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Abstract We investigated the role of microRNAs (miRNA) in endothelial dysfunction in the setting of cardiometabolic disorders represented by type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). miR‐29 was dysregulated in resistance arterioles obtained by biopsy in T2DM patients. Intraluminal delivery of miR‐29a‐3p or miR‐29b‐3p mimics restored normal endothelium‐dependent vasodilation (EDVD) in T2DM arterioles that otherwise exhibited impaired EDVD. Intraluminal delivery of anti‐miR‐29b‐3p in arterioles from non‐DM human subjects or rats or targeted mutation of Mir29b‐1/a gene in rats led to impaired EDVD and exacerbation of hypertension in the rats. miR‐29b‐3p mimic increased, while anti‐miR‐29b‐3p or Mir29b‐1/a gene mutation decreased, nitric oxide levels in arterioles. The mutation of Mir29b‐1/a gene led to preferential differential expression of genes related to nitric oxide including Lypla1. Lypla1 was a direct target of miR‐29 and could abrogate the effect of miR‐29 in promoting nitric oxide production. Treatment with Lypla1 siRNA improved EDVD in arterioles obtained from T2DM patients or Mir29b‐1/a mutant rats or treated with anti‐miR‐29b‐3p. These findings indicate miR‐29 is required for normal endothelial function in humans and animal models and has therapeutic potential for cardiometabolic disorders.

High performance imaging in parallel cameras is a worldwide challenge in computational optics studies. However, the existing solutions are suffering from a fundamental contradiction between the field of view (FOV), resolution and bandwidth, in which system speed and FOV decrease as system scale increases. Inspired by the compound eyes of mantis shrimp and zoom cameras, here we break these bottlenecks by proposing a deep learning-based parallel (DLBP) camera, with an 8-μrad instantaneous FOV and 4 × computational zoom at 30 frames per second. Using the DLBP camera, the snapshot of 30-MPs images is captured at 30 fps, leading to orders-of-magnitude reductions in system complexity and costs. Instead of directly capturing photography with large scale, our interactive-zoom platform operates to enhance resolution using deep learning. The proposed end-to-end model mainly consists of multiple convolution layers, attention layers and deconvolution layer, which preserves more detailed information that the image reconstructs in real time compared with the famous super-resolution methods, and it can be applied to any similar system without any modification. Benefiting from computational zoom without any additional drive and optical component, the DLBP camera provides unprecedented-competitive advantages in improving zoom response time (~ 100 ×) over the comparison systems. Herein, with the experimental system described in this work, the DLBP camera provides a novel strategy to solve the inherent contradiction among FOV, resolution and bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boundary faults of the Daxing Uplift and Langgu–Dachang Depression are located in the southeastern region of the Beijing Plain and directly control the sedimentation, tectonic evolution, and strong seismic activity of the plain. The Sanhe–Pinggu earthquake of Ms 8.0 occurred in 1679, but the active tectonic deformation characteristics of the boundary have been rarely discussed. In this study, the active tectonic deformation characteristics of the Daxing Uplift and Langgu–Dachang Depression boundary rupture were investigated by collecting and analyzing the results of previous works, supplementing three shallow-seismic-exploration control lines at locations where the data are lacking, and carrying out borehole combined profile exploration and optically stimulated luminescence dating at local breakpoints. Results show that the Daxing Uplift and Langgu–Dachang Depression boundary faults constitute an active tectonic deformation zone with ∼50 km distance between Mafang and Niubaotun towns and then extends to both ends to form a deep and large fault that cuts through the earth’s crust. The activity of the Daxing Uplift eastern boundary fault may be divided into two sections near Anding town, with the early-to-middle Late Pleistocene gradually weakening in the northwest and the Holocene gradually weakening in the southwest. Moreover, the activity of the Xiadian fault may be divided into two sections near the Chaobai River: the Holocene gradually weakening in the northwest and the early-to-middle Late Pleistocene gradually weakening in the southwest. The boundary fault of the Daxing Uplift and Langgu–Dachang Depression has an ∼43 km seismic gap around Niubaotun town, which has a high risk of Ms 6.0–7.0 earthquakes. This investigation into the active tectonic deformation characteristics of the boundary fault of the Daxing Uplift and Langgu–Dachang Depression is crucial for analyzing the strong earthquake rupture behavior and the future risk of strong earthquakes in this area. It also contributes greatly to the study of the tectonic pattern evolution of the North China Plain and Beijing Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) is a brain disease that is caused by perinatal asphyxia. Icariin (ICA), which is an active component of Epimedii (a Chinese medicinal herb), has been verified to demonstrate a wide range of therapeutic effects, such as alleviating various kinds of brain injury. Objective: The current study aims to examine the neuroprotective effects of ICA on neonatal HIBD in mice. Materials and methods: A modified version of the Rice-Vannucci method was performed to establish neonatal HIBD in 7-day-old mouse pups that were pretreated with ICA or vehicle. The infarct volume was measured, and behavioral tests were conducted to assess the protective effects of ICA on the neonatal brain and to evaluate functional recovery after injury. TUNEL staining was used to detect cell apoptosis, and the levels of cleaved caspase-3 and phosphorylated protein kinase B (Akt) were determined by using Western blot. Results: We showed that pretreatment with ICA could significantly reduce brain damage, improve neurobehavioral outcomes, and suppress apoptotic cell death following HI injury. ICA reversed the HI-induced reduction in phosphorylated Akt and activation of cleaved caspase-3. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that ICA exerts potential neuroprotective effects on neonatal HIBD, which may be mediated by its anti-apoptotic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous systematic review suggested a beneficial effect of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. However, poor quality of eligible studies which included in previous systematic review impaired the reliability and validity of findings. The aim of the present systematic review was to further assess the value of PMR in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Methods: We assigned two independent investigators to search potential studies in PubMed, Cochrane Controlled Register of Trial (CENTRAL), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), China Biomedical Literature database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Data database. We used data extraction sheet to extract essential information, and used the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool to appraise the quality of eligible studies. Finally, we qualitatively summarized the results of all included studies. Results: Six studies enrolling 288 patients were included finally. Of these 6 studies, three were labeled as moderate quality and the remaining studies were low quality. All included studies consistently suggested that PMR has a positive effect on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, especially on the incidence, frequency, and degree of delayed nausea and vomiting. Conclusion: Independent studies indicated that PMR was a beneficial approach of preventing and alleviating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting among cancer patients. However, further studies enrolling other types of primary tumors should be designed in order to increase the generality of PMR because studies which were included in the present systematic review mainly considered patients with lung cancer and breast cancer. Moreover, future studies with high quality and large-scale are also warranted in order to address the limitations in the present systematic review such as poor quality and limited data of eligible studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amorphous carbon was coated on the surface of the nano-silicon with citric acid by a simple mechanical stirring in water bath method and high temperature pyrolysis method, and then the carbon-coated silicon composite material(Si@C) was coated with polyvinyl alcohol by the secondary mechanical stirring and high temperature pyrolysis to obtain double carbon layer-coated silicon composite material (Si@C@C). The microstructure and surface morphology of Si@C@C were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical properties of Si@C@C were investigated by constant current charge–discharge, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectra techniques. The study found that the first reversible specific capacity of Si@C@C was 1669 mAh/g at the current density of 0.1 C. The specific capacity remained at 1300 mAh/g, while the capacity retention rate was 77.9% after 200 cycles. The cyclic stability of Si@C@C was higher than that of Si@C, which greatly improved the electrochemical performance of silicon-based materials as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a real time, ultrahigh accuracy and full-field-of-view (RUF) algorithm for full field of view (FOV) imaging system. The proposed algorithm combines rough matching and precise matching method to stitch multiple images with the whole FOV in short time and high imaging quality. In order to verify real-time imaging effect of RUF algorithm, we also fabricate a multi-camera imaging system which includes 19 independent cameras. And the experiment result practically illustrates that full-FOV system can achieve good performances under a near-limiting FOV of 360° × 240° with low distortion, meanwhile, optical resolution reaches up to 95 megapixels. 100% registration-accuracy RUF algorithm for imaging in one second can be widely applied to any optical imaging engineering field with large FOV, such as remote sensing imaging, microscopy imaging, monitoring system engineering fields and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extended a delayed feedback control method for the two-lane car-following model. In order to suppress the traffic jams more actually in the two-lane vehicle groups with lane-changing behavior, we introduced the delayed time of receiving the longitudinal and lateral interaction information in the controller into the feedback signals for the control scheme. The stability conditions for different cases were derived, respectively, according to the delayed time by the theory analysis. And the delayed time in the controller was found to instigate the traffic oscillations when the feedback gains were designed improper, which showed that the longer delayed time induces worse traffic jams. The numerical simulation results were found consistent with the theoretical findings as well. Finally, we further presented a comparative study of the proposed control method by a comparison with one existing controller which did not consider the delayed time. And it showed that the delayed time in the controller also affects the traffic flow and performance of control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel podophyllotoxin-lonidamine hybrid was synthesized, and evaluated for its in vitro cytotoxicity by CCK-8 assay. The conjugate, Da, exhibited comparable antiproliferative activity in human normal and multidrug-resistance leukemia cancer cells. Flow cytometry suggested that Da could induce G2 phase cycle arrest and apoptosis of resistant K562/VCR cells, simultaneously increase the mitochondrial membrane depolarization. Furthermore, immunocytochemistry showed that Da could significantly disrupt the microtubule organization in K562/VCR cells. Molecular modeling demonstrated that Da was able to bind into the colchicine site of tubulin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A modified optimal velocity model is proposed by considering the timid or aggressive characteristics of drivers behavior on traffic flow. The effect of driver's characteristic on the stability of traffic flow under honk environment is examined through linear stability analysis. It is shown that the parameters related to driver's characteristics and honk effect all have significant impact on the stability of traffic flow. Precisely, the timid driver is more beneficial to improve the stability of the traffic flow than the aggressive one under honk environment; moreover, the more skillful driver is more advantageous to improve the stability of traffic situation under the same honk environment for the same driver's characteristics. Finally, many simulation results are found consistent with the theoretical findings which confirm that the drivers characteristics play a significant role on traffic flow dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bikeway network design model was developed for recreational bicycling in scenic areas. The multi-objective 0-1 programming problem is to determine spatial layouts for networks of bikeways and service stations. The model objectives are maximizing bikeway service coverage, maximizing service station service coverage, minimizing cyclist risk and maximizing bikeway suitability. The model constraints are network connectivity, bikeway type, monetary budget, location relationships between bikeways and service stations, and value ranges of decision variables. The programming problem was solved by ε-constraint method in a case study of a bikeway network in North Coast & Guanyinshan National Scenic Area in northern Taiwan. Four of the six non-dominated alternatives generated in the case study were substantially superior to existing bikeways, and budget limits sensitively affected cyclist risk and bikeway suitability. The proposed network design model for recreational bikeways can assist planners in efficiently and systematically developing alternatives for further evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton is the world's leading textile fiber crop and is also grown as a bioenergy and food crop. Knowledge of the phylogeny of closely related species and the genome origin and evolution of polyploid species is significant for advanced genomics research and breeding. We have reconstructed the phylogeny of the cotton genus, Gossypium L., and deciphered the genome origin and evolution of its five polyploid species by restriction fragment analysis of repeated sequences. Nuclear DNA of 84 accessions representing 35 species and all eight genomes of the genus were analyzed. The phylogenetic tree of the genus was reconstructed using the parsimony method on 1033 polymorphic repeated sequence restriction fragments. The genome origin of its polyploids was determined by calculating the diploid-polyploid restriction fragment correspondence (RFC). The tree is consistent with the morphological classification, genome designation and geographic distribution of the species at subgenus, section and subsection levels. Gossypium lobatum (D) was unambiguously shown to have the highest RFC with the D-subgenomes of all five polyploids of the genus, while the common ancestor of Gossypium herbaceum (A) and Gossypium arboreum (A) likely contributed to the A-subgenomes of the polyploids. These results provide a comprehensive phylogenetic tree of the cotton genus and new insights into the genome origin and evolution of its polyploid species. The results also further demonstrate a simple, rapid and inexpensive method suitable for phylogenetic analysis of closely related species, especially congeneric species, and the inference of genome origin of polyploids that constitute over 70 % of flowering plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrodynamic damper is a device to decrease the motion of armament carrier by use of the water resistance. When hydrodynamic damper rushes into the water channel with high velocity, it is a complicated flow phenomenon with fluid-structure interaction, free surface and moving interface. Numerical simulation using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method coupled with the Finite Element (FE) method was successfully conducted to predict the dynamic characteristics of hydrodynamic damper. The water resistance, the pressure in the interface and the stress of structure were investigated, and the relationship among the peak of water resistance, initial velocity and actual draught was also discussed. The empirical formula was put forward to predict the water resistance. And it is found that the resistance coefficient is commonly in the range of 0.3 ≤ C ≤ 0.5, when the initial velocity is larger than 50 m/s. It can be seen that the SPH method coupled with the FE method has many obvious advantages over other numerical methods for this complicated flow problem with fluid-structure interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of fusaric acid (FA) phytotoxin on the physiology of root leaf cells in watermelon seedlings was evaluated. Results revealed that the cell membrane potential treated with FA in 12 h was decreased by 61.9–81.8% compared with untreated controls. FA markedly accelerated the lipid peroxidase activity of watermelon leaves. Malondiadehyde in leaves treated with different concentrations of FA in 24 h was 5.2–11.0 fold as much as control. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity (PAL) in leaves treated with FA was first increased and then decreased. The highest PAL activity was obtained after 6–12 h, which was 7.2–10.5 fold as much as control. Activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) were first increased and then decreased when the seedlings were treated with FA. The highest SOD and POD activities were observed after 12 h and then both declined. The β-1,3-glucanase and chitinase activities in leaves treated with FA were first quickly increased and then declined, the highest activities were found after 12 and 3 h. We concluded that FA strongly inhibited root and leaf cells functions physiologically responsible for fusarium wilt of watermelon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type energy absorber was introduced, which is composed of thousands of thin ring plates with different diameters. Because it can switch the impact to thousands of shearing actions among thin ring plates inside the absorber, the impact energy is decentralized and dissipated gradually, the impact acting time is extended and the peak of acceleration is reduced obviously. Numerical simulations by finite element method (FEM) coupled with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method were preformed to predict the energy absorption characteristics. Energy absorption ability with different impact velocities was studied and the effects of thickness and material of ring plates were discussed. The sled crash test was carried out to validate the result of simulations. The new type absorber is effective for collision that impact velocity is lower than 40 km/h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possible intermittent impacts of a two-stage isolation system with rigid limiters have been investigated. The isolation system is under periodic external excitation disturbed by small stationary Gaussian white noise after shock. The maximal impact Poincare map is proposed based on the multi-body dynamics with unilateral constrains. Then in the period after shock, the zero order approximate stochastic discrete model and the first order approximate stochastic model are developed. The real isolation system of an MTU diesel engine is used to evaluate the established model. After calculating of the numerical example, the effects of noise excitation on the isolation system are discussed. The results show that the property of the system is complicated due to intermittent impact. The difference between zero order model and the first order model may be great. The effect of small noise is obvious. The results may be expected useful to the naval designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the expression of feeding-related peptide receptors mRNA in GT1-7 cell line and roles of leptin and orexins in the control of GnRH secretion. Receptors ofbombesin3, cholecystokinin (CCK)-A, CCK-B, glucagon-like peptide (GLP)1, melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH)1, orexin1, orexin2, neuromedin-B, neuropeptide Y (NPY) 1 and NPY5, neurotensin (NT) 1, NT2, NT3, and leptin receptor long form mRNA in GT1-7 cells were detected by reversed transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. GT1-7 cells were treated with leptin, orexin A and orexin B at a cohort of concentrations for different lengths of time, and GnRH in medium was determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Receptors of bombesin 3, CCK-B, GLP1, MCH1, orexin1, neuromedin-B, NPY1, NPY5, NT1, NT3, and leptin receptor long form mRNA were expressed in GT1-7 cells, of which, receptors of GLP1, neuromedin-B, NPY1, and NT3 were highly expressed. No amplified fragments of orexin2, NT2, and CCK-A receptor cDNA were generated with GT1-7 RNA, indicating that the GT1-7 cells did not express mRNA of them. Leptin induced a significant stimulation of GnRH release, the results being most significant at 0.1 nmol/L for 15 min. In contrast to other studies in hypothalamic explants, neither orexin A nor orexin B affected basal GnRH secretion over a wide range of concentrations ranging from 1 nmol/L to 500 nmol/Lat 15, 30, and 60 min. Feeding and reproductive function are closely linked. Many orexigenic and anorexigenic signals may control feeding behavior as well as alter GnRH secretion through their receptors on GnRH neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on mathematical models describing the mechanical behavior of ferromagnetic materials under magnetization. Through combination of the electromagnetic field theory with the theory of elastic mechanics, several nonlinear systems of fourth-order partial differential equations were deduced. By making further assumption, the first-order approximation of the above equations was established, of which the solutions are good enough for engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note, we show that the image of Laplcian eigenmap in 2-dimensional Edclidean space is lied in a parabola. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional microscope has discrete magnification and slow response time in zoom process, which is difficult to capture the dynamic activity of the live specimen. We demonstrate an adaptive microscope employing a tunable objective and a tunable eyepiece with large zooming range. The tunable objective consists of three glass lenses and four electrowetting liquid lenses. The tunable eyepiece consists of an achromatic eyepiece and an electrowetting liquid lens. The focal point between the objective and the eyepiece is designed to be tunable, which are controlled by voltages. Thus, the tuning range is relatively large. We fabricate the adaptive microscope and observe the specimen. In the experiment, the magnification of the microscope changes continuously from ~ 59.1 × to ~ 159.2 × , and the largest numerical aperture is ~ 0.212. The tunable eyepiece can release the back focal length of the tunable objective, which increases the zoom range of the microscope. No mechanical movement is required and the aberrations can be corrected over a wide wavelength range. Thus, the proposed adaptive microscope has a potential application in biological research and clinical medical examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the technical method of cooling quench medium with air-cooler in the process of bearing quenching is introduced. The exchausted hot air is directly used to dry bearing balls. It is a novel approach for full utilization of heat energy during heat treatment, which increased 30 % of the heat efficiency when compared with normal air-cooler methods that directly put exhaust air into atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional electrowetting lens usually has one tunable liquid-liquid (L-L) interface. The shape of L-L interface is deformed to get variable focal length due to electrowetting effect. However, contact angle saturation of the L-L interface is an unavoidable problem which prevents focal length from further changing. Here, we demonstrate an optofluidic lens based on electrowetting liquid piston. The proposed lens has two connected chambers, the piston chamber and the lens chamber to form a closed-loop fluidic system. The electrowetting liquid piston can generate clockwise and counter-clockwise liquid flows, which can make the L-L interface convex and concave. To prove the concept, we fabricate an optofluidic device whose shortest negative and positive focal lengths are ~−17.9 mm and ~18 mm with 5 mm aperture, respectively. The proposed optofluidic lens has large tunable focal length range. Widespread application of such an adaptive lens is foreseeable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]