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Polysaccharides are one of the most important natural bioactive ingredients in pumpkin. Pumpkin polysaccharides have variable structure and complex monosaccharide composition, and possess a variety of biological activities such as hypoglycemia and antioxidant. In recent years, with the increasing incidence of diabetes, the hypoglycemic effect of pumpkin polysaccharides has attracted more and more attentions of scholars. The research focuses on the structure, monosaccharide composition and different mechanism of action of pumpkin polysaccharides. Therefore, this paper systematically summarizes the structural characteristics, mechanisms of hypoglycemic action and influence factors of hypoglycemic activity of pumpkin polysaccharides, and looks forward to its research direction and application prospects, and proposes the suggestions, with a view to providing reference for the subsequent research of pumpkin polysaccharides on diabetes.

Photonic neuromorphic computing has emerged as a promising avenue toward building a high-speed, low-latency, and energy-efficient non-von-Neumann computing system. Photonic spiking neural network (PSNN) exploits brain-like spatiotemporal processing to realize high-performance neuromorphic computing. Linear weighting and nonlinear spiking activation are two fundamental functions of a SNN. However, the nonlinear computation of PSNN remains a significant challenge. Therefore, this perspective focuses on the nonlinear computation of photonic spiking neurons, including numerical simulation, device fabrication, and experimental demonstration. Different photonic spiking neurons are considered, such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, Fabry–Pérot (FP) lasers, or semiconductor lasers embedded with saturable absorbers (SAs) (e.g., FP-SA and DFB-SA). PSNN architectures, including fully connected and convolutional structures, are developed, and supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms that take into account optical constraints are introduced to accomplish specific applications. This work covers devices, architectures, learning algorithms, and applications for photonic and optoelectronic neuromorphic computing and provides our perspective on the challenges and prospects of photonic neuromorphic computing based on semiconductor lasers.

Copper plays a crucial role in the heterogenous dissociation of chlorothiophenols (CTPs) to form chlorothiophenoxy radicals (CTPRs), which is the initial and critical step in the formation of polychlorinated thianthrenes/dibenzothiophenes (PCTA/DTs). Here, first-principles calculations were performed to investigate the activity of Cu(111) surface towards the formation of adsorbed 2-CTPR from 2-CTP. The interaction between 2-CTP and Cu(111) surface was explored to find stable adsorption configurations. Besides, the decomposition routes of 2-CTP on the Cu(111) surface were further explored. Moreover, the effects of water on the formation of absorbed 2-CTPR on the Cu(111) surface were examined. Our results demonstrate that the flat adsorption of 2-CTP on the surface with adsorption energy in the range of −33.21 kcal/mol to −28.37 kcal/mol is more stable than the vertical adsorption with adsorption energy ranging from −23.53 kcal/mol to −13.38 kcal/mol. The Cu(111) surface catalyzes the conversion of 2-CTP into the adsorbed 2-CTPR with a modest energy barrier of 9.46 kcal/mol. Furthermore, water molecules exhibit stronger catalytic activity in this process with a decreased energy barrier of 5.87 kcal/mol through “water bridge” and hydrogen bonding. Specifically, the water accepts the hydrogen atom from 2-CTP and donates another hydrogen to the surface via “water bridge”. This research provides a molecular-level understanding of the heterogeneous formation of PCTA/DTs by fly ash, suggesting novel approaches for control strategy and legislation of dioxin analogues.

Neuromorphic photonic computing has emerged as a competitive computing paradigm to overcome the bottlenecks of the von-Neumann architecture. Linear weighting and nonlinear spike activation are two fundamental functions of a photonic spiking neural network (PSNN). However, they are separately implemented with different photonic materials and devices, hindering the large-scale integration of PSNN. Here, we propose, fabricate and experimentally demonstrate a photonic neuro-synaptic chip enabling the simultaneous implementation of linear weighting and nonlinear spike activation based on a distributed feedback (DFB) laser with a saturable absorber (DFB-SA). A prototypical system is experimentally constructed to demonstrate the parallel weighted function and nonlinear spike activation. Furthermore, a four-channel DFB-SA laser array is fabricated for realizing matrix convolution of a spiking convolutional neural network, achieving a recognition accuracy of 87% for the MNIST dataset. The fabricated neuro-synaptic chip offers a fundamental building block to construct the large-scale integrated PSNN chip.

In order to explore the effect of bagging on the wax compositions and storage quality of ‘Yali’ pear fruit, the differences and correlations of wax content and distribution, nutrition and quality indicators, and antioxidant properties of the two different treatments (polyethylene, (PE) plastic film bags and three-layer paper bags) stored at 25 ℃±1 ℃ were analyzed. The fruits were bagged at day 60 after blooming, then the bags were removed at harvest, and no-bagged fruit acted as the control. The results showed that the highest rate of fruit weight loss was found in PE plastic film bags-treated fruit, while there was no difference in fruit hardness, brittleness and compactness between the control and the two treatments within 14 days of storage. The increases in contents of wax compositions alkenes, fatty aldehydes, fatty alcohols, esters, and total wax were significantly delayed in the two treatments. The contents of alkanes C27 and C29, alkenes C24-C26, fatty acid C18:1, fatty aldehydes C26 and C34, even number fatty alcohols C22-C28, seven esters, and triterpenoids (such as α-farnesene, β-amyrin, lupeol, and β-amyrenone) in the two treatments were lower than the control. In addition, compared to the PE plastic film bags treatment, the decline in contents of wax compositions alkene C26, fatty acids C16 and C18:1, even number fatty aldehydes C28-C32, two esters (C22:1 alcohol-C18:1 acid and C24:1 alcohol-C18:1 acid), triterpenoids (Urs-12-en-28-al,3-(acetyloxy)-,(3á)-and Urs-12-en-28-al) were delayed by the three-layer paper bags treatment. Furthermore, in comparison with PE plastic film bags treatment, higher contents of peel flavonoids, peel total phenols (at day 14), fruit titratable acid and Vc (at day 14), and higher DPPH clearance rate were found in three-layer paper bags-treated fruit. According to PCA analysis of wax components, the control and the three-layer paper bags treatment were belonged to one group, while PE plastic film bags treatment was divided into the other group. The correlation analysis showed that wax components alkanes, fatty aldehydes, triterpenes and total wax in different treatments were positively correlated with the content of peel flavonoids (P

Developing and planting salt-tolerant plants has become a promising way to utilize saline-alkali land resources and ensure food security. Root-associated microbes of salt-tolerant plants have been shown to promote plant growth and alleviate high salt stress, yet very little is known about the salt resistance mechanisms of core microbes in different niches. This study characterized the microbial community structures, assembly processes, and functional profiles in four root-related compartments of two salt-tolerant plants by amplicon and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. The results showed that both plants significantly altered the microbial community structure of saline soils, with greater microbial alpha diversity in the rhizosphere or rhizoplane compared with bulk soils. Stochastic process dominated the microbial assembly processes, and the impact was stronger in Suaeda salsa than in S. glauca, indicating that S. salsa may have stronger resistance abilities to changing soil properties. Keystone species, such as Pseudomonas in the endosphere of S. glauca and Sphingomonas in the endosphere of S. salsa, which may play key roles in helping plants alleviate salt stress, were identified by using microbial co-occurrence network analysis. Furthermore, the microbiomes in the rhizoplane soils had more abundant genes involved in promoting growth of plants and defending against salt stress than those in bulk soils, especially in salt-tolerant S. salsa. Moreover, microbes in the rhizoplane of S. salsa exhibited higher functional diversities, with notable enrichment of genes involved in carbon fixation, dissimilar nitrate reduction to ammonium, and sulfite oxidation. These findings revealed differences and similarities in the microbial community assembly, functional profiles and keystone species closely related to salt alleviation of the two salt-tolerant plants. Overall, our study provides new insights into the ecological functions and varied strategies of rhizosphere microbes in different plants under salt stress and highlights the potential use of keystone microbes for enhancing salt resistance of plants.

Photonic neural networks (PNNs) are promising to replace conventional deep learning hardware due to their potentially higher energy efficiency and computational speed. Other than the fast progress on optical linear transformer, the nonlinear activators are much less mature. Usually, the optical activators employ the nonlinear mapping from input amplitude to output amplitude, which is limited by high threshold and loss, or rely on additional bias voltage and heterogeneous integration of external circuits. Herein, the activation induced by the Kramers–Kronig relationship is proposed, i.e., the connection between amplitude and phase of the light field, but not purely the light amplitude itself, namely, Kramers–Kronig activation (KKA). PNN with KKA exhibits learning capability apparently better than the activation‐free linear network and comparable to the network with popular activation functions like ReLU, Softplus, and so on. Moreover, PNN with KKA is highly programmable and cascadable supporting ultra‐deep networks. The essence of KKA is attributed to the learning of nonlinear features in relatively low‐dimensional RN × N space by linear features in high‐dimensional CN × N space. Considering besides the amplitude–phase coupling, several other parameters like wavelength, frequency, polarization, etc., can be also mutually linked. This approach may expand to new avenues for optical activations.

Abstract Background Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) often occurs during clinical chest radiotherapy and acute irradiation from accidental nuclear leakage. This study explored the role of monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) in RILI. Materials and Methods The entire thoracic cavity of C57BL/6N mice was irradiated at 20 Gy with or without pre-intragastric administration of MPLA. HE staining, Masson trichrome staining, and TUNEL assay were used to assess lung tissue injury after treatment. The effect of irradiation on the proliferation of MLE-12 cells was analyzed using the Clonogenic assay. The effect of MPLA on the apoptosis of MLE-12 cells was analyzed using flow cytometry. Expression of γ-H2AX and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers in MLE-12 cells was detected by immunofluorescence and Western blot, respectively. Results MPLA attenuated early pneumonitis and late pulmonary fibrosis after thoracic irradiation and reversed radiation-induced EMT in C57 mice. MPLA further promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis of irradiated MLE-12 cells in vitro. Mechanistically, the radioprotective effect of MPLA was mediated by exosomes secreted by stimulated macrophages. Macrophage-derived exosomes modulated DNA damage in MLE-12 cells after irradiation. MPLA promoted the polarization of RAW 264.7 cells to the M1 phenotype. The exosomes secreted by M1 macrophages suppressed EMT in MLE-12 cells after irradiation. Conclusion MPLA is a novel treatment strategy for RILI. Exosomes derived from macrophages are key to the radioprotective role of MPLA in RILI.

DNA methylation is the most studied epigenetic mark involved in regulation of gene expression. For low input samples, a limited number of methods for quantifying DNA methylation genome-wide has been evaluated. Here, we compared a series of input DNA amounts (1–10ng) from two methylome library preparation protocols, enzymatic methyl-seq (EM-seq) and post-bisulfite adaptor tagging (PBAT) adapted from single-cell PBAT. EM-seq takes advantage of enzymatic activity while PBAT relies on conventional bisulfite conversion for detection of DNA methylation. We found that both methods accurately quantified DNA methylation genome-wide. They produced expected distribution patterns around genomic features, high C-T transition efficiency at non-CpG sites and high correlation between input amounts. However, EM-seq performed better in regard to library and sequencing quality, i.e. EM-seq produced larger insert sizes, higher alignment rates and higher library complexity with lower duplication rate compared to PBAT. Moreover, EM-seq demonstrated higher CpG coverage, better CpG site overlap and higher consistency between input series. In summary, our data suggests that EM-seq overall performed better than PBAT in whole-genome methylation quantification of low input samples.

Abstract Background Liver metastases are a major contributor to the poor immunotherapy response in colorectal cancer patients. However, the distinctions in the immune microenvironment between primary tumors and liver metastases are poorly characterized. The goal of this study was to compare the expression profile of multiple immune cells to further analyze the similarities and differences between the microenvironments of liver metastases and the primary tumor. Methods Tissues from 17 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent resection of primary and liver metastases was analyzed using multispectral immunofluorescence. The expression of multiple immune cells (CD8, Foxp3, CD68, CD163, CD20, CD11c, CD66b, CD56, PD-L1, INF-γ, Ki67 and VEGFR-2) in the tumor center (TC), tumor invasive front (

Abstract Background Endocapillary hypercellularity (ECHC) is commonly seen in class IV lupus nephritis (LN), the most common and severe LN in children. Factors influencing early complete remission (CR) in pediatric class IV LN have been poorly described. We investigated the relationship between ECHC levels and early CR in pediatric class IV LN. Methods Patients with newly, simultaneously diagnosed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and class IV LN by renal biopsy from 2012 to 2021 were studied. In this retrospective study, two pathologists who were blind to clinical information reviewed all pathological data retrospectively and classified glomerular lesions according to the revised criteria of the International Society of Nephrology and the Renal Pathology Society (ISN/RPS). The demographics, baseline clinical characteristics, laboratory parameters, renal histopathological findings, treatment regimen and CR at 6 months after immunosuppressive therapy were analyzed. ECHC was categorized as: > 50% (group A), 25–50% (group B) and

Abstract As an important stochastic process, quantum Bernoulli noises has a very important physical background and is an important research object in the field of quantum information. In this paper, we review local quantum Bernoulli noises and local quantum mutual entropy, then introduce quantum channel measurement with local quantum Bernoulli noises. On this basis, we give the channel structure between two systems, and prove the completely positivity of this quantum channel. We also give a channel application on the local quantum mutual entropy.

The development of immunotherapy, especially immune-checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1/PD-L1, has improved the outcomes of patients with esophageal cancer. However, not all population derives benefit from the agents. Recently, kinds of biomarkers were introduced to predict the response to immunotherapy. However, the effects of these reported biomarkers are controversial and many challenges remain. In this review, we aim to summarize the current clinical evidence and provide a comprehensive understanding of the reported biomarkers. We also discuss the limits of the present biomarkers and propose our own opinions on which viewers’ discretion are advised.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, neurological disease, commonly presenting with a relapsing-remitting form, that later converts to a secondary progressive stage, referred to as RRMS and SPMS, respectively. Early treatment slows disease progression, hence, accurate and early diagnosis is crucial. Recent advances in large-scale data processing and analysis have progressed molecular biomarker development. Here, we focus on small RNA data derived from cell-free cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), cerebrospinal fluid cells, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well as CSF cell methylome data, from people with RRMS (n = 20), clinically/radiologically isolated syndrome (CIS/RIS, n = 2) and neurological disease controls (n = 14). We applied multiple co-inertia analysis (MCIA), an unsupervised and thereby unbiased, multivariate method for simultaneous data integration and found that the top latent variable classifies RRMS status with an Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (AUROC) score of 0.82. Variable selection based on Lasso regression reduced features to 44, derived from the small RNAs from plasma (20), CSF cells (8) and cell-free CSF (16), with a marginal reduction in AUROC to 0.79. Samples from SPMS patients (n = 6) were subsequently projected on the latent space and differed significantly from RRMS and controls. On contrary, we found no differences between relapse and remission or between inflammatory and non-inflammatory disease controls, suggesting that the latent variable is not prone to inflammatory signals alone, but could be MS-specific. Hence, we here showcase that integration of small RNAs from plasma and CSF can be utilized to distinguish RRMS from SPMS and neurological disease controls.

Objective The clinical importance of aberrantly expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not been well established, so was investigated in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods Articles in online databases from inception to March 17, 2021 were retrieved. Random effects meta-analysis was used to obtain sensitivity, specificity, positive (PLRs) and negative likelihood ratios (NLRs), diagnostic odds ratios (DORs), and areas under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for IBD diagnosis. Results Of 117 studies reporting altered miRNA expression in IBD included in the systematic review, 15 involving 937 patients with IBD and 707 controls, 22 miRNAs, and two miRNA panels were eligible for meta-analysis. Pooled analyses showed a moderate diagnostic accuracy for miRNAs in the IBD diagnosis, with a sensitivity of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.79–0.82), specificity of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.82–0.86), DOR of 21.19 (95% CI: 13.90–32.31), and AUC of 0.89. Subgroup analyses revealed a better performance in patients with ulcerative colitis (AUC, 0.93) than Crohn’s disease (AUC, 0.84). Consistent upregulation of miR-21, miR-16, and miR-192 in blood with a high-moderate diagnostic accuracy was found in at least two studies. Conclusions These findings suggest miRNAs are credible diagnostic biomarkers in IBD.

Abstract Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a serine/threonine phosphatase that serves as a key regulator of cellular physiology in the context of apoptosis, mitosis, and DNA damage responses. Canonically, PP2A functions as a tumor suppressor gene. However, recent evidence suggests that inhibiting PP2A activity in tumor cells may represent a viable approach to enhancing tumor sensitivity to chemoradiotherapy as such inhibition can cause cells to enter a disordered mitotic state that renders them more susceptible to cell death. Indeed, there is evidence that inhibiting PP2A can slow tumor growth following radiotherapy in a range of cancer types including ovarian cancer, liver cancer, malignant glioma, pancreatic cancer, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In the present review, we discuss current understanding of the role of PP2A in tumor radiotherapy and the potential mechanisms whereby it may influence this process.

Abstract Background Fusarium ear rot (FER) caused by Fusarium verticillioides is a major disease of maize that reduces grain yield and quality globally. However, there have been few reports of major loci for FER were verified and cloned. Result To gain a comprehensive understanding of the genetic basis of natural variation in FER resistance, a recombinant inbred lines (RIL) population and one panel of inbred lines were used to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for resistance. As a result, a total of 10 QTL were identified by linkage mapping under four environments, which were located on six chromosomes and explained 1.0–7.1% of the phenotypic variation. Epistatic mapping detected four pairs of QTL that showed significant epistasis effects, explaining 2.1–3.0% of the phenotypic variation. Additionally, 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified across the whole genome by genome-wide association study (GWAS) under five environments. Compared linkage and association mapping revealed five common intervals located on chromosomes 3, 4, and 5 associated with FER resistance, four of which were verified in different near-isogenic lines (NILs) populations. GWAS identified three candidate genes in these consistent intervals, which belonged to the Glutaredoxin protein family, actin-depolymerizing factors (ADFs), and AMP-binding proteins. In addition, two verified FER QTL regions were found consistent with Fusarium cob rot (FCR) and Fusarium seed rot (FSR). Conclusions These results revealed that multi pathways were involved in FER resistance, which was a complex trait that was controlled by multiple genes with minor effects, and provided important QTL and genes, which could be used in molecular breeding for resistance.

This article addresses the subject for bottom-following control of underactuated unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) with input saturation in the presence of unknown model uncertainties and unknown external disturbances. A robust adaptive dynamic surface bottom-following control scheme is developed based on the recursive sliding mode with nonlinear gains and neural networks, which can steer an underactuated UUV to precisely follow the bottom profile at a constant altitude as a basic feature. The bottom-following guidance law is derived based on the Serret-Frenet frame, the line of sight (LOS) and Lyapunov's direct technique. Then, the bottom-following controller is designed based on the recursive sliding mode and dynamic surface control (DSC), to stabilize the bottom-following errors. The radial basis function neural networks (RBF NNs) are employed to online approximate the uncertain dynamics of underactuated UUVs, while the adaptive laws are introduced to estimate the bounds of the RBF NN approximation errors and unknown environmental disturbances. Additionally, an auxiliary dynamic system (ADS) is presented to handle the effect of input saturation. The uniform boundedness of all the closed-loop signals is guaranteed via Lyapunov analysis. The simulation results are presented to verify and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

This paper studies the problem of spatial path-following control of underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with multiple uncertainties and input saturation taken into account. Initially, the reduced-order extended state observes (ESOs) are introduced to estimate and compensate all lumped uncertainties due to the model parameters perturbations, unmodeled dynamics, environmental disturbances, and nonlinear hydrodynamic damping terms. Furthermore, the spatial path-following control strategy is established by combining with backstepping, integral sliding mode control, and estimator to cope with the position, attitude, and linear velocity tracking of the AUV. Specifically, the dynamic surface control (DSC) technique is utilized to achieve satisfactory differential performance and avoid the “explosion of complexity.” Additionally, the auxiliary dynamic compensator is presented to analyze the effect of input saturation, and the states of the auxiliary design system are used to develop the controller. It is easily proved that the proposed control scheme can guarantee that all signals of the closed-loop system are globally stable through the Lyapunov theorem, with the tracking errors converging to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of zero. Finally, the numerical simulation results are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

As a glycophyte plant, pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is widely cultivated worldwide, but its growth is susceptible to salinity damage, especially at the seedling stage. Here, we conducted a study to determine the physiological and transcriptional differences between two genotype seedlings (P300 and 323F3) with contrasting tolerance under salt stress. The P300 seedlings were more salt-tolerant and had higher K+ contents, higher antioxidase activities, higher compatible solutes, and lower Na+ contents in both their roots and their leaves than the 323F3 seedlings. During RNA-seq analysis of the roots, more up-regulated genes and fewer down-regulated genes were identified between salt-treated P300 seedlings and the controls than between salt-treated 323F3 and the controls. Many ROS-scavenging genes and several SOS pathway genes were significantly induced by salt stress and exhibited higher expressions in the salt-treated roots of the P300 seedlings than those of 323F3 seedlings. Moreover, biosynthesis of the unsaturated fatty acids pathway and protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum pathway were deeply involved in the responses of P300 to salt stress, and most of the differentially expressed genes involved in the two pathways, including the genes that encode mega-6 fatty acid desaturases and heat-shock proteins, were up-regulated. We also found differences in the hormone synthesis and signaling pathway genes in both the P300 and 323F3 varieties under salt stress. Overall, our results provide valuable insights into the physiological and molecular mechanisms that affect the salt tolerance of pepper seedlings, and present some candidate genes for improving salt tolerance in pepper.

Carbazole is one of the typical heterocyclic aromatic compounds (NSO-HETs) observed in polluted urban atmosphere, which has become a serious environmental concern. The most important atmospheric loss process of carbazole is the reaction with OH radical. The present work investigated the mechanism of OH-initiated atmospheric oxidation degradation of carbazole by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the M06-2X/6-311++G(3df,2p)//M06-2X/6-311+G(d,p) level. The rate constants were determined by the Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) theory. The lifetime of carbazole determined by OH was compared with other typical NSO-HETs. The theoretical results show that the degradation of carbazole initiated by OH radical includes four types of reactions: OH additions to “bend” C atoms, OH additions to “benzene ring” C atoms, H abstractions from C-H bonds and the H abstraction from N-H bond. The OH addition to C1 atom and the H abstraction from N-H bond are energetically favorable. The main oxidation products are hydroxycarbazole, dialdehyde, carbazolequinone, carbazole-ol, hydroxy-carbazole-one and hydroperoxyl-carbazole-one. The calculated overall rate constant of carbazole oxidation by OH radical is 6.52 × 10−12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 and the atmospheric lifetime is 37.70 h under the condition of 298 K and 1 atm. The rate constant of carbazole determined by OH radical is similar with that of dibenzothiophene oxidation but lower than those of pyrrole, indole, dibenzofuran and fluorene. This work provides a theoretical investigation of the oxygenated mechanism of NSO-HETs in the atmosphere and should help to clarify their potential health risk for determining the reaction pathways and environmental influence of carbazole.

The dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and transcription factors (TFs) is closely related to the development and progression of drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy. However, their regulatory interactions in the multidrug resistance (MDR) of gastric cancer (GC) has largely remained unknown. In this study, we report a novel oncogenic role of lncRNA FENDRR in conferring MDR in GC by coordinated regulation of FOXC2 expression at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that downregulation of FENDRR expression remarkably decreased drug resistant ability of GC MDR cells while upregulation of FENDRR expression produced the opposite effect. FENDRR overexpression was observed in MDR GC cell lines, patient-derived xenografts, and clinical samples. And the high levels of FENDRR expression were correlated with poor prognosis in GC patients. Regarding the mechanism, FENDRR was revealed to increase proto-oncogene FOXC2 transcription by performing an enhancer-like role in the nucleus and by sponging miR-4700-3p in the cytoplasm. Both FOXC2 and miR-4700-3p were shown to be functionally involved in the FENDRR-induced chemoresistance. In addition, there is a positive correlation between FENDRR and FOXC2 expression in clinic and the overexpressed FOXC2 indicated a poor prognosis in GC patients. Collectively, our findings provide a new perspective for the lncRNA-TF regulatory interaction involved in MDR, suggesting that targeting the FENDRR/FOXC2 axis may be an effective approach to circumvent GC chemoresistance.

The chlorothiobenzenes (CTBs) are the principal precursors for the formation of polychlorinated thianthrene/dibenzothiophenes (PCTA/DTs), which have high toxicity and wide distribution in the environment. Under the pyrolysis or combustion conditions, CTBs can react with H/·OH radicals to form the chlorothiobenzyl radicals (CTBRs) through abstraction of the chlorothiobenzyl-hydrogen. The water molecule can play an important role in this process. The coupling of CTBRs is the essential first step in forming PCTA/DTs. In this paper, quantum chemical calculations were carried out to investigate the formation of CTBRs from the complete series reactions of 19 chlorothiobenzene (CTB) congeners with H/·OH radicals in the presence of the water molecule. Using the MPWB1K/6-311 + G(3df,2p)//MPWB1K/6-31 + G(d,p) energy level, schematic energy profiles were constructed with the water molecule and then compared with the non-hydrated case. The present study shows that structural parameters and thermal data, as well as CTBRs formation potential from CTBs, are strongly dominated by the chlorine substitution at the ortho-position of CTBs. Meanwhile, the water molecule can promote the CTBR formation from CTBs abstracted by H/·OH, which has a stronger catalysis effect on the H abstraction from CTBs by OH than from CTBs by H. This study may provide reference parameters for future experimental research, which would enhance measures to reduce dioxin emission and establish dioxin control strategies.

Chlorophenols (CPs) and phenol are abundant in thermal and combustion procedures, such as stack gas production, industrial incinerators, metal reclamation, etc., which are key precursors for the formation of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs). CPs and phenol can react with H or OH radicals to form chlorophenoxy radicals (CPRs) and phenoxy radical (PhR). The self-condensation of CPRs or cross-condensation of PhR with CPRs is the initial and most important step for PCN formation. In this work, detailed thermodynamic and kinetic calculations were carried out to investigate the PCN formation mechanisms from PhR with 2-CPR/3-CPR. Several energetically advantageous formation pathways were obtained. The rate constants of key elementary steps were calculated over 600~1200 K using the canonical variational transition-state theory (CVT) with the small curvature tunneling (SCT) contribution method. The mechanisms were compared with the experimental observations and our previous works on the PCN formation from the self-condensation of 2-CPRs/3-CPRs. This study shows that naphthalene and 1-monochlorinated naphthalene (1-MCN) are the main PCN products from the cross-condensation of PhR with 2-CPR, and naphthalene and 2-monochlorinated naphthalene (2-MCN) are the main PCN products from the cross-condensation of PhR with 3-CPR. Pathways terminated with Cl elimination are preferred over those terminated with H elimination. PCN formation from the cross-condensation of PhR with 3-CPR can occur much easier than that from the cross-condensation of PhR with 2-CPR. This study, along with the study of PCN formation from the self-condensation 2-CPRs/3-CPRs, can provide reasonable explanations for the experimental observations that the formation potential of naphthalene is larger than that of 1-MCN using 2-CP as a precursor, and an almost equal yield of 1-MCN and 2-MCN can be produced with 3-CP as a precursor.

We propose a generalized supervised learning algorithm for multilayer photonic spiking neural networks (SNNs) by combining the spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) rule and the gradient descent mechanism. A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with an embedded saturable absorber (VCSEL-SA) is employed as a photonic leaky-integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron. The temporal coding strategy is employed to transform information into the precise firing time. With the modified supervised learning algorithm, the trained multilayer photonic SNN successfully solves the XOR problem and performs well on the Iris and Wisconsin breast cancer datasets. This indicates that a generalized supervised learning algorithm is realized for multilayer photonic SNN. In addition, network optimization is performed by considering different network sizes.

Photonic spiking neural networks (SNN) have the advantages of high power efficiency, high bandwidth and low delay, but limitations are encountered in large-scale integration. The silicon photonics platform is a promising candidate for realizing large-scale photonic SNN because it is compatible with the current mature CMOS platforms. Here, we present an architecture of photonic SNN which consists of photonic neuron, photonic spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) and weight configuration that are all based on silicon micro-ring resonators (MRRs), via taking advantage of the nonlinear effects in silicon. The photonic spiking neuron based on the add-drop MRR is proposed, and a system-level computational model of all-MRR-based photonic SNN is presented. The proposed architecture could exploit the properties of small area, high integration and flexible structure of MRR, but also faces challenges caused by the high sensitivity of MRR. The spike sequence learning problem is addressed based on the proposed all-MRR-based photonic SNN architecture via adopting supervised training algorithms. We show the importance of algorithms when hardware devices are limited.

Abstract Background During weaning, babies and young animal often experience diarrhea from food intolerance and/or decreasing levels of maternal antibodies, and diarrhea tends to be particularly severe during the early-weaned period, which often exhibits an underdeveloped immune system, a disturbed gut environment and results in nutrient malabsorption and dehydration. It was deduced that neuroendocrine might have close relation with diarrhea, especially 5-HT. Methods To explore the role of serotonin (5-HT) in weaning mice subjected to stress-induced diarrhea, 21-day-old weaned mice were divided into the following groups: control group, stress-induced diarrhea group (restrained by binding the hind limbs and intragastric administration of folium sennae with 0.4 g/mL, 15 mL/kg body weight) and para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) + stress-induced diarrhea group (30 mg/mL, 300 mg/kg body weight PCPA intraperitoneal injection before stress-induced diarrhea treatment). Results Based on results from enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, histological staining, lymphocyte proliferation assays and flow cytometry analysis, we found that the mice experienced increases in several stress markers, which coincided with severe diarrhea and an increase in 5-HT levels. However, pre-treatment with PCPA resulted in a decrease in the stress indicators and the severity of diarrhea, which correlated with decreased 5-HT levels. Interestingly, stress-induced diarrhea caused changes in various aspects of the immune system, including the amount of intraepithelium lymphocytes, CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte populations, B and T lymphocyte proliferation, and the secretion of sIgA and cytokines in the small intestine and ileum. However, these immune system changes could be reversed upon treatment with PCPA. Conclusions We observed a distinct correlation between 5-HT levels and the occurrence of stress-induced diarrhea in weaning mice, which may result in the deregulation of the mucosal immune system.

The DC-side short-circuit fault suppression of modular multilevel converter (MMC) applied to DC transmission has been a technical problem. According to the different location of cutting off fault current, this study first analyses three possible suppression schemes: AC/DC circuit breaker, bridge arm damper, and MMC submodule (SM) topologies and their respective features. Then, characteristics of SM topologies with DC fault current self-blocking capability are summarised, and an improved composite SM topology is designed based on the full-bridge SM and multilevel capacitor storage structures. The suppression characteristics of the proposed topology under different operation modes, capacitor voltage balancing control during blocking, and self-starting process are also studied. Finally, a simulation model is built in the PSCAD/EMTDC to verify the DC-side short-circuit fault suppression characteristics and control strategies.

Flexible AC transmission systems have shown effective functionalities in promoting the system operation security and service reliability. Facing with series-compensated lines, subsynchronous resonance (SSR) may jeopardise the stability and mechanical facilities. The control strategy and simulation model of a unified power flow controller (UPFC) based on the dq decoupling control are deduced and constructed. Considering the impacts of grid-connected wind farms, SSR characteristics of the series-compensated system with UPFC are studied by the complex torque coefficient method and time-domain simulation. The results verify the capability of UPFC in attenuating SSR in wind farm integrations by utilising subsynchronous damping controllers coordinated with UPFC's main controllers. It also suggests that the shunt transformer−converter has a slight effect on SSR, whereas the series transformer−converter affects the system resonance characteristics significantly. Simulations are carried out on a typical power system model integrated with wind turbines.

Novel temperature- and pH-responsive ABA-type triblock copolymers, P(DEAEMA-co-MEO2MA-co-OEGMA)-b-PEG-b-P(DEAEMA-co-MEO2MA-co-OEGMA), composed of a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) middle block and temperature- and pH-sensitive outer blocks, were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The composition and structure of the copolymer were characterized by 1H NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The temperature- and pH-sensitivity, micellization, and the sol–gel transitions of the triblock copolymers in aqueous solutions were studied using transmittance measurements, surface tension, viscosity, fluorescence probe technique, dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta-potential measurements, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the triblock copolymer, which contains a small amount of a weak base group, (N,N-diethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DEAEMA), can be tuned precisely and reversibly by changing the solution pH. When the copolymer concentration was sufficiently high, increasing temperature resulted in the free-flowing solution transformation into a micellar gel. The sol-to-gel transition temperature (Tsol–gel) in aqueous solution will continue to decrease as solution concentration increases.

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Evaluating the stock status is one of the most fundamental part of the dynamic cycle of fisheries management intended to secure our aquatic resources. Indeed the stock assessments not only provide a technical foundation for setting up yearly fisheries harvest levels but also offers a wide variety of other fishery-related measures for management purposes. To do so, we used two newly developed Catch-based Monte Carlo method of estimating MSY (CMSY) and the Bayesian state-space Schaefer production model (BSM) based on the catch and effort time series data from (1993-2017) from the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), Pakistan. The five major fish species of commercial importance exploited by heterogeneous fishing fleets in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Pakistan have been undertaken as a case study for the stock evaluation. Altogether, both the models estimated largely similar results. The stock status results indicate that Euthynnus affinis and Rachycentron canadum were healthy, while Scomberomorus commerson and Parastromateus niger were overfished and Lutjanus argentimaculatus was strongly overfished. However, all the stocks were subjected to overfishing. Therefore, the parameters estimated from our study may be used as indicators for the sustainable management of the fisheries in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]