Once discovered, cancer stem cells have become a hot topic in the research of cancer therapy. These cells possess stem cell-like self-renewal and differentiation capacities and are important factors that dominate cancer metastasis, therapy- resistance and recurrence. What's worse, their own characteristics make them difficult to be eliminated. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Targeting colorectal cancer stem cells (CRCSCs) can inhibit colorectal cancer metastasis, enhance therapeutic efficacy, and reduce recurrence. Here, we introduced the origin, marker proteins, identification, cultivation and research techniques of CRCSCs, summarized the signaling pathways that regulate the stemness of CRCSCs, such as Wnt, JAK/STAT3, Notch, and Hh signaling pathway. In addition to these, we also reviewed anti-CRCSC drugs targeting signaling pathways，markers，and other regulators in recent years. These will help researchers gain insight into the current agents targeting to CRCSCs, explore new cancer drugs, and propose potential therapy.

Along with the economic growth, the companies must contribute to social progress and promote environmental sustainability in equal harmony. Sustainable human resource management (SHRM) strategies make it possible to attain the economic, social and environmental goals of a firm. In this regard, a survey method is discussed using the literature review and online questionnaire to identify the main factors/indicators during the SHRM evaluation of manufacturing firms in India. Uncertainty is commonly occurred in the assessment of SHRM factors. As a generalized version of fuzzy sets, single-valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) has been demonstrated as a valuable tool to illustrate the indeterminate, inconsistent and uncertain data of realistic decision-making problems. Considering the idea of SVNSs, this study develops a hybrid multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) approach for assessing the SHRM of manufacturing firms under uncertainty settings. For this purpose, an SVN-alternative ranking order method accounting for two-step normalization (AROMAN) is proposed based on VIFI-score function-based decision experts’ (DEs’) weighting tool and integrated criteria weight-determining model to solve the MCGDM problems with fully unknown DEs and criteria weights. In this regard, we develop new SVN-distance measure to compute the degree of difference between SVNSs. Some examples are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of developed measure over the existing ones. In addition, new criteria weight-determination model is presented with the integration of objective weights through IVIF-distance measure-based model and subjective weights through ranking comparison (RANCOM) tool on SVNSs. The proposed ranking method is applied to an empirical study of SHRM assessment for manufacturing firms in India, which shows its applicability and feasibility. In this study, the evaluation criteria are characterized into social, environmental and economic aspects with DE’s opinions. Comparative and sensitivity analyses are made to show the strength and steadiness of presented approach. This study provides an innovative MCGDM analysis framework, which makes a significant contribution to the SHRM assessment problem under indeterminate, inconsistent and uncertain setting.

Genetic adaptation of Hermetia illucens (BSF) to suboptimal single sourced wastes can open new perspectives for insect production. Here, four replicate BSF lines were maintained on a single sourced, low-quality wheat bran diet (WB) or on a high-quality chicken feed diet (CF) for 13 generations. We continuously evaluated evolutionary responses in several performance traits to rearing at the two diets. Subsequently, we tested responses to interchanged diets, i.e. of larvae that had been adapted to low-quality feed and to high quality feed and vice versa to evaluate costs associated with diet adaptation. BSF were found to experience rapid adaptation to the diet composition. While performances on WB diet were always inferior to CF diet, the adaptive re-sponses were stronger to the former diet. This stronger response was likely due to stronger se-lection pressure experienced by BSF fed on the low-quality single sourced diet. The interchanged diet experiment found no costs associated with diet adaptation but confirmed diet adaptation for the larval biomass and insect frass traits for the WB diet treatment. Our results revealed that BSF can rapidly adapt to diet through evolutionary responses, which has potential to be utilized to produce lines tailored to specific diets.

Some studies show that patients with mutations in the SNCA gene, which codifies for the alpha-synuclein protein, show a particular phenotype. The effects of SNCA Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) in recently diagnosed, drug-naïve patients with PD have been less explored. Therefore, we set out to explore the differences in the clinical characteristics of recently diagnosed drug-naïve sporadic PD patients with or without SNCA rs3910105 or rs356181 SNPs. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of PD in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database entered the study. We excluded those with missing data, dementia, psychiatric conditions, a diagnosis change over the first five years from the initial PD diagnosis, or with a familial history of PD. Subjects were evaluated with the MDS-Unified PD Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), DAT imaging, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the SCOPA-AUT for autonomic function, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the RBD Questionnaire, and the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). We included 308 PD patients fulfilling all inclusion and exclusion criteria. A logistic regression analysis and Machine-Learning models did not disclose any difference between patients either with or without the SNCA rs3910105 SNP or with or without the SNCA rs3910105 polymorphism. Our results suggest that the SNCA polymorphisms rs3910105 and rs356181 have no impact on the phenotype of idiopathic, sporadic, recently diagnosed, drug naïve PD patients.

This study aimed to describe the injury profiles of young Korean baseball players according to position and age as the proportion and distribution of injuries based on playing position and age remains unclear. A total of 271 elite youth baseball players aged 8 to 16 years were divided into two groups: elementary school (ES) (n=135) and middle school (MS) (n=136). The participants' basic, baseball practice, and injury information were collected. Injuries in the MS group were not limited to the elbow and shoulder, and the injury prevalence varied by age group and baseball position. The most injured body region in the ES group was the elbow joint, regardless of the position. In contrast, the most injured body region in the MS group was the lower back, except for infielders whose elbows were the most injured. Additionally, the MS group was more likely to experience injuries of the lower back (OR=4.27, 95% CI=2.47–7.40), shoulder (OR=1.93, 95% CI=1.08–3.43; P=0.024), and knee (OR=2.15, 95% CI=1.17–3.94; P=0.012). Our findings indicate that excessive practice and lack of rest during MS (growth spurt period) can significantly increase the risk of lower back problems in young baseball players.

Deep learning has been introduced to single-image super-resolution (SISR) in the last decade. These techniques have taken over the benchmarks of SISR tasks. Nevertheless, most architectural designs necessitate substantial computational resources, leading to a prolonged inference time on embedded systems or rendering them infeasible for deployment. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of plausible solutions and optimization methods to address this problem. Then, we propose a pipeline that aggregates the latter in order to enhance the inference time without significantly compromising the perceptual quality. We investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method on a lightweight GAN-based perceptual-oriented model as a case study. The experimental results show that our proposed method leads to significant improvement in the inference time on both Desktop and Jetson Xavier NX, especially for higher resolution input sizes on the latter, thereby making it deployable in practice.

Polyphosphate (polyP) accumulating organisms (PAOs) are the key agent to perform enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) activity, and intracellular polyP plays a key role in this process. Potential associations between EBPR performance and the polyP structure have been suggested, but are yet to be extensively investigated, mainly due to the lack of established methods for polyP characterization in the EBPR system. In this study, we explored and demonstrated that single-cell Raman spectroscopy (SCRS) can be employed for characterizing intracellular polyPs of PAOs in complex environmental samples such as EBPR systems. The results, for the first time, revealed distinct distribution patterns of polyP length (as Raman peak position) in PAOs in lab-scale EBPR reactors that were dominated with different PAO types, as well as among different full-scale EBPR systems with varying configurations. Furthermore, SCRS revealed distinctive polyP composition/features among PAO phenotypic sub-groups, which are likely associated with phylogenetic and/or phenotypic diversity in EBPR communities, highlighting the possible resolving power of SCRS at the microdiversity level. To validate the observed polyP length variations via SCRS, we also performed and compared bulk polyP length characteristics in EBPR biomass using conventional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and solution ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (³¹P-NMR) methods. The results are consistent with the SCRS findings and confirmed the variations in the polyP lengths among different EBPR systems. Compared to conventional methods, SCRS exhibited advantages as compared to conventional methods, including the ability to characterize in situ the intracellular polyPs at subcellular resolution in a label-free and non-destructive way, and the capability to capture subtle and detailed biochemical fingerprints of cells for phenotypic classification. SCRS also has recognized limitations in comparison with ³¹P-NMR and PAGE, such as the inability to quantitatively detect the average polyP chain length and its distribution. The results provided initial evidence for the potential of SCRS-enabled polyP characterization as an alternative and complementary microbial community phenotyping method to facilitate the phenotype-function (performance) relationship deduction in EBPR systems.

Rural electrification rate (RER) in Africa is still low to date. Several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have tried to address this problem using conventional single-phase two-wire or three-phase three-wire systems, however at large costs due to the nature of dispersed rural load centers, low load demand, and low population density. Another solution of off-grid generation creates associated health problems. Therefore, this paper undertakes a review of a single wire earth return (SWER) network as a RER improvement solution. The paper undertakes intensive literature review to elucidate challenges and solutions to the implementation of SWER technology. Advantages of SWER technology discussed make it the choice for RER improvement in Sub-Saharan African countries. After that, a case study is selected in rural Tanzania, and a preliminary SWER network design is undertaken.

This article reveals a best possible design for hybrid dispersion compensating fiber (HyDCF) with high birefringence established on modified broadband compensating structure through S, C and L telecommunication bands. The simulation outcome exhibits relatively higher birefringence of 3.76×10-2 at wavelength of 1550 nm. The suggested fiber also has dispersion compensation characteristics in an inclusive series of wavelengths which covers 1400-1625 nm. The reported design can achieve dispersion quantity of – 606 ps/ (nm.km) at 1550 nm effective wavelength. The reported fiber design matches the relative dispersion slope (RDS) 0.003694 nm-1 similar to single mode fiber at 1550 nm operating wavelength. This fiber demonstrates negatively flattened effective dispersion of – 2.703 ± 0.734 ps/ (nm.km) within 180 nm flat band ranging from 1460-1640 nm wavelength. It is also convenient to optical high bit rate communication systems. The low confinement loss is found 3.756×10-10 dB/m at the operating wavelength. This design also achieves highly nonlinear coefficient of 50.34 W-1km-1. In some cases, it can also be used in sensing applications.

Fostering fruitful collaboration between chemistry and physics scholars, the analysis of the differences in the practical approach to single atoms in chemistry and in physics affords a number of conceptual outcomes pointing to a more balanced relationship between chemistry and physics.

Bloodstream infection is a major health problem worldwide, with extremely high mortality. Detecting infection in the early stage is challenging due to the extremely low concentration of bacteria in the blood. Digital PCR provides unparalleled sensitivity and can achieve absolute quantification, but it is time-consuming. Moreover, the presence of unavoidable background signals in negative controls poses a significant challenge for single-molecule detection. Here, we propose a novel strategy called “Ultrafast flexible thin tube-based droplet digital PCR (utPCR)” that can shorten the digital PCR process from 2 hours to only 5 minutes, with primer annealing/extension time reduced from minutes to only 5 seconds. Importantly, the ultrafast PCR eliminates the nonspecific amplification and thus enables single-molecular detection. The utPCR enabled sensitive detection and digital quantification of E. coli O157 in the high background of 106-fold excess of E. coli K12 cells. Moreover, this method also displayed the potential to detect rare pathogens in blood samples, and the limit of detection (LOD) could be as low as 10 CFU per mL of blood without false positive results. Considering ultrafast (<5 min) and highly sensitive (single-molecule detection), the utPCR holds excellent prospects in the next generation of molecular diagnosis.

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is a serious public health issue. Aim of the study was to identify the antimicrobial resistance and accessory genes, the clonal relatedness and the evolution dynamics of selected CRKP isolates recovered in an adult and a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in Greece. Methods: Twenty-four CRKP isolates recovered during 2018-2022 were included in the study. Next-generation sequencing was performed using the Ion Torrent PGM Platform. The identification of the plasmid content, MLST and antimicrobial resistance genes, as well as the comparison of multiple genome alignments and the identification of core genome single-nucleotide polymorphism sites, were performed applying various bioinformatics software. Results: The isolates belonged to eight sequence types 11, 15, 30, 35, 39, 307, 323, and 512. A variety of carbapenemases (KPC, VIM, NDM and OXA-48) and resistance genes were detected. CRKP strains shared visually common genomic regions with the reference strain (NTUH-K2044). ST15, ST323, ST39, and ST11 CRKP isolates presented on average 17, 6, 16 and 866 recombined SNPs, respectively. All isolates belonging to ST15, ST323 and ST39 were classified in distinct phylogenetic branches, while ST11 isolates were assigned to a two-subclade branch. For large CRKP sets, the phylogeny seems to change approximately every seven SNPs. Conclusion: The current study provides insight into the genetic characterization of CRKP isolates in the ICUs of a tertiary hospital. Our results indicate clonal dispersion of ST15, ST323, and ST39 and highly diverged ST11 isolates.

Poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) (PMEA) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) have protein-antifouling properties and blood compatibility. ABA triblock copolymers (PMEAn-PEO11340-PMEAn (MEOMn)) were prepared using single-electron transfer-living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) using a bi-functional PEO macroinitiator. Two types of MEOMn composed of PMEA blocks with a degree of polymerization (DP = n) of 85 and 777 were prepared using the same PEO macroinitiator. MEOMn formed flower micelles with a hydrophobic PMEA (A) core and hydrophilic PEO (B) loop shells in diluted water with a similar appearance to petals. The hydrodynamic radii of MEOM85 and MEOM777 were 151 and 108 nm, respectively. The PMEA block with a large DP formed a tightly packed core. The aggregation number (Nagg) of the PMEA block in a single flower micelle for MEOM85 and MEOM777 was 156 and 164, respectively, which were estimated using a light scat-tering technique. The critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) for MEOM85 and MEOM777 were 0.01 and 0.002 g/L, respectively, as determined by the light scattering intensity and fluorescence probe techniques. The size, Nagg, and CMC for MEOM85 and MEOM777 were almost the same inde-pendent of hydrophobic DP of the PMEA block.

C-C Chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) is expressed on the CD4 T cell surface where CXCR4 and CCR5 expressions are controlled differently during the activation of T cells and with the binding of interleukin type-2 (IL-2). IL-2 can upregulate CCR1 and CCR2 in CD45R01 T cells and increase the T lymphocyte chemotaxis toward CC-chemokines. CD4+ T cells are either apart of the T helper 1 or Th1 lymphocytes that release interferon gamma (IFNγ) and lymphotoxin that provide cellular immunity to internal pathogens and T helper cells type 2 (Th2), which secrete interleukins 4 and 5 (IL-4 and IL-5). IL-4 and IL-5 cause an allergic and humoral immune response to parasites. Th2 lymphocytes use CCR3 chemokine receptors. CCR5 and CXCR3 chemokine receptors are specific for CD4+ Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes. CCR5Δ32 is a 32-base-pair deletion of the CCR5 gene. CCR5 is a co-receptor for the entrance of the human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). CCR5Δ32 creates a malfunction of the CCR5 protein that can prevent HIV-1 infection. However, the CCR5Δ32 32-base-pair deletion is not prevalent and predominant in many populations worldwide and there also exist more genetic variations of CCR5 known as CCR5-SNPs. An alternative polymorphism was identified based on the CCR5 gene that was identified as a A to G (A/G) point mutation. This point mutation is located at the 59029 locus on the promoter that lowers the expression rate of CCR5. Gurdol et al. found activity at the promoter of CCR5/590029G was 45% lesser than the CCR5/59029A. The genetic variations of CCR5 SNPs also include: 2459G>SNP of CCR5, C101X, CCR5 gene position at -2273, and the A to G SNP mutation found in two South African blacks. Therefore, more studies are needed to find more and varied chemokine polymorphisms that are present in many diverse populations in the world. The aim of this literature review is to describe the immense impact of CCR5 SNP mutations on viral infection susceptibility, on the pathogenesis of chronic conditions, to endorse the increased discovery of more novel CCR5 SNPs, and to show the significant potential of anti-CCR5 therapies to treat multiple diseased conditions.

In the paper the experimental methodology for the single-crystal circular plate deformation measurement and subsequent procedure for mechanical properties quantitation are developed. The procedure is based on a new numerical-analytical solution of nonlinear boundary-value problem for finite deformations of a circular anisotropic plate. Using the developed method, a study of the deformation of single-crystal circular plates formed on the basis of a silicon-on-insulator structure was carried out. The values of residual stresses are determined and it is shown that the presence of these stresses increases the flexural rigidity of the plate in several times.

The nuclear lamina consists of a dense fibrous meshwork made of nuclear lamins, Type V intermediate filaments, and is ~14 nm thick according to recent cryo-electron tomography studies. Recent advances in light microscopy have extended the resolution to a scale allowing for the fine structure of the lamina to be imaged in the context of the whole nucleus. We review quantitative approaches to analyze the imaging data of the nuclear lamina as acquired by structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), as well as the requisite cell preparation techniques. In particular, we discuss the application of steerable filters and graph based methods to segment the structure of the four mammalian lamin isoforms (A, C, B1, and B2) and extract quantitative information.

We developed a transparent and flexible electrochemical sensor using a platform based on a network of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) for the non-enzymatic detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) released from living cells. We decorated the SWCNT network on a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate with platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) using a potentiodynamic method. The PtNP/SWCNT/PET sensor synergized the advantages of a flexible PET substrate, a conducting SWCNT network, and a catalytic PtNP, and demonstrated good biocompatibility and flexibility, enabling cell adhesion. The PtNP/SWCNT/PET-based sensor demonstrated enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards H2O2 as well as excellent selectivity, stability, and reproducibility. The sensor exhibited a wide dynamic range of 500 nM to 1 M, with a low detection limit of 228 nM. In addition, Furthermore, the PtNP/SWCNT/PET sensor remained operationally stable even after bending at various angles (15°, 30°, 60°, and 90°) with no noticeable loss of current signal. These outstanding characteristics enabled the PtNP/SWCNT/PET sensor to be practically applied for the direct culture of HeLa cells and the real-time monitoring of H2O2 release by the HeLa cells under drug stimulation.

The three-dimensional single fin configuration finds application in an intake geometry where the cowl-shock wave interacts with the side-wall boundary-layer. Accurate numerical simulation of such three-dimensional shock/turbulent boundary-layer interaction flows, which are characterized by the appearance of strong crossflow separation, is a challenging task. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computations using the shock-unsteadiness modified Spalart-Allmaras model is carried out at Mach of 5 at large fin angle of 23^◦. The computed results using the modified model are compared to the standard Spalart-Allmaras model and validated against the experimental data. The focus of work is to implement the modified model and to study the flow physics in detail in the complex region of swept-shock-wave turbulent boundary-layer interaction in terms of the shock structure, expansion fan, shear layer and the surface streamlines. The flow structure is correlated to the wall pressure and skin friction in detail. It is observed that the standard model predicts an initial pressure location downstream of the experiments. The modified model reduces the eddy viscosity at the shock and predicts close to the experiments. Overall, the surface pressure using modified model is predicted accurately at all the locations. The skin friction is under predicted by both the models in the reattachment region and is attributed to the poor performance of turbulence models due to flow laminarization.

Single-molecule fluorescence detection (SMFD) experiments are useful in distinguishing sub-populations of molecular species when measuring heterogeneous samples. One experimental platform for SMFD is based on a confocal microscope, where molecules randomly traverse an effective detection volume. The non-uniformity of the excitation profile and the random nature of Brownian motion, produce fluctuating fluorescence signals. For these signals to be distinguished from the background, burst analysis is frequently used. Yet, the relation between the results of burst analyses and the underlying information of the diffusing molecules is still obscure and requires systematic assessment. In this work we performed three-dimensional Brownian motion simulations of SMFD, and tested the positions at which molecules emitted photons that passed the burst analysis criteria for different values of burst analysis parameters. The results of this work verify which of the burst analysis parameters and experimental conditions influence both the position of molecules in space when fluorescence is detected and taken into account, and whether these bursts of photons arise purely from single molecules, or not entirely. Finally, we show, as an example, the effect of bursts that are not purely from a single molecule on the accuracy in single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer measurements.

The effects of heating rate before solution treatment and cooling rate after solution treatment on the morphological distribution and evolution of precipitation phase of nickel-based single crystal superalloy were studied. The dissolution, precipitation and growth of precipitation phase and matrix phase during heat treatment were analyzed by means of high power scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the morphology of precipitated phase has nothing to do with the distribution of precipitated phase and the heating rate in the heating process, but the cooling rate in the cooling process affects the shape, size and distribution of precipitated phase. The faster the cooling rate, the smaller the precipitated phase is, the more irregular the shape is, the smaller the equivalent edge length is, and the smaller the channel width of matrix phase is.

The current spreading novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious and pathogenic and has attracted global attention. Recent studies have found that SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV share around 80% of homology and use the same cell entry receptor, ACE2. These inspired us to study other receptors of SARS-CoV, which may be used for SARS-CoV-2 binding as well. In this study, we screened the gene expression of three receptors (ACE2, DC-SIGN and L-SIGN) in four datasets of normal lung tissue from lung adenocarcinoma patients and two single-cell RNA sequencing datasets from normal lung and bronchial epithelial cells separately. No significant difference in gene expression of these three receptors were found between gender groups (male vs female). We found higher gene expression of DC-SIGN in elder with age>60 and higher gene expression of L-SIGN in Caucasian than Asian. Similar to ACE2, we observed significantly higher DC-SIGN gene expression in the lungs of smokers, especially former smokers. However, smokers upregulate ACE2 and DC-SIGN gene expression in different cell types. In the whole lung, ACE2 is actively expressed in remodeled Alveolar Type II cells of former smokers, while DC-SIGN is largely expressed in monocytes of former smokers and dendritic cells of current smokers. In bronchial epithelium, no obvious gene expression of DC-SIGN and L-SIGN was observed while ACE2 was found to be actively expressed in goblet cells of current smokers and club cells of non-smokers. In conclusion, our findings may indicate that smokers, especially former smokers, and people over 60 have higher risk and are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Also, this study provides hints on possible SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity mechanisms in lung infection.

Nonlinear properties of zinc germanium diphosphide (ZGP) crystals enable their ap-plications in powerful mid-IR optical parametric oscillators and second-harmonic generators. This paper summarizes mechanisms of the laser induced damage (LID) in high-purity ZGP crystals under periodically pulsed nanosecond irradiation by a Ho3+:YAG laser at 2.1 μm. The ZGP samples were manufactured by “LOC” Ent., Tomsk, Russia, or Harbin Institute of Technology, China. The impact of processing techniques and the post-growing methods for polishing and anti-reflection coating on the LID threshold are discussed. The importance of the defect structure of the crystal lattice and the parameters of transparent coatings for increasing the LID threshold is discussed. The impact of the test laser parameters on the LID threshold is analyzed. The transient area near the LID threshold obtained using digital holography is ana-lyzed. Influence of the pre-damage processes on the optical parametric oscillations is reported. Prospects for improving ZGP crystals to further increase the LID threshold are discussed.

Plant cells are omnipotent and breeding of new varieties can be achieved by protoplast fusion. Such fusions can be achieved by treatment with poly(ethylene glycol) or by applying an electric field. Microfluidic devices allow for controlled conditions and targeted manipulation of small batches of cells down to single cell analysis. To provide controlled conditions for protoplast fusions and achieve high reproducibility, we developed and characterized a microfluidic device to reliably trap few of Arabidopsis thaliana protoplasts and induced a cell fusion by controlled addition of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG, with a molecular weight of 6000). Experiments were conducted to determine the survival rate of isolated protoplasts in our microfluidic system. Afterwards, PEG induced fusion was studied. Our results indicate that the following fusion parameters had significant impact on the fusion efficiency and duration: PEG concentration, osmolarity of solution, and flow velocity. PEG concentration below 10% led to only partial fusion. Osmolarity of the PEG fusion solution was found to strongly impact the fusion process; complete fusion of two source cells sufficiently took part in slightly hyper osmotic solutions, whereas iso-osmotic solutions led to only partial fusion at 20% PEG concentration. We observed accelerated fusion for higher fluid velocities. Up to this study, it was common sense that fusion is one directional, i.e. once two cells were fused into one cell they stay fused. Here, we present for the first time reversible fusion of protoplasts. Our microfluidic device paves the way to a deeper understanding on the kinetics and processes of cell fusion.

Advanced genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics techniques are providing unprecedented insights into the understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the central nervous system, including the neuro-sensory cochlea of the inner ear. Here, we report for the first time a comprehensive and updated overview of the most advanced omics techniques for the study of nucleic acids, and their applications in cochlear research. We describe the available in vitro and in vivo models for hearing research, the principles of genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics, alongside their most advanced technologies (like single cell omics and spatial omics), which allows to investigate the molecular events that occur at single cell resolution retaining the spatial information.

In this contribution, we present a high-speed multiplex grating spectrometer based on a spectral coding approach that is founded on principles of compressive sensing. The spectrometer employs a single-pixel InGaAs detector to measure the signals encoded by an amplitude spatial light modulator (digital micromirror device, DMD). This approach leads to a speed advantage and multiplex sensitivity advantage atypical for standard dispersive systems. Exploiting the 18.2 kHz pattern rate of the DMD, we demonstrate 4.2 ms acquisition times for full spectra with a bandwidth of 450 nm (5250 cm-1 – 4300 cm-1; 1.9 µm – 2.33 µm). Due to the programmability of the DMD, spectral regions of interest can be chosen freely, thus reducing acquisition times further, down to the sub-millisecond regime. The adjustable resolving power of the system accessed by means of computer simulations is discussed, quantified for different measurement modes, and verified by comparison with a state-of-the-art Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer. We show measurements of characteristic polymer absorption bands in different operation regimes of the spectrometer. The theoretical multiplex advantage of 8 was experimentally verified by comparison of the noise behavior of the spectral coding approach and a standard line-scan approach.

A review of influence of drag-reducing agents on curved pipe flows is presented in this work. In addition, this review outlined proposed mechanism, friction factor and fluid flux models for drag-reducing agents in curved pipe flows. Our finding reveals that drag reduction by additives in curved pipes is quite significant but generally lower than the corresponding drag reduction in straight pipes. It decreases with increase in curvature ratio and more pronounced in the transition and turbulent flow regimes. Drag reduction strongly depends on the polymers and surfactants’ concentrations as well as the bubble fraction of micro-bubbles. It is also reported that drag reduction in curved pipes depends on temperature and existence of dissolved salts in the fluids. Maximum drag reduction asymptote differed between straight and curved pipes and between polymer and surfactant. No definite conclusion could be drawn as regards drag reduction for two-phase flow in curved pipes due to the limited studies in this area. Many questions such as the mechanism of drag reduction in curved pipes and how drag-reducing agents interact with secondary flows still remained unanswered. Hence, some research gaps have been identified with recommendations for areas of future researches.

New flaxseed cultivars differing in seed mucilage content (MC) with low hull content (HC) represent an attractive option to simultaneously target the food and feed markets. Here, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted for MC and HC in 200 diverse flaxseed accessions genotyped with 1.7 million SNP markers. The data obtained for MC and HC indicated a broad phenotypic variation and high (~70%) and a moderate (~49%) narrow sense heritability, respectively. MC and HC did not differ statistically between fiber and oil morphotypes, but yellow-seeded accessions had 2.7% less HC than brown-seeded ones. The genome wide linkage disequilibrium (LD) decayed to r2 = 0.1 at a physical distance of ~100 Kb. Seven and four QTL were identified for MC and HC, respectively. Promising candidate genes included Linum usitatissimum orthologs of the Arabidopsis thaliana genes TRANSPARENT TESTA 8, SUBTILISIN-LIKE SERINE PROTEASE, GALACTUROSYL TRANSFERASE-LIKE 5, MUCILAGE-MODIFIED 4, AGAMOUS-LIKE MADS-BOX PROTEIN AGL62, GLYCOSYL HYDROLASE FAMILY 17 and UDP-GLUCOSE FLAVONOL 3-O-GLUCOSYLTRANSFERASE that have been shown to play a role in mucilage synthesis and release, seed coat development and anthocyanin biosynthesis in A. thaliana were identified. The favorable alleles will be useful in flaxseed breeding towards the goal of achieving the ideal flaxseed cultivars for food and feed by genomic-based breeding.

This paper proposes a single-stage asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back (AHBF) converter with resonant mode using dual-mode control. The presented converter has an integrated boost converter and asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter and operates in resonant mode. The boost-cell always operates in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) to achieve high power factor. The presented converter operates simultaneously using a variable-frequency-controller (VFC) and pulse-width-modulation (PWM) controller. Unlike the conventional single-stage design, the intermediate bus voltage of this controller can be regulated depending on the main power switch duty ratio. The asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter utilizes a variable switching frequency controller to achieve the output voltage regulation. The asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter can achieve zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) operation and significantly reduce the switching losses. Detailed analysis and design of this single-stage asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter with resonant mode is described. A wide AC input voltage ranging from 90 to 264 Vrms and output 19 V/ 120 W prototype converter was built to verify the theoretical analysis and performance of the presented converter.

Nanometer-curved surfaces are abundant in biological systems as well as in nano-sized technologies. Properly functionalized polymer-grafted nanoparticles (PGNs) adhere to surfaces with different geometries and curvatures. This work explores some of the energetic and mechanical characteristics of the adhesion of PGNs to surfaces with positive, negative and zero curvatures using Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics (CGMD) simulations. Our calculated free energies of binding of the PGN to the curved and flat surfaces as a function of separation distance show that curvature of the surfaces critically impacts the adhesion strength. We find that the flat surface is the most adhesive, and the concave surface is the least adhesive surface. This somewhat counterintuitive finding suggests that while a bare nanoparticle is more likely to adhere to a positively curved surface than a flat surface, grafting polymer chains to the nanoparticle surface inverts this behavior. Moreover, we studied the rheological behavior of PGN upon separation from the flat and curved surfaces under external pulling force. The results presented herein can be exploited in drug delivery and self-assembly applications.

The frequency of selected polymorphisms, one in each gene coding for proteins with antioxidative properties (CAT, SOD2, GPX1, NQO1) was compared between patients suffering from pain-related temporomandibular disorders (TMDp;n=85) and control subjects (CTR;n=85). According to the Oral Behaviours Checklist score participants were divided into high-frequency parafunction (HFP;n=98) and low-frequency parafunction (LFP;n=72) groups. In addition, we have investigated the association of selected polymorphisms with participants' psychological (anxiety, depression) and psychosomatic (hypervigilance, somatosensory amplification) characteristics. Polymorphisms rs1001179, rs4880, rs1050450, rs689452 were genotyped using the genomic DNA extracted from buccal mucosa swabs and real-time TaqMan genotyping assays. No differences in genotype distribution between TMDp patients and control subjects were found. Still, TMDp patients who were homozygous for minor allele A, related to the GPX1 polymorphism rs1050450 reported significantly more waking-state oral behaviours compared to GA+GG genotype carriers (score: 30 vs. 23, p=0.019). Frequency of genotype AA for rs1050450 polymorphism was higher in HFP compared to LFP participants (14.3% vs. 4.2%, p =0.030). Most important predictors of waking-state oral behaviours were depression, anxiety, AA genotype (rs1050450) and female sex. Explored genetic factors were not found to be significant risk factors for either TMDp or sleep-related oral behaviours. The association of waking-state oral behaviours with selected gene polymorphisms additionally supports previous assumptions that the daytime bruxism is more closely linked to various stress manifestations, which might also be reflected through the variability related to cellular antioxidative activity.

Single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) has been used for particle size measurement of diverse types of individual nanoparticles and micrometer-sized carbon-based particles, such as microplastics. However, its applicability to the measurement of micrometer-sized non-carbon-based particles such as silica (SiO2) is unclear. In this study, the applicability of spICP-MS to particle size measurement of non-porous/mesoporous SiO2 micro-spheres with a nominal diameter of 5.0 µm or smaller was investigated. Particle sizes of these microspheres were measured using both spICP-MS based on a conventional calibration approach using an ion standard solution and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as a reference technique and the results were compared. The particle size distributions obtained using both techniques were in agreement within analytical uncertainty. The applicability of this technique to the detection of metal-containing protein-binding mesoporous SiO2 microspheres was also investigated. Bound iron (Fe)-containing proteins (i.e., lactoferrin and transferrin) of mesoporous SiO2 microspheres were detected using Fe as a presence marker for the proteins. Thus, spICP-MS is applicable to the particle size measurement of large-sized and non-porous/mesoporous SiO2 microspheres; it has considerable potential for element-based detection and qualification of bound proteins of mes-oporous SiO2 microspheres in a variety of applications.

In this paper, the authors employ Mountain Pass Lemma, the method of weak solution regularization and Lyapunov function method to derive the unique existence of globally exponential stable positive stationary solution of a single-species model with diffusion and delayed feedback. The obtained stability criterion illuminates that under some suitable conditions, a certain internal competition is conducive to the overall stability of the population, and a certain amount of family planning is conducive to the overall stability of the population. A numerical example and three tables show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Over 250 million people are infected chronically with hepatitis B virus (HBV), the leading cause of liver cancer worldwide. HBV persists due in part to its compact, stable minichromosome, the covalently-closed, circular DNA (cccDNA), which resides in the hepatocytes’ nuclei. Current therapies target downstream replication products, however, a true virological cure will require targeting the cccDNA. Finding targets on such a small, compact genome is challenging. For HBV, to remain replication-competent, it needs to maintain nucleotide fidelity in key regions, such as the promoter regions, to ensure that it can continue to utilize the necessary host proteins. HBVdb (HBV database) is a repository of HBV sequences spanning all genotypes (A-H) amplified from clinical samples, and hence implying an extensive collection of replication-competent viruses. Here, we analyzed the HBV sequences from HBVdb using bioinformatics tools to comprehensively assess the HBV core and X promoter regions amongst the nearly 70,000 HBV sequences for highly-conserved nucleotides and variant frequencies. Notably, there is a high degree of nucleotide conservation within specific segments of these promoter regions highlighting their importance in potential host protein-viral interactions and thus the virus’ viability. Such findings may have key implications for designing antivirals to target these areas.

Positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) viruses comprise many (re-)emerging human pathogens that pose a public health problem. Our innate immune system and in particular the interferon response form the important first line of defense against these viruses. Given their genetic flexibility, these viruses have therefore developed multiple strategies to evade the innate immune response in order to optimize their replication capacity. Already many molecular mechanisms of innate immune evasion by +ssRNA viruses have been identified. However, research addressing the effect of host innate immune evasion on the pathology caused by the viral infection is less prevalent in literature, though very relevant and interesting. Since interferons have been implicated in inflammatory diseases and immunopathology in addition to their protective role in infection, the influence of antagonizing the immune response may have an ambiguous effect on the clinical outcome of the viral disease. Therefore, this review discusses what is currently known about the role of interferons and host immune evasion in the pathogenesis of emerging viruses belonging to the coronaviruses, alphaviruses and flaviviruses.

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a well validated prostate cancer marker, but reported PSMA-targeted tracers derived from the Lys-urea-Glu pharmacophore including the clinically validated [99mTc]Tc-EDDA/HYNIC-iPSMA have high off-target uptake in kidneys, spleen and salivary glands. In this study, we synthesized and evaluated three novel 99mTc-labeled PSMA-targeted tracers and investigated if the tracers derived from the Lys-urea-Aad pharmacophore could have minimized uptake in off-target organs/tissues. In vitro competition binding assays showed that compared with HYNIC-iPSMA, the three novel ligands had slightly weaker PSMA binding affinity (average Ki = 3.11 vs 8.96 - 11.6 nM). Imaging and ex vivo biodistribution studies in LNCaP tumor-bearing mice showed that [99mTc]Tc-EDDA/HYNIC-iPSMA and the three novel tracers successfully visualized LNCaP tumor xenografts in SPECT images and were excreted mainly via the renal pathway. The average tumor uptake at 1 h post-injection varied from 5.40 to 18.8 %ID/g, and the tracers derived from the Lys-urea-Aad pharmacophore had much lower uptake in spleen and salivary glands. Compared with the clinical tracer [99mTc]Tc-EDDA/HYNIC-iPSMA, the Lys-urea-Aad derived [99mTc]Tc-EDDA-KL01127 had lower background uptake and superior tumor-to-background contrast ratios, and is therefore promising for clinical translation to detect prostate cancer lesions with SPECT.

The article introduces a new solution approach to grid-connected single-stage three-phase PV inverter whereby a dc-link voltage can successfully achieve the desired performance. As a single-stage, the variable output of perturb and observe maximum power point tracking (P&O based-MPPT) is fully utilized as dc-link voltage reference in inverter control scheme. As a result, it is challenging for the dc-link voltage to preserve energy balance by tracking its variable dc-link voltage reference under unpredictable environmental changes. To overcome this challenge, an adaptive reference proportional-integral (ARPI) controller, self-tuning, is designed and implemented to compel the dc-link voltage tracking its voltage reference to be equal as closely as possible; hence, the capability of the dc-link under abnormal events substantially guarantees the best energy balance and transient performance enhancement. To verify the validity of the method, simulation results for multiple events scenarios on 250 KW single-stage grid-connected PV systems show the effectiveness of the ARPI controller compared with PI controller.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells released from the primary tumor and intravasate into the blood or lymphatic vessels, where they are transported to distant sites and act as seeds that initiate cancer metastases. Recent advances in CTC research have shown their relevance as prognostic markers for early and metastatic disease detection, predictive biomarkers for relapse, and response to medical intervention or therapy. The rapidly evolving landscape of CTC biology has opened new avenues for understanding cancer progression, metastasis, and treatment response. Additionally, translating these findings into clinical applications holds promise for improving cancer diagnostics, prognosis, and personalized therapeutic strategies. This review discusses the significance of CTCs in cancer research and their associated challenges. We explore recent developments in the detection and characterization of CTCs and their implications in cancer research and clinical practice.

The study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of bulking agents and single-incision slings in the treatment of urinary incontinence in 159 patients during a 29-month follow-up period. Of the 159 patients suffering from stress urinary incontinence, 64 were treated with bulking agents and 75 with a single incision sling. The ICIQ-UI-SF, PISQ-12, FSFI, FSDS, and PGI-I were used to assess efficiency and quality of life. In the 29-month follow-up, the bulking agents showed significantly increased efficacy and safety. Compared to the ones treated with a single-incision sling, the patients treated with bulking agents showed less and mild postoperative complications. Furthermore, at our follow-up there was no discernible difference in terms of effectiveness or quality of life between patients treated with bulking agents and those treated with single-incision slings

Recently, the indications for Cochlear Implant (CI) have also been extended to subjects with Single Sided Deafness (SSD) in order to restore binaural hearing. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the advantages of CI following one year of usage in SSD subjects. Secondarily we want to assess the long-term stability of the CI. 57 participants performed a complete audiological assessment (speech audiometry in quiet and in noise and localization test). For each was also evaluated subjective hearing profile (with Speech Spatial and Qualities_SSQ questionnaire) and the impact of tinnitus (with the use of Tinnitus Handicap Inventory_THI questionnaire) After one year of CI usage, we observed a significant improvement in speech-to-noise ratio, in sound localization abilities, in the Speech (p-value 0.001) and Spatial (p-value 0.001) subscales of the SSQ questionnaire and in THI questionnaire (p-value 0.001). The improvements in speech in noise and localization abilities and the reduction of the SSQ and THI questionnaires scores were maintained over time (6th to 60th month follow-up). Only eight participants did not fully utilize the CI. CI in SSD represents an effective method for improving speech recognition in noisy environments, restoring sound localization abilities, reducing tinnitus and improve subjective listening skills.

Functional dependence of the axial zero-field splitting parameter D with respect to a properly chosen geometrical parameter (Dstr) in metal complexes is termed the Magnetostructural D-Correlation. In mononuclear hexacoordinate Ni(II) complexes with the ground electronic term 3B1g (3A2g in the regular octahedron) it proceeds along two intercepting straight lines allowing to predict the sign and magnitude of the D-parameter by knowing the X-ray structure alone; Dstr is constructed from the metal-ligand bond lengths. In hexacoordinate Co(II) complexes it is applicable only in the segment of the compressed bipyramid where the ground electronic term 4B1g is orbitally non-degenerate so that the spin Hamiltonian formalism holds true. The D vs Dstr correlation is strongly non-linear and it is represented by a set of decreasing exponentials. In tetracoordinate Co(II) complexes, on the contrary, the angular distortion from the regular tetrahedron is crucial so that the appropriate structural parameter Dstr is constructed of bond angles. All of these empirical correlations originate in the electronic structure of metal complexes that can be modelled by the generalized crystal-field theory. As the barrier to spin reversal in the single-molecule magnets is proportional to the D-value, for a rational tuning and/or prediction of the single-molecule magnetic behavior knowledge/prediction of the D-parameter is beneficial. In this review, we present the statistical processing of an extensive set of structural and magnetic data of Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes, which were published over the past 15 years. Magnetostructural D-correlations defined for this data set are reviewed in detail.

This study proposes a redesign of asymmetric single-chamber microbial fuel cells (a-SCMFC) with the goal of optimizing energy production. The new approach is based on the introduction of an Intermediate Microfluidic Septum (IMS) as a relatively simple and inexpensive method to opti-mize both electrolyte flow and species transfer inside the devices. SCMFCs with the novel IMS, operated with sodium acetate as the carbon source, demonstrate to enhance the energy recovery (Erec) factor, defined as the ratio between the energy yield and the inner volume of electrolyte. In standard operative conditions, cells with IMS exhibit Erec value of (37±1) J/m3, with respect to (3.0±0.3) J/m3 of control cells. Furthermore, changing sodium acetate concentration the Erec values change accordingly. By monitoring the activity of a-SCMFCs for over one-year, beneficial impact of the IMS on both the initial inoculation phase and the long-term stability of electrical perfor-mance were observed. These improvements suggest the effectiveness of IMS to allow the de-velopment of efficient biofilms, likely due to the reduction in oxygen diffusion towards the anode. Electrochemical characterizations confirm that the presence of the IMS impacts the diffusion processes inside the electrolytic chamber, supporting the hypothesis of a beneficial effect on oxygen diffusion.

There have been several developments in the field of nanopore biosensor development and sequencing applications that address previous limitations that restricted widespread nanopore use. These innovations, paired with the large-scale commercialization of biological nanopore sequencing by Oxford Nanopore Technologies, are making these platforms a mainstay in contemporary research labs. Equipped with the ability to provide long and short-read sequencing information with quick turn-around times and simple sample preparation, nanopore sequencers are quickly improving our understanding of unsolved genetic, transcriptomic, and epigenetic problems. However, there remain some key obstacles that have yet to be improved. In this review, we provide a general introduction to nanopore sequencing principles, discussing biological and solid-state nanopore developments, obstacles to single-base detection, and library preparation considerations. We conclude with examples of important clinical applications to give perspective on the potential future of nanopore sequencing in the field of molecular diagnostics.

Being hospitalized is a threatening and stressful experience for many children. From a psychological point of view, children may experience increased feelings of anxiety and fear that can negatively interfere with behavioral, cognitive, and emotional outcomes. To limit these impacts on children's well-being and mental health, interventions that could contribute to protecting the emotional domain of hospitalized children are welcomed. The present research reported a single-setting case study intervention to evaluate the impact of educational play-based activity with a CoderBot robot in a pediatric short-term recovery ward (N=61). The methodology included multiple sources of data (i.e., children, parents, nurses), observations on the field, and a sequential (quantitative-qualitative) mixed-method approach to data analysis. Results supported the idea that robot-based activities were associated with increased participant well-being (particularly positive emotions). The conclusions of this pilot study discuss the strengths, limitations, and further developments of using robots with hospitalized children.

Single sample face recognition (SSFR) is a computer vision challenge. In this scenario, there is only one example from each individual on which to train the system, making it difficult to identify persons in unconstrained environments, particularly when dealing with changes in facial expression, posture, lighting, and occlusion. This paper suggests a different method based on a variant of the Binarized Statistical Image Features (BSIF) descriptor called Multi-Block Color-Binarized Statistical Image Features (MB-C-BSIF) to resolve the SSFR Problem. First, the MB-C-BSIF method decomposes a facial image into three channels (e.g., red, green, and blue), then it divides each channel into equal non-overlapping blocks to select the local facial characteristics that are consequently employed in the classification phase. Finally, the identity is determined by calculating the similarities among the characteristic vectors adopting a distance measurement of the k-nearest neighbors (K-NN) classifier. Extensive experiments on several subsets of the unconstrained Alex &amp; Robert (AR) and Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) databases show that the MB-C-BSIF achieves superior results in unconstrained situations when compared to current state-of-the-art methods, especially when dealing with changes in facial expression, lighting, and occlusion. Furthermore, the suggested method employs algorithms with lower computational cost, making it ideal for real-time applications.

Cancer immunotherapy reaches a remarkable achievement in various cancer types and brings new possibilities to improve cancer patients’ long-term survival. However, outcomes vary from case to case, and the present protocol benefits a small fraction of patients. One notable factor is the tumor microenvironment, especially the immune cell components, that may reflect the immune response's status quo on site. Thus, understanding the content of infiltrating immune cells in tumors is not only for research interesting but also a crucial subject toward precision medicine. We implement an algorithm for resolving relative proportions of twenty-one immune cell subclasses from a human tissue profiled transcriptome by microarray technology to reach the goal above. By selecting gene features and then adopting ?-Support Vector Regression, we can construct a deconvolution model and resolve the immune cell context. The excellent consistency between the estimated values and the correct immune-cell composition further demonstrates this approach provides a more natural alternative to revealing samples' immune cell content and reliable results like recent single-cell technologies. Based on this algorithm, the web-based deconvolution tool implemented named mySORT provides a user-friendly interface for estimating the immune cell content by uploading gene expression profiling. We also present comprehensive visualization 2D/3D plots in mySORT so that users can easily make a comparison between different samples. Finally, we synthesized pseudo-bulk expression data from single-cell transcriptomic datasets of 17 melanoma and 16 head and neck cancer patients. The deconvolution results of microarray-based data in the previous study and synthetic pseudo-bulk data all proved the excellent performance of mySORT. We believe that mySORT can help researchers in all fields easily understand complex immune microenvironment. The website of mySORT is freely accessible on https://symbiosis.iis.sinica.edu.tw/mySORT/.

The model proposed in this study was based on the assumption that the biomass attached to the anode served as biocatalysts for MFC exoelectrogenesis, and this catalytic effect was quantified by the exchange current density of anode. By modifying the Freter model and combining it with the Butler-Volmer equation, this model could adequately describe the processes of electricity generation, substrate utilization, and the suspended and attached biomass concentrations, at both batch and continuous operating modes. MFC performance is affected by the operating variables such as initial substrate concentration, external resistor, influent substrate concentration, and dilution rate, and these variables were revealed to have complex interactions by data simulation. The external power generation and energy efficiency were considered as indices for MFC performance. The simulated results explained that an intermediate initial substrate concentration (about 100 mg/L under this reactor configuration) needed to be chosen to achieve maximum overall energy efficiency from substrate in the batch mode. An external resistor with the value about that of the internal resistance boosted the power generation, and a resistor with several times of that of the internal resistance achieved better overall energy efficiency. At continuous mode, dilution rate significantly impacted the steady-state substrate concentration level (thus substrate removal efficiency and rate), and attached biomass could be fully developed when the influent substrate concentration was equal to or higher than 100 mg/L at any dilution rate of the tested range. Overall, this relatively simple model provided a convenient way for evaluating and optimizing the performance of MFC reactors by regulating operating parameters.

Polyamides (PAs) are one of the most important engineering polymers; however, the difficulty in dissolving them hinders their applications. Formic acid (FA) is the most common solvent for PAs, but it has industrial limitations. In this contribution, we proposed a new solvent system for PAs by replacing a portion of the FA with urea and calcium chloride (FAUCa). Urea imparts the hydrogen bonding and calcium ion from the calcium chloride, as a Lewis acid was added to the system to compensate for the pH decrease due to the addition of urea. The results showed that the proposed solvent (FAUCa) could readily dissolve PAs, resulting in less decrease in the mechanical properties during the dissolution. The composite prepared using the FAUCa has almost the same properties like the one prepared using the FA solution. The solution was applied on a polyamide 66 fabric to make an all-polyamide composite coated-fabric, which then was characterized. The FAUCa solution had a higher viscosity than the one prepared using the neat FA solvent, which can be an advantage in the applications which needs higher viscosity like preparing the all-polyamide composite coated-fabric. A more viscouse solution makes a denser coating which will increase the water-/gas-tightness. In conclusion, using the FAUCa solvent has two merits: 1. replacement of 40 % of the FA with less harmful and environmentally-friendly chemicals and 2. enabling for the preparation of more viscouse solutions, which makes denser coating.

Studies performed at single-cell resolution have demonstrated the physiological significance of cell-to-cell variability. Various types of mathematical models and systems analyses of biological networks have further been used to gain a better understanding of the sources and regulatory mechanisms of such variability. In this work, we present a novel sensitivity analysis method, called molecular density function perturbation (MDFP), for the dynamical analysis of cellular heterogeneity. The proposed analysis is based on introducing perturbations to the density or distribution function of the cellular state variables at specific time points, and quantifying how such perturbations affect the state distribution at later time points. We applied the MDFP analysis to a model of signal transduction pathway involved in TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand)-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. The MDFP analysis showed that caspase-8 activation regulates the timing of the switch-like increase of cPARP (cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase), an indicator of apoptosis. Meanwhile, the cell-to-cell variability in the commitment to apoptosis depended on mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) and events following MOMP, including the release of Smac (second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases) and cytochrome-C from mitochondria, the inhibition of XIAP (X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis) by Smac and the formation of apoptosome.

With the development of satellite load technology and very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuit technology, on-board real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems have facilitated rapid response to disasters. Limited by severe size, weight, and power consumption constraints, a key challenge of on-board SAR imaging system design is to achieve high real-time processing performance. In addition, with the rise of multi-mode SAR applications, the reconfiguration of the on-board processing system is beginning to receive widespread attention. This paper presents a multi-mode SAR imaging chip with SoC architecture based on the reconfigurable double-operation engines and multilayer switching network. We decompose the commonly used extend chirp scaling (CS) SAR imaging algorithm into 8 types of double-operation engines according to the computing orders, and design a three-level switching network to connect these engines for data transition. The CPU is responsible for engine scheduling based on data flow driven with instructions to implement each part of the CS algorithm. Thus, multi-mode floating-point SAR imaging processing can be integrated into a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip instead of relying on distributed technologies. As a proof of concept, a prototype measurement system with chip-included board is implemented, and the performance of the proposed design is demonstrated on Chinese Gaofen-3 stripmap continuous imaging. A chip requires 9.2 s, 50.6 s and 7.4 s for a stripmap with 16,384×16,384 granularity, multi-channel stripmap with 65.536×8192 granularity and multi-channel scan mode with 32,768×4096 granularity and 6.9 W for the system hardware to process the SAR raw data.

To determine the fracture rate of ceramic crowns and causes of ceramic crown failure, this study used keywords—namely “endocrown,” “veneered fixed dental prosthesis,” “monolithic lithium disilicate (LS2),” and “all-ceramic single crown”—to search for articles published in English from 2005 to 2023 in the PubMed electronic database. Rather than using the Boolean logic algorithm between MESH terms and keywords, we accurately calculated the numbers of final clinically tracked cases with crown fractures from the contents of articles. The titles and abstracts of many related articles focused on implant or abutment fracture, while crown fracture was investigated and mentioned only in the main texts of the articles. Our studies included those crowns as well as having more complete data collection. Our search yielded 228, 93, 404, and 358 articles for the keywords “endocrown,” “veneered fixed dental prosthesis,” “monolithic lithium disilicate (LS2),” and “all-ceramic single crown,” respectively. We used the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) to assess article quality, and our inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials (RCT) and cohort study articles involving more than 3 years of follow-up and more than 20 cases. After reviewing, 16 high-quality articles were selected for analysis. The 4.4% crown fracture rate recommended on the basis of most clinical results was achieved in only 6 of the 16 articles. In these 6 articles, the researchers concluded the following reasons that may cause the crown fractures: the thickness of the veneer ceramic material; the connector dimensions; pontic span of the fixed prosthesis; the type of cement; the treatment of the ceramic surface before luting. Other articles inferred that the computer-aided design libraries that were insufficient for the creation of appropriate anatomically supported frameworks for prostheses with ceramic veneers; the thermal expansion coefficient and fracture toughness of the framework material did not match those of the veneer ceramic, resulting in an insufficient area supporting the ceramic veneer then leads to premature crown failure after a long period chewing. The future prospective for material developing could focus on solving those problems and have better clinical results.

The investigation of the electromagnetic properties of biological particles in microfluidic platforms may enable wireless monitoring and interaction with functional activity of microorganisms. Of high relevance is the membrane potential as it is one of the most important parameters of living cells. In particular, the complex mechanisms of the cell’s membrane potential are comparable to the dynamics of bacteria membranes, providing a simplified platform for advancing the current techniques and knowledge of general bio-particle dynamics. In this work, we provide a theoretical analysis and experimental results on the microwave detection of bacteria on a microfluidic-based framework for sensing the membrane potential of bacteria. The results enable to further advance the state-of-the-art of electromagnetic bacteria sensing and microfluidic control, and their implication for measuring and interacting with the cell and its membrane potentials, which is of great importance for developing new biotechnological engineered systems and solutions.

Since 2020 COVID-19 has caused serious mortality around the world. Given the ambiguity in es-tablishing COVID-19 as the direct cause of death we first investigate the effects of age and sex upon all-cause mortality during 2020 and 2021 in England and Wales. Since infectious agents have their own unique age profile for death, we explore several methods to adjust single year of age deaths in England and Wales during 2019 (the pre-COVID-19 base year) to a pathogen-neutral single year of age baseline. This adjusted base year is then used to confirm the widely reported higher deaths in males for most ages above 43 years in both 2020 and 2021. During 2020 (+ COVID-19 but no vac-cination) both male and female population-adjusted deaths were significantly increased above age 35. A significant reduction in all-cause mortality among both males and females aged 75+ could be demonstrated in 2021 during widespread COVID–19 vaccination, however, below age 75 deaths progressively increased. This finding arises from a mix of vaccination and year of age profiles of deaths for the different SARS-CoV-2 variants. In addition, specific effects for age around puberty were demonstrated where females had higher deaths rather than males. There is evidence that year-of-birth cohorts may also be involved, indicating that immune priming to specific pathogen outbreaks in the past may lead to lower deaths for some birth cohorts. To specifically identify the age profile for the COVID-19 variants in 2020 to 2023, we employ the proportion of total deaths at each age which are potentially due to or ‘with’ COVID-19. The original Wuhan strain, and the Alpha variant show somewhat limited divergence in the age profile with the Alpha variant shifted to a moderately higher proportion of deaths below age 84. The Delta variant specifically targeted persons below age 65. The Omicron variants showed significantly lower proportion of overall mortality, with markedly higher relative proportion of deaths above age 65 steeply increasing with age to a maximum around 100 years of age. A similar age profile for the variants can be seen in the age-banded deaths in US states – although slightly obscured by using age bands rather than single year of age. However, the US data shows that higher male deaths are greatly dependent on age and the COVID-variant. Deaths determined as ‘due to’ COVID-19 (as opposed to ‘involving’ COVID-19) in England and Wales were especially over-estimated in 2021 relative to the change in all-cause mortality. This arose as a by-product of an increase in COVID-19 testing capacity in late 2020. Potential structure-function mechanisms for the year of age specificity of SARS-CoV-2 var-iants are discussed. The question is posed as to whether vaccines based on different variants carry the specific age profile through into the vaccine.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) manifests itself primarily in the lungs as pulmonary disease (PTB) and sometimes disseminates to other organs to cause extra-pulmonary TB, such as lymph node TB (LNTB). This study aimed to investigate the role of host genetic polymorphism in immunity related genes to find a genetic basis for such differences. Methods: Sixty-three, Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in twenty-three, TB-immunity related genes including eleven innate immunity (SLCA11, VDR, TLR2, TLR4, TLR8, IRGM, P2RX7, LTA4H, SP110, DCSIGN and NOS2A) and twelve cytokine (TNFA, IFNG, IL2, Il12, IL18, IL1B, IL10, IL6, IL4, IL1RA, IL8 and TNFB) genes were investigated to find genetic associations in both PTB and LNTB as compared to healthy community controls. The serum cytokine levels were correlated for association with the genotypes. Results: PTB and LNTB showed differential genetic associations. The genetic variants in the cytokine genes (IFNG, IL12, IL4, TNFB and IL1RA and TLR2,4 associated with PTB susceptibility and cytokine levels but not LNTB (p &lt; 0.05). Similarly, genetic variants in LTA4H, P2RX7, DCSIGN and SP110 showed susceptibility to LNTB and not PTB. Pathway analysis showed abundance of cytokine related variants for PTB and apoptosis related variants for LNTB. Conclusions: PTB and LNTB outcomes of TB infection have a genetic component and should be considered for any future susceptibility and functional studies.

Analysis of complex DNA mixtures is limited by the selected genetic markers characterized and assay technology. Small panels of short tandem repeats (STRs) are the current standards in most countries. Extension of STRs with hundreds of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is now commercially available. The current set of extension SNPs focus on phenotypic and biogeographic ancestry informative SNPs. Larger panels with thousands of SNPs have been developed that can identify up to 10 contributors to forensic DNA samples. Herein, multiple sets of SNPs were selected with the focus of increasing the upper limit of detectable contributors. Larger SNP panel sets with lower minor allele frequency (MAF) alleles can detect large numbers of contributors to in silico mixtures of randomly selected profiles from the 1,000 Genomes project. These results provide a path to enable characterization of complex DNA mixtures that are currently impossible to analyse.

The biophysical consequences of nanoscale curvature have been challenging to resolve due to size-dependent membrane behavior and the experimental resolution limits imposed by optical diffraction. Recent advances in nanoengineering and super-resolution techniques have enabled new capabilities for creating and observing curvature. In particular, draping supported lipid bilayers over lithographically patterned substrates provides a model system for endocytic pits. The experiments and simulations presented below describe the possible detection of membrane curvature through fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), single particle tracking (SPT), and polarized localization microscopy (PLM). FRAP and FCS depend on diffraction-limited illumination and detection. In particular, a simulation of FRAP shows no effects on lipids diffusion due to a 50 nm diameter membrane bud at any stage in the budding process. Simulated FCS demonstrated small effects due to a 50 nm radius membrane bud that was amplified with curvature-dependent lipid mobility changes. However, PLM and SPT achieve sub-diffraction-limited resolution of membrane budding and lipid mobility through the identification of the single-lipid positions with ≤15 nm spatial and ≤20 ms temporal resolution. By mapping the single-lipid step lengths to locations on the membrane, the effects of curvature on lipid behavior have been resolved.

We construct a family of two-step optimal fourth order iterative methods for finding single root of non-linear equations. We generalize these methods to simultaneous iterative methods for determining all the distinct as well as multiple roots of single variable non-linear equations. Convergence analysis is present for both cases to show that the order of convergence is four in case of single root finding method and is twelve for simultaneous determination of all roots of non-linear equation. The computational cost, Basin of attraction, efficiency, log of residual and numerical test examples shows, the newly constructed methods are more efficient as compared to the existing methods in literature.

Infection by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) results in the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, which has posed a serious threat globally. Infection of SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy is associated with complications like preterm labor and premature rupture of membranes; a proportion of neonates born to the infected mothers are also positive for the virus. During pregnancy, the placental barrier protects the fetus from pathogens and ensures healthy development. However, whether or not SARS-CoV-2 can infect the placenta is unknown. Herein, utilizing single-cell RNA-seq data, we report that the SARS-CoV-2 binding receptor ACE2 and the S protein priming protease TMPRSS2 are co-expressed by a subset of syncytiotrophoblasts (STB) in the first trimester and extra villous trophoblasts (EVT) in the second trimester human placenta. The ACE2- and TMPRSS2-positive (ACE2+TMPRSS2+) placental subsets express mRNA for proteins involved in viral budding and replication. These cells also express mRNA for proteins that interact with SARS-CoV-2 structural and non-structural proteins in the host cells. We also discovered unique signatures of genes in ACE2+TMPRSS2+ STBs and EVTs. The ACE2+TMPRSS2+ STBs are highly differentiated cells and express genes involved mitochondrial metabolism and glucose transport. The second trimester ACE2+TMPRSS2+ EVTs are enriched for markers of endovascular trophoblasts. Further, both these subtypes abundantly expressed genes in Toll like receptor pathway, the second trimester EVTs (but not first trimester STBs) are also enriched for component of the JAK-STAT pathway that drive inflammation. To conclude, herein we uncovered the cellular targets for SARS-CoV-2 entry and show that these cells can potentially drive viremia in the developing human placenta. Our results provide a basic framework towards understanding the paraphernalia involved in SARS-CoV-2 infections in pregnancy.

Bacteria’s ability to withstand the detrimental effects of antimicrobials may take the form of resistance or tolerance with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), the mutant prevention concentration (MPC), and the mutant selection window as salient concepts. Isolates exposed for 30 days to different concentrations of selected antibiotics, biocides, and heavy metals, singly and in combination, were additionally exposed to very high (15 × MIC) concentrations of ampicillin., and their tolerance was calculated the time to kill 99.9% of the isolate population (MDK99.9). These values were increased by 30 to 50% in test isolates compared to the untreated control. BAC 10-exposed isolates had the highest tolerance increase, and the tolerance appeared to originate from two sources, i.e., stochastic persistence and genetic-induced persistence, involving multiple genes using diverse mechanisms. The mutant selection window of the isolates to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and oxytetracycline also slightly increased compared to the control, indicating the amplification of persister cells during the 30-day exposure. These findings indicate that bacterial exposure to sub-inhibitory concentrations of environmental chemical stressors may not always result in the development of antimicrobial resistance but could initiate this process by selecting for persisters that could evolve into resistant isolates.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the circulation of non–SARS-CoV-2 respiratory viruses changed throughout the world. This study aimed to analyze the effect of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), metapneumovirus (MPV), rhinovirus (RV), and parainfluenza (PIV)-3 single infection, dual co-infection, and viral load on cytokine and chemokine expression in 300 Mexican patients with ARIs negative for SARS-CoV-2. Molecular detection and viral load were performed by RT-qPCR. Cytokine and chemokine expression was determined in samples positive for single RSV, MPV, RV, or PIV-3 infection, and in the most frequent dual co-infections, by a cytokine panel using a magnetic-bead-based multiplex immunoassay. Of the patients positive for viral infection, 91.7% had a single infection and 8.3% had dual co-infections. In this study, RSV was the respiratory virus with the highest prevalence, and the most common dual co-infection was RV+RSV. On the other hand, RV infections had the highest viral loads compared to the other viruses detected. FGF basic, MIP-1α IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, IFN-γ, and RANTES showed differential expression between single infections and dual co-infections compared to healthy patients. We report, for the first time, the circulation of non-SARS-CoV-2 viruses in the south of Mexico and the cytokine and chemokine profiles associated with these viruses.

It is important for food recognition to separate each ingredient within a food image at the pixel level. In this paper, we propose a new approach to segment ingredients by utilizing a CNN-based Single-Ingredient Classification Model. In detail, we firstly introduce a standardized biological-based hierarchical ingredient structure and construct a single-ingredient image dataset based on this structure. Then, we build a single-ingredient classification model based on a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture that utilizes an attention mechanism. Afterwards, we propose a new framework for segmentation using the above single-ingredient classification model as the backbone. In this framework, two methods are involved in segmenting ingredients in the food images. We introduce five evaluation metrics (IoU, Dice, Purity, Entirety, Loss of GTs) to assess the performance of ingredient segmentation in terms of ingredient classification. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, achieving an maximal mIoU of 0.65, mDice of 0.77, mPurity of 0.83, mEntirety of 0.80, and mLoGTs of 0.06 on the FoodSeg103 dataset. The results confirm that our CNN-based architecture achieves higher segmentation performance compared to ResNet18 and EfficientNet-B0 when used as the backbone for ingredient segmentation. We believe that our ingredient segmentation approach lays the foundation for subsequent ingredient recognition.

The refractive index of solids guages their transparency to incident light, while the energy gap determines the threshold for light absorption. This paper provides a mathematical formulation for the relationship between refractive index and energy gap. It is also established that this formulation aided in the unification of the Moss, Ravindra, and Herve-Vandamme relationships.

Electrospinning is a simple versatile method to generate nanofibres. Remarkable progress has been made in the development of electrospinning process. The production of nanofibers is affected by many parameters, which influence the final material properties. Electrospun fibers have a wide range of applications such as energy storage and biomedical scaffolds. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) has been widely used in the production of carbon nanofibers. PAN has received increasing interest in recent years, due to its excellent characteristics, such as spinnability, biocompatibility, and commercial viability, opening new applications in the biotechnological field. This paper provides an overview of the electrospinning process, its main parameters, and operation modes that affect nanofibers fabrication. A review of their biological applications is proposed. A focus is made on PAN fibers formation, functionalization, and application as scaffolds to allow cell growth. Overall, nanofibre scaffolds, made of stabilized PAN, appear as a powerful tool in medical applications needing controlled cell culture.

Unlike aerial or terrestrial navigation, the Global Navigation satellite system (GNSS) is not available underwater. This is a big challenge for underwater navigation. The inertial navigation system (INS) aided by the single-beacon acoustic positioning system (APS) provides one solution, but the long-range case is limited by low SNR conditions. Inspired by passive synthetic aperture detection, we proposed a new tightly coupled navigation algorithm based on spatial synthesis and one-way-travel-time (OWTT) range measurement. We design two estimators: the DOA/Range estimator using the model-based method and the tightly coupled INS/APS navigation estimator. Based on the improved UKF, all information is combined. Simulation is carried out in MATLAB. Compared with range-only tightly coupled INS/APS navigation, synthetic long baseline (SLBL) algorithm and Doppler velocity logger (DVL) aided centralized extended Kalman filter (CEKF) based single beacon INS/OWTT navigation, the proposed method's performance is proven. The main contributions of this work are: 1. Propose a new architecture of underwater integrated navigation; 2. Apply the passive acoustic detecting method in the navigation to improve accuracy. 3. Apply the tightly coupled method to improve availability.

In this paper, four types of open service signals of BDS-3 satellite (B1I, B1C, B2a, and B3I) and B2I signals broadcasted by BDS-2 satellites were used in the time frequency transfer and positioning experiments with signal coexisting in BDS system, and the single frequency PPP (precise point positioning) method was used. Modified GRoup And PHase Ionospheric Correction (GRAPHIC) method was proposed and verified by the experiment. The results show that 18 selected stations can achieve decimeter-level positioning results with single frequency. Compared with the general observation method, the proposed modified GRAPHIC method improves the stability and precision of positioning and timing significantly, and the positioning accuracy of 5 frequency signals is increased 40.4%, 32.2%, 80.3%, 12.4%, and 10.3%, respectively. The frequency stability can reach the same accuracy as that of dual-frequency with BDS in the current state.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common inherited disorder characterized by unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy, with or without left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction. Single nuclei RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) of both obstructive and nonobstructive HCM patient samples have revealed alterations in communication between various cell types but a direct and integrated comparison between the two HCM phenotypes has not been reported. We performed a bioinformatic analysis of HCM snRNA-seq datasets from obstructive and nonobstructive patient samples to identify differentially expressed genes and distinctive patterns of intercellular communication. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 37 differentially expressed genes, predominantly in cardiomyocytes but also in other cell types, relevant to aging, muscle contraction, cell motility and the extracellular matrix. Intercellular communication was generally reduced in HCM, affecting the extracellular matrix, growth factor binding, integrin binding, PDGF binding and SMAD binding, but with increases in adenylate cyclase binding, calcium channel inhibitor activity, and serine-threonine kinase activity in nonobstructive HCM. Increases in neuron to leukocyte and dendritic cell communication, in fibroblast to leukocyte and dendritic cell communication and in endothelial cell communication to other cell types, largely through changes in expression of integrin-b1 and its cognate ligands, were also noted. These findings indicate both common and distinct physiological mechanisms affecting the pathogenesis of obstructive and nonobstructive HCM and provide opportunities for personalized management of different HCM phenotypes.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global healthcare crisis with an estimated 10 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths per year TB is caused by infection with the major human pathogen Mycobacte-rium tuberculosis, which is difficult to rapidly diagnose and treat. There is an urgent need for new methods of diagnosis, sufficient in vitro models which capably mimic all physiological condi-tions of the infection, and high-throughput drug screening platforms. Microfluidic-based tech-niques provide single-cell analysis which reduces experimental time, the cost of reagents, and have been extremely useful for gaining insight into monitoring microorganisms. This review out-lines the field of microfluidics and discusses the use of this novel technique so far in M. tuberculo-sis diagnostics, research methods, and drug discovery platforms. The practices of microfluidics have promising future applications for diagnosing and treating TB.

The City of Meycauayan is considered as one of the most polluted cities in the developing world on the account of industrial discharges of toxic materials to the environment. This work investigated the sources of the heavy metal pollution by analyzing soil and sediment samples for heavy metals (Cr, Hg, Ni, and Pb) together with selected environmental indicators (TN, TOM, and TP) located along the Meycauayan River. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal components analysis (PCA), and Pearson correlation analysis (CA) were used to identify the sources of the metals. Results showed delineated locations of severe levels of heavy metal pollution downstream because of the concentration of industrial activities. Cr contributed more than any other heavy metals analyzed due to proliferation of tanneries discharging untreated wastewaters to the river. Significant inputs of Pb and Hg from Pb-acid battery recycling and gold smelting industries were also found. Risk assessments indicated severe levels of heavy metal pollution where industrial activities are concentrated. The mean Cr, Pb, Ni, and Hg in the sampling locations have mean incidences of toxicity of 91.7 %, 53.6 %, 27.7 %, and 70.0 %, respectively. Our study showed a serious need to address heavy metal pollution in Meycauayan.

Deep convolutional neural network (CNN) has shown their great advantages in the single image deraining task. However, most existing CNN-based single image deraining methods still suffer from residual rain streaks and details lost. In this paper, we propose a deep neural network including the Multi-scale feature extraction module and the channel attention module, which are embed in the feature extraction sub-network and the rain removal sub-network respectively. In the feature extraction sub-network, the Multi-scale feature extraction module is constructed by a Multi-layer Laplacian pyramid, and is then integrated multi-scale feature maps by a feature fusion module. In the rain removal sub-network, the channel attention module, which assigns different weights to the different channels, is introduced for preserving image details. Experimental results on visually and quantitatively comparison demonstrate that the proposed method performs favorably against other state-of-the-art approaches

Nanoparticles of platinum-group metals (PGM) on carbon supports are widely used as catalysts for a number of chemical and electrochemical conversions on laboratory and industrial scale. The newly emerging field of single atom catalysis focuses on the ultimate level of metal dispersion, i.e. atomically dispersed metal species anchored on the substrate surface. However, the presence of single atoms in traditional nanoparticle-based catalysts remains largely overlooked. In this work we use aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope to investigate four commercially available nanoparticle-based PGM/C catalysts (PGM = Ru, Rh, Pd, Pt). We show that in addition to nanoparticles, single atoms are also present on the surface of carbon substrates. These observations raise questions about the role that single atoms play in conventional nanoparticle PGM/C catalysts. We critically discuss the observations with regard to the quickly developing field of single atom catalysis.

Single valued neutrosophic set has king power to express uncertainty characterized by indeterminacy, inconsistency and incompleteness. Most of the existing single valued neutrosophic cross entropy bears an asymmetrical behavior and produce an undefined phenomenon in some situations. In order to deal with these disadvantages, we propose a new cross entropy measure under single valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) environment namely SN- cross entropy and prove its basic properties. Also we define weighted SN-cross entropy measure and investigate its basic properties. We develop a new multi attribute group decision making (MAGDM) strategy for ranking of the alternatives based on the proposed weighted SN-cross entropy measure between each alternative and the ideal alternative. Finally, a numerical example of MAGDM problem of investment potential is solved to show the validity and efficiency of proposed decision making strategy. We also present comparative anslysis of the obtained result with the results obtained form the existing solution strategies in the solution.

A gold(I) complex with a triphenylphosphine and a monodentate N,N-dimethyldithiocarbamate ligand was synthesized and characterized by Raman spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction. DFT calculations (Gaussian 09, PBE1PBE/Lanl2dz) were undertaken for a single complex in the gas-phase. The DFT-optimized structure is in good agreement with the crystal structure and the DFT-calculated Raman spectrum also is in excellent agreement with the experimental spectrum. Assignments of the Raman peaks are based on these DFT calculations. Frontier molecular orbitals were calculated and their nature is discussed.

Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) causes an important vector transmitted virus disease, which leads to significant yield losses in barley production. Due to the fact, that at the moment no plant protection products are approved to combat the vector Psammotettix alienus and this disease cannot be controlled by chemical means, therefore the use of WDV resistant or tolerant genotypes is the most efficient method to control and reduce negative effects of WDV on barley growth and production. In this study, a set of 480 barley genotypes were screened to identify genotypic differences in response to WDV and five traits were assessed under infected and non-infected conditions. In total, 32 genotypes showed resistance or tolerance against WDV. Subsequently, the phenotypic data of 191 out of 480 genotypes combined with 34,408 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a genome wide association study to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and markers linked to resistance/tolerance to WDV, using Tassel, GAPIT, and FARM CPU. In total, 1, 3, 2, 2 and 1 significantly associated markers on chromosomes 3H, 4H, 5H and 7H identified by all three methods for ELISA-60, relative performance of total grain weight, plant height, number of ears per plant and thousand grain weight, respectively.

The molecular basis of Down syndrome (DS) predisposition to leukemia is not fully understood but involves various factors such as chromosomal abnormalities, oncogenic mutations, epigenetic alterations, and changes in selection dynamics. Myeloid leukemia associated with DS (ML-DS) is preceded by a preleukemic phase called transient abnormal myelopoiesis driven by GATA1 gene mutations and progresses to ML-DS through additional mutations in cohesin genes, CTCF, RAS, or JAK/STAT pathway genes. DS-related ALL (ALL-DS) differs from non-DS ALL in terms of cytogenetic subgroups and genetic driver events and aberrant expression of CRLF2, JAK2 mutations, and RAS pathway activating mutations are frequent in ALL-DS. Recent advancements in single-cell multi-omics technologies have provided unprecedented insights into the cellular and molecular heterogeneity of DS-associated hematologic neoplasms. Single-cell RNA sequencing and digital spatial profiling enable the identification of rare cell subpopulations, characterization of clonal evolution dynamics, and exploration of the tumor microenvironment's role. These approaches may help identify new druggable targets and tailor therapeutic interventions based on distinct molecular profiles, ultimately improving patient outcomes with the potential to guide personalized medicine approaches and the development of targeted therapies.

Biological systems are highly regulated. They are also highly resistant to sudden perturbations enabling them to maintain the dynamic equilibrium essential for sustenance of life. This robustness is conferred by regulatory mechanisms that influence the activity of enzymes/proteins within their cellular context, to adapt to changing environmental conditions. However, the initial rules governing the study of enzyme kinetics were tested and implemented for mostly cytosolic enzyme systems that were easy to isolate and/or recombinantly express. Moreover, these enzymes lacked complex regulatory modalities. Now, with academic labs and pharmaceutical companies turning their attention to more complex systems (for instance, multi-protein complexes, oligomeric assemblies, membrane proteins and post-translationally modified proteins), the initial axioms defined by Michaelis-Menten (MM) kinetics are rendered inadequate and the development of a new kind of kinetic analysis to study these systems is required. The current review strives to present an overview of enzyme kinetic mechanisms that are atypical and, oftentimes, do not conform to the classical MM kinetics. Further, it presents initial ideas on the design and analysis of experiments in early drug-discovery for such systems, to enable effective screening and characterisation of small-molecule inhibitors with desirable physiological outcomes.

We have shown that lipid-associated loci discovered by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have pleiotropic effects on lipid metabolism, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and CAD risk. Here, we investigated the impact of lipid-associated GWAS loci on the efficacy of rosuvastatin therapy in terms of changes in plasma lipid levels and CIMT. The study comprised 116 CAD patients with hypercholesterolemia. CIMT, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) were measured at baseline and after 6 and 12 months of follow-up, respectively. Genotyping of fifteen lipid-associated GWAS loci was performed by the MassArray-4 System. Linear regression analysis adjusted for sex, age, body mass index, and rosuvastatin dose was used to estimate the phenotypic effects of polymorphisms, and P-values were calculated through adaptive permutation tests. Over one-year therapy, a decrease in CIMT was linked to rs1689800, rs4846914, rs12328675, rs55730499, rs9987289, rs11220463, rs16942887, and rs881844 polymorphisms (Pperm&lt;0.05). TC change was associated with rs55730499, rs11220463, and rs6065906; LDL-C change was linked to the rs55730499, rs1689800, and rs16942887 polymorphisms; and TG change was linked to polymorphisms rs838880 and rs1883025 (Pperm&lt;0.05). In conclusion, the polymorphisms rs1689800, rs55730499, rs11220463, and rs16942887 were found to be predictive markers for multiple antiatherogenic effects of rosuvastatin in CAD patients.

The inverse finite element method (iFEM) is a novel method for reconstructing the full-field displacement of structures by discrete measurement strain. In practical engineering applications, the accuracy of iFEM is reduced due to the positional offset of strain sensors during installation, and errors in structural installation. Therefore, coarse and fine two-stage calibration (CFTSC) method is proposed to enhance the accuracy of the reconstruction of structures. Firstly, the coarse calibration is based on a single-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm to optimize the displacement-strain transformation matrix related to the sensor position. Secondly, as selecting different training data can affect the training effect of self-constructed fuzzy networks, this paper proposes to screen the appropriate training data based on residual analysis. Finally, the experiments of the wing integrated antenna structure verify the efficient of the method on the reconstruction accuracy of the structural body displacement field.

Pasmo (Septoria linicola) is a fungal disease causing major losses in seed yield and quality, and stem fibre quality in flax. Pasmo resistance (PR) is quantitative and has low heritability. To improve PR breeding efficiency, the accuracy of genomic prediction (GP) was evaluated using a diverse worldwide core collection of 370 accessions. Four marker sets, including three defined by 500, 134, and 67 previously identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) and one of 52,347 PR-correlated genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms, were used to build ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction (RR-BLUP) models using pasmo severity (PS) data collected from field experiments performed during five consecutive years. With five-fold random cross-validation, GP accuracy as high as 0.92 was obtained from the models using the 500 QTL when the average PS was used as the training dataset. GP accuracy increased with training population size, reaching values >0.9 with training population size greater than 185. Linear regression of the observed PS with the number of positive-effect QTL in accessions provided an alternative GP approach with an accuracy of 0.86. The results demonstrate the GP models based on marker information from all identified QTL and the 5-year PS average is highly effective for PR prediction.

The crystals, C11H4BrF5N2S, (I), 1-((4-bromothiophen-2-yl)methylene)-2-(perfluorophenyl)hydrazine and C12H6BrF5N2S, (II), 1-((4-bromo-5-methylthiophen-2-yl)methylene)-2-(perfluorophenyl)hydrazine are molecules with two rings and hydrazone part like a centre of the molecule. The compounds have been synthesized and characterized by elemental, spectroscopic (¹H-NMR) analysis. The crystal structures of the solid phase were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction method. They crystallize in the monoclinic space group with Z = 4 and Z = 2 molecules per unit-cell. The compound (I) crystallizes as a racemate in the centrosymmetric space group and the compound (II) crystallizes as a non-racemate in the non-centrosymmetric space group. The “absolute configuration and conformation for bond values” were derived from the anomalous dispersion (ad) for (II). The crystal structures are revealed diverse non-covalent interactions such as intra- and interhydrogen bonding, π-ring···π-ring, C-H···π-ring and they were investigated. The expected stereochemistry of hydrazones atoms C7, N2 and N1 were confirmed for (I) and (II). The hole molecule of the (I), and (II) possesses “a boat conformation” like a 6-membered ring. The results of the single crystal studies are reproduced with the help of Hirshfeld surface study and Gaussian software.

Base excision repair (BER) is a cellular process that removes damaged bases arising from exogenous and endogenous sources including reactive oxygen species, alkylation agents, and ionizing radiation. BER is mediated by the actions of multiple proteins that work in a highly concerted manner to resolve DNA damage efficiently to prevent toxic repair intermediates. During the initiation of BER, the damaged base is removed by one of 11 mammalian DNA glycosylases resulting in abasic sites. Many DNA glycosylases are product inhibited by binding to the abasic site more avidly than the damaged base. Traditionally apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease, APE1, was believed to help turnover the glycosylases to undergo multiple rounds of damaged base removal. However, in a series of papers from our laboratory we have demonstrated that UV-damaged DNA binding protein (UV-DDB) stimulates the glycosylase activities of human 8-oxoguanine glycosylase (OGG1), MUTY DNA glycosylase (MUTYH), alkyladenine glycosylase/N-methylpurine DNA glycosylase (AAG/MPG), and single-strand selective monofunctional glycosylase (SMUG1), between three-to-five-fold. Moreover, we have shown UV-DDB can assist chromatin decompaction facilitating access of OGG1 to 8-oxoguanine damage in telomeres. This review summarizes the biochemistry, single-molecule, and cell biology approaches that our group used to directly demonstrate the essential role of UV-DDB in BER.

Abstract Antibacterial activities can be improved using mixed ligands. Mixed ligands involved in this research are sodium sulfadiazine (Na-sfz) and dithiocarbamate (ai-dtc). One-pot synthesis was used to synthesize ligand of aniline dithiocarbamate (ai-dtc) and the corresponding coordination compounds of [VO(sfz)(ai-dtc)] and [Zn(sfz)(ai-dtc)]. Crystals of ai-dtc, which grew from the solution when refrigerated after five days, were diffracted with technique of single crystal x-ray crystallography to reveal the structure. Other characterization techniques involving physicochemical parameters, FT-IR, UV-Vis and NMR (1H NMR and 13C NMR) were carried out on ligands of ai-dtc, sfz and corresponding coordination compounds. Differences in results of FT-IR, UV-Vis and NMR between ligands and their respective metal ions confirmed the coordination. The in vitro antibacterial studies showed that the ligands (not the metal complexes) had modest activity against Gram negative bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, whereas, the coordination compounds had modest activities against the Gram negative bacteria: Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Several studies in computer vision have examined specular removal, which is crucial for object detection and recognition. This research has traditionally been divided into two tasks: specular highlight removal, which focuses on removing specular highlights on object surfaces, and reflection removal, which deals with specular reflections occurring on glass surfaces. In reality, however, both types of specular effects often coexist, making it a fundamental challenge that has not been adequately addressed. Recognizing the necessity of integrating specular components handled in both tasks, we constructed a Specular-Light (S-Light) DB for training single-image-based deep learning models. Moreover, considering the absence of benchmark datasets for quantitative evaluation, the Multi-Scale Normalized Cross Correlation (MS-NCC) metric, which considers the correlation between specular and diffuse components, was introduced to assess the learning outcomes.

Japan has the world’s largest old population ratio, and aging is an urgent societal issue. As global trends seem to be following Japan’s social changes, there is an emphasis on municipalities becoming more age-friendly. Hence, we examine the age-friendliness of 135 Japanese municipalities, selecting 240 resident architectural designers and constructors to assess their municipalities, using the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire (AFCCQ). The findings indicate that Japan lacks “outdoor spaces and buildings.” Additionally, the evaluation of “housing,” “community support and health services,” and “transportation” in populated municipalities in the past five years is significantly higher than those in depopulated ones. Age-friendliness is significantly affected in the AFCCQ total score (hereafter, Score) based on “housing,” “social participation,” “community support and health services,” “transportation” and “financial situation” evaluations. High specificity (0.939) was found when the Score was treated as a marker of depopulation and, therefore, an age-friendly approach is a necessary condition to prevent depopulation. Furthermore, a lack of “communication and information” is observed in municipalities with a higher rate of single-person households aged 65 years and above. Therefore, resident architectural designers’ and constructors’ assessments, combined with the AFCCQ can be a powerful tool in evaluating the age-friendliness of municipalities.

Background and Objectives: Rheumatic diseases often exhibit a complex pattern of comorbidities, including the increased occurrence of emotional disorders like anxiety and depression, which are closely related to the presence of chronic pain. Therefore, a multimodal approach is necessary for treatment, targeting both the physical and psychological functioning. Due to the increased burden within the healthcare context that emerged during the post-pandemic period, the need to adjust the content and length of psychological interventions became ubiquitous. In this way, the main objective of this study was to investigate the efficiency of a single-session, process-based psychological intervention for patients with rheumatic conditions and emotional comorbidities in a naturalistic, in-patient setting. Materials and Methods: After the screening, a total of 31 participants (Mage = 58.9, SD = 12.03) completed the single session intervention. The therapeutic protocol relied on a process-based cognitive-behavioural therapy framework aiming to improve cognitive, emotional and behavioural functioning. Assessments were conducted prior to the intervention, post-intervention and one month following the hospitalization. Results: Immediately after the intervention, significant reductions in dysfunctional cognitive and emotional processes, along with the improvement of behavioural strategies were observed. At the one-month telephonic evaluation, participants reported decreased pain, state anxiety and state depression levels. Conclusions: The single-session, process-based approach represents a promising intervention in healthcare contexts, targeting important psychopathological mechanisms in patients with rheumatic conditions. Future studies could clarify the extent to which these outcomes persist over time and their specific associations with anxiety and depressive symptoms, by using more controlled and rigorous trial designs.

Human Ribonuclease (RNase) 6 is a monocyte and macrophage-derived protein with potent an-timicrobial activity toward uropathogenic bacteria. The RNASE6 gene is heterogeneous in hu-mans due to the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). RNASE6 rs1045922 is the most common non-synonymous SNP, resulting in a G to A substitution that determines an ar-ginine (R) to glutamine (Q) transversion at position 66 in the protein sequence. By structural analysis we observed that R66Q substitution significantly reduces the positive electrostatic charge at the protein surface. Here, we generated both recombinant RNase 6 -R66 and -Q66 protein variants and determined their antimicrobial activity toward uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), the most common cause of UTI. We found that the R66 variant, encoded by the major SNP rs1045922 allele, exhibited superior bactericidal activity in comparison to the Q66 variant. The higher bactericidal activity of R66 variant correlated with an increase in the protein lipopolysac-charide binding and bacterial agglutination abilities, while retaining the same enzymatic effi-ciency. These findings encourage further work to evaluate RNASE6 SNP distribution and its impact in UTI susceptibility.

Adult stem cells (ASCs) can be cultured with difficulty from most tissues, often requiring chemical or transgenic modification to achieve adequate quantities. We show here that mouse primary fibroblasts grown in suspension change from the elongated and flattened morphology observed under standard adherent culture conditions generating rounded cells with large nuclei and scant cytoplasm expressing the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) marker (Sca1; Ly6A) within 24hrs. Based on this initial observation, we describe here a suspension culture method that, irrespective of the lineage used, mouse fibroblast, primary human somatic cells (fibroblasts, hepatocytes and keratinocytes), is capable of generating a high yield of cells in spheroid form which display expression of ASCs surface markers, circumventing the anoikis which often occurs at this stage. Moreover, mouse fibroblasts-derived spheroids can be differentiated into adipogenic and osteogenic lineages. Analysis of single cell RNA sequence data identified 8 distinct cell clusters with one in particular comprising approximately 10% of the cells showing high levels of proliferative capacity expressing high levels of genes related to MSCs and self-renewal as well as extracellular matrix (ECM). We believe the rapid, high-yield generation of proliferative, multi-potent ASC-like cells by the process we term suspension-induced stem cell transition (SIST) could have significant implications for regenerative medicine.

Currently Single Board Computers (SBCs) are sufficiently powerful to run Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOSs) and applications with real-time attributes and requirements. SBCs serve as a foundation in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The NXP Semiconductors produces a series of SBCs based on ARM-processors for a variety of industrial applications. The continuous increase in real-time data generated by IoT devices adds further research issues about the efficiency of such systems and applications. The purpose of this research was to investigate the timing performance of an NXP TWR-K70F120M device with μClinux OS on running concurrently tasks with real-time features and constraints. A custom-built multithreaded application with specific compute-intensive sorting and matrix operations was developed and applied to obtain measurements in specific timing metrics, including task’s execution time, threads waiting time, and response time, under different threads variations. The performance of this device was additionally benchmarked and validated against favorite platforms, a Raspberry Pi4 and BeagleBone AI SBCs. The experimental results showed that this device stands well both in terms of timing and efficiency metrics. Execution times were quite lower than the others, by approximately 56% in the case of two threads, and by 29% in the case of thirty-two threads configurations.

Achieving high-yield potential is always the ultimate objective of any breeding program. However, various abiotic stresses like salinity, drought, cold, flood, and heat hampered rice productivity tremendously. Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that adversely affect rice grain yield. The present investigation was undertaken to dissect new genetic loci, which are responsible for salt tolerance at the early seedling stage in rice. A bi-parental mapping population (F2:3) was developed from the cross between BRRI dhan28/Akundi, where BRRI dhan28 (BR28) is a salt-sensitive irrigated (boro) rice mega variety and Akundi is a highly salinity tolerant Bangladeshi origin indica rice landrace that is utilized as a donor parent. We report stable QTLs for salt tolerance from a common donor (Akundi) irrespective of two different genetic backgrounds (BRRI dhan49/Akundi and BRRI dhan28/Akundi). A robust 1k-Rice Custom Amplicon (1k-RiCA) SNP marker genotyping platform was used to genotype this bi-parental population. After eliminating markers with high segregation distortion, 886 polymorphic SNPs built a genetic linkage map covering 1526.5 cM of whole rice genome with an average SNP density of 1.72 cM for the 12 genetic linkage groups. A total of 12 QTLs for nine different salt tolerance-related traits were identified using QGene and inclusive composite interval mapping of additive and dominant QTL (ICIM-ADD) under salt stress on seven different chromosomes. All of these 12 new QTLs found unique, as no other map from the previous study has reported these QTLs in the similar chromosomal location and found them different from extensively studied Saltol, SKC1, OsSalT and salT locus. Twenty-eight significant digenic/epistatic interactions identified between chromosomal regions linked to or unlinked to QTLs. Akundi acts like a new alternate donor source of salt tolerance except for other usually known donors like Nona Bokra, Pokkali, Capsule, and Hasawi used in salt tolerance genetic analysis and breeding programs worldwide, including Bangladesh. Integration of the seven novel and stable QTLs (qSES1, qSL1, qRL1, qSUR1, qSL8, qK8, qK1) reported in this investigation will expedite the cultivar development that is highly tolerant to salt stress.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most aggressive solid tumors, particularly due to the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Today the characterization of this type of cells with an efficient, fast and low-cost method remains an issue. Hence, we have developed a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) single cell electro-manipulation to measure the two crossover frequencies: f_x01 in low frequency range (below 500 kHz) and f_x02 in Ultra High Frequency range (UHF, above 50 MHz). First, in vitro conditions were investigated. U87-MG cell lines were cultured in different conditions in order to induce an undifferentiated phenotype. Then, ex vivo GBM cells from patients’ primary cell culture, were passed through the developed microfluidic system and characterized in order to reflect clinical conditions. This article demonstrates that the usual exploitation of low frequency range DEP does not allow the discrimination of the undifferentiated from the differentiated phenotypes of GBM cells. However, the presented study highlights the use of UHF-DEP as a relevant discriminant parameter. The proposed microfluidic lab-on-a-chip is able to follow the kinetic of U87-MG phenotype transformation in a CSC enrichment medium and their cancer stem cells phenotype acquirement.

The effect of elastic constants, cij, on the nature (easy or difficult) of a cleavage system in YBa2Cu3O7−δ is investigated, by employing a novel three-dimensional eigenfunction expansion technique, based in part on separation of the thickness-variable and partly a modified Frobenius type series expansion technique in conjunction with the Eshelby-Stroh formalism. Out of the available three complete sets of elastic constants, the first constitutes an estimate, while the second assumes tetragonal symmetry. This leaves only the experimental measurements by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, despite reported values of c12 and to a lesser extent, c66, being excessively high. The present investigation considers six through-thickness crack systems weakening orthorhombic YBCO mon-crystalline plates. More important, the present approach predicts whether a crack would propagate in its original plane/direction or deflect to a different one. This fracture mechanics criterion is then employed for accurate determination of the full set of elastic constants of mono-crystalline YBCO. Finally, generally unavailable results, pertaining to the through-thickness variations of stress intensity factors and energy release rates for a crack corresponding to symmetric and skew-symmetric hyperbolic cosine loads that also satisfy the boundary conditions on the bounding surfaces of an orthorhombic monocrystalline plate bridge a longstanding gap in the field.

Weed competitive ability (WCA) is a desirable key trait for the improvement of grain yield under direct-seeded rice (DSR) and the aerobic rice ecosystem. The present study targeted screening of 167 introgression lines (ILs) of a Green Super Rice (GSR) IR2-6 population derived from a cross between Weed Tolerant Rice 1 (WTR1) as the recipient parent and Y134 as the donor parent developed at IRRI for weed competitiveness in screen house conditions (SHC). The ILs were phenotyped for WCA traits such as early seed germination (ESG) and early seedling vigor (ESV) in Petri dishes and pot experiment conditions. The results of phenotypic variance revealed ESG-related traits, especially first germination count (1st GC) that positively correlated with second germination count (2nd GC), germination percentage (GP), total dry weight (TDW), total fresh weight (TFW), and vigor index (VI-1), whereas, in ESV, all the traits were positively correlated with each other except for three traits: root dry weight (RDW), 1st GC, and GP-2. The ESG and ESV traits are vital for weed competitiveness. A 6K SNP array was used to study the genetic association for the WCA traits. Forty-four QTLs for WCA traits were mapped on all chromosomes (except on chromosomes 4 and 8) through single marker analysis (SMA). Out of 44 QTLs, 29 were associated with ESG traits and 15 with ESV traits, with LOD scores of 2.93 to 8.03 and 2.93 to 5.04 and explained phenotypic variance ranging from 7.85% to 19.9% and from 7.85% to 13.2%, respectively. However, 31 QTLs were contributed by a negative additive allele from Y134, whereas a positive additive allele was contributed by WTR1 in 13 QTLs. Among them, two QTL hotspot regions were mapped on chromosome 11 (24.7-27.9 Mb) and chromosome 12 (14.8-17.4 Mb). The majority of the QTLs related to WCA traits were grouped into two QTL hotspots: QTL hotspot-I (qAFW11.1, qFC11.1, qFC11.2, qSC11.1, qGP-111.1, qGP-111.2, qTFGS11.1, qVI-111.1, and qVI-111.2) and QTL hotspot-II (qFC12.1, qFC12.2, qSC12.1, qFC12.2, qGP-112.1, qGP-112.2, qTFGS12.1, qTFGS12.2, qVI-112.1, qIV12.2, qFC12.1, and qGC12.2), and a few of them were co-localized on chromosomes 11 and 12. Further, we fine-tuned in the genomic regions of QTL hotspots and identified a total of 13 putative candidate genes on chromosomes 11 and 12 collectively. The present study is the first report on the genetic basis of WCA-related traits and the co-localized QTLs, which could be highly valuable in future breeding programs aiming to improve WCA in rice.

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of glutamate cysteine ligase (GCLC) are associated with the risk and clinical features of psoriasis. A total of 944 unrelated individuals, including 474 patients with a diagnosis of psoriasis and 470 healthy controls, were recruited for the study. Six common SNPs in the GCLC gene were genotyped using the MassArray-4 system. Polymorphisms rs648595 (OR=0.56 95%CI 0.35-0.90, Pperm=0.017) and rs2397147 (OR=0.54 95%CI 0.30-0.98, Pperm=0.05) were associated with susceptibility to psoriasis in males. In the male group, diplotype rs2397147-C/C×rs17883901-G/G was associated with decreased risk of psoriasis (FDR-adjusted P=0.014), whereas diplotype rs6933870-G/G×rs17883901-G/G (FDR-adjusted P=0.045) showed association with increased disease risk in females. Joint effects of SNPs with tobacco smoking (rs648595 and rs17883901) and alcohol abuse (rs648595 and rs542914) on the risk of psoriasis were observed (Pperm≤0.05). Furthermore, we found multiple sex-independent associations between GCLC gene polymorphisms and various clinical features such as earlier disease onset, the psoriatic triad, and specific localizations of skin lesions. The present study is the first to show that polymorphisms of the GCLC gene are significantly associated with the risk of psoriasis and related to its clinical features.

Single Image Super Resolution (SSIR) is a problem in computer vision where the goal is 1 to create high-resolution images from low-resolution ones. It has important applications in fields 2 such as medical imaging and security surveillance. While traditional methods such as interpolation 3 and reconstruction-based models have been used in the past, deep learning techniques have recently 4 gained attention due to their superior performance and computational efficiency. This article proposes 5 an Autoencoder based Deep Learning Model for SSIR, in particular, a light model that uses fewer 6 parameters without compromising performance. The down-sampling part of the Autoencoder 7 mainly uses 3 by 3 convolution and has no subsampling layers. The up-sampling part uses transpose 8 convolution and residual connections from the down sampling part. The model is trained using a 9 subset of the VILRC ImageNet database. The model is evaluated using quantitative metrics PSNR, 10 SSIM as well as qualitative measures such as perceptual quality. PSNR and SSIM figures as high as 11 76.06 and 0.93 are reported.

It's a method to achieve energy savings in single-phase active power greater than that obtained with the "Fan Law" in electric machines applied to ventilation. Quantitative analysis methods were based on electrotechnical techniques, practiced with the corresponding laboratory equipment on the working materials (three prototypes of electric machines). The results obtained from experimentation on the test bench were recorded in tables that collect data of formulas, values, and physical units. The discussion provides a comprehensive comparative study, mainly between power (watts), active energy consumption (kWh), and rotational speed (revolutions per minute). The permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) with the coupling of an RL circuit design does mechanical work at its maximum speed of 3000 (RPM) with only 6.3 (Watts), which is equivalent to 25.2% of the active power required by the single-phase induction asynchronous motor (or shaded pole motor), which required 25 (Watts) to rotate at 1690 (RPM). This translates to 75% lower active power with a 44% superiority in speed, resulting in a 75% savings in single-phase active energy (measured in kWh). The same occurs when comparing it to the universal AC motor (with brushes and wound rotor) to maintain a speed of 3000 (RPM); since it consumes 64.8 (Watts), which is 90.3% more single-phase active energy than that required to achieve the same rotational speed as the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). The study was conducted on all motors with the same impeller blade diameter and under identical air temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions.

Induction heating (IH) technology is widely recognized and utilized in residential applications due to its high efficiency and safe operating characteristics. Resonant inverter circuits are widely used in IH systems because of their high efficiency and ability to perform soft-switching. Among the various resonant inverters used in IH systems, the single-switch quasi-resonant (SSQR) inverter topology is typically preferred for low-cost and low-output-power applications. Despite its cost advantage, the SSQR topology has a relatively narrow soft-switching range, which can be unstable depending on the electrical parameters of the load and the resonant converter circuit. Accurately determining the capacitance value of the resonant capacitor and the inductance value of the induction coil, which are the key circuit elements of the SSQR induction cooker, is crucial for designing a reliable, efficient, and durable cooking system. In other words, there exists a critical relationship between the resonant converter circuit parameters, load characteristics, and safe operating conditions. Additionally, when considering closed-loop control methods used for power control and safety, selecting appropriate resonant circuit elements becomes vital in ensuring both reliable and efficient operation. This paper focuses on a novel and simplified design method for the SSQR inverter utilized in household appliances. The proposed method and its advantages in terms of the safe operating area of the switch are theoretically investigated and verified through simulations and prototype circuits.

The product is a centrifugal air extractor, whose objective is to extract the stale air of SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 (Coronavirus); designed for civil and commercial use, it works with a single-phase alternating current (AC) motor of 220 (V) and 50 (Hz), with high energy efficiency (EE). Developed under the Design Thinking methodology, by electromechanical simulation using NI Multisim 14.0 software, case design using Cfturbo 2020 R2.0 CAD software, and rapid 3D prototyping with the OverLord Pro printer; with a prototype of the conventional stator winding of a synchronous motor with a two-pole PMSM/IPM single-phase alternating current (AC) field winding and a 4000 (Gauss) ferromagnetic ceramic magnet rotor. Innovating online nº 15 of invention patent nº 381968 by Nikola Tesla, 5/1/1888.One of the objectives is to link the middle level or Technical Schools with the University system (and careers with a Technological profile) through Project B374 located in the Secretariat of Science and Technology (SCyT) of the National University of La Plata ( UNLP), whose title is: “Integrated Management of Design and Innovation. Contributions for a theoretical-conceptual and methodological review” by the Director: Mg. Federico del Giorgio Solfa. Just as links were sought with the Research and Development Laboratory of the Department of Industrial Design (LIDDI-FBA-UNLP) through its Director D.I. Pablo Ungaro and D.I. Ana Bocos. In 2021, the project participated in the INNOVAR National Contest of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of the Nation (MINCYT), Argentine Republic; in the "Covid-19 Projects" category, having been selected in the catalog of innovative products, won the 1st. "Covid-19 Projects" position of the National Agency for Research and Technological Development and local innovation (R+D+i) dependent on MINCYT.The results showed, according to the analysis of the test bench, that the PMSM/IPM type synchronous motor used in the centrifugal fan, with the innovation of the reactance-inductive control in series plus the capacitor in parallel, reduces the power by 67% (Watts) and active energy consumption (kWh), performing 56% more mechanical work (Joules) on the fluid air (with a 50% reduction in carbon footprint). Which leads us to the following conclusion: it is possible to develop centrifugal fans that save electricity (kWh) without the need to resort to (1) the "Fan Affinity Law", nor (2) the use of variable speed drives (VDF) or frequency (which are devices with complex and expensive electronics). Which would bring an enormous saving of the cost of electrical energy.

Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation has been studied for several purposes, while the optimal method of estimating the LST has not been criticized yet. This research explores the optimum method in Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation using LANDSAT-8 imagery data. Four different LST retrieval approaches, the Radiative Transfer Equation-based method (RTE), the Improved Mono-Window method (IMW), the Generalized Single-Channel method (GSC), and the Split-Window algorithm (SW), were calculated to present the LSTs over Buriram Town Municipality, Thailand. The calculated LSTs from these four methods were compared with the ground-based temperature data, taken on the same date and time of the employed LANDSAT-8 images. For this reason, the optimum method of the LST calculation was justified by considering the lowest normalized root means square error (NRMSE) values. As a result, the SW algorithm presents an optimum method in LST estimation. Regarding the SW, this algorithm requires not only the atmospheric profiles during satellite acquisition but also the retrieval of several coefficients. Besides, the LST retrieval method based on the SW algorithm is sensitive to water vapor content and coefficients. Although the SW algorithm is an optimum method explored in this study, it is emphasized that the adjustable values of coefficient response to the atmospheric state may be recommended. With these conditions, the SW algorithm can generate the land-surface temperature over the mixed land-use and land cover on the LANDSAT-8 images.

The identification and molecular characterization of cellular hierarchies in complex tissues is key to understanding both normal cellular homeostasis and tumorigenesis. The mammary epithelium is a heterogeneous tissue consisting of two main cellular compartments, an outer basal layer containing myoepithelial cells and an inner luminal layer consisting of estrogen receptor-negative (ER⁻) ductal cells and secretory alveolar cells (in the fully functional differentiated tissue) and hormone-responsive estrogen receptor-positive (ER⁺) cells. Recent publications have used single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis to decipher epithelial cell differentiation hierarchies in human and murine mammary glands, and reported the identification of new cell types and states based on the expression of the luminal progenitor cell marker KIT (c-Kit). These studies allow for comprehensive and unbiased analysis of the different cell types that constitute a heterogeneous tissue. Here we discuss scRNA-seq studies in the context of previous research in which mammary epithelial cell populations were molecularly and functionally characterized, and identified c-Kit⁺ progenitors and cell states analogous to those reported in the recent scRNA-seq studies.

Recently, several research groups have reported on anomalous enhancement of the self-field critical currents, Ic(sf,T), at low temperatures in superconductor/Dirac-cone material/superconductor (S/DCM/S) junctions. Some papers attributed the enhancement to the low-energy Andreev bound states arising from winding of the electronic wave function around DCM. In this paper, Ic(sf,T) in S/DCM/S junctions have been analyzed by two approaches: modified Ambegaokar-Baratoff and ballistic Titov-Beenakker models. It is shown that the ballistic model is an inadequate tool to analyze experimental data from S/DCM/S junctions. The primary mechanism for limiting superconducting current in S/DCM/S junctions is different from the conventional view that the latter is the maximum value within the order parameter phase variation. Thus, there is a need to develop a new model for self-field critical currents in S/DCM/S systems.

Recently, Kayyalha et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2019, 122, 047003) reported on anomalous enhancement of the self-field critical currents, I_c (sf,T), at low temperatures in Nb/BiSbTeSe₂-nanoribbon/Nb Josephson junctions. The enhancement was attributed to the low-energy Andreev bound states arising from winding of the electronic wave function around the circumference of the topological insulator BiSbTeSe₂ nanoribbon. In this paper, we show that identical enhancement in I_c(sf,T) and in the upper critical field, B_c2(T), at approximately same reduced temperatures, were reported by several research groups in atomically thin junctions based on a variety of Dirac-cone materials (DCM) earlier. Our analysis shows that in all these S/DCM/S systems the enhancement is due to a new superconducting band opening. Taking in account that several intrinsic superconductors also exhibit the effect of new superconducting band(s) opening when sample thickness becomes thinner than the out-of-plane coherence length, we strength our previous proposal that there is a new phenomenon of additional superconducting band(s) opening in atomically thin films.

The objective of the paper is to introduce new similarity measure for single valued neutrosophic sets based on logarithm function. We define logarithm similarity measure and their weighted similarity measure for single valued neutrosophic sets. Then we define hybrid logarithm similarity measure and weighted hybrid logarithm similarity measure for single valued neutrosophic sets. We prove the basic properties of the proposed measures. We then define an entropy function using logarithm function to determine unknown attribute weights. We develop a novel multi attribute group decision making strategy for single valued neutrosophic sets based on the weighted hybrid logarithm similarity measure. We address an illustrative example to demonstrate the effectiveness and aptness of the proposed strategies. We conduct a sensitivity analysis of the developed strategy. We also make a comparison between the obtained results from proposed strategies and different existing strategies in the literature.