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Chiral self‐discrimination plays a critical role in supramolecular chemistry and materials science. However, an ideal strategy for achieving chiral self‐discrimination remains elusive due to the inevitable nonspecific binding of incorrect enantiomers, and insufficient intrinsic optical activity of chiral molecules. Herein, a novel 1,1′‐binaphthol (BINOL) derivative with an imide group fused at the peri‐position of one naphthol scaffold is developed, which combines the dual functionalities of aggregation‐induced emission characteristic of BINOLs, and high emission of 1,8‐naphthalimides. The multiple molecular recognition between two hydroxyl groups in BINOL units and two carbonyl groups in 1,8‐naphthalimide moieties endows the precise chiral self‐discrimination behaviors. As expected, the homochiral aggregates exhibit reversible phase transitions, switching from non‐emission to bright green emission upon absorption and desorption of methanol vapor. In contrast, the heterochiral conglomerates exhibit irreversible yellow emission changes due to the impact of chiral self‐discrimination. Such chiral self‐discrimination‐induced luminescence vapochromism can be further applied to high‐level anti‐counterfeiting and data encryption. This work provides a new perspective on smart chiral organic materials based on chiral self‐discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a quantum secure multi-party summation scheme with a third party based on quantum Fourier transform (QFT) is put forward, where the third party cannot be permitted to cooperate with others but is allowed for all kinds of attacks. Under the help of third party, N users can calculate the addition modulo d of their private integer strings. The third party generates two-level single qubit and its product state as the initial quantum resource, produces the traveling particles with QFT and the controlled-not (CNOT) operations, and sends the traveling particles out to the first users; then, N users encode their private integer sequences by performing the phase shifting operations on the travelling particles one after another; and finally, the third party decodes out the summation of the private integer sequences from N users through CNOT operations and inverse quantum Fourier transform (IQFT). This protocol only adopts two-level single particle state and its product state as initial quantum resource, only needs d-level single particle measurement and does not need to perform quantum entanglement swapping. Security analysis indicates that this protocol can overcome not only the outside attack but also the participant attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has emerged as the third most prevalent and second deadliest cancer worldwide. Metabolic reprogramming is a key hallmark of cancer cells. Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) is over‐expressed in multiple cancers, including CRC. Although the role of PHGDH in metabolism has been extensively investigated, its effects on CRC development remains to be elucidated. In the present study, it was demonstrated that PHGDH expression was significantly up‐regulated in colorectal cancer. PHGDH expression was positively correlated with that of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and its target genes, CYP1A1 and CYP1B1, in CRC cells. Knockdown of PHGDH reduced AhR levels and activity, as well as the ratio of reduced to oxidized glutathione. The selective AhR antagonist stemregenin 1 induced cell death through reactive oxygen species‐dependent autophagy in CRC cells. PHGDH knockdown induced CRC cell sensitivity to stemregenin 1 via the autophagy pathway. Our findings suggest that PHGDH modulates AhR signaling and the redox‐dependent autophagy pathway in CRC, and that the combination of inhibition of both PHGDH and AhR may be a novel therapeutic strategy for CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to characterise post-traumatic growth among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the related factors. Participants were 396 parents of children with autism from Guangdong Province, China (female = 65.15 %; mean age = 33.67 years, SD = 2.89 years). Following regression analysis, results indicated that parents of children with ASD were above average in their post-traumatic growth; particularly those with children with milder symptoms and of higher family income levels. First-married parents had significantly higher post-traumatic growth than the Not first-married (i.e., remarried, divorced, widowed). Parents reporting with social support, quiet ego, and psychological capital had higher post-traumatic growth. From these findings, we conclude that post-traumatic growth is a resilience factor in raising children with ASD and that social capital is important for the well-being of parents of children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a dynamic information fusion interactive system with a transparent display applied in the vehicle. The dynamic information fusion interactive system integrates three leading technologies: relative position acquisition, fusion information mapping, and visual field tracking adaptive information generation. For visual field tracking adaptive information generation, the position of fusion information changes as the observer's field of view varies to help observers use this system more comfortably and intuitively. The frame rate of the dynamic virtual information display can be increased from 10 to 20 Hz without increasing the AI computing power and providing observers with a better observer experience. Integrating those technologies could achieve an AR‐based interactive system on a direct‐view transparent display. Such a system can provide passengers with location‐based interactive virtual and real integration information in the mobile field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum steering has attracted increasing research attention because of its fundamental importance, as well as its applications in quantum information science. Here we leverage the power of the deep learning model to infer the steerability of quantum states with specific numbers of measurement settings, which form a hierarchical structure. A computational protocol consisting of iterative tests is constructed to overcome the optimization, meanwhile, generating the necessary training data. According to the responses of the well-trained models to the different physics-driven features encoding the states to be recognized, we can numerically conclude that the most compact characterization of the Alice-to-Bob steerability is Alice's regularly aligned steering ellipsoid; whereas Bob's ellipsoid is irrelevant. We have also provided an explanation to this result with the one-way stochastic local operations and classical communication. Additionally, our approach is versatile in revealing further insights into the hierarchical structure of quantum steering and detecting the hidden steerability. To prepare steerable assembles from a bipartite quantum state is a cumbersome task due to the optimization over all possible incompatible measurements. Here the authors leverage the power of the deep learning model to infer the hierarchy of steering measurement settings and reveal the most compact parameters to characterize the Alice-to-Bob steerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to explore the status, influencing factors and paths on professional identity of special education teachers. The statistical population of the study included 438 special education teachers in Guangdong Province, China. The age of the participants ranged from 22 to 57 years old (M = 32.16, SD = 1.85 years). Of the 438 teachers, 346 were females, 92 were males. The Occupational Stress Questionnaire (He, J. H. 2013. A Study on the Occupational Stress and Work Engagement of Special Education Teacher. Hangzhou: Hangzhou Preschool Normal College of Zhejiang Normal University), School Support Questionnaire (Zhang, Y. 2018. Study on Professional Identity and School Support of Special Education Teachers in Guizhou. Chengdu: Sichuan Normal University), and Professional Identity Questionnaire (Tang, J. R. 2012. Study on Professional Identity of Special School Teachers. Shanghai: East China Normal University) were used. The independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple stepwise regression were used for the data analysis. The results show that: (1) the professional identity of special education teachers is relatively high in the overall and dimensions. (2) There are significant differences in the professional identity in terms of leadership, marriage, education level, teaching years and professional titles. (3) Both occupational stress and school support can significantly predict the professional identity of special education teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravitational coupling between large- and small-scale density perturbations leads to anisotropic distortions to local small-scale matter fluctuations. Such local anisotropic distortions can be used to reconstruct large-scale matter distribution, known as tidal reconstruction. In this paper, we apply the tidal reconstruction methods to simulated galaxies in redshift space. We find that redshift-space distortions (RSDs) lead to anisotropic reconstruction results. While the reconstructed radial modes are more noisy mainly due to the small-scale velocity dispersion, the transverse modes are still reconstructed with high fidelity, and well correlated with the original large-scale density modes. The bias of the reconstructed field at large scales shows a simple angular dependence, which can be described by a form similar to that of the linear RSD. The noise power spectrum is nearly isotropic and scale independent on large scales. This makes the reconstructed tide fields an ideal tracer for cosmic variance cancellation and multi-tracer analysis and has profound implications for future 21 cm intensity mapping surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we first put forward a four-party semiquantum key distribution (SQKD) scheme by using three-qubit GHZ states, which can establish three different private keys shared by one quantum user and three semiquantum users simultaneously. It doesn't need a third party, and employs three-qubit GHZ states as the initial quantum resource. It requires the quantum user to perform the Z basis (i.e., 0 , 1 ) measurements and the GHZ basis measurements, and needs the semiquantum users to implement the Z basis measurements. It adopts none of Pauli operations, Hadamard gate or quantum entanglement swapping, and doesn't require the semiquantum users to use any quantum memory. Detailed security proof shows that this four-party SQKD scheme is secure against different kinds of attack from an outside eavesdropper. Finally, we generalize the four-party SQKD scheme into the counterpart of M + 1 -party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear gravitational evolution induces strong nonlinearities in the observed cosmological density fields, leading to positive off-diagonal correlations in the power spectrum covariance. This has caused the information saturation in the power spectrum, e.g., the neutrino mass constraints from the nonlinear power spectra are lower than their linear counterparts by a factor of ∼2 at z = 0. In this paper, we explore how nonlinear reconstruction methods improve the cosmological information from nonlinear cosmic fields. By applying nonlinear reconstruction to cold dark matter fields from the Quijote simulations, we find that nonlinear reconstruction can improve the constraints on cosmological parameters significantly, nearly reaching the linear theory limit. For neutrino mass, the result is only 12% lower than the linear power spectrum, i.e., the theoretical best result. This makes nonlinear reconstruction an efficient and useful method to extract neutrino information from current and upcoming galaxy surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) and uric acid transporter 1 (URAT1) are involved in the production and reabsorption of uric acid, respectively. However, the currently available individual XOR‐ or URAT1‐targeted drugs have limited efficacy. Thus, strategies for combining XOR inhibitors with uricosuric drugs have been developed. Previous virtual screening identified Compounds 1–5 as hits for the potential dual inhibition of XOR/URAT1. Nevertheless, in vitro experiments yielded unsatisfactory results. The first round of optimization work on those hits was performed, and two series of compounds were designed and synthesized. Compounds of the A series exerted moderate inhibitory effects on URAT1, but extremely weak inhibitory effects on XOR. Compounds of the B series exerted strong inhibitory effects on both XOR and URAT1. B5 exhibited the greatest inhibitory activity, with similar inhibitory effects on XOR and URAT1. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of XOR was 0.012 ± 0.001 μM, equivalent to that of febuxostat (IC50 = 0.010 ± 0.001 μM). The IC50 of URAT1 was 30.24 ± 3.46 μM, equivalent to that of benzbromarone (IC50 = 24.89 ± 7.53 μM). Through this optimization, the in vitro activity of most compounds of the A and B series against XOR and URAT1 was significantly improved versus that of the hits. Compound B5 should be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To discuss the presentation, evaluation, and management of congenital laryngeal webs with subglottic stenosis. Methods: The clinical data of six children were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The median age of these children who came to our hospital was 14 months (range 1–26 months). A tracheotomy was performed in all these six children. The median age of the patients who underwent tracheotomy was 4 months (range 1–11 months). The surgical method was T-tube implantation combined with cricoid cartilage reconstruction. The median age of these patients at the time of operation was 22 months (range 13–35 months). The T-tube remained in place for 3–8 months, with a median time of 6 months. The tracheal tubes in all these children were successfully removed. All patients were followed up for more than 2 years without recurrence. Conclusions: Children who have congenital laryngeal webs with subglottic stenosis required early tracheotomy. Open laryngoplasty combined with T-tube implantation and cricoid cartilage reconstruction may play a crucial role in the treatment of these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical cyclone (TC) activities in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) peak in May during the pre-monsoon period, but the TC frequency shows obvious inter-annual variations. By conducting statistical analysis and dynamic diagnosis of long-term data from 1948 to 2016, the relationship between the inter-annual variations of Indian Ocean SST and NIO TC genesis frequency in May is analyzed in this paper. Furthermore, the potential mechanism concerning the effect of SST anomaly on TC frequency is also investigated. The findings are as follows: 1) there is a broadly consistent negative correlation between NIO TC frequency in May and SST in the Indian Ocean from March to May, with the key influencing area located in the southwestern Indian Ocean (SWIO); 2) the anomalies of SST in SWIO (SWIO-SST) are closely related to a teleconnection pattern surrounding the Indian Ocean, which can significantly modulate the high-level divergence, mid-level vertical motion and other related environmental factors and ultimately influence the formation of TCs over the NIO; 3) the increasing trend of SWIO-SST may play an essential role in the downward trend of NIO TC frequency over the past 69 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a copper(I)‐catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition/protonation with selenols and α‐substituted α,β‐unsaturated thioamides is disclosed, which affords a series of chiral selenides in high to excellent enantioselectivity. As for both selenols and α‐substituted α,β‐unsaturated thioamides, the reaction enjoys broad substrate scopes. The present catalytic system is also successfully applied to asymmetric selenation of β‐substituted α,β‐unsaturated thioamides. A [Cu‐(R,RP)‐TANIAPHOS]‐SePh species is characterized by its 77Se NMR spectra, which gives a chemical shift at δ 462 ppm. Moreover, a {[Cu‐(R)‐TOL‐BINAP]‐SePh}2 species is characterized by X‐ray analysis, which confirms the formation of Cu−Se bond in the reaction. Finally, the transformations of the thioamide group to amine and thioester are demonstrated to be straightforward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a copper(I)‐catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition/protonation with selenols and α‐substituted α,β‐unsaturated thioamides is disclosed, which affords a series of chiral selenides in high to excellent enantioselectivity. As for both selenols and α‐substituted α,β‐unsaturated thioamides, the reaction enjoys broad substrate scopes. The present catalytic system is also successfully applied to asymmetric selenation of β‐substituted α,β‐unsaturated thioamides. A [Cu‐(R,RP)‐TANIAPHOS]‐SePh species is characterized by its 77Se NMR spectra, which gives a chemical shift at δ 462 ppm. Moreover, a {[Cu‐(R)‐TOL‐BINAP]‐SePh}2 species is characterized by X‐ray analysis, which confirms the formation of Cu−Se bond in the reaction. Finally, the transformations of the thioamide group to amine and thioester are demonstrated to be straightforward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous Zn‐ion batteries (AZIBs) and Zn‐ion hybrid supercapacitors (AZHSCs) are considered promising energy‐storage alternatives to Li‐ion batteries due to the attractive merits of low‐price and high‐safety. However, the lack of suitable cathode materials always hinders their large‐scale application. Herein, amorphous K‐buserite microspheres (denoted as K‐MnOx) are reported as cathode materials for both AZIBs and AZHSCs, and the energy‐storage mechanism is systematically revealed. It is found that K‐MnOx is composed of rich amorphous K‐buserite units, which can irreversibly be transformed into amorphous Zn‐buserite units in the first discharge cycle. Innovatively, the transformed Zn‐buserite acts as active materials in the following cycles and is highly active/stable for fast Zn‐diffusion and superhigh pseudocapacitance, enabling the achievement of high‐efficiency energy storage. In the AZIBs, K‐MnOx delivers 306 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g−1 with 102% capacity retention, while in the AZHSCs, it shows 515.0/116.0 F g−1 at 0.15/20.0 A g−1 with 92.9% capacitance retention at 5.0 A g−1 after 20 000 cycles. Besides, the power/energy density of AZHSCs device can reach up to 16.94 kW kg−1 (at 20 A g−1)/206.7 Wh kg−1 (at 0.15 A g−1). This work may provide some references for designing next‐generation aqueous energy‐storage devices with high energy/power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomolecular condensates formed by multicomponent phase separation play crucial roles in diverse cellular processes. Accurate assessment of individual-molecule contributions to condensate formation and precise characterization of their spatial organization within condensates are crucial for understanding the underlying mechanism of phase separation. Using molecular dynamics simulations and graph theoretical analysis, we demonstrated quantitatively the significant roles of cation-π and π–π interactions mediated by aromatic residues and arginine in the formation of condensates in polypeptide systems. Our findings reveal temperature and chain length-dependent alterations in condensate network parameters, such as the number of condensate network layers, and changes in aggregation and connectivity. Notably, we observe a transition between assortativity and disassortativity in the condensate network. Moreover, polypeptides W, Y, F, and R consistently promote condensate formation, while the contributions of other charged and two polar polypeptides (Q and N) to condensate formation depend on temperature and chain length. Furthermore, polyadenosine and polyguanosine can establish stable connections with aromatic and R polypeptides, resulting in the reduced involvement of K, E, D, Q, and N in phase separation. Overall, this study provides a distinctive, precise, and quantitative approach to characterize the multicomponent phase separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Projects about magnesium-based doped of transition metal have constantly attracted much attention in cluster science, while the research of Co, Fe, Ni doped Mid-Sized Mg16 clusters has not been reported. Here, the geometric construction and electronic properties of neutral and negative Mg16X (X = Co, Fe, Ni) clusters were researched by unbiased CALYPSO structure search codes and subsequent DFT calculations at the B3PW91 level. The results show that Fe and Co atoms are more likely to replace the central bits of the caged Mg170/− cluster, but the excellent and stable configuration of the Mg170/− cluster is perfectly maintained. Simultaneously, the doping of Co and Fe can cause the cluster to produce the corresponding magnetic moment. The caged Mg16Co− clusters with a central Co atom have good binding energy, local charge transfer and HOMO–LUMO gap according to stability analysis, which indicates that Mg16Co− clusters has better relative stability. In addition, it is found that there is an intense interaction between Mg-3s, p and Co-3d AO (molecular orbitals) through the analysis of molecular orbitals and adaptive natural density partitioning (AdNDP), which may be the main reason for the high stability of Mg16Co− clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directional asymmetry indicates a unidirectional deviation from perfect bilateral symmetry, which was rarely examined in the inner organs of the teleost (Teleostei) compared to external traits. This study examines the directional asymmetry in the gonad length of 20 species of moray eels (Muraenidae) and two outgroup species with 2959 individuals. We tested three hypotheses: (1) moray eel species did not exhibit directional asymmetry in the gonad length; (2) the directional asymmetry pattern was the same for all selected species; (3) the directional asymmetry was not related to the major habitat types, depth and size classes, and taxonomic closeness of the species. Moray eels were generally "right-gonadal", the right gonad length being constantly and significantly longer than the left one in all studied Muraenidae species. The degree of asymmetry varied among species and was not significantly related to taxonomic closeness. The habitat types, depth, and size classes had intermingled effects on observed asymmetry without a clear correspondence. The directional asymmetry in the gonad length is a unique and widely occurring phenomenon in the Family Muraenidae, which was likely a by-product in the evolutionary history without significant disadvantage in survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research combines the application of artificial intelligence in the production equipment fault monitoring of aerospace components. It detects three-phase current abnormalities in large hot-pressing furnaces through smart meters and provides early preventive maintenance. Different anomalies are classified, and a suitable monitoring process algorithm is proposed to improve the overall monitoring quality, accuracy, and stability by applying AI. We also designed a system to present the heater's power consumption and the hot-pressing furnace's fan and visualize the process. Combining artificial intelligence with the experience and technology of professional technicians and researchers to detect and proactively grasp the health of the hot-pressing furnace equipment improves the shortcomings of previous expert systems, achieves long-term stability, and reduces costs. The complete algorithm introduces a model corresponding to the actual production environment, with the best model result being XGBoost with an accuracy of 0.97. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignancy of the bone and is notoriously resistant to radiation therapy. High-dose cytotoxic chemotherapy and surgical resection have improved the survival rate and prognosis of patients with OS. Nonetheless, treatment challenges remain when the tumor cannot be removed by surgery. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) provides high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation, and its internal targeted characteristics make BNCT a novel therapy for removing OS and reducing radiation damage to adjacent healthy tissues. Methods: In this study, a UMR-106-grafted OS rat model was developed, and boric acid (BA) was used as the boron drug for BNCT. The pharmacokinetics of BA, following intravenous injection, were evaluated to determine the optimal time window for neutron irradiation. OS-bearing rats were irradiated by an epithermal neutron beam at Tsing Hua Open-Pool Reactor (THOR). The therapeutic efficacy of and tissue response after BNCT were evaluated by radiographic and histopathological observations. Results: OS-bearing rats were irradiated by neutrons in the first hour following the intravenous injection of BA. The prescription-absorbed doses in the tumor regions were 5.8 and 11.0 Gy. BNCT reduced the body weight of the tumor-bearing rats, but they recovered after a few days. The BA-mediated BNCT effectively controlled the orthotopic OS tumor, reduced osteolysis, and induced bone healing. Autoradiography and histological analysis confirmed that the BA retention region is consistent with the calcification region in OS tissue. Conclusion: BA is specifically retained in OS, and the BA-mediated BNCT can significantly reduce the tumor burden and osteolysis in OS-bearing rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytoadherence of Trichomonas vaginalis to human vaginal epithelial cells (hVECs) was previously shown to involve surface lipoglycans and several reputed adhesins on the parasite. Herein, we report some new observations on the host-parasite interactions of adherent versus nonadherent T. vaginalis isolates to hVECs. The binding of the TH17 adherent isolate to hVECs exhibited an initial discrete phase followed by an aggregation phase inhibited by lactose. T. vaginalis infection immediately induced surface expression of galectin-1 and -3, with extracellular amounts in the spent medium initially decreasing and then increasing thereafter over the next 60 min. Extracellular galectin-1 and -3 were detected on the parasite surface but only the TH17 adherent isolate could uptake galectin-3 via the lysosomes. Only the adherent isolate could morphologically transform from the round-up flagellate with numerous transient protrusions into a flat amoeboid form on contact with the solid surface. Cytochalasin D challenge revealed that actin organization was essential to parasite morphogenesis and cytoadherence. Real-time microscopy showed that parasite exploring and anchoring on hVECs via the axostyle may be required for initial cytoadherence. Together, the parasite cytoskeleton behaviors may collaborate with cell surface adhesion molecules for cytoadherence. The nonadherent isolate migrated faster than the adherent isolate, with motility transiently increasing in the presence of hVECs. Meanwhile, differential histone acetylation was detected between the two isolates. Also, TH17 without Mycoplasma symbiosis suggests that symbiont might not determine TH17 innate cytoadherence. Our findings regarding distinctive host-parasite interactions of the isolates may provide novel insights into T. vaginalis infection. Author summary: The cytoadherence of T. vaginalis onto hVECs from urogenital tracts has not been fully elucidated, so we developed an integrated assay platform to multifacetedly monitor the distinct behaviors and host-parasite interactions of nonadherent and adherent T. vaginalis isolates. The binding assay revealed that the trophozoites from the adherent isolate discretely bound to hVECs in the initial infection, later aggregating into clusters on the hVEC monolayer, and this cluster formation was reduced by lactose. T. vaginalis infection triggered galectin-1 and -3 secretion from hVECs to bind to the parasite, then galectin-3 was engulfed in the lysosome inside the trophozoites of the adherent isolate. Imaging analysis revealed that cytoskeleton reorganization is important for flagellate-amoeboid transformation and consequential cytoadherence. Also, the parasite behaviors of exploring and anchoring to hVECs via its axostyle contribute to the initial stage of cytoadherence. The parasite may also sense environmental factors from the host cell to change migration. Moreover, differential acetylation indicates the presence of epigenetic variation between the adherent and nonadherent isolates. No mycoplasma was detected in the T1 or TH17 isolates indicating that the symbiont may be not a determining factor for TH17 intrinsic cytoadherence. These distinct features and differential host-parasite interactions may be correlated to the pathogenesis of this parasite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activated carbon prepared from waste coffee was utilized as a potential low-cost adsorbent to remove Rhodamine B from aqueous solution. A series of physical characterizations verify that the obtained activated carbon possesses a layered and ordered hexagonal structure with a wrinkled and rough surface. In addition, high specific surface area, appropriate pore distribution, and desired surface functional groups are revealed, which promote the adsorption properties. Various adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate the effect on the absorption capacity (e.g., of initial dye concentration, temperature and solution pH) of the material. The results showed that the waste-coffee-derived activated carbon with a large surface area of approximately 952.7 m2 g−1 showed a maximum uptake capacity of 83.4 mg g−1 at the pH of 7 with the initial dye concentration of 100 mg L−1 under 50°C. The higher adsorption capacity can be attributed to the strong electrostatic attraction between the negatively charged functional groups in activated carbon and the positively charged functional groups in RB. The kinetic data and the corresponding kinetic parameters were simulated to evaluate the mechanism of the adsorption process, which can fit well with the highest R2. The adsorption results confirmed the promising potential of the as-prepared waste-coffee-derived activated carbon as a dye adsorbent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenovariant is a pair of populations or species with distinct phenotypes but little to no genetic divergence, which may have resulted from strong assortative mating, hybridization, or incomplete lineage sorting that changes in the phenotype have exceeded the genotype. Previous studies had mainly tackled this issue on small, colourful reef fishes, but little effort has been made to the barely seen and solitary taxa like the morays (family Muraenidae). In the present study, three species pairs of sympatric morays from Taiwanese waters revealed as phenovariant in the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) were examined from the molecular and morphological perspectives, with three dissimilar scenarios discovered: (1) no hybridization was found between the morphologically most distinct Gymnothorax intesi and Gymnothorax neglectus; (2) Gymnothorax kidako bidirectionally hybridized with Gymnothorax prionodon instead of its closely related species Gymnothorax pseudokidako; and (3) frequently bidirectional hybridization and introgression were detected between Gymnothorax pseudothyrsoideus and Gymnothorax reevesii, a species pair that overlapped in all the morphometric and meristic characters. Nevertheless, the principal component analysis indicated that each species pair has evolved significant morphological divergence, further supporting their taxonomic validities. Our results document the natural hybridization of marine eel taxa for the first time and reveal a diverse evolutionary process among the morays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer visual systems can rapidly obtain a large amount of data and automatically process them with ease. These characteristics constitute advantages for the application of such systems in the automatic analysis of medical images, as well as in processing technology. The precision of image segmentation, which plays a critical role in computer visual systems, directly affects the quality of processing results. Coronary angiographs feature various background colors, complex patterns, and blurry edges. The image areas containing blood vessels cannot be precisely segmented through regular methods. Therefore, this study proposed an unsupervised learning algorithm that uses regional parameter expansion (RPE). This method was derived from the flood fill algorithm, which can effectively segment image areas containing blood vessels despite a complex background or uneven light and shadow. An optimal cover tree (OCT) algorithm was proposed for the establishment of coronary arteries and the estimation of vessel diameter. Through the region growing method, spanning trees were used to record the cover length of adjacent connections, thereby establishing vessel paths, and the length can be used to track changes in vessel diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a mathematical model for an infectious disease caused by a virus such as Cholera without lifetime immunity. Due to the different mobility for susceptible, infected human and recovered human hosts, the diffusion coefficients are assumed to be different. The resulting system is governed by a strongly coupled reaction–diffusion system with different diffusion coefficients. Global existence and uniqueness are established under certain assumptions on known data. Moreover, global asymptotic behaviour of the solution is obtained when some parameters satisfy certain conditions. These results extend the existing results in the literature. The main tool used in this paper comes from the delicate theory of elliptic and parabolic equations. Moreover, the energy method and Sobolev embedding are used in deriving a priori estimates. The analysis developed in this paper can be employed to study other epidemic models in biological, ecological and health sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High solid content CO2-based cationic waterborne polyurethanes (CWPUs) were prepared using CO2-polyols as soft segment and N-methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) as hydrophilic group. The resulting stable aqueous dispersion displayed a high solid content of 52% with a low MDEA loading of 3.52 wt%. This novel structural CWPU can provide excellent adhesive strength, whose T-peel strength could reach 173.48 N/5cm, 20% higher than that of ester-based cationic waterborne polyurethane (87.55 N/5cm). The CO2-based CWPU film showed only 2 wt% swelling percentage after 240 min immersion in water, and no change was observed during its immersion in 5 wt% sodium hydroxide solution. The tensile strength of CO2-WPUs dropped slowly to 91.2% after 480 min immersion in a 5 wt% sodium hydroxide solution, whereas that of ester-based CWPUs dropped quickly to 32% after 240 min and their mechanical properties were lost after 360 min immersion. Meanwhile, the retention of the tensile strength of the CO2-CWPUs was 81.5% even after 720 min immersion in 10 wt% H2O2 solution, while it was only ca. 38% for the ester-based CWPUs. These results indicated that the cationic CO2-based CWPU may be promising waterborne adhesive with outstanding ageing resistance due to its synergistic effect from carbonate and ether groups of CO2-polyol structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The user data from different types of network platforms are often presented in different modalities, such as text, image, or audio. Many researches have shown that fusing the data information displayed by users on different platforms can better reflect the interest characteristics of users. Hence, this paper proposes a cross-platform image recommendation model (FITIFCIR), which fuses text and image information to achieve cross-platform data recommendation. Furthermore, it realizes the semantic information fusion of text and image, so as to recommend the images collected by users on the image sharing platform to the text to be published. Compared with baseline image recommendation models, the experimental results indicate that the FITIFCIR outperforms baseline models. The proposed model is effective to recommend appropriate images for users to better illustrate their ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential features in the primordial power spectrum have been searched for in galaxy surveys in recent years since these features can assist in understanding the nature of inflation. The null detection to date suggests that any such features should be fairly weak, and next-generation galaxy surveys, with their unprecedented sizes and precisions, are in a position to place stronger constraints than before. However, even if such primordial features once existed in the early Universe, they would have been significantly damped in the non-linear regime at low redshift due to structure formation, which makes them difficult to be directly detected in real observations. A potential way to tackle this challenge for probing the features is to undo the cosmological evolution, i.e. using reconstruction to obtain an approximate linear density field. By employing a set of N -body simulations, here we show that a recently proposed non-linear reconstruction algorithm can effectively retrieve damped oscillatory features from halo catalogues and improve the accuracy of the measurement of feature parameters (assuming that such primordial features do exist). We do a Fisher analysis to forecast how non-linear reconstruction affects the constraining power, and find that it can lead to significantly more robust constraints on the feature amplitude for a DESI-like survey. Comparing non-linear reconstruction with other ways of improving constraints, such as increasing the survey volume and range of scales, this shows that it is possible to achieve what the latter do, but at a lower cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the perceived stigma and its relationship to self-identity among students with hearing impairment. Students (n = 151) with hearing impairment (female = 49.67%; mean age = 13.87 years, SD = 1.26 years) completed the Individual Perceived Stigma Scale and the Self-Identity Scale. Following regression analysis, the results showed that higher devaluation and social distancing significantly lower self-identity. Furthermore, descriptive statistics showed relatively low levels of perceived stigma and an overall low level of self-identity among hearing-impaired students. The results support the disability identity theory in the Chinese cultural setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The transition of Taiwan from an aging to a super-aging society has come with a cost as more elderly now suffer from cognitive impairment. The main purpose of our study was to investigate if early detection can be developed so that timely intervention can be instituted. We analyzed the correlation of cognitive function with ocular physiology and visual functions between senior citizens aged 60 years or older in Taiwan. Methods: Thirty-six healthy subjects were recruited for the study. Addenbrooke's cognitive examination III (ACE-III), binocular functions (including objective and subjective refraction, distance and near dissociated phoria, stereopsis, contrast sensitivity, adult developmental eye movement (ADEM), and ocular physiology (by using optical coherence tomography, OCT, and macular pigment measurement, MPS) were performed, and the data were analyzed via independent t-test, chi-square test, Pearson correlation, linear regression, and ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve. Results: Data analysis showed that (1) patients with poor eye movement had a strong correlation with the total score and all dimensions of cognitive functions, (2) the thickness of the macula had a strong correlation with attention and memory, and (3) patients with poor eye movement and poor stereopsis in combination with thinner inferior macula appeared to have lower cognitive abilities. Discussion and Conclusions: Cognitive dysfunction is not readily identified during the early stage of cognitive decline. The use of simple and inexpensive ADEM or stereopsis test and comparing the OCT results that are popular in optometry clinics for reference can be diagnostic in identifying patients with mild cognitive impairments. With the combined use of macular pigment density or retinal thickness measurements, it was possible to effectively predict the early degradation of cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the success of convolutional neural network (CNN) in conventional closed-set recognition (CSR), it still lacks robustness for dealing with unknowns (those out of known classes) in open environment. To improve the robustness of CNN in open-set recognition (OSR) and meanwhile maintain its high accuracy in CSR, we propose an alternative deep framework called convolutional prototype network (CPN), which keeps CNN for representation learning but replaces the closed-world assumed softmax with an open-world oriented and human-like prototype model. To equip CPN with discriminative ability for classifying known samples, we design several discriminative losses for training. Moreover, to increase the robustness of CPN for unknowns, we interpret CPN from the perspective of generative model and further propose a generative loss, which is essentially maximizing the log-likelihood of known samples and serves as a latent regularization for discriminative learning. The combination of discriminative and generative losses makes CPN a hybrid model with advantages for both CSR and OSR. Under the designed losses, the CPN is trained end-to-end for learning the convolutional network and prototypes jointly. For application of CPN in OSR, we propose two rejection rules for detecting different types of unknowns. Experiments on several datasets demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of CPN for both CSR and OSR tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autophagy is an important life phenomenon in eukaryotic cells. Its main role is to remove and degrade its damaged organelles and excess biological macromolecules, and use degradation products to provide energy and rebuild the cell structure, playing an important role in maintaining cell homeostasis and cell life activities. Mitophagy is a form of macroautophagy. It has the beneficial effect of eliminating damaged mitochondria, thereby maintaining the integrity of the mitochondrial pool. Autophagy and mitophagy have a dual role in the development of cancer. On one hand, autophagy and mitophagy can maintain the normal physiological function of cells. On the other hand, excessive autophagy and mitophagy can lead to diseases. The present review introduces the mechanisms of autophagy and mitophagy, and the main related proteins, and introduce the correlation with cancers, providing a basis for the treatment of cancers through the understanding of these proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gravitational coupling between large-scale perturbations and small-scale perturbations leads to anisotropic distortions of the small-scale matter distribution. The measured local small-scale power spectrum can thus be used to infer the large-scale matter distribution. In this paper, we present a new tidal reconstruction algorithm for reconstructing large-scale modes using the full three-dimensional tidal shear information. We apply it to simulated dark matter halo fields and find the reconstructed large-scale density field correlates well with the original matter density field on large scales, improving upon the previous tidal reconstruction method, which only uses two transverse shear fields. This has profound implications for recovering lost 21 cm radial modes due to foreground subtraction and constraining primordial non-Gaussianity using the multitracer method with future cosmological surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Zhang et al. suggested the first semi-quantum summation protocol by using single photons (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 60, 3478–3487, 2021). This paper firstly shows that by launching a special participant attack, the third party (TP) can obtain three users’ measurement results on the particle groups except for checking the existence of Eve and the honesty of TP without being detected; as a result, the protocol fails to compute the summation, or even worse, TP may obtain three users’ private bit strings. Afterward, this paper puts forward an improvement to solve these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy and major cause of cancer death in the world. Ferroptosis is a recently identified type of regulated cell death. Increasing evidence has shown that ferroptosis plays an important regulatory role in the occurrence and development of cancer. This study identified TIGAR as a potential regulator of ferroptosis resistance in the development of CRC. We showed that TIGAR expression in CRC tissues is significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues. Knockdown of TIGAR significantly caused an increase in erastin-induced ferroptosis in SW620 and HCT116 cells. Notably, knockdown of TIGAR significantly decreased GSH/GSSG ratio, increased lipid peroxidation production, and facilitated the accumulation of lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde (MDA), and rendered CRC cells more sensitive to erastin induced ferroptosis. Furthermore, TIGAR inhibition repressed SCD1 expression in a redox and AMPK-dependent manner. Thus, these results suggest that TIGAR induces ferroptosis resistance in CRC cells via the ROS/AMPK/SCD1 signaling pathway. • TIGAR was upregulated in CRC tissues and cells. • Knockdown TIGAR sensitizes CRC cells to ferroptosis induction. • ROS/AMPK-dependent SCD1 facilitates TIGAR-mediated ferroptosis resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, based on the Hatsukawa formula (Phys Rev C 42:674, 1990), modifying the coefficient F(Z) of α decay half-lives which depends on the proton number of parent nucleus Z and considering the blocking effect of unpaired nucleons, we propose an improved semi-empirical formula for evaluating the favored α decay half-lives of even–even, odd-A and odd–odd nuclei. This formula can reproduce the experimental data of favored α decay half-lives taken from NUBASE2020 well. The corresponding root-mean-square (rms) deviations are reduced from 0.316, 0.366 and 0.398 to 0.237, 0.318 and 0.273 for even–even, odd-A and odd–odd nuclei, respectively. Moreover, we extend this formula to predict the α decay half-lives of 64 even–even nuclei with 104 ≤ Z ≤ 128 whose α decay are energetically allowed or observed but not yet quantified. For comparison, the Viola–Seaborg–Sobiczewski formula (VSS) proposed by Sobiczewski et al. and the universal decay law (UDL) proposed by Qi et al. are also used. The results indicate that our predictions are basically consistent with the ones of VSS and UDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil infrastructure relies heavily on structural health monitoring systems. However, these systems often encounter challenges due to sensor failures and environmental damage. Consequently, numerous anomalous data points are generated, significantly distorting the accuracy of structural safety assessments. While deep neural networks have emerged as a promising tool for efficiently identifying abnormal data, the meticulous optimization of hyperparameters during training remains a challenge. To address this challenge, this paper introduces a novel approach termed multiple transfer learning, designed to continually enhance a model's classification performance without the need for meticulous hyperparameter configurations. This methodology achieves adaptive training by iteratively migrating across bridge anomaly datasets, bypassing the need for elaborate hyperparameter setting. In this study, five distinct hyperparameter working conditions are established and evaluated to validate the effectiveness of the multiple transfer learning method. The findings highlight the robustness of this approach, demonstrating that multiple transfer learning achieves satisfactory recognition accuracy levels irrespective of the initial hyperparameter setting during network model training. This method circumvents the need for continuous hyperparameters optimization, enabling the adaptive detection of abnormal bridge data. • A training method called multiple transfer learning based on transfer learning is proposed in this paper to solve setting hyperparameters. • The relationship between the number of multiple transfer learning times and the accuracy of anomaly data identification is displayed. • Comparison experiments with different working conditions were set up to verify the effectiveness of multiple transfer learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study a nonlinear reaction–diffusion system which models an infectious disease caused by bacteria such as those for Cholera. One of the significant features in this model is that a certain portion of the recovered human hosts may lose a lifetime immunity and could be infected again. Another important feature in the model is that the mobility for each species is allowed to be dependent upon both the location and time. With the whole population assumed to be susceptible with the bacteria, the model is a strongly coupled nonlinear reaction–diffusion system. We prove that the nonlinear system has a unique solution globally in any space dimension under some natural conditions on the model parameters and the given data. Moreover, the long-time behavior and stability analysis for the solutions are carried out rigorously. In particular, we characterize the precise conditions on variable parameters about the stability or instability of all steady-state solutions. These new results provide the answers to several open questions raised in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is the strongest member of the family of inhibitor of apoptosis protein. Studies found that the expression of XIAP in colon cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues. Studies have shown that the expression of microRNA-215 (miR-215) was significantly lower than that of the adjacent tissues. This study investigated whether dysregulated miR-215 and XIAP play important roles in colon cancer cell apoptosis and the incidence of colon cancer. Materials and Methods: Forty-two patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosed and treated in the authors' hospital were selected. Human CRC cell line HCT116 and normal colonic mucosal epithelial cells (CMECs) were used. Luciferase reporter gene vector was constructed and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was performed. HCT116 cells were cultured in vitro and divided into five groups: mimic normal control (NC) group, miR-215 mimic group, si-NC group, si-XIAP group, and miR-215 mimic + si-XIAP group. Western blot and polymerase chain reaction were conducted to examine XIAP and caspase-3. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8 assay. Results: Compared with the adjacent tissues, the expression of miR-215 in colon cancer tissue was significantly lower, whereas the expression of XIAP in colon cancer tissue was significantly higher. The apoptosis rate and miR-215 expression level of HCT116 cells were lower than that of normal CMECs, whereas XIAP expression was significantly higher than that in normal colon mucosa epithelial cells. MiR-215 targeted the 3'-untranslated regions of XIAP and inhibited its expression. Overexpressing miR-215 and (or) silencing XIAP expression could significantly enhance the activity of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and promote the apoptosis of HCT116 cells. Conclusion: MiR-215 inhibited the expression of XIAP and promoted the apoptosis of HCT116 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the mediating role of proactive personality and self-identity on the relationship between mental health and parenting style among college students. Participants were 406 Chinese college students (female = 61.80%, mean age = 19.56 years, SD = 1.38 years). The students completed the following measures: Short-Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran, Proactive Personality Scale, Self-identity Status Scale, and General Health Questionnaire. Path analyses results show proactive personality to lower the risk for mental health with parental rejection, and to enhance mental health with parental warmth. A high sense of self-identity predicted good mental health among the college students, although the effect was greater for proactive personality. Moreover, proactive personality and self-identity had a significant mediating effect, enhancing mental health. Improving the mental health of college students may depend on their personality assets and the quality of parenting style they experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a controlled quantum dialogue protocol is designed based on five-qubit entangled states. One five-qubit entangled state can be used to exchange one communicant's two private bits with the other communicant's two private bits under the control of an honest supervisor. Security analysis turns out that it can overcome the information leakage problem and can resist the active attacks from an outside attacker. The designed protocol only needs single-particle measurements and Bell state measurements, both of which can be realized with current technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we systematically study the two-proton (2 p) radioactivity half-lives of nuclei close to the proton drip line within a modified Gamow-like model. Using this model, the calculated 2 p radioactivity half-lives can well reproduce the experimental data. Moreover, we blackuse this model to predict the 2 p radioactivity half-lives of 22 candidates blackwhose 2 p radioactivity is energetically allowed or observed but not yet quantized in evaluated nuclear properties table NUBASE2016. blackThe predicted results are in good agreement with the ones obtained by using Gamow-like model, effective liquid drop model (ELDM), generalized liquid drop model (GLDM) as well as a four-parameter formula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a controlled bidirectional quantum secure direct communication (CBQSDC) protocol is proposed by using six-qubit entangled states. It can successfully avoid the information leakage problem and resist the outside attacks from Eve. Moreover, it needs single-particle measurements and Bell basis measurements, and has the information-theoretical efficiency of40%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the Ge auto-doping and out-diffusion in InGaP epilayer with Cu-Pt ordering grown on 4-in. Ge substrate. Ge profiles determined from secondary ion mass spectrometry indicate that the Ge out-diffusion depth is within 100 nm. However, the edge of the wafer suffers from stronger Ge gas-phase auto-doping than the center, leading to ordering deterioration in the InGaP epilayer. In the edge, we observed a residual Cu-Pt ordering layer left beneath the surface, suggesting that the ordering deterioration takes place after the deposition rather than during the deposition and In/Ga inter-diffusion enhanced by Ge vapor-phase auto-doping is responsible for the deterioration. We thus propose a di-vacancy diffusion model, in which the amphoteric Ge increases the divacancy density, resulting in a Ge density dependent diffusion. In the model, the In/Ga interdiffusion and Ge out-diffusion are realized by the random hopping of In/Ga host atoms and Ge atoms to di-vacancies, respectively. Simulation based on this model well fits the Ge out-diffusion profiles, suggesting its validity. By comparing the Ge diffusion coefficient obtained from the fitting and the characteristic time constant of ordering deterioration estimated from the residual ordering layer, we found that the hopping rates of Ge and the host atoms are in the same order of magnitude, indicating that di-vacancies are bound in the vicinity of Ge atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitors have shown promising results for treating advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the clinical utility of such inhibitors in HCC patients with vascular tumor thrombosis remains unclear. This study investigated PD-1 inhibitor efficacy in advanced HCC with macrovascular invasion in a clinical setting. Among the 110 patients with unresectable HCC treated with PD-1 inhibitors, 34 patients with vascular metastases in the portal vein and inferior vena cava were retrospectively compared with 34 patients without tumor thrombi. The vascular response and its effect on survival were assessed. Predictors of survival were identified using multivariate analysis. Among patients achieving objective response, those with and without thrombi exhibited similar response to immunotherapy and comparable survival. Among the 34 patients with tumor thrombi, including 13 receiving PD-1 inhibitors alone and 21 receiving it in combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the median overall survival was 8.9 months (95% confidence interval 3.2–12.6). The objective response rate of vascular metastasis was 52.9%, and vascular responders had a significantly longer survival than did non-responders (11.1 vs 3.9 months). Failure to obtain a vascular response correlated significantly with increased post-treatment Child–Pugh score or class. Multivariate analysis showed that vascular response was a significant positive factor for longer overall survival. Treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events occurred in 3 (8.8%) of the patients with tumor thrombi. Immunotherapy with PD-1 inhibitors may be a feasible treatment option for HCC with tumor thrombi owing to the high response rate of tumor thrombi and favorable survival outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, ranks as the fifth most common cancer and has been the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death. RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are proteins that interact with different classes of RNA and are commonly detected in cells.Methods: We used RNA sequencing data from TCGA to display dysfunctional RBPs microenvironments and provide potential useful biomarkers for HCC diagnosis and prognosis.Results: 330 differently expressed RBPs (208 upregulated and 122 downregulated) were identified. KEGG were mainly enriched in RNA degradation, Influenza A, Hepatitis C, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway, Herpes simplex virus 1 infection and RNA transport. CBioPortal results demonstrated that these genes were altered in 50 samples out of 357 HCC patients (14%) and the amplification of BRCA1 was the largest frequent copy-number alteration.Conclusion: Based on the online database, we identified novel RBPs markers for the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the mediating role of social support and loneliness in self-identity and internet addiction among college students. Participants were 364 Chinese college students (female = 66.50%; mean age = 20.21 years, SD = 1.51 years). The students completed the following measures: Self-identity Status Scale, Social Support Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Internet Addiction Scale. The results showed two dimensions of self-identity of future self-involvement desire and present self-involvement to significantly predict internet addiction. Self-identity not only directly influenced college students' internet addiction, but also indirectly impacted their internet addiction through the serial mediating effects of social support and loneliness. Student development and support interventions for preventing and reducing risk for internet addiction should seek to reconstruct their self-identity; thereby increasing their social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and controlling the transportation of water molecules across carbon nanotube (CNT) is of great importance in bio-nanotechnology. In this paper, we systematically investigate the water transporting behaviors (i.e., water flow rate) inside the CNT in the presence of lipid membranes by using all atom molecular dynamic simulations. Our results show that the hydrophilicity of CNT as well as membrane thickness can have important impacts on the water flow rate. Interestingly, since the membrane thickness is temperature-dependent, the water flow rate can exhibit thermo-responsive behaviors. Further, we also provide insights into the effect of CNT on lipid membranes. It is found that all CNTs can increase the lipid tail order parameters and thicken the membrane at 320 K; while these effects are not obvious at 290 K. Importantly, we observe that the CNT with specific hydrophobicity has the least effect on membranes. The present study may give some useful advice on future experimental design of novel devices and sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glucocorticoids (GCs) have been extensively used as essential modulators in clinical infectious and inflammatory diseases. The GC receptor (GR) is a transcription factor belonging to the nuclear receptor family that regulates anti-inflammatory processes and releases pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6. Results: Five putative GR binding sites and other transcriptional factor binding sites were identified on theIL-6 promoter, and dexamethasone (DEX) was noted to reduce the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-6 production. Among mutant transcriptional factor binding sites, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), activator protein (AP)-1, and specificity protein (Sp)1–2 sites reduced basal and LPS-induced IL-6 promoter activities through various responses. The second GR binding site (GR2) was noted to play a crucial role in both basal and inducible promoter activities in LPS-induced inflammation. Conclusions: We concluded that selective GR2 modulator might exert agonistic and antagonistic effects and could activate crucial signaling pathways during the LPS-stimulated inflammatory process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]