Search

Natural and human-made disasters are threatening cities around the world. The resilience of cities plays a critical role in disaster risk response and post-disaster recovery. In mountainous cities, landslides are among the most frequent and destructive hazards. This study presents a novel methodological framework for assessing the spatial resilience of mountainous cities specifically against landslides. Focusing on Chongqing in the Three Gorges Reservoir region, this study conceptually divides the disaster resilience of mountain cities to landslides into two dimensions: environmental resilience and social resilience. This study developed a comprehensive database by compiling data from 4,464 historical landslide events, incorporating 17 environmental resilience indicators and 16 social resilience indicators. Random forest (RF) model was employed to evaluate environmental resilience, achieving a high AUC of 0.968 and an accuracy of 97.1 %. Social resilience was assessed by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and comprehensive resilience was ranked by the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Key findings include: (1) Establishing a multi-dimensional resilience indicator system that effectively assesses landslide-oriented resilience in mountainous cities. (2) Comprehensive resilience in mountainous cities exhibit distinct spatial clustering patterns. Regions with lower environmental resilience are mainly characterized by high rainfall and complex terrain. higher social resilience concentrated in city centers, while peripheral regions face challenges due to weaker economies and inadequate healthcare infrastructure. (3) In the future development of mountain cities, comprehensive and sustainable strategies should be adopted to balance the relationship between environmental resilience and social resilience. This study provides a robust framework for disaster prevention and resilience assessment in mountainous cities, which can be applied to evaluate the disaster resistance capabilities of other mountainous cities.

ABSTRACTMolecule interacting with CasL 1 (MICAL1) is a crucial protein involved in cell motility, axon guidance, cytoskeletal dynamics, and gene transcription. This pan-cancer study analyzed MICAL1 across 33 cancer types using bioinformatics and experiments. Dysregulated expression, diagnostic potential, and prognostic value were assessed. Associations with tumor characteristics, immune factors, and drug sensitivity were explored. Enrichment analysis revealed MICAL1’s involvement in metastasis, angiogenesis, metabolism, and immune pathways. Functional experiments demonstrated its impact on renal carcinoma cells. These findings position MICAL1 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in specific cancers, warranting further investigation into its role in cancer pathogenesis.

Abstract Traditional optical anti-counterfeiting (AC) is achieved by static printed images, which makes them susceptible to lower levels of security and easier replication. Therefore, it is essential to develop AC device with dynamic modulation for higher security. Electrophoretic display (EPD) has the advantages of low power consumption, high ambient contrast ratio, and capability of showing dynamic images which is suitable for dynamic AC applications. Herein, we prepared a dynamical AC device based on a fluorescent EPD, and achieving the image switch between black, white, and green fluorescence states under the dual-mode driving (electronic field and UV light). We loaded perovskite quantum dots (CsPbBr3) onto the TiO2 particles and further prepared fluorescent electrophoretic particles TiO2/CsPbBr3-3-PLMA (TiO/CPB-3) by grafting and polymerizing method. In addition, we fabricated the AC devices based on the fluorescent EPD, which exhibits the multifunctional AC, where the fluorescent EPD has a fast response time of 350 ms, a high contrast ratio of 17, and bright green fluorescence. This prototype demonstrates a new way for future dynamic AC and identification.

ABSTRACT Background Early detection of bladder cancer (BCa) can have a positive impact on patients' prognosis. However, there is currently no widely accepted method for early screening of BCa. We aimed to develop an efficient, clinically applicable, and noninvasive method for the early screening of BCa by detecting specific serum miRNA levels. Methods A mixed‐cohort (including BCa, 12 different other cancers, benign disease patients, and health population) study was conducted using a sample size of 16,189. Five machine learning algorithms were utilized to develop screening models for BCa using the training dataset. The performance of the model was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve and decision curve analysis on the testing dataset, and subsequently, the model with the best predictive power was selected. Furthermore, the selected model's screening performance was evaluated using both the validation set and external set. Results The BCaS3miR model, utilizing only three serum miRNAs (miR‐6087, miR‐1343‐3p, and miR‐5100) and based on the KNN algorithm, is the superior screening model chosen for BCa. BCaS3miR consistently performed well in both the testing, validation, and external sets, exceeding 90% sensitivity and specificity levels. The area under the curve was 0.990 (95% CI: 0.984–0.991), 0.964 (95% CI: 0.936–0.984), and 0.917 (95% CI: 0.836–0.953) in the testing, validation, and external set. The subgroup analysis revealed that the BCaS3miR model demonstrated outstanding screening accuracy in various clinical subgroups of BCa. In addition, we developed a BCa screening scoring model (BCaSS) based on the levels of miR‐1343‐3p/miR‐6087 and miR‐5100/miR‐6087. The screening effect of BCaSS is investigated and the findings indicate that it has predictability and distinct advantages. Conclusions Using a mixed cohort with the largest known sample size to date, we have developed effective screening models for BCa, namely BCaS3miR and BCaSS. The models demonstrated remarkable screening accuracy, indicating potential for the early detection of BCa.

Background: Plant essential oils have long been regarded as repositories of antimicrobial agents. In recent years, they have emerged as potential alternatives or supplements to antimicrobial drugs. Although literature reviews and previous studies have indicated that cinnamon essential oil (CIEO) and its major component, cinnamaldehyde (CID), possess potent antibacterial activities, their antibacterial mechanisms, especially the in vivo antibacterial mechanisms, remain elusive.Methods: In this study, we utilized the in vivo assessment system of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to investigate the effects and mechanisms of high dose (100 mg/L) and low dose (10 mg/L) CIEO and CID in inhibiting Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). In addition, we also examined the in vitro antibacterial abilities of CIEO and CID against other common pathogens including P. aeruginosa and 4 other strains.Results: Our research revealed that both high (100 mg/L) and low doses (10 mg/L) of CIEO and CID treatment significantly alleviated the reduction in locomotion behavior, lifespan, and accumulation of P. aeruginosa in C. elegans infected with the bacteria. During P. aeruginosa infection, the transcriptional expression of antimicrobial peptide-related genes (lys-1 and lys-8) in C. elegans was upregulated with low-dose CIEO and CID treatment, while this trend was suppressed at high doses. Further investigation suggested that the PMK-1 mediated p38 signaling pathway may be involved in the regulation of CIEO and CID during nematode defense against P. aeruginosa infection. Furthermore, in vitro experimental results also revealed that CIEO and CID exhibit good antibacterial effects, which may be associated with their antioxidant properties.Conclusion: Our results indicated that low-dose CIEO and CID treatment could activate the p38 signaling pathway in C. elegans, thereby regulating antimicrobial peptides, and achieving antimicrobial effects. Meanwhile, high doses of CIEO and CID might directly participate in the internal antimicrobial processes of C. elegans. Our study provides research basis for the antibacterial properties of CIEO and CID both in vivo and in vitro.

Natural ventilation (NV) has been considered a simple and effective method of ventilation. However, the introduction of NV does not achieve better indoor air quality (IAQ) when the outdoor atmospheric environment is polluted. Therefore, portable air cleaners (PACs) are increasing in use in recent years, but their effectiveness is highly dependent on the residents' habits. A typical residence in Xi'an, China was selected to examine the effects of the use of NV alone and the use of NV and PACs together on IAQ in the three occupant states, i.e., unoccupied, sleeping and leisure. Parameters, such as temperature, relative humidity, CO2, and PM2.5 concentration were measured when changing the window opening and the position of the PAC. The results showed that in the unoccupied state, opening the inner door can promote a more uniform thermal and humid environment. In the sleeping state, the I/O ratio of the PM2.5 concentration was the lowest when the window opening of the bedroom was 1/2 or 3/4, with a mean value of 0.3. In the leisure state, only using NV, when the purification rate reaches 90%, the mean purification time of each window opening in the living room is 87.5 min. The mean purification time was reduced to 25 min when both NV and PAC were used. The on-site purification efficiencies were 91.0% and 94.5%, when the window opening was 1/2 (i.e., the PAC was placed in the center of the room) and 3/4 (i.e., the PAC was placed away from the outer window), respectively.

Renal interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA) is a prominent pathological feature of chronic allograft dysfunction (CAD). Our previous study has demonstrated that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a significant role in shaping the development of IF/TA. Nuclear SET domain (NSD2), a histone methyltransferase catalyzing methylation at lysine 36 of histone 3, is crucially involved in the development and progression of solid tumors. But its role in the development of renal allograft interstitial fibrosis has yet to be elucidated. Here, we characterize NSD2 as a crucial mediator in the mouse renal transplantation model in vivo and a model of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) stimulated-human renal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) in vitro. Functionally, NSD2 knockdown inhibits EMT, dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)-mediated mitochondrial fission in mice. Conversely, NSD2 overexpression exacerbates fibrosis-associated phenotypes and mitochondrial fission in tubular cells. Mechanistically, tubular NSD2 aggravated the Drp-1 mediated mitochondrial fission via STAT1/ERK/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in TNF-α-induced epithelial cell models. Momentously, mass spectrometry (MS) Analysis and site-directed mutagenesis assays revealed that NSD2 interacted with and induced Mono-methylation of STAT1 on K173, leading to its phosphorylation, IMB1-dependent nuclear translocation and subsequent influence on TNF-α-induced EMT and mitochondrial fission in NSD2-dependent manner. Collectively, these findings shed light on the mechanisms and suggest that targeting NSD2 could be a promising therapeutic approach to enhance tubular cell survival and alleviate interstitial fibrosis in renal allografts during CAD.

ABSTRACT: Genotype imputation is a powerful technique employed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) and genotyping arrays, which can significantly enhance the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of genomic selection. The accuracy of imputation is largely determined by the choice of reference panel, with previous studies generally demonstrating that a closely related population as a reference panel leads to greater accuracy than a more distantly related population. Various strategies have been proposed for selecting desirable individuals via targeted resequencing, but their efficiencies need further improvement. In this study, we present a practical broiler selection methodology for a local Chinese chicken line that integrates established methods based on pedigree, genomics, and random sampling, and leverages genotype and pedigree information from the yellow-plumage dwarf chicken line. The efficacy of these selection strategies was assessed by evaluating their ability to accurately impute masked genotypes from data obtained using a 600K chip. Our findings reveal that the pedigree-based method yields superior accuracy in genotype imputation, whereas the haplotype-based method exhibits greater stability. Nonetheless, the impact of these targeted methods for selecting key individuals is slightly different when initiating a new sequencing project in a production context. Overall, this study highlights the advantages of using the pedigree-based approach as the preferred method for optimizing genotype imputation in broiler chickens.

Abstract Although dysregulated HMMR is linked to prostate cancer (PCa) prognosis, the precise mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we sought to elucidate the role of HMMR in PCa progression as well as underlying mechanism. Herein, we found that upregulation of HMMR frequently observed in PCa samples and was associated with poor prognosis. Additionally, HMMR significantly promoted PCa proliferation and metastasis through gain- and loss-of function approaches in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HMMR may interact with AURKA and elevated AURKA protein level through inhibiting ubiquitination-mediated degradation, which subsequently activated mTORC2/AKT pathway to ensure the reinforcement of PCa progression. Moreover, upregulated E2F1 caused from sustained activation of mTORC2/AKT pathway in turn function as transcription factor to promote HMMR transcription, thereby forming a positive feedback loop to trigger PCa progression. Importantly, administration of the mTOR inhibitor partially antagonised HMMR-mediated PCa progression in vivo. In summary, we not only reveal a novel possible post-translation mechanism mediated by HMMR involved in AURKA regulation, but also describe a positive feedback loop that contributes to PCa deterioration, suggesting HMMR may serve as a potential promising therapeutic target in PCa.

Abstract The recent rapid development of the computer‐aided design technologies has provided concrete support for the education and research in the field of railway transportation. Virtual reality (VR) technology is becoming particularly important in the field of experimental teaching due to its low cost, low restriction and immersion. In this work, we have designed a virtual simulation untried system of the electric joint control in electric locomotives based on VR technology. Based on the user's understanding of the three circuit principles in the experiment, together with the recognition and operation ability to control appliances and equipment, the system assessment system has been scored and evaluated accordingly. The tests of the virtual simulation system have shown the experimental teaching can reduce the cost while effectively improving the learning effect.

Fibroblast is the critical repair cell for urethral wound healing. The dysfunction of fibroblasts can lead to excessive fibrosis and hypertrophic scar, which eventually leads to post-traumatic urethral stricture. However, the fibroblast subpopulation and intercellular communication in urethral stricture remains poorly understood. Therefore, a comprehensive single-cell resolution transcript landscape of human PTUS needs to be reported. We performed single-cell RNA-sequencing of 13,411 cells from post-urethral stricture tissue and adjacent normal tissue. Unsupervised clustering, function enrichment analysis, cell trajectory construction and intercellular communication analysis were applied to explore the cellular microenvironment and intercellular communication at single-cell level. We found that there is highly cell heterogeneity in urethral stricture tissue, which includes 11 cell lineages based on the cell markers. We identified the molecular typing of fibroblasts and indicated the key fibroblast subpopulations in the process of fibrogenesis during urethral stricture. The intercellular communication between fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells was identified. As an important bridge in the communication, integrins may be a potential therapeutic target for post-traumatic urethral stricture. In conclusion, this study reveals the cellular heterogeneity and lineage-specific regulatory changes of fibroblasts in post-traumatic urethral stricture, thereby providing new insights and potential genes for post-traumatic urethral stricture treatment.

Abstract Background Bladder cancer is the second most common malignant tumor in the urogenital system. The research investigated the prognostic role of immune‐related long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) in bladder cancer. Methods We extracted 411 bladder cancer samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Single‐sample gene set enrichment analysis was employed to assess the immune cell infiltration of these samples. We recognized differentially expressed lncRNAs between tumors and paracancerous tissues, and differentially expressed lncRNAs between the high and low immune cell infiltration groups. Venn diagram analysis detected differentially expressed lncRNAs that intersected the above groups. LncRNAs with prognostic significance were identified by regression analysis. Multivariate Cox analysis was used to establish the risk score model. Then we established and evaluated the nomogram. Additionally, we performed gene set enrichment analysis to explore the potential functions of the screened lncRNAs in tumor pathogenesis. Results Three hundred and twenty differentially expressed lncRNAs were recognized. We randomly divided patients into the training data set and the testing data set at a 2: 1 ratio. In the training data set, 9 immune‐related lncRNAs with prognostic significance were identified. The risk score model was constructed to classify patients as high‐ and low‐risk cohorts. Patients in the low‐risk cohort had better survival outcomes than those in the high‐risk cohort. The nomogram was established based on the indicators including age, gender, tumor‐node‐metastases stage, and risk score. The model's predictive performance was confirmed by the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, concordance index method, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis. The testing data set also achieved similar results. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that the 9‐lncRNA signature was involved in the modulation of various immune responses, antigen processing and presentation, and T cell receptor signaling pathway. Conclusions Our study uncovered the prognostic value of immune‐related lncRNAs for bladder cancer and showed that they may regulate tumor pathogenesis in various ways.

In the context of tightening resource and environmental constraints globally, it is urgent to promote enterprise's green technological innovation through environmental regulation. This paper uses the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2019 to empirically test the relationship between environmental regulation and green technological innovation, and it also explores the transmission mechanism of executive compensation between these two. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) environmental regulation can promote enterprise green technological innovation. (2) Environmental regulation negatively influences the enterprise green technological innovation by reducing executive compensation. (3) The effect of environmental regulation on the promotion of green technological innovation of enterprise is higher in coastal areas than inland areas of China; while the effect of environmental regulation on the promotion of green technological innovation of enterprise is higher in state-owned enterprises than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background To compare the safety and efficacy of retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) and modified Ultra-mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy (UMP) in semi-supine combined lithotomy position for the management of 1.5–3.5 cm lower pole renal stones (LPSs). Methods A total of 63 patients with 1.5–3.5 cm LPSs who underwent RIRS (n = 33) or modified UMP (n = 30) in diameter between January 2017 and January 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Modified UMP was performed in semi-supine combined lithotomy position and a 9.5/11.5 F ureteral access sheath (UAS) was inserted during the procedure in order to maintain low pelvic pressure and to facilitate the removal of stone fragments. Base-line parameters, stone characteristics, illness condition, operation time, postoperative hemoglobin (Hb) drop, postoperative creatinine (Cr) elevation, length of hospital stay, length of postoperative hospital stay, stone-free rate (SFR) and complications were compared between the two groups. Results There were no significant differences between the two groups in base-line parameters, stone characteristics and illness condition. The mean operating time of RIRS group was longer than UMP group (95.61 ± 21.9 vs. 55.0 ± 16.1 min, p

Many optimization algorithms have been proposed to solve hybrid flowshop scheduling problem (HFSP). However, with the development of industry and society, labor right and labor safety have become important problem to consider in production scheduling. So the green HFSP considering makespan, noise and dust pollution becomes an urgent problem to be solved. In this paper, the rider optimization algorithm (ROA) is modified into the multi-objective rider optimization algorithm (MOROA) using Pareto archive and neighborhood sorting techniques. The Pareto archive and neighborhood sorting technology make the Pareto optimal solution set of MOROA have higher coverage and more solutions. Then MOROA is discretized into discrete MOROA (DMOROA) to solve the HFSP considering makespan, noise and dust pollution. DMOROA is tested on 10, 30 and 50 jobs HFSP considering makespan, noise and dust pollution. The test results are compared with two multi-objective algorithms to verify the performance of DMOROA. And the test results verify that the DMOROA is superior to the comparison algorithms in search accuracy, number of non-dominated solutions, diversity of solution set and stability. Therefore, DMOROA is effective in solving multi-objective HFSP considering makespan, noise and dust pollution.

A fault tolerant control strategy for dual three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor (DTP-PMSM) with 0° phase shifting between two windings is proposed in this paper. When a DTP-PMSM suffers from single- or two-phase open-circuit fault, to maintain the torque performance, current in faulty phase must be compensated by other healthy phases, which causes asymmetric self- and mutual inductances. Therefore, the 2nd harmonic component can be observed in the dq-axis currents and torque ripple also increases. To analyse this harmonic component in two types of faults, post-fault model of no-phase-shifting DTP-PMSM based on vector space decomposition (VSD) method is built in this paper. Then, proportion-integral-resonant (PIR) controller which can be used to suppress the specific periodic disturbance is applied to compensate the 2nd harmonic components. As the resonant controller is rarely dependent on motor parameters, phase and amplitude of current harmonic, the PIR controller can be applied in no-phase-shifting DTP-PMSM to suppress the harmonic caused by single- and two-phase open-circuit faults. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed fault tolerant control under single- and two-phase open-circuit faulty conditions.

With economic growth and rising incomes, increasing consumption of fossil energy is leading to environmental pollution and climate change, which requires increased innovative inputs to promote the efficiency of renewable energy use. Considering the important impact of innovation input and climate change on renewable energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and green economic growth, this study uses simultaneous equation and sys-GMM model to explore the dynamic nexus of innovation input, climate change, and energy-environment-growth in OECD and non-OECD countries, with panel data covering 2000 to 2019. The empirical results show that renewable energy consumption in non-OECD countries significantly promoted green economic growth, while OECD countries did the opposite. Moreover, renewable energy consumption significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions caused by climate change, especially for OECD countries. When the level of economic growth exceeds a certain inflection point, greenhouse gas emissions begin to turn from positive to negative, which further verifies the EKC hypothesis. In addition, this study found that innovation input has significantly increased renewable energy consumption, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and promoted green economic growth in OECD countries. Finally, this study also found that the impact of innovation input in OECD and non-OECD countries on the energy-environment-growth nexus is greater in the short term and more significant in the medium and long term, while the impact of climate change on the energy-environment nexus in OECD and non-OECD countries is more significant in the medium and long term.

An improved algorithm called CLTree-R was proposed.It could compensate the shortcoming of CLTree algorithm such as low accurate and inefficiency.Then CLTree-R was applied in clustering analysis for UCI data sets.In order to improve the efficiency，data set was parallel processed on Spark platform.Experimental results show that this algorithm can get reasonable customer classification when making cluster analysis on official data set.