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We evaluated a unique model in which four full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with the same treatment schematic and fed with similar influent wastewater were tracked over an 8-month period to determine whether the community assembly would differ in the activated sludge (AS) and sand filtration (SF) stages. For each WWTP, AS and SF achieved an average of 1-log10 (90%) and <0.02-log10 (5%) reduction of total cells, respectively. Despite the removal of cells, both AS and SF had a higher alpha and beta diversity compared to the influent microbial community. Using the Sloan neutral model, it was observed that AS and SF were individually dominated by different assembly processes. Specifically, microorganisms from influent to AS were predominantly determined by the selective niche process for all WWTPs, while the microbial community in the SF was relatively favored by a stochastic, random migration process, except two WWTPs. AS also contributed more to the final effluent microbial community compared with the SF. Given that each WWTP operates the AS independently and that there is a niche selection process driven mainly by the chemical oxygen demand concentration, operational taxonomic units unique to each of the WWTPs were also identified. The findings from this study indicate that each WWTP has its distinct microbial signature and could be used for source-tracking purposes. IMPORTANCE This study provided a novel concept that microorganisms follow a niche assembly in the activated sludge (AS) tank and that the AS contributed more than the sand filtration process toward the final microbial signature that is unique to each treatment plant. This observation highlights the importance of understanding the microbial community selected by the AS stage, which could contribute toward sourcetracking the effluent from different wastewater treatment plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralized offshore wind power to hydrogen production is one of the potential solutions for wind energy utilization in deep sea area, of which the electrolysis is integrated with the wind turbine, so that how to gather and transport the produced hydrogen from the decentralized wind turbines to the processing terminals becomes very crucial. This paper focuses on this topic and proposes a mixed-integer linear programming model to optimize the layout of the "ship+pipe" transmission system, aiming at minimizing the average annual total cost. Through the model, the locations and sizes of hydrogen gathering platforms, their allocations with wind turbines, the shipping routes could all be figured out. Two aspects of contributions are made in this work. First, the concept of "Pipe + Ship" transmission mode is proposed, providing a feasible solution for offshore hydrogen transportation with long distance; Second, the proposed model integrates subsea pipe network and the sea level shipping route as a whole system, revealing their interactions. Case studies present the model's validity and feasibility as well as providing inspirations about the investment management. [Display omitted] • Hydrogen transmission for decentralized offshore wind power-hydrogen is studied. • Layout optimization model for the "Pipe + Ship" transmission mode is proposed. • Interaction between pipe network and shipping routes are revealed. • Results of case studies indicate the characteristic of each cost components. • The study provides inspirations about the investment management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aphis spiraecola Patch is one of the most economically important tree fruit pests worldwide. The pyrethroid insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin is commonly used to control A. spiraecola. In this 2-year study, we quantified the resistance level of A. spiraecola to lambda-cyhalothrin in different regions of the Shaanxi province, China. The results showed that A. spiraecola had reached extremely high resistance levels with a 174-fold resistance ratio (RR) found in the Xunyi region. In addition, we compared the enzymatic activity and expression level of P450 genes among eight A. spiraecola populations. The P450 activity of A. spiraecola was significantly increased in five regions (Xunyi, Liquan, Fengxiang, Luochuan, and Xinping) compared to susceptible strain (SS). The expression levels of CYP6CY7 , CYP6CY14 , CYP6CY22, P4504C1-like , P4506a13 , CYP4CZ1 , CYP380C47, and CYP4CJ2 genes were significantly increased under lambda-cyhalothrin treatment and in the resistant field populations. A L1014F mutation in the sodium channel gene was found and the mutation rate was positively correlated with the LC50 of lambda-cyhalothrin. In conclusion, the levels of lambda-cyhalothrin resistance of A. spiraecola field populations were associated with P450s and L1014F mutations. Our combined findings provide evidence on the resistance mechanism of A. spiraecola to lambda-cyhalothrin and give a theoretical basis for rational and effective control of this pest species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic waste is globally ubiquitous and ecologically harmful, but it can be recycled as an abundant carbon source to alleviate worldwide heavy dependence on fossil resources and reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, research into the chemical recycling of plastic waste has become a critical and pressing area. Compared with polyolefins, polyesters, as represented by PET and PLA, can easily achieve selective depolymerization to their corresponding monomers due to the presence of weaker ester bonds, thus favoring their closed-loop recycling and upcycling. However, comprehensive reviews on this important topic remain scarce, especially from the standpoint of re/upcycling. In this review, we present significant progress in the catalytic depolymerization of different polyesters, including biodegradable polyesters and nonbiodegradable polyesters, and discuss the key factors that limit the efficacies of the different methods and formidable challenges towards closed-loop recycling and upcycling. Such insightful discussion may benefit the further development of advanced strategies to address the problems with the increasing polyester plastic wastes and stimulate their efficient recycling to value-added chemicals and materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a glomerular disease. Crocin is isolated from saffron and gardenia. Its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-tumor, free-radical scavenging and neuroprotective activities have been well established. We investigated the biological functions of crocin and its related mechanisms in MN. We established an experimental passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) rat model induced by anti-Fx1A antiserum. The rats were divided into sham, sham + crocin, PHN, PHN + crocin, and PHN + enalapril groups. Blood samples and kidneys of rats were collected for estimation of biochemical parameters in serum and oxidative stress indicators in kidney tissues. Histopathological changes of renal tissues were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and Masson staining. The podocyte number was estimated by immunohistochemistry staining of Wilms tumor type 1 (WT1). The deposition of rat anti-rabbit IgG antibodies, complement C3 and C5b-9 was detected by immunofluorescence staining. Western blotting was performed to measure the levels of Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and apoptosis-related proteins. The total cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, urine volume and urine albumin of PMN rats were significantly reduced by crocin. Additionally, crocin attenuated the renal histopathological changes. Moreover, the oxidative stress damage and podocyte loss and immune injury were relieved by crocin in PHN rats. Mechanistically, crocin administration activated the Sirt1/Nrf2/HO-1 pathways. The results provide a scientific basis that crocin could alleviate MN by inhibiting immune injury and podocyte damage through activating the Sirt1/Nrf2/HO-1 pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thrixspermum taeniophyllum is described as a new orchid species from Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province of southwest China. It is morphologically similar to T. japonicum, but it differs from the latter in having branched stems, slightly fleshy strapshaped leaves, longer inflorescences with 3–6 flowers and a capitate gynandrium with a lip-shaped mouth opening. Its species status is also supported by molecular phylogenetic analyses, based on nuclear ribosome internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) and three chloroplast DNA fragments (matK, psbA-trnH and trnL-F), which showed distinct systematic boundaries from the most morphologically similar T. japonicum and their morphological relatives T. saruwatarii and T. pygmaeum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods: The aetiological composition and clinical characteristics of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) hospitalised in the respiratory department were retrospectively analysed, as well as the correlation between transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and right heart catheterization (RHC) for evaluating pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) and mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP). Results: Of 731 patients, 544 (74.42%) were diagnosed with PH by RHC. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was the most common type of PH, accounting for 30.10%; PH due to lung disease and/or hypoxia accounted for 20.79%, and PH due to pulmonary artery obstructions accounted for 19.29%. TTE has the highest specificity for diagnosing PH due to pulmonary artery obstructions. The specificity was 0.9375, the sensitivity was 0.7361 and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.836. PASP, and mPAP estimated by TTE were different for various types of PH. In terms of PASP, TTE overestimated PASP in PH due to lung disease and/or hypoxia, but there was no significant difference compared with RHC (P > 0.05). TTE underestimates PAH patients' PASP compared with RHC. In terms of mPAP, TTE underestimated the mPAP of all types of PH, as there was a significant difference in the TTE‐estimated mPAP of patients with PAH compared with RHC but not on other types of PH. Pearson correlation analysis of TTE and RHC showed a moderate overall correlation (rPASP 0.598, P < 0.001; rmPAP 0.588, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Among the patients with PH in the respiratory department, patients with PAH accounted for the majority. TTE has high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of PH due to pulmonary artery obstructions in the respiratory department. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen production by water-splitting is a very promising strategic energy technology and one of the most important means to obtain green hydrogen. It is of great practical significance to develop cheap and efficient electrocatalysts to replace Pt. Herein, we use the dye-sensitization strategy to load hyperdispersed Ru nanoparticles on the TiO2 surface, and then use cheap glucose for carbon coating to improve the conductivity of the material, so as to obtain an efficient HER catalyst C/Ru/TiO2. On the one hand, dye molecules can be firmly bonded to the surface of TiO2 through carboxyl groups, and on the other hand, their large steric effect can effectively inhibit the aggregation of molecules, so ruthenium nanoparticles formed after pyrolysis can be uniformly distributed on the surface of TiO2. Carbon coating also effectively solves the problem of poor conductivity of TiO2 as a support. C/Ru/TiO2 shows excellent catalytic performance for HER. In 0.5 M H2SO4, the overpotential is 69 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and the Tafel slope is only 70 mV dec−1. In 1 M KOH, the overpotential is only 51 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and the Tafel slope is only 68 mV dec−1. The dye-sensitization strategy makes it easy to realize the loading of hyperdisperse metal nanoparticles on the support surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piperidine is an important cyclic amine with versatile applications. However, its commercial process is not green and depends mainly on the hydrogenation of fossil resource-based pyridine. Here, we report a novel one-pot approach to the sustainable synthesis of piperidine from bio-renewable tetrahydrofurfurylamine (THFAM) via its hydrogenolysis to 5-amino-1-pentanol (APO) and the subsequent intramolecular amination of APO. SiO2-supported Rh–ReOx catalysts exhibited high efficiency and stability in the THFAM reaction to piperidine, providing a high yield of 91.5% at 200 °C and 2.0 MPa H2 in water. Such high efficiency of Rh–ReOx/SiO2 was found to be related to the synergistic effect between the Rh nanoparticles and ReOx species on the kinetically-relevant cleavage of the C–O bond neighboring the C–NH2 group in THFAM, involving the strong adsorption of the C–NH2 group on ReOx and the heterolytic dissociation of H2 on Rh. This work provides an efficient strategy for the selective cleavage of the C–O bonds neighboring the C–NH2 groups, irrespective of their presence in amino ethers or amino alcohols, and the green production of piperidine and its derivatives from biomass resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of a sound low-carbon logistics system is the basic solution to China's resource, environmental and ecological problems. From the perspective of resources, environment and ecology, building a low-carbon logistics system is the basic solution to the problems of resources, environment and ecology that China is facing. The project takes the logistics industry as the object to establish an evaluation model of logistics industry carbon emission efficiency and obtain the evaluation results of logistics industry carbon emission in 2014-2019. The carbon utilization efficiency of the system is calculated by slacks-based measurement (SBM) method. On this basis, Arc-Map software is used to conduct spatial modelling of empirical analysis is carried out. Through the research on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, we will further improve the ambitious strategic plan of "carbon reduction, carbon neutrality" and contribute to the country's economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a survey of 600 U.S. employees, this study investigated the effect of transparent leadership communication on employee engagement, from the interpretivist approach, in the context of CEO activism. This study examined employees' perceived psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) as mediators. Results showed that transparent leadership communication is positively associated with employees' psychological needs. In turn, employees' psychological needs mediate the impact of transparent leadership communication on employees' information sharing and activism participation intentions in a CEO activism campaign. Ultimately, this study discussed theoretical and managerial contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and illustrates a new species of Primulaceae, Primula wolongensis sp. nov. from Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, China. It is very rare and currently only known from its type locality. The new species belongs to subsection Chartacea of the section Petiolares on account of lacking bud scales at flowering, being efarinose and having distinct petiolate leaves with more or less rounded lamina. The new species can be differentiated from other members of the subsection by leaf blade margin dentate, and leaf veins which are not raised, scape shorter than or equal to pedicels, yellow flowers and location of stamens of the corolla tube at thrum flower. Molecular phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear ribosome internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) demonstrated that P. wolongensis was sister to subgen. Auriculastrum. Primula wolongensis is currently known from a single location in Wolong Town, and its conservation status is assessed as Data Deficient (DD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrochilus heminii (Orchidaceae), a new orchid species from Sichuan Province, Southwest China, is described and illustrated. It morphologically resembles G. affinis and G. yei, but differs markedly from the former in having a thinner and slightly rolled downwards reniform epichile and the central thickened purple-red mat with irregular folds (vs. subtriangular epichile curves upwards, with 2 thick, brown to purplish- brown median ridges from base to apex), and can be clearly distinguished from the latter by having reniform epichile with lobed apex and subconical hypochile with bilobed apex that splits into two conical protrusions (vs. semi-rounded epichile not lobed and subconical hypochile not bilobed). The results of molecular phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear ribosome internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) and four chloroplast DNA fragments (matK, psbA-trnH, psbM-trnD, and trnL-F) of 36 Gastrochilus species showed that G. heminii was closely related to G. affinis and G. distichus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the theme of the upcoming CEAL Annual Meeting, which is Artificial Intelligence (AI): Impacts on the East Asian Library. The meeting will include keynote speeches from experts in the AI industry, information education, and East Asian studies. The speeches will explore topics such as the growth and trends of generative AI adoption, the impact of generative AI on knowledge curation, and how AI is reshaping academic scholarship in East Asian studies. The meeting will also feature a town hall meeting to discuss the impact of AI on education, library services, and social life. The article concludes by mentioning the election and appointment of new members to the CEAL Executive Board and thanking the outgoing members for their service. Additionally, the article mentions that the Editor of the Journal of East Asian Libraries will be stepping down, and a new editor will be announced at the Annual Meeting. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) for pulmonary artery (PA) masses. Methods: Of 2889 patients with PA filling defects of PA on CTPA, 79 consecutive patients suspicious for PA malignancy who subsequently underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT were enrolled. All masses were diagnosed on the basis of pathological findings or clinical imaging follow-up. For each mass, morphological CT signs, standardized uptake value (SUVmax and SUVmean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) on 18F-FDG PET/CT were used as diagnostic markers. Results: Expansive growth, irregular margin, invasion, CT contrast uptake, and wall eclipse sign were strongly associated with the malignant nature of masses. The coexistence of at least 5 CT signs perfectly identified malignant masses, whereas the detection of no more than 4 CT signs did not accurately discriminate between the natures of masses. Mean SUVmax, SUVmean, MTV, and TLG values were significantly higher in malignant masses compared to those in benign masses. The diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters (SUV, MTV, and TLG) was excellent in detecting malignant masses. Among patients with 3 or 4 pathological CT signs, SUVmax > 3.4 significantly increased the identification of malignancies. Conclusions: CTPA is a useful imaging modality for diagnosing PA masses, especially when at least 5 abnormal CT signs are identified. Similarly, 18F-FDG PET/CT accurately identified malignant masses and provided additional valuable information on diagnostic uncertainties after CTPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of green hydrogen by electrolyzing water has shown great application prospects, and the noble metal Pt as a catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the main factors hindering its large-scale development. Therefore, efforts to develop low-cost catalysts are currently on-going in many laboratories. Herein, we used hydroxylated carbon nanotubes as starting materials and doped them with heteroatoms (S and N) to create catalytic active sites. In order to further improve the catalytic performance of the material, ruthenium nanoparticles were embedded on the nanotubes to obtain an excellent HER catalyst (Ru@S/N/CNT). We have systematically analyzed its morphology, chemical composition and electrochemical properties. The results show that its HER catalytic performance is outstanding, even higher than that of commercial Pt/C. Ru@S/N/CNTs show excellent catalytic performance under both acidic and alkaline conditions, which is due to the synergistic effect of the doping strategy and ruthenium nanoparticles. In 0.5 M H2SO4, the overpotential is 68 mV (10 mA cm−2), and the Tafel slope is only 44 mV dec−1. In 1 M KOH, the overpotential is only 9 mV at 10 mA cm−2, and the Tafel slope is only 37 mV dec−1. The doping strategy can only improve the catalytic performance of the material to a certain extent, and the SCN− poisoning experiment shows that dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles play a major role in HER catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Exposure to heavy metals has been reported to be associated with multiple diseases. However, direct associations and potential mechanisms of heavy metals with physical disability remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to quantify associations of heavy metals with physical disability and further explore the potential mechanisms of DNA methylation on the genome scale. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 4,391 older adults was conducted and activities of daily living (ADL) disability were identified using a 14-item scale questionnaire including basic and instrumental activities to assess the presence of disability (yes or no) rated on a scale of dependence. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated to quantify associations between heavy metals and ADL disability prevalence using multivariate logistic regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models. Whole blood–derived DNA methylation was measured using the HumanMethylationEPIC BeadChip array. An ADL disability-related epigenome-wide DNA methylation association study (EWAS) was performed among 212 sex-matched ADL disability cases and controls, and mediation analysis was further applied to explore potential mediators of DNA methylation. RESULTS: Each 1-standard deviation (SD) higher difference in log10-transformed manganese, copper, arsenic, and cadmium level was significantly associated with a 14% (95% CI: 1.05, 1.24), 16% (95% CI:1.07, 1.26), 22% (95% CI:1.13, 1.33), and 15% (95% CI:1.06, 1.26) higher odds of ADL disability, which remained significant in the multiple-metal and BKMR models. A total of 85 differential DNA methylation sites were identified to be associated with ADL disability prevalence, among which methylation level at cg220000984 and cg23012519 (annotated to IRGM and PKP3) mediated 31.0% and 31.2% of manganese-associated ADL disability prevalence, cg06723863 (annotated to ESRP2) mediated 32.4% of copper-associated ADL disability prevalence, cg24433124 (nearest to IER3) mediated 15.8% of arsenic-associated ADL disability prevalence, and cg07905190 and cg17485717 (annotated to FREM1 and TCP11L1) mediated 21.5% and 30.5% of cadmium-associated ADL disability prevalence (all 푝<0.05). DISCUSSION: Our findings suggested that heavy metals contributed to higher prevalence of ADL disability and that locus-specific DNA methylation are partial mediators, providing potential biomarkers for further cellular mechanism studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entities and relations extraction are the key tasks in the construction of biomedical knowledge graph, which play an important role in the biomedical artificial intelligence. However, extraction of entities and relations from biomedical texts is challenging because of the overlapping triples problem. The previous approaches typically divided the task into two separate sub-tasks. However, these methods failed to address the error propagation problem. Recent methods have been proposed to perform both sub-tasks simultaneously. Nonetheless, most current methods still encounter issues related to imbalanced interactions and independent features. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on feature partition encoding and relative positional embedding to joint extract biomedical entity and relation triples simultaneously. Compared to previous work, our method shows exceptional accurate in extracting entities and relations, while efficiently tackling the challenge of overlapping triples in biomedical texts. Our work has two contributions. Firstly, our method divides the features into task-specific and shared parts through entity, relation and sharing partitions at the encoding stage. And the encoded features will be aggregated according to the subsequent tasks. Secondly, we introduce a relative positional embedding method to capture the relative distance information between token pairs. In this way, our method can effectively deal with the sub-tasks interactions problem and improve entities and relations extraction. The experimental results show that our method improves the F1 scores of relations extraction by 3.2%, 2.1%, 3.4%, and 2.8% on four biomedical datasets, respectively. • Joint extraction is to recognize biomedical entities and relations simultaneously. • Feature partition encoding divides neurons into entity, relation, shared partition. • Relative positional embedding benefits both entities and relations extraction. • FPE is effective in addressing the issue of overlapping triples in biomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confucian political authority is often assumed illegitimate and it is regarded as meritocratic rather than democratic. However, I disagree with such an assumption, because from my perspective, Confucian political authority actually has a potential legitimacy which may contribute to establishing a responsive and harmonious state. Doing so, I argue that, since Confucian political authority is derived from the idea of "service" and "reciprocity," it therefore advocates non-coercive moral persuasion and reciprocal obligations. In the following discussion, I will point out that certain modern democratic theories on political authority, such as those concerning "general acceptability," "consent," "autonomy," and "paternalism," are inadequate to refute the legitimacy of Confucian political authority. Accordingly, I will propose that our contemplation over whether Confucian political authority is legitimate or not ought to be furthermore widened and deepened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of bilateral balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) as compared with unilateral BPA for patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).Method: We reviewed 210 consecutive BPA sessions for 92 CTEPH patients, including 124 unilateral BPA sessions and 86 bilateral BPA sessions. Radiation exposure, operation details, lesions characteristics and the occurrence of complications were compared between unilateral BPA and bilateral BPA. 131 BPA sessions with a hemodynamics follow-up were included for efficacy analysis, in which hemodynamics changes were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with the occurrence of complications.Result: Bilateral BPA treated more lobes, arteries and lesions [3 (2, 4) vs. 2 (1, 3) lobes, p < 0.001; 8 (5.5, 10) vs. 6 (4, 8) vessels, p = 0.003; 9 (7, 12) vs. 8 (5, 10) lesions, p = 0.01] in one single session than unilateral BPA in a comparable operation duration and amount of contrast media given. Overall, the occurrence of complications was similar between bilateral BPA and unilateral BPA [9 (10.5%) vs. 12 (9.7%), p = 0.83]. Hemodynamics effects didn't differ significantly between bilateral BPA and unilateral BPA in a single session [mPAP, - 4.5 ± 8.6 vs. - 3.6 ± 7.3 mmHg, p = 0.52; PVR, - 1.1 (- 3.5, 0.8) vs. - 1.8 (- 5.2, 0.3) Wood units, p = 0.21]. For the initial BPA session, bilateral BPA also treated more lobes, arteries and lesions than unilateral BPA [3 (2, 4) vs. 2 (1, 2) lobes, p < 0.001; 8.0 (5.8, 9.3) vs. 6.0 (4.0, 8.0) vessels, p = 0.04; 9 (6, 12) vs. 7 (4, 10) lesions, p = 0.02]. The occurrence of complications was also similar [5 (13.2%) vs. 5 (9.3%), p = 0.80], even in patients with poor baseline hemodynamics. Univariate regression analysis reveals the number of lobes treated/session, but not bilateral BPA, as predictive factors of complications.Conclusion: Bilateral BPA may be safely and effectively performed in patients with CTEPH without increasing operation duration and radiation burden, even in patients with unfavorable baseline hemodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Young children can understand relations in division problems. • Sharing supports the development of division knowledge, but they are not sufficient. • The inverse relation in division is difficult to understand in early childhood. • Children grasp the inverse relation better in partitive than quotitive situations. • Working memory has independent contributions to children's knowledge of division. This study examined the longitudinal development of young children's informal understanding of division through fair sharing. Two hundred and twelve children were followed from the age of 4.5–5.5 over three waves of assessment. Division understanding was measured with different types of problems (same- versus different-divisor trials) presented with different situations (partitive vs quotitve). Several key findings emerged. First, different-divisor problems were significantly more difficult than same-divisor problems at all age levels, which suggests that tasks that demand children's understanding of the inverse relation between divisor and quotient are more difficult than tasks that demand the understanding of equivalence principle. Second, children found it easier to understand the inverse relation between divisor and quotient in the context of partitive than quotitive situation. Third, with age, there was a sharper improvement in solving different-divisor problems than same-divisor problems, whereas the progress was more prominent for different-divisor problems presented in partitive situations, compared with other problems. Finally, working memory made the most consistent and unique contribution to solving all kinds of division problems at all age levels, compared with other cognitive factors. Theoretical and practical implications in early childhood mathematics education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Duckweed (Lemna minor L.) is a common plant in paddy fields, absorbing nutrients, heavy metals, and agrochemical residues from irrigation water, thus playing a pivotal role in ecosystem sustainability. To reveal the combined effects of irrigation modes, rice cultivars, and fertilizer types on duckweed, tank experiments were conducted in two rice-growing seasons (2019 and 2020) in Jiangsu Province, China. The experiment included three factors, each consisting of two levels: rice cultivars (R) (japonica rice (J) and indica rice (X)), fertilizer types (F) (organic fertilizer (O) and chemical fertilizer (C)), and irrigation modes (I) (controlled irrigation (1) and shallow-frequent irrigation (2)). Results indicated that organic fertilizer significantly increased the total phosphorus concentration by 396% and promoted DCR by 703% in floodwater as compared with chemical fertilizer. The significantly higher tiller numbers of indica rice increased the shade level, repressing maximum electron transfer rate (ETR max) of duckweed, and consequently reduced DCR by 32.8% as compared with japonica rice. A cyclic pattern of Production-Death-Reproduction of duckweed under controlled irrigation was observed, which depended on the periodic cycle of Appear-Disappear-Reappear of the floodwater. Setting the irrigation lower limit to 87.9% saturation water content(θs) can benefit the regeneration of duckweed after re-watering. Similar to a capacitor that could store and release electric charge in circuit system by regulating voltage, under the application of organic fertilizer (battery), duckweed (capacitors) efficiently absorbs, decomposes, and subsequently reabsorbs nutrients by the regulation of controlled irrigation (switch), releasing fertility gradually for the rice plant (electrical appliance). • Duckweed is influenced by combined effects of fertilizer, rice and irrigation types. • Setting irrigation lower limit at 87.9% θ s aids duckweed regrowth. • Duckweed absorbs, decomposes, reabsorbs nutrients—acts as "fertilizer capacitors". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important chemical raw material, hydrazine brings convenience to people's lives and provides opportunities for human development. However, the misuse or leakage of hydrazine has brought pollution to the environment, including water, soil and living organisms. At the same time, hydrazine poses a potential threat to human health as a carcinogen. Despite the enormous challenges, it is crucial to develop an effective method to detect hydrazine in environmental samples. In this work, we have synthesized a series of probes based on phenothiazine fluorophore by the introduction of different substituents and developed a novel probe for the detection of hydrazine. The probe is capable of detecting hydrazine in aqueous solutions with high sensitivity and selectivity, and can be easily fabricated into paper test strips for use in in situ samples. In addition, the probe is effective in detecting hydrazine in water, soil, cells, and zebrafish, providing an excellent tool for detecting hydrazine in the environment. [Display omitted] • Construction of a fluorescent probe that can be used to detect hydrazine. • Probe DO enables sensitive and selective detection of hydrazine in aqueous solutions. • Probe DO can be used to detect hydrazine in water and soil samples in real environments. • Probe DO enables imaging of hydrazine in cells and zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between intestinal flora and ulcerative colitis (UC) was studied in order to provide a basis and method for clinical treatment. Fresh fecal samples were collected from 30 active UC patients and 10 healthy controls. The intestinal flora DNA from each sample was extracted and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was carried out using HiSeq platform to identify the intestinal flora in fecal samples. The richness and diversity of intestinal flora in UC patients were significantly lower than those in healthy control group (P < 0.05). Significant differences were observed between the intestinal flora-species of UC patients and healthy controls. Synergistetes (P < 0.01) and Firmicutes (P < 0.05), along with probiotics Veillonella (P < 0.01), Ruminococcus and Coprococcus (P < 0.05) in the UC patients were lower than that in the healthy controls significantly. Furthermore, compared with the control group, Tenericutes (P < 0.01) and intestinal pathogenic bacteria, including Bacteroides (P < 0.01), Escherichia and Sutterella (P < 0.05) were significantly increased. The incidence of UC is significantly associated with the changes in intestinal flora. Changes in intestinal flora may lead to a decrease in the diversity of intestinal flora or to the enrichment of a particular intestinal flora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate repeatability of ROI-sampling strategies for quantifying hepatic proton density fat fraction (PDFF) and to assess error relative to the 9-ROI PDFF. Methods: This was a secondary analysis in subjects with known or suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who underwent MRI for magnitude-based hepatic PDFF quantification. Each subject underwent three exams, each including three acquisitions (nine acquisitions total). An ROI was placed in each hepatic segment on the first acquisition of the first exam and propagated to other acquisitions. PDFF was calculated for each of 511 sampling strategies using every combination of 1, 2, ..., all 9 ROIs. Intra- and inter-exam intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and repeatability coefficients (RCs) were estimated for each sampling strategy. Mean absolute error (MAE) was estimated relative to the 9-ROI PDFF. Strategies that sampled both lobes evenly ("balanced") were compared with those that did not ("unbalanced") using two-sample t tests. Results: The 29 enrolled subjects (23 male, mean age 24 years) had mean 9-ROI PDFF 11.8% (1.1–36.3%). With more ROIs, ICCs increased, RCs decreased, and MAE decreased. Of the 60 balanced strategies with 4 ROIs, all (100%) achieved inter- and intra-exam ICCs > 0.998, 55 (92%) achieved intra-exam RC < 1%, 50 (83%) achieved inter-exam RC < 1%, and all (100%) achieved MAE < 1%. Balanced sampling strategies had higher ICCs and lower RCs, and lower MAEs than unbalanced strategies in aggregate (p < 0.001 for comparisons between balanced vs. unbalanced strategies). Conclusion: Repeatability improves and error diminishes with more ROIs. Balanced 4-ROI strategies provide high repeatability and low error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate boycott and buycott as responses to brand activism, this study adopted a 2 (consumer personal stance: consistent vs. inconsistent with the target company) × 2 (magnitude of public support: personal stance congruent with majority vs. minority) × 2 (perceived credibility of public support information: high vs. low) between-subjects experimental design. The experimental findings suggested a moderated moderated mediation effect: Consumers tend to buycott (or boycott) a company when their personal stances on a sociopolitical issue are consistent (or inconsistent) with the company's, and such effects are mediated by brand attitude and moderated by magnitude of public support and perceived credibility of public support information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Computed tomography (CT)-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) is an essential step in the management of lung nodules (LNs). Low-dose CT (LDCT)-guided CNB has been used to decrease the radiation exposure. Aim: To evaluate the technical success, safety, diagnostic capacity, and radiation exposure to patients between LDCT-guided and standard-dose CT (SDCT)-guided CNB for LNs. Material and methods: This is a retrospective, single-centre study. Patients who underwent LDCT-guided or SDCT-guided CNB for LNs from January 2015 to December 2017 were included. Data on technical success, diagnostic performance, complications, and radiation exposure were collected and analysed. Results: A total of 70 and 65 patients underwent LDCT-guided and SDCT-guided CNB procedure, respectively. The technical success rates were 100% in both groups. The diagnostic yield, sensitivity, specificity, and overall diagnostic accuracy in the LDCT and SDCT groups were 71.4% and 67.7% (p = 0.637), 97.8% and 93.2% (p = 0.625), 100%, and 100%, and 98.6% and 95.4% (p = 0.560), respectively. The independent risk factor of diagnostic failure was less sample tissues (p = 0.012; 95% confidence interval: 0.033-0.651). Pneumothorax was found in 9 and 12 patients in the LDCT and SDCT groups, respectively (p = 0.369). Lung haemorrhage was found in 11 and 12 patients in the LDCT and SDCT groups, respectively (p = 0.671). The mean dose-length product was 38.3 ±17.0 mGy · cm and 376.0 ±118.7 mGy · cm in the LDCT and SDCT groups, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Compared to SDCT, LDCT-guided CNB can provide comparable safety and diagnostic performance for LNs while reducing exposure to radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• SSCF-CW effectively improves N and P removal in low C/N wastewater. • Electrons resupply mode of S and Fe cycle enhance denitrification efficiency. • SSCF improves the iron plaque formation of root. • Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle can improve phosphorus removal by co-precipitation and adsorption. The urgent need to achieve sustainable development goals and address global climate change calls for innovative solutions in advanced low-carbon water treatment technologies. In this study, constructed wetlands (CWs), a sustainable and multifunctional wastewater treatment technology known for its low cost and energy efficiency, was focused. It was presented a novel approach that employs a sulfur-siderite composite filler in the constructed wetland (SSCF-CW), which demonstrated remarkable removal efficiencies for total phosphorus (TP) ranging from 81.14 % to 98.87 %, nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 −-N) ranging from 85.23 % to 99.82 %, and total nitrogen (TN) ranging from 91.65 % to 97.01 % in low C/N wastewater treatment. The electron resupply mode of the sulfur and iron cycles plays a pivotal role in enhancing denitrification efficiency. Furthermore, SSCF enhances the resilience of SSCF-CW against shock loadings, providing increased stability and performance with TN removal rate of 2.96 ∼ 3.42 g N·m−3·d−1 while HRT decreased from 48 h to 10 h. Notably, the majority of NO 3 −-N elimination occurs within the SSCF layer, where Thiobacillus species dominate the denitrification process in SSCF-CW. The introduction of SSCF promotes carbon fixation with the higher relative abundance of DLD gene (5.52 %) in SSCF-CW, benefiting microbial growth and accelerating electron transfer process. Co-precipitation and adsorption pathways in the SSCF layer primarily contribute to TP removal, while iron leaching from SSCF facilitates the formation of iron plaque on roots, establishing an iron reservoir and ensuring bioavailability. These findings highlight the significant potential of SSCF in constructed wetland systems, offering a cost-effective and sustainable low-carbon technology for municipal wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• VSL was designed for as specialized feature engineering approach for intelligent control of WWTPs. • Performance of Machine Learning for Multiple Classes Improved by VSL. • Machine learning models based on VSL reduce energy consumption of aeration. • An automatic Python library called 'wwtpai' packages has been made free and open sourced. Intelligent control of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has the potential to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions significantly. Machine learning (ML) provides a promising solution to handle the increasing amount and complexity of generated data. However, relationships between the features of wastewater datasets are generally inconspicuous, which hinders the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in WWTPs intelligent control. In this study, we develop an automatic framework of feature engineering based on variation sliding layer (VSL) to control the air demand precisely. Results demonstrated that using VSL in classic machine learning, deep learning, and ensemble learning could significantly improve the efficiency of aeration intelligent control in WWTPs. Bayesian regression and ensemble learning achieved the highest accuracy for predicting air demand. The developed models with VSL-ML models were also successfully implemented under the full-scale wastewater treatment plant, showing a 16.12 % reduction in demand compared to conventional aeration control of preset dissolved oxygen (DO) and feedback to the blower. The VSL-ML models showed great potential to be applied for the precision air demand prediction and control. The package as a tripartite library of Python is called wwtpai , which is freely accessible on GitHub and CSDN to remove technical barriers to the application of AI technology in WWTPs. The surrounding water environment represents the wastewater treatment plant, the phrase(TN, TEMP, COD, Time, DO, MLSS, Flow rate and NH 3 -N) in the bubble indicates that the commonly used indicators of the wastewater plant are used to predict the air demand of aeration at the top of the figure. Human brain represents method of artificial intelligence, multiple neurons represent 12 algorithms (GBDT,LSTM,ANN,HUBER,KNN,SVM,ROBUST,DT,LGBM,VAYER,RF and XGB). The aeration quantity can be predicted through various algorithms. Use the library of Python (wwtpai) based on variation sliding layer (VSL) encapsulation to optimize the prediction result. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing a unique moment within a particularly volatile political climate where various issues such as climate change, immigration, and healthcare are increasingly polarized, this survey examines the factors driving publics' engagement in and disengagement from communication on controversial sociopolitical issues. It applies and expands the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) by integrating the theoretical insights from the literature of information omission and avoidance. Results not only support the applicability of the STOPS model in explaining publics' communication on controversial sociopolitical problems but also the viability of integrating two new behavioral outcomes – information omission and avoidance – into the STOPS framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many online information systems are delivering personalized news to users today. The essence of this personalization process is to match a news article to the reader's self-identity. However, prior studies mostly focus on matching a positive news story to a person's desired identity. No known research has discussed the possibility of matching a negative news story to a person's undesired identity. This study aims to fill this theoretical gap by testing a three-way interaction effect among news valence, identity desirability, and uniqueness on attitude toward the news story. Through a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, it is shown that a positive news story tends to generate a more favorable attitude when matched to the reader's desired self-identity, whereas a negative news story will generate a more favorable attitude when matched to the person's undesired self-identity, and such an effect is especially pronounced when the identity is unique. Perceived news credibility is found to partially mediate these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North Georgia Mountains are the southernmost region along the United States East Coast where European wine grapes (Vitis vinifera) are grown commercially. Epidemics of downy mildew, caused by Plasmopara viticola, are frequent and severe, but little is known about the epidemiology and population biology of the pathogen in this region. Disease monitoring in an experimental vineyard from 2015 to 2017 indicated that times of disease onset and progress rates were highly variable across years and cultivars. Oospores were observed microscopically, and simulation with a process‐based model indicated presence of conditions favourable for oospore germination in the spring and early summer each year. A total of 409 P. viticola isolates collected over three years were genotyped with seven microsatellite markers, revealing very high genotypic diversity, which when combined with the observation of oospores is indicative of a sexually reproducing population. Among the 409 isolates, 225 multilocus genotypes (MLGs) were identified, of which 164 were detected only once and 61 were repeated (clonal). Eight MLGs (represented by 28 isolates) were detected across years, suggesting the possibility of asexual overwintering of P. viticola in this region. Across sampling dates, the percentage of isolates belonging to nonrepeated (unique) MLGs ranged from 27.3% to 63.2%. Even towards the end of the annual epidemic, the percentage of isolates in nonrepeated MLGs was still relatively high, around 30%. These MLGs may have originated from oospores germinating late during the growing season, although incomplete sampling at earlier dates and contribution by immigration cannot be fully excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a theoretical model that provides a segmentation method of publics based on their cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses toward corporate social advocacy (CSA). As one of the initial efforts in building a theory of CSA in public relations scholarship, the model segments consumers based on three outcome variables – boycott intention, purchase intention, and corporate reputation. This model also incorporates consumer-company congruence, company-cause fit, consumer-cause fit, and issue involvement as antecedent variables. A survey of 482 adult consumers found that consumer-company congruence and company-cause fit had significant negative impacts on boycott intention, but positive influences on purchase intention. Consumer-company congruence, company-cause fit, and consumer-cause fit all had significant positive impacts on corporate reputation. Moreover, interaction effects between company-cause fit and consumers' involvement with the specific CSA issue were found significant on both boycott intention and purchase intention. How these findings help advance the understanding of publics in a CSA context is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemokine receptor CXCR4, a G rotein-coupled receptor (GPCR) capable of heteromerizing with other GPCRs, is involved in many processes, including immune responses, hematopoiesis, and organogenesis. Evidence suggests that CXCR4 activation reduces thrombin/protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1)- induced impairment of endothelial barrier function. However, the mechanisms underlying cross-talk between CXCR4 and PAR1 are not well-understood. Using intermolecular bioluminescence resonance energy transfer and proximity ligation assays, we found that CXCR4 heteromerizes with PAR1 in the HEK293T expression system and in human primary pulmonary endothelial cells (hPPECs). A peptide analog of transmembrane domain 2 (TM2) of CXCR4 interfered with PAR1:CXCR4 heteromerization. In HTLA cells, the presence of CXCR4 reduced the efficacy of thrombin to induce β-arrestin-2 recruitment to recombinant PAR1 and enhanced thrombin-induced Ca2+ mobilization. Whereas thrombin-induced extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation occurred more transiently in the presence of CXCR4, peak ERK1/2 phosphorylation was increased when compared with HTLA cells expressing PAR1 alone. CXCR4-associated effects on thrombin- induced b-arrestin-2 recruitment to and signaling of PAR1 could be reversed by TM2. In hPPECs, TM2 inhibited thrombin-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation and activation of Ras homolog gene family member A. CXCR4 siRNA knockdown inhibited thrombin-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Whereas thrombin stimulation reduced surface expression of PAR1, CXCR4, and PAR1:CXCR4 heteromers, chemokine (CXC motif) ligand 12 stimulation reduced surface expression of CXCR4 and PAR1:CXCR4 heteromers, but not of PAR1. Finally, TM2 dose-dependently inhibited thrombin-induced impairment of hPPEC monolayer permeability. Our findings suggest that CXCR4:PAR1 heteromerization enhances thrombin-induced G protein signaling of PAR1 and PAR1-mediated endothelial barrier disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autophagy has been shown to maintain neural system homeostasis during stroke. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal autophagy in ischemic stroke remain poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of the pathway consisting of MEG3 (maternally expressed gene 3), microRNA-378 (miR-378), and GRB2 (growth factor receptor-bound protein 2) in neuronal autophagy and neurological functional impairment in ischemic stroke. A mouse model of the middle cerebral artery occluded-induced ischemic stroke and an in vitro model of oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced neuronal injury were developed. To understand the role of theMEG3/miR-378/GRB2 axis in the neuronal regulation, the expression of proteins associated with autophagy in neurons was measured by Western blotting analysis, and neuron death was evaluated using a lactate dehydrogenase leakage rate test. First, it was found that the GRB2 gene, up-regulated in middle cerebral artery occluded-operated mice and oxygen-glucose deprivation-exposed neurons, was a target gene of miR-378. Next, miR-378 inhibited neuronal loss and neurological functional impairment in mice, as well as neuronal autophagy and neuronal death by silencing of GRB2. Confirmatory in vitro experiments showed that MEG3 could specifically bind to miR-378 and subsequently up-regulate the expression of GRB2, which in turn suppressed the activation of Akt/mTOR pathway. Taken together, these findings suggested that miR-378 might protect against neuronal autophagy and neurological functional impairment and proposed that a MEG3/miR-378/GRB2 regulatory axis contributed to better understanding of the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional DNAs-functionalized magnetic beads (MBs) offer great potential in bioanalysis field because of their target recognition and magnetic separation functions. However, the recognition capability and hybridization affinity of DNA probes often suffer from limited available space, poor probe conformation and non-selective adsorption. To overcome these limitations, we herein used aptamer-pendant DNA tetrahedron nanostructure-functionalized MBs (TETapt-tet MBs) to develop a target-response fluorescence method with tetracycline (TET) as a model. In the absence of TET, 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine-labeled complementary DNAs (ROX-cDNAs) were assembled on the surface of MBs. Upon the addition of target TET, the ROX-cDNAs were separated and released from the MBs to generate fluorescence signal. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for TET were found to be 6 pg mL−1 and 20 pg mL−1, respectively. Compared with ssDNA-functionalized MBs surface, the designed DNA tetrahedron nanostructure-based surface could decrease the hybridization time and reduce false positives, ensuring the accuracy of TET detection in complex samples. The presented method was successfully employed for TET detection in honey samples. Moreover, this functionalization strategy could be extended to detect multiple antibiotics by simply substituting different aptamer sequences. Therefore, the proposed method has great potential in the field of food safety and public health. Image 1 • An aptamer-pendant DNA tetrahedron nanostructure was successfully assembled. • The tetrahedron functionalization mode could reduce surface effects and increase reaction rate. • The method showed a detection limit as low as 6 pg mL−1 for tetracycline. • Practical application of the method was demonstrated in serum and honey samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spectrophotometric method for determining the viability of sporangia and zoospores of the oomycete Plasmopara viticola (causal agent of grapevine downy mildew) is described and evaluated to overcome the limitations of currently available methods for assessing propagule viability. Sporangia produced on leaf discs in the laboratory were harvested at different days after the initiation of sporulation (DAS) to yield differences in sporangium viability. Sporangia were suspended in sterile water, the suspensions were placed in a cuvette, and sporangium germination was monitored in a spectrophotometer (λ = 600 nm) at 2‐ to 3‐min intervals for 5 hr. Absorbance started to increase after sporangia were suspended in water for ~30–60 min followed by major peak(s) for younger sporangia (1–3 DAS), whereas low to no increase in absorbance was observed for senescent sporangia (>7 DAS). Microscopic observation confirmed that the increase in absorbance corresponded to the release and active swimming of zoospores, whereas absorbance decreased when zoospores encysted and settled. A positive correlation (r =.839, p =.0365) was observed when the time to the initial increase in absorbance was plotted against the age of sporangia. The time to the absorbance peak (marking the time of maximum zoospore movement) was shortest for immature sporangia (0 DAS), longest for young sporangia (2 DAS) and decreased for mature and senescent sporangia. A similar pattern was observed for the standardized area under the absorbance curve (indicating the overall quantity of zoospores released), for which values were lowest for immature and senescent sporangia, highest for young sporangia and intermediate for mature sporangia. Consistent patterns obtained across two independent experiments suggest that the method is reproducible and may be further developed for other zoospore‐releasing pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intermolecular addition of ketones to unactivated alkenes has been developed by means of Pd(II)/amine cooperative catalysis, which incorporates the simultaneous activation of amide-containing alkenes and α-carbon of ketones enabled by Pd(II) catalyst and enamine, respectively. Moreover, the addition of 5-benzylfurfural derivatives to an unactivated alkene has also been achieved by integrating Pd(II) and trienamine catalysis to provide γ-adducts at the benzylic position of furfurals in good to high yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have received considerable attention in human cancer research. However, many circRNAs remain to be detected. In our study, we determined novel circRNAs and investigated their effects on bladder cancer (BCa). Methods: Microarray dataset GSE92675 was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Then, we combined computational biology with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to select related circRNAs in BCa. The selected circRNA–microRNA (miRNA)–messenger RNA (mRNA) regulatory subnetwork was determined by Gene Oncology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. Results: The regulatory network constructed from the microarray dataset (GSE92675) contained 49 differentially expressed circRNAs (DECs). GO and KEGG analyses showed that the MAPK and PI3K–AKT signaling pathways were statistically significant. On the basis of qRT-PCR and the degree value calculated by the cytoHubba plugin of Cytoscape, hsa_circ_0011385 was finally confirmed. The subnetwork around hsa_circ_0011385 was constructed. In addition, we created a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network composed of 67 nodes and 274 edges after removing independent nodes. GO and KEGG analyses showed that hubgenes were involved in cell cycle activities. Moreover, they could be regulated by miRNAs and play an eventful role in BCa pathogenesis. Conclusions: We proposed a novel circRNA–miRNA–mRNA network related to BCa pathogenesis. This network might be a new molecular biomarker and could be used to develop potential treatment strategies for BCa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study outlines the design of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) thruster system which is capable to power a 3-meter ship model cruising at a speed of V =0.5 m/s using the Lorentz force generated by the electric field and magnetic field in conducting seawater. Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of a modified Delft 372 catamaran model, the thrust needed to achieve the targeted cruising speed is first estimated. To achieve the estimated magnitude of the thrust, dimensions of thruster modules are designed based on numerical simulations of magnetic field, for better distributions of the strength and uniformity of the magnetic field. Additional CFD simulations of the flows through the thruster module, coupled with magnetic and electric fields, are conducted to realize the hydrodynamics. Consequently, several configurations of thruster modules are manufactured and experimented. A particular configuration of a shielded two-unit module is chosen to power the ship model. Finally, a complete system of MHD-1 marine vehicle, including a ship model, multiple MHD thruster modules and power suppliers, is assembled and tested. The system is shown capable to cruise closely to the targeted speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study compares splenic proton density fat fraction (PDFF) measured using confounder-corrected chemical shift-encoded (CSE)-MRI to magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in human patients at 3T. Methods: This was a prospectively designed ancillary study to various previously described single-center studies performed in adults and children with known or suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Patients underwent magnitude-based MRI (MRI-M), complex-based MRI (MRI-C), high signal-to-noise variants (Hi-SNR MRI-M and Hi-SNR MRI-C), and MRS at 3T for spleen PDFF estimation. PDFF from CSE-MRI methods were compared to MRS-PDFF using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Demographics were summarized descriptively. Spearman's rank correlations were computed pairwise between CSE-MRI methods. Individual patient measurements were plotted for qualitative assessment. A significance level of 0.05 was used. Results: Forty-seven patients (20 female, 27 male) including 12 adults (median 55 years old) and 35 children (median 12 years old). Median PDFF estimated by MRS, MRI-M, Hi-SNR MRI-M, MRI-C, and Hi-SNR MRI-C was 1.0, 2.3, 1.9, 2.2, and 2.0%. The four CSE-MRI methods estimated statistically significant higher spleen PDFF values compared to MRS (p < 0.0001 for all). Pairwise associations in spleen PDFF values measured by different CSE-MRI methods were weak, with the highest Spearman's rank correlations being 0.295 between MRI-M and Hi-SNR MRI-M; none were significant after correction for multiple comparisons. No qualitative relationship was observed between PDFF measurements among the various methods. Conclusion: Overestimation of PDFF by CSE-MRI compared to MRS and poor agreement between related CSE-MRI methods suggest that non-zero PDFF values in human spleen are artifactual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study assesses the risk of progression of Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) categories, and the effects of inter-exam changes in modality or radiologist on LI-RADS categorization.Methods: Clinical LI-RADS v2014 CT and MRI exams at our institution between January 2014 and September 2017 were retrospectively identified. Untreated LR-1, LR-2, LR-3, and LR-4 observations with at least one follow-up exam were included. Three hundred and seventy-two observations in 214 patients (149 male, 65 female, mean age 61 ± 10 years) were included during the study period (715 exams total). Cumulative incidence curves for progression to malignant LI-RADS categories (LR-5 or LR-M) and to LR-4 or higher were generated for each index category and compared using log-rank tests with a resampling extension. Relationships between inter-exam changes in LI-RADS category and modality or radiologist, adjusted for inter-exam time intervals, were modeled using mixed effect logistic regressions.Results: Median inter-exam follow-up interval and total follow-up duration were 123 and 227 days, respectively. Index LR-1, LR-2, LR-3, and LR-4 differed significantly in their cumulative incidences of progression to malignant categories (p < 0.0001), which were 0%, 2%, 7%, and 32% at 6 months, respectively. Index LR-1, LR-2, and LR-3 differed significantly in cumulative incidences of progression to LR-4 or higher (p = 0.003). MRI-MRI exam pairs had more stable LI-RADS categorization compared to CT-CT (OR = 0.460, p = 0.0018).Conclusions: LI-RADS observations demonstrate increasing risk of progression to malignancy with increasing category ranging from 0% for LR-1 to 32% for LR-4 at 6 months. Inter-exam modality changes are associated with LI-RADS category changes.Key Points: • While the majority of LR-2 observations remain stable over long-term follow-up, LR-3 and especially LR-4 observations have a higher risk for category progression. • Category transitions between sequential exams using different modalities (CT vs. MRI) may reflect modality differences rather than biological change. MRI, especially with the same type of contrast agent, may provide the most reproducible categorization, although this needs additional validation. • In a clinical practice setting, in which radiologists refer to prior imaging and reports, there was no significant association between changes in radiologist and changes in LI-RADS categorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous phylogenetic studies of the grape downy mildew pathogen, Plasmopara viticola, revealed five cryptic species in eastern North America that differed in their host range and geographic distribution. Preliminary comparative studies also documented differences in temperature responses during infection between certain cryptic species, indicating the biological relevance of knowing which cryptic species of the pathogen are present in a given region. However, limited information is available regarding the presence, prevalence and dynamics of cryptic species of P. viticola in the southeastern United States. Here, 301 P. viticola isolates obtained from cultivated grape species in five distinct grape‐growing regions of Georgia and Florida were subjected to cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence analysis and multilocus sequencing (internal transcribed spacer region of the rDNA, actin and β‐tubulin) to identify cryptic species and infer phylogenetic relationships. Three cryptic species, P. viticola clade aestivalis (Pva), clade vinifera (Pvv) and clade vulpina (Pvu), were identified in Georgia, whereas two, Pva and Pvv, were found in Florida; all three cryptic species are reported here for the first time in Georgia, whereas Pva is reported for the first time in Florida. Pva was the most prevalent cryptic species (72.1% of isolates) and was distributed widely from the North Georgia Mountains to Mid‐Florida, whereas Pvv (27.2%) and Pvu (0.7%) were found only in the Coastal Plain region of the two states. Interestingly, Pvu was obtained from French American hybrid Blanc du Bois and could be subcultured on Vitis vinifera Chardonnay, suggesting a broader host range than only the wild species Vitis vulpina reported previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-field dielectric responses of pure and 0.15 wt. % MnO-added (1-x)Pb(Fe2/3W1/3)O3–xPbTiO3 [(1-x)PFW–xPT] were investigated with the empirical model, the Curie–Weiss law and the spin-glass model. According to the experimental data and the fitting results, we conclude that (1) the lattice structure is changed and the electron compensation is induced with MnO addition. (2) The dielectric behaviors obey the Curie–Weiss law as the temperature is much far above Tm for all samples. (3) TCW, the temperature at which the dielectric behaviors deviate from the Curie–Weiss law, is higher and the diffuse phase characteristic is more obvious as decreasing PbTiO3 content or adding MnO. (4) The tailed temperature-dependent local order parameters, which are derived from the spin-glass model and the experimental results, for more diffuse phase transition relaxors show higher thermal stability in the spontaneous polarization microregions. (5) The temperature-dependent local ordering parameters change from a long-range-ordered ferroelectric state to a short-range-ordered relaxor with decreasing the PbTiO3 content or adding MnO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regarding the dielectric characteristics of the diffusion phase transition (DPT) in ferroelectric relaxor materials, several researchers have provided similar but different laws to explain these phenomenon. These laws, presented by Burfoot et al. and Eiras et al., have been proven to provide a better explanation, especially the dielectric diffusion phenomenon, of the incomplete DPT materials if compared with the models presented by Smolensky, and Isupov. However, the differences in fitting adaptability and the physical and mathematical meanings between these two laws have never been discussed. In this paper, we analyze these two laws in the (1-x)Pb(Fe2/3W1/3)-xPbTiO3 [(1-x)PFW-xPT] relaxor system using the statistical regression theory. We find that the laws of both Burfoot and Eiras demonstrate the same adaptability and provide smaller estimation bias on the samples than the models of Smolensky and Isupov, despite the complete or incomplete DPT characteristics. When x is smaller, the samples tend to be complete DPT phenomenon and the estimation bias of Smolensky and Isupov`s models is relatively smaller. However, when the samples show ferroelectric characteristics, the estimation bias will be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, pure and 0.15 wt %MnO additives of (1-x)Pb(Fe2/3W1/3)O3–xPbTiO3 [(1-x)PFW-xPT] with x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 were synthesized by the conventional solid state reaction method. The dielectric diffusion properties were investigated with the empirical law. The lattice structure was found to transfer from tetragonal to pseudocubic and the diffusion phase characteristic is more notable as decreasing PbTiO3 compositions or adding MnO additives. Moreover, the dielectric loss is improved and the space charge polarization effect is vanished as adding MnO additives in 0.7PFW-0.3PT compounds. We suggested it was probably due to the lead vacancy which is substituted by the manganese ions or the interstitial manganese ions intervene into the interstice between the positive and negative ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]