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This study investigated the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of hawthorn vinegar. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Bacillus subtilis using the filter paper disc method. Antioxidant capacity was assessed through DPPH, hydroxyl, and superoxide anion radical scavenging assays. The results show that hawthorn vinegar exhibited inhibitory effects against all tested microorganisms, with the most potent activity against Salmonella. The vinegar extract demonstrated considerable antioxidant potential, with maximum scavenging rates of 71%, 82.2%, and 81.3% for DPPH, hydroxyl, and superoxide anion radicals, respectively. These findings suggest that hawthorn vinegar possesses notable antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, warranting further investigation for potential applications in food preservation and health promotion.

Abstract Despite the clear association between remnant cholesterol (RC)and diabetes risk, no study to date has examined the relationship between RC and reversal of prediabetes to normoglycemia. This retrospective cohort study included a total of 15,023 patients with prediabetes who underwent a physical examination between 2010 and 2016. The link between initial RC levels and the reversion from prediabetes to normoglycemia was analyzed using the Cox proportional-hazards regression model. Additionally, the study explored the possible relationship between RC and the probability of returning normoglycemia by applying Cox proportional hazards regression models with cubic spline functions. To address competing risks, a multivariate Cox regression analysis was undertaken, treating the onset of diabetes as a competing risk event for reversing prediabetes to normoglycemia. Additionally, the study incorporated extensive subgroup analyses alongside multiple sensitivity analyses, enhancing the reliability and robustness of the results. After adjusting for covariates, the findings indicated that RC was inversely associated with the likelihood of reverting to normoglycemia (per 5 mg/dL increase, HR = 0.918, 95% CI 0.909–0.927). The analysis also revealed a nonlinear relationship between RC and normoglycemia reversion, with an inflection point at 51.08 mg/dL. For RC values below this inflection point (RC

Abstract Sugar content is a critical indicator of fruit quality and is mainly controlled by sugar transporters. Sugars will eventually be exported transporters (SWEET) proteins play an indispensable role in sugar allocation between and within plant organs. Sucrose is the major sugar in many fruits and the predominant form of sugar translocated in peach (Prunus persica). However, the role of the multiple peach SWEET genes in sucrose allocation to fruit remains elusive. In this study, a total of 19 SWEET candidates have been identified in the peach genome, and two Clade III SWEET genes, PpSWEET9a and PpSWEET14, are found to be highly expressed in mature source leaves and branches. Complementation assays, transgene manipulations, and protein interaction studies reveal that PpSWEET9a and PpSWEET14 serve as sucrose efflux proteins and form a heterooligomer that synergistically directs sucrose allocation from source leaves to fruits. Our findings provide insights into the effect of SWEETs on sugar accumulation in peach fruit and identify genetic candidates for improving fruit quality.

Abstract The development of efficient and robust non‐Pt and low‐Pt catalysts with equivalent or even superior performance to commercial Pt‐based catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desired, but challenging, in the field of water electrolysis. Herein, we report a facile and cost‐effective in situ electrochemical approach for the synthesis of atomically dispersed metal sites including platinum (Pt), ruthenium (Ru), and palladium (Pd) on the polyaniline (PANI) support. The PANI exhibits not only high electrochemical conductivity but also efficient H+ capture from hydronium ions, leading to the formation of protonated amine groups that can be easily electrochemically reduced to H2 on atomically dispersed metal active sites. As an example, the atomically dispersed Pt sites anchored on carbon cloth‐supported PANI (PANI‐Pt/CC) demonstrate excellent activity and durability toward the HER. The mass activity of PANI‐Pt‐10/CC reaches 25 A mgPt−1, exhibiting a significant enhancement of 50‐fold compared to that of the commercial Pt/C (0.5 A mgPt−1). Therefore, this study presents a universally applicable approach for the design of atomically dispersed metal sites/conducting polymer heterostructures for highly efficient catalysts toward HER and beyond.

Aim: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of JAK inhibitor abrocitinib in patients with localized granuloma annulare (GA) and to review the available cases documented in English.Methods: We presented a patient who had a persistent, localized granuloma anulare (GA) for one year and did not respond to traditional therapies. This patient was treated with oral abrocitinib at a dosage of 150 mg daily.Results: After 6 weeks of treatment with abrocitinib, the patient exhibited notable symptom improvement with no new lesions. No adverse events or recurrences were reported during the 5-month follow-up period.Conclusions: Abrocitinib may be a promising and safe treatment option for patients with localized GA who do not respond to traditional therapies.

Abstract Important properties of biochar as an effective soil amendment are its high water-holding capacity (WHC) and inhibition of water evaporation. However, the mechanism and the importance of biochar properties in controlling its own WHC and bound water evaporation remain little known. In this study, wheat straw and pine sawdust biochars were pyrolyzed in N2-flow, CO2-flow, and air-limitation environments at 300–750 ℃, and a series of the produced biochars’ properties were characterized to explore the dominant controlling factors of their WHC and bound water evaporation. The results have shown that with the increasing contents of hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen as well as such ratios as H/C, and (O + N)/C, WHC of the biochars was also increasing while the evaporation of biochar-bound water was decreasing. With an increase in the other studied factors, such as carbon content, pH, and specific surface area (SSA), WHC of the biochars was decreasing, and the evaporation of biochar-bound water was increasing. That was connected with the fact that biochar-nitrogen was mainly in pyridinic and pyrrolic forms, while oxygen was in the form of C = O and C–O bonds. These forms of nitrogen and oxygen could be the receptors of hydrogen bonds to link to H2O molecules. Aliphatic hydrogen with a weak positive charge could be a donor of hydrogen bonds to link to H2O molecules. However, high carbon content, as well as high SSA, indicated more exposed aromatic carbon (hydrophobic sites) that could suppress the binding of H2O molecules. Additionally, high pH indicated that H2O molecules were dominated by OH–, which generated strong electrostatic repulsion with the negatively charged nitrogen- and oxygen-containing groups of biochar. It was also shown that the nitrogen-containing groups played a more important role (importance – 0.31) in WHC of the biochar than other parameters, including carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, ash contents, pH, SSA (importance from 0.02 to 0.09). Nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon contents had the most important influence on the evaporation of biochar-bound water in all studied factors. Furthermore, wheat straw biochar produced at low pyrolysis temperatures in N2 atmosphere (with high nitrogen and oxygen contents) had the highest WHC and the lowest evaporation of biochar-bound water. Consequently, it can be suggested that biochar rich in nitrogen can be an effective water retention agent and can improve agricultural soil moisture. Graphical Abstract

Although organic amendment has been widely demonstrated to be capable of reassembling soil microbiomes in coastal salt-affected soils, quantitative characterization in respect to how abiotic and biotic components drive the diversifications of soil microbial community and function remains rudimentary. We investigated the effects of types and application rates of different exogenous organic ameliorants (sewage sludge, S; vermicompost, V) on the physicochemical properties, fungal community diversity, and fungal functional traits in coastal salt-affected soils. Results revealed that both S and V amendments exhibited significantly positive impacts on the alleviation of environmental constraints and the reassembly of fungal community and functional profile. Of note, efficacy of the two exogenous organic ameliorants was significantly influenced by the types of carbon sources utilized and the rates at which they are applied. More pronounced variations in soil physicochemical and microbiological properties were observed in soils amended by S and V at the application rate of 200 t ha−1. Both S and V treatments positively boosted soil fungal community diversification with higher compositional diversities found in the majority of amended soils when compared to unamended soils. In addition, S and V applications favored the flourishment of functions linked to saprotrophic strategy with soil saprotrophs and wood saprotrophs predominating the functional profiles in soils amended by S and V, respectively. Results obtained from redundancy analysis and structural equation modeling revealed that pH, salinity, and SOC were the principle edaphic factors that significantly and directly affected the reassembly of fungal community. In addition, fluctuations in the prevalence of specific fungal genera, including Stachybotrys, Trichoderma, Mortierella, and Acremonium, emerged as a decisive biotic factor influencing diversifications of fungal communities and functional profiles. Taken together, this study not only highlighted the efficacy of S and V application on environmental constraints alleviation in coastal mudflats, but also qualitatively identified and quantitatively illustrated potential pathways and effectiveness of edaphic and biotic components driving the diversification of soil fungal microbiomes and functional profiles. These findings would enhance our understanding in respect to the microbial-mediated amelioration process of salt-affected soils within coastal mudflat ecosystem.

Abstract Background A high concentration of CO2 will stagnate the development of the newly formed primordia of Hypsizygus marmoreus, hinder the development of the mushroom cap, thereby inhibiting the normal differentiation of the fruiting body. Moreover, in the previous experiment, our research group obtained the mutant strain HY68 of H. marmoreus, which can maintain normal fruiting under the condition of high concentration of CO2. Our study aimed to evaluate the CO2 tolerance ability of the mutant strain HY68, in comparison with the starting strain HY61 and the control strain HY62. We analyzed the mycelial growth of these strains under various conditions, including different temperatures, pH levels, carbon sources, and nitrogen sources, and measured the activity of the cellulose enzyme. Additionally, we identified and predicted β-glucosidase-related genes in HY68 and analyzed their gene and protein structures. Results Our results indicate that HY68 showed superior CO2 tolerance compared to the other strains tested, with an optimal growth temperature of 25 °C and pH of 7, and maltose and beef paste as the ideal carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. Enzyme activity assays revealed a positive correlation between β-glucosidase activity and CO2 tolerance, with Gene14147 identified as the most closely related gene to this activity. Inbred strains of HY68 showed trait segregation for CO2 tolerance. Conclusions Both HY68 and its self-bred offspring could tolerate CO2 stress. The fruiting period of the strains resistant to CO2 stress was shorter than that of the strains not tolerant to CO2 stress. The activity of β-GC and the ability to tolerate CO2 were more closely related to the growth efficiency of fruiting bodies. This study lays the foundation for understanding how CO2 regulates the growth of edible fungi, which is conducive to the innovation of edible fungus breeding methods. The application of the new strain HY68 is beneficial to the research of energy-saving production in factory cultivation.

Abstract Chronic inflammation promotes the tumorigenesis and cell stemness maintenance of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the bridge role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) in linking chronic inflammation to CRC development and progression needs better understanding. Here, we elucidated a novel function of lncRNA GMDS-AS1 in persistently activated signal transducer and transcription activator 3 (STAT3) and Wnt signaling and CRC tumorigenesis. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Wnt3a induced lncRNA GMDS-AS1 expression, which was highly expressed in the CRC tissues and plasma of CRC patients. GMDS-AS1 knockdown impaired the survival, proliferation and stem cell-like phenotype acquisition of CRC cells in vitro and in vivo. We performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and mass spectrometry (MS) to probe target proteins and identify their contributions to the downstream signaling pathways of GMDS-AS1. In CRC cells, GMDS-AS1 physically interacted with the RNA-stabilizing protein HuR, thereby protecting the HuR protein from polyubiquitination- and proteasome-dependent degradation. HuR stabilized STAT3 mRNA and upregulated the levels of basal and phosphorylated STAT3 protein, persistently activating STAT3 signaling. Our research revealed that the lncRNA GMDS-AS1 and its direct target HuR constitutively activate STAT3/Wnt signaling and promote CRC tumorigenesis, the GMDS-AS1-HuR-STAT3/Wnt axis is a therapeutic, diagnostic and prognostic target in CRC.

In view of the scientific problems such as the difficulty of predicting the disaster before the earthquake, the slow and fragmented acquisition of disaster information after the earthquake, the large error of disaster assessment, the lack of decision support and the absence of disaster services, considering comprehensively pre-earthquake emergency preparedness and post-earthquake emergency response scenarios, this research focuses on the information acquisition and analysis methods of full-time disaster and decision-making, real-time convergence and fusion technology of disaster after earthquake, post-earthquake loss comprehensive analysis technique based on the combination of lethality and vulnerability, key points of assistant decision support for different regions, visualization generation technology for multi-user disaster information service product, establishing a disaster situation push and information quasi-real-time service platform and terminals, constructing the intelligent and visual earthquake emergency information whole process service platform based on cloud architecture, and carrying out emergency collaborative service demonstration, to realize the full-time service of disaster information for large earthquakes with magnitude above 7. The project enriches the means of obtaining earthquake disaster information and forms a technical platform of the whole process of earthquake emergency response, including disaster collection, information flash, monitoring and early warning, analysis and evaluation, intelligent coordination and dynamic release. It is of great significance to improve the ability of earthquake emergency information service for quick and scientific rescue.

It is difficult to identify the fluid properties with one single logging curve in a caved-fracture reservoir due to multi-stage tectonism, diagenetic evolution, rapid lithology change, developed fractures, and significant heterogeneity. Therefore, a stack generalization-based method is proposed for improving fluid identification accuracy. First, a traditional method with cross-plots is adopted by coring and logging data, but it is found that the identification effect of the caved-fracture reservoir fluid is poor. Second, based on the cross-plot, a correlation analysis is conducted to select sensitive logging parameters such as resistivity, compensated neutron, density, acoustic, and total hydrocarbon, which reflect changes in fluid properties, as feature vectors for the identification of fluid types in caved-fracture reservoirs. Third, support vector machine, k-nearest neighbor algorithm, decision tree, and stochastic gradient descent classification are selected as the base learners. 80% of the data sample points and the remaining 20% are selected as training and test samples for building the stacking models to verify the prediction accuracy of the model. Finally, a fully connected neural network is used as a meta-learner to control the final output. The experimental results show that the prediction accuracy of the stack generalization method can reach 88%. Compared with the cross-plot and single machine learning discriminant model, the fluid identification method based on the stack generalization model has a better effect and can improve the fluid identification effect of caved-fracture reservoirs in the study area.

Sewer systems play a key role in cities to ensure public assets and safety. Timely detection of defects can effectively alleviate system deterioration. Conventional manual inspection is labor-intensive, error-prone and expensive. Object detection is a powerful deep learning technique that can complement and/or replace conventional inspection, especially in complex environments. This study compares two classic object-detection methods, namely faster region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) and You Only Look Once (YOLO), for the detection and localization of five types of sewer defects. Model performances are evaluated based on their detection accuracy and processing speed under parameterization impacts of dataset size and training parameters. Results show that faster R-CNN achieved higher prediction accuracy. Training dataset size and maximum number of epochs (MaxE) had dominant impacts on model performances of faster R-CNN and YOLO, respectively. The processing speed increased along with the increasing training data for faster R-CNN, but did not vary significantly for YOLO. The models' abilities to detect disjoint and residential wall were highest, whereas crack and tree root were more difficult to detect. The results help to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the classic methods and provide a useful user guidance for practical applications in automated sewer defect detection. HIGHLIGHTS A deep learning technique for automated detection of multiple types of sewer defects.; Compared the performances of two types of classic object-detection models.; Evaluated model parameterization impacts and identification of key factors.;

Abstract The electroreduction reaction of CO2 (ECO2RR) requires high-performance catalysts to convert CO2 into useful chemicals. Transition metal-based atomically dispersed catalysts are promising for the high selectivity and activity in ECO2RR. This work presents a series of atomically dispersed Co, Fe bimetallic catalysts by carbonizing the Fe-introduced Co-zeolitic-imidazolate-framework (C–Fe–Co–ZIF) for the syngas generation from ECO2RR. The synergistic effect of the bimetallic catalyst promotes CO production. Compared to the pure C–Co–ZIF, C–Fe–Co–ZIF facilitates CO production with a CO Faradaic efficiency (FE) boost of 10%, with optimal FECO of 51.9%, FEH2 of 42.4% at − 0.55 V, and CO current density of 8.0 mA cm−2 at − 0.7 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The H2/CO ratio is tunable from 0.8 to 4.2 in a wide potential window of − 0.35 to − 0.8 V versus RHE. The total FECO+H2 maintains as high as 93% over 10 h. The proper adding amount of Fe could increase the number of active sites and create mild distortions for the nanoscopic environments of Co and Fe, which is essential for the enhancement of the CO production in ECO2RR. The positive impacts of Cu–Co and Ni–Co bimetallic catalysts demonstrate the versatility and potential application of the bimetallic strategy for ECO2RR.

Radical hepatectomy is the main treatment method to improve the prognosis of patients with intermediate and early-stage liver cancer. Most liver cancer patients in China are in the advanced stage at the initial diagnosis, losing the opportunity for surgical treatment. Therefore, it is essential to down-stage unresectable liver cancer to resectable liver cancer clinically, which is an important way to improve patients’ survival and a hotspot of current clinical research. In recent years, with the increase in effective treatment methods for liver cancer, the resection rate of conversion surgery for unresectable advanced liver cancer has been significantly improved, and a growing number of patients benefit from conversion therapy. This article mainly reviews the connotation of conversion therapy for liver cancer, the patient selection, the selection of conversion strategy, the timing of sequential operations, the scheme and safety, etc.

Background and AimsAlthough insufficient radiofrequency ablation (RFA) promotes the recurrence and metastasis of liver cancer, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of HIF-2α in hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HCCs) after Insufficient RFA.MethodsWe established a model of insufficient RFA in MHCC97H hepatoma cells and screened for stable sublines. We inhibited HIF-2α expression in the Insufficient RFA group using PT2385 and assessed the resulting changes in proliferation and biological function of HCCs. Cell viability and proliferation were detected by the MTT method, and scratch and Transwell chamber invasion tests detected migration and invasion abilities of HCCs. The mRNA and protein expression levels of VEGF, HIF-2α, and Notch1 were detected using qPCR, immunofluorescence, and western blotting.ResultsCompared with normal HCCs without RFA treatment, insufficient RFA enhanced the proliferation and invasion abilities of hepatocellular carcinoma subline MHCC97H (P < 0.001), as well as their migration ability (P = 0.046). The HIF-2α-specific inhibitor PT2385 downregulated the migration (P = 0.009) and invasion (P < 0.001) of MHCC97H cells but did not affect cell proliferation (P > 0.05). Insufficient ablation increased the mRNA and protein expression of VEGF, HIF-2α, and Notch1 in HCCs, whereas inhibition of HIF-2α reversed these changes.ConclusionsInsufficient RFA increases the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCCs via the HIF-2α/VEGF/Notch1 signaling axis; HIF-2α is a potential target for novel treatments of HCC after insufficient RFA.

In the face of large-scale environmental mapping requirements, through the use of lightweight and inexpensive robot groups to perceive the environment, the multi-robot cooperative (V)SLAM scheme can resolve the individual cost, global error accumulation, computational load, and risk concentration problems faced by single-robot SLAM schemes. Such schemes are robust and stable, form a current research hotspot, and relevant algorithms are being updated rapidly. In order to enable the reader to understand the development of this field rapidly and fully, this paper provides a comprehensive review. First, the development history of multi-robot collaborative SLAM is reviewed. Second, the fusion algorithms and architectures are detailed. Third, from the perspective of machine learning classification, the existing algorithms in this field are discussed, including the latest updates. All of this will make it easier for readers to discover problems that need to be studied further. Finally, future research prospects are listed.

Abstract The soil carbon (C) pools in coastal wetlands are known as “blue C” and have been damaged extensively owing to climate change and land reclamation. Because soil respiration (RS) is the primary mechanism through which soil carbon is released into the atmosphere at a global scale, investigating the dynamic characteristics of the soil respiration rate in reclaimed coastal wetlands is necessary to understand its important role in maintaining the global C cycle. In the present study, seasonal and diurnal changes in soil respiration were monitored in one bare wetland (CK) and two reclaimed wetlands (CT, a cotton monoculture pattern, and WM, a wheat–maize continuous cropping pattern) in the Yellow River Delta. At the diurnal scale, the RS at the three study sites displayed single-peak curves, with the lowest values occurring at midnight (00:00 a.m.) and the highest values occurring at midday (12:00 a.m.). At the seasonal scale, the mean diurnal RS of the CK, CT and WM in April was 0.24, 0.26 and 0.79 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1, and it increased to a peak in August for these areas. Bare wetland conversion to croplands significantly elevated the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. The magnitude of the RS was significantly different at the three sites, and the yearly total amounts of CO2 efflux were 375, 513 and 944 g CO2·m−2 for the CK, CT and WM, respectively. At the three study sites, the surface soil temperature had a significant and positive relationship to the RS at both the diurnal and seasonal scales, and it accounted for 20–52% of the seasonal variation in the daytime RS. The soil water content showed a significant but negative relationship to the RS on diurnal scale only at the CK site, while it significantly increased with the RS on seasonal scale at all study sites. Although the RS showed a noticeable relationship to the combination of soil temperature and water content, the synergic effects of these two environment factors were not much higher than the individual effects. In addition, the correlation analysis showed that the RS was also influenced by the soil physico-chemical properties and that the soil total nitrogen had a closer positive relationship to the RS than the other nutrients, indicating that the soil nitrogen content plays a more important role in promoting carbon loss.

Objective To explore the association between CpG island methylation in the promoter region of RELN and positive (type I) and negative (type II) types of schizophrenia, and investigate serum interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and myelin basic protein (MBP) in schizophrenia. Methods Levels of CpG island methylation in the promoter region of RELN were detected in peripheral blood of patients with schizophrenia (experimental group) and healthy individuals (control group), and serum IL-1β, IL-6, and MBP were measured. Results The positive rate of CpG island methylation in the promoter region of RELN was higher in the experimental group than in the control group; however, there were no significant differences between type I and II patients. There were differences in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores and serum IL-1β, IL-6, and MBP between type I and II patients. Furthermore, there were positive correlations between serum IL-1β, IL-6, and MBP and PANSS scores (negative symptoms) in type II patients. Conclusion CpG island methylation in the promoter region of RELN was associated with schizophrenia, but not with its clinical type. There may be different pathological mechanisms in type I and II schizophrenia, and type II schizophrenia may be associated with serum IL-1β, IL-6, and MBP.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is prevalent in East and Southeast Asia. In a previous study, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-miR-BART22 induces tumor metastasis and stemness and is significantly involved in NPC progression. In the present study, we observed that miR-4721 is induced by EBV-miR-BART22 through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/c-JUN/Sp1 signaling to promote its transcription. In a subsequent study, we observed that miR-4721 serves as a potential oncogenic factor promoting NPC cell cycle progression and cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Mechanism analysis indicated that miR-4721 directly targetes GSK3β and reduces its expression, which therefore elevates β-catenin intra-nuclear aggregation and activates its downstream cell cycle factors, including CCND1 and c-MYC. In clinical samples, miR-4721 and GSK3β are respectively observed to be upregulated and downregulated in NPC progression. Elevated expression of miR-4721 is positively associated with clinical progression and poor prognosis. Our study first demonstrated that miR-4721 as an oncogene is induced by EBV-miR-BART22 via modulating PI3K/AKT/c-JUN/Sp1 signaling to target GSK3β, which thus activates the WNT/β-catenin-stimulated cell cycle signal and enhances the tumorigenic capacity in NPC. miR-4721 may be a potential biomarker or therapeutic target in NPC treatment in the future.

Soils co-contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and cadmium (Cd) have serious environmental impacts and are highly toxic to humans and ecosystems. Phytoremediation is an effective biotechnology for the remediation and restoration of PAH- and Cd-polluted soils. Pot experiments were conducted to investigate the individual and combined effects of PAHs (1238.62 mg kg−1) and Cd (23.1 mg kg−1) on the phytoremediation potential of Bermuda grass grown in contaminated soils. Bermuda grass exhibited a significant decrease in plant growth rate, leaf pigment content, root activity, plant height and biomass and a remarkable increase in malondialdehyde content and electrolyte leakage when grown in PAH- and Cd-contaminated soils compared with grass grown in uncontaminated soils. The activity of soil enzymes, including urease, alkaline phosphatase, sucrose, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, were reduced in soil with PAH and Cd stress. Furthermore, the toxicity of combined PAHs and Cd on Bermuda grass growth and soil enzyme activity was much higher than that of PAH or Cd stress alone, suggesting a synergistic effect of PAHs and Cd on cytotoxicity. To scavenge redundant reactive oxygen species and avoid oxidative damage, Bermuda grass increased plant catalase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase activity and soluble sugar and proline content. The bioconcentration factor of Cd in Bermuda grass grown under Cd alone and combined PAH and Cd exposure was greater than 1 for both, suggesting that Bermuda grass has a high Cd accumulation ability. Under PAH alone and combined PAH and Cd exposure conditions, a higher PAH removal rate (41.5–56.8%) was observed in soils planted with Bermuda grass than in unplanted soils (24.8–29.8%), indicating that Bermuda grass has a great ability to degrade PAHs. Bermuda grass showed great phytoremediation potential for the degradation of PAHs and phytoextraction of Cd in co-contaminated soils.

Biochar-derived dissolved organic carbon (BDOC), as a highly activated carbonaceous fraction of biochar, significantly affects the environmental effect of biochar. This study systematically investigated the differences in the properties of BDOC produced at 300–750 °C in three atmosphere types (including N2 and CO2 flows and air limitation) as well as their quantitative relationship with biochar properties. The results showed that BDOC in biochar pyrolyzed in air limitation (0.19–2.88 mg/g) was more than that pyrolyzed in N2 (0.06–1.63 mg/g) and CO2 flows (0.07–1.74 mg/g) at 450–750 °C. The aliphaticity, humification, molecular weight, and polarity of BDOC strongly depended on the atmosphere types as well as the pyrolysis temperatures. BDOC produced in air limitation contained more humic-like substances (0.65–0.89) and less fulvic-like substances (0.11–0.35) than that produced in N2 and CO2 flows. The multiple linear regression of the exponential form of biochar properties (H and O contents, H/C and (O+N)/C) could be used to quantitatively predict the bulk content and organic component contents of BDOC. Additionally, self-organizing maps could effectively visualize the categories of fluorescence intensity and components of BDOC from different pyrolysis atmospheres and temperatures. This study highlights that pyrolysis atmosphere types are a crucial factor controlling the BDOC properties, and some characteristics of BDOC can be quantitatively evaluated based on the properties of biochar.

Surface defect inspection is a key technique in industrial product assessments. Compared with other visual applications, industrial defect inspection suffers from a small sample problem and a lack of labeled data. Therefore, conventional deep-learning methods depending on huge supervised samples cannot be directly generalized to this task. To deal with the lack of labeled data, unsupervised subspace learning provides more clues for the task of defect inspection. However, conventional subspace learning methods focus on studying the linear subspace structure. In order to explore the nonlinear manifold structure, a novel neural subspace learning algorithm is proposed by substituting linear operators with nonlinear neural networks. The low-rank property of the latent space is approximated by limiting the dimensions of the encoded feature, and the sparse coding property is simulated by quantized autoencoding. To overcome the small sample problem, a novel data augmentation strategy called thin-plate-spline deformation is proposed. Compared with the rigid transformation methods used in previous literature, our strategy could generate more reliable training samples. Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance compared with unsupervised methods. More importantly, the proposed method is competitive and has a better generalization capability compared with supervised methods based on deep learning techniques.

A static environment is a prerequisite for the stable operation of most visual SLAM systems, which limits the practical use of most existing systems. The robustness and accuracy of visual SLAM systems in dynamic environments still face many complex challenges. Only relying on semantic information or geometric methods cannot filter out dynamic feature points well. Considering the problem of dynamic objects easily interfering with the localization accuracy of SLAM systems, this paper proposes a new monocular SLAM algorithm for use in dynamic environments. This improved algorithm combines semantic information and geometric methods to filter out dynamic feature points. Firstly, an adjusted Mask R-CNN removes prior highly dynamic objects. The remaining feature-point pairs are matched via the optical-flow method and a fundamental matrix is calculated using those matched feature-point pairs. Then, the environment’s actual dynamic feature points are filtered out using the polar geometric constraint. The improved system can effectively filter out the feature points of dynamic targets. Finally, our experimental results on the TUM RGB-D and Bonn RGB-D Dynamic datasets showed that the proposed method could improve the pose estimation accuracy of a SLAM system in a dynamic environment, especially in the case of high indoor dynamics. The performance effect was better than that of the existing ORB-SLAM2. It also had a higher running speed than DynaSLAM, which is a similar dynamic visual SLAM algorithm.

After decades of development, LIDAR and visual SLAM technology has relatively matured and been widely used in the military and civil fields. SLAM technology enables the mobile robot to have the abilities of autonomous positioning and mapping, which allows the robot to move in indoor and outdoor scenes where GPS signals are scarce. However, SLAM technology relying only on a single sensor has its limitations. For example, LIDAR SLAM is not suitable for scenes with highly dynamic or sparse features, and visual SLAM has poor robustness in low-texture or dark scenes. However, through the fusion of the two technologies, they have great potential to learn from each other. Therefore, this paper predicts that SLAM technology combining LIDAR and visual sensors, as well as various other sensors, will be the mainstream direction in the future. This paper reviews the development history of SLAM technology, deeply analyzes the hardware information of LIDAR and cameras, and presents some classical open source algorithms and datasets. According to the algorithm adopted by the fusion sensor, the traditional multi-sensor fusion methods based on uncertainty, features, and novel deep learning are introduced in detail. The excellent performance of the multi-sensor fusion method in complex scenes is summarized, and the future development of multi-sensor fusion method is prospected.

Objectives: Interleukin (IL)-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK1) is a very important immunomodulatory gene for autoimmune diseases located on the X chromosome. However, there was little study about the correlation of IRAK1 functional single nucleotide polymorphisms with mRNA expression in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patients. In this study, we aimed to investigate the plausible association of IRAK1 polymorphism, IRAK1 mRNA expression, and NMOSD risk in the northern Chinese Han population.Methods: Four loci of IRAK1 gene (rs1059702, rs7061789, rs1059703, and rs3027898) were genotyped using multiplex SNaPshot technique in 102 NMOSD patients and 213 healthy subjects. Allele, genotype, and haplotype frequencies were compared. Stratified analyses were conducted by age, sex, AQP4 status, and age of onset. IRAK1 mRNA levels in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 30 NMOSD patients (of active phase) and 15 healthy control subjects were detected using qPCR. The correlations between the SNP polymorphisms and mRNA expression levels of genes were tested using non-parametric tests.Results: The minor allele frequencies (MAF) of these four locis were significantly lower in NMOSD cases than that of the controls. The frequencies of rs1059703G/G genotype, rs1059702A/A genotype, rs3027898 C/C genotype, and rs7061789G/G genotype were higher in the case group than that of the control group. Haplotype analysis revealed that the major haplotype “G-A-C-G” (alleles in the order of SNPs rs1059703, rs1059702, rs3027898, and rs7061789), containing the risk alleles, conferred an adverse effect on NMOSD. The level of IRAK1mRNA was markedly higher in NMOSD when compared to the healthy control groups. The IRAK1mRNA levels of female patients with the major haplotype were significantly higher compared to those with other haplotypes and to the male patients with the same genotype.Conclusion: IRAK1 polymorphisms were highly correlated with NMOSD susceptibility. Its haplotype G-A-C-G (rs1059703-rs1059702-rs3027898-rs7061789) confers increasing the risk of NMOSD in female patients. The IRAK1 risk haplotype G-A-C-G upregulated IRAK1 mRNA expression in female NMOSD patients. Our study provides a novel insight into the molecular mechanism of the pathogenesis of NMOSD and reveals that IRAK1 is the potential mechanism-specific druggable target in NMOSD disease.

Although a few “on–off” approaches such as the pH-adjusting, temperature-adjusting, and controlling by light upon photo-catalysts have been reported, the “on–off” control of the on-broad and on-demand hydrogen production still faces many challenges. Herein, we first report the usage of Zn2+/EDTA-2Na system as an unprecedented, universal, high-efficient, and reusable “on–off” switch for the on-demand H2 evolution upon the hydrolysis of ammonia borane, sodium borohydride and dimethyl aminoborane. This “on–off” switch has been demonstrated to be efficient and reusable in various heterogeneous and homogeneous metal catalysts for on-demand H2 evolution. The detailed characterizations have confirmed that Zn2+ ions attached and located at the surface of catalyst, covered its active sites on the surface, and turned off the H2 production. The H2 generation was switched on by the addition of EDTA-2Na, due to its strong coordination ability with Zn2+ ions. In addition, the Zn2+/EDTA-2Na switch has been successfully reused several times without any activity loss in the “on–off” control of H2 evolution. This switch is of great importance in the practical application for highly efficient, on-site and on-demand H2 evolution under ambient conditions.

Apatinib is a new oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2. It has been proven effective in treating multiple solid tumors. Herein, we report the case of a 67-year-old Chinese patient who was diagnosed with recurrent and malignant transformation of intrahepatic biliary cystadenoma. After multidisciplinary team discussion, the team considered that the remaining liver volume was insufficient for surgical resection. The patient refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was willing to take apatinib. Initially, the patient experienced severe tongue ulcers and difficulty eating. The dose of apatinib was then adjusted to 250 mg/day. To date, he has been taking apatinib for 48 months. Regular re-examination showed that the tumor had significantly decreased in size. On January 16, 2021, a CT scan revealed a tumor diameter of 4.5 cm. In our case, the patient achieved partial response and progression-free survival(PFS) of 48.0 months. During treatment, the patient’s appetite and mental state were expected. The treatment did not induce hypertension, fatigue, hand-foot syndrome, or liver and kidney damage. Apatinib may be an option for the treatment of advanced intrahepatic biliary cystadenocarcinoma. Its toxicity is controllable and tolerable. The exact curative effect still needs to be evaluated in more cases.

Visual SLAM (VSLAM) has been developing rapidly due to its advantages of low-cost sensors, the easy fusion of other sensors, and richer environmental information. Traditional visionbased SLAM research has made many achievements, but it may fail to achieve wished results in challenging environments. Deep learning has promoted the development of computer vision, and the combination of deep learning and SLAM has attracted more and more attention. Semantic information, as high-level environmental information, can enable robots to better understand the surrounding environment. This paper introduces the development of VSLAM technology from two aspects: traditional VSLAM and semantic VSLAM combined with deep learning. For traditional VSLAM, we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of indirect and direct methods in detail and give some classical VSLAM open-source algorithms. In addition, we focus on the development of semantic VSLAM based on deep learning. Starting with typical neural networks CNN and RNN, we summarize the improvement of neural networks for the VSLAM system in detail. Later, we focus on the help of target detection and semantic segmentation for VSLAM semantic information introduction. We believe that the development of the future intelligent era cannot be without the help of semantic technology. Introducing deep learning into the VSLAM system to provide semantic information can help robots better perceive the surrounding environment and provide people with higher-level help.

Photosynthesis plays an essential role in plant growth and crop yield, and the mechanisms of the effects of cadmium (Cd) on photosynthetic performance require more attention. The acute toxicity of Cd in soil to the photosynthetic capacity of Hybrid Pennisetum was evaluated using gas exchange parameters, A/Ci curves, light response curves, and chlorophyll a fluorescence transients after exposure to elevated Cd concentrations (0, 10, 20, 50, 70, and 100 mg kg−1) for a 3-month period. The results indicated that leaf Cd concentration in Hybrid Pennisetum increased with the strength of soil Cd stress and ranged from 4.9 to 15.8 μg g−1 DW. The accumulation of leaf Cd severely restricted photosynthesis and its non-stomatal limitation in regulating the photosynthetic performance of Hybrid Pennisetum. The leaf chloroplasts at 10 and 20 mg kg−1 Cd concentrations showed no noticeable change, but the chlorophyll content significantly decreased by 9.0–20.4% at 50–100 mg kg−1 Cd concentrations. The Cd treatments also decreased plant ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) activity (Vcmax) and regeneration capacity (Jmax), triose phosphate utilization (TPU), light-saturated photosynthesis (Amax), apparent quantum yield (AQY), light saturation point (LSP), and dark respiration (Rday), but Cd treatment increased the light compensation point (LCP). The shape of chlorophyll a fluorescence transients in leaves was altered under different Cd treatments. The increased OJ phase and the decreased IP phase in fluorescence induction curves suggested that Cd toxicity inhibited both light use efficiency and photodamage avoidance ability. These results suggested that the decrease in photosynthesis through exposure to Cd may be a result of the decrease in leaf chlorophyll content, Rubisco activity, and RuBP regeneration, inhibition of triose phosphate utilization, reduction of the ability to use light and provide energy, and restrictions on electron transport in PSII.

For the dynamic of P2P network and the limited energy of the mobile node,enhancing the mobile P2P data transmission efficiency is essential.By using ant colony optimization algorithm the ant pheromones were combined with the node energy and communication bandwidth.When ACO selected the path,the concentration of the pheromone on its optimization path was reduced.The routing selection strategy was adaptively adjusted by the pheromone density of routing probability table in order to avoid network congestion and excessive energy consumption of individual nodes.A multipath routing selection algorithm in mobile P2P network was proposed.Experiment results show that the proposed algorithm can reduce packet loss rate and the average delay compared with EDSR routing protocol,prolonging the lifecycle of the whole network.

The groundwater level is the main factor affecting the distribution of soil salinity and vegetation in the Yellow River Delta (YRD), China, but the response relationship between the spatial distribution of soil salt ions and the groundwater level in the soil-Tamarix chinensis system remains unclear. In order to investigate the patterns of soil salt ions responding to groundwater levels, in the 'groundwater-soil-T. chinensis' system. Soil columns planted with T. chinensis, a constructive species in the YRD, were taken as the study object, and six groundwater levels (0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8 m) were simulated under saline mineralization. The results demonstrated the following: As affected by groundwater, Na+ and Cl- were the main ions in the T. chinensis-planted soil column, with a trend of decreasing first and then increasing by the increase of soil depth. However, the contents of K+ and NO3- gradually decreased and CO32-+HCO3- gradually increased. As affected by groundwater evaporation, all the salt ions except CO32-+HCO3- exhibited different degrees of surface aggregation in the 0-20 cm layer. However, due to the impact of root uptake, the contents of the salt ions rapidly decreased in the root distribution layer (20-50 cm soil layer), which rendered a turning-point layer that was significantly lower than the surface soil layer; such decreases in ion contents showed a relatively large rate of variation. In the whole T. chinensis-planted soil column, with increasing groundwater level, the contents of Na+, Cl-, Ca2+, Mg2+, and NO3- all tended to first decrease, then increase and decrease again, but the content of CO32-+HCO3- first decreased and then increased. Therefore, the 0.9 m groundwater level was the turning point at which the main salt ions underwent significant changes. The contents of Na+, Cl-, Ca2+ and Mg2+ in the T. chinensis planted soil column exhibited moderate variability (14.46%111.36%) at most groundwater level except less than 0.9 m. Therefore, planting T. chinensis could effectively reduce the accumulation of salt ions in the 20-50 cm soil layer with a concentrated root distribution, suggesting that the planting depth of T. chinensis should be greater than 20 cm under saline mineralization. This study can provide references for the control of soil secondary salinization and the management of T. chinensis seedling cultivation under saline mineralization.

The Yellow River Delta (YRD) region is an important production base in Shandong Province. It encompasses an array of diversified crop systems, including the corn−wheat rotation system (Wheat−Corn), soybean−corn rotation system (Soybean−Corn), fruits or vegetables system (Fruit), cotton system (Cotton) and rice system (Rice). In this study, the communities of ammonia oxidizer−, denitrifier− and nitrogen (N)−fixing bacteria in those cropping systems were investigated by Illumina Miseq sequencing. We found that Rice soil exhibited significantly higher diversity indices of investigated N−cycling microbial communities than other crop soils, possibly due to its high soil water content. Wheat−Corn soils had higher abundances of nitrification gene amoA and denitrification genes nirK and nirS, and exhibited higher soil potential nitrification rate (PNR), compared with Soybean−Corn, Cotton and Fruit soils. Consistently, redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil water content (SWC), electrical conductivity (EC), and total nitrogen (TN) were the most important influencing factors of the diversity and structure of the investigated N−cycling microbial.

Chemotherapeutic resistance in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has brought great challenges to the improvement of patient survival. The mechanisms of taxane chemoresistance in TNBC have not been well investigated. Our results illustrated C-C motif chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) was significantly elevated during taxane-containing chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with nonpathologic complete response. Furthermore, CCL20 promoted the self-renewal and maintenance of breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) or breast cancer stem-like cells through protein kinase Cζ (PKCζ) or p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-mediated activation of p65 nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, significantly increasing the frequency and taxane resistance of BCSCs. Moreover, CCL20-promoted NF-κB activation increased ATP-binding cassette subfamily B member 1 (ABCB1)/multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) expression, leading to the extracellular efflux of taxane. These results suggested that chemotherapy-induced CCL20 mediated chemoresistance via up-regulating ABCB1. In addition, NF-κB activation increased CCL20 expression, forming a positive feedback loop between NF-κB and CCL20 pathways, which provides sustained impetus for chemoresistance in breast cancer cells. Our results suggest that CCL20 can be a novel predictive marker for taxane response, and the blockade of CCL20 or its downstream pathway might reverse the taxane resistance in breast cancer patients.

Background and Aims. Gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM) has been regarded as a novel and minimally invasive therapy for refractory gastroparesis. This study reports the long-term outcomes and possible predictive factors for successful outcomes after G-POEM in an Asian population. Methods. This is a retrospective single-centre study of 16 patients who underwent G-POEM for refractory gastroparesis from August 2016 to October 2017. This study included 11 males and 5 females; in addition, 13 patients had postsurgical gastroparesis, and 3 patients had diabetes. The patients included had severe and refractory gastroparesis, as indicated by a Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index (GCSI) score ≥20, and evidence of a delay on gastric emptying scintigraphy (GES). The primary outcome parameter was an assessment of the long-term clinical efficacy of the procedure. The secondary outcome parameter was the detection of possible predictive factors for success and the determination of cut-off values for such predictors. Results. Technical success was achieved in 100% of the patients, with a mean procedure time of 45.25±12.96 min. The long-term clinical response was assessed in all patients during a median follow-up of 14.5 months. Clinical success was achieved in 13 (81.25%) patients. There was a significant reduction in the GCSI scores and GES values after the procedure compared to the baseline values, with P values of

The auto-body is usually composed of compliant sheet metals. The assembly variation is inevitable in the process of auto-body assembly. A reasonable tolerance allocation method for compliant sheet metal body parts is an important means to control assembly variation and improve the quality of automotive assembly. In this article, on the basis of tolerance–deviation model and tolerance–cost model, a multi-objective optimization model for tolerance allocation of auto-body is established. Part tolerance and manufacturing cost are regarded as design variables in the model. Then, orthogonal design and cumulative sorting strategy are proposed to modify the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II. Finally, the process of tolerance allocation is demonstrated through an example of the rear lamp bracket assembly. The results show that the improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II algorithm has obvious optimization effect.

Ultra-high definition displays have become a trend for the current flat plane displays. In this study, the contact properties of amorphous silicon–tin oxide thin-film transistors (a-STO TFTs) employed with source/drain (S/D) electrodes were analyzed. Ohmic contact with a good device performance was achieved when a-STO was matched with indium-tin-oxide (ITO) or Mo electrodes. The acceptor-like densities of trap states (DOS) of a-STO TFTs were further investigated by using low-frequency capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics to understand the impact of the electrode on the device performance. The reason of the distinct electrical performances of the devices with ITO and Mo contacts was attributed to different DOS caused by the generation of local defect states near the electrodes, which distorted the electric field distribution and formed an electrical potential barrier hindering the flow of electrons. It is of significant importance for circuit designers to design reliable integrated circuits with SnO2-based devices applied in flat panel displays.

The thermal conductivity of Si/Ge core-shell nanowires (CSNWs) is investigated on the basis of atomic-bond-relaxation consideration and continuum mechanics. An analytical model is developed to clarify the interface bond relaxation of Si/Ge CSNWs. It is found that the thermal conductivity of Si core can be modulated through covering with Ge epitaxial layers. The change of thermal conductivity in Si/Ge CSNWs should be attributed to the surface relaxation and interface mismatch between inner Si nanowire and outer Ge epitaxial layer. Our results are in well agreement with the experimental measurements and simulations, suggesting that the presented method provides a fundamental insight of the thermal conductivity of CSNWs from the atomistic origin.

Using bioinformatics, we have identified a novel tumorspecific gene BJ-TSA-9, which has been validated by Northern blot analysis and reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). BJ-TSA-9 mRNA was expressed in 52.5% (21 of 40) of human lung cancer tissues and was especially higher in lung adenocarcinoma (68.8%). To explore the potential application of BJ-TSA-9 for the detection of circulating cancer cells in lung cancer patients, nested RT-PCR was performed. The overall positive detection rate was 34.3% (24 of 70) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with various types of lung cancers and was 53.6% (15 of 28) in PBMCs of lung adenocarcinoma patients. In combination with the detection of two known marker genes SCC and LUNX, the detection rate was increased to 81.4%. A follow-up study was performed in 37 patients after surgical removal of tumor mass. Among nine patients with persistent detection of two to three tumor marker transcripts in PBMCs, six patients had recurrence/metastasis. In contrast, 28 patients with transient detection of one tumor marker or without detection of any tumor marker were all in remission. Thus, BJ-TSA-9 may serve as a marker for lung cancer diagnosis and as a marker, in combination with two other tumor markers, for the prediction of the recurrence and prognosis of lung cancer patients.

Changes in volatile content, as well as associated gene expression and enzyme activity in developing cucumber fruits were investigated in two Cucumis sativus L. lines (No. 26 and No. 14) that differ significantly in fruit flavor. Total volatile, six-carbon (C6) aldehyde, linolenic and linoleic acid content were higher during the early stages, whereas the nine-carbon (C9) aldehyde content was higher during the latter stages in both lines. Expression of C. sativus hydroperoxide lyase (CsHPL) mirrored 13-hydroperoxide lyase (13-HPL) enzyme activity in variety No. 26, whereas CsHPL expression was correlated with 9-hydroperoxide lyase (9-HPL) enzyme activity in cultivar No. 14. 13-HPL activity decreased significantly, while LOX (lipoxygenase) and 9-HPL activity increased along with fruit ripening in both lines, which accounted for the higher C6 and C9 aldehyde content at 0-6 day post anthesis (dpa) and 9-12 dpa, respectively. Volatile compounds from fruits at five developmental stages were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), and heatmaps of volatile content, gene expression and enzyme activity were constructed.