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Adopting highly sensitive multivariate electroencephalography (EEG) and alpha‐band decoding analyses, the present study investigated proactive and reactive language control during bilingual language production. In a language‐switching task, Chinese–English bilinguals were asked to name pictures based on visually presented cues. EEG and alpha‐band decoding accuracy associated with switch and non‐switch trials were used as indicators for inhibition over the non‐target language. Multivariate EEG decoding analyses showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 but not in L2, was above chance level shortly after cue onset. In addition, alpha‐band decoding results showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 rose above chance level in an early time window and a late time window locked to the stimulus. Together, these asymmetric patterns of decoding accuracy indicate that both proactive and reactive attentional control over the dominant L1 are exerted during bilingual word production, with a possibility of overlap between two control mechanisms. We addressed theoretical implications based on these findings for bilingual language control models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a major threat to human health, and it is the second leading cause of long-term disability and death in the world. Impaired cerebral perfusion leads to acute hypoxia and glucose deficiency, which in turn induces a stroke cascade response that ultimately leads to cell death. Screening and identifying hypoxia-related genes (HRGs) and therapeutic targets is important for neuroprotection before and during brain recanalization to protect against injury and extend the time window to further improve functional outcomes before pharmacological and mechanical thrombolysis. First, we downloaded the GSE16561 and GSE58294 datasets from the NCBI GEO database. Bioinformatics analysis of the GSE16561 dataset using the limma package identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in ischemic stroke using adj. p. values < 0.05 and a fold change of 0.5 as thresholds. The Molecular Signature database and Genecards database were pooled to obtain hypoxia-related genes. 19 HRGs associated with ischemic stroke were obtained after taking the intersection. LASSO regression and multivariate logistic regression were applied to identify critical biomarkers with independent diagnostic values. ROC curves were constructed to validate their diagnostic efficacy. We used CIBERSORT to analyze the differences in the immune microenvironment between IS patients and controls. Finally, we investigated the correlation between HRGs and infiltrating immune cells to understand molecular immune mechanisms better. Our study analyzed the role of HRGs in ischemic stroke. Nineteen hypoxia-related genes were obtained. Enrichment analysis showed that 19 HRGs were involved in response to hypoxia, HIF-1 signaling pathway, autophagy, autophagy of mitochondrion, and AMPK signaling pathway. Because of the good diagnostic properties of SLC2A3, we further investigated the function of SLC2A3 and found that it is closely related to immunity. We have also explored the relevance of other critical genes to immune cells. Our findings suggest that hypoxia-related genes play a crucial role in the diversity and complexity of the IS immune microenvironment. Exploring the association between hypoxia-related critical genes and immune cells provides innovative insights into the therapeutic targets for ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hydrocephalus is a severe complication of intracerebral hemorrhage with ventricular extension (ICH-IVH) and causes cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulation. The choroid plexus epithelium plays an important role in CSF secretion and constitutes the blood-CSF barrier within the brain-immune system interface. Although the NLRP3 inflammasome, as a key component of the innate immune system, promotes neuroinflammation, its role in the pathogenesis of hydrocephalus after hemorrhage has not been investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential mechanism of NLRP3 in hydrocephalus to discover a potential marker for targeted therapy.Methods: A rat model of hydrocephalus after ICH-IVH was developed through autologous blood infusion in wild-type and Nlrp3-/- rats. By studying the features and processes of the model, we investigated the relationship between the NLRP3 inflammasome and CSF hypersecretion in the choroid plexus.Results: The ICH-IVH model rats showed ventricular dilation accompanied by CSF hypersecretion for 3 days. Based on the choroid plexus RNA-seq and proteomics results, we found that an inflammatory response was activated. The NLRP3 inflammasome was investigated, and the expression levels of NLRP3 inflammasome components reached a peak at 3 days after ICH-IVH. Inhibition of NLRP3 by an MCC950 inflammasome inhibitor or Nlrp3 knockout decreased CSF secretion and ventricular dilation and attenuated neurological deficits after ICH-IVH. The mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effects of NLRP3 inhibition involved decreased phosphorylation of NKCC1, which is a major protein that regulates CSF secretion by altering Na+- and K+-coupled water transport, via MCC950 or Nlrp3 knockout. In combination with the in vitro experiments, this experiment confirmed the involvement of the NLRP3/p-NKCC1 pathway and Na+ and K+ flux.Conclusions: This study demonstrates that NKCC1 phosphorylation in the choroid plexus epithelium promotes NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated CSF hypersecretion and that NLRP3 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of hydrocephalus after hemorrhage. These findings provide a new therapeutic strategy for treating hydrocephalus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys, which have good mechanical properties and damping capacities, are considered as potential candidate materials in the industrial field. Nevertheless, fast corrosion is the main obstacle that seriously hinders its wide applications. Surface modification is an available method to avoid the contact between corrosive media and Mg substrates, thus extending the service life of Mg-based materials. Generally, manufacturing a dense and stable coating as physical barriers can effectively inhibit the corrosion of Mg substrates; however, in some complex service environments, physical barrier coating only may not satisfy the long-term service of Mg alloys. In this case, it is very important to endow the coating with suitable functional characteristics, such as superhydrophobic and self-healing properties. In this review, the various surface treatments reported are presented first, followed by the methods employed for developing superhydrophobic surfaces with micro/nanostructuring, and an overview of the various advanced self-healing coatings, devolved on Mg alloys in the past decade, is further summarized. The corresponding preparation strategies and protection mechanisms of functional coatings are further discussed. A potential research direction is also briefly proposed to help guide functional strategies and inspire further innovations. It is hoped that the summary of this paper will be helpful to the surface modification of Mg alloys and promote the further development of this emerging research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis, meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model. We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting, and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lignite–derived porous carbon was prepared with K 2 CO 3 as the activation agent. • The Sn/lignite–derived porous carbon composite was prepared via an easy process. • The composite remains a capacity of 573 mAh g−1 after 800 cycles at 1000 mA g−1. • The synergistic effect improves the electrochemical performance of the composite. To expand the variety of Sn/C composites, lignite–based porous carbon was initially prepared with Baoqing lignite as the raw material and K 2 CO 3 as the extractant and activator. A novel Sn/lignite–based porous carbon composite was subsequently fabricated via an in situ one–pot synthesis method. In the nanocomposite, Sn nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on lignite–based porous carbon, improving the lithium–ion storage performance of the as–prepared material. Compared with pure Sn and bare lignite–based porous carbon, Sn/lignite–based porous carbon displayed a superior electrochemical performance. The composite material exhibits a high reversible capacity of 941 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles at 100 mA g−1. Even after 800 charge/discharge cycles at a high current density of 1000 mA g−1, the nanocomposite retains a reversible capacity of 573 mAh g−1. The enhanced lithium–ion storage performance can be attributed to the combined effect of Sn and lignite–based porous carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common to increase the number of measurement points to improve the robustness of multipoint room equalization. However, the measurement of numerous points is extremely time-consuming and laborious. This letter analyzes the early reflections extracted from a large amount of room impulse responses using a K-means clustering algorithm, revealing that the spatial distribution of early reflections in the same cluster is not disorganized but regular and predictable. Furthermore, the results of the Monte Carlo simulation suggest that the appropriate selection of measurement positions can reduce the number of measurement points without compromising the robustness of multipoint room equalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postharvest treatment with nano-silver (NS) extends the longevity of many cut flowers, including carnation ( Dianthus caryophyllus L.). Its beneficial effects are generally attributed to the inhibition of bacterial growth in basal stem-ends. However, Ag + ions released from NS are also potential blockers of ethylene action. In the present study, we investigated the efficacy of NS pulse treatment, compared with conventional silver thiosulfate (STS) treatment, for alleviation the effects of exogenous ethylene on cut standard ‘Master’ carnation flowers. Cut carnations exposed to 5 or 10 μL L −1 ethylene for 12 h showed reduced vase life, inhibited flower opening, premature wilting, and petal discoloration, which markedly diminished their ornamental quality. A NS pulse treatment of 250 mg L −1 (2.3 mmol L −1 ) for 1 h prior to ethylene exposure reduced the inhibited flower opening and, thereby, prolonged the vase life. These effects were comparatively inferior in terms of flower opening and vase life extension to those obtained with a 1.0 mmol L −1 STS pulse for 1 h. However, without exogenous ethylene NS treatment was nearly as effective as STS treatment for enhancing flower opening and extending vase life. NS treated cut carnation stems (exposed to exogenous ethylene or not) also maintained higher relative fresh weight during the vase period than those treated with STS. The Ag concentration in the stem-ends of the NS-treated cut carnations was higher than that in those of STS-treated stems, and was also higher than that in other tissues. Moreover, Ag provided by NS also reached the receptacles, calyxes, and petals. Overall, NS pulse treatments enhanced the ornamental quality and extending the vase life of cut ‘Master’ carnation flowers by antagonizing the deleterious effects of ethylene and probably inhibiting the proliferation of bacteria at the cut stem-ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective detection of pathogens is of great importance for the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. We have proposed the novel RT-nestRPA technique for SARS-CoV-2 detection, which is a rapid RNA detection technique with ultra-high sensitivity. The RT-nestRPA technology has a sensitivity of 0.5 copies/uL of synthetic RNA targeting the ORF7a/7b/8 gene or 1 copy/uL synthetic RNA targeting the N gene of SARS-CoV-2. The entire detection process of RT-nestRPA only takes only 20 min, which is significantly shorter than RT-qPCR (nearly 100 min). Additionally, RT-nestRPA is capable of detecting dual genes of SARS-CoV-2 and human RPP30 simultaneously in one reaction tube. The excellent specificity of RT-nestRPA was verified by analyzing twenty-two SARS-CoV-2 unrelated pathogens. Furthermore, RT-nestRPA had great performance in detecting samples treated with cell lysis buffer without RNA extraction. The innovative double-layer reaction tube for RT-nestRPA can prevent aerosol contamination and simplify the reaction operation. Moreover, the ROC analysis revealed that RT-nestRPA had high diagnostic value (AUC = 0.98), while the AUC of RT-qPCR was 0.75. Our current findings suggested that RT-nestRPA could serve as a novel technology for nucleic acid detection of pathogens with rapid and ultrahigh sensitive features used in various medical application scenarios. [Display omitted] • RT-nestRPA can detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid as low as 0.5 copy/uL. • The time from RNA to result report was less than 20 min by RT-nestRPA. • RT-nestRPA has double-gene detection ability for pathogen and human genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of urban green space system, wetland parks have good ecological environment and various landscape resources, which play an irreplaceable role in adjusting the climate, beautifying the environment and maintaining regional ecological balance. Therefore, research on humidifying effect of wetland park is of great significance. Air humidity below the height of 1.5 m above various underlying surfaces was measured in Taiping Riparian Wetland Park of Shijiazhuang. Monitoring time was selected in October 10-12, 2012 and six days among September and October, 2013 which were sunny days without wind (or the speed of wind less than 0.2 m/s). By analyzing the basic distribution regularity of humidity from horizontal and vertical directions at different times in autumn days, humidifying effect of various types of plants could be summarized from the sampled data. The humidifying effect of arbor-grasses can strengthen with the increase of temperature. The humidifying effect is the strongest at 10:00-14:00, then, it weakens after noon and the reduction rate tends to be smaller. Second, the humidity above the height of 0.2 m changes at a small scale and is much lower than that close to ground, which reveals great effect of ground cover plants and soil moisture. According to the monitoring data below the height of 1.5 m, the humidifying effect of shrubs is stronger than that of arbor-grasses. Last, the humidifying effect of surfaces with different land covers from strong to weak are shrubs, arbor-grasses, river. The rational allocation on various types of wetlands with a wide variety of structures can improve the atmospheric environment more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How speaking two languages affects executive functions has been a long‐standing debate and the mechanisms underlying the observed cognitive advantages of bilingualism remain unspecified. Here, using multivariate pattern classification methods, we decoded spatial patterns of neural signals associated with Flanker task performance in mono‐dialectal and bi‐dialectal speakers of Chinese. While univariate approach to even‐related potentials (ERPs) showed no between‐group difference, decoding accuracy of ERPs was reduced in bi‐dialectal as compared to mono‐dialectal speakers in both congruent‐neutral and incongruent‐neutral classifications. There was no effect of bidialectalism, however, on decoding accuracy of alpha‐band oscillations, an electrophysiological index implicated in inhibition. Behavioural data analysed using the Drift Diffusion Model (DDM) showed facilitating effects of bidialectalism on non‐decision times but no effect on drift rates. These findings demonstrate that using two dialects on a daily basis enhances general attentional deployment rather than affecting specific component of executive functions such as inhibitory control. Given that the two dialects of Chinese differed almost exclusively in phonology, the bidialectalism effect was most likely motivated by resolving phonological competition at lexical processing level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: To understand the mechanisms leading to the enhanced chilling resistance of banana by hot-water dipping (HWD, 52 °C for 3 min), we investigated the effect of a 0.5-24 h delay between HWD and cold storage on chilling resistance and the change related to the metabolism of reactive oxygen species (ROS). RESULTS: The HWD-treated fruit with a delay of less than 6 h exhibited markedly less chilling injury than the non-heated control fruit, while a delay more than 6 h resulted in significant loss in chilling resistance. Increased hydrogen peroxide content and rate of superoxide radical production were detected in the fruit at 0.5-1.5 h after HWD treatment, and the levels declined with a longer delay, which may be correlated with the enhanced gene expression levels of the gene coding for a ROS-generating related enzyme, NADPH oxidase ( MaNOX). Enhanced activities and gene expression of an ascorbate peroxidase ( MaAPX) were recorded in the fruit at 1.5-6 h after the treatment, and after 6 h the ascorbate peroxidase levels decayed to the levels as the control fruit. The higher APX gene expression was maintained in the treated fruit with a 3 h delay during the subsequent cold storage at 7 °C, correlating with the enhanced chilling resistance. CONCLUSION: The HWD-treated fruit left at ambient temperature up to 6 h prior to cold storage maintained the effect of heat treatment and transiently increased ROS content, and the ascorbate peroxidase activity that occurred 0.5-6 h after the treatment may be correlated with the elevated chilling resistance induced by HWD treatment. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chinese flowering cabbage is one of the main leafy vegetables produced in China. They have a rapid leaf yellowing due to chlorophyll degradation after harvest that limits their marketing. In the present study, leaf senescence of the cabbages was manipulated by ethylene and 6-benzyl aminopurine (6-BA) treatment to investigate the correlation of leaf senescence and chlorophyll degradation related to gene expression/activities in the darkness. The patterns of several senescence associated markers, including a typical marker, the expression of senescence-associated gene SAG 12 , demonstrated that ethylene accelerated leaf senescence of the cabbages, while 6-BA retarded this progress. Similar to the trends of BrSAG 12 gene expression, strong activation in the expression of three chlorophyll degradation related genes, pheophytinase (BrPPH), pheophorbide a oxygenase (BrPAO) and red chlorophyll catabolite reductase (BrRCCR), was detected in ethylene treated and control leaves during the incubation, while no evident increase was recorded in 6-BA treated leaves. The overall dynamics of Mg-dechelatase activities in all treatments displayed increasing trends during the senescence process, and a delayed increase in the activities was observed for 6-BA treated leaves. However, chlorophyllase activity as well as the expression of BrChlase1 and BrChlase2 decreased with the incubation in all treatments. Taken together, the expression of BrPPH, BrPAO and BrRCCR, and the activity of Mg-dechelatase was closely associated with the chlorophyll degradation during the leaf senescence process in harvested Chinese flowering cabbages under dark conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Purpose: To determine whether prospective electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated delayed contrast-enhanced dual-source computed tomography (DCE-DSCT) can accurately delineate the extension of myocardial infarction (MI) compared with delayed enhanced cardiac MR (DE-MR). Material and methods: Eleven patients were examined using dual-source CT and cardiac MR in 2 weeks after a first reperfused MI. DCE-DSCT scan protocol was performed with prospective ECG-gating sequential scan model 7min after contrast administration. In a 17-model, infarcted myocardium detected by DE-MR was categorized as transmural and subendocardial extension. Segment of infarcted location and graded transmurality were compared between DCE-MDCT and DE-MR. Results: In all eleven patients, diagnostic quality was obtained for depicting delayed enhanced myocardium. Agreement between DCE-DSCT and MR was good on myocardial segment based comparison (kappa=0.85, p <0.001), and on transmural and subendocardial infarction type comparison (kappa=0.82, p <0.001, kappa=0.52, p <0.001, respectively). CT value was higher on infarcted region than that of normal region (100.02±9.57HU vs. 72.63±7.32HU, p <0.001). Radiation dose of prospectively ECG-gating protocol were 0.99±0.08mSv (0.82–1.19mSv). Conclusions: Prospective ECG-gated DCE-DSCT can accurately assess the extension and the patterns of myocardial infarction with low radiation dose. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The microwave permeability dispersion behaviors and microwave-absorbing properties for different shapes of Sendust particles prepared by vibrating ball milling at 35vol% in paraffin wax matrix have been investigated. The dispersion spectrum of permeability was calculated by the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation and Bruggeman’s effective medium theory. The calculated results are in agreement with the experiment data. According to the calculation results, the value of (μ 0−1)f r (μ 0 is static permeability, and f r is resonance frequency) for flake particle with larger aspect ratio reached 59.1GHz and exceeded the Snoek’s limit. Considering the quarter-wavelength model and transmission line theory, the microwave absorption peak was discussed. At the frequency range, the flake particle with larger aspect ratio can make a thinner absorber. It provides a way to decrease layer thickness of magnetic absorber. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We investigated the involvement of the actomyosin network in the early events of the gravitropic response of cut snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus L.) spikes. The effects of the actin-modulating drug, cytochalasin D (CD) and/or the myosin inhibitor, 2,3-butanedione-2-monoxime (BDM) on amyloplast displacement, lateral auxin transport and consequently on stem bending were examined. The inhibitory effect on cytoskeleton integrity was studied by using indirect immunofluorescence double-labeling of actin and myosin. Our results demonstrate that no organizational changes in actin filaments occurred in cortical and endodermal cells of the stem bending zone during reorientation. These results suggest that actin depolymerization is not required for amyloplast sedimentation. Unlike the chloroplasts in the cortex, the amyloplasts in the endodermis were surrounded by actin and myosin, indicating that amyloplasts may be attached to the actin filaments via the motor protein, myosin. This suggests the involvement of myosin as part of the actomyosin complex in amyloplast movement in vertical as well as in reoriented stems. This suggestion was supported by the findings showing that: (a) BDM or CD disrupted the normal organization of actin either by altering characteristic distribution patterns of myosin-like protein in the cortex (BDM), or by causing actin fragmentation (CD); (b) both compounds inhibited the gravity-induced amyloplast displacement in the endodermis. Additionally, these compounds also inhibited lateral auxin transport across the stem and stem gravitropic bending. Our study suggests that during stem reorientation amyloplasts possibly remain attached to the actin filaments, using myosin as a motor protein. Thus, gravisensing and early transduction events in the gravitropic response of snapdragon spikes, manifested by amyloplast displacement and lateral auxin transport, are mediated by the actomyosin complex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: To compare image quality, diagnostic accuracy and radiation dose of prospective and retrospective electrocardiogram (ECG) gated dual source computed tomography (DSCT) for the evaluation of the coronary stent, using conventional coronary angiography (CA) as a standard reference. Design, setting and patients: Sixty patients (heart rates ≤70bpm) with previous stent implantation who were scheduled for CA were divided in two groups, receiving either prospective or retrospective ECG gated DSCT separately. Two reviewers scored coronary stent image quality and evaluated stent lumen. Results: There was no significant difference in image quality between the two groups. In the prospective group, there were 86.4% (51/59) stents with interpretable images, in the retrospective group, there were 87.5% (49/56) stents with interpretable images. Image quality was not influenced by age, body mass index or heart rate in either group, but heart rate variability had a weak impact on the image quality of the prospective group. Image noise was higher in the prospective group, but this difference reached statistical significance only by using a smooth kernel reconstruction. Per-stent based sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value were 100%, 84.1%, 68.2%, and 100%, respectively, in the prospective CT angiography group and 94.4%, 86.8%, 77.3%, and 97.1%, respectively, in the retrospective CT angiography group. There was a significant difference in the effective radiation dose between the two groups, mean effective dose in the prospective and retrospective group was 2.2±0.5mSv (1.5–3.2mSv) and 14.6±3.3mSv (10.0–20.4mSv) (p <.001) respectively. Conclusions: Compared with retrospective CT angiography, prospective CT angiography has a similar performance in assessing coronary stent patency, but a lower effective dose in selected patients with regular heart rates ≤70bpm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The microtubule reorientation during the gravitropic bending of cut snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus L.) spikes was investigated. Using indirect immunofluorescence methods, we examined changes in microtubule orientation in the cortex, endodermis and pith tissues of the shoot bending zone, in response to gravistimulation. Our results show that dense microtubule arrays were visible throughout the cortical, endodermal and pith shoot tissues, and that the transverse orientation of the microtubules (perpendicular to the growth axis) was specifically associated with the shoot growing bending zone. Microtubules showed gravity-induced kinetics of changes in their orientation, which occurred only in the upper stem flank and preceded shoot bending. While this observation, that the gravity-induced microtubule orientation precedes bending, was previously reported only in special above-ground organs such as coleoptiles and hypocotyls, our present study is the first to show that such patterns of change occur in mature flowering shoots. These changes were exhibited first in the upper flank of the cortex and then in the upper flank of the endodermis. No changes in microtubule orientation were observed in the cortex or endodermis tissues of the lower flanks or in the pith, suggesting that these tissues continue to grow during shoot gravistimulation. Our results imply that microtubules may be involved in growth cessation of the upper shoot flank occurring during the gravitropic bending of snapdragon cut spikes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Postharvest browning of litchi fruit pericarp is a major problem, resulting in accelerated shelf life and reduced commercial value of the fruit. The browning was generally thought to be a rapid degradation of red pigments caused by polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD). This work is conducted to understand the role of POD in anthocyanin degradation in litchi pericarp, which is less understood than PPO. POD activity in the pericarp increased consistently with skin browning index during storage of litchi fruit, but was negatively associated with anthocyanin concentration. Although POD cannot directly oxidize litchi anthocyanin in the presence of H2O2 in vitro, the anthocyanin content decreased rapidly after the addition of guaiacol solution, which indicated that the anthocyanin degradation by POD exhibited a coupled oxidation mechanism. Furthermore, anthocyanidin, produced by hydrolysis of the purified anthocyanin, could act as a substrate of POD. Thus, enzymatic browning of litchi fruit pericarp caused by POD may involve an anthocyanase–anthocyanin–phenolic–H2O2 reaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Litchi fruit peel anthocyanins were extracted with 0.5 M HCl, and then purified by an Amberlite XAD-7 column and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The major part of the anthocyanins of litchi pericarp, which (94.3% of total), was obtained. Furthermore, the partially purified anthocyanin was identified as cyanindin-3-rutinoside, with a molecular weight of 595, using HPLC equipped with mass spectrometry. The results corroborate the previous observation of Zhang, Pang, Ji, and Jiang (2001 Food Chemistry, 75, 217–221), who suggested that nonenzymatic degradation of anthocyanins could participate in postharvest browning of litchi pericarp. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The mature longan fruit (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) is small (ca. 1.5–2 cm diameter), conical, heart-shaped or spherical in shape and light brown in colour. It has a thin, leathery and indehiscent pericarp surrounding a succulent, edible white aril. The aril contains a relatively large dark brown seed. Maturity can be determined on the basis of fruit weight, skin colour, flesh sugar concentration, flesh acid concentration, sugar:acid ratio, flavour and/or days from anthesis. Longan fruit are non-climacteric with little change in soluble solids concentration (SSC) or titratable acidity (TA) after harvest. Longan fruit deteriorate rapidly unless proper handling techniques are employed. The major factors reducing the storage life and marketability of longan fruit are microbial decay and pericarp browning. Low temperature storage at 1–5 °C is used to reduce pathological decay, but has a only limited role in reducing pericarp browning. Moreover, the fruit deteriorate rapidly when removed from cold storage. Under refrigeration, longan fruit have a storage life of approximately 30 days. Pulp quality and disease development are generally stable during cold storage until such time as fruit become visually unacceptable from pericarp browning. Sulfur dioxide fumigation has been the most effective postharvest treatment for control of pericarp browning in longan fruit, and is used extensively in commercial situations at present. However, there is increasing consumer and regulatory resistance to the use of this chemical. Insect disinfestation has become increasingly important with the expanding export market. Irradiation and heat treatments for insect disinfestation of longan fruit have been found to be alternatives to treatment with insecticides. Recent research has focused on reducing these major postharvest problems in order to produce light-coloured, chemical-free fruit without disease or insect infestation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The thymus is the primary immune organ responsible for generating self‐tolerant and immunocompetent T cells. However, the thymus gradually involutes during early life resulting in declined naïve T‐cell production, a process known as age‐related thymic involution. Thymic involution has many negative impacts on immune function including reduced pathogen resistance, high autoimmunity incidence, and attenuated tumor immunosurveillance. Age‐related thymic involution leads to a gradual reduction in thymic cellularity and thymic stromal microenvironment disruption, including loss of definite cortical‐medullary junctions, reduction of cortical thymic epithelial cells and medullary thymic epithelial cells, fibroblast expansion, and an increase in perivascular space. The compromised thymic microenvironment in aged individuals substantially disturbs thymocyte development and differentiation. Age‐related thymic involution is regulated by many transcription factors, micro RNAs, growth factors, cytokines, and other factors. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of age‐related thymic involution mechanisms and effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many acoustic applications adopt the common-acoustical-pole and zero model while only the common acoustical poles (CAP) are needed. This paper proposes a direct method to estimate CAP solely. An approach to determine the orders of poles and zeros based on likelihood function and corrected Akaike information criterion is also given. Simulation results reveal that the estimated poles agree well with the theoretical ones. Besides, the proposed method is further evaluated with vast measured room impulse responses (RIRs) and the results show that the proposed method can accurately extract the common features of several measured RIRs. Furthermore, the result of the Monte Carlo simulation suggests that the proposed method has strong robustness against RIRs variations, and proves that the accuracy of the proposed method in estimating common poles is not a coincidence caused by special selection of measurement positions, but an inherent property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When bilinguals intend to speak in their first (L1) or second language (L2) according to the environment, a brain network involving cortical-subcortical regions is recruited to resolve cross-language interference. Research has found that the activation of these brain regions varies with language contexts. However, previous studies have not yet examined adaptive changes in the interactions of brain regions for different language contexts. To address this gap, we adopted extended unified structural equation modeling (euSEM) to identify the connectivity patterns of the bilingual control network. Twenty-one unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals were instructed to name pictures in L1-single, L2-single, and dual-language contexts while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that unbalanced bilinguals relied on a more functional integrated brain network, which was reflected by clearer core-periphery structures and increased global efficiency, in dual-language and L2-single contexts compared to L1-single context. Furthermore, the pattern of brain connectivity in the dual-language context was more similar to that in the L1-single context than the L2-single context. More importantly, we found more similarities between the connectivity patterns of dual-language and L1-single contexts in bilinguals with lower inhibitory control abilities. These findings provide the first connectivity evidence for the effect of language context on the bilingual language control network, which inhibits the base language and underpins bilinguals' change along the monolingual-bilingual mode continuum. • Brain network for bilingual language control adapts to distinct language contexts. • A more integrated brain network was recruited in dual-language and L2 contexts. • Unbalanced bilinguals took L1 as the base language in dual-language context. • Higher inhibitory ability, stronger contextual suppression on the base language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• SnS/reduced graphene oxide@Cu was prepared via a two-step synthetic strategy. • The introduction of Cu inhibits the volume change of SnS/reduced graphene oxide. • The reversible capacity of the nanocomposite is 710 mAh g−1 after 640 cycles. • The synergistic effect enhances the electrochemical performance of the composite. SnS/reduced graphene oxide@Cu nanocomposite has been fabricated via a two-step synthetic strategy. In the composite material, most of SnS nanoplates are embedded in reduced graphene oxide. Partial SnS nanoplates exposed on the surface of reduced graphene oxide, have been largely coated with Cu nanoparticles. As a result, the nanocomposite has demonstrated high reversible lithium storage. After 640 cycles at 100 mA g−1, the composite remains a reversible capacity of 710 mAh g−1. The results from the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy suggest that the introduction of Cu can reduce the transfer resistance of the electrode and the enhanced lithium storage properties can be attributed to the synergistic effect of SnS, reduced graphene oxide and Cu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the main method to detect human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression levels. However, IHC is invasive and cannot reflect HER2 expression status in real time. The aim of this study was to construct and verify three types of radiomics models based on 18F-fuorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging and to evaluate the predictive ability of these radiomics models for the expression status of HER2 in patients with gastric cancer (GC). Patients and Methods: A total of 118 patients with GC were enrolled in this study. 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging was performed prior to surgery. The LIFEx software package was applied to extract PET and CT radiomics features. The minimum absolute contraction and selection operator (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator [LASSO]) algorithm was used to select the best radiomics features. Three machine learning methods, logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF) models, were constructed and verified. The Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) was applied to address data imbalance. Results: In the training and test sets, the area under the curve (AUC) values of the LR, SVM, and RF models were 0.809, 0.761, 0.861 and 0.628, 0.993, 0.717, respectively, and the Brier scores were 0.118, 0.214, and 0.143, respectively. Among the three models, the LR and RF models exhibited extremely good prediction performance. The AUC values of the three models significantly improved after SMOTE balanced the data. Conclusions:18F-FDG PET/CT-based radiomics models, especially LR and RF models, demonstrate good performance in predicting HER2 expression status in patients with GC and can be used to preselect patients who may benefit from HER2-targeted therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of 1-d 68Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG (2-deoxy-2[18F]fluoro-d-glucose) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for detecting ovarian cancer recurrence and metastasis. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two patients who underwent 18F-FDG and 68Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT were divided into 1- and 2-d groups. Image acquisition, injection time, and total waiting time were compared. For the 68Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT scans, low-dose CT scans and low injection dosages were employed, and total radiation dose was assessed for both protocols. The comparative analysis included assessment of patient-based detection rates and lesion-based diagnostic efficacy. Results: The total waiting time was significantly shorter in the 1-d group than in the 2-d group (p = 0.000). The radiation doses stemming from internal radiation and external radiation between the groups showed no differences (p = 0.151 vs. 0.716). In the patient-based analysis, the detection rates for local recurrence, peritoneal, lymph node, and other metastases were not significantly different in both protocols (p ∈ [0.351, 1.000]). For the lesion-based analysis, no differences were noted in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy (p ∈ [0.371, 1.000]). Conclusions: The 1-d PET/CT protocol reduced waiting time and exhibited equivalent detectability compared with the 2-d protocol, suggesting its clinical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brunfelsia calycina flowers lose anthocyanins rapidly and are therefore well suited for the study of anthocyanin degradation mechanisms, which are unclear in planta. Here, we isolated an anthocyanin-β-glycosidase from B. calycina petals. The MS/MS (Mass Spectrometry) peptide sequencing showed that the enzyme (72 kDa) was a β-xylosidase (BcXyl). The enzyme showed high activity to p-Nitrophenyl-β-d-galactopyranoside (pNPGa) and p-Nitrophenyl-β-d-xylopyranoside (pNPX), while no activity to p-Nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside (pNPG) or p-Nitrophenyl-β-D-mannopyranoside (pNPM) was seen. The optimum temperature of BcXyl was 40 °C and the optimum pH was 5.0. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by 1 mM D-gluconate and Ag+. HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis showed that BcXyl catalyzed the degradation of an anthocyanin component of B. calycina, and the release of xylose and galactose due to hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds by BcXyl was detected by GC (Gas Chromatography) /MS. A full-length mRNA sequence (2358 bp) of BcXyl (NCBI No. MK411219) was obtained and the deduced protein sequence shared conserved domains with two anthocyanin-β-glycosidases (Bgln and BadGluc, characterized in fungi). BcXyl, Bgln and BadGluc belong to AB subfamily of Glycoside hydrolase family 3. Similar to BcPrx01, an anthocyanin-degradation-related Peroxidase (POD), BcXyl was dramatically activated at the stage at which the rapid anthocyanin degradation occurred. Taken together, we suggest that BcXyl may be the first anthocyanin-β-glycosidase identified in higher plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilingual language experience, such as switching between languages, has been shown to shape both cognitive and neural mechanisms of non-linguistic cognitive control. However, the neural adaptations induced by language switching remain unclear. Using fMRI, the current study examined the impact of short-term language switching training on the neural network of domain-general cognitive control for unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. Effective connectivity maps were constructed by using the extended unified structural equation models (euSEM) within 10 common brain regions involved in both language control and domain-general cognitive control. Results showed that, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/pre-supplementary motor area (dACC/pre-SMA) lost connection from the right thalamus after training, suggesting that less neural connectivity was required to complete the same domain-general cognitive control task. These findings not only provide direct evidence for the modulation of language switching training on the neural interaction of domain-general cognitive control, but also have important implications for revealing the potential neurocognitive adaptation effects of specific bilingual language experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adults. Standard treatment includes chemoimmunotherapy with R-CHOP or similar regimens. Despite treatment advancements, many patients with DLBCL experience refractory disease or relapse. While baseline 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) parameters have shown promise in predicting survival, they may not fully capture lesion heterogeneity. This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of baseline 18F-FDG PET radiomics features in comparison with clinical factors and metabolic parameters for assessing 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and 5-year overall survival (OS) in patients with DLBCL. Results: A total of 201 patients with DLBCL were enrolled in this study, and 1328 radiomics features were extracted. The radiomics signatures, clinical factors, and metabolic parameters showed significant prognostic value for individualized prognosis prediction in patients with DLBCL. Radiomics signatures showed the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC) value and highest Harrell's concordance index (C-index) value in comparison with clinical factors and metabolic parameters for both PFS (AIC: 571.688 vs. 596.040 vs. 576.481; C-index: 0.732 vs. 0.658 vs. 0.702, respectively) and OS (AIC: 339.843 vs. 363.671 vs. 358.412; C-index: 0.759 vs. 0.667 vs. 0.659, respectively). Statistically significant differences were observed in the area under the curve (AUC) values between the radiomics signatures and clinical factors for both PFS (AUC: 0.768 vs. 0.681, P = 0.017) and OS (AUC: 0.767 vs. 0.667, P = 0.023). For OS, the AUC of the radiomics signatures were significantly higher than those of metabolic parameters (AUC: 0.767 vs. 0.688, P = 0.007). However, for PFS, no significant difference was observed between the radiomics signatures and metabolic parameters (AUC: 0.768 vs. 0.756, P = 0.654). The combined model and the best-performing individual model (radiomics signatures) alone showed no significant difference for both PFS (AUC: 0.784 vs. 0.768, P = 0.163) or OS (AUC: 0.772 vs. 0.767, P = 0.403). Conclusions: Radiomics signatures derived from PET images showed the high predictive power for progression in patients with DLBCL. The combination of radiomics signatures, clinical factors, and metabolic parameters may not significantly improve predictive value beyond that of radiomics signatures alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well accepted that blood flow in the human aorta is spiral by nature, with beneficial impacts for the cardiovascular system in the form of improved haemodynamics and efficient perfusion. This study investigates the effect of aortic spiral blood flow on wall shear stress (WSS) in computer-generated models of the left main trunk (LMT), also known as left main coronary artery, with varying take-off angle, stenosis severity and eccentricity. The results show that the spirality effect causes a substantial reduction in maximum WSS (WSSmax), average WSS (WSSave) and size of regions with low WSS. The effects of spiral flow on WSSmax become more significant with increasing LMT take-off angle and stenosis eccentricity, and they become less significant with increasing stenosis severity. The aortic spiral blood flow intensity, LMT take-off angle, stenosis severity and eccentricity statistically significantly predict the WSS; however, the strongest predictor of WSS is stenosis severity (F(4, 399) = 3653.85, p < 0.001 for WSSmax and F(4, 399) = 913.46, p < 0.001 for WSSave), followed by LMT take-off angle (F(4, 399) = 582.735, p < 0.001 for WSSmax and F(4, 399) = 163.16, p < 0.001 for WSSave), stenosis eccentricity (F(4, 399) = 230.15, p < 0.001 for WSSmax and F(4, 399) = 52.94, p < 0.001 for WSSave) and blood flow spirality (F(4, 399) = 112.37, p < 0.001 for WSSmax and F(4, 399) = 32.18, p < 0.001 for WSSave). Our findings suggest that naturally or artificially induced spiral flow in the aorta potentially has atheroprotective effects in the LMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy has greatly changed the treatment prospects of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Among the available ICI therapy strategies, programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) inhibitors are the most widely used worldwide. At present, immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the main method to detect PD-L1 expression levels in clinical practice. However, given that IHC is invasive and cannot reflect the expression of PD-L1 dynamically and in real time, it is of great clinical significance to develop a new noninvasive, accurate radiomics method to evaluate PD-L1 expression levels and predict and filter patients who will benefit from immunotherapy. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess the predictive power of pretherapy [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT)-based radiomics features for PD-L1 expression status in patients with NSCLC. Methods: A total of 334 patients with NSCLC who underwent [18F]FDG PET/CT imaging prior to treatment were analyzed retrospectively from September 2016 to July 2021. The LIFEx7.0.0 package was applied to extract 63 PET and 61 CT radiomics features. In the training group, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model was employed to select the most predictive radiomics features. We constructed and validated a radiomics model, clinical model and combined model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the three models in the training group and validation group. In addition, a radiomics nomogram to predict PD-L1 expression status was established based on the optimal predictive model. Results: Patients were randomly assigned to a training group (n = 233) and a validation group (n = 101). Two radiomics features were selected to construct the radiomics signature model. Multivariate analysis showed that the clinical stage (odds ratio [OR] 1.579, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.220–0.703, P < 0.001) was a significant predictor of different PD-L1 expression statuses. The AUC of the radiomics model was higher than that of the clinical model in the training group (0.706 vs. 0.638) and the validation group (0.761 vs. 0.640). The AUCs in the training group and validation group of the combined model were 0.718 and 0.769, respectively. Conclusion: PET/CT-based radiomics features demonstrated strong potential in predicting PD-L1 expression status and thus could be used to preselect patients who may benefit from PD-1/PD-L1-based immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fruit of Litchi chinensis contains high levels of proanthocyanidins (PAs) in the pericarp. These substances can serve as substrates of laccase-mediated rapid pericarp browning after the fruit is harvested. In this study, we found that the major PAs in litchi pericarp were (−)-epicatechin (EC) and several procyanidins (PCs), primarily PC A2, B2, and B1, and the EC and the PC content decreased with the development of the fruit. RNA-seq analysis showed that 43 early and late structure genes related to flavonoid/PA biosynthesis were expressed in the pericarp, including five ANTHOCYANIDIN REDUCTASE (ANR), two LEUCOANTHOCYANIDIN REDUCTASE (LAR), and two ANTHOCYANIDIN SYNTHASE (ANS) genes functioning in the PA biosynthesis branch of the flavonoid pathway. Among these nine PA biosynthesis-related genes, ANR1a, LAR1/2, and ANS1 were highly positively correlated with changes in the EC/PC content, suggesting that they are the key PA biosynthesis-related genes. Several transcription factor (TF) genes, including MYB, bHLH, WRKY, and AP2 family members, were found to be highly correlated with ANR1a, LAR1/2, and ANS1, and their relevant binding elements were detected in the promoters of these target genes, strongly suggesting that these TF genes may play regulatory roles in PA biosynthesis. In summary, this study identified the candidate key structure and regulatory genes in PA biosynthesis in litchi pericarp, which will assist in understanding the accumulation of high levels of browning-related PA substances in the pericarp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: The atrium septum is tilted in heart. There is an angle between atrium septum and the cross section of body, which is called tilt angles of atrium septum (TAAS) in this study, however this angle has not been specifically mentioned in literatures. In this article TAAS was measured and analysed on axial images of contrast enhanced magnetic resonance (CEMR) of normal heart in order to understand quantitatively and accurately the anatomical structure of heart and to supply anatomical basic for some relevant operation. Method: In this article 180 cases of axial images of CEMR of healthy hearts without any organic or functional heart disease were adopted, TAAS were measured and analysed statistically. Results: On axial images of CEMR of healthy hearts the normal range of TAAS is from 12.43° to 55.60°, the average±SD is 34.36±6.92°, they are independent of sex and age as well as the position of heart, the distribution is relatively concentrated, the individual difference is rather small. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recent studies have confirmed that chlorophyllase (CLH), a long-found chlorophyll (Chl) dephytylation enzyme for initiating Chl catabolism, has no function in leaf senescence-related Chl breakdown. Yet, CLH is considered to be involved in fruit degreening and responds to external and hormonal stimuli. The purpose of this work was to elucidate in detail the biochemical, structural properties, and gene expression of four CLHs from the Solanum lycopersicum genome so as to understand the roles of Solanum lycopersicum chlorophyllases (SlCLHs). SlCLH1/4 were the predominantly expressed CLH genes during leaf and fruit development/ripening stages, and SlCLH1 in mature green fruit was modulated by light. SlCLH1/2/3/4 contained a highly conserved GHSXG lipase motif and a Ser-Asp-His catalytic triad. We identified Ser159, Asp226, and His258 as the essential catalytic triad by site-directed mutagenesis in recombinant SlCLH1. Kinetic analysis of the recombinant enzymes revealed that SlCLH1 had high hydrolysis activities against Chl a, Chl b, and pheophytin a (Phein a), but preferred Chl a and Chl b over Phein a; SlCLH2/3 only showed very low activity to Chl a and Chl b, while SlCLH4 showed no Chl dephytylation activity. The recombinant SlCLH1/2/3 had different pH stability and temperature optimum. Removal of the predicted N-terminal processing peptide caused a partial loss of activity in recombinant SlCLH1/2 but did not compromise SlCLH3 activity. These different characteristics among SlCLHs imply that they may have different physiological functions in tomato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study assesses the diagnostic performance of 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary, recurrent, and metastatic ovarian cancer.Seventy-nine ovarian cancer patients who performed 68Ga-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG PET/CT were recruited. The target-to-background ratio (TBR), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), the number of positive lesions, visual assessment, the peritoneal cancer index (PCI) score, staging/restaging, and treatment strategies were compared from the corresponding PET/CT. Additionally, we analyzed and contrasted the diagnostic efficacy in both scans.Among all patients, 6 were assessed for initial assessment and 73 for recurrence and metastasis detection. For all lesions, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated greater TBR than 18F-FDG PET/CT. 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated higher sensitivity for peritoneal metastases including patient-based and lesion-based analysis (95.00% vs. 83.33%, P = 0.065; 90.16% vs. 60.66%, P < 0.001) and a higher PCI score [median PCI: 6 (4, 12) vs. 4 (2, 8), P < 0.001]. According to the visual assessment, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET revealed larger extent metastases in 55.93% (33/59) of the patients with peritoneal metastases. 68Ga-FAPI-04 was upstaged in 7 patients (8.86%, 7/79) and discrepancies in both scans caused treatment strategies to change in 11 patients (13.92%, 11/79).68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT outperforms 18F-FDG PET/CT in identifying metastases and can be a potential supplement for managing ovarian cancer patients.Methods: This study assesses the diagnostic performance of 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary, recurrent, and metastatic ovarian cancer.Seventy-nine ovarian cancer patients who performed 68Ga-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG PET/CT were recruited. The target-to-background ratio (TBR), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), the number of positive lesions, visual assessment, the peritoneal cancer index (PCI) score, staging/restaging, and treatment strategies were compared from the corresponding PET/CT. Additionally, we analyzed and contrasted the diagnostic efficacy in both scans.Among all patients, 6 were assessed for initial assessment and 73 for recurrence and metastasis detection. For all lesions, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated greater TBR than 18F-FDG PET/CT. 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated higher sensitivity for peritoneal metastases including patient-based and lesion-based analysis (95.00% vs. 83.33%, P = 0.065; 90.16% vs. 60.66%, P < 0.001) and a higher PCI score [median PCI: 6 (4, 12) vs. 4 (2, 8), P < 0.001]. According to the visual assessment, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET revealed larger extent metastases in 55.93% (33/59) of the patients with peritoneal metastases. 68Ga-FAPI-04 was upstaged in 7 patients (8.86%, 7/79) and discrepancies in both scans caused treatment strategies to change in 11 patients (13.92%, 11/79).68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT outperforms 18F-FDG PET/CT in identifying metastases and can be a potential supplement for managing ovarian cancer patients.Results: This study assesses the diagnostic performance of 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary, recurrent, and metastatic ovarian cancer.Seventy-nine ovarian cancer patients who performed 68Ga-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG PET/CT were recruited. The target-to-background ratio (TBR), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), the number of positive lesions, visual assessment, the peritoneal cancer index (PCI) score, staging/restaging, and treatment strategies were compared from the corresponding PET/CT. Additionally, we analyzed and contrasted the diagnostic efficacy in both scans.Among all patients, 6 were assessed for initial assessment and 73 for recurrence and metastasis detection. For all lesions, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated greater TBR than 18F-FDG PET/CT. 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated higher sensitivity for peritoneal metastases including patient-based and lesion-based analysis (95.00% vs. 83.33%, P = 0.065; 90.16% vs. 60.66%, P < 0.001) and a higher PCI score [median PCI: 6 (4, 12) vs. 4 (2, 8), P < 0.001]. According to the visual assessment, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET revealed larger extent metastases in 55.93% (33/59) of the patients with peritoneal metastases. 68Ga-FAPI-04 was upstaged in 7 patients (8.86%, 7/79) and discrepancies in both scans caused treatment strategies to change in 11 patients (13.92%, 11/79).68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT outperforms 18F-FDG PET/CT in identifying metastases and can be a potential supplement for managing ovarian cancer patients.Conclusion: This study assesses the diagnostic performance of 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary, recurrent, and metastatic ovarian cancer.Seventy-nine ovarian cancer patients who performed 68Ga-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG PET/CT were recruited. The target-to-background ratio (TBR), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), the number of positive lesions, visual assessment, the peritoneal cancer index (PCI) score, staging/restaging, and treatment strategies were compared from the corresponding PET/CT. Additionally, we analyzed and contrasted the diagnostic efficacy in both scans.Among all patients, 6 were assessed for initial assessment and 73 for recurrence and metastasis detection. For all lesions, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated greater TBR than 18F-FDG PET/CT. 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT demonstrated higher sensitivity for peritoneal metastases including patient-based and lesion-based analysis (95.00% vs. 83.33%, P = 0.065; 90.16% vs. 60.66%, P < 0.001) and a higher PCI score [median PCI: 6 (4, 12) vs. 4 (2, 8), P < 0.001]. According to the visual assessment, 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET revealed larger extent metastases in 55.93% (33/59) of the patients with peritoneal metastases. 68Ga-FAPI-04 was upstaged in 7 patients (8.86%, 7/79) and discrepancies in both scans caused treatment strategies to change in 11 patients (13.92%, 11/79).68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT outperforms 18F-FDG PET/CT in identifying metastases and can be a potential supplement for managing ovarian cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listeners regularly comprehend continuous speech despite noisy conditions. Previous studies show that neural tracking of speech degrades under noise, predicts comprehension, and increases for non-native listeners. We test the hypothesis that listeners similarly increase tracking for both L2 and noisy L1 speech, after adjusting for comprehension. Twenty-four Chinese-English bilinguals underwent EEG while listening to one hour of an audiobook, mixed with three levels of noise, in Mandarin and English and answered comprehension questions. We estimated tracking of the speech envelope in EEG for each one-minute segment using the multivariate temporal response function (mTRF). Contrary to our prediction, L2 tracking was significantly lower than L1, while L1 tracking significantly increased with noise maskers without reducing comprehension. However, greater L2 proficiency was positively associated with greater L2 tracking. We discuss how studies of speech envelope tracking using noise and bilingualism might be reconciled through a focus on exerted rather than demanded effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an silver (Ag) plating with micro/nano-dendrite structures is prepared on the 304 stainless steel (SS304) surface by potentiostatic deposition (Ag/SS304). After being modified by n-dodecyl mercaptan (NDM) with the low surface energy, the obtained sample (NDM@Ag/SS304) exhibits stable superhydrophobicity and excellent hot-water repellency. The surface morphology and composition of NDM@Ag/SS304 are analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) characterization. The electrochemical measurements, tests of water contact angle (WCA), and interfacial contact resistance (ICR) are employed to systematically study the performance of the NDM@Ag/SS304 in the simulated cathode environment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The results show that the NDM@Ag/SS304 has high corrosion potential (~0.25 V) and low corrosion current density (~4.04 μA/cm2); after potentiostatic polarization (0.6 V, 5 h), the NDM@Ag/SS304 also shows high superhydrophobic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of applying prospectively ECG-triggered sequential coronary CT angiography (CCTA) to patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and evaluate the image quality and radiation dose compared with a retrospectively ECG-gated helical protocol. Methods: 100 patients with persistent AF were enrolled. Fifty patients were randomly assigned to a prospective protocol and the other patients to a retrospective protocol using a second-generation dual-source CT (DS-CT). Image quality was evaluated using a four-point grading scale (1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = moderate, 4 = poor) by two reviewers on a per-segment basis. The coronary artery segments were considered non-diagnostic with a quality score of 4. The radiation dose was evaluated. Results: Diagnostic segment rate in the prospective group was 99.4 % (642/646 segments), while that in the retrospective group was 96.5 % (604/626 segments) ( P < 0.001). Effective dose was 4.29 ± 1.86 and 11.95 ± 5.34 mSv for each of the two protocols ( P < 0.001), which was a 64 % reduction in the radiation dose for prospective sequential imaging compared with retrospective helical imaging. Conclusion: In AF patients, prospectively ECG-triggered sequential CCTA is feasible using second-generation DS-CT and can decrease >60 % radiation exposure compared with retrospectively ECG-gated helical imaging while improving diagnostic image quality. Key Points: • Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) can be difficult in patients with arrhythmias. • Prospectively ECG-triggered sequential CCTA is feasible in patients with atrial fibrillation. • Prospective sequential imaging can improve quality compared with retrospective analysis. • Prospective sequential imaging decreases radiation exposure by 64 % compared with retrospective mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: To explore feasibility of dual-source CT (DS-CT) prospective ECG-gated coronary angiography in patients with heart rate (HR) higher than 70beat per minute (bpm), and evaluate image quality and radiation dose with comparison to retrospective ECG-gated spiral scan. Materials and methods: One hundred patients who underwent DS-CT coronary angiography (DS-CTCA) with mean HR higher than 70bpm but below 110bpm were enrolled in the study, 50 were scanned by adaptive sequential scan and another 50 were analyzed by retrospectively gated CT scan. The imaging quality of coronary artery segments in the two groups was evaluated using a four-point grading scale by two independent reviewers. Patient radiation dose was calculated by multiplying dose length product by conversion coefficient of 0.017. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups for mean HR (p =0.305), HR variability (p =0.103), body mass index (p =0.472), and scan length (p =0.208). There was good agreement for image quality scoring between the two reviewers (Kappa =0.72). Coronary evaluability of adaptive sequential scan was 99.7% (608 of 610 segments), while that of retrospective gated scan was 98.7% (614 of 622 segments), showing similar coronary evaluability (p =0.061). Effective doses of adaptive sequential scan and retrospective gated scan were 5.1±1.6 and 11.8±4.5mSv, respectively (p <0.001), showing that adaptive sequential scan reduced radiation dose by 57% compared with that of retrospective gated scan. Conclusions: In patients with 70–110bpm HR, DS-CTCA adaptive sequential scan shows similar image quality as retrospective ECG-gated spiral scan with 57% reduction of radiation dose. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nanometer-sized silver (Ag+) particles (NS) are used in various applications as an anti-microbial. Effects of NS (2–5nm diam.) pulse solution treatments on vase life of cut gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) cv. Ruikou flowers were investigated. Compared with the control [pulsed with deionised water (DI) and subsequently held in DI] pulsing for 24h with 5mg/L NS solution followed by holding in DI maintained water uptake and extended vase life. From in vitro and microscopy assessments, NS pulse treatment inhibited bacteria growth in the vase solution and at cut stem ends during the first 2d of the vase period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Common ostium of the inferior pulmonary veins (PVs) is a kind of unusual variation in pulmonary venous drainage to the left atrium (LA), whose feature of anatomy, electrophysiology, and catheter ablation is rarely demonstrated, and the consecutive series of research for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with that anomaly have not been reported. Methods: A total of 1,226 patients with drug-refractory AF received magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) or multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scan before ablation. Electrophysiological mapping was used to detect the focal triggers in paroxysmal AF. Basic catheter ablation strategy was circumferential PV isolation with “tricircle” under the guidance of image integration system: two circles surround two superior PVs, and the other surround the common trunk. Results: LA and PVs reconstruction by image integration system showed a common pulmonary venous ostium of the right and left inferior PVs before ablation in 11 patients (0.9%). This anomaly could be classified into two types: type A without a short common trunk of inferior PVs and type B with a short common trunk. Fifty-seven percent paroxysmal AF was revealed focal triggers in the common ostium. The success rate of that strategy was 90%. Conclusion: Common ostium of inferior PVs could be classified into two types according to the presence of a short common trunk or not. The common ostium was usually an important triggering focus in paroxysmal AF. Catheter ablation strategy of circumferential PV isolation with “tricircle” under the guidance of image integration system would be a good choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differentiation of mature medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) is critical for the induction of central immune tolerance. Although the critical effect of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) in shaping mTEC differentiation has been studied, the regulatory role of mTORC2 in the differentiation and maturation of mTECs is poorly understood. We herein reported that TEC‐specific ablation of a rapamycin‐insensitive companion of mTOR (RICTOR), a key component of mTORC2, significantly decreased the thymus size and weight, the total cell number of TECs, and the cell number of mTECs with a smaller degree of reduced cortical thymic epithelial cells. Interestingly, RICTOR deficiency significantly accelerated the mTEC maturation process, as indicated by the increased ratios of mature mTECs (MHCIIhi, CD80+, and Aire+) to immature mTECs (MHCIIlo, CD80−, and Aire−) in Rictor‐deficient mice. The RNA‐sequencing assays showed that the upregulated nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) signaling pathway in Rictor‐deficient mTECs was one of the obviously altered pathways compared with wild‐type mTECs. Our studies further showed that Rictor‐deficient mTECs exhibited upregulated expression of receptor activator of NF‐κB (RANK) and lymphotoxin β receptor (LTβR), as well as increased activity of canonical and noncanonical NF‐κB signaling pathways as determined by ImageStream and Simple Western. Finally, our results showed that inhibition of NF‐κB signaling pathways could partially reverse the accelerated maturation of mTECs in Rictor conditional KO mice. Thus, mTORC2 negatively controls the kinetics of the mTEC maturation process by inhibiting the LTβR/RANK‐NF‐κB signal axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have examined the cognitive and neural mechanisms of bilingual language control, but few of them have captured the pattern information of brain activation. However, language control is a functional combination of both cognitive control and language production which demonstrates distinct patterns of neural representations under different language contexts. The first aim of the present study was to explore the brain activation patterns of language control using multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA). During the experiment, Chinese–English bilinguals were instructed to name pictures in either Chinese or English according to a visually presented cue while being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that patterns of neural activity in frontal brain regions including the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left inferior frontal gyrus, left supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral precentral gyri, and the left cerebellum reliably discriminated between switch and non-switch conditions. We then modeled causal interactions between these regions by applying effective connectivity analyses based on an extended unified structure equation model (euSEM). The results showed that frontal and fronto-cerebellar connectivity were key components of the language control network. These findings further reveal the engagement of the cognitive control network in bilingual language production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longan can be regarded as a distinct dry fruit with fleshly aril, whose pericarp browning may follow an unclear browning mechanism as dry fruits. Here, we integrated metabolome and transcriptome analysis, validated the function of the candidate metabolites and genes, to dissect the underlying mechanism. With the pericarp water content of longan fruit decreased from 51% to 20%, the pericarp completely turned brown after 8 days of storage at 25 ℃ and relative humidity 70%. Instead of the decline of soluble proanthocyanidins (PAs), such as (−)-epicatechin (EC), (+)-catechin (CT), and procyanidin A2/B2 etc., as well as lignin monomers, coniferyl alcohol (Con_A) and sinapyl alcohol (Sin_A), the contents of their polymers, insoluble PAs and lignin, increased. Gene expression of three Laccases (LAC14–4, 14–8, 7) and four Class III Peroxidase (PRX52–1, 52–2, 53–2, 4–15) were highly negatively correlated to metabolites EC and Con_A. Exogenously expressed LAC7 and LAC14–8, PRX4–15 and PRX52–1 could catalyze the polymerization and browning of EC, CT, Con_A or Sin_A in vitro. Compared to single substrate (EC or Con_A), the polymerization and browning were dramatically accelerated when double substrates (EC and Con_A) were present, by either LACs or PRXs. In addition, these LACs and PRXs were found to be located in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), correlated to their 'secretion protein' signal peptides. Based on these results, we propose that the water-loss in pericarp induces the polymerization reaction of PAs and lignin monomers mediated by LACs/PRXs, leading to the browning of longan pericarp. The hypothesis is distinct to the 'polyphenol oxidases-phenols' classical browning mechanism established for fleshly fruits. • PA and lignin monomers decrease during the water-loss triggered pericarp browning. • Polymerization of PAs and lignin leads to the longan pericarp browning. • LAC/PRXs mediate the polymerization reaction of PAs or lignin. • The polymerization reaction is enhanced when both EC and Con_A are present. • LAC/PRX-mediated browning in longan is distinct to the browning in fleshly fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the accumulation of partial discharge (PD) detection data from substation, case-based reasoning (CBR), which computes the match degree between detected PD data and historical case data provides new ideas for the interpretation and evaluation of partial discharge data. Aiming at the problem of partial discharge data matching, this paper proposes a data matching method based on a variational autoencoder (VAE). A VAE network model for partial discharge data is constructed to extract the deep eigenvalues. Cosine distance is then used to calculate the match degree between different partial discharge data. To verify the advantages of the proposed method, a partial discharge dataset was established through a partial discharge experiment and live detections on substation site. The proposed method was compared with other feature extraction methods and matching methods including statistical features, deep belief networks (DBN), deep convolutional neural networks (CNN), Euclidean distances, and correlation coefficients. The experimental results show that the cosine distance match degree based on the VAE feature vector can effectively detect similar partial discharge data compared with other data matching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research was to obtain the optimum gas compositions of controlled atmosphere (CA) for Chinese flowering cabbage stored at 10°C and to clarify the molecular mechanism of senescence during storage under two selected CA conditions. Two CA experiments were conducted. The first one was on low O2 (5% and 10%) and high CO2 (5% and 10%) combinations, and the second one was on air O2 (20.4%) and high CO2 (5%, 10%, 15%, 30%, and 45%) combinations. It was shown that CA2 (5% O2 + 10% CO2) achieved the best beneficial effects on cabbage quality among all the treatments. CA2 and CA7 (20.4% O2 + 15% CO2), significantly decreased the activities of Chlase and MDCase, and down‐regulated the transcript abundances of the BrChlase, BrPAO, BrRCCR, and BrSAG12. Practical applications: Rapid leaf yellowing and deterioration are the key problems limiting the shelf life and marketing of Chinese flowering cabbage. While CA2 treatment was highly effective in preventing stalks from losing turgor, delaying leaf yellowing, and maintained 78.3% of chlorophyll, 81.6% of ascorbic acid, 68.1% of soluble protein, and 85.4% of soluble sugar after 8 days of storage. The CA2 storage showed the best effect in blocking the transcription of BrRCCR, whereas CA7 showed the best effect in repressing the transcription of BrSAG12. These findings present favorable CA compositions for the postharvest storage and transportation of Chinese flowering cabbage and provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of senescence in this vegetable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the predictive power of pre-therapy 18F-FDG PET/CT-based radiomic features for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status in non-small cell lung cancer. Methods: Two hundred and forty-eight lung cancer patients underwent pre-therapy diagnostic 18F-FDG PET/CT scans and were tested for genetic mutations. The LIFEx package was used to extract 47 PET and 45 CT radiomic features reflecting tumor heterogeneity and phenotype. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm was used to select radiomic features and develop a radiomics signature. We compared the predictive performance of models established by radiomics signature, clinical variables, and their combinations using receiver operating curves (ROCs). In addition, a nomogram based on the radiomics signature score (rad-score) and clinical variables was developed. Results: The patients were divided into a training set (n = 175) and a validation set (n = 73). Ten radiomic features were selected to build the radiomics signature model. The model showed a significant ability to discriminate between EGFR mutation and EGFR wild type, with area under the ROC curve (AUC) equal to 0.79 in the training set, and 0.85 in the validation set, compared with 0.75 and 0.69 for the clinical model. When clinical variables and radiomics signature were combined, the AUC increased to 0.86 (95% CI [0.80–0.91]) in the training set and 0.87 (95% CI [0.79–0.95]) in the validation set, thus showing better performance in the prediction of EGFR mutations. Conclusion: The PET/CT-based radiomic features showed good performance in predicting EGFR mutation in non-small cell lung cancer, providing a useful method for the choice of targeted therapy in a clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For bilinguals, language control is needed for selecting the target language during language production. Numerous studies have examined the neural correlates of language control and shown a close relationship between language control and domain-general cognitive control. However, it remains unknown how these brain regions coordinate with each other when bilinguals exert cognitive control over linguistic and nonlinguistic representations. We addressed this gap using an extended unified structural equation modeling (euSEM) approach. Sixty-five Chinese-English bilinguals performed language switching and nonverbal switching tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. The results showed that language control was served by a cooperative brain network, including the frontal lobe, the parietal cortex, subcortical areas, and the cerebellum. More importantly, we found that language control recruited more subcortical areas and connections from frontal to subcortical areas compared with domain-general cognitive control, demonstrating a reconfigurable brain network. In addition, the reconfiguration efficiency of the brain network was mainly determined by general cognitive ability but was also mediated by second language (L2) proficiency. These findings provide the first data-driven connectivity model that specifies the brain network for language control in bilinguals and also shed light on the relationship between language control and domain-general cognitive control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel distributed and parallel self-assembly approach, which uses the lattice system as a systematic structure and homogeneous robots as shaping carriers to form a two-dimensional user-specified shape autonomously. Given a desired shape to be formed, the initial shape matches with it to execute the initialization of all individuals to allow each of them gets its location and status. Based on that, with the stratified mechanism, the macro-level behavior of large-scale group formation in swarm robotics is transformed to local formation action of individuals within the edge layers of the current aggregate, which makes complex shape formation possible. Then two motion-chains, a collection of individuals that have priority to move currently, are autonomously planning in parallel through local interaction and collaboration. Once all robots within a motion-chain are activated, each of them will move along the outer edge of the current aggregate orderly to fill the edge-filling layer efficiently. The motion-chains will be iteratively generated until the desired shape is formed. We evaluate the feasibility and scalability of this novel approach in simulation-based experiments, and implement the self-assembly algorithm on the Rubik robot, a hardware system developed in our lab. • A distributed stratified mechanism makes complex shape formation possible. • Proposing a self-assembly algorithm based on planning and execution of motion-chain. • Robots in two motion-chains fill into the desired shape in parallel efficiently. • Our approach is applied to implement the programmable self-assembly of 2-D shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]