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Oxidative stress-induced damage is a significant contributor to the impairment of Leydig cells in the testes, potentially diminishing the secretion of testosterone and other androgens, thereby resulting in testosterone deficiency. Salidroside, the principal bioactive constituent derived from Rhodiola, exhibits potent antioxidant properties. This study aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms by which salidroside enhances testosterone secretion. The study investigated the oxidative damage in TM3 cells induced by H2O2 and demonstrated that salidroside significantly decreased the levels of ROS and MDA, while increasing the levels of testosterone, SOD, GSH. These changes effectively ameliorated oxidative stress, mitigated oxidative damage, protected TM3 cells, and enhanced testosterone secretion. Additionally, UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS was employed to analyze the metabolomics of TM3 cells, identifying 28 distinct metabolites and associated metabolic pathways. Key metabolic pathways identified include Arginine biosynthesis, Alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, Citrate cycle (TCA cycle), Phenylalanine metabolism, Pyruvate metabolism. Utilizing network pharmacology, the core targets of salidroside in enhancing testosterone secretion were further investigated, revealing the involvement of AMACR, CYP3A4, ECHS1, HSD17B10, MPO, and TYR. This discovery was confirmed by dry-wet analysis. To sum up, salidroside can reduce the level of oxidative stress and promote testosterone secretion through multiple metabolic pathways and multiple targets. In a word, salidroside may provide a new strategy for preventing and treating testosterone deficiency.

Abstract Electronic skins with deep and comprehensive liquid information detection are desired to endow intelligent robotic devices with augmented perception and autonomous regulation in common droplet environments. At present, one technical limitation of electronic skins is the inability to perceive the liquid sliding information as realistically as humans and give feedback in time. To this critical challenge, in this work, a self-powered bionic droplet electronic skin is proposed by constructing an ingenious co-layer interlaced electrode network and using an overpass connection method. The bionic skin is used for droplet environment reconnaissance and converts various dynamic droplet sliding behaviors into electrical signals based on triboelectricity. More importantly, the two-dimensional sliding behavior of liquid droplets is comprehensively perceived by the e-skin and visually fed back in real-time on an indicator. Furthermore, the flow direction warning and intelligent closed-loop control of water leakage are also achieved by this e-skin, achieving the effect of human neuromodulation. This strategy compensates for the limitations of e-skin sensing droplets and greatly narrows the gap between artificial e-skins and human skins in perceiving functions.

In order to utilize the huge stock of coal gasification slag (CGS) as an alternative to river sand, the feasibility of coal gasification slag concrete for road construction is studied, and the influence of CGS on the performance of cement-based material is investigated. Using the CGS (particle size below 4.75 mm) as fine aggregate, the CGS mortar is made by replacing river sand with the same mass CGS. Replacement ratios are 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%, respectively. Through the mortar fluidity test, compressive strength test, X-ray diffraction analysis, mercury intrusion analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and energy spectrum analysis, the influence of CGS replacement ratio on the rheological property, mechanical property, hydration product, pore structure and micro morphology of the mortar are systematically studied. The optimal substitution rate of CGS is determined through comprehensive comparison and selection, and the mix design of CGS concrete for road construction is carried out using this substitution rate. The mechanical performance reliability of CGS concrete is evaluated based on 28 d flexural tensile strength. The results show that as the substitution rate of CGS increases, the flowability of CGS mortar gradually decreases and the compressive strength at 28 days gradually increases. Taking into account the fluidity and mechanical properties of the mortar, the optimal substitution rate for CGS is 80%, and the corresponding compressive strength of CGS mortar is 34 MPa. The microscopic analysis shows that the CGS can promote the cement hydration reaction of CGS mortar, increase the relative content of C—S—H gel, and reduce the content of C2S and C3S. The addition of CGS reduces the critical pore size, average pore size, and median pore size of mortar, increases the proportion of small pore size, improves its pore size distribution type, and thus increases the proportion of small pore size, resulting in a decrease in pore connectivity and higher compactness. After adding CGS, the CGS mortar does not produce new hydration products, which reduces the calcium silica ratio of C—S—H gel, enhances the crystallinity of gel, and improves the durability of mortar. With variation coefficient 0.1, the CGS concrete with a substitution rate of 80% can ensure the use of cement concrete pavement for rural road without standard axle load for 10 years.

Function approximation has gained significant attention in reinforcement learning research as it effectively addresses problems with large-scale, continuous state, and action space.Although the function approximation algorithm based on gradient descent method is one of the most widely used methods in reinforcement learning, it requires careful tuning of the step size parameter as an inappropriate value can lead to slow convergence, unstable convergence, or even divergence.To address these issues, an improvement was made around the temporal-difference (TD) algorithm based on function approximation.The weight update method was enhanced using both the least squares method and gradient descent, resulting in the proposed weights gradient descent (WGD) method.The least squares were used to calculate the weights, combining the ideas of TD and gradient descent to find the error between the weights.And this error was used to directly update the weights.By this method, the weights were updated in a new manner, effectively reducing the consumption of computing resources by the algorithm enhancing other gradient descent-based function approximation algorithms.The WGD method is widely applicable in various gradient descent-based reinforcement learning algorithms.The results show that WGD method can adjust parameters within a wider space, effectively reducing the possibility of algorithm divergence.Additionally, it achieves better performance while improving the convergence speed of the algorithm.

Abstract The recognition of the surface reconstruction of the catalysts during electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) is essential for exploring and comprehending active sites. Although the superior performance of Cu–Zn bimetallic sites toward multicarbon C2+ products has been established, the dynamic surface reconstruction has not been fully understood. Herein, Zn‐doped Cu2O nano‐octahedrons are used to investigate the effect of the dynamic stability by the leaching and redeposition on CO2RR. Correlative characterizations confirm the Zn leaching from Zn‐doped Cu2O, which is redeposited at the surface of the catalysts, leading to dynamic stability and abundant Cu–Zn bimetallic sites at the surface. The reconstructed Zn‐doped Cu2O catalysts achieve a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of C2+ products (77% at –1.1 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). Additionally, similar dynamic stability is also discovered in Al‐doped Cu2O for CO2RR, proving its universality in amphoteric metal‐doped catalysts. Mechanism analyses reveal that the OHC–CHO pathway can be the C–C coupling processes on bare Cu2O and Zn‐doped Cu2O, and the introduction of Zn to Cu can efficiently lower the energy barrier for CO2RR to C2H4. This research provides profound insight into unraveling surface dynamic reconstruction of amphoteric metal‐containing electrocatalysts and can guide rational design of the high‐performance electrocatalysts for CO2RR.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a primary cause of dementia, is rapidly emerging as one of the most financially taxing, lethal, and burdensome diseases of the 21st century. Increasing evidence suggests that microglia-mediated neuroinflammation plays a key role in both the initiation and progression of AD. Recently, emerging evidence has demonstrated mitochondrial dysfunction, particular in microglia where precedes neuroinflammation in AD. Multiple signaling pathways are implicated in this process and pharmaceutical interventions are potentially involved in AD treatment. In this review, advance over the last five years in the signaling pathways and pharmaceutical interventions are summarized and it is proposed that targeting the signaling pathways in microglia with mitochondrial dysfunction could represent a novel direction for AD treatment.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug and its abuse leads to serious health and social problems. Until now, no effective medications are yet available for the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. Our study reveals that chloral hydrate, a clinical sedative drug, suppresses the seeking desire for methamphetamine. After 5 days of continuous administration (subanesthetic dose 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg), methamphetamine-seeking behavior of rats was inhibited in the condition place preference and intravenous self-administration tests. Furthermore, chloral hydrate treatment robustly suppressed cue-induced methamphetamine relapse. The whole brain c-fos immunostaining revealed that chloral hydrate treatment suppressed neuronal activity in the rhomboid thalamic nucleus (Rh), dorsal endopiriform nucleus (dEn), and claustrum (Cl) while enhanced zona incerta (ZI) activity during cue-induced methamphetamine relapse. Therefore, chloral hydrate could remodel neural network activity and serve as a potential medicine to treat methamphetamine addiction.

The physical properties, group composition, stable carbon isotope, and biomarker compound distribution characteristics of crude oil in the Archean buried hill were studied and compared with the geochemical characteristics of Paleogene crude oil, in order to discuss the geochemical characteristics and sources of crude oil from the Archean buried hill JZ25-1S in the Liaoxi Low Uplift. The crude oil from the second member of the Paleogene Shahejie Formation and the Archean buried hill in this area are mainly light and medium crude oil. The oil has medium saturated hydrocarbon, high aromatic hydrocarbon, high non-hydrocarbon and asphaltene contents. The carbon isotopes of the crude oil are distributed between -26.2‰ and -24.4‰, and the isotopic fractionation among group components is small. The chromatographic curve clearly shows the "bulge" formed by biodegradation, the single peak and post-kurtosis state is dominant, the Pr/Ph value is generally around 1.3, and the Pr/nC17, Ph/nC18 values are both high. The sterane characteristics of crude oil show a high gammacerane abundance, the C27 rearranged sterane and 4-methyl sterane contents are medium, the dinostane content is low, and the regular sterane C27, C28, C29 fingerprints are partial"V" or "L" shaped. However, the characteristics of Archean crude oil from wells JZ25-1S-4D and JZ25-1-10D are quite different from the above-mentioned crude oil. Comprehensive analysis suggests that the main body of crude oil from the Paleogene and Archean buried hills in the JZ25-1S area is a mixture from the Es3 member of the Liaoxi Sag and the Es1 member of the Liaozhong Sag. Its parent material comes from a weakly reducing environment with moderate salinity and is mainly derived from algae and other phytoplankton. The crude oil has a high degree of maturity and is severely biodegraded. The Archean buried hill crude oil from wells JZ25-1S-4D and JZ25-1-10D is derived from the Es3 member source rock in the Liaoxi Sag, which was deposited in a weakly reducing freshwater environment with high maturity and weak biodegradation.

There are abundant hydrocarbon resources in the western subsag of Bozhong sag in the Bohai Bay Basin, where oil–gas discoveries have been made in those shallow Neogene and Paleogene reservoirs and deep Mesozoic buried hill reservoirs, but no better understandings have yet been achieved in terms of the process of hydrocarbon accumulation and the relationship between deep buried hill reservoirs and the allocation of shallow reservoirs. Based on the organic geochemical analysis of source rocks and basin modeling of hydrocarbon generation evolution, distribution characteristics of fluid inclusion and homogeneous temperature measurement, combined with the characteristics of oil-source biomarkers, the process of hydrocarbon accumulation in this study area was resumed based upon the regional tectonic background. The following findings were obtained. (1) There are 3 sets of source rocks in the third and first members of Paleogene Shahejie Fm, and the second lower member of Paleogene Dongying Fm; the reservoirs in the peripheral uplift zones include Mesozoic volcanic rocks, Archean metamorphic rocks, and Paleogene–Neogene delta–fluvial porous sandstones. Hydrocarbon generated in this sag migrated along the fault and the unconformity surface to the slope before accumulated in the peripheral tectonic zones, resulting in 3 sets of source–reservoir–caprock assemblages formed with the characteristics of reservoir formation in compound oil and gas accumulation zones. (2) The stratum in the third member of Shahejie Fm is the main source rock. (3) The above three assemblages went through four periods of generating process during the geological time of 11–1 Ma. Vertically hydrocarbon sources first filled in the deep Mesozoic and Archean reservoirs, then migrated and accumulated in the shallow Neogene and Paleogene reservoirs, where multiple shore-term rapid filling of high-temperature fluids led to this typical oil and gas pooling mode. Keywords: Bohai Bay Basin, Western subsag of Bozhong sag, Mesozoic, Buried-hill, Composite hydrocarbon reservoir, Oil source correlation, Shallow oil and gas reservoir, Allocation relationship

The mechanical behaviors of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) are upgraded by outer steel tube confinement, and the performance of recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tubular (RACFST) columns is similar to that of the traditional concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns. The purpose of this study is to investigate the behaviors of recycled aggregate concrete-filled rectangular steel tubular (RACFRST) stub columns under axial loading. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) models were established, which utilized a triaxial plastic-damage constitutive RAC model considering the replacement ratio of recycled aggregates. The finite element analysis results indicated that the lessened ultimate bearing capacity of RACFRST stub columns compared with their traditional concrete infilled counterparts was mainly due to the weakened confinement effect and confinement efficiency. A simplified formula of the bearing capacity of concentrically loaded RACFRST stub columns was proposed. The cross-sectional stress nephogram was reasonably simplified by the limited state of infilled concrete. The basics of proposed formula were the equilibrium condition and the superposition method. Finally, the formula for the bearing capacity of RACFRST stub columns was evaluated by comparing its accuracy and feasibility to some design formulae proposed by specialists and some design codes of different regions.

Chronic inflammatory pain is a severe clinical symptom that aggravates the life quality of patients and places a huge economic burden on individuals and society. As one complementary and alternative therapy, electroacupuncture (EA) is widely used in clinical practice to treat chronic inflammatory pain based on its safety and efficacy. Previous studies have revealed the potential role of adenosine, neuropeptides, and inflammatory factors in EA analgesia in various pain models, but the identity of some of the signaling pathways involved remain unknown. In the present study, we explored whether neuregulin1 (NRG1)-ErbB4 signaling is involved in EA analgesia in inflammatory pain. Repeated EA treatment at the acupoints Zusanli (ST36) and Sanyinjiao (SP6) for 3 consecutive days remarkably attenuated mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA)-treated mice, with an increased expression of NRG1 in spinal cord (SC). We found that ErbB4 kinase participated in both the EA and NRG1 mediated analgesic effects on inflammatory pain by pharmacological inhibition or genetic ablation ErbB4 in vivo. Intriguingly, the mice with conditional knockout of ErbB4 from PV+ interneurons in SC showed abnormal basal mechanical threshold. Meanwhile, NRG1 treatment could not relieve tactile allodynia in PV-Erbb4–/– mice or AAV-PV-Erbb4–/– mice after CFA injection. These experimental results suggest that regulating NRG1-ErbB4 signaling in SC could reduce pain hypersensitivity and contribute to EA analgesia in inflammatory pain.

Experimental autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) is a well-established model induced by an autoimmune response to prostate antigen. The symptomatic, pathological, and immunological characteristics of EAP animals are highly consistent with human chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), which makes EAP an ideal model for this disease. Here, we investigate the influence of EAP on male rat sexual function and the efficacy of anti-inflammatory therapy with celecoxib. EAP rat models were established using male Wistar rats. Rats were randomly assigned to a normal control group, an EAP model group, or an EAP model with celecoxib treatment group (celecoxib group). Behavioral changes, sexual behavioral changes, and erectile function were estimated using an open-field test, a sucrose consumption test, mating experiments, and by intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio (ICP/MAP). Histological changes in the prostate were observed by HE staining, and the serum inflammatory factors IL-1β and TNF-α levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT), 5-HT1A receptor, 5-HT2C receptor, and serotonin transporter (SERT) expression levels in the hippocampus and spinal cord (T13–L1, L5–S2) were examined by immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Results showed that EAP rats exhibited characteristics of depression, decreased sexual drive, premature ejaculation, and increased threshold of penile erection. Moreover, all these changes were effectively alleviated by celecoxib. Significant increases in prostatic interstitial infiltration by inflammatory cells and in serum IL-1β and TNF-α levels were observed in EAP rats, and these were partially reduced by celecoxib. Additionally, the expression pattern of serotonin system regulators in the hippocampus and spinal cord were altered in EAP model rats, including a decrease in 5-HT levels and an increase in 5-HT1A receptor levels. In conclusion, autoimmune prostatitis impaired rat sexual function, and this was effectively prevented by anti-inflammatory therapy with celecoxib. Moreover, a serotonin system disorder in the central nervous system was likely mediated via inflammation in EAP rats.

The composite bucket foundation (CBF) consists of a concrete curved transition section, a concrete beam-slab system, and a suction caisson and is increasingly used as the foundation for offshore wind turbines. The curved transition section transmits the upper load from the tower to the foundation, and its force and transmission characteristics are related to the safety of the entire wind turbine structure. The arced transition section has the characteristics of complex geometry, load conditions, and large curvature. It is difficult to determine its bearing characteristics and force transmission system. In this paper, the boundary conditions and loading device of the CBF model test are designed, and three 1:20 arced transition section model specimens are made. The mechanical characteristic experiments of CBF are used to analyze the failure process, failure characteristics, and seismic performance of the structure. Results show that the cracking effect of the arced transition section after prestressing is obviously better than that of a reinforced concrete arced transition section structure. The arced transition section specimens equipped with prestressed tendons can increase the structural cracking load ratio by about 35% for reinforced concrete members. The energy dissipation capacity of the specimens has been significantly improved, and the material properties can be fully utilized. The failure mode of the arced transition section structure under horizontal reciprocating load shows the characteristics of bending and shear failure.

Revealing the variation law of thermal diffusivity of sandy soil can provide a theoretical basis for the engineering design and construction in cold and arid regions. Based on experimental data of sandy soil samples, the distribution characteristics and influence of dry density and moisture content on thermal diffusivity are analyzed in this work. Then, the prediction model based on the empirical fitting formula and RBF neural network method for thermal diffusivity of frozen and unfrozen sandy soil is established, and the prediction accuracy of different prediction methods is compared. The results show that (1) thermal diffusivity of sandy soil is positively correlated with the particle size. With the increase of sand size, thermal diffusivity of sandy soil increases significantly. (2) Partial correlation among natural moisture content, dry density, and thermal diffusivity varies with different frozen and unfrozen conditions. (3) For unfrozen sandy soil, the binary RBF neural network prediction model is obviously better than that of the binary empirical fitting formula model. (4) The ternary prediction model has significantly higher prediction accuracy than that of the binary prediction model for frozen sandy soil, and the ternary RBF neural network model has the best prediction effect among the four methods.

This paper presents a numerical investigation of lightweight aggregate concrete-filled circular steel tubular (LACFCST) stub columns under axial compression. A finite 3D solid element model of the LACFCST stub column was established by adopting a plastic-damage constitutive model of lightweight aggregate concrete (LAC). The finite element model (FEM) analysis results revealed that the confinement effect of the steel tube on the infilled LAC was weaker than that on the infilled conventional concrete. A parametric study making use of 95 full-scale FEMs was conducted to investigate the influences of various design parameters of LACFCST stub columns on their ultimate axial bearing capacity and the composite actions. Moreover, a numerical model of the axial and transverse stress of steel tubes at the ultimate state of LACFCST columns was proposed using the regression method. Based on the equilibrium conditions and the proposed model, a practical design formula making use of an enhancement factor was derived to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of LACFCST stub columns by using the superposition method. The validity of the proposed formula was verified against the experimental data of 49 LACFCST stub column specimens under the axial loading available in the literature. Meanwhile, the accuracy and conciseness of the proposed formula were evaluated by comparison with the formulas suggested by the existing design codes.

The Laizhou Bay Sag, one of the oil-bearing sags with large exploration potential in the South Bohai Sea of China, contains two sets of high-quality hydrocarbon source rocks, i.e. Member 3 and Member 4 of Shahejie Fm (E 2 s 3 and E 2 s 4 ). As an important hydrocarbon accumulation zone in the sag, the KL16-1 low bulge is found to have oil reservoirs in the Neogene Guantao Fm (N 1 g), the Paleogene Dongying Fm (E 3 d), the Paleogene Shahejie Fm (E 2 s), and the Mesozoic buried hill formation. It is characterized by distinct features of composite reservoirs. Nonetheless, its hydrocarbon accumulation process and mechanism are unknown yet. In this paper, the hydrocarbon generation modelling of source rocks, combined with the characteristics of oil-source rock biomarker compounds and fluid inclusions, is used to restore the hydrocarbon accumulation process in the KL16-1 low bulge. Crude oil in all three KL16-1 plays is characterized by low Pr/Ph, low gammacerane, high 4-methyl sterane and high dinosterane. In other words, it is oil of low maturity to maturity. As the biomarker index of the oil is very similar to that of the E 2 s 3 source rocks, it is thought that E 2 s 3 is the primary source rock layer, while E 2 s 4 is the secondary source rock layer. In addition, episodic oil and gas charging happened in two phases under high pressure in the late period (from 5.0 Ma till now).

Node localization is the core in wireless sensor network. It can be solved by powerful beacons, which are equipped with global positioning system devices to know their location information. In this article, we present a novel sparse localization approach with a mobile beacon based on LU decomposition. Our scheme firstly translates node localization problem into a 1-sparse vector recovery problem by establishing sparse localization model. Then, LU decomposition pre-processing is adopted to solve the problem that measurement matrix does not meet the re¬stricted isometry property. Later, the 1-sparse vector can be exactly recovered by compressive sensing. Finally, as the 1-sparse vector is approximate sparse, weighted Cen¬troid scheme is introduced to accurately locate the node. Simulation and analysis show that our scheme has better localization performance and lower requirement for the mobile beacon than MAP+GC, MAP-M, and MAP-MN schemes. In addition, the obstacles and DOI have little effect on the novel scheme, and it has great localization performance under low SNR, thus, the scheme proposed is robust.

A two-step structural optimization method was proposed to select the transition section of a composite bucket foundation (CBF). In the first step, based on the variable density method, a solid isotropic microstructures with penalization (SIMP) interpolation model was established under specific load conditions and boundary conditions. The solution of force transmission path and the topology of the transition section in six forms (e.g., linear, arc-shaped, linear thin-walled, and arc-shaped thin-walled) were optimized. Afterwards, finite element software ABAQUS was used to verify this model. Results show that the utilization rate of the arc-shaped thin-walled structure was the largest, and its basic transmission force was more straightforward together with smaller cross-section size at the same height and smaller influence on spoiler flow. In the second step, the detailed optimization of CBF was carried out using mathematical programming. Under the premise of minimum total construction cost, the body shape parameters of each part were set as design variables satisfying the corresponding strength, stiffness, and stability conditions; meanwhile, the minimum total structure weight was set as the objective function. MATLAB was used to solve the sequence quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm and hybrid genetic algorithm, and the optimal body parameters were obtained.

Node localization technology is especially important to most applications of wireless sensor network. However, each mobile beacon needs to broadcast its current position many times, and locating all the nodes must take a long time in most of the localization algorithms. In order to solve these problems, we propose a novel range-free localization algorithm—localization with a mobile beacon based on compressive sensing (LMCS). LMCS makes use of compressive sensing (CS) to get the related degree of the sensor nodes and all the mobile beacon points. According to the related degree, the algorithm decides the weight value of each beacon point for the mass coordinate, and estimates the sensor node location. LMCS does not ask for all nodes hearing directly with beacon node, so it is more suitable for practical application than other localization algorithms. The simulation results show that compared with MAP schemes, LMCS has better localization performance, especially under irregularity of radio range and obstacle environment. Therefore, LMCS is a reliable, useful, and effective localization algorithm.