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The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical significance of Ly-1 antibody reactive clone (LYAR) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).The expressions of LYAR at the protein level in representative paired NSCLC tumor tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues were measured by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival curve of patients with NSCLC. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and flow cytometry were used to estimate the cell proliferation and cell cycle, respectively. Terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay was performed to detect cell apoptosis.LYAR was dramatically overexpressed in NSCLC tissues which were closely related to the survival of patients with NSCLC. In clinical studies, the expression of LYAR was related to the clinical stage, histological differentiation, and Ki-67 expression. A positive correlation was found between LYAR and Ki-67 expression by Spearman's correlation test. After serum starvation for 72 h, serum re-addition significantly increased the expression of LYAR, PCNA, and Cyclin A and promoted the cell cycle progression. LYAR knockdown inhibited the proliferation and induced the G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of A549 cells.The present study revealed the clinical significance of LYAR in NSCLC. LYAR might serve as a tumor promoter in NSCLC progression by promoting the proliferation and inhibiting the apoptosis of NSCLC cells. Inhibiting the expression of LYAR was considered as a potential novel therapeutic strategy for NSCLC.

Nowadays, the high penetration of renewable energy, with variable and unpredictable nature, poses major challenges to operation and planning studies of power systems. Employing energy storage plants has been introduced as an effective solution to alleviate these challenges. Several studies have been presented in the literature to provide a framework for planning studies of energy storage plants. However, they usually have two main drawbacks: (i) ignoring the lifetime varying characteristic of energy storage, (ii) inability to model the charge/discharge schedule of energy storage accurately. This paper amends the abovementioned shortcomings by proposing a distributionally robust planning method based on Kullback–Leibler divergence. According to the power function of lifespan of electrochemical energy storage, the lifespan model of energy storage plants with equivalent full cycles times is established. Considering the lifespan model constraints of the energy storage plant and system operating constraints, the planning model of energy storage plants is constructed with the lifespan cycle cost and units’ operation cost as the objective. Furthermore, the ambiguity set of wind farm output based on Kullback–Leibler divergence is embedded into the planning model of energy storage plants, and the distributionally robust planning model of energy storage plant is transformed into mixed integer linear programming model by sample average approximation method. A modified IEEE-30 bus system with two wind farms is studied to demonstrate the effectiveness. The results show distributionally robust planning model reduces about 10% planning cost compared with the traditional robust planning model, and increases the energy storage capacity by 12MW compared with the stochastic planning method. Other, the planning cost of energy storage plants will decrease by 5% ∼ 23% when the wind abandoned rate increases by 2% and decreases slowly with the increase of abandoned wind rate.

Background: To describe and explain the improvement of Wright C2 transforaminal screw fixation technique. Methods: 23 male patients and 10 female patients (a total of 33 patients, average age of 55 years) were implanted with lamina screws on one side or both sides by improved technique. Adopt improved technology, there is a simple hole in the middle of the lateral brain plate, and the screw can be seen directly to prevent the spine from being invaded. Results: With the improved technique, 169 minutes (90–210 minutes) is the average operation time, and 136 ml (80–420 minutes) is the estimated average blood loss. Average length of 26.5 mm (range 24–30) plate screws. After an average follow-up of 12.4 (1.5–30) months, all patients achieved good clinical outcomes. Conclusions: To modify the Wright’s technique, an additional unicortical “hole” was in the middle of the backplane. Through this improved technique, the screw can be directly seen to be inserted into the dorsal cortex of the lamina, thereby reducing the risk of invading the spinal canal and shortening the operation time.

BACKGROUND: Elucidation the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer is important for informing therapeutic decisions. This study aimed at evaluating the potential value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) parameters in predicting breast cancer responses to NAC. METHODS: We performed CEUS examinations before and after two cycles of NAC. Quantitative CEUS parameters [maximum intensity (IMAX), rise time (RT), time to peak (TTP), and mean transit time (mTT)], tumor diameter, and their changes were measured and compared to histopathological responses, according to the Miller-Payne Grading (MPG) system (score 1, 2, or 3: minor response; score 4 or 5: good response). Prediction models for good response were developed by multiple logistic regression analysis and internally validated through bootstrap analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the performance of prediction models. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients were enrolled in this study among whom 98 (68.5%) achieved a good response and while 45 (31.5%) exhibited a minor response. Several imaging variables including diameter, IMAX, changes in diameter (Δdiameter), IMAX (ΔIMAX) and TTP (ΔTTP) were found to be significantly associated with good therapeutic responses (P

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest carbon pool in the terrestrial ecosystem. It is not only the core index of cultivated land soil quality evaluation but also an important part of the global carbon cycle. In order to understand the response characteristics of SOC in the cultivated layer to the interaction of soil erosion and management measures, the eroded cultivated layer of typical purple soil slope farmland in the Three Gorges Reservoir area was the research object. The in-situ tests of five erosion degrees on sloping farmland were established using the shovel erosion simulation test method; taking no fertilizer (CK) as a control measure, two types of restorative management measures were set up, namely chemical fertilizer (F) and biochar+chemical fertilizer (BF), to clarify the differences in SOC content under different erosion degrees and management measures and to analyze the variation characteristics and interannual variation trend of SOC along the cultivated-layer profile. The results showed that:① BF significantly increased the soil organic carbon content in the cultivated layer of purple soil slope farmland; the SOC of BF was 90.25% and 23.84% higher than that of CK and F on average, respectively. Soil erosion significantly reduced the content of SOC (12.25%-27.74%) under CK measures, but there was no significant difference in the profile distribution of SOC under different erosion degrees. ② The SOC content in the surface layer (0-10 cm) of slope farmland was the highest, and the two measures had the most obvious effect on improving the SOC contents, which were 120.59% and 66.90%, respectively. ③ After three consecutive years of experiments, the SOC content in the cultivated-layer of slope farmland changed significantly. Under CK, the average annual loss of SOC was 12.52%, whereas under BF, the average annual increase in SOC content was 9.31%. ④ The correlation between SOC and soil physical and chemical properties was different in the various soil layers; the deeper the soil layer was, the weaker the correlation was. Therefore, biochar combined with chemical fertilizer (BF) was an important management measure to improve the erosive cultivated layer and enhance soil fertility for slope farmland in the purple hilly area. The results of this study can provide basic parameters for the rational regulation of cultivated layers and the improvement of soil fertility.

Virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control is an effective way to increase the equivalent inertia of grid connected inverter system and improve the stability of the power grid. However, the influence of this control on the stability of the whole system with time delay and parameter uncertainty should be researched further. In this paper, the state space model of the whole grid connected inverter system adopting VSG under control time-delay and parameter uncertainty is established. The Lyapunov functional with time-delay is constructed by employing time-delay dependent free weight matrix transformation. Furthermore, Lyapunov stability theorem is used to obtain the more conservative time-delay stability conditions with and without parameter uncertainty, linear matrix inequality is used to calculate the time-delay stability margin of the system under uncertainty, and the influence of the parameters of VSG control on the delay stability margin is analyzed. The validity of the proposed stability analysis and stability margin solution method are verified by simulation examples.

The advance of the dynamic wireless charging technique for electric vehicles makes the electrified transportation system to be the development trend. On the other hand, the interdependency between electricity and natural gas systems has been intensified increasingly with the expansion of renewable energy. This creates a critical motivation to formulate the coordination operation model for the integrated electricity, gas and transportation system. In this context, a distributionally robust optimization (DRO) model is proposed considering multiple uncertainties comprehensively for the multi-energy coupled system. Specifically, the traffic flow uncertainty is transformed as the charging load uncertainty while the gas consumption uncertainty by gas-fired units is regarded as the reserve capacity configuration of units. Furthermore, the uncertainties of wind power and charging load are described as an ambiguity set incorporating the distribution information. Then the master-subproblem framework is developed, and a combination of the Benders decomposition and the transformation technique for bi-level sub-problem is implemented for solving this model. Simulation results indicate that DRO has saved the operation cost by 5.06% and 5.11% for the 6-bus and 24-bus systems compared with the traditional robust optimization model, which is beneficial for system decision-makers to achieve a balance between the reliability and economy in practice.

During underground mining, accurate revelation on the deformation and failure mechanisms of a high-steep slope under multi-layer mining conditions facilitates the prevention and control of geological disasters in mines. Numerical simulation based on discrete element theory can be used to explore the characteristics and mechanism of action of deformation and failure of a slope under complex geological and multi-layer mining conditions. By utilising PFC2D (particle flow code) software, the deformation and failure characteristics of a high-steep slope in Faer Coal Mine in Guizhou Province, China were investigated. Additionally, the mechanism of influence of different numbers of mining layers on the deformation and failure of the high and steep slope was elucidated. The result showed that after the goaf passed by the slope toe, multi-layer mining aggravated the subsidence and deformation of the slope toe: the slope toppled forward as it sank. The toppling of the slope changed the slope structures: the strata in the front of the slope were transformed from anti-dip to down-dip features. Extruded by collapsed–toppled rock mass, the slope toe and the rock mass located in the lower part of the slope toe generally exhibited a locking effect on the slope. Multi-layer mining degraded the overall stability of the slope, in that the total displacement of the slope was much greater than the total mining thickness of the coal seams. Based on the aforementioned research, ideas for preventing and controlling geological disasters during mining operations under a high-steep slope were proposed.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a kind of refractory cancer with poor response to conventional chemotherapy. Recently, the combination of baicalein and doxorubicin was reported to exert a synergistic antitumor effect on breast cancer. However, the underlying mechanism how baicalein sensitizes breast cancer cells to doxorubicin remains to be elucidated. Here, it was found that 20 μM baicalein increased the autophagy markers including the ratio of LC3B II/I, GFP-LC3 punctate aggregates and down-regulation of p62 expression, and up-regulated mitophagy marker PINK1 and Parkin in TNBC MDA-MB-231 cells as well. In contrast, doxorubicin decreased the levels of autophagy markers, and significantly up-regulated CDK1 in MDA-MB-231 cells. Pretreatment with baicalein markedly inhibited the doxorubicin-induced decrease in autophagy markers and up-regulation of CDK1, which was reversed by the autophagy inhibitor 3-Methyladenine. Moreover, baicalein alleviated the doxorubicin-induced expression and phosphorylation (at Ser616) of mitochondrial fission protein Drp1. Intriguingly, the autophagy inhibitor 3-Methyladenine also significantly weakened the effect of baicalein on doxorubicin-induced viability decrease and apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Taken together, our data indicate that baicalein improves the chemosensitivity of TNBC cells to doxorubicin through promoting the autophagy-mediated down-regulation of CDK1, also suggest a novel strategy for prevention of TNBC in the future.

One of the most appealing topics in the study of metal-organic networks is the growth mechanism. However, its study is still considered a significant challenge. Herein, using scanning tunneling microscopy, the growth mechanisms of metal-alkynyl networks on Ag(111) and Au(111) surfaces were investigated at the atomic scale. During the reaction of 1,3,5-tris(chloroethynyl)benzene on Ag(111), honeycomb Ag-alkynyl networks formed at 393 K, and only short chain intermediates were observed. By contrast, the same precursor formed honeycomb Au-alkynyl networks on Au(111) at 503 K. Progression annealing led to a stepwise evolution process, in which the sequential activation of three Cl-alkynyl bonds led to the formation of dimers, zigzag chains, and novel chiral networks as the intermediates. Moreover, density functional theory calculations indicate that chlorine atoms are crucial in assisting the breakage of metal-alkynyl bonds to form Cl-metal-alkynyl, which guarantees the reversibility of the break/formation equilibration as the key to forming regular large-scale organometallic networks.

Objective To explore the relationship between Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF-4) and E-cadherin in human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs), and the expression and function of KLF-4 in the animal model of peritoneal fibrosis induced by high glucose peritoneal dialysate. Methods Co-transfection in HPMCs with the plasmid of KLF-4 and the bind site or mutant in the promoter region of E-cadherin, and then the luciferase activity was measured of the each bind site and its matched mutants to estimate whether KLF-4 can combine with the bind site in the promoter region of E-cadherin; Chromatin immunocoprecipitation (CHIP) was exploited to verify if KLF-4 can combine with the bind site in the promoter region of E-cadherin; Real-time PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect the expression of E-cadherin at the bind site and matched mutants of b, d, f and g. Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into saline group, peritoneal dialysate group and experimental group (10 each). Rats in saline group were given intraperitoneal injection with 0.9% NaCl, in peritoneal dialysate group were given with 4.25% high glucose peritoneal dialysate, and in experimental group were given via tail vein with 4.25% high glucose peritoneal dialysate and the mixture of KLF-4 plasmid suspension containing ultrasound microbubble. To observe the peritoneal tissue thickness of the 3 groups of rats by Hematoxylin and Eosin staining. Masson trichrome staining was performed to detect the deposition of collagen fibers in peritoneal tissue of the 3 groups of rats. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression level of KLF-4, E-cadherin, α-SMA and fibronectin (FN) in peritoneal tissue of the 3 groups of rats. Results Promoter luciferase reporter gene and CHIP results showed that KLF-4 can combine with the bind site in the promoter region of E-cadherin in HPMCs. Real-time PCR and Western blotting showed that KLF-4 can positively regulate the expression of E-cadherin. HE staining showed that the peritoneal tissue was obviously thickened in rats of peritoneal dialysate group [(105.91±12.0) μm] than in rats of saline group [(20.89±5.39) μm] and of experimental group [(23.05±6.07) μm] with statistical significance (P0.05). Masson staining showed that the deposition of collagen fiber significantly increased in peritoneal dialysate group (0.89±0.09) than in saline group (0.19±0.03) and experimental group (0.15±0.06) with statistical significance (P0.05). Immunohistochemistry results showed that the expressions of KLF-4 and E-cadherin were obviously lower in peritoneal dialysate group (0.27±0.09, 0.31±0.03) than in saline group (0.79±0.19, 0.83±0.13) and experimental group (0.85±0.11, 0.76±0.11) with statistically significant difference (P0.05). In contrast, the expressions of α-SMA and FN were evidently higher in peritoneal dialysate group (0.83±0.09, 0.63±0.09) than in saline group (0.22±0.08, 0.30±0.07) and experimental group (0.19±0.05, 0.11±0.03) with statistically significant difference (P0.05). Conclusion KLF-4 may positive regulate the expression of E-cadherin by combining with the bind site in the promoter region of E-cadherin, and inhibit the peritoneal fibrosis induced via high glucose peritoneal dialysate. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2020.09.02

Purpose To determine the overall performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions and in predicting the pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with breast cancer (BC). Materials and Methods Articles published up to April 2019 were systematically searched in Medline, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. The sensitivities and specificities across studies, the calculations of positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+ and LR−), diagnostic odds ratio (OR), and constructed summary receiver operating characteristic curves were determined. Methodologic quality was assessed using the QUADAS (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies) tool. Subgroup analyses and metaregression were performed on prespecified study-level characteristics. Results Fifty-one studies involving 4875 patients with 5246 breast lesions and 10 studies involving 462 patients with BC receiving NAC were included. Methodologic quality was relatively high, and no publication bias was detected. The overall sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic OR, LR+, and LR− for CEUS were 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86-0.89), 0.82 (95% CI, 0.80-0.83), 30.55 (95% CI, 21.40-43.62), 4.29 (95% CI, 3.51-5.25), and 0.16 (95% CI, 0.13-0.21), respectively, showing statistical heterogeneity. Multivariable metaregression analysis showed contrast mode to be the most significant source of heterogeneity. The overall sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR, and diagnostic OR of CEUS imaging in predicting the overall pathologic response to NAC in patients with BC were 0.89 (95% CI, 0.83-0.93), 0.83 (95% CI, 0.78-0.88), 4.49 (95% CI, 3.04-6.62), 0.16 (95% CI, 0.10-0.24,), and 32.21 (95% CI, 16.74-62.01), respectively, showing mild heterogeneity. Conclusion Our data confirmed the excellent performance of breast CEUS in differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions as well as pathologic response prediction in patients with BC receiving NAC.

It is of great economic benefit to realize the automatic welding of 90° welds, and difficulty of automatic welding of 90° welds is the machine identification of the corner points of 90° welds. The math model of welding-torch pose was built, and the identification algorithms of wire extension, welding deviations, and tilt angles of welding torch have been studied respectively. In this paper, three pattern recognition algorithms are studied, and they are used to identify the corner points of 90° welds based on variation characteristics of wire extension, welding deviations, and tilt angles of welding torch, respectively. At the same time, accuracy values of three recognition algorithms have been researched respectively. On this basis, the recognition method of the corner points of 90° welds based on multi-sensor signal fusion technology has been studied in three-dimensional directions, and the calculation method for the total accuracy of corner point identification has been analyzed. At last, the corner point recognition experiments of 90° welding seam were carried out, and the change curves of wire extension, welding deviations, and tilt angles have been analyzed respectively. The welding results indicated that the corner point of 90° welding seam could be identified stably, accurately, and quickly by using the methods in this article.

Efficacy of hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy vs open esophagectomy for esophageal cancer: A meta-analysis

The performances of a digital-physical hybrid simulation (DPHS) platform are directly related to the modeling method of the power interface unit (PIU). This paper proposes a novel PIU modeling method with the aim of simultaneously improving the stability and the simulation precision of a DPHS system. The current of a so-called virtual impedance is added to the control signal of the controlled current source that represents the PIU burdened with the physical subsystem in the digital subsystem, and all the existing modeling methods are unified by tuning the virtual impedance with different values. The stability of a DPHS platform adopting the unified PIU model is examined, and the feasible value region of the virtual impedance is obtained. The optimal value tuning method of the virtual impedance is proposed by further considering the simulation precision of the DPHS system. Simulations are conducted on DPHS platforms for a simple power system and a MMC-HVDC (modular multilevel converter-high voltage direct current) system; the results show that with the aid of the optimal value tuning method, the proposed unified modeling method can simultaneously improve the stability and precision of a DPHS system.

The benefits of a distributed economic dispatch system include significant resilience, uniform processing and communication pressure, and good scalability, but, currently, there is limited in-depth research on the impact of packet loss on the communication links of a distributed economic dispatch system. To analyze how communication packet loss affects a distributed economic dispatch system and to develop appropriate scheduling approaches, in this paper, we design a fully distributed economic dispatch strategy for an active distribution network (ADN) in leader-follower mode, we use the Bernoulli stochastic process to describe the communication packet loss phenomenon, and we give sufficient conditions for the system in the form of linear matrix inequality (LMI) to be able to achieve stochastic stability. The communication packet loss probability affects the convergence performance of the system, and a high packet loss probability can cause the system to lose stability. By simulating various situations in the IEEE-14 and IEEE-39 systems, in this study, we confirm the validity and efficacy of the distributed economic dispatch control strategy and the system stability analysis method.