Development of a Rapid and Confirmatory Method to Identify Ganoderic Acids in Ganoderma Mushrooms

To examine the composition of lanostanoids in Ganoderma lucidum, we have developed a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) method by using the ganoderic acids isolated in our laboratory as reference standards. The identity of 14 peaks in the high performance liquid chromatogram (HPLC) of G. lucidum has been confirmed. By using the HPLC retention times of these ganoderic acids and their mass fragmentation patterns established in this paper, one can use LC–MS to analyze G. lucidum without requiring the reference standards of these 14 ganoderic acids. Subsequently, only the HPLC–UV method would be needed to analyze routine samples of G. lucidum

Teaching Autonomous Vehicles to Express Interaction Intent during Unprotected Left Turns: A Human-Driving-Prior-Based Trajectory Planning Approach

Incorporating Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) into existing transportation systems necessitates examining their coexistence with Human-driven Vehicles (HVs) in mixed traffic environments. Central to this coexistence is the AVs' ability to emulate human-like interaction intentions within traffic scenarios. We introduce a novel framework for planning unprotected left-turn trajectories for AVs, designed to mirror human driving behaviors and effectively communicate social intentions. This framework consists of three phases: trajectory generation, evaluation, and selection.In the trajectory generation phase, we utilize real human-driving trajectory data to establish constraints for a predicted trajectory space, creating candidate motion trajectories that reflect intent. The evaluation phase incorporates maximum entropy inverse reinforcement learning (ME-IRL) to gauge human trajectory preferences, considering aspects like traffic efficiency, driving comfort, and interactive safety. During the selection phase, a Boltzmann distribution-based approach is employed to assign rewards and probabilities to the candidate trajectories, promoting human-like decision-making. We validate our framework using an authentic trajectory dataset and conduct a comparative analysis with various baseline methods. Our results, derived from simulator tests and human-in-the-loop driving experiments, affirm our framework's superiority in mimicking human-like driving, expressing intent, and computational efficiency. For additional information of this research, please visit https://shorturl.at/jqu35

Over-expression of human cytomegalovirus miR-US25-2-3p downregulates eIF4A1 and inhibits HCMV replication

AbstractIt has been reported that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) miR-US25-2 reduces DNA viral replication including HCMV. However, the mechanism remains unknown. In our study, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A1 (eIF4A1) was identified to be a direct target of miR-US25-2-3p. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) and miR-US25-2-3p mediated eIF4A1 knockdown experiments revealed that high level of miR-US25-2-3p in MRC-5 cells decreased HCMV and host genomic DNA synthesis, and inhibited cap-dependent translation and host cell proliferation. However, eIF4A1 up-regulation induced by miR-US25-2-3p inhibitor increased HCMV copy number. Therefore, the over-expression of miR-US25-2-3p and consequent lower expression of eIF4A1 may contribute to the inhibition of HCMV replication

4-Eth­oxy-N-(3-phenyl­prop-2-enyl­idene)aniline

The title compound, C17H17NO, was prepared by the condensation of cinnamaldehyde with p-phenetidine in ethanol. The prop-2-enyl­idene group exhibits an E configuration at the N=C and C=C double bonds, with C—N—C—C and C—C—C—C torsion angles of −179.9 (3) and −175.9 (3)°, respectively. The prop-2-enyl­idene group is not strictly planar [maximum deviation = 0.054 (4) Å] and forms dihedral angles of 28.0 (3) and 34.9 (3)° with the attached aromatic rings

Thickness dependence of superconductivity and superconductor-insulator transition in ultrathin FeSe films on SrTiO3(001) substrate

Interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity in one unit-cell (UC) FeSe film on SrTiO3(001) (STO) substrate has recently attracted much attention in condensed matter physics and material science. Here, by ex situ transport measurements, we report on the superconductivity in FeSe ultra-thin films with different thickness on STO substrate. We find that the onset superconducting transition temperature (Tc) decreases with increasing film thickness of FeSe, which is opposite to the behavior usually observed in traditional superconductor films. By systematic post-annealing of 5 UC FeSe films, we observe an insulator to superconductor transition, which is accompanied with a sign change of the dominated charge carriers from holes to electrons at low temperatures according to the corresponding Hall measurement

Mitogenome-based phylogeny of the gastropod order Neomphalida points to multiple habitat shifts and a Pacific origin

Neomphalida is an order of gastropod molluscs with highly diverse morphology and a global distribution across various chemosynthesis-based ecosystems from organic falls to hot vents. The phylogenetic relationships of taxa within this order remain contentious, due to the rarity of material leading to a low taxonomic coverage and few genetic markers used. Neomphalida includes three families—Melanodrymiidae, Neomphalidae, and Peltospiridae—and molecular sequences are especially lacking in Melanodrymiidae. Here, we assembled a total of 11 mitogenomes covering these three families and 14 genus-level groups to reconstruct the most complete phylogeny of Neomphalida to date. Our current result recovered the monophyly of three families with maximum support and a likely interfamilial relationship of (Melanodrymiidae + Neomphalidae) + Peltospiridae. These indicate the possibility of habitat shifting from non-chemosynthetic deep sea to hot vent and then to sunken wood, accompanied by elevated mitogenome rearrangements and amino acid substitution rates in Melanodrymiidae. By mapping species distribution on the phylogeny, our findings suggest a Pacific origin of Neomphalida and multiple historical dispersal events of Peltospiridae to the Indian Ocean and at least once to the Atlantic

Sinusoidal Frequency Modulation Fourier-Bessel Series for Multicomponent SFM Signal Estimation and Separation

Multicomponent sinusoidal frequency modulated (SFM) signals are widely used in radar, acoustics, and biomedicine. The instantaneous frequency (IF) characterizes important physical parameters of the real applications. In this paper, a sinusoidal frequency modulation Fourier-Bessel (SFMFB) series is defined for IF estimation. It provides the signal decomposition on the Bessel function basis with a finer resolution, which proposes an extension of the performance and the applicability of the classic Fourier-Bessel transform (FBT). Based on the property analysis of the SFMFB series, an algorithm of IF estimation and signal separation is introduced. Unlike the existing estimation methods which apply sliding windows to make an instantaneous approximation, the proposed method uses the global data, which provides a longer period gain, therefore achieving a better estimation performance. Moreover, considering that most estimation methods are invalid in multicomponent separation, the individual signals are well separated by the proposed algorithm, which facilitates the further monocomponent analysis. A performance comparison between the proposed method, the FBT, and another recently proposed sinusoidal frequency modulation Fourier transform (SFMFT) is also provided. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods in estimation precision and computation load, and it is free of interference which exists in SFMFT