Understanding the Mechanism of Fe-N-C Catalyst Oxygen Reduction Reaction Performance Enhancement: The Impact of Iron Valence State and Nitrogen Content.

Optimizing non-noble catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial for advancing energy storage and conversion technologies. This study investigates the influence of iron valence states and nitrogen precursor contents on the physicochemical properties and electrochemical performance of lignin-based Fe-N-C catalysts. Catalysts are synthesized using different valence iron sources and varying pyrrole contents.

Greenness, Nighttime Light, and Couple Fecundability: A National Cohort Study Between 2014-2020.

Background: Reduced greenness and increased nighttime light (NTL) have been associated with adverse health outcomes; however, the impacts of greenness and NTL on human fecundability remain uncertain.

Methods: Data was collected from 14,239,365 couples across 31 provinces in China. Greenness exposure was estimated using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 1000-meter buffer zones, while NTL data was derived from the Visible and Infrared Imaging Suite Day Night Band aboard satellites, both based on individual residential addresses.

Impact of the national health insurance coverage policy on mecapegfilgrastim utilization for chemoradiotherapy-induced neutropenia in cancer patients in China: a retrospective real-world analysis.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate mecapegfilgrastim utilization for the prophylaxis of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in cancer patients and to assess changes caused by the National Health Insurance Coverage (NHIC) policy.

Methods: Individual patient data, including demographics, medical insurance status, cancer type, and tumor stage, were extracted from electronic medical records in an oncology specialty tertiary hospital in Jiangsu Province, China. An interrupted time series (ITS) analysis with a segmented regression model was applied to evaluate the NHIC policy's effects, and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify key factors influencing mecapegfilgrastim utilization.

AUCPro: AUC-Oriented Provable Robustness Learning.

The current studies of provable robustness for deep neural networks (DNNs) usually assume that the class distribution is overall balanced. However, in real-world applications especially for safety-sensitive systems, the class distribution often exhibits a long-tailed property. It is well-known that the Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) is a more proper metric for long-tailed learning problems.

Hardware-efficient quantum error correction via concatenated bosonic qubits.

To solve problems of practical importance, quantum computers probably need to incorporate quantum error correction, in which a logical qubit is redundantly encoded in many noisy physical qubits. The large physical-qubit overhead associated with error correction motivates the search for more hardware-efficient approaches. Here, using a superconducting quantum circuit, we realize a logical qubit memory formed from the concatenation of encoded bosonic cat qubits with an outer repetition code of distance d = 5 (ref.

Suboptimal Control of Small Dense Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Is Associated With Coronary Plaque Progression: An Intravascular Ultrasound Study.

Background: Plaque progression (PP) is critical between subclinical atherosclerosis and plaque rupture. Small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL-C) is considered as the most atherogenic lipoprotein. This study aims to investigate the relationship between sdLDL-C level and PP in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

Association between non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and macroalbuminuria: evidence from NHANES 1999-2018.

Purpose: The non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHHR) is a crucial lipid marker associated with various cardiovascular diseases. However, its relationship with kidney injury, particularly albuminuria, remains poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the association between NHHR and macroalbuminuria in U.

Study on Mechanical Properties and Impact Energy Release Characteristics of Skeleton-Structured Al/Ni Reactive Materials.

Reactive materials can be employed to realize the integration of damage element kinetic energy and chemical energy damage, as well as strengthen the destruction ability of warheads. Among them, Al/Ni material has become a research hotspot because of its simple structure, easy process, and high reaction heat. In this paper, a skeleton-structured Al/Ni reactive material was successfully prepared.

Factors affecting treatment adherence among patients with hypertension based on the PRECEDE model: A cross-sectional study from a delay discounting perspective.

Background: Hypertension is a significant global public health concern, and research shows that treatment adherence plays an important role in hypertension control. This study incorporated a novel factor in behavioral economics, delay discounting, into the predisposing factors within the PRECEDE model to explore the factors influencing adherence to treatment of patients with hypertension.

Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Jiangsu Province, China, in 2023 and included 1,123 patients with hypertension.

Plasma-driven integration of multifunctional active sites in three-dimensional self-supported catalysts for enhanced alkaline and seawater splitting.

Regulating the structure and composition is an important strategy to obtain high efficiency electrocatalyst. Herein, this paper proposes an innovative plasma-assisted approach to synthesize an efficient electrocatalyst with multiple active components (Co nanoparticles, oxygen vacancies, and CoFe layered double hydroxide nanosheets) covered on CoP nanowire array (denoted as PD-CoFe LDH@CoP, 'PD' is defined as plasma-driven approach) for alkaline water/seawater splitting. The hierarchical nanostructure can endow the catalyst with more substantial mass transfer and expose more active sites.

A refined analysis of Neanderthal-introgressed sequences in modern humans with a complete reference genome.

Background: Leveraging long-read sequencing technologies, the first complete human reference genome, T2T-CHM13, corrects assembly errors in previous references and resolves the remaining 8% of the genome. While studies on archaic admixture in modern humans have so far relied on the GRCh37 reference due to the availability of archaic genome data, the impact of T2T-CHM13 in this field remains unexplored.

Results: We remap the sequencing reads of the high-quality Altai Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes onto GRCh38 and T2T-CHM13.

Enhancing Intelligent HVAC optimization with graph attention networks and stacking ensemble learning, a recommender system approach in Shenzhen Qianhai Smart Community.

This study details the design and implementation of an intelligent HVAC optimization system in the Shenzhen Qianhai Smart Community, utilizing advanced machine learning methods like Graph Attention Networks (GATs) and stacking ensemble learning. A comprehensive sensor network monitored temperature, humidity, occupancy, and air quality, allowing for real-time data collection and responsive control. Data preprocessing involved Z-score normalization and feature engineering to improve model accuracy.

Risk-adapted stereotactic body radiation therapy for the treatment of large (>3 cm) primary lung cancer with or without histologic confirmation: A propensity score matched and weighted analysis.

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is a promising therapeutic approach for inoperable, small (≤3 cm) primary lung cancer. However, the efficacy and safety of risk-adapted SBRT for treating large (>3 cm) primary lung cancer remains inadequately characterized.

Patients And Methods: Patients with large (>3 cm) primary lung cancer, diagnosed either clinically or histologically, were recruited between November 1, 2010 and December 31, 2022.

Effects of trace element dysregulation on brain structure and function in spinocerebellar Ataxia type 3.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), a neurodegenerative disorder caused by excess CAG repeats in the ATXN3 gene, leads to progressive cerebellar ataxia and other symptoms. The results of previous studies suggest that trace element dysregulation contributes to neurodegenerative disorder onset. Here, we investigated the relationships of trace element dysregulation with CAG repeat length, clinical severity, and brain structural and functional connectivity in 45 patients with SCA3 and 44 healthy controls (HCs).

Automatic cervical lymph nodes detection and segmentation in heterogeneous computed tomography images using deep transfer learning.

To develop a deep learning model using transfer learning for automatic detection and segmentation of neck lymph nodes (LNs) in computed tomography (CT) images, the study included 11,013 annotated LNs with a short-axis diameter ≥ 3 mm from 626 head and neck cancer patients across four hospitals. The nnUNet model was used as a baseline, pre-trained on a large-scale head and neck dataset, and then fine-tuned with 4,729 LNs from hospital A for detection and segmentation. Validation was conducted on an internal testing cohort (ITC A) and three external testing cohorts (ETCs B, C, and D), with 1684 and 4600 LNs, respectively.

Regulation of the diabetic immune microenvironment by metformin-loaded strontium-doped mesoporous bioactive glass facilitates bone regeneration.

Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in the diabetic microenvironment often hinder the healing of bone defects. Metformin (MET), the first-line diabetes medication, was shown to alter macrophage polarization toward an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype, while simultaneously suppressing excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Strontium-doped mesoporous bioactive glasses (SrMBG) also showed promising benefits in promoting bone regeneration.

The Role of Glutamine Synthetase on the Sensitivity to Radiotherapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between radiotherapy sensitivity, glutamine synthetase (GS), and oxidative stress (OS) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. HCC cells were X-ray irradiated, and the effect of glutamine synthetase inhibition on the proliferative capacity of HCC cells was examined using the CCK-8 colony formation assay. Real-time quantitative PCR assays were used to detect the effect of L-methionine sulfoximine (MSO) on cellular glutamine synthetase expression levels and the efficiency of glutamine synthetase knockdown in HepG2 cells.

Activation of the conserved Hippo kinases by inflammasome-triggered proteolytic cleavage controls programmed cell death in macrophages.

The mammalian Hippo kinases, MST1 and MST2, regulate organ development and suppress tumor formation by balancing cell proliferation and death. In macrophages, inflammasomes detect molecular patterns from invading pathogens or damaged host cells and trigger programmed cell death. In addition to lytic pyroptosis, the signatures associated with apoptosis are induced by inflammasome activation, but how the inflammasomes coordinate different cell death processes remains unclear.

Hemodynamic analysis of left ventricular unloading with Impella versus IABP during VA-ECMO.

: The utilization of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and Impella has been suggested as means of left ventricular unloading in veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) patients. This study aimed to assess the local hemodynamic alterations in VA-ECMO patients through simulation analyses. : In this study, a 0D-3D multiscale model was developed, wherein resistance conditions were employed to define the flow-pressure relationship.

The Role of TRPV1/CGRP Pathway Activated by in Pathogenesis of Oral Lichen Planus.

The distinctive clinicopathologic characteristics of OLP indicated that both microbial dysbiosis and neurogenic inflammation may be jointly involved in its progression, and transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor-1 (TRPV1) may be a crucial element. The purpose of this study was to explore how TRPV1 mediated -induced inflammation. Meanwhile, we aimed to unravel how IL-36γ dysregulated the barrier function in oral keratinocytes.

LGALS3BP: A Potential Prognostic Biomarker Influencing Antitumor Immunity in Triple-negative Breast Cancer.

Objective: LGALS3BP exhibits differential expression in various types of tumors. This study aimed to analyze its potential diagnostic and prognostic value in Triple- negative Breast Cancer (TNBC).

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive analysis of LGALS3BP's differential expression and its association with patient survival outcomes using data from public databases.

Glaucomatous retinal ganglion cells: death and protection.

Glaucoma is a group of diseases characterized by progressive optic nerve degeneration, with the characteristic pathological change being death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which ultimately causes visual field loss and irreversible blindness. Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) remains the most important risk factor for glaucoma, but the exact mechanism responsible for the death of RGCs is currently unknown. Neurotrophic factor deficiency, impaired mitochondrial structure and function, disrupted axonal transport, disturbed Ca homeostasis, and activation of apoptotic and autophagic pathways play important roles in RGC death in glaucoma.

A nomogram for predicting overall survival in patients with gastric cancer based on tumor suppressor RCAN1.4 expression and clinical risk factors.

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most prevalent malignant tumors in the world and has an extremely poor prognosis. Regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1), a known tumor suppressor in various cancers, has an undefined role in the proliferation and metastasis of GC. Primary tumor and paired normal gastric tissues were collected from 77 patients with GC for evaluating the mRNA levels of 3 RCAN1 transcripts.

from Improves Drought Tolerance by Reducing Stomatal Aperture and Inducing ABA Receptor Family Genes in Transgenic Poplar Plants.

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family members are involved in plant growth and development, physiological metabolism, and various stress response processes. is a major turpentine-producing and wood-producing tree in seasonally dry areas of southern China. Its economic and ecological values are well known.