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Chronic diabetic wounds are at lifelong risk of developing diabetic foot ulcers owing to severe hypoxia, excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), a complex inflammatory microenvironment, and the potential for bacterial infection. Here we develop a programmed treatment strategy employing live Haematococcus (HEA). By modulating light intensity, HEA can be programmed to perform a variety of functions, such as antibacterial activity, oxygen supply, ROS scavenging, and immune regulation, suggesting its potential for use in programmed therapy. Under high light intensity (658 nm, 0.5 W/cm2), green HEA (GHEA) with efficient photothermal conversion mediate wound surface disinfection. By decreasing the light intensity (658 nm, 0.1 W/cm2), the photosynthetic system of GHEA can continuously produce oxygen, effectively resolving the problems of hypoxia and promoting vascular regeneration. Continuous light irradiation induces astaxanthin (AST) accumulation in HEA cells, resulting in a gradual transformation from a green to red hue (RHEA). RHEA effectively scavenges excess ROS, enhances the expression of intracellular antioxidant enzymes, and directs polarization to M2 macrophages by secreting AST vesicles via exosomes. The living HEA hydrogel can sterilize and enhance cell proliferation and migration and promote neoangiogenesis, which could improve infected diabetic wound healing in female mice. The treatment of infected diabetic wounds faces obstacles of bacterial infection, hypoxia, hyperexpression of reactive oxygen species, and inflammation. Here, the authors address these issues by developing a programmed treatment strategy that utilizes live Haematococcus to promote healing of diabetic wounds in a comprehensive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a class of nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization problems, whose objective function can be split into two separable terms and one coupling term. Alternating proximal gradient methods combining with extrapolation are proposed to solve such problems. Under some assumptions, we prove that every cluster point of the sequence generated by our algorithms is a critical point. Furthermore, if the objective function satisfies Kurdyka–Łojasiewicz property, the generated sequence is globally convergent to a critical point. In order to make the algorithm more effective and flexible, we also use some strategies to update the extrapolation parameter and solve the problems with unknown Lipschitz constant. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correction to: IL-17A promotes fatty acid uptake through the IL-17A/IL-17RA/ p-STAT3/FABP4 axis to fuel ovarian cancer growth in an adipocyte-rich microenvironment 3rhIL-17A increased the uptake of PA in OvCa cells via the IL-17A/IL-17RA/p-STAT3/FABP4 axis. ** p < 0.01. g The sections were prepared from the tumor tissues of WT and IL-17A -/- mice, and IHC staining was performed to determine FABP4 expression was performed. [Extracted from the article]

Atmospheric corrosion is ubiquitous in China but varies a lot among different regions covering the cold, temperate, and tropical zones. Categorizing the atmospheric corrosivity and plotting precise atmospheric corrosion map remain key interest for a variety of industries. The present work proposed an atmospheric corrosion map of China for hot-dip galvanized steels, which was constructed by inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation algorithm based on both the measured corrosion rates of coupons exposed at 2393 inland test stations and calculated corrosion rates from a prevalent dose-response function in 2918 sites in coastal regions. When the corrosion category was used as the criterion, the IDW interpolation algorithm of power 2 performed best. Cross-validation results confirmed that the prediction accuracy of IDW interpolation reached 85.6%. Based on the corrosion map, the categories of atmospheric corrosivity in China could be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is the main protein component of Lewy bodies, the major pathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD). C-terminally truncated α-syn is found in the brain of PD patients, reduces cell viability and tends to form fibrils. Nevertheless, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the role of C-terminal truncation on the cytotoxicity and aggregation of α-syn. Here, we use nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to show that the truncation alters α-syn conformation, resulting in an attractive interaction of the N-terminus with membranes and molecular chaperone, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). The truncated protein is more toxic to mitochondria than full-length protein and diminishes the effect of PDI on α-syn fibrillation. Our findings reveal a modulatory role for the C-terminus in the cytotoxicity and aggregation of α-syn by interfering with the N-terminus binding to membranes and chaperone, and provide a molecular basis for the pathological role of C-terminal truncation in PD pathogenesis. C-terminal truncation of a-syn results in a more extended and exposed conformation, providing further insight into the pathological role of this truncation event in the progression of Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel self-template sacrifice strategy was reported to prepare highly ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) nanoparticles with idiographic hollow and unique groove structure. Besides, we successfully accomplished multi-morphology interconversion by simply regulating initial reaction temperature and the concentration of hydrochloric acid, and the particle sizes could be easily tuned from 700 to 190 nm. Meaningfully, a "pyrolysis-sagging" mechanism was further proposed for the comprehension of the groove structure, which provided a brand-new and oversimplified soft template principal for the synthesis of OMC with novel morphology. Moreover, the self-template sacrifice strategy was rationalized through a simplified replenishment of the nucleation and growth stages as an extension. The as synthesized materials were used as carriers for furosemide to evaluate the drug adsorption and release performance, endowing them with significant prospect in the field of biomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA into the human genome is considered as a key event in cervical carcinogenesis. Here, we perform comprehensive characterization of large-range virus-human integration events in 16 HPV16-positive cervical tumors using the Nanopore long-read sequencing technology. Four distinct integration types characterized by the integrated HPV DNA segments are identified with Type B being particularly notable as lacking E6/E7 genes. We further demonstrate that multiple clonal integration events are involved in the use of shared breakpoints, the induction of inter-chromosomal translocations and the formation of extrachromosomal circular virus-human hybrid structures. Combined with the corresponding RNA-seq data, we highlight LINC00290, LINC02500 and LENG9 as potential driver genes in cervical cancer. Finally, we reveal the spatial relationship of HPV integration and its various structural variations as well as their functional consequences in cervical cancer. These findings provide insight into HPV integration and its oncogenic progression in cervical cancer. The molecular mechanisms underlying cervical carcinogenesis following integration of HPV DNA into the human genome remain elusive. Here, the authors perform long-read sequencing in 16 HPV16-positive cervical tumors and identify distinct integration types, structural variations and potential driver genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant phenology under changing climate is a critical factor controlling terrestrial vegetation productivity. However, large uncertainties exist due to different data sources and phenological parameter extraction methods. In this study, we took advantage of a suite of long-term field observational data in northern grassland of China to investigate the drivers of phenological shifts and their effect on the maximum aboveground net primary productivity (ANPPmax) across four representative grassland types during 1984–2017. Results showed that drivers of phenological events (i.e., start (SOS), end (EOS), and length (GSL) of the growing season) with warming influence dramatically differed among grassland types, indicating that the synergistic effect of temperature and precipitation should be highlighted. For temperate desert steppe and alpine meadow, GSL of dominant species was both significantly lengthened with temperature rising with averaged 0.94 days year−1 (P < 0.001) and 1.15 days year−1 (P < 0.001), respectively, while for typical temperate grassland, GSL was considerably shortened by an average of 0.58 days year−1 (P < 0.01) as a result of water deficit caused by sharp warming and precipitation decreasing in summer and autumn. For most grassland types in our study, both SOS and GSL were significantly correlated with ANPPmax under different precipitation gradients with SOS advanced and GSL extended leading to higher ANPPmax. Only the typical temperate grassland presents a relatively poor correlation between phenological events and productivity. Furthermore, compared with GSL, ANPPmax was more sensitive to the advancement of SOS for every 1-day phenological change. However, the effect of EOS on ANPPmax across the four grassland types was much weaker and unstable. There were spatial response differences between ANPPmax and phenological transition events, with the temperate meadow grassland tending to be more sensitive compared with three other grassland types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flower-like porous carbon has fascinated significant attention due to its outstanding and exceptional properties. However, controlled synthesis of porous carbon with adjustable morphology, highly active sites and cross-linked pore channels remains still a great challenge. Herein, an inimitable dissolution–reassembly anisotropic growth strategy was firstly demonstrated for the fabrication of idiographic orchid-like hierarchical porous carbon with ultra-thin multilayer carbon sheets, high specific surface area (1063 m2 g−1), large pore volume (0.82 cm3 g−1) and rich nitrogen content (7.6 wt%). Highly reactive phloroglucinol and EDA aggregated magically and SiO2 acted as a pore former. Ingeniously, acetone acted as a "surgical knife," which cut the composite of SiO2@phloroglucinol–EDA into many tiny units and further anisotropic growth into orchid-like polymers. The width and thickness of the carbon petals can be effectively controlled with the diversification of acetone concentration. Intriguingly, monodisperse hollow carbon nanospheres could be harvested with silicon-deficient system, which may offer new insight into the construction of functionalized carbon materials with hollow architecture. Owing to the unmatched superstructures, orchid-like carbon materials can be employed as an ideal drug carrier and dye adsorbent. Figure Schematic illustration of solid carbon nanosphere, hollow carbon nanosphere and OHPC-25. For the first time, a novel dissolution–reassembly route based on strong hydrogen-bonding interaction was developed to prepare unique orchid-like hierarchical porous carbon, in which phloroglucinol acted as a carbon precursor and EDA both as a base catalyst and as a nitrogen precursor. The critical step to this synthetic approach was the ingeniously employed acetone as a "surgical knife" to cut the composite of SiO2@phloroglucinol–EDA into many tiny units, and these units were reassembled into orchid-like polymers. After adding acetone, the morphology of carbon materials has changed from solid nanospheres to hollow nanospheres. This strategy did not use any template as the cavity, which may offer a new insight into the comprehension of synthesized functionalized carbon materials with hollow architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts with non-noble elements is particularly urgent for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we report heterostructural Ni3S2–Fe5Ni4S8 hybrids directly grown on redox-NiFe foams (denoted as NFS/rNF) as excellent pre-catalysts for OER in 1 M KOH media. The electrochemical performance can be tuned by amount of sulfur source, and the optimized electrode only needs low overpotentials of 199 mV and 240 mV to attain 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. Moreover, the overpotential is further reduced to 231 mV to deliver 100 mA cm−2 after multi-cyclic voltammogram scans, due to the exposure of abundant in situ generated Ni(Fe)OOH species. Excellent stability with continuous 40 h operation is also demonstrated. Our study provides a new strategy for direct synthesis of self-standing integrated hybrid electrodes for efficient and durable water oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The cardiovascular efficacy of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are well documented; however, the differences in cardiovascular efficacy among subpopulations remain unknown. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to explore the differences in cardiovascular efficacy of long-acting GLP-1RAs among subpopulations of patients with T2DM and to assess the drug safety. Methods: Relevant studies up to March 31, 2020 were searched for in six electronic databases, namely PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Clinical Trials, Science Direct, and Web of Science. The primary outcome was three-point major adverse cardiovascular events (including cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and non-fatal stroke). Subpopulations were defined using ten selected influential factors, and the differences in cardiovascular efficacy in subpopulations stratified by different influential factors were accessed by synthesizing studies with random-effects models one by one. Results: A total of six cardiovascular outcome trials of long-acting GLP-1RAs, comprising 49,936 participants, were included. Among stratified subpopulations, no significant differences in the cardiovascular efficacy of long-acting GLP-1RAs were observed across the ten characteristics of subjects (all P for interaction > 0.05). Favorable trends were observed in the subpopulation with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to that without (P = 0.171). With regards to safety, long-acting GLP-1RAs did not significantly increase the risk of retinopathy (OR 1.09; 95% CI 0.92–1.29; P = 0.316), but increase the risk of serious gastrointestinal events (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.02–1.83; P = 0.037). Long-acting GLP-1RAs did not significantly increase the risk of serious adverse events (OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.85–1.00; P = 0.039). Conclusions: Our analysis suggested no subpopulation differences in the cardiovascular efficacy of long-acting GLP-1RAs among stratified subpopulations, and favorable trends were only observed in the subpopulation with established CVD. These findings may have implications for the management of long-acting GLP-1RAs across subpopulations of patients with T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the sympathetic nervous system in childhood. NB severely threatens patient's health and life. However, more effective diagnosis and treatment methods are badly needed in clinics all over the world. MYCN is well recognized as a genetic biomarker of high risk and poor outcome in NB. miRNAs are small RNAs and miR-98 involved in the pathogenesis of various cancers. The role and mechanism of miR-98 in NB remains to be investigated. Here we found that miR-98 was decreased in human MYCN-high-expression NB tissues, and its down-regulation was associated with poor prognosis of NB. Over-expression of miR-98 inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion of NB cells. The analysis by employing the software of miRanda predicted the possible binding sites of miR-98 in the 3′-UTR of MYCN, and experimental data illustrated that miR-98 directly bound to MYCN 3′-UTR and decreased MYCN expression. Over-expression of MYCN rescued the decreased malignant phenotype caused by over-expression of miR-98 in NB. N6-methyladenosine modification in 3′-UTR of MYCN promoted its interaction with miR-98. The data collectively demonstrated that RNA m6A modification was required for miR-98/MYCN axis-mediated inhibition of neuroblastoma progression, and miR-98 might be novel targets for NB detection and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a series of phosphorus-doped CoMoO4 rod bundles electrocatalysts on 3D nickel foams have been successfully synthesized and exploited as efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst in 1 M KOH. The incorporation of phosphorus into CoMoO4 can significantly promote the HER activity, and the CoMoO4 bundles phosphorized at 350 °C exhibited the optimum activity, which only required low overpotentials of 56 and 148 mV to deliver cathodic current densities of 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. This electrode also presented considerable long-term electrochemical stability with negligible delay after 30 h operation and 3000 accelerated cyclic voltammetry cycles. Our study provides a superior earth-abundant catalyst for efficient HER in alkaline media, which also suggests that P doping engineering is an effective way to boost the HER activity of transition metal-based oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To investigate the safety of insulin lispro Mix 25 and 50 (LM25 and LM50) in hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a phase IV, randomized, crossover clinical trial in Chinese patients with T2DM switching from premixed human insulin 70/30 (PHI70/30) to LM25 or LM50. Eighty-one subjects received a two-stage crossover protocol of either LM25 or LM50 twice daily for 16 weeks. Habitual diet was taken, and self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) was performed throughout the study period. High-carbohydrate diet (HCD), high-fat diet (HFD) and habitual diet patterns were taken, and 72 h continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) was performed at the last 3 days of each treatment stage. Results: The frequencies of nocturnal hypoglycemia in LM50 were lower than those in LM25 under a Chinese habitual diet pattern. The related factors of hypoglycemia in patients with T2DM treated with a LM25 or LM50 regimen were the weight-based daily mean insulin dose and the type of combined oral hypoglycemic agents. Under both HCD and habitual diet patterns, the optimal cut point values of bedtime glucose predicting nocturnal hypoglycemia in LM50 were lower than those in LM25. Conclusions: The risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia in the LM50 regimen was lower than that in the LM25 regimen under the HCD pattern, and the safety range of bedtime glucose for the LM50 regimen was wider than that of the LM25 regimen in Chinese T2DM patients. Premixed insulin analogs combined with acarbose were more helpful to reduce the incidence of hypoglycemia. Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn #ChiCTR-TTRCC-12002516. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pro-inflammatory cytokines are crucial mediators of cancer development, representing potential targets for cancer therapy. The molecular mechanism of a vital pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-17A, in cancer progression and its potential use in therapy through influencing fatty acid (FA) metabolism, especially FA uptake of cancer cells, remains unknown. In the present study, we used IL-17A and ovarian cancer (OvCa), a representative of both obesity-related and inflammation-related cancers, to explore the interactions among IL-17A, cancer cells and adipocytes (which can provide FAs). We found that in the presence of palmitic acid (PA), IL-17A could directly increase the cellular uptake of PA, leading to the proliferation of OvCa cells via the IL-17A/IL-17RA/p-STAT3/FABP4 axis rather than via CD36. Moreover, in vivo experiments using an orthotopic implantation model in IL-17A-deficient mice demonstrated that endogenous IL-17A could fuel OvCa growth and metastasis with increased expression of FABP4 and p-STAT3. Furthermore, analysis of clinical specimens supported the above findings. Our data not only provide useful insights into the clinical intervention of the growth and metastasis of the tumors (such as OvCa) that are prone to growth and metastasis in an adipocyte-rich microenvironment (ARM) but also provides new insights into the roles of IL-17A in tumor progression and immunomodulatory therapy of OvCa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the original publication, the authors' contribution is missing in the acknowledgment section. The correct acknowledgement is provided in this correction. Also, in Fig. 4, the second (c) after figure (d) should be read as (e). In Fig. 5 (i), the Y-axis label “Current (μA)” should be read as “Voltage”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and a glucose fuel cell (GFC) were separately designed to harvest biomechanical energy from body motion and biochemical energy from glucose molecules. A hybrid energy-harvesting system (HEHS) which consisted of TENG and GFC was developed successfully, and it can simultaneously harvest biomechanical energy and biochemical energy.Various types of energy exist everywhere around us, and these energies can be harvested from multiple sources to power micro-/nanoelectronic system and even personal electronic products. In this work, we proposed a hybrid energy-harvesting system (HEHS) for potential in vivo applications. The HEHS consisted of a triboelectric nanogenerator and a glucose fuel cell for simultaneously harvesting biomechanical energy and biochemical energy in simulated body fluid. These two energy-harvesting units can work individually as a single power source or work simultaneously as an integrated system. This design strengthened the flexibility of harvesting multiple energies and enhanced corresponding electric output. Compared with any individual device, the integrated HEHS outputs a superimposed current and has a faster charging rate. Using the harvested energy, HEHS can power a calculator or a green light-emitting diode pattern. Considering the widely existed biomechanical energy and glucose molecules in the body, the developed HEHS can be a promising candidate for building in vivo self-powered healthcare monitoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amyloid deposits are one of the hallmark pathological lesions of Alzheimer's disease (AD). They can be visualized by thioflavin-S, silver impregnation, Congo red staining, and immunohistochemical reactions. However, that amyloid deposits generate blue autofluorescence (auto-F) has been ignored. Here, we report that visible light-induced auto-F of senile plaques (SPs) was detected and validated with conventional methods. Brain slices from APP/PS1 (amyloid precursor protein/presenilin 1) transgenic mice were mounted on slides, rinsed, coverslipped and observed for details of the imaging and spectral characteristics of the auto-F of SPs. Then the slices were treated with the above classic methods for comparative validation. We found that the SP auto-F was greatest under blue-violet excitation with a specific emission spectrum, and was much easier, more sensitive, and reliable than the classic methods. Because it does not damage slices, observation of auto-F can be combined with all post-staining techniques in slices and for brain-wide imaging in AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We aimed to explore the association between serum UA and cellular aging markers. Design: The current cross-sectional analysis was based on data collected within a type 2 diabetes project. Settings: Serum uric acid (UA), which has both antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties, is thought to be involved in cellular aging processes. Participants: There are 536 participants included in total, 65.3% of which are women. The average serum UA in women was 267.8 umol/l, lower than in men of 337.7 umol/l (P<0.001). Measurements: Serum UA, blood lipid profile, HbA1c, plasma glucose and insulin were determined. The peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) were assessed using a real-time PCR assay. Logistic regressions were used to analyze the associations between serum UA and cellular aging markers. Results: In Spearman's correlation analysis, there were significantly negative correlations between serum UA and LTL in both women and men (r=−0.162, P=0.006; and r=−0.232, P=0.004, respectively). The logistic regression adjusted for age, BMI, WC, daily energy intake, HbA1c, TG, and LDL-C revealed that the ORs of shorter LTL comparing the extreme serum UA quintiles was 5.52 (95% CI 1.69–18.02; P for trend =0.025) in women and 6.49 (95% CI 1.38–30.45; P for trend =0.108) in men. Furthermore, the OR (95% CI) for shorter LTL per 1 SD increment in serum UA was 1.51(1.10–2.07) in women and 1.64(1.01–2.65) in men. In regard to mtDNAcn, the association between elevated serum UA and lower mtDNAcn only reached significance in men when comparing the second and fifth quintiles with reference quintile (OR=3.73(1.07–13.04) and 3.76(1.01–14.09), separately, and P for trend=0.066). Conclusions: Our results indicate a significant negative association between serum UA and peripheral blood cellular aging markers. Serum UA might play a role in promoting cellular aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Early detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is critical in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) due to the lack of targeted therapy for DPN. We have investigated the relationship between different stages of diabetic nephropathy and DPN in an attempt to elucidate whether albuminuria can be used as an early warning signal of DPN progression.Methods: A total of 217 T2DM patients who met the inclusion criteria were recruited from the Department of Endocrinology, Nanfang Hospital between January 2016 and June 2016. These patients were placed in groups based on urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Nerve conduction studies, the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test (SWMT) and the vibration perception threshold (VPT) test were conducted. Multiple linear regression analysis, multivariate logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed to investigate the relationship between different stages of diabetic nephropathy and DPN in these patients.Results: Significant differences were observed in the conduction velocity (CV) and amplitude of sensory/motor nerve potential among the T2DM patients at different stages of diabetic nephropathy (all p  < 0.05). The UAER and duration of diabetes were found to be independent factors associated with the mean CV and amplitude of sensory/motor nerve potential (all p  < 0.05). A disease duration of > 10 years (p  = 0.025) and a higher total cholesterol value (p  = 0.024) were found to be significantly associated with abnormal SWMT results. A UAER of > 300 mg/24 h (p  = 0.007) and a diastolic blood pressure of > 100 mmHg (p  = 0.042) were associated with a higher risk for abnormal VPT. A UAER  of > 300 mg/24 h (p  < 0.001) and a disease duration of > 10 years (p  = 0.02) were observed to be significantly correlated with DPN. The ROC analysis showed that the optimal cutoff values of UAER and duration as indicators of DPN were 90.5 mg/24 h and 9.5 years, respectively (both p  < 0.001).Conclusions: The results suggest that diabetic nephropathy is closely associated with the development of DPN in T2DM patients and that UAER and disease duration can be used as warning indicators of DPN progression.Chinese Clinical Trials Register Number: ChiCTR-ROC-16007701. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To investigate the relative contribution rates of basal hyperglycemia (BHG) and postprandial hyperglycemia (PPHG) to overall hyperglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) treated with insulin lispro mix 25 and 50 (LM25 and LM50) as evaluated by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).Methods: Eighty-one T2DM patients treated with premixed human insulin 70/30 (PHI70/30) were randomly divided into two groups and received a crossover protocol. In the first 16-week stage, one group received LM25 twice daily, the other group received LM50 twice daily. In the second 16-week stage, the two groups exchanged therapeutic regimen. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measurement and CGM were performed at enrollment and at the end of each treatment stage.Results: BHG’s contribution rate increased with increasing HbA1c (from 34.5% to 60.8%). PPHG’s contribution rates in the LM50 regimen were significantly lower than those in LM25 and PHI70/30 regimens at HbA1c levels < 7.5%. Compared with LM50, LM25 shows a significant difference in reducing HbA1c in the subgroup with baseline HbA1c ≥ 8.5% (ΔHbA1c LM25 vs. LM50 − 0.6 ± 0.1% vs. 0.3 ± 0.1%, p < 0.05).Conclusions: For T2DM patients treated with premixed insulin analogues, postprandial hyperglycemia played a major role in the subgroup of patients with HbA1c < 8.5%, while fasting hyperglycemia became the major contributor to overall hyperglycemia in the subgroup of patients with HbA1c ≥ 8.5%.Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Identifier ChiCTR-TTRCC-12002516.Funding: Lilly Suzhou Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Branch, China) and National Key Program of Clinical Science of China (WBYZ2011-873). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The balance between immunostimulation and immunoregulation in T cell immunity is achieved by maintaining specific ratios of Th1, Th2, Th3 and Tr1 cells. Here, we investigate levels of type 1 (IFN-gamma; NK1), type 2 (IL-13; NK2), type 3 (TGF-beta; NK3) and regulatory (IL-10; NKr) cytokines in peripheral blood to assess the cytokine profiles of natural killer (NK) cells following human allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). NK2 and NK3 cell expansion was observed after allo-HSCT; levels of NKr cells reached donor levels at day 15, though levels of NK1 cells were consistently lower than donor levels until day 60 after allo-HSCT. Multivariate analysis showed that a higher level of NK1 cells by day 15 was associated with a lower overall risk of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (HR 0.157, P=0.010) as well as II-IV acute GVHD (HR 0.260, P=0.059). Furthermore, higher levels of NK1 cells by day 15 were correlated with lower rates of cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation (HR 0.040, 0.005-0.348, P=0.003). These results indicate that rapid reconstitution of NK cells, especially NK1 cells, can help prevent the development of GVHD as well as CMV reactivation after allogeneic transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the tremendous growth of cloud computing, verifiable computation has been firstly formalized by Gennaro et al. and then studied widely to provide integrity guarantees in the outsourced computation. However, existing verifiable computation protocols either work in the secret key setting or in the public key setting, namely, work either for single client or for all clients, which rules out some practical applications with access control policies. In this paper, we introduce and formalize the notion of verifiable computation with access control (AC-VC), in which only the computationally weak clients with necessary access control permissions can be allowed by a trusted source to apply the outsourced computation of a function to a server. We present a formal security definition and a proved secure black-box construction for AC-VC. This construction is built based on any verifiable computation in the secret key model and ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE). The access control policies that our AC-VC can realize depend on that realized in the based CP-ABE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramie ( Boehmeria nivea) was domesticated in China. However, the geographic region of domestication is not exactly known. Genetic diversity and population structure of ramie and their wild relatives were assessed using microsatellite markers. The 8 microsatellite primers revealed 96 alleles in 50 ramie populations, with an average of 10.25 alleles per locus. Cultivated ramie gene pool harbors approximately 82.9 % of the SSR diversity presented in wild B. nivea var. nivea. It is suggested that ramie has experienced a relatively moderate domestication bottleneck. The distribution of genetic diversity shows that genetic diversity is relatively high in populations along the Yangtze River compared to the peripheral ones. The scatter plots of principal coordinates analysis indicated that there are three well-supported varieties in B. nivea. The NJ tree and the distribution of genetic diversity showed that ramie has been domesticated in the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze valley, and populations in Sichuan province have been introduced from this region, forming naturalized populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a new correction strategy for some first-order primal-dual algorithms arising from solving, e.g., total variation image restoration. With this strategy, we can prove the convergence of the algorithm under more flexible conditions than those proposed most recently. Some preliminary numerical results of image deblurring support that the new correction strategy can improve the numerical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybridization is particularly likely to occur in initial and young polyploid complexes, and interspecies hybridization between diverged species usually leads to a complicated reticulate evolution. The Ranunculus cantoniensis complex and its allied species include R. chinensis (2 x), R. silerifolius var. silerifolius (2 x), R. cantoniensis (4 x), R. trigonus (2 x), R. shuichengensis (2 x), R. diffusus (4 x), R. repens (4 x), R. vaginatus (5 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x, 8 x). Many morphological intermediates can be found between the members of this complex, and the relationship among members is complicated. By analyzing internal transcribed spacers and nrDNA FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) signals, we unraveled the phylogenetic and genetic constitution of the various taxonomic units of this complex. Haplotypes were highly separated by median-joining network analysis and at least four haplogroups emerged in which there were 11 primary haplotypes; six out of ten taxa shared haplotype 1, suggesting that haplotype 1, a variation of the primary haplotype R. chinensis, served as the pivotal genome in the complex. The pollen characteristics and electrophoretic patterns of R. vaginatus (5 x) showed it to be an intermediate between R. diffusus (4 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x). The distribution of R. vaginatus (5 x) was located at the junction of the distributions of R. diffusus (4 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x). Ranunculus vaginatus (5 x) shared haplotypes 7 and 8 with R. diffusus (4 x), and haplotypes 8 and 9 with R. sieboldii (6 x). This proved that R. vaginatus (5 x) emerged from hybridization between R. diffusus (4 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x). The results of FISH also support a hybrid origin of R. vaginatus (5 x). The findings of this study clearly show that there are only eight taxa in this polyploid complex including R. chinensis (2 x), R. silerifolius var. silerifolius (2 x), R. trigonus (2 x), R. silerifolius var. dolicanthus(2 x), R. cantoniensis (4 x) , R. diffusus (2 x), R. vaginatus (5 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x, 8 x). These taxa associated with each other by hybridizing with the pivotal genome. Ranunculus cantoniensis (4 x) and R. vaginatus (5 x) arose from hybridization events between diverged species in the polyploid complex, leading to a complicated reticulate evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ACM'CCS 2009, Camenisch, et al. proposed the Oblivious Transfer with Access Control (AC-OT) in which each item is associated with an attribute set and can only be available, on request, to the users who have all the attributes in the associated set. Namely, AC-OT achieves access control policy for conjunction of attributes. Essentially, the functionality of AC-OT is equivalent to the simplified version that we call AC-OT-SV: for each item, one attribute is associated with it, and it is requested that only the users who possess the associated attribute can obtain the item by queries. On one hand, AC-OT-SV is a special case of AC-OT when there is just one associated attribute with each item. On the other hand, any AC-OT can be realized by an AC-OT-SV. In this paper, we first present a concrete AC-OT-SV protocol which is proved to be secure in the model defined by Camenisch, et al. Then from the protocol, interestingly, a concrete Identity-Based Encryption (IBE) with Anonymous Key Issuing (AKI) is given which is just a direct application to AC-OT-SV. By comparison, we show that the AKI protocol we present is more efficient in communications than that proposed by Chow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiders store spidroins in their silk glands as high concentration aqueous solutions, spinning these dopes into fibres with outstanding mechanical properties. Aciniform (or wrapping) silk is the toughest spider silk and is devoid of the short amino acid sequence motifs characteristic of the other spidroins. Using solution-state NMR spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the 200 amino acid Argiope trifasciata AcSp1 repeat unit contrasts with previously characterized spidroins, adopting a globular 5-helix bundle flanked by intrinsically disordered N- and C-terminal tails. Split-intein-mediated segmental NMR-active isotope-enrichment allowed unambiguous demonstration of modular and malleable 'beads-on-a-string' concatemeric behaviour. Concatemers form fibres upon manual drawing with silk-like morphology and mechanical properties, alongside secondary structuring and orientation consistent with native AcSp1 fibres. AcSp1 structural stability varies locally, with the fifth helix denaturing most readily. The structural transition of aciniform spidroin from a mostly α-helical dope to a mixed α-helix/β-sheet-containing fibre can be directly related to spidroin architecture and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]