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A laser welding with wire filler feeding was developed to replace traditional arc welding process for joining aluminium alloy railcar body components. A three-dimensional (3D) thermo-elastic-plastic finite element (FE) model was applied to compute the plastic strains of weld zone in a downsized aluminium alloy plate with butt-joint, T-joint and fillet-joint configurations, respectively, combined with corresponding experimental validations. The achieved plastic strains at the weld zone were then input as inherent strain loadings into elastic structural FE model of fully sized aluminium alloy railcar body components to predict the welding induced distortion with the experimentally measured out-of-plane distortions. The experimentally validated FE model was then further applied for optimizing the inverse pre-deformation of plates to counteract the welding induced deformation, finally to mitigate the welding distortion issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial therapy remains one of the major global challenges, particularly in the absence of effective treatment strategies for drug‐resistant bacteria. In this study, a comprehensive treatment approach is proposed for drug‐resistant bacterial wound infections based on the development of thermal‐cascade multifunctional therapeutic systems (MTSs), spanning from the design of functional nanoscale materials to macroscopic smart hydrogel. Within the MTSs, functional antibiotic‐loaded hybrid nanoclusters enable targeted therapeutic delivery and synergistic mild hyperthermia‐antibiotic treatment, strongly suppressing drug‐resistant bacteria while demonstrating excellent biocompatibility with normal cells and tissues. Furthermore, near‐infrared irradiation can trigger the photothermal effects of hybrid nanoclusters to induce gelation of thermal‐sensitive hydrogel, forming MTSs to serve as highly adaptable, drug‐enriched protective dressings for infected wounds. Both in vitro and in vivo results substantiate that MTSs enhance the bioavailability of therapeutic agents (including bacterial internalization and tissue penetration), exert synergistic effects to completely eradicate drug‐resistant bacteria, promoted wound healing and revascularization, and demonstrate excellent biocompatibility. This work offers an innovative demonstration to address drug‐resistant bacterial infections through the advancement of sophisticated material systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The progression of gallbladder cancer (GBC) is accompanied by abnormal fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) metabolism. Different types of lipids perform various biological functions. This study aimed to determine the role of acyl carnitines in the molecular mechanisms of GBC progression. Methods: Distribution of lipids in GBC was described by LC–MS-based lipidomics. Cellular localization, expression level and full-length of lncBCL2L11 were detected using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assays, subcellular fractionation assay and 5′ and 3′ rapid amplification of the cDNA ends (RACE), respectively. In vitro and in vivo experiments were used to verify the biological function of lncBCL2L11 in GBC cells. Methylated RNA Immunoprecipitation (MeRIP) was performed to detect the methylation levels of lncBCL2L11. RNA pull-down assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were used to identify lncBCL2L11 interacting proteins. Co-Immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and Western blot assay were performed to validate the regulatory mechanism of lncBCL2L11 and THO complex. Results: Acylcarnitines were significantly up-regulated in GBC tissues. High serum triglycerides correlated to decreased survival in GBC patients and promoted tumor migration. LncBCL2L11 was identified in the joint analysis of highly metastatic cells and RNA sequencing data. LncBCl2L11 prevented the binding of THOC6 and THOC5 and causes the degradation of THOC5, thus promoting the accumulation of acylcarnitines in GBC cells, leading to the malignant progression of cancer cells. In addition, highly expressed acylcarnitines stabilized the expression of lncBCL2L11 through N6-methyladenosine methylation (m6A), forming a positive feedback regulation in tumor dissemination. Conclusions: LncBCL2L11 is involved in gallbladder cancer metastasis through FAO metabolism. High lipid intake is associated with poor prognosis of GBC. Therefore, targeting lncBCL2L11 and its pathway-related proteins or reducing lipid intake may be significant for the treatment of GBC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the risk factors for inferior vena cava filter (IVCF) thrombus in orthopedic trauma patients who underwent filter placement with ongoing anticoagulation in clinical settings. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from fracture patients with lower extremity acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) implanted with an IVCF admitted to Tianjin Hospital from January 2017 to December 2019. Potential risk factors, such as gender, age, diabetes, hypertension, fracture sites, thrombus location, free-floating thrombus, filter type, Injury Severity Score (ISS), and postoperative D-dimer values, were analyzed by the Chi-square test, t-test, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: A total of 662 patients were included in our study, and filter-related thrombosis was present in 67 (10.1%) patients. No significant differences were observed in age, gender, hypertension, diabetes, fracture site, free-floating thrombus, filter type, indwelling time, and postoperative D-dimer level. Thrombus location and ISS were significantly different (p < 0.05). Popliteal DVT (P-DVT) (odds ratio [OR]: 2.130, p = 0.018) and ISS (OR: 1.135, p = 0.000) were associated with filter thrombus. Patients with P-DVT were prone to a small filter thrombus (OR: 3.231, p = 0.037). From the ROC curve analysis, the diagnostic value of ISS was 24.5 and 26.5 for patients with filter and massive filter thrombus, respectively. Conclusion: Thrombus location and ISS were independent risk factors for filter thrombus in patients with traumatic fractures. P-DVT had a higher potential to result in a small filter thrombus and an ISS value >26.5, which was considered a significant massive filter thrombus predictor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-screw extruders and injection molding machines are essential equipment in polymer processing. It is of great importance for the optimization of operating parameters and the design of extrusion screw to predict the throughput of an extruder and the metering time of an injection molding machine according to the geometric parameters of the screw, operating parameters, and the rheological behavior of materials. Most polymer melts exhibit non-Newtonian behavior. The lattice Boltzmann method has many advantages in simulating the flow of non-Newtonian fluids. Herein, the dimensionless velocity profiles and dimensionless volumetric flow rate of generalized Newtonian fluids in a screw channel have been studied using the two-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method (TRT–LBM). The numerical results of power-law fluids are in good agreement with the analytical solutions, which verifies the validity of TRT–LBM. Through research, the change rule of the dimensionless volumetric flow rate of Bingham fluids with dimensionless pressure gradient has been obtained. It was found that the rheological properties of polymer melts and the dimensionless pressure gradient significantly affect the dimensionless velocity profiles and dimensionless volumetric flow rate. The dimensionless volume flow rate has some unexpected changes with the increase of the dimensionless pressure gradient. This study can provide theoretical guidance for the optimization of operating parameters and the design of extrusion screws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an extremely rare tumor, and no standard therapy has been established yet. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term results of combined therapy with sirolimus and interferon-alpha 2b (IFN-a 2b) (SI therapy). Methods: From January 2022 to April 2023, 40 patients histologically diagnosed with hepatic EHE and progressive disease received SI therapy. All patients were regularly evaluated for the safety and efficacy of the SI therapy. Patients who received SI therapy for <3 months without a tumor status evaluation after treatment were excluded. Results: Twenty-nine patients with hepatic EHE were included in this study. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status was 0 in 19 (65.5%) patients and 1 in 10 (34.5%) patients. The median duration of the SI therapy was 8 months (range, 3–15 months). Twenty-three (79.3%) patients showed a decrease in tumor size, including 11 (37.9%) patients who achieved a partial response and one (3.4%) who achieved a complete response; the objective response rate was 41.4%. Stable disease was observed in 13 (44.8%) patients, with a disease control rate of 86.2%. Adverse events (AES) were observed in 18 patients, including leukopenia (31.0%), oral ulcers (13.8%), and liver injury (10.3%). No severe (grade ⩾ 3) AEs were recorded, and SI therapy was not interrupted for any patient due to AEs. Conclusion: Sirolimus and IFN-a 2b may have synergistic effects in the treatment of hepatic EHE. SI therapy is a safe and effective treatment for hepatic EHE patients with good ECOG performance status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEH) is extremely rare, and CT features have never been analyzed in a large group of patients. Methods: A retrospective study was designed to review the contrast-enhanced CT images of HEH patients. Intrahepatic lesions were categorized into three types: nodular, locally coalescent (coalescent lesion contained in one segment) or diffusely coalescent (coalescent lesion occupied more than one segment). CT features were compared among lesions of different sizes and patients with different lesion types. Results: A total of 93 HEH patients were included in this study, and 740 lesions were analyzed. The results of per-lesion analysis showed that medium lesions (2–5 cm) had the highest rate of lollipop sign (16.8%) and target-like enhancement (43.1%), while lesions in large group (> 5 cm) had the highest rate of capsular retraction (38.8%) and vascular invasion (38.8%). The differences on enhancement pattern and the rates of lollipop sign and capsular retraction were significant among lesions of different sizes (p < 0.001, respectively). The results of per-patient analysis showed that patients in locally coalescent group had the highest rates of lollipop sign (74.3%) and target sign (94.3%). All patients in diffusely coalescent group had capsular retraction and vascular invasion. CT appearances of capsular retraction, lollipop sign, target sign and vascular invasion differed significantly among patients with different lesion types (p < 0.001, p = 0.005, p = 0.006 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: CT features variated among HEH patients with different lesion types, and radiological appearances of HEH should be classified into nodular type, locally coalescent type and diffusely coalescent type. Key points: CT appearances of HEH differed significantly among lesions of different sizes. HEH lesions were categorized into three types: nodular, locally and diffusely coalescent. CT characteristics of HEH variated greatly among the three lesion types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibrinogen plays an important role in tumor progression. Here, we explored the role of fibrinogen in gallbladder cancer (GBC) metastasis. The plasma fibrinogen level in M1 GBC patients was higher than in M0 GBC patients, indicating that fibrinogen may participate in GBC metastasis. Treatment of GBC cell lines with fibrinogen promoted metastasis and induced the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1). ICAM1 overexpression promoted metastasis and knockdown inhibited it. The cell adhesion and transendothelial migration of GBC cells were enhanced by fibrinogen treatment and ICAM1 overexpression. In addition, the medium of fibrinogen-treated and overexpression-ICAM1 NOZ cells exhibited enhanced macrophages recruitment. This may work in concert to promote angiogenesis. Immunohistochemistry results on clinical specimens showed that higher fibrinogen levels, higher ICAM1 expression, higher blood vessel density, and higher macrophage levels were present simultaneously. Collectively, this study indicates fibrinogen promotes metastasis and extravasation by inducing ICAM1 expression to enhance tumor cell migration, cell adhesion, transendothelial migration and promote angiogenesis and increase vascular endothelial permeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of our chemically synthesized TT-00420, a novel spectrum-selective multiple protein kinase inhibitor, in cultured cells and animal models of gallbladder cancer (GBC) and explore its potential mechanism. Methods: Multiple GBC models were established to assess the anti-tumor efficiency, toxicity, and pharmacokinetics of TT-00420. Integrated transcriptomic, proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis was conducted to identify potential downstream effectors of TT-00420. Western blotting, qRT-PCR, nuclear-cytoplasm separation, and immunofluorescence were performed to confirm the multi-omic results and explore the molecular mechanism of TT-00420. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect FGFR1 and p-FGFR1 expression levels in GBC samples. Autodock software was utilized to investigate the potential binding mode between the TT-00420 and the human FGFR1. Results: We found that TT-00420 exerted potent growth inhibition of GBC cell lines and multiple xenograft models. Treatment of mice with 15 mg/kg TT-00420 via gavage displayed a half-life of 1.8 h in the blood and rapid distribution to the liver, kidneys, lungs, spleen, and tumors at 0.25 h, but no toxicity to these organs over 2 weeks. Multi-omic analysis revealed c-Jun as a potential downstream effector after TT-00420 treatment. Mechanistically, TT-00420 showed rigorous ability to block FGFR1 and its downstream JNK-JUN (S63/S73) signaling pathway, and induce c-Jun S243-dependent MEK/ERK reactivation, leading to FASLG-dependent tumor cell death. Finally, we found that FGFR1 and p-FGFR1 expression was elevated in GBC patients and these levels correlated with decreased patient survival. Conclusions: TT-00420 shows potent antitumor efficacy and may serve as a novel agent to improve GBC prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of maximizing the utilization of resources through reasonable deployment under limited resources, this paper studies from two aspects: one is to establish the mathematical model of maximum coverage of space detection, and the other is to improve the harmony algorithm. The exploration performance and convergence performance of the harmony search algorithm are analyzed theoretically, and the more general formulas of exploration performance and convergence performance are proved. Based on theoretical analysis, the algorithm called opposition-based learning parameter adjusting harmony search is proposed. By using the algorithm to test the functions of different properties, the value range of key control parameters of the algorithm are given. The proposed algorithm is applied to optimize the problem of radar deployment. This paper takes a certain area of the Shandong Peninsula as the deployment scope. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is effective and practical. Although there is a large amount of calculation, it provides ideas and ways for other problems, such as the site selection of new observation and communication post, the deployment of maneuvering radar stations, and the track planning of fleet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) could influence many aspects of protein behavior and function in organisms. Protein glycosylation is one of the major PTMs observed in bacteria, which is crucial for functional regulations of many prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been recognized as an indispensable tool in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB) worldwide over several decades. Nevertheless, analysis of glycoprotein profiles of BCG has not been clearly investigated. In this study, we performed O‐mannosylated protein analysis in BCG bacteria using gel‐based and gel‐free approaches. In total, 1,670 hexosylated peptides derived from 754 mannosylated proteins were identified. Furthermore, 20 novel protein products supported by 78 unique peptides not annotated in the BCG database were detected. Additionally, the translational start sites of 384 proteins were confirmed, and 78 proteins were validated through the extension of translational start sites based on N‐terminus‐derived peptides. The bioinformatic analysis of the O‐mannosylated proteins was performed and the expression profiles of four randomly selected proteins were validated through Western blotting. A number of proteins involved in metabolic pathways, including the tricarboxylic acid cycle, glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, and two‐component system, are discussed. Taken together, these results offer the first O‐mannosylated protein analysis of a member of mycobacteria reported to date by using complementary gel‐based and gel‐free approaches. Some of the proteins identified in this study have important roles involved in metabolic pathways, which could provide insight into the immune molecular mechanisms of this recognized vaccine strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extracellular contractile injection systems (eCISs) are encoded in the genomes of a large number of bacteria and archaea. We have previously characterized the overall structure of Photorhabdus Virulence Cassette (PVC), a typical member of the eCIS family. PVC resembles the contractile tail of bacteriophages and exerts its action by the contraction of outer sheath and injection of inner tube plus central spike. Nevertheless, the biological function of PVC effectors and the mechanism of effector translocation are still lacking. By combining cryo-electron microscopy and functional experiments, here we show that the PVC effectors Pdp1 (a new family of widespread dNTP pyrophosphatase effector in eCIS) and Pnf (a deamidase effector) are loaded inside the inner tube lumen in a "Peas in the Pod" mode. Moreover, we observe that Pdp1 and Pnf can be directly injected into J774A.1 murine macrophage and kill the target cells by disrupting the dNTP pools and actin cytoskeleton formation, respectively. Our results provide direct evidence of how PVC cargoes are loaded and delivered directly into mammalian macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. To provide available quantitative evidence of efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatments for improving sacroiliac joint malposition. Methods. Databases such as the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (CQVIP), Wanfang Database (Wanfang), China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc), PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched by computer to collect the reports on acupuncture treatment of sacroiliac joint malposition from the database creation to July 20, 2021. The selection of included studies, data extraction and coding, and bias risk assessment were conducted independently by two reviewers. RevMan5.4 software was used for meta-analysis, and the results were expressed as mean difference (MD) or standardized mean difference (SMD), with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. Results. A total of 10 randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) with 1019 participants were included. Their overall quality of methodology was not high, and there may be publication bias. Meta-analysis showed that the total effective rate of the treatment group was higher than that of the control group (OR = 2.74 , 95% CI 2.00 to 3.74, P < 0.00001). The treatment group was better than the control group in improving VAS score (WMD = − 1.56 , 95% CI -2.18 to -0.94, P < 0.00001). The ODI score of the treatment group was lower than that of the control group (WMD = − 6.04 , 95% CI -7.05 to -5.02, P < 0.00001). With the improvement of the JOA score, the difference of iliac transverse diameter of sacroiliac joint dislocation and the index of sacroiliac joint malposition in the treatment group were better than those in the control group (P < 0.05). There was no significant heterogeneity among the studies. Conclusion. Acupuncture may have therapeutic advantages in improving sacroiliac joint malposition. Acupuncture and acupotomy provide a safe way to improve the related clinical symptoms and functional disorders in activity of sacroiliac joint dislocation. However, due to the low quality of the included literature, this conclusion still needs to be further verified by more high-quality and large-sample RCTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the overall weakening of the macroeconomic situation, the investment growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei continued to slow down. This article focuses on the reform and innovation of investment and financing models in the vertical and horizontal collaborative construction of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei infrastructure. Under the framework of the PPP model, this article discusses how to design a market-oriented platform of infrastructure investment and financing model, introduce and use private capital, build remote capital access and exit mechanism, measure the government's financial capacity and financial risks in the PPP model, set up PPP institutions, and improve relevant laws and regulations to make the infrastructure construction and operation more efficient, thus promoting the coordinated development of infrastructure construction in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy as the initial thrombus removal method in the treatment of acute lower extremity ischemia. Methods: The patients with acute lower limb ischemia who underwent percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy between August 2016 and February 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were diagnosed by clinical examination and computed tomography angiography. The percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy was performed as the initial thrombus removal method, followed by anticoagulation therapy. The patients were followed up by clinical examination, imaging, and ankle brachial index (ABI) examination. Results: Thirty-two patients (21 males, 11 females; average age of 68.53 ± 8.05; three cases of grade III, 29 cases of grade IIB) were reviewed. Recanalization of the thromboembolic occlusions were achieved in all patients. ABI significantly (p < 0.01) increased postoperatively (preoperative ABI: 0.51 ± 0.13; postoperative ABI: 0.85 ± 0.65, ABI at three months postoperatively: 0.84 ± 0.66). Eleven patients underwent balloon dilation and three patients had stent placement. Complete thrombus removal was achieved in all patients. The primary patency at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively was 90%, 85%, and 56%, respectively. The secondary patency at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively was 93%, 87%, and 65%, respectively. Conclusions: The immediate result appeared to be effective to use percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy as the first thrombus removal method in the treatment of acute thromboembolic occlusions in the lower extremity, while the midterm result needs to be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is one of the primary causes of death worldwide. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of TB is one of the most direct means to reduce the incidence of TB. In this study, urinary proteomic profiling of TB patients and non‐TB individual controls (HCs) was performed, and differentially expressed urinary proteins between TB and HCs were compared and exclusively expressed proteins in TB patients were selected to establish a clinically useful disease marker panel. In total, these top 11 targeted proteins with 265 peptides were scheduled for multiple reaction monitoring validation analysis by using urine samples from 52 TB patients and 52 HCs. The result demonstrated that a three‐protein combination out of the five‐protein panel (namely P22352, Q9P121, P15151, Q13291, and Q8NDA2) exhibited sensitivity rate of 82.7% in the diagnosis of TB. Furthermore, the three‐protein combination could differentiate TB from the latent tuberculosis (LTB) effectively, which exhibited specificity rate of 92.3% for the diagnosis of TB from the LTB category. Although more numbers of clinical samples are required for further verification, the results provided preliminary evidence that this "three‐protein combination" out of the five‐protein panel could probably be a novel TB diagnostic biomarker in clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) image, the underwater shipwreck targets are often buried by sediment or badly damaged. Only a part of the characteristics of artificial objects is retained. In this paper, firstly, based on the analysis of the ocean buried background, the Meanshift filtering is used to smooth the original image and convert the color image into binary one. Secondly, the residual contour of artificial target is extracted through the modified Canny edge detection algorithm. Thirdly, the Region Growing method is taken to remove the discrete interference and keep the intact edge of the line. Consideration with the principle of line alignment, the contours of shipwreck targets are gradually connected and aggregated. Finally, a large amount of measured practical SAS images are tested. The experimental results verified that the proposed algorithm can accurately detect the shipwreck target based on residual contour information, meanwhile with an acceptable timeliness for large size sonar image data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As the largest group of mammalian species, which are also widely distributed all over the world, rodents are the natural reservoirs for many diverse zoonotic viruses. A comprehensive understanding of the core virome of diverse rodents should therefore assist in efforts to reduce the risk of future emergence or re-emergence of rodent-borne zoonotic pathogens. Results: This study aimed to describe the viral range that could be detected in the lungs of rodents from Mainland Southeast Asia. Lung samples were collected from 3284 rodents and insectivores of the orders Rodentia, Scandentia, and Eulipotyphla in eighteen provinces of Thailand, Lao PDR, and Cambodia throughout 2006–2018. Meta-transcriptomic analysis was used to outline the unique spectral characteristics of the mammalian viruses within these lungs and the ecological and genetic imprints of the novel viruses. Many mammalian- or arthropod-related viruses from distinct evolutionary lineages were reported for the first time in these species, and viruses related to known pathogens were characterized for their genomic and evolutionary characteristics, host species, and locations. Conclusions: These results expand our understanding of the core viromes of rodents and insectivores from Mainland Southeast Asia and suggest that a high diversity of viruses remains to be found in rodent species of this area. These findings, combined with our previous virome data from China, increase our knowledge of the viral community in wildlife and arthropod vectors in emerging disease hotspots of East and Southeast Asia. ADx5T_Q3aYxBw7CRZGTwQ6 Video abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the requirements of portability and omni-directivity, the planar bow-tie antenna is widely used in impulse through-wall radar (ITWR). When the planar bow-tie antenna is used to radiate the ultrawide bandwidth (UWB) signal, the ringing phenomenon of the transmitted signal would be serious, which can damage the quality of radar imaging. The previous solutions for this problem are the usage of various hardware loadings; however, those loadings could cause signal energy loss and reduce the signal gain. Alternatively, this letter studies a deconvolution-technique-based signal processing approach to suppress the signal ringing. Because the proposed approach does not require any hardware loadings on the antenna, it can help improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and significantly reduce the energy loss of signal. The effectivity of this signal processing approach is verified by the radar detecting experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a novel eighth‐mode ridged substrate integrated waveguide (EMRSIW) is proposed by bisecting the RSIW resonator along the virtual magnetic walls. The EMRSIW shows a size of nearly one‐eighth of a conventional RSIW resonator and a significant size reduction compared to the conventional eighth‐mode SIW resonator. A prototype of a third‐order bandpass filter with transmission zeros has been designed and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H7N9 influenza virus was first isolated in 2013 and has caused five epidemic waves among humans to date. Treatment opinions are currently limited. Previously, we characterized a human neutralizing antibody, HNIgGA6, by isolating rearranged heavy- and light-chain genes from convalescent patients. The mAb disrupts viral attachment to the cellular receptor by directly interposing into the receptor binding site (RBS) and broadly neutralizing divergent H7N9 strains. To increase the protective efficacy of HNIgGA6, we employed a structure-based design to enhance its binding affinity and neutralization potency. When the serine at position 28 on light-chain complementarity-determining region 1 (LCDR1) was substituted by a histidine, compared to HNIgGA6, the mutated antibody showed an approximately three-fold increase in HA-binding affinity and 10-fold enhancement in neutralization potency in vitro. Importantly, the S28H variant also exhibited broad H7N9-neutralizing activity. When administered to BALB/c mice, mAb S28H showed enhanced potency in inhibiting the pulmonary virus titre and reducing lung lesions and resulted in better protection of the animals than did the original antibody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most common cancer type of the biliary tract, and an association has been found between chronic calculous cholecystitis (CCC) and an increased incidence of GBC mortality. An understanding of the relationship between CCC and its carcinogenesis may enable us to prevent and cure GBC. In this study, we attempted to explore changes in the microbiome profile that take place during the transition from chronic cholecystitis mucosa to malignant lesions. Results: Seven paired human GBC and CCC samples were provided by patients who had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy or radical cholecystectomy. Mucosal DNA extraction and metagenomic sequencing were performed to evaluate changes in the microbiota between the two groups. We found that GBC patients and CCC patients shared similar stable and permanent dominant species and showed apparent differences in their biliary microbial composition and gene function. Peptostreptococcus stomatis and Enterococcus faecium may potentially play a role in GBC progression. In addition, the metagenomic species profiles, co‐abundance and co‐exclusion correlations, and CAZyme prevalence showed significant differences between the CCC and GBC groups. Conclusion: Our data suggested that changes in the microbiota between CCC and GBC may help deepen our understanding of the complex spectrum of different microbiotas involved in the development of GBC. Although the cohort size was small, this study has presented the first evidence of the existence of an altered biliary microbiota in GBC, which is clearly different from that in CCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although guidelines recommend extended surgical resection, radical resection and lymphadenectomy for patients with tumor stage (T)1b gallbladder cancer, these procedures are substantially underutilized. This population‐based, retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate treatment patterns and outcomes of 401 patients using the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2004 to 2013. Results showed that median overall survival (OS) was 69 months for lymphadenectomy patients and 37 months for those without lymphadenectomy. Lymphadenectomy also tended to prolong cancer‐specific survival (CSS), although the differences were not statistically significant. OS and CSS were similar for patients who received simple cholecystectomy and extended surgical resection. Cox proportional hazards regression models revealed survival advantages in patients with stage T1bN0 gallbladder cancer compared to those with stage T1bN1, and patients who received simple cholecystectomy plus lymphadenectomy compared to those who did not receive lymph node dissection. In further analyses, patients undergoing simple cholecystectomy who had five or more lymph nodes excised had better OS and CSS than those without lymph node dissection. In conclusion, survival advantages are shown for patients with T1b gallbladder cancer undergoing surgeries with lymphadenectomy. Future studies with longer follow‐up and control of potential confounders are highly warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Aneurysm rupture is often a fatal complication of giant intradural aneurysm (GIA) treatments. The purpose of this study was to review aneurysm rupture in GIA treatment.Materials and Methods: We performed a systematic review on aneurysm rupture related to GIA treatment. For each reported case, we collected the following information: aneurysm location, size and rupture status, the mode of treatment, timing of the hemorrhage, anatomical, and hemodynamic factors.Results: We identified 56 aneurysm ruptures related to treatment in 38 published studies. Of the nine intraoperative ruptures, eight occurred during endovascular procedures and one in surgical treatment. Of the 47 delayed ruptures, 72.3% occurred within 2 weeks. The prognosis of intraoperative and delayed ruptures was poor, with 83.9% experiencing death. Of these aneurysms, 75% were initially unruptured. Of the delayed ruptured aneurysms, 21.3% had prior surgical treatment, 74.4% had prior endovascular treatment, and 4.3% had prior combined surgical and endovascular treatments. Vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) location was significantly associated with aneurysm rupture after treatment, occurring at 57.2%. Flow diverter (FD) treatment seemed to elevate the delayed rupture proportion of giant paraclinoid internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms from 22.0% to 42.9%. FD treatment did not lower the rupture risk of giant VBA aneurysms and the corresponding death rate.Conclusion: Intraoperative and delayed aneurysm ruptures were the most challenging in endovascular treatment of GIAs. Giant VBA aneurysm had the highest rupture risk after treatment. FD seemed to elevate the delayed rupture proportion of giant paraclinoid aneurysms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural cartilage is a multiporous viscoelastic biological material with extremely high water content and a macroscopically curved surface. Due to the sampling frequency limitations of typical data systems, the dynamic properties of the contact of cartilage against other surfaces, including rubbing surface characteristics and coefficient of friction, is still not completely understood. In this study, cartilage samples were retrieved from 18- to 24-month-old bovine femora. Contact displacement and coefficient of friction of two typical rubbing pairs of for cartilage-on-glass and cartilage-on-cartilage were recorded using a UMT-2 testing rig using a high sampling frequency data system. A five-point sliding average method was adopted to analyze the experimental data. The results showed that contact displacement comprised cartilage deformation and nominal rubbing profile. Cartilage deformation increased nonlinearly with time while nominal rubbing profile was associated with the rubbing configuration and appeared to be a factor in the low surface sample configuration. Higher cartilage deformation resulted in more load being carried by the solid phase and coefficient of friction with the time as a whole, but the surface characteristics played a role in determining the coefficient of friction in the cartilage-on-cartilage configuration but a lesser role for cartilage-on-glass. Therefore, surface characteristics have a clear role in defining the dynamic properties of natural viscoelastic soft biological materials and these research results will help to evaluate in future the frictional properties of artificial cartilage biomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myelin protein 0-like 1 (MPZL1) has been reported to have a role in hepatocellular carcinoma. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies on the function and molecular mechanism of MPZL1 gene in gallbladder carcinoma. The present study confirmed that MPZL1 was upregulated in four gallbladder carcinoma tissues according to the mRNA microarray analysis. The results of the immunohistochemical analysis of tissues from 82 patients with gallbladder carcinoma demonstrated that patients with advanced tumor stages (both T and N stage) had higher positive expression of MPZL1. Moreover, a total of 20 cases of gallbladder carcinoma and matched paired paracarcinoma tissues along with 20 samples of healthy gallbladder tissue from patients with cholecystitis were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting. The results demonstrated that the expression of MPZL1 in gallbladder carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than that of paired paracarcinoma tissues and randomly matched normal gallbladder epithelial tissues. According to the Tumor-Node-Metastasis classification, the expression level of MPZL1 protein in stage IV gallbladder carcinoma was significantly higher than that in stage III gallbladder carcinoma. The enhanced expression of MPZL1 gene appeared to improve the migration ability of GBC-SD cells. Conversely, GBC-SD cells that transfected with MPZL1 siRNA exhibited decreased migration ability. The results of proliferation experiments showed that the knockdown of MPZL1 siRNA caused impairments in GBC-SD cell proliferation. On the contrary, the overexpression of MPZL1 increased the proliferation ability of GBC-SD cells. The results of flow cytometry analyses indicated that the upregulation of MPZL1 had an anti-apoptotic effect on GBC-SD cells. In conclusion, the present study showed that the expression and protein levels of MPZL1 were significantly higher in gallbladder carcinoma tissues, especially in patients diagnosed with advanced tumor stages. Overexpression of MPZL1 may have promoted the invasion, metastasis, proliferation and survival of GBC-SD cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serum interleukin (IL)-17A level is associated with higher microvessel density and poor prognosis in liver cancer. However, the specific mechanism underlying the role of IL-17A in liver cancer remains controversial. In the present study, the effect of IL-17A on liver cancer cells was examined. IL-17A had no evident impact on vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) production in HepG2 and Huh7.5 cells as determined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and ELISA, but it did stimulate angiogenic CXC chemokine secretion, including chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 (CXCL1), CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL5, CXCL6 and CXCL8 in Huh7.5 cells and CXCL2 in HepG2 cells. In addition, the production of angiostatic chemokines such as CXCL10 was not affected. The supernatant of Huh7.5-IL17A cells promoted endothelial cell chemotaxis, which was attenuated by the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 2 (CXCR2) inhibitor SB225002. Although there was no role of IL-17A in promoting in vitro cell proliferation, IL-17A markedly increased the tumor growth of Huh7.5 cells in both subcutaneous and orthotopic xenograft models with increased vascularization. Taken together, these results demonstrated that IL-17A may stimulate chemokine-induced angiogenesis and promote tumor progression, independent of VEGF signaling. The CXCL-CXCR2 axis may be a novel target for the anti-angiogenesis treatment of liver cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of joint spatial–spectral features has been proved to improve the classification performance of hyperspectral images (HSIs). Recently, utilizing convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to learn joint spatial–spectral features has become of great interest. However, the existing CNN models ignore complementary spatial–spectral information among the shallow and deep layers. Moreover, insufficient training samples in HSIs afflict these CNN models with overfitting problem. In order to address these problems, a novel CNN method for HSI classification is proposed. It considers multilayer spatial–spectral feature fusion and sample augmentation with local and nonlocal constraints, which is abbreviated as MSLN-CNN. In MSLN-CNN, a triple-architecture CNN is constructed to extract spatial–spectral features by cascading spectral features to dual-scale spatial features from shallow to deep layers. Then, multilayer spatial–spectral features are fused to learn complementary information among the shallow layers with detailed information and the deep layers with semantic information. Finally, the multilayer spatial–spectral feature fusion and classification are integrated into a unified network, and MSLN-CNN can be optimized in the end-to-end way. To alleviate the small sample size problem, the unlabeled samples having high confidences on local spatial constraint and nonlocal spectral constraint are selected and prelabeled. The nonlocal spectral constraint considers the structure information with spectrally similar samples in the nonlocal searching, while the local spatial constraint utilizes the contextual information with spatially adjacent samples. Experimental results on several hyperspectral datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves more encouraging classification performance than the current state-of-the-art classification methods, especially with the limited training samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aims of this study were to determine the effect of curcumin on osteosarcoma (OS) cells due to inactivation of the p-JAK2/p-STAT3 pathway and evaluate the prognostic value of this pathway in OS. Materials and methods: We exposed a human OS cell line (MG-63) to different concentrations of curcumin. Then, we characterized the effects on MG-63 cells using assays (cell viability, colony formation, cell cycle, wound healing, invasion), flow cytometry, Western blot, immunohistochemical analyses, and tumor xenograft. Results: The half-maximal inhibitory of curcumin for MG-63 cells at 24 hours was 27.6 µM. The number of colonies of MG-63 cells was decreased obviously upon curcumin (10 and 20 µM) treatment. We also found increased accumulation of MG-63 cells in the G2/M phase upon curcumin (10 and 20 µM) treatment. Apoptosis was increased in 10 and 20 µM curcumin-treated MG-63 cells. After incubation of physically wounded cells for 24 hours, the percentage wound width increased upon curcumin exposure. Curcumin obviously decreased the expression of pJAK-2 and pSTAT-3 in MG-63 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Curcumin dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of MG-63 cells and induced arrest of the G0/G1 phase and apoptosis by inhibiting the p-JAK2/p-STAT3 pathway. The linear correlativity between expression of p-JAK2 and STAT3 was very prominent, and both were closely associated with lung metastasis. In vivo study suggested that curcumin suppressed tumor growth through JAK2/STAT3 signaling. Conclusion: Curcumin-mediated inhibition of the proliferation and migration of MG-63 cells was associated with inactivation of JAK/STAT signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stacked autoencoder (SAE) provides excellent performance for image processing under sufficient training samples. However, the collection of training samples is difficult in hyperspectral images. Insufficient training samples easily make SAE overfit and limit the application of SAE to hypersepctral images. To address this problem, a novel marginal SAE with adaptively-spatial regularization (ARMSAE) is proposed for hyperspectral image classification. First, a superpixel segmentation method is used to divide the image into many homogenous regions. Then, at the pretraining stage, an adaptively-shaped spatial regularization is introduced to extract contextual information of samples in the homogenous regions. It sufficiently utilizes unlabeled adjacent samples to alleviate the lack of training samples. At the fine-tuning stage, the marginal samples based on geometrical property are selected to tune the ARMSAE network. The fine-tuning exploits margin strategy to alleviate the inaccurate statistical estimation caused by insufficient training samples. Finally, the label of each test sample is determined by all the samples locating in the same homogenous region. Experimental results on hyperspectral images demonstrate the proposed method provides encouraging classification performance compared with several related state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive carbon emissions and environmental pollution from electric power industries make China accelerate the promotion of renewable energy power. Since then, Tradable Green Certifications (TGCs) and Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) systems have been adopted as a main energy policy to deepen the current power sector reform. A recursive computable general equilibrium model will be constructed to explore the impacts of TGC and RPS policies under 4 scenarios. The simulation results show that the implementation of TGC and RPS policies will reduce 1.12 Bt-CO2 emissions and 1040.31 Mtce energy consumptions at most in 2030. Moreover, the TGC and RPS policies will help to rebuild a sustainable economic structure by the limitation of fossil energy consumption and output; especially in coal and oil industries, the spread of TGC and RPS makes renewable energy electricity become fungible for other energy generation. Nevertheless, this policy will also cause a lot of economic loss in gross domestic product through the huge deterioration of fossil energy-related industries, which will be expressed in the dramatic decline of output, consumption, and import and export trade. Additionally, we discover that the RPS level will have a significant influence on TGC prices: the higher the RPS level, the more the expensive TGC price. Overall speaking, the RPS level of 30% would be a better choice for the balance between the development of renewable energy and the negative impact on macroeconomics. It is recommended that the implementation of the TGC and RPS level should be with other economic policies to reduce the negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was cyclized by heating in an inert atmosphere and then dissolved in sulfuric acid and oxidized by nitric acid, resulting in product named OCPAN. The OCPAN was dissolved along with PAN and spun into fibers, getting modified PAN fiber (MPAN), to realize self-crosslinking and direct carbonization. The chemical structure of the OCPAN and its compatibility and co-carbonization effects with PAN were characterized through characterization methods of optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The structure and properties of the resultant carbon fibers were investigated by scanning electron microscope and monofilament strength tester. The results show that ketone aromatic heterocycles are produced in OCPAN, which are able to promote the formation of a stable structure of carbon network and produce crosslinking with PAN molecules. The carbon yield of the MPAN fiber after direct carbonation under 900 °C temperature in nitrogen is 23% higher than that of the PAN fiber without oxidation carbonized under the same condition, while the strength of the final carbon fiber is a bit lower than that derived from the PAN fiber through pre-oxidation. Therefore, the direct carbonation of PAN fiber is basically realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is associated with a heterozygous inherited mutation of the menin 1 (MEN1) gene; however, the molecular pathogenesis remains to be fully elucidated. In the present study, whole exome sequencing was performed on two pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs), termed T1 and T2, peri-tumoral tissue (PT) and a blood sample obtained from a patient with MEN1. The cells in T1 and T2, but not PT, showed loss of chromosome 11 where MEN1 was located, confirming that the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of MEN1 was a crucial event in tumorigenesis. PT exhibited chromosome copy number variations (CNVs), suggesting that CNVs may occur ahead of MEN1-associated tumorigenesis. The ploidy, CNVs and somatic point mutations were completely different in T1 and T2, showing the first evidence that multiple PNETs in patients with MEN1 are heterogeneous and arise from polyclonal origins. With the except of one recurrent and possibly benign mutation, no other suspicious driver mutations were identified in the tumors. By contrast, accompanying several chromosome losses, germline heterozygous mutations in the tumor suppressor genes, mucin 6, oligomeric mucus/gel-forming (MUC6), and G protein-coupled receptor 17 (GPR17) showed loss of heterozygosity in the two tumors, or in T2, respectively. These data demonstrated that chromosome instability may aggravate inherited mutations other than MEN1, thus contributing to the tumorigenesis in MEN1-associated PNETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To improve minimally invasive outcomes, we designed a new procedure, lower abdominal laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LALC). This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of LALC versus classical (CLC) and single-incision (SILC) laparoscopic cholecystectomy on reducing systemic acute inflammatory response, improving cosmesis, and postoperative pain relief. Material and methods: Beginning from July 2014, 105 patients meeting the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to three groups: LALC, CLC, and SILC. The primary endpoint was the determination of systemic inflammatory response to the surgery. Other outcome measures included cosmesis, postoperative pain, and perioperative indices. Results: Each of the three groups consisted of 35 patients. The duration of the operation was significantly longer in the SILC group (p = .005). The rates of adverse events were similar. Changes in interleukin-6 (p = .001) and tumor-necrosis factor-α (p = .016) measured before and after surgery differed significantly; patients who underwent LALC had the smallest change in inflammatory response. Cosmesis scores at one (p = .002) and 12 (p = .004) weeks after surgery favored LALC and SILC. Significant differences in pain scores at four (p = .011) and 12 h (p = .024) postoperatively were also observed. Conclusions: In selected patients, LALC shows more advantages in terms of lower systemic inflammatory response, improved cosmesis, and a favorable postoperative pain profile when compared with CLC and SILC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common human malignancy worldwide and increasing studies have attributed its malignant progression to abnormal molecular changes in cancer cells. Nuclear division cycle 80 (NDC80) is a newly discovered oncoprotein that regulates cell proliferation and cycle in numerous malignancies. However, its clinical significance and biological role in CRC remain unclear. Therefore, in this study, we firstly analyze its expression in a retrospective cohort enrolling 224 CRC patients and find its overexpression is significantly correlated with advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis in CRC patients. In addition, our result reveals it is an independent adverse prognostic factor affecting CRC‐specific and disease‐free survival. The subgroup analysis indicates NDC80 expression can stratify the clinical outcome in stage II and III patients, but fails in stage I and IV patients. In cellular assays, we find knockdown of NDC80 dramatically inhibits the proliferative ability, apoptosis resistance, cell cycle progression, and clone formation of CRC cells in vitro. Using xenograft model, we further prove knockdown of NDC80 also inhibits the tumorigenic ability of CRC cells in vivo. Finally, the microarray analysis is utilized to preliminarily clarify the oncogenic molecular mechanisms regulated by NDC80 and the results suggest it may promote CRC progression partly by downregulating tumor suppressors such as dual specificity phosphatase 5 and Forkhead box O1. Taken together, our study provides novel evidences to support that NDC80 is not only a promising clinical biomarker but also a potential therapeutical target for CRC precise medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An invisible radome is presented and realized by using an unprecedented technique, which is transparent at the operating frequency and is invisible at frequencies ranging from 4.5 to 12.5 GHz. In order to prevent undesired reflection of the incoming power, ultra-thin wideband metamaterial absorbers loaded with LLumar glass are employed for the first time, which can avoid the need for the complex and unstable manufacture of resistive surfaces. Convoluted crossed slot arrays are utilized so as to obtain the pass-band at the frequency 2 GHz in a limited unit cell. Furthermore, the experimental prototype is manufactured and measured. From the results obtained by both numerical simulations and measurements, the properties of the radome are verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An epidemic caused by influenza A (H7N9) virus was recently reported in China. Deep sequencing revealed the full genome of the virus obtained directly from a patient's sputum without virus culture. The full genome showed substantial sequence heterogeneity and large differences compared with that from embryonated chicken eggs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]