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The paper utilizes panel data from 278 cities in China spanning the years 2010 to 2020 to comprehensively assess the impact of digital inclusive finance on urban ecological efficiency. The study shows that digital inclusive finance significantly contributes to the enhancement of urban ecological efficiency, primarily attributed to the deepening of digital inclusive finance's usage depth and degree of digitization. Mechanism analysis further indicates that digital inclusive finance can expedite the concentration of human capital, foster technological innovation, and boost foreign direct investment, ultimately promoting the advancement of urban ecological efficiency. Moreover, the spatial spillover effect analysis demonstrates that digital inclusive finance not only enhances the ecological efficiency within a region but also notably elevates the ecological efficiency levels of neighboring cities. Additionally, our findings indicate that the development of digital inclusive finance has a more pronounced positive effect on improving ecological efficiency in the central and western regions, larger cities, and cities with higher levels of digital inclusive finance compared to the eastern region, small and medium-sized cities, and cities with lower digital inclusive finance development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deregulation of circular RNAs (circRNAs) is widely recognized in cancer progression. Our study aims to investigate the role of circ_0020460 in the development of cervical cancer (CC) and its potential mechanism of action. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot assays were used to detect the expression levels of circ_0020460, miR-485-3p and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1 (CXCL1). The roles of circ_0020460 on cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion, cell apoptosis, and angiogenesis were investigated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Ethynyl deoxyuridine (Edu) assay, wound healing assay, transwell assay, flow cytometry assay, and tube formation assay, respectively. The putative relationship predicted by bioinformatics analysis was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. Xenograft models were constructed to explore the role of circ_0020460 in vivo. The expression of circ_0020460 and CXCL1 expression were increased, while miR-485-3p expression was declined in CC tissues and cells. Circ_0020460 knockdown suppressed CC cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion, angiogenesis, and promoted cell apoptosis. Circ_0020460 functioned as a miR-485-3p sponge to inhibit miR-485-3p level, and the anti-cancer effects mediated by circ_0020460 knockdown were reversed by miR-485-3p inhibitor. MiR-485-3p bound to CXCL1 3ʹ untranslated region (3ʹUTR) to degrade CXCL1 expression, and the anti-cancer effects of miR-485-3p restoration were impaired by CXCL1 overexpression. Circ_0020460 downregulation inhibited CC xenograft tumor growth. These results suggest that circ_0020460 promoted the malignant behavior of CC cells by modulating the miR-485-3p/CXCL1 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep neural networks have made significant progress benefiting large-scale correctly human-labeled datasets. However, large-scale human-labeled datasets are often ambiguous because the limited experience can lead to mislabeled classes. Most research related to learning with noisy labels concentrates on image classification, while we focus on object detection that also suffers from noisy labels. In this paper, we propose a method that applies gradient optimization for object detection (GOOD), aiming to combat poor generalization caused by noisy labels in objection detection. Usually, a detection task is divided into a foreground-background subtask and a foreground-object subtask. Hence, gradient descent with cross-entropy exploits corrected gradient guidance for foreground-background subtask, while dynamic gradient underweighted ascent with cross-entropy and variant gradient clipping with improved symmetric cross-entropy are mutually employed to prevent incorrect gradient guidance for foreground-object subtask. We conducted extensive experiments on PASCAL VOC 2012 and COCO 2017, demonstrating the effectiveness of GOOD. Furthermore, we promote GOOD to instance segmentation, and competitive results on Cityscapes show that it is also appropriate for instance segmentation. Specifically, we achieved a 9.4% improvement on PASCAL VOC 2012, 5.2% on COCO 2017, and 4.3% on Cityscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Intestinal fibrosis, a common and serious complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), results from chronic inflammation. A high-cholesterol diet may be a risk factor for IBD and 27-hydroxylcholesterol (27HC) is the main human cholesterol metabolite. This study investigated whether 27HC can induce intestinal fibrosis. Methods: The effects of cholesterol and 27HC on intestinal fibrosis were assessed in zebrafish and human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. Results: Cholesterol and 27HC induced intestinal inflammation and collagen deposition, inhibited E-cadherin (E-ca) expression in the intestinal epithelium, and promoted nuclear translocation of β-catenin in zebrafish. Cholesterol and 27HC up-regulated expression of COL-1, α-SMA, CTGF, TIMP1, N-cadherin, vimentin, glycogen synthesis kinase-3β (GSK-3β) and β-catenin, but inhibited E-ca, in Caco-2 cells. The expression of these proteins was inhibited by CYP27A1 knockdown and β-catenin knockdown. 27HC-induced nuclear translocation of β-catenin occurs in Caco-2 cells. p38, ERK, and AKT activate β-catenin and thereby participate in 27HC-induced epithelia–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and fibrosis. 27HC-increased oxidative stress and the fibrosis and EMT markers, the nuclear translocation of β-catenin, and the up-regulation of p-cell kinase proteins promoted by 27HC were inhibited by N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). Folic acid (FA), resveratrol (RES), and NAC all ameliorated the 27HC-induced effects in Caco-2 cells and zebrafish. Conclusion: A high-cholesterol diet caused intestinal fibrosis in zebrafish, mediated by a major cholesterol metabolite, 27HC. 27HC increased oxidative stress and activated p38, ERK, AKT, and β-catenin, leading to EMT of epithelial cells and intestinal fibrosis. FA and RES both ameliorated intestinal fibrosis by restraining 27HC-induced β-catenin activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition in early life increases the risk of osteoporosis, but the association of early-life undernutrition combined with adulthood obesity patterns with low-energy fracture remains unknown. This study included 5323 community-dwelling subjects aged ⩾40 years from China. Early-life famine exposure was identified based on the participants' birth dates. General obesity was assessed using the body mass index (BMI), and abdominal obesity was evaluated with the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Low-energy fracture was defined as fracture occurring after the age of ⩾40 typically caused by falls from standing height or lower. Compared to the nonexposed group, the group with fetal, childhood, and adolescence famine exposure was associated with an increased risk of fracture in women with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 3.55 (1.57–8.05), 3.90 (1.57–9.71), and 3.53 (1.05–11.88), respectively, but not in men. Significant interactions were observed between fetal famine exposure and general obesity with fracture among women (P for interaction = 0.0008). Furthermore, compared with the groups with normal BMI and WHR, the group of women who underwent fetal famine exposure and had both general and abdominal obesity had the highest risk of fracture (OR, 95% CI: 3.32, 1.17–9.40). These results indicate that early-life famine exposure interacts with adulthood general obesity and significantly increases the risk of low-energy fracture later in life in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-dimensional (3D) porous carbon materials are helpful for forming thin, light-weight, wide effective absorption bandwidth and strong absorption intensity absorbers. However, previous methods were not environmentally friendly enough. Thus, in this work, the Fe/Fe3C@porous carbon was synthesized from soluble starch and Fe(NO3)3·9H2O via chemical bowling and subsequent carbonization at 700 °C with different ratios. When the ratio of starch to Fe(NO3)3·9H2O is 1:1.5, the porous carbon exhibits a strong absorption ability with minimum reflection loss (RLmin) value of −16.64 dB at 16.78 GHz, when the thickness is 1.75 mm and the proportion of paraffin wax is 30 wt%. The synergy of well impedance matching, sufficient loss performance, and interface polarization makes 3D porous carbon materials an excellent wave absorber. This work provides a good inspiration for studying outstanding performance microwave absorption materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carry out a series of experimental investigations in a model combustor to detect a precursor of thermoacoustic combustion oscillations based on permutation entropy, which can amplify the subtle changes effected in the time sequence to identify the anomaly. By changing the flame's location or the fuel flow to a value, an abrupt switch from aperiodic small-amplitude oscillations to periodic large-amplitude oscillations would occur in pressure fluctuations. The characteristic frequency of combustion oscillation is obtained by spectral analysis, with which a modified algorithm of the permutation entropy is proposed. The impact evaluation on key parameters such as moving step sizes and window sizes reveals that the moving data permutation entropy has strong robustness, and can accurately detect the onset of thermoacoustic oscillations. Further nonlinear analysis exhibits peculiar dynamics of the combustion system, which result in specific patterns in the time series and provide a theoretical basis for anomaly detection. Our results suggest that the permutation entropy has a certain potential in early warning and detection of combustion oscillations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photocatalytic property of available semiconductor catalysts still suffers from some urgent problems, such as the high excitation energy, easy agglomeration of powders, or weak recycling property. Therefore, developing novel visible light-supported catalysts and catalyst loading have aroused great attention recently. In this work, a novel Ag3PO4/BiVO4/MWCNTs@Cotton functional fabric was prepared by introducing Ag3PO4 as a plasma resonance photocatalyst and MWCNTs with cotton as composite substrates. Not only did the introduction of Ag3PO4 and MWCNTs effectively strengthen the application ability of BiVO4, but also inhibited the recombination of carriers, and promoted the transport of carriers according to spectroscopic and electrochemical tests. Degradation tests remained that Ag3PO4/BiVO4/MWCNTs @cotton retained the high photocatalytic efficiency of the powder catalyst, along with the degradation degree of active blue KN-R (50mg/L) as well as Cr (VI) (20mg/L) could reach more than 90% within 120 min. What's more, the functional fabric has gained excellent performance in degrading pollutants for 5 cycles. Meanwhile, the prepared BiVO4 is consistent with the band structure and electron density calculated theoretically by the GGA-PBE function. Free radical trapping and scavenging experiments exhibited that functional fabrics could produce active substances such as h+,·O2-, and·OH, among which the first two are the main active substances in the reaction. To sum up, this study is an effective attempt based on the existing problems of photocatalysts together with providing some study directions for the development of photocatalytic technology in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorine-containing coatings play an essential role in waterproof paint, but the harm of fluoride to the environment does not meet the current environmental protection requirements. The present study reports an eco-friendly and fluoride-free waterproof hybrid coating prepared by a semi-continuous seed emulsion method employing vinyl tributbutoxy silane (VTBS) as the functional monomer and octyl triethoxysilane modified SiO2 (OTES@ SiO2) as the inorganic filler. In vinyl acetate/butyl acrylate hybrid coatings, the surface covering of OTES@SiO2 and the cross-linking structure produced by VTBS not only significantly improve the thermal stability, mechanical properties, and strong hydrophobicity but also reduce the water absorption. In addition, the gloss loss of the organic–inorganic hybrid layer is <30% after being exposed to UV-irradiation for 720 h. The obtained coating could be a lovely environmental-friendly protective coating for many functional areas, especially for outdoor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction mechanism of internally-staged-swirling stratified flame is complex, and the pilot flame has a manifest influence on flame stability. To study this, a series of experimental investigations for the pilot flame has been carried out in a model swirl combustor by only supplying the pilot fuel. The CH* chemiluminescence images of the pilot flame are acquired by a high-speed camera with a CH* bandpass filter, whose dynamic characteristics are identified by image statistical analysis and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis. And the fast algorithm based on matrix theory proposed in this paper increases the operation efficiency and operability of POD. With the pilot equivalence ratio Φ increase, the pilot flame gradually shows an unstable state, whose POD energy distribution is significantly different. In the unstable state, the flame dynamics include three modes—spiral motion mode, flame shedding mode, and axial oscillation mode, whose formation reasons have also been further analyzed in combination with the experimental characteristics. And the fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of the time coefficients for the first four POD modes indicates all the dominant frequency is 280 Hz, which means the model combustor is in resonance. In addition, a sensitivity analysis based on the different image resolutions further reveals the robustness of the POD method and its optimization direction. These results emphasize the important influence of the pilot fuel flow rate on the stability of the pilot flame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates that a multilayered absorbent developed using Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) modified cotton fabrics provides excellent photocatalytic degradation and remove dyes in wastewater. Low cost, highly efficient and biobased sorbents for removing dyes and other pollutants in wastewater are desirable. However, there are very few absorbents that meet these criteria. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is a unique material with strong visible light absorption and valence band potential suitable for the degradation of dyes. However, the photogenerated carriers of single BiVO4 get recombined easily, and it is difficult to recover the powder which may cause secondary pollution. To overcome this limitation, we have successfully prepared a composite containing PEDOT/BiVO4/Iron oxide hydroxide (FeOOH) on cotton fabrics in a simple two-step process. Initially, cotton fabrics were treated with PEDOT and later BiVO4/FeOOH onto the modified fabrics. When the cotton-based composite was used as sorbent for reactive brilliant blue dye (RB-19), a high degradation level of 95.6% was possible within 2 h under visible light. Further, the sorbent had high recyclability of 92.3% even after 5 sorption and desorption cycles. The experiment suggests that the presence of h+ and ·OH free radicals along with excellent electron-hole transport properties of PEDOT were responsible for the high level of degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is the transformation of endothelial cell morphology to mesenchymal cell morphology, accompanied by decline of endothelial function and enhancement of mesenchymal function, which promotes tumor progression and tumor cell invasion and metastasis. 27-Hydroxycholesterol (27-HC) is a cholesterol metabolite, which has a high content in human blood. 27-HC promotes breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. We previously showed that 27-HC promotes EndMT; however, the underlying mechanism still needs to be further explored. We studied the role of the 14-3-3η/GSK-3β/β-catenin complex in EndMT. Our results show that 27-HC induces oxidative stress in HUVECs and activates the p38 signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting the binding of 14-3-3η/GSK-3β/β-catenin, promoting the increase of free β-catenin and nuclear translocation, and finally inducing EndMT. Treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) blocked 27-HC-induced ROS generation and p38 signaling pathway activation, prevented β-catenin from release from binding, and inhibited EndMT. Blocking ROS production or p38 signaling or knocking down 14-3-3η inhibited 27-HC-induced EndMT and inhibited breast cancer cell metastasis. These findings indicate 14-3-3η is necessary for interactions between the p38 kinase and the GSK-3β/β-catenin complex and serves as an adaptor to transmit the upstream kinase signal to the downstream signal, thereby promoting EndMT and breast cancer cell migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we demonstrate that coating a layer of graphene oxide (GO) onto graphite felts (GF) by electrostatic spraying can substantially increase the performance of all-iron redox flow batteries (IRFBs). Graphite felts are extensively used as electrodes but they do not have the desired electrochemical properties. GO has good electrochemical features. Hence, GO was synthesized from graphite powder and applied onto graphite felts. Chemical and structural features of the bare graphite felt electrode (BGF), thermally treated graphite felt electrode (TTGF), and graphene oxide modified graphite felt electrode (GOMGF) were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Raman Spectroscopy (RS), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Similarly, the electrochemical performance was evaluated using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Tafel analysis and charge–discharge experiments. The Charge–discharge experiments were performed at 1 to 5 mgcm−2 weight of GO on the modified graphite felt electrode and varying the current densities from 10 to 40 mAcm−2. The coulombic efficiency (ηC) and energy efficiency (ηE) of the cell determined at 20 mAcm−2 for 4 mgcm−2-GOMGF electrodes were found to be 64.61% and 50.27%, respectively. Among the three different types of electrodes, the GOMGF electrode showed better electrocatalytic performance mainly due to the excellent conducting network of the defective edges of oxygen on the surface of layered flakes of the GO. After twenty cycles, the average ηC and ηE of the cell using a 4 mgcm−2-GOMGF electrode were found to be 62.06% and 42.02%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between serum uric acid and the risk of incident diabetes in Chinese adults remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate this association in a community-dwelling population aged ≥ 40 years in Shanghai, China. Oral glucose tole3rance test was conducted during baseline and follow-up visits. Relative risk regression was utilized to examine the associations between baseline gender-specific serum uric acid levels and incident diabetes risk. A total of 613 (10.3%) incident diabetes cases were identified during the follow-up visit after 4.5 years. Fasting plasma glucose, postload glucose, and glycated hemoglobin A1c during the follow-up visit progressively increased across the sex-specific quartiles of serum uric acid (all Ps < 0.05). The incidence rate of diabetes increased across the quartiles of serum uric acid (7.43%, 8.77%, 11.47%, and 13.43%). Multivariate adjusted regression analysis revealed that individuals in the highest quartile had 1.36-fold increased risk of diabetes compared with those in the lowest quartile of serum uric acid (odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 1.36 (1.06–1.73)). Stratified analysis indicated that the association was only observed in women. Accordingly, serum uric acid was associated with the increased risk of incident diabetes among middle-aged and elderly Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A heavy-duty gas turbine, designed for natural gas, was used to burn the syngas with two different calorific values. This study was mainly to optimize the flow matching scheme for the gas turbine. Two models of gas turbine burning syngas with different calorific values were established and the calculation models of different flow matching schemes were provided. The optimum scheme was obtained by evaluating thermal efficiency and work output under different operating conditions. The results showed that the highest unit efficiency was achieved by, without significant drop in work output, increasing the throat area of the turbine nozzle and reducing the initial temperature of the gas. On the premise of ensuring the safety of the gas turbine unit, increasing the pressure ratio of the compressor could further improve the unit efficiency and the work output. Simply adjusting the angle of the inlet guide vane fails to match the flow of compressor and turbine. The measures such as reducing inlet temperature of turbine or air bleed still need to be adopted, but the thermal efficiency dropped significantly in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we have coated MnO2@CeO2 composites onto graphite felts (GF) by electrostatic spraying leading to substantially improved electrochemical performance characteristics of iron redox flow batteries. GF are extensively used as electrodes but they do not have the desired electrochemical properties. MnO2@CeO2 composites have novel electrocatalyst features. Hence, MnO2@CeO2 composites were developed and applied to GF. Chemical and structural features of the bare graphite felt electrode and MnO2@CeO2 composite-modified graphite felt electrode (MGF) were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis. Similarly, the electrochemical performance was investigated using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Tafel, and charge–discharge performance experiments. The charge−discharge experiments were performed at 1 to 3 mg cm− 2 weight of MGFs and varying the current densities from 40 to 70 mA cm− 2. The coulombic efficiency (ηC) and peak power density (PPD) of the cell (132 cm2) determined at 50 mA cm− 2 for 2 mg cm− 2-MGF electrode was found to be 99.10% and 55.56 W cm− 2, respectively. Among the three different types of electrodes, the MGF electrode showed better electrocatalytic performance mainly due to the excellent conducting network of the oxygen moieties of MnO2@CeO2 composites. After 25 cycles, the average ηC and PPD of the cell using 2 mg cm− 2-MGF was found to be 96.06% and 55.16 mW cm− 2, respectively, indicating the good stability of the electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/hypothesis: The cardiometabolic risk associated with metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) remains the subject of debate. It is unclear whether MHO is a transient condition that affects subclinical atherosclerosis risk. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of MHO and its transition over time with incident subclinical atherosclerosis. Methods: A prospective study was conducted with 6220 Chinese adults who were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥25.0 kg/m2. Metabolic health was defined as an individual having fewer than two of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (NCEP ATP III) criteria for components of the metabolic syndrome (excluding waist circumference). Subclinical atherosclerosis was measured by brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity, pulse pressure and albuminuria, separately or combined. Participants were cross-classified by BMI categories and by metabolic health status and its transition during follow-up. Inverse probability weighted logistic regression models were used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs for subclinical atherosclerosis. Results: The MHO phenotype accounted for 16.3% of the total population and 32.8% of the population with obesity at baseline. Baseline MHO was not significantly associated with incident subclinical atherosclerosis. During a follow-up period of 4.4 years, 46.8% of individuals with MHO developed a metabolically unhealthy status. Those with transient MHO had an increased risk of composite subclinical atherosclerosis compared with those in the metabolically healthy non-obesity reference group (OR 2.52 [95% CI 1.89, 3.36]). A transition from metabolically unhealthy to healthy status was shown to decrease the outcome risk. The relationship between BMI and subclinical atherosclerosis was partly mediated by BP and plasma glucose. Conclusions/interpretation: MHO is not a stable condition and transient MHO conferred an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis, the early stage of CVD. Hence, individuals may benefit from early behavioural or medical management in order to avoid a deterioration of metabolic status and prevent atherosclerosis and CVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sophorolipids (SLs) are surface active glycolipids produced by nonpathogenic yeasts, and a combination of SLs with 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxyic acid (BTCA) was used as a new durable antimicrobial treatment method for cotton fabrics. The factors influencing the antibacterial property of the fabrics in the finishing process, such as the amount of SLs, treatment temperature, curing time, amount of BTCA, and sodium hypophosphite (SHP) were investigated. An optimized procedure for treating fabrics was two dips and two nips with a wet pickup of 90% in an aqueous solution containing 20 g/L of SHP, 40 g/L of SLs and 90 g/L of BTCA, then drying at 100°C for 2 min and curing at 120°C for 2 min. As a result, 99% of the S. aureus in a concentration of 3.0×104 CFU/mL were killed by the treated fabrics in 1 h contact according to ASTM Standards E2149-10, and the functions are durable against washing. The mechanism of BTCA crosslinking lactonic sophorolipid onto cellulose was investigated by using computational chemistry and experimental methods. As a non-irritant surfactant, sophorolipids proved to be a potential natural antimicrobial agent for textiles or medical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is frequently overexpressed in breast cancer and plays an important role in maintaining the cell proliferative capacity. However, the mechanisms underlying the transcriptional regulation of EZH2 in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer cells remain unclear. The antitumor effects of resveratrol have been reported. However, whether EZH2 was involved in these effects needs further exploration. Here, we showed that EZH2 is required for estrogen-induced cell proliferation in ER-positive breast cancer. Exposure to 17β-estradiol (E2) upregulated EZH2 via ERα signaling, and this effect was blocked by U0126, a MEK inhibiter. Resveratrol inhibited the proliferation and colony formation in ER-positive breast cancer cells and downregulated EZH2 through inhibition of phospho-ERK1/2. These findings indicated that ERK1/2 and ER signaling–mediated EZH2 upregulation is crucial for the proliferation of ER-positive breast cancer cells. The suppression of EZH2 expression by ERK1/2 dephosphorylation is important for the antiproliferative activities of resveratrol against ER-positive breast cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adjustments of upstream river regimes are one of the main factors affecting downstream fluvial processes. However, not all adjustments of river regimes will propagate downstream. There are some distinctive river reaches where upstream and downstream adjustments have no relevance. However, the irrelevance is neither caused by different river types nor by the different conditions of water and sediment; but rather, the channel boundaries and riverbed morphologies block the propagation effect. These are referred to here as the barrier river reach phenomena. The migration of the thalweg line is the essential reason for causing the propagation effect. Numerous influencing factors for thalweg migration exist, including 1) the average flow rate above the critical bankfull discharge, the average flow rate below the critical bankfull discharge, and their ratio, 2) the ratio of the duration of the aforementioned two periods, 3) the thalweg displacement at the entrance of the river reach, 4) the deflecting flow intensity of the node, 5) the ratio of the river width to water depth, 6) the relative width of the floodplain, and 7) the Shields number. In this study, the correlativity between the measured distances and the restricting indicators of thalweg migration in the Middle Yangtze River over the years was established. The barrier degree of 27 singlethread river reaches was subsequently assessed. These reaches included 4 barrier river reaches; 5 transitional reaches transforming from barrier to non-barrier; 10 transitional reaches transforming from non-barrier to barrier; and 8 non-barrier river reaches. Barrier river reaches were found to be important for maintaining the stability of the river regime and the transverse equilibrium of sediment transport in the downstream reaches. To some extent, the barrier river reaches may protect the natural dynamical properties from being destroyed by artificial river regulation works. Thus, they are of great significance for river management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of source-classified collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) systems has improved waste management and resource conservation in developing countries, including China. Here, we evaluated the effects of a new MSW source-classified collection system on the distribution and leaching of heavy metals in incineration residues as well as on the pozzolanic properties of residues used as additives in cement production. Cu, Cr, and Mn were found primarily in bottom ash, while the volatile metals Zn, Pb, and Cd became enriched primarily in fly ash during combustion. However, effective presorting of MSW prior to incineration reduced the heavy metal content of the MSW source material and increased the combustion efficiency and heat values of MSW. The system of source-classified collection of MSW resulted in decreased concentrations of heavy metals in bottom ash, as well as decreased leachate toxicity, which improved the viability of bottom ash for use as a non-hazardous raw material in cement production. The consistently high temperatures sustained during incineration of source-classified MSW increased the concentrations and leachate toxicity of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cr in fly ash. Pozzolanic activity testing revealed that bottom ash may be used as a pozzolanic material in cement production, but that fly ash is not suitable. In contrast to bottom ash from the incineration of mixed MSW, bottom ash from the incineration of source-classified MSW fully satisfies China’s “Pozzolanic materials used for cement production” standards due to its low loss on ignition, high grindability, and the desired rupture strength, compressive strength, and stability that it adds to mortar mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate whether the participation of an experienced endoscopy nurse in colonoscopy increases the polyp detection rate (PDR) and adenoma detection rate (ADR) of experienced colonoscopists.Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. Patients were randomly assigned to the experienced colonoscopist alone (single observer) group, or experienced nurse participation (dual observer) group. The primary outcome was the PDR and ADR. The advanced lesion detection rate was also recorded.Results: A total of 587 patients were included in the analysis. Among these patients, 291 patients were assigned to the single observer group, while 296 patients were assigned to the dual observer group. The PDR was 33% in the single observer group and 41.9% in the dual observer group (P = 0.026), while the ADR was 23.0% in the single observer group and 30.4% in the dual observer group (P = 0.043). No significant difference was found for advanced lesions between groups.Conclusions: The present data demonstrated that experienced nurse observation during colonoscopy can improve polyp and adenoma detection rates, even if the colonoscopist is experienced.Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov No. NCT02292563. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=NCT02292563&cntry=&state=&city=&dist= [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Castor meal and proteins extracted from the castor meal have been acetylated and made into thermoplastics. Castor meal is generated as the byproduct after extraction of oil from the seeds and hence available in large volumes at low cost. The meal is also non-thermoplastic making it difficult to use for industrial applications. In this research, castor meal (CM) and castor proteins (CP) extracted from the castor meal were acetylated under alkaline conditions in order to make them thermoplastic. The acetylated products were characterized using FT-IR, P-GC-MS and DSC. The effects of various acetylation conditions on % acetyl content were studied. The highest % acetyl content obtained in the case of CM was 11.63% for a material to anhydride ratio of 1:5 at 130 °C and for CP a higher acetylation of 23.60% was obtained using a ratio of 1:5 at 120 °C. It was found that that acetylated CP could be compression molded into films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Letter to the Editor [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effect of the swirling flow on the combustion performance is studied by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in a micro-gas turbine with a centrifugal compressor, dump diffuser and forward-flow combustor. The distributions of air mass and the Temperature Pattern Factor (as: Overall Temperature Distribution Factor -OTDF) in outlet are investigated with two different swirling angles of compressed air as 0° and 15° in three combustors. The results show that the influences of swirling flow on the air distribution and OTDF cannot be neglected. Compared with no-swirling flow, the air through outer liner is more, and the air through the inner liner is less, and the pressure loss is bigger under the swirling condition in the same combustor. The Temperature Pattern Factor changes under the different swirling conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) has been reported to associate with increased cancer risk in several cancers. However, the role of MIF in breast cancer (BC) susceptibility remains unknown. For the first time, we conducted a case-control study to assess the potential association of three common MIF gene variants (rs755622, rs1803976, rs11548059) with BC susceptibility in Chinese women. Total 560 breast cancer patients and 583 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals were recruited from Northwest China, and the DNA was genotyped by Sequenom MassARRAY. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed to estimate the associations. We found that C/G, C/C, and C/G-C/C genotype carriers in MIF rs755622 have a significantly increased risk of BC (C/G vs. G/G: OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.07-1.75, P = 0.014; C/C vs. GG: OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.06-3.79, P = 0.029; C/G-C/C vs. G/G: OR = 1.42 95% CI = 1.11-1.80, P = 0.004). Further analyses indicate that the BC risk is associated with Ki-67 status, and the rs755622 polymorphism increases breast cancer risk among elder patients (≥49 years). There is no association between BC risk and other two polymorphisms (rs1803976 and rs11548059) by overall analysis and stratified analysis. In conclusion, MIF rs755622 polymorphism increases BC susceptibility in Chinese population, especially among elder patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bio-composite made from keratin polypeptides and waterborne polyurethane was firstly employed as a bioantifelting agent for wool fabric. The keratin polypeptides, extracted from the waste wool fibers with the protease Esperase8.0L, possessed 5271 weight-average molecular weight. The bio-composites containing different contents of keratin polypeptides were applied for wool anti-felting treatment by a pad-dry-cure process. The results indicated that with increasing content of keratin polypeptides from 0 to 6 wt.%, the area-shrinking rate of the treated wool fabrics was decreased from 4.55 % to 0.47 %, respectively. The warp and weft tensile strength at break of the fabric was increased by 8 % and 12 %, respectively and reduced by about 55 % consumption of waterborne polyurethane. The film of bio-composites had more excellent thermal stability, higher mechanical property in elasticity, and better cytocompatibility compared with the pure waterborne polyurethane film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper-reports the development of a unique nanocomposite material based on poly(L-lactic acid) and hollow silica nanospheres. The composites were produced by melt blending in a twin-screw extruder and then spun into fibers. In order to improve the compatibility between the polymer and the inorganic additive, the surface of the hollow silica nanospheres was modified by a silane coupling agent, acetoxypropyltrimethoxysilane. It was demonstrated by electron microscopy that the modified silica nanospheres were well-dispersed in the polymer matrix. The resulting nanocomposites exhibited slightly improved thermal stability, crystallinity and softness. Remarkably, the hollow spheres, which could encapsulate any active substances, remain intact after the melt processing, allowing promising applications in biomedical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a widely applied polymer, hydrophilic modification of polypropylene (PP) has been an important research field. Forcespinning™ uses centrifugal force to fabricate nanofibers rather than electrostatic force as in conventional electrospinning. The absence of electric fields provides a board opportunity for low dielectric materials and the utilization of centrifugal forces significantly increases the yield compared to electrospinning. Hydrophilic nonwovens from isotactic polypropylene (iPP) melt blended with amphihilic surfactant TWEEN20 and TWEEN60 were obtained by Forcespinning™. The factors were investigated by SEM and DSC, which determined fiber diameter distribution and crystallinity. The meshes showed continuous homogeneity along the length of the fiber when the system was employed at 225 °C and the rotational speed at 14,000 rpm. Blending with surfactants bearing ethoxylate groups led to increased oxygen content of the meshes surface as confirmed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS results indicated preferential distribution of additives on surfaces. The forcespun meshes exhibited excellent hygroscopicity even when the load of TWEEN20 was 10 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entity relation extraction can be applied in the automatic question answering system, digital library and many other fields. However, the previous works on this topic mainly focused on the features from a sentence itself in the data sets, without considering the links between sentences in the corpus. In this paper, we propose a concept model and obtain a new effective spatial feature based on this concept model. The added feature makes our feature space concerning not only the inherent information of the sentence itself, but also the semantic information connection between sentences. At last, we use ELM as the training classifier in entity relation extraction. The experiment result shows that the precision and recall of the relation extraction both have a significant increase, by using the new feature. Also, the use of ELM significantly reduces the time of relation extraction. It has a better performance than the traditional method based on SVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop a broad-specificity immunoassay for organophosphorus pesticides (OPs), a broad-specificity monoclonal antibody (MAb) for OPs against a generic hapten, O, O-diethyl O-(3-carboxyphenyl) phosphorothioate with the carboxy group in the meta position of the benzene ring, was produced. Eight haptens were prepared and covalently attached to ovalbumin (OVA) for use as coating antigens, and the optimum coating antigen was selected. Then, a sensitive and broadly class selective competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ciELISA) based on the MAb and the optimum coating antigen (hapten H-OVA, possessing an O, O-dimethyl generic structure and linked through a linear spacer arm) was developed and optimized. The MAb developed in this study showed quite different cross-reactivity and selectivity compared to previously produced anti-OPs broad-specificity MAbs. Specifically, the MAb showed high and uniform sensitivity to seven O, O-diethyl OPs and six O, O-dimethyl OPs. With the optimum ciELISA, the IC values of the 13 OPs were determined as 23.1∼151.2 ng mL. The average IC and coefficient of variation (CV) for the IC values of the 13 OPs were 74.6 ng mL and 33.9 %, respectively. For the recovery study, a QuEChERS approach based on dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) was implemented to decrease the matrix effects of vegetable and fruit samples. The recoveries of six representative OPs from the spiked samples ranged from 89.4 to 135.5 %; the CV ranged from 3.5 to 15.7 %. The ciELISA was also applied to real samples, followed by confirmation with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis. The results demonstrated that the ciELISA is suitable for monitoring OP contamination in vegetable and fruit samples. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysregulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) activity leads to significant alterations in cardiovascular and metabolic regulation. This is most keenly observed by the metabolic syndrome-like phenotypes exhibited by patients carrying mutations in PPARγ. We will summarize recent findings regarding mechanisms of PPARγ regulation in the cardiovascular and nervous systems focusing largely on PPARγ in the smooth muscle, endothelium, and brain. Canonically, PPARγ exerts its effects by regulating the expression of target genes in these cells, and we will discuss mechanisms by which PPARγ targets in the vasculature regulate cardiovascular function. We will also discuss emerging evidence that PPARγ in the brain is a mediator of appetite and obesity. Finally, we will briefly review how novel PPARγ activators control posttranslational modifications of PPARγ and their prospects to offer new therapeutic options for treatment of metabolic diseases without the adverse side effects of thiazolidinediones which strongly activate transcriptional activity of PPARγ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorafenib, an active multi-kinase inhibitor, has been widely used as a chemotherapy drug to treat advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma patients. In spite of the relative safety, sorafenib has been shown to exert a negative impact on cognitive functioning in cancer patients, specifically on learning and memory; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, an NMR-based metabolomics approach was applied to investigate the neurochemical effects of sorafenib in rats. Male rats were once daily administrated with 120 mg/kg sorafenib by gavage for 3, 7, and 28 days, respectively. NMR-based metabolomics coupled with histopathology examinations for hippocampus, prefrontal cortex (PFC), and striatum were performed. The H NMR spectra data were analyzed by using multivariate pattern recognition techniques to show the time-dependent biochemical variations induced by sorafenib. Excellent separation was obtained and distinguishing metabolites were observed between sorafenib-treated and control rats. A total of 36 differential metabolites in hippocampus of rats treated with sorafenib were identified, some of which were significantly changed. Furthermore, these modified metabolites mainly reflected the disturbances in neurotransmitters, energy metabolism, membrane, and amino acids. However, only a few metabolites in PFC and striatum were altered by sorafenib. Additionally, no apparent histological changes in these three brain regions were observed in sorafenib-treated rats. Together, our findings demonstrate the disturbed metabonomics pathways, especially, in hippocampus, which may underlie the sorafenib-induced cognitive deficits in patients. This work also shows the advantage of NMR-based metabolomics over traditional approach on the study of biochemical effects of drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equol is a product of intestinal bacterial metabolism of the soy isoflavone, daidzein. It has more potent estrogenic effects than daidzein. Uncontrolled activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway contributes to the development of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to determine if the PI3K/Akt pathway is involved in equol-induced estrogenic activity. For MCF-7 human breast cells, low, physiological concentrations of equol enhanced proliferation, but equol-induced cell proliferation was blocked by the PI3K inhibitor, wortmannin. Equol induced activation of akt, but inhibition of Akt phosphorylation by wortmannin led to suppression of equol-induced estrogen response element reporter activity and to suppression of the estrogen-responsive gene, pS2. Further we found that there was a positive feedback loop between PI3K and ERα. In conclusion, equol elicits activation of PI3K/Akt signaling in an ERα-dependent manner, and this activation appears to be involved in proliferation of breast cancer cells and estrogen-dependent transcriptional activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]