Structures and Stabilities of Carbon Chain Clusters Influenced by Atomic Antimony

The C-C bond lengths of the linear magnetic neutral CnSb, CnSb+ cations and CnSb− anions are within 1.255–1.336 Å, which is typical for cumulene structures with moderately strong double-bonds. In this report, we found that the adiabatic ionization energy (IE) of CnSb decreased with n. When comparing the IE~n relationship of CnSb with that of pure Cn, we found that the latter exhibited a stair-step pattern (n ≥ 6), but the IE~n relationship of CnSb chains took the shape of a flat curve. The IEs of CnSb were lower than those of corresponding pure carbon chains. Different from pure carbon chains, the adiabatic electron affinity of CnSb does not exhibit a parity effect. There is an even-odd alternation for the incremental binding energies of the open chain CnSb (for n = 1–16) and CnSb+ (n = 1–10, when n > 10, the incremental binding energies of odd (n) chain of CnSb+ are larger than adjacent clusters). The difference in the incremental binding energies between the even and odd chains of both CnSb and pure Cn diminishes with the increase in n. The incremental binding energies for CnSb- anions do not exhibit a parity effect. For carbon chain clusters, the most favorable binding site of atomic antimony is the terminal carbon of the carbon cluster because the terminal carbon with a large spin density bonds in an unsaturated way. The C-Sb bond is a double bond with Wiberg bond index (WBI) between 1.41 and 2.13, which is obviously stronger for a carbon chain cluster with odd-number carbon atoms. The WBI of all C-C bonds was determined to be between 1.63 and 2.01, indicating the cumulene character of the carbon chain. Generally, the alteration of WBI and, in particular, the carbon chain cluster is consistent with the bond length alteration. However, the shorter C-C distance did not indicate a larger WBI. Rather than relying on the empirical comparison of bond distance, the WBI is a meaningful quantitative indicator for predicting the bonding strength in the carbon chain

Feature screening for ultrahigh-dimensional binary classification via linear projection

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is one of the most widely used methods in discriminant classification and pattern recognition. However, with the rapid development of information science and technology, the dimensionality of collected data is high or ultrahigh, which causes the failure of LDA. To address this issue, a feature screening procedure based on the Fisher's linear projection and the marginal score test is proposed to deal with the ultrahigh-dimensional binary classification problem. The sure screening property is established to ensure that the important features could be retained and the irrelevant predictors could be eliminated. The finite sample properties of the proposed procedure are assessed by Monte Carlo simulation studies and a real-life data example

Inhibition of Colon Cancer by Polyphenols from Whole Cranberry

The ability of cranberry fruit extracts to inhibit colon carcinogenesis is under investigation using a combination of in vitro and in vivo methods. Compounds isolated from cranberry fruit (Vaccinium macrocarpon) including oligomeric polyphenols known as proanthocyanidins (PACs) decreased the proliferation of HCT116 and HT-29 colon cancer cells, induced apoptosis and reduced the formation of tumor colonies. Treatment of HCT116 colon cancer cells with cranberry polyphenols produced changes in expression of genes and proteins associated with the MAPK pathway, confirmed by microarray analysis, quantitative (Q)-PCR and Western blotting. Based on cranberry\u27s effect in vitro, a feeding study was conducted using AOM/DSS mice, an inflammatory colon cancer model that mimics colitis. Mice were treated with AOM and DSS to induce inflammation-driven colon carcinogenesis, while receiving an AIN-93 diet containing whole cranberry powder, concentrated polar polyphenolic extract, nonpolar extract or no cranberry (control). After 20 weeks on the diet, mice were sacrificed and the tumors analyzed. The number and volume of tumors was significantly lower in the cranberry powder group compared to control; the polyphenolic extract group also showed a significant reduction in tumor volume, while the non-polar extract showed significant inhibition on the tumor number. Tissue analysis indicated that expression of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1 and IL-6 were greatly reduced, and mRNA levels of iNOS and COX-2 were also significantly decreased by different cranberry preparations. These studies demonstrate potential for dietary cranberry to inhibit colon carcinogenesis through decreased inflammation and proliferation

Exploring Adapter-based Transfer Learning for Recommender Systems: Empirical Studies and Practical Insights

Adapters, a plug-in neural network module with some tunable parameters, have emerged as a parameter-efficient transfer learning technique for adapting pre-trained models to downstream tasks, especially for natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV) fields. Meanwhile, learning recommendation models directly from raw item modality features -- e.g., texts of NLP and images of CV -- can enable effective and transferable recommender systems (called TransRec). In view of this, a natural question arises: can adapter-based learning techniques achieve parameter-efficient TransRec with good performance? To this end, we perform empirical studies to address several key sub-questions. First, we ask whether the adapter-based TransRec performs comparably to TransRec based on standard full-parameter fine-tuning? does it hold for recommendation with different item modalities, e.g., textual RS and visual RS. If yes, we benchmark these existing adapters, which have been shown to be effective in NLP and CV tasks, in the item recommendation settings. Third, we carefully study several key factors for the adapter-based TransRec in terms of where and how to insert these adapters? Finally, we look at the effects of adapter-based TransRec by either scaling up its source training data or scaling down its target training data. Our paper provides key insights and practical guidance on unified & transferable recommendation -- a less studied recommendation scenario. We promise to release all code & datasets for future research

DosR’s multifaceted role on Mycobacterium bovis BCG revealed through multi-omics

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is an intracellular bacterium that causes a highly contagious and potentially lethal tuberculosis (TB) in humans. It can maintain a dormant TB infection within the host. DosR (dormancy survival regulator) (Rv3133c) has been recognized as one of the key transcriptional proteins regulating bacterial dormancy and participating in various metabolic processes. In this study, we extensively investigate the still not well-comprehended role and mechanism of DosR in Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) through a combined omics analysis. Our study finds that deleting DosR significantly affects the transcriptional levels of 104 genes and 179 proteins. Targeted metabolomics data for amino acids indicate that DosR knockout significantly upregulates L-Aspartic acid and serine synthesis, while downregulating seven other amino acids, including L-histidine and lysine. This suggests that DosR regulates amino acid synthesis and metabolism. Taken together, these findings provide molecular and metabolic bases for DosR effects, suggesting that DosR may be a novel regulatory target

Preparation and Properties Magnetite/Polyimide Composites

To make the polyimide (PI) composite material having both heat resistance and magnetic permeability, Fe3O4/PI magnetic polyimide composite powder was synthesized by one-step solvothermal method. 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA) as monomers, ether anhydride polyamic acid (PAA) was designed and prepared by Fe3+ and polyimide precursor-polyamic acid triethylamine salt (PAAS) was reacted in a reactor, and the PI/Fe3O4 composite powders were synthesized under the condition of high temperature and high pressure. The obtained PI/Fe3O4 composite powders were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy, microscopic morphology and thermal properties. The morphology and structure of the samples were both characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The thermal properties of the composite microspheres were studied via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the magnetic properties were determined by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The saturation magnetization decreases gradually, increasing the polyimide content, with a saturation magnetization of PI/Fe3O4 determined to be 20.29 emu/g

Food-grade cationic antimicrobial ε-polylysine transiently alters the gut microbial community and predicted metagenome function in CD-1 mice

Diet is an important factor influencing the composition and function of the gut microbiome, but the effect of antimicrobial agents present within foods is currently not understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of the food-grade cationic antimicrobial ε-polylysine on the gut microbiome structure and predicted metagenomic function in a mouse model. The relative abundances of predominant phyla and genera, as well as the overall community structure, were perturbed in response to the incorporation of dietary ε-polylysine. Unexpectedly, this modification to the gut microbiome was experienced transiently and resolved to the initial basal composition at the final sampling point. In addition, a differential non-random assembly was observed in the microbiomes characterized from male and female co-housed animals, although their perturbation trajectories in response to diet remain consistent. In conclusion, antimicrobial ε-polylysine incorporated into food systems transiently alters gut microbial communities in mice, as well as their predicted function. This indicates a dynamic but resilient microbiome that adapts to microbial-active dietary components