The Yellow River Delta (YRD) is the most important reserved cultivated land resource in China, for it has the highest rate of natural land growth in the world. However, under the influence of soil salinization and human activities, cultivated land is prone to degradation. In this study, based on the MODIS NDVI time series dataset from 2001 to 2021, we used Breaks For Additive Seasonal and Trend (BFAST) coupled with Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) method to extract the information of degraded cultivated land in the YRD. The results show that the user accuracy, producer accuracy and overall accuracy of the extracted degraded cultivated land information by the method were 88.68%, 90.38% and 83.33%, respectively, and the accuracy of cultivated land degradation time extraction was 75.76%. From 2001 to 2021, a total of 212.25 km 2 of cultivated land in the YRD has degraded into salt pans, grasslands, artificial surfaces, and water. The area of degraded cultivated land showed an increasing trend before 2014, but the growth trend slowed down after a brief improvement in 2015. The spatial distribution of degraded cultivated land in the YRD shows a pattern of more degradation in the northern areas and less in the southern areas, and more in the eastern areas and less in the western areas, gradually decreasing from the coastal areas to the inland, and the degree of cultivated land degradation exhibits a pattern of gradually decreasing degradation from the coastal areas to the inland. The overall extraction effect is good, which can provide reference for regional degraded cultivated land monitoring.

Background Early differentiation of rattling infants, frequently misdiagnosed as wheezing, is important to prevent under- and overtreatment. Exhaled breath biomarkers reflect metabolic processes and can potentially aid differential diagnosis. This study investigated the potential of exhaled biomarkers in differentiating rattling infants. Methods Exhaled breath collected from infants (2-18months) with an adjusted breath sampler was analysed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). Linear discriminant analysis was used to classify recovered, mild, moderate and severe rattling infants in a one-vs-all approach. The potential of parent reported outcome about symptoms and burden to improve the discriminant models was also investigated. Results Classifying the diagnostic groups (recovered, mild, moderate, severe rattling) based on exhaled breath showed potential with accuracies between 69.12-75.0% for GC-MS and 59.21-69.74% for SIFT-MS. Highest accuracy and specificity was achieved for severe rattling vs all other diagnostic groups. Adding parent reported symptoms in past the three days to the discriminant model increased accuracies (69.12-86.76% GC-MS; 65.79-88.16% SIFT-MS), particularly for moderate and severe rattling infants. The differentiating VOCs were of the type alkane, acids, amine, imine, triazine and ketone. Conclusion Exhaled breath analysis has potential to differentiate infants with different rattling severities and recovered infants. Additionally, combining parent reported symptoms in the past three days with exhaled breath biomarkers improved the performance of the diagnostic models.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that poses a serious threat to human health. It starts with the buildup of plaque in the artery wall, which results from the accumulation of pro-inflammatory factors and other substances. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model of early atherosclerosis with a free boundary and time delay. The time delay represents the transformation of macrophages into foam cells. We obtain an explicit solution and analyze the stability of the model and the effect of the time delay on plaque size. We show that for non-radial symmetric perturbations, when $n = 0$ or $1$, the steady-state solution $(M_*,p_*,r_*)$ is linearly stable; when $n \ge 2$, there exists a critical parameter $L_*$ such that the steady-state solution is linearly stable for $L < L_*$ and unstable for $L > L_*$. Moreover, we find that smaller plaque are associated with the presence of time delay.

Title: Serrated Adenocarcinoma of Sigmoid Colon: A Case Report

Non-polio enterovirus such as EV-D68 and EV-A71 has been reported to cause a polio-like neurological disease known as acute flaccid myelitis. One of the diagnostics of acute flaccid myelitis is robust inflammation in cerebrospinal fluid. This may be due to the immune response triggered by EV-D68 and EV-A71 causing an influx of pro-inflammatory mediators to the infection site resulting in neurological disease. In order to reduce or prevent inflammation in the infection site, the mechanism and pathways of the immune response against EV-D68 and EV-A71 are important. Immune receptors are the sensor and the most important step to initiate the immune response. Pattern recognition receptors and inflammasome receptors are the main receptors to detect viruses including enterovirus. It is important to understand the mechanism and pathways receptors are involved.

Every year, influenza virus infections cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. They pose a substantial burden of disease, not only in terms of health but also economic-wise. Owing to the ability of influenza viruses to continuously evolve, annual seasonal influenza vaccines are necessary as a prophylaxis. However, current influenza vaccines against seasonal strains have limited effectiveness and require yearly reformulation due to the virus undergoing antigenic drift or shift. Vaccine mismatches are common, conferring suboptimal protection against seasonal outbreaks, and the threat of the next pandemic continues to loom. Therefore, there is a great need to develop a universal influenza vaccine (UIV) capable of providing broad and durable protection against all influenza virus strains. In the quest to develop a UIV that would obviate the need for annual vaccination and formulation, a multitude of strategies are currently underway. Promising approaches include targeting the highly conserved epitopes of hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), M2 extracellular domain (M2e), and internal proteins of the influenza virus. The identification and characterisation of broadly neutralising antibodies (bnAbs) targeting conserved regions of the viral HA protein, in particular, have provided important insight into novel vaccine designs and platforms. This review discusses universal vaccine approaches presently under development, with an emphasis on those targeting the highly conserved stalk of the HA protein, recent technological advancements used, and the future prospects of a UIV in terms of its advantages, developmental obstacles and potential shortcomings.

Mesozooplankton is a very diverse group of small animals ranging in size from 0.2 to 20 mm not able to swim against ocean currents. It is a key component of pelagic ecosystems through its roles in the trophic networks and the biological carbon pump. Traditionally studied through microscopes, recent methods have been however developed to rapidly acquire large amounts of data (morphological, molecular) at the individual scale, making it possible to study mesozooplankton using a trait-based approach. Here, combining quantitative imaging with metabarcoding time-series data obtained in the Sargasso Sea at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site, we showed that organisms’ transparency might be an important trait to also consider regarding mesozooplankton impact on carbon export, contrary to the common assumption that just size is the master trait directing most mesozooplankton-linked processes. Three distinct communities were defined based on taxonomic composition, and succeeded one another throughout the study period, with changing levels of transparency among the community. A co-occurrences’ network was built from metabarcoding data revealing six groups of taxa. These were related to changes in the functioning of the ecosystem and/or in the community’s morphology. The importance of Diel Vertical Migration at BATS was confirmed by the existence of a group made of taxa known to be strong migrators. Finally, we assessed if metabarcoding can provide a quantitative approach to biomass and/or abundance of certain taxa. Knowing more about mesozooplankton diversity and its impact on ecosystem functioning would allow to better represent them in biogeochemical models.

14 15 Title character count: 96; abstract word count: 150/150; word count: 1700/1700; 16 tables/figures: 1/1; References: 32; supplementary files: 1 supplementary material file 17 18

Since the analysis of animal behavior is a central element of ethology and ecology, it is not surprising that a great deal of research has been conducted describing the behavior of various ungulates. Most studies were conducted during the daylight hours, thus much less is known about nocturnal behavior. Detailed analyses of nocturnal behavior have only been conducted for very prominent ungulates such as giraffes, elephants, or livestock, and the nocturnal rhythms exhibited by many ungulates remain unknown. In the present study, the nocturnal rhythms of 192 individuals of 18 ungulate species from 20 European zoos are studied with respect to the behavioral positions standing, lying - head up, and lying - head down (the typical REM sleep position). Differences between species of the orders Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla, as well as between individuals of different age were found. However, no differences with respect to the sex were seen. Most species showed a significant increase in the proportion of lying during the night. In addition, the time between two events of “lying down” was studied in detail. A high degree of rhythmicity with respect to this quantity was found in all species. The proportion of lying in such a period was greater in Cetartidactyla than in Perissodactyla, and greater in juveniles than in adults.

For the nonlinear parameter-varying (NPV) model of unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with the consideration of the velocities on yaw and surge as well as wave disturbances, a robust H ∞ control method is proposed based on extended homogeneous polynomial Lyapunov function (EHPLF) to regulate heading for the superior performance on the rapidity, accuracy and robustness. Firstly, a NPV model of heading error is established to design a general form of a state feedback controller with a robust H ∞ performance. Secondly, a Lyapunov matrix with full states and varying parameter is constructed to derive the robust H ∞ global exponential stability conditions by Euler’s homogeneity relation for the NPV system, known as the EHPLF stability conditions. Thirdly, since the EHPLF stability conditions consist of a set of nonlinear coupled inequalities that cannot be directly solved by sum of squares (SOS) toolboxes, they are decoupled with matrix transformations to obtain the EHPLF-SOS stability conditions, which is solved for the parameters of the state feedback controller. Finally, the simulation results indicate that EHPLF method exhibits a superior performance on dynamic, steady-state and robustness.

Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS), also known as hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), is a group of syndromes in which multiple pathogenic factors lead to the proliferation of activated lymphocytes and histiocytes that secrete large amounts of inflammatory cytokines[[1]](#ref-0001).HLH is a multi-organ hyperinflammatory syndrome caused by the secretion of large amounts of inflammatory cytokines from

In response to the implications of climate change, comprehending the phenological variations of woody plants has emerged as a crucial area of research. This study focuses on the phenological changes of woody plants and their associations with climatic factors in the southern and northern regions of Nanling Mountains, which serve as the boundary between the North Subtropical Climate Zone and the South Subtropical Climate Zone in South China. The data in question was accumulated through long-term manual observations in four plant phenology observations (Ganxian, Foshan, Guilin, and Changsha), spanning from 1963 to 2008. The study examined four widely distributed woody plant species in the research area, namely Castanea mollissima Bl., Paulowinia fortunei(seem.) Hemsl., Melia azedarace L., and Magnolia grandiflora Linn.. The analytical methods employed encompass linear trend estimation and Pearson correlation coefficient analyses. The key findings are: 1, during the past 46 years, the phenological stages of woody plants on the southern region consistently preceded those on the northern region; 2, an advancing trend was observed in the phenological stages of all woody plants on the southern region; 3, in the same geographic region, varied species showed varying sensitivities to climatic factors, with Melia azedarace L. demonstrating a particularly high sensitivity to climate variations in relation to phenological stages; 4, different climatic factors had diverse effects on individual plant species. Notably, temperature emerged as the primary driver of phenological changes, supported by a significant negative correlation between the phenological stages of the studied plants and spring temperature. This study augments our comprehension of the ramifications of climate change on plant phenology and affords valuable insights that can inform ecological conservation and management strategies within the region.

To analyse the difference in COVID-19 infection between kidney transplant patients and non-transplant patients. We included post-transplant patients with COVID-19 infection who attended Shenzhen No. 3 Hospital from December 2022 to February 2023, and enrolled the general population with COVID-19 infection who were hospitalized during the same period, matched by age and gender. They were divided into Kidney Transplant Recipients group (KTR) (n=194) and Non-Kidney Transplant Recipients Group（NKTR）(n=516) and the basic information, clinical symptoms, laboratory data, treatments and outcomes of these two groups were compared. The proportion of the renal transplant population classified as severe and critical was 15.5%, which was significantly higher than that in NKTR group (P < 0.05); the proportion of patients with pneumonia was also significantly higher than that in NKTR group. The mean maximum fever temperature was slightly higher in the NKTR( P<0.001);Kidney transplant population having lower absolute lymphocyte counts on admission and 7 days after admission than the general population, with statistically significant differences（ P<0.001, P＜0.001). The use of intravenous hormones was significantly higher (42.8% vs. 6.0%, p=0.000), as was the use of small molecules such as Azvudine and Paxlovid, compared to the general population. A total of 10 patients in the included population required ICU admission, all in the KTR group; six patients experienced death, also in the renal transplant group. Conclusion: Post-transplant COVID-19 infections are more severe and require hormonal and small molecule antiviral therapy, and the prognosis is worse than in the general population.

In both cases endurance sports and long distance animal displacement large groups are commonly observed. In these collective phenomena the efficiency is key and is achieved through pairwise interactions. As a result some individuals take advantage of part of the energy dissipated by others, a efficiency oriented self-organization dynamic is created and groups appear. In endurance canoeing the interaction is called wash-riding and it is characterized by a well-defined geometry. By simplifying the interaction and defining both a efficiency and connectivity metrics we introduce a parametric model for this sport. Our results reproduces the structure and groups observed in competitions. The most efficient the groups will be the fastest and most numerous they are, also the most connected. More connected groups imply shorter lateral distances, at intermediate distances a topological transition is observed and finally there is a critical distance, in terms of the displacement velocity, beyond which no groups are formed. The parametric model here presented not only reproduces the particular case of canoeing but also delimits the driving mechanisms of these kind of interactions.

SnO2, with its high theoretical capacity, abundant resources, and environmental friendliness, is widely regarded as a potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Nevertheless, the coarsening of the Sn nanoparticles impedes the reconversion back to SnO2, resulting in low coulombic efficiency and rapid capacity decay. In this study, we fabricated a heterostructure by combining SnO2 nanoparticles with MoS2 nanosheets via plasma-assisted milling. The heterostructure consists of in-situ exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets predominantly in 1T phase, which tightly encase the SnO2 nanoparticles through strong bonding. This configuration effectively mitigates the volume change and particle aggregation upon cycling. Moreover, the strong affinity of Mo, which is the lithiation product of MoS2, toward Sn plays a pivotal role in inhibiting the coarsening of Sn nanograins, thus enhancing the reversibility of Sn to SnO2 upon cycling. Consequently, the SnO2/MoS2 heterostructure exhibits superb performance as an anode material for LIBs, demonstrating high capacity, rapid rate capability, and extended lifespan. Specifically, discharged/charged at a rate of 0.2 A g-1 for 300 cycles, it achieves a remarkable reversible capacity of 1173.4 mAh g-1. Even cycled at high rates of 1.0 and 5.0 A g-1 for 800 cycles, it still retains high reversible capacities of 1005.3 and 768.8 mAh g-1, respectively. Moreover, the heterostructure exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance in both full LIBs and sodium-ion batteries.

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) that incorporate organic dyes face challenges such as self-absorption loss and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) as doping concentration increases, limiting the dye loading capacity. Particularly for dyes with a small Stokes shift, losses due to self-absorption or quenching are prominent even at low concentrations, hindering the attainment of high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in LSCs. Additionally, exposure of the dye-impregnated polymer matrix to oxygen, moisture, UV light, and other factors leads to a decrease in luminescence efficiency and stability due to the photooxidation reaction of the phosphor. This study presents a facile approach for enhancement of the efficiency and environmental stability of coumarin 6 (C6) dye-doped polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) LSC through ultraviolet ozone (UVO) treatment. Photocleavage of the C6 dimer into a C6 monomer through UVO treatment leads to a significant enhancement in luminescence. Additionally, thin SiOx layers formed on both sides of the LSC not only assist in capturing luminescent light more efficiently but also block the penetration of oxygen and moisture into the LSC, resulting improved device stability. UVO-treated LSC shows approximately 32% improvement in PCE compared to bare LSCs and exhibits significantly better stability during the 30-day long-term performance test.

Integration of sensing and actuation capabilities into flexible electronics is critical to expanding their applications. Existing stimuli-responsive polymers fail to achieve satisfactory requirements, considering their strength-toughness trade-off, conductivity, transparency, and recyclability. Here, a novel stimuli-responsive elastomer is reported by molecular design, thus simultaneously enabling the effective unification of sensing and actuation functions. The stimuli-responsive elastomer realizes high strength (32 MPa), high stretchability (527%), high toughness (74.8 MJ m-3), high fracture energy (75300 J m-2), efficient recyclability processability, puncture-resistant, high conductivity (120.1 S m-1) and transparency (>80% at 505 nm), where the conductive elastomer is created by incorporating both dynamic covalent bonds (strong bonds)/coordination bonds (weak bonds) for the formation of dynamic adaptive networks and coated conductive ink. In parallel, benefiting from the sensing actuation mechanism from its architecture, the elastomer-enabled sensor and actuator achieve both exceptional sensing performance as a green strain sensor for monitoring body movements and excellent actuation ability as a green self-sensing actuator for load-carrying. Overall, this comprehensive elastomer brings new inspiration and insights for the design of next-generation green e-skin, flexible robots, and otherwise stimuli-responsive materials.

Multiphase reactors’ performance depends on the mesoscale structures formed due to multiphase hydrodynamics. Examples of mesoscale structures include gas bubbles in a fluidized bed and particle clusters in a riser. Experimental investigation of these mesoscale structures is challenging and expensive. To this end, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are extensively employed; however, post-processing CFD data to capture mesoscale structures is challenging. This work develops a DBSCAN-based methodology to capture and characterize mesoscale structures from multiphase CFD simulation data. DBSCAN is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm, which requires the value of two hyperparameters. A simple technique to calculate these hyperparameters is provided and the performance of DBSCAN is assessed on CFD-DEM simulations of bubbling fluidized beds and particle clustering. We demonstrate the computational complexity of DBSCAN to be Ο(n log n), lower than the existing techniques, by testing its scalability on highly resolved grids (up to 100 million grid points).

The development of self-charging supercapacitor power cells (SCSPCs) has profound implications for smart electronic devices used in different fields. Here, we epitaxially electrodeposited Mo- and Fe-codoped MnO2 films on piezoelectric ZnO nanoarrays (NAs) grown on the flexible carbon cloth (denoted ZnO@Mo-Fe-MnO2 NAs). An SCSPC device was assembled with the ZnO@Mo-Fe-MnO2 NA electrode and poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-Trfe) piezoelectric film doped with BaTiO3 (BTO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (denoted PVDF-Trfe/CNTs/BTO). The SCSPC device exhibited an energy density of 30 μWh cm-2 with a high-power density of 40 mW cm-2, and delivered an excellent self-charging performance of 363 mV (10 N) driven by both the piezoelectric ZnO NAs and the PVDF-Trfe/CNTs/BTO films. More intriguingly, the device also could also be self-charged by 184 mV due to residual stress alone, and showed excellent energy conversion efficiency and low self-discharge rate. This work illustrates for the first time the self-charging mechanism involving electrolyte ion migration driven by both electrodes and films. A comprehensive analysis strongly confirmed the important contribution of the piezoelectric ZnO NAs in the self-charging process of the SCSPC device. This work provides novel directions and insights for the development of SCSPCs.

The emergence of polymerized small molecule acceptors (PSMAs) has significantly improved the performance of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). However, the pace of device engineering lacks behind that of materials development, so that a majority of the PSMAs have not fulfilled their potentials. Furthermore, most high-performance all-PSCs rely on the use of chloroform as the processing solvent. For instance, the recent high-performance PSMA named PJ1-γ, with high LUMO and HOMO levels, could only achieve a PCE of 16.1% with a high-energy-level donor (JD40) using chloroform. Herein, we present a methodology combining sequential processing (SqP) with the addition of 0.5%wt PC71BM as a solid additive (SA) to achieve an impressive efficiency of 18.0% for all-PSCs processed from toluene, an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent. Compared to the conventional blend-casting (BC) method whose best efficiency (16.7%) could only be achieved using chloroform, the SqP method significantly boosted the device efficiency using toluene as the processing solvent. In addition, the donor we employ is the classic PM6 that has deeper energy levels than JD40, which provides low energy loss for the device. We compare the results with another PSMA (PYF-T-o) with the same method. Finally, an improved photostability of the SqP devices with the incorporation of SA is demonstrated.

New basal serum tryptase measurement on Noveos™ system:

The low current density impedes the practical application of microbial electrosynthesis (MES) for CO2 fixation. Engineering the reactor design is an effective way to increase the current density, especially for H2-mediated MES reactors. The electrolytic bubble column MES reactor has shown great potential for scaling up, but the mixing and gas mass transfer still need to be enhanced. Here we introduced an inner draft tube to the bubble column to tackle the problem. The addition of draft tube resulted in a 76.6% increase in the volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) of H2 and a 40% increase in the maximum current density (337 A/m2). The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations showed that the addition of draft tube enhanced mixing efficiency by enabling a more ordered cyclic flow pattern and a more uniform gas/liquid distribution. These results indicate that the electro-bubble column reactor with draft tube holds great potential for industrial implementation.

This work presents an approach to control the temperature of a nonlinear continuous stirred tank reactor (NCSTR) through parallel cascade control structure (PCCS). For the first time, PCCS is used to control the temperature of NCSTR by (1) modelling the dynamic behavior of CSTR with a recirculating jacket heat transfer system into a third order unstable transfer function and (2) using the model matching technique to synthesize the controller parameters. The controller of the secondary loop of PCCS is designed to achieve enhanced regulatory performance whereas, the primary loop controller is designed for better setpoint tracking. The closed loop performance of the proposed method is evaluated by carrying out simulation on the differential equation of the NCSTR and comparing it with other structures such as series cascade control structure (CCS) and parallel control structure (PCS). The response shows that the proposed method provides satisfactory performance

Background: Warfarin, a commonly prescribed oral anticoagulant, relies on maintaining effective therapeutic levels as measured by the time within therapeutic range (TTR) and international normalized ratio (INR). However, the narrow therapeutic index of warfarin, influenced by both genetic and non-genetic factors, poses a significant risk of bleeding or coagulation complications. Identifying predictors of stable INR levels in warfarin-naïve patients is crucial to improve treatment safety and efficacy. Methods: This retrospective study conducted between 2018 and 2021 at Queen Alia Hospital Institute QAHI – RMS aimed to identify the impact of patient demographics, co-morbidities, and drug-drug interactions on stable, sub-therapeutic, and supra-therapeutic INR readings. Additionally, the study sought to determine risk factors for warfarin toxicity and major bleeding events associated with warfarin treatment. Results: Medical records of 163 warfarin-naïve patients (103 males, 60 females) with a baseline INR ≤1.2 were analyzed. Patients were admitted as emergency cases or transferred from internal medicine to the warfarin clinic. The majority of patients were under 65 years of age, overweight, and received warfarin for heart valve replacement or atrial fibrillation. Polypharmacy was common among the patients. Analysis revealed both good responders (24.5%) and poor responders (75.5%) in terms of TTR%. Conclusion: Predictors of warfarin anticoagulation may include age, gender, smoking status, and concomitant medication use. Considering these factors when managing warfarin therapy can improve treatment outcomes and patient safety.