Mechanical stretch promotes the neutrophil recruitment potential of fibroblasts through the Piezo/NFAT1/LIF axis.

The entheses are the sites where tendons or ligaments insert into osseous structures and play a crucial role in transmitting mechanical stress from muscles to bones. Under excessive mechanical loads, the entheses may sustain inflammation, leading to isolated enthesitis. However, the specific mechanisms through which enthesitis occurs have not yet been fully elucidated.

Inoculation of Lactobacillus parafarraginis enhances silage quality, microbial community structure, and metabolic profiles in hybrid Pennisetum.

Background: This study investigated the effects of inoculating Lactobacillus parafarraginis alone or in combination with citric acid on the silage quality, microbial community structure, and metabolic characteristics of hybrid Pennisetum. The experiment included three treatments: (1) addition of 10 ml distilled water (CON); (2) addition of 1 × 10 cfu/g L. parafarraginis (LP); (3) addition of 1 × 10 cfu/g L.

Analysis of the Motion Characteristics of Coarse Aggregate Simulated by Smart Aggregate During the Compaction Process.

Asphalt pavement has become a vital component of modern highway construction due to its high wear resistance, short construction period, economic viability, and excellent skid resistance. However, increasing traffic volume has heightened the structural performance requirements of asphalt pavement, especially during compaction. The compaction degree of asphalt mixtures has emerged as a key indicator for assessing construction quality.

Two-Year Hypertension Incidence Risk Prediction in Populations in the Desert Regions of Northwest China: Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Hypertension is a major global health issue and a significant modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, contributing to a substantial socioeconomic burden due to its high prevalence. In China, particularly among populations living near desert regions, hypertension is even more prevalent due to unique environmental and lifestyle conditions, exacerbating the disease burden in these areas, underscoring the urgent need for effective early detection and intervention strategies.

Objective: This study aims to develop, calibrate, and prospectively validate a 2-year hypertension risk prediction model by using large-scale health examination data collected from populations residing in 4 regions surrounding the Taklamakan Desert of northwest China.

Pressure-Induced Phase Transitions in Bismutotantalite (BiTaO): Insights from Single-Crystal Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy.

In situ high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy analyses were performed on a natural bismutotantalite with an α-BiTaO structure. The results indicate that α-BiTaO transforms into an orthorhombic phase (HP γ-BiTaO), likely through an intermediate orthorhombic phase (HP β-BiTaO). The transition pressures are 11.

RCA-Supported Multipedal DNA Walker Integrated with TSDR for Simultaneous Detection of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Circulating Tumor DNA.

Peripheral blood circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a crucial liquid biopsy biomarker that correlates overall systemic tumor burden with malignant progression. However, identifying multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ctDNA presents significant challenges. In this study, we developed a rolling circle amplification (RCA)-supported multipedal DNA walker integrated with toehold-mediated strand displacement (TSDR) to facilitate the detection of ctDNA SNPs.

A Site-Specific Photo-Crosslinking Proteomics Approach Provides Insights into Non-Canonical Pyroptotic Caspase-4 Substrates.

Inflammatory caspases (1/4/5) are key effectors in the process of pyroptosis by cleaving and activating the pore-forming protein gasdermin D (GSDMD). Unlike other caspases whose substrates have been well characterized, the substrates for caspase-4, which mediate non-canonical pyroptosis, remain poorly understood. Here, we combined non-canonical amino acids, photo-crosslinking, and proteomics to profile caspase-4 substrates, enabling the capture of transient protein interactions with activated caspase-4.

An explainable machine learning-based prediction model for sarcopenia in elderly Chinese people with knee osteoarthritis.

Background: Sarcopenia is an age-related progressive skeletal muscle disease that leads to loss of muscle mass and function, resulting in adverse health outcomes such as falls, functional decline, and death. Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common chronic degenerative joint disease among elderly individuals who causes joint pain and functional impairment. These two conditions often coexist in elderly individuals and are closely related.

Comparison of the polluted dust plume and natural dust air mass in a spring dust event in Beijing 2023.

The occurrence of extreme weather events is becoming more frequent due to global climate change. A long-lasting dust outbreak in the spring of 2023 was triggered by Mongolia cyclones and cold fronts in the dust source areas. In this study, we illustrate the spatial distribution, the transport path of the dust and its influence on the air quality of downstream cities utilizing ground-based and space-borne measurements.

How to perform laparoscopic left hepatectomy with a dorsal approach based on the AHM triangle.

(a) Diagram of trocar placement. (b) Diagram of the AHM triangle.

An overview of Sgc8 aptamer as a potential theranostic agent for cancer with PTK7 oncogenic target.

Aptamers have attracted exceptional attention in medical field due to their intrinsic properties equivalent to antibodies such as high target affinity, low immunogenicity and toxicity, cost-effectiveness and ease of synthesis and modification, and good stability under extreme conditions, thereby providing new avenues for basic research and clinical application. Protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7) has been proved to be closely linked with the progression of many types of cancer. The aberrant expression of PTK7 has positioned it as a potential theranostic biomarker for multiple cancers.

Analysis of global trends and hotspots of skin microbiome in acne: a bibliometric perspective.

Background: Acne is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting the hair follicles and sebaceous glands. Recent research has revealed significant advances in the study of the acne skin microbiome. Systematic analysis of research trends and hotspots in the acne skin microbiome is lacking.

Masked Vascular Structure Segmentation and Completion in Retinal Images.

Early retinal vascular changes in diseases such as diabetic retinopathy often occur at a microscopic level. Accurate evaluation of retinal vascular networks at a micro-level could significantly improve our understanding of angiopathology and potentially aid ophthalmologists in disease assessment and management. Multiple angiogram-related retinal imaging modalities, including fundus, optical coherence tomography angiography, and fluorescence angiography, project continuous, inter-connected retinal microvascular networks into imaging domains.

Barycentric Coordinate-Based Distributed Localization for Wireless Sensor Networks Under False-Data-Injection Attacks.

Localization security is crucial to the widespread applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in various fields. This article mainly studies the issue of distributed localization in WSNs subject to deception attacks, in which the attacker randomly compromises communication channels and injects false data, resulting in the codification of data received by sensor nodes. A distributed iterative localization algorithm based on detection-holding strategy is proposed with the help of barycentric coordinate representations.

Onet: Twin U-Net Architecture for Unsupervised Binary Semantic Segmentation in Radar and Remote Sensing Images.

Segmenting objects from cluttered backgrounds in single-channel images, such as marine radar echoes, medical images, and remote sensing images, poses significant challenges due to limited texture, color information, and diverse target types. This paper proposes a novel solution: the Onet, an O-shaped assembly of twin U-Net deep neural networks, designed for unsupervised binary semantic segmentation. The Onet, trained with an intensity-complementary image pair and without the need for annotated labels, maximizes the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD) between the densely localized features and the class probability maps.

Learnable Prompting SAM-induced Knowledge Distillation for Semi-supervised Medical Image Segmentation.

The limited availability of labeled data has driven advancements in semi-supervised learning for medical image segmentation. Modern large-scale models tailored for general segmentation, such as the Segment Anything Model (SAM), have revealed robust generalization capabilities. However, applying these models directly to medical image segmentation still exposes performance degradation.

Comparative molecular landscapes of immature neurons in the mammalian dentate gyrus across species reveal special features in humans.

Immature dentate granule cells (imGCs) arising from adult hippocampal neurogenesis contribute to plasticity, learning and memory, but their evolutionary changes across species and specialized features in humans remain poorly understood. Here we performed machine learning-augmented analysis of published single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets and identified macaque imGCs with transcriptome-wide immature neuronal characteristics. Our cross-species comparisons among humans, monkeys, pigs, and mice showed few shared (such as DPYSL5), but mostly species-specific gene expression in imGCs that converged onto common biological processes regulating neuronal development.

Toosendanin inhibits the growth of Spodoptera litura by inducing metabolic dysfunction in the midgut.

The Spodoptera litura, a crucial polyphagous pest, has emerged as a major threat to the agricultural sector. Regrettably, despite ongoing efforts, scientists have yet to uncover a safe and efficient control medication to tackle this pressing issue. Toosendanin (TSN), a commercial insecticidal active ingredient used to manage various pests in the field, has adverse effects on Spodoptera litura.

Skeletal Muscle Mass and Mortality in Heart Failure: Mediation Role of Systemic Immune-Inflammatory Index.

Background: Heart failure (HF)-related skeletal muscle wasting inversely affects the prognosis of HF, in which systemic inflammation may be involved. The relationships among skeletal muscle mass (SMM), systemic inflammation, and cardiovascular outcomes have not been clarified.

Objectives: This study evaluated the associations of SMM with cardiovascular outcomes, systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) with cardiovascular outcomes, and the mediation role of SII in the relationship between SMM and outcomes.

Validation of the CONTEC08A upper-arm blood pressure monitor in adult Chinese.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the CONTEC08A oscillometric upper-arm blood pressure (BP) monitor for BP measurement in adults according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 81060-2:2018 and amendment (Amd)1:2020 standard.

Methods: Eighty-five subjects (male 40 and female 45) were recruited to fulfill the age, sex, BP, and cuff distribution criteria of the ISO standard in the general population, and had a mean age of 40.2 years.

Transcriptomic analysis offers deep insights into the Increased Grain Length 1 (IGL1) regulation of grain length.

Background: Although great progress has been made in recent years in identifying novel genes or natural alleles for rice yield improvement, the molecular mechanisms of how these genes/natural alleles regulate yield-associated traits, such as grain length and 1000-grain weight, remain largely unclear. An in-depth understanding of the roles of these genes/natural alleles in controlling yield traits become a necessity to ultimately increase rice yield via novel molecular techniques, such as gene editing.

Results: In this study, the roles of IGL1, which was previously identified through a map-based cloning approach, in the regulation of grain length were investigated by overexpressing and knocking out it in the Nipponbare genetic background.

Pioglitazone Regulates Chondrocyte Metabolism and Attenuates Osteoarthritis by Activating Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma.

Osteoarthritis presents a significant clinical challenge due to its high prevalence and the resultant impairment of patients' motor function. Osteoarthritic chondrocytes are characterised by inflammation and metabolic disturbances. Pioglitazone, an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ), has been demonstrated to exert anti-inflammatory effects across various diseases.

Cross-Domain Communication Method Based on Load Balancing for SDNs.

In multi-end-to-end path request planning, the control plane may not be able to meet all path request requirements under limited bandwidth resources. Moreover, suboptimal path planning can lead to localized network congestion, which in turn causes an overall imbalance in network load. Therefore, the multi-domain control plane needs to consider more network resource states during the path selection, such as link weights, load saturation, and resource occupancy rates, in order to select the optimal paths to maximize the satisfaction of data plane requirements while maintaining network load balance.

[Neural network for auditory speech enhancement featuring feedback-driven attention and lateral inhibition].

The processing mechanism of the human brain for speech information is a significant source of inspiration for the study of speech enhancement technology. Attention and lateral inhibition are key mechanisms in auditory information processing that can selectively enhance specific information. Building on this, the study introduces a dual-branch U-Net that integrates lateral inhibition and feedback-driven attention mechanisms.

Effect of Surface Wettability Transition on the Antibacterial Performance of PDMS.

Superhydrophobic antibacterial surfaces are poised for widespread application within the biomedical sector. Leveraging the transition factor theory, this study presents a method to integrate microstructural designs with the functionality on PDMS surfaces. A synergistic approach utilizing nanosecond laser micromachining alongside acid treatment ensures the stability and integrity of the superhydrophobic properties.