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Introduction We aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms through which platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) attenuates osteoarthritis (OA)‐induced pain, apoptosis, and inflammation. Methods An in vivo model of OA was established by injuring rats using the anterior cruciate ligament transection method, whereas an in vitro model was generated by exposing chondrocytes to interleukin (IL)‐1β. Both models were then treated with PRP. Results In both the in vivo and in vitro models, OA led to the suppression of the nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) pathway, whereas treatment with PRP reactivated this molecular axis. Inhibition of the Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway using the Nrf2 inhibitor brusatol or through Nrf2 gene silencing counteracted the effects of PRP in reducing the tenderness and thermal pain thresholds of OA rats. Additionally, PRP reduced the mRNA expression of IL‐1β, IL‐6, tumor necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α), and matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP‐13) and the protein expression of B‐cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl‐2), Bcl‐2 associated X‐protein (Bax), and caspase‐3. Furthermore, inflammation and apoptosis were induced by brusatol treatment or Nrf2 silencing. Additionally, in the in vitro model, PRP treatment increased the proliferation of chondrocytes and attenuated their inflammatory response and apoptosis, effects that were abrogated by Nrf2 depletion. Conclusions The Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway participates in the PRP‐mediated attenuation of OA development by suppressing inflammation and apoptosis. Study results identified a new mechanism, that is the role of Nrf2/HO‐1, underlying the protective role of platelet‐rich plasma in cartilage tissue damage in an ACLT‐induced animal model and IL‐1β‐treated chondrocytes. Meanwhile, our data provide valuable recommendations for the development of promising antiarthritic agents that act on Nrf2.

In recent years, polaritons in two-dimensional (2D) materials have gained intensive research interests and significant progress due to their extraordinary properties of light-confinement, tunable carrier concentrations by gating and low loss absorption that leads to long polariton lifetimes. With additional advantages of biocompatibility, label-free, chemical identification of biomolecules through their vibrational fingerprints, graphene and related 2D materials can be adapted as excellent platforms for future polaritonic biosensor applications. Extreme spatial light confinement in 2D materials based polaritons supports atto-molar concentration or single molecule detection. In this article, we will review the state-of-the-art infrared polaritonic-based biosensors. We first discuss the concept of polaritons, then the biosensing properties of polaritons on various 2D materials, then lastly the impending applications and future opportunities of infrared polaritonic biosensors for medical and healthcare applications.

Background Traditional lipid indices, such as the cumulative Atherogenic Index of Plasma (cumAIP), demonstrate inconsistent predictive performance for stroke in older adults, likely due to the modifying effects of complex medication regimens. We hypothesized that incorporating the Frailty Index (FI)—a measure of cumulative physiological deficits—could capture the residual risk missed by lipid markers alone. We developed and evaluated a novel Athero-Frailty Score (AFS) to address these limitations. Methods We analyzed 3,690 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) using a landmark analysis design (baseline: 2015). An exploratory XGBoost model with SHAP analysis was used for variable screening. Based on the orthogonality of lipid and frailty metrics, AFS was constructed as an additive composite score of cumAIP and FI. Associations with incident stroke were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models and restricted cubic splines (RCS). Clinical utility was evaluated via C-statistics, Net Reclassification Improvement (NRI), and Integrated Discrimination Improvement (IDI). Results SHAP analysis identified FI as having a larger average SHAP contribution than cumAIP and medication indicators. Survival analyses suggested that the association between cumAIP and stroke was attenuated after adjustment for antihypertensive and lipid-lowering therapies (HR 1.20, P  = 0.042), and RCS indicated a non-linear pattern with an apparent plateau at higher cumAIP levels. In contrast, AFS was associated with an approximately linear dose–response relationship independent of medication use. In the fully adjusted model, each 1-SD increase in AFS was associated with a higher risk of stroke (HR = 2.75, P  < 0.001). Crucially, the addition of AFS yielded significant improvement in reclassification (NRI = 15.4%, P  < 0.001), while the improvement in integrated discrimination was modest (IDI = 0.007, P  = 0.088). Conclusion The AFS effectively addresses the predictive limitations of traditional metabolic markers in medicated older adults. By integrating metabolic burden with systemic vulnerability, this novel composite score offers a linear and robust predictive approach for stroke, supporting a multidimensional approach to vascular risk stratification in aging populations.

Meningioma (MGM) is the most common benign intracranial tumor and ranks as the second most frequent intracranial tumor in terms of incidence, following malignant gliomas. Studying the metabolites in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with MGM is crucial for understanding the underlying biological mechanisms, identifying new biomarkers, and developing novel therapeutic strategies. Mendelian randomization (MR) is a powerful analytical approach that leverages genetic variants to assess potential causal relationships between exposures and outcomes. In this study, MR analysis was used to investigate the causal relationships between 486 serum metabolites, 338 CSF metabolites, and MGM. Our MGM data was derived from the genome wide association studies (GWASs) dataset in the FinnGen database, comprising 1,835 cases of European ancestry and 377,674 controls. The data for 486 plasma metabolites was obtained from the GWAS catalog, and the data for 338 CSF metabolites was obtained from the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (WADRC) and Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Prevention Registry (WRAP) study collections. We mainly utilized the Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) approach to evaluate the causal association between metabolites and MGMs, supplemented by four additional methods to further validate and strengthen our findings. False discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied (q<0.05) to control the false-positive rate. Through MR analysis, the study identified 19 plasma metabolites and 17 CSF metabolites demonstrating potential causal associations with MGMs. Among these, 14 metabolites indicated positive causality with MGMs, while 22 metabolites displayed a remarkable negative causality. In particular, plasma levels of Glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P) (OR=4.76, 95% CI=1.02-22.12, P=0.047) and Valine (OR=0.025, 95% CI=0.0020-0.42, P=0.010) were found to exhibit the optimal efficacy. Multiple sensitivity analyses confirm the robustness of the results. The study found no evidence of a reverse causality between MGMs and the plasma levels of Glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P) and Valine. This study identified 36 metabolites associated with the incidence of MGMs, among which Glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P) and Valine are the most notable findings.

Due to the cold and dry climate during the winter season of Central Asia, in order to prevent frostbite and vines drying out for wine grapes, the common methods are burying the vines in winter under a thick layer of soil and then cleaning them out in the next spring. The design of existing vine digging machinery is not precise enough and can only remove the outer layer of the soil on both sides and the top. It cannot clean the soil from the central area of the buried vine. Sometimes, the branches and buds get damaged due to uneven driving condition. To solve the problem, an innovative non-contact blower was designed and tested to clean the vine. In this paper, the design specifications and operation parameters of the blower were determined according to the agronomic properties of the grapevines. Fluent-EDEM coupling, that is, with the help of Engineering discrete element method (EDEM) and CFD fluid simulation software Fluent, was the most common method for dynamic simulation of gas-solid two-phase flow. The Fluent-EDEM coupling simulation was used to simulate the dynamics of soil particles under the action of different wind speeds and blowing patterns, with the goal of a high soil cleaning rate. A prototype of the soil cleaning blower was manufactured and tested at the vineyards of Ningxia Yuquanying Farm in China. The results showed that the blower had an operation efficiency of 4669 m2·h−1, with an average soil removal rate of 80%. The efficiency of covering soil cleaning and rattan raising was greatly improved, and the damage rate of the vines, branches and the buds was greatly reduced.

The mechanical parameters of hard coating, such as storage modulus and loss factor, are affected by preparation technology significantly and have the strain dependent characteristic. So the effective identification of these mechanical parameters becomes a challenge task. In this study, a hard-coating cantilever thin plate under base excitation was taken as the research object, and an inverse method was developed to identify these mechanical parameters. Firstly, the principles of identifying storage modulus and loss factor of hard coating were presented according to the inverse method. Then, from the need of parameters identification, the analytical model and calculation formula of equivalent strain for the hard-coating composite plate were derived. Next, also for parameter identification, the vibration experiments about the cantilever plate coated with NiCoCrAlY+ yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) hard coating were performed. Finally, the mechanical parameters of NiCoCrAlY+YSZ hard coating with strain dependent characteristic were identified by the proposed method. The identification results show that the change rules of storage modulus and loss factor of hard coating with the strain amplitude are almost consistent with the results listed in the other similar references. However, the identification results herein can more directly serve for the dynamic modeling of hard-coating plate-shape composite structure.

The application of microfluidic technology to manipulate cells or biological particles is becoming one of the rapidly growing areas, and various microarray trapping devices have recently been designed for high throughput single-cell analysis and manipulation. In this paper, we design a double-slit microfluidic chip for hydrodynamic cell trapping at the single-cell level, which maintains a high capture ability. The geometric effects on flow behaviour are investigated in detail for optimizing chip architecture, including the flow velocity, the fluid pressure, and the equivalent stress of cells. Based on the geometrical parameters optimized, the double-slit chip enhances the capture of HeLa cells and the drug experiment verifies the feasibility of the drug delivery.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are distinguished by their unique porosity and meticulously ordered framework structures, setting them apart from conventional complexes. These materials are defined by their highly organized crystalline and pore structures, extensive surface areas, robust porosity, and superior adsorption capabilities. Owing to their exceptional structural and functional attributes, MOFs and their derivatives are leveraged across a broad spectrum of applications, demonstrating significant potential across diverse sectors. In recent times, the scientific community has increasingly focused on MOFs, underscoring their growing importance in research. Despite the promising array of applications for MOFs and their derivatives, challenges persist in practical deployments, and the pathway to research advancement remains daunting. This document delves into the synthesis and various applications of MOFs and their derivatives, particularly in the domains of energy storage, catalysis, sensing, and water treatment. It also highlights the ongoing research progress in the field of electrochemistry, including developments in lithium ion batteries (LIBs), lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), aqueous nickel-zinc batteries (NZBs), and supercapacitors. Finally, it provides an outlook on the future prospects and potential hurdles facing the development of MOF materials.

Accurate information on cropland changes is critical for monitoring arable land minimum, ensuring national food security, and grasping the situation of agricultural production and supply. The change detection using remote sensing images is one of the main methods for quickly extracting cropland changes. However, existing methods were highly susceptible to seasonal differences due to the high heterogeneity of cultivated land. In this study, an integrated framework was proposed to perform change detection by incorporating phenological patterns and multi-source remote sensing images.There were two improvements in this proposed cropland change detection method: 1) the multi-source remote sensing images were utilized to fill the missing data within a time-series image stack by considering phenological patterns of cropland and 2) the Seq2Seq model considering phenological patterns was developed to extract changes in cropland directly. Compared to the traditional change detection methods, the proposed strategy was able to detect change process. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed method can significantly improved change detection accuracies, given a limited number of labeled samples.

To study the effect of low-frequency vibration on bone marrow stromal cell differentiation and potential bone repair . Forty New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into five groups with eight rabbits in each group. For each group, bone defects were generated in the left humerus of four rabbits, and in the right humerus of the other four rabbits. To test differentiation, bones were isolated and demineralized, supplemented with bone marrow stromal cells, and implanted into humerus bone defects. Varying frequencies of vibration (0, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 Hz) were applied to each group for 30 min each day for four weeks. When the bone defects integrated, they were then removed for histological examination. mRNA transcript levels of runt-related transcription factor 2, osteoprotegerin, receptor activator of nuclear factor κ-B ligan, and pre-collagen type 1 α were measured. Humeri implanted with bone marrow stromal cells displayed elevated callus levels and wider, more prevalent, and denser trabeculae following treatment at 25 and 50 Hz. The mRNA levels of runt-related transcription factor 2, osteoprotegerin, receptor activator of nuclear factor κ-B ligand, and pre-collagen type 1 α were also markedly higher following 25 and 50 Hz treatment. Low frequency (25-50 Hz) vibration can promote bone marrow stromal cell differentiation and repair bone injury.