Search

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) provides a promising way for producing value‐added fuels and chemicals via renewable electricity. However, the dynamic reconstruction of electrocatalysts of atomic active sites hinders in‐depth understanding of catalytic mechanism and further industrial application, especially under ampere‐level current density conditions. In this work, electro‐induced crystallization is reported over an amorphous Indium hydroxide gel (In gel) catalyst, which generates active sites for efficient and selective CO2RR. Molecular dynamic calculation reveals the crystallization process can maintain amorphous In‐OH species on the surface while generating crystallized metallic In under electroreduction condition; structural characterizations prove that the derived partially crystallized In gel is stable consisting of amorphous/crystalline interface, even biased at a high polarization potential of −4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. The resultant partially crystalized In gel exhibits a highly selective CO2RR performance toward formate under an ampere‐level current density up to 1200 mA cm−2 simultaneously with 91.89% Faradaic efficiency, which can motivate a high formate generation rate of 20.55 mmol h−1 cm−2. The operando Raman spectroscopic and density functional theoretic results demonstrate the optimized adsorption of *HCOO intermediate for the enhanced formate activity and selectivity over the partially crystallized In gel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(Z)‐alkenes are useful synthons but thermodynamically less stable than their (E)‐isomers and typically more difficult to prepare. The synthesis of 1,4‐hetero‐bifunctionalized (Z)‐alkenes is particularly challenging due to the inherent regio‐ and stereoselectivity issues. Herein we demonstrate a general, chemoselective and direct synthesis of (Z)‐2‐butene‐1,4‐diol monoesters. The protocol operates within a Pd‐catalyzed decarboxylative acyloxylation regime involving vinyl ethylene carbonates (VECs) and various carboxylic acids as the reaction partners under mild and operationally attractive conditions. The newly developed process allows access to a structurally diverse pool of (Z)‐2‐butene‐1,4‐diol monoesters in good yields and with excellent regio‐ and stereoselectivity. Various synthetic transformations of the obtained (Z)‐2‐butene‐1,4‐diol monoesters demonstrate how these synthons are of great use to rapidly diversify the portfolio of these formal desymmetrized (Z)‐alkenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of silicon‐stereogenic silanols via Pd‐catalyzed intermolecular C−H alkenylation with the assistance of a commercially available L‐pyroglutamic acid has been realized for the first time. Employing oxime ether as the directing group, silicon‐stereogenic silanol derivatives could be readily prepared with excellent enantioselectivities, featuring a broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance. Moreover, parallel kinetic resolution with unsymmetric substrates further highlighted the generality of this protocol. Mechanistic studies indicate that L‐pyroglutamic acid could stabilize the Pd catalyst and provide excellent chiral induction. Preliminary computational studies unveil the origin of the enantioselectivity in the C−H bond activation step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of silicon‐stereogenic silanols via Pd‐catalyzed intermolecular C−H alkenylation with the assistance of a commercially available L‐pyroglutamic acid has been realized for the first time. Employing oxime ether as the directing group, silicon‐stereogenic silanol derivatives could be readily prepared with excellent enantioselectivities, featuring a broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance. Moreover, parallel kinetic resolution with unsymmetric substrates further highlighted the generality of this protocol. Mechanistic studies indicate that L‐pyroglutamic acid could stabilize the Pd catalyst and provide excellent chiral induction. Preliminary computational studies unveil the origin of the enantioselectivity in the C−H bond activation step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotin, also known as vitamin H or B7, acts as a crucial cofactor in the central metabolism processes of fatty acids, amino acids, and carbohydrates. Biotin has important applications in food additives, biomedicine, and other fields. While the ability to synthesize biotin de novo is confined to microorganisms and plants, humans and animals require substantial daily intake, primarily through dietary sources and intestinal microflora. Currently, chemical synthesis stands as the primary method for commercial biotin production, although microbial biotin production offers an environmentally sustainable alternative with promising prospects. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the pathways involved in de novo biotin synthesis in various species of microbes and insights into its regulatory and transport systems. Furthermore, diverse strategies are discussed to improve the biotin production here, including mutation breeding, rational metabolic engineering design, artificial genetic modification, and process optimization. The review also presents the potential strategies for addressing current challenges for industrial-scale bioproduction of biotin in the future. This review is very helpful for exploring efficient and sustainable strategies for large-scale biotin production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractCoprinus comatus is an edible mushroom and its fermented product possesses antioxidant activity. In this study, to further enhance the antioxidant activity and improve the reusability of the strain, calcium alginate hydrogel was used as the carrier for embedding and immobilizing Coprinus comatus. The effects of CaCl2 concentration, sodium alginate concentration, microsphere diameter, and the amount of magnetic particle on the antioxidant activity of fermented products were investigated. The results showed that the magnetic immobilized microsphere prepared by 2.50% CaCl2, 2.00% sodium alginate and 0.50% Fe3O4 had the best fermentation antioxidant activity (EC50 was 0.43 ± 0.01 mg/mL) when the diameter was 5 mm, which increased by 24.56% compared to the initial activity. Besides, the microsphere showed strong reusability, the antioxidant activity was still better than the free strain after being used five times. This study not only enhanced the antioxidant activity of Coprinus comatus fermented product through immobilization, but also provided an effective method for microbial fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reported herein is a Paternò–Büchi reaction of aromatic double bonds with quinones under visible light irradiation. The reactions of aromatics with quinones exposed to blue LED irradiation yielded oxetanes at −78 °C, which was attributed to both the activation of double bonds in aromatics and the stabilization of oxetanes by thiadiazole, oxadiazole, or selenadiazole groups. The addition of Cu(OTf)2 to the reaction system at room temperature resulted in the formation of diaryl ethers via the copper-catalyzed ring opening of oxetanes in situ. Notably, the substrate scope was extended to general aromatics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the booming fields of computer vision and natural language processing, cross‐modal intersections such as visual question answering (VQA) have become very popular. However, several studies have shown that many VQA models suffer from severe language prior problems. After a series of experiments, the authors found that previous VQA models are in an unstable state, that is, when training is repeated several times on the same dataset, there are significant differences between the distributions of the predicted answers given by the models each time, and these models also perform unsatisfactorily in terms of accuracy. The reason for model instability is that some of the difficult samples bring serious interference to model training, so we design a method to measure model stability quantitatively and further propose a method that can alleviate both model imbalance and instability phenomena. Precisely, the question types are classified into simple and difficult ones different weighting measures are applied. By imposing constraints on the training process for both types of questions, the stability and accuracy of the model improve. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, which achieves 63.11% on VQA‐CP v2 and 75.49% with the addition of the pre‐trained model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a pre-Lie–Yamaguti algebra A, by using its sub-adjacent Lie–Yamaguti algebra Ac, we are able to construct a semidirect product Lie–Yamaguti algebra via a representation of Ac. The investigation of such semidirect Lie–Yamaguti algebras leads us to the notions of para-Kähler structures and pseudo-Kähler structures on Lie–Yamaguti algebras, and also gives the definition of complex product structures on Lie–Yamaguti algebras. Furthermore, a Levi–Civita product with respect to a pseudo-Riemannian Lie–Yamaguti algebra is introduced and we explore its relation with pre-Lie–Yamaguti algebras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive solution strategy based on genetic programming (GP) was introduced into an industrial methyl methacrylate refining plant, and the downstream separation process of acetone/butanol/ethanol fermentation in the "twin tower + horizontal bottle" cycle was optimized. The effects of different membranes and operating temperatures on the process were studied. The mixed‐membrane and modified‐membrane process parameters were shown to improve the economy and environmental protection. The total annual cost was reduced by 9 % and 22.5 %, and CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions by 37.7 % and 78.7 %, respectively. The energy‐saving distillation‐membrane separation process has significant benefits in industrial production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood-rotting fungi's degradation of wood not only facilitates the eco-friendly treatment of organic materials, decreasing environmental pollution, but also supplies crucial components for producing biomass energy, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The ABC gene family, widely distributed in wood-rotting fungi, plays a crucial role in the metabolism of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. Trametes gibbosa, as a representative species of wood-rotting fungi, exhibits robust capabilities in wood degradation. To investigate the function of the ABC gene family in wood degradation by T. gibbosa, we conducted a genome-wide analysis of T. gibbosa's ABC gene family. We identified a total of 12 Tg-ABCs classified into four subfamilies (ABCA, ABCB, ABCC, and ABCG). These subfamilies likely play significant roles in wood degradation. Scaffold localization and collinearity analysis results show that Tg-ABCs are dispersed on scaffolds and there is no duplication of gene sequences in the Tg-ABCs in the genome sequence of T. gibbosa. Phylogenetic and collinearity analyses of T. gibbosa along with four other wood-rotting fungi show that T. gibbosa shares a closer phylogenetic relationship with its same-genus fungus (Trametes versicolor), followed by Ganoderma leucocontextum, Laetiporus sulphureus, and Phlebia centrifuga in descending order of phylogenetic proximity. In addition, we conducted quantitative analyses of Tg-ABCs from T. gibbosa cultivated in both woody and non-woody environments for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 days using an RT-qPCR analysis. The results reveal a significant difference in the expression levels of Tg-ABCs between woody and non-woody environments, suggesting an active involvement of the ABC gene family in wood degradation. During the wood degradation period of T. gibbosa, spanning from 10 to 35 days, the relative expression levels of most Tg-ABCs exhibited a trend of increasing, decreasing, and then increasing again. Additionally, at 20 and 35 days of wood degradation by T. gibbosa, the relative expression levels of Tg-ABCs peak, suggesting that at these time points, Tg-ABCs exert the most significant impact on the degradation of poplar wood by T. gibbosa. This study systematically reveals the biological characteristics of the ABC gene family in T. gibbosa and their response to woody environments. It establishes the foundation for a more profound comprehension of the wood-degradation mechanism of the ABC gene family and provides strong support for the development of more efficient wood-degradation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the adoption of direct seeding in rice cultivation due to its low cost and convenience. Topics include the need for rice varieties tolerant to submerged conditions for successful seed germination, the role of phytohormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin (GA), jasmonic acid (JA), and auxin (IAA) in submerged germination, and the interaction between different hormone functions in ensuring seed germination under submerged conditions.

Summary: Seed germination is a critical trait for the success of direct seeding in rice cultivation. However, the underlying mechanism determining seed germination is largely unknown in rice.Here, we report that NAC transcription factor OsNAC3 positively regulates seed germination of rice. OsNAC3 regulates seed germination involving abscisic acid (ABA) pathway and cell elongation. OsNAC3 can directly bind to the promoter of ABA catabolic gene OsABA8ox1 and cell expansion gene OsEXP4, which consequently activates their expressions during seed germination.We also find that the expression of OsEXP4 is reduced by ABA during seed germination in rice. OsNAC3 regulates seed germination by influencing cell elongation of the embryo through directly affecting OsEXP4 expression and indirectly ABA‐medicated OsEXP4 expression. The OsNAC3 elite haplotype is useful for genetic improvement of seed germination, and overexpression of OsNAC3 can significantly increase seed germination.We therefore propose that OsNAC3 is a potential target in breeding of rice varieties with high seed germination for direct seeding cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership, innovative work behavior, and turnover intention among software engineers in China. A survey was conducted, and data were collected from 289 software engineers working in various Chinese software companies. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the results indicated that transformational leadership had a significant negative impact on turnover intention, while innovative work behavior had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and turnover intention. The results of the study showed a significant negative impact of transformational leadership on turnover intention among software engineers in China. This implies that when software engineers perceive their leaders as transformational, inspiring, and supportive, they are less likely to have the intention to leave their current job. Additionally, innovative work behavior had a significant negative impact on turnover intention. These findings suggest that transformational leadership and innovative work behavior can play crucial roles in reducing employee turnover intention in the software industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we establish the cohomology of relative Rota–Baxter operators on Lie-Yamaguti algebras via the Yamaguti cohomology. Then, we use this type of cohomology to characterize deformations of relative Rota–Baxter operators on Lie-Yamaguti algebras. We show that if two linear or formal deformations of a relative Rota–Baxter operator are equivalent, then their infinitesimals are in the same cohomology class in the first cohomology group. Moreover, an order n deformation of a relative Rota–Baxter operator can be extended to an order n + 1 deformation if and only if the obstruction class in the second cohomology group is trivial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The combinations of PD-1 inhibitors with paclitaxel/cisplatinum (PD-1 + TP) and fluoropyrimidine/cisplatinum (PD-1 + FP) both have been shown to improve overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with previously untreated, advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, there is no consensus on which chemotherapy regimen combined with PD-1 has better efficacy. To deal with this important issue in the first-line treatment of patients with ESCC, a network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed. Methods: Data were collected from eligible studies searched in Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, the Cochrane Library and Embase. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) for the OS, and PFS, odds ratio (OR) for the objective response rate (ORR) and ≥ 3 grade treatment-related adverse events (≥ 3TRAEs) were estimated to evaluate the efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors combined with TP or FP. Results: Five RCTs and one retrospective study involving 3685 patients and evaluating four treatments were included in this NMA. Compared to other treatments, PD-1 + TP was better. For the PFS, the HRs for PD-1 + TP compared to PD-1 + FP, TP and FP were 0.59 (0.44, 0.80), 0.56 (0.51, 0.61) and 0.45 (0.37, 0.56) respectively. For the OS, PD-1 + TP was also a better treatment compared to other treatments. The HRs were 0.74 (0.56, 0.96), 0.64 (0.57, 0.71), 0.53 (0.43, 0.67) respectively. For the ORR, there was no significant difference between PD-1 + TP and PD-1 + FP, and the ORs were 1.2 (0.69, 2.11). Compare with TP and FP, PD-1 + TP had an obvious advantage, ORs were 2.5 (2.04, 3.04) and 2.95 (1.91, 4.63). For ≥ 3TRAEs, PD-1 + TP compared to other treatments, ORs were 1.34 (0.74, 2.46) and 1.13 (0.92, 1.38) and 2.23 (1.35, 3.69). Conclusion: PD-1 + TP significantly improved both PFS and OS compared to PD-1 + FP. Taking into account both efficacy and safety, PD-1 + TP may be a superior first-line treatment option for ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the FitzHugh-Nagumo system equipped with boundary condition of Dirichlet type on some two/three-dimensional domains. This system describes the signal transmission across the axonal membrane in neurophysiology. It is a semilinear parabolic PDE for the voltage variable coupled with a first-order ODE of space-time type for the recovery variable. We prove that there exists a finite-dimensional global manifold in the case of the fast recovery variable. Since the manifold is uniformly attracting, it gives geometric insight into the global long-time dynamics of the solutions. The proof is based on an abstract invariant manifold theorem for dynamical systems on a Banach space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the existence of invariant manifolds for a coupled problem of nonlinear hyperbolic–parabolic PDEs on a 3-D torus. The problem arises usually in the study of wave propagation phenomena with viscous damping which are heat generating. The spectral gap condition could fail for it. We prove that there exists a Lipschitz manifold which is locally invariant under the semiflow. The local asymptotic stability and regularity of the manifold are also considered. Moreover, under more assumptions on the nonlinearity, it is proved that the manifold is provided with the feature as that global manifold usually holds, i.e., it contains the global attractor. Through it all, no large damping and heat diffusivity are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost control challenge in construction and installation projects has always been a critical concern for construction entities. The complexity of task collaboration among various equipment and nodes during the installation process leads to extended construction duration, resulting in increased construction costs. To address this issue, this paper proposes a heuristic two-stage optimal deployment approach called MERD. The MERD approach incorporates intelligent computing principles from computer science into the resource scheduling of the construction process, modelling the installation scheduling problem into a combinatorial optimisation problem. Designing the probability method based on Bayes theorem, the MERD approach carries out an installation provisioning mechanism to optimise personnel and device allocation in the selected area. As a result, the MERD approach minimises construction hours and reduces labour costs in the construction process. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the MERD approach in reducing work time and cost in engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance training could counter hypertension and improve muscle quality (MQ), but current evidence about the correlation between MQ and hypertension is limited. The authors aimed to explore this correlation using the data of participants aged 20–59 from NHANES 2011–2014 via a cross‐sectional study. The MQ was quantified as handgrip strength (kg)/lean soft tissue mass (kg) of the dominant arm. Weighted multivariate logistic regression models were mainly utilized to investigate the MQ—hypertension association; linear trend tests and subgroup analysis were also conducted. Moreover, the authors employed weighted multivariate linear regression models to uncover the association between blood pressure (BP) and MQ. Four thousand four hundred and sixty‐nine individuals were enrolled, and 1167 were hypertensive. Hypertensive participants had a lower MQ than normotensive participants. In the totally adjusted model, each unit elevation in MQ was related to a 7% reduction in hypertension prevalence (p =.002). There was a decreasing trend in hypertension prevalence and in systolic BP as the MQ increased from the bottom to the top quartile across all three models (p for trend ≤.01), with a 28% difference (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.95) in hypertension prevalence and a 1.88 mm Hg (95% CI: −3.56, −0.20) difference in SBP between the top and bottom quartiles in the fully adjusted model. Subgroup analysis further confirmed the MQ—hypertension inverse association. In conclusions, the MQ was negatively associated with hypertension prevalence and systolic BP, which suggests the MQ may be a protective factor for hypertension and need to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Excessive white adipose tissue accumulation in farm animal results in a lower meat percentage of the carcass, which may attenuate economic benefits. Moreover, consumers prefer to purchase lean meat without excessive subcutaneous fat. Thus, developing strategies to enhance skeletal muscle growth and maintain or decrease adiposity in farm animals is desirable. Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) has been officially registered as an animal feed additive to promote the performance of animals. Currently, little is known about its effects on sheep adipose tissue accumulation. We found that dietary GAA supplementation could attenuate adipose tissue growth in sheep. Moreover, GAA inhibited proliferation and differentiation of sheep stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells in vitro. Thus, these data could potentiate the application of GAA to sheep meat production. Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is an amino acid derivative, previously described in the skeletal muscle of vertebrates, that serves as an important regulator of cellular bioenergetics and has been widely used as a feed additive. Nevertheless, the effect of GAA on adipose tissue growth remains unclear. Here, we hypothesized that dietary GAA negatively affected adipose tissue development in lambs. Lambs were individually fed diets with (0.09%) or without GAA for 70 d ad libitum, and the subcutaneous adipose tissues were sampled for analysis. The results showed that dietary GAA supplementation decreased the girth rib (GR) value (p < 0.01) of lamb carcasses. Both real-time PCR and Western blot analysis suggested that dietary GAA inhibited the expression of adipogenic markers, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ, p < 0.05), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α (C/EBPα, p < 0.01) and sterol-regulatory-element-binding protein 1c (SREBP1C, p < 0.01) in subcutaneous adipose tissue. In vitro, GAA inhibited sheep stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cell proliferation, which was associated with downregulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA, p < 0.05), cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK 4, p < 0.05) and cyclin D1 (p < 0.01). GAA suppressed adipogenesis of SVF cells. Furthermore, miRNA sequencing revealed that GAA affected the miRNA expression profile, and real-time PCR analysis confirmed that miR-133a expression in both subcutaneous adipose tissue and SVF cell was downregulated by GAA. Meanwhile, miR-133a promoted adipogenic differentiation of SVF cells by targeting Sirt1. miR-133a mimics alleviated the inhibitory effect of GAA on SVF cells' adipogenic differentiation. In summary, GAA attenuated adipogenesis of sheep SVF cells, which might occur through miR-133a-modulated Sirt1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the accuracy and universality of the nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic mechanical behavior characterization method of asphalt mixture, a new criterion for the division of the creep process of materials was established based on the strain yield characteristics, and the coexistence mechanism of Viscoelastic–Viscoplastic strain was proposed in the subsequent yield phase; then, a viscoelastic element was constructed in the form of a parallel connection of two fractional viscoelastic elements based on fractional calculus theory, and its mathematical equations were derived; with novel viscoelastic elements, a constitutive model characterizing the whole creep process of asphalt mixtures was developed and its analytical expression was derived. The laboratory short-term creep test of Cement and Asphalt Mortar (CA mortar) and the simulation test data of asphalt mixtures from the references were used to verify the constitutive model. The results show that the creep constitutive model of asphalt mixture established in this paper has excellent fitting accuracy for different phases of the creep process of asphalt mixture under different stress levels, where the minimum fitting correlation values R2 for CA mortar, asphalt mixture (applied to pavement engineering), and asphalt sand are 0.9976, 0.981, and 0.979, respectively. Therefore, this model can be used to provide a theoretical reference for the study of the characterization of the mechanical behavior of asphalt materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc finger proteins (ZNFs) are the largest family of transcriptional factors in mammalian cells. Recently, their role in the development, progression, and metastasis of malignant tumors via regulating gene transcription and translation processes has become evident. Besides, their possible involvement in drug resistance has also been found, indicating that ZNFs have the potential to become new biological markers and therapeutic targets. In this review, we summarize the oncogenic and suppressive roles of various ZNFs in malignant tumors, including lung, breast, liver, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, and other cancers, highlighting their role as prognostic markers, and hopefully provide new ideas for the treatment of malignant tumors in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular synthetic aperture radar (CSAR) can obtain more complete scattering characteristics by observing the target with different azimuth angles. Therefore, extracting the complete structure of the target from CSAR images is of great significance for accurate interpretation. At present, the artificial target extraction based on CSAR images mostly uses anisotropic scattering features. For special targets such as buildings, as the walls and the ground form dihedral corner structures, there are also obvious strong scattering features such as double-scattering lines in SAR images. Therefore, combining the strong scattering features of buildings at specific aspects with anisotropic scattering characteristics at different aspects can obtain better extraction results, and how to extract these features accurately and efficiently is the key point. Based on this, this paper proposes a novel method for building contour extraction based on CSAR images. For strong scattering features, a fast fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering algorithm was used to extract them. For anisotropic scattering features, aspect entropy was used to characterize the anisotropy degree, and K-means clustering was combined to extract. Finally, a more accurate result is obtained by merging the two feature extraction results. In order to verify the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method, a lot of measured data acquired by the self-developed airborne L-band and Ku-band CSAR systems were processed. The experiments show that, compared with state-of-the-art algorithms, the proposed method can obtain more accurate results in less time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanozyme, with enzyme-mimicking activity and excellent stability, has attracted extensive attention. However, some inherent disadvantages, including poor dispersion, low selectivity, and insufficient peroxidase-like activity, still limit its further development. Therefore, an innovative bioconjugation of a nanozyme and natural enzyme was conducted. In the presence of graphene oxide (GO), histidine magnetic nanoparticles (H-Fe3O4) were first synthesized by a solvothermal method. The GO-supported H-Fe3O4 (GO@H-Fe3O4) exhibited superior dispersity and biocompatibility because GO was the carrier and possessed outstanding peroxidase-like activity because of the introduction of histidine. Furthermore, the mechanism of the peroxidase-like activity of GO@H-Fe3O4 was the generation of •OH. Uric acid oxidase (UAO) was selected as the model natural enzyme and covalently linked to GO@H-Fe3O4 with hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) as a linker. UAO could specifically catalyze the oxidation of uric acid (UA) to generate H2O2, and subsequently, the newly produced H2O2 oxidized the colorless 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to blue ox-TMB under the catalysis of GO@H-Fe3O4. Based on the above cascade reaction, the GO@H-Fe3O4-linked UAO (GHFU) and GO@H-Fe3O4-linked ChOx (GHFC) were used for the detection of UA in serum samples and cholesterol (CS) in milk, respectively. The method based on GHFU exhibited a wide detection range (5–800 μM) and a low detection limit (1.5 μM) for UA, and the method based on GHFC exhibited a wide detection range (4–400 μM) and a low detection limit (1.13 μM) for CS. These results demonstrated that the proposed strategy had great potential in the field of clinical detection and food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abnormal activation of NLRP3 inflammasome is related to a series of inflammatory diseases, including type 2 diabetes, gouty arthritis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and neurodegenerative disorders. Therefore, targeting NLRP3 inflammasome is regarded as a potential therapeutic strategy for many inflammatory diseases. A growing number of studies have identified tanshinone I (Tan I) as a potential anti-inflammatory agent because of its good anti-inflammatory activity. However, its specific anti-inflammatory mechanism and direct target are unclear and need further study. Methods: IL-1β and caspase-1 were detected by immunoblotting and ELISA, and mtROS levels were measured by flow cytometry. Immunoprecipitation was used to explore the interaction between NLRP3, NEK7 and ASC. In a mouse model of LPS-induced septic shock, IL-1β levels in peritoneal lavage fluid and serum were measured by ELISA. Liver inflammation and fibrosis in the NASH model were analyzed by HE staining and immunohistochemistry. Results: Tan I inhibited the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages, but had no effect on the activation of AIM2 or NLRC4 inflammasome. Mechanistically, Tan I inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome assembly and activation by targeting NLRP3-ASC interaction. Furthermore, Tan I exhibited protective effects in mouse models of NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated diseases, including septic shock and NASH. Conclusions: Tan I specifically suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation by disrupting the association of NLRP3 and ASC, and exhibits protective effects in mouse models of LPS-induced septic shock and NASH. These findings suggest that Tan I is a specific NLRP3 inhibitor and may be a promising candidate for treating NLRP3 inflammasome-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal spontaneous combustion (CSC), as the central cause of coal fire disasters, gravely threatens the safety and efficiency of coalmine production. We take Huating long flame coal as an example and use simultaneous thermal analyzer to investigate how oxygen concentration and heating rate effects CSC characteristics. The reaction process, variation of characteristic temperature, and heat flow were studied. Besides, the kinetic model and parameters were calculated through Šatava and Ozawa methods. The results indicated that the curve peaks of TG and DSC moved to lower temperatures and the characteristic temperatures gradually decreased when the oxygen concentration changed from 3 to 21%. On the contrary, the curve peaks of TG and DSC moved to higher temperature region and the characteristic temperatures increased as the heating rate rose. The most probable mechanism function of Huating long flame is determined to be Avrami–Erofeev equation (n = 3) by calculation. When oxygen concentration is 3% or 21%, CSC showed larger tendency. The higher the heating rate, the larger the apparent activation energy, and harder to occur CSC. These findings provide a basis for discovering the formation and evolution mechanism of coal fires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of functional β-cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for cell replacement therapy and disease modeling of diabetes is being investigated by many groups. We have developed a protocol to harvest and aggregate hPSC-derived pancreatic progenitors generated using a commercially available kit into near uniform spheroids and to further differentiate the cells toward an endocrine cell fate in suspension culture. Using a static suspension culture platform, we could generate a high percentage of insulin-expressing, glucose-responsive cells. We identified FGF7 as a soluble factor promoting aggregate survival with no inhibitory effect on endocrine gene expression. Notch inhibition of pancreatic progenitor cells during aggregation improved endocrine cell induction in vitro and improved graft function following implantation and further differentiation in mice. Thus we provide an approach to promote endocrine formation from kit-derived pancreatic progenitors, either through extended culture or post implant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have suggested English classrooms with sufficient context and fun activities to increase English performance and promote learning motivation. With the rapid growth of technology-enhanced learning, virtual reality (VR) has become increasingly popular in English learning. Using VR without a well-designed learning environment, however, may not guide students to focus on the learning content to achieve the learning goals. Hence, this study proposed a self-regulated-based gamified VR learning system to trigger students to monitor their learning process to achieve their learning goals. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed system, a quasi-experiment was conducted in a middle school in China involving three groups: students who adopted the self-regulated-based gamified VR system, students who learned with the gamified VR system, and those who learned with a conventional VR system. The results showed that the self-regulated-based gamified VR system significantly improved the students’ English learning performance regarding their English vocabulary and speaking, self-regulation, learning motivation, learning attitudes, and meta-cognition tendency. Moreover, their reflections on the self-regulated-based gamified VR system were revealed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As adequate support, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly introduced into the classroom to help students learn a new language. However, empirical studies exploring the educational potential of using 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in high‐school Chinese language classrooms are still lacking. Objectives: A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed for international high‐school students' Chinese courses and examines its effects on improving Chinese learning achievements and perceptions among Grade 10 students who learn Chinese as a foreign language. Methods: This study adopted a quasi‐experiment design. Participants (N = 66) were assigned to one of three conditions: mind mapping‐based SVVR (MMBSVVR), conventional SVVR (CSVVR), or traditional lecturing (TL). Our mixed‐method approach employed pre‐and post‐tests to measure Chinese learning achievements, questionnaires to measure Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy, and semi‐structured interviews to further explore students' feelings and attitudes about Chinese courses in corresponding learning environments. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that the MMBSVVR classroom significantly improved high students' Chinese learning achievements in Chinese vocabulary and making sentence, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Moreover, SVVR stimulates students' learning interest and class participation, and mind mapping provides students with a clear guide to arrange the knowledge. These findings help interpret the relationships between MMBSVVR and learning achievements, Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy in an international high school Chinese courses, thus providing insight on integrating MMBSVVR into existing classrooms. Lay Description: What is Already Known about this Topic: By creating fully immersive 3D environments, 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in promoting language learning has been confirmed by many scholars with a focus on English language learning.Mind mapping effectively enables second language learners to review and retain new words in the target language meaningfully. Also, it can create a more vivid learning atmosphere through images and graphics and promote learners' memory and learning motivation. What This Paper Adds: A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system has been developed with the support of the constructivism theory.A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed to facilitate international students' Chinese learning performance in Chinese vocabulary acquisition and sentence construction.In addition to promoting international students' learning outcomes, the proposed approach indicated promising results in learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Implications for Practice and/or Policy: This study provides an evidence base for further research through the utilization of VR learning environments in Chinese language classrooms.This study advocates introducing SVVR technology in the Chinese learning classrooms to increase the learning context for international students. It is also worth encouraging scholars to design VR learning systems with different learning strategies.Due to the cognitive requirements of the Chinese language learning process, it is necessary to introduce mind maps in the SVVR learning system to assist students in constructing knowledge and combining prior and new knowledge to generate long‐term memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cutter ring is a consumable tool used by a tunnel boring machine (TBM) to break rock, affecting the cost and time limit of tunnel engineering. In this paper, based on the working principle of the cutter ring, the failure form of cutter rings, and the mechanical properties of rock, a variable cross-section (VCS) cutter ring is optimized based on the existing constant cross-section (CCS) cutter ring. The finite element method was used to model the Beishan granite, and the mechanical properties of the granite were simulated. The average discrepancy rate of the four key parameters was 1.19% compared with the experimental results. The linear rock cutting experiment of the disc cutter in Beijing University of Technology was simulated, the simulation results of normal force are similar to the reality. The digital models of the 20-in CCS cutter ring and 30 types of VCS cutter rings are established, and modal, impact response, and cutting rock simulations are conducted. The results demonstrate that the natural frequencies of the two types of cutter rings are very close to 6.72 rad/s, confirming the feasibility of interchange. The impact resistance of most of the 30 VCS rings is higher than that of CCS rings, and the rock-breaking effect of all VCS rings outperforms that of the CCS rings. The VCS ring with the highest crushing adaptability of the rock model in this simulation experiment was obtained by statistical analysis of 3D data. This experimental method of rock adaptability can obtain the optimal design parameters of VCS cutter rings for a particular rock model. VCS cutter rings have the potential to support establishing a tool selection system with rock adaptability based on extensive experimental data in the future. Highlights: According to the working principle, failure mode of TBM disk cutter and rock characteristics, a variable cross-section (VCS) disk cutter is designed. The simulation model of linear rock cutting is established according to the real experiment, and the validity of the simulation model is verified. The impact resistance and damaged rock performance of 30 kinds of VCS cutter rings were ranked using a statistical analysis method with 3D data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steroid hormones have attracted increasing attentions in aquatic environment because of their endocrine disrupting effects at trace concentrations. In this work, amphiphilic solid phase extraction material of divinylbenzene‐N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidinone polymer microsphere was synthesized by free radical polymerization. The adsorption of 4 steroid hormones in aqueous solution by prepared amphiphilic microsphere was determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry method. When methyl cellulose and sodium dodecyl sulfonate were used as dispersants, 2,2'‐azobis(2‐methylpropionitrile) was used as initiator, the amphiphilic microsphere was successfully prepared at 80 °C for 6 h. The amphiphilic microsphere has high specific surface area of 774 m2 g−1 with uniform particle size, which is comparable to the commercial solid phase extraction fillers. The amphiphilic microsphere has been successfully applied to the enrichment and detection of 4 steroid hormones (17α‐hydroxyprogesterone, metandienone, norethindrone and boldenone) in natural water. The recoveries of 4 steroid hormones ranged from 83.7 % to 114 %, and the limit of detection were in the range of 0.70–13.5 ng L−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tool condition is the key factor affecting the quality and efficiency of precision cutting of parts. As tool wear is inevitable during machining, tool wear status during machining must be regularly monitored. This study proposes a combined convolutional neural network and support vector machine (SVM) approach for tool wear status monitoring. First, 1D cutting force data are wavelet-transformed and converted into 2D spectrogram. Second, the leaky-ReLU activation function is adopted to enhance network robustness. Third, an SVM classifier is used to replace the traditional Softmax function to improve the model generalization capability. Finally, the cutting force signal of the tool used for the machining of the aero-engine integral blisk is verified. The accuracy of the constructed network model can reach 98.28 %. Moreover, the proposed model has a simple structure, requires a small number of parameters, and has good robustness and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tri-training expands the training set by adding pseudo-labels to unlabeled data, which effectively improves the generalization ability of the classifier, but it is easy to mislabel unlabeled data into training noise, which damages the learning efficiency of the classifier, and the explicit decision mechanism tends to make the training noise degrade the accuracy of the classification model in the prediction stage. This study proposes the Tri-training algorithm for adaptive nearest neighbor density editing and cross-entropy evaluation (TTADEC), which is used to reduce the training noise formed during the classifier iteration and to solve the problem of inaccurate prediction by explicit decision mechanism. First, the TTADEC algorithm uses the nearest neighbor editing to label high-confidence samples. Then, combined with the relative nearest neighbor to define the local density of samples to screen the pre-training samples, and then dynamically expand the training set by adaptive technique. Finally, the decision process uses cross-entropy to evaluate the completed base classifier of training and assign appropriate weights to it to construct a decision function. The effectiveness of the TTADEC algorithm is verified on the UCI dataset, and the experimental results show that compared with the standard Tri-training algorithm and its improvement algorithm, the TTADEC algorithm has better classification performance and can effectively deal with the semi-supervised classification problem where the training set is insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new method, the solving fractional order dynamical systems using reservoir computing (RC-FODS) algorithm, for solving fractional order nonlinear dynamical systems using deep learning. The method is shown to have advantages over traditional methods, such as less calculation time and higher accuracy. This study also compares the RC-FODS algorithm with the traditional recurrent neural network and echo state network algorithms and finds that it has a higher accuracy and shorter computation time. The accuracy of the method is validated using the largest Lyapunov exponent, and the study also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different deep learning models. Our study concludes that the RC-FODS algorithm is a promising method for solving fractional order nonlinear dynamical systems with a high accuracy and low error rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost control challenge in construction and installation projects has always been a critical concern for construction entities. The complexity of task collaboration among various equipment and nodes during the installation process leads to extended construction duration, resulting in increased construction costs. To address this issue, this paper proposes a heuristic two-stage optimal deployment approach called MERD. The MERD approach incorporates intelligent computing principles from computer science into the resource scheduling of the construction process, modelling the installation scheduling problem into a combinatorial optimisation problem. Designing the probability method based on Bayes theorem, the MERD approach carries out an installation provisioning mechanism to optimise personnel and device allocation in the selected area. As a result, the MERD approach minimises construction hours and reduces labour costs in the construction process. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the MERD approach in reducing work time and cost in engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organohalogens play an important role in the drug discovery and functional materials. However, the convenient preparation of organohalogens still remains a challenging task. Herein, we report a metal‐free cascade dihalogenation‐cyclization of cyclohexadienone‐containing 1,6‐enynes in a biodegradable solvent to generate the dibrominated cis‐tetrahydrobenzofuran‐5(4H)‐ones and cis‐dihydrobenzopyran‐6(5H)‐ones respectively bearing 1,4‐dibromobut‐1‐enyl subunit in trans‐trans and trans‐cis form. A subgram‐scale experiment and several downstream transformations are presented for elaborating the synthetic utility. Moreover, the potent anticancer activity is observed against MDA‐MB‐468 cells for the corresponding products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly conducts a comparative study of body posture action feature extraction and recognition in three‐dimensional (3D) space through motion capture technology and virtual reality technology. Firstly, this paper proposes a body posture feature extraction method in 3D space to obtain joint point data and conduct body posture feature extraction research. At the same time, this method is used for action recognition research, which solves the difficulty of traditional methods in 3D scene feature extraction and motion recognition. In addition, this paper proposes two action comparison methods in 3D space. One is a 'distance threshold method' that calculates the distance between bones in the form of joint points and bones, which can finally provide the effect of dynamic display of sliders; the other is the 'feature plane method' that calculates the detailed information based on different skeletal joint point planes, and finally provides a text display effect with detailed body posture difference values. Finally, combined with virtual reality technology, an application platform for body posture feature recognition and comparison is designed and implemented, which solves the problems of poor visualization effect and weak interaction of traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Obolodiplosis robiniae is an invasive species found across Eurasia. This species has now established itself as a common pest of black locust trees, with widespread infestations resulting in severe defoliation and substantial ecological and economic damage. Considering its biology and ecology, we applied a machine-learning algorithm based on the maximum entropy principle. The model's predictions are consistent with the known distribution of O. robiniae. The total potential suitable area is 10,896,309.16 km2. In the context of future climate warming, the suitable area will extend to high latitudes, whereas the area in the south will decrease slightly. Governments should be concerned about the potential spread of O. robiniae throughout Eurasia, and quarantine measures should be implemented as soon as possible to avoid astronomical maintenance costs later on. Obolodiplosis robiniae was discovered in Eurasia at the beginning of the 21st century. In this study, we explore the present and future (in the years 2050 and 2070) trends in the potential distribution of O. robiniae in Eurasia under diverse climate change scenarios based on a maximum entropy model. Our findings indicated that the current potential distribution area of O. robiniae is within the range of 21°34′ and 65°39′ N in the Eurasian continent. The primary factor controlling the distribution of O. robiniae is temperature. The highly and moderately suitable areas are mainly distributed in the semi-humid and semi-arid regions, which also happen to be the locations where the host black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) grows at its fastest rate. The forecast of the potential distribution area of O. robiniae revealed that the species would benefit from global warming. The region suitable for the habitat of O. robiniae is characterized by a large-scale northward expansion trend and an increase in temperature. This information would help the forestry quarantine departments of Asian and European countries provide early warnings on the probable distribution areas of O. robiniae and provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of O. robiniae spread and outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This report describes the first successful use of 3D image-guided robot-assisted reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) and validates the feasibility of this technology. Methods: The clinical data, preoperative preparation, surgical procedure, and postoperative outcomes of a patient with proximal humerus fracture who underwent 3D image-guided robot-assisted RSA on May 18, 2023, at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital were summarized. Results: The patient underwent 3D image-guided robot-assisted RSA successfully. The surgery lasted for 2 h and blood loss was about 200 ml. No significant adverse events were observed during the procedure. Immediate postoperative joint range of motion was as follows: forward flexion 150°, abduction 90°, neutral rotation 50° externally and 60° internally, with no dislocation. The drainage tube was removed on the second postoperative day, and an X-ray examination confirmed the proper positioning of the prosthesis. Conclusion: In conclusion, we are the first to report the successful use of 3D image-guided robot-assisted RSA, demonstrating the feasibility of this technique. However, further upgrades and enhancements to the orthopedic robotic system are necessary to provide more assistance to surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, first we give the cohomology theory of a 3-Lie algebra with a representation (called a 3- L i e R e p pair) and study the linear deformation theory of a 3- L i e R e p pair. We introduce the notion of a Nijenhuis structure on a 3- L i e R e p pair, which generates a trivial linear deformation. Then by adding compatibility conditions between Nijenhuis structures and relative Rota-Baxter operators, we introduce the notion of a relative Rota-Baxter-Nijenhuis structure on a 3- L i e R e p pair. Finally we construct relative Rota-Baxter-Nijenhuis structures on 3- L i e R e p pairs from those on L i e R e p pairs through certain linear functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using standard DNA-damaging medicines with DNA repair inhibitors is a promising anticancer tool to achieve better therapeutic responses and reduce therapy-related side effects. Cell viability assay, neutral comet assay, western blotting (WB), and cell cycle and apoptosis analysis were used to determine the synergistic effect and mechanism of ML216, a Bloom syndrome protein (BLM) helicase inhibitor, and cisplatin (CDDP), a DNA-crosslinking agent, in PCa cells. Based on the online database research, our findings revealed that BLM was substantially expressed in PCa, which is associated with a bad prognosis for PCa patients. The combination of ML216 and CDDP improved the antiproliferative properties of three PCa cell lines. As indicated by the increased production of γH2AX and caspase-3 cleavage, ML216 significantly reduced the DNA damage-induced high expression of BLM, making PC3 more susceptible to apoptosis and DNA damage caused by CDDP. Furthermore, the combination of ML216 and CDDP increased p-Chk1 and p-Chk2 expression. The DNA damage may have triggered the ATR-Chk1 and ATM-Chk2 pathways simultaneously. Our results demonstrated that ML216 and CDDP combination therapy exhibited synergistic effects, and combination chemotherapy could be a novel anticancer tactic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difenoconazole is a triazole germicide that is usually applied to prevent fungal diseases on crops with high efficiency and safety. Jujube is a spiny Rhamnaceous plant that originated in China more than 4000 years ago and is extensively cultivated in northern China nowadays. To evaluate the safety of difenoconazole in jujube, supervised field trials were carried out in six provinces of China, and the final residue and dissipation behavior of difenoconazole on jujube were determined by gas chromatography (GC). The results showed that when addition levels were 0.02, 0.2, and 2 mg·kg−1, average recoveries of the aforementioned method for difenoconazole in jujube can be put into the range of 73–108%, and relative standard deviation (RSD) was 3–9%. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for this method was 0.02 mg·kg−1. In the final residue test, difenoconazole was sprayed to deal with the jujube at 100 and 150 mg·kg−1 doses twice or three times, respectively, while the dissipation test was applied only once at a 150 mg·kg−1 dose. Final residue testing results have revealed that when jujube samples were harvested and tested at 7, 14, and 21 days post-application, difenoconazole residues in samples were 0.11–1.59, 0.05–0.77, 0.04–0.63 mg·kg−1, respectively. The dissipation testing results showed that the digestion process of difenoconazole in jujube tends to be a gradual reduction process and the dynamic regularity of the residue dissipation proves consistent with the first-order dynamics reaction equation. The half-life (t1/2) for difenoconazole residue dissipation in Qingdao and Yuncheng was 13.1 days and 16.5 days, respectively. The risk quotient (RQ) was 84.9% lower than 100%, showing that dietary intake risk to difenoconazole was acceptable and the maximum residue limit (MRL) of difenoconazole on jujube is recommended to be 2 mg·kg−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tartary buckwheat [ Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.] is a pseudocereal with strongly abiotic resistance. NACs, one of the largest plant-specific transcription factors (TFs), are involved in various stress responses. However, the characteristics and regulatory mechanisms of NAC TFs remain unclarified clearly in Tartary buckwheat (TB). In this study, it validated that salt, drought, and abscisic acid (ABA) stress significantly up-regulated the expression of NAC TF gene FtNAC31. Its coding protein has a C-terminal transactivated domain and localized in the nucleus, suggesting that FtNAC31 might play a transcriptional activation role in TB. Notably, overexpression of FtNAC31 lowered the seed germination rate upon ABA treatment and enhanced the tolerance to salt and drought stress in transgenetic Arabidopsis. Furthermore, under various stresses, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) in FtNAC31 overexpressed lines exhibited a sharp increase trend. Meanwhile, the expression levels of several stress-associated genes including RD29A , RD29B , RD22 , DREB2B , NCED3 , and POD1 , were dramatically upregulated in lines overexpressing FtNAC31. Altogether, overproduction of FtNAC31 could enhance the resistance to salt and drought stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis, which most likely functioned in an ABA-dependent way. • Hormones and stress up-regulated the expression of FtNAC31 in Tartary buckwheat. • FtNAC31 play a transcriptional activation role in Tartary buckwheat. • Over-expressing FtNAC31 could enhance the resistance to salt and drought stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: A recent report indicated that 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase-encoding Pseudomonas aeruginosa inhibited Arabidopsis germination. The aim of this study was to understand the role of ACC deaminase in germination arrest and evaluate the potential of ACC deaminase-encoding rhizobacteria for grass and weed control. Methods: The effect of ACC deaminase-encoding Pseudomonas putida KT2440 (1 × 107 to 5 × 109 cells/mL) on 'Nipponbare' rice germination was evaluated. In addition, the ability of KT2440 to arrest grass and weed germination was assessed in vitro and in plant-soil system. Results: KT2440 inhibited rice germination at high concentrations (> 1 × 108 cells/mL). The synthesis of the hormone ethylene was downregulated in rice seeds, whereas genes involved in the abscisic acid signaling pathway were upregulated. The mutant KT2440 formed by deleting the ACC deaminase gene had no inhibitory effect. KT2440 also inhibited the germination of crabgrass, quackgrass and Striga asiatica, among other plants studied. Crabgrass germination was reduced by 43% when KT2440 was applied in plant-soil system. Conclusions: This study provides new insights regarding the role of ACC deaminase on rhizobacteria-seed interactions. Additionally, this study reveals a new strategy for grass and weed control that may be used in particular cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• EEG alpha power increased in the frontal regions when generating creative ideas. • Task-related alpha coherence enhanced between frontal and parietal/temporal sites. • Everyday creativity influenced EEG alpha activity during creative ideation. • The higher the everyday creativity, the stronger increases in alpha power. • Highly creative individuals showed greater increases in alpha coherence. Everyday creativity is the basic ability of human survival and penetrates every aspect of life. Nevertheless, the neural mechanisms underlying everyday creativity was largely unexplored. In this study, seventy-five participants completed the creative behaviour inventory, a tool for assessing creative behaviour in daily life. The participants also completed the alternate uses task (AUT) during an electroencephalography (EEG) assessment to evaluate creative thinking. Alpha power was used to quantify neural oscillations during the creative process, while alpha coherence was used to quantify information communication between frontal regions and other sites during creative ideation. Moreover, these two task-related quantitative measures were combined to investigate the relationship between individual differences in everyday creativity and EEG alpha activity during creative idea generation. Compared with the reference period, increased alpha power was observed in the frontal cortex of the right hemisphere and increased functional coupling was observed between frontal and parietal/temporal regions during the activation period. Interestingly, individual differences in everyday creativity were associated with distinct patterns of EEG alpha activity. Specifically, individuals with higher everyday creativity had increased alpha power in the frontal cortex, and increased changes in coherence in frontal-temporal regions of the right hemisphere while performing the AUT. It might indicate that individuals with higher everyday creativity had an enhanced ability to focus on internal information processing and control bottom-up stimuli, as well as better selection of novel semantic information when performing creative ideation tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Meningioma is the most common type of primary intracranial tumor with 0.1-1% of all primary meningiomas have been reported to develop into metastases. However, there is no proven therapeutic strategy for multiple metastases of meningiomas.Case Presentation: A 60-year-old female accepted total tumor resection of a right frontal lobe meningioma in September 2018, In October 2021, the patient was admitted to hospital because of cough and shortness of breath and diagnosed with metastatic meningiomas. The computed tomography (CT) scan revealed the presence of large masses in the right thoracic and abdominal cavity. After two cycles of anti-PD-1 and anti-VEGF treatment, the symptoms were relieved and the tumor was necrotic. Follow up to June 21, 2022, the patient has been given eleven cycles of the treatment every 3 weeks without tumor progression.Conclusions: This case showed combined anti-PD-1 and anti-VEGF treatment stimulates peripheral blood immune cells to kill metastatic meningioma cells. Whether combined immunotherapy is more effective for metastatic meningioma needs further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Multicellular crosstalk within the brain tissue has been suggested to play a critical role in maintaining cerebral vascular homeostasis. Exosomes (EXs) mediated cell–cell communication, but its role in cerebral ischemic injury is largely unknown. Rab27a is one of the major genes controlling EX release. Here, we explored the role of Rab27a in regulating brain EXs secretion, and the effects of Rab27a‐mediated EXs on ischemia evoked cerebral vascular disruption and brain injury. Methods: Cerebral ischemia was induced in Rab27a knockout (Rab27a−/−) and wide type (WT) mice by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). Differential gene expression analysis was performed in ischemic brain tissue by using mRNA sequencing. EXs isolated from brain tissue of Rab27a−/− and WT mice (EXWT or EXRab27a−/−) were pre‐administrated into tMCAO operated Rab27a−/− mice or oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) treated primary brain vascular endothelial cells (ECs). Results: We demonstrated that Rab27a expression in the peri‐infarct area of brain was significantly elevated, which was associated with local elevation in EXs secretion. Rab27a deficiency dramatically decreased the level of EXs in brain tissue of normal and tMCAO‐treated mice, and Rab27a−/− mice displayed an increase in infarct volume and NDS, and a decrease in cMVD and CBF following tMCAO. Pre‐infusion of EXWT increased the brain EXs levels in the tMCAO operated Rab27a−/− mice, accompanied with an increase in cMVD and CBF, and a decrease in infarct volume, NDS, ROS production, and apoptosis. The effects of EXRab27a−/− infusion were much diminished although in a dose‐dependent manner. In OGD‐treated ECs, EXRab27a−/− showed less effectivity than EXWT in decreasing ROS overproduction and apoptosis, paralleling with down‐regulated expression of NOX2 and cleaved caspase‐3. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that Rab27a controls brain EXs secretion and functions, contributing to cerebral vascular protection from ischemic insult by preventing oxidative stress and apoptosis via down‐regulating NOX2 and cleaved caspase‐3 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally recognized that the fatigue failure of the cracked engineering components is a crucial issue, especially considering the sample thickness effect. Although numerous methods have been proposed, it is still unclear about the sample thickness effect on the fatigue crack growth (FCG) rate of metallic materials. Based on the plasticity‐induce crack closure and crack tunneling effect, we established an improved FCG model with a thickness factor T by the load analysis near the crack tip. The thickness factor could clarify the sample thickness effect on the FCG rate of high‐strength steels. Numerous fatigue data demonstrates that the improved model displays a fairly good relationship between the sample thickness and FCG rate. It would provide a new strategy to the FCG rate prediction of cracked structures through small size specimen. Highlights: We propose an improved model to illustrate the effect of specimen thickness on the FCG behavior.The thickness factor T provides a fairly accurate relation between the specimen thickness and FCG rate.The model would be an effective strategy to the fatigue life prediction of cracked components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]