Machine learning-based models for advanced fibrosis in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis patients: A cohort study.

Background: The global prevalence of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and its associated risk of adverse outcomes, particularly in patients with advanced liver fibrosis, underscores the importance of early and accurate diagnosis.

Aim: To develop a machine learning-based diagnostic model for advanced liver fibrosis in NASH patients.

Methods: A total of 749 patients who underwent liver biopsy at Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, between January 2010 and January 2020 were included.

Solar-driven production of renewable chemicals via biomass hydrogenation with green methanol.

Solar-driven, selective biomass hydrogenation is recognized as a promising route to renewable chemicals production, but remains challenging. Here, we report a TiO supported Cu single-atom catalyst with a four-coordinated Cu-O structure, which can be universally applied for solar-driven production of various renewable chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass-derived platform molecules with good yields using green methanol as a hydrogen donor, to address this challenge. It is significant that the biomass upgrading driven by natural sunlight on a gram scale demonstrates the great practical potential.

An Integrated Analysis of the Role of Gut Microbiome-Associated Metabolites in the Detection of MASH-Related Cirrhosis.

Background And Aim: The prevalence and adverse outcomes of metabolic dysfunction associated with steatotic liver disease (MAFLD) are increasing. The changes in the gut microbiota and metabolites associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) are regarded as an essential part of the progression of MAFLD. This study aimed to identify the gut microbiota and metabolites involved in the development of MAFLD in patients.

Light-Driven Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction with 1000-H Stability on High-Entropy Alloy Catalysts.

Highly stable and active catalysts are of significant importance and a longstanding challenge for a number of industrial chemical transformations. Here, motivated by the principle of the high entropy-stabilized structure, high-entropy alloy-loaded porous TiO as an efficient and sintering-resistant catalyst for the light-driven reverse water gas‒shift reaction without external heating is synthesized. The optimized CoNiCuPdRu/TiO catalyst exhibits a long-term stability of 1000 h (1.

Control of compound leaf patterning by MULTI-PINNATE LEAF1 (MPL1) in chickpea.

Plant lateral organs are often elaborated through repetitive formation of developmental units, which progress robustly in predetermined patterns along their axes. Leaflets in compound leaves provide an example of such units that are generated sequentially along the longitudinal axis, in species-specific patterns. In this context, we explored the molecular mechanisms underlying an acropetal mode of leaflet initiation in chickpea pinnate compound leaf patterning.

Response of seed germination and seedling emergence of to rain frequency and temperature change from four desert ecosystems, Northwest China.

Climate change will result in variation of rain frequency and amount and warming in arid zones, which is expected to affect seed germination and seedling emergence in desert ecosystems. However, the effects of unpredictable rainfall and increasing temperature on seed germination and seedling emergence of dominant desert plants remain unclear across different deserts, which are important for population regeneration and community succession in desert ecosystems. Seed germination and seedling emergence of across four deserts in Northwest China were examined at different rain frequencies with same total amount, and constant and alternating temperatures, to investigate their response to climate change.

Coupled improvements on hydrodynamics and water quality by flowing water in towns with lakes.

With the worsening environmental problems in the plain river network, flowing water has become important because of its obvious improvement effect. In order to solve water quality and water mobility problems of the river network in Shengze Town, this paper establishes four flowing water scenarios and compares the associated improvements in water quality and hydrodynamics of the river network with the use of coupled hydrodynamic and water quality models. It is identified as the best scenario to dispatch 20 m/s of water from the Xiegang River downstream of the Qingxi River and 20 m/s of water from Lake Xiangjiadang to Lake Beiyandang.

Systematic Identification and Expression Analysis of the Sorghum Gene Family Reveals Several New Members Encoding High-Affinity Phosphate Transporters.

Sorghum () is known to have a more robust capability of phosphorus uptake than many other cereal plants, which could be attributed to its phosphate transporter 1 (Pht1) that has a high phosphorus affinity. There are eleven genes in the sorghum genome, nine of which are expressed in sorghum roots or shoots in response to phosphorus deficiency (low-P). The molecular features of these nine genes were investigated by gene expression analysis, subcellular localization, and a yeast mutant complementation growth assay.

A Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton: Reducing the Energy Cost of Human Movement.

Human body enhancement is an interesting branch of robotics. It focuses on wearable robots in order to improve the performance of human body, reduce energy consumption and delay fatigue, as well as increase body speed. Robot-assisted equipment, such as wearable exoskeletons, are wearable robot systems that integrate human intelligence and robot power.

Overexpression of VvASMT1 from grapevine enhanced salt and osmotic stress tolerance in Nicotiana benthamiana.

Salt and drought stresses are major environmental conditions that severely limit grape growth and productivity, while exogenous melatonin can alleviate the drought and salt damage to grapevines. N-acetylserotonin methyltransferase (ASMT) is the key enzyme in melatonin synthesis, which plays a critical role in regulating stress responses. However, the roles of ASMTs from grapevine under drought and salt stresses responses remain largely unclear.

DiZF-C3H1, a zinc finger transcription factor from the dove tree (Davidia involucrata Baill.), plays a negative role in seed development and plant growth in Arabidopsis and tobacco.

Low seed fertility seriously limits the survival and adaption of rare plant species. Here, we identified a seed-specific gene, DiZF-C3H1, from the dove tree and verified its function. Overexpression of DiZF-C3H1 caused retarded root development, delayed anthesis, abnormal floral organs, and deformed siliques in transgenic Arabidopsis lines.

Cloning and Functional Identification of Phosphoethanolamine Methyltransferase in Soybean ().

Phosphoethanolamine methyltransferase (PEAMT), a kind of S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases, plays an essential role in many biological processes of plants, such as cell metabolism, stress response, and signal transduction. It is the key rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the three-step methylation of ethanolamine-phosphate (P-EA) to phosphocholine (P-Cho). To understand the unique function of PEAMT in soybean () lipid synthesis, we cloned two phosphoethanolamine methyltransferase genes and , and performed functional identification.

Parametric characteristics analysis of three cells in 3D and five-directional annular braided composites.

On the basis of analyzing the movement law of 3D circular braided yarn, the three-cell model of 3D five-direction circular braiding composite material is established. By analyzing the node position relationship in various cell models, the calculation formulas of braiding angle, cell volume, fiber volume and fiber volume content in various cell models are obtained. It is found that there are four different braiding angles in four internal cells, and the braiding angles in internal cells gradually increase from inside to outside.

Fuzheng Jiedu Xiaoji formulation inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma progression in patients by targeting the AKT/CyclinD1/p21/p27 pathway.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with limited treatment options. Conventional antitumor therapy combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to limit tumor progression has gradually become the focus of complementary and alternative therapies for HCC treatment. The Fuzheng Jiedu Xiaoji formulation (FZJDXJ) alleviates the clinical symptoms of patients and inhibits tumor progression, but its curative effect still requires extensive clinical research and mechanistic analysis.

Statistical ankle-shape and pressure analysis for design of elastic tubular bandage.

Ankles can benefit from the elastic tube bandage (ETB) by providing the ankle joint with compression, but partial high- or low-pressure leads to body discomfort. The aim of this paper is to propose a method for analyzing the ankle shape with the fabric compression which is basis on the comfortable pressure on human body. First, a standard model of ankle is established from the scanned data of 306 samples, and the mapping of the fabric shape curves on ankle were constructed by the U-direction convex curves of the model.

New method to calculate the dynamic factor-flow velocity in Geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph.

The determination of characteristic flow velocity is a hydrodynamic problem needs to be solved in the application of geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph (GIUH) for runoff simulation in areas with no or limited data. In this study, 120 watersheds are collected to construct a regression model; 85 of these basins are used for regression analysis, and the 35 remaining basins are utilized to verify the feasibility of the constructed model. Random forest algorithm is applied to screen out important geomorphologic factors from the 16 extracted factors that may affect flow velocity.

Identification of an inositol-3-phosphate synthase 1-B gene (AccIPS1-B) from Apis cerana cerana and its role in abiotic stress.

Inositol phosphate synthase (IPS) is a rate-limiting enzyme in myo-inositol biosynthesis, which can regulate stress responses in plants and animals. However, there are few studies on the function of IPS in insects, especially in Apis cerana cerana. In this study, the inositol-3-phosphate synthase 1-B gene (AccIPS1-B) was isolated from Apis cerana cerana, and its connection to antioxidant defence was investigated.

Downregulation of serum RAB27B confers improved prognosis and is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma progression through PI3K-AKT-P21 signaling.

Previous study revealed that elevated expression of RAB27B in tissues is correlated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression; however, the mechanisms involved in promoting HCC development are still unclear. Moreover, HCC tissues are not readily obtained during routine diagnosis. Therefore, to further explore its potential value in early diagnosis, we examined RAB27B expression in patient sera.

An approach to EEG-based emotion recognition using combined feature extraction method.

EEG signal has been widely used in emotion recognition. However, too many channels and extracted features are used in the current EEG-based emotion recognition methods, which lead to the complexity of these methods This paper studies on feature extraction on EEG-based emotion recognition model to overcome those disadvantages, and proposes an emotion recognition method based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and sample entropy. The proposed method first employs EMD strategy to decompose EEG signals only containing two channels into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs).

Sea cucumber peptides exert anti-inflammatory activity through suppressing NF-κB and MAPK and inducing HO-1 in RAW264.7 macrophages.

The anti-inflammatory effect of sea cucumber peptides (SCP) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 murine macrophages was tested. SCP significantly reduced LPS-induced nitric oxide release by inhibiting the inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA expression without affecting the cell viability.

You-Gui pills promote nerve regeneration by regulating netrin1, DCC and Rho family GTPases RhoA, Racl, Cdc42 in C57BL/6 mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: You-Gui pills (YGPs) are an effective traditional Chinese formula being used clinically for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Previous studies demonstrated that YGPs exerted the potent neuroprotective effects in murine models of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), which is an equivalent animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the mechanism of YGPs functions remained unclear.

Impacts of urbanization on river system structure: a case study on Qinhuai River Basin, Yangtze River Delta.

Stream structure is usually dominated by various human activities over a short term. An analysis of variation in stream structure from 1979 to 2009 in the Qinhuai River Basin, China, was performed based on remote sensing images and topographic maps by using ArcGIS. A series of river parameters derived from river geomorphology are listed to describe the status of river structure in the past and present.