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Abstract Objective To explore the early efficacy of an artificial intelligence preoperative planning system (AIHIP system) for assisting in hip revision surgery. Methods The clinical data of 25 patients (26 hips) who underwent hip revision between June 2019 and December 2023 and who met the selection criteria were retrospectively analyzed. There were 13 males and 12 females; the ages ranged from 44 to 90 years, with a mean of 69.1 years. The patients' replacement of prosthesis model, operation time, hospitalization time, postoperative time out of bed, etc., as well as the occurrence of adverse events such as postoperative infection, fracture, and loosening of the prosthesis were recorded. The Harris Hip score (HHS) was used to evaluate the function of the affected limbs preoperatively, and 1 week and 6 months postoperatively, and hip mobility was compared preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively. Results All 25 patients were followed up for 6 to 59 months, with an average of 25.3 months. Except for one patient who developed a thigh hematoma (treated with incision and drainage and decompression) and hip dislocation in one hip (repaired), the remaining patients experienced no adverse events such as loosening of the prosthesis or infection. The postoperative acetabular cup type matching degree completely matched 25 hips, not matching 1 hip (+ 2 number), for a matching rate of 96.15%; the femoral stem type matching degree completely matched 25 hips, generally matching 1 hip (-1 number), for a matching rate of 100%. The Harris scores were 54.7 ± 9.6 and 89.6 ± 7.0 at 1 week and 6 months after surgery, respectively, which were significantly improved (P

Abstract To enhance the accuracy of fine‐grained image classification and address challenges such as excessive interference factors within the dataset, inadequate extraction of local key features, and insufficient channel semantic association, a dual‐branch information interaction model that integrates convolutional neural networks (CNN) with Vision Transformers is proposed. This model leverages the Vision Transformer branch to extract global features, which are subsequently combined with the CNN branch to further augment the model's capability for local information extraction. In order to enhance the ability of the CNN branch to extract global information and reduce the loss of feature information, a feature enhancement module is added to the CNN branch. Since the Vision Transformer branch directly convolves with the convolution kernel will result in the inability to learn the underlying features of the image, a shallow feature extraction module is proposed, and the CNN and Vision Transformer branches interact with the information of the dual branches through the down‐sampling Down module and the up‐sampling UP module. The accuracy of the improved method on CUB‐200‐2011, Stanford Cars and FGVC‐Aircraft fine‐grained image classification datasets are 95.2%, 97.1% and 96.9%, respectively. The experimental results show that the method has good generalization on different datasets.

Abstract Currently, there is a lack of relevant research on the efficacy difference between SHD combined with IBG and PVIBGT in the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head(ONFH). Firstly, this study intends to compare the effectiveness of surgical hip dislocation combined with impacting bone grafts (SHD-IBG) and pedicled vascularised iliac bone graft transfer (PVIBGT) in treating ONFH. And the study investigates patients who suffered from hip preservation failures from both groups to better comprehend failure reasons. 30 patients (34 hips) with ARCO stage IIIA femoral head necrosis were selected between January 2012 and July 2022. They were divided into group A(SHD-IBG) and group B (PVIBGT) according to different surgical methods. Firstly, compared the 1-year effect between SHD-IBG and PVIBGT at 1 year postoperatively; Secondly, assessed the medium and long-term efficacy of SHD-IBG hip preservation treatment; Lastly, based on study of the femoral head removed from patients with hip preservation failure in the two groups, the reasons for the failure of hip preservation were comprehensively analyzed in the two groups. Group A: 11 males (13 hips), 4 females (4 hips);Group B: 9 males (11 hips), 6 females (6 hips).Firstly, the average Harris scores of the two groups at 1 year after surgery: preoperative: 70.7, 1 year after surgery: 78.9 in group A; preoperative: 69.5, 1 year after surgery: 81.5 in group B. The differences were statistically significant (P

Northeast China, recognized as a global flash drought hotspot and a region of nationally important commercial grains and ecological fragility, is highly susceptible to the profound impacts of droughts on both food security and ecological safety. However, the regional-scale characteristics, possible causes and impacts of flash droughts across Northeast China are rarely investigated. Soil moisture data from 2000 to 2022 were utilized to identify the onset, frequency and duration of flash droughts using the quantile method. The spatial trajectories of flash droughts were determined based on the patch-scale centroid transfers. Further, the possible drivings and ecological impacts of flash droughts were analyzed using datasets of climatic variables and gross primary productivity. We found that flash drought coverage with short onset (1- pentad onset) was generally larger than that with long onset (2-, 3- and 4-pentad onset). The affected area of flash droughts generally decreased, while the onset speed increased over the past two decades. Flash droughts frequently occurred the intersection of western Jilin Province, southern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and northern Liaoning Province but with short duration. Compared with 2001–2011, the start, middle and end centroids of flash droughts in 2012–2021 showed more spatial dynamic changes, mainly shifting towards the northeast-southwest and southeast-northwest directions. The onset of flash drought due to potential evapotranspiration, temperature, precipitation deficit, and vapor pressure anomalies account for an average of 33%, 28%, 22%, and 16%, respectively. However, the contributions of dominant meteorological factors and their combinations varied remarkably in different sub-regions. Long onset flash droughts exhibited larger impact on GPP than short onset flash droughts. This study highlights that due to climate change, the affected area of flash droughts in hotspot regions decreased, but the onset speed and spatial dynamics increased, and followed by a more severe ecological impact of short-onset flash drought. Therefore, it is imperative to incorporate the increasing impacts of flash droughts, which is critical to ensuring regional food security and ecological safety in the Northeast China.

Objective: To investigate the successive morphological stages of spermatogenesis, hormonal regulation, and testosterone profile in dromedary camel reproduction. Methods: Testicular tissue samples were obtained from 12 dromedary bull camels aged 7 to 8 at a local abattoir. The histological assessment involved tissue processing, hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining, and examination under a microscope. Stereological analysis, germ cell identification, and assessment of seminiferous tubules and maturation were conducted. Testosterone assay was performed by radioimmunoassay using blood samples collected at regular intervals. Results: The study revealed 12 phases of the dromedary camel’s seminiferous epithelium cycle, highlighting distinct morphological characteristics and cellular processes. Acrosomal migration, maturation, cap formation, and the Golgi-mediated synthesis of proacrosomal vesicles were also explained in dimension, as were the steps of acrosome biogenesis. Spermatids and mature sperm cells were present when spermatogenesis phases were examined. An analysis of the dimensions of seminiferous tubules revealed specific measures for diameter, area, and epithelial height about luminal characteristics. Moreover, there were noticeable variations in the serum testosterone concentrations during the study period, indicating temporal dynamics. Conclusions: This study outlines the spermatogenesis process in dromedary camels across 12 stages, emphasizing cellular dynamics and acrosomal biogenesis. It also provides seminiferous tubule measurements and observes seasonal testosterone fluctuations, offering insights into reproductive regulation and potential strategies for camel breeding conservation.

With the emergence of novel transportation trends, regular buses have experienced a significant decline in passenger numbers. Consequently, it becomes imperative to conduct studies on passengers’ intentions. This particular investigation employed a meticulously designed survey questionnaire to gather data, and developed a new model that integrates the theory of planned behaviour, technology acceptance model and expectation confirmation theory. The primary aim was to explore the key factors that influence residents’ ongoing behavioural intentions towards regular public bus travel. Furthermore, a gender-based multi-group analysis was conducted to investigate the impact mechanism of gender differences on ongoing behavioural intentions. The new model demonstrates various degrees of positive or negative influences among the variables, thereby confirming its universal applicability. Moreover, the multi-group analysis reveals that compared to gender, travel satisfaction has a stronger impact on women’s intentions, while travel attitude has a stronger impact on men’s intentions to travel by certain mean of transport. Simultaneously, perceived behavioural control does not significantly affect persistent intention for women but has a significant positive impact on persistent intention for men. Furthermore, perceived ease of use does not significantly impact perceived usefulness for women but has a significant positive effect on perceived usefulness for men. These research findings bear great significance in promoting environmentally-friendly travel practices.

ObjectiveTo investigate the potential mediating role of inflammatory proteins in the association between lipid species and Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT).MethodsA comprehensive analysis was conducted using pooled data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), incorporating double-sample and reverse Mendelian randomization (MR) techniques, to identify the specific inflammatory proteins that act as intermediaries among 91 screened proteins in relation to deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Furthermore, a two-step MR approach was employed to quantify the proportion of DVT risk attributed to lipid effects mediated by these inflammatory proteins.ResultsThe MR Analysis revealed that the two inflammatory proteins, as predicted by genetics, served as mediating factors in the impact of five lipids on DVT. No reverse effect of DVT was observed on 179 lipid species and 91 inflammatory proteins. In the case of TAG(58:7) and its influence on DVT, CCL20 played an intermediary role with an estimated proportion of 12.51% (ranging from 12% to 13%). SIRT2 exhibited a masking effect on DVT for PC(17:0/20:4) and PC(18:0/20:4), while CCL20 masked the impact of DVT on PC(14:0/18:2), PC(15:0/18:2), and PC(18:0/20:5).ConclusionsIn our study, we identified CCL20 as a crucial mediator in the association between TAG(58:7) and DVT, with a mediating proportion of 12.51% (12%-13%). Further investigations are warranted to explore other potential risk factors acting as mediators.

The sustainable use of groundwater resources is highly important for regional groundwater system safety and food security, especially in large-scale agricultural planting areas. In the Sanjiang Plain (SJP) in Northeast China, irrigation water consumption has increased sharply due to the large-area ''conversion of dry land (mainly maize and soybean fields) into rice fields'', threatening the regional groundwater system security. However, little is known about the impact of large-scale agricultural planting structure adjustment (i.e., changes in cropping systems) on regional groundwater sustainability. This study estimated the groundwater storage anomaly (ΔGWS) using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data and the Global Land Data Assimilation System data. Additionally, the groundwater sustainability index (SI) of this region was evaluated based on GRACE Groundwater Drought Index (GGDI). Collectively, the influence of agricultural planting restructuring on the SJP groundwater sustainability was analyzed. The findings were: (1) The groundwater reserves in SJP and Xingkai Lake Plain decreased with maximum declines of 6.79 and 10.37 cm/year, respectively. (2) The groundwater sustainability deteriorated rapidly after 2009, from extremely high to extremely low levels. The lowest sustainability was observed in the Jiansanjiang area, which underwent the most drastic adjustment of agricultural planting structure. (3) Although precipitation increase can alleviate groundwater overexploitation, the groundwater sustainability continued to deteriorate due to the sharp increase in irrigation water consumption arising from the large-scale land conversion. Curbing the expansion of paddy rice fields or reducing their planting areas can restrain the demand for irrigation water. Moreover, proactively designing diversion projects to increase available surface water supply can also effectively achieve sustainable agricultural development in this region.

Electromyographic (EMG) signals have gained popularity for controlling prostheses and exoskeletons, particularly in the field of upper limbs for stroke patients. However, there is a lack of research in the lower limb area, and standardized open-source datasets of lower limb EMG signals, especially recording data of Asian race features, are scarce. Additionally, deep learning algorithms are rarely used for human motion intention recognition based on EMG, especially in the lower limb area. In response to these gaps, we present an open-source benchmark dataset of lower limb EMG with Asian race characteristics and large data volume, the JJ dataset, which includes approximately 13,350 clean EMG segments of 10 gait phases from 15 people. This is the first dataset of its kind to include the nine main muscles of human gait when walking. We used the processed time-domain signal as input and adjusted ResNet-18 as the classification tool. Our research explores and compares multiple key issues in this area, including the comparison of sliding time window method and other preprocessing methods, comparison of time-domain and frequency-domain signal processing effects, cross-subject motion recognition accuracy, and the possibility of using thigh and calf muscles in amputees. Our experiments demonstrate that the adjusted ResNet can achieve significant classification accuracy, with an average accuracy rate of 95.34% for human gait phases. Our research provides a valuable resource for future studies in this area and demonstrates the potential for ResNet as a robust and effective method for lower limb human motion intention pattern recognition.

Abstract Interrogation of subcellular biological dynamics occurring in a living cell often requires noninvasive imaging of the fragile cell with high spatiotemporal resolution across all three dimensions. It thereby poses big challenges to modern fluorescence microscopy implementations because the limited photon budget in a live-cell imaging task makes the achievable performance of conventional microscopy approaches compromise between their spatial resolution, volumetric imaging speed, and phototoxicity. Here, we incorporate a two-stage view-channel-depth (VCD) deep-learning reconstruction strategy with a Fourier light-field microscope based on diffractive optical element to realize fast 3D super-resolution reconstructions of intracellular dynamics from single diffraction-limited 2D light-filed measurements. This VCD-enabled Fourier light-filed imaging approach (F-VCD), achieves video-rate (50 volumes per second) 3D imaging of intracellular dynamics at a high spatiotemporal resolution of ~180 nm × 180 nm × 400 nm and strong noise-resistant capability, with which light field images with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) down to -1.62 dB could be well reconstructed. With this approach, we successfully demonstrate the 4D imaging of intracellular organelle dynamics, e.g., mitochondria fission and fusion, with ~5000 times of observation.

lncRNA (long non-coding RNA) has been confirmed to be associated with growth, development, cell proliferation, and other biological processes. This study explored the potential role and dynamic change process of lncRNAs and related ceRNA (competitive endogenous RNA) networks in skeletal muscle development of the Yangtze River Delta White (YDW) goat, and to analyze the differences in muscle fiber characteristics and meat quality levels of goats at different growth stages. In this study, we compared the expression profiles of lncRNAs in the M. Longissimus dorsi of the YDW goats at different stages of growth and development by RNA sequencing. The results revealed that, in terms of muscle fiber characteristics, muscle fiber diameter and muscle fiber area were significantly larger in 6-month-old and 10-month-old goats than those in 2-month-old goats (p < 0.01). In terms of muscle quality, a* and b* values of 6-month-old goats were significantly higher than those of 2-month-old goats (p < 0.01). Additionally, the a*, b*, and L* values of 6-month-old goats were significantly higher than those of 10-month-old goats (p < 0.01). The pH at 45 min post-mortem (pH45min) in 10-month-old goats was significantly higher than that in 2-month-old goats (p = 0.006). However, the pH at 24 h post-mortem (pH24h) in 10-month-old goats was significantly lower than that in both 2-month-old and 6-month-old goats (p < 0.01). Shear force increased gradually with age (p < 0.05), while there was no significant difference in drip loss among the different age groups (p > 0.05). Among the identified lncRNA expression profiles, a total of 3073 lncRNAs were found, including 2676 known lncRNAs and 397 novel lncRNAs. Of these, 110, 93, and 99 lncRNAs were specifically expressed in 2-month-old, 6-month-old, and 10-month-old goats, respectively. The lncRNA target gene enrichment analysis showed that they were mainly involved in actin binding, the actin cytoskeleton, the myocardin complex, as well as the AMPK, FoxO, and GnRH signaling pathways. When constructing the lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA ceRNA network, it was found that the ceRNA networks centered on chi-miR-758 and chi-miR-127-5p were involved in muscle development across all three periods, suggesting that they may play an important role in goat muscle growth and development.

Fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda) has now spread to more than 26 Chinese provinces. The government is working with farmers and researchers to find ways to prevent and control this pest. The use of biochar is one of the economic and environmentally friendly strategies to increase plant growth and improve pest resistance. We tested four v/v combinations of bamboo charcoal with coconut bran [BC1 (10:1), BC2(30:1), BC3(50:1)] against a control (CK) in maize. We found that plant height, stem thickness, fresh weight and chlorophyll content were significantly higher in BC2, in addition to the lowest FAW survival %. We then compared the metabolome and transcriptome profiles of BC2 and CK maize plants under FAW herbivory. Our results show that the levels of flavonoids, amino acids and derivatives, nucleotides and derivatives and most phenolic acids decreased, while terpenoids, organic acids, lipids and defense-related hormones increased in BC-grown maize leaves. Transcriptome sequencing revealed consistent expression profiles of genes enriched in these pathways. We also observed the increased expression of genes related to abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, auxin and MAPK signaling. Based on these observations, we discussed the possible pathways involved in maize against FAW herbivory. We conclude that bamboo charcoal induces anti-herbivory responses in maize leaves.

BackgroundAn association between prognosis and high sodium levels in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) has been noted, but limited research exists on the ideal sodium level in these patients or the impact on early mortality, using the MIMIC-IV database.MethodsA retrospective survey was conducted on TBI patients from the MIMIC-IV database. Patients were divided into two categories based on their highest serum sodium level within 24 h of admission exceeding 145 mmol/L: those with hypernatremia, and those with moderate-to-low sodium levels. Collected covariates encompasses demographic, clinical, laboratory, and intervention variables. A multivariate logistic regression model was implemented to forecast in-hospital mortality.ResultsThe study included 1749 TBI patients, with 209 (11.5%) experiencing in-hospital deaths. A non-linear test exposed an L-shaped correlation between sodium level and in-hospital mortality, with mortality rates increasing after a turning point at 144.1 mmol/L. Compared to the moderate-to-low group’s 9.3% mortality rate, the hypernatremia group had a significantly higher mortality rate of 25.3% (crude odds ratio = 3.32, 95% confidence interval: 2.37 ~ 4.64, p

Abstract Background The use of degradable magnesium screws to fix the bone flap implanted in the treatment of femoral head necrosis has achieved preliminary good therapeutic results. However, there is no conclusive evidence in the study to demonstrate whether biodegradable magnesium screws promote angiogenesis and no comparison has been made between degradable magnesium screws and traditional screws. Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of biodegradable magnesium screws in pedicled vascularized iliac bone graft transfer (PVIBGT) for osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). Materials and methods A total of thirty-six patients (37 hips) with ONFH were recruited from March 2020 to July 2022. The study used a single-blind method, and patients who underwent PVIBGT were randomized into three groups: 12 patients (12 hips) were fixed with biodegradable magnesium screws (Group A), 12 patients (13 hips) were fixed with titanium screws (Group B), 12 patients (12 hips) were directly embedded (Group C). The operating time and the length of stay were recorded. Harris scores, radiological examinations (X-ray, CT, DCE-MRI), blood and serum tests were conducted before and after surgery. The gas yield and degradation rates of the magnesium screws were measured at the 3-months and 6-months post-operative follow-ups in Group A. Results There was no statistically significant difference among these three groups in terms of types, gender, age, course of disease, surgical side, operation time, the length of stay (P > 0.05). All patients were followed up for 6 months. The mean Harris scores were higher in all groups 6 months after surgery (P

The field of electromagnetic wave absorption (EWA) requires the adaptability, tenability, and multifunction of high-performance materials in the future. The design and preparation of EWA materials aiming at performance requirements is the latest research hotspot. Here, a performance-driven strategy for simultaneously coordinating different target performances was proposed to optimize the structure of the periodical long continuous carbon/glass fiber fabric (PCGF) materials through algorithm and simulation. The optimized structure of the PCGF not only improves the impedance matching, but also introduces the induced orientation effect for a high cooperative loss of conductivity, resonance, and periodic structure. The flexible PCGF shows a broad effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 32.7 GHz covering a part of the C-band and the whole X-, Ku-, K-, and Ka-bands with a thickness (d) of only 0.92 mm and a density of 5.6×10−4 kg·cm−3. This highly designable fabric is promising for the EWA practical application owing to integrating the characteristics of good flexibility, acid and alkali resistance, bending resistance, excellent mechanical properties, and easy large-scale preparation.

The Lijiang River Basin covers great variation in altitude, soil and vegetation types. In order to study the characteristics of its soil nutrients and enzymes activities, we determined soil nutrient contents and activities of several extracellular enzymes (amylase, sucrose, urease, protease and catalase) of the surface soils (0-20 cm) of typical vegetation types［natural forest, bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) forest, Pinus massoniana forest, orchard and rice paddy field］with calcareous soils and acid soils in the Lijiang River Basin. The results were as follows: (1) The soils at high altitude had greater total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), available phosphorus (AP) contents as well as amylase, sucrose, urease and protease activities, whereas the catalase activity was to the contrary. (2) Compared with the acid soils, the calcareous soils had higher contents of total phosphorus (TP) and available phosphorus (AP). Among the acid soils, vegetation types had greater impact on soil nitrogen and phosphorus contents. In general, anthropogenic vegetation resulted in decrease of nitrogen content and increases of phosphorus content; while the nutrients in the calcareous soils had relatively little variation among different vegetation types. (3) Compared with the natural forest soils, soils from the anthropogenic vegetation had lower nitrogen related enzyme activities; whereas the carbon related enzyme activities was less impacted. The enzymatic stoichiometry revealed that soils of natural forests were nitrogen limited whereas those of anthropogenic vegetation was carbon limited. (4) The results of canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that soil physiochemical properties in the first and second axes explained 86.56% of the variation of soil enzyme activities with the contribution order of TN>pH>NH4+>AP>TP>NO3-, with the first three as the main impacts. All the above results indicate that acid soils in the Lijiang River Basin have great ecological sensitivities; vegetation changes easily result in nutrient imbalance, therefore, in order to improve the sustainable utility of landscape resources of the Lijiang River Basin, special attention should be paid to the conservation of soil nutrients and prevention of the loss of soil organic matter. This study provides theoretical base for the scientific conservation and development of local ecosystem.

Knowledge Graphs (KGs), a structural way to model human knowledge, have been a critical component of many artificial intelligence applications. Many KG-based tasks are built using knowledge representation learning, which embeds KG entities and relations into a low-dimensional semantic space. However, the quality of representation learning is often limited by the heterogeneity and sparsity of real-world KGs. Multi-KG representation learning, which utilizes KGs from different sources collaboratively, presents one promising solution. In this paper, we propose a simple, but effective iterative method that post-processes pre-trained knowledge graph embedding (IPPT4KRL) on individual KGs to maximize the knowledge transfer from another KG when a small portion of alignment information is introduced. Specifically, additional triples are iteratively included in the post-processing based on their adjacencies to the cross-KG alignments to refine the pre-trained embedding space of individual KGs. We also provide the benchmarking results of existing multi-KG representation learning methods on several generated and well-known datasets. The empirical results of the link prediction task on these datasets show that the proposed IPPT4KRL method achieved comparable and even superior results when compared against more complex methods in multi-KG representation learning.

Abstract Background Compared with optimal blood pressure (BP), the prehypertension increases the risk of incident hypertension, cardiovascular (CV) events, and death. Moderate intensity of regular physical activity can reduce BP. However, aerobic exercise has some limitations. As a safe, low-impact, enjoyable, and inexpensive form of exercise that requires minimal equipment and space, Tai Chi is expected as a viable alternative to aerobic exercise. The study aimed to assess the effect of Tai Chi intervention program, compared with aerobic exercise, on the BP in prehypertension patients. Methods This study is a 12-month, two-center, single-blind, parallel, randomized controlled trial. Three hundred forty-two patients with prehypertension [with a systolic blood pressure (SBP) in the range of 120 mmHg to 139 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in the range of 80 mmHg to 89 mmHg] are randomized to one of two intervention groups in a 1:1 ratio: Tai Chi or aerobic exercise. BP monitoring methods of office blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), and home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) are used at the same time to detect BP in multiple dimensions. The primary outcome is the comparison of SBP change from baseline to 12 months in Tai Chi group and SBP change from baseline to 12 months in aerobic exercise group. The secondary endpoints are as following: (1) the comparison of DBP of office blood pressure change from baseline to 12 months between Tai Chi group and aerobic exercise group, (2) the comparison of BP and the variability of BP assessed through ABPM change from baseline to 12 months between Tai Chi group and aerobic exercise group, (3) the comparison of BP assessed through HBPM change from baseline to 12 months between Tai Chi group and aerobic exercise group. Discussion This will be the first randomized controlled trial to specifically study the benefits of Tai Chi on the blood pressure control in patients with prehypertension. The successful completion of this study will help to provide evidence for whether Tai Chi is more desirable than aerobic exercise. Trial registration Trial registration number: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900024368. Registered on 7 July 2019, http://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=39478&htm=4

The phenomenon of flash droughts, marked by their fast onset, limited predictability, and formidable capacity for devastation, has elicited escalating concern. Despite this growing interest, a comprehensive investigation of the spatiotemporal dynamics of flash drought events within zones of ecological sensitivity, alongside their consequential ecological ramifications, remains elusive. The Songnen Plain, distinguished as both an important granary for commodity crops and an ecological keystone within China, emerges as an indispensable locus for the inquiry into the dynamics of flash droughts and their repercussions on terrestrial biomes. Through the application of daily soil moisture raster datasets encompassing the years 2002 to 2022, this investigation delves into the spatiotemporal progression of two distinct categories of flash droughts—those instigated by heatwaves and those precipitated by water deficits—within the Songnen Plain. Moreover, the ecosystem’s response, with a particular focus on gross primary productivity (GPP), to these climatic variables was investigated. Flash drought phenomena have been observed to manifest with a relative frequency of approximately one event every three years within the Songnen Plain, predominantly lasting for periods of 28–30 days. The incidence of both heatwave-induced and water deficit-induced flash droughts was found to be comparable, with a pronounced prevalence during the summer and autumn. Nevertheless, droughts caused by water scarcity demonstrated a more extensive distribution and a heightened frequency of occurrence, whereas those rooted in heatwaves were less frequent but exhibited a propensity for localization in specific sectors. The sensitivity of GPP to these meteorological anomalies was pronounced, with an average response rate surpassing 70%. This spatial distribution of the response rate revealed elevated values in the northwestern segment of the Songnen Plain and diminished values towards the southeastern sector. Intriguingly, GPP’s reaction pace to the onset of heatwave-driven flash droughts was observed to be more rapid in comparison to that during periods of water scarcity. Additionally, the spatial distribution of water use efficiency during both the development and recovery periods of flash droughts largely deviated from that of base water use efficiency. The insights from this study hold profound implications for the advancement of regional drought surveillance and adaptive management.

IntroductionPreventing ischemia-reperfusion injury is the main direction of myocardial infarction treatment in the convalescent stage. Some studies have suggested that saponins in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparations can protect the myocardium by various mechanisms. Our meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy of TCM saponins in treating myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) and to summarize the potential molecular mechanisms further.MethodsWe conducted a literature search in six electronic databases [Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Sinomed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)] until October 2022.ResultsSeventeen eligible studies included 386 animals (254 received saponins and 132 received vehicles). The random effect model is used to calculate the combined effect. The effect size is expressed as the weighted average difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Compared with placebo, saponins preconditioning reduced infarct size after MIRI significantly (WMD: −3.60,95% CI: −4.45 to −2.74, P

BackgroundHistone demethylase RIOX2 was cloned as a c-Myc downstream gene involved in cell proliferation and has been implicated as an oncogenic factor in multiple tumor types. Its expression profiles and correlation with disease progression in prostate cancers are unknown.MethodsTranscriptomic profiles of Jumanji domain-containing protein genes were assessed using multiple public expression datasets generated from RNA-seq and cDNA microarray assays. RIOX2 protein expression was assessed using an immunohistochemistry approach on a tissue section array from benign and malignant prostate tissues. Gene expression profiles were analyzed using the bioinformatics software R package. Western blot assay examined androgen stimulation on RIOX2 protein expression in LNCaP cells.ResultsAmong 35 Jumanji domain-containing protein genes, 12 genes were significantly upregulated in prostate cancers compared to benign compartments. COX regression analysis identified that the ribosomal oxygenase 2 (RIOX2) gene was the only one significantly associated with disease-specific survival outcomes in prostate cancer patients. RIOX2 upregulation was confirmed at the protein levels using immunohistochemical assays on prostate cancer tissue sections. Meanwhile, RIOX2 upregulation was associated with clinicopathological features, including late-stage diseases, adverse Gleason scores, TP53 gene mutation, and disease-free status. In castration-resistant prostate cancers (CRPC), RIOX2 expression was positively correlated with AR signaling index but negatively correlated with the neuroendocrinal progression index. However, androgen treatment had no significant stimulatory effect on RIOX2 expression, indicating a parallel but not a causative effect of androgen signaling on RIOX2 gene expression. Further analysis discovered that RIOX2 expression was tightly correlated with its promoter hypomethylation and MYC gene expression, consistent with the notion that RIOX2 was a c-Myc target gene.ConclusionThe Jumanji domain-containing protein RIOX2 was significantly overexpressed in prostate cancer, possibly due to c-Myc upregulation. RIOX2 upregulation was identified as an independent prognostic factor for disease-specific survival.

Ensiling legume with cereal is an effective method to ensure the energy rich-feed, but no information is available on the microbial fermentation mechanism of intercropped Lablab purpureus (Lablab) and sweet sorghum in the saline-alkaline region. Therefore, the present study investigated the silage quality and microbial community of intercropped Lablab and sweet sorghum silages grown in the saline-alkaline region with or without inoculation of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP). The experimental treatments were prepared according to the Lablab and sweet sorghum planting patterns: Lablab and sweet sorghum sowing seed ratios were 1:1 (L), 5:1 (M), and 9:1 (H). After harvesting, each mixture was treated with LP or sterilized water (CK), followed by 60 days of fermentation. Results showed that both LP inoculation and intercropping significantly raised the lactic acid (LA) content and decreased the pH value, acetic acid (AA), and ammonia-N in intercropped silages. The LP addition and intercropping also improved the relative feed value by reducing structural carbohydrates. Moreover, LP silages had a greater relative abundance of Lactobacillus than CK silages, and its relative abundance increased with an increased seed-sowing ratio of Lablab in intercropping. LP was the prevalent species in LP silages compared to CK silages, and its relative abundance also increased with an increased seed-sowing ratio of Lablab in intercropping. The genus Lactobacillus was negatively correlated with ammonia-N (R = −0.6, p = 0.02) and AA (R = −0.7, p < 0.01) and positively correlated with LA (R = 0.7, p < 0.01) and crude protein (R = 0.6, p = 0.04). Overall, the intercropped seeding ratios of Lablab and sweet sorghum of ≥ 5:1 with LP inoculation resulted in better fermentation quality and preservation of nutritional components providing theoretical support and guidance for future intercropped protein-rich silage production in the saline-alkaline region.

ABSTRACT Protein-rich Sesbania cannabina and sugar-rich sweet sorghum [Sorghum dochna (Forssk.) Snowden] are characterized by their higher tolerance to saline-alkaline stresses and simultaneous harvests. They could be utilized for coensiling because of their nutritional advantages, which are crucial to compensate protein-rich forage in saline-alkaline regions. The current study investigated the fermentation quality, microbial community succession, and predicted microbial functions of Sesbania cannabina and sweet sorghum in mixed silage during the fermentation process. Before ensiling, the mixtures were treated with compound lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculants followed by 3, 7, 14, 30, and 60 days of fermentation. The results revealed that the inoculated homofermentative species Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus farciminis dominated the early phase of fermentation, and these shifted to the heterofermentative species Lactobacillus buchneri and Lactobacillus hilgardii in the later phase of fermentation. As a result, the pH of the mixed silages decreased significantly, accompanied by the growth of acid-producing microorganisms, especially L. buchneri and L. hilgardii, which actively influenced the bacterial community structure and metabolic pathways. Moreover, the contents of lactic acid, acetic acid, 1,2-propanediol, and water-soluble carbohydrates increased, while the contents of ammonia-N and fiber were decreased, with increasing ratios of sweet sorghum in the mixed silage. Overall, coensiling Sesbania cannabina with >30% sweet sorghum is feasible to attain high-quality silage, and the relay action between homofermentative and heterofermentative LAB species could enhance fermentation quality and conserve the nutrients of the mixed silage. IMPORTANCE The coensiling of Sesbania cannabina and sweet sorghum is of great practical importance in order to alleviate the protein-rich forage deficiency in saline-alkaline regions. Furthermore, understanding the microbial community’s dynamic changes, interactions, and metabolic pathways during ensiling will provide the theoretical basis to effectively regulate silage fermentation. Here, we established that coensiling Sesbania cannabina with >30% sweet sorghum was effective at ensuring better fermentation quality and preservation of nutrients. Moreover, the different fermentation types of LAB strains played a relay role during the fermentation process. The homofermentative species L. plantarum and L. farciminis dominated in the early phase of fermentation, while the heterofermentative species L. buchneri and L. hilgardii dominated in the later phase of fermentation. Their relay action in Sesbania cannabina-sweet sorghum mixed silage may help to improve fermentation quality and nutrient preservation.

Image classification task is an important branch of computer vision. At present, most of the mainstream CNNs are large in size and take up too much computing resources. The quality-price ratio is not satisfying when the heavy CNNs are used in image classification. So, this work proposes a spatial and channel hybrid attention module (Light-Attention module), an ultra-lightweight but efficient attention module. Given an intermediate feature map, the Light-Attention module will firstly derive the most important attention maps of the channels automatically with global stochastic pooling and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). Then, the residual structure of Light-Attention module helps to repeatedly introduce global information for secondary screening. For better performance, our pioneering Max module and Mean module to extract key spatial features on the basis of previous operations. In the process of extracting the key attention map, LADNet uses the most labor-saving operation and save a lot of network parameters. The Light-Attention module can be seamlessly integrated into any network, while its parameters and required computing resources are both very small. We verified the excellent performance of the Light-Attention module in extracting key image information through ablation experiments on the Cifar-10, Cifar-100 and ImageNet datasets. For the experiment in Cifar-10, the image classification accuracy achieves 98.7%, achieves 96.5% for the Cifar-100, and for the ImageNet, achieves 83.9%. With the Light-Attention module, LADNet reduces the parameters of convolution neural network to 71% of the original. Compared to the other CNNs used in image classification task, the Light-Attention module uses the least parameters but scores most advanced achievements. The experiments proved that the combination of DRN (Dilated Residual Network) and Light-Attention module achieves superior performance.

Abstract Background Cardiac injury is now a common complication of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but it remains unclear whether cardiac injury-related biomarkers can be independent predictors of mortality and severe disease development or intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Methods Two investigators searched the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, MedRxiv, and ChinaXiv databases for articles published through March 30, 2020. Retrospective studies assessing the relationship between the prognosis of COVID-19 patients and levels of troponin I (TnI) and other cardiac injury biomarkers (creatine kinase [CK], CK myocardial band [CK-MB], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) were included. The data were extracted independently by two investigators. Results The analysis included 23 studies with 4631 total individuals. The proportions of severe disease, ICU admission, or death among patients with non-elevated TnI (or troponin T [TnT]), and those with elevated TnI (or TnT) were 12.0% and 64.5%, 11.8% and 56.0%, and 8.2% and. 59.3%, respectively. Patients with elevated TnI levels had significantly higher risks of severe disease, ICU admission, and death (RR 5.57, 95% CI 3.04 to 10.22, P

Sesbania cannabina (SC) is a protein-rich roughage that thrives under moderate-severe saline-alkali (MSSA) soils with the potential to relieve the shortage of high nutritive forage. Sweet sorghum (SS) also tolerates MSSA soils and contains rich fermentable carbohydrates which could improve the fermentation quality in mixed silage. The present study investigated the silage quality, bacterial community, and metabolome in the mixed silage of SC and SS (SC-SS) with or without lactic acid bacterial (LAB) inoculants. Four ratios (10:0, 7:3, 5:5, and 3:7) of SC and SS were treated with sterile water or LAB inoculants (homofermentative Companilactobacillus farciminis and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, and heterofermentative Lentilactobacillus buchneri and Lentilactobacillus hilgardii), which were analyzed after 60 days of ensiling. Results revealed that LAB inoculation improved the fermentation quality by increasing the lactic acid content and decreasing the ammonia nitrogen and butyric acid contents compared with the untreated group. LAB inoculation also raised the relative feed value by reducing indigestible fibers [e.g., neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber, and hemicellulose]. Microbial and metabolomic analysis indicated that LAB inoculants could modify the bacterial community and metabolome of SC-SS silage. In co-ensiling samples except for SC alone silage, L. buchneri and L. hilgardii were the dominant species. Metabolites with bioactivities like anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-tumor were upregulated with LAB inoculation. Furthermore, correlation analysis demonstrated that active metabolites (e.g., glycitin, glabrene, alnustone, etc.) were positively correlated with L. buchneri, while tripeptides (e.g., SPK, LLK, LPH, etc.) were positively correlated with L. hilgardii. Adequately describing the SC-SS silage by multi-omics approach might deepen our understanding of complicated biological processes underlying feature silages fermentation. Moreover, it may also contribute to screening of targeted functional strains for MSSA-tolerating forage to improve silage quality and promote livestock production.

Temporal knowledge graphs can be used to represent the current state of the world and, as daily events happen, the need to update the temporal knowledge graph, in order to stay consistent with the state of the world, becomes very important. However, there is currently no reliable method to accurately validate the update and evolution of knowledge graphs. There has been a recent development in text summarisation, whereby question answering is used to both guide and fact-check summarisation quality. The exact process can be applied to the temporal knowledge graph update process. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no dataset that connects temporal knowledge graphs with documents with question–answer pairs. In this paper, we proposed the TKGQA dataset, consisting of over 5000 financial news documents related to M&A. Each document has extracted facts, question–answer pairs, and before and after temporal knowledge graphs, to highlight the state of temporal knowledge and any changes caused by the facts extracted from the document. As we parse through each document, we use question–answering to check and guide the update process of the temporal knowledge graph.

To reveal the flow characteristics of shotcrete during pneumatic transportation, the numerical simulation of the gas–solid flow of shotcrete in the pipeline transportation process was carried out based on a CFD-DEM coupling simulation method. When the particle diameter increased from 7 mm to 12 mm, the maximum wear depth of the pipeline increased from 1.48 × 10−6 mm to 4.58 × 10−6 mm. With an increase in particle diameter, the maximum wear depth of the pipeline increased. Moreover, the wear position gradually concentrated to a fixed area with the increase in particle diameter. In the wind speed range of this simulation study, when the wind speed increased from 42 m/s to 52 m/s, the maximum wear depth of the pipeline increased from 2.53 × 10−6 mm to 5.26 × 10−6 mm. The change in wind speed had little effect on the wear location of the pipeline. However, the wear depth of the pipeline increased with the increase in wind speed. When the curvature radius increased from 200 mm to 250 mm, the maximum wear depth decreased from 5.83 × 10−6 mm to 4.47 × 10−6 mm. When the curvature radius increased to 300 mm, the maximum wear depth increased to 6.58 × 10−6 mm. Finally, according to the law of pipeline wear and combined with the actual situation of pipeline wear in engineering, measures were put forward to prevent or reduce the degree of pipeline wear.

Background and Objectives: The clinical prognosis and survival prediction of glioma based on gene signatures derived from heterogeneous tumor cells are unsatisfactory. This study aimed to construct an immune gene-related prognostic score model to predict the prognosis of glioma and identify patients who may benefit from immunotherapy. Methods: 23 immune-related genes (IRGs) associated with glioma prognosis were identified through weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and Univariate Cox regression analysis based on large-scale RNA-seq data. Eight IRGs were retained as candidate predictors and formed an immune gene-related prognostic score (IGRPS) by multifactorial Cox regression analysis. The potential efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy of different subgroups was compared by The Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) algorithm. We further adopted a series of bioinformatic methods to characterize the differences in clinicopathological features and the immune microenvironment between the different risk groups. Finally, a nomogram integrating IGRPS and clinicopathological characteristics was built to accurately predict the prognosis of glioma. Results: Patients in the low-risk group had a better prognosis than those in the high-risk group. Patients in the high-risk group showed higher TIDE scores and poorer responses to ICB therapy, while patients in the low-risk group may benefit more from ICB therapy. The distribution of age and tumor grade between the two subgroups was significantly different. Patients with low IGRPS harbor a high proportion of natural killer cells and are sensitive to ICB treatment. While patients with high IGRPS display relatively poor prognosis, a higher expression level of DNA mismatch repair genes, high infiltrating of immunosuppressive cells, and poor ICB therapeutic outcomes. Conclusions: We demonstrated that the IGRPS model can independently predict the clinical prognosis as well as the ICB therapy responses of glioma patients, thus having important implications on the design of immune-based therapeutic strategies.

Intermittent fasting (IF) has gained attention as a promising diet for weight loss and dysmetabolic diseases management. This systematic review aimed to investigate the effects of IF on cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs). A systematic literature search was carried out using three electronic databases, namely PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, until October 2020. Randomized controlled trials that compared the IF intervention with a control group diet were included. Fourteen effect sizes were expressed as weighted mean difference (WMD) using a fixed-effects model and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Compared to the ones within control groups, participants exposed to the IF intervention reduced their body weight (WMD, −1.78 kg; 95% CI, −2.21 to −1.35; p

This paper focuses on a fast finite-set model predictive control (FFS-MPC) for three-phase four-arm active front end modular multilevel converters (AFE-MMCs) under unbalanced and distorted network conditions. The main aim of this paper is to enhance the steady-state performance of the whole system while remaining computationally feasible. Firstly, a novel topology, which has a good potential to improve the fault tolerance ability of MMCs, is presented in this literature. Secondly, in order to enhance the steady-state control performance, a new FFS-MPC methodology is proposed to serve this purpose. Specifically, the philosophy behind the proposed solution is to formulate a user-predefined cost function formula by embedding a power compensation term and an integral error term at the same time, which improves the power quality under normal and under abnormal conditions. However, it is important to notice that the computational complexity will be increased while applying the proposed solution to the control of three-phase four-arm AFE-MMCs. To solve this issue, a fast MPC is introduced into the proposed methodology to improve the computational efficiency, making it suitable for multilevel converters control. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed FFS-MPC methodology can be validated by the comprehensive results for regulated three-phase four-arm AFE-MMCs.

In the continuous development and application of underground spaces (such as roads, tunnels and underground caverns), safe and efficient support technology is an important means to maintain the stability and integrity of roadways [...]

Although classic swine fever virus (CSFV) infection has been reported to induce autophagy, the specific induced mechanism remains unrevealed. Nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) of CSFV is a multiphosphorylated protein with multiple functions to regulate viral replication and the host cell immune responses. Herein, we demonstrated that CSFV NS5A could induce cellular autophagy and promote viral replication. In the current study, we showed that NS5A expression significantly increased the levels of autophagy-related genes (ATGs), including light chain 3 (LC3), ATG5, and Beclin 1; conversely, degradation of P62/sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1) was observed by Western blotting. The number of autophagy-like vesicles was also obviously increased in NS5A-expressing cells, as analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, we observed the co-localization of the NS5A and LC3 proteins by confocal immunofluorescence analysis. Direct binding of NS5A to the autophagy-related LC3 protein was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation in vivo and by a GST pulldown assay in vitro. Through segmentation and point mutation research on the NS5A protein, we found that the N-terminal region and the phosphorylation of amino acids 81 and 92 of the NS5A protein were essential for inducing autophagy. Finally, we demonstrated that the LC3 protein had a positive effect on CSFV replication. These findings emphasize a previously unascertained interaction relationship between NS5A and LC3 in the autophagy process. Furthermore, our research revealed a new role of CSFV NS5A, particularly its N-terminal amino acids serine 81 and serine 92, as a critical regulator of CSFV-induced autophagy and have significance for extending our understanding of the CSFV-autophagy interplay.

Cyperus esculentus L. leaves (CLL) are agricultural by-products produced from Cyperus esculentus L. harvesting, and can be used as livestock feed despite their low economic value for human consumption. This study aims to develop a favorable approach to processing Cyperus esculentus L. by-product as coarse fodder. The chopped CLL was pretreated by (1) mixing with canola straw at a 4:1 ratio, or (2) wilting it for 8 h, then it ensiling with or without compounded lactic acid bacteria (LAB) additives for 60 days. Our results demonstrated that compounded LAB additives: improved CLL silage fermentation quality by increasing acetic acid and lactic acid contents and decreasing ethanol and ammonia-N contents; preserved nutrients by raising the level of crude protein and water soluble carbohydrates; modified the bacterial community by increasing the relative abundance of Lactobacillus while decreasing the relative abundance of undesirable Enterococcus; and also might improve animal health by increasing the relative concentrations of antioxidant substances (such as 7-galloylcatechin) and antibacterial compounds (such as ferulic acid). This study provides strong evidence that Cyperus esculentus L. by-product can be a potential livestock feed after being ensiled with compounded LAB additives.

Hand pose estimation from RGB images has always been a difficult task, owing to the incompleteness of the depth information. Moon et al. improved the accuracy of hand pose estimation by using a new network, InterNet, through their unique design. Still, the network still has potential for improvement. Based on the architecture of MobileNet v3 and MoGA, we redesigned a feature extractor that introduced the latest achievements in the field of computer vision, such as the ACON activation function and the new attention mechanism module, etc. Using these modules effectively with our network, architecture can better extract global features from an RGB image of the hand, leading to a greater performance improvement compared to InterNet and other similar networks.

The kinetics of cellulose decomposition in ionic liquid was investigated using microcrystalline cellulose as a raw material. Curve fitting of cellulose degradation kinetic data was carried out by MATLAB. Experimental results demonstrated that the cellulose decomposition rate constant, k1, was less than the constant for glucose decomposition to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), k2, in the ionic liquid system, gaining a larger gap with increasing temperature. Results indicated that cellulose degradation is a slow reaction compared with glucose decomposition, which controls the speed of the overall reaction steps. CrCl3 increased the rate constant of cellulose and glucose degradation to almost the same degree, thus achieving simultaneous conversion of cellulose, glucose, and 5-HMF. Compared with other reaction systems, the ionic liquid system considerably reduced activation energy. Regression analysis of kinetic data indicated that the catalytic decomposition reactions of cellulose, glucose, and 5-HMF are all first-order reactions.