Quantifying robustness against sharp bending in an integrated topological interface of valley photonic crystals.

Sharp-bending waveguide is a key element for ultra-compact and densely integrated photonic devices, which is promising to enlarge the capability of modern information processing in a single chip. Topological photonics manifest the nature of robust propagation against sharp bending and such robustness has been experimentally demonstrated in topological integrated interfaces. It is important to quantify the bending loss of topological interface but has remained exclusive.

Identification of Potential Biomarkers Associated with Spermatogenesis in Azoospermia.

Background: Azoospermia, characterized by the absence of spermatozoa in the ejaculate, affects approximately 1% of all men and 10 - 15% of infertile males, representing the most severe form of male infertility. It is classified into obstructive azoospermia (OA) and nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA), with the latter often resulting from unexplained failures in spermatogenesis. This study endeavored to clarify the molecular underpinnings of sper-matogenesis in NOA and to identify viable therapeutic targets.

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw: a retrospective single center study of recurrence-related factors after surgical treatment.

Objectives: To provide an overview of the features of patients with medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) and explore recurrence-related factors after surgery.

Materials And Methods: All pathological records of patients diagnosed with osteonecrosis or osteomyelitis of the jaw were reviewed. Only patients who had a history of use of medication related to bone turnover were included.

Differential analysis of ubiquitin-proteomics in skeletal muscle of Duroc pigs and Tibetan fragrant pigs.

Understanding the differences in ubiquitination-modified proteins between Duroc pigs and Tibetan fragrant pigs is crucial for comprehending the growth and development of their skeletal muscles. In this study, skeletal muscle samples from 30-day-old Duroc pigs and Tibetan fragrant pigs were collected. Using ubiquitination 4D-Label free quantitative proteomics, we analyzed and identified ubiquitination-modified peptides, screening out 109 differentially expressed ubiquitination-modified peptides.

Structural characterisation of a novel polysaccharide from fibrous root and its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities .

A novel water-soluble polysaccharide, named PF90-1, with a molecular weight of 1.8 kDa, was isolated and purified from the fibrous root of . PF90-1 is composed of Gal, Glc and Man in a molar ratio of 73.

Broadband and fabrication-tolerant 3-dB couplers with topological valley edge modes.

3-dB couplers, which are commonly used in photonic integrated circuits for on-chip information processing, precision measurement, and quantum computing, face challenges in achieving robust performance due to their limited 3-dB bandwidths and sensitivity to fabrication errors. To address this, we introduce topological physics to nanophotonics, developing a framework for topological 3-dB couplers. These couplers exhibit broad working wavelength range and robustness against fabrication dimensional errors.

Treatment of functional dyspepsia in Chinese adult patients with domperidone: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Objective: This pilot study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of domperidone for the treatment of Chinese patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) who were diagnosed according to the Rome IV criteria and to identify the FD subtypes that potentially responded better to domperidone.

Methods: This multicenter prospective study was conducted in China from August 2018 to July 2020, consisting of a 1-week screening phase and a 2-week double-blind treatment phase. Participants were randomized to receive domperidone 10 mg or matching placebo tablets thrice daily for 14 days.

Open-framework hybrid zinc/tin selenide as an ultrafast adsorbent for Cs, Ba, Co, and Ni.

Efficient adsorption of radioactive Cs and Co and their decay products Ba and Ni bears significance for hazard elimination in case of nuclear emergency, which relies on the adsorption rate enhancement that takes advantages of compositional and structural optimization. Herein, we report a zinc-doped selenidostannate constructed from T2-supertetrahedral clusters, namely K(CHNH)(NH)ZnSnSe·3.4 HO (ZnSnSe-1K).

Interconnected ordinal pattern complex network for characterizing the spatial coupling behavior of gas-liquid two-phase flow.

The complex phase interactions of the two-phase flow are a key factor in understanding the flow pattern evolutional mechanisms, yet these complex flow behaviors have not been well understood. In this paper, we employ a series of gas-liquid two-phase flow multivariate fluctuation signals as observations and propose a novel interconnected ordinal pattern network to investigate the spatial coupling behaviors of the gas-liquid two-phase flow patterns. In addition, we use two network indices, which are the global subnetwork mutual information (I) and the global subnetwork clustering coefficient (C), to quantitatively measure the spatial coupling strength of different gas-liquid flow patterns.

Activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling by autophagic degradation of APC contributes to the osteoblast differentiation effect of soy isoflavone on osteoporotic mesenchymal stem cells.

The functional role of autophagy in regulating differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been studied extensively, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in the initiation of osteoblast differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells, and the stability of core protein β-catenin is tightly controlled by the APC/Axin/GSK-3β/Ck1α complex. Here we showed that genistein, a predominant soy isoflavone, stimulated osteoblast differentiation of MSCs in vivo and in vitro.

Characterizing gas-liquid two-phase flow behavior using complex network and deep learning.

Gas-liquid two-phase flow is polymorphic and unstable, and characterizing its flow behavior is a major challenge in the study of multiphase flow. We first conduct dynamic experiments on gas-liquid two-phase flow in a vertical tube and obtain multi-channel signals using a self-designed four-sector distributed conductivity sensor. In order to characterize the evolution of gas-liquid two-phase flow, we transform the obtained signals using the adaptive optimal kernel time-frequency representation and build a complex network based on the time-frequency energy distribution.

Mefunidone ameliorates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury through inhibiting MAPK signaling pathway and enhancing Nrf2 pathway.

Background And Objective: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening disease which has high mortality and lacks effective pharmacological treatments. Excessive inflammation and oxidative stress are the key pathogenesis of ALI. Mefunidone (MFD), a novel small molecule compound, displayed anti-inflammation and anti-oxidative stress effects on streptozocin (STZ) and db/db mice in our previous studies.

Organic chloramines attenuation and disinfection by-product formation during UV, chlorination and UV/chlorine processes.

Organic chloramines (OCs) have become one of the research focuses in the field of drinking water treatment due to its limited oxidation and sterilization ability as well as potential cytotoxicity and genetic toxicity to the public. Among widespread OCs, produced by chlorinating cytosine are a typical one exists during chlorine disinfection. OCs degradation during UV, chlorination and UV/chlorine processes were systematically investigated.

Ideal nodal rings of one-dimensional photonic crystals in the visible region.

Three-dimensional (3D) artificial metacrystals host rich topological phases, such as Weyl points, nodal rings, and 3D photonic topological insulators. These topological states enable a wide range of applications, including 3D robust waveguides, one-way fiber, and negative refraction of the surface wave. However, these carefully designed metacrystals are usually very complex, hindering their extension to nanoscale photonic systems.

[Effects of bisphenol A exposure on proteins tyrosine phosphorylation in mammalian sperm].

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic estrogen compound, which widely exists in the environment, interferes with mammalian endocrine and affects the function of reproductive system of males. Taking fresh sperm of boar, 17 ℃ preservation boar sperm, and mouse sperm as test materials, we examined the effects of BPA (0, 0.1,1,10,100 μmol∙L) on proteins tyrosine phosphorylation in sperm and the molecular mechanism by using wes-tern blot (WB) and immunofluorescence techniques coupled to culture method.

Resolving the origins of invertebrate colonists in the Yangtze River Estuary with molecular markers: Implications for ecological connectivity.

Understanding connectivity over different spatial and temporal scales is fundamental for managing of ecological systems. However, controversy exists for wintertime ecological connectivity between the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE) and inner southwestern Yellow Sea. Here, we investigated ecological connectivity between the YRE and inner southwestern Yellow Sea in wintertime by precisely pinpointing the source of the newly colonized populations of a winter-spawning rocky intertidal invertebrate, (Philippi, 1844), on artificial structures along the coast of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) using mitochondrial ND6 sequences and microsatellite data.

Formation and control of organic chloramines and disinfection by-products during the degradation of pyrimidines and purines by UV/chlorine process in water.

Pyrimidine and purine bases (adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine) are important precursors of organic chloramines (OC) and disinfection by-products (DBPs) during chlor(am)ination. In this study, OC and DBP formation derived from pyrimidine and purine bases during chlor(am)ination, post-chlor(am)ination after pretreated by UV alone and UV/chlorination were systematically investigated with ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs, 265 and 275 nm) and low pressure mercury lamp (LPUV, 254 nm). The results revealed that higher OC formation was observed during chlorination than that during chloramination of pyrimidine and purine bases.

Investigating Effects of Plasma Apolipoprotein E on Ischemic Heart Disease Using Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: Observationally plasma apolipoprotein E (apoE) is positively associated with ischemic heart disease (IHD). A Mendelian randomization (MR) study suggesting apoE is unrelated to cardiovascular mortality did not consider specific isoforms. We used MR to obtain estimates of plasma apoE2, apoE3 and apoE4 on IHD, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B (apoB).

Quantitative Segmentation Analysis of the Radiological Changes by Using ITK-SNAP: Risk Assessment of the Severity and Recurrence of Medication-related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw.

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) severely impairs patients' quality of life and is remarkably refractory to treatment. There are lots of studies about identification of the radiographic features of MRONJ, yet reports about quantitative radiographic analysis for the risk assessment of the severity and recurrence of MRONJ are rarely heard. The aim of this study was to investigate the volumes of osteolytic lesions and radiodensity values of osteosclerotic lesions in MRONJ patients by using ITK-SNAP for severity prediction and prognosis evaluation.

Simultaneous determination of five alkaloids from Rauvolfia vomitoria in rat plasma by LC-MS/MS: Application to a comparative pharmacokinetic study in normal and type 2 diabetic rats.

Rauvolfia vomitoria is widely distributed in the tropical regions of Africa and Asia, and has been used in traditional folk medicine in China. Indole alkaloids were found to be major bioactive components, while the effects of diabetes mellitus on the pharmacokinetic parameters of the components have not been reflected in vivo. In this study, an efficient and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of five ingredients of R.

First mitochondrial genome of a periwinkle from the genus : .

The nearly complete sequence of the mitochondrial genome of the periwinkle is presented. This is the first mitochondrial genome of the genus and the fifth sequenced Littorinidae. The mitogenome of is 16,320 bp in size, with 37 genes and one partial control region.

Structural characterization of a novel polysaccharide from Pleurotus citrinopileatus and its antitumor activity on H22 tumor-bearing mice.

In this research, a novel polysaccharide (PCP) was extracted from Pleurotus citrinopileatus and purified by Sephadex G-150 gel column, and its antitumor activity was investigated using the model H22 tumor-bearing mice. PCP was found to be composed of arabinose, galactose, glucose, xylose, mannose and glucuronic acid in a proportion of 0.66: 14.

[Research progress on chemical composition and pharmacological effects of Periplocae Cortex and predictive analysis on Q-marker].

Periplocae Cortex is a traditional Chinese medicine in China, which is mainly produced in northeast China, north China, northwest China, southwest China. In recent years, the increasing in-depth research resulted in the discovery of anti-tumor and cardiac pharmacological activities of Periplocae Cortex, which has broad application prospects. On the basis of summarizing chemical components and pharmacological effects, combined with the theoretical system of Q-marker, the quality control components of Periplocae Cortex were predicted from the aspects of the correlation between chemical composition and traditional medicinal properties, traditional efficacy, and new clinical use, plasma composition, measurable composition, storage time by analyzing literature.