Neuro-muscular Responses Adaptation to Dynamic Changes in Grip Strength.

Precise control of strength is of significant importance in upper limb functional rehabilitation. Understanding the neuro-muscular response in strength regulation can help optimize the rehabilitation prescriptions and facilitate the relative training process for recovery control. This study aimed to investigate the inherent characteristics of neural-muscular activity during dynamic hand strength adjustment. Four dynamic grip force tracking modes were set by manipulating different magnitude and speed of force variations, and thirteen healthy young individuals took participation in the experiment. Electroencephalography were recorded in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex area, as well as the electromyography from the first dorsal interosseous muscle were collected synchronously. The metrics of the Event-related desynchronization, the electromyography stability index, and the force variation, were used to represent the corresponding cortical neural responses, muscle contraction activities, and the level of strength regulation, respectively; and further neuro-muscular coupling between the sensorimotor cortex and the first dorsal interosseous muscle was investigated by transfer entropy analysis. The results indicated a strong relationship that the increase of force regulation demand would result in a force variation increase as well as a stability reduction in muscle motor unit output. Meanwhile, the intensity of neural response increased in both the α and ß frequency bands. As the force regulation demand increased, the strength of bidirectional transfer entropy showed a clear shift from ß to the γ frequency band, which facilitate rapid integration of dynamic strength compensation to adapt to motor task changes.

Examining Self-Regulation and Problematic Smartphone Use in Canadian Adolescents: A Parallel Latent Growth Modeling Approach.

Despite extensive research on the prevalence and mental health implications of problematic smartphone use in adolescents, the cognitive mechanisms underpinning its development, such as self-regulation, remain underexplored. This study aims to fill this research gap by investigating the developmental trajectories of self-regulation and problematic smartphone use among Canadian adolescents. Participants (N = 1303; 614 girls; Mage = 14.60 years, SD = 1.16 years) attended one of five public high schools in Southern British Columbia. Adolescents self-reported their self-regulation skills, as well as problematic smartphone use annually for three years. In line with developmental expectations, results indicated that both self-regulation and problematic smartphone use increased across the three years. Parallel latent growth models revealed significant intercept and positive slope differences for self-regulation and problematic smartphone use, showing that higher initial self-regulation predicted lower initial problematic smartphone use, and vice versa. Girls exhibited higher initial levels of problematic smartphone use, but gender differences in developmental trajectories were not observed. These findings emphasize the importance of early self-regulation skills in preventing the escalation of problematic smartphone use in adolescents, providing evidence-based insights for developing targeted interventions.

Maternal distress, parenting stress, maladaptive parenting and children's problematic media use in China: evidence from 2022 spring in Shanghai.

The COVID-19 lockdown has forced young children to spend more time on media and significantly impacted their mothers' mental health. This study explored how mothers' individual distress influences children's problematic media use during the Shanghai citywide lockdown caused by COVID-19. Data were collected from 1889 Chinese mothers (Mage = 34.69 years, SD = 3.94 years) with preschoolers aged 3-6 years (Mage = 4.38 years, SD = 1.06 years; 49.0% boys) via an online survey. The statistical analyses relied on SPSS Statistics version 26.0 and macro-program PROCESS 3.3. to investigate the associations and mediation analysis among all the study variables. The results indicated a positive association between maternal distress and children's problematic media use, mediated by parenting stress and maladaptive parenting. Specifically, the serial mediation analysis revealed that high levels of maternal distress exacerbate parenting stress, which in turn leads to maladaptive parenting practices. These maladaptive practices subsequently increase problematic media use in preschool children. The findings highlighted that parents need to enhance their ability to manage risk and promote mental health during periods of significant stress and routine disruption to reduce children's problematic media use.

Reassessing determinants of urban energy intensity in China: insights from controllable and uncontrollable factors.

This study adopts a new approach to reassess the factors influencing urban energy intensity in China. Initially, the factors impacting energy intensity are classified into controllable and uncontrollable categories. Subsequently, employing a single-factor multi-stage method combined with the Adaboost method, 289 Chinese cities are categorized based on uncontrollable factors to eliminate the influence of inherent differences on energy intensity. Finally, panel data regression analyses are conducted using data from 289 Chinese cities between 2005 and 2016, individually for each city type, to evaluate the extent to which controllable factors contribute to energy intensity. The findings indicate that (1) heightened energy prices, an increased share of electricity consumption, and a greater proportion of centralized heating significantly influence the reduction of energy intensity across all city types; (2) to optimize energy consumption, each city type should adopt specific strategies. For instance, cities located in resource-rich heating regions with low economic outputs can reduce their energy intensity by increasing electricity consumption, while cities with high economic outputs can decrease their energy intensity by increasing natural gas consumption. The findings of this study carry substantial implications for the Chinese government in shaping targeted energy policies tailored to different city types.

Developmental Trajectories of Cyber-Aggression among Early Adolescents in Canada: The Impact of Aggression, Gender, and Time Spent Online.

The objective of the present study was to examine developmental trajectories of cyber-aggression in early adolescence, as well as their relationship with predictive factors related to cyber-aggression (e.g., overt aggression, gender, and time spent online). Participants were 384 adolescents from the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada who were in grade six and grade seven at Time 1 of the study (192 boys, Mage = 13.62 years, SD = 0.74 year). Three years of longitudinal data on cyber-aggression, overt aggression, and time spent online were collected via online self-report questionnaires. Findings indicated three different trajectories of cyber-aggression: (a) a low-increasing (85.7% of the sample), (b) a stable trajectory (9.3% of the sample), and (c) a high-decreasing trajectory (4.9% of the sample). Adolescents who reported higher scores on overt aggression and spent more time online were more likely to be in the stable or high-decreasing groups. These findings highlight the importance of studying subgroups regarding the developmental course of cyber-aggression in early adolescence. The implications of present study findings give insight into gender differences and overt aggression among youth to inform cyber-aggression intervention and prevention.

[Advances in efficient biosynthesis of erythritol by metabolic engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica].

Erythritol is a novel 4-carbon sugar alcohol produced by microbes in the presence of hyper-osmotic stress. It has excellent potential to serve as an alternative sugar for people with diabetes and also a platform compound for synthesizing various C4 compounds, such as 1, 3-butadiene, 1, 4-butanediol, 2, 5-dihydrofuran and so on. Compared with other polyols, the fermentative production of erythritol is more challenging. Yarrowia lipolytica is the preferred chassis of erythritol biosynthesis for its high-titer and high-productivity. At present, there are still some bottlenecks in the production of erythritol by Y. lipolytica, such as weak metabolic activity, abundant by-products, and low industrial attributes. Progress has been made in tailoring high version strains according to industrial needs. For example, the highest titer of erythritol produced by the metabolically engineered Y. lipolytica reached 196 g/L and 150 g/L, respectively, by using glucose or glycerol as the carbon sources. However, further improving its production performance becomes challenging. This review summarizes the research progress in the synthesis of erythritol by Y. lipolytica from the perspectives of erythritol producing strains, metabolic pathways, modular modifications, and auxiliary strategies to enhance the industrial properties of the engineered strain. Key nodes in the metabolic pathway and their combination strategies are discussed to guide the research on promoting the production of erythritol by Y. lipolytica.

Public Opinions and Attitudes toward Noninvasive Prenatal Testing on Reddit: Content and Sentiment Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) can be used to detect fetal chromosomal abnormalities early in pregnancy. As eligibility criteria broaden and screening targets expand, gauging public acceptability of NIPT becomes increasingly important. Leveraging social media as a rich source of public discourse, the purpose of this study was to understand public opinions and attitudes toward NIPT on the social media platform Reddit. METHODS: We applied content and natural language processing techniques (i.e., sentiment analysis) to textual data collected from 4 Reddit communities focusing on the NIPT content posted from September 2012 to September 2022 (367 posts and 7,822 comments in total). RESULTS: Content analysis findings indicated that social media users consider NIPT to be worthwhile. Reasons NIPT was perceived to be not worthwhile related to unwanted anxiety, and the fact that NIPT results would not change anything about their approach to pregnancy were also expressed. The sentiment analysis identified more positive than negative emotions; the mean sentiment scores ranged from 0.48 to 1.22, depending on the specific Lexicon used. Specific emotions (i.e., trust, fear) were also identified. CONCLUSION: Our novel approach to understanding public perception and attitudes toward NIPT yielded results that are consistent with conventional patient-oriented research methods. These findings may not only contribute to ongoing improvements in prenatal patient care, research, and policy but also indicate that sentiment analysis applied to social media data can serve as a suitable means to assess public acceptability of NIPT, particularly as public dialogue on this topic increases over time.

A colorimetric sensing strategy based on chitosan-stabilized platinum nanoparticles for quick detection of α-glucosidase activity and inhibitor screening.

α-Glucosidase (α-Glu) is implicated in the progression and pathogenesis of type II diabetes (T2D). In this study, we developed a rapid colorimetric technique using platinum nanoparticles stabilized by chitosan (Ch-PtNPs) to detect α-Glu activity and its inhibitor. The Ch-PtNPs facilitate the conversion of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) into oxidized TMB (oxTMB) in the presence of dissolved O2. The catalytic hydrolysis of 2-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-L-ascorbic acid (AA-2G) by α-Glu produces ascorbic acid (AA), which reduces oxTMB to TMB, leading to the fading of the blue color. However, the presence of α-Glu inhibitors (AGIs) hinders the generation of AA, allowing Ch-PtNPs to re-oxidize colorless TMB back to blue oxTMB. This unique phenomenon enables the colorimetric detection of α-Glu activity and AGIs. The linear range for α-Glu was found to be 0.1-1.0 U mL-1 and the detection limit was 0.026 U mL-1. Additionally, the half-maximal inhibition value (IC50) for acarbose, an α-Glu inhibitor, was calculated to be 0.4769 mM. Excitingly, this sensing platform successfully detected α-Glu activity in human serum samples and effectively screened AGIs. These promising findings highlight the potential application of the proposed strategy in clinical diabetes diagnosis and drug discovery.

Ribocentre-switch: a database of riboswitches.

Riboswitches are regulatory elements found in the untranslated regions (UTRs) of certain mRNA molecules. They typically comprise two distinct domains: an aptamer domain that can bind to specific small molecules, and an expression platform that controls gene expression. Riboswitches work by undergoing a conformational change upon binding to their specific ligand, thus activating or repressing the genes downstream. This mechanism allows gene expression regulation in response to metabolites or small molecules. To systematically summarise riboswitch structures and their related ligand binding functions, we present Ribocentre-switch, a comprehensive database of riboswitches, including the information as follows: sequences, structures, functions, ligand binding pockets and biological applications. It encompasses 56 riboswitches and 26 orphan riboswitches from over 430 references, with a total of 89 591 sequences. It serves as a good resource for comparing different riboswitches and facilitating the identification of potential riboswitch candidates. Therefore, it may facilitate the understanding of RNA structural conformational changes in response to ligand signaling. The database is publicly available at https://riboswitch.ribocentre.org.

Fabrication of Hollow and Hierarchical CuO Micro-Nano Cubes Wrapped by Reduced Graphene Oxide as a Prospective Anode for SIBs.

In this study, hollow and hierarchical CuO micro-nano cubes wrapped by reduced graphene oxide (H-CuO MNCs@rGO) were designed and successfully fabricated via a novel three-step wet-chemical method. Benefiting from its unique hollow and hierarchical micro-nano structures, H-CuO MNCs@rGO exhibited significantly enhanced electrochemical Na+ storage performance when utilized as anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Specifically, H-CuO MNCs@rGO demonstrated a specific capacity of 380.9 mAh g-1 in the initial reversible cycle and a capacity retention of 218.9 mAh g-1 after 150 cycles at a current density of 300 mA g-1. Furthermore, through the dominant pseudocapacitive behavior, an optimized rate capability of 221.2 mAh g-1 at 800 mA g-1 can be obtained for H-CuO MNCs@rGO. The comprehensive Na+ storage properties of H-CuO MNCs@rGO obviously exceeded those of hollow CuO cubes (H-CuO MNCs) and bulk CuO anodes. Such enhanced Na+ storage performances of H-CuO MNCs@rGO can be attributed to its reasonable hollow and hierarchical micro-nano structures, which provide abundant redox active sites, shorten Na+ migration pathway, buffer volume expansion, and improve electronic/ionic conductivity during sodiation/desodiation process. Our strategy provides a facile and innovative approach for the design of CuO with rational micro-nano structure as a high-performance anode for SIBs, which would also be a guiding way for tailoring transition metal oxides in other scalable and functional applications.

Pan-cancer analysis identifies EMC6 as a potential target for lung adenocarcinoma.

Endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein complex subunit 6 (EMC6) plays an important function in both physiological and pathological states of cells. Nevertheless, there are few studies focused on the role of EMC6 in tumors. At first, we performed a series of bioinformatics analyses on 33 kinds of cancers, including differential expression analysis, tumor mutational burden analysis, prognostic analysis, and clinicopathological staging analysis. Then, we corroborated the important role of EMC6 in lung cancer by cytological and in vivo experiments. We found that the reduction of EMC6 expression did effectively inhibit the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of A549. Finally, EMC6 is indeed involved in the regulation of ferroptosis, cuproptosis, and immune response in LUAD. In a word, our study not only comprehensively analyzed the functional mechanisms of EMC6 in all cancers but also validated the regulatory role of EMC6 in lung cancer for the first time.

Maternal COVID-19 Distress and Chinese Preschool Children's Problematic Media Use: A Moderated Serial Mediation Model.

Introduction: Maternal distress increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly impacting children's media use. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence mechanism of maternal COVID-19 distress on preschoolers' problematic media us through a moderated mediation model; specifically, we examined the possible mediating roles of parenting stress and negative instrumental use of media in parenting and the moderating role of supportive co-parenting. Methods: An online survey was conducted in a sample of 1357 children (Mage = 4.01, SD = 1.06; 47.4% boys) and their parents from six public kindergartens in Shanghai, China. The mothers provided information by completing measures on their levels of distress related to COVID-19, parenting stress levels, digital parenting practices, and perception of supportive co-parenting from their partners. Additionally, both parents rated their children's problematic media use. Results: (1) maternal COVID-19 distress was significantly and positively related to children's problematic media use; (2) this relationship was sequentially mediated by parenting stress and parents' negative instrumental use of media in parenting; and (3) supportive co-parenting moderated the serial mediation path by reducing the effect of maternal COVID-19 distress on parenting stress. Conclusion: The findings provide some support and guidance for preventing children's problematic media use and enhancing parental adaptation during the COVID-19 pandemic or in potentially adverse situations.

Multiplex modification of Yarrowia lipolytica for enhanced erythritol biosynthesis from glycerol through modularized metabolic engineering.

Erythritol is a novelty 4-carbon sugar polyol and has great potential to be used as the precursor of some platform chemicals. The increasing cost of glucose poses researchers shifting insights to the cheaper biodiesel raw materials. Herein, we engineered a non-degradation, non-byproducts Yarrowia lipolytica for the erythritol production with high-titer from glycerol. Initially, the degradation and competition modules were blocked by URA3 counter-selection marker. Subsequently, a shortened biosynthetic pathway was explored to elevate its synthetic flux by multi-modules combination expression of functional genes. Furthermore, a screened glycerol transporter ScFPS1 was integrated into ERY6 genome to promote the glycerol uptake. The constructed strain ERY8 produced 176.66 g/L erythritol in the 5-L bioreactor with a yield and productivity of 0.631 g/g and 1.23 g/L/h, respectively, which achieved the highest fermentation production efficiency till date. This study proposed a novel multi-modules combination strategy for effectively engineering Y. lipolytica to produce erythritol using glycerol.

Assessing the Performance of the Clinician-reported Genetic Testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE): Further Evidence of Inter-rater Reliability.

PURPOSE: Advanced genomic and genetic testing technologies are quickly diffusing into clinical practice, but standardized approaches to assessing their clinical utility are limited. Previous work developed and generated preliminary evidence of validity for a novel outcome measure, the Clinician-reported Genetic testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE). C-GUIDE is a 17-item measure that captures the utility of genetic testing from the providers' perspective. Preliminary evidence of its inter-rater reliability was obtained through a clinical vignette study. The purpose of this study was to further assess its inter-rater reliability using actual clinical cases. METHODS: One genetic counselor and one medical geneticist independently completed C-GUIDE Version 1.1 after genetic test results were disclosed to a shared set of 42 patients. Raters also completed a case description questionnaire, including information about the patient's age, indication for testing, and type of test performed. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by comparing the raters' C-GUIDE scores using ANOVA to generate intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs), absolute agreement, and mixed repeated measures ANOVA. FINDINGS: Of the 42 patients studied, the most common indications for testing were hearing loss (n = 18) and craniosynostosis (n = 11), and the most common tests ordered were gene panels (n = 20) and microarrays (n = 10). Test results were diagnostic or partially diagnostic for 11 patients, potentially diagnostic for 14 patients, or nondiagnostic for 17 patients. The overall ICC was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.89-0.97) and absolute agreement was acceptable (>70%) for 15 individual items. Inter-rater agreement was excellent (ICC > 0.90) for 8 items, good (ICC = 0.75-0.89) for 3 items, moderate (ICC = 0.50-0.74) for 4 items and poor (ICC < 0.50) for 2 items. Absolute agreement was unacceptable (<70%), and rater agreement was fair (ICC = 0.40-0.59) for 2 items. For the global rating, the ICC was 0.62 (95% CI, 0.39-0.77), and the absolute agreement was 61.9%. IMPLICATIONS: Rater instructions for item completion have been modified to improve consistency of item interpretation. Although further assessments of reliability are warranted after modifications, these findings provide additional tentative evidence of C-GUIDE's inter-rater reliability and suggest that it may be useful as a strategy for measuring the value of genetic testing, as perceived by genetics providers.

Harmonics of Parton Saturation in Lepton-Jet Correlations at the Electron-Ion Collider.

Parton saturation is one of the most intriguing phenomena in the high energy nuclear physics research frontier, especially in the upcoming era of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The lepton-jet correlation in deep inelastic scattering provides us with a new gateway to the parton saturation at the EIC. In particular, we demonstrate that azimuthal angle anisotropies of the lepton-jet correlation are sensitive to the strength of the saturation momentum in the EIC kinematic region. In contrast to the predictions based on the collinear framework calculation, significant nuclear modification of the anisotropies is observed when we compare the saturation physics results in e+p and e+Au scatterings. By measuring these harmonic coefficients at the EIC, one can conduct quantitative analyses in different collisional systems and unveil compelling evidence for saturation effects.

Effects of China's low-carbon policy under stochastic shocks-a multi-agent DSGE model analysis.

China has announced a target of achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Therefore, it is important to assess the economic impacts and emission reduction effects of China's low-carbon policies. In this paper, a multi-agent dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model is established. We analyze the effects of carbon tax and carbon cap-and-trade policies under both deterministic and stochastic conditions, as well as their ability to cope with stochastic shocks. We found that (1) from a deterministic perspective, these two policies have the same effect. Every 1% cut in CO2 emissions will bring a 0.12% output loss, a 0.5% drop in demand for fossil fuels, and a 0.05% rise in demand for renewable energy; (2) from a stochastic perspective, effects of these two policies are different. This is mainly because economic uncertainty does not change the cost of CO2 emissions under a carbon tax policy, but it does change the price of CO2 quotas and the emission reduction behaviors under a carbon cap-and-trade policy; (3) from an economic volatility perspective, both two policies can act as automatic stabilizers. Compared to a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade policy can better ease economic fluctuations. The results of this study provide implications for policy-making.

Transdiagnostic computations of uncertainty: towards a new lens on intolerance of uncertainty.

People radically differ in how they cope with uncertainty. Clinical researchers describe a dispositional characteristic known as "intolerance of uncertainty", a tendency to find uncertainty aversive, reported to be elevated across psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. Concurrently, recent research in computational psychiatry has leveraged theoretical work to characterise individual differences in uncertainty processing. Under this framework, differences in how people estimate different forms of uncertainty can contribute to mental health difficulties. In this review, we briefly outline the concept of intolerance of uncertainty within its clinical context, and we argue that the mechanisms underlying this construct may be further elucidated through modelling how individuals make inferences about uncertainty. We will review the evidence linking psychopathology to different computationally specified forms of uncertainty and consider how these findings might suggest distinct mechanistic routes towards intolerance of uncertainty. We also discuss the implications of this computational approach for behavioural and pharmacological interventions, as well as the importance of different cognitive domains and subjective experiences in studying uncertainty processing.

Optimal Design of Carbon-Based Polymer Nanocomposites Preparation Based on Response Surface Methodology.

Response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) were used to improve the preparation of carbon nanotube and graphene (CNT-GN)-sensing unit composite materials in this study. Four independent variable factors (CNT content, GN content, mixing time, and curing temperature) were controlled at five levels, and 30 samples were generated using the multivariate control analysis technique. On the basis of the experimental design, semi-empirical equations were developed and utilized to predict the sensitivity and compression modulus of the generated samples. The results reveal a strong correlation between the experimental and expected values of sensitivity and the compression modulus for the CNT-GN/RTV (room-temperature-vulcanized silicone rubber) polymer nanocomposites fabricated using different design strategies. The correlation coefficients for the sensitivity and compression modulus are R2 =0.9634 and R2=0.9115, respectively. The ideal preparation parameters of the composite in the experimental range include a CNT content of 1.1 g, a GN content of 1.0 g, a mixing time of 15 min, and a curing temperature of 68.6 °C, according to theoretical predictions and experimental findings. At 0~30 kPa, the CNT-GN/RTV-sensing unit composite materials may reach a sensitivity of 0.385 kPa-1 and a compressive modulus of 601.567 kPa. This provides a new idea for the preparation of flexible sensor cells and reduces the time and economic cost of experiments.

Simvastatin Reduces NETosis to Attenuate Severe Asthma by Inhibiting PAD4 Expression.

Objective: Patients with severe asthma respond poorly to corticosteroids, and their care accounts for more than 60% of the total costs attributed to asthma. Neutrophils form neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which play a crucial role in severe asthma. Statins have shown anti-inflammatory effects by reducing NETosis. In this study, we investigate if simvastatin can attenuate severe asthma by reducing NETosis and the underlying mechanism. Methods: Mice were concomitantly sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA), house dust mite (HDM), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) during sensitization to establish a mouse model of severe asthma with neutrophil predominant inflammation (OVA+LPS mice) and treated with or without simvastatin. In inflammatory response, proportions of Th2, Th17, and Treg cells in lung tissue were detected by flow cytometry, and the levels of cytokines, dsDNA, and MPO-DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were analyzed by ELISA. Citrullinated histone H3 (CitH3) and peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) in lung tissue were determined by Western blot and immunofluorescence imaging. PAD4 mRNA was determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR). HL-60 cells were differentiated into neutrophil-like cells by 1.25% DMSO. The neutrophil-like cells were treated with or without LPS, and simvastatin was then stimulated with PMA. CitH3 and PAD4 expressions were determined. Results: Sensitization with OVA, HDM, and LPS resulted in neutrophilic inflammation and the formation of NETs in the lungs. Simvastatin treatment reduced the inflammation score, cytokine levels, total cells, and neutrophil counts in the BALF and reduced proportions of Th2 and Th17 but increased Treg cells in lungs of OVA+LPS mice. Simvastatin-treated OVA+LPS mice show reduced NET formation in BALF and lung tissue compared to control mice. Adoptive transfer of neutrophils was sufficient to restore NETosis and neutrophilic inflammation in simvastatin-treated OVA+LPS mice. Simvastatin reduced PAD4 mRNA and protein expression in lung tissues and neutrophils isolated from lungs of OVA+LPS mice and consequent NET formation. In vitro, simvastatin reduced LPS-induced PAD4 upregulation and NETosis in HL-60-differentiated neutrophil-like cells. Furthermore, PAD4-overexpressed lentiviral transduction was sufficient to restore PAD4 protein expression and NETosis in simvastatin-treated HL-60-differentiated neutrophil-like cells. Conclusions: Simvastatin reduces Th17-mediated neutrophilic inflammation and airway hyperreactivity by reducing PAD4 expression and inhibiting NETosis in a mouse model of severe asthma. Severe asthmatic patients with high levels of circulating NETs or sputum NETs may show improved responses to statin treatment.

Modeling and Optimization of the Creep Behavior of Multicomponent Copolymer Nanocomposites.

Polymer creep can significantly reduce the safety and dependability of composite applications, restricting their development and use in additional fields. In this study, single-factor and multi-factor analysis techniques were employed to systematically explore the impacts of nickel powder and graphene on the resistive creep of sensing units. The creep model between the rate of resistance changes and the pressure was established, and the material ratio was optimized to obtain a high creep resistance. The results demonstrated that the creep resistance was best when the filling particle was 10 wt.% and the ratio of nickel powder to graphene was 4:21, which was approximately 60% and 45% lower than the filling alone and the composite filling before optimization, respectively; the R2 of the theoretical value of the resistance creep model and the experimental value of the creep before and after optimization was 0.9736 and 0.9812, indicating that the resistance creep model was highly accurate. Consequently, the addition of filler particles with acceptable proportions, varied shapes, and different characteristics to polymers can effectively reduce polymer creep and has significant potential for the manufacture of sensing units for tactile sensors.