Major depressive disorder (MDD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) can both cause significant morbidity and mortality. The association of MDD and CHD has long been identified, but the mechanisms still require further investigation. Seven mRNA microarray datasets containing samples from patients with MDD and CHD were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. Combined matrixes of MDD and CAD were constructed for subsequent analysis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Functional enrichment analyses based on shared DEGs were conducted to identify pivotal pathways. A protein-protein network was also applied to further investigate the functional interaction. Results showed that 24 overlapping genes were identified. Enrichment analysis indicated that the shared genes are mainly associated with immune function and ribosome biogenesis. The functional interactions of shared genes were also demonstrated by PPI network analysis. In addition, three hub genes including MMP9, S100A8, and RETN were identified. Our results indicate that MDD and CHD have a genetic association. Genes relevant to immune function, especially IL-17 signalling pathway may be involved in the pathogenesis of MDD and CHD.

Trioctahedral phyllosilicate minerals are widely distributed on the Earth’s surface, especially in soil. The mineral–water interfacial reaction of lizardite, chlorite and talc, with various structural properties (tetrahedral sheet, octahedral sheet, 1:1-type and 2:1-type interlayer domain/two-dimensional structural units), was carried out in sulfuric acid solution (1 mol L–1). The mineral samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The dissolution concentration, dissolution rate, dissolution rules and structural changes of the components during the dissolution processes of the various two-dimensional structural units were studied. The results show that the dissolution concentrations of Si and Mg in the sulfuric acid solution decrease in the following order: chlorite > lizardite > talc and lizardite > chlorite > talc. The dissolution rates of Si in chlorite and Mg in lizardite are the greatest, while talc is the most stable compared with lizardite and chlorite. With increasing interfacial reaction time and the dissolution of the ionic components of the minerals, the structure of lizardite is gradually destroyed; the structural destruction of chlorite is more obvious during the early stages of the reaction; and the structure of talc does not significantly change over the course of the entire reaction. By analysing the microtopography of the minerals, it was found that the structural failure of lizardite occurred from the surface to the interior. Chlorite had more structural defects and showed collapse of the layered structure during structural failure. The surface layer of talc decomposed by corrosion into a small lamellae structure attached to the surface, but there was no obvious structural change similar to those of lizardite and chlorite. The relationship between the evolution of composition and structure during the mineral–water interfacial reaction process with the two-dimensional structure layer type provides the mineralogical basis for studying the coupling mechanism of the migration and transformation of materials in key regions of the Earth.

Nonlinear compression experiments based on multiple solid thin plates are conducted in an ultra-high peak power Ti:sapphire laser system. The incident laser pulse, with an energy of 80 mJ and a pulse width of 30.2 fs, is compressed to 10.1 fs by a thin-plate based nonlinear compression. Significant small-scale self-focusing is observed as ring structures appear in the near-field of the output pulse at high energy. Numerical simulations based on the experimental setup provide a good explanation for the observed phenomena, offering quantitative predictions of the spectrum, pulse width, dispersion and near- and far-field distributions of the compressed laser pulse.

External seeded free-electron lasers (FELs) have exhibited substantial progress in diverse applications over the last decade. However, the frequency up-conversion efficiency in single-stage seeded FELs, particularly in high-gain harmonic generation (HGHG), remains constrained to a modest level. This limitation restricts its capability to conduct experiments within the ‘water window’. This paper presents a novel method for generating coherent X-ray FEL pulses in the water window region based on the HGHG scheme with multi-stage harmonic cascade. Without any additional modifications to the HGHG configuration, simulation results demonstrate the generation of intense 3 nm coherent FEL radiation using an external ultraviolet seed laser. This indicates an increase of the harmonic conversion number to approximately 90. A preliminary experiment is performed to evaluate the feasibility of this method. The proposed approach could potentially serve as an efficient method to broaden the wavelength coverage accessible to both existing and planned seeded X-ray FEL facilities.

Serpentine is widely distributed in the regolith and occurs in different types (chrysotile, lizardite, antigorite). The physical and chemical processes such as composition dissolution and structure evolution of serpentine occur constantly under the action of aqueous solutions. Based on the similarities and differences of polysomic structures and properties of chrysotile (tubular shapes) and lizardite (flat structural layers), the mineral–water interfacial reaction of these two minerals was carried out in a sulfuric acid solution with a concentration of 1 mol L–1. The mineral samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis, magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The Si, Mg, and Fe dissolution concentrations, dissolution rates, and dissolution rules and structural changes of chrysotile and lizardite were studied and compared. The results show that H+ is more aggressive toward lizardite in sulfuric acid solution. The dissolution rate of Si, Mg, and Fe was faster, the dissolution concentration was greater, and structural changes occurred preferentially in lizardite. Specifically, Mg dissolved first in the octahedral sheets, and Si and Fe dissolved later in the tetrahedral sheets. After the water interfacial reaction with the sulfuric acid solution, the ion dissolution rates of both chrysotile and lizardite were Mg > Fe > Si. In summary, this work investigates the mineral–water interfacial reaction of chrysotile and lizardite in sulfuric acid media from different crystal structures and demonstrates that the crystal structure has a significant effect on the acid reactivity of lizardite minerals. Furthermore, the crystal chemistry patterns for the structural dissociation of different two-dimensional structural units were studied. This work provides a mineralogical basis for the study of the mechanisms of ion migration and crystal-structure evolution of serpentine under acidic media.

The simulation of rarefied gas flow based on the Boltzmann equation is challenging, especially when the gas mixtures have disparate molecular masses. In this paper, a computationally tractable kinetic model is proposed for monatomic gas mixtures, to mimic the Boltzmann collision operator as closely as possible. The intra- and inter-collisions are modelled separately using relaxation approximations, to correctly recover the relaxation time scales that could span several orders of magnitude. The proposed kinetic model preserves the accuracy of the Boltzmann equation in the continuum regime by recovering four critical transport properties of a gas mixture: the shear viscosity, the thermal conductivity, the coefficients of diffusion and the thermal diffusion. While in the rarefied flow regimes, the kinetic model is found to be accurate when comparing its solutions with those from the direct simulation Monte Carlo method in several representative cases (e.g. one-dimensional normal shock wave, Fourier flow and Couette flow, two-dimensional supersonic flow passing a cylinder and nozzle flow into a vacuum), for binary mixtures with a wide range of mass ratios, species concentrations and different intermolecular potentials. Pronounced separations in species properties have been observed, and the flow characteristics of gas mixtures in shock waves are found to change as the molecular mass ratio increases from 10 to 1000.

The aim of this article is to study the asymptotic behaviour of non-autonomous stochastic lattice systems. We first show the existence and uniqueness of a pullback measure attractor. Moreover, when deterministic external forcing terms are periodic in time, we show the pullback measure attractors are periodic. We then study the upper semicontinuity of pullback measure attractors as the noise intensity goes to zero. Pullback asymptotic compact for a family of probability measures with respect to probability distributions of the solutions is demonstrated by using uniform a priori estimates for far-field values of solutions.

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is effective in improving cardiovascular disease risk factor management, cardiopulmonary function, and quality of life. However, the precise mechanisms underlying exercise-induced cardioprotection remain elusive. Recent studies have shed light on the beneficial functions of noncoding RNAs in either exercise or illness models, but only a limited number of noncoding RNAs have been studied in both contexts. Hence, the present study aimed to elucidate the pathophysiological implications and molecular mechanisms underlying the association among exercise, noncoding RNAs, and cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, the present study analysed the most effective and personalized exercise prescription, serving as a valuable reference for guiding the clinical implementation of cardiac rehabilitation in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

The femtosecond laser filament-induced air laser plays a significant role for the remote sensing of air pollutants. The spatial distributions of air laser intensity were investigated experimentally in previous studies. However, the mechanism of the air laser propagation properties inside the filament plasma has not been quite clear yet. Moreover, few studies have been dedicated to the reproduction of the air laser profile from nitrogen molecules propagating in the filament plasma based on the numerical simulation method. In this study, the lasing action of the air laser from the transition of the first negative (0,0) band of nitrogen ions at 391 nm was simulated during the femtosecond laser filamentation. The beam profile of the air laser changes from a Gaussian or super-Gaussian shape to an outer ring structure by increasing the filament length or nitrogen ion density, which is in accord with the previous experimental result. A multiple-diffraction effect has been proposed to clarify the mechanism of the outer rings beam pattern formation, which is induced by the dynamical interaction between the lasing effect and diffraction effect of the air laser propagating inside the filament plasma. In addition, the amplified air laser power as a function of both the filament length and nitrogen ion density was investigated. Our study would pave the way to improve the energy conversion efficiency and directivity of remote air lasers, which would be significant for remote sensing applications.

Organic acids are commonly found in soils and sediments, playing an important role in the alteration and weathering of minerals and influencing a series of geochemical processes such as soil fertility, metal cycling and pollutant migration. In order to better comprehend the reaction mechanisms of different layered silicate minerals with organic acids, three minerals with various structure types, namely montmorillonite, kaolinite and muscovite, were investigated in this work. In particular, the effects of interfacial reactions with oxalic acid on the crystal structure, chemical composition, morphology and specific surface area of minerals were compared. The composition and structure of montmorillonite, kaolinite and muscovite during the interfacial reaction with oxalic acid were characterised using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) methods. It was shown that Si4+ and Al3+ were dissolved gradually during the interfacial reactions and that the changes in the properties of minerals depended on structural characteristics. After 300 days of the interfacial reactions with oxalic acid, the dissolution percentages of Si4+ and Al3+ in montmorillonite, kaolinite and muscovite were 12.7%, 8.4%, 3.8% and 62.1%, 30.7%, 6.1%, respectively. Moreover, the lamellar morphology of montmorillonite was destroyed upon the interfacial reaction with oxalic acid, and irregular particles with sizes of ~100–500 nm were formed on the surface. The diameter of kaolinite flake particles decreased from 400–1500 nm to 50–400 nm, and the surface of rod-shaped particles was ruptured. The small particles disappeared from the muscovite surface, and the initially sharp edges became blunted. The specific surface area and the total pore volume of montmorillonite and kaolinite increased after the interfacial reaction with oxalic acid, whereas the opposite results were obtained for muscovite. The differential dissolution of the minerals during their interfacial reaction with oxalic acid was mainly related to the differences between cation occupancies, structural types, chemical bond strengths and specific surface areas.

The long- and finite-wavelength instabilities of weakly viscoelastic film on an oscillating inclined plane are investigated. By using the Chebyshev series solution with the Floquet theory, the combined effects of viscoelasticity and forcing amplitude on instability are described when the inclined plane oscillates in streamwise and wall-normal directions. For long-wavelength instability, the solution to the eigenvalue problem is obtained analytically by the asymptotic expansion method. Results show that the Floquet exponent is independent of the wall-normal oscillation amplitude. The effects of inclined angle, gravity and surface tension on the stability of viscoelastic liquid film are also discussed. For finite-wavelength instability, numerical results corresponding to the wall-normal oscillation disclose that with the increase of viscoelasticity, the unstable gravitational boundary moves to a higher wavenumber, and the critical amplitudes of subharmonic and harmonic instabilities are reduced. The neutral curve of gravity instability for streamwise oscillatory flow is divided into two parts, and a stable bandwidth is formed for a large value of the viscoelastic parameter. Besides, a new oscillatory mode is identified at small angles of inclination, which will be enhanced if the effect of viscoelasticity is incorporated.

Let $[a_1(x),a_2(x),a_3(x),\ldots ]$ be the continued fraction expansion of an irrational number $x\in [0,1)$. We are concerned with the asymptotic behaviour of the product of consecutive partial quotients of x. We prove that, for Lebesgue almost all $x\in [0,1)$,

$$ \begin{align*} \liminf_{n \to \infty} \frac{\log (a_n(x)a_{n+1}(x))}{\log n} = 0\quad \text{and}\quad \limsup_{n \to \infty} \frac{\log (a_n(x)a_{n+1}(x))}{\log n}=1. \end{align*} $$

We also study the Baire category and the Hausdorff dimension of the set of points for which the above liminf and limsup have other different values and similarly analyse the weighted product of consecutive partial quotients.

The clay mineralogy of the Zhada sediments was investigated, using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, to obtain a better understanding of climatic change and uplift of the Himalayas in the Zhada region of Tibet. The sediments of Zhada basin in the late Miocene to Pliocene consist of lacustrine and fluvial deposits >800 m thick and can be subdivided into five clay assemblage zones based on their clay-mineral composition. The upward zonation is as follows: (1) smectite-kaolinite; (2) illite-chlorite; (3) chlorite-illite-kaolinite; (4) illite-chlorite; and (5) smectite, illite, and kaolinite. The ratio of chlorite + illite to kaolinite + smectite (Ch+I/K+S) and the Kübler index indicate a warm and humid climate from 9.5 to 8.4 Ma, a cold and dry climate from 8.4 to 7.2 Ma, a warm and seasonal arid climate from 7.2 to 4.5 Ma, a cool and humid climate from 4.5 to 3.6 Ma, and a warm and seasonally humid climate from 3.6 to 3.0 Ma. Intense fluctuations in the Kübler index and in the quantities of evaporite minerals dolomite, aragonite, and gypsum, during the period 7.2–4.5 Ma suggest strong climatic fluctuations between humid and seasonally humid conditions in the Zhada basin. Rapid uplift around the Zhada basin occurred at 8.4 and 3.6 Ma, with sharp subsidence at 7.2 and 4.5 Ma. Evolution of the climate at Zhada showed a different model from that of global climate change, and tectonics-led climate change was the major contributor to climate evolution in the area.

As a photocatalyst with good prospects, TiO2 has the shortcomings of easy agglomeration and no catalytic performance under visible light. The purpose of the present study was to help solve these problems by employing muscovite as a carrier for N-doped TiO2 in a nanocomposite. The nanocomposites were prepared by a liquid precipitation-grinding method using muscovite as the matrix and urea as the nitrogen source. The crystal structures, chemical bonding, and micromorphology of the nanocomposites were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, infrared absorption spectrometry, and field emission scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Visible and ultraviolet (UV-Vis) light absorption of the nanocomposites was analyzed by solid ultraviolet diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic effect of the nanocomposites was studied based on the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) solution. The photocatalytic degradation product of RhB was detected by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, revealing that N-doping inhibits the growth of TiO2 nanoparticles. The photocatalytic performance of N-TiO2/muscovite composite nanomaterials decreased with increasing heat-treatment temperature. N-doped TiO2/muscovite nanocomposites that were heated at 400°C showed the best photocatalytic performance under visible-light illumination with an RhB degradation of 97%.

The thermal stability of bentonite is vitally important for its application in the casting field and the layer charge of montmorillonite (Qm) is one of its central crystal-chemical parameters. As the main component of bentonite, the influence of Qm on montmorillonite properties and behavior needs to be considered if bentonite is to be used in high-temperature environments. The objective of the current study was to investigate the relationship between Qm and the thermal stability of Chinese bentonite samples collected from Wuhu, Anhui Province (marked as WH); Xinyang, Henan Province (marked as XY); and Santai, Sichuan Province (marked as ST) below. The values of Qm were obtained using the O (11) method, and the structural properties of the bentonite samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results showed that, in the samples investigated, Qm was inversely related to the thermal stability of bentonite. The Qm value (electrons per half unit cell, e/huc) was greatest for sample ST (0.725 e/huc), followed by sample XY (0.470 e/huc), and by sample WH (0.354 e/huc). The dehydroxylation temperature changed related to Qm; the sample with the largest Qm value was WH (701°C), followed by sample XY (684°C), and sample ST (630°C). After the samples were calcined at 600°C, sample WH had the best montmorillonite structural integrity with the greatest degree of reusability (78.21%); while the montmorillonite structures of samples XY and ST were destroyed, and their reusabilities were only 9.48 and 6.01%, respectively.