Explore the vast range of titles available.

The demand for sustainable energy has motivated the development of artificial photosynthesis. Yet the catalyst and reaction interface designs for directly fixing permanent gases (e.g. CO 2 , O 2 , N 2 ) into liquid fuels are still challenged by slow mass transfer and sluggish catalytic kinetics at the gas-liquid-solid boundary. Here, we report that gas-permeable metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes can modify the electronic structures and catalytic properties of metal single-atoms (SAs) to promote the diffusion, activation, and reduction of gas molecules (e.g. CO 2, O 2 ) and produce liquid fuels under visible light and mild conditions. With Ir SAs as active centers, the defect-engineered MOF (e.g. activated NH 2 -UiO-66) particles can reduce CO 2 to HCOOH with an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 2.51% at 420 nm on the gas-liquid-solid reaction interface. With promoted gas diffusion at the porous gas-solid interfaces, the gas-permeable SA/MOF membranes can directly convert humid CO 2 gas into HCOOH with a near-unity selectivity and a significantly increased AQE of 15.76% at 420 nm. A similar strategy can be applied to the photocatalytic O 2 -to-H 2 O 2 conversions, suggesting the wide applicability of our catalyst and reaction interface designs. Photoreduction of permanent gas faces challenges in reactant diffusion and activation at the three-phase interface. Here the authors showed porous metal-organic framework membranes decorated by metal single atoms can boost the photoreduction of CO 2 and O 2 at the high-throughput gas-solid interface.

Muti-focus image fusion is the extraction of focused regions from different images to create one all-in-focus fused image. The key point is that only objects within the depth-of-field have a sharp appearance in the photograph, while other objects are likely to be blurred. We propose an unsupervised deep learning model for multi-focus image fusion. We train an encoder–decoder network in an unsupervised manner to acquire deep features of input images. Then, we utilize spatial frequency, a gradient-based method to measure sharp variation from these deep features, to reflect activity levels. We apply some consistency verification methods to adjust the decision map and draw out the fused result. Our method analyzes sharp appearances in deep features instead of original images, which can be seen as another success story of unsupervised learning in image processing. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art fusion performance compared to 16 fusion methods in objective and subjective assessments, especially in gradient-based fusion metrics.

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during pregnancy may pose adverse health risk to both the mothers and babies. In the present study, 188 pregnant women of different trimesters were recruited in Guangzhou, south China, and nine hydroxyl PAHs (OH-PAHs) and a biomarker of DNA oxidative damage, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), were determined in their urine samples. All OH-PAHs except for 4-hydroxyphenanthrene and 6-hydroxychrysene were found in > 90% samples, with total concentration in the range of 0.52 to 42.9 μg/g creatinine. In general, concentration levels of OH-PAHs in pregnant women were lower than those in general population in the same research area but with higher levels in working women than in housewives. The mean daily intakes of PAHs from dietary estimated by urinary OH-PAHs were 0.021, 0.004, 0.047, and 0.030 μg/kg_bw/day for naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene, respectively, which were much lower than the reference doses (20, 30, and 40 μg/kg_bw/day for naphthalene, pyrene, and fluorene, respectively) derived from chronic oral exposure data by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The low exposure levels of PAHs may be attributed to the traditional dietary taboo of Chinese pregnant women, which is to minimize the consumption of “toxic” food. The concentrations of 8-OHdG (4.67–49.4 μg/g creatinine) were significantly positively correlated with concentrations of several OH-PAHs, such as metabolites of naphthalene, fluorene, and phenanthrene ( r  = 0.3–0.6). In addition, the concentrations of 8-OHdG were higher in working women than in housewives when exposed to the same levels of PAHs, partly indicating the possible relation between work-related pressure for working women and the oxidative stress.

Background/Aims: Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) plays significant roles under various pathological conditions including cardiovascular diseases, fibrosis, and cancer. EndMT of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contributes to neointimal hyperplasia following cell therapy Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that promotes metastasis and cancer. MicroRNA-145 (miR-145) is a tumor suppressor that has been reported to inhibit SMAD3-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated the role of MALAT1 and miR-145 in EndMT of human circulating EPCs induced by transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-β1). Methods: Human circulating EPCs were isolated and characterized by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Expression levels of EndMT markers were assessed by qRT-PCR and western blotting. Alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression was measured by cell immunofluorescence staining. The regulatory relationship between MALAT1 and miR-145 and its target genes, TGFBR2 (TGFβ receptortype II) and SMAD3 (mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 3) was analyzed using the luciferase reporter assay. Results: We found that EndMT of EPCs induced by TGF-β1 is accompanied by increased MALAT1 expression and decreased miR-145 expression, and MALAT1 and miR-145 directly bind and reciprocally repress each other in these cells. Dual-Luciferase Reporter assay indicated that miR-145 inhibits TGF-β1-induced EndMT by directly targeting TGFBR2 and SMAD3. Conclusions: MALAT1 modulates TGF-β1-induced EndMT of EPCs through regulation of TGFBR2 and SMAD3 via miR-145. Thus, the MALAT1-miR-145-TGFBR2/SMAD3 signaling pathway plays a key role in TGF-β1-induced EndMT.

Neuromorphic electronics, which use artificial photosensitive synapses, can emulate biological nervous systems with in-memory sensing and computing abilities. Benefiting from multiple intra/interactions and strong light-matter coupling, two-dimensional heterostructures are promising synaptic materials for photonic synapses. Two primary strategies, including chemical vapor deposition and physical stacking, have been developed for layered heterostructures, but large-scale growth control over wet-chemical synthesis with comprehensive efficiency remains elusive. Here we demonstrate an interfacial coassembly heterobilayer films from perylene and graphene oxide (GO) precursors, which are spontaneously formed at the interface, with uniform bilayer structure of single-crystal perylene and well-stacked GO over centimeters in size. The planar heterostructure device exhibits an ultrahigh specific detectivity of 3.1 × 10 13 Jones and ultralow energy consumption of 10 −9  W as well as broadband photoperception from 365 to 1550 nm. Moreover, the device shows outstanding photonic synaptic behaviors with a paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) index of 214% in neuroplasticity, the heterosynapse array has the capability of information reinforcement learning and recognition. Layered heterostructures are promising photosensitive materials for advanced optoelectronics. Here, the authors introduce an interfacial coassembly method to construct large-scale perylene/grahene oxide (GO) heterobilayer for broadband photoreception and efficient neuromorphics.

The body roll of the tractor propagates through its rigid hitch system to the mounted implement, causing asymmetrical soil penetration depths between the implement’s lateral working elements, which affects the operational effectiveness of the implement. To address this issue, this study developed an automatic leveling system based on a dual closed-loop fuzzy Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) algorithm for tractor-mounted implements. The system employed an attitude angle sensor to detect implement posture in real time and utilized two double-acting hydraulic cylinders to provide a compensating torque for the implement that is opposite to the direction of the body’s roll. The relationship model between the implement’s roll angle and the actuator’s response time was established. The controller performed implement leveling by regulating the spool position and holding time of the solenoid directional valve. Simulink simulations showed that under the control of the dual closed-loop fuzzy PID algorithm, the implement’s roll angle adjusted from 10° to 0° in 1.72 s, which was 56.89% shorter than the time required by the fuzzy PID algorithm, with almost no overshoot. This demonstrates that the dual closed-loop fuzzy PID algorithm outperforms the traditional fuzzy PID algorithm. Static tests showed the system adjusted the implement roll angle from ±10° to 0° within 1.3 s. Field experiments demonstrated that the automatic leveling system achieved a maximum absolute error (MaxAE) of 0.91°, a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.19°, and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.28°, with errors within 0.5° for 92.52% of the time. Results from terrain mutation tests indicate that under a sudden 5° vehicle roll angle change, the system confines implement deviation to ±1.5°. The system exhibits high control precision, stability, and robustness, fulfilling the demands of tractor-mounted implement leveling.

Selecting medical treatments is a critical activity in medical decision-making. Usually, medical treatments are selected by doctors, patients, and their families based on various criteria. Due to the subjectivity of decision-making and the large volume of information available, accurately and comprehensively evaluating information with traditional fuzzy sets is impractical. Interval neutrosophic linguistic numbers (INLNs) can be effectively used to evaluate information during the medical treatment selection process. In this study, a medical treatment selection method based on prioritized harmonic mean operators in an interval neutrosophic linguistic environment, in which criteria and decision-makers are assigned different levels of priority, is developed. First, the rectified linguistic scale functions of linguistic variables, new INLN operations, and an INLN comparison method are developed in order to prevent data loss and distortion during the aggregation process. Next, a generalized interval neutrosophic linguistic prioritized weighted harmonic mean operator and a generalized interval neutrosophic linguistic prioritized hybrid harmonic mean operator are developed in order to aggregate the interval neutrosophic linguistic information. Then, these operators are used to develop an interval neutrosophic linguistic multi-criteria group decision-making method. In addition, the proposed method is applied to a practical treatment selection method. Furthermore, the ranking results are compared to those obtained using a traditional approach in order to confirm the practicality and accuracy of the proposed method.

This study explored the uric acid-lowering effects of hederagenin (HD) through molecular docking analysis and a chronic hyperuricemia (HUA) mouse model. Molecular docking was performed to evaluate HD’s interactions key urate-regulating proteins, including xanthine oxidase (XOD), ABCG2, OAT1, URAT1, and GLUT9. To establish a chronic HUA model, mice were fed a yeast-adenine diet supplemented with potassium oxonate. The mice were randomly assigned to six groups: normal control, HUA model control, benzbromarone (BEN) group, and three HD treatment groups at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg. Serum uric acid (UA) levels, liver and kidney function indicators, XOD activity, and oxidative stress markers were assessed. Histopathological analyses of the liver and kidney were also conducted. In addition, gene and protein expression levels of urate transporters and inflammatory markers were assessed using RT-PCR and Western blotting. The results showed that HD interacts with XOD and urate transporters, significantly reducing serum UA levels and inhibiting XOD activity in HUA model. It also modulated the expression of urate transporter to enhance UA excretion. Moreover, HD protected liver and kidney function by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and inhibiting the TLR4/Myd88/NF-κB and NLRP3 signaling pathways. These findings suggest HD may serve as a promising therapeutic agent for lowing uric acid and preventing organ damage associated with HUA.

Facultative bacterial endosymbionts are associated with many arthropods and are primarily transmitted vertically from mother to offspring. However, phylogenetic affiliations suggest that horizontal transmission must also occur. Such horizontal transfer can have important biological and agricultural consequences when endosymbionts increase host fitness. So far horizontal transmission is considered rare and has been difficult to document. Here, we use fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and multi locus sequence typing (MLST) to reveal a potentially common pathway of horizontal transmission of endosymbionts via parasitoids of insects. We illustrate that the mouthparts and ovipositors of an aphelinid parasitoid become contaminated with Wolbachia when this wasp feeds on or probes Wolbachia-infected Bemisia tabaci AsiaII7, and non-lethal probing of uninfected B. tabaci AsiaII7 nymphs by parasitoids carrying Wolbachia resulted in newly and stably infected B. tabaci matrilines. After they were exposed to infected whitefly, the parasitoids were able to transmit Wolbachia efficiently for the following 48 h. Whitefly infected with Wolbachia by parasitoids had increased survival and reduced development times. Overall, our study provides evidence for the horizontal transmission of Wolbachia between insect hosts by parasitic wasps, and the enhanced survival and reproductive abilities of insect hosts may adversely affect biological control programs.

N -Methyladenosine (m A) is the most prevalent internal modification in mammalian mRNAs. Although m A is important in many biological processes, its roles in the placenta are unclear. : Levels of global mRNA m A methylation and ALKBH5 expression in recurrent miscarriage (RM) patients were determined using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), m A RNA methylation quantification, and immunohistochemical methods. Using ALKBH5 overexpression and knockdown methods, we determined the role of ALKBH5 in trophoblast invasion at the maternal interface through trophoblasts and an extravillous explant culture experiments. Furthermore, the regulation of CYR61 by ALKBH5 was explored by RNA-sequencing coupled with methylated RNA immunoprecipitation. : We found that the level of global mRNA m A methylation was significantly decreased in placental villous tissue from RM patients, while ALKBH5 expression was specifically unregulated. Furthermore, we demonstrated that ALKBH5 knockdown in human trophoblast promoted trophoblast invasion. Conversely, overexpression of ALKBH5 inhibited cell invasion. ALKBH5 knockdown promoted trophoblast invasion in villous explant culture experiments, while overexpression of ALKBH5 repressed these effects. Furthermore, we clarified that ALKBH5 inhibited trophoblast invasion by regulating mRNA stability, and this RNA regulation is m A dependent. Mechanistic analyses showed that decreased in trophoblast increased the half-life of mRNA and promoted steady-state mRNA expression levels. : We elucidated the functional roles of ALKBH5 and mRNA m A methylation in trophoblast and identified a novel RNA regulatory mechanism, providing a basis for further exploration of broad RNA epigenetic regulatory patterns in RM diseases.