Development Direction Research Articles

Research progress on electronic health records multimodal data fusion based on deep learning

Currently, the development of deep learning-based multimodal learning is advancing rapidly, and is widely used in the field of artificial intelligence-generated content, such as image-text conversion and image-text generation. Electronic health records are digital information such as numbers, charts, and texts generated by medical staff using information systems in the process of medical activities. The multimodal fusion method of electronic health records based on deep learning can assist medical staff in the medical field to comprehensively analyze a large number of medical multimodal data generated in the process of diagnosis and treatment, thereby achieving accurate diagnosis and timely intervention for patients. In this article, we firstly introduce the methods and development trends of deep learning-based multimodal data fusion. Secondly, we summarize and compare the fusion of structured electronic medical records with other medical data such as images and texts, focusing on the clinical application types, sample sizes, and the fusion methods involved in the research. Through the analysis and summary of the literature, the deep learning methods for fusion of different medical modal data are as follows: first, selecting the appropriate pre-trained model according to the data modality for feature representation and post-fusion, and secondly, fusing based on the attention mechanism. Lastly, the difficulties encountered in multimodal medical data fusion and its developmental directions, including modeling methods, evaluation and application of models, are discussed. Through this review article, we expect to provide reference information for the establishment of models that can comprehensively utilize various modal medical data.

An Emerging Solid‐State Electrolyte Reactor to Drive the Future of Electrochemical Synthesis

AbstractElectrochemical reactors, powered by renewable electricity, have garnered widespread attention for chemical synthesis due to their low energy consumption and pollution‐free features. However, the inherent design flaw of traditional electrochemical reactors has persistently hindered the advancement of electrochemical synthesis, as they result in low product concentrations, low purity, and continuous production issues. As a novel electrochemical reactor, the porous solid‐state electrolyte (PSE) reactor is elaborately designed to overcome the limitation by enabling the direct and continuous synthesis of pure products, possessing a modular and scalable structure with high efficiency, safety, and long stability. In this work, first, the distinctive design of the PSE reactor, highlighting its structural features, core components, and variable configurations, is introduced. Furthermore, the configuration‐relevant applications in electrosynthesis, such as formic acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production, are summarized. Integrated applications are also discussed, along with potential domains for improvements and optimization. Finally, the future developmental directions of the PSE devices are thoroughly explored. By addressing its unique design attributes, showcasing its capabilities, and envisioning prospective refinements and diverse applications, the aim is to boost the progression of this transformative technology toward widespread commercialization and industrial adoption, thereby revolutionizing sustainable electrochemical synthesis.

Modelling the tumor microenvironment in vitro in prostate cancer: current and future perspectives

AbstractProstate cancer is the most common cancer in over 50% of countries and the third most common malignancy worldwide. The tumor microenvironment includes the non‐cancerous cells and components present in the tumor, including the molecules they produce and release. Prostate cancer proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, and drug resistance are closely associated with the tumor microenvironment. With the continuous development of in vitro tumor models, they have gradually become important tools for recapitulating in vivo parental tumors and studying the reciprocal interactions between tumors and their microenvironment. In this perspective, we describe the significant in vitro models of prostate cancer, analyze the research results on incorporating the tumor microenvironment into these models, and compare their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, we highlight the future developmental direction of in vitro prostate cancer model research according to the hotspots of in vitro model research in other cancer types to facilitate precision medicine in prostate cancer.

Sustainable Maritime Transport: A Review of Intelligent Shipping Technology and Green Port Construction Applications

With the global economy’s relentless growth and heightened environmental consciousness, sustainable maritime transport emerges as a pivotal development trajectory for the shipping sector. This study systematically analyzes 478 publications searched in the Web of Science Core Collection, from 2000 to 2023, utilizing bibliometric methods to investigate the application areas in sustainable development within the shipping industry. This study begins with an analysis of annual publication trends, which reveals a substantial expansion in research endeavors within this discipline over recent years. Subsequently, a comprehensive statistical evaluation of scholarly journals and a collaborative network assessment are conducted to pinpoint the foremost productive journals, nations, organizations, and individual researchers. Furthermore, a keyword co-occurrence methodology is applied to delineate the core research themes and emerging focal points within this domain, thereby outlining potential research directions for future research. In addition, drawing on the keyword co-occurrence analysis, the advancements in intelligent shipping technologies and green port construction applications within sustainable maritime transport are discussed. Finally, the review discusses the existing challenges and opportunities of sustainable maritime transport from a theoretical and practical perspective. The research shows that, in terms of intelligent shipping technology, data security and multi-source data are the focus that people need to pay attention to in the future; a trajectory prediction for different climates and different ship types is also an area for future research. In terms of green ports, Cold Ironing (CI) is one of the key points of the green port strategy, and how to drive stakeholders to build sustainable green ports efficiently and economically is the future developmental direction. This review serves to enhance researchers’ comprehension of the current landscape and progression trajectory of intelligent shipping technologies, thereby fostering the continued advancement and exploration in this vital domain.

From college to university: A practical exploration of tertiary vocational education at Shenzhen Polytechnic University

The emerging phenomenon of tertiary vocational education is a category of education positioned within vocational education. In China, tertiary vocational education has passed through the stages of "associate degree level" and "permitted establishment". Shenzhen Polytechnic University (SZPU), serving as an exemplary model of tertiary vocational education, plays a pivotal role in providing valuable insights for the transformation and development of other vocational institutions in China. This research aims to collect policy documents from SZPU and, through interviews from multiple stakeholder perspectives, gain an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of those involved in tertiary vocational education. It conducts an in-depth analysis of SZPU's motivations, trajectory, challenges, impacts, and countermeasures in initiating undergraduate vocational programs. On this basis, the study compares the educational practices of other institutions offering tertiary vocational education, synthesizes the pedagogical rationale and developmental directions of this type of education at a theoretical level, and proposes empirical and feasible developmental strategies at a practical level.

Melatonin in animal husbandry: functions and applications.

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an essential small molecule with diverse biological functions. It plays several key roles, including regulating the secretion of reproductive hormones and the reproductive cycle, enhancing the functionality of reproductive organs, improving the quality of sperm and eggs, and mitigating oxidative stress in the reproductive system. Melatonin effectively inhibits and scavenges excess free radicals while activating the antioxidant enzyme system and reduces the production of inflammatory factors and alleviates tissue damage caused by inflammation by regulating inflammatory pathways. Additionally, melatonin contributes to repairing the intestinal barrier and regulating the gut microbiota, thereby reducing bacterial and toxin permeation. The use of melatonin as an endogenous hormone in animal husbandry has garnered considerable attention because of its positive effects on animal production performance, reproductive outcomes, stress adaptation, disease treatment, and environmental sustainability. This review explores the characteristics and biological functions of melatonin, along with its current applications in animal production. Our findings may serve as a reference for the use of melatonin in animal farming and future developmental directions.

An Overview of the Digital Competencies of Teachers in the Hungarian Secondary Agricultural Vocational Training System

AbstractIn contemporary times, possessing digital competence encompasses not only access to information and communication technologies (ICT) and their utilization, but also the acquisition of suitable knowledge and skills related to them. When it comes to the digital competencies of educators, studies in this field regularly report on the available professional development opportunities, but less attention is given to the educators’ personal attitudes. In our viewpoint, the success of the digital competence development process greatly hinges on realistic and effective teacher self-reflection. Within this framework, digital competence could become an essential component of teacher self-evaluation and emerge as a genuine demand within the predominantly supply-driven professional development market. Based on this observation, we determined to approach 400 instructors teaching at agricultural vocational schools and encourage them to thoughtfully contemplate their own skills and attitudes through our questionnaire. The objective of this exploratory research was to examine the current state of digital competence and future development possibilities among educators, specifically within the context of agricultural education. Moreover, it aimed to identify the actual needs of teachers. The research findings indicate that teachers engaged in Hungarian agricultural vocational education expressed a more positive view of their digital competence than anticipated. Concurrently, infrastructure gaps and developmental directions came to light. Among the novel findings of our research is the fact that real self-reflection is an essential attribute of the teaching career and plays an important role in the development of competences. In this context, a key finding of the research is that respondents strongly expressed their need for subject-specific and didactically-based, thematic and free workshops/courses to learn about the functioning of new ICT tools and platforms and their classroom applications.

Endophthalmitis: a bibliometric study and visualization analysis from 1993 to 2023.

This study is designed to generalize and depict the research hotspots of endophthalmitis through bibliometric methods and software and analyze the evolutive tendency of the work on this severe disease over the past 30 years. This study employed a rigorous bibliometric approach. We identified all endophthalmitis-related literature by conducting a comprehensive search of the Science Citation Index Expanded database under the Web of Science Core Collection. The data was then analyzed and visualized using CiteSpace and VOSviewer, two widely recognized software tools in the field of bibliometrics. CiteSpace was used to analyze the country distributions, dual map overlay of journals, keyword bursts, and co-cited references. VOSviewer was employed to describe the authors and co-cited authors, the journals, the co-cited journals, and the keywords co-occurrence network. This robust methodology ensures the reliability and validity of the study's findings. A total of 2960 publications, including 2695 articles and 265 reviews, were included in this bibliometric study. There has been no shortage of endophthalmitis-related publications since 1993, with an apparent upward trend during recent years. Possible correlations with the COVID-19 pandemic are also analyzed. These studies were finished by 11,048 authors from 75 countries worldwide, with the United States in the lead. In the keyword co-occurrence network, except for the endophthalmitis term, cataract surgery becomes the keyword with the highest frequency. Different categories of endophthalmitis, including postoperative, post-injection, post-traumatic, and endogenous endophthalmitis, and antibacterial and anti-inflammatory therapies of infectious endophthalmitis, are discussed by categories. From the perspective of the timeline, postoperative and post-injection endophthalmitis were the dominant forms before and after the year 2000, respectively. Co-citation analyses reveal that the Endophthalmitis Vitrectomy Study (EVS) conducted in 1995 provides pivotal guidance for later research. Diverse pathogenic bacteria (e.g., Coagulase-negative Staphylococci, Propionibacterium acnes, Viridians Streptococci, and Bacillus cereus) or fungi (e.g., Candida, Aspergillus, and Fusarium) contribute to varying treatment principles and clinical prognosis, which should be taken seriously. In addition, intravitreal and intracameral antibiotics are the mainstay for treating and preventing infectious endophthalmitis, respectively. Our bibliometric analysis provides an overview of dynamic evolution and structural relationships in the research field of endophthalmitis. The displayed hotspots and developmental directions have reference values for future investigation.

PMSTD-Net: A Neural Prediction Network for Perceiving Multi-Scale Spatiotemporal Dynamics.

With the continuous advancement of sensing technology, applying large amounts of sensor data to practical prediction processes using artificial intelligence methods has become a developmental direction. In sensing images and remote sensing meteorological data, the dynamic changes in the prediction targets relative to their background information often exhibit more significant dynamic characteristics. Previous prediction methods did not specifically analyze and study the dynamic change information of prediction targets at spatiotemporal multi-scale. Therefore, this paper proposes a neural prediction network based on perceptual multi-scale spatiotemporal dynamic changes (PMSTD-Net). By designing Multi-Scale Space Motion Change Attention Unit (MCAU) to perceive the local situation and spatial displacement dynamic features of prediction targets at different scales, attention is ensured on capturing the dynamic information in their spatial dimensions adequately. On this basis, this paper proposes Multi-Scale Spatiotemporal Evolution Attention (MSEA) unit, which further integrates the spatial change features perceived by MCAU units in higher channel dimensions, and learns the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics at different scales, effectively predicting the dynamic characteristics and regularities of targets in sensor information.Through experiments on spatiotemporal prediction standard datasets such as Moving MNIST, video prediction dataset KTH, and Human3.6m, PMSTD-Net demonstrates prediction performance surpassing previous methods. We construct the GPM satellite remote sensing precipitation dataset, demonstrating the network's advantages in perceiving multi-scale spatiotemporal dynamic changes in remote sensing meteorological data. Finally, through extensive ablation experiments, the performance of each module in PMSTD-Net is thoroughly validated.

Clinical research progress of telomerase targeted cancer immunotherapy: a literature review.

Telomerase is activated or overexpressed in 85-90% of tumors, which maintains the length of telomere and has become an important anti-cancer target. Increasing clinical and preclinical data suggest that telomerase-targeted cancer immunotherapy could achieve effective killing of tumor cells in vivo. This article reviews the research progress of telomerase targeted cancer immunotherapy in clinical and pre-clinical trials, aiming to provide a reference for further clinical research and treatment of cancers. We investigated the research progress of telomerase immunotherapy in the last 20 years from four electronic databases. Telomerase-targeted immunotherapies have been developed with the arising of a new era in immuno-oncology, including peptide vaccines, DNA vaccines, dendritic cells (DCs), adoptive cell transfer (ACT) therapies, antibodies, etc. Some of them have been approved for undergoing clinical trials by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of various cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, leukaemia. Of all the treatment modalities, vaccines are the primary treatment methods, some of which have been even entered into phase III clinical trials. The main clinical application direction of telomerase vaccine is the combination with other drugs and treatment modalities, including combination with other vaccines targeting human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), traditional chemotherapy drugs and immunosuppressors. We also summarized the recent findings of immunotherapy targeting hTERT, focusing on various vaccines and the current status of associated clinical trials. We further discussed the advantages, disadvantages and potential developmental directions of various telomerase-targeted immunotherapies. Telomerase-targeted cancer immunotherapy has promising prospects in improving patient survival expectancy. This review may provide data support and design ideas for all researchers and pharmaceutical enterprises in this field.

Inclusive Islamic Education: The Role of Religious Moderation in Transformation of Islamic Education Institutions in Riau

The transformation of Islamic Higher Education Institutions (hereafter, PTKIS) towards quality education with a religious moderation approach in the Indragiri Hulu District, Riau Province, is crucial for meeting contemporary challenges and fostering socio-economic development. This article explores the integration of religious moderation within the PTKIS environment in the Indragiri Hulu District and the developmental direction of private PTKIS in the region adopting a religious moderation approach. Research outcomes emphasize key transformational aspects, including curriculum adjustments to incorporate religious moderation content into every lecture. This aligns with moderate Islamic values and reflects the latest developments in science and technology, aiming to enhance accessibility and educational quality, creating an innovative learning environment. PTKIS in the Indragiri Hulu District is dedicated to creating an inclusive campus that respects diversity, promotes critical thinking, and instills tolerance. Emphasizing the improvement of teaching and research quality involves applying religious moderation values in all academic activities. Modernizing campus facilities, including digital libraries and state-of-the-art laboratories, is prioritized to meet contemporary educational standards. A hidden curriculum is implemented for broad student participation. Additionally, PTKIS collaborates with local governments, communities, and the industrial sector to establish close links between education and employment, preparing graduates with practical skills for a competitive job market. The transformation of PTKIS in the Indragiri Hulu District establishes a holistic, modern educational foundation aligned with religious moderation values, contributing positively to character formation, intellectual development, and active engagement in a diverse society.

Research Progress of Two-Stroke Internal Combustion

In a world that is gradually moving towards renewable sources of energy, the 2-stroke motor with it is low efficiency and high emission is being phased out. However, there are some applications which require the unique characteristics of the 2-stroke motor, making it the only suitable form of power for those applications. This paper will discuss the operating principle of the 2-stroke motor, how its construction is able to be simplistic and light, and how it has a high power-to-weight ratio. This paper will also discuss the relatively inefficient scavenging process caused by the simplistic nature of the 2-stroke engine, leading to high emission, low efficiency, short engine life, and noise. To solve these problems, mechanical solutions such as electronically controlled direct injection, delayed charging, and variable compression have been developed and are now common, while recent research into the use of bioethanol and hydrogen as fuel can further decrease emissions and increase efficiency. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to summarize past and recent research regarding the strengths and limitations of 2-stroke internal combustion engines and the future developmental direction of 2-stroke engines in alternative fuel.

A Study on the Development of the Educational Materials of the 〈General Korean Language〉 for International Undergraduate Students inan Intermediate Level of the Korean Language

This is a basic study to develop the educational materials for general Korean language learning for international undergraduate students in the intermediate level. It aims to survey the needs of learners and thereby establish some developmental directions. To achieve this, Iconducted a survey with 306 international students at A University. The results showed that many learners recognized the necessity of textbook development, and that although there was a high preference for e-books, ademand for paper books still existed. Regarding preferred media types, demands were observed not only for familiar media such as movies, dramas and social media, but also for other types of media like newspaper articles and the news in general. Regarding the topics demanded, they included daily life, hobbies, personalities, travel, and social and academic subjects. As for the desired functions to be enhanced, there were high demands for speaking, vocabulary, and grammar, and the balanced demands for listening, reading, and writing. Accordingly, this study proposed that educational materials should be composed in such a way that e-books and paper books coexist, and that the materials should be developed by maximizing the educational value of each. Furthermore, this study suggested that a comprehensive textbook that develops all language functions evenly would be more suitable than educational materials specialized in one function, given the characteristics of learners who need to not only expand their learning experiences with the use of various media, but to also cultivate their communication skills and academic task performance abilities.

Characterization of research trends and prospects on hepatic echinococcosis over the past forty years: a bibliometric analysis.

The distribution of hepatic echinococcosis (HE) is extensive, significantly impacting public health and economic development. Therefore, analyzing global collaboration networks and tracking developmental trends over the past four decades are crucial. This study aimed to demonstrate collaboration in the field of HE and explore key topics and future directions. Bibliometric analyses were conducted using CiteSpace, Bibliometrix package of R, and VOSviewer software on HE-related studies from the Web of Science Core Collection published before August 1, 2023. This study identified 2,605 records published in 196 journals by 9,860 authors from 2,607 institutes in 90 countries. Publications significantly notably increased in 2021. Developing countries like Turkey and China made notable contributions, while developed countries like the USA had higher average citation rates. The largest nodes in every cluster of the collaboration network were Hacettepe University, Tehran University, Xinjiang Medical University, Salford University, and the University of Pavia, and the top-producing authors were Wen H, Vuitton DA, Gottstein B, and Craig PS. Keyword co-occurrence analysis suggested that surgical techniques and novel drugs targeting combined immune checkpoints are the main therapeutic approaches in the future. Although developing countries had significantly contributed to publications on HE, the citation rate for individual articles from developed countries was significantly higher. Additionally, advancements in surgical techniques and novel drugs targeting combined immune checkpoints may emerge as the next research focus and developmental direction.

Pilot Development of a 'Clinical Performance Examination (CPX) Practicing Chatbot' Utilizing Prompt Engineering

Objectives: In the context of competency-based education emphasized in Korean Medicine, this study aimed to develop a pilot version of a CPX (Clinical Performance Examination) Practicing Chatbot utilizing large language models with prompt engineering.Methods: A standardized patient scenario was acquired from the National Institute of Korean Medicine and transformed into text format. Prompt engineering was then conducted using role prompting and few-shot prompting techniques. The GPT-4 API was employed, and a web application was created using the gradio package. An internal evaluation criterion was established for the quantitative assessment of the chatbot's performance.Results: The chatbot was implemented and evaluated based on the internal evaluation criterion. It demonstrated relatively high correctness and compliance. However, there is a need for improvement in confidentiality and naturalness.Conclusions: This study successfully piloted the CPX Practicing Chatbot, revealing the potential for developing educational models using AI technology in the field of Korean Medicine. Additionally, it identified limitations and provided insights for future developmental directions.

Common and distinct equity preferences in children and adults.

Fairness plays a crucial role in children's social life and has garnered considerable attention. However, previous research and theories primarily examined the development of children's fairness behaviors in the conflict between self-interest motivation and fairness-complying motivation, neglecting the influence of advantage-seeking motivation. Moreover, despite the well-established role of gain/loss frame in human decision-making, it remains largely unclear whether the framing effect modulates fairness behaviors in children. It was hypothesized that children would exhibit advantage-seeking motivation resulting in more selfish behaviors in the loss context. To examine the hypothesis, we combined an adapted dictator game and computational modeling to investigate various motivations underlying fairness behaviors of children in both loss and gain contexts and to explore the developmental directions by contrasting children and adults. In addition, the current design enabled the dissociation between fairness knowledge and behaviors by asking participants to decide for themselves (the first-party role) or for others (the third-party role). This study recruited a total of 34 children (9-10 years, Mage = 9.82, SDage = 0.38, 16 females) and 31 college students (Mage = 19.81, SDage = 1.40, 17 females). The behavioral results indicated that children behaved more selfishly in first-party and more fairly in third-party than adults, without any significant framing effects. The computational results revealed that both children and adults exhibited aversion to advantageous and disadvantageous inequity in third-party. However, they showed distinct preferences for advantageous inequity in first-party, with advantage-seeking preferences among children and aversion to advantageous inequity among adults. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of children's social preferences and their developmental directions.

Exploring Careers for a Clearer Future Work-Self: The Influence of Proactive Personality as a Moderator

Middle school serves as a pivotal juncture in career development, where adolescents grapple with adaptability challenges during transitional phases such as entrance exams and the selection of elective majors. Simultaneously, they embark on integrating their ongoing learning tasks with their ideal aspirations to lay the groundwork for future career development. Against this backdrop, the significance of career exploration and understanding future developmental directions becomes particularly pronounced. To investigate the intricate relationship between career exploration and the clarity of one’s future work-self, along with the moderating role of proactive personality, this study employed the career exploration scale, proactive personality scale, and clarity of future work-self scale. Data from 457 high school students were collected, revealing a substantial positive correlation between career exploration and both future work self-clarity and proactive personality. Adjusting for gender and age highlighted proactive personality as a regulatory factor influencing the relationship between career exploration and future work self-clarity. Furthermore, the results underscored the crucial moderating role of proactive personality in shaping the connection between career exploration and the clarity of future work-self. In-depth analysis revealed noteworthy interactions, particularly with the environmental exploration dimension (standard coefficient of 0.849, p < 0.001). Similarly, interactions with self-exploration, goal-system exploration, and information quantity dimensions were also significant, featuring standard coefficients of 0.905 (p = 0.002), 0.935 (p < 0.001), and 0.854 (p < 0.001), respectively. In essence, these findings illuminate the nuanced dynamics at play, emphasizing the amplified connection between career exploration and the clarity of future work-self in the presence of higher proactive personality levels. This insight holds implications for educators, counselors, and researchers invested in fostering comprehensive career development strategies for adolescents.

Comparative assessment of orthodontic clear aligner versus fixed appliance for anterior retraction: a finite element study

BackgroundThe aim of this study is to conduct a comparative evaluation of different designs of clear aligners and examine the disparities between clear aligners and fixed appliances.Methods3D digital models were created, consisting of a maxillary dentition without first premolars, maxilla, periodontal ligaments, attachments, micro-implant, 3D printed lingual retractor, brackets, archwire and clear aligner. The study involved the creation of five design models for clear aligner maxillary anterior internal retraction and one design model for fixed appliance maxillary anterior internal retraction, which were subsequently subjected to finite element analysis. These design models included: (1) Model C0 Control, (2) Model C1 Posterior Micro-implant, (3) Model C2 Anterior Micro-implant, (4) Model C3 Palatal Plate, (5) Model C4 Lingual Retractor, and (6) Model F0 Fixed Appliance.ResultsIn the clear aligner models, a consistent pattern of tooth movement was observed. Notably, among all tested models, the modified clear aligner Model C3 exhibited the smallest differences in sagittal displacement of the crown-root of the central incisor, vertical displacement of the central incisor, sagittal displacement of the second premolar and second molar, as well as vertical displacement of posterior teeth. However, distinct variations in tooth movement trends were observed between the clear aligner models and the fixed appliance model. Furthermore, compared to the fixed appliance model, significant increases in tooth displacement were achieved with the use of clear aligner models.ConclusionsIn the clear aligner models, the movement trend of the teeth remained consistent, but there were variations in the amount of tooth displacement. Overall, the Model C3 exhibited better torque control and provided greater protection for posterior anchorage teeth compared to the other four clear aligner models. On the other hand, the fixed appliance model provides superior anterior torque control and better protection of the posterior anchorage teeth compared to clear aligner models. The clear aligner approach and the fixed appliance approach still exhibit a disparity; nevertheless, this study offers a developmental direction and establishes a theoretical foundation for future non-invasive, aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, and efficient modalities of clear aligner treatment.

Exploring the memory: existing activity-dependent tools to tag and manipulate engram cells.

The theory of engrams, proposed several years ago, is highly crucial to understanding the progress of memory. Although it significantly contributes to identifying new treatments for cognitive disorders, it is limited by a lack of technology. Several scientists have attempted to validate this theory but failed. With the increasing availability of activity-dependent tools, several researchers have found traces of engram cells. Activity-dependent tools are based on the mechanisms underlying neuronal activity and use a combination of emerging molecular biological and genetic technology. Scientists have used these tools to tag and manipulate engram neurons and identified numerous internal connections between engram neurons and memory. In this review, we provide the background, principles, and selected examples of applications of existing activity-dependent tools. Using a combination of traditional definitions and concepts of engram cells, we discuss the applications and limitations of these tools and propose certain developmental directions to further explore the functions of engram cells.

Assessing the effect of green credit on risk-taking of commercial banks in China: Further analysis on the two-way Granger causality

Green credit is a new financial instrument that has emerged in response to the call for the transformation of the “green economy" model. It aims to utilize financial means to support green industries and environmental projects, serving as a crucial lever for the integration of social and economic benefits. It also represents a significant developmental direction for the future credit business of banks. Leveraging microdata from 36 banks spanning the years 2007–2022, this study explores the correlation between green credit and the risk-taking behavior of commercial banks in China, building upon the DID model. Meanwhile, Granger causality tests are employed to investigate the bidirectional relationship between these two core objects. The research results indicate that green credit has a short-term mitigating effect on the risk-taking behavior of commercial banks. This risk-mitigating effect is more pronounced among banks with smaller assets and lower profitability. However, this effect diminishes over time, ultimately resulting in an increased propensity for risk-taking in the long run. Moreover, this highlight posits that the credit risks of banks do not influence the implementation of green credit policies. Consequently, this paper offers essential reference value for the risk management practices of commercial banks in the emerging economies and other global countries.