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Background: Cancer cells frequently evolve necroptotic resistance to overcome various survival stress during tumorigenesis. However, we have previously showed that necroptosis is widespread in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and contributes to tumor progression and poor survival via DAMPs-induced migration and invasiveness in peri-necroptotic tumor cells. This implicated an alternative strategy that cancers cope with necroptotic stress by reprogramming a pro-invasive necroptotic microenvironment (NME). Here, we aim to decipher how necroptotic cells shape the NME and affect HNSCC progression. Methods: Both our pre-established cellular necroptotic model and newly established Dox-induce intratumoral necroptosis model were used to investigate how necroptosis affect HNSCC progression. Transcriptomic alterations in peri-necroptotic tumor cells were analyzed by RNA-seq and validated in the NME in mice and patients' samples. The differential DAMPs compositon among apopotosis. Necrosis, and necroptosis were analyzed by label-free proteomic technique, and the necroptosis-specific DAMPs were then identified and validated. The potential receptor for ISG15 were simulated using molecular docking and further validated by in vitro assays. Then the ISG15-RAGE axis was blocked by either knockdown of necroptotic-ISG15 release and RAGE inhibitor FPS-ZM1, and the impact on tumor progression were tested. Last, we further tested our findings in a HNSCC-patients cohort. Results: Necroptosis played a crucial role in driving tumor-cell invasiveness and lymphatic metastasis via tumor-type dependent DAMPs-releasing. Mechanistically, necroptotic DAMPs induced peri-necroptotic EMT via NF-κB and STAT3 signaling. Furthermore, intrinsic orchestration between necroptotic and cGAS-STING signaling resulted in producing a group of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) as HNSCC-dependent necroptotic DAMPs. Among them, ISG15 played an essential role in reprogramming the NME. We then identified RAGE as a novel receptor for extracellular ISG15. Either blockage of ISG15 release or ISG15-RAGE interaction dramatically impeded necroptosis-driven EMT and lymphatic metastasis in HNSCC. Lastly, clinicopathological analysis showed high ISG15 expression in NME. Extensive necroptosis and high tumor-cell RAGE expression correlated with tumor progression and poor survival of HNSCC patients. Conclusions: Our data revealed a previously unknown cGAS-ISG15-RAGE dependent reprogramming of the necroptotic microenvironment which converts the necroptotic stress into invasive force to foster HNSCC-cell dissemination. By demonstrating the programmatic production of ISG15 via necroptosis-cGAS orchestration and its downstream signaling through RAGE, we shed light on the unique role of ISG15 in HNSCC progression. Targeting such machineries may hold therapeutic potential for restoring intratumoral survival stress and preventing lymphatic metastasis in HNSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key challenge of image layer separation stems from recognizing different components in a single image. Typical methods optimize the modeling of different components by performing low-level supervision on the separated image to minimize its per-pixel difference from the groundtruth, which relies on substantial training samples to learn diverse components robustly and avoid overfitting spurious coupled patterns. In this work, we perform supervision on the contrastive distribution between the predicted separated images. Specifically, our proposed method separates components in parallel and seeks to maximize the distribution consistency between the separated components' contrast and their corresponding groundtruth contrast in the latent space. Such supervision pushes the model to focus on contrastive modeling between different components of the input image. Besides, the learned latent representations of different components directly guide the weight optimization of convolution kernels in the decoder, which achieves more comprehensive separation than traditional skip connection while reconstructing target images by the decoder. We validate the effectiveness and generalization of our CFDNet on two single image layer separation tasks, including image reflection separation and intrinsic image decomposition. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our CFDNet consistently outperforms other state-of-the-art methods specifically designed for either of image separation applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most annual studies of tintinnid and phytoplankton in coastal habitats are influenced by alien species introduced by water masses exchange, and therefore cannot be used as direct evidence for exploring the mechanism of annual succession in indigenous community. For brackish communities, very limited annual studies exist because of the difficulty of conducting stable sampling in the transition between freshwater and seawater. The special topography of Xiangshan Bay isolates the external water mass and provides a suitable habitat for exploring the annual succession mechanism of the brackish tintinnid community. In this study, samples were collected from seven stations in Tie Harbor, Xiangshan Bay (East China Sea) during 10 months from 2022 to 2023. A total of 23 tintinnid species of five genera were identified throughout the year. These tintinnid species can be clustered into four seasonal groups, winter, summer, autumn and spring-autumn, with three temperature preferences. The Lorica Oral Diameter (LOD) size-class of each tintinnid species, which determines the food item size of tintinnid, separated their different ecological niches within each seasonal group. The seasonal succession of tintinnid community in Xiangshan Bay was organized by both temperature preference and LOD size of the tintinnid species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations showed an obvious variation of ozone concentration during the annular solar eclipse on 21 June 2020 in the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. Ozone concentration slightly reduced near 40 km in the regions of 24°N–36°N, and increased in low latitudes at 40 km. In the heights of 45–60 km, the increase in ozone concentration in most of the regions was obvious. The ozone increases and decreases were more obvious between 60–65 km, where enhancement took the leading role. The nighttime ozone variation was weaker than the daytime in most of the heights of 30–65 km. The variation of HO2 and CO is investigated to study the photochemical and dynamical causes of ozone variation. As HO2 decreased at 1 hPa and increased at 60–65 km, ozone variation shows a mostly reversed relationship to HO2 variation. CO increased at 32–39 km and decreased at 52–60 km, which was related to the upwelling at these heights. The dynamic processes also contributed to the decrease in ozone concentration at 40 km and increase at 50–60 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two nonexperimental studies were conducted to test how and why transgression victims’ narcissism influences their grudge holding, using undergraduate students and a community sample of adults, respectively. Study 1 tested the association between victims’ vulnerable narcissism and grudge holding, including emotional persistence, perceived longevity, and disdain toward the transgressor. It also tested the extent to which victims’ grandiose narcissism moderated the association. Study 2 was conducted to replicate Study 1 and test whether victims’ rumination about the transgression mediated the moderated association. Overall, those with higher degrees of grandiosity showed a positive relation between vulnerable narcissism and reported emotional persistence (Studies 1 and 2) and perceived longevity (Study 2). Finally, rumination explained the moderated relation (Study 2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The treatment strategy for dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with ticagrelor has been controversial in East Asian patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Our meta-analysis aimed to demonstrate whether intensified antithrombotic regimens with ticagrelor plus aspirin have more beneficial effects and fewer adverse events compared to those of clopidogrel plus aspirin in East Asian patients with ACS undergoing PCI. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Clinical Trials, Cochrane Library, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the efficacy of DAPT with ticagrelor or clopidogrel plus aspirin for secondary prevention of ACS in East Asian patients undergoing PCI. Risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used as the metrics of choice for assessing treatment effects. The primary endpoint was bleeding events, and the secondary endpoints were major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs, including cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction [MI], and stroke), all-cause death, and definite/probable/possible stent thrombosis. The I2 index was used to assess heterogeneity. Results: Six RCTs involving a total of 2,725 patients met the inclusion criteria. The incidence of all bleeding events with ticagrelor was higher than that with clopidogrel (RR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.31–2.07), but the incidence of MACCE was not significantly different between the two groups (RR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.54–2.16). All-cause death (RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.67–1.79), cardiovascular death (RR, 1.42; 95% CI, 0.68–2.98), nonfatal MI (RR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.48–1.78), stroke (RR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.40–2.50), and stent thrombosis (RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.19–2.98) were not statistically different between the two groups. Conclusion: Ticagrelor increased the risk of bleeding and did not increase treatment efficacy compared to that of clopidogrel in the East Asian population who have ACS treated with PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tip-force-induced domain switching in ferroelectrics has recently attracted extensive interest as it provides an alternative switching strategy that might ease the problems brought by electrical switching. From the viewpoint of mechanics, substrate elasticity can largely modify the tip-induced deformation of ferroelectric thin films. However, so far, discussions on the influence of substrate elastic properties on such domain switching still remain exclusive. Here, a phase-field model is employed to study the influence of substrate stiffness on the domain switching in BaTiO3 (BTO) thin films, with the strain and stress distributions in BTO thin films and substrates solved by the finite element method. The results demonstrate that the substrate stiffness and loading modes (i.e., pressing and sliding) have a great influence on the symmetry of strain and stress distributions. The switched domain size is highly dependent on the substrate stiffness and loading modes. The switching is more efficient for thin films on a softer substrate. Moreover, the domain could be switched more effectively by the sliding mode under relatively large forces. Our study thus provides a strategy to increase the mechanical switching efficiency of ferroelectric thin films via tuning the substrate elasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a fatal disease due to the tendency to rupture. The drug treatment for small AAA without surgical indications has been controversial. Previous studies showed that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) had become a potential biomarker of the disease, and the anti-inflammatory effect of rivaroxaban for AAA had been well established. Thus, we hypothesized that rivaroxaban could control the progression of AAA in patients with hs-CRP elevation. Methods: The study is a prospective, open-label, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Sixty subjects are recruited from the General Hospital of Northern Theatre Command of China. Subjects are randomly assigned (1:1) to the intervention arm (rivaroxaban) or control arm (aspirin). The primary efficacy outcome is the level of serum hs-CRP at 6 months. The secondary outcomes include imaging examination (the maximal diameter of AAA, the maximal thickness of mural thrombus, and the length of aneurysm), major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE, including AAA transformation, non-fatal myocardial infarction, acute congestive heart failure, stent thrombosis, ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization, vascular amputation, stroke, cardiovascular death, and all-cause death), and other laboratory tests (troponin T, interleukin 6, D-dimer, and coagulation function). Discussion: The BANBOO trial tested the effect of rivaroxaban on the progression of AAA in patients with elevated Hs-CRP for the first time. Trial registration: ChiCTR2100051990, ClinicalTrials.gov, registered on 12 October 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we first propose a mathematical model to study the impact of awareness programs on dengue transmission. The basic reproduction number ℛ 0 is derived. The existence and stability of equilibria are investigated. The uniform persistence is established when ℛ 0 is larger than one. Our results suggest that awareness programs have significant impacts on dengue transmission dynamics although they cannot affect ℛ 0 . When ℛ 0 is less than one, awareness programs can shorten the prevailing time effectively. When ℛ 0 is larger than one, awareness programs may destabilize the unique interior equilibrium and a stable periodic solution appears due to Hopf bifurcation. In particular, we find that the occurrence of Hopf bifurcation depends not only on the intensity of awareness programs but also on the level of ℛ 0 . Besides, large fluctuations in the number of infected individuals caused by the stable periodic solution may bring pressure on limited medical resources. Therefore, different from intuitive ideas, blindly increasing the intensity of awareness programs is not necessarily conducive to control the transmission of dengue. The decision-making department should decide to adopt different publicity strategies according to the current level of ℛ 0 . Finally, we consider the optimal control problem of the model and find the optimal control strategy corresponding to awareness programs by Pontryagin's Maximum Principle. The results manifest that the optimal control strategy can effectively mitigate the transmission of dengue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urea regulators (UR) have generally been employed against diesel trucks to save urea usage and thus contribute to the reduction in excessive emissions, while their usage is generally difficult to supervise and enforce. By conducting real driving emission measurements on a China IV heavy-duty diesel truck, a "trade-off" effect caused by UR was found between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particle number (PN) emissions. The usage of UR contributes to 1.04 times higher NOx but 0.28 times lower PN emissions for the whole trip. In particular, the increasing effects on NOx are most efficient on the highway and least effectual on the urban road, while the decreasing effects on PN exhibit an opposite trend under different road types. From low- and medium- to the high-speed bin, the peak average vehicle-specific power NOx emission rates exhibit markedly increasing but slightly decreasing trends for the truck with and without UR, respectively. Furthermore, the NOx emissions in units of CO2 and the linear correlational relationship between CO2 and NOx instantaneous mass emission rates, especially those on the highway, are significantly enhanced. This study directly clarifies the effects of UR on real-world emissions, providing a scientific basis for the real-time identification of the malfunction of the selective catalytic reduction system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of different personnel attributes and the relationship between different people on evacuation efficiency in the case of a passenger ship fire. As such, this study proposes a speed correction method that considers human attributes and interactions between different populations. Firstly, a hesitant fuzzy set and hesitant fuzzy average operator are adopted to quantify four kinds of personnel attributes. Secondly, considering the influence of different people, this study extracts the formula for acceleration under the interactive influence of different groups of people. At the same time, based on the first-order linear relationship between velocity and acceleration, an interactive velocity correction method is presented in the evacuation of ship personnel. Finally, this study uses the personnel evacuation simulation software Pathfinder to conduct experiments, and introduces the corrected speed and the uncorrected speed into the evacuation simulation process, respectively. The results show that the simulation results of the revised speed plan are more consistent with reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA nanotechnology has shown great progress over the past decade. Diverse controllable and multifunctional RNA nanoparticles have been developed for various applications in many areas. For example, RNA nanoparticles can participate in the construction of drug delivery nanoplatforms. Recently, a three-way junction packaging RNA (3WJ-pRNA) has been exploited for its characteristics of self-assembly and ultrahigh stability in many aspects. 3WJ-pRNA is the 3WJ part of bacteriophage φ29 pRNA and joins different components of φ29 as a linker element. In this work, we used all-atom MD simulation to study the thermal stability of 3WJ-pRNA and the underlying mechanisms. While 3WJ-pRNA can remain in its original structure without Mg2+ ions at room temperature, only Mg-bound 3WJ-pRNA still maintains its initial three-way junction structure at a higher temperature (T = 400 K). The Mg-free 3WJ-pRNA undergoes dramatic deformation under high temperature condition. The contribution of Mg ions can be largely attributed to the protective effect of two Mg clamps on the hydrogen bond and base stacking interactions in helices. Taken together, our results reveal the extraordinary thermal stability of 3WJ-pRNA, which can be regulated by Mg2+ ions. Comprehensive depictions of thermal stability of pRNA and the regulation mechanism are helpful for the further development of controllable RNA nanoparticle drug delivery platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials derived from natural plants and animals have great potential for transdermal drug delivery. Polysaccharides are widely derived from marine, herbal, and microbial sources. Compared with synthetic polymers, polysaccharides have the advantages of non-toxicity and biodegradability, ease of modification, biocompatibility, targeting, and antibacterial properties. Currently, polysaccharide-based transdermal drug delivery vehicles, such as hydrogel, film, microneedle (MN), and tissue scaffolds are being developed. The addition of polysaccharides allows these vehicles to exhibit better-swelling properties, mechanical strength, tensile strength, etc. Due to the stratum corneum's resistance, the transdermal drug delivery system cannot deliver drugs as efficiently as desired. The charge and hydration of polysaccharides allow them to react with the skin and promote drug penetration. In addition, polysaccharide-based nanotechnology enhances drug utilization efficiency. Various diseases are currently treated by polysaccharide-based transdermal drug delivery devices and exhibit promising futures. The most current knowledge on these excellent materials will be thoroughly discussed by reviewing polysaccharide-based transdermal drug delivery strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Both malignant pleural effusion (MPE) and tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) are common etiologies of pleural effusion; the present study was conducted to establish the diagnostic value of platelet parameters in the differential diagnosis of MPE and TPE. Methods. This retrospective study enrolled patients with lung adenocarcinoma-associated MPE and TPE. Platelet parameter data, including platelet count (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV), plateletcrit (PCT), platelet distribution width (PDW), and platelet-larger cell ratio (P-LCR), were collected. Principal component analysis and multiple logistic regression modelling were carried out to assess the diagnostic value of these platelet parameters. Results. The MPE group and the TPE group enrolled 270 and 433 patients, respectively. Demographic characteristics of patients were more female and higher age in the MPE group. MPV, PDW, and P-LCR were significantly higher in MPE patients, while PLT and PCT were significantly higher in TPE patients. Principal component analysis generated two principal components (PCs) based on above platelet parameters. After adjusting for confounding factors including gender and age, multiple logistic regression showed positive association between PC1 and MPE. Conclusion. Platelet parameters were potential biomarkers in distinguishing lung adenocarcinoma-associated MPE from TPE. A patient with lower PLT and PCT and higher MPV, PDW, and P-LCR was more likely to be diagnosed as the former. Principal component analysis and multiple logistic regression performed well in improving multicollinearity, adjusting confounding factors, and identifying important risk factors for MPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Designed the light-weight 3D voxel by synthesizing adjacent three CT slices and proposed the corresponding label mapping method. • 2.5D segmentation method was designed by applying 2D CNN to the segmentation of light-weight 3D voxels. • Based on U-Net, Multi-attention Dual Context Network (MADC-Net) was proposed for pancreatic segmentation of CT images, while attention mechanism and dual context feature fuse method were used to retain the meaningful features and aggregate global context features and local detailed features for pancreatic segmentation. • The proposed 2.5D segmentation method demonstrated improved and robust performance in segmentation of pancreas, suggesting the ability to provide consistent delineation and assist radiologists in their clinical applications. Automatic segmentation of the pancreas from medical images is important for clinical assessment of pancreas-related diseases. However, pancreatic segmentation based on computer tomography (CT) images is time-consuming and prone to errors because of the variances in shape and texture. Since various studies based on 2D/3D convolution neural networks (CNNs) have achieved encouraging performance for medical image segmentation, the 2D methods enjoy low inference time but suffer from a lack of 3D information. 3D methods are superior in performance for difficult targets requiring contextual information, but encounter the issue of high computational cost. Thus, we proposed a 2.5D segmentation method for pancreatic segmentation to balance utilizing contextual information and the high computational cost. This represents the 3D structural relationship among contiguous slices in a special representation. In the preprocessing stage, light-weight 3D voxels and the corresponding label mapping method were designed to explicitly express the differences in the target structure in contiguous slices. This would enable the network to learn spatial relationships directly. A 2D CNN embedded multi-attention mechanism and dual-context feature fusion method were designed to describe 3D information through 2D operations. In the post-processing stage, a fusion method was used to refine the segmentation results. The proposed method was evaluated on an abdominal contrast-enhanced CT dataset. Results showed Dice was 87.19%. Compared to the corresponding 2D and 3D methods, the proposed 2.5D method improved Dice by 1.14% and 2.80%, and was 60 times faster than the 3D method by using 0.1 times of the trainable parameters. Moreover, evaluations were performed on the NIH Pancreas-CT dataset, and the proposed 2.5D method achieved better segmentation performance than state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the hot workability of lean duplex stainless steel 2101 (LDX 2101), the effects of strain rate on the hot tensile behavior, microstructure evolution, and fracture mechanism of LDX 2101 are systematically studied. Results indicate that ferrite is softened by continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) and austenite may start through a mechanism analogous to CDRX at the low strain rate of 0.1 s−1. A softening mechanism similar to the discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) is observed both in ferrite and in austenite at the strain rate of 5 s−1. The main fracture mechanism is a void accumulation fracture mode. Cracks form and propagate into the ferrite due to the low softening degree of austenite at the strain rate of 0.1 s−1. As the strain rate increases to 5 s−1, the dynamic recrystallization behavior of austenite increases due to the accelerated accumulation of dislocations and the high storage energy. The microhardness and strain distribution difference between ferrite and austenite decreases, and the crack propagation trend weakens, thus improving the thermoplasticity. The findings are of great significance for understanding the thermoplasticity of LDX 2101 and other two‐phase alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the chemical composition of 7Mo-alloyed super austenitic stainless steel was optimized and the principle of composition designing of Fe-24Cr-(22-x)Ni-7Mo-xCo (x = 0, 2, 4) alloys was discussed. Thermodynamic calculation, as well as microstructure observation, was carried out to investigate the precipitation behavior of Fe-24Cr-(22-x)Ni-7Mo-xCo alloys aged at 700–1100 °C. The results demonstrated that none of second phase was detected at 700 °C aging and at least three different types of precipitates, σ phase, χ phase and M23C6 were identified after aging at 800–1100 °C for 2 h. At all aging temperature, the intermetallic σ was determined as the dominant second phase. For alloys of 22Ni, 20Ni2Co and 18Ni4Co, the area fraction of precipitates increased first and then decreased with temperature increasing from 700 to 1100 °C. The 1000 °C was determined as the most sensitive temperature for this alloy. Furthermore, the area fractions of second phase of 20Ni2Co (x = 2) at all temperatures were lower than that of 22Ni (x = 0) and 18Ni4Co (x = 4). In addition, the characteristics of cellular precipitates growing have been disclosed in this paper. Compared with nickel-based alloy, the addition of cobalt did not affect the misfit between σ phase and austenite matrix, which is probably due to the high content of nitrogen in Fe-24Cr-(22-x)Ni-7Mo-xCo alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure, corrosion behavior and corrosive film formation of as-extruded Mg–2Zn–0.4Mn–0.1Sr–xGd alloys (x = 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 wt%) in Hank's solution were studied. Microstructure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Corrosion behavior was evaluated by immersion and electrochemical tests. The microstructural observations indicated that the addition of 0.5–2 wt% Gd led to the formation of Mg3Zn3Gd2 phase and grain refinement. SKPFM results showed that the Gd-rich (Mg3Zn3Gd2) phase was nobler than the α-Mg matrix in Gd-containing alloys and formed micro-galvanic corrosion. The alloy with 0.5–1 wt% Gd addition had better corrosion resistance and displayed uniform corrosion behavior than that Gd-free alloy. However, excessive Gd addition (2 wt%) decreased the corrosion rate and caused severe localized corrosion due to massive cathode Gd-rich particles. Combined with mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, the alloy with 1 wt% Gd exhibited a potential for degradable implant applications. The obtained superior corrosion resistance was due to the refined microstructure and the compactness of Gd-containing corrosion products film. In addition, a systematic discussion of corrosion behavior and corrosion film formation was provided by means of schematic illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical model, ISWFoam, for simulating internal solitary waves (ISWs) in continuously stratified, incompressible, viscous fluids is developed based on a fully three-dimensional (3D) Navier–Stokes equation using the open-source code OpenFOAM®. This model combines the density transport equation with the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equation with the Coriolis force, and the model discrete equation adopts the finite-volume method. The k – ω SST turbulence model has also been modified according to the variable density field. ISWFoam provides two initial wave generation methods to generate an ISW in continuously stratified fluids, including solving the weakly nonlinear models of the extended Korteweg–de Vries (eKdV) equation and the fully nonlinear models of the Dubreil–Jacotin–Long (DJL) equation. Grid independence tests for ISWFoam are performed, and considering the accuracy and computing efficiency, the appropriate grid size of the ISW simulation is recommended to be 1 / 150th of the characteristic length and 1 / 25th of the ISW amplitude. Model verifications are conducted through comparisons between the simulated and experimental data for ISW propagation examples over a flat bottom section, including laboratory scale and actual ocean scale, a submerged triangular ridge, a Gaussian ridge, and slope. The laboratory test results, including the ISW profile, wave breaking location, ISW arrival time, and the spatial and temporal changes in the mixture region, are well reproduced by ISWFoam. The ISWFoam model with unstructured grids and local mesh refinement can effectively simulate the evolution of ISWs, the ISW breaking phenomenon, waveform inversion of ISWs, and the interaction between ISWs and complex topography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This is the first study deciphering the relationship of LINC00853 and CCR9, we speculate that LINC00853 regulates the CCR9 modulating the binding of CCR9 and CCL25. • These findings provide new possibilities in understanding the relationship between lncRNAs and chemokines. • This study may present a new research direction of therapeutic targeting of these lncRNAs to restrain in T-ALL relapse. Leukemia is a group of hematopoietic malignancies characterized by the accumulation and infiltration of abnormal hematopoietic stem cells or early progenitor cells. T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a hematologic malignancy occurring in 15 % of pediatric and 25 % of adult ALL cases. Infiltration and metastasis of leukemic cells to specific organs are consequences of disease relapse and dismal prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified to function in the migration, invasion and infiltration of tumors by regulating gene expression. Our previous studies showed that CC chemokine receptor 9 (CCR9), which specifically bind to CC chemokine ligand 25 (CCL25), promotes T-ALL infiltration. Bioinformatic methods were used to screen LINC00853 in gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets. RT-qPCR, western bolt and flow cytometry were applied to detect the expression of LINC00853 and CCR9. Transwell and martrigel-transwell were employed to assess the cells migration and invasion abilities. Fluorescence microscope was applied to observed the green fluorescence protein positive (GFP+) cells. Lentivirus and adenovirus were packed to construct nc-blank, sh-LINC00853-blank and sh-LINC00853-rescue jurkat cell lines. In this study, we found out the negative correlation of LINC00853 and CCR9 expression. LINC00853 was downregulated while CCR9 was upregulated in GEO datasets, T-ALL cell lines and clinical samples. Moreover, LINC00853 suppressed jurkat cells migration and invasion in vitro and restrained infiltration in liver, spleen, kidney, lung, brain, ovary of nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice. These findings indicate that LINC00853 restrains T-ALL cell invasion and infiltration by regulating CCR9/CCL25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of cold rolling deformation on the electrochemical and corrosion behavior of 654SMO super-stainless steel in a high-temperature 3.5% NaCl solution was investigated by potentiodynamic curves, EIS, Mott–Schottky plots and XPS. Results of the electrochemical experiments and surface analyses showed that 654SMO under 33.3% reduction had a maximum deterioration in corrosion properties. After heavy deformation (55.6% and 66.7%), the corrosion resistance of 654SMO improved. XRD and EBSD were performed to illustrate the potential mechanism for the improvement in corrosion resistance. Results showed that there was no strain-induced martensite transformation for steels even under 66.7% deformation, and the dislocation density increased monotonically with an increasing deformation. The cold rolling texture of steels could be described by high Goss, S, brass and copper textures with a low brass-R component. Misorientation analysis and grain boundary characterization obtained from EBSD showed that a large number of mechanical twins formed in steels under 55.6% and 66.7% reductions. A hypothesis was proposed that the combined effect of the strong rolling texture and ∑3 twin boundaries ameliorated the corrosion resistance of 654SMO under large deformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, under the major impact of the global COVID-19 epidemic, people are paying more and more attention to safety issues including health and personal safety, and relevant supervision and testing methods are also constantly updated across different countries. In industrial enterprises, both spread of diseases and occurrence of accidents are largely caused by unsafe state of things and unsafe behaviors of people, among which, human factor is the most important factor. In recent years, many scholars have conducted theoretical and practical research on individual behavior from the perspective of individual psychological characteristics. Where, individual initiative as an important individual psychological trait is increasingly incorporated in the research category of safety behavior. A close correlation exists between individual initiative and evolution of safety production behavior. According to constraint conditions and replicator dynamics equation, this paper uses evolutionary game method and computer fuzzy system Matlab simulation software to conduct numerical experiment analysis on the ideal state of the game between organizations and individuals, thereby studying the behavior evolution trend. The basic idea of fuzzy control is to use computer to realize human's qualitative control experience. Research is found that whether an individual adopts safety obedience behavior will be directly affected by whether the organization adopts regulatory safety production management model. And if the organization adopts regulatory safety production management model and the individual does not implement safety obedience behavior, it is impossible to achieve a stable state. The evolution process of the two to the ideal state is affected by multiple factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Three-channel pseudo-color images preprocessing method is designed by concatenating different CT windows. • A dense skip connection encoding–decoding model (DSC-Net) is proposed to perform automatic segmentation of thymoma base on a deep convolutional neural network. • Dense connections are introduced into the architecture of the encoding path across different level feature maps in the DSC-Net. • Different level skip connections are designed between the encoding and decoding path in the DSC-Net. Accurately positioning and segmenting thymoma from computed tomography (CT) images is of great importance for an image-driven thymoma analysis. In clinical practice, the diagnosis and segmentation of thymomas for radiologists are time-consuming and inefficient tasks. Thus, it is necessary to develop a method to accurately and efficiently realize automatic segmentation of thymoma. Here, a dense skip connection encoding–decoding model (DSC-Net), which is a deep convolutional neural network, was proposed to perform automatic segmentation of thymoma with the ability to fuse feature maps under receptive fields of different scales. An image preprocessing method was also proposed to provide much more texture information and enhance the contrast between thymoma and its surrounding tissues. A total of 310 subjects who underwent contrast-enhanced CT scanning were included in this ethically-approved retrospective study. All of the CT slices were manually labeled by four experienced radiologists, and 80% of images were included in the training set and the rest were included in the testing set. The performance of segmentation was evaluated by calculating the accuracy, intersection over union (IoU), and Boundary F1 contour matching score (BFScore) between the predicted segmentation and the manual labels. For segmentation of thymoma in the testing set, the accuracy, IoU and BFScore were 92.96%, 87.86% and 0.9087 respectively. Compared to the U-Net method, the DSC-Net model improved IoU by 3.94%. In addition, the efficacy and robustness of DSC-Net in segmentation of different patients and different types of thymoma classified by the WHO histological classification criteria were verified. The proposed preprocessing method and DSC-Net demonstrated improved performance in segmentation of thymomas, suggesting the ability to provide consistent delineation and assist radiologists in their clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, under the major impact of the global COVID-19 epidemic, people are paying more and more attention to safety issues including health and personal safety, and relevant supervision and testing methods are also constantly updated across different countries. In industrial enterprises, both spread of diseases and occurrence of accidents are largely caused by unsafe state of things and unsafe behaviors of people, among which, human factor is the most important factor. In recent years, many scholars have conducted theoretical and practical research on individual behavior from the perspective of individual psychological characteristics. Where, individual initiative as an important individual psychological trait is increasingly incorporated in the research category of safety behavior. A close correlation exists between individual initiative and evolution of safety production behavior. According to constraint conditions and replicator dynamics equation, this paper uses evolutionary game method and computer fuzzy system Matlab simulation software to conduct numerical experiment analysis on the ideal state of the game between organizations and individuals, thereby studying the behavior evolution trend. The basic idea of fuzzy control is to use computer to realize human's qualitative control experience. Research is found that whether an individual adopts safety obedience behavior will be directly affected by whether the organization adopts regulatory safety production management model. And if the organization adopts regulatory safety production management model and the individual does not implement safety obedience behavior, it is impossible to achieve a stable state. The evolution process of the two to the ideal state is affected by multiple factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of solution temperature on cold rolling properties of lean duplex stainless steel (LDSS) was studied. The cold‐rolling test was used to observe the crack of the material after solution at different temperatures; the work hardening curve of the solution treated material was obtained by compression test at room temperature, and the austenite element in LDSS was calculated by Thermo‐Calc software. The different element contents obviously affect the stacking fault energy (SFE) of the materials, which leads to the change of the difficulty of transformation induced martensite in austenite. The phase transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) effect in LDSS was analyzed by optical microscopy (OM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). It is found that different solution temperature can significantly affect the grain size of austenite, and then affect the difficulty of strain‐induced martensitic transformation (SIMT) of austenite grain in LDSS. When solution treated at 900–1100 °C, with the increase of temperature, the content of quenched martensite decreases, the amount of austenite which can induce transformation induced plasticity increases, and the rolling performance improve. However, when the temperature is higher than 1200 °C, Cr2N phase precipitates in ferrite, which reduces the plasticity of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We acquire a lot of information about the world through texts, which can be categorized at the broadest level into two primary genres: narratives and exposition. Stories and essays differ across a variety of dimensions, including structure and content, with numerous theories hypothesizing that stories are easier to understand and recall than essays. However, empirical work in this area has yielded mixed results. To synthesize research in this area, we conducted a meta-analysis of experiments in which memory and/or comprehension of narrative and expository texts was investigated. Based on over 75 unique samples and data from more than 33,000 participants, we found that stories were more easily understood and better recalled than essays. Moreover, this result was robust, not influenced by the inclusion of a single effect-size or single study, and not moderated by various study characteristics. This finding has implications for any domain in which acquiring and retaining information is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Navigation resource allocation for low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellations refers to the optimal allocation of navigational assets when the number and allocation of satellites in the LEO constellation have been determined. LEO constellations can not only transmit navigation enhancement signals but also enable space-based monitoring (SBM) for real-time assessment of GNSS signal quality. However, proximity in the frequencies of LEO navigation signals and SBM can lead to significant interference, necessitating isolated transmission and reception. This separation requires that SBM and navigation signal transmission be carried out by different satellites within the constellation, thus demanding a strategic allocation of satellite resources. Given the vast number of satellites and their rapid movement, the visibility among LEO, medium-earth-orbit (MEO), and geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites is highly dynamic, presenting substantial challenges in resource allocation due to the computational intensity involved. Therefore, this paper proposes an optimal allocation algorithm for LEO constellation navigation resources based on dynamic programming. In this algorithm, a network model for the allocation of navigation resources in LEO constellations is initially established. Under the constraints of visibility time windows and onboard transmission and reception isolation, the objective is set to minimize the number of LEO satellites used while achieving effective navigation signal transmission and SBM. The constraints of resource allocation and the mathematical expression of the optimization objective are derived. A dynamic programming approach is then employed to determine the optimal resource allocation scheme. Analytical results demonstrate that compared to Greedy and Divide-and-Conquer algorithms, this algorithm achieves the highest resource utilization rate and the lowest computational complexity, making it highly valuable for future resource allocation in LEO constellations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entity recognition of product titles is essential for retrieving and recommending product information. Due to the irregularity of product title text, such as informal sentence structure, a large number of professional attribute words, a large number of unrelated independent entities of various combinations, the existing general named entity recognition model is limited in the e‐commerce field of product title entity recognition. Most of the current studies focus on only one of the two challenges instead of considering the two challenges together. Our approach proposes NEZHA‐CNN‐GlobalPointer architecture with the addition of label semantic network, and uses multigranularity contextual and label semantic information to fully capture the internal structure and category information of words and texts to improve the entity recognition accuracy. Through a series of experiments, we proved the efficiency of our approach over a dataset of Chinese product titles from JD.com, improving the F1‐value by 5.98%, when compared to the BERT‐LSTM‐CRF model on the product title corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares various angle-tracking algorithms to balance the performance and noise for a steering-by-wire (SBW) system. Direct and quiet steering experiences can improve drivers' acceptance of the SBW system. Linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control, robust control, and conventional cascade proportional–integral (PI) control have been developed and compared both theoretically and experimentally. To avoid the risky and time-consuming parameter-tuning process, a high-fidelity steering resistance model, which comprises a linear two-degree-of-freedom vehicle model and a dynamic LuGre friction model is established. Step and sine wave tests are simulated in a Matlab/Simulink environment to determine the reasonable parameter region for various methods. Then, the three types of algorithms are implemented on a prototype SBW vehicle and compared under the same scenarios. Finally, the simulated and experimental results are illustrated in detail. According to the indicators of control bandwidths, steady-state errors, cockpit sounds, and current waveforms, it is clear that LQR and robust control can achieve faster response and more acceptable noise, with uncertain and relatively larger tracking errors. Cascade PI control, in comparison, can realize smaller steady-state errors and gentler current waveforms, with slight noise and slower response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic joint degenerative disease and a major cause of disability in the elderly. However, the current intervention strategies cannot effectively improve OA, and the pathogenesis of OA remains elusive. The present study identified RNA binding motif protein 47 (RBM47) as an upstream modulator of key dysregulation gene co-expression module based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) modeling. Subsequently, data from real-time quantitative PCR and western blot analysis revealed that RBM47 was upregulated in OA models in vivo and in vitro compared with normal controls. Functional analysis results from the MTT assay, flow cytometry, evaluation of LDH activities and inflammatory mediators, and western blot analysis of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, showed that RBM47 knockdown significantly alleviated inflammation, apoptosis, and ECM degradation in interleukin 1β (IL-1β)-treated chondrocytes. Mechanistically, RBM47 bound to F box only protein 2 (FBXO2) and stabilized FBXO2 messenger RNA (mRNA) to promote the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in chondrocytes. Results from the recovery assay showed that the re-activation of STAT3 signaling by overexpressing FBXO2 or STAT3 counteracted the alleviating effect of RBM47 downregulation on IL-1β-induced inflammation, apoptosis, and ECM degradation. Altogether, our findings illustrate that RBM47 stabilizes FBXO2 mRNA to advance OA development by activating STAT3 signaling, which enhances our understanding of the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the development of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic in-plane instability process of pinended arches under a central radial impact applied is analyzed with numerical simulation method. Based on energy characteristics of arch under impact, the method for determining the critical state of dynamic stability of both elastic arch and elastic--plastic arch under impact are discussed in this paper. The calculation results show that the strain energy of the elastic arch at dynamic stable critical state is consistent with that at a state after buckling under static load in which the bearing capacity of the arch drops to zero, and the difference between them are very small and no more than 3.6%. When impact act on the arch with dynamic critical initial conditions, the converter efficiencies from initial kinetic energy possessed by the rigid body to elastic strain energy of arch approaches 100%, therefore a feasible method is provided to determine the dynamic stability of elastic arch under impact on the energy method. Then the impact analysis of arch considering material nonlinearity is carried out, it is proposed that the instability of elastic-plastic arch can be judged by the forming of plastic hinges at about 1/4 on both sides of the arch. It is found that the elastic strain energy of elastic-plastic arch at dynamic stability critical state is very close to maximum elastic strain energy of the arch under static load, and the differences between them are no more than 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lung fluke infection is a rare cause of exudative pleural effusion. • Infected patients may have eosinophilia and special dietary habits. • Pleural biopsy helps to distinguish other aetiologies. • Positive serological tests can confirm infection. The global incidence of lung fluke disease is low, and the infection is a rare cause of pleural effusion in adults. This article reports a case of exudative pleural effusion accompanied by eosinophilia in a 19-year-old male which was finally proven to be caused by lung fluke infection through antibody testing. This case highlights that lung fluke infection is an easily overlooked cause of pleural effusion. Eosinophilia is a potential marker of infection, and serological tests could further confirm the diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gene expression for interleukin-2 receptor subunit alpha (CD25/IL2RA) is frequently altered in adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Increasing evidence indicates that the elevated expression of CD25 may be correlated with poor survival for AML patients. Thus, we performed this meta-analysis to further evaluate the prognostic value of elevated CD25 in AML. Eligible studies were gathered by searching on PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase. Using the R language 3.6.0 software, Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)/relapse-free survival (RFS)/event-free survival (EFS) for total and subgroup analyses were calculated to investigate the association of elevated CD25 and outcomes of AML patients. Ten studies with a total of 1640 participants were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Pooled HRs suggested that overexpression of CD25 predicted poor outcomes on both OS (HR = 2.27, 95%CI 1.95–2.64) and DFS/RFS/EFS (HR = 1.77, 95%CI 1.44–2.17) in overall population. Subgroup analyses stratified by ethnicity, AML subtype, cut-off value, statistical methodologies and detection method draw similar results. Our meta-analysis indicates that elevated CD25 expression is a poor prognostic factor for AML patients. Considering limited number of samples, further relevant studies are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intracellular calcium is related to cardiac hypertrophy. The Ca V 1.2 channel and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) and CaM regulate the intracellular calcium content. However, the differences in CaMKII and CaM in cardiac hypertrophy are still conflicting and are worthy of studying as drug targets. Therefore, in this study, we aim to investigate the roles and mechanism of CaM and CaMKII on Ca V 1.2 in pathological myocardial hypertrophy. The results showed that ISO stimulation caused SD rat heart and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. In vivo , the HW/BW, LVW/BW, cross-sectional area, fibrosis ratio and ANP expression were all increased. There were no differences in Ca V 1.2 channel expression in the in vivo model or the in vitro model, but the ISO stimulation induced channel activity, and the [Ca2+ i increased. The protein expression levels of CaMKII and p-CaMKII were all increased in the ISO group, but the CaM expression level decreased. AIP inhibited ANP, CaMKII and p-CaMKII expression, and ISO-induced [Ca2+ i increased. AIP also reduced HDAC4, p-HDAC and MEF2C expression. However, CMZ did not play a cardiac hypertrophy reversal role in vitro. In conclusion, we considered that compared with CaM, CaMKII may be a much more important drug target in cardiac hypertrophy reversal. • The expression of Ca V 1.2 did not change during cardiac hypertrophy. • In cardiac hypertrophy, the concentration of intracellular calcium increased. • In cardiac hypertrophy, the binding ability of CaMKII and Ca V 1.2 increased. • In cardiac hypertrophy, the binding ability of CaM and Ca V 1.2 decreased. • Compared with CaM, CaMKII may be a more important drug target in cardiac hypertrophy reversal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grape-derived proanthocyanidins could act as a protector against various environmental stresses for Saccharomyces cerevisiae during wine fermentation, resulting in the increased physiological activity, fermentation efficiency and improved wine quality. In order to explore the possible protection mechanism of proanthocyanidins globally, RNA-seq analysis for wine yeast AWRI R2 cultivated with 0 g/L (group A), 0.1 g/L (group B), 1.0 g/L (group C) proanthocyanidins were applied in this study. Differentially expressed genes were enriched into six metabolic pathways including vitamin B6, thiamine, amino acids, aminoacyl-tRNA, carbohydrate and steroid based on KEGG enrichment analysis. Four key genes (SNZ2, THI6, THI21 and THI80), participated in the biosynthesis of vitamin B6 and thiamine, were up-regulated significantly in proanthocyanidins treated yeast cells and the gene expression levels were verified by RT-qPCR. Yeast cells supplemented with proanthocyanidins performed increased intracellular levels of vitamin B6 and thiamine and higher cell viability compared to the control group. In addition, the composition of intracellular fatty acids showed an obvious alternation in proanthocyanidins-treated yeast cells, in which the UFAs content increased whereas the SFA content decreased. In general, we provided an indirect protection effect of proanthocyanidins on the yeast cells to alleviate environmental stresses during wine fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium-based alloys presented great potential for biodegradable implant materials. However, the poor mechanical properties and high corrosion rate blocked its extensive application. In this study, a new biodegradable Mg–Zn–Y–Gd–Zr alloy was fabricated and extruded. The microstructure, corrosion morphologies and corrosion products film of the as-cast, homogenized and as-extruded alloys were characterized by optical micrographs, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and laser scanning confocal microscopy. Moreover, the corrosion mechanisms of the as-cast and as-extruded alloys were proposed, and the influencing factors of corrosion properties were discussed. The electrochemical test, immersion tests and corrosion morphologies demonstrated that the as-extruded alloy exhibited favorable corrosion properties. The as-cast and homogenized alloys displayed localized corrosion mode, and the as-extruded alloy displayed uniform corrosion mode. The Volta potential of the Mg3(Y,Gd)2Zn3 phase relative to Mg matrix was measured by using Kelvin probe force microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We applied and tested a bioenergetic‐based, steady‐state food web bioaccumulation model to predict polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposures in sport fish of the Detroit River (USA–Canada), which is a Great Lakes area of concern. The PCB concentrations in the sediment and water of the river were found to exhibit high spatial variation. The previously contained areas of high contamination may have spread to adjacent food webs as a result of fish movements. This process may cause biased predictions in single‐compartment bioaccumulation models. We performed multiple simulations and contrasted model predictions against a database of 1152 fish sample records comprising 19 sport fish species. The simulations evaluated 4 spatial scales (river‐wide, 2‐nation, 4‐zone, and 6‐zone models) to reveal how the spatial heterogeneity of contamination and species‐specific movements contribute to variation in fish PCB exposures. The model testing demonstrated that the 2‐nation model provided the most accurate global prediction of fish contamination. However, these improvements were not equally observed across all species. The model was subsequently calibrated for poorly performing species, by allowing cross‐zone exposures, demonstrating the importance of accounting for specific ecological factors, such as fish movement, to improve PCB bioaccumulation prediction, especially in highly heterogeneous water systems. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2771–2784. © 2019 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microstructure evolution, strain-induced martensite transformation (SIMT) kinetics, tensile properties, deformation behaviors of UNS S32101 duplex stainless steel (DSS) with heterogeneous layered structure (HLS) were investigated. HLS composed of multiscale grains (spanning coarse, fine, and ultrafine grains) was prepared by direct cold rolling in combination with short-time annealing, being dominated by coarse-grained ferrite (CGed α) and fine-grained austenite (FGed γ). A quantitative SIMT kinetics model was established to predict the α′-martensite fraction at various strain/annealing parameters, indicating that increased average grain size (AGS) for γ not only contributed to the SIM formation but also promoted the monotonic increase of SIMT rate until annealing for 10 min. Relatively high stacking fault energy (SFE, 35.89∼39.34 mJ/m2) favored mechanical twinning as the dominant deformation mode of γ accompanied by SIMT and dislocation glide. And α deformation was mainly coordinated by wavy slip. Both SFE and Olson-Cohen parameters were strongly correlated with the γ AGS, which could reasonably interpret the dependence of SIMT on the AGS. The A and B values increased progressively with grain coarsening along with the rapid decline in SFE, facilitating the martensite formation. Further increasing the AGS beyond the peak region severely suppressed SIMT probably due to the low probability of martensite embryo generation at deformation twins (DTs) intersections, coinciding with the sharp decrease A value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influence of nitrogen on structure and corrosion resistance of Cr15 super martensitic stainless steels (SMSS), two types (N-free and N-0.12%) of specimens were quenched at 1050°C and tempered at different temperatures, and then, optical microscope, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, potentiodynamic polarisation, immersion experiments and Kelvin Probe Force Microscope were used to characterize its microstructures and corrosion properties. The experimental results show that the microstructure in the N-free Cr15 super martensitic stainless steel is a biphasic tissue with alternating martensite and austenite distribution while quenched at 1050°C and tempered between 600 and 700°C. The nitrogen addition increases the content of austenite, and changes the austenite morphology significantly into the coarse block and strip distribution. What's more, micro-galvanic corrosion is formed between austenite and martensite, which deteriorates the corrosion resistance of the SMSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Chemical fixation of carbon dioxide under mild reaction conditions e.g. atmospheric pressure and low temperature depends upon the ability of catalyst. Herein, a synergistic catalytic scheme of silver sulfadiazine/ n Bu 4 NBr was described for the three-component reaction of propargylic alcohols, CO 2 , and monohydric alcohols. This catalytic system was demonstrated effectively to provide β-oxopropyl carbonates in excellent yields (up to 99% yield with 5 mol% catalyst). The method tolerated a wide scope of propargylic alcohols and monohydric alcohols under atmospheric CO 2 pressure and solvent-free conditions. The excellent catalytic performance was attributed to the synergistic catalysis confirmed by the careful experiments. Graphical abstract Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the novel role of Paraoxonase 2 (PON2) in modulating acute myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). IRI was induced both in vivo and ex vivo in male, C57BL6/J (WT) and PON2-deficient (PON-def) mice. In addition, in vitro hypoxia-reoxygenation injury (HRI) was induced in H9c2 cells expressing empty vector (H9c2-EV) or human PON2 (H9c2-hPON2) ± LY294002 (a potent PI3K inhibitor). Infarct size, PON2 gene expression, mitochondrial calcium retention capacity (CRC), reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, mitochondrial membrane potential, CHOP and pGSK-3β protein levels, and cell apoptosis were evaluated. PON2 gene expression is upregulated in WT mice following in vivo IRI. PON2-def mice exhibit a 2-fold larger infarct, increased CHOP levels, and reduced pGSK-3β levels compared to WT controls. Global cardiac mitochondria isolated from PON2-def mice exhibit reduced CRC and increased ROS production. Cardiomyocytes isolated from PON2-def mice subjected to ex vivo IRI have mitochondria with reduced CRC (also seen under non-IRI conditions), and increased ROS generation and apoptosis compared to WT controls. PON2 knockdown in H9c2 cells subjected to HRI leads to an increase in mitochondrial membrane depolarization. H9c2-hPON2 cells exhibit i) improvement in mitochondrial membrane potential, pGSK-3β levels and mitochondrial CRC, and ii) decrease in CHOP levels, mitochondrial ROS generation and cell apoptosis, when compared to H9c2-EV controls. Treatment with LY294002 resulted in a decrease of mitochondrial CRC and increase in mitochondrial ROS production and cell apoptosis in the H9c2-hPON2 group versus H9c2-EV controls. PON2 protects against acute myocardial IRI by reducing mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes via activation of the PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β RISK pathway. • PON2 deficient mice have a 2 fold larger infarct size following myocardial IRI. • PON2 deficiency leads to an increase in mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes during IRI. • Cardiac IRI leads to a decrease in cardioprotective pGSK-3β levels in PON2 deficient mice. • PON2 overexpression rescues mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress during IRI. • The RISK (PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β) pathway is a potential molecular mechanism for PON2 cardioprotection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate due to late diagnosis and high incidence of metastasis. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subgroup of cancer cells with self‐renewal capability similar to that of normal stem cells (NSCs). While CSCs may play an important role in cancer progression, mechanisms underlying CSC self‐renewal and the relationship between self‐renewal of the NSCs and CSCs remain elusive. The orphan nuclear receptor Nr5a2 is a transcriptional factor, and a regulator of stemness of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. However, whether Nr5a2 regulates the self‐renewal of lung CSCs is unknown. Here, we showed the diagnostic and prognostic values of elevated Nr5a2 expression in human lung cancer. We generated the mouse LLC‐SD lung carcinoma CSC cellular model in which Nr5a2 expression was enhanced. Using the LLC‐SD model, through transient and stable siRNA interference of Nr5a2 expression, we provided convincing evidence for a regulatory role of Nr5a2 in the maintenance of lung CSC self‐renewal and stem cell properties in vitro. Further, using the syngeneic and orthotopic lung transplantation model, we elucidated augmented cancer biological properties associated with Nr5a2 promotion of LLC‐SD self‐renewal. More importantly, we revealed that Nr5a2's regulatory role in promoting LLC‐SD self‐renewal is mediated by transcriptional activation of its direct target Nanog. Taken together, in this study, we have provided convincing evidence in vitro and in vivo demonstrating that Nr5a2 can induce lung CSC properties and promote tumorigenesis and progression through transcriptional up‐regulation of Nanog. In the present study, we have provided convincing evidence in vitro and in vivo demonstrating that Nr5a2 can induce lung cancer stem cells (CSC) properties and promote tumorigenesis and progression through transcriptional up‐regulation of Nanog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An analytical solvable three-fluid heat transfer model for absorption process is presented. • Conditions of matched process are defined and deducted in analytical forms. • Thermal resistances caused by unmatched factors are defined and analytically expressed. • Heat capacity flow is much more important than inlet parameter in absorption process. Abstract A one-dimensional three-fluid heat transfer model is presented here to analyze coupled heat and mass transfer process in falling film absorption process. In this model, mass transfer process is converted to its heat transfer equivalent process through the heat and mass transfer analogy. The analytic solutions can be gained by solving the equations in the model for the match property analysis. Thermal resistance of heat transfer process is defined based on the entransy dissipation theory. Conditions of matched flow and matched inlet parameter are deducted. Then thermal resistance is decompounded into thermal resistance caused by finite heat and mass transfer capability R a , thermal resistance caused by unmatched flow R f and thermal resistance caused by unmatched inlet-parameter R p. The properties of R a , R f and R p are quantitatively analyzed. Match property analysis method presented here provides a quantitatively optimization criteria of the absorber, and a new perspective to understand absorption process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to now, the influence of unintentionally doped H in ZnO on electronic properties still perplexes us. Recently, it had been found in experiment that the introduction of Li would dramatically decrease the stability of H. In order to clarify the inner physical mechanism behind the phenomenon, we investigated the formation energy and the potential barrier height for H movement in ZnO with different configuration of doped Li by employing first-principle calculation. It is revealed that interstitial Li (Lii) facilitates the escape of H from trap of ZnO lattice and reduces the potential barrier due to electrostatic interaction. Our methodology can also be extended to analyze the stability of trace element in other semiconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cleft palate is one of the most common craniofacial congenital defects in humans. It is associated with multiple genetic and environmental risk factors, including mutations in the genes encoding signaling molecules in the sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway, which are risk factors for cleft palate in both humans and mice. However, the function of Shh signaling in the palatal epithelium during palatal fusion remains largely unknown. Although components of the Shh pathway are localized in the palatal epithelium, specific inhibition of Shh signaling in palatal epithelium does not affect palatogenesis. We therefore utilized a hedgehog (Hh) signaling gain-of-function mouse model, K14-Cre;R26SmoM2 , to uncover the role of Shh signaling in the palatal epithelium during palatal fusion. In this study, we discovered that constitutive activation of Hh signaling in the palatal epithelium results in submucous cleft palate and persistence of the medial edge epithelium (MEE). Further investigation revealed that precise downregulation of Shh signaling is required at a specific time point in the MEE during palatal fusion. Upregulation of Hh signaling in the palatal epithelium maintains the proliferation of MEE cells. This may be due to a dysfunctional p63/Irf6 regulatory loop. The resistance of MEE cells to apoptosis is likely conferred by enhancement of a cell adhesion network through the maintenance of p63 expression. Collectively, our data illustrate that persistent Hh signaling in the palatal epithelium contributes to the etiology and pathogenesis of submucous cleft palate through its interaction with a p63/Irf6-dependent biological regulatory loop and through a p63-induced cell adhesion network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetric division (ASD), the unique characteristic of normal stem cells, is regarded as a stemness marker when applied to the study of cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, the role of ASD in the self-renewal of CSCs and its regulation remain largely unknown. Here, we first established a mouse Lewis lung carcinoma CSC cell line that could undergo asymmetric division (LLC-ASD cells) derived from the parental mouse Lewis lung carcinoma cancer cells (LLC-Parental cells). In vitro assessment of stemness by RT-qPCR and western blot analysis of stem cell markers, clonogenic assay ( p  < 0.001), single cell spheroid formation assay ( p  < 0.05) and 96-well-plate single-cell cloning assay ( p  < 0.01) indicated that the LLC-ASD cells exhibited stronger stemness features in comparison to the LLC-Parental cells. In vivo , tumorigenicity of LLC-ASD cells, transplanted subcutaneously to the nude mice, was increased compared to that of LLC-parental cells ( p  < 0.05). Further, Neuralized1a , a regulator of ASD in normal stem cells, was highly expressed in the LLC-ASD cells. Silencing Neuralized1a expression in LLC-ASD cells by siRNA weakened the stemness features measured by the in vitro assays listed above ( p  < 0.05). The tumorigenic ability was also decreased in the nude mice upon Neuralized1a silencing ( p  < 0.05). Collectively, the present study suggests that Neuralized1a regulates the stemness of LLC-ASD cells which could be the new marker and therapeutic target of CSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein arginine methylation has been recently identified as an important form of post-translational modification (PTM). It is carried out by the protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) family of enzymes, which in mammals consists of nine members. Among them, PRMT1 is the major arginine methyltransferase and participates in transcription, signal transduction, development and cancer. The function of PRMT1 in craniofacial development remains unclear. We generated Wnt1-Cre;Prmt1 fl/fl mice with cranial neural crest (CNC)-specific deletion of Prmt1 and compared CNC-derived craniofacial bones from newborn control and Wnt1-Cre;Prmt1 fl/fl mice. The size, surface area and volume of the premaxilla, maxilla, palatine bone, frontal bone, and mandible were analyzed using three-dimensional (3D) micro-computed tomography (microCT). We found that Prmt1 deficiency led to alterations in craniofacial bones including the premaxilla, maxilla, palatine bone, frontal bone, and mandible, as well as defects in the incisor and alveolar bone, recapitulating changes seen in Msx1 -deficient mice. We further determined that Prmt1 depletion resulted in significant downregulation of Msx1 in calvaria-derived preosteoblast and primordium of frontal bone and mandible. Our study reveals critical roles of PRMT1 in the formation of CNC-derived craniofacial bones and suggests that Prmt1 is an upstream regulator of Msx1 in craniofacial bone development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Awareness of Network Security Situation (abbreviated as NSS for short) technology is in a period of vigorous development recently. NSS technology means network security situational awareness technology. It refers to the technology of collecting, processing, and analyzing various real-time information in the network to understand and evaluate the current network security status. It can not only find network security threats, but also reflect the NSS in the system security metrics, and provide users with targeted security protection measures. Based on data mining methods, this paper analyzed and models perceived threats and security events with data mining algorithms, and improved information security measurement methods based on association analysis. This paper proposed network security information analysis and NSS based on data mining, and analyzed the experimental results of network awareness of NSS information security measurement. The experimental results showed that when the Timer was 8, the accuracy of the awareness of NSS information security measurement method based on data mining can reach 92.89%. The data mining model had the highest accuracy of 93.14% in situation understanding and evaluation of KDDCup-99 dataset. The results showed that the model can accurately predict the NSS. When Timer was 6, the highest accuracy of the model was 92.71%. In general, the NSS prediction mining model based on KDDCup-99 can better understand, evaluate and predict the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We have previously shown that intralipid (lipid emulsion) protects the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury and bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity. However, the precise underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we explored the hypothesis that free fatty acid receptor-1 or G-protein-coupled receptor 40 is expressed in the heart and that cardioprotective effects of lipid emulsion are mediated through G-protein-coupled receptor 40 in two animal models of ischemia/reperfusion injury and bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity.Methods: Langendorff-perfused male mouse hearts were subjected to ischemia/reperfusion with lipid emulsion alone (1%) or with G-protein-coupled receptor 40 antagonist (GW1100, 10 µM). Additionally, cardiotoxicity was achieved in male rats with bupivacaine bolus (10 mg/kg, IV) followed by lipid emulsion alone (20%, 5 ml/kg bolus, and 0.5 ml · kg · min maintenance, IV) or with GW1100 pretreatment (2.5 mg/kg, IV).Results: G-protein-coupled receptor 40 is expressed in rodent hearts. GW1100 abolished lipid emulsion-induced cardioprotection against ischemia/reperfusion in mice because rate pressure product and left ventricular developed pressure were lower than lipid emulsion alone (rate pressure product: 2,186 ± 1,783 [n = 7] vs. 11,607 ± 4,347 [n = 8]; left ventricular developed pressure: 22.6 ± 10.4 vs. 63.8 ± 20; P < 0.0001). Lipid emulsion + GW1100 also demonstrated reduced LV dP/dtmax and LV dP/dtmin (dP/dtmax = 749 ± 386 vs. 2,098 ± 792, P < 0.001; dP/dtmin = -443 ± 262 vs. -1,447 ± 546, P < 0.001). In bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity rat model, GW1100 pretreatment had no significant effect on heart rate (HR) and ejection fraction after 30 min (HR: 302 ± 17 vs. 312 ± 38; ejection fraction: 69 ± 3% vs. 73 ± 4%). GW1100 pretreatment, however, prevented lipid-rescue, with no recovery after 10 min. In the control group, lipid emulsion improved HR (215 ± 16 at 10 min) and fully rescued left ventricle function at 10 min (ejection fraction = 67 ± 8%, fractional shortening = 38 ± 6%).Conclusions: G-protein-coupled receptor 40 is expressed in the rodent heart and is involved in cardioprotection mediated by lipid emulsion against ischemia/reperfusion injury and bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behaviors of Mg-2Zn-0.2Mn-xCa (denoted as MZM-xCa alloys) in homogenization state have been investigated by immersion test and electrochemical techniques in a simulated physiological condition. The microstructure features were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and the corrosion mechanism was illustrated using atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The electrochemical and immersion test verify the MZM-0.38% Ca owns the best corrosion performance with the corrosion rate of 6.27 mm/year. Furthermore, the film layer of MZM-0.38% Ca is more compact and denser than that of others. This improvement could be associated with the combined effects of the suitable content of Zn/Ca dissolving into the α-Mg matrix and the modification of Ca-containing compounds by heat-treatment. However, the morphologies were transformed from uniform corrosion to localized pitting corrosion with Ca further addition. It could be explained that the excessive Ca addition can strengthen the nucleation driving force for the second phase formation, and the large volumes fraction of micro-galvanic present interface sites accelerate the nucleation driving force for corrosion propagation. In addition, in vitro biocompatibility tests also show the MZM-0.38% Ca was safe to bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and was promising to be utilized as implant materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]