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Recent developments in the field of the radial basis function-finite difference (RBF-FD) framework have been focused on conditionally positive definite polyharmonic splines (PHS). Within this context, our research focuses on deriving analytical weights for the RBF-FD+polynomials method within the framework of PHS. We provide convergence analyses for various stencils. To validate the accuracy of our derived formulations, we conduct a series of computational experiments across a range of test problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Mitochondrial genomes have become a powerful tool for studying molecular genetics and phylogeny of mollusks. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Mactra grandis was characterized for the first time. The newly sequenced mitochondrial genome fits the typical composition pattern of mollusks with 37 functional genes. Among the Mactridae species with reported mitochondrial genomes, Mactra grandis has the closest relationship with Mactra cygnus. The gene arrangement, genetic distance, and selective pressure of protein-coding genes among Mactra species were also analyzed. This study provides a molecular basis for taxonomy and germplasm research on Mactridae species. Mitochondrial genomes are playing an increasingly important role in molluscan taxonomy, germplasm, and evolution studies. The first complete mitochondrial genome of the commercial big brown mactra clam, Mactra grandis, was characterized using Illumina next-generation sequencing in this study. The 17,289 bp circular genome has a typical gene organization of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNAs, and 22 tRNAs, with an obvious (A + T)-bias of 64.54%. All PCGs exhibited a homogeneous bias in nucleotide composition with a (A + T)-bias, a positive GC skew, and a negative AT skew. Results of phylogenetic analysis showed that Mactra grandis was most closely related to Mactra cygnus. The functional gene arrangement of the two species was identical but different from other Mactra species. The congeneric relationships among Mactra species were demonstrated by genetic distance analysis. Additionally, the selective pressure analysis suggested that cox1 was highly efficient for discriminating closely related species in genus Mactra, while nad2 was the most appropriate marker for population genetic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the Gauss-Seidel and successive over-relaxation iteration methods for quaternion linear systems A x = b and obtain the structure-preserving algorithms of Gauss-Seidel and successive over-relaxation iteration methods for quaternion linear systems A x = b . The convergence and computational cost of these iteration methods are discussed. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of structure-preserving algorithms of Gauss-Seidel iteration and successive over-relaxation iteration methods. As an application, we apply two kinds of structure-preserving iterative algorithms to solve elliptic biquaternion linear systems A x = b . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrin subunit beta-like 1 (ITGBL1), a member of the epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like protein family, encodes a beta integrin-related protein that is mainly associated with the development of specific tumours and immune-related signalling pathways. This work aimed to explore the possibility that ITGBL1 functions as a novel target gene for immunotherapy and could be a cancer prognostic molecule. The mRNA data for ITGBL1 were obtained from the public databases The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Using GEPIA, the differential expression of ITGBL1 in different tumour stages was identified. Cancer prognostic correlations were explored using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and forest plots. A combination of Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), TIMER2.0 and the R package was applied to analyse the ITGBL1-enriched related pathways. The NCI-60 drug database was examined using CellMinerTM. Cytological experiments were conducted to confirm ITGBL1's impact on cancer cells. Our research has shown that ITGBL1 is differentially expressed in 26 cancers, and high ITGBL1 expression predicts a poorer survival prognosis in some specific cancers. Additionally, we found that ITGBL1 is enriched in immune-related pathways, which are closely linked to immunomodulatory molecules, immune-infiltrating cells, and immunomodulatory factors. The results of tumor mutational burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI) also indicate that the expression of ITGBL1 is beneficial for improving tumor immunotherapy efficacy. Furthermore, a number of antitumor agents associated with ITGBL1 expression have been identified. Finally, knockdown of ITGBL1 restricts the ability of gastric and colorectal cancer cells to proliferate and migrate. Our study demonstrates that ITGBL1 can be utilized to accurately prognosticate cancer and has opened up new avenues for the investigation of tumor immune mechanisms and the development of more efficacious immunotherapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an evolving global pandemic, and nanobodies, as well as other single-domain antibodies (sdAbs), have been recognized as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic tool for infectious diseases. High-throughput screening techniques such as phage display have been developed as an alternative to in vivo immunization for the discovery of antibody-like target-specific binders. Methods: We designed and constructed a highly diverse synthetic phage library sdAb-U (single-domain Antibody - Universal library) based on a human framework. The SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) was expressed and purified. The universal library sdAb-U was panned against the RBD protein target for two rounds, followed by monoclonal phage ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) to identify RBD-specific binders (the first stage). High-affinity binders were sequenced and the obtained CDR1 and CDR2 sequences were combined with fully randomized CDR3 to construct a targeted (focused) phage library sdAb-RBD, for subsequent second-stage phage panning (also two rounds) and screening. Then, sequences with high single-to-background ratios in phage ELISA were selected for expression. The binding affinities of sdAbs to RBD were measured by an ELISA-based method. In addition, we conducted competition ELISA (using ACE2 ectodomain S19-D615) and SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus neutralization assays for the high-affinity RBD-binding sdAb39. Results: Significant enrichments were observed in both the first-stage (universal library) and the second-stage (focused library) phage panning. Five RBD-specific binders were identified in the first stage with high ELISA signal-to-background ratios. In the second stage, we observed a much higher possibility of finding RBD-specific clones in phage ELISA. Among 45 selected RBD-positive sequences, we found eight sdAbs can be well expressed, and five of them show high-affinity to RBD (EC50 < 100nM). We finally found that sdAb39 (EC50 ~ 4nM) can compete with ACE2 for binding to RBD. Conclusion: Overall, this two-stage strategy of synthetic phage display libraries enables rapid selection of SARS-CoV-2 RBD sdAb with potential therapeutic activity, and this two-stage strategy can potentially be used for rapid discovery of sdAbs against other targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, the number of power battery decommissioning is increasing year by year. The recycling of power batteries is of great significance for protecting the ecological environment, improving the efficiency of resource utilization, and ensuring the sustainable and healthy development of the new energy automobile industry. In this study, the chemical compositions of power batteries were introduced, the technical path and development status of the echelon utilization of decommissioned power batteries were discussed, and the specific steps and challenges of regenerative utilization of decommissioned power batteries were described in detail from two aspects of pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Combined with the relevant research results, the main methods of the direct regeneration of positive electrode materials were analyzed. Finally, the main development direction and related suggestions for the resource utilization of decommissioned power batteries were put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore correlations harvesting by two static detectors locally interacting with vacuum massless scalar fields in the presence of an infinite perfectly reflecting boundary. We study the phenomena of mutual information harvesting and entanglement harvesting for two detector-boundary alignments, i.e., parallel-to-boundary and orthogonal-to-boundary alignments. Our results show that the presence of the boundary generally inhibits mutual information harvesting relative to that in flat spacetime without any boundaries. In contrast, the boundary may play a doubled-edged role in entanglement harvesting, i.e., inhibiting entanglement harvesting in the near zone of the boundary while assisting it in the far zone of the boundary. Moreover, there exists an optimal detector energy gap difference between two nonidentical detectors that makes such detectors advantageous in correlations harvesting as long as the interdetector separation is large enough. The value of the optimal detector energy gap difference depends on both the interdetector separation and the detector-to-boundary distance. A comparison of the correlations harvesting in two different alignments shows that although correlations harvesting share qualitatively the same properties, they also display quantitative differences in that the detectors in orthogonal-to-boundary alignment always harvest comparatively more mutual information than the parallel-to-boundary ones, while they harvest comparatively more entanglement only near the boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary artery (PA) dilatation is commonly observed in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). However, the clinical aspects of PA dilatation in various etiology of PH remain unknown. In this study, we investigated the clinical and imaging characteristics of 1018 patients with different subtypes of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The independent determinants for all‐cause death were identified using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models. PA dilatation was identified in 88.8% of the patients, and 27.2% had a PA diameter/ascending aorta diameter ratio greater than 1.5. PA diameter was shown to be significantly correlated with hemodynamic parameters and symptom duration in idiopathic PAH patients. PA diameter only correlated with pulmonary circulation volume in patients with PAH associated with congenital heart disease. PA diameter correlated with symptom duration and right ventricular end‐diastolic dimension in CTEPH patients. PA diameter correlated with right ventricular end‐diastolic dimension in patients with PAH associated with connective tissue disease. Only 6‐min walk distance, but not PA dilatation, predicts all‐cause death independently. In conclusion, PA dilatation is a common finding in PH patients. The clinical feature of PA dilatation varies greatly between PH types. PA dilatation is not associated with all‐cause death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aminotransferases are enzymes found in living organisms that catalyze transfer reactions between amino acids and keto acids, crucial for amino acid metabolism and synthesis. Aminotransferase classes I and II play a vital role in regulating osmolarity, protecting cells, and improving metabolic homeostasis and cellular fitness. To investigate the characteristics of the aminotransferase class I and II gene family and their roles in osmotic pressure regulation in the Jinjiang oyster (Crassostrea ariakensis), the gene structure, chromosomal localization, and phylogeny were characterized and the genes' expression in the gill under high-salt stress was analyzed. In this study, eighteen Aminotransferase class I and II genes, including SPTLCa and SPTLCb, SPTa and SPTb, ALAT2a and ALAT2b, KAT3a and KAT3b, and ASTa, ASTb and ASTc, were identified. The physicochemical properties of 11 family members were stable, with their instability factors less than 40. Subcellular localization prediction showed that aminotransferase classes I and II were localized in the cytoplasm or mitochondria. Chromosomal localization results showed that the 18 aminotransferase class I and II genes were located on eight chromosomes. All members of this gene family had the Aminotran_1_2 structural domain which is associated with osmotic pressure regulation by adjusting the conversion reaction between amino acids and keto acids. Most gene expressions showed an initial increase followed by a decrease from 0 h to 12 h when the oysters were challenged by acute stress using artificial seawater with a salinity of 40. However, the expression of CarAGT2 and CarKAT3b genes showed an increased trend with increasing stress time. This study systematically investigated the bioinformatics characteristics of the aminotransferase class I and II gene family in C. ariakensis and their role in osmotic pressure regulation, which provides scientific data for understanding the potential functions of these genes in physiological adaptation, thereby expanding the research on osmoregulation in bivalves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passivation behavior of selective laser melting 316L stainless steel (SLM 316L SS) on different building planes is studied in 3.5% NaCl solution. The results show that the XOZ and YOZ planes have a semicircular molten pool structure, and the XOY plane shows a columnar molten pool structure. Meanwhile, the XOZ planes have relatively smaller grain sizes and higher low‐angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) proportionate than that of YOZ and XOY planes. The electrochemical testing results illustrate that the XOZ plane has a lower corrosion tendency than that of YOZ and XOY planes, as the thicker passive film with higher content of Cr2O3 is detected on the XOZ plane. The XOZ plane, which has a higher Crox + hy/(Feox + hy + Crox + hy) ratio, has excellent passivation performance and better electrochemical properties than the other two planes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop an approach to reduce the type 2 diabetic osteoporosis, this study investigated the protective effects of the combination of linagliptin and metformin against osteoporosis. Micro-CT and dynamic biomechanical measurements were used to determine the bone microstructure in the type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured in high glucose environments. In addition, we used qRT-PCR and Western blotting to assess osteogenic markers and p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) protein expression. The combination of linagliptin and metformin treatment significantly restored bone micro-architecture and femoral mechanical properties in the T2DM rats. In contrast, bone markers including osteocalcin, NH2-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen, COOH-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase were significantly reduced by the combination of linagliptin and metformin treatment. We used high glucose treated MC3T3-E1 cells to mimic the condition of T2DM. Linagliptin combined with metformin treatment significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 and ERK induced by high glucose treatment. In conclusion, the linagliptin combined with metformin treatment improved the rats' bone mineral density, bone structure, and osteogenic markers. Both p38 and ERK phosphorylation were reduced in high glucose MC3T3-E1 cells. Our findings highlight the potential of linagliptin combined with metformin for the treatment of T2DM-related osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Letter, we demonstrated deep sub-60 mV/dec subthreshold swings (SS) independent of gate bias sweep direction in GaN-based metal–insulator–semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MISHEMTs) with an Al0.6Ga0.4N/GaN heterostructure and in situ SiN as gate dielectric and surface passivation. Average SS values of 22 and 29 mV/dec over 3–4 orders of drain current (ID) swing were measured during forward and reverse sweeps, respectively, in a 75-nm gate length (LG) device. Sub-60 mV/dec SS was also observed in the GaN MISHEMTs with longer LG up to 350 nm. The intrinsic physical mechanisms of deep sub-60 mV/dec SS were comprehensively studied. The observed negative differential resistance in the gate current, the kinks in the output ID-VD curve, and the capacitance spike in the depletion region of the C–V curves suggest that the capture and emission of electrons in the traps are the dominant physical mechanisms responsible for the small SS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogel surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) chips with tunable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) wavelength are prepared to coordinate the chemical enhancement (CM) and electromagnetic enhancement (EM) effects for molecules. When detecting different molecules, a laser with matched energy is selected according to energy intervals between the molecular energy levels and the Fermi level of Ag nanoparticles to obtain the strongest CM effect. Meanwhile, a hydrogel SERS chip with the LSPR wavelength matching with the laser is selected to gain the strongest EM effect. As a result, the constructed hydrogel SERS chips show outstanding activity to many molecules. Amoxicillin, pymetrozine, and chlorpyrifos are used as the model molecules to demonstrate the great importance of CM effect and the working principle of the obtained hydrogel SERS chips. Besides the ultrahigh activity, the obtained hydrogel SERS chips also show high uniformity, long‐term stability, and strong anti‐interference to the sample matrix, and thereby are highly practical. This work not only provides an efficient strategy for building high‐performance SERS substrates, but also sheds the light on the mechanism of wave selection of SERS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and dynamic identification of key nodes that can efficiently improve the safety and economy of active distribution network (ADN) is of great significance for optimising the operation level of ADN with time‐varying characteristics. In this study, a dynamic identification method for the key nodes of ADN operation optimisation requirements is proposed. Firstly, considering the influence of nodes on ADN operation performance, the importance of nodes in the network structure, and the controllable potential of nodes, a multi‐angle key node identification index system is constructed. Secondly, considering the influence of the ADN operation state on node importance, the classification boundary of ADN operation state was set to determine the operation state of the ADN at different times. Thirdly, the order relation analysis method and variation coefficient method were used to comprehensively evaluate the key nodes of the ADN under different operating states. Finally, the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution is used to sort the comprehensive evaluation results of key nodes to achieve the effective identification of key nodes. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are verified on 33‐bus and 118‐bus test systems considering the time sequence variation in distributed generation and load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycogen, a stored form of glucose, is an important form of energy for aquatic shellfish, contributing to the flavor and quality of the oyster. The glycogen synthase (GYS) and glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) are two major enzymes in the glycogenesis. However, the information of the two genes in the Jinjiang oyster Crassostrea ariakensis remains limited. In this study, we identified the genes of GYS and GSK3β and further explored their function in the glycogen synthesis of C. ariakensis. The GYS and GSK3β were distributed in all tested tissues, and high expression of GYS and glycogen content were detected in the gonad, labial palp, hepatopancreas, and mantle, while the high expression of GSK3β was observed in the gill and adductor muscle. The expression of GYS was positively correlated with the glycogen content, while GSK3β was negatively correlated. Additionally, knockdown of GSK3β using RNAi decreased the GYS expression, revealing the negative regulatory effect of GSK3β on GYS. These findings enrich the research data of GSK3β and GYS involved in glycogen synthesis, providing valuable information for further research on the function of GSK3β and GYS in the glycogen synthesis process of oyster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social hierarchy governs the physiological and biochemical behaviors of animals. Intestinal radiation injuries are common complications connected with radiotherapy. However, it remains unclear whether social hierarchy impacts the development of radiation-induced intestinal toxicity. Dominant mice exhibited more serious intestinal toxicity following total abdominal irradiation compared with their subordinate counterparts, as judged by higher inflammatory status and lower epithelial integrity. Radiation-elicited changes in gut microbiota varied between dominant and subordinate mice, being more overt in mice of higher status. Deletion of gut microbes by using an antibiotic cocktail or restructuring of the gut microecology of dominant mice by using fecal microbiome from their subordinate companions erased the difference in radiogenic intestinal injuries. Lactobacillus murinus and Akkermansia muciniphila were both found to be potential probiotics for use against radiation toxicity in mouse models without social hierarchy. However, only Akkermansia muciniphila showed stable colonization in the digestive tracts of dominant mice, and significantly mitigated their intestinal radiation injuries. Our findings demonstrate that social hierarchy impacts the development of radiation-induced intestinal injuries, in a manner dependent on gut microbiota. The results also suggest that the gut microhabitats of hosts determine the colonization and efficacy of foreign probiotics. Thus, screening suitable microbial preparations based on the gut microecology of patients might be necessary in clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low ohmic contact resistance (Rc) is a challenge for an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure with a high Al-composition barrier, which is highly desired to further push the performance of GaN transistors. In this Letter, an effective ohmic contact technique with an in situ SiNx layer inserted between the conventional Ti/Al/Ni/Au metal stack and the III-nitride was proposed and the inside physical mechanisms were investigated for an Al0.65Ga0.35N/GaN heterostructure. The fabricated ohmic contact has a low Rc of 0.17 Ω·mm and a specific contact resistivity value (ρc) of 8.45 × 10−7 Ω·cm2, which is obviously improved compared with the Rc of 0.32 Ω·mm and ρc of 2.84 × 10−6 Ω·cm2 without in situ SiNx inserted. The strong temperature dependency of ρc with in situ SiNx insertion shows that the dominant current transport mechanism is the thermionic field emission. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analyses suggest that the enhanced ohmic contact is due to the possible formation of low-work function silicides and more TiN alloys during annealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Uterine fibroids are most common in women aged 30-50 and are the most common benign gynecological tumors. Relevant data suggest that about 25% of patients with uterine fibroids are at childbearing age. Uterine fibroids not only cause the discomfort symptoms, and affect the pregnancy, but also have certain malignant transformation risk, thus needed to be treated positively and promptly. Aim. This study is aimed at exploring the effect of laparoscopic myomectomy and comprehensive rehabilitation nursing on patients with uterine fibroids. Methods. The clinical data of 110 cases of uterine fibroids admitted to our hospital from August 2019 to December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively, and they were divided into two groups according to postoperative rehabilitation strategies. Both groups were treated with laparoscopic myomectomy. The A group was treated with routine rehabilitation strategy, while the B group was treated with comprehensive rehabilitation nursing strategy. The differences in operation-related indicators, stress factors, inflammatory factors, nutritional indicators, knowledge mastery, occurrence of adverse symptoms and pain scores, negative emotion scores, nursing satisfaction, and simplified comfort status scale (GCQ) scores between the two groups under nursing strategies were compared. Results. The postoperative exhaust time (13.14 ± 2.03) h, bed time (9.86 ± 1.94) h, postoperative hospital stay (4.37 ± 1.31) d, and total hospital stay (6.78 ± 1.69) d in the B group were shorter than those in the A group, and the hospitalization expenses (0.74 ± 0.25) million were less than those in the A group (P < 0.05). Before operation, stress factors, inflammatory factors, and nutritional indexes were compared between the two groups (P > 0.05). On the 3rd day after operation, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), cortisol (Cor), norepinephrine (NE), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the two groups showed a significantly upward trend compared with those before operation, and albumin and transferrin were significantly fell compared with those before operation. However, the values of stress factor and inflammatory factor in the B group were significantly lower than those in the A group, and the values after the decrease of nutritional index were significantly higher than those in the A group (P < 0.05). The pain scores at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after operation in the B group were significantly lower than those in the A group (P < 0.05). Negative emotions, nursing satisfaction, and GCQ scores were compared between the two groups before intervention (P > 0.05). After the intervention, the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) in the two groups were significantly lower than those before the intervention, and the scores of nursing satisfaction and GCQ were higher than those before the intervention. The values of negative emotions in the B group after the decline were significantly lower than those in the A group, while the values of nursing satisfaction and GCQ after the increase were higher than those in the A group (P < 0.05). The excellent and good rate of knowledge acquisition in the B group was 94.55% (52/55), which was significantly higher than 78.18% (43/55) in the A group (P < 0.05). The incidence of adverse symptoms in the B group was 9.09% (5/55), which was lower than 21.82% (12/55) in the A group, while the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion. Laparoscopic myomectomy combined with comprehensive rehabilitation nursing can reduce the postoperative stress state of patients with uterine fibroids, improve patient satisfaction, reduce adverse emotions, and promote rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler is a high‐efficiency and clean combustion technology that has been developed rapidly in recent years. During the start process, only after the furnace temperature is heated up with fuel oil higher than the fuel feeding temperature, fuel can be fed into it, otherwise, it will easily lead to deflagration accidents in the furnace. While adding fuel too late will increase the unnecessary cost of fuel oil. There are three main methods for measuring fuel feeding temperature in the CFB boiler. The thermogravimetric analysis‐derivative thermogravimetry (TG‐DTG method has the problem of a large gap between the measurement results and the actual boiler fuel feeding temperature. Although the measurement results in the CFB test rig are more accurate, its procedure is more complex and costly. The method of on‐site debugging and measurement has disadvantages such as high measurement cost and poor measurement repeatability. For this reason, this paper designs a simple method to measure fuel feeding temperature in CFB boiler, which has standard operability and lower test cost. The measurement results of variable fuel types were compared with the measurement results of the above three methods, which prove that the results of all samples are close to those in the actual CFB boiler with error within 40°C. It is confirmed that this method can accurately measure the CFB boiler fuel feeding temperature, which is of great significance to the operation of the CFB boiler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Chemo-immunotherapy has gained increasing attention as one of the most promising combination therapy strategies to battle cancer. In this study, the therapeutic nanoparticles (TNPs) co-delivering doxorubicin (DOX) and IL-12 (IL-12) were developed for chemo-immunotherapy combination therapy on liver cancer. TNPs were synthesized based on the ionic interactions between cationic chitosan (Ch) and anionic poly-(glutamic acid) (PGA). DOX and IL-12 loaded in TNPs presented prolonged circulation in blood, efficient accumulation in tumors, and internalization in tumor cells. After that, DOX and IL-12 were co-released in the tumor microenvironment. The locally responsive property of TNPs could subsequently re-educate macrophages. More significantly, TNPs with no obvious side effects can remarkably inhibit the H22 tumor growth in vivo. A low dosage of loaded IL-12 in TNPs can effectively polarize macrophages toward the M1 phenotype to reduce tumor burden, further enhancing the antitumor efficacy. Our results suggest that the self-stabilized TNPs could be a secure and effective drug carrier for intravenous administration when deprived of protective agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 150 mgN/L of nitrate photolysis improved SCFAs production from WAS. • Nitrate increase (150∼375 mgN/L) has no significant promotion on SCFAs in photolysis. • ROS contributed more than RNS on WAS solubilization, hydrolysis and acidification. • Both AFB and NRB enriched for the high SCFAs production and complete denitrification. • Genes related to glycolysis, amino acid, acetate and nitrogen metabolism were enhanced. Nitrate photolysis has become an efficient, low-cost and promising technology for emerging contaminants removal, while its performance and mechanism for waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment is still unknown. This study innovatively introduced nitrate photolysis for WAS disintegration, and investigated the effect of nitrate addition (150–375 mg N/L) for short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production during anaerobic fermentation (AF). The results showed that nitrate photolysis significantly promoted the SCFAs production from WAS, and peaked at 280.7 mg/g VSS with 7-d fermentation with 150 mg N/L addition (150N-UV), which increased by 8.8–35.0 % and 10.7–23.3 % compared with other photolysis groups and sole nitrate groups. Effective release of the soluble organics was observed in the nitrate photolysis groups during AF, especially soluble proteins, reaching 1505.4 mg COD/L at 9 d in 150N-UV group, promoted by 7.0∼15.7 % than nitrate/nitrate photolysis groups. The model compounds simulation experiment further demonstrated the positive effect of nitrate photolysis on organics hydrolysis and SCFAs accumulation. The result of the radical capture and quenching verified the reactive oxygen species contributed more compared with reactive nitrogen species. Functional group analysis confirmed the effective bioconversion of the macromolecular organics during the fermentation. Moreover, the nitrate photolysis enhanced the enrichment of the functional consortia, including anaerobic fermentation bacteria (AFB), e.g., Fnoticella, Romboutsia, Gracilibacter and Sedimentibacter , and nitrate reducing bacteria (NRB), e.g., Acinerobacter and Ahniella. The macrogenetic analysis further revealed that glycolysis, amino acid metabolism, acetate metabolism and nitrogen metabolism were the dominating metabolic pathways during fermentation, and the abundance of the relevant genes were enhanced in 150N-UV group. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electro-fermentation (EF) has been extensively studied for recovering hydrogen and phosphorus from waste activated sludge (WAS), while was limited for the further application due to the low hydrogen yield and phosphorus recovery efficiency. This study proposed an efficient strategy for hydrogen and vivianite recovery from the simulated sludge fermentation liquid by sacrificial iron anode in EF. The optimum hydrogen productivity and the utilization efficiency of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) reached 45.2 mmol/g COD and 77.6% at 5 d in pH 8. Phosphate removal efficiency achieved at 90.8% at 2 d and the high crystallinity and weight percentage of vivianite (84.8%) was obtained. The functional microbes, i.e., anaerobic fermentative bacteria, electrochemical active bacteria, homo-acetogens and iron-reducing bacteria were highly enriched and the inherent interaction between the microbial consortia and environmental variables was thoroughly explored. This work may provide a theoretical basis for energy/resource recovery from WAS in the further implementation. [Display omitted] • Enhanced hydrogen and vivianite recovery were realized in pH 8 via Fe mediated EF. • Appropriate iron release led to the higher crystallinity of vivianite in pH 8 group. • EAB, AFB and homo-acetogens preferred to enrich in pH 8 than other pH conditions. • The mutual symbiosis of microbes and environmental factors was the main mechanism in EF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the bisymmetric and skew bisymmetric solutions of quaternion generalized Lyapunov equation. With the help of semi-tensor product of matrices, some new conclusions on the expansion rules of row and column of matrix product on quaternion matrices are proposed and applied to the calculation of quaternion matrix equation. Using the H-representation method, the independent elements are extracted according to the structural characteristics of bisymmetric matrix and skew bisymmetric matrix, so as to simplify the operation process. Finally, it is compared with the real vector representation method of quaternion matrix equation to illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Current evidence on the associations between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and bone mineral density (BMD) is conflicting. Therefore, a nationally representative sample of adults was analyzed to investigate the associations of H. pylori seropositivity and BMD in this study. Methods. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 2555 subjects aged 40-85 years in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2001. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to evaluate the associations between H. pylori seropositivity and BMD. Subgroup analyses stratified by sex, age, race, and body mass index (BMI) were performed. Results. No association was found between H. pylori seropositivity and BMD (β = 0.006 , 95% CI: -0.003 to 0.015, P = 0.177). In the subgroup analyses stratified by age, a positive association was observed between the H. pylori seropositivity and total BMD among subjects aged 40-55 years (β = 0.018 , 95% CI: 0.004 to 0.033, P = 0.012); in the subgroup analyses stratified by sex, a positive association was observed between the H. pylori seropositive and total BMD in male (β = 0.019 , 95% CI: 0.007 to 0.032, P = 0.003); in the subgroup analyses stratified by age and sex, the total BMD was higher in men aged 40-55 years with H. pylori seropositive than those with H. pylori seronegative (β = 0.034 , 95% CI: 0.013 to 0.056, P = 0.002). Conclusions. In conclusion, no association between H. pylori seropositive and total BMD was demonstrated among most middle-aged and elderly adults. H. pylori infection may not be one key factor in the loss of BMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the chemical compositions of essential oils (EOs) from ten taxa belonging to the Pinus genus. The studied taxa that grow wildly in China, and the EOs were extracted by steam distillation; the chemical compositions were isolated and characterized by GC-MS. Eighty-one components, representing over 92.10% of the EOs, were identified. The main constituents of EOs were α-pinene (6.44%–53.00%), β-caryophyllene (2.43%–24.64%), β-pinene (0.00%–22.32%), δ-cadinene (2.56%–17.56%), germacrene D (0.74%–11.38%), and camphene (0.78%–10.48%). Furthermore, we determined the total phenolic content (TPC) of the EOs, with the values from 26.50 to 60.01 mg eq GAE/mL EO. DPPH free radical scavenging activity (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and ABTS radical cation scavenging activity (ABTS) were used to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of the EOs, and the obtained values were ranged from 499.15 to 1,272.75 mmol eq Trolox/mL EO, 1,255.67 to 3,857.93 mmol eq Trolox/mL EO, and 370.81 to 1,677.19 mmol eq Trolox/mL EO, respectively. The results showed that all of the EOs studied had strong antioxidant activity, and these pine plants could be used as natural antioxidants in functional food and pharmaceutical industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Port structures are important parts of vacuum vessel (VV) in China Fusion Engineer Test Reactor (CFETR), which consists of port stubs and port extensions, mainly provides channels for the installation and maintenance of internal components, such as divertor and blanket, and provides interface for auxiliary heating system, diagnostic system, and vacuum pumping. A 1/8 VV sector mockup with port structures is used to explore the key manufacturing technology of CFETR VV. Electron beam welding (EBW) process development of port structures of 1/8 VV sector mockup is introduced in this article taking the inner shell of upper port stub as an example. Through EBW test and process optimization, the surface formation, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the weld are obtained. On this basis, the EBW of the inner shell of the upper port stub is carried out. After phased array ultrasonic nondestructive testing and laser tracker measurement, the weld quality is excellent, and contour accuracy has reached the technical requirements. This study provides important support for the engineering design and construction of the CFETR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a multilayered and distributed architecture for mission-oriented miniature fixed-wing UAV swarms is presented. Based on the concept of modularity, the proposed architecture divides the overall system into five layers: 1) low-level control layer; 2) high-level control layer; 3) coordination layer; 4) communication layer; and 5) human interaction layer, and many modules that can be viewed as black boxes with interfaces of inputs and outputs. In this way, not only the complexity of developing a large system can be reduced but also the versatility of supporting diversified missions can be ensured. Furthermore, the proposed architecture is fully distributed that each UAV performs the decision-making procedure autonomously so as to achieve better scalability. Moreover, different kinds of aerial platforms can be feasibly extended by using the control allocation matrices and the integrated hardware box. A prototype swarm system based on the proposed architecture is built and the proposed architecture is evaluated through field experiments with a scale of 21 fixed-wing UAVs. Particularly, to the best of our knowledge, this article is the first work which successfully demonstrates formation flight, target recognition, and tracking missions within an integrated architecture for fixed-wing UAV swarms through field experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has become the second deadliest cancer in the world and severely threatens human health. An increasing number of studies have focused on the role of the RNA helicase DEAD-box (DDX) family in CRC. However, the mechanism of DDX10 in CRC has not been elucidated. Methods: In our study, we analysed the expression data of CRC samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. Subsequently, we performed cytological experiments and animal experiments to explore the role of DDX10 in CRC cells. Furthermore, we performed Gene Ontology (GO)/Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analyses. Finally, we predicted the interacting protein of DDX10 by LC–MS/MS and verified it by coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and qPCR. Results: In the present study, we identified that DDX10 mRNA was extremely highly expressed in CRC tissues compared with normal colon tissues in the TCGA and GEO databases. The protein expression of DDX10 was measured by immunochemistry (IHC) in 17 CRC patients. The biological roles of DDX10 were explored via cell and molecular biology experiments in vitro and in vivo and cell cycle assays. We found that DDX10 knockdown markedly reduced CRC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Then, we constructed a PPI network with the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING). GO and KEGG enrichment analysis and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that DDX10 was closely related to RNA splicing and E2F targets. Using LC–MS/MS and Co-IP assays, we discovered that RPL35 is the interacting protein of DDX10. In addition, we hypothesize that RPL35 is related to the E2F pathway and the immune response in CRC. Conclusions: In conclusion, provides a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of DDX10 in CRC and provides a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel method of NH 4 HSO 4 reduction roasting-selectively ammonia leaching was proposed; • The detailed mechanism of both the reduction roasting and the ammonia leaching process were revealed. • The sulfation conversion rate of Mn reaches 98.1%, while Li is almost completely transformed through reduction roasting; • Mn precipitation in the form of nanoscale Mn 3 O 4 particles with a precipitation rate of over 99.99%, while Li still remains completely leached. With the imminent peak in the retirement of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries worldwide, the development of efficient methods for recycling valuable elements from LIBs has attracted considerable attention. In this work, a novel method of NH 4 HSO 4 reduction roasting-selective ammonia leaching was proposed to thoroughly separate Li and Mn from the spent LiMn 2 O 4 cathode materials. Using the TG-DSC-FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDS and ICP methods, the detailed mechanism of reduction roasting process was revealed, showing that the Mn4+ and Mn3+ in the spinel structure of LiMn 2 O 4 were reduced by the NH 4 + from the molten ammonium salt, and transformed into water-soluble MnSO 4 and Li 2 Mn 2 (SO 4) 3. According to the water-leaching performance of the roasting products, the sulfation conversion rate of Mn reaches 98.1 %, while Li is almost completely transformed under the optimal roasting conditions (475 ℃, 60 min). Using the NH 3 ·H 2 O-air leaching-system, complete separation of Li and Mn can be achieved. It was shown that the introduction of air into the ammonia solution at a rate of 0.2 L/min under the optimal leaching condition leads to Mn precipitation in the form of nanoscale Mn 3 O 4 particles with a precipitation rate of over 99.99 %, while Li still remains completely leached. Based on the in situ detection of the oxidation reduction potential and pH during the selective leaching, the key mechanism of efficient Mn precipitation was revealed. that is, the increasing potential accelerates the oxidation of Mn(OH) 2 , and the rapid consumption of Mn(OH) 2 promotes the hydrolysis of Mn2+, thereby achieving a significant improvement in the separation efficiency of Li and Mn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the influence of different aging temperatures on the tensile ductility and Intergranular Corrosion (IGC) performance was investigated by using SEM, TEM, U2-net, DL-EPR, and EIS. The U2-net was employed for efficient and accurate identification of the Laves phase in the alloy 625. In parallel, an extensive analysis was conducted to assess the influence of Laves phase precipitation on the tensile ductility of the alloy. Additionally, an investigation into the precipitated phase was undertaken to explore the correlation between tensile ductility and IGC. The research findings indicate that with increasing aging temperature (from 873 K to 993 K), the elongation initially slightly increases, then sharply decreases, and finally slightly increases again. Simultaneously, the sensitivity to Intergranular Corrosion first increases and then slightly decreases. Additionally, the trained U2-Net achieved an average accuracy rate of 99.3% on the validation dataset, demonstrating that deep learning networks can effectively and rapidly identify Laves phases in SEM images. DL-EPR results reveal a certain correlation between high Ra values and low elongation. [Display omitted] • Innovative use of U2-net for efficient Laves phase identification in 625 alloy. • Quantitative study on Laves impact: model modifications reduce errors in assessing tensile toughness for 625 alloy. • DL-EPR reveals: low 625 alloy tensile toughness corresponds to high intergranular corrosion susceptibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is a crucial factor in the progression of insulin resistance (IR). Resveratrol (RSV) exhibits promising therapeutic potential for IR. However, there are few studies on whether RSV improves IR through lncRNA. This study aimed to determine whether RSV could influence the expression of lncRNA and to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Mice were divided into three groups: control group, high-fat diet (HFD) group, and HFD + RSV group. We conducted a high-throughput sequencing analysis to detect lncRNA and mRNA expression signatures and the ceRNA-network in the skeletal muscles of mice that were fed an HFD to induce IR. Hierarchical clustering, gene enrichment, and gene ceRNA-network analyses were subsequently conducted. Differentially expressed lncRNAs were selected and validated via reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The biological functions of the selected lncRNAs were investigated by silencing the target genes via lentivirus transfection of C2C12 mouse myotube cells. RSV treatment reversed the expression of 338 mRNAs and 629 lncRNAs in the skeletal muscles of mice with HFD-induced IR. The results of the Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database analyses indicated that the differentially expressed mRNAs modulated type II diabetes mellitus. After validating randomly selected lncRNAs via RT-qPCR, we identified a novel lncRNA, NONMMUT044897.2, which was upregulated in the HFD group and reversed with RSV treatment. Additionally, NONMMUT044897.2 was proven to function as a ceRNA of microRNA- (miR-) 7051-5p. Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1 (SOCS1) was confirmed as a target of miR-7051-5p. We further performed lentivirus transfection to knock down NONMMUT044897.2 in vitro and found that NONMMUT044897.2 silenced SOCS1 and potentiated the insulin signaling pathway. Hence, RSV mimicked the silencing effect of lentivirus transfection on NONMMUT044897.2. Our study revealed that RSV reduced IR in mouse skeletal muscles via the regulation of NONMMUT044897.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyrometallurgical processes have been widely recognised as the preferred technology for E-scrap recycling, and E-scrap smelting is usually accompanied by the formation of high-Al 2 O 3 -content slag. However, this slag can cause problems, such as refractory wear and even accelerated failure. Therefore, the corrosion mechanism of magnesia-chrome and alumina-chrome refractories in contact with FeO x -SiO 2 -CaO-Al 2 O 3 smelting slag was experimentally studied in the range of 1300–1400 °C, in air (p O2 = 0.21 atm) and at p O2 = 10-7 atm. The results showed that refractory-component dissolution and new phases formation were the major causes of refractory degradation. The dissolution of the refractory components increased along with both increasing temperature and decreasing Al 2 O 3 concentration in the initial slag. When decreasing the p O2 , the dissolution of MgO and Al 2 O 3 into the slag slowed down. New phases such as forsterite, anorthite, and spinel were detected at the interface between the slag and the bulk refractory. The formation of forsterite accelerated the refractory wear, whereas the newly formed (MgO,FeO)·(Cr 2 O 3 ,Fe 2 O 3 ,Al 2 O 3) spinel phase acted as a protective layer against further corrosion. A lower Al 2 O 3 concentration in the slag and a higher smelting temperature both densified the formed spinel layer. Additionally, a high oxygen partial pressure was beneficial to the formation of spinel in the magnesia-chrome refractory corrosion experiments. However, a low oxygen partial pressure was favourable for the formation of spinel on the surface of the alumina-chrome refractory materials. This study provides useful information for designing refractory materials and optimizing the processing parameters of E-scrap smelting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milk exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) are important for postnatal growth and immune system maturation in newborn mammals. The functional hypothesis of milk exosomal miRNAs and their potential bioavailability in milk to newborn mammals were investigated. Briefly, 37 exosomal miRNAs were upregulated compared to miRNAs found outside the exosomes. Among these miRNAs, ssc-miR-193a-3p expression was upregulated 1467.35 times, while ssc-miR-423-5p, ssc-miR-551a, ssc-miR-138, ssc-miR-1 and ssc-miR-124a were highly concentrated and upregulated 13.58–30.06 times. Moreover, these miRNAs appeared to be relevant for cell development and basic physiological processes of the immune system. Following the analysis of target gene prediction and related signalling pathways, 9262 target genes were mainly concentrated in three signalling pathways: metabolic pathways, pathways in cancer, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signalling pathways. Among 9262 target genes, more than 20 miRNAs were enriched in exosomes, such as methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) and glycogen synthase 1 (GYS1). After determining the miRNA localization-, distribution- and function-related metabolism, we found that these exosomes were specifically concentrated miRNA target genes and they were interrelated with cell development and basic cell functions, such as metabolism and immunity. It is speculated that miRNAs in milk can influence offspring via milk exosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A GaN complementary field-effect transistor (FET) inverter monolithically integrated with power gate-injection high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) was realized on a Si substrate. The GaN p-channel and n-channel logic devices and power devices were fabricated based on a p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN epi-structure. Through optimization of epi-layer thickness and doping, excellent low-level noise margin (NML) of 1.47 V and high-level noise margin (NMH) of 0.98 V were achieved at a supply voltage ${V}_{\text {DD}}$ of 3 V at room temperature. A maximum current density (${I}_{\text {D,max}}$) of 0.36 mA/mm/220 mA/mm at ${V}_{\text {DS}}$ of −3 V/3 V and a threshold voltage ${V}_{\text {TH}}$ of −2.0 V/+2.3 V were achieved in the p-channel and n-channel FETs, respectively. A propagation delay of an inverter stage $\tau _{\text {pd}}$ in a ring oscillator was measured to be $1.67~\mu \text{s}$. The power gate-injection HEMT has an ON-resistance ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ of $18.7~\Omega \cdot $ mm and a breakdown voltage (BV) of 900 V. These results show the great potential of the developed GaN complementary FET technology in the applications of GaN power modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has proved its great potential in multi-agent cooperation. However, how to apply DRL to multi-target tracking (MTT) problem for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms is challenging: 1) the scale of UAVs may be large, but the existing multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) methods that rely on global or joint information of all agents suffer from the dimensionality curse; 2) the dimension of each UAV's received information is variable, which is incompatible with the neural networks with fixed input dimensions; 3) the UAVs are homogeneous and interchangeable that each UAV's policy should be irrelevant to the permutation of its received information. To this end, we propose a DRL method for UAV swarms to solve the MTT problem. Firstly, a decentralized swarm-oriented Markov Decision Process (MDP) model is presented for UAV swarms, which involves each UAV's local communication and partial observation. Secondly, to achieve better scalability, a cartogram feature representation (FR) is proposed to integrate the variable-dimensional information set into a fixed-shape input variable, and the cartogram FR can also maintain the permutation irrelevance to the information. Then, the double deep Q-learning network with dueling architecture is adapted to the MTT problem, and the experience-sharing training mechanism is adopted to learn the shared cooperative policy for UAV swarms. Extensive experiments are provided and the results show that our method can successfully learn a cooperative tracking policy for UAV swarms and outperforms the baseline method in the tracking ratio and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Tenofovir amibufenamide (TMF) can provide more efficient delivery than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF). Aim: To compare the efficacy and safety of TMF and TDF for 48 weeks in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods: We performed a randomised, double‐blind, non‐inferiority study at 49 sites in China. Patients with CHB were assigned (2:1) to receive either 25 mg TMF or 300 mg TDF with matching placebo. The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA less than 20 IU/mL at week 48. We also assessed safety, particularly bone, renal and metabolic abnormalities. Results: We randomised 1002 eligible patients. The baseline characteristics were well balanced between groups. After a median 48 weeks of treatment, the non‐inferiority criterion was met in all analysis sets. In the HBeAg‐positive population, 50.2% of patients receiving TMF and 53.7% receiving TDF achieved HBV DNA less than 20 IU/mL. In the HBeAg‐negative population, 88.9% and 87.8%, respectively, achieved HBV DNA less than 20 IU/mL in the TMF and TDF groups. Patients receiving TMF had significantly less decrease in bone mineral density at both hip (P < 0.001) and spine (P < 0.001), and a smaller increase in serum creatinine at week 48 (P < 0.05). Other safety results were similar between groups. Conclusion: TMF was non‐inferior to TDF in terms of anti‐HBV efficacy and showed better bone and renal safety. (NCT03903796). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive emissions of carbon dioxide have caused serious harm to the natural environment. Porphyrin-based microporous organic polymers play an important role in carbon capture and separation. In this study, several porphyrin-based polymers were synthesized through Friedel–Crafts alkylation. Although they have similar structures, the pore sizes and BET surface area of porous tetraphenyl porphyrins (POTPPs) are different on account of the solvent (crosslinker) adopted. The POTPPs exhibit surface areas of up to 940 m2 g−1. Owing to the larger surface area and N-contained structure, these POTPPs show high CO2 adsorption ability (3.25 mmol g−1) and good CO2/CH4 separation abilities (6.04) at 273 K/1.0 bar. Therefore, these materials appear to be candidates for CO2 adsorption and separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is known and objective: The adverse events of thyroid dysfunction caused by the use of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGFR‐TKIs) have not been confirmed in a real‐world investigation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between thyroid dysfunction and treatment using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)‐approved VEGFR‐TKIs. Methods: Four data‐mining algorithms were employed to detect thyroid dysfunction signals for VEGFR‐TKIs, using data in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database from 68 quarters. MySQL Workbench and R were used to conduct statistical analysis. Results and Discussion: We identified 32679 reports of thyroid dysfunction, of which 1567 listed VEGFR‐TKIs as the primary suspected drugs. All four algorithms showed that the strength of the signals for hypothyroidism were greater than those for hyperthyroidism, for all the VEGFR‐TKIs. In most cases, the median appearance time was within 100 days of initiation of VEGFR‐TKIs therapy, except in the case of ponatinib. This indicated the need to actively identify and manage thyroid dysfunction during the early stages of VEGFR‐TKIs treatment. What is new and conclusions: This study systematically identified the pharmacovigilance signals of thyroid dysfunction associated with the use of VEGFR‐TKIs, using the FAERS database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deriving water quality criteria (WQC) for aquatic risk assessment requires sufficient toxicity data, which can determine the accuracy of WQC. Given that toxicity data vary between test species and endpoints, there is a great need to compare such data to generate the most suitable data set for WQC derivation. In the present study, a series of 11 ammonia exposure bioassays were conducted on Chironomidae species in either China or Australia, with test species and test endpoints varied (2 Chironomus sp., enzymatic up to lethal endpoints, and no‐observed‐effect concentration up to median lethal concentration [LC50] as endpoint metrics). There were no statistically significant differences between toxicity results generated from China compared to Australia using Chironomus sp., indicating that published data on native species generated in different countries could be appropriate for inclusion in the development of local Chinese WQC. In addition, the Chironomidae larvae laboratory‐based toxicity value (LC50 = 384.6 mg/L) was lower than that of the in situ field‐based toxicity value (LC50 ≥ 451.2 mg/L) where sensitive life stages are used, and, specifically for C. riparius, endpoints linked to biochemical and gene expression effects could be as sensitive as or more sensitive than chronic endpoints, both of which were more sensitive than acute endpoints. These findings help in the development of WQC by demonstrating the suitability of inclusion of toxicity data from a range of sources, as well as adding to the overall pool of knowledge regarding sensitivity to ammonia which can be used in aquatic risk assessment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:2899–2911. © 2021 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the effects of pollutants in sediments at an ecosystem level to validate current and proposed risk‐assessment procedures is scarce. The most frequent criticism of these procedures is that responses of surrogate species in the laboratory are not representative of responses of natural populations. A tiered approach using both laboratory and microcosm exposures (96‐h and 21‐d laboratory bioassays and a 3‐mo field microcosm) was conducted to compare the impacts of sediment‐spiked cadmium on the mortality, development, and abundance of Chironomidae larvae. The 96‐h and 21‐d lethal concentrations of sediment‐spiked Cd to 50% of the species Chironomus riparius were estimated to be 201.07 and 172.66 mg/kg, respectively. In the 21‐d laboratory bioassay, the endpoints, including the development rate and emergence ratio, were compared, and the lowest‐observed‐effect concentration (LOEC) values were 325.8 and 10.7 mg/kg, respectively. The abundance, richness, and biomass of field‐collected larvae were compared among the different treatments in the field microcosm, and it was found that the order of sensitivities using different endpoints was biomass (2.6/5.2 mg/kg of no‐observed‐effect concentration/LOEC) > diversity (10.7/21.2 mg/kg) > abundance (41.2/82.7 mg/kg). The toxicity values based on lethal/sublethal changes in the laboratory bioassays might not fully protect field organisms against damage from chemicals, such as Cd, unless an assessment factor of 5 is used. These findings highlight the need to conduct field validation of criteria/guidelines before they are introduced to protect organisms/ecosystems in the field and provide a preliminary template for future field validation of criteria elsewhere. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:2450–2462. © 2021 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. Given the limited treatment options, prognostic assessment of ACC is increasingly crucial. In this study, we aim to assess the correlation between preoperative serum albumin and prognosis in patients with ACC after primary resection.Methods: We retrospectively collected and reviewed medical information about 71 ACC patients who underwent primary resection. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test or Breslow test. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Jordan index was generated to explore optimal cut-off value of albumin. Univariate and multivariate analysis was conducted using Cox's hazards model. Statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05.Results: Among included patients, 33 patients (46.5%) relapsed at the end of follow-up, while 39 patients (54.9%) died. The median overall survival (OS) of included patients was 17 (range 1-104) months, and median recurrence-free survival (RFS) was 10 (range 0-104) months. In univariate analysis, the albumin was significantly associated with OS (HR:0.491, 95% CI: 0.260-0.930, P = 0.029) and RFS (HR: 0.383, 95% CI: 0.192-0.766, P = 0.007). In multivariate analysis, serum albumin as an independent prognostic factor of OS was confirmed (HR: 0.351, 95% CI: 0.126-0.982, P = 0.046).Conclusions: Preoperative albumin might be a significant prognostic factor for ACC patients after primary resection. This result may be useful for risk stratification and management of this rare malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study, in the framework of the entanglement harvesting protocol, the entanglement harvesting of both a pair of inertial and uniformly accelerated detectors locally interacting with vacuum massless scalar fields subjected to a perfectly reflecting plane boundary. We find that the presence of the boundary generally degrades the harvested entanglement when two detectors are very close to the boundary. However, when the distance between detectors and the boundary becomes comparable to the interaction duration parameter, the amount of the harvested entanglement approaches a peak, which even goes beyond that without a boundary. Remarkably, the parameter space of the detectors' separation and the magnitude of acceleration that allows entanglement harvesting to occur is enlarged due to the presence of the boundary. In this sense, the boundary plays a double-edged role on entanglement harvesting, degrading in general the harvested entanglement while enlarging the entanglement harvesting-achievable parameter space. A comparison of three different acceleration scenarios of the detectors with respect to the boundary, i.e., parallel, anti-parallel and mutually perpendicular acceleration, shows that the phenomenon of entanglement harvesting crucially depends on the acceleration, the separation between two detectors and the detectors' distance from the boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive cancer with poor prognosis, with limited treatment options. The survival benefit of adrenal surgery in patients with synchronous metastatic disease has not been well explored. Methods: Patients with ACC with synchronous metastases were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2010–2016). The effect of adrenal surgery on different patterns of distant metastases was assessed. The overall survival was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to identify prognostic factors associated with survival outcome. Results: A total of 202 patients with synchronous metastatic ACC were identified from the SEER database, 76 (37.6%) patients underwent adrenal surgery. Compared to nonsurgical patients, patients who underwent adrenal surgery had a better survival (median overall survival: 4 vs. 13 months, P < 0.001). In sub-analyses, except for patients with liver metastases (P = 0.670), adrenalectomy could consistently confer a significant survival benefit in patients with lung metastases (P = 0.003), bone metastases (P = 0.020), and multiple metastases (P = 0.002). Cox regression analysis revealed that in addition to adrenalectomy [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.45–0.92; P = 0.017], metastasectomy (HR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.26–0.86; P = 0.013), and chemotherapy (HR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.42–0.82; P = 0.002) were also associated with improved survival. Conclusions: Our findings support the view that adrenal surgery may be associated with improved survival in patients with synchronous metastatic ACC (except for patients with liver metastases), and the metastatic sites have significant prognostic implications on survival outcomes with adrenal surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cholestasis is a common yet severe complication that occurs during the advancement of liver metastasis. However, how cholestasis impacts the development, treatment, and tumor microenvironment (TME) of liver metastasis remains to be elucidated. Methods: Extrahepatic and intrahepatic cholestatic mouse models with liver metastasis were established to detect the differential expression levels of genes, infiltration of immune cells and change in bile acid-associated metabolites by using RNA-Sequencing, flowcytometry, and liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Western blot was applied to neutrophils under the stimulation of primary bile acids (BAs) in vitro to study the mechanism of phenotypic alteration. In vitro coculture of BA-treated neutrophils with CD8+ T cells were performed to study the immune-suppressive effect of phenotypic-altered neutrophils. Clinical samples collected from colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis and cholestasis were applied to RNA-Seq. Results: Compared to non-cholestatic mice, the progression of liver metastasis of cholestatic mice was significantly accelerated, which was associated with increased neutrophil infiltration and T-cell exclusion. Both neutrophils and T cells expressed higher immunosuppressive markers in the cholestatic mouse model, further indicating that an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment was induced during cholestasis. Although neutrophils deletion via anti-Ly6G antibody partially hindered liver metastasis progression, it reduced the overall survival of mice. Tauro-β-muricholic acid (Tβ-MCA) and Glycocholic acid (GCA), the two most abundant cholestasis-associated primary BAs, remarkably promoted the expression of Arg1 and iNOS on neutrophils via p38 MAPK signaling pathway. In addition, BAs-pretreated neutrophils significantly suppressed the activation and cytotoxic effects of CD8+ T cells, indicating that the immunosuppressive phenotype of neutrophils was directly induced by BAs. Importantly, targeting BA anabolism with Obeticholic acid (OCA) under cholestasis effectively suppressed liver metastasis progression, enhanced the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade, and prolonged survival of mice. Conclusions: Our study reveals the TME of cholestasis-associated liver metastasis and proposes a new strategy for such patients by targeting bile acid anabolism. Schematic model depicting the proposed mechanism of cholestasis-mediated progression of colorectal liver metastasis. As cholestasis progresses, excessive primary bile acids that accumulate in the liver intoxicates hepatocytes, which lead to exacerbated release of chemokines, particularly CXCL2 and CXCL5. Neutrophils are then accumulated by CXCL2 and CXCL5 and undergo an immunosuppressive-phenotypic alteration induced by direct stimulation of BAs via activating the p38 MAPK signaling pathway, which eventually led to the dysfunction of T cells and progression of LM. Targeting bile acid anabolism can effectively restore the immune-activated microenvironment and prevent the progression of LM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glioma, the most common primary brain tumor, is highly invasive and grows rapidly. As such, the survival of glioma patients is relatively short, highlighting the vital importance of timely diagnosis and treatment of glioma. However, the blood brain barrier (BBB) and the non‐targeting delivery systems of contrast agents and drugs greatly hinder the effective glioma imaging and therapy. Fortunately, in recent years, investigators have constructed various biomimetic delivery platforms utilizing the exceptional advantages of biomimetic nanocomposites, such as immune evasion, homologous targeting ability, and BBB penetrating ability, to achieve efficient and precise delivery of substances to glioma sites for improved diagnosis and treatment. In this concept, we present the application of these biomimetic nanocomposites in fluorescence imaging (FI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and multi‐modal imaging, as well as in chemotherapy, phototherapy, and combined therapy for glioma. Lastly, we provide our perspective on this research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electro-optic modulators (EOMs) are pivotal in bridging electrical and optical domains, essential for diverse applications including optical communication, microwave signal processing, sensing, and quantum technologies. However, achieving the trifecta of high-density integration, cost-effectiveness, and superior performance remains challenging within established integrated photonics platforms. Enter thin-film lithium niobate (LN), a recent standout with its inherent electro-optic (EO) efficiency, proven industrial performance, durability, and rapid fabrication advancements. This platform inherits material advantages from traditional bulk LN devices while offering a reduced footprint, wider bandwidths, and lower power requirements. Despite its recent introduction, commercial thin-film LN wafers already rival or surpass established alternatives like silicon and indium phosphide, benefitting from decades of research. In this review, we delve into the foundational principles and technical innovations driving state-of-the-art LN modulator demonstrations, exploring various methodologies, their strengths, and challenges. Furthermore, we outline pathways for further enhancing LN modulators and anticipate exciting prospects for larger-scale LN EO circuits beyond singular components. By elucidating the current landscape and future directions, we highlight the transformative potential of thin-film LN technology in advancing electro-optic modulation and integrated photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acoustic array is a ubiquitous tool for locating and quantifying sound sources. However, its effectiveness depends greatly on the array configuration. This paper presents an array configuration method to enhance array performance, especially on the spatial resolution and the Doppler effect correction. The problem of array configuration is formulated into a position matrix determined by introducing partition spatial filtering. Irregular coaxial ring grid spacings and partition filtering conditions are suggested to control array spatial resolution. Geometrical parameters and performance indicators are constructed to quantify the relationships between the array configuration and performance. Based on these quantitative relations, the spatial variation of the array beam pattern and the Doppler effect has got adaptive adjustment. In particular, an adaptive partition algorithm is proposed to reduce computation time. The performance of the method is examined numerically and experimentally, which is compared with the other methods. The results provide the method to guide the design of a 64-microphone optimized array with high performance (1.8° spatial angle resolution and 40% Doppler frequency correction over the bandwidth from 800 Hz to 3000 Hz) and fast computing speed (18 s array generated time for 2000 arrays). Furthermore, an unusual feature of the method is that it can be utilized in the case when the source moves at a nonconstant velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]