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Li Zhang, Xiaoping Li, Jiang Lu, Yi Qian, Tao Qian, Xing Wu, Qinghua Xu Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, LiYang People’s Hospital, LiYang, 213300, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Qinghua Xu; Xing WuDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, LiYang People’s Hospital, 70# JianShe West Road, LiYang, 213300, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-519-68091108Email xqh7888882@163.com; sxj6628@126.comBackground: Previous studies have shown that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) promotes cell proliferation through the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway and participates in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we focused on the functional polymorphism of EGFR in the 3ʹ-untranslated region (UTR), aiming to reveal the potential mechanisms by which functional polymorphism is associated with the risk and development of HCC in the Han Chinese population.Methods: This study was a hospital-based case-control study. A total of 600 patients were enrolled, and another 600 healthy volunteers served as controls. The miR-associated SNPs in EGFR were screened, and genotyping was performed by TaqMan allele differential analysis. In this study, genotyping, real-time PCR, cell transfection and double luciferase reporter gene were used for subsequent analysis.Results: HBV/HCV infection instead of alcohol exposure, smoking exposure, hypertension or diabetes mellitus was associated with an increased risk of HCC. Compared with TT genotypes, TG and GG genotypes of EGFR rs884225 were significantly associated with reduced HCC risk. The stratified analysis of association between rs884225 and HCC subgroup feature reveal a highly correlation with tumor size. Furthermore, qRT-PCR confirmed that EGFR rs884225, TG and GG genotypes were more likely to bind to miR-3196 and down-regulate EGFR level in cells, thereby inhibiting cell proliferation.Conclusion: This study suggested that EGFR rs884225 is associated with a reduced risk of liver cancer and may be a developing biomarker.Keywords: miR-3196, polymorphism, proliferation, hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC, epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR

Few-shot learning (FSL) focuses on distilling transferrable knowledge from existing experience to cope with novel concepts for which the labeled data are scarce. A typical assumption in FSL is that the training examples of novel classes are all clean with no outlier interference. In many realistic applications where examples are provided by users, however, data are potentially noisy or unreadable. In this context, we introduce a novel research topic, robust FSL (RFSL), where we aim to address two types of outliers within user-provided data: the representation outlier (RO) and the label outlier (LO). Moreover, we introduce a metric for estimating robustness and use it to investigate the performance of several advanced methods to FSL when faced with user-provided outliers. In addition, we propose robust attentive profile networks (RapNets) to achieve outlier suppression. The results of a comprehensive evaluation of benchmark data sets demonstrate the shortcomings of current FSL methods and the superiority of the proposed RapNets when dealing with RFSL problems, establishing a benchmark for follow-up studies.

SiC MOSFET integrated with Schottky barrier diode (SBD) can handle the reverse current during switching operation and reduce the package cost. However, the integrated SBD weakens the high-voltage-withstanding capability of the SiC MOSFET. In this article, a novel 4H-SiC trench MOSFET integrated with mesa-sidewall SBD (TMS-SBD) is proposed and studied with the 2-D simulation. Compared with the trench MOSFET integrated with the SBD locating on the mesa (TM-SBD), the TMS-SBD shows a larger breakdown voltage (BV), a lower electric field in the gate oxide, and a better tradeoff between BV and specific ON-resistance. The TMS-SBD also shows the same current capability as that of the TM-SBD. Due to the removal of one sidewall overlap between the gate electrode and drain electrode, the reverse capacitance of TMS-SBD is lower than that of the TM-SBD. In double-pulse test simulation, the turn-on loss and turn-off loss of the TMS-SBD reduce by 30% and 56% than those of the TM-SBD, respectively. Therefore, the TMS-SBD is a more attractive device in high-voltage, high-reliability, and low-switching-loss applications.

This paper proposes an innovative externally-hung self-centering rocking wall (ESRW) structural system for retrofitting existing reinforced concrete structures. Reinforced corbels are installed on the columns of an existing structure to which rocking walls having unbonded post-tensioned tendons are connected using H-shaped connectors. The seismic performance and self-centering ability of the ESRW were investigated through a series of shaking table tests. For comparison, an unretrofit control structure (UCS) was also tested. The UCS was severely damaged under peak ground acceleration (PGA) = 1.2 g test conditions: some reinforcing bars were fractured and the UCS was close to collapse. For the ESRW, the damage was significantly reduced: there were only minor cracks appearing at PGA = 1.5 g test conditions and no damage appeared at the corners of the rocking walls. The maximum story drift and residual deformation of the ESRW were reduced 88% and 92%, respectively, relative to the UCS test. The ESRW structure showed desirable seismic performance and self-centering characteristics during shaking table tests.

To integrate third-party intellectual properties (IPs) into a new system-on-chip (SoC) architecture is a big challenge. Therefore, this study first presents a new bus protocol named as integrated bus (IBUS), and more important, a configurable bus wrapper for connecting AXI3-interfaced IPs into IBUS is further proposed, aiming to finding the optimal balance between bus efficiency and resource cost in terms of field-programming gate array slice count, bus transfer latency, and energy consumption. As a case study, the authors implemented three IBUS wrappers for integrating three AXI3-interfaced verification IPs into an IBUS SoC. Experimental results show that their proposed work achieves a higher valid data throughput ( 1.35 × in the block test and 1.52 × in the cipher test) compared with the designs on conventional bridge-based SoC integration, as well as a large reduction in the normalised slice-time-power (18.73% in the block benchmark and 23.45% in the cipher benchmark) when setting the same weights of slice number, data transfer latency, and energy dissipation.

Fruit aroma is mainly contributed by free and glycosidically bound aroma compounds, in which glycosidically bound form can be converted into free form during storage and processing, thereby enhancing the overall aroma property. In recent years, the bound aroma precursors have been widely used as flavor additives in the food industry to enhance, balance and recover the flavor of products. This review summarizes the fruit-derived aroma glycosides in different aspects including chemical structures, enzymatic hydrolysis, biosynthesis and occurrence. Aroma glycosides structurally involve an aroma compound (aglycone) and a sugar moiety (glycone). They can be hydrolyzed to release free volatiles by endo- and/or exo-glucosidase, while their biosynthesis refers to glycosylation process using glycosyltransferases (GTs). So far, aroma glycosides have been found and studied in multiple fruits such as grapes, mangoes, lychees and so on. Additionally, their importance in flavor perception, their utilization in food flavor enhancement and other industrial applications are also discussed. Aroma glycosides can enhance flavor perception via hydrolyzation by β-glucosidase in human saliva. Moreover, they are able to impart product flavor by controlling the liberation of active volatiles in industrial applications. This review provides fundamental information for the future investigation on the fruit-derived aroma glycosides.

In this article, the single-event response of the 1.2-kV silicon-carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs with varied buffer layer designs is investigated by the 2-D numerical simulations. The structural parameters of the buffer layers are compared and analyzed to understand the transient response after the heavy ion strike and the related physical mechanisms comprehensively. Simulation results reveal that an optimized single buffer structure can be acquired by using a relatively thicker buffer layer (T $\mu \text{m}$ ) and a moderate doping concentration (D cm−3). It demonstrates that the single-event-burnout (SEB) performance can be improved significantly under the worst case bias conditions [a drain bias voltage of 1.2 kV and a linear energy transfer (LET) of 1 pC/ $\mu \text{m}$ ]. In addition, the optimized structural combinations adopted in the dual or triple buffer layers can strengthen the SEB performance further. The simulation results show that a step electric field distribution is established inside the optimized dual or triple buffers, where the electric field peak is mitigated from 3 to 2.2 MV/cm. Moreover, the excess carrier generation is suppressed and the local temperature rise is weakened during the transient electrothermal process. Consequently, the structure with the optimal buffer layer designs can enlarge the SEB safe operating area (SOA) from 30%–50% to 100% rated breakdown voltage at high LET bias, which makes the SiC power MOSFETs used in aerospace and aviation power electronic systems become possible.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial mitochondrial dysfunction is the leading cause of chronic heart failure (CHF). Increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, disruption of mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial Ca(2+)([Ca(2+)]m) homeostasis and reduction of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) cause myocardial mitochondrial dysfunction. Therefore, treating CHF by targeting mitochondrial function is a focus of current research. For the first time, this study investigated the effects of the strong antioxidant pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) on mitochondrial function in a cardiac pressure overload model, and the mechanism by which PQQ regulates [Ca(2+)]m homeostasis was explored in depth. METHODS: After transaortic constriction (TAC), normal saline and PQQ (0.4, 2 and 10 mg/kg) were administered intragastrically to Sprague Dawley (SD) rats for 12 weeks. In vitro, neonatal rat left ventricle myocytes (NRVMs) were pretreated with 200 nm angiotensin II (Ang II) with or without PQQ (1, 10 and 100 μM). Rat heart remodelling was verified by assessment of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels (qRT-PCR), cell surface area (wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) staining in vivo and α-actin in vitro) and echocardiography. Myocardial mitochondrial morphology was assessed by transmission electron microscopy. Western blotting was used to assess mitochondrial biogenesis [peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) and transcription factor A, mitochondrial (TFAM)]. The ΔΨm was determined by tetraethyl benzimidazolyl carbocyanine iodide (JC-1) staining and flow cytometry, and ROS levels were measured by dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) and MitoSOX Red staining. [Ca(2+)]m was measured by isolating rat mitochondria, and mitochondrial Ca(2+) channel proteins [the mitochondrial Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCLX) and mitochondrial Ca(2+) uniporter (MCU)] were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: In vivo and in vitro, PQQ pretreatment improved pressure overload-induced cardiac remodelling and cell hypertrophy, thus preventing the occurrence of CHF. PQQ also prevented mitochondrial morphology damage and reduced the PGC-1α and TFAM downregulation caused by TAC or Ang II. In addition, in NRVMs treated with Ang II + PQQ, PQQ regulated ROS levels and increased the ΔΨm. PQQ also regulated [Ca(2+)]m homeostasis and prohibited [Ca(2+)]m overloading by increasing NCLX expression. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that PQQ can prevent [Ca(2+)]m overload by increasing NCLX expression and thereby reducing ROS production and protecting the ΔΨm. At the same time, PQQ can increase PGC-1α and TFAM expression to regulate mitochondrial biogenesis. These factors can prevent mitochondrial dysfunction, thereby reducing cardiac damage caused by pressure overload and preventing the occurrence of CHF.

Background/Aims: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common and severe congenital defects. The incidence of fetal cardiac malformation is increased in the context of maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Therefore, we wanted to determine whether abnormalities in the insulin signaling pathway are associated with the occurrence of nonsyndromic CHD (ns-CHD). Methods: We used digital gene expression profiling (DGE) of right atrial myocardial tissue samples from eight ns-CHD patients and four controls. The genes potentially associated with CHD were validated by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR analysis of right atrial myocardial tissues from 37 patients and 10 controls and the H9C2 cell line. Results: The results showed that the insulin signaling pathway, which is mediated by the SHC gene family, was inhibited in the ns-CHD patients. The expression levels of five genes (PTPRF, SHC4, MAP2K2, MKNK2, and ELK1) in the pathway were significantly down-regulated in the patients’ atrial tissues (P

This paper proposes a hybrid coupled partially encased composite (PEC) wall system, obtained through the connection of two PEC walls by means of the shear critical steel coupling beams with an innovative welded connection. This structural solution is designed to take advantage of both the stiffness of the PEC walls (required to limit building damage under frequent earthquakes) and the ductility of the steel coupling beams (necessary to dissipate energy under medium-intensity and high-intensity earthquakes). The connection performance of an innovative rigid joint with different configurations in this system is studied through pseudostatic analysis, and the seismic performance of the proposed hybrid coupled PEC wall system is evaluated through multirecord nonlinear dynamic analysis of a set of case studies. Adopted finite element models are developed and validated against the available experimental results. A summary of the results is presented and discussed to highlight the potential of the proposed hybrid coupled PEC wall systems. The key feature of this system is development of a reasonable two-level yielding mechanism (the first level is the yielding of the coupling beams, and the second level is the yielding of the PEC wall) without damage to the welded joints.

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal known to be harmful to human health. The aim of this study was to analyze the regional characteristics of dietary Cd intake of adult male residents in different regions of China. The value of this research is to guide regional consumers to minimize Cd intake by adjusting diets for different food categories in various regions. Dietary Cd intake data is used from the 4th and 5th Chinese Total Diet Studies (CTDS). The 4th CTDS collected data from 12 provinces, covering about 50% of the Chinese population. The 5th CTDS collected data from 20 provinces, covering about 67% of the Chinese population. Over 200 kinds of foods were sampled and divided into 13 categories and organized by geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The results showed that firstly, the dietary Cd intake of Chinese residents has increased; secondly, the food groups with the highest Cd intake were cereals and vegetables; and thirdly, the main food group of dietary Cd intake in different regions is presented such as cereals in Sichuan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi and vegetables in Shanghai, Ningxia, and Heilongjiang. Lastly, the food product with the highest dietary Cd intake concentration was found to be nori in 5 provinces. The other notable foods, with Cd intake, included peanuts, rice, squid, cuttlefish, and mushrooms.

Gait maturation in infants develops gradually through several phases. However, external factors such as childrearing practices, especially the wearing of diapers, may affect an infant’s motor development. This study investigated the influence of different bulk stresses on the gait of toddlers wearing a disposable diaper. Twenty-six healthy toddlers (age: 19.2 ± 0.9 months) participated in this study. We measured the joint kinematics (pelvis angle and hip-joint angle) and spatiotemporal parameters (step length and step width) of the toddlers’ gait under four dress conditions (wearing Type A_WET, Type A_DRY, and Type B_WET diapers and naked). Type B_WET had a higher bulk stress than Type A_WET, and Type A_DRY had lower stress than Type A _ WET. Our results indicate that the walk of toddlers when wearing a diaper differs from that when naked. This difference is due to the effect of the bulk of the diaper on the lower limb. A high bulk stress has a greater influence than that of a low bulk stress on joint dynamics and step width. Therefore, our findings suggest that wearing diapers with high bulk stress may inhibit the natural gait patterns of toddlers.

This study investigated whether and how fetal malnutrition would influence endogenous melatonin synthesis, and whether such effect of fetal malnutrition would transmit to the next generation. We enrolled 2466 participants and 1313 of their offspring. The urine 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate and serum melatonin rhythm were measured. Methylation microarray detection and bioinformatics analysis were performed to identify hub methylated sites. Additionally, rat experiment was performed to elucidate mechanisms. The participants with fetal malnutrition had lower 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate (16.59 ± 10.12 μg/24 hours vs 24.29 ± 11.99 μg/24 hours, P .001) and arear under curve of melatonin rhythm (67.11 ± 8.16 pg/mL vs 77.11 ± 8.04 pg/mL, P .001). We identified 961 differentially methylated sites, in which the hub methylated sites were locating on protein kinase C alpha (PRKCA) and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB1) promoters, mediating the association of fetal malnutrition with impaired melatonin secretion. However, such effects were not observed in the offspring (all P .05). Impaired histomorphology of pineal, decreased melatonin in serum, pineal, and pinealocyte were also found in the in vivo and in vitro experiments (P .05 for the differences of the indicators). Hypermethylation of 10 CpG sites on the PRKCA promoter and 8 CpG sites on the CREB1 promoter were identified (all P .05), which down-regulated PRKCA and CREB1 expressions, leading to decreased expression of AANAT, and then resulting in the impaired melatonin synthesis. Collectively, fetal malnutrition can impair melatonin synthesis through hypermethylation of PRKCA and CREB1 promoters, and such effects cannot be transmitted to the next generation.

In this Letter, a 1.2 kV SiC power MOSFET with a partially widened retrograde P-well (RP) structure and N-implanting region is proposed to enhance the device's reliability. Compared with the conventional SiC power MOSFET, the short circuit (SC) ability of the proposed structure can be improved effectively without sacrificing other performance. Simulation results reveal that a 40% reduction of the SC saturation current can be achieved, resulting in the SC withstand time increase from 7 to 10 μs at the DC-link voltage 800 V. Moreover, a better gate oxide reliability at 1.2 kV blocking condition also can be achieved. The peak electric field at the gate oxide interface is decreased by ∼48% owing to the shielding effect of the RP structure. In addition, the fabrication technology of the proposed structure is compatible with the standard planar SiC MOSFET manufacture process only with a few additional implanting steps. Therefore, this new MOSFET structure provides a simple and effective way to optimise the reliability of the planar SiC power MOSFET.

Background The effects of epicardial connections (ECs) involving pulmonary veins (PVs) in atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation have been revealed recently. However, no systematic approaches to identify and ablate the ECs were established. Methods Patients with AF undergoing radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation were retrospectively analyzed. ECs were identified when (1) PV isolation (PVI) cannot be achieved after first-pass isolation; (2) PVI was still absent although the conduction gap was detected and ablated; (3) the earliest activation area (EAA) was revealed located within the PV antrum distant from the initial ablation line using high-density mapping (HDM) technique; (4) focal ablation at the EAA was effective to achieve PVI. Relevant pacing maneuvers were performed to elucidate ECs' bidirectional conduction. Results Overall, 36 ECs were identified and ablated in 35/597 (5.86%) patients. Among the 35 patients with ECs, at least one PV insertion of ECs was located at the carina region. The most common pattern was a single breakthrough in 31 (88.6%) patients, followed by multiple breakthroughs in 3 and wide breakthroughs in 1. The median distance from EAA to the initial ablation line was 10.0 mm. The average number of RF energy delivery was 1.75 ± 1.00, and single RF delivery was adequate in 16/36 (44.4%) patients. Continuous potentials were present at the EAA in 9/34 (26.5%) patients. Conclusion ECs were confirmed and ablated successfully in 5.86% (35/597) AF patients using HDM. PV insertions of ECs were mainly located at the carina region. Continuous potentials might assist in the prediction of ECs.

Key Points Question What proportion of people in public places are wearing face masks without proper airtight seals, what factors are associated with face mask protection efficacy, and can they be improved? Findings This cross-sectional study, including 6003 participants wearing face masks in public places, found that face mask airtightness was commonly suboptimal, mostly secondary to gaps at the upper face mask edge. Using simple and tolerable approach of sealing the upper face mask edge with an adhesive tape was associated with significant improvement of face mask airtightness. Meaning These findings suggest that compromised protection due to suboptimal face mask airtightness was common, and use of adhesive tape to seal the upper edge was associated with easily and quickly improving the airtightness of existing masks., This cross-sectional study examines the proportion of people using face masks improperly in public and the factors associated with increasing face mask airtightness., Importance Face masks are recommended to prevent transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, there is scarce evidence on their protection efficacy and ways to improve it. Objective To determine the proportion of improper face mask use, the factors associated with face mask protection efficacy, and ways to improve efficacy. Design, Setting, and Participants This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in China from July to August 2020 in 5 kinds of public places. Participants included convenience samples of individuals wearing face masks and able to taste the check solution. Exposures Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, including sex, age, and education level; information on face mask model and the worn duration was recorded. Main Outcomes and Measures The main outcome as airtightness, assessed by detecting face-to-face mask gaps, movement of cotton fiber placed at the face mask edges, and using a qualitative fit test with a bitter solution spray. Masks were further assessed for whether sealing the upper face mask edge with an adhesive tape strip was associated with improved face mask airtightness. Results Among 6003 face mask wearers enrolled, the mean (SD) age of participants was 31.1 (13.7) years, and 3047 participants (50.8%) were female. The first qualitative fit test found air leakage in 2754 participants (45.9%; 95% CI, 44.6%-47.1%), which was mostly attributable to gaps at the upper face mask edge. After sealing the upper face mask edge with an adhesive tape strip, 69.7% (95% CI, 68.0%-71.5%) of masks that had exhibited leakage became airtight in the second qualitative fit test, and the rate of airtightness reached 96.2% (95% CI, 95.4%-96.8%) in a third qualitative fit test after new surgical face masks with tape on the upper edge were provided to those who had not converted initially. The tape was well tolerated; overall, 6 participants (1.2%) reported a rash and 24 participants (5.8%) reported significant discomfort. Conclusions and Relevance In this study of face mask fit among participants in China, although most people used face masks in public places, compromised protection due to suboptimal airtightness was common. The simple approach of sealing the upper edge of the face mask with an adhesive tape strip was associated with substantially improved its airtightness.

A buried gate fin p-body insulated gate bipolar transistor (BG-Fin-P IGBT) is proposed to achieve ultralow on-state voltage drop (V CE(sat)) and good short-circuit (SC) ruggedness simultaneously. A buried gate is introduced at the bottom part of the fin structure, forming a local region with the nanoscale mesa width, which enhances the conductivity modulation effectively. Meanwhile, a relatively wide mesa width (>0.5 μm) can be adopted at the main fin structure to maintain a good SC capability. Compared to the previously reported ultra-narrow-mesas fin p-body IGBT, simulation results reveal that the V CE(sat) of the BG-Fin-P IGBT is reduced from 1.39 to 1.03 V at the current density of 100 A/cm2 without SC ability degradation. Meanwhile, more than 10 μs short circuit withstand time is enabled at the junction temperature of 423 K for all structures. Moreover, the proposed structure can avoid a fabrication difficulty of the emitter contact when a very narrow mesa width (∼30 nm) is required to achieve the ultralow V CE(sat), which brings design freedom on the device's structure.

Background Electroacupuncture (EA) at ST36 can significantly improve gastrointestinal symptoms, especially in promoting gastrointestinal motility. The automatic nervous system plays a main role in EA, but few studies exist on how vagovagal and sympathetic reflexes affect EA to regulate gastrointestinal motility. Aim To study the role of vagovagal and sympathetic reflexes in EA at ST36, as well as the associated receptor subtypes that are involved. Methods Gastric motility was measured with a manometric balloon placed in the gastric antrum area in anesthetized animals. The peripheral nervous discharge was measured using a platinum electrode hooking the vagus or greater splanchnic nerve, and the central nervous discharge was measured with a glass microelectrode in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV). The effects and mechanisms of EA at ST36 were explored in male Sprague-Dawley rats which were divided in to a control group, vagotomy group, sympathectomy group, and microinjection group [including an artificial cerebrospinal fluid group, glutamate (L-Glu) group, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) group] and in genetically modified male mice [β1β2 receptor-knockout (β1β2-/-) mice, M2M3 receptor-knockout (M2M3-/-) mice, and wild-type control mice]. Results EA at ST36 promoted gastric motility during 30-120 s. During EA, both vagus and sympathetic nerve discharges increased, with a much higher frequency of vagus nerve discharge than sympathetic discharge. The gastric motility mediated by EA at ST36 was interdicted by vagotomy. However, gastric motility mediated by EA at ST36 was increased during 0-120 s by sympathectomy, which eliminated the delay effect of EA during 0-30 s, but it was lower than the control group during 30-120 s. Using gene knockout mice and their wild-type controls to explore the receptor mechanisms, we found that EA at ST36 decreased gastric motility in M2/3-/- mice, and promoted gastric motility in β1/2-/- mice. Extracellular recordings showed that EA at ST36 increased spikes of the DMV. Microinjection of L-Glu into the DMV increased gastric motility, while EA at ST36 decreased gastric motility during 0-60 s, and promoted gastric motility during 60-120 s. Injection of GABA reduced or increased gastric motility, and reduced the promoting gastric motility effect of EA at ST36. Conclusion These data suggest that EA at ST36 modulates gastric motility via vagovagal and sympathetic reflexes mediated through M2/3 and β1/2 receptors, respectively. Sympathetic nerve activity mediated through β1/2 receptors is associated with an early delay in modulation of gastric motility by EA at ST36.

Highlights • Low-dose and short-term exposure to methyl mercaptan had adverse effects on lung tissue. • Lipid peroxidation and alterations in blood antioxidant enzyme levels were observed following the exposure. • Oxidative damage is recognized as a potential mechanism for pulmonary stimulation and injury. • Malondialdehyde in lung tissue was significantly increased in both males and females exposure group., The present study was carried out to evaluate the hematotoxicity and respiratory toxicity of methyl mercaptan in Sprague-Dawley rats. A dynamic exposure methodology was adopted in this study following 7 days of exposure by repeated inhalation. The concentration of methyl mercaptan used in the exposure was 0.5 ppm and the exposure time was 6 h/day for 7 days. After exposure, the rats were sacrificed to collect lung tissue and blood samples. Routine blood and serum biochemistry were conducted. Morphological injury of lung tissue was detected by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Decreased food consumption and body weight gain in both sexes were noted in the exposure group compared with the control group. Several significant changes in hematological parameters were observed. The results showed that the blood urea nitrogen (UREA) levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD) values were significantly decreased in exposed male rats. Malondialdehyde (MDA) in lung tissue was significantly increased in both males and females in the exposed group. In the histopathological examination of lung tissue, terminal bronchiole constriction, alveolar congestion, and erythrocyte exudation were observed, suggesting that the lungs may be target organs after inhaling methyl mercaptan and workers exposed to this concentration may cause some pulmonary stimulation and injury.

A reliable numerical tool for the prediction of the parametric roll is important in the development of the second generation intact stability criteria. The main difficulty of the prediction of the parametric roll comes from the significant coupling of the roll with other motions, especially the heave and pitch motions. In this paper, the numerical method for determining the parametric roll is studied and the results are benchmarked against the model test data. Firstly, a 3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) time domain hybrid panel method is validated by experimental data in regular oblique waves and irregular head waves. Secondly, the verified 3DOF method is extended to a fully coupled 6DOF method with the course control. Finally, taking the C11 containership as the test case, the parametric roll in oblique waves is computed, and the effects of the surge, sway and yaw motions on the parametric roll are evaluated with the developed mathematical models. The results show that the effects of the surge and sway motions on the parametric roll is insignificant, while the effects of the yaw motion are more notable. The results of the roll amplitudes and the standard deviation of the roll angles show that the model based on 3DOF gives relatively conservative results, and can be directly used for the stability assessment of the parametric roll.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a chronic mental disease that adversely affects human mood and cognition. Many first-line antidepressant drugs have high rates of partial responsiveness or nonresponsiveness with side effects, and finding more effective drugs for the treatment of depression is therefore urgently needed. THSG, a main active compound of the traditional Chinese herb Polygonum multiflorum, reportedly acts as a neuroprotective agent. This study aimed to illustrate whether THSG prevents depressive-like behaviors induced by chronic restraint stress (CRS) in an MDD mouse model. Our results demonstrated that the peripheral administration of different THSG doses (10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, and 40 mg/kg) reversed the depressive-like behaviors in CRS mice as measured by the tail suspension test, forced swimming test, and open-field test. Further analyses suggested that THSG treatment reduced oxidative stress in both the central and peripheral nervous systems of CRS mice. In addition, heightened inflammatory responses, demonstrated by the increased expression of proinflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6), in hippocampal and prefrontal cortex tissues of CRS mice were inhibited by THSG administration. THSG also restored the diminished Akt signaling pathway in the brains of CRS mice. Moreover, our data suggest increased astrocyte proliferation and neurogenesis in the hippocampus of CRS mice after THSG treatment. Taken together, our results demonstrated an antidepressant effect of THSG in a mouse model of MDD for the first time, and oxidative stress and inflammatory pathways were determined to play roles in this effect.

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor as an attractive drug target with promising antitumor effects has been widely investigated. High quality clinical trial has been conducted in liver transplant (LT) recipients in Western countries. However, the pertinent studies in Eastern world are paucity. Therefore, we designed a clinical trial to test whether sirolimus can improve recurrence-free survival (RFS) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients beyond the Milan criteria after LT. This is an open-labeled, single-arm, prospective, multicenter, and real-world study aiming to evaluate the clinical outcomes of early switch to sirolimus-based regimens in HCC patients after LT. Patients with a histologically proven HCC and beyond the Milan criteria will be enrolled. The initial immunosuppressant regimens are center-specific for the first 4-6 weeks. The following regimens integrated sirolimus into the regimens as a combination therapy with reduced calcineurin inhibitors based on the condition of patients and centers. The study is planned for 4 years in total with a 2-year enrollment period and a 2-year follow-up. We predict that sirolimus conversion regimen will provide survival benefits for patients particular in the key indicator RFS as well as better quality of life. If the trial is conducted successfully, we will have a continued monitoring over a longer follow-up time to estimate indicator of overall survival. We hope that the outcome will provide better evidence for clinical decision-making and revising treatment guidelines based on Chinese population data. Trial register: Trial registered at http://www.chictr.org.cn: ChiCTR2100042869.

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is the cornerstone therapy of atrial fibrillation (AF). Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) is performed using a point-by-point method to achieve durable PVI. However, this procedure remains complex and time-consuming, and the long-term clinical outcomes are still not satisfactory. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the clinical application of high-power short-duration (HPSD) approaches in the field of RFCA. HPSD ablation, distinguishing it from the conventional ablation strategy, delivers RF energy at a high power and saves the dwell time at each site. It is unknown whether the HPSD approach can bring some gratifying changes in the field of RF energy ablation. A number of experimental studies and clinical studies have been conducted regarding this topic. The review aimed to summarize the research findings and evaluate the procedural efficiency, safety, and clinical outcomes of the HPSD approach based on the evidence available to date.

The objective of the research was to reveal the potential toxicity effects of methyl mercaptan on rat lung tissue. A dynamic exposure device and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were adopted. The exposure concentration of methyl mercaptan was 0.5 ± 0.1 ppm. The exposure procedure was 6 h/day, continuing for 30 days. The routine blood levels, oxidative stress levels in serum, immune molecule and cytokine in the serum and lung tissue were tested. Morphology injury of lung tissue was detected by Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE) staining. Apoptosis rate of alveolar epithelial cells were determined by TdT-mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) assay. Reduction of body weight gain was observed in the male group during the exposure time, while there was no significant reduction of body weight gain in the female group. Pathological findings of terminal bronchiole constriction, alveolar congestion, and erythrocyte exudation confirmed the lung to be the main target organ. An apparent pneumonocyte apoptotic effection was also observed. Oxidative stress with lipid peroxidation, which affect blood antioxidant enzyme levels and induce apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells, are recognized as a potential mechanism leading to terminal bronchiole constriction, alveoli congestion, and exudates of erythrocyte.

In large-scale visual recognition tasks, researchers are usually faced with some challenging problems, such as the extreme imbalance in the number of training data between classes or the lack of annotated data for some classes. In this paper, we propose a novel neural network architecture that automatically synthesizes pseudo feature representations for the classes in lack of annotated images. With the supply of semantic attributes for classes, the proposed Attribute-Based Synthetic Network (ABS-Net) can be applied to zero-shot learning (ZSL) scenario and conventional supervised learning (CSL) scenario as well. For ZSL tasks, the pseudo feature representations can be viewed as annotated feature-level instances for novel concepts, which facilitates the construction of unseen class predictor. For CSL tasks, the pseudo feature representations can be viewed as products of data augmentation on training set, which enriches the interpretation capacity of CSL systems. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ABS-Net in ZSL and CSL settings on a synthetic colored MNIST dataset (C-MNIST). For several popular ZSL benchmark datasets, our architecture also shows competitive results on zero-shot recognition task, especially leading to tremendous improvement to state-of-the-art mAP on zero-shot retrieval task.

In this paper, the clamped inductive turn-off ruggedness of a novel Trench Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (TIGBT) at overcurrent condition is studied by numerical simulation. This proposed structure is optimized by using split gate structure to improve the turn-off reliability. Simulation result shows that the maximum turn-off critical current of the proposed TIGBT increases for about 42.8% compared with the conventional TIGBT structure. The main reason is that the electric field of the proposed structure is redistributed by RESURF effect at the trench bottomed area, resulting to attenuate the current filament at local area. In addition, the hole which concentrated at the trench bottom area is less because the bottom part of split gate polysilicon is shorted with the emitter. Therefore, the local dynamic avalanche effect which triggered by the excessive carriers concentration and high peak electric filed accumulation is weakened. The turn-off ruggedness of the proposed structure is enhanced effectively and the electrical parameters are not compromised but even better compared with conventional structure.

With the continuous development and advancement of Internet technology, building an information management mechanism and a smart campus control model is an inevitable trend in keeping with the times. Among them, the decision support system can provide a more convenient management path for construction work and take advantage of Internet of Things technology and RFID radio frequency technology to ensure that big data management is more convenient and effective. This paper analyzes the characteristics of the smart campus and the overall framework of the decision support system, while focusing on the design and implementation process of the smart campus decision support system for reference only.

The current campus network has become the basic equipment in campus construction. The safe and reliable campus network not only can utilize various resources inside and outside the schoolreasonably, safely and effectively, but also improve the working environment of the campus network, facilitate the management and maintenance of the campus network, and improve the reliability of the campus network. Therefore, it is especially important to build a reasonable campus network security system; Based on the security design in the network construction of a university campus network, this paper analyzes comprehensively the possible security problems, the current security status of campus network and the needs of campus network security. Based on the existing information organization structure of colleges and universities, this paper uses various management methods and technical methods to divide the campus network into various functional area modules, and deploys corresponding solutions in each regional module to solve the network security existing in the campus network. The problem is ultimately to protect the online system resources and services, and to alleviate the security threats of the campus network.

An innovative externally-hung rocking wall (ERW) with shape memory alloy (SMA) and disc spring self-centering devices for retrofitting existing structures was proposed in this paper. By arranging steel corbels on the columns of an existing structure, the rocking walls were connected to the corbel using H-shaped connectors. Two types of self-centering devices, using disc spring and SMA separately, were installed between rocking wall and foundation to prevent collision damage, and can provide self-centering capability for the structure. The seismic performance characteristic of the ERW structure was studied via a shaking table test. For comparison, an unretrofit control (UC) structure was also tested. The UC structure was severely damaged and nearly collapsed after PGA = 1.2 g test cases: some steel bars at the bottom of the beam were fractured, and concrete at the beam end and column foot were crushed. For the ERW structure, the damage was significantly reduced after PGA = 1.5 g test cases: there were some cracks appeared in the structure, and concrete at the column foot were slightly crushed. However, no obvious damage was observed in the self-centering devices. The maximum story drift and residual deformation of the ERW structure are reduced 86.7% and 91.2%, respectively, relative to the UC structure.

This paper presents a compressive tracking framework using distributed binary sensors. The goal of this research is to achieve the minimum data throughput for an accurate multitarget tracking system through novel spatial sampling schemes. The framework consists of two main components: space encoding and measurement decoding. The space encoding scheme is based on the low-density parity-check matrix, which converts $k$ -sparse target position vectors into different codewords. The measurement decoding scheme contains linear-programming-based localization and graphical-model-based tracking algorithms, which converts codewords into the states of multiple targets. A posterior Cramer–Rao bound analysis is utilized to achieve the tradeoff between the compression ratio of measurements and the accuracy of the tracking system. Simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the proposed framework.

Background The extent of coronary disease affects clinical outcomes and may predict the effectiveness of coronary revascularization with either coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) score quantifies the extent of coronary disease. Objectives This study sought to determine whether SYNTAX scores predicted outcomes and the effectiveness of coronary revascularization compared with medical therapy in the BARI-2D (Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes) trial. Methods Baseline SYNTAX scores were retrospectively calculated for BARI-2D patients without prior revascularization (N = 1,550) by angiographic laboratory investigators masked to patient characteristics and outcomes. The primary outcome was major cardiovascular events (a composite of death, myocardial infarction, and stroke) over 5 years. Results A mid/high SYNTAX score (≥23) was associated with a higher risk of major cardiovascular events (hazard ratio: 1.36, confidence interval: 1.07 to 1.75, p = 0.01). Patients in the CABG stratum had significantly higher SYNTAX scores: 36% had mid/high SYNTAX scores compared with 13% in the PCI stratum (p Conclusions Among patients with diabetes and stable ischemic heart disease, higher SYNTAX scores predict higher rates of major cardiovascular events and were associated with more favorable outcomes of revascularization compared with medical therapy among patients suitable for CABG. (Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation in Type 2 Diabetes; NCT00006305)

In this paper, the facial expression recognition(FER) application is achieved by integrating Machine Learning and High Performance Computing (HPC). The convolutional neural network(CNN) will be trained utilizing the XSEDE high-performance computing resources. To observe the performance of HPC, CNN model has been trained with different values of parameters and their training times are provided. Compared to an ordinary computer, HPC with CPU and Google Colaboratory with GPU, this research explores the highest work efficiency of HPC with GPU with respect to operating time.

Dangerous situations such as children are left in vehicles, are dropped off at wrong stops, or take on wrong school buses usually caused by the negligence of drivers. This paper presents a real-time intelligent in-vehicle monitoring system that can count and recognize people as well as alert drivers if such improprieties or potential dangers happen. The system uses HOG-based face detector from Dlib library to obtain face counting function. Face recognition is achieved through two steps, facial feature extraction and face identification. The ResNet is used in facial feature extraction. It transforms an aligned face into a 256-dimensional vector, a Euclidean facial embedding. In face identification, labeled faces will be transformed to facial embeddings first. Then k-nearest neighbor classifier (kNN) is adopted to identify people using such facial embeddings. The simulation on ChokePoint dataset is tested and the average accuracy is 93 percent.

The purpose of this project was to analyze which image pre-processing technique was most beneficial in improving the performance of Facial Expression Recognition through Deep Learning and High-Performance Computing. Contrary to our expectations, the results obtained in this work showed that deep learning does not significantly benefit from various commonly used image pre-processing techniques such as resizing, smoothing, or edge detection. The results confirm previous findings that an increase in accuracy is obtained by increasing the size of the training dataset. This study proceeds to show that the increase in training data size can easily be handled by the High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster provided by the Pittsburg Supercomputing Center (PSC) through XSEDE.

In this paper, a novel CSTBT with very narrow mesa structure is proposed by numerical simulation. The floating pwell region in the proposed structure is connected with the cathode through the very narrow mesa structure to deplete the very high dose concentration of the CS layer. Therefore, the conductivity modulation effect of the proposed structure can be enhanced significantly. It can help the proposed structure to achieve ultra-low on-state saturation voltage closed to the theoretical limit. In addition, there is no degeneration of the short-circuit behavior due to the relatively normal active cell mesa region. It can avoid the CIBL behavior induced by the very narrow conductive channel structure.

In this work, a simple and effective thermal deposition method is described to enhance the stability and achieve n-doping of two-dimensional black phosphorus (BP), resulting in the successful fabrication of logic devices. By doping with Al adatoms, the stability of BP against oxidation is enhanced and the transfer characteristics are maintained for several days under ambient conditions. Furthermore, the resulting BP is n-doping showing a negative-shifted threshold voltage and enhanced electron mobility. The mechanism of Al-doping is investigated by first-principles calculation and Al induces a downward shift of the conduction band minimum and increases the Fermi level. In addition, integration of bare BP and Al-doped BP enables the fabrication of various logic devices such as inverters and p-n diodes. This work reveals a facile strategy to simultaneously enhance the stability and regulate the conductivity of BP by doping with metal adatoms boding well for device applications.

Background. We aimed to assess whether electroacupuncture (EA) at PC6 affects gastric motility via the vagovagal reflex and if so whether brainstem vagovagal neurocircuits and related transmitters are involved. Methods. Gastric motility was measured in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by placing a small manometric balloon in the gastric antrum. The rats were subjected to control, sham surgery, vagotomy, sympathectomy, and microinjection group, including artificial cerebrospinal fluid, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glutamic acid (L-Glu). The effect of EA at PC6 on gastric motility was measured. Moreover, electrophysiological testing was used to measure the effect of EA at PC6 on the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves. In addition, artificial cerebrospinal fluid, L-Glu, and GABA have been microinjected into the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) to measure the changes in gastric motility and parasympathetic nerve discharge induced by EA at PC6. Key Results. EA facilitated the gastric motility in control group. In the vagotomy group, gastric motility was not affected by EA at PC6. However, in the sympathectomy group, gastric motility was similar to control group. Acupuncture at PC6 increased parasympathetic nerve discharge but not sympathetic nerve discharge. Furthermore, the microinjection of L-Glu into the DMV increased gastric motility, although EA at PC6 showed no remarkable change in this group. The injection of GABA reduced gastric motility and parasympathetic nerve discharge, but EA at PC6 significantly increased gastric motility and the parasympathetic nerve discharge in this group. Conclusions and Inferences. EA at PC6—primarily by inhibiting GABA transmission to DMV—reduced the inhibition of efferent vagal motor fibers and thus promoted efferent vagus nerve activity and increased gastric motility.

Thread is an IPV6 based networking protocol for Internet-of-Things (IoT) that uses 6LoWPAN, IEEE 802.15.4 wireless at 2450MHz. OpenThread is an open source implementation of Thread Protocol released by Nest Labs that supports the Thread 1.1.1 specifications and currently used on Linux using command-line interface. This research focuses on building a Graphical User Interface (GUI) using TCL/TK for OpenThread. GUI helps researchers to manage and visualize Thread Protocol and its operations easier.

This paper presents an Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture by integrating a Synology cloud server, edge computing systems, and physical networks. More specifically, we have established a physical network combining two subsystems 1) non-standardized Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Mesh network, and 2) a security monitoring system. The BLE Mesh system has one IoT host connected with three BLE devices, enabling to extend the communication distance by using one or two relays. The monitoring system consists of a Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR) and a webcam with multiple solutions for recognizing a human face. Two algorithms, Low Binary Pattern Histogram (LBPH) and Deep Metric Learning (DML), have been implemented and evaluated on different benchmarks. Experimental results show that the DML-based computation can reach 99.38% accuracy with almost 400 ms latency for recognizing a single face in frames of images. The future work will focus on testing the cloud service by integrating a Synology D218+ server, as well as improving the computation speed of facial recognition on pure hardware design on field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The aim of our work is to provide a robust IoT-Edge-Cloud system which can be deployed on the large-scale applications and processes data much faster compared to traditional cloud computing system due to the perks of parallel computing on FPGAs at the network edge.

Human has the ability of drawing inferences about other things from only one instance. Few-shot learning is aimed at imitating this generalized learning behavior of human beings, where the learning machine is expected to recognize novel categories not seen in the training set, given only a few training data for each novel category. In this paper, we enhance the Prototypical Network for few-shot learning tasks by introducing a domain alignment module, which takes into account the domain shifts existing between different categories. Compared to original Prototypical Network (PN), the most excellent model for few-shot learning at present, our proposed Domain Alignment Prototypical Network (DA-PN) is able to abate the distribution differences among the data of training and test classes, further optimizing the embedding space of prototype feature for each category and then boosting few-shot recognition. Comprehensive empirical evidence demonstrates that the proposed DA-PN can yield state-of-the-art few-shot recognition performance on the public benchmark dataset mini-ImageNet as well as a novel proposed few-shot dataset MNIST&CIFAR10.

A novel edge termination structure with Four-Region Multistep Field Limiting Rings (FRM-FLRs) is proposed and investigated for 10kV 4H-SiC IGBTs. The structure with FRM-FLRs terminal technology exhibits a good blocking performance with 30% less terminal area and 23% higher blocking voltage compared with the conventional Filed limiting Rings (Con-FLRs) structure. Moreover, the structure with FRM-FLRs can decrease the sensitivity of the interface charges, which greatly improves the reliability of the device at the off-state.

An optimized edge termination structure by increasing the coverage rate of metal plates at termination area is presented for 3.3kV IGBTs. This structure indicates a better stability after 168 hours High temperature reverse bias (HTRB) experiment. The electric potential contours and the surface electric field distribution with the variation of oxide charge are analyzed through numerical simulation. It is realized that the optimized termination structure is less sensitive with oxide charge. Thus the surface electric field is more uniform at each ring location to weaken the electric field concentration. Therefore, the breakdown voltage of the optimized structure is more stable than the conventional structure, which is in good agreement with the experiment results.

Remarkable gains in deep learning usually rely on tremendous supervised data. Ensuring the modality diversity for one object in training set is critical for the generalization of cutting-edge deep models, but it burdens human with heavy manual labor on data collection and annotation. In addition, some rare or unexpected modalities are new for the current model, causing reduced performance under such emerging modalities. Inspired by the achievements in speech recognition, psychology and behavioristics, we present a practical solution, self-reinforcing unsupervised matching (SUM), to annotate the images with 2D structure-preserving property in an emerging modality by cross-modality matching. This approach requires no any supervision in emerging modality and only one template in seen modality, providing a possible route towards continual learning., Comment: 15 pages

Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition (HCCR) is a challenging topic in the field of pattern recognition due to large-scale character vocabulary, complex hierarchical structure, various writing styles, and scarce training samples. In this paper, we explored the hierarchical knowledge of Chinese characters and presented a novel zero-shot HCCR method. First, we handled the relations between the characters and their primitives, such as radicals and structures, to obtain a tree layout of primitives. Then, we presented a novel zero-shot hierarchical decomposition embedding method to encode the tree layout into a semantic vector. Next, we devised a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based framework to learn both radicals and structures of characters via the semantic vector. As different Chinese characters share some common radicals and structures, our method is able to recognize new categories without any labeled samples from them. Moreover, our method is effective in both traditional HCCR and zero-shot HCCR tasks. It achieves competitive performance on the traditional experiment setting and significantly surpasses the state-of-the-art methods on the zero-shot experiment setting.

Effective improvement in electrical properties of NO passivated SiC/SiO2 interface after being irradiated by electrons is demonstrated. The density of interface traps after being irradiated by 100-kGy electrons decreases by about one order of magnitude, specifically, from 3×1012 cm−2⋅eV−1 to 4×1011 cm−2⋅eV−1 at 0.2 eV below the conduction band of 4H-SiC without any degradation of electric breakdown field. Particularly, the results of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement show that the C–N bonds are generated near the interface after electron irradiation, indicating that the carbon-related defects are further reduced.