This is a follow-up study of our previous work, with a specific goal to examine whether older adults are able to maintain or show delayed cognitive and psychosocial benefits of executive function ...training and physical exercise over a period of 3.5 years on average. Thirty-four participants from the original training study (17 from the executive function training and 17 from the aerobic exercise group) returned and completed a single follow-up session on a set of cognitive and psychosocial outcome measures. The results of the returned follow-up sample showed some significant original training transfer effects in WCST-64 performance but failed to maintain these benefits at the follow-up session. Surprisingly, episodic memory performance showed some significant improvement at the follow-up relative to baseline, signaling delayed benefits. The findings add some novel implications for cognitive training schedule and highlight the possible importance of continuous engagement in long-term cognitive enhancement in healthy older adults.
•Spatiotemporal pattern of habitat quality in Hangzhou was assessed by InVEST model.•Spatial distribution of habitat quality showed positive spatial auto-correlation.•Negative impact of urbanization ...on habitat quality varied with time and space.•Impacts of landscape pattern on habitat quality differed in magnitude and direction.
China has experienced the most serious habitat degradation, especially in fast-growing metropolis cities. Although increasing attentions have been brought to this issue, we still lack the understanding of the quantitative impacts of urbanization and landscape pattern on habitats. In this study, we used the “Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Trade-off” (InVEST) model to evaluate the habitat quality in Hangzhou city. We further employed spatial auto-correlation to analyze its spatiotemporal pattern variation characteristics. Finally, the ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were used to explore the impacts of urbanization and landscape pattern change on habitat quality. The results show that the habitat quality index of Hangzhou decreased from 0.608 to 0.577 during 2004–2015, and these areas mainly located around the suburb decreased significantly. The spatial distribution of habitat quality showed significantly positive spatial auto-correlation, and the overall spatial auto-correlation degree of the habitat quality increased during this time. Rapid urbanization has significant negative effects on habitat quality in various areas, while the magnitude and direction of the impacts of landscape pattern on habitat quality differed in time and space. These results provide decision-making criteria for formulating differential urban development policies and landscape management measures for urban ecological sustainability.
Despite the existence of numerous photocatalyst heterostructures, their separation efficiency and charge flow precision remain low due to the poor study on interfacial properties. The photocatalysts ...with confined defects can effectively control the photogenerated carrier migration, but the metastability of such defects considerably decreases the photocatalyst stability. Meanwhile, the introduction of defective region can increase the coordinative unsaturation and delocalize local electrons to promote their interactions with the molecules/ions in that region. The selective growth of modulated heterogeneous interface by defect‐induced strategy may not only increase the stability of defective structures, but also enhance the migration of interfacial charges. Using this method, photocatalytic heterostructures with low contact resistances and intimate interfaces are constructed to achieve the optimal charge migration in terms of efficiency and accuracy. In this work, the point, linear, and planar heterogeneous interfaces and related defect engineering techniques are discussed. Particularly, it is focused on the external, defect‐induced interfacial heterogeneities with various spatial and dimensional configurations, which exhibit modulated and controllable interfacial properties. Furthermore, the main aspects of fabricating photocatalyst heterostructures by the defect‐induced strategy, including the i) controllable generation of defects, ii) advanced characterization methods, and iii) elaborate construction of the minimal interface, are described.
The heterostructures constructed in the defective areas containing new active sites not only solve the metastability problem of defective structures, but also exhibit unique architectures and spatially modulated properties that preserve their high efficiencies. Eventually, the atomic‐level and modulated interfaces can be customized masterly by regulating defect property, transforming a common interface to a defective interface.
p-Nitrophenol (PNP) is a difficultly decomposed organic pollutant under solar light in the absence of strong oxidants. This study shows that under artificial solar light PNP can be effectively ...degraded by a Cu(2)O/TiO(2) p-n junction network which is fabricated by anodizing Cu(0) particles-loaded TiO(2) nanotubes (NTs). The network is composed of p-type Cu(2)O nanowires on the top surface and Cu(2)O nanoparticles on the inner walls of the n-type TiO(2) NT arrays. The Cu(2)O/TiO(2) network shows much higher degradation rate (1.97 μg/min cm(2)) than the unmodified TiO(2) NTs (0.85 μg/min cm(2)). The enhanced photocatalytic acitivity can be attributed to the extended absorption in the visible resulting from the Cu(2)O nanowire networks and the effective separation of photogenerated carriers driven by the photoinduced potential difference generated at the Cu(2)O/TiO(2) p-n junction interface.
Aims: Accumulating evidence suggests that atherosclerotic progression depends on persistent and chronic inflammation in the arterial walls. MicroRNA-155 is reportedly involved in cardiovascular ...disease and has been implicated as a pro-inflammation regulator. Although some researchers have focused on microRNA-155 as an atherosclerosis regulator, the mechanisms by which microRNA-155 functions as a putative pro-atherosclerosis microRNA are largely unknown. This study aims to analyze microRNA-155's effects on atherosclerotic inflammation and to explore its mechanism. Methods: MicroRNA-155's effects on atherosclerotic inflammation were observed along with the expression and activity levels of SOCS1, STAT3 and NF-κB though microRNA-155 inhibition or overexpression. Results: Highly expressions of microRNA-155 in oxLDL-stimulated macrophages and atherosclerosis mice were inversely correlated with SOCS1 expression. Ectopic microRNA-155 overexpression significantly promoted inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production and atherosclerosis progression. We then observed microRNA-155's functional role in the atherosclerotic pathophysiological process in vivo and in vitro. The observation revealed that by enhancing STAT3 and NF-κB signaling and facilitating immune inflammation by targeting SOCS1, microRNA-155 plays a promotable role in atherosclerosis progression. Conclusions: microRNA-155 works as a promoter in the atherosclerotic procession. Its mechanism may include enhancing inflammatory response in atherosclerosis by increasing STAT3 and NF-κB signaling via targeting SOCS1.
The systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI) is a novel inflammatory biomarker in many diseases.
The aim of this study was to examine the association between SIRI and adverse events in patients ...with the acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
A total of 1724 patients with ACS enrolled from June 2016 to November 2017 at a single centre were included in this study, and SIRI was calculated for each patient. The primary endpoint was the composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including overall death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and unplanned repeat revascularization.
During a median follow-up of 927 days, 355 patients had MACE. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that SIRI was significantly associated with MACE (hazard ratio: 1.127, 95% confidence interval: 1.034-1.229 p = .007). The results were consistent in multiple sensitivity analyses. The addition of SIRI had an incremental effect on the predictive ability of the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events risk score for MACE (integrated discrimination improvement: 0.007, p = .040; net reclassification improvement: 0.175, p = .020; likelihood ratio test: p < .001). The restricted cubic spline showed a monotonic increase with a greater SIRI value for MACE (p < .001).
SIRI was an independent risk factor for MACE and provided incremental prognostic information in patients with ACS undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
KEY MESSAGES
The SIRI is a strong and independent risk factor for adverse outcomes in patients with ACS undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
Higher SIRI is associated with a more severe disease status.
The SIRI could increase the prognostic value of the GRACE risk score.
To improve the utilization of water resources on rocky slopes eco-engineering, super absorbent polymer (SAP) with the function of water retention was applied. Super absorbent polymer in three levels, ...0.15%, 0.3% and 0.45% were mixed with sandy loam soil. This study was aimed to evaluate the saturated water content, evaporation rate and water holding capability of SAP treated soils, determine seed germination rate and plant survivals in soil with SAP by absorbing and spraying experiments. The addition of SAP to the sandy loam soil resulted in a significant increase of the soil water retention compared to the controls. Also, the seed germination was significantly higher in SAP amended soil than in the soil without SAP, survival times of grass and woody were prolonged under water stress. 0.30% SAP treatment was the optimum selection for sandy loam soil improvement on steep rocky slopes. These studies indicated that SAP with good water retention properties, was very effective in enhancing water uptake and utilization of water for plants growth, and could be expected to have wide potential applications in rocky slopes eco-engineering.
In this letter, we propose a new spatio-spectral Laplacian support vector machine (SS-LapSVM) for semi-supervised hyperspectral image classification. The clustering assumption on spectral vectors is ...used to formulate a manifold regularizer, and neighborhood spatial constraints of hyperspectral images are designed to construct a spatial regularizer. Moreover, a non-iterative optimization procedure is presented to solve this dual-regularized SVM, which makes rapid classification possible. By combining spatial and spectral information together, SS-LapSVM can avoid the speckle-like misclassification of hyperspectral images in the original Lap-SVM. The performance of SS-LapSVM is evaluated on AVIRIS image data taken over Indiana's Indian Pine, and the results show that it can achieve accurate and rapid classification with a small number of labeled data, and outperform state-of-the-art semi-supervised approaches.
A new folate-conjugated platinum porphyrin complex (Por 4) was synthesized and characterized. The singlet oxygen production of the conjugates was evaluated through a 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran method. ...The targeting ability and subcellular localization of Por 4 were confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy in HeLa cells (overexpression of FR) as well as in A549 cells (low expression of FR). The results suggested that the modification of the carboxyl group with a porphyrin compound did not decrease the binding affinity of folic acid to FR positive cancer cells. Moreover, the MTT assay using HeLa cells and A549 cells verified the low cytotoxicity of Por 4 in the dark. Upon irradiation, Por 4 showed noticeable improvement in toxicity against cancer cells with the overexpression of FR. Upon the treatment of Por 4 at the concentration of 20 μM, the cell viability was determined as 22% and 75% for HeLa and A549 cells, respectively, indicating that the folate-conjugated platinum porphyrin complex could be a promising PDT agent for cancer with overexpression of the folate receptor.
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