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Abstract IL-17+ γδ T cells (γδ T17) are kick-starters of inflammation due to their strict immunosurveillance of xenobiotics or cellular damages and rapid response to pro-inflammatory stimulators. IL-27 is a well-recognized pleiotropic immune regulator with potent inhibitory effects on type 17 immune responses. However, its actions on γδ T17 mediated inflammation and the underlying mechanisms are less well understood. Here we find that IL-27 inhibits the production of IL-17 from γδ T cells. Mechanistically, IL-27 promotes lipolysis while inhibits lipogenesis, thus reduces the accumulation of lipids and subsequent membrane phospholipids, which leads to mitochondrial deactivation and ensuing reduction of IL-17. More importantly, Il27ra deficient γδ T cells are more pathogenic in an imiquimod-induced murine psoriasis model, while intracutaneous injection of rmIL-27 ameliorates psoriatic inflammation. In summary, this work uncovered the metabolic basis for the immune regulatory activity of IL-27 in restraining γδ T17 mediated inflammation, which provides novel insights into IL-27/IL-27Ra signaling, γδ T17 biology and the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Interconnection of all things challenges the traditional communication methods, and Semantic Communication and Computing (SCC) will become new solutions. It is a challenging task to accurately detect, extract, and represent semantic information in the research of SCC-based networks. In previous research, researchers usually use convolution to extract the feature information of a graph and perform the corresponding task of node classification. However, the content of semantic information is quite complex. Although graph convolutional neural networks provide an effective solution for node classification tasks, due to their limitations in representing multiple relational patterns and not recognizing and analyzing higher-order local structures, the extracted feature information is subject to varying degrees of loss. Therefore, this paper extends from a single-layer topology network to a multi-layer heterogeneous topology network. The Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) training word vector is introduced to extract the semantic features in the network, and the existing graph neural network is improved by combining the higher-order local feature module of the network model representation network. A multi-layer network embedding algorithm on SCC-based networks with motifs is proposed to complete the task of end-to-end node classification. We verify the effectiveness of the algorithm on a real multi-layer heterogeneous network.

Abstract Background Many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and network meta-analyses have demonstrated that the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients can be improved through combination immunotherapy or monotherapies. However, time-dependent analysis of the treatment effect is currently lacking. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of first-line immunotherapy, and establish a hazard ratio function to reflect the time-varying progression or mortality risk of patients with NSCLC. Methods Seventeen clinical trials were selected based on search strategy. Baseline characteristics, including the age, sex, smoking status, geographical region, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of patients, were balanced, resulting in ten immunotherapies from nine appropriate clinical trials to conduct treatment effect comparison. Results We found that nivolumab plus ipilimumab (nivo + ipi) improved the PFS and OS over time. The hazard ratio of nivo + ipi, relative to that of pembrolizumab, decreased from 1.11 to 0.36 for PFS, and from 0.93 to 0.49 for OS over a 10-year period. In terms of the response to immunotherapy in patients with different PD-L1 expression levels, patients with PD-L1 > = 50% experienced lower rates of progression and a reduced mortality risk over time. The hazard ratio of patients with PD-L1 > = 50% relative to all of the patients decreased from 0.73 to 0.69 for PFS, and from 0.78 to 0.67 for OS. Conclusions Based on the fact that time-dependent progression and mortality risk existed during the treatment duration, physicians should select a suitable treatment regimen for patients based on the hazard ratio.

Pain highly impacts the quality of life of patients. Morphine is used for pain treatment; however, its side effects, especially morphine tolerance, limit its use in the clinic. The problem of morphine tolerance has plagued health workers and patients for years. Unfortunately, the exact mechanism of morphine tolerance has not been fully clarified. The mechanisms of morphine tolerance that are currently being studied may include μ-opioid receptor (MOR) desensitization and internalization, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activation and crosstalk, the effects of microglia and the increase in inflammatory factors. Morphine tolerance can be alleviated by improving the pathophysiological changes that lead to morphine tolerance. Previous studies have shown that a cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor agonist could attenuate morphine tolerance in a variety of animal models. Many studies have shown an interaction between the cannabinoid system and the opioid system. The CB2 receptor may modulate the effect of morphine through a pathway that is common to the MOR, since both receptors are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). This study introduces the potential mechanism of morphine tolerance and the effect of CB2 receptor agonists on reducing morphine tolerance, which can provide new ideas for researchers studying morphine and provide beneficial effects for patients suffering from morphine tolerance.

Accurate monitoring tools are necessary for lactate, a critical biomarker linked to anaerobic metabolism and muscular performance. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) immobilized on MXene (Ti3C2Tx)-supported CuO nanocomposites (MCNs) modified glassy carbon electrode (LDH/MCN/GCE) is the innovative electrochemical biosensor for lactate detection presented in this work. CuO nanostructure integration onto MXene nanosheets, MCN production, and LDH immobilization were all successfully accomplished, according to structural characterization performed using XRD, SEM, XPS, and FTIR. The best lactate oxidation current was shown by LDH/MCN/GCE, according to electrochemical study. With a low detection limit of 0.25 µM and a high sensitivity of 5.92107 µA/mM, the biosensor exhibited a linear response range of 0.1–121 mM. The remarkable selectivity, stability, and sensitivity were attributed to enhanced LDH immobilization made possible by MCNs and MXene. The promise of LDH/MCN/GCE for bioanalytical applications is highlighted by promising results from practical testing in human blood samples, opening the door for improvements in lactate monitoring and performance optimization techniques.

Abstract The inter-subspecific indica-japonica hybrid rice confer potential higher yield than the widely used indica-indica intra-subspecific hybrid rice. Nevertheless, the utilization of this strong heterosis is currently hindered by asynchronous diurnal floret opening time (DFOT) of indica and japonica parental lines. Here, we identify OsMYB8 as a key regulator of rice DFOT. OsMYB8 induces the transcription of JA-Ile synthetase OsJAR1, thereby regulating the expression of genes related to cell osmolality and cell wall remodeling in lodicules to promote floret opening. Natural variations of OsMYB8 promoter contribute to its differential expression, thus differential transcription of OsJAR1 and accumulation of JA-Ile in lodicules of indica and japonica subspecies. Furthermore, introgression of the indica haplotype of OsMYB8 into japonica effectively promotes DFOT in japonica. Our findings reveal an OsMYB8-OsJAR1 module that regulates differential DFOT in indica and japonica, and provide a strategy for breeding early DFOT japonica to facilitate breeding of indica-japonica hybrids.

Genomic selection (GS) has the potential to improve selection efficiency and shorten the breeding cycle in fruit tree breeding. In this study, we evaluated the effect of prediction methods, marker density and the training population (TP) size on pear GS for improving its performance and reducing cost. We evaluated GS under two scenarios: (1) five-fold cross-validation in an interspecific pear family; (2) independent validation. Based on the cross-validation scheme, the prediction accuracy (PA) of eight fruit traits varied between 0.33 (fruit core vertical diameter) and 0.65 (stone cell content). Except for single fruit weight, a slightly better prediction accuracy (PA) was observed for the five parametrical methods compared with the two non-parametrical methods. In our TP of 310 individuals, 2 000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were sufficient to make reasonably accurate predictions. PAs for different traits increased by 18.21%–46.98% when the TP size increased from 50 to 100, but the increment was smaller (−4.13%–33.91%) when the TP size increased from 200 to 250. For independent validation, the PAs ranged from 0.11 to 0.45 using rrBLUP method. In summary, our results showed that the TP size and SNP numbers had a greater impact on the PA than prediction methods. Furthermore, relatedness among the training and validation sets, and the complexity of traits should be considered when designing a TP to predict the test panel.

This work revealed the development of a novel non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor for glucose detection based on a modified glassy carbon electrode made of graphene oxide nanoribbons (GONRs). The TEM, XRD), XPS, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the shape and structure of the modified electrode made of GONRs. Using amperometry and cyclic voltammetry (CV), the nanocomposite's electrochemical performance was assessed (AMP). The TEM results support the XPS, Raman, and XRD observations, demonstrating the capability of the suggested approach to generate single-layered GONRs with good edge linearity. The suggested non-enzymatic glucose sensing method was found to be selective, stable, repeatable, and reproducible through electrochemical analyses. The response behavior of GONRs/GCE was found to be linear within the 0.1–105 mM range, and the sensitivity and detection limit were found to be roughly 20.815 µA/mM and 3 µM, respectively. To verify the GONRs/GCE sensor's practicality and viability, tests were conducted on human serum and orange juice samples. The recovery rate ranged from 94.00% to 99.20%, according to the results, and the relative-standard deviation (RSD) values were 3.21% to 4.41%. These encouraging RSD and recovery rates showed that GONRs/GCE would work well as electrodes for measuring glucose in actual samples.

This work created a simple electrochemical cortisol sensing method based on ZnO nanostructures to track high-performance athletes' stress levels and recuperation times. ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs) were deposited on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (ZnO/GCE) using an electrodeposition technique. Subsequently, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was applied to the electrode surface in order to improve cortisol antibody (C-M ab) immobilization and stability (C-M ab/APTES/ZnO/GCE). Successful immobilization of C-M ab on APTES/ZnO/GCE and electrodeposition of ZnO NRs on GCE were confirmed by structural investigations conducted using XRD, FT-IR, and FE-SEM. Cortisol was detected using an electrochemical immunosensor (C-M ab/APTES/ZnO/GCE) by monitoring the change in DPV and CV currents following cortisol binding to C-M ab. According to electrochemical experiments, the immunosensor exhibited a steady, selective, and sensitive response when it detected cortisol at concentrations between 10−6 nM and 106 nM, with a detection limit of 2 × 10−4 nM. It was assessed if the C-M ab/APTES/ZnO/GCE combination could identify cortisol in human serum. The samples' relative standard deviation (RSD) values range from 3.63% to 4.30%, and their recovery rates range from 90.00% to 98.50%, according to the analytical study. These findings imply that the C-M ab/APTES/ZnO/GCE offers accurate evaluations for cortisol detection in human serum samples.

Abstract Memristors offer a promising solution to address the performance and energy challenges faced by conventional von Neumann computer systems. Yet, stochastic ion migration in conductive filament often leads to an undesired performance tradeoff between memory window, retention, and endurance. Herein, a robust memristor based on oxygen‐rich SnO2 nanoflowers switching medium, enabled by seed‐mediated wet chemistry, to overcome the ion migration issue for enhanced analog in‐memory computing is reported. Notably, the interplay between the oxygen vacancy (Vo) and Ag ions (Ag+) in the Ag/SnO2/p++‐Si memristor can efficiently modulate the formation and abruption of conductive filaments, thereby resulting in a high on/off ratio (>106), long memory retention (10‐year extrapolation), and low switching variability (SV = 6.85%). Multiple synaptic functions, such as paired‐pulse facilitation, long‐term potentiation/depression, and spike‐time dependent plasticity, are demonstrated. Finally, facilitated by the symmetric analog weight updating and multiple conductance states, a high image recognition accuracy of ≥ 91.39% is achieved, substantiating its feasibility for analog in‐memory computing. This study highlights the significance of synergistically modulating conductive filaments in optimizing performance trade‐offs, balancing memory window, retention, and endurance, which demonstrates techniques for regulating ion migration, rendering them a promising approach for enabling cutting‐edge neuromorphic applications.

Human adenovirus (HAdV) infection is a major cause of respiratory disease, yet no antiviral drugs have been approved for its treatment. Herein, we evaluated the antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects of cyclin-dependent protein kinase (CDK) inhibitor indirubin-3′-monoxime (IM) against HAdV infection in cells and a transgenic mouse model. After evaluating its cytotoxicity, cytopathic effect reduction, antiviral replication kinetics, and viral yield reduction assays were performed to assess the anti-HAdV activity of IM. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), and western blotting were used to assess the effects of IM on HAdV DNA replication, transcription, and protein expression, respectively. IM significantly inhibited HAdV DNA replication as well as E1A and Hexon transcription, in addition to significantly suppressing the phosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain (CTD). IM mitigated body weight loss, reduced viral burden, and lung injury, decreasing cytokine and chemokine secretion to a greater extent than cidofovir. Altogether, IM inhibits HAdV replication by downregulating CTD phosphorylation to suppress viral infection and corresponding innate immune reactions as a promising therapeutic agent.

The architectural promenade, developed by Le Corbusier, is also a significant design concept in the contemporary architectural works of Wang Shu. This paper focused on Wang Shu’s and Le Corbusier’s promenade concepts aiming to illustrate how Wang’s promenade of strolling in Shan-shui establishes a cross-cultural dialogue with Le Corbusier’s theory. These two promenade approaches appear to have emerged from distinct historical and cultural contexts, with Le Corbusier’s approach rooted in Western modernism and Wang’s approach reflecting the aesthetics of traditional Chinese landscape painting. Seemingly unrelated, a thorough case analysis of Le Corbusier’s Villa La Roche and Wang’s Ningbo Tengtou Pavilion unveiled commonalities in creating picturesque spaces and spatial movement. Furthermore, both promenade approaches trigger discussions on architecture. Whereas Le Corbusier’s architectural promenade facilitated the creation of “new” architecture, Wang was inspired by Le Corbusier’s way of thinking, but aimed to “rebuild a kind of Chinese vernacular architecture” in response to the status quo of China’s urban architectural development. Wang Shu’s promenade opens a spectrum between traditional landscape painting and Le Corbusier’s ideas, showcasing a fusion of influences and inspirations from diverse cultural contexts, while also contributing to an understanding of the integration of Eastern and Western architecture in contemporary discourse.

Background: The TLC Domain Containing 1 (TLCD1) protein, a key regulator of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) composition, is distributed across several cellular membranes, including mitochondrial plasma membranes. Existing research has revealed the impact of TLCD1 on the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, there remains a gap in comprehensive pan-cancer analyses of TLCD1, and the precise role of TLCD1 in cancer patient prognosis and immunological responses remains elusive. This study aims to provide a comprehensive visualization of the prognostic landscape associated with TLCD1 across a spectrum of cancers, while shedding light on the potential links between TLCD1 expression within the tumor microenvironment and immune infiltration characteristics.Methods: TLCD1 expression data were obtained from GTEx, TCGA, and HPA data repositories. Multiple databases including TIMER, HPA, TISIDB, cBioPortal, GEPIA2, STRING, KEGG, GO, and CancerSEA were used to investigate the expression pattern, diagnostic and prognostic significance, mutation status, functional analysis, and functional status of TLCD1. In addition, we evaluated the relationship between TLCD1 expression and immune infiltration, tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and immune-related genes in pan-cancer. Furthermore, the association of TLCD1 with drug sensitivity was analyzed using the CellMiner database.Results: We found that TLCD1 is generally highly expressed in pan-cancers and is significantly associated with the staging and prognosis of various cancers. Furthermore, our results also showed that TLCD1 was significantly associated with immune cell infiltration and immune regulatory factor expression. Using CellMiner database analysis, we then found a strong correlation between TLCD1 expression and sensitivity to anticancer drugs, indicating its potential as a therapeutic target. The most exciting finding is that high TLCD1 expression is associated with worse survival and prognosis in GBM and SKCM patients receiving anti-PD1 therapy. These findings highlight the potential of TLCD1 as a predictive biomarker for response to immunotherapy.Conclusion: TLCD1 plays a role in the regulation of immune infiltration and affects the prognosis of patients with various cancers. It serves as both a prognostic and immunologic biomarker in human cancer.

Narcotic drugs refer to drugs that have anesthetic effects on the central nervous system, and they easily produce physical dependence and mental dependence and can be addictive due to continuous use, abuse or unreasonable use. In this paper, bioinformatics and data analysis and mining techniques were used to analyze the methylation differences in transcriptional and clinical data of narcotic addiction in public databases, to explore the mechanism of narcotic addiction, and to mine some norepinephrine drugs. This study confirmed the possibility of using norepinephrine as an auxiliary drug for drug addiction rehabilitation. In addition, we also conducted a similar analysis on the addiction of three drugs. The results showed that the differences in the body caused by the ingestion of opiates and cocaine were significantly greater than those caused by the ingestion of methamphetamine.

Urbanization within the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR) faces increasing tension between growth, human welfare, and ecological preservation. This study investigates the interplay between new-type urbanization (NTU) and ecological well-being performance (EWP) as potential mitigation approaches. Using the entropy weight topsis and super-efficiency SBM models, we quantify NTU and EWP within the UAMRYR. Additionally, the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) elucidates the intricate dynamics between these systems. Our findings indicate that NTU is underdeveloped, particularly economically and socially. The EWP underwent volatile periods before rapid expansion. The majority of CCD exhibited low coordination, oscillating between 0.4 and 0.5. Spatial analysis showed marked polarization within the UAMRYR and a “high-low-moderate” core-periphery distribution. Guided by these insights, we suggest policies to enhance CCD between NTU and EWP. These strategies aim to align sustainable urban growth with economic development, balanced ecological preservation, and human welfare enhancement.

Abstract Background Pears are among the most important temperate fruit trees in the world, with significant research efforts increasing over the last years. However, available omics data for pear cannot be easily and quickly retrieved to enable further studies using these biological data. Description Here, we present a publicly accessible multi-omics pear resource platform, the Pear Genomics Database (PGDB). We collected and collated data on genomic sequences, genome structure, functional annotation, transcription factor predictions, comparative genomics, and transcriptomics. We provide user-friendly functional modules to facilitate querying, browsing and usage of these data. The platform also includes basic and useful tools, including JBrowse, BLAST, phylogenetic tree building, and additional resources providing the possibility for bulk data download and quick usage guide services. Conclusions The Pear Genomics Database (PGDB, http://pyrusgdb.sdau.edu.cn ) is an online data analysis and query resource that integrates comprehensive multi-omics data for pear. This database is equipped with user-friendly interactive functional modules and data visualization tools, and constitutes a convenient platform for integrated research on pear.

With the transformation and development of the automotive industry, low-cost and seamless indoor and outdoor positioning has become a research hotspot for modern vehicles equipped with in-vehicle infotainment systems, Internet of Vehicles, or other intelligent systems (such as Telematics Box, Autopilot, etc.). This paper analyzes modern vehicles in different configurations and proposes a low-cost, versatile indoor non-visual semantic mapping and localization solution based on low-cost sensors. Firstly, the sliding window-based semantic landmark detection method is designed to identify non-visual semantic landmarks (e.g., entrance/exit, ramp entrance/exit, road node). Then, we construct an indoor non-visual semantic map that includes the vehicle trajectory waypoints, non-visual semantic landmarks, and Wi-Fi fingerprints of RSS features. Furthermore, to estimate the position of modern vehicles in the constructed semantic maps, we proposed a graph-optimized localization method based on landmark matching that exploits the correlation between non-visual semantic landmarks. Finally, field experiments are conducted in two shopping mall scenes with different underground parking layouts to verify the proposed non-visual semantic mapping and localization method. The results show that the proposed method achieves a high accuracy of 98.1% in non-visual semantic landmark detection and a low localization error of 1.31 m.

Absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), a key component of the IFI20X/IFI16 (PYHIN) protein family, is characterized as a DNA sensor to detect cytosolic bacteria and DNA viruses. However, little is known about its immunological role during pathogenic Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) infection, an extracellular bacterial pathogen. In a pathogenic C. perfringens gas gangrene model, Aim2−/− mice are more susceptible to pathogenic C. perfringens soft tissue infection, revealing the importance of AIM2 in host protection. Notably, Aim2 deficiency leads to a defect in bacterial killing and clearance. Our in vivo and in vitro findings further establish that inflammasome signaling is impaired in the absence of Aim2 in response to pathogenic C. perfringens. Mechanistically, inflammasome signaling downstream of active AIM2 promotes pathogen control. Importantly, pathogenic C. perfringens-derived genomic DNA triggers inflammasome signaling activation in an AIM2-dependent manner. Thus, these observations uncover a central role for AIM2 in host defense and triggering innate immunity to combat pathogenic C. perfringens infections.

Abstract With the advancement of micro/nanotechnologies, multielectrodes arrays (MEAs) with different three‐dimensional (3D) micro/nanostructures have been developed to achieve intracellular action potential recording of cardiomyocytes. However, the effect of the 3D micro/nanostructures density on the intracellular recording has not been fully investigated. In this work, 3D tunable nanodensity electrode arrays (TNDEA) are fabricated by hydrothermal synthesis and standard microfabrication to explore the effect of nanodensity regulation on intracellular biosensing. By low‐voltage electroporation, the signal quality of intracellular potentials recorded by the low‐nanodensity TNDEA showed was significantly improved compared to those recorded by the high‐nanodensity TNDEA. The low‐nanodensity TNDEA improved the amplitude (up to 7.7 mV), signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) (up to 69.46 dB), recording duration (up to 83 min), and recording yield (∼100%). The 3D nanodensity regulating strategy has achieved sensitive and prolonged intracellular biosensing of action potentials and is expected to be a powerful electrophysiological research tool in the biomedical field.

Path planning is an essential part of robot intelligence. In this paper, we summarize the characteristics of path planning of industrial robots. And owing to the probabilistic completeness, we review the rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT) algorithm which is widely used in the path planning of industrial robots. Aiming at the shortcomings of the RRT algorithm, this paper investigates the RRT algorithm for path planning of industrial robots in order to improve its intelligence. Finally, the future development direction of the RRT algorithm for path planning of industrial robots is proposed. The study results have particularly guided significance for the development of the path planning of industrial robots and the applicability and practicability of the RRT algorithm.

Abstract Background and Aims The use of lidocaine aerosol for pediatric tonsil and adenoidectomy has been reported less frequently. We hope to improve the perioperative comfort of pediatric patients undergoing these procedures by applying lidocaine aerosol. Methods A total of 122 pediatric patients receiving tonsil and adenoidectomy were randomly divided into a lidocaine aerosol group (Group L) and a saline group (Group C), with 61 patients in each group; 2.4% alkaline lidocaine aerosol and saline were sprayed in the pharynx before induction. Our primary outcome were the incidence and rate ratio (RR) of postoperative pharyngeal complications (oropharyngeal dryness, dysphagia, hoarseness, and sore throat) and the pharyngeal comfort score, the latter of which was assessed by the occurrence of the above complications (yes = 0 point, none = 1 point). The secondary outcomes included preoperative and intraoperative blood pressure and heart rate, the incidence of choking during the induction period, the intraoperative opioid dosage, and the pain level and depth of sedation at 2, 6, and 24 h postoperatively. Statistical software used in this study included PASS15.0, SPSS 26.0, and GraphPad Prism 9.3.1, and statistical methods used included the t‐test, the χ² test, the Mann–Whitney U test, and the repeated measures analysis of variance. Results The incidence and RR of postoperative pharyngeal complications such as oropharyngeal dryness (RR: 0.667, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.458–0.970, p = 0.03), dysphagia (RR: 0.333, 95% CI: 0.114–0.976, p = 0.03), hoarseness (RR: 0.647, 95% CI: 0.433–0.967, p = 0.03), and sore throat (RR: 0.727, 95% CI: 0.547–0.967, p = 0.03) were significantly lower in Group L than in Group C at 2 h postoperatively, and the incidence and RR of postoperative sore throat was significantly lower in Group L than in Group C at 6 h postoperatively (RR: 0.717, 95% CI: 0.547–0.942, p = 0.01). The postoperative pharyngeal comfort scores were significantly higher in Group L than in Group C at all postoperative time points (p

This study mainly focused on the current situation of antibiotic pollution in coastal wetlands by screening for four common antibiotics (norfloxacin - NOR, ofloxacin - OFL, azithromycin - AZM, and roxithromycin - RXM) and two coastal wetland plants (Suaeda and Nelumbo nucifera), to determine the removal of antibiotic pollution by phytoremediation technology and its mechanism. We aimed to provide ideas for the remediation of antibiotics in coastal wetlands and their mechanisms of action in the context of intensive farming. The results showed that both plants had remediation effects on all four antibiotics, the phytoremediation of NOR and OFL was particularly significant, and the remediation effect of N. nucifera was better than that of Suaeda . The removal rates of the four antibiotics by Suaeda and N. nucifera at low antibiotic concentrations (10–25 μg/L) reached 48.9%–100% and 77.3%–100%, respectively. The removal rates of the four antibiotics at high antibiotic concentrations (50–200 μg/L) reached 7.5%–73.2% and 22%–84.6%, respectively. Moreover, AZM was only detected in trace amounts in the roots of N. nucifera, and RXM was not detected in either plant body.

Abstract Background Many studies have explored the cost-effectiveness of immunotherapy versus chemotherapy alone. However, there is paucity of evidence on direct pharmacoeconomic studies related to immunotherapy combinations. Thus, we aimed at assessing the economic outcomes of first-line immunotherapy combinations in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the Chinese health care perspective. Methods The mutual hazard ratios (HRs) of ten immunotherapy combinations and one chemotherapy regimen for the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were obtained from a network meta-analysis. Based on proportional hazard (PH) assumption, adjusted OS and PFS curves were established to make the effects comparable. With the parameters of cost and utility, and of scale and shape from the fit of adjusted OS and PFS curves obtained from previous studies, a partitioned survival model was designed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of immunotherapy combinations versus chemotherapy alone. Parameter uncertainty in model inputs was assessed using one-way deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Results The incremental cost of camrelizumab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone was $13,180.65, the lowest among all the other immunotherapy combinations. Furthermore, sintilimab plus chemotherapy (sint-chemo) provided the highest quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) benefit versus chemotherapy alone (incremental QALYs = 0.45). Sint-chemo yielded the best incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) versus chemotherapy alone (ICER = $34,912.09/QALY), at the current price. The cost-effectiveness probabilities were 32.01% and 93.91% for pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, and atezolizumab plus bevacizumab plus chemotherapy, respectively (if the original price of the pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, and bevacizumab were decreased by 90%). Conclusions Based on the fact that there is fierce competition in the PD-1/PD-L1 market, pharmaceutical enterprises should strive for greater efficacy, and optimal pricing strategy for therapies.

The traditional Chinese gardens are an essential source of inspiration for Wang Shu’s architectural creations. Taihu stone is a porous, irregularly shaped rock used to compose mountain landscapes in traditional gardens, which informs the architectural interpretation of Wang’s gardening philosophy. This paper illuminates Wang’s design approach, in particular the way he abstracts the shape and form of Taihu stone in his works creating architecture that embodies the qualities of tradition. We examine seven of his architectural works built between 2003 and 2018 where the architect used the Taihu stone in two principal manners. The first is a formal conceptualisation that is reflected in the overall form of the building named “Taihu-house”. A total of 19 “Taihu-houses” were founded in Wang’s works through three strategies: addition, insertion, and subtraction, of which the “addition” including 14 “Taihu-houses” is the most representative design. The second is using the Taihu stone as an inspiration for surface design such as the shape of windows or doors. Several walls with stone-shaped openings are further used to recreate a traditional promenade experience. Wang’s application of Taihu stone in his architectural works creates continuity with the traditional values of Chinese architecture while working within a modern aesthetic.

To investigate the effect of prickly ash (Zanthoxylum bungeanum) seed kernel oil (PASO) on the lipid metabolism of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) under a high-fat diet, PASO were added into two lipid-level (4 g/kg and 8 g/kg) diets to form four isonitrogenous diets: soybean oil (SO), PASO, high-fat soybean oil (HSO), and high-fat prickly ash seed oil (HPASO). A total of 216 healthy grass carp (9.43 ± 0.82 g) were randomly divided into four groups and fed with the four diets, respectively, for 56 days. The result showed that the viscerosomatic index (VSI) and the content of the crude lipid in the hepatopancreas and muscle was significantly higher by oil levels (p < 0.05). The linolenic acid content in the body of the fish significantly increased in PASO and HPASO compared to that in SO and HSO (p < 0.05). The fatty acid composition of the hepatopancreas, intraperitoneal fat, and muscle in four dietary groups was significantly similar to the fatty acid composition in the diets (p < 0.05). More significant fat infiltration and nuclear translocation in the hepatopancreas of fish was found in the HSO group but was decreased in the HPASO group. The adipocyte size in the intraperitoneal fat tissue in the PASO group was significantly lower than that in the SO group (p < 0.05). The relative mRNA expression of the lipogenesis-related genes ppar-γ, cebp-α, and srebp-1c was significantly down-regulated in the PASO group compared with the SO group (p < 0.05), and the mRNA expression of lipolysis-related genes ppar-α and cpt-1 were significantly up-regulated in the PASO group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary PASO showed the function of reducing lipid accumulation in the fish. This reduction might be attributed to the inhibition of the lipogenesis-related genes and the stimulation of the lipolysis-related genes, which were probably modulated by the high content of linolenic acid in PASO.

Bacteria and phages are two of the most abundant biological entities in the gut microbiome, and diet and host phylogeny are two of the most critical factors influencing the gut microbiome. A stable gut bacterial community plays a pivotal role in the host’s physiological development and immune health. A phage is a virus that directly infects bacteria, and phages’ close associations and interactions with bacteria are essential for maintaining the stability of the gut bacterial community and the entire microbial ecosystem. Here, we utilized 99 published metagenomic datasets from 38 mammalian species to investigate the relationship (diversity and composition) and potential interactions between gut bacterial and phage communities and the impact of diet and phylogeny on these communities. Our results highlight the co-evolutionary potential of bacterial–phage interactions within the mammalian gut. We observed a higher alpha diversity in gut bacteria than in phages and identified positive correlations between bacterial and phage compositions. Furthermore, our study revealed the significant influence of diet and phylogeny on mammalian gut bacterial and phage communities. We discovered that the impact of dietary factors on these communities was more pronounced than that of phylogenetic factors at the order level. In contrast, phylogenetic characteristics had a more substantial influence at the family level. The similar omnivorous dietary preference and closer phylogenetic relationship (family Ursidae) may contribute to the similarity of gut bacterial and phage communities between captive giant panda populations (GPCD and GPYA) and omnivorous animals (OC; including Sun bear, brown bear, and Asian black bear). This study employed co-occurrence microbial network analysis to reveal the potential interaction patterns between bacteria and phages. Compared to other mammalian groups (carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores), the gut bacterial and phage communities of bamboo-eating species (giant pandas and red pandas) exhibited a higher level of interaction. Additionally, keystone species and modular analysis showed the potential role of phages in driving and maintaining the interaction patterns between bacteria and phages in captive giant pandas. In sum, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between the gut microbiota and phages in mammals is of great significance, which is of great value in promoting healthy and sustainable mammals and may provide valuable insights into the conservation of wildlife populations, especially endangered animal species.

Abstract Background Human adenovirus (HAdV) infection outbreak causes community-acquired pneumonia. Cellular immune dysfunction and hypercytokinemia play important roles in the pathogenesis of adenovirus respiratory infection. Some soluble factors in peripheral blood can assist in judging the virus-induced disease severity. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines differ among patients with different disease severity. However, whether and how HAdV-7 infection influences the composition of blood immune cells and serum cytokine levels in patients at different disease stages, as well as the diagnosis values of these parameters, have rarely been intensively studied. We aimed to investigate lymphocytes profiles and cytokines levels in blood of patients at different disease stages upon human adenovirus type 7 (HAdV-7) infections, and explored the diagnosis values of the investigated parameters. Methods Patients from two outbreaks of HAdV-7 in military of China were categorized into upper respiratory infection (URI) group, common pneumonia (CP) group and severe pneumonia (SP) group according to disease severity. Peripheral blood samples were subjected to routine laboratory tests, while flow cytometry and ELISA were used to measure the lymphocyte subsets and cytokines in blood, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to examine the diagnostic of these blood parameters. Results Signs of imbalanced lymphocytes composition and hypercytokinemia were observed in HAdV-7-infected patients. The percentages of CD3+ T cells and NK cells were significantly decreased along with the aggravation of the disease, particularly for NK cells and CD4+ T cells. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) increased significantly in patients with more severe disease. In addition, the levels of serum CXCL10, IL-2 and TNF-α were positively correlated with disease severity, while reduced levels of IFN-γ and IL-10 were found in SP patients. Furthermore, analysis of ROC showed that multiple parameters including the percentage of blood CD3+ cells and serum CXCL10 level could predict the progression of HAdV-7 infection. Conclusion Imbalance of immune state with hypercytokinemia occurred during HAdV-7 infection. The percentages of blood immune cells such as CD3+ T cells and the levels of serum cytokines such as CXCL10 showed potential diagnosis values in HAdV-7 infection.

With the rapid progress of sensor technology, underwater monitoring wireless sensor network (UMWSN) equipped with water resource monitoring capabilities have surfaced. UMWSN is currently emerging as a popular research and application area, with a wide range of applications in various fields, including but not limited to disaster warning, pollutant monitoring and hydrological data monitoring. However, due to the limited size and computing power of wireless sensors, UMWSN are exceedingly susceptible to network security attacks by contaminating entities. In order to tackle the problems of inadequate security, elevated network energy consumption, and high system latency in existing QoS routing research, this paper puts forward an innovative multi-objective routing protocol named multi-objective chaotic Boltzmann ant colony optimization routing protocol (MO-CBACORP). MO-CBACORP can minimize the energy consumption of sensor nodes in UMWSN routing, thereby effectively diminishing system latency and significantly enhancing routing security. During the routing optimization process, MO-CBACORP proposed an innovative design of the chaos operator and Boltzmann selection strategy, which effectively avoids the issue of being stuck in local optimal solutions and greatly enhances the convergence speed of the algorithm. Additionally, a novel experiment for underwater monitoring environments is presented that precisely replicates underwater monitoring conditions and attack scenarios. According to the experimental results, MO-CBACORP exhibits superior performance compared to the latest state-of-the-art research including THOA-MHR, ACO-MCMC, and MAP-ACO, with a minimum improvement of 7.25%, 9.31%, and 7.68% in terms of route security, network energy consumption, and delay, respectively. All in all, MO-CBACORP exhibits superior performance compared to the three latest research algorithms.

Summary: Th9 cells are powerful effector T cells for cancer immunotherapy. However, the underlying antitumor mechanism of Th9 cells still needs to be further elucidated. Here, we show that Th9 cells express high levels of not only IL-9, but also IL-24. We found that knockout of Il24 gene in Th9 cells promotes Th9 cell proliferation in vitro, but decreases Th9 cell survival in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, knockout of Il24 gene in Th9 cells decreases the tumor-specific cytotoxicity of Th9 cells in vitro. In addition, immunotherapy with Il24 knockout Th9 cells exhibit less tumor inhibition than regular Th9 cells in mouse tumor models. We found that inhibition of Foxo1 by a specific inhibitor downregulates IL-24 expression in Th9 cells and decreases Th9 cell antitumor efficacy in vivo. Our results identify IL-24 as a powerful antitumor effector of Th9 cells and provide a target in Th9 cell-mediated tumor therapy.

The COVID-19 epidemic in December 2019 had a significant negative impact on people’s health and economies all across the world. The most effective preventive measure against COVID-19 is vaccination. Therefore, the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines is booming worldwide. This study aimed to analyze the current state of that research and its development tendency by bibliometrics. We conducted a thorough search of the Web of Science Core Collection. VOSviewer1.6.18 was used to perform the bibliometric analysis of these papers. A total of 6,325 papers were finally included. The USA maintained a top position worldwide. Shimabukuro Tom T and Harvard University were the most prolific author and institution. The Vaccines was the most published journal. The research hotspots of COVID-19 vaccines can be classified into vaccine hesitancy, vaccine safety and effectiveness, vaccine immunogenicity, and adverse reactions to vaccines. Studies on various vaccination types have also concentrated on efficacy against continuously developing virus strains, immunogenicity, side effects, and safety.

Accurate grasp of chicken body temperature can effectively improve the success rate of caged chicken breeding, by monitoring the number of open-mouthed chickens as a percentage of the total number of chickens and can directly determine whether the chicken body temperature is appropriate. There is no relevant solution to this requirement at present, so this paper proposes a joint feature target detection algorithm based on YOLOv5 to detect the opening and closing state of the chicken mouth. The algorithm improves the YOLOv5 network in the following ways: 1) The improved ResC module is used to reconstruct the backbone network of YOLOv5, which diversifies feature scales and enhances the ability of target feature extraction; 2) Integrate the Transformer module with the four-layer feature pyramid to expand the range of feature fusion and improve the accuracy of feature extraction; 3) The joint feature verification(JFV) module is designed to improve the detection accuracy of small targets by adopting the idea of joint verification of small targets and large targets. Finally, the improved network is used to detect the opening and closing state of the chicken beak on the test set, which is derived from the actual cage chicken breeding environment. The results show that the average accuracy (mAP) of the improved RJ-YOLOv5 algorithm is 85.6%, and the detection accuracy is 7.1% higher than the YOLOv5 algorithm; The video detection frame rate reaches 69 FPS, which can meet the requirements of real-time monitoring of chicken farms.

As the promising technology, the cooperative cyber-physical system can enhance the operating efficiency and reliability of smart grids. Meanwhile, the characteristics that deep integration of cyber-physical system can make smart grid face new security problems caused by false data injection attack. To maintain a safe and stable operation of smart grids, timely detection and defense of the emerging false data injection attacks, such as biased injection attack, is crucial. For this reason, this paper aims at developing a detection-based active defense mechanisms against biased injection attacks via robust adaptive controller. Through the established physical dynamic power model, an improved adaptive observer-based detection algorithm is proposed. Through the design of observer parameters, the proposed adaptive observer can enhance the accuracy of estimation state. In contrast to well-known attack detection methods for smart grids, the performance of attack detection under the developed detection algorithm can be effectively improved, such as the accuracy of state estimation and false positive rate. Through the above results provided by the attack detection, a robust adaptive controller-based active defense method is further developed. The proposed method can offset the impact of biased injection attack to maintain the stable running of power system. Simulation studies demonstrate the reliable response of the developed active defense method against biased injection attacks.

In this paper, we address the challenges faced by Value Iteration Networks (VIN) in handling larger input maps and mitigating the impact of accumulated errors caused by increased iterations. We propose a novel approach, Value Iteration Networks with Gated Summarization Module (GS-VIN), which incorporates two main improvements: 1) employing an Adaptive Iteration Strategy in the Value Iteration module to reduce the number of iterations; and 2) introducing a Gated Summarization module to summarize the iterative process. The adaptive iteration strategy uses larger convolution kernels with fewer iteration times, reducing network depth and increasing training stability while maintaining the accuracy of the planning process. The gated summarization module enables the network to emphasize the entire planning process, rather than solely relying on the final global planning outcome, by temporally and spatially resampling the entire planning process within the VI module. We conduct experiments on 2D grid world path-finding problems and the Atari Mr. Pac-man environment, demonstrating that GS-VIN outperforms the baseline in terms of single-step accuracy, planning success rate, and overall performance across different map sizes. Additionally, we provide an analysis of the relationship between input size, kernel size, and the number of iterations in VI-based models, which is applicable to a majority of VI-based models and offers valuable insights for researchers and industrial deployment.

Hand gestures are a well-known and straightforward method of human-computer interaction. The majority of the study focused on hand gesture recognition. However, little work has been done to develop a complete set of gesture recognition applications. With the improvement of model feature extraction ability and the increase in the number of model parameters, it is becoming more challenging to achieve a small memory footprint on mobile devices based on an ARM architecture or CPU devices based on x86 architecture. However, these existing methods are heavy, requiring more memory and inference time. The execution of memory-efficient CNNs without compromising accuracy has been a challenge, especially when the inference has to be performed on an edge computing device in real time. Therefore, we propose a lightweight network for hand gesture recognition (LHGR-Net) and deploy it on a Raspberry Pi. LHGR-Net consists of three main parts: the base network structure, the multiscale structure (MSS), and the lightweight attention structure (LAS). We present pre-trained weights that are learned from other data to initialize the network structure. In addition, the LHGR-Net model was made to be deployed on a Raspberry Pi, and a deployed model can be used to control home appliances. Extensive experiments show that our method achieves almost as good as state-of-the-art performance in hand gesture recognition and running time.

Abstract Background Structural variations (SVs) have recently become a topic of great interest in the area of genetic diversity and trait regulation. As genomic sequencing technologies have rapidly advanced, longer reads have been used to identify SVs at high resolution and with increased accuracy. It is important to choose a suitable sequencing platform and appropriate sequencing depth for SV detection in the pear genome. Results In this study, two types of long reads from sequencing platforms, continuous long reads from Pacific Biosciences (PB-CLR) and long reads from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), were used to comprehensively analyze and compare SVs in the pear genome. The mapping rate of long reads was higher when the program Minimap2 rather than the other three mapping tools (NGMLR, LRA and Winnowmap2) was used. Three SV detection programs (Sniffles_v2, CuteSV, and Nanovar) were compared, and Nanovar had the highest sensitivity in detecting SVs at low sequencing depth (10–15×). A sequencing depth of 15× was suitable for SV detection in the pear genome using Nanovar. SVs detected by Sniffles_v2 and CuteSV with ONT reads had the high overlap with presence/absence variations (PAVs) in the pear cultivars ‘Bartlett’ and ‘Dangshansuli’, both of them with 38% of insertions and 55% of deletions overlapping with PAVs at sequencing depth of 30×. For the ONT sequencing data, over 37,526 SVs spanning ~ 28 Mb were identified by all three software packages for the ‘Bartlett’ and ‘Dangshansuli’ genomes. Those SVs were annotated and combined with transcriptome profiles derived from ‘Bartlett’ and ‘Dangshansuli’ fruit flesh at 60 days after cross-pollination. Several genes related to levels of sugars, acid, stone cells, and aromatic compounds were identified among the SVs. Transcription factors were then predicted among those genes, and results included bHLH, ERF, and MYB genes. Conclusion SV detection is of great significance in exploring phenotypic differences between pear varieties. Our study provides a framework for assessment of different SV software packages and sequencing platforms that can be applied in other plant genome studies. Based on these analyses, ONT sequencing data was determined to be more suitable than PB-CLR for SV detection in the pear genome. This analysis model will facilitate screening of genes related to agronomic traits in other crops.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 has seriously affected the whole society, and vaccines were the most effective means to contain the epidemic. This paper aims to determine the top 100 articles cited most frequently in COVID-19 vaccines and to analyze the research status and hot spots in this field through bibliometrics, to provide a reference for future research. We conducted a comprehensive search of the Web of Science Core Collection database on November 29, 2023, and identified the top 100 articles by ranking them from highest to lowest citation frequency. In addition, we analyzed the year of publication, citation, author, country, institution, journal, and keywords with Microsoft Excel 2019 and VOSviewer 1.6.18. Research focused on vaccine immunogenicity and safety, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccination intention.

Abstract Background MicroRNAs are a type of non-coding single-stranded RNA, which is involved in the regulation of ovary insulin resistance (IR). This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of miR-133a-3p regulating ovary IR in obese polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods Granulosa cells (GCs) were extracted from follicular fluids of PCOS patients (obese PCOS group and non-obese PCOS group) and healthy women (control group). The expression of miR-133a-3p in GCs was detected by qRT-PCR. The targets and pathways of miR-133a-3p were predicted by bioinformatics analyses. The protein levels of PI3K, p-AKT, GLUT4, p-GSK-3β, and p-FOXO1 were measured by Western blotting. Results MiR-133a-3p was highly expressed in GCs from PCOS patients, especially in obese PCOS patients. The protein levels of PI3K and p-AKT was downregulated in GCs from PCOS patients. There were 11 target genes of miR-133a-3p enriching in PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. miR-133a-3p mimic downregulated the expression of PI3K, p-AKT, and GLUT4, and upregulated the protein levels of p-GSK-3β and p-FOXO1. miR-133a-3p inhibitor presented the opposite effect of miR-133a-3p mimic. Conclusion MiR-133a-3p promotes ovary IR on GCs of obese PCOS patients via inhibiting PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. This study lays a foundation for further research on the mechanism of ovary IR in obese PCOS patients.

Abstract Background Although the wild relatives of pear originated in southwest China, this fruit crop was independently domesticated and improved in Asia and Europe, and there are major phenotypic differences (e.g., maturity and fruit firmness) between Asian and European pears. Results In this study, we examined the genomes of 113 diverse pear accessions using an identity-by-descent (IBD) approach to investigate how historical gene flow has shaped fruit firmness traits in Asian and European pears. We found a 3-Mbp IBD-enriched region (IBD-ER) that has undergone “convergent domestication” in both the Asian and European pear lineages, and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of fruit firmness phenotypes strongly implicated the TRANSLOCON AT THE INNER CHLOROPLAST ENVELOPE55 (TIC55) locus within this 3-Mbp IBD-ER. Furthermore, we identified a tandem duplication that includes a 12-bp insertion located in the first exon of TIC55 that is uniquely present in Asian pears, and expression analysis showed that the pear TIC55 gene is highly expressed in Asian pear, while it is weakly or not expressed in European pear; this could contribute to the differences in fruit firmness between Asian and European pear fruits. Conclusions Our findings provide insights into how pear fruit softening has been impacted during domestication, and we identified candidate genes associated with fruit softening that can contribute to the breeding and improvement of pear and other fruit crops.

Abstract Background Reduced physical activity (PA) was the strongest predictor of all-cause mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This scoping review aimed to map the evidence on the current landscape of physical activity, barriers and facilitators, and assessment tools across COPD patients. Methods Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology framework guided the conduct of this review. An electronic search was conducted on five English databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Web of Science) and three Chinese databases (CNKI, CQVIP and WAN-FANG) in January 2022. Two authors independently screened the literature, extracted the studies characteristics. Results The initial search yielded 4389 results, of which 1954 were duplicates. Of the remaining 135 articles, 42 studies met the inclusion criteria. Among the reviewed articles, there were 14 (33.3%) cross-sectional study, 9 (21.4%) cohort study, 4 (9.5%) longitudinal study, 3 qualitative study, 12 (28.7%) randomized control trials. The main barriers identified were older age, women, lung function, comorbidities, COPD symptoms (fear of breathlessness and injury, severe fatigue, anxiety and depression), GOLD stage, frequency of exacerbation, oxygen use, lack of motivation and environment-related (e.g., season and weather). Twelve studies have evaluated the effects of physical exercise (e.g., walking training, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), pedometer, self-efficacy enhancing intervention and behavioral modification intervention) on PA and showed significant positive effects on the prognosis of patients. However, in real life it is difficult to maintain PA in people with COPD. Conclusions Changing PA behavior in patients with COPD requires multidisciplinary collaboration. Future studies need to identify the best instruments to measure physical activity in clinical practice. Future studies should focus on the effects of different types, time and intensity of PA in people with COPD and conduct randomized, adequately-powered, controlled trials to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of behavioral change interventions in PA.

Abstract Background The mitochondrion is an important cellular component in plants and that functions in producing vital energy for the cell. However, the evolution and structure of mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) remain unclear in the Rosaceae family. In this study, we assembled 34 Rosaceae mitogenomes and characterized genome variation, rearrangement rate, and selection signal variation within these mitogenomes. Results Comparative analysis of six genera from the Amygdaloideae and five from the Rosoideae subfamilies of Rosaceae revealed that three protein-coding genes were absent from the mitogenomes of five Rosoideae genera. Positive correlations between genome size and repeat content were identified in 38 Rosaceae mitogenomes. Twenty repeats with high recombination frequency (> 50%) provided evidence for predominant substoichiometric conformation of the mitogenomes. Variations in rearrangement rates were identified between eleven genera, and within the Pyrus, Malus, Prunus, and Fragaria genera. Based on population data, phylogenetic inferences from Pyrus mitogenomes supported two distinct maternal lineages of Asian cultivated pears. A Pyrus-specific deletion (DEL-D) in selective sweeps was identified based on the assembled genomes and population data. After the DEL-D sequence fragments originally arose, they may have experienced a subsequent doubling event via homologous recombination and sequence transfer in the Amygdaloideae; afterwards, this variant sequence may have significantly expanded to cultivated groups, thereby improving adaptation during the domestication process. Conclusions This study characterizes the variations in gene content, genome size, rearrangement rate, and the impact of domestication in Rosaceae mitogenomes and provides insights into their structural variation patterns and phylogenetic relationships.

To achieve sustainable development during urbanization, construction waste is recycled for use as an aggregate in recycled concrete (RC). To determine the influence of the brick content in coarse recycled aggregates on the damage sustained by the resultant RC, the RC was first divided into seven phases: natural crushed stone, old gravel inside waste concrete, bricks, new mortar, old mortar on waste concrete surfaces, and new and old interface transition zones. The Monte Carlo method was then applied to establish a two-dimensional random aggregate model of the RC made with coarse brick aggregates. The ABAQUS software package was used to simulate a uniaxial compression test, the results of which were combined with those of a macro-test to determine the internal damage change rule of brick-containing RC. The stress–strain curves obtained from the simulation coincided well with that of the macroscopic tests. As the brick content increased, the damage zone inside the specimen and the number of microcracks increased. The stress concentration area decreased, as indicated by a lower compressive strength in the macro-test. The results indicate that higher brick contents in RC yield more initial damage inside the concrete and a lower compressive strength.

With the increasing demand for food freshness, time-temperature indicator (TTI) has been used as an effective monitoring tool to estimate the remaining shelf life of all kinds of fresh food. TTI is a device for recording the time and temperature history of food and it is achieved by irreversible phenomenon caused by the cumulative effect of time and temperature, which helps to ensure the quality and safety of food, but its application is limited by its high cost, unstable performance, and slow response rate. In this paper, the working principle and the latest research progress of physical, chemical, biological and complex TTIs are summarized, their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. The kinetics modeling and activation energy calculation methods of TTI, the application of TTI and the existing challenges are reviewed, and the research trend of TTI is prospected.

Background: At present, simple reminiscence has been widely used in the field of neurocognitive disorders, life review/life review therapy has been widely used in the field of cancer, and both simple reminiscence and life review/life review therapy are suitable for psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. However, the efficacy of reminiscence in treating cancer-related symptom has not been fully assessed. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of reminiscence therapy (RT) on relieving cancer-related symptoms such as anxiety and depression in cancer survivals. Methods: China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, China Biomedical Database, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCO, Scopus, and Ovid databases were searched. To collect clinical randomized controlled trials (RCT) on RT and cancer-related studies published from the establishment of the database to October 05, 2021. Two researchers independently evaluated the articles that met the inclusion criteria, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.4 software. Results: A total of 20 RCTs published in 2010 to 2021 were included, with a total of 1853 cancer patients. Meta-analysis results showed that the anxiety scale (HADS-A and HAMA and SAS) and depression scale (HADS-D and HAMD and SDS) scores of the RT group were significantly lower than those of the control group (HADS-A: P = .0002; HAMA: P

BackgroundVolatile anesthetics including sevoflurane and isoflurane enhance oscillations of cortical electroencephalogram (EEG), partly by their modulations on glutamate-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission. Expression of NMDA receptors is increased during neonatal development. However, how the development of NMDA receptors influences EEG under volatile anesthesia remains unclear.MethodsExpressions of NMDA receptor subtypes (NR1, NR2A, and NR2B) during neonatal development were measured by Western blotting. MAC (minimal alveolar concentration) of isoflurane and sevoflurane that inducing loss of righting reflex (LORR) and no response to tail-clamp (immobility) were measured to verify the effect of NR1 expression on anesthetic potency during neonatal development. Cortical electroencephalogram recording was used to examine the influence of NR1 expression on the power density of EEG.ResultsThe expressions of GluNR1, GluNR2A and GluNR2B receptors were gradually increased during neonatal development in cortex, hippocampus and thalamus of rats. Knockdown of NR1 enhanced the sedative potency of volatile anesthetics but not on immobility potency in postnatal day 14 (P14)-P17 rats. For cortical EEG, along with the increased concentration of volatile anesthetics, cortical slow-delta oscillations of P5 rats were inhibited, theta and alpha oscillations were not changed significantly; while these oscillations were enhanced until high anesthetic concentrations in P21 rats. Knockdown of NR1 in forebrain suppressed the enhancement of cortical EEG oscillations in P21 rats.ConclusionThe development of NMDA receptors may contribute to the enhancement of cortical EEG oscillations under volatile anesthetics.

In this work, a porous tobacco straw-based polyacrylic acid hydrogel STS-PAA with high adsorption performance was prepared by polymerizing pretreated waste tobacco straw (TS) with acrylic acid/potassium acrylate by UV radiation initiation. The adsorption performance of metal ions was investigated. The effects of different temperatures (25°C, 35°C, and 45°C), adsorption times (1–420 min), pH values (2.0–6.0) and initial concentrations (0.25–4.0 mmol L−1) of metal ions on the adsorption amount of heavy metal ions were investigated. The results showed that the hydrogel had a high removal rate of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+ in aqueous solution. The adsorption of Pb2+ was particularly effective. When C0 = 4.0 mmol L−1, pH = 6, the equilibrium adsorption amount of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+ reached 1.49 mmol g−1, 1.02 mmol L−1 and 0.94 mmol g−1, respectively. The chemical structure and morphology of the hydrogels were characterized by FT-IR, EDS, SEM and XPS. The Langmuir model fits well with the adsorption system. The kinetic data suggest the adsorption of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+ follow the pseudo-first-order model. This indicates that STS-PAA adsorption of three heavy metal ions is monolayer physical adsorption. Thermodynamic analysis shows that the adsorption of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+ by STS-PAA is an endothermic (ΔH>0) entropy increase (ΔS>0) non-spontaneous reaction.

The exploration of high-efficiency, long-durability, and cost-effectiveness transition metal doped carbon materials to replace the commercial Pt/C in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is greatly desirable for promoting the advancement of sustainable energy devices. Herein, the Fe3N and FeCo alloy decorated N-doped carbon hybrid material (denoted Fe3N-FeCo@NC) is prepared and applied as the ORR catalyst, which is derived from the two-step pyrolysis of an intriguing complex consisted of metal-coordinated porous polydopamine (PDA) nanospheres (i.e., Fe-PDA@Co) and melamine. The resulting Fe3N-FeCo@NC delivers outstanding ORR activity with an onset potential (Eon) of 1.05 V, a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.89 V, as well as excellent long-term stability and methanol resistance over Pt/C. Interestingly, the home-made Zn-air battery with Fe3N-FeCo@NC as the air-cathode demonstrates much higher open-circuit voltage (1.50 vs. 1.48 V), power density (141 vs. 113 mW·cm−2) and specific capacity (806.6 vs. 660.6 mAh·gZn−1) than those of Pt/C counterpart. Such a remarkable ORR activity of Fe3N-FeCo@NC may stem from the synergistic effect of Fe3N and FeCo active species, the large surface area, the hierarchical porous structure and the exceptional sphere/sheet hybridized architecture.

This paper reveals the general working law of compressive members by the stressing state modeling and analysis of their simulative response date. Firstly, the finite element simulation of compressive members with various slenderness ratios obtains the displacement, stress, and strain energy data at individual loading levels. Then, the response data are taken as state variables to build the parameters characterizing the stressing states of compressive members. Further, the clustering analysis (CA) criterion is proposed to detect the mutation points in the evolution curves of characteristic parameters with the load increase according to the structural failure law declared in structural stressing state theory. Correspondingly, the stressing state modes are built to verify their mutation features around the detected characteristic points. The characteristic points reveal the starting point of the member’s failure process, and the elastoplastic branch (EPB) point in the member’s normal working process, which could lay the new basis for analyzing the working behavior of compressive members and updating their design codes. Finally, it is verified that the bearing capacity design of compressive members based on the EPB points could have the higher performance-cost ratios with reasonable margins of safety.

Abstract Background Stone cells in fruits of pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) negatively influence fruit quality because their lignified cell walls impart a coarse and granular texture to the fruit flesh. Results We generate RNA-seq data from the developing fruits of 206 pear cultivars with a wide range of stone cell contents and use a systems genetics approach to integrate co-expression networks and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) to characterize the regulatory mechanisms controlling lignocellulose formation in the stone cells of pear fruits. Our data with a total of 35,897 expressed genes and 974,404 SNPs support the identification of seven stone cell formation modules and the detection of 139,515 eQTLs for 3229 genes in these modules. Focusing on regulatory factors and using a co-expression network comprising 39 structural genes, we identify PbrNSC as a candidate regulator of stone cell formation. We then verify the function of PbrNSC in regulating lignocellulose formation using both pear fruit and Arabidopsis plants and further show that PbrNSC can transcriptionally activate multiple target genes involved in secondary cell wall formation. Conclusions This study generates a large resource for studying stone cell formation and provides insights into gene regulatory networks controlling the formation of stone cell and lignocellulose.

Abstract Evidence has demonstrated that microRNA-342-5p (miR-342-5p) is implicated in atherosclerosis (AS), but little is known regarding its intrinsic regulatory mechanisms. Here, we aimed to explore the effect of miR-342-5p targeting Wnt3a on formation of vulnerable plaques and angiogenesis of AS. ApoE−/− mice were fed with high-fat feed for 16 w to replicate the AS vulnerable plaque model. miR-342-5p and Wnt3a expression in aortic tissues of AS were detected. The target relationship between miR-342-5p and Wnt3a was verified. Moreover, ApoE−/− mice were injected with miR-342-5p antagomir and overexpression-Wnt3a vector to test their functions in serum lipid levels, inflammatory and oxidative stress-related cytokines, aortic plaque stability and angiogenesis in plaque of AS mice. miR-342-5p expression was enhanced and Wnt3a expression was degraded in aortic tissues of AS mice and miR-342-5p directly targeted Wnt3a. Up-regulating Wnt3a or down-regulating miR-342-5p reduced blood lipid content, inflammatory and oxidative stress levels, the vulnerability of aortic tissue plaque and inhibited angiogenesis in aortic plaque of AS mice. Functional studies show that depleting miR-342-5p can stabilize aortic tissue plaque and reduce angiogenesis in plaque in AS mice via restoring Wnt3a.

The smart farm is currently a hot topic in the agricultural industry. Due to the complex field environment, the intelligent monitoring model applicable to this environment requires high hardware performance, and there are difficulties in realizing real-time detection of ripe strawberries on a small automatic picking robot, etc. This research proposes a real-time multistage strawberry detection algorithm YOLOv5-ASFF based on improved YOLOv5. Through the introduction of the ASFF (adaptive spatial feature fusion) module into YOLOv5, the network can adaptively learn the fused spatial weights of strawberry feature maps at each scale as a way to fully obtain the image feature information of strawberries. To verify the superiority and availability of YOLOv5-ASFF, a strawberry dataset containing a variety of complex scenarios, including leaf shading, overlapping fruit, and dense fruit, was constructed in this experiment. The method achieved 91.86% and 88.03% for mAP and F1, respectively, and 98.77% for AP of mature-stage strawberries, showing strong robustness and generalization ability, better than SSD, YOLOv3, YOLOv4, and YOLOv5s. The YOLOv5-ASFF algorithm can overcome the influence of complex field environments and improve the detection of strawberries under dense distribution and shading conditions, and the method can provide technical support for monitoring yield estimation and harvest planning in intelligent strawberry field management.