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In recent decades, the integration of solar energy sources has gradually become the main challenge for global energy consumption. Therefore, it is essential to predict global solar radiation in an accurate and efficient way when estimating outputs of the solar system. Inaccurate predictions either cause load overestimation that results in increased cost or failure to gather adequate supplies. However, accurate forecasting is a challenging task because solar resources are intermittent and uncontrollable. To tackle this difficulty, several machine learning models have been established; however, the forecasting outcomes of these models are not sufficiently accurate. Therefore, in this study, we investigate ensemble learning with square root regularization and intelligent optimization to forecast hourly global solar radiation. The main structure of the proposed method is constructed based on ensemble learning with a random subspace (RS) method that divides the original data into several covariate subspaces. A novel covariate-selection method called square root smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SRSCAD) is proposed and is applied to each subspace with efficient extraction of relevant covariates. To combine the forecasts obtained using RS and SRSCAD, a firefly algorithm (FA) is used to estimate the weights assigned to individual forecasts. To handle the complexity of the proposed ensemble system, a simple and efficient algorithm is derived based on a thresholding rule and accelerated gradient method. To illustrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method, global solar radiation datasets of eight locations of Xinjiang province in China are considered. The experimental results show that the proposed RS-SRSCAD-FA achieves the best performances with a mean absolute percentage error, root-mean-square error, Theil inequality coefficient, and correlation coefficient of 0.066, 20.21 W/m2, 0.016, 3.40 s, and 0.98 in site 1, respectively. For the other seven datasets, RS-SRSCAD-FA still outperforms other approaches. Finally, a nonparametric Friedman test is applied to perform statistical comparisons of results over eight datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because NSCLC has poor overall prognosis and is frequently diagnosed at later stage, we aimed to seek novel diagnosis biomarkers or therapy target of the disease in this study. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1) is a rate-limiting enzyme in gluconeogenesis, which was usually lost in NSCLC due to abnormal methylation in promoter DNA sequence. The clinical data indicated that the methylation rate in FBP1 gene promoter was negatively related to the overall survival of the NSCLC patients. DNA methylation transferase inhibitor 5-aza treatment could significantly increase both expression levels of mRNA and protein in A549 cell line. On the other hand, silence of FBP1 in H460 cell line by using specific siRNA against FBP1 dramatically improved the cell proliferation and cell migration according to the date of FACS and transwell assays. All these findings implied the important roles of FBP1 expression in lung cancer development and progression and the potential use of the methylation status detected in FBP1 promoter region as a novel predictor for prognosis and therapeutic target for NSCLC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urchin-like Cu-W18O49 and flower-like Cu-WO3 structures were successfully synthesized using a hydrothermal process followed by calcination. The synthesized products were characterized using XRD, SEM, and TEM. The results revealed that the as-prepared urchin-like and flower-like samples with monoclinic structures, which were approximately 1 μm and 1-2 μm, respectively, possessed microflower architecture assembled by the nanosheet. In addition, the gas sensing properties of monoclinic-structured Cu-WO3 to acetone were measured using a static state gas sensing test system. The sensor based on the flower-like Cu-WO3 nanostructures, which were calcined at 600°C, exhibited high sensitivity toward 10 ppm acetone at an optimum temperature of 110°C, and the maximum sensitivity reached 40, which was approximately four times higher than that of urchin-like WO3 that was annealed at 300°C. The sensitivity was improved by increasing the acetone concentration. The detection limit was as low as 1 ppm. Using linear fit, the sensor was determined to be sufficiently sensitive to detect acetone in a detection range of 1 to 10 ppm even in the presence of interfering gases, which suggests that this type of sensor has excellent selectivity and has the potential for use in acetone gas sensors in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The fertility of females with advanced age declines with aging. Therefore, for medical and social reasons, it is important to establish mechanisms to protect and improve the fertility of such populations. With widespread use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in in vitro fertilization (IVF), studies have evaluated their impact on improving the fertility of females with advanced age. In this study, we performed proteomic analysis of follicular fluid to reveal mechanisms of the Erzhi Tiangui (EZTG) granule (Chinese herbs for replenishing vital essence to tonify the kidney) in improving the outcomes of IVF in infertile women with advanced age. Methods. This was a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial in which 100 patients with advanced age were divided into the EZTG group and the placebo group by the random number table plus envelope method. Both groups were subjected to controlled ovarian stimulation with a GnRH antagonist regimen. Differences between the two groups were evaluated, including the TCM syndrome score after treatment, gonadotrophin (Gn) days and Gn doses, the number of retrieved oocytes, 2 pronucleus (PN) fertilization, 2PN cleavage, and high-quality embryos. Differentially expressed proteins were identified using the LC-MS/MS method, and their functions were determined through bioinformatics analyses. Results. The number of high-quality embryos in the placebo group was significantly lower than that in the EZTG group (2.88 ± 1.85 vs. 4.13 ± 2.83, p = 0.011). Eleven differentially expressed proteins were identified between the two groups. Four proteins were highly expressed, whereas seven were suppressed in the control group, compared to the EZTG group. The overall trend suggested that the apoptotic effect in the follicular fluid of the EZTG group was downregulated. Conclusion. Treatment with the EZTG granule can improve embryo quality in IVF of advanced age females with both kidney Qi and Yin deficiency syndromes. The mechanism is attributed to downregulation of apoptotic-effector protein expressions in the follicular fluid. This trial is registered with ChiCTR1900025139. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate, efficient, and reliable forecasting of wind speed is a hot research topic in wind power generation and integration. However, available forecasting models focus on forecasting the wind speed using historical wind speed data and ignore multidimensional meteorological variables. The objective is to develop a hybrid model with multidimensional meteorological variables for forecasting the wind speed accurately. The complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) is applied to handle the nonlinearity of the wind speed. Then, the original wind speed will be decomposed into a series of intrinsic model functions with specified numbers of frequencies. A quadratic model that considers the two-way interactions between factors is used to pursue accurate forecasting. To reduce the model complexity, Gram–Schmidt-based feature selection (GSFS) is applied to extract the important meteorological factors. Finally, all the forecasting values of IMFs will be summed by assigning weights that are carefully determined by the whale optimization algorithm (WOA). The proposed forecasting approach has been applied on six datasets that were collected in Qinghai province and is compared with several state-of-the-art wind speed forecasting models. The forecasting results demonstrate that the proposed model can represent the nonlinearity of the wind speed and deliver better results than the competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The effect of vaginal microbiota on spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) has not been fully addressed, and few studies have explored the associations between vaginal taxa and sPTB in the gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and non-GDM groups, respectively. Study Design. To minimize external interference, a total of 41 pregnant women with sPTB and 308 controls (pregnant women without sPTB) from same regain were enrolled in this case-cohort study. Controls were randomly selected at baseline. With the exception of GDM, other characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups. Vaginal swabs were collected at early second trimester. Using 16S amplicon sequencing, the main bioinformatics analysis was performed on the platform of QIIME 2. Vaginal microbiota traits of the sPTB group were compared with controls. Finally, the effects of binary taxa on sPTB in the GDM group and the non-GDM group were analyzed, respectively. Results. The proportion of GDM in the sPTB (19.51%) was higher than the controls (7.47%, P = 0.018). The vaginal microbiota of pregnant women with sPTB exhibited higher alpha diversity metrics (observed features, P = 0.001 ; Faith's phylogenetic diversity, P = 0.013) and different beta diversity metrics (unweighted UniFrac, P = 0.006 ; Jaccard's distance, P = 0.004), compared with controls. The presence of Lactobacillus paragasseri/gasseri (aOR: 3.12, 95% CI: 1.24-7.84), Streptococcus (aOR: 3.58, 95% CI: 1.68-7.65), or Proteobacteria (aOR: 3.39, 95% CI: 1.55-7.39) was associated with an increased risk of sPTB in the non-GDM group (P < 0.05). However, the relative abundance of novel L. mulieris (a new species of the L. delbrueckii group) was associated with a decreased risk of sPTB (false discovery rate, 0.10) in all pregnant women. Conclusion. GDM may modify the association of vaginal taxa with sPTB, suggesting that maternal GDM should be considered when using vaginal taxa to identify pregnant women at high risk of sPTB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing depletion of fossil fuel and serious destruction of environment, wind power, as a kind of clean and renewable resource, is more and more connected to the power system and plays a crucial role in power dispatch of hybrid system. Thus, it is necessary to forecast wind speed accurately for the operation of wind farm in hybrid system. In this paper, we propose a hybrid model called EEMD-GA-FAC/SAC to forecast wind speed. First, the Ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) can be applied to eliminate the noise of the original data. After data preprocessing, first-order adaptive coefficient forecasting method (FAC) or second-order adaptive coefficient forecasting method (SAC) can be employed to do forecast. It is significant to select optimal parameters for an effective model. Thus, genetic algorithm (GA) is used to determine parameter of the hybrid model. In order to verify the validity of the proposed model, every ten-minute wind speed data from three observation sites in Shandong Peninsula of China and several error evaluation criteria can be collected. Through comparing with traditional BP, ARIMA, FAC, and SAC model, the experimental results show that the proposed hybrid model EEMD-GA-FAC/SAC has the best forecasting performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Elevated urinary angiotensinogen (UA) was identified as novel prognostic biomarker capable of predicting chronic kidney disease, and in the present study, we will investigate the diagnostic value of UA in the patients of nephrolithiasis. Methods. Urine angiotensinogen levels and α1-microglobulin were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 60 patients presenting with nephrolithiasis and 50 sex- and age-matched healthy volunteers. Estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) was calculated and, by simple regression analysis, the correlation of UA/α1-microglobulin levels and the decline of eGFR were analyzed as well. Results. Median UA levels was significantly increased in the nephrolithiasis patients compared with normal control (1250.78 ± 439.27 versus 219.34 ± 45.27 pg/mL; P < 0.01). The mean serumcreatinine levels in patients with higher UA levels (>1250 pg/mL) was significantly higher than those with lower UA levels (<1250 pg/mL) [92.23 ± 18.13 μmol/L versus 70.07 ± 11.17 μmol/L; P < 0.05]. According to the single variate analysis, UA levels were significantly and positively correlated with urinary α1-microglobulin (r = 0.733; P = 1.33 × 10-15), while they were significantly and negatively correlated with eGFR (r = -0.343; P = 1.03 × 10-4). Conclusion. Urinary UA is a novel biomarker for patients with nephrolithiasis, which indicates renal tubular injury. Further study on the molecular pathogenic mechanism of UA and larger scale of clinical trial is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the role of AEG-1 in glycolysis and tumorigenesis, we construct myc-AEG-1 expression vector and demonstrate a novel mechanism that AEG-1may increase the activity of AMPK byThr172 phosphorylation. The higher expression levels of AEG- 1 in colorectal carcinoma cells were found but showed significant difference in different cell lines. To study the role of AEG-1 in colorectal cells, myc-AEG-1 vector was constructed and transfected into NCM460 colonic epithelial cells.We observed consistent increasing of glucose consumption and lactate production, typical features of anaerobic glycolysis, suggesting that AEG-1 may promote anaerobic glycolysis. Moreover, we noted that AMPK phosphorylation atThr172 as well as pPFK2 (Ser466) was increased in NCM460 cells over expressing AEG-1. Compound C may block AMPK and PFK2 phosphorylation in both control and AEG- 1-over expressed cells and decrease the glucose consumption and lactate production. The present findings indicated that reduced AEG-1 protein levels by RNAi may decrease the glucose consumption and lactate production in HCT116 colorectal carcinoma cells. The present identified AEG-1/AMPK/PFK2 glycolysis cascade may be essential to cell proliferation and tumor growth. The present results may provide us with a mechanistic insight into novel targets controlled by AEG-1, and the components in the AEG- 1/AMPK/PFK2 glycolysis process may be targeted for the clinical treatment of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is extremely important to maintain balance between convergence and diversity for many-objective evolutionary algorithms. Usually, original BBO algorithm can guarantee convergence to the optimal solution given enough generations, and the Biogeography/Complex (BBO/Complex) algorithm uses within-subsystem migration and cross-subsystem migration to preserve the convergence and diversity of the population. However, as the number of objectives increases, the performance of the algorithm decreases significantly. In this paper, a novel method to solve the many-objective optimization is called Hmp/BBO (Hybrid Metropolis Biogeography/Complex Based Optimization). The new decomposition method is adopted and the PBI function is put in place to improve the performance of the solution. On the within-subsystem migration the inferior migrated islands will not be chosen unless they pass the Metropolis criterion. With this restriction, a uniform distribution Pareto set can be obtained. In addition, through the above-mentioned method, algorithm running time is kept effectively. Experimental results on benchmark functions demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm in comparison with five state-of-the-art designs in terms of both solutions to convergence and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Both circulating and urinary miRNAs may represent a potential noninvasive molecular biomarker capable of predicting chronic kidney disease, and, in the present study, we will investigate the serum and urinary levels of miR-155 in patients with nephrolithiasis. Methods. Serum and urinary levels of miR-155 are quantified in 60 patients with nephrolithiasis; the result was compared to 50 healthy volunteers. Estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) was calculated and, by simple regression analysis, the correlations of miR-155/eGFR and miR-155/CRP (C-reactive protein) levels were analyzed as well. Results. The median levels of serum and urinary levels of miR-155 are significantly higher in nephrolithiasis patients than in controls. eGFR inversely correlates with urinary level of miR-155; CRP positively correlates with urinary miR-155. Urinary level of miR-155 inversely correlates with urinary expression of interleukin- (IL-) 1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α and positively correlates with urinary expression of regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed, and secreted (RANTES). Conclusion. Serumand urinary levels of miR-155 were significantly elevated in patients with nephrolithiasis, and the upregulation of miR-155 was correlated with decline of eGFR and elevation of CRP. Our results suggested that miR-155 might play important roles in the pathophysiology of nephrolithiasis via regulating inflammatory cytokines expression. Further study on themolecular pathogenic mechanism and larger scale of clinical trial are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a case report of a 67-year-old patient with distant metastasis of prostate cancer to the right ureter which caused hydronephrosis. At the beginning, both of the cytology of the morning urine and imaging findings were consistent with urothelial carcinoma. Nephroureterectomy was subsequently performed. Interestingly, the pathological examination of the excised ureter revealed that the malignancy was derived from the prostate. No skeletal metastasis was detected. However, after four months of follow-up, several abnormal signal shadows were reported in skeletal scintigraphy and the prostate specific antigen (PSA) was gradually increasing. We present such a case for its unique presentation. A review of the literature is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]