Search

Summary: The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), whose total height is about 1–1.5 km, is composed of the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) and the Ekman layer, which typically account for the lower 10% and the upper 90% of the ABL, respectively. The wind veering angle in the Ekman layer can be between 10° and 30°, which may be an important influence factor for the wind‐resistant design of kilometer‐scale super‐tall buildings. Unfortunately, there is very little research on this issue so far due to the difficulty in simulations of veering wind in wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation platforms. In this study, the simulations of non‐veering and veering wind fields are presented, and furthermore, the wind loads of kilometer‐scale super tall buildings with several typical configurations in veering wind fields are numerically investigated. Specifically, the large eddy simulations (LES) of unsteady flow around three buildings, namely, a square building, a tapered building (tapering ratio: 6.6%), and a 4‐layer setback building with the same height and the same aspect ratio of 9:1, are systematically performed for the cases of veering wind and non‐veering wind. The wind pressures and wind forces on these buildings are obtained and comprehensively analyzed. The differences in the wind loads among the building configurations are highlighted, and the mechanisms are discussed based on the time‐averaged and instantaneous flow fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Brain connectivity has been proposed to identify people at risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Existing work has mainly focused on functional connectivity which reflects the mutual dependence between brain regions. Effective connectivity, which represents the directed connectivity from one brain region to the other, is expected to provide more details on directed information flow in the brain network. The present study investigates how cognitive engagement changes the effective connectivity in the brain. Method: Our research focuses on task‐based EEG (64‐channel), where participants were asked to perform a motion direction discrimination task. The current dataset includes 56 consensus‐diagnosed, community‐dwelling African Americans (ages 60‐90 years, 28 healthy controls (HC) and 28 MCI patients) recruited through the Wayne State Institute of Gerontology and Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center with subjective cognitive complaints. We evaluated the effective connectivity at different time periods of the motion‐detection task across all the possible EEG region pairs using causalized convergent cross‐mapping (cCCM) of the current source density. For each task trial, the successive time periods being examined included: (I) stimulus onset to Go indication, (II) Go indication to motion‐stop, and (III) the button‐press period. For each subject, we calculated the mean, maximum and minimum of the cCCM vector for each EEG region pair and each time‐period, then selected the region pairs where the cCCM‐based effective connectivity of HC and MCI show a significant difference (p‐value<0.05). Result: Our analysis indicated that typically, MCI participants show more active effective connectivity or need more effort from stimulus onset to Go indication and then to motion stop, but HC participants show higher maximum and minimum effective connectivity values during the button‐press period, where coherent coordination is required among many region pairs. Conclusion: HC and MCI do show significant differences in effective connectivity during each of the three periods of a motion detection task (marked by stimulus onset, Go indication, and button‐press) over many region pairs. Our analysis provides a massive pool of possible features for future biomarker development for effective discrimination of HC and MCI. Funding: NSF‐2032709/Li; NIH‐1R21AG046637‐01A1/Kavcic and NIH‐1R01AG054484‐01A1/Kavcic; NIH‐P30AG053760/Paulson and NIH‐P30AG072931/Paulson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Necroptosis plays an essential role in acute kidney injury and is mediated by receptor‐interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1), receptor‐interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3), and mixed lineage kinase domain‐like pseudokinase (MLKL). A novel RIPK3 inhibitor, compound 42 (Cpd‐42) alleviates the systemic inflammatory response. The current study was designed to investigate whether Cpd‐42 exhibits protective effects on acute kidney injury and reveal the underlying mechanisms. Experimental Approach: The effects of Cpd‐42 were determined in vivo through cisplatin‐ and ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R)‐induced acute kidney injury and in vitro through cisplatin‐ and hypoxia/re‐oxygenation (H/R)‐induced cell damage. Transmission electron microscopy and periodic acid–Schiff staining were used to identify renal pathology. Cellular thermal shift assay and RIPK3‐knockout mouse renal tubule epithelial cells were used to explore the relationship between Cpd‐42 and RIPK3. Molecular docking and site‐directed mutagenesis were used to determine the binding site of RIPK3 with Cpd‐42. Key Results: Cpd‐42 reduced human proximal tubule epithelial cell line (HK‐2) cell damage, necroptosis and inflammatory responses in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo, cisplatin‐ and I/R‐induced acute kidney injury was alleviated by Cpd‐42 treatment. Cpd‐42 inhibited necroptosis by interacting with two key hydrogen bonds of RIPK3 at Thr94 and Ser146, which further blocked the phosphorylation of RIPK3 and mitigated acute kidney injury. Conclusion and Implications: Acting as a novel RIPK3 inhibitor, Cpd‐42 reduced kidney damage, inflammatory response and necroptosis in acute kidney injury by binding to sites Thr94 and Ser146 on RIPK3. Cpd‐42 could be a promising treatment for acute kidney injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural dual farnesyl X receptor (FXR)/G protein‐coupled bile acid receptor 1 (TGR5) activators have received little attention in the management of metabolic diseases. Deoxyschizandrin (DS), a natural lignan, occurs in S. chinensis fruit and has potent hepatoprotective effects, whereas its protective roles and mechanisms against obesity and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are largely elusive. Here, we identified DS as a dual FXR/TGR5 agonist using luciferase reporter and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) assays. DS was orally or intracerebroventricularly administrated to high‐fat diet‐induced obesity (DIO) mice, and methionine and choline‐deficient L‐amino acid diet (MCD diet)‐induced non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis to evaluate its protective effects. Exogenous leptin treatment was employed to investigate the sensitization effect of DS on leptin. The molecular mechanism of DS was explored by Western blot, quantitative real‐time PCR analysis, and ELISA. The results showed that DS activated FXR/TGR5 signaling and effectively reduced NAFLD in DIO and MCD diet‐fed mice. DS countered obesity in DIO mice by promoting anorexia and energy expenditure and reversing leptin resistance, involving both peripheral and central TGR5 activation and leptin sensitization. Our findings indicate that DS may be a novel therapeutic approach for alleviating obesity and NAFLD through regulating FXR and TGR5 activities and leptin signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The wind direction in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) twists with height due to the Coriolis force; this phenomenon is called the Ekman spiral. However, this phenomenon is generally not considered in the present wind load estimation of super high‐rise buildings, which may lead to an incorrect estimation and affect the safety of structures. Therefore, this study considers and analyzes the influence of the Ekman spiral phenomenon in the wind direction reduction effect (WDRE) of the wind load of super high‐rise buildings. First, this paper proposes an empirical fitting equation for the twisted wind direction angle for a height of 100–800 m according to the classical Ekman spiral theory model (CE model). Subsequently, on the basis of twisted wind, this paper proposes a method for the correction of the wind direction reduction factors (WDRFs) of strong winds considering the influence of the Ekman spiral phenomenon in the design wind load estimation of super high‐rise buildings with heights of 400–800 m. A high‐frequency balance force measurement test of a square‐section super high‐rise building model was performed to analyze the influence of the Ekman spiral phenomenon on the WDRE of the aerodynamic force and wind‐induced response. Three Chinese cities (i.e., Beijing, Wuhan, and Kunming) are selected as case studies to illustrate the importance and necessity of the correction method. The results demonstrate that the proposed empirical fitting equation accurately determines the twisted wind direction angle at different latitudes and altitudes. Furthermore, estimating the design wind load while considering the WDRE and neglecting the influence of the Ekman spiral phenomenon may lead to a significant underestimation of the wind load of super high‐rise buildings, rendering the designed building structure more dangerous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) pandemic is ongoing and multiple studies have elucidated its pathogenesis, however, the related‐ microbiome imbalance caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 is still not clear. In this study, we have comprehensively compared the microbiome composition and associated function alterations in the oropharyngeal swabs of healthy controls and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients with moderate or severe symptoms by metatranscriptomic sequencing. We did observe a reduced microbiome alpha‐diversity but significant enrichment of opportunistic microorganisms in patients with COVID‐19 compared with healthy controls, and the microbial homeostasis was rebuilt following the recovery of COVID‐19 patients. Correspondingly, less functional genes in multiple biological processes and weakened metabolic pathways such as carbohydrate metabolism, energy metabolism were also observed in COVID‐19 patients. We only found higher relative abundance of limited genera such as Lachnoanaerobaculum between severe patients and moderate patients while no worthy‐noting microbiome diversity and function alteration were observed. Finally, we noticed that the co‐occurrence of antibiotic resistance and virulence was closely related to the microbiome alteration caused by SRAS‐CoV‐2. Overall, our findings demonstrate that microbial dysbiosis may enhance the pathogenesis of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the antibiotics treatment should be critically considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has long been observed that the abnormal brain functions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are closely related to the weakening or loss of functional connectivity across certain brain regions. At the same time, the decreased cross‐connectivity is often accompanied by increased connectivity between some other regions, and this was considered to reflect the compensatory mechanisms of the brain. In this research, we investigate the differences in time‐varying functional connectivity between normal controls (NC) and MCI patients in motion detection tasks. Method: Our research is based on task‐based EEG (64‐channel), where the participants were asked to perform a motion direction discrimination task. The current dataset includes 60 consensus‐diagnosed, community‐dwelling African Americans (ages 60‐90 years, 30 NC and 30 MCI) recruited through the Wayne State Institute of Gerontology Healthy Black Elders Center and the Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center with subjective cognitive complaints. We evaluated the time‐varying functional connectivity at different time periods of the motion‐detection task across all the possible EEG region pairs, in terms of the Pearson correlation vector of the current source density. For each task trial, the successive time periods being examined included: stimulus onset to Go/NoGo indication, Go/NoGo indication to motion‐stop, and the button‐press period. For each subject, we calculated the mean, maximum and minimum of the Pearson correlation vector for each EEG region pair and each time period as features, and then selected the features where NC and MCI show a significant difference (p‐value<0.05 in the t‐test). Result: Our analysis indicated that NC shows significantly higher connectivity across EEG region pairs Right Frontal‐Left Central (through most periods), Left Temporal‐Medial Central and Left Temporal‐Occipital (in button‐press period). On the other hand, MCI shows signigicantly high connectivity across Medial Parietal‐Occipital (through all the periods), which may reflect the compensatory mechanisms of the brain. Conclusion: HC and MCI do show significant difference in functional connectivity during the motion detection task, and the EEG regions pairs Medial Parietal‐Occipital, and Right Frontal‐Left Central shown to be excellent choices for biomarker development for the discrimination of NC and MCI. Funding: NSF‐2032709/Li; NIH‐ P30AG05376004/Paulson; NIH‐1R21AG046637‐01A1/Kavcic and NIH‐1R01AG054484‐01A1/Kavcic; [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is inevitable external life support in case of cardiac and respiratory failure since the 1970s. Acute kidney injury (AKI) and the requirement of renal replacement therapy (RRT) is a potential risk among these patients. This review aims to give an overview of the risk of AKI, RRT, and associated mortality among the patients who received ECMO for any of its indications. PubMed database was searched to find the relevant literature and the reference list of included studies was also searched for additional studies. The incidence of AKI ranged from 30% to 78% and RRT from 47% to 60% in ECMO patients. The pathophysiology of AKI in ECMO is multifactorial, and includes ischaemia, RBCs breakdown, comorbidity, conversion of zymogen form of pro‐inflammatory mediators, structural alteration of the kidney, coadministration of nephrotoxic drugs, coagulation abnormality, and oxidative stress. ECMO was associated with the higher incidence of renal abnormalities, AKI, requirement of RRT, and associated mortality. Patients who underwent RRT had improved renal function and reduced overall mortality compared to the non‐RRT group among the ECMO patients. Currently, there is no consensus evidence to support the superior use of the inline hemofilter system over continuous renal replacement therapy among patients who had AKI during ECMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that a news‐based measure of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) negatively forecasts momentum. A 1‐standard‐deviation increase in EPU is associated with a 1.11% decrease in risk‐adjusted momentum returns. The predictive power of EPU is robust after controlling for previously documented economic state variables and macroeconomic uncertainty. We provide an explanation for these results from the perspective of a fund flow‐induced trading mechanism and offer direct empirical support. The literature documents that momentum can be partially attributed to performance‐chasing mutual fund flows. We find that this flow‐induced mechanism functions more effectively in low EPU states, thereby generating stronger stock momentum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schisandra chinensis fruit has been shown to restore carbohydrate‐ and lipid‐metabolic disorders and has anti‐hepatotoxicity and anti‐hepatitis activities. However, the molecular targets mediating the pharmacological properties of S. chinensis fruit have not been clarified. Here, we assayed the effects of S. chinensis fruit ethanol extract (SCE) on farnesoid X receptor (FXR) transactivity. The pharmacological effects of SCE (1 g/100 g diet) were assessed in high‐fat diet (HFD)‐fed C57BL/6 mice and ob/ob mice. The FXR and Fgf15 signalling pathways were evaluated by FXR silencing, ELISA, Western blot and RT‐PCR analyses. The results showed that SCE treatment increased FXR transcription activity and improved obesity, hypercholesteremia and fatty liver in HFD‐fed mice, while it had limited effects on ob/ob mice. Our study suggests that SCE treatment may improve HFD‐induced metabolic disorders through pharmacological activation of FXR/Fgf15 signalling, and such beneficial effects of SCE may require leptin participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic autoimmune disease with an unknown etiology. CD200 is associated with many autoimmune diseases, but little is known about its role in pSS. This study aims to correlate the expression of CD200 with pSS and evaluate its significance. Methods: Plasma CD200, CD200R, and interleukin (IL)‐17 levels were measured and analyzed by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Messenger RNA levels of CD200 and CD200R in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were quantified by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). Following pretreatment of CD200‐Fc, the protein levels of IL‐17A were measured in PBMCs from patients and healthy controls. Results: Results showed that, compared to CD200 in healthy controls, the relative levels in PBMCs from pSS were greater than 2‐fold. In addition, CD200 levels in plasma positively correlated with IL‐17 levels, as well as between plasma CD200 and pSS activity indexes (including immunoglobulin G and European League Against Rheumatism SS Disease Activity Index). While CD200R levels were significantly decreased in pSS patients, no correlation could be found. Furthermore, the protein level of IL‐17 decreased after pretreatment of CD200‐Fc in PBMCs from pSS patients. Conclusion: Our results suggested that the CD200/CD200R pathway is involved in pSS pathogenesis. It is hypothesized that regulation of IL‐17 expression affects Th17 differentiation. This newly discovered pathway could give rise to a novel targeted therapy for pSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We view accruals as a natural candidate to link to momentum in the context of the overreaction explanation. Accruals can proxy for ambiguity about the implications of new information for a firm's value and can vary with the business cycle. Thus, higher accruals can lead to greater behavioral biases in the cross‐sectional and time‐series dimensions and, hence, stronger momentum. Our results show that momentum profitability is mostly concentrated in firms with high accruals. The previously documented cross‐sectional characteristics of momentum and market states do not subsume the effect of accruals on momentum. We also find that most of the momentum returns among high‐accrual firms are attributable to high discretionary accruals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allograft interstitial fibrosis was characterized by massive extracellular matrix deposition caused by activated fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) is recognized as an important source of myofibroblasts contributing to the pathogenesis of allograft interstitial fibrosis. Smad ubiquitination regulatory factor 1 (Smurf1) has been recently reported to be involved in the progression of EMT. Our study was to detect the effect of Bortezomib and Smurf1 in the EMT and allograft interstitial fibrosis. Biomarkers of EMT, as well as Smurf1, were examined in human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK‐2) treated with tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) in various doses or at various time points by Western Blotting or qRT‐PCR. We knockdown or overexpressed Smurf1 in HK‐2 cells. Furthermore, rat renal transplant model was established and intervened by Bortezomib. Allograft tissues from human and rats were also collected and prepared for HE, Masson's trichrome, immunohistochemical staining and western blotting assays. As a result, we found that TNF‐α significantly promoted the development of EMT in a time‐dependent and dose‐dependent manner through Smurf1/Akt/mTOR/P70S6K signalling pathway. More importantly, Bortezomib alleviated the progression of EMT and allograft interstitial fibrosis in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting the production of TNF‐α and expression of Smurf1. In conclusion, Smurf1 plays a critical role in the development of EMT induced by TNF‐α. Bortezomib can attenuate the Sumrf1‐mediated progression of EMT and renal allograft interstitial fibrosis, which could be suggested as a novel choice for the prevention and treatment of renal allograft interstitial fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: The molecular mechanism for the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains elusive. Both farnesoid X receptor (FXR) signalling and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress contribute to the progression of NAFLD; however, it is not clear whether the actions of these two pathways are dependent on each other. Moreover, the pharmacological benefits and mechanism of betulinic acid (BA) in controlling metabolic syndrome and NAFLD are largely unknown.Experimental Approach: A reporter assay and a time-resolved FRET assay were used to identify BA as an agonist of the FXR. NAFLD was induced by a methionine and choline-deficient L-amino acid diet (MCD) and high-fat diet (HFD). The pharmacological effects of BA (100 mg·kg-1 ·day-1 ) and potential interactions between hepatic FXR activation and ER stress pathways were evaluated by FXR silencing, Western blot and RT-PCR analyses using control and FXR-/- mice.Key Results: Activation of the FXR inhibited intracellular PERK/EIF2α/ATF4 and CHOP signalling, thereby alleviating hepatic ER stress, whereas FXR silencing resulted in an opposite effect. Furthermore, we identified BA as an FXR agonist that effectively attenuated the progression of NAFLD and metabolic disorders in both HFD- and MCD diet-fed mice and restored the hepatocellular ER homeostasis by stimulating the FXR signalling pathway and blocking PERK/EIF2α signalling. In contrast, the effects of BA were attenuated in FXR-/- mice.Conclusions and Implications: Our data demonstrate that pharmacological activation of the FXR by BA reduces hepatocellular ER stress and attenuates NAFLD in an animal model of hepatic steatosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The effects of image doubling on logarithmic progression chart visual acuity were investigated by simulating diplopia on a computer monitor. Methods: Ten participants (6M, 4F) aged 21–28 years (mean 22.4 ± 2.3) were assessed viewing with their left eye while wearing their best correction. Stimuli were eight rows of five Sloan letters, from 0.4 to −0.3 logMAR (6/15 to 6/3) arranged in logarithmic progression format, generated on an HD monitor. Stimuli were generated with different magnitudes of doubling, different directions of doubling, and different intensity ratios between the ghost image and main images. Results: When the ghost image had the same intensity as the main image, there was a significant effect of doubling magnitude on visual acuity, with the mean acuity being −0.11 logMAR (6/4.7) for no doubling. Acuity thresholds (logMAR) increased when doubling exceeded 1 min of arc, reaching a level of 0.12 logMAR (6/7.9) for doubling of 16 min of arc. There were no significant effects of orientation on acuity, nor were there significant orientation‐doubling magnitude interaction effects of visual acuity. Image doubling magnitude level affected visual acuity differently for different ghost image intensities, with the highest acuity elevation occurring when ghost and main images were equal or nearly equal. For faint ghost image intensities (10% and 20%) image doubling did not significantly affect visual acuity. Conclusions: Image doubling will degrade visual acuity if doubling is greater than 1 min of arc, and ghost images are sufficiently intense. However, even with very obvious visually‐disturbing image doubling, visual acuity remains only slightly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Previous association studies have identified genetic variants in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex as substantial risk factors for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs). However, a great number of genes are located in the HLA region, and thus fine mapping is quite necessary. Methods: Targeted capture sequencing were performed on the whole HLA region in 42 IIM patients and 24 healthy controls. A microarray analysis was applied to analyze gene expression profiles in additional 20 newly diagnosed IIM and five healthy controls. Results: The HLA region was confirmed to be associated with IIMs in Chinese patients. By gene expression profiling and pathway analysis, several genes were identified as candidates for IIM risk factors, including HLA‐A, HLA‐B, HLA‐DRB5, HLA‐DRB1, HLA‐DQA1, HLA‐DQB1 and HLA‐DQB2. Interestingly, p.Y107V of the HLA‐DRB1 was predicted to be a potential causal non‐synonymous variation for IIMs that may affect the antigen‐binding groove of the HLA‐II molecule. Conclusions: Our data have revealed novel genetic variations in the HLA region of IIM patients and provide new insight into the pathogenesis and diagnosis of IIMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number and variety of bitter compounds originating from plants are vast. Whereas some bitter chemicals are toxic and should not be ingested, other compounds exhibit health beneficial effects, which is manifest in the cross‐cultural believe that the bitterness of medicine is correlated with the desired medicinal activity. The bitter taste receptors in the oral cavity serve as sensors for bitter compounds and, as they are expressed in numerous extraoral tissues throughout the body, may also be responsible for some physiological effects exerted by bitter compounds. Chinese herbal medicine uses bitter herbs since ancient times for the treatment of various diseases; however, the routes by which these herbs modify physiology are frequently not well understood. We therefore screened 26 bitter substances extracted from medical herbs for the activation of the 25 human bitter taste receptors. We identified six receptors activated by in total 17 different bitter compounds. Interestingly, we observed a bias in bitter taste receptor activation with 10 newly identified agonists for the broadly tuned receptor TAS2R46, seven agonists activating the TAS2R14 and two compounds activating narrowly tuned receptors, suggesting that these receptors play dominant roles in the evaluation and perhaps physiological activities of Chinese herbal medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Morin is a natural occurring flavonoid in many dietary plants and has a wide range of beneficial effects on metabolism; however, the mechanism underlying its action remains elusive.Experimental Approach: A reporter assay and the time-resolved FRET assay were used to identify morin as a dual antagonist of liver X receptor (LXR)-α and -β. Morin (100 mg. 100 g-1 diet) was administered to high-fat diet-induced obese or LXRβ-/- mice. The pharmacological effects and mechanism of action of morin were evaluated by Western blot and RT-PCR analyses.Key Results: From the in vitro assays, morin was shown to be a dual antagonist of LXRα and LXRβ. In vivo, morin blunted the development of liver hepatic steatosis, reduced body weight gains, lowered triglyceride levels and improved glucose and insulin tolerance in mice fed a high-fat diet. Mechanistically, morin inhibited 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation and lipid formation in human hepatic HepG2 cells and suppressed the mRNA expression of genes downstream of LXR. Consistently, the effects of morin on metabolic disorders were attenuated in LXRβ-/- mice.Conclusion and Implications: Our data reveal that morin is a dual antagonist of LXRα and LXRβ and suggest that morin may alleviate hepatic steatosis and other associated metabolic disorders via the suppression of LXR signalling and, therefore, shows promise as a novel therapy or nutraceutical for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of numerical simulations of tropical low intensification over land is presented. The simulations are carried out using the MM5 mesoscale model with initial and boundary conditions provided by ECMWF analyses. Seven simulations are discussed: a control simulation, five sensitivity simulations in which the initial moisture availability is varied, and one simulation in which the coupling between moisture availability is suppressed. Changing the initial moisture availability adds a stochastic element to the development of deep convection. The results are interpreted in terms of the classical axisymmetric paradigm for tropical cyclone intensification with recent modifications. Spin-up over land is favoured by the development of deep convection near the centre of the low circulation. As for tropical cyclones over sea, this convection leads to an overturning circulation that draws absolute angular momentum surfaces inwards in the lower troposphere leading to spin-up of the tangential winds above the boundary layer. The intensification takes place within a moist monsoonal environment, which appears to be sufficient to support sporadic deep convection. A moisture budget for two mesoscale columns of air encompassing the storm shows that the horizontal import of moisture is roughly equal to the moisture lost by precipitation. Overall, surface moisture fluxes make a small quantitative contribution to the budget although, near the circulation centre, these fluxes appear to play an important role in generating local conditional instability. Suppressing the effect of rainfall on the moisture availability has little effect on the evolution of the low, presumably because, at any one time, deep convection is not sufficiently widespread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of grid curtains on the local and overall wind loads of a high-rise building are investigated in detail according to a series of wind pressure and wind force tests on rigid model in a wind tunnel. The effects of grid curtains on the mean and fluctuating wind pressures on windward and sideward walls when the wind direction is parallel to the geometrical axes are investigated, along with the effects of the most unfavorable wind pressures for all wind directions. Furthermore, the effects of grid curtains on the mean and fluctuating aerodynamic forces on the entire building are also analyzed for various wind directions, along with the effects of grid curtains on the aerodynamic force spectra when the wind direction is parallel to the geometric axes. The test results indicate that grid curtains affect the mean and fluctuating windward pressure slightly but greatly influence the large sideward negative pressures. Grid curtains increase the mean and fluctuating windward aerodynamic forces and reduce the fluctuating aerodynamic torsions. According to the aerodynamic force spectra, grid curtains can mainly affect the wind forces in the low-frequency range. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pompe disease, which leads to dysfunction of the enzyme acid a‐glucosidase, is a genetic disorder seen in 1 in 40000 births. Adult‐onset Pompe disease is known as a slowly progressive myasthenia with or without respiratory dysfunction. We herein report two cases of adult‐onset Pompe disease, in which postoperative acute respiratory failure was the the initial manifestation. The two patients showed no symptoms of ambulatory and respiratory dysfunction before operation. The diagnosis of Pompe disease was determined by muscle biopsy and acid a‐glucosidase assay in the blood. Rapid deterioration of already struggling diaphragmatic function induced by stress of surgery and anesthesia were thought to be the main reason of postoperative acute respiratory failure. Physicians should be aware of the existence of an adult form of Pompe disease which may present with postoperative acute respiratory failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Diabetes is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

SUMMARY Careful selection and placement of sensors are the critical issue in the construction and implementation of an effective structural health monitoring system. A hybrid method termed the optimal sensor placement strategy (OSPS) based on multiple optimization methods is proposed in this paper. The initial sensor placement is firstly obtained by the QR factorization. Then, using the minimization of the off-diagonal elements in the modal assurance criterion matrix as a measure of the utility of a sensor configuration, the quantity of the sensors is determined by the forward and backward sequential sensor placement algorithm together. Finally, the locations of the sensor are determined by the dual-structure coding-based generalized genetic algorithm (GGA). Taking the scientific calculation software matlab (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA) as a platform, an OSPS toolbox, which is working as a black box, is developed based on the command-line compiling and graphical user interface-aided graphical interface design. The characteristic and operation method of the toolbox are introduced in detail, and the scheme selection of the OSP is carried out on the world's tallest TV tower (Guangzhou New TV Tower) based on the developed toolbox. The results indicate that the proposed method is effective and the software package has a friendly interface, plenty of functions, good expansibility and is easy to operate, which can be easily applied in practical engineering. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiseparable matrices and many other rank-structured matrices have been widely used in developing new fast matrix algorithms. In this paper, we generalize the hierarchically semiseparable (HSS) matrix representations and propose some fast algorithms for HSS matrices. We represent HSS matrices in terms of general binary HSS trees and use simplified postordering notation for HSS forms. Fast HSS algorithms including new HSS structure generation and HSS form Cholesky factorization are developed. Moreover, we provide a new linear complexity explicit ULV factorization algorithm for symmetric positive definite HSS matrices with a low-rank property. The corresponding factors can be used to solve the HSS systems also in linear complexity. Numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithms. All these algorithms have nice data locality. They are useful in developing fast-structured numerical methods for large discretized PDEs (such as elliptic equations), integral equations, eigenvalue problems, etc. Some applications are shown. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new stochastic approximation (SA) algorithm for maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) in the incomplete-data setting. This algorithm is most useful for problems when the EM algorithm is not possible due to an intractable E-step or M-step. Compared to other algorithm that have been proposed for intractable EM problems, such as the MCEM algorithm of Wei and Tanner (1990), our proposed algorithm appears more generally applicable and efficient. The approach we adopt is inspired by the Robbins-Monro (1951) stochastic approximation procedure, and we show that the proposed algorithm can be used to solve some of the long-standing problems in computing an MLE with incomplete data. We prove that in general O(n) simulation steps are required in computing the MLE with the SA algorithm and O( n log n) simulation steps are required in computing the MLE using the MCEM and/or the MCNR algorithm, where n is the sample size of the observations. Examples include computing the MLE in the nonlinear error-in-variable model and nonlinear regression model with random effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new scan technique utilizing the tandem quadrupole acceleration-deceleration mass spectrometer is described. The technique is based on combined monitoring of neutral and ion precursors that fragment following collisional electron transfer to give rise to a selected low-mass neutral species and its ion, respectively. PO˙ is found to be a stable neutral species formed by dissociations of a variety of oxidized phosphorus compounds, such as di- and trialkyl phosphites, phosphates and phosphonic esters. These compounds can be selectively monitored through PO˙. precursor scans in multi-component mixtures. Interferences from isobaric neutral species, 35CIC˙, CH3S˙, CH330SiH2˙, and their precursors are discussed. Neutralization-reionization spectra of phosphorus-containing radicals, PO˙, CH3OPH˙, CH3OPOH˙, ˙P(OCH3)2 and (CH3O)2PO˙, are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: When a large super high‐rise building taller than the surrounding tall buildings is built in a dense urban area, the aerodynamic interference effects of the surrounding buildings on the proposed building attract much attention, while the interference effects of the taller high‐rise building on the nearby existing buildings are often ignored. Based on a series of wind tunnel tests, the interference effects of a proposed taller high‐rise building, an adjacent equal‐height partner building, and relatively short background buildings on the target building's local wind pressures are analysed in this paper. Two‐dimensional numerical simulation are carried out to further understand the interference mechanism in some cases. The test results show that the influence of a nearby proposed taller high‐rise building may lead to wind‐induced damage on the interfered shorter buildings' envelopes. The envelope structures of other surrounding buildings facing the side of the proposed building need to be given more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Graph matching problem appears frequently in the applications of computer vision and machine learning. In this work, based on the spectral matching with affine constraint (SMAC) formulation, we present a new formulation, named bounded SMAC (BSMAC), for the graph matching problem by adding an upper‐bound constraint on the solution norm. We demonstrate the existence of a unique solution with BSMAC, whereas SMAC needs not to have any meaningful solution in general. We develop an effective numerical method to solve the BSMAC formulation as an optimization problem. Numerical experiments are presented to verify feasibility and to show the performance of the proposed numerical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Lattice towers are among the most vulnerable structures during typhoons. In this study, the wind engineering research field base near Shanghai Pudong International Airport was used to measure the mean wind speeds and directions at a height of 10 m, as well as the accelerations atop a 40‐m high lattice tower during Typhoons Neoguri and Nakri to investigate the characteristics of the near‐ground wind and the responses of the lattice tower. Moreover, an aeroelastic model of the lattice tower was generated by the discrete stiffness method. Using the wind tunnel test of the aeroelastic model, the root mean square accelerations of the tower were studied with different wind speeds and directions. The responses of the tower in the across‐wind direction were found always higher than those in the along‐wind direction, which meant the vortex shedding of each single cylinder had an impact on the responses of the tower in the across‐wind direction. The test results were compared with those of field measurements to evaluate the accuracy of the aeroelastic model, and the two were generally in a good agreement. Thus, the aeroelastic model could precisely simulate the dynamic characteristics of a prototypical lattice tower using the discrete stiffness method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further improve the thermal efficiency of the coal‐fired boiler, lower environment restraints, and minimize key components, the supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle was considered to replace the conventional steam Rankine cycle. In this paper, a three‐dimensional mathematical model of the thermal behaviors between the supercritical CO2 tube and flue gas was established using the Lam–Bremhorst k–ε model, the gas real model, and the P‐1 radiation model. The distributions of the velocity and the temperature between the supercritical CO2 tube and flue gas were investigated numerically. Furthermore, the effects of the supercritical CO2 inlet temperature on the thermal behaviors were also examined. The results show the surface heat transfer coefficient goes up with the supercritical CO2 inlet temperature due to the rise of the thermal conductivity. More significant thermal behaviors and detailed physical explanations were elaborated, which would offer a novel insight to understand, design, and optimize the supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle for engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]