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INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and changing trends of non-smokers with lung cancer (LC) based on data from a population-wide cancer registry in northern China. METHODS: The study used LC incidence and follow-up data from 2010 to 2019 from the Cancer Registry System of Tianjin city, which included 82769 cases. Trends in the incidence and proportion of non-smokers with LC were examined by joinpoint regression analysis. Life table and Cox survival analyses were used to calculate the survival rates and compare the death hazard ratios (HRs) in different groups, respectively. RESULTS: Among the 82769 new diagnosis cases of LC during 2010 to 2019, there were 34589 (41.8%) current smokers, 14913 (18.0%) ex-smokers, 28123 (34.0%) non-smokers, and 5144 (6.2%) unknowns. The proportion of non-smokers changed slightly from 2010 (35.36%) to 2019 (36.87%) (annual percentage change, APC= -0.01%, p>0.05). This proportion declined in men (2010 vs 2019; 22.06% vs 20.66%) and increased in women (2010 vs 2019; 53.02% vs 62.35%), and in the 0-44 years age group it showed an upward trend from 2015 to 2019 (APC=4.82%, 95% CI: 1.8-7.9). Compared with smokers with LC, non-smokers with LC were predominantly females (64.15% vs 27.26%), had a predominantly adenocarcinoma histological subtypes (76.71% vs 42.22%), and had a 20% lower risk of death than smokers (HR=0.80; 95% CI: 0.78-0.81). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of non-smokers with LC was relatively high in northern China, with an increasing trend in the proportion of females and younger age groups. Non-smokers with LC had different epidemiological and clinical characteristics compared with smokers with LC.
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To compare and analyze the differences in immunological response between the two color morphs of Channa argus, a fish cohort was divided into four groups: black C argus + PBS (B-PBS), black C argus + Aeromonas hydrophila (B-Ah), white C. argus + PBS (W-PBS), and white C. argus + A hydrophila (W-Ah). The B-PBS and W-PBS groups received 100 µL PBS, while the B-Ah and W-Ah groups received 3.6 × 105 CFU/mL A. hydrophila in the same volume. The death rate in each group was noted, changes in plasma biochemical indicators and the expression of liver immune-related genes were examined, and transcriptome techniques were used to compare the differences between the two colors of C. argus following stress. No mortality occurred in the B-PBS and W-PBS groups. Mortality in the W-Ah and B-Ah groups showed an upward and then downward trend after A. hydrophila injection. The highest mortality occurred within 24 h and was higher in the W-Ah group than in the B-Ah group. MDA levels in the B-Ah and W-Ah groups increased and then decreased, while SOD and T-AOC showed the reverse tendency. The W-Ah and W-PBS groups differed significantly in MDA at 3, 12, and 24 h, SOD from 6 to 96 h, and T-AOC between 6 and 48 h. Plasma MDA and T-AOC levels at 12 h and SOD levels at 24 and 48 h differed significantly between the B-PBS and B-Ah groups. In both the W-Ah and B-Ah groups, the expression levels of IL-1ß and IL-8 in the liver showed a temporal pattern with an initial increase followed by a decrease, reaching peak levels after 24 h, while IL-10 showed the reverse pattern. Transcriptome analysis of the liver revealed significant differences between the two C. argus colors. Differential genes in black C. argus were mainly enriched in steroid biosynthesis, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and glutathione and propanoate metabolism pathways 24 h after infection. In contrast, differential genes in white C. argus were mainly enriched in pathways such as oxidative phosphorylation, pancreatic secretion, and protein digestion and absorption 24 h after infection. After A. hydrophila infection, white C. argus had higher mortality, more severe oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, and lower antioxidant capacity than black C. argus.
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With the increase in high-rise buildings in cities, public flue exhaust systems have a direct impact on residential air quality and the living environment. Although existing studies have analyzed the problems in public flue exhaust systems through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations and experimental tests, these studies often lack an in-depth exploration of the specific impacts of individual components in the system. To solve this problem, this study not only thoroughly analyzes the key components in the public flue system, such as branch pipes, check valves, and tee pipes, but also develops a parametric public flue simulation system software based on C# and verifies the accuracy of the simulation through experiments. The study first determines the key parameters affecting the comprehensive resistance coefficient of the branch pipe, check valve, tee pipe, and other components through CFD simulation and experimental testing. Subsequently, a visualization program is developed using the C# language, which can quickly simulate and visualize the flow changes in the flue according to different building parameters such as the number of floors, height of floors, and size of the flue. The results confirm that the program can efficiently predict the flow distribution under different design options, providing a practical tool for the optimal design and performance evaluation of public flues, which is important for improving the air quality of the living environment.
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Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) based on nanowire (NW) hold significant promise for applications in fire detection, optical communication, and environmental monitoring. As optoelectronic devices evolve towards lower dimensionality, multifunctionality, and integrability, multicolor PDs have become a research hotspot in optics and electronic information. This study investigates the enhancement of detection capability in a light-trapping ZnO NW array through modification with Pt nanoparticles (NPs) via magnetron sputtering and hydrothermal synthesis. The optimized PD exhibits superior performance, achieving a responsivity of 12.49 A/W, detectivity of 4.07 × 1012 Jones, and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 4.19 × 103%, respectively. In addition, the Pt NPs/ZnO NW/ZnO PD maintains spectral selectivity in the UV region. These findings show the pivotal role of Pt NPs in enhancing photodetection performance through their strong light absorption and scattering properties. This improvement is associated with localized surface plasmon resonance induced by the Pt NPs, leading to enhanced incident light and interfacial charge separation for the specialized configurations of the nanodevice. Utilizing metal NPs for device modification represents a breakthrough that positively affects the preparation of high-performance ZnO-based UV PDs.
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Knowledge distillation aims to achieve model compression by transferring knowledge from complex teacher models to lightweight student models. To reduce reliance on pre-trained teacher models, self-distillation methods utilize knowledge from the model itself as additional supervision. However, their performance is limited by the same or similar network architecture between the teacher and student. In order to increase architecture variety, we propose a new self-distillation framework called restructured self-distillation (RSD), which involves restructuring both the teacher and student networks. The self-distilled model is expanded into a multi-branch topology to create a more powerful teacher. During training, diverse student sub-networks are generated by randomly discarding the teacher's branches. Additionally, the teacher and student models are linked by a randomly inserted feature mixture block, introducing additional knowledge distillation in the mixed feature space. To avoid extra inference costs, the branches of the teacher model are then converted back to its original structure equivalently. Comprehensive experiments have demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed framework for most architectures on CIFAR-10/100 and ImageNet datasets. Code is available at https://github.com/YujieZheng99/RSD.
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BACKGROUND: Limited research has explored the impact of cardiovascular disease (CVD) on healthy life expectancy (HLE) especially in resource-limited areas. This study aimed to investigate the association between CVD and HLE in Chinese rural population. METHODS: This study included 11,994 participants aged 45 years and older from the baseline and follow-up surveys of the Henan rural cohort study. Healthy status was measured via a Visual Analogue Scale. The multistate Markov model was applied to estimate the association between CVD and transitions in health, unhealthiness and death. Gender-specific total life expectancy, HLE and unhealthy life expectancy were calculated by the multistate life table method. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up time of 3.85 (3.84-3.86) years, there were 588 deaths recorded. For individuals with CVD, the risk of switching from health to unhealthiness status was increased by 71% [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.42-2.07], the chance of recovery was reduced by 30% (HR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.60-0.82). Men aged 45 years without CVD could gain an extra 7.08 (4.15-10.01) years of HLE and lose 4.00 (1.60-6.40) years of unhealthy life expectancy compared to their peers with CVD, respectively. The corresponding estimates among women were 8.62 (5.55-11.68) years and 5.82 (2.59-9.04) years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that CVD was significantly associated with poorer health status and lower HLE among Chinese rural population. It is an important public health policy to adopt targeted measures to reduce the CVD burden and enhance the quality of life and HLE in resource-limited areas.
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The interlayer electronic coupling is responsible for the electronic structure evolution from monolayer graphene to graphite and for the moiré potential in twisted bilayer graphene. Here we demonstrate that the interlayer transfer integral (hopping parameter) increases nearly 40% with a quite moderate pressure of â¼3.5 GPa, manifested by the resonance peak shift in the infrared spectra of all 2-10 L graphene. A simple model based on the Morse potential enabled us to establish the relationship between the transfer integral and pressure. Our work provides fundamental insights into the dependence of the electronic coupling on the interlayer distance.
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Nanoplastics (NPs, < 1000 nm) interact with chemicals and biomolecules to produce chemical-/eco-corona, altering the environmental destiny, bioavailability, and toxicity of plastic particles and co-occurring chemicals. This study employs exogenous (humic acid, HA) and endogenous (bovine serum albumin, BSA) natural organic matter (NOM) to investigate the eco-corona formation on NPs and explore the interfacial effects of eco-corona and 6:2 chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonate (Cl-PFESA, commonly named as F-53B) on zebrafish (Danio rerio) after 7 days of exposure. Our results indicated significant changes in growth and developmental indices of zebrafish embryos among all eco-corona groups (p < 0.05). Additionally, NFB (BSA-corona, 1 mg/L NPs + 200 µg/L F-53B + 10 mg/L BSA), NFH (HA-corona, 1 mg/L NPs + 200 µg/L F-53B + 10 mg/L HA) and NFHB (BSA-HA-corona, 1 mg/L NPs + 200 µg/L F-53B + 10 mg/L BSA + 10 mg/L HA) showed elevated bioaccumulation of NPs, ROS generation and induction of apoptosis. Transcriptomic analysis showed the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the following order: BSA-HA-corona (NFHB (2953) > HA-corona (NFH (2797) > NH (2721) > F-53B (2292) > NF (2033) > BSA-corona (NFB (687) > NB (450)), and no DEGs were detected in the single NP compared to the control. Further, the PI3K-AKT, immune system, endocrine system, digestive system, infectious diseases, and neurovegetative disease pathways showed sensitive responses in the NFH/NFHB groups compared to those in the NFB group. Therefore, the interactive effects of NPs and F-53B on zebrafish embryos were lower in the presence of BSA-corona than those in HA- or HA-BSA-coronas, indicating a relationship between the formation of diverse eco-coronas on NPs by multiple NOM and an associated increase in the interfacial toxicological effects of plastic particles and F-35B in freshwater organisms.
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Embrião não Mamífero , Poluentes Químicos da Água , Peixe-Zebra , Animais , Peixe-Zebra/embriologia , Embrião não Mamífero/efeitos dos fármacos , Poluentes Químicos da Água/toxicidade , Nanopartículas/toxicidade , Microplásticos/toxicidadeRESUMO
PURPOSE: Brachial blood pressure (BP) is the current gold standard for BP assessment; however, measures of pulse wave velocity (PWV) and central blood pressure (CBP) may contribute uniquely to assessment of cardiovascular health status. As of yet, standards for assessment of CBP and PWV have not addressed the impact of hydration status on proper measurement. To understand the impact of hydration, PWV and CBP should be measured in a euhydrated and hypohydrated state. METHODS: Forty-three young, healthy participants (21 ± 2 years) completed a dehydration protocol utilizing moderate aerobic activity until they lost 1%-2% of their body weight. PWV and CBP were measured before and following the dehydration protocol. Linear regression was utilized to assess change in hydration status and change in PWV and CBP. RESULTS: No significant relationships were observed between the change in hydration status (% body weight lost) and PWV (ß = 0.05, p = 0.78) or central diastolic BP (ß = -3.8, p = 0.10), however, a significant relationship was observed with central systolic BP (ß = -5.0, p = 0.03). DISCUSSION: In conclusion, the assessment of hydration status before measurement of CBP or PWV may not be necessary in young, healthy individuals.
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Assessing the perioperative, oncological, and functional results of robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) versus three-dimensional laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (3D LRP), a comprehensive exploration of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases was carried out until July 2024. The combined results were evaluated by utilizing the weighted mean differences (WMDs) and odds ratios (ORs) through the application of Stata version 18, where data were gathered and scrutinized. In addition, sensitivity analyses were performed to ensure the robustness of our findings. In the meta-analysis we conducted, four studies were incorporated in total, which comprised two randomized controlled trials, one study that was retrospective and another that was prospective. The findings revealed that RARP was associated with a significantly reduced estimated blood loss (EBL) (WMD - 31.04, 95%CI - 54.57, - 7.51; p = 0.01) compared to 3D LRP. Nonetheless, there were no notable statistical variances seen between the two groups regarding operative time (OT), nerve-sparing rates, positive surgical margin (PSM) rates, biochemical recurrence (BCR) rates, or the restoration of urinary continence and potency 3 or 6 months after the surgery. In conclusion, our comprehensive meta-analysis has offered a detailed contrast between the results of RARP and 3D LRP in the treatment of prostate cancer. The findings highlight a considerable decrease in projected blood loss linked with RARP, yet no notable variances were detected between the two methods regarding other perioperative, oncological, and functional results.
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Perda Sanguínea Cirúrgica , Laparoscopia , Prostatectomia , Neoplasias da Próstata , Procedimentos Cirúrgicos Robóticos , Humanos , Prostatectomia/métodos , Masculino , Procedimentos Cirúrgicos Robóticos/métodos , Laparoscopia/métodos , Neoplasias da Próstata/cirurgia , Perda Sanguínea Cirúrgica/estatística & dados numéricos , Duração da Cirurgia , Resultado do Tratamento , Margens de Excisão , Incontinência Urinária/etiologia , Incontinência Urinária/prevenção & controleRESUMO
3D medical image segmentation methods have been successful, but their dependence on large amounts of voxel-level annotated data is a disadvantage that needs to be addressed given the high cost to obtain such annotation. Semi-supervised learning (SSL) solves this issue by training models with a large unlabelled and a small labelled dataset. The most successful SSL approaches are based on consistency learning that minimises the distance between model responses obtained from perturbed views of the unlabelled data. These perturbations usually keep the spatial input context between views fairly consistent, which may cause the model to learn segmentation patterns from the spatial input contexts instead of the foreground objects. In this paper, we introduce the Translation Consistent Co-training (TraCoCo) which is a consistency learning SSL method that perturbs the input data views by varying their spatial input context, allowing the model to learn segmentation patterns from foreground objects. Furthermore, we propose a new Confident Regional Cross entropy (CRC) loss, which improves training convergence and keeps the robustness to co-training pseudo-labelling mistakes. Our method yields state-of-the-art (SOTA) results for several 3D data benchmarks, such as the Left Atrium (LA), Pancreas-CT (Pancreas), and Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS19). Our method also attains best results on a 2D-slice benchmark, namely the Automated Cardiac Diagnosis Challenge (ACDC), further demonstrating its effectiveness. Our code, training logs and checkpoints are available at https://github.com/yyliu01/ TraCoCo.
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Defect engineering offers a promising approach to enhance the sensitivity of biosensing materials by creating abundant chemically active sites. Despite its potential, achieving precise control and modification of these defects remains a significant challenge. Herein, we propose atomic-level defect engineering in GeP two-dimensional (2D) layered materials, following precise in situ growing Au nanoparticles on the single defect active sites for the design of ultrasensitive biosensors. The GeP-based biosensor exhibits notable capabilities for miRNA detection with excellent chemical stability, sensitivity, selectivity, and an extremely low detection limit of 28.6 aM. When applied to clinical tissue samples from gastric cancer patients, the biosensor effectively quantified the miR378c biomarker, enabling accurate stage-specific monitoring. This research not only represents a crucial advancement in the field of biosensing materials through defect engineering but also provides a promising avenue for early cancer diagnosis, staging, and monitoring.
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OBJECTIVE: The influence of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) in obese (OB) and non-obese (NOB) prostate cancer patients remains a topic of debate. The objective of this study was to juxtapose the perioperative, functional, and oncologic outcomes of RARP in OB and NOB cohorts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We systematically searched the databases such as PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library database to identify relevant studies published in English up to September 2023. Review Manager was used to compare various parameters. The study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023473136). Sixteen comparative trials were included for 8434 obese patients compared with 55,266 non-obese patients. RESULTS: The OB group had a longer operative time (WMD 17.8 min, 95% CI 9.7,25.8; p < 0.0001), a longer length of hospital stay (WMD 0.18 day, 95% CI 0.12,0.24; p < 0.00001, a higher estimated blood loss (WMD 50.6 ml, 95% CI 11.7,89.6; p = 0.01), and higher pelvic lymphadenectomy rate (RR 1.08, 95% CI 1.04,1.12; p < 0.0001)and lower nerve sparing rate (RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91,0.99; p < 0.01), but there was no difference between unilateral (RR 1.0, 95% CI 0.8,1.3; p = 0.8)and bilateral (RR 0.9, 95% CI 0.9,1.0; p = 0.06)nerve sparing rate. Then, complication rates (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5,1.7; p < 0.00001) were higher in the OB group, and both major (RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1,1.8; p = 0.01)and minor (RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1,1.7; p < 0.01)complication rates were higher in the OB group. Moreover, obese patients showed significantly higher probabilities of incontinence (RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.03,1.33; p = 0.01) and impotency (RR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01,1.15; p = 0.02) at 1 year. Last, the positive surgical margin (RR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1,1.3; p < 0.01) was higher in the OB group. CONCLUSION: In the obese group, perioperative outcomes, total complications, functional outcomes, and oncologic outcomes were all worse for RARP. Weight loss before RARP may be a feasible strategy to improve the prognosis of patients.
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Obesidade , Complicações Pós-Operatórias , Prostatectomia , Neoplasias da Próstata , Procedimentos Cirúrgicos Robóticos , Humanos , Prostatectomia/métodos , Procedimentos Cirúrgicos Robóticos/métodos , Masculino , Neoplasias da Próstata/cirurgia , Obesidade/complicações , Complicações Pós-Operatórias/epidemiologia , Complicações Pós-Operatórias/etiologia , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
OsHV-1 caused detrimental infections in a variety of bivalve species of major importance to aquaculture worldwide. Since 2012, there has been a notable increase in the frequency of mass mortality events of the blood clam associated with OsHV-1 infection. The pathological characteristics, tissue and cellular tropisms of OsHV-1 in A. broughtonii remain unknown. In this study, we sought to investigate the distribution of OsHV-1 in five different organs (mantle, hepatopancreas, gill, foot, and adductor muscle) of A. broughtonii by quantitative PCR, histopathology and in situ hybridization (ISH), to obtain insight into the progression of the viral infection. Our results indicated a continuous increase in viral loads with the progression of OsHV-1 infection, reaching a peak at 48 h or 72 h post-infection according to different tissues. Tissue damage and necrosis, as well as colocalized OsHV-1 ISH signals, were observed primarily in the connective tissues of various organs and gills. Additionally, minor tissue damage accompanied by relatively weak ISH signals was detected in the foot and adductor muscle, which were filled with muscle tissue. The predominant cell types labeled by ISH signals were infiltrated hemocytes, fibroblastic-like cells, and flat cells in the gill filaments. These results collectively illustrated the progressive alterations in pathological confusion and OsHV-1 distribution in A. broughtonii, which represent most of the possible responses of cells and tissues to the virus.
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Responsible antibiotic usage (ABU) is crucial for both animal and human health and requires constant improvement of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). The presence of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), a viral pathogen with immunosuppressive effects on swine, can intensify bacterial co-infections, alter antibiotic pharmacokinetics, and potentially lead to increased ABU. This study aimed to measure ABU changes in the grow-finish population associated with PRRSV infection and describe the antibiotic classes employed to manage clinical signs from a farrow-to-finish genetic multiplier system. Three PRRSV statuses (naïve, positive epidemic, and positive endemic) were established to classify the lots based on PRRSV circulation, with a total of 135,063 animals evaluated. The number of pig treatments per animal days at risk (PTDR) was calculated by administration route to quantify ABU across PRRSV status using negative binomial regression and non-parametric tests (P-value < 0.05). Moreover, to improve ABU comparability in the international scenario, the milligrams per population correction unit (mg/PCU) was calculated according to the European Medicines Agency guidelines. In the nursery phase, there was a statistically significant difference between PRRSV statuses for the overall PTDR (injectable and water routes of administration), with an ABU increase of 3.79 and 2.51 times the naïve PTDR for positive epidemic and endemic status, respectively. For the finishing phase, there was a statistically significant difference between PRRSV statuses in the injectable PTDR, with an ABU increase of 2.74 and 2.28 times the naïve PTDR level for positive epidemic and endemic statuses, respectively. In the nursery phase, the mean mg/PCU was 22.27â¯mg/PCU for naïve, 86.71 for positive epidemic, and 33.37 for positive endemic statuses; in the finishing phase, 81.31, 76.55, and 67.09â¯mg/PCU, respectively. The most frequently injected antibiotic in the nursery phase was ampicillin, with 49â¯% of total injections, followed by lincomycin (31â¯%) and enrofloxacin (20â¯%), and in the finishing phase, 72â¯% of injections were lincomycin, followed by enrofloxacin (28â¯%). The results highlight that the PRRSV outbreak in the source was associated with a grow-finish ABU increase, revealing the importance of preventing PRRSV infection to potentially decrease ABU and improve AMS within swine production systems.
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Wound healing is a dynamic process involving a complex interaction between many cells and mediators. Magnesium (Mg) is an essential element for cell stabilization. Mg was reported to stimulate the proliferation and migration of endothelial cells in angiogenesis in vitro. However, the function of Mg in wound healing is not known. We observed that the expression level of Mg in human wound tissue fluid was only 10% of that found in human blood serum. To confirm whether Mg is a suitable wound dressing material, we fabricated a Mg- or Mg-silver (Ag)-based polyethylene dressing to study its effect on wound healing. We observed that Mg and Ag were stably preserved in the constructed material and were able to be rapidly released in the moist environment. We also observed that the Mg-based dressing had good cellular compatibility without harmful extractables. Furthermore, Mg enhanced the antibacterial activity of Ag. In line with the observed increase in fibroblast migration in vitro, the Mg-Ag-based dressing improved acute and chronic wound repairs via an increase in neovascularization and basal cell proliferation. The present results show that a Mg-Ag-based coating can be manufactured as an optimal dressing for adjuvant wound therapy.
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Bandagens , Magnésio , Prata , Cicatrização , Cicatrização/efeitos dos fármacos , Magnésio/farmacologia , Prata/química , Prata/farmacologia , Humanos , Animais , Proliferação de Células/efeitos dos fármacos , Pele/efeitos dos fármacos , Pele/metabolismo , Pele/lesões , Movimento Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Regeneração/efeitos dos fármacos , Masculino , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Fibroblastos/efeitos dos fármacos , Fibroblastos/metabolismo , Camundongos , Neovascularização Fisiológica/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
This study investigates the microstructural evolution and its effect on the fatigue performance of a novel nickel-based powder superalloy FGH4113A (WZ-A3) after long-term aging at 760 °C and 815 °C. The results show that long-term aging both at 760 °C and 815 °C has no significant effect on the grain size and morphology of the alloy. After aging at 760 °C for up to 2020 h, the size of the γ' phase remains unchanged, and its morphology transitions from nearly square to nearly spherical. During long-term aging at 815 °C for 440 h, γ' phase coarsening and spheroidizing occur simultaneously. With prolonged aging time, the size and spheroidization degree of the γ' phase further increase. During long-term aging up to 440 h at 760 °C, the dispersed granular MC and M6C carbides dissolve and re-precipitate. By 2020 h of aging, flocculent carbides precipitate and non-continuous M6C and M23C6 accumulate at grain boundaries. After long-term aging at 815 °C for 440 h, flocculent carbides begin to precipitate within the grains. By 2020 h of aging, a large amount of flocculent carbides precipitate with significant coarsening and enrichment of the grain boundary carbides. Due to the insignificant coarsening of the γ' phase as well as the enrichment and precipitation of the grain boundary carbides, the fatigue performance of the alloy decreases slightly after long-term aging.
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This study focuses on investigating the strength recovery of fire-damaged fly ash concrete (FAC) with a low substitution rate of 10% through post-fire curing. The chemical and microstructural changes were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), and nitrogen adsorption. The findings indicate that the incorporation of fly ash slightly enhanced the strength after exposure to 400 °C; this was attributed to improved pozzolanic reactions, which were not observed at higher temperatures of 600 °C and 800 °C. Moreover, a positive effect on the recovery of compressive strength was observed due to the pozzolanic reaction. However, due to the relatively low fly ash content, depletion occurred at a later age, resulting in the inability to inhibit microstructural damage caused by the production of portlandite, thereby weakening the compressive strength. Interestingly, fly ash influenced the morphology of calcium carbonate and calcium silicate hydrate crystals, which is potentially ascribed to the role of high aluminum content acting as a crystallization-guiding agent.
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Relict subtropical coniferous forests in China face severe fragmentation, resulting in declining populations, and some are under significant threat from invasive alien species. Despite the crucial importance of understanding forest dynamics, knowledge gaps persist, particularly regarding the impact of invasive plants on vulnerable natives like Keteleeria evelyniana. In this study, we investigated the impact of invasive plants on the regeneration of forests dominated by K. evelyniana, a subtropical relict species in southwestern China. For this purpose, we characterized forest dynamics of 160 forest plots featuring K. evelyniana as the primary dominant species and determined whether the presence of invasive plants was correlated with regeneration of K. evelyniana. We identified four distinct forest types in which K. evelyniana was dominant. We found that radial growth of K. evelyniana trees is faster in younger age-classes today than it was for older trees at the same age. The population structure of K. evelyniana in each forest type exhibited a multimodal age-class distribution. However, three forest types lacked established saplings younger than 10 years old, a situation attributed to the dense coverage of the invasive alien Ageratina adenophora. This invasive species resulted in a reduction of understory species diversity. Additionally, our analysis uncovered a significant negative correlation in phylogenetic relatedness (net relatedness index) between native and invasive alien plant species in eastern Yunnan. This suggests closely related invasive species face heightened competition, hindering successful invasion. Taken together, our findings indicate that successful establishment and habitat restoration of K. evelyniana seedling/saplings require effective measures to control invasive plants.
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Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritic disease, and phenotypic modification of chondrocytes is an important mechanism that contributes to the loss of cartilage homeostasis. This study identified that Fascin actin-bundling protein 1 (FSCN1) plays a pivotal role in regulating chondrocytes phenotype and maintaining cartilage homeostasis. Proteome-wide screening revealed markedly upregulated FSCN1 protein expression in human OA cartilage. FSCN1 accumulation was confirmed in the superficial layer of OA cartilage from humans and mice, primarily in dedifferentiated-like chondrocytes, associated with enhanced actin stress fiber formation and upregulated type I and III collagens. FSCN1-inducible knockout mice exhibited delayed cartilage degeneration following experimental OA surgery. Mechanistically, FSCN1 promoted actin polymerization and disrupted the inhibition of Decorin on TGF-ß1, leading to excessive TGF-ß1 production and ALK1/Smad1/5 signaling activation, thus, accelerated chondrocyte dedifferentiation. Intra-articular injection of FSCN1-overexpressing adeno-associated virus exacerbated OA progression in mice, which was mitigated by an ALK1 inhibitor. Moreover, FSCN1 inhibitor NP-G2-044 effectively reduced extracellular matrix degradation in OA mice, cultured human OA chondrocytes, and cartilage explants by suppressing ALK1/Smad1/5 signaling. These findings suggest that targeting FSCN1 represents a promising therapeutic approach for OA.