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Deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved remarkable success in computer vision; however, training DNNs for satisfactory performance remains challenging and suffers from sensitivity to empirical selections of an optimization algorithm for training. Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) is dominant in training a DNN by adjusting neural network weights to minimize the DNNs loss function. As an alternative approach, neuroevolution is more in line with an evolutionary process and provides some key capabilities that are often unavailable in SGD, such as the heuristic black-box search strategy based on individual collaboration in neuroevolution. This paper proposes a novel approach that combines the merits of both neuroevolution and SGD, enabling evolutionary search, parallel exploration, and an effective probe for optimal DNNs. A hierarchical cluster-based suppression algorithm is also developed to overcome similar weight updates among individuals for improving population diversity. We implement the proposed approach in four representative DNNs based on four publicly-available datasets. Experiment results demonstrate that the four DNNs optimized by the proposed approach all outperform corresponding ones optimized by only SGD on all datasets. The performance of DNNs optimized by the proposed approach also outperforms state-of-the-art deep networks. This work also presents a meaningful attempt for pursuing artificial general intelligence.

SummarySpontaneous imbibition can help to improve the oil recovery of unconventional reservoirs owing to the significant capillarity. Although the dependence of imbibition dynamics of surfactants on wettability and interfacial tension (IFT) is understood, the mechanisms of nanoemulsion and microemulsion forming surfactants for higher imbibition recovery are not as clear. Herein, we conducted a series of imbibition experiments on a visual fracture-matrix micromodel, aiming to directly observe the imbibition processes of these surfactant formulations. Four surfactant-based fluids, including a common surfactant [fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether, sodium sulfate (AES)], a surfactant composition of nanoemulsion (nE-S), an ex-situ nanoemulsion (nE), and a situ microemulsion forming surfactant (mE-FS), were designed and used in this work for comparison with brine.The results suggested that AES, nE-S, nE, and mE-FS could substantially stimulate the imbibition invasion, and mE-FS generated the greatest imbibition depth and sweeping area followed by nE. The imbibition dynamics were governed by the interfacial interactions among oil, aqueous phase, and solid surface, leading to different imbibition patterns for these five fluids. AES and nE-S could reduce the oil-aqueous IFT to 10−1 mN/m and alter the wettability to a weak water-wet state as a result of surfactant adsorption, leading to a slightly higher imbibition invasion compared with brine. AES imbibition produced large oil droplets mainly because of the snap-off effect at the nozzle to the fracture, whereas nE-S produced smaller oil droplets due to the weak in-situ emulsification. nE as a formed nanoemulsion with an internal oil phase demonstrated a lower IFT of 10−2 mN/m and superior capacity in changing surface wettability mainly through the adsorption and spreading of nanosized oil droplets on the surface. The oil phase was heavily emulsified forming dense droplets on the oil-aqueous interface. mE-FS readily formed Winsor Type III microemulsion and produced an IFT of 10−3 mN/m magnitude. The wettability was changed mainly because of the peeling oil film and formation of microemulsion on the surface induced by solubilization. The dynamic increase of the oil-aqueous IFT at the imbibition front caused by the adsorption loss of surfactant to the surface and partitioning to the oil phase promoted capillary-driven imbibition for nE and mE-FS. We modified an imbibition model to incorporate the solubilization effect, leading to a much better fitting with the experimental data.

This study aims to develop a finite difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling method for complex terrain using a paper contour map. First, the image preprocessing technology is employed to segment, denoise, and number the drawing area to arrive at independent figures and curve matrices. Subsequently, the support vector machine (SVM) classifier is implemented to identify the number and obtain the elevation value pertinent to the curve in the figure. Finally, the scattered points in the curve matrix are meshed by the Delaunay triangulation algorithm, and a three-dimensional triangular mesh model is established according to the recognition results. The FDTD calculation model is established by the method of intersection of Yee cell grid lines and triangle projection. The simulation results reveal that the recognition rate of the SVM classification model in this study is close to 100% for printed numerals. This approach is capable of quickly and accurately establishing the FDTD-based calculation model for complex terrain on the basis of the paper contour map.

Summary Surfactant-induced imbibition is considered a promising method for increasing oil recovery from tight oil reservoirs beyond primary production. Nanoemulsion (nE) offers a great potential for this application owing to its unique physicochemical properties, such as kinetic stability, large surface area, and low oil-aqueous interfacial tension (IFT). Herein, we designed and prepared a series of surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water (O/W) nE using efficient catanionic surfactants by a low-energy method. The physicochemical properties of the nE samples were comprehensively characterized to better perform experimental and numerical simulations and constrain the modeling. We conducted imbibition tests on Chang 7 tight cores using nE and brine and also assessed the imbibition dynamics. Results indicated that nE was successfully synthesized at a surfactant concentration ranging from 0.4 to 1.0 wt%. The oil droplets in nE had a mean size of 10 nm. All the nE samples were able to lower the oil-aqueous IFT to an ultralow level of 10–3 mN/m. In addition, nE demonstrated superior capacities in wettability alteration, and oil solubilization and emulsification, which were all integrated into numerical modeling. The imbibition oil recovery was increased by 18.8% of the initial oil in place when nE1 (0.4 wt%) was used compared to that of brine. Because of the interactions among oil, nE, and rock surface, nE required a longer time to reach imbibition equilibrium than brine. The simulation results, for the first time, suggested that the dominant imbibition mechanisms of nE varied with time, during which IFT reduction and wettability alteration played the leading roles in the first 50 hours. The reactions of oil solubilization and emulsification became significant after 50 hours and then contributed equally to the oil recovery with IFT reduction and wettability alteration. The diffusion of nanosized oil droplets increased the equilibrium time of imbibition, thereby promoting the ultimate oil recovery.

SummaryPreformed particle gel (PPG) holds promising potential for conformance control in fractured tight reservoirs as it enables mitigation of fracture channeling with insignificant leak off to matrix. However, conventional PPG is very susceptible to shrinkage, breakage, fatigue, and even degradation when extruding through narrow fractures due to its weak and brittle network. This hampers its development and application in the oilfields. This paper presents a comprehensive laboratory evaluation of a new kind of nanocellulose (NCF)-engineered robust particle gel (N-PPG) for this application. The results demonstrated that the presence of NCF noticeably improved the mechanical properties of N-PPG. The swelling kinetics and swelling ratio (SR) of N-PPG were almost independent of salinity. We packed porous media using millimeter-sized glass beads to replicate proppant-filled fractures after hydraulic fracturing. As anticipated, N-PPG exhibited a greater resistance factor (Fr) and residual resistance factor (Frr), and its plugging efficiency reached more than 99.3%. N-PPG was hardly broken even after extruding from pore-throat geometries with Dg/Dp up to 21.4, whereas the control PPG was notably ruptured at Dg/Dp = 14.7. Herein, this tough N-PPG could provide a solution to conformance control of fractured tight reservoirs.

In view of the existing literature mainly studying the situation of infinite reinforced concrete structure, the shielding effectiveness of three-dimensional single-layer reinforced concrete cavity is studied by considering the structural parameters of steel and the electromagnetic parameters of the concrete. The influence of structure parameters of steel mesh size, the steel diameter, and electromagnetic parameters of concrete dielectric coefficient, conductivity and moisture content on shielding effectiveness of reinforced concrete are analyzed. The research shows that the shielding effectiveness of the reinforced concrete cavity structure has resonance characteristics, and the increase of concrete conductivity and moisture content weaken the resonance characteristics of it so that the shielding effectiveness of the reinforced structure is improved. The results of this paper have a reference value for the analysis of shielding effectiveness of the single-layer reinforced concrete cavity in different practical situations.

Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of death globally, in spite of advanced developments in intensive care and better understandings of pathophysiology related to sepsis. There is no special treatment or drug available for sepsis, currently. Under normal circumstances, neutrophil is a major player in acute infection control. However, during sepsis, the migration abilities and antimicrobial functions of neutrophils are impaired, resulting in a dysregulated immune response. Recent studies have indeed demonstrated that blocking or reversing neutrophil migration and impaired antibacterial function can improve the outcomes in septic animal models. This article systemically synthesized information regarding related factors and signaling involved in the functions of neutrophils in sepsis. This review also discussed the possibility that neutrophils be used as a marker for specific diagnosis and/or prediction of the outcomes of sepsis.

Objective. Inflammatory skin disorders are becoming major issues threatening public health with increasing prevalence. This study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antisenescent activities of traditional folk medicinal plant, Physalis alkekengi L. extracts to alleviate skin inflammation and its possible mechanisms. Methods. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-treated murine macrophages RAW264.7 and human skin keratinocytes HaCaT were incubated with the plant extracts, respectively. The production of nitric oxide (NO) was tested by using Griess reagents. The activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was detected through a fluorescence microplate reader. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell apoptosis were quantified by flow cytometry. The proinflammatory cytokines were measured using ELISA and qRT-PCR. Human skin fibroblasts (HFF-1) were coincubated with D-galactose (D-gal) and the plant extracts. The senescence associated-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) was stained to evaluate cellular senescence. The senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), IL-1β, was measured through ELISA. The mRNA of IL-1α in SLS-stimulated and PGE2 in UV-radiated 3D skin models were detected by qRT-PCR. In vivo ROS production and neutrophil recruitment in CuSO4-treated zebrafish models were observed by fluorescence microscopy. Inflammation-related factors were measured by qRT-PCR. Results. In vitro, Physalis alkekengi L. significantly reduced NO production, NOS activity, cell apoptosis, transcription of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β and ROS production. These plant extracts markedly attenuated SA-β-gal and IL-1β and downregulated the production of IL-1α and PGE2. In vivo, the plant extracts dramatically dampened ROS production, the number of neutrophils, and proinflammatory cytokines. Conclusions. Cumulatively, this work systematically demonstrated the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antisenescent properties of Physalis alkekengi L. and proposed the possible roles of Physalis alkekengi L. in inflammatory signaling pathways, providing an effective natural product for the treatment of inflammatory skin disorders.

Long Yang,1,&ast; Yue Lin,2,&ast; Xiangqun Zhang,1 Bing Wei,1 Junyu Wang,1 Bo Liu1 1Emergency Medicine Clinical Research Center, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, & Beijing Key Laboratory of Cardiopulmonary Cerebral Resuscitation, Beijing, 100020, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence: Bo Liu; Junyu Wang, Emergency Medicine Clinical Research Center, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, & Beijing Key Laboratory of Cardiopulmonary Cerebral Resuscitation, Beijing, 100020, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86 10-51718171, Email ripplecyyy@126.com; wangjunyu_cyyy@126.comPurpose: Procalcitonin and predisposition, infection, response, and organ dysfunction (PIRO) system have high predictive value for the prognosis of critically ill patients. There are few studies on the predictive value of patients with positive blood cultures. The aim of the study was to evaluate risk stratification and sepsis-related mortality in patients with positive blood cultures via procalcitonin (PCT) combined with the PIRO system in emergency departments (ED).Methods: A total of 1074 patients with positive blood cultures were admitted to Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital ED from December 2017 to October 2020. Their serum PCT was recorded, along with a Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score, and PIRO score to predict the prognosis of septic patients with positive blood culture in terms of ICU (intensive care unit) admission, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) development, and 28-day mortality. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and logistic regression analysis were used to assess the prognostic value of the scoring systems.Results: A total of 978 patients met the inclusion criteria. PCT, MEDS, APACHE II, and PIRO scores were found to independently predict ICU-admission, MODS development, and 28-day mortality (P< 0.05), whereas SOFA did not. The AUC values of the PCT, MEDS, APACHE II, and PIRO scores for ICU-admission were 0.620, 0.740, 0.780, and 0.751, respectively. In the prediction of 28-day mortality, the AUC values of PCT, MEDS, APACHE II, and PIRO were 0.782, 0.745, 0.805, and 0.831, respectively. The AUC values combined PCT and PIRO system in predicting MODS and 28-day mortality were better than when predicting ICU-admission.Conclusion: This study indicates that PCT combined with the PIRO scoring system has a higher predictive value and is superior in predicting MODS and 28-day mortality in septic patients with positive blood cultures.Keywords: procalcitonin, PIRO scoring system, positive blood culture, 28-day mortality

Electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO

To investigate the correlation between plasma glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and N-acetyl-neuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) with clinical risk stratification and outcomes of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients.Between October 2018 and July 2019, 413 patients that were scheduled for coronary angiography were enrolled in this prospective study at the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China. Patients were divided into control and ACS groups. Patients with ACS were divided into 3 risk levels based on their thrombolysis in myocardial infarction risk score. After discharge, ACS patients were followed for the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs). For the analysis of cumulative endpoint event occurrences, the Kaplan-Meier method was applied.The ACS group had lower plasma GPX4 but higher Neu5Ac levels than the control group. There was a greater increase in plasma Neu5Ac in the high-risk group when compared with the medium-risk and low-risk groups, while GPX4 levels were higher in the low-risk group. The MACEs group had higher plasma Neu5Ac but lower GPX4 levels than the non-MACEs group. The plasma Neu5Ac was an independent risk factor but GPX4 was a protective factor for MACEs.Glutathione peroxidase 4 and Neu5Ac levels in plasma can be used to diagnose, stratify risks, and predict long-term outcomes in patients with ACS.

Inflammasome involvement in Parkinson's disease (PD) has been intensively investigated. Absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) is an essential inflammasome protein known to contribute to the development of several neurological diseases. However, a specific role for AIM2 in PD has not been reported. In this study, we investigated the effect of AIM2 in the N-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced PD model by use of various knockout and bone marrow chimeric mice. The mechanism of action for AIM2 in PD was assessed by RNA-sequencing and in vitro primary microglial transfection. Results were validated in the A30P transgenic mouse model of PD. In the MPTP mouse model, AIM2 activation was found to negatively regulate neuro-inflammation independent of the inflammasome. Microglial AIM2 deficiency exacerbated behavioral and pathological features of both MPTP-induced and transgenic PD mouse models. Mechanistically, AIM2 reduced cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-mediated antiviral-related inflammation by inhibition of AKT-interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) phosphorylation. These results demonstrate microglial AIM2 to inhibit the antiviral-related neuro-inflammation associated with PD and provide for a foundation upon which to identify new therapeutic targets for treatment of the disease.

Imaging examinations following sublobar resection of lung cancer often find thickened neoplasms around the resection margin. Identifying whether the neoplasms are postoperative recurrence or margin granulomas is vitally important. However, the identification mainly depends on the empirical judgment of the imaging department or clinicians in each clinical center at present, and there are few relevant studies, so it is hard to formulate a relatively unified standard. Therefore, we collected data from patients with thickened neoplasms around the resection margin after sublobar resection and sought to discover how to differentiate granulomas from tumor recurrence.We examined the clinical records of 15 patients with neoplasms around the margins which identified as malignant in auxiliary examination reports, and received second surgery after first sublobar resection. We collected their postoperative pathology and auxiliary examination parameters. The univariate predictors helpful in distinguishing between recurrence and granuloma were analyzed as a diagnostic test.Of the 15 patients with neoplasms around the resection margin, six were diagnosed with benign granulomas, and nine were diagnosed with primary lung cancer recurrence. The results revealed that age, gender, specific surgical method, maximum standardized fluorodeoxyglucose uptake value (SUVmax), and follow-up time were not significantly different, but there were significant differences in enhanced computed tomography (CT) values in several analyses, which calculated by the hospital imaging system. The maximum CT values of the tumor recurrence and granuloma were 104.9±8.051 and 130.3±7.017 (P=0.045), the minimum CT values (15.67±5.113Differentiating between tumor recurrence and granulomas after sublobar resection remains difficult. However, examining the differences in enhanced CT allows the clinician to make an informed diagnosis that aids further investigation and treatment.

The quality of perovskite films plays a crucial role in the performance of the corresponding devices. However, the commonly employed perovskite polycrystalline films often contain a high density of defects created during film production and cell operation, including unsaturated coordinated Pb

Metal oxides are promising (photo)electrocatalysts for sustainable energy technologies due to their good activity and abundant resources. Their applications such as photocatalytic water splitting predominantly involve aqueous inter- faces at electrochemical conditions, but in situ probing oxide-water interfaces is proven to be extremely challenging. Here, we present an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (EC-STM) study on the rutile TiO2(110)-water interface, and by tuning surface redox chemistry with careful potential control we are able to obtain high quality images of interfacial structures with atomic details. It is interesting to find that the interfacial water exhibits an unexpected double-row pattern that has never been observed. This finding is confirmed by performing a large scale simulation of a stepped interface model enabled by machine learning accelerated molecular dynamics (MLMD) at ab initio accuracy. Furthermore, we show that this pattern is induced by the steps present on the surface, which can propagate across the terraces by interfacial hydrogen bonds. Our work demonstrates that by combining EC-STM and MLMD we can obtain new atomic details of interfacial structures that are valuable to understand the activity of oxides at realistic conditions.

Textile defect recognition is a significant technique in the production processes of the textile industry. However, in the practical processes, it is hard to acquire large amounts of textile defect samples. Meanwhile, the textile samples with correct defect labels are rare. To address these two limitations, in this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised graph convolutional network for few labeled textile defect recognition. First, we construct the graph convolutional network and convolution neural network to extract spectral features and spatial features. Second, the adaptive convolution structure is proposed to generate adaptive kernels according to their dynamically learned features. Finally, the spatial–spectral adaptive unified learning network (SSA-ULNet) is built for limited labeled defective samples, and graph-based semi-supervised learning is constructed. The textile defect recognition model can extract the textile image features through the image descriptors, enabling the whole network to be end-to-end trainable. To evaluate the proposed method, one public dataset and two unique self-built textile defect datasets are used to textile defect recognition. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed SSA-ULNet obviously outperforms existing state-of-the-art deep learning methods.

Background Although mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been effective in tendinopathy, the mechanisms by which MSCs promote tendon healing have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that MSCs transfer mitochondria to injured tenocytes in vitro and in vivo to protect against Achilles tendinopathy (AT). Methods Bone marrow MSCs and H2O2-injured tenocytes were co-cultured, and mitochondrial transfer was visualized by MitoTracker dye staining. Mitochondrial function, including mitochondrial membrane potential, oxygen consumption rate, and adenosine triphosphate content, was quantified in sorted tenocytes. Tenocyte proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation were analyzed. Furthermore, a collagenase type I-induced rat AT model was used to detect mitochondrial transfer in tissues and evaluate Achilles tendon healing. Results MSCs successfully donated healthy mitochondria to in vitro and in vivo damaged tenocytes. Interestingly, mitochondrial transfer was almost completely blocked by co-treatment with cytochalasin B. Transfer of MSC-derived mitochondria decreased apoptosis, promoted proliferation, and restored mitochondrial function in H2O2-induced tenocytes. A decrease in reactive oxygen species and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels (interleukin-6 and -1β) was observed. In vivo, mitochondrial transfer from MSCs improved the expression of tendon-specific markers (scleraxis, tenascin C, and tenomodulin) and decreased the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the tendon. In addition, the fibers of the tendon tissue were neatly arranged and the structure of the tendon was remodeled. Inhibition of mitochondrial transfer by cytochalasin B abrogated the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs in tenocytes and tendon tissues. Conclusions MSCs rescued distressed tenocytes from apoptosis by transferring mitochondria. This provides evidence that mitochondrial transfer is one mechanism by which MSCs exert their therapeutic effects on damaged tenocytes.

Background Cervical cancer (CC) has become the fourth most common cancer among women and cause a larger number of deaths in worldwide. Screening at the early stage of CC is an effective precaution. Discovery of the new hallmark of CC will provide a guidance for CC screening. Kinesin family member 4A (KIF4A) expressed in a variety of tissues and also contributed to development of several cancers, however its function in CC remains unclear.Methods we download and analyzed the clinical information and mRNA profile of cervical cancer patients from TCGA and GTEx database. After normalization process, the expression values of KIF4A were calculated according to TCGA and GTEx data. We collected CC patient tissue samples from the Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University and detected KIF4A expression by IHC and WB. The immune cell infiltration analysis is preformed in the online analysis tool TIMER 2.0 (http://timer.cistrome.org/).Results The high-expression of KIF4A was demonstrated in the CC patients according to the bioinformatics analysis and clinical test. Additionally, loss-function of KIF4A with shRNA abrogated cervical cell proliferation, migration and invasion. We also found that the difference expression genes were identified between KIF4A− high and KIF4A− low CC patients among with abundant mutation of several genes occurred in the CC progression. Finally, we also proved that KIF4A was involved in the immune cell infiltration in the CC patients by clinical information analysis. These demonstrated that the dys-expression of KIF4A may be used for the CC screening and clinical therapy.

Swallowing examination is crucial in patients with dysphagia. We aimed to compare qualitative and quantitative videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) results to provide reference for standardizing quantitative parameters. In total, 117 patients with dysphagia were included, 38 with Parkinson's disease and 39 and 40 in convalescence following cerebral hemorrhage and infarction. VFSS was both qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. Oral transit time differed between oral motor function grades (P P P P P P P = 0.032) differed between the hyoid laryngeal complex movement grades, as did the pharyngeal cavity transit time among the cricopharyngeal muscle opening duration grades (P P P = 0.682) or duration (P = 0.682) among the cyclopharyngeal muscle opening duration grades. The pharyngeal area at rest did not significantly differ among the different vallecular residue (P = 0.202) and pyriform sinus residue (P = 0.116) grades. The quantitative results positively correlated with qualitative. Further optimization of parameters is recommended.

Background N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation is the most abundant chemical posttranscriptional modification of mRNA, and it is associated with the regulation of the immune response to tumors. However, the function of m6A modification in the immune response to endometrial cancer (EC) remains unknown. Our study investigated the immunological role of methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) in EC and the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods We investigated the correlation between the expression of METTL3 and CD8 by using an endometrial tissue microarray cohort. Next, we investigated the role and mechanism of METTL3 in the immune response to EC using a mouse tumor model and a CD8+ T cell-EC cell coculture system after METTL3 overexpression or depletion. Additionally, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), methylated RIP, and RNA stability experiments were used to investigate the mechanism underlying the function of METTL3 in immunosurveillance of EC. Results METTL3 levels were downregulated in EC patients, low levels of METTL3 were correlated with poor prognosis in EC patients. There was a positive correlation between METTL3 expression and CD8 expression. Overexpression of METTL3 in the EC cell and CD8+ T cell coculture system inhibited EC cell proliferation, migration, and promoted CD8+ T-cell proliferation, and in vivo, METTL3 overexpression increased CD8+ T cell proportions and inhibited EC progression; however, genetic depletion of METTL3 exerted the opposite effects. NLR family CARD domain-containing 5 (NLRC5) was identified as a target of METTL3-mediated m6A modification. The degradation of NLRC5 was increased by YTH domain-containing family 2 (YTHDF2). Conclusions Overall, METTL3, YTHDF2, and NLRC5 have potential to be the diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for EC. METTL3 facilitated the m6A modifications of NLRC5 and inhibited its degradation through a YTHDF2-dependent mechanism in EC. Genetic overexpression of METTL3 attenuated the immune evasion of EC by promoting NLRC5-mediated immunosurveillance, suggesting that the METTL3/YTHDF2/NLRC5 axis is a promising target of immunotherapy in EC.

Deep neural networks (DNNs) are vulnerable to adversarial examples, which are crafted by imposing mild perturbation on clean ones. An intriguing property of adversarial examples is that they are efficient among different DNNs. Thus transfer-based attacks against DNNs become an increasing concern. In this scenario, attackers devise adversarial instances based on the local model without feedback information from the target one. Unfortunately, most existing transfer-based attack methods only employ a single local model to generate adversarial examples. It results in poor transferability because of overfitting to the local model. Although several ensemble attacks have been proposed, the transferability of adversarial examples merely have a slight increase. Meanwhile, these methods need high memory cost during the training process. To this end, we propose a novel attack strategy called stochastic serial attack (SSA). It adopts a serial strategy to attack local models, which reduces memory consumption compared to parallel attacks. Moreover, since local models are stochastically selected from a large model set, SSA can ensure that the adversarial examples do not overfit specific weaknesses of local source models. Extensive experiments on the ImageNet dataset and NeurIPS 2017 adversarial competition dataset show the effectiveness of SSA in improving the transferability of adversarial examples and reducing the memory consumption of the training process.

As more high tibial osteotomy (HTO) and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) are performed, orthopaedic surgeons realize that more HTO and UKA failures will require revision to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in the future. To systematically evaluate the clinical outcomes of TKA after HTO and TKA after UKA, the Embase, PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for studies investigating revision TKA after HTO and UKA published up to June 2021. RevMan version 5.3 was used to perform the meta-analysis. The revision TKA after HTO and revision TKA after UKA groups were compared in terms of operative time, range of motion (ROM), knee score, postoperative complications, postoperative infection, revision, and revision implants used. Nine studies were ultimately included in the meta-analysis. Results revealed that the knee score for the revision TKA after HTO group was better than that of the revision TKA after UKA group (MD 4.50 [95% CI 0.80-8.20]; p = 0.02). The revision TKA after HTO group had a lower revision rate (OR 0.65 [95% CI 0.55-0.78]; p 0.00001) and fewer revision implants used (OR 0.11 [95% CI 0.05-0.23]; p 0.00001). There were no statistical differences in operation time (MD -2.00 [95% CI -11.22 to 7.21]; p = 0.67), ROM (MD -0.04 [95% CI -3.69-3.61]; p = 0.98), postoperative complications (OR 1.41 [95% CI 0.77-2.60]; p = 0.27), or postoperative infections (OR 0.89 [95% CI 0.61-1.29]; p = 0.53). To conclude, the revision rate of revision TKA after UKA was greater, and more revision implants were required. It is important for orthopaedic surgeons to preserve bone during primary UKA.

Summary When reservoir fluids are confined by nanoscale pores, pronounced changes in fluid properties and phase behavior will occur. This is particularly significant for the natural gas huff ‘n’ puff (HNP) process as a means of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology in unconventional reservoirs. There have been considerable scientific contributions toward exploring the EOR mechanisms, yet almost none considered the effects of nanopore confinement and its proportion on the oil recovery dynamics. To bridge this gap, we developed an approach to calculate fluid phase equilibrium in nanopores by modifying the Rachford-Rice equation and Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EOS), completed by considering the shifts of fluid critical properties and oil/gas capillary pressure. Afterward, the effect of nanopore radius (rp) on the phase behavior between the injected natural gas and oil was thoroughly investigated. Compositional simulation was performed using a rigorously calibrated model based on typical properties of a tight reservoir to investigate the production response of natural gas HNP, including the effects of nanopore confinement and its proportion. We demonstrated that the critical pressure and temperature of fluid components decreased with the reduction in rp, especially for heavy constitunts. The saturation pressure, density, and viscosity of the oil in the presence of natural gas all declined linearly with 1/rp in the confined space. The suppression of fluid saturation pressure was indicative of an extended single-phase oil flow period during production. The cumulative oil production was approximately 12% higher if the confinement effect was considered in simulation. Moreover, the average reservoir pressure declined rapidly resulting from this effect, mainly caused by the intensified in-situ gas/oil interaction in nanopores. The results of this paper supplement earlier findings and may advance our understanding of nanopore confinement during natural gas HNP, which are useful for field-scale application of this technique.

Breast neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) constitute a rare histologic subtype that includes both neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs). In this study, we aimed to gain insight into the clinical and molecular characteristics of NENs of the breast. NEN and paired distant normal fresh tissues and clinicopathological data were obtained from 17 patients with NENs, and clinicopathological data were collected from 755 patients with invasive breast carcinomas of no special type (IBCs-NST). We compared the clinicopathological characteristics of NENs and IBCs-NST and performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) of both NEN and paired normal tissues. Compared with the IBC-NST patients, the NEN patients had a higher mean age, lower clinical stage, and lower pathological nodal (pN) stage (P