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Hourly global solar radiation data is an important factor for solar energy utilization. Due to the lack of solar radiation observation stations in many areas, some hourly solar radiation models are proposed to predict hourly solar radiation. However, the existing models perform poorly in heavy fog-haze areas because the weakening effect of fog-haze on solar radiation is not considered. Thus, in this paper, hourly global solar radiation prediction models are developed considering air quality index (AQI) using XGBoost algorithm. The results show a general improvement in the accuracy of models with AQI as an additional input (Model B1-B6) compared to models that do not consider AQI (Model A1-A6). Compared to Model A, Model B have an increase in R value from 0.927 to 0.948, a decrease in RMSE value from 0.300 to 0.282 and a decrease in MAPE value from 0.159 to 0.145. In addition, for hourly solar radiation prediction, the six most important inputs are the day of the year, air temperature difference, surface temperature difference, hour, AQI, and total cloud cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report that ~1.8% of all mesothelioma patients and 4.9% of those younger than 55, carry rare germline variants of the BRCA1 associated RING domain 1 (BARD1) gene that were predicted to be damaging by computational analyses. We conducted functional assays, essential for accurate interpretation of missense variants, in primary fibroblasts that we established in tissue culture from a patient carrying the heterozygous BARD1V523A mutation. We found that these cells had genomic instability, reduced DNA repair, and impaired apoptosis. Investigating the underlying signaling pathways, we found that BARD1 forms a trimeric protein complex with p53 and SERCA2 that regulates calcium signaling and apoptosis. We validated these findings in BARD1-silenced primary human mesothelial cells exposed to asbestos. Our study elucidated mechanisms of BARD1 activity and revealed that heterozygous germline BARD1 mutations favor the development of mesothelioma and increase the susceptibility to asbestos carcinogenesis. These mesotheliomas are significantly less aggressive compared to mesotheliomas in asbestos workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alterations to DNA methylation have been identified in both hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor and circulating DNA from affected individuals. These markers have potential utility in HCC screening. Adherence to HCC screening is poor and acceptable HCC screening tests are needed. Methods: A feasibility study was performed on a subset of case patients and control subjects from a prior study of risk factors for HCC. Case patients (n=12) included adults aged 47-85 years with a first diagnosis of HCC between 2011 and 2016 and without viral hepatitis. Control subjects (n=12) were matched on age, sex, and state of residence. Participants provided saliva samples for DNA genotyping. Log fold change in salivary DNA methylation at 1359 CpG sites representing 25 candidate genes previously associated with HCC was compared across case patients and control subjects. Results: The quantity of DNA ranged from 9.65 to 257.79 µg. The purity of DNA isolates was good, with mean OD260/280 ratio of 1.78 (SD: 0.14). Of 25 candidate genes, 16 had at =1 CpG site with detectable differences in methylation across HCC case patients and control subjects. Sites differentially methylated in HCC case patients included genes encoding tumor suppressors (PRDM2, RUNX3, p15/16, and RASSF1/5), regulators of cell cycle progression (DAPK1 and TP73), and DNA repair (MGMT and GSTP1). No associations met the significance threshold 3.7 × 10-5 required for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: Salivary DNA may be a feasible alternative to blood samples in the era of novel DNA-based screening tests for HCC. The ease of saliva-based testing supports further investigation of its potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To use visual mapping and bibliometrics to analyze and summarize the valuable information on laparoscopic surgery for gastric cancer (GC) obtained in the last 20 years, so as to determine the research hotspots and trends in this field. Methods: We screened all literature on laparoscopic surgery for GC in the Web of Science published from 2000 to 2022 and analyzed the research hotspots and trends in this field using VOSviewer. Results: A total of 2796 reports from 61 countries and regions were selected. Japanese researchers published the most papers (n=946), followed by those from China (n=747) and South Korea (n=557). Papers from Japan also had the most citations (n=21,836). Surgical Endoscopy and Other Interventional Techniques published the most reports on laparoscopic surgery for GC (n=386) and also had the highest total number of citations (n=11,076), making this journal the most authoritative in this field. Among the institutions, researchers from Seoul National University in South Korea had the highest numbers of published papers and citations. The keywords of the articles could be divided into five categories: surgical methods for GC, short-term and long-term efficacy of laparoscopic surgery, guiding role of laparoscopy in the treatment of advanced GC, diagnosis and treatment of early gastric cancer (EGC), and lymph node dissection. Keywords such as "laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy", "surgical outcomes", and "esophagogastric junction" have emerged recently, and relevant studies on laparoscopic surgery for adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction(AEG) have gradually become a hot topic and trend. Conclusion: This study adopted bibliometric analysis to identify the current research hotspots and research trends in the field of laparoscopic surgery for GC. Five main research hotspots of laparoscopic surgery for GC were also identified. Laparoscopic surgery for AEG may become an important research focus in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objectives] To explore the ecological aquaculture model in ponds in North China, several single techniques were assembled into the same culture system. [Methods] Three ponds were selected, the species and stocking rate were exactly the same, the water was not changed during the culture period, and the water loss due to evaporation and leakage was recovered. Since the middle of May, the hydrochemical indicators such as ammonia nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH were monitored every 10 d. According to the monitoring results of ammonia nitrogen, carbon sources were added to the culture ponds to adjust the ratio of C to N, and carbon sources were added 9 times during the culture period. The stocking rate and yield per unit area were accurately measured at the beginning and end of the experiment, and no less than 30 fishes were randomly sampled to calculate the relevant growth indicators and feed coefficients. [Results] Except that the nonionic ammonia in pond 3# exceeded the standard by 10.3% on July 25, all other hydrochemical indicators met the Fisheries Water Quality Standard, and there was no significant difference in all hydrochemical indicators at the same time（P＞0.05). The survival rate in 3 ponds was more than 95.0%, the average body weight of individuals out of the pond had no difference（P＞0.05), and the feed coefficient was 1.41-1.43. There was no disease during the culture period, and the water was saved by 46.6% compared with the traditional culture model. [Conclusions] This study can provide a basis for the construction of a new model suitable for ecological aquaculture in ponds in North China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rice planting area in Northeast China has reached 5.6 million ha, but the utilization rate of comprehensive culture area in paddy field is only 2%. It is mainly dominated by fish culture in paddy field and crab culture in paddy field, which has broad development prospects. In recent years, the comprehensive planting and culture area of paddy fields in Liaoning Province has developed rapidly with a total of 80 000 ha. In accordance with the local environmental conditions, Heilongjiang and Jilin regions have introduced a new model and technology of comprehensive planting and culture in paddy fields, and developed a comprehensive planting and breeding model of paddy fields with characteristics. At present, the comprehensive planting and culture in paddy fields in Northeast China is still in the stage of rapid development, which needs to be further developed towards specialization, scale, industrialization, high quality and brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To screen some RNAs that correlated with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods. Differentially expressed miRNAs, lncRNAs, and mRNAs between cancer tissues and normal tissues in CRC were identified using data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were performed to do the functional enrichment analysis. And a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was constructed which correlated with CRC. RNAs in this network were subjected to analyze the relationship with the patient prognosis. Results. A total of 688, 241, and 103 differentially expressed genes (diff-mRNA), diff-lncRNA, and diff-miRNA were obtained between cancer tissues and normal tissues. A total of 315 edges were obtained in the ceRNA network. lncRNA RP11-108K3.2 and mRNA ONECUT2 correlated with prognosis. Conclusion. The identified RNAs and constructed ceRNA network could provide great sources for the researches of therapy of the CRC. And the lncRNA RP11-108K3.2 and mRNA ONECUT2 may serve as a novel prognostic predictor of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To screen some RNAs that correlated with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods. Differentially expressed miRNAs, lncRNAs, and mRNAs between cancer tissues and normal tissues in CRC were identified using data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were performed to do the functional enrichment analysis. And a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was constructed which correlated with CRC. RNAs in this network were subjected to analyze the relationship with the patient prognosis. Results. A total of 688, 241, and 103 differentially expressed genes (diff-mRNA), diff-lncRNA, and diff-miRNA were obtained between cancer tissues and normal tissues. A total of 315 edges were obtained in the ceRNA network. lncRNA RP11-108K3.2 and mRNA ONECUT2 correlated with prognosis. Conclusion. The identified RNAs and constructed ceRNA network could provide great sources for the researches of therapy of the CRC. And the lncRNA RP11-108K3.2 and mRNA ONECUT2 may serve as a novel prognostic predictor of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of online applications of chiller fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) systems, a feature selection (FS) method based on grey similitude degree of incidence (GSDI) is proposed, in order not only to save initial sensor costs of online applications through reducing the number of sensors and selecting low-cost sensors but also to keep the excellent FDD performance. Firstly, under the constraints of online applications: low cost of measurement and high sensitivity to faults, 16 candidate features are determined. Secondly, the optimal number of features is determined based on mutual information (MI) technique. Thirdly, the specific feature subsets are determined based on GSDI. Finally, a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) is introduced as an evaluation tool to evaluate the FS results through its diagnostic performance. Seven typical faults of the chiller are concerned in this paper. The experimental data are from the ASHRAE RP-1043. The results show that the number of features is reduced effectively, meanwhile keeping the excellent FDD performance, i.e., the diagnostic correct rates exceed 95%; the misdiagnosis rates are lower than 0.5%; the false alarm rates are lower than 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new method of chiller fault diagnosis based on grey similitude relation analysis is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the comprehensive reference fault patterns are built by calculating weighted averages of reference fault patterns at multiple levels of severity. Secondly, the thresholds of grey similitude relation degrees are introduced to qualitatively identify the belonging classes (special faults) of unidentified fault patterns based on similitude relation analysis. Thirdly, the results are quantitatively diagnosed to determine severity levels of identified faults. Genetic algorithm (GA) is introduced to optimize weighted indexes at multiple levels of severity and thresholds of grey similitude relation degrees. Seven typical chiller faults are discussed in this paper. This method is validated using the experimental data from the ASHRAE RP-1043. The results show that this method can be applied for chiller faults diagnosis effectively, and the accuracies of seven typical faults are 92.5-100%. Compared with the methods using one level of severity to build reference fault pattern and only relying on the principle of maximum relation degree, the proposed method significantly improves accuracies which are improved 65% at most (ExcsOil). And the proposed method decreases the iteration times of calculating relation degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infections from microorganisms and parasites have been connected with either increased or decreased cancer risk. The objective of this study was to investigate whether infection by Echinococcus granulosus is associated with cancer risk. Methods: We assembled a pilot retrospective cohort of patients who were diagnosed as being infected by E. granulosus in Cyprus between 1930 and 2011. Age/gender- matched non-infected family members and neighbors were selected as references. Medical history was ascertained from each study subject through in-person interview. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to assess the association of being infected by E. granulosus with cancer risk. Results: Individuals with prior infection by E. granulosus (n = 249) were more likely to have cancer compared to those without infection (n = 753), 11.65% vs. 8.37% (p = 0.0492). Survival analysis also showed that subjects with prior infection had a higher risk for developing cancer. The hazards ratio (HR) was 1.595, [95% confidence interval (CI) between 1.008 and 2.525]. The risk ratio did not change significantly (HR = 1.536; 95% CI: 0.965-2.445) after adjusting for gender, year of birth, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and family history of cancer. Conclusions: Our study suggests that infection by E. granulosus may increase cancer risk. If this observation can be confirmed independently, further investigation of the mechanisms underlying the association is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the HIV-I model with nonlinear infection rate. By means of Dulac function, the completely qualitative analysis to this model are obtained. It is found that the nonlinear infection rate is harmless, and cannot affect the final development of the virus infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In a classic model, Giα proteins including Gi1α, Gi2α and Gi3α are important for transducing signals from Giα protein-coupled receptors (GiαPCRs) to their downstream cascades in response to hormones and neurotransmitters. Our previous study has suggested that Gi1α, Gi2α and Gi3α are also important for the activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 pathway by epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its family members. However, a genetic role of these Giα proteins in the activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) by EGF is largely unknown. Further, it is not clear whether these Giα proteins are also engaged in the activation of both the Akt/mTORC1 and ERK1/2 pathways by other growth factor family members. Additionally, a role of these Giα proteins in breast cancer remains to be elucidated. Results We found that Gi1/3 deficient MEFs with the low expression level of Gi2α showed defective ERK1/2 activation by EGFs, IGF-1 and insulin, and Akt and mTORC1 activation by EGFs and FGFs. Gi1/2/3 knockdown breast cancer cells exhibited a similar defect in the activations and a defect in in vitro growth and invasion. The Giα proteins associated with RTKs, Gab1, FRS2 and Shp2 in breast cancer cells and their ablation impaired Gab1's interactions with Shp2 in response to EGF and IGF-1, or with FRS2 and Grb2 in response to bFGF. Conclusions Giα proteins differentially regulate the activation of Akt, mTORC1 and ERK1/2 by different families of growth factors. Giα proteins are important for breast cancer cell growth and invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telomerase reactivation, which prevents telomere shortening and maintains cell viability, is crucial for the continued growth or progression of cancer cells. A minisatellite tandem repeat, MNS16A, located in the downstream of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene was recently identified and reported to have an effect on hTERT expression and telomerase activity. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the MNS16A variant is associated with risk of breast cancer development and metastasis. We genotyped MNS16A variant in hTERT in a case–control study of 1029 histologically confirmed breast cancer patients and 1107 cancer-free controls in Chinese women. The variant genotypes (302/271, 302/243 and 243/243) of MNS16A were associated with a significantly increased risk of breast cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.15–1.96], compared with the wild-type 302/302 genotype. In stratified analyses, we found that the 302/271 genotype was associated with a significantly increased risk of axillary lymph nodes metastasis (adjusted OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.05–4.33) compared with wild-type 302/302 genotype. These findings indicate that the MNS16A variant in the hTERT gene may contribute to the risk of breast cancer development and metastasis in Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]