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Thermoelectrics (TEs) have been considered a sustainable and eco-friendly energy technology. However, due to limitations in energy conversion efficiency, TE devices have not yet been widely adopted. Here, we proposed a class of TE materials, trigonal XPt2Se3 (X = K, Rb), with the same crystal structure as Bi2Te3. At room temperature, with quartic anharmonicity correction, the lattice thermal conductivity (κL) of KPt2Se3 and RbPt2Se3 in the x-direction is only 0.57 and 0.46 W m−1 K−1, respectively. The ultralow κL arises from their layered structure, strong lattice anharmonicity, weak bonding nature, rattling motion of guest alkali metal atoms, and large scattering space. Simultaneously, the large density of states contributes to large power factors. At 800 K, both under n-type and p-type doping, KPt2Se3 exhibits ZT values that can exceed 4 in specific directions, while RbPt2Se3's ZT values can surpass 3, which is significantly higher than traditional TE materials. Our research not only elucidates that the layered trigonal crystals XPt2Se3 (X = K, Rb) represent a category of potential TE materials with ultralow κL and high TE performance but also provides directions for exploring TE materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cladophora qinghaiensis, an endemic species of Cladophora in saltwater lakes, was scientifically named in 2021 (hereafter referred to as Cladophora). Cladophora exists in different morphologies, including attached submerged Cladophora (AC), grown floating Cladophora (GFC), and death floating Cladophora (DFC). Previous satellite remote sensing has mainly focused on identifying floating algae. In this study, Qinghai Lake served as a case study, and a classification decision tree model (CDTM) was proposed. The model employed the chlorophyll spectral index (CSI) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to differentiate AC, Floating Cladophora (FC), and water. Additionally, the floating Cladophora index (FCI) was introduced to further distinguish GFC and DFC within FC. The method was applicable to Sentinel-2 images from 2016–2023. Visual interpretation methods were used for Landsat series images from the summer months (July to September) to obtain the AC and FC. The results demonstrate that over the past 30 years, the areas inhabited by AC and FC have increased gradually. The three morphologies of Cladophora also exhibited seasonal variations, with growth observed annually in May–June, reaching peaks in August–September, and gradually declining in October. In addition, by combining factors such as water surface area and climatic factors, we analyzed the driving forces influencing the changes in Cladophora. In this research, AC and FC showed significant correlations with the water surface area, with correlation coefficients (r) of approximately 0.9 and 0.7, respectively. These new findings provide valuable insights regarding the spatiotemporal changes and underlying causes for different morphologies of Cladophora in global saline lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unidirectional surface waves in nonreciprocal plasmonic platforms with nonlocal effects have been a topic of significant interest and some controversy. In this study, we present a scheme to achieve unidirectional surface magnetoplasmons (USMPs) with large modal areas at terahertz frequencies. Such large-area USMPs (LUSMPs) exist in a metal-UENZ (uniaxial- ε -near-zero)-Si-InSb structure under external magnetic field, where the effect of nonlocality is included. The field of the LUSMP extends almost uniformly in the UENZ layer with a thickness of wavelength scale, thus its modal size can be represented by the UENZ-layer thickness. Due to the modal energy primarily distributed in the thick UENZ layer, the nonlocality-induced leakage of the LUSMP is significantly reduced by an order of magnitude, compared to previous USMP existing at interface between InSb and opaque isotropic medium. Due to their large modal sizes, such LUSMPs can be efficiently excited by terahertz radiations directly from free space. In addition, LUSMPs offer high degree of freedom for manipulating terahertz waves, such as energy squeezing and trapping. Based on LUSMPs, a terahertz free-space isolator is also developed. Our findings have important implications to the development of innovative plasmonic devices in terahertz regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing biomarkers are insufficient for predicting the prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) is a precursor to PDAC; therefore, identifying biomarkers from differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of PDAC and IPMN is a new and reliable strategy for predicting the prognosis of PDAC. In this study, four datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database and standardized using the R package 'limma.' A total of 51 IPMN and 81 PDAC samples were analyzed, and 341 DEGs in PDAC and IPMN were identified; DEGs were involved in the extracellular matrix and tumor microenvironment. An acceptable survival prognosis was demonstrated by SDC1 and ITGA2, which were highly expressed during in vitro PDAC cell proliferation, apoptosis, and migration. SDC1high was enriched in interferon alpha (IFN-α) response and ITGA2high was primarily detected in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which was verified using western blotting. We concluded that SDC1 and ITGA2 are potential prognostic biomarkers for PDAC associated with IPMN. Downregulation of SDC1 and ITGA2 expression in PDAC occurs via a mechanism involving possible regulation of IFN-α response, EMT, and immunity, which may act as new targets for PDAC therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defective antioxidant system as well as mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated signaling is the central defensive mechanism against oxidative stress and therefore pharmacological activation of Nrf2 is a promising therapeutic strategy. In this study, using molecular docking we found that Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), an active ingredient from traditional formula of Huangqi decoction (HQD), exerted a higher potential to promote Nrf2 escape from Keap1-Nrf2 interaction via competitively bind to amino acid sites in Keap1. When podocyte exposed to high glucose (HG) stimulation, mitochondrial morphological alterations and podocyte apoptosis were presented and accompanied by Nrf2 and mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) downregulation. Mechanistically, HG promoted a decrease in mitochondria-specific electron transport chain (ETC) complexes, ATP synthesis and mtDNA content as well as increased ROS production. Conversely, all these mitochondrial defects were dramatically alleviated by AS-IV, but suppression of Nrf2 with inhibitor or siRNA and TFAM siRNA simultaneously alleviated the AS-IV efficacy. Moreover, experimental diabetic mice exhibited significant renal injury as well as mitochondrial disorder, corresponding with the decreased expression of Nrf2 and TFAM. On the contrary, AS-IV reversed the abnormality and the Nrf2 and TFAM expression were also restored. Taken together, the present findings demonstrate the improvement of AS-IV on mitochondrial function, thereby resistance to oxidative stress-induced diabetic kidney injury and podocyte apoptosis, and the process is closely associated with activation of Nrf2-ARE/TFAM signaling. [Display omitted] • AS-IV inhibited oxidative stress-induced podocyte apoptosis and diabetic kidney injury. • AS-IV activated Nrf2-ARE/TFAM signaling to ameliorate mitochondrial disorder. • AS-IV is a potential candidate to delay diabetic kidney disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of information technology, more and more people have become to use online dating apps, and the trend has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in these years. However, there is a phenomenon that most of user reviews of mainstream dating apps are negative. To study this phenomenon, we have used topic model to mine negative reviews of mainstream dating apps, and constructed a two-stage machine learning model using data dimensionality reduction and text classification to classify user reviews of dating apps. The research results show that: firstly, the reasons for the current negative reviews of dating apps are mainly concentrated in the charging mechanism, fake accounts, subscription and advertising push mechanism and matching mechanism in the apps, proposed corresponding improvement suggestions are proposed by us; secondly, using principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the text vector, and then using XGBoost model to learn the low-dimensional data after oversampling, a better classification accuracy of user reviews can be obtained. We hope These findings can help dating apps operators to improve services and achieve sustainable business operations of their apps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Genomic analysis of upland cotton revealed that cold tolerance was associated with ecological distribution. GhSAL1 on chromosome D09 negatively regulated cold tolerance of upland cotton. Cotton can undergo low-temperature stress at the seedling emergence stage, which adversely affects growth and yield; however, the regulatory mechanism underlying cold tolerance remains nebulous. Here, we analyze the phenotypic and physiological parameters in 200 accessions from 5 ecological distributions under constant chilling (CC) and diurnal variation of chilling (DVC) stresses at the seedling emergence stage. All accessions were clustered into four groups, of which Group IV, with most germplasms from the northwest inland region (NIR), had better phenotypes than Groups I–III under the two kinds of chilling stresses. A total of 575 significantly associated single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) were identified, and 35 stable genetic quantitative trait loci (QTL) were obtained, of which 5 were associated with traits under CC and DVC stress, respectively, while the remaining 25 were co-associated. The accumulation of dry weight (DW) of seedling was associated with the flavonoid biosynthesis process regulated by Gh_A10G0500. The emergence rate (ER), DW, and total length of seedling (TL) under CC stress were associated with the SNPs variation of Gh_D09G0189 (GhSAL1). GhSAL1HapB was the elite haplotype, which increased ER, DW, and TL by 19.04%, 11.26%, and 7.69%, respectively, compared with that of GhSAL1HapA. The results of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) experiment and determination of metabolic substrate content preliminarily illustrated that GhSAL1 negatively regulated cotton cold tolerance through IP3-Ca2+ signaling pathway. The elite haplotypes and candidate genes identified in this study could be used to improve cold tolerance at the seedling emergence stage in future upland cotton breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggregates are the basic structural units of soil; therefore, understanding the distribution and speciation of heavy metals (HMs) in soil aggregates is crucial for the clarification of the environmental behaviour of HMs. In this paper, seven soil profiles from different climatic type regions were sampled and grouped into six size aggregates (>2, 2–1, 1–0.6, 0.6–0.25, 0.25–0.053, <0.053 mm) to determine the distribution and chemical speciation of Cd, Cu, Mn and Pb. The results showed that the vertical distribution of Cd, Cu, Mn and Pb was differed, and the content of total Cd and Pb was ranked in the same order at both subsoil and parent material layer. Although the proportion of <0.053 mm size aggregate was lowest in bulk soil, fine particles showed higher content of total HMs and higher per cent of labile form distribution. However, the contents of total HMs were not always positively correlated with the content of acid soluble or potentially labile fractions of HMs. Total contents of Cu and Mn in aggregates from acidic soils were high, but these two HMs only posed light ecological risk according to the risk assessment code values. Soil organic matter (SOM) and soil pH were involved in the speciation of HMs. Acid exchangeable fraction of Mn in aggregates showed a decreasing trend from alkaline to acidic soils, and SOM positively correlated with the content of oxidisable fraction. For Cd, Cu and Pb, the content of potentially labile fraction of Cu positively associated with the content of Pb potentially labile fraction, and the content of residual fraction of Cd were negatively correlated with the content of Cu residual fraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To protect and restore this downstream ecosystem, the Tarim River Basin Administration Bureau (TBAB) initiated the Ecological Water Compensation (EWC) project from 2000 to 2018. Revealing the mechanism of vegetation-hydroecological response processes in the lower reaches of the Tarim River before and after EWC work is conducive to water resource planning, utilization and protection. In this paper, the spatiotemporal responses of vegetation and groundwater to EWC were examined at the points, lines, and area (PLA) scale by coupling remote sensing techniques and field station observation data collected between 2000 and 2017. The findings indicated that (1) In general, the regional fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) increased significantly, and the average FVC growth rate was 3.5%/year from 2000 to 2017 (R2 > 0.84, p < 0.01, 2-tailed). (2) The regional vegetation restoration process showed obvious fluctuations and stage characteristics, but the spatial scope of the significantly increased vegetation area was limited. Plants grew rapidly within 10 km of the river, while 10 km away from the water channel, no obvious change was observed. (3) Strong coupling relationships were identified among the FVC growth, EWC volume and groundwater depth variations (p < 0.05, 2-tailed). The response times of the regional vegetation and groundwater depth to EWC indicated one-year lags. The above results imply that the regional ecological environment was significantly improved over the study period, thus confirming that the EWC project made remarkable accomplishments. However, the effect of ecological restoration is not sufficiently stable at present. Vegetation restoration has mainly been centralized around the river channel and is greatly dependent on the annual EWC volume. In addition, the local conditions begin to degrade soon after an EWC project is terminated, and vice versa; when EWC commences, the FVC immediately begins to improve. Therefore, the current EWC achievements need to be further consolidated and strengthened in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compressed ultrafast photography (CUP) is a type of two-dimensional (2D) imaging technique to observe ultrafast processes. Intelligence reconstruction methods that influence the imaging quality are an essential part of a CUP system. However, existing reconstruction algorithms mostly rely on image priors and complex parameter spaces. Therefore, it usually takes a lot of time to obtain acceptable reconstruction results, which limits the practical application of the CUP. In this paper, we proposed a novel reconstruction algorithm named PnP-FFDNet, which can provide a high quality and high efficiency compared to previous methods. First, we built a forward model of the CUP and three sub-optimization problems were obtained using the alternating direction multiplier method (ADMM), and the closed-form solution of the first sub-optimization problem was derived. Secondly, inspired by the PnP-ADMM framework, we used an advanced denoising algorithm based on a neural network named FFDNet to solve the second sub-optimization problem. On the real CUP data, PSNR and SSIM are improved by an average of 3 dB and 0.06, respectively, compared with traditional algorithms. Both on the benchmark dataset and on the real CUP data, the proposed method reduces the running time by an average of about 96% over state-of-the-art algorithms, and show comparable visual results, but in a much shorter running time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To evaluate the role of CKLF-like MARVEL transmembrane domain containing 3 (CMTM3) in tumor microenvironment and cancer immunotherapy and explore its potential mechanism. Method. The cancer genome map was obtained from the UCSC Xena database. RNAseq data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases were utilized for evaluating the expression and prognostic value of CMTM3 through survival data of clinical trials. The enrichment analysis of CMTM3 was performed using the R package "clusterProfiler." The scores of immune cell infiltration in TCGA samples were downloaded from the ImmuCellAI database and TIMER2 database, and the relationship between both immune cell invasion and CMTM3 expression was investigated. Immunological activation and suppression genes, immune checkpoints, chemokines, and their receptors were all investigated in relation to CMTM3. Results. Most tumor types had varied levels of CMTM3 expression and predicted poor survival status. The CMTM3 expression is closely associated with cancer-associated fibroblasts, macrophages, myeloid dendritic cells, endothelial cells, immune activation genes, immune suppressor genes, immune checkpoints, chemokines, and related receptors. Conclusion. Our data reveal that CMTM3 might be used as a cancer biomarker. CMTM3 may work in conjunction with other immunological checkpoints to alter the immune milieu, which could lead to the establishment of new immunotherapy medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To establish a prognostic model based on immune-related microRNA (miRNA) for pancreatic carcinoma. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was performed using the "WGCNA" package to find the key module genes involved in pancreatic carcinoma. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to screen immune-related miRNAs. Uni- and multi-variate COX regression analyses were carried out to identify miRNAs prognostic for overall survival (OS) of pancreatic carcinoma, which were then combined to generate a prognostic model. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, distribution plot of survival status in patients and regression analysis were collectively performed to study the accuracy of the model in prognosis. Target genes of the miRNAs in the model were intersected with the key module genes, and a miRNA–mRNA network was generated and visualized by Cytoscape3.8.0. TIMER analysis was conducted to study the abundance of immune infiltrates in tumor microenvironment of pancreatic carcinoma. Expression levels of immune checkpoint genes in subgroups stratified by the model were compared by Wilcoxon test. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to analyze the enriched signaling pathways between subgroups. Differential analysis revealed 1826 genes differentially up-regulated in pancreatic carcinoma and 1276 genes differentially down-regulated. A total of 700 immune-related miRNAs were obtained, of which 7 miRNAs were significantly associated with OS of patients and used to establish a prognostic model with accurate predictive performance. There were 99 mRNAs overlapped from the 318 target genes of the 7 miRNAs and the key modules genes analyzed by WGCNA. Patient samples were categorized as high or low risk according to the prognostic model, which were significantly associated with dendritic cell infiltration and expression of immune checkpoint genes (TNFSF9, TNFRSF9, KIR3DL1, HAVCR2, CD276 and CD80). GSEA showed remarkably enriched signaling pathways in the two subgroups. This study identified an immune-related 7-miRNA based prognostic model for pancreatic carcinoma, which could be used as a reliable tool for prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the use of syntactically incomplete turns (henceforth, SITs) to deliver two types of delicate actions, namely negatively assessing non-present third parties and teasing co-participants, in everyday interaction. Based on an examination of approximately 16 h of Mandarin face-to-face conversations, this study identifies the specific sequential environments that house these types of SITs and make the action(s) that these SITs accomplish become recognizable by recipients. Analysis also reveals that by abandoning the turns where the derogatory remarks or comments are due, the speakers orient to the criticism of others behind their back as well as the intentional provocation of the tease directed at co-participants as delicate. We argue that incompletion of a turn is not random, but systematically designed to manage interpersonal relationships between interlocutors. • SITs in our data are deployed to deliver two types of delicate actions in everyday Mandarin face-to-face conversation. • SITs are mobilized to negatively assess non-present third parties and jocularly tease co-participants. • In the first set of cases, the target TCU/turn forms the second pair part of the contrastive assessments. • In the second set of cases, the SITs is triggered by the tease recipient's overdone actions built through extended exchanges. • Not completing a turn is not random but designed to manage interpersonal relationships between the interlocutors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ferrous sulfate induces ferroptosis in Escherichia coli O157:H7. • Droplet size and PDI of CALNO were effectively decreased after US treatment. • FeSO 4 caused ROS eruption and lipid peroxidation in E. coli O157:H7. • FeSO 4 + CALNO had a synergistic effect on the inactivation of E. coli O157:H7. • FeSO 4 + CALNO significantly reduced E. coli on hami melon and cherry tomato. The purpose of this study was to investigate ferroptosis in Escherichia coli O157:H7 caused by ferrous sulfate (FeSO 4) and to examine the synergistic effectiveness of FeSO 4 combined with ultrasound-emulsified cinnamaldehyde nanoemulsion (CALNO) on inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that FeSO 4 could cause ferroptosis in E. coli O157:H7 via generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) and exacerbating lipid peroxidation. In addition, the results indicated that FeSO 4 combined with CALNO had synergistic bactericidal effect against E. coli O157:H7 and the combined treatment could lead considerable nucleic acids and protein to release by damaging the cell membrane of E. coli O157:H7. Besides, FeSO 4 combined with CALNO had a strong antibiofilm ability to inhibit E. coli O157:H7 biofilm formation by reducing the expression of genes related on biofilm formation. Finally, FeSO 4 combined with CALNO exhibited the significant antibacterial activity against E. coli O157:H7 in hami melon and cherry tomato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-hydrothermal carbonization (co-HTC) of microalgae and lignocellulosic biomass has high potential for producing nitrogen-rich carbon materials (hydrochar) with relatively high yield. The synergistic effect, hydrochar structure evolution and nitrogen transformation mechanism during the co-HTC process were depicted in depth. The results of the co-HTC process showed that the positive synergy between biomass and microalgae could improve the hydrochar yield and facilitate incorporation of nitrogen into the hydrochar aromatic heterocycles structures. Moderate reaction conditions were beneficial for co-HTC hydrochar nitrogen enrichment and porosity increment, and the optimal nitrogen content and specific surface area reached 3.50% and 5.91 m2/g in co-HTC hydrochars at 240 °C and 1 h. Severe reaction conditions could enhance the formation of stable heterocyclic nitrogen species (reaching 54% at 300 °C). The hydrochar structure evolution and nitrogen transformation mechanism during co-HTC process could be generally divided into two stages. The first stage took place from 180 to 260 °C, and the nitrogen-rich secondary chars could be formed by the interaction of the hydrolysis intermediates. The second stage occurred from 260 to 300 °C, and the previously formed secondary char would be gradually decomposed. This study provides theoretical guidance for regulating the co-HTC process to produce nitrogen-rich carbon materials. The hydrochar structure evolution and nitrogen transformation mechanism during the co-HTC process of microalgae and biomass. [Display omitted] • Moderate conditions benefited hydrochar nitrogen enrichment and porosity increment. • Positive synergy facilitated nitrogen incorporation into aromatic heterocycles structures. • Severe reaction conditions led to the blocking of co-HTC hydrochars pore structure. • Nitrogen transformation mechanism during co-HTC process could be divided into two stages. • The secondary chars significantly influenced the hydrochars nitrogen transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Hypothesis: This study was carried out to investigate the effect of low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage on postpartum urinary retention (PUR).The patients were divided into control group, intervention group 1, and intervention group 2 according to the nursing method. The control group received conventional postpartum care, intervention group 1 received conventional postpartum care and low frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and intervention group 2 received conventional postpartum care, low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and Shuidao point massage. The bladder function, comfort score, and quality of life score before and after intervention were compared among the three groups.The bladder function, comfort level, and quality of life of intervention group 1 and intervention group 2 after nursing were significantly better than those of the control group. In addition, intervention group 2 had better bladder function than intervention group 1, with lower residual urine volume and higher bladder compliance. In the Kolcaba score, the mental dimension of intervention group 2 was significantly higher than that of intervention group 1. In terms of QOL scores, the social function, physical function, and state of material life scores of intervention group 2 were significantly higher than those of intervention group 1.Low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage can significantly improve the bladder function, comfort, and quality of life of patients with PUR.Methods: This study was carried out to investigate the effect of low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage on postpartum urinary retention (PUR).The patients were divided into control group, intervention group 1, and intervention group 2 according to the nursing method. The control group received conventional postpartum care, intervention group 1 received conventional postpartum care and low frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and intervention group 2 received conventional postpartum care, low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and Shuidao point massage. The bladder function, comfort score, and quality of life score before and after intervention were compared among the three groups.The bladder function, comfort level, and quality of life of intervention group 1 and intervention group 2 after nursing were significantly better than those of the control group. In addition, intervention group 2 had better bladder function than intervention group 1, with lower residual urine volume and higher bladder compliance. In the Kolcaba score, the mental dimension of intervention group 2 was significantly higher than that of intervention group 1. In terms of QOL scores, the social function, physical function, and state of material life scores of intervention group 2 were significantly higher than those of intervention group 1.Low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage can significantly improve the bladder function, comfort, and quality of life of patients with PUR.Results: This study was carried out to investigate the effect of low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage on postpartum urinary retention (PUR).The patients were divided into control group, intervention group 1, and intervention group 2 according to the nursing method. The control group received conventional postpartum care, intervention group 1 received conventional postpartum care and low frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and intervention group 2 received conventional postpartum care, low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and Shuidao point massage. The bladder function, comfort score, and quality of life score before and after intervention were compared among the three groups.The bladder function, comfort level, and quality of life of intervention group 1 and intervention group 2 after nursing were significantly better than those of the control group. In addition, intervention group 2 had better bladder function than intervention group 1, with lower residual urine volume and higher bladder compliance. In the Kolcaba score, the mental dimension of intervention group 2 was significantly higher than that of intervention group 1. In terms of QOL scores, the social function, physical function, and state of material life scores of intervention group 2 were significantly higher than those of intervention group 1.Low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage can significantly improve the bladder function, comfort, and quality of life of patients with PUR.Conclusions: This study was carried out to investigate the effect of low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage on postpartum urinary retention (PUR).The patients were divided into control group, intervention group 1, and intervention group 2 according to the nursing method. The control group received conventional postpartum care, intervention group 1 received conventional postpartum care and low frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and intervention group 2 received conventional postpartum care, low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy, and Shuidao point massage. The bladder function, comfort score, and quality of life score before and after intervention were compared among the three groups.The bladder function, comfort level, and quality of life of intervention group 1 and intervention group 2 after nursing were significantly better than those of the control group. In addition, intervention group 2 had better bladder function than intervention group 1, with lower residual urine volume and higher bladder compliance. In the Kolcaba score, the mental dimension of intervention group 2 was significantly higher than that of intervention group 1. In terms of QOL scores, the social function, physical function, and state of material life scores of intervention group 2 were significantly higher than those of intervention group 1.Low-frequency pulsed electrotherapy combined with acupoint massage can significantly improve the bladder function, comfort, and quality of life of patients with PUR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To observe the efficacy and safety of telitacicept in refractory childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE). Methods: A self-controlled before–after trial. Children with active SLE, aged 5–18 years, who cannot tolerate side effects of glucocorticoid, were enrolled in our study. Patients received subcutaneous injection of telitacicept weekly based on the standard treatment. SLE responder index-4 (SRI-4) was assessed before the first administration and at least 4 weeks after the first administration. Results: Among the 15 cases of refractory cSLE, three were males (20%) and 12 were females (80%). The median age and weight were 13 years old and 52 kg, respectively. The median duration of disease was 30 months. 5–26 weeks (80 or 160 mg per week) after administration of telitacicept, 66.7% (n =10) reached SRI-4 response. 12 cases reduced their glucocorticoid intake from 40 mg/d to 17.5 mg/d. The urinary protein after treatment declined in 8 cases whose 24-h proteinuria was >0.5 g at baseline. The urinary protein in two of the eight cases turned negative and plasma albumin in five of the eight cases rose to normal. In addition, three of these eight cases demonstrated varying degrees of improvement in renal impairment, whose estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, ml/min·1.73 m2) rose from 17.4 to 26.6, 40.7 to 48.2, and 63.2 to 146.0, respectively. There were mild to moderate adverse events after treatment. Conclusion: Telitacicept combined with the standard treatment may significantly increase the SRI-4 response rate and reduce the glucocorticoid dosage in refractory cSLE, and also shown efficacy on lupus nephritis. The related adverse drug events were controllable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of remote sensing applications, semantic change detection (SCD) simultaneously identifies changed areas and their change types by jointly conducting bitemporal image classification and change detection. It facilitates change reasoning and provides more application value than binary change detection (BCD), which offers only a binary map of the changed/unchanged areas. In this study, we propose a multitask Siamese network, named the semantic feature-constrained change detection (SFCCD) network, for building change detection in bitemporal high-spatial-resolution (HSR) images. SFCCD conducts feature extraction, semantic segmentation and change detection simultaneously, where change detection and semantic segmentation are the main and auxiliary tasks, respectively. For the segmentation task, ResNet50 is used to conduct image feature extraction, and the extracted semantic features are provided to execute the change detection task via a series of jump connections. For the change detection task, a global channel attention (GCA) module and a multiscale feature fusion (MSFF) module are designed, where high-level features offer training guidance to the low-level feature maps, and multiscale features are fused with multiple convolutions that possess different receptive fields. In bitemporal HSR images with different view angles, high-rise buildings have different directional height displacements, which generally cause serious false alarms for common change detection methods. However, known public building change detection datasets often lack buildings with height displacement. We thus create the Nanjing Dataset (NJDS) and design the aforementioned network structures and modules to target this issue. Experiments for method validation and comparison are conducted on the NJDS and two additional public datasets, i.e., the WHU Building Dataset (WBDS) and Google Dataset (GDS). Ablation experiments on the NJDS show that the joint utilization of the GCA and MSFF modules performs better than several classic modules, including atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP), efficient spatial pyramid (ESP), channel attention block (CAB) and global attention upsampling (GAU) modules, in dealing with building height displacement. Furthermore, SFCCD achieves higher accuracy in terms of the OA, recall, F1-score and mIoU measures than several state-of-the-art change detection methods, including deeply supervised image fusion network (DSIFN), the dual-task constrained deep Siamese convolutional network (DTCDSCN), and multitask U-Net (MTU-Net). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study aimed to use high‐throughput Illumina Hiseq4000 sequencing to reveal transcriptome changes of longissimus thoracis of goats in frozen storage (−20 to −18°C, FS), ice‐temperature storage (−1.5 to −0.5°C, IS) and chilled storage (2–4°C, CS) within 7 days postmortem. Hierarchical cluster and correlation analysis showed that transcriptome of FS changed little, and IS was suitable for 7 days' storage. There were 27 continuously differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (fold change ≥2, P < 0.05) over time, and 10 genes were up‐regulated and 17 genes were down‐regulated. Among them, expression amounts of WTIP, PLK3, LOC108635411 and NHSL1 were negatively correlated with shear force, L*, a* and b*, respectively, and CD3E was positively correlated with a*. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that DEGs with increasing storage temperature were mainly involved in energy production and conversion, phosphorylation and apoptosis. This study provided a new perspective for understanding the underlying mechanism of goat meat quality after slaughter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different aggregates vary in their ability to retain or adsorb metals in soil. Five soil profiles were sampled from different soil horizons and grouped, and the concentrations of Al, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cd, Cu and Pb were determined in six sizes of aggregates (> 2, 2-1, 1-0.6, 0.6-0.25, 0.25-0.053, < 0.053 mm). Significantly high (p < 0.05) structural stability indexes (SSI) and aggregate stability indexes (ASI) were recorded in the topsoil horizon, which may be attributed to the high soil organic matter (SOM) content in aggregates from topsoil. In addition, ASI and SSI were positively correlated (r = 0.569, p < 0.05) with each other, which indicated that the stability of soil aggregates could contribute to the structural stability of bulk soil. Moreover, accumulation factors (AF), principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used for metal element assessment. The results indicated that SOM was not a key factor affecting the accumulation of Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, Mn, Pb, Cd and Cu in soil aggregates. In general, AF values for metal elements in microaggregates (< 0.25 mm) were high, which showed that metals preferred to accumulate in fine soil aggregates. The PCA and Pearson's correlation coefficients indicated that soil parent materials primarily controlled the distribution of Al, Ca, Fe, Mg and Mn, while materials derived from technogenic sources have important impacts on the distribution of Cd, Cu and Pb in soil aggregates along the soil profile. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a well-known bioactive substance with multiple biological functions, which can be extracted from animal cartilage or bone. Sturgeon, the largest soft bone animal with ~20% cartilage content, is a great candidate for CS production. Our recent study confirmed the role of sturgeon chondroitin sulfate (SCS) in reducing colorectal cancer cell proliferation and tumor formation. Here, we further studied the effect of SCS on modulating gut microbiome structure in colorectal cancer bearing mice. In this study, the transplanted tumor mice model was constructed to demonstrate that SCS can effectively halt the growth of transplanted colorectal tumor cells. Next, we showed that SCS significantly altered the gut microbiome, such as the abundance of Lactobacillales, Gastranaerophilales, Ruminiclostridiun_5 and Ruminiclostridiun_6. According to linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and abundance map analysis of the microbial metabolic pathways, the changes in microbial abundance led to an increase of certain metabolites (e.g., Phe, Tyr, and Gly). Fecal metabolome results demonstrated that SCS can significantly reduce the amount of certain amino acids such as Phe, Pro, Ala, Tyr and Leu presented in the feces, suggesting that SCS might inhibit colorectal cancer growth by modulating the gut microbiome and altering the production of certain amino acids. Our results revealed the therapeutic potential of SCS to facilitate treatment of colorectal cancer. This study provides insights into the development of novel food-derived therapies for colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a significant cause of human death in the world. Recently, it is found that midazolam can modulate miRs to participate in HCC progression. This research project was designed to elucidate the impacts of midazolam and miR-217 on HCC cell metastasis and apoptosis. Methods. Human HCC cell strains (Hep3B and SK-HEP-1) were selected and intervened by midazolam at different concentrations in our research. miR-217-inhibitor intervened in the two HCC cell strains to observe the alterations of cell migration, invasiveness, and apoptosis. The miR-217 level in HCC cells was identified by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results. As midazolam concentration was elevated, Hep3B and SK-HEP-1 viabilities were more obviously suppressed. The 10 μg/mL concentration was selected for analysis since Hep3B and SK-HEP-1 had an IC50 of 10.57 μg/mL and 9.35 μg/m, respectively. The qRT-PCR results showed the decreased of miR-217 in HCC cells, which was enhanced notably by midazolam intervention. Compared with the blank group, the invasiveness and migration (Transwell assay) of miR-217-inhibitor-transfected HCC cells were distinctly enhanced and the apoptosis rate (flow cytometry) was noticeably reduced. Conclusion. Midazolam can upregulate miR-217 in HCC cells, thus inhibiting HCC cell metastasis and apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean protein isolate, as the most representative plant-based protein, has severely limited the acceptance of consumers due to its beany flavor. Conventional physical or chemical methods to remove the beany flavor often impair the functional properties of SPI. The effect of different coacervation ratios and chitosan molecular weight with soy protein isolate (SPI) via coacervation on the functionalities and beany flavor were studied. Results showed that the low molecular weight CS (LC) was more effective in decreasing the beany-flavor and increasing the emulsifying stability and antioxidant capacity of SPI. Compared with the LC, high molecular weight CS significantly enhanced the emulsifying activity. Additionally, the complex ratio of 30:1 was more effective in improving functionalities and flavor attributes of SPI simultaneously. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis indicated that the flavor compounds between SPI-CS coacervates and SPI could be well distinguished. Additionally, the representative beany-flavor compounds of SPI obviously alleviated after coacervated with the CS. The ζ-potential, particle size and FTIR result illustrated the complex coacervates of SPI-CS via electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonds. The surface hydrophobicity result illustrated that the CS moderately modified the structure of SPI via coacervation. The secondary structure content showed that the α-helix and β-turn content of SPI-CS increased, and the β-sheet decreased remarkably. Additionally, LC was more easily coacervated with the SPI than that of medium/high molecular weight CS. This work may provide an effective methodological and theoretical basis for further improving the functionalities and flavor profile of plant-based protein. [Display omitted] • Chitosan increased the antioxidant capacity of soy protein isolate (SPI). • Chitosan enhanced the emulsion activity/stability index of SPI via coacervation. • Low molecular weight chitosan was more effective in mitigating beany flavor from SPI. • Chitosan moderately modified the structure of SPI via coacervation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of exosome information in bodily fluids is an important priority in liquid biopsy. Exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) have been increasingly identified as credible objects due to their high stability and abundance. However, traditional detection techniques for exosomal miRNAs consume considerable time and require abundant professional equipment. Herein, we introduced a novel silica nanoquencher (qSiNP)-based nanoplatform with liposomal shell encapsulation. Liposomes were demonstrated to efficiently deliver qSiNPs into tumor exosomes via membrane fusion pathways. Subsequent loading of qSiNPs with fluorophore-labeled antisense oligonucleotides rapidly resulted in a specific fluorescent signal for "off-on" switchable in situ detection and imaging of targeted exosomal miRNAs without complicated RNA extraction or targeted amplification. With this strategy, the distinction of tumor-related miRNAs from normal exosomes was successfully achieved, which further indicated that our platform has the merits of easy preparation, stable encapsulation, efficient uptake, and an alterable molecular beacon, for improving the diagnostic value of liquid biopsy in various cancer diseases. [Display omitted] • A novel silica nanoquencher-based nanoplatform with liposome shell was reported. • The qSiNPs (∼50 nm) can be uptaken rapidly by exosome via membrane fusion pathway. • The nanoplatform for rapid in situ detection of exosomal miRNAs was achieved. • The distinction of tumor-related miR-21 from those in normal exosomes was verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methotrexate (MTX) is commonly prescribed as the initial treatment for gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN), but MTX monotherapy may not be effective for high-risk GTN and choriocarcinoma. The cellular uptake of MTX is essential for its pharmacological activity. Thus, our study aimed to investigate the cellular pharmacokinetics and transport mechanisms of MTX in choriocarcinoma cells. For the quantification of MTX concentrations in cellular matrix, a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was created and confirmed initially. MTX accumulation in BeWo, JEG-3, and JAR cells was minimal. Additionally, the mRNA levels of folate receptor α (FRα) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) were relatively high in the three choriocarcinoma cell lines, whereas proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT), reduced folate carrier (RFC), and organic anion transporter (OAT) 4 were low. Furthermore, the expression of other transporters was either very low or undetectable. Notably, the application of inhibitors and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting FRα, RFC, and PCFT led to a notable decrease in the accumulation of MTX in BeWo cells. Conversely, the co-administration of multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) and BCRP inhibitors increased MTX accumulation. In addition, inhibitors of OATs and organic-anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) reduced MTX accumulation, while peptide transporter inhibitors had no effect. Results from siRNA knockdown experiments and transporter overexpression cell models indicated that MTX was not a substrate of nucleoside transporters. In conclusion, the results indicate that FRα and multiple transporters such as PCFT, RFC, OAT4, and OATPs are likely involved in the uptake of MTX, whereas MDR1 and BCRP are implicated in the efflux of MTX from choriocarcinoma cells. These results have implications for predicting transporter-mediated drug interactions and offer potential directions for further research on enhancing MTX sensitivity. • A new LC-MS/MS method was developed to measure MTX levels in cellular matrix. • MTX accumulation in three choriocarcinoma cell lines BeWo, JEG-3, and JAR was low. • FRα, PCFT and RFC mediated MTX uptake while MDR1 and BCRP efflux in BeWo cells. • MTX was not a substrate of PEPTs, ENTs, or CNTs. • The study provides an important reference for the clinical application of MTX in GTN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method involving chitosan-assisted magnetic-stirring-enhanced mechanical amorphous dispersion extraction was developed and utilized to extract hydrophobic anthraquinones from Rhei Radix et Rhizoma prior to ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography analysis. Incorporating natural chitosan as a dispersant facilitated the extraction of hydrophobic anthraquinones using purified water, considerably enhancing the eco-friendliness of the extraction methodology. To optimize extraction efficiency, an extensive evaluation of the crucial parameters influencing rhubarb yield was conducted. Furthermore, a response surface methodology was applied to optimize the extraction conditions. Under these optimized conditions, the method exhibited linearity ranges of 0.1–100 µg/mL, with correlation coefficients between 0.9990 and 0.9998. The method's intraday (n = 6) and interday (n = 6) precision levels were maintained at ≤3.58%, which was considered to be within acceptable limits. The computed detection and quantification limits were 16.54–24.60 and 54.91–82.04 ng/mL, respectively. Consequently, this optimized method was effectively employed to extract five specific compounds (aloe-emodin, emodin, rhein, chrysophanol, and physcion) from Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, achieving recoveries ranging from 86.43% to 102.75%. [Display omitted] • Chitosan-assisted mechanical amorphous dispersion extraction method was developed. • The method shows good practicability for anthraquinone extraction. • Response surface methodology was employed to investigate the extraction conditions. • Water was used as extraction solvent with no environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasound has attracted abundant research interest due to its advantages of high efficiency and low-carbon. Many researchers have proven the effect of ultrasonic treatment in controlling pathogenic microorganisms in fruit and vegetables (FVs) to ensure the quality and safety of FVs. However, ultrasonic treatment alone has limited influence on microorganisms, and the hurdle technology which combines it with other sterilization techniques is an effective way to address its drawbacks. Some gases (O 3 , CO 2 , ClO 2 , etc.) have a broad-spectrum bactericidal effect, when combined with ultrasound, they can significantly improve the antimicrobial effect on FVs and reduce the production of toxic substances. This paper reviews the effects of sonoporation, sonochemistry and sonoluminescence caused by ultrasonic cavitation effects, focuses on the antimicrobial synergistic mechanism and applications of ultrasound with gas in ensuring the quality and safety of FVs. Furthermore, this review presents an outlook on the challenges required to overcome in the future, hoping to provide a reference for the future practical utilization of ultrasound with gas to promote the sterilization effect and preserve the physicochemical quality of FVs. • Synergistic mechanisms of ultrasound (US) with different gases were revealed. • Synergistic bactericidal and fungicidal effects of US with gases were analyzed. • US+gas technology in preserving the quality of fruit and vegetables was shown. • Future challenge to researchers focusing on US+gas was brought forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Both FCS and CNS can ultrafast detect the transient H 2 S with good selectivity. • They provided the possibility of accurately measuring the total H 2 S in cells. • The two probes performed well in detecting the distribution of H 2 S in zebrafish. • FCS was able to distinguish H 2 S level in a Drosophila Parkinson's disease model. Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) has a crucial impact on diverse biological processes and has been shown to be related to various diseases. Many probes have been developed to detect intracellular H 2 S by fluorescent imaging. However, the development of rapid, highly selective and sensitive H 2 S probes remains a challenge. Herein, two fluorogenic probes, CNS and FCS , are designed and synthesized for the ultrafast detection of H 2 S with fluorescein and coumarin fluorophores. The results show that both probes can be applied to monitor and image endogenous H 2 S in cervical cancer HeLa cells and live zebrafish, and FCS shows a higher sensitivity, selectivity and fluorescence intensity. We then further applied FCS in a Parkinson's disease Drosophila model, and the results show that FCS can precisely indicate the level of H 2 S in the Parkinson's disease model. Thus, FCS will likely to be applied for the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their inherent advantages, silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) have greatly potential applications as bioactive materials in biosensors/biomedicine. However, the long-term and nonspecific accumulation in healthy tissues may give rise to toxicity, thereby impeding their widespread clinical application. Hence, it is imperative and noteworthy to develop biodegradable and clearable SiNPs for biomedical purposes. Recently, the design of multi-stimuli responsive SiNPs to improve degradation efficiency under specific pathological conditions has increased their clinical trial potential as theranostic nanoplatform. This review comprehensively summaries the rational design and recent progress of biodegradable SiNPs under various internal and external stimuli for rapid in vivo degradation and clearance. In addition, the factors that affect the biodegradation of SiNPs are also discussed. We believe that this systematic review will offer profound stimulus and timely guide for further research in the field of SiNP-based nanosensors/nanomedicine. In this review, we will comprehensively discuss the rational design of stimuli-responsive biodegradable SiNPs based on doping strategy in native structures. The latest biological application of biodegradable SiNPs that incorporate endogenous and exogenous stimuli are aslo thoroughly summarized. We finally tried to provide the encountered challenges that need to be solved on the way of SiNPs to the clinic. We comprehensively discuss stimuli-responsive silica nanoparticles from native structure designs, summarize the biological applications of biodegradable SiNPs, and provide the challenges that need to be solved in the future. [Display omitted] • We comprehensively discussed stimuli-responsive biodegradable SiNPs based on doping strategy in native structures. • The latest biological application of biodegradable SiNPs that incorporate endogenous and exogenous stimuli were summarized. • We finally tried to provide the encountered challenges that need to be solved on the way of SiNPs to the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fabry disease (FD) remains poorly recognized, especially in children in China. Considering the diversity and nonspecific clinical manifestations accompanying with life-threatening aspect of this disease, methods to improve effective screening and management of the suspects are needed. This study aims to explore how it can be done effectively from a multidisciplinary perspective for children with FD at a tertiary children's hospital in China.Methods: A multidisciplinary team (MDT) of pediatric FD experts was launched at Children's Hospital of Fudan University. Children with high-risk characteristics were referred by the MDT screening team using the dried blood spot (DBS) triple-test (α-galactosidase A, globotriaosylsphingosine, GLA gene). For newborns who were undergoing genetic testing in the hospital, the GLA gene was listed as a routine analysis gene. Evaluation, family screening, and genetic counselling were implemented after screening by the MDT management team.Results: Before the establishment of the MDT, no case was diagnosed with FD in the hospital. However, twelve months following the MDT program's implementation, thirty-five children with high-risk profiles were referred for screening by DBS triple-test, with a yield of diagnosis of 14.3% (5/35). These 5 diagnosed children were referred due to a high-risk profile of pain accompanied by dermatological angiokeratoma and hypohidrosis (n = 2), pain accompanied by abnormal liver function (n = 1), pain only (n = 1), and unexplained renal tubular dysfunction (n = 1). Two neonates were detected early with GLA mutations in the hospital, with a yield of detection of 0.14% (2/1420). Furthermore, another 3 children diagnosed with FD were referred from other hospitals. Family screening of these 10 diagnosed children indicated that 9 boys inherited it from their mothers and 1 girl inherited it from her father. Four of them started to receive enzyme replacement therapy.Conclusion: Screening and management of children with FD is effective based on a defined screening protocol and a multidisciplinary approach. We should pay more attention to the high-risk profiles of pain, angiokeratoma, decreased sweating, and unexplained chronic kidney disease in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Identification of genomic biomarkers to predict the anticancer effects of indicated drugs is considered a promising strategy for the development of precision medicine. DNA endonuclease MUS81 plays a pivotal role in various biological processes during malignant diseases, mainly in DNA damage repair and replication fork stability. Our previous study reported that MUS81 was highly expressed and linked to tumor metastasis in gastric cancer; however, its therapeutic value has not been fully elucidated. Methods: Bioinformatics analysis was used to define MUS81-related differential genes, which were further validated in clinical tissue samples. Gain or loss of function MUS81 cell models were constructed to elucidate the effect and mechanism of MUS81 on WEE1 expression. Moreover, the antitumor effect of targeting MUS81 combined with WEE1 inhibitors was verified using in vivo and in vitro assays. Thereafter, the cGAS/STING pathway was evaluated, and the therapeutic value of MUS81 for immunotherapy of gastric cancer was determined. Results: In this study, MUS81 negatively correlated with the expression of cell cycle checkpoint kinase WEE1. Furthermore, we identified that MUS81 regulated the ubiquitination of WEE1 via E-3 ligase β-TRCP in an enzymatic manner. In addition, MUS81 inhibition could sensitize the anticancer effect of the WEE1 inhibitor MK1775 in gastric cancer in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, when MUS81 was targeted, it increased the accumulation of cytosolic DNA induced by MK1775 treatment and activated the DNA sensor STING-mediated innate immunity in the gastric cancer cells. Thus, the WEE1 inhibitor MK1775 specifically enhanced the anticancer effect of immune checkpoint blockade therapy in MUS81 deficient gastric cancer cells. Conclusions: Our data provide rational evidence that targeting MUS81 could elevate the expression of WEE1 by regulating its ubiquitination and could activate the innate immune response, thereby enhancing the anticancer efficacy of WEE1 inhibitor and immune checkpoint blockade combination therapy in gastric cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae are the preferred species for producing astaxanthin because they pose a low toxicity risk than chemical synthesis. Astaxanthin has multiple health benefits and is being used in: medicines, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and functional foods. Haematococcus pluvialis is a model microalga for astaxanthin biosynthesis; however, its natural astaxanthin content is low. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods to improve the biosynthesis of astaxanthin to meet industrial demands, making its commercialization cost-effective. Several strategies related to cultivation conditions are employed to enhance the biosynthesis of astaxanthin in H. pluvialis. However, the mechanism of its regulation by transcription factors is unknown. For the first time, this study critically reviewed the studies on identifying transcription factors, progress in H. pluvialis genetic transformation, and use of phytohormones that increase the gene expression related to astaxanthin biosynthesis. In addition, we propose future approaches, including (i) Cloning and characterization of transcription factors, (ii) Transcriptional engineering through overexpression of positive regulators or downregulation/silencing of negative regulators, (iii) Gene editing for enrichment or deletion of transcription factors binding sites, (iv) Hormonal modulation of transcription factors. This review provides considerable knowledge about the molecular regulation of astaxanthin biosynthesis and the existing research gap. Besides, it provides the basis for transcription factors mediated metabolic engineering of astaxanthin biosynthesis in H. pluvialis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The estimation of total suspended matter (TSM) concentration is crucial in monitoring, evaluating, and protecting water quality. Many empirical and semi-analytical models have been established for clear or extremely turbid water bodies; however, only a few are applicable to inland, extremely turbulent deep rivers. Using in situ data from the water of the Manwan reservoir, we developed a robust algorithm to estimate the TSM concentration in the Manwan reservoir, with a root mean square error (RMSE) ≤ 4.43 mg L−1 and a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 23.2%, indicating the feasibility of the empirical model for estimating TSM. The empirical model was then applied to 251 Small Satellite Constellation for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Forecasting loaded with the Charge Coupled Device (HJ-CCD) images to derive TSM distribution maps from 2009 to 2018. The estimated TSM concentrations exhibited significant spatial and seasonal changes, revealing relationships among TSM, wind speed, and precipitation. The spatial heterogeneity was significantly higher downstream than upstream in the reservoir due to watershed inputs and anthropogenic dredging activity. The temporal heterogeneity of TSM, significantly higher in summer and autumn than in winter and spring, was mainly caused by seasonal rainfall. Our study shows that the empirical model for HJ-CCD images can be used to quantitatively monitor the TSM in inland rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triptolide (TP) has shown potential in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment, but the narrow therapeutic window limits its clinical application. In clinical practice, the compatibility of Tripterygium wilfordii and Paeonia lactiflora is often used to attenuate the toxicity of TP, but its compatibility mechanism has not been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of a combined regimen of TP and paeoniflorin (PF) after transdermal administration in male and female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats via a rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. The results showed that after percutaneous administration of TP and PF, there was no significant difference in AUC (0-t) (area under the curve) of TP, the peak concentration decreased by 58.17%, and the peak time was delayed. The AUC (0-t) of PF increased significantly (P < 0.01), the peak-reaching concentration and AUC (0-∞) increased, and the half-life and average retention time were shortened, indicating that TP absorption in rats may be delayed. After percutaneous administration of TP and PF, the content of TP in the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys of male rats significantly decreased at 2 h (P < 0.05) and the drug concentration in the liver tissues significantly decreased at 2 h, 4 h, and 8 h (P < 0.05). The TP content in the spleen of female rats significantly decreased at 2 h and 4 h (P < 0.05) and also decreased in other tissues, but not significantly. After percutaneous administration of TP and PF, the PF content in the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys of male and female rats had no significant difference. However, after percutaneous administration of TP and PF, the TP concentration in the skin increased, suggesting that the amount of TP retained in the skin increased, thereby reducing its content in blood and tissues, producing a reduction in toxicity effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning-based semantic segmentation methods, such as fully convolutional networks (FCNs), are state-of-the-art techniques for object extraction from high spatial resolution images. However, collecting massive scene-formed training samples typically required in FCNs is time-consuming and labour-intensive. A suit of automatic sample augmentation schemes based on simulated scene generation is proposed in this study to reduce the manual workload. Proposed schemes include style transfer, target embedding, and mixed modes by utilizing techniques, such as texture transfer, image inpainting, and region-line primitive association framework, which automatically expand the sample set on the basis of a small number of real samples. Dock extraction experiments using UNet are conducted on China's GaoFen-2 imagery with expanded sample sets. Results showed that the proposed schemes can successfully generate sufficient simulation samples, increase sample diversity, and subsequently improve semantic segmentation accuracy. Compared with the results that use the original real sample set, measures of F1-score (F1) and intersection over union (IoU) of dock extraction accuracy demonstrate a maximum improvement of 20.53% and 23.01%, respectively, after sample augmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Chinese Children Genetic Kidney Disease Database (CCGKDD), we established a pediatric Gitelman syndrome (GS) cohort to explore the phenotype and genotype characteristics. Thirty‐two patients with SLC12A3 gene variants were collected. Five cases (16%) were homozygous, 16 (50%) were compound heterozygous, 10 (31%) carried only a single variant, and the other one harbored two de novo variants beyond classification. p.(T60M) was found in eight patients. The average diagnosis age was 7.79 ± 3.54 years. A total of 31% of the patients were asymptomatic. Muscle weakness was the most common symptom, accounting for 50%. Earlier age of onset (4.06 ± 1.17 yr vs. 8.10 ± 3.46 yr vs. 8.61 ± 3.56 yr, p< 0.05) and lower urinary calcium‐creatinine ratio (p = 0.024) were found in the homozygous group than those in the heterozygous and compound heterozygous group. Patients with p.(T60M) variant had an earlier age of onset (4.01 ± 2.83 yr vs. 6.92 ± 3.07 yr, p = 0.025) and lower urinary calcium‐creatinine ratio (p = 0.056). Thus, more than 30% of GS children have no clinical symptoms. Homozygous variant and the p.(T60M) variant may be associated with earlier onset and lower urinary calcium excretion in Chinese pediatric GS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intracellular delivery of therapeutic proteins remains a challenge for the success of protein-mediated disease treatment. We herein develop a robust nanoplatform made with a TME-pH responsive Meo-PEG-b-PPMEMA polymer and a cationic lipid-like compound G0–C14 for in vivo delivery of cytotoxic saporin and breast cancer therapy. This nanoplatform could respond to a TME pH to rapidly release saporin/G0–C14 complexes, which could significantly improve the uptake of cytosolic saporin by tumor cells and subsequent endosomal escape, thereby leading to an effective inhibition of tumor growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stance markers are critical linguistic devices for writers to convey their personal attitudes, judgments or assessments about the proposition of certain messages. Following Hyland's framework of stance, this study investigated the distribution of stance markers in two different genres: medical research articles (medical RA) and newspaper opinion columns (newspaper OC). The corpus constructed for the investigation includes 52 medical research articles and 175 newspaper opinion articles, which were both written in English and published from January to April in 2020 with the topic focusing on COVID-19. The findings of this study demonstrated that the occurrences of stance markers in newspaper OC were far more frequent than those in medical RA, indicating the different conventions of these two genres. Despite the significant difference in the occurrences of stance markers between the two sub-corpora, similarities of the most frequent stance markers in two genres were also highlighted. The study indicated that the topic content seems to play an important role in shaping the way of how writers construct their stance. The lack of information or evidence on the topic of COVID-19 could restrain writers from making high degree of commitment to their claims, which make them adopt a more tentative stance to qualify their statements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The International Pediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA) Global Kidney Replacement Therapy (KRT) Registry was established to evaluate the incidence and outcomes of kidney replacement therapy (dialysis and transplantation) provided to children worldwide. Analysis of registry data for separate regions is feasible. Methods: Three centers located in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Zhengzhou, which have the greatest number of pediatric kidney transplantation cases in China, participated in this analysis of transplant data. Data were registered by each center for patients under the age of 19 years who received a single-organ kidney transplant for the first time between 2011 and 2018. Results: In total, 415 patients (59.8% male) aged 1.4–18.7 (median 12.1) years were followed for 0.3–97.1 (median 27.7) months. The number of kidney transplants increased from a total of 129 during 2011–2014 to 286 cases during 2015–2018. 85.8% of patients received the transplanted kidney from a pediatric (age < 19 years) donor, and deceased donors accounted for 94% of all donors. 8.0% of grafts were lost. One and 5-year patient survival rates were 97.6% and 95.5%, respectively. The major cause of death was infection (7/14). Similar graft and patient survival rates were observed for organs from pediatric and adult donors in 6–11 and 12–18 year recipient age groups, whereas recipients < 6 years showed inferior patient and graft survival. Conclusions: Pediatric kidney transplantation shows favorable short-term and medium-term outcomes in China. Our experience supports use of pediatric donors in pediatric kidney transplantation, but attention directed to the outcome of recipients aged under 6 is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous improvement of encryption algorithms, some applications based on the architecture of wireless visual sensor networks have gradually shifted their attention to the imperceptibility and antijamming performance of secret images. To reduce the probability of secret images being detected, the current research focuses on hiding secret data in the least-significant bit of the cover image in the spatial domain or embedding data into the coefficients of the high-frequency band in the transformational domain, which usually leads to poor performance in a hostile environment. Therefore, some researchers proposed to substitute the coefficients of the medium-frequency band in the transformational domain with secret information to enhance the anti-interference performance. However, this idea would severely affect the imperceptibility of secret images. As a result, an improved version based on the partial preservation embedding algorithm was designed in this paper. Theory analysis and simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme performs better than the existing methods by directly substituting the coefficients of the medium-frequency band in the transformational domain, especially in the case of strong noise interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bismuth-based compounds have been identified as a class of promising candidates for the realization of high-performance thermoelectrics, derived from their exceptional electrical conductivity and intrinsic low lattice thermal conductivity κ L. Here, we employed first-principles calculations, self-consistent phonon theory, and compressive sensing technique in conjunction with the Boltzmann transport equation to investigate the anharmonic thermoelectric properties of full-heusler bismuth compounds Cs x Rb 3 − x Bi. As the Cs content increases, the κ L of Cs x Rb 3 − x Bi decreases due to impurity scattering effects, and then increases. Among them, at 300 K, Rb 3 Bi has the largest κ L of 0.69 Wm−1K−1, while Cs 2 RbBi has the smallest κ L of 0.45 Wm−1K−1, both of which are lower than the κ L of traditional bismuth-based thermoelectric materials. The ultralow κ L originates from the strong lattice anharmonicity. In addition, the coexistence of high dispersion and flat band edges leads to high thermoelectric power factor at optimal doping concentration. As a result, the largest thermoelectric figure of merit ZT values of 2.59 (4.19) at 300 (500) K were obtained for CsRb 2 Bi at optimal hole doping level. These findings suggest that Cs x Rb 3 − x Bi compounds are superior for thermal management and thermoelectric applications. • At finite temperatures, Cs x Rb 3 − x Bi compounds are not only mechanically stable but also dynamically stable. • The κ L of Rb 3 Bi, CsRb 2 Bi, Cs 2 RbBi, and Cs 3 Bi are 0.69, 0.47, 0.45, and 0.56 Wm−1K−1, respectively, at 300 K. • The p-type doped CsRb 2 Bi exhibits a ZT value of 2.59, while at 500K, the ZT value reaches 4.19. • The ultra-low κ L of CsRb 2 Bi originates from the rattling vibration of Bi atoms, which manifests as an 'avoided crossing' phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine benthic dinoflagellate toxins, potent bioactive compounds with wide-ranging presence in marine ecosystems, have surged in response to global climate change and human activities, prompting an urgent and imperative inquiry. This study conducts an in-depth review of contemporary research concerning these toxins, employing meticulous bibliometric analysis. Leveraging a dataset of 736 relevant literatures sourced from the Web of Science (spanning from 2000 to May 2023), our analysis delves comprehensively into the scientific discourse surrounding these toxic compounds. Employing tools such as VOSviewer, co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and cluster analysis, our study yields nuanced insights into the intricate characteristics and trajectories of the field. The co-citation analysis underscores the pivotal role played by benthic and epiphytic dinoflagellates like Ostreopsis and Gambierdiscus in shaping prevailing research trends. Our study identifies four distinct research directions, encompassing the domains of ecology, toxicology, toxin production, and taxonomy. Moreover, it traces the evolutionary journey of research stages, marking the transition from a focus on taxonomy to an emphasis on unraveling molecular mechanisms. The culmination of our comprehensive analysis yields three pertinent research recommendations: a call for widescale global studies, the advancement of rapid toxin monitoring techniques, and a deeper exploration of the factors influencing toxin synthesis and toxicity. These findings provide invaluable insights to researchers grappling with the complex realm of harmful algal blooms and substantially enrich the understanding of this pivotal and pressing field. • Comprehensive bibliometric analysis of marine benthic dinoflagellate toxins research. • Co-citation analysis spotlights Ostreopsis , Gambierdiscus , and toxicity ecology. • Cluster analysis reveals four research avenues, including ciguatera fish poisoning. • Evolution of research stages from taxonomy to toxicology and molecular mechanisms. • Urgent imperative for global-scale studies and rapid toxin monitoring methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a methodology for optimizing the unit commitment (UC) of the Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba cascaded hydropower plants that rank as the second- and third-largest hydropower plants in China. This UC problem exhibits high complexity due to the integrated consideration of hydraulic coupling between plants, head-sensitive forbidden zones, and other hydropower system nonlinearities. Hydraulic coupling is considered through a group of nonlinear tailrace level curves that are represented using binary 0–1 variables. The interval segmentation is used to determine the binary value by quickly identifying the forebay level range of the immediate downstream plant. The irregular forbidden zones are divided into several quadrangles to approximately describe the upper and lower boundaries using linear functions of the net head. The described forbidden zone boundaries are further integrated with power generation limitations to determine discontinuous safe operating zones. With the aid of polynomial approximations of other nonlinearities, the presented problem is finally formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model and addressed by an optimization method based on the branch-and-bound technique. The practical behavior of the proposed methodology is demonstrated by real-world data. Moreover, the MINLP model is compared with a commonly used mixed-integer linear programming model and shows improvements in solution accuracy and computational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquatic vegetation is an important component of aquatic ecosystems; therefore, the classification and mapping of aquatic vegetation is an important aspect of lake management. Currently, the decision tree (DT) classification method based on spectral indices has been widely used in the extraction of aquatic vegetation data, but the disadvantage of this method is that it is difficult to fix the threshold value, which, in turn, affects the automatic classification effect. In this study, Sentinel-2 MSI data were used to produce a sample set (about 930 samples) of aquatic vegetation in four inland lakes (Lake Taihu, Lake Caohai, Lake Honghu, and Lake Dongtinghu) using the visual interpretation method, including emergent, floating-leaved, and submerged vegetation. Based on this sample set, a DL model (Res-U-Net) was used to train an automatic aquatic vegetation extraction model. The DL model achieved a higher overall accuracy, relevant error, and kappa coefficient (90%, 8.18%, and 0.86, respectively) compared to the DT method (79%, 23.07%, and 0.77) and random forest (78%,10.62% and 0.77) when utilizing visual interpretation results as the ground truth. When utilizing measured point data as the ground truth, the DL model exhibited accuracies of 59%, 78%, and 91% for submerged, floating-leaved, and emergent vegetation, respectively. In addition, the model still maintains good recognition in the presence of clouds with the influence of water bloom. When applying the model to Lake Honghu from January 2017 to October 2023, the obtained temporal variation patterns in the aquatic vegetation were consistent with other studies. The study in this paper shows that the proposed DL model has good application potential for extracting aquatic vegetation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread not only in China but throughout the world. Children with kidney failure (chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5) are at significant risk for COVID-19. In turn, a set of recommendations for the prevention and control of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and COVID-19 in pediatric hemodialysis (HD) centers and in home peritoneal dialysis (PD) settings have been proposed. The recommendations are based on the epidemiological features of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 disease, susceptibility factors, and preventive and control strategies. These recommendations will be updated as new information regarding SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 becomes available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient empowerment has been shown to have some positive impacts on self‐efficacy, self‐esteem, and recovery. However, information about the empowerment needs of patients after a percutaneous coronary intervention is scarce. The aim of this study was to develop a Chinese‐language instrument to measure empowerment needs of such patients. The initial instrument was generated based on a literature review and interviews with patients after a percutaneous coronary intervention procedure. Content validity was tested with a panel of experts using the Delphi method. In total, 226 patients were recruited for psychometric tests using the revised instrument. Expert authority coefficient was 0.92, and content validity index was 0.95. The internal consistency reliability was demonstrated by Cronbach's α coefficients (0.86 for the total score, 0.66–0.74 for the dimensions). The newly developed 19‐item, five‐dimension instrument has shown satisfactory validity (face/content validity and construct validity) and internal consistency reliability. The instrument could help clinical nurses who have close contact with patients after a percutaneous coronary intervention to gain a better understanding of their empowerment needs and could help develop appropriate health education to address such needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a significant improvement in the medium- to long-term frequency stability of our pulsed optically pumped (POP) vapor-cell rubidium clock. Such an achievement is established with the better control of our system and the environment. An integrated optical module, including a distributed Bragg reflector laser and an acousto-optic modulator, is developed to improve the stability of the laser. The physics package is sealed in a vacuum chamber with a vacuum of 4 × 10−4 Pa to significantly reduce the impacts of the barometric effect. An AC-driven heater is placed much closer to the cell to enable a better temperature control. The resolution of the servo control voltage is also optimized. With all these improvements, a frequency stability of 4.7 × 10−15 at 104 s in terms of the Allan deviation is obtained. We also estimate the main noise sources that limit the frequency stability of the POP atomic clock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visuospatial working memory impairments are common in Parkinson's disease (PD), yet the underlying neural mechanisms are poorly understood. The present study investigated abnormalities in context‐dependent functional connectivity of working memory hubs in PD. Cognitively normal PD and control participants underwent fMRI while performing a visuospatial working memory task. To identify sources of dysfunction, distraction, and load‐modulated connectivity were disentangled for encoding and retrieval phases of the task. Despite normal working memory performance in PD, two features of abnormal connectivity were observed, one due to a loss in normal context‐related connectivity and another related to upregulated connectivity of hubs for which the controls did not exhibit context‐dependent connectivity. During encoding, striatal‐prefrontal coupling was lost in PD, both during distraction and high memory loads. However, long‐range connectivity of prefrontal, medial temporal and occipital hubs was upregulated in a context‐specific manner. Memory retrieval was characterized by different aberrant connectivity patterns, wherein precuneus connectivity was upregulated during distraction, whereas prefrontal couplings were lost as memory load approached capacity limits. Features of abnormal functional connectivity in PD had pathological and compensatory influences as they correlated with poorer working memory or better visuospatial skills. The results offer new insights into working memory‐related signatures of aberrant cortico–cortical and corticostriatal functional connections, which may portend future declines in different facets of working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]