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Background: Lipoprotein glomerulopathy (LPG) is a rare kidney disease caused by APOE mutations. The aim of this study was to correlate the genetic and clinical features of LPG. Methods: Totally eight LPG patients were recruited in this study and Sanger sequencing of APOE was performed for all available family members. Clinical and histological features were analyzed. A literature review of LPG was also conducted. Results: Genetic analysis revealed five patients with APOE‐Kyoto, two with APOE‐Osaka/Kurashiki, and one with APOE‐Chicago mutations. LPG patients with urine protein reduced more than 50% had a slower decrease in renal function than those with less urine protein reduction (estimated glomerular filtration rate reduction rate −5.0 ± 0.8 vs. 1.5 ± 0.7 ml/min per 1.73 m2⋅month−1, p =.03). We then enrolled 95 LPG patients from previous studies and this study. LPG patients had higher blood pressure (mean arterial pressure: 109.4 ± 19.4 vs. 94.4 ± 11.1 mmHg, p <.001) than the control group. Interestingly, patients with APOE mutations in the LDL receptor binding region had higher serum apolipoprotein E (apoE) levels [ln(apoE): 2.7 ± 0.4 vs. 2.0 ± 0.5 mg/dl, p <.001] in comparison to other domains. Conclusion: Here, we report for the first time APOE‐Osaka/Kurashiki and APOE‐Chicago mutations in the Chinese population. LPG was associated with higher blood pressure and serum apoE levels were higher in patients with mutations in LDL receptor binding region. In addition, the findings further indicated that treatment of proteinuria might slow down renal function progression in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inverted coaxial point contact high purity germanium (ICPC HPGe) detector exhibits the advantages of large volume, low depletion voltage, small capacitance, and excellent pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capability. An ICPC detector prototype with 0.9 pF capacitance was successfully fabricated and tested in this study using two different front-end electronics. The detector weighted approximately 1.5 kg and the depletion voltage was only 1800 V. The optimized operating voltage was found to be 2500 V and the leakage current was 7 pA. The detector was first connected to a homemade JFET based front-end with a pulsed reset design to minimize parallel noise. An energy resolution of 1.72 keV (full width at half maximum) was achieved at 1332 keV, demonstrating the good charge collection efficiency of the detector. An RC feedback front-end circuit was employed to test the PSD properties using a 228Th source. The PSD capability is similar to that of typical broad energy or point contact HPGe detectors, but is notably improved when the charge trapping is corrected using the drift time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R2338 --> 746.20 --> Feeding behavior is controlled by hippocampal‐dependent learning and memory that influence decisions about where, when and what to eat. However, the neuronal subtypes and stimuli that recruit these neurons remain poorly understood. Here we leverage the unique strength of the recently‐developed Targeted Recombination in Activated Populations (TRAP2) mouse model, which provides cell type‐unbiased genetic access to neuronal populations based on their activation by defined and time‐constrained stimuli. Surprisingly, after comparing neuronal activity to separate post‐ingestive stimuli within the same animal, we identified distinct hippocampal subpopulations that respond to either fat or sugar. We validated a protocol for selective ablation of the sugar‐activated hippocampal neurons using viral mediated caspase in the TRAP2 mice. Using an automated feeding system, we found that these sugar‐ablated mice significantly reduced their chow and high‐fat diet intake compared to control littermates, and exhibited impaired food location memory in a sugar‐driven food cup task. No group differences were observed in the ability to learn a flavor‐nutrient conditioning paradigm. Overall, these results demonstrate that the hippocampus is attuned to specific macronutrients rather than the feeding state, allowing highly‐refined appetitive learning and memory in response to context‐specific feeding cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The determination of crop water status has positive effects on the Chinese Brassica industry and irrigation decisions. Drought can decrease the production of Chinese Brassica, whereas over-irrigation can waste water. It is desirable to schedule irrigation when the crop suffers from water stress. In this study, a random forest model was developed using sample data derived from meteorological measurements including air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), wind speed (WS), and photosynthetic active radiation (Par) to predict the lower baseline ( T w e t ) and upper baseline ( T d r y ) canopy temperatures for Chinese Brassica from 27 November to 31 December 2020 (E1) and from 25 May to 20 June 2021 (E2). Crop water stress index (CWSI) values were determined based on the predicted canopy temperature and used to assess the crop water status. The study demonstrated the viability of using a random forest model to forecast T w e t and T d r y . The coefficients of determination (R2) in E1 were 0.90 and 0.88 for development and 0.80 and 0.77 for validation, respectively. The R2 values in E2 were 0.91 and 0.89 for development and 0.83 and 0.80 for validation, respectively. Our results reveal that the measured and predicted CWSI values had similar R2 values related to stomatal conductance (~0.5 in E1, ~0.6 in E2), whereas the CWSI showed a poor correlation with transpiration rate (~0.25 in E1, ~0.2 in E2). Finally, the methodology used to calculate the daily CWSI for Chinese Brassica in this study showed that both T w e t and T d r y , which require frequent measuring and design experiment due to the trial site and condition changes, have the potential to simulate environmental parameters and can therefore be applied to conveniently calculate the CWSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing frequency of global drought events poses a significant threat to the stability of grassland ecosystems' functionality. The Inner Mongolian grasslands stand out as one of the world's most drought-prone regions, facing elevated drought risks compared to other biomes. An in-depth comprehension of the impact of drought on grassland ecosystems is paramount for their long-term sustainability. Using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) from 1982 to 2018, this study identified various drought events within the Inner Mongolian grasslands, encompassing moderate drought, severe drought, and extreme drought. The resistance of the vegetation to the different drought conditions, assessed through net primary productivity (NPP) as a metric (reflecting its capacity to maintain its original level during drought periods), was examined. The research findings indicated that the period from 2001 to 2018 witnessed a substantial increase in both the frequency and the extent of drought events compared to the period from 1982 to 2000, particularly concerning severe and extreme droughts. The areas most severely impacted by extreme drought were the Xilingol League and the Alxa League. From 1982–2000 to 2001–2018, under moderate drought conditions, vegetation resistance exhibited a minor decrease in the central and eastern regions but experienced a slight increase in the western region. In contrast, under severe drought conditions, the western region saw a significant decrease in vegetation resistance. Remarkably, under extreme drought conditions, the western region showed a substantial increase in vegetation resistance, while the central and eastern regions experienced a slight decrease. Across all three drought conditions, as precipitation levels declined, the resistance of the meadow–steppe–desert ecosystems demonstrated a high–low–high distribution pattern. The temperate desert steppe exhibited a minimal vulnerability to drought, boasting resistance levels exceeding 0.9. Notably, extreme drought had the most pronounced impact on the temperate meadow steppe, temperate steppe, and temperate desert steppe, particularly within the temperate meadow steppe category. Given these findings, the authorities responsible for grassland management should prioritize regions characterized by frequent drought occurrences and low drought resistance, such as Ulanqab City, the Xilingol League, and the western part of Hulun Buir City. Safeguarding steppe ecosystems is of paramount importance for stabilizing vegetation productivity and land carbon sinks, especially under the anticipated exacerbation of climate conditions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the face recognition method based on deep belief network (DBN) has advantages of automatically learning the abstract information of face images and being affected slightly by active factors, so it becomes the main method in the face recognition area. Because DBN ignores the local information of face images, the face recognition rate based on DBN is badly affected. To solve this problem, a face recognition method based on center-symmetric local binary pattern (CS-LBP) and DBN (FRMCD) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the face image is divided into several subblocks. Secondly, CS-LBP is used to extract texture features of each image subblock. Thirdly, texture feature histograms are formed and input into the DBN visual layer. Finally, face classification and face recognition are completed through deep learning in DBN. Through the experiments on face databases ORL, Extend Yale B, and CMU-PIE by the proposed method (FRMCD), the best partitioning way of the face image and the hidden unit number of the DBN hidden layer are obtained. Then, comparative experiments between the FRMCD and traditional methods are performed. The results show that the recognition rate of FRMCD is superior to those of traditional methods; the highest recognition rate is up to 98.82%. When the number of training samples is less, the FRMCD has more significant advantages. Compared with the method based on local binary pattern (LBP) and DBN, the time-consuming of FRMCD is shorter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To investigate the pulmonary nodules detected by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), identified factors affecting the size and number of pulmonary nodules (single or multiple), and the pulmonary nodules diagnosed and management as lung cancer in healthy individuals. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 54,326 healthy individuals who received chest LDCT screening. According to the results of screening, the detection rates of pulmonary nodules, grouped according to the size and number of pulmonary nodules (single or multiple), and the patients' gender, age, history of smoking, hypertension, and diabetes were statistically analyzed to determine the correlation between each factor and the characteristics of the nodules. The pulmonary nodules in healthy individuals diagnosed with lung cancer were managed with differently protocols. Results: The detection rate of pulmonary nodules was 38.8% (21,055/54,326). The baseline demographic characteristics of patients with pulmonary nodules were: 58% male and 42% female patients, 25.7% smoking and 74.3% nonsmoking individuals, 40–60 years old accounted for 49%, 54.8% multiple nodules, and 45.2% single nodules, and ≤5-mm size accounted for 80.4%, 6–10 mm for 18.2%, and 11–30 mm for 1.4%. Multiple pulmonary nodules were more common in hypertensive patients. Diabetes is not an independent risk factor for several pulmonary nodules. Of all patients with lung nodules, 26 were diagnosed with lung cancer, accounting for 0.1% of all patients with pulmonary nodules, 0.6% with nodules ≥5 mm, and 2.2% with nodules ≥8 mm, respectively. Twenty-six patients with lung cancer were treated with surgical resection (57.7%), microwave ablation (MWA, 38.5%), and follow-up (3.8%). Conclusions: LDCT was suitable for large-scale pulmonary nodules screening in healthy individuals, which was helpful for the early detection of suspicious lesions in the lung. In addition to surgical resection, MWA is an option for early lung cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the effect of micro-RNA (miR)-21-5p-loaded bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (miR-21-Exo) on autoimmune premature ovarian insufficiency (POI)? The Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK8) assay, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, western blotting, quantitative reverse transcriptase (qRT)-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) verified the effect of miR-21-Exo on interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-induced KGN cells. qRT-PCR, western blotting and dual-luciferase reporter gene assays verified that miR-21-Exo mediated Msh homeobox 1 (MSX1) regulation of the Notch signalling pathway and that miR-21 interacted directly with MSX1. The effects of miR-21-Exo on the ovaries were verified by monitoring of the oestrous cycle, haematoxylin and eosin staining, follicle counts, ELISA, immunohistochemistry, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL), western blotting and qRT-PCR. The results showed that miR-21-Exo promoted IFN-γ-induced KGN cell proliferation and hormone synthesis, and inhibited apoptosis. Using dual-luciferase reporter gene assays, miR-21 and MSX1 were shown to have direct interactions. Moreover, the findings elucidated that miR-21-Exo inhibited cell apoptosis and promoted hormone synthesis by mediating MSX1 to regulate the Notch signalling pathway. miR-21-Exo restored the ovarian structure in a mouse model of autoimmune POI, promoted endocrine function and proliferation, and inhibited apoptosis and inflammation in vivo. This study demonstrates that miR-21-Exo regulates the MSX1-mediated Notch signalling pathway to inhibit granulosa cell apoptosis and improve hormone synthesis function, providing insight into a potential mechanism of molecular therapy for the treatment of autoimmune POI. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• VCI showed an increasing trend in China from 2001 to 2020. • The time lag and cumulative effects of drought on VCI increased with latitude. • Warming and decreased precipitation at high altitudes improved vegetation growth condition. Vegetation can reduce the adverse effect of climate change. Under the frequent droughts and global warming, it is critical to clear vegetation dynamics and response to climatic variables. However, it is unclear how drought and climatic variables affect vegetation dynamics. In this study, we used the vegetation condition index (VCI) to examine vegetation dynamics in China between 2001 and 2020. The average annual value of VCI had increased during the period of 2001 to 2020, and 90.63% of the study regions had a rising trend in VCI. A large portion of the area had a 3-month time lag between VCI and temperature and precipitation. The time-lag response of VCI to drought was mainly 9 months, with a cumulative effect on drought of 1 month and 12 months. The VCI of evergreen needleleaf forests (ENF), deciduous needleleaf forests (DNF), deciduous broadleaf forests (DBF), and mixed forests (MF) in northern China displayed long time-lag response to drought. Except for DBF in the north and DNF in the central south regions, the cumulative effect of drought on other forest VCI was great in northern China. Except for DNF, DBF, and MF in the central south and DBF in the southwest regions, drought had less time-lag effects on VCI for ENF, evergreen broadleaf forests (EBF), DNF, and MF in southern China. The cumulative effect of drought on VCI of forests in southern China was short. The responses of various types of the grassland and shrubland to drought were similar as those of forests. However, the time-lag effect of drought on grassland and shrubland VCI was shorter than that of forests, making the grassland and shrubland more vulnerable to the short-term cumulative effects of drought. The result of this study can help us understand how the vegetation responds to climate change and drought under global warming scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water stress is a significant element impacting photosynthesis, which is one of the major physiological activities governing crop growth and development. In this study, the photosynthetic rate of Brassica chinensis L. var. parachinensis (Bailey) (referred to as Chinese Brassica hereafter) was predicted using the deep learning method. Five sets of Chinese Brassica were created, each with a different water stress gradient. Air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), canopy temperature (Tc), transpiration rate (Tr), photosynthetic rate (Pn), and photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) were measured in different growth stages. The upper limit and lower limit equations were built using the non-water-stress baseline (NWSB) and hierarchical density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (HDBSCAN) methods. The crop water stress index (CWSI) was then calculated using these built equations. The multivariate long short-term memory (MLSTM) model was proposed to predict Pn based on CWSI and other parameters. At the same time, the support vector regression (SVR) method was applied to provide a comparison to the MSLTM model. The results show that water stress had an important effect on the growth of Chinese Brassica. The more serious the water stress, the lower the growth range (GR). The HDBSCAN method had a lower root mean square error (RMSE) in calculating CWSI. Furthermore, the CWSI had a significant effect on predicting Pn. The regression fitting between measured Pn and predicted Pn showed that the determination coefficient (R2) and RMSE were 0.899 and 0.108 μmol·m−2·s−1, respectively. In this study, we successfully developed a method for the reliable prediction of Pn in Chinese Brassica, which can serve as a useful reference for application in water saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

trans -Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol enriched in grape seed and skin, has been extensively investigated for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-psychiatric properties. The present study examined the effects of trans -resveratrol on ameliorating anxiety-like behaviors and fear memory deficits induced by time-dependent sensitization (TDS) procedure, which is a classical animal model for mimicking posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The results suggested that trans -resveratrol at doses of 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg (via gavage, i.g.) reversed TDS-induced decreases in the percentage of time spent in the center of arena, the open arm entries and time spent in the open arms in the open field and elevated plus maze tests. It also decreased the percentage of freezing time in the contextual fear paradigm that was increased in TDS treated rats. Further study suggested that TDS-induced abnormality in the limbic hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal gland (L-HPA) axis was reversed by trans -resveratrol, i.e. it reversed increased adrenal gland index and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) levels, and rescued the differential expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in the hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala. Neurobiological studies suggested that trans -resveratrol increased phosphorylation of cAMP response element binding protein (pCREB) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, which were decreased in rats subjected to TDS. These results provide compelling evidence that trans- resveratrol protects neurons against PTSD-like stress insults by regulation of L-HPA axis function and activation of downstream neuroprotective molecules, such as pCREB and BDNF expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R29 --> 576.1 --> The high‐fat high‐sugar food environment has been implicated as a driver of the obesity epidemic. Nodose ganglia (NG) neurons transmit post‐ingestive signals, including fat and sugar intake, from the gut to the brain. Previous data revealed distinct vagal circuits are required for post‐ingestive fat and sugar reinforcement, but whether these signals converge onto overlapping reward circuits is unclear. Methods: To address this, we used FosTRAP mice to genetically label whole‐brain neuronal responses to discreet time‐restricted stimuli. Using genetic‐encoded reporter (tdTom) expression and cFos immunolabeling we compared neural responses to intragastric stimuli at two separate timepoints in the same animal. Results: Repeated intragastric infusion of the same macronutrient resulted in high colocalization between tdTom and cFos labeling (>70%) in neurons of a previously identified gut‐reward circuit (NTS, PBN, SNc, dorsal striatum). Equicaloric infusion of fat or sugar at two separate timepoints significantly reduced colocalization of tdTom and cFos labeling (<30%), suggesting that fat and sugar recruit parallel but largely distinct reward circuits. Viral‐mediated caspase ablation of sugar‐sensing NG neurons abolished activation of the reward circuitry for sugar, but not fat; confirming this is a vagally‐mediated mechanism. Optogenetic stimulation of fat‐sensing NG neurons is sufficient to condition operant behavior. Microdialysis in response to equicaloric intragastric infusions of fat or sugar resulted in similar dopamine efflux in the dorsal striatum. To obtain the same level of dopamine efflux, more calories of an equicaloric fat‐sugar combination are required, correlating with compensatory increased intake of fat‐sugar solution. Conclusion: There are labeled lines for vagally‐mediated fat or sugar reward. Reduced reward in response to fat‐sugar combinations may explain the inclination to overindulge in high‐fat high‐sugar foods, and have broad implications for the pathogenesis of obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A free-standing and flexible silver nanoparticles-graphene (Ag NPs-GE) film with high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensitivity has been developed. First, the high stable and dispersive Ag NPs-GE composite was fabricated by in situ reduction using graphene oxide sheets as substrates and the hydrazine hydrate as a reducing agent in the solvothermal environment. Second, the Ag NPs-GE films can be fabricated through vacuum filtration of the Ag NPs-GE suspension. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images show that the Ag NPs with an average size of 22 nm and a narrow particle size distribution are uniformly distributed on GE sheets. The coverage density of Ag NPs onto the surface of GE sheets can be successfully controlled by tuning the concentration of silver ion precursor. As-prepared Ag NPs-GE substrates have good SERS sensitivity due to the high SERS-active of Ag NPs. The enhancement factor for 1 × 10 M of rhodamine 6G molecules adsorbed onto the surface of substrate is about 2.7 × 10. The SERS activity toward crystal violet and Escherichia coli was also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]