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A bstract In this work we study a more restricted class of quasi-topological gravity theories where the higher curvature terms have no contribution to the equation of motion on general static spherically symmetric metric where g tt g rr ≠ constant. We construct such theories up to quintic order in Riemann tensor and observe an important property of these theories: the higher order term in the Lagrangian vanishes identically when evaluated on the most general non-stationary spherically symmetric metric ansatz. This not only signals the higher terms could only have non-trivial effects when considering perturbations, but also makes the theories quasi-topological on a much wider range of metrics. As an example of the holographic effects of such theories, we consider a general Einstein-scalar theory and calculate it’s holographic shear viscosity.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a kind of complicated disease with an increasing incidence all over the world. A classic Chinese medicine formula, Zuojin pill (ZJP), was shown to exert therapeutic effects on HCC. However, its chemical and pharmacological profiles remain to be elucidated. In the current study, network pharmacology approach was applied to characterize the action mechanism of ZJP on HCC. All compounds were obtained from the corresponding databases, and active compounds were selected according to their oral bioavailability and drug-likeness index. The potential proteins of ZJP were obtained from the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology (TCMSP) database and the traditional Chinese medicine integrated database (TCMID), whereas the potential genes of HCC were obtained from OncoDB.HCC and Liverome databases. The potential pathways related to genes were determined by gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses. The compound-target and target-pathway networks were constructed. Subsequently, the potential underlying action mechanisms of ZJP on HCC predicted by the network pharmacology analyses were experimentally validated in HCC cellular and orthotopic HCC implantation murine models. A total of 224 components in ZJP were obtained, among which, 42 were chosen as bioactive components. The compound-target network included 32 compounds and 86 targets, whereas the target-pathway network included 70 proteins and 75 pathways. The in vitro and in vivo experiments validated that ZJP exhibited its prominent therapeutic effects on HCC mainly via the regulation of cell proliferation and survival though the EGFR/MAPK, PI3K/NF-κB, and CCND1 signaling pathways. In conclusion, our study suggested combination of network pharmacology prediction with experimental validation may offer a useful tool to characterize the molecular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ZJP on HCC.

To address the issues of our agile satellites’ poor attitude maneuverability, low pointing stability, and pointing inaccuracy, this paper proposes a new type of stabilized platform based on seven-degree-of-freedom Lorentz force magnetic levitation. Furthermore, in this study, we designed an adaptive controller based on the RBF neural network for the rotating magnetic bearing, which can improve the pointing accuracy of satellite loads. To begin, the advanced features of the new platform are described in comparison with the traditional electromechanical platform, and the structural characteristics and working principle of the platform are clarified. The significance of rotating magnetic bearings in improving load pointing accuracy is also clarified, and its rotor dynamics model is established to provide the input and output equations. The adaptive controller based on the RBF neural network is designed for the needs of high accuracy of the load pointing, high stability, and strong robustness of the system, and the current feedback inner loop is added to improve the system stiffness and rapidity. The final simulation results show that, when compared to the PID controller and robust sliding mode controller, the controller’s pointing accuracy and anti-interference ability are greatly improved, and the system robustness is strong, which can effectively improve the pointing accuracy and pointing stability of the satellite/payload, as well as provide a powerful means of solving related problems in the fields of laser communication, high score detection, and so on.

Fast-charging metal-ion batteries are essential for advancing energy storage technologies, but their performance is often limited by the high activation energy ( E a ) required for ion diffusion in solids. Addressing this challenge has been particularly difficult for multivalent ions like Zn 2+ . Here, we present an amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide (AOH-VO), featuring one-dimensional chains arranged in a disordered structure with atomic/molecular-level pores for promoting hierarchical ion diffusion pathways and reducing Zn 2+ interactions with the solid skeleton. AOH-VO cathode demonstrates an exceptionally low E a of 7.8 kJ·mol −1 for Zn 2+ diffusion in solids and 6.3 kJ·mol −1 across the cathode-electrolyte interface, both significantly lower than that of electrolyte (13.2 kJ·mol −1 ) in zinc ion battery. This enables ultrafast charge-discharge performance, with an Ah-level pouch cell achieving 81.3% of its capacity in just 9.5 minutes and retaining 90.7% capacity over 5000 cycles. These findings provide a promising pathway toward stable, ultrafast-charging battery technologies with near-barrier-free ion dynamics. Promoting solid ion-diffusion is essential for fast-charging battery. Here, authors present near-barrier-free ion dynamics in an amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide-based zinc ion battery and developed Ah-level fast-charging pouch cell.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic liver disease with high prevalence in the developed countries. NAFLD has been considered as one of the leading causes of cryptogenic cirrhosis and chronic liver disease. The individuals with obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia, and hypertension cardiovascular disease have a high risk to develop NAFLD. The related critical pathological events are associated with the development of NAFLD including insulin resistance, lipid metabolism dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and fibrosis. The development of NAFLD range from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Hepatic steatosis is characterized by fat accumulation, which represents the early stage of NAFLD. Then, inflammation triggered by steatosis drives early NAFLD progression into NASH. Therefore, the amelioration of steatosis and inflammation is essential for NAFLD therapy. The herbal medicine have taken great effects on the improvement of steatosis and inflammation for treating NAFLD. It has been found out that these effects involved the multiple mechanisms underlying lipid metabolism and inflammation. In this review, we pay particular attention on herbal medicine treatment and make summary about the research of herbal medicine, including herb formula, herb extract and naturals compound on NAFLD. We make details about their protective effects, the mechanism of action involved in the amelioration steatosis and inflammation for NAFLD therapy as well as the clinical application.

In the backdrop of growing public concerns about climate change and air pollution, and the contribution of petroleum combustion in the transport sector to these issues, China has introduced a range of policy incentives for promoting the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs). These incentives have resulted in a rapid increase in EV stocks since the early 2010s, and this trend is expected to continue, or even accelerate, in the years to come, which would, in turn, lead to a policy-oriented EV market. The primary objective of the project is to develop an understanding of the effect of various policy incentives on EV uptake based on annual data of 43 cities from 2011 to 2017, and these policies mainly refer to those that focus on EV purchasing, registering, driving, and charging stages. The novelty of this paper is that we focused on policy effect on EV adoption behavior, rather than adoption intention which has widely been analyzed in previous studies. Results showed that the abolishment of purchasing and driving restriction, government subsidies, purchase tax exemption, and dedicated license plates significantly promote EV diffusion, and the effect of the two restrictions are more powerful. Thus, this study suggested that abolishment of purchasing and driving restrictions can be insisted to drive EV market share, meanwhile improving policies that can guide consumers through various motivations are also necessary.

Background/Aims: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is resistant to conventional chemotherapy due to high proportions of cancer stem cells (CSCs). The aim of this study is to unravel the miR-137-mediated regulatory mechanism of B-cell lymphoma/leukemia 11A (BCL11A) in TNBC. Methods: A corhort of 34 TNBC tumor tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues, as well as 25 non-TNBC tumor tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues were collected post-operatively from patients with breast cancer. Q-PCR was performed to determine the mRNA levels of miR-137 and BCL11A in breast tissues and cell lines. Bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase reporter assay were used to verify the direct interaction between miR-137 and BCL11A. After up-/down-regulation of BCL11A, miR-137, or DNMT1 via lentiviral transduction in TNBC cell lines SUM149 and MDA-MB-231 cells, Q-PCR and Western blot assays were used to detect the expression levels of BCL11A, DNA methyltransferases 1 (DNMT1), and Islet-1 (ISL1). Mammosphere assay was conducted to assess tumorosphere formation ability of cells, coupled with flow cytometry to determine the percentage of breast cancer stem cells. Co-immunoprecipitation assay was used to determine the interaction between BCL11A and DNMT1. Xenograft tumorigenesis assay was performed to monitor tumor formation in vivo. Results: BCL11A was highly expressed in TNBC, whereas miR-137 was significantly lower in both TNBC tissues and cell lines. miR-137 suppressed BCL11A expression at both mRNA and protein levels by directly targeting its 3’UTR. In both SUM149 and MDA-MB-231 cells, overexpression of miR-137 or knockdown of BCL11A reduced the number of tumoroshperes and the percentage of cancer stem cells in vitro, and inhibited tumor development in vivo. Furthermore, BCL11A interacted with DNMT1 in TNBC cells. Silencing of either BCL11A or DNMT1 impaired cancer stemness and tumorigenesis of TNBC via suppressing ISL1 expression both in vitro, and in vivo. Conclusions: By perturbing BCL11A-DNMT1 interaction, miR-137 impairs cancer stemness and suppresses tumor development in TNBC.

Spinal diseases and frozen shoulder are prevalent health problems in Asian populations. Early assessment and treatment are very important to prevent the disease from getting worse and reduce pain. In the field of computer vision, it is a challenging problem to assess the range of motion. In order to realize efficient, real-time and accurate assessment of the range of motion, an assessment system combining MediaPipe and YOLOv5 technologies was proposed in this study. On this basis, Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) is introduced into the YOLOv5 target detection model, which can enhance the extraction of feature information, suppress background interference, and improve the generalization ability of the model. In order to meet the requirements of large-scale computing, a client/server (C/S) framework structure is adopted. The evaluation results can be obtained quickly after the client uploads the image data, providing a convenient and practical solution. In addition, a game of \"Picking Bayberries\" was developed as an auxiliary treatment method to provide patients with interesting rehabilitation training.

To date, Despite the widespread and mature clinical application of fracture treatment techniques, a large number of patients still suffer from nonunion due to impaired bone regeneration function. In the past few years, growing evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in many physiological processes and are involved in the regulation of bone metabolic diseases. In this study, we evaluated the role of miR-34c-5p in in vitro osteogenesis using methods including Alizarin Red S staining, ALP staining, quantitative PCR, and western blotting. Additionally, we established a mouse fracture model, utilized micro-CT to visualize callus formation at the fracture site, and observed the formation of trabecular bone at the fracture end in mice through histopathological staining, aiming to clarify the role of miR-34c-5p as a promoter of fracture healing in vivo. Findings demonstrated that miR-34c-5p was capable of effectively boosting osteogenic differentiation in vitro and remarkably facilitating fracture regeneration in vivo. Notch2 was identified as a downstream target through which miR-34c-5p effectively promotes osteogenesis. In summary, miR-34c-5p positively regulates osteoblast differentiation by targeting Notch2 , providing a new direction for the treatment of various bone metabolic diseases such as poor fracture healing.

microRNA-23a (miR-23a) is one of the most extensively studied miRNAs in different types of human cancer, and plays various roles in the initiation, progression, and treatment of tumors. Here, we comprehensively summarize and discuss the recent findings about the role of miR-23a in cancer. The differential expression of tissue miR-23a was reported, potentially indicating cancer stages, angiogenesis, and metastasis. miR-23a in human biofluid, such as plasma and salivary fluid, may be a sensitive and specific marker for early diagnosis of cancer. Tissue and circulating miR-23a serves as a prognostic factor for cancer patient survival, as well as a predictive factor for response to anti-tumor treatment. The direct and indirect regulation of miR-23a on multiple gene expression and signaling transduction mediates carcinogenesis, tumor proliferation, survival, cell migration and invasion, as well as the response to anti-tumor treatment. Tumor cell-derived miR-23a regulates the microenvironment of human cancer through manipulating both immune function and tumor vascular development. Several transcriptional and epigenetic factors may contribute to the dysregulation of miR-23a in cancer. This evidence highlights the essential role of miR-23a in the application of cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.