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Seven asymmetric zinc benzamidinate complexes featuring or lacking side-arm functionalities were synthesized. Using equimolar zinc reagent produced distinct dinuclear motifs [(C6H5-C = NC6H5)ZnEt]2 (R = tBu, 1; (CH2)2OMe, 2; (CH2)2NMe2, 3). Half the zinc reagent yielded dinuclear [(C6H5-C = NC6H5)2Zn]2 (R = tBu, 4) or mononuclear zinc bis(chelate) complexes (R = (CH2)2OMe, 5; (CH2)2NMe2, 6; CH2Py, 7). Molecular structures of 1–4 and 7 were determined via single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Altering benzamidinate substituents modifies both coordination modes and catalytic activities in ring-opening polymerization of L -lactide. Specifically, complex 7 exhibits enhanced catalytic activity at 25 °C using 100 equivalents of L -lactide with a turnover frequency of 1820 h−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injection molding is a highly nonlinear procedure that is easily influenced by various external factors, thereby affecting the stability of the product's quality. High-speed injection molding is required for production due to the rapid cooling characteristics of thin-walled parts, leading to increased manufacturing complexity. Consequently, establishing appropriate process parameters for maintaining quality stability in long-term production is challenging. This study selected a hot runner mold with a thin wall fitted with two external sensors, a nozzle pressure sensor and a tie-bar strain gauge, to collect data regarding the nozzle peak pressure, the timing of peak pressure, the viscosity index, and the clamping force difference value. The product weight was defined as the quality indicator, and a standardized parameter optimization process was constructed, including injection speed, V/P switchover point, packing, and clamping force. Finally, the optimized process parameters were applied to the adaptive process control experiments using the developed control system operated within the micro-controller unit (MCU). The results revealed that the control system effectively stabilized the product weight variation and standard deviation of 0.677% and 0.0178 g, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The midface plays an important role in the judgment of symmetry. However, studies on three-dimensional analyses of midface asymmetry are limited. This study investigated the characteristics of midface asymmetry in skeletal Class III malocclusion patients through three-dimensional analysis. Methods: Sixty-eight adult subjects with skeletal Class III malocclusion were included and divided into mandible symmetry and asymmetry groups. The prevalence of recognizable malar asymmetry and the deviation of anterior nasal spine (ANS) were examined. The relation between midface and mandible asymmetry were investigated with Spearman correlation. The difference in distance of landmarks to reference planes were compared between the two groups using Mann–Whitney U test (p < 0.05). Results: The overall prevalence of malar asymmetry was 7.35% and of ANS deviation was 38.24%. In subjects with chin deviated to the right, there was a moderate negative correlation between chin deviation and difference of zygion and zygomatic process to mid-sagittal plane. The absolute value of difference in the glenoid fossa was significantly greater in female asymmetry subjects. Conclusions: The prevalence of midface asymmetry is not low. The more severely the chin is shifted, the greater asymmetrical position of the zygoma and glenoid fossa was found. Therefore, pre-surgical case-by-case evaluation of the midface region is essential for understanding the midface skeletal characteristics of Class III patients with chin deviation, thereby providing patients with realistic expectations and optimizing surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) enables early detection of numerous disasters. Efforts have been made to automate the monitoring of data from UAVs, with machine learning methods recently attracting significant interest. These solutions often face challenges with high computational costs and energy usage. Conventionally, data from UAVs are processed using cloud computing, where they are sent to the cloud for analysis. However, this method might not meet the real-time needs of disaster relief scenarios. In contrast, edge computing provides real-time processing at the site but still struggles with computational and energy efficiency issues. To overcome these obstacles and enhance resource utilization, this paper presents a convolutional neural network (CNN) model with an early exit mechanism designed for fire detection in UAVs. This model is implemented using TSMC 40 nm CMOS technology, which aids in hardware acceleration. Notably, the neural network has a modest parameter count of 11.2 k. In the hardware computation part, the CNN circuit completes fire detection in approximately 230,000 cycles. Power-gating techniques are also used to turn off inactive memory, contributing to reduced power consumption. The experimental results show that this neural network reaches a maximum accuracy of 81.49% in the hardware implementation stage. After automatic layout and routing, the CNN hardware accelerator can operate at 300 MHz, consuming 117 mW of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The associations between people with severe mental illnesses (SMI) and the risks of stroke, suicide, and death remain unclear. We examined healthcare service usage among adults with and without SMI and explored the risk of stroke, suicide, and death. We divided 18–80-year-old adults with SMI into catastrophic and non-catastrophic illness groups. These groups were subjected to a 1:5:5 propensity score matching with people without SMI. Data on demographic characteristics, economic factors, environmental factors, comorbid conditions, self-injury behavior, the number of outpatients and ED visits, and hospitalization were collected. The primary outcomes were risks of stroke, suicide, and death. We included 19,570 people with catastrophic SMI, 97,850 with non-catastrophic SMI, and 97,850 controls. Patients with SMI, especially those with catastrophic illnesses, had higher stroke risk, suicide, and death than those without SMI. People with SMI used health services more frequently than those without SMI. Patients with a history of hospitalization or ED access had a higher risk of stroke, suicide, and death. Our data indicate that special attention should be given to patients with SMI, particularly those with a history of healthcare service utilization, such as through more extended hospital stays with high-intensity interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and reliable ultra-short-term wind power forecasting (WPF) is of great significance to the safe and stable operation of power systems, but the current research is difficult to balance the prediction accuracy, timeliness, and applicability at the same time. Therefore, this paper proposes a ultra-short-term WPF model based on feature weight analysis and cluster dynamic division. The model introduces an analytic hierarchy process and an entropy weight method to analyze the subjective and objective weight of the influencing features of wind power, respectively, then the subjective and objective weight ratio is determined by the quantum particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm to obtain a more reasonable comprehensive weight of each feature. On this basis, it uses the K-Medoids algorithm to dynamically divide the wind power clusters into class regions by cycles. Then, the class region is used as the prediction unit to establish the TCN-BiLSTM model based on temporal convolutional networks (TCN) and bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) for training and prediction and optimizes the hyper-parameters of the model by the QPSO algorithm. Finally, the regional predictions are summed to obtain the final ultra-short-term power prediction. In addition, in order to verify the performance of the model, the actual operation data of a power field in Xinjiang, China, are selected for the example validation. The results show that the proposed model can ensure the prediction accuracy while minimizing the training time of the model and outperforms other existing methods in terms of prediction accuracy, timeliness, and applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular disease represents the leading cause of death in the world, and early diagnosis and treatment are critical to its prognosis. The lncRNA-taurine up-regulated gene 1 (TUG1) mediates a competing endogenous RNA network involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases, involving biological processes such as inflammation, immunity, apoptosis, pyroptosis and oxidative stress. This review summarizes the progress of lncRNA-TUG1 as a competing endogenous RNA to mediate the above biological processes in coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, heart failure, hypertension, atrial fibrillation and diabetic cardiomyopathy, to provide a reference for subsequent research on cardiovascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes two efficient block transmission and two efficient two-step transmission quantum dialogue (QD) protocols that are robust against collective-dephasing and collective-rotation noises, respectively. To counter collective noise, the carriers used to carry the message must correspond to the decoherence-free states under this collective noise. In addition to carrying messages, these quantum states and their combinations are used to ensure the security of transmission and prevent message distortion. In quantum communications, decoy photons are often used to detect eavesdroppers and always account for half of the total number of qubits, which is a burden on scarce quantum resources. Due to quantum state disclosure, the decoy photons used for inspection can no longer be utilized for transmission. Therefore, a dictionary is employed as an encoding mechanism to achieve self-checking without revealing these states. This approach enables photons to detect eavesdroppers while concurrently carrying keys. The proposed QD protocols can eliminate the consumption of decoy photons, significantly improve the qubit efficiency, and conduct security analysis to ensure that there is no information leakage. Two transmission modes with the same efficiency can be selected according to the noisy environment and time windows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding stationary states of Landau free energy functionals has to solve a nonconvex infinite-dimensional optimization problem. In this paper, we develop a Bregman distance based optimization method for minimizing a class of Landau energy functionals and focus on its convergence analysis in the function space. We first analyze the regularity of the stationary states and show the weakly sequential convergence results of the proposed method. Furthermore, under the\Lojasiewicz--Simon property, we prove a strongly sequential convergent property and establish the local convergence rate in an appropriate Hilbert space. In particular, we analyze the\Lojasiewicz exponent of three well-known Landau models, the Landau--Brazovskii, Lifshitz--Petrich, and Ohta--Kawasaki free energy functionals. Finally, numerical results support our theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of mobile Internet technology has brought about the flourishing growth of social media live streaming. This study employs social presence theory as the primary framework to investigate the impact of Facebook Live's features of sociality, immediacy, and entertainment on users' sense of presence. These features were then considered within the dimensions of awareness, emotion, and cognition. The influence of social presence on user engagement behaviors was divided into browsing behavior, interactive behavior, and creative behavior. Using snowball sampling, an online survey was administered to Facebook Live users, and 416 valid responses were collected. The research team used software to analyze the data, primarily encompassing descriptive statistics, reliability and validity analyses, structural equation modeling, and mediation effects testing. The research findings are as follows. First, the media characteristics of Facebook Live significantly influence the sense of presence. Specifically, sociality, immediacy, and entertainment on Facebook Live have a notable impact on users' awareness, emotion, and cognition. Second, different dimensions of social presence have distinct effects on various user engagement behaviors. Notably, the dimensions of awareness, emotion, and cognition of social presence positively affect users' browsing and interactive behaviors, while emotion influences users' creative behavior. The third finding was that awareness, emotion, and cognition act as intermediates between Facebook Live's media characteristics and user engagement behaviors. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ion storage layer in electrochromic devices (ECDs) stores protons or lithium ions to provide electrochemical stability and extend cycle durability. This paper reports on the performance and stability of ECDs paired with various ion storage layers (NiO, V2O5, and IrO2 films). The complementary ECD using a V2O5 ion storage layer presented the fastest response time, but the lowest optical contrast. In addition, the ECD using an IrO2 ion storage layer proved the most effective as an ion storage layer, due to its high optical modulation ability capability and long-term stability. Chronoamperometry analysis revealed that IrO2-based ECD (glass/IZTO/WO3/liquid electrolyte/IrO2/IZTO/glass) can be highly effective in modulating optical transmittance, as indicated by T = 61.5% (from Tbleaching (69.6%) to Tcoloring (8.1%)) and switching times of 5.3 s for coloring and 7.3 s for bleaching at 633 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unexpected discovery of hot Jupiters challenged the classical theory of planet formation inspired by our solar system. Until now, the origin and evolution of hot Jupiters are still uncertain. Determining their age distribution and temporal evolution can provide more clues into the mechanism of their formation and subsequent evolution. Using a sample of 383 giant planets around Sun-like stars collected from the kinematic catalogs of the Planets Across Space and Time project, we find that hot Jupiters are preferentially hosted by relatively younger stars in the Galactic thin disk. We subsequently find that the frequency of hot Jupiters declines with age as FHJ / exp(-0:20 ± 0:06 ± t Gyr). In contrast, the frequency of warm/cold Jupiters shows no significant dependence on age. Such a trend is expected from the tidal evolution of hot Jupiters' orbits, and our result offers supporting evidence using a large sample. We also perform a joint analysis on the planet frequencies in the stellar agemetallicity plane. The result suggests that the frequencies of hot Jupiters and warm/cold Jupiters, after removing the age dependence are both correlated with stellar metallicities as FHJ / 101:6+0:3 -0:3-[Fe=H] and FWJ=CJ / 101:1+0:2 -0:3-[Fe=H], respectively. Moreover, we show that the above correlations can explain the bulk of the discrepancy in hot Jupiter frequencies inferred from the transit and radial velocity (RV) surveys, given that RV targets tend to be more metal-rich and younger than transits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the influence of user fact-checking and people's trust in misinformation on the effectiveness of misinformation correction provided by a peer. A lab quasi-experiment was conducted. Participants received misinformation about weight loss methods and were given autonomy to decide whether to seek additional information online, followed by a subsequent misinformation correction. Information verification and trust in misinformation were positively related to resistance to correction, even when people's predisposition towards effortful thinking and gender were included in the model. People who tried to verify the information and trusted the misinformation were not more likely to resist misinformation correction than those who did not fact-check and trusted the misinformation. Further, intention to share was positively associated with levels of trust in misinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic pathways are known to sense the environmental stimuli and result in physiological adjustments. The responding processes need to be tightly controlled. Here, we show that upon encountering P. aeruginosa, C. elegans upregulate the transcription factor ets-4, but this upregulation is attenuated by the ribonuclease, rege-1. As such, mutants with defective REGE-1 ribonuclease activity undergo ets-4-dependent early death upon challenge with P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, mRNA-seq analysis revealed associated global changes in two key metabolic pathways, the IIS (insulin/IGF signaling) and TOR (target of rapamycin) kinase signaling pathways. In particular, failure to degrade ets-4 mRNA in activity-defective rege-1 mutants resulted in upregulation of class II longevity genes, which are suppressed during longevity, and activation of TORC1 kinase signaling pathway. Genetic inhibition of either pathway way was sufficient to abolish the poor survival phenotype in rege-1 worms. Further analysis of ETS-4 ChIP data from ENCODE and characterization of one upregulated Class II gene, ins-7, support that the Class II genes are activated by ETS-4. Interestingly, deleting an upregulated Class II gene, acox-1.5, a peroxisome β-oxidation enzyme, largely rescues the fat lost phenotype and survival difference between rege-1 mutants and wild-types. Thus, rege-1 appears to be crucial for animal survival due to its tight regulation of physiological responses to environmental stimuli. This function is reminiscent of its mammalian ortholog, Regnase-1, which modulates the intestinal mTORC1 signaling pathway. Author summary: Eukaryotes rely on tightly regulated insulin-IGF signaling and TOR pathways to maintain proper cellular processes such as metabolism, aging, and pathogen defense, which allow them to sense and respond to changes in nutrient availability and environmental stress. While Regnase-1 is known for its role in regulating immune response in mammals, the importance of its ortholog, rege-1, in C. elegans was previously unclear. Our study revealed that rege-1 participates in regulating the TOR signaling pathway, which subsequently affects C. elegans lifespan and pathogen defense. By post-transcriptionally regulating the ets-4 transcription factor, rege-1 is able to regulate a set of longevity-suppressed genes, including those involved in the peroxisome fatty acid β-oxidation pathway, likely affecting the level of acetyl-COA and modulating the TOR signaling pathway. Our findings indicate that defective rege-1 leads to an excess of ets-4, which activates the lipid β-oxidation pathway and further activates the TOR pathway, ultimately reducing lifespan and survival through pathogen and fat loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have assessed new anodic coloring materials that can be used as ion storage layers in complementary energy storage electrochromic devices (ESECDs) to enhance their electrochromic storage performance. In our study, we fabricated counter electrodes (ion storage layers) using an IrO2-doping NiO (Ir:NiO) film through cathodic arc plasma (CAP) with varying surface charge capacities. We have also investigated the influence of a MoO3-doped WO3 (Mo:WO3) film using various Ar/O2 gas flow ratios (1/4, 1/5, and 1/6, respectively). The ESECDs used in the demonstration were 10 × 10 cm2 in size and achieved an optical transmittance modulation of the Ir:NiO ESECDs (glass/ITO/ Mo:WO3/gel polymer electrolytes/ Ir:NiO/ITO/glass), with ΔT = 53.3% (from Tbleaching (66.6%) to Tcoloration (13.1%)). The ESECDs had a quick coloration time of 3.58 s, a rapid bleaching time of 1.24 s, and a high cycling durability. Furthermore, it remained at a 45% transmittance modulation level even after 3000 cycles. New anodic materials can thereby provide an alternative to traditional active materials for bi-functional electrochromic batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The direction that we see another person walking provides us with an important cue to their intentions, but little is known about how the brain encodes walking direction across a neuronal population. The current study used an adaptation technique to investigate the sensory coding of perceived walking direction. We measured perceived walking direction of point-light stimuli before and after adaptation, and found that adaptation to a specific walking direction resulted in repulsive perceptual aftereffects. The magnitude of these aftereffects was tuned to the walking direction of the adaptor relative to the test, with local repulsion of perceived walking direction for test stimuli oriented on either side of the adapted walking direction. The specific tuning profiles that we observed are well explained by a population-coding model, in which perceived walking direction is coded in terms of the relative activity across a bank of sensory channels with peak tuning distributed across the full 360° range of walking directions. Further experiments showed specificity in how horizontal (azimuth) walking direction is coded when moving away from the observer compared to when moving toward the observer. Moreover, there was clear specificity in these perceptual aftereffects for walking direction compared to a nonbiological form of 3D motion (a rotating sphere). These results indicate the existence of neural mechanisms in the human visual system tuned to specific walking directions, provide insight into the number of sensory channels and how their responses are combined to encode walking direction, and demonstrate the specificity of adaptation to biological motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We are developing a portable, 'RF-penetrable', brain-dedicated time of flight (TOF)-PET insert (PETcoil) for simultaneous PET/MRI. Approach. In this paper, we evaluate the PET performance of two fully assembled detector modules for this insert design outside the MR room. Main results. The global coincidence time resolution, global 511 keV energy resolution, coincidence count rate, and detector temperature achieved over 2 h data collection were 242.2 ± 0.4 ps full width at half maximum (FWHM), 11.19% ± 0.02% FWHM, 22.0 ± 0.1 kcps, and 23.5 °C ± 0.3 °C, respectively. The intrinsic spatial resolutions in the axial and transaxial directions were 2.74 ± 0.01 mm FWHM and 2.88 ± 0.03 mm FWHM, respectively. Significance. These results demonstrate excellent TOF capability and the performance and stability necessary for scaling up to a full ring comprising 16 detector modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is related to the ecological well-being of the people and the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin to protect the ecological environment of the Yellow River Basin and promote the construction of ecological belts. Henan Province is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin. This article constructs an index system from five dimensions: residential environment, economic environment, public services, infrastructure and ecological environment. Based on the statistical yearbook of Henan Province in the past five years and the data of China Rural Statistical Yearbook, the entire Henan Province and the main 18 prefecture-level cities were evaluated using the entropy method for rural human settlement environment. On the whole, the rural human settlement environment in Henan Province has been in a slow growth stage in the past five years, and all cities have been in a fluctuating growth stage. The government should adjust measures to local conditions and strengthen ecological environment control on the premise of maintaining sustained and stable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sarcopenia is characterized by progressive loss of muscle mass and function due to aging. Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is an adipokine with pro-inflammatory effects. However, the change of RBP4 concentration and its role in sarcopenia remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of serum RBP4 level with sarcopenia in the older adults. A total of 816 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 years were enrolled. Serum RBP4 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI), grip strength, and gait speed were measured. We found that serum RBP4 levels were higher in patients with sarcopenia when compared with those without sarcopenias (44.3 [33.9–57.7] vs 38.0 [28.0–48.4] μg/mL). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the optimal cutoff value of serum RBP4 level that predicted sarcopenia was 38.79 μg/mL with a sensitivity of 67.8% and a specificity of 53.3%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the subjects with a higher level of RBP4 had a higher risk of sarcopenia (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.036, 95% CI = 1.449–2.861). Serum RBP4 concentration was negatively correlated with grip strength (r = −.098), gait speed (r = −.186), and AMSI (r = −.096). Moreover, serum RBP4 levels were higher in patients with severe sarcopenia when compared with those with moderate sarcopenia (49.0 [37.3–61.2] vs 40.4 [31.3–51.2] μg/mL). Taken together, our results demonstrate that serum RBP4 level is correlated with the risk and severity of sarcopenia in the older adults, indicating that RBP4 might serve as a surrogate biomarker for the screening and evaluation of sarcopenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometritis affects the reproductive capacity of dairy cows and leads to serious economic losses in dairy farming. Clarification of the pathogenesis of endometritis is necessary to improve the reproductive efficiency of dairy cows. Exosomes and their miRNAs have been proven to play an important role in inflammatory regulation. Exosomal miR-218 is a differentially expressed miRNA found in endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) under endometrial inflammation. Therefore, we investigated the expression of miR-218 in the uterine tissue of dairy cows, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treated EECs, exosomal vesicles, and regulation of exosomal miR-218 by targeting TGIF-2 inducible factor homology frame 2 (TGIF2)/transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). The expression of miR-218 was suppressed in inflammatory uterine tissues and LPS treated EECs. The expression of TGIF2 and TGF-β in inflammatory uterine tissues and LPS treated EECs was significantly higher than those in healthy uterine tissues and EECs (p < 0.01). Interestingly, miR-218 derived from donor cells was found to regulate the expression of the target gene TGIF2 in recipient cells through the fusion of exosomes. Concurrently, the expression of its target gene TGIF2 was also suppressed by miR-218 in donor cells resulting in fewer TGIF2 being transported into recipient cells with exosomal fusion. This may be a novel mechanism of miRNAs-mediated regulation and provides a new reference for analyzing the pathogenesis of endometritis in dairy cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report describes three patients with cervical spondylosis whose diagnostic radiographs showed worm-like, irregularly curved radiopaque lines and strings in the head and neck region during routine chiropractic examinations. Such artifacts are frequently misinterpreted as parasitic infection, electrostatic discharges, detector image lag, fracture, or ligature wires. All three patients with worm-like radiopacities disclosed their 15-20 years of history of acupuncture treatment to relieve neck pain. The present cases of unexpected and coincidental findings may suggest a possible acupuncture- caused radiographic artifacts in the neck and jaw bones. In particular, the patient had previous gold thread treatments possibly associated with the observed radiographic artifacts. These cases may emphasize the importance of having a thorough understanding of patient history regarding unexpected radiographic artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study numerically the effects of a viscous fluid seabed on wave scattering with a solid obstacle of rectangular shape fixed at the free surface, on the seafloor, or internally within the water layer. The computational model is based on OpenFOAM and it is validated using existing analytical solutions for waves encountering an obstacle on a solid bed and available experimental data for waves propagating over a muddy seabed with no obstacles. With the consideration of a solid obstacle on a viscous fluid bottom, we examine the corresponding transformations of incident, reflected, and transmitted wave components. The velocity field near the obstacle and the wave forces exerted on the obstacle are also analyzed. Our simulations show that all wave components experience significant amplitude attenuation caused by the viscous fluid bed. For both surface and bottom obstacles, the presence of an obstacle enhances the damping of reflected waves. When an internally submerged obstacle is considered, transmitted waves are the most affected due to a prominent vortex generated in the lee of the obstacle. Patterns of the velocity field in the vicinity of the obstacle are shown to be controlled mainly by the obstacle with some modulations in magnitude and wavelength contributed by the viscous fluid bed. In view of the vertical wave force on the obstacle surface, both a phase shift and decrease in magnitude are observed. These findings enhance our understanding of the underlying physical processes in the wave–obstacle–mud problems. More studies are still needed in order to provide the necessary technical tools for the engineering design of coastal structures in muddy marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional polymer composites with efficient heat dissipation and flame retardancy are highly desirable in the electronic industry. Here, by the combination of hydrothermal reaction and in situ fragmentation, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) decorated silver nanowires (AgNWs) and 3D reduced graphene oxide (RGO) (AgNW‐RGO@MoS2) aerogel micro‐particles (AMPs) are successfully prepared. When the above AMP is introduced to epoxy (EP) resin by the simple blending method, a polymer composite with continuous thermally conductive pathways and flame barrier layers is achieved. With an AMP loading of 4.0 vol.%, the polymer composite displays superior enhancement in thermal conductivity up to 420%. Compared to neat EP, the peak heat release rate and total heat release decreases by 61.1% and 58.8%, respectively. This work provides new insights into the design and large‐scale fabrication of multifunctional polymer composites for efficient thermal management materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was to identify abnormal methylation genes implicated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Genomic methylation alterations in ESCC tissues were analyzed using laser-microdissection and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. CXCL14 promoter was frequently hypermethylated in ESCC tissues. The correlation of CXCL14 hypermethylation status and the mRNA and protein expression levels were validated using nested methylation-specific PCR (nMS-PCR), RNAscope in situ hybridization (RISH) and Western blot. RISH results showed completely negative CXCL14 expression in 34.3% (34/99) ESCC, compared with those in the basal layer cells of normal epithelia. Low expression of CXCL14 was more present in patients with lower differentiation. The anticancer role of CXCL14 has been commonly associated with immune regulation in the literature. Here, we observed by functional analysis that CXCL14 can also act as a tumor suppressor in ESCC cells. 5-Aza-dC treatment suppressed CXCL14 methylation and up-regulated the expression of CXCL14. Ectopic expression of CXCL14 suppressed the proliferation, invasion, tumor growth, and lung metastasis of ESCC cells. Both ectopic expression and induction of CXCL14 with 5-Aza-dC inhibited the activity of SRC, MEK1/2 and STAT3 in ESCC cells, while activated EGFR. Importantly, a combination of CXCL14 expression and SRC or EGFR inhibitor dramatically repressed the proliferation of ESCC cells and the growth of xenografts. Our findings revealed a direct tumor suppressor role of CXCL14, but not through the immune system. The data suggest that for ESCC patients with low level CXCL14, increasing CXCL14 expression combined with inhibition of SRC or EGFR might be a promising therapeutic strategy. • CXCL14 hypermethylation and decreased expression was frequently present in ESCC. • Low expression of CXCL14 was more present in patients with lower differentiation. • CXCL14 inhibited cell growth by inactivating intracellular SRC/MEK pathway. • CXCL14 inhibited the tumor growth and lung metastasis of ESCC cells. • Elevating CXCL14 combined with SRC or EGFR inhibition might be promising for ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Association between smoking and sleep apnea is well-known from previous studies. However, the influence of secondhand smoke (SHS), which is a potential risk factor of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), remains unclear. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between SHS and OSA using a meta-analysis.Materials and Methods: For the meta-analysis, searches were performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases on January 10, 2022, by combining various keywords including "SHS exposure" and "OSA". Data were extracted using defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Fixed-effects model meta-analyses were used to pool risk ratio (RR) estimates with their 95% confidence intervals (CI). I2 was used to assess heterogeneity. Moreover, we performed subgroup meta-analyses of children-adults, and smoker fathers and mothers.Results: In total, 267 articles were obtained through an electronic search. Twenty-six articles were included in our analysis according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We found evidence of an association between SHS exposure and possible OSA (RR 1.64, 95% CI 1.44-1.88). The results of the subgroup analyses showed that children passive smokers (RR 1.84, 95% CI 1.60-2.13) were at greater risks of possible OSA than adult passive smokers (RR 1.35, 95% CI 1.21-1.50). Also, significant differences were observed in mothers with smoking exposure (RR 2.61, 95% CI 1.62-4.21, p < 0.0001), as well as in fathers with smoking exposure (RR 2.15, 95% CI 0.98-4.72, p = 0.06).Short Conclusion: Our meta-analysis confirmed that SHS exposure is significantly associated with OSA. In the subgroup analyses, the association of SHS and possible OSA was significant in both children and adults, as well as in smoker mothers and fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common subtypes of cardiovascular disease. The progression of CAD initiates from the plaque of atherosclerosis and coronary artery stenosis, and eventually turns into acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or stable CAD. Alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (AACT) has been highly associated with cardiac events. In this study, we proposed incorporating clinical data on AACT levels to establish a model for estimating the severity of CAD. Thirty-six healthy controls (HCs) and 162 CAD patients with stenosis rates of <30%, 30–70%, and >70% were included in this study. Plasma concentration of AACT was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and associations were conducted. Further, five machine learning models, including decision tree, random forest, support vector machine, XGBoost, and lightGBM were implemented. The lightGBM model obtained a sensitivity of 81.4%, a specificity of 67.3%, and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.822 for identifying CAD patients with a stenosis rate of <30% versus >30%. In this study, we provided a demonstration of a monitoring model with clinical data and AACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disease characterized by muscle stiffness, tremor, slowness of movement, and difficulties with posture and walking. Muscle and joint pain are frequent non-motor symptoms of PD. Pain associated with PD is mainly caused by a combination of truncal dystonia, stooped posture, and muscle rigidity. However, PD deformities were rarely discussed in the literature. A 68-year-old Asian female with PD treated with Levodopa for six years complained of progressive neck pain, contractures, and subluxation of both hands in the last two years. A positron emission tomography (PET) scan revealed decreased rostrocaudal gradient uptake in both posterior putamen. After 9 months of multimodal chiropractic rehabilitation, the patient had significant improvement in symptoms, including pain resolution as per the numeric rating scale and physical and mental improvement as per the PD questionnaire. Radiographic measurement showed significantly improved postural alignment and stability. Measurement of joint motion and angles showed an improvement in hand deformity. Although PD is a neurodegenerative disease that is not curable, multimodal rehabilitation may improve neurological and musculoskeletal functions by inducing proprioceptive balance, motor strength, and joint movement. The current study may illustrate multimodal rehabilitation addressing orthopedic deformity associated with symptoms in a PD patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway are closely related to the regulation of cell growth, which can be a pivotal part that participates in production and development of bovine adipocytes, bovine mammary epithelial cells and bovine oocytes, can also be a participant, indirectly regulating inflammatory factors, metabolic processes, et al. The paper reviews the components, mechanism and effect on growth of different cells of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signal pathway, to provide reference for the follow-up study on how livestock cell growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic reflections are crucial for obtaining information about subsurface structures and lithologies for oil and gas exploration. Several techniques have recently been introduced which improve the visualization of subsurface structures, lithologies, and facies. This article proposes a novel method of seismic reflection identification through the integration of continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). Here, a three-layer geological model is adopted. Initially, 2D seismic reflection data with 5%, 8%, and 10% Gaussian noise are generated. Later, the DBSCAN algorithm is applied to 2D noise seismic data, and clusters are generated at their respective times for each reflector. Next, to confirm and validate the results of DBSCAN, CWT is executed on the cluster data set. Based on our results of CWT, the true representation of seismic data with minimum noise in the time domain is achieved. The successful integration of DBSCAN and CWT is achieved in terms of identification of true seismic reflections as localized anomalous zones at 0.8 s, 1 s, and 1.07 s, which exactly match the geological model of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Roadside trees play an important role in urban landscaping. They are not only related to urban scenes, traffic safety, quality of life, and health, but also closely related to ecology and cultural development. Thus, effective, intelligent management of an area of urban roadside trees will become an important topic. Methods: This paper evaluates survey technologies and management techniques utilized in many cities of Taiwan, including surveys of roadside trees, risk assessment, and precious protected trees. A roadside tree management database was built using a geographic information system (GIS). Results: The number of urban forest trees exceeded 100,000 in our surveys, and many types of intelligent survey instruments were used to survey the trees, including real-time kinematic (RTK) and non-destructive detection instruments, radio frequency identification (RFID), in-vehicle light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and panoramic streetscape systems. A tree management system can be constructed by introducing the digitized information, which is based on a basic survey of trees. The survey stage primarily relies on manual surveys, in-vehicle LiDAR, and RFID, and then a visualized database retrieval system will be proposed using GIS. This system can be utilized for the health and foundation management of trees and the whole spatial planning of urban forests, among others. Conclusion: This research attempts to summarize the trends in intelligent management of urban forests using our practical experiences with the goal that it will be a reference for the future intelligent construction of urban forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries is hindered by inhomogeneous Li plating and irreversible loss of active materials. In this work, a thermal conductive and electrocatalytic aramid nanofiber (ANF) composite separator containing surface-decorated alumina (Al 2 O 3) microspheres is prepared through a simple filtration approach using ZnO nanosheets decorated Al 2 O 3 microspheres (Al 2 O 3 @ZnO) as the thermal conductive filler and electrocatalyst. Compared with the separators fabricated by surface modification of commercial polyolefin separators, the as-prepared ANF/Al 2 O 3 @ZnO composite separator features homogeneous compositions and ensures uniform thermal distribution in both the through-plane and in-plane directions of the membrane. By rationally designing the structure of Al 2 O 3 @ZnO and adjusting the mass ratio of Al 2 O 3 @ZnO to ANF, excellent thermal conduction networks are formed by overlapping the ZnO nanosheets. Hence, the prepared ANF/Al 2 O 3 @ZnO composite separator possesses higher thermal conductivity than ANF/Al 2 O 3 composite separator, which benefits uniform thermal distribution and homogeneous Li plating within the battery. Moreover, the electrocatalytic ZnO nanosheets catalyze the conversion of lithium polysulfides, efficiently inhibiting the shuttle effect and improving sulfur utilization. When subjected to a temperature gradient, the ANF/Al 2 O 3 @ZnO composite separator assembled cells display high initial capacity, low decay rate, and superb cycle stability. This novel composite separator integrates both thermal conductive and electrocatalytic functional components with the heat-resistant ANF matrix, offering a new design strategy of separator towards high-performance Li–S batteries. [Display omitted] • Aramid nanofiber/ZnO nanosheets decorated Al 2 O 3 composite separator is fabricated. • Excellent thermal conductive pathways are formed by overlapping the ZnO nanosheets. • The shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides is inhibited by the electrocatalytic ZnO. • Uniform thermal distribution and even Li plating are achieved within Li–S battery. • The composite separator assembled cells display much improved battery performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • When applied to a portable Raman spectrometer, our method achieved an 89.3% accuracy. • We improved CNN accuracy by optimizing hyperparameters using CSO algorithm. • Our method betters food safety pesticide detection using portable Raman spectrometer. Raman spectroscopy can be used for accurately detecting pesticides and determining the chemical composition of a pesticide. To facilitate field detection, the present study used a portable Raman spectrometer for analysis. However, this spectrometer was found to be susceptible to noise interference and signal offsets, which increased the difficulty of pesticide identification. The most commonly used algorithm for Raman spectrum identification is principal component analysis (PCA). However, accurate classification often cannot be achieved with PCA because of the offset and noise in the Raman spectrum data. Therefore, in this study, after the collected Raman spectrum data were processed using the small-step, center-weighted moving-average method, these data were employed to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) model for prediction. To optimize the CNN model, the hyperparameters of the CNN were adjusted using various optimization algorithms, and the optimal solution was obtained after multiple iterations. Data preprocessing and architecture training models were then constructed in a self-optimized manner to improve the ability of the algorithm model to handle diverse types of data. Finally, a CNN model optimized using the cat swarm optimization algorithm was developed. This model was trained on 3000 samples containing three pesticides, and its accuracy for pesticide composition identification was discovered to be 89.33%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-time programmable (OTP) memory is essential to the security and gaming industries because of its “write once, read many” capability. This device supports N-metal–oxide–semiconductor polycrystalline-silicon junctionless gate-all-around (GAA) nanowire transistor technology and can perform multistate antifuse. It is capable of functioning in four states instead of in the standard two states (open/short). Furthermore, the states can be read as fully open (0, 0), drain–gate breakdown (0, 1), source–gate breakdown (1, 0), and full breakdown (1, 1) states. The antifuse is formed from the oxide breakdown between the gate and the source or drain (S/D). Moreover, because multiple samples have been successfully produced, its information can be displayed as a chart or table to instantly convey information about the current device’s state to programmers by reading the S/D current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a novel task, Video Question-Answer Generation (VQAG), for challenging Video Question Answering (Video QA) task in multimedia. Due to expensive data annotation costs, many widely used, large-scale Video QA datasets such as Video-QA, MSVD-QA and MSRVTT-QA are automatically annotated using Caption Question Generation (CapQG) which inputs captions instead of the video itself. As captions neither fully represent a video, nor are they always practically available, it is crucial to generate question-answer pairs based on a video via Video Question-Answer Generation (VQAG). Existing video-to-text (V2T) approaches, despite taking a video as the input, only generate a question alone. In this work, we propose a novel model Generator-Pretester Network that focuses on two components: (1) The Joint Question-Answer Generator (JQAG) which generates a question with its corresponding answer to allow Video Question “Answering” training. (2) The Pretester (PT) verifies a generated question by trying to answer it and checks the pretested answer with both the model’s proposed answer and the ground truth answer. We evaluate our system with the only two available large-scale human-annotated Video QA datasets and achieves state-of-the-art question generation performances. Furthermore, using our generated QA pairs only on the Video QA task, we can surpass some supervised baselines. As a pre-training strategy, we outperform both CapQG and transfer learning approaches when employing semi-supervised (20%) or fully supervised learning with annotated data. These experimental results suggest the novel perspectives for Video QA training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the openness and diversity of the Internet, different platforms provide different quality information, and the descriptions of the same object can be conflict with each other. Truth discovery is one of the important technical means to resolve semantic conflicts and improve the data quality. Traditional truth discovery methods usually assume that the relationship between source reliability and claim credibility can be represented by a simple function. These methods design iterative rules or probability models to find trustworthy claims and sources. However, manually-defined factors are often difficult to reflect the real underlying distribution of the data, resulting in an unsatisfied truth discovery result. In order to solve this problem, a truth discovery method based on neural network encoding is proposed. Firstly, the method constructs a double-loss deep neural network which contains "source-source" and "source-claim" relationships. Secondly, it embeds the sources and claim into a low-dimensional space, which indicates the source reliability and claim credibility. Based on the optimization, the reliable sources and the trustworthy claims are close in the embedding space (meanwhile, unreliable sources and untrustworthy claims). Finally, truth discovery is performed based on the embedding space. Compared with traditional methods, it is not necessary for the proposed method to manually define the iterative rules or data distribution before truth discovery. The method utilizes the neural network to automatically learn the complex relationships among sources and claims, and then embeds them into a low-dimensional space. The experimental results on the real dataset show that the proposed model increases the precision by 2%-25% in comparison to the iterative based methods such as Accu, by 2%-4% in comparison to the probabilistic graphical model based methods such as 3-Estimate, by 2%~5% in comparison to the optimization based method such as CRH, and by 1%~2% in comparison to the neural network based method FFMN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The endoscopic transsphenoidal approach is an efficient minimally invasive procedure for removal of pituitary tumors that can be accomplished through a one-hand or two-hand approach. The one-hand procedure through one nostril is more intuitive for surgeons, but maneuvering the instruments can be restrictive. The two-hand procedure using a one-and-half nostril approach provides more precise manipulation. This study aimed to compare the surgical outcomes of one-hand/mono-nostril and two-hand/one-and-half nostril surgeries for resection of large pituitary tumors by a single neurosurgeon. Materials and methods: The surgical data of 78 consecutive cases with pituitary macroadenoma (diameter >1 cm) were reviewed retrospectively. Altogether, 30 cases received one-hand/mono-nostril surgery, while 48 cases received two-hand/one-and-half nostril surgery. Postoperative outcomes of the two operations were compared. Results: The operative time, hospital stay, residual rate of pituitary macroadenoma, visual field, surgical complications, and re-operative rates were slightly improved in the two-hand/one-and-half nostril surgery group compared with that in the one-hand/mono-nostril surgery group (all p>0.05). However, postoperative hypopituitarism was less frequent (1/48; 2.0%) with the two-hand/one-and-half nostril approach than with the mono-nostril approach (p = 0.004). Similar surgical outcomes were found in all patients with either small or large pituitary tumors, except that the difference in postoperative improvement in visual field change reached statistical significance (p = 0.044). Conclusion: A single-surgeon endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery with two-hand/one-and-half nostril approach is an effective and safe procedure for removal of large pituitary tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new scalable small‐signal model for 0.1 μm AlGaN/GaN HEMT up to 110 GHz is presented in this paper. The taps between the gate/drain manifold and fingers on the device has been investigated and included in the equivalent circuit. In addition, to ensure high scalability, a set of scaling rules are presented. A novel extraction procedure for extrinsic capacitances using full‐wave electromagnetic (FW‐EM) method has been introduced along with corresponding structures used for EM simulation. The nonlinear dependence of the extrinsic inductances on the gate‐width has been accounted for by a new scaling rule, which can be used to extract their value from measurement data. To guarantee the stability of the scaling coefficients, two devices with different gate‐width have been utilized for their generation. The proposed scalable model has been verified using 0.1 μm AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices with different gate‐widths and different gate‐fingers. The experiment results show good agreement between model and measurement S‐parameters up to 110 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder is an aggressive and extremely rare type of neuroendocrine tumor. The clinical presentations in most cases are nonspecific, resulting in patients being diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease. Herein, we report our experience with the case of a 63-year-old woman with no comorbidities who underwent radical resection for a diagnosed gallbladder mass. Abdominal computed tomography scans and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography indicated intraluminal masses in the gallbladder with liver invasion. Histologically, the mass was composed of solid sheets of poorly differentiated carcinoma cells with hyperchromatic nuclei; a high Ki-67 index of approximately 80%. The cells were positive for chromogranin A and synaptophysin, and small-cell-type neuroendocrine carcinoma was diagnosed. Postoperatively, she underwent adjuvant chemotherapy with four cycles of cisplatin/etoposide chemotherapy and was disease-free 16 months after surgical treatment with normal hormone-specific markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is still a highly fatal malignancy among the most common cancers. More powerful treatments are expecting to bring hope for patients. Biweekly gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel/S-1 (GAS) was proved safe and effective for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer in Japan. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and toxicity of GAS (repeated every 3 weeks) in the treatment of locally advanced or advanced pancreatic cancer and determine the recommended dose of S-1 in this combination.Methods: This is an open-label, single-arm, and single-center phase I trial. Patients who have been diagnosed with locally advanced or advanced PDAC pathologically without previous systemic treatments will be enrolled and be treated with GAS chemotherapy every 3 weeks (nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m 2, ivgtt, day1, 8; gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2, day1, 8; different doses of S-1 within a dose escalation scheme) until the presence of disease progression (PD), intolerable adverse events (AEs), or requirement of patients and researchers. The primary endpoints are maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicity (DLT). The secondary endpoints include safety, objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).Discussion: This trial will adjust the administration of GAS to make it more effective for Chinese patients, while exploring the toxicity and feasibility of this adjustment.Trial Registration: ChiCTR, ( ChiCTR1900027833 ). Registered 30 November 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textured growth of ZnO nanorods with no restriction of the substrate material is beneficial to their applications. The approaches to grow ZnO nanorods with texture are based on preparing suitable surface structure on the growth substrate, e.g. using a crystalline substrate with a specific surface structures or pre-depositing seed layers by high-temperature annealing of precursors. In the aqueous nutrient solution of the chemical bath deposition (CBD) process for ZnO growth, the concentration of Zn2+ ions at the extended hydrophobic surface is sufficiently high for forming self-assembly nuclei with a preferred orientation, resulting in the subsequent textured growth of ZnO nanorods. In this research, the hydrophobic surface is prepared by modifying Si surface with a self-assembly octadecyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) monolayer. The formation mechanism of the nuclei on this hydrophobic surface for the textured growth of ZnO nanorods is investigated. It is shown that the nuclei form at the beginning of the CBD process and later transform into the Wurtzite structure to seed ZnO growth. An alternative approach to prepare seed layers is therefore involved in the aqueous CBD process, which is applicable to a range of hydrophobic substrates for textured growth of ZnO nanorods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was attempted to assess the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2; 100% O2 at 253 kpa) in treating experimental heatstroke. Anesthetized rats were divided into five major groups: normothermic control (NC) rats treated with normobaric air (NBA; 21% O2 at 101 kpa; NC + NBA); NC rats treated with HBO2 (NC + HBO2); heatstroke (HS) rats treated with NBA (HS + NBA); HS rats treated with hyperbaric air (HBA; 21% at 253 kpa; HS + HBA); and HS rats treated with HBO2 (HS + HBO2). HS groups were exposed to heat (43°C) for exactly 68 min and then allowed to recover at 26°C. HBA or HBO2 was adopted 68 or 78 min after the start of heat exposure. Survival time values for (HS + NBA) rats, (HS + HBA) rats at 68 min, (HS + HBA) rats at 78 min, (HS + HBO2) rats at 68 min, and (HS + HBO2) rats at 78 min were found to be 90 ± 3, 133 ± 12, 109 ± 9, 240 ± 18, and 170 ± 15 min, respectively. Resuscitation with HBA or HBO2 at 68 min was superior to those treated at 78 min in prolonging the survival time values. All (HS + NBA) animals displayed hyperthermia, hypotension, and increased cellular levels of ischemia, oxidative stress and damage markers, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and an indicator of polymorphonuclear cell accumulation in their hypothalamus as compared to those of NCs. Heat-induced hyperthermia was not affected by HBA or HBO2 treatment. However, heat-induced hypotension and hypothalamic ischemia, oxidative stress, neuronal damage, and inflammation were all significantly reduced by HBA or HBO2 therapy. Compared to those of HBA therapy, HBO2 therapy had a significantly higher beneficial effect in treating heatstroke. Our results suggested that HBO2 improved heatstroke outcomes, in part, by restoring normal hypothalamic function. Delaying the onset of HBO2 therapy reduced the therapeutic efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cancer cells are frequently faced with a nutrient- and oxygen-poor microenvironment, elevated hexosamine-biosynthesis pathway (HBP) activity and protein O-GlcNAcylation (a nutrient sensor) contribute to rapid growth of tumor and are emerging hallmarks of cancer. Inhibiting O-GlcNAcylation could be a promising anticancer strategy. The gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PCK1) is downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is known about the potential role of PCK1 in enhanced HBP activity and HCC carcinogenesis under glucose-limited conditions. In this study, PCK1 knockout markedly enhanced the global O-GlcNAcylation levels under low-glucose conditions. Mechanistically, metabolic reprogramming in PCK1-loss hepatoma cells led to oxaloacetate accumulation and increased de novo uridine triphosphate synthesis contributing to uridine diphosphate-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) biosynthesis. Meanwhile, deletion of PCK1 also resulted in AMPK-GFAT1 axis inactivation, promoting UDP-GlcNAc synthesis for elevated O-GlcNAcylation. Notably, lower expression of PCK1 promoted CHK2 threonine 378 O-GlcNAcylation, counteracting its stability and dimer formation, increasing CHK2-dependent Rb phosphorylation and HCC cell proliferation. Moreover, aminooxyacetic acid hemihydrochloride and 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine blocked HBP-mediated O-GlcNAcylation and suppressed tumor progression in liver-specific Pck1-knockout mice. We reveal a link between PCK1 depletion and hyper-O-GlcNAcylation that underlies HCC oncogenesis and suggest therapeutic targets for HCC that act by inhibiting O-GlcNAcylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was conducted to develop an effective approach to sort off-ground harvested almonds for efficient drying based on their physical and aerodynamic properties. Three popular varieties were studied, including Nonpareil, Monterey, and Fritz. The insect damage, axial dimensions, weight ratio, moisture content, bulk density and terminal velocity of in-hull almonds, in-shell almonds and loose hull at harvest were measured. The results indicated that the insect infestation percentage in the off-ground harvested almonds ranged from 2.5% to 6.3%, which was about half of those in the conventional on-ground dried almonds. Loose hulls and in-hull almonds had higher moisture content and wider moisture distribution than those of in-shell almonds, suggesting that sorting of the almonds and drying them separately are necessary for efficient handling and processing. Thickness was the smallest axial dimension of an almond, and thus could be used for sorting. The cut-off sizes of 16.5 mm, 21.3 mm and 21.1 mm could separate 100% of the in-shell almonds from the rest for Nonpareil, Monterey and Fritz varieties, respectively, as the first step. In the second step, applying terminal velocities of 12.3 m/s, 11.8 m/s and 12.2 m/s could efficiently separate the in-hull almonds and loose hulls for Nonpareil, Monterey and Fritz varieties, respectively. Overall, up to 76.7% of the loose hulls could be removed, and up to 3.3% in-hull almonds may be lost during the sorting process. The experimental results provided important information for developing efficient sorting and drying methods with improved throughput, energy efficiency, better quality and safety of off-ground harvested almonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phenylpropanoid including raspberry ketone, is a kind of important natural plant product and widely used in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cosmetics, and healthcare products. Bioproduction of phenylpropanoid in Escherichia coli and other microbial cell factories is an attractive approach considering the low phenylpropanoid contents in plants. However, it is usually difficult to produce high titer phenylpropanoid production when fermentation using glucose as carbon source. Developing novel bioprocess using alternative sources might provide a solution to this problem. In this study, typical phenylpropanoid raspberry ketone was used as the target product to develop a biosynthesis pathway for phenylpropanoid production from fatty acids, a promising alternative low-cost feedstock. Results: A raspberry ketone biosynthesis module was developed and optimized by introducing 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL), benzalacetone synthase (BAS), and raspberry ketone reductase (RZS) in Escherichia coli strains CR1–CR4. Then strain CR5 was developed by introducing raspberry ketone biosynthesis module into a fatty acids-utilization chassis FA09 to achieve production of raspberry ketone from fatty acids feedstock. However, the production of raspberry ketone was still limited by the low biomass and unable to substantiate whole-cell bioconversion process. Thus, a process by coordinately using fatty-acids and glycerol was developed. In addition, we systematically screened and optimized fatty acids-response promoters. The optimized promoter Pfrd3 was then successfully used for the efficient expression of key enzymes of raspberry ketone biosynthesis module during bioconversion from fatty acids. The final engineered strain CR8 could efficiently produce raspberry ketone repeatedly using bioconversion from fatty acids feedstock strategy, and was able to produce raspberry ketone to a concentration of 180.94 mg/L from soybean oil in a 1-L fermentation process. Conclusion: Metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains were successfully developed for raspberry ketone production from fatty acids using several strategies, including optimization of bioconversion process and fine-tuning key enzyme expression. This study provides an essential reference to establish the low-cost biological manufacture of phenylpropanoids compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooking aerosol treatment was a significant part of the ventilation system in the commercial kitchen, for reducing the emission of particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in cities. This study was comprehensively reviewed the research progress, the standards and policy of major global regions and the recent development of purifying methods, which was included: (1) wet method, (2) photolysis oxidation method, (3) physical interception method, (4) electrostatic adsorption method and (5) integrated purifying practice. Based on an extensive test of purifying devices, it analyzed the performance parameters of this method, and introduced the mechanisms, the individual characters, the merits and demerits of these purifying methods. According to the data statistics of test reports, it was found that the integrated purifying devices which was based on the electrostatic adsorption method received considerable attention because it had the high and stable purifying capacity and more straightforward installation. The suggestions and prospects for future researches were finally proposed. This review might be used for inspiration in developing novel technologies for cooking aerosol treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: FDG PET-CT scans are critical in detecting metastases during neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer, particularly for potential liver involvement. The liver's proximity to the radiation field in distal esophageal cancer therapies raises the risk of radiation-induced liver damage. Therefore, greater FDG absorption in the liver does not always imply metastases; it could also signal radiation-induced damage, which is a concern for distal esophageal carcinoma therapies in the left hepatic lobe, potentially leading to overstaging. Accordingly, thorough monitoring of FDG activity in the liver is required to reliably distinguish between radiation effects and genuine distant metastases. If FDG activity is seen in the left or caudate liver lobes following CRT, additional diagnostic procedures are demanded to confirm or rule out distant metastases. Surgery, usually scheduled 6–8 weeks after CRT, should be followed by an FDG PET-CT scan to look for new interval metastases, as their existence may prohibit surgical intervention. In patients with esophageal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT), subsequent restaging with F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET-CT) can reveal the presence of interval metastases, such as liver metastases, in approximately 10% of cases. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon in clinical practice to observe focal FDG uptake in the liver that is not associated with liver metastases but rather with radiation-induced liver injury (RILI), which can result in the overstaging of the disease. Liver radiation damage is also a concern during distal esophageal cancer radiotherapy due to its proximity to the left liver lobe, typically included in the radiation field. Post-CRT, if FDG activity appears in the left or caudate liver lobes, a thorough investigation is needed to confirm or rule out distant metastases. The increased FDG uptake in liver lobes post-CRT often presents a diagnostic dilemma. Distinguishing between radiation-induced liver disease and metastasis is vital for appropriate patient management, necessitating a combination of imaging techniques and an understanding of the factors influencing the radiation response. Diagnosis involves identifying new foci of hepatic FDG avidity on PET/CT scans. Geographic regions of hypoattenuation on CT and well-demarcated regions with specific enhancement patterns on contrast-enhanced CT scans and MRI are characteristic of radiation-induced liver disease (RILD). Lack of mass effect on all three modalities (CT, MRI, PET) indicates RILD. Resolution of abnormalities on subsequent examinations also helps in diagnosing RILD. Moreover, it can also help to rule out occult metastases, thereby excluding those patients from further surgery who will not benefit from esophagectomy with curative intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crucial ability of human intelligence is to build up models of individual 3D objects from partial scene observations. Recent works either achieve object-centric generation but without the ability to infer the representation, or achieve 3D scene representation learning but without object-centric compositionality. Therefore, learning to both represent and render 3D scenes with object-centric compositionality remains elusive. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic generative model for learning to build modular and compositional 3D object models from partial observations of a multi-object scene. The proposed model can (i) infer the 3D object representations by learning to search and group object areas, and also (ii) render from an arbitrary viewpoint not only individual objects but also the full scene by compositing the objects. The entire learning process is unsupervised and end-to-end. In experiments, in addition to generation quality, we also demonstrate that the learned representation permits object-wise manipulation and novel scene generation, and generalizes to various settings. Results can be found on our project website: https://sites.google.com/view/roots3d. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) play an important role in cancer immunity but their prognostic impact is controversial in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Intratumoral Tregs in DLBCL (n = 70) were evaluated by double-stained CD25 and FOXP3 lymphocytes in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues, and correlated with clinicopathologic features. We found that increased numbers of intratumoral FOXP3+ lymphocytes (>2.4/HPF) and CD25 + FOXP3+ lymphocytes (>0.8/HPF) are favorable prognosticators (p =.004 and p <.001, respectively) in DLBCL patients, along with age <70 years, stage I–II disease, normal serum LDH level and low IPI scores (p <.001,.002,.002, and <.001, respectively). On multivariate analyses, a higher number of CD25 + FOXP3+ lymphocytes retained prognostic significance (p =.040). Interestingly, higher Treg infiltration correlated with increased infiltration by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (γ = 0.294, p =.038) and nodal location (γ = 0.390, p =.004), but not with infiltration by CD123+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells, which were reported to induce Tregs with immune tolerance. Therefore, congruent with literature meta-analyses, higher intratumoral CD25 + FOXP3+ lymphocytes have a beneficial impact on DLBCL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]