Curbing the trade in pangolin scales in China by revealing the characteristics of the illegal trade network.

Globally, pangolins are the most heavily trafficked mammals and China is one of the main destinations for their scales and meat. Conducting separate studies on the characteristics of the illegal trade in pangolin meat and in scales in China will provide a basis for devising more targeted protection strategies and actions. This study focused on the illegal pangolin-scale trading network in China by collating relevant cases of smuggling published in China Judgements Online, revealing that most scales came from Africa.

Reward Decision Network Disconnection in Poststroke Apathy: A Prospective Multimodality Imaging Study.

Apathy is a common neuropsychiatric symptom following stroke, characterized by reduced goal-directed behavior. The reward decision network (RDN), which plays a crucial role in regulating goal-directed behaviors, is closely associated with apathy. However, the relationship between poststroke apathy (PSA) and RDN dysfunction remains unclear due to apathy heterogeneity, the confounding effect of depression and individual variability in lesion impacts.

Nitrogen-modified reduced graphene oxide for serum enrichment of -glycans and MALDI-TOF MS-based identification of HCC biomarkers.

Protein -glycosylation, as one of the most crucial post-translational modifications, plays a significant role in various biological processes. The structural alterations of -glycans are closely associated with the onset and progression of numerous diseases. Therefore, the precise and specific identification of disease-related -glycans in complex biological samples is invaluable for understanding their involvement in physiological and pathological processes, as well as for discovering clinical diagnostic biomarkers.

Long-Term Auditory and Speech Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Children with IP-I Malformation.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the long-term auditory and speech outcomes in children with Incomplete Partition Type I (IP-I) who underwent cochlear implantation (CI) and compared their progress to implanted children with normal cochlea.

Methods: This study tracked 17 children with IP-Ι for an average of 3.5 years post-implantation.

Endovascular Thrombectomy for Acute Vertebrobasilar Artery Occlusion with Mild Deficits: A Multicenter Registry Study.

Background Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is an effective method for vertebrobasilar artery occlusion (VBAO) in patients with moderate to severe deficits but has unclear benefits in patients with low National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores at hospital admission. Purpose To compare the clinical outcomes of best medical management (BMM) alone versus BMM and early EVT (door-to-puncture time [DPT] ≤ 120 minutes) versus BMM and late EVT (DPT > 120 minutes) in patients with VBAO who have NIHSS scores of 10 or less at admission. Materials and Methods This retrospective study evaluated patients with VBAO and admission NIHSS score of 10 or less who were seen at 65 stroke centers in China from December 2015 to June 2022.

Late-Life Alcohol Exposure Does Not Exacerbate Age-Dependent Reductions in Mouse Spatial Memory and Brain TFEB Activity.

Alcohol consumption is believed to affect Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk, but the contributing mechanisms are not well understood. A potential mediator of the proposed alcohol-AD connection is autophagy, a degradation pathway that maintains organelle and protein homeostasis. Autophagy is regulated through the activity of Transcription factor EB (TFEB), which promotes lysosome and autophagy-related gene expression.

TiSquantum dots composite carbon nanotubes aerogel with electromagnetic interference shielding effect.

Titanium disulfide quantum dots (TiSQDs) has garnered significant research interest due to its distinctive electronic and optical properties. However, the effectiveness of TiSQDs in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding is influenced by various factors, including their size, morphology, monodispersity, tunable bandgap, Stokes shift and interfacial effects. In this study, we propose a systematic approach for the synthesis of TiSQDs with small size (3.

Differences in oral microbiota associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus between the Dai and Han populations.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) development is closely linked to microbiota, influenced by geography, ethnicity, gender, and age. While the relationship between oral microbiota and T2DM has been explored, specific microbiota associated with T2DM in the Dai and Han populations remains unclear. This study aims to compare oral microbiota differences and identify keystone species between these populations, both with and without T2DM.

Association between malnutrition, depression, anxiety and fatigue after stroke in older adults: a cross-lagged panel analysis.

Background: Malnutrition, post-stroke depression (PSD), post-stroke anxiety (PSA), and post-stroke fatigue (PSF) in stroke survivors have complex relationships and are associated with adverse stroke outcomes.

Aims: This research aims to explore the temporal and directional relationships between malnutrition, PSD, PSA, and PSF after stroke in older adults.

Methods: Patients aged 65 years and older with their first ischemic stroke from two centers were selected and assessed at baseline, 3 months and 12 months.

Mechanisms underlying the spontaneous reorganization of depression network after stroke.

Exploring the causal relationship between focal brain lesions and post-stroke depression (PSD) can provide therapeutic insights. However, a gap exists between causal and therapeutic information. Exploring post-stroke brain repair processes post-stroke could bridge this gap.

Dual polarization-independent quasi-bound states in the continuum in a hetero-out-of-plane dielectric metasurface.

Symmetry-protected quasi-bound states in the continuum (qBICs) in metasurfaces with broken in-plane symmetry are extensively investigated to achieve high quality-factor (Q-factor) resonances. Herein, we propose the hetero-out-of-plane (H-OP) dielectric metasurface, which is composed of Si cuboids tetramer broken out-of-plane symmetry by adding a layer of silica. Dual polarization-independent qBICs are realized.

Selective aptasensor of deoxynivalenol based on dual signal enhancement of thionine electrochemistry using silver nanoparticle-loaded label at gold nanoparticle-loaded electrodes.

In this work, an efficient sensing platform deoxynivalenol (DON) detection was constructed through monitoring the current change of a competitive mechanism triggered by DON, leading the signal label detached from the electrode surface by square-wave voltammetry using thionine (Thi) as a redox indicator. The complementary strand of aptamer (cDNA) and Thi were loaded onto Fe/Ni bimetallic metal-organic framework loaded with sliver nanoparticles (AgNPs@FeNi-MOF) to construct AgNPs@FeNi-MOF/cDNA/Thi signal probes. In the presence of DON, the aptamer sequence was more predisposed to form an aptamer-DON complex, resulting in the displacement of the cDNA.

A Controllable Nonlinear Bistable "Fishtail" Boosting Robotic Swimmer with Excellent Maneuverability and High Energy Efficiency.

High maneuverability and energy efficiency are crucial for underwater robots to perform tasks in engineering practice. Natural evolution empowers aquatic species with skills of agile and efficient swimming, which can be deliberately employed for better robotic swimmers. A critical issue for efficient robotic swimmers is the design and control of an appropriate propulsion system.

A polysaccharide from edible red seaweed Bangia fusco-purpurea prevents obesity in high-fat diet-induced C57BL/6 mice.

The study aimed to investigate the impacts of a polysaccharide (BFP) from Bangia fusco-purpurea on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in C57BL/6 mice, as well as its underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that orally administrated BFP was more effective than inulin (INU) in reducing body weight and fat accumulation in obese mice, indicating its anti-obesity effect. BFP effectively improved the compositions and metabolites of intestinal microbiota in obese mice, leading to enhanced energy metabolism and lipid metabolism, thus contributing to its anti-obesity effect.

Th17/Treg cell balance in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma: a new potential biomarker and therapeutic target.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common subtype of thyroid carcinoma. The most effective treatment for PTC is surgical resection, and patients who undergo surgery have good survival outcomes, but some patients have distant metastasis or even multiorgan metastases at the time of initial diagnosis. Distant metastasis is associated with poorer prognosis and a higher mortality rate.

Comprehensive Analysis and Verification of the Prognostic Significance of Cuproptosis-Related Genes in Colon Adenocarcinoma.

Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is a frequently occurring and lethal cancer. Cuproptosis is an emerging type of cell death, and the underlying pathways involved in this process in COAD remain poorly understood. Transcriptomic and clinical data for COAD patients were collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases.

Abnormal intrinsic brain functional network dynamics in stroke and correlation with neuropsychiatric symptoms revealed based on lesion and cerebral blood flow.

There has been a lack of clarity about the mechanisms of widespread network dysfunctions after stroke. This study aimed to reveal dynamic functional network alternations following stroke based on lesion and brain perfusion. We prospectively enrolled 125 acute ischaemic stroke patients (25 were transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients) and 49 healthy controls with assessed the severity of their depression, anxiety, fatigue, and apathy.

Broad-Temperature Thermoelectric Figure of Merit Enhancement in Unconventional n-Type BiTeSe Alloys.

BiTeSe-based alloys are conventional n-type thermoelectric materials for solid-state cooling and heat harvest near room temperature; high thermoelectric performance over a wide temperature range and superior mechanical properties are essential for their use in practical thermoelectric devices. In this work, we demonstrated that decent thermoelectric performance can also be realized in an unconventional composite with a nominal composition of BiTeSe since the emergence of a BiTeSe phase with Se ordered occupation could induce an enlargement of the electronic band gap. Follow-up Cu/Na codoping could generate a dynamic optimization of carrier concentration, significantly broadening the temperature range of high thermoelectric performance.

The study on the mechanism of miR-29a in SPPV infection.

The members of the miR-29 family play an important role in the process of viral infection. The sheep pox epidemic has hindered the development of the livestock industry worldwide. The aim of this study was to analyze the action mechanism of miR-29a during sheep pox virus (SPPV) infection.

An Insight into the Mechanical Properties of Unidirectional C/C Composites Considering the Effect of Pore Microstructures via Numerical Calculation.

Pores are common defects generated during fabrication, which restrict the application of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites. To quantitatively understand the effects of pores on mechanical strength, this paper proposes a representative volume element model of unidirectional (UD) C/C composites based on the finite element method. The Hashin criterion and exponential degraded rule are used as the failure initiation and evolution of pyrolytic carbon matrices, respectively.