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Abstract Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by insulin resistance (IR) and is often accompanied by mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The detrimental effects of T2DM and IR on the hippocampus have been extensively demonstrated. Few studies have examined the effects of IR on structure and function of hippocampal subfields in T2DM‐MCI patients. Method A total of 104 T2DM patients were recruited in this prospective study and divided into four groups (T2DM‐MCI‐higherIR, n = 17; T2DM‐MCI‐lowerIR, n = 32; T2DM‐nonMCI‐higherIR, n = 19; T2DM‐nonMCI‐lowerIR, n = 36). Structure and function MRI data were captured. Clinical variables and neuropsychological scores were determined for all participants. Hippocampal subfield volume and functional connectivity were compared among four groups. Partial correlation analysis was performed between imaging indicators, clinical variables, and neuropsychological scores in all patients. Results T2DM‐MCI‐higher IR group had the smallest volumes of bilateral hippocampal tail, right subiculum‐body, right GC‐ML‐DG‐body, and right CA4‐body. IR in right hippocampal tail, right subiculum‐body, and right GC‐ML‐DG‐body exerted main effect. Furthermore, elevated functional connectivity was found between right subiculum‐body and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right anterior cingulate–medial prefrontal cortex. Hippocampal subfield volume positively correlates with total cholesterol and triglycerides and negatively correlates with fasting insulin. Conclusion The present study found that T2DM‐MCI patients have structural and functional alterations in hippocampal subfields, and IR is a negative factor influencing the alteration of hippocampal subfields volume. These findings support the importance of IR in T2DM‐MCI patients and might be potential neuroimaging biomarkers of cerebral impairment in T2DM‐MCI patients.

Abstract Objectives This study investigated the quantitative assessment and application of Synthetic MRI (SyMRI) for preoperative brain development in children with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods Forty-three CHD patients aged 2–24 months were prospectively included in the observation group, and 43 healthy infants were included in the control group. The SyMRI scans were processed by postprocessing software to obtain T1, T2, and PD maps. The values of T1, T2, and PD in different brain regions were compared with the scores of the five ability areas of the Gesell Development Scale by Pearson correlation analysis. Results In the observation group, the T1 values of the posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC), Optic radiation (PTR), cerebral peduncle, centrum semiovale, occipital white matter, temporal white matter, and dentate nucleus were greater than those in the control group. In the observation group, the T2 values of the PLIC, PTR, frontal white matter, occipital white matter, temporal white matter, and dentate nucleus were greater than those in the control group. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that the observation group had significantly lower Development Scale scores. In the observation group, the T2 value of the splenium of the corpus callosum was significantly positively correlated with the personal social behavior score. The AUCs for diagnosing preoperative brain developmental abnormalities in children with CHD using T1 values of the temporal white matter and dentate nucleus were both greater than 0.60. Conclusions Quantitative assessment using SyMRI can aid in the early detection of preoperative brain development abnormalities in children with CHD. Critical relevance statement T1 and T2 relaxation values from SyMRI can be considered as a quantitative imaging marker to detect abnormalities, allowing for early clinical evaluation and timely intervention, thereby reducing neurodevelopmental disorders in these children. Key Points T1 and T2 relaxation values by SyMRI are related to myelin development. Evaluated development quotient markers were lower in the observation compared to the control group. SyMRI can act as a reference indicator for brain development in CHD children. Graphical Abstract

For electrically driven commercial vehicles equipped with three-speed automatic mechanical transmission (AMT), the transmission control unit (TCU) without vehicle mass and road gradient estimation function will lead to frequent shifting and insufficient power during vehicle full-load or grade climbing. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the mass and road gradient for the electrically driven commercial vehicles equipped with the three-speed AMT, and to adjust the shift rule according to the estimation results. Given the above problems, this paper focuses on the control and development of the electrically driven three-speed AMT and takes the shift controller with the vehicle mass and road gradient estimation as the research goal. The mathematical model and simulation model of vehicle dynamics are established to verify the shift function of TCU. The least squares method and calibration techniques are applied to estimate the vehicle mass and road gradient. According to the estimation results, the existing shift strategy is optimized, and the software-in-the-loop simulation of the transmission controller is carried out to verify the function of the control algorithm software. The hardware-in-the-loop test model is established to verify the shift strategy’s optimization effect, which shortens the controller’s forward development cycle. According to the estimation results of mass and gradient, the error result of the proposed method is controlled within 4.5% for mass and 8.6% for gradient. The experiment verifies that the optimized shift strategy can effectively improve the dynamic performance of the vehicle. The HIL experimental results show that the vehicle can maintain low gear while climbing the hill, and the vehicle speed does not decrease significantly.

Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) provides a valuable tool for gross primary production (GPP) monitoring. However, the spatial resolution of satellite SIF products is lower than the kilometer level, which hinders their potential for carbon cycle study at regional scales. This work reconstructed a 0.005° SIF in China during 2019 and 2020 from the 5-km level TROPOMI SIF by a proposed downscaling strategy that corrected the predicted bias when statistics-based machine learning models, such as random forest (RF), were used. Our bias-corrected downscaled SIF (named BCSIF) had an improved capacity of preserving the information of the original TROPOMI SIF than the directly predicted SIF from RF. The BCSIF showed better consistencies with the tower-based SIF than the 0.05° TROPOMI SIF with an averaged R2 increased from 0.590 to 0.798 at two sites since it has a more comparable spatial scale with spectral observations. For the spatial–temporal correlations with FLUXCOM GPP at different biomes in China, BCSIF outperformed the original SIF with the averaged R2 increased from 0.472 to 0.877 due to its reduced noise, also outperformed the near-infrared radiation reflected by vegetation (NIRvP), especially for the savanna type with the R2 increased from 0.828 to 0.889. For the temporal correlations with FLUXCOM GPP, BCSIF gives comparable R2 values as NIRvP in more than half of China (around 65% pixels), not including the needleleaf forest region in the southern Tibetan Plateau and savanna region in Yunnan province where BCSIF greatly outperformed, as well as some alpine meadows regions in Inner Mongolia and Tibetan Plateau where NIRvP outperformed.

Background and Purpose: To investigate the abnormal pattern of altered functional activity in the brain and the neuroimaging mechanisms underlying the cognitive impairment of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) via resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Materials and Methods: CRC patients (n = 56) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 50) were studied. The participants underwent rs-fMRI scans and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), degree centrality (DC), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and MoCA scores, were calculated for participants. Results: The scores of executives, visuospatial, memory, language and attention were lower in CRC patients. ReHo and ALFF values in the left postcentral gyrus, ReHo values in the right postcentral gyrus, ALFF and DC values in the left middle occipital gyrus, ReHo and DC values in the right lingual gyrus, DC values in the right angular gyrus and precuneus, and ALFF values in the left middle temporal gyrus decreased conspicuously in the CRC patients. Conclusion: CRC patients have abnormal resting state function, mainly in the brain areas involved in cognitive function. The overlapping brain regions with abnormal functional indicators are in the middle occipital gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and lingual gyrus. This study reveals the potential biological pathways involved in brain impairment and neurocognitive decline in patients with CRC.

The low reactivity and high stability of waste concrete powder (WCP) hinder the promotion of recycled binder applications with WCP addition. This study provides an innovative utilization strategy for thermal-modified WCP (TMWCP) recycling as an environmentally friendly solidification/stabilization (S/S) binder material for Pb-contaminated soil by adding ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). The S/S treated soils underwent performance evaluations including unconfined compressive strength and leaching tests. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and mercury intrusion porosimetry tests were conducted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. The results show that at an optimal heat treatment temperature of 600 °C for WCP, the S/S treated soil achieved a compressive strength of 4.2 MPa after 28 d of curing. Additionally, the optimum mixture ratio of TMWCP and GGBS was 9:1. It was found that the novel binder was much superior to OPC in terms of Pb immobilization and carbon emission reduction. When the dosage of the formed binder is twice that of OPC, it can compensate for the lack of strength in S/S treated Pb-contaminated soil.

The development of clean, stable, and renewable hot dry rock geothermal energy is significant for alleviating the energy crisis, reducing environmental pollution, and improving human health. Enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is an advanced technology for developing geothermal energy efficiently by stimulating hot dry rock reservoir. This technology involves a complex hydro-thermal coupling process. A numerical approach is usually applied for analyzing heat extraction. In this paper, taking the geothermal reservoir of the Cooper basin in Australia as the research object, two models–a 3D zonal homogeneous permeability model and a heterogenious permeability model – are established based on the measured microseismic data of hydraulic fracturing. The latter one is inversed from microseismic data. The temperature field, seepage field and thermal performance of the reservoir are numerically studied, and their differences are compared and analyzed. The results show that with the same injection-production flow rate, fluid flows more quickly from the injection well to the production well while the temperature drops relatively more rapidly in the inhomogeneous model due to the dominant channel revealed by dense microseismic events near the wellbore. In the homogeneous model, the dominant flow channel is not as pronounced as in the previous model, and the temperature decreases more slowly. During the operation of the geothermal reservoir model, the change in heat recovery of the zonal homogeneous model is relatively stable, with a decline of 3.74%, and that of the inhomogeneous model is rather obvious, with a decline of 12.72%. Compared with the inhomogeneous model, a smaller temperature drop and a higher heat recovery exist in the homogeneous model. However, the permeability in the actual reservoir is uneven, and the simulated heat recovery of the zonal homogenization model is higher than the actual recovery. Therefore, the simulation results of the inhomogeneous model have more reference significance for practical engineering.

Abstract Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a lethal cardiovascular disease, and there is no proven drug treatment for this condition. In this study, by using the Connectivity Map (CMap) approach, we explored naringenin, a naturally occurring citrus flavonoid, as a putative agent for inhibiting AAA. We then validated the prediction with two independent mouse models of AAA, calcium phosphate (CaPO4)-induced C57BL/6J mice and angiotensin II-infused ApoE−/− mice. Naringenin effectively blocked the formation of AAAs and the progression of established AAAs. Transcription factor EB (TFEB) is the master regulator of lysosome biogenesis. Intriguingly, the protective role of naringenin on AAA was abolished by macrophage-specific TFEB depletion in mice. Unbiased interactomics, combined with isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and cellular thermal shift assays (CETSAs), further revealed that naringenin is directly bound to 14-3-3 epsilon blocked the TFEB-14-3-3 epsilon interaction, and therefore promoted TFEB nuclear translocation and activation. On one hand, naringenin activated lysosome-dependent inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome and repressed aneurysmal inflammation. On the other hand, naringenin induced TFEB-dependent transcriptional activation of GATA3, IRF4, and STAT6 and therefore promoted reparative M2 macrophage polarization. In summary, naturally derived naringenin or macrophage TFEB activation shows promising efficacy for the treatment of AAA.

Blackleg disease is devastating for wasabi (Eutrema japonicum) production, occurring at any time and everywhere within the main production area of the Sichuan Province, China. There have been very few studies on the chemical control of this disease. In this study, we isolated and identified a local popular strain of the pathogen Plenodomus wasabiae. The isolated fungus strain caused typical disease spots on the leaves and rhizomes upon inoculation back to wasabi seedlings. The symptoms of blackleg disease developed very quickly, becaming visible on the second day after exposure to P. wasabiae and leading to death within one week. We then evaluated the efficacy of ten widely used fungicides to screen out effective fungicides. The efficacy of the tested fungicides was determined through mycelial growth inhibition on medium plates. As a result, tebuconazole and pyraclostrobin were able to inhibit the mycelial growth of P. wasabiae, and the most widely used dimethomorph in local production areas produced the lowest inhibition activity (13.8%). Nevertheless, the highest control efficacy of tebuconazole and pyraclostrobin on wasabi seedlings was only 47.48% and 39.03%, respectively. Generally, the control efficacy of spraying the fungicide before inoculation was better than that after inoculation. An increase in the application concentration of the two fungicides did not proportionately result in improved performance. We cloned the full-length sequence of sterol 14-demethylase (CYP51) and cytochrome B (CYTB) of which the mutations may contribute to the possible antifungalresistance. These two genes of the isolated fungus do not possess any reported mutations that lead to fungicide resistance. Previous studies indicate that there is a significant difference between fungicides in terms of the effectiveness of controlling blackleg disease; however, the control efficacy of fungicides is limited in blackleg control. Therefore, field management to prevent wound infection and unfavorable environmental conditions are more important than pesticide management.

Tissue regeneration after body injury has always been a complex problem to resolve for mammals. In adult mammals, the repair process after tissue injury is often accompanied by continuous and extensive fibrosis, which leads to scars. This process has been shown to severely hinder regeneration. Macrophages, as widely distributed innate immune cells, not only play an important role in various pathological processes, but also participate in the repair process before tissue regeneration and coordinate the regeneration process after repair. This review will discuss the various forms and indispensability of macrophages involved in repair and regeneration, and how macrophages play a role in the repair and regeneration of different tissues.

The intelligent diagnosis of premium threaded connections (PTCs) is vital for ensuring the robust and leak-proof performance of tubing under high-temperature, high-pressure, acidic gas conditions. However, achieving accurate diagnostic results necessitates a substantial number of PTCs curves under diverse make-up conditions, presenting considerable challenges in practical industrial detection. In this study, we introduce an end-to-end classification model, which combines an asynchronously optimized two-dimensional deep convolutional generative adversarial network (AoT-DCGAN) and a two-dimensional convolutional neural network (T-CNN), designed to enhance the classification performance under small sample size. Our proposed method first leverages AoT-DCGAN to identify the distribution patterns of the original samples and generate synthetic counterparts. Concurrently, we implement a novel weight optimization strategy, termed asynchronous optimization (AO), to alleviate the issue of gradient vanishing during the generator’s optimization phase. Following this, a novel T-CNN model is devised and trained on the enlarged dataset to automate the classification of PTCs curves. The performance evaluation of our method, based on recall, specificity, F1-score, precision values, and confusion matrices at varying data augmentation ratios, demonstrates that the model’s classification capabilities are enhanced as the dataset size escalates, peaking at a dataset size of 1200. Moreover, given the same training set, the T-CNN model outperforms traditional machine learning and deep learning models, achieving classification accuracies of up to 95.9%, 95.5%, and 96.7% for the AC, ATI, and NDT curves, respectively. Lastly, it was confirmed that applying asynchronous optimization in the DCGAN training process results in a more consistent decline in the loss function.

A Pickering emulsion was prepared using β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and a cinnamaldehyde (CA)/β-CD composite as emulsifiers and corn oil, camellia oil, lard oil, and fish oil as oil phases. It was confirmed that Pickering emulsions prepared with β-CD and CA/β-CD had good storage stability. The rheological experiments showed that all emulsions had G′ values higher than G″, thus confirming their gel properties. The results of temperature scanning rheology experiments revealed that the Pickering emulsion prepared with β-CD and CA/β-CD composites had high stability, in the range of 20–65 °C. The chewing properties of Pickering emulsions prepared by β-CD and corn oil, camellia oil, lard, and herring oil were 8.02 ± 0.24 N, 7.94 ± 0.16 N, 36.41 ± 1.25 N, and 5.17 ± 0.13 N, respectively. The chewing properties of Pickering emulsions made with the CA/β-CD composite and corn oil, camellia oil, lard, and herring oil were 2.51 ± 0.05 N, 2.56 ± 0.05 N, 22.67 ± 1.70 N, 3.83 ± 0.29 N, respectively. The texture properties confirmed that the CA/β-CD-composite-stabilized-emulsion had superior palatability. After 28 days at 50 °C, malondialdehyde (MDA) was detected in the emulsion. Compared with the β-CD and CA + β-CD emulsion, the CA/β-CD composite emulsion had the lowest content of MDA (182.23 ± 8.93 nmol/kg). The in vitro digestion results showed that the free fatty acid (FFA) release rates of the CA/β-CD composite emulsion (87.49 ± 3.40%) were higher than those of the β-CD emulsion (74.32 ± 2.11%). This strategy provides ideas for expanding the application range of emulsifier particles and developing food-grade Pickering emulsions with antioxidant capacity.

Native soy protein isolate (N-SPI) has a low denaturation point and low solubility, limiting its industrial application. The influence of different industrial modification methods (heat (H), alkaline (A), glycosylation (G), and oxidation (O)) on the structure of SPI, the properties of the gel, and the gel properties of soy protein isolate (SPI) in myofibril protein (MP) was evaluated. The study found that four industrial modifications did not influence the subunit composition of SPI. However, the four industrial modifications altered SPI’s secondary structure and disulfide bond conformation content. A-SPI exhibits the highest surface hydrophobicity and I850/830 ratio but the lowest thermal stability. G-SPI exhibits the highest disulfide bond content and the best gel properties. Compared with MP gel, the addition of H-SPI, A-SPI, G-SPI, and O-SPI components significantly improved the properties of the gel. Additionally, MP-ASPI gel exhibits the best properties and microstructure. Overall, the four industrial modification effects may impact SPI’s structure and gel properties in different ways. A-SPI could be a potential functionality-enhanced soy protein ingredient in comminuted meat products. The present study results will provide a theoretical basis for the industrialized production of SPI.

AbstractFluid flow is strongly affected by fractures in unconventional reservoirs. It is essential to deeply understand the flow characteristics with fractures for improving the production and efficiency of unconventional reservoir exploitation. The purpose of this work is to develop an accurate numerical model to evaluate the transient-pressure response for well intersecting fractures. The meshes generated from Fullbore Formation Micro-Imager (FMI) images ensure an efficient numerical description of the geometries for fractures and interlayers. The numerical simulation is implemented by an inhouse finite element method-based code and benchmarked with drill stem test (DST) data. The results show that three flow regimes appear in the reservoir with fractures within the test period: wellbore afterflow, pseudolinear flow, and radial flow. In contrast, only the wellbore afterflow and radial flow appear for the wells without fractures. The results also reveal that fractures dominate the flow near the wellbore. Verification and application of the model show the practicability of the integrated approach for investigating the transient-pressure behaviors in the unconventional reservoir.

Although R&D internationalization plays an important role in enterprises' globalization, few studies explore the mechanism of R&D internationalization and emerging market companies' innovation, or the relationship between R&D internationalization, domestic technology alliances and absorptive capacity. How does the R&D internationalization of emerging market enterprises affect the innovation of those enterprises? Under fierce market competition, do absorption capacity and domestic technology alliances have a significant impact on enterprise innovation? From the perspective of the knowledge-based view, this paper studies 185 enterprises undergoing R&D internationalization in China from 2012 to 2017, using high-dimensional Poisson fixed effects model, we use instrumental (HDFE IV) estimation to explain the impact of R&D internationalization on the innovation of the parent company and the mechanism behind it. The study finds that R&D internationalization positively promotes the parent company's innovation, and domestic technology alliances and absorptive capacity play a partial mediator role in R&D internationalization. In the face of fierce market competition, domestic technical alliances play a significant role in promoting enterprise innovation, while absorptive capacity plays a negative role in promoting enterprise innovation with the moderating effect of market competition.

The editorial in Frontiers in Immunology discusses the emerging field of immune metabolism in auto- and allo-immunity. The editorial highlights the critical link between metabolic pathways and immune responses, focusing on research articles related to autoimmune diseases like Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, as well as transplant immunology. The articles explore how metabolic changes in immune cells impact disease pathogenesis and potential therapeutic strategies. Additionally, the editorial discusses the role of proline metabolism in asthma and the potential of immune cell metabolism in transplant tolerance. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: To investigate the applicability of perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) in evaluating the curative effect of endostar (EN) combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in advanced cervical cancer. Methods: Between January 2021 and December 2022, 85 patients from Gansu Provincial Maternity and Child-care Hospital, China with advanced cervical cancer received NAC intravenously and underwent pre and post-chemotherapy PWI. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) consisted of paclitaxel (135 - 175 mg/m²) and carboplatin (300 - 400 mg/m²). The NAC regimen comprised three courses, with each course lasting three weeks. General data, gross tumor volume (GTV), maximum signal intensity loss rate (MSILR), tumor regression rate (TRR), and post-chemotherapy MSILR reduction were compared between effective and non-effective groups. Results: There was a significant difference in International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging, pathological types and proportion of lymph node metastasis between effective and noneffective groups (p < 0.05). At the end of 3 cycles of chemotherapy, ORR was 72.94 %. After treatment with EN combined with NAC, GTV and MSILR in effective group were significantly lower compared to non-effective group (p < 0.05). After chemotherapy, the mean relative ratio (MRR) and MSILR in effective group were significantly higher compared to non-effective group (p < 0.05). Also, MSILR before treatment (EN combined with NAC) was positively correlated with TRR after chemotherapy in patients with advanced cervical cancer (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Perfusion-weighted imaging effectively changes tumor volume in patients with advanced cervical cancer after treatment with EN combined with NAC, and this has high application in evaluating the drug's curative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]