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Highlights Eco-friendly ternary blended cement with dyeing sludge ash (DS) and papermaking sludge (PS) was developed. Replacing OPC with 5 wt% of DS and PS improves the mechanical properties of blended cement. The volcanic ash reaction of PS increases the Si/Ca ratio of C-S-H gels. The utilization of DS and PS has greater environmental benefits.

Abstract Background The aim of this research is to prospectively investigate the diagnostic performance of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) using the integrated slice-specific dynamic shimming (iShim) technique in staging primary esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and predicting presence of lymph node metastases from ESCC. Methods Sixty-three patients with ESCC were prospectively enrolled from April 2016 to April 2019. MR and IVIM using iShim technique (b = 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800 s/mm2) were performed on 3.0T MRI system before operation. Primary tumour apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and IVIM parameters, including true diffusion coefficient (D), pseudodiffusion coefficient (D*), pseudodiffusion fraction (f) were measured by two independent radiologists. The differences in D, D*, f and ADC values of different T and N stages were assessed. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to evaluate the interobserver agreement between two readers. The diagnostic performances of D, D*, f and ADC values in primary tumour staging and prediction of lymph node metastasis of ESCC were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results The inter-observer consensus was excellent for IVIM parameters and ADC (D: ICC = 0.922; D*: ICC = 0.892; f: ICC = 0.948; ADC: ICC = 0.958). The ADC, D, D* and f values of group T1 + T2 were significantly higher than those of group T3 + T4a [ADC: (2.55 ± 0.43) ×10− 3 mm2/s vs. (2.27 ± 0.40) ×10− 3 mm2/s, t = 2.670, P = 0.010; D: (1.82 ± 0.39) ×10− 3 mm2/s vs. (1.53 ± 0.33) ×10− 3 mm2/s, t = 3.189, P = 0.002; D*: 46.45 (30.30,55.53) ×10− 3 mm2/s vs. 32.30 (18.60,40.95) ×10− 3 mm2/s, z=-2.408, P = 0.016; f: 0.45 ± 0.12 vs. 0.37 ± 0.12, t = 2.538, P = 0.014]. The ADC, D and f values of the lymph nodes-positive (N+) group were significantly lower than those of lymph nodes-negative (N0) group [ADC: (2.10 ± 0.33) ×10− 3 mm2/s vs. (2.55 ± 0.40) ×10− 3 mm2/s, t=-4.564, P

Abstract MRI offers new opportunities for detailed visualization of the different layers of the esophageal wall, as well as early detection and accurate characterization of esophageal lesions. Staging of esophageal tumors including extramural extent of disease, and status of the adjacent organ can also be performed by MRI with higher accuracy compared to other imaging modalities including CT and esophageal endoscopy. Although MDCT appears to be the primary imaging modality that is indicated for preoperative staging of esophageal cancer to assess tumor resectability, MDCT is considered less accurate in T staging. This review aims to update radiologists about emerging imaging techniques and the imaging features of various esophageal masses, emphasizing the imaging features that differentiate between esophageal masses, demonstrating the critical role of MRI in esophageal masses. Critical relevance statement MRI features may help differentiate mucosal high-grade neoplasia from early invasive squamous cell cancer of the esophagus, also esophageal GISTs from leiomyomas, and esophageal malignant melanoma has typical MR features. Key Points MRI can accurately visualize different layers of the esophagus potentially has a role in T staging. MR may accurately delineate esophageal fistulae, especially small mediastinal fistulae. MRI features of various esophageal masses are helpful in the differentiation. Graphical Abstract

Maximizing the development of renewable energy plays a critical role in mitigating the climate crisis. Marginal land provides space for the development of biomass energy; however, it remains unclear how the amount and spatial distribution of marginal land that is suitable for energy crop development will change in the future. Here, we project energy marginal land changes in China following the shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) and/or representative concentration path (RCP). We provide datasets of marginal land, agriculturally suitable land, and potentially suitable for energy crops under historical scenarios and six future scenarios (i.e. SSP1–1.9, SSP1–2.6, SSP4–3.4, SSP2–4.5, SSP4–6.0, and SSP3–7.0) for the period 2020–2100, with a spatial resolution of 5 km. Under the six scenarios, from 2020–2100, the area of suitable marginal land ranged from 1.90–16.28 (Jatropha curcas L.) to 37.37–73.97 (Panicum virgatum L.) (×104 km2), depending on the choice of energy crops and climate scenario. Based on the growing suitability of eight important bioenergy crops—Ricinus communis L., Saccharum officinarum L., Pistacia chinensis Bunge, Panicum virgatum L., Jatropha curcas L., Miscanthus giganteus J., Manihot esculenta Crantz, and Sorghum bicolor Moench—our dataset can be used to identify suitable locations for specific energy crops. This new synthetic dataset could support the development of multiscenario-based solutions related to carbon neutrality, ecosystem services, and energy transition.

Hong Kong and mainland China’s socioeconomic transitions in the past few decades have led to changes in identity and intergroup attitudes among young adults. However, understanding such changes between local and mainland young adults in Hong Kong’s current social context is limited. This study explores whether local and mainland university students in Hong Kong have different intergroup knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviors; whether these two groups of students respond to intergroup contact intervention differently; and whether and how has local students’ superior identity been influenced by Hong Kong’s economic, geopolitical, and sociocultural development. Our data came from an intergroup contact intervention among 72 university students in Hong Kong (including 32 local and 40 mainland students, 75% female, MAge = 23). Using a two-arm Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design, participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (a 1-day workshop with incremental levels of contact intimacy) or a control group (a 1-day workshop with limited contact intimacy). Our findings indicate that local university students displayed relatively more negative attitudes toward mainland students and are less responsive to the intergroup contact intervention, which only enhanced local students’ outgroup knowledge but not their attitudes or intended behaviors. This result may suggest local young adults’ transition out of a superior social identity. Our findings call for more university activities to enhance local and mainland students’ mutual understanding and larger-sample research to explore both groups’ perspectives. Future intergroup interventions should address potential barriers such as varied intervention effectiveness by participants’ background.

European Portuguese (EP) is a language with unpredictable stress. Previous behavioral studies have shown that without vowel reduction EP adult speakers displayed a stress deafness effect akin to that observed in speakers of fixed-stress languages, suggesting that vowel quality may be the primary cue for stress discrimination in EP. However, an event-related potentials (ERPs) study reported that EP adults were able to discriminate stress contrasts pre-attentively in the absence of vowel quality cues. These results seemed to indicate that EP adult speakers may attend to different cues in the attentive and pre-attentive stress perception. Moreover, both the behavioral and ERPs studies have revealed a processing advantage for iambic stress, which could not be predicted by the rhythmic properties of EP, the language-specific weighting of stress correlates, or the frequency distributions of trochaic and iambic stresses in EP. A recent eye-tracking study has found that EP-learning infants at 5–6 months already exhibited an iambic preference in the absence of vowel reduction, manifested by longer looking time at the iambic stress. The present study used a passive oddball paradigm to examine pre-attentive stress perception without vowel quality cues by 5-to-7-month-old EP-learning infants. Results from twenty-two participants showed that both the trochaic and iambic conditions yielded a positive discrimination response (p-MMR). In addition, the iambic condition elicited a prominent late discriminative negativity (LDN) as well as a P3a component. Our findings present the first evidence for reciprocal discrimination of stress patterns in EP-learning infants, showing that, as in adult speakers, stress processing might also differ at the pre-attentive and attentive stages in infants. Importantly, the stress perception ability in EP-learning infants seems to develop asymmetrically, with an advantage for the iambic stress pattern. The present study highlighted the role of language-specific factors that may affect developing stress perception.

Cellular collective motion in confluent epithelial monolayers is involved in many processes such as embryo development, carcinoma invasion, and wound healing. The development of new chemical strategies to achieve large-scale control of cells’ collective motion is essential for biomedical applications. Here a series of DNA nanostructures with different dimensions were synthesized and their influences on cells’ collective migration and packing behaviors in epithelial monolayers were investigated. We found that the framed DNA nanoassemblies effectively reduced the cells’ speed by increasing the rigidity of cells, while the lipid-DNA micelles had a more pronounced effect on cells’ projection area and shape factor. These DNA nanostructures all significantly enhanced the dependence of cells’ speed on their shape factor. Our results indicate that cells’ mobility in monolayers can be manipulated by chemical intercellular interactions without any genetic intervention. This may provide a new chemical strategy for tissue engineering and tumor therapy.

It is a challenging work to joint two transparent plastic parts using traditional laser welding because the absorptivity of transparent plastic on short wavelength (800–1000 nm) laser energy is very low. During the laser welding of two transparent plastic parts, although laser absorber and long wavelength (1600–2000 nm) laser can obtain the high-strength weld joint, the problems of unattractive weld joint or pollution will occur when laser absorber is used, and the laser energy utilization coefficient is about 70% when long wavelength laser energy is used. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new production method for the absorber-free laser welding of two transparent plastic parts based on reflector assisted method. From three-dimensional thermal model, it can be found that the simulation data of the modified Gauss cylindrical body heat source show better agreement with the experimental result than those of Gauss surface heat source and Rotary-Gauss body heat source. In addition, for the same the weld joint width on the contact surface, the reflector assisted laser welding method can decrease the laser energy consumption by about 20%. Moreover, the maximum shear force of weld joint can be up to 1315 N. Under the same process parameters, the reflector assisted method can increase the shear strength of weld joint by 15.3%. Hence, the reflector assisted method has good application and promotion value in laser welding two transparent plastic parts.

Abstract Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder in which excessive CD4+ T-cell activation and imbalanced effector T-cell differentiation play critical roles. Recent studies have implied a potential association between posttranscriptional N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and CD4+ T-cell-mediated humoral immunity. However, how this biological process contributes to lupus is not well understood. In this work, we investigated the role of the m6A methyltransferase like 3 (METTL3) in CD4+ T-cell activation, differentiation, and SLE pathogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Methods The expression of METTL3 was knocked down and METTL3 enzyme activity was inhibited using siRNA and catalytic inhibitor, respectively. In vivo evaluation of METTL3 inhibition on CD4+ T-cell activation, effector T-cell differentiation, and SLE pathogenesis was achieved using a sheep red blood cell (SRBC)-immunized mouse model and a chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) mouse model. RNA-seq was performed to identify pathways and gene signatures targeted by METTL3. m6A RNA-immunoprecipitation qPCR was applied to confirm the m6A modification of METTL3 targets. Results METTL3 was defective in the CD4+ T cells of SLE patients. METTL3 expression varied following CD4+ T-cell activation and effector T-cell differentiation in vitro. Pharmacological inhibition of METTL3 promoted the activation of CD4+ T cells and influenced the differentiation of effector T cells, predominantly Treg cells, in vivo. Moreover, METTL3 inhibition increased antibody production and aggravated the lupus-like phenotype in cGVHD mice. Further investigation revealed that catalytic inhibition of METTL3 reduced Foxp3 expression by enhancing Foxp3 mRNA decay in a m6A-dependent manner, hence suppressing Treg cell differentiation. Conclusion In summary, our findings demonstrated that METTL3 was required for stabilizing Foxp3 mRNA via m6A modification to maintain the Treg differentiation program. METTL3 inhibition contributed to the pathogenesis of SLE by participating in the activation of CD4+ T cells and imbalance of effector T-cell differentiation, which could serve as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in SLE.

Skin diseases are global health issues caused by multiple pathogenic factors, in which epigenetics plays an invaluable role. Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are important epigenetic mechanism that regulate gene expression at the genome-wide level. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent modification that occurs in the messenger RNAs (mRNA) of most eukaryotes, which is installed by methyltransferases called “writers”, removed by demethylases called “erasers”, and recognised by RNA-binding proteins called “readers”. To date, m6A is emerging to play essential part in both physiological processes and pathological progression, including skin diseases. However, a systematic summary of m6A in skin disease has not yet been reported. This review starts by illustrating each m6A-related modifier specifically and their roles in RNA processing, and then focus on the existing research advances of m6A in immune homeostasis and skin diseases.

Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) and systemic LE (SLE) can present as cutaneous lesions. Here the authors characterise an scRNA dataset of cutaneous lesions from these patients and compare these to healthy controls showing differential immune cell recruitment, cell type and gene expression.

Ugi reactions are well known multicomponent reactions that allow the preparation of a variety of chemical compounds including peptides, heterocyclic compounds, or natural products. Here, the authors report enantioselective Ugi reactions that enable the synthesis of chiral α-acylamino amides and α-aminotetrazoles catalyzed by stereogenic-at-cobalt(III) complexes.

Abstract The booming of gene and cell therapy (GCT) worldwide in recent years has been observed, especially in the field of cancers. In order to provide the comprehensive GCT landscape in China with a focus on differential development pathways under the current dual-track regulation mode, we analyzed 953 clinical trials initiated by March 2021 including Investigational New Drugs (IND) registered trials and investigator-initiated trials (IITs). We classified GCT products into three categories and analyzed the clinical development by phases and regulation tracks, disease areas, indications, and targets. We found that CAR-T therapies from ex vivo category and stem and somatic cells from non-gene category are two most studied therapy types and GCT mostly focused on cancers. The number of IITs far exceeded IND-registered trials except for in vivo category. After 2017, when the cell therapy guideline issued, products of all categories boomed, especially the ex vivo categories. These data showed that current dual regulation tracks in China complemented each other and together facilitated the GCT development, especially after 2017. More consistent technical standards and risk-based regulation will help bring more GCT products to patients.

Abstract Brain diseases, including tumors and neurodegenerative disorders, are among the most serious health problems. Non-invasively high-resolution imaging methods are required to gain anatomical structures and information of the brain. In addition, efficient diagnosis technology is also needed to treat brain disease. Rare-earth based materials possess unique optical properties, superior magnetism, and high X-ray absorption abilities, enabling high-resolution imaging of the brain through magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography imaging, and fluorescence imaging technologies. In addition, rare-earth based materials can be used to detect, treat, and regulate of brain diseases through fine modulation of their structures and functions. Importantly, rare-earth based materials coupled with biomolecules such as antibodies, peptides, and drugs can overcome the blood-brain barrier and be used for targeted treatment. Herein, this review highlights the rational design and application of rare-earth based materials in brain imaging, therapy, monitoring, and neuromodulation. Furthermore, the development prospect of rare-earth based materials is briefly introduced.

Combination products with a wide range of clinical applications represent a unique class of medical products that are composed of more than a singular medical device or drug/biological product. The product research and development, clinical translation as well as regulatory evaluation of combination products are complex and challenging. This review firstly introduced the origin, definition and designation of combination products. Key areas of systematic regulatory review on the safety and efficacy of device-led/supervised combination products were then presented. Preclinical and clinical evaluation of combination products was discussed. Lastly, the research prospect of regulatory science for combination products was described. New tools of computational modeling and simulation, novel technologies such as artificial intelligence, needs of developing new standards, evidence-based research methods, new approaches including the designation of innovative or breakthrough medical products have been developed and could be used to assess the safety, efficacy, quality and performance of combination products. Taken together, the fast development of combination products with great potentials in healthcare provides new opportunities for the advancement of regulatory review as well as regulatory science.

Background & Aims: Inactivating mutations of KDM6A, a histone demethylase, were frequently found in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We investigated the role of KDM6A (lysine demethylase 6A) in PDAC development. Methods: We performed a pancreatic tissue microarray analysis of KDM6A protein levels. We used human PDAC cell lines for KDM6A knockout and knockdown experiments. We performed bromouridine sequencing analysis to elucidate the effects of KDM6A loss on global transcription. We performed studies with Ptf1aCre; LSL-KrasG12D; Trp53R172H/+; Kdm6afl/fl or fl/Y, Ptf1aCre; Kdm6afl/fl or fl/Y, and orthotopic xenograft mice to investigate the impacts of Kdm6a deficiency on pancreatic tumorigenesis and pancreatitis. Results: Loss of KDM6A was associated with metastasis in PDAC patients. Bromouridine sequencing analysis showed up-regulation of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition pathway in PDAC cells deficient in KDM6A. Loss of KDM6A promoted mesenchymal morphology, migration, and invasion in PDAC cells in vitro. Mechanistically, activin A and subsequent p38 activation likely mediated the role of KDM6A loss. Inhibiting either activin A or p38 reversed the effect. Pancreas-specific Kdm6a-knockout mice pancreata showed accelerated PDAC progression, developed a more aggressive undifferentiated type of PDAC, and increased metastases in the background of Kras and p53 mutations. Kdm6a-deficient pancreata in a pancreatitis model had a delayed recovery with increased PDAC precursor lesions compared with wild-type pancreata. Conclusions: Loss of KDM6A accelerates PDAC progression and metastasis, most likely by a noncanonical p38-dependent activin A pathway. KDM6A also promotes pancreatic tissue recovery from pancreatitis. Activin A might be used as a therapeutic target for KDM6A-deficient PDACs.

Some scholars have recently developed the concept of PANoptosis in the study of infectious diseases where pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis act in consort in a multimeric protein complex, PANoptosome. This allows all the components of PANoptosis to be regulated simultaneously. PANoptosis provides a new way to study the regulation of cell death, in that different types of cell death may be regulated at the same time. To test whether PANoptosis exists in diseases other than infectious diseases, we chose cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury as the research model, collected articles researching cerebral ischemia/reperfusion from three major databases, obtained the original research data from these articles by bibliometrics, data mining and other methods, then integrated and analyzed these data. We selected papers that investigated at least two of the components of PANoptosis to check its occurrence in ischemia/reperfusion. In the cell model simulating ischemic brain injury, pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis occur together and this phenomenon exists widely in different passage cell lines or primary neurons. Pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis also occurred in rat and mouse models of ischemia/reperfusion injury. This confirms that PANoptosis is observed in ischemic brain injury and indicates that PANoptosis can be a target in the regulation of various central nervous system diseases.

With the rapid advancement of urbanization, the green space well-being (GSWB) of developing countries faces drastic changes and is increasingly threatened. Green and residential spaces are the core elements of GSWB; however, we know very little about the interaction and combination of the two in terms of their effect on GSWB. This study identified the spatiotemporal features of GSWB and critically examined how patterns of residential-green combinations affect GSWB. Based on land-use data for Jinan from 2006 to 2018, and using the spatial measurement tool GeoDa, we found that both green and residential space have increased significantly in central Jinan. At the macro level, the spatial correlation between the two decreased significantly; meanwhile, at the micro level, there are obvious differences in time and geography. This led to differences in the distribution of GSWB between regions with high value and those with low value. We revealed that the development, preservation, and demolition of residential and green spaces influence changes in GSWB. The positive effects on GSWB come from (1) mountain park development policy in built-up areas, (2) theme park development policy in new urban areas, and (3) urban renewal and demolition policy. The negative effects on GSWB come from (1) issues remaining from prior extensive urban development, (2) the replacement of central areas driven by urban branding, and (3) the lack of supervision of nearby facilities for new housing development. To better understand changes in GSWB, it is necessary to consider its internal residential-green spatial collaboration and propose targeted response strategies. This can help to better safeguard the quality of human settlements in the process of urbanization in developing countries.

Abstract Overlays have been extensively employed as an effective preservation or rehabilitation tool to extend the service life of concrete bridges and pavements, especially concrete slabs suffering from salt scaling and abrasion. However, limited attention has been paid to the durability and performance of these overlays which can be jeopardized when they are exposed to freeze/thaw and wet/dry cycles, deicer applications, studded tires, and their coupled effects. Various overlays feature different engineering properties, and they might be only effective in specific service environments but not in others, and research is lacking to examine their ability to adapt to different environments. This study subjected five overlay products on concrete slabs to the combined action of freeze/thaw (F/T) and wet/dry (W/D) cycles with periodical exposure to either 15 wt.% NaCl solution or 15 wt.% MgCl2 solution, to simulate the typical field scenarios in an accelerated manner. The bond strength, splitting tensile strength, and abrasion resistance of the overlaid concrete slabs were tested to evaluate the effectiveness of various overlays against the deicer scaling and the abrasion by studded tires. Based on the experimental data, this study demonstrated a multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) combined with analytic hierarchy process (AHP), for the selection of optimal overlays in three different service scenarios (e.g., states of Washington and Oregon [USA] and British Columbia [Canada]). The analysis results indicate that one epoxy overlay exhibited the comprehensively best performance and could be a promising candidate in all three given scenarios, another polymer overlay took second place, while the adaptability of the three cement-based overlays varied in different environments. Graphical Abstract

Influenced by historical background, regional economic development, and the frequent occurrence of armed conflict, the human–earth relationship in the Central and Southern Peninsula, which is located in a “fragmented zone”, is characteristic of the region. The Indochina Peninsula has now become an area of interest for the study of spatial changes in production–living–ecological spaces (PLES). Taking the Indochina Peninsula as the study area, this paper explores the evolution of the spatiotemporal patterns of PLES and its driving mechanism in the Indochina Peninsula, from 2010 to 2020, based on a grid scale. Methods such as the land-use transition matrix, land-use dynamics index, and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) were used in our model, which will provide the basic data and reference for sustainable development planning across the Indochina Peninsula. Our results show that, from 2010 to 2020, ecological space dominated the PLES pattern on the Indochina Peninsula, but its area gradually decreased, accompanied by a sharp increase in the areas of productive and living spaces. The area of PLES interconversion on the Indochina Peninsula in 2010–2020 was 212,818.70 km2, and the intertransfer of production and ecological spaces was distributed in a networklike manner throughout the Indochina Peninsula, while the transfer of living space was distributed in a pointlike manner. The migration path of the center of gravity of PLES on the Indochina Peninsula demonstrated a significant directional difference, and the direction and extent of the standard deviation ellipse distribution of the ecological space was similar to that of the production space. The PLES’s pattern evolution was affected by the degree of multiple factors, with a significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The positive and negative feedback effects of the factors were distributed in different areas and in different transfer directions.

Abstract Self-ignition coal gangue (SCG) used as one of precursors to fabricate autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). Aiming at studying water absorptivity and frost resistance performance of SCG-based AAC (SCGAAC), three-period water absorption tests and freeze-thaw tests were carried out and the corresponding results were recorded and analyzed. In order to modify the water absorptivity of SCGAAC, foam stabilizer was applied to adjust pore structure while calcium stearate was expected to change hydrophilic feature of SCG. It was demonstrated that the compressive strength of SCGAAC containing foam stabilizer or calcium stearate declined at different levels. For water absorption, foam stabilizer failed to decrease the water content and even increased water absorption rates. Calcium stearate controlled water absorption rate successfully although the ultimate water content hardly reduced. All of the SCGAAC samples exhibited intact appearance after 50 freeze-thaw cycles and showed excellent frost resistance performance. Three models were proposed to predict water absorptivity and frost resistance performance of SCGAAC and the corresponding prediction results matched test resulted well.

ObjectiveAn ongoing debate surrounds the relationship between body composition and pubertal timing, in particular for boys. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association of body composition with pubertal timing among children and adolescents.MethodsA total of 1,493 boys and 1,261 girls who entered puberty were enrolled in Guangzhou, China. Tanner stages were evaluated by examination of breast development for girls and testicular volume for boys. Fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) were determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Parameters for body composition were transformed into age-and gender-specific Z-scores. The association of body composition with pubertal timing was examined using multinomial logistic regression with inverse probability weighting (IPW) based on the propensity score.ResultsFor boys, IPW analysis showed Z-scores of body fat percentage (BF%) and FM index (FMI) were negatively associated with early puberty (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.64–0.87; OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.63–0.88). As for girls, in contrast to boys, positive associations were seen between BF% and FMI with early puberty (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.19–1.64; OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.33–1.90). With respect to appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI), there was a positive association with early puberty and a negative one with late puberty in boys (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.07–1.49; OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.69–0.99).ConclusionThere is a positive association of FM with early puberty for girls while negative for boys. FFM yields a positive association with early puberty and a negative one with late puberty in boys, but not in girls. Our findings highlight the gender differences in the connection between body composition and pubertal onset.

There are two types of cell death-apoptosis and necrosis. Apoptosis is cell death regulated by cell signaling pathways, while necrosis has until recently been considered a passive mechanism of cell death caused by environmental pressures. However, recent studies show that necrosis can also be regulated by specific cell signaling pathways. This mode of death, termed necroptosis, has been found to be related to the occurrence and development of many diseases. We used bibliometrics to analyze the global output of literature on necroptosis in the field of neuroscience published in the period 2007–2019 to identify research hotspots and prospects. We included 145 necroptosis-related publications and 2239 references published in the Web of Science during 2007–2019. Visualization analysis revealed that the number of publications related to necroptosis has increased year by year, reaching a peak in 2019. China is the country with the largest number of publications. Key word and literature analyses demonstrated that mitochondrial function change, stroke, ischemia/reperfusion and neuroinflammation are likely the research hotspots and future directions of necroptosis research in the nervous system. The relationship between immune response-related factors, damage-associated molecular patterns, pathogen-associated molecular patterns and necroptosis may become a potential research hotspot in the future. Taken together, our findings suggest that although the inherent limitations of bibliometrics may affect the accuracy of the literature-based prediction of research hotspots, the results obtained from the included publications can provide a reference for the study of necroptosis in the field of neuroscience.

Background and AimsRecent studies have shown that artificial intelligence-based computer-aided detection systems possess great potential in reducing the heterogeneous performance of doctors during endoscopy. However, most existing studies are based on high-quality static images available in open-source databases with relatively small data volumes, and, hence, are not applicable for routine clinical practice. This research aims to integrate multiple deep learning algorithms and develop a system (DeFrame) that can be used to accurately detect intestinal polyps in real time during clinical endoscopy.MethodsA total of 681 colonoscopy videos were collected for retrospective analysis at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from June 2019 to June 2020. To train the machine learning (ML)-based system, 6,833 images were extracted from 48 collected videos, and 1,544 images were collected from public datasets. The DeFrame system was further validated with two datasets, consisting of 24,486 images extracted from 176 collected videos and 12,283 images extracted from 259 collected videos. The remaining 198 collected full-length videos were used for the final test of the system. The measurement metrics were sensitivity and specificity in validation dataset 1, precision, recall and F1 score in validation dataset 2, and the overall performance when tested in the complete video perspective.ResultsA sensitivity and specificity of 79.54 and 95.83%, respectively, was obtained for the DeFrame system for detecting intestinal polyps. The recall and precision of the system for polyp detection were determined to be 95.43 and 92.12%, respectively. When tested using full colonoscopy videos, the system achieved a recall of 100% and precision of 80.80%.ConclusionWe have developed a fast, accurate, and reliable DeFrame system for detecting polyps, which, to some extent, is feasible for use in routine clinical practice.

The trace element iron affects immune responses and vaccination, but knowledge of its role in autoimmune diseases is limited. Expansion of pathogenic T cells, especially T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, has great significance to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) pathogenesis. Here, we show an important role of iron in regulation of pathogenic T cell differentiation in SLE. We found that iron overload promoted Tfh cell expansion, proinflammatory cytokine secretion, and autoantibody production in lupus-prone mice. Mice treated with a high-iron diet exhibited an increased proportion of Tfh cell and antigen-specific GC response. Iron supplementation contributed to Tfh cell differentiation. In contrast, iron chelation inhibited Tfh cell differentiation. We demonstrated that the miR-21/BDH2 axis drove iron accumulation during Tfh cell differentiation and further promoted Fe2+-dependent TET enzyme activity and BCL6 gene demethylation. Thus, maintaining iron homeostasis might be critical for eliminating pathogenic Th cells and might help improve the management of patients with SLE.

Trace element iron affects T cell biology, but the knowledge about the role of iron in regulating Treg cell expansion is limited. Treg cells play an important role in keeping peripheral T cell tolerance, increasing Treg cell expansion is a promising therapeutic method for SLE. Here we showed that iron deficiency promotes Treg cell expansion by reducing ROS accumulation, improving the disease progression of pristane-induced lupus. Increased oxidative stress inhibits Treg cell differentiation by inducing cell apoptosis. Our data suggest that altering iron metabolism promotes Treg cell expansion by preventing oxidation-induced cell death, which may provide a potential therapeutic strategy for SLE.

Background: Sulforaphane, which is found in cruciferous vegetables, has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antitumour activities. However, whether sulforaphane has therapeutic effects on inflammatory or autoimmune skin diseases, including psoriasis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is unclear.Methods: The therapeutic effects of sulforaphane were analyzed in Imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis-like mice and lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice. In IMQ-induced psoriasis-like mice treated with sulforaphane (55.3 and 110.6 μmol/kg) or vehicle control, the pathological phenotypes were assessed by the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score, haematoxylin-eosin staining (H&E) and quantifying of acanthosis and dermal inflammatory cell infiltration. The proportions of T cell subsets in draining lymph nodes (dLNs) and spleens were examined by flow cytometry. In MRL/lpr mice treated with sulforaphane (82.9 μmol/kg) or vehicle control, mortality and proteinuria were observed, and the glomerular pathology was examined by H&E staining. C3 and IgG depositions in kidney sections were examined by immunofluorescence staining. The proportions of plasma cells, follicular helper T (Tfh) cells, neutrophils and dendritic cells in the dLNs and spleens were examined by flow cytometry. Finally, we examined the Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration by thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assay and the expression of Prdx1, Nqo1, Hmox1, and Gss by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).Results: Sulforaphane ameliorated the skin lesions in IMQ-induced psoriasis-like mice and the renal damage in lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice. In IMQ-induced psoriasis-like mice, sulforaphane reduced the proportions of Th1 and Th17 cells and increased the expression of antioxidant gene Prdx1. In lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice, sulforaphane increased the lifespan and the expression of Prdx1, and decreased the proportions of plasma cells, Tfh cells, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in the dLNs and spleens and the concentration of MDA.Conclusion: Sulforaphane has significant therapeutic effects on IMQ-induced psoriasis-like mice and lupus-like MRL/Lpr mice by reducing inflammatory and autoimmune-related cells and oxidative stress. These findings provide new evidence for developing natural products to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

BackgroundPsychological distress is a common occurrence among women during the perinatal period. Maternal psychological distress (MPS) can also have a negative influence on neonatal outcomes such as infant health, child development or mother-child interaction. Hence, interventions to improve mental wellbeing during this period are vital. Mindfulness based intervention (MBI) has been found to be effective in reducing psychological distress. Delivery of MBI via the internet, making it accessible and inexpensive, is showing a promising positive effect in reducing psychological distress. A randomized control trial with sufficient power is required to confirm its positive effect among pregnant women. The positive effects of MBI have been found to be associated with heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback; however, the efficacy of MBI on HRV has been rarely studied among pregnant women. Also, the potential association of HRV with MBI and psychological wellbeing needs further examination. This research aims to test the effectiveness of guided mobile-based perinatal mindfulness intervention (GMBPMI) among pregnant women experiencing psychological distress during the pre- and post-natal period, as well as examining the efficacy of GMBPMI on HRV.MethodThis study is a randomized controlled trial that follows a parallel design. Consenting pregnant women in their second trimester (between 12th and 20th week gestation) will be randomly assigned to an intervention group (GMBPMI) or a control group (psychoeducation). The intended sample size is 198, with 99 participants in each group. Three levels of outcomes will be measured at baseline, post intervention in both the intervention and control groups, and at 36-week gestation and five-week postpartum. The primary outcomes include maternal psychological stress, mindfulness and positive appraisal HRV. Secondary outcomes are psychological and physical wellbeing. Tertiary outcomes include obstetric and neonatal outcomes, and social support. Analyses will follow an intention-to-treat method and repeated measures MANOVA will be conducted to compare changes in primary and secondary outcomes. A series of mixed-effects models will be fitted to assess the mediation effects.DiscussionThis trial expects to increase understanding of GMBPMI on HRV and psychological wellbeing for pregnant women, with extended support in both pre-and post-natal periods. The study could also potentially provide evidence for delivery of cost-effective and accessible services to pregnant women.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04876014, registered on 30 March 2021. Protocol Version 1.0., 10 May 2021.

In order to defraud state subsidies, some unscrupulous users use improper means to steal photovoltaic (PV) power. This behavior brings potential safety hazards to photovoltaic grid-connected operations. In this paper, a photovoltaic power-stealing identification method based on similar-day clustering and interval prediction of the quantile regression model for long short-term memory neural network (QRLSTM) is proposed. First, photovoltaic data are clustered into three similar days by the similar-day clustering according to weather conditions. Second, compared with the quantile regression neural network (QRNN) prediction method, the good prediction performance of the QRLSTM method is illustrated. Third, using the prediction intervals with different confidence levels on three similar days, according to the time scale (short-term, medium-term and long-term) combined with different electricity-stealing judgment indicators, a three-layer photovoltaic power-stealing screening framework is constructed, and the degree of user power stealing is qualitatively analyzed. Last, the power generation data of eight photovoltaic users in a certain region of northwest China and the data of four groups of artificially constructed power-stealing users are used as an example for simulation. The simulation results prove the feasibility of the proposed method in this paper.

As alternatives to antibiotics in feed, probiotic Bacillus carries multiple advantages in animal production. Spores undergo strain-related germination in the gastrointestinal tract, but it is still unknown whether the probiotic function of the Bacillus depends on the germination of spores in vivo. In this study, based on 14 potential probiotic Bacillus strains from fermented food and feed, we detected the germination response of these Bacillus spores in relation to different germinating agents. The results showed the germination response was strain-specific and germinant-related, and nutrient germinant L-alanine significantly promoted the growth of strains with germination potential. Two strains of Bacillus subtilis, S-2 and 312, with or without a high spore germination response to L-alanine, were selected to study their morphological and genic differences induced by L-alanine through transmission electron microscopy and comparative transcriptomics analysis. Consequently, after L-alanine treatment, the gray phase was largely increased under microscopy, and the expression of the germination response genes was significantly up-regulated in the B. subtilis S-2 spores compared to the B. subtilis 312 spores (p < 0.05). The protective effect of L-alanine-induced spore germination of the two strains was comparatively investigated both in the IPEC-J2 cell model and a Sprague–Dawley (SD) rat model challenged by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K99. The result indicated that L-alanine helped B. subtilis S-2 spores, but not 312 spores, to decrease inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1 β, TNF-α; p < 0.05) and promote the expression of occludin in IPEC-J2 cells. Besides, supplement with L-alanine-treated B. subtilis S-2 spores significantly improved the growth of the SD rats, alleviated histopathological GIT lesions, and improved the ratio of jejunal villus length to crypt depth in comparison to the B. subtilis S-2 spores alone (p < 0.05). Improved species diversity and abundance of fecal microbiota were only observed in the group with L-alanine-treated S-2 spores (p < 0.05). The study demonstrates L-alanine works well as a probiotic Bacillus adjuvant in improving intestinal health, and it also provides a solution for the practical and accurate regulation of their use as antibiotic alternatives in animal production.

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound consequences on world economy. In order to explore the long-term impact of the pandemic on economic growth and the effects of different policy responses, this paper combines economic theory with epidemiological model to construct an interdisciplinary model, in which labor supply is dynamically constrained by pandemic conditions. Analysis of model equilibrium suggests that outbreaks of infectious disease reduce labor supply and negatively affect economic output. The accumulation of health capital can suppress the spread of disease and improve the recovery rate of infected individuals, which will alleviate the labor supply constraint caused by the pandemic and lead to an increase in output and consumption. The model is then calibrated to Chinese economy. The simulation results imply that government's public health policy can enhance the role of health capital in promoting economic growth. But the marginal effect of certain policies is diminishing. Therefore, the government needs to balance pandemic prevention and control costs and marginal benefits when formulating public health policies. When the pandemic is under control, the resumption of production is feasible and the economic stimulus package could lead to economic recovery.

Methamphetamine (METH) is one of the most widely abused synthetic drugs in the world. The users generally present hyperthermia (HT) and psychiatric symptoms. However, the mechanisms involved in METH/HT-induced neurotoxicity remain elusive. Here, we investigated the role of heat shock protein 90 alpha (HSP90α) in METH/HT (39.5°C)-induced necroptosis in rat striatal neurons and an in vivo rat model. METH treatment increased core body temperature and up-regulated LDH activity and the molecular expression of canonical necroptotic factors in the striatum of rats. METH and HT can induce necroptosis in primary cultures of striatal neurons. The expression of HSP90α increased following METH/HT injuries. The specific inhibitor of HSP90α, geldanamycin (GA), and HSP90α shRNA attenuated the METH/HT-induced upregulation of receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3), phosphorylated RIP3, mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL), and phosphorylated MLKL. The inhibition of HSP90α protected the primary cultures of striatal neurons from METH/HT-induced necroptosis. In conclusion, HSP90α plays an important role in METH/HT-induced neuronal necroptosis and the HSP90α-RIP3 pathway is a promising therapeutic target for METH/HT-induced neurotoxicity in the striatum.

The phonon Boltzmann transport equation combined with first-principles calculation has achieved great success in exploring the lattice thermal conductivity (κ) of various materials. However, the convergence of the predicted κ is a critical issue, leading to quite scattered results recorded in the literature, even for the same material. In this paper, we explore the origin for the convergence of thermal conductivity in two-dimensional (2D) materials. Two kinds of typical 2D materials, graphene and silicene, are studied, and the bulk silicon is also compared as a control system for a three-dimensional material. The effect of the cutoff radius (rc) in the third-order interatomic force constants on κ is studied for these three materials. It is found that that κ of these three materials exhibits diverse convergence behaviors with respect to rc, which coincides very well with the strength of hydrodynamic phonon transport. By further analyzing the phonon lifetime and scattering rates, we reveal that the dominance of the normal scattering process gives rise to the hydrodynamic phonon transport in both graphene and silicene, which results in long-range interaction and a large lifetime of low-frequency flexural acoustic phonons, while the same phenomenon is absent in bulk silicon. Our study highlights the importance of long-range interaction associated with hydrodynamic phonon transport in determining the thermal conductivity of 2D materials.

Chronic periodontitis (CP) is a common inflammatory illness affecting a large proportion of humans. Genetic factors are thought to play important roles in its onset and development. A functional polymorphism (rs1800587) in the promoter of the interleukin-1α gene (−889 C/T) has been found to confer risk of CP primarily in Europeans, but the association between this variant and CP in the Chinese population remains less conclusive. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the association between rs1800587 and CP in case-control samples of Han Chinese origin. A total of 1,777 study subjects, including 884 CP patients and 893 healthy controls, were collected. Genotyping of rs1800587 was performed using the SNAPSHOT method, and statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between rs1800587 and CP. In our sample, rs1800587 was significantly associated with the onset of CP (additive model, T-allele vs. C-allele, p = 0.00359, odds ratio = 1.446, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 1.127–1.855; dominant model, (TT + TC) vs. CC, p = 0.00250, odds ratio = 1.502, 95% CIs = 1.152–1.957; overdominant model, TC vs. (TT + CC), p = 0.00264, odds ratio = 1.508, 95% CIs = 1.152–1.976). The T-allele and [TC] genotypes of rs1800587 were significantly overrepresented in CP patients compared with controls. Our data suggest that rs1800587 of IL-1α is significantly associated with the risk of CP in Han Chinese subjects, further confirming its possible involvement in the disease.

In the era of the digital economy, social network as an important social capital has an important influence on individual consumption decision-making. This article uses the latest data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2017 to analyze the impact of personal characteristics on cultural consumption behavior under the influence of social networks from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Studies have shown that (1) social networks have a significant impact on cultural consumption; compared to gift money and social interaction, communication costs have a greater impact on cultural consumption; (2) communication costs have a greater impact on education consumption, entertainment consumption, and tourism consumption; (3) under the influence of social networks, individual characteristics have a significant impact on cultural consumption; (4) the higher the level of education, the easier it is for cultural consumption. There are intergenerational differences in cultural consumption expenditures of different age groups. It is easier for people to consume entertainment than the elderly.

Hantaviruses can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Eurasia and have led to public health threat in China. The pathogenesis of HFRS is complex and involves capillary leakage due to the infection of vascular endothelial cells. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that hantavirus can induce apoptosis in many cells, but the mechanism remains unclear. Our studies showed that Hantaan virus (HTNV) infection could induce TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) expression in primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and sensitize host cells toward TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. Furthermore, TRAIL interference could inhibit apoptosis and enhance the production of HTNV as well as reduce IFN-β production, while exogenous TRAIL treatment showed reverse outcome: enhanced apoptosis and IFN-β production as well as a lower level of viral replication. We also observed that nucleocapsid protein (NP) and glycoprotein (GP) of HTNV could promote the transcriptions of TRAIL and its receptors. Thus, TRAIL was upregulated by HTNV infection and then exhibited significant antiviral activities in vitro, and it was further confirmed in the HTNV-infected suckling mice model that TRAIL treatment significantly reduced viral load, alleviated virus-induced tissue lesions, increased apoptotic cells, and decreased the mortality. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that TRAIL-dependent apoptosis and IFN-β production could suppress HTNV replication and TRAIL treatment might be a novel therapeutic target for HTNV infection.

Hantaan virus (HTNV), a Hantavirus serotype that is prevalent in Asia, causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) with high mortality in human race. However, the pathogenesis of HTNV infection remains elusive. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a new type of non-coding RNAs, play a crucial role in various pathogenic processes. Nevertheless, circRNA expression profiles and their effects on pathogenesis of HTNV infection are still completely unknown. In the present study, RNA sequencing was performed to analyze the circRNA, microRNA (miRNA), and mRNA expression profiles in HTNV-infected and mock-infected human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). A total of 70 circRNAs, 66 miRNAs, and 788 mRNAs were differently expressed. Several differentially expressed RNAs were validated by RT-qPCR. Moreover, we verified that some differentially expressed RNAs, such as circ_0000479, miR-149-5p, miR-330-5p, miR-411-3p, RIG-I, CMPK2, PARP10, and GBP1, promoted or inhibited HTNV replication. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis demonstrated that the host genes of differentially expressed circRNAs were principally involved in the innate immune response, the type I interferon (IFN) signaling pathway, and the cytokine-mediated signaling pathway. Additionally, the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was integrally analyzed. The data showed that there were many circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interactions in HTNV infection. By dual-luciferase reporter assay, we confirmed that circ_0000479 indirectly regulated RIG-I expression by sponging miR-149-5p, hampering viral replication. This study for the first time presents a comprehensive overview of circRNAs induced by HTNV and reveals that a network of enriched circRNAs and circRNA-associated competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) is involved in the regulation of HTNV infection, thus offering new insight into the mechanisms underlying HTNV-host interaction.

This paper aimed to study the influence of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) content and sodium chloride solution on the stability of the electrical resistance and the following self-sensing performance of CNFs cement paste. CNFs content ranged from 1.5% to 3.0% by the volume of cement. The electrical resistance and capacitive reactance of specimens were tested. AC voltage was applied to the dried or NaCl immersed specimens. While, DC voltage was supplied to dried specimens as contrastive group. Additionally, the piezoresistivity of dried samples was investigated. Results indicated that the capacitive reactance of drying specimens increased obviously with the increasing CNFs dosages. However, the capacitive reactance kept stably with the increasing CNFs content after the specimens were immersed in NaCl solution. While, the resistivity of the samples decreased obviously with the increasing CNFs content both in drying state and immersion in NaCl solution. The capacitive reactance was increased and the electrical resistivity was decreased after immersing in NaCl solution. The stability of electrical resistivity of drying specimens was decreased by increasing the dosages of CNFs. Meanwhile, the stability of electrical resistivity of specimens after disposed in NaCl solution first decreased then increased with the increasing CNFs content. The resistance of specimens determined by AC voltage was more stable than that tested by DC voltage. No obvious self-sensing performance was observed, when CNFs content was less than 2.5%. Additionally, CNFs cement paste presented the highest sensitivity of self-sensing performance when CNFs content was 2.5%. Keywords: Carbon nanofibers, Capacitive reactance, Electrical resistivity, Piezoresistivity, Self-sensing performance

Abstract Three novel organic dyes coded as FHD4‐1, FHD4‐2, and FHD4‐3 featuring spiro[dibenzo[3,4:6,7]cyclohepta[1,2‐b]quinoxaline‐10,9′‐fluorene] (SDBQX) moieties are designed to inhibit dye aggregation to improve the performance of dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The consistent absorption onsets of FHD4‐1, FHD4‐2, and FHD4‐3 in solutions and adsorbed on TiO2 films indicate that these dyes are aggregation‐free dyes. Therefore, coadsorption with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) of these three dyes reduces the performance of DSSCs because no inhibition effect for dye aggregation is needed, but, on the contrary, the dye loading amount is reduced after addition of CDCA.

Due to the low-cost and high-strength of carburizing 9310 steel, it has become widely used in the manufacturing industry especially gears and shafts manufacturing. Hence, this paper investigates the hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of the 9310 steel under hot compression conditions. With the help of a combination of standard compression testing, optical microstructure and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) observation experiment, the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and dynamic recovery (DRV) mechanisms of the 9310 steel under compressive stress were determined and the constitutive equation model was also identified. It was found that the peak stress level, steady flow stress, dislocation density and number of substructures of the alloy increases with the decreasing of deformation temperature and the increasing of strain rate. Conversely, the high angle grain boundary area becomes larger, the grain boundary forms a serrated shape and the DRX in the alloy occurs. This comprehensive characterization of stress and phase transformation could enable a precise control of the microstructures of 9310 steel, and hence its properties.

European Portuguese (EP) is a language with variable stress, and the main cues for stress are duration and vowel reduction. A previous behavioral study has reported a stress “deafness” effect in EP when vowel quality cues are unavailable. The present study recorded both event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral data to examine the stress processing by native EP speakers in the absence of the vowel quality cues. Our behavioral result was consistent with previous research, showing that when vowel reduction is absent EP speakers demonstrated a stress “deafness” effect similar to that found in speakers of languages with fixed stress or without any lexical stress marking. In the ERP task, both the trochaic and iambic conditions yielded mismatch negativity (MMN) and late negativity, suggesting that EP speakers are able to discriminate the two stress patterns without vowel reduction at the pre-attentive stage. Moreover, the ERP and behavioral data revealed compatible results regarding the pattern of stress bias in EP. In the EPR task, the MMN and late negativity components were more negative and span over a larger temporal window in the iambic condition than in the trochaic condition, indicating a higher sensitivity for the iambic stress pattern. In the behavioral task, EP speakers responded more accurately and more quickly to the iambic stress. These results match recent developmental findings in the acquisition of stress, but speak against the dominant view in EP phonological literature which assumes penultimate stress to be the regular stress pattern. In addition, both the ERP and the behavioral data showed that EP speakers’ stress processing was influenced by their working memory (WM) capacity. The participants with high WM capacity outperformed the participants with limited WM capacity in the iambic condition. In sum, our results broaden the current knowledge on stress processing by EP speakers at both the pre-attentive and attentive levels.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by chronic destructive synovitis and is associated with progressive disability, systemic difficulties, premature death, and socioeconomic costs. Early intervention with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) like methotrexate (MTX) and its combination regimen would provide obvious benefits to patients, healthcare systems and society. MTX and tripterygium glycosides tablets (TGTS) are most frequently prescribed medicines for RA, and the combination of them occurs frequently in anti-RA prescriptions. While the underlying combination mechanisms and the affected variation of drug blood level remain unclear. According to the American College of Rheumatology criteria for improvement, clinical evaluation following three treatment groups (i.e., MTX and TGTS mono- and combined groups) were carried out at baseline and at the end of 12 weeks in a randomized controlled clinical trial. To monitor the affected variation of drug blood level and perturbation of metabolites caused by MTX plus TGTS combined to treat active RA, the collected plasma samples were analyzed using RRLC-QqQ-MS and UHPLC-QE Orbitrap HRMS instruments. As a result, 39 metabolites including 7 MTX-related metabolites, 13 TGTS-related migratory ingredients and 19 characteristic endogenous metabolites, were quantitatively determined in plasma samples of RA patients after oral administration. The potential mechanism of MTX and TGTS combination were preliminarily elucidated on the aspect of clinical biochemical test indicators integrated with quantitative plasma pharmacochemistry and the pseudotargeted metabolomics.

Background. Occupant injuries in rollover crashes are associated with vehicle structural performance, as well as the restraint system design. For a better understanding of the occupant kinematics and injury index in certain rollover crash, it is essential to carry out dynamic vehicle rollover simulation with dummy included. Objective. This study focused on effects of curtain airbag (CAB) parameters on occupant kinematics and injury indexes in a rollover crash. Besides, optimized parameters of the CAB were proposed for the purpose of decreasing the occupant injuries in such rollover scenario. Method and Material. The vehicle motion from the physical test was introduced as the input for the numerical simulation, and the 50% Hybrid III dummy model from the MADYMO database was imported into a simulation model. The restraint system, including a validated CAB module, was introduced for occupant kinematics simulation and injury evaluation. TTF setting, maximum inflator pressure, and protection area of the CAB were analysed. Results. After introducing the curtain airbag, the maximum head acceleration was reduced from 91.60 g to 49.52 g, and the neck Mx and neck Fz were reduced significantly. Among these CAB parameters, the TTF setting had the largest effect on the head acceleration which could reduce 8.6 g furthermore after optimization. The neck Fz was decreased from 3766.48 N to 2571.77 N after optimization of CAB protection area. Conclusions. Avoiding hard contact is critical for the occupant protection in the rollover crashes. The simulation results indicated that occupant kinematics and certain injury indexes were improved with the help of CAB in such rollover scenario. Appropriate TTF setting and inflator selection could benefit occupant kinematics and injury indexes. Besides, it was advised to optimize the curtain airbag thickness around the head contact area to improve head and neck injury indexes.

This paper introduces a new method to measure whole cycle length change non-destructively and continuously using a digital image analysis system. The macroscale length changes of mortars containing different shrinkage-reducing admixture (SRA) dosages (0%, 1%, 2% and 5% by cement weight) were first determined using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor under alternating dry and wet curing conditions. After that, the length change was calculated using developed digital image processing technology (DIPT) software. After that, several significant conclusions could be drawn by combining with the results of systematic tests of the macroscopic and microscale physical properties of the cement mortar using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods. The test results indicated that SRAs exhibited significant effects on the shrinkage inhibition of cement mortars, whereas the shrinkage reduction behaviour was also affected by varying the curing conditions. The MIP and NMR analyses demonstrated that SRAs reduced the irreversible shrinkage of the cement mortars by decreasing the volume percentage of the 3−50 nm pores and promoting the conversion of calcium silicate hydrate gel from an oligomeric to a high polymerization state thereby improving the volume stability of cement mortars.

A corrosion sensor for monitoring the corrosion state of cover mortar was developed. The sensor was tested in cement mortar, with and without the addition of chloride to simulate the adverse effects of chloride-contaminated environmental conditions on concrete structures. In brief, a linear polarization resistance method combined with an embeddable reference electrode was utilized to measure the polarization resistance (Rp) using built-in sensor electrodes. Subsequently, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range of 1 kHz to 50 kHz was used to obtain the cement mortar resistance (Rs). The results show that the polarization resistance is related to the chloride content and Rs; ln (Rp) is linearly related to the Rs values in mortar without added chloride. The relationships observed between the Rp of the steel anodes and the resistance of the surrounding cement mortar measured by the corrosion sensor confirms that Rs can indicate the corrosion state of concrete structures.