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Although epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is known to be a major contributor to the pathogenesis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to compare the proteomic profiles of EAT from HFpEF patients and patients without HF (non-HF) and to explore candidate molecules characteristic of EAT in HFpEF.EAT samples were collected from patients who underwent cardiac surgery. Proteins were identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, and protein-protein interaction network analysis were conducted. The gene expression of one significant differentially expressed protein was examined by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.A total of 2416 proteins were detected by LC-MS/MS experiments, and expression levels were quantified for 2349 proteins. Among them, 96 proteins (including 71 upregulated proteins and 25 downregulated proteins) were significantly differentially expressed between the HFpEF (n = 5) and non-HF groups (n = 5). GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that these differentially expressed proteins were predominantly involved in HFpEF-related processes, including lipid metabolic disorder, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction.The results of this comprehensive analysis of the EAT proteome in HFpEF patients offer new insights into the pathogenesis of HFpEF and potential molecular targets in EAT.

Default auctions at central counterparties (or ‘CCPs’) are critically important to financial stability. However, due to their unique features and challenges, standard auction theory results do not immediately apply. This paper presents a model for CCP default auctions that incorporates the CCP’s non-standard objective of maximizing success above a threshold rather than revenue, the key question of who participates in the auction and the potential for information leakage affecting private portfolio valuations. We show that an entry fee, by appropriately inducingmembers to participate or not, can maximize the probability the auction succeeds. The result is novel, both in auction theory and as a mechanism for CCP auction design.

Cellulose-based hyperbranched polyesters (CHBP) have many prospective applications and are therefore a highly explored area. In this work, a novel biomass-based CHBP has been successfully prepared via the polycondensation of an ABn-type glycopeptide-like monomer (A and B are different functional groups, one A and two or more B in each repeated unit). This monomer was synthesized by reacting acetylated oligomeric cellulose halide with a Fmoc (Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl) group-protected serine via the Koenigs-Knorr reaction, followed by the removal of the protecting group. The branching degree of CHBP-3 is 0.55. Different characterization methods show that we have successfully synthesized hyperbranched polyester. The thermal properties were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) with results showing a superior thermal stability for CHBP compared to raw cotton fibers. CHBP also displayed better biodegradability than cotton fibers according to a colony degradation experiment. The study demonstrated a novel and practical route for the design and preparation of hyperbranched polyester using ‘green’ natural resources.

It is an urgent task to develop a green and highly efficient adsorbent for wastewater treatment. Herein, we prepared a graphene oxide (GO) based aerogel modified by silk fibroin (SF) and firstly investigated its adsorption properties to realize this aim. SEM, XPS, XRD, Raman and TG characterization demonstrate its well pore structure, larger d-spacing and more oxidation groups after modified. The adsorption experiments of different dyes and heavy metal ions revealed that GO-SF aerogels have favorable adsorption capacity for Ag+ and MB dye (cationic dyes). The MB adsorption capacity is up to 1322.71 mg/g, higher than other GO-biopolymer materials. Furthermore, Langmuir isotherm, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the intrapartile diffusion model are used to explain the adsorption mechanism of the GO-SF aerogels and shows the hybrid aerogels are inclined to monolayer adsorption. The obtained results found a potential candidate to better deal with the dyeing wastewater.

In this study, carbon black (CB)/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) composite films were fabricated as strain sensors. The sensing characteristics of the composite films both in the direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) circuits were systematically tested. It was found that the hybrid nanofiller could effectively improve both the electrical conductivity and the sensitivity of the nanocomposites at a given loading far below the percolation threshold of a single filler. At 3.0% tensile strain, the highest DC and AC gauge factors for the nanocomposites with 1.0 wt.% CB and 0.1 wt.% MWCNT were 10.67 and 10.38, respectively, which were 1992.2% and 75.9% higher than those of the composites filled with 2.0 wt.% CB only. In addition, both the relationship of the strain-resistance change rate in the DC condition and the strain-DLT (the dielectric loss tangent) change rate in the AC condition of the nanocomposites with the hybrid nanofiller showed an approximatively linear characteristic, which demonstrated that the linearity of the nanocomposite sensor could be controlled by properly adjusting the content of CB and MWCNT. Finally, the mechanism of the synergistic effect was investigated by inspecting the microstructure of the nanocomposites and an equivalent RLC circuit model.

Na/K-ATPase (NKA), besides its ion transporter function, is a signal transducer by regulating Src family kinases (SFK). The signaling NKA contributes to oxidized LDL-induced macrophage foam cell formation and interacts with TLR4. However, its role in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced signaling and glycolytic switch in macrophages remains unclear. Using peritoneal macrophages from NKA α1 haploinsufficient mice (NKA α1

Two biosafety strains, identified as Pseudomonas mendocina S16 and Enterobacter cloacae DS'5, were isolated from freshwater aquaculture ponds and showed significant heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification abilities. Within 48 h, the inorganic nitrogen removal efficiencies in the two strains were 66.59 %-97.97 % (S16) and 72.27 %-96.44 % (DS'5). The optimal conditions for organic nitrogen removal of the two strains were temperature 20-35 °C and carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio 10-20 while using sodium citrate as the carbon source. Sequence amplification demonstrated the presence of the denitrification genes in both the two strains, and quantitative real-time PCR results showed that the coupled expression of nap + nar would improve the nitrate removal rate in S16. The nitrogen removal efficiencies of the two strains in immobilization culture systems were 79.80 %-98.58 % (S16) and 60.80 %-98.40 % (DS'5). This study indicated the great potential application of the two strains in aquaculture tail water treatment.

Sizing treatment of fibers is crucial to the interfacial properties and thus the mechanical properties and temperature dependent reinforcing efficiency of short fiber reinforced polymer composites. In this work, polyetherimide (PEI) composites were prepared using highly efficient injection molding technique by introducing three kinds of short carbon fibers (SCFs) treated with graphene oxide (GO), thermoplastic polyimide (TPI) and GO-TPI hybrid sizing, respectively. The effects of sizing agent on the temperature-dependent (−60 °C, 20 °C and 100 °C) tensile behavior of SCF/PEI composites were systematically investigated. The results indicate that the tensile strength of SCF/PEI composites increases with decreasing the temperature due to the higher interfacial clamping stress at low temperature. In particular, it is observed that the hybrid GO-TPI sizing leads to the optimum reinforcement effectiveness, attributing to the blocking effect of GO and the miscibility of TPI and PEI. Single fiber push-in test was conducted and corresponding numerical simulation was made to reveal the effect of GO-TPI sizing on the interfacial properties of SCF/PEI. In addition, the finite element modeling of single carbon fiber composite fragmentation with different sizing treatments was developed to clarify the temperature-dependent mechanical behavior of PEI composites based on the three types of coated SCFs.

There are two severe limitations of current flexural wave metasurface based on local resonance mechanism or modal conversion method: low transmittance and only a single manipulation parameter. Inspired by the interaction between notches and flexural waves, we propose a high transmittance and multi-parameter independent manipulation metasurface composed of an array notches. Firstly, based on the phase shift accumulation method, a full 2π phase shift is achieved by modulating four notch parameters independently. Secondly, the refraction and focusing metasurfaces are designed based on the generalized Snell's law and compared with the simulation results. Finally, the designed focusing metasurfaces is validated by corresponding experiments. The four metasurfaces have a good performance for broadband flexural wave focusing, and the numerical and experimental focal lengths are in great agreement with the theoretical values. The notched metasurface provides an innovative way to manipulate flexural waves without resonators, which can be used in the applications of energy harvesting, waveguide design and ultrasonic detection.

Accurate and effective state estimation is essential for nonlinear fractional system, since it can provide some vital operation information about the system. However, inevitably missing measurements and additive uncertainty in the gain will affect the performance of estimation result. Thus, in this paper, in order to deal with these problems, a novel robust extended fractional Kalman filter (REFKF) is developed for states estimation of nonlinear fractional system, by which the states can be estimated accurately even with missing measurements. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve much better estimation performance than the conventional extended fractional Kalman filter (EFKF).

Based on fiber reinforced continuum mechanics theory, an anisotropic visco-hyperelastic constitutive model for cord-rubber composites was developed to characterize their highly non-linear, strongly anisotropic and strain rate dependent mechanical behaviors under high speed impact or large deformation condition. The unit-volume strain energy function for the visco-hyperelastic model was decomposed into four parts, representing the strain energy from isochoric rubber, the tensile energy from cord elongation, shearing energy from interaction between cord and rubber and viscous potential energy due to viscous characteristics, respectively, which greatly facilitated and simplified the identification of material parameters. By introducing the so called viscous potential energy that could not be neglected under particular loading conditions, the computation accuracy of the model was significantly improved. A simple approach for fitting the parameters was given. Experimental data from literature was used to identify material parameters in the constitutive for a specific cord-rubber composite. The developed model was validated by comparing numerical results with experimental uniaxial tension and bias-tension data under di erent strain rates, demonstrating that the developed constitutive model is highly suitable for characterizing the anisotropic and viscous material behaviors of cord-rubber composites under large deformation. The proposed model is simple, useful and easy for material parameter determination. It provides a theoretical foundation for dynamic finite element analysis of tire in the future.

Matrix effect (ME) is a critical factor that can significantly compromise the accuracy of pesticide residue analyses performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). In this study, five pesticides of different types, namely difenoconazole (triazoles), chlorpyrifos (organophosphates), thiram (dithiocarbamates), carbaryl (carbamates), and pyraclostrobin (strobilurins), were selected to investigate the UPLC-MS/MS MEs in five typical tropical fruits. The MEs and possible mechanisms of the main influence factors, i.e., pH value and sugar content, were studied for the pesticide residues in the tropical fruits. The proposed method was validated in terms of linearity, limit of detection (LOD), recovery, and precision. In the range of 0.005–0.5 μg mL−1, the coefficients of determination (r) were better than 0.999, while the LODs and recoveries ranged from 0.16 to 4.4 μg kg−1 and from 75% to 120%, respectively. Results show that among the five typical tropical fruits, the ME was largest in longan, followed by that in banana; pineapple and guava showed lower MEs than those in banana, whereas papaya had the lowest. Chlorpyrifos has the largest ME, followed by thiram and difenoconazole, and the other pesticides have very small MEs. Moreover, the MEs can be reduced by adjusting the pH value and sugar content of the sample matrix. This study can be applied to assess the influence of MEs on the analysis results.

This paper presents a further developed PM power loss mapping methodology from previous authors’ work, which further accounts for the temperature effect compared with the former method. Here, a first-order polynomial and a second-order polynomial are used to model the temperature behaviour of resistivity of SmCo and NdFeB material separately. The computationally efficient method presented requires four discrete time-step FEA solutions at a single temperature accounting for open-circuit, rated current in the quadrature axis, rated current in the direct axis and reduced current in the direct axis. The loss predictions from the FE analyses are then used to define a functional representation which accounts for the temperature effect of the magnet loss by incorporating a temperature correction. The proposed method has been validated on two surface-mounted brushless AC PM machine designs showing good agreement with direct FE predictions of the PM power loss.

In this paper, the robust finite-time synchronization control and parameter identification problems for uncertain permanent magnet synchronous motor are discussed in detail. Based on finite-time control theory, by using adaptive control approach, a novel adaptive finite-time control scheme is proposed firstly. Then, a robust adaptive finite-time synchronization control method is developed depending on the terminal attractors with updating tuning parameters, which can not only guarantee the synchronization of permanent magnet synchronous motor with uncertain parameters in a shorter finite time, but also can guarantee these uncertain parameters to be identified effectively simultaneously. Finally, some simulation and comparison results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the developed results.

Thermo-stamping is critical for the structural application of two-dimensional (2D) woven fabric reinforced thermoplastics (WFRTPs). Reliable simulation models for thermo-stamping of 2D WFRTPs can effectively reduce the time and tooling cost caused by trial-and-error development, and thus are crucial for mature manufacturing. This article presents a survey of the literature on the characterization and simulation for thermo-stamping of WFRTPs. First, the investigations of the main deformation mechanisms of thermo-stamping and the corresponding experimental characterization methods are summarized. Then, we highlight the development of simulation models for the stamping and cooling steps, as well as the progress in the development of the continuous virtual process chain (CAE chain) for the simulations of the entire forming process and the structural performance prediction of molded parts. As the study on the stamping process becomes mature, a closed simulation optimization chain for WFRTP's thermo-stamping process has gradually been developed to reduce the overall development costs of high-performance WFRTPs.

Flexible ultrasensitive piezoresistive strain sensors were fabricated by CO2 Laser ablating of the surface of the multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane (MWCNT/PDMS) composite film prepared by a coating process. The effects of the MWCNT content and the applied laser power on the electrical and sensing performances of the MWCNT/PDMS composite strain sensor were systematically investigated. It is found that, after laser ablating, the electrical conductivity and the sensing gauge factor of the MWCNT/PDMS film were greatly improved only by the addition of 1.0 wt% of MWCNT, which is below the percolation threshold of the MWCNT in the PDMS matrix. A novel boscage-like structure at the surface of the film formed by the ablation of the PDMS and the rearrangement of the MWCNT during the laser ablating process was found responsible for the ultrahigh gauge factor of the composite strain sensor, which is about 513 at the strain of 5.0%. The facile and cost-effective fabrication process of the flexible ultrasensitive strain sensor could be simply extended to other polymer composites for the development of new multifunctional and wearable electronic devices.

This paper considers the filter designing problem for discrete linear fractional order systems with non-Gaussian noises. Taking both the system noise and the measurement noise as Levy noises instead of Gaussian white noises, through the approximating transformation for Levy noises, a modified Kalman filter algorithm is proposed for discrete linear fractional order system. The developed results can be used to estimate the system states for discrete linear fractional order system under non-Gaussian Levy noises with satisfactory accuracy, which are more general than some existing results. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify and illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Summary Although CD4+ T cell “help” is crucial to sustain antiviral immunity, the mechanisms by which CD4+ T cells regulate CD8+ T cell differentiation during chronic infection remain elusive. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing, we show that CD8+ T cells responding to chronic infection were more heterogeneous than previously appreciated. Importantly, our findings uncovered the formation of a CX3CR1-expressing CD8+ T cell subset that exhibited potent cytolytic function and was required for viral control. Notably, our data further demonstrate that formation of this cytotoxic subset was critically dependent on CD4+ T cell help via interleukin-21 (IL-21) and that exploitation of this developmental pathway could be used therapeutically to enhance the killer function of CD8+ T cells infiltrated into the tumor. These findings uncover additional molecular mechanisms of how “CD4+ T cell help” regulates CD8+ T cell differentiation during persistent infection and have implications toward optimizing the generation of protective CD8+ T cells in immunotherapy.

Swine influenza viruses (SIV) are zoonotic pathogens that pose a potential threat to human health. In this study, we analyzed the differential mitochondrial proteomes of H3N2 SIV-infected human lung A549 cells using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF) analysis. In the comparative analysis, 24 altered proteins (13 upregulated and 11 downregulated) were identified in the mitochondria of H3N2 SIV-infected cells; these proteins were involved in cell-to-cell signaling and interaction, cellular movement, and post-translational modification. Moreover, the transcriptional profiles of 16 genes corresponding to the identified proteins were estimated by real time RT-PCR. IPA analysis suggested that the differentially expressed proteins were clustered primarily into the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and d -glucose signaling pathways. In addition, oxidative phosphorylation and integrin signaling appeared to be major pathways modulated in the mitochondria of infected cells. We further demonstrated that apolipoprotein L2 was upregulated in the cytoplasm and translocated to mitochondria during virus infection. These results were verified by Western blot analysis coupled with confocal microscopy. Collectively, the mitochondrial proteome data provide insights to further understand the underlying mechanisms of H3N2 SIV cross-species infection. Biological significance In recent years, proteomics has emerged as an indispensable tool to unveil the complex molecular events in virology. we firstly perform mitochondrial proteomic profiles of human cells infected with H3N2 subtype SIV to understand virus–host interactions, and 24 differentially expressed proteins in mitochondrial proteomes were identified in SIV-infected cells. The proteins that were identified to have differential expression were involved in cell-to-cell signaling and interaction, post-translational modification, cell morphology, cellular assembly, cell death, and energy production. Furthermore, Western blot analysis and a confocal assay further demonstrated that the cellular protein APOL2 partially co-localized with mitochondria after virus infection. This is a very important discovery in the underlying replication and pathogenesis of SIV which provides a potential target clue for the design of anti-SIV drugs. Our results will inspire basic study on SIV infection and drive the understanding for replication and pathogenesis of SIV to control this disease.

Recent reports suggested that phosphatase of regenerating liver (PRL)-3 might be involved in colorectal carcinoma metastasis with an unknown mechanism. Here we demonstrated that PRL-3 expression was up-regulated in human liver carcinoma compared with normal liver. PRL-3 was also highly expressed in metastatic melanoma B16-BL6 cells but not in its lowly metastatic parental cell line, B16 cells. B16 cells transfected with PRL-3 cDNA displayed morphological transformation from epithelial-like shape to fibroblast-like shape. PRL-3-overexpressed cells showed much higher migratory ability, which could be reversed by specific anti-sense oligodeoxynucleotide and the phosphatase inhibitors sodium orthovanadate or potassium bisperoxo oxovanadate V. Meanwhile, the expression of the catalytically inactive PRL-3 mutations (D72A or C104S) significantly reduced the cell migratory capability. In addition, PRL-3 transfectants demonstrated altered extracellular matrix adhesive property and up-regulated integrin-mediated cell spreading efficiency. Furthermore, we confirmed that PRL-3 could facilitate lung and liver metastasis of B16 cells in an experimental metastasis model in mice, consistent with accelerated proliferation and growth rate both in vitro and in vivo. Together, these observations provide convincing evidence that PRL-3 truly plays a causal role in tumor metastasis.