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Background: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) affects treatment strategies and prognosis. However, preoperative imaging is not reliable enough for identifying LNM. Purpose: To develop and validate a radiomics nomogram based on dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)‐MR images for identifying LNM and prognosis in iCCA. Study Type: Retrospective. Subjects: Two hundred four patients with pathologically proven iCCA who underwent curative‐intent resection and lymphadenectomy (training cohort: N = 107, internal test cohort: N = 46, and external test cohort: N = 51). Field Strength/Sequence: T1‐ and T2‐weighted imaging, diffusion‐weighted imaging and DCE imaging at 1.5 T or 3.0 T. Assessment: Radiomics features were extracted from intra‐ and peri‐tumoral regions on preoperative DCE‐MR images. Imaging features were evaluated by three radiologists, and significant variables in univariable and multivariable regression analysis were included in clinical model. The best‐performing radiomics signature and clinical characteristics (intrahepatic duct dilatation, MRI‐reported LNM) were combined to build a nomogram. Patients were divided into high‐risk and low‐risk groups based on their nomogram scores (cutoff = 0.341). Patients were followed up for 1–102 months (median 12) after surgery, the overall survival (OS) and recurrence‐free survival (RFS) were calculated. Statistical Tests: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration, decision curve, Delong test, Kaplan–Meier curves, log rank test. Two tailed P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The nomogram incorporating intra‐ and peri‐tumoral radiomics features, intrahepatic duct dilatation and MRI‐reported LNM obtained the best discrimination for LNM, with areas under the ROC curves of 0.946, 0.913, and 0.859 in the training, internal, and external test cohorts. In the entire cohort, high‐risk patients had significantly lower RFS and OS than low‐risk patients. High‐risk of LNM was an independent factor of unfavorable OS and RFS. Data Conclusion: The nomogram integrating intra‐ and peri‐tumoral radiomics signatures has potential to identify LNM and prognosis in iCCA. Evidence Level: 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Mycorrhizal associations are key mutualisms that shape the structure of forest communities and multiple ecosystem functions. However, we lack a framework for predicting the varying dominance of distinct mycorrhizal associations in an integrated proxy of multifunctionality across ecosystems.Here, we used the datasets containing diversity of mycorrhizal associations and 18 ecosystem processes related to supporting, provisioning, and regulating services to examine how the dominance of ectomycorrhiza (EcM) associations affects ecosystem multifunctionality in subtropical mountain forests in Southwest China. Meanwhile, we synthesized the prevalence of EcM‐dominant effects on ecosystem functioning in forest biomes.Our results demonstrated that elevation significantly modified the distributions of EcM trees and fungal dominance, which in turn influenced multiple functions simultaneously. Multifunctionality increased with increasing proportion of EcM associations, supporting the ectomycorrhizal‐dominance hypothesis. Meanwhile, we observed that the impacts of EcM dominance on individual ecosystem functions exhibited different relationships among forest biomes.Our findings highlight the importance of ectomycorrhizal dominance in regulating multifunctionality in subtropical forests. However, this ectomycorrhizal feedback in shaping ecosystem functions cannot necessarily be generalized across forests. Therefore, we argue that the predictions for ecosystem multifunctionality in response to the shifts of mycorrhizal composition could vary across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been suggested that a bidirectional impact exists between periodontitis and diabetes. Periodontitis may affect diabetes glycemic control, insulin resistance, and diabetic complications. Diabetes can worsen periodontitis by delaying wound healing and increasing the chance of infection. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are heterogeneous particles of membrane‐enclosed spherical structure secreted by eukaryotes and prokaryotes and play a key role in a variety of diseases. This review will introduce the biogenesis, release, and biological function of EVs from a microbial and host cell perspective, discuss the functional properties of EVs in the development of periodontitis and diabetes, and explore their role in the pathogenesis and clinical application of these two diseases. Their clinical implication and diagnostic value are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single‐cell transcriptomics analysis is an advanced technology that can describe the intracellular transcriptome in complex tissues. It profiles and analyses datasets by single‐cell RNA sequencing. Neurodegenerative diseases are identified by the abnormal apoptosis of neurons in the brain with few or no effective therapy strategies at present, which has been a growing healthcare concern and brought a great burden to society. The transcriptome of individual cells provides deep insights into previously unforeseen cellular heterogeneity and gene expression differences in neurodegenerative disorders. It detects multiple cell subsets and functional changes during pathological progression, which deepens the understanding of the molecular underpinnings and cellular basis of neurodegenerative diseases. Furthermore, the transcriptome analysis of immune cells shows the regulation of immune response. Different subtypes of immune cells and their interaction are found to contribute to disease progression. This finding enables the discovery of novel targets and biomarkers for early diagnosis. In this review, we emphasize the principles of the technology, and its recent progress in the study of cellular heterogeneity and immune mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases. The application of single‐cell transcriptomics analysis in neurodegenerative disorders would help explore the pathogenesis of these diseases and develop novel therapeutic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ultraviolet (UV) is the main reason to cause photoaging skin which not only hinders beauty, brings the patients with psychological burden, but also pathologically leads to the occurrence of tumors in skin. Objective: This study goes into the inhibitory effect and mechanism of seawater pearl hydrolysate (SPH) to address human skin keratinocytes photoaging induced by UVB. Methods: The photoaging model of Hacat cell was constructed by UVB irradiation, the levels of oxidative stress, apoptosis, aging, autophagy and autophagy‐related protein and signal pathway expression were assessed to characterize the inhibitory effect and mechanism of SPH on photoaging Hacat cell. Results: Seawater pearl hydrolysate significantly accelerated (p < 0.05) the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, and markedly reduced (p < 0.05) the contents of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde, protein carbonyl compound and nitrosylated tyrosine protein, aging level, apoptosis rate in Hacat cell induced by 200 mJ cm−2 UVB after 24 and 48 h of culture; high dose SPH significantly raised (p < 0.05) relative expression level of p‐Akt, p‐mTOR proteins, and markedly decreased (p < 0.05) relative expression level of LC3II protein, p‐AMPK, and autophagy level in Hacat cell induced by 200 mJ cm−2 UVB, or in combination with the intervention of PI3K inhibitor or AMPK overexpression after 48 h of culture. Conclusion: Seawater pearl hydrolysate can effectively inhibit 200 mJ cm−2 UVB‐induced photoaging of Hacat cells. The mechanism indicates removing the excessive ROS through increasing the antioxidation of photoaging Hacat cells. Once redundant ROS is eliminated, SPH works to reduce AMPK, increase PI3K‐Akt pathway expression, activate mTOR pathway to lowdown autophagy level, and as a result, inhibit apoptosis and aging in photoaging Hacat cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis-induced muscle atrophy often increases morbidity and mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, yet neither therapeutic target nor optimal animal model is available for this disease. Here, by modifying the surgical strategy of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), a novel sepsis pig model is created that for the first time recapitulates the whole course of sepsis in humans. With this model and sepsis patients, increased levels of the transcription factor zinc finger BED-type containing 6 (ZBED6) in skeletal muscle are shown. Protection against sepsis-induced muscle wasting in ZBED6-deficient pigs is further demonstrated. Mechanistically, integrated analysis of RNA-seq and ChIP-seq reveals dedicator of cytokinesis 3 (DOCK3) as the direct target of ZBED6. In septic ZBED6-deficient pigs, DOCK3 expression is increased in skeletal muscle and myocytes, activating the RAC1/PI3K/AKT pathway and protecting against sepsis-induced muscle wasting. Conversely, opposite gene expression patterns and exacerbated muscle wasting are observed in septic ZBED6-overexpressing myotubes. Notably, sepsis patients show increased ZBED6 expression along with reduced DOCK3 and downregulated RAC1/PI3K/AKT pathway. These findings suggest that ZBED6 is a potential therapeutic target for sepsis-induced muscle atrophy, and the established sepsis pig model is a valuable tool for understanding sepsis pathogenesis and developing its therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Mycorrhiza play key roles for ecosystem structure and functioning in forests. However, how different mycorrhizal types influence mountain forest biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships are largely unknown. We evaluate how the diversity of distinct mycorrhiza‐associated fungi and trees shapes forest carbon storage along elevational gradients. Location: Gaoligong Mountains within Hengduan Mountains, Southwest China. Taxon: Seed plants and mycorrhizal fungi. Methods: We used the data from 31 subtropical forest plots along elevational gradients on two aspects (east and west) of the mountain. We quantified species richness of trees and symbiotic fungi and assigned both to their mycorrhizal type (arbuscular mycorrhiza [AM], ectomycorrhiza [EcM] and ericoid mycorrhiza [ErM]). We then examined the diversity effects of mycorrhiza‐associated fungi and trees on above‐ground carbon stored in trees and organic carbon stored in soils. Results: Species richness was highest for AM trees (79.5%), followed by ErM trees (13.4%) and then EcM trees (7.1%). Species richness of AM‐associated trees and fungi decreased with increasing elevation, while ErM‐associated trees and fungi showed an opposite trend. EcM‐associated diversity followed a hump‐shaped relationship with elevation. Positive relationships between diversity and above‐ground carbon were detected in all three mycorrhizal associations, but despite low species number, canopy‐dominating EcM trees comprised 64.4% of the amount of above‐ground carbon. Furthermore, community‐weighted means of height exhibited positive correlations with forest above‐ground carbon, indicating that positive selection effects occur. Soil organic carbon was positively related to EcM‐associated fungi diversity, above‐ground carbon mass and soil nitrogen availability, with the latter having strongest direct effects. Main Conclusions: The distributions of forest biodiversity and carbon storage can be modulated by distinct mycorrhizal fungi and trees. Moreover, future global changes (e.g. climate warming, intensifying nitrogen deposition) could alter the mycorrhizal‐mediated BEF relationships in mountain forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: CD300s are a group of proteins playing vital roles in immune responses. However, much is yet to be elucidated regarding the expression patterns and clinical significances of CD300s in cancers. Methods: In this study, we comprehensively investigated CD300s in a pan‐cancer manner using multi‐omic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We also studied the relationship between CD300s and the immune landscape of AML. Results: We found that CD300A‐CD300LF were generally overexpressed in tumors (especially AML), whereas CD300LG was more often downregulated. In AML, transactivation of CD300A was not mediated by genetic alterations but by histone modification. Survival analyses revealed that high CD300A‐CD300LF expression predicted poor outcome in AML patients; the prognostic value of CD300A was validated in seven independent datasets and a meta dataset including 1115 AML patients. Furthermore, we demonstrated that CD300A expression could add prognostic value in refining existing risk models in AML. Importantly, CD300A‐CD300LF expression was closely associated with T‐cell dysfunction score and could predict response to AML immunotherapy. Also, CD300A was found to be positively associated with HLA genes and critical immune checkpoints in AML, such as VISTA, CD86, CD200R1, Tim‐3, and the LILRB family genes. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated CD300s as potential prognostic biomarker and an ideal immunotherapy target in AML, which warrants future functional and clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity across multiple trophic levels is required to maintain multiple ecosystem functions. Yet it remains unclear how multitrophic diversity and species interactions regulate ecosystem multifunctionality. Here, combining data from 9 different trophic groups (including trees, shrubs, herbs, leaf mites, small mammals, bacteria, pathogenic fungi, saprophytic fungi, and symbiotic fungi) and 13 ecosystem functions related to supporting, provisioning, and regulating services, we used a multitrophic perspective to evaluate the effects of elevation, diversity, and network complexity on scale‐dependent subalpine forest multifunctionality. Our results demonstrated that elevation and soil pH significantly modified species composition and richness across multitrophic groups and influenced multiple functions simultaneously. We present evidence that species richness across multiple trophic groups had stronger effects on multifunctionality than species richness at any single trophic level. Moreover, biotic associations, indicating the complexity of trophic networks, were positively associated with multifunctionality. The relative effects of diversity on multifunctionality increased at the scale of the larger community compared to a scale accounting for neighboring interactions. Our results highlight the paramount importance of scale‐ and context‐dependent multitrophic diversity and interactions for a better understanding of mountain ecosystem multifunctionality in a changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity, which has unknown pathogenesis, can increase the frequency and seriousness of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study evaluated effect of Huayu Qutan Recipe (HQR) pretreatment on myocardial apoptosis induced by AMI by regulating mitochondrial function via PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway in rats with obesity. For in vivo experiments, 60 male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: sham group, AMI group, AMI (obese) group, 4.5, 9.0 and 18.0 g/kg/d HQR groups. The models fed on HQR with different concentrations for 2 weeks before AMI. For in vitro experiments, the cardiomyocytes line (H9c2) was used. Cells were pretreated with palmitic acid (PA) for 24 h, then to build hypoxia model followed by HQR-containing serum for 24 h. Related indicators were also detected. In vivo, HQR can lessen pathohistological damage and apoptosis after AMI. In addition, HQR improves blood fat levels, cardiac function, inflammatory factor, the balance of oxidation and antioxidation, as well as lessen infarction in rats with obesity after AMI. Meanwhile, HQR can diminish myocardial cell death by improving mitochondrial function via PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway activation. In vitro, HQR inhibited H9c2 cells apoptosis, improved mitochondrial function and activated the PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway, but effects can be peripeteiad by LY294002. Myocardial mitochondrial dysfunction occurs following AMI and can lead to myocardial apoptosis, which can be aggravated by obesity. HQR can relieve myocardial apoptosis by improving mitochondrial function via the PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway in rats with obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common malignant tumor among males and females worldwide. Hypoxia is a typical feature of the tumor microenvironment, and it affects cancer development. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been reported to sponge miRNAs to regulate target gene expression and play an essential role in tumorigenesis and progression. This study is aimed at identifying whether circRNAs could be used as the diagnostic biomarkers for NSCLC. Methods. The heterogeneity of samples in this study was assessed by principal component analysis (PCA). Furthermore, the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was normalized by the affy R package. We further screened the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed circular RNAs (DEcircRNAs) using the DEseq2 R package. Moreover, we analyzed the Gene Ontology (GO) annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment of DEGs using the cluster profile R package. Besides, the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to identify the biological function of DEGs. The interaction between DEGs and the competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) network was detected using STRING and visualized using Cytoscape. Starbase predicted the miRNAs of target hub genes, and miRanda predicted the target miRNAs of circRNAs. The RNA-seq profiler and clinical information were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Then, the variables were assessed by the univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models. Significant variables in the univariate Cox proportional hazard regression model were included in the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model to analyze the association between the variables of clinical features. Furthermore, the overall survival of variables was determined by the Kaplan-Meier survival curve, and the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to calculate and validate the risk score in NSCLC patients. Moreover, predictive nomograms were constructed and used to predict the prognostic features between the high-risk and low-risk score groups. Results. We screened a total of 2039 DEGs, including 1293 upregulated DEGs and 746 downregulated DEGs in hypoxia-treated A549 cells. A549 cells treated with hypoxia had a total of 70 DEcircRNAs, including 21 upregulated and 49 downregulated DEcircRNAs, compared to A549 cells treated with normoxia. The upregulated genes were significantly enriched in 284 GO terms and 42 KEGG pathways, while the downregulated genes were significantly enriched in 184 GO terms and 25 KEGG pathways. Moreover, the function analysis by GSEA showed enrichment in the enzyme-linked receptor protein signaling pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor- (HIF-) 1 signaling pathway, and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) downstream signaling. Furthermore, six hub modules and 10 hub genes, CDC45, EXO1, PLK1, RFC4, CCNB1, CDC6, MCM10, DLGAP5, AURKA, and POLE2, were identified. The ceRNA network was constructed, and it consisted of 4 circRNAs, 14 miRNAs, and 38 mRNAs. The ROC curve was constructed and calculated. The area under the curve (AUC) value was 0.62, and the optimal threshold was 0.28. Based on the optimal threshold, the patients were divided into the high-risk score and low-risk score groups. The survival rate in the high-risk score group was lower than that in the low-risk score group. The expression of SERPINE1, STC2, and LPCAT1; clinical stage; and age of the patient were significantly correlated with the high-risk score. Moreover, nomograms were established based on the risk factors in multivariate analysis, and the median survival time, 3-year survival probability, and 5-year survival were possibly predicted according to nomograms. Conclusion. The ceRNA network associated with NSCLC was identified, and the hub genes, circRNAs, might act as the potential biomarkers for NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese (Mn2+) is an environmental pollutant, and testis is one of the main target organs. Coridius chinensis (C. chinensis), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been shown widely used in treating various kinds of pain, nephropathy and erectile dysfunction. In our recent study, we found that Mn2+ exposure caused testicular injury could be rescued in part by the antioxidant activity of C. chinensis extracts (CcE). However, there is dearth of extensive knowledge on the therapeutic effects of C. chinensis on manganese- induced reproductive toxicity. In the present study, Sprague- Dawley (SD) rats were administered manganese chloride alone or co- treated with CcE for 30 consecutive days. Results indicated that C. chinensis mediated suppression of spermatogenic dysfunction, and the number of apoptotic cells was significantly decreased in CcE- treated groups. Furthermore, the disintegrated testicular ultrastructural structure caused by Mn2+ was partially repaired in CcE- treated groups. C. chinensis significantly inhibited Mn2+ induced decline in biomarkers of blood-- testis barrier (BTB) including occludin, claudin1, zonula occludens- 1 and junctional adhesion molecule 1, whereas it decreased the expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and c- Src. This study demonstrated that c- Src and FAK might be involved in the repair of Mn2+- induced testicular injury by C. chinensis, but further research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel decoupling scheme is proposed to suppress the mutual coupling between the two ports of a single patch antenna (SPA), while maintaining the radiation properties of each port with co‐linear polarization, co‐radiating aperture, and broadside radiation patterns without deterioration in gain. For this purpose, a pair of λ/4 nonradiative stubs are introduced and loaded symmetrically in the SPA. Thanks to the good feature that the nulls of the composite fields of TM20 and TM30 modes are present only near the coupled port, both radiating apertures of the SPA can operate simultaneously. Moreover, the decoupling principle, equivalent transmission‐line models, and design guidelines are extensively illustrated. The measured results show that each port of the SPA has a broadside radiation pattern with co‐linear polarization and about 7‐dBi gain under isolation improvement. As such, this two‐port SPA, with the size of 0.41*0.37*0.04*λ03, can be equivalent to a two‐patch antenna array with 0 edge‐to‐edge distance. Most importantly, the proposed decoupling method is achieved without compromise in the three degrees of freedom (i.e., co‐polarization, similar radiation pattern, and co‐radiating aperture), which is a tough challenge nowadays. This decoupling approach allows the two‐port SPA could be an alternative solution in MIMO systems or in‐band full‐duplex systems [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, two coupled patch elements in central symmetry are used to produce a pair of even/odd characteristic modes with single‐/dual‐beams. It is found that the pointing direction of dual‐beam could be adjusted in both horizontal and vertical planes with unchanged polarization. Common‐fed configuration is adopted to effectively excite the odd mode and fully suppress the even mode. Modal impedance analysis is performed for the proposed antenna to determine the two feeding positions. A prototype antenna with its dual‐beam rotated by 45° in horizontal plane and inclined by 40° in vertical plane is fabricated and measured. The antenna possesses a 10‐dB impedance bandwidth of 0.73% and a radiation gain of 7.0 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standard plant DNA barcodes based on 2–3 plastid regions, and nrDNA ITS show variable levels of resolution, and fail to discriminate among species in many plant groups. Genome skimming to recover complete plastid genome sequences and nrDNA arrays has been proposed as a solution to address these resolution limitations. However, few studies have empirically tested what gains are achieved in practice. Of particular interest is whether adding substantially more plastid and nrDNA characters will lead to an increase in discriminatory power, or whether the resolution limitations of standard plant barcodes are fundamentally due to plastid genomes and nrDNA not tracking species boundaries. To address this, we used genome skimming to recover near‐complete plastid genomes and nuclear ribosomal DNA from Rhododendron species and compared discrimination success with standard plant barcodes. We sampled 218 individuals representing 145 species of this species‐rich and taxonomically difficult genus, focusing on the global biodiversity hotspots of the Himalaya‐Hengduan Mountains. Only 33% of species were distinguished using ITS+matK+rbcL+trnH‐psbA. In contrast, 55% of species were distinguished using plastid genome and nrDNA sequences. The vast majority of this increase is due to the additional plastid characters. Thus, despite previous studies showing an asymptote in discrimination success beyond 3–4 plastid regions, these results show that a demonstrable increase in discriminatory power is possible with extensive plastid genome data. However, despite these gains, many species remain unresolved, and these results also reinforce the need to access multiple unlinked nuclear loci to obtain transformative gains in species discrimination in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of B7‐H3 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is not fully understood. Two previous studies investigating its expression and significances in AML are partially different. In this study, we aimed to systematically characterize the genomic and immune landscape in AML patients with altered B7‐H3 expression using multi‐omics data in the public domain. We found significantly increased B7‐H3 expression in AML compared to either other hematological malignancies or healthy controls. Clinically, high B7‐H3 expression was associated with old age, TP53 mutations, wild‐type WT1 and CEBPA, and the M3 and M5 FAB subtypes. Moreover, we observed that increased B7‐H3 expression correlated significantly with a poor outcome of AML patients in four independent datasets. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed the enrichment of the "EMT" oncogenic gene signatures in high B7‐H3 expressers. Further investigation suggested that B7‐H3 was more likely to be associated with immune‐suppressive cells (macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, and Th17 cells). B7‐H3 was also positively associated with a number of checkpoint genes, such as VISTA (B7‐H5), CD80 (B7‐1), CD86 (B7‐2), and CD70. In summary, we uncovered distinct genomic and immunologic features associated with B7‐H3 expression in AML. This may lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying B7‐H3 dysregulation in AML and to the development of novel therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was previously reported that PRR34‐AS1 was overexpressed in some solid tumors. PRR34‐AS1 promoter was shown to have a differential methylation region (DMR), and was hypomethylated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Therefore, the present study used real‐time quantitative PCR (RQ‐PCR) to explore the expression characteristics of PRR34‐AS1 in AML. In addition, the correlation between the expression of PRR34‐AS1 and clinical prognosis of AML was determined. The findings of this study indicated that high PRR34‐AS1 expression was bound up with shorter overall survival (OS) in AML patients (p = 0.002). Moreover, patients with high expression of PRR34‐AS1 had significantly lower complete remission (CR) rate compared with those with low expression of PRR34‐AS1 after induction chemotherapy. Furthermore, multivariate analysis confirmed that PRR34‐AS1 expression was an independent factor affecting CR in whole‐AML, non‐APL‐AML, and CN‐AML patients (p = 0.032, 0.039, and 0.036, respectively). Methylation‐specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) were used to explore the methylation status of PRR34‐AS1. PRR34‐AS1 promoter showed a pattern of hypomethylation in AML patients compared with normal controls (p = 0.122). Notably, of whole‐AML and non‐APL‐AML patients, PRR34‐AS1 hypomethylated patients presented a significantly shorter OS than those with a hypermethylated PRR34‐AS1 (p = 0.010 and 0.037, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the hypomethylation of PRR34‐AS1 served as an independent prognostic indicator in both whole‐cohort AML and non‐APL‐AML categories (p = 0.057 and 0.018, respectively). In summary, the findings of this study showed that abnormalities in PRR34‐AS1 are associated with poor prognosis in AML. Therefore, monitoring this index may be important in the prognosis of AML and can provide information on effective chemotherapy against the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Persistent host immune responses initiated by oral bacteria protect host against infection but may also elicit the process of sustained periodontal inflammation and subsequent alveolar bone loss. Interleukin-10 (IL-10), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, can downregulate pro-inflammatory cytokine and inhibit neutrophil migration in inflammation. IL-10-expressing regulatory B cells (B10) is termed by negatively regulating immune response through IL-10 and are mainly restricted in CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cells in mice. Our current study was aimed to explore the effect of locally transferred CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cells on inflammation and alveolar bone loss in an experimental periodontitis mouse model.Methods: Ligation plus P. gingivalis (Pg) infection was used to induce periodontitis in a mouse model. CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cells were sorted by flow cytometry and transferred into the gingivae immediately on the fifth day after ligation. All the mice were sacrificed on day 14 after ligation.Results: H&E staining showed that inflammatory cell infiltration was significantly reduced by the CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cells. Toluidine blue staining showed that the CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cells alleviated alveolar bone loss in the ligature/Pg-induced periodontitis in mice. Immunohistochemical staining showed Receptor Activator of NF-KappaB Ligand (RANKL), Interleukin-1β(IL-1β) and Interleukin-17 (IL-17) were decreased after the CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cell transfer. Immunofluorescent staining showed that IL-10 was increased while the number of Ly6G+ neutrophil and its RANKL production were decreased in gingival tissue.Conclusions: These results indicated that locally transferred CD19+ CD1dhi CD5+ B cells may alleviate alveolar bone loss through inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and RANKL-expressing neutrophils in the periodontitis mouse model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Nutrition status is of great significance to the clinical outcome after major abdominal surgery. However, the effect of preoperative short‐term parenteral nutrition (PN) support among gastric cancer (GC) patients remains unknown and was evaluated in the current study. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 455 nutritionally at‐risk GC patients after radical resection from 2010 to 2016. We matched patients with 3–7 days of PN support to those without PN support. χ2 And Mann‐Whitney U tests were used to compare differences between the PN and control groups. Results: The propensity‐matched sample included 368 GC patients (PN group, n = 184; control group, n = 184). The PN and control groups did not differ regarding postoperative complications (P =.528). The incidence of anastomotic leakage in the PN group was lower than in the control group (P =.011), whereas other complications were not found to differ between the groups. The hospitalization cost of the PN group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P <.001), whereas other outcome indicators were similar. Subgroup analysis showed that short‐term PN support may have an improved benefit for patients with serum albumin level <35 g/L, but not at the level of statistical significance (P =.17). Conclusion: Short‐term PN support did not significantly improve the short‐term clinical outcomes of nutritionally at‐risk GC patients, with the exception of a lower incidence of anastomotic leakage. Considering that short‐term PN support increases economic burden, PN should not be the preferred method among these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In speaker recognition systems, feature extraction is a challenging task under environment noise conditions. To improve the robustness of the feature, we proposed a multiscale chaotic feature for speaker recognition. We use a multiresolution analysis technique to capture more finer information on different speakers in the frequency domain. Then, we extracted the speech chaotic characteristics based on the nonlinear dynamic model, which helps to improve the discrimination of features. Finally, we use a GMM-UBM model to develop a speaker recognition system. Our experimental results verified its good performance. Under clean speech and noise speech conditions, the ERR value of our method is reduced by 13.94% and 26.5% compared with the state-of-the-art method, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cell therapy brings hope for regenerating damaged periodontal tissues. The present study aimed to investigate the therapeutic role of local bone marrow stem cell (BMSC) injection in ligation‐induced periodontitis and the underlying mechanisms. Alveolar bone lesion was induced by placing ligatures subgingivally around the bilateral maxillary second molars for 28 days. The alveolar bone lesion was confirmed by micro‐CT analysis and bone histomorphometry. Allogeneic BMSC transplantation was carried out at 28 day after ligation. The survival state of the transplanted BMSC was observed by bioluminescent imaging. The implantation of the BMSC into the gingival tissues and periodontal ligament was confirmed by green fluorescent protein (GFP) immunohistochemical staining. The expression level of pro‐inflammatory, tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) and interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), and receptor activator of nuclear factor‐κ B ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in periodontal tissues were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining and real‐time PCR. Significant reverse of alveolar bone lesion was observed after BMSC transplantation. The expression of TNF‐α and IL‐1β was down‐regulated by BMSC transplantation. The number of tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)‐positive osteoclasts in the periodontal ligament was reduced, and the increased RANKL expression and decreased OPG expression were also reversed after BMSC transplantation. It is concluded that allogeneic BMSC local injection could inhibit the inflammation of the periodontitis tissue and promote periodontal tissue regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work seeks the development and validation of radiomics signatures from nonenhanced computed tomography (CT, NE‐RS) to preoperatively predict the malignancy degree of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and the comparison of these signatures with those from contrast‐enhanced CT. A dataset for 370 GIST patients was collected from four centers. This dataset was divided into cohorts for training, as well as internal and external validation. The minimum‐redundancy maximum‐relevance algorithm and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm were used to filter unstable features. (a) NE‐RS and radiomics signature from contrast‐enhanced CT (CE‐RS) were built and compared for the prediction of malignancy potential of GIST based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). (b) The radiomics model was also developed with both the tumor size and NE‐RS. The AUC values were comparable between NE‐RS and CE‐RS in the training (.965 vs.936; P =.251), internal validation (.967 vs.960; P =.801), and external validation (.941 vs.899; P =.173) cohorts in diagnosis of high malignancy potential of GISTs. We next focused on the NE‐RS. With 0.185 selected as the cutoff of NE‐RS for diagnosis of the malignancy potential of GISTs, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for diagnosis high‐malignancy potential GIST was 90.0%, 88.2%, and 92.3%, respectively, in the training cohort. For the internal validation set, the corresponding metrics are 89.1%, 94.9%, and 80.0%, respectively. The corresponding metrics for the external cohort are 84.6%, 76.1%, and 91.0%, respectively. Compared with only NE‐RS, the radiomics model increased the sensitivity in the diagnosis of GIST with high‐malignancy potential by 5.9% (P =.025), 2.5% (P =.317), 10.5% (P =.008) for the training set, internal validation set, and external validation set, respectively. The NE‐RS had comparable prediction efficiency in the diagnosis of high‐risk GISTs to CE‐RS. The NE‐RS and radiomics model both had excellent accuracy in predicting malignancy potential of GISTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deregulated DLX gene family members DLX1/2/3/4/5/6 (DLXs) caused by DNA methylation has been demonstrated in various cancers with therapeutic target value. However, the potential role of DLXs methylation in myeloid neoplasms such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) remains to be elucidated. Clinical significance of DLXs methylation/expression was analyzed in patient with AML and MDS. The functional roles of DLXs were determined in vitro. In the identification stage, we found that lower DLX5 expression was correlated with prognosis in AML among all DLXs analyzed by The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets. In the validation stage, we revealed that reduced DLX5 expression was frequently occurred, and was also correlated with promoter hypermethylation in AML evaluated by targeted bisulfite sequencing. Epigenetic studies also showed that DLX5 promoter DNA methylation was associated with its expression. By quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we also validated that DLX5 hypermethylation was frequent event in both AML and MDS, and also correlated with MDS transformation to leukemia. Moreover, DLX5 hypermethylation was associated with lower rate of complete remission and shorter time of leukemia‐free/overall survival, and was also confirmed by Logistic/Cox regression analysis. Functional studies revealed the antiproliferative and pro‐apoptotic effects of DLX5 in MDS‐derived AML cell‐line SKM‐1. Finally, bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that DLX5 functioned in leukemogenesis may be through the association with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Collectively, our findings demonstrated that DLX5 methylation, negatively correlated DLX5 expression, was a potential prognostic and predictive indicator in patients with AML and MDS, which could also act as an epigenetic driver in myeloid neoplasms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to explore whether pearl could help prevent cognitional morbidity and improve the metabolic processes of hippocampus. Methods: Rats were divided into group of control (CTL), sleep deprivation (SD) and pearl powder (PP). The sleeplessness was introduced to all rats except control. Before and after administration with vehicle or pearl powder, cognition was evaluated by Morris water maze (MWM). The protein expression in hippocampus among all groups was examined using iTRAQ‐based global proteomic analysis. Results: Morris water maze tests revealed improvements of insomnia‐induced cognitive deficit in both PP‐ and ES‐treated rats, as compared to SD rats. However, proteomic analysis indicates that the pharmacological impact on gene expression of these two medicines is quite different: pearl is more capable of correcting aberrant gene expression caused by SD than estazolam. Therefore, pearl is more suitable for treatment of insomnia. These data, together with protein‐protein interaction analysis, indicate that several pathways, affected by sleep deprivation, may be rescued by pearl powder: retrograde endocannabinoid signalling pathway, and the protein interaction or network enrich in oxidative phosphorylation Parkinson's disease and Huntington disease, etc Conclusions: Sleep deprivation can mimic cognition decline caused by insomnia with altered protein expression in the hippocampus; such behavioural and pathological changes can be significantly ameliorated by pearl powder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise: A novel set of microsatellite markers was developed for Juglans sigillata (Juglandaceae), an endemic walnut species in southwestern China, to facilitate cultivar identification and future investigations into the genetic structure and domestication history of this species and its close relatives. Methods and Results: We developed 32 microsatellite loci for J. sigillata using genomic data and used them to examine 60 individuals from three natural populations. A high level of polymorphism was detected by these primers, with up to eight alleles observed per locus, and an average of four alleles across populations. The levels of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.000–1.000 and 0.000–0.785, respectively. All but two of the loci were also successfully amplified in three closely related Eurasian Juglans species (J. regia, J. cathayensis, and J. mandshurica). Conclusions: The microsatellite loci identified here provide a powerful resource for examining the genetic structure and domestication history of Juglans, as well as identification of its cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sex ratio of the endemic gymnosperm Cycas panzhihuaensis was investigated within a 1 ha permanent plot in the Sichuan Panzhihua Cycad National Nature Reserve, with a total of 1034 individuals. The study was based on the potential sex‐determining gene MADS‐Y. The research analyzed the sex dimorphism and spatial distribution of male and female individuals. The findings revealed the following: (1) The coning sex ratio of C. panzhihuaensis in the study plot varied across different years. The genotypic sex ratio was 1:1 (p > 0.05), indicating no significant gender bias in the population. (2) Female individuals exhibited larger stem diameter and nutrient leaf length compared with male individuals (p < 0.05), while there was no significant difference in stem height and number of nutrient leaves between female and male populations (p > 0.05). (3) The spatial distribution of male and female individuals within the plot revealed a clear clustering pattern at a smaller scale and a random or uniform distribution at a larger scale. The spatial association between male and female populations was positively correlated on smaller scales and uncorrelated on larger scales. These results suggest that the genotypic sex ratio of the C. panzhihuaensis population in the study plot is balanced. Additionally, there is a significant clustering effect in spatial pattern, which may be associated with its spatially limited pollination mechanism and seed dispersal primarily influenced by gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional power load identification is greatly restricted in application because of its high cost and low efficiency. In this paper, the similarity model is established to realize the noninvasive load identification of power by determining the feature database for the equipment. Firstly, the wavelet decomposition method and the wavelet threshold processing method are used to remove abnormal points and reduce noise of the original data, respectively. Secondly, the transient and steady-state characteristics of electrical equipment (active power and reactive power, harmonic current, and voltage-current trajectory) are extracted, and the feature database for the equipment is established. Thirdly, the feature similarity is defined to describe the similarity degree of any two devices under a certain feature, and the similarity model of automatic recognition of a single device is established. Finally, the device identification and calculation of power consumption are carried out for the part of data in annex 2 of question A in the 6th "teddy cup" data mining challenge competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating studies have proved EZH2 dysregulation mediated by mutation and expression in diverse human cancers including AML. However, the expression pattern of EZH2 remains controversial in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). EZH1/2 expression and mutation were analysed in 200 patients with AML. EZH2 expression was significantly decreased in AML patients compared with normal controls but not for EZH1 expression. EZH2 mutation was identified three of the 200 AML patients (1.5%, 3/200), whereas none of the patients harboured EZH1 mutation (0%, 0/200). EZH2 expression and mutation were significantly associated with −7/del(7) karyotypes. Moreover, lower EZH2 expression was associated with older age, higher white blood cells, NPM1 mutation, CEBPA wild‐type and WT1 wild‐type. Patients with EZH2 mutation showed shorter overall survival (OS) and leukaemia‐free survival (LFS) than patients without EHZ2 mutation after receiving autologous or allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, EZH2 expression has no effect on OS and LFS of AML patients. Notably, in EZH2 low group, patients undergone HSCT had significantly better OS and LFS compared with patients only received chemotherapy, whereas no significant difference was found in OS and LFS between chemotherapy and HSCT patients in EZH2 high group. Collectively, EZH2 dysregulation caused by mutation and under‐expression identifies specific subtypes of AML EZH2 dysregulation may be acted as potential biomarkers predicting prognosis and guiding the treatment choice between transplantation and chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to suppress traffic congestion and reduce traffic accidents, a cooperative driving systems with time‐varying delay and nonlinearity under uncertain external disturbances in a variable speed‐limited area is proposed from a cyber‐physical perspective. Robust stabilization of the cooperative driving system is investigated by using Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional stability theory. Robust H∞ control is designed to guarantee that the proposed system is robustly stable. Meanwhile, sufficient conditions for the state feedback controller are proposed to attenuate the external disturbances on the basis of linear matrix inequality. Finally, some useful results are obtained from the comparisons between without control scheme, existing ACC (adaptive cruise control) scheme, and the proposed control scheme, which could suppress traffic congestion and reduce traffic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: In patients with Takayasu's arteritis (TA), current biomarkers that properly reflect the progression of the vascular structure remain absent. We aimed to determine the serum leptin level to investigate its relationship with imaging changes and assess its value as a predictor for long‐term radiological progression. Method: This study included 34 untreated TA patients and 40 age‐matched healthy controls. At baseline and during the 5‐year follow‐up, we assessed disease activity using Kerr's criteria and Indian Takayasu Clinical Activity Score (ITAS2010) and monitored laboratory biomarkers as well as imaging findings. Serum leptin levels were measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The baseline serum leptin levels were significantly higher in TA patients than in healthy controls. Leptin was significantly positively correlated with triglyceride and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and negatively correlated with fibrinogen and C‐reactive protein levels. Patients were subdivided into three groups based on their baseline leptin level. During a 5‐year follow‐up, patients in the high and medium leptin groups showed more radiological progression compared to those in the low leptin group. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that a high serum leptin level was a positive predictor of radiological progression. Conclusion: Leptin is a potential biomarker for assessing TA structural progression. Untreated patients with elevated serum leptin levels are at a higher risk of progression in the aorta. Thus, the leptin level can be a predictor of long‐term radiological progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Downstream of tyrosine kinase 6 (DOK6), which is specifically expressed in the nervous system, was previously recognized as an adapter only in neurite outgrowth. Recent studies also demonstrated the potential role of DOK6 in solid tumors such as gastric cancer and breast cancer. However, previous studies of DOK6 have not dealt with its roles in myeloid malignancies. Herein, we verified the promoter methylation status of DOK6 and further explored its clinical implication in de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Methods: A total of 100 newly diagnosed adult AML patients were involved in the current study. DOK6 expression and methylation were detected by real‐time qPCR and methylation‐specific PCR (MSP), respectively. Bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) was performed to assess the methylation density of the DOK6 promoter. Results: Downstream of tyrosine kinase 6 promoter methylation was significantly increased in AML patients compared to controls (P = .037), whereas DOK6 expression significantly decreased in AML patients (P < .001). The expression of DOK6 was markedly up‐regulated after treated by 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine (5‐aza‐dC) in THP‐1 cell lines. The methylation status of the DOK6 promoter was associated with French‐American‐British classifications (P = .037). There was no significant correlation existed between DOK6 expression and its promoter methylation (R = .077, P = .635). Interestingly, of whole‐AML and non‐APL AML patients, both have a tendency pertaining to the DOK6 methylation group and a significantly longer overall survival (OS) than the DOK6 unmethylation group (P = .042 and.036, respectively). Conclusion: Our study suggested that DOK6 promoter hypermethylation was a common molecular event in de novo AML patients. Remarkably, DOK6 promoter methylation could serve as an independent and integrated prognostic biomarker not only in non‐APL AML patients but also in AML patients who are less than 60 years old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was aimed to investigate integrin beta‐like 1 (ITGBL1) methylation pattern and its clinical relevance in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Real‐time methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR; RQ‐MSP) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) were performed to detect the methylation of ITGBL1 promoter. Real‐time quantitative PCR (RT‐qPCR) was performed to analyze ITGBL1 transcript level. The results showed that ITGBL1 methylation level in 131 patients with AML was significantly higher than 29 controls (p < 0.001). The ITGBL1‐hypermethylated group tended to have a higher bone marrow (BM) blasts (p = 0.076). Meanwhile, ITGBL1‐hypermethylated patients tended to have a lower complete remission (CR) rate (p = 0.102). ITGBL1‐hypermethylated patients had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) and leukemia‐free survival (LFS) than ITGBL1 hypomethylated patients in whole AML cohort (p = 0.009 and 0.043, respectively) and patients with nonacute promyelocytic leukemia (APL ; p = 0.023 and 0.039, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the ITGBL1 methylation served as an independent prognostic factor in both patients with whole‐cohort AML (p = 0.030) and patients with non‐APL (p = 0.020). Furthermore, the ITGBL1 methylation level was significantly decreased in follow‐up AML patients who achieved complete remission after induction therapy (P = 0.001). ITGBL1 methylation negatively correlated with ITGBL1 expression in patients with AML (R = −0.328, p = 0.008). Moreover, demethylation of ITGBL1 could increase the ITGBL1 expression in the K562 leukemic cell line (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the ITGBL1 hypermethylation is a potential biomarker for predicting prognosis and monitoring disease status in patients with AML. The results showed that ITGBL1 methylation level in patients with AML was significantly higher than controls. ITGBL1‐hypermethylated patients had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) and leukemia‐free survival (LFS) than ITGBL1 hypomethylated patients in patients with whole AML cohort and nonacute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Multivariate analysis confirmed that ITGBL1 methylation served as an independent prognostic factor in both patients with whole‐cohort AML and patients with non‐APL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers structure preserving balanced proper orthogonal decomposition for second-order form systems via shifted Legendre polynomials. The proposed approach is to use time interval empirical Gramians of the first-order representation, which are constructed from impulse responses by solving block tridiagonal linear systems, to generate approximate balanced system for the large-scale second-order form system. The balancing transformation is directly computed from the expansion coefficients of impulse responses in the space spanned by shifted Legendre polynomials, without computing the full Gramians for the first-order representation. Then, the reduced second-order model is constructed by truncating the states corresponding to the small approximate singular values. Furthermore, in combination with the dominant subspace projection method, the authors modify the reduction procedure to alleviate the shortcoming of the above method, which may unexpectedly lead to unstable systems even though the original one is stable. The stability preservation of the reduced model is briefly discussed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed methods is demonstrated by two numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical activity of decitabine (5‐aza‐2‐deoxycytidine, DAC), a hypomethylating agent, has been demonstrated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. However, secondary resistance to this agent often occurs during treatment and leads to treatment failure. It is important to clarify the mechanisms underlying the resistance for improving the efficacy. In this study, by gradually increasing concentration after a continuous induction of DAC, we established the DAC‐resistant K562 cell line (K562/DAC) from its parental cell line K562. The proliferation and survival rate of K562/DAC was significantly increased, whereas the apoptosis rate was remarkably decreased than that of K562 after DAC treatment. In K562/DAC, a total of 108 genes were upregulated and 118 genes were downregulated by RNA‐Seq. In addition, we also observed aberrant expression of DDX43/H19/miR‐186 axis (increased DDX43/H19 and decreased miR‐186) in K562/DAC cells. Ectopic expression of DDX43 in parental K562 cells rendered cells resistant to the DAC. Taken together, we successfully established DAC‐resistant K562 cell line which can serve as a good model for investigating DAC resistance mechanisms, and DDX43/H19/miR‐186 may be involved in DAC resistance in K562. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study was to investigate the expression status of Circ‐vimentin (VIM) and further analyze its pathogenesis and clinical significance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was carried on Circ‐VIM in 113 AML patients and 42 healthy controls. Circ‐VIM was significantly upregulated in AML compared with control and was positively correlated with white blood cells (WBC) count. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the performance of Circ‐VIM expression could serve as a promising biomarker for differentiating AML patients from controls. Significant correlations of Circ‐VIM expression were found with WBC and French–American–British classifications. Survival analyses further showed that over‐expressed Circ‐VIM were associated with markedly shorter overall survival (OS) and leukemia‐free survival (LFS) in whole‐cohort AML, nonacute promyelocytic leukemia AML and cytogenetically normal‐AML patients. Multivariate analysis also disclosed that Circ‐VIM over‐expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for OS and LFS in AML patients. Remarkably, Pearson correlation analysis evidenced that the expression of Circ‐VIM was positively correlated with VIM expression in all AML patients. These results indicated that overexpression Circ‐VIM could serve as a significant biomarker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Letter presents an irregular pentagonal patch array antenna with a multilayer structure for dual‐band and multimode orbital angular momentum (OAM) generation. An irregular pentagonal patch antenna with U‐shaped slots resonating at different frequencies is designed as the array's element. The proposed antenna array consists of two uniform circular microstrip antenna arrays and two phase‐shifting feeding networks. It can be used to generate OAM mode l = − 1, 1 at 3 GHz and OAM mode l = −2, 2 at 6 GHz. The simulated near‐field phase distributions images of different OAM modes are obtained, which have verified the OAM generation. This proposed array antenna has the possibility to generate a total of six different OAMs in three frequency bands, by changing the number of array elements and optimising the irregular pentagonal patch antenna. This design may provide a new idea for the generation multimode vortex electromagnetic wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc finger BED domain containing protein 6 (Zbed6) has evolved from a domesticated DNA transposon and encodes a transcription factor unique to placental mammals. The aim of the present study was to investigate further the role of ZBED6 in insulin-producing cells, using mouse MIN6 cells, and to evaluate the effects of Zbed6 knockdown on basal β-cell functions, such as morphology, transcriptional regulation, insulin content, and release. Zbed6-silenced cells and controls were characterized with a range of methods, including RNA sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing, insulin content and release, subplasma membrane Ca2+ measurements, cAMP determination, and morphologic studies. More than 700 genes showed differential expression in response to Zbed6 knockdown, which was paralleled by increased capacity to generate cAMP, as well as by augmented subplasmalemmal calcium concentration and insulin secretion in response to glucose stimulation. We identified >4000 putative ZBED6-binding sites in the MIN6 genome, with an enrichment of ZBED6 sites at upregulated genes, such as the β-cell transcription factors v-maf musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog A and Nk6 homeobox 1. We also observed altered morphology/growth patterns, as indicated by increased cell clustering, and in the appearance of axon-like Neurofilament, medium polypeptide and tubulin β 3, class III-positive protrusions. We conclude that ZBED6 acts as a transcriptional regulator in MIN6 cells and that its activity suppresses insulin production, cell aggregation, and neuronal-like differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have been indicated that integrin α2 (ITGA2) may be important in cell migration, invasion, survival, and angiogenesis. However, the correlation between ITGA2 expression and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is still unclear. Real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was carried out to analyze ITGA2 messenger RNA level. Methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and bisulfite sequencing PCR were performed to detect the methylation of ITGA2 promoter. ITGA2 expression was significantly upregulated in 134 de novo AML patients compared with 33 controls (p = 0.007). ITGA2high group had markedly lower complete remission (CR) rate than ITGA2low group (p = 0.011). Furthermore, the overall survival in ITGA2high patients was significantly shorter than ITGA2low patients throughout AML cohort, non–acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and cytogenetic normal‐AML (p = 0.001, 0.002, and 0.044, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed that ITGA2 overexpression served as an independent prognostic factor in both whole‐cohort AML patients (p = 0.018) and non‐APL AML patients (p = 0.021). Besides, ITGA2 expression level was significantly decreased in AML patients after CR (p = 0.011), and was returned at the time of relapse phase (p = 0.021). Moreover, unmethylated ITGA2 promoter was identified in normal controls, leukemia cell lines, and primary leukemia cells with low or high ITGA2 expression. In conclusions, methylation‐independent ITGA2 overexpression is associated with poor prognosis in AML. Integrin α2 (ITGA2) expression was significantly upregulated in 134 de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients compared with 33 controls (p = 0.007). Furthermore, the overall survival in high ITGA2 expression patients was significantly shorter than low ITGA2 expression patients throughout AML cohort, non–acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), and cytogenetic normal‐AML (p = 0.001, 0.002, and 0.044, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed that ITGA2 overexpression served as an independent prognostic factor in both whole‐cohort AML patients (p = 0.018) and non‐APL AML patients (p = 0.021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Rapid and accurate identification of endangered species is a critical component of biosurveillance and conservation management, and potentially policing illegal trades. However, this is often not possible using traditional taxonomy, especially where only small or preprocessed parts of plants are available. Reliable identification can be achieved via a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library, accompanied by precise distribution data. However, these require extensive sampling at spatial and taxonomic scales, which has rarely been achieved for cosmopolitan taxa. Here, we construct a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library and generate distribution maps using species distribution modelling (SDM), for all 15 Taxus species worldwide. We find that trnL‐trnF is the ideal barcode for Taxus: It can distinguish all Taxus species and in combination with ITS identify hybrids. Among five analysis methods tested, NJ was the most effective. Among 4,151 individuals screened for trnL‐trnF, 73 haplotypes were detected, all species‐specific and some population private. Taxonomical, geographical and genetic dimensions of sampling strategy were all found to affect the comprehensiveness of the resulting DNA barcode library. Maps from SDM showed that most species had allopatric distributions, except T. mairei in the Sino‐Himalayan region. Using the barcode library and distribution map data, two unknown forensic samples were identified to species (and in one case, population) level and another was determined as a putative interspecific hybrid. This integrated species identification system for Taxus can be used for biosurveillance, conservation management and to monitor and prosecute illegal trade. Similar identification systems are recommended for other IUCN‐ and CITES‐listed taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DOK-1 and DOK-2 (DOK1/2) are closely related members of downstream of tyrosine kinase (DOK) family genes, which are found to be frequently rearranged in several hematopoietic cancers. However, the clinical implications of DOK1/2 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remain largely unknown. To investigate the clinical significance, real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR)was carried out to detectDOK1/2 expressions in 125 de novo AML patients and 28 healthy controls. Real-time quantitative methylation-specific PCR (RQ-MSP) andbisulfite sequencingPCR(BSP)wereapplied todetectDOK1/2methylation level anddensity.DOK1/2expressionsweresignificantlydown-regulated inAMLpatients. The promoters of DOK1/2 were highly hypermethylated and negatively correlated with DOK1/2 expressions in AML patients. In addition, we also confirmed that DOK1/2 expressions could be restored by DOK1/2 demethylation using 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine in leukemia cell line THP-1. Survival analyses showed that low-expressed DOK1/2 were associated withmarkedly shorter overall survival and leukemia free survival in both wholecohort AML and non-M3 AML patients. Multivariate analyses further revealed that DOK1/2 were act as independent prognostic factors in AML patients. These findings indicate that decreased DOK1/2 expressions associated with their promoter hypermethylations predict adverse prognosis in AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TET2 (Ten‐Eleven Translocation 2) gene is a member of TET family that can modify DNA through catalyzing the conversion of 5‐methylcytosine (5‐mC) into 5‐hydroxymethylcytosine (5‐hmC). Although TET2 mutation has been disclosed in a variety of hematopoietic malignancies, the prognostic implication of TET2 expression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains largely elusive. In this study, real‐time quantitative PCR was carried out to detect the level of TET2 transcript in 134 de novo AML patients and 35 healthy donors. TET2 mRNA level was significantly down‐regulated in AML patients compared with controls (p = 0.010). Among the French–American–British (FAB) subtypes, the incidence of TET2 under‐expression in M0/M1 subtypes was significantly higher than in the other subtypes M2/M3/M4/M5/M6 (p = 0.017), and also markedly higher than in the other granulocyte subtypes M2/M3 (p = 0.005). TET2 low‐expressed patients showed a significantly higher frequency of NPM1 mutations than TET2 high‐expressed patients. Although there was no significant difference in complete remission rate between two groups (low and high TET2 expression), patients with low TET2 expression had markedly shorter overall survival (OS) in both non‐M3 and cytogenetically normal AML (CN‐AML) (p = 0.016 and 0.044, respectively). Furthermore, multivariate analysis confirmed the prognostic value of TET2 expression on OS among CN‐AML patients (p = 0.049). Importantly, TET2 expression in complete remission (CR) time was significantly higher than newly diagnosis time (p = 0.001), and was returned to lower level when in relapse time (p < 0.001). These findings indicated that down‐regulation of TET2 expression was a common event and acted as a prognostic and predictive biomarker in CN‐AML patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bang-bang phase angle controller (BPAC) was proposed in this study for the primary frequency control of doubly-fed induction generator-based wind turbines (DFIG-WTs). Dynamics of the internal voltage of a synchronous generator (SG) and that of a DFIG-WT were investigated in frequency deviation events. A BPAC was designed to regulate the phase angle obtained with a phase-locked loop directly, which enables the rapid active power control of the DFIG-WT. The BPAC signal is fed into the active power regulation loop of the pitch angle controller, which is expected to help rotor speed recovery and prevent secondary frequency drop. The small-signal analysis was carried out for the closed-loop system, composed of the DFIG-WT and the external SG-based power system, to verify the stability of the overall system. Simulation studies were undertaken on a wind power penetrated multi-machine power system, through which the primary frequency control performance of the BPAC was verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CHFR acts as a tumor suppressor gene, which is frequently inactivated caused by its promoter hypermethylation in various solid tumors. Although a recent study showed that CHFR hypermethylation was a frequent event in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and correlated with adverse clinical outcome, herein, we found that CHFR methylation was a rare event in patients with myeloid malignancies (including AML, chronic myeloid leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes), but its expression may serve as an independent prognostic biomarker in AML. CHFR expression was assessed by real‐time quantitative PCR, whereas CHFR methylation was detected by methylation‐specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing PCR. In AML patients, lower CHFR expression was associated with lower complete remission (CR) rate, and CHFR expression was significantly increased in CR after chemotherapy. Moreover, patients with lower CHFR expression showed shorter overall survival and leukemia‐free survival, and multivariate analysis confirmed that lower CHFR expression was an independent risk factor in AML. Importantly, the prognostic value of CHFR expression was validated using the published Gene Expression Omnibus datasets. Notably, CHFR promoter was nearly unmethylated in patients with myeloid malignancies. Our findings revealed that lower CHFR expression was independently associated with unfavorable prognosis in AML. Moreover, aberrant CHFR promoter methylation was a rare event in myeloid malignances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an open-end transformer-based power tap (OETPT) for the interconnection of the alternating current sub-grid and the direct current sub-grid of a hybrid micro-grid. Two topologies, topology-A and topology-B, were designed for OETPT, in which the primary or secondary windings of the transformer of OETPT are grounded, respectively. Steady-state and dynamic models were developed for OETPT, based on which a vector control system was designed for the coordinated control of OETPT with topology-A and topology-B, respectively. OETPT achieves the decoupled control of the active and reactive powers. Simulation studies and experimental validations were undertaken to manifest the coordinated power flow control performance of OETPT with topology-A and topology-B, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effect of flexibility on the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing is one of the most important considerations for successfully designing a flapping wing micro aero vehicle (FMAV). This paper aims at providing a systematic synthesis on the flexibility effects on the hovering performance of the bionic wing based on the numerical analysis approach. We construct a novel three-dimensional bionic wing, which has lumped flexibility at the root, and develop an iterative coupling program to simulate the interaction between the flexible wing and fluid. The effects of flexibility on the hovering performance of the three-dimensional flapping wing are investigated, and the results indicate that the best performance of the wing is achieved when the wing flaps at resonance and has the density close to the natural insect wing. The feasibility of using lumped flexibility wings driven by a simple harmonic flapping for designing efficient FMAV is also concluded in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychiatric disorders are associated with aberrant brain development and/or aggressive behavior and are influenced by genetic factors; however, genes that affect brain aggression circuits remain elusive. Here, we show that neuronal Src-homology-2 (SH2)B adaptor protein-1 (Sh2b1) is indispensable for both brain growth and protection against aggression. Global and brain-specific deletion of Sh2b1 decreased brain weight and increased aggressive behavior. Global and brain-specific Sh2b1 knockout (KO) mice exhibited fatal, intermale aggression. In a resident-intruder paradigm, latency to attack was markedly reduced, whereas the number and the duration of attacks was significantly increased in global and brain-specific Sh2b1 KO mice compared with wild-type littermates. Consistently, core aggression circuits were activated to a higher level in global and brain-specific Sh2b1 KO males, based on c-fos immunoreactivity in the amygdala and periaqueductal gray. Brain-specific restoration of Sh2b1 normalized brain size and reversed pathologic aggression and aberrant activation of core aggression circuits in Sh2b1 KO males. SH2B1 mutations in humans were linked to aberrant brain development and behavior. At the molecular level, Sh2b1 enhanced neurotrophin-stimulated neuronal differentiation and protected against oxidative stress-induced neuronal death. Our data suggest that neuronal Sh2b1 promotes brain development and the integrity of core aggression circuits, likely through enhancing neurotrophin signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]