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The effects of adding different amounts (0.1%–0.5%) of arabic gum (AG) or guar gum (GG), natural polysaccharides with similar molecular mass but different viscosity, on the emulsifying properties of myofibrillar protein (MP) were investigated. The results showed that both AG and GG could significantly improve the emulsifying properties of MP, and AG was more effective in improving the emulsifying activity, while GG was more conducive to the emulsion stability. Both emulsifying activity index (EAI) and emulsion stability index (ESI) initially increased and then decreased with increasing the amount of added polysaccharides, reaching maximum values when 0.3% AG or 0.2% GG was added. Both polysaccharides, especially GG, resulted in a marked reduction of the interfacial protein content. The droplet size of emulsions gradually decreased with increasing the amount of added polysaccharides, and the droplet size distribution became more uniform. When more than 0.3% GG was added, slight flocculation occurred in the emulsions. At the same concentration, GG reduced the droplet size of the emulsions compared to AG. Rheological analysis confirmed that all emulsions were pseudoplastic fluids, exhibiting weak gel properties. AG at low levels (≤ 0.3%) caused a decrease in the viscosity of the emulsions while remarkably increasing the storage modulus. In contrast, the addition of GG significantly increased the apparent viscosity and storage modulus of the emulsions. Compared with AG, the emulsion prepared with GG, with higher viscosity, exhibited greater apparent viscosity and storage modulus, which was more favorable to the emulsion stability.

Pansharpening is a fundamental and crucial image processing task for many remote sensing applications, which generates a high-resolution multispectral image by fusing a low-resolution multispectral image and a high-resolution panchromatic image. Recently, vision transformers have been introduced into the pansharpening task for utilizing global contextual information. However, long-range and local dependencies modeling and multiscale feature learning are all essential to the pansharpening task. Learning and exploiting these various information raises a big challenge and limits the performance and efficiency of existing pansharpening methods. To solve this issue, we propose a pansharpening network based on multiscale embedding and dual attention transformers (MDPNet). Specifically, a multiscale embedding block is proposed to embed multiscale information of the images into vectors. Thus, transformers only need to process a multispectral embedding sequence and a panchromatic embedding sequence to efficiently use multiscale information. Furthermore, an additive hybrid attention transformer is proposed to fuse the embedding sequences in an additive injection manner. Finally, a channel self-attention transformer is proposed to utilize channel correlations for high-quality detail generation. Experiments over QuickBird and WorldView-3 datasets demonstrate the proposed MDPNet outperforms state-of-the-art methods visually and quantitatively with low running time. Ablation studies further verify the effectiveness of the proposed multiscale embedding and transformers in pansharpening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CON-sup, normal fetal amniotic fluid sEVs; ANH-sup, ANH amniotic fluid sEVs; CON-cell, normal fetal amniotic fluid cells; ANH-cell, ANH amniotic fluid cells. gl To further explore the special expression pattern in sEVs of ANH, we compared the proteins and mRNAs in sEVs between ANH and normal samples, respectively. Dear Editor, Antenatal hydronephrosis (ANH) is the most common congenital anomaly of the urinary tract. In this study, we extracted small extracellular vesicles riched samples (sEVs) from supernatant amniotic fluid (AF), identified and verified the high expressed Moesin as an effective biomarker for ANH diagnosis. We identified 116 differential expression proteins (Figure 3A, B; Tables S3) and 836 differential expression mRNAs (Figure 3E, F, TableS4) between ANH amniotic fluid sEVs (ANH-sup) and normal fetal amniotic fluid sEVs (CON-sup). [Extracted from the article]

In ultrahigh dimensional data analysis, to keep computational performance well and good statistical properties still working, nonparametric additive models face increasing challenges. To overcome them, we introduce a methodology of model selection for high dimensional nonparametric additive models. Our approach is to propose a novel group screening procedure via nonparametric smoothing ridge estimation (GRIE) to find the importance of each covariate. It is then combined with the sure screening property of GRIE and the model selection property of extended Bayesian information criteria (EBIC) to select the suitable sub-models in nonparametric additive models. Theoretically, we establish the strong consistency of model selection for the proposed method. Extensive simulations and two real datasets illustrate the outstanding performance of the GRIE-EBIC method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an adaptive neural network surrogate method to solve the implied volatility of American put options, respectively. For the forward problem, we give the linear complementarity problem of the American put option, which can be transformed into several standard American put option problems by variable substitution and discretization in the temporal direction. Thus, the price of the option can be solved by primal-dual active-set method using numerical transformation and finite element discretization in spatial direction. For the inverse problem, we give the framework of the general Bayesian inverse problem, and adopt the direct Metropolis-Hastings sampling method and adaptive neural network surrogate method, respectively. We perform some simulations of volatility in the forward model with one- and four-dimension to compare the point estimates and posterior density distributions of two sampling methods. The superiority of adaptive surrogate method in solving the implied volatility of time-dependent American options are verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the research on electrochemical devices, especially the promising electrochromic material, is gradually in a wide range of application. But there is few corresponding research about specific industrial manufacturing. The paper starts from the structure of small and medium-sized intelligent factories and designs a system framework optimized by blockchain technology. It connects the electrochromic material quality control module with the product traceability module through a blockchain-based server, which not only ensures the production quality but also effectively improves the product supply chain, which is significant for the development of the electrochromic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have identified a peptide substrate for molecular chaperone Hsp40 Ydj1 by utilizing the combination of phage display library screening and isothemol titration calirimetry (ITC). The initial peptide substrate screening for Hsp40 Ydj1 has been carried out by utilizing a 7-mer phage display library. The peptide sequences from the bio-panning were synthesized and object to the direct affinity measurement for Hsp40 Ydj1 by isothemol titration calirimetry studies. The peptide which has the measurable affinity with Ydj1 shows enriched hydrophobic residues in the middle of the substrate fragment. The peptide substrate specificity for molecular chaperone Hsp40 has been analyzed.

Gradients of conductivity and major ions in the coastal zone of the eastern Georgian Bay of Lake Huron appear to limit the spatial distribution of invasive dreissenid mussels. Rivers flowing into Georgian Bay from the Canadian Shield have relatively low conductivity compared to the main body of Lake Huron, which creates a gradient of solutes near the river mouths. Field observations show a strong positive correlation between conductivity and calcium concentration. Thus, we use conductivity to infer the calcium concentrations required for the successful growth of dreissenid mussels. Most dreissenid mussels were observed in regions where specific conductivities were greater than 140 μS/cm. Field observations were used to examine how the calcium poor river water mixes within the coastal zone, resulting in solute gradients that determine mussel distribution. When river flows are low in late summer, there is only a weak solute gradient across the coastal zone, implying an intrusion of open bay waters into the shallow embayments, that favor the growth of dreissenid mussels. In contrast, during spring when river flows are as much as 10 times higher, there is a strong solute gradient that extends further into the lake, and the low calcium appears to limit the growth of dreissenid mussels. Thus, the seasonal character of solute gradients helps describe the spatial distribution of dreissenid mussels and explains the localized absence of a species that is otherwise prevalent in much of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Key Points: Conductivity gradients across the coastal zone of eastern Georgian Bay of Lake Huron limits the dreissenid mussel distributionA circulation reminiscent of a partially mixed estuary in the fragmented archipelago influences the chemical and biological distributionsInvasive mussels are nearly absent in waters with low calcium and are only prevalent in regions of high calcium [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) accelerates fracture healing by stimulating the production of bone callus and the mineralization process. This study compared a novel bimodal acoustic signal (BMAS) device for bone fracture healing to a clinical LIPUS system (EXOGEN; Bioventus, Durham, NC, USA). Thirty rabbits underwent a bilateral fibular osteotomy. Each rabbits’ legs were randomized to receive 20-min treatment daily for 18 days with BMAS or LIPUS. The latter utilizes a longitudinal ultrasonic mode only, while the former employs ultrasound-induced shear stress to promote bone formation. Power Doppler imaging (PDI) was acquired days 0, 2, 4, 7, 11, 14, and 18 post-surgery to monitor treatment response and quantified off-line. X-rays were acquired to evaluate fractures on days 0, 14, 18, and 21. Seventeen rabbits completed the study and were euthanized day 21 post-surgery. The fibulae were analyzed to determine maximum torque, initial torsional stiffness, and angular displacement at failure. ANOVAs and paired t-tests were used to compare pair-wise outcome variables for the two treatment modes on a per rabbit basis. The BMAS system induced better fracture healing with greater stiffness (BMAS 0.21 ± 0.19 versus LIPUS 0.16 ± 0.19 $\text{N}\cdot $ cm/°, ${p} =0.050$) and maximum torque (BMAS 7.84 ± 5.55 versus LIPUS 6.26 ± 3.46 $\text{N}\cdot $ cm, ${p} =0.022$) than the LIPUS system. Quantitative PDI assessments showed a higher amount of vascularity with LIPUS than BMAS on days 4 and 18 (${p} < 0.04$). In conclusion, the novel BMAS technique achieved better bone fracture healing response than the current Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved LIPUS system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interferon-induced protein 44-like (IFI44L), a type I interferon-stimulated gene (ISG), has been reported to be involved in innate immune processes and to act as a tumor suppressor in several cancers. However, its immune implication on lung cancer remains unclear. Here, we systemically analyzed the immune association of IFI44L with multiple tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and immunomodulators through bioinformatics methods in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) lung cancer cohorts. Then, the IFI44L -related immunomodulators were selected to construct the prognostic signatures in the lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cohort and the lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) cohort, respectively. Concordance index and time-dependent receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were applied to evaluate the prognostic signatures. GSE72094 and GSE50081 were used to validate the TCGA-LUAD signature and TCGA-LUSC signature, respectively. A nomogram was established by risk score and clinical features in the LUAD cohort. Finally, the prognostic value and biological function of IFI44L were verified in a real-world cohort and in vitro experiments. The results indicated that IFI44L showed significant correlation with TIICs in LUAD and LUSC samples. Functional enrichment analysis showed that IFI44L may participate in various cancer/immune-related pathways, including JAK/STAT signaling pathway and NF-κB signaling pathway. A total of 44 immunomodulators presented obvious association with IFI44L in the TCGA-LUAD cohort and a robust 10-immunomodulator signature was constructed. Patients in the higher-risk group presented worse prognosis than those in the lower-risk group. Notably, the risk signature was successfully validated in GSE72094. Multivariate Cox regression suggested that the risk signature could act as independent prognostic factors in both TCGA-LUAD and GSE72094 cohorts. Besides, a 17-immunomodulator signature was established in the TCGA-LUSC cohort and similar results were presented through analysis. The nomogram exhibited good accuracy in predicting overall survival (OS) outcome among TCGA-LUAD patients than the risk signature and other clinical features, with the area under curve values being 0.782 at 1 year, 0.825 at 3 years, and 0.792 at 5 years. Finally, tissue microarray analysis indicated that higher expression of IFI44L presented opposite relationship with pathological stage (p = 0.016) and a better outcome among lung cancer patients (p = 0.024). Functional experiments found that IFI44L overexpression significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion in LUAD and LUSC cells; RT-qPCR experiments verified the correlation between the expression level of IFI44L with multiple immunomodulators in SPC-A-1 and NCI-H520 cells. In conclusion, our research highlighted that IFI44L is associated with tumor immune infiltration and provided information on IFI44L 's immune implication, which indicates that IFI44L has potential clinical immunotherapeutic value and the proposed nomogram is a promising biomarker for non-small cell lung cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the functions of secretory proteins in odontogenesis and to further the understanding of the different molecular events during odontogenesis and osteogenesis, we induced the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of stem cells from dental apical papilla (SCAPs) and bone marrow–derived stem cells (BMSCs) in vitro and compared the expression of secretory proteins during early odonto/osteogenic differentiation using high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. The results revealed significant changes by at least 50% in 139 SCAP proteins and 203 BMSC proteins during differentiation. Of these, 92 were significantly upregulated and 47 were significantly downregulated during the differentiation of SCAPs. Most of these proteins showed the same trend during the differentiation of BMSCs. Among the proteins that showed significantly changes during the differentiation of SCAPs and BMSCs, we found that transforming growth factor-β2 (TGFβ2) is a key protein in the network with powerful mediation ability. TGFβ2 was secreted more by SCAPs than BMSCs, was significantly upregulated during the differentiation of SCAPs and was significantly downregulated during the differentiation of BMSCs. Furthermore, the effects of recombinant human TGFβ2 and TGFβ1 on the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of SCAPs and BMSCs were investigated. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting data revealed that TGFβ2 enhanced the odontogenic-related markers [dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1)] and inhibited the osteogenic-related marker bone sialoprotein (BSP) in SCAPs, whereas TGFβ1 enhanced the BSP expression and inhibited the DSPP and DMP1 expression at early odonto/osteogenic differentiation of SCAPs. However, in BMSCs, TGFβ2 enhanced the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), DSPP, and DMP1, whereas TGFβ1 enhanced the expression of ALP and RUNX2, with no significant intergroup difference of DSPP at the early odonto/osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. TGFβ2 is a potentially important molecule with a distinct function in the regulation of odontogenesis and osteogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major cause of chronic kidney disease. It has been proven that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have therapeutic effects on kidney disease. Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) are MSCs that are derived from dental pulps in exfoliated deciduous teeth from young patients and therefore have a high proliferation rate and an easy access. Hence, we aimed to explore the effect of SHED on DN in Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats. SHED were administered via the tail vein. Blood glucose, serum triglycerides and cholesterol, body weight, and urinary albumin were measured before and after administration. At 8 weeks after administration, real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and electron microscopy were employed to examine pathological changes in glomerular and tubulointerstitial tissue. Kidney weight and serum IL-1, IL-10, TNF-α, TGF-β, and HGF levels were measured. SHED engraftment in the kidneys was detected by transfecting green fluorescence protein (GFP). Type II epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the tubule-interstitial and arteriolar regions has been reported to be an important pathological characteristic of DN. This study is the first to apply a transwell system for coculture to explore the effects of MSCs on the EMT of human proximal tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells. The effects of SHED on advanced glycation end product- (AGE-) activated EMT in HK-2 cells were explored by real-time PCR and western blot. At 8 weeks after administration, renal injury, including hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, increased urinary albumin excretion, ECM accumulation, and a fractional mesangial area, was dramatically attenuated. The serum levels of IL-1, TNF-α, and TGF-β were significantly downregulated, whereas the serum levels of IL-10 and HGF were upregulated by SHED. GFP expression confirmed the engraftment of SHED in diabetic kidneys. In addition, cocultured SHED inhibited AGE-induced EMT in HK-2 cells. In conclusion, SHED offer a novel potential effective therapeutic approach for ameliorating DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and Objectives: To explore the influence of data parsing (either selection of frames at set time intervals or by an experienced sonographer) of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) exams on physician diagnoses and confidence levels.Materials and Methods: Forty consecutive CEUS exams consisting of 10 cases each of indeterminate liver lesions, indeterminate renal lesions, renal cell carcinoma postablation follow-up, and hepatocellular carcinoma postchemoembolization follow-up were selected for analysis. Exams were parsed into sets consisting of five images selected by the performing sonographer and sets containing systematically stored frames every 10, 30, and 60 seconds. Three blinded physicians then reviewed the cine loop and each set of images in randomized order and provided a diagnosis and confidence level.Results: For all clinical applications investigated, no statistically significant differences in diagnostic performance measures or reader confidence were observed between review of the entire cine loop and images selected by the performing sonographer (p > 0.42). Diagnostic performance at 10-second intervals did not show statically significant changes compared to the full cine loop review for all applications (p > 0.18), although reader confidence decreased. At 30-60-second intervals, both diagnostic performance and reader confidence showed statistically significant reduction compared to review of the full cine loop (p < 0.045).Conclusions: Transfer and review of large cine loops from CEUS exams represent a potential barrier to adoption within the United States workflows. This study demonstrates that images selected by a performing trained sonographer may provide the same value without the review time and data storage costs needed for full cine loop review. Parsing by time points reduced reader confidence and diagnostic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stylocarotid artery syndrome (SAS) is a type of Eagle syndrome, which is caused by the compression of the internal or external carotid artery (along with their perivascular sympathetic fibers) by an elongated styloid process, resulting in neurological symptoms including transient ischemic attack (TIA) and cervicofacial pain along the distribution of the artery. The authors describe the case of a 56-year-old man with a history of TIA of unknown origin, who underwent color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) that detected an elongated styloid process and transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring that revealed changes in intracranial blood flow when turning his head. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to describe the combination of CDFI and TCD to assess changes in extracranial and intracranial blood flow in patients with suspected SAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rigorous screening and good imaging would help perform surgery on carotid artery occlusion CAO safely and effectively. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate carotid endarterectomy (CEA) recanalization in patients with common carotid artery occlusion (CCAO) or internal carotid artery occlusion (ICAO) with color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI). A total of 59 patients undergoing CEA were enrolled. According to the results of CEA, the patients were divided into successful recanalization (group A) and unsuccessful recanalization (group B) groups. The original diameter, lesion length, proximal-to-distal diameter ratio and echo characteristics of the lesion within the lumen of the carotid artery were recorded before CEA and compared between the two groups. In regards to the achievement of repatency by CEA, the overall success rate was 74.6% (44/59), the success rate in CCAO patients was 75.9% (22/29) and the success rate in ICAO patients was 73.3% (22/30). There was no significant difference in the success rates between the CCAO and ICAO patients (χ2 = 0.050, P = 0.824). The overall rate of stroke and death within 30 postoperative days was 5.1% (3/59). For the CCAO patients, the lesion length in group A was shorter than that in group B (t = 3.221, P = 0.004). For the ICAO patients, the original diameter of the distal ICA was broader (t = 6.254, P = 0.000) and the proximal-to-distal ICA diameter ratio was smaller (t = 8.036, P = 0.000) in group A than in group B. The rate of recanalization for lumens with a homogeneous echo pattern (hypoecho or isoecho) was significantly higher than that for lumens with echo heterogeneity for both the CCAO and ICAO patients (χ2 = 14.477, P = 0.001; χ2 = 10.519, P = 0.003). However, for both the CCAO and ICAO patients, there was no difference in the rate of recanalization between patients with hypoecho and isoecho lesions (χ2 = 0.109, P = 0.742; χ2 = 0.836, P = 0.429). The original diameter, proximal-to-distal ICA diameter ratio, lesion length and echo characteristics may affect the success of CEA recanalization in patients with CCAO and ICAO. CDFI is helpful in screening patients with carotid artery occlusion and may improve the success rate of CEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]