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Adaptations are driven by specific natural selection pressures throughout biological evolution. However, these cannot inherently align with future shifts in selection dynamics, thus manifesting in opposing directions. We performed field experiments on cuckoo hosts to investigate the coexistence and conflict between two evolutionarily successive but opposing behavioral adaptations—egg retrieval and rejection. Our findings provide key insights. (1) Egg rejection against brood parasites in hosts reshapes egg retrieval to flexible reactions—retrieval, ignoring, or outright rejection of foreign eggs outside the nest cup, departing from instinctual retrieval. (2) Parasitism pressure and egg mimicry by parasites remarkably alter the proportions of the three host reactions. Host species with higher parasitism pressure exhibit frequent and rapid rejection of non-mimetic foreign eggs and reduced ignoring or retrieval responses. Conversely, heightened egg mimicry enhances retrieval behaviors while diminishing ignoring responses. (3) Cuckoos employ consistent mechanisms for rejecting foreign eggs inside or outside the nest cup. Direct rejection of eggs outside the nest cup shows that rejection precedes retrieval, indicating prioritization of specific adaptation over instinct. (4) Cuckoo hosts navigate the conflict between the intentions and motivations associated with egg rejection and retrieval by ignoring foreign eggs, a specific outcome of the rejection–retrieval tradeoff. This study revealed that cuckoo hosts coordinated two evolutionarily successive but opposing behaviours by reshaping the instinctive egg retrieval reaction to different flexible reactions during their coevolution with parasitic cuckoos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel variant involving noncanonical splicing acceptor site (c.875-5 T > G) in propeptide coding region of von Willebrand factor (VWF) was identified in a patient with type 2A von Willebrand disease (VWD), who co-inherited with a null variant (p.Tyr271*) and presented characteristic discrepancy of plasma level of VWF antigen and activity, and a selective reduction of both intermediate-molecular-weight (IMWMs) and high-molecular-weight VWF multimers (HMWMs). VWF mRNA transcripts obtained from peripheral leukocytes and platelets of the patients were investigated to analyze the consequence of c.875-5 T > G on splicing. The impact of the variant on expression and multimer assembly was further analyzed by in vitro expression studies in AtT-20 cells. The intracellular processing of VWF mutant and the Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs) formation was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining and electron microscopy. The mRNA transcript analysis revealed that c.875-5 T > G variant led to exon 8 skipping and an in-frame deletion of 41 amino acids in the D1 domain of VWF (p.Ser292_Glu333delinsLys), yielding a truncated propeptide. Consistent with the patient's laboratory manifestations, the AtT-20 cells transfected with mutant secreted less VWF, with the VWF antigen level in conditioned medium 47 % of wild-type. A slight retention in the endoplasmic reticulum was observed for the mutant. Almost complete loss of IMWMs and HMWMs in the medium and impaired WPBs formation in the cell, indicating truncated VWF propeptide lost its chaperon-like function for VWF multimerization and tubular storage. The VWF splicing site variant (c.875-5 T > G) causes propeptide truncation, severely compromising VWF multimer assembly and tubular storage. [Display omitted] • The regions in VWF propeptide that are critical for VWF multimerization and granular storage are not completely clear. • This study provides a functional characterization of a naturally occurring type 2A-related splicing variant (c.875-5 T > G). • The variant led to exon 8 skipping and an in-frame deletion of 41 amino acids in the D1 domain of VWF propeptide. • The truncation moderately affects the synthesis or secretion of VWF, but severely affects its multimerization and storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Observational studies indicate that sleep apnea is associated with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its related metabolic features, independent of confounding factors including obesity. However, the causal relationships remain to be determined. Methods: Univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to investigate the causal relationship between sleep apnea and NAFLD, along with its typical features including liver function, glycemic traits and lipid profiles. Summary‐level data for sleep apnea were obtained from the Finngen consortium (33,423 cases and 307,648 controls). Summary‐level data for NAFLD were available from a GWAS meta‐analysis (8434 cases and 770,180 controls), and data for 12 NAFLD‐related features from corresponding published GWASs. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis was employed as the primary statistical method. Bidirectional MR and CAUSE analysis were conducted to avoid reverse causality and false positive findings. Results: In univariable MR analyses, we found evidence to support a causal effect of genetically predicted sleep apnea on NAFLD (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.18–1.91) and HDL‐C (β = −0.045, 95% CI = ‐0.090 to −0.001). In reverse MR, genetically predicted serum TG was associated with an increased risk of sleep apnea (OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.02–1.12), while genetically predicted HDL‐C was associated with a decreased risk of sleep apnea (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.89–0.98). After adjusting body mass index or educational attainment, none of these causal associations were retained. However, CAUSE method and MR analyses focusing on lipoprotein subfractions supported a causal effect of sleep apnea on HDL‐C and HDL subfractions. Conclusion: This MR study indicated that sleep apnea has no direct causal association with NAFLD, elevated liver enzymes and insulin resistance. Our results showed suggestive inverse associations of genetically predicted sleep apnea on HDL‐C and HDL subfractions, indicating that both HDL‐C levels and HDL function may be causally implicated in sleep apnea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The fate and development of birds largely depend on their reproductive strategies, which vary, either diverging or converging among different species and populations. We studied the reproductive strategies of White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabarica) and Oriental Magpie Robin (C. saularis), which may be convergent because of their kin relationships or divergent because of niche differentiation under sympatric competition. We observed that they differed in certain reproductive strategies, such as nest-site selection and egg incubation patterns, but were similar in others, including nestling heating, sexual synchronization in nestling feeding, and coordination of nestling feeding and nest cleaning. Reproduction plays a crucial role in determining the development, fate, and dynamics of bird populations. However, reproductive strategies vary among species and populations. In this study, we investigated the reproductive strategies of the Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) and White-rumped Shama (C. malabarica), which are closely related passerines that reproduce in sympatric areas. We found that although these two species were both cavity nesting, their nest-site selection differed; the Shama preferred nesting close to trees and forests, whereas the Magpie Robin nested close to human residential areas. Furthermore, their egg incubation patterns differed; the Shama increased daily incubation frequency with incubation time, but the Magpie Robin maintained its daily incubation time regardless of changes in incubation frequency. However, the nestling heating patterns of these two species were similar, indicating a critical demand for regulating hatchling body temperature during this crucial stage. The feeding frequencies of male parents were strongly correlated with those of females in both species, suggesting equal contribution and good synchronization between the sexes. Nestling feeding frequency was also correlated with nest cleaning frequency, implying coordination between feeding and defecation by parents and offspring, respectively. This research explored the divergence and convergence of reproductive strategies between these two sympatric species, providing valuable insights into the niche differentiation theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic interrogation of the upper mantle from the base of the crust to the top of the mantle transition zone has revealed discontinuities that are variable in space, depth, lateral extent, amplitude and lack a unified explanation for their origin. Improved constraints on the detectability and properties of mantle discontinuities can be obtained with P-to-S receiver function (Ps-RF) where energy scatters from P to S as seismic waves propagate across discontinuities of interest. However, due to the interference of crustal multiples, uppermost mantle discontinuities are more commonly imaged with lower resolution S-to-P receiver function (Sp-RF). In this study, a new method called CRISP-RF (Clean Receiver-function Imaging using SParse Radon Filters) is proposed, which incorporates ideas from compressive sensing and model-based image reconstruction. The central idea involves applying a sparse Radon transform to effectively decompose the Ps-RF into its underlying wavefield contributions, that is direct conversions, multiples, and noise, based on the phase moveout and coherence. A masking filter is then designed and applied to create a multiple-free and denoised Ps-RF. We demonstrate, using synthetic experiment, that our implementation of the Radon transform using a sparsity-promoting regularization outperforms the conventional least-squares methods and can effectively isolate direct Ps conversions. We further apply the CRISP-RF workflow on real data, including single station data on cratons, common-conversion-point stack at continental margins and seismic data from ocean islands. The application of CRISP-RF to global data sets will advance our understanding of the enigmatic origins of the upper mantle discontinuities like the ubiquitous mid-lithospheric discontinuity and the elusive X-discontinuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Chromatin in eukaryotes folds into a complex three‐dimensional (3D) structure that is essential for controlling gene expression and cellular function and is dynamically regulated in biological processes. Studies on plant phosphorus signaling have concentrated on single genes and gene interactions. It is critical to expand the existing signaling pathway in terms of its 3D structure. In this study, low‐Pi treatment led to greater chromatin volume. Furthermore, low‐Pi stress increased the insulation score and the number of TAD‐like domains, but the effects on the A/B compartment were not obvious. The methylation levels of target sites (hereafter as RdDM levels) peaked at specific TAD‐like boundaries, whereas RdDM peak levels at conserved TAD‐like boundaries shifted and decreased sharply. The distribution pattern of RdDM sites originating from the Helitron transposons matched that of genome‐wide RdDM sites near TAD‐like boundaries. RdDM pathway genes were upregulated in the middle or early stages and downregulated in the later stages under low‐Pi conditions. The RdDM pathway mutant ddm1a showed increased tolerance to low‐Pi stress, with shortened and thickened roots contributing to higher Pi uptake from the shallow soil layer. ChIP‐seq results revealed that ZmDDM1A could bind to Pi‐ and root development‐related genes. Strong associations were found between interacting genes in significantly different chromatin‐interaction regions and root traits. These findings not only expand the mechanisms by which plants respond to low‐Pi stress through the RdDM pathway but also offer a crucial framework for the analysis of biological issues using 3D genomics. Significance Statement: This study is a pioneering study in the field of plant nutrient utilization. For the first time, this study discovered that the plant's low‐Pi response was closely linked to the RdDM pathway and chromatin spatial structure, and the low‐Pi response was validated by a mutant of chromatin remodeling gene ZmDDM1a (RdDM pathway gene). In addition, the results of ChIP‐seq and multi‐point GWAS for 2 years revealed the interaction of a large number of candidate genes related to Pi and roots with ZmDDM1A. We believe that the results presented in this article will have a great influence in this field and will be concerned and cited by many researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractNLRP3 (NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3), a member of the nucleotide-binding domain (NOD) and leucine-rich repeat sequence (LRR) protein (NLR) family, plays an essential role in the inflammation initiation and inflammatory mediator secretion, and thus is also associated with many disease progressions. Food-derived bioactive peptides (FDBP) exhibit excellent anti-inflammatory activity in both in vivo and in vitro models. They are encrypted in plant, meat, and milk proteins and can be released under enzymatic hydrolysis or fermentation conditions, thereby hindering the progression of hyperuricemia, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic liver disease, neurological disorders, lung injury and periodontitis by inactivating the NLRP3. However, there is a lack of systematic review around FDBP, NLRP3, and NLRP3-related diseases. Therefore, this review summarized FDBP that exert inhibiting effects on NLRP3 inflammasome from different protein sources and detailed their preparation and purification methods. Additionally, this paper also compiled the possible inhibitory mechanisms of FDBP on NLRP3 inflammasomes and its regulatory role in NLRP3 inflammasome-related diseases. Finally, the progress of cutting-edge technologies, including nanoparticle, computer-aided screening strategy and recombinant DNA technology, in the acquisition or encapsulation of NLRP3 inhibitory FDBP was discussed. This review provides a scientific basis for understanding the anti-inflammatory mechanism of FDBP through the regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and also provides guidance for the development of therapeutic adjuvants or functional foods enriched with these FDBP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Dear Editor: b The incidence of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) has increased substantially worldwide in the recent decades.[1] Generally, PTC has an indolent course and a favorable prognosis, with a 10-year disease-specific survival (DSS) of more than 95%.[2] However, patients with distant metastases have a substantially lower 10-year DSS rate (~50%).[3] Moreover, since the 1980s, the incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer with distant metastasis has been steadily increasing in the United States.[3] Traditionally, survival rates are estimated from the time of diagnosis. The 5-year conditional DSS improved gradually in patients with lung metastasis, whereas it worsened in patients with bone metastasis farther from the diagnosis (Fig. The death hazard rate of patients with distant metastasis was higher than that of patients with localized or regional disease during the entire follow-up period (Fig. Among patients with single-site metastasis, patients with lung metastasis had the highest death hazard rate (0.07 [CI: 0.06-0.08]) during the first 2.5 years; thereafter, those with bone metastasis had the highest death hazard rate (0.08 [CI: 0.07-0.09]) (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

Using machine learning methods to estimate brain effective connectivity networks from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data has garnered significant attention in the fields of neuroinformatics and bioinformatics. However, existing methods usually require retraining the model for each subject, which ignores the knowledge shared across subjects. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for estimating effective connectivity based on an amortization transformer, named AT-EC. In detail, AT-EC first employs an amortization transformer to model the dynamics of fMRI time series and infer brain effective connectivity across different subjects, which can train an amortized model that leverages the shared knowledge from different subjects. Then, an assisted learning mechanism based on functional connectivity is designed to assist the estimation of the brain effective connectivity network. Experimental results on both simulated and real-world data demonstrate the efficacy of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth, in large portions, is covered in oceans, sediments, and glaciers. High‐resolution body wave imaging in such environments often suffers from severe reverberations, that is, repeating echoes of the incoming scattered wavefield trapped in the reverberant layer, making interpretation of lithospheric layering difficult. In this study, we propose a systematic data‐driven approach, using autocorrelation and homomorphic analysis, to solve the twin problem of detection and elimination of reverberations without a priori knowledge of the elastic structure of the reverberant layers. We demonstrate, using synthetic experiments and data examples, that our approach can effectively identify the signature of reverberations even in cases where the recording seismic array is deployed in complex settings, for example, using data from (a) a land station sitting on Songliao basin, (b) an ocean bottom station in the fore‐arc setting of the Alaska amphibious community seismic experiment, and (c) a station deployed on ice‐sediment strata in the glaciers of Antarctica. The elimination of the reverberation is implemented by a frequency domain filter whose parameters are automatically tuned using seismic data alone. On glaciers where the reverberating sediment layer is sandwiched between the lithosphere and an overlying ice layer, homomorphic analysis is preferable in detecting the signature of reverberation. We expect that our technique will see wide application for high‐resolution body wave imaging across a wide variety of conditions. Plain Language Summary: The Earth, in large portions, is covered in oceans, sediments, and glaciers. Because of the large differences in rock properties between these layers and the solid Earth underneath, waves get trapped in them which hampers the successful investigation of deeper layers. This is often referred to as "reverberation," waves that "echo" or "sing" again and again. In this study, we propose a systematic approach to detect and eliminate this "singing" effect using only observed data, without any knowledge of the local geological structure. Our approach extends the autocorrelation analysis, a widely used method to detect repeating patterns in time series, and also takes advantage of the homomorphic analysis, a popular technique in speech and audio processing. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using both human‐generated and real seismic data, collected from complex geosettings around the world, including in the oceans to the south of the Alaska Peninsula, sedimentary basin in northeast China, and Antarctica. On glaciers where the reverberation comes from the complicated coupled effect of ice and sediment, homomorphic analysis is preferable in detecting the signature of reverberation. We expect that our technique will greatly improve the imaging of deep Earth structure across a wide variety of conditions. Key Points: A data‐driven approach using autocorrelation and homomorphic analysis is proposed to detect the signature of reverberations in seismic dataThe proposed approach can be applied to various geological settings where reverberations are present; that is, sediments, oceans, and glaciersSignal enhancement using either approach is best in single‐layer systems, while homomorphic analysis is preferred for ice‐sediment systems [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex and irregular cell architecture is known to statistically exhibit fractal geometry, i.e., a pattern resembles a smaller part of itself. Although fractal variations in cells are proven to be closely associated with the disease-related phenotypes that are otherwise obscured in the standard cell-based assays, fractal analysis with single-cell precision remains largely unexplored. To close this gap, here we develop an image-based approach that quantifies a multitude of single-cell biophysical fractal-related properties at subcellular resolution. Taking together with its high-throughput single-cell imaging performance (~10,000 cells/sec), this technique, termed single-cell biophysical fractometry, offers sufficient statistical power for delineating the cellular heterogeneity, in the context of lung-cancer cell subtype classification, drug response assays and cell-cycle progression tracking. Further correlative fractal analysis shows that single-cell biophysical fractometry can enrich the standard morphological profiling depth and spearhead systematic fractal analysis of how cell morphology encodes cellular health and pathological conditions. A high-throughput image-based approach quantifies single-cell biophysical fractal-related properties at subcellular resolution with statistical power for cell classification, drug response assays, and cell-cycle progression tracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the relationship between the Scandinavian (SCA) teleconnection pattern and summer precipitation over the eastern side of the Tibetan Plateau (ESTP) between 1960 and 2020 and further studies the underlying physical mechanism. Statistical analysis showed that there is a significant and high negative correlation coefficient (around −0.59) between ESTP summer precipitation and the SCA teleconnection pattern over the period 1960–2020. When the SCA teleconnection pattern is in its negative phase, there is a significant increase in precipitation over most of the ESTP, and vice versa. Moisture budget analysis showed that vertical moisture advection makes a larger contribution to precipitation changes related to the SCA teleconnection pattern than evaporation and horizontal moisture advection. Specifically, positive precipitation anomalies related to the SCA teleconnection pattern are dominated by the enhanced dynamic component of vertical moisture advection, which is induced mainly by the significant ascending motion over almost the whole of the ESTP region. In summer, under the effect of the SCA teleconnection pattern, the abnormal westerly wind transports the mean warm air from TP to ESTP and forms an abnormal warm advection over the ESTP, resulting in a significant vertical upward motion and more summer precipitation over the ESTP. This study reveals the possible physical mechanism of the impacts of SCA teleconnection pattern on summer precipitation over the ESTP region and provides a scientific basis for ecological protection and disaster mitigation measures associated with major projects such as the Sichuan–Tibet railway and the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammasomes are macromolecular platforms formed in response to damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and pathogen-associated molecular patterns, whose formation would cause maturation of interleukin-1 (IL-1) family members and gasdermin D (GSDMD), leading to IL-1 secretion and pyroptosis respectively. Several kinds of inflammasomes detecting different types of dangers have been found. The activation of inflammasomes is regulated at both transcription and posttranscription levels, which is crucial in protecting the host from infections and sterile insults. Present findings have illustrated that inflammasomes are involved in not only infection but also the pathology of tumors implying an important link between inflammation and tumor development. Generally, inflammasomes participate in tumorigenesis, cell death, metastasis, immune evasion, chemotherapy, target therapy, and radiotherapy. Inflammasome components are upregulated in some tumors, and inflammasomes can be activated in cancer cells and other stromal cells by DAMPs, chemotherapy agents, and radiation. In some cases, inflammasomes inhibit tumor progression by initiating GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis in cancer cells and stimulating IL-1 signal-mediated anti-tumor immunity. However, IL-1 signal recruits immunosuppressive cell subsets in other cases. We discuss the conflicting results and propose some possible explanations. Additionally, we also summarize interventions targeting inflammasome pathways in both preclinical and clinical stages. Interventions targeting inflammasomes are promising for immunotherapy and combination therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The malignant behaviors of lung cancers are affected by not only cancer cells but also many kinds of stromal cells in tumor microenvironment (TME), including macrophages. Macrophages have been proven to extensively influence tumor progression through several mechanisms, among which switching of macrophages from pro-inflammatory phenotypes (M1-like) to anti-inflammatory phenotypes (M2-like) mediated by transcription factors such as nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) is the most crucial event. The regulation of NF-κB has been well studied, however some details remain fuzzy. Methods: Mouse primary bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were cultured in Lewis lung carcinoma cell line LL-2-derived conditioned medium (LL-2-CM). Proliferation, migration, and polarization of BMDMs were tested by CCK8, scratch test, transwell, and flow cytometry. Secretion of several cytokines were detected by ELISA or cytometric bead array. To further explore the underlying mechanisms, BMDMs cultured in LL-2-CM were harvested for RNA-seq. Cytosolic calcium was detected by calcium probe Fluo-4-AM. Western blot was applied to exam the activation of NF-κB signal. BAPTA-AM was applied to sequestrate cytosolic calcium to further investigate the relationship between calcium and NF-κB signal. The polarization, calcium alteration, and NF-κB signal activation were further validated in BMDMs treated by CMT-64-derived conditioned medium (CMT-64-CM). Results: LL-2-CM promoted proliferation, migration, and M2-like polarization of BMDMs and inhibited M1-like polarization of BMDMs. However two pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ) were secreted. RNA-seq indicated that LL-2-CM activated both canonical and non-canonical NF-κB signal in BMDMs. Western blot showed that canonical NF-κB was temporarily elicited and attenuated at 24 h, while non-canonical NF-κB was consistently activated. At the same time, expression of genes that regulate cytosolic calcium ion concentration were down regulated, which caused diminution of cytosolic calcium in BMDMs treated with LL-2-CM. The decreased cytosolic calcium, M2-like polarization, and NF-κB activation was also observed in CMT-64-CM treated BMDMs. On the contrary, elevated cytosolic calcium was observed during M1-like polarization of BMDMs elicited by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Interestingly, administration of calcium chelator, BAPTA-AM, impeded activation of canonical NF-κB and expression of M1-like marker induced by LPS, which further confirmed the relationship between cytosolic calcium and canonical NF-κB signal. Conclusions: In summary, lung cancer cell-derived conditioned medium promoted migration, proliferation, and M2-like polarization of BMDMs. The suppressed M1-like polarization was achieved through mitigating canonical NF-κB pathway via diminishing cytosolic calcium concentration. As far as we know, our work firstly revealed that cytosolic calcium is the key during inhibition of canonical NF-κB and M1-like polarization in macrophages by tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the volute performance can effectively improve the efficiency of a centrifugal fan by changing the volute geometric parameter, so the self-adaption Kriging surrogate model is used to optimize the volute geometric parameter. Firstly, volute radius Rd, the radius of tongue r, and outlet angle of the volute θ are selected as the optimization parameters of the volute, and latin hypercube sampling is used to configure the initial sample points, the corresponding three-dimensional aerodynamic model under each sample point configuration is constructed. CFD software is used to simulate the aerodynamic efficiency and total pressure of the centrifugal fan under each initial sample point configuration. Secondly, the Kriging surrogate model of initial sample point configuration parameters, aerodynamic efficiency, and total pressure of volute is constructed, and sample points are added by expectation improvement (EI) method to improve the fitting accuracy of Kriging surrogate model. Finally, the high-precision Kriging surrogate model is used as the fitness function of NSGA-II algorithm to find the Pareto optimal solution under multiobjective optimization, and the optimization target are aero dynamical efficiency and total pressure. The rationality of the above method is verified by optimizing the 9–19.4A type centrifugal fan volute. The efficiency of the optimized fan under working conditions is increased by 1%, and the total pressure under working conditions is not reduced. The optimized volute can effectively improve the overall performance of the centrifugal fan. This study is helpful to promote the application of numerical optimization design method in the volute of centrifugal fan. It provides reference for the optimization design of high-performance centrifugal fan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligent power grid fault diagnosis is of great significance for speeding up fault processing and improving fault diagnosis efficiency. However, most of the current fault diagnosis methods focus on rule diagnosis, relying on expert experience and logical rules to build a diagnosis model, and lack the ability to automatically extract fault knowledge. For switch refusal events, it is difficult to determine a refusal switch without network topology. In order to realize the non-operating switch identification without network topology, this paper proposes a power grid fault diagnosis method based on deep reinforcement learning for alarm information text. Taking the single alarm information of the non-switch refusal sample as the research object, through the self-learning ability of deep reinforcement learning, it learns the topology connection relationship and action logic relationship between equipment, protection and circuit breakers contained in the alarm information, and realizes the detection of fault events. The correct prediction of the fault removal process after the occurrence, based on this, determines the refusal switch when the switch refuses to operate during the fault removal process. The calculation example results show that the proposed method can effectively diagnose the refusal switch of the switch refusal event, which is feasible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the daily minimum air temperature (Tmin) data and the daily precipitation data from the NCC/CMA combined with the NCEP/DOE reanalysis data, the intraseasonal features and circulations of the winter cold precipitation events (CPEs) in southern China under the influence of strong Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) were explored. The results show that: (1) Winter temperatures in southern China are characterized by intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) of 10–30-d and 30–60-d, with six CPEs under strong MJO all occurring during these two intraseasonal scales in cooling phases. The invasion of cold air coupled with the availability of appropriate moisture conditions in southern China is more conducive to the CPEs. (2) A cyclone and anticyclone lying to the east of the Ural Mountains and the northwest of Lake Baikal at 925-hPa gradually move southeastward. The merging of the low-frequency (LF) blocking highs over the Ural Mountains and the North Pacific Ocean at 500-hPa leads to the contraction and southward movement of the LF cold vortex. The following anomalous northerly winds steer the cold air towards southern China. The cold advection is the dominant term in the cooling process, while the adiabatic cooling accompanied with ascending motion is also beneficial to the cooling process. (3) MJO has some effect on the LF blocking highs and the cold vortex in the mid-high latitudes and induces the CPEs over southern China. The joint effect of mid-high and low latitudes on the 30–60-d intraseasonal oscillation scale can have a significant impact on the cooling and precipitation processes of CPEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel "N‐π‐N" type oligomeric acceptor of 2BTP‐2F‐T, constructed by two small non‐fullerene acceptor (NFA) units linked with a thiophene π bridge is reported. The 2BTP‐2F‐T not only combines the advantages of small NFA and polymeric acceptors (PYF‐T‐o) with similar units but also exhibits superior characteristics of high absorption coefficient and high electron moblity(µe)) with less dependence on molecular packing. Using PM6 as the donor, a remarkable efficiency of 18.19% is obtained with an open circuit (Voc) of 0.911 V, short current circuit (Jsc) of 25.50 mA cm−2, and fill factor (FF) of 78.3%, which is much better than that of the corresponding monomer (16.54%) and PYF‐T‐o (15.8%) based devices. The much‐improved efficiency results from two aspects: 1) an enhanced FF due to the largely improved µe and well‐controlled morphology ; 2) a higher value of (Jsc × Voc) due to its higher absorption coefficient and efficient charge generation at a similar low energy loss. Furthermore, the PM6/2BTP‐2F‐T device possesses the longest T80 lifetime to light‐soaking and comparable high thermal stability with PM6/PYF‐T‐o. The results indicate that the "N‐π‐N" type oligomeric acceptor has a great application prospect due to its superior high efficiency and improved stability in organic solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is mainly characterized by articular cartilage degeneration, synovial fibrosis, and inflammation. LncRNA CRNDE (colorectal neoplasia differentially expressed) has been reported to be down-regulated in age-related OA, but its role in injury-induced OA needs to be further explored. In this study, an OA rat model was established using anterior cruciate ligament transection, and the adenovirus-mediated CRNDE overexpression (Ad-CRNDE) or DACT1 (dapper antagonist of catenin-1) interference (sh-DACT1) vectors were administered by intraarticular injection. Moreover, chondrocyte‑like ATDC5 cells were treated with IL-1β (10 ng/mL) to simulate OA conditions in vitro. We found that overexpression of CRNDE alleviated cartilage damage and synovitis in OA rats, and suppressed IL-1β-induced apoptosis, inflammation, and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation in chondrocyte‑like ATDC5 cells, while silencing DACT1 effectively antagonized the protective effect of CRNDE both in vivo and in vitro. Mechanism studies revealed that DACT1 could act as a downstream target of CRNDE. By recruiting p300, CRNDE promoted the enrichment of H3K27ac in the DACT1 promoter, thus promoting DACT1 transcription. In addition, CRNDE hindered the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in IL-1β-stimulated cells by inducing DACT1 expression. In conclusion, CRNDE promoted DACT1 expression through epigenetic modification and restrained the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling to impede the progression of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing interest in various creative scenes such as social media, film production, and intelligence courses, people expect to be able to compile rich visual content according to their subjective ideas and actual needs. In this context, visual content synthesis technique based on multimodal data has attracted much attention in recent years. Compared to traditional generative methods, multimodal data offer more flexible and concrete clues that provide an interactive and controllable way to generate the desired visual content. In this survey, we comprehensively summarize the improvements in multimodal-guided visual content synthesis. We first formulate the taxonomy of visual content synthesis and divide it into four different subfields depending on the input modality, including visual-guided visual content synthesis, text-guided visual content synthesis, audio-guided visual content synthesis, and visual content synthesis guided by other modalities. In each subfield, we describe the paradigm of different modality-guided visual content synthesis, and also discuss the signature methods mainly based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Next, we present commonly used benchmark datasets and metrics for evaluating models, as well as detailed comparisons between different methods. Finally, we provide insight into current research challenges and possible future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new strategy is proposed in this study to modify the microstructure of the Al-7Si alloy, which is widely employed in the aerospace and transportation sectors due to its lightweight, high specific strength, and specific modulus. The primary challenge of the Al-7Si alloy is its coarse microstructure, which undermines its mechanical properties. This research focuses on the effects of adding the AlCrNiTi master alloy and Ce to the Al-7Si alloy. The impact on both the microstructure evolution and the mechanical properties is examined, including analysis and discussion of the underlying mechanisms for refinement and strengthening. When the alloy was modified by 0.9 wt% of the AlCrNiTi master alloy and 0.1 wt% of Ce, there was a notable refinement of the α-Al phase, transforming it from a coarse dendritic structure to fine equiaxed grains. The addition of 0.9 wt% of the AlCrNiTi master alloy and 0.1 wt% of Ce can also reduce the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) to 5.9 μm. The eutectic Si phase underwent a significant transformation, changing from coarse flakes to fine granularity with rounded edges. Furthermore, CeSi 2 Ni 2 , Al 3 Ni intermetallic compounds, and nanoscale Al 45 Cr 7 particles were observed in the modified Al-7Si alloy. Tensile tests showed that the addition of the inoculant in the Al-7Si alloy enhanced the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) from 173 MPa to 211 MPa and increased the elongation (El) from 7.9% to 14.1%. • The effect of the complex addition of AlCrNiTi alloy and Ce on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-7Si alloy was investigated. • The α-Al and eutectic Si of the Al-7Si alloy underwent significant refinement and modification after the synergistic addition of 0.9 wt% AlCrNiTi master alloy and 0.1 wt% Ce. • The UTS and El were improved to 211 MPa and 14.1%, exhibiting an increase of 22% and 78.5% compared with the unmodified Al-7Si alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Microbeams are useful tools in studies on non-target effects, such as the radiation-induced bystander effect, and responses related to cytoplasmic irradiation. A micrometer or even sub-micrometer-level beam size enables the precise delivery of radiation energy to a specific target. Here we summarize the observations of the bystander effect and the cytoplasmic irradiation-related effect using different kinds of microbeam irradiators as well as discuss the cellular and molecular mechanisms that are involved in these responses. Non-target effects may increase the detrimental effect caused by radiation, so a more comprehensive knowledge of the process will enable better evaluation of the damage resulting from irradiation. Although direct damage to nuclear DNA is considered as the major contributing event that leads to radiation-induced effects, accumulating evidence in the past two decades has shown that non-target events, in which cells are not directly irradiated but receive signals from the irradiated cells, or cells irradiated at extranuclear targets, may also contribute to the biological consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation. With a beam diameter at the micrometer or sub-micrometer level, microbeams can precisely deliver radiation, without damaging the surrounding area, or deposit the radiation energy at specific sub-cellular locations within a cell. Such unique features cannot be achieved by other kinds of radiation settings, hence making a microbeam irradiator useful in studies of a radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE) and cytoplasmic irradiation. Here, studies on RIBE and different responses to cytoplasmic irradiation using microbeams are summarized. Possible mechanisms related to the bystander effect, which include gap-junction intercellular communications and soluble signal molecules as well as factors involved in cytoplasmic irradiation-induced events, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-solid-state (ASS) Na-S batteries are promising for a large-scale energy-storage system owing to numerous merits. However, the high conversion reaction barrier impedes their practical application. In this work, the basic mechanism on how Se catalyzes the conversion reaction in the Na-S batteries is unraveled. The sodiation/desodiation of Na-SeS2 nanobatteries are systematically evaluated via in situ transmission electron microscopy (in situ TEM) with a microheating device. The real-time analyses reveal an amorphous Na-SexSy intermediate phase appears during the direct conversion from SeS2 to Na2S, and a reverse reaction succeeds at 100 °C with a prior formation of Se. The absence of polysulfides and a much lower desodiation temperature in contrast to Na-S nanobatteries demonstrate that the Se incorporation significantly lowers the conversion reaction barrier. According to these findings, the ASS SeS2 batteries using a Na3SbS4 solid electrolyte (SE) are assembled using various SE:C ratios in the composite cathodes to investigate the effect of the ion and electron transport on the electrochemical properties, including the effective transport properties, MacMullin number, and the tortuosity factor. The obtained results in turn confirm the findings from the in situ TEM. These findings are applicable to optimize other S-based active materials and improve their utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multifunctional reactive fluorescent probe DTB was constructed for biosensing, aggregation inhibition, and toxicity alleviation of β-amyloid. The synergistic effect of hydrophobic interaction and covalent interaction makes DTB have more stable binding and better selectivity to Aβ. The detoxification effect of DTB on Aβ aggregates was also verified in live nerve cells and microglia cells. Furthermore, DTB exhibits an excellent staining of Aβ plaques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical images from multicentres often suffer from the domain shift problem, which makes the deep learning models trained on one domain usually fail to generalize well to another. One of the potential solutions for the problem is the generative adversarial network (GAN), which has the capacity to translate images between different domains. Nevertheless, the existing GAN-based approaches are prone to fail at preserving image-objects in image-to-image (I2I) translation, which reduces their practicality on domain adaptation tasks. In this regard, a novel GAN (namely IB-GAN) is proposed to preserve image-objects during cross-domain I2I adaptation. Specifically, we integrate the information bottleneck constraint into the typical cycle-consistency-based GAN to discard the superfluous information (e.g., domain information) and maintain the consistency of disentangled content features for image-object preservation. The proposed IB-GAN is evaluated on three tasks—polyp segmentation using colonoscopic images, the segmentation of optic disc and cup in fundus images and the whole heart segmentation using multi-modal volumes. We show that the proposed IB-GAN can generate realistic translated images and remarkably boost the generalization of widely used segmentation networks (e.g., U-Net). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing mobility and academic emphasis have challenged the traditional link between remaining in one place and successful aging, emphasizing dwelling conditions that fit older adults and their preferences for relocating or staying. Using 5034 older-participant data in the CFPS 2012/2014 waves, we categorized them into six categories based on their intended or unintended (im-)mobility. Descriptive statistics revealed diverse housing and community characteristics and their health consequences. Logistic regression and paired-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank tests examined health changes across categories, while panel-ordered logit models explored the influence of housing and community features on health. The results indicate no significant correlation between (im-)mobility types and health outcomes, although certain subgroups exhibit meaningful relationships. Intended immobility seems to provide more psychological benefits than substantive health advantages. Whether intentional or not, relocation often leads to improved housing conditions, better aligning them with physical needs. The study also outlines the (im-)mobility process among older adults, from intention and competence to action, and establishes an intention/competence model for their (im-)mobility. Enhanced comprehension in this field would be beneficial for reassessing whether older individuals should stay in place or relocate, and for emphasizing the significance of tailored strategies for the living arrangements of the older population. • Consider older adults in diverse (im-)mobility, including intention, action, and living environment for deeper insight. • "Intended immobility" (akin to aging in place) brings more psychological benefits than improved health for older adults. • Depict older adults' intent, competence, and action in (im-)mobility, emphasizing person-environment congruence and outcomes. • Urge practitioners and policymakers to grasp "aging in place" and offer housing modifications and relocation counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modulating the morphology of all‐small‐molecule organic solar cells (ASM‐OSCs) has proved to be a considerable challenge in the context of efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. Regulating the morphology of ASM‐OSCs is a great challenge due to the low viscosity of the small molecules, which tend to form large domain sizes and loose molecular packing, especially in the interfacial region. Here, a polymerized small‐molecule acceptor (PJ1) is introduced as an interface modulator to strengthen the interfacial molecular interactions in a high‐efficiency system, consisting of a novel small molecule donor (ZR‐TT) and a widely used acceptor (Y6). Optimized ASM‐OSCs exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.33% without any additives. A small amount of PJ1 effectively condenses the morphology, enhances the crystallinity of the blend, and decreases the domain sizes. Upon 3% PJ1 addition in the blends, the accelerated hole transfer and the enhanced charge transport ultimately lead to an increased PCE of 15.54% with improved short circuit current and fill factor. Notably, the generality of this interfacial modulator strategy is proved by using PJ1 in three other ASM‐OSCs and using another polymerized host acceptor, PYT‐F‐o. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), agreen and efficient heterogeneous photocatalyst, wasapplied for photo-atom transfer radical polymerization (photo-ATRP) without any additives. The polymerization was instantly switched on and off by a blue LED. The polymer molecular weights and their distributions were controlled for methacrylate monomers up to fairly high conversions in many cases. The block copolymers were also obtained to demonstrate good end-group fidelity. Moreover, this g-C3N4 catalyzed photo-ATRP could be carried out in the presence of oxygen which implied good oxygen-tolerance. The catalytic efficiency of g-C3N4 almost did not reduce after photo-ATRP recycling seven times. Facile operation, oxygen tolerance and sustainability are advantages of this g-C3N4 catalyzed photo-ATRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite (HOIP) material‐based devices have attracted much attention in the past few years owing to their superior photoelectric performance. However, ion migration has hindered the commercialization of these devices. The accumulation of migrated ions or defects near electrodes and boundaries is inevitable under a voltage bias. This paper reports a systematic study on the optical properties of ion accumulation areas in HOIP. Quantitative electric fields are applied to MAPbX3 (MA = methylammonium and X = Cl, Br, or I) single crystals, and micro‐optical characterizations, including photoluminescence (PL) spectra, PL lifetimes, and Raman spectra, are performed. Significant differences in the intensity and peak position are observed in the PL spectrum near the anode and cathode regions, respectively. The phenomena observed in the study can be attributed to the migration and accumulation of halide ions, halide vacancies, and MA+ ions. Moreover, the results reveal that halide ions and vacancies play a significant role in carrier recombination. Finally, the Raman spectrum confirms that the migrated ions affect the interaction between the organic MA+ ions and inorganic Pb–X cages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Previous studies have provided evidence linking the DPEP1 gene to the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) in Europeans. In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship between DPEP1 gene and the susceptibility and clinical severity of OA in a Chinese Han population. Methods: This study comprised two independent samples. For the discovery stage, 1022 patients with knee OA and 1864 controls were recruited. Fourteen tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the DPEP1 gene were selected and genotyped. Associated SNPs in the discovery data set were subsequently genotyped in the replication data set consisting of 826 hip OA cases and 1662 controls. Both genotypic and allelic genetic associations were tested. The relationship of significant SNPs to the expression of DPEP1 and its neighboring genes was examined using the GTEx database. Results: A nonsynonymous SNP, rs1126464, was determined to be associated with the disease status of OA in both the discovery and replication stages (odds ratio [OR] 0.75, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.68‐0.82, P = 7.16 × 10−11). This SNP was further characterized as being significantly related to a higher Kellgren‐Lawrence grade in OA patients (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.55‐0.74, P = 2.53 × 10−9). According to the GTEx data, SNP rs1126464 was significantly related to the gene expression of 15 genes in multiple types of human tissues. Conclusion: We reported a common DNA variant in the DPEP1 gene that contributes to the risk of OA, providing additional evidence that the DPEP1 gene plays a significant role in the pathological mechanisms of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health issue with high mortality rates worldwide. Recently, tremendous researches of artificial intelligence (AI) have been conducted targeting at TB to reduce the diagnostic burden. However, most researches are conducted in the developed urban areas. The feasibility of applying AI in low-resource settings remains unexplored. In this study, we apply an automated detection (AI) system to screen a large population in an underdeveloped area and evaluate feasibility and contribution of applying AI to help local radiologists detect and diagnose TB using chest X-ray (CXR) images. First, we divide image data into one training dataset including 2627 TB-positive cases and 7375 TB-negative cases and one testing dataset containing 276 TB-positive cases and 619 TB-negative cases, respectively. Next, in building AI system, the experiment includes image labeling and preprocessing, model training and testing. A segmentation model named TB-UNet is also built to detect diseased regions, which uses ResNeXt as the encoder of U-Net. We use AI-generated confidence score to predict the likelihood of each testing case being TB-positive. Then, we conduct two experiments to compare results between the AI system and radiologists with and without AI assistance. Study results show that AI system yields TB detection accuracy of 85%, which is much higher than detection accuracy of radiologists (62%) without AI assistance. In addition, with AI assistance, the TB diagnostic sensitivity of local radiologists is improved by 11.8%. Therefore, this study demonstrates that AI has great potential to help detection, prevention, and control of TB in low-resource settings, particularly in areas with more scant doctors and higher rates of the infected population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfide-based Na-ion solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity are one of the most promising solid electrolytes for solid-state Na batteries. However, its poor chemical/electrochemical stability against Na metal leads to deterioration of interface. In addition, it is important to explore how to prepare sulfide-based composite membranes via solution method. Herein, Na3SbS4 is deposited on glassfiber framework via aqueous solution and further incorporated with trace of ionic liquid (IL). The Na3SbS4 composite pellets are well shaped avoiding the pressing process. The IL not only improves the Na3SbS4-Na interfacial stability, but also fills the pores between the framework and Na3SbS4 and thereby suppressing the dendrite formation. The Na plating/stripping tests on symmetric cells show polarization voltages lower than 0.1 V and stable cycling for more than 400 cycles under a current density of 0.1 mA cm−2 at room temperature. The cycling performance of the FeS2 half-cells with the optimized electrolyte tested at 60 °C is superior to that with organic liquid electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long known as digestive organelles, lysosomes have now emerged as multifaceted centers responsible for degradation, nutrient sensing, and immunity. Growing evidence also implicates role of lysosome-related mechanisms in pathologic process. In this review, we discuss physiological function of lysosomes and, more importantly, how the homeostasis of lysosomes is disrupted in several diseases, including atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune disorders, pancreatitis, lysosomal storage disorders, and malignant tumors. In atherosclerosis and Gaucher disease, dysfunction of lysosomes changes cytokine secretion from macrophages, partially through inflammasome activation. In neurodegenerative diseases, defect autophagy facilitates accumulation of toxic protein and dysfunctional organelles leading to neuron death. Lysosomal dysfunction has been demonstrated in pathology of pancreatitis. Abnormal autophagy activation or inhibition has been revealed in autoimmune disorders. In tumor microenvironment, malignant phenotypes, including tumorigenesis, growth regulation, invasion, drug resistance, and radiotherapy resistance, of tumor cells and behaviors of tumor-associated macrophages, fibroblasts, dendritic cells, and T cells are also mediated by lysosomes. Based on these findings, a series of therapeutic methods targeting lysosomal proteins and processes have been developed from bench to bedside. In a word, present researches corroborate lysosomes to be pivotal organelles for understanding pathology of atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune disorders, pancreatitis, and lysosomal storage disorders, and malignant tumors and developing novel therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the receiver function technique has been successfully applied to high‐resolution imaging of sharp discontinuities within and across the lithosphere, it suffers from severe limitations when applied to seafloor seismic recordings. This is because the water and sediment layer could strongly influence the receiver function traces, making detection and interpretation of crust and mantle layering difficult. This effect is often referred to as the singing phenomena in marine environments. We demonstrate, using analytical and synthetic modeling, that this singing effect can be reversed using a selective dereverberation filter tuned to match the elastic property of each layer. We apply the dereverberation filter to high‐quality earthquake records collected from the NoMelt seismic array deployed on normal, mature Pacific seafloor. An appropriate filter designed using the elastic properties of the underlying sediments, obtained from prior studies, greatly improves the detection of Ps conversions from the Moho (∼8.6 km) and from a sharp discontinuity (<∼5 km) across the lithosphere asthenosphere transition (∼72 km). Sensitivity tests show that the dereverberation filter is mostly sensitive to the two‐way travel time of the shear wave in sediment and is robust to seismic noise and small errors in the sediment properties. Our analysis suggests that selectively filtering out the sediment reverberations from ocean seismic data could make inferences on subsurface structure more robust. We expect that this study will enable high‐resolution receiver function imaging of the oceanic plate across the growing ocean bottom seismic arrays being deployed in the global oceans. Key Points: A dereverberation filter is proposed to eliminate the sediment reverberation effects on receiver functions of ocean bottom seismological dataThe proposed filter is proven effective and robust to small errors in sediment properties using synthetic modelingA Moho of 8.6 km depth and a sharp discontinuity of the lithosphere asthenosphere transition of 72 km depth is observed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Fibroblast-activated protein (FAP) is highly expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) of many solid cancers, but low or absent in normal tissues. Our study aimed to develop a novel FAP-specific tracer, namely [18F]FAP-2286, and evaluated its performance in comparison with well-established agents such as [18F]FAPI-42 and [68Ga]Ga-FAP-2286 in preclinical research, as well as 2-[18F]FDG in pilot clinical study. Methods: [18F]FAP-2286 was manually synthesized in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Subsequent investigations encompassed cell uptake, competitive binding affinity, internalization and efflux assays using HT-1080hFAP cell lines. PET imaging and biodistribution studies were conducted in HEK-293ThFAP, A549hFAP, HT-1080hFAP tumor-bearing mice as well as HEK-293T, A549 and HT-1080 control groups. Furthermore, clinical evaluation of [18F]FAP-2286 was performed in fifteen patients with various cancers compared to 2-[18F]FDG PET. Results: The radiolabeling yield of [18F]FAP-2286 was 30.53 ± 5.20%, with a radiochemical purity exceeding 97%. In cell assays, [18F]FAP-2286 showed specific uptake, high internalization fraction and low cellular efflux. Rapid tumor uptake and satisfactory tumor retention was observed on micro-PET imaging and cancer patients. Meanwhile, the clinical research demonstrated that [18F]FAP-2286 may represent an alternative for low glucose-metabolism malignant tumors PET imaging such as gastric cancers. Conclusion: [18F]FAP-2286 showed superior imaging quality including rapid and high target uptake and satisfactory retention in both tumor-bearing mice and cancer patients. It may emerge as a promising candidate for early or delayed phase imaging and 2-[18F]FDG non-avid cancers PET scan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation The study of the evolutionary history of biological networks enables deep functional understanding of various bio-molecular processes. Network growth models, such as the Duplication–Mutation with Complementarity (DMC) model, provide a principled approach to characterizing the evolution of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) based on duplication and divergence. Current methods for model-based ancestral network reconstruction primarily use greedy heuristics and yield sub-optimal solutions. Results We present a new Integer Linear Programming (ILP) solution for maximum likelihood reconstruction of ancestral PPI networks using the DMC model. We prove the correctness of our solution that is designed to find the optimal solution. It can also use efficient heuristics from general-purpose ILP solvers to obtain multiple optimal and near-optimal solutions that may be useful in many applications. Experiments on synthetic data show that our ILP obtains solutions with higher likelihood than those from previous methods, and is robust to noise and model mismatch. We evaluate our algorithm on two real PPI networks, with proteins from the families of bZIP transcription factors and the Commander complex. On both the networks, solutions from our ILP have higher likelihood and are in better agreement with independent biological evidence from other studies. Availability and implementation A Python implementation is available at https://bitbucket.org/cdal/network-reconstruction. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium has been applied to implants over the last decades due to its excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. However, there are still some drawbacks for titanium and its alloys to overcome. Thus, in this study, a novel electrochemical synthesis process has been developed to fabricate TiO2 nanotube array, hydroxyapatite and rare-earth (La3+) doped ZIF-8 nanoparticle composite coating, which can enhance the antibacterial and anti-corrosion property on the premise of minimizing the biocompatibility loss of titanium implants. Compared with traditional processing methods, electrochemical machining is more time-saving, energy-saving and environment-friendly. Thus, it provides an alternative way to produce medical implants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

mRNA vaccines have tremendous potential to fight against cancer and viral diseases due to superiorities in safety, efficacy and industrial production. In recent decades, we have witnessed the development of different kinds of mRNAs by sequence optimization to overcome the disadvantage of excessive mRNA immunogenicity, instability and inefficiency. Based on the immunological study, mRNA vaccines are coupled with immunologic adjuvant and various delivery strategies. Except for sequence optimization, the assistance of mRNA-delivering strategies is another method to stabilize mRNAs and improve their efficacy. The understanding of increasing the antigen reactiveness gains insight into mRNA-induced innate immunity and adaptive immunity without antibody-dependent enhancement activity. Therefore, to address the problem, scientists further exploited carrier-based mRNA vaccines (lipid-based delivery, polymer-based delivery, peptide-based delivery, virus-like replicon particle and cationic nanoemulsion), naked mRNA vaccines and dendritic cells-based mRNA vaccines. The article will discuss the molecular biology of mRNA vaccines and underlying anti-virus and anti-tumor mechanisms, with an introduction of their immunological phenomena, delivery strategies, their importance on Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and related clinical trials against cancer and viral diseases. Finally, we will discuss the challenge of mRNA vaccines against bacterial and parasitic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Diet strongly affects human health by modulating gut microbiota (GM) composition. Lycium barbarum (LB), which contains polysaccharides and polyphenols, can alter the GM and intestinal barrier function, thereby reducing and preventing the occurrence of intestinal diseases. To investigate how LB improves colonic barrier function, male C57BL/6J mice were fed diets containing 1.5% or 3% LB for 10 weeks. Results of HiSeq 16S rDNA analysis showed that LB markedly altered microbial profile by supporting the growth of Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Bacteroidales_S24‐7_group, Anaerotruncus, Coprococcus_1, Ruminococcaceae_UCG‐014 and Akkermansia, while suppressing Firmicutes, Helicobacter, Bacteroides and Mucispirillum. LB supported the short‐chain fatty acid (SCFA)‐producing bacteria, and the SCFA concentrations increased, while the ammonia concentrations and pH values in faeces decreased, thereby increasing the expression of tight junction proteins and mucin, subsequently improving intestinal function and histomorphology. Dietary LB, as a functional dietary component, enhanced colonic barrier function and improved gut health by altering GM composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wireless power transfer scheme is based on fractional-order time-sharing control for a variety of household appliances in intelligent building. In the scheme, by adding a fractional-order capacitor in the transmitter, the time-sharing resonant charging is realized without changing the traditional receivers. The wired power transmission is usually adopted to supply power for the devices in the traditional buildings. With the development of intelligent buildings, the way of wired power supply would greatly increase the complexity and consumption of laying the lines. To improve the flexibility of power supply and reduce the cost of wiring, wireless power transfer technology has been used in smart buildings. However, it remains a fundamental challenge to create a simple wireless power transfer system in which power can be wirelessly transferred to multiple appliances. Therefore, this paper proposes a wireless power transfer scheme based on fractional-order time-sharing control for a variety of household appliances in intelligent building. In the proposed scheme, only one fractional-order capacitor in the transmitter is needed to realize the time-sharing resonant charging. In contrast, the traditional multiple-receiver systems require complicated control scheme, for example, controlling a plurality of sets of series-parallel capacitors through a series of relay switches. To demonstrate the method, a 150 W LED TV with 300 kHz and a 5 W mobile phone charger with 127 kHz serve as the actual loads. The experimental results show that the proposed system can supply power to the TV and the mobile phone by a time-sharing way wirelessly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The niobium oxide insulator–metal transition selector device is considered to be a rectifying device with great potential. However, the lack of research on the experimental parameters and the complex physical mechanism of the NbO2 device seriously affected its development. In this article, a controllable intermediate functional layer of NbOx was reported in the Pt/NbOx/TiN device subjected to different forming compliance currents (FCCs) and compliance currents (CCs). The different FCCs and CCs changed the size of the Nb2O5 and NbO2 layers within the NbOx layer, which further affected the threshold voltage. The result helped to realize the control of the NbOx functional layer, which was also of great significance for the adjustment of the experimental parameters in the preparation experiment according to the required performance. Furthermore, the I-V characteristics and switching times at different ambient temperatures were carried out, showing the specific dependency of the device on temperature. Between them, the simulated switching time of 2 ns at room temperature proved that the selector had a great application prospect in high speed and high-density storage or logic switch. Generally, the whole research helped to improve the control of the interlayer structure and the performance of the device for application in 3-D crossbar arrays, and provided a valid model to study the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This work studies automated user classification on Twitter in the public health domain, a task that is essential to many public health-related research works on social media but has not been addressed. The purpose of this paper is to obtain empirical knowledge on how to optimise the classifier performance on this task. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 3,100 Twitter users who tweeted about different health conditions were manually coded into six most common stakeholders. The authors propose new, simple features extracted from the short Twitter profiles of these users, and compare a large set of classification models (including state-of-the-art) that use more complex features and with different algorithms on this data set. Findings: The authors show that user classification in the public health domain is a very challenging task, as the best result the authors can obtain on this data set is only 59 per cent in terms of F1 score. Compared to state-of-the-art, the methods can obtain significantly better (10 percentage points in F1 on a "best-against-best" basis) results when using only a small set of 40 features extracted from the short Twitter user profile texts. Originality/value: The work is the first to study the different types of users that engage in health-related communication on social media, applicable to a broad range of health conditions rather than specific ones studied in the previous work. The methods are implemented as open source tools, and together with data, are the first of this kind. The authors believe these will encourage future research to further improve this important task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing awareness of marine ecological environment, biocide-free marine antifouling coatings have been gaining increased attention in the field of marine antifouling. Among all the antifouling approaches, constructing fouling-release coatings (FRCs) may be the most effective and economical way caused by the biocide-free. However, the low mechanical strength, weak adhesion to substrates, and poor static fouling resistance of traditional silicone-based FRCs, which limiting their applications. In this work, we synthesized a polyurethane with hydroxyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polytetrahydrofuran (PTMG) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) as main chains, 2,2'-Bis (hydroxymethyl)butyric acid (DMBA) as chain extender, and γ-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (KH-550) as crosslinker by condensation polymerization. Meanwhile, Triclosan (TCS) was used as an antibacterial agent and mixed into the polymer system with uniformly dispersed. We introduced urethane groups into silicone, which improved the mechanical strength (ultimate tensile strength: 1.379 MPa, elongation at break: 282%). As a result, the laboratory bioassays using bacteria (E. coli, and S. aureus) showed that the anti-bacterial efficiency could respectively reach ∼95% and ∼93%, which demonstrated an outstanding antifouling property of the D:K = 0.7:1.3/1.0. This work overcomes the low strength issue of traditional fouling-release coatings and provides a simple strategy for silicone-based polyurethane antifouling coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanochemical synthesis is a technology formed in the 1950s. By applying mechanical energy, mechanochemical synthesis stimulates chemical reactions, causing structural and phase changes and enabling difficult or otherwise impossible reactions to occur. Mechanochemical reactions are relatively safe, clean and efficient. At present, the synthesis of oxide ceramic materials by mechanochemical methods has attracted widespread attention. In the production of oxide ceramic materials, the characteristics of ceramic powder have a certain influence on the molding, sintering, microstructure, and mechanical properties of subsequent ceramics. In this paper, the research progress of mechanical chemistry in the synthesis of nanostructures and composite oxide ceramic powders is reviewed. The effects of process parameters such as ball milling time, speed, atmosphere, grinding media, additives, and ball‐to‐powder ratio on reaction kinetics, phase formation, and powder properties are summarized. In addition, challenges and opportunities for ceramic powder synthesis are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to assess inclusive leadership and presenteeism among clinical nurses and to examine the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on presenteeism related to the inclusive leadership among nurses. Background: Nurses' presenteeism has become common. In hospitals, inclusive leadership is an acknowledged leadership style that has a positive influence on nurses. However, little emphasis has been paid to research on their relationships and moderating effect. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess 2222 nurses using a general information questionnaire, Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6), Perceived Organisational Support Scale, and Inclusive Leadership Scale. Study variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Presenteeism was relatively severe among clinical nurses. There were correlations between inclusive leadership, perceived organizational support and presenteeism. Perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between inclusive leadership and presenteeism. Discussion and conclusion: Nursing managers should actively adopt an inclusive leadership style and improve nurses' sense of perceived organizational support to improve clinical nurses' presenteeism behaviors. Implications for nursing policy and practice: Healthcare organizations and nursing managers should pay attention to the psychological needs of their nurses, provide complete understanding and support, encourage staff to actively participate in their work and contribute new ideas and opinions, reduce the incidence of presenteeism, and improve nurses' sense of well-being at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban development level increases the potential for urban river methane emissions. • The river water environment is the main link. • Driver-Pressure-State-Response model facilitates the "urban river methane emission" system's construction. • Methane emissions from rivers can be reduced by societal responses like improved wastewater treatment rates and more investments in environmental protection. Numerous studies have shown that urban rivers are becoming a source of methane emissions, which poses a challenge to developing a "net zero carbon city." Most studies at this stage focus on the influence of single urban elements on river methane emissions, such as land use, water facilities, etc. It is necessary to consider the impact of urban development on river methane emissions in an integrated manner. This study aggregated relevant data sets for seven municipal districts in Shanghai during 2011–2020, collected through literature and statistical yearbooks. We constructed an "urban river methane emission" system based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Response model and used partial least squares-path modeling to verify the rationality of the system's influence pathways. The results showed (goodness-of-fitness = 0.4446) that driver (population density, urbanization rate), pressure (annual water supply, total yearly household waste), and state (deteriorating water quality environment) all increased the methane emission potential of urban rivers (total effect = 0.1917; 0.3932; 0.1394). Response (sewage treatment rate, environmental investment) would mitigate river methane emissions (total effect = -0.2230). An "urban river methane emission potential" assessment model was then developed. Partial least squares-path modeling and generalized linear mixed model were used to calculate the "urban river methane emission potential" index in seven municipal districts of Shanghai over ten years, respectively. And the results of the two methods were similar. The results showed that (e.g., partial least squares-path modeling method) Pudong District and Putuo District maintained a high methane emission potential of urban rivers (the average index was 46.15%, and 25.94%, respectively) during this decade. The emission potential of Qingpu District and Jinshan District were significantly lower during this decade (p < 0.05, the average index was −1.28% and 0.77%, respectively). We believed that higher human activity intensities and economic levels before or in the lead-up to a transition to a "net zero carbon city" would mean a higher urban river methane emission risk. The development and quantification of the "urban river methane emission potential" assessment model would provide new assessment perspectives and methods for policymakers or urban planners to control urban greenhouse gas emissions and promote the "net zero carbon city" process. Meanwhile, the "urban river methane emission" system pointed out the carbon emission risk at the pollution end. It would provide a new idea to improve products' full-lifecycle carbon footprint accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Enriched antibiotics stimulated the release of methane from the freshwater sediment. • The degree and duration of antibiotic enrichment affect the contribution of antibiotics to sediment methane release. • The sediment chemical environment is the main link. • Interaction effects analysis facilitates the construction of pathway analysis models. The impact of antibiotics on methane (CH 4) release from sediment involves both CH 4 production and consumption processes. However, most relevant studies lack a discussion of the pathways by which antibiotics affect CH 4 release and do not highlight the role played by the sediment chemical environment in this influence mechanism. Here, we collected field surface sediments and grouped them with various antibiotic combination concentration gradients (50, 100, 500, 1000 ng g−1) under a 35-day indoor anaerobic constant temperature incubation. We found that the positive effect of antibiotics on sediment CH 4 release potential appeared later than the positive effect on sediment CH 4 release flux. Still, the positive effect of high-concentration antibiotics (500, 1000 ng g−1) occurred with a lag in both processes. Also, the positive effect of high-concentration antibiotics was significantly higher than low-concentration antibiotics (50, 100 ng g−1) in the later incubation period (p < 0.05). We performed a multi-collinearity assessment of sediment biochemical indicators, followed by a generalized linear model with negative binomial regression (GLM-NB) to obtain essential variables. In particular, we conducted the interaction analysis on CH 4 release potential and flux regression for the influence pathways construction. The partial least-squares path modeling (PLS-PM) demonstrated that the positive effect of antibiotics on CH 4 release (Total effect = 0.2579) was primarily attributed to their effect on the sediment chemical environment (Direct effect = 0.5107). These findings greatly expand our understanding of the antibiotic greenhouse effect in freshwater sediment. Further studies should more carefully consider the effects of antibiotics on the sediment chemical environment, and continuously improve the mechanistic studies of antibiotics on sediment CH 4 release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, is a sedentary root parasite that poses a significant threat to agricultural production in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. In 2021–2022, a population of R. reniformis was identified in a melon greenhouse in Jimo District, Qingdao, China. To characterize this population, we employed morphological, morphometric, and molecular methods, which confirmed the identity of the nematodes as R. reniformis. Our investigation revealed that R. reniformis successfully infected the roots of melon plants and laid eggs, which could have led to significant crop damage. This report represents the first documented example of R. reniformis infecting melon plants in China. We evaluated several control strategies to combat this nematode, and our results indicated that soil solarization and the use of fosthiazate or chitooligosaccharide copper in combination with soil solarization were effective measures for managing R. reniformis in a greenhouse setting. In addition, combining soil solarization with chitooligosaccharide copper promoted melon plant growth and increased the relative abundance of microorganisms with biocontrol potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Solar interfacial evaporation is one of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly clean freshwater production technologies. Plasma metal nanoparticles are excellent optical absorption materials, but their high cost and inherent resonance narrow bandwidth absorption limit their application. In this work, commercial cellulose papers are used as substrates to synthesize Ag-Ni/cellulose paper by the seed-mediated method. The Ag-Ni/cellulose paper exhibits high light absorption at the full wavelength (200–2500 nm) resulting from the synergistic effect of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Ag NPs and the interband transitions (IBTs) of Ni. Under one-sun irradiation (1 kW m−2), the energy utilization efficiency of Ag-Ni/cellulose paper is as high as 93.8%, and the water evaporation rate is 1.87 kg m−2 h−1. Diffusion inhibition experiment results show that the Ag-Ni/cellulose paper exhibits excellent antibacterial performance, and the antibacterial performance is highly related with Ag NPs content. These provide new opportunities for commercial production of competitive cost, green, and portable solar evaporators for different application sceneries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composite materials of γ-Fe 2 O 3 /BiOI are synthesized by sol-gel and microwave hydrothermal method, in which γ-Fe 2 O 3 is the magnetic carrier. The composition and property of the composite catalyst are studied by XRD, TEM, XPS, and UV-vis DRS methods etc. The results show that γ-Fe 2 O 3 is uniformly distributed around BiOI nanosheets in the γ-Fe 2 O 3 /BiOI sample, thus making the p-n heterojunction composite catalyst material which features the band gap of 1.75 eV, the average pore size of 6.756 nm, the specific surface area of 46.722 m 2 /g and good superparamagnetism. It is also used to degrade organic dyes (methyl orange, MO) and antibiotics (sulfapyridine, SP) in waste water. Irradiated by tungsten lamp for 120 min with the composite catalyst material as the catalyst, MO has the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 67.6% and SP of 64.1%, 20% and 30% higher than those when pure BiOI is used as the catalyst, respectively. The composite catalyst still maintains excellent catalyst efficiency after five times recycling. The enhanced catalytic performance of the composite material is attributed to the effective separation of the electrons and holes in p-n heterojunction built by γ-Fe 2 O 3 and BiOI. The active species of the photodegradation process were h + and •OH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]