Association of overweight/obesity and overweight/obesity-related metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in young adults with coronary artery calcification later in life.

AIM: The association of overweight/obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in young adulthood with subclinical atherosclerosis [coronary artery calcification (CAC) and abdominal aortic calcification (AAC)] by middle age is unknown. METHOD: In total, 2274 participants aged 28-39 years from the coronary artery risk development in young adults study at year 10 (1995-1996) who were re-examined 15 years later were included. CAC and AAC were measured at year 25 using computed tomography. We examined the utility of three young adult phenotypes (lean group; overweight/obese group; overweight/obese MASLD group) at year 10 in predicting CAC or AAC by middle age. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between groups and CAC, and AAC. Independent determinates of CAC and AAC were determined with linear regression models. RESULTS: Compared with individuals categorized as lean in young adulthood, the relative risk for CAC by middle age was 1.09 (95% confidence interval: 0.93-1.28) for those with overweight/obesity and 1.32 (95% confidence interval: 1.08-1.61) for those with overweight/obesity-related MASLD. For AAC, no difference was observed between these three groups. Group, systolic blood pressure and group × systolic blood pressure interaction were all the independent determinates for CAC. CONCLUSION: In this study, young adults with overweight/obesity-related MASLD have a higher risk of developing CAC by middle age. These abnormalities are only partially explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors, and overweight/obesity-related MASLD has an independent impact on CAC. Our study provides evidence for identifying young adults at higher risk of developing subclinical atherosclerosis.

Silicon eccentric shell nanoparticles fabricated by template-assisted deposition for Mie magnetic resonances enhanced light confinement.

We report a structure of silicon eccentric shell particles array, fabricated by the SiO2particles monolayer array assisted deposition of amorphous Si, for high-efficiency light confinement. The SiO2particles monolayer array is tailored to regulate its interparticle distance, followed by silicon film deposition to obtain silicon eccentric shell arrays with positive and negative off-center distancee. We studied the Mie resonances of silicon solid sphere, concentric shell, eccentric shell and observed that the eccentric shell with positive off-centeresupports superior light confinement because of the enhanced Mie magnetic resonances. Spectroscopic measurements and finite difference time domain simulations were conducted to examine the optical performance of the eccentric shell particles array. Results show that the Mie magnetic resonance wavelength can be easily regulated by the size of the inner void of the silicon shell to realize tunable enhanced light confinement. It was found silicon shell withD= 460/520 nm offered high enhanced light absorption efficiency at wavelength ofλ= 830 nm, almost beyond the bandgap of the amorphous silicon.

Integrated Metabolome and Transcriptome Analysis of Gibberellins Mediated the Circadian Rhythm of Leaf Elongation by Regulating Lignin Synthesis in Maize.

Plant growth exhibits rhythmic characteristics, and gibberellins (GAs) are involved in regulating cell growth, but it is still unclear how GAs crosstalk with circadian rhythm to regulate cell elongation. The study analyzed growth characteristics of wild-type (WT), zmga3ox and zmga3ox with GA3 seedlings. We integrated metabolomes and transcriptomes to study the interaction between GAs and circadian rhythm in mediating leaf elongation. The rates of leaf growth were higher in WT than zmga3ox, and zmga3ox cell length was shorter when proliferated in darkness than light, and GA3 restored zmga3ox leaf growth. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between WT and zmga3ox were mainly enriched in hormone signaling and cell wall synthesis, while DEGs in zmga3ox were restored to WT by GA3. Moreover, the number of circadian DEGs that reached the peak expression in darkness was more than light, and the upregulated circadian DEGs were mainly enriched in cell wall synthesis. The differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were mainly attributed to flavonoids and phenolic acid. Twenty-two DAMs showed rhythmic accumulation, especially enriched in lignin synthesis. The circadian DEGs ZmMYBr41/87 and ZmHB34/70 were identified as regulators of ZmHCT8 and ZmBM1, which were enzymes in lignin synthesis. Furthermore, GAs regulated ZmMYBr41/87 and ZmHB34/70 to modulate lignin biosynthesis for mediating leaf rhythmic growth.

Obacunone, a Promising Phytochemical Triterpenoid: Research Progress on Its Pharmacological Activity and Mechanism.

Obacunone, a natural triterpenoid, is an active component of the herbs Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz. and Phellodendron amurense Rupr, and an indicator of the herbs' quality. Owing to its multiple health benefits, several studies have investigated the multi-targeting potential action mechanisms of obacunone. To summarize recent developments on the pharmacological actions of obacunone and focus on the underlying molecular mechanisms and signaling networks, we searched PubMed, Europe PMC, Wiley Online Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Wanfang Medical Network, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure for articles published prior to March 2024. Existing research indicates obacunone has great potential to become a promising therapeutic option against tumors, fibrotic diseases, bone and cholesterol metabolism diseases, and infections of pathogenic microorganisms, among others. The paper contributes to providing up-to-date references for further research and clinical applications of obacunone.

Current advances of chlorinated organics degradation by bioelectrochemical systems: a review.

Chlorinated organic compounds (COCs) are typical refractory organic compounds, having high biological toxicity. These compounds are a type of pervasive pollutants that can be present in polluted soil, air, and various types of waterways, such as groundwater, rivers, and lakes, posing a significant threat to the ecological environment and human health. Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are an effective strategy for the degradation of bio-refractory compounds. BESs improve the waste treatment efficiency through the application of weak electrical stimulation. This review discusses the processes of BESs configurations and degradation performances in different environmental media including wastewater, soil, waste gas and groundwater. In addition, the degradation mechanisms and performance-enhancing additives are summarized. The future challenges and perspectives on the development of BES for COCs removal are briefly discussed.

Identification of Risk Factors and Phenotypes of Surgical Site Infection in Patients After Abdominal Surgery.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the current incidence rate and risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI) after abdominal surgery in China and to further demonstrate the clinical features of patients with SSI. BACKGROUND: Contemporary epidemiology and clinical features of SSI after abdominal surgery remain poorly characterized. METHODS: A prospective multicenter cohort study was conducted from March 2021 to February 2022; the study included patients who underwent abdominal surgery at 42 hospitals in China. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for SSI. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to explore the population characteristics of SSI. RESULTS: In total, 23,982 patients were included in the study, of whom 1.8% developed SSI. There was a higher SSI incidence in open surgery (5.0%) than in laparoscopic or robotic surgeries (0.9%). Multivariable logistic regression indicated that the independent risk factors for SSI after abdominal surgery were older age, chronic liver disease, mechanical bowel preparation, oral antibiotic bowel preparation, colon or pancreas surgery, contaminated or dirty wounds, open surgery, and colostomy/ileostomy. LCA revealed 4 subphenotypes in patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Types α and ß were mild subclasses with a lower SSI incidence; whereas types γ and δ were the critical subgroups with a higher SSI incidence, but their clinical features were different. CONCLUSIONS: LCA identified 4 subphenotypes in patients who underwent abdominal surgery. Types γ and δ were critical subgroups with a higher SSI incidence. This phenotype classification can be used to predict SSI after abdominal surgery.

Influence of temperature and humidity on scattering characteristics of aerosol particles in the terahertz band.

The terahertz band is considered to be the next breakthrough point to revolutionize communication technology, attributed to its rich spectrum resources. The study of terahertz atmospheric transmission characteristics is important in guiding the terahertz communication window selection process. In this report, based on the equivalent medium theory, the scattering characteristics of terahertz Gaussian beams by moist media are discussed. Numerical results show that the extinction coefficient of particles is mainly affected by the humidity, and the scattering efficiency is affected by both temperature and humidity. When the temperature is over 273 K and the humidity is 0.5, the extinction efficiency shows a trend of increasing initially and decreasing afterwards. Hence, the appropriate temperature is beneficial to minimizing the attenuation coefficient.

Maritime Infrared Small Target Detection Based on the Appearance Stable Isotropy Measure in Heavy Sea Clutter Environments.

Infrared small target detection plays a crucial role in maritime security. However, detecting small targets within heavy sea clutter environments remains challenging. Existing methods often fail to deliver satisfactory performance in the presence of substantial clutter interference. This paper analyzes the spatial-temporal appearance characteristics of small targets and sea clutter. Based on this analysis, we propose a novel detection method based on the appearance stable isotropy measure (ASIM). First, the original images are processed using the Top-Hat transformation to obtain the salient regions. Next, a preliminary threshold operation is employed to extract the candidate targets from these salient regions, forming a candidate target array image. Third, to distinguish between small targets and sea clutter, we introduce two characteristics: the gradient histogram equalization measure (GHEM) and the local optical flow consistency measure (LOFCM). GHEM evaluates the isotropy of the candidate targets by examining their gradient histogram equalization, while LOFCM assesses their appearance stability based on local optical flow consistency. To effectively combine the complementary information provided by GHEM and LOFCM, we propose ASIM as a fusion characteristic, which can effectively enhance the real target. Finally, a threshold operation is applied to determine the final targets. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method exhibits superior comprehensive performance compared to baseline methods.

Quench-Induced Surface Engineering Boosts Alkaline Freshwater and Seawater Oxygen Evolution Reaction of Porous NiCo2 O4 Nanowires.

The electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by efficient catalysts is a crucial step for the conversion of renewable energy into hydrogen fuel, in which surface/near-surface engineering has been recognized as an effective strategy for enhancing the intrinsic activities of the OER electrocatalysts. Herein, a facile quenching approach is demonstrated that can simultaneously enable the required surface metal doping and vacancy generation in reconfiguring the desired surface of the NiCo2 O4 catalyst, giving rise to greatly enhanced OER activities in both alkaline freshwater and seawater electrolytes. As a result, the quenched-engineered NiCo2 O4 nanowire electrode achieves a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at a low overpotential of 258 mV in 1 m KOH electrolyte, showing the remarkable catalytic performance towards OER. More impressively, the same electrode also displays extraordinary activity in an alkaline seawater environment and only needs 293 mV to reach 10 mA cm-2 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the strong electronic synergies among the metal cations in the quench-derived catalyst, where the metal doping regulates the electronic structure, thereby yielding near-optimal adsorption energies for OER intermediates and giving rise to superior activity. This study provides a new quenching method to obtain high-performance transition metal oxide catalysts for freshwater/seawater electrocatalysis.

Active non-uniform illumination-based underwater polarization imaging method for objects with complex polarization properties.

Active polarization imaging is one of the most effective underwater optical imaging methods that can eliminate the degradation of image contrast and clarity caused by macro-molecule scattering. However, the non-uniformity of active illumination and the diversity of object polarization properties may decrease the quality of underwater imaging. This paper proposes a non-uniform illumination-based active polarization imaging method for underwater objects with complex optical properties. Firstly, illumination homogenization in the frequency domain is proposed to extract and homogenize the natural incident light from the total receiving light. Then, the weight values of the polarized and non-polarized images are computed according to each pixel's degree of linear polarization (DoLP) in the original underwater image. By this means, the two images can be fused to overcome the problem of reflected light loss generated by the complex polarization properties of underwater objects. Finally, the fusion image is normalized as the final result of the proposed underwater polarization imaging method. Both qualitative and quantitative experimental results show that the presented method can effectively eliminate the uneven brightness of the whole image and obtain the underwater fusion image with significantly improved contrast and clarity. In addition, the ablation experiment of different operation combinations shows that each component of the proposed method has noticeable enhancement effects on underwater polarization imaging. Our codes are available in Code 1.

Longitudinal and transverse photophoretic force on a homogeneous sphere exerted by a Bessel beam with selective polarizations.

Predicting the photophoretic force exerted on an optical absorptive particle in a gaseous medium is a challenging problem because the problems of electromagnetic scattering, heat transfer, and gaseous molecule dynamics are involved and coupled with each other. Based on the calculation of the source function distribution inside a homogeneous sphere excited by a Bessel beam using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory, analytical expressions of the asymmetry vector, which is the key quantity in the calculation of photophoretic force, are given using the adjoint boundary value method. Numerical simulations are performed to analyze the influences of polarization, the half-cone angle, and the beam order of the incident beam, particle size, and absorptivity of the particle on the asymmetry vector for both on-axis and off-axis illuminations. Longitudinal and transverse photophoretic forces on a homogeneous sphere are displayed for the slip-flow regime of gaseous media. The results offer important insights into the working mechanism underpinning the development of heat-mediated optical manipulation techniques and the measurement of the refractive index of particles.

Exogenous Melatonin Improves Seed Germination of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under Salt Stress.

Melatonin (MT) can effectively reduce oxidative damage induced by abiotic stresses such as salt in plants. However, the effects of MT on physiological responses and molecular regulation during wheat germination remains largely elusive. In this study, the response of wheat seeds to MT under salt stress during germination was investigated at physiological and transcriptome levels. Our results revealed that application of MT significantly reduced the negative influence of salt stress on wheat seed germination. The oxidative load was reduced by inducing high activities of antioxidant enzymes. In parallel, the content of gibberellin A3 (GA3) and jasmonic acid (JA) increased in MT-treated seedling. RNA-seq analysis demonstrated that MT alters oxidoreductase activity and phytohormone-dependent signal transduction pathways under salt stress. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) revealed that MT participates in enhanced energy metabolism and protected seeds via maintained cell morphology under salt stress during wheat seed germination. Our findings provide a conceptual basis of the MT-mediated regulatory mechanism in plant adaptation to salt stress, and identify the potential candidate genes for salt-tolerant wheat molecular breeding.

Effect of rhamnolipids on the biodegradation of m-dichlorobenzene in biotrickling filters: Performance and mechanism.

In this study, the effect of rhamnolipids (RL) on m-dichlorobenzene (m-DCB) removal and biofilm was investigated in two biotrickling filters (BTF) (BTF1: blank control; BTF2: RL addition). The critical micelle concentration (CMC) value of RL was 75.6 mg L-1, and the RL could significantly improve the solubilization of m-DCB. The results showed that the optimal concentration of RL was 180 mg L-1. The removal efficiency (RE) of m-DCB dropped by 42.4% for BTF1 no fed with RL and only 28.2% for BTF2 fed with RL when the inlet concentration increased from 200 to 1400 mg m-3 at an empty bed time (EBRT) of 60 s. RL increased the secretion of extracellular polymers (EPS) and the ratio of Protein/Polysaccharide, which improved the mass transfer of m-DCB to the biofilm. RL also had a facilitating effect on catechol-1,2-dioxygenase (C12O) enzyme activity. Furthermore, RL increased Zeta potential and facilitated microorganisms to form biofilm. The dominant microorganisms of microbial community were increased and the application of RL promoted the enrichment of them.

Potentially toxic elements pose significant and long-term human health risks in river basin districts with abandoned gold mines.

Gold (Au) mining area is known to be one of the major sources of toxic elements; however, the potential risks of toxic elements from abandoned Au mines to the surrounding river basin districts and human exposure pathways to toxic elements need to be clarified. In this study, the distribution and mobilities of nine toxic elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, Zn, Cr, Ni and V) in Kesennuma City, Tohoku Region in Japan, a typical Au-mining district with several river basins, were studied through a geochemical survey (including element total concentrations and water-/acid-leaching concentrations determinations, as well as GB calculations), and environmental assessment on these elements in soil, river sediment, and river water samples from the study area. The contamination evaluation by index of geo-accumulation (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF) suggested that As, Cu, Ni and Sb enrichments were greatly observed in the vicinity of the abandoned Au mines; moreover, calculated GB upper values for Cu in the river sediment surpass that of Tohoku Region. It has been found in this study that each element has particular mobility, which eventually influences its exposure pathway to humans. For instance, As in soil and sediment poses adverse non-carcinogenic risks and unacceptable carcinogenic risks to especially children mainly through groundwater ingestion. To minimize the potential risks associated with exposure to toxic elements in Au-mining districts, effective risk management measures should be implemented around river system by Au-mining companies even after their long-time closures, based on the consideration of each element's mobility.

Theoretical prediction of photophoretic force on a dielectric sphere illuminated by a circularly symmetric high-order Bessel beam: on-axis case.

Compared to the experimental progresses made in the optical trapping of aerosol particles in gaseous media by means of photophoretic forces, the theoretical analysis of photophoretic forces is less developed, the underlying mechanisms being yet not fully understood. In this paper, theoretical derivations of photopheresis of a dielectric sphere in gaseous media illuminated by a circularly symmetric Bessel beam of arbitrary order is presented within the framework of generalized Lorenz-Mie theory. An analytic and closed-form formula for the asymmetry factor, which ultimately determines the sense of direction of photophoretic force, is provided. The influences of particle size, absorptivity of the particle, half-cone angle, beam order of the Bessel beam on the asymmetry factor are explored in detail. The method proposed in this paper can be applied to a wider class of axisymmetric beams carrying nonzero topological charges.

Characteristics of photonic jets generated by a dielectric sphere illuminated by a Gaussian beam.

Photonic jets (PJs) formed on the shadow side of micro-sized dielectric spheres excited by focused Gaussian beams are investigated within the framework of the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT). The intrinsic advantages of rapidity and high accuracy of the GLMT in calculations enable us to conduct a systematic study of PJs at a low cost and a high reliability. To reveal the influence of beam parameters on the properties of PJs, numerical results concerning variations of key parameters of PJs, including the maximal intensity, the focal distance, which is linked to the position of maximal intensity, and longitudinal and transversal dimensions are presented with the change of the beam waist radius and the focal center location of the Gaussian beam. The results show that as the beam waist radius approaches the radius of the particle, the energy stream of the Gaussian beam contributes more efficiently to the formation of PJs. By properly tuning the location of the beam focal center, the PJ pattern can be efficiently engineered to a large extent.

Design, synthesis, and antifungal activity of carboxamide derivatives possessing 1,2,3-triazole as potential succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors.

Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) is demonstrably one of the most important molecular targets in development of new fungicide. In our continuous efforts to discover novel SDH inhibitors, forty-two carboxamide derivatives containing 1,2,3-triazole ring were designed and synthesized, which were precisely characterized by 1H NMR, ESI-MS, elemental analysis and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The compounds were screened for antifungal activities against phytopathogenic fungi by mycelia growth inhibition assay in vitro. Compound A3-3 exhibited significant antifungal activity against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Botrytis cinerea, Rhizoctonia cerealis and Gaeumannomyces graminsis with EC50 values of 1.08, 8.75, 1.67 and 5.30 µg/mL, respectively, comparable to those of commercial SDHI boscalid. In vivo testing demonstrated that A3-3 was effective for suppressing rape sclerotinia rot, cucumber grey mould and wheat powdery mildew caused by S. sclerotiorum， B. cinerea and Blumeria graminis at a dosage of 200 µg/mL. Inhibition activities against SDH test proved the designed analogues were effective in the enzyme level. The molecular docking simulation revealed that A3-3 interacted with ARG43，TYR58 and TRP173 of the SDH through hydrogen bond and pi-pi interaction, which could explain the probable mechanism of action between the inhibitor and target protein.

Traffic Patrolling Routing Problem with Drones in an Urban Road System.

The remarkable development of various sensor equipment and communication technologies has stimulated many application platforms of automation. A drone is a sensing platform with strong environmental adaptability and expandability, which is widely used in aerial photography, transmission line inspection, remote sensing mapping, auxiliary communication, traffic patrolling, and other fields. A drone is an effective supplement to the current patrolling business in road traffic patrolling with complex urban buildings and road conditions and a limited ground perspective. However, the limited endurance of patrol drones can be directly solved by vehicles that cooperate with drones on patrolling missions. In this paper, we first proposed and studied the traffic patrolling routing problem with drones (TPRP-D) in an urban road system. Considering road network equations and the heterogeneity of patrolling tasks in the actual patrolling process, we modeled the problem as a double-layer arc routing problem (DL-ARP). Based on graph theory and related research work, we present the mixed integer linear programming formulations and two-stage heuristic solution approaches to solve practical-sized problems. Through analysis of numerical experiments, the solution method proposed in this paper can quickly provide an optimal path planning scheme for different test sets, which can save 9%-16% of time compared with traditional vehicle patrol. At the same time, we analyze several relevant parameters of the patrol process to determine the effect of coordinated traffic patrol. Finally, a case study was completed to verify the practicability of the algorithm.

Implementation of nondiffracting Bessel beam sources in FDTD for scattering by complex particles.

In this paper, the nondiffracting Bessel beam sources are implemented in finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The high-order scattered-field algorithm of the FDTD (SF-FDTD (2, 4)) method is employed to investigate the scattering of particles illuminated by Bessel beams. In the SF-FDTD (2, 4) method, the scattered fields of the whole region are calculated directly by time stepping and the incident fields are obtained by the vector expressions of the diffraction-free Bessel beam. Some numerical results are included to illustrate the validity and capability of the proposed method. This study is expected to provide a new efficient method to investigate the interactions between nondiffracting beams and complex particles.

Generation of Bessel beam sources in FDTD.

In this paper, a straightforward approach is presented to generate Bessel beam sources in three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Based on the angular spectrum representation (ASR), the incident Bessel beam is described as a superposition of plane waves whose wavevectors covering a conical surface. This decomposition of Bessel beam is then approximated by a finite collection of plane waves, which are injected into FDTD simulation domain using the total-field/scattered-field (TF/ST) method. The present method's correctness and accuracy are verified by comparing the reconstructed field in FDTD with the original field. Far-field scattered diagrams of a dielectric sphere and a spheroid particle illuminated by a zero-order or a higher-order Bessel beam are calculated using FDTD. The results are compared with those calculated using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT) and surface integral equation method (SIEM). Very good agreements have been achieved, which partially indicate the correctness of our method. Internal and near-surface field distributions for a two-layer hemisphere particle, which are illuminated by Bessel beams, are also displayed to show the potentials of this approach in solving scattering problems of complex particles. This approach can also be applied to generate other structured beam sources in FDTD, which provides an access to solve structured beam scattering by complex particles using FDTD.