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The fundamental difference between quantum and traditional plasmas is the electron and ion composition, the former has a much higher density and extremely lower temperature, and it can be modelled by Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK) equation. In this paper, the Hirota bilinear method is used to study its solution properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an illness that involves a gradual and irreversible degeneration of the brain. It is crucial to establish a precise diagnosis of AD early on in order to enable prompt therapies and prevent further deterioration. Researchers are currently focusing increasing attention on investigating the potential of machine learning techniques to simplify the automated diagnosis of AD using neuroimaging. The present study involved a comparison of models for the detection of AD through the utilization of 2D image slices obtained from magnetic resonance imaging brain scans. Five models, namely ResNet, ConvNeXt, CaiT, Swin Transformer, and CVT, were implemented to learn features and classify AD based on various perspectives of 2D image slices. A series of experiments were conducted using the dataset from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. The results showed that ConvNeXt outperformed ResNet, CaiT, Swin Transformer, and CVT. ConvNeXt exhibited an average accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score of 95.74%, 96.71%, 95.74%, and 96.14%, respectively, when applied to a 3-way classification task involving AD, mild cognitive impairment, and normal control subjects. The results suggest that the utilization of ConvNeXt may have potential in the identification of AD using 2D slice images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, by combining sampling methods for food statistics with years of sample sampling experience, various sampling points and corresponding sampling methods are summarized. It hopes to discover food safety risks and improve the level of food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global economy enters a new stage, Chinese dairy enterprises are gradually moving towards the road of internationalization. In this paper, the internationally common quality management system, food safety system and quality traceability system were analyzed and studied to promote the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of dairy industry and broaden the development road with the help of systematic construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate regional distributed PV power forecasting provides data support for power grid management and optimal operation. Distributed PV has the characteristics of large quantity, small capacity and difficulty in obtaining meteorological data. Statistical upscaling method is commonly used to forecast regional power. However, the current research ignores how to reasonably divide the sub-regions with similar output characteristics and mine the spatial and temporal correlation between different sub-regions. Therefore, this paper proposes a short-term regional distributed PV power forecasting method based on sub-region division considering spatio-temporal correlation. Firstly, the representative power plant is selected after dividing the sub-region by the AP clustering algorithm. Then, the GCN is used to extract spatial correlation features, and the LSTM is used to extract the evolution features of dynamic spatial correlation features, and the power forecasting models of representative plants in different weather types are established. Finally, the data integrity and similarity of the sub-region are scored, and the upscaling weight is determined to realize the power forecasting of the whole region. The distributed PV power generation data of Pingshan County, Hebei Province, China is used for simulation test. The results show that the forecasting method proposed has higher forecasting accuracy than the traditional model. • The spatio-temporal correlation between distributed PV power plants is studied. • Introduce how to divide appropriate distributed PV sub-regions. • A power forecasting method considering spatio-temporal correlation is proposed. • Sub-regional data evaluation improves the forecasting accuracy of regional PV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure dependence of the band gap energy of the dilute nitride GaNP is analyzed. It is found that the pressure dependence of the Γ conduction band minimum (CBM) is stronger than that of the X CBM. We also find that the energy difference between the X CBM and the Γ CBM in GaNP becomes large with increasing N content. In order to describe the pressure dependence of the band gap energy of the dilute nitride GaNP, a model is developed. Based on the model, we obtain the energy difference between the X CBM and the Γ CBM in GaNP at standard atmospheric pressure. It agrees well with the results obtained by other method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new type of semiconductor memory device, memristors receive wide attention because of their ability to realize multilevel memory and synapse-like learning. However, memristors made of traditional materials often demonstrate dispersion and unstable switching. Ferroelectric memristors can solve this problem and realize the regulation of synaptic plasticity. Herein, memristors based on Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 are fabricated on Si substrates. The I-Vcurve shows that the turn-on voltage of the device is lower for Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 film than for other compositions in HfxZr1-xOy films, and the ratio of ROFF/ RON can reach 104, implying excellent device performance. Furthermore, the train of pulse with different parameters can influence the modulation of device conductance. Also, the synaptic plasticity behavior of the device is studied. These results lay the foundation for the development of ferroelectric thin films with neuron-like artificial synapses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yolk-shell SiO2 particles (YP) with center-radial meso-channels were fabricated through a simple and effective method. Al-containing YP-supported NiMo catalysts with different Al amounts (NiMo/AYP-x, x = Si/Al molar proportion) were prepared and dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6-dimethyl-dibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) were employed as the probes to evaluate the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalytic performance. The as-prepared AYP-x carriers and corresponding catalysts were characterized by some advanced characterizations to obtain deeper correlations between physicochemical properties and the HDS performance. The average pore sizes of series AYP-x supports are above 6.0 nm, which favors the mass transfer of organic sulfides. The cavity between the yolk and the shell is beneficial for the enrichment of S-containing compounds and the accessibility between reactants and active metals. Aluminum embedded into the silica framework could facilitate the formation of Lewis (L) and Brønsted (B) acid sites and adjust the metal-support interaction (MSI). Among all the as-synthesized catalysts, NiMo/AYP-20 catalyst shows the highest HDS activities. The improved HDS activity of NiMo/AYP-20 catalyst is attributed to the perfect combination of excellent structural properties of the yolk-shell mesoporous silica, enhanced acidity, moderate MSI, and good accessibility/dispersion of active components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents cancer research on Co-delivery of inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa‐B kinase subunit epsilon (IKBKE) siRNA and cabazitaxel by hybrid nanocomplex inhibits invasiveness and growth of triple-negative breast cancer. Topics including IKBKE small interfering RNA (siRNA) inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells; and nanocomplex shows higher cellular uptake and better tumor penetration of the encapsulated cargos.

With the increase of solar photovoltaic (PV) penetration in power system, the impact of random fluctuation of PV power on the secure operation of power grid becomes more and more serious. High-precision PV power forecasting can effectively promote the grid's accommodation of PV power generation. Cloud is the most important factor affecting the surface irradiance and PV power. For the ultra-short-term solar PV power forecast considering the influence of cloud movement, it is necessary to be able to obtain the surface irradiance according to the sky cloud observation data. Therefore, in order to accurately achieve the real-time mapping relationship between sky image and surface irradiance, a hybrid mapping model based on deep learning applied for solar PV power forecasting is proposed in this article. First, the sky image data are clustered based on the feature extraction of convolutional autoencoder and K-means clustering algorithm after preprocess stage. Second, a hybrid mapping model based on deep learning methods are established for surface irradiance. Finally, the simulation results are compared and evaluated with different deep learning methods (CNN, LSTM, and ANN). The results show that the proposed model in this article has higher accuracy and can maintain robustness under different weather conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss log-balancedness of sequences. For a positive number m and a log-convex sequence {zn}n?0, we give a new sufficient condition for log-balancedness of { } 0 m. n n z = As applications, we derive the log-balancedness of a number of sequences related to many famous combinatorial numbers such as Catalan numbers, Motzkin numbers, Fine numbers, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical study of the structural and electronic properties of the chloride ion and water molecules in the first hydration shell is presented. The calculations are performed on an ensemble of configurations obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of a single chloride ion in bulk water. The simulations utilize the polarizable AMOEBA force field for trajectory generation and MP2-level calculations are performed to examine the electronic structure properties of the ions and surrounding waters in the external field of more distant waters. The ChelpG method is employed to explore the effective charges and dipoles on the chloride ions and first-shell waters. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) is further utilized to examine charge transfer from the anion to surrounding water molecules. The clusters extracted from the AMOEBA simulations exhibit high probabilities of anisotropic solvation for chloride ions in bulk water. From the QTAIM analysis, 0.2 elementary charges are transferred from the ion to the first-shell water molecules. The default AMOEBA model overestimates the average dipole moment magnitude of the ion compared to the quantum mechanical value. The average magnitude of the dipole moment of the water molecules in the first shell treated at the MP2-level, with the more distant waters handled with an AMOEBA effective charge model, is 2.67 D. This value is close to the AMOEBA result for first-shell waters (2.72 D) and is slightly reduced from the bulk AMOEBA value (2.78 D). The magnitude of the dipole moment of the water molecules in the first solvation shell is most strongly affected by the local water-water interactions and hydrogen bonds with the second solvation shell, rather than by interactions with the ion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multimode Holstein Hamiltonian is used to describe optical excitations in quaterthiophene pinwheel aggregates. The Hamiltonian includes the coupling of excitons originating from the 1Ag→1Bu electronic transition to phonons originating from the five intramolecular vibrational modes known from oligothiophene solution absorption/emission spectroscopy. The resulting eigenstates with lowest energy are best described as hybrid polaron phonons. The polarons are formed by coupling excitons with the higher frequency (688, 1235, and 1551 cm-1) vibrational modes, while the (optical) phonons arise from the lower frequency (161 and 333 cm-1) modes. The polaron phonons are responsible for the fine structure defining the A1 band in the low-energy region of the absorption spectrum, ranging from the band origin to ≈1500 cm-1 beyond. The calculated A1 band of quaterthiophene aggregates agrees favorably with that observed from thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motion of cloud over a photovoltaic (PV) power station will directly cause the change of solar irradiance, which indirectly affects the prediction of minute-level PV power. Therefore, the calculation of cloud motion speed is very crucial for PV power forecasting. However, due to the influence of complex cloud motion process, it is very difficult to achieve accurate result using a single traditional algorithm. In order to improve the computation accuracy, a pattern classification and particle swarm optimization optimal weights based sky images cloud motion speed calculation method for solar PV power forecasting (PCPOW) is proposed. The method consists of two parts. First, we use a k-means clustering method and texture features based on a gray-level co-occurrence matrix to classify the clouds. Second, for different cloud classes, we build the corresponding combined calculation model to obtain cloud motion speed. Real data recorded at Yunnan Electric Power Research Institute are used for simulation; the results show that the cloud classification and optimal combination model are effective, and the PCPOW can improve the accuracy of displacement calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ductile iron bars (DIBs) with a diameter of 145 mm, used for plunger pump production, were made by the horizontal continuous casting (HCC). The microstructure of the samples cut at three locations with different distances away from the surface (~20 mm from the surface, half of the radius and the center of the HCCDIBs) were investigated. The mechanical properties were measured by tensile and torsion tests. Results show that after the spheroidization of graphite, the iron matrix incorporates the nodules of Format I, Size 8 close to the surface, Format I, Size 7 at the half of the radius from the surface, and Format II, Size 6 in the centre of the bar, according to the ASTM A247 standard. The content of pearlite in the matrix changes from 55% (~20 mm from the surface) to 70% (half of the radius) and 80% (the center of the HCCDIBs). The strengths in tension are 552, 607 and 486 MPa with the elongations of 12.5%, 10.5% and 5.8% in samples cut at these three locations from the surface to the centre, respectively. The strength in torsion is equal to 558, 551 and 471 MPa at corresponding torsion angles of 418°, 384° and 144° respectively to the same distance from the bar surface. Fracture in tension is manifested via crack propagation through the interface between graphite nodules and matrix (Mode I), while in torsion the fracture is caused by the shear of graphite nodules (Mode II). It is shown that the transition between two fracture modes is also dependent on the size of graphite nodule. Typically, fracture Mode I was observed for nodules of smaller diameter (less than 22.7 µm) and fracture Mode II was seen for nodules of greater diameter (more than 24.8 µm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents neurotoxic plasma components, blood cells, and pathogens from entering the brain. At the same time, the BBB regulates transport of molecules into and out of the central nervous system (CNS), which maintains tightly controlled chemical composition of the neuronal milieu that is required for proper neuronal functioning. In this review, we first examine molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the establishment of the BBB. Then, we focus on BBB transport physiology, endothelial and pericyte transporters, and perivascular and paravascular transport. Next, we discuss rare human monogenic neurological disorders with the primary genetic defect in BBB-associated cells demonstrating the link between BBB breakdown and neurodegeneration. Then, we review the effects of genes underlying inheritance and/or increased susceptibility for Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on BBB in relation to other pathologies and neurological deficits. We next examine how BBB dysfunction relates to neurological deficits and other pathologies in the majority of sporadic AD, PD, and ALS cases, multiple sclerosis, other neurodegenerative disorders, and acute CNS disorders such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and epilepsy. Lastly, we discuss BBB-based therapeutic opportunities. We conclude with lessons learned and future directions, with emphasis on technological advances to investigate the BBB functions in the living human brain, and at the molecular and cellular level, and address key unanswered questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irradiance received on the earth’s surface is the main factor that affects the output power of solar PV plants, and is chiefly determined by the cloud distribution seen in a ground-based sky image at the corresponding moment in time. It is the foundation for those linear extrapolation-based ultra-short-term solar PV power forecasting approaches to obtain the cloud distribution in future sky images from the accurate calculation of cloud motion displacement vectors (CMDVs) by using historical sky images. Theoretically, the CMDV can be obtained from the coordinate of the peak pulse calculated from a Fourier phase correlation theory (FPCT) method through the frequency domain information of sky images. The peak pulse is significant and unique only when the cloud deformation between two consecutive sky images is slight enough, which is likely possible for a very short time interval (such as 1 min or shorter) with common changes in the speed of cloud. Sometimes, there will be more than one pulse with similar values when the deformation of the clouds between two consecutive sky images is comparatively obvious under fast changing cloud speeds. This would probably lead to significant errors if the CMDVs were still only obtained from the single coordinate of the peak value pulse. However, the deformation estimation of clouds between two images and its influence on FPCT-based CMDV calculations are terrifically complex and difficult because the motion of clouds is complicated to describe and model. Therefore, to improve the accuracy and reliability under these circumstances in a simple manner, an image-phase-shift-invariance (IPSI) based CMDV calculation method using FPCT is proposed for minute time scale solar power forecasting. First, multiple different CMDVs are calculated from the corresponding consecutive images pairs obtained through different synchronous rotation angles compared to the original images by using the FPCT method. Second, the final CMDV is generated from all of the calculated CMDVs through a centroid iteration strategy based on its density and distance distribution. Third, the influence of different rotation angle resolution on the final CMDV is analyzed as a means of parameter estimation. Simulations under various scenarios including both thick and thin clouds conditions indicated that the proposed IPSI-based CMDV calculation method using FPCT is more accurate and reliable than the original FPCT method, optimal flow (OF) method, and particle image velocimetry (PIV) method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault diagnosis and safety analysis of an aero-engine have attracted more and more attention in modern society, whose safety directly affects the flight safety of an aircraft. In this paper, the problem concerning sensor fault diagnosis is investigated for an aero-engine during the whole flight process. Considering that the aero-engine is always working in different status through the whole flight process, a flight status division-based sensor fault diagnosis method is presented to improve fault diagnosis precision for the aero-engine. First, aero-engine status is partitioned according to normal sensor data during the whole flight process through the clustering algorithm. Based on that, a diagnosis model is built for each status using the principal component analysis algorithm. Finally, the sensors are monitored using the built diagnosis models by identifying the aero-engine status. The simulation result illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optical absorption spectra of Si2-Si33 clusters were systematically studied by a time-dependent density functional theory approach. The calculations revealed that the absorption spectrum becomes significantly broad with increasing cluster size, stretching from ultraviolet to the infrared region. The absorption spectra are closely related to the structural motifs. With increasing cluster size, the absorption intensity of cage structures gradually increases, but the absorption curves of the prolate and the Y-shaped structures are very sensitive to cluster size. If the transition energy reaches -12 eV, it is noted that all the clusters have remarkable absorption in deep ultraviolet region of 100-200 nm, and the maximum absorption intensity is -100 times that in the visible region. Further, the optical responses to doping in the Si clusters were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

-Probabilistic wind power forecasting includes more detailed information than deterministic forecasting, which can provide reliable guidance for the optimal decisions of power system scheduling operation. However, there are certain laws in the magnitude and direction of the forecasting errors corresponding to different power series fluctuations, which leads to different predictability and forecasting accuracy of different power fluctuation patterns. As most studies still focused on the model algorithm improvement and pay less attention to the law of power data itself, this paper proposes a novel probabilistic forecasting method based on the swinging door algorithm (SDA), fuzzy c means (FCM) clustering method, long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network, and nonparametric kernel density estimation (KDE), considering the correlation between wind power fluctuation patterns and forecasting errors. SDA and FCM are used to assign appropriate pattern labels to the power fluctuations, and then LSTM and KDE are used to introduce pattern recognition results in probabilistic forecasting models, excavating the inherent law of the data for classification modeling. Simulation shows that the proposed model can adapt to different error distribution patterns, and the models introduced fluctuation pattern recognition can improve the skill score of probabilistic forecasting by 36.50% on average than those without pattern recognition. • Wind power fluctuation pattern recognition relies on fluctuation characteristics. • Model optimization is achieved through pattern forecasting and pattern search. • Forecasting error distribution affects the establishment of prediction intervals. • Pattern recognition can improve deterministic and probabilistic prediction accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective • The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to evaluate clinical outcomes in high-risk patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (sICAS) resulting from plaque enhancement who underwent balloon dilation or stent implantation. Plaque features were identified based on high-resolution magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging (HRMR-VWI). Methods • A total of 37 patients with sICAS (degree of stenosis ≥70%) were enrolled between January 2018 and March 2022 at a single center. All patients underwent HRMR-VWI and received standard drug treatment after hospital admission. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on whether they underwent interventional treatment (n = 18) or non-interventional treatment (n = 19). The grade of enhancement and enhancement rate (ER) of culprit plaque were evaluated using 3D-HRMR-VWI. The risk of symptom recurrence was compared between the 2 groups during follow-up. Results • There was no statistical difference between the intervention and non-intervention groups in the rate and type of enhancement. Median clinical follow-up time was 17.8 (10.0 to 26.0) months and median follow-up time was 3.6 (3.1 to 6.2) months. In the intervention group, 2 patients had stent restenosis, but no stroke or transient ischemia attacks (TIAs) occurred. In contrast, 1 patient in the non-intervention group had an ischemic stroke and 4 patients had TIAs. The incidence of the primary outcome was lower in the intervention group than in the nonintervention group (0 vs 26.3%; P = .046). Conclusions • High-resolution magnetic resonance intracranial vessel wall imaging (HR MR-IVWI) can be used to identify vulnerable plaque features. It is safe and effective in high-risk patients with sICAS with responsible plaque enhancement to undergo intravascular intervention combined with standard drug therapy. Further studies are needed to analyze the link between plaque enhancement and symptom recurrence in the medication group at baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In longitudinal hard disk drives, the medium Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) is higher with better grain segregation or lower inter-grain exchange. In current energy assisted magnetic recording system, multilayer perpendicular media are utilized; thus, it is significant to study the influence of grain segregation on SNR, as well as the relevant percolation phenomenon, to give suggestions on the recording media design. In this study, micromagnetic recording models of Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording (MAMR) is built up to calculate SNR to find optimized [CoX/Pt]4 media parameters such as the inter-grain exchange Agb and the anisotropy orientation distribution αθ with different field generation layer (FGL) saturation in the spin torque oscillator (STO). The constrained relationship between Agb andαθ in MAMR have been estimated, and the medium SNR will be optimized in the perpendicular [CoX/Pt] 4 with a proper but not lowest exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health threat, resulting in an urgent unmet need for a rapid, non-sputum-based quantitative test to detect active Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infections in clinically diverse populations and quickly assess Mtb treatment responses for emerging drug-resistant strains. We have identified Mtb-specific peptide fragments and developed a method to rapidly quantify their serum concentrations, using antibody-labeled and energy-focusing porous discoidal silicon nanoparticles (nanodisks) and high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS) to enhance sensitivity and specificity. NanoDisk-MS diagnosed active Mtb cases with high sensitivity and specificity in a case-control study with cohorts reflecting the complexity of clinical practice. Similar robust sensitivities were obtained for cases of culture-positive pulmonary TB (PTB; 91.3%) and extrapulmonary TB (EPTB; 92.3%), and the sensitivities obtained for culture-negative PTB (82.4%) and EPTB (75.0%) in HIV-positive patients significantly outperformed those reported for other available assays. NanoDisk-MS also exhibited high specificity (87.1-100%) in both healthy and high-risk groups. Absolute quantification of serum Mtb antigen concentration was informative in assessing responses to antimycobacterial treatment. Thus, a NanoDisk-MS assay approach could significantly improve the diagnosis and management of active TB cases, and perhaps other infectious diseases as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor on the article "Interference of laboratory disinfection with trichloro-isocyanuric acid on cardiac troponin I measurement using the Vitros immunoassay system" published in the previous issue is presented.

This study investigated the ractopamine (RAC) distribution and depletion process in goat plasma, urine and various muscle tissues which were associated with a potential risk for consumer health. The experiment was carried out in 21 goats (18 treated and 3 controls). Treated animals were administered orally a dose of 1 mg/kg body mass per day for 28 consecutive days and randomly sacrificed on Days 0.25, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 of the withdrawal period. RAC in goat samples was analyzed by using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry. RAC was below the limits of detection (LOD = 0.15 ng/mL) in plasma while which was higher than the LOD in urine on withdrawal day 21. The residues in goat longissimus dorsi muscle, biceps femoris muscle and triceps surae muscle were differed significantly. These findings demonstrated that urine can be used as the target matrix for monitoring RAC abuse in goat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selected geological data on Early Cretaceous strata, structures, magmatic plutons and volcanic rocks from the Kunlun to Himalaya Mountains reveal a new view of the Early Cretaceous paleo-tectonics and the related geodynamic movement of the Tibetan Plateau. Two major paleo-oceans, the Mid-Tethys Ocean between the Qiangtang and Lhasa blocks, and the Neo-Tethys Ocean between the Lhasa and Himalayan blocks, existed in the Tibetan region in the Early Cretaceous. The Himalayan Marginal and South Lhasa Seas formed in the southern and northern margins of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, the Central Tibet Sea and the Qiangtang Marginal Sea formed in the southern and northern margins of the Mid-Tethys Ocean, respectively. An arm of the sea extended into the southwestern Tarim basin in the Early Cretaceous. Early Cretaceous intensive thrusting, magmatic emplacement and volcanic eruptions occurred in the central and northern Lhasa Block, while strike-slip formed along the Hoh-Xil and South Kunlun Faults in the northern Tibetan region. Early Cretaceous tectonics together with magmatic K2O geochemistry indicate an Early Cretaceous southward subduction of the Mid-Tethys Oceanic Plate along the Bangoin-Nujiang Suture which was thrust ∼87 km southward during the Late Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic. No intensive thrust and magmatic emplacement occurred in the Early Cretaceous in the Himalayan and southern Lhasa Blocks, indicating that the spreading Neo-Tethys Oceanic Plate had not been subducted in the Early Cretaceous. To the north, terrestrial basins of red-beds formed in the Hoh-Xil, Kunlun, Qilian and the northeastern Tarim blocks in Early Cretaceous, and the Qiangtang Marginal Sea disappeared after the Qiangtang Block uplifted in the late Early Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program is a critical step in cancer progression and metastasis, but visualization of this process at the single-cell level, especially in vivo, remains challenging. We established an in vivo approach to track the fate of tumor cells based on a novel EMTdriven fluorescent color switching breast cancer mouse model and intravital two-photon laser scanning microscopy. Specifically, the MMTV-PyMT, Rosa26-RFP-GFP, and Fsp1-Cre triple transgenic mouse model was used to monitor the conversion of RFP-positive epithelial cells to GFP-positive mesenchymal cells in mammary tumors under the control of the Fsp1 (ATL1) promoter, a gatekeeper of EMTinitiation. RFP-positive cells were isolated from the tumors, sorted, and transplanted into mammary fat pads of SCID mice to monitor EMT during breast tumor formation. We found that the conversion from RFP- to GFP-positive and spindleshaped cells was a gradual process, and that GFP-positive cells preferentially localized close to blood vessels, independent of tumor size. Furthermore, cells undergoing EMT expressed high levels of the HGF receptor, c-Met, and treatment of RFP-positive cells with the c-Met inhibitor, cabozantinib, suppressed the RFP-to-GFP conversion in vitro. Moreover, administration of cabozantinib to mice with palpable RFP-positive tumors resulted in a silent EMT phenotype whereby GFP-positive cells exhibited reduced motility, leading to suppressed tumor growth. In conclusion, our imaging technique provides a novel opportunity for visualizing tumor EMT at the single-cell level and may help to reveal the intricacies underlying tumor dynamics and treatment responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several observational studies suggested that APE1 Asp148Glu was significantly associated with urinary cancers; however, the results of published studies are inconsistent. Materials and methods: The PubMed and EMBASE were searched for case-control studies regarding the association between Asp148Glu and the risk of urinary cancers with a time limit of September 12, 2015. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association between Asp148Glu and the risk of developing prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, as well as all urinary cancers combined. Results: A total of 18 case-control studies were included in the analysis. Our meta-analysis revealed that the inheritance of at least one APE1 148Glu among Asian men was associated with a 1.26-fold increase in the risk of developing urinary cancers. Meanwhile, APE1 Asp148Glu was significantly associated with the risk of prostate cancer. However, there were no significant relationships between the APE1 SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) and all urinary cancers combined and bladder cancer and kidney cancer among the men of Caucasian/Asian/African descent or all racial/ethnic groups combined. When stratified by the quality score, no significant association was found in high-quality studies (score≥7), but a significant increased risk of urinary cancers was observed in lower quality studies (score<7) (dominant model: OR=1.27, 95% CI=1.11-1.45). Conclusion: Our meta-analysis suggests that APE1 Asp148Glu was not associated with the risk of urinary cancers but might increase the risk of urinary cancers among Asians. Stratification by cancer type identified a significant association of Asp148Glu with prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colormanipulation of intense multiluminescence from CaZnOS:Mn2+has been realized by adjusting Mn2+concentration.Not only the photoluminescence (PL) of Mn2+emission from 4T1(4G) to 6A1(6S) shows a red shift from yellow to red with increasing Mn2+concentration, which is in contrast to the fixed PL emissionreported by Hintzen et al. (Chem. Mater., 2009), but also mechanoluminescence(ML) and cathodoluminescence (CL) have a similar variation. More attractively,the brightness of multiluminescence is surprisingly intense for allthe CaZnOS:Mn2+with a large-scale Mn2+doping(0.1–10 mol %). Based on the investigation of crystal field,various spectral results, and PL lifetimes, the red-shift mechanismof multiluminescence reported here has been proposed to arise fromthe exchange interaction effect of Mn2+pairs at higherconcentrations. In addition to correcting the previous misunderstandingon the emission of CaZnOS:Mn2+, these findings extend thetunable emission window, opening up new opportunities in multifunctionalapplications of PL, ML, and CL involving multicolor light sources,displays, and stress imaging, especially providing a novel resolutionto design ML colors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the change in thymocyte telomere length of rats exposed to different hypoxic conditions for different periods of time, as well as its effect on the immune system. A total of 110 male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to one of the three following groups: i) Sea level (SL) group, in which 10 rats were maintained at an altitude of 10 m; ii) moderate altitude (MA) group, in which 50 rats were maintained at an altitude of 2,260 m and then randomly sacrificed on days 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 (n=10 each); and iii) simulated high altitude (SHA) group, in which 50 rats were maintained at a simulated altitude of 5,000 m, and then randomly sacrificed on days 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 (n=10 each). The morphological changes of the thymus were observed, while the telomere length, the mRNA and protein expression levels of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), and the peripheral blood lymphocyte count were measured. The results indicated that hypoxia induced morphological changes and apoptosis in thymocytes, as well as atrophy of the thymus tissue, and resulted in a significant increase in telomere length and TERT mRNA and protein expression levels. This effect appeared to be more pronounced in the SHA group compared with that in the MA group; however, no statistically significant changes were observed in the peripheral blood lymphocyte count. Based on these findings, the hypoxia-associated loss of thymic function appears to be only quantitative and not qualitative, and the thymus may be able to maintain its immune function even under hypoxic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The taxonomic status of subspecies of Hipposideros pomona (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) in China is controversial and uncertain. To explore the differences and subspecies differentiation in H. pomona from different regions of China, we conducted a series of bat surveys from 2011 to 2014. We performed multivariate morphometric analyses using 16 external and 21 skull measurements based on 100 samples and compared DNA sequence divergence. The results revealed distinct differences in both the external and skull measurements of H. pomona. The Cytb and COI sequence divergences of H. pomona from 3 regions ranged from 6.0% to 8.5% and 5.2% to 8.0%, respectively, which reached the levels required for subspecies classification. In contrast, the RAG1 gene was not considered to be a good molecular marker for identifying subspecies because the sequence divergence was 0-0.7% within a region and 0-0.8% among regions. Both the morphological and molecular results of this study supported the conclusion that H. pomona from the Min-Guang coastal (SM), South Yunnan (SY), and Hainan Island (SH) subregions in South China belonged to different subspecies. The SM population represents H. p. sinesis, and the SH population may be a unique subspecies. Whether the SY population belongs to H. p. gentilis requires further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: Estrogen is reported to promote the occurrence and development of several human cancers. Increasing evidence shows that most human lung tumors exert estrogen receptor expression. In the present study, we investigated the underlying mechanism of estrogen effect in lung cancer through estrogen receptor-epithelial--mesechymal-transition signaling pathways for the first time. Materials and methods: A total of 36 inbred C57BL/6 mice (18 male and 18 female) were injected subcutaneously with human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, Lewis. After the lung tumor model was established, mice with lung adenocarcinoma were randomly divided into three groups for each sex (n=6), such as vehicle group, estrogen group, and estrogen plus tamoxifen group. The six groups of mice were sacrificed after 21 days of drug treatment. Tumor tissue was stripped and weighed, and tumor inhibition rate was calculated based on average tumor weight. Protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) expressions of estrogen receptor α (ERα), estrogen receptor β (ERβ), phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K), AKT, E-cadherin, and vimentin were detected in both tumor tissue and lung tissue by using immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results: 1) For male mice: in the estrogen group, estrogen treatment significantly increased ERα protein and mRNA expressions in tumor tissue and protein expression of PI3K, AKT, and vimentin in both tumor tissue and lung tissue compared with the vehicle-treated group. Besides, mRNA expression of E-cadherin was significantly reduced in estrogen-treated tumor tissues than that in vehicle-treated tissues. In the estrogen plus tamoxifen group, protein and mRNA expressions of ERα and AKT were dramatically reduced by tamoxifen treatment in tumor tissue compared with the estrogen group; mRNA expression of E-cadherin was increased in tumor tissue; protein expression of vimentin and PI3K were downregulated in tumor tissue; protein expression of E-cadherin increased in lung tissue; protein expression of ERα and PI3K were downregulated in lung tissue compared with the estrogen group. 2) For female mice: in the estrogen group, estrogen treatment significantly increased mRNA expression of ERβ and PI3K, and protein expression of ERβ, PI3K, AKT, and vimentin in both tumor tissue and lung tissue compared with the vehicle-treated group. mRNA expression of E-cadherin was downregulated in tumor tissue, and mRNA expression of AKT was increased in lung tissues compared with the vehicle-treated group. In the estrogen plus tamoxifen group, tamoxifen treatment dramatically reduced protein expression of ERα, ERβ, AKT, and vimentin but significantly increased protein expression of E-cadherin in tumor tissues and lung tissue compared with the estrogen group. mRNA expression of ERβ, PI3K, and AKT was dramatically reduced by tamoxifen treatment in lung tissues compared with the estrogen group. Conclusion: Estrogen promoted lung adenocarcinoma cell metastasis by inducing lung epithelial mesenchymal cells and reducing intercellular adhesion force through PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to investigate the deposition and depletion process of clenbuterol (CL) in goat tissues, plasma and urine after the repeated administration of a growth-promoting dose. The experiment was conducted in 24 goats (21 treated and 3 controls). Treated animals were administered orally in a dose of 16 µg/kg body mass once daily for 21 consecutive days and randomly sacrificed on days 0.25, 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 of the withdrawal period. CL in goat tissues was extracted with organic solvents and determined using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The depletion rates of tissue differed significantly. The highest concentrations of CL in all tissues are detected on day 0.25 of treatment discontinuation. After administration had been discontinued for 28 days, CL still residues in all tissues, especially, in whole eye, where the concentrations reach 363.29 ± 31.60 µg/kg. These findings confirmed that the whole eye, which are rich in pigment, showed a much higher concentration than any other studied tissue during the withdrawal period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an immune algorithm (IA)-based dead-time elimination PWM control strategy is proposed. For existing dead-time elimination applications, one of the major problems is the dead-time control around the zero-current-crossing points. To deal with this problem, this paper proposes a different PWM control method which first restricts the control sequence to a specified level around the zero-crossing zone. Also, the proposed method can improve the current waveform quality by using the IA approach and three-level control strategy. Compared with conventional dead-time elimination methods, this technique has the features of simple hardware requirement and adaptive control. Moreover, this control strategy effectively eliminates the effect of dead-time, while at the same time significantly reducing the total harmonic distortion of output current and improving the amplitude of output RMS value in different modulation indexes and loads conditions. To verify the analysis, an experimental platform based on DSP and field-programmable gate array is built. The simulation and experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of this new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic power forecasting (PVPF) can help energy management system and power grid to improve the proportion of solar energy in total energy consumption. Classification modeling according to different weather types is an effective means to improve the accuracy of PVPF under various weather statuses. However, the weather type of historical data (WTHD) is missing in some cases, which will cause great difficulties to classification modeling because the data without WTHD cannot be used for the model training. To identify the missing WTHD, a solar irradiance feature extraction and support vector machines (SVM) based weather statuses pattern recognition (WSPR) model for short-term PVPF (ST-PVPF) is presented. To ensure the feasibility and reduce the workload of classification modeling, four generalized weather classes (GWC) covering all weather types are constituted, and GWC based classification modeling approach for ST-PVPF is proposed subsequently. The SVM model for WSPR is built with input features extracted from solar irradiance data. Through a case study, the effectiveness and performance of the WSPR model are verified and evaluated. The influences of different input dimensions and feature combinations are also analyzed and discussed. The results indicate that the missing WTHD can be effectively recovered as GWC by the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the immune cells of the brain, microglia are crucial for the maintenance of brain function. The aims of the present study were to determine whether and how annexin-1 is able to affect microglial phenotype and migration in the lesion microenvironment. In the current experiment, we enhanced the interaction between annexin-1 and formyl peptide receptors in microglia and analyzed the function. We found that annexin-1 could polarize microglia to a beneficial phenotype and promote microglial migration to protect neurons from ischemia-like injury, and the annexin-1-mediated neuroprotective effect was dependent on the release of glutamate and ATP from the injured neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supported Au@Pt core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized on three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) oxides by a one-step gas bubbling-assisted membrane reduction (GBMR) method. The Au@Pt core-shell NPs were highly dispersed on the pore wall of oxides and the Pt shell was obtained by direct epitaxial overgrowth on the surface of the Au core. The multifunctional nanocatalysts were used for diesel soot oxidation. 3DOM structure facilitates the contact between soot particles and catalysts, and the synergetic effect of the Au core and Pt shell significantly increases the surface concentration of active O2- species. 3DOM Ce0.8Zr0.2O2-supported Au@Pt core-shell NP catalyst is one of the best catalysts reported so far for soot oxidation under "loose" contact between soot and catalyst. The stability of the Au-based catalysts for soot oxidation is also improved due to the formation of an Au@Pt core-shell structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Explore the influence of wind process time scale on wind speed fluctuation law. • Propose wind speed forecasting model utilize time scale information of wind process. • Adopt complex network to mining the morphological characteristic of wind curve. The forecast of wind speed is prerequisite for wind power prediction, which is one of the most effective means of promoting wind power absorption. However, when modeling for wind speed sequences with different fluctuations, most existing researches ignore the influence of time scale of wind speed fluctuation period, let alone the low compatibility between training and testing samples that severely limit the training performance of forecasting model. To improve the accuracy of wind speed and wind power forecasting, an ultra-short-term wind speed forecasting model based on time scale recognition and dynamic adaptive modeling is proposed in this paper. First, a series of wind processes are divided from the historical wind speed sequence according to the natural variation characteristics of wind speed. Second, we divide all the wind processes into two patterns based on their time scale, and an SVC model with input features extracted from meteorological data is built to identify the time scale of the current wind process. Third, for a specifically identified wind process, the complex network algorithm is applied in data screening to select high compatible training samples to train the forecast model dynamically for current input. Simulation indicates that the proposed approach presents higher accuracy than benchmark models using the same forecasting algorithms but without considering the time scale and data screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Pin2/TRF1 binding protein X1 (PinX1) has been identified as an endogenous telomerase inhibitor and a major haploinsufficient tumor suppressor gene. Increasing evidence suggests that reduced expression of PinX1 plays a key role in tumorigenesis. However, the PinX1 expression status and its correlation with the clinicopathological features in prostate cancer (PCa) have not been investigated. Methods PinX1 mRNA and protein expression in PCa and adjacent normal prostate tissues were evaluated by real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting. The clinicopathological significance of PinX1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis on a PCa tissue microarray (TMA). The cut-off score for positive expression of PinX1 was determined by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The correlation between PinX1 expression and clinicopathological features of PCa was analyzed by Chi-square test. Results Reduced expression of PinX1 mRNA and protein was observed in the majority of PCa, compared with their paired adjacent normal prostate tissues. When PinX1 positive expression percentage was determined to be above 60% (area under ROC curve = 0.833, P = 0.000), positive expression of PinX1 was observed in 100% (8/8) of normal prostate tissues and 32.5% (13/40) of PCa tissues by IHC. Reduced expression of PinX1 in patients was correlated with advanced clinical stage (χ2 = 10.230, p = 0.017), high Gleason score (χ2 = 4.019, p = 0.045), positive regional lymph node metastasis (χ2 = 10.852, p = 0.004) and distant metastasis (χ2 = 7.965, p = 0.005). Conclusions Our findings suggest that reduced expression of PinX1 is correlates to progressive features in patients with PCa and may serve as a potential marker for diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have previously reported that both L-glutamate (L-Glu) and nitric oxide (NO) modulate gastric motility in the nucleus ambiguus (NA). The aim of this study is to explore the potential correlation between the L-Glu and NO. A latex balloon connected to a pressure transducer was inserted into the pylorus through the fundus of anesthetized male Wistar rats to continuously record changes in gastric smooth muscle contractile curves. Pretreatment with the NO-synthase inhibitor N-nitro- L-arginine methylester (L-NAME) did not completely abolish the inhibitory effect of L-Glu on gastric motility, but intravenous injection of the ganglionic blocker hexamethonium bromide (Hb) did. By using a specific N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist, we blocked the inhibitory effect of the NO-donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) on gastric motility. These results suggest that microinjections of L-Glu into the NA inhibits gastric motility by activating the cholinergic preganglionic neurons, partially through the NMDA receptor - NO pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bladder cancer is a commom malignancy in the urinary tract that is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The role of functional polymorphisms in the methy-lenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene with bladder cancer risk remains to be determined. This meta-analysis was performed to derive a more precise estimation of MTHFR Ala222Val and Glu429Ala polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk. Data were collected with the last report up to September 2013. A total of 3,463 cases and 3,927 controls for Ala222Val, and 3,177 cases and 3,502 controls for Glu429Ala were analyzed. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for the association with bladder cancer risk. Overall, no significant associations of Ala222Val and Glu429Ala polymorphisms with bladder cancer risk were found (for Ala222Val: Val/Val vs. Ala/Ala: OR, 1.02; 95% CI: 0.80-1.29; Val/Ala vs. Ala/Ala: OR, 1.02; 95% CI: 0.92-1.12; dominant model: OR, 1.01; 95% CI: 0.87-1.17; recessive model: OR, 1.00; 95% CI: 0.87-1.15; and for Glu429Ala: Ala/Ala vs. Glu/Glu: OR, 1.11; 95% CI: 0.78-1.58; Ala/Glu vs. Glu/Glu: OR, 1.16; 95% CI: 0.95-1.40; dominant model: OR, 1.15; 95% CI: 0.94-1.41; recessive model: OR, 0.96; 95% CI: 0.79-1.15). In stratified analyses by ethnicity, significant associations were observed for Glu429Ala polymorphism in individuals of Middle Eastern descent (Ala/Glu vs. Glu/Glu: OR, 2.11; 95% CI: 1.26-3.53; dominant model: OR, 2.16; 95% CI: 1.16-4.01; recessive model: OR, 1.82; 95% CI: 1.11-3.01). This meta-analysis demonstrated that overall there was no association of MTHFR Ala222Val and Glu429Ala polymorphisms with bladder cancer risk. However, in the stratified analysis by ethnicity the MTHFR Glu429Ala polymorphism was significantly associated with increased bladder cancer risk in individuals of Middle Eastern descent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present the design and construction of a series of supramolecular poly(benzyl ether) metallodendrimers featuring a well-defined hexagonal metalla-cycle at their cores via coordination-driven self-assembly. It was found that the second generation metallodendrimer 3c was able to hierarchically self-assemble into the regular vesicle-like structures. These nanoscale vesicles were monodisperse in shape and relatively monodisperse in size as detected in SEM, TEM, APM, and DLS experiments. Notably, this kind of hierarchically formed vesicle-like nanostructure adopted a discrete metallacycle as the main skeleton, which is obviously different from many previous reports of nanoscale spherical architectures. Moreover, such supramolecular vesicle-like structures could encapsulate some fluorescent molecules, like BODIPY and SRB, etc. By taking advantage of the dynamic nature of metal-ligand bonds, the disassembly and reassembly of the hexagonal cavity core could be reversibly controlled by the addition and removal of bromide ions, resulting in the transition from the vesicles to micelles. Thus, the controlled release of fluorescence dye was successfully realized by the halide-induced vesicles-micelles transition. These findings not only enrich die library of supramolecular metallodenrimers but also provide a new avenue to the construction of novel "smart" nanomaterials, which have potential application in functional molecules delivery and release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a model describing the bandgap energy of the dilute nitride alloy InxGa1-xNyAs1-y is developed based on the modification of simplified coherent potential approximation (MSCPA) and the band anti-crossing model (BAC). The parameters in the model are obtained by fitting the experimental bandgap energies of the ternary alloys InGaAs, InGaN, GaNAs and InNAs. It is found that the results agree well with the experimental data. We also find that although the bandgap energies of InxGa1-xNyAs1-y and InxGa1-xAs can be calculated by using MSCPA, the physical mechanisms for the bandgap evolution of InxGa1-xNyAs1-y and InxGa1-xAs are very different. In addition, it is found that the model in this work may be used in a larger composition range than the BAC model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the log-behavior of the Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence ... We prove that ... is log-balanced and ... is unimodal. In addition, we show that ... is reverse ultra log-concave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An environmentally stable, repetition rate tunable, all-polarization-maintaining, Er-doped pulse fiber laser with a single-wall carbon nanotubes saturated absorber is demonstrated. The ring laser cavity includes a delay line enabling a tunable repetition rate to vary from 35.52 MHz to 35.64 MHz with continuous mode-locked operation. The laser output parameters confirm that the tunable mode-locked operations are stable. High environmental stability is also confirmed by the −130 dBc/Hz low phase noise, a 70-dB signal-to-noise ratio of radio frequency signals, a low amplitude fluctuation of 5.76 × 10−4, and a low fluctuation of repetition rate of 12 Hz. The laser shows a high degree of polarization of 93%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]