Publications by authors named "Miao Zhao"

Purpose: As a globally popular physical activity, swimming also presents challenges due to its inherent aquatic risks. Therefore, the cultivation of swimming competence emerges as a crucial strategy in preventing drowning incidents. This study aimed to develop and validate the Swimming Competence Assessment Scale in College Students (SCAS) to address the gap in structured swimming proficiency evaluation, essential for drowning prevention and water safety education.

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Mechanical computing promises to integrate semiconductor-based digital logic in several applications, but it needs straightforward programmable devices for changing computing rules in situ. A methodology based on strain-governed, bistable soft shells that process digital information by interchanging their internal/external surfaces is proposed. This bistable behavior, explained via model-based design, safeguards robustness by working only once for each input pulse.

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Overexpression of the eukaryotic initiation factor 4E () gene has been associated with excessive stereotypic behaviors and reduced sociability, which manifest as autism-like social cognitive deficits. However, the precise mechanisms by which overexpression insufficiently induces these autism-like behaviors and the specific brain regions implicated remain insufficiently understood. Oxytocin (OXT), a neurotransmitter known for its role in social behavior, has been proposed to modulate certain autism-related symptoms by influencing microglial function and attenuating neuroinflammation.

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  • - Coughing serves as a protective reflex to remove harmful substances from the airway, but how the brain processes this reflex isn't fully understood.
  • - Researchers created a method to quantitatively assess cough-like reflexes in mice and discovered that specific neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) play a critical role in these reflexes.
  • - The activation of these NTS neurons, which receive signals from vagal sensory neurons, triggers respiratory responses similar to coughing, highlighting their importance in initiating cough-like reflexes via a specific neural pathway to the cough center in the brain.
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The number of quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has continued to increase over the past decade.

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To elucidate the variation patterns in the hydrochemical characteristics of karst groundwater in the Baiquan Spring area of Xingtai over the past 30 years, an integrated approach utilizing mathematical statistics, Piper trilinear diagrams, Gibbs diagrams, and ion ratio analyses was employed. Comparative analysis was conducted on 62 sets of karst water samples collected during the dry seasons of 1991 and 2020. The findings indicated that the groundwater in the spring area was generally weakly alkaline with a low salinization degree, predominantly characterized by Ca and HCO as the dominant ions.

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  • Scientists need new ways to prevent and treat a type of throat cancer called esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
  • In this study, researchers found out that a protein called DDX5 helps this cancer grow by working with another molecule called VAV3, making it stick around longer in cells.
  • They discovered a substance called Methylnissolin-3-β-D-O-glucoside (MD) that can slow down the cancer by targeting DDX5 and stopping it from helping the cancer grow.
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Enhancing white adipose tissue (WAT) browning combats obesity. The RIIβ subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is primarily expressed in the brain and adipose tissue. Deletion of the hypothalamic RIIβ gene centrally induces WAT browning, yet the peripheral mechanisms mediating this process remain unexplored.

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Introduction: The connection between aging and cancer is complex. Previous research has highlighted the association between the aging process of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells and the immune response, yet there remains a gap in confirming this through single-cell data validation. Here, we aim to develop a novel aging-related prognostic model for LUAD, and verify the alterations in the genome and immune microenvironment linked to cellular senescence.

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Background: Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a monogenic disorder characterized by bilateral calcifications in the brain. The genetic basis remains unknown in over half of the PFBC patients, indicating the existence of additional novel causative genes. NAA60 was a recently reported novel causative gene for PFBC.

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Organic carbon mineralization is the main driving force of metal migration and transformation in sediments, greatly influencing the distribution, pollution degree, and toxicity of toxic metals. However, relevant research on this subject is still limited. In this study, the concentration of toxic metals (Cr, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, As) in the solid and liquid phase (porewater) of sediments were measured, toxic metal pollution degree and toxicity of the Yellow Sea (YS) and the East China Sea (ECS) were assessed.

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As a significant trade item on the ancient Silk Road, the evolution of mug shapes represents a confluence of Eastern and Western economic history and cultural-artistic exchanges, also reflecting the flourishing export culture of Guangzhou. This paper analyzes the functional and social factors influencing the morphological changes of Lingnan mugs from 1616 to 1949 from the perspective of quantitative typological analysis. The overall design trend of these mugs transitioned from complex to simple, enhancing user comfort, while variations in mug scale reflect the diversity of consumer classes and regional drinking cultures.

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  • Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a genetic neurological disorder with no current effective treatment, linked to mutations in the SLC20A2 gene.
  • Researchers identified five new genetic variants in the SLC20A2 gene that disrupt normal splicing of its pre-mRNA, leading to dysfunctional protein production.
  • The use of splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) not only helped restore functional SLC20A2 expression in affected cells but also showed promise in reducing brain calcification and controlling phosphorus levels in animal models, highlighting a potential therapeutic approach for PFBC.
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Background: Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the most common congenital heart disease. Although a small number of genes associated with VSD have been found, the genetic factors of VSD remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the association of 10 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with isolated VSD in a population from Southwest China.

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Background: The cause of food allergy (FA) is still a mystery. Telomerases are involved in the regulation of immune responses. This study aims to gain an understanding of the contribution of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) to the pathogenesis of FA.

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N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-bound -quinodimethane, served as a nucleophile, has occupied an important position for constructing various all-carbon or heterocyclic compounds and attracted increasing attention for the functionalization of benzylic carbon of aromatic aldehydes, whereas the mechanistic studies on the generation and transformations of dienolate intermediate are rare. In the present study, the mechanism of activation/transformation of aldehyde catalyzed by NHC was theoretically studied using the density functional theory (DFT) method. Based on the calculations, the nucleophilic addition process is the stereoselectivity-determining step with -configured product being generated preferentially.

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  • Scientists discovered that problems with phosphate (Pi) levels in the brain can cause brain calcification and worsen brain damage.
  • They found that certain genes, Pit2 and Xpr1, are really important for moving Pi in brain cells called astrocytes, which help control Pi levels.
  • By fixing the problems with these genes in mice, they were able to reduce brain calcification, suggesting that boosting how astrocytes handle Pi could be a good way to help treat brain issues.
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Background And Purpose: Sodium channel blockers (SCBs) have traditionally been utilized as anti-seizure medications by primarily targeting the inactivation process. In a drug discovery project aiming at finding potential anticonvulsants, we have identified arbidol, originally an antiviral drug, as a potent SCB. In order to evaluate its anticonvulsant potential, we have thoroughly examined its biophysical properties as well as its effects on animal seizure models.

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: Gout is a nutrition-related, highly prevalent inflammatory arthritis with undesirable effects on the quality of life. The relationships between circulating fatty acids (FAs) and gout remain poorly understood. : We included 268 174 participants with plasma FAs measured using nuclear magnetic resonance at the baseline (2006-2010) from the UK Biobank, of which 15 194 participants had repeated measures of FAs between 2012 and 2013.

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Chitin is the most productive nitrogen-containing polysaccharide in nature with immense potential for transforming into a range of chemicals. However, its dense crystal structure poses a challenge for depolymerization, limiting its applications. To overcome these challenges, a novel series of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on benzyltrimethylammonium chloride (TMBAC) as the hydrogen bond acceptor was developed.

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  • * Lignin, an abundant and renewable polymer mainly produced as waste in paper mills, presents an opportunity for sustainable development by creating valuable carbon materials after carbonization.
  • * The paper discusses methods to enhance the electrochemical properties of lignin through heteroatom doping, which can improve its performance in energy storage applications by modifying its structure and increasing active sites.
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In spite of recent advances in the field of undernutrition, current dietary therapy relying on the supply of high protein high calorie formulas is still plagued with transient recovery of impaired organs resulting in significant relapse of cases. This is partly attributed to the inadequacy of current research models in recapitulating clinical undernutrition for mechanistic exploration. Using 1636 Macaca fascicularis monkeys, a human-relevant criterion for determining undernutrition weight-for-age z-score (WAZ), with a cutoff point of ≤ -1.

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Medulloblastomas comprise a molecularly diverse set of malignant pediatric brain tumors in which patients are stratified according to different prognostic risk groups that span from very good to very poor. Metastasis at diagnosis is most often a marker of poor prognosis and the relapse incidence is higher in these children. Medulloblastoma relapse is almost always fatal and recurring cells have, apart from resistance to standard of care, acquired genetic and epigenetic changes that correlate with an increased dormancy state, cell state reprogramming and immune escape.

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Many solid crystals exhibit a structural phase transition where a subset of its ions or entire molecules become orientationally ordered. As to why such ordering occurs remains mostly unresolved. We consider the extremely weak magnetic elements arising from the reorientations of the molecules experiencing mutual resonance to play the chief role.

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