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BACKGROUND RESULTS CONCLUSION Gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an important neurotransmitter in the human body, with several negative emotions reported as being associated with GABA dysregulation. This study investigates the safety and modulatory effects of GABA‐enriched milk, fermented by Streptococcus thermophilus GA8 and Lacticasebacillus rhamnosus HAO9, on the gut microbiota and neurotransmitter profiles in mice.Through rigorous culturing and fermentation processes, we achieved consistent GABA production in milk, with concentrations reaching 4.6 and 8.5 g L−1 for GA8‐fermented and co‐fermented milk, respectively, after 48 h. Using SPF male C57BL/6J mice, we administered either mono‐culture or combined‐culture milk treatments and monitored physiological impacts. The treatments did not affect mouse body weight but induced significant changes in gut microbiota composition. Beta diversity analysis revealed distinct microbial profiles between treatment groups, highlighting fermentation‐specific microbial shifts, such as an increase in Verrucomicrobia for the GA8 group and a modulation in Saccharibacteria_genera_incertae_sedis for the GA8 + HAO9 group. Serum neurotransmitter levels were elevated in both treatment groups, with significant increases in l‐glutamine, l‐tryptophan and, notably, serotonin hydrochloride in the GA8 + HAO9 group. Correlation analysis identified a positive association between specific bacterial genera and neurotransmitter levels, suggesting a probiotic effect on neuroactive substances.These findings suggest that fermented milk has potential as a probiotic supplement for mood improvement and stress relief, highlighting its role in modulating the gut–brain axis. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the life activities of microorganisms, a variety of secondary metabolites are produced, including antimicrobials and antitumor drugs, which are widely used in clinical practice. In addition to exploring new antibiotics, this makes it one of the research priorities of Actinomycetes to effectively increase the yield of antibiotics in production strains by various means. Most antibiotic-producing strains have a variety of functional regulatory factors that regulate their growth, development, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis processes. Through the study of precursor substances in antibiotic biosynthesis, researchers have revealed the precursor biosynthesis process and the mechanism by which precursor synthesis regulators affect the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, which can be used to obtain engineered strains with high antibiotic production. This paper summarizes the supply of antibiotic biosynthesis precursors and the progress of research on the role of regulators in the process of precursors in biosynthesis. This lays the foundation for the establishment of effective breeding methods to improve antibiotic yields through the manipulation of precursor synthesis genes and related regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the low cost and superior damping performance of viscoelastic dampers, the new structural system strengthened with viscoelastic energy dissipation braces (VEDB) is proposed to upgrade the reinforced concrete frame structures with insufficient seismic capability. For the dynamic performance researches and damage evolution predictions of this structure system during earthquakes, the dynamic performance of six RCFs (reinforced concrete frames) and six VEFs (another six special reinforced concrete frames with VEDB) are studied under sinusoidal wide frequency range loading excitation horizontally. On this basis, the qualitative and quantitative relations on the damage growing at the material-level and the member-level performance deteriorating about the frame structures are conducted. Furthermore, the empirical calculation model on the cross-level damage evolution of VEFs are established and verified. Finally, a set of useful and robust cross-level judgment criteria for damage performance rates is proposed. The research found that, the installation of VEDB can significantly improve the load bearing capacity, the lateral stiffness and the energy dissipation capacity of the structures. The damage pattern of the structures is improved by VEDB, and it ensures the design criteria of "strong joints and weak members." The empirical calculation model on the cross-level damage evolution and judgment criteria for damage performance rates proposed in this paper are useful and stable in practical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hubless rim-driven thruster (RDT) has become increasingly interesting for ship propulsion. Gap flow has been proven as the main feature of RDT that cannot be simply neglected. In this study, based on a classical hubless RDT, the effects of the gap geometry are studied by adjusting its axial passage length, and inlet and outlet oblique angles. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the RDT were simulated with OpenFOAM based on the k -- ω shear stress transport turbulence model. Due to the pressure increase after the main flow passes through the rotating blades, the flow inside gap is driven upstream, which is opposite to the main flow direction. It is found that the hydrodynamic efficiency is increased as the gap axial passage length is shortened, which is realized by increasing the oblique angle with the fixed inlet and outlet positions. Moving the inlet and outlet to further downstream and upstream positions has negligible effects on the hydrodynamic efficiency and leads to recirculating flow within the gap near its inlet. These findings shed light on the design of the gap geometry to improve the RDT hydrodynamic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual three-phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) control system is characterized by its high reliability, slight torque fluctuation and low harmonic content. It is very suitable for systems requiring high power output and high reliability, for instance, electric vehicles, aerospace and military equipment. In this paper, a full speed domain sensorless control technology for dual three-phase PMSM is proposed which solves the limitations of other sensorless controls, improves system accuracy and stability, and has high practicality in fields such as new energy vehicles. The mathematical model of this motor in a static coordinate system is established, and the sine and cosine signals along with the velocity and angle information are obtained by using the flux linkage observer. Moreover, the estimated angle error parameter is introduced into the flux linkage observer; as a result, the estimation accuracy is improved by the estimated speed feedback, and the current frequency is tracked by the stator current Frequency-Variable Tracker (FVT) to reduce the current error. Meanwhile, to make the observer's estimation more accurate and to improve its ability to resist disturbance, a rotor disturbance is added to act as a disturbance variable. Through the mechanical motion equation of the motor, a fourth-order Extended State Observer (ESO) is built to calculate the rotor position and speed. Finally, the technology accuracy is verified using simulation and experimental results. The findings prove that the sensorless detection technology, with speed feedback introduce in this paper, has good reliability and high precision for dual three-phase PMSM under dynamic and static conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To expand the inclusiveness of hybrid test platform research, enhance the flexibility of hybrid test platforms using various control strategies, and promote the development of hybrid test techniques, a low-cost user-configurable electric actuator hybrid test platform is established in this paper. This platform can be transferred to other medium or large electric actuator hybrid test platform, the research applications of this platform cannot be limited by their proposed setup. Firstly, the hardware system design including hybrid test facility integrated control system core architecture and all related signal routings are carried out. Then, the improved equivalent force control feedback method based on force-loading control is proposed, and the software system development including hybrid test process control system software and user-configurable STM32 microcontroller (UCSM) software are conducted. Next, the mechanical performance of viscoelastic damper is tested, and the mechanical model parameters of viscoelastic damper are regressed. The accuracy of electric actuator force control (inner control loop), of which the control tasks get executed on the UCSM is verified using the experimental substructure of viscoelastic damper. The hybrid test of viscoelastic damping system verifies the reliability and robustness of hybrid test platform (outer control loop). Finally, the developed hybrid test platform implements various hybrid tests of viscoelastic damping system under broad temperature range and different seismic intensities. The test results reveal the influence of temperature and seismic intensities on the seismic control effect of viscoelastic damper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was used fermentation bed technology to study the effect of fermentation bed on diarrhea rate, growth performance and blood physicochemical indexes of lambs in winter. Three batches of experiments were carried out in a row, and 30 hybrid ewes who had just given birth and gave birth to two lambs in each batch were randomly assigned to two closed houses with windows and the same building structure, one floor was transformed into a fermentation bed (experimental group), and the other was used as a control group. The lambs were fed in a single pen for 7 d and then transferred out. Each group was randomly divided into three pens, transferred to semi-open houses, and continued to be fed until weaning at 60 d. The results showed that on 1~7 d, the diarrhea rate of lambs in experimental group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). From birth to weaning, the diarrhea rate and mortality of lambs in experimental group were decreased by 2.49% and 2.95% compared with control group (P<0.05). On 7 d of experiment, the body height, body length and chest circumference of lambs in experimental group were increased by 1.71, 0.56, 0.66 cm compared with control group, respectively (P<0.05). On 8~30 d, the average daily gain of lambs in experimental group was increased by 22.59% compared with control group ( P<0.05). The average daily gain of experimental group was significantly higher than that of control group during the whole experiment period (1~60 d) (P<0.05). At 60 d of age, the body weight of lambs in experimental group was increased by 13.42% compared with control group ( P<0.05). The percentage of lymphocyte in whole blood of lambs in experimental group was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05), and the content of GLU, TP and GLB in serum were increased by 8.45%, 3.34% and 10.49% compared with control group, respectively (P<0.05). The study indicates that using a fermentation bed feeding mode within 7 d of birth can reduce the rate of diarrhea and mortality before weaning, and improve the apparent digestibility and blood physicochemical indicators of lambs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to develop a high-performance acrylate viscoelastic damper (HAVED), which is suitable for the low-frequency vibration control of building structures. To reveal the influence of ambient temperature, excitation frequency, and displacement amplitude on the dynamic mechanical performance and energy dissipation capacity of a HAVED, a series of dynamic mechanical performance tests were performed on a HAVED within the extensive temperature (10°C–50°C), frequency (0.1–3 Hz), and displacement (0.5–4 mm) range. The analysis results show that a HAVED has excellent energy dissipation capacity and good adaptability to the external environment. The loss factor of a HAVED can reach up to 1.85, and it remains above 0.28 even in a high-temperature environment of 50°C. The dynamic mechanical properties and energy dissipation capacity of a HAVED show strong dependences and obvious coupling effects on temperature, frequency, and displacement amplitude. Based on the experimental research of a HAVED, the micromechanical properties of viscoelastic materials are analyzed, and the high-order fractional derivative model is used to comprehensively describe the mechanical characterization of microscopic molecular chains. The Kraus theory is introduced to consider the influence of filler particles, and the high-order fractional derivative micro–macro cross-scale mathematical model is proposed by combining with the temperature-frequency equivalence principle. Through the experimental results, the prediction capabilities of the model that have been established have been verified. The analysis results show that the proposed model can comprehensively describe the influence of ambient temperature, excitation frequency, displacement amplitude, microscopic molecular chain structure, and filler particles on the mechanical properties of a HAVED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulate amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) have been recognised for their potential to enhance the performance of various solid dose forms, especially oral bioavailability and macromolecule stability. However, the inherent nature of spray-dried ASDs leads to their surface cohesion/adhesion, including hygroscopicity, which hinders their bulk flow and affects their utility and viability in terms of powder production, processing, and function. This study explores the effectiveness of L-leucine (L-leu) coprocessing in modifying the particle surface of ASD-forming materials. Various contrasting prototype coprocessed ASD excipients from both the food and pharmaceutical industries were examined for their effective coformulation with L-leu. The model/prototype materials included maltodextrin, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K10 and K90), trehalose, gum arabic, and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC E5LV and K100M). The spray-drying conditions were set such that the particle size difference was minimised, so that it did not play a substantial role in influencing powder cohesion. Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate the morphology of each formulation. A combination of previously reported morphological progression typical of L-leu surface modification and previously unreported physical characteristics was observed. The bulk characteristics of these powders were assessed using a powder rheometer to evaluate their flowability under confined and unconfined stresses, flow rate sensitivities, and compactability. The data showed a general improvement in maltodextrin, PVP K10, trehalose and gum arabic flowability measures as L-leu concentrations increased. In contrast, PVP K90 and HPMC formulations experienced unique challenges that provided insight into the mechanistic behaviour of L-leu. Therefore, this study recommends further investigations into the interplay between L-leu and the physico-chemical properties of coformulated excipients in future amorphous powder design. This also revealed the need to enhance bulk characterisation tools to unpack the multifactorial impact of L-leu surface modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The van der Waals sandwich heterostructure CuInP 2 S 6 / MoSSe / CuInP 2 S 6 (CIPS/MoSSe/CIPS) has first been employed as a prototype to tune the Rashba effect. By nonvolatile controlling of the orientation of the polarization of the top ferroelectric CIPS monolayer, it is confirmed that the Rashba effect can be switched on or off at the top position of the valence band (VB) around the Γ point. More significantly, we find that the Rashba coefficient increases by almost one order of magnitude for the "on" state as compared with the freestanding MoSSe monolayer. Based on the results of first-principle calculations, it is obtained that the enhancement of the Rashba effect results from the charge transfer from the top CIPS layer to the MoSSe layer or the bottom CIPS layer, and the lifting of the d -orbit band of the light Cu atom leads to the disappearance of Rashba spin splitting at the top of the VB around the Γ point. Furthermore, the polarization orientation of the bottom CIPS layer can greatly alter the bandgap of the sandwich structure. We hope the above nonvolatile and large amplitude tuning of the Rashba effect should be useful in the design of spintronic nano-devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the effects of donor ages on growth and stress resistance of 6-year-old seedlings propagated from 5-, 2000-, and 3000-year-old Platycladus orientalis donors with grafting, cutting, and seed sowing, growth indicators and physiological and transcriptomic analyses were performed in 6-year-old seedlings in winter. Results showed that basal stem diameters and plant heights of seedlings of the three propagation methods decreased with the age of the donors, and the sown seedlings were the thickest and tallest. The contents of soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and free fatty acid in apical leaves of the three propagation methods were negatively correlated with donor ages in winter, while the opposite was true for flavonoid and total phenolic. The contents of flavonoid, total phenolic, and free fatty acid in cutting seedlings were highest in the seedlings propagated in the three methods in winter. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes showed phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and fatty acid metabolism pathways, and their expression levels were up-regulated in apical leaves from 6-year-old seedlings propagated from 3000-year-old P. orientalis donors. In addition, hub genes analysis presented that C4H, OMT1, CCR2, PAL, PRX52, ACP1, AtPDAT2, and FAD3 were up-regulated in cutting seedlings, and the gene expression levels decreased in seedlings propagated from 2000- and 3000-year-old donors. These findings demonstrate the resistance stability of cuttings of P. orientalis and provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms of seedlings of P. orientalis propagated from donors at different ages in different propagation methods against low-temperature stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia is characterized as a decline in cognitive function, including memory, language and problem-solving abilities. In this paper, we conducted a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) using data from the electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) network. This study has two aims, (1) to investigate the genetic mechanism of dementia and (2) to discuss multiple p-value thresholds used to address multiple testing issues. Using the genome-wide significant threshold ( p ≤ 5 × 10 − 8 ), we identified four SNPs. Controlling the False Positive Rate (FDR) level below 0.05 leads to one extra SNP. Five SNPs that we found are also supported by QQ-plot comparing observed p-values with expected p-values. All these five SNPs belong to the TOMM40 gene on chromosome 19. Other published studies independently validate the relationship between TOMM40 and dementia. Some published studies use a relaxed threshold ( p ≤ 1 × 10 − 5 ) to discover SNPs when the statistical power is insufficient. This relaxed threshold is more powerful but cannot properly control false positives in multiple testing. We identified 13 SNPs using this threshold, which led to the discovery of extra genes (such as ATP10A-DT and PTPRM). Other published studies reported these genes as related to brain development or neuro-development, indicating these genes are potential novel genes for dementia. Those novel potential loci and genes may help identify targets for developing new therapies. However, we suggest using them with caution since they are discovered without proper false positive control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crude oil prices are susceptible to a variety of elements, including military, political, financial, and diplomatic forces, resulting in price fluctuations that are random, abrupt, and chaotic. Based on the chaotic nature of crude oil price series, this paper proposes a model for predicting crude oil prices that incorporates variational modal decomposition algorithm (VMD), phase space reconstruction technique (PSR), convolutional neural network (CNN), and bidirectional long and short-term memory network (BiLSTM). Specifically, the noises in the original data are removed using VMD. Next, the crude oil price is reconstructed using PSR. Then the reconstructed and denoised phase space is fed into the CNN-BiLSTM model for multi-step predictions. The empirical results show that the proposed model achieves the lowest MAPEs as 0.662%, 2.283%, 3.829%, and 4.44% and the lowest MSEs as 0.335, 3.942, 10.047 and 13.681. The Diebold Mariano (DM) test also demonstrates the proposed model's superiority in the domain of crude oil price forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, E-learning has gained immense popularity as a prominent mode of education. However, accurately recommending learning resources from a vast amount of data remains a significant challenge. This study addresses two primary challenges impacting recommendation performance. Firstly, an imbalance exists between the abundance of available learning resources and the limited interaction behavior of learners. Secondly, the existing algorithms often overlook dynamic preference information, focusing primarily on learners' short-term, static preferences only by learning interactive behavior but disregarding the multi-correlation between learning resources and learners. To tackle these challenges, we propose MkEGC (Multi-knowledge Enhanced Graph Convolution), a novel framework for learning resource recommendation. We approach the recommendation process as a Markov decision process. Initially, we construct a dual knowledge graph convolutional network, operating in learning resource-knowledge and learner-knowledge domains. This network facilitates the extraction of vector features from learning resources, enhances the learner vector representation, and captures higher-order preferences. Subsequently, we design hierarchical and attention weighting strategies to effectively extract latent hierarchical information from the knowledge graph. Finally, we integrate the learning resource state, the learning interaction state, and the sequence state to represent a multi-dimensional learner-state within the Markov decision framework, enabling prise learning resource recommendations. To validate the effectiveness of MkEGC, we conduct extensive experiments, comparing multiple sets of metrics with six state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms, utilizing two real-world datasets. • Exploring learners' long-term preference changes. • Optimizing the extraction ability of learners' behavioral latent characteristics. • Devising a novel multi-dimensional learner state representation method. • Employing hierarchical weighted and attention-weighted strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • In 2 O 3 and SnO 2 form an n-n heterojunction, which improves the gas-sensitive properties of SnO 2. • In 2 O 3 grows in situ on SnO 2 , and the composite has a unique hedgehog-like nanoflower morphology with abundant oxygen vacancies. • Improved gas-sensitizing properties attributed to the change in charge density. • Formation of heterojunction leads to In 2 O 3 -SnO 2 composites with higher electron transfer capacity and accelerated charge transfer kinetics. The In 2 O 3 -SnO 2 heterojunction nanostructures resembling hedgehogs were synthesized through hydrothermal method and physical stirring for acetone detection. SEM and TEM characterization showed that the composites were SnO 2 nanosheets (NSs) assembled into a flower-like morphology with In 2 O 3 particles grown in situ on the NSs. The In 2 O 3 -SnO 2 sensor has excellent vapor sensitivity compared to pure SnO 2. At an optimal temperature of 260 ℃, the In 2 O 3 -SnO 2 sensor achieves a response value of 19.4 for acetone vapors at a concentration of 100 ppm. The composites still exhibit excellent gas-sensitized performance at low concentration (100 ppb). The improved gas-sensitized performance of In 2 O 3 -SnO 2 composites is attributed to the sea urchin-like nanoflower morphology enriched with oxygen vacancies and the formation of n-n heterojunctions. To further substantiate its enhancing mechanism, the adsorption behavior of acetone molecules on the fabricated composite material was investigated through the utilization of density functional theory (DFT). This study confirms the enhanced gas sensing performance of In 2 O 3 -SnO 2 heterojunction composites towards acetone and elucidates the enhancement mechanism by DFT calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to explore the therapeutic effect of the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 on inflammatory bowel disease. A model of ulcerative colitis (UC) was induced in C57BL/6 mice by administering of 2.5% dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) for 8 days. After developing UC, some mice were treated via intragastric administration of BLa80 at a dose of 109 colony-forming units to assess the preventive effects of BLa80 on DSS-induced UC. Compared with non-treated UC model mice, BLa80-treated mice had reduced colon shortening and improvements in colonic tissue structure. Treatment with BLa80 also decreased the serum concentrations of the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL) 6 and IL-17 in mice. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that BLa80 increased gut microbial diversity in mice and modulated UC-associated imbalances in the gut microbiota. BLa80 selectively promoted the growth of beneficial bacteria, including Romboutsia and Adlercreutzia, the abundances of which were negatively correlated with concentration of cellular inflammatory factors. In summary, the study results demonstrated that pretreatment with B. lactis BLa80 reduced intestinal inflammation and altered the gut microbiota, implying that BLa80 is a promising probiotic strain with potential therapeutic function in UC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to explore the therapeutic effect of the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 on inflammatory bowel disease. A model of ulcerative colitis (UC) was induced in C57BL/6 mice by administering of 2.5% dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) for 8 days. After developing UC, some mice were treated via intragastric administration of BLa80 at a dose of 109 colony-forming units to assess the preventive effects of BLa80 on DSS-induced UC. Compared with non-treated UC model mice, BLa80-treated mice had reduced colon shortening and improvements in colonic tissue structure. Treatment with BLa80 also decreased the serum concentrations of the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL) 6 and IL-17 in mice. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that BLa80 increased gut microbial diversity in mice and modulated UC-associated imbalances in the gut microbiota. BLa80 selectively promoted the growth of beneficial bacteria, including Romboutsia and Adlercreutzia, the abundances of which were negatively correlated with concentration of cellular inflammatory factors. In summary, the study results demonstrated that pretreatment with B. lactis BLa80 reduced intestinal inflammation and altered the gut microbiota, implying that BLa80 is a promising probiotic strain with potential therapeutic function in UC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacial properties for the buried junctions of the perovskite solar cells (PSCs) play a crucial role for the further enhancement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability of devices. Delicate manipulation of the interface properties such as the defect density, energy alignment, perovskite film quality, etc., guarantees efficient extraction and transport of photogenerated carriers. Herein, chlorobenzenesulfonic potassium salts are presented as a novel multifunctional agent to modify the buried tin oxide (SnO2)/perovskite interface for regular PSCs. The increasing number of carbon‐chlorine bonds (CCl) in 2,4,5‐trichlorobenzenesulfonic potassium (3Cl‐BSAK) exhibit efficient interaction with uncoordinated Sn, effectively filling oxygen vacancies in the SnO2 surface. Importantly, synergistic effects of the functional group‐rich organic anions and the potassium ion are achieved for reduced defect density, carrier recombination, and hysteresis. A champion PCE of 24.27% and the open‐circuit voltage (VOC) up to 1.191 V for modified devices are obtained. The unencapsulated devices maintain 80% of their initial PCE after aging at 80 °C for 800 h in the atmosphere and 95% after aging for 100 d. With 3Cl‐BSAK decoration, a high efficiency semitransparent PSC with a PCE of 12.83% and an average visible light transmittance (AVT) over 27% is also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangrove endophytic fungi were proved to be a prolific resources for bioactive secondary metabolites. Two new polyketides, pestalotiopin B (1) and pestalotiopyrone N (2) were obtained from the ethyl acetate extracts of the rice solid cultures of the mangrove endophytic fungus Pestalotiopsis sp. HQD-6. The structures of 1 and 2 were determined by detailed interpretation of NMR spectroscopic analysis and HR-ESIMS. All of the isolates were evaluated for their antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To summarize and analyze the epidemiological characteristics, treatment and corresponding curative effect of triradiate cartilage injury(TCI) in children after trauma, to provide a theoretical basis for early diagnosis and improvement of treatment.Methods: The TCI was classified according to Bucholz classification, and the final curative effect was evaluated with Harris Hip Score and imaging examination during follow-up. Finally, a comprehensive analysis was made by reviewing the cases in the literature combined with the patients in our hospital.Results: A total of 15 cases (18 hips) of triradiate cartilage injuries were collected in our hospital. There was 1 hip with type I injury, nine hips with type II injury, two hips with type IV injury, one hip with type V injury and five hips with type VI injury. Among the 12 cases with complete follow-up, the bone bridge was found in or around the triradiate cartilage in 8 cases, early fusion of triradiate cartilage occurred in 5 patients, 3 cases had hip dysplasia, 4 cases had a subluxation of the femoral head, and HHS was excellent in 8 cases and good in 4 cases.Conclusion: The early diagnosis of TCI is still a difficult problem. Conservative treatment is often the first choice. The overall prognosis of acetabular fractures involving triradiate cartilage is poor. The formation of the bone bridge in triradiate cartilage usually indicates the possibility of premature closure, which may lead to severe complications of post-traumatic acetabular dysplasia and subluxation of the femoral head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germ cell-specific genes play an important role in establishing the reproductive system in sexual organisms and have been used as valuable markers for studying gametogenesis and sex differentiation. Previously, we isolated a vasa transcript as a germ cell marker to trace the origin and migration of germ cells in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense. Here, we identified a new germ cell-specific marker MnTdrd RNA and assessed its temporal and spatial expression during oogenesis and embryogenesis. MnTdrd transcripts were expressed in high abundance in unfertilized eggs and embryos at cleavage stage and then dropped significantly during late embryogenesis, suggesting that MnTdrd mRNA is maternally inherited. In situ hybridization of ovarian tissue showed that MnTdrd mRNA was initially present in the cytoplasm of previtellogenic oocyte and localized to the perinuclear region as the accumulation of yolk in vitellogenic oocyte. Whole-mount in situ hybridization of embryos showed that MnTdrd-positive signals were only localized in one blastomere until 16-cell stage. In the blastula, there were approximately 16 MnTdrd-positive blastomeres. During embryonized-zoea stage, the MnTdrd-positive cells aggregated as a cluster and migrated to the genital rudiment which would develop into primordial germ cells (PGCs). The localized expression pattern of MnTdrd transcripts resembled that of the previously identified germ cell marker vasa, supporting the preformation mode of germ cell specification. Therefore, we concluded that MnTdrd, together with vasa, is a component of the germ plasm and might have critical roles in germ cell formation and differentiation in the prawn. Thus, MnTdrd can be used as a novel germ cell marker to trace the origin and migration of germ cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional physics-based mathematical models of viscoelastic (VE) damper often exhibit different degrees of prediction errors under complex working conditions, whereas data-driven approaches have shown significant potential for overcoming such problems, and have not been introduced into any study to describe the dynamic mechanical properties of VE damper. In this paper, the architecture of microsphere model is adopted to represent the spatial distribution of molecular chain structure of VE damping material, which is categorized into free chains and elastic chains. Then, the physics-informed neural network surrogates are introduced to describe the statistical stress–strain behaviors of free chains and elastic chains. Finally, by constructing the physics-constrained loss function based on the combination of physics-based model and data-driven model, a physics-constrained data-driven model is proposed to characterize the dynamic mechanical behaviors of VE damper used for structure vibration control. Based on the existing experimental data, the prediction ability and robustness of the proposed model are comparatively verified, the results reveal that the proposed model can accurately reflect the stiffness and energy dissipation of VE damper under different ambient temperatures, excitation frequencies, and deformation conditions. This study proves the potential of physics-informed neural network theory in characterizing the complex mechanical behaviors of VE damper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euphausia superba is an abundant element in the marine plankton on the planet. Despite substantial research on this species, there is no comprehensive understanding of the population genetics of E. superba yet. In this study, the ND6 gene was used to assess the genetic variation in E. superba. In the South Shetland Islands, the population of E. superba shows abundant genetic variation, but we found a lack of genetic structure. An analysis of the demographic history suggested that a sudden expansion has been responsible for its high biomass. Our study could not only broaden our comprehension of E. superba , but also provide more scientific information on fisheries resources exploitation, biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of a proper ecological balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the integration of solar energy sources has gradually become the main challenge for global energy consumption. Therefore, it is essential to predict global solar radiation in an accurate and efficient way when estimating outputs of the solar system. Inaccurate predictions either cause load overestimation that results in increased cost or failure to gather adequate supplies. However, accurate forecasting is a challenging task because solar resources are intermittent and uncontrollable. To tackle this difficulty, several machine learning models have been established; however, the forecasting outcomes of these models are not sufficiently accurate. Therefore, in this study, we investigate ensemble learning with square root regularization and intelligent optimization to forecast hourly global solar radiation. The main structure of the proposed method is constructed based on ensemble learning with a random subspace (RS) method that divides the original data into several covariate subspaces. A novel covariate-selection method called square root smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SRSCAD) is proposed and is applied to each subspace with efficient extraction of relevant covariates. To combine the forecasts obtained using RS and SRSCAD, a firefly algorithm (FA) is used to estimate the weights assigned to individual forecasts. To handle the complexity of the proposed ensemble system, a simple and efficient algorithm is derived based on a thresholding rule and accelerated gradient method. To illustrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method, global solar radiation datasets of eight locations of Xinjiang province in China are considered. The experimental results show that the proposed RS-SRSCAD-FA achieves the best performances with a mean absolute percentage error, root-mean-square error, Theil inequality coefficient, and correlation coefficient of 0.066, 20.21 W/m2, 0.016, 3.40 s, and 0.98 in site 1, respectively. For the other seven datasets, RS-SRSCAD-FA still outperforms other approaches. Finally, a nonparametric Friedman test is applied to perform statistical comparisons of results over eight datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effect of liposome size on tendency for accumulation in tumour tissue requires preparation of defined populations of different sized particles. However, controlling the size distributions without changing the lipid composition is difficult, and differences in compositions itself modify distribution behaviour. Here, a commercial microfluidic format as well as traditional methods was used to prepare doxorubicin-loaded liposomes of different size distributions but with the same lipid composition, and drug retention, biodistribution and localization in tumour tissues were evaluated. The small (∼50 nm diameter) liposomes prepared by microfluidics and large (∼75 nm diameter) liposomes displayed similar drug retention in in vitro release studies, and similar biodistribution patterns in tumour-bearing mice. However, the extent of extravasation was clearly dependent on size of the liposomes, with the small liposomes showing tissue distribution beyond the vascular area compared to the large liposomes. The use of microfluidics to prepare smaller size distribution liposomes compared to sonication methods is demonstrated, and allowed preparation of different size distribution drug carriers from the same lipid composition to enable new understanding of tissue distribution in compositionally consistent materials is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: LncRNA CASC2 plays a role as tumor suppressor gene in different types of human malignancies, while its involvement in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the involvement of lncRNA CASC2 in OSCC.Methods: In this study, the expression of lncRNA CASC2 in tumor tissues, adjacent healthy tissues, and plasma of 122 OSCC patients as well as in plasma of 52 healthy controls was detected by RT-qPCR. Diagnostic value of lncRNA CASC2 for OSCC was evaluated by ROC curve analysis. Patients were followed up for 5 years to record recurrence. LncRNA CASC2 expression vectors were transfected into cells of human OSCC cell lines, and the effects on cancer cell proliferation and miRNA-21 expression were analyzed by CCK-8 assay and RT-qPCR, respectively.Results: We found that CASC2 was significantly downregulated in OSCC patients than in healthy controls. Downregulation of CASC2 distinguished OSCC patients from healthy controls. Local recurrence was observed in 26 out of 122 patients and no distant recurrence was observed during follow-up. Compared with pretreatment levels, plasma levels of CASC2 were significantly increased in patients with local recurrence than in patients without recurrence. Transfection of CASC2 expression vectors led to significantly inhibited tumor cell proliferation and reduced miRNA-21 expression levels.Conclusions: We, therefore, conclude that downregulation of lncRNA CASC2 may participate in the postoperative local recurrence of early OSCC through miRNA-21. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In statistical modeling, quadratic model including both main effects and interactions has drawn a large deal of attentions from researchers in many scientific fields. Researchers have found that it is extremely significant to maintain the heredity principle such as strong or weak heredity principle among variables when demanding sparsity in quadratic model. The reason why heredity principle is preferred is that model following logic structure is invariant to any scale transformation and is more stable when implementing forecasting and classification task. Although a large bore have studied quadratic models, most of them focus on the model performances in a regression problem and no systematically comparison are made in terms of classification accuracy. This paper investigates and studies group regularized estimation under structural hierarchy for classification (C-GRESH). In computation, a fast and simple-to-implement algorithm is designed with theoretical guarantee of its convergence. Furthermore, an accelerated gradient method is applied to speed up the convergence. Theoretically, we have shown the adaptive version of the proposed approach is able to achieve oracle property which includes asymptotic normality and model selection consistency. Simulation examples and real data examples including microarray gene expression datasets are shown to demonstrate the efficiency and superior performances of the proposed method over other existing competitors. Highlights • C-GRESH model which achieve SH or WH principle is proposed. • A fast algorithm is designed with theoretical guarantee its convergence. • SCV-RIC is proposed and utilized to optimize the regularization parameters. • Oracle property of adaptive C-GRESH is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence on the seismic behavior of RC shear walls by axial loads is evaluated and the observed damage in the earthquake damage investigation of RC shear walls is reproduced in this paper. Six RC shear walls with aspect ratio of 2 were analyzed by the method of nonlinear finite element under different axial load ratios, and the suggested modeling techniques and the accuracy of the numerical method were verified. The seismic performance of shear walls including load–displacement responses, ductility performance, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity were discussed. The analysis results indicate that axial load has a significant effect on the seismic performance of RC shear walls. On the basis of this, the qualitative and quantitative relationships between the development of material damage and the deterioration of component performance were analyzed. It realizes the cross-scale conversion of damage information about structural components of RC shear wall from the local material scale to the component scale. Then the cross-scale refinement model of damage evolution of RC shear walls in the whole process was established, simplified and verified. The results show that, the refinement model can explain the development and distribution of damage evolution of RC shear walls in the whole process quickly and easily. The research results can provide a reference for the refinement of seismic design, damage assessment and reinforcement of RC shear walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because NSCLC has poor overall prognosis and is frequently diagnosed at later stage, we aimed to seek novel diagnosis biomarkers or therapy target of the disease in this study. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1) is a rate-limiting enzyme in gluconeogenesis, which was usually lost in NSCLC due to abnormal methylation in promoter DNA sequence. The clinical data indicated that the methylation rate in FBP1 gene promoter was negatively related to the overall survival of the NSCLC patients. DNA methylation transferase inhibitor 5-aza treatment could significantly increase both expression levels of mRNA and protein in A549 cell line. On the other hand, silence of FBP1 in H460 cell line by using specific siRNA against FBP1 dramatically improved the cell proliferation and cell migration according to the date of FACS and transwell assays. All these findings implied the important roles of FBP1 expression in lung cancer development and progression and the potential use of the methylation status detected in FBP1 promoter region as a novel predictor for prognosis and therapeutic target for NSCLC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to mediate carcinogenesis in various types of cancer. However, the regulatory role of lncRNA LINC00968 in lung adenocarcinoma remains unclear. The microRNA (miRNA) expression in LINC00968‑overexpressing human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells was detected using miRNA microarray analysis. miR‑9‑3p was selected for further analysis, and its expression was verified in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. In addition, the regulatory axis of LINC00968 was validated using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Results of the GEO database indicated miR‑9‑3p expression in lung adenocarcinoma was significantly higher compared with normal tissues. Functional enrichment analyses of the target genes of miR‑9‑3p indicated protein binding and the AMP‑activated protein kinase pathway were the most enriched Gene Ontology and KEGG terms, respectively. Combining target genes with the correlated genes of LINC00968 and miR‑9‑3p, 120 objective genes were obtained, which were used to construct a protein‑protein interaction (PPI) network. Cyclin A2 (CCNA2) was identified to have a vital role in the PPI network. Significant correlations were detected between LINC00968, miR‑9‑3p and CCNA2 in lung adenocarcinoma. The LINC00968/miR‑9‑3p/CCNA2 regulatory axis provides a new foundation for further evaluating the regulatory mechanisms of LINC00968 in lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the aqueous solubility and cancer targeting of the photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT), we encapsulated the photosensitizer in a biocompatibility and pH-sensitive drug delivery system, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) nanospheres. Powder X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy show that our nanospheres are uniform and single-crystalline particles. Owing to the cleavage of zinc-ligand coordination bonds, more ZnPc-COOH were released much faster in the mild acidic conditions (pH 5.0 and 6.0) in comparison with physiological environment (pH 7.4). By incorporating ZnPc-COOH in ZIF-8, our nanospheres exhibited high singlet oxygen quantum yield and intracellular ROS generation. Cell viability experiments toward HepG2 cells demonstrated the low toxicity of ZIF-8 and the good anticancer efficacy of the nanospheres with low IC values (4.2-4.9 μg/mL) under light illumination (670 nm, 1.5 J/cm). Collectively, these results suggested that our nanospheres are the promising pH-responsive drug delivery systems for PDT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction and dimension reduction play increasingly significant roles in high-dimensional data analysis; however, they suffer from model inaccuracy, selection inconsistency and a prohibitively expensive computational cost as the model dimension increases exponentially. Although a support vector machine (SVM) is one of the most powerful forecasting approaches that are widely used by the research community, it does not provide an interpretable model that violates the principle of Occam’s razor. In classical regression problems, a penalized linear SVM model for the dimension reduction task has been investigated in the linear feature space under the assumption that the underlying true model is linear. In this paper, the penalized kernel SVM (PKSVM) model is proposed and investigated combining with a SVM information criterion (SVMIC) for the dimension reduction task in the nonlinear kernel space using radial basis function for prediction and model representation. Instead of pursuing sparsity in the original feature space of the SVM, dimension reduction is performed in the kernel feature space. Computationally, a fast and simple-to-implement algorithm is derived. Furthermore, both SVMIC and cross-validation are utilized to select the kernel and regularization parameters to guarantee the model consistency. Real data applications including microarray data analysis and global solar radiation forecasting are provided. The first application selected significant components in genetic study and the important data information is extracted for grid-connected photovoltaic installations in the second application. The proposed dimension reduction technique avoids the model redundancy which is of great importance for knowledge discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of resveratrol on the viability of HT-144 melanoma cells and formation of melanin. MTT assay was used for analysis of cell viability and western blot for determination of phospho-Mek 1/2, phospho-Erk 1/2 (Tyr-204), Mitf, PBG-D and p -CREB-1 expression. MTT assay results showed that treatment of HT-144 cells with various doses of resveratrol led to a concentration dependent inhibition of proliferation. The antiproliferative activity was significant at 15 μM concentration of resveratrol after 24 h. Western blot analysis revealed that resveratrol caused significant reduction in the expression of phospho-extracellular signal related kinase ( p -ERK) and p -MEK 1/2. Additionally, tyrosinase activity was increased by 1.5–6.8-fold on increasing the concentration of resveratrol from 1 to 15 μM. Resveratrol treatment also enhanced the expression of cAMP-response element-binding proteins (CREB) after 24 h. Furthermore resveratrol treatment up-regulated porphobilinogen deaminase (PBG-D) expression in HT-144 cells. Taken together, the study demonstrates that resveratrol treatment inhibits proliferation and promotes melanogenesis of HT-144 cells through inhibition of MEK/ERK pathway. Therefore, resveratrol has a scope for further evaluation against melanogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective and accurate forecasting of solar radiation plays a critically important role in the design of grid-connected photovoltaic installations. However, this is an extremely challenging task because of inconsistencies in variable selection and the prohibitively expensive computational cost as the number of variables increases. Although the support vector machine (SVM) can be applied to forecast solar radiation, it includes a large number of redundant variables. With the intent of establishing an interpretable model, a penalized SVM has been proposed. However, these penalized approaches shrink the estimate, which results in inaccurate results. In order to overcome these drawbacks and improve the accuracy of forecasting, this study develops a novel approach referred to as “forward regression on the quadratic kernel support vector machine” (QKSVM-FR) for building a quadratic regression model using forward regression to select the important variables for forecasting the global horizontal radiation in the Tibet Autonomous Region. A fast and simple-to-implement computational algorithm is derived to perform the variable selection and forecasting tasks simultaneously. Furthermore, the SVM information criterion is utilized to select the kernel parameter to guarantee model consistency. The results of experiments directly confirm the outstanding forecasting performance of the proposed QKSVM-FR method compared to other existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate identification of the molecular targets of bioactive small molecules is a highly important yet challenging task in biomedical research. Previously, a method named DPAL (DNA-programmed affinity labeling) for labeling and identifying the cellular targets of small molecules and nucleic acids was developed. Herein, DPAL is applied for the target identification of Alisertib (MLN8237), which is a highly specific aurora kinase A (AKA) inhibitor and a drug candidate being tested in clinical trials for cancer treatment. Apart from the well-established target of AKA, several potential new targets of MLN8237 were identified. Among them, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38) and laminin receptor (LAMR) were validated to be implicated in the anticancer activities of MLN8237. Interestingly, these new targets were not identified with non-DNA-based affinity probes. This work may facilitate an understanding of the molecular basis of the efficacy and side effects of MLN8237 as a clinical drug candidate. On the other hand, this work has also demonstrated that the method of DPAL could be a useful tool for target identification of bioactive small molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to screen and analyze the differential expression spectrum of microRNA (miRNA) between laryngeal cancer tissue and surrounding normal laryngeal mucosa in order to provide an indication for further study to determine the role of miRNA in the initiation and development of laryngeal cancer. A total of 42 pairs of specimens of laryngeal carcinoma tissues and adjacent normal laryngeal mucosa were collected. A total of 10 pairs of specimens were randomly selected for miRNA microarray gene chip analysis, and the remaining 32 pairs of specimens were used for reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) verification to identify miRNA that were differentially expressed in laryngeal cancer tissues. Methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide and clone formation assays were utilized to elucidate the physiological relevance of the miRNA miR-125a-5p on the proliferation of laryngeal cancer human epithelial type 2 (Hep2) cells. Results demonstrated that the expression levels of six miRNA were significantly downregulated in laryngeal carcinoma tissue, as identified by gene chip analysis and RT-qPCR (P<0.05). The six miRNA included let-7f-5p, miR-10a-5p, miR-125a-5p, miR-144-3p, miR-195-5p and miR-203. Compared with the control group, the proliferative ability of laryngeal cancer Hep2 cells was inhibited in a transfected miR-125a-mimics group. In contrast, proliferation was promoted in a transfected miR-125a-inhibitor group. In conclusion, the results of gene chip analysis were consistent with that of RT-qPCR. Results demonstrated that miRNA in laryngeal cancer and normal laryngeal mucosa exhibited evident differential expression, which may contribute to the laryngeal cancer incidence and invasion. miR-125a was able to inhibit the proliferation of Hep2 laryngeal cancer cells and, therefore, may serve as a novel target for laryngeal cancer biological therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural and artificial nucleases have extensive applications in biotechnology and biomedicine. The exploration of protein with potential DNA cleavage activity also inspires the design of artificial nuclease and helps to understand the physiological process of DNA damage. In this study, we engineered four human cytochrome c (Cyt c) mutants (N52S, N52A, I81N, and I81D Cyt c), which showed enhanced DNA cleavage activity and degradation in comparison with WT Cyt c , especially under acidic conditions. The mechanism assays revealed that the superoxide (O 2 •−) plays an important role in the nuclease reaction. The kinetic assays showed that the peroxidase activity of the I81D Cyt c mutant enhanced up to 9-fold at pH 5. This study suggests that the mutations of Ile81 and Asn52 in Ω-loop C/D are critical for the nuclease activity of Cyt c , which may have physiological significance in DNA damage and potential applications in biomedicine. [Display omitted] • Four human cytochrome c (Cyt c) mutants (N52S, N52A, I81N, and I81D Cyt c) were engineered. • The DNA cleavage/degradation activity follows the order of N52A > N52S > I81N > I81D > WT Cyt c. • The superoxide (O 2 •−) plays an important role in the nuclease reaction of Cyt c mutants. • Ile81 and Asn52 in the in Ω-loop C/D of Cyt c plays a critical role in the regulation of the protein structure and function. • Cyt c may have physiological significance in DNA damage and potential applications in biomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a type of inflammatory bowel disease associated with immune system dysfunction caused by gut dysbiosis. This study aimed to investigate the alleviating effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus LA85 on colitis and its underlying mechanism using mouse models of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)‐induced UC. The UC mouse models were established by treating C57BL/6J male mice with 2.5% (w/v) DSS in drinking water for 7 days. These mice received supplementation with either L. acidophilus LA85 (1 × 109 colony‐forming units/day) or 200 µL of sterile water once daily (LA85‐treated and UC model mice, respectively). The disease activity index (DAI), colon length, and histological changes in the colons of mice were then analyzed at Day 21, and the effects of L. acidophilus LA85 on the gut microbiota and serum inflammatory cytokines were also investigated. Compared with the UC model mice, L. acidophilus LA85‐treated UC mice showed significant reductions in a variety of colitis symptoms, including weight loss, the DAI score, colon shortening, and colon tissue damage. Lactobacillus acidophilus LA85 supplementation also significantly decreased the serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin‐6 while increasing the serum concentration of IL‐10. Furthermore, LA85 supplementation improved the diversity and composition of the gut microbiota, both of which had been decreased by DSS. In particular, L. acidophilus LA85‐treated UC mice showed higher relative abundances of Akkermansia and Romboutsia than the UC model mice. These results demonstrate that L. acidophilus LA85 can alleviate inflammatory diseases of the intestine, such as inflammatory bowel disease, by regulating immune responses and restoring the gut microbiota. Practical Application: Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease caused by imbalance of gut microbiota. This study showed that L. acidophilus LA85 can alleviate DSS‐induced colitis in mice through regulation of inflammatory cytokines, protection of intestinal barrier, and regulation of specific gut microbiota. L. acidophilus LA85 is a promising probiotic candidate for the treatment of UC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flows past a hemisphere and their noise generation are investigated at the Reynolds numbers (Re) of 1000 and 5000. The Mach number is 0.3. The computational method of the flows is large eddy simulation. The noise is computed using the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings Formulation 1C (F1C). An integral surface with an open end is defined for the F1C. The end surface is removed to reduce the numerical contamination that is introduced by vortices passing this surface. However, the contamination cannot be completely reduced since a discontinuity of the flow quantities still exists at the open surface boundary. This problem is solved using a surface correction method, in which a buffer zone is set up at the end of the integral surface. The transformation of flow structures due to Re is explored. Large coherent structures are observable at low Re, whereas they diminish at high Re. A large amount of small-scale turbulent vortices occur in the latter case. It is found that these characteristics of the flows have an important influence on the noise generation in regard to the noise spectra. In the flows studied in this work, the fluctuating pressure on the walls is a negligible noise contributor as compared with the wake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jatropha curcas L., belonging to Jatropha genus of Euphorbiaceae family, is used in traditional folklore medicine to cure various ailments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It contains diterpenoids, triterpenes, lignans, coumarins and other compounds. Extracts and pure compounds of this plant have been reported for cytotoxicity, anti-tumor, antimicrobial, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticoagulant, insecticidal, molluscicidal activities and so on. For this reason, the research intends to give an overview of its chemical constituents and pharmacological activities, aiming at its further development and potential value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The whole plant of Mimosa pudica Linn has been used as a traditional drug in Brazilian Northeast native. M. pudica belonging to Fabaceae genus of Mimosaceae family, a kind of perennial herb found widely distributed in tropical subtropical parts of India. M. pudica is famous for its alkaloids, along with several valuable secondary metabolites like steroids, flavonoids, and glycosylflavones. The plant extracts have various pharmacological bioactivities such as anti-tumor activity, anti-oxidant activity, anxiolytic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, and so on. It is the most controversial and effective natural origin that has a tremendous future for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various applications of forecasting effective global horizontal irradiance play increasingly vital role in grid-connected photovoltaic installations, but suffer from forecasting inaccuracy and prohibitively expensive computational cost. Although Support Vector Machine (SVM) is one of the most powerful forecasting approaches, it does not provide an interpretable model. This motivates penalized variable selection methods to be introduced to SVM to select important variables. However, in some forecasting problems, there are some underlying logic or hierarchical structure such as heredity principle among the variables. Penalized Kernel SVM approaches do not take heredity principles into consideration when enforcing sparsity. This paper investigates structural variable selection in Kernel SVM based approach which pursues heredity principle and sparsity simultaneously. To achieve heredity principle, both optimization and procedure based structural variable selection approaches are studied in the Kernel SVM. Computationally, we derive fast and simple-to-implement algorithms to perform structural variable selection and solar irradiance forecasting. Furthermore, Support Vector Machines Information Criterion is utilized to select the kernel parameters to guarantee the model consistency. Real data experiments directly reveal that our proposed KSVM-SVS based approach following heredity principle delivers superior performances in terms of forecasting accuracy comparing with other competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting of effective solar irradiation has developed a huge interest in recent decades, mainly due to its various applications in grid connect photovoltaic installations. This paper develops and investigates an ensemble learning based multistage intelligent approach to forecast 5 days global horizontal radiation at four given locations of India. The two-way interaction model is considered with purpose of detecting the associated correlation between the features. The main structure of the novel method is the ensemble learning, which is based on Divide and Conquer principle, is applied to enhance the forecasting accuracy and model stability. An efficient feature selection method LASSO is performed in the input space with the regularization parameter selected by Cross-Validation. A weight vector which best represents the importance of each individual model in ensemble system is provided by glowworm swarm optimization. The combination of feature selection and parameter selection are helpful in creating the diversity of the ensemble learning. In order to illustrate the validity of the proposed method, the datasets at four different locations of the India are split into training and test datasets. The results of the real data experiments demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed method comparing with other competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addictive drugs usurp neural plasticity mechanisms that normally serve reward-related learning and memory, primarily by evoking changes in glutamatergic synaptic strength in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine circuitry. Here, we show that repeated cocaine exposure in vivo does not alter synaptic strength in the mouse prefrontal cortex during an early period of withdrawal, but instead modifies a Hebbian quantitative synaptic learning rule by broadening the temporal window and lowers the induction threshold for spike-timing-dependent LTP (t-LTP). After repeated, but not single, daily cocaine injections, t-LTP in layer V pyramidal neurons is induced at +30 ms, a normally ineffective timing interval for t-LTP induction in saline-exposed mice. This cocaine-induced, extended-timing t-LTP lasts for ∼1 week after terminating cocaine and is accompanied by an increased susceptibility to potentiation by fewer pre–post spike pairs, indicating a reduced t-LTP induction threshold. Basal synaptic strength and the maximal attainable t-LTP magnitude remain unchanged after cocaine exposure. We further show that the cocaine facilitation of t-LTP induction is caused by sensitized D1-cAMP/protein kinase A dopamine signaling in pyramidal neurons, which then pathologically recruits voltage-gated l-type Ca2+ channels that synergize with GluN2A-containing NMDA receptors to drive t-LTP at extended timing. Our results illustrate a mechanism by which cocaine, acting on a key neuromodulation pathway, modifies the coincidence detection window during Hebbian plasticity to facilitate associative synaptic potentiation in prefrontal excitatory circuits. By modifying rules that govern activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, addictive drugs can derail the experience-driven neural circuit remodeling process important for executive control of reward and addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hollow nanostructures have shown charming properties beyond their solid counterparts, but the synthesis of multinary chalcogenide semiconductors with hollow nanostructures remains challenging, because of their complex components. In this work, we demonstrate a facile one-pot method to synthesize Cu2GeS3 hollow nanoparticles (NPs) based on Kirkendall effect by using dissolved GeO2 as the Ge source. A theory model according to the diffusion kinetic and reaction kinetic is established to investigate the growth mechanism of Cu2GeS3 hollow NPs. By using Cu2GeS3 hollow NPs as the template, quaternary Cu2MGeS4 (M = Zn, Ni, Co, Fe and Mn) hollow NPs are further produced, which are more difficult to prepare, because of their excessive ion species. Furthermore, Cu2GeS3 hollow NP-based gas sensors are prepared, which exhibit outstanding sensitivity for the detection of ethanol gas, because of their large surface-to-volume ratio and small grain size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a portion of the power which is generated by grid connected photovoltaic installations, an effective solar irradiation forecasting approach must be crucial to ensure the quality and the security of power grid. This paper develops and investigates a novel model to forecast 30 daily global solar radiation at four given locations of the United States. Eclat data mining algorithm is first presented to discover association rules between solar radiation and several meteorological factors laying a theoretical foundation for these correlative factors as input vectors. An effective and innovative intelligent optimization model based on nonlinear support vector machine and hard penalty function is proposed to forecast solar radiation by converting support vector machine into a regularization problem with ridge penalty, adding a hard penalty function to select the number of radial basis functions, and using glowworm swarm optimization algorithm to determine the optimal parameters of the model. In order to illustrate our validity of the proposed method, the datasets at four sites of the United States are split to into training data and test data, separately. The experiment results reveal that the proposed model delivers the best forecasting performances comparing with other competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heme proteins have recently emerged as promising artificial metalloenzymes for catalyzing diverse reactions. In this report, L29E Mb, a single mutant of myoglobin (Mb), was reconstituted by replacing the heme with a sodium copper cholorophyllin (CuCP) to form a new green artificial enzyme (named CuCP-L29E Mb). The reconstituted protein CuCP-L29E Mb was found to exhibit hydrolytic DNA cleavage activity, which was not depending on O 2. In addition, Mg2+ ion could effectively promote the DNA cleavage activity of CuCP-L29E Mb. Wild-type (WT) Mb reconstituted with CuCP (named CuCP-WT Mb) did not show DNA cleavage activity under the same conditions. This study suggests that both Mg2+ and the ligand Glu29 are critical for the nuclease activity and the artificial nuclease of Mg2+-CuCP-L29E Mb may have potential applications in the future. The single mutant of myoglobin (L29E Mb) was reconstituted with a sodium copper cholorophyllin (CuCP) to form a new green artificial enzyme, which was shown to exhibit excellent hydrolytic DNA cleavage activity and Mg2+ ion could further promote the activity. [Display omitted] • A new artificial enzyme was obtained by replacing the heme with a chlorophyllin (CuCP) in L29E myoglobin (Mb). • The reconstituted protein exhibits excellent hydrolytic DNA cleavage activity. • Glu29 is crucial for the DNA cleavage activity of CuCP-L29E Mb. • Mg2+ ion can enhance activity of the artificial nuclease of CuCP-L29E Mb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The controller-extensible HSP based on Matlab-OpenSees frameworks is developed. • The developed Matlab-OpenSees interface has good communication flexibilities. • The hybrid test results verify the accuracy and robustness of the developed HSP. • A series of hybrid tests on viscoelastically damped frame structures are conducted. Most of hybrid simulation platforms (HSPs) that use OpenSees for structural hybrid testing research are developed based on OpenFresco framework software. Although OpenFresco is mature and reliable, it can only communicate with specific hydraulic servo actuator control systems, which limits the diversity and flexibility of HSP development. Matlab has powerful independent development functions, and has a wide range of communication interface advantages with many finite element software and actuator control systems. Therefore, Matlab can be used as the communication medium between OpenSees and actuator control system in this study. Firstly, the controller-extensible HSP based on Matlab-OpenSees frameworks is developed. Then, the core establishment details of HSP, including core architecture, hardware system, and DELTA-Matlab-OpenSees system, are analyzed and described in detail. Next, the dynamic loading tests on the spring components are carried out when the HSP is subjected to continuously changing working conditions in the wide frequency domain and displacement amplitude domain. The comparative analysis results on the target displacement curve and the measured displacement curve verify the accuracy and robustness of the inner control loop of HSP. Next, the hybrid tests on a three-story reinforced concrete frame structure with linear springs are implemented under different seismic wave excitations. The comparative research on the hybrid test results and time-history analysis results verifies the accuracy and robustness of the developed HSP (outer control loop) in this study. Lastly, on this basis, a series of hybrid tests on viscoelastically damped frame structures are conducted under different seismic wave excitations. The test results truly reveal the control rule on the seismic response of reinforced concrete frame structures affected by viscoelastic dampers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutaminyl cyclase (QC) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and can be a potential target for the development of novel anti-AD agents. However, the study of QC inhibitors are still less. Here, phenol-4′ (R1-), C5-OH (R2-) and C7-OH (R3-) modified apigenin derivatives were synthesized as a new class of human QC (hQC) inhibitors. The efficacy investigation of these compounds was performed by spectrophotometric assessment and the structure–activity relationship (SAR) was evaluated. Molecular docking was also carried out to analyze the binding mode of the synthesized flavonoid to the active site of hQC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]