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Bile acids are synthesised in the liver and are essential amphiphilic steroids for maintaining the balance of cholesterol and energy metabolism in livestock and poultry. They can be used as novel feed additives to promote fat utilisation in the diet and the absorption of fat‐soluble substances in the feed to improve livestock performance and enhance carcass quality. With the development of understanding of intestinal health, the balance of bile acid metabolism is closely related to the composition and growth of livestock intestinal microbiota, inflammatory response, and metabolic diseases. This paper systematically reviews the effects of bile acid metabolism on gut health and gut microbiology in livestock. In addition, our paper summarised the role of bile acid metabolism in performance and disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcystin LR (MC-LR) is a hazardous cyanotoxin produced by cyanobacteria during freshwater eutrophication, which can cause liver cancer. Here, a photoelectrochemical (PEC) aptasensor based on methylene blue (MB)–loaded Ni-MOF composite (Ni-MOF/MB) with spatial confinement was constructed for the sensitive detection of MC-LR. Ni-MOF with two-dimensional sheet structure was prepared via a liquid–liquid interface synthesis method with environmental-friendly solvent and milder reaction conditions. Benefiting from the uniform pore size, Ni-MOF acted as reaction platform to anchor the photosensitive molecule MB. The electron donor, ascorbic acid (AA), was produced by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) loaded on DNA strand catalyzing ascorbic acid phosphate. The generated AA was absorbed by Ni-MOF/MB, thereby effectively improving the utilization of AA and avoiding the external environment interferences to enlarge the photocurrent of MB. For analysis, ALP-labeled aptamer can specifically recognize MC-LR by forming a complex to strip from aptasensor, thus leading to a decreased photocurrent. The developed PEC aptasensor offered a linear range of 10 fM–100 pM with a detection limit of 6 fM. It was successfully employed for detecting MC-LR in farm water and fish meat, and the results were validated by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. This method presents a new idea of MOF-limited domain for PEC aptasensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using electroencephalography (EEG) signals to drive a vehicle could help disabled people expand their range of motion and improve their independence. A brain-controlled vehicle (BCV) is a vehicle that is commanded by analyzing EEG signals. However, the analysis and transmission effect of EEG signals is not ideal, the driving performance of the BCV solely relying on EEG signals is relatively poor. In this paper, to solve this problem, we propose a dynamic shared control method based on adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). First, an ANFIS intelligent controller is designed to automatically make decisions according to the state of the vehicle. Then, safety coefficient and intention coefficient are proposed to evaluate the safety and driving intention of the brain-controlled driver. Finally, a fuzzy controller with safety and intention coefficients as inputs and brain-controlled driver weights as outputs is designed. The controller is the embodiment of a human–machine interaction, which allows the driver to maintain maximum control authority over the BCV under safe conditions by dynamically balancing the control authority of the brain-controlled driver and the ANFIS controller on the BCV. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a joint simulation platform of Carsim and Matlab is established, and several groups of comparative simulation experiments are carried out, through which, it is demonstrated that the proposed method can effectively avoid road deviation while well maintaining the control authority of the brain-controlled driver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we develop an all-in-one strategy for efficient assembly of an electrochemical aptasensor. A multifunctional structure based on a tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN) was synthesized via a one-step annealing process, providing DNA fixation, target recognition, signal amplification and space regulation. Based on the integration of this multifunctional structure, the sensing interface was assembled in one step. A ratiometric aptasensor was constructed by anchoring methylene blue (MB) to the TDN and ferrocene (Fc) on the cDNA. Using the ratio of the currents obtained from Fc and MB as a measure, the developed aptasensor shows excellent analytical performance for fumonisin B1 detection. This strategy is universal and could simplify the fabrication of aptasensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White blood cell detection plays an integral role in diagnosing pathologies such as leukemia and gestational diabetes. Despite this, conventional image-based white blood cell classification methodologies encounter obstacles including inaccurate cell segmentation and labor-intensive artificial feature extraction. Contrarily, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have the capacity to learn features autonomously from raw images, thereby offering a novel and effective solution for blood cell detection. Notwithstanding, the features ascertained by a solitary CNN tend to be unidirectional. Conversely, ensemble learning combines results from numerous networks, thus ensuring an adequate acquisition of feature information and subsequently enhancing the model's overall efficacy. Consequently, this study introduces a method for white blood cell classification underpinned by ensemble CNNs. Initially, three high-performing CNNs possessing disparate structures, namely VGG16, ResNet50, and Inception V3, are enlisted as base learners to augment the diversity of base learners. Subsequently, the Gompertz function is employed to strategize the ensemble learning combination strategy, taking into consideration the prediction confidence and fuzzy level of each base learner. Ultimately, the ensemble CNN model is developed, incorporating learning outcomes from several singular models and utilizing diversified information to achieve white blood cell classification. Empirical results indicate that the ensemble learning technique advanced in this study enables accurate and reliable white blood cell classification, demonstrating potential clinical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatiotemporal distribution of ecosystem service values (ESVs) and ecological risk are critical indicators to represent the regional ecological protection level and potential of sustainable development, which largely depend on land-use patterns. Aiming to contribute to global climate mitigation, China has proposed dual-carbon goals that would remarkably influence the land-use/cover change (LUCC) distribution. Based on the Landsat land cover data of 2000, 2010 and 2020 and multisource satellite products, several driving factors are integrated into the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model to simulate future LUCC patterns for the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) under rapid urbanization, cropland protection and carbon neutral (CN) scenarios from 2020 to 2050. Spatial–temporal ecosystem service and ESVs are allocated using INVEST and the equivalent factor method and thus ecological risks are evaluated using the entropy method. Results indicate that forest growth is the largest under the CN scenario, especially in the northwestern and northeastern GBA, exceeding 25,800 km2 in 2050, which results in both the highest habitat quality and carbon storage. The largest ESVs, reaching higher than 5210 yuan/pixel, are found in the CN scenario, particularly expanding toward the suburban area, leading to the lowest ecological risks. From 2020 to 2050, habitat quality, carbon storage and ESVs improve, while ecological risks decline in the CN scenario. This research provides implications for economic and ecological balanced development and gives references to the carbon-neutral pathway for the GBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bird's nest defect is an important cause of transmission line faults. To achieve accurate detection of bird nest defects in complex scenarios, a bird nest defect detection model for transmission lines was proposed that combines domain knowledge and occlusion reasoning networks. On the one hand, the model utilized the domain knowledge of the location of the bird's nest, using edge detection to obtain tower area information to constrain the location of candidate frames. This helps to reduce the false detection caused by complex backgrounds. On the other hand, on the basis of analyzing the occlusion characteristics of bird nests, the model employed occlusion reasoning networks that randomly erase features at the feature level to simulate the occlusion of bird nests in real scenes and improve the model's detection capability for occluded targets. Additionally, a multi‐scale feature fusion algorithm was designed in this paper to adapt the model to the scale variations of bird nests in aerial images. Experimental results demonstrate that the model outperforms advanced target detection models and other bird nest defect detection methods, with an AP50 of 78.8% and an AR10 of 72.4% for defect detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is based on the monthly price data of major livestock products in China from January 2002 to July 2022, the UVSVM model was used to investigate the dynamic feedback relationship between random price fluctuations and prices of three types of livestock products: Pork, beef and mutton. The result indicates that the random fluctuations in pork prices have a significant impact on pork prices and change in pork price levels will have a positive impact on the short-term random fluctuation in pork price. The random fluctuations in beef and mutton prices have little impact on their respective price. Changes in the price level of beef and mutton will have a negative impact on the random fluctuations in short-term prices. It is proposed to improve the regulatory mechanism of pork reserves and achieve stable supply and prices in the pork market, policy recommendations for taking multiple measures to stabilize the supply of beef and mutton and promote the stable operation of beef and mutton prices, in order to ensure the supply of livestock product and promote high-quality development of agriculture and rural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Oxalis contains important species worldwide with great economic and edible values. However, the testing guidelines have not been furbished, especially in China. Oxalis germplasm, including 60 species and 125 varieties, was collected from home and abroad and extensive field trials and phenotypic observations were conducted along with quantitative taxonomy, observations, correlation analysis and cluster analysis. Under the test guidelines of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV), general guidelines for testing for distinctness, uniformity, stability (DUS) of new plant varieties, and Japanese test guidelines for DUS of Oxalis , 96 test characteristics (38 qualitative characteristics, 28 quantitative characteristics and 30 pseudo-qualitative characteristics) were determined as DUS test characteristics of Oxalis. Each test characteristic was scientifically graded and accurately described, and standard varieties and characteristic diagrams were provided for some characteristics. The guidelines for testing DUS of new plant varieties of Oxalis provide a standard for examining and testing new varieties of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the extreme drought (flood) event in southern China from July to August in 2022 (1999) as the research object, based on the comprehensive diagnosis and composite analysis on the anomalous drought and flood years from July to August in 1961-2022, it is found that there are significant differences in the characteristics of the vertically integrated moisture flux (VIMF) anomaly circulation pattern and the VIMF convergence (VIMFC) anomaly in southern China in drought and flood years, and the VIMFC, a physical quantity, can be regarded as an indicative physical factor for the "strong signal" of drought and flood in southern China. Specifically, in drought years, the VIMF anomaly in southern China is an anticyclonic circulation pattern and the divergence characteristics of the VIMFC are prominent, while those are opposite in flood years. Based on the SST anomaly in the typical draught year of 2022 in southern China and the SST deviation distribution characteristics of abnormal draught and flood years from 1961 to 2022, five SST high impact areas (i.e., the North Pacific Ocean, Northwest Pacific Ocean, Southwest Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and East Pacific Ocean) are selected via the correlation analysis of VIMFC and the global SST in the preceding months (May and June) and in the study period (July and August) in 1961-2022, and their contributions to drought and flood in southern China are quantified. Our study reveals not only the persistent anomalous variation of SST in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean but also its impact on the pattern of moisture transport. Furthermore, it can be discovered from the positive and negative phase fitting of SST that the SST composite flow field in high impact areas can exhibit two types of anomalous moisture transport structures that are opposite to each other, namely an anticyclonic (cyclonic) circulation pattern anomaly in southern China and the coastal areas of east China. These two types of opposite anomalous moisture transport structures can not only drive the formation of drought (flood) in southern China but also exert its influence on the persistent development of the extreme weather. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glycemic control is an important issue in the treatment of diabetic patients. However, traditional methods, such as medication (the usual treatment), have limitations. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) might be a useful option to help control the glycemic condition. The effects can be revealed by systemic review or meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCT). Methods: A systematic search and a meta-analysis for the RCT were done of the short- and long-term effects of CBT on the glycemic control of diabetic patients in a comparison with the usual treatment. Nineteen RCT studies and 3,885 diabetic patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses of types 1 and 2 diabetes and individual and group CBT were also performed. Results: Patients treated with CBT showed no significant difference in HbA1c when compared to the usual treatment within six months. However, CBT was more effective in reducing HbA1c when compared to usual treatment with at least six months of treatment duration [standardized mean difference: -0.44 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.63 ~ -0.25), Z = 4.49]. Subgroup analysis of type 1 and 2 diabetic patients supported a long-term effect of CBT on glycemic control [standardized mean difference: -0.85 (95% CI: -1.19 ~ -0.10), Z = 2.23, standardized mean difference: -0.33 (95% CI:-0.47 ~ -0.19), Z = 4.52, respectively]. Conclusions: CBT would be a useful option for improving the glycemic control of diabetic patients undergoing long-term treatment. The advantages of the long-term effects of CBT should be considered by clinicians and staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correlation characteristics between anomalous changes in summer precipitation on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) and the high-impact areas of global sea-surface temperature (SST) are mainly studied in this paper. The results show that the interdecadal change of the regional "warming-wetting" in China is especially prominent in the northern part of the main body of the QTP, which is therefore identified as the high-value area of precipitation variability. Investigations have revealed that the high-value areas of summer precipitation variability in the northern QTP are significantly correlated with four high-value areas of SST variability, namely the western North Pacific, the western Central Pacific, the Southwest Pacific, and the central Indian Ocean. In these four high-impact areas, a synchronous tendency is found in the SST increase and sea-surface specific humidity. Through the tracking analysis of the correlated vectors of the water vapor source for the warming-wetting of the QTP, it further confirms that the four high-value areas of SST variability in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are the major impact sources of water vapor transport for the warming-wetting of the QTP. Moreover, the comparison of the characteristics of various interdecadal global water vapor transport circulations show that from 1991 to 2020, the trans-equatorial water vapor transport from the Southern Hemisphere witnessed a notable increase, which furthermore suggests that the interdecadal change of SST increase in the Southwest Pacific and central Indian Ocean is the key reason for the warming-wetting of the QTP. In addition, a comprehensive image of high-impact marine water vapor sources for modulating the warming-wetting tendency in the QTP is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining accurate angle parameters using direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation algorithms is crucial for acquiring channel state information (CSI) in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. However, the performance of the existing algorithms deteriorates severely due to mutual coupling between antenna elements in practical engineering. Therefore, for solving the array mutual coupling, the array output signal vector is modeled by mutual coupling coefficients and the DOA estimation problem is transformed into block sparse signal reconstruction and parameter optimization in this paper. Then, a novel sparse Bayesian learning (SBL)-based algorithm is proposed, in which the expectation-maximum (EM) algorithm is used to estimate the unknown parameters iteratively, and the convergence speed of the algorithm is enhanced by utilizing the approximate approximation. Moreover, considering the off-grid error caused by discretization processes, the grid refinement is carried out using the polynomial roots to realize the dynamic update of the grid points, so as to improve the DOA estimation accuracy. Simulation results show that compared with the existing algorithms, the proposed algorithm is more robust to mutual coupling and off-grid error and can obtain better estimation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep networks have shown remarkable results in the task of object detection. However, their performance suffers critical drops when they are subsequently trained on novel classes without any sample from the base classes originally used to train the model. This phenomenon is known as catastrophic forgetting. Recently, several incremental learning methods are proposed to mitigate catastrophic forgetting for object detection. Despite the effectiveness, these methods require co-occurrence of the unlabeled base classes in the training data of the novel classes. This requirement is impractical in many real-world settings since the base classes do not necessarily co-occur with the novel classes. In view of this limitation, we consider a more practical setting of complete absence of co-occurrence of the base and novel classes for the object detection task. We propose the use of unlabeled in-the-wild data to bridge the non co-occurrence caused by the missing base classes during the training of additional novel classes. To this end, we introduce a blind sampling strategy based on the responses of the base-class model and pre-trained novel-class model to select a smaller relevant dataset from the large in-the-wild dataset for incremental learning. We then design a dual-teacher distillation framework to transfer the knowledge distilled from the base- and novel-class teacher models to the student model using the sampled in-the-wild data. Additionally, the novel class data is in the training to facilitate the learning of discriminative representations between base and novel classes. Furthermore, on the consideration that the training samples are all false positives when there is no class overlap in the in-the-wild data, we propose a single-teacher distillation framework to relieve the mutual suppression of the dual-teacher distillation framework and balance a trade-off between the performances of base and novel classes. Experimental results on the PASCAL VOC and MS-COCO datasets show that our proposed method significantly outperforms other state-of-the-art class-incremental object detection methods when there is no co-occurrence between the base and novel classes during training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) has emerged as a key regulator of innate immunity, recognizing intracellular exogenous and endogenous DNA. Recent findings reveal that STING has multiple cell-specific immune functions in various pathological settings, including pathogenic infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. Here, we hypothesize that this unique location of STING in the mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM) might lead to the specificity of the cellular functions of STING mediated by mitochondria–ER communication. This new insight suggests that STING on the MAM might act as a hub that translates multiple cues on MAM into distinct cellular responses. This innovative view of STING biology might impart insights for future putative treatments in cancer and immune diseases that have been attributed to STING dysfunction. Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is localized to the mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM) and this unique subcellular localization mediates a newly recognized function of mammalian STING in immunity. MAM component molecules and STING are involved in IFN signaling and NLRP3 inflammasome assembly, at least in human cell lines. In murine and human models, Golgi translocation of STING and subsequent IFN signaling is dependent on appropriate Ca2+ concentrations. We propose that aberrant mitochondrial dynamics and calcium microdomains on the MAM may interfere with the translocation of STING and thus mediate IFN-independent effects of STING in the cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biophysical effects of vegetation changes are important in determining future climate changes using climate model. However, compared to observations, model has biases in energy exchange between vegetation and the lower atmosphere modulated by leaf area index and albedo. In this study, land-use induced anthropogenic influences, estimated as the differences between present land-use and idealized natural vegetation, on near-surface temperature were investigated using a regional climate model. Results show that present land-use transitions over China brings a cooler summer and winter accompanied by reduced diurnal temperature ranges by 0.11 °C and 0.25 °C respectively, which are mainly determined by the overwhelming increased evaporation and latent heat flux in summer and reduced net radiation in winter. Three vegetation pairs (i.e., forest and cropland, grassland and cropland, grassland and forest) were selected using observational datasets to evaluate vegetation induced climatic impact without atmospheric feedbacks across various climatic regimes. Albedo led absorbed radiation plays a dominate role in middle to north region while both LAI and albedo are significant below 30° N for latitudinal temperature changes between cropland and forest transitions. Model results have inconsistencies with observations on temperature trends caused by vegetation pairs, indicating summer cropland and forest over southern China is the most sensitive to the atmosphere conditions and forest and grassland pair is the least. These findings demonstrate the heterogeneous biophysical effect of vegetation in different climate zones and imply that a region-oriented parameterization of vegetation types should be applied in the land surface model to reduce uncertainties in future climate prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significance Statement: Interspecific introgression from Gossypium hirsutum has reorganized the genomic architecture of Gossypium barbadense. In this study, the genetic basis of population differentiation and the genetic diversity were deciphered and the introgression events and haplotype selection affecting associated fiber quality and environmental adaptation traits were illuminated in Gossypium barbadense. This study provides new insights into the breeding history of Gossypium barbadense and will guard the breeding programs of modern cultivated Gossypium barbadense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Dichotomitin is one of the bioactive constituents isolated from Belamcanda chinensis. The goal of this study was to identify the metabolites of dichotomitin produced by liver microsomes and hepatocytes. Methods: Using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography and high‐resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC/HRMS), the metabolites were profiled and identified. The exact masses, elemental compositions and product ions of the metabolites were used to characterize their structures. Results: A total of ten metabolites were found and identified. The main metabolites identified in the incubation samples were M6 (3′,5,6,7‐tetrahydroxy‐4′,5′‐dimethoxyisoflavone) and M8 (8‐hydroxydichotomitin). Opening of 1,3‐benzodioxole, demethylation, hydroxylation, glucuronidation and sulfation were among the metabolic modifications for dichotomitin. A human recombinant cytochrome P450 enzyme study revealed that CYP 1A2, 2C19, and 2D6 facilitated the formation of M6, whereas CYP 1A2 catalyzed the formation of M8 exclusively. Conclusions: For the first time, data on the in vitro metabolic fates of dichotomitin were revealed in this work which would be helpful for us to understand the disposition of this bioactive constituent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To accurately detect dynamic objects in dynamic scenes (DSs), a detection framework equipped with visual-based measurement methods has been proposed in this article. First, to segment dynamic objects in real time, the real-time instance segmentation network, You Only Look At CoefficienTs (YOLACT), has been introduced. Second, the geometric constraints have been utilized to further filter the missing dynamic feature points outside the segmentation mask. The dense optical flow method with adaptive threshold has been introduced to detect the missing dynamic objects driven by humans. Third, a background inpainting strategy has been proposed to restore the features occluded by dynamic objects. In order to verify the effectiveness of the dynamic object detection, the proposed method has been embedded in the visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) system to improve its performance in dynamic environments. Experiments performed on the Technische Universität München (TUM) and KITTI datasets have proved that the proposed detection method has an excellent performance in DSs, which is of great significance to improve the robustness of the SLAM system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD100 is an important immune semaphorin that is a secreted and membrane bound protein involved in infectious diseases. However, CD100 expression profile and the regulation to innate immune system in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) was not previously reported. The aim of this study was to investigate CD100 level and modulatory function of CD100 to CD14+ monocytes in HBV-ACLF patients. Plasma-soluble CD100 (sCD100) level and membrane-bound CD100 (mCD100) expression on peripheral CD14+ monocytes was analyzed in HBV-ACLF patients. CD14+ monocytes-induced cytotoxicity and CD14+ monocytes-mediated T cell activation in response to CD100 stimulation was also assessed in direct and indirect contact coculture culture systems. HBV-ACLF patients had lower plasma sCD100 and higher mCD100 level on CD14+ monocytes compared with asymptomatic HBV carriers, chronic hepatitis B patients, and controls. CD14+ monocytes from HBV-ACLF patients induced limited target Huh7.5 cell death and secreted less interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and granzyme B in both direct and indirect contact coculture systems compared with controls. Recombinant sCD100 not only enhanced CD14+ monocytes-mediated Huh7.5 cell death and granzyme B secretion, but it also elevated CD14+ monocytes-induced IFN-γ/interleukin-17 production by CD4+ T cells as well as IFN-γ/TNF-α secretion by CD8+ T cells in HBV-ACLF patients. The current data indicated that severe inflammation induced sCD100/mCD100 imbalance to inactivate CD14+ monocytes response, which might be beneficial for the survival of HBV-ACLF patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-sized DNA structures have been extensively explored in electrochemical sensing for abundant binding sites or large steric hindrance, yet large steric hindrance could hinder electron transfer of probes on DNA, depressing their efficiency for signal amplification. Herein, a ratiometric electrochemical aptasensor was designed to take advantage of abundant binding sites and large steric hindrance of the tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN) for efficient signal amplification. The working principle is that the recognition of the target leads to a decrease in binding sites and a reduction in steric hindrance, which in turn leads to the opposite change in the two signals. Ferrocene (Fc)-labeled complementary DNA acted as a substrate, while a TDN containing aptamer was used for fumonisin B1 (FB1) recognition and methylene blue (MB) absorption. The binding of FB1 triggered the stripping of TDN, leading to a decreased current of MB (I MB) and an increased current of Fc (I Fc). In this way, TDN allowed the enlarged variations in I Fc and I MB by the significant change in steric hindrance and binding sites in ratiometric electrochemical sensing, respectively. Consequently, the developed aptasensor offered a linear range of 0.1–100 pg mL−1 and a detection limit of 0.087 pg mL−1 for FB1. This strategy offers a new way to fabricate high-performance sensors with large DNA structures. • A ratiometric electrochemical aptasensor was designed with signal amplification. • TDN with abundant binding sites and large steric hindrance was introduced. • The stripping of TDN led to the opposite change of two signals. • The ratiometric aptasensor showed high analytical performance for FB1 detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Crocetin, derived from saffron, exerts multiple pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antifatigue, and anticancer effects. However, the effect of crocetin on PD remains unclear. In this study, we designed experiments to investigate the effect of crocetin against MPTP-induced PD models and the underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that crocetin treatment attenuates MPTP-induced motor deficits and protects dopaminergic neurons. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that crocetin treatment decreased the expression of inflammatory associated genes and inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, crocetin treatment protected mitochondrial functions against MPP+ induced damage by regulating the mPTP (mitochondrial permeability transition pore) viability in the interaction of ANT (adenine nucleotide translocase) and Cyp D (Cyclophilin D) dependent manner. Therefore, our results demonstrate that crocetin has therapeutic potential in Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early weaning usually causes intestinal disorders, enteritis, and diarrhea in young animals and human infants. Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) possesses anti‐inflammatory activity. To study the anti‐inflammatory mechanisms of APS and its potential effects on intestinal health, we performed an RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq) study in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated porcine intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC‐J2) in vitro. In addition, LPS‐stimulated BALB/c mice were used to study the effects of APS on intestinal inflammation in vivo. The results from the RNA‐seq analysis show that there were 107, 756, and 5 differentially expressed genes in the control versus LPS, LPS versus LPS+APS, and control versus LPS+APS comparison groups, respectively. The results of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis indicated that the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) signaling pathways play significant roles in the regulation of inflammatory factors and chemokine expression by APS. Further verification of the above two pathways by using western blot and immunofluorescence analysis revealed that the gene expression levels of the phosphorylated p38 MAPK, ERK1/2, and NF‐κB p65 were inhibited by APS, while the expression of IκB‐α protein was significantly increased (p <.05), indicating that APS inhibits the production of inflammatory factors and chemokines by the inhibition of activation of the MAPK and NF‐κB inflammatory pathways induced by LPS stimulation. Animal experiments further demonstrated that prefeeding APS in BALB/c mice can alleviate the expression of the jejunal inflammatory factors interleukin 6 (IL‐6), IL‐Iβ, and tumor necrosis factor‐α induced by LPS stimulation and improve jejunal villus morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the reliability of solar irradiance prediction methods, an ensemble learning method based on the Bayesian model combination has been developed in this paper for solar utilization systems. First, a novel data sampling method has been proposed, including the advantages of clustering and cross validation, which can effectively ensure that the training subsets are different from each other and can cover a variety of different meteorological samples. Second, an ensemble learning model with multiple base learners has been designed. Each training subset is utilized to train the corresponding base learner. Then, a novel Bayesian model combination strategy expands hypothesis space E on Bayesian model averaging, which is applied to frame the combination strategy based on the accuracy of each base learner on the validation set. The prediction values of multiple learners are framed through the model combination strategy. Thus, a novel ensemble learning model based on Bayesian model combination has been established. Finally, experiments are carried out and the proposed method is compared with the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), K-means (Radial Basis Function) RBF, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Multikernel SVM. The annual average mean absolute error of the ensemble learning method based on Bayesian model combination is reduced by 0.0374 MJ × m − 2 compared with the ensemble learning method. The annual average mean absolute error of the proposed method is reduced by 42.6%, 38.2%, 52%, and 48.7%, respectively, compared with ANN, K-means RBF, SVM, and Multikernel SVM. The effectiveness as well as the reliability of the proposed method in solar energy prediction have been found to perform better and have verified our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salmonella typhimurium is one of the main causes of intestinal diseases, affecting the health of humans and livestock. Ethyl pyruvate (EP), which is ordinarily an edible spice, has been indicated to exert anti-inflammatory effects and preserve intestinal barrier function. In this study, intestinal immune function and signaling pathways activated by EP were investigated in vivo in S. typhimurium- challenged BALB/c mice and in vitro in RAW264.7 cells. EP improved body weight loss and the organ index of the liver and spleen (p < 0.05). Serum IgA and IgM levels were significantly increased in EP-treated mice (p < 0.05). According to histopathological and immunohistochemical staining, EP significantly increased the villus height, reduced edema in the jejunum and increased the levels of claudin-1, occludin-1 and ZO-1 proteins compared to the Salmonella -treated group (p < 0.05). In addition, EP decreased the levels of the IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α mRNA levels in jejunum, liver, spleen and RAW264.7 cells (p < 0.05). EP decreased the levels of TLR4, phosphorylated p38MAPK and ERK1/2 in mice infected with S. typhimurium (p < 0.05). In conclusion, EP effectively protected BALB/c mice from an intestinal S. typhimurium infection by improving the activity of the humoral immune system, reducing intestinal barrier damage, and inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine production in the jejunum by modulating the TLR4/MAPK signaling pathway. Based on these findings, EP has the potential to inhibit inflammation or to serve as an immune-enhancing adjuvant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly investigated the controllable preparation of well-dispersed ZnO nanoparticles by a surfactant-assisted method which selected laminated 6-polyglycerol monostearate (6-PGME) supermicelle as template. Typically, nano-ZnO particles confined in 6-PGME (6-PGME-ZnO) exhibited promising ultraviolet (UV) absorption with a blue-shift in comparison with the conventional bulk ZnO. Notably, the as-prepared 6-PGME-ZnO particles could be easily dispersed in sweet almond, jojoba oil and/or evening primrose oil as sunscreen agent. The physicochemical properties of 6-PGME-ZnO sample were further characterized to elucidate its relationship with adsorption capacity. This work might provide an alternative and green route for the development of ZnO-based nanomaterials, which have remarkable potential application in anti-UV fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigate the ignored problem of information asymmetry, which is an obstacle for class-incremental learning. • A framework with information distillation is proposed to retrain old classes and to alleviate the interplay of all classes. • Extensive experiments are conducted on two datasets to demonstrate significant performance improvement of our approach. Deep learning architectures have shown remarkable results in the object detection task. However, they experience a critical performance drop when they are required to learn new classes incrementally without forgetting old ones. This catastrophic forgetting phenomenon impedes the deployment of artificial intelligence in real word scenarios where systems need to learn new and different representations over time. Recently, many incremental learning methods have been proposed to avoid the catastrophic forgetting problem. However, current state-of-the-art class-incremental learning strategies aim at preserving the knowledge of old classes while learning new ones sequentially, which would encounter other problems as follows: (1) In the process of preserving information of old classes, only a small portion of data in the previous tasks are kept and replayed during training, which inevitably incurs bias that is favorable for the new classes but malicious to the old classes. (2) With the knowledge of previous classes distilled into the new model, a sub-optimal solution for the new task is obtained since the preserving process of previous classes sabotages the training of new classes. To address these issues, termed as Information Asymmetry (IA) , we propose a double-head framework which preserves the knowledge of old classes and learns the knowledge of new classes separately. Specifically, we transfer the knowledge of the previous model to the current learned one for overcoming the catastrophic forgetting problem. Furthermore, considering that IA would introduce impacts on the training of the new model, we propose a Non-Affection mask to distill the knowledge of the interested regions at the feature level. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method significantly outperforms other state-of-the-art class-incremental object detection methods on PASCAL VOC and MS COCO datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the accuracy of the GNRB arthrometer (Genourob), Lachman test, and Telos device (GmbH) in acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and to evaluate the accuracy of each diagnostic tool according to the length of time from injury to examination. Materials and Methods: From September 2015 to September 2016, 40 cases of complete ACL rupture were reviewed. We divided the time from injury to examination into three periods of 10 days each and analyzed the diagnostic tools according to the time frame. Results: An analysis of the area under the curve (AUC) of a receiver operating characteristic curve showed that all diagnostic tools were fairly informative. The GNRB showed a higher AUC than other diagnostic tools. In 10 cases assessed within 10 days after injury, the GNRB showed statistically significant side-to-side difference in laxity (p<0.001), whereas the Telos test and Lachman test did not show significantly different laxity (p=0.541 and p=0.413, respectively). Conclusions: All diagnostic values of the GNRB were better than other diagnostic tools in acute ACL injuries. The GNRB was more effective in acute ACL injuries examined within 10 days of injury. The GNRB arthrometer can be a useful diagnostic tool for acute ACL injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High manufacturing costs and weak cell selectivity have limited the clinical application of naturally occurring peptides when faced with an outbreak of drug resistance. To overcome these limitations, a set of antimicrobial peptides was synthesized with the general sequence of (WL)n, where n = 1, 2, 3, and WL was truncated from the N‐terminus of Cecropin P1 without initial serine residues. The antimicrobial peptide WL3 exhibited stronger antimicrobial activity against both Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive microbes than the parental peptide CP‐1. WL3 showed no hemolysis even at the highest test concentrations compared to the parental peptide CP‐1. The condition sensitivity assays (salts, serum, and trypsin) demonstrated that WL3 had high stability in vitro. Fluorescence spectroscopy and electron microscopy indicated that WL3 killed microbes by means of penetrating the membrane and causing cell lysis. In a mouse model, WL3 was able to significantly reduce the bacteria load in major organs and cytokines (TNF‐α, IL‐6, and IL‐1β) levels in serum. In summary, these findings suggest that WL3, which was modified from a natural antimicrobial peptide, has enormous potential for application as a novel antibacterial agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brassica napus is an important oilseed crop worldwide. Although seed weight is the main determinant of seed yield, few studies have focused on the molecular mechanisms that regulate seed weight in B. napus. In this study, the immature seeds of G-42 and 7–9, two B. napus doubled haploid (DH) lines with extremely different thousand-seed weight (TSW), were selected for a transcriptome analysis to determine the regulatory mechanisms underlying seed weight at the whole gene expression level and to identify candidate genes related to seed weight. A total of 2,251 new genes and 2,205 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained via RNA-seq (RNA sequencing). Among these genes, 1,747 (77.61%) new genes and 2020 (91.61%) DEGs were successfully annotated. Of these DEGs, 1,118 were up-regulated and 1,087 were down-regulated in the large-seed line. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database analysis indicated that 15 DEGs were involved in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and proteasome pathways, which might participate in regulating seed weight. The Gene Ontology (GO) database indicated that 222 DEGs were associated with the biological process or molecular function categories related to seed weight, such as cell division, cell size and cell cycle regulation, seed development, nutrient reservoir activity, and proteasome-mediated ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic processes. Moreover, 50 DEGs encoding key enzymes or proteins were identified that likely participate in regulating seed weight. A DEG (GSBRNA2T00037121001) identified by the transcriptome analysis was also previously identified in a quantitative trait locus (QTL) region for seed weight via SLAF-seq (Specific Locus Amplified Fragment sequencing). Finally, the expression of 10 DEGs with putative roles in seed weight and the expression of the DEG GSBRNA2T00037121001 were confirmed by a quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, and the results were consistent with the RNA sequencing data. This work has provided new insights on the molecular mechanisms underlying seed weight-related biosynthesis and has laid a solid foundation for further improvements to the seed yield of oil crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the demands of the modern power system for satisfactory operation and control, here, a novel data‐driven control strategy is proposed to solve the load frequency control (LFC) problems of power systems, with complete convergence analysis. This data‐based LFC approach is designed based on the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) method and neural network ensemble. The data‐based controller is constructed using a function approximator, which is fixed as a neural network. Being the control parameters, the connection weights of the neural network controller are updated at each iteration step. In order to improve the overall control accuracy and get more stable control performance, the idea of neural network ensemble is introduced for the data‐based controller structure design. The proposed data‐based controller takes past and current system information as input and generates a control signal that can affect future system performance as output, and during the whole process, it is not necessary to build mathematical model for the controlled plant. A one‐area LFC problem with system parametric uncertainties as well as a typical two‐area LFC problem have been introduced for simulation tests, and the feasibility and effectiveness of this newly proposed data‐based LFC strategy is well revealed through simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VEGF expression induced by hypoxia plays a critical role in promoting tumor angiogenesis. However, the molecular mechanism that modulates VEGF expression under hypoxia is still poorly understood. In this study, we found that VEGF induction in hypoxic HepG2 cells is ROS-dependent. ROS mediates hypoxia-induced VEGF by upregulation of Mxi1-0. Furthermore, PI3K/AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway is involved in ROS-mediated Mxi1-0 and VEGF expression in hypoxic HepG2 cells. Finally, Mxi1-0 could in turn regulate ROS generation in hypoxic HepG2 cells, creating a positive feedback loop. Taken together, this study demonstrate a positive regulatory feedback loop in which ROS mediates hypoxia-induced Mxi1-0 via activation of PI3K/AKT/HIF-1α pathway, events that in turn elevate ROS generation and promote hypoxia-induced VEGF expression. These findings could provide a rationale for designing new therapies based on inhibition of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is rapidly accumulating that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in human tumorigenesis and are dysregulated in multiple cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). lncRNAs can regulate essential pathways that contribute to tumor initiation and progression with tissue specificity, which suggests that lncRNAs may be valuable biomarkers and therapeutic targets. HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) has previously been demonstrated to be an oncogene and a negative prognostic factor in a variety of cancers; however, the factors that contribute to the upregulation of HOTAIR and the interaction between HOTAIR and microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are largely unknown. In the present study, the expression levels of HOTAIR, forkhead box C1 (FOXC1) and miRNA-1 were examined in 50 matched pairs of HCC and HCC cells. The effects of HOTAIR on HCC cell proliferation were tested using trypan blue exclusion assay. The effect of HOTAIR on HCC growth in vivo was determined in a (nu/nu) mouse model. A computational screening of HOTAIR promoter was conducted to search for transcription factor-binding sites. FOXC1 binding to the promoter region of HOTAIR was confirmed using a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. A search for miRNAs that had complementary base paring with HOTAIR was performed utilizing an online software program. The interaction between miR-1 and HOTAIR was examined using a luciferase reporter assay. Gain and loss of function approaches were used to determine the changes of HOTAIR or miR-1 expression. The relative levels of FOXC1 and HOTAIR expression in HCC tissues and HepG2 cells were significantly higher than those in normal liver LO2 cells and adjacent carcinoma tissues; the relative expression of miR-1 exhibited the opposite pattern. Overexpression of HOTAIR promoted HCC cell proliferation and progression of tumor xenografts. The present authors have demonstrated that FOXC1 binds to the upstream region of HOTAIR in HCC cells and that FOXC1 activates lncRNA HOTAIR expression in HCC HepG2 cells, which suggests that HOTAIR harbors a miRNA-1 binding site. The present data revealed that this binding site is vital for the regulation of miRNA-1 by HOTAIR. Furthermore, HOTAIR negatively regulated the expression of miRNA-1 in HepG2 cells. Additionally, the present study demonstrated that the oncogenic activity of HOTAIR is in part based on the negative regulation of miR-1. Taken together, these results suggest that HOTAIR is a FOXC1-activated driver of malignancy, which acts in part through the repression of miR-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An evolutionary approach of parking space guidance based upon a novel Chaotic Particle Swarm Optimization (CPSO) algorithm is proposed. In the newly proposed CPSO algorithm, the chaotic dynamics is combined into the position updating rules of Particle Swarm Optimization to improve the diversity of solutions and to avoid being trapped in the local optima. This novel approach, that combines the strengths of Particle Swarm Optimization and chaotic dynamics, is then applied into the route optimization (RO) problem of parking lots, which is an important issue in the management systems of large-scale parking lots. It is used to find out the optimized paths between any source and destination nodes in the route network. Route optimization problems based on real parking lots are introduced for analyzing and the effectiveness and practicability of this novel optimization algorithm for parking space guidance have been verified through the application results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel one-step hydrothermal method was developed and composite material of CoFe 2 O 4 /graphene-like carbons (LGC) was successfully prepared from pomelo peels (PP), Fe(NO 3 ) 3 ·9H 2 O and Co(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O. The characterizing results demonstrate that during the hydrothermal process, (Fe 3+ + Co 2+ ) ions adsorbed on the active surface of PP and PP catalyze/prompt the conversions of PP to LGC and (Fe 3+ + Co 2+ ) to CoFe 2 O 4 , respectively, to produce the composite CoFe 2 O 4 /LGC. And CoFe 2 O 4 /LGC is nanosized and made of multilayer nanosheets. Its improved adsorptive property for methylene blue (MB) in water is ascribed to the conversion of PP to LGC and exfoliation of PP sheets to nanosheets. Additionally, the composite can be easily and rapidly separated under an external magnetic field and repeatedly used. MB adsorption on CoFe 2 O 4 /LGC follows pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm models. The synthesis is of simpleness, speediness, low cost, and green non-pollution. CoFe 2 O 4 /LGC is an ideal adsorbent candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL) is the most common hematological malignancy in children. Cellular metabolic reorganization is closely related to the progression and treatment of leukemia. We found that the level of 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), which is structurally similar to glucose, was elevated in children with pre-B ALL. However, the effect of 1,5-AG on pre-B ALL was unclear. Here, we aimed to reveal the roles and mechanisms of 1,5-AG in pre-B ALL progression. Methods: The peripheral blood plasma level of children with initial diagnosis of pre-B ALL and that of healthy children was measured using untargeted metabolomic analysis. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, RNA sequencing, siRNA transfection, real-time quantitative PCR, and western blot were performed using pre-B ALL cell lines Reh and HAL-01. Cell cycle, cell apoptosis, ROS levels, and the positivity rate of CD19 were assessed using flow cytometry. Oxygen consumption rates and extracellular acidification rate were measured using XFe24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer. The lactate and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate levels were measured using kits. The effect of 1,5-AG on pre-B ALL progression was verified using the In Vivo Imaging System in a xenotransplantation leukemia model. Results: We confirmed that 1,5-AG promoted the proliferation, viability, and intracellular glycolysis of pre-B ALL cells. Mechanistically, 1,5-AG promotes glycolysis while inhibiting mitochondrial respiration by upregulating pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4). Furthermore, high levels of intracellular glycolysis promote pre-B ALL progression by activating the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) pathway. Conversely, N-acetylcysteine or vitamin C, an antioxidant, effectively inhibited 1,5-AG-mediated progression of leukemia cells. Conclusions: Our study reveals a previously undiscovered role of 1,5-AG in pre-B ALL, which contributes to an in-depth understanding of anaerobic glycolysis in the progression of pre-B ALL and provides new targets for the clinical treatment of pre-B ALL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel one-step solvothermal method was carried out to synthesize a series of polyaniline-cobalt ferrite nanocomposites (PANI-CoFe 2 O 4 ) with different contents of PANI. The structure, morphological, magnetic and electrochemical properties of the as-prepared PANI-CoFe 2 O 4 (PANI-CF) samples were characterized by various techniques. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (IR) indicated the successful synthesis of PANI-CF nanocomposite materials with the component CoFe 2 O 4 showing spinel structure and the size of the composite material was less than 20 nm. Their magnetic properties were remarkably superior to pure CoFe 2 O 4 , ascribed to good crystalline of CoFe 2 O 4 , nanoscale composite and strong interaction between CoFe 2 O 4 and PANI, and induced magnetic field from the directional movement of π-electrons of PANI under applied magnetic field. Otherwise, these composite materials showed good electrochemical behavior, indicating that they were doped by Fe 3+ /Co 2+ ions and doping metallic ions into PANI could also improve its electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-factor user authentication scheme allows a user to use a smart card and a password to achieve mutual authentication and establish a session key between a server and a user. In 2012, Chen et al. showed that the scheme of Sood et al. does not achieve mutual authentication and is vulnerable to off-line password guessing and smart card stolen attacks. They also found that another scheme proposed by Song is vulnerable to similar off-line password guessing and smart card stolen attacks. They further proposed an improved scheme. In this paper, we first show that the improved scheme of Chen et al. still suffers from off-line password guessing and smart card stolen attacks, does not support perfect forward secrecy, and lacks the fairness of session key establishment. We then propose a new security-enhanced scheme and show its security and authentication using the formal verification tool ProVerif, which is based on applied pi calculus. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes one novel data‐driven control strategy based upon the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation method with adaptive weighted gradient estimation for general discrete non‐linear systems. A function approximator is used to construct the controller, and here, it is fixed as a neural network (NN), whose structure is fixed previously, while allowing its connecting weights to be updated. The control parameters are then the connecting weights of the NN controller. The biggest advantage of this data‐driven control approach is that it can generate a control signal to affect system's future performance without establishing the plant's mathematical model first. In this novel approach, to improve the control ability and accuracy, an adaptive weighted gradient estimation method is designed to do the parametric estimation with convergence analysis. Non‐linear tracking problems for typical discrete‐time non‐linear plants are introduced for simulation comparison tests, and the convergence and feasibility of this newly proposed data‐driven control strategy are well demonstrated through the simulation results. Finally, empirical study on a simulated wastewater treatment system is carried out to further illustrate the effectiveness of this newly proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perioperative neurocognitive disorder (PND) is a common complication associated with anesthesia and surgery in the elderly. The dysfunction of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) has been associated with a number of diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Given that ketamine can reportedly improve PNDs, the present study sought to determine whether ketamine-induced PND alleviation was mediated by activation of TRPV4 channel opening. A total of 120, 20-month-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five groups: Vehicle, PND (tibial fracture surgery), PND + ketamine (Ket), PND + Ket + HC-067047 (HC), and PND + HC groups. Ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally once a day for 3 days after surgery and HC-067047 (1 µmol/2 µl), an antagonist of TRPV4, was administered via the left lateral ventricle 30 min before ketamine treatment. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), lipid peroxidation (LPO), IL-1β, IL-6, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), NF-κB, TNF-α and IFN-β levels were determined 3 days after surgery. At 28 days after surgery, fear conditioning and novel object recognition were assessed, and Aβ1-42 levels were measured and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) staining was conducted on day 31 after surgery. The results revealed that ketamine administration upregulated total SOD activity, downregulated MDA and LPO content, mitigated phosphorylated (p)-NF-κB, TNF-α mRNA and IFN-β mRNA expression in the hippocampus, and promoted p-AMPK 3 days after surgery. Furthermore, it was found that ketamine increased both context- and tone-dependent fear conditioning, and the time spent exploring a novel object, and reduced Aβ peptide levels and microglial activation 30 days after surgery. Notably, these changes could be reversed by HC-067047 to a certain extent. In conclusion, ketamine improved PND in aged mice after tibial fracture surgery and the potential mechanism may involve activation of the TRPV4/AMPK/NF-κB signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ricin is a glycoprotein produced in castor seeds and consists of two polypeptide chains named Ricin Toxin A Chain (RTA) and Ricin Toxin B Chain (RTB), linked via a disulfide bridge. Due to its high toxicity, ricin is regarded as a high terrorist risk for the public. However, antibodies can play a pivotal role in neutralizing the toxin. In this research, the anti-toxicant effect of mAb 4C13, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) established using detoxicated ricin as the immunized antigen, was evaluated. Compared with mAb 4F2 and mAb 5G6, the effective mechanism of mAb 4C13 was analyzed by experiments relating to its cytotoxicity, epitope on ricin, binding kinetics with the toxin, its blockage on the protein synthesis inhibition induced by ricin and the intracelluar tracing of its complex with ricin. Our result indicated that mAb 4C13 could recognize and bind to RTA, RTB and exert its high affinity to the holotoxin. Both cytotoxicity and animal toxicity of ricin were well blocked by pre-incubating the toxin with mAb 4C13. By intravenous injection, mAb 4C13 could rescue the mouse intraperitoneally (ip) injected with a lethal dose of ricin (20 μg/kg) even at 6 h after the intoxication and its efficacy was dependent on its dosage. This research indicated that mAb 4C13 could be an excellent candidate for therapeutic antibodies. Its potent antitoxic efficiency was related to its recognition on the specific epitope with very high affinity and its blockage of protein synthesis inhibition in cytoplasm followed by cellular internalization with ricin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postpartum depression (PPD),one of the most common complications after childbirth, is a common, potentially disabling and even life-threatening disease. About one seventh peripartum and postpartum women were subjected to PPD. The apparent effects of untreated PPD on those postpartum women individuals include distress and functional impairment. PPD is actually associated with negative effects on the growth and development in their children. Fortunately, PPD is detectable in routine practice, and there are effective treatments. Studies indicated that both biological and psychosocial factors contributed to PPD pathogenesis. So, clinical treatment of PPD should combine pharmacotherapy with psychotherapy, in which pharmacotherapy includes antidepressants and hormonal therapy. Since there is wide and far effect of breast -feeding on infant development and psychological health, it is the point at issue whether to stop breast-feeding in those PPD women who are taking medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel template-assisted solvothermal method (TASTM) was used to prepare cobalt ferrite (CoFe 2 O 4 ) magnetic fiber nanomaterial. Cotton fibers (CF) were used as template and Fe(NO 3 ) 3 ·9H 2 O, Co(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O as Fe and Co sources and EtOH as the solvent. XRD result indicates that the sample is single phase of CoFe 2 O 4 with the spinel-type structure. SEM and TEM results reveal that the sample is hollow fibers and the wall is porous. The magnetic measurements result demonstrates that the sample shows enhanced magnetic property. These experimental results suggest that the template CF play an important role in the formation, crystalline structure, morphology and magnetic property of CoFe 2 O 4 . The synthesis is simple, low-cost and environment-friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have evaluated the association between serum levels of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and sepsis; however, the findings are inconclusive and conflicting. For a better understanding of MBL in sepsis, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis. Potential relevant studies were identified covering Science Citation Index, the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Current Contents Index databases. Two reviewers extracted data and assessed studies independently. Statistical analyses were conducted with the version 12.0 STATA statistical software. Ten papers were collected for meta-analysis. Results identified that sepsis patients had considerably lower MBL level than those in the controls (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 1.59, 95 % confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.86∼2.31, P < 0.001). Ethnicity-subgroup analysis showed that sepsis patients were associated with decreased serum MBL level in contrast to the healthy controls in Asians (SMD = 3.07, 95%CI = 1.27∼4.88, P = 0.001) and Caucasians (SMD = 1.00, 95%CI = 0.35∼1.65, P = 0.003). In the group-stratified subgroup analysis, subjects with lower serum MBL level did underpin susceptibility to sepsis in the infants subgroup (SMD = 2.57, 95%CI = 1.59∼3.55, P < 0.001); however, this was not the case in the adults subgroup (SMD = 0.13, 95%CI = −1.30∼1.55, P = 0.862). Our study suggests an important involvement of serum MBL level in sepsis patients considering their lower level compared to controls, especially among infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since edge extraction is an important step in image processing, continuity of edge extraction is particularly important. The extraction results can be applied to semantic segmentation and measurement. We present a method for continuous image edge extraction. Firstly, the Canny algorithm is used to get the coarse segmentation results. Because of the arithmetic operations, discontinuity region would be produced inevitably. Two classes of template expansion operations are used to get coarse segmentation results:small radius expansion should be selected for continuous region while bigger radius for the end of the edges, so an expansion graph is achieved. Finally, the expansion graph could be used as the initial u value for mean curvature motion(MCM)equation, the continuous edges will be extracted through iteration which introduces g function. The experimental results verify the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the data on the mineral composition, major and rare earth elements and ytterbium (REY) content variation in No.8 raw and weathered coal from the Taiyuan Formation of Datong coalfield.The optical microscope,inductive coupling plasma mass spectrum,X-ray and XRF means were applied for investigating the geochemistry,facies significance and occurrence characteristics of the major and rare earth elements.The results indicate that the content of some major elements and rare earth elements took place great changes in No.8 weathering coal seam.Fe2O3 content is higher and significantly affected by deuterogenesis pyrite.SiO2 content relatively increases partly due to the release of the Si ion and partly due to the loss of volatile matter in the weathering process of coal seam.Ca and Mg contents decrease obviously due to the ions were migrated into parting, roof and floor.In addition, the individual layer behavior in the lanthanide contraction effects obviously, and the rare earth element content increases obviously.The occurrence of REY also changes to silicate mineral,hydration-phosphate and sulfide binding from the carbonate and organic bound. No matter whether exist the weathering affection or not,the HREY always shows the strong affinity with carbonate minerals.The facies significance of ash component for major element and cerium anomaly parameters to the original sedimentary environment mean no longer precise after the weathering of coal seam.Europium anomaly is less affected by weathering and can still reflect the original sedimentary environment of the coal seam [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Because antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are potentially useful for the treatment of multidrug-resistant infections, more attention is being paid to the structural modification and structure–function relationship of both naturally occurring and synthetic AMPs. Previous studies indicated that Protegrin-1 (PG-1), isolated from porcine leukocytes, exhibited considerable antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity. The β-turn of PG-1 floated on the surface of bacterial membrane, while its β-strand inserted into the bacterial membrane and formed pores that were dedicated to producing cytotoxicity. For reducing cytotoxicity and improving cells selectivity, we designed a series of simplified symmetric-end peptides by combining the β-turn of PG-1 with simple amino acid repeat sequences. The sequence of designed symmetric-end peptides is (XR) n H(RX) n , (n = 1,2; X represents I, F, W and P; H represents CRRRFC). The symmetric-end peptides displayed antimicrobial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. In particular, (XR)2H(RX)2 (X here is I, F and W) showed greater antimicrobial potency than PG-1. Hemolysis activity and cytotoxicity, detected by using human red blood cells (RBCs) and human embryonic lung fibroblasts MRC-5 cells, were observably lower than the native peptide PG-1. (IR)2H(RI)2 (IR2), folded into β-sheet structures, displayed the highest therapeutic index, suggesting its great cell selectivity. The fluorescence spectroscopy, flow cytometry, and electron microscopy observation indicated that IR2 exhibited great membrane penetration potential by inducing membrane blebbing, disruption and lysis. Collectively, generating symmetric-end β-sheet peptides is a promising strategy for designing effective AMPs with great antimicrobial activities and cell selectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An evolutionary image-detection method based on a novel chaotic hybrid optimizing algorithm (CHOA) is proposed. The method combines the strengths of particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithms (GAs), and chaotic dynamics (CD), and involves the standard velocity and position update rules of PSOs with the ideas of selection, crossover, and mutation from GA. In addition, the notion of species is introduced into the proposed CHOA to enhance its performance in solving multimodal problems. The effectiveness of the species-based chaotic hybrid optimizing algorithm (SCHOA) is proven through simulations and benchmarking, and finally, it is successfully applied to solve a multitemplate matching (MTM) problem in the printed circuit board (PCB) industry, as well as circle-detection problems. To make it more powerful in solving circle-detection problems in complicated circumstances, the notion of “tolerant radius” is proposed and incorporated into the SCHOA method. Simulation tests were undertaken on several hand-drawn sketches and natural photos, and the effectiveness of the proposed method was clearly shown through the test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infection with pathogenic bacteria during nonantibiotic breeding is one of the main causes of animal intestinal diseases. Oleanolic acid (OA) is a pentacyclic triterpene that is ubiquitous in plants. Our previous work demonstrated the protective effect of OA on intestinal health, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated whether dietary supplementation with OA can prevent diarrhea and intestinal immune dysregulation caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in piglets. The key molecular role of bile acid receptor signaling in this process has also been explored. Results: Our results demonstrated that OA supplementation alleviated the disturbance of bile acid metabolism in ETEC-infected piglets (P < 0.05). OA supplementation stabilized the composition of the bile acid pool in piglets by regulating the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids and significantly increased the contents of UDCA and CDCA in the ileum and cecum (P < 0.05). This may also explain why OA can maintain the stability of the intestinal microbiota structure in ETEC-challenged piglets. In addition, as a natural ligand of bile acid receptors, OA can reduce the severity of intestinal inflammation and enhance the strength of intestinal epithelial cell antimicrobial programs through the bile acid receptors TGR5 and FXR (P < 0.05). Specifically, OA inhibited NF-κB-mediated intestinal inflammation by directly activating TGR5 and its downstream cAMP-PKA-CREB signaling pathway (P < 0.05). Furthermore, OA enhanced CDCA-mediated MEK-ERK signaling in intestinal epithelial cells by upregulating the expression of FXR (P < 0.05), thereby upregulating the expression of endogenous defense molecules in intestinal epithelial cells. Conclusions: In conclusion, our findings suggest that OA-mediated regulation of bile acid metabolism plays an important role in the innate immune response, which provides a new diet-based intervention for intestinal diseases caused by pathogenic bacterial infections in piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]