Volume-averaged macroscopic equation for fluid flow in moving porous media

Darcy's law and the Brinkman equation are two main models used for creeping fluid flows inside moving permeable particles. For these two models, the time derivative and the nonlinear convective terms of fluid velocity are neglected in the momentum equation. In this paper, a new momentum equation including these two terms are rigorously derived from the pore-scale microscopic equations by the volume-averaging method, which can reduces to Darcy's law and the Brinkman equation under creeping flow conditions. Using the lattice Boltzmann equation method, the macroscopic equations are solved for the problem of a porous circular cylinder moving along the centerline of a channel. Galilean invariance of the equations are investigated both with the intrinsic phase averaged velocity and the phase averaged velocity. The results demonstrate that the commonly used phase averaged velocity cannot serve as the superficial velocity, while the intrinsic phase averaged velocity should be chosen for porous particulate systems

2-[2-(4-Meth­oxy­phen­yl)-2-oxoeth­yl]malononitrile

The title compound, C12H10N2O2, was obtained unintentionally during the synthesis of 2-amino-5-(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)furan-3-carbonitrile. In the crystal, weak inter­mol­ecular C—H⋯N and C—H⋯π inter­actions link the mol­ecules into columns propagating in [010]

DreamDrone

We introduce DreamDrone, an innovative method for generating unbounded flythrough scenes from textual prompts. Central to our method is a novel feature-correspondence-guidance diffusion process, which utilizes the strong correspondence of intermediate features in the diffusion model. Leveraging this guidance strategy, we further propose an advanced technique for editing the intermediate latent code, enabling the generation of subsequent novel views with geometric consistency. Extensive experiments reveal that DreamDrone significantly surpasses existing methods, delivering highly authentic scene generation with exceptional visual quality. This approach marks a significant step in zero-shot perpetual view generation from textual prompts, enabling the creation of diverse scenes, including natural landscapes like oases and caves, as well as complex urban settings such as Lego-style street views. Our code is publicly available.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, project page: https://hyokong.github.io/dreamdrone-page

Priority-Centric Human Motion Generation in Discrete Latent Space

Text-to-motion generation is a formidable task, aiming to produce human motions that align with the input text while also adhering to human capabilities and physical laws. While there have been advancements in diffusion models, their application in discrete spaces remains underexplored. Current methods often overlook the varying significance of different motions, treating them uniformly. It is essential to recognize that not all motions hold the same relevance to a particular textual description. Some motions, being more salient and informative, should be given precedence during generation. In response, we introduce a Priority-Centric Motion Discrete Diffusion Model (M2DM), which utilizes a Transformer-based VQ-VAE to derive a concise, discrete motion representation, incorporating a global self-attention mechanism and a regularization term to counteract code collapse. We also present a motion discrete diffusion model that employs an innovative noise schedule, determined by the significance of each motion token within the entire motion sequence. This approach retains the most salient motions during the reverse diffusion process, leading to more semantically rich and varied motions. Additionally, we formulate two strategies to gauge the importance of motion tokens, drawing from both textual and visual indicators. Comprehensive experiments on the HumanML3D and KIT-ML datasets confirm that our model surpasses existing techniques in fidelity and diversity, particularly for intricate textual descriptions.Comment: Accepted by ICCV202

C1q/TNF-related protein 3 (CTRP3) and 9 (CTRP9) concentrations are decreased in patients with heart failure and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality.

BACKGROUND: Biochemical marker has revolutionized the approach to the diagnosis of heart failure. However, it remains difficult to assess stability of the patient. As such, novel means of stratifying disease severity are needed. C1q/TNF-Related Protein 3 (CTRP3) and C1q/TNF-Related Protein 9 (CTRP9) are novel adipokines that contribute to energy homeostasis with additional anti-inflammatory and anti-ischemic properties. The aim of our study is to evaluate concentrations of CTRP3 and CTRP9 in patients with HFrEF (heart failure with reduced ejection fraction) and whether associated with mortality. METHODS: Clinical data and plasma were obtained from 176 healthy controls and 168 patients with HFrEF. CTRP3 and CTRP9 levels were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Both CTRP3 and CTRP9 concentrations were significantly decreased in the HFrEF group compared to the control group (p \u3c 0.001). Moreover, patients with higher New York Heart Association class had significantly lower CTRP3 or CTRP9 concentrations. Correlation analysis revealed that CTRP3 and CTRP9 levels were positively related with LVEF% (CTRP3, r = 0.556, p \u3c 0.001; CTRP9, r = 0.526, p \u3c 0.001) and negatively related with NT-proBNP levels (CTRP3, r = - 0.454, p \u3c 0.001; CTRP9, r = - 0.483, p \u3c 0.001). After a follow up for 36 months, after adjusted for age, LVEF and NT-proBNP, we observed that CTRP3 or CTRP9 levels below the 25th percentile was a predictor of total mortality (CTRP3,HR:1.93,95%CI1.03~3.62,P = 0.042;CTRP9,HR:1.98,95%CI:1.02~3.85,P = 0.044) and hospitalizations (CTRP3,HR:2.34,95% CI:1.43~3.82,P = 0.001;CTRP9,HR:2.67,95%CI:1.58~4.50,P \u3c 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: CTRP3 and CTRP9 are decreased in patients with HFrEF, proportionate to disease severity, and each is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01372800 . Registered May 2011

Performance of 3D printed porous polyetheretherketone composite scaffolds combined with nano-hydroxyapatite/carbon fiber in bone tissue engineering: a biological evaluation

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been one of the most promising materials in bone tissue engineering in recent years, with characteristics such as biosafety, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance. However, the weak bioactivity of PEEK leads to its poor integration with bone tissues, restricting its application in biomedical fields. This research effectively fabricated composite porous scaffolds using a combination of PEEK, nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA), and carbon fiber (CF) by the process of fused deposition molding (FDM). The experimental study aimed to assess the impact of varying concentrations of nHA and CF on the biological performance of scaffolds. The incorporation of 10% CF has been shown to enhance the overall mechanical characteristics of composite PEEK scaffolds, including increased tensile strength and improved mechanical strength. Additionally, the addition of 20% nHA resulted in a significant increase in the surface roughness of the scaffolds. The high hydrophilicity of the PEEK composite scaffolds facilitated the in vitro inoculation of MC3T3-E1 cells. The findings of the study demonstrated that the inclusion of 20% nHA and 10% CF in the scaffolds resulted in improved cell attachment and proliferation compared to other scaffolds. This suggests that the incorporation of 20% nHA and 10% CF positively influenced the properties of the scaffolds, potentially facilitating bone regeneration. In vitro biocompatibility experiments showed that PEEK composite scaffolds have good biosafety. The investigation on osteoblast differentiation revealed that the intensity of calcium nodule staining intensified, along with an increase in the expression of osteoblast transcription factors and alkaline phosphatase activities. These findings suggest that scaffolds containing 20% nHA and 10% CF have favorable properties for bone induction. Hence, the integration of porous PEEK composite scaffolds with nHA and CF presents a promising avenue for the restoration of bone defects using materials in the field of bone tissue engineering

Detecting CD20-Rituximab interaction forces using AFM single-molecule force spectroscopy

The invention of atomic force microscopy (AFM) has provided new technology for measuring specific molecular interaction forces. Using AFM single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) techniques, CD20-Rituximab rupture forces were measured on purified CD20 proteins, Raji cells, and lymphoma patient B cells. Rituximab molecules were linked onto AFM tips using AFM probe functionalization technology, and purified CD20 proteins were attached to mica using substrate functionalization technology. Raji cells (a lymphoma cell line) or lymphoma patient cells were immobilized on a glass substrate via electrostatic adsorption and chemical fixation. The topography of the purified CD20 proteins, Raji cells, and patient lymphoma cells was visualized using AFM imaging and the differences in the rupture forces were analyzed and measured. The results showed that the rupture forces between the CD20 proteins on Raji cells and Rituximab were markedly smaller than those for purified CD20 proteins and CD20 proteins on lymphoma patient B cells. These findings provide an effective experimental method for investigating the mechanisms underlying the variable efficacy of Rituximab. © 2011 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Mutation signatures implicate aristolochic acid in bladder cancer development

10.1186/s13073-015-0161-3Genome Medicine71Article number 3

Soil nitrogen concentration mediates the relationship between leguminous trees and neighbor diversity in tropical forests

Legumes provide an essential service to ecosystems by capturing nitrogen from the atmosphere and delivering it to the soil, where it may then be available to other plants. However, this facilitation by legumes has not been widely studied in global tropical forests. Demographic data from 11 large forest plots (16–60 ha) ranging from 5.25° S to 29.25° N latitude show that within forests, leguminous trees have a larger effect on neighbor diversity than non-legumes. Where soil nitrogen is high, most legume species have higher neighbor diversity than non-legumes. Where soil nitrogen is low, most legumes have lower neighbor diversity than non-legumes. No facilitation effect on neighbor basal area was observed in either high or low soil N conditions. The legume–soil nitrogen positive feedback that promotes tree diversity has both theoretical implications for understanding species coexistence in diverse forests, and practical implications for the utilization of legumes in forest restoration