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This study evaluated the protein identification capabilities of the Top14 high-abundance protein removal kit (Top14) and the DMB MagicOmics low-abundance enrichment kit (DMB) on serum samples from healthy individuals (HC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. For HC samples, DMB treatment led to identifying 2.6 times proteins more than Top14 and 3.9 times more than untreated samples. For HCC samples, DMB achieved 3.7 times increase in protein identification over Top14 and 6.2 times increase over untreated samples. Although the Top14 kit was effective in removing high-abundance proteins, it was less proficient in detecting low-abundance proteins when compared to the DMB method. In terms of protein identification frequency, the DMB-treated samples had a significantly higher number of quantifiable proteins than both the Top14 and Blank groups. Over 50% of the proteins identified in the Top14 and Blank groups were also identified in the DMB group, ensuring a comprehensive proteome coverage as evidenced by KEGG analysis. The DMB method significantly outperformed the others in HCC serum samples, identifying 47 differentially expressed (DE) proteins, in contrast to 15 and 17 identified of the Top14 group and untreated samples, respectively, highlighting its superior ability to uncover critical biomarkers for disease analysis. KEGG pathway analysis showed that DE proteins identified by DMB were involved in 21 distinct pathways, significantly more than 5 and 1 pathways identified by Top14 group and untreated samples, demonstrating DMB’s advanced proteomic profiling capability. This study also underscored HSP90AB1, SPP1, ACTR3, SNCA, PECAM1, and SRC proteins increased in HCC serum samples based on DMB method, marking them as promising HCC biomarkers for disease screening.

Abstract Most blockchain users run light nodes on mobile devices. Due to limited storage and computation, light nodes cannot perform transaction validation. This shortage makes opportunities for malicious nodes to produce blocks containing invalid transactions, which results in the loss of funds for light nodes. Fraud proofs play a significant role in ensuring transaction security for light nodes. However, existing fraud proof schemes require honest collaborators and the processing of entire blocks. To address these limitations, Independent Single Transaction Verification Protocol for Light node Using Fraud Proofs without Collaborator called ISTVP is proposed that enables light nodes to independently verify transactions and generate fraud proofs without relying on collaborators or processing the entire block. To support ISTVP, SVST is introduced, an efficient block structure for single‐transaction verification. SVST not only efficiently indexes historical transaction outputs to improve verification efficiency, but also significantly reduces the storage requirements for verifying transactions to O(h+logn). Furthermore, the authors analyze the security of ISTVP and demonstrate that it satisfies both persistence and liveness, while maintaining the level of security of full node.

Abstract Background Tumor morphology, immune function, inflammatory levels, and nutritional status play critical roles in the progression of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). This multicenter study aimed to investigate the association between markers related to tumor morphology, immune function, inflammatory levels, and nutritional status with the prognosis of ICC patients. Additionally, a novel tumor morphology immune inflammatory nutritional score (TIIN score), integrating these factors was constructed. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 418 patients who underwent radical surgical resection and had postoperative pathological confirmation of ICC between January 2016 and January 2020 at three medical centers. The cohort was divided into a training set (n = 272) and a validation set (n = 146). The prognostic significance of 16 relevant markers was assessed, and the TIIN score was derived using LASSO regression. Subsequently, the TIIN-nomogram models for OS and RFS were developed based on the TIIN score and the results of multivariate analysis. The predictive performance of the TIIN-nomogram models was evaluated using ROC survival curves, calibration curves, and clinical decision curve analysis (DCA). Results The TIIN score, derived from albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR), albumin–globulin ratio (AGR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and tumor burden score (TBS), effectively categorized patients into high-risk and low-risk groups using the optimal cutoff value. Compared to individual metrics, the TIIN score demonstrated superior predictive value for both OS and RFS. Furthermore, the TIIN score exhibited strong associations with clinical indicators including obstructive jaundice, CEA, CA19-9, Child–pugh grade, perineural invasion, and 8th edition AJCC N stage. Univariate and multivariate analysis confirmed the TIIN score as an independent risk factor for postoperative OS and RFS in ICC patients (p

Abstract Background SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domains protein 3 (SHANK3) monogenic mutations or deficiency leads to excessive stereotypic behavior and impaired sociability, which frequently occur in autism cases. To date, the underlying mechanisms by which Shank3 mutation or deletion causes autism and the part of the brain in which Shank3 mutation leads to the autistic phenotypes are understudied. The hypothalamus is associated with stereotypic behavior and sociability. p38α, a mediator of inflammatory responses in the brain, has been postulated as a potential gene for certain cases of autism occurrence. However, it is unclear whether hypothalamus and p38α are involved in the development of autism caused by Shank3 mutations or deficiency. Methods Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis and immunoblotting were used to assess alternated signaling pathways in the hypothalamus of Shank3 knockout (Shank3 −/− ) mice. Home-Cage real-time monitoring test was performed to record stereotypic behavior and three-chamber test was used to monitor the sociability of mice. Adeno-associated viruses 9 (AAV9) were used to express p38α in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) or agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons. D176A and F327S mutations expressed constitutively active p38α. T180A and Y182F mutations expressed inactive p38α. Results We found that Shank3 controls stereotypic behavior and sociability by regulating p38α activity in AgRP neurons. Phosphorylated p38 level in hypothalamus is significantly enhanced in Shank3 −/− mice. Consistently, overexpression of p38α in ARC or AgRP neurons elicits excessive stereotypic behavior and impairs sociability in wild-type (WT) mice. Notably, activated p38α in AgRP neurons increases stereotypic behavior and impairs sociability. Conversely, inactivated p38α in AgRP neurons significantly ameliorates autistic behaviors of Shank3 −/− mice. In contrast, activated p38α in pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons does not affect stereotypic behavior and sociability in mice. Limitations We demonstrated that SHANK3 regulates the phosphorylated p38 level in the hypothalamus and inactivated p38α in AgRP neurons significantly ameliorates autistic behaviors of Shank3 −/− mice. However, we did not clarify the biochemical mechanism of SHANK3 inhibiting p38α in AgRP neurons. Conclusions These results demonstrate that the Shank3 deficiency caused autistic-like behaviors by activating p38α signaling in AgRP neurons, suggesting that p38α signaling in AgRP neurons is a potential therapeutic target for Shank3 mutant-related autism.

Summary: Low-oxygen conditions (hypoxia) have been associated primarily with cell-cycle arrest in dividing cells. Macrophages are typically quiescent in G0 but can proliferate in response to tissue signals. Here we show that hypoxia (1% oxygen tension) results in reversible entry into the cell cycle in macrophages. Cell cycle progression is largely limited to G0-G1/S phase transition with little progression to G2/M. This cell cycle transitioning is triggered by an HIF2α-directed transcriptional program. The response is accompanied by increased expression of cell-cycle-associated proteins, including CDK1, which is known to phosphorylate SAMHD1 at T592 and thereby regulate antiviral activity. Prolyl hydroxylase (PHD) inhibitors are able to recapitulate HIF2α-dependent cell cycle entry in macrophages. Finally, tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in lung cancers exhibit transcriptomic profiles representing responses to low oxygen and cell cycle progression at the single-cell level. These findings have implications for inflammation and tumor progression/metastasis where low-oxygen environments are common.

Summary: Many clinical studies indicate a significant decrease of peripheral T cells in Parkinson’s disease (PD). There is currently no mechanistic explanation for this important observation. Here, we found that small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) derived from in vitro and in vivo PD models suppressed IL-4 and INF-γ production from both purified CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and inhibited their activation and proliferation. Furthermore, neuronal-enriched sEVs (NEEVs) isolated from plasma of A53T-syn mice and culture media of human dopaminergic neurons carrying A53T-syn mutation also suppressed Th1 and Th2 differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells. Mechanistically, the suppressed phenotype induced by NEEVs was associated with altered programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) level in T cells. Blocking PD-L1 with an anti-PD-L1 antibody or a small molecule inhibitor BMS-1166 reversed T cell suppression. Our study provides the basis for exploring peripheral T cells in PD pathogenesis and as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for the disease.

Over the past decades, there has been ongoing effort to develop complex biomimetic tissue engineering strategies for in vitro cultivation and maintenance of organoids. The defined hydrogels can create organoid models for various organs by changing their properties and various active molecules. An increasing number of researches has been done on the application of hydrogels in organoids, and a large number of articles have been published on the topic. Although there have been existing reviews describing the application of hydrogels in the field of organoids, there is still a lack of comprehensive studies summarizing and analyzing the overall research trends in this field. The citation can be used as an indicator of the scientific influence of an article in its field. This study aims to evaluate the application of hydrogels in organoids through bibliometric analysis, and to predict the hotspots and developing trends in this field.

Abstract Benefitting from narrow beam divergence, photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers are expected to play an essential role in the ever-growing fields of optical communication and light detection and ranging. Lasers operating with 1.55 μm wavelengths have attracted particular attention due to their minimum fiber loss and high eye-safe threshold. However, high interband absorption significantly decreases their performance at this 1.55 μm wavelength. Therefore, stronger optical feedback is needed to reduce their threshold and thus improve the output power. Toward this goal, photonic-crystal resonators with deep holes and high dielectric contrast are often used. Nevertheless, the relevant techniques for high-contrast photonic crystals inevitably complicate fabrication and reduce the final yield. In this paper, we demonstrate the first continuous-wave operation of 1.55 μm photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers by using a ‘triple-lattice photonic-crystal resonator’, which superimposes three lattice point groups to increase the strength of in-plane optical feedback. Using this geometry, the in-plane 180° coupling can be enhanced threefold compared to the normal single-lattice structure. Detailed theoretical and experimental investigations demonstrate the much lower threshold current density of this structure compared to ‘single-lattice’ and ‘double-lattice’ photonic-crystal resonators, verifying our design principles. Our findings provide a new strategy for photonic crystal laser miniaturization, which is crucial for realizing their use in future high-speed applications.

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs), categorized as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are difficult to degrade, exhibiting reproductive toxicity and carcinogenicity. Exposure to dust and soil particles containing BFRs may cause various health problems. The research aimed to assess the concentrations, potential origins, and health risks associated with polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel BFRs (NBFRs) in road dust and green belt soil in Harbin. The study revealed that ΣPBDE concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 193.75 ng/g (median: 48.01 ng/g) in road dust and 8.07 to 195.33 ng/g (median: 38.19 ng/g) in green belt soil. Notably, TBBPA contributed the most to the ΣPBDEs concentrations. And the concentrations of ΣNBFRs ranged from 2.34 to 130.53 ng/g (median: 18.48 ng/g) in road dust and 2.50 to 46.70 ng/g (median: 7.85 ng/g) in green belt soil. And tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) was the most dominant compound in both samples. Highways exhibited lower ΣPBDE concentrations in dust samples but higher ΣNBFR concentrations in soil samples compared to other roads. Moreover, most of the BFRs had a positive correlation with each other, suggesting that they may have similar sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested BFRs sources in road dust may come from wire, paint, building materials or commercial products, likewise, BFRs in green belt soil may come from household or industrial products. Health risk assessment indicated that BFRs in both types of samples in Harbin had no non-carcinogenic risk to residents. These findings provide valuable insights into understanding BFR pollution characteristics, identifying specific sources, and recognizing health hazards in dust and soil samples on roads from Harbin.

Abstract Background Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a highly malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. This study aimed to investigate whether Hemoglobin, Albumin, Lymphocytes, and Platelets (HALP) score and Tumor Burden Score (TBS) serves as independent influencing factors following radical resection in patients with ICC. Furthermore, we sought to evaluate the predictive capacity of the combined HALP and TBS grade, referred to as HTS grade, and to develop a prognostic prediction model. Methods Clinical data for ICC patients who underwent radical resection were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were first used to find influencing factors of prognosis for ICC. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were then used to find the optimal cut-off values for HALP score and TBS and to compare the predictive ability of HALP, TBS, and HTS grade using the area under these curves (AUC). Nomogram prediction models were constructed and validated based on the results of the multivariate analysis. Results Among 423 patients, 234 (55.3%) were male and 202 (47.8) were aged ≥ 60 years. The cut-off value of HALP was found to be 37.1 and for TBS to be 6.3. Our univariate results showed that HALP, TBS, and HTS grade were prognostic factors of ICC patients (all P

This paper uses the Large-eddy simulation method to investigate the influence of riblet yaw angle on drag reduction rate with different immersion heights, revealing that the vortex structure is gradually transformed from riblet-tip vortex pairs to boundary vortex forms with the increase of yaw angle, and analyzing the influence mechanism of immersion height on the critical yaw angle. The result shows that the drag-reduction rate of riblets decreases as the yaw angle increases, and the critical angle of the riblet varies with the different immersion heights. When the immersion height is 0.7, 0.5, and 0.3, the critical yaw angle is close to 30, 40, and 50°, respectively. As the immersion height increases, the cross-flow velocity at the riblet tip is more accessible to reach the critical velocity at which a boundary vortex can be formed, resulting in a smaller critical yaw angle for larger immersion heights. Furthermore, with the yaw angle increases, the normal diffusivity of normal vorticity and spanwise vorticity increase and decrease, respectively, which indicates that the lateral flow fluctuations decrease beyond a critical yaw angle, while the Reynolds stress component due to energy dissipation induced by the streamwise velocity decreases. Meanwhile, with the formation of a boundary vortex, the ability of the riblet to reduce viscous shear stresses increases due to the reduction of near-wall velocity gradient, and the emergence of a high-pressure region on the windward side of the riblet and a low-pressure region on the leeward side, consequently augmenting the differential pressure drag. This work provides valuable insights for designing riblets with heightened effectiveness at larger yaw angles, thereby extending their applicability under diverse flow conditions.

Abstract Background Microvascular invasion (MVI) is the main factor affecting the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to identify accurate diagnostic biomarkers from urinary protein signatures for preoperative prediction. Methods We conducted label-free quantitative proteomic studies on urine samples of 91 HCC patients and 22 healthy controls. We identified candidate biomarkers capable of predicting MVI status and combined them with patient clinical information to perform a preoperative nomogram for predicting MVI status in the training cohort. Then, the nomogram was validated in the testing cohort (n = 23). Expression levels of biomarkers were further confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in an independent validation HCC cohort (n = 57). Results Urinary proteomic features of healthy controls are mainly characterized by active metabolic processes. Cell adhesion and cell proliferation-related pathways were highly defined in the HCC group, such as extracellular matrix organization, cell–cell adhesion, and cell–cell junction organization, which confirms the malignant phenotype of HCC patients. Based on the expression levels of four proteins: CETP, HGFL, L1CAM, and LAIR2, combined with tumor diameter, serum AFP, and GGT concentrations to establish a preoperative MVI status prediction model for HCC patients. The nomogram achieved good concordance indexes of 0.809 and 0.783 in predicting MVI in the training and testing cohorts. Conclusions The four-protein-related nomogram in urine samples is a promising preoperative prediction model for the MVI status of HCC patients. Using the model, the risk for an individual patient to harbor MVI can be determined.

We used the Vienna ab initio Simulation Package (VASP), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and diffuse reflectance (DRS) to optimize anode material for a photoelectric catalytic system. After screening how the doping of TiO2 by N and S affects its photoelectric properties, N-doped TiO2 was selected to fabricate the photoelectron catalytic (PEC) system. TiO2 nanotubes modified by N-doped TiO2 nanocrystals and activated carbon were used as an anode and as a photocathode, respectively, to decompose carbamazepine in water samples from the constructed wetlands. The calculations showed that the N-TiO2 NCs/TNTAs-AC/PTFE system had the highest content of •OH. The highest carbamazepine removal rate under the N-TiO2 NCs/TNTAs-AC/PTFE composite presence was at pH = 8, and 69% of carbamazepine was removed within 180 min of the constructed wetland water treatment at pH = 7.8. The PEC system containing modified (with nano N-TiO2) TiO2 nanotubes as an anode and activated carbon as a photocathode can effectively decompose carbamazepine in the constructed wetlands.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is a main cause of low back pain (LBP), which can lead to disability and thus generate a heavy burden on society. IVDD is characterized by a decrease in nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) and endogenous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), degradation of the extracellular matrix, macrophage infiltration, and blood vessel and nerve ingrowth. To date, the therapeutic approaches regarding IVDD mainly include conservative treatment and surgical intervention. However, both can only relieve symptoms rather than stop or revert the progression of IVDD, since the pathogenesis of IVDD is not yet clear. Pyroptosis, which is characterized by Caspase family dependence and conducted by the Gasdermin family, is a newly discovered mode of programmed cell death. Pyroptosis has been observed in NPCs, annulus fibrosus cells (AFCs), chondrocytes, MSCs, macrophages, vascular endothelial cells and neurons and may contribute to IVDD. MSCs are a kind of pluripotent stem cell that can be found in almost all tissues. MSCs have a strong ability to secrete extracellular vesicles (EVs), which contain exosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies. EVs derived from MSCs play an important role in pyroptosis regulation and could be beneficial for alleviating IVDD. This review focuses on clarifying the regulation of pyroptosis to improve IVDD by MSCs and EVs derived from MSCs.

In this paper, the integral sliding mode (ISM, SM) controller is designed to address the problem of implementing non-periodic sampled data for a class of networked linear systems with matched and unmatched uncertainties. Due to the redesigned gain of the nominal controller, the feedback control used by the nominal controller guarantees the asymptotic stability of the uncertain networked linear system. The discontinuous control uses intermittent control based on the reaching law to achieve the finite-time reachability of practical SM band. Based on the defined measurement error, the event-triggered (ET) condition can be derived, and furthermore, it guarantees a sufficient condition for the existence of the actual SM. On this basis, a quantization scheme is added to further decrease the network transmission burden of the linear system. No Zeno behavior occurs in the system owing to the existence of a positive lower bound of inter-event time. Compared with the conventional integral sliding mode control (ISMC, SMC), the proposed control law can not only relieve the network burden, but also decrease the transmission energy loss. Finally, simulation results of a numerical example and a mass-spring damping system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The synchronization control problem of a class of chaotic systems with unknown uncertainties and outside perturbation is addressed in this article by employing an innovative adaptive sliding mode controller (SM, SMC) constructed using a disturbance observer (DO). For the synchronous error system, the external disturbances estimated by the disturbance observer cannot be measured directly. If the appropriate gain matrix is chosen, the DO can approximate the unknown external disturbances well. Then a continuous adaptive SM controller based on the DO's output is designed by using adaptive techniques and the system dimensional expansion method. The Duffing-Holmes chaotic system is finally selected to numerically test the efficiency of the suggested strategy.

Abstract Input-Output (IO) data describing supply-demand relationships between buyers and sellers for goods and services within an economy have been used not only in economics but also in scientific, environmental, and interdisciplinary research. However, most conventional IO data are highly aggregated, resulting in challenges for researchers and practitioners who face complex issues in large countries such as China, where firms within the same IO sector may have significant differences in technologies across subnational regions and different ownerships. This paper is the first attempt to compile China’s interprovincial IO (IPIO) tables with separate information for mainland China-, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan-, and foreign-owned firms inside each province/industry pair. To do this, we collect relevant Chinese economic census data, firm surveys, product level Custom trade statistics, and firm value-added tax invoices and consistently integrate them into a 42-sector, 31-province IO account covering 5 benchmark years between 1997–2017. This work provides a solid foundation for a diverse range of innovative IO-based research in which firm heterogeneity information about location and ownership matters.

Layered rock-like samples containing saw-tooth interfaces of various joint roughness coefficients (JRC) and included angles were conducted uniaxial compression with the loading rate of 0.005 mm/s. The peak stress declines from 38.36–39.90 MPa to 17.35–30.67 MPa for included angle = 15°–60°, and then increases to 24.30–33.83 MPa for 60°–75°, but the peak strain decreases by 22.39%–41.30%. For JRC = 0–19.55, mechanical properties of samples are enhanced, while the anisotropy weakens. When the included angle is small (15°, 30°), the layered samples show a typical tensile splitting failure crossing the weak interlayers. For a large included angle of 45°–75°, failure modes are featured by shear sliding along weak interlayers combined with tensile splitting. As JRC increases, fracturing mechanism transition from shear sliding to mixed tension shear failure then to tensile splitting can be identified. With an increase in JRC or included angles, the global lateral strain of samples in plastic deformation stages changes from “sudden increase” to “progressive increase” to “jump increase”. For included angle = 15°, the layered sample produces dramatic lateral local strain at the weak interlayers due to tensile splitting failure. For included angle = 45°, both axial and lateral local strains at the weak interlayers show an obvious increase at the main shear failure surface. For a large included angle of 75°, the lateral local strain remarkably increases at the weak interlayers along with tensile failure of samples.

This review summarizes the potential role of gut microbes and their metabolites as novel mediators of psoriasis, including their composition and function in disease pathogenesis, progression, and management. Gut microbiota network analysis, colony construction, and in vivo large-scale interaction experiments showed that different degrees of damage and repair in psoriasis, both in animals and humans, involve cross-border homeostasis of the microbial community. Which gut microbiota interactions are present in psoriasis and how they collaborate with immune cells and influence psoriasis development via the gut-skin axis remain incompletely elucidated. In this article, we review the latest information on the unique patterns of gut microbiota and co-metabolites involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and attempt to explore microbial-based therapeutic targets derived from mono-and polymicrobial probiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, pharmacomicrobiomics, and dietary interventions as diagnostic or therapeutic approaches promising to provide new options and long-term management for psoriasis.

Aims: This study was designed to investigate the role of pericytes in the pathogenesis of perioperative neurocognitive disorder (PND). Methods: In this study, we established a PND model via sevoflurane anesthesia and tibial fracture surgery in 2-month-old and 16-month-old male C57BL/6 mice. On the third postoperative day, the mice were subjected to behavioral testing or sacrificed to collect brain tissue. The progression of hippocampal blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption and neuroinflammation was detected using transmission electron microscope and immunofluorescence. We also used western blotting to measure the levels of plasma-derived protein immunoglobulin G (IgG) and albumin in the hippocampus to assess the leakage of the BBB. Results: Aged mice did not experience age-related cognitive decline and BBB disruption compared with younger mice but only increased glial cell activity. Anesthesia/Surgery damaged cognitive function, reduced pericyte coverage, decreased the length of capillaries and levels of occludin and claudin-5, destroyed the structure of the BBB, exacerbated IgG and albumin accumulation in the hippocampus, and enhanced the activation of microglia and astrocytes in the hippocampus of aged mice. However, these negative effects did not occur in young mice. Conclusion: Our study showed that the loss of pericytes led to increased BBB permeability and neuroinflammation after anesthesia/surgery in aged mice, ultimately resulting in cognitive dysfunction.

Sag sections are freeway sections where the gradient varies significantly from top to bottom. Due to their special geometric characteristics, sag sections are often bottlenecks in motorway networks. However, we are still unclear about the underlying mechanisms of traffic congestion in the two-lane sag sections. Based on the actual lane change experience, a two-lane lattice traffic flow model at the sag sections considering the empirical lane change rate is proposed. The model is developed to reveal the evolutionary characteristics of traffic congestion at the sag section, and then to alleviate the traffic congestion problem at the sag section. In this paper, the empirical lane change rate is described as a function that depends on the road traffic density. First, the condition of traffic flow stability was obtained by analyzing the linear stability at sag sections when lane changes were allowed. The stability condition of traffic system show that lane change parameter and slope have important effects on the stability of traffic system. Then, the mKdV equation describing the phase transition of the traffic flow and its solution are obtained using nonlinear analysis. Finally, numerical simulations were performed. The results show that the increase of slope increases the traffic flow stability in uphill sections and the opposite in downhill sections. Moreover, the lane-change rate parameter can effectively increase the stability region and suppress traffic congestion.

We present the design, fabrication, and performance of high-speed oxide-confined 1030 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a short anti–waveguiding optical cavity. By using a half-wavelength cavity to enhance the limit of the optical field, the anti-waveguide design increases the oscillator strength, thus promoting high-speed modulation. We carefully optimized the multiple quantum wells and the doping profile in order to achieve high-speed operation. The developed VCSELs exhibit a modulation bandwidth exceeding 25.1 GHz at 25 °C, supporting back-to-back data rates up to 40 Gb/s under binary non-return-to-zero (NRZ) modulation.

Wild birds are considered to be the natural reservoir hosts of avian influenza viruses (AIVs). Wild bird-origin AIVs may spill over into new hosts and overcome species barriers after evolutionary adaptation. H13N8 AIVs used to be considered primarily circulated in multispecies gulls but have recently been shown to possess cross-species infectivity. In this study, we analyzed the genetic changes that occurred in the process of the evolution of H13 AIVs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that H13 AIVs underwent complex reassortment events. Based on the full genomic diversity, we divided H13 AIVs into 81 genotypes. Reassortment experiments indicated that basic polymerase 2 (PB2) and nucleoprotein (NP) genes of the H9N2 AIV significantly enhanced the polymerase activity of the H13N8 AIV. Using the replication-incompetent virus screening system, we identified two mutations, PB2-I76T and PB2-I559T, which could enhance the polymerase activity of the H13N8 AIV in mammalian cells. Notably, these mutations had been acquired by circulating H13N8 AIVs in 2015. These findings suggest that H13N8 AIVs are about to cross the host barrier. Occasional genetic reassortments with other AIVs and natural mutation events could promote this process. It is imperative to intensify monitoring efforts for H13N8 AIVs.

BackgroundThe degree of inflammation and immune status is widely recognized to be associated with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and is closely linked to poor postoperative survival. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) and the albumin bilirubin (ALBI) grade together exhibit better predictive strength compared to SII and ALBI separately in patients with ICC undergoing curative surgical resection.MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed on a cohort of 374 patients with histologically confirmed ICC who underwent curative surgical resection from January 2016 to January 2020 at three medical centers. The cohort was divided into a training set comprising 258 patients and a validation set consisting of 116 patients. Subsequently, the prognostic predictive abilities of three indicators, namely SII, ALBI, and SII+ALBI grade, were evaluated. Independent risk factors were identified through univariate and multivariate analyses. The identified independent risk factors were then utilized to construct a nomogram prediction model, and the predictive strength of the nomogram prediction model was assessed through Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) survival curves and calibration curves.ResultsUnivariate analysis of the training set, consisting of 258 eligible patients with ICC, revealed that SII, ALBI, and SII+ALBI grade were significant prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed the independent significance of SII+ALBI grade as a risk factor for postoperative OS and RFS (p < 0.05). Furthermore, we conducted an analysis of the correlation between SII, ALBI, SII+ALBI grade, and clinical features, indicating that SII+ALBI grade exhibited stronger associations with clinical and pathological characteristics compared to SII and ALBI. We constructed a predictive model for postoperative survival in ICC based on SII+ALBI grade, as determined by the results of multivariate analysis. Evaluation of the model’s predictive strength was performed through ROC survival curves and calibration curves in the training set and validation set, revealing favorable predictive performance.ConclusionThe SII+ALBI grade, a novel classification based on inflammatory and immune status, serves as a reliable prognostic indicator for postoperative OS and RFS in patients with ICC.

Abstract Background Human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA test was applied in cervical cancer screening as an effective cancer prevention strategy. The viral load of HPV generated by different assays attracted increasing attention on its potential value in disease diagnosis and progression discovery. Methods In this study, three HPV testing datasets were assessed and compared, including Hybrid Capture 2 (n = 31,954), Aptima HPV E6E7 (n = 3269) and HPV Cobas 4800 (n = 13,342). Logistic regression models for diagnosing early cervical lesions of the three datasets were established and compared. The best variable factor combination (VL + BV) and dataset (HC2) were used for the establishment of six machine learning models. Models were evaluated and compared, and the best-performed model was validated. Results Our results show that viral load value was significantly correlated with cervical lesion stages in all three data sets. Viral Load and Bacterial Vaginosis were the best variable factor combination for logistic regression model establishment, and models based on the HC2 dataset performed best compared with the other two datasets. Machine learning method Xgboost generated the highest AUC value of models, which were 0.915, 0.9529, 0.9557, 0.9614 for diagnosing ASCUS higher, ASC-H higher, LSIL higher, and HSIL higher staged cervical lesions, indicating the acceptable accuracy of the selected diagnostic model. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that HPV viral load and BV status were significantly associated with the early stages of cervical lesions. The best-performed models can serve as a useful tool to help diagnose cervical lesions early.

Data on immune response to the SARS-COV-2 AZD1222 vaccine are limited in African populations. Here, the authors show immunogenicity of the AZD1222 vaccine in two independent cohorts from West Africa, including seroprevalence levels prior to vaccine rollout in January 2021.

Although the natural hosts of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are wild birds, multiple subtypes of AIVs have established epidemics in numerous mammals due to their cross-species spillover. Replication and evolution in intermedia mammalian hosts may facilitate AIV adaptation in humans. Because of their large population and intimacy with humans, dogs could act as such an intermedia host. To monitor the epidemiology of canine influenza viruses (CIVs) in Liaoning, China, we performed three surveillances in November 2018, March 2019, and April 2019. Five H3N2 and seven novel H3N6 CIVs had been isolated. Since the N6 neuraminidase (NA) genes were clustered with the H5N6 AIV, there is a high possibility that these H3N6 CIVs were generated from a H3N2 CIVs and H5N6 AIVs reassortment case. In addition, the H3N6 CIV showed increased mammalian adaptation ability compared to all the H3N2 strains in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Even though isolated 3 months later, the March 2019 isolated H3N2 viruses replicated more efficiently than the November 2018 isolated viruses. Our study indicated that H3 CIVs were undergoing an evolution process, through both genetic mutations and gene reassortment, at an incredible speed.

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that an awake prone position may be beneficial for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or acute hypoxic respiratory failure (AHRF) in patients with COVID-19, but the results are not consistent, especially in terms of oxygenation outcomes and intubation rate. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the effects of the awake prone position on AHRF in patients with COVID-19 with all randomized controlled trials (RCTs).MethodsAn extensive search of online databases, including MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from 1 December 2019 to 30 October 2022, with no language restrictions was performed. This systematic review and meta-analysis are based on the PRISMA statement. We only included RCTs and used the Cochrane risk assessment tool for quality assessment.ResultsFourteen RCTs fulfilled the selection criteria, and 3,290 patients were included. A meta-analysis found that patients in the awake prone position group had more significant improvement in the SpO2/FiO2 ratio [mean difference (MD): 29.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.39–48.13; P = 0.001] compared with the usual care. The prone position also reduced the need for intubation [odd ratio (OR): 0.72; 95% CI: 0.61 to 0.84; P < 0.0001; I2 = 0%]. There was no significant difference in mortality, hospital length of stay, incidence of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and adverse events between the two groups.ConclusionThe awake prone position was a promising intervention method, which is beneficial to improve the oxygenation of patients with ARDS or AHRF caused by COVID-19 and reduce the need for intubation. However, the awake prone position showed no obvious advantage in mortality, hospital length of stay, incidence of ICU admission, and adverse events.Systematic review registrationInternational Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), identifier: CRD42022367885.

The microorganisms that co-exist between soil and rice systems in heavy metal-contaminated soil environments play important roles in the heavy metal pollution states of rice, as well as in the growth of the rice itself. In this study, in order to further examine the effects of soil microorganisms on the mercury (Hg) uptake of rice plants and determine potential soil phytoremediation agents, an enriched 199Hg isotope was spiked in a series of pot experiments to trace the absorption and migration of Hg and rice growth in the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). It was observed that the AMF inoculations significantly reduced the Hg concentration in the rice. The Hg concentration in rice in the AMF inoculation group was between 52.82% and 96.42% lower than that in the AMF non-inoculation group. It was also interesting to note that the presence of AMF tended to cause Hg (especially methyl-Hg (Me199Hg)) to migrate and accumulate in the non-edible parts of the rice, such as the stems and leaves. Under the experimental conditions selected in this study, the proportion of Me199Hg in rice grains decreased from 9.91% to 27.88%. For example, when the exogenous Hg concentration was 0.1 mg/kg, the accumulated methyl-Hg content in the grains of the rice in the AMF inoculation group accounted for only 20.19% of the Me199Hg content in the rice plants, which was significantly lower than that observed in the AMF non-inoculated group (48.07%). AMF also inhibited the absorption of Hg by rice plants, and the decrease in the Hg concentration levels in rice resulted in significant improvements in growth indices, including biomass and micro-indexes, such as antioxidant enzyme activities. The improvements occurred mainly because the AMF formed symbiotic structures with the roots of rice plants, which fixed Hg in the soil. AMF also reduce the bioavailability of Hg by secreting a series of substances and changing the physicochemical properties of the rhizosphere soil. These findings suggest the possibility of using typical co-existing microorganisms for the remediation of soil heavy metal contamination and provide valuable insights into reducing human Hg exposure through rice consumption.

Abstract Background Drug-resistant bacteria are important carriers of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs). This fact is crucial for the development of precise clinical drug treatment strategies. Long-read sequencing platforms such as the Oxford Nanopore sequencer can improve genome assembly efficiency particularly when they are combined with short-read sequencing data. Results Alcaligenes faecalis PGB1 was isolated and identified with resistance to penicillin and three other antibiotics. After being sequenced by Nanopore MinION and Illumina sequencer, its entire genome was hybrid-assembled. One chromosome and one plasmid was assembled and annotated with 4,433 genes (including 91 RNA genes). Function annotation and comparison between strains were performed. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that it was closest to A. faecalis ZD02. Resistome related sequences was explored, including ARGs, Insert sequence, phage. Two plasmid aminoglycoside genes were determined to be acquired ARGs. The main ARG category was antibiotic efflux resistance and β-lactamase (EC 3.5.2.6) of PGB1 was assigned to Class A, Subclass A1b, and Cluster LSBL3. Conclusions The present study identified the newly isolated bacterium A. faecalis PGB1 and systematically annotated its genome sequence and ARGs.

In vitro cell biology study plays a fundamental role in biological and drug development research, but the repeatability and accuracy of cell studies remain to be low. Various uncertainties during the cell culture process could introduce bias into drug research. In this study, we evaluate the potential effects and underlying mechanisms induced by cell number differences in the cell seeding process. Normally, drug experiments are initiated 24 h after cell seeding, and the difference in the cell number at the time of inoculation leads to the difference in cell confluence (cell density) when drug research is conducted. While cell confluence is closely related to intercellular communication, surface protein interaction, cell autocrine as well as paracrine protein expression of cells, it might have a potential impact on the effect of biological studies such as drug treatment. This study used proteomics technology to comprehensively explore the different protein expression patterns between cells with different confluences. Due to the high sensitivity and high throughput of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) detection, it was hired to evaluate the protein expression differences of Hep3B cells with 3 different confluences (30%, 50%, and 70%). The differential expressed proteins were analyzed by the Reactome pathway and the Gene Ontology (GO) pathway. Significant differences were identified across three confluences in terms of the number of proteins identified, the protein expression pattern, and the expression level of certain KEGG pathways. We found that those proteins involved in the cell cycle pathway were differently expressed: the higher the cell confluence, the higher these proteins expressed. A cell cycle inhibitor palbociclib was selected to further verify this observation. Palbociclib in the same dose was applied to cells with different confluence, the results indicated that the growth inhibition effect of palbociclib increases along with the increasing trend of cell cycle protein expression. The result indicated that cell density did influence the effect of drug treatment. Furthermore, three other drugs, cisplatin, paclitaxel, and imatinib, were used to treat the three liver cancer cell lines Hep3B, SUN387, and MHCC97, and a similar observation was obtained that drug effect would be different when the cell confluences were different. Therefore, selecting an appropriate number of cells for plating is vitally important at the beginning of a drug study.

Palbociclib is a specific CDK4/6 inhibitor that has been widely applied in multiple types of tumors. Different from cytotoxic drugs, the anticancer mechanism of palbociclib mainly depends on cell cycle inhibition. Therefore, the resistance mechanism is different. For clinical cancer patients, drug resistance is inevitable for almost all cancer therapies including palbociclib. We have trained palbociclib resistant cells in vitro to simulate the clinical situation and applied LC-MS multi-omics analysis methods including proteomic, metabolomic, and glycoproteomic techniques, to deeply understand the underly mechanism behind the resistance. As a result of proteomic analysis, the resistant cells were found to rely on altered metabolic pathways to keep proliferation. Metabolic processes related to carbohydrates, lipids, DNA, cellular proteins, glucose, and amino acids were observed to be upregulated. Most dramatically, the protein expressions of COX-1 and NDUFB8 have been detected to be significantly overexpressed by proteomic analysis. When a COX-1 inhibitor was hired to combine with palbociclib, a synergistic effect could be obtained, suggesting the altered COX-1 involved metabolic pathway is an important reason for the acquired palbociclib resistance. The KEGG pathway of N-glycan biosynthesis was identified through metabolomics analysis. N-glycoproteomic analysis was therefore included and the global glycosylation was found to be elevated in the palbociclib-resistant cells. Moreover, integration analysis of glycoproteomic data allowed us to detect a lot more proteins that have been glycosylated with low abundances, these proteins were considered to be overwhelmed by those highly abundant proteins during regular proteomic LC-MS detection. These low-abundant proteins are mainly involved in the cellular biology processes of cell migration, the regulation of chemotaxis, as well as the glycoprotein metabolic process which offered us great more details on the roles played by N-glycosylation in drug resistance. Our result also verified that N-glycosylation inhibitors could enhance the cell growth inhibition of palbociclib in resistant cells. The high efficiency of the integrated multi-omics analysis workflow in discovering drug resistance mechanisms paves a new way for drug development. With a clear understanding of the resistance mechanism, new drug targets and drug combinations could be designed to resensitize the resistant tumors.

Gene editing tools have tremendous potential for biomedical and basic research. Here the authors report a Cas9 from Faecalibaculum rodentium (FrCas9) that achieves efficient and specific gene editing in human cells with a NNTA palindrome PAMs for targeting optimal sites at TATA-boxes to enhance CRISPRa/i screening.

Abstract To study the oxidation behavior of a commonly used pipeline materials of 37Mn5 steel in the process of fire flooding technology, a simulation device of organic fuel combustion was designed and used for comparative study between air and kerosene atmosphere. The products generated after kerosene combustion greatly affected the growth of iron oxides at 600 and 700 °C. In air, the oxide scale shows a defective morphology with bulge and spallation. While in the kerosene atmosphere, carbon particles after incomplete combustion can exist on the surface and inside the oxide scale, which would inhibit the reduction of oxides by carbon in substrate and the decarburization of 37Mn5 steel.

Posttranslational modifications of antibody products affect their stability, charge distribution, and drug activity and are thus a critical quality attribute. The comprehensive mapping of antibody modifications and different charge isomers (CIs) is of utmost importance, but is challenging. We intended to quantitatively characterize the posttranslational modification status of CIs of antibody drugs and explore the impact of posttranslational modifications on charge heterogeneity. The CIs of antibodies were fractionated by strong cation exchange chromatography and verified by capillary isoelectric focusing-whole column imaging detection, followed by stepwise structural characterization at three levels. First, the differences between CIs were explored at the intact protein level using a top-down mass spectrometry approach; this showed differences in glycoforms and deamidation status. Second, at the peptide level, common modifications of oxidation, deamidation, and glycosylation were identified. Peptide mapping showed nonuniform deamidation and glycoform distribution among CIs. In total, 10 N-glycoforms were detected by peptide mapping. Finally, an in-depth analysis of glycan variants of CIs was performed through the detection of enriched glycopeptides. Qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrated the dynamics of 24 N-glycoforms. The results revealed that sialic acid modification is a critical factor accounting for charge heterogeneity, which is otherwise missed in peptide mapping and intact molecular weight analyses. This study demonstrated the importance of the comprehensive analyses of antibody CIs and provides a reference method for the quality control of biopharmaceutical analysis.

We report an in-well and barrier coupling pump scheme of semiconductor disk laser (SDL). An in-well-absorbed (940 nm) and a barrier-absorbed (808 nm) pump source were used to measure laser output characteristics. The output power of the coupling pump can be significantly improved compared to the in-well pump only scheme under similar thermal load conditions. The power scaling of the coupling pump SDL is caused by the interaction dynamics of the photoexcited carrier between quantum-well and barrier. The results are discussed with a rate equation model that considers the injected into the quantum-well carrier and the barrier carrier in the active region.

Partial oxidation of methane (POM) is a prominent pathway for syngas production, wherein the hydrogen in syngas product can be recovered directly from the reaction system using a hydrogen (H2)-permeable membrane. Enhancing the efficiency of this H2 separation process is a current major challenge. In this study, Ce0.8Y0.2O2-δ-BaCe0.8Y0.2O3-δ (YDC-BCY) hollow fiber (HF) membranes were developed and characterized for their H2 permeation fluxes. Firstly, YDC and BCY ceramic powders were synthesized using the sol-gel method, followed by the fabrication of YDC-BCY dual-phase ceramic HF membranes using a combined phase inversion–sintering process. Characterization using SEM, powder XRD, EDS, and electrical conductivity tests confirmed the phases of the prepared powders and HF membranes. Well-structured YDC and BCY powders with uniform particle sizes were obtained after calcination at 900 °C. With the addition of 1 wt.% Co2O3 as a sintering aid, the YDC-BCY dual-phase HF membrane achieved densification after sintering at 1500 °C. Subsequently, the influences of sweep gas composition and temperature on the hydrogen permeation of the YDC-BCY HF membranes with YDC/BCY molar ratios of 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1 were investigated. At 1000 °C and a sweep-gas flow rate of 120 mL·min−1, the YDC-BCY HF membrane with a YDC/BCY molar ratio of 4:1 exhibited a peak hydrogen flux of 0.30 mL·min−1 cm−2. There is significant potential for improving the hydrogen permeation of dual-phase ceramic membranes, with future efforts aimed at reducing dense layer thickness and enhancing the membrane material’s electronic and proton conductivities.

BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the leading cause of cervical cancer. More and more studies discovered that cervical microbiota (CM) composition correlated with HPV infection and the development of cervical cancer. However, more studies need to be implemented to clarify the complex interaction between microbiota and the mechanism of disease development, especially in a specific area of China.Materials and methodsIn this study, 16S rDNA sequencing was applied on 276 Thin-prep Cytologic Test (TCT) samples of patients from the Sanmenxia area. Systematical analysis of the microbiota structure, diversity, group, and functional differences between different HPV infection groups and age groups, and co-occurrence relationships of the microbiota was carried out.ResultsThe major microbiota compositions of all patients include Lactobacillus iners, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, and Atopobium vaginae at species level, and Staphylococcus, Lactobacillus, Gardnerella, Bosea, Streptococcus, and Sneathia in genus level. Microbiota diversity was found significantly different between HPV-positive (Chao1 index: 98.8869, p < 0.01), unique-268 infected (infections with one of the HPV genotype 52, 56, or 58, 107.3885, p < 0.01), multi-268 infected (infections with two or more of HPV genotype 52, 56, and 58, 97.5337, p = 0.1012), other1 (94.9619, p < 0.05) groups and HPV-negative group (83.5299). Women older than 60 years old have higher microbiota diversity (108.8851, p < 0.01, n = 255) than younger women (87.0171, n = 21). The abundance of Gardnerella and Atopobium vaginae was significantly higher in the HPV-positive group than in the HPV-negative group, while Burkholderiaceae and Mycoplasma were more abundant in the unique-268 group compared to the negative group. Gamma-proteobacteria and Pseudomonas were found more abundant in older than 60 patients than younger groups. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) analysis revealed the effects on metabolism by microbiota that the metabolism of cells, proteins, and genetic information-related pathways significantly differed between HPV-negative and positive groups. In contrast, lipid metabolism, signal transduction, and cell cycle metabolism pathway significantly differed between multi-268 and negative groups.ConclusionThe HPV infection status and age of women were related to CM’s diversity and function pathways. The complex CM co-occurrent relationships and their mechanism in disease development need to be further investigated.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the most important greenhouse gases contributing to global climate warming. Recently, studies have shown that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) could reduce N2O emissions in terrestrial ecosystems; however, the microbial mechanisms of how AMF reduces N2O emissions under climate change are still not well understood. We tested the influence of AMF on N2O emissions by setting up a gradient of precipitation intensity (+50%, +30%, ambient (0%), −30%, −50%, and −70%) and manipulating the presence or exclusion of AMF hyphae in a semiarid grassland located in northeast China. Our results showed that N2O fluxes dramatically declined with the decrease in precipitation gradient during the peak growing season (June–August) in both 2019 and 2020. There was a significantly positive correlation between soil water content and N2O fluxes. Interestingly, N2O fluxes significantly decreased when AMF were present compared to when they were absent under all precipitation conditions. The contribution of AMF to mitigate N2O emission increased gradually with decreasing precipitation magnitudes, but no contribution in the severe drought (−70%). AMF significantly reduced the soil’s available nitrogen concentration and altered the composition of the soil bacteria community including those associated with N2O production. Hyphal length density was negatively correlated with the copy numbers of key genes for N2O production (nirK and nirS) and positively correlated with the copy numbers of key genes for N2O consumption (nosZ). Our results highlight that AMF would reduce the soil N2O emission under precipitation variability in a temperate grassland except for extreme drought.

BackgroundOlder individuals have been reported to suffer from cognitive disorders after surgery. Various types of surgical trauma have been used to establish postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) animal models in preclinical studies. However, few comparative analyses of these animal models were conducted.MethodsTibial surgery, abdominal surgery, and extended abdominal surgery were performed on aged ICR mice to establish POCD models. Behavioral tests included open field, novel object recognition, fear conditioning, and Morris water maze tests. The Z-score methodology was adopted to obtain a comprehensive and integrated memory performance profile. The changes in hippocampal neuroinflammation were analyzed by ELISA, PCR, and immunofluorescence.ResultsIn this study, we found that each type of non-cardiac surgical trauma has a different effects on locomotor activity. Tibial and extended abdominal surgeries led to more significant cognitive impairment than abdominal surgery. Inflammatory cytokines peaked on postoperative day 1 and decreased to control levels on days 3 and 7. Hippocampal neuroinflammation indicators between the three surgery types on postoperative day 1 had no statistical differences.ConclusionOverall, the type and intensity of non-cardiac surgical trauma can affect cognitive behavioral outcomes and central inflammation. The shortcomings and emerging issues of POCD animal research methods need to be further studied and solved.

We present a mode−locked GaSb−based optically pumped semiconductor disk laser operating at 2 µm based on the self−mode−locked mechanism. Using the delay differential equation model, we discuss the influence of cavity length on the stability of self−mode−locking and design a Z−shaped long cavity for self−mode−locking. Employing an aperture and an F−P etalon in the cavity length of ~365 mm, we obtain stable self−mode−locking at a center wavelength of 2034.5 nm, with a pulse duration of 255.48 ps and average output power of 173 mW at a repetition rate of 404 MHz.

Harvesting biomechanical energy for electricity as well as physiological monitoring is a major development trend for wearable devices. In this article, we report a wearable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a ground-coupled electrode. It has a considerable output performance for harvesting human biomechanical energy and can also be used as a human motion sensor. The reference electrode of this device achieves a lower potential by coupling with the ground to form a coupling capacitor. Such a design can significantly improve the TENG’s outputs. A maximum output voltage up to 946 V and a short-circuit current of 36.3 μA are achieved. The quantity of the charge that transfers during one step of an adult walking reaches 419.6 nC, while it is only 100.8 nC for the separate single-electrode-structured device. In addition, using the human body as a natural conductor to connect the reference electrode allows the device to drive the shoelaces with integrated LEDs. Finally, the wearable TENG is able to perform motion monitoring and sensing, such as human gait recognition, step count and movement speed calculation. These show great application prospects of the presented TENG device in wearable electronics.

Recently, hydrogels have attracted great attention because of their unique properties, including stretchability, self-adhesion, transparency, and biocompatibility. They can transmit electrical signals for potential applications in flexible electronics, human–machine interfaces, sensors, actuators, et al. MXene, a newly emerged two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial, is an ideal candidate for wearable sensors, benefitting from its surface’s negatively charged hydrophilic nature, biocompatibility, high specific surface area, facile functionalization, and high metallic conductivity. However, stability has been a limiting factor for MXene-based applications, and fabricating MXene into hydrogels has been proven to significantly improve their stability. The unique and complex gel structure and gelation mechanism of MXene hydrogels require intensive research and engineering at nanoscale. Although the application of MXene-based composites in sensors has been widely studied, the preparation methods and applications of MXene-based hydrogels in wearable electronics is relatively rare. Thus, in order to facilitate the effective evolution of MXene hydrogel sensors, the design strategies, preparation methods, and applications of MXene hydrogels for flexible and wearable electronics are comprehensively discussed and summarized in this work.

This paper proposed a fractional-order Holling type-II food chain model. First, we verified the existence, uniqueness, nonnegativity and boundedness of the solution of the model, and some conditions for equilibrium existence and local stability were studied. Second, a controller was proposed, and the Lyapunov method was used to study the global stability of the positive equilibrium point. Finally, numerical simulations were performed to verify the theoretical results.

Methylmercury (MeHg) contaminated rice is a global issue, particularly in mercury-polluted areas, posing a potential threat to human health. The sources and transformations of mercury (Hg) species in rice are critical points that are not yet fully understood. In this study, field experimental pots together with a stable Hg isotope tracing technique were used to provide direct evidence of the sources and transformations of Hg species in rice plants. Enriched inorganic Hg (IHg) isotope (200Hg(NO3)2) was spiked into paddy soils, and the concentrations of inorganic Hg tracer (I200Hg), MeHg tracer (Me200Hg), and ambient Hg species (IHg and MeHg) were measured in the tissues of rice plants and their corresponding soil samples during the rice growing season. Here, we show that, in addition to the atmosphere, the soil is an important source of IHg to rice grains and was previously largely underestimated. We also show that MeHg is formed in paddy soil via microbial IHg methylation, absorbed through the rice root, translocated from the root to above-ground parts, and finally accumulated in rice grains. Although in vivo methylation of IHg in rice plants is unlikely to occur during the rice growing season, we observed in vivo demethylation of MeHg in the above-ground parts of rice plants, possibly via photolytic demethylation. Promoting in vivo demethylation of MeHg may be an effective approach to mitigate MeHg accumulation in rice grains.

COVID-19, which occurred at the end of December 2019, has evolved into a global public health threat and affects every aspect of human life. COVID-19's high infectivity and mortality prompted governments and the scientific community to respond quickly to the pandemic outbreak. The application of personal protective equipment (PPE) is of great significance in overcoming the epidemic situation. Since the discovery of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), bibliometric analysis has been widely used in many aspects of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although there are many reported studies about PPE and COVID-19, there is no study on the bibliometric analysis of these studies. The citation can be used as an indicator of the scientific influence of an article in its field. The aim of this study was to track the research trends and latest hotspots of COVID-19 in PPE by means of bibliometrics and visualization maps.

The policy-controlled signature (PCS) scheme uses the access policy to control signature verification permission. However public access policy that may contain private information will leak user privacy. At the same time, the expressiveness of access structures in the PCS schemes is weak. Therefore, we propose a policy-controlled signature scheme with strong expressiveness and privacy-preserving policy (PCS-PP), in which linear secret sharing schemes is to design access structure which has strong expression, the three primes composite order bilinear groups is used to hide the attribute value into the attribute name that may expose the privacy data by data distortion concept. The proposed PCS-PP scheme not only has correctness and privacy-preserving policy, but also supports fine-grained signature verification. In addition, the unforgeability is proved in the random oracle model. Compared to the related schemes, the proposed PCS-PP scheme has superiority in features, computation cost and storage.

In most of the existing work for activity recognition, 3D ConvNets show promising performance for learning spatiotemporal features of videos. However, most methods sample fixed-length frames from the original video, which are cropped to a fixed size and fed into the model for training. In this manner, two problems limit the model performance for recognition. First, the cropped video clips are incomplete or even distorted in appearance, resulting in a large gap between the feature representation and semantics of human activity. Second, the useful features of longer video frame sequences are weakened by the repeated stacking of 3D convolution over deep networks due to the limitations of GPU memory and computing ability. This article proposes a method based on a 3D backbone network for multi scale spatial feature representation, which uses a pyramid pooling layer to allow the input of video frames at different scales, and then aggregates short-term spatial–temporal features into a long-term video-level representation. Objection detection is used as a component of model testing to explore the improvement of activity recognition considering the large amount of space–time redundancy in real life videos. An experiment is performed on the principal video dataset, UCF101, and the proposed method presents a competitive performance.