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Purpose: This study is aimed to investigate the effects of periocular steroids induction on intraocular pressure (IOP), retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and trabecular meshwork (TM) ultrastructure in glucocorticoid-induced ocular hypertension mice model. Materials and Methods: Dexamethasone-21-acetate (Dex-Ace) was administered through periocular conjunctival fornix injection every 3 days in C57BL/6J mice. Intraocular pressure was measured weekly by rebound tonometry. RGCs were examined with immunofluorescent staining of BRN3a at week 1, 4, and 8. TM morphology was visualized with electron microscopy. Autophagy was evaluated with immunoblotting in TM tissues. Results: Dex-Ace rapidly and significantly induced IOP, which peaked at week 4. The absolute increase in IOP in the Dex-Ace-treated mice was 8.1 ± 1.4 mmHg, a 60% induction (p <.0001) compared with that in the vehicle-treated mice. The IOP sustained a higher level in the Dex-Ace group from week 4 to week 8. Dex-Ace treatment decreased the number of RGCs in a time-dependent manner, suggesting that high IOP resulted in optic neuropathy. In addition, Dex-Ace thickened trabecular beams and decreased intertrabecular spaces, with marked accumulation of fibrillar and amorphous granular extracellular material. Moreover, Dex-Ace induced swollen and elongated mitochondria in TM cells. The average mitochondria area was 0.090 ± 0.044 µm2 in the vehicle-treated mice, and increased to 0.161 ± 0.094 µm2 (p <.0001), 0.121 ± 0.029 µm2 (p =.0223) and 0.171 ± 0.076 µm2 (p <.0001) in the Dex-Ace-treated mice at weeks 1, 4 and 8, respectively. Autophagy was also increased by Dex-Ace treatment, indicating by the upregulation of LC3-I, LC3-II and beclin-1, and downregulation of p62. Conclusion: Dex-Ace administration decreased RGCs and changed TM ultrastructure, mimicking hallmarks of human glucocorticoid-induced glaucoma (GIG). In addition, mitochondria and autophagy dysfunction suggested abnormal energy metabolism in TM cells, which warranted further study to fully elucidate the pathogenesis of GIG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel azobenzene chiral liquid crystals (Mt4AZOnB) containing (-)-menthyl were successfully synthesised. Terminal alkyl chains of the molecules varied from methyl to hexyl. The chemical structures were characterised by Fourier transform infrared and 1H-NMR spectra. Liquid crystalline behaviour of the chiral liquid crystals was characterised by differential scanning calorimetry and polarising optical microscopy. The effect of terminal alkyl chains on mesomorphic and photoisomerisation behaviour of azobenzene-based liquid crystals is discussed. The lower members (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) are monotropic and only the higher members (n = 5, 6) show enantiotropic behaviour. These compounds show a distinct odd-even effect for the phase transition temperature when the parity of the terminal chain is varied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of 1,2-C6H4(SiMe2H)(SiH3) (1) with Pt(dcpe)(PEt3)2(dcpe = Cy2PCH2CH2PCy2) in dry toluene at room temperature in the ratio of 1 : 1 leads to {1,2-C6H4(SiMe2)(SiH2)}PtII(dcpe) (2), which can react with sterically unhindered alcohol to form a dimethoxy substituted silyl platinum(II) compound (3). There are only five examples of bis(silyl) platinum(II) complexes prepared from this silyl ligand with such structural features registered in the Cambridge Structural Database. The structures of2and3were unambiguously determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis and multinuclear NMR spectroscopic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood-leaf separation from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is a crucial prerequisite for quantifying many biophysical properties and understanding ecological functions. In this study, we propose a novel multi-directional collaborative convolutional neural network (MDC-Net) that takes the original 3D coordinates and useful features from prior knowledge (prior features) as input, and outputs the semantic labels of TLS point clouds. The MDC-Net contains two key units: (1) a multi-directional neighborhood construction (MDNC) unit to obtain more representative neighbors and enable directionally aware feature encoding in the subsequent local feature extraction, to mitigate occlusion effects; (2) a collaborative feature encoding (CFE) unit is introduced to incorporate useful features from prior knowledge into the network through a collaborative cross coding to enhance the discrimination for thin structures (e.g. small branches and leaf). The MDC-Net is evaluated on five plots from forests in Guangxi, China, with different branch architectures and leaf distributions. Experimental results showed that the MDC-Net achieved an OA of 0.973 and a mIoU of 0.821 and outperformed other related methods. We believe the MDC-Net would facilitate the usage of TLS in ecology studies for quantifying tree size and morphology and thus promote the development of relevant ecological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geospatial cellular automata (Geo-CA) models have encountered challenges in computing efficiency and scalability when conducting large-scale land use change simulation applications. Parallel computing has proven to be effective to address these challenges. However, parallelization strategies for existing parallel Geo-CA models are always optimized for specific models and lack applicability to others. Besides, most parallel Geo-CA models focus on parallelizing land use change simulations, ignoring land use transition rule mining. Moreover, there is a lack of effective parallel strategies for demand-constrained land use change simulation on distributed heterogeneous architectures. This study proposes a parallel framework on hybrid parallel computing architectures applicable for raster-based Geo-CA models to enhance their computing efficiency and scalability while maintaining simulation accuracy. The framework provides parallelization strategies for both the land use transition rule mining for multiple land use types and the demand-constrained land use change simulation on distributed heterogeneous architectures. The framework was employed to parallelize two contemporary Geo-CA models, i.e., PLUS and MCCA. Experiments showed that the parallelized models achieved significant improvements in computing efficiency and scalability, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed framework for large-scale land use change simulation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil-immersed power transformers generate characteristic gases after failure,Therefore, it is necessary to analyse and monitor the soluble gases in transformer oil samples. In this study, the DFT calculation method was used to study the adsorption properties of H2, CO, C2H2, and C2H4 gases in oil on both intrinsic MoTe2 and Rh-doped MoTe2 films. In order to analyse the adsorption characteristics, this paper first obtains the most stable Rh-doped MoTe2 monolayer model through the modelling and computational analysis of different doping sites, then, the adsorption of these gases on the material surface is studied by analysing adsorption energy, charge transfer, total state density, parting density, energy band structure, differential charge density map, molecular front orbital and desorption time, and finally concludes that Rh-MoTe2 monolayer film is the ideal material for hydrogen sensing elements, due to the extremely long desorption time of CO gas, indicating that CO gas is hard to desorption on the surface of adsorbent,which shows that this process has played a certain role in promoting CO removal. Highlights Study focused on gas adsorption using DFT: Rh-MoTe2 ideal for hydrogen sensing and effective for CO removal, intrinsic MoTe2 ineffective and required metal doping. Rh doping enhanced conductivity and gas adsorption capacity in MoTe2. Rh-MoTe2 was suitable for detecting H2, C2H2, and C2H4 gases. Desorption times vary with temperature, with CO removal particularly effective at higher temperatures. Findings suggest potential applications for Rh-MoTe2 in gas sensing and removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To report the case of an individual with PHP, Turner syndrome and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Case: A 16-year-old girl was referred to our hospital with chief complaint of short stature. She presented with round chubby facies, short neck, obesity and short stature. Radiography indicated short metatarsals and metacarpals, which mainly affected the second, third and fourth digits. Biochemistry revealed hyperphosphatemia, increased serum concentrations of parathyroid hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone, elevated levels of follicular-stimulating hormone and prolactin, and increased thyroid peroxidase antibody and thyroglobulin antibody. Radiographic examination revealed delayed bone age and pelvic ultrasonography demonstrated an immature uterus. Karyotype analysis showed 46,X,i(Xq10), while molecular analysis revealed a same sense mutation in exon 5 of GNAS (ATC → ATT, Ile).The specific diagnosis was made of Turner syndrome in the presence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and PHP. She was treated with calcium supplementation, calcitriol and thyroxine. Conclusions: This is the first case report to describe a combination of Turner syndrome with these other clinical entities, and their co-existence should be considered and further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by its potential applications of organic luminescence and fluorescence probe materials for 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzazoles (HBX) derivatives, this study mainly investigates the excited-state behaviours of a novel 2-benzooxazol-2-yl-6-thiophen-2-yl-phenol (BYTYP) fluorophore. Theoretical exploration has been conducted on the solvent-dependent interactions of excited-state intramolecular hydrogen bonding and the process of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) for BYTYP. By combining optimised geometrical modifications, infrared (IR) vibrational spectra and the core-valence bifurcation (CVB) index, hydrogen bonding strengthening can be confirmed. Predicting the bond energy (EHB), we assert that nonpolar solvents are more conducive to enhancing hydrogen bonding interactions. The ESIPT tendency of BYTYP is further elucidated by charge reorganisation resulting from photoexcitation. By exploring potential energy surfaces (PESs) and identifying transition states (TS), we have uncovered the solvent-polarity-controlled ESIPT behaviours. We hope these insights into excited-state dynamics will facilitate the design and development of novel fluorescent sensors in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ligand-based drug design methods are thought to require large experimental datasets to become useful for virtual screening. In this work, we propose a computational strategy to design novel inhibitors of coronavirus main protease, Mpro. The pipeline integrates publicly available screening and binding affinity data in a two-stage machine-learning model using the recent MACAW embeddings. Once trained, the model can be deployed to rapidly screen large libraries of molecules in silico. Several hundred thousand compounds were virtually screened and 10 of them were selected for experimental testing. From these 10 compounds, 8 showed a clear inhibitory effect on recombinant Mpro, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration values (IC50) in the range 0.18–18.82 μM. Cellular assays were also conducted to evaluate cytotoxic, haemolytic, and antiviral properties. A promising lead compound against coronavirus Mpro was identified with dose-dependent inhibition of virus infectivity and minimal toxicity on human MRC-5 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parallel computing on distributed heterogeneous architectures (e.g. computing clusters with multiple CPUs and GPUs) can significantly improve the computational efficiency and scalability of complicated algorithms, but it is theoretically and technically complex. Parallel raster processing libraries reduce the development complexity of parallel raster algorithms by hiding parallel computing details; however, no existing library sufficiently utilizes distributed heterogeneous computing resources. A general-purpose raster processing library (mcRPL) combining multi-process parallelism and multi-thread parallelism is proposed to enable parallel raster processing on distributed heterogeneous architectures with multiple CPUs and GPUs. Additionally, an adaptive hardware assignment strategy is proposed to fully utilize available processors in various hardware environments. A series of task-processing strategies are adopted to aim toward maximizing the utilization of the computing capacity of involved processors. Experiments revealed that two raster algorithms parallelized using mcRPL for spatiotemporal data fusion and land-use change simulation were 170.7- and 143.2-fold faster than original serial algorithms using 8 and 16 GPUs, respectively. While hiding the details of mixed parallelism and reducing the development complexity, mcRPL provides user-friendly interfaces for the development of parallel raster algorithms to enhance computational performance and enable large-scale raster computing tasks with extensive data volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the injury of murine mesenchymal stem cells (mMSC) exposed to 4 Gy X-radiation and the role of canonical and non-canonical wingless-type (Wnt) signaling in the radiation injury. Materials and methods: C3H10T1/2 cells were submitted to 4 Gy X-radiation. At different time points after radiation, Hoechst33258 staining and Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) flow cytometry analysis were performed to assess cellular apoptosis. Senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining was performed to analyze cellular senescence. Cell cycle was measured by flow cytometry. P53, p21, Wnt3a, Wnt5a, sonic hedgehog (Shh) mRNA was detected by Real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Wnt5a protein was determined by Western blot. Results: A time-dependent cellular apoptosis was observed with a peak level 12 hours after radiation. Cellular senescence was detected 72 h after radiation. A remarkable up-regulation of Wnt5a mRNA expression (∼ 269-fold) and protein expression was seen 72 h after radiation. Conclusions: The effect of 4 Gy X-radiation to mMSC was time-dependent in the form of cellular apoptosis in the early period and cellular senescence in the late period. Non-canonical Wnt signaling may be involved in mMSC senescence induced by 4 Gy X-radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mononuclear cobalt(III) complex [Co(L)2]Cl · H2O (1) (where L is H2N(CH2)2N=CC6H3(OMe)(O-)) has been prepared and characterized by IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, conductivity measurements, elemental analysis, TGA, cyclic voltammetry and an X-ray structure determination. The cobalt(III) coordination sphere in [Co(L)2] is cis-CoN4O2 with the NNO ligands. Electrochemical studies of 1 using cyclic voltammetry indicate an irreversible cathodic peak (Epc, ca -0.60 V) corresponding to reduction of cobalt(III) to cobalt(II). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results of examination of the formation and control of disinfection by-products (DBPs), specifically total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and total haloacetic acids (HAAs) in water treatment, are described in this article. Systems analysis models for TTHMs and HAAs for drinking water treatment plants using 28 surface water sources in Ontario are developed. Statistically, significant predictive regression models for TTHMs from dissolved organic carbon (DOC), chlorination and temperature (r2=0.72) and HAAs from DOC, chlorination and pH (r2=0.72) are demonstrated. These models are used to consider options to decrease DBP formation by shifting from pre-chlorination to post-chlorination, demonstrating that the potential may exist by applying more of the chlorine at a later point in the treatment sequence. This type of shift may reduce TTHMs by up to 63% and HAAs by up to 39% for the conditions being experienced at Ontario surface water treatment plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biased population coverage and short temporal lengths of newly emerged data sets (e.g., data sets of social media, mobile phones, and smart cards) obstruct the effective analysis of long-term dynamics of landuse patterns, particularly in small and developing cities. This study proposed a framework to delineate and analyze mixed land-use patterns and their evolution using municipal water consumption data. A two-step classification strategy was designed based on the rotation forest scheme to differentiate the socioeconomic types of customers (e.g., residence, commerce, public facility, manufacturing, and recreation) using multiple features extracted from the various forms of water consumption time series. The spatial distributions of the socioeconomic functions were then derived, and the mixed land use was measured using a diversity index based on information entropy. Such an approach was applied to Changshu, a typical developing county-level city in China, for the period 2004 to 2013. The results showed that the urbanization of Changshu experienced both spatial expansion and intensification, with a slightly declining rate of growth in recent years. Apart from the city center, two subcenters have emerged for industrial development. The degree of land-use mixture has increased with urban growth, indicating a maturing of urbanization. This study explored the approach of identifying individual socioeconomic functions by the consumption patterns of municipal services and demonstrated that municipal service data sets can reveal land-use patterns and dynamics at a fine spatial resolution to evaluate urban planning and management, with the advantages of large population coverage and long-term temporal lengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new hybrid RANS/LES approach with scale-adaptive capabilities is developed. The blending function in the SST model is adopted to prevent the invasion of the von Karman length scale to the RANS region, and the compressibility correction proposed by Wilcox is incorporated to produce a realistic shear layer development in compressible flows. The new model is validated for a subcritical flow past a circular cylinder and a supersonic base flow. Time-averaged turbulent statistics predicted by the new model show fairly good agreement with the experimental data, slight improvements over DES simulations, and are much better than SAS results. The main advantage of the new model over the DES method is that the distribution of the blending function reflects local vortex structures instead of grid spacing in the turbulent wake. The sequence of the effect intensity of the compressibility correction from strong to weak is SAS, the new model and DES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a series of copolymer hydrogels were fabricated from methacrylated poly(γ-glutamic acid) (mPGA) and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). The effect of ionic strength and pH on the swelling behavior and mechanical properties of these hydrogels were studied in detail. Release of Rhodamine B as a model drug from the hydrogel was evaluated under varied pH.In vitrophotoencapsulation of bovine cartilage chondrocytes was performed to assess the cytotoxicity of this copolymer hydrogel. The results revealed that the copolymer hydrogel is ionic- and pH-sensitive, and does not exhibit acute cytotoxicity; this copolymer hydrogel may have promising application as matrix for controlled drug release and scaffolding material in tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 27-year-old woman presented with Cushing's syndrome. Typical clinical symptoms and signs developed at the beginning of each pregnancy. The latest three pregnancies all ended with natural abortion at about three months. It was the fourth time that she was pregnant. By week 18 of gestation, plasma cortisol diurnal rhythm was absent, basal urinary free cortisol was 1650 μg/24 h and ACTH levels were suppressed. The diagnosis of ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome was established. Cushing's syndrome in the patient resolved within four weeks of abortion. But signs and symptoms of hypercortisolism recurred in the fifth pregnancy and resolved soon after abortion during the follow-up. The mechanisms by which pregnancy-induced Cushing's syndrome occurred in this patient are unclear. Aberrant responsiveness or hyperresponsiveness of adrenocortical cells to a non-ACTH and non-CRH substance produced in excess in pregnancy should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]