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COVID-19 has made it difficult to adopt traditional face-to-face psychological intervention under this situation because of the blocked down and social distancing, which brings big psychological crisis to the public among the global. To explore the emotional change of the public in China at the outburst of the pandemic at different phases, to establish an online working platform and create a new model of an online intervention to hold public emotions under pandemic, and test its effectiveness, so to give advisement for government emergency management system. We established an online organization to work for this program ad innovated a model of online group counseling with online emotional support accompany group (OESAG) right after the outburst of a pandemic. We analyzed 53 OESAGs from February 10 to April 9, including 555 application forms, 253 feedback from members, and 139 feedback from group leaders by using NVivo and SPSS to explore the evolution and characteristics of public emotion during COVID-19 and the effectiveness of OESAG. Our results showed that the emotional changes of members ranged from shock to depression to positive. The public's emotions swiftly changed from stress, anxiety, and isolation, to the hope of returning to work or finding a job during the pandemic with the help of OESAG. OESAG has effectively regulated the negative emotions of members by conducting psychological crisis intervention to provide members a space to communicate with each other, especially the female and frontline staff. Policy makers can set up an online systematic psychological crisis intervention system as soon as possible to make up for the lack of psychological assistance in the emergency management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To develop and validate a prediction model based on targeted sequencing for glucocorticoid (GC)-associated osteonecrosis of the femoral head (GA-ONFH) in GC-treated adults. Methods This two-centre retrospective study was conducted between July 2015 and April 2019 at Zhongshan Hospital (training set) and the Sixth People's Hospital (test set) in Shanghai, China. All patients had a history of GC therapy, with a dose exceeding 2000 mg equivalent prednisone within 6 weeks. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether they were diagnosed with GA-ONFH within 2 years after GC initiation. Blood or saliva samples were collected for targeted sequencing of 358 single nucleotide polymorphisms and genetic risk score (GRS) calculating for developing GA-ONFH prediction model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and decision curve analysis (DCA) were performed to evaluate and validate the model. Results. The training set comprised 117 patients, while the test set comprised 30 patients for external validation. Logistic regression analysis showed that GRS was significantly associated with GA-ONFH (OR 1.87, 95% CI: 1.48, 2.37). The ROC and DCA curves showed that the multivariate model considering GRS, age at GC initial, sex and underlying diseases had a discrimination with area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.00). This model was further externally validated using the test set with an AUC of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.00). Conclusion Our prediction model comprising GRS, age, sex and underlying diseases yields valid predictions of GA-ONFH incidence. It may facilitate effective screening and prevention strategies of GA-ONFH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) is promising to enable low power and high performance edge computing hardware design and have recently attracted attentions of researchers. Compared to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), SNNs, which present more realistic brain-inspired computing models, are developed as an alternative to ANNs. However, the temporal primitive of SNNs causes irregular and repeated data accesses, leading to high latency and extra power consumption. In this work, we propose an efficient architecture for SNNs by exploiting event-based characteristics. A reconfigurable spiking neuron processing unit is proposed to support a variety of spike-layers. Furthermore, to reduce the cycles needed per frame, an efficient dataflow with fast-filtering mechanism is introduced to leverage the sparsity of discrete spikes. The results show that this design achieves 67.5 $\mu \text{J}$ /image prediction energy with a throughput of 2.2K FPS. The core size is 0.89 mm2 under 28-nm technology, with 90.98% computing hardware utilization and a competitive accuracy 97.10% on a driving dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A green chemical precipitation route was used to yield a hydrated basic sulfate precursor upon calcination at 1000°C into a series of (Y,Gd)2O2SO4:Dy particles. The phosphors exhibited characteristic Dy3+ emissions from 4F9/2→6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, 11/2) transitions under ultraviolet light excitation; the quenching concentration of Dy3+ was determined to be 2.5 at.%. Substitution of Gd3+ for Y3+ led to an additional strong sharp band at ~277 nm (8S7/2→6IJ transition of Gd3+) in the photoluminescence excitation spectra, upon which the (Gd0.975Dy0.025)2O2SO4 phosphor achieved a ~2.8‐fold higher photoluminescence intensity via an effective energy transfer from Gd3+ to Dy3+ compared with the 354 nm excitation of Dy3+. Both the photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation intensities of (Y,Gd)2O2SO4:Dy phosphors increased with rising Gd3+ concentration and calcination temperature in the range 750–1000°C. A higher Gd3+ concentration slightly prolonged the effective fluorescence lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rare germline variations contribute to the missing heritability of human complex diseases including cancers. Given their very low frequency, discovering and testing disease‐causing rare germline variations remains challenging. The tag‐single nucleotide polymorphism rs17728461 in 22q12.2 is highly associated with lung cancer risk. Here, we identified a functional rare germline variation rs548071605 (A>G) in a p65‐responsive enhancer located within 22q12.2. The enhancer significantly promoted lung cancer cell proliferation in vitro and in a xenograft mouse model by upregulating the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) gene via the formation of a chromatin loop. Differential expression of LIF and its significant correlation with first progression survival time of patients further supported the lung cancer‐driving effects of the 22q‐Enh enhancer. Importantly, the rare variation was harbored in the p65 binding sequence and dramatically increased the enhancer activity by increasing responsiveness of the enhancer to p65 and B‐cell lymphoma 3 protein, an oncoprotein that assisted the p65 binding. Our study revealed a regulatory rare germline variation with a potential lung cancer‐driving role in the 22q12.2 risk region, providing intriguing clues for investigating the "missing heritability" of cancers, and also offered a useful experimental model for identifying causal rare variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing is an effective mean to prevent coal bumps in deep coal mining. The calculation of stress redistribution of coal sidewall after hydraulic fracturing can evaluate the fracturing effect and provide a reference for the hydraulic fracturing scheme design. In this paper, a theoretical model of stress redistribution of roadway sidewall after hydraulic fracturing is established with considering the effect of crushing zone. And the influences of the water injection length and the fracturing radius on the stress redistribution of roadway sidewall are investigated. The results show that the water injection section should be set at a deeper position with considering the existence of the crushing zone. The coal roadway sidewall after hydraulic fracturing is divided into five zones: the crushing zone, the shallow plastic zone, the pressure relief zone, the deep plastic zone, and the elastic zone. The stress redistribution law is obviously affected by the water injection section length and fracturing radius. With the increase of water injection length or fracturing radius, the pressure relief effect is more evident, but the axial force of rockbolt increases gradually. In order to acquire a better pressure relief effect, the matching of the water injection length and the fracturing radius should be considered crucially in the hydraulic fracturing design for preventing coal bumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selective-area regrowth (SAG) n-type GaN source/drain electrode has been widely used in high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for high-frequency applications. Previous studies focused only on device performances, but not on SAG n+-GaN in devices. This paper studies electron concentration and mobility of SAG n+-GaN on InAlN/GaN HEMTs via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It is revealed that electron mobility of SAG GaN is significantly affected by thickness. The decrease in mobility in a thin GaN may be attributed to regrowth interface defects. A gas flow model on the regrowth region is proposed to guide the regrowth of SAG GaN for improving the electron mobility. A high electron mobility of 138 cm2/V s with an electron concentration of 5.2 × 1019/cm3 is obtained from an 80-nm n+-GaN with the regrowth width of 10 μm. Due to the high doping level, the nonalloy metal-semiconductor contact resistance (Rm-GaN) is as low as 0.041 Ω mm. The interface resistance (Rint) between GaN and 2DEG is extracted using transfer length measurement (TLM) models and found to be 0.106 Ω mm. The on-resistance (Ron) is 0.753 Ω mm for InAlN/GaN HEMT with a source-drain metal spacing (Lsd metal) of 2 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop nomograms for effective prediction of cause-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) of patients who underwent radical operation for stage I-III appendiceal adenocarcinoma.Methods: Clinical information from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database was retrieved from 2004 to 2015 and subjected to multivariate analysis to explore variables that affect the OS and CSS. Results were used to construct nomograms to assess the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS and CSS rates, then their calibration accuracy and discriminative power were examined using Kaplan-Meier curves, calibration plots, and C statistics.Results: Overall, 1,241 patients were included in the analysis. We found 7 and 5 factors that could independently alter the prognosis, then used for creating nomograms for evaluating the OS and CSS, respectively, with respective C-index values of 0.741 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.729-0.754) and 0.747 (95% CI: 0.733-0.762). Calibration and receiver operating characteristic curves further revealed excellent predictive performance.Conclusions: We successfully built highly accurate nomograms for evaluating the 1-, 3-, and 5-year CSS and OS rates in subjects who underwent radical operation for stage I-III appendiceal adenocarcinoma. Further studies, involving prospective validations, are required to validate these nomograms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practicality of portable fluorescent detectors has attracted widespread attention. Herein, a series of luminogens was obtained via integrating pyrrole/fluorinated-pyrrole with triphenylamine in high yield. The emission performance was modified via varying the F and CN substituents on the pyrrole ring. The compounds TPACHO and TPAFCHO, with aldehyde-group-substituted pyrrole, exhibit significant mechanochromic luminescence (MCL) behavior and typical AIEE properties. The compounds TPA2CN and TPA2FCN can efficiently detect liquid and gaseous hydrazine hydrate, and they can achieve paper-based detection through visually clear emission color switching from yellow/orange to blue. The minimum detectable concentration of hydrazine was 10 mM. Moreover, TPA2CN exhibits good inhibitory activity toward human nasopharyngeal tumor cells (CNE1) and it has application prospects in tumor cell detection and biological cell monitoring. Thus, such functionalized paper can be applied as highly selective discriminating test strips for hydrazine hydrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Phosphate metabolism is known to be regulated by the PhoPR regulatory system in Streptomyces and some other bacteria. In this study, we report that MtrA also regulates phosphate metabolism in Streptomyces. Our data showed that, in Streptomyces coelicolor, MtrA regulates not only phosphate metabolism genes such as phoA but also phoP under different phosphate conditions, including growth on rich complex media without added inorganic phosphate and on defined media with low or high concentrations of inorganic phosphate. Cross‐regulation was also observed among mtrA, phoP and glnR under these conditions. We demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo binding of MtrA to the promoter regions of genes associated with phosphate metabolism and to the intergenic region between phoR and phoU, indicating that these phosphate metabolism genes are targets of MtrA. We further showed that MtrA in S. lividans and S. venezuelae has detectable regulatory effects on expression of phosphate metabolism genes. Additionally, the MtrA homologue from Corynebacterium glutamicum bound predicted MtrA sites of multiple phosphate metabolism genes, implying its potential for regulating phosphate metabolism in this species. Overall, our findings support MtrA as a major regulator for phosphate metabolism in Streptomyces and also potentially in other actinobacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to develop the west of China and how to balance the development between the east and the west of China is a longstanding topic. More than 80 years ago, Mr. Hu Huanyong researched population distribution and agricultural regional development based on China's traditional agriculture and the sharp contradiction between 450 million people and arable land at that time. Today, what we call the development of the west is by no means the issue of the traditional agricultural planting industry, but the issue of how to put forward new business forms and new high-quality developments that are suitable to the western region under the national conditions of the new era. This study combines Hu Huanyong Line with Mid-Spine Belt of Beautiful China (MSBBC) and expounds different themes under different times background. Hu Huanyong Line is a reflection of the characteristics of the sudden change of population density dividing line in modern China as a traditional agricultural country. MSBBC is the strategic need of the new land space planning with high-quality development in the contemporary new era, and is the strategic move to reduce the imbalance of development between the east half and the west half. The study puts forward the following suggestions: (1) Taking the MSBBC as the pioneer and demonstration belt of new infrastructure construction; (2) Taking the MSBBC as an important part of the unified and differentiated strategic planning for constructing a new developing pattern; (3) Building the MSBBC into a hub channel of internal and external circulation; (4) Building the MSBBC into an ecological security barrier belt, a national defense security belt, and a new livable living area; (5) Constructing the MSBBC into a new type of urbanization development mode; (6) Connecting the development strategy of the MSBBC with other national strategies to help realize the dream of Chinese rejuvenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this special issue, we would like to take this opportunity to demonstrate the value and strength of a conversation between digital anthropology and communication studies around the topic of visual communication and the use of the smartphone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the smartphone, the production and circulation of digital visual media have become as costless and accessible as audio and text-based communication. It would be challenging to be a contemporary ethnographer without engaging with digital practices which in Japan and China at least, tend towards being highly visual. Digital visual communication is recognised in literature as an effective and accessible form of communication, with an increasing number of studies in the field of digital anthropology, media studies and Internet studies exploring the consequences of digital images on social media. There is a pressing need to understand local forms of visual communication in the digital age, where the visual has become an essential part of daily communication. This article deals particularly with the rise of visual digital communication among older adults in China and Japan. Drawing on 16-month ethnographies conducted simultaneously between 2018 and 2019 in China and Japan, this article contributes to the discussion of visual communication in light of this semiotic shift happening online, which is then contextualised within people's offline lives. The ethnographies in both China and Japan find that, first of all, visual communication via digital media enables more effective and efficient phatic communication and emotion work. In addition, the ethnographies point to a question about 'authenticity' in interpersonal communication. The ethnographies show that in some cases, the deployment of visual communication via the smartphone is not so much about being able to express 'authentic' personal feelings but rather, in being able to effectively establish a digital public façade according to social norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) in women is higher than men. However, the knowledge of gender disparity in ADRD treatment is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the gender disparities in the receipt of anti-dementia medications among Medicare beneficiaries with ADRD in the U.S. Methods: We used data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey 2016. Anti-dementia medications included cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs; including rivastigmine, donepezil, and galantamine) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists (including memantine). Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression models were implemented to determine the possible gender disparities in the receipt of anti-dementia medications. Subgroup analyses were conducted to identify gender disparities among beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and those with only AD-related dementias. Results: Descriptive analyses showed there were statistically significant differences in age, marital status, and Charlson comorbidities index (CCI) between Medicare beneficiaries who received and who did not receive anti-dementia medications. After controlling for covariates, we found that female Medicare beneficiaries with ADRD were 1.7 times more likely to receive anti-dementia medications compared to their male counterparts (odds ratio [OR]: 1.71; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19–2.45). Specifically, among Medicare beneficiaries with AD, females were 1.2 times more likely to receive anti-dementia medications (Odds Radio: 1.20; 95% confidence interval: 0.58–2.47), and among the Medicare beneficiaries with only AD-related dementias, females were 1.9 times more likely to receive anti-dementia medications (OR: 1.90; 95% CI: 1.23–2.95). Conclusion: Healthcare providers should be aware of gender disparities in receiving anti-dementia medications among patients with ADRD, and the need to plan programs of care to support both women and men. Future approaches to finding barriers of prescribing, receiving and, adhering to anti-dementia medications by gender should include differences in longevity, biology, cognition, social roles, and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive and metastatic malignancy with poor treatment outcomes. The interaction between the tumor microenvironment (TME) and breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) plays an important role in the development of TNBC. Owing to their ability of self‐renewal and multidirectional differentiation, BCSCs maintain tumor growth, drive metastatic colonization, and facilitate the development of drug resistance. TME is the main factor regulating the phenotype and metastasis of BCSCs. Immune cells, cancer‐related fibroblasts (CAFs), cytokines, mesenchymal cells, endothelial cells, and extracellular matrix within the TME form a complex communication network, exert highly selective pressure on the tumor, and provide a conducive environment for the formation of BCSC niches. Tumor growth and metastasis can be controlled by targeting the TME to eliminate BCSC niches or targeting BCSCs to modify the TME. These approaches may improve the treatment outcomes and possess great application potential in clinical settings. In this review, we summarized the relationship between BCSCs and the progression and drug resistance of TNBC, especially focusing on the interaction between BCSCs and TME. In addition, we discussed therapeutic strategies that target the TME to inhibit or eliminate BCSCs, providing valuable insights into the clinical treatment of TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of the piroxicam monohydrate to form I or form II could be achieved precisely by adjusting the particle size itself in a 99% acetone-1% H2O solvent at 31 °C. Mechanistic studies have demonstrated that the particle size could affect both the maximum concentration of piroxicam and the heterogeneous nucleation of form II during the solution-mediated phase transformation (SMPT) process, finally determining the polymorph outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in-band full-duplex (IBFD) systems can send and receive data simultaneously in the same frequency band. Although the electromagnetic interference among RF channels can be released using radio over fiber (RoF) links, the receiving antenna is susceptible to the signal leakage from adjacent transmitting antennas. Due to the electronic bottlenecks, traditional RF self-interference cancellation (SIC) systems have some problems, such as low operating frequency, narrow transmission bandwidth, and electromagnetic interference, which seriously reduces the communication performance. In this paper, a photonic RF SIC system based on dual-phase modulation in a Sagnac loop is proposed to further increase the resistance to electromagnetic interference of the IBFD systems. Based on the principle of polarization multiplexing, the damaged received signal and local interference signal are modulated on two beams of a light wave with orthogonal polarization states. The received interference signal can be canceled by polarization adjustment. In the experiment, a single- frequency interference cancelation depth of 45 dB is achieved in the proposed photonic SIC system over the operating frequency range of 5–20 GHz. Also, a demonstration of cancellation for modulated interference with a center frequency of 10 GHz and bandwidths of 20, 30, and 50 MHz is carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) associated neurocognitive impairment is mainly caused by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)-triggered neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. Previous study has demonstrated that mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) was pivotal for hypoxia-related tissue injury. As a cytosolic multiprotein complex that participates in various inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, NLRP3 inflammasome could be activated by mtROS and thereby affected by the mitochondria-selective autophagy. However, the role of NLRP3 and possible mitophagy mechanism in CIH-elicited neuroinflammation remain to be elucidated. Compared with wild‐type mice, NLRP3 deficiency protected them from CIH-induced neuronal damage, as indicated by the restoration of fear-conditioning test results and amelioration of neuron apoptosis. In addition, NLRP3 knockout mice displayed the mitigated microglia activation that elicited by CIH, concomitantly with elimination of damaged mitochondria and reduction of oxidative stress levels (malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase). Elevated LC3 and beclin1 expressions were remarkably observed in CIH group. In vitro experiments, intermittent hypoxia (IH) significantly facilitated mitophagy induction and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in microglial (BV2) cells. Moreover, IH enhanced the accumulation of damaged mitochondria, increased mitochondrial depolarization and augmented mtROS release. Consistently, NLRP3 deletion elicited a protective phenotype against IH through enhancement of Parkin-mediated mitophagy. Furthermore, Parkin deletion or pretreated with 3MA (autophagy inhibitor) exacerbated these detrimental actions of IH, which was accompanied with NLRP3 inflammasome activation. These results revealed NLRP3 deficiency acted as a protective promotor through enhancing Parkin-depended mitophagy in CIH-induced neuroinflammation. Thus, NLRP3 gene knockout or pharmacological blockage could be as a potential therapeutic strategy for OSA-associated neurocognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Posttranslational modification (PTM) is pivotal for regulating protein functions. Compared to acetylation on lysine residues, the functions and molecular mechanisms of N-terminal acetylation that occur on the first amino acids of proteins are less understood in the macroautophagy/autophagy field. We recently demonstrated that the B-type N-terminal acetyltransferase NatB, formed by the catalytic subunit Nat3 and auxiliary subunit Mdm20, is essential for autophagy. Deficiency of NatB causes blockage of autophagosome formation. We further identified the actin cytoskeleton constituent Act1 and dynamin-like GTPase Vps1 as substrates modified by NatB. The N-terminal acetylation of Act1 promotes its formation of actin filaments and thus facilitates trafficking of Atg9-containing vesicles for autophagosome formation, whereas N-terminal acetylation of Vps1 promotes its interaction with SNARE proteins and facilitates autophagosome-vacuole fusion. Restoring the N-terminal acetylation of Act and Vps1 does not restore autophagy in NatB-deleted cells, suggesting that additional substrates of NatB modification are involved in autophagy regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conductive hydrogels have attracted widespread attention in wearable electronic devices and human motion detection. However, designing self-healing hydrogels with high conductivity and excellent mechanical properties remains a challenge. In this work, polyvinyl alcohol/carbon nanotubes/graphene (PVA/CNTs/graphene) with an island-bridge hydrogel structure and self-healing properties was designed by merging PVA/CNTs hydrogel and PVA/graphene hydrogel, in which the PVA/graphene hydrogel acts as an "island" and PVA/CNTs hydrogel acts as a "bridge" to bridge the entire conductive network. Hydrogen-bonding between the borate ion and the –OH group of PVA allows the conductive hydrogel to heal without any external stimulation. The PVA/CNTs/graphene hydrogel can be used for both stretchable strain and pressure sensors. The obtained PVA/CNTs/graphene composite hydrogel exhibits excellent electrical conductivity, extreme high elastic strain (up to 900%) and strong mechanical pressure (up to 10 kPa). The strain sensor based on the PVA/CNTs/graphene hydrogel exhibits excellent tensile strain sensitivity (a gauge factor of 152.6 in the strain region of 316–600%) and wide detection working range (1–600%) with high durability and repeatability. The sensor also remains highly sensitive when being used as a pressure sensor (−0.127 kPa−1 at 0–5 kPa). Additionally, the PVA/CNTs/graphene hydrogel-based sensor can detect human motions after multiple cuts and self-healing with excellent stability and repeatability. The PVA/CNTs/graphene hydrogel provides a new idea in the development of wearable electronics, demonstrating the potential of the next generation of wearable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcium/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase (CAMKs) can control a wide range of cancer‐related functions in multiple tumour types. Herein, we explore the expressions and clinical significances of calcium/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase 1 (CAMK1) in pancreatic cancer (PC). The expression of CAMK1 in PC was analysed by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA 2) database and the Oncomine database. For further validation, the protein level of CAMK1 in PC tissues was also detected in the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database and the tissue microarray (TMA)‐based immunohistochemistry (IHC). GEPIA 2 and Kaplan‐Meier Plotter (KM Plotter) databases were used to explore the prognostic significances of CAMK1 in overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS) of PC at mRNA level. The relationship between CAMK1 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of PC was further explored. Additionally, the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) database was used to analyse protein‐protein interactions (PPI). We found CAMK1 was highly expressed in PC both in bioinformatics analyses and TMA‐IHC results. The prognostic analyses from the public databases also showed consistent results with follow‐up data. The PPI network suggested that CALM1, CALM3, CREB1, CALM2, SYN1, NOS3, ATF1, GAPDH, PPM1F and FBXL12 were important significant genes associated with CAMK1. Our finding revealed CAMK1 has prognostic value in PC patients, suggesting that CAMK1 may has a distinct role in PC patients and can be used as a candidate marker for investigating clinical prognosis of PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The erodibility parameters of barrier dam were an important basis for the evaluation of the outburst flood in the emergency treatment of the dammed lake. The erosion rate was typically modeled with excess shear stress model and Wilson model. However, there is no unified understanding of the range of erodibility parameters. In order to study the range of erodibility parameters of various types of soils and the relationship between the erodibility parameters of two models and soil properties, quickly determine the erodibility parameters of the dam, a database of 279 test results were collected from the literature review as well as by contacting researchers and organizations working on erosion around the world. The samples were classified into coarse-grained and fine-grained soils according to the unified soil classification system. Correlation analysis and regression analysis of the data were used to obtain the relationship between the erodibility parameters and soil properties. Four measures were used to evaluate the statistical significance of the relationship between erodibility parameters and soil parameters for coarse-grained and fine- grained soils: R² MSE Fvalue/Fstatistic and cross-validation. The erodibility parameters obtained from the experimental data were compared with the erodibility parameters predicted by the regression equation, the range of erodibility parameters of different soil and correlation between erosion parameters and soil parameters were obtained. According to the erodibility parameters database, the regression equation of erodibility parameters were obtained through statistical analysis of limited soil parameters and erodibility parameters to quickly predict the erosion rate of the soil. Finally, taking Baige weir plug as an example, according to the erodibility parameter database and statistical relationship established in this study, the erodibility parameters and erosion rate were analyzed rapidly. The research findings can be used to quickly determine the erosion parameters of the dam plug body, and provide help for rapid assessment of the risk of burst flood under emergency conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, chromium coating conducted by magnetron sputtering was introduced to braze SiC ceramics using inactive AgCu filler metal. The results showed that reliable metallurgical bonding of SiC ceramics was obtained at 900°C for 10 minutes. SEM, XRD, and TEM were used to identify the reaction phase in the joint, and the typical interfacial microstructure was SiC/mixed CrSi2 + Cr23C6 layer/CrSi2/Ag(s,s)+Cu(s,s)/CrSi2/mixed CrSi2 + Cr23C6 layer/SiC. The shear strength of SiC joint using chromium coating brazed with inactive AgCu filler metal was 29.6 MPa and the joint fractured at the SiC substrate entirely after shear test. The proposed active element coating method provides a feasible way to achieve the brazing of ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a stability preserved Arnoldi algorithm for matrix exponential in the time domain simulation of large-scale power delivery networks (PDNs), which are formulated as semi-explicit differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). The matrix exponential and vector products (MEVPs) compose the solution of DAEs in multistep integration methods and can be efficiently approximated with the rational Krylov subspace. To produce stable simulation results for the ill-conditioned system from semi-explicit DAEs, the revised Arnoldi algorithm introduces a new structured orthogonalization process to construct the Krylov subspace. We demonstrate the performance of the new algorithm with theoretical proof and experiments. In the computation of MEVPs, we utilize the exponential related φ functions to improve the numerical accuracy. We further explore the optimal ratio to confine the spectrum in the rational Krylov subspace. Finally, the transient framework is tested on a group of system-level PDNs, showing that matrix exponential-based algorithms could achieve high efficiency and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A number of studies suggest an association between miRNAs and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of microRNA (miR-150) in primary gastrointestinal (PGI)-DLBCL, by assessing the association between miR-150 expression and clinicopathological characteristics in patients with PGI-DLBCL. A total of 84 patients diagnosed with PGI-DLBCL were recruited and both tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissue samples were collected. miR-150 expression was assessed via reverse transcription-quantitative (RT-q)PCR analysis. The results demonstrated that miR-150 expression was significantly lower in PGI-DLBCL tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that the optimal cut-off value of miR-150 for predicting survival was 8.965 with high sensitivity (79.8%) and specificity (77.1%). Patients were divided into two groups according to this cut-off value, as follows: High (n=18) and low expression (n=66) groups. Low miR-150 expression was significantly associated with clinical stage, International Prognostic Index (IPI), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status and use of rituximab. RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated that miR-150 expression was significantly lower in patients with high IPI scores compared with patients with low IPI scores. Downregulated miR-150 expression was significantly associated with shorter overall survival (OS) time and progression-free survival (PFS) time in patients with PGI-DLBCL. Furthermore, miR-150 level and IPI score were identified as two risk factors for OS and PFS. The diagnostic value of miR-150 was evaluated via ROC curve analysis, with an area under the curve value of 0.882. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that miR-150 is a potential diagnostic marker of PGI-DLBCL, and may also serve as a useful prognostic factor for survival outcomes in patients with PGI-DLBCL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the current study was to estimate two protocols for HER2-negative locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer patients, bevacizumab combined with paclitaxel versus bevacizumab combined with capecitabine, from the economic view. Methods: The process of HER2-negative locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer treated with bevacizumab combined with paclitaxel or bevaciz-umab combined with capecitabine made up the decision model in our analysis. The primary objective was to show the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). The critical parameters and the robustness of the model on the results of the analysis were assessed by univariate sensitivity analysis and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Results: In the analysis, quality-adjusted life year (QALY) increased by 0.4 with bevacizumab plus paclitaxel compared with bevacizumab plus capecitabine, and incremental cost of USD 4,340.46. Therefore, the ICER was USD 27,252.875. The ICER exceeded the commonly accepted willingness to pay on the recommendation of the World Health Organization, which is defined as 3 times of the gross domestic product per capita of China in the model (USD 25,840.88 per QALY). On univariate analysis, it is found that the most significant affecting factor is the cost of progression-free survival state in the bevacizumab plus paclitaxel group. Besides, bevacizumab plus paclitaxel had a 47.8% probability of being cost-effective versus bevacizu-mab plus capecitabine according to probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Conclusions: Based on the results of the analysis, bevacizumab plus paclitaxel is unlikely to be a cost-effective option for patients with HER2-negative locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer compared with bevacizumab plus capecitabine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiation‐induced pulmonary fibrosis (RIPF) is a life‐threatening complication of thoracic radiotherapy, which contributes to continued deterioration in pulmonary function. Sphingosine‐1 phosphate receptor 3 (S1PR3) has been identified as a crucial molecule in fibrosis. Accumulating evidence indicated that the inhibition of the S1PRs ameliorates fibrogenesis. Thus, this study aims to explore whether S1PR3 participates in RIPF and elucidates the molecular mechanisms underlying S1PR3‐modulated epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in transforming growth factor‐β1‐induced pulmonary epithelia. A recombinant adeno‐associated viral‐mediated S1PR3 (AAV‐S1PR3) gene therapy analyzed the effect of S1PR3 gene deficiency on the altered histology structure and molecular mechanisms in the lung of mice with whole‐lung irradiation. Compared with the AAV‐negative control mice, AAV‐mediated S1PR3 knockdown in the lung of mice attenuated pulmonary fibrosis induced by the radiation, as indicated by the alleviation of collagen accumulation, lessened histopathological alterations, and the suppression of inflammatory cells infiltration. S1PR3 deficiency reversed the RIPF concomitantly with abrogated EMT‐related protein (α‐smooth muscle actin). Consistently, S1PR3‐deficient pulmonary epithelia inhibited the EMT process changes and fibrosis formation. Furthermore, S1PR3 was designated as one of the target genes for microRNA‐495‐3p (miR‐495‐3p). The inhibition of miR‐495‐3p promoted the expression of S1PR3 in pulmonary epithelia, whereas the overexpression of miR‐495‐3p inhibited the S1PR3/SMAD2/3 pathway and suppressed the EMT process. Collectively, miR‐495‐3p might be a negative regulator of the EMT process in fibrosis formation by inhibiting the targeted S1PR3 gene. These results established a link between the S1PR3 gene, the EMT process, and the fibrosis, suggesting the pharmacological blockage of S1PR3 as a potential therapeutic strategy for RIPF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compressed sensing (CS) is becoming a hot topic in recent years for its advantages such as low-power consumption, low memory requirement, and low sampling frequency. However, high-dimensional nonlinear signals will inevitably introduce notable complexity and low efficiency in signal recovery. Generalized turbo signal recovery (G-Turbo-SR) is a cutting-edge method, which efficiently reduces complexity with a partial discrete Fourier transform (DFT) sensing matrix. However, in practical applications, G-Turbo-SR still suffers from high complexity for probability computations and matrix multiplications. This article optimizes the algorithm of G-Turbo-SR in scheduling to reduce the matrix multiplications by half. High-precision numerical approximation method is proposed to replace the complex integral calculation, which efficiently reduces the hardware cost with acceptable performance degradation. Based on the data-flow graph (DFG) analysis, detailed hardware architecture is proposed with module designs. Proper quantization scheme is selected according to the mean square error (MSE) performance. Pipelining, folding, and variable precision quantization (VPQ) scheme are employed for higher hardware efficiency. FPGA implementation on Xilinx 7k325tffg900-2 shows a higher throughput and hardware efficiency compared to existing recovery methods for CS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of adjuvant treatments in resected pancreatic cancer.Methods: A Markov model was developed to mimic the disease process of postoperative pancreatic cancer, encompassing three health states (relapse-free survival, recurrent disease, and death). Health outcomes and utility scores were derived from the phase III trial and available literature. Cost data were calculated using standard fee data from the West China Hospital for 2017. One-way sensitivity analyses and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were developed to explore model uncertainty.Results: Treatment with S-1 was estimated to yield 1.61 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) at a cost of $25,696, whereas treatment with gemcitabine yielded 1.27 QALYs at a cost of $28,930. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of S-1 versus gemcitabine was $-9,490 per QALY. Based on the willingness-to-pay threshold of $25,841 per QALY, the net monetary benefit (NMB) was $15,786 for S-1 and $3,727 for gemcitabine, generating the incremental NMB of $12,059. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis revealed that the probabilities of S-1 and gemcitabine being cost-effective were 92% and 8%, respectively. Results were robust to changes in parameters.Conclusion: Adjuvant therapy using S-1 is a cost-effective alternative compared to gemcitabine in patients with postoperative pancreatic cancer from the Chinese societal perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The copper mining city of of Alto Hospicio, Chile and GoodPath town, a factory city in China both seem to be archetypal neoliberal cities. They epitomize the circulation of goods, people, and ideas through their export-based economies, large migrant populations, and high penetration of Internet and social media use. Yet, we find that in migrants' social media use, there are stark contrasts in the significance they place on their movement and the identities they form around these migrations. In China, factory workers take to the 'online world' to escape harsh realities and engage in identity formations that privilege cosmopolitan aspirations. In Chile, mining workers express the harshness of their lived reality, using social media to build identities around a sense of pride in their abrasive conditions. This comparative essay reveals how processes associated with neoliberal capitalism – including migrations of people, goods, and information, and the commodification of identities – is preconditioned by local contexts. We find that the processes of neoliberal capitalism sometimes yield starkly different consequences, even when local circumstances seem to be similar. This demonstrates that even as media (and particularly social media) connect people more closely, their effects are anything but homogenizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), also known as an environmental and atypical mycobacteria, can cause the chronic pulmonary infectious diseases. Macrophages have been suggested as the main host cell to initiate the innate immune responses to NTM infection. However, the molecular mechanism to regulate the antimicrobial immune responses to NTM is still largely unknown. Current study showed that the NTM clinical groups, Mycobacterium abscessus and Mycobacterium smegmatis, significantly induced the M1 macrophage polarization with the characteristic production of nitric oxide (NO) and marker gene expression of iNOS, IFNγ, TNF‐α, IL1‐β and IL‐6. Interestingly, a non‐histone nuclear protein, HMGN2 (high‐mobility group N2), was found to be spontaneously induced during NTM‐activated M1 macrophage polarization. Functional studies revealed that HMGN2 deficiency in NTM‐infected macrophage promotes the expression of M1 markers and the production of NO via the enhanced activation of NF‐κB and MAPK signalling. Further studies exhibited that HMGN2 knock‐down also enhanced IFNγ‐induced M1 macrophage polarization. Finally, we observed that silencing HMGN2 affected the survival of NTM in macrophage, which might largely relevant to enhanced macrophage polarization into M1 phenotype under the NTM infection. Collectively, current studies thus suggested a novel function of HMGN2 in regulating the anti‐non‐tuberculous mycobacteria innate immunity of macrophage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf is the main component of litter that often exists in mixed forms in nature. However, the mixed effects of leaf litter decomposition in desert ecosystems remain unclear. To reveal the mixed effects and the influence of litter quality on leaf litter decomposition in desert ecosystems, a 5‐year long‐term study was conducted to compare the observed and expected leaf litter mass loss in single‐species and mixed (equal proportions and natural proportions) litters of two typical perennial gramineous plants (Stipa klemenzii and Achnatherum splendens) in a desert steppe in Northern China. The relationship between litter mass loss and litter qualities was also analysed. The results showed that (a) after 5 years of decomposition, the mass losses of mixed litter in natural proportions and S. klemenzii litter were significantly higher than those of mixed litter in equal proportions and A. splendens litter; (b) the mixed effects of two litters in different ratios varied with time, and the synergistic effect only appeared in the second year when an easily decomposed litter (S. klemenzii) was mixed with a slowly decomposing litter (A. splendens); and (c) litter mass loss was not correlated with the initial carbon or nitrogen content but was negatively correlated with the initial lignin content, and the initial lignin content also had a significant effect on litter mixed effects of these two perennial gramineous plant litters. These results can suggest that the initial lignin content is an indicator of predicting decomposition and mixed effects of litter with low nitrogen content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐optical‐quality ternary [(Y1‐xGdx)0.99Dy0.01]2O3 (x = 0 and 0.4) ceramics were successfully fabricated by vacuum sintering with in‐line transmittances of 71.4%‐75.1% at 574 nm, the wavelength of Dy3+ emission (the 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 transition). Substitution of Gd3+ for Y3+ significantly affected the photoluminescent and scintillant properties of the ceramics. Gd3+ addition effectively increased lattice parameters and theoretical densities of the ceramic samples; this contributed to enhanced X‐ray absorption coefficients. Both [(Y1‐xGdx)0.99Dy0.01]2O3 (x = 0 and 0.4) ceramics displayed typical Dy3+ emissions from 4F9/2 → 6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, 11/2) transitions under UV and X‐ray irradiations. By incorporating Gd3+ into the lattice, a stronger excitation peak of Gd3+ due to internal f‐f transitions relative to Dy3+ was observed at 276 nm; subsequent ceramics obtained a sharper PL intensity and a warmer hue via effective energy transfer from Gd3+ to Dy3+. Using a Gd3+ dopant generally reduces the total photoluminescence/photoluminescence excitation intensities and light output; it also delays the lifetime and afterglow of the transparent ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]