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Conveyor belt is one of the most important transportation equipment in underground coal mines. Anchor rod, channel steel, large gangue, and other foreign objects that are mixed with the conveyor belt during conveying operations cause the belt to tear, clog the coal drop opening, and cause other serious safety incidents. They seriously affect the efficiency of transportation and even threaten the lives of workers. Aiming at the existing conveyor belt foreign object detection algorithm’s problems such as weak characterization of slender objects and poor weak semantic feature extraction, a foreign object detection algorithm based on low-level feature enhancement with Transformer is designed, notated as FET–YOLO. Firstly, to address the problem that existing detection networks have difficulty in extracting features of elongated objects, deformable convolution is introduced to enhance the network’s adaptability to the shape characteristics of elongated foreign objects, and the MobileViT module is used to increase the differentiation between the foreign objects and the background in the image, in order to extract features that are more consistent with the diversity of the elongated foreign objects and to weaken the interference of background noise.Secondly, constructing a low-level feature enhancement module LFEM, to improve the representation of weak semantic features of foreign objects in the detection network in order to reduce the probability of wrong detection.Finally, the introduction of gsconv reduces the information loss due to changes in the size of the feature map and ensures that the network extracts features efficiently while reducing the number of model parameters. The training set and validation set are produced by using the video of conveyor belt work in an underground coal mine. The proposed algorithm is compared to three other conveyor belt detection algorithms, and the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can better solve the problems of poor detection of elongated objects and difficulty in weak semantic feature extraction in conveyor belt foreign object target detection, with higher detection accuracy. For images with a resolution size of 640×640, the performance metrics mAP@0.5 can be up to 0.875, mAP@0.5:0.95 can be up to 0.543, and the detection speed is 75 fps.

Objective To investigate the regulatory effect of extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness on the plasticity of human prostate cancer cells (LNCaP). Methods Human LNCaP cells were cultured in ECM culture dishes with four types of stiffness (i.e., Young’s modulus of 3 GPa [group A], 20 kPa [group B], 6 kPa [group C], and 1 kPa [group D]) for one week. The morphology of cells on substrates of different stiffness values was observed for each group using bright-field microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to measure the expression levels of luminal cell marker genes (AR, CK8, CK18, and PSA), basal cell marker genes (CK5 and P63), and proliferative genes (KI67 and PCNA) in each group. Results Bright-field microscopy and fluorescence microscopy showed that human LNCaP cells in group A exhibited typically spread epithelial cell morphology, whereas the cells in groups B to D showed the state of agglomerated small cell sheets, and the cells in group D formed a three-dimensional organ-like structure. RT-qPCR results showed that there were no significant differences between the four groups in the expression levels of KI67 and P63 genes in human LNCaP cells (P>0.05). The expression level of PCNA gene in group B was significantly higher than that in groups A and C (F=34.96,t=8.39,6.37,P

Gastric cancer (GC) is a common malignant tumor of the digestive tract in China. It is characterized by high morbidity, mortality, and proportion of patients in advanced stages. In the past years, chemotherapy was used as the main treatment for GC. Subsequently, targeted therapy with trastuzumab was approved to treat HER2-positive GC. However, the progress of drug development and clinical studies has been limited by the high heterogeneity of GC. In recent years, research on immunotherapy and new targets for therapeutic exploration in GC has made great strides. Herein, we provide a brief review of the progress of the research on targeted therapy and immunotherapy for GC.

Abstract Background The efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy is primarily hindered by the limited T-cell immune response rate and immune evasion capacity of tumor cells. Autophagy-related protein 7 (ATG7) plays an important role in autophagy and it has been linked to cancer. However, the role of ATG7 in the effect of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment on high microsatellite instability (MSI-H)/mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) CRC is still poorly understood. Methods In this study, patients from the cancer genome altas (TCGA) COAD/READ cohorts were used to investigate the biological mechanism driving ATG7 development. Several assays were conducted including the colony formation, cell viability, qRT-PCR, western blot, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, ELISA, immunohistochemistry staining and in vivo tumorigenicity tests. Results We found that ATG7 plays a crucial role in MSI-H CRC. Its knockdown decreased tumor growth and caused an infiltration of CD8+ T effector cells in vivo. ATG7 inhibition restored surface major histocompatibility complex I (MHC-I) levels, causing improved antigen presentation and anti-tumor T cell response by activating reactive oxygen species (ROS)/NF-κB pathway. Meanwhile, ATG7 inhibition also suppressed cholesterol accumulation and augmentation of anti-tumor immune responses. Combining ATG7 inhibition and statins improved the therapeutic benefit of anti-PD-1 in MSI-H CRC. Importantly, CRC patients with high expression of both ATG7 and recombinant 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) experienced worse prognosis compared to those with low ATG7 and HMGCR expression. Conclusions Inhibition of ATG7 leads to upregulation of MHC-I expression, augments immune response and suppresses cholesterol accumulation. These findings demonstrate that ATG7 inhibition has therapeutic potential and application of statins can increase the sensitivity to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Abstract Schistosomiasis, also called bilharziasis, is a neglected tropical disease induced by schistosomes that infects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In the life cycle of schistosomiasis, eggs are regarded as the main pathogenic factor, causing granuloma formation in the tissues and organs of hosts, which can cause severe gastrointestinal and liver granulomatous immune responses and irreversible fibrosis. Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiome influences the progression of schistosomiasis and plays a central role in liver disease via the gut–liver axis. When used as pharmaceutical supplements or adjunctive therapy, probiotics have shown promising results in preventing, mitigating, and even treating schistosomiasis. This review elucidates the potential mechanisms of this three-way parasite–host–microbiome interaction by summarizing schistosome-mediated intestinal flora disorders, local immune changes, and host metabolic changes, and elaborates the important role of the gut microbiome in liver disease after schistosome infection through the gut–liver axis. Understanding the mechanisms behind this interaction may aid in the discovery of probiotics as novel therapeutic targets and sustainable control strategies for schistosomiasis. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Background Postpartum women often experience stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and vaginal microbial dysbiosis, which seriously affect women’s physical and mental health. Understanding the relationship between SUI and vaginal microbiota composition may help to prevent vaginal diseases, but research on the potential association between these conditions is limited. Results This study employed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to explore the association between SUI and vaginal dysbiosis. In terms of the vaginal microbiota, both species richness and evenness were significantly higher in the SUI group. Additionally, the results of NMDS and species composition indicated that there were differences in the composition of the vaginal microbiota between the two groups. Specifically, compared to postpartum women without SUI (Non-SUI), the relative abundance of bacteria associated with bacterial dysbiosis, such as Streptococcus, Prevotella, Dialister, and Veillonella, showed an increase, while the relative abundance of Lactobacillus decreased in SUI patients. Furthermore, the vaginal microbial co-occurrence network of SUI patients displayed higher connectivity, complexity, and clustering. Conclusion The study highlights the role of Lactobacillus in maintaining vaginal microbial homeostasis. It found a correlation between SUI and vaginal microbiota, indicating an increased risk of vaginal dysbiosis. The findings could enhance our understanding of the relationship between SUI and vaginal dysbiosis in postpartum women, providing valuable insights for preventing bacterial vaginal diseases and improving women’s health.

Abstract Background The oral cavity is home to various ecological niches, each with its own unique microbial composition. Understanding the microbial communities and gene composition in different ecological niches within the oral cavity of oral cancer (OC) patients is crucial for determining how these microbial populations contribute to disease progression. Methods In this study, saliva and dental plaque samples were collected from patients with OC. Metagenomic sequencing was employed to analyze the microbial community classification and functional composition of the different sample groups. Results The results of the study revealed significant differences in both the function and classification of microbial communities between saliva and dental plaque samples. The diversity of microbial species in saliva was found to be higher compared to that in plaque samples. Notably, Actinobacteria were enriched in the dental plaque of OC patients. Furthermore, the study identified several inter-group differential marker species, including Prevotella intermedia, Haemophilus parahaemolyticus, Actinomyces radius, Corynebacterium matruchitii, and Veillonella atypica. Additionally, 1,353 differential genes were annotated into 23 functional pathways. Interestingly, a significant correlation was observed between differentially labeled species and Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, which may be related to the occurrence and development of cancer. Conclusions Significant differences in the microbial and genetic composition of saliva and dental plaque samples were observed in OC patients. Furthermore, pathogenic bacteria associated with oral diseases were predominantly enriched in saliva. The identification of inter-group differential biomarkers and pathways provide insights into the relationship between oral microbiota and the occurrence and development of OC.

IntroductionIn vitro fertilization (IVF) is a technology that assists couples experiencing infertility to conceive children. However, unsuccessful attempts can lead to significant physical and financial strain. Some individuals opt for electro-acupuncture (EA) during IVF, even though there is limited evidence regarding the efficacy of this practice. Thus, this pilot study aims to explore the effectiveness and safety of EA during IVF on pregnancy outcomes.Methods and analysisThis clinical trial is a parallel, randomized, sham-controlled study. It aims to include a total of 118 infertile women who intend to undergo IVF. The participants will be randomly divided into three groups in a 1:1:1 ratio: the EA + IVF group, the placebo electro-acupuncture (pEA) +IVF group, and the IVF control group. All of the patients will be required to use ovarian stimulation drugs, while those in the EA + IVF and pEA + IVF groups will receive acupuncture treatment at three sessions per week (every other day) until trigger day with a minimum five session. The primary outcome of this trial will focus on the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). CPR is defined as the rate of achieving clinical pregnancy from the first fresh/frozen embryo transfer cycle with an ultrasound-confirmed gestational sac in the uterine cavity. The secondary outcomes will assess embryology data, biochemical pregnancy rate, early miscarriage rate, Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Fertile Quality of Life (FertiQoL), patient retention rate, treatment adherence, and safety outcomes.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Sichuan Jinxin Xi’nan Women and Children Hospital (number 2021–007). The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications. The participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part in it.Clinical trial registrationhttps://www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR2300074455.

Abstract As the demand for edge services intensifies, text, being the most common type of data, has seen a significant expansion in data volume and an escalation in processing complexity. Furthermore, mobile edge computing (MEC) service systems often faces challenges such as limited computational capabilities and difficulties in data integration, requiring the development and implementation of more efficient and lightweight methodologies for text data processing. To swiftly extract and analysis vital information from MEC text data, an automatic generation scheme of multi-document text summarization based on knowledge graph is proposed in this paper, named KGCPN. For the text data from MEC devices and applications, the natural language processing technology is used to execute the data pre-processing steps, which transforms the MEC text data into a computationally tractable and semantically comprehensible format. Then, the knowledge graph of multi-document text is constructed by integrating the relationship paths and entity descriptions. The nodes and edges of the knowledge graph serve to symbolize the semantic relationships within the text, and the Graph Convolution Neural network (GCN) is used to understand the text and learn the semantic representation. Finally, a pointer-generator network model accepts the encoding information from GCN and automatically generate a general text summarization. The experimental results indicate that our scheme can effectively facilitate the smart pre-processing and integration of MEC data.

Acupuncture can be effective in relieving pain and reducing drug dependence and abuse caused by chronic pain. However, the cumulative effect of acupuncture requires patients to undergo multiple treatments, which limits its use due to time and economic costs. Currently, existing acupuncture devices include acupoint identification and acupoint stimulation devices. The identification and stimulation functions are separated for these two classes of devices. They were unable to locate the acupoint automatically and required a professional acupuncturist to perform the procedure. Although acupuncture robots that can simultaneously identify the acupoints and initiate treatment are under development, the technology is not yet mature that it is currently not available for general use. To address these issues, we developed an automatic system that combines the identification of acupoints and the administration of treatment. The system is designed to assist users without any knowledge of acupuncture in the management of chronic pain at home. We conducted tests to evaluate the performance of the system in terms of resistance detection accuracy, electroacupuncture accuracy, and acupoint identification test. The results demonstrate that the system significantly improves the accuracy of locating acupoints, indicating its suitability for daily home use as an effective approach to managing chronic pain.

ABSTRACTSchistosomiasis japonica is one of the neglected tropical diseases characterized by chronic hepatic, intestinal granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis, as well as dysbiosis of intestinal microbiome. Previously, the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens has been shown to alleviate the pathological injuries in mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum by improving the disturbance of the intestinal microbiota. However, the underlying mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear. In this study, metagenomics sequencing and functional analysis were employed to investigate the differential changes in taxonomic composition and functional genes of the intestinal microbiome in S. japonicum-infected mice treated with B. amyloliquefaciens. The results revealed that intervention with B. amyloliquefaciens altered the taxonomic composition of the intestinal microbiota at the species level in infected mice and significantly increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Moreover, the abundance of predicted genes in the intestinal microbiome was also significantly changed, and the abundance of xfp/xpk and genes translated to urease was significantly restored. Further analysis showed that Limosilactobacillus reuteri was positively correlated with several KEGG Orthology (KO) genes and metabolic reactions, which might play important roles in alleviating the pathological symptoms caused by S. japonicum infection, indicating that it has the potential to function as another effective therapeutic agent for schistosomiasis. These data suggested that treatment of murine schistosomiasis japonica by B. amyloliquefaciens might be induced by alterations in the taxonomic composition and functional gene of the intestinal microbiome in mice. We hope this study will provide adjuvant strategies and methods for the early prevention and treatment of schistosomiasis japonica.IMPORTANCETargeted interventions of probiotics on gut microbiome were used to explore the mechanism of alleviating schistosomiasis japonica. Through metagenomic analysis, there were significant changes in the composition of gut microbiota in mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum and significant increase in the abundance of beneficial bacteria after the intervention of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. At the same time, the abundance of functional genes was found to change significantly. The abundance of genes related to urease metabolism and xfp/xpk related to D-erythrose 4-phosphate production was significantly restored, highlighting the importance of Limosilactobacillus reuteri in the recovery and abundance of predicted genes of the gut microbiome. These results indicated potential regulatory mechanism between the gene function of gut microbiome and host immune response. Our research lays the foundation for elucidating the regulatory mechanism of probiotic intervention in alleviating schistosomiasis japonica, and provides potential adjuvant treatment strategies for early prevention and treatment of schistosomiasis japonica.

The Lucaogou Formation in the Jimsar Sag is the main target layer of shale oil exploration and development in continental basins. However, its paleo-environmental information and organic matter enrichment mechanism still need to be determined. In order to investigate the paleo-environment of the Permian Lucaogou Formation, based on core and thin section observation, we carried out major and trace element analyses on 26 source rocks from Well J10025 by using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy(XRF) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS). This analysis, combined with GC-MS biomarker data and typical sedimentary structures, reflects the paleo-environmental characteristics of the Luchaogou Formation. Geochemical indicators such as C-value, Sr/Ba, V/Cr, Pr/Ph, P, and Co show that the Lucaogou Formation was generally developed in a saline lake environment under an arid to semi-arid climate, with relatively deep water during deposition and hypoxic to anoxic conditions. The upper member was deposited in a semi-arid, brackish lake with weak reducibility, deep water body, and high productivity. In contrast, the lower member was deposited in an extremely dry, highly saline, and strongly reductive shallow lake with low productivity. The paleo-environment of the upper member fluctuated wildly, while that of the lower member was relatively stable. The correlation analyses between paleo-environmental indicators and TOC show that the preservation conditions and dilution rate of organic matter have limited influence on organic matter enrichment of the Lucaogou Formation. At the same time, the primary productivity is the main controlling factor.

Abstract This study focused on the factors that influence innovation performance in housing agents. Based on a worldwide literature review on the topic of innovation performance, we defined relational capital, knowledge sharing at the individual level, and organizational culture, structural capital, and human resource management practices at the organizational level to carry out the analysis using hierarchical linear modeling. The survey subjects were housing agents in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. A total of 1130 questionnaires were distributed to 113 agencies. Of a total of 444 collected surveys, 40 unanswered questionnaires were invalid and three with fewer than three answers were eliminated. The final number of valid questionnaires was 401. The response rate of effective questionnaires was 35.49%. The results show that organizational culture can indirectly affect innovation performance through knowledge sharing, indicating that there is a partial mediating effect. Structural capital can indirectly affect innovation performance through knowledge sharing, demonstrating a complete mediating effect. Relational capital can indirectly affect innovation performance through knowledge sharing, having a partial mediating effect. Human resource management practices did not have a confounding effect on innovation performance.

Abstract This study investigated the factors that affect the turnover intention of real estate agents by considering the impact of individual-level factors such as job stress, burnout, and salary level and team-level factors such as communication climate and organizational recognition. The parameters were evaluated using a hierarchical linear moderated mediation model. The survey subjects were real estate agents in Tainan City. A total of 870 questionnaires were distributed to 87 real estate agencies, and 615 questionnaires from 77 branches were collected. The questionnaires from four branches were excluded, as fewer than two questionnaires were collected, and an additional 57 questionnaires with missing responses were also excluded. A total of 558 questionnaires from 73 branches were included in the study. The overall response rate of questionnaires was 64.1%. The results indicated that the greater a real estate agent’s awareness of the communication climate, the higher the likelihood of the real estate agent receiving recognition from their organization, while a higher salary level indicated a lower level of turnover intention. A greater understanding of job stress indicated a higher risk of burnout. The communication climate had an impact on burnout and turnover intention, while organizational recognition mediated the impact of communication climate as it pertained to turnover intention. The results showed that the level of burnout mediated the impact of job stress and turnover intention.

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is an important cereal crop with rich nutritional value. Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability (DUS) are the prerequisites for the application of new variety rights for foxtail millet. In this study, we investigated 32 DUS test characteristics of 183 foxtail millet resources, studied their artificial selection trends, and identified the varieties that conform to breeding trends. The results indicated significant differences in terms of the means, ranges, and coefficients of variation for each characteristic. A correlation analysis was performed to determine the correlations between various DUS characteristics. A principal component analysis was conducted on 31 test characteristics to determine their primary characteristics. By plotting PC1 and PC2, all the germplasm resources could be clearly distinguished. The trends in foxtail millet breeding were identified through a differential analysis of the DUS test characteristics between the landrace and cultivated varieties. Based on these breeding trends, the optimal solution types for multiple evaluation indicators were determined; the weight allocation was calculated; and a specific TOPSIS algorithm was designed to establish a comprehensive multi-criteria decision-making model. Using this model, the breeding potential of foxtail millet germplasm resources were ranked. These findings provided important reference for foxtail millet breeding in the future.

Temperature can reflect vital activities, and researchers have attempted to guide Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment by observing acupoint temperature changes. Integrating a temperature sensor at the needle tip enables in situ acupoint temperature measurement. However, the sensor needles for acupoint temperature monitoring designed in previous studies were fabricated by manually soldering thermistor beads and metal wires, making mass production difficult. In this work, using MEMS manufacturing technology, a flexible temperature sensor that can be integrated at the needle tip is proposed and can be mass-produced on silicon wafers. The sensor uses a Pt thermistor as the temperature-sensing element and has a slender flexible structure with dimensions of 125 μm width by 3.2 cm length. As the sensor is inserted into a hollow needle, the Pt thermistor is glued to the needle tip. In the temperature range of 30 °C to 50 °C, the fabricated temperature sensor has a sensitivity of 5.00 Ω∙°C−1, a nonlinearity of ±0.39%FS, and a repeatability error of ±2.62%FS. Additionally, the sensor has been applied to in vivo acupoint temperature monitoring experiments in rats and demonstrated good performance, suggesting its promise for future research on acupoint temperature.

Although travelers are frequently accompanied by abdominal discomfort and even diarrhea, not every trip can cause this issue. Many studies have reported that intestinal microbes play an important role in it. However, little is known about the reason for the dynamics of these intestinal microbes. Here, we delved into the effects of short-term travel on the gut microbiota of 12 healthy individuals. A total of 72 fecal samples collected before and after one-week travel, alongside non-traveling controls, underwent amplicon sequencing and a series of bioinformatic analyses. We found that travel significantly increased intra-individual gut microbiota fluctuations without diarrhea symptoms. In addition, the initial composition of the gut microbiota before travel emerged as a crucial factor in understanding these fluctuations. Travelers with stable microbiota exhibited an enrichment of specific probiotic bacteria (Agathobaculum, Faecalibacterium, Bifidobacterium, Roseburia, Lactobacillus) before travel. Another batch of data validated their predictive role in distinguishing travelers with and without the gut microbial disorder. This work provided valuable insights into understanding the relationship between gut microbiota and travel. It offered a microbiota-centric perspective and a potential avenue for interventions to preserve gut health during travel.

This paper combines the knowledge related to the Knowledge Graph to store and manage the ideological knowledge in the schema layer in the form of an ontology repository. The Bootstrapping-based extraction method has been improved for entity relationship extraction at the data layer, and semantically constrained relationships have been added to reduce the problem of extraction bias. Civics education’s characteristic attributes are identified through attribute extraction using crowdsourcing. For the entity alignment problem in entity extraction, the relationship triad and attribute triad are jointly used for entity vector characterization, and the entity alignment model based on BERT and TransE is proposed. Finally, in the process of testing knowledge mapping, more than 70% of college students were satisfied, and the percentage of college students agreeing and strongly agreeing in the dimensions of knowledge construction were 68.81%, 77.92%, and 75.63%, respectively. In the six dimensions of positive psychological quality of college students who have used knowledge mapping, there is a significant increase in the data of the courage dimension from 3.4 to 4.14, and the other dimensions have also increased. The performance of the knowledge graph constructed in this paper for civic information education is outstanding.

As a safe and convenient type of products, umami-based seasoning has become an important technical support for high-quality and rapid development of catering and food industry. This article focus on umami substances and umami-based seasonings, introduces the umami substances including free amino acids, flavoring nucleotides, umami peptides and its ingredients, and expanding the interaction of taste compounds. The preparation of umami-based seasonings included physical, chemical, biological and combination methods. Besides, application of umami-based seasonings in food acceptance and nutritional value enhancement, recipe solution and prefabricated dishes formulation are summarized. Finally, the research areas of umami-based seasonings are also prospected, so as to provide reference for the research and development of safe, delicious, and healthy umami-based seasonings, to improve its value in food industry as well.

On the basis of discussing the status of fly ash-based paste filling technology, this paper further discusses the deterioration of downhole air environment caused by ammonia release in fly ash-based paste filling. By analyzing the mechanism of ammonia generation, it was found that NH4 HSO4 and (NH4)2SO4 adsorbed in fly ash are soluble in water and generate NH4+, which will be converted to NH3 and released under alkaline environment. It is studied that the existing methods for removing ammonia adsorbed in fly ash solids, such as alkali addition, oxidation and heating methods, can remove ammonia to an appropriate range and meet the normal use of fly ash. However, since the alkali addition method and the oxidation method need to add chemicals and the fly ash after deamination treatment needs to be heated and dried, the heating method has higher requirements on the heat source, and the high cost makes these methods can not be widely used in the deamination treatment of fly ash-based paste filling. The fly ash is made into slurry, and the basic theory of physical and chemical deamination in sewage is used for reference, and the technical measures to remove ammonia in slurry by stripping method, break-point chlorination method and magnesium ammonium phosphate method are proposed. Among them, the stripping method is stable and does not require additional chemicals, while the break-point chlorination method and magnesium ammonium phosphate method can theoretically remove ammonia from slurry completely, but the required dosage is large, and it is difficult to control the dosage, which affects the ammonia removal effect and the performance of fly ash. Through a comprehensive comparison of the technical characteristics of the above deamination methods, combined with the economic evaluation that the stripping method for treating fly ash slurry has good prospects for engineering applications. Subsequent studies can optimize the operating conditions for the removal of ammonia from fly ash slurry by the stripping method through experiments or simulations, with a view to obtaining better deamination results. In addition, the performance of the filled paste formulated from the deaminated fly ash slurry needs to be paid continuous attention.

Using α-cyano-4-hydroxy-cinnamic acid, a small molecule inhibitor of monocarboxylic acid transporters(MCTs), as the lead compound, a novel 18F-labeled α-cyano-4-hydroxy-cinnamic acid probe was designed and synthesized. The preliminary evaluation of stability and tumor PET/CT imaging were performed in this study. Taking α-cyano-4-(2-p-toluenesulfonyl-ethoxy)-methyl cinnamate as the precursor compound, the intermediate compound α-cyano-4-(2-［18F］-fluoroethoxy)-methyl cinnamate(［18F］4) was obtained by nucleophilic reaction with 18F-, which was separated and purified by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). α-cyano-4-(2-［18F］-fluoroethoxy)-cinnamic acid(［18F］FEtO-CHC, ［18F］5) can be obtained from the hydrolysis of ［18F］4 with 2 mol/L NaOH solution and the neutralization with 1 mol/L HCl solution. The results of cell proliferation inhibition assay show that compound ［19F］5 has better inhibitory activity than that of CHC. ［18F］FEtO-CHC shows good stability and biosafety from the in vitro and in vivo studies, and micro-PET/CT imaging in DU145 prostate cancer tumor-bearing mice shows that ［18F］5 has obvious radioactive accumulation at the tumor site. ［18F］FEtO-CHC has the advantages of simple synthesis process, good stability, high biological safety, and ability for tumor PET imaging. It is a potential PET agent for specific MCTs imaging.

Abstract Background Adolescent depression is becoming one of the major public health concerns, because of its increased prevalence and risk of significant functional impairment and suicidality. Clinical depression commonly emerges in adolescence; therefore, the prevention and intervention of depression at this stage is crucial. Recent evidence supports the importance of the gut microbiota (GM) in the modulation of multiple functions associated with depression through the gut-brain axis (GBA). However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to screen the microbiota out from healthy and depressive adolescents, delineate the association of the targeted microbiota and the adolescent depression, address the salutary effects of the targeted microbiota on anti-depressive behaviors in mice involving the metabolism of the tryptophan (Trp)-derived neurotransmitters along the GBA. Results Here, we found the gut microbiota from healthy adolescent volunteers, first diagnosis patients of adolescent depression, and sertraline interveners after first diagnosis displayed significant difference, the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, Collinsella, Blautia, Phascolarctobacterium, Lachnospiraceae-unclassified decreased in adolescent depressive patients, while restored after sertraline treatment. Of note, the Roseburia abundance exhibited a high efficiency in predicting adolescent depression. Intriguingly, transplantation of the fecal microbiota from healthy adolescent volunteers to the chronic restraint stress (CRS)-induced adolescent depressed mice significantly ameliorated mouse depressive behaviors, in which the Roseburia exerted critical roles, since its effective colonization in the mouse colon resulted in remarkably increased 5-HT level and reciprocally decreased kynurenine (Kyn) toxic metabolites quinolinic acid (Quin) and 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK) levels in both the mouse brain and colon. The specific roles of the Roseburia were further validated by the target bacteria transplantation mouse model, Roseburia intestinalis (Ri.) was gavaged to mice and importantly, it dramatically ameliorated CRS-induced mouse depressive behaviors, increased 5-HT levels in the brain and colon via promoting tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) or -1 (TPH1) expression. Reciprocally, Ri. markedly restrained the limit-step enzyme responsible for kynurenine (indoleamine2,3-dioxygenase 1, IDO1) and quinolinic acid (3-hydroxyanthranilic acid 3,4-dioxygenase, 3HAO) generation, thereby decreased Kyn and Quin levels. Additionally, Ri. administration exerted a pivotal role in the protection of CRS-induced synaptic loss, microglial activation, and astrocyte maintenance. Conclusions This study is the first to delineate the beneficial effects of Ri. on adolescent depression by balancing Trp-derived neurotransmitter metabolism and improving synaptogenesis and glial maintenance, which may yield novel insights into the microbial markers and therapeutic strategies of GBA in adolescent depression. Video Abstract

Highlights Responsive photonic nanorobots (RPNRs) simultaneously exhibit energetic magnetically-propelled swarming motions, bright stimuli-responsive structural colors, and photothermal conversion. The swarming RPNRs can actively navigate in complex environments and collectively map out local physicochemical conditions (e.g., pH, temperature, or glucose concentration) on the fly via their bright responsive structural colors. The swarming RPNRs can visualize an unknown target (e.g., tumor lesion) via motile-targeting mapping and then guide the external NIR light to initiate localized photothermal treatment.

Abstract Glycoside hydrolases (GHs), the enzymes that break glycosidic bonds, are ubiquitous in the ecosystem, where they perform a range of biological functions. As an interesting glycosidase family, Glycoside hydrolase family 97 (GH97) contains α-glucosidase, α-galactosidase, and glucoamylase. Only ten members of GH97 have been characterized so far. It is critical to explore novel members to elucidate the catalytic mechanism and application potential of GH97 family. In this study, a novel glucoamylase QsGH97a from Qipengyuania seohaensis SW-135 was cloned and expressed in E. coli. Sequence analysis and NMR results show that QsGH97a is classified into GH97a, and adopts inverting mechanism. The biochemical characterization indicates that QsGH97a shows the optimal activity at 50 °C and pH 8.0. Ca2+ has little effect on the catalytic activity; however, the activity can be substantially increased by 8–13 folds in the presence of Ba2+ or Sr2+. Additionally, the metal content of QsGH97a assay showed a high proportion of Sr2+. The specific metal activity was initially revealed in glucoamylases, which is not found in other members. These results imply that QsGH97a not only is a new member of GH97, but also has potential for industrial applications. Our study reveals that Ba2+ or Sr2+ may be involved in the catalytic mechanism of glucoamylase, laying the groundwork for a more complete knowledge of GH97 and its possible industrial application.

Abstract As the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) progresses, the relationship between microbes and human health has been receiving increasing attention. A growing number of reports support the correlation between cancer and microbes. However, most studies have focused on bacteria, rather than fungal communities. In this study, we studied the alteration in lung mycobiome in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using metagenomic sequencing and qPCR. The higher fungal diversity and more complex network were observed in the patients with NSCLC. In addition, Alternaria arborescens was found as the most relevant fungus to NSCLC, and the enrichment of it in cancerous tissue was also detected. This study proposes that the changes in fungal communities may be closely related to lung cancer, and provides insights into further exploration the relationship between lung cancer and fungi.

This study adopts the hierarchical linear growth modeling approach to analyze the differences in the changes of repeat-sales house prices in Kaohsiung City from 2012 to 2020. The Level 1 time-varying factors include house age and the time of repeat-sales; the Level 2 factors include house attributes such as house area, house type, and house location. Based on the results of the null model, the estimated variance is 0.42816, with a 1% level of significance. This shows that significant differences exist in the mean repeat-sales prices between houses. The interclass correlation coefficient is 91.65%, showing that the interclass variation and intraclass variation of the mean repeat-sales prices are 91.65% and 8.35%, respectively. The estimation results of the non-randomly varying slope model indicate that the sales time and sales time squared significantly affect repeat-sales prices. The annual growth rate and quadratic growth of sales prices do not differ by house type (luxury condominiums and apartment buildings) but are affected by house area and house location. The effect of house age on repeat-sales prices is moderated by house area, house type, and house location.

As the mechanism of paraquat (PQ) poisoning is still not fully elucidated, and no specific treatment has been developed in medical practice, the management of PQ poisoning continues to present a medical challenge. In this study, the objective was to investigate the early metabolic changes in serum metabolism and identify the key metabolic pathways involved in patients with PQ poisoning. Quantitative analysis was conducted to determine the relevant metabolites. Additionally, experiments were carried out in both plasma and cell to elucidate the mechanisms underlying metabolic disorder and cell death in PQ poisoning. The study found that polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and their metabolites, such as arachidonic acid (AA) and hydroxy eicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), were significantly increased by non-enzymatic oxidative reaction. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production increased rapidly at 2 h after PQ poisoning, followed by an increase in PUFAs at 12 h, and intracellular glutathione, cysteine (Cys), and Fe2+ at 24 h. However, at 36 h later, intracellular glutathione and Cys decreased, HETEs increased, and the expression of SLC7A11 and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) decreased. Ultrastructural examination revealed the absence of mitochondrial cristae. Deferoxamine was found to alleviate lipid oxidation, and increase the viability of PQ toxic cells in the low dose. In conclusion, unsaturated fatty acids metabolism was the key metabolic pathways in PQ poisoning. PQ caused cell death through the induction of ferroptosis. Inhibition of ferroptosis could be a novel strategy for the treatment of PQ poisoning.

Abstract Swarming magnetic micro/nanorobots hold great promise for biomedical applications, but at present suffer from inferior capabilities to perceive and respond to chemical signals in local microenvironments. Here we demonstrate swarming magnetic photonic‐crystal microrobots (PC‐bots) capable of spontaneously performing on‐the‐fly visual pH detection and self‐regulated drug delivery by perceiving local pH changes. The magnetic PC‐bots consist of pH‐responsive hydrogel microspheres with encapsulated one‐dimensional periodic assemblies of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. By programming external rotating magnetic fields, they can self‐organize into large swarms with much‐enhanced collective velocity to actively find targets while shining bright “blinking” structural colors. When approaching the target with abnormal pH conditions (e.g., an ulcerated superficial tumor lesion), the PC‐bots can visualize local pH changes on the fly via pH‐responsive structural colors, and realize self‐regulated release of the loaded drugs by recognizing local pH. This work facilitates the development of intelligent micro/nanorobots for active “motile‐targeting” tumor diagnosis and treatment.

Dysbiosis of the female reproductive tract is closely associated with gynecologic diseases. Here, we aim to explore the association between dysbiosis in the genital tract and uterine fibroids (UFs) to further provide new insights into UF etiology. We present an observational study to profile vaginal and cervical microbiome from 29 women with UFs and 38 healthy women, and 125 samples were obtained and sequenced. By comparing the microbial profiles between different parts of the reproductive tract, there is no significant difference in microbial diversity between healthy subjects and UF patients. However, alpha diversity of UF patients was negatively correlated with the number of fibroids. Increased Firmicutes were observed in both the cervical and vaginal microbiome of UF patients at the phylum level. In differential analysis of relative abundance, some genera were shown to be significantly enriched (e.g., Erysipelatoclostridium, Mucispirillum, and Finegoldia) and depleted (e.g., Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-003 and Sporolactobacillus) in UF patients. Furthermore, the microbial co-occurrence networks of UF patients showed lower connectivity and complexity, suggesting reduced interactions and stability of the cervical and vaginal microbiota in UF patients. In summary, our findings revealed the perturbation of microbiome in the presence of UFs and a distinct pattern of characteristic vaginal and cervical microbiome involved in UFs, offering new options to further improve prevention and management strategies.

Muscle spindles sense muscle tension to coordinate body movement. This paper reveals a mechanism of spindle formation and maintenance and to better understanding changes in movement in muscle disorders and ageing.

In this work, multi-function vehicle bus (MVB) controller-based Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and MVB manager based on the real-time multitasking operating system were explored and developed. The function of the MVB controller data link layer was realised by using FPGA. The embedded real-time multitasking operating system uCOS-II was applied to the development of MVB manager’s processing data, device state management, message data and bus management function. The network consistency test was performed to validate data communication of MVB link layer control protocol and the management function of MVB manager; the equipment was shown to be compatible with each other and met the requirements of IEC61375-1.

Abstract The association between gut microbiome and chronic metabolic disease including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is well documented, however, the relationship between the gut microbiota and serum metabolites remains unknown. In this study, untargeted metabolomics together with a 16S rRNA gene sequencing tool was used to detect small molecule serum metabolites and the gut microbiome. We identified 15 differential metabolites between PCOS patients and the healthy control. Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) (18:2, 20:3, 18:1, P-16:0, 17:0, 15:0, 18:3, 20:4), phosphatidylcholine(PC), ganglioside GA2 (d18:1/16:0) and 1-linoleoylglycerophosphocholine were increased in the PCOS group, and the concentrations of phosphoniodidous acid, bilirubin, nicotinate beta-d-ribonucleotide and citric acid were decreased in the PCOS group, suggesting a lipid metabolism and energy metabolism disorder in the PCOS patients. The diversity of gut microbiota in PCOS group was lower than that in healthy controls. Escherichia/Shigella, Alistipes and an unnamed strain 0319_6G20 belonging to Proteobacteria were important distinguishing genera (LDA > 3.5) in PCOS. Prevotella_9 was positively correlated with phosphoniodidous acid, nicotinate beta-d-ribonucleotide and citric acid concentrations, and negatively correlated with the concentration of LPC (20:3) and 1-linoleoylglycerophosphocholine; Roseburia was negatively correlated with LPC concentration (20:4), while the characteristic genus 0319_6G20 of PCOS was positively correlated with LPC concentration (20:3) (COR > 0.45). SF-36 in the PCOS group was significantly lower than that in the healthy control (HC) group, which was associated with the presence of Escherichia-Shigella and Alistipes. Our finding demonstrated the correlation between the gut microbiota and serum metabolites in PCOS, and therefore characteristic gut microbiota and metabolites may play an important role in the insulin resistance and the mood changes of PCOS patients.

The transport of eDNA is one of the key environmental behaviors for its spreading and dispersal. Microplastics (MPs) are widely present in the soil environment and directly affect the environmental behavior of co-coexisting soil pollutants. However, the effect of MPs on eDNA transport and its mechanism remain unclear. In this study, we systematically investigated the effect of MPs types and functional groups on eDNA transport. The results showed that different kinds of MPs promoted eDNA transport, but there was no significant difference between these two MPs types. MPs with two different functional groups inhibited eDNA transport, and the transport rate of eDNA decreased by 8.9% and 7.0%, respectively. PSNH2 inhibited eDNA transport by reducing electrostatic repulsion, enhancing electrostatic adsorption, and reducing porosity of porous media, enhancing the interaction between eDNA and MPs. In the presence of kaolin, the inhibition effect of MPs on eDNA transport increased with the proportion of kaolin increased. The positive charge of kaolin enhanced the electrostatic adsorption between MPs and eDNA, and inhibited the transport of eDNA. This study revealed the transport rule of eDNA in the presence of MPs, and provided a theoretical basis for a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and ecological risks of coexistence of MPs and eDNA.

This study utilized the hierarchical linear model and trust as a mediator; designated leader emotional intelligence as a team-level dimension; and designated transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and trust in supervisor as individual-level dimensions. An analysis was performed to explore the relationships between these individual- and team-level variables and the job performance of real estate brokers, as well as the potential role of trust-oriented leadership as a mediator for the relationships between leader emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership and individual job performance. The empirical results revealed that leader emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership had direct, significant, and positive relationships with individual job performance. Furthermore, it was also discovered that, with trust in supervisor serving as a mediator, these three variables also had indirect, significant, and positive relationships with employee job performance.

As an important metabolic enzyme in methylotrophs, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases play significant roles in the global carbon and nitrogen cycles. In this article, a calcium (Ca2+)-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase PedE_M.s., derived from the methylotroph Methylopila sp. M107 was inserted into the modified vector pCM80 and heterologously expressed in the host Methylorubrum extorquens AM1. Based on sequence analysis, PedE_M.s., a PQQ-dependent dehydrogenase belonging to a methanol/ethanol family, was successfully extracted and purified. Showing by biochemical results, its enzymatic activity was detected as 0.72 U/mg while the Km value was 0.028 mM while employing ethanol as optimal substrate. The activity of PedE_M.s. could be enhanced by the presence of potassium (K+) and calcium (Ca2+), while acetonitrile and certain common detergents have been found to decrease the activity of PedE_M.s.. In addition, its optimum temperature and pH were 30°C and pH 9.0, respectively. Chiefly, as a type of Ca2+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase, PedE_M.s. maintained 60–80% activity in the presence of 10 mM lanthanides and displayed high affinity for ethanol compared to other PedE-type enzymes. The 3D structure of PedE_M.s. was predicted by AlphaFold, and it had an 8-bladed propeller-like super-barrel. Meanwhile, we could speculate that PedE_M.s. contained the conserved residues Glu213, Asn300, and Asp350 through multiple sequence alignment by Clustal and ESpript. The analysis of enzymatic properties of PedE_M.s. enriches our knowledge of the methanol/ethanol family PQQ-dependent dehydrogenase. This study provides new ideas to broaden the application of alcohol dehydrogenase in alcohol concentration calculation, biosensor preparation, and other industries.

In order to optimize the spatial position of each component of the steel plant bundled bar labeling robot system and improve its work efficiency, the motion of the industrial robot in the system is analyzed, the robot kinematics model is established by the D-H parameter method, the analytical solution of the inverse kinematics of the robot is solved by the separated variable method, and the spatial coordinates of the industrial robot and the label printer are taken as the design variables. Taking the shortest total stroke of the robot labeling process as the optimization goal of the placement position of the industrial robot and label printer, an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is used for optimization calculation to obtain the optimal spatial position of the industrial robot and label printer, which improves the work efficiency of the labeling robot system, and has guiding significance for the practical application of the system.

Schistosoma japonicum causes serious pathological organ damage and alteration of the intestinal microbiome in the mammalian host, threatening the health of millions of people in China. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens has been reported to be able to alleviate the damage to the gut and liver and maintain the homeostasis of the intestinal microenvironment. However, it was unclear whether B. amyloliquefaciens could alleviate the hepatic and intestinal symptoms caused by S. japonicum. In this study, the intragastric administration of B. amyloliquefaciens was performed to treat S. japonicum-infected mice during the acute phase. Histopathological analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing were used to evaluate the pathological damage and changes in the intestinal microbiome. The results of the study showed that B. amyloliquefaciens treatment significantly reduced the degree of granuloma and fibrosis in infected mice. Additionally, recovery of diversity in the intestinal microbiome, decrease in the relative abundance of potential pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia–Shigella, and reshaping of the interactive network between genera in the intestine were also observed after treatment with B. amyloliquefaciens. Our findings indicated that treatment with B. amyloliquefaciens effectively alleviated the pathological injuries of the liver and intestine in mice infected with S. japonicum by modulating the intestinal microbiome, implying that this probiotic can function as an effective therapeutic agent against schistosomiasis. We hope our study will provide auxiliary strategies and methods for the early prevention of schistosomiasis japonica.

The success rate of azomethane-dextran sodium sulfate (AOM-DSS) model in mice has been a long-standing problem. Treatment of AOM and the first round DSS induces acute colitis and is of great significance for the success of AOM-DSS model. In this study, we focused on the role of gut microbiota in the early stage of AOM-DSS model. Few mice with obvious weight loss and high disease-activity score survived from double strike of AOM and the first round DSS. Different ecological dynamics of gut microbiota were observed in AOM-DSS treated mice. Pseudescherichia, Turicibacter, and Clostridium_XVIII were of significance in the model, uncontrolled proliferation of which accompanied with rapid deterioration and death of mice. Akkermansia and Ruthenibacterium were significantly enriched in the alive AOM-DSS treated mice. Decrease of Ligilactobacillus, Lactobacillus, and Limosilactobacillus were observed in AOM-DSS model, but significant drop of these genera could be lethal. Millionella was the only hub genus of gut microbiota network in dead mice, which indicated dysbiosis of the intestinal flora and fragility of microbial network. Our results will provide a better understanding for the role of gut microbiota in the early stage of AOM-DSS model and help improve the success rate of model construction.

Gut microecosystem has been shown to play an important role in human health. In recent years, the concept of the gut-kidney axis has been proposed to explain the potential association between gut microbiota and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here, a cohort of fecal samples collected from patients with CKD (n = 13) were involved. The composition of gut microbial communities and clinical features in CKD and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) were characterized. Our study focused on the changes in gut microbiome and the correlation with clinical features in patients with CKD and ESRD by analyzing high-throughput sequencing results of collected feces. We elucidated the alterations of gut microbiota in CKD patients at different stages of disease and initially identified the gut microbiota associated with CKD progression. We also combined correlation analysis to identify clinical features closely related to the gut microbiome. Our results offered the possibility of using non-invasive gut microbiome in the early diagnosis of course from CKD to ESRD and provide new insights into the association between clinical features and gut microbiota in CKD.

Gastric microbiome has been shown to contribute to gastric carcinogenesis, understanding how alterations in gastric microbiome is helpful to the prevention and treatment of gastric cancer (GC). However, few studies have focused on the change of microbiome during the gastric carcinogenesis. In this study, the microbiome of gastric juice samples from healthy control (HC), gastric precancerous lesions (GPL) and gastric cancer (GC) was investigated by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Our results showed that the alpha diversity of patients with GC was significantly lower than other groups. Compared to other groups, some genera in GC group were shown to be up-regulated (e.g., Lautropia and Lactobacillus) and down-regulated (e.g., Peptostreptococcus and Parvimonas). More importantly, the emergence of Lactobacillus was closely related to the occurrence and development of GC. Moreover, the microbial interactions and networks in GPL exhibited higher connectivity, complexity and lower clustering property, while GC showed the opposite trend. Taken together, we suggest that changes in the gastric microbiome are associated with GC and perform a key function in maintaining the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, our findings will provide new ideas and references for the treatment of GC.

In Taiwan, many housing transactions are special relationship-based transactions that involve family and friends, debt relations, urgent purchases and sales, and government agencies. As such, the prices in such transactions should differ from those in what we consider to be normal arm’s length transactions. In this regard, social capital theory can be used to analyze these transactions. The empirical data on housing transactions conducted in Taipei City from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2018 were collected for this study. The empirical results showed that the prices in transactions involving debt relations and urgent purchases and sales were 22.6% lower than those in normal arm’s length transactions. The prices in transactions with government agencies were 48.9% lower than those in normal arm’s length transactions. The prices in transactions with first-degree, second-degree, and third-degree relatives were respectively, 57.3%, 53.1%, and 50.3% lower than those in normal arm’s length transactions. The prices in transactions involving friends were 28.0% lower than those in normal arm’s length transactions. The empirical results highlight the importance of the impacts of personal relationships or social relations on housing prices in special relationship-based transactions. The results also supported the social capital hypothesis.

As a subclass of the biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) class II, basic drugs (BCS IIB) exhibit pH-dependent solubility and tend to generate supersaturation in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to less qualified in vitro–in vivo correlation (IVIVC). This study aims to develop a physiologically based multi-cup dissolution approach to improve the evaluation of the supersaturation for a higher quality of IVIVC and preliminarily explores the molecular mechanism of supersaturation and precipitation of ketoconazole affected by Polyvinylpyrrolidone–vinyl acetate copolymer (PVPVA) and hydroxypropyl methyl-cellulose (HPMC). The concentration of ketoconazole in each cup of the dynamic gastrointestinal model (DGIM) was measured using fiber optical probes. Molecular interactions between ketoconazole and PVPVA or HPMC were simulated by Materials Studio. The results demonstrated that PVPVA and HPMC improved and maintained the supersaturation of ketoconazole. PVPVA exhibited superior precipitation inhibitory effect on ketoconazole molecule aggregation due to slightly stronger van der Waals forces as well as unique electrostatic forces, thereby further enhancing in vitro drug absorption, which correlated well with in vivo drug absorption. Compared with a conventional dissolution apparatus paddle method, the DGIM improved the mean prediction error through the IVIVC from 19.30% to 9.96%, reaching the qualification criteria. In conclusion, the physiologically based multi-cup dissolution approach enables improved evaluation of supersaturation in gastrointestinal transportation of BCS IIB drug ketoconazole, enabling screening screen precipitation inhibitors and achieving qualified IVIVC for drug formulation studies.

Existing quorum sensing (QS) circuits are less sophisticated for regulating multiple sets of genes or operons. Here, the authors redesign the luxR-luxI intergenic sequence of the lux-type QS system and apply it to achieve diverse metabolic control in salicylic acid and 4-hydroxycoumarin biosynthesis in E. coli.

Recent object detectors have achieved excellent performance in accuracy and speed. Even with such impressive results, the most advanced detectors are challenging in dense scenes. In this article, we analyze and find the reasons for the decrease in detection accuracy in dense scenes. We started our work in terms of region proposal and location loss. We found that low-quality proposal regions during the training process are the main factors affecting detection accuracy. To prove our research, we established and trained a dense detection model based on Cascade R-CNN. The model achieves an accuracy of mAP 0.413 on the SKU-110K sub-dataset. Our results show that improving the quality of recommended regions can effectively improve the detection accuracy in dense scenes.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of white blood cell (WBC) count on fetal fraction (FF), which is an essential quality control for obtaining reliable results, and on the rate of screen failures in noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS).MethodsNoninvasive prenatal screening, serum lipid and liver enzyme level measurements, and WBC count were performed for 4,281 pregnancies with male fetuses. After adjusting for confounders, including the maternal characteristics and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, the effect of WBC count on FF and test failure rate was measured by linear and logistic regression analyses.ResultsFetal fraction was negatively associated with BMI, ALT, IVF conceptions, and WBC count and positively correlated with gestational age in the multivariate linear regression model. Moreover, WBC count was the most important factor affecting FF after BMI according to the standardization coefficient analysis. In the 4,281 pregnancy samples with male fetuses, FF decreased with WBC count from 11.45% at ≤8 to 9.02% at >12, and FF markedly decreased to 7.40% in pregnancies with a higher WBC count (>12) and higher BMI (≥25 kg/m2). Meanwhile, the test failure rates were significantly higher in the WBC count > 12 group (4.29%) than in the WBC count ≤ 8 group (0.89%). Notably, when the BMI of pregnancies with a WBC count of >12 was >25, the rate reached 7.53%. Subsequently, multivariate logistic regression analysis further confirmed that an increased BMI and WBC count were independently and significantly associated with the test failure rates.ConclusionAn increased WBC count was associated with lower FF and higher test failure rates, suggesting that these important factors should be carefully considered during genetic counseling in pregnant women who decide to undergo blood collection or resampling.

Excessive intake of protein has been considered as a factor leading to intestinal microecological disorder, but why and how intestinal microbes change under the high-protein diet (HPD) have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequencing on contents of cecum, colon and feces from two groups of mice with standard diet (SD) and HPD. And then the microbial alteration of composition and function were deeply analyzed by using several statistical models and bioinformatic methods. Among the three niches, the microbes in the colon are observed to show the most significant change with lower alpha-diversity and higher beta-diversity after HPD. In addition, this alteration of microbial structure may be related to the replacement process and co-occurring community. Most species are also enriched or impoverished in the colon during this process. After analyzing the functional genes related to protein and carbohydrate hydrolysis in different niches, we found that the carbon source provided by poor carbohydrates compared with the rich protein may be the potential factor driving the enrichment of mucin degraders and desulphaters in the colon under HPD. Therefore, our study provided a new insight to understand the underlying mechanism of HPD affecting intestinal health from the perspective of microbial functional ecology.

NaMnPO4 and NaFePO4, polyanion cathode materials, exist in two different phases maricite/natrophilite and maricite/olivine, respectively. Both natrophilite NaMnPO4 and olivine NaFePO4 are electrochemically active and possess a one-dimensional tunnel for sodium-ion migration; however, these two phases are thermodynamically unstable. Therefore, they can be synthesized through an electrochemical route. On the contrary, maricite (m)-NaMnPO4 and maricite (m)-NaFePO4 are thermodynamically stable forms but have a huge activation energy of their diffusion pathways for sodium extraction and insertion in the crystal structure, which hinders electrochemical reactions. Therefore, the electrochemical behaviour of commercial m-NaMnPO4 and m-NaFePO4 has been studied to find a way for enabling them electrochemically. Ball milling and thermal/mechanical carbon coating are employed to reduce the particle size to enhance the electrochemical performance and shorten the diffusion pathway. Moreover, ball milling leads to defects and partial phase transformation. The electrochemical performance of milled-coated NaMnPO4 and NaFePO4 has been thoroughly investigated and compared. The phase transition of NaFePO4 is revealed by a differential scanning calorimeter. As a result, the achievable capacities of both cathode materials are significantly enhanced up to ∼50 mAh.g−1 via the particle size reduction as well as by carbon coating. However, the side reactions and agglomeration problems in such materials need to be minimized and must be considered to enable them for applications.

BackgroundChronic pain (CP) patients tend to represent aberrant functional brain activity. Acupuncture is an effective clinical treatment for CP, and some fMRI studies were conducted to discover the alternation of brain regions after acupuncture therapy for CP. However, the heterogeneity of neuroimaging studies has prevented researchers from systematically generalizing the central mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of CP.MethodsWe searched bibliographic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, ScienceDirect, China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database, etc., and trials registration platforms (From inception to September 1st, 2022). Two independent researchers assessed the study's bias and quality. Furthermore, activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis was applied to explore aberrant brain functional activity and acupuncture's central mechanism for CP.ResultsTotally 14 studies with 524 CP patients were included in the study. ALE analysis showed that CP patients presented with decreased ALFF/ReHo in the precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, right inferior parietal lobule, right superior temporal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus including medial prefrontal gurus, left middle frontal gyrus.ConclusionThis ALE meta-analysis pointed out that acupuncture could modulate the default mode network, the frontoparietal network to treat CP. This provided a systematic summary of the neuroimage biomarker of acupuncture for the treatment of CP.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO, identifier: CRD42021239633.

This study explored the impacts of urban renewal projects on neighboring housing prices. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was employed to analyze urban renewal projects in Taipei City. The Level 1 independent variables pertained to a house itself (19,157 pieces of data), such as its structure and neighborhood attributes. The Level 2 variable pertained to an urban renewal project (23 cases of urban renewal), and the explanatory variable was the scale of each urban renewal project. The study examined whether differences exist between the impacts of various urban renewal projects on neighboring housing prices, and analyzed the extent to which the differences in neighboring housing prices are caused by the differences between urban renewal projects. The empirical results showed that the mean housing price varies significantly between each urban renewal project. In regard to the variance in the mean house price, 31.46% was caused by the differences between the urban renewal projects. The estimated coefficient of the grand floor area of urban renewal (FLAREA) had a positive value and attained a 1% level of significance. This indicates that the larger the scale of an urban renewal project, the larger its effects on neighboring housing prices. The empirical results of this study could better explain the impacts of the scale of an urban renewal project on the externalities of urban renewal. First published online 17 January 2022

Dietary habits have been proven to help alter the composition of gut microbiota, and exploring the impact of nutritional patterns on gut microbiota changes can help protect gut health. However, few studies have focused on the dietary impact on the gut microbiota over an experimental timeframe. In this study, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was employed to investigate the gut microbiota of mice under different dietary patterns, including AIN-93G diet (Control), high protein diet (HPD), high fiber diet (HFD), and switch diet (Switch). The alpha diversity of the HPD group significantly decreased, but HFD can restore this decline. During HPD, some genera were significantly upregulated (e.g., Feacalibaculum) and downregulated (e.g., Parabacteroides). However, after receiving HFD, other genera were upregulated (e.g., Akkermansia) and downregulated (e.g., Lactobacillus). In addition, the interaction between pathogenic bacteria was more pronounced during HPD, while the main effect was probiotics during HFD. In conclusion, the plasticity exhibited by the gut microbiota was subject to dietary influences, wherein disparate dietary regimens hold pivotal significance in upholding the well-being of the host. Therefore, our findings provide new ideas and references for the relationship between diets and gut microbiota.