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BACKGROUND: The inverse problem algorithm (IPA) uses mathematical calculations to estimate the expectation value of a specific index according to patient risk factor groups. The contributions of particular risk factors or their cross-interactions can be evaluated and ranked by their importance. OBJECTIVE: This paper quantified the potential risks from multiple biological factors by integrated case studies in clinical diagnosis via the IPA technique. Acting as artificial intelligence field component, this technique constructs a quantified expectation value from multiple patients’ biological index series, e.g., the optimal trigger timing for CTA, a particular drug in blood concentration data, the risk for patients with clinical syndromes. METHODS: Common biological indices such as age, body surface area, mean artery pressure, and others are treated as risk factors upon their normalization to the range from -1.0 to +1.0, with a non-dimensional zero point 0.0 corresponding to the average risk factor index. The patients’ quantified indices are re-arranged into a large data matrix. Next, the inverse and column matrices of the compromised numerical solution are constructed. RESULTS: This paper discusses quasi-Newton and Rosenbrock analyses performed via the STATISTICA program to solve the above inverse problem, yielding the specific expectation value in the form of a multiple-term nonlinear semi-empirical equation. The extensive background, including six previous publications of these authors’ team on IPA, was comprehensively re-addressed and scrutinized, focusing on limitations, stumbling blocks, and validity range of the IPA approach as applied to various tasks of preventive medicine. Other key contributions of this study are detailed estimations of the effect of risk factors’ coupling/cross-interactions on the IPA computations and the convergence rate of the derived semi-empirical equation viz. the final constant term. CONCLUSION: The main findings and practical recommendations are considered useful for preventive medicine tasks concerning potential risks of patients with various clinical syndromes.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot smoking cessation service in an emergency department (ED) clinical observation unit.STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive case series review was undertaken of smoking cessation service patients in the short-stay unit of an acute hospital in Singapore from July 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019.METHODS: Upon admission, ED nurses screen all patients regarding their current smoking status and implement the 5 A's framework, which involves the steps of Ask-Advise-Assess-Assist-Arrange. Patients in the "contemplation" and "preparation" stages were offered the following components: (1) a bedside counseling session by a pharmacist and (2) a follow-up appointment at an outpatient smoking cessation clinic. Postdischarge follow-up telephone calls at 1, 6, and 12 months were carried out as part of the study data collection to obtain abstinence information.RESULTS: Forty-seven patients were included in the study; the majority were male (n = 41; 87.2%). The median numbers of cigarettes smoked per day at baseline, 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months were 14, 5, 3, and 5, respectively. The overall point-prevalence abstinence rates over the same follow-up time points were 26.5%, 38.7%, and 31.3%, respectively. The proportions of patients lost to follow-up at 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months were 27.7%, 34.0%, and 31.9%, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Given the small sample and high number of uncontactable patients, more research is needed to assess whether the trend toward increasing point-prevalence abstinence rate over time and the trend toward decreasing median number of cigarettes smoked are observed in a larger sample. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

We present a study of the nuclear-medium induced transverse momentum broadening of particle production in future electron-ion-collision~(EIC) experiments. By considering the multiple scattering between hard partons and cold nuclear medium within the higher-twist factorization framework in perturbative QCD, we calculate the transverse momentum broadening of single hadron production in semi-inclusive measurements, as well as the nuclear enhancement of the transverse momentum imbalance for di-hadron and heavy-meson pair productions. In particular, a kinematics dependent non-perturbative jet transport coefficient $\hat q=\hat q(x,Q^2)$ extracted in a global analysis of the current data, together with its uncertainty determined with a Hessian method, are input into our calculations and are available for the community. Significant kinematic and color-state dependences of the nuclear induced broadening/imbalance are predicted. Our results indicate that the future EIC measurements are able to provide powerful constraints on the kinematic dependence of the transport coefficient $\hat q$ and thus greatly facilitate the jet tomography of cold nuclear medium., 16 pages, 15 figures

A metallacycle-based porous crystal with intrinsic cavities could efficiently steer CO2-to-CH4 electrocatalytic conversion by the synergic effect of size-adaptivity and confined microenvironment.

In this paper, we give a survey of some recent progress in terms of verifying Carleson measures; this includes the difference between two definitions of a Carleson measure, the Bergman tree condition, the T1 condition for Besov-Sobolev spaces on a complex ball, vector-valued Carleson measures, Carleson measures in strongly pseudoconvex domains and reverse Carleson measures.

Epidermal Growth Factor-like repeats and Discoidin I-Like Domains 3 (EDIL3) is a secretory protein that play important roles in embryonic development and various illnesses such as cancer. However, the biological function of EDIL3 in gastric cancer (GC) is still unclear. In this study, the GEPIA, HPA, MethSurv, SMART, STRING, GeneMANIA, LinkedOmics TIMER, TIMER2.0, TISIDB, and RNAactDrug databaseswere used to comprehensively analyze the roles of EDIL3 in GC. To validate the in silico findings, EDIL3 expression was measured in our collected GC tissues. Meanwhile, several in vitro experiments were performed to test the function of EDIL3 in GC. We found that EDIL3 was highly expressed in GC and associated with adverse clinical features. In vitro assays revealed that EDIL3 promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells. The functions of EDIL3 and co-expression genes were significantly associated with extracellular structure organization and extracellular matrix receptor interaction. EDIL3 expression was positively associated with numerous tumour-infiltrating immune cells and their biomarkers. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that EDIL3 might function as an oncogene and is associated with immune infiltration in GC. EDIL3 could be used as a potential therapeutic target for GC.

We study Toeplitz operators from Hardy spaces to weighted Bergman spaces in the unit ball of Cn. Toeplitz operators are closely related to many classical mappings, such as composition operators, the Volterra type integration operators and Carleson embeddings. We characterize the boundedness and compactness of Toeplitz operators from Hardy spaces Hp to weighted Bergman spaces A for the different values of p and q in the unit ball.

A comprehensive review of applying Taguchi’s optimization methodology to medical facilities was evaluated in this study. Taguchi’s optimization methodology is one kind of robust designation and is reputed for integrating multiple factors to pursue one goal. According to Taguchi’s suggestion, the efficient and reliable arrangement of experimental groups with numerous factors shortened the observed timing and provided bountiful statistical data. Although this method is widely used in mechanical, civil, and chemical engineering fields, it became adopted in medical facilities only in the last decade. Most of Taguchi’s analyses focused on optimizing the imaging quality for diagnosis. The medical facilities include regular X-ray, cardiac X-ray, CT (computed tomography), CTA (computed tomography angiography), LINAC (medical linear accelerator), or gamma camera scans. The images were all manipulated according to various radiation-induced interactions; thus, the optimization process of imaging resolution can offer an essential contribution to this kind of facility. In this study, we summarized the Taguchi-related papers in medical facilities and evaluated common principles in organizing the unique orthogonal array, assigning various signal-to-noise ratios, using quantified gauges, and ranking or grading the obtained imaging quality in the datum analysis process. The further elaboration on how to preset the user demanded goal in the optimization process, the necessity of focusing on cross interaction among factors, dynamic analysis superiority over static one preset in Taguchi’s analysis, and how to preset an ideal signal-to-noise ratio to satisfy the researcher demand, the importance of verification or testification in clinical cases or the assistance of ANOVA to depict a complete concept of applying Taguchi’s optimization methodology.

Lei Ran,* Shi-Ya Peng,* Wei Wang, Qian Wu, Yuan-Chao Li, Ru-Peng Wang Department of Rheumatology and Dermatology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, Chongqing, 430037, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ru-Peng Wang, Department of Rheumatology and Dermatology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, Chongqing, 430037, People’s Republic of China, Email wrp71@163.comPurpose: Developing the ideal drug or dressing is a serious challenge to controlling the occurrence of antibacterial infection during wound healing. Thus, it is important to prepare novel nanofibers for a wound dressing that can control bacterial infections. In our study, the novel self-assembled nanofibers of benzalkonium bromide with bioactive peptide materials of IKVAV and RGD were designed and fabricated.Methods: Different drug concentration effects of encapsulation efficacy, swelling ratio and strength were determined. Its release profile in simulated wound fluid and its cytotoxicity were studied in vitro. Importantly, the antibacterial efficacy, inhibition of biofilm formation effect and wound healing against MRSA infections in vitro and in vivo were performed after observing the tissue toxicity in vivo.Results: It was found that the optimized drug load (0.8%) was affected by the encapsulation efficacy, swelling ratio, and strength. In addition, the novel nanofibers with average diameter (222.0 nm) and stabile zeta potential (− 11.2 mV) have good morphology and characteristics. It has a delayed released profile in the simulated wound fluid and good biocompatibility with L929 cells and most tissues. Importantly, the nanofibers were shown to improve antibacterial efficacy, inhibit biofilm formation, and lead to accelerated wound healing following infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.Conclusion: These data suggest that novel nanofibers could effectively shorten the wound-healing time by inhibiting biofilm formation, which make it promising candidates for treatment of MRSA-induced wound infections.Keywords: nanofibers, wound enclosure, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, biofilm, antibacterial effect

Background Epidermal Growth Factor-like repeats and Discoidin I-Like Domains 3 (EDIL3) is a secretory protein that play important roles in embryonic development and various illnesses such as cancer. However, the biological function of EDIL3 in gastric cancer (GC) is still unclear. The objective of this research was to explore the role and potential mechanism of EDIL3 in GC. Methods EDIL3 expression was analyzed using the GEPIA and HPA databases. The prognostic significance of EDIL3 was assessed via the Kaplan–Meier Plotter database. These results were proved by qRT-PCR, Western blot, and Immunohistochemical in our collected GC tissues. To test the function of EDIL3 in GC, shRNA was used to knockdown the EDIL3 expression in two GC lines and several functional experiments were performed. Genetic alterations and DNA methylation were investigated via the cBioPortal, COSMIC, MethSurv, and SMART databases. Upstream regulators of EDIL3 were predicted using RegNetwork. The STRING and GeneMANIA databases were used to analyze the interactive networks for EDIL3. Differential genes correlated with EDIL3 in GC were obtained using LinkedOmics. The relationship between EDIL3 and immune features was analyzed using TIMER, TIMER2.0, and TISIDB databases. The relationship between EDIL3 and drug response was assessed by RNAactDrug database. Results The EDIL3 was highly expressed in GC and associated with adverse clinical features. In vitro assays revealed that EDIL3 promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells. 2.7% of patients harbored EDIL3 mutations and the missense substitution was the most common type. Five CpG sites of EDIL3 were positively related to prognosis in GC. The functions of EDIL3 and co-expression genes were significantly associated with extracellular structure organization and extracellular matrix receptor interaction. EDIL3 expression was positively associated with numerous tumour-infiltrating immune cells and their biomarkers. EDIL3 expression was associated with sensitivity of some GC chemotherapy and targeted drugs. Conclusions This study demonstrated that EDIL3 might function as an oncogene and is associated with immune infiltration in GC. EDIL3 could be used as a potential therapeutic target for GC.

We study the impact of the in-medium mass splitting between bosons and anti-bosons on their spectra and elliptic flow. The in-medium mass splitting may cause a separation in the transverse momentum spectra, as well as a division in the elliptic flow between bosons and anti-bosons. The magnitude of this effect becomes greater as the in-medium mass splitting increases. With the increasing rapidity, the splitting effect of the spectra increases and the splitting effect of the elliptic flow decreases. These phenomena may provide a way to differentiate whether the influences on boson and anti-boson in the medium are consistent., 12 pages, 8 figures

Exoelectrogens possess extraordinary degradation ability to various pollutants through extracellular electron transfer (EET). Compared with extracellular electron release process, intracellular electron transfer network is not yet fully recognized. Especially, controversy remains regarding the role of CymA, an essential electron-transfer hub of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, in EET process. In this study, we thoroughly surveyed the intracellular transfer strategies during EET through dye decolorization. Loss of CymA severely impaired the reduction ability of S. oneidensis MR-1 to methyl orange (MO), but hardly affected the decolorization of aniline blue (AB). Complement of cymA fully restored the MO decolorization ability of ΔcymA mutant. The contribution of CymA to extracellular decolorization was subjected to MO concentrations. The defect in the decolorization ability of ΔcymA mutant was not evident at low MO concentration, but severe at high MO concentration. Further investigation revealed that EET rate determined the significance of CymA in the extracellular bioremediation by S. oneidensis MR-1. Coupled with MO concentrations increasing from 15 to 120 mg/L, the initial electron transfer rates of S. oneidensis MR-1 increased accordingly from 2.69 × 10

Due to the development of sequencing technology and the great reduction in sequencing costs, an increasing number of plant genomes have been assembled, and numerous genomes have revealed large amounts of variations. However, a single reference genome does not allow the exploration of species diversity, and therefore the concept of pan-genome was developed. A pan-genome is a collection of all sequences available for a species, including a large number of consensus sequences, large structural variations, and small variations including single nucleotide polymorphisms and insertions/deletions. A simple linear pan-genome does not allow these structural variations to be intuitively characterized, so graph-based pan-genomes have been developed. These pan-genomes store sequence and structural variation information in the form of nodes and paths to store and display species variation information in a more intuitive manner. The key role of graph-based pan-genomes is to expand the coordinate system of the linear reference genome to accommodate more regions of genetic diversity. Here, we review the origin and development of graph-based pan-genomes, explore their application in plant research, and further highlight the application of graph-based pan-genomes for future plant breeding.

The thyroid biokinetic model of radioactive I-131 was re-evaluated using a refined nine-compartmental model and applied to twelve thyroid cancer patients. In contrast to the simplified four-compartmental model regulated by the ICRP-56 report, the revised model included nine compartments specified in the ICRP-128 report, namely, oral, stomach, body fluid, thyroid, whole body, liver, kidney, bladder, and remainder (i.e., the whole body minus kidney and bladder). A self-developed program run in MATLAB was designed to solve the nine first-order simultaneous linear differential equations. The model was realized in standard and simplified versions. The latter neglected two feedback paths (body fluid to oral, i31, and kidney to the whole body, i87) to reduce computations. Accordingly, the biological half-lives for the major compartments (thyroid and body fluid + whole body) were 36.00 ± 15.01, 15.04 ± 5.63, 34.33 ± 15.42, and 14.83 ± 5.91 of standard and simplified version. The correlations between theoretical and empirical data for each patient were quantified by the dimensionless AT (agreement) index and, the ATtot index integrated each individual AT of a specific organ of one patient. Since small AT values indicated a closer correlation, the obtained range of ATtot (0.048 ± 0.019) proved the standard model’s reliability and high accuracy, while the simplified one yielded slightly higher ATtot (0.058 ± 0.023). The detailed outcomes among various compartments of twelve patients were calculated and compared with other researchers’ work. The correlation results on radioactive I-131 evolution in thyroid cancer patients’ bodies are instrumental in viewpoint of radioactive protection of patients and radiological personnel.

Simultaneous removal of SO2, NOx and Hg0 using O3 and corn stalk bio-charcoal (CR)/coconut shell activated carbon (CS) was compared in a fixed bed. The effects of temperature, adsorption time and ratio of O3/NO on the removal efficiency of NO, Hg0 and SO2 by CR/CS were studied, and the CR and CS was characterized and analyzed. The results indicated that the oxidation rate of NO and Hg0 increased with the increase of O3/NO ratio, while the oxidation rate of SO2 first increased and then decreased slightly. The increase of temperature inhibits the oxidation of NO but promotes the oxidation of Hg0 and SO2. At 140°C and O3/NO ratio was 1.4, the oxidation rate of NO, Hg0 and SO2 is 99%, 78.6% and 3.5%, respectively. As O3/NO ratio increased from 0.4 to 1.4, the removal efficiency of CR for NOx increased from 4.6% to 93%, and CS increases from 4.5% to 79%. CR and CS can reduce part of NO2 and increase NO concentration at the outlet. NOx adsorption performance on CR is relatively better, while those of Hg0 and SO2 on CS are relatively stronger. CS has stronger physical adsorption capacity than CR. The relative content of oxygen-containing functional groups C-O and C=O on the surface of CR is higher than that of CS, while its relative content of COOH and O=C-O is lower.

A Gram-stain positive, aerobic, rod-shaped actinobacterial strain designated as JXJ CY 27-2

BACKGROUND: Radiologists widely use the minimum detectable difference (MDD) concept for inspecting the imaging quality and quantify the spatial resolution of scans. OBJECTIVE: This study adopted Taguchi’s dynamic algorithm to optimize the MDD of cardiac CT angiography (CTA) using a V-shaped line gauge and three PMMA phantoms (50, 70, and 90 kg). METHODS: The phantoms were customized in compliance with the ICRU-48 report, whereas the V-shaped line gauge was indigenous to solidify the cardiac CTA scan image quality by two adjacent peaks along the V-shaped slit. Accordingly, the six factors A-F assigned in this study were A (kVp), B (mAs), C (CT pitch), D (FOV), E (iDose), and F (reconstruction filter). Since each factor could have two or three levels, eighteen groups of factor combinations were organized according to Taguchi’s dynamic algorithm. Three welltrained radiologists ranked the CTA scan images three times for three different phantoms. Thus, 27 (3 × 3 × 3) ranked scores were summed and averaged to imply the integrated performance of one specific group, and eventually, 18 groups of CTA scan images were analyzed. The unique signal-to-noise ratio (S/N, dB) and sensitivity in the dynamic algorithm were calculated to reveal the true contribution of assigned factors and clarify the situation in routine CTA diagnosis. RESULTS: Minimizing the cross-interactions among factors, the optimal factor combination was found to be as follows: A (100 kVp), B (600 mAs), C (pitch 0.200 mm), D (FOV 280 mm), E (iDose 5), and F (filter XCA). The respective MDD values were 2.15, 2.32, and 1.87 mm for 50, 70, and 90 kg phantoms, respectively. The MDD of the 90 kg phantom had the most precise spatial resolution, while that of the 70 kg phantom was the worst. CONCLUSION: The Taguchi static and dynamic optimization algorithms were compared, and the latter’s superiority was substantiated.

Carvedilol is a drug for the treatment of congestive heart failure whose solubility in solvent and crystallization process are poorly understood. In this study, the solubilities of carvedilol in wa...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in countless infections and caused millions of deaths since its emergence in 2019. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated mortality is caused by uncontrolled inflammation, aberrant immune response, cytokine storm, and an imbalanced hyperactive immune system. The cytokine storm further results in multiple organ failure and lung immunopathology. Therefore, any potential treatments should focus on the direct elimination of viral particles, prevention strategies, and mitigation of the imbalanced (hyperactive) immune system. This review focuses on cytokine secretions of innate and adaptive immune responses against COVID-19, including interleukins, interferons, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and other chemokines. In addition to the review focus, we discuss potential immunotherapeutic approaches based on relevant pathophysiological features, the systemic immune response against SARS-CoV-2, and data from recent clinical trials and experiments on the COVID-19-associated cytokine storm. Prompt use of these cytokines as diagnostic markers and aggressive prevention and management of the cytokine storm can help determine COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality. The prophylaxis and rapid management of the cytokine storm appear to significantly improve disease outcomes. For these reasons, this study aims to provide advanced information to facilitate innovative strategies to survive in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a common pulmonary complication observed in preterm infants that is composed of multifactorial pathogenesis. Current strategies, albeit successful in moderately reducing morbidity and mortality of BPD, failed to draw overall satisfactory conclusion. Here, using a typical mouse model mimicking hallmarks of BPD, we revealed that both cord blood-derived mononuclear cells (CB-MNCs) and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) are efficient in alleviating BPD. Notably, infusion of CB-MNCs has more prominent effects in preventing alveolar simplification and pulmonary vessel loss, restoring pulmonary respiratory functions and balancing inflammatory responses. To further elucidate the underlying mechanisms within the divergent therapeutic effects of UC-MSC and CB-MNC, we systematically investigated the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)–microRNA (miRNA)–messenger RNA (mRNA) and circular RNA (circRNA)–miRNA–mRNA networks by whole-transcriptome sequencing. Importantly, pathway analysis integrating Gene Ontology (GO)/Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG)/gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) method indicates that the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network is mainly related to the regulation of GTPase activity (GO: 0043087), extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1) and ERK2 signal cascade (GO: 0070371), chromosome regulation (GO: 0007059), and cell cycle control (GO: 0044770). Through rigorous selection of the lncRNA/circRNA-based ceRNA network, we demonstrated that the hub genes reside in UC-MSC- and CB-MNC-infused networks directed to the function of cell adhesion, motor transportation (Cdk13, Lrrn2), immune homeostasis balance, and autophagy (Homer3, Prkcd) relatively. Our studies illustrate the first comprehensive mRNA–miRNA–lncRNA and mRNA–miRNA–circRNA networks in stem cell-infused BPD model, which will be valuable in identifying reliable biomarkers or therapeutic targets for BPD pathogenesis and shed new light in the priming and conditioning of UC-MSCs or CB-MNCs in the treatment of neonatal lung injury.

Background: This study optimized the minimum detectable difference (MDD) of gamma camera SPECT images via the Taguchi analysis and an indigenous V-shaped slit gauge. The latter was customized to satisfy the Taguchi analysis’ quantitative requirements. Methods: The slit gauge MDD quantification of derived SPECT images was based on a pair of overlapped-peak profiles obtained from a tangent slice of the V-shaped slit with two adjacent peaks. Using the revised Student’s t-test with a multiplied constant, 1.96, the MDD was defined as the minimum distance between two peak centers, which deviation was large enough to ensure a 95% confidence level of their separation. In total, eighteen combinations of six gamma camera scanned factors (A-F), namely (A) collimator, (B) detector to target distance, (C) total counts, (D) acquired energy width, (E) Matrix size, and (F) zoom of collected ROI with each of two or three levels were organized into 18 groups to collect the slit gauge images according to Taguchi L18 orthogonal array. Next, three well-trained radiologists ranked the scanned gauge images to derive the fish-bone-plot of signal-to-noise ratio (S/N, dB) and correlated ANOVA. Results: The quantified MDD was proposed to verify the optimal suggestion of gamma camera scanned protocol, and obtained the MDD as 8.44, 7.88, and 7.40 mm for the 2nd group of the original L18, conventional, and optimal presets, respectively. Conclusions: The optimal preset of gamma camera was achieved according to Taguchi analysis. The MDD-based approach was found more beneficial in evaluating the spatial resolution than the line pair/cm approach in routine quality control in this study.

The minimum detectable difference (MDD) at various beats/min (BPM) of CT angiography (CTA) was evaluated using an oblique V-shape line gauge and poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) phantom in this study. The customized phantom with the size of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]cm3 was made from a 1[Formula: see text]cm-thick PMMA. The reciprocating mechanism in the phantom was run by a step motor with an eccentric gear connected to a crank rod to provide a stable harmonic motion, simulating the cardiac beats. The MDD has a unique feature in defining the quality characteristic of CT-scanned images and provides more information than simple line pair/cm in the previous studies. The derived MDD was quantified according to various BPM, and the CTA factor combination was preset following either the conventional recommendation or the optimal one. In doing so, the performance was substantiated by the Taguchi-based signal-to-noise ratio and integrated by another index, namely, figure of merit (FOM). The MDD and corresponding [Formula: see text] (dB) changed from [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm to [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm and from 16.7[Formula: see text]dB to 14.2[Formula: see text]dB, respectively, for conventional settings; while those obtained for the optimal preset changed from [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm to [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm and from 12.2 dB to 16.4 dB, respectively of CTA at 0–90 BPM. The integrated FOM values for conventional or optimal cases were 1240 and 1337, respectively. The MDD proved to be a useful technique in justifying the CTA-scanned images. For compliance with previous studies, MDD results can be converted to the line pair/cm results, but it is more informative than the quantized number of line pairs.

The liver and kidney fibrosis model was established by thioacetamide(TAA) and unilateral ureteral obstruction(UUO) in SD rats. The rats were randomly divided into three groups: model group, low and high-dose groups of C21 steroidal glycosides of Cynanchum auriculatum. Another blank control group was set. Four weeks later, serum was taken to detect the biochemical indexes of liver and kidney function. Urine protein and urine creatinine were detected by kits. Liver and kidney tissue samples were stained with HE and Masson staining, and hydroxyproline content was detected. Western blot was used to detect expressions of fibrotic proteins, inflammatory factors and TLR4 signaling pathways, so as to observe the preventive and therapeutic effects of C21 steroidal glycosides from C. auriculatum on hepatic and renal fibrosis and explore its molecular mechanism. Four weeks later, serum biochemical results showed that liver and kidney functions were seriously damaged, and pathological sections showed that inflammatory cell infiltration, decrease of parenchymal cells, and increase of interstitial fibrosis in liver and kidney tissues. The results showed that low and high doses(150, 300 mg·kg~(-1)) of C21 steroidal glycosides could significantly reduce the collagen deposition and the pathological changes of liver and kidney fibrosis compared with the model group. At the same time, we found that the expression levels of TLR4 and MyD88 signaling pathway proteins were significantly increased in the liver and kidney tissues of the model group, and a large number of NF-κB signaling pathway proteins migrated into the nucleus. On the contrary, the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88 signaling pathway proteins and the nuclear migration of NF-κB were significantly inhibited in the low and high dose groups of C21 steroidal glycosides from C. auriculatum. Therefore, it was speculated that the mechanism of C21 steroidal glycoside for preventive and therapeutic effect on hepatic and renal fibrosis was related to inhibit TLR4/MYD88/NF-κB inflammatory pathway, thus preventing hepatic and renal fibrosis.

This study optimized the ultrasound image of carotid artery stenosis using Taguchi dynamic analysis and an indigenous water phantom. Eighteen combinations of seven essential factors of the ultrasound scan facility were organized according to Taguchi’s L18 orthogonal array. The seven factors were assigned as follows: (1) angle of probe; (2) signal gain; (3) resolution vs. speed; (4) dynamic range; (5) XRES; (6) zoom; (7) time gain compensation. An indigenous water phantom was customized to satisfy the quantified need in Taguchi’s analysis. Unlike the conventional dynamic Taguchi analysis, an innovative quantified index, the figure of merit (FOM), was proposed to integrate four specific quality characteristics, namely (i) average difference between the practical scan and theoretically preset area (78.5, 50.2 and 12.6 mm2) of stenosis, (ii) standard deviation of the average, (iii) practical scan’s sensitivity β to various stenosis diameters (10, 8, and 4 mm), and (iv) correlation coefficient r2 of the linear regressed sensitivity curve. The highest value (FOM = 0.413) was furnished by the optimal combination of factors on 18 groups under study, yielding high r2 and low β or standard deviation values and the best quality of ultrasound images for the further clinical diagnosis. The comparison between FOM and the conventional signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio in Taguchi’s analysis revealed that FOM compiled more quality characteristics that were superior by nature to fulfill the practical need in clinical diagnosis. The alternative choice in ultrasound scan optimization can be based on stenosis diameter variation from a different perspective to be explored in the follow-up study.

This article is devoted to characterizing the boundedness and compactness of multiplication operators from Hardy spaces to weighted Bergman spaces in the unit ball of ℂn.

The deployment of a client–server-based distributed intelligent system involves application development in both the network domain and the device domain. In the network domain, an application server (typically in the cloud) is deployed to execute the network applications. In the device domain, several Internet of Things (IoT) devices may be configured as, for example, wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and interact with each other through the application server. Developing the network and the device applications are tedious tasks that are the major costs for building a distributed intelligent system. To resolve this issue, a low-code or no-code (LCNC) approach has been purposed to automate code generation. As traditional LCNC solutions are highly generic, they tend to generate excess code and instructions, which will lack efficiency in terms of storage and processing. Fortunately, optimization of automated code generation can be achieved for IoT by taking advantage of the IoT characteristics. An IoT-based distributed intelligent system consists of the device domain (IoT devices) and the network domain (IoT server). The software of an IoT device in the device domain consists of the Device Application (DA) and the Sensor Application (SA). Most IoT LCNC approaches provide code generation in the network domain. Very few approaches automatically generate the DA code. To our knowledge, no approach supports the SA code generation. In this paper, we propose DeviceTalk, an LCNC environment for the DA and the SA code development. DeviceTalk automatically generates the code for IoT devices to speed up the software development in the device domain for a distributed intelligent system. We propose the DeviceTalk architecture, design and implementation of the code generation mechanism for the IoT devices. Then, we show how a developer can use the DeviceTalk Graphical User Interface (GUI) to exercise LCNC development of the device software.

e20525 Background: Tumor microenvironment (TME) is now an important direction for cancer prognosis research. For analyzing the immune component within TME, illustrating the distribution of the immune cells in patient tissue samples by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and image quantification analysis are now been applied in many cancer types. However, most of the TME studies only used the tumor microarray to investigate the composition of immune cells in TME, in which the views of immune component are restricted. In addition, with single biomarker staining to stratify therapy strategy shows limited efficacy in treatment since the complicated interactions of the immune components in TME. Based on these shortages, to increase the efficiency and identify the scarce immune subsets, a more systemic analysis approach for immune subpopulations quantification is now imperative. Methods: In this study, we first established an immune cell multiplex IHC staining panel (Opal Polaris, Akoya Bioscience) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to investigate the immune components in all the tumor blocks of each patient. In this panel, we applied markers of infiltrating immune cells (CD8, CD68), regulatory markers (PD-1, PD-L1,CD163), and tumor marker (pan-cytokeratin) to explore the TME landscape in NSCLC. Then, with an in-house built quantitative software: SIMPiE, we could analyze the staining signal intensity of each cell markers generated from in Form software to define each lymphocytic immune subsets by phenotyping and quantifying. In addition, SIMPiE (Spatial Image cytometry Multiplex IHC analysis by phyton and in Form based Elements) software allowed us to generate image cytometry data to further explore the spatial context to map the organization and interactions of immune and tumor cells in the TME, and we can define thresholds for the graph to distribute the plurality of the mark points into a plurality of quadrants. Finally, we performed the survival analysis according to the clinicopathological and immune parameters of the patients, and to examine the prognostic significance of each immune subtypes. Results: We have built up an automation quantitative image analysis software to efficiently quantity the signal density and spatial context of all the immune subpopulations in all the tissue sections of each patient, and we further performed the integrative survival analysis to explore the prognostic significance of infiltrating immune cells and immunoregulatory molecules within the TME in NSCLC. Finally, in our study, we found that M1 macrophage patamars showed the most significantly regulatory effect to the patient’s overall survival rate, and M2 macrophage showed less effect compared with M1 macrophage. Conclusions: By this way, we can generate image cytometry data to further explore the spatial context to map the organization of immune and tumor cells in the TME for prognosis analysis.

In our previous study, it was demonstrated that the Stathmin1 (STMN1) is overexpressed in gastric cancer (GC) and that its high expression level is associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has also been shown to be critically involved in GC invasion and metastasis. Certain studies have indicated that STMN1 may serve an important role in the EMT process. However, the association between STMN1 expression and EMT-associated markers, as well as clinicopathological characteristics of patients with GC, remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinicopathological significance and prognostic value of STMN1 and EMT-associated markers in GC. The expression of STMN1 and the EMT-associated proteins E-cadherin (E-Cad) and vimentin (VIM) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in GC and adjacent non-tumorous tissues. Associations between the expression of these markers and clinicopathological parameters were analyzed. The association between STMN1 expression and EMT-associated markers was investigated in the GC cell lines BGC-803 and SGC-7901. The results revealed that STMN1 was expressed in 63.5% of the 167 GC tissues, which was significantly higher than the percentage observed in the adjacent non-tumorous tissues (P=0.003). The STMN1 expression was demonstrated to be positively associated with the VIM levels (P=0.001) and negatively associated with the E-Cad levels (P=0.022) in GC tissues. The STMN1 expression was associated with Lauren's Classification, invasion depth, lymph node metastasis and pathological Tumor-Node-Metastasis (pTNM) stage (P

Background: Remdesivir, a nucleoside analogue antiviral drug developed for Ebola, is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19. However, the findings of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies vary regarding the effectiveness of remdesivir. We aimed to comprehensively review the available evidence identify the effectiveness and safety of remdesivir in patients with COVID-19.Methods: Seven databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Wanfang database, SinoMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Chinese Science Journal Database) were searched for literatures published until November 2020.Following the PRISMA flow diagram, we included RCTs and prospective observational studies that reported the effectiveness and safety of remdesivir in patients with COVID-19. With extracting study details, as well as patient characteristics and outcomes, data were meta-analyzed by using Review Manager software version 5.4.1. Meta-analyses were conducted with fixed-effect model or random-effect model to calculate risk ratio (RR).Results: Four studies involving 2,279 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with placebo, 10-day remdesivir was associated with significant increased clinical improvement on days 14 and 28 with RR 1.19 (95%CI 1.09-1.30) and RR 1.09 (95%CI 1.03-1.16). The clinical improvement of 5-day remdesivir was better than 10-day remdesivir on days 7 with RR 1.20 (95%CI 1.02-1.41), but the efficacy advantage of 5-day remdesivir disappeared on days 14 (RR 1.08; 95%CI 0.90-1.29). Remdesivir was associated with lower serious adverse events rates and grade 3 or 4 adverse events rates as compared with placebo with RR 0.75(95%CI 0.63-0.89) and RR 0.89(95%CI 0.80-0.99). Compared with 10-day remdesivir, 5-day remdesivir for patients with COVID-19 decreased the risk of serious adverse events rates and grade 3 or 4 adverse events rates with RR 0.65(95%CI 0.47-0.88) and RR 0.74 (95%CI 0.58-0.95). Conclusions: Our meta-analysis suggested that remdesivir would increase clinical improvement conditions and decrease serious adverse events on patients with COVID-19. 5-day remdesivir had the similar clinical effectiveness and mortality with 10-day remdesivir, and had lower serious adverse events rate. Comprehensive considering the cost and benefit, 5-day remdesivir may be a better therapeutic option if available medical resources are limited.

This study tried to propose an innovated idea of solidifying the resolution of gamma camera in routine quality control and recommended a quantified index as minimum detectable difference (MDD) of gamma camera SPECT images using the Taguchi analysis and an indigenous V-shaped slit gauge. The gauge was customized to fulfill the quantitative requirement of the Taguchi analysis. The MDD among slit gauge of derived SPECT image was calculated from two overlapped peak profiles collected from a tangent slice of the V-shaped slit gauge with two nearby peaks. In particular, MDD was evaluated as minimum distance between two peak centers through the Student’s t-test with a constant, 1.96, which indicates that two peak centers separated distant enough to create a 95% confidence level of separation. Eighteen combinations of six gamma camera scanned factors were organized according to Taguchi analysis. Accordingly, (A) collimator, (B) detector to targe distance, (C) total counts, (D) acquired energy width, (E) Matrix size, and (F) zoom of collected ROI with each of two or three levels were organized into 18 groups to collect the slit gauge images according to Taguchi L18 orthogonal array. Then, three well-trained radiologists were ranked the scanned gauge images to derive the fish-bone-plot of signal-to-noise ratio (S/N, dB) and correlated ANOVA. Furthermore, the quantified MDD was proposed to verify the optimal suggestion of gamma camera scanned protocol, and obtained the MDD as 8.4, 7.9, and 7.1 mm for the second group of original L18 preset, conventional, and the optimal preset, respectively. Thus, the optimal preset of gamma camera was achieved in this study. The MDD proved to be a successful index in quantifying the imaging resolution of a gamma camera.

The theory of "通过探源壮医学天阴阳理论，总结黄瑾明教授的学术成果和经验，对广西黄氏壮医针灸流派天阴阳针法的理论和临床特色进行阐释。此针法是以壮医学“三气同步”理论和天阴阳理论为指导，以“三道两路”学说为基础，以调气为法、调神为本，患者调息静息后采用微针浅刺术针刺脐环穴为主以达到调神治本目的的综合性针刺疗法。.

Smart Spring is a kind of active vibration control device based on piezoelectric material, which can effectively suppress the vibration of the shaft system in an over-critical state, and the selection of control strategy has great influence on the vibration reduction effect of the Smart Spring. In this paper, the authors investigate the control of the over-critical vibration of the transmission shaft system with Smart Spring, based on the ADAMS and MATLAB joint simulation method. Firstly, the joint simulation model of three-support shafting with Smart Spring is established, and the over-critical speed simulation analysis of the three-support shafting under the fixed control force of the Smart Spring is carried out. The simulation results show that the maximum vibration reduction rate is 71.6%. The accuracy of the joint simulation model is verified by the experiment of the three-support shafting subcritical vibration control. On this basis, a function control force vibration control strategy with time-varying control force is proposed. By analyzing the axis orbit of the shafting, the optimal fixed control force at different speeds is obtained, the control force function is determined by polynomial fitting, and the shafting critical crossing simulation under the function control force is carried out. The simulation results show that the displacement response of the shafting under the function control force is less than that under the fixed control force in the whole speed range.

Four-stage main helicopter transmission system occupies several strong points like good carrying capacity and is addressed by many scholars. However, the influence of variable parameters on natural characteristics in a three-engine helicopter, is not to be investigated, according to the limited published issues. Thus, in the study, a vibration model of the four-stage main helicopter transmission system is established through the lumped mass method. In the model, many factors, including time-varying meshing stiffness and torsional stiffness of gear shaft are considered. The differential equation of the system is solved via the Fourier method, 27-orders natural frequency and modal shape corresponded by each degree of freedom (DOF) of the system are obtained. The influence of the shaft torsional stiffness on the first five orders of the system natural frequency is studied. Besides, the impact of the matching relationship of key shafts’ torsional stiffness on the system stability is analyzed. These contributions would improve modification developments of four-stage deceleration helicopter in future.

The study aimed to investigate the mechanism of hepatoprotective effect of C-21 steroidal glucosides from Cynanchum auriculatum( Baishouwu) on oxidative stress in mice with liver injury. Mice were randomly divided into normal group,model group,positive control group,Baishouwu high group and Baishouwu low group. The liver injury model was induced by intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 peanut oil solution. All mice were sacrificed to collect blood and liver specimens. The activities of serum levels of ALT and AST were detected. The content of MDA and the activity of SOD in liver homogenate were examined by colorimetry method. Tissues were stained with hematoxylin-eosin for histological examination. The hepatic protein expressions of NF-κB p65,p-IκBα,i NOS and COX-2 were detected by Western blot. The mRNA expressions of TNF-α and IL-6 were determined by RT-PCR. It was found that treatment with C-21 steroidal glucosides from Baishouwu successfully attenuated liver injury induced by CCl4,as shown by decreased levels of serum biochemical indicators( AST,ALT)( P0. 01). Administration of total C-21 steroidal glucosides enhanced the activity of SOD( P0. 01) and decreased the content of MDA( P0. 01) in liver homogenate. Microscopic features suggested that treatment with C-21 steroidal glucosides from Baishouwu was effective in inhibiting CCl4-induced hepatocyte edema and degeneration. Further studies showed that NF-κB p65 overexpression induced by CCl4 was decreased by C-21 steroidal glucosides,leading to the markedly down-regulated protein expression levels of p-IκBα,i NOS and COX-2,as well as the depression of TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA expressions. In conclusion,total C-21 steroidal glucosides from Baishouwu exhibited potent effect on oxidative stress pathway in mice with liver injury induced by CCl4,with enhanced activity of SOD,decreased content of MDA,and down-regulated levels of NF-κB p65,p-IκBα,i NOS and COX-2.

AD730TM is a novel superalloy developed for the hot section part in aero engine and gas turbine machinery with enhanced performance. The material is characterized by its excellent high temperature properties for being an alloy possible to manufacture by cast and wrought process compared to other superalloys in the same class such as Inconel718. The material with higher temperature capability means potentially increased energy efficiency as well as less emission in the new engine design. However, there is lack of information on machinability of the material, especially achievable surface quality under high speed machining. Machining process is commonly employed in the manufacturing of hot section part, such as turbine disc, to obtain the final surface quality and tolerance. Surface quality produced by the machining processes is one of the crucial factors to determine the functional performance and correspondent fatigue life time of the parts. The paper will present the results of surface characterization of the part produced by high speed turning with CBN tool. A series machining tests were conducted in the study. Surface morphology on machined samples were investigated with a scanning electron microscope to assess the surface damages and other surface defects induced by the machining processes. 3D surface topology was also analyzed with an Infinite-focus-variant microscope to correlate with machining condition. In addition, effect of tool wear and cutting parameters, such as cutting speed, will also be discussed in the paper. (Less)

This study evaluated the preservation effectiveness of selected antistaling agents on lotus seeds (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn) status and the alteration of phenolic acids during their storage. Ascorbic acid (AA), benzoic acid (BA), sodium hydrogen sulfite (SHS), BA+ AA and SHS+ AA were identified as effective to keep lotus seeds fresh with the order of SHS+ AA > BA+ AA > AA > SHS > BA in terms of general performance on not-browning degree, microorganism contamination status, sensory evaluation, and the protection of polyphenols against being oxidized. The polyphenols determined by HPLC and HPLC-MS in lotus seeds were mainly gallic, chlorogenic, gentisic, caffeic, cinnamic, p-coumaric, ferulic, rosmarinic, and salicylic acids. Chlorogenic, gentisic, and caffeic acids were the main phenolic acids correlated with oxidative browning. SHS+ AA was found on inhibiting chlorogenic acid oxidized (p

The “thermal effect” of the green roof system on the pollutant dilution process would be analyzed in this research. Different arrangement schemes (on the rooftop, windward side and leeward side) of the green roof system would alter the thermal buoyancy distribution in the street canyon, thus change the overall flow field and pollutant dilution condition Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique along with the Renormalization Group (RNG) k-e turbulence model has been adopted for the simulation work. Cases without the green roof system are assumed to be uniformly heated and are prepared for benchmark comparisons. Six aspect ratios (H/W) and ten ranks of unstable thermal stratifications (Rb) are selected to consider the influence of street canyon morphology and thermal buoyancy. Results demonstrate that the lateral deployment of green roof system performs better than the rooftop deployment and the situations without green roof system. In the windward cooling cases, a single vortex is formed in the canyon center and dramatically reduces the pollutant retention time τ when H/W > 1, while in the leeward cooling cases, a “free airflow” region is formed in all the tested aspect ratios expect for H/W = 0.5. The rooftop deployment scheme has negative effects, not just decaying ventilation performance, but also delaying pollutant dispersion period. Present research could benefit the rational design of the green roof system in the urban building clusters, and further enhance its cooling capacity for the built energy conservation.

In this study, the PVDF-BTO composite film was prepared by the casting method. Through FTIR, SEM and other phase structure and microstructure analysis of the composite film, it was found that the introduction of BTO can promote the growth of β-PVDF. The relative content of β-PVDF in PVDF-BTO composite film reached 62.7%, indicating that BTO acts as a nucleating agent in PVDF. PVDF-BTO composite piezoelectric film is obtained after high temperature stretching and field polarization. After testing the electrical properties of the composite piezoelectric film, it is found that the piezoelectric performance of the PVDF-BTO composite film is higher than that of the pure PVDF film. It shows that the blending of BTO and PVDF to prepare the film promotes the deflection of the electrical properties of the film to the inherent electrical properties of BTO. The influence of different polarization intensities on the piezoelectric properties of composite materials was studied. The results show that the optimal polarization intensity of the PVDF-BTO composite piezoelectric film is 30 KV/mm, and the highest piezoelectric constant d33 is 13 pC/N.