Due to the existence of Lingzhi adulteration, there is a growing demand for species classification of medicinal mushrooms by various techniques. The objective of this study was to explore a rapid and ...reliable way to distinguish between different Lingzhi species and compare the influence of data pretreatment methods on the recognition results. To this end, 120 fresh fruiting bodies of Lingzhi were collected, and all of them were analyzed by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) classification models were established for raw and pretreated second derivative (SD) spectral matrices to authenticate different Lingzhi species. The results of multivariate statistical analysis indicated that the SD preprocessing method displayed a higher classification ability, which may be attributed to the analysis of powder samples that requires removal of overlapping peaks and baseline shifts. Compared with RF, the results of the SVM and PLS-DA methods were more satisfying, and their accuracies for the test set were both 100%. Among SVM and PLS-DA, the training set and test set accuracy of PLS-DA were both 100%. In conclusion, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy data pretreated by SD combined with PLS-DA is a simple, rapid, non-destructive and relatively inexpensive method to discriminate between mushroom species and provide a good reference to quality assessment.
Preparation of reliable, stable, and highly responsive gas-sensing devices for the detection of acetone has been considered to be a key issue for the development of accurate disease diagnosis systems ...via exhaled breath. In this paper, novel CeO2 nanodot-decorated WO3 nanowires are successfully synthesized through a sequential hydrothermal and thermolysis process. Such CeO2 nanodot-decorated WO3 nanowires exhibited a remarkable enhancement in acetone-sensing performance based on a miniaturized micro-electromechanical system device, which affords high response (S = 1.30–500 ppb, 1.62–2.5 ppm), low detection limit (500 ppb), and superior selectivity toward acetone. The improved performance of the acetone sensor is likely to be originated from the fast carrier transportation of WO3 nanowires, the formation of WO3–CeO2 heterojunctions, and the existence of large amounts of oxygen vacancies in CeO2. The improved reaction thermodynamics and sensing mechanisms have also been revealed by the specific band alignment and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis.
In this paper, the Hawking–Page phase transitions between the black holes and thermal anti-de Sitter (AdS) space are studied with the Gauss–Bonnet term in the extended phase space, in which the ...varying cosmological constant plays the role of an effective thermodynamic pressure. The Gauss–Bonnet term exhibits its effects via introducing the corrections to the black hole entropy and Gibbs free energy. The global phase structures, especially the phase transition temperature
T
HP
and the Gibbs free energy
G
, are systematically investigated, first for the Schwarzschild–AdS black holes and then for the charged and rotating AdS black holes in the grand canonical ensembles, with both analytical and numerical methods. It is found that there are terminal points in the coexistence lines, and
T
HP
decreases at large electric potentials and angular velocities and also decreases with the Gauss–Bonnet coupling constant
α
.
Exosomes are nanoscale membrane vesicles secreted from many types of cells. Carrying functional molecules, exosomes transfer information between cells and mediate many physiological and pathological ...processes. In this report, utilizing selective inhibitors, molecular tools, and specific endocytosis markers, the cellular uptake of PC12 cell-derived exosomes was imaged by high-throughput microscopy and statistically analyzed. It was found that the uptake was through clathrin-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis. Furthermore, PC12 cell-derived exosomes can enter and deliver microRNAs (miRNAs) into bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs), and decrease the expression level of transforming growth factor β receptor II (TGFβRII) and tropomyosin-1 (TPM1) through miR-21. These results show the pathway of exosome internalization and demonstrate that tumor cell-derived exosomes regulate target gene expression in normal cells.
Pre-exposure of plants to various abiotic conditions confers improved tolerance to subsequent stress. Mild drought acclimation induces acquired rapid desiccation tolerance (RDT) in the resurrection ...plant Boea hygrometrica, but the mechanisms underlying the priming and memory processes remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that drought acclimation-induced RDT can be maintained for at least four weeks but was completely erased after 18 weeks based on a combination of the phenotypic and physiological parameters. Global transcriptome analysis identified several RDT-specific rapid dehydration-responsive genes related to cytokinin and phospholipid biosynthesis, nitrogen and carbon metabolism, and epidermal morphogenesis, most of which were pre-induced by drought acclimation. Comparison of whole-genome DNA methylation revealed dehydration stress-responsive hypomethylation in the CG, CHG, and CHH contexts and acclimation-induced hypermethylation in the CHH context of the B. hygrometrica genome, consistent with the transcriptional changes in methylation pathway genes. As expected, the global promoter and gene body methylation levels were negatively correlated with gene expression levels in both acclimated and dehydrated plants but showed no association with transcriptional divergence during the procedure. Nevertheless, the promoter methylation variations in the CG and CHG contexts were significantly associated with the differential expression of genes required for fundamental genetic processes of DNA conformation, RNA splicing, translation, and post-translational protein modification during acclimation, growth, and rapid dehydration stress response. It was also associated with the dehydration stress-induced upregulation of memory genes, including pre-mRNA-splicing factor 38A, vacuolar amino acid transporter 1-like, and UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase, which may contribute directly or indirectly to the improvement of dehydration tolerance in B. hygrometrica plants. Altogether, our findings demonstrate the potential implications of DNA methylation in dehydration stress memory and, therefore, provide a molecular basis for enhanced dehydration tolerance in plants induced by drought acclimation.
lMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and refractory mental disorder.lTranscranial direct current stimulation is a promising method to treat MDD.lFuture trials should be designed to cover long ...follow-up periods.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and refractory mental disorder. Although antidepressant drugs may be effective for treating MDD, a number of patients do not improve with pharmacologic treatment. Novel therapeutic strategies which are safer and more effective are of great significance in the treatment of MDD. Transcranial direct cranial stimulation (tDCS) is a promising intervention for treating MDD, and it has demonstrated antidepressant effects and beneficial effects on cognitive function. The aim was to assess the efficacy of tDCS as a treatment for MDD.
Four databases including PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang database were searched for articles related to tDCS and major depression. The mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated in this study.
A significant difference between tDCS compared with the control group in Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scale (MADRS) was found. There was a significant statistical difference between tDCS and the control group in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, 17-items (HDRS-17).
This study demonstrated that the intervention of active tDCS was superior to the use of sham tDCS in improving MDD. Furthermore, tDCS might be an effective treatment for MDD.
Immunotherapy has pioneered a new era of tumor treatment, in which the immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) exerts significant superiority in overcoming tumor immune escape. However, the formation of an ...immune‐suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and the lack of effective activation of the immune response have become major obstacles limiting its development. Emerging reports indicate that cancer stem cells (CSCs) potentially play important roles in treatment resistance and progressive relapse, while current research is usually focused on CSCs themselves. In this review, we mainly emphasize the collusions between CSCs and tumor‐infiltrating immune cells. We focus on the summary of CSC‐immune cell crosstalk signaling pathways in ICB resistance and highlight the application of targeted drugs to improve the ICB response.
We propose a new image encryption algorithm based on the spatiotemporal chaos of the mixed linear–nonlinear coupled map lattices. This spatiotemporal chaotic system has more outstanding cryptography ...features in dynamics than the logistic map or the system of coupled map lattices does. In the proposed image encryption, we employ the strategy of bit-level pixel permutation which enables the lower bit planes and higher bit planes of pixels permute mutually without any extra storage space. Simulations have been carried out and the results demonstrate the superior security and high efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Summary
This is a meta‐analysis of the pooled prevalence of sleep disturbances and its associated factors in Chinese university students. English (PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase) and Chinese (SinoMed, Wan ...Fang Database and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases were systematically and independently searched from inception until 16 August 2016. The prevalence of sleep disturbances was pooled using random‐effects model. Altogether 76 studies involving 112 939 university students were included. The overall pooled prevalence of sleep disturbances was 25.7% (95% CI: 22.5–28.9%). When using the screening scales Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Athens Insomnia Scale and Self‐Rating Sleeping State Scale, and the diagnostic criteria of the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (Second Edition), the pooled prevalence of sleep disturbances was 24.1% (95% CI: 21.0–27.5%) and 18.1% (95% CI: 16.4–20.0%), respectively. The percentages of students dissatisfied with sleep quality and those suffering from insomnia symptoms were 20.3% (95% CI: 13.0–30.3%) and 23.6% (95% CI: 18.9–29.0%), respectively. Subgroup analyses revealed that medical students were more vulnerable to sleep disturbances than other student groups. There was no significant difference between males and females, and across geographic locations. Sleep disturbances are common in Chinese university students. Appropriate strategies for prevention and treatment of sleep disturbances in this population need greater attention.
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