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We propose an SPH‐based method for simulating viscoelastic non‐Newtonian fluids within a multiphase framework. For this, we use mixture models to handle component transport and conformation tensor methods to handle the fluid's viscoelastic stresses. In addition, we consider a bonding effects network to handle the impact of microscopic chemical bonds on phase transport. Our method supports the simulation of both steady‐state viscoelastic fluids and discontinuous shear behavior. Compared to previous work on single‐phase viscous non‐Newtonian fluids, our method can capture more complex behavior, including material mixing processes that generate non‐Newtonian fluids. We adopt a uniform set of variables to describe shear thinning, shear thickening, and ordinary Newtonian fluids while automatically calculating local rheology in inhomogeneous solutions. In addition, our method can simulate large viscosity ranges under explicit integration schemes, which typically requires implicit viscosity solvers under earlier single‐phase frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban rail vehicle congestion restricts the smoothness and operation capability of rail transit lines. This paper proposes an intelligent congestion prevention scheduling method for urban rail vehicles based on multi terminal and multi line transfer in a time-varying environment. Firstly, based on SARIMA model and SVM model, the target model of urban rail vehicle congestion prevention scheduling in time-varying environment is established. Secondly, with the optimal spacing of stations as the optimization object and the allocation of urban rail vehicle dispatching stations as the input bar, the global optimal objective function of rail vehicle anti congestion dispatching is obtained, and the optimization objective is determined. Then, according to the evacuation conditions of time and traffic capacity, taking the passenger flow distribution conditions of urban rail vehicle dispatching stations as the input conditions, and based on the passenger flow distribution law, the passenger flow prediction model of urban rail transit under the condition of multi station and multi line is constructed. Finally, based on the passenger flow data, the passenger flow change characteristics of future stations are predicted to achieve the anti blocking dispatching of urban rail vehicles. The simulation test results show that in a time-varying environment, this method can effectively alleviate traffic congestion, optimize the selection of rail transit routes, and improve passenger travel efficiency at different starting and ending points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the requirement of mobile robots to achieve high mobility and strong obstacle-crossing in complex and variable environment, a design scheme of passive transformable wheel-legged obstacle-crossing robot is proposed. The transformable wheel conversion process of the robot is obtained by external force operation, so no additional driver is required, which reduces the complexity of the mechanism. Firstly, based on the three-dimensional modeling of the whole robot, the structure, principle and force of the transformable wheel are analyzed, and then the structure optimization is carried out by taking the ratio of the triggering torque during the transformation process and radius before and after unfolding as the index. Afterwards, the force condition during the transformable stage of the robot is analyzed and the relevant parameters of the robot platform are adjusted to achieve stable obstacle crossing. Finally, kinematics simulation of transformation and obstacle-crossing process of the robot is carried out by using the Adams software, physical prototype is made and rationality of the structure design of the whole machine is verified by experiment.

Abstract Difficulty falling asleep is one of the typical insomnia symptoms. However, intervention therapies available nowadays, ranging from pharmaceutical to hi-tech tailored solutions, remain ineffective due to their lack of precise real-time sleep tracking, in-time feedback on the therapies, and an ability to keep people asleep during the night. This paper aims to enhance the efficacy of such an intervention by proposing a novel sleep aid system that can sense multiple physiological signals continuously and simultaneously control auditory stimulation to evoke appropriate brain responses for fast sleep promotion. The system, a lightweight, comfortable, and user-friendly headband, employs a comprehensive set of algorithms and dedicated own-designed audio stimuli. Compared to the gold-standard device in 883 sleep studies on 377 subjects, the proposed system achieves (1) a strong correlation (0.89 ± 0.03) between the physiological signals acquired by ours and those from the gold-standard PSG, (2) an 87.8% agreement on automatic sleep scoring with the consensus scored by sleep technicians, and (3) a successful non-pharmacological real-time stimulation to shorten the duration of sleep falling by 24.1 min. Conclusively, our solution exceeds existing ones in promoting fast falling asleep, tracking sleep state accurately, and achieving high social acceptance through a reliable large-scale evaluation.

Objective: This study aimed to optimize the processing technology of edible fungi and evaluate its application potential as flavoring agents in the food industry. Methods: The content of non-volatile flavor components of the samples was determined by ion chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, and the umami of the samples was evaluated by equal umami concentration. The volatile aroma components in the samples were detected by GC-MS, electronic nose and electronic tongue. The microstructure before and after Nano-pulverization was observed, and the experiment of increasing freshness and reducing salt was carried out. Results: After Nano-pulverization, the contents of umami amino acids, flavor nucleotides and organic acids in Stropharia rugosoannulata and A. bisporus increased significantly, and the types and quantities of volatile compounds increased significantly, while Nano-pulverization had little effect on the flavor components of Volvariella volvacea. The results of the electronic tongue showed that the pulverized samples were significantly improved in both umami and saltiness, the addition of 0.5% Nano-pulverization A. bisporus could increase the salt concentration by 0.28%, and the umami value was increased by 145%. Conclusion: Nano-pulverization technology can improve the taste of food. Nano-pulverized edible fungus powder can be used as an effective alternative to salt and flavor enhancers in the food manufacturing industry.

Abstract The RON receptor tyrosine kinase is an exceptionally interesting target in oncology and immunology. It is not only overexpressed in a wide variety of tumors but also has been shown to be expressed on myeloid cells associated with tumor infiltration, where it serves to dampen tumour immune responses and reduce the efficacy of anti-CTLA4 therapy. Potent and selective inhibitory antibodies to RON might therefore both inhibit tumor cell growth and stimulate immune rejection of tumors. We derived cloned and sequenced a new panel of exceptionally avid anti-RON antibodies with picomolar binding affinities that inhibit MSP-induced RON signaling and show remarkable potency in antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Antibody specificity was validated by cloning the antibody genes and creating recombinant antibodies and by the use of RON knock out cell lines. When radiolabeled with 89-Zirconium, the new antibodies 3F8 and 10G1 allow effective immuno-positron emission tomography (immunoPET) imaging of RON-expressing tumors and recognize universally exposed RON epitopes at the cell surface. The 10G1 was further developed into a novel bispecific T cell engager with a 15 pM EC50 in cytotoxic T cell killing assays.

In view of the problem that current context-aware recommender systems take users and systems as the main research direction and do not consider actual transportation network location characteristics,this article introduces a geographic information recommender system optimized by transportation network data. The system combines with transportation network data of geographic information in the context-aware recommender system to optimize the recommended results. Experimental results show that the recommended quality get improved significantly.

This paper presents a novel fast neighbor searching method. By using this method,fluid simulation based on smooth particle hydrodynamics(SPH) can be parallelized easily and run on graphic processing unit(GPU) with high efficiency. The neighbor searching method can search two or more kinds of particles,while saving their information in the same background grid. Ghost boundary particles are introduced to improve the accuracy of boundaries,which can enhance the fidelity of the fluid simulation. Experiments show that the proposed method is more efficient than the traditional SPH method based on GPU.

Abstract Background An increasing number of authors employing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and virtual histology (VH-IVUS) have investigated the effect of statin use on plaque volume (PV) and plaque composition. However, inconsistent results have been reported. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the appropriate regimen of statins to effectively stabilize vulnerable coronary plaques. Methods Online electronic databases were carefully searched for all relevant studies. We compared mean values of PV and plaque composition between baseline and follow-up in patients receiving statin therapy. We pooled treatment effects and calculated mean differences (MD) with the 95% confidence interval (CI) using a random-effects model. By stratified analyses, we explored the influence of clinical presentation, dose and duration of statin treatment, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels on the effects of statins. Results Seventeen studies involving 2,171 patients were analyzed. Statin therapy significantly decreased PV (−5.3 mm3; 95% CI: –3.3 mm3 to −7.2 mm3; P < 0.001), without heterogeneity. When considering the dose and duration of statins used, only subgroups employing a high dose and long duration demonstrated a significant reduction in PV (p < 0.001). A significant decrease in PV was noted if achieved LDL-C levels were p < 0.001). Statin treatment could induce a twofold decrease in PV in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared with that observed in patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP). A regressive trend was seen for necrotic core volume (MD: –2.1 mm3; 95% CI: –4.7 mm3 to 0.5 mm3, P = 0.11). However, statin use did not induce a significant change for fibrotic, fibro-fatty, or dense calcium compositions. Conclusions Our meta-analysis demonstrated that statin therapy (especially that involving a high dose and long duration and achieving

Abstract Background Daming capsule (DMC), a traditional Chinese formula, has a lipid-modulating action with reduced adverse side effects as compared with other lipid lowering compounds. Since endothelial dysfunction often accompanies the hyperlipidemic state, we hypothesize that DMC might restore endothelial dysfunction produced by a high-fat (HF) diet. Importantly, we also investigate possible mechanisms involved in mediating the effects of DMC on vascular reactivity. Methods Rats were divided into four groups: control, HF diet, HF mixed DMC diet, HF mixed atorvastatin (ATV) diet. After 30 days, the thoracic cavity was exposed to remove the thoracic aorta for (i) histological examination; (ii) measurement of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) by western blot; and (iii) tension study of thoracic aortic ring. Results HF diet induced significant attenuation in the contraction and relaxation of rat aortic rings. Treatment with DMC significantly improved the relaxation of the aortic rings as compared with those from HF rats (P < 0.05), which was abolished by a nonspecific NOS inhibitor L-NAME. Moreover DMC significantly restored the decrease in eNOS expression induced by HF diet. Similar results were found in histopathologic changes. DMC failed to restore the loss of vasocontraction of aorta explained by an impairment of ATP-sensitive K+ channels (KATP) on the structure and/or function. DMC exerted the same protective effect as ATV, a positive control drug, on vascular injury produced by HF diet. Conclusion DMC partially protects the aorta from HF-induced endothelial dysfunction via upregulation of the expression of eNOS.

Abstract Background The incidence of malignant melanoma (MM) was occurring at a faster rate than for most neoplasm worldwide, and melanoma metastasis is still the most formidable problem. So it is necessarily to find some biomarkers associated with melanoma metastasis. Methods In our study, 8 spontaneous lung metastatic mice models were created by B16F10 subcutaneously transplantation. The differential protein profiles of two kinds of subcutaneous transplanted tumor tissues, which was parental B16F10 (B16 group) and corresponding lung metastases (B16M group) were detected by two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS). Western blotting was used to validate the results, and the clinical significance of individual protein was detected furtherly in a set of human samples. Result In this study, thirty proteins were found to be differentially expressed (ratio > 2 or < -2, P < 0.01) and thirteen of them were identified by MS. Highly expressed proteins in B16M group included cytoskeleton/structure proteins (vimentin, gamma-actin, β-actin, laminin binding protein), the chaperone family of proteins (heavy-chain binding protein, Bip), immunoproteasome assembly (proteasome activator REG alpha) and others involved in glycolysis activity (PGK1, enolase, TPI, human skeletal muscle GAPDH) and protein transport (myoglobin). Vimentin was significantly up-regulated in B16M group compared with B16 group which was validated by western blotting. Immunohistochemistry was performed in a set of clinical samples, the results showed that over-expression of vimentin was frequently observed in primary melanoma patients with hematogenous metastasis (P < 0.05), not associated with lymph node metastasis (P > 0.05). The presence of TNM stage was a independent indicator of poor prognosis for melanoma patients (P = 0.004). Conclusion The aberrant immunohistochemical expression of vimentin in primary melanoma tissues may help to call attention for patients with high risk of hematogenous metastasis. That might be as a novel metastatic indicator for melanoma. In a word, vimentin is not only the dignostic marker but also the hematogenous metastasis predictor for melanomas clinically.

Halogenophilic nucleophilic substitution (S N 2X) has a distinctly different reaction pathway compared to the bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction (S N 2), but they can lead to the same reaction product. However, their differences can be distinguished by studying stereoselective reactions in which both reaction pathways are possible. Herein, we utilize the stereospecific nature of S N 2 and the presence of a pro-chiral anion intermediate in S N 2X to conduct a quantitative study in which both S N 2 and S N 2X reactions exist. We developed a procedure supported by kinetic simulations to measure the halogenophilic percentage ( X %). We also developed a new parameter, relative halogenophilicity ( H ), to quantify the intrinsic characteristics of S N 2X reactions and found it to correlate well with the Hammett and Mayr postulates. We studied the time dependency of X % under different reaction conditions, which led to the discovery of two new distinct mechanisms: chalcogenophilic nucleophilic substitution (S N 2Ch) reaction and bromide-catalyzed dynamic kinetic resolution. The S N 2 and S N 2X reactions exhibit similar behavior from both thermodynamic and kinetic perspectives, suggesting that they occur to varying degrees in most of the reactions. Consequently, they are inherently linked and should not be considered in isolation.

Objectives: This research aimed to understand the long-term trends in the age of menarche among girls and spermarche among boys, and to analyze the factors that may influence the onset of menarche and first spermarche., Methods: The study was based on data from 49 566 students in Henan Province collected from the Chinese National Surveys on Students' Constitution and Health (CNSSCH) conducted between 2000 and 2019. Median age at menarche and spermarche was estimated by probit analysis. t-Tests were used to analyze the influence of menarche and first spermarche on physical examination indexes of adolescent children, and the chi-squared test was used to compare whether the differences in physical activity were statistically significant., Results: The age at menarche has decreased from 12.33 years in 2000 to 12.00 years in 2019, and the age at first spermarche has decreased from 14.01 years in 2000 to 13.99 years in 2019. The age at first spermarche in urban boys (13.61 years in 2000; 12.94 years in 2014) was consistently younger than that in rural boys (14.43 years in 2000; aged 13.08 in 2014), except in 2019. The age of menarche in urban girls (12.23 years in 2000; 11.89 years in 2019) was always earlier than that in rural girls (12.44 years in 2000; 12.05 years in 2019)., Conclusions: The age at menarche and spermarche for children in Henan Province generally showed a decreasing trend from 2000 to 2019. The status of BMI is significantly associated with the early onset of puberty in children., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

γ-Cyclodextrin (γ-CD) is an attractive material among the natural cyclodextrins owing to its excellent properties. γ-CD is primarily produced from starch by γ-cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (γ-CGTase) in a controlled system. However, difficulty in separation and low conversion rate leads to high production costs for γ-CD. In this study, γ-CGTase from Bacillus sp. G-825-6 STB17 was used in γ-CD production from cassava starch. With the introduction of sodium tetraphenylborate (NaBPh 4 ), the total conversion rate was promoted from an initial 18.07 % to 50.49 % and the γ-CD ratio reached 78.81 % with a yield of 39.79 g/L. Furthermore, the mechanism was conducted via the determination of binding constant, which indicated that γ-CD exhibited much stronger binding strength with NaBPh 4 than β-CD. The reformation of water molecules and the chaotropic effect might be the main driving forces for the interaction. Additionally, the conformations of CD complexes were depicted by NMR and molecular docking. The results further verified different binding patterns between CDs and tetraphenylborate ions, which might be the primary reason for the specific binding. This system not only guides γ-CD production with an efficient and easy-to-remove production aid but also offers a new perspective on the selection of complexing agents in CD production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mitigating the cold denaturation of gluten protein during frozen storage is crucial for the quality improvement of frozen cereal products. Our previous study observed that starch derivatives, especially short-clustered maltodextrin (SCMD), could significantly improve frozen dough quality, alleviating the deterioration of gluten-network structure. To further reveal the cryoprotection mechanism of SCMD on gluten protein during frozen storage, the modulatory roles of SCMD in the hydration capacity and conformation behavior of gluten protein were explored, in comparison with DE2 maltodextrin (MD) and pregelatinized starch (PGS). Results demonstrated that SCMD significantly facilitated the reservation of bound water and decreased the surface hydrophobicity of gluten protein after 8 weeks of frozen storage. Remarkable effects of SCMD on stabilizing the secondary structure and microenvironment of aromatic amino acids of gluten protein were observed. Further mechanistic investigation showed that when the temperature dropped from 300 to 250 K, the short-clustered structure could stabilize the α-helixes more evidently than linear structures through hydrogen bonds with water and steric hindrance effect, rather than directly with protein. Our findings will provide novel insights into the cold denaturation of gluten protein and useful guidance in selecting the optimum structure to suppress this denaturation, improving the quality of frozen cereal products.

Background: Diabetes poses a serious global challenge, given its increasing prevalence, detrimental effects on public health, and substantial economic burden. Since 1950s, tens of drugs have been approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the past decade, the medical community and regulatory agencies have moved away from the glucose-centric paradigm and increasingly call for a holistic approach to assess different treatments' benefits and harms., Objective: This study aimed to assess the medication efficiency and technological progress of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) drugs, by considering their physiological outcomes, including both benefits (i.e., glucose lowering and weight loss) and adverse effects (mortality), relative to dosing frequency., Methods: To derive medication efficiency, this study utilized data from the US FDA and prominent meta-analyses. Given that both the benefits and adverse effects of medications are multidimensional, this study employed a nonparametric frontier method, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, to integrate these factors into a measure of medication efficiency. Physiological outcomes could assume both positive and negative values. Adverse effects were regarded undesirable outputs. The DEA model was built under the framework of directional distance function and was able to handle negative and undesirable values which naturally arose in the case of T2D medications., Results: The paper presented a ranking of 20 T2D drugs in terms of medication efficiency. Three of them were able to attain the highest medication efficiency, all of which were in the GLP-1 class, including oral Semaglutide, subcutaneous Semaglutide and Dulaglutide. However, the other two GLP-1 drugs, Lixisenatide and Liraglutide, were less efficient. The average medication efficiency of drugs approved post-2010 was significantly higher than pre-2010 drugs. High dose frequency, low HbA1c reduction and insignificant weight loss were the main driving factors behind inefficiencies. Overall, medication efficiency provided an alternative perspective on treatment effectiveness other than conventional measures such as cost-effectiveness., Competing Interests: The author(s) declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Xu, Liu, Ban, Liu, Yan and Han.)

Background: Artificial intelligence has been proposed for brain metastasis (BM) segmentation but it has not been fully clinically validated. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a system for BM segmentation., Methods: A deep-learning-based BM segmentation system (BMSS) was developed using contrast-enhanced MR images from 488 patients with 10338 brain metastases. A randomized crossover, multi-reader study was then conducted to evaluate the performance of the BMSS for BM segmentation using data prospectively collected from 50 patients with 203 metastases at 5 centers. Five radiology residents and 5 attending radiologists were randomly assigned to contour the same prospective set in assisted and unassisted modes. Aided and unaided Dice similarity coefficients (DSCs) and contouring times per lesion were compared., Results: The BMSS alone yielded a median DSC of 0.91 (95% confidence interval, 0.90-0.92) in the multi-center set and showed comparable performance between the internal and external sets (P = .67). With BMSS assistance, the readers increased the median DSC from 0.87 (0.87-0.88) to 0.92 (0.92-0.92) (P < .001) with a median time saving of 42% (40-45%) per lesion. Resident readers showed a greater improvement than attending readers in contouring accuracy (improved median DSC, 0.05 [0.05-0.05] vs 0.03 [0.03-0.03]; P < .001), but a similar time reduction (reduced median time, 44% [40-47%] vs 40% [37-44%]; P = .92) with BMSS assistance., Conclusions: The BMSS can be optimally applied to improve the efficiency of brain metastasis delineation in clinical practice., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology.)

Strigolactones (SLs) are hormones essential for plant development and environmental responses. SL perception requires the formation of the complex composed of an SL receptor DWARF14 (D14), F-box protein D3, and transcriptional repressor D53, triggering ubiquitination and degradation of D53 to activate signal transduction. However, mechanisms of SL perception and their influence on plant architecture and environmental responses remain elusive and controversial. Here, we report that key residues at interfaces of the AtD14-D3-ASK1 complex are essential for the activation of SL perception, discover that overexpression of the D3-CTH motif negatively regulates SL perception to enhance tillering, and reveal the importance of phosphorylation and N-terminal disordered (NTD) domain in mediating ubiquitination and degradation of D14. Importantly, low nitrogen promotes phosphorylation and stabilization of D14 to repress rice tillering. These findings reveal a panorama of the activation, termination, and regulation of SL perception, which determines the plasticity of plant architecture in complex environments., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The rapid digestion of starch, as the main source of energy in the human diet, causes an acute increase in blood sugar levels that will affect blood glucose homeostasis. The inhibition of α-amylase activity is an effective way of reducing starch digestibility, thereby controlling postprandial glycemia. As a class of carbohydrate polymers, microbial exopolysaccharides (EPSs) have garnered widespread attention for their inhibitory effects on α-amylase, but there is a lack of comprehensive review in this area. This paper aimed to review the inhibitory activity of microbial EPSs on α-amylase and their interaction mechanisms, and the effect of microbial EPSs on lowering blood glucose levels and regulating glycolipid metabolism in vivo were also discussed. Numerous studies have reported that EPSs with α-amylase inhibition activity are primarily produced by lactic acid bacteria. Microbial EPSs with an appropriate range of molecular weight, high proportion of glucose or mannose or arabinose residues, and high uronic acid content might be acceptable to inhibit α-amylase activity. Additionally, microbial EPSs exhibited potential anti-diabetic effects in mice, reducing blood glucose levels, and regulating glycolipid metabolism and gut microbiota. The information covered in this review may enhance the development and application of EPSs in functional food and pharmaceutical research., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Caiming Li reports financial support was provided by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Science and Technology Support Program (Modern Agriculture) of Jiangsu Province. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Actinomyces viscous (A. viscous) is well documented as a major cariogenic bacterium in the oral cavity and needs to be inhibited and removed timely. Essential oils (EOs) are recognized as secure antibacterial agents for treating oral diseases, but their volatility and insolubility limit their application. In this study, cinnamaldehyde was screened as the optimum EO for inhibiting the A. viscous growth by a micro-agar dilution method and microencapsulated by cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase)-catalyzed products. The antibacterial effects against A. viscous were investigated and compared with the free cinnamaldehyde. Antibacterial diameter, antibacterial efficiency and stability, and time-kill curve results revealed that the cinnamaldehyde emulsion had better antibacterial properties. 1 MIC of the cinnamaldehyde emulsion had an inhibitory zone of 9.92 nm, a 100 % inhibition rate when acting for 2 min or 5 min, and still maintained the same inhibitory effect for 2 years. The extracellular environment showed more pH decrease, conductivity increase, and protein leakage, suggesting damage to the cell membrane. Microstructure and flow cytometric analysis further revealed that the CGTase-catalyzed products induced more changes in the A. viscous membrane integrity. Based on the results, CGTase-catalyzed products can be used as a potential substance for encapsulating EOs for treating oral bacteria., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Non-digestible oligosaccharides are known to exert health-promoting effects. However, the specific mechanisms by which they regulate host physiology remain unclear. Understanding these mechanisms will facilitate the development of non-digestible oligosaccharide compositions that can achieve synergistic effects. This study selected three representative non-digestible oligosaccharides, namely xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS), galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), and isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO), to investigate their effects as dietary interventions on mice fed a high-fat diet. The results demonstrated that XOS and IMO synergistically mitigated weight gain and ectopic lipid deposition. Further analysis revealed that XOS significantly altered the composition of the gut microbiota, while IMO significantly enhanced insulin sensitivity via the PI3K/Akt pathway. Moreover, the combination of XOS and IMO synergistically promoted the oxidation and breakdown of fatty acids and increased the abundance of acetate and propionate-producing bacteria, such as Lactobacillus . These findings suggest a novel strategy for obesity management based on dietary intervention with XOS and IMO.

The functional characteristics of starch films are significantly influenced by the amylose content and the distribution of the amylopectin chain length. This work used 1,4-α-glucan branching enzyme to molecularly reconstruct corn, pea, and cassava starch in order to examine the association. Films made of both natural and enzyme-modified starch were produced using the casting method. The study investigated the variations in starch films properties and explored the relationship between starch molecular structure and film qualities by correlation analysis. The results showed a significant positive connection (r = 0.954) between the tensile strength and amylose content, as well as a positive correlation (r = 0.939) between the A chains and the elongation at break. The average chain length (r = 0.932) and amylose content (r = 0.902) showed a positive correlation with the degradation temperature, whereas the amylose content (r = -0.946) showed an adverse correlation with the transparency. The B3 chain (r = 0.851) and the average chain length (r = 0.839) both exhibited a positive connection with its contact angle. As a result, our study thoroughly assesses how starch structure affects the characteristics of starch films and offers a fundamental modification pathway for the development of new application areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Environmentally friendly and non-toxic bio-based adhesives are emerging as the most promising substitutes for petroleum-based adhesives, attracting increasing attention. This work involved the synthesis of a starch-based adhesive for particleboards by grafting diacetone acrylamide (DAAM) onto starch. The graft polymerization was initiated using three different initiators: ammonium persulfate (APS), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )/ammonium ferrous sulfate system, and ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN). A comparative study was conducted to assess the varying effects of these initiators. The results showed that in the graft copolymerization of starch with DAAM, different initiators produced different types of free radicals, and CAN initiation produced alkyl radicals and long-chain alkyl radicals with a peak total spin value of 3.96 × 10 15 , and thus had the highest grafting efficiency and grafting rate of 72.59 % and 16.75 %, respectively. From the comparison of the total number of spins, it can be seen that CAN is more targeted for starch initiation. In addition, characterization results from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and confocal Raman spectroscopy showed that DAAM underwent a graft copolymerization reaction with starch. Notably, the adhesive initiated by CAN demonstrated the highest water resistance and mechanical strength, with an absorption thickness expansion and static bending strength of 8.52 % and 10.56 MPa, respectively., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no commercial or associative interests that have appeared to inappropriately influence this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)