Epidemic spreading processes in the real world depend on human behaviors and, consequently, are typically non-Markovian in that the key events underlying the spreading dynamics cannot be described as ...a Poisson random process and the corresponding event time is not exponentially distributed. In contrast to Markovian type of spreading dynamics for which mathematical theories have been well developed, we lack a comprehensive framework to analyze and fully understand non-Markovian spreading processes. Here we develop a mean-field theory to address this challenge, and demonstrate that the theory enables accurate prediction of both the transient phase and the steady states of non-Markovian susceptible-infected-susceptible spreading dynamics on synthetic and empirical networks. We further find that the existence of equivalence between non-Markovian and Markovian spreading depends on a specific edge activation mechanism. In particular, when temporal correlations are absent on active edges, the equivalence can be expected; otherwise, an exact equivalence no longer holds.
The exploration of artificial luminogens with bright emission has been fully developed with the advancement of synthetic chemistry. However, many of them face problems like weakened emission in the ...aggregated state as well as poor renewability and sustainability. Therefore, the development of renewable and sustainable luminogens with anti-quenching function in the solid state, as well as to unveil the key factors that influence their luminescence behavior become highly significant. Herein, a new class of natural rosin-derived luminogens with aggregation-induced emission property (AIEgens) have been facilely obtained with good biocompatibility and targeted organelle imaging capability as well as photochromic behavior in the solid state. Mechanistic study indicates that the introduction of the alicyclic moiety helps suppress the excited-state molecular motion to enhance the solid-state emission. The current work fundamentally elucidates the role of alicyclic moiety in luminogen design and practically demonstrates a new source to large-scalely obtain biocompatible AIEgens.
Programmed cell death (PCD) induced by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is implicated in variousplant physiological processes, yet its mechanism is still elusive. An activation of caspase-3-like ...enzymatic activity was clearly demonstrated but the role of the two known plant proteases with caspase-3-like activity, cathepsin B and proteasome subunit PBA1, remains to be established.
Both genetic downregulation and chemical inhibition were used to investigate the function of cathepsin B and PBA1 in ER-stress-induced PCD (ERSID). Transcript level and activity labelling of cathepsin B were used to assess activation. To study tonoplast rupture, a plant PCD feature, both confocal and electronic microscopies were used.
Cathepsin B downregulation reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and ERSID without affecting the induction of the unfolded protein response (UPR), but downregulation of PBA1 increased UPR and ERSID. Tonoplast rupture was not altered in the cathepsin B mutant and cathepsin B activation was independent of vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE). VPE activity was independent of cathepsin B.
ERSID is regulated positively by cathepsin B and negatively by PBA1, revealing a complex picture behind caspase-3-like activity in plants. Cathepsin B may execute its function after tonoplast rupture and works in parallel with VPE.
Technological and research advances have produced large volumes of biomedical data. When represented as a network (graph), these data become useful for modeling entities and interactions in ...biological and similar complex systems. In the field of network biology and network medicine, there is a particular interest in predicting results from drug-drug, drug-disease, and protein-protein interactions to advance the speed of drug discovery. Existing data and modern computational methods allow to identify potentially beneficial and harmful interactions, and therefore, narrow drug trials ahead of actual clinical trials. Such automated data-driven investigation relies on machine learning techniques. However, traditional machine learning approaches require extensive preprocessing of the data that makes them impractical for large datasets. This study presents wide range of machine learning methods for predicting outcomes from biomedical interactions and evaluates the performance of the traditional methods with more recent network-based approaches.
We applied a wide range of 32 different network-based machine learning models to five commonly available biomedical datasets, and evaluated their performance based on three important evaluations metrics namely AUROC, AUPR, and F1-score. We achieved this by converting link prediction problem as binary classification problem. In order to achieve this we have considered the existing links as positive example and randomly sampled negative examples from non-existant set. After experimental evaluation we found that Prone, ACT and Formula: see text are the top 3 best performers on all five datasets.
This work presents a comparative evaluation of network-based machine learning algorithms for predicting network links, with applications in the prediction of drug-target and drug-drug interactions, and applied well known network-based machine learning methods. Our work is helpful in guiding researchers in the appropriate selection of machine learning methods for pharmaceutical tasks.
The intrinsic poor rheological properties of MXene inks result in the MXene nanosheets in dried MXene microfibers prone to self‐stacking, which is not conducive to ion transport and diffusion, thus ...affecting the electrochemical performance of fiber‐based supercapacitors. Herein, robust cellulose nanofibrils (CNF)/MXene hybrid fibers with high electrical conductivity (916.0 S cm−1) and narrowly distributed mesopores are developed by wet spinning. The interfacial interaction between CNF and MXene can be enhanced by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction due to their rich surface functional groups. The interfacial modulation of MXene by CNF can not only regulate the rheology of MXene spinning dispersion, but also enhance the mechanical strength. Furthermore, the interlayer distance and self‐stacking effect of MXene nanosheets are also regulated. Thus, the ion transport path within the fiber material is optimized and ion transport is accelerated. In H2SO4 electrolyte, a volumetric specific capacitance of up to 1457.0 F cm−3 (1.5 A cm−3) and reversible charge/discharge stability are demonstrated. Intriguingly, the assembled supercapacitors exhibit a high‐volume energy density of 30.1 mWh cm−3 at 40.0 mW cm−3. Moreover, the device shows excellent flexibility and cycling stability, maintaining 83% of its initial capacitance after 10 000 charge/discharge cycles. Practical energy supply applications (Power for LED and electronic watch) can be realized.
In this paper, robust CNF/MXene hybrid fibers with enhanced interfacial interaction and regulated properties are developed. The optimized fiber material exhibits high electrical conductivity, accelerated ion transport, and reversible charge/discharge stability. The assembled supercapacitors demonstrate high‐volume energy density, excellent flexibility, and cycling stability, suitable for practical energy supply applications.
The montmorillonite-chitosan composite could provide hydrophobicity and functional groups to enhance the performances of montmorillonite in wastewater treatment. The composites showed good abilities ...to remove the pollutants, such as heavy metals and dyes. However, the comparative adsorption of multiple metals on the fixed C-content nanocomposite needs to be studied further. This paper presents the adsorption of Pb2+, Cu2+, and Cd2+ by the nanocomposite of chitosan saturated montmorillonte. The composite was synthetized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The kinetics (single and binary systems), thermodynamics and isotherm adsorption studies of the three cations on the nanocomposite were conducted, and the data were fitted with models. Results showed, the affinity sequence of the adsorption toward the 3 cations is Pb2+>Cu2+>Cd2+. Under most experimental conditions, one of the cations could enhance the adsorption of the other present in the binary system. The adsorption of the 3 cations could be best fitted with pseudo-second order equation. The metal adsorption is a heterogeneous and exothermic reaction on the surface of the composite, and Pb2+, Cu2+ adsorption are spontaneous reaction at 25–50°C.
•The composite had adsorption affinity sequence of Pb2+>Cu2+>Cd2+.•One would enhance another metal adsorption in PbCu and CuCd.•Adsorptions were both heterogeneous and exothermic reaction.
A
bstract
With updated experimental data and improved theoretical calculations, several significant deviations are being observed between the Standard Model predictions and the experimental ...measurements of the branching ratios of
B
¯
s
0
→
D
s
∗
+
L
−
decays, where
L
is a light meson from the set {
π
,
ρ
,
K
(∗)
}. Especially for the two channels
B
¯
0
→
D
+
K
−
and
B
¯
s
0
→
D
s
+
π
−
, both of which are free of the weak annihilation contribution, the deviations observed can even reach 4–5
σ
. Here we exploit possible new-physics effects in these class-I non-leptonic
B
-meson decays within the framework of QCD factorization. Firstly, we perform a model-independent analysis of the effects from twenty linearly independent four-quark operators that can contribute, either directly or through operator mixing, to the quark-level
b →
c
u
¯
d
s
transitions. It is found that, under the combined constraints from the current experimental data, the deviations observed could be well explained at the 1
σ
level by the new-physics four-quark operators with
γ
μ
(1
− γ
5
) ⨂
γ
μ
(1
− γ
5
) structure, and also at the 2
σ
level by the operators with (1 +
γ
5
) ⨂ (1
− γ
5
) and (1 +
γ
5
) ⨂ (1 +
γ
5
) structures. However, the new-physics four-quark operators with other Dirac structures fail to provide a consistent interpretation, even at the 2
σ
level. Then, as two specific examples of model-dependent considerations, we discuss the case where the new-physics four-quark operators are generated by either a colorless charged gauge boson or a colorless charged scalar, with their masses fixed both at the 1 TeV. Constraints on the effective coefficients describing the couplings of these mediators to the relevant quarks are obtained by fitting to the current experimental data.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). BBB is a highly selective semipermeable structural and chemical barrier which ensures a stable internal ...environment of the brain and prevents foreign objects invading the brain tissue. BBB dysfunction induces the failure of Aβ transport from brain to the peripheral circulation across the BBB. Especially, decreased levels of LRP-1 (low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1) and increased levels of RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation endproducts) at the BBB can cause the failure of Aβ transport. The pathogenesis of AD is related to the BBB structural components, including pericytes, astrocytes, vascular endothelial cells, and tight junctions. BBB dysfunction will trigger neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, then enhance the activity of β-secretase and γ-secretase, and finally promote Aβ generation. A progressive accumulation of Aβ in brain and BBB dysfunction may become a feedback loop that gives rise to cognitive impairment and the onset of dementia. The correlation between BBB dysfunction and tau pathology has been well-reported. Therefore, regulating BBB function may be a new therapeutic target for treating AD.
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•Acidogenic sulfate-reducing reactor was used for high influent sulfate content.•Microbial community structure and bacterial connections network were analyzed.•Desulfovibrio was the ...most predominant SRB in acidogenic sulfate-reducing reactor.•Sulfate reduction functional genes and pathway were predicted by PICRUSt.
A lab-scale acidogenic sulfate-reducing reactor with N2 stripping was continuously operated to uncover its microbial mechanism treating highly sulfate-containing organic wastewaters. Results showed that sulfate reduction efficiency decreased with the influent COD/sulfate ratios. Microbial community analysis showed that VFA accumulation mainly caused by the predominance of fermentative bacteria including Streptococcus and Oceanotoga. Genus Desulfovibrio was the most predominant SRB and enriched at low influent COD/sulfate ratios. Although Bifidobacterium, Atopobium, Wohlfahrtiimonas, Dysgonomonas etc. had low average abundance, they were identified keystone genera by the co-occurrence network analysis. The functions of the microbial community were not insignificantly influenced by COD/sulfate ratios. All predicted functional genes involved in dissimilatory sulfate reduction reached their maximum abundances at influent COD/sulfate ratio of 1.5, while the assimilatory sulfate reduction was favored at the COD/sulfate ratio lower than 2.
The number of intensive livestock and poultry farms is expected to increase substantially in future because of consumer demand. Unfortunately, such demand also results in a great deal of manure being ...generated, which threatens the environment if it is not properly managed. Concurrent developments in biotransformation of these wastes with the black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomydiae), demonstrates such concerns can be abated, while also producing products (e.g., protein, chitin, biodiesel, and fertilizer) of value. In this review, we analyzed the factors influencing black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) conversion processes, the role of microorganisms, and the mechanisms used by BSFL when converting livestock and poultry manure into these valuable products. The effects of BSFL conversion technology on reducing the hazards of such materials and their associated pathogens are reviewed, and the economics of livestock and poultry manure conversion by BSF larvae is discussed.
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