Search

As a kind of thermal control device, fluid loop systems must operate with the demands of high safety, high reliability, and long life. In order to accurately assess the health status of fluid loop systems, a hierarchical multi-information fusion (HMIF) method is proposed in this paper. Considering that fluid loop systems generally have distinct structural hierarchies, the health evaluation process in this method is divided into three levels, which are the indicator level, the component level, and the system level. In the evaluation process, the health indices are, respectively, constructed to quantify the health status at the three levels. At the indicator level, One-Class support vector machine algorithm is used to obtain the distribution space of each state monitoring indicator under a normal state. The indicator-level health indices are evaluated by calculating the ratio of the data located in the distribution space to the overall data. At the component level, a fuzzy theory is used to calculate the health indices of the component level. Health indices at the indicator level are first converted to membership degree by membership degree function. Then, the evaluation fusion strategy is used to deduce the membership degree of the component level. The health indices at the component level are obtained from the mapping relationship between the membership degree and the health index. At the system level, an adaptive weight adjustment strategy is proposed to fuze all component-level health indices. Taking a practical fluid loop system as an example, health indices at the three levels evaluated by the HMIF method are compared with the actual status. The results indicate that the proposed method can correctly judge the health state of the system and provide a reference for the maintenance and fault diagnosis of fluid loop systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health concerns have been raised by numerous reports of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variations infecting a range of animals. Wildlife reservoirs may facilitate the evolution of viral types capable of causing human infection in the future. Therefore, epidemiological monitoring of animals in close contact with humans is necessary. Yet, infection symptoms are not obvious in most animals, which leads to a short nucleic acid test-detection period and limits the application of this method in animals. The use of virus- and pseudovirus-based neutralizing antibody detection techniques is restricted to establishments with elevated biosafety standards. Traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) do not offer multispecies detection and are time-consuming and labor-intensive. This work developed a polyethyleneimine-gold nanoparticle meta-surface plasmon resonance biosensor system-based multispecies SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection platform that is fast, sensitive, has a high throughput, and is fully automated. The test can be done in 30 min and specificity is up to 100% for detection in cats, dogs, and minks. Moreover, the coincidence rate was up to 99.36% (313/315) for the detection of pseudovirus in clinical and immune sera. Additionally, this method's detection sensitivity in cat, dog, and mink serum is 2,048, 1,024, and 4,096 times, which is much better than indirect ELISA and comparable to indirect immunofluorescence assays. An efficient method for COVID-19 epidemiology screening in animal serum will be made available by this platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the central flow channel for fluid seepage through rock layers, the visible fracture system (VFS) significantly affects geoenergy extraction for petroleum, natural gas, geothermal resources, and greenhouse gas sequestration. In this work, we propose a new mode of VFS in coal seams, including hydraulic fractures, exogenetic fractures, interlayer fractures, gas-expanding fractures, and cleats. The development characteristics of VFSs in coal seams are analyzed, including containing their geometry, orientation, scale, distribution, and connection between each other. Furthermore, the implications of the VFS for fluid (gas and water) and solid (coal fines) flow through coal seams are discussed. The development of the VFS determines the effective flow conductivity, affecting the flow of gas, water, and coal fines. Additionally, as the reservoir pressure transfer channel, the VFS significantly influences depressurization with reservoir depletion, determining the extension of the methane desorption range. The exogenetic fractures and interlayer fractures dominate the expansion of the primary hydraulic fractures, and gas-expanding and cleats usually control the branch of hydraulic fractures. Furthermore, we find that the daily production rate distribution of most CBM wells presents a particular banded, L-shaped, or T-shaped pattern. It is thought that the VFS dominates the productivity of CBM in coal seams. The field production data also provide evidence that the occurrence of the VFS makes the CBM reservoir heterogeneous. This study presents a recommended framework involving the characteristics of the VFS and its influences on CBM production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of coalbed methane resources is greatly dependent on the reservoir depletion process. To improve the depressurization efficiency of deep coalbed methane (DCBM) reservoirs, the fluid production characteristics and implications of in situ stress and reservoir pressure for reservoir depletion in the eastern margin of the Ordos Basin are analyzed. The results indicate that the duration of the single-phase water production stage is overall long, with the gas declining stage occurring too early. The daily gas production volume of DCBM wells is only a few hundred m3. For DCBM reservoirs, it is considered that in situ stress, initial reservoir pressure, and critical desorption pressure significantly affect the fluid production and depressurization process. A high in situ stress in deep coal seams is likely to damage the flow conductivity of fracture systems due to the increase in effective stress during reservoir depletion. Based on the in situ stress characteristics of deep coal seams and their implications for reservoir depletion, we propose that the depressurization of DCBM reservoirs during gas production can be promoted via a new method of stress release. Slots or cavities created in coal seams by high-pressure hydraulic jet can provide space for stress release. This novel depressurization method could help improve the gas production efficiency of DCBM reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a special form of multiaccess edge computing (MEC), vehicular edge computing (VEC) plays an important role in emergency logistics by providing real-time and low-latency services for vehicles. The solution of the joint task offloading and resource allocation problem (JTORA) is the key to improving VEC efficiency. This study formulates a special model according to the multistage characteristics of the computational task in vehicular edge computing networks (VECNs) for emergency logistics. First, the JTORA problem is decomposed into three computational steps, each of which includes a task offload (TO) problem and a resource allocation (RA) problem. Then, a hybrid solution is proposed which uses a simulated annealing process to optimize the genetic algorithm (GA) and cooperate with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, called the genetic simulated annealing and particle swarm optimization (GSA-PSO) algorithm. Furthermore, a simulation experiment is designed and the effectiveness of the GSA-PSO is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the deep-water bridges in Chinese reservoirs are concentrated on rivers in the southwest region. The unique structural characteristics of arch bridges are more in line with the geological topography requirements of deep reservoir areas, making them the bridge type of choice for bridges in deep reservoir areas. While the southwest region is an earthquake-prone area, in order to study the safety of arch bridges across deep water in the reservoir area, it is necessary to analyze the effect of water under seismic behavior on the box section arch ring and explore the effect of arch inundation depth on the dynamic response of arch bridges in the reservoir area. In this study, the effect of fluid-solid coupling is considered, the modified Morison equation is used to calculate the hydrodynamic pressure, and the effect of arch bridge inundation depth on the dynamic response is analyzed based on the Midas/civil finite element model of the arch bridge in the Yunnan reservoir area. The results show that the seismic response of the arch bridge across the reservoir is greatly influenced by the submergence depth of the arch bridge due to the fluid-solid coupling effect, and the influence of the hydrodynamic pressure on the longitudinal moment (My) and transverse moment (Mz) of the arch bridge increases with the increase of the submergence depth. There is a threshold value of the submergence depth. When the submergence depth is less than the threshold, the effect of fluid-solid coupling is negligible, and when the submergence depth is greater than the threshold, the fluid-solid coupling effect is significant. The thresholds for different parts of the main arch ring are different. The most unfavorable water depth in different parts of the main arch ring is not necessarily the water depth when the arch ring is completely submerged. Based on this result, for reservoir arch bridges in high intensity areas, it is recommended that the inundation depth of arch bridges crossing deep water reservoirs should be h/f less than or equal to 5/8 f. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotherapy is the main method for controlling pancreatic cancer metastasis but the prevalent chemotherapy resistance limits its utilization. The response of oxidation and inflammation often promotes pancreatic cancer progression and chemo‐resistance. It is critical to explore the potential natural products with few side effects to control inflammatory responses and understand the related mechanisms. Quercetin is a flavonoid widely found in numerous vegetables, fruits, and foods and is thought to have antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties, which may be associated with improvement of chemotherapy sensitivity during pancreatic cancer treatment. Quercetin may sensitize pancreatic cancer cells to the chemotherapeutic agents, including bromodomain and extraterminal domain inhibitors (BETI), daunorubicin, gemcitabine, sulforaphane, doxorubicin, and tumor necrosis factor‐related signaling apoptosis‐inducing ligand (TRAIL). Meanwhile, during the chemo‐resistance therapy, many signaling molecules are involved with toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4)‐mediated oxidative and inflammatory pathway. The effects of quercetin on other oxidative and inflammatory pathways were also explored. Quercetin may exert antitumor activity during the prevention of pancreatic cancer progression by regulating oxidative and inflammatory networks, which can promote immune escape of cancer cells by inducing immunosuppressive cytokines. Studying these patterns will help us to better understand the functional role of quercetin in the improvement of pancreatic cancer chemo‐sensitivity. Practical applications: Chemotherapy is the major way for treating pancreatic cancer metastasis but the prevalent chemotherapy resistance caused by oxidative and inflammatory responses limits its utilization. It is necessary to explore the potential natural products with few side effects to prevent the oxidative and inflammatory responses. Quercetin is a flavonoid widely found in numerous vegetables, fruits, and foods and is thought to have antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties, which may be associated with improvement of chemotherapy sensitivity of pancreatic cancer treatment by sensitizing pancreatic cancer cells to various chemotherapeutic agents via the regulation of oxidative and inflammatory networks. Studying these patterns will help us to better understand the functional role of quercetin in the improvement of pancreatic cancer chemo‐sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since high-fat diet (HFD) intake elevates liver cholesterol and enhanced cholesterol-bile acid flux alleviates its lipid deposition, we assumed that the promoted cholesterol-bile acid flux is an adaptive metabolism in fish when fed an HFD. The present study investigated the characteristic of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) after feeding an HFD (13% lipid level) for four and eight weeks. Visually healthy Nile tilapia fingerlings (average weight 3.50 ± 0.05 g) were randomly distributed into four treatments (4-week control diet or HFD and 8-week control diet or HFD). The liver lipid deposition and health statue, cholesterol/bile acid, and fatty acid metabolism were analyzed in fish after short-term and long-term HFD intake. The results showed that 4-week HFD feeding did not change serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transferase (AST) enzyme activities, along with comparable liver malondialdehyde (MDA) content. But higher serum ALT and AST enzyme activities and liver MDA content were observed in fish fed 8-week HFD. Intriguingly, remarkably accumulated total cholesterol (mainly cholesterol ester, CE) was observed in the liver of fish fed 4-week HFD, along with slightly elevated free fatty acids (FFAs) and comparable TG contents. Further molecular analysis in the liver showed that obvious accumulation of CE and total bile acids (TBAs) in fish fed 4-week HFD was mainly attributed to the enhancement of cholesterol synthesis, esterification, and bile acid synthesis. Furthermore, the increased protein expressions of acyl-CoA oxidase 1/2 (Acox1 and Acox2), which serve as peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) rate-limiting enzymes and play key roles in the transformation of cholesterol into bile acids, were found in fish after 4-week HFD intake. Notably, 8-week HFD intake remarkably elevated FFA content (about 1.7-fold increase), and unaltered TBAs were found in fish liver, accompanied by suppressed Acox2 protein level and cholesterol/bile acid synthesis. Therefore, the robust cholesterol-bile acid flux serves as an adaptive metabolism in Nile tilapia when fed a short-term HFD and is possibly via stimulating peroxisomal FAO. This finding enlightens our understanding on the adaptive characteristics of cholesterol metabolism in fish fed an HFD and provides a new possible treatment strategy against metabolic disease induced by HFD in aquatic animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Solid polymer electrolyte is expected to be widely used in solid‐state lithium batteries due to its good mechanical manufacturability and low cost. But the low ion conductivity, poor interface compatibility hindering the development of solid‐state batteries. In this work, a rigid–flexible ultrathin (~13 μm) poly (ether‐acrylate) (PEA) solid electrolyte membrane was prepared by controlling the mutual penetration of porous skeleton and electrolyte. For comparison, a thick PEA membrane (~30 μm) was also provided. We found that the thicker PEA membrane exhibits a porous structure and rough surface due to the physical shrinkage of polymer, while the ultrathin PEA shows more compact and flexible. Structural advantages give it higher tensile strength (114.7 MPa), doubled ionic conductance (218 mS), and higher lithium ion migration number from 0.81 to 0.93. Meanwhile, better interface contact was also achieved due to the smoother surface of ultrathin PEA, which promotes the uniform distribution of charges and uniform SEI film on the surface of lithium anode, thus inhibits the growth of lithium dendrites. Due to the improvement of basic physical properties and good interface contact, the assembled NCM622/PEA/Li solid‐state battery shows improved rate and cycle performances. High‐performance solid‐state lithium batteries is expected to developed according to this ultrathin solid electrolyte membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to address the real-time requirements of forestry pest detection and the problem of a low detection rate caused by anchor box redundancy of existing detection methods. This paper proposes a real-time forestry pest detection method based on theanchor-free method that can balance the detection rate and detection accuracy. Based on the TTFNet method, a mobile feature extraction network is introduced, and the effective feature weights are increased by one-dimensional convolution before feature output to suppress invalid features. For pest detection, data are mostly small-scale targets. An enhanced feature fusion method is proposed to introduce an asymmetric convolution module in multi-scale feature fusion to feature-enhance the feature maps extracted by the backbone network and connect across layers to improve the detection accuracy. To address the degradation of the anchor box position regression loss in the original method, DIOULoss is introduced to optimize the position regression loss function of the anchor box. Finally, data augmentation is performed on a relatively small number of samples in the dataset, the accuracy of the model is improved by 1.94%, the FPS is improved to 1.6 times of the original one, and the training time is slightly increased compared with the preinnovation model. Ablation experiments are designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm while being more conducive to deployment on edge devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a family of transcription factors, the correlations between expression pattern of nine interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family members, the immune invasion pattern, and the associated patient survival rate in endometrial carcinoma (EC) remain to be elucidated. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the expression profiles of the high and low IRF mRNA expression groups were analyzed using R (3.6.3) statistical software. Gene annotation and pathway analyses were performed using Metascape. GSEA was performed using the R package clusterProfiler (3.6.3). The single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used to quantify the relative tumor infiltration levels of immune cell types. Immunohistochemistry data provided by HPA database was used to study the expression of the IRF proteins. Using the GEPIA dataset, the correlation between the expression of IRFs and the tumor stage of EC was analyzed. The correlations between the different IRFs were analyzed using cBioPortal. The expression of IRF2, IRF3, IRF5, IRF6, IRF7, IRF8, and IRF9 was different when comparing EC and normal endometrial samples. IRF2, IRF6, IRF7, and IRF8 were indicated to be potential diagnostic markers for EC. In combination with receiver operating characteristic analysis results, IRF2, IRF6, IRF7, and IRF8 were indicated to be potential diagnostic markers for EC. Levels of individual IRFs were associated with alternate outcomes, with the expression of IRF3 being correlated with the stage of EC and high expression of IRF4 being positively correlated with overall survival (OS); conversely, high expression of IRF5 was negatively correlated with OS. Additionally, high expression levels of both IRF2 and IRF4 were positively correlated with the disease-specific survival rate, and high expression of IRF4 was positively correlated with the progression-free interval. These data suggest a role for IRF2, IRF4, and IRF5 in the prognosis of EC. The expression of IRFs is associated with immune infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional talent development model is unlikely to satisfy the demands of the times and socioeconomic growth. Innovation-driven development policies require a great deal of creativity and entrepreneurship. Student creativity and education in the enterprise have emerged as an essential source of concern for all segments of society. The traditional talent cultivation mode has been unable to meet the requirements of the economic growth of the society. College graduates are national talents of high quality and high level, which are important talent resources for colleges and universities to grow sustainably. Innovation and entrepreneurship education for college students is a common concern of the current society. The research and implementation of innovation and entrepreneurship education for Chinese college students are progressing rapidly, but the innovation and entrepreneurship education of Chinese college students began later and is not at a high level of development at present. Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship requires further improvements in research and teaching methods. This article presents the scientific classification and the K-means algorithm. It defines the concepts related to the education system of change and entrepreneurship, the concepts related to the search for change and the theories of entrepreneurship, and the theoretical foundations of the development of the education system. Of the researchers, 39.47% were male; 60.53% were female; 13.68% were students; 70.53% were undergraduate students; and 15.79% were postgraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripheral electrical nerve stimulation enhances hand function during stroke rehabilitation. Here, we proposed a percutaneous direct median nerve stimulation guided by ultrasound (ultrasound‐guided median nerve electrical stimulation, UG-MNES) and evaluated its feasibility and effectiveness in the treatment of stroke patients with upper limb extremity impairments. Sixty-three stroke patients (2-3 months of onset) were randomly divided into control and UG-MNES groups. Both groups received routine rehabilitation and the UG-MNES group received an additional ultrasound-guided electrical stimulation of the median nerve at 2 Hz, 0.2 ms pulse-width for 20 minutes with gradual intensity enhancement. The Fugl-Meyer Assessment for upper extremity motor function (FMA-UE) was used as the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes were the Functional Test for the Hemiplegic Upper Extremity (FTHUE-HK), Hand Function Rating Scale, Brunnstrom Stages, and Barthel Index scores for motor and daily functions. All the participants completed the trial without any side effects or adverse events during the intervention. After 4 weeks of intervention, the functions of the upper limbs on the hemiplegic side in both groups achieved significant recovery. Compared to the control group, all evaluation indices used in this trial were improved significantly in the UG-MNES group after 2 and 4 weeks of intervention; particularly, the first intervention of UG-MNES immediately improved all the assessment items significantly. In conclusion, the UG-MNES is a safe and feasible treatment for stroke patients with upper limb extremity impairments and could significantly improve the motor function of the affected upper limb, especially in the first intervention. The UG-MNES could be an effective alternative intervention for stroke with upper limb extremity impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the malignant tumors with the highest morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Although surgery-based combination therapy can greatly improve the prognosis of LUAD patients, the overall outcome is still poor, and there is an urgent need to develop new and effective treatment alternatives for LUAD. The microRNA (miRNA) miR-30b-3p is a typical multifunctional miRNA that has been reported to promote the development of various malignancies. In this study, we investigated the effects of miR-30b-3p on the biological properties of LUAD and the possible mechanisms involved to provide new ideas for the development of more effective treatment options for LUAD. Methods. Fluorescence quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to measure the expression of miR-30b-3p and its target METTL7B gene in tumor tissues and adjacent noncancerous lung tissues of LUAD patients and to determine their correlation. The effect of miR-30b-3p on the biological properties of LUAD was investigated, after transfection of miR-30b-3p mimics or scramble miRNA (negative control) in LUAD cells, using various approaches, including by measuring cell proliferation using CCK-8 and Edu assays, cell invasion by Transwell assay, and apoptosis and cell cycle distribution by flow cytometry. Additionally, rescue assays were performed to verify the effect of METTL7B on miR-30b-3p function. Results. In LUAD patients, low expression of miR-30b-3p and high expression of METTL7B in tumor tissues were significantly and negatively correlated with those in adjacent noncancerous lung tissues of the LUAD patients. It was also found that miR-30b-3p inhibits the proliferation and invasion of LUAD cells, promotes apoptosis, and changes the cell cycle distribution. METTL7B is a target gene of miR-30b-3p. METTL7B overexpression significantly reversed the biological effects of miR-30b-3p overexpression, including inhibition of cell proliferation and invasion, promotion of apoptosis, and alteration of the cell cycle distribution. Conclusions. The miR-30b-3p alters the biology of LUAD by negatively regulating METTL7B expression, indicating the importance of the miR-30b-3p/METTL7B pathway in the development of LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current average daily gas production of single coalbed methane (CBM) wells in China is less than 1,300 m3. The low production rate of CBM wells dramatically limits the sustainable development of the CBM industry in China. To promote CBM industry development, three universal geological factors, i.e., gas sources, channels, and driving force of the low production wells are analyzed, considering the various and complicated geological conditions of CBM reservoirs in China. Additionally, we find that the growth in proven CBM reserves should be greatly promoted as the CBM proven rate is only less than 3% by the end of 2020. The widespread CBM extraction mode based on depressurization via dewatering generates very limited effects in coal seams with notable deformation, high in situ stress, or little water. Therefore, a specific design of CBM development modes is proposed, according to the applicable geological conditions of different CBM development modes. It covers depressurization via dewatering, depressurization via stress release, and coal and CBM comining. Moreover, the regional governments play a key role in the development of the regional CBM industry, and favorable policies should be formulated to promote the multipoint development conditions across China. This study is concluded to provide a recommended development framework involving sustainable CBM production in China and its development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hidden karst structures are developed irregularly in the Middle Permian Maokou Formation aquifer from the northern part of the Guizhou coalfield, China. Mining operations associated with the exploitation of coal seams from the lower part of the Upper Permian Longtan Formation are threatened by karst waters from the underlying strata. To improve the accuracy of water inrush risk assessment of the karst aquifer floor in the northern Guizhou coalfield, the karst fractal quantification technique is implemented. In this study, the karst aquifer of the Maokou Formation located under the floor of the No. 15 coal seam from the Honglin Coal Mine is considered as the research object. Based on the karst results predicted by geophysical exploration methods, the fractal theory is used to quantify the degree of karst development, while the risk of water inrush from the floor of the coal seam is evaluated by applying ArcGIS information processing technology combined with the vulnerability index method. The results indicate the following observations: the mean fractal dimension of karst in the study area is 1.53, the karst structures are highly developed, and the overall distribution of karst is characterized by an irregular NW-SE direction; the main controlling factors affecting water inrush from the floor of the No. 15 coal seam are expressed by the water pressure of the aquifer, the abundance of water in the aquifer, the degree of karst development, the thickness of the effective impermeable layer, the mining depth, the coal seam dip angle, and the degree of fault complexity; the areas with the highest risk of floor water inrush are predominantly concentrated in the northwestern and central parts, but there is also a risk of floor water inrush in the first mining area of the No. 15 coal seam. This study takes into consideration complex factors such as the typical karst aquifer and the hydrogeological conditions in the northern part of the Guizhou coalfield, which results in a more realistic interpretation and can provide further guidance for water control activities in the mining area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To know the clinical value of mammotome-assisted minimally invasive resection (MAMIR) in the treatment of patients with breast neoplasm, we performed a retrospective clinical study for the patients treated with the MAMIR and conventional open resection (COR). Methods. Postoperative complications were compared between 40 patients treated with the MAMIR and 40 patients treated with the COR. The postoperative complications mainly included intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization days, operative time, surgical scar, and incidence of postoperative complications. Results. We found that the amount of intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization days, operative time, surgical scar, and incidence of postoperative complications in the MAMIR group were significantly lower than those of patients in the COR group. Conclusion. Our results indicated that patients with breast neoplasm treated with the MAMIR had better outcomes, which reinforced the advantage of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most important unconventional hydrocarbon resources, the oil shale has been extracted with a frozen wall to successfully increase the shale oil production and reduce environmental pollution, which results from the harmful liquids in the in situ conversion processing of oil shale. Thereby, the strength and permeability of the frozen wall are extremely critical to reduce the harmful chemicals leaching into the groundwater. However, the permeability and strength of the frozen wall can be influenced by periodic freeze-thaw cycles. In order to investigate the damage and deterioration characteristics of oil shale samples after various periodic freeze-thaw cycles, the oil shale samples were periodically frozen and thawed as many as 48 times, after which the sample mass, stress-strain, freeze-thaw coefficient, uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, and longitudinal wave velocity of the oil shale samples were separately measured. According to the measured results, the number of freeze-thaw cycles greatly influenced the physical and mechanical properties of oil shale samples. The uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of the oil shale samples were changed with maximum variation rates of 64% and 65%, respectively. Meanwhile, the freeze-thaw coefficient of measured oil shale samples exponentially decreased with the increased number of freeze-thaw cycles, whereas the longitudinal wave velocity of tested samples ranged from 1602 m/s to 2464 m/s as a result of the new micropores inside the oil shale sample. Research results have enormous significance to the efficient and safe in situ exploitation of oil shale deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Aconiti Radix Cocta (AC) is clinically employed to expel wind, remove dampness, and relieve pain. We evaluated the antirheumatoid arthritis (RA) activities and underlying mechanisms of AC. The chemical constituents of AC were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using three reference compounds (benzoylaconitine, benzoylmesaconine, and benzoylhypacoitine). The anti-RA effects of AC were evaluated in adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) rats by hind paw volume and histopathological analysis. The effects of AC on inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-17A) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The regulation of cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and/or COX-2) was determined by Western blot and real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analyses. AC significantly reduced paw swelling, attenuated the inflammation and bone destruction in joint tissues, and reduced IL-1β and IL-17A in the serum. Moreover, AC downregulated the expression of COX-1 and COX-2 in the synovial tissues. We also identified that AC possesses significant anti-RA activities on AIA, which may be ascribed to the regulation of inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-17, as well as to the inhibition of arachidonic acid signaling pathways. Our findings provide theoretical support for AC as an effective nature-derived therapeutic agent for RA treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The naringinase, a desirable candidate for citrus juice debittering, consists of α‐L‐rhamnosidase and β‐D‐glucosidase. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of α‐L‐rhamnosidase, β‐D‐glucosidase, and their combination on naringin, polyphenols, antioxidant activity, and aroma quality. The α‐L‐rhamnosidase and the two enzymes combination reduced the naringin concentration from 356.33 to 10.52 and 4.17 mg/L, respectively. The α‐L‐rhamnosidase, β‐D‐glucosidase, and their combination significantly increased the antioxidant activity. The unpleasant cooking note was significantly weakened and the floral note was increased after three treatments. The combinational treatment increased the sweet note greatly. The substrate competition between α‐L‐rhamnosidase and β‐D‐glucosidase may help to explain the inconsistencies of the polyphenols, antioxidant activity, and aroma quality after single enzyme or combined enzymes treatments. The results indicated that taste, antioxidant activity, and aromatic quality were well improved by the combined treatment than either α‐L‐rhamnosidase or β‐D‐glucosidase treatment, providing an attractive reference for debittering orange juice. Practical applications: The work showed that the combined treatment of α‐L‐rhamnosidase and β‐D‐glucosidase was better to remove the bitter taste of citrus juice than the solo treatment with α‐L‐rhamnosidase or β‐D‐glucosidase in regarding with taste, antioxidant activity, and aromatic quality. It helps to better the quality of citrus juice with enzymatic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play vital roles in cancer progression. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of circRNAs remain poorly elucidated in gastric cancer (GC). The main purpose of present study is to explore the underlying regulatory mechanism by constructing a circRNA-associated competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network and further establish a robust prognostic signature for patients with GC. Based on expression data of circRNA, microRNA, and mRNA derived from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases, a circRNA-associated ceRNA network, containing 15 cirRNAs, 9 microRNAs, and 35 mRNAs, was constructed using the Starbase database. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the ceRNA network might be involved in many cancer-related pathways, such as regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter, mesodermal cell differentiation, and focal adhesion. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed based on genes within the circRNA-associated ceRNA network. We found that six of ten hub genes within the PPI network were significantly associated with overall survival (OS). Thus, using the LASSO method, we constructed a three-gene prognostic signature based on TCGA-GC cohort, which could classify GC patients into low-risk and high-risk groups with significant difference in OS (HR = 1.9 , 95 % CI = 1.14 ‐ 3.2 , and log-rank p = 0.001). The prognostic performance of the three-gene signature was verified in GSE15459 (HR = 1.9 , 95 % CI = 1.27 ‐ 3.0 , and log − rank p = 2.2 E − 05) and GSE84437 (HR = 1.5 , 95 % CI = 1.17 ‐ 2.0 , and log − rank p = 6.3 E − 04). Multivariate Cox analysis further revealed that the three-gene prognostic signature could serve as an independent risk factor for OS. Taken together, our findings contribute to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of circRNAs in GC progression. Furthermore, a robust prognostic signature is meaningful to facilitate individualized treatment for patients with GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To explore the possible mechanism of electroacupuncture to improve insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes rats. Methods. Fourteen Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rats were randomly divided into two groups: a model group and an electroacupuncture group, with 7 rats in each group. Seven Zucker Lean (ZL) rats served as a control group. All rats were fed with Purina #5008 for 4 weeks, and the electroacupuncture group received 4-week electroacupuncture intervention, while the control group and model group received no intervention. We measured fasting blood glucose (FBG) on the fourth weekend. After 4 weeks of intervention, the expression levels of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) tyrosine phosphorylation, IRS-1 serine/threonine phosphorylation, and GLUT4 in quadriceps femoris muscles were detected by western Blot. Results. Compared with the model group, the electroacupuncture group had a lower level of fasting blood glucose, serum insulin level, and insulin resistance index (P < 0.05). The electroacupuncture group had lower IRS-1 serine/threonine phosphorylation than the model group, with the difference showing statistical significance (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the mean score (MS) of the control group showed the lowest phosphorylation expression, followed by the electroacupuncture group, while the model group had the highest level of phosphorylated protein expression. The level of IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation at Tyr895 sites was compared, and the result showed that there was no significant difference between the electroacupuncture group and the control group (P > 0.05), and the electroacupuncture group had higher phosphorylation expression than the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group and the model group, the expression level of GLUT4 protein in the electroacupuncture group was significantly increased (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Electroacupuncture has the effect to improve the insulin sensitivity of type 2 diabetic ZDF rats by reducing fasting blood glucose, insulin level, and insulin resistance index, effectively up regulating the expression of GLUT4 protein in quadriceps femoris muscle. The mechanism is related to the regulation of skeletal muscle IRS-1 serine/threonine and tyrosine phosphorylation levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented COVID‐19 pandemic has affected human lives at all levels. Maps visualizing this pandemic have become a valuable tool for public to retrieve and understand the situation in their areas of interest. Some earlier maps visualize information at the level of country or state in the United States, but viewers could not access information at a finer level such as county. Motivated by the necessity of visualizing information at a finer level, this study designs a thematic map displaying confirmed COVID‐19 cases at the county level in the State of New York. The thematic map utilizes a choropleth design with defined data classification and colors for symbolization. This study then evaluates this designed thematic map with two other published maps: one from the New York State Department of Health and one from The New York Times. The evaluation collects 147 valid responses from public all over the world. Results show that choropleth design yields higher accuracy of map understanding. In addition, the designed map in this study receives higher preference among participants. This study suggests the importance of understanding the data, readers, and mapping purpose in the decision of data classification and symbolization in map design, as it contributes largely to the effectiveness of map interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks are new channels for travelers to obtain or share travel information, which has important impacts on their travel decision-making behavior. Therefore, the psychological feelings of travelers and their acceptance intention (AI) of this type of travel information should be explored. In this study, certain psychological latent variables were incorporated into a technology acceptance model to construct an extended model that explores the factors influencing the travelers' AI of travel information on social networks. This model was validated using survey data collected in Chongqing, China. The influence of each factor on the AI and the interaction between factors were quantitatively described using the structural equation modeling method. The results showed that the perceived risk, perceived trust, and perceived usefulness are the most important factors affecting travelers' AI; the subjective norm, hedonic motivation, and perceived ease of use also exert a certain degree of influence; the proposed research model has a good interpretation ability for AI, and the explanatory power has reached 52%. This study confirmed the applicability of the constructed model in this research field on the basis of survey data and provided a theoretical reference for ascertaining the attitude of travelers toward travel information available on social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driverless buses are expected to play a vital role in the future, and better public acceptance will provide a social foundation for its development. In this study, two new variables, personal innovativeness (PI) and perceived risk (PR), were incorporated into the integrated technology acceptance model (UTAUT, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology) to construct an extended model, which was then applied to explore the influencing factors for the public acceptance of driverless buses. The quality of this extended model was verified through survey data collected in Chongqing, China. The structural equation modeling (SEM) method was adopted to quantitatively describe the impact of each factor on acceptance intention (AI) as well as the mutual influence relationships between the factors. The moderating effects of demographic attributes (gender, age, and education level) on each factor in the model were also analyzed. The results showed that PI and PR are the most critical factors that affect the public's acceptance intention; effort expectancy (EE), performance expectancy (PE), social influence (SI), and facilitating condition (FC) can also determine the acceptance intention to a certain extent; gender, age, and education level have exhibited significantly different moderating effects on the influencing factors. The explanatory power of the current research model for acceptance intention has reached 48%. This study has confirmed the applicability of the extended UTAUT model to the research of driverless bus acceptance and the research outcomes can serve as a reference basis for improving the service quality of driverless buses in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Recent studies have focused on the special roles of NADPH-oxidase in multiple autoimmune diseases. Nevertheless, the association of genetic variation in NADPH-oxidase genes with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was not extensively studied in a Chinese population. We performed this study to examine the association of NCF2, NCF4, and CYBA gene polymorphisms with RA susceptibility in a Chinese population.Methods: Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (NCF2 rs10911363, NCF4 rs1883112, rs4821544, rs729749, CYBA rs3794624, and rs4673) were genotyped in a cohort composed of 593 RA patients and 596 normal controls. Improved multiple ligase detection reaction (iMLDR) was used for genotyping.Results: We observed that NCF4 rs4821544 CT genotype and C allele frequencies in RA patients were significantly decreased when compared to controls (CT vs. TT: P = 0.043; C vs. T: P = 0.031), and rs4821544 polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased RA risk under the dominant model (TT vs. CT+CC: P = 0.031). Our results also indicated that rs729749 CT genotype frequency was significantly lower in RA patients than that in controls (CT vs. CC: P = 0.033). Moreover, the rs729749 CT genotype frequency was also significantly decreased in RA patients in males (CT vs. CC: P = 0.024). No significant association between NCF2 and CYBA gene polymorphisms and RA susceptibility was observed. There were significant associations between rs4821544 TT genotype and T allele frequencies and anti-CCP in male RA patients.Conclusions: In summary, NCF4 rs4821544 and rs729749 polymorphisms might contribute to RA susceptibility, while NCF2 and CYBA gene polymorphisms were not associated with RA susceptibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To preserve the existing asphalt pavement and extend its service life, various preventive maintenance methods, such as chip seal, slurry seal, fog seal, and microsurfacing, have been commonly applied. Sand fog seal is one of such maintenance methods, which is based on the application of bitumen emulsion and sand. Thus, its performance is largely dependent on the properties of the bitumen emulsion and sand. This study aims to develop an improved sand fog seal method by using waterborne epoxy resin as an emulsion modifier. To this end, both laboratory tests and field trials were conducted. In the laboratory, the wet track abrasion and British pendulum test were performed to determine the optimum sand size for the sand fog seal, and the rubbing test was carried out to evaluate the wearing resistance of the sealing material. In the field, pavement surface regularity before and after the sand fog seal application was measured using the 3 m straightedge method, and the surface macrotexture and skid resistance were evaluated with the sand patch method and British pendulum test, respectively. The laboratory test results indicated that the optimum sand size range is 0.45–0.9 mm, and the sand fog seal with waterborne epoxy resin showed good wearing resistance and skid resistance. The field test results verified that both the pavement texture and skid resistance were substantially improved after sand fog sealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emodin is an active monomer extracted from rhubarb root, which has many biological functions, including anti-inflammation, antioxidation, anticancer, and neuroprotection. However, the protective effect of emodin on nerve injury needs to be further elucidated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of emodin on the neuroprotection and the special molecular mechanism. Here, the protective activity of emodin inhibiting H2O2-induced apoptosis and neuroinflammation as well as its molecular mechanisms was examined using human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y cells). The results showed that emodin significantly enhanced cell viability, reduced cell apoptosis and LDH release. Simultaneously, emodin downregulated H2O2-induced inflammatory factors, including IL-6, NO, and TNF-α, and alleviated H2O2-induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, emodin inhibited the activation of the PI3K/mTOR/GSK3β signaling pathway. What is more, the PI3K/mTOR/GSK3β pathway participated in the protective mechanism of emodin on H2O2-induced cell damage. Collectively, it suggests that emodin alleviates H2O2-induced apoptosis and neuroinflammation potentially by regulating the PI3K/mTOR/GSK3β signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queue forming behind a bus stop on an urban street is common and a traffic bottleneck usually occurs around the bus stop area. The bus stop failure means arriving buses cannot move into the bus stop due to limited capacity but have to wait for available loading areas. It is related with the transit operation level. Traditionally, the failure rate (FR), defined as the percentage of buses that arrives at the bus stop to find all loading areas occupied, is adopted in bus capacity analysis. However, the concept of FR is unable to quantitatively analyze failure characteristics in terms of its dispersion and uncertainty over time. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new index called failure duration rate (FDR) to evaluate the bus stop failure, which can characterize waiting time for traffic delay calculation and capacity drop estimation. The automatic vehicle location data at eight bus stops in Wujiang District Suzhou, China, over 56 working days, are used to analyze the temporal characteristics of FR and FDR. We next examined the failed service duration characteristics during peak hours at the eight bus stops. Based on these characteristics analyses, we then proposed a Distribution Fitting and Cumulative Distribution Correlation (DF-CDC) approach to explore the correlation between FDR and FR at the same cumulative distribution function levels and validated the bus stop failure performance using the cross-validation method. The analysis results revealed that (i) FR fluctuates more significant than FDR, (ii) FDR is a more robust index than FR in describing the traffic characteristics incurred by bus stop failures, and (iii) FDR performs better in failure characteristics analysis than FR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ketogenic diet (KD), the "High‐fat, low‐carbohydrate, adequate‐protein" diet strategy, replacing glucose with ketone bodies, is effective against several diseases, from intractable epileptic seizures, metabolic disorders, tumors, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, and neurodegeneration to skeletal muscle atrophy and peripheral neuropathy. Key mechanisms include augmented mitochondrial efficiency, reduced oxidative stress, and regulated phospho‐AMP‐activated protein kinase, gamma‐aminobutyric acid‐glutamate, Na+/K+ pump, leptin and adiponectin levels, ghrelin levels, lipogenesis, ketogenesis, lipolysis, and gluconeogenesis. In cancer cells, KD targets glucose metabolism, suppresses insulin‐like growth factor‐1 and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways, and reduces cancer cachexia and muscle waste and fatigue. An associated increased skeletal proliferator‐activated receptor‐γ coactivator‐1α activity alters systemic ketone body homeostasis, contributing toward attenuated diabetic hyperketonemia. Antioxidative and anti‐inflammatory properties enable KD enhance endurance and sports performances while preventing exercise‐induced muscle and organ debility. KD reduces metabolic syndromes‐associated allodynia and promotes peripheral axonal and sensory regeneration. This review enlightens effects of KD on various disease conditions. Practical applications: It is increasingly being realized that diet plays a very important role in our fight against several diseases. This can range from neurological disorders to diabetes and cancer. In this context, the potential of KD, the "High‐fat, low‐carbohydrate, adequate‐protein" diet strategy, is increasingly being realized. In this article, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the benefits of KD against many diseases and discuss the underlying biochemical mechanisms. We hope that our write‐up will stimulate further research on KD and help generate an interest for the populations to adopt this healthy diet. It can help overcome the problems associated with weight and dysregulated metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite element numerical simulation method was used to study the stretch-bending process of asymmetric L-section aluminum alloy profiles. The geometrical parameters of the multipoint dies (MPDs) are studied to influence the shape accuracy and springback of the L-section profile after bending. The results show that the profile curvature of the MPD after the profile is bent has a great influence on the stress-strain distribution, springback value, and shape accuracy. In order to obtain uniform stress-strain of the profile and reduce the springback and shape error, the MPD is optimized by numerical simulation analysis, which has a certain reference value of providing a theoretical basis for the rational design of the flexible stretch-bending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that there are problems of difficulty to identify accurately the poverty alleviation subjects' demands. This research puts forward and applies the fuzzy proximity method on the basis of the fuzzy set theory. The method can identify accurately the demands of poverty alleviation subjects. This study calculated the fuzzy proximity vector and the positive and negative ideal grades of the four demand types, according to six poverty characteristic indexes. The demand types are determined. Then, the paper takes a case about the demand identification of a poverty alleviation subject in a village, Shanxi province in China. The application result showed that (1) the demand identification model can help identify accurately the demands of poverty alleviation subjects; (2) the poverty alleviation strategies provide a reference for the government to carry out poverty alleviation work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) is known to exist as mitochondrial (PEPCK‐M) and cytosolic isoforms (PEPCK‐C). They are involved in glucose production and play vital roles in regulating glucose homeostasis. This study aimed to (1) clone and characterize PEPCK‐C cDNA from golden pompano fish (Trachinotus ovatus), which are known to have poor utilization of dietary carbohydrates, and (2) analyze the regulation of its expression by varying dietary carbohydrate‐to‐lipid ratios and nutritional status. A full length golden pompano PEPCK‐C cDNA fragment of 2,652 bp was cloned, which contains an open reading frame of 1,875 bp encoding 624 amino acids and shows a high homology to cobia (Rachycentron canadum) PEPCK‐C sequence (92% similarity). The analysis of tissue distributions of PEPCK‐C mRNA showed that a high abundance of PEPCK‐C was expressed in golden pompano liver, followed by kidney; while lower expression levels were found in the heart and intestine. In liver, PEPCK is under the regulation of dietary composition and nutritional status at the enzymatic and molecular levels. Our results indicate that PEPCK‐C plays a modulating role in the adaptation of hepatic gluconeogenesis to different nutrient conditions. Thus, the absence of molecular inhibition of gluconeogenic PEPCK gene expression in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), which can at least partially account for their poor utilization of dietary carbohydrate, is specific to these species and is not observed in golden pompano. Further studies that examine, at the enzymatic and molecular levels, other key enzymes involved in hepatic glucose metabolism are necessary to understand the poor utilization of carbohydrates in golden pompano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the case of mammals, teleost fish generally have poor ability to utilize carbohydrate, and the clearance of glucose from the plasma is sluggish. In this study, after a 8‐week feeding trial, we conducted a glucose tolerance test to hypothesize that the capability of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) to clear a glucose load is associated with its nutrient history of different carbohydrate‐to‐lipid ratio diets (CHO:L: 1.52%, 5.84% and 34.84%) through glycogen synthesis and glucose metabolic key enzymes. Our results showed that after a glucose load, the plasma glucose of fish fed with high CHO:L‐ratio diet (34.84%) first declined to baseline conditions, and the peak value of liver and muscle glycogen content was significantly higher in high CHO:L‐ratio but lower in low CHO:L group (1.52%). In addition, after glucose administration, hepatic GK (glucokinase) activity of fish fed with high CHO:L‐ratio diet increased more significantly than that of the other groups, and PEPCK (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase) activity obviously decreased in low CHO:L‐ratio group. The results indicated that a long‐term adaptation to the high CHO:L‐ratio diet can improved the glucose tolerance of C. idellus through the promotion of glycogen synthesis and GK activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asphalt-aggregate interface interaction plays a significant role in the overall performances of asphalt mixture. In order to analyze the chemical constitution of asphalt effects on the asphalt-aggregate interaction, the average structure C64H52S2 is selected to represent the asphalt, and the colloid, saturated phenol, and asphaltene are selected to represent the major constitutions in asphalt. The molecular models are established for the three compositions, respectively, and the Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation was conducted for the three kinds of asphaltene-aggregate system at different presses. Comparing the E value of Young modulus of these three polymers, the maximum modulus value of asphaltene was 2.80 GPa, the modulus value of colloid was secondary, and the minimum modulus of saturated phenol was 0.52 GPa. This result corresponds to conventional understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression, which is characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood and anhedonia, greatly impacts patients, their families, and society. The associated and recurring sleep disturbances further reduce patient’s quality of life. However, therapeutic sleep deprivation has been regarded as a rapid and robust antidepressant treatment for several decades, which suggests a complicated role of sleep in development of depression. Changes in neural plasticity are observed during physiological sleep, therapeutic sleep deprivation, and depression. This correlation might help us to understand better the mechanism underlying development of depression and the role of sleep. In this review, we first introduce the structure of sleep and the facilitated neural plasticity caused by physiological sleep. Then, we introduce sleep disturbances and changes in plasticity in patients with depression. Finally, the effects and mechanisms of antidepressants and therapeutic sleep deprivation on neural plasticity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors aim to investigate protective effects of fasciotomy against ischemia reperfusion injury of skeletal muscle in rabbit and to compare the treatment effects of prereperfusion + fasciotomy and fasciotomy + postreperfusion against ischemia reperfusion injury of skeletal muscle. 24 healthy male Japanese white rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups, and 4 hours’ ischemia was established in these rabbits through surgery. Six hours’ reperfusion was performed in group A; reperfusion + postfasciotomy was performed in group B; and prefasciotomy + reperfusion was performed in group C. Result showed that prefasciotomy and postfasciotomy could protect skeletal muscle against ischemia reperfusion injury, reduced MDA (malondialdehyde) expression, MPO (myeloperoxidase) expression, and apoptosis of muscle in the reperfused areas, increased Bcl-2 expression, and decreased Bax expression. The MDA and MPO levels in group B and group C were significantly lower than those in group A, and MDA and MPO levels in group C were significantly lower than those in group B. Prefasciotomy and postfasciotomy could protect against ischemia reperfusion injury in skeletal muscle. The protective effects of prefasciotomy against ischemia reperfusion injury are better than postfasciotomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curcuminoids and tea polyphenols (CTP) are nutraceuticals with anticancer activity. To evaluate their combined in vitro anti-cancer activity, the CTP mixture was loaded on solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNPs). The resulting CTP-SLNPs were characterized and shown to have good chemical stability, making them suitable for delivery to cancer cells. A validated HPLC-MS method was developed to monitor the composition and quality of the prepared CTP-SLNP formulation, by identifying and quantifying its eight main components (epigallocatechin, epicatechin, catechin, epigallocatechingallate, epicatechingallate, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin). The in vitro activity of CTP-SLNPs was evaluated and shown to significantly inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 and CT-26 cancer cells lines, indicating that anti-cancer properties of curcuminoids and tea polyphenols were enhanced in the CTP-SLNPs formulation. The results of this work are promising for further investigation and development of CTP-SLNPs as nanomedicines for cancer. Practical applications This research presents a practical approach for utilizing the anti-cancer benefits of natural bioactive ingredients from tea and turmeric, and has potential applications in clinical cancer therapy. The present work provides a stable CTP-SLNPs formulation with significant anti-cancer activity, which could be used for further development as a potential chemotherapeutic agent. The validated analytical method presented here can be used for characterization and comprehensive quality control of the novel CTP-SLNPs formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was to search for medicinal-herb combinations based on Radix Bupleurum chinense DC (“B”), Rhizoma Corydalis yanhusuo WT Wang (“Y”), Caulis Polygonum multiflorum Thunb (“P”), and Flos Albizia julibrissin Durazz (“A”) for antiaging, anxiolytic, and sedative effects. Application of the D-galactose induced accelerated-aging model employing male ICR mice showed that oral administration of some combinations of B, Y, P, and A significantly improved spatial memory in Y-maze test and reduced brain levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 based on immunoassays and oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde, based on the thiobarbituric acid test, and the loss of whiskers, indicating antiaging and antineurodegeneration effects. In addition, some of the combinatory formulas induced anxiolysis measured using the elevated plus-maze test and/or sedative effects measured using the hole-board test. Over the range of dosages examined, all possible combinations of the four herbs were devoid of any significant side effects in the form of altered locomotor activity, decreased muscle coordination, or anterograde amnesia assessed using the photobeam and rotarod and step-through passive avoidance methods, respectively. The results suggest that various combinations of the B, Y, P, and A herbs could be useful as nonsedative, antiaging and/or antineurodegenerative agents, or anxiolytic agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of L-ascorbyl flurbiprofenate was achieved by esterification and transesterification in nonaqueous organic medium with Novozym 435 lipase as biocatalyst. The conversion was greatly influenced by the kinds of organic solvents, speed of agitation, catalyst loading amount, reaction time, and molar ratio of acyl donor to L-ascorbic acid. A series of solvents were investigated, and tert-butanol was found to be the most suitable from the standpoint of the substrate solubility and the conversion for both the esterification and transesterification. When flurbiprofen was used as acyl donor, 61.0% of L-ascorbic acid was converted against 46.4% in the presence of flurbiprofen methyl ester. The optimal conversion of L-ascorbic acid was obtained when the initial molar ratio of acyl donor to ascorbic acid was 5 : 1. kinetics parameters were solved by Lineweaver-Burk equation under nonsubstrate inhibition condition. Since transesterification has lower conversion, from the standpoint of productivity and the amount of steps required, esterification is a better method compared to transesterification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC) substantially improves the neurological deficits during stroke by reducing neuronal injury, limiting proinflammatory immune responses, and promoting neuronal repair, which makes ADSC-based therapy an attractive approach for treating stroke. However, the potential risk of tumorigenicity and low survival rate of the implanted cells limit the clinical use of ADSC. Cell-free extracts from ADSC (ADSC-E) may be a feasible approach that could overcome these limitations. Here, we aim to explore the potential usage of ADSC-E in treating rat transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). We demonstrated that intravenous (IV) injection of ADSC-E remarkably reduces the ischemic lesion and number of apoptotic neurons as compared to other control groups. Although ADSC and ADSC-E treatment results in a similar degree of a long-term clinical beneficial outcome, the dynamics between two ADSC-based therapies are different. While the injection of ADSC leads to a relatively mild but prolonged therapeutic effect, the administration of ADSC-E results in a fast and pronounced clinical improvement which was associated with a unique change in the molecular signature suggesting that potential mechanisms underlying different therapeutic approach may be different. Together these data provide translational evidence for using protein extracts from ADSC for treating stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the ecological adaptability and the possibility of growing rice with floating bed on the dilute biogas slurry. The results of the experiments show that the growth stage, rice plant height, and rice yield and quality were significantly affected by multiple dilutions; rice plants cultivated with 45 multiple dilutions had better ecological adaptability than others. In the 45 multiple dilutions’ group, the yield of rice was 13.3 g/bucket (8 rice plants), milled rice rate was 63.1%, and the content of crude protein in the rice was 6.3%. The concentrations of heavy metals in the rice cultivated with 30 multiple dilutions’ slurry, such as total lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, and arsenic, were all below the national standard. The study shows that it is possible and safe to cultivate rice plants with no soil but diluted biogas slurry. In the experiments, the yield, milled rice rate, and crude protein of the rice cultivated with slurry were not as much as those of rice cultivated with regular way in soil. This study provides the basic theoretical support for the development of biogas projects and the potential achievement of organic farming in special agricultural facilities and circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To explore electroacupuncture’s (EA’s) effects on fasting blood glucose (FBG) and insulin resistance of type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) model rats and give a possible explanation for the effects. Method. It takes high fat diet and intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 30 mg/kg) for model preparation. Model rats were randomly divided into T2DM Model group, EA weiwanxiashu (EX-B3) group, and sham EA group (n=12/group). EA (2 Hz continuous wave, 2 mA, 20 min/day, 6 days/week, 4 weeks) was applied as intervention. FBG, area under curve (AUC) of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), pancreatic B cell function index (HOMA-B), skeletal muscle phosphorylated phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), and membrane GLUT4 protein expression were measured. Results. EA weiwanxiashu (EX-B3) can greatly upregulate model rat’s significantly reduced skeletal muscle PI3K (Y607) and membrane GLUT4 protein expression (P<0.01), effectively reducing model rats’ FBG and AUC of OGTT (P<0.01). The effects are far superior to sham EA group. Conclusion. EA weiwanxiashu (EX-B3) can upregulate skeletal muscle phosphorylated PI3K protein expression, to stimulate membrane translocation of GLUT4 and thereby increase skeletal muscle glucose intake to treat T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike stereotypical neurotropic viruses, influenza A viruses have been detected in the brain tissues of human and animal models. To investigate the interaction between neurons and influenza A viruses, mouse cortical neurons were isolated, infected with human H1N1 influenza virus, and then examined for the production of various inflammatory molecules involved in immune response. We found that replication of the influenza virus in neurons was limited, although early viral transcription was not affected. Virus-induced neuron viability decreased at 6 h postinfection (p.i.) but increased at 24 h p.i. depending upon the viral strain. Virus-induced apoptosis and cytopathy in primary cortical neurons were not apparent at 24 h p.i. The mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and type I interferons were upregulated at 6 h and 24 h p.i. These results indicate that the influenza virus induces inflammatory response in mouse primary cortical neurons with limited viral replication. The cytokines released in viral infection-induced neuroinflammation might play critical roles in influenza encephalopathy, rather than in viral replication-induced cytopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new optimization framework for the transit signal priority strategies in terms of green extension, red truncation, and phase insertion at the stop-to-stop segment of bus lines. The optimization objective is to minimize both passenger delay and the deviation from bus schedule simultaneously. The objective functions are defined with respect to the segment between bus stops, which can include the adjacent signalized intersections and downstream bus stops. The transit priority signal timing is optimized by using a biobjective optimization framework considering both the total delay at a segment and the delay deviation from the arrival schedules at bus stops. The proposed framework is evaluated using a VISSIM model calibrated with field traffic volume and traffic signal data of Caochangmen Boulevard in Nanjing, China. The optimized TSP-based phasing plans result in the reduced delay and improved reliability, compared with the non-TSP scenario under the different traffic flow conditions in the morning peak hour. The evaluation results indicate the promising performance of the proposed optimization framework in reducing the passenger delay and improving the bus schedule adherence for the urban transit system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the major type of lung cancer. The aim of this study was to characterize the expression profiles of miRNAs in adenocarcinoma (AC), one major subtype of NSCLC. In this study, the miRNAs were detected in normal, adjacent, and tumor tissues by next-generation sequencing. Then the expression levels of differential miRNAs were quantified by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In the results, 259, 401, and 389 miRNAs were detected in tumor, adjacent, and normal tissues of pooled AC samples, respectively. In addition, for the first time we have found that miR-21-5p and miR-196a-5p were gradually upregulated from normal to adjacent to tumor tissues; miR-218-5p was gradually downregulated with 2-fold or greater change in AC tissues. These 3 miRNAs were validated by qRT-PCR. Lastly, we predicted target genes of these 3 miRNAs and enriched the potential functions and regulatory pathways. The aberrant miR-21-5p, miR-196a-5p, and miR-218-5p may become biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma. This research may be useful for lung adenocarcinoma diagnosis and the study of pathology in lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asphalt-aggregate interface interaction (AAI) plays a significant role in the overall performances of asphalt mixture, which is caused due to the complicated physicochemical processes and is influenced by various factors, including the acid-base property of aggregates. In order to analyze the effects of the chemical constitution of aggregate on the AAI, the average structure C65H74N2S2 is selected to represent the asphaltene in asphalt and magnesium oxide (MgO), calcium oxide (CaO), aluminium sesquioxide (Al2O3), and silicon dioxide (SiO2) are selected to represent the major oxides in aggregate. The molecular models are established for asphaltene and the four oxides, respectively, and the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was conducted for the four kinds of asphaltene-oxide system at different temperatures. The interfacial energy in MD simulation is calculated to evaluate the AAI, and higher value means better interaction. The results show that interfacial energy between asphaltene and oxide reaches the maximum value at 25°C and 80°C and the minimum value at 40°C. In addition, the interfacial energy between asphaltene and MgO was found to be the greatest, followed by CaO, Al2O3, and SiO2, which demonstrates that the AAI between asphalt and alkaline aggregates is better than acidic aggregates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transit signal priority has a positive effect on improving traffic condition and level of transit service in the urban area. In this paper, a passenger-based transit signal priority (TSP) optimization model is formulated to optimize intersection signal phasing based on minimizing accessibility-based passenger delay at the intersection and increased waiting-delay at the downstream bus stop simultaneously. Genetic Algorithm is utilized to calculate passenger-based optimization model that is calibrated by evening rush hour actual traffic data (17:30–18:30, October 13th–October 15th, 2015) along Shuiximen Boulevard in Nanjing, China. The performance of the proposed optimization model in decreasing delay and improving system reliability is simulated and evaluated by VISSIM-based simulation platform, and the results illustrate that the proposed optimization model presents promising outcomes in decreasing accessibility-based passenger delay at intersection (average reduction of 12%) and passenger waiting-delay at downstream bus service stop (average reduction of 18%) compared with traditional vehicle-based TSP optimization method in rush hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similarity of plume radiation between reduced scaling solid rocket models and full scale ones in ground conditions has been taken for investigation. Flow and radiation of plume from solid rockets with scaling ratio from 0.1 to 1 have been computed. The radiative transfer equation (RTE) is solved by the finite volume method (FVM) in infrared band 2~6 μm. The spectral characteristics of plume gases have been calculated with the weighted-sum-of-gray-gas (WSGG) model, and those of the Al2O3 particles have been solved by the Mie scattering model. Our research shows that, with the decreasing scaling ratio of the rocket engine, the radiation intensity of the plume decreases with 1.5~2.5 power of the scaling ratio. The infrared radiation of the plume gases shows a strong spectral dependency, while that of the Al2O3 particles shows grey property. Spectral radiation intensity of the high temperature core of the solid rocket plume increases greatly in the peak absorption spectrum of plume gases. Al2O3 particle is the major radiation composition in the rocket plume, whose scattering coefficient is much larger than its absorption coefficient. There is good similarity between spectral variations of plumes from different scaling solid rockets. The directional plume radiation rises with the increasing azimuth angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopts a narrow band model to investigate the cooling and radiation of a vectoring nozzle and to compute the gas spectral characteristic in infrared band. The radiative heat transfer between the hot gas and the wall is considered with an enclosure model. The calculation of film cooling is performed through a cooling effectiveness method. A coupled heat balance equation of heat flux and wall temperature is established on the multilayer structure of the nozzle, including the wall, heat shield, and outer shield, and a Newton-Raphson scheme is taken for solution. Temperature on the expansion part of an experimental nozzle in NASA TN D-1988 is investigated for verification. Another vectoring nozzle with a multirow of film cooling is also investigated. This study shows that the film in the heat shield remarkably cools the convergent part of the nozzle, thereby increasing the temperature on the expansion part of the nozzle. The deflection of the nozzle can change the distribution of the wall temperature and the radiation on the expansion part, which is lower on the deflection side than on the opposite side. The radiation from the nozzle outlet is high, particularly along the deflection direction in the rear hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]