Search

Rod pumping systems are widely used in oil wells. Accurate fault prediction could reduce equipment fault rate and has practical significance in improving oilfield production efficiency. This paper analyzed the production journal of rod pumping wells in block X of Xinjiang Oilfield. According to the production journal, oil well maintenance operations are primarily caused by five types of faults: scale, wax, corrosion, fatigue, and wear. These faults make up approximately 90% of all faults. 1354 oil wells in the block that experienced workover operations as a result of the aforementioned factors were chosen as the research objects for this paper. To lower the percentage of data noise, wavelet threshold denoising and variational mode decomposition were used. Based on the bidirectional long short-term memory network, an intelligent model for fault prediction was built. It was trained and verified with the help of the sparrow search algorithm. Its efficacy was demonstrated by testing various deep learning models in the same setting and with identical parameters. The results show that the prediction accuracy of the model is the highest compared with other 11 models, reaching 98.61%. It is suggested that the model using artificial intelligence can provide an accurate fault warning for the oilfield and offer guidance for the maintenance of the rod pumping system, which is meant to reduce the occurrence of production stagnation and resource waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-pressure processing (HPP) technology can significantly improve the texture and flavor of Mercenaria mercenaria. This study aimed to investigate the effect of HPP treatment with varying levels of pressure (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 MPa) and a holding time of 8 min at 20 °C on the physicochemical properties and volatile flavors of M. mercenaria. The significant changes in hardness, resilience, and water holding capacity occurred with increasing pressure (p < 0.05), resulting in improved meat quality. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was utilized to observe the decomposition of muscle fibers in M. mercenaria due to varying pressures, which explains the differences in texture of M. mercenaria. Different pressure treatments also had an influence on the volatile flavor of M. mercenaria, and the quantities of low-molecular-weight aldehydes (hexanal, heptanal, and nonanal) with a fishy taste decreased dramatically following 400 and 500 MPa HPP treatments. Furthermore, the level of 2-Methylbutyraldehyde, which is related to sweetness, increased significantly following 400 MPa HPP treatment. The study found that 400 MPa HPP treatment resulted in minor nutrient losses and enhanced sensory quality. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for the application of HPP treatment to M. mercenaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is significant demand for high-purity DHA in the pharmaceutical industry. Traditionally, this high-purity DHA is extracted from raw materials with relatively low DHA content (10–20%), such as fish oil. Recently, through electroporation-induced mutation, a high-DHA-content strain of Schizochytrium sp. GCD2032 was isolated. To further enhance its DHA production, optimizations were conducted on the culture medium and fermentation conditions (in shaking flasks), as well as different nitrogen source concentrations (in a 5 L fermenter) for biomass, fatty acid content, and DHA content (as a percentage of total fatty acids). In a 5 L fermenter, Schizochytrium sp. GCD2032 achieved a biomass of 50 g/L, with fatty acid content of 55.71% and DHA content of 61.29%. Notably, the DHA content reached an impressive 341.45 mg/g of dry weight. This strain consistently produces high levels of fatty acids and DHA, demonstrating significant potential for pharmaceutical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DiGeorge syndrome critical region 8 (DGCR8) is a critical component of the canonical microprocessor complex for microRNA biogenesis. However, the non-canonical functions of DGCR8 have not been studied. Here, we demonstrate that DGCR8 plays an important role in maintaining heterochromatin organization and attenuating aging. An N-terminal-truncated version of DGCR8 (DR8dex2) accelerated senescence in human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) independent of its microRNA-processing activity. Further studies revealed that DGCR8 maintained heterochromatin organization by interacting with the nuclear envelope protein Lamin B1, and heterochromatin-associated proteins, KAP1 and HP1γ. Overexpression of any of these proteins, including DGCR8, reversed premature senescent phenotypes in DR8dex2 hMSCs. Finally, DGCR8 was downregulated in pathologically and naturally aged hMSCs, whereas DGCR8 overexpression alleviated hMSC aging and mouse osteoarthritis. Taken together, these analyses uncovered a novel, microRNA processing-independent role in maintaining heterochromatin organization and attenuating senescence by DGCR8, thus representing a new therapeutic target for alleviating human aging-related disorders. DGCR8 is a component of the canonical microprocessor complex for microRNA biogenesis. Here the authors implicate DGCR8 in heterochromatin maintenance and aging attenuation independent of its miRNA-processing activity through Lamin B1, KAP1 and HP1 interaction. DGCR8 overexpression can alleviate aging and senescence [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium venenatum mycoprotein is an alternative, nutritious protein source with a meat-like texture. Here, F. venenatum mycoprotein-based Harbin red sausage was developed and characterized. The study focused on the effect of mycoprotein on the quality of red sausages, which were evaluated in five groups of red sausages based on nutrient content, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS). The results showed that increasing the component of mycoprotein in red sausage increased the protein and volatile organic compound content but decreased the water and ash content. There was no significant difference ( p > 0.05) between red sausage with 25% added mycoprotein and traditional red sausage in terms of redness and thawed water component, but the protein component was higher, the flavor substances were slightly richer, and the consumer preference was higher. These results suggest that moderate amounts of mycoprotein can improve nutritional value and maintain sensory quality, but that higher levels of substitution can adversely affect preference. This study highlights the potential of mycoprotein as an artificial meat that can strike a balance between improved nutritional value and sensory acceptability., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript.

Lung carcinoma has become a more and more serious health problem as platinum-based chemotherapy remains a limited benefit. Accumulating evidences indicate that autophagy plays a significant role in decreased curative effect and chemotherapy failure. Inhibition of autophagy can potentiate anti-proliferation effect and contribute to tumor regression in lung carcinoma. Here, we showed that the expectorant drug ambroxol (Ax) promoted autophagosomes accumulation by blocking late-stage autophagic flux in lung carcinoma cells. Furthermore, Ax treatment caused alkalization of lysosome and impaired lysosomal degradation capacity, which contributed to decreased autophagosomes-lysosomes fusion and interrupted normal cargo degradation. Ax potentiated cell-killing sensitivity of paclitaxel (PTX) and docetaxel (DTX), which had nothing to do with cell uptake but was associated with enhanced autophagy level. Moreover, Ax in combination with PTX exerted a significantly enhanced tumor-shrinking effect and prolonged survival time in subcutaneous and pulmonary metastatic tumor nude mice models. Considering the superiority of lung protection and excellent safety, Ax shows enormous translational potential and preponderance in clinical lung carcinoma therapy. Together, our findings suggested that the novel function of Ax, namely autophagy inhibition, resulted from alkalization and impaired degradation capacity of lysosome. The combination of Ax and PTX showed an enhanced cytotoxicity in vitro and improved satisfactory curative outcome in vivo. Our research provides a promising therapeutic strategy to lung carcinoma, which has clinical transformation potential and practical application value., Competing Interests: None.

Since elevated expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 is commonly observed in several malignant tumors, MMPs have been widely reported as key factors in the design of drug delivery systems. Several strategies have been proposed to develop MMPs-responsive nanoparticles to deliver chemotherapeutics to malignant solid tumors. A stimuli-responsive drug delivery system, which could be cleaved by MMPs, was proposed in this study. By inserting an MMP-2/9 cleavable oligopeptide GPVGLIGK-NH2 (GK8) as spacer between α-tocopherol succinate (α-TOS) and methoxy-polyethylene glycol molecular weight (MW 2000 Da) activated by N-hydroxysuccinimide (mPEG2K-NHS), mPEG2K-GK8-α-TOS (TGK) was synthesized as the primary ingredient for MMP-2/9-sensitive micelles composed of d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and TGK (n:n =40:60, TGK micelles). mPEG2K-α-TOS (T2K) was similarly synthesized as nonsensitive control. The TGK micelles showed better stability than nonsensitive micelles composed of TPGS and T2K (n:n =40:60, T2K micelles) owing to the inserted peptide. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer results indicated that TGK micelles could be successfully cleaved by MMP-2/9. Effective drug release was demonstrated in the presence of collagenase type IV, a mixture of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Compared with nonsensitive micelles, docetaxel (DTX)-loaded TGK micelles showed a fold higher cellular uptake in HT1080 cells. While the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of TGK and T2K micelles were similar (P>0.05) in MCF-7 cells (MMP-2/9 underexpression), the IC50 values of the aforementioned micelles were 0.064±0.006 and 0.122±0.009 μg/mL, respectively, in HT1080 cells (MMP-2/9 overexpression). The MMP-2/9-sensitive micelles also demonstrated desired tumor targeting and accumulation ability in vivo. The results of in vivo antitumor effect evaluation indicate that TGK micelles are potent against solid tumors while maintaining minimum systemic toxicity compared with T2K micelles and DTX.

Background: To evaluate the short-term and long-term outcomes after laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) compared with abdominal hysterectomy (AH) in case of benign gynecological disease., Methods: A multi-center cohort retrospective comparative study of population among 4,895 hysterectomies (3,539 LH vs.1,356 AH) between 2007 and 2013 was involved. Operative time (OT), estimated blood loss (EBL), intra-operative and post-operative complications, passing flatus; days with indwelling catheter, questionnaires covering pelvic floor functions and sexual functions were assessed., Results: The EBL (174.1±157.4 vs. 263.1±183.2 cc, LH and AH groups, respectively), passing flatus (38.7±14.1 vs. 48.1±13.2 hours), days with indwelling catheter (1.5±0.6 vs. 2.2±0.8 days), use of analgesics (6.5% vs. 73.1%), intra-operative complication rate (2.4% vs. 4.1%), post-operative complication rate (2.3% vs. 5.7%), post-operative constipation (12.1% vs. 24.6%), mild and serious stress urinary incontinence (SUI) post-operative (P<0.001; P=0.014), and proportion of Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI) total score <26.55 post-operative (P<0.001) of the LH group were significantly less than those of AH group. There were no significant differences in OT (106.5±34.5 vs. 106.2±40.3 min) between the two groups., Conclusions: LH is a safe and efficient operation for improving patients?long-term quality of life (QoL), and LH is a cost-effectiveness procedure for treating benign gynecological disease. LH is superior to AH due to reduced EBL, reduced post-operative pain and earlier passing flatus.