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The increasing size and complexity of data provided by both ongoing and planned galaxy surveys greatly contribute to our understanding of galaxy evolution. Deep learning methods are particularly well suited for handling the complex and massive data. We train a convolutional neural network (CNN) to simultaneously predict the stellar populations in galaxies: age, metallicity, colour excess E (B − V), and central velocity dispersion (VD) using spectra with redshift ≤ 0.3 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This is the first time to use spectra based on deep learning to derive the four galaxy properties. The testing results show that our CNN predictions of galaxy properties are in good consistent with values by the traditional stellar population synthesis method with little scatters (0.11 dex for age and metallicity, 0.018 mag for E (B − V), and 31 km s−1 for VD). In terms of the computational time, our method reduces by more than 10 times compared to traditional method. We further evaluate the performance of our CNN prediction model using spectra with different signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns), redshifts, and spectral classes. We find that our model generally exhibits good performance, although the errors at different S/Ns, redshifts, and spectral classes vary slightly. Our well-trained CNN model and related codes are publicly available on https://github.com/sddzwll/CNNforStellarp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyapatite(HA) has received more and more attention as a drug carrier due to its excellent biocompatibility and bioactivity. However, the poor biodegradability of HA, low drug loading and uncontrollable release rate limits its application. In this paper, in order to study the effect of different HA and tricalcium phosphate (β‐TCP) phase contents on the drug release performance of the composite, co precipitation template method was used to prepare the composite with different Ca/P ratios (1.5~1.63) using polystyrene colloids as templates, and the Ca/P ratio which had the greatest effect on its morphology was selected. With the ibuprofen (IBU) as the drug model, the results showed that the IBU‐loading performance of the composite was significantly better than that of the ordered‐porous pure phase HA. When the Ca/P ratio was 1.5, the composite had the highest adsorption capacity for IBU, reaching 94.5 mg/g. In vitro release tests revealed that IBU release rates from composites with different Ca/P ratios were slower than those from pure‐phase HA in the initial 10 h, and reached the release equilibrium after the subsequent 30 h. Then, when the Ca/P ratio was 1.5, the composite had a cumulative release rate of 86.35 % for IBU. The loading and slow release properties of this ordered porous HA/β‐TCP composite for IBU make it a potential candidate for controlled release of IBU in the future." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, non-fullerene-based organic solar cells (OSCs) have made great breakthroughs, and small structural differences can have dramatic impacts on the power conversion efficiency (PCE). We take ITIC and its isomers as examples to study their effects on the performance of OSCs. ITIC and NFBDT only differed in the side chain position, and they were used as models with the same donor molecule, PBDB-T, to investigate the main reasons for the difference in their performance in terms of theoretical methods. In this work, a detailed comparative analysis of the electronic structure, absorption spectra, open circuit voltage and interfacial parameters of the ITIC and NFBDT systems was performed mainly by combining the density functional theory/time-dependent density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations. The results showed that the lowest excited state of the ITIC molecule possessed a larger ∆q and more hybrid FE/CT states, and PBDB-T/ITIC had more charge separation paths as well as a larger kCS and smaller kCR. The reason for the performance difference between PBDB-T/ITIC and PBDB-T/NFBDT was elucidated, suggesting that ITIC is a superior acceptor based on a slight modulation of the side chain and providing a guiding direction for the design of superior-performing small molecule acceptor materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To establish an animal model of delayed intravenous resuscitation following seawater immersion after hemorrhagic shock (HS). Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: group NI (HS with no immersion), group SI (HS with skin immersion), and group VI (HS with visceral immersion). Controlled HS in rats was induced by withdrawing 45% of the calculated total blood volume within 30 min. In SI group, immediately after blood loss, 0.5 cm below the xiphoid process was immersed in artificial seawater, at (23 ± 1) °C, for 30 min. In VI group, the rats were performed by laparotomy and the abdominal organs were immersed in (23 ± 1) °C seawater for 30 min. Two hours after seawater immersion, the extractive blood and lactated Ringer's solution were delivered intravenously. The mean arterial pressure (MAP), lactate, and other biological parameters were investigated in different time points. The survival rate of 24 h after HS was recorded. After seawater immersion following HS, MAP and abdominal viscera blood flow decreased significantly, and the plasma levels of lactate and the organ function parameters were increased than the baseline. The above changes in VI group were more serious than those in SI and NI group, especially in myocardial and small intestine damage. The hypothermia, hypercoagulation, and metabolic acidosis were also observed after seawater immersion; the injury was more severely in VI group than that of SI group. However, the plasma levels of sodium, potassium, chlorine, and calcium in VI group were significantly higher than those before injury and in the other two groups. In the VI group, the level of plasma osmolality in instant, 2 h, and 5 h after immersion was 111%, 109%, and 108% of the SI group, respectively, all P < 0.01. The 24-h survival rate of VI group was 25%, which was significantly lower than that of SI group (50%) and NI group (70%), P < 0.05. The model fully simulated the key damage factors and field treatment conditions, reflected the effects of low temperature and hypertonic damage caused by seawater immersion on the severity and prognosis of naval combat wounds, and provided a practical and reliable animal model for the study of field treatment technology of marine combat shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyapatite/tricalcium phosphate (HA/β‐TCP) has been widely studied as a drug carrier, but the drug loading and release rate of the composites with different morphology significantly vary. In this paper, needle‐shaped, rod‐shaped, and ordered porous HA/β‐TCP composite was prepared by chemical co‐precipitation method, and ibuprofen (IBU) was used as a drug model to study the sustained‐release properties of IBU in vitro. The results showed that morphology of the HA/β‐TCP composite had a significant effect on the drug loading of IBU. The IBU loading of the ordered porous composite was as high as 101.3 mg/g, which was 2.2 times and 3.46 times higher than that of the rod‐shaped and needle‐shaped composite to IBU, respectively. The drug release test of IBU showed that the release rate of the ordered porous HA/β‐TCP to IBU was slower than that of the rod‐shaped and needle‐shaped composite in the initial 10 h, and reached the drug release equilibrium after the subsequent 30 h. The cumulative release of the ordered porous HA/β‐TCP composite to IBU reached 83.79 %, which was significantly smaller than that of the needle‐shaped and the rod‐shaped, showing better slow‐release performance for IBU. The ordered porous HA/β‐TCP composite have great application potential in quantitative drug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two-photon absorption (TPA) spectra of gallium corroles are reported firstly. • The TPA intensities of gallium corroles increase in polar solvent. • The absence of one penta-fluorophenyl group leads to a TPA enhancement. • The introduction of sulfonated groups results in a decrease in TPA intensity. Corrole can offer the advantages of strong optical nonlinearity and fast optical response, because of its highly conjugated π-electron distribution and the reduced symmetry as compared to porphyrin, and it has been studied as a new kind of nonlinear optical materials recently. Gallium corroles are highly fluorescent, of which the two-photon excited emission may facilitate the treatment of deep-seated tumors. This is the first report of two-photon absorption (TPA) spectrum of corrole gallium complex, and single- and two-photon absorption properties of three gallium corroles (F10Ga, F15Ga, and F15GaS) have been studied to explore the effects of solvent and peripheral substituent on the TPA properties of gallium corrole. Larger TPA intensities of F10Ga and F15Ga are obtained in polar solvent DMF compared to nonpolar solvent toluene. The introduction of two sulfonated groups results in a decrease in TPA intensity, which may be associated with an increase in symmetry. Nonplanar distortion produced for the absence of one penta-fluorophenyl group however leads to a TPA enhancement. These results may be instructive for the development of corroles to be used in the areas of cancer diagnosis and therapy. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a stochastic general epidemic model with relapse, graded cure and nonlinear incidence rate. We show the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution for the model under some mild conditions. We also give some sufficient conditions for ensuring the existence of an ergodic stationary distribution for the model. Moreover, we analyse the extinction of the disease described by the model. Finally, we provide some numerical simulations to illustrate our main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • LT-630 is a new HDAC6 inhibitor, which has good HDAC6 inhibition activity. • LT-630 exerts protective effect on liver injury induced by APAP in vivo. • LT-630 can improve the acetylation level of MDH1. Glutathione (GSH) depletion, mitochondrial damage, and oxidative stress have been implicated in the pathogenesis of acetaminophen (APAP) hepatotoxicity. Here, we demonstrated that the expression of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is highly elevated, whereas malate dehydrogenase 1 (MDH1) is downregulated in liver tissues and AML-12 cells induced by APAP. The therapeutic benefits of LT-630, a novel HDAC6 inhibitor on APAP-induced liver injury, were also substantiated. On this basis, we demonstrated that LT-630 improved the protein expression and acetylation level of MDH1. Furthermore, after overexpression of MDH1, an upregulated NADPH/NADP+ ratio and GSH level and decreased cell apoptosis were observed in APAP-stimulated AML-12 cells. Importantly, MDH1 siRNA clearly reversed the protection of LT-630 on APAP-stimulated AML-12 cells. In conclusion, LT-630 could ameliorate liver injury by modulating MDH1-mediated oxidative stress induced by APAP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate the single- and multiple-dose pharmacokinetics of chelerythrine (CHE) and its metabolite, dihydrochelerythrine (DHCHE), after oral and IM administrations in pigs. Six crossbreed (Landrace × Large White) female pigs (7–8 weeks old; 24.1 ± 2.6 kg bw) administered oral and IM CHE at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg orally and intramuscularly in a cross-over design. Multiple oral administration was performed at 0.1 mg/kg a time, three times a day at 8-h intervals for three consecutive days. Blood samples were collected from the anterior vena cava and placed into heparinized centrifuge tubes before dosing (time 0 h) and at different times after oral and IM administrations. Pre-treatment plasma was analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. After IM administration, CHE and DHCHE rapidly reached peak concentrations (Cmax, 69.79 ± 15.41 and 3.47 ± 1.23 ng/mL) at 0.42 ± 0.13 and 0.33 ± 0.13 h, respectively. After single oral administration, CHE and DHCHE rapidly increased to reach Cmax of 5.04 ± 1.00 and 1.21 ± 0.35 ng/mL at 1.83 ± 0.26 and 1.67 ± 0.26 h, respectively. The half-life (T1/2) was 2.03 ± 0.26 and 2.56 ± 1.00 h for CHE and DHCHE, respectively. After multiple oral administration, the average steady-state concentrations (Css) of CHE and DHCHE were 2.51 ± 0.40 and 0.6 ± 0.06 ng/mL, respectively. CHE is metabolized rapidly after a single oral administration, multiple daily doses and long-term use of CHE are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Accumulating evidence has implicated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in glioma progression. Here, we aimed to explore the potential roles of a novel lncRNA, LINC00355, in glioma and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. Methods. RT-PCR was used to examine the relative expressions of LINC00355 in glioma cell lines and specimen samples. The clinicopathological and prognostic significances of LINC00355 in glioma patients were statistically analyzed. To determine cell activities, CCK-8, clonogenic assays, flow cytometry, migration, and invasion assays were performed. Moreover, the potential mechanisms of LINC00355 were investigated by bioinformatics assays and luciferase reporter assays. Results. LINC00355 expression was increased in glioma cell lines and specimens, and higher LINC00355 expression predicted advanced clinical progress and reduced overall survival and disease-free survival in glioma patients. Functionally, LINC00355 depletion promoted cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in glioma cells and induced apoptosis of glioma cells, whereas LINC00355 upregulation resulted in the opposite effects in vitro. Mechanistic assays revealed that LINC00355 as a sponge for miR-1225 repressed fibronectin type III domain-containing 3B (FNDC3B) expressions. Conclusion. Our findings revealed the tumor-promotive roles of LINC00355 in the progression of glioma, indicating that LINC00355 exhibited ceRNA functions via modulating miR-1225/FNDC3B axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the predictive ability of high-throughput MRI with deep survival networks for biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer (PCa) after prostatectomy. Methods: Clinical-MRI and histopathologic data of 579 (train/test, 463/116) PCa patients were retrospectively collected. The deep survival network (iBCR-Net) is based on stepwise processing operations, which first built an MRI radiomics signature (RadS) for BCR, and predicted the T3 stage and lymph node metastasis (LN+) of tumour using two predefined AI models. Subsequently, clinical, imaging and histopathological variables were integrated into iBCR-Net for BCR prediction. Results: RadS, derived from 2554 MRI features, was identified as an independent predictor of BCR. Two predefined AI models achieved an accuracy of 82.6% and 78.4% in staging T3 and LN+. The iBCR-Net, when expressed as a presurgical model by integrating RadS, AI-diagnosed T3 stage and PSA, can match a state-of-the-art histopathological model (C-index, 0.81 to 0.83 vs 0.79 to 0.81, p > 0.05); and has maximally 5.16-fold, 12.8-fold, and 2.09-fold (p < 0.05) benefit to conventional D'Amico score, the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA) score and the CAPRA Postsurgical score. Conclusions: AI-aided iBCR-Net using high-throughput MRI can predict PCa BCR accurately and thus may provide an alternative to the conventional method for PCa risk stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Morule-like component (MLC) was a rare structure in primary lung adenocarcinoma. We aimed to reveal the clinicopathological, radiological, immunohistochemical, and molecular features of lung adenocarcinoma with MLCs. Methods. Twenty lung adenocarcinomas with MLCs were collected, and computed tomographic and histological documents were reviewed. Immunohistochemistry, targeted next-generation sequencing, and Sanger sequencing for β-catenin gene were performed. Results. There were 9 lepidic adenocarcinomas, 8 acinar adenocarcinomas, 2 papillary adenocarcinomas, and 1 minimally invasive adenocarcinoma. Most patients (16/17) were shown a pure solid nodule, and 1 patient was shown a partly solid nodule on chest computed tomography (CT). Nine cases were accompanied with micropapillary components, and 3 were with cribriform components in which 2 suffered a worse prognosis. No significant association was found between the MCLs and the overall survival of lung adenocarcinoma (P = 0.109). The MLCs were often arranged in whorled or streaming patterns. The cells in MLCs showed syncytial and mild appearance. The MLCs were positive for E-cadherin, CK7, TTF-1, napsin-A, vimentin, and β-catenin (membrane), and negative for CK5/6, p40, p63, Synaptophysin, chromogranin A, and Cdx-2. EGFR mutation, ALK-EML4 fusion, HER2 amplification, and PIK3CA mutation were detected in 16 cases, 2 cases, 1 case, and 1 case, respectively. EGFR mutation was more frequent in adenocarcinomas with MLCs than those without MLCs (P = 0.040). β-catenin gene mutation was not detected in any patients. Conclusions. MLC is often observed in the background of acinar, lepidic, and papillary adenocarcinomas. Lung adenocarcinomas with MLCs tend to appear as a solid mass on CT and harbor EGFR gene mutations. The micropapillary components and cribriform components may cause poor prognosis of lung adenocarcinomas with MLCs. Vimentin is always positive in MLCs, and it is a useful marker for the identification of MLCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrequent behaviors of business process refer to behaviors that occur in very exceptional cases, and their occurrence frequency is low as their required conditions are rarely fulfilled. Hence, a strong coupling relationship between infrequent behavior and data flow exists. Furthermore, some infrequent behaviors may reveal very important information about the process. Thus, not all infrequent behaviors should be disregarded as noise, and identifying infrequent but correct behaviors in the event log is vital to process mining from the perspective of data flow. Existing process mining approaches construct a process model from frequent behaviors in the event log, mostly concentrating on control flow only, without considering infrequent behavior and data flow information. In this paper, we focus on data flow to extract infrequent but correct behaviors from logs. For an infrequent trace, frequent patterns and interactive behavior profiles are combined to find out which part of the behavior in the trace occurs in low frequency. And, conditional dependency probability is used to analyze the influence strength of the data flow information on infrequent behavior. An approach for identifying effective infrequent behaviors based on the frequent pattern under data awareness is proposed correspondingly. Subsequently, an optimization approach for mining of process models with infrequent behaviors integrating data flow and control flow is also presented. The experiments on synthetic and real-life event logs show that the proposed approach can distinguish effective infrequent behaviors from noise compared with others. The proposed approaches greatly improve the fitness of the mined process model without significantly decreasing its precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron and proton transfer reactions are essential elements in water oxidation by the oxygen‐evolving complex of photosystem II. To date manganese(V)–oxo corrole has successfully mimicked the oxygen evolution reaction. We report here ultrafast intramolecular electron transfer (ET) in corrole manganese (Mn) complexes. With femtosecond spectroscopy, the evolutions of transient absorption spectra of three kinds of Mn(V)–oxo corroles were measured. A ∼0.17 ps ET process has been observed in (OHF10C)MnV(O) after photoexcitation at 400 nm, which is absent for (F15C)MnV(O) and (F10C)MnV(O). The back ET is different from that of Mn(III) corrole ((OHF10C)MnIII), being a ∼12.3 ps ET followed by a very long ground‐state recovery. The mechanism of the ET observed in (OHF10C)MnV(O) has been discussed. The result reveals that the natural O−O bond formation may include ultrafast ET among the calcium‐ligated hydroxide, Mn(V), and the oxygen bound to the metal ion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-fullerene organic solar cells (OSCs) based on Y6 molecule have developed rapidly in recent years, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) varies greatly when the OSC device constructed by Y6 and donor molecules with small structural difference. In this work, the influence of six donor-acceptor (D-A) polymer donors on Y6 -based OSCs were focused. The ground-state properties (planarity, frontier molecular orbital energy levels, driving force), excited-state properties of donors (primary indicators, Coulomb attraction) and donor/acceptor interfaces (Frenkel excitation (FE) and charge transfer (CT) states, electron coupling and charge separation rates) were discussed. The results show that symmetrical alkyl chains in the acceptor unit is favorable for maintaining planarity of molecule, while fluorination induces twisting in the thiophene bridge and acceptor unit. And the investigated high-performance molecules have desirable driving force, smaller Coulomb attraction and significant degree of holes and electrons delocalization. Also, the highest-performance system has multiple charge transfer pathways, which can improve charge separation efficiency. At the same time, high-performance systems often have better planarity and more favorable substituent positions. The high-performance donor/ Y6 systems have more advantage in charge separation than the low-performance systems. This work provides a fundamental understanding of the impact of D-A type donor materials on the cell performance and theoretical guidance for further optimization of polymer donor materials in Y6 -based OSCs. [Display omitted] • The relationship between the structure of donors and the performance of Y6 -based devices has been theoretically investigated. • High-performance donors have desirable driving force, small Coulomb attraction and significant hole-electron delocalization. • Polymer donors with improved planarity has multiple charge transfer pathway and fast charge separation rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C23H24O3, orthorhombic, P212121 (no 19), a = 5.7576(2) Å, b = 7.7223(4) Å, c = 41.6710(16) Å, V = 1852.77(14) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0442, wRref(F2) = 0.1068, T = 170 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical chirality sensing has attracted a lot of interest due to its potential in high‐throughput screening in chirality analysis. A molecular sensor is required to convert the chirality of analytes into optical signals. Although many molecular sensors have been reported, sensors with wide substrate scope remain to be developed. Herein, we report that the amide naphthotube‐based chirality sensors have an unprecedented wide scope for chiroptical sensing of organic molecules. The substrates include, but are not limited to common organic products in asymmetric catalysis, chiral molecules with inert groups or remote functional groups from their chiral centers, natural products and their derivatives, and chiral drugs. The effective chirality sensing is based on biomimetic recognition in water and on effective chirality transfer through guest‐induced formation of a chiral conformation of the sensors. Furthermore, the sensors can be used in real‐time monitoring on reaction kinetics in water and in determining absolute configurations and ee values of the products in asymmetric catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical chirality sensing has attracted a lot of interest due to its potential in high‐throughput screening in chirality analysis. A molecular sensor is required to convert the chirality of analytes into optical signals. Although many molecular sensors have been reported, sensors with wide substrate scope remain to be developed. Herein, we report that the amide naphthotube‐based chirality sensors have an unprecedented wide scope for chiroptical sensing of organic molecules. The substrates include, but are not limited to common organic products in asymmetric catalysis, chiral molecules with inert groups or remote functional groups from their chiral centers, natural products and their derivatives, and chiral drugs. The effective chirality sensing is based on biomimetic recognition in water and on effective chirality transfer through guest‐induced formation of a chiral conformation of the sensors. Furthermore, the sensors can be used in real‐time monitoring on reaction kinetics in water and in determining absolute configurations and ee values of the products in asymmetric catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the platelet count may provide clues regarding the severity of liver disease, there are currently no available data supporting the utility of the platelet count to evaluate the degree of liver injury in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The present study aimed to determine the association between the platelet count and the severity of liver injury in patients with chronic HBV infection. A total of 941 patients were included and were stratified into a Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class A group and a CTP class B/C group using the CTP scoring system. A total of 53 patients underwent liver biopsy. The pathological stage F4 was defined as cirrhosis based on the METAVIR scoring system. Compared with that in patients with CTP class A, the platelet count in patients with CTP class B/C was lower (P<0.001). Similarly, for patients with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, the platelet count was significantly different between the CTP class B/C and A groups (P<0.001). The platelet count was inversely correlated with the CTP score (r=-0.420, P<0.001) and independently associated with CTP grade B/C [odds ratio (OR), 0.994; 95% CI, 0.990-0.999; P=0.009]. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the platelet count to distinguish CTP grade B/C from A was 0.712 and 0.791, respectively, in all patients with HBV infection and the subset with normal ALT levels. In addition, compared to patients with chronic hepatitis B, patients with cirrhosis had a lower platelet count and higher aspartate transaminase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4) (P<0.001). The platelet count was inversely correlated with FIB-4 (r=-0.855, P<0.001) and APRI (r=-0.741, P<0.001). The AUC for the platelet count to distinguish cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis B was 0.927 (sensitivity, 78.76%; specificity, 92.22%). Among patients who underwent liver biopsy, the platelet count in those with F4 was lower compared with that in patients with ≤F3 (P=0.013). The platelet count was inversely correlated with the pathological stage (r=-0.295, P=0.032) and was independently associated with F4 (OR, 0.978; 95% CI, 0.960-0.997; P=0.026). The AUC of the platelet count to distinguish F4 from patients with ≤F3 was 0.761. In conclusion, the platelet count may be used as a non-invasive marker to assess the severity of liver injury and of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic HBV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A coupled (2 + 1)-dimensional variable coefficient Ginzburg–Landau equation is studied. By virtue of the modified Hirota bilinear method, the bright one-soliton solution of the equation is derived. Some phenomena of soliton propagation are analyzed by setting different dispersion terms. The influences of the corresponding parameters on the solitons are also discussed. The results can enrich the soliton theory, and may be helpful in the manufacture of optical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyapatite(HA) are widely used in the field of drug delivery, especially nano‐HA and porous HA. However, there are few reports on the use of inverse opal HA as drug carrier. In this paper, based on the colloidal crystal template prepared by polystyrene microsphere with the diameter of 380 ± 10 nm, inverse opal HA was prepared by template method as the drug sustained‐release carrier using different dispersants and ratio of template to precursor. The results indicated that when the ratio of template to precursor was 1 : 15 and the dispersant was a mixture of water and alcohol, the prepared inverse opal HA showed a complete ordered porous morphology with uniform pore spacing. In the drug delivery test of amoxicillin, drug loading and release properties of the inverse opal HA were significantly better than that of nano‐HA. Drug loading of the inverse opal HA was about 2.17 times than that of nano‐HA, and drug‐loading performance was also obviously improved. At the same time, sustained release ability of the inverse opal HA was better than that of nano‐HA when releasing amoxicillin. In the first 3 h, the cumulative release rate of amoxicillin in the inverse opal HA was less than 40%, much lower than about 60% of nano‐HA, significantly slowing down the drug release rate and showing good persistence. Therefore, the inverse opal HA as a drug carrier could also improve the sudden release effect of drugs and make the release rate of drugs gentler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondria, the main energy transducers in plant cells, require the proper assembly of respiratory chain complexes I–V for their function. The NADH dehydrogenase 4 (nad4) gene encodes mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I subunit IV, but the mechanism underlying nad4 transcript splicing is unclear. Here, we report that the P‐type pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein DEFECTIVE KERNEL 43 (DEK43) is responsible for cis‐splicing of the nad4 transcript in maize. We demonstrate that DEK43 localizes to both the nucleus and mitochondria. The mutation of Dek43 resulted in embryo‐lethal and light‐colored defective kernels. Among the 22 mitochondrial group II introns, the splicing efficiency of nad4 introns 1 and 3 was reduced by up to 50% compared to the wild type. The levels of complex I and supercomplex I+III2 were also reduced in dek43. Furthermore, in‐gel NADH dehydrogenase assays indicated that the activities of these complexes were significantly reduced in dek43. Further, the mitochondrial ultrastructure was altered in the mutant. Together, our findings indicate that DEK43, a dual‐localized PPR protein, plays an important role in maintaining mitochondrial function and maize kernel development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: M‐phase phosphoprotein 6 (MPP6) is important for 5.8S pre‐rRNA maturation in somatic cells and was screened as a female fertility factor. However, whether MPP6 functions in oocyte meiosis and fertility is not yet known. We aimed to address this. Materials and Methods: Mouse oocytes with surrounded nucleus (SN) or non‐surrounded nucleus (NSN) were used for all experiments. Peptide nanoparticle‐mediated antibody transfection was used to deplete MPP6. Immunofluorescence staining, immunohistochemistry and live tracker staining were used to examine MPP6 localization and characterize phenotypes after control or MPP6 depletion. High‐fidelity PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used to examine the localization and level of 5.8S rRNAs. Western blot was used to examine the protein level. MPP6‐EGFP mRNA microinjection was used to do the rescue. Results: MPP6 was enriched within ovaries and oocytes. MPP6 depletion significantly impeded oocyte meiosis. MPP6 depletion increased 5.8S pre‐rRNA. The mRNA levels of MPP6 and 5.8S rRNA decreased within ageing oocytes, and MPP6 mRNA injection partially increased 5.8S rRNA maturation and improved oocyte quality. Conclusions: MPP6 is required for 5.8S rRNA maturation, meiosis and quality control in mouse oocytes, and MPP6 level might be a marker for oocyte quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the following couple of Schrödinger–Poisson system with singularity: − Δ u − φ u = λ h (x) u + μ | x | β u r + u 3 , in Ω , − Δ φ = u 2 , in Ω , u > 0 , in Ω , u = Φ = 0 , on ∂Ω , where Ω ⊂ R 3 is a bounded smooth domain with boundary ∂Ω , μ, λ > 0 are parameters, r ∈ (0 , 1) and β ∈ (0 , (5 + r) / 2) are constants. The existence and multiplicity of positive solutions for this system are considered under some suitable conditions by Nehari manifold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The putative oncogenic role of ATP/GTP binding protein like 2 (AGBL2) in catalyzing α-tubulin detyrosination has recently been characterized in cancer. However, the status of AGBL2 expression in ovarian cancer and its potential clinical and prognostic significance remain unclear. In the present study, immunohistochemistry staining investigated the protein expression level of AGBL2 in paraffin-embedded pathological specimens from 30 normal ovaries, 35 ovarian cystadenomas, 38 borderline ovarian tumors and 165 invasive ovarian carcinomas. The association between AGBL2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of patients was evaluated using the χ2 test or Fisher's exact test. The survival status of patients was assessed by receiver-operator curve analysis. The results demonstrated that high expression of AGBL2 was observed in 9% of cystadenomas cases, 21% of borderline tumors cases and 38% of ovarian carcinomas cases; however AGBL2 expression was not high in normal ovarian tissues (P<0.01). Furthermore, the results demonstrated that high expression of AGBL2 was associated with tumor histological grade, advanced pT/pN/pM and cancer stage according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (P<0.05). Following univariate survival analysis of the ovarian carcinoma groups, high expression of AGBL2 was significantly associated with shorter patient survival (P<0.001). In addition, multivariate analysis revealed that AGBL2 could be identified as a potential independent prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with ovarian carcinoma (P=0.004). Furthermore, the results demonstrated that AGBL2 expression was significantly associated with the expression of immunity related GTPase M (IRGM) (P=0.013) and LC3A/B (P=0.004). IRGM expression level was also significantly associated with LC3A/B expression level (P=0.023). These findings demonstrated that AGBL2 expression was high in ovarian carcinomas, which suggested that AGBL2 may participate in the acquisition of an aggressive phenotype and may therefore serve as an independent prognostic molecular marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary of main observation and conclusion: A 2,6‐dibutoxylnaphthalene‐based tetralactam macrocycle was designed and synthesized. This macrocycle shows highly selective recognition to phenazine – a well‐known secondary metabolite in bacteria and an emerging disinfection byproduct in drinking water. In contrast, the macrocycle shows no binding to the structurally similar dibenzo‐1,4‐dioxin. It was revealed that hydrogen bonding, π‐π and σ‐π interactions are the major driving forces between phenazine and the new tetralactam macrocycle. A perfect complementarity in electrostatic potential surfaces may explain the high selectivity. In addition, the macrocycle shows fluorescent response to phenazine, demonstrating its potential in fluorescent detection of phenazine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH). Previous studies have shown that direct injury of hepatocytes is the key factor in its occurrence and development. However, our study shows that the role of Kupffer cells in ASH cannot be ignored. We isolated Kupffer cells from the livers of ASH mice and found that alcohol consumption induced Kupffer cell pyroptosis and increased the release of interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β). Furthermore, we screened the related m6A enzyme methyltransferase‐like 3 (METTL3) from liver Kupffer cells, and found that silencing METTL3 alleviated inflammatory cytokine eruption by Kupffer cell pyroptosis in ASH mice. In vitro, we silenced METTL3 with lentivirus in BMDMs and RAW264.7 cells and confirmed that METTL3 could reduce pyroptosis by influencing the splicing of pri‐miR‐34A. Together, our results revealed a critical role of KC pyroptosis in ASH and highlighted the mechanism by which METLL3 relieves cell pyroptosis, which could be a promising therapeutic strategy for ASH. During alcohol‐induced liver inflammation, METTL3 can promote the synthesis of miR‐34a by methylating Pri‐miR‐34a, thus inhibiting the expression of SIRT1, the target gene of miR‐34a‐5p. This process increases the production of NLRP3 inflammasome, which triggers the secretion of IL‐18 and IL‐1β and increases inflammation. This mechanism provides a new target for the treatment of alcoholic steatohepatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interactions between ether naphthotube and a series of dication guests in organic solution were investigated. It was found that ether naphthotube formed stable host‐guest complexes selectively with these guests in a 1 : 1 stoichiometric ratio with association constants ranging from 102 to 106 M−1, which were confirmed by 1H‐NMR spectra and ITC experiments. The host‐guest interactions are driven by enthalpy change as the entropic factors are unfavorable. Positive correlations between ΔH and ΔS have been observed in the host‐guest complexes. Furthermore, the para‐substitution of the guests can significantly affect the binding affinities through a combination of field/inductive and resonance effects by following a linear free energy relationship. Based on the host‐guest complexes composed of ether naphthotube and organic cations, two interlocked [2]rotaxanes were prepared by cationization reaction and Huisgen cycloaddition between the cations and the stopper components. The ether naphthotube‐based host‐guest complexes are useful for creating sophisticated interlocked molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis is a significant risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease and a leading cause of death worldwide. The occurrence of atherosclerosis is closely related to factors such as endothelial injury, lipid deposition, immunity, and inflammation. Conventional statins, currently used in atherosclerosis treatment, have numerous adverse side effects that limit their clinical utility, prompting the urgent need to identify safer and more effective therapeutic alternatives. Growing evidence indicates the significant potential of Chinese herbs in atherosclerosis treatment. Herbal monomer components, such as natural flavonoid compounds extracted from herbs like Coptis chinensis and Panax notoginseng, have been utilized for their lipid-lowering and inflammation-inhibiting effects in atherosclerosis treatment. These herbs can be used as single components in treating diseases and with other Chinese medicines to form herbal combinations. This approach targets the disease mechanism in multiple ways, enhancing the therapeutic effects. Thus, this review examines the roles of Chinese herbal medicine monomers and Chinese herbal compounds in inhibiting atherosclerosis, including regulating lipids, improving endothelial function, reducing oxidative stress, regulating inflammation and the immune response, and apoptosis. By highlighting these roles, our study offers new perspectives on atherosclerosis treatment with Chinese herbs and is anticipated to contribute to advancements in related research fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using dual-layer spectral CT multi-parameter feature to predict microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma.This retrospective study enrolled 50 HCC patients who underwent multiphase contrast-enhanced spectral CT studies preoperatively. Combined clinical data, radiological features with spectral CT quantitative parameter were constructed to predict MVI. ROC was applied to identify potential predictors of MVI. The CT values obtained by simulating the conventional CT scans with 70 keV images were compared with those obtained with 40 keV images.50 hepatocellular carcinomas were detected with 30 lesions (Group A) with microvascular invasion and 20 (Group B) without. There were significant differences in AFP,tumer size, IC, NIC,slope and effective atomic number in AP and ICrr in VP between Group A ((1000(10.875,1000),4.360±0.3105, 1.7750 (1.5350,1.8825) mg/ml, 0.1785 (0.1621,0.2124), 2.0362±0.2108,8.0960±0.1043,0.2830±0.0777) and Group B (4.750(3.325,20.425),3.190±0.2979,1.4700 (1.4500,1.5775) mg/ml, 0.1441 (0.1373,0.1490),1.8601±0.1595, 7.8105±0.7830 and 0.2228±0.0612) (all p < 0.05). Using 0.1586 as the threshold for NIC, one could obtain an area-under-curve (AUC) of 0.875 in ROC to differentiate between tumours with and without microvascular invasion. AUC was 0.625 with CT value at 70 keV and improved to 0.843 at 40 keV.Dual-layer spectral CT provides additional quantitative parameters than conventional CT to enhance the differentiation between hepatocellular carcinoma with and without microvascular invasion. Especially, the normalized iodine concentration (NIC) in arterial phase has the greatest potential application value in determining whether microvascular invasion exists, and can offer an important reference for clinical treatment plan and prognosis assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the use of graph theory and network science to the study of interregional industry network, trying to identify key industries and basic economic structures of five northwestern provinces in "Silk Road Economic Belt", which is an area that hitherto eluded empirical analysis. From the perspective of industry network, "Silk Road Economic Belt" is regarded as an interregional industry network formed by a set of industries and the relationships between them. In this paper, we study the structure of inter-industry relationships by creating and analyzing an interregional industry network using input–output table. We develop a measure to find the basic substructure of the network and analyze the relationships between industries so as to identify key industries and basic economic structures of some region. We apply this new procedure to the I–O table of five northwestern provinces in "Silk Road Economic Belt". The empirical results reveal that (1) Agricultural and resource-based industries are the key industries for five northwestern provinces; (2) Shaanxi and Xinjiang play a more important role in constructing "silk road economic belt"; (3) It's suggested that the key industries are identified and basic economic structures are revealed by using the method proposed in this paper, which would be difficult to find by only using the original input–output analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract C, N, F-tridoped TiO 2 nanotubes were prepared, exhibiting high photocatalytic activity for simulant wastewater under UV light and simulated sunlight. Highlights • C, N, F-tridoped TiO 2 nanotubes exhibited high photocatalytic activity. • Electronic transition was improved and band gap of TiO 2 was narrowed. • Synergy effect of the three dopants resulted in high activity. Abstract By impregnating the thermal stable TiO 2 nanotubes (C/TiO 2 NTs) in NH 4 F solution with different concentrations and subsequent calcination treatment at different temperatures, C, N, F-tridoped TiO 2 nanotubes (C, N, F/TiO 2 NTs) were prepared. XRD, XPS, TEM, TG-DTG, UV–vis and nitrogen adsorption were used to and characterize the prepared materials. The influences of dopants, calcination temperature and NH 4 F concentration on the catalytic performances of C, N, F/TiO 2 NTs under UV light and simulated sunlight were investigated by using methyl orange solution as simulant wastewater. Obtained results indicated that the C, N, F/TiO 2 NTs exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than the C-doped or N, F-codoped ones, and the C, N, F/TiO 2 NTs showed the best photocatalytic performance when they were calcinated at 300 °C and impregnated by 1 wt.% NH 4 F solution. The electronic density of states (DOS) analysis results implied that the C, N, F-tridoping could improve the electronic transition and narrow the band gap of anatase TiO 2 , and resulted in improved photocatalytic performance. The synergistic effects of the three dopants were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen removal via nitrite is an energy-saving method for high-strength ammonia wastewater treatment. A better understanding of the formation of granular sludge dominated by aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB) could facilitate the improved use of rapid sludge granulation for nitritation. In this study, AerAOB-dominated activated sludge (NAS) and granular sludge (NGS) produced different N-scyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs). N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-L-homoserinelactone (OHHL), only released from NGS, was shown to accelerate sludge aggregation by increasing the biomass growth rate, microbial activity, extracellular protein, and AerAOB biomass. For both NAS and NGS, sludge cells were glued together by inner extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) with similar components to form microcolony. Different from the characterized negative effect of NAS's outer-EPS on cell adhesion, the outer-EPS of NGS played a positive role in the attached growth of AerAOB-dominated sludge and contained more tryptophan-like substances. More interesting, OHHL enhanced the yields of tryptophan-like substances after mixing with the outer-EPS of NGS, enhancing cell adhesion. In a word, OHHL and more tryptophan-like substances were produced in the process of granulation under the selective sludge discharge condition, which was proved to be able to accelerate NAS granulation. Therefore, the sludge granulation process for nitritation can be improved by increasing the levels of OHHL and tryptophan in the initial startup stage. The appropriate engineering strategy should be further studied to facilitate the actual application of granular sludge for nitrogen removal on a large scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rigid molecular cleft shows unique aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) by restricting the motion of aldehyde through intermolecular lone pair⋅⋅⋅π interactions, which are tuned by side chains. This AIE luminogen was demonstrated to work as a fluorescent sensor for aniline and an optical chirality sensor for chiral amine. A rigid molecular cleft shows unique aggregation‐induced emission by restricting the motion of aldehyde through intermolecular lone‐pair⋅⋅⋅π interactions, which are tuned by side chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of traffic location conditions is an important driving force for the development of regional urbanization. Establishing a quantitative correlation model between them is the basic premise for finding out the evolution rules of regional development patterns. Taking China’s Chongqing Municipality as an example, through Regional Traffic Dominance (RTD) modelling, this paper quantitatively analyzed the time-series response relationship between the evolution of RTD and urbanization in the past 10 years. The results show that there is a strong positive correlation between RTD and urbanization. Meanwhile, the temporal-elasticity is following a certain pattern determined by the grade of transport network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) activity switched by Pt…Pt interaction is disclosed in two couples of dinuclear Pt(ii) complex enantiomers. Upon varying the length of the bridging ligand, intramolecular metal–metal interaction manipulation is achieved as evidenced from crystal structures. Complex (−)-1 exhibiting strong Pt…Pt interaction displays red phosphorescence with a maximum peak at 638 nm, while complex (−)-2 exhibiting weak Pt…Pt interaction displays green phosphorescence with a maximum peak at 530 nm. The observed CPL was opposite in sign for the two complexes. TD-DFT simulations further confirmed the influence of the Pt…Pt distance on the difference in the electronic optical activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Prostate cancer gene expression marker 1 (PCGEM1) is a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and is well known as a promoter in prostate cancer and osteoarthritis synoviocytes. However, the role PCGEM1 plays in epithelial ovarian cancer is unknown. Methods:PCGEM1 expression was examined in epithelial ovarian cancer and normal ovarian tissues using reverse transcription–PCR. Ovarian cancer cell phenotypes and genotypes were examined after PCGEM1 overexpression or downregulation in vitro; besides, the effects of PCGEM1 overexpression was also examined in vivo. Results:PCGEM1 expression level was higher in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues than in normal ovarian tissues and was positively associated with differentiation (Well vs. Mod/Poor). Upregulation of PCGEM1 induced cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, but decreased cell apoptosis through upregulating RhoA, YAP (Yes-associated protein), MMP2 (matrix metalloproteinase 2), Bcl-xL, and P70S6K expression; while PCGEM1 downregulation had the opposite effect. The nude mouse xenograft assay demonstrated that PCGEM1 overexpression promoted tumor growth. Furthermore, silencing RhoA expression reversed the effect of PCGEM1 and significantly inhibited RhoA, YAP, MMP2, Bcl-xL, and P70S6K protein expression. Conclusion: In conclusion, we suggest that PCGEM1 may be an inducer in epithelial ovarian cancer tumorigenesis and progression by upregulating RhoA and the subsequent expression of YAP, P70S6K, MMP2, and Bcl-xL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiral angel is an important structure parameter of spiral oil wedge sleeve bearing, which produces greater impact on bearing performance. Based on JFO boundary condition, the generalized Reynolds equations considering four slip conditions are established. Using the concept of partial derivatives, stiffness and damping coefficients of sleeve bearing are calculated. The results show that carrying capacity and friction drag of oil film decrease, temperature rise decreases first and then increases, and end leakage rate, stiffness, and damping coefficients generally increase first and then decrease with the increase of spiral angle. The carrying capacity, friction drag, temperature rise, stiffness, and damping coefficients are smaller and the end leakage rate is higher considering wall slip and JFO condition compared with reckoning with no slip and Reynolds boundary condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy levels and binding energies of a hydrogenic impurity in GaAs spherical quantum dots with radiusRare calculated by the finite difference method. The system is assumed to have an infinite confining potential well with radiusR, which can be viewed as a hard wall boundary condition. The parabolicity of the conduction band profile for GaAs material can be viewed as a parabolic potential well. The energy levels and binding energies are depended dramatically on the radius of the quantum dot and the parabolic potential well. The results show that parabolic potential can remarkably alter the energy level ordering and binding energy level ordering of hydrogenic impurity states for the quantum dot with a smaller radiusR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free dispersion of natural gas in the air environment possibly produces explosion and subsequent fire, which has a fatal harm to people's life. The accidental leakage of natural gas pipeline is one of the main productions for natural gas in air environment, and laser technology is a method to detect natural gas pipeline leakage. In this study, the effect of leaking natural gas dispersion on the laser detection was numerically investigated. Four factors effect on natural gas dispersion and intensity of laser detection were also analyzed including leakage aperture, leakage velocity, detection distance, and leakage time. The results show that the spectral detection value decreases by 3.72% at high-speed leakage, 2.74% at medium-speed leakage, and 0.46% at low-speed leakage, when detection distance increases by 10% in the vertical direction of leak hole. Detection time and leak hole both has a large influence on laser detection intensity in high-speed leakage compared with two others. This research results can provide a help for the safe evaluation of gas pipeline emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance poly(1,4-butylene terephthalate) (PBT) nanocomposites have been developed via the consideration of phosphorus-containing agents and amino-carbon nanotube (A-CNT). One-pot functionalization method has been adopted to prepare functionalized CNTs via the reaction between A-CNT and different oxidation state phosphorus-containing agents, including chlorodiphenylphosphine (DPP-Cl), diphenylphosphinic chloride (DPP(O)-Cl), and diphenyl phosphoryl chloride (DPP(O3)-Cl). These functionalized CNTs, DPP(Ox)-A-CNTs (x = 0, 1, 3), were, respectively, mixed with PBT to obtain the CNT-based polymer nanocomposites through a melt blending method. Scanning electron microscope observations demonstrated that DPP(Ox)-A-CNT nanoadditives were homogeneously distributed within PBT matrix compared to A-CNT. The incorporation of DPP(Ox)-A-CNT improved the thermal stability of PBT.Moreover, PBT/DPP(O3)-A-CNT showed the highest crystallization temperature and tensile strength, due to the superior dispersion and interfacial interactions between DPP(O3)-A-CNT and PBT. PBT/DPP(O)-A-CNT exhibited the best flame retardancy resulting from the excellent carbonization effect. The radicals generated from decomposed polymer were effectively trapped by DPP(O)-A-CNT, leading to the reduction of heat release rate, smoke production rate, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide release during cone calorimeter tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AGBL2 has been reported to catalyze α-tubulin detyrosination, by which it promotes tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, its potential role in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been revealed yet. In the present study, AGBL2 was frequently found being overexpressed in HCC tissues and cell lines. In a large cohort of clinical HCC tissues, high expression of AGBL2 was positively associated with tumor size, tumor multiplicity and advanced clinical stage (p < 0.05), and it was an independent prognostic factor for HCC patients. In HCC cell lines, ectopic overexpression of AGBL2 substantially enhanced HCC cells survival and proliferation in vitro and promoted tumor growth in vivo. In addition, we demonstrated that overexpression of AGBL2 in HCC cells notably inhibited apoptosis by enhancing IRGM-regulated autophagy. Meanwhile, AGBL2 could up-regulate the expression of TPX2 and Aurora A activity to promote cell proliferation in HCC cells. In summary, our findings suggest that up-regulation of AGBL2 plays a critical oncogenic role in the pathogenesis of HCC through modulation on autophagy and Aurora A activity, and it could be a candidate for prognostic marker and therapeutic target in HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: It is well known that vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) and their receptors (vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, VEGFRs) are expressed in different tissues, and VEGF‐VEGFR loops regulate a wide range of responses, including metabolic homeostasis, cell proliferation, migration and tubuleogenesis. As ligands, VEGFs act on three structurally related VEGFRs (VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 [also termed FLT1, KDR and FLT4, respectively]) that deliver downstream signals. Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), megakaryocytic cell lines, cultured megakaryocytes (MKs), primary MKs and abnormal MKs express and secrete VEGFs. During the development from HSCs to MKs, VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 are expressed at different developmental stages, respectively, and re‐expressed, e.g., VEGFR2, and play different roles in commitment, differentiation, proliferation, survival and polyplodization of HSCs/MKs via autocrine, paracrine and/or even intracrine loops. Moreover, VEGFs and their receptors are abnormally expressed in MK‐related diseases, including myeloproliferative neoplasms, myelodysplastic syndromes and acute megakaryocytic leukaemia (a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukaemia), and they lead to the disordered proliferation/differentiation of bone marrow cells and angiogenesis, indicating that they are closely related to these diseases. Thus, targeting VEGF‐VEGFR loops may be of potential therapeutic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dimension reduction and variable selection are two types of effective methods that deal with high-dimensional data. In particular, variable selection techniques are of wide-spread use and essentially consist of individual selection methods and interval selection methods. Given the fact that the vibrational spectra have continuous features of spectral bands, interval selection instead of individual spectral wavelength point selection allows for more stable models and easier interpretation. Numerous methods have been suggested for interval selection recently. Therefore, this paper is devoted to a selective review on interval selection methods with partial least squares (PLS) as the calibration model. We described the algorithms in the five classes: classic methods, penalty-based, sampling-based, correlation-based, and projection-based methods. Finally, we compared and discussed the performances of a subset of these methods on three real-world spectroscopic datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microtubules are involved in mechanical support, cytoplasmic organization, and several cellular processes by interacting with diverse microtubule-associated proteins such as plus-end tracking proteins, motor proteins, and tubulin-folding cofactors. A number of the cytoskeleton-associated proteins (CAPs) contain the CAP-glycine-rich (CAP-Gly) domain, which is evolutionarily conserved and generally considered to bind to α-tubulin to regulate the function of microtubules. However, there has been a dearth of research on CAP-Gly proteins in fungal pathogens, including Cryptococcus neoformans, which is a global cause of fatal meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised patients. In this study, we identified five CAP-Gly protein-encoding genes in C. neoformans. Among these, Cgp1 encoded by CNAG_06352 has a unique domain structure containing CAP-Gly, SPEC, and Spc7 domains that is not orthologous to CAPs in other eukaryotes. Supporting the role of Cgp1 in microtubule-related function, we demonstrate that deletion or overexpression of CGP1 alters cellular susceptibility to thiabendazole, a microtubule destabilizer and that Cgp1 is co-localized with cytoplasmic microtubules. Related to the cellular function of microtubules, Cgp1 governs the maintenance of membrane stability and genotoxic stress responses. Deletion of CGP1 also reduces production of melanin pigment and attenuates the virulence of C. neoformans. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Cgp1 uniquely regulates the sexual differentiation of C. neoformans with distinct roles in the early and late stage of mating. Domain analysis revealed that the CAP-Gly domain plays a major role in all Cgp1 functions examined. In conclusion, this novel CAP-Gly protein, Cgp1, has pleotropic roles in regulating growth, stress responses, differentiation, and virulence in C. neoformans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, four first-level evaluation indicators and twelve second-level evaluation indicators measuring the quality of bilingual teaching in undergraduate colleges were proposed, trying to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of bilingual teaching, which is an area that hitherto eluded empirical analysis. In this paper, an effectiveness evaluation model of bilingual teaching in undergraduate colleges was constructed using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), taking the C-language bilingual teaching course in an undergraduate college in Shandong for example, the bilingual teaching effect was evaluated using the effectiveness evaluation model constructed in this paper. The empirical results validate the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

[Display omitted] • Opposite effects of substituent groups on the porphyrin single- and two-photon absorption strength are shown. • Opposite effects of central zinc(II) ion on the porphyrin single- and two-photon absorption strength are shown. • The presence of the central zinc(II) leads to smaller δ TPA , while the introduction of N•+–CH 3 groups results in larger ones. • Two-photon fluorescence lifetime images of four kinds of nasopharyngeal cell lines treated with H 2 TMPyP give significant information to distinguish between the normal and cancerous cell lines. A comparative study of the two-photon absorption and emission properties of two free-based porphyrins (H 2 TMPyP and H 2 TPPS) and their zinc(II) complexes (ZnTMPyP and ZnTPPS) in three polar solvents has been carried out. The presence of the central zinc(II) ion leads to smaller two-photon absorption cross sections (δ TPA), while the introduction of methylpyridinium substituents (N•+–CH 3) results in larger ones. The δ TPA values of H 2 TMPyP and ZnTMPyP are affected by both the solvent polarity and the hydrogen bonding between porphyrin and solvent molecules. In this work, the strongest two-photon fluorescence is given by H 2 TMPyP, which may efficiently get into four kinds of nasopharyngeal cell lines (NP69, SUNE1, CNE2, and CNE1) and prefer to localize in the nucleus. Two-photon fluorescence lifetime images of all the cell lines treated with H 2 TMPyP consist of a short- (τ 1) and a long-lived component (τ 2). The τ 2 distribution of normal cell line NP69 shows one peak lifetime (∼2.12 ns), while those of the cancerous cell lines (SUNE1, CNE2, and CNE1) have two peak lifetimes (∼2.14 and ∼3.77 ns). The τ 1 distribution around 0.68 ns is higher for the well differentiated nasopharyngeal cancerous cell line CNE1 compared with the poorly differentiated ones (SUNE1 and CNE2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectral classification of emission-line galaxies(ELGs) plays an important role to understand the formation and evolution of different galaxies. Machine learning can obtain the ability of spectrum recognition by learning the features of a large number of spectra so as to automatically classify unlabeled spectra. We apply several machine learning methods: multi-layer perception (MLP), support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbor(KNN) and random forest(RF) for classifying 49,000 emission-line galaxies observed by LAMOST(Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope). In classification process, we directly employ the spectral flux pixels around some frequently used emission lines(H β , [OIII] λ λ 4959,5007, [OI], H α , [NII] λ λ 6548,6584 and [SII] λ λ 6717,6731) as feature space. By comparing four algorithms, MLP classifier has the highest accuracy of 92.31%. In addition, we confirm the robustness of our MLP classifier. Finally, we provide our MLP classifier for classifying the emission-line galaxies in LAMOST new observations. • We classify about 49,000 emission-line galaxies observed by LAMOST survey. • Four machine learning methods are used for classification: MLP, SVM, KNN and RF. • The feature space is composed of the spectral flux pixels around some emission lines. • The misclassified spectra by MLP are mainly near the segmentation curves on BPT diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing concern of biogas slurry disposal and nitrogen loss in soils has brought back the interest in using biochar as an adsorbent of biogas slurry in soils. Three types of biochars, commercial activated carbon, pyrolysis productions derived from rice husk, and nut shell, were added as adsorbents in two types of soils (sandy and loamy) at solid weight ratio of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% to investigate the effects of biochars on soils adsorbing ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) in biogas slurry using oscillation method. There was no difference of NH4+-N adsorbability for sand soil and loamy soil. The NH4+-N adsorption capacity of soils increased as the additive biochars increased from 0 to 20%. The smaller particle size of biochars led to the shorter stable adsorption time and the better NH4+-N adsorption capacity. Commercial activated carbon showed the best NH4+-N adsorption capacity in biogas slurry, followed by the nut shell carbon. The rice husk carbon was the worst. The results in this study provide a feasible and cost-effective assessment method of biochars for increasing the NH4+-N adsorption capacity of soils in biogas slurry, as well as good insight into effects of different biochars on improving NH4+-N adsorption capacity of soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]