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Background: With Primary Health Care (PHC) being a cornerstone of accessible, affordable, and effective healthcare worldwide, its efficiency, especially in developing countries like China, is crucial for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This study evaluates the efficiency of PHC systems in a southwest China municipality post-healthcare reform, identifying factors influencing efficiency and proposing strategies for improvement. Methods: Utilising a 10-year provincial panel dataset, this study employs an enhanced Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model integrating Slack-Based Measure (SBM) and Directional Distance Function (DDF) with the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index for efficiency evaluation. Tobit regression analysis identifies efficiency determinants within the context of China's healthcare reforms, focusing on horizontal integration, fiscal spending, urbanisation rates, and workforce optimisation. Results: The study reveals a slight decline in PHC system efficiency across the municipality from 2009 to 2018. However, the highest-performing county achieved a 2.36% increase in Total Factor Productivity (TFP), demonstrating the potential of horizontal integration reforms and strategic fiscal investments in enhancing PHC efficiency. However, an increase in nurse density per 1,000 population negatively correlated with efficiency, indicating the need for a balanced approach to workforce expansion. Conclusions: Horizontal integration reforms, along with targeted fiscal inputs and urbanisation, are key to improving PHC efficiency in underdeveloped regions. The study underscores the importance of optimising workforce allocation and skillsets over mere expansion, providing valuable insights for policymakers aiming to strengthen PHC systems toward achieving UHC in China and similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive radiative cooling is a zero‐energy technology vital for mitigating the energy crisis. However, achieving intelligent thermal management across varying weather conditions (day/night and summer/winter) while maintaining sustainability is a significant challenge. Here, a recyclable biomass film engineered for adaptive, year‐round energy conservation is introduced. This film utilizes porous acetyl cellulose (AC) as a cooling‐side matrix, enabling efficient radiative cooling during hot days (8.5 °C reduction) and minimizing overcooling on cold nights (only 2.5 °C reduction). This performance is facilitated by high solar reflectance (96.3%) and broad‐spectrum infrared emission (95.4%), optimizing atmospheric thermal regulation. The reverse side, coated with carbon black (CB), demonstrates superior solar heating (20.9 °C increase), allowing for effortless switching between cooling and heating by flipping the film. Further, the film employs a solvent‐responsive ethyl cellulose (EC) adhesion, ensuring durability, complete recycling, and reuse. With ultraviolet (UV) resistance, self‐cleaning, and durability, coupled with intelligent thermal management, this work provides new ideas for advanced radiative heat management materials, enabling adaptive control during both daytime/nighttime and summer/winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idesia polycarpa, belonging to the Flacourtiaceae family, is a tall deciduous tree, widely distributed in some Asian countries. It is famous for its high yield of fruit known as oil grape, which is rich of linoleic acid and linolenic acid, and so on. To provide evidences for its safe use as food, subchronic toxicity of I. polycarpa fruit oil and no observed adverse effect level were performed in male and female specific pathogen-free Wistar rats. Based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines, the oil was orally administered to rats by gavage at 0, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0mL/kg.bw/day for 90 days, followed by a 28-day recovery period. The results showed that no sign of oil-related toxicity, clinically or histologically, was observed in both male and female rats. Although there was a slight increase or decrease in some indicators such as hematology, serum chemistry, and so on, those changes were all within the normal ranges, and as presented in the 90-day study, the oil exhibited no toxic effect compared to the control rats. I. polycarpa might be a potential excellent and healthy vegetable oil resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of global climate change, crop leaves usually experience fluctuating light (FL) under compound stresses of drought and heat in the field. However, photoinhibition and photosynthetic regulation in FL under these compound stresses are little known. To elucidate this, we measured gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, P700 redox state and electrochromic shift signals for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) leaves exposed to FL under individual and compound stresses of moderate drought and heat stresses. After treatment with short‐term FL, photosystem I (PSI) activity decreased slightly in all treatments. By comparison, photosystem II (PSII) activity was reduced slightly under individual stress but largely decreased by 46% under compound stresses. Therefore, PSI is more tolerant than PSII when exposed to FL under compound stresses of drought and heat. Under compound stresses, PSII photoinhibition largely downregulated linear electron flow and photorespiration became a major electron sink downstream. Concomitantly, cyclic electron flow (CEF) was highly enhanced to help the building up of trans‐thylakoid proton gradient. This study highlights the importance of PSII activity and CEF in crop tolerance under future compound climate extremes such as drought and heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adaptive significance of phenotypic differences between females and males can provide insights into sex‐specific selection and the evolution of sexual dimorphism. Dioecious plants commonly exhibit sexual dimorphism in height, although its ecological and evolutionary significance have rarely been examined experimentally. Here, we investigate the functional consequences of the temporal reversal of height dimorphism for pollen and seed dispersal in dioecious Rumex hastatulus Baldw., a species in which males are taller than females at flowering and the reverse pattern occurs at fruiting. Populations of this colonizing weed are wind‐pollinated and seeds are wind‐dispersed. In a glasshouse experiment we manipulated the height of pollen donors and using sex‐specific genetic markers compared the paternal success of males of contrasting height and investigated whether seed families showed evidence of sexual dimorphism in early life‐history traits. In a second glasshouse experiment using fruiting plants we also examined how female height influenced the distance that seeds were dispersed. We found that taller males had significantly higher siring success than males of equivalent height to flowering females. Similarly, taller females dispersed fruit to greater distances than shorter females. Female seeds were significantly heavier than male seeds and germinated more rapidly, although early seedling growth was greater in males. Our study suggests that the striking sex reversal of height in R. hastatulus likely functions to optimize the contrasting reproductive functions of the sexes by promoting increased pollen and seed dispersal distances. Improved dispersal quality could limit inbreeding and reduce local mate and resource competition within populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Evolutionary transitions from outcrossing to selfing in flowering plants have convergent morphological and genomic signatures and can involve parallel evolution within related lineages. Adaptive evolution of morphological traits is often assumed to evolve faster than nonadaptive features of the genomic selfing syndrome.We investigated phenotypic and genomic changes associated with transitions from distyly to homostyly in the Primula oreodoxa complex. We determined whether the transition to selfing occurred more than once and investigated stages in the evolution of morphological and genomic selfing syndromes using 22 floral traits and both nuclear and plastid genomic data from 25 populations.Two independent transitions were detected representing an earlier and a more recently derived selfing lineage. The older lineage exhibited classic features of the morphological and genomic selfing syndrome. Although features of both selfing syndromes were less developed in the younger selfing lineage, they exhibited parallel development with the older selfing lineage. This finding contrasts with the prediction that some genomic changes should lag behind adaptive changes to morphological traits.Our findings highlight the value of comparative studies on the timing and extent of transitions from outcrossing to selfing between related lineages for investigating the tempo of morphological and molecular evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought and heat stresses usually occur concomitantly in nature, with increasing frequency and intensity of both stresses expected due to climate change. The synergistic agricultural impacts of these compound climate extremes are much greater than those of the individual stresses. However, the mechanisms by which drought and heat stresses separately and concomitantly affect dynamic photosynthesis have not been thoroughly assessed. To elucidate this, we used tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) seedlings to measure dynamic photosynthesis under individual and compound stresses of drought and heat. Individual drought and heat stresses limited dynamic photosynthesis at the stages of diffusional conductance to CO2 and biochemistry, respectively. However, the primary limiting factor for photosynthesis shifted to mesophyll conductance under the compound stresses. Compared with the control, photosynthetic carbon gain in fluctuating light decreased by 38%, 73%, and 114% under the individual drought, heat, and compound stresses, respectively. Therefore, compound stresses caused a greater reduction in photosynthetic carbon gain in fluctuating light conditions than individual stress. These findings highlight the importance of mitigating the effects of compound climate extremes on crop productivity by targeting mesophyll conductance and improving dynamic photosynthesis. Compound stresses of drought and heat inhibit photosynthesis through restricting mesophyll conductance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a SAR image acquired by the ERS-2 satellite, crossed "X-shape" internal solitary waves (ISWs) south to Dongsha Island are found to be a wave–wave interaction composed of five solitons: two head waves, two tail waves, and the overlapped part. To explain this remote sensing phenomenon, based on a high-resolution three-dimensional MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) using realistic topography and tidal forcing, the "X-shape" internal waves are reproduced at the same location. The development processes of the waves indicate that the "X-shape" ISWs are two waves diffracted from one internal wave southeast to Dongsha Island. During the propagation, the amplitude of their overlapped part of the "X-shape" ISWs becomes significantly larger than the sum of the amplitudes of both head waves, which proves that nonlinear wave–wave interaction has occurred. Based on wave–wave interaction theory, the theoretical maximum value of the amplitude of the overlapped part at the initial moment is calculated as 14.12 m, which is in good agreement with the model results of 14 m. Meanwhile, the variation of the theoretical amplitude of the overlapped part is basically consistent with that of the modeled one, confirming the occurrence of the wave–wave interaction. Besides, when the waves propagate over varying water depths, the type of the wave–wave interaction can change rather than being fixed from the start. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the construction and properties of a new type of metallacage that exhibits fluorescence response to anions. The authors discuss the contributions of scientists in the field of supramolecular metalloarchitectures and detail the synthesis of the metallacage using a ligand decorated with fluorescent motifs. The metallacage demonstrates strong responses to specific anions, resulting in rapid fluorescence enhancement. The article concludes by suggesting that this functionalized cage could serve as a basis for the development of innovative smart fluorescence-responsive materials. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Poor sleep quality will have adverse effects on physical and mental health, quality of life and other aspects of middle-aged and older adults. Sleep quality is affected by many factors. Whether the sleep quality measures of the participants had changed in the previous or subsequent time period is not easily taken into account. Moreover, there have been no studies on this topic in Chinese middle-aged and older adults. The objective of this study was to mitigate the bias of sleep quality assessment, and analyze the association between personality traits and sleep quality in Chinese middle-aged and older adults. Methods: The data came from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). A total of 6031 participants aged ≥ 45 years were included in this study. Personality characteristics were evaluated based on the scores of each dimension of Big Five personality traits. Sleep duration and sleep perception were used as indicators to measure sleep quality. Logistic models were used to analyze the relationship between personality traits and sleep duration or sleep perception, respectively. Results: 4.5% of the participants had abnormal sleep duration, and 14.4% had a pessimistic sleep perception. Conscientiousness was rated the highest among the personality traits (3.97 ± 0.6). Participants with higher scores for extraversion personality traits had more normal sleep duration (OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.64–0.93) and more optimistic sleep perception (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.76–0.96). Using the Internet and feeling unwell in the past week have a moderating effect on the impact of conscientiousness personality characteristics on sleep duration or sleep perception, respectively (but not overall sleep quality). In addition, participants with a spouse or no recent physical discomfort tended to have a normal sleep duration and a more optimistic sleep perception. Conclusions: The higher the score of extraversion personality traits, the better the overall sleep quality of middle-aged and older adults. Having a spouse and feeling unwell were the important factors affecting their sleep quality. Specific personality traits intervention should be carried out for middle-aged and older adults with poor sleep quality to make their personality traits are closer to extraversion. In addition, middle-aged and older adults without spouses should be encouraged to marry or remarry. We will strengthen health management and medical expenditures for middle-aged and older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) system tends to operate in small-area static environments, and its performance might degrade when moving objects appear in a highly dynamic environment. To address this issue, this paper proposes a dynamic object-aware visual SLAM algorithm specifically designed for dynamic indoor environments. The proposed method leverages a semantic segmentation architecture called U-Net, which is utilized in the tracking thread to detect potentially moving targets. The resulting output of semantic segmentation is tightly coupled with the geometric information extracted from the corresponding SLAM system, thus associating the feature points captured by images with the potentially moving targets. Finally, filtering out the moving feature points can greatly enhance localization accuracy in dynamic indoor environments. Quantitative and qualitative experiments were carried out on both the Technical University of Munich (TUM) public dataset and the real scenario dataset to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method. Results demonstrate that the semantics-guided approach significantly outperforms the ORB SLAM2 framework in dynamic indoor environments, which is crucial for improving the robustness and reliability of the SLAM system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Liberal transfusion can shorten the duration of respiratory support. • There was no difference in restrictive or liberal RBCs transfusion on preterm survival. To investigate the influence of restrictive and liberal red blood cell suspension (RBCs) transfusions on the prognosis of premature infants and to analyze the influencing factors to provide a reference for the transfusion strategy of preterm infants. Retrospective analysis was conducted on 85 cases of anemic premature infants treated in our center, including 63 cases in the restrictive transfusion group and 22 in the liberal transfusion group. RBCs transfusions were effective in both groups, and there were no statistically significant differences in post-transfusion hemoglobin and hematocrit between the two groups (P > 0.05). The outcome events: the duration of ventilatory support was statistically prolonger in the restrictive group compared with the liberal group (P < 0.001); however, the differences in mortality, the increased weight before discharge, and length of stay in the hospital within the two groups were not statistically significant (P = 0.237, 0.36 and 0.771, respectively). Univariate survival analysis showed that age, birth weight, Apgar 1 min and Apgar 10 min scores were the influencing factors for death, with P values of 0.035, 0.004, <0.001, and 0.013, respectively; COX regression analysis showed that Apgar 1 min score was an independent factor of the survival time of preterm infants (P = 0.002). Compared with the restrictive transfusion group, liberal transfusion patients presented a shorter duration of ventilatory support, which is more beneficial to the prognosis of premature infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the known problems of parameter sensitivity, local optimum, and slow convergence in the ant colony optimization (ACO), we aim to improve the performance of the ACO. To solve the traveling salesman problem (TSP) quickly with accurate results, we propose a fully parallel ACO (FP-ACO). Based on the max–min ant system (MMAS), we initiate a compensation mechanism for pheromone to constrain its value, guarantee the correctness of results and avoid a local optimum, and further enhance the convergence ability of ACO. Moreover, based on the compute unified device architecture (CUDA), the ACO is implemented as a kernel function on a graphics processing unit (GPU), which shortens the running time of massive iterations. Combined with the roulette wheel selection mechanism, FP-ACO has powerful search capabilities and is committed to obtaining better solutions. The experimental results show that, compared with the effective strategies ACO (ESACO) that runs on CPU, the speed-up ratio of the proposed algorithm reaches 35, and the running time is less than that of the max–min ant system-roulette wheel method-bitmask tabu (MMAS-RWM-BT) that runs on GPU. Furthermore, our algorithm outperforms the other two algorithms in the speed-up ratio and less runtime, proving that the proposed FP-ACO is more suitable for solving TSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathological conditions in diabetic feet cause surface temperature variations, which can be captured quantitatively using infrared thermography. Thermal images captured during recovery of diabetic feet after active cooling may reveal richer information than those from passive thermography, but diseased foot regions may exhibit very small temperature differences compared with the surrounding area, complicating plantar foot segmentation in such cold-stressed active thermography. In this study, we investigate new plantar foot segmentation methods for thermal images obtained via cold-stressed active thermography without the complementary information from color or depth channels. To better deal with the temporal variations in thermal image contrast when planar feet are recovering from cold immersion, we propose an image pre-processing method using a two-stage adaptive gamma transform to alleviate the impact of such contrast variations. To improve upon existing deep neural networks for segmenting planar feet from cold-stressed infrared thermograms, a new deep neural network, the Plantar Foot Segmentation Network (PFSNet), is proposed to better extract foot contours. It combines the fundamental U-shaped network structure, a multi-scale feature extraction module, and a convolutional block attention module with a feature fusion network. The PFSNet, in combination with the two-stage adaptive gamma transform, outperforms multiple existing deep neural networks in plantar foot segmentation for single-channel infrared images from cold-stressed infrared thermography, achieving an accuracy of 97.3% and 95.4% as measured by Intersection over Union (IOU) and Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although histopathological evaluation after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is critical to assess the accuracy of endoscopic diagnosis, it is still challenging to perform precise endoscopic to pathological evaluation. We evaluated the importance of tissue marking dye (TMD)-targeted marking for post-ESD specimen guided by magnificent endoscope on histopathological accuracy and endoscopic-to-histopathological reconstruction. Study design: A total of 81 specimens resected by ESD [43 without TMD marking (N-TMD group), and 38 specimens with TMD-targeted cancerous areas marking guided by post-procedural magnifying endoscopy on resected specimens (TMD group)] between January 31, 2019, and January 31, 2022 at the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University were included in the study. The baseline characteristics of patients, discrepancies between endoscopic and histopathological diagnosis, and the impact of TMD on histopathological diagnosis and reconstruction were analyzed. Results: Discrepancies between endoscopic (pre-ESD) and histopathological (post-ESD) diagnosis increased significantly in TMD group (68.4% (26/38) for tumor areas, 26.3% (10/38) for tumor margins, and 26.3% (10/38) for tumor differentiations) when compared with N-TMD group (p < 0.0001). Deeper sections were achieved in all TMD-marked resected lesions and 27.9% (12/43) lesions in the N-TMD group (p < 0.001). More pathological evaluations in TMD group were changed from curative resection to non-curative resection [6/38(15.8%) vs 1/43(2.3%)] compared with N-TMD group (p < 0.0001). TMD-targeted marking also improved the efficiency of histopathological reconstruction on pre-procedural endoscopic images and benefit endoscopists training. Conclusion: TMD-targeted labeling on resected specimens could improve precise endoscopic-to-pathological diagnosis, reconstruction by point-to-point marking and benefit endoscopists training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent elucidation of atomistic structures of Cl− channel CFTR provides opportunities for understanding the molecular basis of cystic fibrosis. Despite having been activated through phosphorylation and provided with ATP ligands, several near-atomistic cryo-EM structures of CFTR are in a closed state, as inferred from the lack of a continuous passage through a hydrophobic bottleneck region located in the extracellular portion of the pore. Here, we present repeated, microsecond-long molecular dynamics simulations of human CFTR solvated in a lipid bilayer and aqueous NaCl. At equilibrium, Cl− ions enter the channel through a lateral intracellular portal and bind to two distinct cationic sites inside the channel pore but do not traverse the narrow, de-wetted bottleneck. Simulations conducted in the presence of a strong hyperpolarizing electric field led to spontaneous Cl− translocation events through the bottleneck region of the channel, suggesting that the protein relaxed to a functionally open state. Conformational changes of small magnitude involving transmembrane helices 1 and 6 preceded ion permeation through diverging exit routes at the extracellular end of the pore. The pore bottleneck undergoes wetting prior to Cl− translocation, suggesting that it acts as a hydrophobic gate. Although permeating Cl− ions remain mostly hydrated, partial dehydration occurs at the binding sites and in the bottleneck. The observed Cl− pathway is largely consistent with the loci of mutations that alter channel conductance, anion binding, and ion selectivity, supporting the model of the open state of CFTR obtained in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the growing popularity of complex signal approximation via deep neural networks, people have begun to pay close attention to the spectral bias of neural networks—a problem that occurs when a neural network is used to fit broadband signals. An important direction taken to overcome this problem is the use of frequency selection-based fitting techniques, of which the representative work is called the PhaseDNN method, whose core idea is the use of bandpass filters to extract frequency bands with high energy concentration and fit them by different neural networks. Despite the method's high accuracy, we found in a large number of experiments that the method is less efficient for fitting broadband signals with smooth spectrums. In order to substantially improve its efficiency, a novel candidate—the parallel frequency function-deep neural network (PFF-DNN)—is proposed by utilizing frequency domain analysis of broadband signals and the spectral bias nature of neural networks. A substantial improvement in efficiency was observed in the extensive numerical experiments. Thus, the PFF-DNN method is expected to become an alternative solution for broadband signal fitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous deepening of the application of educational OA, massive educational data has been produced. Hence, the application of teaching big data (TBD) has a certain theoretical basis, practical methods, and research methods in the field of education. How to fully play the leading role of education on TBD in professional education, guide and recommend students to carry out personalized learning, change the teaching mode, enrich the teaching evaluation, then further improve the quality of talent training is a current issue, which has yet to be solved. Based on the analysis and mining of big data, this paper uses the spectral clustering algorithm to construct the curriculum association classification model and realizes the clustering of core courses. Then, through the analysis of the academic achievements of previous professional core courses, we can master the current situation of students' learning, construct the model as the portrait of students' individual, curriculum, and professional characteristics through deep learning, so as to realize the precise referral of personalized learning courses, provide students with targeted academic guidance, and further dynamically adjust the teaching syllabus, including the teaching methods and teaching means. Vice versa, we can improve the core courses clustering to further feedback on the curriculum association classification model by analyzing the job position technical requirements. Experiments show that the proposed model using a spectrum clustering algorithm could be better provided strong technical support for the decision-making of precision education in colleges and universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful invasion of Ambrosia artemisiifolia is largely due to allelopathy. As an invasive alien plant, A. artemisiifolia has spread rapidly in Asia and Europe. Studies have shown that sesquiterpenoids play an important role in plant allelopathy. However, it is unclear whether the inflorescence of A. artemisiifolia also contains allelopathic components. In this paper, our phytochemical research focuses on the inflorescence of A. artemisiifolia. Twenty sesquiterpenoids, including four new ones (1–4) were isolated through successive chromatographic columns and identified by spectroscopic methods. At a concentration of 200 μg/mL, all the compounds tested were evaluated for their allelopathic activities on seedling growth of wheat. Our results indicate that nine compounds inhibited both the root and shoot growth of seedlings. Compounds 14, 15, 17, and 20 significantly inhibited root length, which was more than 50% shorter than the control. This study identified the chemical profile of the sesquiterpenoids occurring in the inflorescence of A. artemisiifolia. The bioactivity screening results provide further understanding of the chemical basis of allelopathy in A. artemisiifolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3-Methylindole (Skatole), a degradation product of tryptophan produced by intestinal microbial activity, significantly contributes to odor nuisance. Its adverse effects on animal welfare, human health, and environmental pollution have been noted. However, it is still unclear whether the intestinal microbiota mediates the impact of selenium (Se) on skatole production and what the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. A selenized glucose (SeGlu) derivative is a novel organic selenium compound. In this study, a diverse range of dietary SeGlu-treated levels, including SeGlu-deficient (CK), SeGlu-adequate (0.15 mg Se per L), and SeGlu-supranutritional (0.4 mg Se per L) conditions, were used to investigate the complex interaction of SeGlu on intestinal microbiome and serum metabolome changes in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The study showed that SeGlu supplementation enhanced the antioxidant ability in rats, significantly manifested in the increases of the activity of catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), while no change in the level of malonaldehyde (MDA). Metagenomic sequencing analysis verified that the SeGlu treatment group significantly increased the abundance of beneficial microorganisms such as Clostridium , Ruminococcus , Faecalibacterium , Lactobacillus, and Alloprevotella while reducing the abundance of opportunistic pathogens such as Bacteroides and Alistipes significantly. Further metabolomic analysis revealed phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis changes in the SeGlu treatment group. Notably, the biosynthesis of indole, a critical pathway, was affected by SeGlu treatment, with several crucial enzymes implicated. Correlation analysis demonstrated strong associations between specific bacterial species - Treponema , Bacteroides, and Ruminococcus, and changes in indole and derivative concentrations. Moreover, the efficacy of SeGlu-treated fecal microbiota was confirmed through fecal microbiota transplantation, leading to a decrease in the concentration of skatole in rats. Collectively, the analysis of microbiota and metabolome response to diverse SeGlu levels suggests that SeGlu is a promising dietary additive in modulating intestinal microbiota and reducing odor nuisance in the livestock and poultry industry. [Display omitted] • Microbiota and metabolome response to diverse selenized glucose levels. • Carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid pathways altered by selenized glucose treatment. • Notable Firmicutes increase and Bacteroidetes decrease in selenized glucose supplement group. • Selenized glucose affects indole pathway and decreases fecal skatole concentration, correlating with specific bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of active thermography, most studies have used spatial-domain images as the primary input for defect recognition, while some have explored the utilization of temporal-domain one-dimensional signals. However, Sonic Infrared Imaging (SonicIR), as an active thermography non-destructive testing method, presents unique challenges in automatically distinguishing defect signals from background noise and interference signals, due to the strikingly similar characteristics exhibited by these signals in the spatial or the temporal domain alone. The present study introduces a novel defect recognition method employing joint spatiotemporal signals as input for a deep learning model. A histogram-based adaptive thresholding segmentation method is employed to extract all regions of interest in thermograms for subsequent defect detection. A SonicIR Defect Recognition Network (SDRNet) is constructed to further identify defects within the pertinent spatiotemporal signals. SDRNet consists of three key modules: multi-level dual branch feature extraction, time position attention, and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). Experimental results from 153 SonicIR image sequences demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately identify defects and surpasses the performance of existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of active thermography, most studies have used spatial-domain images as the primary input for defect recognition, while some have explored the utilization of temporal-domain one-dimensional signals. However, Sonic Infrared Imaging (SonicIR), as an active thermography non-destructive testing method, presents unique challenges in automatically distinguishing defect signals from background noise and interference signals, due to the strikingly similar characteristics exhibited by these signals in the spatial or the temporal domain alone. The present study introduces a novel defect recognition method employing joint spatiotemporal signals as input for a deep learning model. A histogram-based adaptive thresholding segmentation method is employed to extract all regions of interest in thermograms for subsequent defect detection. A SonicIR Defect Recognition Network (SDRNet) is constructed to further identify defects within the pertinent spatiotemporal signals. SDRNet consists of three key modules: multi-level dual branch feature extraction, time position attention, and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). Experimental results from 153 SonicIR image sequences demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately identify defects and surpasses the performance of existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) have essential applications in intelligent system design and development due to their flexibility in integration through welding or joining techniques. In this work, both single-sided laser welding and doublesided laser welding processes were used for the welding of NiTi SMAs wire. Then, the macro-morphology, microstructure, phase transformation behavior, mechanical performance, fracture surface characteristics, and cyclic tensile properties of the samples obtained under the two welding processes were investigated. The results showed that there were dendrites and equiaxed grains in the fusion zone (FZ) of the double-sided welding samples, without obvious welding defects. Although the phase transformation temperature in the FZ of the samples obtained by the two processes was significantly increased, the temperature rise of the double-sided welded samples was relatively lower. The tensile strength and elongation of the double-sided welded samples were higher, and all the samples had a ductile fracture. The residual strains of the 1st to 15th cycle tests revealed that the double-sided welded samples exhibited significant improvements in functional fatigue properties compared to the residual strains of the single-sided welded samples. The improved performance of laser-welded NiTi SMAs obtained from this work could benefit these alloys for welding integration applications in smart system design and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current world experience regarding living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in the treatment of propionic acidemia (PA) is limited, especially in terms of using obligate heterozygous carriers as donors. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of LDLT in children with PA.Methods: From November 2017 to January 2020, 7 of the 192 children who underwent LDLT at our institution had been diagnosed with PA (median age, 2.1 years; range, 1.1-5.8 years). The primary indication for transplantation was frequent metabolic decompensations in 6 patients and preventative treatment in 1 patient. Of the seven parental living donors, six were genetically proven obligate heterozygous carriers.Results: During a median follow-up of 23.9 months (range, 13.9-40.2 months), all patients were alive with 100% allograft survival, and no severe transplant-related complications occurred. In the case of liberalized protein intake, they did not suffer metabolic decompensation or disease-related complications and made progress in neurodevelopmental delay and body growth, as well as blood and urinary metabolite levels. In one patient with pre-existing mild dilated cardiomyopathy, her echocardiogram results completely normalized 13.8 months post-transplant. All living donors recovered well after surgery, with no metabolic decompensations or procedure-related complications. Western blotting revealed that the hepatic expressions of PCCA and PCCB in one of the heterozygous donors were comparable to those of the normal healthy control at the protein level.Conclusions: LDLT using partial liver grafts from asymptomatic obligate heterozygous carrier donors is a viable therapeutic option for selected PA patients, with no negative impact on donors' and recipients' clinical courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnO/ZnS/CuS net‐like nanosheet (NS) heterojunction array was fabricated via a simple solution method at a low temperature. Morphology and structure of ZnO/ZnS/CuS NS were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM). With tiny particles attaching on the rough surface, the thin ZnO/ZnS/CuS NS grew vertically and arranged regularly on Al substrate, providing large effective illumination area and massive active sites. Elemental composition and valence state were confirmed with energy dispersive X‐ray spectrometry and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The UV–vis absorbance spectra indicated that the absorption range of ZnO NS was expanded to the visible region effectively, and the original absorption intensity in the ultraviolet region was also improved after being coated with ZnS and CuS. Photocatalytic activity tests of ZnO, ZnO/ZnS, and ZnO/ZnS/CuS NS were carried out with methyl orange as a simulated pollutant, in which ZnO/ZnS/CuS heterojunction showed great enhancement when making comparison with pure ZnO and ZnO/ZnS NS. After five reuse cycles, photocatalytic performance could still be maintained well, indicating the good catalytic stability. Finally, a probable photocatalytic mechanism was also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Large-area, lightweight, ultra-flexible, and robust crosslinked MXene-coated PI porous composites were manufactured via a scalable and facile approach. In addition to the hydrophobicity, anti-oxidation and extreme-temperature stability, excellent electromagnetic interference shielding performance was achieved because of the high-efficiency utilization of the building units and microstructure. Moreover, the highly flexible composite foams exhibited excellent electrothermal and electromechanical sensing performance, demonstrating promising perspectives in next-generation flexible electronics, aerospace, and smart devices.Lightweight, ultra-flexible, and robust crosslinked transition metal carbide (Ti3C2 MXene) coated polyimide (PI) (C-MXene@PI) porous composites are manufactured via a scalable dip-coating followed by chemical crosslinking approach. In addition to the hydrophobicity, anti-oxidation and extreme-temperature stability, efficient utilization of the intrinsic conductivity of MXene, the interfacial polarization between MXene and PI, and the micrometer-sized pores of the composite foams are achieved. Consequently, the composites show a satisfactory X-band electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness of 22.5 to 62.5 dB at a density of 28.7 to 48.7 mg cm−3, leading to an excellent surface-specific SE of 21,317 dB cm2 g−1. Moreover, the composite foams exhibit excellent electrothermal performance as flexible heaters in terms of a prominent, rapid reproducible, and stable electrothermal effect at low voltages and superior heat performance and more uniform heat distribution compared with the commercial heaters composed of alloy plates. Furthermore, the composite foams are well attached on a human body to check their electromechanical sensing performance, demonstrating the sensitive and reliable detection of human motions as wearable sensors. The excellent EMI shielding performance and multifunctionalities, along with the facile and easy-to-scalable manufacturing techniques, imply promising perspectives of the porous C-MXene@PI composites in next-generation flexible electronics, aerospace, and smart devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rare event search experiments using germanium detectors are performed in underground laboratories to minimize the background induced by cosmic rays. However, the cosmogenic activation of cupreous detector components on the ground generates long half-life radioisotopes and contributes to the background level. We measured cosmogenic activation with 142.50 kg of copper bricks after 504 days of exposure at an altitude of 2469.4 m outside the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL). The specific activities of the cosmogenic nuclides produced in the copper bricks were measured using a low-background germanium gamma-ray spectrometer at CJPL. The production rates at sea level, in units of nuclei/kg/day, were 18.6 ± 2.0 for 54 Mn, 9.9 ± 1.3 for 56 Co, 48.3 ± 5.5 for 57 Co, 51.8 ± 2.5 for 58 Co, and 39.7 ± 5.7 for 60 Co. The measurement will help to constrain cosmogenic background estimation for rare event searches using copper as a detector structure and shielding material. Based on the measured production rates, the impact of the cosmogenic background in cupreous components of germanium detectors on the next generation CDEX-100 experiment was assessed with the expected exposure history above ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential drivers or suppressors in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by participating in controlling transcription, translation, mRNA stability, and protein degradation protein-protein interaction. TM4SF1-AS1 is recently identified as a tumor-promoting factor in lung cancer. Nevertheless, its function in HCC and related molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Here, our data indicated that either hypoxia or hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (DMOG) induced the upregulation of TM4SF1-AS1 in HCC cells. HIF-1α knockdown rather than HIF-2α silencing remarkably abrogated hypoxia-upregulated TM4SF1-AS1 expression. Furthermore, we confirmed the elevated expression of TM4SF1-AS1 in HCC tissue samples and cell lines. The silencing of TM4SF1-AS1 prominently inhibited the proliferative, migratory, and invasive abilities of HCC cells. TM4SF1-AS1 depletion significantly blocked hypoxia-enhanced Hep3B cell proliferation and mobility. Interfering TM4SF1-AS1 remarkably reduced TM4SF1 mRNA and protein levels in HCC cells. But TM4SF1-AS1 knockdown did not impact the stability of TM4SF1 mRNA. Hypoxia enhanced the expression of TM4SF1 mRNA, which was subsequently decreased by TM4SF1-AS1 knockdown in HCC cells. We confirmed the positive correlation between TM4SF1 mRNA and TM4SF1-AS1 expression in HCC specimens. Finally, TM4SF1 prominently reversed the inhibitory role of TM4SF1-AS1 depletion in Hep3B cells. In summary, hypoxia-responsive TM4SF1-AS1 was overexpressed in human HCC and contributed to the malignant behaviors of tumor cells by enhancing TM4SF1-AS1 expression. • HIF-1α activated the transcription of TM4SF1-AS1 expression in HCC cells. • TM4SF1-AS1 enhanced HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. • TM4SF1-AS1 positively regulated TM4SF1 expression in HCC cells. • TM4SF1 was a function target of TM4SF1-AS1 in HCC cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adenomyosis affects the outcomes of spontaneous fertility and assisted reproductive technology. The single blastocyst embryo transfer (SBT) policy is an effective strategy known to minimize the risk of multiple pregnancy for non-adenomyosis women. However, little is known about its applicability to women with adenomyosis. The purpose of this study is to compare pregnancy outcomes between SBT, double-blastocyst embryo transfer (DBT), single-cleavage-stage embryo transfer (SET) and double-cleavage-stage embryo transfer (DET) in the frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles among adenomyosis patients. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in all frozen–thawed autologous embryo transfer cycles. 393 frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles performed in adenomyosis patients were enrolled. The major clinical outcomes were implantation rate (IR), clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), miscarriage rate (MR), multiple pregnancy rate (MPR) and live birth rate (LBR). Results: The SBT and DBT groups achieved higher IR (P < 0.001), CPR (P = 0.017), LBR (P = 0.040) and lower MR (P = 0.020) than the SET and DET groups. But the SBT and DBT groups achieved similar CPR and LBR. The SBT and SET groups achieved lower MPR (P < 0.001) than the DBT and DET groups. The average birth weight (BW) of SBT groups was higher than the DBT and DET groups (P = 0.016). When compared with SBT group, low-birth-weight infants were significantly higher with DBT and DET. Conclusions: When performing frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles among adenomyosis patients, the SBT group has similar IR, CPR, MR, LBR but lower MPR compared to the DBT group. Therefore, SBT might be offered as standard practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magmatism has profoundly influenced the evolution of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere in back-arc basins. However, the timing of the magmatism in the Okinawa Trough (OT) is not well constrained by the age spectra of zircons. Here, for the first time, we carry out an integrated study combining in situ analysis of zircon U–Th–Pb and Hf–O isotopes, and trace element compositions of zircons from the volcanic rocks from the southernmost part of the OT. We found that the young (< 100 ka) zircons in these volcanic rocks have old (108 Ma to 2.7 Ga) inherited cores, which were captured as the magma ascended through the rifting continental crust. In particular, the inherited Archean zircons strongly suggest that remnants of the old East Asian continental blocks underlie the embryonic crustal rifting zone. Moreover, the ages of most of the inherited zircons correspond to five supercontinent amalgamation events. Specifically, the Archaean inherited zircons, which have positive εHf(t) and low δ18O values, correspond to the formation of juvenile continental crust. In contrast, the negative εHf(t) and high δ18O values of the post-Archaean inherited zircons indicate that their parental magma contained recycled older crust due to the enhanced crust-mantle interactions during the evolution of the early continental crust. Therefore, the inherited zircons in the back-arc volcanic rocks not only reflect the evolution of the local magmatism, but they also contain a record of the Archaean crustal fragment and of several global continental amalgamation events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deglaciation due to warming climate has left a great amount of glacial tills in ravine slopes and channels in southern Tibet, which can lead to destructive debris flows and pose great threats to downstream residents and infrastructures. The mechanical properties and grain size characteristics of glacial tills are key factors that influence the initiation and development of these debris flows. In this work, a series of consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial compression tests under different confining pressures were carried out on Zelongnong glacial tills at various relative densities of 9.2%, 49.5%, 69.0% and 88.7%. The grain size distribution change before and after the CU tests was also determined. Results show that the glacial tills at relative densities of 9.2%, 49.5% and 69.0% exhibited a remarkable strain-softening and contractive behaviour during shearing, while those at a relative density of 88.7% presented a dilatant behaviour. As the relative density increased, the shear strength, elastic modulus and shearing friction angle increased, reducing the liquefaction potential. Based on the increasing rate of mechanical resistance with the increasing relative density, a critical value of 69.0% was identified to appreciate the distinct mechanical responses of the specimens. From the grain size distributions before and after CU tests, the content of grains with a diameter larger than 0.85 mm decreased due to the grain breakage while that of grains smaller than 0.3 mm increased. The higher the specimen relative density, the larger the grain breakage ratio owing to the increasing friction resistance. This grain breakage in turn causes a downward shift of the critical state line on the plane of void ratio and mean effective stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early identification of patients who are at high risk of poor clinical outcomes is of great importance in saving the lives of patients with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the context of limited medical resources.Objective: To evaluate the value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), calculated at hospital admission and in isolation, for the prediction of the subsequent presence of disease progression and serious clinical outcomes (e.g., shock, death).Methods: We designed a prospective cohort study of 352 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 between January 9 and February 26, 2020, in Yichang City, Hubei Province. Patients with an NLR equal to or higher than the cutoff value derived from the receiver operating characteristic curve method were classified as the exposed group. The primary outcome was disease deterioration, defined as an increase of the clinical disease severity classification during hospitalization (e.g., moderate to severe/critical; severe to critical). The secondary outcomes were shock and death during the treatment.Results: During the follow-up period, 51 (14.5%) patients' conditions deteriorated, 15 patients (4.3%) had complicated septic shock, and 15 patients (4.3%) died. The NLR was higher in patients with deterioration than in those without deterioration (median: 5.33 vs. 2.14, P < 0.001), and higher in patients with serious clinical outcomes than in those without serious clinical outcomes (shock vs. no shock: 6.19 vs. 2.25, P < 0.001; death vs. survival: 7.19 vs. 2.25, P < 0.001). The NLR measured at hospital admission had high value in predicting subsequent disease deterioration, shock and death (all the areas under the curve > 0.80). The sensitivity of an NLR ≥ 2.6937 for predicting subsequent disease deterioration, shock and death was 82.0% (95% confidence interval, 69.0 to 91.0), 93.3% (68.0 to 100), and 92.9% (66.0 to 100), and the corresponding negative predictive values were 95.7% (93.0 to 99.2), 99.5% (98.6 to 100) and 99.5% (98.6 to 100), respectively.Conclusions: The NLR measured at admission and in isolation can be used to effectively predict the subsequent presence of disease deterioration and serious clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the reliability of black box models for topology optimization is a critical yet understudied problem. In this work, we advance the state of the art by localizing the high-risk predictions via estimating the normalized error distribution without training the model. In particular, we first find that the shape of the error distribution is insensitive to the model-related factors, while sensitive to the initial settings of the optimization problem. Then, a sensitivity function using a modified Laplacian operator is developed, which is strongly correlated to the normalized error distribution; thus, it can be utilized as its priori representation. Finally, the proposed method is validated to a decent accuracy via different cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. This study was aimed at mining crucial long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for the development of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) based on the coexpression and the competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) theories and investigating the underlying therapeutic drugs that may function by reversing the expression of lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs. Methods. RNA (GSE106724, GSE114419, GSE137684, and GSE138518) or miRNA (GSE84376 and GSE138572) expression profile datasets of PCOS patients were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) using four RNA datasets was conducted to construct the lncRNA-mRNA coexpression networks, while the common differentially expressed miRNAs in two miRNA datasets and module RNAs were used to establish the ceRNA network. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was created to explore the potential interactions between genes. Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were performed to explore the functions of genes in networks. Connectivity Map (CMap) and Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) analyses were performed to identify potential therapeutic agents for PCOS. Results. Three modules (black, magenta, and yellow) were identified to be PCOS-related after WGCNA analysis, in which KLF3-AS1-PLCG2, MAPKAPK5-AS1-MAP3K14, and WWC2-AS2-TXNIP were important coexpression relationship pairs. WWC2-AS2-hsa-miR-382-PLCG2 was a crucial ceRNA loop in the ceRNA network. The PPI network showed that MAP3K14 and TXNIP could interact with hub genes PLK1 (degree = 21) and TLR1 (degree = 18), respectively. These genes were enriched into mitosis (PLK1), immune response (PLCG2 and TLR1), and cell cycle (TXNIP and PLK1) biological processes. Ten small molecule drugs (especially quercetin) were considered to be therapeutical for PCOS. Conclusion. Our study may provide a novel insight into the mechanisms and therapy for PCOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: An ongoing outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus (CoV) disease (COVID‐19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV‐2, has been spreading in multiple countries. One of the reasons for the rapid spread is that the virus can be transmitted from infected individuals without symptoms. Revealing the pathological features of early‐phase COVID‐19 pneumonia is important for understanding of its pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to explore the pulmonary pathology of early‐phase COVID‐19 pneumonia in a patient with a benign lung lesion. Methods and results: We analysed the pathological changes in lung tissue from a 55‐year‐old female patient with early‐phase SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. In this case, right lower lobectomy was performed for a benign pulmonary nodule. Detailed clinical, laboratory and radiological data were also examined. This patient was confirmed to have preoperative SARS‐CoV‐2 infection by the use of real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and RNA in‐situ hybridisation on surgically removed lung tissues. Histologically, COVID‐19 pneumonia was characterised by exudative inflammation. The closer to the visceral pleura, the more severe the exudation of monocytes and lymphocytes. Perivascular inflammatory infiltration, intra‐alveolar multinucleated giant cells, pneumocyte hyperplasia and intracytoplasmic viral‐like inclusion bodies were seen. However, fibrinous exudate and hyaline membrane formation, which were typical pulmonary features of SARS pneumonia, were not evident in this case. Immunohistochemical staining results showed an abnormal accumulation of CD4+ helper T lymphocytes and CD163+ M2 macrophages in the lung tissue. Conclusion: The results highlighted the pulmonary pathological changes of early‐phase SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, and suggested a role of immune dysfunction in the pathogenesis of COVID‐19 pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Iheya Graben is a back-arc spreading centre in the middle part of the Okinawa Trough. It is also located in the centre of an anomalous volcanic zone (volcanic arc migration phenomenon, or VAMP) and is characterized by bimodal volcanism, unusually high heat flow and active hydrothermal circulation. The subvolcanic magma plumbing system and the magmatic processes related to the formation of rare erupted intermediate lavas in this area remain uncertain. In this study, we conducted systematic mineralogical analyses (in situ major element, trace element and Sr isotopes) and whole rock geochemical analyses (major element, trace element and Sr–Nd isotopes) on an andesite (T5-2; type C andesite) and a rhyolite (C11; type 2 rhyolite), and present evidence for magma mixing in the origins of these lavas. Andesite T5-2 contains a mafic mineral assemblage and a silicic mineral assemblage, which are derived from a basaltic melt and a type 2 rhyolitic melt, respectively. A 4:6 mixture of basalt and type 2 rhyolite from the Iheya Graben reproduces the whole-rock major element, trace element, and Sr–Nd isotope compositions of T5-2. Rhyolite C11 contains a group of disequilibrium minerals that crystallized from a less evolved rhyolitic melt with relatively more enriched Sr–Nd isotope compositions, suggesting mixing of this melt with a more evolved and isotopically more depleted rhyolitic melt. This mixing process could produce a series of rhyolitic melts with a negative correlation between SiO2 concentrations and 87Sr/86Sr ratios (or a positive correlation for 143Nd/144Nd ratios), which are recorded by the whole group of type 2 rhyolites. The results from mineral-based thermobarometers suggest that the premixing storage temperatures of the basaltic and rhyolitic melts are ∼1100 °C and 870–900 °C, respectively. The hybrid andesitic melt has temperatures of ∼950 to ∼980 °C. The magma storage pressures are not well constrained, ranging from ∼400 MPa to ∼100 MPa. We show that magma mixing plays a significant role in the origins of diverse volcanism in the middle Okinawa Trough; more specifically, two of the three types of andesites (types B and C) and one of the two types of rhyolites (type 2) are associated with magma mixing. We thus propose a complex magma plumbing system with multichamber magma storage and frequent magma mixing beneath the Iheya Graben. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new method for the complete analysis of hyperentangled Bell state and Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state in polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom, resorting to weak cross-Kerr nonlinearity and auxiliary frequency entanglement. The weak cross-Kerr nonlinearity with small phase shift is used to construct quantum nondestructive detector, and it is realizable with the current technology. Compared with the previous schemes, our scheme largely reduces the requirement on nonlinearity with the help of auxiliary entanglement in the third degree of freedom. Our method provides an efficient avenue for the hyperentangled state analysis, and will be useful for high-capacity quantum information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoporous gold (np-Au) exhibits variations in the value of the plastic Poisson's ratio, ν p – ranging from negative to positive – often for similar relative densities and ligament diameters. We investigate the effect of pre-existing lattice defects on ν p of np-Au using molecular dynamics simulations. Uniaxial compression of np-Au samples that have the same porous morphology, but distinct defect densities, shows that a high density of pre-existing defects reduces ν p. We interpret this observation by linking nanoscale tension-compression asymmetry in individual ligaments to the synergistic interplay between defects and surfaces, and ultimately to the plastic transverse coupling in np-Au. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Quitting support from smokers' partners can predict quit attempts and smoking abstinence but research on factors that predict such support has been limited. To add more evidence for partner support and the improved interventions for smoking cessation, we analyzed some new potential predictors of quitting support from smokers' spouses. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in in 2022 and 2023, selecting the students' families in which fathers smoked and mothers didn't smoke from grade 1–5 of 13 primary schools in Qingdao, China. Parents who met the criteria completed the online questionnaires and 1018 families were included in the analysis. We measured personal information related to smokers and their spouses such as age, education and nicotine dependence, and variables related to family and marital relationship such as family functioning, perceived responsiveness and power in decision-making of quitting smoking. Quitting support from smokers' spouses was measured by Partner Interaction Questionnaire and generalized linear model was used to explore the potential predictors of partner support. Results: In this study, the mean age of smokers was 39.97(SD = 5.57) and the mean age of smokers' spouses was 38.24(SD = 4.59). The regression analysis showed that for smokers and their spouses, the older age groups showed the lower ratio of positive/negative support(P < 0.05) and smokers with high education showed the less positive and negative partner support(P < 0.05). Nicotine dependence was positively associated with negative support (β = 0.120, P < 0.01), and perceived responsiveness (β = 0.124, P < 0.05) as well as family functioning (β = 0.059, P < 0.05) was positively associated with positive support. These three factors were associated with ratio of positive/negative support(P < 0.05). In addition, power of smoker's spouse in decision-making of quitting smoking was positively associated with the positive (β = 0.087, P < 0.001) and negative support (β = 0.084, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Nicotine dependence, family functioning, power in decision-making of quitting smoking and perceived responsiveness were found to be the predictors of quitting support from smokers' spouses. By incorporating predictors of partner support and integrating some established theories that can improve family functioning and marital relationships, smoking cessation interventions can be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromorphic computing systems are based on new architecture inspired by biological learning behavior and biological structure to overcome the shortcomings of the von Neumann system, such as high energy consumption and generation of excessive redundant data. However, common synaptic‐device designs are still need to carry an external power source, which is detrimental to both the miniaturization of smart devices and the further reduction of energy consumption. Therefore, self‐powered optoelectronic synapses hold great promise for achieving energy‐efficient artificial intelligence applications. Given the advantages of heterogeneous integration and ferroelectric performance, the 2D ferroelectric In2Se3 has become a typical candidate material for biological synaptic devices and neuromorphic computing. Although, various structures of ferroelectric synaptic devices are developed, most of which are controlled by optical or electrical pulses, hardly any reports discuss the operation in self‐powered mode. In this work, an In2Se3/MoS2 ferroelectric lateral heterojunction‐type optoelectronic synaptic device is fabricated to mimic biological synaptic functions in voltage mode or self‐driven mode. In addition, two simplified image pre‐processing methods based on device arrays are shown to improve the recognition accuracy of a back‐end neural network. The proposed approach suggests a new route for designing and applying high‐performance synaptic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study will focus on 4T1 cells, a murine mammary adenocarcinoma cell line, as the primary research subject. We aim to investigate the inhibitory effects and mechanisms of propranolol on epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer cells, aiming to elucidate this phenomenon at the miRNA level. Methods: In this study, the EMT inhibitory effect of propranolol was observed through in vitro and animal experiments. For the screening of potential target miRNAs and downstream target genes, second-generation sequencing (SGS) and bioinformatics analysis were conducted. Following the screening process, the identified target miRNAs and their respective target genes were confirmed using various experimental methods. To confirm the target miRNAs and target genes, Western Blot (WB), reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and immunofluorescence experiments were performed. Results: In this study, we found that propranolol significantly reduced lung metastasis in 4T1 murine breast cancer cells (p < 0.05). In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that propranolol inhibited the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) as evidenced by Western Blot analysis (p < 0.05). Through next-generation sequencing (SGS), subsequent bioinformatics analysis, and PCR validation, we identified a marked downregulation of miR-499-5p (p < 0.05), suggesting its potential involvement in mediating the suppressive effects of propranolol on EMT. Overexpression of miR-499-5p promoted EMT, migration, and invasion of 4T1 cells, and these effects were not reversed or attenuated by propranolol (Validated via Western Blot, wound healing assay, transwell migration, and invasion assays, p < 0.05). Sox6 was identified as a functional target of miR-499-5p, with its downregulation correlating with the observed EMT changes (p < 0.05). Silencing Sox6 or overexpressing miR-499-5p inhibited Sox6 expression, further promoting the processes of EMT, invasion, and migration in 4T1 cells. Notably, these effects were not alleviated by propranolol (validated via Western Blot, wound healing assay, transwell migration, and invasion assays, p < 0.05). The direct interaction between miR-499-5p and Sox6 mRNA was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. Conclusion: These results suggest that propranolol may have potential as a therapeutic agent for breast cancer treatment by targeting EMT and its regulatory mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lattice dynamics and disorder-induced contraction in hydrogenated, fluorinated, and chlorinated graphene are studied by first-principles simulation. The effects of the functionalization on the phonon dispersions, Grüneissen constants, vibrational thermodynamic functions (free energy, internal energy, entropy, and heat capacity), thermal-expansion coefficients, and bulk moduli are systematically investigated. Functionalization changes the chemical-bond length, mass, thickness, vibrational-mode symmetry, and mode number, and subsequently has significant effects on the phonon dispersions and Grüneissen constants. Functionalization generally increases the vibrational thermodynamic functions, and their temperature dependences all present conventional isotope effects. Functionalization suppresses (enhances) the thermal contraction (expansion) of the lattice, due to the increases in the system mass, membrane thickness, and the compressibility of the phonons. Both the lattice-constant variation and the phonon thermalization contribute to the temperature dependence of the bulk modulus. Both pristine and hydrogenated graphene can be viewed as two kinds of materials having the Invar and Elinvar properties. The contribution to the lattice contraction in functionalized graphene from the conformation disorder (about 2.0%) is much larger than that by thermalization (<0.1% at 300 K), which explains the mismatch between the experimental and theoretical lattice constants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve detection sensitivity for interesting radionuclides in measurements of environmental samples by Broad Energy Germanium detectors, the Pulse Shape Discrimination method using rise-time ratio is introduced. A certified soil sample and a typical squid-ash sample were measured by a well-shielded BEGe spectrometer. Minimum Detection Activities for the 722.9 keV and 949.8 keV peaks from the squid-ash sample were decreased by about 26% and 35% respectively. The method performs well especially when the main background comes from gamma radionuclides in samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA methylation has been implicated as an important mechanism for the development of uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC), indicating that methylation-driven genes may be potential biomarkers for survival prediction. In this study, we aimed to identify a new prognostic methylation signature for UCEC based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) (DELs). Sample-matched RNA-sequencing and methylation-array data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, by analysis of which a total of 269 DEGs and 4 DELs were identified to be methylation driven. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analysis screened that 14 methylation-driven genes were significantly associated with overall survival (OS) and thus were used as a signature to establish a prognostic risk model. Based on the median threshold, the patients were divided into the low-risk and the high-risk groups, which showed significantly different survival periods under the Kaplan–Meier curve. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.934, 0.919, and 0.952 for the training, validation, and entire cohort, respectively. Stratification analysis showed that the established risk model may add prognostic values to conventional clinical factors (age, neoplasm histologic grade, and clinical stage). A nomogram was constructed based on the risk model and clinical parameters, with the AUC of 0.978 and c-index of 0.8079. Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) function enrichment and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) protein expression validation showed 5 of these 14 genes may be especially important for UCEC (hypermethylated lowly expressed: CCBE1, FOXL2, PHLDB2, and DTNA; hypomethylated highly expressed: CCNE1). Comparison with breast cancer in the methylation level indicated ABCA12, CCNE1, and CLRN3 may be specific methylation-driven genes for UCEC. LncRNA HCG11 may function by coexpressing with DTNA. In conclusion, this 14-DNA methylation signature combined with clinical factors may a potentially effective biomarker in predicting OS for UCEC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrangea‐like ZnO nanospheres were fabricated on Al substrates via a facile hydrothermal method with only one step. Scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and photoluminescence were used to investigate their morphology, component, structure, and optical properties. The hierarchical nanospheres are fabricated by 2D nanosheets with the shape of 3D sphere. By adjusting the reaction time, the formation process was monitored. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanospheres was also investigated for their dye degradation, and they exhibit good photocatalytic ability to congo red, with the degradation rate of 98.4%. Besides, they have universal catalysis effect on methyl orange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is one of the leading causes of death from gynecological cancer due to the high recurrence rate. A recent study indicated that molecular biomarkers can enhance the recurrence prediction power if they were integrated with clinical information. In this study, we attempted to identify a new multi-RNA-type-based molecular biomarker for predicting the recurrence risk and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Matched mRNA (including lncRNA) and miRNA RNA-sequencing data from 463 UCEC patients (n = 75, recurrent; n = 388, non-recurrent) were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) analysis was used to screen the optimal combination of prognostic RNAs and then the risk score model was constructed. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms of prognostic RNAs were explored by establishing various interaction networks based on corresponding predictive databases. A multi-RNA-type-based signature (including three miRNAs: hsa-miR-6511b, hsa-miR-184, hsa-miR-4461; three lncRNAs: ENO1-IT1, MCCC1-AS1, AATBC; and 7 mRNAs: EPPK1, ASB9, BDNF, CYP11A1, ECEL1, EN2, F13A1) was developed for the prediction of RFS. The risk scoring system established by these signature genes was effective for the discrimination of the 5-year RFS in the high-risk from low-risk patients in the training [an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.960], validation (AUC = 0.863), and entire datasets (AUC = 0.873). This risk score model was also proved to be a more excellent, independent prognostic discriminator than the single-RNA-type (overall AUC: 0.947 vs. 0.677, lncRNAs; 0.709, miRNAs; 0.899, mRNAs) and clinical staging (overall AUC: 0.947 vs. 0.517). Furthermore, the downstream mechanisms for some prognostic miRNAs or lncRNAs (HAND2-AS1-hsa-miR-6511b-APC2, PAX8-AS1-hsa-miR-4461-TNIK and MCCC1-AS1/ENO1-IT1-TNIK) were newly predicted based on the coexpression or competitive endogenous RNA theories. In conclusion, our findings may provide novel biomarkers for recurrence prediction and targets for treatment of UCEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aims: The identification of new compound candidates for endometriosis treatment is needed. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is considered a crucial target to control the progress and recurrence of endometriosis. Here, we identified ursolic acid (UA) as a natural inhibitor of COX-2 and investigated its effects on endometriosis progression.Methods: Primary human endometriotic stromal cells isolated from patients with endometriosis were exposed to UA at concentrations of 15, 30, 45, and 60 μM. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiaziazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assays, 5'-bromo-2'-deoxy-uridine assays, and Caspase-3 activity measurements were performed to detect cell growth and apoptosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to detect COX-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels. Capillary-tubule formation assays using human umbilical vein endothelial cells were also carried out to determine angiogenesis.Results: UA significantly decreased cell viability, inhibited proliferation, and increased caspase-3 activity in a dose-dependent manner. COX-2 protein expression and the subsequent PGE2 production were both reduced by UA. Meanwhile, UA exposure decreased VEGF secretion in the stromal cells and the capillary-tubule formation assay confirmed the inhibitory effect of UA on angiogenesis. Furthermore, UA increased the phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38.Conclusions: Our data suggest that UA plays a role as a natural inhibitor of COX-2 to control the survival of human endometriotic stromal cells by inhibiting proliferation and angiogenesis and promoting apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a substantial role in many domains, including medical fields. However, we still lack evidence to support whether or not cancer patients will accept the clinical use of AI. This research aims to assess the attitudes of Chinese cancer patients toward the clinical use of artificial intelligence in medicine (AIM), and to analyze the possible influencing factors. Patients and methods: A questionnaire was delivered to 527 participants. Targeted people were Chinese cancer patients who were informed of their cancer diagnosis. Results: The effective response rate was 76.3% (402/527). Most cancer patients trusted AIMs in both stages of diagnosis and treatment, and participants who had heard of AIMs were more likely to trust them in the diagnosis phase. When an AIM's diagnosis diverged from a human doctor' s, ethnic minorities, and those who had received traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), had never received chemotherapy, were more likely to choose "AIM", and when an AIM's therapeutic advice diverged from a human doctor's, male participants, and those who had received TCM or surgery, were more likely to choose "AIM". Conclusion: Most Chinese cancer patients believed in the AIM to some extent. Nevertheless, most still thought that oncology physicians were more trustworthy when their opinions diverged. Participants' gender, race, treatment received, and AIM related knowledge might influence their attitudes toward the AIM. Most participants thought AIM would assist oncology physicians in the future, while little really believed that oncology physicians would completely be replaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]