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Abstract Background The Synotis (C. B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey & Y. L. Chen is an ecologically important genus of the tribe Senecioneae, family Asteraceae. Because most species of the genus bear similar morphology, traditional morphological identification methods are very difficult to discriminate them. Therefore, it is essential to develop a reliable and effective identification method for Synotis species. In this study, the complete chloroplast (cp.) genomes of four Synotis species, S. cavaleriei (H.Lév.) C. Jeffrey & Y.L. Chen, S. duclouxii (Dunn) C. Jeffrey & Y.L. Chen, S. nagensium (C.B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey & Y.L. Chen and S. erythropappa (Bureau & Franch.) C. Jeffrey & Y. L. Chen had been sequenced using next-generation sequencing technology and reported here. Results These four cp. genomes exhibited a typical quadripartite structure and contained the large single-copy regions (LSC, 83,288 to 83,399 bp), the small single-copy regions (SSC, 18,262 to 18,287 bp), and the inverted repeat regions (IR, 24,837 to 24,842 bp). Each of the four cp. genomes encoded 134 genes, including 87 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 2 pseudogenes (ycf1 and rps19). The highly variable regions (trnC-GCA-petN, ccsA-psaC, trnE-UUC-rpoB, ycf1, ccsA and petN) may be used as potential molecular barcodes. The complete cp. genomes sequence of Synotis could be used as the potentially effective super-barcode to accurately identify Synotis species. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the four Synotis species were clustered into a monophyletic group, and they were closed to the Senecio, Crassocephalum and Dendrosenecio in tribe Senecioneae. Conclusions This study will be useful for further species identification, evolution, genetic diversity and phylogenetic studies within this genus Synotis and the tribe Senecioneae.

Abstract Chemotherapeutic efficacy is seriously impeded by chemoresistance in more than half of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, the mechanisms involved in chemotherapy-induced upregulation of chemoresistant genes are not fully understood. Here, this study unravels a novel mechanism controlling nuclear acetyl-CoA production to activate the transcription of chemoresistant genes in HCC. NAT10 is upregulated in HCC tissues and its upregulation is correlated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. NAT10 is also upregulated in chemoresistant HCC cells. Targeting NAT10 increases the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy in HCC cells and mouse xenografts. Upon chemotherapy, NAT10 translocates from the nucleolus to the nucleus to activate the transcription of CYP2C9 and PIK3R1. Additionally, nuclear acetyl-CoA is specifically upregulated by NAT10. Mechanistically, NAT10 binds with ACLY in the nucleus and acetylates ACLY at K468 to counteract the SQSTM1-mediated degradation upon chemotherapy. ACLY K468-Ac specifically accumulates in the nucleus and increases nuclear acetyl-CoA production to activate the transcription of CYP2C9 and PIK3R1 through enhancing H3K27ac. Importantly, K468 is required for nuclear localization of ACLY. Significantly, ACLY K468-Ac is upregulated in HCC tissues, and ablation of ACLY K468-Ac sensitizes HCC cells and mouse xenografts to chemotherapy. Collectively, these findings identify NAT10 as a novel chemoresistant driver and the blockage of NAT10-mediated ACLY K468-Ac possesses the potential to attenuate HCC chemoresistance.

In this study, the safety of a red mud–loess mixture (RM–L) for the remediation of groundwater polluted by acid mine drainage (AMD) containing Cd(II) in mining areas was systematically analyzed and clarified. The effects of the initial concentration, flow rate, and packing height on the breakthrough performance and longevity of RM–L as a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) packing material were explored by column tests. The results show that the breakthrough time, saturation time, and adsorption capacity of Cd(II) in RM–L increased with decreasing initial concentration and flow rate, as well as increasing packing height. Moreover, RM–L had a long-term effective acid buffering capacity for acidic wastewater containing Cd(II). An increase in the packing height led to a longer longevity of the PRB than the theoretical value. In addition, the speciation of Cd on RM–L was dominated by carbonate form and iron–manganese oxide form. The surface of the RM–L particles evolved from a dense lamellar structure to small globular clusters after purifying the acidic wastewater containing Cd(II), due to the corrosion of H+ and the reoccupation and coverage by increasingly enriched adsorbates and precipitates of heavy metal ions. HIGHLIGHTS Focusing on the remediation of AMD-polluted groundwater in mining areas.; Theoretical guidance on the longevity and design of a PRB with RM–L.; Evaluation of the safety and stability of RM–L.;

Abstract As a major energy city in China, Yulin City has faced huge challenges to the ecological environment with its rapid economic development and rapid urbanization. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the impact of land use changes on habitat quality. Based on three periods of land use data in Yulin City in 1995, 2005 and 2015, the PLUS model was used to simulate the land use changes in 2015. The measured kappa coefficient was 0.8859, which met the simulation accuracy requirements. By setting development zone boundaries and adjusting parameters, three progressive scenarios are designed to predict the spatial distribution of land use in Yulin City in 2035. The InVEST model was used to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of Yulin City’s habitat quality in the past 20 years and evaluate the distribution of Yulin City’s habitat quality under three scenarios after 20 years. The results are as follows: (1) During the study period, construction land in Yulin City expanded rapidly, with an area increase of 380.87 km2 in 20 years, and ecological land gradually shrank. (2) The land use simulation results of Yulin City under various scenarios in 2035 show that future land use changes in Yulin City will mainly be concentrated in the central and western regions. (3) During the study period, the habitat quality of Yulin City was at a medium level and the overall habitat quality showed a downward trend. Spatially, the degree of habitat quality degradation in Yulin City showed a characteristic of gradually decreasing from West to East. (4) By 2035, under the scenario of suitable urban economic development, Yulin City’s habitat quality has been improved to a certain extent, which not only protects ecological security but also meets the demand for construction land for urban development. The results of this study help the government better understand the evolution of land use and habitat quality in Yulin City in the past 20 years, and provide theoretical support and reference for the formulation of Yulin City’s ecological environment protection policies and the implementation of ecological protection work under the current land spatial planning.

Abstract Background It is beneficial for society to discover the risk factors associated with surgery and to carry out some early interventions for patients with these risk factors. Few studies specifically explored the relationship between bone marrow lesions (BMLs) and long-term incident joint surgery. Objective To investigate the association between BML severity observed in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients’ first MRI examination and incident knee surgery within 5 years. Additionally, to assess the predictive value of BMLs for the incident knee surgery. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods We identified patients diagnosed with knee OA and treated at our institution between January 2015 and January 2018, and retrieved their baseline clinical data and first MRI examination films from the information system. Next, we proceeded to determine the Max BML grades, BML burden grades and Presence BML grades for the medial, lateral, patellofemoral, and total compartments, respectively. Multi-variable logistic regression models examined the association of the BML grades with 5-year incident knee surgery. Positive and negative predictive values (PPVs and NPVs) were determined for BML grades referring to 5-year incident knee surgery. Results Totally, 1011 participants (knees) were found eligible to form the study population. Within the 5 years, surgery was performed on 74 knees. Max BML grade 2 and grade 3 of medial, patellofemoral and total compartments were strongly and significantly associated with incident surgery. None of the BML grades from lateral compartment was associated with incident surgery. The PPV was low and NPV was high for BMLs. Conclusions BMLs found in the first MRI examination were associated with 5-year incident joint surgery, except for those allocated in lateral compartments. The high NPVs imply that patients without BMLs have a low risk of requiring surgery within 5 years.

Abstract U3 snoRNA is essential for ribosome biogenesis during interphase. Upon mitotic onset, the nucleolus disassembles and U3 snoRNA relocates to the perichromosomal region (PR) to be considered as a chromosome passenger. Whether U3 controls mitosis remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that U3 snoRNA is required for mitotic progression. We identified DDX21 as the predominant U3-binding protein during mitosis and confirmed that U3 snoRNA colocalizes with DDX21 in the PR. DDX21 knockdown induces mitotic catastrophe and similar mitotic defects caused by U3 snoRNA depletion. Interestingly, the uniform PR distribution of U3 snoRNA and DDX21 is interdependent. DDX21 functions in mitosis depending on its PR localization. Mechanistically, U3 snoRNA regulates DDX21 PR localization through maintaining its mobility. Moreover, Cy5-U3 snoRNA downsizes the fibrous condensates of His-DDX21 at proper molecular ratios in vitro. This work highlights the importance of the equilibrium between U3 snoRNA and DDX21 in PR formation and reveals the potential relationship between the PR assembly and mitotic regulation.

Abstract The study was aimed to investigate the positive impact of bicarbonate Ringer’s solution on postoperative outcomes in patients who underwent laparoscopic right hemihepatectomy. Patients in the two groups were infused with lactated Ringer’s solution (LRS, n = 38) and the bicarbonate Ringer’s solution (BRS, n = 38) at a rate of 5 ml·kg–1·h–1. The stroke volume was monitored and 200 ml of hydroxyethyl starch with 130/0.4 sodium chloride injection (Hes) of a bolus was given in the first 5–10 min. The main outcome was to test lactic acid (LAC) concentration before and after surgery. The concentrations of LAC in the LRS group were higher than in the BRS group at 2 h after operation began, at the end of the operation and 2 h after the operation. Overall, the parameters including pH, base excess (BE), HCO3 −, aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were improved. The values of bilirubin in the LRS group were higher and albumin were lower than in the BRS group at post-operation 1st and 2nd day (P

Abstract The manipulation of excitation modes and resultant emission colors in luminescent materials holds pivotal importance for encrypting information in anti-counterfeiting applications. Despite considerable achievements in multimodal and multicolor luminescent materials, existing options generally suffer from static monocolor emission under fixed external stimulation, rendering them vulnerability to replication. Achieving dynamic multimodal luminescence within a single material presents a promising yet challenging solution. Here, we report the development of a phosphor exhibiting dynamic multicolor photoluminescence (PL) and photo-thermo-mechanically responsive multimodal emissions through the incorporation of trace Mn2+ ions into a self-activated CaGa4O7 host. The resulting phosphor offers adjustable emission-color changing rates, controllable via re-excitation intervals and photoexcitation powers. Additionally, it demonstrates temperature-induced color reversal and anti-thermal-quenched emission, alongside reproducible elastic mechanoluminescence (ML) characterized by high mechanical durability. Theoretical calculations elucidate electron transfer pathways dominated by intrinsic interstitial defects and vacancies for dynamic multicolor emission. Mn2+ dopants serve a dual role in stabilizing nearby defects and introducing additional defect levels, enabling flexible multi-responsive luminescence. This developed phosphor facilitates evolutionary color/pattern displays in both temporal and spatial dimensions using readily available tools, offering significant promise for dynamic anticounterfeiting displays and multimode sensing applications.

Abstract In the current solution for multiwavelength achromatic flat lenses, a one-to-one correspondence exists between the number of writing phase distributions and the number of achromatic wavelengths. Breaking this correspondence requires a complex phase design and parameter optimization. Here, we show that a dual-layer cascade liquid crystal Pancharatnam-Berry lens (CLCPBL) with two writing phase distributions and a specific coupled phase distribution between the layers can achieve three wavelength achromaticity without any parameter optimization process. Similarly, in a three-layer cascade, the number of achromatic wavelengths increases to seven through the permutations of the layers, with adjustable amplitude factors. We fabricate a three-layer CLCPBL with the design wavelengths of 396.8 nm, 1064 nm, and 1550 nm, which theoretically allows the light at 632.8, 532.8, 3383 and 450 nm to form a common focus, and test such structure. Our CLCPBL enables a wider range of applications than conventional achromatic flat lenses.

Abstract Transition metal oxides (TMOs) exhibit fascinating physicochemical properties, which originate from the diverse coordination structures between the transition metal and oxygen atoms. Accurate determination of such structure-property relationships of TMOs requires to correlate structural and electronic properties by capturing the global parameters with high resolution in energy, real, and momentum spaces, but it is still challenging. Herein, we report the determination of characteristic electronic structures from diverse coordination environments on the prototypical anatase-TiO2(001) with (1 × 4) reconstruction, using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy/atomic force microscopy, in combination with density functional theory calculation. We unveil that the shifted positions of O 2s and 2p levels and the gap-state Ti 3p levels can sensitively characterize the O and Ti coordination environments in the (1 × 4) reconstructed surface, which show distinguishable features from those in bulk. Our findings provide a paradigm to interrogate the intricate reconstruction-relevant properties in many other TMO surfaces.

The genus Ainsliaea DC. is one of the major groups within the tribe Pertyeae (Asteraceae). It comprises several important Chinese medicinal species. However, the phylogenetic position has undergone a long process of exploration. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequences data has not been employed in species identification and phylogeny of Ainsliaea. In this study, the complete cp genomes of two Ainsliaea species (A. gracilis and A. henryi) were reported, followed by structural, comparative, and phylogenetic analyses within the tribe Peryteae. Both cp genomes displayed a typical quadripartite circular structure, with the LSC and SSC regions separated by the IR regions. The genomes were 152,959 (A. gracilis) and 152,805 (A. henryi) base pairs (bp) long, with a GC content of 37.6%. They were highly conserved, containing 134 genes, including 87 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 2 pseudogenes (rps19 and ycf1). Moreover, thirteen highly polymorphic regions (e.g., trnK-UUU, trnG-UCC, trnT-GGU, accD-psaI, and rpl22-rps19) were identified, indicating their potential as DNA barcodes. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed the placement of Ainsliaea in the tribe Pertyeae, revealing close relationships with the genera Myripnois and Pertya. In comparison with Ainsliaea, Myripnois was more closely related to Pertya. This study lays a theoretical foundation for future research on species identification, population genetics, resource conservation, and sustainable utilization within Ainsliaea and Pertyeae.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in studying gut microbiome-derived hydrolases in relation to oral drug metabolism, particularly focusing on natural product drugs. Despite the significance of natural product drugs in the field of oral medications, there is a lack of research on the regulatory interplay between gut microbiome-derived hydrolases and these drugs. This review delves into the interaction between intestinal microbiome-derived hydrolases and natural product drugs metabolism from three key perspectives. Firstly, it examines the impact of glycoside hydrolases, amide hydrolases, carboxylesterase, bile salt hydrolases, and epoxide hydrolase on the structure of natural products. Secondly, it explores how natural product drugs influence microbiome-derived hydrolases. Lastly, it analyzes the impact of interactions between hydrolases and natural products on disease development and the challenges in developing microbial-derived enzymes. The overarching goal of this review is to lay a solid theoretical foundation for the advancement of research and development in new natural product drugs and personalized treatment.

To facilitate the coordinated and large-scale participation of residential flexible loads in demand response (DR), a load aggregator (LA) can integrate these loads for scheduling. In this study, a residential DR optimization scheduling strategy was formulated considering the participation of flexible loads in DR. First, based on the operational characteristics of flexible loads such as electric vehicles, air conditioners, and dishwashers, their DR participation, the base to calculate the compensation price to users, was determined by considering these loads as virtual energy storage. It was quantified based on the state of virtual energy storage during each time slot. Second, flexible loads were clustered using the K-means algorithm, considering the typical operational and behavioral characteristics as the cluster centroid. Finally, the LA scheduling strategy was implemented by introducing a DR mechanism based on the directrix load. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed DR approach can effectively reduce peak loads and fill valleys, thereby improving the load management performance.

Abstract Background Intractable postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) during cesarean section has been a significant concern for obstetricians. We aimed to explore the effectiveness and safety of a new type of uterine compression suture, the step-wise surgical technique of knapsack-like sutures for treating intractable PPH caused by uterine atony and placenta factors in cesarean section. Methods The step-wise surgical technique of knapsack-like sutures was established on the basis of the artful combination of vertical strap-like sutures and an annular suture-ligation technique. This novel surgical technique was applied to 34 patients diagnosed with PPH during cesarean section due to severe uterine atony and placental factors in our department. The hemostatic effects, clinical outcomes and follow-up visit results were all reviewed and analyzed. Results This new uterine compression suture successfully stopped bleeding in 33 patients, and the effective rate was 97.06%. Only 1 patient failed and was changed to use bilateral uterine arterial embolization and internal iliac artery embolization. The follow-up visits indicated that 33 patients restored menstruation except for 1 who was diagnosed with amenorrhea. The gynecological ultrasound tests of all the patients suggested good uterine involutions, and they had no obvious complaints such as hypogastralgia. Conclusions This step-wise surgical technique of knapsack-like uterine compression sutures can compress the uterus completely. It is a technique that can conserve the uterus and fertility function without special equipment in caesarean section for PPH, with the characteristics of being safe, simple and stable (3 S) with rapid surgery, reliable hemostasis and resident doctor to operation (3R).

Intersections are crucial and high-risk areas in urban road networks due to dense traffic and complex scenarios. Deploying Roadside Units (RSUs) can enhance safety and efficiency by providing real-time traffic information. However, the impact of traffic accident risks on RSU deployment is largely ignored. This study introduces an innovative RSU deployment strategy that prioritizes the risk of traffic accidents at intersections. The approach begins with analyzing environmental conditions, traffic patterns, and historical accident data at target intersections to identify key risk dimensions: road, accident, and environmental. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Entropy Weight Method (EWM) are used to weigh the indicators to evaluate their importance in accident risk assessment. Then, construct an objective function based on the accident risk value of the intersection. To overcome the redundancy problem in risk assessment, this study proposes an improved 0-1 knapsack algorithm that considers the redundancy of intersection accident risk to determine the optimal deployment location of RSUs. Simulations with SUMO, TraCI, Veins, and OMNeT++ demonstrate the algorithm’s superiority over traditional methods in all metrics. The results show that the vehicle coverage of this strategy is on average 2.63% and 2.86% higher than that of the IIA-ORD and UDA algorithms, respectively. It also leads by about 5.04% in traffic accident coverage and 5.72% in accident risk coverage. This intersection-focused RSU deployment method ensures timely information dissemination after incidents, providing valuable insights and practical guidelines for improving urban intersection safety and efficiency.

Abstract This study aims to evaluate the impact of percutaneous pedicle screw fixation (PPSF) and open pedicle screw fixation (OPSF) on the postoperative paraspinal muscle fat infiltration (FI) rate in patients with thoracolumbar fractures through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and explore the association between paraspinal muscle FI rate and regional kyphosis angle. We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 35 patients who underwent either PPSF or OPSF for thoracolumbar fractures, examining data at preoperative, 1-month postoperative, and 9-months postoperative time points, which included Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and regional kyphosis angle. We obtained preoperative and 9-month postoperative paraspinal muscle FI rates using T2-weighted MRI images and ImageJ software. We analyzed the correlation of FI rates with VAS, ODI, as well as the correction loss percentage of regional kyphosis angle. The analysis revealed a positive correlation between postoperative FI rate increase and correction loss percentage of regional kyphosis angle (r = 0.696, p

AbstractDuhaldea cappa, a valuable medicinal plant of genus Duhaldea in the tribe Inuleae, is predominantly found in China, Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, the genomic studies of Duhaldea cappa are limited. In this study, we successfully sequenced and assembled the complete chloroplast genome of Duhaldea cappa. The chloroplast genome is 150,819 bp in length with a 37.73% GC content. The chloroplast genome has a quadripartite structure, consisting of a large single-copy region of 82,731 bp, a small single-copy region of 18,168 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat sequences of 24,960 bp. The genome contains 133 genes. Among these genes, there are 88 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The phylogeny reconstructed from data of the complete chloroplast genome indicated that Duhaldea cappa is closely related to Pluchea indica in the tribe Inuleae. Analyzing and reporting the chloroplast genome of Duhaldea cappa will establish a solid theoretical and data foundation for the efficient development, conservation, and utilization of this plant species.

Grain weight is one of the key components of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield. Genetic manipulation of grain weight is an efficient approach for improving yield potential in breeding programs. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between W7268 and Chuanyu 12 (CY12) was employed to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for thousand-grain weight (TGW), grain length (GL), grain width (GW), and the ratio of grain length to width (GLW) in six environments. Seven major QTLs, QGl.cib-2D, QGw.cib-2D, QGw.cib-3B, QGw.cib-4B.1, QGlw.cib-2D.1, QTgw.cib-2D.1 and QTgw.cib-3B.1, were consistently identified in at least four environments and the best linear unbiased estimation (BLUE) datasets, and they explained 2.61 to 34.85% of the phenotypic variance. Significant interactions were detected between the two major TGW QTLs and three major GW loci. In addition, QTgw.cib-3B.1 and QGw.cib-3B were co-located, and the improved TGW at this locus was contributed by GW. Unlike other loci, QTgw.cib-3B.1/QGw.cib-3B had no effect on grain number per spike (GNS). They were further validated in advanced lines using Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) markers, and a comparison analysis indicated that QTgw.cib-3B.1/QGw.cib-3B is likely a novel locus. Six haplotypes were identified in the region of this QTL and their distribution frequencies varied between the landraces and cultivars. According to gene annotation, spatial expression patterns, ortholog analysis and sequence variation, the candidate gene of QTgw.cib-3B.1/QGw.cib-3B was predicted. Collectively, the major QTLs and KASP markers reported here provide valuable information for elucidating the genetic architecture of grain weight and for molecular marker-assisted breeding in grain yield improvement.

Traditional transgenic detection methods require high test conditions and struggle to be both sensitive and efficient. In this study, a one-tube dual recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) reaction system for CP4-EPSPS and Cry1Ab/Ac was proposed and combined with a lateral flow immunochromatographic assay, named ''Dual-RPA-LFD'', to visualize the dual detection of genetically modified (GM) crops. In which, the herbicide tolerance gene CP4-EPSPS and the insect resistance gene Cry1Ab/Ac were selected as targets taking into account the current status of the most widespread application of insect resistance and herbicide tolerance traits and their stacked traits. Gradient diluted plasmids, transgenic standards, and actual samples were used as templates to conduct sensitivity, specificity, and practicality assays, respectively. The constructed method achieved the visual detection of plasmid at levels as low as 100 copies, demonstrating its high sensitivity. In addition, good applicability to transgenic samples was observed, with no cross-interference between two test lines and no influence from other genes. In conclusion, this strategy achieved the expected purpose of simultaneous detection of the two popular targets in GM crops within 20 min at 37 ℃ in a rapid, equipment-free field manner, providing a new alternative for rapid screening for transgenic assays in the field.

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer type of women in the world. miR-301b-3p/5p were paired miRNAs derived from the same pre-miRNA, which may have different clinical roles in tumor and requires more exploration and research. Methods: In order to investigate the differential expression, clinical significance, diagnostic and prognostic value of miR-301b-3p/5p and explore their function in breast cancer, we extracted information of miRNAs from TCGA data sets for clinical correlation analysis, and the potential function was explored by GO、KEGG enrichment and immunoinfiltration analysis. Results: miR-301b-3p/5p were both highly expressed in breast cancer, there is a positive correlation between them. miR-301b-3p and miR-301b-5p have different clinical features. In breast cancer, miR-301b-3p can be used as a potential diagnostic marker while miR-301b-5p can be used as a prognostic molecule. GO, KEGG enrichment and immunoinfiltration analysis reveals that miR-301b-3p focuses on molecular functions, miR-301b-5p focuses on regulation of angiogenesis, and it is correlated with immune cells. Conclusions: miR-301b-3p and miR-301b-5p are both tumor promoter in breast cancer, miR-301b-3p can be used as a potential diagnostic marker, while miR-301b-5p can be used as a prognostic molecule and an underlying therapy target. Although miR-301b-3p/5p is a pair of miRNAs from two arms of the same pre-miRNA, they may promote the progression of breast cancer together through different pathway.

Objective To assess the correlation between the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) and sleep quality among railway locomotive stewards.Design Cross-sectional study.Setting Lanzhou Bureau Group, China Railway, between July and August 2022.Participants Railway locomotive stewards.Primary and secondary outcome measures Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scale (PSQI), categorising scores of >14 as poor, 8–14 as fair and

Abstract Exosomes are indispensable for intercellular communications. Tumor microenvironment (TME) is the living environment of tumor cells, which is composed of various components, including immune cells. Based on TME, immunotherapy has been recently developed for eradicating cancer cells by reactivating antitumor effect of immune cells. The communications between tumor cells and TME are crucial for tumor development, metastasis, and drug resistance. Exosomes play an important role in mediating these communications and regulating the reprogramming of TME, which affects the sensitivity of immunotherapy. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the role of exosomes in TME reprogramming and the impact of exosomes on immunotherapy. Here, we review the communication role of exosomes in regulating TME remodeling and the efficacy of immunotherapy, as well as summarize the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, we also introduce the potential application of the artificially modified exosomes as the delivery systems of antitumor drugs. Further efforts in this field will provide new insights on the roles of exosomes in intercellular communications of TME and cancer progression, thus helping us to uncover effective strategies for cancer treatment.

Abstract Oxyfluoride transparent glass‐ceramics (GC) are widely used as the matrix for rare‐earth (RE) ions due to their unique properties such as low phonon energy, high transmittance, and high solubility for RE ions. Tb3+ doped oxyfluoride glasses exhibit a large absorption cross section for ultraviolet (UV) excitation, high stability, high photoluminescence quantum efficiency, and sensitive spectral conversion characteristics, making them promising candidate materials for use as the spectral converter in UV photodetectors. Herein, a Tb3+ doped oxyfluoride GC is developed by using the melt‐quenching method, and the microstructure and optical properties of the GC sample are carefully investigated. By combining with a Si‐based photo‐resistor,a solar‐blind UV detector is fabricated, which exhibits a significant photoelectric response with a broad detection range from 188 to 400 nm. The results indicate that the designed UV photodetector is of great significance for the development of solar‐blind UV detectors.

Continuous gesture recognition can be used to enhance human-computer interaction. This can be accomplished by capturing human movement with the use of the Inertial Measurement Units in smartphones and using machine learning algorithms to predict the intended gestures. Echo State Networks (ESNs) consist of a fixed internal reservoir that is able to generate rich and diverse nonlinear dynamics in response to input signals that capture temporal dependencies within the signal. This makes ESNs well-suited for time series prediction tasks, such as continuous gesture recognition. However, their application has not been rigorously explored, with regard to gesture recognition. In this study, we sought to enhance the efficacy of ESN models in continuous gesture recognition by exploring diverse model structures, fine-tuning hyperparameters, and experimenting with various training approaches. We used three different training schemes that used the Leave-one-out Cross-validation (LOOCV) protocol to investigate the performance in real-world scenarios with different levels of data availability: Leaving out data from one user to use for testing (F1-score: 0.89), leaving out a fraction of data from all users to use in testing (F1-score: 0.96), and training and testing using LOOCV on a single user (F1-score: 0.99). The obtained results outperformed the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) performance from past research (F1-score: 0.87) while maintaining a low training time of approximately 13 seconds compared to 63 seconds for the LSTM model. Additionally, we further explored the performance of the ESN models through behaviour space analysis using memory capacity, Kernel Rank, and Generalization Rank. Our results demonstrate that ESNs can be optimized to achieve high performance on gesture recognition in mobile devices on multiple levels of data availability. These findings highlight the practical ability of ESNs to enhance human-computer interaction.

Abstract Pedestrian trajectory prediction is essential for self-driving vehicles, social robots, and intelligent monitoring applications. Diverse trajectory data is critical for high-accuracy trajectory prediction. However, the trajectory data is captured in scattered scenes, which can cause the problem of data island. Furthermore, artificial aggregation of trajectory data suffers from the risk of data leakage, ignoring the rule of privacy protection. We propose a multi-scene federated trajectory prediction (Fed-TP) method to solve the above problems. As our key contribution, a destination-oriented LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory)-based trajectory prediction (DO-TP) network is proposed in each scene to forecast future trajectories in an encoder-decoder manner. The independent training using trajectory data in each scene can prevent data leakage and achieves high privacy security. As another key contribution, a federated learning framework is introduced to break the scene limitation by conducting distributed collaborative training. The performance of different federated learning methods is compared on public datasets, including ETH, UCY, and Stanford Drone Dataset (SDD). Compared with FedAvg and FedProx, FedAtt is more suitable for pedestrian trajectory prediction. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has better data privacy security than directly training on multiple scenes and superior prediction performance than training on a single scene.

A new species, Primula xilingensis K.Huang & Z.X.Fu, sp. nov. (Primulaceae), is described and illustrated. In gross morphology, it is clearly allied to section Minutissimae on account of having stolons, being glabrous, leaf rosette less than or equal to corolla, flower solitary and bract not swollen at base. The new species is easily distinguished by the combination of scape densely yellow farinose, leaf apex acute, rarely broadly obtuse, corolla pale purplish blue and style 3.0–6.0 mm above base of corolla tube, stamens reaching the corolla tube mouth in thrum flower. In addition, the distribution map, morphological comparison of related species and conservation status of the new species are also provided.

Abstract Some studies have shown that lyophilization significantly improves the stability of mRNA-LNPs and enables long-term storage at 2–8 °C. However, there is little research on the lyophilization process of mRNA-lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). Most previous studies have used empirical lyophilization with only a single lyoprotectant, resulting in low lyophilization efficiency, often requiring 40–100 h. In the present study, an efficient lyophilization method suitable for mRNA-LNPs was designed and optimized, shortening the total length of the lyophilization process to 8–18 h, which significantly reduced energy consumption and production costs. When the mixed lyoprotectant composed of sucrose, trehalose, and mannitol was added to mRNA-LNPs, the eutectic point and collapse temperature of the system were increased. The lyophilized product had a ginger root-shaped rigid structure with large porosity, which tolerated rapid temperature increases and efficiently removed water. In addition, the lyophilized mRNA-LNPs rapidly rehydrated and had good particle size distribution, encapsulation rate, and mRNA integrity. The lyophilized mRNA-LNPs were stable at 2–8 °C, and they did not reduce immunogenicity in vivo or in vitro. Molecular dynamics simulation was used to compare the phospholipid molecular layer with the lyoprotectant in aqueous and anhydrous environments to elucidate the mechanism of lyophilization to improve the stability of mRNA-LNPs. This efficient lyophilization platform significantly improves the accessibility of mRNA-LNPs.

Abstract With the rapid development of urbanization and the sharp increase in population, urban land is becoming increasingly scarce. The efficient and reasonable development of the underground space is a crucial way to solve the problem of urban diseases, and comprehensive evaluation of urban underground space resources is an important basic task to achieve reasonable planning of the underground space. Adopting Xianyang city as an example, in this paper, we comprehensively evaluated the underground space resources in the main urban area and established evaluation models for the amount of resources available for development, development difficulty, potential value, and comprehensive quality of the underground space. Evaluation indicators, including urban environmental constraints, geological conditions, socioeconomic conditions and many other factors, were determined. With the use of the method of item-by-item elimination of restrictive elements and the analytic hierarchy process for determining the weight of each evaluation index, GIS technology was used to calculate and evaluate the underground space resources (0–30 m) in the main urban area of Xianyang city that could be reasonably developed, as well as the corresponding development difficulty and potential value, and we obtained the underground space that could be reasonably developed under different types of land use in the main urban area of Xianyang city on the basis of the resource quantity and comprehensive quality evaluation results. The results showed that in terms of quantity, the amount of underground space available for development in the main urban area of Xianyang city accounts for approximately 25.11% of the total development amount, and the underground space that could be developed and utilized is approximately 82.3 km2. The underground space resources that could be developed within a 30 m depth interval in the main urban area reached 2.465 billion m3, accounting for approximately 79.5% of the total shallow underground space resources, and the potential for development and utilization is enormous. In terms of the comprehensive quality, the highest comprehensive quality level of shallow underground resources is located in the core areas along Renmin Road, Weiyang Road, and Century Avenue, with an area of 21.52 km2, and the highest comprehensive quality level of subshallow underground resources is located along Renmin Road and Weiyang Road, with an area of 4.37 km2. The evaluation results could provide high reference value for urban development planning and underground space development and utilization in Xianyang.

ABSTRACT: Milk-clotting enzyme (MCE) is the essential active agents in dairy processing. The traditional MCE is mainly obtained from animal sources, in which calf rennet is the most widely used in cheese industry. Traditional MCE substitute is becoming necessary due to its limited production and increased cheese consumption. A novel traditional MCE substitute was produced from Bacillus velezensis DB219 in this study. The DB219 MCE exhibited a notable specific activity of 6,110 Soxhlet units/mg and 3.16-fold purification yield with 28.87% recovery through ammonium sulfate fractionation and DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow. The purified DB219 MCE was a metalloprotease with a molecular weight of 36 kDa. The DB219 MCE was weak acid resistance and stable at pH 6.0 to 10.0 and temperature

Abstract Background The human gut microbiome (HGM), consisting of trillions of microorganisms, is crucial to human health. Adverse drug use is one of the most important causes of HGM disorder. Thus, it is necessary to identify drugs or compounds with anti-commensal effects on HGM in the early drug discovery stage. This study proposes a novel anti-commensal effects classification using a machine learning method and optimal molecular features. To improve the prediction performance, we explored combinations of six fingerprints and three descriptors to filter the best characterization as molecular features. Results The final consensus model based on optimal features yielded the F1-score of 0.725 ± 0.014, ACC of 82.9 ± 0.7%, and AUC of 0.791 ± 0.009 for five-fold cross-validation. In addition, this novel model outperformed the prior studies by using the same algorithm. Furthermore, the important chemical descriptors and misclassified anti-commensal compounds are analyzed to better understand and interpret the model. Finally, seven structural alerts responsible for the chemical anti-commensal effect are identified, implying valuable information for drug design. Conclusion Our study would be a promising tool for screening anti-commensal compounds in the early stage of drug discovery and assessing the potential risks of these drugs in vivo.

Carbohydrates play a crucial role in the development of chronic diseases, and although research in this area is expanding, the precise definition of carbohydrate quality remains unclear. Currently, commonly utilized indicators encompass dietary fiber content, whole grain intake, free sugars intake and the glycemic index (GI). High-quality carbohydrate foods typically exhibit high dietary fiber content, consist of whole grain components, contain low levels of free sugars, and possess a low GI. The GI, in particular, directly influences the human blood sugar response and serves as a vital measure for describing carbohydrate quality. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the factors that influence the GI, focusing on three aspects: digestion and absorption, processing methods, and starch composition and structure. It further examines the GI values of various food sources. The rate of digestion and absorption, as well as diverse processing methods, can influence the GI. Additionally, the composition and structure of starch directly affect the GI. Amylose and amylopectin exhibit dissimilar structural compositions, with amylopectin containing more amylase binding sites than amylose, leading to a higher digestion rate. Consequently, foods with elevated amylose content tend to have relatively low GI values. Additionally, starch can be categorized into three types (A-type, B-type, and C-type) based on the crystal form of amylopectin present in the starch. Among these types, A-type starch is the most readily digestible, while B-type and C-type starch exhibit low GI characteristics due to their reduced digestibility. By studying the microstructure of starch, researchers can gain valuable insights into the influencing factors of the GI, thereby introducing a fresh perspective to the assessment of food carbohydrate quality.

Abstract Traffic congestion can lead to negative driving emotions, significantly increasing the likelihood of traffic accidents. Reducing negative driving emotions as a means to mitigate speeding, reckless overtaking, and aggressive driving behaviors is a viable approach. Among the potential methods, affective speech has been considered one of the most promising. However, research on humor-based affective speech interventions in the context of driving negative emotions is scarce, and the utilization of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals for emotion detection in humorous audio studies remains largely unexplored. Therefore, our study first designed a highly realistic experiment scenario to induce negative emotions experienced by drivers in congested traffic conditions. Subsequently, we collected drivers’ EEG signals and subjective questionnaire ratings during the driving process. By employing one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t tests, we analyzed the data to validate the success of our experiment in inducing negative emotions in drivers during congested road conditions and to assess the effectiveness of humorous audio in regulating drivers’ negative emotions. The results indicated that humorous audio effectively alleviated drivers’ negative emotions in congested road conditions, with a 145.84% increase in arousal and a 93.55% increase in valence ratings compared to control conditions. However, it should be noted that humorous audio only restored drivers’ emotions to the level experienced during normal driving. Our findings offer novel insights into regulating drivers’ negative emotions during congested road conditions.

Abstract Background The early differential diagnosis between bacterial meningitis (BM) and tuberculous meningitis (TBM) or cryptococcal meningitis (CM) remains a significant clinical challenge. Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) has been reported as a novel inflammatory biomarker in the early stages of infection. This study aimed to investigate whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) NGAL can serve as a potential biomarker for distinguishing between BM and TBM or CM. Methods We prospectively enrolled the patients with suspected CNS infections at admission and divided them into three case groups: BM (n = 67), TBM (n = 55), CM (n = 51), and an age- and sex-matched hospitalized control (HC, n = 58). Detected the CSF NGAL and assessed its diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing between BM and TBM or CM. Additionally, longitudinally measured the CSF NGAL levels in patients with BM to evaluate its potential as a monitoring tool for antibacterial treatment. Results The concentration of CSF NGAL in BM was significantly higher than in TBM, CM, and HC (all P

Several single-column pier girder bridges have been involved in overturning accidents, resulting in significant economic losses and casualties, thus necessitating a risk assessment of the overturning stability. To date, the effect of structural degradation due to concrete creep on the long-term stability of bridges has not been demonstrated. In this study, a full-scale nonlinear analysis of the lateral overturning process of a collapsed concrete box girder based on the explicit dynamic finite element method (EFEM) was conducted to verify the reliability of the numerical method. An EFEM model incorporating concrete creep was developed to demonstrate the effect of structural degradation on the long-term stability of bridges. The synthesis overturning axis method (SOAM) was proposed to evaluate the long-term overturning stability of concrete continuous bridges, aiming to address the deficiencies in existing methods, particularly for curved bridges, and was compared with conventional methods. The results show that the variations in bearing reaction forces between curved and straight bridges under creep and self-weight are minimal, staying within 2%. An increase in the creep terminal coefficient results in the opposite trend in the ultimate vehicle weight of curved bridges and straight bridges, but fluctuations remain within 2%, indicating that long-term creep has a limited effect on the overall overturning stability. A failure analysis of 20 single-column pier bridges reveals significant differences in the ultimate vehicle weight between the rigid overturning axis method (ROAM) and folded overturning axis method (FOAM), with error ranges of −14.2% to 567.4% and −99.1% to −32.1%, respectively. The SOAM results have the smallest error range compared to those of the EFEM, with an error range of −38.8% to 33.9%. Despite these errors, the SOAM demonstrates a significant improvement in characterizing the trend and assessment accuracy of the overall overturning stability of single-column pier bridges.

MIXTA-like transcription factors AtMYB16 and AtMYB106 play important roles in the regulation of cuticular wax accumulation in dicot model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, but there are very few studies on the MIXTA-like transcription factors in monocot plants. Herein, wheat MIXTA-like transcription factors TaMIXTA1 and TaMIXTA2 were characterized as positive regulators of cuticular wax accumulation. The virus-induced gene silencing experiments showed that knock-down of wheat TaMIXTA1 and TaMIXTA2 expressions resulted in the decreased accumulation of leaf cuticular wax, increased leaf water loss rate, and potentiated chlorophyll leaching. Furthermore, three wheat orthologous genes of ECERIFERUM 5 (TaCER5-1A, 1B, and 1D) and their function in cuticular wax deposition were reported. The silencing of TaCER5 by BSMV-VIGS led to reduced loads of leaf cuticular wax and enhanced rates of leaf water loss and chlorophyll leaching, indicating the essential role of the TaCER5 gene in the deposition of wheat cuticular wax. In addition, we demonstrated that TaMIXTA1 and TaMIXTA2 function as transcriptional activators and could directly stimulate the transcription of wax biosynthesis gene TaKCS1 and wax deposition gene TaCER5. The above results strongly support that wheat MIXTA-Like transcriptional activators TaMIXTA1 and TaMIXTA2 positively regulate cuticular wax accumulation via activating TaKCS1 and TaCER5 gene transcription.

Inflammation is an important immune response of the body. It is a physiological process of self-repair and defense against pathogens taken up by biological tissues when stimulated by damage factors such as trauma and infection. Inflammation is the main cause of high morbidity and mortality in most diseases and is the physiological basis of the disease. Targeted therapeutic strategies can achieve efficient toxicity clearance at the inflammatory site, reduce complications, and reduce mortality. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a lipid signaling molecule, is involved in immune cell transport by binding to S1P receptors (S1PRs). It plays a key role in innate and adaptive immune responses and is closely related to inflammation. In homeostasis, lymphocytes follow an S1P concentration gradient from the tissues into circulation. One widely accepted mechanism is that during the inflammatory immune response, the S1P gradient is altered, and lymphocytes are blocked from entering the circulation and are, therefore, unable to reach the inflammatory site. However, the full mechanism of its involvement in inflammation is not fully understood. This review focuses on bacterial and viral infections, autoimmune diseases, and immunological aspects of the Sphks/S1P/S1PRs signaling pathway, highlighting their role in promoting intradial-adaptive immune interactions. How S1P signaling is regulated in inflammation and how S1P shapes immune responses through immune cells are explained in detail. We teased apart the immune cell composition of S1P signaling and the critical role of S1P pathway modulators in the host inflammatory immune system. By understanding the role of S1P in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, we linked the genomic studies of S1P-targeted drugs in inflammatory diseases to provide a basis for targeted drug development.

BackgroundIn the few reports to date, the changes in superoxide dismutase (SOD), a key factor in cellular protection against superoxide, in COVID-19 have been very inconsistent and contradictory. There is also a lack of data on COVID-19 induced by Omicron variant. Further investigation is warranted to figure out SOD alterations in COVID-19, particularly within the context of ongoing Omicron variant infection, which may provide clues to its role within COVID-19 pathogenesis and open up new avenues for COVID-19 treatment.MethodsSOD activity in 109 COVID-19 patients (including 46 severe cases and 63 mild to moderate cases) and 30 matched healthy controls were quantified. Demographic data, blood cell counts, biochemical indicators, coagulation indicators, and inflammatory markers were also recorded.ResultsSOD, an important key node, experienced a significant decrease in COVID-19, with the severe patients exhibiting lower activity compared to the mild to moderate patients and control healthy. Notably, severe patients who deceased had the lowest SOD activity. Correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between SOD and inflammatory markers, organ injury markers, coagulation dysfunction indicators, nutritional markers, and lymphocytes counts. The ROC curve also showed good performance for the differentiation of severe cases and the prediction of death.ConclusionSOD activity was significantly decreased in COVID-19 infected with Omicron variant and significantly correlated with systemic changes, and could be used as a biomarker to assess disease severity and predict mortality in COVID-19 clinical pathway management. Additionally, this finding will contribute to exploring new potential direction for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients.

Grain hardness (Gh) is important for wheat processing and end-product quality. Puroindolines polymorphism explains over 60% of Gh variation and the novel genetic factors remain to be exploited. In this study, a total of 153 quantitative trait loci (QTLs), clustered into 12 genomic intervals (C1-C12), for 13 quality-related traits were identified using a recombinant inbred line population derived from the cross of Zhongkemai138 (ZKM138) and Chuanmai44 (CM44). Among them, C7 (harboring eight QTLs for different quality-related traits) and C8 (mainly harboring QGh.cib-5D.1 for Gh) were attributed to the famous genes, Rht-D1 and Pina, respectively, indicating that the correlation of involved traits was supported by the pleotropic or linked genes. Notably, a novel major stable QTL for Gh was detected in the C12, QGh.cib-7D, with ZKM138-derived allele increasing grain hardness, which was simultaneously mapped by the BSE-Seq method. The geographic pattern and transmissibility of this locus revealed that the increasing-Gh allele is highly frequently present in 85.79% of 373 worldwide wheat varieties and presented 99.31% transmissibility in 144 ZKM138-derivatives, indicating the non-negative effect on yield performance and that its indirect passive selection has happened during the actual breeding process. Thus, the contribution of this new Gh-related locus was highlighted in consideration of improving the efficiency and accuracy of the soft/hard material selection in the molecular marker-assisted process. Further, TraesCS7D02G099400, TraesCS7D02G098000, and TraesCS7D02G099500 were initially deduced to be the most potential candidate genes of QGh.cib-7D. Collectively, this study provided valuable information of elucidating the genetic architecture of Gh for wheat quality improvement.

Super active region NOAA 13664 produced 12 X-class flares (including the largest one so far, an occulted X8.7 flare, in solar cycle 25) during 2024 May 8–15, and 11 of them are identified as white-light flares. Here we present various features of these X-class white-light flares observed by the White-light Solar Telescope (WST) on board the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. It is found that both the white-light emissions at WST 3600 Å (Balmer continuum) and HMI 6173 Å (Paschen continuum) show up in different regions of the sunspot group in these flares, including outside the sunspots and within the penumbra and umbra of the sunspots. They exhibit a point-, ribbon-, loop-, or ejecta-like shape, which can come from flare ribbons (or footpoints), flare loops, and plasma ejecta depending on the perspective view. The white-light duration and relative enhancement are measured and both parameters for 3600 Å emission have greater values than those for 6173 Å emission. It is also found that these white-light emissions are cospatial well with the hard X-ray (HXR) sources in the on-disk flares but have some offsets with the HXR emissions in the off-limb flares. In addition, it is interesting that the 3600 and 6173 Å emissions show different correlations with the peak HXR fluxes, with the former one more sensitive to the HXR emission. All these greatly help us understand the white-light flares of a large magnitude from a super active region on the Sun and also provide important insights into superflares on Sun-like stars.

With the growing emphasis on the advancement of the circular economy, companies are investigating various approaches, such as trade-in strategies, to stimulate consumption and support the circular economy. Although there is a substantial amount of research on trade-ins, there is a scarcity of multistrategy studies on upgrade programs. In order to address this deficiency, we created four two-period dynamic game models that utilize strategic consumer and product sequential innovation as the basis for examining company pricing and strategic decision-making. Our research shows that a single rollover upgrade program can generate significant revenues when there is a high level of product innovation and consumers are strategic in their decision-making. On the other hand, a dual rollover upgrade program can target a bigger range of customers who are looking to replace their current products. If the product is not highly innovative or strategically important for consumers, the profit advantage of the upgrade program with a single rollover is lost. In such cases, the upgrade program with a dual rollover not only ensures revenue but also helps to increase the size of the customer group who are more willing to replace their products.

Surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) are often regarded as the collective oscillations of charge carriers localized at the dielectric–metal interface that display an ultrafast response upon light excitation. The recent developments in the fabrication and characterization of plasmonic nanostructures have stimulated continuous effects in the search for their potential applications in the photonic fields. Concentrating on the role of plasmonics in photonics, this review covers recent advances in ultrafast plasmonic materials with a prime focus on all-optical switching. Fundamental phenomena of plasmonic light–matter interaction and plasmon dynamics are discussed by elaborating on the ultrafast processes unraveled by both experimental and theoretical methods, along with a comprehensive illustration of leveraging ultrafast plasmonics for all-optical switching and pulse laser generation with a focus on device design and performance. This review is concluded with a brief highlight of the current progress and the potential future directions in ultrafast plasmonics.

Early detection and treatment of congenital heart disease (CHD) can significantly improve the prognosis of children. However, inexperienced sonographers often face difficulties in recognizing CHD through transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) images. In this study, 2-dimensional (2D) and Doppler TTEs of children collected from 2 clinical groups from Beijing Children's Hospital between 2018 and 2022 were analyzed, including views of apical 4 chamber, subxiphoid long-axis view of 2 atria, parasternal long-axis view of the left ventricle, parasternal short-axis view of aorta, and suprasternal long-axis view. A deep learning (DL) framework was developed to identify cardiac views, integrate information from various views and modalities, visualize the high-risk region, and predict the probability of the subject being normal or having an atrial septal defect (ASD) or a ventricular septaldefect (VSD). A total of 1,932 children (1,255 healthy controls, 292 ASDs, and 385 VSDs) were collected from 2 clinical groups. For view classification, the DL model reached a mean [SD] accuracy of 0.989 [0.001]. For CHD screening, the model using both 2D and Doppler TTEs with 5 views achieved a mean [SD] area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.996 [0.000] and an accuracy of 0.994 [0.002] for within-center evaluation while reaching a mean [SD] AUC of 0.990 [0.003] and an accuracy of 0.993 [0.001] for cross-center test set. For the classification of healthy, ASD, and VSD, the model reached the mean [SD] accuracy of 0.991 [0.002] and 0.986 [0.001] for within- and cross-center evaluation, respectively. The DL models aggregating TTEs with more modalities and scanning views attained superior performance to approximate that of experienced sonographers. The incorporation of multiple views and modalities of TTEs in the model enables accurate identification of children with CHD in a noninvasive manner, suggesting the potential to enhance CHD detection performance and simplify the screening process.

The white-light continuum emissions in solar flares (i.e., white-light flares) are usually observed on the solar disk but, in a few cases, off the limb. Here we present on-disk as well as off-limb continuum emissions at 3600 Å (in the Balmer continuum) in an X2.1 flare (SOL2023-03-03T17:52) and an X1.5 flare (SOL2023-08-07T20:46), respectively, observed by the White-light Solar Telescope on the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory. These continuum emissions are seen at the ribbons for the X2.1 flare and on loops during the X1.5 event, in which the latter also appears in the decay phase. These emissions also show up in the pseudocontinuum images at Fe i λ 6173 from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. In addition, the ribbon sources in the X2.1 flare exhibit significant enhancements in the Fe i line at 6569.2 Å and the nearby continuum observed by the Chinese H α Solar Explorer. It is found that the on-disk continuum emissions in the X2.1 flare are related to a nonthermal electron-beam heating either directly or indirectly, while the off-limb emissions in the X1.5 flare are associated with thermal plasma cooling or due to Thomson scattering. These comprehensive continuum observations provide good constraints on flare energy deposition models, which helps us to better understand the physical mechanism of white-light flares.

PurposeNon-puerperal mastitis (NPM) accounts for approximately 4-5% of all benign breast lesions. Ultrasound is the preferred method for screening breast diseases; however, similarities in imaging results can make it challenging to distinguish NPM from invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Our objective was to identify convenient and objective hematological markers to distinguish NPM from IDC.MethodsWe recruited 89 patients with NPM, 88 with IDC, and 86 with fibroadenoma (FA), and compared their laboratory data at the time of admission. LASSO regression, univariate logistic regression, and multivariate logistic regression were used to screen the parameters for construction of diagnostic models. Receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration curves, and decision curves were constructed to evaluate the accuracy of this model.ResultsWe found significant differences in routine laboratory data between patients with NPM and IDC, and these indicators were candidate biomarkers for distinguishing between the two diseases. Additionally, we evaluated the ability of some classic hematological markers reported in previous studies to differentiate between NPM and IDC, and the results showed that these indicators are not ideal biomarkers. Furthermore, through rigorous LASSO and logistic regression, we selected age, white blood cell count, and thrombin time to construct a differential diagnostic model that exhibited a high level of discrimination, with an area under the curve of 0.912 in the training set and with 0.851 in the validation set. Furthermore, using the same selection method, we constructed a differential diagnostic model for NPM and FA, which also demonstrated good performance with an area under the curve of 0.862 in the training set and with 0.854 in the validation set. Both of these two models achieved AUCs higher than the AUCs of models built using machine learning methods such as random forest, decision tree, and SVM in both the training and validation sets.ConclusionCertain laboratory parameters on admission differed significantly between the NPM and IDC groups, and the constructed model was designated as a differential diagnostic marker. Our analysis showed that it has acceptable efficiency in distinguishing NPM from IDC and may be employed as an auxiliary diagnostic tool.

Abstract Wavelength conversion based on hybrid inorganic–organic sensitized triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA‐UC) is promising for applications such as photovoltaics, light‐emitting‐diodes, photocatalysis, additive manufacturing, and bioimaging. The efficiency of TTA‐UC depends on the population of triplet excitons involved in triplet energy transfer (TET), the driving force in TET, and the coupling strength between the donor and acceptor. Consequently, achieving highly efficient TTA‐UC necessitates the precise control of the electronic states of inorganic donors. However, conventional covalently bonded nanocrystals (NCs) face significant challenges in this regard. Herein, a novel strategy to exert control over electronic states is proposed, thereby enhancing TET and TTA‐UC by incorporating ionic‐bonded CsPbBr3 and lanthanide Ce3+ ions into composite NCs. These composite‐NCs exhibit high photoluminescence quantum yield, extended single‐exciton lifetime, quantum confinement, and uplifted energy levels. This engineering strategy of electronic states engendered a comprehensive impact, augmenting the population of triplet excitons participating in the TET process, enhancing coupling strength and the driving force, ultimately leading to an unconventional, dopant concentration‐dependent nonlinear enhancement of UC efficiency. This work not only advances fundamental understanding of hybrid TTA‐UC but also opens a door for the creation of other ionic‐bonded composite NCs with tunable functionalities, promising innovations for next‐generation optoelectronic applications.

Seepage damage is a significant factor leading to red mud tailings dam failures. Laboratory tests on seepage damage were conducted to investigate the damage characteristics and distribution laws of red mud tailings dams, including soil pressure, infiltration line, pore water pressure, dam displacement, and crack evolution. The findings revealed the seepage damage mechanisms of red mud slopes, offering insights for the safe operation and seepage damage prevention of red mud tailings dams. The results showed that the higher the water level is in the red mud tailings dam, the higher position the infiltration line is when it reaches the slope face. At the highest infiltration line point of the slope surface, the increase of pore water pressure is the highest and the change of horizontal soil pressure is the highest. Consequently, increased pore water pressure leads to decreased effective stress and shear strength, increasing the susceptibility to damage. Cracks resulting from seepage damage predominantly form below the infiltration line; the higher the infiltration lines is on the slope surface, the higher the position of the main crack formations is. The displacement of the dam body primarily occurs due to the continuous expansion of major cracks; the higher the infiltration lines are on the slope surface, the larger the displacement of the dam body is.

The copolyester poly(butylene glycol adipate-co-terephthalate/diphenylsilanediol adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBDAT) was synthesized by the melt polycondensation method using terephthalic acid, adipic acid, 1,4-butanediol, and diphenylsilylene glycol as the raw materials. The molecular chain structure, thermal properties, thermal stability, mechanical properties, and degradation behaviors of the copolyesters were investigated. The results showed that the prepared PBDAT copolyesters exhibited good thermal stability and mechanical properties. With the increase in diphenylsilanediol (DPSD) content, the thermal stability of PBDAT and the melting temperature both increased. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of PBDAT also exhibited an increasing tend. When the DPSD content was 12.5% (PBDAT-12.5), the tensile strength, the elastic modulus, and elongation at break were 30.56 MPa, 238 MPa, and 219%, respectively. With the increase in diphenylsilanediol content, the hydrophilicity of PBDAT decreased, but PBDAT still shows good degradability and the thermal degradation T5% temperature was 355 °C. The thermal degradation of PBDAT was also improved.

Amino acids found in minor coarse cereals are essential for human growth and development and play a crucial role in efficient and rapid quantitative detection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) enables nondestructive, efficient, and rapid sample detection. Traditional SERS detection efficiency is constrained by the use of a single target. In this study, three different amino acids (cysteine, valine, and tryptophan) were detected simultaneously using a ZIF-8@AuNPs composite substrate. The linear range of detection was 10−3 to 10−1 M, with limits of detection (LODs) of 2.40 × 10−4 M, 2.24 × 10−4 M, and 1.55 × 10−4 M, respectively. Same linear ranges and LODs were achieved with a one-dimensional convolutional neural network method. Furthermore, this substrate enabled the effective detection of amino acids in millet and efficient detection of cysteine in health products. This study presents a novel method for simultaneous detection of multiple analytes.