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To meet the requirement of mobile robots to achieve high mobility and strong obstacle-crossing in complex and variable environment, a design scheme of passive transformable wheel-legged obstacle-crossing robot is proposed. The transformable wheel conversion process of the robot is obtained by external force operation, so no additional driver is required, which reduces the complexity of the mechanism. Firstly, based on the three-dimensional modeling of the whole robot, the structure, principle and force of the transformable wheel are analyzed, and then the structure optimization is carried out by taking the ratio of the triggering torque during the transformation process and radius before and after unfolding as the index. Afterwards, the force condition during the transformable stage of the robot is analyzed and the relevant parameters of the robot platform are adjusted to achieve stable obstacle crossing. Finally, kinematics simulation of transformation and obstacle-crossing process of the robot is carried out by using the Adams software, physical prototype is made and rationality of the structure design of the whole machine is verified by experiment.

Abstract Difficulty falling asleep is one of the typical insomnia symptoms. However, intervention therapies available nowadays, ranging from pharmaceutical to hi-tech tailored solutions, remain ineffective due to their lack of precise real-time sleep tracking, in-time feedback on the therapies, and an ability to keep people asleep during the night. This paper aims to enhance the efficacy of such an intervention by proposing a novel sleep aid system that can sense multiple physiological signals continuously and simultaneously control auditory stimulation to evoke appropriate brain responses for fast sleep promotion. The system, a lightweight, comfortable, and user-friendly headband, employs a comprehensive set of algorithms and dedicated own-designed audio stimuli. Compared to the gold-standard device in 883 sleep studies on 377 subjects, the proposed system achieves (1) a strong correlation (0.89 ± 0.03) between the physiological signals acquired by ours and those from the gold-standard PSG, (2) an 87.8% agreement on automatic sleep scoring with the consensus scored by sleep technicians, and (3) a successful non-pharmacological real-time stimulation to shorten the duration of sleep falling by 24.1 min. Conclusively, our solution exceeds existing ones in promoting fast falling asleep, tracking sleep state accurately, and achieving high social acceptance through a reliable large-scale evaluation.

Objective: This study aimed to optimize the processing technology of edible fungi and evaluate its application potential as flavoring agents in the food industry. Methods: The content of non-volatile flavor components of the samples was determined by ion chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, and the umami of the samples was evaluated by equal umami concentration. The volatile aroma components in the samples were detected by GC-MS, electronic nose and electronic tongue. The microstructure before and after Nano-pulverization was observed, and the experiment of increasing freshness and reducing salt was carried out. Results: After Nano-pulverization, the contents of umami amino acids, flavor nucleotides and organic acids in Stropharia rugosoannulata and A. bisporus increased significantly, and the types and quantities of volatile compounds increased significantly, while Nano-pulverization had little effect on the flavor components of Volvariella volvacea. The results of the electronic tongue showed that the pulverized samples were significantly improved in both umami and saltiness, the addition of 0.5% Nano-pulverization A. bisporus could increase the salt concentration by 0.28%, and the umami value was increased by 145%. Conclusion: Nano-pulverization technology can improve the taste of food. Nano-pulverized edible fungus powder can be used as an effective alternative to salt and flavor enhancers in the food manufacturing industry.

Abstract The RON receptor tyrosine kinase is an exceptionally interesting target in oncology and immunology. It is not only overexpressed in a wide variety of tumors but also has been shown to be expressed on myeloid cells associated with tumor infiltration, where it serves to dampen tumour immune responses and reduce the efficacy of anti-CTLA4 therapy. Potent and selective inhibitory antibodies to RON might therefore both inhibit tumor cell growth and stimulate immune rejection of tumors. We derived cloned and sequenced a new panel of exceptionally avid anti-RON antibodies with picomolar binding affinities that inhibit MSP-induced RON signaling and show remarkable potency in antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Antibody specificity was validated by cloning the antibody genes and creating recombinant antibodies and by the use of RON knock out cell lines. When radiolabeled with 89-Zirconium, the new antibodies 3F8 and 10G1 allow effective immuno-positron emission tomography (immunoPET) imaging of RON-expressing tumors and recognize universally exposed RON epitopes at the cell surface. The 10G1 was further developed into a novel bispecific T cell engager with a 15 pM EC50 in cytotoxic T cell killing assays.

In view of the problem that current context-aware recommender systems take users and systems as the main research direction and do not consider actual transportation network location characteristics,this article introduces a geographic information recommender system optimized by transportation network data. The system combines with transportation network data of geographic information in the context-aware recommender system to optimize the recommended results. Experimental results show that the recommended quality get improved significantly.

This paper presents a novel fast neighbor searching method. By using this method,fluid simulation based on smooth particle hydrodynamics(SPH) can be parallelized easily and run on graphic processing unit(GPU) with high efficiency. The neighbor searching method can search two or more kinds of particles,while saving their information in the same background grid. Ghost boundary particles are introduced to improve the accuracy of boundaries,which can enhance the fidelity of the fluid simulation. Experiments show that the proposed method is more efficient than the traditional SPH method based on GPU.

Abstract Background An increasing number of authors employing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and virtual histology (VH-IVUS) have investigated the effect of statin use on plaque volume (PV) and plaque composition. However, inconsistent results have been reported. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the appropriate regimen of statins to effectively stabilize vulnerable coronary plaques. Methods Online electronic databases were carefully searched for all relevant studies. We compared mean values of PV and plaque composition between baseline and follow-up in patients receiving statin therapy. We pooled treatment effects and calculated mean differences (MD) with the 95% confidence interval (CI) using a random-effects model. By stratified analyses, we explored the influence of clinical presentation, dose and duration of statin treatment, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels on the effects of statins. Results Seventeen studies involving 2,171 patients were analyzed. Statin therapy significantly decreased PV (−5.3 mm3; 95% CI: –3.3 mm3 to −7.2 mm3; P < 0.001), without heterogeneity. When considering the dose and duration of statins used, only subgroups employing a high dose and long duration demonstrated a significant reduction in PV (p < 0.001). A significant decrease in PV was noted if achieved LDL-C levels were p < 0.001). Statin treatment could induce a twofold decrease in PV in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared with that observed in patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP). A regressive trend was seen for necrotic core volume (MD: –2.1 mm3; 95% CI: –4.7 mm3 to 0.5 mm3, P = 0.11). However, statin use did not induce a significant change for fibrotic, fibro-fatty, or dense calcium compositions. Conclusions Our meta-analysis demonstrated that statin therapy (especially that involving a high dose and long duration and achieving

Abstract Background Daming capsule (DMC), a traditional Chinese formula, has a lipid-modulating action with reduced adverse side effects as compared with other lipid lowering compounds. Since endothelial dysfunction often accompanies the hyperlipidemic state, we hypothesize that DMC might restore endothelial dysfunction produced by a high-fat (HF) diet. Importantly, we also investigate possible mechanisms involved in mediating the effects of DMC on vascular reactivity. Methods Rats were divided into four groups: control, HF diet, HF mixed DMC diet, HF mixed atorvastatin (ATV) diet. After 30 days, the thoracic cavity was exposed to remove the thoracic aorta for (i) histological examination; (ii) measurement of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) by western blot; and (iii) tension study of thoracic aortic ring. Results HF diet induced significant attenuation in the contraction and relaxation of rat aortic rings. Treatment with DMC significantly improved the relaxation of the aortic rings as compared with those from HF rats (P < 0.05), which was abolished by a nonspecific NOS inhibitor L-NAME. Moreover DMC significantly restored the decrease in eNOS expression induced by HF diet. Similar results were found in histopathologic changes. DMC failed to restore the loss of vasocontraction of aorta explained by an impairment of ATP-sensitive K+ channels (KATP) on the structure and/or function. DMC exerted the same protective effect as ATV, a positive control drug, on vascular injury produced by HF diet. Conclusion DMC partially protects the aorta from HF-induced endothelial dysfunction via upregulation of the expression of eNOS.

Abstract Background The incidence of malignant melanoma (MM) was occurring at a faster rate than for most neoplasm worldwide, and melanoma metastasis is still the most formidable problem. So it is necessarily to find some biomarkers associated with melanoma metastasis. Methods In our study, 8 spontaneous lung metastatic mice models were created by B16F10 subcutaneously transplantation. The differential protein profiles of two kinds of subcutaneous transplanted tumor tissues, which was parental B16F10 (B16 group) and corresponding lung metastases (B16M group) were detected by two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS). Western blotting was used to validate the results, and the clinical significance of individual protein was detected furtherly in a set of human samples. Result In this study, thirty proteins were found to be differentially expressed (ratio > 2 or < -2, P < 0.01) and thirteen of them were identified by MS. Highly expressed proteins in B16M group included cytoskeleton/structure proteins (vimentin, gamma-actin, β-actin, laminin binding protein), the chaperone family of proteins (heavy-chain binding protein, Bip), immunoproteasome assembly (proteasome activator REG alpha) and others involved in glycolysis activity (PGK1, enolase, TPI, human skeletal muscle GAPDH) and protein transport (myoglobin). Vimentin was significantly up-regulated in B16M group compared with B16 group which was validated by western blotting. Immunohistochemistry was performed in a set of clinical samples, the results showed that over-expression of vimentin was frequently observed in primary melanoma patients with hematogenous metastasis (P < 0.05), not associated with lymph node metastasis (P > 0.05). The presence of TNM stage was a independent indicator of poor prognosis for melanoma patients (P = 0.004). Conclusion The aberrant immunohistochemical expression of vimentin in primary melanoma tissues may help to call attention for patients with high risk of hematogenous metastasis. That might be as a novel metastatic indicator for melanoma. In a word, vimentin is not only the dignostic marker but also the hematogenous metastasis predictor for melanomas clinically.