Search

Background: Computed tomography (CT) radiomics combined with deep transfer learning was used to identify cholesterol and adenomatous gallbladder polyps that have not been well evaluated before surgery. Purpose: To investigate the potential of various machine learning models, incorporating radiomics and deep transfer learning, in predicting the nature of cholesterol and adenomatous gallbladder polyps. Material and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical and imaging data from 100 patients with cholesterol or adenomatous polyps confirmed by surgery and pathology at our hospital between September 2015 and February 2023. Preoperative contrast-enhanced CT radiomics combined with deep learning features were utilized, and t -tests and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) cross-validation were employed for feature selection. Subsequently, 11 machine learning algorithms were utilized to construct prediction models, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC), accuracy, and F1 measure were used to assess model performance, which was validated in a validation group. Results: The Logistic algorithm demonstrated the most effective prediction in identifying polyp properties based on 10 radiomics combined with deep learning features, achieving the highest AUC (0.85 in the validation group, 95% confidence interval = 0.68–1.0). In addition, the accuracy (0.83 in the validation group) and F1 measure (0.76 in the validation group) also indicated strong performance. Conclusion: The machine learning radiomics combined with deep learning model based on enhanced CT proves valuable in predicting the characteristics of cholesterol and adenomatous gallbladder polyps. This approach provides a more reliable basis for preoperative diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private set intersection cardinality (PSI-CA) and private intersection-sum with cardinality (PSI-CA-sum) are two primitives that enable data owners to learn the intersection cardinality of their data sets, with the difference that PSI-CA-sum additionally outputs the sum of the associated integer values of all the data that belongs to the intersection (i.e., intersection-sum). However, to the best of our knowledge, all existing multi-party PSI-CA (MPSI-CA) protocols are either limited by high computational cost or face security challenges under arbitrary collusion. As for multi-party PSI-CA-sum (MPSI-CA-sum), there is even no formalization for this notion at present, not to mention secure constructions for it.In this paper, we first present an efficient MPSI-CA protocol with two non-colluding parties. This protocol significantly decreases the number of parties involved in expensive interactive procedures, leading to a significant enhancement in runtime efficiency. Our numeric results demonstrate that the running time of this protocol is merely one-quarter of the time required by our proposed MPSI-CA protocol that is secure against arbitrary collusion. Therefore, in scenarios where performance is a priority, this protocol stands out as an excellent choice.Second, we successfully construct the first MPSI-CA protocol that achieves simultaneous practicality and security against arbitrary collusion. Additionally, we also conduct implementation to verify its practicality (while the previous results under arbitrary collusion only present theoretical analysis of performance, lacking real implementation). Numeric results show that by shifting the costly operations to an offline phase, the online computation can be completed in just 12.805 seconds, even in the dishonest majority setting, where 15 parties each hold a set of size 2 16 .Third, we formalize the concept of MPSI-CA-sum and present the first realization that ensures simultaneous practicality and security against arbitrary collusion. The computational complexity of this protocol is roughly twice that of our MPSI-CA protocol.Besides the main results, we introduce the concepts and efficient constructions of two novel building blocks: multi-party secret-shared shuffle and multi-party oblivious zero-sum check, which may be of independent interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ga2O3 is an ultra‐wide‐bandgap semiconductor that is receiving considerable attention due to its promising applications in high‐frequency, high‐power and high‐temperature settings. It can be prepared by calcinating the α‐GaOOH phase at high temperatures. Understanding the significance of hydroxyl groups in α‐GaOOH, dehydroxylation and the structural transition at high temperatures has become a key aspect of preparing high‐quality α‐Ga2O3 crystals, but the underlying mechanism remains unknown. In this research, α‐GaOOH nanorods were hydrothermally synthesized and the structural evolution of α‐GaOOH investigated at high temperatures by in situ X‐ray diffraction. The hydroxyl group in α‐GaOOH squeezes Ga3+ from the center of the [GaO6] octahedron, resulting in deformed [GaO6] octahedra and significant microstrain in α‐GaOOH. The hydroxyl groups are peeled off from α‐GaOOH when the temperature exceeds 200°C, resulting in contraction along the c‐axis direction and expansion along the a‐axis direction of α‐GaOOH. When the temperature exceeds 300°C, the Ga—O bond inside the double chains preferentially breaks to generate square‐wave‐like octahedron chains, and the neighboring chains repack to form hexagonal‐like octahedron layers. The octahedron layers are packed up and down by electrostatic interaction to generate the α‐Ga2O3 structure. This work highlights the role of hydroxyl groups in α‐GaOOH, dehydroxylation and the structural transition on the atomic scale, providing valuable guidelines for the fabrication of high‐quality α‐Ga2O3 crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lifting permanent magnet is a new type of magnetic transport device consisting of a mechanical driving mechanism and a permanent magnet system. It can reduce power consumption as opposed to lifting electromagnet. However, the single-drive mechanism could not be used in the inclined condition, and how to calculate the balance working point of the magnetic circuit with several permanent magnet limits its application and development. In this paper, an anti-inclined mechanism with double drive mechanism was designed and implemented. The concentric shafts and the reversing gear were adopted to realise synchronous rotation. For the permanent magnet system, the iteration method for multi-magnets balance working point analysis is proposed and implemented. Based on the prototype experiment, the anti-inclined lifting permanent magnet hoisted a 1 ton weight workpiece successfully at an inclination angle of 30 degrees. And the measurement experiment proved that the iteration method is more precise than the conventional isolated method and is a better preparation for analysing the magnetic force and residual magnetic field strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the feasibility of unenhanced CT images for endoleak detection of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) after endovascular repair (EVAR). Methods: Patients who visited our hospital after EVAR from July 2014 to September 2021 were retrospectively collected. Two radiologists evaluated the presence or absence of endoleaks using the combination of contrast-enhanced and unenhanced CT as the referenced standard. After segmenting the aneurysm sac of the unenhanced CT, the radiomic features were automatically extracted from the region of interest. Histogram features of patients with and without endoleak were statistically analyzed to explore the differences between the two groups. Twelve common machine learning (ML) models based on radiomic features were constructed to evaluate the performance of endoleak detection with unenhanced CT images. Results: The study included 216 patients (69 ± 8 years; 191 men) with AAA, including 64 patients with endoleaks. A total of 1955 radiomic features of unenhanced CT were extracted. Compared with patients without endoleak, the aneurysm sac outside the stent of patients with endoleak had higher CT attenuation (41.7 vs. 33.6, p < 0.001) with smaller dispersion (51.5 vs. 58.8, p < 0.001). The average area under the curve (AUC) of the ML models constructed with unenhanced CT radiomics was 0.86 ± 0.05, the accuracy was 81% ± 4, the sensitivity was 88% ± 10, and the specificity was 78% ± 5. When fixing the sensitivity to > 90% (92% ± 2), the models retained specificity at 72% ± 10. Conclusions: Unenhanced CT features exhibit significant differences between patients with and without endoleak and can help detect endoleaks in AAA after EVAR with high sensitivity. Clinical relevance statement: Unenhanced CT radiomics can help provide an alternative method of endoleak detection in patients who have adverse reactions to contrast media. This study further exploits the value of unenhanced CT examinations in the clinical management and surveillance of postoperative abdominal aortic aneurysm. Key Points: • Unenhanced CT features of the aneurysm sac outside the stent exhibit significant differences between patients with and without endoleak. The endoleak group showed higher unenhanced CT attenuation (41.7 vs 33.6, p <.001) with smaller dispersion (51.5 vs 58.8, p <.001) than the nonendoleak group. • Unenhanced CT radiomics can help detect endoleaks after intervention. The average area under the curve (AUC) of twelve common machine learning models constructed with unenhanced CT radiomics was 0.86 ± 0.05, the average accuracy was 81% ± 4. • When fixing the sensitivity to > 90% (92% ± 2), the machine learning models retained average specificity at 72% ± 10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approximation scheme that combines approximate solutions with error estimators to accelerate the adaptive h‐refinement of the RWG‐based method of moments (MoM) with the electric field integral equation (EFIE) is presented. The scheme is effectively implemented by using the near‐field matrix to solve the approximate solution. Several conventional error estimators incorporated with the scheme are investigated. Compared to using the full MoM system, it significantly reduces the computational cost while maintaining the refinement effect. Numerical results indicate that the scheme could accelerate the adaptive refinement, yielding significant reductions in computational time and memory requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After optimizing the original aptamer sequence by truncation strategy, a magnetic separation-assisted DNAzyme-driven 3D DNA walker fluorescent aptasensor was developed for detecting the food-borne pathogen Cronobacter species. Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) modified with a hybrid of truncated aptamer probe and DNAzyme strand (AP-E1) denoted as MNPs@AP-E1, were employed as capture probes. Simultaneously, a DNAzyme-driven 3D-DNA walker was utilized as the signal amplification element. The substrate strand (Sub) was conjugated with the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), resulting in the formation of AuNPs@Sub, which served as a 3D walking track. In the presence of the target bacteria and Mg2+, E1-DNAzyme was activated and moved along AuNPs@Sub, continuously releasing the signal probe. Under optimized conditions, a strong linear correlation was observed for Cronobacter sakazakii (C. sakazakii) in the concentration range 101 to 106 CFU mL−1, with a low detection limit of 2 CFU mL−1. The fluorescence signal responses for different Cronobacter species exhibited insignificant differences, with a relative standard deviation of 3.6%. Moreover, the aptasensor was successfully applied to determine C. sakazakii in real samples with recoveries of 92.86%—108.33%. Therefore, the novel method could be a good candidate for ultra-sensitive and selective detection of Cronobacter species without complex manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urinary sediment image detection, as one of the three major routine clinical tests in medical practice, is an important method for physical examination and diagnosis of urinary system diseases. Crystalluria detection is a subtask of urinary sediment image detection, focusing on detecting and identifying crystalline components in urine. To address the issues of low accuracy and inefficiency caused by small crystal granularity in crystalluria detection, we propose the Dilated Bilinear Space Pyramid ConvNext Network (DBSPC‐Net), which achieves high‐precision real‐time crystalluria detection. DBSPC‐Net ingeniously combines dilated convolution pooling with bilinear space pyramid, introducing Dilated Bilinear Space Pyramid Pooling (DBSPP) to enlarge the receptive field and capture information at multiple scales. Additionally, we utilize the Normalized Gaussian Wasserstein Distance Loss (NWDLoss) instead of Intersection over Union (IoU) to enhance the recognition of small targets. Finally, the ConvNext module is employed to fuse local and global features, enhancing urine crystal recognition accuracy and speed. The crystalluria dataset is sourced from 400 actual patients in a hospital. It comprises five main types of urine crystals, namely calcium oxalate dihydrate, calcium oxalate monohydrate, uric acid, ammonium magnesium phosphate, and cystine. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed improved model achieves an average precision of 87.34% and a detection time of 7.9 ms per urine crystal image. DBSPC‐Net can accurately and rapidly identify crystalluria objects in scenarios involving microscope mica compensation, meeting the requirements of algorithmic detection accuracy and real‐time performance in crystalluria detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectivesMethodsResultsConclusionsResidents inevitably witness or participate in a diverse range of professionalism dilemmas. However, few studies have focused on residents’ moral distress from professionalism dilemmas and its relationship with residents’ professionalism. This study aimed to understand the moral distress that Chinese residents may face after exposure to professionalism dilemmas and to examine the associations between moral distress and residents’ perceived fulfillment of professionalism behaviors.We conducted a cross-sectional survey of residents from four standardized residency training bases in Liaoning Province, China, using stratified cluster sampling. A checklist of professionalism dilemmas, the Moral Distress Scale, and the Behavior-based Medical Professionalism Inventory were used to assess residents’ moral distress from professionalism dilemmas and their perceived fulfillment of professionalism behaviors. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, multiple linear regressions, and binary logistic regressions were used to analyze the data.A total of 647 (81.1%) residents effectively completed the survey. The proportion of residents suffering from moral distress ranged from 58.4 to 90.6% for different professionalism dilemmas. As the number of professionalism dilemmas associated with moral distress increased, residents reported lower fulfillment of professionalism behaviors (β < 0, p < 0.05). Compared with residents with no distress, residents suffering from distress reported lower fulfillment of professionalism behaviors (OR < 1, p < 0.05). Among residents suffering from distress, as the distress intensity increased, residents reported higher fulfillment of professionalism behaviors (OR > 1, p < 0.05).Residents suffered a wide range of moral distress from professionalism dilemmas, and residents with moral distress reported lower fulfillment of professional behaviors. A responsive reporting system for residents and reflection on role modeling may help residents cope with the negative effects of moral distress and professionalism dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An alkaline electrolyzer is a traditional equipment to generate hydrogen. Improving the yield of electrolyzers has recently captured much attention. In this regard, the utilization of carbon-coated nanomaterial structures is a state-of-art method. On the other hand, considering the current crisis of fossil energies, the exploitation of renewables and green technologies is necessary and unavoidable. Additionally, the design and development of integrated energy systems with two or more output products and the maximum usage of thermal losses to enhance productivity can increase the flexibility and acceptability of the energy system. In this regard, the current paper develops a framework for the performance of a new solar and biomass energies-driven multigeneration system (MGS). The main units installed in MGS are three electric energy generation units based on a gas turbine process, a solid oxide fuel cell unit (SOFCU) and an organic Rankine cycle unit (ORCU), a biomass energy conversion unit to useful thermal energy, a seawater conversion unit into useable freshwater, a unit for converting water and electricity into hydrogen energy and oxygen gas via a nanomaterial-based alkaline electrolyzer, a unit for converting solar energy into useful thermal energy (based on Fresnel collector), and a cooling load generation unit. The planned MGS has a novel structure and layout that has not been considered by researchers in previous papers. The current article is based on presenting a multi-aspect evaluation in order to investigate thermodynamic-conceptual, environmental and exergoeconomic analyzes. The outcomes indicated that the planned MGS can produce about 6.31 MW of electrical power and 0.49 MW of thermal power. Furthermore, MGS is able to produce various products such as potable water (∼0.977 kg/s), cooling load (∼0.16 MW), hydrogen energy (∼1.578 g/s) and sanitary water (∼0.957 kg/s). The overall energy and exergy productivities were measured as 78.13% and 47.72%, respectively. Also, the total investment and unit exergy costs were 47.16 USD per hour and 11.07 USD per GJ, respectively. Further, the content of carbon dioxide released from the planned system was equal to 10.59 kmol per MWh. A parametric study has been also developed to identify influencing parameters. • The nanomaterial-based alkaline electrolyzer is utilized for hydrogen production. • The system is tested by thermodynamic and environmental aspects. • The developed system was capable of generating 1.578 g/s hydrogen energy. • The content of carbon dioxide released from the planned system was less than traditional systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preadipocytes become mature adipocytes after proliferation and differentiation, and although many genes and microRNAs have been identified in intramuscular fat, their physiological function and regulatory mechanisms remain largely unexplored. miR-26a-5p has been reported to be related to fat deposition, but its effect on porcine preadipocyte differentiation has not been explored. In this study, bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay identified that miR-26a-5p binds to the 3ʹUTR of Acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 3 (ACSL3) mRNA. The model for porcine intramuscular preadipocyte differentiation was established to explore the function of miR-6a-5p-ACSL3 on adipocyte differentiation. ACSL3 knockdown markedly reduced the triglycerides (TG) content of cells, as well as the mRNA levels of adipogenic marker genes (PPAR-γ and SREBP-1c). The number of lipid droplets in cells transfected with a miR-26a-5p mimic is significantly reduced, consistent with ACSL3 knockdown results, while the miR-26a-5p inhibitor resulted in opposite results. Taken together, miR-26a-5p is a repressor of porcine preadipocyte differentiation and plays a vital role in ACSL3-mediated adipogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest change monitoring is a fundamental and routine task for forest survey and planning departments, and the resulting forest change information acts as an underlying asset for sustainable forest management strategy development, ecological quality assessment, and carbon cycle research. The traditional ground-based manual monitoring of forest change has the disadvantages of high time and labor costs, low accessibility, and poor timeliness over wide regions. Remote sensing technology has become a popular approach for multi-scale forest change monitoring due to its multiple available spatial, spectral, temporal, and radiometric resolutions and wide coverage. Particularly, the free access policy of long time series archive data of Landsat (around 50 years) has triggered many automated analysis algorithms for landscape-scale forest change analysis, such as VCT, LandTrendr, BFAST, and CCDC. These automated algorithms differ in their principles, parameter settings, execution complexity, and disturbance types to be detected. Thus, selecting a suitable algorithm to satisfy the particular forest management demands is an urgent and challenging task for forest managers in a given forested area. In this study, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, a typical plantation forest region in Southern China where forest disturbance widely and frequently exists, was selected as the study area. Based on the GEE platform, the algorithmic adaptability of VCT, LandTrendr, and CCDC in monitoring abrupt forest disturbance events was compared and assessed. The results showed that the kappa coefficients of the abrupt disturbance events detected by the three algorithms were at 0.704 (LandTrendr), 0.660 (VCT), and 0.727 (CCDC), and the corresponding overall accuracies were at 0.852, 0.830, and 0.862, respectively. The validated disturbance occurrence time consistency reached nearly 80% for the three algorithms. In light of the characteristics of forest disturbance occurrence in southeastern China as well as the algorithmic complexity, efficiency, and adaptability, LandTrendr was recommended as the most suitable one in this region or other similar regions. Overall, the forest change monitoring process based on GEE is becoming more simplified and easily implemented, and the comparisons and tradeoffs in this study provide a reference for the choice of long time series forest monitoring algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Game theory effectively balances different weighting methods. • PG recycling technologies excel in resource and environmental criteria. • PG recycling technologies have lower performance in economy and society criteria. • Utility theory proves robust in evaluating solid waste recycling technologies. • The utility performance of PG recycling technology is sensitive to carbon emissions. The Chinese government is implementing policies, such as the "Guidance on comprehensive utilization of bulk solid waste for the 14th Five-Year Plan period", to stimulate phosphogypsum (PG) reduction and recycling. Thus, the comprehensive evaluation of PG recycling technologies for sustainable development is crucial. This study proposes a novel multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method that considers the criteria of resources, environment, economy, and society and risk attitudes of decision-makers and integrates game theory (GT) and utility theory for criteria weighting and ranking to assess industrial-scale PG recycling technologies in China. The results demonstrate that GT provides more reasonable criteria weights than individual weighting methods. PG-based lightweight plaster is the top performer in the resource and environmental dimensions owing to its exceptional resource and energy efficiency. PG utilized for dry-mix mortar and organic fertilizer production exhibited the best utility performance of 0.74 and 0.73, respectively. Measures, such as subsidies and product publicity, should be implemented to promote these technologies. However, technologies with poor performance, such as PG used for the co-production of sulfuric acid and fertilizer or cement, may require optimization or substitution for the sustainable recycling of PG. The proposed MCDA method is robust and can serve as a reliable decision-making tool for other waste-recycling technologies. However, caution must be exercised when determining risk attitude using the MCDA method as it may vary with the number of technologies and affect the final rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the quality of millimeter wave communication in indoor environment and ensure the maximum use of link resources. It is proposed to construct indoor communication transmission characteristics through multi sphere link model and indoor millimeter wave reflection blocking model. At the same time, the improved PMVC algorithm and CTRA algorithm are used to optimize the resource scheduling of links in indoor central scenes and edge scenes respectively. The simulation results show that compared with the original PVC algorithm and greedy algorithm, PMVC has a maximum link throughput of 5.01 Gbps under the optimized scheduling of the improved vertex coloring algorithm, while the maximum throughput of the traditional vertex coloring algorithm and greedy algorithm are 4.73 Gbps and 4.57 Gbps respectively. In the case of fixed link transmission beam width, as the number of link flows increases, the slot throughput of the link decreases continuously. Under the width of 30, the maximum slot throughput of PMVC algorithm is 2.75 Gbps, and the maximum slot throughput of greedy algorithm is 2.48 Gbps; When the beam width is 60, the maximum slot throughput of PMVC algorithm and greedy algorithm is 2.25 Gbps and 1.55 Gbps respectively. The proposed PMVC resource scheduling method can effectively alleviate the shortage of indoor spectrum resources and reduce indoor transmission interference of millimeter wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although severe lattice distortion is one of the core effects of multicomponent materials, accurate quantitative description is still an open issue. In this paper, density functional theory (DFT) calculations based on special quasi-random structure (SQS) are used to investigate the lattice distortion of multicomponent (TiZrHf)C and (TiZrHf)N ceramics, and the influences on structural, mechanical, electronic and thermodynamic properties. The distortion in (TiZrHf)C and (TiZrHf)N is quantified by the average atomic displacement and the bond length distribution. Our results show that the distortion in (TiZrHf)N is greater than in (TiZrHf)C. Lattice distortion can improve thermodynamic stability while enhancing ductility at the expense of strength and hardness. Moreover, the influence of lattice distortion on thermal properties is further studied, suggesting that the distortion increases the vibrational entropy due to the high-temperature softening of the lattice, thereby increasing the total entropy and thermodynamic stability of ceramics. After distortion, the thermal expansion coefficient is obviously larger and the heat capacity CV and CP also increase, especially at low temperatures. Therefore, the present study is valuable for understanding and optimization of the comprehensive properties of multicomponent ceramics by tuning the lattice distortion effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a special kind of tweezers, the acoustic-vortex (AV) beam with a bent or inclined trajectory shows its great significance in contactless manipulations, especially for objects behind obstacles. By introducing additional phase delays to the traditional single-side ring-array of planar transducers, directional off-axis acoustic-vortex (OA-AV) beams passing through a preassigned point are constructed. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements of the axial and cross-sectional profiles for OA-AV beams of different orders with various radial offsets are conducted for transducers of various radiation patterns. An approximately linear trajectory of OA-AV beams with the slope determined by the preassigned point is demonstrated. The axial distribution of OA-AV beams formed by the main-lobes and side-lobes with corresponding zero-pressure nodes is decided by the directivity of the sources, while the vortex radius can be adjusted by the topological charge. By combining with the technologies of ultrasonic imaging, acoustic treatment, particle assembly, and targeted drug delivery, the precise positioning and flexible regulation of tilted OA-AV beams can be applied to accurately route acoustic packets along a predictable trajectory in three dimensions, suggesting more promising potentials of obstacle-avoidant object manipulation in biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trapping capability of focused acoustic vortex (FAV) beams along the radial and axial directions has significant potential in biomedical applications. However, analyses based on the acoustic gradient force are only applicable to tiny particles when acoustic scattering is neglected, and the ideal Bessel beams are still difficult to implement in experiments. In the present work, the axial acoustic radiation force (A-ARF) exerted on objects at the focus for FAV beams is calculated based on an annular spherical transducer with a continuous phase spiral. Through a partial wave series expansion, a recursive algorithm based on acoustic scattering is proposed to calculate the acoustic field for FAV beams with arbitrary order. The A-ARF distributions exerted on rigid spheres with respect to k0a (the product of the wave number and the sphere radius) are simulated. The results demonstrate that the A-ARF created by on-axis acoustic reflection is mainly manifested as a pushing force for FAV beams of all orders. The pulling force produced by off-axis scattering is more likely to be exerted on spheres with a smaller k0a in higher-order FAV beams constructed by narrower transducers. The A-ARF generated by a ring-array of sectorial transducers with more than 16 sources can be estimated from the equivalent result produced by the continuous model. The favorable results demonstrate the validity of the recursive algorithm for solving the A-ARF of FAV beams and the feasibility of experimental ring-arrays of spherical sources, suggesting the potential for the application of dual-directional object manipulation in biomedical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study on the effect of grain boundaries (GBs) on the mechanical properties of epoxy/graphene composites. Ten types of GB models were constructed and comparisons were made for epoxy/graphene composites containing graphene with GBs. The results showed that the tensile and compressive behaviors, the glass transition temperature (Tg), and the configurations of epoxy/graphene composites were significantly affected by GBs. The tensile yield strength of epoxy/graphene composites could be either enhanced or weakened by GBs under a tensile load parallel to the graphene sheet. The underlying mechanisms may be attributed to multi-factor coupling, including the tensile strength of the reinforcements, the interfacial interaction energy, and the inflection degree of reinforcements. A balance exists among these effect factors, resulting in the diversity in the tensile yield strength of epoxy/graphene composites. The compressive yield strength for epoxy/graphene composites is higher than their counterpart in tension. The tensile/compressive yield strength for the same configuration presents diversity in different directions. Both an excellent interfacial interaction and the appropriate inflection degree of wrinkles for GB configurations restrict the translational and rotational movements of epoxy chains during volume expansion, which eventually improves the overall Tg. Understanding the reinforcing mechanism for graphene with GBs from the atomistic level provides new physical insights to material design for epoxy-based composites containing defective reinforcements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The daily production and life of human beings are inseparable from electricity. As the power supplier, electric power enterprises provide power demand for the majority of users. In the new era, electric power enterprises are also facing market-oriented reform. The focus of reform is electric power marketing. The formulation of electric power marketing strategy needs scientific decision-making analysis as guidance. With the increase of power demand, the scale of power grid is also expanding continuously. With the introduction of new energy equipment, the power system is becoming more and more complex, and it is difficult for relevant staff to effectively monitor and analyze the system. Combined with the above situation, this paper combined Bayesian network to build a power marketing decision analysis system, and combined Bayesian algorithm to test the power marketing real-time cost control system. The experimental results showed that the average judgment accuracy was 91.90 %, and the average warning time was 0.39 s. From the above data, it can be seen that this algorithm can play a good optimization effect on the performance of the system. In this paper, the elasticity test of the power system was also carried out from the aspect of wind speed, and the results showed that the maximum elasticity value can reach 0.94. It can be seen that the elasticity effect of the power system is good as a whole under different wind speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can eyes tell the truth? Can the analysis of human eye-movement data reveal psychological activities and uncover hidden information? Lying is a prevalent phenomenon in human society, but research has shown that people's accuracy in identifying deceptive behavior is not significantly higher than chance-level probability. In this paper, simulated crime experiments were carried out to extract the eye-movement features of 83 participants while viewing crime-related pictures using an eye tracker, and the importance of eye-movement features through interpretable machine learning was analyzed. In the experiment, the participants were independently selected into three groups: innocent group, informed group, and crime group. In the test, the eye tracker was used to extract a total of five categories of eye-movement indexes within the area of interest (AOI), including the fixation time, fixation count, pupil diameter, saccade frequency, and blink frequency, and the differences in these indexes were analyzed. Building upon interpretable learning algorithms, further investigation was conducted to assess the contribution of these metrics. As a result, the RF-RFE suspect identification model was constructed, achieving a maximum accuracy rate of 91.7%. The experimental results further support the feasibility of utilizing eye-movement features to reveal inner psychological activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of UAV remote sensing, satellite remote sensing and computer vision, the semantic segmentation of remote sensing images has also developed rapidly and is widely used in research on land utilization classification, ecology, urban planning and other problems. Large differences in spatial and temporal scales, different image resolutions, insufficient model robustness to the data domain, and blurred object boundaries are the main problems for existing semantic segmentation models based on deep learning. This paper studies the problem of blurred target boundaries after semantic segmentation and propose a boundary enhancement loss function that highlights the importance of target edges. Compared to other models used in investigating higher boundary accuracy, the proposed model can be trained without boundary-labelled data, and no additional inference time is consumed. This loss function is applied to some other deep learning networks as a plug-and-play module on two different datasets and show that the IoU has an improvement of 2–5% with better clear boundary and continuity, which is more prominent on buildings and roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the effect of visible light irradiation on oxidative desulfurization. Three kinds of coals (SM, YYH and GZ) and four sulfur model compounds were selected as research objects. The effects of different irradiation time (30, 60, 90 and 120 min) and light source power (150, 220 and 300 W) of coal desulfurization were investigated. The samples before and after desulfurization were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show that when coal:H2O2 = 1:5 (g:mL), light source power is 220 W and irradiation is 60 min, the desulfurization rate of SM, YYH and GZ can reach the maximum, which were 27.97%, 56.28% and 66.22%, respectively. According to the characterization of samples before and after desulfurization, it was found that the low-valence sulfur changes into the high-valence sulfur with a more stable structure through a certain transition state during the desulfurization process. Coal responds to visible light, which can promote the generation of electron–hole pairs in the system, so as to enhance the oxidative desulfurization ability of the system. Visible light irradiation can promote the production of strong oxidation active group HO·, thereby improving the desulfurization rate of coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel has anti-fibrotic effects in the lung and intestine. Suburothelial myofibroblasts (subu−MyoFBs), a specialized subset of fibroblasts in the bladder, are known to express TRPA1. However, the role of the TRPA1 in the development of bladder fibrosis remains elusive. In this study, we use the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) to induce fibrotic changes in subu−MyoFBs and assess the consequences of TRPA1 activation utilizing RT-qPCR, western blotting, and immunocytochemistry. TGF-β1 stimulation increased α-SMA, collagen type I alpha 1 chain(col1A1), collagen type III (col III), and fibronectin expression, while simultaneously suppressing TRPA1 in cultured human subu−MyoFBs. The activation of TRPA1, with its specific agonist allylisothiocyanate (AITC), inhibited TGF-β1-induced fibrotic changes, and part of these inhibition effects could be reversed by the TRPA1 antagonist, HC030031, or by reducing TRPA1 expression via RNA interference. Furthermore, AITC reduced spinal cord injury-induced fibrotic bladder changes in a rat model. The increased expression of TGF-β1, α-SMA, col1A1 and col III, and fibronectin, and the downregulation of TRPA1, were also detected in the mucosa of fibrotic human bladders. These findings suggest that TRPA1 plays a pivotal role in bladder fibrosis, and the negative cross talk between TRPA1 and TGF-β1 signaling may represent one of the mechanisms underlying fibrotic bladder lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime is always one of the most important social problems, and it poses a great threat to public security and people. Accurate crime prediction can help the government, police, and citizens to carry out effective crime prevention measures. In this paper, the research on crime prediction is systematically reviewed from a variety of temporal and spatial perspectives. We describe the current state of crime prediction research from four perspectives (prediction content, crime types, methods, and evaluation) and focus on the prediction methods. According to various temporal and spatial scales, temporal crime prediction is divided into short-term prediction, medium-term prediction, and long-term prediction, and spatial crime prediction is divided into micro-, meso-, and macro-level prediction. Spatio-temporal crime prediction classification can be a permutation of temporal and spatial crime prediction classifications. A variety of crime prediction methods and evaluation metrics are also summarized, and different prediction methods and models are compared and evaluated. After sorting out the literature, it was found that there are still many limitations in the current research: (i) data sparsity is difficult to deal with effectively; (ii) the practicality, interpretability, and transparency of predictive models are insufficient; (iii) the evaluation system is relatively simple; and (iv) the research on decision-making application is lacking. In this regard, the following suggestions are proposed to solve the above problems: (i) the use of transformer learning technology to deal with sparse data; (ii) the introduction of model interpretation methods, such as Shapley additive explanations (SHAPs), to improve the interpretability of the models; (iii) the establishment of a set of standard evaluation systems for crime prediction at different scales to standardize data use and evaluation metrics; and (iv) the integration of reinforcement learning to achieve more accurate prediction while promoting the transformation of the application results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This quasi-experimental study examines the effect of short instruction videos on students' business statistics learning. Two hundred and thirty-one Dutch students attended 6-week online seminars on Business Statistics. One hundred and nineteen students were in an experimental group, and 112 in a control group. Students in the experimental group watched short instructional videos and studied online quizzes at their own pace. In the control group, students followed teachers' instructions throughout the seminars. It was found students watching short videos significantly outperformed those following teachers' virtual instruction. Short videos were especially useful for those who were good at math. The research sheds light on the design of hybrid learning, particularly for business statistics education at the university level. A quasi-experimental research to examine the effects of short instructional videos on students' statistics learning performance vs. the virtual lectures with teachers. Evidence of the benefits of short videos in statistics education for students who are good at math. Practical experiences sharing for designers of instructional videos. Recommendations for creating short instructional videos in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tangible cultural heritage is vulnerable to various risks, particularly those stemming from criminal activity. Through analyzing the distribution and flow of crime risks from a spatial perspective based on quantitative methods, risks can be better managed to contribute to the protection of cultural heritage. This paper explores and summarizes the spatial characteristics of crime risks from 2011 to 2019 in China. Firstly, the average nearest neighbor (ANN) and the Jenks Natural Breaks Classification method showed that the national key protected heritage sites (NPS) and crime risks exhibit clustering features in space, and most of the NPS were located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Secondly, the economy has no impact on crime risks in the spatial statistical analysis. However, the population density, distribution of NPS, and tourism development influenced specific types of crime risks. Finally, Global Moran's I was used to examine the strong sensitivity between crime risks and cultural relics protection policies. The quantitative results of this study can be applied to improve strategies for crime risk prevention and the effectiveness of heritage security policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ability of p38 to phosphorylate substrates in the nucleus and the role of nuclear p38 in the regulation of inflammation have focused attention on the subcellular localization of the kinase. Although it is clear that p38 shuttles to the nucleus upon stimulation, the mechanisms that regulate p38 nuclear input in response to mechanical stretch remain to be determined. Methods: Cyclic stretch (CS)-induced nuclear translocation of p38 was determined by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. The p38 interacting protein was identified using endogenous pull-down and protein binding assays. The potential role of importin-7 (Imp7) in CS-induced nuclear translocation of p38 and p38-dependent gene expression was confirmed using a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments. Furthermore, we tested the therapeutic potential of intratracheal administration of Imp7 siRNA-loaded nanoparticles in the ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) mouse model. Results: We show that CS induced phosphorylation-dependent nuclear translocation of p38, which required the involvement of microtubules and dynein. Endogenous pull-down assay revealed Imp7 to be a potential p38-interacting protein, and the direct interaction between p38 and Imp7 was confirmed by in vitro and in vivo binding assays. Furthermore, silencing Imp7 inhibited CS-induced nuclear translocation of p38 and subsequent cytokine production. Notably, intratracheal administration of Imp7 siRNA nanoparticles attenuated lung inflammation and histological damage in the VILI mouse model. Conclusions: Our findings uncover a key role for Imp7 in the process of p38 nuclear import after CS stimulation and highlight the potential of preventing p38 nuclear translocation in treatment of VILI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A-type antiferromagnetism, with an in-plane ferromagnetic order and the interlayer antiferromagnetic coupling, owns inborn advantages for electrical manipulations but is naturally rare in real materials except in those artificial antiferromagnetic heterostructures. Here, a robust layered antiferromagnetism with a high Néel temperature is predicted in a MXene Cr2CCl2 monolayer, which provides an ideal platform as a magnetoelectric field effect transistor. Based on first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that an electric field can induce the band splitting between spin-up and spin-down channels. Although no net magnetization is generated, the inversion symmetry between the lower Cr layer and the upper Cr layer is broken via electronic cloud distortions. Moreover, this electric field can be replaced by a proximate ferroelectric layer for non-volatility. The magneto-optic Kerr effect can be used to detect this magnetoelectricity, even if it is a collinear antiferromagnet with zero magnetization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. In recent years, the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer (CRC) are increasing, and the 5-year survival rate of advanced metastatic CRC is poor. Small mothers against decapentaplegic (SMAD) superfamily are intracellular signal transduction proteins associated with the development and prognosis of a variety of tumors. At present, no study has systematically analysed the relationship between SMADs and CRC. Methods. Here, R3.6.3 was used to analyse the expression of SMADs in pan-cancer and CRC. Protein expression of SMADs were analysed by Human Protein Atlas (HPA). Gene expression profiling interactive analysis (GEPIA) was used to evaluate the correlation between SMADs and tumor stage in CRC. The effect of R language and GEPIA on prognosis was analysed. Mutation rates of SMADs in CRC were determined by cBioPortal, and potentially related genes were predicted using GeneMANIA. R analysis was used to correlate immune cell infiltration in CRC. Results. Both SMAD1 and SMAD2 were found to be weakly expressed in CRC and correlated with the immune invasion level. SMAD1 was correlated with patient prognosis, and SMAD2 was correlated with tumor stage. SMAD3, SMAD4, and SMAD7 were all expressed at low levels in CRC and associated with a variety of immune cells. SMAD3 and SMAD4 proteins were also expressed at low levels, and SMAD4 had the highest mutation rate. SMAD5 and SMAD6 were overexpressed in CRC, and SMAD6 was also associated with patient overall survival (OS) and CD8+ T cells, macrophages, and neutrophils. Conclusions. Our results reveal innovative and strong evidence that SMADs can be used as biomarkers for the treatment and prognosis of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density is an important property of energetic materials and is believed to increase with the addition of heavy trinitromethyl groups, as shown in previous literature. However, this study determined that the introduction of these groups produced a decrease in density, as evidenced by the lower density of 1-trinitromethyl-4-amino-3,5-dinitropyrazole ((TN-116), 1.899 g cm−3) compared to that of its precursor (4-amino-3,5-dinitropyrazole (LLM-116), 1.900 g cm−3). Mechanistic studies indicated that the reduced density was due to the significantly weaker H-bonding and π–π interactions of TN-116, which produced looser stacking compared to that of LLM-116. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reactivity of M+ (M = Os, Ir, Pt, Au) and ethylene is comparatively studied by the techniques of mass spectrometry in conjunction with theoretical calculations. Studies have shown that Os+, Ir+ and Pt+ can activate C–H bonds in ethylene to form OsC2H2+, IrC2H2+ and PtC2H2+ through dehydrogenation reaction, while Au+ cannot, which can be explained by the second HAT step. This is affected by the number of empty valence orbital of metals. In addition, for the activation capacity of Os+, Ir+, Pt+, the analysis of the free energy of rate-limiting step indicates the activation capacity is Os+ > Ir+ > Pt + . At the same time, the Os–C and C–C bonds of the first intermediate MC2H4+ are analysed, which shows that the stronger the interaction between M and the ligand C2H4 is, the shorter the C–C bond length in the ligand is, and the stronger the activation ability of the metal M may be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male reproductive diseases are becoming increasingly prominent, and sperm quality is an important indicator to reflect these diseases. Seminal plasma extracellular vesicles (SPEVs) are involved in sperm motility. However, their effects on sperm remain unclear. Here, we identified 222 differentially expressed circRNAs in SPEVs between boars with high or low sperm motility. We found that circ-CREBBP promoted sperm motility and inhibited sperm apoptosis by sponging miR-10384 and miR-143-3p. In addition, miR-10384 and miR-143-3p can regulate the expression of MCL1, CREB1 and CREBBP. Furthermore, we demonstrated that MCL1 interacted directly with BAX and that CREBBP interacted with CREB1 in sperm. We showed that inhibition of circ-CREBBP can reduce the expression of MCL1, CREB1 and CREBBP and increase the expression of BAX and CASP3, thus promoting sperm apoptosis. Our results suggest that circ-CREBBP may be a promising biomarker and therapeutic target for male reproductive diseases.By identifying circ-CREBBP out of differently expressed circRNAs in seminal plasma extracellular vesicles from boars with high and low sperm motility, the circRNA is shown to play a role in sperm survival and apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What Is Known and Objective: The management of biological agents during pregnancy poses challenges as maternal and infant safety must be addressed. This study aims to compare the recommendations of existing guidelines on managing the use of biologics during pregnancy, lactation for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and the influence on neonatal vaccination. Methods: The PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, China Science and Technology Journal Database and China Biomedical Database were systematically searched from the inception date to 11 May 2022, to screen all relevant guidelines. Quality assessment was performed using the guideline methodology reporting tool AGREE II. Results and Discussion: Fourteen guidelines and consensus statements with detailed recommendations were included. All guidance documents cover management comments during pregnancy, and most consider that biologics can be given safely during pregnancy but require suspension at the right time to protect the foetus. However, the roles of vedolizumab and ustekinumab are disputed. Five documents guide lactation and the use of most biologics during lactation is safe, but no guidelines recommend vedolizumab. Six papers provide recommendations for newborns' vaccination, suggesting a delay in infants' live vaccination schedule if their mothers are treated with biologics. What Is New and Conclusion: Our study concluded that future guidelines could consider incorporating newer, more robust evidence to update recommendations. The development of future guidelines needs to consider the involvement of multidisciplinary experts, adequately report on the evidence retrieval process, and provide strategies for implementation. Besides, more research is needed to explore the use of biologics during pregnancy and lactation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Smartphone addiction bodes adverse consequences, affecting different populations, including medical students. Parental bonding in childhood had been associated with addiction and recovery in later life. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the associations between parental bonding and smartphone addiction among Chinese medical students. Method: Binary logistic regressions were used to investigate the associations between parental bonding with mothers and fathers, respectively, and smartphone addiction. Interaction terms of care and protection were included in the models. Results: A total of 517 medical students were included in the study. The prevalence of smartphone addiction was 48.16% (n = 249). The estimated effects of maternal and paternal parenting on smartphone addiction differed. Maternal protection was positively associated with smartphone addiction (OR, 1.046;95% CI, 1.005-1.087), and maternal care enhanced the estimated effect of protection on smartphone addiction. Paternal care was negatively associated with smartphone addiction (OR, 0.954;95% CI, 0.919-0.989). Conclusions: Chinese medical students with overprotective mothers or with indifferent fathers tended to exhibit traits of smartphone addiction. Further studies on factors influencing the associations between parental bonding and smartphone addiction may pave the way for potential family-oriented interventions for smartphone addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to determine the mechanism of improvement in dry eye diseases (DEDs) treated by acupuncture. The inflammatory molecules and related pathways will be analyzed in our study. Methods. In order to establish the animal model for DEDs, healthy New Zealand white rabbits were treated with scopolamine (Scop) hydrobromide for 21 consecutive days. After 21 days, acupuncture, fluorometholone (Flu), and α7nAChR antagonist (α-BGT) treatments were performed, and the Scop injections were continued until day 35. The therapeutic effect of acupuncture on DED inflammation was evaluated by corneal fluorescence staining, tear film rupture time, tear flow measurement, in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), corneal histopathology, and cytokine protein chip technology. The influence of acupuncture on the corneal pathology and inflammatory factors ACh, α7nAChR, and NF-κB was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western blot. Results. Compared with the group Scop, acupuncture can significantly reduce corneal staining and increase the tear film rupture time and tear flow, which are accompanied by a decrease in corneal epithelial detachment and lymphocyte infiltration. Acupuncture can relieve the inflammation of corneal stroma and mitigate the expression of proinflammatory factors and chemokines. Acupuncture can upregulate the expression of ACh and α7nAChR and downregulate the expression of NF-κB. Conclusion. Our findings demonstrate that acupuncture can alleviate corneal inflammation in New Zealand white rabbits with DEDs via α7nAChR and NF-κB signaling pathway regulation. The expression indicates that α7nAChR/NF-κB signaling pathway may be active and that acupuncture is a potential therapeutic target for dry eye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Northeast China, thrips have long been considered a secondary pest of soybean until recent years. No study has provided clear reports regarding the effects of temperature on the development and reproduction of Thrips flavus Schrank (Thysanoptera: Thripidae).Our aim was to study whether the population dynamics of T. flavus were affected by temperatures. Thus, the development, reproduction and growth of T. flavus populations reared on soybean leaves were studied at five different constant temperatures.The temperature and rate of development from eggs to adults were linearly related between 19 and 31°C. The developmental threshold temperature and effective accumulated temperature were 11.60°C and 273.89 degree‐days for the whole generation. The viability of adult survival decreased with the increase in temperature between 19 and 31°C.The value of life expectancy of females ranged from 7.47 days (at 31°C) to 16.66 days (at 22°C), while the life expectancy value of males ranged from 5.33 days (at 19 and 31°C) to 17.0 days (at 25°C). The mean fecundity per female was highest at 19°C, with 7.85 eggs/day. The intrinsic rate of increase was the highest (0.102) at 31°C.The results obtained indicate that temperature is a key factor associated with the development and reproduction of T. flavus on soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the low-content addition of boron nitride nanoplatelets (BN p) on the microstructure, flexural strength, thermal and dielectric properties of AlN ceramics were studied. X-ray diffraction and microtopography indicated that the platelike BN p phases were detected in the grain boundary, decreasing the grain size of the AlN samples. Flexural strength increased with 0.5 wt% and 1 wt% BN p addition, and such increase was attributed to the smaller grain sizes and the two-dimensional structure bridging mechanism. Comparing the experimental thermal conductivity with the theoretical calculated values, no strong atomic interaction occurred between AlN and BN p , and thermal conductivity slightly decreased with the addition of a suitable amount of BN p. Moreover, the temperature dependence of dielectric spectrum of the samples exhibited a remarkable difference due to the additional polarisation mechanisms caused by the addition of BN p. Overall, suitable addition of BN p can improve flexural strength whilst maintaining the high thermal conductivity and excellent dielectric properties of AlN ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of soil and rigid body system interactions is very important for the exploration of the Moon and Mars worldwide. The discrete element method (DEM) is a relatively accurate simulation method to study dry sand soil mechanical properties. However, it is not suitable for bodies that are in mutual contact, connected due to constraints or have complex inertia properties due to their geometry. An efficient combination of the two-dimensional discrete element and multibody dynamic modeling method is proposed to solve the problem, in which the contacts and frictions among the granular spheres and the multibody system, including the smooth and rough rigid bodies, are taken into account. In this work, the soil field is modeled by a two-dimensional DEM, and the dynamics of the constrained rigid body system are modeled by the Cartesian method. A detection algorithm is developed to address the interactions between spherical discrete elements and roughly shaped rigid bodies. The advantage of this coupled method is that it enables the simultaneous capture of both responses. Finally, the program is verified by simulation experiments of the three-ball collision and the collision among the rectangular bars and the three balls. Based on this, the movement of the toothed wheel in the granular matter is analyzed, and the results show that the wheel with six teeth and 30° inclination has the fastest forward speed. In extraterrestrial objects, the wheel grip worsens, but the forward speed first increases and then decreases with decreasing gravity acceleration and loads on wheels, which proves that the coupled two-dimensional DEM and multibody dynamic program is effective in solving engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been associated with earlier natural menopause; however, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood, particularly the extent to which this relationship is mediated by sex hormones. We analyzed data (1999–2017) on 1,120 premenopausal women from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Causal mediation analysis was applied to quantify the degree to which follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol levels could mediate the associations between PFAS and incident natural menopause. Participants with higher PFAS concentrations had shorter times to natural menopause, with a relative survival of 0.82 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69, 0.96) for linear perfluorooctane sulfonate (n-PFOS), 0.84 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.00) for sum of branched-chain perfluorooctane sulfonate (Sm-PFOS), 0.79 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.93) for linear-chain perfluorooctanoate (n-PFOA), and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.71, 0.97) for perfluorononanoate (PFNA), comparing the highest tertile of PFAS concentrations with the lowest. The proportion of the effect mediated through FSH was 8.5% (95% CI: −11.7, 24.0) for n-PFOS, 13.2% (95% CI: 0.0, 24.5) for Sm-PFOS, 26.9% (95% CI: 15.6, 38.4) for n-PFOA, and 21.7% (6.8, 37.0) for PFNA. No significant mediation by estradiol was observed. The effect of PFAS on natural menopause may be partially explained by variations in FSH concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary inorganic aerosols (sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium, SNA) are the key components of PM 2.5 in China. Accurate and seamless SNA concentration data therefore are important for pollution controls and environmental health risk studies. However, the spatiotemporal characters and changes of SNA are still difficult to accurately estimate due to the shortages of SNA datasets with high accuracy and resolution, as well as the uncertainties in SNA simulations arising from air-quality numerical models. In this study, we developed an integrated model to improve hourly SNA simulations with 5 km spatial resolution over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region by integrating the random forest (RF) and Light Gradient Boost Machine (LGBM) using Stacked Generalization. Our model fuses Three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations from the Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF) and Nested Air Quality Prediction Model System (NAQPMS) with observations of 16 sites from the BTH monitoring network. Three months' data from January to March 2020 were employed to evaluate the model performance using the cross-validation (CV) method. The results showed that the integrated model provide more accurate simulations of SNA than the 3D numerical model does, with root mean square errors (RMSE) decreased by 33%, 45%, and 35%; correlation coefficient (R) increased by 61%, 28%, and 34%; and Taylor skill score (TSS) increased by 331%, 85%, and 65% for sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium respectively. Moreover, the integrated model showed higher evaluation criteria and more accurate spatiotemporal characteristic compared with the single machine learning (ML) model, especially in heavily polluted area. This study provides a new approach to improve SNA simulations and reveals the potential of ML models for improving aerosol modeling when observational data are scarce. • An integrated machine learning model was developed by integrating the RF and LGBM using Stacked Generalization. • Meteorological and pollutant simulation, emission, topographic, and surface observations were used in the integrated model. • The model can well improve the hourly SNA simulations over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region. • The integrated model showed better performances than the single model for improving SNA simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling of waste products is an important part of urban circular economy, improving resource efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental loadings. In order to fully reflect the reality of product recycling, especially from the aspects of allocation issues and baseline scenario definition, this study proposes a new method based on multi-LCA and country-specific SFA. From a multi-life-cycle perspective, the proposed method considers allocation factors between primary and secondary materials or materials with more cycles. Country-specific SFA studies provide the best available information on retention times and cycle times of materials in the socio-economic systems, which can be the key parameters for recycling and baseline scenarios settings. Employing the proposed method, the typical recycling system for waste power batteries, including both waste LFP batteries and NCM batteries, and two types of recovery technology routes were modelled. China-specific SFA studies on four major battery metals (cobalt, nickel, lithium, and aluminum) are reviewed and key parameters for allocation and baseline are analyzed. The key parameters for proposed methods are obtained, including metals cycle times and recovery rates. The case study results indicate that, depending on SFA oriented parameters for possible cycling times and default substitution rates settings, the environmental benefits or impacts are typically less than typical 100% substitution rate of primary materials. In addition, the gap between the two recovery technologies based on SFA-oriented substitution ratios is smaller for NCM battery recycling in most environmental impact categories. For waste LFP batteries, however, the result is the opposite, which means that the SFA-oriented parameter has a larger gap between the two recovery technologies than the parameter for 100% replacement of primary material. The relativity of the assessment method, especially the baseline parameter settings, are emphasized in this method and case study, as it should not be negligible in practice for recycling, although larger environmental benefits of recycling can be obtained with 100% primary materials substitution settings. The proposed method can help promote more systematic estimation of environmental benefits from products and materials recycling. • Key challenges in environmental benefits of recycling are identified. • A new model based on multi-LCA and SFA is proposed. • SFA provide key parameters on cycle times and retention time. • The proposed model is applied to waste power battery recycling assessment. • The proposed model can help evaluate environmental benefits more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cumulative evidence has showed the deficits of inhibitory control in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is considered as an endophenotype of ADHD. Genetic study of inhibitory control could advance gene discovery and further facilitate the understanding of ADHD genetic basis, but the studies were limited in both the general population and ADHD patients. To reveal genetic risk variants of inhibitory control and its potential genetic relationship with ADHD, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on inhibitory control using three datasets, which included 783 and 957 ADHD patients and 1350 healthy children. Subsequently, we employed polygenic risk scores (PRS) to explore the association of inhibitory control with ADHD and related psychiatric disorders. Firstly, we identified three significant loci for inhibitory control in the healthy dataset, two loci in the case dataset, and one locus in the meta-analysis of three datasets. Besides, we found more risk genes and variants by applying transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) and conditional FDR method. Then, we constructed a network by connecting the genes identified in our study, leading to the identification of several vital genes. Lastly, we identified a potential relationship between inhibitory control and ADHD and autism by PRS analysis and found the direct and mediated contribution of the identified genetic loci on ADHD symptoms by mediation analysis. In conclusion, we revealed some genetic risk variants associated with inhibitory control and elucidated the benefit of inhibitory control as an endophenotype, providing valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying ADHD. [Display omitted] • Several significant loci and risk genes were identified for inhibitory control in healthy controls and ADHD patients. • The genetic loci related to inhibitory control highly affect the function of neurons and the brain. • Inhibitory control is genetically associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. • Inhibitory control acts as a mediator of a pathological process from risk genes to ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel fluorescent nanoprobe (ZIF-90@FSS) was constructed using a zeolite imidazolium ester skeleton (ZIF-90) incorporating sodium fluorescein within its porous structure. Notably, this nanoprobe exhibited regular fluorescence "off" detection performance of Fe3+ in actual samples and living cells. The concentration range of 0–150 ng/mL exhibited a lowest detection limit of 0.26 ng/mL. A nanofiber paper-based platform (VL78/ZIF-90@FSS) was further developed by coupling the prepared nanoprobe to a multi-dimensional fiber paper via C N bonds, enabling rapid visual white light colorimetric and fluorescence imaging of Fe3+ within 2 min. The constructed nanoprobe and its paper-based detection platforms demonstrated a stable recovery range in tap water, beer, and soy sauce samples during spiking-recovery assessments. The recovery rates ranged from 98.46 % to 108.24 % for the nanoprobe and from 91.75 % to 108.71 % for the nanofiber paper-based platform. Therefore, the developed nano-fluorescent sensor and paper-based nanofiber sensing platform offer a promising strategy for the visual detection of Fe3+, while also presenting novel and valuable methods to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of Fe3+ in living cells. [Display omitted] • A novel fluorescent nanoprobe ZIF-90@FSS and paper-based nanofiber platform VL78/ZIF-90@FSS were developed. • ZIF-90@FSS and VL78/ZIF-90@FSS exhibit dynamic sensing and real-time imaging of Fe3+ in living cells and actual samples. • ZIF-90@FSS achieved fluorescence "off" detection of Fe3+ based on fluorescence energy transfer and absorption competition. • The ZIF-90@FSS nanoprobe exhibited rapid detection in vitro and spatiotemporal resolution for Fe3+ imaging in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Plastein reaction elevated Fe2+/Zn2+ chelation in silver carp protein hydrolysate. • COOH enrichment in the peptide side chain linked to the improved metal chelation. • Hydrogen bonding involvement in plastein reaction. Plastein reaction mechanisms and the alteration of its product properties have been studied for decades. This study investigated the plastein-mediated modifications in silver carp protein hydrolysate (SCPH) from both mechanistic and functional perspectives. Unlike prior research, this investigation uncovered that hydrogen bonding supplemented the dominant hydrophobic interactions in plastein's mechanism for the first time, as supported by peptide concentrations, molecular weight, amino acids, chemical forces, and peptide sequence by LC-MS/MS. This innovative reaction mechanism cascaded into the enhancement of SCPH functional attributes. Plastein induced increased COOH in SCPH's side-chain groups significantly enhanced Fe2+ (from 4.49 to 14.12 %) and Zn2+ (from 53.53 to 64.47 %) chelation. Moreover, the elevated DPPH (17.56 %–23.97 %) and hydroxyl radical (68.49 %–79.32 %) scavenging power indicated a broader improvement in SCPH with plastein. In SCPH, plastein elucidated reaction intricacies and enhanced its utility, propelling SCPH into a realm of extended potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical ventilation (MV) has the potential to induce extra-pulmonary organ damage by adversely affecting the lungs and promoting the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. High-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) is a pro-inflammatory mediator in ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), but its effect on MV-associated liver injury and the mechanisms are poorly understood. In the present study, mice were subjected to high-volume MV (20 ml/kg) to induce VILI. MV-induced HMGB1 prompted neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) formation and PANoptosis within the liver. Inhibiting NETs formation by DNase I or PAD4 inhibitor, or by HMGB1 neutralizing ameliorated the liver injury. HMGB1 activated neutrophils to form NETs through TLR4/MyD88/TRAF6 pathway. Importantly, Importin7 siRNA nanoparticles inhibited HMGB1 release and protected against MV-associated liver injury. These data provide evidence of MV-induced HMGB1 prompted NETs formation and PANoptosis in the liver via the TLR4/MyD88/TRAF6 pathway. HMGB1 is a potential therapeutic target for MV-associated liver injury. [Display omitted] • Mechanical ventilation-induced HMGB1 leads to liver NETs formation and PANoptosis. • HMGB1 activates neutrophils to form NETs through TLR4/MyD88/TRAF6 pathway. • Imp7 siRNA nanoparticles inhibit MV-induced HMGB1 production and protect mice from MV-associated liver injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Improved the value and judgment conditions of the psychological force. • The modified social force model eliminates the abnormal phenomenon of evacuees' speed oscillation near fixed obstacles that exists in the original model. • The effectiveness of the modified social force model was validated by comparing the simulation results with the actual experimental results. The social force model is one of the most common models used in the study of pedestrian dynamics. In the social force model, there are oscillation in the movement of pedestrians. To address the oscillation phenomenon, this paper modifies the way of setting psychological forces and judgment conditions based on previous research. By comparing the simulation results with the real experimental results, the evacuation time results are basically the same, which validates the effectiveness of the modified social force model. The simulation results show that the modified social force model eliminates the phenomenon of evacuee velocity oscillations near fixed obstacles in the original model and fixes the phenomenon of abnormal behavior of evacuees during collisions. In addition, we simulate different numbers of evacuees (i.e.,25,50,100,200) and the results show that the modified social force model successfully replicates the phenomenon of arch congestion during evacuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Smoking is well-recognized as a risk factor for heart failure (HF). However, few studies have evaluated the prospective association of cigarette smoking and smoking cessation with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) as distinct phenotypes.Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify the association of cigarette smoking and smoking cessation with the incidence of HFpEF and HFrEF.Methods: In 9,345 ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study White and Black participants without history of HF at baseline in 2005 (age range 61-81 years), we quantified the associations of several established cigarette smoking parameters (smoking status, pack-years, intensity, duration, and years since cessation) with physician-adjudicated incident acute decompensated HF using multivariable Cox models.Results: Over a median follow-up of 13.0 years, there were 1,215 incident HF cases. Compared with never smokers, current cigarette smoking was similarly associated with HFpEF and HFrEF, with adjusted HRs ∼2. There was a dose-response relationship for pack-years of smoking and HF. A more extended period of smoking cessation was associated with a lower risk of HF, but significantly elevated risk persisted up to a few decades for HFpEF and HFrEF.Conclusions: All cigarette smoking parameters consistently showed significant and similar associations with HFpEF and HFrEF. Smoking cessation significantly reduced the risk of HF, but excess HF risk persisted for a few decades. Our results strengthened the evidence that smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for HF and highlighted the importance of smoking prevention and cessation for the prevention of HF, including HFpEF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the difficulty in selecting the crossover probability and mutation probability in genetic algorithms, a fuzzy immune algorithm based on adaptive estimation of crossover probability and mutation probability in a fuzzy reasoning system is proposed, and it is used in the parameter optimization design of a two-degree-of-freedom PID controller. According to the experiment and simulation results, classic genetic algorithm evolution tends to halt after 37 generations, with a fitness value of 7.135, whereas fuzzy genetic algorithm evolution tends to stop after 20 generations, with a fitness value of 7.486. The 2-DOF PID controller that was created can give the system strong target value following and interference suppression features at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins are members of the protein 4.1 superfamily and function as linkers that connect the actin cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane of cells. ERM also play critical role in the Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory response. However, the signaling mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of the rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase (ROCK) pathway in LPS-induced ezrin phosphorylation and cytokine production in pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells. Methods: Cultured A549 and HPAEpiC cells were treated with LPS. The expression and localization of ezrin in A549 and HPAEpiC cells were then analyzed by western blotting and immunoflurescence. Activation of RhoA/ROCK was assessed by western blotting and RhoA activity assays. The interaction of ezrin with Syk and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)/IL-1R-associated kinase 1 (IRAK-1) was investigated by co-immunoprecipitation. The activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) was measured with electrophoretic mobility shift assays and by western blotting. ELISA and western blotting were performed to detect the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) release into the culture supernatant, and cellular HMGB1 levels. Results: LPS induced ezrin phosphorylation in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The blockade of RhoA/ROCK inhibited LPS-induced ezrin phosphorylation and its translocation from the cytoplasm to the cell membrane. Co-immunoprecipitation assays further revealed that ezrin associated with Syk constitutively, but only associated with MyD88/IRAK-1 upon LPS challenge. Moreover, LPS-induced p38 and nuclear NF-κB activation was found to be ezrin dependent. The suppression of ezrin by siRNA or the blockade of ROCK activation with Y-27632 reduced the production of TNF-α, IL-1β, and HMGB1 in response to LPS. Conclusions: Our findings reveal a novel regulatory mechanism involving ezrin in the LPS-induced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and highlight the importance of the RhoA/ROCK-ezrin/Syk-MyD88/IRAK1 axis. Data presented in this manuscript provide novel insights into the signaling pathways activated in pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells by LPS. 3MUhuZjAzSev1aZk4ypCqU Video Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]