A Knowledge-Enhanced Recommendation Model with Attribute-Level Co-Attention

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have been widely employed in recommender systems including incorporating attention mechanism for performance improvement. However, most of existing attention-based models only apply item-level attention on user side, restricting the further enhancement of recommendation performance. In this paper, we propose a knowledge-enhanced recommendation model ACAM, which incorporates item attributes distilled from knowledge graphs (KGs) as side information, and is built with a co-attention mechanism on attribute-level to achieve performance gains. Specifically, each user and item in ACAM are represented by a set of attribute embeddings at first. Then, user representations and item representations are augmented simultaneously through capturing the correlations between different attributes by a co-attention module. Our extensive experiments over two realistic datasets show that the user representations and item representations augmented by attribute-level co-attention gain ACAM's superiority over the state-of-the-art deep models

Canagliflozin Regulates Ferroptosis, Potentially via Activating AMPK/PGC-1α/Nrf2 Signaling in HFpEF Rats

Aims: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have been found to ameliorate major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but the exact mechanism is unknown. Ferroptosis is a form of programmed necrosis. Herein, we verified that canagliflozin (CANA) ameliorates heart function in HFpEF rats, partly by regulating ferroptosis, which may be activated by AMPK/PGC-1α/Nrf2 signaling.Methods: An HFpEF model was established and subjected to CANA treatment. Blood pressure was monitored, and echocardiography was performed at the 12th week. Pathological examination was performed, and expression of ferroptosis-associated proteins and AMPK/PGC-1α/Nrf2 signaling related proteins was detected.Results: CANA had an antihypertensive effect and increased E/A ratios in HFpEF rats. Myocardial pathology was ameliorated, on the basis of decreased cross-sectional area and intercellular fibrosis. Acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 4 (ACSL4) expression increased, whereas ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1) expression decreased in HFpEF rats, which showed iron overload. CANA reversed changes in ACSL4 and FTH1, and decreased iron accumulation, but did not alter glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) expression. The expression of AMPK/PGC-1α/Nrf2 signaling related proteins and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in the HFpEF group decreased but was reverted after CANA treatment.Conclusions: CANA regulates ferroptosis, potentially via activating AMPK/PGC-1α/Nrf2 signaling in HFpEF rats

Progress of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Among primary liver cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common pathological type. Its onset is insidious, and most patients have no obvious discomfort in the early stage, so it is found late, and the opportunity for surgical radical treatment is lost, resulting in a poor prognosis. With the introduction of molecular-targeted drugs represented by sorafenib, patients with middle- and late-stage liver cancer have regained the light of day. However, their therapeutic efficacy is relatively low due to the limited target of drug action, toxic side effects, and other reasons. At this time, the emergence of immunotherapy represented by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) well breaks this embarrassing situation, which mainly achieves the anti-tumor purpose by improving the tumor immune microenvironment. Currently, ICI monotherapy, as well as combination therapy, has been widely used in the clinic, further prolonging the survival of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. This article reviews the development of monotherapy and combination therapy for ICIs in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and the latest research progress

Canagliflozin Alleviates Atherosclerosis Progression through Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Autophagy in Western Diet-fed ApoE −/− Mice

Purpose: This study was aimed at investigating the effect of canagliflozin (Cana) on atherosclerosis and further exploring its potential mechanism. Methods: ApoE −/− mice were fed a Western diet (WD) and randomly divided into a WD group and WD+Cana group. After 15 weeks of canagliflozin treatment, serum levels of fasting insulin and inflammatory cytokines were determined with ELISA kits. HE, Oil Red O, and Masson staining were used to estimate the extent of atherosclerosis. Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, ROS staining, and RT-PCR were used to further investigate Cana’s potential mechanism. Results: Histological analysis indicated that Cana restrained atherosclerotic plaque development. Furthermore, Cana decreased the percentage of F4/80 positive cells, and the areal density of ROS and relative fluorescence intensity of P62, but enhanced the relative fluorescence intensity of LC3 in the aortic root. Analysis of factors associated with the inflammatory response mediated by AP-1, oxidative stress mediated through the ROS/Nrf2 pathway, and autophagy in the aorta indicated elevated mRNA levels of F4/80, MCP-1, VCAM-1, AP-1, ROS, NOX4, P62, NLRP3, and IL-1β, but diminished mRNA levels of Nrf2, GST, eNOS, and LC3, in the WD+Cana group. Conclusion: Canagliflozin may attenuate atherosclerosis by decreasing the inflammatory response mediated by AP-1, alleviating oxidative stress through the ROS/Nrf2 pathway, and enhancing autophagy in WD-fed ApoE −/− mice

On the critical competition between singlet exciton decay and free charge generation in non-fullerene based organic solar cells with low energetic offsets†

Reducing voltage losses while maintaining high photocurrents is the holy grail of current research on non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) based organic solar cell. Recent focus lies in understanding the various fundamental mechanisms in organic blends with minimal energy offsets – particularly the relationship between ionization energy offset (ΔIE) and free charge generation. Here, we quantitatively probe this relationship in multiple NFA-based blends by mixing Y-series NFAs with PM6 of different molecular weights, covering a broad power conversion efficiency (PCE) range: from 15% down to 1%. Spectroelectrochemistry reveals that a ΔIE of more than 0.3 eV is necessary for efficient photocurrent generation. Bias-dependent time-delayed collection experiments reveal a very pronounced field-dependence of free charge generation for small ΔIE blends, which is mirrored by a strong and simultaneous field-dependence of the quantified photoluminescence from the NFA local singlet exciton (LE). We find that the decay of singlet excitons is the primary competition to free charge generation in low-offset NFA-based organic solar cells, with neither noticeable losses from charge-transfer (CT) decay nor evidence for LE–CT hybridization. In agreement with this conclusion, transient absorption spectroscopy consistently reveals that a smaller ΔIE slows the NFA exciton dissociation into free charges, albeit restorable by an electric field. Our experimental data align with Marcus theory calculations, supported by density functional theory simulations, for zero-field free charge generation and exciton decay efficiencies. We conclude that efficient photocurrent generation generally requires that the CT state is located below the LE, but that this restriction is lifted in systems with a small reorganization energy for charge transfer.A quantitative study, supported by Marcus theory and DFT, showing why the fate of singlet excitons is the pivot to free charge generation in low-energy offset organic solar cells.Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 10.13039/501100003130European Research Council 10.13039/501100000781Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 10.13039/501100001659China Scholarship Council 10.13039/50110000454

On the critical competition between singlet exciton decay and free charge generation in non-fullerene based organic solar cells with low energetic offsets

Reducing voltage losses while maintaining high photocurrents is the holy grail of current research on non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) based organic solar cell. Recent focus lies in understanding the various fundamental mechanisms in organic blends with minimal energy offsets - particularly the relationship between ionization energy offset (ΔIE) and free charge generation. Here, we quantitatively probe this relationship in multiple NFA-based blends by mixing Y-series NFAs with PM6 of different molecular weights, covering a broad power conversion efficiency (PCE) range: from 15% down to 1%. Spectroelectrochemistry reveals that a ΔIE of more than 0.3 eV is necessary for efficient photocurrent generation. Bias-dependent time-delayed collection experiments reveal a very pronounced field-dependence of free charge generation for small ΔIE blends, which is mirrored by a strong and simultaneous field-dependence of the quantified photoluminescence from the NFA local singlet exciton (LE). We find that the decay of singlet excitons is the primary competition to free charge generation in low-offset NFA-based organic solar cells, with neither noticeable losses from charge-transfer (CT) decay nor evidence for LE–CT hybridization. In agreement with this conclusion, transient absorption spectroscopy consistently reveals that a smaller ΔIE slows the NFA exciton dissociation into free charges, albeit restorable by an electric field. Our experimental data align with Marcus theory calculations, supported by density functional theory simulations, for zero-field free charge generation and exciton decay efficiencies. We conclude that efficient photocurrent generation generally requires that the CT state is located below the LE, but that this restriction is lifted in systems with a small reorganization energy for charge transfer.A quantitative study, supported by Marcus theory and DFT, showing why the fate of singlet excitons is the pivot to free charge generation in low-energy offset organic solar cells.Fonds Wetenschappelijk OnderzoekEuropean Research CouncilDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftChina Scholarship Counci

New water treatment technology - homogeneous membrane electrodialysis

This paper introduces the structure and technical principle of the homogeneous membrane electrodialyzer, and describes that the homogeneous ion exchange membrane has excellent ion exchange capacity, low water loss rate, stable physical and chemical properties and effective removal of organic matter. The homogeneous membrane electrodialysis technology should be combined with other water treatment processes in practice to achieve better treatment results

A Three-Phase Top- Query Based Distributed Data Collection Scheme in Wireless Sensor Networks

We propose a three-phase top- k query based distributed data collection scheme which is designed for clustered or multisink wireless sensor networks. The proposed scheme consists of a distributed iterative hard thresholding algorithm and a three-phase top- k query algorithm. In the distributed iterative hard thresholding algorithm, the cluster heads or sink nodes reconstruct the compressed data in a distributed and cooperative manner. Meanwhile, the top- k query operation in the above algorithm is realized by pruning unnecessary elements among cluster heads or sink nodes in the three-phase top- k query algorithm. Simulation results show that there is no obvious difference in the performance of data reconstruction between our proposed scheme and existing compressive sensing theory based data collection schemes. However, both the number of interactions and the amount of transmitted data among cluster heads or sink nodes can be effectively reduced in the proposed scheme. The performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed in detail in this paper to support the claims

Emission Characteristics of NO

A large amount of NOx will be produced during the combustion process of waste energetic materials (EMs), which is extremely harmful to human health and ecological environment, and has become an urgent problem for all countries to solve. In this paper, the NOx emission characteristics of four typical types of waste EMs (double-base propellant, TNT, triple-base propellant and RDX) under different temperature and atmosphere conditions were studied by tube furnace experiment. The results showed that under the condition of nitrogen environment, with the increase of temperature, the combustion reaction of waste EMs was accelerated, NOx emission and nitrogen conversion rate decreased. Under the same experimental conditions, the nitrogen content of waste EMs was not proportional to nitrogen conversion. With the increase of oxygen content, NOx emissions and nitrogen conversion rate increased, which was not conducive to the control of NOx emissions. Therefore, the waste EMs burned in 1000 ℃ and nitrogen environment, the emission of NOx was the lowest. The results of this study provide reliable data support for the realization of green and clean burning of waste EMs

New water treatment technology - homogeneous membrane electrodialysis

This paper introduces the structure and technical principle of the homogeneous membrane electrodialyzer, and describes that the homogeneous ion exchange membrane has excellent ion exchange capacity, low water loss rate, stable physical and chemical properties and effective removal of organic matter. The homogeneous membrane electrodialysis technology should be combined with other water treatment processes in practice to achieve better treatment results