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The fractional factor theory of graphs originated from the feasible flow problem in communication networks. With the development of computer networks, this problem has been highly valued by scholars from the field of computer science and mathematics. This paper studies the sufficient conditions for the existence of fractional factors in the different setting of network from a theoretical perspective. These theoretical results provide the basis for the initial network designing. We first study the relationship between vulnerable parameter in networks and the existence of fractional factor, and an isolated toughness condition for a graph to be fractional (g; f; n')- critical is determined. Then, we illustrate some neighborhood union conditions for independent-set-deletable deleted graphs, and point out that the conditions are best in some senses. Moreover, we present an independent set condition for a graph to be fractional ID-(g; f;m)-deleted. Also, the result is tight on independent set degree condition. Finally, we introduce the concept of all fractional ID-(g; f;m)-deleted graph, and several conclusions are obtained from the known results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is usually used to remove subsurface defects (SSD) of workpieces to improve the laser-induced damage threshold due to its low stress. Although MRF has been widely used to remove surface defects and SSD, the evolution and removal mechanism of surface scratches under MRF have not been fully elucidated. A systematic study is conducted on the scratch removal process and removal ability of MRF. First, an experimental study on the removal of scratches with different depths is carried out, and the effect of the scratch depth on the removal efficiency is analyzed. Second, when the scratches are removed, the processing is performed in two directions: parallel and perpendicular to the scratch. Thereby, the relationship between the scratch removal efficiency (SRE) and the processing direction is analyzed. Finally, based on the scratch removal process and mechanism, an innovative method for efficient scratch removal using a sacrificial layer is proposed. The effectiveness of this method is verified by experiments. This method can significantly improve the SRE of MRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent neoplastic diseases worldwide, and effective treatment remains a challenge. Here, we found that the macrolide antibiotic brefeldin A (BFA) exhibits considerable antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. Induction of complete autophagic flux is characterized as a key event in BFA-induced CRC suppression. Mechanistically, BFA provokes endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated binding immunoglobulin protein (Bip) expression, leading to increased Bip/Akt interaction and resultant decreased Akt phosphorylation, thereby activating autophagy. Autophagy inhibition or Bip suppression relieves BFA-induced cell death, suggesting a key role for Bip-regulated autophagy in the antitumor properties of BFA. Moreover, BFA acts synergistically with paclitaxel or 5-fluorouracil in CRC suppression. Collectively, our study provides an important molecular basis for BFA-induced autophagy and suggests that the antibiotic BFA could be repositioned as a potential anticancer drug for CRC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental death and HIV are associated with poor mental health for orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to evaluate a theory-based intervention for orphaned children on treatment in Tanzania, in terms of feasibility, acceptability and preliminary outcomes. A pilot RCT with nested focus group (FGD) allocated 48 children to usual care or residential "Memory Work Therapy". Children completed outcome measures at T0 (baseline), T1 (2 weeks following intervention) and T2 (9 weeks from T0). Forty percent of eligible children assented. T1 intervention effects were found on all total measures: Brief Symptom Inventory d = 0.99, p < .001; Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale d = 0.65, p = .001; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire d = 0.64, p = .002; Self-efficacy questionnaire for children both "social" and "emotional" subscales, d = 0.54, p = .008 and d = 0.63, p = .002, respectively. At T2, significant effects remained for all measures and SES effect increased from medium to large (T1 = 0.65, T2 = 1.33). FGD data found children valued a calm environment that met their basic needs, enabling them to reflect, highlight support resources, and strengthen ability to recognize personal skills. The intervention has strong feasibility and acceptability, with no attrition or missing data. Memory Work Therapy has high potential effect size and should be tested in a fully powered trial. Clinical trials.gov NCT02180750. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer has been one of the most common malignancies in the world. Cell senescence has been recognized as the avenue to inhibit tumor progression. However, the mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the present study, we have shown that synaptotagmin-7 (SYT7) expression was up-regulated in lung cancer. SYT7 also promoted the growth and colony formation of lung cancer cells and inhibited their senescence. In a molecular mechanism study, SYT7 was shown to interact with P53 and to potentiate the interaction between P53 and MDM2. Taken together, the present study demonstrates the oncogenic roles of SYT7 in lung cancer, and suggests that SYT7 may be a good therapeutic target for lung cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viviparous (live-bearing) vertebrates have evolved repeatedly within otherwise oviparous (egg-laying) clades. Over two-thirds of these changes in vertebrate reproductive parity mode happened in squamate reptiles, where the transition has happened between 98 and 129 times. The transition from oviparity to viviparity requires numerous physiological, morphological, and immunological changes to the female reproductive tract, including eggshell reduction, delayed oviposition, placental development for supply of water and nutrition to the embryo by the mother, enhanced gas exchange, and suppression of maternal immune rejection of the embryo. We performed genomic and transcriptomic analyses of a closely related oviparous-viviparous pair of lizards (Phrynocephalus przewalskii and Phrynocephalus vlangalii) to examine these transitions. Expression patterns of maternal oviduct through reproductive development of the egg and embryo differ markedly between the two species. We found changes in expression patterns of appropriate genes that account for each of the major aspects of the oviparity to viviparity transition. In addition, we compared the gene sequences in transcriptomes of four oviparous-viviparous pairs of lizards in different genera (Phrynocephalus, Eremias, Scincella, and Sphenomorphus) to look for possible gene convergence at the sequence level. We discovered low levels of convergence in both amino acid replacement and evolutionary rate shift. This suggests that most of the changes that produce the oviparity-viviparity transition are changes in gene expression, so occasional reversals to oviparity from viviparity may not be as difficult to achieve as has been previously suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TET (Ten-Eleven Translocation) proteins catalyze the oxidation of 5mC (5-methylcytosine) to 5hmC (5-hydroxymethylcytosine) and play crucial roles in embryonic development. Ascorbic acid (Vc, Vitamin C) stimulates the expression of TET proteins, whereas DMOG (dimethyloxallyl glycine) inhibits TET expression. To investigate the role of TET1, TET2, and TET3 in PA (parthenogenetic) embryonic development, Vc and DMOG treatments were administered during early embryonic development. The results showed that Vc treatment increased the blastocyst rate (20.73 +- 0.46 compared with 26.57 +- 0.53%). By contrast, DMOG reduced the blastocyst rate (20.73 +- 0.46 compared with 11.18 +- 0.13%) in PA embryos. qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time PCR) and IF (immunofluorescence) staining results revealed that TET1, TET2, and TET3 expressions were significantly lower in PA embryos compared with normal fertilized (Con) embryos. Our results revealed that Vc stimulated the expression of TET proteins in PA embryos. However, treatment with DMOG significantly inhibited the expression of TET proteins. In addition, 5hmC was increased following treatment with Vc and suppressed by DMOG in PA embryos. Taken together, these results indicate that the expression of TET proteins plays crucial roles mediated by 5hmC in PA embryonic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaolinite can be used for many applications, including the underground storage of gases. Density functional theory was employed to investigate the adsorption of hydrogen molecules on the kaolinite (001) surface. The coverage dependence of the adsorption sites and energetics was studied systematically for a wide range of coverage, T (from 1/16 to 1 monolayer). The three-fold hollow site is the most stable, followed by the bridge, top-z and top sites. The adsorption energy of H2 decreased with increasing coverage, thus indicating the lower stability of surface adsorption due to the repulsion of neighbouring H2 molecules. The coverage has obvious effects on hydrogen adsorption. Other properties of the H2/kaolinite (001) system, including the lattice relaxation and changes of electronic density of states, were also studied and are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on programmable wettability pathways to not only simplify liquid handling in the microplates and droplet microarrays technology and provide distinctly microfluidic microreactors for different purposes. It mentions novel paraffin-infused porous graphene film (PIPGF) with programmable wettability as transition between liquid and solid in response to near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation.

A multi-camera dense RGB-D SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) system has the potential both to speed up scene reconstruction and to improve localization accuracy, thanks to multiple mounted sensors and an enlarged effective field of view. To effectively tap the potential of the system, two issues must be understood: first, how to calibrate the system where sensors usually shares small or no common field of view to maximally increase the effective field of view; second, how to fuse the location information from different sensors. In this work, a three-Kinect system is reported. For system calibration, two kinds of calibration methods are proposed, one is suitable for system with inertial measurement unit (IMU) using an improved hand–eye calibration method, the other for pure visual SLAM without any other auxiliary sensors. In the RGB-D SLAM stage, we extend and improve a state-of-art single RGB-D SLAM method to multi-camera system. We track the multiple cameras’ poses independently and select the one with the pose minimal-error as the reference pose at each moment to correct other cameras’ poses. To optimize the initial estimated pose, we improve the deformation graph by adding an attribute of device number to distinguish surfels built by different cameras and do deformations according to the device number. We verify the accuracy of our extrinsic calibration methods in the experiment section and show the satisfactory reconstructed models by our multi-camera dense RGB-D SLAM. The RMSE (root-mean-square error) of the lengths measured in our reconstructed mode is 1.55 cm (similar to the state-of-art single camera RGB-D SLAM systems). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gut microbiota and microRNAs play important roles in the defense against infection. However, the role of miR-146a in L. monocytogenes infection and gut microbiota remains unclear. We tried to determine whether miR-146a controlled L. monocytogenes infection by regulating the gut microbiota. Wild-type and miR-146a-deficient mice or macrophages were used to characterize the impact of miR-146a on animal survival, cell death, bacterial clearance, and gut microbiota following L. monocytogenes challenge. We found that L. monocytogenes infection induced miR-146a expression both in vitro and in vivo. When compared to wild-type mice, miR-146a-deficient mice were more resistant to L. monocytogenes infection. MiR-146a deficiency in macrophages resulted in reduced invasion and intracellular survival of L. monocytogenes. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA revealed that the gut microbiota composition differed between miR-146a-deficient and wild-type mice. Relative to wild-type mice, miR-146a-deficient mice had decreased levels of the Proteobacteria phylum, Prevotellaceae family, and Parasutterella genus, and significantly increased short-chain fatty acid producing bacteria, including the genera Alistipes, Blautia, Coprococcus_1, and Ruminococcus_1. Wild-type mice co-housed with miR-146a-deficient mice had increased resistance to L. monocytogenes, indicating that miR-146a deficiency guides the gut microbiota to alleviate infection. Together, these results suggest that miR-146a deficiency protects against L. monocytogenes infection by regulating the gut microbiota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Inactivated mycobacterium phlei (M. phlei) is well known for its immune‐stimulatory functions in humans and livestock, but less information is available about the influence on meat quality of pigs when used as a feed additive. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of inactivated M. phlei on growth performance as well as meat quality of fattening pigs. A total of 240 cross‐bred pigs ([Landrace × Yorkshire] × Duroc) with initial body weight of 80.14 ± 0.29 kg were randomly allocated to five treatments, each of which consisted of eight replicates with 6six pigs per replicate. The basal diet supplemented with five levels of inactivated M. phlei preparations (0, 3.5 × 109 [0.1% w/w], 7 × 109 [0.2%], 1.4 × 1010 [0.4%] or 2.1 × 1010 [0.6%] colony‐forming units/kg) was respectively fed to the control group and four treatment groups for 30 days. Adding 0.4% of inactivated M. phlei to diet increased the average daily feed intake and average daily gain of pigs. Importantly, intramuscular fat percentage in the Longissimus dorsi (LD) was increased by feeding diet containing 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6% of inactivated M. phlei, despite the pH value, drip loss, cooking loss and filter paper fluid uptake not being influenced. Analysis of the fatty acid components showed that some saturated fatty acids were decreased in LD after feeding inactivated M. phlei, but some monounsaturated fat acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids were increased (PUFAs), which induced the total contents of MUFAs and PUFAs were improved. RT‐PCR assay revealed that feeding inactivated M. phlei up‐regulated genes implicated in fat metabolism in muscle, including ELOVL6, FASN, SCD1 and H‐FABP. This study revealed that feeding inactivated M. phlei not only increased growth performance of fattening pigs, but also improved the meat quality by increasing intramuscular fat content, thus inactivated M. phlei probably has high utilization value in modern pig production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A convenient and highly efficient palladium-catalyzed reaction of [60]fullerene (C60) with aroyl compounds via enolate-mediated C-H activation and hydroxylation has been exploited for the first time to synthesize novel C60-fused dihydrofurans, and rare 1,4-fullerenols. Further functionalization including etherification, and esterification of synthesized 1,4-fullerenols provided efficient access to versatile fullerene derivatives. Moreover, a plausible reaction mechanism leading to the observed products is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are a class of compounds that are currently produced and used in large amounts in commercial products worldwide. In this study, food, indoor air, indoor dust, and drinking water samples were collected to evaluate the external exposure levels of CPs and possible pathway for the general population in Beijing, China. Short chain CPs (SCCPs) and medium chain CPs (MCCPs) in 199 samples were analyzed using a gas chromatography tandem time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-HR-MS) method. High levels of CPs were observed in the indoor environment from residential houses, offices, and student dormitories. The geometric mean concentrations (GM) of ∑SCCPs and ∑MCCPs in indoor dust were 92 μg g-1 and 82 μg g-1, respectively, while in indoor air, the concentrations were 80 ng m-3 and 3.4 ng m-3, respectively. The GM of ∑SCCPs and ∑MCCPs in the diet were 83 ng g-1 dry weight (dw) and 56 ng g-1 dw, respectively. The most important external exposure routes to CPs to the general populations in Beijing were food intake and indoor dust ingestion. Indoor dust and indoor air posed higher risks for toddlers and infants than for adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crystal growth from amorphous drugs is of interest in the context of solubility enhancing formulations. Herein, the impact of polymers on the crystal growth of different polymorphs from the undercooled liquid was investigated using indomethacin (IDM) as a model compound and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMCAS), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as polymeric inhibitors. Samples sandwiched between two coverslips were prepared by melt quenching, and polymorphs were identified using Raman spectroscopy, hot stage microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Crystal growth rates of δ, α, and γ polymorphs were measured in the absence and presence of polymers. Polymorphs grown from pure IDM melt showed different crystal growth rates at a given temperature, that persisted when differences in the extent of undercooling were accounted for. The crystal growth rates of IDM crystals were reduced by the three polymers. At lower temperatures, the effectiveness of the polymers in inhibiting crystal growth decreased in the order of PVP > HPMC > HPMCAS. Interestingly, it was found that the same polymer had different inhibitory effects on the crystal growth of different polymorphs, with polymers being least effective in inhibiting the growth of the γ polymorph. Clearly the impact of polymers on crystal growth from undercooled melts is highly complex, depending not only on the properties of the liquid phase, but also on the growing crystal polymorph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of hyper Zagreb index, Zagreb and M-polynomials are establish in chemical graph theory based on the degree of the vertex. It is reported that these indices are useful in the study of anti-inflammatory activities of certain chemical networks. In this paper, we determine hyper Zagreb index, Zagreb and Mpolynomials for an infinite class of Titania nanotubes TiO2 [m, n ] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a lot of nanomaterials and related chemical substances synthesized in the laboratory every year, which makes the test of their performance has become a hard work. The theory of nanoscience from the perspective of graph theory provides an excellent idea, characteristics of the nanomaterials can be obtained by calculating topological indices in their corresponding molecular graphs, and have attracted the attention of scholars in the field of nanoscience. In this paper, we learn the characteristics of nanostructures from mathematical point of view. Some important nanomaterials are selected and their multiplicative atom-bond connectivity indices are determined by edge set divided trick. These theoretical results can be considered as a guideline in nanoengineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to represent the semantics and concepts better, the ontology, as an efficient model, has penetrated into all research areas of the computer science and information technology. In recent years, the ontology framework has also been applied to biology, chemistry, pharmaceutics, geography, and other fields, and it has attracted much attention from the researchers. Multi-dividing ontology algorithm is one of the popular learning approaches for ontology applications in which the vertex set and sample data are divided into several parts. In this paper, we introduce a new ontology optimization scheming by means of representer theorem and kernel function, and the method is a kind of linear programming. Four experiments are designed for the application of ontology algorithms in different fields to test the effectiveness by comparing the implement data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a lot of nanomaterials and related chemical substances synthesized in the laboratory every year, which makes the test of their performance has become a hard work. The theory of nanoscience from the perspective of graph theory provides an excellent idea, characteristics of the nanomaterials can be obtained by calculating topological indices in their corresponding molecular graphs, and have attracted the attention of scholars in the field of nanoscience. In this paper, we learn the characteristics of nanostructures from mathematical point of view. Some important nanomaterials are selected and their multiplicative atom-bond connectivity indices are determined by edge set divided trick. These theoretical results can be considered as a guideline in nanoengineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very important to study displacement prediction in geotechnical engineering. Nowadays, the grey system method, time series analysis method and artificial neural network method are three main methods. Based on the brief introduction, the three methods are analyzed comprehensively. Their merits and demerits, applied ranges are revealed. To solve the shortcomings of the artificial neural network method, a new prediction method based on new evolutionary neural network is proposed. Finally, through two real engineering applications, the analysis of three main methods and the new evolutionary neural network method all have been verified. The results show that, the grey system method is a kind of exponential approximation to displacement sequence, and time series analysis is linear autoregression approximation, while artificial neural network is nonlinear autoregression approximation. Thus, the grey system method can suitably analyze the sequence, which has the exponential law, the time series method can suitably analyze the random sequence and the neural network method almostly can be applied in any sequences. Moreover, the prediction results of new evolutionary neural network method is the best, and its approximation sequence and the generalization prediction sequence are all coincided with the real displacement sequence well. Thus, the new evolutionary neural network method is an acceptable method to predict the measurement displacements of geotechnical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pristine high-altitude mountains are ideal areas for studying the potential mechanism behind the long-range transport and environmental behavior of persistent organic pollutants in remote areas. Short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are the most complex halogenated contaminants in the environment, and have attracted extensive worldwide interest in recent years. In this study, the spatiotemporal concentrations and distributions of SCCPs in air collected from Shergyla Mountain (located in the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau) and Lhasa were investigated during 2012-2015. Generally, the total SCCP levels at Shergyla Mountain and Lhasa were between 130 and 1300 pg/m³ and 1100-14440 pg/m³, respectively. C10 and C11 components were the most abundant homologue groups, indicating that lighter SCCP homologue groups are capable of relatively long-range atmospheric transport. Relatively high but insignificant atmospheric SCCP concentrations at Shergyla Mountain area and Lhasa were observed from 2013 to 2015 compared with 2012. At Shergyla Mountain, SCCP concentrations on the eastern and western slopes increased with altitude, implying that "mountain cold-trapping" might occur for SCCPs. A back-trajectory model showed that SCCP sources at Shergyla Mountain and Lhasa were primarily influenced by the tropical monsoon from Southwest and South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ontology, as a useful tool, is widely applied in lots of fields such as geography science, computer science and medical science. Ontology concept similarity calculation is the key part of the algorithms in these applications. A popular trick is to make use of the similarity between vertices on ontology graphs. It relies on an ontology function that maps the vertex set of an ontology graph to real numbers, and multi-dividing is an effective approach to achieve this goal. In this paper, we report the generalization bounds and uniform bounds for kernel-based multi-dividing ontology algorithms, which are stated as regularization schemes. The ontology loss function is convex and meets Lipschitz assumption. The results are obtained in terms of statistical probability inequality and empirical Rademacher complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph theory is used for modeling, designing, analysis and understanding chemical structures or chemical networks and their properties. The molecular graph is a graph consisting of atoms called vertices and the chemical bond between atoms called edges. In this article, we study the chemical graphs of carbon graphite and crystal structure of cubic carbon. Moreover, we compute and give closed formulas of degree based additive topological indices, namely hyper-Zagreb index, first multiple and second multiple Zagreb indices, and first and second Zagreb polynomials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fucosyltransferase VII (FUT7) is one of a1,3-fucosyltransferases family that catalyzes the final fucosylation step in the synthesis of Lewis antigens and generates a unique glycosylated product sialyl Lewis X (sLeX). sLeX can serve as ligands for E- or P-selectin expressed on the cell surface and results in cancer metastasis and angiogenesis. However, the molecular biological mechanisms of FUT7 elevation in neoplastic cells are still largely unknown. In this study, we examined the impact of FUT7 on cell proliferation and migration in A549 cells by colony formation assay, cell cycle assay, gelatin zymography, wound-healing assay, transwell invasion assay and Western blot. In addition, we identified that FUT7 activated EGFR/AKT/mTOR signal pathway that correlated with sLeX augmentation. In conclusion, FUT7 overexpression augments sLeX synthesis to trigger cell proliferation via the activation of EGFR/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, which indicated that FUT7 may be a potential therapeutic target for epithelial cancers with a high expression of FUT7 and sLeX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a transport model coupled with a microscopic coalescence model, the directed and elliptic flows of protons and deuterons as well as their scalling properties are studied in the centrality of 20-30% Au+Au collisions at s NN = 2.4 GeV. It is found that the flows as well as their scaling properties simulated with the isospin- and momentum-dependent nuclear mean field with an incompressibility K 0 = 230 MeV fit fairly the HADES data, while those simulated with the commonly used momentum-independent nuclear mean field with an incompressibility K 0 = 380 MeV can only fit partially the HADES data. Moreover, by checking the rapidity distributions of both protons and deuterons in the centrality of 0-10% Au+Au collisions at s NN = 2.4 GeV, we find that the rapidity distributions of deuterons are underestimated while those of protons are overestimated by the simulations with the momentum-independent nuclear mean field. In contrast, the rapidity distributions of both protons and deuterons simulated with the isospin- and momentum-dependent nuclear mean field are in good agreement with the HADES data. Our findings imply that the momentum dependence of nuclear mean field is an unavoidable feature for a fundamental understanding of nuclear matter properties and for the successful interpretation of the HADES data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a finite-element-based computational method is proposed for time-dependent structural stability analysis of a concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) arch with uncertain parameters. Specifically, the targeted uncertainty includes the mercurial effects of the creep and shrinkage of the concrete core, which inevitably affect the structural performance of the CFST arch. The structural stability of the composite arch is systematically investigated under the influence of uncertain creep and shrinkage in a time-dependent fashion. The proposed computational scheme efficiently establishes the quantitative long-term stability envelope for CFST arches against uncertain viscoelastic effects. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed time-dependent structural stability analysis for CFST arches, practically motivated numerical examples are thoroughly investigated throughout this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A graph G is called a fractional ID-k-factor-critical graph if after deleting any independent set of G the resulting graph admits a fractional k-factor. In this paper, we prove that for k≥2, G is a fractional ID-k-factor-critical graph if δ(G) ≥n/3+k,σ2(G)≥4n/3,n≥6k-8 The result is best possible in some sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methionine was demonstrated to be the most limiting amino acid for growing sheep when microbial protein is the predominant source of absorbable AA, but its specific requirement was not well quantified. The indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) method is based on the concept that when the most limiting amino acid (LAA) is deficient for protein synthesis, then all other AAs will be oxidized. With increasing intakes of the LAA, IAAO will decrease until the requirement for the LAA is met, and there is no further change in the indicator oxidation afterwards. Therefore, the catabolism of 13 C-Phe was used to indicate the effects of varying duodenal infusing levels of Met on the oxidation rate by 4-month-old Kazakh lambs (30.8 ± 0.4 kg BW). After a 6-d adaptation period, the IAAO test was conducted on d 7. Each lamb received a priming dose of 0.67 mg/kg BW of 13 C-Phe injected via the jugular vein, together with 0.18 mg/kg BW of NaH 13 CO 3 at time 0. Then, constant infusions [1.33 mg 13 C-Phe/(kg h) −1 ] were started. Breath samples were collected prior to and half-hourly between 90 and 210 min after the start of the 13 C-Phe infusions. An estimate of the mean Met requirement was determined by a breakpoint analysis of the rate of 13 CO 2 released by 13 C-Phe oxidation, with a 2-phase linear regression model. The oxidation rate of 13 C-Phe decreased (P < 0.001) with increasing amounts of methionine infused in a dose-dependent fashion up to 1.65 g/day, and it was not different from 1.65 to 2.15 g/day (P > 0.05). The mean Met requirement was estimated to be 1.28 ± 0.11 g/day of supplementation. The total postruminal minimum requirement of Met would be 2.02 g/day when the basal passage of Met (0.74 g/day) was summed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disseminated cryptococcosis is a rare and fatal disease, and limited data exist regarding it in children. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of disseminated cryptococcosis in previously healthy children in China.Methods: Hospitalized patients with disseminated cryptococcosis were enrolled during January 1996 to December 2015 in Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, China. Data on clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, treatment, and prognosis were evaluated.Results: A total of 52 pediatric patients with no underlying disease were enrolled, including 38 boys and 14 girls. Only 10 cases had a history of exposure to pigeon droppings. Fever, cough, and hepatomegaly were 3 main manifestations of disseminated cryptococcosis. However, headache was more common in patients with central nervous system (CNS) invasion than in patients with non-CNS invasion (P < 0.05). Lung (96.2%, 50/52) was the most commonly invaded organ, but only 9.6% (5/52) of patients had respiratory signs. The most common findings on chest imaging were hilar or mediastinal lymphadenopathy (46.8%, 22/47), and nodules (44.7%, 21/47), including small nodules in a scattered distribution (57.1%, 12/21) or miliary distribution (42.9%, 9/25), especially localized in subpleural area. Subsequent invasion occurred in the CNS, abdomen lymph nodes, liver, spleen, peripheral lymph nodes, and skin. In all patients, 42.3% (22/52) and 51.9% (27/52) had elevated eosinophils or IgE, respectively. The positive rate of serum cryptococcal antigen was higher, especially in patients with CNS invasion (approximately 83.3%), than with other primary methods used for pathogen detection, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cryptococcal antigen, cultures of blood, bone marrow, or CSF, and CSF ink staining. The overall mortality rate of pediatric patients in our study was 11.5% (6/52). Some cases had long-term sequela, including hydrocephalus, cirrhosis, or blindness.Conclusions: Disseminated cryptococcosis can occur in previously healthy or immunocompetent children in China. Lung and CNS were most commonly invaded by this disease. Furthermore, most cases usually showed no obvious or specific symptoms or signs, and therefore pediatricians should pay more careful attention to identify this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the dispersion and increase the compatibility between CaCO3 nanoparticles and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) matrix, hydrophobic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles were successfully prepared via a carbonization reaction with stearic acid (SA) as the modifying agent. PET/CaCO3 nanocomposites were prepared by further in situ polymerization of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), ethylene glycol (EG) and CaCO3 nanoparticles. The surface modification of CaCO3, the microstructure and the properties of nanocomposites were investigated by water contact angles measurements TEM, FTIR, XRD, SEM, TGA and DSC. SEM examination of the fractured surfaces of nanocomposites showed that CaCO3 modified by SA achieved well dispersed in the PET matrix. Moreover, compared to the nanocomposite filled with the blank CaCO3, the resulting nanocomposite filled with the modified CaCO3 exhibit a better thermal stability and a superior crystallization property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infancy is a critical and immensely important period in human brain development. Subtle changes during this stage may be greatly amplified with the unfolding of different developmental processes, exerting far-reaching consequences. Studies of the structure and behavioral manifestations of the infant brain are fruitful. However, the specific functional brain mechanisms that enable the execution of different behaviors remained elusive until the advent of functional connectivity fMRI (fcMRI), which provides an unprecedented opportunity to probe the infant functional brain development in vivo. Since its inception, a burgeoning field of infant brain functional connectivity study has emerged and thrived during the past decade. In this review, we describe (1) findings of normal development of functional connectivity networks and their relationships to behaviors and (2) disruptions of the normative functional connectivity development due to identifiable genetic and/or environmental risk factors during the first 2 years of human life. Technical considerations of infant fcMRI are also provided. It is our hope to consolidate previous findings so that the field can move forward with a clearer picture toward the ultimate goal of fcMRI-based objective methods for early diagnosis/identification of risks and evaluation of early interventions to optimize developing functional connectivity networks in this critical developmental window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the generic construction of certificate-based signature (CBS) from certificateless signature (CLS). This paper proposes a new generic conversion from CLS to CBS which is more intuitive, simpler, and provably secure without random oracles than the current one. To develop the security proof, we put forth one novel CLS security model which features a previously neglected but nontrivial attack and hence captures the CLS security notion more comprehensively. We show that many existing CLS schemes can be proved secure in the current model by slightly modifying its original security proof. Following this conversion, many provably secure CBS schemes can be constructed from the corresponding existing CLS schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resectable lung adenocarcinoma is dominated by peripheral distribution, and surgical resection is the main treatment protocol. However, high recurrence rate remains after surgery. Lung adenocarcinoma with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation has strong invasion ability, but the effects of this mutation on local invasion in early lung adenocarcinoma have been rarely studied. This study aimed to assess the effects of EGFR mutation on local invasion in resectable lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 103 patients clinically diagnosed with peripheral lung adenocarcinoma was included. They underwent preoperative bronchoscopy, which indicated grades 2 or 3 bronchial involvement (lumen of the lobe or segment). The associations of EGFR mutation with pleural invasion, endobronchial metastasis, and lymph node metastasis were analyzed according to pathologies of pleural invasion and lymph node metastasis, as well as EGFR gene mutation detected by postoperative pathological specimens. Statistical analyses were performed by unpaired Chi-square test using the SPSS16.0 software. Results: In patients with EGFR mutation, pleural invasion, endobronchial metastasis, and lymph node metastasis rates were 62.5, 39.1, and 34.4%, respectively, indicating statistically significant differences (p = 0.003). Meanwhile, the pleural invasion rate in patients with wild-type EGFR was 43.6%, significantly reduced compared with patients with mutated EGFR (62.5%; p = 0.018). In addition, the endobronchial metastasis rate in patients with wild-type EGFR was 17.9%, significantly lower than in patients with EGFR mutation (39.1%; p = 0.005). However, lymph node metastasis rates were similar between EGFR mutated and wild-type patients (34.4 vs 25.6%, respectively, p > 0.05). Conclusions: Early resectable lung adenocarcinoma patients with EGFR mutation showed a higher rate of local invasion compared with those harboring wild-type EGFR. This finding provides a basis for improved therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Randic Connectivity Index R(G) is one of the oldest connectivity index, introduced by Randic in 1975. Another connectivity indices is the Sum-Connectivity Index X(G) introduced in 2008 by Zhou and Trinajstic. Recently in 2011, a modification of the Randic Connectivity Index of a graph G was introduced by Dvorak et al. In this paper, we compute these connectivity topological indices for a family of molecular graphs known as titania nanotubes TiO2(m,n). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel multiscale geometric analysis tool, sparse representation has shown many advantages over the conventional image representation methods. However, the standard sparse representation does not take intrinsic structure and its time complexity into consideration. In this paper, a new fusion mechanism for multimodal medical images based on sparse representation and decision map is proposed to deal with these problems simultaneously. Three decision maps are designed including structure information map (SM) and energy information map (EM) as well as structure and energy map (SEM) to make the results reserve more energy and edge information. SM contains the local structure feature captured by the Laplacian of a Gaussian (LOG) and EM contains the energy and energy distribution feature detected by the mean square deviation. The decision map is added to the normal sparse representation based method to improve the speed of the algorithm. Proposed approach also improves the quality of the fused results by enhancing the contrast and reserving more structure and energy information from the source images. The experiment results of 36 groups of CT/MR, MR-T1/MR-T2, and CT/PET images demonstrate that the method based on SR and SEM outperforms five state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: CD73 has both enzymatic and non-enzymatic functions in cells. As a nucleotidase, CD73 plays its enzymatic function by catalyzing the hydrolysis of AMP into adenosine and phosphate. In addition to this, accumulating data have shown that CD73 is a key regulatory molecule involved in cancer growth and metastasis, but this non-enzymatic function of CD73 in cervical cancer cells has not been well studied.Methods: CD73 was overexpressed by pcDNA-NT5E expression vector transfection in Hela and SiHa cells. Cell's proliferation and migration were evaluated by MTT and scratch healing assay. The CD73 specific antagonist -APCP was used to inhibit CD73 enzymatic activity. And the effect of APCP on CD73 activity was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Expression level was assessed by qRT-PCR and western blotting.Results: In the present study, we used Hela and SiHa cell lines to evaluate the effects of CD73 on cervical cancer cells proliferation and migration, and further explore the potential regulating mechanisms. Our data showed that CD73 overexpression significantly promoted cervical cancer cells proliferation and migration, and this promotive effect was not reverted by blocking CD73 enzymatic activity, both in Hela and SiHa cells. On the other hand, our data also showed that high concentration of adenosine inhibited Hela and SiHa cells proliferation and migration. These results demonstrated that the promotive effect of CD73 on cervical cancer cells proliferation and migration in vitro was independent from its enzymatic activity (i.e. production of adenosine). Furthermore, the expressions of EGFR, VEGF and Akt were significantly increased in CD73 overexpression Hela and SiHa cells.Conclusions: Our data suggested that CD73 might promote proliferation and migration via potentiating EGFR/Akt and VEGF/Akt pathway, which was independent of CD73 enzyme activity. These data provide a novel insight into the regulating function of CD73 in cancer cells and suggest that CD73 may be promising therapeutic target in cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Randic index, harmonic index, sum connectivity index and Zagreb index are vital distance-based topological indices which reveal certain structural features and chemical characteristics of organic molecules. In this report, by means of the molecular structural analysis, we consider the general version of these degree-based indices for special classes of circumcoronene series of benzenoid and Capra-designed planar benzenoid series. The accurate expressions of general degree-based indices for circumcoronene homologous series of benzenoid are presented, and several degree-based indices of Capra-designed planar benzenoid series are determined as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have reported that triple-negative breast cancer is more sensitive to cytotoxic treatment, compared with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive cancer. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. In the present study, we employed reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blot and in vivo assays to investigate the underlying mechanisms. The sensitivities of cells to cisplatin were examined in ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells, and it was found that the ER-negative cells were more sensitive to cisplatin, compared with the ER-positive cells. In addition, it was found that mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), which functions in mitochondrial DNA replication and repair, was expressed at a high level in ER-positive cell lines and patient tissues, compared with ER-negative cell lines and tissues. It was also found that the sensitivity to cisplatin was decreased when TFAM was knocked down in the breast cancer cells, and these effects were reversed when TFAM was reintroduced to the cells. Similar results were observed in xenograft tumors. The results of the present study provided evidence that resistance to cisplatin chemotherapy in ER-positive breast cancer may be through TFAM and indicated that TFAM may be a target for chemoresistance in patients with breast cancer. These findings offer potential guidance for chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetry in the form of left-hemisphere lateralization is a striking characteristic of the cerebral regions involved in the adult language network. In this study, we leverage a large sample of typically developing human infants with longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans to delineate the trajectory of interhemispheric functional asymmetry in language-related regions during the first 2 years of life. We derived the trajectory of interhemispheric functional symmetry of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG), the sensory and visual cortices, and two higher-order regions within the intraparietal sulcus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Longitudinal models revealed a best fit with quadratic age terms and showed significant estimated coefficients of determination for both the IFG (r² = 0.261, p < 0.001) and the STG (r² = 0.142, p < 0.001) regions while all other regions were best modeled by log-linear increases. These inverse-U-shaped functions of the language regions peaked at ~11.5 months of age, indicating that a transition toward asymmetry began in the second year. This shift was accompanied by an increase in the functional connectivity of these regions within the left hemisphere. Finally, we detected an association between the trajectory of the IFG and language outcomes at 4 years of age (χ² = 10.986, p = 0.011). Our results capture the developmental timeline of the transition toward interhemispheric functional asymmetry during the first 2 years of life. More generally, our findings suggest that increasing interhemispheric functional symmetry in the first year might be a general principle of the developing brain, governing different functional systems, including those that will eventually become lateralized in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and simple copper-mediated oxidative coupling of N,N-dimyethylanilines with [60]fullerene was employed to obtain a high yield of scarce 6-membered-ring [60]fullerene-fused tetrahydroquinolines. The reaction occurred through sp³ C-H bond activation under mild reaction conditions with molecular oxygen as the oxidant. A plausible reaction pathway was proposed, and the electrochemistry of the fullerene products was investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twokey issues in landslide forecasting arefinding the critical slip surface and determining its parameters. Generally, these issues are two parts of one problem. To solve this problem, a new two-phase search method is proposed: a newly proposed inversion method to determine the critical slip surface parameters, using a new bionics algorithm(i.e., particle swarm optimization), and based on themeasured slip surface and the critical slip surface-searching process. The proposed method is verified by using two typical numerical examples used by the Association for Computer Aided Design (Australia) and an engineering example of a highway landslide. The results indicate thatwhen the search over a critical slip surface and the inversion of its parameters are performed simultaneously, the calculated factor of safety is in good agreement with that of the actual scenario, whereas the factor of safetycomputed on the basis of knownparameters of a slide body will deviate fromthat of the physical scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pd(0)-catalyzed intramolecular C-H alkenylation was achieved with excellent yields and enantioselectivity for the construction of planar chiral ferrocenes. It is compatible with a broad range of substrates and various functional groups. Notably, the enantioselective and diastereoselective synthesis of planar chiral ferrocenes was realized by cascade C-H arylation and alkenylation reaction for the first time. Additionally, the product was easily converted into a N,O-bidentate ligand, showing promising chiral induction in asymmetric alkynylation of 1-naphthaldehyde. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Efforts to improve end of life care (EoLC) have made tangible impacts on care in adults, including enabling more people to die at their preferred place of death (PoD), usually home or hospices. Little is known how the PoD in children and young people (CYP, ≤24 years) has changed over time, especially in the context of a series of national initiatives for EoLC improvement since the late 1990s. To inform evidence-based policy-making and service development, we evaluated the national trends of PoD and the associated factors in CYP who died with cancer.Methods: Population-based observational study in the National Health Service (NHS) England, 1993-2014. All non-accidental CYP deaths with cancer (N = 12,774) were extracted from the death registration database of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Results: Hospital deaths reduced from >50 to 45 %, hospice deaths were rare but more than doubled from 6 % in 1993-2000 to 13 % in 2005-2014, and home deaths fluctuated at around 40 %. Those aged 0-19 years were more likely to die at home than young adults (adjusted proportion ratio (PRs): 1.23-1.62); haematological cancer patients or those with 2+ comorbid conditions had higher chances of hospital death (PRs for home: 0.18-0.75, hospice: 0.04-0.37); deprivation was associated with a reduced chance of home death (PRs: 0.76-0.84). The residential region affected hospice but not home deaths. The variations of PoD by cause of death, comorbid conditions and deprivation slightly decreased with time.Conclusions: Hospitals and home were the main EoLC settings for CYP with cancer. Home death rates barely changed in the past two decades; deaths in hospitals remained the most common but slightly shifted towards hospices. CYP with haematological malignancy or with comorbid conditions had persistently high hospital deaths; these cases had an even lower chance of deaths in hospices (50 %) than at home. There were deprivation- and area-related inequalities in PoD which may need service- and/or policy-level intervention. The findings highlight a need for CYP specific initiatives to enhance EoLC support and capacities both at home and in hospices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contradiction between high susceptibility of early weaned piglets to enteric pathogens and rigid restriction of antibiotic use in the diet is still prominent in the livestock production industry. To address this issue, the study was designed to replace dietary antibiotics partly or completely by an immunostimulant, namely heat-killedMycobacterium phlei(M. phlei). Piglets (n = 192) were randomly assigned to one of the four groups: (1) basal diet (Group A), (2) basal diet + a mixture of antibiotics (80 mg/kg diet, Group B), (3) basal diet + a mixture of antibiotics (same as in Group B, but 40 mg/kg diet) + heat-killedM. phlei(1.5 g/kg diet) (Group C) and (4) basal diet + heat-killedM. phlei(3 g/kg diet) (Group D). All piglets received the respective diets from days 21 to 51 of age and were weaned at the age of 28 d. Compared with the Control (Group A), in all other groups the average daily gain, average daily feed intake, small intestinal villus height:crypt depth ratio and protein levels of occludin and ZO-1 in the jejunal mucosa were increased. A decreased incidence of diarrhoea in conjunction with an increased sIgA concentration in the intestinal mucosa and serum IL-12 and IFN-γ concentrations was found in groups supplemented with heat-killedM. phlei(Groups C and D), but not in Group B. Groups C and D also showed decreased IL-2 concentrations in the intestinal mucosa with lower TLR4 and phosphor-IκB protein levels. The antioxidant capacity was reinforced in Groups C and D, as evidenced by the reduction in malondialdehyde and enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes in serum. These data indicate that heat-killedM. phleiis a promising alternative to antibiotic use for early weaned piglets via induction of protective immune responses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs), complex mixtures of polychlorinated alkanes, are widely used in various industries and are thus ubiquitous in the receiving environment. The present study comprehensively reviewed the occurrence, fate and ecological risk of CPs in various environmental matrices in Asia. Releases from the production and consumption of CPs or CP-containing materials, wastewater discharge and irrigation, sewage sludge application, long-range atmospheric transport and aerial deposition have been found to be most likely sources and transport mechanisms for the dispersion of CPs in various environmental matrices, such as air, water, sediment, soil and biota. CPs can be bioaccumulated in biota and biomagnified through food webs, likely causing toxic ecological effects in organisms and posing health risks to humans. Inhalation, dust ingestion and dietary intake are strongly suggested as the major routes of human exposure. Research gaps are discussed to highlight the perspectives of future research to improve future efforts regarding the analysis of CPs, the environmental occurrence and elimination of CPs, the total environmental pressure, and the risks to organisms and populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Brain-expressed X-linked (BEX) 4 is a member of BEX family. The functional role of BEX4 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains unknown. Methods: Expression level of BEX family members (BEX1-5) in OSCC tissues and the paired normal epithelial were examined. Functions of epigenetic changes (DNA methylation and histone modifications) on BEX4 suppression in OSCC were examined by zebularine and trichostatin A (TSA) treatment on OSCC cell lines. Lentivector containing full-length BEX4 was used to generate OSCC cell lines with stable BEX4 expression. Effects of BEX4 expression on OSCC proliferation were monitored with xCELLigence RTCA real-time cell analyzer. BEX4-overexpressing CAL27 was implanted into nude mice to evaluate the effects on tumor growth in vivo. The signaling pathways regulated by BEX4 in OSCC was explored using human whole-transcript expression microarray. Results: Among the 5 BEX family members, BEX1 and BEX4 showed significant down-regulation in OSCC (P < 0.001). BEX3, in comparison, was overexpressed in the primary tumor. BEX4 expression in OSCC cell lines was re-activated after zebularine and TSA treatment. High BEX4 expression could suppress proliferation of OSCC in vitro. Subcutaneous tumor volume of BEX4-overexpressing CAL27 was remarkably reduced in nude mice. Microarray experiment showed that S100A family members (S100A7, S100A7A, S100A8, S100A9 & S100A12) might be the downstream targets of BEX4 in OSCC. Conclusions: BEX4 functions as tumor suppressor by inhibiting proliferation and growth of oral cancer. Decreased BEX4 contributes to the increased proliferative propensity of OSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]