not need to be explicitly introduced in the model. The model prediction is found to be in good agreement with experimental results in terms of the global nonlinear stress–strain curves over various strain rates and pressure conditions, on the one hand for pure matrix samples, and on the other hand for the composite coupons, making the proposed framework a predictive virtual testing facility for material design. Finally, using this model, we study the localization behavior in order to characterize the post-failure behavior of the composite material: the cohesive strength is given by the stress–strain curve peak stress while the critical energy release rate is estimated by evaluating the dissipated energy accumulated during the post-peak localization stage. Finally, different SMVE realizations are considered allowing assessing the discrepancy in the failure characteristics of composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An inverse Mean-Field Homogenization (MFH) process is developed to improve the computational efficiency of non-linear stochastic multiscale analyzes by relying on a micro-mechanics model. First full-field simulations of composite Stochastic Volume Element (SVE) realizations are performed to characterize the homogenized stochastic behavior. The uncertainties observed in the non-linear homogenized response, which result from the uncertainties of their micro-structures, are then translated to an incremental-secant MFH formulation by defining the MFH input parameters as random effective properties. These effective input parameters, which correspond to the micro-structure geometrical information and to the material phases model parameters, are identified by conducting an inverse analysis from the full-field homogenized responses. Compared to the direct finite element analyzes on SVEs, the resulting stochastic MFH process reduces not only the computational cost, but also the order of uncertain parameters in the composite micro-structures, leading to a stochastic Mean-Field Reduced Order Model (MF-ROM). A data-driven stochastic model is then built in order to generate the random effective properties under the form of a random field used as entry for the stochastic MF-ROM embedded in a Stochastic Finite Element Method (SFEM). The two cases of elastic Unidirectional (UD) fibers embedded in an elasto-plastic matrix and of elastic UD fibers embedded in a damage-enhanced elasto-plastic matrix are successively considered. In order to illustrate the capabilities of the method, the stochastic response of a ply is studied under transverse loading condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarifying the mechanisms via which pacemaker- like cells are generated is critical for identifying novel targets for arrhythmia-associated disorders and constructing pacemakers with the ability to adapt to physiological requirements. T-box 18 (Tbx18)+ epicardial progenitor cells (EPCs) have the potential to differentiate into pacemaker cells. Although bone morphogenetic protein 4 (Bmp4) is likely to contribute, its role and regulatory mechanisms in the differentiation of Tbx18+ EPCs into pacemaker-like cells have remained to be fully elucidated. In the present study, the association between Bmp4, GATA binding protein 4 (Gata4) and hyperpolarization- activated cyclic nucleotide gated potassium channel 4 (Hcn4) to regulate NK2 homeobox 5 (Nkx2.5), which is known to be required for the differentiation of Tbx18+ EPCs into pacemaker-like cells, was assessed. Tbx18+ EPCs were isolated from Tbx18:Cre/Rosa26Renhanced yellow fluorescence protein (EYFP) murine embryos at embryonic day 11.5 and divided into the following four treatment groups: Control, Bmp4, Bmp4+LDN193189 (a Bmp inhibitor) and LDN193189. In vitro Bmp4 promoted the expression of Hcn4 in Tbx18+ EPCs via lineage tracing of Tbx18:Cre/Rosa26REYFP mice, which was likely due to upregulation of Gata4 expression. Gata4 knockdown experiments were then performed using the following five treatment groups: Control, control small interfering RNA (siRNA), Bmp4, Bmp4+siRNA targeting Gata4 (siGata4) and siGata4 group. Knockdown of Gata4 caused a downregulation of Hcn4 and an upregulation of Nkx2.5, but had no effect on Bmp4 expression. In conclusion, it was indicated that in Tbx18+ EPCs, the expression of Nkx2.5 was regulated by Bmp4 via Gata4. Taken together, these results provide important information on regulatory networks of pacemaker cell differentiation and may serve as a basis for further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]