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This study presents a 3D pick-rock contact calculation method for conical picks, aiming to develop a predictive method with high accuracy and lithological tolerance for peak cutting force (PCF). The method is based on the projection profile method and D. L. Sikarskie stress distribution function. By integrating Griffith's theory with rock damage constitutive model, the energy relationship between the rock fracturing process and crack propagation process is analyzed. Furthermore, in order to accurately correct the PCF, the energy correction function (C-K f ) is proposed to calculate the damage intensity index (K e ), which accounts for the relationship between rock brittleness and rock damage elastic-plastic energy. To validate the method, it is compared with full-scale cutting tests and three existing models, and statistical analysis confirms its high lithological tolerance and accuracy, the present model has the highest R 2 of 0.90404, which is at least 12.5% higher relative to the mainstream models. Moreover, incorporating K e into the method further enhances its predictive capability., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Urban road traffic is one of the primary sources of carbon emissions. Previous studies have demonstrated the close relationship between traffic flow characteristics and carbon emissions (CO2). However, the impact of dynamic traffic distribution on carbon emissions is rarely empirically studied on the network level. To fill this gap, this study proposes a dynamic network carbon emissions estimation method. The network-level traffic emissions are estimated by combining macroscopic emission models and recent advances in dynamic network traffic flow modeling, namely, Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram. The impact of traffic distribution and the penetration of battery electric vehicles on total network emissions are further investigated using the Monte Carlo method. The results indicate the substantial effect of network traffic distribution on carbon emissions. Using the urban expressway network in Ningbo as an example, in the scenario of 100% internal combustion engine vehicles, increasing the standard deviation of link-level traffic density from 0 to 15 veh/km-ln can result in an 8.9% network capacity drop and a 15.5% reduction in network carbon emissions. This effect can be moderated as the penetration rate of battery electric vehicles increases. Based on the empirical and simulating evidence, different expressway pollution management strategies can be implemented, such as petrol vehicle restrictions, ramp metering, congestion pricing, and perimeter control strategies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The constitutive model and modulus parameter equivalence of shape memory alloy composites (SMAC) serve as the foundation for the structural dynamic modeling of composite materials, which has a direct impact on the dynamic characteristics and modeling accuracy of SMAC. This article proposes a homogenization method for SMA composites considering interfacial phases, models the interface stress transfer of three-phase cylinders physically, and derives the axial and shear stresses of SMA fiber phase, interfacial phase, and matrix phase mathematically. The homogenization method and stress expression were then used to determine the macroscopic effective modulus of SMAC as well as the stress characteristics of the fiber phase and interface phase of SMA. The findings demonstrate the significance of volume fraction and tensile pre-strain in stress transfer between the fiber phase and interface phase at high temperatures. The maximum axial stress in the fiber phase is 705.05 MPa when the SMA is fully austenitic and the pre-strain increases to 5%. At 10% volume fraction of SMA, the fiber phase's maximum axial stress can reach 1000 MPa. Ultimately, an experimental verification of the theoretical calculation method's accuracy for the effective modulus of SMAC lays the groundwork for the dynamic modeling of SMAC structures., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Huang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) is a highly effective reactive species in selectively oxidizing organic pollutants. However, it is still challenging to rationally design robust catalysts for the selective generation of 1 O 2 . Herein, the coordination and engineering architecture of the foam board-like CoSe 2 alloy were facilely constructed through a green solvent-free method and displayed almost 100% 1 O 2 production selectivity. The CoSe 2 alloy showed excellent catalytic ability for the efficient and fast removal of organic pollutants via peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation compared with previously reported cobalt-based catalysts. The CoSe 2 /PMS system exhibited strong resistance for a broad pH range (3.0-11.0) and various coexisting inorganic ions owing to the advantage of the strong bonding of Co-Se in CoSe 2 alloy. Mechanism studies revealed that 1 O 2 was the only reactive oxygen species in the CoSe 2 /PMS system. Theoretical calculations demonstrated that Co was the dominant adsorption site for PMS in CoSe 2 , and the production pathway of 1 O 2 was PMS* → *OH → *O → 1 O 2 . In addition, it was proved that *OH and *O served as the rate-determining steps for the formation of 1 O 2 by PMS activation on CoSe 2 alloy. These findings provide a rational strategy for preparing a series of low-cost transition metal-based alloy catalysts for PMS activation to achieve high-efficiency 1 O 2 production in the elimination of organic pollutants., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A suitable environment is essential for successful long-term cell culturing in vitro. Too high or too low temperature will affect the growth of cells, so we need to maintain the constant temperature of the cell culture environment. Usually, cells are cultured in a cell incubator, and the constant temperature is provided by the cell incubator. Recently, we have developed a multi-channel axon stretch growth bioreactor for rapid acquisition of autologous nerve tissue. Since the motor and controller are placed in the incubator for a long time, the service life of the equipment will be shortened or even damaged due to high humidity and weak acid environment. In order to enable the axon stretch growth bioreactor to culture cells independently, we designed a constant temperature control system for the device. Firstly, the simulation results show that the fuzzy PID control reduces the overshoot and improves the traditional PID control with large overshoot and low control precision. Then, the two control algorithms were applied to the multi-channel axon stretch growth bioreactor by STM32F4 microcontroller. The experimental data show that the fuzzy PID control algorithm has good control effect and can meet the requirement of constant temperature of cell growth. Finally, nerve cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells were successfully cultured in a cell culture amplification chamber under a constant temperature environment provided by a fuzzy PID controller, and well-developed axons could be seen. In the future, we may transplant stretch growth axons into living organisms to repair nerve damage., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Variations with respect to perspective, lighting, weather, and interference from dynamic objects may all have an impact on the accuracy of the entire system during autonomous positioning and during the navigation of mobile visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) robots. As it is an essential element of visual SLAM systems, loop closure detection plays a vital role in eradicating front-end-induced accumulated errors and guaranteeing the map's general consistency. Presently, deep-learning-based loop closure detection techniques place more emphasis on enhancing the robustness of image descriptors while neglecting similarity calculations or the connections within the internal regions of the image. In response to this issue, this article proposes a loop closure detection method based on similarity differences between image blocks. Firstly, image descriptors are extracted using a lightweight convolutional neural network (CNN) model with effective loop closure detection. Subsequently, the image pairs with the greatest degree of similarity are evenly divided into blocks, and the level of similarity among the blocks is used to recalculate the degree of the overall similarity of the image pairs. The block similarity calculation module can effectively reduce the similarity of incorrect loop closure image pairs, which makes it easier to identify the correct loopback. Finally, the approach proposed in this article is compared with loop closure detection methods based on four distinct CNN models with a recall rate of 100% accuracy; said approach performs significantly superiorly. The application of the block similarity calculation module proposed in this article to the aforementioned four CNN models can increase the recall rate's accuracy to 100%; this proves that the proposed method can successfully improve the loop closure detection effect, and the similarity calculation module in the algorithm has a certain degree of universality.

Orthogonal antisymmetric composite laminates embedded with shape memory alloys (SMAs) wires have the potential to improve the sound quality of vibro-acoustics by taking advantage of the special superelasticity, temperature phase transition, and pre-strain characteristics of SMAs. In this research, space discretion and mode decoupling were employed to establish a vibro-acoustic sound quality model of SMA composite laminates. The association between the structural material parameters of SMA composite laminates and the sound quality index is then approached through methodologies. Numerical analysis was implemented to discuss the effects of SMA tensile pre-strain, SMA volume fraction, and the ratio of resin-to-graphite in the matrix on the vibro-acoustic sound quality of SMA composite laminates within a temperature environment. Subsequently, the sound quality test for SMA composite laminates is thus completed. The theoretically predicted value appears to agree well with the experimental outcomes, which validates the accuracy and applicability of the dynamic modeling theory and method for the sound quality of SMA composite laminates. The results indicate that attempting to alter the SMA tensile pre-strain, SMA volume fraction, and matrix material ratio can be used to modify loudness, sharpness, and roughness, which provides new ideas and a theoretical foundation for the design of composite laminates with decent sound quality.

The performance of near-field acoustic holography (NAH) with a sparse sampling rate will be affected by spatial aliasing or inverse ill-posed equations. Through a 3D convolution neural network (CNN) and stacked autoencoder framework (CSA), the data-driven CSA-NAH method can solve this problem by utilizing the information from data in each dimension. In this paper, the cylindrical translation window (CTW) is introduced to truncate and roll out the cylindrical image to compensate for the loss of circumferential features at the truncation edge. Combined with the CSA-NAH method, a cylindrical NAH method based on stacked 3D-CNN layers (CS3C) for sparse sampling is proposed, and its feasibility is verified numerically. In addition, the planar NAH method based on the Paulis-Gerchberg extrapolation interpolation algorithm (PGa) is introduced into the cylindrical coordinate system, and compared with the proposed method. The results show that, under the same conditions, the reconstruction error rate of the CS3C-NAH method is reduced by nearly 50%, and the effect is significant.

Honeycomb core sandwich plates are widely used as a lightweight, high-strength sound insulation material. However, they do not perform well in specific frequency bands. Acoustic metamaterials can break the law of mass in specific frequency bands and have high sound transmission loss (STL); however, the resonance frequency is difficult to regulate. To solve this problem, this paper first proposes an infinitely large metamaterial honeycomb core sandwich plate, which can generate newly tuned piezoelectric resonance frequencies, and we study its STL. The structure has piezoelectric patches arranged in sub-wavelength arrays with inductance shunting circuits that are elastically connected to both sides of the honeycomb core sandwich plate. The effective dynamic mass density and effective dynamic bending stiffness of the metamaterial plates were obtained using the effective medium (EM) method. A theoretical model for the numerical calculation of oblique STL and diffuse-field STL was established by the structural bending wave method. The finite element simulation method was used to verify that the metamaterial plates can generate three peaks at 1147 Hz, 1481 Hz and 1849 Hz in oblique or diffuse-field STL curves, which reached 57 dB, 86 dB and 63 dB, respectively, and are significantly better than the plate rigidly connected with piezoelectric sheets and the bare plate with the same mass. In order to better understand the characteristics of STL, the explicit functions of the resonance frequencies were derived. Key influencing factors were analyzed, and the regulation law of new piezoelectric resonance frequencies was clarified.

Herein, we develop a novel strategy for preparing all-inorganic cesium lead halide (CsPbX 3 , X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite nanocrystals (NCs)@Zn-based metal-organic framework (MOF) composites through interfacial synthesis. The successful embedding of fluorescent perovskite NCs in Zn-MOFs is due to the in situ confined growth, which is attributed to the re-nucleation of water-triggered phase transformation from Cs 4 PbBr 6 to CsPbBr 3 . The controllable synthesis of mixed-halide based composites with various emission wavelength can be achieved by adding the desired amount of halide (Cl or I) salts in the re-nucleation process. More importantly, the anion exchange reaction is inhibited among various composites with different halogen atoms by being trapped in MOFs. Besides, a white light-emitting diode (WLED) is produced using a blue LED chip with the green-emitting and red-emitting composites, which has a color coordinate of (0.3291, 0.3272) and a wide color gamut. This work provides a novel route to achieving perovskite NCs growth in MOFs, which also can be extended to the other NCs embedded in frames as well., (© 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

The interest of this article lies in the sound radiation of shape memory alloy (SMA) composite laminates. Different from the traditional method of avoiding resonance sound radiation of composite laminates by means of structural parameter design, this paper explores the potential of adjusting the modal peak of the resonant acoustic radiation by using material characteristics of shape memory alloys (SMA), and provides a new idea for avoiding resonance sound radiation of composite laminates. For composite laminates embedded with pre-strained SMA, an innovation of vibration-acoustic modeling of SMA composite laminates considering pre-stain of SMA and thermal expansion force of graphite-epoxy resin is proposed. Based on the classical thin plate theory and Hamilton principle, the structural dynamic governing equation and the frequency equation of the laminates subjected to thermal environment are derived. The vibration sound radiation of composite laminates is calculated with Rayleigh integral. Effects of ambient temperature, pre-strain, SMA volume fraction, substrate ratio, and geometrical parameters on the sound radiation were analyzed. New laws of SMA material and pre-strain characteristics on sound radiation of composite laminates under temperature environment are revealed, which have theoretical and engineering functional significance for vibration and sound radiation control of SMA composite laminates.

A Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated strain 40Bstr34 T , isolated from a sediment sample from the West Pacific Ocean, was taxonomically characterized by using a polyphasic approach. The strain was phylogenetically close to Jiella aquimaris LZB041 T and Jiella endophytica CBS5Q-3 T , with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 98.5 and 97.1 %, respectively. The genome of strain 40Bstr34 T featured a G+C content of 65.7 % for a 5.8 Mb chromosome. Up-to-date bacterial core gene set analysis revealed that strain 40Bstr34 T represents one independent lineage with J.aquimaris LZB041 T . In silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain 40Bstr34 T and its phylogenetic neighbours ranged from 30.3-34.2 %, below the cutoff of 70 %. In addition, the corresponding average nucleotide identity values were between 81.8-83.7 %, which are lower than 95 % threshold. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain 40Bstr34 T were summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1   ω 6c and/or C 18 : 1   ω 7c ), cyclo-C 19 : 0   ω8 c and iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH, and ubiquinone-10 as the predominant respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. Based on the results of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genetic analyses, strain 40Bstr34 T is identified as representing a novel species of the genus Jiella for which the name Jiella pacifica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 40Bstr34 T (=JCM 33903 T =MCCC 1K04569 T ).

A Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated strain 501str8 T , was isolated from a sediment sample collected from the East Pacific Ocean. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain 501str8 T belonged to the genus Muricauda , with closely related type strains Muricauda aquimarina SW-63 T (98.5 %), Muricauda lutimaris SMK-108 T (98.3 %) and Muricauda ruestringensis B1 T (97.9 %). Up-to-date bacterial core gene set analysis revealed that strain 501str8 T represented one independent lineage with M. aquimarina SW-63 T . The average nucleotide identity values of strain 501str8 T with M. aquimarina SW-63 T and M. lutimaris SMK-108 T were 80.2 and 81.3 %, respectively. In silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain 501str8 T and M. aquimarina SW-63 T and M. lutimaris SMK-108 T were 22.8 and 32.9 %, respectively. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone-6, and iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C 15 : 1 G were the dominant cellular fatty acids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 42.8 mol%. Differential phylogenetic distinctiveness and chemotaxonomic differences, together with the phenotypic properties observed in this study, revealed that strain 501str8 T could be differentiated from closely related species. Therefore, we propose that strain 501str8 T represents a novel species of the genus Muricauda , for which the name Muricauda oceani sp. nov. is suggested. The type strain is 501str8 T (=JCM 33902 T =MCCC 1K04567 T ).

A gradient composite laminate that was composed of two‑phase fibers, a shape memory alloy (SMA), and graphite was prepared to investigate modal performance and improve vibration behavior. The stress‑strain relation of the single‑layer composite plates was derived from Kirchhoff thin plate theory and the material constitutive of the SMA. A gradient distribution model and the eigenvalue equations of gradient composite laminates were developed. The influence of the fiber component content gradient distribution, pre‑strain, the two‑phase fiber volume fraction, and geometric parameters on the modal performance was analyzed. This study provides a method to avoid the structural resonance of composite laminates that are embedded with an SMA through the gradient distribution of two‑phase fiber content that leads to the interaction of the material properties.

A Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated IO390501 T , was isolated from a sea water sample from the Indian Ocean and taxonomically characterized using a polyphasic approach. The strain is phylogenetically close to ' Devosia lucknowensis ' L15 and Devosia chinhatensis IPL18 T , with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 97.7 and 97.4 %, respectively. The genome of IO390501 T has a DNA G+C content of 61.9 mol% for the 3.9 Mb chromosome. Genome-based phylogenetic trees indicated that IO390501 T clusters as an independent lineage with ' D. lucknowensis ' L15. Genomic relatedness of in silico DNA-DNA hybridization between IO390501 T and phylogenetic neighbours ranged from 18.8 to 21.5 %, below the cutoff of 70 %, and corresponding average nucleotide identity values were between 71.4 and 79.0 %, lower than the 95.0 % threshold. The predominant cellular fatty acids of IO390501 T are summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1 ω7 c / C18  : 1 ω6 c ) and C 16  :  0 . IO390501 T contains ubiquinone-10 as the sole respiratory quinone, and phosphatidylglycerol and glycolipids as the major polar lipids. On the basis of the results of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genetic analyses, strain IO390501 T represents a novel species of the genus Devosia for which the name Devosia indica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IO390501 T .

A Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated strain 40Bstr401 T , was isolated from a sediment sample collected from the western Pacific Ocean. Analysis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain 40Bstr401 T belongs to the genus Muricauda and is closely related to type strains Muricauda antarctica Ar-22 T (98.2 %), Muricauda taeanensis 105 T (98.2 %) and Muricauda beolgyonensis BB-My12 T (97.4 %). The average nucleotide identity values for 40Bstr401 T with M. antarctica Ar-22 T and M. taeanensis 105 T are 79.3 % and 78.8 %, respectively. The in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain 40Bstr401 T and M. antarctica Ar-22 T and M. taeanensis 105 T are 26.7 and 26.6 %, respectively. The major isoprenoid quinone of 40Bstr401 T is MK-6, and iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C 15 : 0 are the dominant cellular fatty acids. The major polar lipids are phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified amino lipids and two unidentified lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA is 42.9 mol%. Its phylogenetic distinctiveness and chemotaxonomic differences, together with the phenotypic properties observed in this study, indicate that strain 40Bstr401 T can be differentiated from closely related species. Therefore, we propose strain 40Bstr401 T represents a novel species in the genus Muricauda , for which the name Muricauda sediminis sp. nov. is suggested. The type strain is 40Bstr401 T (=MCCC 1K04568 T =KCTC 82139 T ).

Strain IO390502 T , isolated from surface seawater in the Indian Ocean, was characterised using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain IO390502 T belongs to the genus Paracoccus and is closely related to Paracoccus seriniphilus DSM 14827 T (97.6%), followed by P. zeaxanthinifaciens JCM 21774 T (97.5%), P. homiensis DSM 17862 T (97.3%), P. marcusii DSM 11574 T (97.2%), P. haeundaensis BC 74171 T (97.0%) and P. carotinifaciens E-396 T (97.0%). Cells are Gram-negative, aerobic, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-accumulating, motile, rod-shaped, and forms creamy-white colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 25-30 °C, pH 5-8, and in the presence of 3-8% NaCl. The genome of strain IO390502 T has a G+C content of 64.9 mol% and a 3.5 Mb chromosome. The in silico DNA-DNA hybridisation and average nucleotide identity values between strain IO390502 T and the three closely related taxa, P. seriniphilus DSM 14827 T , P. zeaxanthinifaciens JCM 21774 T and P. homiensis DSM 17862 T , are 19.6%, 21.9% and 20.6%, and 76.0%, 79.9% and 77.8%, respectively. Phosphatidylglycerol is the major lipid present, ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) is the sole isoprenoid quinone, and the major cellular fatty acid is C 18:1 ω7c. Based on data from phenotypic tests and genotypic differences between strain IO390502 T and its close phylogenetic relatives, strain IO390502 T represents a new species belonging to the genus Paracoccus, for which the name Paracoccus indicus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IO390502 T (= JCM 32637 T  = CCTCC AB 2018071 T ).

Inappropriate cruising speed, such as speeding, is one of the major contributors to the road safety, which increases both the quantitative number and severity of traffic accidents. Previous studies have indicated that traffic congestion is one of the primary causes of drivers' frustration and aggression, which may lead to inappropriate speed choice. In this study, the large taxi floating car data (FCD) was used to empirically evaluate how traffic congestion-related negative moods, defined as state aggressiveness, affected drivers' speed choice. The indirect effect of traffic delay on the cruising speed adjustment through the state aggressiveness was assessed through the mediation analysis. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis was performed to explore the effect of driver type, value of time, and working duration on the mediation role of state aggressiveness. The results proved that the state aggressiveness was the mediator of the relationship between travel delays and driving speed adjustment, and the mediation role was different across various driver types. As compared to the aggressive drivers, the normal drivers and the steady drivers tended to behave more aggressively after experiencing non-recurrent congestion during the early stage of the trips. When the value of time was high, steady drivers were more likely to adjust their speed choice although the effect was not statistically significant for other driver types. The validation results indicated that the speed model incorporating state aggressiveness could better predict the travel time than the traditional speed model that only considering the specific expected speed distribution. The prediction results for the manifest indicators of state aggressiveness, such as the maximum speed and the speed deviation, also demonstrated a reasonable reflection of the field data., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The 3 objectives of this study are to (1) identify the driving style characteristics of taxi drivers in Shanghai and New York City (NYC) using taxi Global Positioning System (GPS) data and make a comparative analysis; (2) explore the influence of different driving style characteristics on the frequency of speeding (who and how?) and (3) explore the influence of driving style characteristics, road attributes, and environmental factors on the speeding rate (when, where, and how?) Methods: This study proposes a driver-road-environment identification (DREI) method to investigate the determinant factors of taxi speeding violations. Driving style characteristics, together with road and environment variables, were obtained based on the GPS data and auxiliary spatiotemporal data in Shanghai and NYC., Results: The daily working hours of taxi drivers in Shanghai (18.6 h) was far more than in NYC (8.5 h). The average occupancy speed of taxi drivers in Shanghai (21.3 km/h) was similar to that of NYC (20.3 km/h). Speeders in both cities had shorter working hours and longer daily driving distance than other taxi drivers, though their daily income was similar. Speeding drivers routinely took long-distance trips (>10 km) and preferred relatively faster routes. Length of segments (1.0-1.5 km) and good traffic condition were associated with high speeding rates, whereas central business district area and secondary road were associated with low speeding rates. Moreover, many speeding violations were identified between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. in both Shanghai and NYC and the worst period was between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. in both cities., Conclusions: Characteristics of drivers, road attributes, and environment variables should be considered together when studying driver speeding behavior. Findings of this study may assist in stipulating relevant laws and regulations such as stricter offense monitoring in the early morning, long segment supervision, shift rule regulation, and working hour restriction to mitigate the risk of potential crashes.

Background and Aim: The aim of our study was to investigate the immunomodulatory effect and short-term efficacy and long-term prognosis of decompensated liver cirrhosis patients caused by hepatitis B after a double transplantation with human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs)., Methods: Fifty inpatients were recruited and given the same medical treatments, receiving hUCMSCs injection intravenously. Fifty-three patients (Group B) matched for age, sex, and baseline alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, total bilirubin, prothrombin time, and model for end-stage liver disease score and Child-Pugh classification, acted as the control group., Results: Interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha levels markedly decreased, and interleukin-10 level apparently increased in Group A at 2 and 4 weeks after treatment. Transforming growth factor beta in Group A increased more remarkably at 2 weeks after treatment. T4 cells and Treg cells in Group A were apparently higher than those in Group B at 2 and 4 weeks after treatment, and T8 cells and B cells were significantly lower than those in Group B. Aspartate aminotransferase levels in Group A were dramatically declining at 8 and 12 weeks after treatment. Levels of albumin, total bilirubin, and prothrombin time in Group A were apparently improved from 4 to 12 weeks after treatment. The improvements in model for end-stage liver disease and Child-Pugh scores in Group A were notably superior to those in Group B from 4 to 36 weeks after treatment. There were no remarkable differences in the incidence of developing liver failure throughout the follow-up period, but the mortality rate of Group A was lower than that of Group B., Conclusion: This therapeutic method may be an appropriate choice for patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis., (© 2018 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

BACKGROUND Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key factors in malignant tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. However, the effect of CAFs autophagy on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells is not clear. In this study, the growth effect of TNBC cells regulated by CAFs autophagy was evaluated. MATERIAL AND METHODS CAFs were obtained from invasive TNBC tumors and identified by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining assay. CAFs were co-cultured with TNBC cells, and migration and invasion were evaluated by Matrigel-coated Transwell and Transwell inserts. TNBC cells growth was detected by MTT assay, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulated by CAFs was evaluated by Western blot assay. RESULTS CAFs were identified by the high expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) protein. Autophagy-relevant Beclin 1 and LC3-II/I protein conversion levels in CAFs were higher than those in NFs (P<0.05). TNBC cells migration, invasion, and proliferation levels were significantly improved in the CAFs-conditioned medium (CAFs-CM) group, compared with the other 3 groups (P<0.05). TNBC cells vimentin and N-cadherin protein levels were upregulated and E-cadherin protein level was downregulated in the CAFs-CM group compared with the control group (P<0.05). Further study indicated b-catenin and P-GSK-3β protein levels, which are the key proteins in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, were upregulated in the CAFs-CM group compared with the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrated CAFs autophagy can enhance TNBC cell migration, invasion, and proliferation, and CAFs autophagy can induce TNBC cells to engage in the EMT process through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.