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A straw interlayer added to soil can effectively reduce soil salinity effects on plant growth, however, the effects of soil moisture, salt and microbial community composition on plant growth under a straw interlayer are unclear. A rhizobox study was conducted to investigate the role of straw interlayer thickness on soil moisture, salt migration, microbial community composition, as well as root growth in sunflower. The study included four treatments: Control (no straw interlayer); S3 (straw interlayer of 3.0 cm); S5 (straw interlayer of 5.0 cm); S7 (straw interlayer of 7.0 cm). Straw interlayer treatments increased soil moisture by 8.2–11.0% after irrigation and decreased soil salt content after the bud stage in 0–40 cm soil. Total root length, total root surface area, average root diameter, total root volume and the number of root tips of sunflower plants were higher under straw interlayer treatments than in the control, and were the highest under the S5 treatment. This stimulated root growth was ascribed to the higher abundance of Chloroflexi and Verrucomicrobia bacteria in soil with a straw interlayer, which was increased by 55.7 and 54.7%, respectively, in the S5 treatment. Addition of a straw interlayer of 5 cm thickness is a practical and environmentally feasible approach for improving sunflower root growth in saline-alkali soil.

Background and aims: Liver cirrhosis is a complex disease that may result in increased morbidity and mortality following bariatric surgery (BS). This study aimed to explore the outcome of BS in patients with unexpected cirrhosis, focusing on postoperative complications and the progression of liver disease. Methods: A retrospective study of bariatric patients with cirrhosis from four centers in China between 2016 and 2023 was conducted, with follow-up for one year after BS. The primary outcome was the safety of BS in patients with unexpected cirrhosis, while the secondary outcome was the metabolic efficacy of BS in this group postoperatively. Results: A total of 47 patients met the study criteria, including 46 cases of Child-Pugh class A cirrhosis and 1 case of Child-Pugh B. Pathological examination confirmed nodular cirrhosis in 21 patients (44.68%), pseudolobule formation in 1 patient (2.13%), lipedema degeneration with inflammatory cell infiltration in 3 patients (6.38%), and chronic hepatitis in 1 patient (2.13%). The average percentage of total weight loss was 29.73 ± 6.53% at one year postoperatively. During the 30-day postoperative period, the complication rate was 6.38%, which included portal vein thrombosis, gastrointestinal bleeding, and intra-abdominal infection. Moreover, no cases of liver decompensation or mortality were reported during the follow-up period. The remission rates of comorbidities among 41 patients one year after surgery were as follows: dyslipidemia 100%, type 2 diabetes 82.61%, hypertension 84.62%, and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome 85.71%. Conclusions: BS can be safely performed in patients with unexpected cirrhosis in the compensated stage of liver disease, with low postoperative morbidity and no mortality observed during one-year follow-up.

IntroductionPremature ovarian insufficiency (POI) has affected about 3.7% of women of reproductive age and is a major factor contributing to infertility. Bushen Huoxue formula (BHF), a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, is clinically used to treat POI in China. This study aims to investigate the potential mechanisms of BHF in combating POI using corticosterone-induced rats and palmitic acid (PA)-challenged human ovarian granulosa cells (GCs).MethodsInitially, ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was employed to analyze the components of BHF. The pharmacodynamic parameters evaluated included body weight, ovaries index, and serum hormone in rats. Follicle numbers were observed using H&E staining. Additionally, PCNA and TUNEL staining were used to assess GCs proliferation and apoptosis, respectively. Lipid accumulation and ROS levels were examined using Oil Red O and ROS staining. Protein expressions were determined by western blot. To probe mechanisms, cell viability and E2 levels in BHF-treated, PA-stimulated GCs were determined using MTT and ELISA, respectively. Cell apoptosis and ROS levels were assessed using TUNEL and ROS staining. Proteins related to lipid metabolism and autophagy in PA-stimulated GCs were studied using agonists.ResultsOur results shown that BHF effectively normalized serum hormone levels, including follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), estradiol (E2), and luteinizing hormone (LH). Concurrently, BHF also significantly reduced follicular atresia and promoted cell proliferation while inhibiting apoptosis in POI rats. Furthermore, BHF mitigated ovarian lipid accumulation by modulating lipid metabolism, which included reducing lipid synthesis (expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α), increasing lipid catabolism (expression of adipose triglyceride lipase), and enhancing lipid oxidation (expression of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1A). Mechanistically, the therapeutic effects of BHF on POI were linked with alleviation of lipid deposition-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and excessive autophagy, corroborating the results in PA-challenged GCs. After treatment with elesclomol (a ROS inducer) and rapamycin (an autophagy inducer) in GCs, the effects of BHF were almost counteracted under model conditions.ConclusionThese findings suggest that BHF alleviates the symptoms of POI by altering lipid metabolism and reducing lipid accumulation-induced ROS and autophagy, offering evidence for BHF’s efficacy in treating POI clinically.

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.

Abstract Background Pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents is a serious perioperative complication. Patients with gastric cancer may experience delayed gastric emptying. However, the role of qualitative and quantitative gastric ultrasound assessments in this patient population before anesthesia induction has not yet been determined. Methods Adult patients with gastrointestinal cancer were recruited and examined using gastric point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) before anesthetic induction from March 2023 to August 2023 in a tertiary cancer center. Three hundred patients with gastric cancer were conducted with POCUS prior to induction, and three hundred patients with colorectal cancer were included as controls. The cross-sectional area (CSA) of the gastric antrum and gastric volumes (GV) were measured and calculated. We determined the nature of the gastric contents and classified the antrum using a 3-point grading system. A ratio of GV to body weight > 1.5mL/Kg was defined as a high risk of aspiration. Results In patients with gastric cancer, 70 patients were classified as grade 2 (23%, including 6 patients with solid gastric contents) and 63 patients (21%) were identified as having a high risk of aspiration. Whereas in patients with colorectal cancer, only 11 patients were classified as grade 2 (3.7%), and 27 patients (9.7%) were identified as having a high risk of aspiration. A larger tumor size (OR:1.169, 95% CI 1.045–1.307, P = 0.006), tumor located in antrum (OR:2.304, 95% CI 1.169–4.539,P = 0.016), gastrointestinal obstruction (OR:21.633, 95% CI 4.199–111.443, P

Intestinal symbionts live in insects’ digestive systems and help with food digestion, nitrogen cycling, and energy use. Numerous symbionts, including bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, colonize the posterior gut of termites. Intestinal microbiota affects the Toll or Imd pathways during viral or entomopathogenic fungus infection in mosquitoes, but the role of intestinal symbionts in individual termite immunity is unclear. In the present research, Odontotermes formosanus and Metarhizium robertsii were selected to investigate the potential mechanism of the intestinal bacteria influencing termite innate immune while encountering an entomopathogen using metagenome sequencing and meta-transcriptome sequencing. We found that termite mortality declined within 48 hours under high spore infections and reached semi-lethal status within 72 hours. We sequenced the control and infestation termite and found that the dominant phyla changed below low-abundance flora during infestation. According to function annotation, the functions of spirochetes are significantly different from those of the rest of the phyla, which are mainly enriched in metabolism and cellular processes. There are 261 upregulated and 459 down-regulated DEGs derived from bacteria after infestation. We identified the glutamate-cysteine ligase gene, gshA, which is significantly upregulated in the infected group, and the GSH content in the regular infected group was higher than the 5% kanamycin-infected group. We speculated on a potential mechanism that one or more bacteria belonging to Spirochetes that upregulated gshA gene expression and increased GSH content in the hindgut to integrate with metarhizium toxins and then excrete out of the intestine.

Near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) have inherent advantages for high-sensitivity bioimaging due to the separation of excitation and emission light. However, the single-wavelength emission of NIR PLNPs for bioimaging limits their use in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, a biological window excited up-conversion (UC) PLNPs, Zn3Ga2SnO8:Cr3+,Yb3+,Ho3+ (ZGS), was reported for bioimaging and PDT. ZGS exhibits NIR persistent luminescence (PersL) after red LED excitation and visible UCL under 980 nm excitation. The NIR PersL is designed for in vivo bioimaging; the visible UCL is used to activate photosensitizer (PS) to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) for PDT. The dual-functional ZGS with UCL and PersL provides an effective method for bioimaging and PDT, which is expected to further promote the application of PLNPs in the integration of efficient diagnosis and treatment.

In this paper, the weighted group consensus for a kind of discrete heterogeneous multi-agent systems (HMASs) with packet loss in cooperative-competitive networks based on self-adaptive controller is studied. Based on self-adaptive controller, packet loss and cooperative-competitive relation, a novel control protocols have been designed for this system without satisfying the in-degree balance of the vertex. Some sufficient conditions have been obtained for the weighted group consensus of this kind of HMASs, by using graph theory, matrix analysis and complex frequency method. Based on weighted parameters, control parameters, packet loss rate and cooperative-competitive relation, the upper bound of the input time delay can be calculated. Finally, some simulation experiments are listed to show the effectiveness of the derived results.

Abstract There are replanting problems in the production of herbaceous peony. If ramet seedlings are replanted in the original planting hole, they weaken year-by-year until their death, which reduces the land utilisation rate and increases the production costs. In this study, exogenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB, the main component is Lactobacillus plantarum) were applied to improve the planting soil of herbaceous peony for the first time to alleviate the replanting problems, to reduce the production costs, and to provide a new way to promote the of the herbaceous peony industry. In this study, herbaceous peony main cultivars varieties ‘Dafugui’ ‘Hongxiuqiu’ and ‘Zifengyu’ were selected, and experiments were conducted using exogenous LAB. Morphological, rhizosphere soil, and root physiology indexes were measured by sampling at the end of the high-growth periods of herbaceous peony. The results showed that after LAB treatment, the plant height, flowering rate, other morphological indexes and root vitality of ‘Hongxiuqiu’ were increased, with a better promoting effect than that of ‘Dafugui’ and ‘Zifengyu’. The ‘Dafugui’ rhizosphere soil nutrient content and enzyme activity were improved, followed by ‘Hongxiuqiu’ and ‘Zifengyu’. The rhizosphere soil free salicylic acid content and root abscisic acid content decreased, whereas the soil bacterial abundance, root antioxidant enzyme activity, proline and paeoniflorin content increased in all varieties. This study found that LAB application can improve soil fertility and enzyme activity, promote the growth and development of herbaceous peony, increase the flowering rate and improve the ornamental value. However, the influence of LAB on different herbaceous peony varieties varied. Therefore, it is necessary to further expand the number of varieties, optimise the application concentration and frequency of LAB application, alleviate the replanting problems in herbaceous peony production, improve the utilisation rate of land, promote excellent varieties of herbaceous peony, and provide a new methods and references. Graphical abstract

Abstract Herbaceous peony is a perennial root plant that likes light and is cold-resistant. During summer, high temperature and strong light intensity advance its entry into the leaf wilting stage, which limits the accumulation of nutrients and formation of strong buds and severely affects its growth and development the following year. In this study, the wild herbaceous peony species and two main cultivars, ‘Zifengyu’ and ‘Hongfengyu’, were subjected to slight shading and strong light environments in summer, and their effects on leaf senescence and endogenous hormone and polyamine contents were explored. Slight shading treatment significantly delayed withering, increased the leaf net photosynthetic rate, and increased the chlorophyll, soluble sugar, indole-3-acetic acid, zeatin, gibberellin, spermine, spermidine, putrescine, and polyamine contents. Additionally, slight shading significantly reduced the proline and abscisic acid contents. Slight shading during summer prolonged the green period and delayed leaf senescence. The tolerance of tested materials to strong light intensity in summer was ranked as follows: ‘Zifengyu’ > ‘Hongfengyu’ > wild species. In conclusion, this study revealed that summer leaf senescence is delayed in herbaceous peony through shading and growth regulators. Additional varieties should be evaluated to provide reference for high-efficiency, high-quality, and high-yield cultivation of herbaceous peony.

Abstract Scribble is a master scaffold protein in apical-basal polarity. Current knowledge about the biological function of Scribble in colonic epithelial plasticity/regeneration during intestinal inflammation is limited. Here, we showed that the level of Scribble is decreased in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and mice with DSS-induced colitis. ScribΔIEC mice develops severe acute colitis with disrupted epithelial barrier integrity and impaired crypt stem cell’s function. Mechanistically, Scribble suppressed the process of autophagy by modulating the stability of caspase-dependent degradation of Atg16L1 by directly interacting with Atg16L1 in a LRR domain-dependent manner in IECs and led to an accumulation of ROS both in intestinal stem cells and epithelial cells. In addition, further study indicates that dietary sphingomyelin alleviates DSS-induced colitis by increase the expression of Scribble, which suggests that Scribble may be the critical marker of IBD. Our study shows that Scribble deficiency is associated with the dysregulated autophagy and impaired maintenance of colonic stemness, and it may be a target for diagnosis and treatment of IBD.

Abstract An important challenge in genetics, evolution and biotechnology is to understand and predict how mutations combine to alter phenotypes, including molecular activities, fitness and disease. In diploids, mutations in a gene can combine on the same chromosome or on different chromosomes as a “heteroallelic combination”. However, a direct comparison of the extent, sign, and stability of the genetic interactions between variants within and between alleles is lacking. Here we use thermodynamic models of protein folding and ligand-binding to show that interactions between mutations within and between alleles are expected in even very simple biophysical systems. Protein folding alone generates within-allele interactions and a single molecular interaction is sufficient to cause between-allele interactions and dominance. These interactions change differently, quantitatively and qualitatively as a system becomes more complex. Altering the concentration of a ligand can, for example, switch alleles from dominant to recessive. Our results show that intra-molecular epistasis and dominance should be widely expected in even the simplest biological systems but also reinforce the view that they are plastic system properties and so a formidable challenge to predict. Accurate prediction of both intra-molecular epistasis and dominance will require either detailed mechanistic understanding and experimental parameterization or brute-force measurement and learning.

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall) is resistant to drought but not waterlogging. The main production areas of peony are prone to waterlogging, seriously affecting the growth and development of herbaceous peony. Polyamines have been observed to significantly enhance the ability of plants to defend and repair adverse damage and affect the synthesis and accumulation of the endogenous growth hormones indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA). In this study, two herbaceous peony varieties (‘Lihong’, ‘Qihualushuang’) with different waterlogging tolerances were selected for artificial simulated waterlogging treatment to observe their morphological indexes and to determine their endogenous polyamine and hormone contents. Simultaneously, transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were performed, focusing on screening differentially expressed genes in the polyamine metabolism pathway. The results showed that flood-tolerant varieties of herbaceous peony respond to waterlogging stress by continuously synthesizing spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm) through putrescine (Put) to counteract adversity. In the waterlogging-intolerant varieties, the expression of polyamine oxidase-related genes was annotated; their response to waterlogging stress was the simultaneous degradation of Spm and Spd to Put in the process of synthesis, and a decrease in the accumulation of Spm and Spd led to the early appearance of the symptoms of damage. In addition, polyamines influence key hormones that respond to plant adversity (IAA; ABA). The objective of this work was to initially analyze the mechanism of the polyamine signaling pathway in response to flooding in herbaceous peonies for further in-depth research on the mechanism of flooding tolerance in herbaceous peony, screen flood-tolerant varieties, and promote of their use.

Inosine monophosphate (IMP), as a critical umami substance, is one of the most important indicators for evaluating the quality of meat products. Here, a sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor based on graphdiyne (GDY)/AuNPs/luminol nanocomposites was constructed to detect IMP. The GDY/AuNPs/luminol nanocomposites were synthesized by using simple one-pot method. GDY utilized its 2D framework to disperse and fix gold nanoparticles, which inhibited the agglomeration of gold nanoparticles and greatly improved its stability and catalytic properties. Importantly, GDY/AuNPs/luminol nanocomposites showed excellent catalytic ability and superior ECL activity towards luminol-H2O2 systems due to the synergistic effect of GDY and AuNPs. Under optimal conditions, the prepared biosensor exhibited a wide linear range from 0.01 g/L to 20 g/L, a satisfactory limit detection of 0.0013 g/L, as well as an excellent specificity. Moreover, we carried out the precise analysis of IMP in actual meat samples with acceptable results compared to the liquid chromatography. We believe that this work could offer an efficient ECL platform for accurate and reliable report of IMP levels, which is significant for maintaining food quality and safety.

This study proposes an adaptive robot pathfinding algorithm (MS-W-Theta*) based on fused trajectory smoothing with 3D maps. Firstly, we introduce an obstacle buffer in the 3D map, which includes the height and volume of the AGV when carrying shelves. This enhancement improves the robot's path traversal in narrow spaces. Then, we propose an improved adaptive heuristic function and a cost function to optimize the total cost function of the algorithm, based on the obstacle distribution information on the 3D map. This step increases the purposefulness of the planned path. Finally, the original path is smoothed using a Minimum Snap polynomial algorithm to avoid the unstable speed or jitter phenomenon that may occur during the actual operation of the mobile robot and to improve the stability of the robot operation. The experimental results show that MS-W-Theta* exhibits a significant advantage in terms of running time, and the generated path curves better align with the requirements of real-world mobile robot scenarios. The practicality and high efficiency of the algorithm in path planning for workshop logistics robots are demonstrated through experiments, indicating a reduction in running time by 20 % and an improvement in path alignment by 15 % compared to the baseline algorithm.

Abstract Objectives Enhanced neuroinflammation is an important mechanism underlying perioperative neurocognitive disorders. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a crucial role in regulating systemic immune responses. The present study was aimed to investigate the participation of Tregs in the development of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). Methods Surgery-associated neurocognitive disorder was induced in 18-month-old mice subjected to internal fixation of tibial fracture. Morris water maze was used to examine mice cognitive function. Splenic Tregs were collected for RNA sequencing and flow cytometry. Levels of inflammatory factors in the circulation and hippocampus were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Protein presences of tight junction proteins were detected by immunofluorescence. Results Surgery of internal fixation of tibial fracture induced cognitive impairment in aged mice, accompanied by elevated plasma levels of inflammatory factors and increased circulating Tregs. Transfusion of Tregs from young mice partially restored the structure of the blood–brain barrier and alleviated POCD in aged mice. Compared with young Tregs, differentially expressed genes in aged Tregs were enriched in tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway and cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction. Flow cytometry revealed that aged Tregs had blunted functions under basal and stimulated conditions. Blockade of the CD25 epitope protected the blood–brain barrier structure, reduced TNF-α levels in the hippocampus, and improved surgery-associated cognition in aged mice. Conclusions Blocking peripheral regulatory T cells improves surgery-induced cognitive function in aged mice. Therefore, aged Tregs play an essential role in the occurrence of POCD.

Motor Imagery (MI) based on Electroencephalography (EEG), a typical Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) paradigm, can communicate with external devices according to the brain’s intentions. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are gradually used for EEG classification tasks and have achieved satisfactory performance. However, most CNN-based methods employ a single convolution mode and a convolution kernel size, which cannot extract multi-scale advanced temporal and spatial features efficiently. What’s more, they hinder the further improvement of the classification accuracy of MI-EEG signals. This paper proposes a novel Multi-Scale Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network (MSHCNN) for MI-EEG signal decoding to improve classification performance. The two-dimensional convolution is used to extract temporal and spatial features of EEG signals and the one-dimensional convolution is used to extract advanced temporal features of EEG signals. In addition, a channel coding method is proposed to improve the expression capacity of the spatiotemporal characteristics of EEG signals. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method on the dataset collected in the laboratory and BCI competition IV 2b, 2a, and the average accuracy is at 96.87%, 85.25%, and 84.86%, respectively. Compared with other advanced methods, our proposed method achieves higher classification accuracy. Then we use the proposed method for an online experiment and design an intelligent artificial limb control system. The proposed method effectively extracts EEG signals’ advanced temporal and spatial features. Additionally, we design an online recognition system, which contributes to the further development of the BCI system.

In this article, the couple-group secure consensus of a kind of heterogeneous multi-agent systems (HMASs) with cooperative-competitive relation and time delays has been investigated if it receives malicious attacks. Based on cooperative-competitive relation and time delays, a new couple-group secure consensus protocol is designed. By applying the graph theory, linear algebra theory, probability theory, the linear combination theory and Getschgorin theorem, several sufficient conditions have been obtained to realize the couple-group secure consensus for this system. The obtained results also show the upper limitation of input delay can be computed if the parameters of system are given. It worth pointing out the topology of HMASs is no more needed to contain a spanning tree or meet with the balance of in or out degree in the obtained results. In additional, an adaptive function is added to speed up the convergence of consensus. Combined these obtained results with T-test, a novel detection algorithm has also been designed to determine that the nodes are security or not. Some examples have been given to prove the effectiveness of these obtained results and the improved secure detection algorithm.

Abstract Turnover prediction has an important impact on alleviating the brain drain, which can help organizations reduce costs and enhance competitiveness. Existing studies on turnover are mainly based on analyzing the turnover correlation, using different models to predict various employee turnover scenarios, and only predicting turnover category, while the class imbalance and turnover possibility have been ignored. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel fine-grained adaptation-based turnover prediction neural network (FATPNN) model. Specifically, we first employ a GRU to learn profile-aware features representations of the personnel samples. Then, to evaluate the contribution of various turnover factors, we further exploit an attention mechanism to model the profile information. Finally, we creatively design a weighted-based probability loss function suitable for our turnover prediction tasks. Experimental results show the effectiveness and universality of the FATPNN model in terms of turnover prediction.

Grape downy mildew is a major grape disease that typically occurs when grape leaves are subjected to high temperature. In this study, downy mildew incidence in ‘Red Globe’ grape was investigated. To clarify the effects of grape downy mildew on grape leaves under high-temperature stress. Grape downy mildew infestation and high-temperature treatment alone or combinations were applied to ‘Red Globe’ grape. The gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of grape leaves were measured. The results showed that logistic growth period of grape downy mildew in the Jinzhong, China was from July 20 to August 10. After the combined stress of high temperature and grape downy mildew, photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), intercellular carbon dioxide concentration (Ci), maximum photochemical efficiency(Fv/Fm), actual photochemical efficiency(ΦPSII), and performance index on absorption basis (PIABS) of grape leaves were all decreased more than the sum of those indexes under the two stresses individually. At 28°C, the damage of downy mildew had no significant effect on the degree of photosystem closure of leaves, but it was significantly increased with the combined stresses. The electron transfer efficiency from photosystem II to photosystem I was decreased significantly under the combined stresses. Under 38°C high-temperature stress, the energy dissipated per active reaction center of the leaves affected by grape downy mildew was significantly increased. High temperature aggravated adverse effects of downy mildew on the structure and function of photosystem II (PSII) of grape leaves and then further exacerbated reduction of photosynthesis caused by heat stress.

Zwitterionic hydrogels are nonfouling and hemocompatibility but several key challenges such as weak mechanical strength and low adhesion hamper their application as coating materials for devices. Here, the authors report a microgel reinforced zwitterionic hydrogel with excellent mechanical robustness and anti-swelling properties.

Sentiment analysis aims to extract emotions from textual data; with the proliferation of various social media platforms and the flow of data, particularly in the Arabic language, significant challenges have arisen, necessitating the development of various frameworks to handle issues. In this paper, we firstly design an architecture called Gated Convolution Long (GCL) to perform Arabic Sentiment Analysis. GCL can overcome difficulties with lengthy sequence training samples, extracting the optimal features that help improve Arabic sentiment analysis performance for binary and multiple classifications. The proposed method trains and tests in various Arabic datasets; The results are better than the baselines in all cases. GCL includes a Custom Regularization Function (CRF), which improves the performance and optimizes the validation loss. We carry out an ablation study and investigate the effect of removing CRF. CRF is shown to make a difference of up to 5.10% (2C) and 4.12% (3C). Furthermore, we study the relationship between Modern Standard Arabic and five Arabic dialects via a cross-dialect training study. Finally, we apply GCL through standard regularization (GCL+L1, GCL+L2, and GCL+LElasticNet) and our Lnew on two big Arabic sentiment datasets; GCL+Lnew gave the highest results (92.53%) with less performance time.

Biochar, as a soil conditioner, has been widely used to promote the growth of maize, but most of the current research is short-term experiments, which limits the research on the long-term effects of biochar, especially the physiological mechanism of biochar on maize growth in aeolian sandy soil is still unclear. Here, we set up two groups of pot experiments, respectively after the new biochar application and one-time biochar application seven years ago (CK: 0 t ha-1, C1: 15.75 t ha-1, C2: 31.50 t ha-1, C3: 63.00 t ha-1, C4: 126.00 t ha-1), and planted with maize. Subsequently, samples were collected at different periods to explore the effect of biochar on maize growth physiology and its after-effect. Results showed that the plant height, biomass, and yield of maize showed the highest rates of increase at the application rate of 31.50 t ha-1 biochar, with 22.22% increase in biomass and 8.46% increase in yield compared with control under the new application treatment. Meanwhile, the plant height and biomass of maize increased gradually with the increase of biochar application under the one-time biochar application seven years ago treatment (increased by 4.13%-14.91% and 13.83%-58.39% compared with control). Interestingly, the changes in SPAD value (leaf greenness), soluble sugar and soluble protein contents in maize leaves corresponded with the trend of maize growth. Conversely, the changes of malondialdehyde (MDA), proline (PRO), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) manifested an opposite trend to the growth of maize. In conclusion, 31.50 t ha-1 biochar application can promote the growth of maize by inducing changes in its physiological and biochemical characteristics, but excessive biochar application rates ranging from 63.00-126.00 t ha-1 inhibited the growth of maize. After seven years of field aging, the inhibitory effect of 63.00-126.00 t ha-1 biochar amount on maize growth disappeared and changed to promoting effect.

This study explores a hypothetical scenario where low-activation refractory multi-component alloys (RMCAs) are considered for use as divertor target materials in fusion reactors. To investigate the surface modifications under divertor service conditions, a multi-phase W–Ta–V–Cr RMCA is irradiated with low-energy helium (He) plasma at varying temperatures to approximately 5.0 × 10 ^25 He·m ^−2 . The W-rich and Cr-rich phases in the multi-phase RMCA mimic the mono-phase W–Ta–V–Cr RMCA and segregation at grain boundaries, respectively. Following irradiation, fuzz layer formation is observed for all phases at temperatures lower than pure W requires. Additionally, nano He bubbles are identified in the fuzz tendrils at 920 °C. The modified layers exhibit reduced V and Cr content with increasing temperature, transitioning into W-Ta binary alloys at 920 °C. Notably, the fuzz layer on the W-rich phase is thinner than that on pure W at 920 °C. While a thinner fuzz layer suggests the alloy’s potential as a divertor target material, challenges include a lower fuzz formation temperature and potential high V and Cr sputtering yield, raising concerns for plasma contamination during fusion reactor operation. This dual perspective highlights both the promise and challenges of utilizing RMCAs as divertor target materials in severe fusion reactor environments.

To identify herbaceous peony cultivars with strong photosynthetic productivity, we compared the photosynthetic characteristics of 20 herbaceous peony cultivars based on four photosynthetic characteristics parameters and established light–response curves under a light intensity gradient, using CIRAS-3 portable photosynthetic dynamic monitoring. The net photosynthetic rate (Pn) showed a “unimodal” diurnal variation pattern, with a peak around 12:00. The diurnal pattern of the transpiration rate was the same as that of Pn. Stomatal conductance values (Gs) showed similar patterns among the cultivars, with only small differences. The daily variation in intracellular CO2 concentration (Ci) showed an opposite trend to that of Pn. When the photosynthetically active radiation was 0–400 μmol·m−2s−1, Pn increased linearly and gradually with increasing light intensity. ‘Xueyuanhonghua’, ‘Qingwen’, ‘Taohuafeixue’, ‘Chifen’, and ‘Qihualushuang’ showed high photosynthetic productivity. ‘Xueyuanhonghua’, ‘Fushi’, ‘Qingwen’, ‘Tianshanhongxing’, ‘Qingtianlan’, ‘Dafugui’, and ‘Hongfushi’ had high light saturation points and the highest light resistance. ‘Xueyuanhonghua’, ‘Qingwen’, ‘Taohuafeixue’, ‘Tianshanhongxing’, ‘Qingtianlan’, ‘Guifeichacui’, ‘Chifen’, and ‘Hongxiuqiu’ had low light compensation points. Thus, two cultivars with strong photosynthetic productivity, ‘Xueyuanhonghua’ and ‘Qingwen’, can be cross-bred to obtain both light- and shade-tolerant plants. This study provides a theoretical basis for breeding new cultivars with high photosynthetic productivity.

The study of functional genes involved in baculovirus infection is vital for its wide application in pest biocontrol. This study utilized the Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) and silkworm as models to elucidate the role of BmRRS1, which has been found to exhibit notable differential expression between resistant and susceptible silkworm strains. The results showed that it was evolutionarily conserved in selected species. Among different tissues, it was expressed at the highest level in the gonads, followed by the hemolymph and silk glands; among the different developmental stages, it was the highest in the second instar, followed by the pupae and adults. Moreover, its vital role in suppressing AcMNPV infection was verified by the decreased expression of lef3 and vp39 protein after overexpression of BmRRS1 as well as by the increased expression of the viral gene lef3 and the viral protein vp39 after siRNA treatment against BmRRS1 expression in BmN cells. Additionally, the direct interaction between BmRRS1 and AcMNPV was detected by the GST pull-down assay. Finally, the homologue of BmRRS1 in Spodoptera frugiperda was found to be involved in larval resistance to AcMNPV. In a word, BmRRS1 plays a vital role in AcMNPV resistance in silkworms, and this might be related to the direct interaction with AcMNPV. The results of this study provide a potential target for protecting silkworm larvae from virus infection and controlling agricultural and forestry pests.

The accumulation of pesticide residues poses a significant threat to the health of people and the surrounding ecological systems. However, traditional methods are not only costly but require expertise in analysis. An electrochemiluminescence (ECL) aptasensor was developed using chitosan and molybdenum disulfide (CTS-MoS2), along with acetylene black (AB@CTS) for the rapid detection of malathion residues. Due to the weak interaction force, simple composite may lead to uneven dispersion; MoS2 and AB were dissolved in CTS solution, respectively, and utilized the biocompatibility of CTS to interact with each other on the electrode. The MoS2 nanosheets provided a large specific surface area, enhancing the utilization rate of catalytic materials, while AB exhibited excellent conductivity. Additionally, the dendritic polylysine (PLL) contained numerous amino groups to load abundant luminol to catalyze hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). The proposed ECL aptasensor obtained a low detection limit of 2.75 × 10−3 ng/mL (S/N = 3) with a good detection range from 1.0 × 10−2 ng/mL to 1.0 × 103 ng/mL, demonstrating excellent specificity, repeatability, and stability. Moreover, the ECL aptasensor was successfully applied for detecting malathion pesticide residues in authentic samples with recovery rates ranging from 94.21% to 99.63% (RSD < 2.52%). This work offers valuable insights for advancing ECL sensor technology in future applications.

Using historical data, long-term variations in pollutant sources and water quality in China’s coastal waters over the last three decades are reviewed. The results show that the total area of non-clean water, which reflects state of total water quality, increased rapidly before 2000, but then underwent two stages of decline, with a modest decline by one-quarter between 2001 and 2015, followed by a sharp decline of more than half of that in 2015 since then. Consequently, water quality at present is better than it was at the beginning of the 1990s. The total area of polluted water fluctuated without any trend from the end of the 1990s until 2015, but has declined sharply by nearly two-thirds since 2015, indicating that the water quality in China’s coastal seas has improved substantially. Geographically, the Bohai Sea was the first to see a turning point in water quality, followed by the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, while the South China Sea was the last. The main pollutants that govern the water quality grade and area are dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate as well as petroleum hydrocarbons. As a response to variations in water quality, changes in both the frequency and total area affected by harmful algal blooms were similar to those of water quality over the last three decades, albeit with a slight lag. Analysis showed that variations in water quality were closely related to the land- and sea-sourced pollutant inputs. The combination of shift in the mode of economic growth from high-speed growth to high-quality development and the enforcement of the new, strictest ever Environmental Protection Law resulted in a significant decline of pollutant emissions, inducing a turning point in the water quality in the coastal seas of China in the mid-2010s.

Abstract Recently, ion conductors have been extensively explored in various fields due to their flexibility, sensitivity, and conductivity. However, ultrastretchable and self‐healing ion conductors with wide sensing ranges and high sensitivity are rarely reported. In this study, dialcohol cellulose nanocrystals (DCNCs) are successfully fabricated by sequential periodate oxidization and reduction and introduced them into polymerizable deep eutectic solvents (PDES) to prepare nanocomposite ion conductors. Due to the high dispersity of DCNCs in PDES, the obtained ion conductors exhibit improved tensile strain (3869 ± 607.21%) and tensile stress (0.220 ± 0.022 MPa) simultaneously, and display self‐healing ability in terms of both electrical and mechanical properties. In addition, the ion conductors are able to detect human motions by transmitting deformation into resistance signals even after self‐healing, which prolongs the service life. Generally, this study paves the way for the design of self‐healing and stretchable ion conductors for wearable electronics.

Background: As distinct marker of proliferating cells, chromatin assembly factor-1 (CAF-1) was critical in DNA replication. However, there is paucity information about the clinical significance, functions and co-expressed gene network of CHAF1A, the major subunit in CAF-1, in cancer.Methods: Bioinformatic analysis of CHAF1A and its co-expression gene network were performed using various public databases. Functional validation of CHAF1A was applied in breast cancer.Results: Overexpression of CHAF1A was found in 20 types of cancer tissues. Elevated expression of CHAF1A was positively correlated with breast cancer progression and poor patients’ outcome. The analysis of co-expression gene network demonstrated CHAF1A was associated with not only cell proliferation, DNA repair, apoptosis, but cancer metabolism, immune system, and drug resistance. More importantly, higher expression of CHAF1A was positively correlated with immunosuppressive microenvironment and resistance to endocrine therapy and chemotherapy. Elevated expression of CHAF1A was confirmed in breast cancer tissues. Silencing of CHAF1A can significantly inhibit cell proliferation in MDA-MB-231 cells.Conclusion: The current work suggested that overexpression of CHAF1A can be used as diagnostic and poor prognostic biomarker of breast cancer. Higher expression of CHAF1A induced fast resistance to endocrine therapy and chemotherapy, it may be a promising therapeutic target and a biomarker to predict the sensitivity of immunotherapy in breast cancer.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mPCNL) with vacuum suction sheath in the treatment of renal calculi. Methods: We collected relevant studies of vacuum suction sheath and non-vacuum sheath mPCNL from PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases for a meta-analysis following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results: 7 studies were included (4 randomized controlled studies, 3 retrospective studies involving 1803 patients). The final meta-analysis results showed that the operative time (Standardised Mean Difference [SMD] = −0.84, 95% CI [-1.20; −0.48], P

The classification and name of current observation methods are nonstandard used and non-uniform classified in some professional terms. By referring to the national standards, industry norms and relevant literature, combining with the observation principle, development, application, typical equipment, advantages and disadvantages, the current observation methods were divided into four categories: floating method, fixed-point measurement, aerial measurement and surface remote sensing measurement. Finally, the current observation methods were sorted out and analyzed to provide reference for the industry.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most toxic and harmful fungal toxins to humans and animals, and the fundamental way to prevent its entry into humans is to detect its presence in advance. In this paper, the monoclonal antibody mAbA2-2 was obtained via three-step sample amplification and multi-concentration standard detection using a subcloning method based on the limited dilution method with AFB1 as the target. A dynamic and pseucdo-homogeneous magnetic beads enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (MBs-icELISA) was established using the prepared antibody as the recognition element and immunomagnetic beads as the antigen carrier. The MBs-icELISA showed good linear correlation in the concentration range of 0.004–10 ng/mL with R2 = 0.99396. The limit of detection (LOD) of the MBs-icELISA for AFB1 was 0.0013 ng/mL. This new ELISA strategy significantly shortened AFB1 detection time through improved sensitivity compared to the conventional ELISA method.

AIM: To assess the predictive value of baseline parameters of ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) for angle widening after prophylactic laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) in patients with primary angle-closure suspect (PACS). METHODS: Angle-opening distance (AOD), trabecular iris angle (TIA), iris thickness, trabecular-ciliary process angle, and trabecular-ciliary process distance were measured using UBM performed before and two weeks after LPI. Iris convexity (IC), iris insertion, angulation, and ciliary body (CB) size and position were graded. Uni- and multivariate regression analyses were used to determine factors predicting the change in AOD (ΔAOD500, calculated as an angle width change before and after LPI) in all quadrants and in subgroup quadrants based on IC. RESULTS: In 94 eyes of 94 patients with PACS, LPI led to angle widening with increases in AOD500 and TIA (P

The polar regions is one of the most sensitive areas to the response and feedback of global climate change and environmental pollution because of its unique geographical location and natural conditions, and occupies an important position in the study of global climate change and environmental pollution. As a new type of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), HBCDs has been widely concerned by the international society in recent years. This paper focused on the characteristics and summarized the research on HBCDs in polar regions and middle and low latitudes in recent years. The occurrence levels of HBCDs in the atmosphere, water, soil, sediment, vegetation and biology in the polar environment were compared and analyzed. The differences in the concentration distribution of their isomers in the multi-media were discussed and the possible reasons were explained. The important significance of HBCD’pollution prevention and its further environmental behavior research on human health and ecological environment security were also demonstrated.

In this paper, couple-group consensus is investigated for a kind of heterogeneous multi-agent systems (HMASs) with Markov switching. Some novel couple-group consensuses have been proposed, in which cooperative-competitive interaction, Markov switching and time delay are all considered. For Markov switching, the transitive rate of probability can be divided into two cases: known or partly known. Based on stochastic delta operator, probability, graph and stability theories, the leader-following and pinning couple-group consensus of this system be converted into analyzing the stability of related switching delta operator system. In the obtained results, some conservative conditions, such as the balance of in or out degree, strong connectivity and containing a spanning tree, can be longer strictly demanded. Some numerical examples are given to show the validity of the acquired results.

The traditional speeded-up robust features (SURF) algorithm has certain stability in scale, rotation, illumination and other changes. However, this algorithm has problems such as large amount of computation, low matching accuracy, and time-consuming in feature extraction and feature matching. An improved adaptive ORB-SURF image matching algorithm is proposed in this paper. Fusing edge features and using improved Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) algorithms are used by this algorithm to extract image feature points. Moreover, SURF descriptors are used by feature points for feature description. Then an improved fast library for approximate nearest neighbors (FLANN) algorithm was used for adaptive feature matching. The random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is used to eliminate the false matching point pairs after the selected points to be matched. Finally, the excellent matching point pairs reserved by the adaptive FLANN algorithm are combined with the excellent matching point pairs reserved by the RANSAC algorithm to complete the matching. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of the improved algorithm can reach more than 98%, which is about 6% higher than the original SURF algorithm. And the average matching time is 1.2S, which is about 25% lower than the original SURF algorithm. It is worth mentioning that the problem that the original SURF algorithm cannot predict the number of feature points through Hessian threshold is solved by this algorithm. Moreover, compared with the SuperPoint based deep learning image matching algorithm, the image matching time of this algorithm is reduced by 80%.

Abstract Nitrate is an important source of nitrogen and also acts as a signaling molecule to trigger numerous physiological, growth, and developmental processes throughout the life of the plant. Many nitrate transporters, transcription factors, and protein kinases participate in the regulation of nitrate signaling. Here, we identified a gene encoding the chrysanthemum calcineurin B-like interacting protein kinase CmCIPK23, which participates in nitrate signaling pathways. In Arabidopsis, overexpression of CmCIPK23 significantly decreased lateral root number and length and primary root length compared to the WT when grown on modified Murashige and Skoog medium with KNO3 as the sole nitrogen source (modified MS). The expression of nitrate-responsive genes differed significantly between CmCIPK23-overexpressing Arabidopsis (CmCIPK23-OE) and the WT after nitrate treatment. Nitrate content was significantly lower in CmCIPK23-OE roots, which may have resulted from reduced nitrate uptake at high external nitrate concentrations (≥ 1 mM). Nitrate reductase activity and the expression of nitrate reductase and glutamine synthase genes were lower in CmCIPK23-OE roots. We also found that CmCIPK23 interacted with the transcription factor CmTGA1, whose Arabidopsis homolog regulates the nitrate response. We inferred that CmCIPK23 overexpression influences root development on modified MS medium, as well as root nitrate uptake and assimilation at high external nitrate supply. These findings offer new perspectives on the mechanisms by which the chrysanthemum CBL interacting protein kinase CmCIPK23 influences nitrate signaling.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide with an increasing incidence in many countries. There were few studies on arterial and venous thromboembolism (ATE/VTE) in patients with metastatic lung cancer. Our study focused on the clinical characteristics of stage IV lung cancer patients with ATE or VTE to further explore the risk factors and prognosis. Patients diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer were enrolled from January 2011 to June 2019 at a tertiary hospital in Jiangyin, China. Log-rank test was used to reveal the survival for patients with ATE or VTE. Univariable analysis and multivariable logistic regression were used to study the risk factors for ATE. A total of 587 patients were enrolled in our study, including 52 patients with VTE and 48 with ATE. ATE occurred earlier than VTE. Patients with ATE had a worse prognosis. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that older age and a history of hypertension were independent risk factors for ATE. Patients with metastatic lung cancer were at high risk of VTE and ATE. ATE occurred earlier and was associated with a worse prognosis. Attention should be paid to metastatic lung cancer patients who may develop thromboembolism, especially ATE.

Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common, chronic, and highly disabling autoimmune disease characterized by difficult treatment, long disease duration, and easy recurrence. The development and application of high‐sensitivity theranostic probes for RA that will facilitate precise monitoring of disease progression and enable effective treatment are currently hotspots in the field of RA theranostics. In this study, mZMI@HA, a dual‐triggered theranostics nanoprobe, is constructed based on near‐infrared persistent luminescence nanoparticles (NIR‐PLNPs) for precise RA treatment and therapeutic evaluation. This is the first reported use of high‐sensitivity autofluorescence‐free imaging based on NIR‐PLNPs for precise RA treatment and therapeutic evaluation. Compared with the NIR fluorescence imaging probe‐indocyanine green, the signal‐to‐background ratio of persistent luminescence (PersL) imaging is improved nearly 14‐fold. Using PersL imaging to guide photothermal therapy and controllable drug release through NIR/pH‐responsiveness, the progress of collagen‐induced RA is relieved. Additionally, the therapeutic evaluation of RA by PersL imaging is consistent with clinical micro‐computed tomography and histological analyses. This study demonstrates the potential of NIR‐PLNPs for high‐sensitivity imaging‐guided RA treatment, providing a new strategy for RA precise theranostics.

Abstract Background This study aimed to explore the associations of thyroid hormones with body fat content and lipid metabolism in euthyroid male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods In January 2017, a cross sectional study, 66 male patients with T2DM who met the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria of 1999 who were ≥ 18.0 years and had normal thyroid function were recruited at a tertiary hospital. The categories of thyroid hormones (free triiodothyronine [FT3], free thyroxine [FT4], and thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH]) were divided into three groups according to tertiles of thyroid hormones. Results The mean FT3, FT4, and TSH of the patients were 2.56 pg/mL, 1.03 ng/dL, and 1.50 μIU/mL, respectively. Increased FT3 were associated with higher body mass index (BMI) (P

Paeonia lactiflora Pall. (P. lactiflora) is a famous ornamental plant with showy and colorful flowers that has been domesticated in China for 4,000 years. However, the genetic basis of phenotypic variation and genealogical relationships in P. lactiflora population is poorly understood due to limited genetic information, which brings about bottlenecks in the application of effective and efficient breeding strategies. Understanding the genetic basis of color-related traits is essential for improving flower color by marker-assisted selection (MAS). In this study, a high throughput sequencing of 99 diploid P. lactiflora accessions via specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) technology was performed. In total, 4,383,645 SLAF tags were developed from 99 P. lactiflora accessions with an average sequencing depth of 20.81 for each SLAF tag. A total of 2,954,574 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified from all SLAF tags. The population structure and phylogenetic analysis showed that P. lactiflora population used in this study could be divided into six divergent groups. Through association study using Mixed linear model (MLM), we further identified 40 SNPs that were significantly positively associated with petal color. Moreover, a derived cleaved amplified polymorphism (dCAPS) marker that was designed based on the SLAF tag 270512F co-segregated with flower colors in P. lactiflora population. Taken together, our results provide valuable insights into the application of MAS in P. lactiflora breeding programs.

With the acceleration in globalization, cities have tended to become similar, and commercial districts have gradually lost their local characteristics. Hence, utilizing scientific means to assess human perceptions of traditional and modern districts in an objective manner, this study applies the electroencephalography (EEG) test and the Semantic Differential (SD) method to evaluate the external space perceptions of traditional and modern commercial districts. The results show that the alpha wave mean value of traditional samples is greater than that of modern samples among all electrodes, and most electrodes demonstrate a significant difference. Meanwhile, the alpha wave energy value of a single electrode of different subjects is mostly larger in the traditional samples, meaning that traditional districts can lead to an increase in the brain’s alpha waves. In addition, the SD results show that traditional samples make people feel more comfortable and relaxed; regarding the cultural atmosphere, they are more abundant in detail and distinct; regarding open and closed spaces, they are more closed and covert. The results also show that the electroencephalography (EEG) test can be applied to an evaluation of environmental perception to boost sustainable development of traditional commercial districts and offer more possibilities for future design.

Abstract The fluorescent functional material prepared by combining 16‐alkyl (ferrocenyl‐methyl) ammonium bromide (Fc16AB) and dye molecule Congo red (CR) via ionic self‐assembly strategy exhibits double stimuli‐responsive behavior triggered by redox and pH value. Both the fabrication and switching mechanism of aggregates are proposed according to the cooperative binding of noncovalent interactions, including π‐π stacking, electrostatic interactions, charge transfer interaction, and amphiphilic hydrophobic association. The optimal geometry and energy transfer between monomers and aggregate are studied by means of quantum chemistry calculation and wavefunction analysis, which provides a deep and theoretical understanding for formation mechanism of ionic self‐assemblies. Moreover, the fluorescent switching behavior of assemblies upon pH was studied in detail, which opens the new way for the construction of organic light‐emitting diode (OLED).

The incidence of kidney stones averages 10%, and the recurrence rate of kidney stones is approximately 10% at 1 year, 35% at 5 years, 50% at 10 years, and 75% at 20 years. However, there is currently a lack of good medicines for the prevention and treatment of kidney stones. Osteopontin (OPN) is an important protein in kidney stone formation, but its role is controversial, with some studies suggesting that it inhibits stone formation, while other studies suggest that it can promote stone formation. OPN is a highly phosphorylated protein, and with the deepening of research, there is growing evidence that it promotes stone formation, and the phosphorylated protein is believed to have adhesion effect, promote stone aggregation and nucleation. In addition, OPN is closely related to immune cell infiltration, such as OPN as a pro-inflammatory factor, which can activate mast cells (degranulate to release various inflammatory factors), macrophages (differentiated into M1 macrophages), and T cells (differentiated into T1 cells) etc., and these inflammatory cells play a role in kidney damage and stone formation. In short, OPN mainly exists in the phosphorylated form in kidney stones, plays an important role in the formation of stones, and may be an important target for drug therapy of kidney stones.

Aeolian sandy soil is a key resource for supporting food production on a global scale; however, the growth of crops in Aeolian sandy soil is often impaired due to its poor physical properties and lack of nutrients and organic matter. Biochar can be used to enhance the properties of Aeolian sandy soil and create an environment more suitable for crop growth, but the long-term effects of biochar on Aeolian sandy soil and microbial communities need to be clarified. Here, a field experiment was conducted in which biochar was applied to a maize (Zea mays L.) field in a single application at different rates: CK, 0 Mg ha−1; C1, 15.75 Mg ha−1; C2, 31.50 Mg ha−1; C3, 63.00 Mg ha−1; and C4, 126.00 Mg ha−1. After 7 years of continuous maize cropping, verify the relationship between root architecture and soil microbial communities under biochar application using a root scanner and 16S/ITS rRNA gene sequencing. The application of biochar promoted the growth of maize. Specifically, total root length, total root surface area, total root volume, and root biomass were 13.99–17.85, 2.52–4.69, 23.61–44.41, and 50.61–77.80% higher in treatments in which biochar was applied (C2, C3, and C4 treatments) compared with the control treatment, respectively. Biochar application increased the diversity of bacterial communities, the ACE index, and Chao 1 index of C1, C2, C3, and C4 treatments increased by 5.83–8.96 and 5.52–8.53%, respectively, compared with the control treatment, and significantly changed the structure of the of bacterial communities in rhizosphere soil. However, there was no significant change in the fungal community. The growth of maize roots was more influenced by rhizosphere bacteria and less by fungal community. A microbial co-occurrence network revealed strong associations among rhizosphere microorganisms. The core taxa (Module hubs taxa) of the bulk soil microbial co-occurrence network were closely related to the total length and total surface area of maize roots, and the core taxa (Connectors taxa) of the rhizosphere soil were closely related to total root length. Overall, our findings indicate that the application of biochar promotes the growth of maize roots in aeolian sandy soil through its effects on bacterial communities in rhizosphere soil.

Objective To analyze the prevalence of anemia in preschool children in Bincheng District of Binzhou city and its influencing factors, so as to provide reference for formulating new measures to prevent anemia in children. Methods The health examination results of 10 674 children aged 3~6 from multiple kindergartens in Bincheng District in 2020 were collected, and anemia prevalence was investigated by analyzing the blood routine indicators. Results The incidence of anemia in 10 674 children was 1.95%, with 1.86%(100/5 375)in boys and 2.04%(108/5 299)in girls(P>0.05), with 3.06%(44/1 439)vs 2.93%(43/1 468), 1.79%(37/2 071)vs 2.04%(43/2 107)and 1.02%(19/1 865)vs1.28%(22/1 724)in boys and girls aged 3, 4 and 5, respectively. No significant difference was noticed in anemia incidence between boys and girls in each age group(P>0.05), while significant difference laid between boys and girls among different age groups(P

Biochar applied to soil has been considered as an effective tool for mitigation of atmospheric carbon dioxide emission and enhancement of carbon storage in soil, which may also enhance soil quality. However, the effect of biochar aged for 5 years on the different carbon fractions and enzyme activities as well as its changes, is not well understood in the cropland sandy soil of northern China. Therefore, a field trial was carried out in 2014 with biochar applied once at 0, 5.25, 10.50, 21.00 and 42.00 g·kg−1 (BC0, BC1, BC2, BC3, and BC4, respectively). We evaluated the influence of biochar addition to the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), labile carbon pools (readily oxidized carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and microbial biomass carbon) and enzyme activities (invertase, urease, and catalase). Biochar significantly increased SOC (122.00%) and altered the content of labile carbon (increased ROC, DOC and MBC by 71.29%, 10.35%, and 900.00%, respectively). Soil urease and invertase activities increased by 55.81% and 46.76%, respectively, with an increase in biochar application rate, but catalase activity significantly decreased by 31.79%. The values of the geometric means of labile carbon (0.88) and enzyme activities (2.39) for the BC3 treatment were higher than others, which indicated that the biochar application rate of 21.00 g·kg−1 is suggested for the sandy soil. Our results suggest that the application of biochar in sandy soil for five years increased soil carbon sequestration, changed enzyme activities and ameliorated soil quality.

Abstract Background Human-derived acellular dermal matrix (ADM) has been widely used as an effective alternative to autologous grafts in tympanoplasty. However, evidence of ADM as an alternative to autologous grafts in the repair of tympanic membrane (TM) perforation still lacks adequate empirical evidence. Objectives To determine the clinical safety and efficacy of human-derived ADM as TM graft material for tympanoplasty. Data sources The PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, EBSCO, Ovid, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and reference lists of the retrieved articles were searched, with no language restriction. Selection criteria All randomized controlled trials and retrospective cohort studies that compared the use of human-derived ADM and autologous grafts in tympanoplasty for TM perforation were included. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed risk of bias in the included studies and extracted data. The pooled results for continuous data were reported as a mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). For dichotomous data, odds risk (OR) with 95% CI was used. ChI2 statistic and Galbraith plots were used to assess the heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot and Egger’s test. Main results Five retrospective cohort studies and four randomized controlled studies with a total of 610 participants were included in the meta-analysis. No significant differences in graft success (OR: 0.71 [0.39, 1.29], p = 0.26), air-bone gap (ABG) reduction (MD: − 0.59 [− 3.81, 1.19], p = 0.51), or complications (OR: 1.23 [0.07, 20.64], p = 0.89) were found between the ADM group and autologous graft group. The use of ADM significantly shortened tympanoplasty surgery time (MD: − 16.14 [− 21.22, − 11.07], p