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Glioma is the most prevalent malignant cancer in the central nervous system and can cause significant mortality and morbidity. A rapid, convenient, accurate, and relatively noninvasive diagnostic method for glioma is important and urgently needed. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy to discriminate patients with glioma from healthy individuals. Serum samples were collected from healthy individuals (n = 86) and patients with glioma [high‐grade glioma (HGG) n = 75, low‐grade glioma (LGG) n = 60]. All spectra were collected with a 785‐nm wavelength laser in the range of 400–1800 cm−1. A total of three spectra were recorded for each sample, and every spectrum was integrated for 12 s and averaged over five accumulations. Principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis models were combined to classify the Raman spectra of different groups. The correct classification ratios were 95.35, 93.33, and 93.34% for the normal, HGG, and LGG groups, respectively, and the total accuracy was 94.12%. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of differentiating the HGG group from the normal group were 96.00, 96.51, and 96.27%, respectively, with an area under the curve of 0.997; in addition, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of differentiating the LGG group from the normal group were 96.67%, 98.84%, and 97.95%, respectively, with an area under the curve of 0.999. Our study results suggested that the rapid and noninvasive detection method based on principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis combined with Raman spectroscopy is a highly promising tool for the early diagnosis of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary of main observation and conclusion: Controlling the regio‐ and stereochemistry of the photoproducts in solution is far more challenging for polyenes than for monoalkenes. Herein, a supramolecularly‐controlled topochemical reaction of conjugated dienes in homogeneous system is developed, ultimately providing two cyclooctadiene‐cored tetraimidazolium molecular receptors exclusively. These cyclooctadiene derivatives exhibited highly sensitive and selective fluorescence sensing for thymine relative to other biologically relevant species in aqueous solution at physiological pH. Both the cyclooctadiene moieties and imidazolium units play important roles in the selective recognition observed. The presented supramolecularly‐controlled method allows the simple yet rare selective photoconversion of flexible cyclooctadiene derivatives in solution. This study offers a new synthetic strategy for the preparation of functional molecules with potential for use in biological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Gel properties are important in determining the quality of surimi. In addition to myofibrillar proteins, lipids play an important role in the formation of surimi gel. Phospholipids (PL) are amphoteric lipids that cannot be removed through rinsing. Paradoxically, the addition of PL increases or decreases gel strength. This research aimed to investigate the effects of specific lipids on the gelation properties of surimi from three different carp. RESULTS: The hardness, chewiness, and gel strength of bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis: BC) surimi were higher, and the total lipid content was lower when compared with grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus: GC) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix: SC) surimi. Bighead carp surimi had lower levels of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositols (PI), and phosphatidylcholine (PC), and higher phosphatidylserine (PS) and sphingomyelin (SM) content. The gelation properties of surimi increased with increasing concentrations of SM and PS. Furthermore, increased levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and decreased levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) increased gelation properties. Finally, higher hydrophobic interactions and more disulfide bonds were shown to increase gel network structure stability, resulting in improving gel strength in BC surimi. CONCLUSION: The textural characteristics and gel strength of surimi were dependent on the PL content, including total lipid levels and the types of fatty acids. This may account for previous conflicting reports on PL effects on gel strength. This study provides insight into how the texture of surimi can be improved and provides a starting point for further research. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keratinocyte hyperproliferation is an essential link in skin cancer pathogenesis. Peroxiredoxin I (Prx I) is known to regulate cancer cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis, but its role in skin cancer remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the role and mechanism of Prx I in skin cancer pathogenesis. Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) and 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) were used to create a skin tumor model of the initiation/promotion stage of cancer. The role of Prx I in H 2 O 2 -induced keratinocyte apoptosis was also investigated. After DMBA/TPA treatment, Prx I deficiency was significantly associated with less skin tumors, lower Bcl-2 expression, and higher p-p38 and cleaved caspase-3 expressions in Prx I knockout tumors than in wild-type controls. H 2 O 2 stimulation caused more cellular apoptosis in Prx I knockdown HaCaT cells than in normal HaCaT cells. The signaling study revealed that Bcl-2, p-p38, and cleaved caspase-3 expressions were consistent with the results in the tumors. In conclusion, the deletion of Prx I triggered the DMBA/TPA-induced skin tumor formation in vivo and in vitro by regulating the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. These findings provide a theoretical basis for treating skin cancer. • Peroxiredoxin I deficiency was associated with a smaller number of skin tumors. • Peroxiredoxin I deficiency was related to lower Bcl-2 and higher p-p38 and c-C3. • Peroxiredoxin I had no significant effect on the later stage of tumor development. • H 2 O 2 stimulation caused more cellular apoptosis in peroxiredoxin I-deficient mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid progress of digital technology and new business models' development, the platform ecosystem has not only penetrated every sector in society but also revealed various problems. Platform governance researchers have highlighted its significance, but failed to adequately consider ecosystem participants' behaviour. This paper aims to explore platform governance's effects on enterprises' behaviour in a multiorganisational platform ecosystem context. The tripartite evolutionary game is chosen to construct a mathematical model that integrates the government, platform organisation, and internal enterprises to analyse formal and informal governance's influence on enterprises' behaviour in the platform ecosystem. It was discovered that both formal and informal governance can decrease internal enterprises' opportunistic behaviours. Furthermore, formal governance has stronger effects than informal governance, although informal governance's effects are more stable. Additionally, self-organisation in the platform ecosystem is another important area of focus. This paper enriches an understanding of platform ecosystems while formulating insights relevant in using platform governance to develop small and medium-sized enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid onset of resistance to cetuximab (CTX) limits its clinical utility in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. This study aims to understand a potential role of mismatch repair gene mutL homolog 1 (MLH1) in CTX response. Functional analysis of MLH1 in Her‐2/phosphoinositide 3‐kinases (PI3K)/PKB protein kinase (AKT)‐regulated CTX sensitivity is performed using human CRC specimens, CRC cell lines with different MLH1 expression levels, and a subcutaneous xenograft model. Overexpression, knockdown, small interfering RNA, and inhibitors are used to examine the role of MLH1 and HER‐2 downstream signaling and apoptotic targets in CTX sensitivity. Reduced MLH1 expression is correlated with unfavorable prognosis in cetuximab‐treated patients. MLH1 loss decreases CTX sensitivity through Her‐2/PI3K/AKT signaling and apoptosis resistance in culture and in xenografts, while MLH1 overexpression increases CTX sensitivity. Blocking Her‐2 signaling increases CTX sensitivity of microsatellite instability CRC in vitro and in vivo. MLH1 loss induces activation of Her‐2/PI3K/AKT signaling and leads to cetuximab resistance in colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile anesthetics are widely used for surgery, but neuronal mechanisms of anesthesia remain unidentified. At the calyx of Held in brainstem slices from rats of either sex, isoflurane at clinical doses attenuated EPSCs by decreasing the release probability and the number of readily releasable vesicles. In presynaptic recordings of Ca2+ currents and exocytic capacitance changes, isoflurane attenuated exocytosis by inhibiting Ca2+ currents evoked by a short presynaptic depolarization, whereas it inhibited exocytosis evoked by a prolonged depolarization via directly blocking exocytic machinery downstream of Ca2+ influx. Since the length of presynaptic depolarization can simulate the frequency of synaptic inputs, isoflurane anesthesia is likely mediated by distinct dual mechanisms, depending on input frequencies. In simultaneous presynaptic and postsynaptic action potential recordings, isoflurane impaired the fidelity of repetitive spike transmission, more strongly at higher frequencies. Furthermore, in the cerebrum of adult mice, isoflurane inhibited monosynaptic corticocortical spike transmission, preferentially at a higher frequency. We conclude that dual presynaptic mechanisms operate for the anesthetic action of isoflurane, of which direct inhibition of exocytic machinery plays a low-pass filtering role in spike transmission at central excitatory synapses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To ascertain the anti‐inflammation mechanism of catechins in lipopolysaccharide‐treated human dental pulp cells (HDPCs). Methods: Expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, interleukin (IL)‐1β, and IL‐6 was measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays. The anti‐inflammatory mechanism was explored by examining activation of nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) signaling using qPCR, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence staining. Results: Human dental pulp cells proliferation was not affected by treatment with epigallocatechin (ECG) or epigallocatechin 3‐gallate (EGCG). mRNA expression of the pro‐inflammatory cytokines TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and IL‐6 was decreased significantly in ECG‐ and EGCG‐treated HDPCs. Subsequently, the effects of ECG and EGCG upon activation of NF‐κB signaling were evaluated by Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. Expression of p‐p65 protein in HDPCs treated with ECG, EGCG, or an NF‐κB inhibitor (Bay 11‐7082) was lower than that in HDPCs treated with lipopolysaccharide, data that were consistent with the location of p65 protein according to immunofluorescence staining. Conclusions: Catechin could reduce lipopolysaccharide‐stimulated inflammation in HDPCs by inhibiting activation of the NF‐κB pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic ammonium cations play a vital role in building structures and tuning energy bands of organic–inorganic halide perovskites and the consequent photoelectric characteristics. Here, two 2D lead bromide perovskites: flat‐layered (BDA)PbBr4 (BDA = 1, 4‐butanediammonium), corrugation‐layered (PDA)7Pb6Br26 (PDA = 1, 3‐propanediammonium) and a 1D nanobelt‐shaped (EDA)2PbBr6 (EDA = ethylenediammonium) are built to explore their tunable structure, energy bands, and photoluminescence by a series of linear alkyl diammonium cations. Significant "spatial effect" of diammonium cations directly controls the space configurations of these lead bromide perovskites. From 2D (100)‐flat to 1D (110)‐nanobelt, distortions and disconnections of lead bromide layers are beneficial to the quantum confinement and generation of self‐trapping exciton (STE) energy levels of low‐dimensional perovskites. Upon ultraviolet excitation, (BDA)PbBr4, (PDA)7Pb6Br26, and (EDA)2PbBr6 exhibit blue, broadband yellowish white, and "warm" white emissions, respectively. Density functional theory combining STE theory demonstrates their bandgap changes and emission mechanisms. This work provides a basis for tuning the structure of low‐dimensional organic–inorganic halide perovskites for better photochromic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the complexity of the network system rapidly increasing, network traffic prediction has great significance for the safety pre-warning of the network load, network management and control, and improvement of the quality of the network service. In this paper, the time series analysis is used for the network traffic prediction, and a prediction method combined with an optimized unscented Kalman filter (UKF) by an improved fruit fly algorithm (IFOA) and echo state network (ESN) is proposed, which is named by IFOA-UKF-ESN. The researches mainly solve the problem that the prediction accuracy might be greatly affected by the actual network traffic data with unknown and time-varying noises. UKF is used to train the best state vector (formed by spectral radius, scale of the reservoir, scale of the input units and connectivity rate) of ESN; and the proposed IFOA algorithm is proposed to optimize the weights of the predicted state value and the covariance in UKF, which makes UKF have adaptive ability for unknown and time-varying noise. Three actual network traffic data sets with different Gaussian white noise distributions are constructed for experiments, and the experimental results show that the proposed prediction method makes an average improvement by reducing at least 20.60%, 43.23% and 41.85% of RMSE, at least 23.66%, 52.38% and 47.50% of MAE, and at least 23.58%, 52.10% and 47.28% of MAPE, which verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) RMRP and heat shock protein (HSP) 70 have been known to play crucial roles in inflammation. The present study investigated the roles of lncRNA RMRP and HSP70 protein 4 (HSPA4) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis. The C57BL/6 mice were treated with LPS, following which the cardiomyocytes were isolated for in vitro experiments. Further, a cardiac muscle cell line, HL-1 was transfected with plasmids expressing RMRP and HSPA4, si-NC, si-HSPA4, miR-1-5p mimic, and controls in vitro. Cell apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), mRNAs, and proteins were detected in the transfected mice tissues and cells. The LPS treatment significantly reduced the expression levels of RMRP, MMP, and mitochondrial cytochrome C. Moreover, it enhanced the cardiomyocyte apoptosis, intracellular ROS levels, cytoplasm cytochrome C levels, and the expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9 and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) p65 subunit. The predicted RMRP-miR-1-5p-HSPA4 network was validated by co-transfection experiments in vitro in HL-1 cells. The transfection of miR-1-5p-treated cells with pcDNA-RMRP enhanced the levels of the protein HSPA4; however, no change at the mRNA level was observed. Moreover, miR-1-5p mimic attenuated the protective effect of pcDNA-HSPA4 against LPS-induced mitochondrial damage and apoptosis. In addition, we observed that silencing of HSPA4 increased the expression of nuclear p65; however, this effect could be reversed by co-transfection with pcDNA-RMRP. The lncRNA RMRP axis acts as a sponge for miR-1-5p. RMRP inhibits LPS-induced apoptosis of cardiomyocytes and mitochondrial damage by suppressing the post-transcriptional regulatory function of miR-1-5p on HSPA4. We believe that RMRP exhibits therapeutic potential for LPS-induced myocardial dysfunction both in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent article, Hu et al. (2019) argued that the commonly used Taylor diagram in climate model evaluation only considered centred statistics, while the absolute error (AE) was not considered. Therefore, they proposed a new index, termed Distance between Indices of Simulation and Observation (DISO), that takes AE, correlation coefficient, and uncentred RMSE into account to comprehensively measure climate model performance. Note that the widely used uncentred RMSE is a function of the AE and correlation coefficient. Therefore, it is not necessary to combine AE and correlation coefficient with the uncentred RMSE again to define DISO. In addition, model performance does not improve monotonically with the decrease in the DISO index, which is also a flaw of the index. Indeed, the Taylor diagram was constructed based on the cosine law between three‐centred statistics that cannot measure the mean error of the climate model. However, this limitation can be mitigated by showing the mean error or percent bias on the diagram or constructing the Taylor diagram with uncentred statistics. The uncentred statistics still satisfy the cosine law and can also be illustrated in the Taylor diagram. In our viewpoint, there is nothing wrong with the Taylor diagram. On the contrary, the Taylor diagram can effectively visualize multiple statistics and compare the performance of different climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is applied in a number of medical applications and HA of different molecular weight (Mw) are used in different pharmaceutical preparations. In determination of Mw by muti-angle laser light-scattering (MALS), refractive index increment (dn/dc) is an important parameter for accuracy. Herein, the influence of dn/dc on the Mw of HA in stroke-physiological saline solution is investigated by MALS in this work. Additionally, the Mw variation of HA in the manufacturing process of preparations is measured. It is shown that each HA sample corresponds to a specific value of dn/dc, which is varied from 1.38 to 1.74 L/g with the Mw increasing from 13.5 to 2840 kDa in solution. It is indicated by the results from both MALS approach and viscometry that appropriate dn/dc should be selected for Mw determination. In steam sterilization process of preparations at 121 °C, the Mw and conformation of HA can be accurately and rapidly determined by MALS. This work provides a precise method to determine the Mw of HA in the medical applications and preparation industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To provide in vivo measurements of anterior chamber angle structures and their relationship with age as evaluated by high-frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) in patients with primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) Methods: High-frequency UBM was done for 51 PCG eyes from 40 patients (aged from 3 to 96 months) and 11 unaffected contralateral eyes. Parameters, including the proportion of observable abnormal tissue membrane and Schlemm's canal, the largest cross-sectional area (CSA) of Schlemm's canal (SC), SC meridional diameter, trabecular-iris angle (TIA), trabecular meshwork (TM) thickness, iris thickness, ciliary process length, and corneal limbus thickness were compared between the two groups and their relationship with age was explored in PCG eyes. Results: Abnormal tissue membrane was detected in 27.5% of PCG eyes and none in unaffected eyes. SC was observed in 73.1% of PGC eyes compared to 100% in unaffected eyes (P<0.001). The largest CSA of SC, SC meridional diameter, iris thickness, and corneal limbus thickness were all significantly smaller in PCG eyes compared to unaffected eyes (all P<0.05). TIA and ciliary process length in unaffected eyes were smaller than PCG eyes (both P<0.05). The largest CSA of SC, TM thickness, iris thickness, and ciliary process length were all significantly correlated to age in PCG eyes (P<0.05). Conclusions: The anatomical information evaluated by high-frequency UBM may provide glaucoma specialists a useful tool to aid in understanding the dysgenesis and changes with age of anterior chamber angle in PCG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytoskeletal filaments such as microtubules (MTs) and filamentous actin (F-actin) dynamically support cell structure and functions. In central presynaptic terminals, F-actin is expressed along the release edge and reportedly plays diverse functional roles, but whether axonal MTs extend deep into terminals and play any physiological role remains controversial. At the calyx of Held in rats of either sex, confocal and high-resolution microscopy revealed that MTs enter deep into presynaptic terminal swellings and partially colocalize with a subset of synaptic vesicles (SVs). Electrophysiological analysis demonstrated that depolymerization of MTs specifically prolonged the slow-recovery time component of EPSCs from short-term depression induced by a train of highfrequency stimulation, whereas depolymerization of F-actin specifically prolonged the fast-recovery component. In simultaneous presynaptic and postsynaptic action potential recordings, depolymerization of MTs or F-actin significantly impaired the fidelity of high-frequency neurotransmission. We conclude that MTs and F-actin differentially contribute to slow and fast SV replenishment, thereby maintaining high-frequency neurotransmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and simple synthesis of 1-thiocarbamoylindoles is reported in which 1 H -indoles react with tetramethylthiuram monosulfide (TMTM) to give a series of 1-thiocarbamoylindoles that were obtained- in good to excellent yields. The procedure was promoted by Cs2 CO3 under transition-metal-free conditions and gives a simple entry to protected indoles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modified Chua's circuit, which is first order differentiable, has degree-of-discontinuity 3. It has 2 n − 1 equilibrium points, including two boundary equilibrium points. For them, except boundary equilibrium points, we obtain in theory, conditions under which Hopf bifurcations exist, which implies coexisting periodic solutions. At the same time, we also show that equilibrium points are asymptotically stable when system parameters are within some limits. Furthermore, we theoretically design a linear feedback controller, which will not change the equilibrium points, with appropriate control parameters to control the dynamical behaviors including chaos to these periodic solutions or equilibrium points, and we verify it by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The current study aimed to explore the function of miR-638 on the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and relevant molecular mechanisms. Methods: Expression profile of miR-638 in OSCC tissues and cells was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method. Chi-square test was performed to estimate the relationship between miR-638 and clinical parameters of OSCC cases. Cell viability and motility abilities were estimated using MTT and transwell assays, respectively. Potential targets of miR-638 in OSCC were identified through bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay. Results: MiR-638 exhibited decreased expression in OSCC tissues and cells, compared to non-cancerous controls (P < .05 for both). Moreover, its down-regulation was closely correlated with lymph node metastasis (P = .044) and TNM stages (P = .001). Enforced miR-638 expression reduced cell proliferation, migration and invasion, while its knockdown exhibited opposite effects. Phospholipase D1 (PLD1) was confirmed as a target of miR-638 in OSCC. MiR-638 could inhibit wnt/β-catenin pathway through targeting PLD1, thus realizing its anti-tumour action in OSCC. Conclusion: MiR-638 may be a tumour suppressor in OSCC by targeting PLD1/Wnt/β-catenin pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ethnicity-based reference range for normal renal size is fundamental for ultrasonographic assessment. Herein, we aimed to establish a Chinese renal reference by a large sample size, as well as to elucidate the relationship of renal dimension to age and body indices, with the aid of a comprehensive literature review. Records of 3707 healthy cases were obtained from health evaluation centers of Kaohsiung and Linkuo Chang Gung Memorial Hospitals. As a result, the mean right renal length was 10.62±0.69 cm, left renal length 10.76±0.70 cm, right renal width 4.78±0.75 cm, and left renal width 5.10±0.64 cm. Renal size was well-correlated curvilinearly to age, while linearly to body height, body weight, and body mass index. Renal size increases and then decreases with aging, and significant variations of renal size exist among different ethnicities. Our work provides a reliable reference range for renal size in the Chinese population, and valid relationships between renal dimensions and other parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lamellar zinc dimolybdate hydroxide Zn3Mo2O8(OH)2 was prepared for the first time by a facile hydrothermal synthesis. The electrochemical properties of the lamellar Zn3Mo2O8(OH)2 as an anode material were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), reversible capacity, cycling stability and rate capability for lithium ion batteries (LIB). The lamellar zinc dimolybdate hydroxide exhibits a reversible capacity of 404.6 mAh g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1 after 200 cycles. The reversible capacity of the lamellar Zn3Mo2O8(OH)2 remained at 60 mAh g−1 even at a current density of 3000 mA g−1. When the current density was returned to 100 mA g−1, a discharge capacity of 380 mAh g−1 was maintained after 200 discharge/charge cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance may be due to its unique lamellar structure, which buffers the volume change during the Li+ intercalation/de-intercalation and provides the electrode with convenient lithium ions and electron transport pathways. These results suggest the promising potential application of the lamellar zinc dimolybdate hydroxide in lithium-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Optimal bit allocation based on PCRLB is proposed. • Keep tracking accuracy and satisfy limited bandwidth constraint. • Genetic algorithm for bit allocation is proposed in this paper. • IMMPF with quantized measurements is investigated. Due to the limited energy and bandwidth in underwater wireless sensor networks(UWSNs), the original measurements should be quantized before transmitted to the fusion center. In this paper, the optimal bit allocation is utilized to improve the tracking accuracy on the premise of transmitting the same number of quantized bits of data. The relationship between the quantization level of sensor nodes and posterior Cramer–Rao lower bounds (PCRLB) is derived and taken as the performance bound for tracking accuracy. Then the problem of optimal bit allocation is converted into an optimization problem. To make computation-efficiency, allocating the maximum bits for each candidate sensors and then the generalized Breiman, Friedman, Olshen, and Stone (GBFOS) algorithm is adopted to delete one bit at a time until the total number of bits is satisfied. In addition, the genetic algorithm for bit allocation (GABA) is proposed in this paper to solve the optimization problem when the transmission bits and the number of candidate sensors are large.The simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed scheme in improving the tracking accuracy on the condition of limited communication bandwidth. Compared to GBFOS, GABA proposed in this paper can satisfy the real-time target tracking requirements and ensure tracking performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical properties of floor prototypes made for high-speed trains from composite multilayer floor structures of different materials and thicknesses were tested. Based on the test results, the equivalent mechanical parameters of different layers of the panels, core materials, etc., were calculated, and the multilayer mixed finite element model of the floor was built and verified. The multilayer mixed floor model was introduced into the car body of a high-speed train, and the test signals of the high-speed train were used as inputs to calculate the vibration response of composite floor structure. Vibration spectra of the high-speed train composite floor made of different materials and structures were compared and analyzed. The results show that the calculation of the floor vibration response of the vehicle car body within the framework of the equivalent model of the multilayer structure based on the mechanical performance test is an effective method to evaluate vibration characteristics. The vibration isolation performance of the stainless steel panel floor is better than that of the aluminum alloy panel, but its large mass is not favorable in lightweight body design. The vibration energy of birch core material floor is significantly smaller than the alder core material of the same size. The vibration isolation performance of the floor enhanced with the increase in the thickness of the outer metal panel, but when the outer metal panel thickness exceeds 0.8 mm, the influence becomes small. Therefore, the stainless steel-birch core composite floor with a large panel thickness has the best vibration isolation performance and can be used for the floor above the bogie and the suspended excitation source. Then, an optimal analysis considering mass and vibration characteristics was carried out, and the results show that there exists an optimal solution for the high-speed train. Regarding the overall design basis of the vehicle, the aluminum alloy panel lightweight structure can be used in combination with other general parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a coordinated power control method with virtual inertia (VI) for fuel cell-based DC microgrids (MGs) cluster based on the multi-agent system (MAS) control frame. In the primary control layer, a local energy management strategy with virtual inertia is adopted to suppress the bus voltage disturbance, smooth the output power of fuel cell, as well as manage the power flow in the DC MG. In the secondary and tertiary control layers, a coordinated power control method based on MAS frame is implemented for the power flow among the sub-MGs. More specifically, the secondary voltage control loop is used for the bus voltage smooth control at the moment of microgrids interconnection, and the power flow tertiary control regular is applied for the battery SoC converge uniformly in finite time. Also, a fuel cell-based DC microgrids cluster real-time simulation platform is established to verify the control performance of the proposed coordinated power control method on the bus voltage smooth control, the SoC consistency control, load abrupt response and 'plug and play' capability. • A primary control layer with virtual inertia is adopted to enhance power quality of DC MG. • A MAS-based supervisory control method is proposed for coordinated management in FC-based MGC. • The overall performance of the coordinated power control method is verified in a real-time simulation platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatigue tests were performed on the forged aluminum alloy EN AW-2618A in the T61 state. Different stress ratios (R = −1, R = 0.1) were selected to study the influence of mean stress on fatigue life. Two overaged states (10 h/230 °C, 1000 h/230 °C) were also tested to investigate the influence of overaging on fatigue life. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to characterize the precipitates (S-phase), which are mainly responsible for the strength of the alloy. A fractographic analysis was also performed to determine the failure mode. Overaging reduces the fatigue life compared to the T61 state. The longer the aging time, the lower the fatigue resistance. The reason is the decrease in (yield) strength, which correlates with the radius of the S-phase: the precipitate radius increases by a factor of approximately two for the overaged states compared to the initial state. The analysis of the fracture surfaces showed crack initiation occurs predominantly on the outer surface and is associated with the primary phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pt single-atom catalysts are promising for efficient hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) due to their ultra-high catalytic activity and atomic utilization. However, developing a scalable preparation method of binder-free Pt single-atom catalysts with optimal electronic structures for large-scale hydrogen production is still a serious challenge. In this work, we fabricated tailored nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanofibers as a support for engineering the electronic structure of Pt single-atom sites via initial micropore trapping and subsequent optimized nitrogen/carbon anchoring. The as-prepared Pt single-atom catalysts exhibited impressively enhanced HER activity and satisfactory stability, superior to the state-of-the-art single-atom catalysts. X-ray absorption structure analysis combined with theoretical simulation demonstrated the mechanisms for HER performance improvement. In particular, the free-standing Pt single-atom catalysts for a binder-free electrode showed a low overpotential of 64 mV even at 500 mA cm−2, indicating promising application for the large-scale hydrogen production. [Display omitted] • Tailored nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanofibers were proposed for engineering the electronic structure of Pt single-atom. • The Pt single-atom catalyst exhibited impressively enhanced HER performance, superior to the state-of-the-art catalysts. • Experimental investigations and theoretical calculations revealed the mechanism of Pt single-atom for efficient HER. • The as-prepared Pt single-atom catalyst as a binder-free electrode achieved efficient large-scale hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper experimentally investigates the pull-out behavior of single studs and stud groups embedded in ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). A total of 33 pull-out tests are conducted. The effects of the fiber content (ρ), effective embedded depth of stud (h ef), ratio of embedded depth to diameter of stud shank (h ef /d), diameter of stud head (d h) are considered for single studs; the effects of the arrangement, number, and spacing of studs are considered for stud groups. Results indicate that when concrete failure governs, for single studs in UHPC with fibers: (i) the pull-out strength and ductility increase with increasing ρ , h ef , or d h , (ii) the pull-out strength and ductility are higher than those in normal concrete (NC), and (iii) the radius of failure cone is greater than that in NC, increasing from 1.5 h ef to 2.5 h ef. Stud groups in UHPC with fibers also have higher pull-out strength and ductility, but the group effect is more significant due to the increased overlap of the failure surface. The group effect reduces with the increasing spacing of studs, but is not obviously influenced by the fiber content. New design equations are proposed to estimate the pull-out strength of single studs and stud groups in steel-UHPC composite structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• VUV and anion-exchange resin reduced organic carbon to an ultralow concentration (5 μg/L). • VUV oxidation transformed electroneutral carbonyls to carboxylic acids. • VUV and anion exchange resin is 2.1–2.4 times of VUV for TOC removal. • Acetate was the primary product penetrating anion-exchange resin. • Modeling was developed to optimize the method performance and cost. Electroneutral carbonyls (ENCs) with low molecular weights (e.g., aldehydes and ketones) are recalcitrant to single water treatment process to achieve ultralow concentration. Residual ENCs are present in reverse osmosis permeate and pose risks to human health during potable use or industrial application in manufacturing processes. Herein, a combined vacuum–UV (VUV) oxidation and anion-exchange resin (AER) adsorption method was developed to treat the ENCs and reduce total organic carbon (TOC) to an ultralow concentration (< 5 μg/L) with high efficiency and at low cost. VUV-AER was 2.1–2.4 times more efficient than VUV alone for the removal of TOC. VUV oxidized the ENCs to electronegative carboxylic acids, which were adsorbed by the AER through electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. When the VUV fluence was lower than 643 mJ cm−2, the AER could not achieve ultralow TOC removal of ENCs. The treat capacity of 1500–2900 valid bed volume (BVs) was achieved after increasing the VUV fluence to 1929 mJ cm−2. The AER could more efficiently adsorb carboxylic acids that contained more carboxylic groups or shorter carbon chain. Acetate was identified as the primary breakthrough product at relatively low VUV fluence, and oxalate was the main byproduct at relatively high VUV fluence. A mathematical model to predict TOC breakthrough was developed considering the VUV–oxidation kinetics and the AER breakthrough curve. The model was used to optimize the method to maximize TOC removal and minimize energy consumption. These results imply that VUV-AER is technically feasible and economically applicable to eliminate recalcitrant ENCs to ultralow concentration for the production of water requires high quality (e.g., potable water or electronic-grade ultrapure water). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ecological study examined the individual and joint impacts of natural–human factors on the spatial patterns of maternal and child health status in China at the provincial scale in 2020. We considered natural factors (forest coverage, average temperature, and total sulfur dioxide and particulate matter emissions) and human factors (economic development, urbanization, healthcare access, and education level). We combined maternal, infant, and under-five mortality rates into a composite maternal and child health index using the entropy method. The spatial autocorrelation analysis of this index highlighted distinct health patterns across provinces, whereas the geodetector method assessed the effects of natural–human factors on the patterns. A notable east–central–west stepwise decline in health status was observed. Global Moran's I showed positive spatial clustering, with high–high clustering areas in the Yangtze River Delta and low–low clustering areas in western regions. Factor detection identified eight significant natural–human factors impacting maternal and child health, with total sulfur dioxide emission density having the greatest impact. The interaction between average schooling years and total sulfur dioxide emission notably affected maternal and child health patterns. The study concludes that natural–human factors critically affect the spatial distribution of maternal and child health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We numerically investigate the influence of higher-order dispersion on the dynamics of quartic solitons in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. The simulation results show that the output pulse characteristics of the quartic soliton fiber laser are not only affected by the intra-cavity net dispersion but also related to the position of the single-mode fiber (SMF). For different intra-cavity net higher-order dispersion values, the quartic soliton undergoes multiple alternations between the stable single soliton state and pulsating state in the fiber laser, and the number and intensity of Kelly sidebands in the output pulse spectrum are significantly different. For different positions of the SMF, the dynamics of the quartic soliton are also different. In addition, we also observe two types of novel pulsation-creeping behavior and time shift. These findings provide new insights into the output characteristics of quartic solitons in fiber lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials utilizing supramolecular strategies has recently attracted increasing interest in supramolecular chemistry and materials science. Chiral macrocycles, especially chiral macrocyclic hosts, have stable structures, adjustable internal cavities to encapsulate different guests, and host–guest complexation to induce special photophysical properties. Consequently, various CPL materials based on chiral macrocycles have been developed during the last decade. To gain a better understanding of this rapidly developing research area, it is necessary and also important to summarize the advances in CPL materials based on chiral macrocycles. In this review, CPL materials from different chiral macrocycles, especially classical and newly reported chiral macrocyclic hosts and their derivatives, will be comprehensively summarized. It is believed that this review will be of guiding significance and also very helpful for the development of macrocyclic chemistry and CPL materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) can be diagnosed and monitored using fundus photography, a widely available and low-cost approach already adopted for automated screening of ophthalmic diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. Despite this, the lack of validated early screening approaches remains a major obstacle in the prevention of glaucoma-related blindness. Deep learning models have gained significant interest as potential solutions, as these models offer objective and high-throughput methods for processing image-based medical data. While convolutional neural networks (CNN) have been widely utilized for these purposes, more recent advances in the application of Transformer architectures have led to new models, including Vision Transformer (ViT,) that have shown promise in many domains of image analysis. However, previous comparisons of these two architectures have not sufficiently compared models side-by-side with more than a single dataset, making it unclear which model is more generalizable or performs better in different clinical contexts. Our purpose is to investigate comparable ViT and CNN models tasked with GON detection from fundus photos and highlight their respective strengths and weaknesses. We train CNN and ViT models on six unrelated, publicly available databases and compare their performance using well-established statistics including AUC, sensitivity, and specificity. Our results indicate that ViT models often show superior performance when compared with a similarly trained CNN model, particularly when non-glaucomatous images are over-represented in a given dataset. We discuss the clinical implications of these findings and suggest that ViT can further the development of accurate and scalable GON detection for this leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzyme activities of A Aspartate transaminase (AST), Alkaline aminotransferase (ALT), B Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and C Creatine (CRE) in plasma serum. B Correction: Journal of Nanobiotechnology (2022) 20:281 b https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-022-01460-3 Following publication of the original article [[1]], the authors identified an error in Fig. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: This research aimed to explore the function of protease activated receptor 2 (PAR-2) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) development and progression, as well as underlying molecular mechanism. Methods: Tissue samples were collected from 115 OSCC patients. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to measure the expression of PAR-2 mRNA in OSCC tissues and cells. MTT and Transwell assays were used to detect the proliferation, migration, and invasion of OSCC cells, respectively. Western blot was performed to determine protein expression. Results: The expression of PAR-2 mRNA was up-regulated in OSCC tissue and cells (P<0.01), and its mRNA level was obviously correlated to tumor differentiation and TNM stage in OSCC (P<0.05 for both). The activation of PAR-2 with PAR-2AP (PAR-2 agonist) significantly promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of OSCC cells, while its knockout could inhibit malignant behaviors of OSCC cells (P<0.05). Excessive activation of PAR-2 enhanced phosphorylation level of PI3K, AKT, and mTOR revealing the activation of PI3K/AKT pathway. Moreover, LY294002, the inhibitor of PI3K/AKT pathway, could reverse oncogenic action caused by PAR-2 activation. Conclusion: PAR-2 can promote OSCC growth and progression via activating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the fast development of DC Microgrid (MG) technology, its operating economy and reliability are getting more and more concern. The traditional distributed control method is aimed at power balance and system stability, and is difficult to meet the requirement of energy management system for multi-source hybrid DC MG. This paper provides a two-level energy management strategy for PV-fuel cell-battery-based DC MG, which is divided into device control level and system control level. At the device control level, the distributed control methods based on MPPT-droop dual-mode control and droop control are proposed to enhance system reliability; at the system control level, the equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) is used to distribute system net power between battery pack and fuel cell system. A lab-scale DC microgrid platform is developed to verify the proposed energy management strategy in this paper. Moreover, the analysis and compare of the results show that the proposed two-level energy management strategy can achieve lower equivalent hydrogen consumption than classical PI control and state machine control method. • Developing a lab-scale PV-fuel cell-battery-based DC microgrid platform. • Proposing a two-level energy management strategy for DC microgrid. • The analysis and compare of the results among various management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the anatomical effects on anterior segment by lens extraction (LE, phacoemulsification with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation) and laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) in primary angle closure suspect (PACS) eyes. Methods: This prospective comparative cohort trial included a total of 122 consecutive patients identified as PACS aged 52 to 80 years. LE or LPI was performed based on each patient's choice. The anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT) and gonioscopy were conducted at baseline and 4 weeks post-operation. Outcome measures include percentage of residual angle closure, mean angle width (modified Shaffer grade), angle opening distance (AOD), trabecular iris angle (TIA), trabecular iris space area (TISA), anterior chamber depth (ACD), iris curvature (I-Curve), lens vault (LV), intraocular pressure (IOP), and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Results: All anterior angle parameters (AOD, TIA, and TISA) were significantly greater after LE than LPI (P < 0.001 for all). ACD (P < 0.001) increased, LV (P < 0.001) decreased, IOP (P < 0.001) decreased, and BCVA (P < 0.001) increased after LE. However, no significant changes were found in ACD (P = 0.782), LV (P = 0.616), IOP (P = 0.112), and BCVA (P = 0.131) after LPI. In both groups, I-Curve decreased after the operation, but the iris was flatter after LE than LPI (P < 0.001). Gonioscopically, the LE group achieved a larger post-operative angle width (modified Shaffer grade) than LPI (P < 0.001) and all anterior chamber angles were open (defined as posterior pigmented trabecular meshwork (PTM) visible with static gonioscopy) after operation. Nevertheless, after LPI, 12 eyes (20.0%) still had two or more quadrants and 32 eyes (53.3%) still had at least one quadrant in which the posterior PTM could not be observed. Conclusions: Compared with LPI, LE resulted in a wider anterior chamber angle, a deeper anterior chamber, and a lower IOP in PACS eyes. Moreover, no residual angle closure was observed after LE, which could morphologically prevent the progress of angle closure. Trial registration: ChiCTR1800016511 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 2,6‐helic[6]arene‐based bistable [2]rotaxane has been designed and synthesized, which incorporates protonated tertiary ammonium salt as a reversible control unit and hexamethylene chain as a second binding site. In particular, it was found that [2]rotaxane could perform as a triply operable molecular switch through addition and removal of fluoride ions (TBAF/NaBArF), protonation and deprotonation of tertiary amine (HBArF/DBU), and altering the solvent polarity. It represents the first triply operable molecular switch based on helic[6]arenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), which functions as a molecular chaperone, plays an important role in reproduction and cellular defense. Among the HSP90 family, HSP90AB is an important isoform. Stress-inducible protein 1 (Stip1) acts as a co-chaperone that mediates interactions with HSP90 and appears to be a player in spermatogenesis and stress response. However, the functions of both HSP90 and Stip1 during spermatogenesis and heat stress response in Boleophthalmus pectinirostris remain unknown. We investigated mRNA expression patterns of HSP90AB and Stip1 under heat stress conditions. The results showed that mRNA levels of HSP90AB and Stip1 were significantly upregulated in the gill and liver tissues, indicating that HSP90AB and Stip1 appear to play roles in protection against heat stress. Then we cloned the complete cDNA of HSP90AB and Stip1 , which have product lengths of 2546 and 2652 bp, respectively. The predicted secondary and tertiary structures of B. pectinirostris. HSP90AB and Stip1 contain conserved domains. We investigated the expression patterns of HSP90AB and Stip1 in different tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, HSP90AB and Stip1 were found to be ubiquitously expressed in all major tissues and exhibited varying expression levels, indicating that HSP90AB and Stip1 have conserved biological functions. HSP90AB and Stip1 were found to be strongly expressed in the testis, indicating their special roles in this organ. We also tracked the dynamic locations of germinal cells using in situ hybridization. Results from in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence localization showed that both mRNA transcripts and proteins of HSP90AB and Stip1 were ubiquitously expressed in spermatocytes, spermatids, and spermatozoa, indicating that HSP90AB and Stip1 are both involved in spermatogenesis. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The mobility of nodes in depth is utilized to improve tracking performance. • A complete tracking scheme including sensor selection and depth adjustment. • The method has the superiority in tracking accuracy and computation efficiency. • The observation model with additive and multiplicative noise is considered. Abstract The effective node depth adjustment of distance-measuring sensors for target tracking in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) is investigated in this paper. Due to the limited energy and bandwidth in UWSNs, there is only a part of sensors participating in the tracking task at each time step. In this paper, the mobility of sensor nodes in depth is utilized to improve the tracking accuracy on the premise of employing the same number of sensors. Firstly, the relationship between the depth of sensor nodes and direct conditional posterior Cramer-Rao lower bounds (D-CPCRLB) is derived and taken as the performance bound for tracking accuracy. Secondly, the problem of optimal depth adjustment with the constraint on total moving distance is converted into an optimization problem and the objective function of which is D-CPCRLB. Finally, by combining the optimal depth adjustment and sensor selection algorithm, the best task sensors with optimal depth adjustment are selected for the purpose of the energy-efficiency. In particular, according to the sensor combination classification, the optimization problem is disassembled into that with and without an analytical solution, which improves computation efficiency. The simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed scheme in improving the tracking accuracy and energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Computerised Record Linkage methods help us combine multiple data sets from different sources when a single data set with all necessary information is unavailable or when data collection on additional variables is time consuming and extremely costly. Linkage errors are inevitable in the linked data set because of the unavailability of error‐free unique identifiers. A small amount of linkage errors can lead to substantial bias and increased variability in estimating parameters of a statistical model. In this paper, we propose a unified theory for statistical analysis with linked data. Our proposed method, unlike the ones available for secondary data analysis of linked data, exploits record linkage process data as an alternative to taking a costly sample to evaluate error rates from the record linkage procedure. A jackknife method is introduced to estimate bias, covariance matrix and mean squared error of our proposed estimators. Simulation results are presented to evaluate the performance of the proposed estimators that account for linkage errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A sensitive self-enhanced rolling circle amplification strategy was proposed even if only two probes were involved. • A sensing platform is developed for intracellular miRNA imaging, displaying high sensitivity and desirable universality. • The measured data demonstrates its potential application in clinical diagnosis and other areas relying on miRNA analysis. Abstract MicroRNAs (miRs) are a class of non-coding, small RNA molecules that play important roles in gene expression. The aberrant expression of miRs is associated with various human diseases, and miRs have been regarded as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cancer treatment. In this work, using miR-21 as model target species, an efficiently self-enhanced rolling circle amplification (seRCA)-based biosensing platform was developed for the ultrasensitive detection of cancer-related miRs. In the presence of target, a linear DNA template can be cyclized by ligase and initiate the first RCA (fRCA) reaction. Without any separation step and chemical modification, the fRCA products (fRCAp) are capable of activating the second exponential RCA and produce a much higher fluorescence signal, causing the self-enhancement effect of RCA reaction. Because two different signal amplification processes are introduced, there are two linear dynamic ranges together over 7 orders of magnitude. Target miR can be detected down to 1.0 fM with very high specificity, eliminating the interference from homologous miRs. If a fluorescently modified oligonucleotide probe is involved, the seRCA-based biosensing strategy is able to be employed for the intracellular imaging of cancer-related miR. Significantly, the comparative evaluation demonstrates that the proposed strategy exhibits the impressive capability to execute the miR imaging within cells higher than classical fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method. The newly-developed powerful sensing strategy for the specific miR imaging would offer a unique opportunity to promote molecular biological research, early diagnosis and treatment of human cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This research presents an optimum design scheme and a hierarchical energy management strategy for an island PV/hydrogen/battery hybrid DC microgrid (MG). In order to efficiently utilize this DC MG, the optimum structure and sizing scheme are designed by HOMER pro (Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources) software. The designed structure of hydrogen MG includes a PV generation, a battery as well as a hydrogen subsystem which composes a fuel cell (FC) system, an electrolyzer and hydrogen tank. To improve the robustness and economy of this DC MG, this study schedules a hierarchical energy management method, including the local control layer and the system control layer. In the local control layer, the subsystems in this DC MG are controlled based on their inherent operating characteristics. And the equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) is applied in the system control layer, the power flow between the battery and FC is allocated to minimum the fuel consumption. An island DC MG hardware-in-loop (HIL) Simulink platform is established by RT-LAB real-time simulator, and the simulation results are presented to validate the proposed energy management strategy. Highlights • An optimum design scheme for PV/hydrogen/battery DC microgrid. • A hierarchical energy management strategy based on ECMS. • DC MG HIL experimental platform based on RT-LAB real-time simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study aimed to determine the microRNA (miRNA) profiles in granulosa cells (GCs) from the follicular fluid (FF) of patients with varying levels of ovarian reserve function. We included 45 women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment. After collecting GCs from each patient, total RNA was extracted from 12 samples. Using Illumina/deep-sequencing technology, we analyzed the small RNAs in each group. Using the R package, we identified the differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs among patients with varying levels of ovarian reserve function. We identified 20 conserved and 3 novel miRNAs that were upregulated in the poor ovarian response (POR) group and 30 conserved miRNAs and 1 novel miRNA that were upregulated in the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) group. Bioinformatics analysis revealed complementary pairing between miR-23a and the 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of the Sirt1 mRNA. miR-23a can regulate SIRT1 protein expression at the posttranscriptional level in GCs. Overexpressing miR-23a can inhibit the expression of SIRT1, decrease the stimulatory effect of SIRT1 on the ERK1/2 pathway, inhibit the expression of p-ERK1/2, and increase apoptosis in GCs. Previous studies confirmed that miR-23a targets SIRT1 and promotes apoptosis in GCs by inhibiting the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. This study provides a novel perspective regarding the role of miRNAs in the regulation of human GC apoptosis in vitro. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • 20 miRNAs in poor ovarian reserve and 30 miRNAs in PCOS were highly expressed. • There is a complementary pairing between miR-23a and 3′-UTR of Sirt1 mRNA. • miR-23a can regulate SIRT1 protein expression at the post-transcriptional level. • miR-23a overexpression can inhibit the expression of SIRT1 through ERK pathway. • miR-23a overexpression increases the apoptosis of granulosa cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • 30 Alkyl Dithiocarbamate derivatives are synthesized in good to excellent yields. • The substrates are cheap and environmentally benign. • The methodology features efficiency, transition-metal-free and easy performance. Abstract An efficient and environmentally benign protocol for the synthesis of S -alkyl dithiocarbamates has been achieved. By reacting tetraalkylthiuram disulfides with alkyl halides, the desired products could be obtained in good to excellent yields. The methodology features efficiency, transition-metal-free, nice yields and easy performance, illustrating it practical synthetic value for the convenient preparation of some potential biologically active molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, highly efficient and environmentally benign method for the synthesis of benzyl dithiocarbamates was reported. Without addition of metal catalyst, a series of 34 benzyl dithiocarbamates were obtained in good to excellent yields by treating benzyl halides with tetraalkylthiuram disulfides in water. The protocol allows easy access to C(sp3)–S bond formation, features the advantages of easy performance, environmental friendliness, good to excellent yields, and good functional tolerance, showing potential value for the preparation of some biologically active compounds. By the treatment of benzyl halides with tetraalkylthiuram disulfides (TMTD, TETD and TBTD), the desired C(sp3)‐S coupling products (benzyl dithiocarbamates) could be obtained in good to excellent yields. The protocol features advantages of experimental simplicity, water as solvent, metal‐free, good functional compatibility, good to excellent yields, illustrating its potential synthetic value in the convenient preparation of some potentially biologically active compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional dynamical downscaling (TDD) method employs continuous integration of regional climate models (RCM) with the general circulation model (GCM) providing the initial and lateral boundary conditions. Dynamical downscaling simulations are constrained by physical principles and can generate a full set of climate information, providing one of the important approaches to projecting fine spatial-scale future climate information. However, the systematic biases of climate models often degrade the TDD simulations and hinder the application of dynamical downscaling in the climate-change related studies. New methods developed over past decades improve the performance of dynamical downscaling simulations. These methods can be divided into four groups: the TDD method, the pseudo global warming method, dynamical downscaling with GCM bias corrections, and dynamical downscaling with both GCM and RCM bias corrections. These dynamical downscaling methods are reviewed and compared in this paper. The merits and limitations of each dynamical downscaling method are also discussed. In addition, the challenges and potential directions in progressing dynamical downscaling methods are stated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim was to investigate the autonomic dysfunction between Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with olfactory dysfunction and PD patients without olfactory dysfunction in southern Chinese population.Methods: Fifty-six PD patients with olfactory dysfunction and 44 patients without olfactory dysfunction were included. All patients were evaluated by Sniffin' sticks (SS-16), scales for outcomes in Parkinson's disease-autonomic questionnaire, Hamilton anxiety rating scale and Hamilton depression rating scale RESULTS: The score of subpart of gastrointestinal symptoms and subpart of urinary symptoms were different in two groups (gastrointestinal symptoms: p value: 0.024; urinary symptoms: p value: 0.008). As for each question items, questions 2, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 were correlated with SS-16 scores (Question 2: p value: 0.013; question 6: p value: 0.006; question 8: p value: 0.025; question 10: p value: 0.005; question 11: p value: 0.022; question 13: p value: < 0.001; question 14: p value: 0.038). Question 10 and 14 were associated with olfactory dysfunction after adjusting disease duration and gender (Question 10: p value: 0.011, OR: 3.91; Question 14: p value: 0.027, OR: 3.27).Conclusions: Gastrointestinal, urinary and a part of cardiovascular symptoms of SCOPA-AUT were associated with olfactory dysfunction in PD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three‐component reaction of quinoline, dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate and 2‐arylidene‐1,3‐indanediones or 5‐arylidene‐N,N'‐dimethylbarbituric acids in acetonitrile at room temperature afforded polysubstituted spiro[indene‐2,4′‐pyrido[1,2‐a]quinolines] or spiro[pyrido[1,2‐a]quinoline‐4,5′‐pyrimidines] in high yields and with high diastereoselectivity. However, the similar reaction of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate with 2‐arylidene‐1,3‐indanediones in the presence of 4‐Dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) gave unexpected dihydroindeno[1,2‐b]pyrene derivatives in satisfactory yields. This three‐component reaction containing quinoline might be the most sustainable reaction without release any waste. The three‐component reaction of quinoline, dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate and 2‐arylidene‐1,3‐indanediones or 5‐arylidene‐N,N'‐dimethylbarbituric acids in acetonitrile afforded spiro[indene‐2,4′‐pyrido[1,2‐a]quinolines] or spiro[pyrido[1,2‐a]quinoline‐4,5′‐pyrimidines] in high yields and with high diastereoselectivity. The similar reaction with DMAP gave dihydroindeno[1,2‐b]pyrenes in satisfactory yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The effect of Ni/Co ratio on the catalytic performance of Ni Co/ceramic foam catalyst for hydrogen production by steam reforming of real coal tar was studied. The Ni Co/ceramic foam catalyst was synthesized by deposition-precipitation (DP) method and characterized with different methods. The experiments were conducted in a two-stage fixed-bed reactor. The results showed that the reducibility of the metallic oxides in bimetallic Ni Co/ceramic foam catalysts was influenced obviously by the Ni/Co ratio. Both gas and hydrogen yield increased first and then decreased with the decline of Ni/Co ratio, and the highest hydrogen yield of 31.46 mmol g−1 was obtained when the Ni/Co ratio was 5/5. The lowest coke deposition of 0.34 wt% was generated at the same Ni/Co ratio. The lifetime test showed the catalyst maintained catalytic activity after 14 cycles (28 h), indicating the coal tar steam reforming on Ni Co/ceramic foam catalyst is a promising method for hydrogen production. Highlights • Comparison of Ni Co/ceramic foam catalysts with different Ni/Co ratios was studied. • The highest H 2 yield of 31.46 mmol g−1 coal tar was obtained as the Ni/Co = 5/5. • The catalyst exhibited a stable catalytic behavior during a 28-h lifetime test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Sperm was collected from cultured male fish and cryopreserved in 0.25 ml straws for the study of sperm cryopreservation. Different parameters were evaluated, including extender, dilution ratio, cryoprotectant type and concentration, equilibrium time, cooling height (in a two-step cooling protocol), and thawing temperature. The optimum result was obtained when the sperm was diluted at a 1:7 ratio in D-16 with 5% DMSO as a cryoprotectant, equilibrated for 20 min, held at 3 cm above liquid nitrogen for 10 min, and then stored in liquid nitrogen. After thawing in a water bath at 40 °C, the percentage of motile cells and fertilization rates of frozen-thawed sperm were 35.33 ± 2.52% and 39.00 ± 4.58%, respectively, while the corresponding rates for fresh sperm were 87.67 ± 3.06% and 88.67 ± 4.62%. We also used a programmed cooling protocol in which temperature was decreased from 4 °C to −80 °C by a rate of 30 °C/min, and then straws (0.25 ml) were placed above the surface of liquid nitrogen for 2 min before being stored in liquid nitrogen. This protocol provided a post-thaw activation rate of 36.67 ± 4.77%. Further parametric optimization is required to improve the quality of frozen-thawed sperm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By applying the empirical likelihood method, we construct a new weighted estimator of the conditional mean function for a left-truncated and right-censored model. Assuming that the observations form a stationary α-mixing sequence, we derive weak convergence with a certain rate and prove asymptotic normality of the weighted estimator. The asymptotic normality shows that the weighted estimator preserves the bias, variance, and, more importantly, automatic good boundary behavior of a local linear estimator of the conditional mean function. Also, a Berry-Esseen type bound for the weighted estimator is established. A simulation study is conducted to study the finite sample behavior of the new estimator and a real data application is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]