Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the synovial membrane, leading to cartilage destruction and bone erosion. Due to the complex pathogenesis of RA and the limitations of current therapies, increasing research attention has been directed towards novel strategies targeting fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS), which are key cellular components of the hyperplastic pannus. Recent studies have highlighted the pivotal role of FLS in the initiation and progression of RA, driven by their tumour-like transformation and the secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, chemokines and matrix metalloproteinases. The aggressive phenotype of RA-FLS is marked by excessive proliferation, resistance to apoptosis, and enhanced migratory and invasive capacities. Consequently, FLS-targeted therapies represent a promising avenue for the development of next-generation RA treatments. The efficacy of such strategies – particularly those aimed at modulating FLS signalling pathways – has been demonstrated in both preclinical and clinical settings, underscoring their therapeutic potential. This review provides an updated overview of the pathogenic mechanisms and functional roles of FLS in RA, with a focus on critical signalling pathways under investigation, including Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), Notch and interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK4). In addition, we discuss the emerging understanding of FLS-subset-specific contributions to immunometabolism and explore how computational biology is shaping novel targeted therapeutic strategies. A deeper understanding of the molecular and functional heterogeneity of FLS may pave the way for more effective and precise therapeutic interventions in RA.

This study was designed to explore the mediating role of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D) in Triglyceride–glucose (TyG) index and hypertension (HTN). Study participants were selected from the 2001 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Firstly, we estimated the association between TyG index and serum 25(OH)D with HTN using a weighted multivariable logistic regression model and restricted cubic spline. Secondly, we used a generalised additive model to investigate the correlation between TyG index and serum 25(OH)D. Lastly, serum 25(OH)D was investigated as a mediator in the association between TyG index and HTN. There were 14 099 subjects in total. TyG index was positively and linearly associated with HTN risk, while serum 25(OH)D had a U-shaped relationship with the prevalence of HTN. When the serum 25(OH)D levels were lower than 57·464 mmol/l, the prevalence of HTN decreased with the increase of serum 25(OH)D levels. When serum 25(OH)D levels rise above 57·464 mmol/l, the risk of HTN increases rapidly. Based on the U-shaped curve, serum 25(OH)D concentrations were divided into two groups: < 57·464 and ≥57·464 mmol/l. According to the mediation analysis, when serum 25(OH)D levels reached < 57·464 mmol/l, the positive association between the TyG index and incident HTN was increased by 25(OH)D. When serum 25(OH)D levels reached ≥ 57·464 mmol/l, the negative association between the TyG index and incident HTN was increased by 25(OH)D. There was a mediation effect between the TyG index and HTN, which was mediated by 25(OH)D. Therefore, we found that the association between serum 25(OH)D levels and TyG index may influence the prevalence of HTN.

Mineral-microbe interactions are widespread in a number of environmental processes such as mineral weathering, decomposition, and transformation. Both clay minerals and silicate-weathering bacteria are widely distributed in nature, and the latter contribute to weathering, diagenesis, and mineralization of major rock-forming minerals. The purpose of this study was to observe changes in the chemical composition and structure, especially the phase transformation, of smectite after processing by a silicate-weathering bacterium. The interaction between Bacillus mucilaginosus and bentonite was studied using custom culture media. Results from Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry revealed that the bacterium promoted release of Si and Al from solid bentonite to solution. Concomitantly, the Ka nd Fe contents of the mineral increased as shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. After interaction with the bacterium, the montmorillonite underwent a possible structure transformation to smectite, as indicated by the emergence of a new weak peak (d = 9.08 Å) shown by X-ray diffraction patterns. The mineralogical changes were also demonstrated by the decrease in the specific surface area of the mineral from 33.0 to 24.0 m2/g (these lower values for SSA of bentonite are related to the particle size of the smectite examined (120-160 mesh) and the weakened absorption bands in Al-O-H and Si-O-Si vibrations by Micro Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The morphology changes in the bacteria observed by environmental scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy revealed an obvious growth of the flagella in the presence of bentonite.

Dietary antioxidant indices (DAI) may be potentially associated with relative telomere length (RTL) of leucocytes. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between DAI and RTL. A cross-sectional study involving 1656 participants was conducted. A generalised linear regression model and a restricted cubic spline model were used to assess the correlation of DAI and its components with RTL. Generalised linear regression analysis revealed that DAI (β = 0·005, P = 0·002) and the intake of its constituents vitamin C (β = 0·043, P = 0·027), vitamin E (β = 0·088, P < 0·001), Se (β = 0·075, P = 0·003), and Zn (β = 0·075, P = 0·023) were significantly and positively correlated with RTL. Sex-stratified analysis showed that DAI (β = 0·006, P = 0·005) and its constituents vitamin E (β = 0·083, P = 0·012), Se (β = 0·093, P = 0·006), and Zn (β = 0·092, P = 0·034) were significantly and positively correlated with RTL among females. Meanwhile, among males, only vitamin E intake (β = 0·089, P = 0·013) was significantly and positively associated with RTL. Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed linear positive associations between DAI and its constituents’ (vitamin E, Se and Zn) intake and RTL in the total population. Sex-stratified analysis revealed a linear positive correlation between DAI and its constituents’ (vitamin E, Se and Zn) intake and RTL in females. Our study found a significant positive correlation between DAI and RTL, with sex differences.

This work demonstrates the generation of short pulse duration and high-beam-quality laser pulses using transient stimulated Brillouin scattering at a high repetition rate. Thermal effects and optical breakdown are identified as the main factors that restrict energy reflectivity and beam quality under high repetition rates and transient situations. Through experimental analysis, the interaction length and focal point size are determined to be the key parameters in reducing the thermal effect by reducing the absorption of the laser pulse by the medium. The obtained results show that pulses with a duration of 175 ps and beam quality M2 of around 1.2 can be achieved with a maximum energy reflectivity of over 40% under an interaction length of 50 mm. Furthermore, at an interaction length of 90 mm, a pulse output with a minimum duration of 115 ps (0.5τQ) is achieved.

Carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacilli (CR-GNB) colonization screening was initiated across high-risk departments (PICU, NICU, neonatal wards, and hematology departments) in January 2017, and several CR-GNB cohort and patient-placement strategies were introduced throughout the hospital in January 2018. The colonization and infection rates decreased to varying degrees from 2017 to 2021.

The Qieganbulake deposit associated with a mafic–ultramafic–carbonatite complex in the Kuluketage block is not only the world’s second-largest vermiculite deposit, but also a medium-size carbonatite-related phosphate deposit. Field observations, radiometric dating results and Sr–Nd–Hf isotopes reveal that the parental magmas of the carbonatite and mafic–ultramafic rocks are cogenetic and formed synchronously at c. 810 Ma. Geochemical characteristics and Sr–Nd–Hf–S isotopes ((87Sr/86Sr)i = 0.70581–0.70710; ϵNd(t) = −0.20 to −11.80; ϵHf(t) = −7.5 to −10.3; δ34S = +0.7 ‰ to +3.0 ‰ (some sulfides with high δ34S values (+3.2 to +6.6) were formed by late hydrothermal sulfur)), in combination with mineral compositions and previous research, strongly indicate that the Qieganbulake mafic–ultramafic–carbonatite complex formed via extensive crystal fractionation/cumulation and liquid immiscibility of a carbonated tholeiitic magma, possibly derived from partial melting of an enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle previously modified by slab-released fluids and sediment input in a continental rift setting. The coupled enriched Sr–Nd isotopic signatures, in combination with previous research, suggest that the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle could have been metasomatized by asthenospheric mantle melts to different degrees. The Qieganbulake carbonatite-related phosphate ores were the products of normal fractional crystallization/cumulation of P–Fe3+ complex enriched carbonatite magma in high oxygen fugacity conditions, which was generated by liquid immiscibility of CO2–Fe–Ti–P-rich residual magma undergoing high differentiation.

It has been suggested that added sugar intake is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, previous studies only focused on sugar-sweetened beverages; the evidence for associations with total added sugars and their sources is scarce. This study aimed to examine the associations of total added sugars, their physical forms (liquid v. solid) and food sources with risk of NAFLD among adults in Tianjin, China. We used data from 15 538 participants, free of NAFLD, other liver diseases, CVD, cancer or diabetes at baseline (2013–2018 years). Added sugar intake was estimated from a validated 100-item FFQ. NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography after exclusion of other causes of liver diseases. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95 % CI for NAFLD risk with added sugar intake. During a median follow-up of 4·2 years, 3476 incident NAFLD cases were documented. After adjusting for age, sex, BMI and its change from baseline to follow-up, lifestyle factors, personal and family medical history and overall diet quality, the multivariable HR of NAFLD risk were 1·18 (95 % CI 1·06, 1·32) for total added sugars, 1·20 (95 % CI 1·08, 1·33) for liquid added sugars and 0·96 (95 % CI 0·86, 1·07) for solid added sugars when comparing the highest quartiles of intake with the lowest quartiles of intake. In this prospective cohort of Chinese adults, higher intakes of total added sugars and liquid added sugars, but not solid added sugars, were associated with a higher risk of NAFLD.

This study evaluated the association between inflammatory diets as measured by the Dietary Inflammatory index (DII), inflammation biomarkers and the development of preeclampsia among the Chinese population. We followed the reporting guidelines of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement for observational studies. A total of 466 preeclampsia cases aged over 18 years were recruited between March 2016 and June 2019, and 466 healthy controls were 1:1 ratio matched by age (±3 years), week of gestation (±1 week) and gestational diabetes mellitus. The energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) was computed based on dietary intake assessed using a seventy-nine item semiquantitative FFQ. Inflammatory biomarkers were analysed by ELISA kits. The mean E-DII scores were −0·65 ± 1·58 for cases and −1·19 ± 1·47 for controls (P value < 0·001). E-DII scores positively correlated with interferon-γ (rs = 0·194, P value = 0·001) and IL-4 (rs = 0·135, P value = 0·021). After multivariable adjustment, E-DII scores were positively related to preeclampsia risk (Ptrend < 0·001). The highest tertile of E-DII was 2·18 times the lowest tertiles (95 % CI = 1·52, 3·13). The odds of preeclampsia increased by 30 % (95 % CI = 18 %, 43 %, P value < 0·001) for each E-DII score increase. The preeclampsia risk was positively associated with IL-2 (OR = 1·07, 95 % CI = 1·03, 1·11), IL-4 (OR = 1·26, 95 % CI = 1·03, 1·54) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) (OR = 1·17, 95 % CI = 1·06, 1·29). Therefore, proinflammatory diets, corresponding to higher IL-2, IL-4 and TGF-β levels, were associated with increased preeclampsia risk.

This study presents preliminary discoveries from Sding Chung cave, an early multi-burial cave site in the Himalayan highlands dating from 300BC–AD 300. Multiple human and animal bones within the cave provide unique evidence for understanding the diverse mortuary rituals and biocultural adaptations in this region.

“Picking out the impurities” is a typical scenario in production line which is both time consuming and laborious. In this article, we propose a target-oriented robotic push-grasping system which is able to actively discover and pick the impurities in dense environments with the synergies between pushing and grasping actions. First, we propose an attention module, which includes target saliency detection and density-based occluded-region inference. Without the necessity of expensive labeling of semantic segmentation, our attention module can quickly locate the targets in the view or predict the candidate regions where the targets are most likely to be occluded. Second, we propose a push–grasp synergy framework to sequentially select proper actions in different situations until all targets are picked out. Moreover, we introduce an active pushing mechanism based on a novel metric, namely Target-Centric Dispersion Degree (TCDD) for better grasping. TCDD describes whether the targets are isolated from the surrounding objects. With this metric, the robot becomes more focused on the actions around the targets and push irrelevant objects away. Experimental results on both simulated environment and real-world environment show that our proposed system outperforms several baseline approaches,which also has the capability to be generalized to new scenarios.

Polarization diversity technology is an effective method to improve the detection performance of passive radar systems, but the related papers mainly conduct research on the polarization diversity in interference suppression, and there are few studies focusing on the polarization characteristics of the target itself. The work in this paper is divided into two parts. The first part is going to investigate the potential benefits of signal fusion in target polarization-scattering characteristic. The analysis results show that the cross-polarized component of the target scattered echo is not always weaker than the co-polarized component, and the polarization amplitude ratio value is mostly concentrated near 1. This indicates that polarization signal fusion will likely improve target detection performance. The other part introduces a polarization signal fusion method based on the non-coherent integration (P-NCI), but this method is susceptible to the influence of the difference in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the signal of each polarization channel, resulting in a reduction in the SNR of the fusion signal. The polarization signal fusion method based on adaptive weighting (AW-PSF) can effectively improve the robustness of signal fusion. The experimental results show that AW-PSF has better detection performance compared with single-polarization channel and P-NCI.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most malignant tumours with a poor prognosis. In recent years, the incidence of pancreatic cancer is on the rise. Traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy for pancreatic cancer have been improved, first-line and second-line palliative treatments have been developed, and adjuvant treatments have also been used in clinical. However, the 5-year survival rate is still less than 10% and new treatment methods such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy need to be investigated. In the past decades, many clinical trials of targeted therapies and immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer were launched and some of them showed an ideal prospect in a subgroup of pancreatic cancer patients. The experience of both success and failure of these clinical trials will be helpful to improve these therapies in the future. Therefore, the current research progress and challenges of selected targeted therapies and immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer are reviewed.

The aim of the present study was to compare the rate of preterm birth (PTB) and growth from birth to 18 years between twins conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and twins conceived by spontaneous conception (SC) in mainland China. The retrospective cohort study included 1164 twins resulting from IVF and 25,654 twins conceived spontaneously, of which 494 from IVF and 6338 from SC were opposite-sex twins. PTB and low birth weight (LBW), and growth, including length/height and weight, were compared between the two groups at five stages: infancy (0 year), toddler period (1–2 years), preschool (3–5 years), primary or elementary school (6–11 years), and adolescence (10–18 years). Few statistically significant differences were found for LBW and growth between the two groups after adjusting for PTB and other confounders. Twins born by IVF faced an increased risk of PTB compared with those born by SC (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 8.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] [3.19, 21.13], p < .001 in all twins and aOR 10.12, 95% CI [2.32, 44.04], p = .002 in opposite-sex twins). Twins born by IVF experienced a similar growth at five stages (0–18 years old) when compared with those born by SC. PTB risk, however, is significantly higher for twins conceived by IVF than those conceived by SC.

This study investigates how venture capital firms (VCs) choose syndication partners. Exponential random graph models of Chinese VC syndication networks from 2006 to 2013 show that the homophily mechanism does not always determine VCs’ partner selection. In selecting partners, VCs have to strike a balance between reducing uncertainty and mobilizing heterogeneous resources. Therefore, decisions about partners depend on institutional uncertainty and VCs’ investment preferences. While VCs that focus on traditional business in an immature market are more likely to form homogeneous syndications, their peers that prefer to invest in innovative companies and that can rely on a stable market tend to syndicate with heterogeneous partners.

Currently, a large amount of spatial and spatiotemporal RDF data has been shared and exchanged on the Internet and various applications. Resource Description Framework (RDF) is widely accepted for representing and processing data in different (including spatiotemporal) application domains. The effective management of spatial and spatiotemporal RDF data are becoming more and more important. A lot of work has been done to study how to represent, query, store, and manage spatial and spatiotemporal RDF data. In order to grasp and learn the main ideas and research results of spatial and spatiotemporal RDF data, in this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of RDF for spatial and spatiotemporal data management. We summarize spatial and spatiotemporal RDF data management from several essential aspects such as representation, querying, storage, performance assessment, datasets, and management tools. In addition, the direction of future research and some comparisons and analysis are also discussed in depth.

X/γ-rays have many potential applications in laboratory astrophysics and particle physics. Although several methods have been proposed for generating electron, positron, and X/γ-photon beams with angular momentum (AM), the generation of ultra-intense brilliant γ-rays is still challenging. Here, we present an all-optical scheme to generate a high-energy γ-photon beam with large beam angular momentum (BAM), small divergence, and high brilliance. In the first stage, a circularly polarized laser pulse with intensity of 1022 W/cm2 irradiates a micro-channel target, drags out electrons from the channel wall, and accelerates them to high energies via the longitudinal electric fields. During the process, the laser transfers its spin angular momentum (SAM) to the electrons’ orbital angular momentum (OAM). In the second stage, the drive pulse is reflected by the attached fan-foil and a vortex laser pulse is thus formed. In the third stage, the energetic electrons collide head-on with the reflected vortex pulse and transfer their AM to the γ-photons via nonlinear Compton scattering. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the peak brilliance of the γ-ray beam is $\sim 1{0}^{22}$ photons·s–1·mm–2·mrad–2 per 0.1% bandwidth at 1 MeV with a peak instantaneous power of 25 TW and averaged BAM of $1{0}^6\hslash$/photon. The AM conversion efficiency from laser to the γ-photons is unprecedentedly 0.67%.