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Objective. COVID-19 has evolved into a major global public health event. The number of people reporting insomnia is growing exponentially during the pandemic. This study aimed to explore the relationship between aggravated insomnia and COVID-19-induced psychological impact on the public, lifestyle changes, and anxiety about the future. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, we used the questionnaires from 400 subjects who were obtained from the Department of Encephalopathy of the Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between July 2020 and July 2021. The data collected for the study included demographic characteristics of the participants and psychological scales consisting of the Spiegel Sleep Questionnaire, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare the results. Correlation analysis of variables affecting insomnia was performed using Pearson correlation analysis. The degree of influence of the variables on insomnia was determined using linear regression, and a regression equation was derived. Results. A total of 400 insomnia patients participated in the survey. The median age was 45.75 ± 15.04 years. The average score of the Spiegel Sleep Questionnaire was 17.29 ± 6.36, that of SAS was 52.47 ± 10.39, that of SDS was 65.89 ± 8.72, and that of FCV-19S was 16.09 ± 6.81. The scores of FCV-19S, SAS, and SDS were closely related to insomnia, and the influencing degree was in the following order: fear, depression, and anxiety (OR = 1.30, 0.709, and 0.63, respectively). Conclusion. Fear of COVID-19 can be one of the primary contributors to worsening insomnia.

Persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 31 and 33 is an important causative factor for cervical cancer. The E6/E7 genes are key oncogenes involved in the immortalization and transformation of human epithelial cells. Genetic polymorphism may lead to differences in the virus’ carcinogenic potential, the immune reaction of the host, and the potencies of vaccines. Few studies on HPV31/33 E6/E7 genetic polymorphism have been carried out. To study the genetic polymorphism of HPV31 and HPV33 E6/E7 genes in northeast China, these genes (HPV31 E6/E7, n = 151; HPV33 E6/E7, n = 136) were sequenced and compared to reference sequences (J04353.1, M12732.1) using BioEdit. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by the neighbor-joining method using MegaX. The diversity of the secondary structure was estimated using the PSIPred server. The positively selected sites were analyzed using PAML4.9. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and MHCII epitopes were predicted using the ProPred-I server and ProPredserver. B-cell epitopes were predicted using the ABCpred server. In the 151 HPV31E6 sequences, 25 (25/450) single-nucleotide mutations were found, 14 of which were synonymous mutations and 11 were nonsynonymous. In the 151 HPV31E7 sequences, 8 (8/297) nucleotide mutations were found, 3 of which were synonymous mutations and 5 were nonsynonymous. In the 136 HPV33E6 sequences, 17 (17/450) nucleotide mutations were observed, 7 of which were synonymous mutations and 10 were nonsynonymous. C14T/G (T5I/S) was a triallelic mutation. Finally, in the 136 HPV33E7 sequences, 9 (9/294) nucleotide mutations were observed, 3 of which were synonymous mutations and 6 were nonsynonymous. C134T/A (A45V/E) and C278G/A (T93S/N) were triallelic mutations. Lineage A was the most common lineage in both HPV31 and HPV33. In all of the sequences, we only identified one positively selected site, HPV33 E6 (K93N). Most nonsynonymous mutations were localized at sites belonging to MHC and/or B-cell predicted epitopes. Data obtained in this study should contribute to the development and application of detection probes, targeted drugs, and vaccines.

Aquaculture has tremendous economic significance in distinguishing males and females in the juvenile Silurus asotus (Linnaeus, 1758) to obtain a female population with tremendous growth potential. To investigate the potential biological markers between young males and females S. asotus, we analyzed the characteristics of sexual dimorphism by measuring the 14 length traits and 9 weight indicators in an artificial insemination population at 3, 5, and 7 months. In addition, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to determine the sexually dimorphic expression of the growth hormone-1 gene (GH-1), growth hormone receptor gene (GHR), and insulin-like growth factor gene (IGF-1) in the hypothalamus, pituitary, gonad, and liver, at 3, 5, and 7 months. The results showed that in morphology, except for eye diameter and the distance between the pelvic and anal fins in 3-month fish, all other morphological indicators were significantly ( P < 0.05 ) or very significantly ( P < 0.01 ) different between juvenile males and females. The visceral weight, eviscerated weight, and intestine weight in females were significantly ( P < 0.05 ) or very significantly ( P < 0.01 ) higher than in males at 5 and 7 months. Joint static allometric analyses on 14 length indicators relative to weight showed different sex growth patterns in 3-month, 5-month, and 7-month fish. In gene expression patterns, GH-1, IGF-1, and GHR were highly expressed in the pituitary, with higher levels in females ( P < 0.05 or P < 0.01 ). In contrast, the three genes were all more highly expressed in the testis than in the ovary ( P < 0.01 ), indicating their essential roles in testis development. Our results demonstrate that S. asotus has female-biased sexual dimorphism. The length traits related to head shapes could be the potential phenotype marker to distinguish females and males in 7-month juveniles.

Along with the development of technology and social progress, the Internet is increasingly widely used in life. Mobile communication, fiber optic broadband, and other essential Internet networks have gradually become indispensable in everyday life. The task of further improving and optimizing the quality of Internet network links and improving the efficiency of Internet networks has been on the agenda. This paper proposed a deep learning-based network traffic prediction model, which can capture the characteristics of network traffic information changes by inputting past network traffic data to achieve the effect of future network traffic prediction. The model structure is flexible and variable, which improves the problems of other methods that cannot capture long time series prediction features and cannot parallelize the output. It also has apparent advantages in time complexity and model convergence speed without the evident disadvantage of time lag. Based on this network traffic prediction model, it can help Internet service providers optimize network resource allocation, improve network performance, and allow Internet data centers to provide abnormal network warnings and improve user service level agreements.

Due to the increase in wind power accessing power system in recent years, the low-frequency oscillation of power system is more complicated. Therefore, a new adaptive switching control method combined with a nonlinear system is proposed for the complex operating conditions of the grid-connected power system. Firstly, this method decomposes the low-frequency oscillation control problem of the power system into two parts, which are the linear system control and the nonlinear system control. Then, in the linear system control part, the iterative identification method is used to control this part. In the nonlinear system control part, the nonlinear term is decomposed into a combination of the previous beating measurable and the nonlinear estimation increment. Secondly, the nonlinear system is divided into three different operating conditions by the nonlinear estimation increment. Thus, four different adaptive controllers are obtained. Then, the designed controller is switched according to the controlled object with four controllers by the switching function, which not only ensures the stability of the closed-loop system, but also improves the control performance of the controller under different operating conditions. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of this method are verified, and the controller can fit the control efficiency of the real power system well.

However, the number of college students enrolling in our country has only begun to increase on a large scale in the 21st century. As educational big data gets more and more attention, it has its own distinct characteristics in the field of education and at the same time consolidates the overall trend of big data development. The countermeasure analysis of innovation and entrepreneurship education under the reform of the education supply side has become a subject to be explored in an all-round way. This paper is mainly aimed at the importance of a big data analysis model to college students, explores the current development status of innovation and entrepreneurship education for college students, finds some problems in the application of big data, and improves the existing problems based on the purpose.

Phthalanilic acid is widely used in wheat and oilseed rape fields in China, but there is no analysis method to detect its residues in wheat and oilseed rape substrates. To accurately evaluate the health and environmental impact of phthalanilic acid residues on wheat gains and rapeseeds, it is urgent to establish a reliable analytical method for its detection. In this study, a rapid and sensitive method was developed based on QuEChERS and LC-MS/MS to detect phthalanilic acid in cereals (wheat, rice, corn, and millet), wheat straw, and rapeseeds. Optimization of the detection conditions showed that the mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid solution had the best chromatographic resolution and sensitivity. The average recovery rates of phthalanilic acid in cereals, wheat straw, and rapeseeds ranged from 88% to 113% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 1%–6%. There were good linear relationships with the correlation coefficients (r) higher than 0.9990 at concentrations of 0.01–5 mg L−1. The limits of quantification (LOQ) for phthalanilic acid in cereals, wheat straw, and rapeseeds were 0.01 mg kg−1, 0.05 mg kg−1, and 0.02 mg kg−1, respectively. These results show that the method established in this study is convenient and reliable for routine monitoring of phthalanilic acid in cereals, wheat straw, and rapeseeds.

Background. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is involved in the occurrence and development of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). It is necessary to identify the expression of lncRNA from DKD patients through systematic reviews, and then carry out silico analyses to recognize the dysregulated lncRNA and their associated pathways. Methods. The study searched Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, WanFang, VIP, CNKI, and CBM to find lncRNA studies on DKD published before March 1, 2021. Systematic review of the literature on this topic was conducted to determine the expression of lncRNA in DKD and non-DKD controls. For the dysregulated lncRNA in DKD patients, silico analysis was performed, and lncRNA2Target v2.0 and starBase were used to search for potential target genes of lncRNA. The Encyclopedia of Genomics (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was performed to better identify dysregulated lncRNAs in DKD and determine the associated signal pathways. Results. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 28 publications meeting the eligibility criteria were included in the systematic evaluation. A total of 3,394 patients were enrolled in this study, including 1,238 patients in DKD group, and 1,223 diabetic patients, and 933 healthy adults in control group. Compared with the control, there were eight lncRNA disorders in DKD patients (MALAT1, GAS5, MIAT, CASC2, NEAT1, NR_033515, ARAP1-AS2, and ARAP1-AS1). In addition, five lncRNAs (MALAT1, GAS5, MIAT, CASC2, and NEAT1) participated in disease-related signal pathways, indicating their role in DKD. Discussion. This study showed that there were eight lncRNAs in DKD that were persistently dysregulated, especially five lncRNAs which were closely related to the disease. Although systematic review included 28 studies that analyzed the expression of lncRNA in DKD-related tissues, the potential of these dysregulated lncRNAs as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for DKD remains to be further explored. Trial registration. PROSPERO (CRD42021248634).

The occurrence of heart failure (HF) is closely correlated with the disturbance of mitochondrial energy metabolism, and trimetazidine (TMZ) has been regarded as an effective agent in treating HF. Intracellular potassium ion (K+) homeostasis, which is modulated by K+ channels and transporters, is crucial for maintaining normal myocardial function and can be disrupted by HF. This study is aimed at exploring the protective effect of TMZ on K+ homeostasis within myocardial tissue in mice with HF. We observed the pathological changes of myocardial tissue under microscopes and further measured the content of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the activity of Na+-K+ ATPase, and the expression of ATP1α1 at the mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, we also analyzed the changes in K+ flux across the myocardial tissue in mice. As a result, we found that there was a large amount of myocardial fiber lysis and fracture in HF myocardial tissue. Meanwhile, the potassium flux of mice with HF was reduced, and the expression of ATP1α1, the activity of Na+-K+ ATPase, and the supply and delivery of ATP were also decreased. In contrast, TMZ can effectively treat HF by restoring K+ homeostasis in the local microenvironment of myocardial tissues.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the hemodynamic changes and nursing care of patients with colorectal cancer who were peripherally placed into the central venous catheter (PICC) by color Doppler ultrasound based on an optimized algebraic reconstruction (ART) (OART) algorithm. In this study, 150 patients with colorectal cancer were selected and randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 75 cases in each group. Different nursing interventions were carried out. An optimized algebraic reconstruction (OART) algorithm was proposed, and the traditional ART algorithm and filtered back-projection (FBP) algorithm were introduced for comparison. They were applied in ultrasounds of 150 colorectal cancer patients undergoing PICC. The results showed that the Dice coefficient (Dice) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the OART algorithm were greater than those of the ART and FBP algorithms, while the difference function (DF) and the running time were opposite ( P P P P P

Background. lncRNA and microRNA affect the occurrence and development of many diseases, so they are expected to become diagnostic or predictive indicators. But the relationship between lncRNA FGD5-AS1 and miR-130a and the prognosis of chronic periodontitis is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to explore the prognostic value of the two in chronic periodontitis. Objective. This study set out to investigate the prognostic value of lncRNA FGD5-AS1 and miR-130a in chronic periodontitis. Methods. Eighty-seven patients with chronic periodontitis who visited our hospital from March 2016 to August 2017 were collected as an observation group (OG), and 72 subjects with periodontal health who underwent physical examination at the same time were collected as a control group (CG). The FGD5-AS1 and miR-130a expression levels of subjects in the two groups were compared, and prognosis of 87 patients who were reviewed one year later was counted. The expression levels of patients with different prognoses were compared when they were admitted to our hospital. We drew the ROC curve and explored the prognostic value of FGD5-AS1 and miR-130a. The risk factors for adverse prognosis were analyzed through logistic regression. Results. FGD5-AS1 was lowly expressed in patients, while miR-130a was highly expressed. FGD5-AS1 and miR-130a had certain diagnostic and predictive value in chronic periodontitis and patient prognosis. The higher the periodontal pocket, the higher the attachment loss. Lower FGD5-AS1 and higher miR-130a levels were independent prognostic risk factors. Conclusion. lncRNA FGD5-AS1 is lowly expressed in patients with chronic periodontitis, while miR-130a is highly expressed. Both of them have certain diagnostic and prognostic value in chronic periodontitis and may be potential diagnostic and prognostic indicators.

Mastitis is a common disease in the dairy industry that causes huge economic losses worldwide. Exosomes (carrying proteins, miRNA, lncRNA, etc.) play a vital role in the regulation of immune response. lncRNA can play a variety of regulatory roles by combining with protein, RNA, and DNA. The expression of mRNA and lncRNA in exosomes derived from bovine mammary epithelial cells infected by S. aureus is rarely understood. To explore this issue, RNA sequencing analysis was performed on exosomes derived from S. aureus-infected and noninfected MAC-T cells. Analysis of the sequencing results showed that there were 186 differentially expressed genes, 431 differentially expressed mRNAs and 19 differentially expressed lncRNAs in the exosomes derived from S. aureus-infected and noninfected MAC-T cells. By predicting lncRNA target genes, it was found that 19 differentially expressed lncRNAs all acted on multiple mRNAs in cis and trans. GO analysis revealed that differentially expressed genes and lncRNA target genes played significant roles in such metabolism (reactive oxygen species metabolic processes), transmembrane transport, cellular response to DNA damage stimulus, and response to cytokines. KEGG enrichment indicated that lncRNA target genes gathered in the TNF pathway, Notch pathway, MAPK pathway, NF-kappa B pathway, Hippo pathway, p53 pathway, reactive oxygen species metabolic processes, and longevity regulating pathway. In summary, all data indicated that differentially expressed gene, mRNA, and lncRNA in transcriptional profiling of exosomes participated in bacterial invasion and adhesion, oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis-related signaling pathway. The data obtained in this study would provide valuable resource for understanding the lncRNA information in exosomes derived from dairy cow mammary epithelial cells and conduced to the study of S. aureus infection in dairy cow mammary glands.

The 2 + 1 -dimensional elliptic Toda equation is a higher dimensional generalization of the Toda lattice and also a discrete version of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-1 (KP1) equation. In this paper, we derive the M -breather solution in the determinant form for the 2 + 1 -dimensional elliptic Toda equation via Bäcklund transformation and nonlinear superposition formulae. The lump solutions of the 2 + 1 -dimensional elliptic Toda equation are derived from the breather solutions through the degeneration process. Hybrid solutions composed of two line solitons and one breather/lump are constructed. By introducing the velocity resonance to the N -soliton solution, it is found that the 2 + 1 -dimensional elliptic Toda equation possesses line soliton molecules, breather-soliton molecules, and breather molecules. Based on the N -soliton solution, we also demonstrate the interactions between a soliton/breather-soliton molecule and a lump and the interaction between a soliton molecule and a breather. It is interesting to find that the KP1 equation does not possess a line soliton molecule, but its discrete version—the 2 + 1 -dimensional elliptic Toda equation—exhibits line soliton molecules.

Nonsyndromic oligodontia is a rare congenital anomaly. Mutations in the ectodysplasin A receptor (EDAR) gene are the primary cause of hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia but are rarely reported in nonsyndromic oligodontia. This study investigated EDAR mutations in multiplex nonsyndromic oligodontia and comparatively analyzed the EDAR- and EDA-related tooth agenesis patterns. Mutation screening was carried out using whole-exome sequencing and familial segregation. Evolutionary conservation and conformational analyses were used to evaluate the potential pathogenic influence of EDAR mutants. EDAR mutations were found to occur in 10.7% of nonsyndromic oligodontia cases. We reported seven heterozygous mutations of EDAR, including five novel mutations (c.404G>A, c.871G>A, c.43G>A, c.1072C>T, and c.1109T>C) and two known mutations (c.319A>G and c.1138A>C). Genotype-phenotype correlation analysis demonstrated that the EDAR-related tooth agenesis pattern was markedly different from EDA. The mandibular second premolars were most frequently missing (57.69%) in EDAR-mutated patients. Our results provide new evidence for the genotypic study of nonsyndromic oligodontia and suggest that EDAR haploinsufficiency results in nonsyndromic tooth agenesis. Furthermore, the distinct pattern between EDAR- and EDA-related tooth agenesis can be used as a guide for mutation screening during the clinical genetic diagnosis of this genetic disorder.

Several studies have shown that the phone number and call behavior generated by a phone call reveal the type of phone call. By analyzing the phone number rules and call behavior patterns, we can recognize the fraudulent phone call. The success of this recognition heavily depends on the particular set of features that are used to construct the classifier. Since these features are human-labor engineered, any change introduced to the telephone fraud can render these carefully constructed features ineffective. In this paper, we show that we can automate the feature engineering process and, thus, automatically recognize the fraudulent phone call by applying our proposed novel approach based on deep learning. We design and construct a new classifier based on Call Detail Records (CDR) for fraudulent phone call recognition and find that the performance achieved by our deep learning-based approach outperforms competing methods. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Specifically, in our accuracy evaluation, the obtained accuracy exceeds 99%, and the most performant deep learning model is 4.7% more accurate than the state-of-the-art recognition model on average. Furthermore, we show that our deep learning approach is very stable in real-world environments, and the implicit features automatically learned by our approach are far more resilient to dynamic changes of a fraudulent phone number and its call behavior over time. We conclude that the ability to automatically construct the most relevant phone number features and call behavior features and perform accurate fraudulent phone call recognition makes our deep learning-based approach a precise, efficient, and robust technique for fraudulent phone call recognition.

This study explores the contributing factors that influence bicyclist injury severity at three types of intersection: roundabouts, crossroads, and T-junctions. Using bicycle-involved crash data in the UK over nine years (from 2009 to 2017), the bicyclist injury severity (with three severity levels: fatal injury, serious injury, and slight injury) was estimated using the generalized ordered logit (GOL) model and partial proportional odds (PPO) model. The marginal effects of each explanatory variable were computed to investigate the impacts on bicyclist injury severity occurring probabilities. A wide range of variables potentially affecting injury severity was considered, including bicyclist characteristics, intersection characteristics, environmental conditions, bicyclist movement and location preceding the crash, and types of collisions. Our findings show that the PPO model outperforms the GOL model for analyzing the factors that affect the bicyclist injury severity at intersections. The factors that affect cycling safety at various intersections show enormous differences. Specifically, nine variables have significant impacts on bicyclist injury severity at those three types of intersections. And there are only two variables, four variables, and eleven variables that have significant impact on bicyclist injury severity at roundabouts, crossroads, and T-junctions, respectively. The findings of this study can help decision makers better understand the spatial heterogeneity of the factors that influence the bicyclist injury severity at various intersections.

In some cases, we hope to remove the electrospun nanofibrous mesh from the collector easily. But in some cases such as wound dressing, we observe that the in situ electrospun nanofibers can stick to the collector (e.g., skin). Therefore, the adhesion between the in situ electrospun web and the substrate becomes important in the performance and practical application of the electrospun material. In this paper, we reported a direct pulling method to measure the adhesion and understand the adhesion mechanism. In this method, we used gravity to pull the fiber directly from the substrate and then measured the gravity to calculate the adhesion. This new test method is more convenient and practical than the previously reported methods. In addition, the adhesion of the in situ electrospun web on different substrates (e.g., aluminium foil, wood pulp paper, and silicon paper) was also studied by this method. The adhesion was influenced by spinning voltage, electrical conductivity, and surface roughness of the substrates.

Separators are key materials to ensure the safety of lithium-ion batteries and improve their performance. Currently, commercial lithium-ion battery separators are mainly polyolefin organic diaphragms, but their temperature instability leads to battery short circuit and fire risk. A flexible SiO2 nanofiber membrane combined with a poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) nanofiber membrane is prepared by an electrospinning method. The mechanical strength of the SiO2/PVDF-HFP composite nanofiber membrane (SPF) is twice as high as the pure SiO2 nanofiber membrane and at 200°C, there are almost no dimensional changes of the SPF separators. Compared to commercial polyethylene (PE) separators, SPF shows excellent thermal stability and large-area closed cells at 180°C when used in lithium-ion battery separators. The porosity of SPF is 89.7%, which is more than twice than that of an ordinary PE separator. The liquid absorption rate of SPF is much higher than an ordinary PE separator and has reached 483%. Furthermore, the cycle and rate performance of lithium-ion batteries prepared by SPF has been improved significantly. These excellent properties, as well as the potential for large-scale production of electrospinning technology, make SPF an ideal choice for high-power battery separators.

Interrupting quorum sensing represents a novel anti‐infective strategy to combat bacterial pathogen, and biodegradation of quorum sensing signal AHLs has been proved to be an efficient way to control pathogenic Gram‐negative bacteria in aquaculture. In this study, the effect of Bacillus firmus sw40 as efficient AHL‐degrading strain on virulence of fish pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila and disease resistance of gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio was investigated. The results demonstrated that in vitro the B. firmus sw40 extracellular production (ECP) was able to significantly decrease protease production, haemolytic activity and biofilm formation in A. hydrophila. Dietary administration of B. firmus sw40 (10⁹ CFU/g) for 4 weeks significantly reduced the inflammatory cytokines TNF‐1a, TNF‐2a and IFN‐γ genes expression, antioxidant parameter MDA and GSH levels in serum and increased antioxidant enzyme SOD activity. Besides, B. firmus sw40 could significantly increase the survival of gibel carp with pathogenic A. hydrophila infection.

The correlations between pavement texture and tire pressure with the actual tire-road contact area were first investigated according to the tire-road static contact characteristics; on this basis, the influence mechanisms of speed and pavement texture on the pavement friction coefficient were systematically explored from the angle of tire-road coupling system dynamics via the self-developed dynamic testing system of tire-pavement friction. By integrating the above influence factors, the BP neural network method was applied to the regression of the prediction model for the asphalt pavement friction coefficient. Through the comparison between the model measured value and estimated value, their correlation coefficient R2 reached 0.73, indicating that this model is of satisfactory prediction accuracy and applicable to the antiskid design of asphalt pavement.

Background. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is crucial for endothelial function. This study is aimed at assessing whether the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue liraglutide has a protective effect on endothelial function via the mTOR signaling pathway. Methods. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were administered liraglutide (100 nM) for 0, 10, 30, 60, 720, and 1440 minutes, respectively. Then, the expression and phosphorylation levels of mTOR, mTOR-Raptor complex (mTORC1), and mTOR-Rictor complex (mTORC2) were determined by Western blot and immunoprecipitation, while mTORC1 and mTORC2 expression was blocked by siRNA-Raptor and siRNA-Rictor, respectively. Akt phosphorylation was detected by Western blot. HUVECs were then incubated with liraglutide in the absence or presence of Akt inhibitor IV. Nitric oxide (NO) release was assessed by the nitrate reductase method. Phosphorylated endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), and apoptosis-related effectors were assessed for protein levels by Western blot. Telomerase activity was evaluated by ELISA. Results. Sustained mTOR phosphorylation, mTORC2 formation, and mTORC2-dependent Akt phosphorylation were induced by liraglutide. In addition, eNOS phosphorylation, NO production, nuclear hTERT accumulation, and nuclear telomerase activity were enhanced by mTORC2-mediated Akt activation. Liraglutide also showed an antiapoptotic effect by upregulating antiapoptotic proteins and downregulating proapoptotic proteins in an mTORC2-Akt activation-dependent manner. Conclusion. Liraglutide significantly improves endothelial function, at least partially via the mTORC2/Akt signaling pathway.

Background. Osteosarcoma (OS) is one of the most malignant bone tumors and has a high metastatic rate. Increasing research has demonstrated the vital roles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in human cancers, including OS. LncRNA LINC00662 has been revealed to act as an oncogene involved in multiple tumor progression. This study aimed to investigate the expression pattern, function, and regulatory mechanism of LINC00662 in OS. Methods. Patients who underwent OS surgery were involved in this study. Experiments including RT-qPCR, MTT, western blot, FISH, RNA pull-down, luciferase reporter, colony formation, transwell invasion and migration, and sphere formation assay were performed to investigate the regulatory role of LINC00662 in OS. Results. In the present study, our findings demonstrated the upregulation of LINC00662 expression in OS tissues and cells, and high expression of LINC00662 predicted a poor clinical prognosis of patients’ iNOS. Through a series of in vivo assays, LINC00662 knockdown suppressed OS cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and stemness property maintenance. Further mechanistical investigations indicated that LINC00662 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for sponging microRNA-16-5p (miR-16-5p) to upregulate the expression of IP receptor type 1 (ITPR1) in OS cells. Restoration assays validated the involvement of ITPR1 in LINC00662-mediated regulation of cell functions in OS. Conclusion. LINC00662 exerts oncogenic functions in OS by targeting the miR-16-5p/ITPR1 axis.

This paper is devoted to the study of exponential synchronization problem for second-order nodes in dynamical network with time-varying communication delays and switching communication topologies. Firstly, a decomposition approach is employed to incorporate the nodes’ inertial effects into the distributed control design. Secondly, the sufficient conditions are provided to guarantee the exponential synchronization of second-order nodes in the case that the information transmission is delayed and the communication topology is balanced and arbitrarily switched. Finally, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results, it is applied to the typical second-order nodes in dynamical network, as a case study. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method has a high performance in synchronization of such network.

To deeply understand the mechanism of the rock mass caving and associated surface subsidence during sublevel caving mining, the Xiaowanggou iron mine was selected as an engineering project case study. The study area was analyzed by means of an in situ geological investigation and numerical simulation. First, a borehole television (BHTV) system and a GPS monitoring system were used to monitor the caving process of the roof rock mass and the development of the surface subsidence; the monitoring time was thirteen months. Then, a numerical simulation was used to analyze the damage evolution of the rock mass. Research shows the following:(1)in situ geological monitoring results indicate that the caving process of the roof rock mass presents intermittent characteristics, where slow caving and sudden caving are conducted alternatively and the arched-caving trend is more pronounced with continuous mining. The surface subsidence, horizontal displacement, and horizontal deformation of the hanging wall are higher than that of the footwall, and the subsidence center gradually deflects to the hanging wall in the late stage of the +45m sublevel mining.(2)Numerical simulation results indicate that the extension and penetration of the shear and tensile cracks along the joints and intact rock bridges are the main factors causing the rock mass caving and the existence of the stress arch and its evolution process is the fundamental reason for the intermittent caving of the rock mass. The rapid development of damage to the hanging wall (the damage angle reduced) is the main cause of the deflection of the subsidence center affected by joints and the mining size.(3)In the future of mining, large-scale subsidence will occur on the surface of the hanging wall.

Motivated by call center practice, we study the optimal staffing of many-server queues with impatient and repeat-calling customers. A call center is modeled as an M/M/s+M queue, which is developed to a behavioral queuing model in which customers come and go based on their satisfaction with waiting time. We explicitly take into account customer repeat behavior, which implies that satisfied customers might return and have an impact on the arrival rate. Optimality is defined as the number of agents that maximize revenues net of staffing costs, and we account for the characteristic that revenues are a direct function of staffing. Finally, we use numerical experiments to make certain comparisons with traditional models that do not consider customer repeat behavior. Furthermore, we indicate how managers might allocate staffing optimally with various customer behavior mechanisms.

Objective. High-molecular-weight adiponectin (HMW-adiponectin) and leptin are two important adipokines. The aim of this study was to examine the association between the two adipokines and anthropometric measurements of neonates at birth. Furthermore, we would like to explore whether HMW-adiponectin and leptin correlate with insulin sensitivity in neonates.Methods. Venous cord blood samples were obtained from 266 full-term healthy neonates consecutively born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. HMW-adiponectin, leptin, blood glucose, and insulin concentrations were measured.Results. HMW-adiponectin and leptin were significantly higher in females compared with males (P=0.031andP=0.000, resp.). Univariate correlation analysis showed that leptin concentrations in cord blood were positively associated with gestational age, birth weight, body length, ponderal index, placenta weight, insulin, and insulin sensitivity (allP<0.001). However, there was no correlation between cord blood HMW-adiponectin levels and foetal anthropometric measurements or foetal insulin sensitivity indicators (allP>0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that leptin (B=-0.126,P=0.045) in cord blood was independently associated with insulin sensitivity.Conclusions. Leptin concentrations, but not HMW-adiponectin, were positively associated with foetal anthropometric measurements. Leptin concentrations are significantly associated with foetal insulin sensitivity, and there were no significant correlations between HMW-adiponectin levels and foetal insulin sensitivity.

A transient increase in insulin resistance (IR) is a component of puberty. We investigated the impact of body composition and adipokines on IR during puberty in Chinese children. This study included 3223 schoolchildren aged 6–18 years. IR was calculated using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). We revealed that body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference increased gradually during puberty in both genders, while fat-mass percentage (FAT%) increased steadily only in girls. Change of leptin showed striking sexual dimorphisms: in girls leptin increased steadily during puberty, whereas in boys, after a transient rise at the beginning of puberty, leptin declined by Tanner staging even in those overweight or obese. Inversely, adiponectin level decreased significantly during puberty. In both genders, HOMA-IR started to increase at the beginning of puberty, peaked in the middle, and revised at late puberty in overweight/obesity boys while it stayed high till the end of puberty in girls and normal weight boys. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that leptin presented a stronger indicator of HOMA-IR than anthropometric measures during puberty. Our results demonstrated that gender-specific FAT% and leptin changed with pubertal development. Leptin emerged as a stronger predictor of IR than traditional anthropometric indices, suggesting a prominent role in the development of pubertal IR.

We introduce an iterative least squares method (ILS) for estimating the 2D-DOA and frequency based on L-shaped array. The ILS iteratively finds direction matrix and delay matrix, then 2D-DOA and frequency can be obtained by the least squares method. Without spectral peak searching and pairing, this algorithm works well and pairs the parameters automatically. Moreover, our algorithm has better performance than conventional ESPRIT algorithm and propagator method. The useful behavior of the proposed algorithm is verified by simulations.

Semiactive vibration control systems possess both the simplicity and inherent reliability of passive systems while maintaining the adaptability of active vibration control systems integrated with an appropriate control algorithm. One of the recent and promising technologies in semiactive vibration control is to utilize magnetorheological (MR) fluids (MRFs) and MR elastomers (MREs). The well-known remarkable feature of MR materials is the continuous controllability of stiffness and damping properties under external magnetic field. The unique controllable characteristic of MR materials has catalyzed comprehensive research and development focusing on vibration control systems including vehicle dampers, engine mounts, adaptive tuned vibration absorber, and seismic bearings. The major goal of this special issue is to provide recent research in applications utilizing MR materials. In particular, the special issue focuses on the MR techniques that deal with configuration design, dynamic modeling, and semiactive controller implementation along with simulation or/and experimental works. Therefore, the papers published in this special issue will be innovative references for the development of more advanced application devices or systems utilizing MR materials.

Purpose. To survey the species diversity of home dust mites (HDM) in Xishuangbanna, a tropical rainforest region in Southwest China.Methods. From August 2010 to January 2011, mite-allergic patients and healthy controls were invited to participate. Dust samples from the patients’ homes were collected, and mites in the samples were isolated. Permanent slides were prepared for morphologically based species determination.Results. In total, 6316 mite specimens of morphologically identifiable species were found in 233 dust samples taken from 41 homes. The result shows that the mite family of Pyroglyphidae occupied the highest percentage of the total amount of mites collected, followed by Cheyletidae family. The most common adult Pyroglyphidae mites wereDermatophagoides(D.)farinae,D. pteronyssinus, andD. siboney. The most common mites found from other families wereBlomia tropicalis,Tyrophagus putrescentiae, andAleuroglyphus ovatus. Four main allergenic dust mite speciesD. farinae,D. pteronyssinus,D. siboney, andBlomia tropicaliswere found to be coinhabiting in 6/41 homes.Conclusion. The HDM population in homes in Xishuangbanna, a tropical rainforest region in Southwest China, has its own characteristics. It has rich dust mite species and the dust mite densities do not show significant variation across seasons.