Case management strategy enhances virological response in people living with human immunodeficiency virus in a resource-limited region in Southwest China: a real-world prospective observational study.

This study assessed the effectiveness of case management compared to that of standard care in improving treatment outcomes for first-time antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients in Liangshan Prefecture, China. First-time ART patients (total n = 828) were divided into the Standard Care Group (SCG, n = 419) and Case Management Group (CMG, n = 409). At week 48, the CMG showed higher retention rates (97.

Environmental DNA/RNA metabarcoding for noninvasive and comprehensive monitoring and assessment of marine fishes.

Marine fisheries resources are under increasing threat, necessitating the development of new effective monitoring and management strategies. Environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA (eRNA) metabarcoding has emerged as a non-invasive and sensitive alternative method for monitoring fish biodiversity and fisheries resources and assessing the fisheries impact of anthropogenic activities. Here, we summarize crucial technical details about eDNA metabarcoding for marine fish monitoring and provide meta-analytical trends in primer selection and sample size, assessment standards, fish and fisheries databases, reference fish genomic databases, and other relevant metrics.

The efficacy and safety of dual-target rTMS over dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and cerebellum in the treatment of negative symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia: Protocol for a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study.

Background And Objective: The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) - cerebellum circuit has been implicated in the pathogenesis of negative symptoms of schizophrenia (SZ). Both areas are considered separate targets for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment, showing potential for improving negative symptoms. However, there is still a lack of research that targets both DLPFC and cerebellum simultaneously.

Research Progress and Application of Miniature CRISPR-Cas12 System in Gene Editing.

CRISPR-Cas system, a natural acquired immune system in prokaryotes that defends against exogenous DNA invasion because of its simple structure and easy operation, has been widely used in many research fields such as synthetic biology, crop genetics and breeding, precision medicine, and so on. The miniature CRISPR-Cas12 system has been an emerging genome editing tool in recent years. Compared to the commonly used CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas12a, the miniature CRISPR-Cas12 system has unique advantages, such as rich PAM sites, higher specificity, smaller volume, and cytotoxicity.

Whole-Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Regulatory Network of Immune Response in Dapulian Pig.

There is a consensus that indigenous pigs in China are more resistant than modern commercial pigs in terms of disease resistance. Generally, the immune response is an important part of anti-disease capability; however, the related mechanism in pigs is largely puzzling. Here, the public transcriptome data of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from Dapulian (Chinese local breed) and Landrace (Commercial breed) pigs after stimulation with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I:C, a conventional reagent used for simulation of the viral infection) were reanalyzed, and the immune response mechanism in different pig breeds was investigated from a transcriptomic perspective.

Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics insights into microbial enhancement of HS removal and CO assimilation.

This study focuses on the coupled process of bio-enhanced absorption and biodesulfurization for the toxic gas HS and the greenhouse gas CO. The results show that on the basis of stabilized absorption of HS and CO by alkaline solution (Stage I), the addition of air-lift bioreactor process solution in the absorption column enhanced their absorption (Stage II). Specifically, at constant inlet concentrations of H₂S and CO₂ of 3% (30,000 ppmv) and 30% (300,000 ppmv), respectively, the outlet gases were primarily H₂S, CO₂, and N₂.

Enhancing Environment Resistance and Bioactivity of Pesticide Enabled by Structure-Controllable Polymer Nanocarriers: Emphasizing the Role of Morphology.

Nano-formulated pesticides are increasingly desired to control the insect pest and plant disease with superior efficacy for guaranteeing the high yield and quality in crop production. However, the impact of nanocarrier morphology on pesticide resistance against rainwash, photolysis, and overall pesticide bioactivity remains unknown. In this work, a series of well-defined and morphology-controllable polymer nanocarriers for pesticide are fabricated through polymerization-induced self-assembly.

Prior Knowledge-Guided U-Net for Automatic CTV Segmentation in Postmastectomy Radiotherapy of Breast Cancer.

Purpose: This study aimed to design and evaluate a prior-knowledge-guided U-Net (PK-UNet) for automatic clinical target volume (CTV) segmentation in postmastectomy radiotherapy for breast cancer.

Methods And Materials: A total of 102 computed tomography (CT) scans from breast cancer patients who underwent postmastectomy were retrospectively collected. Of these, 80 scans were used for training with 5-fold cross-validation, and 22 scans for independent testing.

Enhancing automatic sleep stage classification with cerebellar EEG and machine learning techniques.

Sleep disorders have become a significant health concern in modern society. To investigate and diagnose sleep disorders, sleep analysis has emerged as the primary research method. Conventional polysomnography primarily relies on cerebral electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) for sleep stage scoring, but manual scoring is time-consuming and subjective.

Boosted Na-MnO supercapacitor performance via strong metal support interaction.

MnO is widely utilized as an electrode material in supercapacitors. However, overcoming challenges such as sluggish ion migration, aggregate tendency, and low conductivity is imperative for optimizing MnO-based supercapacitors. Herein, NaMnO was employed as the Mn precursor to introducing a higher concentration of small Na ions into the layer structure of δ-MnO.

Eight new species and four new records of the leafhopper genus Agnesiella Dworakowska (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae) from China.

Eight new species of the leafhopper genus Agnesiella Dworakowska are described and illustrated, including Agnesiella (Agnesiella) hamaculeata, A. (A.) nigroflava, A.

Two-Dimensional Rare-Earth Metal Phosphides: From Weyl Semimetal to Semiconductor.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have garnered extensive attention owing to their unique properties and versatile application. Here, a family of 2D rare-earth metal phosphides (MP, M = Sc, Y, La) and their derivatives MPOT (T = F, OH) is developed to find their topological and electronic properties on the basis of density functional theory simulations. We show that the 2D MP compounds are most possibly obtained from thermodynamically stable MInP by chemical exfoliation.

Femtosecond laser inscription of Bragg gratings in Tm-doped fluorotellurite glass fibers for lasing at 2.3 µm.

In this paper, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are inscribed in Tm-doped fluorotellurite glass fiber (TDFTF) and applied to construction of a 2.3-µm all-fiber laser. The FBGs with a center wavelength of 2.

Microfacies Characteristics of Late Pennsylvanian Cyclothems on the Carbonate Platform Margin in Guizhou, South China.

Late Pennsylvanian cyclothems are documented from the carbonate platform margin in Guizhou, South China, providing a unique opportunity to study glacio-eustatic fluctuations and their impact on reef development. This paper focuses on a shallow-water, reef-bearing succession and a deep-water succession in the Houchang area of Guizhou. Fourteen microfacies, grouped into seven associations, represent distinct depositional environments.

Association of prognostic nutritional index with the presence and all-cause mortality of rheumatoid arthritis: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2018.

Background: The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) is a comprehensive measure of individual immune and nutritional status. This study aimed to evaluate the role of PNI in the presence and mortality of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: This study used data of participants aged ≥ 40 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2018.

General-purpose machine-learned potential for 16 elemental metals and their alloys.

Machine-learned potentials (MLPs) have exhibited remarkable accuracy, yet the lack of general-purpose MLPs for a broad spectrum of elements and their alloys limits their applicability. Here, we present a promising approach for constructing a unified general-purpose MLP for numerous elements, demonstrated through a model (UNEP-v1) for 16 elemental metals and their alloys. To achieve a complete representation of the chemical space, we show, via principal component analysis and diverse test datasets, that employing one-component and two-component systems suffices.

Effects of rock content and spatial distribution on the stability of soil rock mixture embankments.

Soil-rock mixture embankments are essential for infrastructure stability, particularly in high-fill construction projects. This study evaluates the effects of rock content and spatial distribution of rock blocks on the bearing capacity, stability, and failure sliding surfaces of SRM embankments through static load model tests. An Equation for Sliding Surface of Block-Rock Content and Distribution was developed to calculate sliding surfaces based on rock content and distribution, and validated it through numerical simulation experiments.

Standing-wave atom tweezer.

We report on the experimental realization of a standing-wave atom tweezer (SWAT) by aligning tightly focused dipole laser beams from a commercial objective lens and a metalens on a chip. By independently tuning the laser intensities of the two beams, we demonstrate the controlled loading of multiple atoms into the SWAT. We systematically investigate the influence of the standing-wave potential modulation depth on single-atom loading dynamics and quantitatively estimate the number of atoms in the SWAT by calculating the fluorescence of trapped atoms.

Enhancing puncture skills training with generative AI and digital technologies: a parallel cohort study.

Background: Traditional puncture skills training for refresher doctors faces limitations in effectiveness and efficiency. This study explored the application of generative AI (ChatGPT), templates, and digital imaging to enhance puncture skills training.

Methods: 90 refresher doctors were enrolled sequentially into 3 groups: traditional training; template and digital imaging training; and ChatGPT, template and digital imaging training.