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Background: Former studies showed that magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is useful in diagnosing the presence of santorinicele; however, few studies have evaluated MRCP in diagnosing wirsungocele and the association between pancreatitis and santorinicele or wirsungocele. The purpose of the study was to explore the performance of MRCP in diagnosing santorinicele and wirsungocele and investigate the potential association among pancreatitis, pancreas divisum, and santorinicele or wirsungocele. Method: Sixty-five patients (mean age, 55.68 years; range, 11-82 years) with santorinicele or wirsungocele were included and sorted into two groups: the santorinicele group (n = 48) and the wirsungocele group (n = 17). All patients underwent MRCP. The images were evaluated for the appearance and size of santorinicele or wirsungocele. The diagnostic sensitivity of MRCP was assessed. Additionally, whether two groups are correlated with pancreas divisum or pancreatitis were investigated. Result: The sensitivity of MRCP in detecting santorinicele and wirsungocele showed no difference (68.8% and 76.5%, respectively). The proportion of patients who developed pancreatitis in santorinicele and wirsungocele groups were 60.4% and 11.8%, respectively (p < 0.05). Pancreas divisum accounted for 77.1% and 11.8% of the patients in the santorinicele and wirsungocele groups, respectively (p < 0.05). Patients with santorinicele and pancreas divisum tended to be older when they acquired pancreatitis. Conclusion: MRCP could be an alternative imaging method to detect cystic dilation of the pancreatic duct. Pancreatitis is more common in patients with santorinicele than in those with wirsungocele. Moreover, santorinicele is more closely associated with pancreatitis than with pancreas divisum.

Achieving large phase-matchable (PM) nonlinear optical (NLO) efficiency and high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) in an infrared second-order NLO (IR NLO) material is the most crucial technica...

Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and hyperphosphorylated tau protein are the most important pathological markers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are also involved in the development and pathological mechanism of AD. Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is a transcriptional factor responsible for cellular and tissue adaption to low oxygen tension. Emerging evidence has revealed HIF-1α as a potential medicinal target for neurodegenerative diseases. On the one hand, HIF-1α increases AβPP processing and Aβ generation by promoting β/γ-secretases and suppressing α-secretases, inactivates microglia and reduces their activity, contributes to microglia death and neuroinflammation, which promotes AD pathogenesis. On the other hand, HIF-1α could resist the toxic effect of Aβ, inhibits tau hyperphosphorylation and promotes microglial activation. In summary, this review focuses on the potential complex roles and the future perspectives of HIF-1α in AD, in order to provide references for seeking new drug targets and treatment methods for AD.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive decline in the normal aging process is one of the most common and prominent problems. Delaying and alleviating cognitive impairment is an important strategy of anti-aging. Thi...

With the antibiotic abuse and the resulting increased antibiotic resistance, the bacterial infection has posed a serious threat to human health. Photodynamic therapy is an effective tool for treating localized and superficial infections. It is a promising approach for the treatment of superbugs and with minimal risk of induced antibiotic resistance. Herein, an isoquinolinium-based photosensitizer, LIQ-TPE, with aggregation-induced emission properties is designed and synthesized. It is with high 1O2 generation efficiency and shows efficient antibacterial performance towards both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and even methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA). LIQ-TPE thus shows great promise as an effective antimicrobial agent to combat the menace of multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been widely reported in several neurodegenerative disorders, including in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington disease. An increasing number of studies have implicated altered glucose and energy metabolism in patients with AD. There is compelling evidence of abnormalities in some of the key mitochondrial enzymes involved in glucose metabolism, including the pyruvate dehydrogenase and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes, which play a great significance role in the pathogenesis of AD. Changes in some of the enzyme activities of the mitochondria found in AD have been linked with the pathology of amyloid-β (Aβ). This review highlights the role of mitochondrial function in the production and clearance of Aβ and how the pathology of Aβ leads to a decrease in energy metabolism by affecting mitochondrial function.

Background Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common form of spinal deformity in children and adolescents which presents as complex three-dimensional (3D) deformity of the spine and rib cage. This study aimed to estimate the effectiveness and safety of surgical interventions for AIS using Bayesian meta-analysis. Methods The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials were searched through Oct 1, 2019, without language restrictions. Relevant studies evaluating combined effectiveness and safety of surgical interventions for AIS were included according to eligibility criteria. The primary outcome measures included pulmonary function (change of absolute forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 second from pre-operation to post-operation) and incidence of complications. The secondary outcome measure was change of Cobb angle from pre-operation to post-operation. Data was pooled using a random effects model in pairwise meta-analysis. Bayesian meta-analysis combined direct and indirect evidence using a Bayesian framework. Results Twenty-eight case-controlled studies with totally 1970 participants were included. This Bayesian meta-analysis combining direct and indirect evidences indicated that posterior fusion with instrumentation without thoracoplasty (PSF) had the highest probability to achieve better pulmonary function and lower complication rate; video assisted anterior fusion with instrumentation without thoracoplasty (VAT) had the highest probability to obtain better Cobb angle correction based on analysis of rank probability. Conclusion This Bayesian meta-analysis demonstrated that PSF had the highest probability to achieve better post-surgical pulmonary function and lower complication rate, which gives a practical recommendation of PSF as a primary surgical treatment for AIS. The results also support statistics that current surgeries adopted more PSF but less open anterior approach surgery and thoracoplasty. More research work is required to address the effectiveness and safety of VAT for treating AIS more convincingly.

To investigate the value of cardiovascular magnetic resonance tissue-tracking (CMR-TT) imaging in the differentiation of subendocardial and transmural myocardial infarction (MI) and determine whether strain parameters are enable to detect adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling.Global peak circumferential, longitudinal, and radial strains (GPCS, GPLS, GPRS) and segmental peak circumferential, longitudinal, and radial strains (PCS, PLS, PRS) in accordance with the 16-segment model were all derived. All positive segments were divided into two groups according to transmural degree. All patients were dichotomized in accordance with the existence of LV remodeling, which was defined as infarct size (IS) > 24%.Patients with MI showed significant lower GPRS, GPCS, and GPLS than the control group (16.41% ± 8.92%, -8.77%± 3.51%, -7.54% ± 2.43% versus 32.41% ± 12.99%, -14.92% ± 3.32%, -11.50% ± 2.51%). Lower PRS [3.25% (-5.57, 7.835) versus 19.94% (12.50, 30.75), P < 0.001] and PCS (-3.81 ± 4.60% versus -8.97± 4.43%, P < 0.001) can be found in transmural infarcted segments compared to subendocardial infarcted segments. PLS between transmural and subendocardial infarcted segments (-4.03% ± 4.88% versus -4.34% ± 4.98%), without however statistical significance (P = 0.523). The optimal cutoff value for PRS in the discriminate diagnosis of MI was 8.97% with a sensitivity of 81.8% and specificity of 98.0%. The optimal cutoff value for PCS was -7.56% with a sensitivity of 83.6% and specificity of 72.1%. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed an optimal cutoff GPRS of 15.45%, and GPCS of -6.72% yielded high diagnostic accuracy in the identification of remodeling, which was higher than left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).CMR-TT can differentiate between subendocardial and transmural infarction and detect LV remodeling, and the diagnostic value was superior to conventional functional parameters.

Background Central sensitization is considered a critical pathogenic mechanism of chronic migraine (CM). Activation of microglia in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) contributes to this progression. Microglial glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) activation can alleviate pain; however, whether it is involved in the mechanism of CM has not been determined. Thus, this study aims to investigate the precise role of GLP-1R in the central sensitization of CM. Methods Repeated nitroglycerin injection-treated mice were used as a CM animal model in the experiment. To identify the distribution and cell localization of GLP-1R in the TNC, we performed immunofluorescence staining. Changes in the expression of GLP-1R, Iba-1, PI3K and p-Akt in the TNC were examined by western blotting. To confirm the effect of GLP-1R and PI3K/Akt in CM, a GLP-1R selective agonist (liraglutide) and antagonist (exendin(9–39)) and a PI3K selective antagonist (LY294002) were administered. Mechanical hypersensitivity was measured through von Frey filaments. To investigate the role of GLP-1R in central sensitization, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and c-fos were determined using western blotting and immunofluorescence. To determine the changes in microglial activation, IL-1β and TNF-α were examined by western blotting, and the number and morphology of microglia were measured by immunofluorescence. We also confirmed the effect of GLP-1R on microglial activation in lipopolysaccharide-treated BV-2 microglia. Results The protein expression of GLP-1R was increased in the TNC after nitroglycerin injection. GLP-1R was colocalized with microglia and astrocytes in the TNC and was fully expressed in BV-2 microglia. The GLP-1R agonist liraglutide alleviated basal allodynia and suppressed the upregulation of CGRP, c-fos and PI3K/p-Akt in the TNC. Similarly, the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 prevented nitroglycerin-induced hyperalgesia. In addition, activating GLP-1R reduced Iba-1, IL-1β and TNF-α release and inhibited TNC microglial number and morphological changes (process retraction) following nitroglycerin administration. In vitro, the protein levels of IL-1β and TNF-α in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV-2 microglia were also decreased by liraglutide. Conclusions These findings suggest that microglial GLP-1R activation in the TNC may suppress the central sensitization of CM by regulating TNC microglial activation via the PI3K/Akt pathway.

This study investigated the safety and effect of oxymatrine (OMT) and/or diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG) on allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) induced by 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) in ICR mice. Mice were topically smeared with vehicle (control) or DNFB on their ear and skin to induce ACD. The mice were randomized and injected with saline as the model, treated intraperitoneally with dexamethasone (DEX), 45 or 90 mg·kg−1 OMT and/or DG daily beginning one day post the first smearing for two weeks. The body weights, the severity of ear and skin inflammation, the levels of serum IgE, IL-4, and IFNγ, creatinine and urea as well as plasma sodium and potassium in individual mice were measured. In comparison with the control group, the model group did not change the body weights, but developed severe skin and ear inflammation with increased ear thickness, accompanied by many inflammatory infiltrates in the lesions and high levels of serum IgE, IL-4, and IFNγ. Combination of OMT and DG prevented the OMT- or DG-altered body weights in mice. While treatment with either OMT or DG moderately reduced the skin and ear inflammation, their thickness and inflammatory infiltrates, combination of OMT and DG further significantly increased their anti-inflammatory effects in mice. A similar pattern of inhibitory effect on the levels of serum IgE, IL-4, and IFNγ was observed in the different groups of mice. Combination of OMT and DG also prevented the OMT-, DG-, or DEX-altered plasma sodium or potassium levels in mice. Therefore, combination of OMT and DG significantly increased anti-inflammatory effects on ACD induced by DNFB in mice and attenuated DG- or OMT-related adverse effects. Impact statement Diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG) and oxymatrine (OMT) have similar anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-tumor, immunomodulatory, and other pharmacological properties. Our previous study has shown that when DG and OMT are combined, DG can attenuate both high-dose (347.44 mg·kg−1) and regular-dose (90 mg·kg−1) OMT-induced mortality and adverse effects (such as body weight loss and hyponatremia). Furthermore, OMT can similarly attenuate the adverse effects (such as body weight gain, hypernatremia, and hypokalemia) induced by regular dose (90 mg·kg−1) of DG. Accordingly, we tested whether combination of OMT and DG would increase anti-inflammatory activities and reduce their adverse effect in a mouse model of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) induced by 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). Our findings indicated that combination of OMT and DG significantly increased anti-inflammatory effects on ACD induced by DNFB in ICR mice and attenuated adverse effects of DG or OMT alone.

Inhibition of the mevalonate pathway using statins has been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI). Here, we investigated whether partial inhibition of this pathway by targeting geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase large subunit 1 (GGPPS1), a catalase downstream of the mevalonate pathway, was effective at treating lung inflammation in ALI. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was intratracheally instilled to induce ALI in lung-specific GGPPS1-knockout and wild-type mice. Expression of GGPPS1 in lung tissues and alveolar epithelial cells was examined. The severity of lung injury and inflammation was determined in lung-specific GGPPS1 knockout and wild-type mice by measuring alveolar exudate, neutrophil infiltration, lung injury, and cell death. Change in global gene expression in response to GGPPS1 depletion was measured using mRNA microarray and verified in vivo and in vitro. We found that GGPPS1 levels increased significantly in lung tissues and alveolar epithelial cells in LPS-induced ALI mice. Compared with wild-type and simvastatin treated mice, the specific deletion of pulmonary GGPPS1 attenuated the severity of lung injury by inhibiting apoptosis of AECs. Furthermore, deletion of GGPPS1 inhibited LPS-induced inflammasome activation, in terms of IL-1β release and pyroptosis, by downregulating NLRP3 expression. Finally, downregulation of GGPPS1 reduced the membrane expression of Ras-related protein Rab10 and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and inhibited the phosphonation of IκB. This effect might be attributed to the downregulation of GGPP levels. Our results suggested that inhibition of pulmonary GGPPS1 attenuated LPS-induced ALI predominantly by suppressing the NLRP3 inflammasome through Rab10-mediated TLR4 replenishment.

The incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer (CRC) have always been among the highest in the world, although the diagnosis and treatment are becoming more and more advanced. At present, the main reason is that patients have acquired drug resistance after long-term conventional drug treatment. An increasing number of evidences confirm the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are a group of special cells in cancer, only a small part of cancer cells. These special cell populations are not eliminated by chemotherapeutic drugs and result in tumor recurrence and metastasis after drug treatment. CSCs have the ability of self-renewal and multidirectional differentiation, which is associated with the occurrence and development of cancer. CSCs can be screened and identified by related surface markers. In this paper, the characteristic surface markers of CSCs in CRC and the related mechanism of drug resistance will be discussed in detail. A better understanding of the mechanism of CSCs resistance to chemotherapy may lead to better targeted therapy.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects millions of people worldwide. There is still no effective approach for the clinical treatment of psoriasis. This is largely due to the lack of understanding of the pathological mechanism. Here, we comprehensively characterized the skin microbiome and plasma metabolome alterations of psoriasis patients. We observed that some pathogenic bacteria, includingVibrio, were significantly increased in psoriasis patients. The metabolomics results showed alterations in some metabolic pathways, especially pathways for lipid metabolism. In addition, microbiome-specific metabolites, including bile acids and kynurenine, were significantly changed. Correlation analysis revealed the interplay between the skin microbiota and plasma metabolites, especially betweenVibrioand several lipids. Our results provide new evidence for the interplay between the skin microbiome and plasma metabolites, which is dramatically disrupted in psoriasis patients. This study also revealed the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Background: Growing evidences indicate that neuropathic pain is frequently accompanied with cognitive impairments, which aggravate the decrease in the quality of life of chronic pain patients. Furthermore, it has been shown that the activation of Glucagon-like-peptide-1receptor (GLP-1R) improved memory deficit in multiple diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), stroke and so on. However, whether activating GLP-1R could improve memory impairment induced by neuropathic pain and the mechanism by which this improvement would occur remain unclear. Methods: The spared nerve injury (SNI) model was established as a kind of neuropathic pain. And novel-object recognition memory (hippocampus-dependent memory) was tested by the novel object recognition test (NORT).The expression levels of GLP-1,GLP-1R,adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK),p-AMPKThr172, nuclear factor κ B p65 (NF-κB p65), interleukin-1β p17(IL-1β p17),and the synaptic associated proteins were tested in the murine hippocampus with memory deficits caused by neuropathic pain. Then, exenatide acetate (Ex-4, a GLP-1R agonist), exendin(9-39)(Ex(9-39),a GLP-1R antagonist) and Compound C dihydrochloride ( CC, an AMPK inhibitor) were used to test the effects of activating GLP-1R in mice with neuropathic pain.Results: First, we uncovered that neuropathic pain could inhibit GLP-1/GLP-R axis, disturb inflammatory signaling pathway, increase the expression of IL-1β and downregulate the synaptic associated proteins (postsynaptic density protein 95(PSD95) and Arc). Subsequently, we reported that Ex-4 treatment could improve recognition memory impairment and increase the ratio of p-AMPKThr172/AMPK, decrease the expression of NF-κB p65 and IL-1β p17, upregulate the levels of PSD95 and Arc. Moreover, we uncovered that Ex(9-39) and CC treatment could abrogate the neuroprotection of Ex-4 in mice with memory impairment induced by neuropathic pain.Conclusions: The results indicated that the activation of GLP-1R could improve recognition memory impairment caused by neuropathic pain via activating AMPK signaling pathway, then, which could inhibit NF-κB activating and its downstream IL-1β expression, upregulate the levels of PSD95 and Arc proteins.

In order to revitalize its economy and oil industry, Iraq has gradually opened up its oil and gas market to the outside world in the past decade through public bidding. Service contracts were mainly adopted in 2008. Though some contractors really made a profit, some blocks were not so attractive. For the purpose of improving the distribution of profits and risks between the federal government of Iraq and overseas contractors, the government has been constantly adjusting the fiscal terms of service contracts, and even introduced a new contract model — development and production contract in 2018. To provide an insight into the changes and its consequence, the process and the trend of change in the contracts over the past decade are summarized, and furthermore, a quantitative analysis is conducted with a financial model. Especially, given the importance of oil prices, a sensitivity analysis is introduced to examine how oil prices impact the income of overseas contractors under different contract models. The results indicate that the federal government was being in the process of gradually sharing equally with contractors the profits and risks arising from price fluctuation, and the new contract model, especially with the recovery of oil prices, is creating better opportunities for overseas oil companies.

Highlights • Chest CT imaging has become an important tool in the diagnosis of COVID-19. • The involved radiologic technologists become high-risk medical care personnel. • We share systematic strategies for radiologic technologists against COVID-19. • It can provide guidance to other radiology departments to reduce infection risk., The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a huge threat to global public health security. In the absence of specific antiviral medicines to prevent or treat COVID-19, it is essential to detect the infected patients at an early stage and immediately isolate them from the healthy population. In view of the advantages of sensitivity and high spatial resolution, CT imaging has played an important role in screening and diagnosing of COVID-19 in China. The radiologic technologists performing CT scans for the infected patients become high-risk medical care personnel. It is critical for the radiology department to ensure the personal safety of radiologic technologists and avoid cross-infection. In this review article, we describe the systematic strategies to combat COVID-19 from the radiology department in Tongji hospital in Wuhan, P.R. China, including personnel arrangements, environmental modification, protection levels and configurations, radiological imaging (CT and radiography), and disinfection methods. It can provide guidance to other radiology departments faced with COVID-19 to reduce infection risk for radiologic technologists.

Aims: \ud Perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND) are associated with cognitive impairment in the preoperative or postoperative period, and neuroinflammation is thought to be the most important mechanisms especially during the postoperative period. The GABAergic system is easily disrupted by neuroinflammation. This study investigated the impact of the GABAergic system on PND after anesthesia and surgery.\ud Methods: \ud An animal model of laparotomy with inhalation anesthesia in 16-month old mice was addressed. Effects of the GABAergic system were assessed using biochemical analysis. Pharmacological blocking of α5GABAARs or P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) was applied to investigate the effect of the GABAergic system.\ud Results: \ud After laparotomy, the hippocampus-dependent memory and long-term potentiation were impaired, the levels of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α upregulated in the hippocampus, the concentration of GABA decreased, and the protein levels of the surface α5GABAARs up-regulated. Pharmacological blocking of α5GABAARs with L655,708 alleviated laparotomy induced cognitive deficits. A further study found that the P38 MAPK signaling pathway was involved and pharmacological blocking with SB203,580 alleviated memory dysfunction.\ud Conclusions: \ud Anesthesia and surgery caused neuroinflammation in the hippocampus, which consequently disrupted the GABAergic system, increased the expressions of surface α5GABAARs especially through the P38 MAPK signaling pathway, and eventually led to hippocampus-dependent memory dysfunctions.

At present, the overseas business of PetroChina is developing rapidly, but the digitization level is relatively low, and there is not a mature data platform system for all the projects. Therefore, we developed an integrated research platform of overseas oil and gas development, which is the first digital platform integrating all the development data of overseas oil and gas production projects of PetroChina. The support modules can be used to carry out database driven reservoir research analysis, realizing the whole process closed loop flow of data parsing, storage, call, analysis and management and improving the service efficiency and safety level of the data. The integrated research platform of overseas oil and gas development specially designed for the overseas project platform architecture has the following characteristics: first, the light-weight database model reduces data redundancy and improves data call efficiency; second, the database model has an applicability of multi-type reservoirs; third, structured and unstructured multi-type data parsing system is pioneered; and last, the first standard structured data volume covering all the overseas in production development projects of PetroChina is created. The platform has been applied in PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Chad project and Niger project, realizing the real-time synchronization of production data in China and overseas projects.

Liuweidihuang Pill (LP) is a traditional Chinese herbal formula that is often used in clinical practice to treat kidney deficiency syndrome. The present study investigated the antiaging effects of LP in a D-galactose- (D-Gal-) induced subacute aging rat model. The study also attempted to explore whether anti-inflammatory mechanisms that underpin the antiaging effects are mediated by the AMPK/SIRT1/NF-κB signaling pathway. Rats were subcutaneously injected with D-Gal at a dosage of 100 mg/kg/d for 8 weeks. Upon successful induction of aging in the rats, the animal was administered LP at 0.9 g/kg/d by gavage for 4 weeks. Proteins of the testis were subsequently examined by western blot analysis, and associated locations in the testicular tissue were determined by immunohistochemistry. We observed that LP exerted antiaging effects in aging rats following the activation of AMPK/SIRT1. It was also observed that LP inhibited the expression of NF-κB, thereby further attenuating inflammation of the testis. Therefore, LP can alleviate inflammation of the testis via the AMPK/SIRT1/NF-κB pathway in aging rats.

With the declination of production and increasing of fossil-fuel demand, petroleum companies strive to maximize production by conducting more advanced drilling operations, such as extended reach, horizontal and high-pressure/high-temperature (HP-HT) drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing, which are expanding globally into unconventional resources drilling. Tight gas, which constitutes for a significant percentage of the natural gas resource base and offers tremendous potential for future reserve and production growth, was becoming an increasingly important asset for petroleum companies. Canada has an abundant tight gas resource, which attracted major international oil companies. Royalty & tax system is the main contract mode in Canada and different provinces have different royalty tax items. Royalty rate not only depends on gas price and production, but also relies on gas component, drilling zones, spud time, well type and well depth. Canadian royalty & tax system is the most complex system all over the world, coupled with complexity characteristics of tight gas reservoir. Therefore, reserves evaluation and reporting for tight gas reservoir in Canada are a significant problem. This paper takes a tight gas project in British Columbia (Canada) as an example, combining the characteristics of the tight gas reservoirs with royalty & tax policy of this region, the research on tight gas reserves evaluation and the principles of net reserves calculation under royalty & tax contract were carried out. The four main aspects such as technique, economy, commerce and engineering were studied to analyze the influence on net reserves from the following factors: production, declining rate, development plan, oil price, taxes, Opex (operating costs) and Capex (investment), etc. Sensibility analysis was conducted by adopting the most weighted factors, such as oil prices, production, Opex and Capex. All the effort was to put forward the corresponding suggestions on optimizing development strategy, solve the current reserves evaluation problems of tight gas, and provide reference for the tight gas assets transaction, development and perfection of reserves value evaluation.

In this paper, the intelligent application we designed focuses on a closed family area. ZigBee technology is mainly used to achieve the remote control. The most popular Android system is used in the design. The operation interface on the home intelligent gateway is completed through the designed system. It can allow people the full control by using smartphones. The system is operated and controlled through touch panel. Furthermore, it can be controlled remotely by using smartphones. ZigBee module is expected to be used to allow these devices to perform data transmission and collection. Some additional machinery, control circuits, and sensors will be designed for doors and windows. For example, a motor and a control circuit are installed to control doors and windows, and ZigBee is used to control the power input and drive the motor. Antitheft sensors, such as infrared sensors or light sensors, are installed to monitor the objects. Home gateway can collect ZigBee information on doors and windows, and an interactive mechanism is designed to take effective remote control.

Some components in Double horse head (DHH) pumping unit may occur cracking failure due to high cycle alternating stress, and this makes the research on dynamic stress simulation for them more interesting topic in its maintenance operation. This paper aims to improve the accuracy of dynamic stress simulation model through a parameter optimization method for the cable joints in DHH pumping unit. A series of cylinders was employed to model the steel cable, and the back horse head was also transformed to flexible body, then a rigid-flexible multibody dynamics model with cable was constructed to simulate the dynamic stress of components in DHH pumping unit. Stiffness and damping coefficient in cable joints have a significant effect on the model performance, and an unreasonable value may cause a strong vibrational and undesirable model response, therefore, a Memetic Algorithms based method was proposed to optimize them for improving the simulation accuracy using tested stress as objective function. Results show that the dynamic stress simulated from improved model is much closer to the experimental test compared with the original model, and these optimized parameters are also valid for the model in other working condition.

Employing quarterly data of the change in institutional investors’ ownership, we investigate institutional behavior in Chinese stock market. The empirical results show that Chinese institutional investors generally adopt contrarian strategy, which is inconsistent with most studies. In particular, institutional investors are more inclined to show contrarian trading behavior in up markets. Furthermore, we find that the trading activities of institutional investors can positively predict future stock returns.

Growing evidences indicate that neuropathic pain is frequently accompanied with cognitive impairments, which aggravate the decrease in the quality of life of chronic pain patients. Furthermore, it has been shown that the activation of Glucagon-like-peptide-1receptor (GLP-1R) improved memory deficit in multiple diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), stroke. However, whether GLP-1R activation could improve memory impairment induced by neuropathic pain and the mechanisms underlying the effect of the activation of GLP-1R on memory protection have not yet been established. The spared nerve injury (SNI) model was established as a kind of neuropathic pain. And novel-object recognition memory (hippocampus-dependent memory) was tested by the novel object recognition test (NORT). The expression levels of GLP-1, GLP-1R, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), p-AMPKThr172, nuclear factor κ B p65 (NF-κB p65), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), IL-1β p17 (mature IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and the synaptic proteins were tested in the murine hippocampus with memory deficits caused by neuropathic pain. Then, exenatide acetate (Ex-4, a GLP-1R agonist), exendin (9–39) (Ex(9–39), a GLP-1R antagonist) and Compound C dihydrochloride (CC, an AMPK inhibitor) were used to test the effects of the activation of GLP-1R in the mice with neuropathic pain. First, we uncovered that neuropathic pain could inhibit GLP-1/GLP-R axis, disturb inflammatory signaling pathway, increase the expression of IL-1β, IL-1β p17 and TNF-α, downregulate the synaptic proteins (postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) and Arc). Subsequently, we reported that Ex-4 treatment could improve recognition memory impairment, increase the ratio of p-AMPKThr172/AMPK, inhibit the phosphorylation NF-κB p65 and decrease the expression of IL-1β, IL-1β p17 and TNF-α, upregulate the levels of PSD95 and Arc. Moreover, we found that Ex(9–39) and CC treatment could abrogate the memory protection of activation of GLP-1R in mice with neuropathic pain. The results indicated that the activation of GLP-1R could improve recognition memory impairment via regulating AMPK/NF-κB pathway, improving neuroinflammation, reversing the decreased level of synaptic proteins in neuropathic pain mice.

In order to identify the supporting condition of cable-stayed bridges with semi-floating system by using the measured mode shapes, this paper proposed an actual supporting condition evaluation method of cable-stayed bridges based on the indicator of modal assurance criterion (MAC). Firstly, the measured mode shapes and theoretical mode shapes under different supporting conditions could be obtained. Then the corresponding MAC indicator values were calculated, which would be compared to evaluate the supporting condition of bridges. The experiment results revealed that the MAC values between the measured mode shapes and theoretical mode shapes were in good agreement with MAC values above 0.9, which indicated that the actual structural support condition was consistent with the theoretical calculation condition. The experimental results of actual bridges proved that the proposed method in this paper is feasible and effectiveness.

Objective Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) can cause structural and functional changes in the left ventricle (LV). In this study, we evaluated whether cardiac magnetic resonance tissue-tracking (MR-TT) can be applied to the detection of LV abnormalities in patients with DCM. Methods We used MR-TT to analyze the global peak radial strain (GPRS), global peak circumferential strain (GPCS), and global peak longitudinal strain (GPLS) in every segment of the LV in 23 patients with DCM and 25 controls. The LV ejection fraction was also measured as a function indicator. Results Compared with the controls, the GPRS, GPCS, and GPLS were significantly reduced in patients with DCM, indicating global LV function impairment in all directions. We also identified a significant linear correlation between the GPRS, GPCS, and GPLS and the LV ejection fraction, indicating that LV function relies on coordinated wall motion from all directions. Moreover, we found that patients with DCM had a significantly reduced magnitude of the PRS, PCS, and PLS in most segments at different levels, indicating impaired myocardial function in most LV regions. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that LV myocardial strain in patients with DCM can be sensitively detected by MR-TT (not only the global LV function changes but also the segmental strain), which can help to identify the injured segment at an early stage and guide clinical treatment.

Objective To determine the association between serum visfatin levels and psoriasis and to evaluate the correlation between serum visfatin levels and the severity of psoriasis. Methods The electronic databases PubMed®, Embase® and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles published from inception to 1 May 2020. Data were extracted and then standard mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for pooled estimates. Results A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included (448 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 377 controls). This meta-analysis demonstrated that patients with psoriasis had significantly higher levels of visfatin than the controls (SMD = 0.90, 95% CI 0.52, 1.28). Subgroup analyses showed that differences in serum visfatin levels between the patient group and the control group were associated with ethnicity, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and body mass index. Additionally, a meta-analysis of correlations showed that visfatin levels in patients with psoriasis were positively correlated with PASI ( r = 0.51, 95% CI 0.14, 0.75). Conclusions This meta-analysis showed that serum visfatin levels in patients with psoriasis were significantly higher than those in the controls and a positive correlation between serum visfatin levels and psoriasis severity was observed.

Africa is a key area for overseas oil and gas investment cooperation due to the low degree of oil and gas exploration and great resource potential. All oil and gas resource countries have certain common characteristics in contract modes, fiscal and tax terms, economic conditions, infrastructure and bidding methods. A theoretical system of rapid economic evaluation technology suitable for the characteristics of Africa can be established to provide the methods and basis for investment decisions of oil and gas development projects in Africa. In this paper, on the basis of a systematic study on oil contract modes in Africa and the legal terms, sales market, actual operations and evaluation and prediction parameters to be focused on, an economic evaluation index system has been established, including analysis framework establishment, financial benefit analysis and uncertainty analysis; finally, an oil and gas development project in Africa is taken as an example to verify the above-mentioned rapid economic evaluation technology. This technology system is applicable to economic evaluation of most oil and gas development projects in Africa, covering the possible factors, scenarios and problems in the process of project evaluation, facilitating the realization of a rapid and effective economic evaluation process and the achievement of scientific and reasonable results.

Notch3 and TGF-β1 signaling play a key role in the pathogenesis and progression of chronic cardiovascular disease. However, whether Notch3 protects against myocardial infarction (MI) and the underlying mechanisms remains unknown. C57BL/6 mice were randomized to be treated with Notch3 siRNA (siNotch3) or lentivirus carrying Notch3 cDNA (Notch3) before coronary artery ligation. Four weeks after constructing MI model, cardiac function and fibrosis were compared between groups. The cardiac fibroblast cells (CFs) were isolated from newborn C57BL/6 mice (1-3 days old) and transfected with lentivirus carrying Notch3 cDNA. TGF-β1 (5 ng/ml), a well-known pro-fibrotic factor, was administered 72 h after Notch3 cDNA administration in CFs. The related proteins of fibrosis such as a-smooth muscle actin (a-SMA), Type I collagen, metalloprotease (MMP)-9 and the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-2 were examined by western blot analysis. Notch3 cDNA treatment attenuated cardiac damage and inhibited fibrosis in mice with MI. Meanwhile, Notch3 siRNA administration aggravated cardiac function damage and markedly enhanced cardiac fibrosis in mice with MI. Overexpression of Notch3 inhibited TGF-β1-induced fibroblast-myofibroblast transition of mouse cardiac fibroblast cells, as evidenced by down-regulating a-SMA and Type I collagen expression. Notch3 cDNA treatment also increased MMP-9 expression and decreased TIMP-2 expression in the TGF-β1-stimulated cells. This study indicates that Notch3 is an important protective factor for cardiac fibrosis in a MI model, and the protective effect of Notch3 is attributable to its action on TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling.

BACKGROUND Adopting modern communication methods in traditional healthcare services is a trend of modern medicine. In this study we explored the value of telephone and WeChat in health education on uterine myoma by high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). MATERIAL AND METHODS A total number of 426 patients diagnosed with symptomatic uterine myoma from April 2017 to September 2017 were selected and randomly divided into a routine preoperative education group (175 patients) and a telephone/WeChat preoperative health education group (251 patients). The patients in the routine preoperative education group received routine preoperative education, whereas those in the telephone/WeChat preoperative health education group received telephone/WeChat preoperative health education. Patients were evaluated before and after treatment. RESULTS Compared with the routine preoperative education group, the patients in telephone/WeChat preoperative health education group had less preoperative and postoperative anxiety, less postoperative pain, and higher treatment satisfaction (P

Introduction: Published data regarding the association between solute carrier family 30, member 8 (SLC30A8) rs13266634 polymorphism and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and impaired glucose regulation (IGR) risks in Chinese population are in-consistent. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the association between SLC30A8 rs13266634 and T2DM/IGR in a Chinese population. Material and Methods: Three English (PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science) and three Chinese databases (Wanfang, CNKI, and CBMD database) were used for searching articles from January 2005 to January 2018. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated with the random-effect model. Trial sequential analysis was also utilized. Results: Twenty-eight case-control studies with 25,912 cases and 26,975 controls were included for SLC30A8 and T2DM. Pooled risk allele C frequency for rs13266634 was 60.6% (95%CI: 59.2-62.0%) in the T2DM group and 54.8% (95%CI: 53.2-56.4%) in the control group which had estimated OR of 1.23 (95%CI: 1.17-1.28). Individuals who carried major homozygous CC and heterozygous CT genotype were at 1.51 and 1.23 times higher risk of T2DM, respectively, than those carrying minor homozygous TT. The most appropriate genetic analysis model was the co-dominant model based on comparison of OR1, OR2 and OR3. Five articles that involved 4,627 cases and 6,166 controls were included for SLC30A8 and IGR. However, no association was found between SLC30A8 rs13266634 and IGR (C vs. T, OR = 1.13, 95%CI: 0.98-1.30, p = 0.082). TSA revealed that the pooled sample sizes of T2DM exceeded the estimated required information size but not the IGR. Conclusion: The present meta-analysis demonstrated that SLC30A8 rs13266634 was a potential risk factor for T2DM, and more studies should be performed to confirm the association between rs13266634 polymorphism and IGR.

A 29-year-old female patient had menopause for 42 days and a β-HCG blood test of 22,874.00 mIU/mL. Three-dimensional (3D) color ultrasonography indicated an approximately 3.5 cm × 1.2 cm × 1.2 cm gestational sac in the middle and lower uterine segment. The lower edge of this gestational sac was at the left antetheca incision at the lower uterine segment, and it rose toward the serosal surface. There were rich successive blood flow signals between the gestational sac and the left antetheca incision at the lower uterine segment. The thinnest part of the left antetheca incision was about 0.2 cm. We performed bilateral uterine artery pre-ligation, cesarean scar pregnancy resection, and lower uterine segment repair plastic surgery under single-port laparoscopy. Three days after the operation, blood reexamination of β-HCG was 1,968.00 mU/mL, and 1 week after discharge, it was 100.00 mU/mL.

In the visual tracking, correlation filtering (CF) based on tracking algorithms have shown favorable performance in recent years, and have the impressive performance on benchmark datasets. However, the tracking model has limited information about their context and can easily drift in cases of fast motion, occlusion or background clutter, and the trackers update tracking models at each frame without considering whether the detection is accurate or not. In this paper, we present an improved strategy that is adding more background context and changing the tracker model updating strategy. Experimental results show that the performance of the model has been improved effectively.

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EML4-ALK fusion exhibited various durations of response to crizotinib. Molecular heterogeneity is also one of the factors associated with resistance to crizotinib. This study investigated the relevance of molecular heterogeneity to the clinical efficacy of crizotinib using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Methods: A total of 52 ALK-positive advanced NSCLC patients were enrolled. The genetic variation was revealed by NGS. We identified different ALK fusion types, allelic fraction (AF) and additional coexisting mutations (ACMs) and evaluated the correlation between the above three factors and clinical response to crizotinib. Results: Among the group that was detected with ALK+ fusion by immunohistochemistry (IHC), patients detected as ALK− fusion by the NGS method were associated with a shorter progression-free survival (PFS) compared with ALK+ patients by NGS. Moreover, for different ALK fusion types, the median PFS of variant 1/2/3 and other uncommon variants were 305, 557, 242 and 370 days, respectively. Although there was no statistically significant difference (P=0.201), patients with ALK variant 2 appeared to display a longer PFS than other types of variants in this study. There was no significant difference in the relationship between ALK fusion AF and PFS (P=0.639). Additionally, there was no correlation between ACMs and PFS in the three groups (IHC+, IHC+/NGS−, and IHC+/NGS+, P=0.738, 0.801 and 0.550). We analysed the relationship between TP53/FAT3 and PFS in the IHC+/NGS+ group, and there was no statistically significant difference (P=0.712/0.631). Conclusions: It is necessary to use multiple methods together to detect ALK fusion, and we can continue to carry out the study of the correlation between the different contents of heterogeneity of gene mutations and TKI effects using the NGS method.

In the visual tracking, correlation filtering (CF) based on tracking algorithms have shown favorable performance in recent years, and have the impressive performance on benchmark datasets. However, the tracking model has limited information about their context and can easily drift in cases of fast motion, occlusion or background clutter, and the trackers update tracking models at each frame without considering whether the detection is accurate or not. In this paper, we present an improved strategy that is adding more background context and changing the tracker model updating strategy. Experimental results show that the performance of the model has been improved effectively.

In this paper, we propose a game theoretic approach for joint offloading and resource allocation optimization (JORAO) problem in mobile edge computing (MEC) system. This study not only investigates offloading strategy, but also considers cloud and wireless resource allocation. Specially, the concern of the JORAO problem is to minimize the energy consumption and monetary cost from mobile terminals' perspective. However, the JORAO problem is non-convex and NP hard. Therefore, it is formulated as a JORAO game. The existence of Nash equilibrium (NE) is proved for it. To obtain NE, we also concentrate on cloud and wireless resource allocation algorithm (CWRAA), which is the sub- algorithm of the JORAO game. For the CWRAA, on one hand, we take consideration of OFDM sub-channels allocation and uplink power allocation in radio access networks (RAN). On the other hand, the computation resource allocation in MEC is studied. Simulation results show that the distributed JORAO game algorithm can nearly minimize the total cost of all mobile terminals (MTs) with low complexity. In addition, the energy consumption and completion time are less when the size of data becomes larger compared with existing algorithms.

Leiomyosarcomas (LMS) are mesenchymal neoplasms that arise from smooth muscle cells, which less frequently occur in veins. Commonly, leiomyosarcoma accompanied with necrosis and cystic degeneration, which noted as non-enhanced areas on radiological examinations were seen frequently in the literature. We present a rare case of a leiomyosarcoma arising from the inferior vena cava, invading into the right atrium, found accidentally in a 46-year-old male who clinically manifested as progressive dyspnea on exertion. Radiological examinations showed a moderate heterogeneous enhancement tumor followed with foci of non-enhancement area in the central, which was not definitely in line with the pathological findings. The imaging features and differential diagnosis of the tumor are outlined here.

This paper mainly focuses on developing a joint cloud and wireless resource allocation algorithm based on evolutionary game (JRA-EG) considering mobile terminals' energy consumption and time delay as well as monetary cost in mobile edge computing environment. The mobile terminals (MTs) in different service areas form different populations. In addition, the competition among populations of MTs in different service areas is to share the limited amount of bandwidth and computation resources in the accessible service providers (SPs). We analyse the stability property of the evolutionary game model and obtain the evolutionary equilibrium (EE). EE is acquired by replicator dynamics approach. Simulation results show that our JRA-EG algorithm can converge to the EE rapidly. Compared with the existing algorithms, the algorithms can save more energy and have less time delay when input data size becomes larger.

An Ad-hoc mobile cloud can be constructed upon local devices, where devices work together and share resources. However, the deployment of Ad-hoc mobile cloud is hindered by the limitation of mobile devices, such as storage capacities and relatively short battery lives. To overcome such problem, this paper proposes a task assignment algorithm based on particle swarm optimization and simulated annealing (PSO-SA) in Ad-hoc mobile cloud. The main contribution of our work is considering the fairness of resource utilization of all devices and total energy consumption of all devices under the constraint of time delay. We also combine particle swarm optimization and simulated annealing to avoid falling into local optimal solution and guarantee the convergence speed. PSO-SA is used to make the decision for task assignment to achieve two main objectives which include minimizing total energy consumption and balancing the fairness of resource utilization of all devices. Through the simulation, it is shown that compared with other population-based optimization algorithms PSO-SA has less energy consumption and the result of PSO-SA can be close to the optimal solution.

With the rapid development of Internet technology, online documents on the Internet have become an important source of information. In particular, web financial texts have become vital source of financial information. As a result of the large amount of financial information on the Internet, ordinary users are unable to easily filter out v 1 aluable financial information in a short time, and relying solely on human resources cannot maximize the abundant information resources. To meet the various search requirements of users; reduce the time for collecting, filtering, and processing information; and improve user search efficiency, this study aims to employ two new non-subject dimensions of financial texts, namely, genre and sentiment, according to financial information retrieval habits and the different demands of users. Financial texts are divided into genres on the basis of the characteristics of financial texts to produce various characteristic items and provide effective text feature representation. Support vector machine is adopted to classify financial texts according to genre. With regard to the sentient analysis of texts, a financial text attribute extraction algorithm based on the Apriori algorithm is proposed to extract textual attributes and construct a financial sentiment lexicon. A financial text sentiment analysis algorithm is designed on the basis of the calculation rules of sentiment intensity to analyze affective disposition and the sentiment intensity of texts.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of single- and dual-channel minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) for reaming spool bores in an automotive transmission valve body. Design/methodology/approach – Machining experiments are conducted under various parameters for both single- and dual-channel MQL. Comparison metrics include part surface temperature, spindle power consumption and hole quality. Experimental data from traditional through-tool flood coolant are provided as a baseline for spindle power consumption and part quality. Findings – The results show that with proper tooling and machining parameters, dual-channel MQL can perform equivalently or better than flood coolant. Single-channel MQL was not deemed suitable for this machining application. Practical implications – The results of the study show that MQL can be successfully applied for precision reaming of aluminum and can provide guidance in developing an MQL system. Originality/value – Few studies have been performed for reaming holes in general, and very few studies have been performed for reaming with MQL. Reaming is a critical operation used to create holes with precise quality. No study was found in the literature review that directly compared the performance of single- and dual-channel MQL delivery systems.

When wastewater is treated with an electronic water treatment method, hardness, alkalinity and conductivity of the wastewater decrease much slower with time on. If the operating voltage of wastewater treatment is reduced at this time, the purpose of energy saving can be realized while wastewater treatment efficiency is guaranteed. Existing electronic water treatment facilities always realize water treatment with constant low voltages and almost all of them have no optimal design about energy saving, water treatment system rust reduction, water treatment automation, etc. To solve these problems, a new energy-saving electronic water treatment facility is designed in this paper. Based on a low-power SCM MPS430F169 and circuits such as the water treatment voltage control circuit and the voltage and current sampling circuit, the facility establishes a closed-loop system with functions of water quality monitoring and automatic water treatment voltage adjustment. Experimental results show that the facility can realize real-time water quality monitoring in the process of wastewater treatment and automatically adjust operating voltage in line with the water quality, thus significantly reducing unnecessary energy consumption. The facility can be used in fields such as industrial circulating water treatment.

The effective energy of wireless sensor network is fatal. The research point of this essay is to increase the precision of wireless sensor network, expand effective covering area, effectively decrease energy consumption and achieve network balance. It established high-precision space division and optimized node selection to achieve the energy consumption balance. Through the research, we have found that energyconsumption is mainly engendered in the counting process and communication link. Therefore we precisely divided the wireless sensor network space, and designed the dynamic data acquisition to lower the communication link of the data. Consumption efficiency of WSN into account. By designing the weight formula calculation and pulling up the effective energy consumption of the nodes, we can make the energy consumption speed of each node the same. The essay is of great research significance toachieve energybalance of the whole network by the optimal selection of the work nodes and then to increase the network energy saving efficiency and reliability.