A Self-foaming Strategy to Construct Small Mo2C Nanoparticles Decorated 3D Carbon Foams as Superior Electromagnetic Wave Absorbing Materials with Strong Corrosion Resistance.

3D macroporous carbon-based foams are always considered as promising candidates for high-performance electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbing materials due to the collaborative EM contribution and salutary structure effect. However, the uneven distribution of heterogeneous EM components and the cumbersome preparation process have become key issues to hinder their performance improvement and practical popularity. Herein, the fabrication of 3D carbon foam decorated with small and highly dispersed Mo2C nanoparticles is realized by an innovative self-foaming strategy. The foaming mechanism can be attributed to the decomposition of nitrate during the softening process of organic polymers. The good dispersion of Mo2C nanoparticles boosts interfacial polarization significantly. After regulating the content of Mo2C nanoparticles, the optimal Mo2C/CF-x exhibits good EM absorption performance, whose minimum reflection loss intensity value can reach up to -72.2 dB, and effective absorption bandwidth covers 6.7 GHz with a thickness of 2.30 mm. Very importantly, the resultant Mo2C/CF-x exhibits hydrophobicity and strong acidic anticorrosion, and a long-time treatment in HCl solution (6.0 mol L-1) produces negligible impacts on their EM functions. It is believed that this extraordinary feature may render Mo2C/C foams as qualified and durable EM wave absorbing materials (EWAMs) under rigorous conditions.

Comprehensive landscape of integrator complex subunits and their association with prognosis and tumor microenvironment in gastric cancer.

Backgrounds: The integrator complex (INT) is a multiprotein assembly in gene transcription. Although several subunits of INT complex have been implicated in multiple cancers, the complex's role in gastric cancer (GC) is poorly understood. Methods: The gene expressions, prognostic values, and the associations with microsatellite instability (MSI) of INT subunits were confirmed by GEO and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. cBioPortal, GeneMANIA, TISIDB, and MCPcounter algorithm were adopted to investigate the mutation frequency, protein-protein interaction network, and the association with immune cells of INT subunits in GC. Additionally, in vitro experiments were performed to confirm the role of INTS11 in pathogenesis of GC. Results: The mRNA expression levels of INTS2/4/5/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14 were significantly elevated both in GSE183904 and TCGA datasets. Through functional enrichment analysis, the functions of INT subunits were mainly associated with snRNA processing, INT, and DNA-directed 5'-3' RNA polymerase activity. Moreover, these INT subunit expressions were associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and MSI in GC. In vitro experiments demonstrated that knockdown of the catalytic core INTS11 in GC cells inhibits cell proliferation ability. INTS11 overexpression showed opposite effects. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that the INT complex might act as an oncogene and can be used as a prognosis biomarker for GC.

Potentially functional genetic variants in interferon regulatory factor family genes are associated with colorectal cancer survival.

Interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family genes play a critical role in colorectal cancer (CRC) development and impact patient survival. This study evaluated the influence of functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IRF genes on CRC survival, including functional predictions and experimental validations. Multivariate Cox regression analysis identified three linked SNPs as significant survival predictors, with the rs141112353 T/T genotype in the 3'UTR region of IRF6 significantly associated with decreased survival (HR = 1.60, P = 6E-04). Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis indicated that the rs141112353 TA > T alteration reduced IRF6 expression. Dual luciferase assays showed lower activity for the T allele in the presence of hsa-miR-548ap-3p. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and other databases confirmed lower IRF6 levels in CRC tissues, correlating with worse survival and inversely with M2 macrophage infiltration. In vitro, IRF6 overexpression inhibited CRC cell proliferation and M2 macrophage polarization by downregulating MIF expression. These findings suggest that the IRF6 rs141112353 TA > T variant significantly affects CRC survival, potentially by enhancing miR-548-ap-3p binding affinity.

An Underwater Source Location Privacy Protection Scheme Based on Game Theory in a Multi-Attacker Cooperation Scenario.

Ensuring source location privacy is crucial for the security of underwater acoustic sensor networks amid the growing use of marine environmental monitoring. However, the traditional source location privacy scheme overlooks multi-attacker cooperation strategies and also has the problem of high communication overhead. This paper addresses the aforementioned limitations by proposing an underwater source location privacy protection scheme based on game theory under the scenario of multiple cooperating attackers (SLP-MACGT). First, a transformation method of a virtual coordinate system is proposed to conceal the real position of nodes to a certain extent. Second, through using the relay node selection strategy, the diversity of transmission paths is increased, passive attacks by adversaries are resisted, and the privacy of source nodes is protected. Additionally, a secure data transmission technique utilizing fountain codes is employed to resist active attacks by adversaries, ensuring data integrity and enhancing data transmission stability. Finally, Nash equilibrium could be achieved after the multi-round evolutionary game theory of source node and multiple attackers adopting their respective strategies. Simulation experiments and performance evaluation verify the effectiveness and reliability of SLP-MACGT regarding aspects of the packet forwarding success rate, security time, delay and energy consumption: the packet delivery rate average increases by 30%, security time is extended by at least 85%, and the delay is reduced by at least 90% compared with SSLP, PP-LSPP, and MRGSLP.

Fast measurement of coherence-orbital angular momentum matrices of random light beams using off-axis holography and coordinate transformation.

We propose an effective protocol to measure the coherence-orbital angular momentum (COAM) matrix of an arbitrary partially coherent beam. The method is based on an off-axis holography scheme and the Cartesian-polar coordinate transformation, which enables to simultaneously deal with all the COAM matrix elements of interest. The working principle is presented and discussed in detail. A proof-of-principle experiment is carried out to reconstruct the COAM matrices of partially coherent beams with spatially uniform and non-uniform coherence states. We find an excellent agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions. In addition, we show that the OAM spectrum of a partially coherent beam can also be directly acquired from the measured COAM matrix.

Path planning for mobile robots in complex environments based on improved ant colony algorithm.

Aiming at the problems of the basic ant colony algorithm in path planning, such as long convergence time, poor global path quality and not being suitable for dynamic environments and unknown environments, this paper proposes a path planning method for mobile robots in complex environments based on an improved ant colony (CBIACO) algorithm. First, a new probability transfer function is designed for an ant colony algorithm, the weights of each component in the function are adaptively adjusted to optimize the convergence speed of the algorithm, and the global path is re-optimized by using the detection and optimization mechanism of diagonal obstacles. Second, a new unknown environment path exploration strategy (UPES) is designed to solve the problem of poor path exploration ability of the ant colony algorithm in unknown environment. Finally, a collision classification model is proposed for a dynamic environment, and the corresponding dynamic obstacle avoidance strategy is given. The experimental results show that CBIACO algorithm can not only rapidly generate high-quality global paths in known environments but also enable mobile robots to reach the specified target points safely and quickly in a variety of unknown environments. The new dynamic obstacle avoidance strategy enables the mobile robot to avoid dynamic obstacles in different directions at a lower cost.

State-of-the-art in carbides/carbon composites for electromagnetic wave absorption.

Electromagnetic wave absorbing materials (EWAMs) have made great progress in the past decades, and are playing an increasingly important role in radiation prevention and antiradar detection due to their essential attenuation toward incident EM wave. With the flourish of nanotechnology, the design of high-performance EWAMs is not just dependent on the intrinsic characteristics of single-component medium, but pays more attention to the synergistic effects from different components to generate rich loss mechanisms. Among various candidates, carbides and carbon materials are usually labeled with the features of chemical stability, low density, tunable dielectric property, and diversified morphology/microstructure, and thus the combination of carbides and carbon materials will be a promising way to acquire new EWAMs with good practical application prospects. In this review, we introduce EM loss mechanisms related to dielectric composites, and then highlight the state-of-the-art progress in carbides/carbon composites as high-performance EWAMs, including silicon carbide/carbon, MXene/carbon, molybdenum carbide/carbon, as well as some uncommon carbides/carbon composites and multicomponent composites. The critical information regarding composition optimization, structural engineering, performance reinforcement, and structure-function relationship are discussed in detail. In addition, some challenges and perspectives for the development of carbides/carbon composites are also proposed after comparing the performance of some representative composites.

A "Win-Win" Strategy to Modify Co/C Foam with Carbon Microspheres for Enhanced Dielectric Loss and Microwave Absorption Characteristics.

3D carbon foams have demonstrated their superiority in the field of microwave absorption recently, but the preparation processes of traditional graphene foams are complicated, while some novel carbon foams usually suffer from inadequate dielectric property. Herein, a simple "win-win" strategy is demonstrated to synchronously realize the construction of 3D Co/C foam and its surface decoration with carbon microspheres. Therein, the host Co/C foams and guest carbon microspheres interact with each other, resulting in the improvement of the dispersity of carbon microspheres and Co nanoparticles. The bilaterally synergistic effect can effectively enhance the interfacial polarization and conductive loss of these obtained samples. Electromagnetic analysis reveals that the optimized sample with moderate carbon microsphere content (about 33.5 wt%) displays a widened maximum effective absorption bandwidth of 5.2 GHz and a consolidated reflection loss intensity of -67.6 dB. Besides, the microwave absorption enhancement mechanisms are investigated and discussed in detail. It is believed that this work provides valuable ideas for the development of 3D-foam-based microwave absorbing materials for practical applications.

Mechanism of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba in the treatment of ischemic stroke based on network pharmacology and molecular docking.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the mechanism of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba in the treatment of ischemic stroke based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. METHODS: We used various databases and software, including Cytoscape, Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform, Pubchem, Swiss Target Prediction, GenCards, String, and WebGestalt to identify the active components and targets of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba, as well as the targets associated with ischemic stroke. The mechanism of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba in treating ischemic stroke was analyzed from the perspective of protein-protein interaction (PPI) co-expression, Gene Ontology, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, and AutoDock was used for molecular docking. RESULTS: A total of 12 active components were identified, and 276 potential targets of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba were obtained. There were 3151 disease targets associated with ischemic stroke. The top 5 active components of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba were Ruvoside_qt, quercetin, 3'-methyleriodictyol, Spinasterol, and Cholesterin (CLR) according to the node degree value. There were 186 common targets between the disease targets of cerebral ischemic stroke and drug targets of Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba, with 21 key targets obtained by PPI network analysis. KEGG analysis revealed enrichment in 45 signaling pathways. Biological process increased 139 biological processes. Molecular function enriched 17 cell functions. Cellular component enriched 20 cell components. Molecular docking found that the binding energy of other protein molecules to ligand small molecules was less than -5 kal·mol-1, except that the binding energy of AKT1 to 3'-methyleriodictyol was greater than -5 kal·mol-1. CONCLUSIONS: Gynostemmae Pentaphylli Herba may play a role in treating ischemic stroke by affecting various pathways through its active ingredients such as Ruvoside_qt, quercetin, 3'-methyleriodictyol, Spinasterol and CLR.

A Study on the Effect of Exercise Prescription on Scoliosis in Adolescents / Un estudio sobre el efecto de la prescripción de ejercicio en la escoliosis en adolescentes

In order to understand the efficacy of a scoliosis exercise prescription, it is essential to understand the risk factors associated with this malady. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether or not prescribed exercise would decrease the likelihood of developing scoliosis by influencing one or more sub-clinical risk factors involved with the condition. Before and after an adolescent participated in an exercise prescription for two months, nutritional intake and other health parameters were measured. Scoliosis incidence was determined in order to assess whether or not prescribed exercises reduce incidence. The study found that preprogramed exercises significantly reduced incidence by as much as 44% on average as compared to a non-prescribed condition (p < .001). Additionally, the longer the participant was involved in the regimen, the greater the reduction. The study also found that a non-prescribed condition (no exercise) did not yield any significant reduction level in incidence. The finding of this study supports previous research, which concluded that exercise prescription can be an effective scoliosis treatment option in adolescents with subclinical scoliosis.(AU)

Effects of long-term physical training on depression in adolescents / Efectos del entrenamiento físico de larga duración sobre la depresión en adolescentes

From the standpoint of sports commitment, investigate the influencing variables of personal aspects on teenagers' physical and mental health. Methods: It was discovered that there were gender and grade disparities in teenage stress tolerance after a study of 1000 senior high school students. Teenagers' levels of physical activity, frequency of physical activity, and time spent exercising are all pretty consistent and appropriate. Teenagers' stress resistance, mental health, and interpersonal relationships are all influenced by physical activity. The quantity of physical activity and teenagers' stress tolerance were shown to be positively correlated (P 0.05). It had a favourable relationship with mental wellbeing (P 0.05). There was no statistically significant link between interpersonal relationships (P > 0.05). When the pressures of a teenager's life and studies mount, an appropriate amount of physical activity can effectively adjust their mental health and stress tolerance to a degree, allowing them to continuously vent their negative emotions and relieve the pressure, thus improving their mental health, allowing them to face life positively, and improving their ability to withstand pressure. Conclusion: Sports commitment may completely mobilise social support, promote adolescent happiness through numerous channels, establish a pleasant learning and training life environment, and strengthen positive psychology guidance and development.(AU)

Generation of a higher-order Poincaré sphere beam array with spatial coherence engineering.

We propose a protocol to synthesize a class of vector beam array in the far field with periodic higher-order Poincaré sphere (HOPS) polarization states by engineering the second-order spatial coherence structure of a partially coherent light source. We show that the polarization state of a single HOPS beam at the source plane can be mapped into a beam array in the far field when the spatial coherence of the beam source is engineered to have a lattice-like distribution. We demonstrate that the degree of polarization of the generated HOPS beam array can be conveniently controlled by modulating the transverse spatial coherence width of the source. Our method provides an additional way to construct the structured beam array and may find applications, e.g., in multiparticle manipulations.

Complement system-related genes in stomach adenocarcinoma: Prognostic signature, immune landscape, and drug resistance.

Stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive tract, and its survival predictors are critical for precision medicine but have not been fully investigated. The complement system is a complex multistep cascade at the interface of innate and adaptive immunity, which augments the function of antibodies and phagocytes. This study aimed to construct and validate a CSRG signature based on TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) STAD dataset and revalidated it in an external GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) STAD cohort. Subsequently, we assessed the association of risk levels with the stromal and immune cell infiltration level in STAD using the ESTIMATE, single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA), and Microenvironment Cell Populations-counter (MCP-counter) algorithm. It was found that the CSRG signature, based on three genes (SERPINE1, PROC, and CFHR3), was significantly and independently associated with the OS in TCGA STAD patients (p < 0.001). Subsequently, we found that the high-risk STAD harbors more immune cell infiltration than the low-risk group, and the ESTIMATE results indicated that there exists a more stromal component in the tumor microenvironment of the high-risk groups. Compared to the low-risk group, the high-risk STAD patients had higher expressions of marker genes for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and showed higher sensitivity to the chemotherapy agents (rapamycin, nilotinib, 5-fluorouracil, axitinib, DMOG, and JNK inhibitor VIII). The prognostic value of the CSRGs was further validated by nomogram plots, which revealed that it was superior to tumor TNM and pathologic stage. Finally, the three expression levels were evaluated in GES-1, HGC27, and AGS cells by qRT-PCR.

In Situ Growth of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes Based on Hierarchical Ni@C Microspheres for High Efficiency Bisphenol A Removal through Peroxymonosulfate Activation.

N-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) are promising metal-free heterogeneous catalysts toward peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation in advanced oxidation processes for wastewater remediation. However, conventional CNTs always suffer from serious agglomeration and low N content, which renders their design synthesis as an important topic in the related field. With hierarchical Ni@C microspheres as a nutritious platform, we have successfully induced in situ growth of NCNTs on their surface by feeding melamine under high-temperature inert atmospheres. These as-grown NCNTs with a small diameter (ca. 20 nm) are firmly rooted in Ni@C microspheres and present loose accumulation on their surface, and their relative content can be tailored easily by manipulating the mass ratio of melamine to Ni@C microspheres. The investigation on bisphenol A (BPA) removal reveals that the loading amount of NCNTs affects the catalytic performance greatly, and the optimum ratio of melamine to Ni@C microspheres is 5.0 because the corresponding MNC-5.0 possesses sufficient surface N sites and moderate electron transfer, resulting in powerful PMS activation and sufficient utilization of reactive oxidative species (ROS). MNC-5.0 also addresses its advantages as compared with other NCNTs from post treatment and spontaneous growth strategies. The primary ROS responsible for BPA degradation are identified as hydroxyl radical, sulfate radical, superoxide radical, and singlet oxygen through quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance, and the corresponding catalytic mechanism is also put forward based on these results.

Exosomal circCARM1 from spheroids reprograms cell metabolism by regulating PFKFB2 in breast cancer.

Cancer stem cells (CSC) are the major obstacle for cancer therapy in clinic. Exosomes are one type of vesicles that containing circular RNA (circRNAs) involved in cell-cell communication. However, the roles of breast CSC (BCSC) exosomes are still unclear, and the purpose of the study was to investigate breast cancer cell metabolism reprogramming by circRNAs from BCSC exosomes. The circRNA array was performed in the exosomes secreted from spheroids of MDA-231 cells. circCARM1 was higher in BCSC exosomes than it in the parent breast cancer cells. Further investigation demonstrated that BCSC exosomes circCARM1 played an important role in breast cancer cell glycolysis by miR-1252-5p/PFKFB2. In a conclusion, BCSC exosome-derived circCARM1 played an important role in breast cancer cell glycolysis by sponging miR-1252-5p which regulated PFKFB2 expression.

Differential Expression of miR-381-3p in Alzheimer's Disease Patients and Its Role in Beta-Amyloid-Induced Neurotoxicity and Inflammation.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to explore the diagnostic value and effect of miR-381-3p on Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: RT-qPCR was used for the measurement of miR-381-3p levels. Pearson correlation coefficient was used for the correlation analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to assess the distinct ability of miR-381-3p for AD. SH-SY5Y cells were treated with Aß25-35 to establish an AD cell model. The role of miR-381-3p on cell proliferation and apoptosis was detected. ELISA was applied to detect the protein levels of inflammatory cytokine expression. The target relationship of miR-381-3p with PTGS2 was verified by luciferase reporter gene assay. RESULTS: Low expression of miR-381-3p was detected in the serum of AD patients and cell models. There was a negative association of serum miR-381-3p with the serum inflammatory cytokines. The ROC curve demonstrated the distinct ability of serum miR-381-3p for AD, with the AUC value of 0.898, with a sensitivity of 87.5%, and a specificity of 77.7%. Overexpression of miR-381-3p reversed the influence of Aß25-35 on cell proliferation and apoptosis, but miR-381-3p downregulation exacerbated the influence. miR-381-3p overexpression inhibited the release of IL-6, IL-1ß, and TNF-α induced by Aß25-35 treatment, whereas miR-381-3p downregulation further promoted the release of inflammatory cytokines. PTGS2 was the target gene of miR-381-3p and was upregulated in AD cell models. CONCLUSION: miR-381-3p is less expressed in the serum of AD patients and has potential diagnostic values for AD. Overexpression of miR-381-3p may attenuate Aß25-35-induced neurotoxicity and inflammatory responses via targeting PTGS2 in SH-SY5Y cells.

Optical coherence encryption with structured random light.

Information encryption with optical technologies has become increasingly important due to remarkable multidimensional capabilities of light fields. However, the optical encryption protocols proposed to date have been primarily based on the first-order field characteristics, which are strongly affected by interference effects and make the systems become quite unstable during light-matter interaction. Here, we introduce an alternative optical encryption protocol whereby the information is encoded into the second-order spatial coherence distribution of a structured random light beam via a generalized van Cittert-Zernike theorem. We show that the proposed approach has two key advantages over its conventional counterparts. First, the complexity of measuring the spatial coherence distribution of light enhances the encryption protocol security. Second, the relative insensitivity of the second-order statistical characteristics of light to environmental noise makes the protocol robust against the environmental fluctuations, e.g, the atmospheric turbulence. We carry out experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of the coherence-based encryption method with the aid of a fractional Fourier transform. Our results open up a promising avenue for further research into optical encryption in complex environments.

Diagnostic and Prognostic Significance of serum miR-18a-5p in Patients with Atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a common vascular disease with great harm. The current study examined the expression pattern of miR-18a-5p in AS patients, and explored its clinical values. 110 AS patients and 68 healthy controls were collected clinically, and the expression pattern of miR-18a-5p in the serum of AS patients was detected using qRT-PCR. All AS patients were followed up for five years to record the adverse cardiovascular events. ROC and Kaplan-Meier (K-M) curve were plotted to assess the diagnostic ability. The multiple Cox regression analysis was performed for independent influencing factors analysis. MiR-18a-5p was at high expression in AS patients, and showed positive correlation with the CIMT value (r = 0.789, P < .001). ROC curve suggested the high diagnostic value of serum miR-18a-5p for AS, with the AUC of 0.894. The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity were 86.8% and 79.1%, respectively. K-M plot demonstrated that cases with high miR-18a-5p levels were more likely to suffer from cardiovascular events, and it is an independent influence factor for the poor clinical outcome. Serum miR-18a-5p serves as a promising biomarker for AS diagnosis, and is related to the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events.

Carcinoma associated fibroblasts small extracellular vesicles with low miR-7641 promotes breast cancer stemness and glycolysis by HIF-1α.

Fibroblasts play an important role in cancer development and progression. Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are one type of extracellular vesicles, which mediate the interaction between cancer-associated fibroblasts and cancer cells by transferring their contents. However, the roles of sEVs from cancer-associated fibroblasts on breast cancer stem cell properties are largely unraveled. The purpose of this study was to explore the roles of sEVs from cancer-associated fibroblasts on breast cancer progression. The miRNA array data showed a different miRNA profile between CAFs sEVs and normal fibroblasts sEVs. By verification using real-time RT-PCR, the data analysis indicated that miR-7641 levels were lower in sEVs from CAFs compared with NFs. The cellular functions were assayed and the results indicated that CAFs derived sEVs with low miR-7641 levels suppressed breast cancer cell survival, glycolysis, and stem cell properties via the HIF-1α pathway. Collectively, these findings indicated that sEVs from CAFs promoted breast cancer stem cell properties and glycolysis via miR-7641/HIF-1α, which was a possible new way for targeting breast cancer.