The abscisic acid-responsive element binding factors MAPKKK18 module regulates abscisic acid-induced leaf senescence in Arabidopsis.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 18 (MAPKKK18) has been reported to play a role in abiotic stress priming in long-term abscisic acid (ABA) response including drought tolerance and leaf senescence. However, the upstream transcriptional regulators of MAPKKK18 remain to be determined. Here, we report ABA-responsive element binding factors (ABFs) as upstream transcription factors of MAPKKK18 expression. Mutants of abf2, abf3, abf4, and abf2abf3abf4 dramatically reduced the transcription of MAPKKK18. Our electrophoresis mobility shift assay and dual-luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 bound to ABA-responsive element cis-elements within the promoter of MAPKKK18 to transactivate its expression. Furthermore, enrichments of the promoter region of MAPKKK18 by ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 were confirmed by in vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with quantitative PCR. In addition, we found that mutants of mapkkk18 exhibited obvious delayed leaf senescence. Moreover, a genetic study showed that overexpression of ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 in the background of mapkkk18 mostly phenocopied the stay-green phenotype of mapkkk18 and, expression levels of five target genes of ABFs, that is, NYE1, NYE2, NYC1, PAO, and SAG29, were attenuated as a result of MAPKKK18 mutation. These findings demonstrate that ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 act as transcription regulators of MAPKKK18 and also suggest that, at least in part, ABA acts in priming leaf senescence via ABF-induced expression of MAPKKK18.

A negative emotional state impairs individuals' ability to filter distractors from working memory: an ERP study.

Capacity-limited visual working memory (VWM) requires that individuals have sufficient memory space and the ability to filter distractors. Negative emotional states are known to impact VWM storage, yet their influence on distractor filtering within VWM remains underexplored. We conducted direct neural measurement of participants (n = 56) who conducted a lateralized change detection task with distractors, while manipulating the emotional state by presenting neutral or negative images before each trial. We found a detrimental effect of distractors on memory accuracy under both neutral and negative emotional states. Using the event-related potential (ERP) component, contralateral delay activity (CDA; sensitive to VWM load), to observe the VWM load in each condition, we found that in the neutral state, the participants showed significantly higher late CDA amplitudes when remembering 4 targets compared with 2 targets and 2 targets with 2 distractors but no significant difference when remembering 2 targets compared with 2 targets with 2 distractors. In the negative state, no significant CDA amplitude differences were evident when remembering 4 targets and 2 targets, but CDA was significantly higher when remembering 2 targets with 2 distractors compared with 2 targets. These results suggest that the maximum number of items participants could store in VWM was lower under negative emotional states than under neutral emotional states. Importantly, the participants could filter out distractors when in a neutral emotional state but not in a negative emotional state, indicating that negative emotional states impair their ability to filter out distractors in VWM.

Rational Design of Nitride Phosphor-In-Glass with Robust Stability and Photoluminescence Performance.

Phosphor-in-glass represents a promising avenue for merging the luminous efficiency of high-quality phosphor and the thermal stability of a glass matrix. Undoubtedly, the glass matrix system and its preparation are pivotal factors in achieving high stability and preserving the original performance of embedded phosphor particles. In contrast to the well-established commercial Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ oxide phosphor, red nitride phosphor, which plays a critical role in high-quality lighting, exhibits greater structural instability during the high-temperature synthesis of inorganic glasses. A telluride glass with a refractive index (RI = 2.15@615 nm) akin to that of nitride phosphor (∼2.19) has been devised, demonstrating high efficiency in photon utilization. The lower glass-transition temperature plays a crucial role in safeguarding phosphor particles against erosion resulting from exposure to high-temperature melts. Phosphor-in-glass retains 93% of the quantum efficiency observed for pure phosphor. The assembled white light-emitting diodes module has precise color tuning capabilities, achieving an optimal color rendering index of 93.7, a luminous efficacy of 80.4 lm/W, and a correlated color temperature of 5850 K. These outcomes hold potential for advancing the realm of inorganic package and high-quality white light illumination.

Complex phase behavior of dihydroxyl-functionalized ionic liquids at low temperature.

Here, we have synthesized six dihydroxyl-functionalized ionic liquids for phase behavior studies at low temperature via crystallographic methods, Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Phase varieties are observed depending on the direction and strength of hydrogen bonding. Our studies also show that the ILs could be potentially excellent phase-change thermal storage materials with nearly no change of the phase transition enthalpy.

The triglyceride glucose index was nonlinearly associated with all-cause mortality in diabetic patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The TyG index has been linked with cardiometabolic diseases. Our study aimed to investigate the specific relationship between the triglyceride and glucose index (TyG) and both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in diabetic patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We enrolled 3120 participants with diabetes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The TyG index was calculated using the formula ln [fasting triglycerides (mg/dL) × fasting glucose (mg/dL)/2]. Hazard ratios (HRs) of TyG associated with mortality risk were assessed using Cox proportional hazard regression models. Over a follow-up period of 10.8 thousand person-years, we observed 768 all-cause deaths and 155 cardiovascular deaths. Compared to the reference quartile, the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for all-cause mortality were 1.02 (1.01-1.05; p = 0.008) in the fourth quartile. Dose-response analysis revealed a non-linear association. However, no significant associations were found between the TyG index and cardiovascular mortality. CONCLUSIONS: The TyG index exhibited a non-linear association with the risk of all-cause mortality in diabetic patients.

Intense green light emission in Sr2 ZnGe2 O7 :Mn2+ phosphors by the design of high symmetry melilite structure.

A green phosphor Sr2 ZnGe2 O7 :Mn2+ with a melilite structure was prepared using a high-temperature solid-state reaction. When the 535 nm emission was monitored, the excitation spectrum of the Sr2 ZnGe2 O7 :Mn2+ was found to contain two excitation bands in the ultraviolet (UV) region. When excited by UV light, the sample shows bright green emission at 535 nm, which corresponds to the distinctive transition of Mn2+ (4 T1 →6 A1 ). Moreover, the quantum efficiency of Sr2 ZnGe2 O7 :Mn2+ could reach 67.6%. Finally, a high-performance white-light-emitting diode (WLED) with a low correlated colour temperature of 4632 K and a high colour rendering index (CRI) of 92.3 were packaged by coating commercial blue and red phosphors with an optimized Sr2 ZnGe2 O7 :Mn2+ sample on a 310 nm UV chip. This indicated that Sr2 ZnGe2 O7 :Mn2+ has the potential application as a green component in the WLED lighting field.

The Prognostic Value of Advanced Lung Cancer Inflammation Index in Elderly Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of advanced lung cancer inflammation index (ALI) for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in elderly patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).A total of 586 ACS patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) over 65 years old between January 2017 and December 2018 were retrospectively collected. The patients were divided into two groups by the optimal cutoff value of ALI. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between ALI and the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE). Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, Cox survival analysis, and Kaplan Meier curves were used to assess the predictive value of ALI for MACEs.Spearman's nonparametric test revealed a moderate correlation between ALI and the GRACE (r: -0.417, P < 0.001). Time-dependent ROC curves showed that the area under the curve for ALI was 0.751 (95% CI, 0.699-0.798) in predicting MACEs, higher than Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (0.531, 95% CI 0.435-0.627) and Prognostic Nutritional Index (0.590, 95% CI 0.505-0.676), and for combined diagnostic models (ALI + GRACE) was 0.913, (95% CI 0.875 - 0.942, P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that ALI (HR: 0.974, 95% CI: 0.952-0.996, P = 0.017) was an independent risk factor for MACEs. Kaplan Meier survival analysis showed that the cumulative incidence of MACEs was significantly higher in elderly ACS patients with lower ALI (log-rank test, P < 0.001).ALI could be a nutrition-inflammation indicator with independent predictive value for long-term MACEs of elderly ACS patients after PCI.

A Novel Closed-Loop Structure for Drag-Free Control Systems with ESKF and LQR.

Space-borne gravitational wave detection satellite confronts many uncertain perturbations, such as solar pressure, dilute atmospheric drag, etc. To realize an ultra-static and ultra-stable inertial benchmark achieved by a test-mass (TM) being free to move inside a spacecraft (S/C), the drag-free control system of S/C requires super high steady-state accuracies and dynamic performances. The Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) technique has a certain capability in solving problems with common perturbations, while there is still room for optimization in dealing with the complicated drag-free control problem. When faced with complex noises, the steady-state accuracy of the traditional control method is not good enough and the convergence speed of regulating process is not fast enough. In this paper, the optimized Active Disturbance Rejection Control technique is applied. With the extended state Kalman filter (ESKF) estimating the states and disturbances in real time, a novel closed-loop control structure is designed by combining the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and ESKF, which can satisfy the design targets competently. The comparative analysis and simulation results show that the LQR controller designed in this paper has a faster response and a higher accuracy compared with the traditional nonlinear state error feedback (NSEF), which uses a deformation of weighting components of classical PID. The new drag-free control structure proposed in the paper can be used in future gravitational wave detection satellites.

Synthesis of Furo[2,3-e][1,4]diazepin-3-one Derivatives through Tandem Cyclization/[4 + 3] Annulation Reactions.

A variety of furo[2,3-e][1,4]diazepin-3-one derivatives were facilely synthesized through one-pot tandem cyclization/[4 + 3] annulation reactions between enynamides and α-bromohydroxamates. The reactions proceeded efficiently at room temperature, and various functional groups were well tolerated. The obtained furo[2,3-e][1,4]diazepin-3(2H)-ones containing a 7-membered dinitrogen-fused ring might be of biological and medicinal value. The products could be further derived using convenient procedures.

The risk factors of preterm birth: A multicentre case-control survey in China in 2018.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the risk profile of preterm birth (PTB) in 2018 in China. METHOD: A prospective multicentre case-control study was conducted in 15 hospitals located in seven provinces throughout three geographical areas (the Eastern, South-Central and North-Western regions) in China. A total of 3147 preterm (<37+0 weeks) and 3147 term (37+0 to 41+6 weeks) live-birth mothers were included. Designed questionnaires were used to investigate maternal and fetal information. We calculated multivariable logistic regression and population attributable risk (PAR). RESULTS: Iatrogenic PTB accounted for 48.1% of preterm mothers. Multivariable analysis showed PTB was significantly associated with six categories of maternal and fetal factors, adverse life-style and psychological conditions (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.063, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.601-2.657) had the highest PAR% (60.1%). High school and below education level (PAR% = 25.8%), living in town or village (PAR% = 24.4%), low pregnant weight gain (PAR% = 16.8%), hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (aOR: 5.010, 95% CI: 4.039-6.216, PAR% = 15.3%), placental abnormality (aOR: 4.242, 95% CI: 3.454-5.211, PAR% = 14.1%) and multiple pregnancy (aOR: 10.990, 95% CI: 7.743-15.599, PAR% = 11.8%) were significantly associated with PTB with high PAR% value. CONCLUSION: The main risk factors for PTB in China were placental abnormality, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and multiple pregnancy. Adverse life-style and psychological conditions and socio-economic disadvantage had high public health significance.

The left-right symmetrical and asymmetrical deformations in a three-bubble system.

This paper studies the simplest system that can possess left-right symmetrical and asymmetrical surroundings, three bubbles in a line. Assuming that the deformations are small, the surfaces of bubbles are described by a combination of the first three Legendre polynomials, that is, spherical symmetrical mode P0, L-R antisymmetrical mode P1, and symmetrical mode P2. A dynamical model is built to describe aspherical oscillations of central and two side bubbles. It is found that when three identical bubbles are separated uniformly, the central bubble only has a P2 component and P1 component tends to zero, while two side bubbles have both P1 and P2 components. When three identical bubbles are separated by different distances, they can be degenerated into a two-bubble system and a free bubble. The bubble deformations contain both P1 and P2 components in the two-bubble system, while both aspherical components P1 and P2 of the free bubble tend to zero. If side bubbles are different in ambient radii but located symmetrically on the left and right of the central bubble, the side bubble pulsated more strongly plays an important role on the deformation of the central one.

Pulsation, translation and P1 deformation of two aspherical bubbles in liquid.

In this work, the interactions between the axial translational motions and aspherical oscillations of two gas bubbles in an incompressible liquid are considered. Representing the surface function by the Legendre polynomial of first order, we derive a dynamic model to describe the motions of two aspherical bubbles in Lagrangian mechanics. An apple-shaped bubble from simulations based on the model can be well consistent with known experimental observation. The bubble appears as the shape of a sphere at maximum expansion. The maximum asymmetry of the bubbles occurs during collapse. The surface tension is a key factor to stable oscillatory deformation. It is also found that the aspherical amplitudes of two bubbles decrease with increasing distance or decreasing driving pressure.

Nano Ball-Milling Using Titania Nanoparticles to Anchor Cesium Lead Bromine Nanocrystals and Energy Transfer Characteristics in TiO2 @CsPbBr3 Architecture.

Recently, all-inorganic halide perovskite (CsPbX3 , (X = Cl, Br, and I)) nanocrystals (NCs) based hybrid architectures have attracted extensive attention owing to their distinct luminescence characteristics. However, due to stress and lattice mismatch, it is still a challenge to construct heterojunctions between perovskite NCs and the nanostructures with different lattice parameters and non-cubic contour. In this work, a room temperature mechanochemical method is presented to construct TiO2 @CsPbBr3 hybrid architectures, in which TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with a hard lattice as nano "balls" mill off the angles and anchor to the CsPbBr3 NCs with a soft lattice. On the contrary, to ball-mill without TiO2 or with conventional ceramics balls replacing TiO2 , CsPbBr3 NCs still maintain cubic contour deriving from their cubic crystal structures. Moreover, the TiO2 @CsPbBr3 architectures display distinct improvement of photoluminescence quantum yields and more excellent thermal stability in contrast with pristine CsPbBr3 owing to the passivation of surface defect, small surface area, and energy transfer from CsPbBr3 to TiO2 . Meanwhile, there is distinct luminous decay characteristic under the radiation of UV and visible light due to the "on" and "off" TiO2 response. The method provides an alternative strategy to acquire other anchoring heterojunctions based on perovskite NCs for further regulating their luminescent characteristics.

A Coarse-to-Fine Framework for Multiple Pedestrian Crossing Detection.

When providing route guidance to pedestrians, one of the major safety considerations is to ensure that streets are crossed at places with pedestrian crossings. As a result, map service providers are keen to gather the location information about pedestrian crossings in the road network. Most, if not all, literature in this field focuses on detecting the pedestrian crossing immediately in front of the camera, while leaving the other pedestrian crossings in the same image undetected. This causes an under-utilization of the information in the video images, because not all pedestrian crossings captured by the camera are detected. In this research, we propose a coarse-to-fine framework to detect pedestrian crossings from probe vehicle videos, which can then be combined with the GPS traces of the corresponding vehicles to determine the exact locations of pedestrian crossings. At the coarse stage of our approach, we identify vanishing points and straight lines associated with the stripes of pedestrian crossings, and partition the edges to obtain rough candidate regions of interest (ROIs). At the fine stage, we determine whether these candidate ROIs are indeed pedestrian crossings by exploring their prior constraint information. Field experiments in Beijing and Shanghai cities show that the proposed approach can produce satisfactory results under a wide variety of situations.

[Expression and role of Pim1 in cultured cortical neurons with oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygen injury].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression and effect of Pim1 in primary cortical neurons after hypoxic-ischemic injury. METHODS: Cortical neurons were isolated from 1-day-old C57BL/6 mice and cultured in neurobasal medium. On the 8th day of neuron culture, cells were subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygen (OGD/R) treatment to mimic in vivo hypoxic injury of neurons. Briefly, medium were changed to DMEM medium, and cells were cultured in 1% O2 for 3 hours and then changed back to normal medium and conditions. Cells were collected at 0 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours after OGD/R. Primary neurons were transfected with Pim1 overexpression plasmid or mock plasmid, and then were exposed to normal conditions or OGD/R treatment. They were named as Pim1 group, control group, OGD/R group and OGD/R+Pim1 group respectively. Real-time PCR was used to detect Pim1 mRNA expression. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of Pim1 and apoptotic related protein cleaved caspase 3 (CC3). TUNEL staining was used to detect cell apoptosis. RESULTS: Real-time PCR and Western blot results showed that Pim1 mRNA and protein were significantly decreased in neurons after OGD/R. They began to decrease at 0 hour after OGD/R, reached to the lowest at 12 hours after OGD/R, and remained at a lower level at 24 hours after OGD/R (P<0.01). Overexpression of Pim1 significantly upregulated the protein level of Pim1. Under OGD/R conditions, the CC3 expression and the apoptosis rate in cells of the Pim1 group were significantly lower than in un-transfected cells (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Hypoxic-ischemic injury may decrease Pim1 expression in neurons. Overexpressed Pim1 may inhibit apoptosis induced by OGD/R.

Highly Porous Metalloporphyrin Covalent Ionic Frameworks with Well-Defined Cooperative Functional Groups as Excellent Catalysts for CO2 Cycloaddition.

The development of multifunctional heterogeneous catalysts with high porosity and remarkable catalytic activity still remains a challenge. Herein, four highly porous metalloporphyrin covalent ionic frameworks (CIFs) were synthesized by coupling 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-nitrophenyl)porphyrin (TNPP) with 3,8-diamino-6-phenylphenanithridine (NPPN) or 5,5'-diamino-2,2'-bipyridine (NBPy) followed by ionization with bromoethane (C2 H5 Br) or dibromoethane (C2 H4 Br2 ) and then metalization with Zn or Co. The resulting CIFs showed high efficiency in catalyzing the cycloaddition of propylene oxide (PO) with CO2 to form propylene carbonate (PC). All of the Zn-containing CIF catalysts were able to catalyze the cycloaddition reaction with a PC yield greater than 97 %. The TNPP/NBPy (CIF2) catalyst ionized with C2 H4 Br2 and metalized with Zn (Zn-CIF2-C2 H4 ) exhibited the highest catalytic activity among the synthesized catalysts. The high catalytic performance of Zn-CIF2-C2 H4 is related to its high porosity (577 m2 g-1 ), high Br:metal ratio (1:3.89), and excellent synergistic action between the Lewis acidic Zn sites and the nucleophilic Br- ions. Zn-CIF2-C2 H4 is sufficiently stable that greater than 94 % PC yield could be obtained even after six cycles. In addition, Zn-CIF2-C2 H4 could catalyze the cycloaddition of several other epoxides with CO2 . These highly porous materials are promising multifunctional and efficient catalysts for industrially relevant reactions.

Two-photon, three-photon, and four-photon near-infrared quantum cutting luminescence of an Er3+ activator in tellurium glass phosphor.

Multiphoton near-IR downconversion quantum cutting luminescence of Er3+-ion-doped tellurium glass is studied. We find that the excitation spectra of 1532.0 nm IR light and 550.0 nm visible light are very similar in wave shape and peak wavelength. When the concentration of Er3+ ions is increased from 0.5% to 3.2%, we observe that both the IR luminescence and excitation intensity of the samples are increased by a factor of 1.80-5.49, with a concomitant decrease in both visible luminescence and excitation intensity by a factor of 0.87-1.91. Therefore, we conclude that the present phenomenon is a multiphoton near-IR quantum cutting luminescence phenomenon. We also find that the near-IR quantum cutting efficiency up-limits of the I9/24, F9/24, S3/24, and H11/22 states are respectively 157%, 138%, 193%, and 192% for Er3+(3.2%):tellurium glass and 175%, 154%, 233%, and 233% for Er3+(5.0%):tellurium glass.

Violet-green excitation for NIR luminescence of Yb3+ ions in Bi2O3-B2O3-SiO2-Ga2O3 glasses.

60Bi(2)O(3)-20B(2)O(3)-10SiO(2)-10Ga(2)O(3) glasses doped with 1-9 mol% Yb(2)O(3) were prepared and investigated mainly on their violet-green excitation for the typical NIR emission of Yb(3+), generally excited in the NIR. Two violet excitation bands at 365 nm and 405 nm are related to Yb(2+) and Bi(3+). 465 nm excitation band and 480 nm absorption band in the blue-green are assigned to Bi(0) metal nanoparticles/grains. Yb-content-dependence of the excitation and absorption means that Bi(0) is the reduced product of Bi(3+), but greatly competed by the redox reaction of Yb(2+) ↔ Yb(3+). It is proved that the violet-green excitations result in the NIR emission of Yb(3+). On the energy transfer, the virtual level of Yb(3+)-Yb(3+) as well as Bi(0) dimers probably plays an important role. An effective and controllable way is suggested to achieve nano-optical applications by Bi(0) metal nanoparticles/grains and Yb(3+).

A 2-DOF drag-free control ground simulation system based on Stewart platform.

Space-based gravitational wave detection missions use multiple satellites to form a very large scale Michelson laser interferometer in space. This requires extremely high precision displacement measurements at the picometer level between test masses even millions of kilometers apart. Drag-free control is a key technology to ensure the ultra-static and ultra-stable space experiment platform for space-based gravitational wave detection. This paper proposes an innovative ground simulation scheme for drag-free control principle based on the Stewart platform. The kinematics and dynamics modeling of the Stewart platform used in the experiment is presented. A drag-free ground simulation experimental equipment is designed and built. A two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) drag-free controller is designed based on the H∞ loop shaping algorithm which outperforms a PID controller in Simulink simulation. A semi-physical simulation experiment is conducted to verify the controller designed using rapid control prototyping technology. The experimental results show that the control performance reaches the limit accuracy of the hardware device, thus verifying the effectiveness of the drag-free control algorithm.

Quantifying instability in neurological disorders EEG based on phase space DTM function.

Classifying individuals with neurological disorders and healthy subjects using EEG is a crucial area of research. The current feature extraction approach focuses on the frequency domain features in each of the EEG frequency bands and functional brain networks. In recent years, researchers have discovered and extensively studied stability differences in the electroencephalograms (EEG) of patients with neurological disorders. Based on this, this paper proposes a feature descriptor to characterize EEG instability. The proposed method starts by forming a signal point cloud through Phase Space Reconstruction (PSR). Subsequently, a pseudo-metric space is constructed, and pseudo-distances are calculated based on the consistent measure of the point cloud. Finally, Distance to Measure (DTM) Function are generated to replace the distance function in the original metric space. We calculated the relative distances in the point cloud by measuring signal similarity and, based on this, summarized the point cloud structures formed by EEG with different stabilities after PSR. This process demonstrated that Multivariate Kernel Density Estimation (MKDE) based on a Gaussian kernel can effectively separate the mappings of different stable components within the signal in the phase space. The two average DTM values are then proposed as feature descriptors for EEG instability.In the validation phase, the proposed feature descriptor is tested on three typical neurological disorders: epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease, using the Bonn dataset, CHB-MIT, the Florida State University dataset, and the Iowa State University dataset. DTM values are used as feature inputs for four different machine learning classifiers, and The results show that the best classification accuracy of the proposed method reaches 98.00 %, 96.25 %, 96.71 % and 95.34 % respectively, outperforming commonly used nonlinear descriptors. Finally, the proposed method is tested and analyzed using noisy signals, demonstrating its robustness compared to other methods.