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Introduction: Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is a heterogeneous group of inflammatory central nervous system disorders caused by a misdirected immune response against self‐antigens expressed in the central nervous system. The thymus is a central organ in the immune system and thymic tumors are thought to be possible initiators of many neurological disorders. Recently, there is growing evidence that thymomas are associated with autoimmune encephalitis. Aims: Our study initially explored the characteristics of patients with autoimmune encephalitis combined with thymoma. Methods: We used patient data from January 1, 2011 to October 1, 2021 from the PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid, and CNKI platforms to analyze overall demographics, frequency of symptoms and associations, and treatment prognosis outcomes. Results: A total of 68 patients were included. There were 39 female cases (57.4%). The mean age was 50 years (IQR 40–66 years). All had acute and subacute onset. The clinical manifestations were mostly cognitive changes (70.6%), mental disorders (57.4%), and epilepsy (50.0%). The most common neuronal antibody was alpha‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities were present in 81.0% of patients, mostly in the hippocampus, temporal lobe, and some in cortical and subcortical areas. Abnormalities in the electroencephalogram (EEG) in 69.8% of patients. Treatment involved immunotherapy and thymoma treatment, with 79.7% of patients improving after treatment. While 20.3% of patients had a poor prognosis. Further, 14.8% of patients relapsed. Mental disorders, autonomic dysfunction, sleep disturbances, anti‐Ma2, and thymoma untreated were more frequent in patients with poor prognosis. Conclusion: Thymoma‐associated autoimmune encephalitis is a unique disease entity. Long‐term follow‐up of chest CT findings is recommended for patients with autoimmune encephalitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study which examined the role of heterotrimeric G proteins in pollen germination, tube growth and signal transduction of extracellular calmodulin. Background on related studies; Experimental procedures; Conclusion.

In this work, the TAG transparent ceramics doped with 0.4 wt.% TEOS and different concentration of MgO were fabricated by a reactive sintering process under vacuum sintering combined with hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment. The effect of MgO on the microstructure evolution and optical properties of delivered ceramics were investigated. The results showed that the TAG ceramics doped with 0.4 wt.% TEOS and 0.1 wt.% MgO exhibited the optimum optical transmittance, which can reach about 81% in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions. The addition of MgO inhibited the grain growth and accelerated the densification of TAG ceramic at the sintering temperature reached about 1600 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report comparative studies on diode-pumped eye-safe Nd:LuAG ceramic lasers at 1.4 μm spectral region in continuous-wave regime. Six differently doped samples have been used to experimentally determine the optimized laser results. A maximum output power of 1.78 W is achieved with simultaneous dual-wavelength laser emission at 1418 and 1442 nm, which is believed the highest output power of Nd:LuAG ceramic at this specific wavelength. Using a V 3+ :YAG as saturable absorber, passively Q-switched Nd:LuAG ceramic laser is also realized, for the first time to our knowledge, with maximum average output power of 0.58 W and pulse width of about 34 ns at pulse repetition rate of 11.91 kHz, which lead to pulse energy of 49.3 μJ and pulse peak power of 1.43 kW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(Tb x Y 1−x ) 3 Al 5 O 12 (x = 0.2, 0.5, 0.8) transparent ceramics were synthesized by a solid-state reaction and HIP. All the samples were pre-sintered at 1650 °C for 4 h in a muffle and later HIPed at 1650 °C for 3 h. (Tb 0.2 Y 0.8 ) 3 Al 5 O 12 transparent ceramics exhibit best microstructure with an average grain size of approximately 5.22 μm and optical transmittance of over 65% in the region of 500–1600 nm. Additionally, average grain sizes of all the samples are less than 10 μm. XRD scanning patterns indicate that only the (Tb 0.8 Y 0.2 ) 3 Al 5 O 12 samples have little secondary phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 3-D integrated circuits (3-D ICs), through silicon via (TSV) is a critical technique to provide vertical connections. However, the yield and reliability challenge of TSV in industry is one of key obstacles to adopt the 3-D ICs technology. Various fault-tolerance structures by using additional spare TSVs (s-TSVs) to repair faulty functional TSVs (f-TSVs) have been proposed in literature for yield and reliability enhancement. However, these structures are formed in standard cell placement stage where all the f-TSVs are already placed. In reality, since the s-TSVs can be only inserted into the whitespace, the quality of the generated repair solution is strongly dependent on the whitespace distribution. In this paper, we propose an efficient TSV planning and repair framework in floorplanning stage, which takes nonuniform TSV distribution and clustered TSV defect-distribution into account. The proposed framework mainly consists of four stages: 1) a whitespace redistribution algorithm that uses a probability-based strategy to make the whitespace distribution more reasonable for the f-TSV planning. Subsequently, a convex-cost flow-based model for f-TSV allocation considering the fault clustering; 2) a top-down globally partitioning combined with a bottom-up locally merging to partition f-TSVs into groups with minimum hardware cost; 3) the min-cost max-flow algorithm for s-TSV allocation with minimum wirelength overhead; and 4) an integer linear programming-based model to form a fault-tolerance structure with minimum multiplexer delay overhead. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed repair framework can improve the yield with minimum hardware cost and multiplexer delay overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree crown diameter (CD) values, relating to the rate of material exchange between the forest and the atmosphere, can be used to evaluate forest biomass and carbon stock. To map tree CD values using meter-level optical remote sensing images, we propose a novel method that interprets the relationships between the spectral reflectance of pixels and the CD. The approach employs the spectral reflectance of pixels in the tree crown to express the diversity of inclination angles of leaves based on the radiative transfer model and the spatial heterogeneity of these pixels. Then, simulated and acquired GF-2 images are applied to verify the relationships between spatial heterogeneity and the tree CD. Meanwhile, filter-based and object-based methods are also employed to extract three types of variables (spectral features, texture features, and spatial heterogeneity). Finally, the tree CD values are mapped by four models (random forest (RF), K-nearest neighbor (K-NN), support vector machine (SVM), and multiple linear regression (MLR)), using three single types of variables and combinations of variables with different strategies. The results imply that the spatial heterogeneity of spectral reflectance is significantly positively correlated with tree CD values and is more sensitive to tree CD values than traditional spectral features and textural features. Furthermore, the ability of spatial heterogeneity to map tree CD values is significantly higher than traditional variable sets after obtaining stable features with appropriate filter window sizes. The results also demonstrate that the accuracy of mapped tree CD values is significantly improved using combined variable sets with different feature extraction methods. For example, in our experiments, the R2 and rRMSE values of the optimal results ranged from 0.60 to 0.66, and from 15.76% to 16.68%, respectively. It is confirmed that spatial heterogeneity with high sensitivity can effectively map tree CD values, and the accuracy of mapping tree CD values can be greatly improved using a combination of spectral features extracted by an object-based method and spatial heterogeneity extracted by a filter-based method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe1+yTe1−xSex is characterized by its complex magnetic phase diagram and highly orbital-dependent band renormalization. Despite this, the behavior of nematicity and nematic fluctuations, especially for high tellurium concentrations, remains largely unknown. Here we present a study of both B1g and B2g nematic fluctuations in Fe1+yTe1−xSex (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.53) using the technique of elastoresistivity measurement. We discovered that the nematic fluctuations in two symmetry channels are closely linked to the corresponding spin fluctuations, confirming the intertwined nature of these two degrees of freedom. We also revealed an unusual temperature dependence of the nematic susceptibility, which we attributed to a loss of coherence of the dxy orbital. Our results highlight the importance of orbital differentiation on the nematic properties of iron-based materials. Despite a significant amount of research, there are still many unknowns about the underlying mechanisms of the superconductivity in Fe-based superconductors, in particular the roles of magnetism and nematicity. Here, the authors investigate the compositional dependence of the nematic susceptibility in Fe1+yTe1−xSex and the interplay between nematic and spin fluctuations, as well as the effect of orbital differentiation on nematic instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THZ1, a CDK7 inhibitor, has potent antitumor effects in several cancers; however, its role in Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is unclear. We explored the effects and potential mechanisms of THZ1, alone and in combination with azacitidine (AZA), in AML cells and xenograft models. THZ1 decreased cell viability, induced apoptosis in a dose and time-dependent manner, induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, decreased phosphorylated CDK1 and CDK2 expression, and inhibited RNA Pol II phosphorylation at multiple serine sites. The combination of AZA and THZ1 exhibited synergistic antileukemic effects in AML cell lines and primary cells with MCL1 and c-MYC downregulation. Moreover, the combination therapy significantly decreased tumor burden and prolonged animal survival in xenograft mice models. Our data demonstrate that CDK7 inhibition induces the apoptosis of AML cells and exerts a synergistic antileukemia effect with AZA in vitro and in vivo, which supports future exploration of this combination in clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: CD34+ cells have been used to treat the patients with heart failure, but the outcome is variable. It is of great significance to scrutinize the fate and the mechanism of CD34+ cell differentiation in vivo during heart failure and explore its intervention strategy. Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of the total non-cardiomyocytes and enriched Cd34-tdTomato+ lineage cells in the murine (male Cd34-CreERT2; Rosa26-tdTomato mice) pressure overload model (transverse aortic constriction, TAC), and total non-cardiomyocytes from human adult hearts. Then, in order to determine the origin of CD34+ cell that plays a role in myocardial fibrosis, bone marrow transplantation model was performed. Furthermore, to further clarify the role of CD34 + cells in myocardial remodeling in response to TAC injury, we generated Cd34-CreERT2; Rosa26-eGFP-DTA (Cre/DTA) mice. Results: By analyzing the transcriptomes of 59,505 single cells from the mouse heart and 22,537 single cells from the human heart, we illustrated the dynamics of cell landscape during the progression of heart hypertrophy, including CD34+ cells, fibroblasts, endothelial and immune cells. By combining genetic lineage tracing and bone marrow transplantation models, we demonstrated that non-bone-marrow-derived CD34+ cells give rise to fibroblasts and endothelial cells, while bone-marrow-derived CD34+ cell turned into immune cells only in response to pressure overload. Interestingly, partial depletion of CD34+ cells alleviated the severity of myocardial fibrosis with a significant improvement of cardiac function in Cd34-CreERT2; Rosa26-eGFP-DTA model. Similar changes of non-cardiomyocyte composition and cellular heterogeneity of heart failure were also observed in human patient with heart failure. Furthermore, immunostaining showed a double labeling of CD34 and fibroblast markers in human heart tissue. Mechanistically, our single-cell pseudotime analysis of scRNA-seq data and in vitro cell culture study revealed that Wnt-β-catenin and TGFβ1/Smad pathways are critical in regulating CD34+ cell differentiation toward fibroblasts. Conclusions: Our study provides a cellular landscape of CD34+ cell-derived cells in the hypertrophy heart of human and animal models, indicating that non-bone-marrow-derived CD34+ cells differentiating into fibroblasts largely account for cardiac fibrosis. These findings may provide novel insights for the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis and have further potential therapeutic implications for the heart failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Lymphatic vessels are low-pressure, blind-ended tubular structures essential in maintaining tissue fluid homeostasis, immune cell transport, and lipid transport. More and more evidence showed that lymphangiogenesis might be closely related to the development of many diseases, and the intervention of lymphangiogenesis may be a new direction of disease treatment. This review aims to discuss the molecular mechanisms of lymphangiogenesis, the effect of lymphangiogenesis on tumor immune tolerance, the emerging role of meningeal lymphatics and cardiac lymphatics, and the promising applications of lymphangiogenesis in immunotherapy and bioengineering materials. The lymphatic system is a channel for fluid transport and cell migration, but it has always been controversial in promoting and suppressing cancer. VEGFC/VEGFR3 signaling has long been recognized as a major molecular driver of lymphangiogenesis. However, many studies have shown that the neural network of lymphatic signaling is complex. Lymphatic vessels have been found to play an essential role in the immune regulation of tumor metastasis and cardiac repair. This review describes the effects of lipid metabolism, extracellular vesicles, and flow shear forces on lymphangiogenesis. Moreover, the pro-tumor immune tolerance function of lymphatic vessels is discussed, and the tasks of meningeal lymphatic vessels and cardiac lymphatic vessels in diseases are further discussed. Finally, the value of conversion therapy targeting the lymphatic system is introduced from the perspective of immunotherapy and pro-lymphatic biomaterials for lymphangiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Transplant arteriosclerosis is a major complication in long-term survivors of heart transplantation. Increased lymph flow from donor heart to host lymph nodes has been reported to play a role in transplant arteriosclerosis, but how lymphangiogenesis affects this process is unknown. Methods: Vascular allografts were transplanted among various combinations of mice, including wild-type, Lyve1 -CreERT2;R26-tdTomato, CAG -Cre-tdTomato, severe combined immune deficiency, Ccr2 KO, Foxn1 KO, and lghm / lghd KO mice. Whole-mount staining and 3-dimensional reconstruction identified lymphatic vessels within the grafted arteries. Lineage tracing strategies delineated the cellular origin of lymphatic endothelial cells. Adeno-associated viral vectors and a selective inhibitor were used to regulate lymphangiogenesis. Results: Lymphangiogenesis within allograft vessels began at the anastomotic sites and extended from preexisting lymphatic vessels in the host. Tertiary lymphatic organs were identified in transplanted arteries at the anastomotic site and lymphatic vessels expressing CCL21 (chemokine [C-C motif] ligand 21) were associated with these immune structures. Fibroblasts in the vascular allografts released VEGF-C (vascular endothelial growth factor C), which stimulated lymphangiogenesis into the grafts. Inhibition of VEGF-C signaling inhibited lymphangiogenesis, neointima formation, and adventitial fibrosis of vascular allografts. These studies identified VEGF-C released from fibroblasts as a signal stimulating lymphangiogenesis extending from the host into the vascular allografts. Conclusions: Formation of lymphatic vessels plays a key role in the immune response to vascular transplantation. The inhibition of lymphangiogenesis may be a novel approach to prevent transplant arteriosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title compound is prepared by solid state reaction of Sm2O3, CaCO3, and Nb2O5 (1200 °C, 10 h). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tb3Al5O12 ( TAG) transparent ceramics were prepared by a reactive sintering method using presintering in a muffle furnace combined with hot isostatic pressing ( HIP) sintering. The dilatometric, differential scanning calorimetry-thermogravimetric ( DSC- TG) curves and optical quality were investigated. The microstructure evolution of the TAG ceramic samples was clarified. Two successive transformations were found to generate a TAG phase, as observed in the dilatometric and DSC- TG curves and XRD patterns of TAG ceramics sintered at different temperature. The changes in average grain size and densification suggest that a 1600°C presintering temperature is suitable for HIP. The optical transmittance of the obtained 0.4 wt% TEOS: TAG transparent ceramics, which were fabricated by a new two-step sintering of presintering at 1600°C in a muffle furnace followed by HIP at 1650°C, can reach above 80% in the visible (vis) and near-infrared ( NIR) regions. Its transmittance was very close to the theoretical limit. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that TAG transparent ceramics with ideal optical quality were obtained without vacuum sintering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spectral properties of lightly doped Er:CaF 2 and Er,Pr:CaF 2 single crystals were investigated. Benefited from particular clustering effect, 2.79 μm continuous-wave (CW) laser operation was demonstrated in lightly doped 3 at.% Er:CaF 2 crystal. After co-doping small amount of Pr 3+ , the lifetime gap between Er 3+ : 4 I 11/2 and Er 3+ : 4 I 13/2 was shortened from 7.86 ms to about 1 ms. Moreover, the near-infrared and up-conversion fluorescence were significantly quenched. Thus, the CW laser performance was greatly improved. The slope efficiency was effectively improved from 8.0% to 15.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite excellent ductility and dimension stability, the relatively low mechanical strength and stiffness of PA612 extremely restrict its engineering applications. We herein have demonstrated the fabrication of high-performance PA612 composites combining superior mechanical and abrasion resistance properties by choosing two dimensional alumina platelets with a relatively low aspect ratio (∼35). Infrared spectra show that Al 2 O 3 forms strong hydrogen-bond interactions with PA612. Tensile results demonstrate that adding 30 wt% of Al 2 O 3 platelets increases the tensile strength and elastic modulus of PA612 by 55% (∼73 MPa) and 128% (∼3.38 GPa), respectively. In addition, the specific wear rate is reduced by about 61%. Such remarkable improvements in mechanical and abrasion resistance properties are mainly due to the high strength and stiffness of alumina platelets and the strong interfacial interactions with the PA612 matrix. This work offers one new methodology for creating advanced polymer composites by choosing suitable building blocks and by regulating the interfacial interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe a thulium-doped (Lu,Y) 3 Al 5 O 12 mixed crystal that was designed and grown to achieve a large pulse energy in Q-switched laser operation. Its absorption cross-sections at 781.3 nm and 1629.2 nm were calculated to be 3.4 × 10 −21 cm 2 and 5 × 10 −21 cm 2 , respectively, and the emission cross-section at 2018.3 nm was calculated to be 1.92 × 10 −21 cm 2 . The highest single pulse energy of 1.4 mJ near 2.02 μm was realized in an actively Q-switched solid-state laser, and further power scaling was just limited by the damage of the crystal coating. Based on the calculated spectrum parameters, theoretical simulation of the single pulse energy that considering the cross-relaxation process was proposed, which was well consistent with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an ERP study, classic Chinese poems with a well-known rhyme scheme were used to generate an expectation of a rhyme in the absence of an expectation for a specific character. Critical characters were either consistent or inconsistent with the expected rhyme scheme and semantically congruent or incongruent with the content of the poem. These stimuli allowed us to examine whether a top-down rhyme scheme expectation would affect relatively early components of the ERP associated with character-to-sound mapping (P200) and lexically-mediated semantic processing (N400). The ERP data revealed that rhyme scheme congruence, but not semantic congruence modulated the P200: rhyme-incongruent characters elicited a P200 effect across the head demonstrating that top-down expectations influence early phonological coding of the character before lexical-semantic processing. Rhyme scheme incongruence also produced a right-lateralized N400-like effect. Moreover, compared to semantically congruous poems, semantically incongruous poems produced a larger N400 response only when the character was consistent with the expected rhyme scheme. The results suggest that top-down prosodic expectations can modulate early phonological processing in visual word recognition, indicating that prosodic expectations might play an important role in silent reading. They also suggest that semantic processing is influenced by general knowledge of text genre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is a risk of homologous recombination when using BEVS. • We used efficient methods to reduce the homologous recombination rate of baculovirus. • These methods facilitate viral stability and integrity in BEVS. The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is widely used for producing recombinant proteins. To achieve high expression level of recombinant proteins, baculoviral elements, such as enhancers, promoters, signal peptide coding sequences and 3′-UTR, have been extensively employed. There is a recombination risk derived from homologous sequences between viral genome and functional baculovirus-derived elements associated with foreign genes. Although homologous recombination have distinct biological functions, these potential adverse recombination may trigger a DNA fragment being inverted or looped out, resulting in the production of defective viruses and eventual yields declines of recombinant proteins. However, the risk of such homologous recombination has not been systematically assessed. Here, we measured the recombination rate using a promoter-less fluorescent reporter integrated with various lengths homologous of p10 coding region. Homologous fragments longer than 60 bp possess sufficient recombination probability and exerts effect on purity and integrity of virus. Shortening the length of homologous fragments and separating homologous fragments by point mutations can effectively reduce unfavorable recombination. These findings reveal a homologous recombination risk resulted from genome-homologous baculoviral elements and propose reliable strategies reducing recombination rate to facilitate viral stability and integrity in baculovirus expression vector system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2 at.% Tm, xat.% Dy:Y 2 O 3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1) transparent ceramics were fabricated via vacuum sintering. The microstructural properties of the prepared ceramics were determined using XRD and SEM. The absorption cross-section of 2 at.% Tm, 1 at.% Dy:Y 2 O 3 ceramic was 0.53 × 10−20 cm2 with the FWHM of 43.59 nm. The increased cross-section originates from a large overlapping range appearing in the absorption spectrum of the Dy3+:6H 15/2 → 6F 5/2 and Tm3+:3H 6 →6H 4 transitions. The J-O intensity parameters Ω 2 , Ω 4 and Ω 6 and the fluorescence characteristics of the pivotal luminescent level of the Dy3+ ions were investigated. Under 793 nm excitation, the emission cross section of the Tm,Dy:Y 2 O 3 ceramic at 3094 nm was 3.63 × 10−21 cm2 with the FWHM of 355 nm. The fluorescence lifetimes of Dy3+:6H 13/2 level of 2 at.% Tm, xat.% Dy:Y 2 O 3 (x = 0.1, 0.5 and 1) ceramics were fitted to be 357 μs, 282 μs and 149 μs, respectively. In order to explore the quenching mechanism of Tm3+:3F 4 level, the fluorescence lifetimes of Tm3+:3F 4 of the 2 at.% Tm, xat.% Dy:Y 2 O 3 ceramics (x = 0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1) were measured to be 4.878 ms, 462 μs, 104 μs and 61 μs, respectively. The possible energy transfer mechanisms between Tm3+ and Dy3+ ions are discussed. The results show that adding Tm3+ ions to Dy:Y 2 O 3 ceramics can effectively enhance the 2.9 μm MIR through energy transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Global warming has profound impact on growth and development, and plants constantly adjust their internal circadian clock to cope with external environment. However, how clock‐associated genes fine‐tune thermoresponsive growth in plants is little understood.We found that loss‐of‐function mutation of REVEILLE5 (RVE5) reduces the expression of circadian gene EARLY FLOWERING 4 (ELF4) in Arabidopsis, and confers accelerated hypocotyl growth under warm‐temperature conditions.Both RVE5 and CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 (CCA1) accumulate at warm temperatures and bind to the same EE cis‐element presented on ELF4 promoter, but the transcriptional repression activity of RVE5 is weaker than that of CCA1. The binding of CCA1 to ELF4 promoter is enhanced in the rve5‐2 mutant at warm temperatures, and overexpression of ELF4 in the rve5‐2 mutant background suppresses the rve5‐2 mutant phenotype at warm temperatures.Therefore, the transcriptional repressor RVE5 finetunes ELF4 expression via competing at a cis‐element with the stronger transcriptional repressor CCA1 at warm temperatures. Such a competition–attenuation mechanism provides a balancing system for modulating the level of ELF4 and thermoresponsive hypocotyl growth under warm‐temperature conditions. See also the Commentary on this article by Balcerowicz, 237: 9–11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative communications have recently been migrated to one of state-of-the-art features of 3GPP LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). Cooperative communications fundamentally change the abstraction of a wireless link and offer significant potential advantages for wireless communication networks. This article visits cooperative techniques, such as relay, distributed antennas systems (DAS), multicell coordination, Group Cell, Coordinated Multiple Point transmission and reception (CoMP), those turn the traditional cellular system into a cooperative system. In particular, we propose several joint processing policies to demonstrate the Group Cell (CoMP) concept. Results of a trial network implementation and a performance evaluation of the concept are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extracorporeal blood purification therapies targeting removal of the downstream products of the inflammatory cascade in sepsis have failed to improve mortality. As an upstream process of the inflammatory cascade, activated white blood cells should be a potential therapeutic target for sepsis, and the effect of removing such cells by extracorporeal centrifugal leukocytapheresis (LCAP) is worth considering.Methods: Fourteen peritonitis-induced septic pigs were randomly assigned to receive a sham operation (control group, n = 7) or one session of LCAP at 12 h after sepsis induction (treatment group, n = 7). Samples from peripheral blood at various time-points and from LCAP collection were tested. All pigs were euthanized at 48 h, and lung, kidney, liver and spleen tissues were obtained for histopathological examination.Results: Two pigs died in accidents before the induction of sepsis, and 12 pigs were finally included for the statistical analysis. A significant clinical improvement was present in the treatment group relative to the control group in terms of the mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), oxygen tension (PaO2), lactic acid level, oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2), and carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2, P < 0.05). Flow cytometry tests showed that a mixture of B cells, dendritic cells, T helper cells, cytotoxic T cells, monocytes and neutrophils were removed from the circulation by LCAP, resulting in sepsis-induced change trends in the control cells; these change trends were all flattened in the treatment group, although nonsignificantly.Conclusions: LCAP may exert a wide-spectrum and bidirectional immunomodulatory effect on sepsis, accompanied by improvements in hemodynamics and oxygenation status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of high quality x%Pr3+:BaF2 (x = 0.6, 1, 2); (1%Pr3+, 2%Na+):BaF2; (1%Pr3+, y%Ca2+):BaF2 (y = 3, 5) and (0.6%Pr3+, 10%R3+):BaF2 (R = Y, Lu, Gd) crystals were grown by temperature gradient technique (TGT). The Raman spectra, absorption spectra, fluorescence spectra, and fluorescence decay lifetime were measured. XRD patterns indicate that the as-synthesized samples are pure BaF2 phase. The absorption cross-section of Pr3+ ions in the BaF2 matrix can be greatly improved by co-doping R3+ ions, while improvement by Na+ and Ca2+ ions is marginal. The fluorescence characteristic of Pr3+ ions can be effectively regulated by co-doping Na+, Ca2+, R3+ (R = Y, Lu, Gd) ions of different valence states. When R3+ ions are introduced, the fluorescence spectra show the strongest orange emission and the CIE chromaticity coordinates of Pr3+ ions are also in the orange region. When single-doped Pr3+ ions and Na+ or Ca2+ ions are introduced, the fluorescence lifetime of the 3P0 level is double exponential decay, and the short lifetime is the main proportion. However, the fluorescence centers tend to homogeneous and stable by R3+ ions co-doping and the fluorescence lifetime exhibits single-exponential decay, which is fitted to 49.7 μs, 47.8 μs and 49.6 μs of (0.6%Pr3+, 10%R3+):BaF2 (R = Y, Lu, Gd), respectively. All the results show that (Pr3+, Gd3+):BaF2 and (Pr3+, Na+):BaF2 are excellent laser gain media for high-efficiency orange and red laser operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are highly susceptible to infection and cardiovascular events, suggesting that chronic antigenic stimulation may accelerate premature aging in SLE patients. Premature aging in SLE is often accompanied with the expansion of cytotoxic CD4 + CD28−T cells. Damage caused by CD4 + CD28− T cells enhances the progressive aging of the tissue function and loss of organism's fitness. The high serum level of IL-15 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of SLE, but its role in CD4 + CD28−T cell-mediated cytotoxicity in nephritic SLE remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of IL-15 on functional properties and associated renal damage of cytotoxic CD4 + CD28− T cell in lupus nephritis (LN). Results: Flow cytometry showed that the number of circulating innate-like CD4 + CD28− T cells was increased in patients with nephritic SLE. Immunofluorescence showed CD4 + CD28− T cell infiltration in the kidney of LN patients, which was correlated with multiple clinicopathological features including estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), proteinuria, the proportion of glomerulosclerosis and the degree of renal chronicity. In addition, a high level of IL-15 and IL15-expressing macrophage infiltration was detected in the periglomerular and intraglomerular tissues of LN patients, which enhanced the innate features, cytokine secretion and migratory capability of CD4 + CD28− T cells, and finally exerted direct TCR-independent cytotoxicity on glomerular endothelial cells in an IL-15-dependent manner in vitro. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that excessive IL-15 potentially promoted cytotoxic CD4 + CD28− T cell-mediated renal damage in LN. This finding may provide new insights into the potential association of premature aging and tissue damage in LN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that investigated the quantum games. Background on the game theory; Details on the quantum game Prisoner's Dilemma; Conclusions.

Bioflocculants like polysaccharides are excellent alternatives to harmful synthetic flocculants and usability under stricter levels of ecosystem protection. In this study, an exopolysaccharide producing strain Paenibacillus sp. M21629 was isolated. The exopolysaccharide was abundant in carboxylic groups and named floccuronic acid with a high weight average molecular weight of 2.38 × 108 Da. The hexasaccharide repeating units of floccuronic acid were →3)-α-D-Man p -(1 → 3)-4-Suc-β-D-Man p -(1 → 3)-β-D-Glc p -(1 → 4)-β-D-Glc p A-(1 → 4)[4,6-Pyr-β-D-Gal p -(1 → 3)]-β-D-Gal p -(1→. The floccuronic acid at 0.5–1 ppm showed high turbidity removal efficiency in kaolin suspension (99.8%), coal wastewater (98.8%), and high-turbidity drinking water (89.2%). The flocculation ability of floccuronic acid depended on the instability of solid particles. Owing to these encouraging results, floccuronic acid is expected to be a useful bioflocculant applied in wastewater treatment and the utilization of water resources. [Display omitted] • A Paenibacillus isolate produces the exopolysaccharide floccuronic acid with molecular weight of 2.38×108 Da. • The floccuronic acid is composed of mannose, galactose, glucose, and gluconic acid with pyruvic and succinyl substitutions. • The floccuronic acid shows high turbidity removal efficiency in several suspensions. • The bridging mechanism underpins the flocculant action of floccuronic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The performance of passively mode-locked Nd:LMA laser was achieved for the first time. • A continuous wide tuning range of roughly 38 nm was obtained for the tuning operation. • The highest output power of Nd:LMA ultrafast laser was achieved. A 5 at.% Nd:LaMgAl 11 O 19 (Nd:LMA) disordered crystal was successfully fabricated by the Czochralski method. A continuous wide tuning range of roughly 38 nm (1051 nm ∼ 1089 nm) was obtained for the tuning operation. The performance of diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:LMA laser was successfully achieved for the first time. By employing a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), a continuous-wave mode-locked (CWML) laser with pulse duration of 11.2 ps was delivered, corresponding repetition rate was 55 MHz. The maximum average output power was 122 mW at a central wavelength of 1054.7 nm. These results indicated that the Nd:LMA was a promising laser material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An analytical parameters estimation results by the MLE method for the Wiener process with random effects is obtained. • The comparative study between different MLE methods is implemented. • An unbiased parameters estimation method is proposed and applied to other types of Wiener process-based degradation models. • An empirical unbiased parameters estimation results when the degradation data is measured at different times is developed. • Mis-specification issue about whether considering the random effects is analyzed in theory. Accurate parameters estimation is one of the most crucial components in remaining useful life (RUL) prediction. This paper proposes an unbiased parameters estimation method and analyzes the impact of model mis-specification of Wiener process-based degradation model with random effects. First, we obtain an analytical expression of parameters estimation for the linear Wiener process. Then, by analyzing the natures of parameters estimation, an unbiased parameters estimation method is proposed and applied to other types of Wiener process-based degradation models. This unbiased estimation method is very similar to the sample variance of normal distribution. Since the sample size of degradation data is typically small, hence the proposed unbiased estimation method is suggested. After that, we present an empirical unbiased parameters estimation method with a closed-form solution when the degradation data is measured at different times. The proposed unbiased estimation method could increase computational speed and avoid falling into local minimum. In addition, based on parameters estimation results, the mis-specification issue about whether the random effects should be considered in the degradation modeling is analyzed in theory. Finally, several numerical examples and case studies are used for experimental verification. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed unbiased parameters estimation method is superior to other parameters estimation methods and the random effects are suggested to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plasma jet-triggered gas switch (PJT-GS) has been developed as an important piece of equipment to operate in an ± 800 kV ultra-high voltage direct current transmission system (UHV DC) to achieve grid system protection and control. The crucial factors that would affect its operational performance, such as the current level the PJT-GS could withstand and the gas gap distance between the two rotating electrodes, are comparatively studied in the present work by analysing the arc dynamic characteristics. The rotating electrode used in the PJT-GS is designed with a helical-slotted structure, and the arc can be rotated circularly driven by the produced transverse magnetic field (TMF) along the electrode edge. The objective of such research is to provide a thorough study of the arc dynamic behaviour during the current flowing process of the PJT-GS and also to characterise the physical mechanism that affects the arc rotation and the PJT-GS operation performance. The magnetohydrodynamic-based (MHD) approach is applied by establishing a 3D arc model. Following such a study, the variation of arc characteristics under different operation conditions could be thoroughly determined and it also could provide the guidance for the PJT-GS optimum design reasonably to support its corresponding engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By introducing synonymous mutations into the coding sequences of GP64sp and FibHsp signal peptides, the influences of mRNA secondary structure and codon usage of signal sequences on protein expression and secretion were investigated using baculovirus/insect cell expression system. The results showed that mRNA structural stability of the signal sequences was not correlated with the protein production and secretion levels, and FibHsp was more tolerable to codon changes than GP64sp. Codon bias analyses revealed that codons for GP64sp were well de-optimized and contained more non-optimal codons than FibHsp. Synonymous mutations in GP64sp sufficiently increased its average codon usage frequency and resulted in dramatic reduction of the activity and secretion of luciferase. Protein degradation inhibition assay with MG-132 showed that higher codon usage frequency in the signal sequence increased the production as well as the degradation of luciferase protein, indicating that the synonymous codon substitutions in the signal sequence caused misfolding of luciferase instead of slowing down the protein production. Meanwhile, we found that introduction of more non-optimal codons into FibHsp could increase the production and secretion levels of luciferase, which suggested a new strategy to improve the production of secretory proteins in insect cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of B cells is increased and the O-glycans of IgA1 are incompletely galactosylated in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Here we report that expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and Cosmc is decreased in B cells, and correlates with B cell number and the aberrant glycosylation of IgA1 in IgAN. Patients with IgAN exhibit higher miR-374b in B cells compared to controls. We show that miR-374b targets PTEN and Cosmc by luciferase assays and western blot analysis. Inhibition of miR-374b increased PTEN and Cosmc expression, and prevented cell proliferation and aberrant glycosylation of IgA1, thus representing a new therapeutic approach for IgAN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the role of digital-government (DG), government utilization, and regional integration on public health services (PHS) by considering E-government and globalization. This study takes public services fragility as a proxy for public health services. In contrast, E-government development as a DG globalization index (GI) has been taken as a proxy of regional integration, and government expenditures (GE) as a fiscal state capacity. The study employed a two-step system generalized method of moments estimation for the sample of 45-panel Asian economies from 2006-to-2022. The results reveal that DG substantially impacted and improved the PHS in Asian economies in the past decade. Moreover, regional integration added fuel to this progression and substantially influenced the PHS. However, GE adversely affects the PHS due to lousy governance and leakage of target spending. Furthermore, the novel DG integration with GE and GI promoted PHS and reduced health fragility through better resource utilization and technology deployment. It also reveals that DG helps in reducing the loopholes of GE and makes the resource implementation transparent and effective, which impacts the PHS. It concludes that these interactions with public policies play a prominent role in comprehensive coverage and healthcare accessibility in Asia through technology deployment with prudent administration strategies. It’s a novel study that integrates digitalization with regional integration and government expenditures from an Asian perspective by considering PHS, which made this study helpful for policy drafting during the COVID-19 pandemic and proposed a better framework to deal with future calamities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a femtosecond semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) mode-locked Yb:LuYAG laser. Pumped by a 976 nm single-mode fiber laser, a self-starting mode-locked Yb:LuYAG laser was demonstrated, delivering a 618-mW output power with 140-fs pulses and a 95.4-MHz repetition rate. The output spectrum is centered at 1053 nm with a spectral width of 10.4 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse ever generated from a mode-locked Yb:LuYAG laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ho,Pr:CaYAlO 4 (Ho,Pr:CYA) crystal doped with 1 at.% Ho3+ and 0.1 at.% Pr3+ was successfully grown using the Czochralski method. Polarized absorption spectra, emission spectra, and fluorescence lifetime measurements were performed. The impact of Pr3+ co-doping on the ∼3 μm emission of Ho3+ ions was analyzed. The energy transfer efficiency from Ho3+:5I 7 to Pr3+:3F 2 energy level was calculated to be 60.66 %, indicating that Pr3+ effectively mitigated the self-termination effect in Ho,Pr:CYA crystals. The absorption cross-section at 645 nm was found to be 1.53 × 10−20 cm2 for σ polarization and 2.62 × 10−20 cm2 for π polarization. The emission cross-section at 2842 nm was calculated to be 0.86 × 10−20 cm2 for σ polarization and 1.33 × 10−20 cm2 for π polarization at 2908 nm, with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 139 nm and 88 nm, respectively. The fluorescence lifetimes of the 5I 6 and 5I 7 levels were measured to be 0.17 ms and 2.01 ms, respectively. These results collectively suggest that Ho,Pr:CYA crystals hold great potential as a candidate for 2.8 μm laser applications. • Ho3+,Pr3+ co-doped CaYAlO 4 crystal was grown by the Czochralski method. • The crystal structure, polarized absorption and emission spectra were investigated. • The intensity parameters were obtained using J-O theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing porous and flexible electrodes with excellent electrochemical properties is crucial to fabricate high-performance flexible supercapacitors. Conductive polymer-based electrospun fibers are expected to be an ideal material for constructing flexible electrodes due to the enormous specific surface area, unique pore structure and inherent flexibility. However, the exploration of such electrospun fibers with facile preparation methods and high areal capacitance remains challenging. Herein, a novel polyetherimide@polyaniline core-shell fibrous membranes (PEI@PANI CFMs) is fabricated via simply coaxial electrospinning and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) secondary doping. With the aid of polyetherimide, highly concentrated emeraldine base polyaniline (EB-PANI) can be perfectly wrapped on the surface of fibers without any spinning assistants, ensuring the well-developed pore structures, superior hydrophilicity, good electrical conductivity and outstanding mechanical flexibility. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of structure and constituents, such flexible PEI@PANI CFMs as electrode materials can provide more accessible electrochemical active sites and decrease the ion diffusion resistance. Therefore, the PEI@PANI CFMs present outstanding areal capacitance of 1159.9 mF cm−2 and remarkable energy density of 46.91 μW h cm−2 in the electrodes and symmetric supercapacitors, demonstrating great potential for applications in flexible energy storage field. This fabrication strategy provides a simple and practicable way to manufacture polyaniline-based fibrous membranes for high-performance flexible electrode materials. [Display omitted] • PEI@PANI CFMs were firstly developed by coaxial electrospinning with high density PANI solution. • Continuous PANI shell without spinning assistants enabled high redox activity after AMPS doping. • PEI@PANI CFMs showed unique 3D network pore structure, superior hydrophilicity and flexibility. • PEI@PANI CFMs as electrode exhibited 1159.9 mF cm−2 area specific capacitance at 1 mA cm−2. • The symmetric device delivered remarkable energy density of 46.91 μW h cm−2 at 0.23 mW cm−2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was aimed to find promising targets for cancer therapy involved in the tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Identification of STEAP4 in HCC between GSE54503 and TCGA datasets by performing RNA-seq. The STEAP4 mRNA expression level was determined by qRT-PCR. DNA methylation was measured by MSP and BSP. Besides, the effect of STEAP4 tumorigenesis was determined by in vivo experiments. The function of STEAP4 on methylation was further assessed by 5–Aza‑dC, a demethylating agent. Reduced STEAP4 expression was found in HCC tissues. Promoter region methylation correlated with the downregulated expression of STEAP4. STEAP4 inhibited the proliferation and metastasis of HCC cells. Re-expression of STEAP4 was induced 5–Aza‑dC. STEAP4 mediated the biological effects of HCC cells through PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway inhibition. Our findings indicate that STEAP4 functions as a suppressor gene in HCC, and hypermethylation is a driving factor in cancer progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) infection is a potential risk factor involved in the Amyloid β (Aβ) associated neuropathology. However, further understanding of the neuropathological effects of the HSV-1 infection is hampered by the limitations of existing infection models due to the distinct differences between human brains and other mammalians' brains. Here we generated cerebral organoid models derived from pluripotent stem cells to investigate the HSV-induced Aβ associated neuropathology and the role of antiviral drugs in the phenotypic rescue. Our results identified that the HSV-1-infected cerebral organoids recapitulated Aβ associated neuropathology including the multicellular Aβ deposition, dysregulated endogenous AD mediators, reactive gliosis, neuroinflammation, and neural loss, indicating that cerebral organoids offer an opportunity for modeling the interaction of HSV-1 with the complex phenotypes across the genetic, cellular, and tissue levels of the human Alzheimer's disease (AD). Furthermore, we identified that two antiviral drugs, namely Ribavirin (RBV) and Valacyclovir (VCV), inhibited HSV-1 replication and rescued the neuropathological phenotypes associated with AD in the HSV-1-infected cerebral organoids, implying their therapeutic potential to slow down the progression of AD. Our study provides a high-fidelity human-relevant in-vitro HSV-1 infection model to reconstitute the multiscale neuropathological features associated with AD and discover therapeutic drug candidates relevant to the AD viral hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method for use in estimating the state of charge (SOC) of lithium-ion batteries which is based on an electrochemical impedance equivalent circuit model with a controlled source. Considering that the open-circuit voltage of a battery varies with the SOC, an equivalent circuit model with a controlled source is proposed which the voltage source and current source interact with each other. On this basis, the radial basis function (RBF) neural network is adopted to estimate the uncertainty in the battery model online, and a non-linear observer based on the radial basis function of the RBF neural network is designed to estimate the SOC of batteries. It is proved that the SOC estimation error is ultimately bounded by Lyapunov stability analysis, and the error bound can be arbitrarily small. The high accuracy and validity of the non-linear observer based on the RBF neural network in SOC estimation are verified with experimental simulation results. The SOC estimation results of the extended Kalman filter (EKF) are compared with the proposed method. It improves convergence speed and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Letter, a bilayer elastic C6v structure is proposed and used to precisely manipulate two topological nontrivial valley pseudo-spin states. According to the theoretical simulation results, the two elastic pseudo-spin states have opposite valley polarizations along propagation directions. Owing to the interlayer polarization and mixing effects of the elastic valley pseudo-spin states in the bilayer elastic C6v structure, the transport and prohibition of elastic valley pseudo-spin states and even the tunneling between layers are flexibly manipulated. The transmission efficiency of elastic valley pseudo-spin states across layers reaches 93%, which has also been confirmed in experiments by the laser ultrasonic method. The in-depth exploration of valley pseudo-spin states with layer indices further expands and enriches the research of valley pseudo-spin states in the elastic environment and lays the foundation for the further design of elastic topological devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the displacement damage on AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) using the 30-MeV fluorine ions. The electrical degradation and the defects in HEMTs were examined before and after irradiation. Three defect states are detected in a deep-level transient analysis system (DLTS), including a broad surface state peak ($N_{1}$) and two bulk defect peaks ($H_{1}$ and $H_{2}$). The energy levels of these two defects are $E_{\mathrm {C}} 0.63$ eV ($H_{2}$) and $E_{\mathrm {C}} 0.91$ eV ($H_{1}$), respectively. There is a linear relationship between the concentration of $H_{1}$ and the fluorine ion fluence. The radiation damage and electrical performance degradation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs are simulated by combining with simulation software of different methods. The calculated results are in agreement with the experimental data. The performance degradation caused by heavy ion of the device is mainly caused by the $H_{1}$ defect. The effect of defects with shallow energy level is shielded by the Fermi-level pinning in deeper energy level. Moreover, the defect distribution of GaN in AlGaN/GaN heterojunction plays a major role. It is found that the method of combining experimental data with multiscale simulation is an effective way to predict the radiation damage of devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection and monitoring of heavy load induced plastic deformation in the structure is crucial for timely intervention before cracking occurs and the material completely fails. Ultrasound can be used for detecting plastic deformation provided the mechanical modulus, which can be probed via changes in velocities. This work presents a measurement scheme that makes use of optically detected, laser-induced surface acoustic waves (SAWs) for remote, real-time, online monitoring of the wave velocity during the elastic–plastic transition occurring in an aluminum plate undergoing a uniaxial tensile test and a dynamic fatigue test. Monochromatic SAWs were photoacoustically generated in a wavelength-controlled way through a transient thermal grating based laser ultrasonics excitation scheme. The SAWs were detected by a home-built photorefractive interferometer. The results reveal both regions of acceleration and slowing down, indicating that the material first stiffens and then starts to form microcracks that make it behave effectively softer for propagating SAWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despitethe importance of adhesion between electrospun meshes andsubstrates, the knowledge on adhesion mechanism and the method toimprove the adhesion remain limited. Here, we precisely design themodel system based on electrospun poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) meshesand the substrate of styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene elastomer (SEBS),and quantitatively measure the adhesion with a weight method. Thesurfaces of SEBS with different roughness are obtained by castingSEBS solution on the smooth and rough glass slides, respectively.Then, the surfaces of casted SEBS are respectively grafted with PEGoligomers and long PEG chains much larger than the entanglement molecularweight by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP)of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA). The detachedsurfaces of SEBS and electrospun fibers after adhesion measurementsare analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The adhesive forceand adhesion energy are found to lie in the range from 68 to 220 mNand from 12 to 46 mJ/m2, respectively, which are slightlyaffected by surface roughness of substrate but mainly determined bysurface interactions. Just as the chemical cross-linking induces thestrong adhesion, the chain entanglements on the interface lead tothe higher adhesion than those generated by hydrophilic–hydrophobicinteractions and hydrophilic interactions. The long grafted chainsand the enhanced temperature facilitate the chain entanglements, resultingin the strong adhesive force. This work sheds new light on the adhesionmechanism at molecular level, which may be helpful to improve theadhesion between the electrospun fibers and substrates in an environmentallyfriendly manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorism and security threats are global phenomena. Almost every region has been affecting by different terrorism and violence incidents; that is why terrorism has become a devastatingly global concern for the past two decades. This paper examines the socio-economic and fractionalization (Internal and External conflicts) determinants of terrorism and its related incidents using the Global Terrorism Database for 14 countries of East, South, and North Asia (ESNA) from 2006 to 2018. By applying the one-step system GMM estimation, the results show that among ESNA, South Asia is the most vulnerable region where population and state legitimacy are the most ignite factors of terrorism incidents. However, in East and North Asia, the education budget's socio-economic disparity is the foremost determinant of terrorism and related antagonism. It also analyses that the fractionalization elite acts as a mechanism to ignite terrorism incidents in ESNA. It further revealed that State legitimacy, Fractionalization Elites, population growth, and budget allocation of health and education are the significant determinants of terrorism in ESNA. The study concludes that terrorism and its related activities have different trends depending on region to region, referencing study results. Furthermore, this study suggests that the United Nations and other governing bodies should play their role to resolve the socio-economic incongruence in ESNA and effective regional conflict resolution strategies to make it a peaceful and affluent region. In combating socio-economic disparities and conflicts, a prudent and effective regional policy should be enforced. • Impact of socio-economic determinants on terrorism incident is evaluated in ESNA. • Impact of fractionalization elites on terrorism incident is examined in ESNA. • Terrorism and its related activities have different trends from region to region. • South Asia is the most vulnerable region to terrorism due to state illegitimacy. • East and North Asia expose to terrorism due to socio-economic disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bulk photovoltaic effect shift current (SC), a constant photocurrent generated by irradiating polar homogeneous non‐centrosymmetric materials has lately emerged as a possible option for next‐generation photovoltaic systems that may potentially overcome the Shockley–Queisser limits. The current work predicts gigantic and anisotropic SC with multiple peaks across a wide range of frequencies in pristine 2D monolayer α‐AsP and α‐NP based on first‐principle calculations. The dominant SC tensors components hosted by 2D monolayer α‐AsP and α‐NP are the in‐plane, and reaches peaks of −154 µАV−2, and 87 µАV−2, respectively, in the UV region. The SC magnitudes of the α‐AsP are not significantly affected by the spin‐orbital coupling, while in α‐NP, no such effect occurs. This study recommends new photovoltaic materials with strong SC peaks spread across the electromagnetic spectrum, largely within the UV region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) infection could cause severe histopathological damage via releasing multiple factors, including cytokines, peptides, etc. Here, peptidomic results showed that 129 peptides were identified in PRV-infected mouse lungs and were highly involved in the process of PRV infection. The role of one down-regulated biological peptide (designated as AGDP) during PRV infection was investigated. To verify the expression profiles of AGDP in response to PRV infection, the expression level of the precursor protein of AGDP mRNA was significantly decreased in PRV-infected mouse lungs and cells. The synthesized AGDP-treating cells were less susceptible to PRV challenges than the controls, as demonstrated by the decreased virus production and gE expression. AGDP not only inhibited the expression of TNF-α and IL-8 but also appeared to suppress the extracellular release of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) by inhibiting the output of nuclear HMGB1 in cells. AGDP could also inhibit the degradation of IκBα and the phosphorylation levels of P65 after PRV infection. In total, our results revealed many meaningful peptides involved in PRV infection, thereby enhancing the current understanding of the host response to PRV infection, and how AGDP may serve as a promising candidate for developing novel anti-PRV drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery is strongly dependent on the sulfur electrodes materials. Due to the chemical interaction between electrodes and intermediates produced in charging and discharging process, the Janus‐polar two dimensional (2D) electrode materials can enhance the electrochemical performance of Li–S battery by overcoming shuttle effect and increasing diffusion rates. Here, it is explored the structural, electronic, and dynamic characteristics of Li ion, S8 cluster, and lithium polysulfides adsorbed over Janus Phosphorus Nitride monolayer with blue phosphorene phase (b‐PN) by using first‐principles calculations. The reported findings highlight potential of the b‐PN monolayer as a good host material, given that the large absorption energies of different clusters vary from −0.47 to −3.78 eV, which can suppress shuttle effect effectively. These strong adsorptions are origin from the chemical interaction between nitrogen atoms of the b‐PN and Li atoms in lithium polysulfides in present work. Particularly, it is predicted that b‐PN monolayer has extremely small diffusion barriers for Li ion and Li2S8 clusters of 0.10 and 0.03 eV, which leading to a higher battery charge and discharge rate than reported graphene and MoS2. It is hoped that this efficient strategy for promising host materials of sulfur‐electrode guides the development of next‐generation lithium–sulfur batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-mRNA splicing is an essential step during gene expression, which takes place in the spliceosome, a large dynamic ribonucleoprotein complex assembled in a stepwise manner. During the last decade, several spliceosomal mutants were functionally identified to cause a lengthened circadian period by introducing intron retention defects into circadian clock genes in Arabidopsis. However, the spliceosomal components that play opposite roles in the circadian period via alternative 3′ splice site (Alt 3'ss) are largely unknown. Here, we demonstrated that XCT (XAP5 CIRCADIAN TIMEKEEPER) is a key spliceosomal component associated with multiple splicing factors. Moreover, genome-wide analysis revealed that inactivation of XCT particularly results in defects in Alt 3'ss recognition by RNA sequencing. Further analysis indicated that a strong alteration in the 3′ splice sites of LHY and TIC partly accounts for the shortened circadian period of the xct mutant. Therefore, our results demonstrated that mutations in XCT shortened the circadian period partly by alternative splicing of LHY and TIC particularly in 3′ splice site recognition, which provides new insight into the link between alternative splicing and the circadian clock. • XCT is identified to be a spliceosomal component in Arabidopsis. • XCT is particularly required for 3′ splice site recognition in pre-mRNA splicing. • XCT regulates circadian rhythm partly via alternative splicing of LHY and TIC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrosion of metallic materials can have a detrimental impact on their performance, leading to a shortened service life of engineering equipment and posing risks to both people and the environment. This paper presents a novel epoxy resin (EP)-based composite coating (PFANI-GO/EP) that offers triple corrosion protection functions: barrier, passivation, and corrosion inhibition. Perfluorooctanoic acid-doped polyaniline modified graphene oxide (PFANI-GO) demonstrates superhydrophobicity, effectively enhancing the coating's barrier ability against corrosive substances. The combination of PANI and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in composite materials aids in the formation of a passivation film and hydrophobic layer, which prevent metal corrosion. After a 15-day immersion in brine, the PFANI-GO/EP coating demonstrates the highest impedance modulus of 1 × 109 Ω·cm2 at 0.01 Hz, compared to pure EP coating, GO/EP coating, and PFANI/EP coating. Therefore, due to its corrosion resistance and prolonged corrosion aging time, PFANI-GO/EP coating shows promising potential for mitigating metal corrosion. • PFANI-GO with superhydrophobicity enhances the barrier effect of coatings against corrosive media. • PFANI-GO with passivation and corrosion inhibition properties is designed as a multifunctional nanofiller. • PFANI-GO/EP composite coatings with excellent barrier, passivation and corrosion inhibition properties. • The PFANI-GO/EP composite coating still possesses excellent corrosion protection properties after prolonged immersion at 3.5 wt%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al 2 O 3 –Y 3 Al 5 O 12 :Ce (Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce) eutectic with weak attenuation at high temperature has a wide range of applications in high-power white light solid-state lighting. However, the general color rendering index (general CRI, R a , the average value of R 1 -R 8) of phosphor-converted white light-emitting diode (Pc-WLED) based on this material is usually no higher than 70 (CCT < 6500 K). We grew Al 2 O 3 -YAG eutectics doped with three ions of Ce3+, Pr3+, and Cr3+ by the micro pulling-down (μ-PD) method to improve the R a through the co-luminescence and energy-transfer. The co-luminescence and energy-transfer were analyzed by the excitation-emission spectrum and the spectral power distribution. Results show that the energy-transfer between Ce3+ and Pr3+ ions in Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce, Pr occurs with each other, visibly enhancing the emission at around 610 nm and 694 nm, increases the R a by 8.4 compared to Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce. Moreover, the R a of the Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce and Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Cr stacked Pc-WLED increases by 20.4 compared to Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce, reaching 78.7. In addition, (R 9 , the special CRI for strong red, is 59.). In addition, the annealed (H 2) single-doped eutectics have little change compared to unannealed ones in luminescence, but the co-doped ones with multiple ions have a significant change. Significantly, the luminous efficiency of Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce after annealing is only increased by 4%, while that of Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce, Pr is increased by 13%. These studies show that the CRI of Pc-WLED base on Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce eutectic can be improved by ion co-doping in eutectic or superposition of Al 2 O 3 -YAG eutectic doped with other ions. • The co-luminescence of Ce3+ and Pr3+ in Al 2 O 3 –YAG enhancing the emission of 610 nm and 694 nm, increases the R a by 8.4. • The Cr3+ in Al 2 O 3 –YAG:Ce absorbs the emission spectra of the Ce3+ but quenches the fluorescence produced by Ce3+, which seriously hinders the luminescence of Ce3+. • The R a of the Al 2 O 3 –YAG:Ce and Al 2 O 3 –YAG:Cr stacked phosphor-converted LED increases by 20.4, reaching 78.7 (R 9 = 59). • The luminous efficiency of Al 2 O 3 –YAG:Ce after annealing is only increased by 4%, while that of Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce, Pr is increased by 13%. • It is found that the co-doping of Pr3+ ions will increase the probability of Ce4+ in Al 2 O 3 -YAG:Ce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]