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As the conventional connection configurations of the steel beam to concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) column are complex and unfriendly in practice, the application of the blind bolting system in steel beam-to-CFST column connection has been investigated in recent years. However, the blind bolted connections to CFST columns are generally classified as being pinned or semi-rigid and of partial strength due to the susceptibility to outward deformation of the tube wall. This paper developed a novel rigid and full-strength bolted connection of steel beam to prefabricated CFST column embedded with threaded sleeve bolts. Tests on five connection specimens are conducted to experimentally study the cyclic behaviour of the proposed sleeve bolted connections. The experimental parameters include the anchorage details of the sleeve bolt, the thickness of the end plate and level of axial load. To investigate the seismic performance of the proposed connections, the failure modes, hysteretic curves, connection rotation and ductility, stiffness and strength degradation, and energy dissipation capacity are presented and analyzed. The testing results prove that the proposed connection details have a strong influence on the cyclic behaviour and the moment-rotation behaviour of the novel connections. According to EC3, the proposed connection configurations behave as being rigid and of full-strength for non-sway frame. The component-based method is also proposed to predict the initial stiffness of the connections. The experimental and analytical results can provide a reference to promote the application of the novel sleeve bolted connections in engineering practice.

Nowadays, the output of light crude oil is approaching its peak, which has shifted the attentions of petroleum industry to a large quantity of heavy oil and bitumen in order to offset the growing demand of energy and fuels. The heavy oil and bitumen are usually characterized by high viscosity, high density/low API gravity, low yield of low boiling point fuel fraction, and high heteroatom content in comparison with the light oil, requiring in situ upgrading to improve the mobility of heavy oil. before recovery it. One of the methods for upgrading is to add catalysts to the underground reservoir. This paper firstly reviewed various kinds of catalysts, including mineral, water-soluble, oil-soluble, solid acid, ionic liquid (IL) catalysts, and dispersed and super-dispersed catalysts that reported in domestic and foreign literatures, and secondly described their effectiveness in underground catalytic cracking and upgrading of heavy oil. This critical review suggests that it is necessary to develop the catalytic cracking catalysts of low-cost, high activity, high selectivity, and wide adaptability in order to accommodate a wide range of heavy oil with different properties, especially the ultra-dispersed nano-catalysts. The in situ upgrading technology by injecting super-dispersed nano-catalysts is a promising method to improve the quality of the lowest grade heavy oil components and enhance the recovery of heavy oil reservoirs. Moreover, further research is needed to explore the optimal process of catalyst synthesis, catalytic working conditions and the actual mechanisms of heavy oil with catalysts.

This study aimed to explore the correlation between QTc dispersion (QTcd) and soluble growth-stimulating gene 2 protein (sST2) after heart rate correction in patients with acute carbon monoxide poisoning (ACOP) heart disease. Among the 150 patients, 35 cases had severe toxic heart disease. The concentrations of sST2, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) in the severe group began to increase from admission, 24 h and 2 d, respectively, and their detected values were all higher than those in the non-severe group and the normal control group. There were statistically significant differences in sST2 and QTcd between the poisoning, non-severe and normal control groups before the treatment. There was a statistically significant difference between the indexes of the poisoning groups at different degrees 2 d and 3 d after poisoning. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis confirmed the sensitivity and specificity of sST2 and QTcd. The correlation analysis showed that sST2 and QTcd levels were positively correlated with the incidence of severe heart disease at admission. Generally, the combined observation of sST2 and QTcd improved the prediction sensitivity and were early predictor indexes of toxic heart disease.

Concrete-filled rectangular steel tubular (CFRST) composite truss bridge is a new type of structure composed of a CFRST truss and concrete deck slab. This new type of bridge has the advantages of high structural force-transferring efficiency, rapid assembly construction speed and excellent total life cycle, which meets the construction concept of green, recyclable and sustainable development. Due to the broad application prospects, experiment on the flexural behavior of CFRST composite truss bridge in the negative moment region was reported by authors previously. This paper thus presents a finite element analysis (FEA) modelling verified by the reported test data to further investigate the detailed analytical behavior of this structure. The structural response and failure mechanism of CFRST composite truss beam in the negative moment region are studied. In addition, the important structural design parameters on the flexural performance of the CFRST composite truss beam are also investigated, including the height to span ratio, the brace-to-chord wall thickness ratio, the reinforcement ratio of steel reinforcements and prestressed tendons and the strength grade of concrete infill in chords. Finally, the reasonable structural design parameters range are proposed for the optimum design of the CFRST composite truss bridge.

Objectives Shenzhen is suffering severe HIV epidemic. No systematic surveillance on high risk populations, HIV genetic diversity, transmitted drug resistance (TDR) and molecular transmission clusters (MTCs) have been reported yet. In this study, we described them based on newly diagnosed HIV positive cases from 2011 to 2018 in Shenzhen city, China. Methods Plasma samples of newly reported HIV positive cases in Shenzhen, China were collected from 2011 to 2018. The HIV pol gene was amplified and sequenced for subtyping, genetic characterization, TDR and phylogenetic analysis. Demographic and risk characteristics associated with transmitted drug resistance-associated mutations (TDRAMs) and MTCs were explored by using logistic regression analyses. Results 10,378 HIV pol sequences were successfully obtained from newly diagnosed patients with available background information. The most prevalent HIV-1 subtype was CRF07_BC (40.92%). CRF07_BC, CRF55_01B and URFs increased across years. Total TDR was 6.02% during 2011 to 2018. CRF01_AE, CRF08_BC, CRF55_01B and subtype B were more likely to be associated with TDRAMs than CRF07_BC. 4460 (42.98%) patients were infected with strains included in MTCs. Patients younger than 30 and over 50 years were more likely to cluster. Conclusions The prevalence of HIV-1 drug resistance and molecular transmission clusters in Shenzhen should raise a high alert. Interventions targeting on patients with strains locating in MTCs should be considered to improve prevention effect in Shenzhen.

Inflammation and fibrosis are hallmarks of tissue repair processes and organ failure progression in cardiovascular diseases. Paradigm-shifting research on diverse immune cell populations within the cardiovascular system have enabled discovery of new biomarkers fostering development of diagnostic and therapeutic agents at the molecular level to better manage cardiovascular diseases. To date, a variety of molecular imaging agents have been developed to visualize the biomarkers expressed on immune cells and fibroblasts within their crosstalk network, which drives the pathogenesis of fibrosis triggered by both innate and adaptive immunity. Herein, key biomarkers upregulated in the immune-fibrosis axis are discussed. The promising molecular imaging agents to reveal this critical pathologic process are summarized.

Rationale: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive inflammatory lung disease without effective molecular markers of disease activity or treatment responses. Monocyte and interstitial m...

Temperature actions are taken into account in the design of bridges, as temperature variation can lead to structural deformation and stress. Accurate temperature actions values are a must for bridge design, which is based on the insight of genuine temperature field in the bridge. However, long-term thermal simulations and sufficient validations that are significant in the study of bridge temperature actions have not been presented. In this study, the shadow recognition method and a simulation model were developed and validated for long-term thermal simulation to be used in future studies on the determination of characteristic values of temperature actions in composite bridges. The validation study was conducted by comparing temperature variations and temperature actions between simulated results and test data measured in a composite girder for 15 months. The results show that the model is capable of calculating accurate temperature distribution and practical temperature actions. The model could be used in future studies and applied in more areas and bridges.

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and angiographic outcomes of aneurysms that were completely or near-completely embolized and ascertain whether complete embolization is important in the stent-assisted coiling (SAC) of intracranial aneurysms. Methods This retrospective study enrolled 390 patients (417 aneurysms). Among them, complete (100%) or near-complete (>90%) angiographic obliteration of the aneurysms on immediate angiography was accomplished. Baseline characteristics, complications, angiography follow-up results, and clinical outcomes were analyzed. Results Cumulative adverse events occurred in 30 patients (7.7%), including thromboembolic complications in 17 (4.4%), intraoperative rupture in 10 (2.6%), and others in 3 (0.8%). Statistical analyses revealed an increased intraprocedural rupture rate in the initial completely occluded aneurysms (5.6% compared with 1.0%). The incidence of cumulative adverse events was higher in patients with completely occluded aneurysms (11.1%) than in those with near-completely occluded aneurysms (5.5%). Angiography follow-up was available for 173 aneurysms. Aneurysm occlusion status at follow-up was correlated with stent placement (p ​= ​0.000, odds ratio ​= ​5.847), size (p ​= ​0.000, odds ratio ​= ​6.446 for tiny aneurysms; and p ​= ​0.001, odds ratio ​= ​5.616 for small aneurysms), and initial aneurysm occlusion status (p ​= ​0.001, odds ratio ​= ​3.436). Complete occlusion at follow-up was seen in 82.6% of the initial complete occlusion group versus 63.0% of the initial near-complete occlusion group. The incidence of complete occlusion at follow-up was higher in the initial completely occluded aneurysms with SAC (100%) than in the initial completely occluded aneurysms with non-SAC (65.2%). Conclusions Initial complete treatment may lead to higher complication rates and good clinical outcomes at follow-up. Stent placement may enhance progressive aneurysm occlusion. Initial complete occlusion with SAC can provide durable closure at follow-up.

Under the influence of long time load actions, shrinkage and creep of concrete, temperature variation, and concrete pouring quality, debonding may occur between steel tube and concrete. Debonding affects the mechanism behavior of arch rib and joint and even threatens the integrity of an entire bridge. To reduce such possibility, a concrete-filled steel tubular arch bridge stiffened with perfobond ribs (PBL) is proposed. Based on a concrete-filled rectangular steel tubular truss-arch composite bridge stiffened with PBL in Xining City, Qing Hai province, we conduct force analysis of the bridge on the aspects of the arch ribs and the truss-arch composite system. According to the mechanical properties of the bridge, we establish finite-element models, including joint models in which web members bore relatively large axial force and a typical arch rib model. Based on the models, the local mechanical property of joints, and the interfacial properties between steel tube and concrete under solar radiation are studied. Results show that PBL reduces the length of force transmission and improves the stress and deformation concentration of the joints. PBL also alleviates the debonding between steel tube and concrete. This bridge scheme meets the requirements of function, aesthetics, and safety.

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the thyroid autoantibodies on the protein expression in follicular fluid and the clinical outcome of assisted reproductive technology. A total of 602 patients treated for infertility were screened; 49 euthyroid women who were positive for thyroid autoantibodies and 63 negative controls were recruited. Follicular fluid samples were analyzed using proteomics. Validation of target proteins in follicular fluid was performed by using parallel reaction monitoring. Differentially expressed proteins in follicular fluid, clinical pregnancy rate, abortion rate, and live-birth rate were analyzed. Clinical pregnancy rates and take-home baby rates in the thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) group were less than in the control group, but abortion rates in the TAI group were higher than in the control group (all P < 0.005). A total of 49 proteins were differentially expressed in the TAI-positive group. In Gene Ontology secondary annotations of all the proteins identified, five types of proteins were associated with the reproductive process. Among 11 proteins quantitatively identified by parallel reaction monitoring, angiotensinogen and fetuin-B were associated with reproduction. These differentially expressed proteins identified in this study involved multiple pathways according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis. Our study provides evidence that some differentially expressed proteins between TAI-positive women and controls were associated with the reproductive process and closely related to important physiologic effects, which could partially explain the underlying mechanism link between TAI and the adverse outcomes of assisted reproductive technology.

Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) has been widely applied in bridges due to its excellent structural and constructional performance. In CFST bridges, temperature action is not only an important but also a special load that must be considered in bridge design, construction and structural evaluation. This paper presents an overview on current researches of the temperature action and effect of CFST bridges. The historical and spatial characteristics as well as corresponding influencing factors of temperature distributions are summarized, and classifications of temperature actions are also reviewed. Results show that in-depth investigations of the contributions of temperature influencing factors can help to effectively reduce the adverse temperature effects on CFST bridges in the design stage. Due to the lack of long-term measurements and insufficient use of historical meteorological data, research on the representative value along with correlation analysis of CFST temperature actions and meteorological parameters have to be further carried out. In the meanwhile, a decomposition method of temperature distribution is proposed based on structural effects of CFST bridges in this paper. The decomposed temperature actions can be used for more accurate effect calculation than traditional temperature action classification method, especially for CFST truss bridges. At last, specific temperature action patterns still need to be investigated in some of the special problems, such as longitudinal temperature differences along the CFST arch rib and thermal debonding in the CFST interface. Further investigations are required on the accurate simulation of temperature distribution of CFST bridges considering the shading effects of components and terrain. Keywords: Bridge engineering, CFST bridge, Temperature action, Temperature effect, Thermal debonding

The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing all around the world and it may become the primary cause of terminal liver disease in adults and children in the next few decades. However, the pathogenesis of NAFLD is complex, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any drugs for its treatment. Kupffer cells are the key cells regulating immunity in the liver, and the effect of their unique polarization on NAFLD has received increasing attention. Kupffer cells mainly reside in the lumen of hepatic sinusoids and account for 80% to 90% of colonized macrophages in the human body. They are phagocytic cells with the capacity for self-renewal that rarely migrate from their niche in the liver, and play a crucial role in regulating and maintaining homeostasis. Upon liver damage, Kupffer cells will be activated, releasing a good deal of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. This review summarizes the multiple roles of Kupffer cells in the pathogenesis of NAFLD, the role of infiltrating macrophages in the pathogenesis of NAFLD is also briefly discussed, and aims to provide a theoretical basis for designing an NAFLD treatment strategy with Kupffer cells as the therapeutic target.

Obesity has an important influence on health conditions, causing a multitude of complications and comorbidities, and drug therapy is considered to be one of the treatment strategies. Nowadays, there is increasing interest in the study of intestinal microbiota regulation of obesity; also, an increasing number of agricultural and sideline products have been found to have anti-obesity potential. In the present review, we summarize an overview of current known and potential anti-obesity oligosaccharides and their molecular structures. We describe their anti-obesity potential activity and the molecular structure associated with this activity, the regulation of intestinal microbiota composition and its mechanism of action, including regulation of the short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) pathway and altering bile acid (BA) pathway. This review will provide new ideas for us to develop new anti-obesity functional foods.

Previous studies have shown that the stress concentration factors for 90° square hollow section T- and X-joints can be significantly reduced by filling the chord with concrete and stiffening the chord with perfobond ribs. The current study examined stress concentration factors for non-90° (Y-type) joints. A total of 11 Y-joints were tested under axial tension, and the hot spot stresses were measured. The measured results were employed to evaluate the influence of design parameters on the stress concentrations. In addition, the measured results were used to evaluate finite element models. A parametric study was then undertaken using the finite element models to generate an extensive database of stress concentration factors and to develop parametric design equations to estimate the maximum stress concentration factors on the brace and the chord of concrete-filled square hollow section Y-joints with perfobond ribs. It was found that decreases of 13.7%–59.9% in the stress concentration factors occurred in concrete-filled square hollow section Y-joints stiffened by perfobond ribs relative to conventional square hollow section joints for different loading cases.

Seawater acidification and warming have been found to affect the early life of many marine organisms, but their effects on the microbial community in the environment related to the early development stage of aquaculture species have been rarely investigated. To understand how seawater acidification and warming impact the microbial community in aquaculture systems, we designed four microcosms to monitor and characterize the microbial composition on the corrugated plates in the Apostichopus japonicus culture tanks during its post-settlement stage. High-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the bacterial community composition varied significantly in different periods of incubation. The bacterial diversity and community composition were obviously changed by seawater acidification and warming in the early period and then tended to revert to the level of the control group. Acidification significantly increased the relative abundance of dominant families Rhodobacteraceae and Flavobacteriaceae in the early period, suggesting that microbiota could increase the abundance of predominant taxa to adapt to increased CO2 concentration and reconstruct a stable community structure. No interaction effect of both factors was observed in the combined group. Results reveal that the microbial communities on the corrugated plates in A. japonicus culture tank were affected in the early period of incubation, and could then acclimatize to the increased CO2 and temperature. This study provides new insights into the variation and adaptation responses of the microbiota in aquaculture systems to seawater acidification and warming.

ObjectivesOur objective was to determine the antibody and cytokine profiles in different COVID-19 patients.MethodsCOVID-19 patients with different clinical classifications were enrolled in this study. The level of IgG antibodies, IgA, IgM, IgE, and IgG subclasses targeting N and S proteins were tested using ELISA. Neutralizing antibody titers were determined by using a toxin neutralization assay (TNA) with live SARS-CoV-2. The concentrations of 8 cytokines, including IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, CCL2, CXCL10, IFN-γ, and TNF-α, were measured using the Protein Sample Ella-Simple ELISA system. The differences in antibodies and cytokines between severe and moderate patients were compared by t-tests or Mann-Whitney tests.ResultsA total of 79 COVID-19 patients, including 49 moderate patients and 30 severe patients, were enrolled. Compared with those in moderate patients, neutralizing antibody and IgG-S antibody titers in severe patients were significantly higher. The concentration of IgG-N antibody was significantly higher than that of IgG-S antibody in COVID-19 patients. There was a significant difference in the distribution of IgG subclass antibodies between moderate patients and severe patients. The positive ratio of anti-S protein IgG3 is significantly more than anti-N protein IgG3, while the anti-S protein IgG4 positive rate is significantly less than the anti-N protein IgG4 positive rate. IL-2 was lower in COVID-19 patients than in healthy individuals, while IL-4, IL-6, CCL2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α were higher in COVID-19 patients than in healthy individuals. IL-6 was significantly higher in severe patients than in moderate patients. The antibody level of anti-S protein was positively correlated with the titer of neutralizing antibody, but there was no relationship between cytokines and neutralizing antibody.ConclusionsOur findings show the severe COVID-19 patients’ antibody levels were stronger than those of moderate patients, and a cytokine storm is associated with COVID-19 severity. There was a difference in immunoglobulin type between anti-S protein antibodies and anti-N protein antibodies in COVID-19 patients. And clarified the value of the profile in critical prevention.

Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) trusses are the most common elements used in long-span CFST bridges; however, the temperature actions have not been systematically investigated. This pape...

This paper addresses the problem of distributed multi-target tracking (MTT) in a radar network wherein both the positions and fields of view (FoVs) of each radar are unknown to the network. The probability hypothesis density (PHD) filters are running locally in each radar for MTT. The Weighted Arithmetic Average (WAA) fusion rule is employed because of its robustness to multi-sensor tracking with different FoVs. Due to the unknown FoVs of radars may be different and time-varying, in our method, the local intensity densities are decomposed into a number of sub-densities by a clustering algorithm. Then the positions of sensors are estimated by minimizing the Cauchy-Schwartz divergence (CSD) between the sub-densities which belong to the same cluster. Further, the WAA fusion is also performed in parallel using the sub-densities in each cluster and the fused intensity is constructed as the sum of the fused sub-intensities. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated in a challenging tracking scenario via simulations.

Sepsis is a life-threatening disease characterized by acute multiple organ dysfunction and immunosuppression that is also called as immunoparalysis. Increasing evidence suggests that immunoparalysis largely contributes to the high mortality of sepsis, but the effective remedies are lacking. As an important antigen presentation molecule, human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) is remarkably down-regulated in sepsis-induced immunoparalysis, therefore, re-stimulation of HLA-DR expression is expected to be useful in reversing immunoparalysis. We previously described that ouabain, as a Na+, K+-ATPase ligand, is able to counteract immunoparalysis by regulating TH1 cytokines expression. Here, we expanded the finding that ouabain not only prevents LPS-induced down-regulation of HLA-DR on monocytes, but also transcriptionally activates HLA-DR α/β expression mediated by CIITA4, IRF1, c-Src, and Stat1 phosphorylation. Since ouabain can improve sepsis-induced immunoparalysis by multiple mechanisms, we propose that ouabain may be a promising agent in septic therapy that deserves further investigation.

A new type of tubular joint made of rectangular hollow section (RHS) braces welded onto concrete-filled RHS (CFRHS) chords stiffened by longitudinally welding perfobond ribs to the inner faces has been studied earlier and demonstrated a better fatigue behaviour than a conventional empty RHS joint. In this paper, stress concentration factor (SCF) parametric design equations were developed for CFRHS K-joints with perfobond ribs through finite element (FE) analysis to fill a gap in current design guides for this type of K-joints. Three-dimensional FE models were developed using the ABAQUS software to simulate the hot spot stress distribution at the brace-chord intersection. FE results were successfully verified using experimental results of nine Y-joints from literature and one truss K-joint in this research. A comprehensive parametric study including 570 models was then carried out on CFRHS K-joints with perfobond ribs to examine the SCFs with five key dimensionless geometric parameters and three basic loading conditions involving axial loading in the chord and brace and bending in the chord. Consequently, a total of 36 SCF parametric equations were established using regression analysis. Subsequently, the number of formulae was reduced to six equations to predict the maximum SCFs for practical application.

Folate receptor α (FRα) is a well-studied tumor biomarker highly expressed in many epithelial tumors such as breast, ovarian, and lung cancers. Mirvetuximab soravtansine (IMGN853) is the antibody-drug conjugate of FRα-binding humanized monoclonal antibody M9346A and cytotoxic maytansinoid drug DM4. IMGN853 is currently being evaluated in multiple clinical trials, in which the immunohistochemical evaluation of an archival tumor or biopsy specimen is used for patient screening. However, limited tissue collection may lead to inaccurate diagnosis due to tumor heterogeneity. Herein, we developed a zirconium-89 (89Zr)-radiolabeled M9346A (89Zr-M9346A) as an immuno-positron emission tomography (immuno-PET) radiotracer to evaluate FRα expression in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients, providing a novel means to guide intervention with therapeutic IMGN853. In this study, we verified the binding specificity and immunoreactivity of 89Zr-M9346A by in vitro studies in FRαhigh cells (HeLa) and FRαlow cells (OVCAR-3). In vivo PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging in HeLa xenografts and TNBC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models with various levels of FRα expression demonstrated its targeting specificity and sensitivity. Following PET imaging, the treatment efficiencies of IMGN853, pemetrexed, IMGN853 + pemetrexed, paclitaxel, and saline were assessed in FRαhigh and FRαlow TNBC PDX models. The correlation between 89Zr-M9346A tumor uptake and treatment response using IMGN853 in FRαhigh TNBC PDX model suggested the potential of 89Zr-M9346A PET as a noninvasive tool to prescreen patients based on the in vivo PET imaging for IMGN853-targeted treatment.

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and its relationship with cardiovascular target organ damage (left ventricular hypertrophy and carotid atherosclerosis) in Chinese Han patients with concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Methods A total of 830 hypertensive patients with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus were divided into four groups according to blood pressure patterns. Clinical characteristics and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring indexes were compared among the four groups. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the associations among clinical characteristics, blood pressure variability and cardiovascular target organ damage. Results The prevalence of the non-dipper blood pressure profile (51.32% vs. 24.33%) was higher in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension than in those without type 2 diabetes mellitus. Logistic regression analysis showed that glycosylated haemoglobin A1c, 24hSBP, 24hSSD, dSBP, nSBP and nSSD were independently associated with the non-dipper blood pressure pattern. Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with the non-dipper blood pressure pattern showed a higher occurrence of target organ damage compared to patients in the other three groups. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that duration of hypertension, fasting blood glucose, dDBP and nDSD were associated with left ventricular hypertrophy. Age, haemoglobin A1c, LDL-C, nSBP and HDL-C were independently related to carotid atherosclerosis. Conclusion In the Chinese Han population, patients with concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension showed a remarkably high prevalence of non-dipper blood pressure patterns. Abnormal systolic blood pressure level and hyperglycemia were significantly associated with a non-dipper blood pressure pattern. Non-dipper blood pressure pattern, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia were closely related to left ventricular hypertrophy and carotid atherosclerosis.

This paper examines the fatigue behaviour of non-integral welded joint of rectangular hollow section (RHS) brace and a continuous concrete-filled RHS (CFRHS) chord stiffened by internal perfobond ribs. A total of eleven Y-joints, including two control specimens with hollow section chords, were tested under axial force in the brace. The effects of concrete infill and perfobond ribs on the stress concentration factors (SCFs) are examined. The crack-initiation fatigue life and loss-of-strength fatigue life were established. Comparisons of the measured fatigue life with existing experimental data of square hollow section (SHS) joints without concrete infill or perfobond ribs and with predictions made using design guides are also presented. The test results show that the same Sh-N curve based on the hot spot stress method can be adopted for RHS joints with and without concrete infill and perfobond ribs. However, a significant decrease of SCFs in CFRHS joints with perfobond ribs is observed compared to the RHS joints. In addition, for the full-width joints (β = 1), CIDECT and DNV design guides Sh-N curves overestimate the fatigue strength of CFRHS joint with perfobond ribs, while the API design guide underestimates its fatigue strength.

Bridges are inevitably affected by daily, seasonal and annual air temperature and solar radiation. The thermal effects on bridges, especially for long-span cable-stayed bridges with composite girders, are significant and complicated. The evaluation of temperature distribution has been a primary concern to bridge engineers and researchers. This article presents a more than one-year temperature database of a long-span cable-stayed bridge with a small cantilever length-to-web depth ratio in the composite girder. Uniform temperature, linear temperature difference, thermal curvature, and self-equilibrated thermal stress are considered to imply the characteristics of the temperature distribution in such composite girders. Two profiles (profile 1 and profile 2) for positive vertical temperature gradient and one profile (profile 3) for negative vertical temperature gradient are proposed. The extreme temperature differences with a 100-year return period are determined for each profile with extreme value analysis. Among the three profiles, profile 2 is unique for composite girders with a small cantilever length-to-web depth ratio. Based on parametric studies, profile 2 is revised with the cantilever length-to-web depth ratio for wide applications. Finally, comparisons of vertical temperature gradients are made between the investigated composite girder and the recommendations in Chinese Specification.

Rationale: Paradigm shifting studies have revealed that the heart contains functionally diverse populations of macrophages derived from distinct embryonic and adult hematopoietic progenitors. Under steady-state conditions, the heart is largely populated by CCR2− (C-C chemokine receptor type 2) macrophages of embryonic descent. After tissue injury, a dramatic shift in macrophage composition occurs whereby CCR2+ monocytes are recruited to the heart and differentiate into inflammatory CCR2+ macrophages that contribute to heart failure progression. Currently, there are no techniques to noninvasively detect CCR2+ monocyte recruitment into the heart and thus identify patients who may be candidates for immunomodulatory therapy. Objective: To develop a noninvasive molecular imaging strategy with high sensitivity and specificity to visualize inflammatory monocyte and macrophage accumulation in the heart. Methods and Results: We synthesized and tested the performance of a positron emission tomography radiotracer ( 68 Ga-DOTA [1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid]-ECL1i [extracellular loop 1 inverso]) that allosterically binds to CCR2. In naive mice, the radiotracer was quickly cleared from the blood and displayed minimal retention in major organs. In contrast, biodistribution and positron emission tomography demonstrated strong myocardial tracer uptake in 2 models of cardiac injury (diphtheria toxin induced cardiomyocyte ablation and reperfused myocardial infarction). 68 Ga-DOTA-ECL1i signal localized to sites of tissue injury and was independent of blood pool activity as assessed by quantitative positron emission tomography and ex vivo autoradiography. 68 Ga-DOTA-ECL1i uptake was associated with CCR2+ monocyte and CCR2+ macrophage infiltration into the heart and was abrogated in CCR2 −/ − mice, demonstrating target specificity. Autoradiography demonstrated that 68 Ga-DOTA-ECL1i specifically binds human heart failure specimens and with signal intensity associated with CCR2+ macrophage abundance. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the sensitivity and specificity of 68 Ga-DOTA-ECL1i in the mouse heart and highlight the translational potential of this agent to noninvasively visualize CCR2+ monocyte recruitment and inflammatory macrophage accumulation in patients.

Efforts toward route evaluation and process optimization for the preparation of brexpiprazole (1) are described. Starting from commercially available dihydroquinolinone 11, a three-step synthesis route composed of O-alkylation, oxidation, and N-alkylation was selected for industry-oriented process development aiming to reduce side reactions and achieve better impurity profiles. The reaction conditions of the three steps were investigated, and the control strategy for the process-related impurities was established. The optimized process was validated on the kilogram scale and now is viable for commercialization, with the results of not less than 99.90% purity of 1 (by HPLC) and not more than 0.05% of persistent impurities 15 and 16.

Automatic image annotation becomes a hot research area because of its efficiency on shrinking the semantic gap between images and their semantic meanings. We present a model referred as weight-KNN which firstly introduces the CNN feature to address the problem that traditional models only work well with well-designed manual feature representations. Additionally, in order to employ the simplicity and generality of the KNN-based model for annotation, the proposed model incorporates a multi-label linear discriminant approach to compute the weighting which improves the accuracy in the subsequent procedures of distance calculation. Moreover, we take the advantage of the KNN-based model to acquire the test image’s k-nearest neighbors in each label category and get the prediction of the image according to the contribution of its neighbors. At last, the experiments are performed on three typical image data sets, corel 5k, esp game and laprtc12, which verify the effectiveness of the proposed model.

A novel tubular joint of concrete-filled square hollow section (CFSHS) chord welded to an SHS brace was studied experimentally and numerically to establish design equations for Stress Concentration Factors (SCFs) for fatigue design purposes. The chord was stiffened with internal perfobond ribs longitudinally welded to the inner faces. A series of joints with varying member sizes and wall thicknesses were first tested under axial force in the brace and the hot spot stresses were carefully measured. Three-dimensional finite element models were developed and validated with the experimental results. A comprehensive parametric study was then conducted on 90° T- and X-joints with perfobond ribs, to establish correlations between SCF and three key non-dimensional geometric parameters: brace width-to-chord width (β), width-to-wall thickness ratio of the chord (2γ), and brace wall thickness-to-chord wall thickness ratio (τ). Four basic loading conditions were examined: axial tension and in-plane bending in the brace, and axial tension and in-plane bending in the chord. Finally, a series of SCF formulae and design charts were proposed based on multiple regression analysis. It was shown that under brace axial tension stress concentrations reduced by one third and two thirds in CFSHS chords without perfobond ribs and with perfobond ribs, respectively, compared to a SHS chord. Current design guides which are based on SHS sections, overestimate SCFs significantly for CFSHS sections with perfobond ribs.

Perfobond Leister Rib (PBR) is found to improve the bond strength in concrete-filled hollow section and the capacity of the steel plate to resist local buckling. An experimental investigation of 12 test specimens is firstly carried out on the behavior of concrete-filled square hollow section CFSHS) stub columns with PBR. To examine different mechanical behaviors of the columns utilized in bridge or building structure, different loading methods are investigated; e.g., loading through steel alone, loading through concrete alone and loading through the whole cross section. The failure mode, strain distribution, ultimate strength and the confinement of the concrete core offered by the steel tube are studied. The test results showed that CFSHS tubular columns with PBR are emulative of the conventional columns. PBR can make the steel tube and filled-in concrete work together, which results in the axial load shared by hollow steel section and filled-in concrete section regardless of loading through steel or concrete alone. The axial strain distribution model of steel tube section along the height for CFSHS with PBR is proposed.

To assess hemodynamic changes related to acute gouty knee arthritis in a rabbit with CT perfusion (CTP) Forty-two rabbits were randomly separated into two groups: the treated group of 30 and the control group of 12. The right knee was injected with monosodium urate solution and polymyxin in the treated group and saline and polymyxin in the control group. At 2, 16, 32, 48, 60, and 72 h after injection, five rabbits from the treated group and two rabbits from the control group were selected for CTP. At each time point, blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), and clearance rate (CL) were measured, and microvessel density (MVD) was evaluated with a microscope. In the treated group, BF, BV, CL, and MVD were significantly higher than in the control group (p

It has been shown that concrete filling of square hollow section (SHS) chords in trusses increases fatigue life at the joint between the chord and the SHS brace. Nonetheless, currently there are no expressions for the stress concentration factor (SCF) at these joints. In this study, a robust finite element investigation is carried out to examine SCF in 90° joints made up of empty SHS braces and concrete-filled SHS (CFSHS) chords under axial tension in the brace. Results were validated against experimental data. A comprehensive parametric study was then carried out on 80 FE models to generate a large database for SCFs, considering the effects of key non-dimensional parameters, namely; width ratio between brace and chord of 0.4–1.0, width to wall thickness ratio of the chord of 12.5–25, and wall thickness ratio between brace and chord of 0.25–1.0. Using multiple regression analyses, a series of formulae for SCF were developed for practical design applications. A comparison of SCFs in joints with hollow and concrete filled chords shows a 10–26% reduction in SCFs in concrete-filled chords, leading to better fatigue behavior.

As a cross modality retrieval task, RGB-infrared person re-identification(Re-ID) is an important and challenging task, because of its important role in video surveillance applications and large cross-modality variations between visible and infrared images. Most previous works addressed the problem of cross-modality gap with feature alignment by original feature representation learning straightly. In this paper, different from existing works, we propose a novel network(CE2L) to tackle the cross-modality gap with feature alignment. CE2L mainly focuses on adding discriminative information and learning robust features by converting modality between visible and infrared images. Its merits are highlighted in two aspects: 1)Using CycleGAN to convert infrared images into color images can not only increase the recognition characteristics of images, but also allow the network to better learn the two modal image features; 2)Our novel method can serve as data augmentation. Specifically, it can increase data diversity and total data against over-fitting by converting labeled training images to another modal images. Extensive experimental results on two datasets demonstrate superior performance compared to the baseline and the state-of-the-art methods.

Proinflammatory macrophages are important mediators of inflammation after myocardial infarction and of allograft injury after heart transplantation. The aim of this study was to image the recruitment of proinflammatory chemokine receptor 2–positive (CCR2+) cells in multiple heart injury models. Methods: (64)Cu-DOTA-extracellular loop 1 inverso (ECL1i) PET was used to image CCR2+ monocytes and macrophages in a heart transplantation mouse model. Flow cytometry was performed to characterize CCR2+ cells. Autoradiography on a human heart specimen was conducted to confirm binding specificity. (64)Cu- and (68)Ga-DOTA-ECL1i were compared in an ischemia–reperfusion injury mouse model. Results: (64)Cu-DOTA-ECL1i showed sensitive and specific detection of CCR2+ cells in all tested mouse models, with efficacy comparable to that of (68)Ga-DOTA-ECL1i. Flow cytometry demonstrated specific expression of CCR2 on monocytes and macrophages. The tracer binds to human CCR2. Conclusion: This work establishes the utility of (64)Cu-DOTA-ECL1i to image CCR2+ monocytes and macrophages in mouse models and provides the requisite preclinical information to translate the targeted clinical-grade CCR2 imaging probe for clinical investigation of heart diseases.

The existing studies have shown that parapets have great influence on the girder distribution factor (GDF) of bridges. However, there is no method in the design guide to estimate the GDF considering the effect of parapets. This research aims to develop a simplified method for estimating the GDF by considering the effect of parapets. First, a simply supported steel-concrete composite girder bridge was tested to investigate the effect of parapets on the GDF. Then, finite-element (FE) model was established and verified by the field test data of strain and deflection. In addition, error study showed that the bending stiffness of the bridge was increased by about 92% and 19.1%, respectively, due to the effects of parapet and continuous layer. As the effect of the continuous layer on each girder was relatively uniform, the simplified method was optimized only considering the effect of the parapet. Finally, the effect of the parapet on the GDF was compared and discussed. Considering the effect of the parapet, the GDF of the exterior girder calculated by the simplified method and FE analysis decreased by about 26.92% and 23.53%, respectively, and the adjacent interior girder decreased by about 15.22% and 12.77%, respectively. Comparing the GDF calculated by the AASHTO LRFD specifications, the GDF calculated by the simplified method decreased by about 30.77% in the exterior girder and 41.30% in the interior girder, respectively. The results indicate that the method of calculating the GDF without considering the effect of the parapet in AASHTO LRFD specifications is conservative. The GDF calculated by the simplified method was basically close to the field test results, meaning that the proposed simplified method considering the effect of the parapet was relatively accurate.

A novel battery equalization circuit topology which has simple structure and light weight is proposed in this article. The topology is based on the "Energy Bus" which allows all the batteries connected serially can exchange their energy simultaneously. And the hardware cost of the equalization circuit board is very low. Furthermore, the capacitor is used to connect each battery to the Energy Bus, and there is on need of heavy components, such as transformer or inductor. So that the weight of the equalization circuit is very low and it is suitable for the application of aerospace. The effectiveness of this topology is verified by simulation results.

Large-scale connecting segments can provide reasonable load transition in hybrid girders, and have been broadly used in long-span cable-stayed bridges. However, the large volume of concret...

ObjectiveFibrosis is a common feature of Crohn’s disease (CD) which can involve the mesenteric fat. However, the molecular signature of this process remains unclear. Our goal was to define the transcriptional signature of mesenteric fibrosis in CD subjects and to model mesenteric fibrosis in mice to improve our understanding of CD pathogenesis.DesignWe performed histological and transcriptional analysis of fibrosis in CD samples. We modelled a CD-like fibrosis phenotype by performing repeated colonic biopsies in mice and analysed the model by histology, type I collagen-targeted positron emission tomography (PET) and global gene expression. We generated a gene set list of essential features of mesenteric fibrosis and compared it to mucosal biopsy datasets from inflammatory bowel disease patients to identify a refined gene set that correlated with clinical outcomes.ResultsMesenteric fibrosis in CD was interconnected to areas of fibrosis in all layers of the intestine, defined as penetrating fibrosis. We found a transcriptional signature of differentially expressed genes enriched in areas of the mesenteric fat of CD subjects with high levels of fibrosis. Mice subjected to repeated colonic biopsies showed penetrating fibrosis as shown by histology, PET imaging and transcriptional analysis. Finally, we composed a composite 24-gene set list that was linked to inflammatory fibroblasts and correlated with treatment response.ConclusionWe linked histopathological and molecular features of CD penetrating fibrosis to a mouse model of repeated biopsy injuries. This experimental system provides an innovative approach for functional investigations of underlying profibrotic mechanisms and therapeutic concepts in CD.

Concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs) have been used extensively as main members with different inclinations in bridge structures; however, investigations on the influence of member inclinat...

BACKGROUND—: Macrophages, innate immune cells that reside in all organs, defend the host against infection and injury. In the heart and vasculature, inflammatory macrophages also enhance tissue damage and propel cardiovascular diseases. METHODS—: We here use in vivo positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy to evaluate quantitative noninvasive assessment of cardiac, arterial and pulmonary macrophages using the nanotracer (64)Cu-Macrin, a 20 nm spherical dextran nanoparticle assembled from non-toxic polyglucose. RESULTS—: PET imaging using (64)Cu-Macrin faithfully reported accumulation of macrophages in the heart and lung of mice with myocardial infarction, sepsis or pneumonia. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy detected the near-infrared fluorescent version of the nanoparticle ((VT680)Macrin) primarily in tissue macrophages. In 5-day-old mice, (64)Cu-Macrin PET imaging quantified physiologically more numerous cardiac macrophages. Upon intravenous administration of (64)Cu-Macrin in rabbits and pigs, we detected heightened macrophage numbers in the infarcted myocardium, inflamed lung regions and atherosclerotic plaques using a clinical PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Toxicity studies in rats and human dosimetry estimates suggest that (64)Cu-Macrin is safe for use in humans. CONCLUSIONS—: Taken together, these results indicate (64)Cu-Macrin could serve as a facile PET nanotracer to survey spatiotemporal macrophage dynamics during various physiological and pathological conditions. (64)Cu-Macrin PET imaging could stage inflammatory cardiovascular disease activity, assist disease management and serve as an imaging biomarker for emerging macrophage-targeted therapeutics. CLINICAL SUMMARY: Ushered in by high-dimensional diagnostic tools such as flow cytometry and single cell RNA-sequencing, the knowledge on the immune system’s role in homeostasis and disease is rapidly expanding. The last decade has seen a considerable expansion of known immune cell subsets and their functions. Cardiovascular organs and cardiovascular disease are no exemption: for instance, we now understand that not only atherosclerotic plaques or ischemic, inflamed myocardium contains leukocytes, but that these cells are present in the steady-state heart and participate in organ development, homeostatic functions such as metabolism and conduction, tissue regeneration, matrix remodeling and recovery from disease. The field is on the verge of translating this insight into new cures; however, clinical tools to monitor the immune system, and more specifically immune cells, are still mostly limited to counting them in blood samples. This is a severe limitation as circulating immune cells do not necessarily correlate with the numbers and phenotypes of cells residing in tissues. Organ biopsies are likewise limited given their invasiveness and inherent sampling errors. We here provide insight into PET imaging agent development targeting macrophages. Based on small biodegradable nanoparticles derivatized with either a PET isotope of a fluorochrome, we characterize the utility of Macrin nanoparticles in several physiological and pathological settings. Since macrophages are emerging as high-value therapeutic targets, we anticipate that the described quantitative imaging tools will catalyze drug development and clinical trials.

This paper proposes a novel approach for pose transfer, which aims at transferring the pose of a given person to a target pose. Unlike previous works directly simulating the target pose, we emphasize the pose geometric constraint in our approach to tackle this task. To capture the geometric constraints among the condition pose and target pose, we generate a sequence of different intermediate pose skeleton. Moreover, we introduced the 3D convolution into the generator of our Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) in order to learn spatiotemporal features from the generated pose skeleton sequence. The final target pose will be estimated and refined by a pose transfer block and a series of residual blocks based on the spatiotemporal features. Compared with the existing works, our generated person pose images achieved better performance in terms of Inception Score and Structure Similarity. Extensive experiments on dataset Market-1501 demonstrate the effectiveness of the pose skeleton sequence on pose transfer.

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) arising in the brainstem is the deadliest pediatric brain cancer with nearly 100% fatality and a median survival of

This paper predicts the tension strength of Concrete-filled Branch Plate-to-Rectangular Hollow (CBPRH) joint by conducting experimental and theoretical analysis. A total of 46 X-joints with different geometric parameters were investigated, in which 4 specimens were tested under ultimate tension and 42 specimens were numerically analyzed. The joint’s strength, failure mode and load-displacement curve were obtained. Perfobond Leister Rib (PBR) was welded in part of the specimens to investigate its effect on joint’s tensile performance. It is shown that the ultimate strength of transverse CBPRH joint benefit from grouting of chord and installation of PBR. The ultimate strength of CBPRH joint with PBR is larger than the counterpart without PBR. Tension strength equations were proposed for both CBPRH joints with and without PBR by nonlinear regression. The chord axial stress reduction factor was discussed and a modified equation originated from hollow joint was recommended for CBPRH joint. Connection efficiency was presented and compared among branch plate-to-rectangular hollow (BPRH) joint, CBPRH joint and CBPRH joint with PBR.

Background Indicators of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with acute carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning-induced myocardial injury have not yet been elucidated. Hypothesis This study aimed at determining the risk factors for adverse cardiovascular events in patients with acute CO poisoning-induced myocardial injury. Methods We enrolled patients with moderate-to-severe acute CO poisoning-induced myocardial injury. Based on the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events, the patients were assigned into event and non-event group. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the potential risk factors for cardiovascular adverse events. Results A total of 413 eligible patients were enrolled. Among them, 61 (14.8%) patients presented adverse cardiovascular events and were assigned to the event group while 352 patients were assigned to the non-event group. Univariate analysis revealed that cTnI, Lac, and NLR levels at admission and sST2 at day 3 in the event group were significantly higher compared to those in the non-event group. Subsequent multivariate analysis revealed that sST2 at day 3 and NLR at admission were independent risk factors for adverse cardiovascular events in patients with acute CO poisoning-induced myocardial injury. Finally, the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of sST2 at day 3 combined with NLR for event prediction were 79.5%, 82.8%, and 0.858, respectively. Conclusion A combination of sST2 at day 3 and NLR is a potential predictor for the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with acute CO poisoning-induced myocardial injury. Therefore, cardiovascular risk stratification should be taken into consideration, especially in patients with acute CO poisoning-induced myocardial injury.

Temperature changes due to hydration heat often cause cracks in the early-age concrete deck of steel–concrete composite girder bridges, even before opening to traffic. However, no available methods are provided in current specifications for the thermal effect calculation. To fill this gap, large-scale temperature measurements and fine finite-element model (FEM) analysis were performed on an actual composite girder bridge. Based on the fully validated FEM, a comprehensive parametric study was carried out to establish the spatio-temporal pattern of hydration-caused temperature, including a vertical pattern and an evolutionary pattern. Finally, a simplified method was presented for the thermal stress calculation of composite girders, and a case study was also provided. Measurements showed that temperature differences of concrete deck varied below 5 °C, much smaller than the entire composite section. FEM analysis then suggested that the influence of solar radiation can be basically ignored compared with hydration heat. The spatio-temporal pattern in the form of the coefficient of temperature rise was proposed based on the above findings and parametric study, and the reliability was properly verified with experimental or FEM results. For the final simplified method, the case study demonstrated that it can effectively facilitate the thermal stress calculation of composite girders during hydration process by adopting the proposed spatio-temporal pattern. As such, preliminary curing schemes can be easily selected to control the concrete cracking risk before casting.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite advances in diagnostic technologies and treatment strategies. The underlying cause of most CVD is atherosclerosis, a chronic disease driven by inflammatory reactions. Atherosclerotic plaque rupture could cause arterial occlusion leading to ischemic tissue injuries such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Clinically, most imaging modalities are based on anatomy and provide limited information about the on-going molecular activities affecting the vulnerability of atherosclerotic lesion for risk stratification of patients. Thus, the ability to differentiate stable plaques from those that are vulnerable is an unmet clinical need. Of various imaging techniques, the radionuclide-based molecular imaging modalities including positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) provide superior ability to noninvasively visualize molecular activities in vivo and may serve as a useful tool in tackling this challenge. Moreover, the well-established translational pathway of radiopharmaceuticals may also facilitate the translation of discoveries from benchtop to clinical investigation in contrast to other imaging modalities to fulfill the goal of precision medicine. The relationship between inflammation occurring within the plaque and its proneness to rupture has been well documented. Therefore, an active effort has been significantly devoted to develop radiopharmaceuticals specifically to measure CVD inflammatory status, and potentially elucidate those plaques which are prone to rupture. In the following review, molecular imaging of inflammatory biomarkers will be briefly discussed.