Search

Examining the clustering characteristics and fluctuations within urban areas during peak hours through the lens of bike-sharing is of utmost importance in the optimization of bike-sharing systems and urban transportation planning. This investigation adopts the principles of urban spatial interaction network construction and employs streets as the fundamental units of analysis to model bike-sharing activities during morning and evening peak hours within Beijing’s six central districts. Subsequent to this, a comprehensive analysis of the network’s structural attributes was carried out. A Walktrap method, rooted in modularity analysis, was introduced to discern and scrutinize the clustering patterns and characteristics of communities within the network across different temporal intervals. Empirical findings reveal a predominant usage pattern of shared bicycles for short-distance travel during both morning and evening peak hours. Notably, distinctive community structures manifest during these periods, characterized by two large communities and multiple smaller ones during the morning peak, while the evening peak showcases a single large community alongside several medium-sized and smaller ones. Moreover, the extended interaction radius points to an expanded geographic range of interactions among streets. These findings bear significant implications for the management of urban transportation, bike-sharing enterprises, and urban residents, proffering valuable insights for the optimization of bike-sharing schemes and transportation strategies. These research findings not only contribute to enhancing urban transportation planning and bike-sharing systems but also provide robust guidance for advancing more efficient and sustainable urban transportation solutions, thereby fostering the sustainable development of cities.

Green space in urban areas is one of the most critical infrastructures for the well-being of residents, and its spatial accessibility configuration is a key indicator of urban planning layout and ecological civilization construction. Using the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area (G2SFCA) method, K-means cluster analysis, and Kriging spatial interpolation, this study examines the spatial characteristics of green space accessibility in the Hongkou District, focusing on the relationship between “green space-community” supply. The findings indicate the following: (1) green space accessibility in Hongkou District decreases as the level of green spaces decreases. Higher levels of accessibility are associated with smaller variations in spatial distribution. (2) The green space accessibility in Hongkou District is affected by the surrounding large green space. Compared to other areas, the community green spaces near Lu Xun Park and Peace Park have higher accessibility. (3) The green space accessibility in Hongkou District is impacted by the mismatch between population density and green spaces. An overlay analysis of accessibility and population density reveals that high accessibility areas have average or low-average population density. Based on the results of the green space accessibility analysis, recommendations are proposed to optimize the green space layout in Hongkou District from the perspective of spatial justice. These suggestions are aimed at promoting the equalization of green space services in Hongkou District, improving the overall level of urban green space services, with a view to improving the quality of urban living environment and creating a green and livable urban area.

Migraine is a common disease of the nervous system that seriously affects the quality of life of patients and constitutes a growing global health crisis. However, many limitations and challenges exist in migraine research, including the unclear etiology and the lack of specific biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a neurophysiological technique for measuring brain activity. With the updating of data processing and analysis methods in recent years, EEG offers the possibility to explore altered brain functional patterns and brain network characteristics of migraines in depth. In this paper, we provide an overview of the methodology that can be applied to EEG data processing and analysis and a narrative review of EEG-based migraine-related research. To better understand the neural changes of migraine or to provide a new idea for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of migraine in the future, we discussed the study of EEG and evoked potential in migraine, compared the relevant research methods, and put forwards suggestions for future migraine EEG studies.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a non-specific chronic idiopathic inflammatory condition of the digestive system, requires lifelong treatment in which drugs are the mainstay, along with surgery when necessary. In adjuvant therapies, the diet is considered to be an essential, controllable, and economical component. However, the majority of recent nutrition research has focused on the general effects of nutrients on IBD, with little attention given to the advantages and negative aspects of individual foods and dietary combinations. To cover these shortcomings, we surveyed the benefits and drawbacks of typical foods and their chemical compositions on intestinal pathophysiology by comparing nutrients existing in the foods in Eastern and Western countries. Moreover, for Eastern and Western patients with IBD, we innovatively propose a 3-step dietary recommendation based on modified customary eating habits, including lowering the triggering foods, modifying dietary advice to control disease progression, and improving surgery prognosis.

Ovarian cancer (OC) has the lowest survival rate among gynecologic malignancies. Ectopic lymphocyte aggregates, namely tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs), have been reported as positive biomarkers for tumor prognosis. However, the related gene signature of tertiary lymphoid structure in ovarian cancer was less understood. Therefore, this study first exhibited the organizational patterns of tertiary lymphoid structure by H&E staining and immunohistochemistry (IHC), and confirmed the improved survival values of tertiary lymphoid structure and quantified tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (CD20+ B cells and CD8+ T cells) in ovarian cancer patients. Secondly, we collected the genes involved in tertiary lymphoid structure from databases. By the univariate regression analysis, the tertiary lymphoid structure gene signature (CETP, CCR7, SELL, LAMP3, CCL19, CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, and CXCL13) with prognostic value, characteristically of ovarian cancer, was constructed in the TCGA dataset and validated in the GSE140082 dataset. Thirdly, by performing CIBERSORT and Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) analysis, we found that the high expression of this gene signature was positively correlated with developed immune infiltration and reduced immune escape. The improved IPS score and application in the IMvigor210 dataset received PD-L1 proved the predictive value of immunotherapy for this gene signature. Furthermore, this signature showed a better correlation between tumor mutation burden and classical checkpoint genes. In conclusion, Tertiary lymphoid structure plays important role in tumor immunity and the gene signature can be evaluated as a biomarker for predicting prognosis and guiding immunotherapy in ovarian cancer.

Sustainable and resilient pavement infrastructure is critical for current economic and environmental challenges. In the past 10 years, the pavement infrastructure strongly supports the rapid development of the global social economy. New theories, new methods, new technologies and new materials related to pavement engineering are emerging. Deterioration of pavement infrastructure is a typical multi-physics problem. Because of actual coupled behaviors of traffic and environmental conditions, predictions of pavement service life become more and more complicated and require a deep knowledge of pavement material analysis. In order to summarize the current and determine the future research of pavement engineering, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) has launched a review paper on the topic of “New innovations in pavement materials and engineering: A review on pavement engineering research 2021”. Based on the joint-effort of 43 scholars from 24 well-known universities in highway engineering, this review paper systematically analyzes the research status and future development direction of 5 major fields of pavement engineering in the world. The content includes asphalt binder performance and modeling, mixture performance and modeling of pavement materials, multi-scale mechanics, green and sustainable pavement, and intelligent pavement. Overall, this review paper is able to provide references and insights for researchers and engineers in the field of pavement engineering.

IntroductionThis study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the novel combination of Aza and HIA as the frontline induction therapy in newly diagnosed AML patients eligible for intensive chemotherapy (IC) (registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT04248595).MethodsAza (75mg/m2/d on days1-5 subcutaneous) is administered in combination with HIA [HHT 2mg/m2/d on days 4-8 intravenous over 3 hours, idarubicin 6mg/m2/d on days 4-6 intravenous, and cytarabine 100mg/m2/d on days 4-10 intravenous]. The primary endpoint was complete remission (CR) or CR with incomplete blood count recovery (CRi). Secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS), and adverse events (AEs).ResultsA total of 20 AML patients (aged 18-70 years) were enrolled between Jan 2020 and Sep 2022. 95% (19/20) of patients achieved CR/CRi, and 89.5% (17/19) had undetectable MRD, in which 94.7% (18/19) reached CR/CRi, and 88.9% (16/18) obtained MRD negative after the 1st cycle of induction therapy. Median OS and RFS were both not reached during the follow-up. The estimated 2-year OS and RFS were 87.5% (95%CI, 58.6% to 96.7%) and 87.1% (95%CI, 57.3% to 96.6%), respectively. No patient discontinued the treatment for AEs.DiscussionThis study provides preliminary evidence for this novel combination therapy as the first-line induction therapy for young or older AML patients fit for IC.

Adhesive hydrogels have broad applications ranging from tissue engineering to bioelectronics; however, fabricating adhesive hydrogels with multiple functions remains a challenge. In this study, a mussel-inspired tannic acid chelated-Ag (TA-Ag) nanozyme with peroxidase (POD)-like activity was designed by the in situ reduction of ultrasmall Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with TA. The ultrasmall TA-Ag nanozyme exhibited high catalytic activity to induce hydrogel self-setting without external aid. The nanozyme retained abundant phenolic hydroxyl groups and maintained the dynamic redox balance of phenol-quinone, providing the hydrogels with long-term and repeatable adhesiveness, similar to the adhesion of mussels. The phenolic hydroxyl groups also afforded uniform distribution of the nanozyme in the hydrogel network, thereby improving its mechanical properties and conductivity. Furthermore, the nanozyme endowed the hydrogel with antibacterial activity through synergistic effects of the reactive oxygen species generated via POD-like catalytic reactions and the intrinsic bactericidal activity of Ag. Owing to these advantages, the ultrasmall TA-Ag nanozyme-catalyzed hydrogel could be effectively used as an adhesive, antibacterial, and implantable bioelectrode to detect bio-signals, and as a wound dressing to accelerate tissue regeneration while preventing infection. Therefore, this study provides a promising approach for the fabrication of adhesive hydrogel bioelectronics with multiple functions via mussel-inspired nanozyme catalysis.

In this work, a new highly selective and sensitive fluorescent sensor for detecting Cu2+ was developed based on rhodamine fluorophore. It displayed strong fluorescence “turn-on” effect upon addition of Cu2+, and possessed the function of naked eye recognition. The fluorescence enhancement also enabled the sensor to quantitatively analyze Cu2+ due to the formation of a stable 1:1 metal–ligand complex in a short time, and the complex possesses relatively good pH stability. In addition, the density functional theory calculations were adopted to investigate the molecular orbitals as well as the spatial structure. Simultaneously, the cell imaging and zebra fish experiments provided a broader application prospect in biological system.

BackgroundThe ratio of creatinine to cystatin C (Cre/CysC), a marker of muscle function and muscle mass, can be used to predict sarcopenia in different populations. Since sarcopenia is closely associated with osteoporosis, this study investigated the association between Cre/CysC and bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).MethodThis cross-sectional study included 391 Chinese patients with T2DM. General information, biochemical indicators, and the BMD of lumbar spine (LS), femoral neck (FN), and total hip (TH) were measured.ResultsPearson correlation analysis showed that Cre/CysC was significantly positively correlated with the BMD of LS (r = 0.170, p = 0.001), FN (r = 0.178, p < 0.001), and TH (r = 0.205, p < 0.001). The results of stepwise linear regression suggested that Cre/CysC was the only biochemical predictor of the BMD at three sites (LS: β = 0.137, p = 0.01; FN: β = 0.097, p = 0.038; TH: β = 0.145, p = 0.002).ConclusionIn older patients with T2DM, high Cre/CysC value is independently positively associated with BMD and hence, Cre/CysC may serve as a valuable marker of osteoporosis.

Background: A broad variety of infections, ranging from skin infections to infective endocarditis can be caused by Staphylococcus lugdunensis. Bacterial virulence is often related to virulence genes, so we sought to investigate the relationship between virulence genes and the pathogenicity of S. lugdunensis and to explore an appropriate typing method to distinguish different pathogenic phenotypes of S. lugdunensis. Methods: We describe the distribution of several virulence genes in different infection types in an attempt to find the relationship between virulence genes and pathogenicity. Subsequently, we make the Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) dendrogram and fbl-typing were performed using BioNumerics software, tried to compare the correlation between different methods and the different infectious diseases, and antimicrobial resistance of the strains, in order to obtain the epidemic characteristics and antimicrobial resistance information of S. lugdunensis based on a molecular approach. Results: The results of virulence genes showed that the seven virulence genes we have described existed in most strains, and there was no significant correlation between virulence gene distribution and infection type. Compared with the MALDI-TOF MS dendrogram, we found that fbl-typing could better correspond to the pathogenic phenotype, with better recognition and reproducibility. In the phylogenetic tree constructed in the fbl R-region, we found a tendency for some infection types to be distributed in clusters, new type 3 was the most dominant fbl-type, followed by fbl47b. Bone and joint infection isolates and ear infection isolates were significantly clustered together, in addition, all the oxacillin-resistant isolates were concentrated in fbl-type fbl45j and fbl47b. Conclusions: In this study, we found no significant correlation between virulence genes from S. lugdunensis isolates and the site of infection. The fbl-typing has the characteristics of convenient operation, low cost, high repeatability, and is preferable to indicate the pathogenic phenotype. Based on fbl-typing, we described the epidemiological characteristics of S. lugdunensis in a hospital and supplemented the data for fbl-typing. We recommend that fbl-typing method be extended and supplemented.

The wear and corrosion resistance of Ni-based niobium carbide (NbC) coatings were investigated via scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, particle size analysis, X-ray diffraction, electrochemical polarization, electrochemicl impedance spectroscopy, digital microhardness testing and wear testing. The results showed that the substrate was mainly composed of a γ-Cr (Fe) solid solution, and the composite coating was composed of FeNi, NbC, and Ni. In addition, the hardness of the coating increased gradually with increasing NbC content. The optimal corrosion resistance and wear resistance of the coating were realized at an NbC content of 20%.

Abstract Highly reliable signal recording with low electrode-skin impedance makes the microneedle array electrode (MAE) a promising candidate for biosignal sensing. However, when used in long-term health monitoring for some incidental diseases, flexible microneedles with perfectly skin-tight fit substrates lead to sweat accumulation inside, which will not only affect the signal output but also trigger some skin allergic reactions. In this paper, a flexible MAE on a Miura-ori structured substrate is proposed and fabricated with two-directional in-plane bendability. The results from the comparison tests show enhanced performance in terms of (1) the device reliability by resisting peeling off of the metal layer from the substrate during the operation and (2) air ventilation, achieved from the air-circulating channels, to remove sweat. Bio-signal recordings of electrocardiography (ECG), as well as electromyography (EMG) of the biceps brachii, in both static and dynamic states, are successfully demonstrated with superior accuracy and long-term stability, demonstrating the great potential in health monitoring applications.

In modern transportation, pavement is one of the most important civil infrastructures for the movement of vehicles and pedestrians. Pavement service quality and service life are of great importance for civil engineers as they directly affect the regular service for the users. Therefore, monitoring the health status of pavement before irreversible damage occurs is essential for timely maintenance, which in turn ensures public transportation safety. Many pavement damages can be detected and analyzed by monitoring the structure dynamic responses and evaluating road surface conditions. Advanced technologies can be employed for the collection and analysis of such data, including various intrusive sensing techniques, image processing techniques, and machine learning methods. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art of these three technologies in pavement engineering in recent years and suggests possible developments for future pavement monitoring and analysis based on these approaches.

Renal fibrosis is the result of renal tissue damage and repair response disorders. If fibrosis is not effectively blocked, it causes loss of renal function, leading to chronic renal failure. Metabolic reprogramming, which promotes cell proliferation by regulating cellular energy metabolism, is considered a unique tumor cell marker. The transition from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis is a major feature of renal fibrosis. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α (HIF-1α), a vital transcription factor, senses oxygen status, induces adaptive changes in cell metabolism, and plays an important role in renal fibrosis and glucose metabolism. This review focuses on the regulation of proteins related to aerobic glycolysis by HIF-1α and attempts to elucidate the possible regulatory mechanism underlying the effects of HIF-1α on glucose metabolism during renal fibrosis, aiming to provide new ideas for targeted metabolic pathway intervention in renal fibrosis.

The interactions between water molecules, electrode materials and anions are essential yet challenging for aqueous dual ion batteries. Here, the authors demonstrate the voltage manipulation of dual ion batteries through matching intercalation energy and solvation energy of different anions.

With the continuous development of economic strength and science and technology, the construction of Intelligent Transportation System(ITS) has become a new development direction in many cities. A complete and accurate traffic dataset can improve the accuracy of traffic prediction and promote the construction of ITS in cities. Most of the existing traffic datasets are collected on highways, and they are only one-way road data. There is little analysis of the impact of weather on traffic prediction, and more traffic auxiliary information is lacking at the same time. The use of such datasets for experiments can lead to inaccurate and unconvincing results, which is of little significance for the study of urban road prediction reference. In this paper, we are motivated to develop a new dataset for the evaluation of Metropolitan Traffic Prediction. Our dataset(XiAn Road Traffic) collected 308 urban road data and included two-way road data, weather data, driving angles, and congestion levels. XiAn Road Traffic can provide help for urban road state prediction and intelligent transportation city construction. We use the current more popular machine learning model for experiments. It is also proved by experiments that our dataset is more accurate and persuasive than the prediction results of other datasets.

Tellurium quantum dots (Te QDs) were prepared using bulk tellurium as the precursor. Te QDs can be a highly active photocatalyst for boosting the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. The morphology and composition of Te QDs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that in the presence of H2O2, the photocatalytic efficiency of Te QDs on RhB could achieve a good degradation effect within a very short time (30 min). The effects of initial dye concentration, pH value, light intensity, catalyst dosage and H2O2 concentration on dye degradation were successively studied. The effects of inorganic ions (NO3−, Cl−, SO42−, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Fe3+) on photocatalytic degradation were also discussed. Experimental results of free radical capture showed that OH• and O2•− played important roles in photocatalytic degradation. More importantly, Te QDs efficiency still remained above 85% after four cycles of use, indicating good stability, recyclability and utility. This work may inspire further design of other semiconductor QDs for highly efficient dye degradation.

Sarcomatoid and rhabdoid tumours are highly aggressive forms of renal cell carcinoma that are also responsive to immunotherapy. In this study, the authors perform a comprehensive molecular characterization of these tumours discovering an enrichment of specific alterations and an inflamed phenotype.

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to investigate the clinical and genetic spectrum in Chinese patients with multiple mtDNA deletions presenting with autosomal‐inherited mitochondrial progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO). Methods Long‐range polymerase chain reaction and massively parallel sequencing of the mitochondrial genome were performed to detect deletions in muscle mtDNA of 274 unrelated families. Then, targeted next generation sequencing was used to detect nuclear gene variations in patients with multiple mtDNA deletions. Results A total of 40 Chinese PEO patients (10 males and 30 females) from 20 families were found to have multiple mtDNA deletions in this study, and the median age at onset was 35 (1–70) years. PEO and positive family history were the two prominent features of these patients, and ataxia, neuropathy, and hypogonadism were also present as onset symptoms in some patients. Fifteen of 20 probands with multiple mtDNA deletions were identified to carry nuclear gene variants; eight (40.0%) probands had variants within POLG, two (10.0%) within TWNK, two (10.0%) within RRM2B, two (10.0%) within TK2, and one (5.0%) within POLG2. A total of 24 variants were found in these five nuclear genes, of which 19 were novel. The causal nuclear genetic factors in five pedigrees remain undetermined. Conclusions The POLG gene is the most common disease‐causing gene in this group of PEO patients with multiple mtDNA deletions. While inherited PEO is the most prominent symptoms in these patients, genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity still exist, for example in onset age, initial symptoms, and accompanying manifestations.

The rapid development of multiple high-throughput sequencing technologies has made it possible to explore the critical roles and mechanisms of functional enhancers and enhancer RNAs (eRNAs). The inflammatory immune response, as a fundamental pathological process in infectious diseases, cancers and immune disorders, coordinates the balance between the internal and external environment of the organism. It has been shown that both active enhancers and intranuclear eRNAs are preferentially expressed over inflammation-related genes in response to inflammatory stimuli, suggesting that enhancer transcription events and their products influence the expression and function of inflammatory genes. Therefore, in this review, we summarize and discuss the relevant inflammatory roles and regulatory mechanisms of eRNAs in inflammatory immune cells, non-inflammatory immune cells, inflammatory immune diseases and tumors, and explore the potential therapeutic effects of enhancer inhibitors affecting eRNA production for diseases with inflammatory immune responses.

Purpose: Based on self-determination theory, this study sought to clarify the internal mechanism of the impact of proactive personality and career calling on job performance from both personality traits and intrinsic motivation perspectives, highlight the important role of job crafting as an individual’s proactive behaviour, and demonstrate the supporting role of organisational embeddedness as an external environmental factor. Design/methodology/approach: Hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap-based path analysis were used to test the above hypotheses on 292 employees in China. Findings/results: The results show that proactive personality and career calling had significant positive effects on employees’ job performance, and job crafting was a full mediator in both paths, with significantly different mediation effects. Organisational embeddedness moderated this mediating effect. Practical implications: This study provides references for employees and organisations to continuously improve their job performance. Organisations need to address job crafting behaviours and create related supporting atmospheres. Originality/value: This study explored the mechanisms that affect career outcomes from both personality traits and intrinsic motivation aspects. The theoretical model verifies the value of individual intrinsic motivation and autonomous behaviour, and confirms the theory of self-determination. The study also extends the existing career theory by breaking through the one-sidedness of the previous theory that emphasises only the role of the organisation, but highlights the crucial importance of employees’ subjective initiatives.

Smart luminescent materials, which can respond to the changing of external environment (light, electricity, force, temperature, etc.), have always been one of the research hotspots. Mechanochromism refers to the materials whose emission color or intensity can be altered under the stimulation of external mechanical force. This kind of smart materials have been widely used in data storage, information encryption and sensors due to its simple operation, obvious and rapid response. The introduction of metal atoms in metal-organic compounds brings about fascinating metalophilic interactions and results in more interesting and surprising mechanochromic behaviors. In this mini-review, recent advances in mechanochromism of metal-organic compounds, including mono-, di-, multinuclear metal-organic complexes and metallic clusters are summarized. Varies mechanisms are discussed and some design strategies for metal-organic compounds with mechanochromism are also presented.

Abstract Background To build a novel and simple model to predict iatrogenic preterm birth in pregnant women with scarred uteri. Methods In this retrospective, observational, single-centre cohort study, data from 2315 patients with scarred uteri were collected. Multiple logistic regression analysis and mathematical modelling were used to develop a risk evaluation tool for iatrogenic preterm birth. After modelling, the calibration and discrimination of the model along with decision curve analysis were checked and performed to ensure clinical applicability. Results Among the 2315 patients, 417 (18.0%) had iatrogenic preterm births. The following variables were included in the model: interpregnancy interval (0 to

Lycophytes and seed plants constitute the typical vascular plants. Lycophytes have been thought to have no paleo-polyploidization although the event is known to be critical for the fast expansion of seed plants. Here, genomic analyses including the homologous gene dot plot analysis detected multiple paleo-polyploidization events, with one occurring approximately 13–15 million years ago (MYA) and another about 125–142 MYA, during the evolution of the genome of Selaginella moellendorffii, a model lycophyte. In addition, comparative analysis of reconstructed ancestral genomes of lycophytes and angiosperms suggested that lycophytes were affected by more paleo-polyploidization events than seed plants. Results from the present genomic analyses indicate that paleo-polyploidization has contributed to the successful establishment of both lineages—lycophytes and seed plants—of vascular plants.

Background Recent studies have indicated that the incidence of esophageal cancer has declined in the past decade in the U.S. However, trends in the incidence and survival have not been thoroughly examined. Methods Data from 46 063 patients with esophageal cancer between 1973 and 2015 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The trends in the age‐adjusted incidence and survival were analyzed using joinpoint regression models. Results The age‐adjusted incidence of esophageal cancer increased from 5.55 to 7.44 per 100 000 person‐years between 1973 and 2004. Later, it decreased at an annual percentage change of 1.23%. In the last 40 years, the strong male predominance increased slightly. Importantly, the percentage of patients with localized stage of squamous cell cancer decreased. It was observed that the incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma declined since 1986, while the incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma sharply increased since 1973 and surpassed the rate of squamous cell cancer, mainly due to the increase in the incidence among men. Consistently, the estimated 40‐year limited‐duration prevalence of esophageal adenocarcinoma was higher than that of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Additionally, we observed a modest but significant improvement in survival during the study period. Conclusion The incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma has decreased significantly over the past four decades in the U.S., while the incidence of adenocarcinoma has increased, particularly among men. Overall, the long‐term survival of patients with esophageal cancer is poor but it has improved over the past decades, especially for the localized disease. Key points Significant findings of the study The incidence of esophageal cancer has decreased at an annual percentage change of 1.23% since 2004. The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma has sharply increased since 1973 and surpassed the rate of squamous cell cancer, mainly due to the increase in the incidence among men. What this study adds There has been a shift in the prevalence of esophageal cancer histological subtypes over the past decades in the U.S. We found that the incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma has continued to decrease, while the esophageal adenocarcinoma rate has continued to increase.

Biomaterial surfaces tend to adhere only under dry conditions, preventing them from being used in underwater environments such as body fluids. Therefore, biomaterial surfaces with underwater adhesion ability have received increasing attention. In nature, some organisms can adapt to different environments by evolving appendages with underwater adhesion capability and unique functions. Most of these outstanding functions are derived from special micro/nanostructures and/or chemical compositions of these organisms. Thus, modification of biomaterials surfaces with similar microstructures and chemical groups would help promote underwater adhesion. In this review, we discuss (1) the mechanisms of underwater adhesion; (2) surface modification strategies for underwater adhesion, including mussel-inspired, interlocking, bio-structured surface, and specific adhesion strategies; and (3) the challenges and potential of developing surface-modified, multiscale biomaterials with underwater adhesion.

BackgroundParkinson's disease (PD) pathological changes begin before motor symptoms appear. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) has the highest specificity and predictive value of any marker of prodromal PD. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) plays a part in the pathology of PD and disease conversion in isolated RBD (iRBD). TNF can also directly impair the hypocretin system in mice in vivo. As a result, we intend to investigate the effect of TNF-α on orexin levels in PD patients with RBD.MethodParticipants were recruited from the Department of Neurology of Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University to engage in assessments on motor symptoms, sleep, cognition, etc. Then we collected blood and cerebrospinal fluid of all patients and 10 controls' cerebrospinal fluid. The levels of TNF-α in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid, as well as the level of orexin in the cerebrospinal fluid, were measured in the patients.ResultsThe difference in TNF- levels in cerebrospinal fluid and serum between the three groups were not statistically significant. The levels of orexin in the three groups were not significantly lower than in the control group. UPDRS-III scores were significantly higher in the PD+RBD and PD-RBD groups than in the iRBD group. There was no statistically significant difference in H-Y stages, PSQI, or ESS scores between the PD+RBD and PD-RBD groups.ConclusionOur findings suggest that TNF-α may not have a significant effect on the orexinergic system in patients with Parkinson's disease and iRBD. As a result, it is necessary to investigate the changes in TNF-α and orexin levels in different disease stages and to enlarge the sample size to determine whether TNF-α affects the function of the orexin system, which may be related to the occurrence of RBD and disease progression in Parkinson's disease.

Abstract Flexible thermoelectric generators (f‐TEGs) have demonstrated great potential in wearable self‐powered health monitoring devices. However, the existing wearable f‐TEGs are neither flexible enough to bend and stretch while maintaining the device's integrity with a good TE performance nor directly compatible with clothes materials. Here, ultraflexible fabric‐based thermoelectric generators (uf‐TEGs) are proposed with conductive cloth electrodes and elastic fabric substrate. The patterned elastic fabric substrate fits the rigid cuboids well, together with serpentine structured cloth electrodes, rendering uf‐TEG with excellent integrity and flexibility, thereby achieving a highly functional TE performance when strain reaches 30% or on arbitrarily shaped heat sources. The uf‐TEGs show a large peak power of 64.10 μW for a temperature difference of 33.24 K with a high voltage output of 111.49 mV, which is superior compared to previously reported fabric‐based TEG devices, and it is still functional after the water immersion test. Besides the energy harvesting function, with both the temperature sensing ability and the touch perception, this uf‐TEG is demonstrated as the electrical skin when mounted on a robot. Moreover, due to the wind‐sensitive performance and self‐power ability, the uf‐TEGs are assembled on cloth as wearable health and motion monitoring devices.

Traffic flow is chaotic due to nonstationary realistic factors, and revealing the internal nonlinear dynamics of chaotic data and making high-accuracy predictions is the key to traffic control and inducement. Given that high-quality phase space reconstruction is the foundation of predictive modeling. Firstly, an improved C-C method based on the fused norm search domain is proposed to address the issue that the C-C method in the phase space reconstruction algorithm does not meet the Euclidean metric accuracy and reduces the reconstruction quality when the infinite norm metric is used. Secondly, to address the problem of insufficient learning ability of traditional convolutional combinatorial modeling for complex phase space laws of chaotic traffic flow, the high-dimensional phase space features are extracted using the layer-by-layer pretraining mechanism of convolutional deep belief networks (CDBNs), and the temporal features are extracted by combining with long short-term memory (LSTM). Finally, an improved probabilistic dynamic reproduction-based genetic algorithm (PDRGA) is proposed to address the problem of the hybrid model falling into a local optimum when learning the phase space law. Experiments are conducted in three aspects: phase space reconstruction quality analysis, comparison of optimization algorithm convergence, and prediction model performance comparison. The experimentation with two data sets demonstrates that the improved C-C method combines the advantages of the high accuracy metric of the L2 norm with the low operational complexity of the infinite norm, achieving a balance between reconstruction quality and algorithm efficiency. The proposed PDRGA optimization algorithm is a lightweight improvement of the traditional genetic algorithm (GA) and solves the problem that the model tends to fall into a local optimum by optimizing the initial weights of CDBN. Meanwhile, the five error evaluation indexes of the proposed PDRGA-CDBN-LSTM hybrid model are lower than those of the baseline model, providing a new modeling idea for chaotic traffic flow prediction.

Recent pharmacological studies have shown that dragon’s blood has an anti-cerebral ischemia effect. Loureirin C (LC), a kind of dihydrochalcone compound in dragon’s blood, is believed to be play an important role in the treatment of ischemia stroke, but fewer studies for LC have been done. In this paper, we report the first experimental and theoretical studies on the antioxidation mechanism of LC by radical scavenging. The experimental studies show that LC has almost no effect on cell viability under 15 μM for the SH-SY5Y cells without any treatments. For the SH-SY5Y cells with oxygen and glucose deprivation-reperfusion (OGD/R) treatment, LC increased the viability of SH-SY5Y cells. The results of 2′,7′-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) and MitoSox Red experiments indicate that LC is very efficient in inhibiting the generation of the intracellular/mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) or removing these two kinds of generated ROS. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations allowed us to elucidate the antioxidation mechanisms of LC. Fukui function analysis reveals the radical scavenging of LC by hydrogen abstraction mechanism, the complex formation by e-transfer, and radical adduct formation (RAF) mechanism. Among the H-abstraction, the complex formation by e-transfer, and radical adduct formation (RAF) reactions on LC, the H-abstraction at O-H35 position by OH• is favorable with the smallest energy difference between the product and two reactants of the attack of OH• to LC of −0.0748 Ha. The bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE), proton affinities (PA), ionization potential (IP), proton dissociation enthalpy (PDE), and electron transfer enthalpy (ETE) were calculated to determine thermodynamically preferred reaction pathway for hydrogen abstraction mechanism. In water, IP and the lowest PDE value at O3-H35 position are lower than the lowest BDE value at O3-H35 position; 41.8986 and 34.221 kcal/mol, respectively, indicating that SEPT mechanism is a preferred one in water in comparison with the HAT mechanism. The PA value of O3-H35 of LC in water is −17.8594 kcal/mol, thus the first step of SPLET would occur spontaneously. The minimum value of ETE is higher than the minimum value of PDE at O3-H35 position and IP value, 14.7332 and 22.4108 kcal/mol, respectively, which suggests that the SEPT mechanism is a preferred one in water in comparison with the SPLET mechanism. Thus, we can draw a conclusion that the SEPT mechanism of is the most favorite hydrogen abstraction mechanism in water, and O-H35 hydroxyl group has the greatest ability to donate H-atoms.

Abstract Background Microglia, the mononuclear immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), are essential for the maintenance of CNS homeostasis. BAP31, a resident and ubiquitously expressed protein of the endoplasmic reticulum, serves as a sorting factor for its client proteins, mediating the subsequent export, retention, and degradation or survival. Recently, BAP31 has been defined as a regulatory molecule in the CNS, but the function of BAP31 in microglia has yet to be determined. In the present study, we investigated whether BAP31 is involved in the inflammatory response of microglia. Methods This study used the BV2 cell line and BAP31 conditional knockdown mice generated via the Cre/LoxP system. A BAP31 knockdown experiment was performed to elucidate the role of BAP31 in the endogenous inflammatory cytokine production by microglial BV2 cells. A mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cognitive impairment was established to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of BAP31 against neuroinflammation-induced memory deficits. Behavioral alterations were assessed with the open field test (OFT), Y maze, and Morris water maze. The activation of microglia in the hippocampus of mice was observed by immunohistochemistry. Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunofluorescence staining, and reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to clarify the mechanisms. Results BAP31 deficiency upregulates LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines in BV2 cells and mice by upregulating the protein level of IRAK1, which in turn increases the translocation and transcriptional activity of NF-κB p65 and c-Jun, and moreover, knockdown of IRAK1 or use of an IRAK1 inhibitor reverses these functions. In the cognitive impairment animal model, the BAP31 knockdown mice displayed increased severity in memory deficiency accompanied by an increased expression of proinflammatory factors in the hippocampus. Conclusions These findings indicate that BAP31 may modulate inflammatory cytokines and cognitive impairment induced by neuroinflammation through IRAK1, which demonstrates that BAP31 plays an essential role in microglial inflammation and prevention of memory deficits caused by neuroinflammation.

There are several causes of chronic kidney disease, but all of these patients have renal fibrosis. Although many studies have examined the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis, there are still no effective treatments. A healthy and balanced metabolism is necessary for normal cell growth, proliferation, and function, but metabolic abnormalities can lead to pathological changes. Normal energy metabolism is particularly important for maintaining the structure and function of the kidneys because they consume large amounts of energy. We describe the metabolic reprogramming that occurs during renal fibrosis, which includes changes in fatty acid metabolism and glucose metabolism, and the relationship of these changes with renal fibrosis. We also describe the potential role of novel drugs that disrupt this metabolic reprogramming and the development of fibrosis, and current and future challenges in the treatment of fibrosis.

Background: Estrogen deficiency contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in menopausal women. In the current study, we examined the impact of estrogen deficiency on mitochondrial function and cognition using a postmenopausal mouse model.Methods: Bilateral ovariectomy was conducted in adult females C57BL/6J. Cognitive function was examined using the Morris water maze (MWM) test at 2 weeks, 1, 2, and 3 months after ovariectomy. Neurodegeneration was assessed using an immunofluorescence assay of microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) in the hippocampus and immunoblotting against postsynaptic density-95 (PSD95). Mitochondrial function in the hippocampus was assessed using immunoblotting for NDUFB8, SDHB, UQCRC2, MTCO1, and ATP5A1. Mitochondrial biogenesis was examined using immunoblotting for PGC-1α, NRF1, and mtTFA. Mitochondrion fission was assessed with immunoblotting for Drp1, whereas mitochondrion fusion was analyzed with immunoblotting for OPA1 and Mfn2. Mitophagy was examined with immunoblotting for PINK1 and LC3B. Mice receiving sham surgery were used as controls.Results: Ovariectomy resulted in significant learning and memory deficits in the MWM test at 3 months, but not at any earlier time points. At 2 weeks after ovariectomy, levels of Drp1 phosphorylated at Ser637 decreased in the hippocampus. At 1 month after ovariectomy, hippocampal levels of NDUFB8, SDHB, PGC-1α, mtTFA, OPA1, and Mfn2 were significantly reduced. At 2 months after ovariectomy, hippocampal levels of MAP2, PSD95, MTCO1, NRF1, and Pink1 were also reduced. At 3 months, levels of LC3B-II were reduced.Conclusions: The cognitive decline associated with estrogen deficiency is preceded by mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal mitochondrial biogenesis, irregular mitochondrial dynamics, and decreased mitophagy. Thus, mitochondrial damage may contribute to cognitive impairment associated with estrogen deficiency.

DNA molecules are highly compacted in the eukaryotic nucleus where distal regulatory elements reach their targets through three-dimensional chromosomal interactions. G-quadruplexes, stable four-stranded non-canonical DNA structures, can change local chromatin organization through the exclusion of nucleosomes. However, the relationship between G-quadruplexes and higher-order genome organization remains unknown. Here, we found that G-quadruplexes are significantly enriched at boundaries of topological associated domains (TADs). Architectural protein occupancy, which plays critical roles in the formation of TADs, was highly correlated with the content of G-quadruplexes at TAD boundaries. Moreover, adjacent boundaries containing G-quadruplexes frequently interacted with each other because of the high enrichment of architectural protein binding sites. Similar to CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) binding sites, G-quadruplexes also showed strong insulation ability in the separation of adjacent regions. Additionally, the insulation ability of CTCF binding sites and TAD boundaries was significantly reinforced by G-quadruplexes. Furthermore, G-quadruplex motifs on different strands were associated with the orientation of CTCF binding sites. These findings suggest a potential role for G-quadruplexes in loop extrusion. The enrichment of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) around regulatory elements containing G-quadruplexes led to frequent interactions between regulatory elements containing G-quadruplexes. Intriguingly, more than 99% of G-quadruplexes overlapped with TFBSs. The binding sites of CTCF and cohesin proteins were preferentially located surrounding G-quadruplexes. Accordingly, we proposed a new mechanism of long-distance gene regulation in which G-quadruplexes are involved in distal interactions between enhancers and promoters.

Abstract. Background:. Chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) is a mitochondrial encephalomyopathy caused by multiple mtDNA abnormalities. There is little information about the changes of ocular fundus with CPEO. The aim of this work was to measure and evaluate changes in the macular retinal thickness and optic nerve head in patients with CPEO using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and to compare the findings with those of healthy individuals. Methods:. Totally, 18 CPEO patients were enrolled in this study. Healthy volunteers matched for gender, age, and diopter settings were included as a control group. The retinal thickness of macular central fovea, inner and outer retinal layer thickness of perifoveal macular, optic nerve head parameters, and peripapillay retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (pRNFLT) for all included cases were measured using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. A paired t test was used to compare the differences in the studied parameters between the two groups. The correlations between macular retinal thickness, pRNFLT, disease duration, and age of onset were also analyzed. Results:. Among the macular parameters, retinal thickness of macular central fovea (t = −2.135, P

Abstract Background Sarcoglycanopathies comprise four subtypes of autosomal recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2C, LGMD2D, LGMD2E, and LGMD2F) that are caused, respectively, by mutations in the SGCG, SGCA, SGCB, and SGCD genes. Knowledge about the clinical and genetic features of sarcoglycanopathies in Chinese patients is limited. The aims of this study were to investigate in detail the clinical manifestations, sarcoglycan expression, and gene mutations in Chinese patients with sarcoglycanopathies and to identify possible correlations between them. Results Of 3638 patients for suspected neuromuscular diseases (1733 with inherited myopathies, 1557 with acquired myopathies, and 348 unknown), 756 patients had next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostic panel. Twenty-five patients with sarcoglycanopathies (11.5%) were identified from 218 confirmed LGMDs, comprising 18 with LGMD2D, 6 with LGMD2E, and one with LGMD2C. One patient with LGMD2D also had Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A. The clinical phenotypes of the patients with LGMD2D or LGMD2E were markedly heterogeneous. Muscle biopsy showed a dystrophic pattern in 19 patients and mild myopathic changes in 6. The percentage of correct prediction of genotype based on expression of sarcoglycan was 36.0% (4 LGMD2D, 4 LGMD2E, and one LGMD2C). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between reduction of α-sarcoglycan level and disease severity in LGMD2D. Thirty-five mutations were identified in SGCA, SGCB, SGCG, and PMP22, 16 of which were novel. Exon 3 of SGCA was a hotspot region for mutations in LGMD2D. The missense mutation c.662G > A (p.R221H) was the most common mutation in SGCA. Missense mutations in both alleles of SGCA were associated with a relative benign disease course. No obvious clinical, sarcoglycan expression, and genetic correlation was found in LGMD2E. Conclusions This study expands the clinical and genetic spectrum of sarcoglycanopathies in Chinese patients and provides evidence that disease severity of LGMD2D may be predicted by α-sarcoglycan expression and SGCA mutation.

Abstract Objective To investigate the effectiveness of alpha activity neurofeedback training over the parietal lobe in GAD patients. Methods Twenty‐six female patients who had been diagnosed as GAD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition, DSM‐V) criteria were included in this study. Patients were randomized into two groups: the left parietal lobe training group (LPL group, n = 13) and the right parietal lobe training group (RPL group, n = 13), and then received ten 40‐minute alpha training sessions in the relevant area. Evaluations included severity of anxiety (by State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI) and depression (by Beck Depression Inventory, BDI‐II) after the fifth training session and the last training session. Results The scores of STAI‐S decreased significantly two weeks after the fifth training session in both groups (LPL group: from 47.15 ± 10.65 to 38.69 ± 8.78, p

Short-term traffic flow prediction is an effective means for intelligent transportation system (ITS) to mitigate traffic congestion. However, traffic flow data with temporal features and periodic characteristics are vulnerable to weather effects, making short-term traffic flow prediction a challenging issue. However, the existing models do not consider the influence of weather changes on traffic flow, leading to poor performance under some extreme conditions. In view of the rich features of traffic data and the characteristic of being vulnerable to external weather conditions, the prediction model based on traffic data has certain limitations, so it is necessary to conduct research studies on traffic flow prediction driven by both the traffic data and weather data. This paper proposes a combined framework of stacked autoencoder (SAE) and radial basis function (RBF) neural network to predict traffic flow, which can effectively capture the temporal correlation and periodicity of traffic flow data and disturbance of weather factors. Firstly, SAE is used to process the traffic flow data in multiple time slices to acquire a preliminary prediction. Then, RBF is used to capture the relation between weather disturbance and periodicity of traffic flow so as to gain another prediction. Finally, another RBF is used for the fusion of the above two predictions on decision level, obtaining a reconstructed prediction with higher accuracy. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed model are verified by experiments.

BackgroundEndometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma (EEA) is one of the most common tumors in the female reproductive system. With the further understanding of immune regulation mechanism in tumor microenvironment, immunotherapy is emerging in tumor treatment. However, there are few systematic studies on EEA immune infiltration.MethodsIn this study, prognostic tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and related genes of EEA were comprehensively analyzed for the first time through the bioinformatics method with CIBERSORT algorithm as the core. Gene expression profile data were downloaded from the TCGA database, and the abundance ratio of TIICs was obtained. Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to identify prognostic TIICs. EEA samples were grouped according to the risk score in Cox regression model. Differential analysis and functional enrichment analyses were performed on high- and low-risk groups to find survival-related hub genes, which were verified by Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER).ResultFour TIICs including memory CD4+ T cells, regulatory T cells, natural killer cells and dendritic cells were identified. And two hub gene modules were found, in which six hub genes including APOL1, CCL17, RBP4, KRT15, KRT71, and KRT79 were significantly related to overall survival and were closely correlated with some certain TIICs in the validation of TIMER.ConclusionIn this study, four prognostic TIICs and six hub genes were found to be closely related to EEA. These findings provided new potential targets for EEA immunotherapy.

Piezoelectric ceramics have good electromechanical coupling characteristics and a high sensitivity to load. One typical engineering application of piezoelectric ceramic is its use as a signal source for Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems in road traffic monitoring. However, piezoelectric ceramics are also sensitive to temperature, which affects their measurement accuracy. In this study, a new piezoelectric ceramic WIM sensor was developed. The output signals of sensors under different loads and temperatures were obtained. The results were corrected using polynomial regression and a Genetic Algorithm Back Propagation (GA-BP) neural network algorithm, respectively. The results show that the GA-BP neural network algorithm had a better effect on sensor temperature compensation. Before and after GA-BP compensation, the maximum relative error decreased from about 30% to less than 4%. The sensitivity coefficient of the sensor reduced from 1.0192 × 10−2/°C to 1.896 × 10−4/°C. The results show that the GA-BP algorithm greatly reduced the influence of temperature on the piezoelectric ceramic sensor and improved its temperature stability and accuracy, which helped improve the efficiency of clean-energy harvesting and conversion.

Customized porous structures are widely used in bone tissue engineering as bone substitutes. In natural bone, the bone tissue relies on the blood vessels in the vesicular structure for nutrition supply. When a defect appears, the biomimetic porous scaffold becomes a good candidate for the formation of new blood vessels and helps bone tissue ingrowth. To construct an osteoconductive bone scaffold that is suitable for the defect region, the powder-based three-dimensional printing technology holds great promise, since it can deal with biocompatible, and biodegradable materials. In this mini-review, we introduce several types of powder-based manufacturing technologies and their corresponding printable materials for the construction of porous structures. In addition, some research cases are highlighted to illustrate the recent development of some research directions related to powder-based 3D printed bone scaffolds.

B-cell receptor-associated protein 31 (Bap31) is a three trans-membrane protein of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Patients who have loss of function of Bap31 suffered from X-linked syndrome, such as motor and intellectual disabilities, dystonia, and sensorineural deafness. However, the underlying mechanism of Bap31 on X-linked syndrome remains unclear. Here, we found that a total of 21 proteins (9 up-regulated and 12 down-regulated proteins) related with X-linked syndrome were screened from shRNA-Bap31 transfected cells with the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) technique. One gene with the greatest change trend, monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), was identified. MAOA expression was up-regulated by Bap31 knockdown. However, Bap31 did not affect the ubiquitination degradation of MAOA protein. Of note, Bap31 selectively regulated the expression of cell division cycle associated 7-like (R1/RAM2/CDCA7L/JPO2, a transcriptional repressor of MAOA) and the binding activity of R1 with MAOA promoter, thereby affecting MAOA expression. This study demonstrates the molecular mechanisms of Bap31 in MAOA via R1 and supports the potential function of Bap31 on X-linked syndrome.

Preeclampsia is a lethal pregnancy specific hypertensive disorder involving multisystem. Despite extensive studies to investigate the causes of preeclampsia, the pathogenesis still remains largely unknown. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a diverse class of non-translated RNAs which play a crucial part in various biological phenomena. Although lncRNA Growth Arrest-Specific 5 (GAS5) aberrantly expressed in multiple cancer tissues and is implicated in multiple biological processes of tumor cells, little is known about its role in preeclampsia. In this study, 40 patients with preeclampsia and 32 gestational age matched normotension pregnant women were recruited. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), we found higher expression of GAS5 in placenta of preclamsia affected women. The level of GAS5 existed strongly in correlation with Thrombin Time indicating coagulation function and other clinical parameters by Pearson correlation analysis. Then we constructed the GAS5 lentivirus expression vectors and transfected into human trophoblast cell lines HTR-8/SVneo and JEG-3. Using in vitro cell culture studies, we found an inhibited effect of GAS5 on proliferative ability, migratory ability and invasive ability however; no effect on apoptosis was detected. Further mechanistic analysis found that GAS5 modulated microRNA-21 (miR-21) in an opposite variation tendency by qRT-PCR and rescue experiment. In addition, inhibition of GAS5 promoted the activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and its downstream proteins covering MMP-9 and TP53 as evident from our qRT-PCR and western blot analyses. Thus, we suggested that GAS5 might involve in pregnancy with preeclampsia by influencing the biological functions of trophoblast cells through the regulation of miR-21 and activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and its downstream targets, which may contribute to reveal the nature of preeclampsia.

Mitochondrial chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) is a major manifestation of human mitochondrial encephalomyopathies. Previous studies have shown cognitive deficits in patients with mitochondrial diseases. However, these studies often included patients with heterogeneous subtypes of mitochondrial diseases. Here, we aimed to provide a better cognitive profile of patients with CPEO by applying a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological assessments in a pure sample of patients with CPEO. We recruited 28 patients with CPEO (19 women, age 16–62 years) and 38 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects (25 women, age 16–60 years). The neuropsychological assessments covered global cognition and five cognitive domains (executive functions, language, working memory, memory, and visuospatial functions). We found that the patients were impaired in global cognition [Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)], executive functions [Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B)], and language [Boston Naming Test (BNT)], but not in working memory, memory or visuospatial functions. Moreover, individual patients' performances in the TMT-B (completion time) were predicted by the severity of non-ophthalmoplegia mitochondrial symptoms/signs [Newcastle Mitochondrial Disease Adult Scale (NMDAS)] and duration of the mitochondrial disease (years). Namely, patients with more severe non-ophthalmoplegia mitochondrial symptoms/signs and a longer disease duration took a longer time to complete the TMT-B. No clinical measures predicted individual patients' performances in the BNT.