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Circadian rhythms affect a variety of physiological processes. Disruption of circadian rhythms causes many diseases, most of which are associated with inflammation. Disruption of circadian rhythms has a detrimental impact on the function of immune system. It is common to find that circulatory LPS are increased. LPS induces immune cells to produce inflammatory cytokines. Inflammatory cytokines play a role in skeletal muscle decay. Rev-erbβ has been identified as a critical regulator of circadian rhythms and a factor in inflammation. Another effect of disruption is a concomitant disturbance of glucose–insulin metabolism, which skeletal muscle likely contributes to considering it is a key metabolic tissue. Disruption of circadian rhythms is also related to obesity. Obesity can cause an increase expression of inflammatory cytokines. Maybe obesity with skeletal muscle decay is one of major characteristics. Future studies are needed to obtain a comprehensive understanding of inflammatory cytokines and skeletal muscle decay from the viewpoint of circadian rhythms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is an inherited, complex gene- and immune-related disorder that mainly includes Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). Psoriasis susceptibility 1 candidate 1 (PSORS1C1) is a susceptibility gene associated with many autoimmune diseases, but its role in an individual's predisposition to AITD is unknown. This study included 1065 Chinese Han patients with AITD and 943 matched healthy individuals. The rs3130983, rs3778638, rs3815087, and rs4959053 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PSORS1C1 were determined using multiplex polymerase chain reaction technology. Of the four SNPs, only the distribution of the rs3778638 genotypes was different between the AITD (AA, 2.67%; AG, 19.15%; and GG, 78.18%) and control (AA, 1.52%; AG, 22.2%; and GG, 75.87%) groups (P =.046). An association between rs3778683 and GD was observed (p =.039) but not with HT. No linkage disequilibrium was observed for rs3130983, rs3815087, rs3778638, and rs4959053 in PSORS1C1 among the patients with AITD and controls. This study suggests the influence of PSORS1C1 rs3778638 on the susceptibility to GDs, supporting this locus as a common autoimmunity risk factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A precise evaluation of the influence of the dispersion and interface on the mechanical properties is the foundation to fabricate high-performance composites. In this work, original CNTs and carboxylic acid-modified CNTs (CNT-COOH) were chosen as the models, and a multi-scale study of CNTs reinforced epoxy composites was conducted, including the mechanical property test, the dispersion state evaluation and the interface analysis. The interface analysis was conducted by combining scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). A wider interphase region was successfully identified in the CNT-COOH/epoxy than in the CNTs/epoxy composites. In addition, improved dispersion state has been achieved in the CNT-COOH/epoxy composite, which leads to a better mechanical performance for the CNT-COOH/epoxy composite. The successful characterization in multi-scale paves the way for a better understanding of the structure–property relationships in composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new explicit fourth-order Runge–Kutta method adapted to oscillatory problems with two frequencies (μ and ν) is developed. The new method can integrate exactly the different harmonic oscillators y ′ = i μ y and y ′ = i ν y simultaneously. Numerical stability and phase properties of the new method are analysed. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the high accuracy and competence of our new method in comparison with some highly effective methods from the recent literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To analyze the efficacy and safety of decitabine combined with low/reduced-dose chemotherapy in newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients unfit for intensive therapy and to investigate the early prognostic indicators for these patients. Methods: The eligible patients treated with decitabine-based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Responses and long-term survival were calculated and their correlation with clinical characteristics was analyzed. Minimal residual disease (MRD) detected by flow cytometry (FCM) after the induction therapy was measured, and the association with prognosis was explored. Results: Fifty-five newly diagnosed AML patients were enrolled. The overall response rate (ORR) was 80.0%, with a complete remission (CR) rate of 63.64% and partial remission (PR) rate of 16.36%. Grade 4 hematological toxicity was common, and the incidence of infections was 83.64%, with 18.18% of patients suffered from severe infections. No serious bleeding or non-hematological adverse events occurred. Treatment-related mortality was 3.64%. The median overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were 17.0 (13.7–20.3) months and 17.0 (10.2–23.8) months, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that an advanced age (≥ 60 years) and higher MRD (≥ 1.34%) after induction therapy were adverse prognostic factors for patients who had achieved CR. Conclusions: Decitabine-based chemotherapy may be a suitable therapeutic alternative for newly diagnosed AML patients who are unfit for intensive chemotherapy. An advanced age (≥ 60 years) and higher MRD (≥ 1.34%) were considered adverse prognostic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a full life cycle resource consumption model for automotive seats has been proposed based on the vehicle material-energy-pollution assessment model, and an assessment on energy consumption and abiotic depletion potential (ADP) impact is conducted to evaluate the power seat environmental performances of a representative passenger car from the standpoint of life cycle. The results show that the energy consumption of the selected automotive seats mainly occurs in the use phase. Among all types of energy consumption, the non-renewable energy consumption is much larger than the renewable energy consumption. According to the ADP impact assessment, the consumption of copper and crude oil makes the largest contribution to resource depletion, and the ADP index may increase significantly due to the additional electrical part of car seats. Therefore, the enhancement of environmental performances of car seats can be achieved through measures including design with lightweight metal, fuel-electric conversion efficiency improvement, reduction in energy consumption caused by seat motor running and a more sustainable material with low ADP coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cinnamomum burmanni (Nees et T. Nees) Blume is a valuable aromatic timber tree of the genus Cinnamomum Tree in the family Lauraceae. To better determine its phylogenetic location with respect to the other Cinnamomum species, the complete chloroplast genome of C. burmanni was sequenced. The total chloroplast genome size is 152,775 bp, consisting of a pair of inverted repeats (IRa/b) with a length of 20,092 bp separated by a large single-copy region (LSC) and a small single-copy region (SSC) which are 93,687 and 18,903 bp, respectively. The overall GC content of the cp genome is 39.1%. Further, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis with K3Pu + F+I model was performed using eleven complete plastomes of the Lauraceae, which revealed that C. burmanni is closely related to C. verum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]