Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study prepared PVA fiber-reinforced coral mortar incorporating sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA), hereafter referred to as SPCM, focusing on the thermo-mechanical properties of SPCM with varying dosages of SCBA and PVA fibers exposed to different temperatures (25–500 °C). The results showed that the synergistic optimum dosage of 20 % SCBA and 1.5 % PVA fibers increased the compressive and flexural strength of SPCM by 36.53 % and 23.16 %, respectively. The critical temperature was 300 °C, beyond which the synergistic effect of SCBA and PVA fibers on the thermo-mechanical properties of SPCM was not significant. Additionally, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was used for tuning the hyperparameter of XGBoost models, and PSO-XGBoost model demonstrated optimal prediction performance and accuracy for the thermo-mechanical performance of SPCM. Furthermore, the interpretability measure Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) was introduced to gain comprehensive insights into the decision-making process for predicting strength of SPCM.

In practical engineering construction, differences in time intervals during concrete pouring arise due to issues in concrete quality control and construction procedures, thereby affecting the mechanical and durability properties of concrete. This study conducted compressive strength tests, splitting tensile strength tests, and natural immersion tests to investigate the influence of time intervals in layered pouring on the mechanical strength and chloride ion concentration distribution of staged pouring concrete. Additionally, the study elucidated the mechanism by which pouring interval time affects the mechanical properties and resistance to chloride ion erosion of staged pouring concrete at the microstructure level. The results indicate that compared to ordinary concrete specimens, the splitting tensile strength of staged pouring concrete demonstrates a continuous decrease with increasing pouring interval time. The most significant splitting tensile strength decrease occurred at a 24 h interval. The compressive strength of staged pouring concrete initially decreases and then increases with increasing pouring interval time. At a pouring interval time of 12 h, the compressive strength of staged pouring concrete decreased the most. Results from the natural immersion tests demonstrate that chloride ion concentrations at the bonding interface and on both sides of staged pouring concrete increase continuously with the extension of pouring interval time. The chloride ion concentration at the bonding interface is consistently higher than that on both sides, and the difference between them decreases with increasing diffusion depth. The chloride ion concentration difference ΔC was proposed to evaluate the influence of bonding interface performance on chloride ion concentration, which decreases to varying degrees with increasing depth. The findings of this study can provide guidance for the research on the mechanical properties and durability of staged pouring concrete in practical engineering construction, as well as for engineering protective measures.

The genus Physalis includes a number of commercially important edible and ornamental species. Its high nutritional value and potential medicinal properties leads to the increased commercial interest in the products of this genus worldwide. However, lack of molecular markers prevents the detailed study of genetics and phylogeny in Physalis, which limits the progress of breeding. In the present study, we compared the DNA sequences between Physalis and tomato, and attempted to analyze genetic diversity in Physalis using tomato markers. Blasting 23180 DNA sequences derived from Physalis against the International Tomato Annotation Group (ITAG) Release2.3 Predicted CDS (SL2.40) discovered 3356 single-copy orthologous genes between them. A total of 38 accessions from at least six species of Physalis were subjected to genetic diversity analysis using 97 tomato markers and 25 SSR markers derived from P. peruviana. Majority (73.2%) of tomato markers could amplify DNA fragments from at least one accession of Physalis. Diversity in Physalis at molecular level was also detected. The average Nei's genetic distance between accessions was 0.3806 with a range of 0.2865 to 0.7091. These results indicated Physalis and tomato had similarity at both molecular marker and DNA sequence levels. Therefore, the molecular markers developed in tomato can be used in genetic study in Physalis.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial solid malignancy in children. Increasing long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are reported to be associated with NB tumorigenesis and aggressiveness. Here, we attempted to investigate the biological functions of LINC00839 in NB progression as well as its possible pathogenic mechanisms. Public microarray datasets were applied to unearth the abnormally expressed lncRNAs in NB. RT-qPCR analysis was used to measure the expression of LINC00839, miR-454-3p, and neuronal differentiation 1 (NEUROD1) mRNA. The protein level was determined by a western blot assay. CCK-8, plate clone formation, EdU, wound-healing scratch, and transwell assays were employed to evaluate cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Xenografts were developed in nude mice to determine the effects of LINC00839 on NB tumor growth. Dual-luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) experiments were performed to identify the interaction between miR-454-3p and LINC00839 or NEUROD1. According to GSE datasets (GSE16237 and GSE16476), LINC00839 was found as a potential driver of NB progression. LINC00839 expression was higher in NB tumor tissues and cells. Also, LINC00839 expression was positively correlated with MYCN amplification, advanced INSS stages, and worse prognosis. Silencing of LINC00839 suppressed cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro. Mechanistically, LINC00839 could act as a sponge of miR-454-3p to facilitate the expression of its target NEUROD1. Moreover, miR-454-3p was demonstrated to exert an anti-cancer activity in NB. More importantly, the tumor-suppressive properties mediated by LINC00839 knockdown were significantly counteracted by the inhibition of miR-454-3p or overexpression of NEUROD1. Our study demonstrates that LINC00839 exerts an oncogenic role in NB through sponging miR-454-3p to up-regulate NEUROD1 expression, deepening our comprehension of lncRNA involved in NB and providing access to the possibility of LINC00839 as a therapeutic target for NB.

Objective.To assess the diagnostic value of ultrasound for extranodal lymphoma in children. Methods. In this retrospective study, the first diagnostic clinical manifestation, ultrasound sonograms, and puncture pathology of 40 cases of pediatric lymphoma treated in Xi’an Children’s Hospital from August 2018 to March 2020 were analyzed. Results. The first diagnostic clinical manifestation varied from jaundice to gastrointestinal, motor, neurological, respiratory, circulatory skin, and soft tissue multisystem disorders. The intranodal ultrasound results showed abnormally enlarged lymph nodes with extranodal involvement of the liver, pancreas, spleen, kidney, ovaries, and mediastinum as hypoechoic masses with multiple plasma cavity effusions, and color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) results showed abundant blood flow signals in the lesions. The pathological diagnosis by ultrasound-guided puncture was Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple subtypes. Conclusion. Routine ultrasound can provide an imaging basis for early identification and differential diagnosis of lymphoma, and ultrasound-guided puncture biopsy is simple, minimally invasive, and histopathological-based.

Bacterial spot caused by several Xanthomonas spp. is an economically important disease of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Host resistance to the disease is partially dominant or incomplete, which requires accurate assessment of disease severity for genetic studies of resistance. In the present study, three independent experiments were conducted to investigate the feasibility of using image analysis to estimate foliar disease severity of bacterial spot in tomato. The resistant line PI 114490 and the susceptible line OH 88119 were used in the first experiment, five tomato lines (PI 114490, PI 128216, Hawaii 7981, Hawaii 7998, and Fla. 7600) with a range of resistance and OH 88119 were used in the second experiment, and 439 F₂ individuals from a cross between OH 88119 and PI 114490 were used in the third experiment. Tomato plants were spray-inoculated with bacterial spot race T3. Five diseased leaves from each plant were randomly collected and scanned to obtain digital images 21 days after inoculation. The disease severity (% leaf area) was measured using image analysis. The susceptible line OH 88119 showed the most severe disease. The resistant line PI 114490 showed the least severe disease, and was not significantly different to PI 128216 or Hawaii 7981. These results indicated that image analysis could be used to distinguish tomato lines with different resistance to bacterial spot. Marker-trait association analysis identified four quantitative trait loci conferring resistance to race T3 in PI 114490 using data obtained from image analysis, the Horsfall-Barratt (HB) category scale data, and HB midpoint converted values. However, the disease severity was slightly underestimated using the HB category scale and the phenotypic variation explained by each marker was overestimated using the HB category data compared to using the image analysis-measured disease severity data. Therefore, image analysis could provide a consistent, accurate and reliable method compared to the HB scale to estimate disease severity for genetic studies of foliar bacterial spot in tomato.

This study aimed to comprehend the largely unknown role of voltage-gated potassium channel 1.3 （Kvl.3） in the phagocytic function of macrophages. We found that blocking of the Kv 1.3 channel with 100 pmol L 1 Stichodactyla helianthus neurotoxin （ShK） enhanced the phagocytic capacities of both resting and lipopolysaccharide （LPS）-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages in the chicken erythrocyte system. In the fluorescein isothiocyanate （FITC）-labeled Escherichia coli k-12 system, ShK increased the phagocytic capacities of resting RAW264.7 cells, but not of the LPS-stimulated cells, as LPS alone stimulated almost satu- rated phagocytosis of the macrophages. ShK increased the nitric oxide （NO） production in LPS-activated cells, but not in rest- ing RAW264.7 cells. There was no effect of ShK alone on the cytokine secretions in resting RAW264.7 cells, but it suppressed IL-113 secretion in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. At a concentration of 100 pmol L 1, ShK did not affect the viability of the tested cells. Kv 1.3 was expressed in RAW264.7 cells; this expression was downregulated by LPS, but significantly upregulat- ed by disrupting caveolin-dependent endocytosis with filipin III. In addition, cytochalasin D, an inhibitor of actin polymeriza- tion, did not affect the Kvl.3 expression. Thus, blocking of the Kvl.3 channel enhances the phagocytic capacity and NO pro- duction of this cell line. Our results suggest that Kv 1.3 channel serves as a negative regulator of phagocytosis in macrophages and can therefore be a potential target in the treatment of macrophage dysfunction.

Recent advancements in imitation learning have shown promising results in robotic manipulation, driven by the availability of high-quality training data. To improve data collection efficiency, some approaches focus on developing specialized teleoperation devices for robot control, while others directly use human hand demonstrations to obtain training data. However, the former requires both a robotic system and a skilled operator, limiting scalability, while the latter faces challenges in aligning the visual gap between human hand demonstrations and the deployed robot observations. To address this, we propose a human hand data collection system combined with our hand-to-gripper generative model, which translates human hand demonstrations into robot gripper demonstrations, effectively bridging the observation gap. Specifically, a GoPro fisheye camera is mounted on the human wrist to capture human hand demonstrations. We then train a generative model on a self-collected dataset of paired human hand and UMI gripper demonstrations, which have been processed using a tailored data pre-processing strategy to ensure alignment in both timestamps and observations. Therefore, given only human hand demonstrations, we are able to automatically extract the corresponding SE(3) actions and integrate them with high-quality generated robot demonstrations through our generation pipeline for training robotic policy model. In experiments, the robust manipulation performance demonstrates not only the quality of the generated robot demonstrations but also the efficiency and practicality of our data collection method. More demonstrations can be found at: https://rwor.github.io/

We investigated avian communities during the restoration stage after wetland irrigation in Zhalong National Nature Reserve along line transects,in sample plots,and at fixed points.We recorded 191 species birds of 14 orders and 43 families.Passeriformes,Charadriiformes and Anseriformes were dominant(73%),then Gruiformes,Ciconiiformes and Falconiformes(17%).Palaearctic and widespread species were dominant(98%).Summer residents accounted for 64%,followed by migrants and resident birds(27%).Songbirds accounted for 45%,Grallatores and Natatores accounted for 43%.Most of the bird species were of conservation concern in China:19% were endangered,58% were protected,19% can be utilized,and only 4% of them were not of conservation concern.Species diversity(α-diversity)was 1.419 7 and evenness was 0.277 4.The basic indices of avian communities at Zhalong accorded with the distribution and character of avian communities in northeast China wetlands.Wetland irrigation had a positive effect on avian communities at Zhalong N

In December, 2019, a pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) emerged in Wuhan, China. We aimed to further clarify the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 2019-nCoV pneumonia. In this retrospective, single-centre study, we included all confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV in Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital from Jan 1 to Jan 20, 2020. Cases were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and were analysed for epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and radiological features and laboratory data. Outcomes were followed up until Jan 25, 2020. Of the 99 patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia, 49 (49%) had a history of exposure to the Huanan seafood market. The average age of the patients was 55·5 years (SD 13·1), including 67 men and 32 women. 2019-nCoV was detected in all patients by real-time RT-PCR. 50 (51%) patients had chronic diseases. Patients had clinical manifestations of fever (82 [83%] patients), cough (81 [82%] patients), shortness of breath (31 [31%] patients), muscle ache (11 [11%] patients), confusion (nine [9%] patients), headache (eight [8%] patients), sore throat (five [5%] patients), rhinorrhoea (four [4%] patients), chest pain (two [2%] patients), diarrhoea (two [2%] patients), and nausea and vomiting (one [1%] patient). According to imaging examination, 74 (75%) patients showed bilateral pneumonia, 14 (14%) patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity, and one (1%) patient had pneumothorax. 17 (17%) patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and, among them, 11 (11%) patients worsened in a short period of time and died of multiple organ failure. The 2019-nCoV infection was of clustering onset, is more likely to affect older males with comorbidities, and can result in severe and even fatal respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. In general, characteristics of patients who died were in line with the MuLBSTA score, an early warning model for predicting mortality in viral pneumonia. Further investigation is needed to explore the applicability of the MuLBSTA score in predicting the risk of mortality in 2019-nCoV infection. National Key R&D Program of China.