Causal relationship between immune cells and atrial fibrillation: A Mendelian randomization study.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent cardiac arrhythmia, with recent research indicating a correlation between immune system characteristics and the development of AF. However, it remains uncertain whether the immunological response is the primary underlying component or a secondary consequence of AF. Initially, we investigated the effect of immune cells on AF by performing forward Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses with immune cells as the exposure variable and their associated genetic variants as instrumental variables. Subsequently, we performed reverse MR analyses with AF as the exposure variable and immune cells as the outcome variable to exclude the interference of reverse causality, to distinguish between primary and secondary effects, and to further elucidate the causal relationship between the immune system and AF. We discovered that membrane proteins on specific immune cells, such as CD25 on memory B cells-which functions as a part of the interleukin-2 receptor-may be risk factors for AF development, with odds ratios of 1.0233 (95% confidence interval: 1.0012-1.0458, P = .0383). In addition, certain immune cell counts, such as the CD4 regulatory T cell Absolute Count, play a protective factor in the development of AF (odds ratio: 0.9513, 95% confidence interval: 0.9165-0.9874; P = .0086). More detailed results are elaborated in the main text. Our MR study has yielded evidence that substantiates a genetically inferred causal association between the immune system and AF. Identifying the risk factors associated with AF is vital to facilitate the development of innovative pharmaceutical treatments.

Ruptured liquid metal microcapsules enabling hybridized silver nanowire networks towards high-performance deformable transparent conductors.

Extensive studies have been carried out on silver nanowires (AgNWs) in view of their impressive conductivity and highly flexible one-dimensional structure. They are seen as a promising choice for producing deformable transparent conductors. Nonetheless, the widespread adoption of AgNW-based transparent conductors is hindered by critical challenges represented by the significant contact resistance at the nanowire junctions and inadequate interfacial adhesion between the nanowires and the substrate. This study presents a novel solution to tackle the aforementioned challenges by capitalizing on liquid metal microcapsules (LMMs). Upon exposure to acid vapor, the encapsulated LMMs rupture, releasing the fluid LM which then forms a metallic overlay and hybridizes with the underlying Ag network. As a result, a transparent conductive film with greatly enhanced electrical and mechanical properties was obtained. The transparent conductor displays negligible resistance variation even after undergoing chemical stability, adhesion, and bending tests, and ultrasonic treatment. This indicates its outstanding adhesion strength to the substrate and mechanical flexibility. The exceptional electrical properties and robust mechanical stability of the transparent conductor position it as an ideal choice for direct integration into flexible touch panels and wearable strain sensors, as evidenced in this study. By resolving the critical challenges in this field, the proposed strategy establishes a compelling roadmap to navigate the development of high-performance AgNW-based transparent conductors, setting a solid foundation for further advancement in the field of deformable electronics.

Eugenol Inhibits Ox-LDL-Induced Proliferation and Migration of Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by Inhibiting the Ang II/MFG-E8/MCP-1 Signaling Cascade.

Objective: In this study, we investigated the effect and mechanism of action of eugenol on oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced abnormal proliferation and migration of human vascular smooth muscle cells (HVSMCs). Methods: HVSMCs were treated with 100 ug/mL ox-LDL for 24 hours to establish a cell model. After 1-hour pretreatment, eugenol at concentrations of 5, 25, and 50 uM was added. Cell viability was assessed using an MTT assay, PCNA expression was detected using Western blot, cell cycle distribution was analyzed using flow cytometry, and cell migration ability was evaluated using wound healing and Transwell migration assays. To investigate the mechanisms, Ang II receptors were inhibited by 1000 nM valsartan, MFG-E8 was knocked down by shRNA, MCP-1 was inhibited by siRNA, and MFG-E8 was overexpressed using plasmids. Results: The findings from this study elucidated the stimulatory impact of ox-LDL on the proliferation and functionality of HVSMCs. Different concentrations of eugenol effectively mitigated the enhanced activity of HVSMCs induced by ox-LDL, with 50 uM eugenol exhibiting the most pronounced inhibitory effect. Flow cytometry and Western blot results showed ox-LDL reduced G1 phase cells and increased PCNA expression, while 50 uM eugenol inhibited ox-LDL-induced HVSMC proliferation. In wound healing and Transwell migration experiments, the ox-LDL group showed larger cell scratch filling and migration than the control group, both of which were inhibited by 50 uM eugenol. Inhibiting the Ang II/MFG-E8/MCP-1 signaling cascade mimicked eugenol's effects, while MFG-E8 overexpression reversed eugenol's inhibitory effect. Conclusion: Eugenol can inhibit the proliferation and migration of ox-LDL-induced HVSMCs by inhibiting Ang II/MFG-E8/MCP-1 signaling cascade, making it a potential therapeutic drug for atherosclerosis.

Joule-Heating-Driven Synthesis of a Honeycomb-Like Porous Carbon Nanofiber/High Entropy Alloy Composite as an Ultralightweight Electromagnetic Wave Absorber.

High entropy alloys (HEA) have garnered significant attention in electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption due to their efficient synergism among multiple components and tunable electronic structures. However, their high density and limited chemical stability hinder their progress as lightweight absorbers. Incorporating HEA with carbon offers a promising solution, but synthesizing stable HEA/carbon composite faces challenges due to the propensity for phase separation during conventional heat treatments. Moreover, EMW absorption mechanisms in HEAs may be different from established empirical models due to their high-entropy effect. This underscores the urgent need to synthesize stable and lightweight HEA/carbon absorbers and uncover their intrinsic absorption mechanisms. Herein, we successfully integrated a quinary FeCoNiCuMn HEA into a honeycomb-like porous carbon nanofiber (HCNF) using electrostatic spinning and the Joule-heating method. Leveraging the inherent lattice distortion effects and honeycomb structure, the HCNF/HEA composite demonstrates outstanding EMW absorption properties at an ultralow filler loading of 2 wt %. It achieves a minimum reflection loss of -65.8 dB and boasts a maximum absorption bandwidth of up to 7.68 GHz. This study not only showcases the effectiveness of combining HCNF with HEA, but also underscores the potential of Joule-heating synthesis for developing lightweight HEA-based absorbers.

Continuous thermophilic composting of distilled grain waste improved organic matter stability and succession of bacterial community.

Continuous thermophilic composting (CTC) is potentially helpful in shortening the composting cycle. However, its universal effectiveness and the microbiological mechanisms involved are unclear. Here, the physicochemical properties and bacterial community dynamics during composting of distilled grain waste in conventional and CTC models were compared. CTC accelerated the organic matter degradation rate (0.2 vs. 0.1 d-1) and shortened the composting cycle (24 vs. 65 d), mainly driven by the synergism of bacterial genera. Microbial analysis revealed that the abundance of Firmicutes was remarkably improved compared to that in conventional composting, and Firmicutes became the primary bacterial phylum (relative abundance >70 %) during the entire CTC process. Moreover, correlation analysis demonstrated that bacterial composition had a remarkable effect on the seed germination index. Therefore, controlling the composting process under continuous thermophilic conditions is beneficial for enhancing composting efficiency and strengthening the cooperation between bacterial genera.

Multivariate Analysis Compares and Evaluates Heat Tolerance of Potato Germplasm.

High temperature is the most important environmental factor limiting potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield. The tuber yield has been used to evaluate the heat tolerance of some potato cultivars, but potato yield was closely correlated with the maturation period. Therefore, it is necessary to employ different parameters to comprehensively analyze and evaluate potato tolerance to heat stress. This study aimed to investigate physiologic changes during growth and development, and develop accurate heat tolerance evaluation methods of potato cultivars under heat stress. About 93 cultivars (including foreign elite lines, local landraces and cultivars) were screened using an in vitro tuber-inducing system (continuous darkness and 8% sucrose in the culture medium) under heat stress (30 °C) and normal (22 °C) conditions for 30 days. The tuber yield and number decreased significantly under heat stress compared to the control. A total of 42 cultivars were initially selected depending on tuber formation, after in vitro screening, further testing of selected cultivars was conducted in ex vitro conditions. The screened cultivars were further exposed to heat stress (35 °C/28 °C, day/night) for 60 days. Heat stress led to an increase in the plant height growth rate, fourth internode growth rate, and membrane damage, and due to heat-induced damage to chloroplasts, decrease in chlorophyll biosynthesis and photosynthetic efficiency. Three principal components were extracted by principal component analysis. Correlation and regression analysis showed that heat tolerance is positively correlated with the plant height growth rate, fourth internode growth rate, the content of chlorophyll b, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, tuber number, and tuber yield, and negatively correlated with the cell membrane injury level. The nine traits are accurate and representative indicators for evaluating potato tolerance to heat stress and could determine a relatively high mean forecast accuracy of 100.0% for the comprehensive evaluation value. Through cluster analysis and screening, cultivar FA, D73, and C132 had the highest heat comprehensive evaluation value, which could be further selected as heat-resistant varieties. This study provides insights into the different physiological mechanisms and accurate evaluation methods of potato cultivars under heat stress, which could be valuable for further research and breeding.

Potent inhibitors targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 9 discovered via virtual high-throughput screening and absolute binding free energy calculations.

Due to the crucial regulatory mechanism of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) in mRNA transcription, the development of kinase inhibitors targeting CDK9 holds promise as a potential treatment strategy for cancer. A structure-based virtual screening approach has been employed for the discovery of potential novel CDK9 inhibitors. First, compounds with kinase inhibitor characteristics were identified from the ZINC15 database via virtual high-throughput screening. Next, the predicted binding modes were optimized by molecular dynamics simulations, followed by precise estimation of binding affinities using absolute binding free energy calculations based on the free energy perturbation scheme. The binding mode of molecule 006 underwent an inward-to-outward flipping, and the new binding mode exhibited binding affinity comparable to the small molecule T6Q in the crystal structure (PDB ID: 4BCF), highlighting the essential role of molecular dynamics simulation in capturing a plausible binding pose bridging docking and absolute binding free energy calculations. Finally, structural modifications based on these findings further enhanced the binding affinity with CDK9. The results revealed that enhancing the molecule's rigidity through ring formation, while maintaining the major interactions, reduced the entropy loss during the binding process and, thus, enhanced binding affinities.

Entropy engineering enhances the electromagnetic wave absorption of high-entropy transition metal dichalcogenides/N-doped carbon nanofiber composites.

Entropy engineering strategies provide a broader platform for exploring the behavior of electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption materials and their absorption mechanisms on the microscopic scale. In this work, a novel entropy engineering strategy was developed to improve the EMW absorption properties of MoS2. A hierarchical N-doped carbon nanofiber/MoS2 (NCNF/MS) composite was synthesized using the electrospinning and hydrothermal methods. Then, the conformational entropy of MoS2 was increased by sequentially integrating elements such as W, Se, and Te. Although MoS2 maintains a single 2H-phase structure throughout the entropy increase process, it triggers a series of complex changes at the microscopic level, including lattice distortion, ingenious electronic structure adjustments, and an increase in defect density. These changes provide more possibilities for the EMW interaction with the absorber, which significantly enhances the dielectric behavior of the composites, including conduction and polarization losses. Owing to the unique hierarchical structure and rich defect structure, the obtained entropy-increased NCNF/MWSST exhibits excellent EMW absorption performance. The minimum reflection loss reaches -60.7 dB, and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth is 6.48 GHz, which is improved by almost 584% and 810% compared to NCNF/MS. This study provides a new way to design efficient and high-performance MoS2-based absorbers and provides valuable insights for exploring the entropy-increasing strategies to optimize the EMW absorption properties.

Comprehensive review on gene mutations contributing to dilated cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the most common primary myocardial diseases. However, to this day, it remains an enigmatic cardiovascular disease (CVD) characterized by ventricular dilatation, which leads to myocardial contractile dysfunction. It is the most common cause of chronic congestive heart failure and the most frequent indication for heart transplantation in young individuals. Genetics and various other factors play significant roles in the progression of dilated cardiomyopathy, and variants in more than 50 genes have been associated with the disease. However, the etiology of a large number of cases remains elusive. Numerous studies have been conducted on the genetic causes of dilated cardiomyopathy. These genetic studies suggest that mutations in genes for fibronectin, cytoskeletal proteins, and myosin in cardiomyocytes play a key role in the development of DCM. In this review, we provide a comprehensive description of the genetic basis, mechanisms, and research advances in genes that have been strongly associated with DCM based on evidence-based medicine. We also emphasize the important role of gene sequencing in therapy for potential early diagnosis and improved clinical management of DCM.

An optical nanofibre-enabled on-chip single-nanoparticle sensor.

Single-nanoparticle detection has received tremendous interest due to its significance in fundamental physics and biological applications. Here, we demonstrate an optical nanofibre-enabled microfluidic sensor for the detection and sizing of nanoparticles. Benefitting from the strong evanescent field outside the nanofibre, a nanoparticle close to the nanofibre can scatter a portion of the field energy to the environment, resulting in a decrease in the transmitted intensity of the nanofibre. On the other hand, the narrow and shallow microfluidic channel provides a femtoliter-scale detection region, making nanoparticles flow through the detection region one by one. By real-time monitoring of the transmitted intensity of the nanofibre, the detection of a single polystyrene (PS) nanoparticle as small as 100 nm in diameter and exosomes in solution is realised. Based on a statistical analysis, the mean scattering signal is related to the size of the nanoparticle. Experimentally, a mixture of nanoparticles of different diameters (200, 500, and 1000 nm) in solution is identified. To demonstrate its potential in biological applications, high-throughput counting of yeasts using a pair of microchannels and dual-wavelength detection of fluorescently labelled nanoparticles are realised. We believe that the developed nanoparticle sensor holds great potential for the multiplexed and rapid sensing of diverse viruses.

Genome-wide identification, expression analysis, and potential roles under low-temperature stress of bHLH gene family in Prunus sibirica.

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family is one of the most well-known transcription factor families in plants, and it regulates growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. However, systematic analyses of the bHLH gene family in Prunus sibirica have not been reported to date. In this study, 104 PsbHLHs were identified and classified into 23 subfamilies that were unevenly distributed on eight chromosomes. Nineteen pairs of segmental replication genes and ten pairs of tandem replication genes were identified, and all duplicated gene pairs were under purifying selection. PsbHLHs of the same subfamily usually share similar motif compositions and exon-intron structures. PsbHLHs contain multiple stress-responsive elements. PsbHLHs exhibit functional diversity by interacting and coordinating with other members. Twenty PsbHLHs showed varying degrees of expression. Eleven genes up-regulated and nine genes down-regulated in -4°C. The majority of PsbHLHs were highly expressed in the roots and pistils. Transient transfection experiments demonstrated that transgenic plants with overexpressed PsbHLH42 have better cold tolerance. In conclusion, the results of this study have significant implications for future research on the involvement of bHLH genes in the development and stress responses of Prunus sibirica.

The Relationship between Axis Length Difference and Refractive Error in Unilateral Myopic Anisometropic Children Treated with Orthokeratology.

Purpose: To explore the correlation between the axial length (AL) difference (myopic and nonmyopic eye) and the refractive error in children with unilateral myopia anisometropia (UMA) and to elucidate its clinical application in the process of Ortho-K lenses review following nonstop wearing. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed the data of 70 children with UMA (age, 8-15 years) whose myopic eyes were treated with Ortho-K lenses. The spherical equivalent refractive errors (SERE) of the myopic eye ranged from -0.75 D to -4.25 D, and astigmatism was no less than -1.50 D. In addition, SERE of nonmyopic eyes were no less than -0.50 D. AL, and the refractive data of both eyes were measured at baseline. A multivariate linear regression was used to analyze the relationship between the AL difference and refractive error, and paired t-test was used to analyze the changes in AL in both eyes. Results: Every 1 mm axial length change corresponds to -1.627 D (95% CI: -1.921 D, -1.333 D; P < 0.001) change in refractive error in children. The association between the AL change and the degree of myopia did not change with age (P=0.751). Among the 70 subjects, 51 (72.86%) had myopia in the right eye, and the 95% confidence interval (CI) for myopia occurring in the right eye was 62.4%-83.3%. The paired t-test showed that the average AL growth was significantly slower in myopic eyes treated with Ortho-K lenses than in nonmyopic eyes (t = 9.805, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Every 1 mm AL change would cause an average refractive error increase. Age did not influence the association between AL changes and the degree of myopia. The right eye is more likely to be affected in children with UMA. The Ortho-K lens treatment slowed down the growth of AL in the myopic eye in children with UMA.

Multi-omics analysis to reveal key pathways involved in low C/N ratio stress response in Pseudomonas sp. LW60 with superior nitrogen removal efficiency.

In practical engineering, nitrogen removal at low temperatures or low C/N ratios is difficult. Although strains can remove nitrogen well at low temperatures, there is no research on the performance and deep mechanism of strains under low C/N ratio stress. In this study, Pseudomonas sp. LW60 with superior nitrogen removal efficiency under low C/N ratio stress was isolated at 4 °C. With a C/N ratio of 2-10, the NH4+-N removal efficiency was 40.02 %-100 % at 4 °C. Furthermore, the resistance mechanism of Pseudomonas sp. LW60 to low C/N ratio stress was deeply investigated by multi-omics. The results of transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome revealed that the resistance of strain LW60 to low C/N ratio stress was attributed to enhanced central carbon metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and ABC transporters, rather than nitrogen removal pathways. This study isolated a strain with low C/N ratio tolerance and deeply explored its tolerance mechanism by multi-omics.

Twisted Optical Micro/Nanofibers Enabled Detection of Subtle Temperature Variation.

The detection of subtle temperature variation plays an important role in many applications, including proximity sensing in robotics, temperature measurements in microfluidics, and tumor monitoring in healthcare. Herein, a flexible miniaturized optical temperature sensor is fabricated by embedding twisted micro/nanofibers in a thin layer of polydimethylsiloxane. Enabled by the dramatic change of the coupling ratio under subtle temperature variation, the sensor exhibits an ultrahigh sensitivity (-30 nm/°C) and high resolution (0.0012 °C). As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a robotic arm equipped with our sensor can avoid undesired collisions by detecting the subtle temperature variation caused by the existence of a human. Moreover, benefiting from the miniaturized and engineerable sensing structure, real-time measurement of subtle temperature variation in microfluidic chips is realized. These initial results pave the way toward a category of optical sensing devices ranging from robotic skin to human-machine interfaces and implantable healthcare sensors.

ICAM-1-decorated extracellular vesicles loaded with miR-146a and Glut1 drive immunomodulation and hinder tumor progression in a murine model of breast cancer.

Tumor-associated immune cells play a crucial role in cancer progression. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), for example, are immature innate immune cells that infiltrate the tumor to exert immunosuppressive activity and protect cancer cells from the host's immune system and/or cancer-specific immunotherapies. While tumor-associated immune cells have emerged as a promising therapeutic target, efforts to counter immunosuppression within the tumor niche have been hampered by the lack of approaches that selectively target the immune cell compartment of the tumor, to effectively eliminate "tumor-protecting" immune cells and/or drive an "anti-tumor" phenotype. Here we report on a novel nanotechnology-based approach to target tumor-associated immune cells and promote "anti-tumor" responses in a murine model of breast cancer. Engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) decorated with ICAM-1 ligands and loaded with miR-146a and Glut1, were biosynthesized (in vitro or in vivo) and administered to tumor-bearing mice once a week for up to 5 weeks. The impact of this treatment modality on the immune cell compartment and tumor progression was evaluated via RT-qPCR, flow cytometry, and histology. Our results indicate that weekly administration of the engineered EVs (i.e., ICAM-1-decorated and loaded with miR-146a and Glut1) hampered tumor progression compared to ICAM-1-decorated EVs with no cargo. Flow cytometry analyses of the tumors indicated a shift in the phenotype of the immune cell population toward a more pro-inflammatory state, which appeared to have facilitated the infiltration of tumor-targeting T cells, and was associated with a reduction in tumor size and decreased metastatic burden. Altogether, our results indicate that ICAM-1-decorated EVs could be a powerful platform nanotechnology for the deployment of immune cell-targeting therapies to solid tumors.

A case report and literature review: pheochromocytoma-mediated takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which is similar to acute myocardial infarction.

A 52-year-old Chinese woman was admitted to a cardiac intensive care unit (CCU) due to nausea, vomiting, and dyspnea, which began a day before her hospitalization. Metoprolol succinate and conventional treatment for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were initially administered to the patient based on electrocardiogram (ECG) findings and elevated cardiac troponin I (cTnI). However, the following day, she developed aggravated nausea, vomiting, fever, sweating, a flushed face, a rapid heart rate, and a significant rise in blood pressure. Furthermore, ultrasonic cardiography (UCG) displayed takotsubo-like changes; nevertheless, ECG indicated inconsistent cTnI peaks with extensive infarction. After coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) ruled out (AMI), and in conjunction with the uncommon findings, we strongly suspected that the patient had a secondary condition of pheochromocytoma-induced takotsubo cardiomyopathy (Pheo-TCM). In the meanwhile, the use of metoprolol succinate was promptly discontinued. This hypothesis was further supported by the subsequent plasma elevation of multiple catecholamines and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). After one month of treatment with high-dose Phenoxybenzamine in combination with metoprolol succinate, the patient met the criteria for surgical excision and successfully underwent the procedure. This case report demonstrated that pheochromocytoma could induce TCM and emphasized the significance of distinguishing it from AMI (in the context of beta-blocker usage and anticoagulant management).

Molecular mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction in coronary microcirculation dysfunction.

Coronary microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) react to changes in coronary blood flow and myocardial metabolites and regulate coronary blood flow by balancing vasoconstrictors-such as endothelin-1-and the vessel dilators prostaglandin, nitric oxide, and endothelium-dependent hyperpolarizing factor. Coronary microvascular endothelial cell dysfunction is caused by several cardiovascular risk factors and chronic rheumatic diseases that impact CMEC blood flow regulation, resulting in coronary microcirculation dysfunction (CMD). The mechanisms of CMEC dysfunction are not fully understood. However, the following could be important mechanisms: the overexpression and activation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (Nox), and mineralocorticoid receptors; the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by a decreased expression of sirtuins (SIRT3/SIRT1); forkhead box O3; and a decreased SKCA/IKCA expression in the endothelium-dependent hyperpolarizing factor electrical signal pathway. In addition, p66Shc is an adapter protein that promotes oxidative stress; although there are no studies on its involvement with cardiac microvessels, it is possible it plays an important role in CMD.

Genome-wide identification and analysis of the WRKY gene family and low-temperature stress response in Prunus sibirica.

BACKGROUND: WRKY transcription factors are a prominent gene family in plants, playing a crucial role in various biological processes including development, metabolism, defense, differentiation, and stress response. Although the WRKY gene family has been extensively studied and analysed in numerous plant species, research on Prunus sibirica's WRKY genes (PsWRKY) remains lacking. RESULTS: This study analysed the basic physicochemical properties, phylogeny, gene structure, cis-acting elements, and Gene ontology (GO) annotation of PsWRKY gene family members using bioinformatics methods based on the whole-genome data of P. sibirica. In total, 55 WRKYs were identified in P. sibirica and were heterogeneously distributed on eight chromosomes. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, these WRKYs were classified into three major groups: Group I, Group II (II-a, II-b, II-c, II-d, II-e), and Group III. Members of different subfamilies have different cis-acting elements, conserved motifs, and intron-exon structures, indicating functional heterogeneity of the WRKY family. Prediction of subcellular localisation indicated that PsWRKYs were mainly located in the nucleus. Twenty pairs of duplicated genes were identified, and segmental duplication events may play an important role in PsWRKY gene family expansion. Analysis of the Ka/Ks ratio showed that the PsWRKY family's homologous genes were primarily purified by selection. Additionally, GO annotation analysis showed that the WRKY gene family was mainly involved in responses to stimuli, immune system processes, and reproductive processes. Furthermore, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that 23 PsWRKYs were highly expressed in one or more tissues (pistils and roots) and PsWRKYs showed specific expression patterns under different low-temperature stress conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a scientific basis for the further exploration and functional validation of WRKYs in P. sibirica.

Variational Data-Free Knowledge Distillation for Continual Learning.

Deep neural networks suffer from catastrophic forgetting when trained on sequential tasks in continual learning. Various methods rely on storing data of previous tasks to mitigate catastrophic forgetting, which is prohibited in real-world applications considering privacy and security issues. In this paper, we consider a realistic setting of continual learning, where training data of previous tasks are unavailable and memory resources are limited. We contribute a novel knowledge distillation-based method in an information-theoretic framework by maximizing mutual information between outputs of previously learned and current networks. Due to the intractability of computation of mutual information, we instead maximize its variational lower bound, where the covariance of variational distribution is modeled by a graph convolutional network. The inaccessibility of data of previous tasks is tackled by Taylor expansion, yielding a novel regularizer in network training loss for continual learning. The regularizer relies on compressed gradients of network parameters. It avoids storing previous task data and previously learned networks. Additionally, we employ self-supervised learning technique for learning effective features, which improves the performance of continual learning. We conduct extensive experiments including image classification and semantic segmentation, and the results show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance on continual learning benchmarks.

Low-Concentration Redox-Electrolytes for High-Rate and Long-Life Zinc Metal Batteries.

The uncontrolled zinc electrodeposition and side reactions severely limit the power density and lifespan of Zn metal batteries. Herein, the multi-level interface adjustment effect is realized with low-concentration redox-electrolytes (0.2 m KI) additives. The iodide ions adsorbed on the zinc surface significantly suppress water-induced side reactions and by-product formation and enhance the kinetics of zinc deposition. The distribution of relaxation times results reveal that iodide ions can reduce the desolvation energy of hydrated zinc ions and guide the deposition of zinc ions due to their strong nucleophilicity. As a consequence, the Zn||Zn symmetric cell achieves superior cycling stability (>3000 h at 1 mA cm-2 , 1 mAh cm-2 ) accompanied by a uniform deposition and a fast reaction kinetics with a low voltage hysteresis (<30 mV). Additionally, coupled with an activated carbon (AC) cathode, the assembled Zn||AC cell delivers a high-capacity retention of 81.64% after 2000 cycles at 4 A g-1 . More importantly, the operando electrochemical UV-vis spectroscopies show that a small number of I3 - can spontaneously react with the dead zinc as well as basic zinc saltsand regenerate iodide ions and zinc ions; thus, the Coulombic efficiency of each charge-discharge process is close to 100%.