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In vivo electronic monitoring systems for underwater applications are promising technologies for obtaining information about aquatic animals. State-of-the-art devices are constrained by limits on the number of integrated sensors, large dimensions and weight, and short device longevity. Here, we report the Labon-a-Fish: the world's first biotelemetry tag that combines edge computing with wireless sensing of in vivo physiology [electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyogram (EMG)], behavior [activity level and tail beat frequency (TBF)], and ambient environment (temperature, pressure, and magnetic field). The Lab-on-a-Fish has a miniaturized form (dry weight: 2.4 g; wet weight: 0.8 g; and dimensions: 5.5 mm x 6.5 mm x 37 mm) for studying small animals. Engineering efforts spanning improvements in battery chemistry, electronic circuit efficiency, and power-saving algorithms extend the longevity of the device to as much as eight months. The designed piezoelectric transducer and its driving circuit enable underwater wireless communication of multiplexed digital sensor data over a distance up to 400 m. The Lab-on-a-Fish can also store the raw data using flash memory for use in locations that are challenging for acoustic communications or when more complex data postprocessing is needed. Long-term in vivo validation in three species-rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), and walleye (Sander vitreus)-demonstrated the device's sensing potential for biological and environmental applications. DOE [DE-AC05-76RL01830] Published version This work was conducted at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which is operated by Battelle for DOE under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830. Fish care and use for the study were approved by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol No. 2019-02) following the 8th Edition Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NRC 2011). The authors acknowledge M. Myjak and R. Lundy for the PCB layout, A. Dao for the ECG algorithm, and R. Elsinghorst and A. Salalila for the manufacturing.

Ag2Se is a narrow band gap n-type semiconductor with high carrier mobility and low lattice thermal conductivity. It has high thermoelectric performance near room temperature. However, there is a noticeable data discrepancy for thermoelectric performance in the reported literature studies, which greatly hinders the rational understanding and potential application of this material. In this work, we comprehensively studied the homogeneity, reproducibility, and thermal stability of bulk Ag2Se prepared by melting and mechanical alloying methods followed by spark plasma sintering. By virtue of the atom probe topology technique, we revealed nanosized Ag- or Se-rich precipitates and micropores with Se-aggregated interfaces that have not been detected previously. The samples prepared by melting and spark plasma sintering exhibit the best homogeneity and repeatability in thermoelectric properties despite abundant nanoprecipitates. Moreover, the thermoelectric performance of Ag2Se is greatly improved by introducing a slight amount of excess selenium. The average zT can steadily reach 0.8-0.9 in the range of 300-380 K, which is among the highest values reported for Ag2Se-based materials. This work will rationalize the evaluation of the thermoelectric performance of Ag2Se.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is one of the main comorbidities in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (HD). Sacubitril/valsartan (SAC/VAL) is widely used in HF patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) or HF mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF). However, the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic properties of SAC/VAL in HD patients with HF remain uncertain. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the efficacy and PK properties of SAC/VAL in HD patients with HFrEF or HFmrEF. Methods: HD patients with HFrEF or HFmrEF were treated with SAC/VAL 50 or 100 mg twice a day (BID) and the concentrations of valsartan and LBQ657 (active metabolite of SAC) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry during HD and on the days between HD sessions (interval days). N-terminal-pro B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin T were measured, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was evaluated by echocardiography. Results: The mean maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) of LBQ657 and VAL on the interval days were 15.46 ± 6.01 and 2.57 ± 1.23 mg/L, respectively. Compared with previous values in patients with severe renal impairment and healthy volunteers, these levels both remained within the safe concentration ranges during treatment with SAC/VAL 100 mg BID. Moreover, SAC/VAL significantly improved LVEF in HD patients with HFrEF or HFmrEF (p < 0.05). Conclusions: HD did not remove the SAC metabolite LBQ657 or VAL in patients with HF. However, SAC/VAL 100 mg BID was safe and effective in patients undergoing HD.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a malignant tumor disease that poses a significant threat to women’s health. In recent years, the incidence of breast cancer in China has been increasing. This report aims to explore the effects of general anesthesia combined with a thoracic nerve block in modified breast cancer surgery. METHODS: A computer-based search of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was performed to identify randomized controlled studies on breast cancer, general anesthesia combined with a thoracic nerve block, modified breast cancer surgery, and other breast cancer treatments. Further search criteria included postoperative pain score, postoperative morphine equivalents given 24 hours after surgery, and operation duration. After an initial selection process, the studies were evaluated using the Jadad scale and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions to assess their suitability for inclusion in the subsequent meta-analysis of the experimental data, which was carried out using RevMan 5.3. RESULTS: A total of 8 studies comprising a total of 624 patients were selected for inclusion in this report. According to the meta-analysis, the analytical structure of the thoracic nerve group and the control group had a mean difference (MD) of −1.27 [95% confidence interval (CI): −1.68 to −0.86], the structure of the statistical test was Z=6.08 (P

Background China is facing big challenges to achieve the “90–90-90 targets”. The HIV prevalence of elderly (≥50 years) men have been steadily increasing in China, mainly through the sexual transmission route, but sexual behaviors of them are far from well-studied. In 2019, elderly men accounted for 59.2% of HIV/AIDS cases in Sichuan, China. Methods The research design is a cross-sectional study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among 795 HIV negative elderly men from rural Chengdu, capital City of Sichuan. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were applied to examine factors associated with commercial heterosexual behavior from a modified Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) perspective. Results 129 (16.23%) respondents admitted high-risk sexual behaviors, including 11.07% commercial heterosexual behavior, 6.16% extramarital, 2.89% casual and 0.25% homosexual behavior, and no one used condom consistently. 427(68.43%) had ever gotten HIV-related Health Education (HRHE), mainly through mass media (70.49%). The HIV-related knowledge awareness rate was only 31.41%. Migration history (AOR =2.46,95% CI = 1.02–5.91), age(≥60 vs. 50–59, OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.19–0.91), receiving HRHE from mass media (OR = 0.37, 95%CI = 0.16–0.85), marital status (married vs. never married, OR = 0.04, 95%CI = 0–0.52), and undecided (AOR =0.02, 95%CI = 0.01–0.09) and objection (AOR =0.04, 95%CI = 0.01–0.1) attitude toward commercial sex were related to lifetime commercial heterosexual behavior. Conclusions High-risk sexual behaviors are common among elderly men from rural areas in Chengdu. Receiving HRHE from mass media and undecided and objection attitude toward commercial sex prevent elderly from being involving in commercial heterosexual behavior. According to the results, health facilities should continue to conduct systematic interventions, paying more attention to 50–59 years old group. Sex and condom use need to be talked in public. Working with mass media, health facilities give elderly men education not only focusing on HIV/AIDS, but also on knowledge and skills of condom use.

This article proposes a hybrid adaptive channel access (HyACA) mechanism for improving the channel access performance of an LTE-U and WiFi coexistence system. To support the HyACA mechanism, a modified time-frequency channel structure as well as a modified LBT functionality is first introduced for channel access in the coexistence system. To ensure channel access fairness, a dynamic channel switch (DCS) functionality and an adaptive almost-blank-subframe (AABS) functionality are further proposed to control the channel access under different traffic loads. Under low traffic load, HyACA uses the DCS functionality. Under high traffic load, HyACA uses the AABS functionality. To judge the traffic load status of the coexistence system, a criterion based on the average channel occupation time is introduced, and a calculation model is derived to determine the average channel occupation time. Moreover, another calculation model is derived to calculate the number of ABSs to be reserved in each LTE-U frame of a frame block. Through simulation results, it is demonstrated that the proposed HyACA mechanism can achieve better fairness and throughput performance than the static ABS mechanism, and better throughput performance than the LAA Cat.3 LBT mechanism while ensuring access fairness.

Chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression is an acute, dose-limiting toxicity of chemotherapy regimens used in the treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). Trilaciclib protects haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from chemotherapy-induced damage (myeloprotection). To assess the totality of the myeloprotective benefits of trilaciclib, including analysis of several clinically relevant but low-frequency events, an exploratory composite endpoint comprising five major adverse haematological events (MAHE) was prospectively defined: all-cause hospitalisations, all-cause chemotherapy dose reductions, febrile neutropenia (FN), prolonged severe neutropenia (SN) and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions on/after week 5. MAHE and its individual components were assessed in three randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trials in patients receiving a platinum/etoposide or topotecan-containing chemotherapy regimen for ES-SCLC, and in data pooled from the three trials. A total of 242 patients were randomised across the three trials (trilaciclib, n = 123; placebo, n = 119). In the individual trials and the pooled analysis, administering trilaciclib prior to chemotherapy resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the cumulative incidence of MAHE compared with placebo. In the pooled analysis, the cumulative incidences of all-cause chemotherapy dose reductions, FN, prolonged SN and RBC transfusions on/after week 5 were significantly reduced with trilaciclib versus placebo; however, no significant difference was observed in rates of all-cause hospitalisations. Additionally, compared with placebo, trilaciclib significantly extended the amount of time patients remained free of MAHE. These data support the myeloprotective benefits of trilaciclib and its ability to improve the overall safety profile of myelosuppressive chemotherapy regimens used to treat patients with ES-SCLC. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Background Infection with multi-drug–resistant organisms (MDROs) is a life-threatening disease among abdominal solid organ transplantation recipients. Reports of donor-derived (DD) MDRO infections were few, but adverse clinical outcomes were severe, such as death or graft loss. Methods The medical records of 68 donation after citizens’ death donors with MDRO infections and 20 recipients transmitted with infections between October 1, 2015, and September 1, 2020, were reviewed according to the Declaration of Helsinki and the Declaration of Istanbul. There were no grafts from prisoners, and no donors were not coerced or paid. Results Prevalence and mortality of DD-MDRO infection among abdominal solid organ transplantation recipients were 2.3% and 18.1%, respectively. The prevalence rate of DD-MDR gram-negative bacterial infection was higher than that of gram-positive bacterial infection (1.7% vs 0.6%). Negative culture of specimens occurred in 9 of 68 donors. Recipients with DD-MDR gram-negative bacterial infections had a significantly lower survival rate compared with DD-MDR gram-positive bacterial infections (P = .046). Conclusions Donation after citizens’ death donors and recipients had high MDRO infection rates, and gram-negative bacteria were the predominant pathogens. When a possible DD-MDRO infection occurs, there may be adverse outcomes with limited choice of antibiotics. A nationwide surveillance and communication network needs to be established in China.

High-energy-density liquid hydrocarbon fuels are generally synthesized using various chemical reactions to improve the performance (e.g., range, load, speed) of aerospace vehicles. Compared with conventional fuels, such as aviation kerosene and rocket kerosene, these liquid hydrocarbon fuels possess the advantages of high-energy-density and high volumetric calorific value; therefore, the fuels have important application value. The photocatalytic process has shown great potential for the synthesis of a diverse range of fuels on account of its unique properties, which include good efficiency, clean atomic economy, and low energy consumption. These characteristics have led to the emergence of the photocatalytic process as a promising complement and alternative to traditional thermocatalytic reactions for fuel synthesis. Extensive effort has been made toward the construction of catalysts for the multiple photocatalytic syntheses of high-energy-density fuels. In this review, we aim to summarize the research progress on the photocatalytic synthesis of high-energy-density fuel by using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic reactions. Specifically, the synthesis routes, catalysts, mechanistic features, and future challenges for the photocatalytic synthesis of high-energy-density fuel are described in detail. The highlights of this review not only promote the development of the photocatalytic synthesis of high-energy-density fuel but also expand the applications of photocatalysis to other fields. Graphic abstract

Jiangtao Hu is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Battery Materials & Systems Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He obtained his PhD degree from Peking University, China in 2018. His research interests mainly lie in fundamental research of structure chemistry, exploring functional materials for energy storage and conversion applications. Bingbin Wu is currently a scientist at Battery Materials & Systems Group at PNNL. He received his PhD in physical chemistry from Wuhan University, China in 2013. Prior to joining PNNL, he was a senior engineer at Amperex Technology Limited where he developed high-energy-density rechargeable Li metal batteries for 3 years. His research interest is to develop high-energy-density and safe lithium batteries for energy storage applications from material and cell design point of view. Sujong Chae is currently an assistant professor at Pukyong National University (PKNU), Republic of Korea. He received his PhD from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Republic of Korea under the supervision of Professor Jaephil Cho. Then, he carried out his research as a postdoctoral research associate at PNNL. His research interests include the practical development of Si anodes for high-energy lithium-ion batteries. Joshua Lochala is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Battery Materials & Systems Group at PNNL. He received his PhD from the University of Arkansas under the supervision of Dr. Jie Xiao. His research focuses on understanding fundamentals of Li metal protection and its surface properties. He currently works on applying Li metal in high-energy pouch cells at PNNL. Yujing Bi is currently a postdoctorate research associate at Battery Materials & Systems Group at PNNL. He earned his PhD from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017 after completing his PhD research in Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering and University of Western Ontario. Before joining PNNL, he worked as postdoctoral researcher at Utah State University to develop electrolyte and materials for multivalent ion batteries. His present research is devoted to fundamental study of battery material science and develop the battery material technologies. Jie Xiao is currently a Laboratory Fellow and Technical Group Manager of Battery Materials & System Group at PNNL. Dr. Xiao obtained her PhD in Materials Chemistry from State University of New York, Binghamton. Her research interest spans from materials synthesis, electrochemical kinetics, to battery prototyping and manufacturing for electrochemical energy storage. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, 2 book chapters, and holds 17 US patents in the area of energy storage research area. Dr. Xiao has been named top 1% Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher since 2017.

Nocardiosis is a rare, life-threatening, opportunistic, and suppurative infection. Its clinical manifestation lacks specificity, which makes early diagnosis difficult. A retrospective analysis of the clinical records of 11 patients with nocardiosis admitted to our hospital from January 2013 to November 2018 was conducted. All patients had at least one underlying disorder, such as an autoimmune disease (6/11), a blood malignancy (2/11), avascular necrosis of the femoral head (1/11), bronchiectasis (1/11), or pneumonia (1/11). The first-line treatment was trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole (TMP–SMX); one or two additional antibiotics were given according to the drug-sensitive test. The median time from onset to treatment was 3 weeks (ranging from 1 to 9 weeks). The median duration of treatment after diagnosis was 20.5 weeks (ranging from 7 to 47 weeks). Eight patients were discharged and survived, and three patients died. This indicates that early use of TMP–SMX combined with sensitive antibiotics could improve the condition of patients and improve the cure rate (8/11). Clinically, it is necessary to consider the possibility of nocardiosis in patients with long-term use of immunosuppressants and poor response to treatment of common bacterial infections. Early diagnosis, timely treatment, and combination drug therapy are keys to improving the outcomes of patients with nocardiosis.

Recent initiatives covered in this review can be divided into three broad categories. The first category concerns mathematically describing the spray drying process using a plug-flow model which al...

Background Anesthesia airway management is challenging during tracheal resection and reconstruction as these surgical procedures involve the airway. This case series describes four approaches to airway management in patients undergoing tracheal resection and reconstruction and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. Methods Thirteen patients underwent 1 of the following 4 kinds of airway management techniques during tracheal resection and reconstruction between 2013 and 2019: intubation, intubation with high frequency jet ventilation (HFJV), non-intubation, and venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO). Intraoperative variables and postoperative outcomes were compared for the techniques based on our institution's medical electronic database. Results Intraoperative oxygenation management involved VV-ECMO in 8 patients, intubation in 2 patients, intubation with HFJV in 2 patients, or non-intubation in 1 patient. The lowest peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) in 4 patients was below 90%. Three patients were extubated in the operation room after complete recovery of spontaneous respiration. Most patients were admitted to the intensive care unit for further postoperative treatment, except 1 patient who received laryngeal mask airway management without tracheal intubation during surgery. Two patients died, 1 due to severe anastomotic leakage and the other from acute respiratory distress syndrome. In addition, another patient showed complications with oozing from the wound. Conclusions Our clinical experience suggests that there is no single airway strategy universally suitable for all tracheal surgeries. The choice of airway management strategy is best determined by multifactorial assessment of advantages and disadvantages according to preoperative comorbidities, unique features of the obstructive mass, surgical experience, and patient preference.

Background Trilaciclib is an intravenous (IV) cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitor. Preliminary data showed that adding trilaciclib prior to gemcitabine plus carboplatin (GCb) significantly increased overall survival (OS) compared with GCb alone among patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) (Tan et al., Lancet Oncol. 2019;20:1587-1601). Here, final antitumor efficacy results (objective response rate [ORR], progression-free survival [PFS], and OS) are reported for the whole study population, and in cohorts according to CDK4/6 dependence and level of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression. Methods This was a randomized, open-label, phase 2 study of patients with mTNBC who had received ≤2 previous lines of chemotherapy in the recurrent/metastatic setting (NCT02978716). Patients were randomized (1:1:1) to receive GCb on days 1 and 8 (group 1, n=34), trilaciclib prior to GCb on days 1 and 8 (group 2, n=33), or trilaciclib alone on days 1 and 8 and prior to GCb on days 2 and 9 (group 3, n=35), in 21-day cycles. PFS and OS (prespecified secondary endpoints) were assessed in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population, and ORR in response-evaluable patients. Patient tumors were characterized as CDK4/6 independent (basal-like) or indeterminate (HER2-enriched, normal-like, luminal A/B) according to the established PAM50 signature, or CDK4/6 dependent (luminal androgen receptor) or indeterminate (basal-like 1/2, mesenchymal) according to the established Lehmann signature. PD-L1 expression was scored as negative or positive if Results Median follow-up was 8.4 months (range: 0.1-25.7) for group 1, 14.0 months (1.3-33.6) for group 2, and 15.3 months (3.5-33.7) for group 3. The ORR among response-evaluable patients was 7/24 (29.2%) in group 1, 15/30 (50.0%) in group 2, and 12/31 (38.7%) in group 3. Median PFS (95% confidence interval [CI]) in the ITT population was 5.7 (3.3, 9.9) months in group 1, 9.4 (6.1, 11.9) months in group 2, and 7.3 (6.2, 13.9) months in group 3, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 0.62 (P = 0.2099) and 0.63 (P = 0.1816), for groups 2 and 3 versus group 1, respectively. Overall, 73.5%, 39.4%, and 57.1% of patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 had died. Median OS (95% CI) was 12.6 (6.3, 15.6) months in group 1, not reached (NR) (10.2, NR) in group 2 (HR = 0.31, P = 0.0016), and 17.8 (12.9, 32.7) months in group 3 (HR = 0.40, P = 0.0004). For groups 2 and 3 combined, median OS was 19.8 (14.0, NR) months (HR = 0.37, P Conclusions Mature data from this study confirm that administering trilaciclib prior to GCb enhances antitumor efficacy compared with GCb alone, with statistically significant improvements in OS. Subgroup analyses suggest that adding trilaciclib prior to GCb benefits patients regardless of CDK4/6 dependence status and PD-L1 expression. Additional immune subtyping analyses are ongoing and will be presented. Group 1Group 2Group 3PD-L1 +vePD-L1 –vePD-L1 +vePD-L1 –vePD-L1 +vePD-L1 –vePatients, n171016101616ORR, n (%)4 (23.5)3 (30.0)8 (50.0)4 (40.0)7 (43.8)4 (25.0)Median PFS, months (95% CI)3.5 (2.2, NR)9.5 (5.2, NR)7.9 (4.3, NR)11.9 (8.8, NR)9.0 (6.2, NR)6.9 (6.4, NR)P value (Wald Test)––0.3470.6040.0690.766HR (95% CI)––0.70 (0.3, 1.5)0.76 (0.3, 2.2)0.46 (0.2, 1.1)1.16 (0.4, 3.1)Median OS, months (95% CI)10.5 (6.3, 18.8)13.9 (12.6, NR)20.1 (10.2, NR)NR (9.4, NR)32.7 (15.3, NR)17.8 (12.9, NR)P value (Wald Test)––0.0280.0830.020.239HR (95% CI)––0.35 (0.1, 0.9)0.34 (0.1, 1.2)0.33 (0.1, 0.8)0.57 (0.2, 1.5)HR and P values are for comparisons between group 2 versus group 1, and group 3 versus group 1.+ve, positive; –ve, negative; CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio; NR, not reached; ORR, objective response rate; OS, overall survival; PD-L1, programmed death ligand-1; PFS, progression-free survival. Citation Format: Joyce O'Shaughnessy, Gail S Wright, Anu R Thummala, Michael A Danso, Lazar Popovic, Timothy J Pluard, Hyo S Han, Željko Vojnović, Nikola Vasev, Ling Ma, Donald A Richards, Sharon T Wilks, Dušan Milenković, Jie Xiao, Jessica A Sorrentino, Janet Horton, Antoinette R Tan. Trilaciclib improves overall survival when given with gemcitabine/carboplatin in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer: Final analysis of a randomized phase 2 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD1-06.

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) has been widely utilized in civil engineering due to its superior mechanical properties and durability. However, there is limited knowledge on the interface shear behavior in UHPC composite structures. In this study, twelve push-out tests, with testing variables of the types of precast girder, the types of precast slab and the shear reinforcement ratios, were conducted to examine the shear performance of UHPC-filled pocket connection between precast UHPC girders and full-depth precast concrete slabs. Based on the analysis of the experimental results, the reinforcements across the joint could significantly improve both of the interface shear capacity and residual shear resistance. Additionally, both the precast slab types and precast girder slab types have an apparent influence on the interface shear strength. Besides, all the parameters investigated in this study played an essential role in the interface shear slippages at the ultimate stress. Furthermore, the experimental results in this study can rarely be predicted well by typical equations developed in current design codes and previous studies. Therefore, a more accurate equation was developed to predict the interface shear transfer stress between precast UHPC girder and full-depth precast concrete slab with a UHPC-filled pocket connection.

This paper proposes a delay-balanced adaptive channel allocation (DB-ACA) mechanism for improving the channel access performance of an LTE-U and WiFi coexistence system. To support the DB-ACA mechanism, an integrated network architecture is introduced for coordinating the channel access in the coexistence system. Based on the integrated network architecture, the coexistence system is able to adaptively adjust the number of unlicensed channels allocated to the LTE-U system and WiFi system, respectively, according to the current traffic load status of the coexistence system. To ensure the access fairness of the LTE-U and WiFi systems, the DB-ACA mechanism introduces a fairness criterion, which requires that the channel access delay be balanced on the unlicensed band between the LTE-U and WiFi systems. Theoretical models are developed to determine the number of unlicensed channels that need to be adjusted, and performance models are derived to analyze the blocking probability and access delay of the LTE-U system and WiFi system, respectively. The effectiveness of the performance models is validated through simulation results. It is demonstrated through numerical results that the proposed DB-ACA mechanism can effectively ensure access fairness of the coexistence system, and significantly improve the system performance in terms of the blocking probability and access delay.

Background The non-invasive identification of novel renal fibrosis biomarkers needs to be further studied. Methods We collected urine samples from 77 biopsy-proven CKD patients and 15 healthy controls. The expression of urinary TREM-1 and TREM-2 was measured and the correlation with renal function parameter and pathological indicators was performed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the diagnosis of renal fibrosis was calculated. The protein expression of TREM-1 and TREM-2 in kidney tissues was measured. Results The TREM-1/TREM-2 ratio was decreased in CKD patients and correlated with serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate and cystatin c. Further, the TREM-1/TREM-2 ratio was significantly decreased in moderate-severe fibrosis patients compared with none-mild renal fibrosis. TREM-1/TREM-2 ratio was correlated with the score of tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF) and the score of glomerular sclerosis. The ROC curve showed that the urinary TREM-1/TREM-2 ratio can diagnosemoderate-severe renal fibrosis at a cut-off value of 1.338 with a sensitivity of 86.4% and specificity of 81.8%. In human moderate-severe fibrosis kidney tissue, the protein expression of TREM-1 was lower and the TREM-2 was higher than none-mild fibrosis kidney tissue. Conclusion Urinary TREM-1/TREM-2 ratio was a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of renal fibrosis in CKD patients.

Extra-intestinal manifestations (EIMs) of the eyes are found in IBD patients, but the underlying pathogenesis remains unknown. To investigate the pathogenesis of IBD-associated retinal dysfunction, chronic colitis was induced in mice by oral administration of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Electroretinography (ERG) was performed to evaluate retinal function. Retinal neuron degeneration was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Colitic mice displayed aberrant amplitudes of ERG a-, b-wave and oscillatory potentials (OP). Importantly, we observed severe degeneration of bipolar and ganglion cells. In contrast, outer retinal neurons (mainly photoreceptor cells) are mildly affected by colitis. Moreover, retinal inflammatory responses were significantly upregulated during colitis, including microglia activation, lymphocyte infiltration and cytokine/chemokine production. Notably, mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule 1 (MAdCAM-1) was upregulated in retinal microvessels, especially the superficial and deep plexuses, and recruited gut-homing CD4+ T cells to be co-localized with bipolar and ganglion cells during colitis. Expectedly, in vivo depletion of CD4+ T cells or blockade of MAdCAM-1 greatly alleviated colitis-induced retinal inflammatory responses and neuron degeneration. Therefore, our data provide novel insight into the pathogenesis of IBD-associated retinal dysfunction, and targeted immune therapy directly against MAdCAM-1 might provide a novel approach in the management of eye EIM of IBD.

Control over the growth location and orientation of organic semiconductor single crystals (OSSCs) is of key importance to enable high-performance organic circuits. However, it is difficult to create well-patterned and aligned OSSCs simultaneously using previous approaches. In this work, we demonstrate a patterned microchannel dip-coating (PMDC) method for the patterning of OSSC arrays with high crystallinity and purely crystallographic orientation. The patterned microchannels provide regionally different wettability, permitting to define solution wetting locations. Moreover, the dip-coating process enables unidirectional dewetting of the solution, inducing a long-range ordered crystallization. The PMDC approach shows a good universality, and can be extended to a variety of soluble acenes, e.g. 2,8-difluoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (Dif-TES-ADT) and 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-pentacene). 50 discrete organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) made from the patterned Dif-TES-ADT single crystal arrays exhibit a high average mobility up to 1.5 cm2 V−1 s−1, surpassing that of the commonly used amorphous silicon transistors. This patterning approach constitutes a promising step that might ultimately allow us to use high-mobility OSSCs for integrated devices.

Blockchain, the underlying technology of digital currency, such as Bitcoin, has the characteristics of decentralization, stability, security, anonymity, and nontampering. Blockchain is being applied in an increasing number of fields. Supply chain finance is a financing model in which banks connect core enterprises with upstream and downstream enterprises to provide flexible financial products and services. In the traditional supply chain finance, the core enterprises with strong competitiveness and a large scale play an irreplaceable role in managing the supply chain information flow, logistics, and capital flow, which results in inequality and information asymmetry. Fraud in supply chain finance is also very serious. To solve the problems of the traditional supply chain finance, in this article, we build a new type of supply chain financial platform that uses blockchain technology to manage the whole process. This supply chain financial platform solves the problem of nontrust among the participants in the supply chain, improves the efficiency of the capital flow and information flow, reduces costs, and provides better financial services to the relevant parties in the supply chain. To protect users' privacy, we propose a new method of using homomorphic encryption in the blockchain to meet the needs of sensitive data privacy protection in supply chain financial scenarios.

Whether external root resorption is associated with hypoxia in the periodontal ligaments of teeth with severe periodontitis remains unclear. Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression and external resorption sites in the periodontal ligaments of these teeth were observed to elaborate upon the relationship between hypoxia and external root resorption in severe periodontitis. Histological analysis was performed to observe external root resorption. The expressions of HIF-1α and Nuclear factor-activated T cells c1 (NFATc1) in the periodontal ligaments were detected by immunofluorescence, western blotting and real-time PCR. Bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) were stimulated by Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (Pg.LPS) and cultured under hypoxia in vitro. High levels of HIF-1α and NFATc1 were detected in severe periodontitis. HIF-1α positive-cells were observed in the external resorption sites. Hypoxia promoted Pg.LPS-stimulated osteoclastogenesis of BMMs and bone resorption by the NFATc1 pathway. Increased HIF-1α in severe periodontitis are associated with external root resorption by the NFATc1 pathway.

This study aimed to dynamically monitor myocardial cell death using 99m Tc-Duramycin single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (micro-SPECT/CT) imaging in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and the anti-apoptosis effect of atorvastatin for cardioprotection. Mice were randomized into three groups: AMI group, AMI with atorvastatin treatment (T-AMI) group, and sham group. Three groups of model mice were randomly selected at day 1 (D1), day 3 (D3), and day 7 (D7) day after surgery with 99m Tc-Duramycin micro-SPECT/CT imaging. The lesion-to-normal myocardial tissue ratio (L/N) average values were 2.62 on D1, 3.89 on D3, and 1.20 on D7 for the uptake of 99m Tc-duramycin in the infarcted region in the AMI group. The sham group presented no positive imaging in myocardium, and the L/N average values were 1.09, 1.14, and 1.10 on D1, D3, and D7, respectively. Meanwhile, 99m Tc-linear-duramycin imaging showed no radioactive uptake in the infarction region. The T-AMI group imaging showed tracer uptake decreased obviously compared to the uptake in the infarcted region in AMI mice. 99m Tc-Duramycin SPECT/CT imaging allowed non-invasive monitoring of myocardial cell death in a mouse model of AMI and an assessment of atorvastatin anti-apoptosis effect for cardioprotection by in vivo molecular imaging.

Educational informatisation (e.g. e-learning, m-learning, massive open online courses (MOOCs)) has actively increased, leading to a greater focus on the design and development of course management ...

This study aims to analyze the expression level and correlation of miR-182-5p and its target gene PAPPA in coronary atherosclerosis (CAD).Real time PCR, ELISA, and Western blotting methods were used to detect the expression levels. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assays were used to analyze the interaction between the 3'-UTR of PAPPA and miR-182-5p.The expression level of miR-182-5p in CAD was significantly lower than that in normal population, while the content of serum PAPPA was significantly increased, and the expression level of miR-182-5p was negatively correlated with the PAPPA content. The expression level of miR-182-5p decreased, while the expression level of PAPPA increased significantly in the ox-LDL treated HA-VSMC cells. Researchers found that PAPPA could promote the activation of IGF signaling pathway in HA-VSMC cells treated by ox-LDL, further activate NF-kB, PI3K/AKT and ERK signaling pathway, and promote cell proliferation. However, miR-182-5p could inhibit the expression of PAPPA, block the activation of IGF signal pathway, and inhibit the proliferation of HA-VSMC cells induced by ox-LDL. miR-182-5p had a targeted action site in the 3'-UTR of PAPPA by bioinformatics prediction. The analysis of luciferase reporter gene further confirmed that miR-182-5p could target the 3'-UTR of PAPPA to inhibit its expression.miR-182-5p demonstrated a protective effect on atherosclerosis and may be a potential therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.

Controlled agglomeration during spray drying offers several advantages for both powder manufacturers and consumers, and thus it is commonly implemented by industry. The implementation, however is largely based on experience, given the scarcity of comprehensive prediction tools. A resource-efficient approach to numerically treat agglomerates and yet provide an indication of their structures is desired to perform realistic simulations without the need for high-performance computing. In this work, a new numerical model for the treatment of coalescence and agglomeration was implemented and evaluated at two distinct scales with significantly different particle number densities within a Eulerian-Lagrangian CFD framework. The model could accurately predict the trends in the final particle size distributions and distinguish realistic agglomerate structures occurring under different conditions. Challenges were encountered as a result of how the underlying collision detection routine handles high particle number density. Several strategies are proposed to overcome these challenges. This work constitutes significant progress towards achieving an efficient prediction tool to estimate final powder properties and will prove useful in performing large-scale simulations to design and control agglomeration.

Objective The uptake of F-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) is known to be linked to programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on tumor cells (TC). However, the association between PD-L1 expression on immune cells (IC) and F-FDG accumulation is still unclear. Here, we conducted a clinicopathological study to investigate the relationship between PD-L1 expression on TC/IC and F-FDG uptake in patients with surgically resected pulmonary adenocarcinoma (ADC). Methods A total of 450 ADC patients who underwent preoperative F-FDG-PET/CT imaging were analyzed retrospectively. Immunohistochemistry analysis was performed for PD-L1 expression on TC and IC in ADC specimens with SP142. PD-L1 expression was performed on whole-tissue sections and given scores (0/1/2/3) according to percent of PD-L1 cells in TC and IC. Results Compared to TC0 and IC0, PD-L1 positive expression was 90.4% (407/450) in ADC specimens. Both PD-L1 expression score on TC and IC were associated with maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax). SUVmax augmented with increasing PD-L1 expression (TC0 and IC0, 4.3 ± 3.4; TC or IC1/2/3, 7.7 ± 5.6; TC or IC2/3, 8.1 ± 5.6; TC or IC3, 8.4 ± 5.4). The best cut-off value of PD-L1 expression, determined by receiver operating characteristic curve, was 5.1 for TC or IC1/2/3 [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.713, sensitivity 62.2%, specificity 72.1%]. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that TC or IC1/2/3 subset was correlated with histological subtype, PD-1 expression on IC and SUVmax. Conclusion High SUVmax is associated with PD-L1 expression on TC and IC in surgically resected pulmonary ADC. F-FDG-PET/CT imaging can be a potential tool to evaluate PD-L1 expression in pulmonary ADC.

Electroacupuncture (EA) is an effective treatment for relieving neuropathic pain, however, its underlying effect mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesised that EA alleviates pain by inhibiting degradation of the ecto-nucleotidase prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) and facilitating ATP dephosphorylation in dorsal root ganglions (DRGs). To test this, we applied EA in male C57 mice subjected to chronic constriction injury (CCI) and assessed extracellular ATP and 5′-nucleotidease expression in DRGs. Specifically, we used a luminescence assay, quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, immunohistochemistry and nociceptive-related behavioural changes to gather data, and we tested for effects after PAP expression was inhibited with an adeno-associated virus (AAV). Moreover, membrane PAP degradation was investigated in cultured DRG neurons and the inhibitory effects of EA on this degradation were assessed using immunoprecipitation. EA treatment alleviated CCI surgery induced mechanical allodynia. Furthermore, extracellular ATP decreased significantly in both the DRGs and dorsal horn of EA-treated mice. PAP protein but not mRNA increased in L4–L6 DRGs, and inhibition of PAP expression via AAV microinjection reversed the analgesic effect of EA. Membrane PAP degradation occurred through a clathrin-mediated endocytosis pathway in cultured DRG neurons; EA treatment inhibited the phosphorylation of adaptor protein complex 2, which subsequently reduced the endocytosis of membrane PAP. In summary, EA treatment alleviated peripheral nerve injury-induced tactile allodynia in mice by inhibiting membrane PAP degradation via reduced endocytosis and subsequently promote ATP dephosphorylation in DRGs. Our findings provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms of pain relief provided by acupuncture. Funding Statement: This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China 414 (Nos. 81874371, 81803853, 81771133, 81970995), Shanghai Shenkang Hospital Development Center Founding (SHDC12017X11), and Shanghai municipal Education Commission-Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Support [20191903], Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty (shslczdzk03601)，State Key Laboratoy of Neuroscience(SKLN-201803). Declaration of Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist regarding the publication of this paper. Ethics Approval Statement: All of the experiments were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and all protocols followed the policies issued by the National Institutes of Health and the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Objectives. To make clear how many sexual partners (SPs) are too many for elderly (≥50 years old) men becoming HIV-positive from rural China.Methods. We conducted a case-control study: 99 newly HIV (+) vs. 88 HIV (-) elderly men with similar age who visited female sex workers (FSW). Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves and backward binary logistic regression was applied. Results. Cases had more SPs (315.66±401.33) than controls(14.63±25.63)in their lifetime, mainly commercial SPs(313.98±401.38 vs.12.81±25.85), similarly in the last three years. AUCs for HIV infection at number of accumulated SPs and of commercial SPs were 0.89 and 0.90, and correspondingly 0.79 and 0.81 in the last three years. Cut-off values were identified as 51.5, 52.5, 5.5 and 4.5 based on Youden’s indexes (0.715, 0.705, 0.612 and 0.601). Risky factors for HIV infection among elderly men were having 52-2002 SPs in their lifetime (AOR (95%CI): 56.33(11.36-279.25)), having 5-289 commercial SPs in the last three years (11.55(2.78-47.94)). Conclusions. ≥52 SPs in their lifetime and ≥5 FSW in the last three years are too many for elderly men from rural China becoming HIV-positive.

Abnormal glucose homeostasis is linked to a variety of metabolic syndromes, such as insulin resistance, obesity, type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Maintenance of normal glucose homeostasis is important for the body to keep normal biological functions. As the major bioactive ingredient in chili peppers responsible for the pungent flavor, capsaicin has been reported to effectively improve glucose homeostasis with low cytotoxicity. In this review, the modulating effects of capsaicin on glucose homeostasis in cell models, animal models and human trials are summarized through both TRPV1 dependent and TRPV1 independent pathways. The relevant molecular mechanisms underlying its regulatory effects are also evaluated. Understanding the effects and mechanisms of capsaicin on glucose metabolism could provide theoretical evidence for its application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Lots of convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods have been proposed to implement face completion with regular holes. However, in practical applications, irregular holes are more common to see. Moreover, due to the distinct attributes and large variation of appearance for human faces, it is more challenging to fill irregular holes in face images while keeping content consistent with the rest region. Since facial attributes (e.g., gender, smiling, pointy nose, etc.) allow for a more understandable description of one face, they can provide some hints that benefit the face completion task. In this work, we propose a novel attributes-guided face completion network (AttrFaceNet), which comprises a facial attribute prediction subnet and a face completion subnet. The attribute prediction subnet predicts facial attributes from the rest parts of the corrupted images and guides the face completion subnet to fill the missing regions. The proposed AttrFaceNet is evaluated in an end-to-end way on commonly used datasets CelebA and Helen. Extensive experimental results show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods qualitatively and quantitatively especially in large mask size cases. Code is available at https://github.com/FVL2020/AttrFaceNet.

Background Post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is an overarching term used to describe cognitive impairment identified in the preoperative or post-operative period. After surgical operations, older patients are particularly vulnerable to memory disturbances and other types of cognitive impairment. However, the pathogenesis of POCD remains unclear with no confirmed preventable or treatable strategy available. Our previous study demonstrated that the concentration of choline acetyl transferase in the cerebral spinal fluid was a predictive factor of POCD and that donepezil, which is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used in clinical settings for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, can prevent learning and memory impairment after anaesthesia/surgery in aged mice. This study aimed to determine the critical role of donepezil in preventing cognitive impairment in elderly patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery. Methods A multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical trial will be performed to assess the efficacy of donepezil in elderly patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery. Participants (n = 360) will receive donepezil (5 mg once daily) or placebo from 1 day prior to surgery until 5 days after surgery. Neuropsychological tests will be measured at 1 day before the operation and 1 week, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after the operation. Discussion This research project mainly aimed to study the effects of donepezil in elderly patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery due to underlying POCD and to investigate the underlying physiological and neurobiological mechanisms of these effects. The results may provide important implications for the development of effective interfering strategies, specifically regarding cognitive dysfunction therapy using drugs. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govNCT04423276. Registered on 14 June 2020

In order to meet the operational requirements of modern naval warfare, naval ships are equipped with growing types and quantities of weapons, but their overall combat effectiveness has not increased correspondingly. The reason is that different shipborne weapon systems have overlapping fields of fire on the relatively narrow ship platform, thus interfering with each other, which seriously endangers the ship safety. Therefore, it is critical to solve the major problem of firepower compatibility, namely, how to turn from increasing the firepower density of shipborne weapons to improving the strike-defense capabilities of the ship. Firepower compatibility is an important technology to give full play to the overall combat effectiveness of the weapon systems in the complex environment of the ship platform under the principle of ensuring the ship and crew safety. This paper summarizes the theoretical basis of the firepower compatibility technology of operations research, including the design of the intrinsic field of fire, fixed safety field of fire and active safety field of fire, and collates information about the development of the firepower compatibility technology for conventional weapons, such as firepower compatibility between conventional weapons and ship deck facilities, and firepower compatibility between conventional weapons. The firepower compatibility technology for conventional weapons contains four methods: firepower compatibility priority analysis, firepower conflict judgment for the satefty distance of vertically fired weapons, firepower conflict judgment for the safety distance of inclined revolving weapons and airspace resources occupation. The advantages and disadvantages of the above four operations research methods are compared and analyzed to obtain their commonalities and key points for improvement. In terms of the differences between the directed-energy weapons and conventional weapons, this paper introduces the technical characteristics and advantages of directed-energy weapons and compares the possible solutions to firepower compatibility of the two catagories of weapons. Then the key firepower compatibility technologies for directed-energy weapons are discussed and analyzed from three aspects: the construction of the cone of fire, firepower conflict judgment and dynamic firepower compatibility control. Finally, the paper points out the key and difficult problems in the firepower compatibility technology for directed-energy weapons, gives where research breakthroughs can be made in this area, and maps out the next development plan for this technology.

Background and Purpose: Macrovascular complication of diabetes mellitus, characterized by increased aortic stiffness, is a major cause leading to many adverse clinical outcomes. It has been reported that ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) can improve glucose tolerance, enhance insulin activity, and restore the impaired endothelial functions in animal models. The aim of this study was to explore whether Rb1 could alleviate the pathophysiological process of arterial stiffening in diabetes and its potential mechanisms.Experimental Approach: Diabetes was induced in male C57BL/6 mice by administration of streptozotocin. These mice were randomly selected for treatment with Rb1 (10−60 mg/kg, i. p.) once daily for 8 weeks. Aortic stiffness was assessed using ultrasound and measurement of blood pressure and relaxant responses in the aortic rings. Mechanisms of Rb1 treatment were studied in MOVAS-1 VSMCs cultured in a high-glucose medium.Key Results: Rb1 improved DM-induced arterial stiffening and the impaired aortic compliance and endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Rb1 ameliorated DM-induced aortic remodeling characterized by collagen deposition and elastic fibers disorder. MMP2, MMP9, and TGFβ1/Smad2/3 pathways were involved in this process. In addition, Rb1-mediated improvement of arterial stiffness was partly achieved via inhibiting oxidative stress in DM mice, involving regulating NADPH oxidase. Finally, Rb1 could blunt the inhibition effects of DM on AMPK phosphorylation.Conclusion and Implications: Rb1 may represent a novel prevention strategy to alleviate collagen deposition and degradation to prevent diabetic macroangiopathy and diabetes-related complications.

In animal tracking applications, smaller transmitters can reduce the impact of the transmitter on the tagged animal and thus provide more accurate data about animal behavior. By combining a novel circuit design and a newly developed micro-battery, we developed frequency-programmable and more powerful radio frequency transmitters that are about 40% smaller and lighter in weight than the smallest commercial counterpart for animal monitoring at the time of development. The new radio frequency transmitter has a miniaturized form factor for studying small animals. Designs of two coding schemes were developed: one transmits unmodulated signals (weight: 152 mg; dimensions: Ø 2.95 mm × 11.22 mm), and the other transmits modulated signals (weight: 160 mg; dimensions: Ø 2.95 mm × 11.85 mm). To accommodate different transmitter life requirements, each design can be configured to transmit in high or low signal strength. Prototypes of these transmitters were evaluated in the laboratory and exhibited comparable or longer service life and higher signal strength compared to their smallest commercial counterparts.

Background Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, from pancreatic infections to bloodstream infections, influence the mortality of patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) on the condition of limited antibiotic choices. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictor of mortality among AP patients complicated with MDR-K. pneumoniae infections. Methods Seventy-one AP patients who occurred MDR-K. pneumoniae infections from August 1st, 2016 to August 1st, 2020 were enrolled. MDR-K. pneumoniae was defined as the K. pneumoniae strain non-susceptible to at least one agent in three or more antimicrobial categories. MDR-K. pneumoniae isolates were confirmed by Vitek-2 system. Antibiotic susceptibility test was carried out using a micro broth dilution method. Clinical characteristics and drug-resistance rates were retrospectively reviewed, and the predictors of mortality were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results The mortality rate of AP patients complicated with MDR-K. pneumoniae infections reached 46.5% (33 of 71), and pancreas (n = 53) was the most common site of MDR-K pneumoniae strains. The drug resistance rates of MDR-K. pneumoniae were high to 11 of 12 common antibiotics (more than 50.0%) except of tigecycline (23.9%). The predictor independently associated with mortality was septic shock (hazard ratio 2.959, 95% confidence intervals 1.396 – 6.272, P = 0.005). Conclusions More attention should be paid for pancreatic MDR-K. pneumoniae infections among AP patients The predictor for mortality of AP patients complicated with MDR-K. pneumoniae infection is septic shock. Therefore, further clinical investigations should focus on areas against septic shock.

As the major naturally occurring alkaloid in pepper with a pungent taste, piperine is known for its beneficial biological functions and therapeutic effects. In this work, the bioavailability and biological activities of piperine were presented and discussed. Novel delivery systems for enhancing the bioavailability of piperine were also reviewed. This study could provide a better understanding of the physiological and biochemical aspects of piperine to be further developed in the food and nutraceutical industries.

Green tides caused by the unusual accumulation of high floating Ulva prolifera have occurred regularly in the Yellow Sea since 2007. The primary source of the Yellow Sea green tides is the attached algae on the Pyropia aquaculture rafts in the Subei Shoal. Ulva prolifera and Blidingia (Italic) sp. are the main species observed on Pyropia aquaculture rafts in the Subei Shoal. We found that U. prolifera has strong buoyancy and a rapid growth rate, which may explain why it is the dominant species of green tides that occur in the China's sea area of the Yellow Sea. The growth rate of floating U. prolifera was about 20%–31% d–1, which was much higher than Blidingia (Italic) sp. There were about 1.7 × 104 t of attached algae on the Pyropia aquaculture rafts in May 2012. We found that 39% of attached algae could float when the tide rose in the Subei Shoal, and U. prolifera accounted for 63% of the floating algae. Our analysis estimated that about 4 000 t of attached U. prolifera floated into the surrounding waters of the Subei Shoal during the recycling period of aquaculture rafts. These results suggest that the initial floating biomass of large-scale green tides in the Yellow Sea is determined by the U. prolifera biomass attached to Pyropia aquaculture rafts, further impacting the scale of the green tide.

Rationale and Objectives To explore the potential value of radiomic features-derived approach in assessing PD-L1 expression status in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Materials and Methods A cohort of 399 stage I–IV NSCLC patients were enrolled. Tumor segmentation was performed to select essential primary lesions of NSCLC cases after PET/CT images acquisition. Features were extracted, then filtered with automatic relevance determination and minimized with LASSO model based on its relevance of PD-L1 expression status. Finally, we built predictive models with features from the CT, the PET, and the PET/CT images, respectively, for differentiating different status of specific PD-L1 types. Five-fold cross validation was practiced to evaluate the signatures’ accuracy, and the receiver operating characteristic as well as the corresponding area under the curve (AUC) was reckoned for each model. Results With the total of 24 selected features which were significantly associated with PD-L1 expression levels, models based on CT-, PET-, PET/CT-derived features were built and compared. For PD-L1 (SP142) expression level over 1% prediction, models that comprised radiomic features from the CT, the PET, and the PET/CT images resulted in an AUC of 0.97, 0.61, and 0.97, respectively; models for over 50% prediction resulted with AUC of 0.80, 0.65, and 0.77. For PD-L1 (28-8) expression level prediction, predictive models of over 1% expression scored at 0.86, 0.62, and 0.85; and signatures of over 50% expression reached the score of AUCs at 0.91, 0.75, and 0.88, respectively. Conclusion The radiomic-based predictive approach, especially CT-derived predictive model, may anticipate PD-L1 expression status in NSCLC patients relatively accurate. It may be helpful in guiding immunotherapy in clinical practice and deserves further analysis.

In view of the current problems of energy waste in China’s office lighting, lack of intelligent lighting control and single adjustment mode, based on the domestic intelligent control system, development status, current stage technology, etc., this paper proposes to adopt arduino as the main controller, combine with the infrared inductive sensor and the light sensor, the wifi network is used as the communication mode, and the delay, turn-off control and dimming functions can be automatically realized according to the detection condition of the sensor, thereby realizing the detection of the office lighting environment and the control and adjustment of the office lighting fixture. The purpose of this system is that it has the characteristics of low cost and low carbon green, which is very suitable for office environment.

The smart car collects the signal through the infrared sensor, and obtains the gray map in front of the car, according to the gray map, the tracking is judged.Due to the complexity of the environment, many gray-scale maps are difficult to trace, and even cannot be judged, which brings great uncertainty to the operation of the smart car.The paper designs a method to improve the infrared tracking accuracy of smart cars.First, determine the level of contrast in this graph.By improving the brightness in the grayscale image, the gray signal around the tracking line is eliminated, and then the tracking line is highlighted by increasing the contrast.Therefore, it effectively overcomes the shortcomings of poor practicality of smart cars and improves the infrared tracking accuracy of smart cars.

ZigBee technology has great potential in the field of environmental monitoring because of its advantages of low power consumption, low cost and high reliability. In this paper, an intelligent temperature and humidity detection system based on ZigBee and WiFi is proposed. The heterogeneous integration of ZigBee network and WiFi network is realized by using ZigBee protocol stack. The real-time monitoring of temperature and humidity and remote data transmission are realized.

As semiconductor feature size continues to decrease and the density of integration continues to increase, highly reliable circuit design is experiencing many challenges, including reliability evaluation, which is one of the most important steps in circuit design. However, faced with the very large scale of integrated circuits at present, traditional simulation-based methods are slightly inadequate in terms of computational complexity and do not apply to the circuits at the concept stage. To solve this problem, this paper presents a new prediction method for circuit reliability based on deep auto encoder networks. Firstly, we analyze and extract the main features associated with circuit reliability. Next, we construct an efficient method for data collection by combining the characteristics of the feature set with the requirements of deep auto encoder networks. Then, we build a deep auto encoder network model oriented to circuit reliability prediction in a supervised learning manner. Simulation results on 74-series circuits and ISCAS85 benchmark circuits show that although the accuracy of the proposed method is slightly lower than that of both the Monte Carlo (MC) method and the fast probabilistic transfer matrix (F-PTM) model, its time-space consumption is approximately constant on different circuits, and it is 102,458,469 times faster than the MC method, and approximately 4,383 times faster than the F-PTM model. Furthermore, the proposed method could be used to predict circuit reliability at the conceptual stage, and it is a very efficient approximation method that could greatly reduce the power consumption of the calculation.

With the increasing demand of uniform particles in the fields of medicine etc., the research on monodisperse droplet spray dryer (MDSD) becomes important. The drying efficiency of the current MDSD facility has to be improved to realize industrial applications. In this work, the influence of several kinds of nozzle movement on the drying process has been thoroughly explored by silico experiments. It is found that the velocity of the nozzle movement plays a key role in drying efficiency improvement. The movement of the nozzle leads to a wider distribution of the final moisture content of particles, and this effect becomes less significant with the increase of the velocity of nozzle motion. For all motion types under investigation, the circular motion is superior to the other motion types. It is revealed that the change of droplet dispersion state due to nozzle motion is the main factor that improves drying performance.

With the development of energy internet and power market, the operation regulation and pricing mechanism of traditional virtual power plants are improved to adapt to the new environment. In this paper, a bi-level multi-time scale scheduling method based on bidding for multi-operator virtual power plant is proposed to provide a framework for solving the interest distribution between operators and optimal scheduling problems of multiple-operator virtual power plant. An operator power allocation and internal electricity price formation method based on bidding equilibrium is proposed in the upper level, which introduces the fluctuation cost coefficient to express the influence of the uncertainty of renewable energy power generation on the bidding process. A multi-time scale optimal scheduling method combining scheduling model and adjustment strategy is established in the lower level. A default penalty mechanism in the scheduling model is used to ensure that operators provide the electricity allocated from the bidding process and considering the influence of demand response based on internal electricity price on adjustment strategy. Simulation results show that the proposed method can realize the optimal distribution of operators’ power generation and form the internal electricity price that reflects the internal supply and demand level of virtual power plant. Besides, it can reduce the impact of uncertainty on dispatching results and improve the application range of virtual power plant to enhance the competitiveness of virtual power plant in market transactions.

Single droplet drying (SDD) device has been extensively used to measure drying kinetics of droplets of 0.5–2 mm initial diameter. Despite the large size, it has deemed to be the most practical for such purposes in the past 40 years. There is a surplus of numerical investigations of SDD in the literature. However, this is the first time detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out on the actual fluid behaviour inside and around a lactose solution droplet in SDD by glass suspension experiment. The full set of the governing equations were solved and the fluid flow was investigated. A lactose concentration gradient was developed within the droplet due to momentum transfer and water removal. The CFD predictions of lactose concentrations could be used to predict the formation of crust or crystallization in the droplet. Furthermore, accumulation of solute within the droplet indicated the tendency to form solid structure. The simulated overall drying rate curve compared well with the available laboratory data. The predicted temperature results have also been benchmarked against the experimental measurements generated from the thermal history of lactose droplet drying. More importantly, CFD simulations have been extended to similar small droplet sizes occurring during spray drying, which are experimentally inaccessible with SDD. These analyses are relevant to spray drying to validate simpler 1D models.

Macrophages play an important role in inflammation and cardiac remodeling in response to myocardial infarction (MI). Earlier shift of inflammtory M1 macrophages to reparative M2 macrophages has demonstrated significant improvements in MI wound modeling and cardiac function. Here, we reported that TSLP could promote M1 to M2 macrophage polarization, and AngII skewed the macrophage phenotype towards M2 by inducing TSLP expression in vitro. Meanwhile, AngII could inhibit the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in macrophages, which are engaged in ECM degradation and cardiac remodeling. In post-MI mice, TSLP expression were up-regulated in cardiac tissue and serum, probably induced by renin-angiotensin system activation and AngII level up-regulation following MI. Our study mapped the continuum of changes that occured in cardiac macrophages over the first week of MI, and found that rTSLP treatment promoted earlier phenotype shift of M1 to M2 macrophages, improving cardiac healing and ventricular function recovery. Taken together, this work identified a very promising therapeutic opportunity to manage macrophage phenotype and enhance resolution of inflammation in the post-MI heart.

The discrete phase model (DPM) has been widely used in CFD simulations to track discrete particles or droplets in a continuum fluid filed. This powerful technique, however, may face tremendous difficulty in tracking droplets flying through chambers with significantly different sizes. In such cases, it becomes very challenging to develop effective mesh for the big and small chambers together with the transition zone that can ensure solution convergence within reasonable computational time. In this work, a systematic method is introduced to tackle this problem. This method allows simulation of different sized chambers separately to avoid the meshing difficulty. A unique coupling approach offers smooth transition of droplets from one chamber to the other with rigorous conservation of their mass, energy and momentum. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated through the simulation of skim milk droplet drying in a mono-disperse droplet spray dryer (MDSD), where droplets must pass through a small dispersion chamber before entering the main big drying chamber. For the first time, droplet drying process from exiting nozzle to the arrival at the dryer outlet can be simulated. The new model can be used in the future to optimize the spray drying process.

Aims Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 (S1PR2) is a G-protein-coupled receptor that regulates sphingosine-1-phosphate-triggered cellular response. However, the role of S1PR2 in diabetes-induced glomerular endothelial cell dysfunction remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the effect of S1PR2 blockade on the morphology and function of mitochondria in human renal glomerular endothelial cells (HRGECs). Methods HRGECs were pretreated with a S1PR2 antagonist (JTE-013) or a Rho-associated coiled coil-containing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) inhibitor (Y27632) for 30 min and then cultured with normal glucose (5.5 mM) or high glucose (30 mM) for 72 h. The protein expression levels of RhoA, ROCK1, and Dynmin-related protein-1(Drp1) were evaluated by immunoblotting; mitochondrial morphology was observed by electron microscopy; intracellular levels of ATP, ROS, and Ca2+ were measured by ATPlite, DCF-DA, and Rhod-2 AM assays, respectively. Additionally, the permeability, apoptosis, and migration of cells were determined to evaluate the effects of S1PR2 and ROCK1 inhibition on high glucose-induced endothelial dysfunction. Results High glucose induced mitochondrial fission and dysfunction, indicated by increased mitochondrial fragmentation, ROS generation, and calcium overload but decreased ATP production. High glucose also induced endothelial cell dysfunction, indicated by increased permeability and apoptosis but decreased migration. However, inhibition of either S1PR2 or ROCK1 almost completely blocked these high glucose-mediated cellular responses. Furthermore, inhibiting S1PR2 resulted in the deceased expression of RhoA, ROCK1, and Drp1 while inhibiting ROCK1 led to the downregulated expression of Drp1. Conclusions S1PR2 antagonist modulates the morphology and function of mitochondria in HRGECs via the positive regulation of the RhoA/ROCK1/Drp1 signaling pathway, suggesting that the S1PR2/ROCK1 pathway may play a crucial role in high glucose milieu. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12882-019-1323-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Supercritical combustion is a clean and efficient combustion technology that can effectively reduce particulate emissions of gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines. This study proposes a modifying mechanism for simulating supercritical gasoline; this mechanism contains 103 species and 201 reactions and is obtained by modifying the pre-exponential factors of key reactions and adding key reactions on the basis of the original mechanism proposed by our research program. The modifying mechanism is validated by a comparison with the experimental data of Fuel C, Surrogate A, Surrogate B, and each single component (iso-octane, n-heptane, and toluene). The simulation results agree with the experimental results, and the modifying mechanism can predict the various tendencies of ignition delay times with pressure and temperature. The modifying mechanism is further validated by a comparison with the detailed mechanisms proposed by Cancino and JCG et al. The comparison confirms the higher prediction accuracy of the modifying mechanism, which can promote the study of supercritical combustion process in cylinder.