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This paper proposes a novel unsupervised classification method to solve the problem of mechanical fault diagnosis under the condition of unknown number of fault types. The proposed method combining the three data processing stage. First, the deep encoding neural networks is used to complete the abstract signal feature representation under the unsupervised conditions. Second, the feature dimensionality reduction technique based on manifold learning is used to complete the low-dimensional mapping of the feature space. Third, the spatial clustering based on density criterion is introduced to classify the different fault samples. This paper uses two fault signals dataset to complete the performance verification experiment. The experimental results show that the DMDUC method respectively achieves the classification accuracy of 99.7 % and 100 % on the two datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve problems related to much calculation to adapt to complex scenes in traditional structural sound source localization, this paper proposes a method based on neural network. The structural sound source at other positions was stimulated by successively striking 36 grid centers on the surface of the plate. The time delay between different accelerometer signals was considered as the input, and the location of the predicted sound source was considered as the output. The influence of the number of test sets and epoch training times on sound source localization accuracy was discussed. These results show that with the increase in the epoch training times, the number of test set decreases, and the number of training set increases, increasing the sound source localization accuracy of backpropagation neural network. However, these error conditions will frequently appear due to the overfitting phenomenon. When the epoch is trained to 50,000 times, and the quantity of the test set is 4, the backpropagation neural network has the best localization accuracy with an order of magnitude of 10−3 in error, and the localization error scope of the plate is between 0.01 and 0.1 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our goal was to assess the outcomes and explore the prognostic factors for patients with placental-site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) through this retrospective analysis. Methods: 2043 patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) were registered at two tertiary hospitals between January 2003 and March 2021, of whom 58 (2.8%) were diagnosed with PSTT. We retrospectively analyzed the clinico-pathological characteristics, treatments, outcomes and prognostic factors. Results: Only 4 patients died and 5 patients experienced a recurrence. Patients (n = 49) with stage I disease had a favorable prognosis, surgery with (n = 21) or without (n = 28) chemotherapy made no significant difference in overall survival (OS) (p = 0.251) or disease-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.425). 3 patients with stage I had fertility preserving surgery and successful pregnancy was achieved in 2 of them. The outcome of patients with advanced disease was poor. Univariate analysis revealed serum β-hCG levels at diagnosis, FIGO stage IV and metastatic disease were significant predictors of both overall survival and disease-free survival. However, multivariate analysis indicated stage IV was the only significant independent predictor of adverse OS, while metastatic disease was the only significant independent predictor of adverse DFS. Conclusion: Surgery alone is sufficient for patients with stage I disease without high-risk factors. The prognosis of patients with advanced stage disease remains poor. Stage IV and metastatic disease were the most critical risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, lung ultrasound (LUS) B-lines and serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) antigen have been recognized as biomarkers of the connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung diseases (CTD-ILDs). Robust data have demonstrated that B-lines total numbers and KL-6 levels are correlated with high-resolution computed tomography findings, pulmonary function test, and some clinical parameters in CTD-ILDs. However, limited data are available regarding the use of these two biomarkers to follow CTD-ILDs. Herein, we report a case with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 antibody-positive clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis-associated ILD, successfully treated with high-dose methylprednisolone, cyclophosphamide, intravenous immunoglobulin, pirfenidone, and followed using lung ultrasound and KL-6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a regulator for the formation and maintenance of chronic pain in various chronic disorders and has been shown to increase in the serum of women with endometriosis. However, BDNF expression in the peritoneal fluid (PF) and ectopic lesions and its role in endometriosis pain remain unclear. Thus, this study aims to determine the BDNF concentrations in serum and PFs and BDNF expression levels in ectopic lesions and endometriotic stromal cells (ESCs) of women with endometriosis (n = 60). The obtained results were then compared with those of women without endometriosis (n = 38). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations in serum and PF, as well as the BDNF expression levels in ectopic lesions and endometriotic cells, were evaluated through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunohistochemical staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot analysis. As a result, BDNF concentrations in serum and PF were significantly higher in women with endometriosis with pain (2284.3 ± 51.5 pg/mL, n = 23; 58.8 ± 6.4 pg/mL, n = 16) than in women with endometriosis without pain (1999.8 ± 61.1 pg/mL, n = 37; 31.7 ± 2.9 pg/mL, n = 25; P < .01). Moreover, BDNF messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels in ectopic lesions (8.97 ± 1.44, n = 29) were significantly higher than eutopic (0.97 ± 0.14, n = 16; P < .01) and control endometrium (1.23 ± 0.19, n = 18; P < .01) and were correlated with endometriosis pain (P < .05). Furthermore, increased BDNF mRNA and protein expression levels in ESCs induced by estradiol or interleukin 1β were removed using a phosphorylated extracellular-regulated protein kinase 1/2 inhibitor. These results suggest that BDNF may play an important role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recepteur d'origine nantais (RON) protein expression has been demonstrated to correlate with tumor progression, metastasis, and prognosis, and its mRNA expression increases in deeply infiltrating endometriotic lesions. However, it remains unclear whether RON protein expression also increases in endometriotic lesions, and may be a risk factor of malignant transformation in endometriotic lesions.Methods: The protein expression of RON in control (n = 19), eutopic (n = 16), and ectopic (n = 51) endometria, as well as in endometriosis-associated ovarian cancers (EAOC, n = 16) was determined by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining.Results: Endometriotic lesions expressed low levels of RON protein, but no RON protein expression appeared in matched eutopic or control endometrium. EAOC exhibited high levels of RON protein. The frequency and IHC score of RON protein expression were both significantly higher in EAOC [100.0% (14/14), 5.37 ± 0.74] than those in endometriotic lesions [51.0% (26/51), 2.15 ± 1.12; P = 0.002, 0.001]. Multivariate analysis of covariance only revealed a correlation of RON protein expression and EAOC (P = 0.006), but no correlations of RON protein expression and clinical parameters (P > 0.05).Conclusions: These obtained results suggest that increased RON expression might be involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis and disease-associated ovarian cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cell authentication is a necessary procedure to avoid scientific data from cell culture experiments with cross-contamination or false classification. A genetic fingerprint pattern of a specimen by short tandem repeats (STR) is self-evident. Due to high amount of chromosomal rearrangements, known in epithelia ovary cancer cells and the instable STR pattern described in other tumour entities like leukaemia, this study explores the suitability of STR profiling for primary cultured epithelial ovary cancer cells.Methods: STR profiles of epithelial ovary cancers of 16 patients were compared with corresponding blood and corresponding primary cell cultures. The primary cell cultures of epithelial ovary tumours were passaged up to 28 times. In between, cultures were cryo conserved and recultured again, two to five times per patient.Results: In two cases, the STR pattern of tumour lost alleles (1/16 and 3/16) in comparison of corresponding STR-pattern from blood. In comparison to blood, cell culture of a third case, lost four alleles (4/16) accompanied with morphologic changes after 14th passage. It is equal after cryo conservation of the seventh passage from the same patient. The only changes in STR profiles we recognized are losses of alleles. Remaining STR markers allow authentication.Conclusions: Very likely, the allelic drop-outs beyond passage 14 assume complex genetic losses of heterozygosis resulting in changed growth behaviour of cells. All other STR-profiles of remaining 15 patients analysed in this study are stable over all passages and freeze-thaw processes. Thus, ovary cancer cell cultures in research should be authenticated by STR-profile in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors previously demonstrated decreased levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) in peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis compared to women without endometriosis. Here, the authors determine whether women with endometriosis have altered levels of PEDF in serum. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 71 women with and without endometriosis (n = 43 and 28, respectively) before laparoscopic surgery. Concentrations of serum PEDF were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We detected lower levels of serum PEDF in women with endometriosis (16.3 ± 6.6 ng/mL) than in those without endometriosis (24.5 ± 7.3 ng/mL; P < .001). In women with endometriosis, the concentrations of serum PEDF were significantly lower in women with pain (n = 11, 12.6 ± 7.1 ng/mL) compared to women without pain (n = 32, 17.5 ± 6.0 ng/mL; P < .05). However, the concentrations of serum PEDF did not correlate with disease stage or site or infertility. In addition, the concentrations of serum PEDF did not show any difference in the phase of the cycle in either group. Our results suggest that reduced levels of serum PEDF in women with endometriosis and disease-related pain may play a role in the pathogenesis of this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Narrowing of the uterine spiral arterioles below the deciduomyometrial junction is 1 of the key pathophysiological changes in women with preeclampsia. The contribution of pelvic autonomic nerves to decidualization and impaired placentation in preeclampsia is not clear. Placental bed biopsies were obtained from 10 women with preeclampsia and 23 nornotensive women at Caesarean section. We stained them with anti-S100 and CD34 antibodies to detect the presence of nerve fibers and blood vessels, respectively. We detected S100-immunoactive nerve fibers in the myometrium but not in the decidua in both groups of women. S100-immunoactive nerve fiber density in the placental bed myometrium was significantly increased in women with preeclampsia compared to normotensive women. There was no clear relationship between the densities of nerve fibers and CD34-positive blood vessels in these biopsies. These results suggest increased nerve fibers in the placental bed myometrium may play a role in the pathogenesis of the preeclampsia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]