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For the karst tunnel with pipeline cavities in the surrounding rock, it is very easy to accumulate high water pressure in the pipeline cavity due to the influences of heavy rainfall on the surface and groundwater, which will lead to lining cracking, water leakage, and water gushing diseases. To explore the influence of high water pressure on the lining structure, model tests of pipeline karst tunnels under high water pressure were carried out, and the internal force characteristics of tunnel lining under the influence of cavity position and water head height were studied. Based on the test findings, the numerical calculation models of extended working conditions were established. The effects of cavity diameter, cavity position, and water head height on the lining structure were further explored. The results show that the inner side of the lining in contact with the cavities bears a larger positive bending moment when there are karst cavities around the tunnel, and is the most unfavorable position of the lining to bear loads. The internal forces of the lining increase greatly, with the increase of cavity diameter and water head height in the cavity. The location of the cavity affects the internal force distributions of the lining, and the water pressure resistance capacity of the lining is the smallest when the cavity is located at the tunnel vault. The research results can provide a reference for the structural design and safe construction of pipeline karst tunnels.

High-fat diet (HFD) can cause obesity, inducing dysregulation of the visceral adipose tissue (VAT). This study aimed to explore potential biological pathways and hub genes involved in obese VAT, and for that, bioinformatic analysis of multiple datasets was performed. The expression profiles (GSE30247, GSE167311 and GSE79434) were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. Overlapping differentially expressed genes (ODEGs) between normal diet and HFD groups in GSE30247 and GSE167311 were selected to run protein–protein interaction network, GO and KEGG analysis. The hub genes in ODEGs were screened by Cytoscape software and further verified in GSE79434 and obese mouse model. A total of 747 ODEGs (599 up-regulated and 148 down-regulated) were screened, and the GO and KEGG analysis showed that the up-regulated ODEGs were significantly enriched in inflammatory response and extracellular matrix receptor interaction pathways. On the other hand, the down-regulated ODEGs were involved in metabolic pathways; however, there were no significant KEGG pathways. Furthermore, six hub genes, Mki67, Rac2, Itgb2, Emr1, Tyrobp and Csf1r were acquired. These pathways and genes were verified in GSE79434 and VAT of obese mice. This study revealed that HFD induced VAT expansion, inflammation and fibrosis, and the hub genes could be used as therapeutic biomarkers in obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The strategy for preventing colorectal cancer is screening by colonoscopy, which offers a direct way for detection and removal of adenomatous polyps (APs). American College of Gastroenterology guidelines recommend that people aged ≥ 45 years should undergo colonoscopy; however, how to deal with people aged ≤ 45 years is still unknown., Aim: To compare the prevalence of APs and high-grade neoplasia between the left and right colon in patients ≤ 45 years., Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at a single tertiary III hospital in China. This study included patients aged 18-45 years with undergoing initial colonoscopy dissection and pathological diagnosis AP or high-grade neoplasia between February 2014 and January 2021. The number of APs in the entire colon while screening and post-polypectomy surveillance in following 1-3 years were evaluated., Results: A total of 3053 cases were included. The prevalence of APs in the left and right colon was 55.0% and 41.6%, respectively (OR 1.7, 95%CI 1.6-2.4; P < 0.05). For APs with high-grade neoplasia, the prevalence was 2.7% and 0.9%, respectively (OR 3.0, 95%CI 2.0-4.6; P < 0.05). Therefore, the prevalence of APs and high-grade neoplasia in the left colon was significantly higher than in the right colon in patients aged ≤ 45 years. There were 327 patients who voluntarily participated in post-polypectomy surveillance in following 1-3 years, and APs were found in 216 cases (66.1%); 170 cases had 1-3 polyps (52.0%) and 46 cases had > 3 polyps (14.1%; OR 0.3, 95%CI 0.1-0.6; P < 0.05)., Conclusion: This study suggests that flexible sigmoidoscopy would be an optimal approach for initial screening in people aged ≤ 45 years and would be a more cost-effective and safe strategy., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the effect of dichloroacetate (DCA) on Wilms' tumor (WT) G401 cells., Methods: CCK-8 assay was used to detect the influence of DCA on G401 cells viability and 10 mmol/L DCA was selected for subsequent experiments. The expression of glycolysis-related enzymes, such as hexokinase 2 (HK2), pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), lactic acid dehydrogenase A (LDHA), pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1), and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), were detected by qRT-PCR and western blot. The extracellular lactic acid and glucose concentrations were measured by the lactic acid assay kit and glucose oxidase method kit respectively. Flow cytometry was used to detect the effect of DCA on G401 cells apoptosis. The invasion and migration ability of G401 cells were detected by Transwell assay and wound-healing assay., Results: The results showed that DCA reduced glycolysis-related enzymes expression, inhibited lactic acid production, and glucose consumption. DCA also suppressed cells growth, induced cells apoptosis and inhibited cells invasion and migration., Conclusion: Inhibition of aerobic glycolysis by DCA can reduce the viability of G401 cells, promote cells apoptosis and inhibit cells invasion and migration. Therefore, aerobic glycolysis may be a potential therapeutic target for Wilms' tumor., (Copyright © 2022 by the Association of Clinical Scientists, Inc.)

We propose and demonstrate a low-power 2×2 total internal reflection thermo-optic switch based on an X-junction configuration formed with a silicon oxynitride (SiON) core and polymer cladding. Unlike X-junctions reported thus far, our proposed configuration features a slot formed on the center of the X-junction and filled with polymer cladding. With such a configuration, the opposite thermo-optic characteristics of SiON and polymer and, hence, heat utilization efficiency can be fully utilized. Our fabricated proof-of-principle switch shows extinction ratios of larger than 15.34 dB and switching powers of less than ∼59.6  mW. The rise time and fall time of switching are 1.42 and 0.85 ms, respectively. The insertion losses are less than 10.6 dB for all channels, and the polarization-dependent loss is ∼0.3  dB.