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Cognitive frailty (CF) is an important geriatric syndrome and is reversible. It is crucial to develop preventive interventions for CF. We aimed to explore the associations between CF and its associated factors in Chinese aged 45 years and above. Based on the available data of 3 waves in China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study from 2011 to 2015, 16,071 individuals aged 45 years and above from 3 waves were included. Based on the health ecology model, the associated factors were classified as downstream, midstream and upstream factors. Generalized hierarchical linear model including time level, individual level, and province level was applied to analyze the associations between factors and CF. Multilevel factors have different effects on physical and cognitive function. In the downstream, old age, female, underweight, chronic diseases, and depression were risk factors of reversible CF and potentially reversible CF, and overweight was their protective factor. In the midstream, short or long night sleep duration was their risk factor, and > 30 and ≤ 60 min afternoon naps, alcohol drinking, and participation in social activities were their protective factors. In the upstream, living in rural areas was their risk factor, and high educational level, household consumption and GDP per capita were their protective factors. Physical function and cognitive function are affected differently by multiple factors. The occurrence and development of physical frailty and cognitive impairment may have some common mechanisms. CF can be influenced by multilevel factors, and multilevel and comprehensive management of CF should be achieved. Cognitive frailty was correlated with multilevel factors, including downstream, midstream, and upstream factors. It is crucial to focus on individual interventions such as physiological factors, psychological factors and health behaviors, especially the elderly, women and those with depression. Socioeconomic status was associated with the lower prevalence of cognitive frailty. • Physical function and cognitive function were affected differently by multiple factors. • Cognitive frailty was associated with multilevel factors, including downstream, midstream, and upstream factors. • It is crucial to focus on individual interventions such as physiological, psychological, and health behavior factors. • Socioeconomic status was associated with the lower risk of cognitive frailty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Odontoblastic differentiation of human stem cells from the apical papilla (hSCAPs) is crucial for continued root development and dentin formation in immature teeth with apical periodontitis (AP). Fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) has been reported to regulate bone regeneration and osteogenic differentiation profoundly. However, the effect of FTO on hSCAPs remains unknown. This study aimed to identify the potential function of FTO in hSCAPs' odontoblastic differentiation under normal and inflammatory conditions and to investigate its underlying mechanism preliminarily. Histological staining and micro-computed tomography were used to evaluate root development and FTO expression in SD rats with induced AP. The odontoblastic differentiation ability of hSCAPs was assessed via alkaline phosphatase and alizarin red S staining, qRT-PCR, and Western blotting. Gain- and loss-of-function assays and online bioinformatics tools were conducted to explore the function of FTO and its potential mechanism in modulating hSCAPs differentiation. Significantly downregulated FTO expression and root developmental defects were observed in rats with AP. FTO expression notably increased during in vitro odontoblastic differentiation of hSCAPs, while lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inhibited FTO expression and odontoblastic differentiation. Knockdown of FTO impaired odontoblastic differentiation, whereas FTO overexpression alleviated the inhibitory effects of LPS on differentiation. Furthermore, FTO promoted the expression of secreted modular calcium-binding protein 2 (SMOC2), and the knockdown of SMOC2 in hSCAPs partially attenuated the promotion of odontoblastic differentiation mediated by FTO overexpression under LPS-induced inflammation. This study revealed that FTO positively regulates the odontoblastic differentiation ability of hSCAPs by promoting SMOC2 expression. Furthermore, LPS-induced inflammation compromises the odontoblastic differentiation of hSCAPs by downregulating FTO, highlighting the promising role of FTO in regulating hSCAPs differentiation under the inflammatory microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐native plants are typically released from specialist enemies but continue to be attacked by generalists, albeit at lower intensities. This reduced herbivory may lead to less investment in constitutive defences and greater investment in induced defences, potentially reducing defence costs. We compared herbivory on 27 non‐native and 59 native species in the field and conducted bioassays and chemical analyses on 12 pairs of non‐native and native congeners. Non‐natives suffered less damage and had weaker constitutive defences, but stronger induced defences than natives. For non‐natives, the strength of constitutive defences was correlated with the intensity of herbivory experienced, whereas induced defences showed the reverse. Investment in induced defences correlated positively with growth, suggesting a novel mechanism for the evolution of increased competitive ability. To our knowledge, these are the first linkages reported among trade‐offs in plant defences related to the intensity of herbivory, allocation to constitutive versus induced defences, and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature has a large influence on insect abundances, thus under climate change, identifying major drivers affecting pest insect populations is critical to world food security and agricultural ecosystem health. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis with data obtained from 120 studies across China and Europe from 1970 to 2017 to reveal how climate and agricultural practices affect populations of wheat aphids. Here we showed that aphid loads on wheat had distinct patterns between these two regions, with a significant increase in China but a decrease in Europe over this time period. Although temperature increased over this period in both regions, we found no evidence showing climate warming affected aphid loads. Rather, differences in pesticide use, fertilization, land use, and natural enemies between China and Europe may be key factors accounting for differences in aphid pest populations. These long-term data suggest that agricultural practices impact wheat aphid loads more than climate warming. A meta-analysis of wheat aphid populations obtained from 120 studies from 1970 to 2017 reveals that pest loads increased in China but decreased in Europe and suggests this is due to differences in pesticide use, fertilization, land use, and natural enemies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CEP can significantly inhibits PDCoV binding, entry, and replication in LLC-PK1 cells. • In silico data and SPR results indicate that CEP targets pAPN and PDCoV binding sites in cells to inhibits PDCoV infection. • CEP reduces inflammatory signaling caused by PDCoV infection. • CEP inhibits PDCoV replication by inducing autophagy. • CEP confers broad-spectrum resistance to other coronaviruses (TGEV and MHV). Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emerging swine enteropathogenic coronavirus (CoV) that mainly causes acute diarrhea/vomiting, dehydration, and mortality in piglets, possessing economic losses and public health concerns. However, there are currently no proven effective antiviral agents against PDCoV. Cepharanthine (CEP) is a naturally occurring alkaloid used as a traditional remedy for radiation-induced symptoms, but its underlying mechanism of CEP against PDCoV has remained elusive. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-PDCoV effects and mechanisms of CEP in LLC-PK1 cells. The results showed that the antiviral activity of CEP was based on direct action on cells, preventing the virus from attaching to host cells and virus replication. Importantly, Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) results showed that CEP has a moderate affinity to PDCoV receptor, porcine aminopeptidase N (pAPN) protein. AutoDock predicted that CEP can form hydrogen bonds with amino acid residues (R740, N783, and R790) in the binding regions of PDCoV and pAPN. In addition, RT-PCR results showed that CEP treatment could significantly reduce the transcription of ZBP1, cytokine (IL-1β and IFN-α) and chemokine genes (CCL-2, CCL-4, CCL-5, CXCL-2, CXCL-8, and CXCL-10) induced by PDCoV. Western blot analysis revealed that CEP could inhibit viral replication by inducing autophagy. In conclusion, our results suggest that the anti-PDCoV activity of CEP is not only relies on competing the virus binding with pAPN, but also affects the proliferation of the virus in vitro by downregulating the excessive immune response caused by the virus and inducing autophagy. CEP emerges as a promising candidate for potential anti-PDCoV therapeutic development. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similarity-based approaches have made significant progress in visual object tracking (VOT). Although these methods work well in simple scenes, they ignore the continuous spatio-temporal connection of the object in the video sequence. For this reason, tracking by spatial matching solely can lead to tracking failures because of distractors and occlusion. In this paper, we propose a spatio-temporal joint-modeling tracker named STTrack which implicitly builds continuous connections between the temporal and spatial aspects of the sequence. Specifically, we first design a time-sequence iteration strategy (TSIS) to concentrate on the temporal connection of the object in the video sequence. Then, we propose a novel spatial temporal interaction Transformer network (STIN) to capture the spatio-temporal correlation of the object between frames. The proposed STIN module is robust in object occlusion because it explores the dynamic state change dependencies of the object. Finally, we introduce a spatio-temporal query to suppress distractors by iteratively propagating the target prior. Extensive experiments on six tracking benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed STTrack achieves excellent performance while operating in real-time. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/nubsym/STTrack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the higher order (HO) concept and the convolution perfectly matched layer (CPML) formulation, the efficient and tight HO‐CPML implementation is proposed for electromagnetic (EM) simulation. The proposed formulation has the advantages of the higher order concept and the CPML in terms of enhancing absorbing performance and improving computational efficiency. Numerical examples including the half‐space soil/metal plate structure and the patch antenna radiation model are carried out in the finite‐difference time‐domain lattice to validate the effectiveness and efficiency. It can be demonstrated that the proposed HO‐CPML can further enhance the absorbing performance compared with the CPML and enjoy considerable computational efficiency compared with the other HO‐perfectly matched layers (HO‐PMLs). Meanwhile, the proposal can terminate arbitrary mediums without changing the update equations in the PML regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel adaptive control approach for a class of stochastic switched nonlinear system with pure feedback structure. An important lemma is developed to overcome the design difficulty from the non-affine pure feedback structure. Combining backstepping technique with neural network approximation, a state feedback adaptive controller is given. And this controller can ensure that all of the signals in the closed-loop system are bounded, and the tracking error converges to a small enough neighborhood of the zero. A simulation example is used to verify the effectiveness of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: How to accurately predict the occurrence of contamination in the fermentation process of Chlortetracycline? How to prompt field operators to take effective measures in time? This is a difficult problem that the fermentation process of Chlortetracycline has not been solved well.Objective: The aim of this paper is to effectively predict whether the fermentation process of Chlortetracycline is contaminated or not.Methods: A Gaussian process regression soft sensor modeling method with real time integration learning is studied in depth by combining two local learning strategies, namely just-in-time learning (JITL) method and integrated learning method, and a multi-model weighted Gaussian process regression (MWGPR) soft sensor modeling method based on real-time integration learning is proposed in the paper. This soft sensing method was used to study the relationship between the viscosity of fermentation broth and the contamination in fermentation process. A soft-sensing model based on the viscosity of fermentation broth for predicting the signs of contamination is established.Results: The validity of this method is verified by field data. The experimental results demonstrate that the soft sensing model proposed in this paper can effectively determine whether the fermentation broth is infected by hybrid bacteria.Conclusions: The method proposed in this paper is innovative and practical so that field operators can issue early warning and take effective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crosswinds affect the aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles involved in overtaking. To investigate such effects, we performed simulations on two identical vans during the overtaking process under different crosswind conditions. The yaw angle between the resultant velocity and the centerline of the overtaken model was varied from 0° to 30°. The results show that the crosswind affects the aerodynamic forces on the two vans significantly, especially on the overtaken van. As the yaw angle increases, the aerodynamic coefficients of the overtaking van increase, but the coefficients of the overtaken van present special patterns at different stages. The pressure fields and flow streamlines for yaw angles β = 0° and 20° were presented to illustrate the potential influence of crosswinds on the two vans. It is obvious that the flow field becomes more complicated under crosswinds, and the varying band of pressure field is expanded. When the front end of the overtaking van exceeds the rear of the overtaken van by a quarter of its body length, the aerodynamic force coefficients of the two vans are considerably large, and the handling stabilities of them decrease greatly. The drivers should pay more attention to safety when driving in crosswinds during the overtaking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses adaptive neural control for a class of non-strict-feedback stochastic nonlinear systems with time delays. An important structural property of radial basis function (RBF) neural networks (NNs) is introduced to overcome the design difficulty from the non-strict-feedback structure. The Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is used for control design and stability analysis. Further, a backstepping-based adaptive neural control strategy is proposed. The suggested adaptive neural controller guarantees that all the closed-loop signals are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) and the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood of the origin. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study to evaluate the effects of sulphur dioxide (SO2) on strawberry wine fermentation and on the quality of the final wine product. Major aroma compounds, reducing sugars, ethanol, titratable acid and microflora were analyzed during the fermentation of strawberry wine supplemented with 0-100 mg/L SO2. As the amount of added SO2 increased, the consumption of reducing sugars and soluble solids and ethanol production decreased during early fermentation, but increased during late fermentation. During the fermentation process, the concentrations of 2-phenethanol, isobutanol and isopentanol significantly increased and those of n-propanol, isoamyl acetate and ethyl lactate decreased with increasing amount of added SO2. The production of n-butanol, ethyl acetate and ethyl butyrate was slightly dependent on the amount of added SO2. Yeast cells were the dominant microbe in the fermenting strawberry pulp, and indigenous bacteria and fungi populations decreased rapidly or disappeared because of their sensitivity to SO2. It was concluded that 60-80 mg/L SO2 should be added during strawberry wine fermentations to improve wine quality. Copyright © 2016 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We generated a pig genome-wide gRNA library for loss function of pig genes. • We achieved some genes related to PRRSV replication using genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening. • We found loss of KXD1 inhibited replication PRRSV through prevented the fusion of lysosome and autophagosome. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a viral infection caused by PRRS virus (PRRSV) can result in severe reproductive failure, and respiratory disease in the pigs thus causing enormous economic losses to the global swine industry. Although the cellular receptors for PRRSV have been identified, but mechanisms underlying PPRSV replication remain obscure. Here, we have performed a genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screen in the pig kidney cells with PRRSV. Several genes were found to be highly enriched post-PRRSV selection, just like KxDL Motif Containing 1(KXD1), Proteasome 26S Subunit, Non-ATPase 3 (PSMD3) and Galectin 2 (LGALS2) and soon on. Importantly, we have identified that loss of KXD1 resulted in the restricted autophagy and inhibited replication of PRRSV. Therefore, our study demonstrates that CRISPR/Cas9 system can be effectively used for the screening of pig factors responsible for PRRSV replication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Quercetin inhibits multiple PRV strains infection of Vero cells. • Quercetin mainly interacts with PRV and inhibit the viral adsorption on the cell. • In silico data indicated that quercetin may interaction with PRV gD protein. • Quercetin protects against PRV infection in mouse models Pseudorabies virus (PRV) accounts for a critical swine disease incurring economic losses worldwide. Several PRV vaccines are commercially available but these vaccines are effective against only certain prevalent PRV strains in China. To prevent PRV-induced latent infection and decrease the pathogenicity, novel anti-PRV drugs are required to prevent PRV infection. Natural products show exceptional structural diversity representing an important source for developing novel therapeutic agents. Quercetin is a flavonoid with anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-viral activities. This study involved quercetin for studying the anti-PRV function in vitro and in vivo. Quercetin was found to significantly decrease the PRV virulent strain HNX at a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50) of 2.618 μM and selectivity index 229. This anti-PRV activity of quercetin was found to be dose-dependent. Furthermore, quercetin also inhibited a wide the infections by a spectrum of PRV strains like HNX, Ea, Bartha and Fa strain. These virucidal effects of quercetin suggest the interaction between these molecules and viral particles, and quercetin is responsible for inhibiting the adsorption of PRV infections. The silico assays suggesting that quercetin might interact with the gD-protein on the surface of the PRV important for viral infection. Additional, the quercetin plantar injection protected the mice from the lethal challenge, decreasing the PRV-infected mice's brain viral loads and mortality. These results provides a anti-PRV strategy and contribute to drug discovery and development. [Display omitted] Schematic diagram of quercetin interaction with Pseudorabies viruses in Vero cells [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toluene vapour was degraded in a biofilter packed with various initial moisture contents of packing materials at 650–1000 mg (toluene)/m3 (gas) and 24.0–36.8 g/m3/h load. The results demonstrated that a higher degradation capacity (DC) could be reached within a shorter operation time at a higher initial moisture content. During 144 h operation, the maximal degradation rate (DR) and degradation capacity (DC) were, respectively, 60%, 20 g/m3/h for 30 and 40% initial moisture content. For 60 and 70% initial moisture content, the DR and DC could be higher at the beginning of operation, which were above 70% and 20 g/m3/h, and reached the maximum of 100% and above 25–30 g/m3/h at about 75 h operation. The microbial determination results of packing materials (30, 50 and 70% initial moisture content) in biofilter operating for 144 h showed that the initial moisture content of packing materials would affect the numbers and types of microbial community of packing materials. With the increase in the initial moisture content, the quantity of moulds and actinomyces would decrease and the number of bacteria would increase. The packing material with 50% initial moisture content was beneficial to the yeast growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Schematic diagram of the miR-21-regulated pathway in PCV2-infected PK-15 cells. Red arrows and green lines represent upregulated and downregulated function, respectively. [Display omitted] • Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infection promoted levels of ssc-miR-21. • PCV2 induced miR-21 activates the NF-κB pathway and inflammation by targeting PDCD4 and circPDCD4. • PDCD4 and circPDCD4 was directly targeted by miR-21. • This study provide a novel diagnostic and preventive candidate for PCVAD. Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) causes postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) as well as other PCV-associated diseases (PCVADs), which seriously affect the development of the swine industry. The association between aberrant expression of microRNA-21 (miR-21) and the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases is already known. Also, our previous study showed elevated ssc-miR-21-5p (miR-21) levels in PCV2-infected porcine kidney 15 (PK-15) cells. However, the functional expression of miR-21 in PCV2 infection is unknown. Here, we found that the miR-21 levels were substantially upregulated in PCV2-infected cells, while the expression of PDCD4 and a PDCD4-derived circRNA (circPDCD4) were downregulated compared with the noninfected cells. The results of RNA immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter (DLR) assay revealed that circPDCD4 acted as a miR-21 sponge and PDCD4 was a miR-21 target. Functionally, we found that miR-21 overexpression induced the NF-κB pathway along with inflammation in cells exposed to PCV2. Further, the overexpression of PDCD4 or circPDCD4 downregulated miR-21 levels and subsequently, attenuated the miR-21-induced activation of inflammation and the NF-κB pathway. Thus, PCV2 activated the NF-κB pathway and cellular inflammatory responses through regulating circPDCD4, miR-21, and PDCD4 in PK-15 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on calmodulin (CAM) which participates in a variety of intracellular transduction processes by modulating signaling molecules in response to calcium changes. Characterization of Drosophila Cam mutants and the role of CAM in photoreceptor cell function; Explanation of the transient phenotype of trp mutants by CAM regulation of TRPL channel; Coordination of the termination of the light response by modulating receptor and ion channel activity.

Based upon the approximate Crank–Nicolson (CN) finite-difference time-domain method implementation, the unconditionally stable algorithm is proposed to investigate the wave propagation and transmission through extremely thin graphene layers. More precisely, by incorporating the CN Douglas–Gunn algorithm, the piecewise linear recursive convolution method and the auxiliary differential equation method, the analytical model is proposed for Drude-like graphene model. To obtain the solution of the governing equations, the perfectly matched layer and the periodic boundary condition are applied to the graphene structure with two dimensional nano-materials. Numerical examples are carried out for further investigation. During the simulation, the influences of the parameters such as the grating slit and its thickness on the wave transmission are investigated and discussed. The result shows that not only the graphene grating has high transmission performance but also the proposed methods have considerable performance and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is closely linked to postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) and other PCV-associated diseases (PCVADs), which influence the global pig industry. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved classes of endogenous small non-coding RNA that regulate almost every cellular process. According to our previous transcription study, PCV2 infection causes up-regulation of genes related to inflammation. To reveal the function of miRNAs in PCV2 infection and PCV2-encoded miRNAs, next generation sequencing and data analysis was performed to explore miRNA expression in PCV2-infected cells and non-infected cells. Data analysis found some small RNAs matched the PCV2 genome but PCV2 does not express miRNAs in an in vitro infection (PK-15 cells). More than 297 known and 427 novel miRNAs were identified, of which 44 miRNAs were differently expressed (DE). The pathways of inflammation mediated by chemokine and cytokine signaling pathway (P00031), were more perturbed in PCV2-infected cells than in mock controls. DE miRNAs and DE mRNA interaction network clearly revealed that PCV2 regulates the cellular inflammatory response through dysregulating the cellular miRNA-mRNA network. MiRNA overexpression and down-expression results demonstrated that miRNA dysregulation could affect PCV2 infection-induced cellular inflammatory responses. Our study revealed that host miRNA can be dysregulated by PCV2 infection and play an important role in PCV2-modulated inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Runt‐related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) plays an important role in bone metabolism; however, the relationship between Runx2 and periodontitis remains unclear. We investigated Runx2 expression in the gingiva of patients to explore its role in periodontitis. Methods: Gingival samples of patients were collected, including healthy samples (control group) and periodontitis samples (P group). Periodontitis samples were divided into three groups based on the periodontitis stage. Samples with stage I and grade B periodontitis were in the P1 group, stage II and grade B in the P2 group, and stage III or IV and grade B in the P3 group. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were performed to detect Runx2 levels. The probing (PD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL) were recorded. Results: Runx2 expression levels in the P and P3 groups were higher than those in the control group. In addition, Runx2 expression was positively correlated with CAL and PD (r1 = 0.435, r2 = 0.396). Conclusion: The high expression level of Runx2 in the gingiva of patients with periodontitis may be correlated with the pathogenesis of periodontitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This manuscript studies a finite-time tracking problem of switched stochastic nonlinear uncertain systems. By utilizing a comparison theorem and a mean value theorem of integrals, a significant finite-time stability criterion for stochastic nonlinear systems is first set up. Then, combining a common Lyapunov function method and an adaptive fuzzy control approach, a novel common control scheme is formed. Under the proposed adaptive mechanism, the system performance is achieved in finite-time. By using the universal approximation ability, the nonlinear functions and their bounding functions may be completely unknown to the designer, which is more in line with reality than the existing finite-time researches for stochastic nonlinear systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We performed time-course RNA sequencing of the PK-15 cells infected with a recombinant strain PRV-Becker-GFP to study the dynamic competition between the host and the virus. • At early stage of infection (3 hpi), our results suggested that the activation of cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway might play a role in recognition of PRV, and the activation of NF-kappa B signaling pathway and TNF signaling pathway might be involved in immune response against the virus. • Our data indicated the fatty acid degradation pathway was significantly downregulated during late stage of infection (9 hpi), which was likely to accumulate fatty acids for viral envelope synthesis. Pseudorabies is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the pseudorabies virus (PRV), and it is one of the most devastating diseases for the swine industry worldwide. However, the host-virus interaction and virus-related host factors at the mRNA level in virus natural host (pig) cells, are not fully understood. Here, we performed time-course RNA sequencing of the PK-15 cells infected with a recombinant strain PRV-Becker-GFP to study the dynamic competition between the host and the virus. At early stage of infection (3 hpi), our results suggested that the activation of cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway might play a role in recognition of PRV, and the activation of NF-kappa B signaling pathway and TNF signaling pathway might be involved in immune response against the virus. However, all these pathways were subsequently inhibited by PRV. Additionally, our data indicated the fatty acid degradation pathway was significantly downregulated during late stage of infection (9 hpi), which was likely to accumulate fatty acids for viral envelope synthesis. Moreover, we verified the expression of 5 representative genes (ALDH1B1, ACAA2, ACSL3, ADH5 , and EHHADH) related to fatty acid degradation pathway by RT-qPCR. Overall, our findings provide valuable information to better understand host-virus interactions and the immune escape mechanism of PRV-Becker as a virulent strain, offering novel targets for porcine anti-PRV breeding research and potential clinical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This work is aimed at revealing the role and the molecular mechanism of connective tissue growth factor 2 (CTGF) in the osteoblast differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs). Methods. The osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs was induced by osteogenic induction medium (OM), and the expression level of osteogenic related proteins ALP, RUNX2, OCN, and CTGF was estimated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting analysis. We constructed cell lines with CTGF overexpression or knockdown to verify the role of CTGF in the osteoblast differentiation of PDLSCs. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining was introduced to measure the osteoblasts activity, and alizarin red S (ARS) staining was employed to test matrix mineralization. The interaction between CTGF and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) was determined by endogenous coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP). Results. The expression level of CTGF was increased during the osteogenic induction of PDLSCs. Additionally, CTGF overexpression effectively maintained the stemness and facilitated the osteoblast differentiation in PDLSCs, and CTGF knockdown exerted opposite effects. Moreover, at molecular mechanism, CTGF increased the activity of BMP-2/Smad signaling pathway. Conclusion. This investigation verified that CTGF promotes the osteoblast differentiation in PDLSCs at least partly by activating BMP-2/Smad cascade signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) is a significant zoonotic microorganism that causes a severe illness in both pigs and humans and is characterized by severe meningitis and septicemia. Suilysin (SLY), which is secreted by S. suis , plays a crucial role as a virulence factor in the disease. To date, the interaction between SLY and host cells is not fully understood. In this study, we identified the interacting proteins between SLY and human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) using the TurboID-mediated proximity labeling method. 251 unique proteins were identified in TurboID-SLY treated group, of which six plasma membrane proteins including ARF6, GRK6, EPB41L5, DSC1, TJP2, and PNN were identified. We found that the proteins capable of interacting with SLY are ARF6 and PNN. Subsequent investigations revealed that ARF6 substantially increased the invasive ability of S. suis in HBMECs. Furthermore, ARF6 promoted SLY-induced the activation of p38 MAPK signaling pathway in HBMECs. Moreover, ARF6 promoted the apoptosis in HBMECs through the activation of p38 MAPK signaling pathway induced by SLY. Finally, we confirmed that ARF6 could increase the virulence of SLY in C57BL/6 mice. These findings offer valuable insights that contribute to a deeper understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of SLY. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) continues to be a major cause of visual impairment and blindness in premature infants and children. Objectives: To investigate the incidence of severe ROP receiving treatment in extremely preterm (EP) infants in China over time. The risk factors for ROP treatment were also assessed. Methods: This was a multicentre retrospective study and a subanalysis of baseline data from the "Outcomes of EP infants in China 2010–2019" study. This study was conducted in 68 tertiary neonatal care centres from 31 provinces of China. Infants with a gestational age of 230–276 weeks and admitted to a neonatal unit within the first 72 h of life between 2010 and 2019 were enrolled. Incidence of ROP was analysed in infants who survived to 32 weeks postmenstrual age and screened for ROP. Multivariable modified Poisson regression models were used to identify risk factors for ROP treatment. Results: Among 7295 eligible infants, 4701 (64.5%) survived to 32 weeks postmenstrual age and met ROP screening criteria. Of the 3756 infants who screened and with ROP data, 2320 (61.8%) developed ROP of any stage. The overall incidence of ROP treatment was 12.6%, decreasing from 45.5% at 23 weeks to 8.3% at 27 weeks. During the 10‐year period, the incidence of ROP treatment did not change, although the incidence of any ROP increased over time. Independent risk factors associated with ROP treatment included lower gestational age, small for gestational age, multiple birth, severe intraventricular haemorrhage, patent ductus arteriosus and supplemental oxygen duration. Conclusions: The incidence of EP infants receiving ROP treatment showed no change during this 10‐year period in China. Prevention of prematurity and foetal growth restriction, judicious use of oxygen and reducing comorbidities are promising factors that may reduce the incidence of ROP needing treatment in these high‐risk infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curdlan is widely applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries. This review focuses on the biosynthetic pathways, regulatory mechanisms and metabolic engineering strategies for curdlan production. Firstly, curdlan biosynthesis is discussed. Furthermore, various strategies to increase curdlan production are summarized from four aspects, including the overexpression of genes for curdlan biosynthesis, weakening/knockdown of genes from competing pathways, increasing the supply of curdlan precursors, and optimization of fermentation conditions. Moreover, the emerging and advanced applications of curdlan are introduced. Finally, the challenges that are frequently encountered during curdlan biosynthesis are noted with a discussion of directions for curdlan production. • Mechanisms that regulate curdlan biosynthesis are described. • Strategies for increasing the supply of precursors for curdlan synthesis are analyzed. • Applications of curdlan in the food and pharmaceutical industries are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wide application of clean energy has promoted the development of microgrids. For direct current (DC) microgrids, power fluctuations are inevitable, because photovoltaics, wind power and other clean energy sources are very unstable, which will bring great trouble to DC microgrids. Hybrid energy storage systems (HESS) are an effective solution to suppress power fluctuations. For a HESS composed of battery and supercapacitor (SC), a low-pass filter is usually used to allocate energy and power requirements to each energy storage unit, but the filter constant of the filter cannot be dynamically adjusted to adapt to different situations. The low-pass filter compensation coefficient used in this paper will change with the state of charge and discharge and dynamically change and allocate different power requirements to the battery and SC according to the actual operating conditions of the HESS. The objective function of DC bus power fluctuation is established, and the optimized particle swarm algorithm (PSO) is used to obtain the output power coefficient of each energy storage unit. The output coefficient of the HESS control strategy has the characteristics of fast convergence speed and high computational efficiency in the optimization process, and it will not fall into the local optimal solution. Through the design experiment, the SC can withstand more high-frequency components, fully utilize the advantages of SC with fast response to power fluctuations, improve the performance of HESS and have great engineering application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofitration was successfully applied to treat air streams containing a mixture of ethyl acetate and toluene. The experiment was performed by two identical bench-scale biofilters, which were acclimated by ethyl acetate and toluene, respectively. During a 3 month steady-state performance, the two biofilters showed equivalent elimination capacity (EC) for toluene (50 g/m3 bed/h of pure toluene). However, the biofilter acclimated with ethyl acetate showed a much higher EC for ethyl acetate (400 g/m3 bed/h of pure ethyl acetate) than that acclimated with toluene (250 g/m3 bed/h). The concurrent biofiltration of toluene was inhibited by the presence of ethyl acetate. The results also showed that more nitrogen and phosphorus were consumed in the process of the biofiltration of toluene compared with the treatment of ethyl acetate. After the 3 month experiment, the pH of the media treating ethyl acetate dropped from 6.71 to 5.50, whereas the pH of the media treating toluene increased from 6.71 to 7.08. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Vitamin K2 (menaquinone, MK) is an essential lipid-soluble vitamin with critical roles in blood coagulation and bone metabolism. Chemically, the term vitamin K2 encompasses a group of small molecules that contain a common naphthoquinone head group and a polyisoprenyl side chain of variable length. Among them, menaquinone-7 (MK-7) is the most potent form. Here, the biosynthetic pathways of vitamin K2 and different types of MK produced by microorganisms are briefly introduced. Further, we provide a new aspect of MK-7 production, which shares a common naphthoquinone ring and polyisoprene biosynthesis pathway, by analyzing strategies for expanding the product spectrum. We review the findings of metabolic engineering strategies targeting the shikimate pathway, polyisoprene pathway, and menaquinone pathway, as well as membrane engineering, which provide comprehensive insights for enhancing the yield of MK-7. Finally, the current limitations and perspectives of microbial menaquinone production are also discussed. This article provides in-depth information on metabolic engineering strategies for vitamin K2 production by expanding the product spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adaptive decentralized output-feedback control problem is investigated for a class of pure-feedback large-scale nonlinear systems with mismatched uncertainties, unknown dead-zones and unknown virtual control coefficients. At the same time, the nonlinear interconnections involve time-varying delays. Because only output information can be obtained, a state observer is constructed first. By using the infinite approximation ability of the radial basis function neural networks, the difficulty caused by the unknown nonlinearities is successfully overcome. Based on the appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functions, the time-delay terms are compensated. The unknown virtual control coefficients are disposed by the convex combination method. By combining the backstepping technique with decentralized control principle, the adaptive neural decentralized output-feedback controllers are constructed to guarantee all the signals of the resulting closed-loop systems are bounded. And meanwhile, the error signals can converge to a small neighborhood of the origin. The simulation examples are provided to test our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytase is an additive in animal feed that degrades phytic acid in plant material, reducing feeding costs, and pollution from fecal phosphorus excretion. A multistrategy approach was adopted to improve the expression of E. coli phytase in Pichia pastoris. We determined that the most suitable signal peptide for phytase secretion was an α-factor secretion signal with an initial enzyme activity of 153.51 U/mL. Increasing the copy number of this gene to four increased phytase enzyme activity by 234.35%. PDI overexpression and Pep4 gene knockout increased extracellular phytase production by 35.33% and 26.64%, respectively. By combining favorable factors affecting phytase expression and secretion, the enzyme activity of the phytase-engineered strain was amplified 384.60% compared with that of the original strain. We also evaluated the potential for the industrial production of the engineered strain using a 50-L fed-batch fermenter and achieved a total activity of 30,246 U/mL after 180 h of fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dickkopf‐1 is an inhibitor of the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway, but the role of Dickkopf‐1 in oral submucous fibrosis remains unclear. We evaluated the protein expression and gene methylation levels of dickkopf‐1 to determine the mechanism underlying abnormal Wnt/β‐catenin pathway activation. Methods: Healthy mucosa, oral submucous fibrosis, oral squamous cell carcinoma, and cancer‐adjacent tissues were collected. The expression and promoter methylation levels of dickkopf‐1 were analyzed. Results: The expression levels of dickkopf‐1 in oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues were lower than those in healthy and cancer‐adjacent tissues. The methylation levels of the dickkopf‐1 gene in oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues were higher than those in healthy and cancer‐adjacent tissues. Dickkopf‐1 expression was negatively correlated with dickkopf‐1 gene methylation. Conclusions: High dickkopf‐1 methylation levels in oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues may decrease dickkopf‐1 expression, which may induce an abnormal activation of the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway and oral submucous fibrosis pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet demands for fresh flavor and unique taste from beer consumer, there is an increase in the popularity of craft beer, which is more susceptible to microbial contamination than the industry beer. A beer‐spoilage strain was isolated from craft beer and identified as Staphylococcus xylosus strain BS7. The isolate BS7 showed that high beer‐spoilage ability at low temperature (4°C), low pH (4.0) and high ethanol concentration (7.0%, v/v). Compared with the other known strains of S. xylosus, strain BS7 was resistant to hop compounds and had an evolutionary stability in hop resistance. Strain BS7 was able to grow quickly and utilizes nutrients in commercial beer, produces organic acids and biogenic amines, and changes beer flavor profile. These results suggest that S. xylosus strain BS7 is a beer‐spoilage strain with the danger, which can lead to the beer‐spoilage issues during craft beer production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work explores utilization of a priori model knowledge to achieve better control performance of iterative learning control systems. Two specific discrete-time adaptive iterative learning control approaches are proposed for different control cases to exactly utilize known information in order to improve control performance. In more detail, a novel time-difference estimator based discrete-time adaptive iterative learning control system is proposed for a time-invariant parametric uncertain system, and a mixed-difference estimator based discrete-time adaptive iterative learning control is proposed for a hybrid parametric uncertain system. Both of these control methods are shown to perform well even though the initial states and the reference trajectories vary randomly along the iteration direction. We show that superior control performance can be achieved compared with the existing iteration-difference estimator based discrete-time adaptive iterative learning control systems by applying the two proposed control methods, which fully utilize known information about the model. Mathematical proof and a simulation study on a permanent magnet linear motor verify the efficiency of the proposed discrete-time adaptive iterative learning control approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adaptive tracking control strategy is investigated for a class of multi-input and multi-output pure-feedback nonlinear delayed systems with unknown dead-zone inputs. This problem is challenging due to the existence of unknown dead zones, time-varying delays and unavoidable state variables. By constructing fuzzy approximators and state observers, the difficulties from unknown nonlinearities and unavailable state variables are surmounted, respectively. Lyapunov-Krasovskii functions are introduced to deal with the time-varying delays. The adaptive controllers are designed by a backstepping method and adaptive technique so that the closed-loop systems remain stable and the target signals can be tracked within a small error as well. At last, two examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells (DCs) contain heterogeneous populations, with classical DCs developed at steady state and monocyte-derived DCs mobilized under inflammatory conditions, although their total numbers in vivo are scares. To obtain enough quantity for immunological study or clinical application, we have previously established that bone marrow-derived DCs in the presence of Flt-3L (FL-DCs) or GM-CSF (GM-DCs) in vitro are equivalent to the steady state DCs and inflammatory DCs in vivo respectively. What difference, however, exists between these two most commonly used culture systems in DC functions and survival, and how does it correlate to the division of works by their corresponding counterparts in vivo remain ill-defined. In this study, we found that GM-DCs of inflammatory nature were more phagocytic, potent at inducing Th2 and Th17 differentiation, and had longer survival rate, whereas FL-DCs of steady state characters were stronger T cell activator and better at directing Th1 differentiation. Mechanistically, NO production induced by the LPS-activated GM-DCs could partly explain for their failure to improve T cell proliferation, and the distinct T cell differentiation profiles and viability demonstrated by the two types of DCs were underpinned by their preferential secretion of T cell polarizing cytokines and expression of anti-apoptotic genes. Such disparate functionalities and survival potentials of steady state and inflammatory DCs in vitro fit in well with their respective roles in vivo in particular immunological settings and have serious implications in translational applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The nucleocapsid (N) protein is a major structural component of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), which is predicted to be a multifunctional protein in viral replication. Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNP A1) is a cellular protein participating in the splicing of pre-mRNA in the nucleus and translation regulation in the cytoplasm. According to our previous proteomic study about PEDV infection in vivo, hnRNP A1 was thought to be a cellular factor influencing PEDV replication. In this report, PEDV N protein was discovered to colocalize with cellular hnRNP A1 in perinuclear region of PEDV infected cells. Co-immunoprecipitation (CO-IP) results clearly demonstrated that PEDV N protein could bind to human hnRNP A1. Replication of PEDV was inhibited by silencing the expression of hnRNP A1 in CCL-81 cells, suggesting the positive effect of hnRNP A1 on PEDV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adaptive output-feedback control method is developed for a class of multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) delayed nonlinear systems which are subject to input saturated nonlinearities, modeling uncertainties and time delays. Because state variables are unobtainable, state observers are constructed first. And radial basis function (RBF) neural networks (NNs) are used as approximators to identify the unknown nonlinearities. Adaptive technique is applied to estimate the optimal weight vectors of the approximators. Backstepping method is used to construct the desired controllers. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, the proposed tracking control strategy ensure that all signals in the closed-loop systems are bounded and the target trajectories can be tracked within a enough small error as well. At last, numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates observer-based adaptive fuzzy control for a class of delayed nonlinear systems in pure-feedback form. We first proposed a linear observer to get the estimation of the system's state. And then utilise fuzzy logic systems to model those nonlinearities. Further, adaptive fuzzy approach and backstepping technique are combined to develop the desired controller via Lyapunov analysis. The suggested adaptive fuzzy control scheme ensures that all the signals of the resulting nonlinear system converge to a small neighbourhood of the origin. Then a real simulation is used to illustrated the effectiveness of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of adaptive practical finite‐time control is considered for a class of single‐input and single‐output non‐linear systems, in which the system non‐linear functions are assumed to be unknown. By combining adaptive fuzzy control approach with the backstepping technology, a backstepping‐based adaptive fuzzy finite‐time control scheme is proposed. In the control design procedure, fuzzy logic systems are employed to identify the non‐linear uncertainties. The stability analysis of the adaptive closed‐loop systems is proposed based on the finite‐time Lyapunov stability theory. The proposed adaptive fuzzy controller guarantees that all the closed signals are semi‐global practical finite‐time stability while the tracking error converges to a small neighbourhood of the origin. Finally, simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a tracking control issue for a class of switched stochastic systems with quantized input. To overcome the difficulty caused by the switching and quantization, a nonlinear decomposition strategy for quantizer is firstly proposed, then by using the common Lyapunov function method, a systematic adaptive control scheme is presented. It is proved that, under the proposed control scheme, the good control performance is obtained although influenced by the effect of switching and quantization. Furthermore, the validity of the proposed control scheme is verified by the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about how health behaviors cluster to form meaningful patterns that influence health outcomes in young adult nursing students. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the unique health behavior patterns among young adult nursing students in China and examine the associations between health behaviors and chronic diseases. Methods: Using an electronic app, the achievements of an exercise target, sedentary behavior, smoking and drinking, and dietary patterns were assessed in 1,480 nursing student participants aged 18–24 years from two medical universities in Eastern China. Results: A four-class model was developed using latent class analysis that included the "failure to achieve exercise target, alcohol-drinking, and insufficient fruit and vegetable group" (Group 1, n = 187, 12.6%), the "alcohol-drinking and sedentary behavior group" (Group 2, n = 290, 19.6%), the "sedentary behavior only group" (Group 3, n = 721, 48.7%), and the "failure to achieve exercise target only group" (Group 4, n = 282, 19.1%). Logistic regressions indicated that nursing students in Group 2 (odds ratio [ OR ] = 0.42), Group 3 (OR = 0.51), and Group 4 (OR = 0.30) were less likely to have chronic diseases than those in Group 1 after adjusting for sociodemographic variables. Conclusions: The health behaviors were clustered in different patterns among young adult nursing students. Tailoring interventions to specific groups is suggested to improve health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the issue of adaptive neural output-feedback control for a class of nonlinear pure-feedback systems. A state observer is first constructed to estimate the unmeasurable state variables. Radial basis function (RBF) neural networks (NNs) are used to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions and backstepping adaptive technique is utilized to construct controller. The proposed control scheme guarantees semi-globally uniformly ultimate boundedness (SGUUB) of all the signals in the closed-loop system. At last, a simulation example is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Influenza Incidence Surveillance Project (IISP) monitored outpatient acute respiratory infection (ARI; defined as the presence of ≥ 2 respiratory symptoms not meeting ILI criteria) and influenza-like illness (ILI) to determine the incidence and contribution of associated viral etiologies.Methods: From August 2010 through July 2011, 57 outpatient healthcare providers in 12 US sites reported weekly the number of visits for ILI and ARI and collected respiratory specimens on a subset for viral testing. The incidence was estimated using the number of patients in the practice as the denominator, and the virus-specific incidence of clinic visits was extrapolated from the proportion of patients testing positive.Results: The age-adjusted cumulative incidence of outpatient visits for ARI and ILI combined was 95/1000 persons, with a viral etiology identified in 58% of specimens. Most frequently detected were rhinoviruses/enteroviruses (RV/EV) (21%) and influenza viruses (21%); the resulting extrapolated incidence of outpatient visits was 20 and 19/1000 persons respectively. The incidence of influenza virus-associated clinic visits was highest among patients aged 2-17 years, whereas other viruses had varied patterns among age groups.Conclusions: The IISP provides a unique opportunity to estimate the outpatient respiratory illness burden by etiology. Influenza virus infection and RV/EV infection(s) represent a substantial burden of respiratory disease in the US outpatient setting, particularly among children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The Influenza Incidence Surveillance Project (IISP) monitored outpatient acute respiratory infection (ARI; defined as the presence of ≥2 respiratory symptoms not meeting ILI criteria) and influenza-like illness (ILI) to determine the incidence and contribution of associated viral etiologies.Methods. From August 2010 through July 2011, 57 outpatient healthcare providers in 12 US sites reported weekly the number of visits for ILI and ARI and collected respiratory specimens on a subset for viral testing. The incidence was estimated using the number of patients in the practice as the denominator, and the virus-specific incidence of clinic visits was extrapolated from the proportion of patients testing positive.Results. The age-adjusted cumulative incidence of outpatient visits for ARI and ILI combined was 95/1000 persons, with a viral etiology identified in 58% of specimens. Most frequently detected were rhinoviruses/enteroviruses (RV/EV) (21%) and influenza viruses (21%); the resulting extrapolated incidence of outpatient visits was 20 and 19/1000 persons respectively. The incidence of influenza virus-associated clinic visits was highest among patients aged 2–17 years, whereas other viruses had varied patterns among age groups.Conclusions. The IISP provides a unique opportunity to estimate the outpatient respiratory illness burden by etiology. Influenza virus infection and RV/EV infection(s) represent a substantial burden of respiratory disease in the US outpatient setting, particularly among children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the applicability of family stress model of economic hardship on understanding child development among African American families. Correlation between economic hardship and economic pressure in families; Influence of economic hardship on behavior of parents and caregivers; Impact of income on family process and child adjustment.

For the last decade, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) variant strains have caused severe damage to the global pig industry. Until now, no effective antivirals have been developed for the therapeutic treatment of PEDV infection. In the present study, we found that quercetin significantly suppressed PEDV infection at noncytotoxic concentrations. A molecular docking study indicated that quercetin might bind the active site and binding pocket of PEDV 3C-like protease (3CLpro). Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis revealed that quercetin exhibited a binding affinity to PEDV 3CLpro. Based on the results of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) assay, quercetin was proven to exert an inhibitory effect on PEDV 3CLpro. Since coronavirus 3CLpro is an important drug target and participates in the viral replication process, quercetin should be developed as a novel drug in the control of PEDV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]