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Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent gynecological disease. The pathogenesis of endometriosis remains controversial, although it is generally accepted that the inflammatory immune response plays a crucial role in this process. Mast cells (MCs) are multifunctional innate immune cells that accumulate in endometriotic lesions. However, the molecular mechanism by which estrogen modulates MCs in the development of endometriosis is not well understood. Here we report that estrogen can induce the expression of NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) through estrogen receptor (ER)-α via the estrogen responsive element (ERE) in MCs. Such transcriptional regulation is necessary for the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and the production of mature interleukin (IL)-1β in MCs. Targeted inhibition of NLRP3 significantly restrained lesion progression and fibrogenesis in a mouse model of endometriosis. Collectively, these findings suggest that MCs contribute to the development of endometriosis through NLRP3 inflammasome activation mediated by nuclear-initiated estrogen signaling pathway.

C20H16Li5NO13, orthorhombic, Pnma (no. 62), a = 9.9218(8) Å, b = 14.6941(11) Å, c = 13.5697(10) Å, V = 1978.4(3) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0439, wRref(F2) = 0.0960, T = 173(2) K.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are coordination polymers with high porosity that are constructed from molecular engineering. Constructing MOFs as photocatalysts for the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia is a newly emerging but fast-growing field, owing to MOFs’ large pore volumes, adjustable pore sizes, controllable structures, wide light harvesting ranges, and high densities of exposed catalytic sites. They are also growing in popularity because of the pristine MOFs that can easily be transformed into advanced composites and derivatives, with enhanced catalytic performance. In this review, we firstly summarized and compared the ammonia detection methods and the synthetic methods of MOF-based materials. Then we highlighted the recent achievements in state-of-the-art MOF-based materials for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation. Finally, the summary and perspectives of MOF-based materials for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation were presented. This review aims to provide up-to-date developments in MOF-based materials for nitrogen fixation that are beneficial to researchers who are interested or involved in this field.

Without the estimation of the intermediate parameters, the direct position determination (DPD) method can achieve higher localization accuracy than conventional two-step methods. However, multipath environments are still a key problem, and complex high-dimensional matrix operations are required in most DPD methods. In this paper, a time-difference-of-arrival-based (TDOA-based) DPD method is proposed based on the subspace orthogonality in the cross-spectra between the different sensors. Firstly, the cross-spectrum between the segmented received signal and reference signal is calculated and eigenvalue decomposition is performed to obtain the subspaces. Then, the cost functions are constructed by using the orthogonality of subspace. Finally, the location of the radiation source is obtained by searching the superposition of these cost functions in the target area. Compared with other DPD methods, our proposed DPD method leads to better localization accuracy with less complexity. The superiority of this method is verified by both simulated and real measured data when compared to other TDOA and DPD algorithms.

Patients with adenomyosis are hypercoagulable and often accompanied by anemia, but the specific changes in anemia-related coagulation parameters are still unclear. This study investigated the changes in and influencing factors of coagulation parameters related to anemia in patients with adenomyosis (AM). The coagulation parameters, including platelet count (PC), plasma prothrombin time (PT), activated partial prothrombin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT) and fibrinogen (FB), and hemoglobin (Hb), were measured in patients with adenomyosis (229 cases in AM group), uterine leiomyoma (265 cases in LM group), and undergoing tubal anastomosis (142 cases in the control group). The age of the control group was younger than that of the AM group and the LM group. Compared with the AM and LM groups, the uterus size of the control group was smaller; the AM group was larger than the LM group. The Hb concentration of the AM group was lower than that of the LM and control groups. Compared with the LM and control groups, PC increased and TT shortened in the AM group. APTT in the AM group was shorter than in the control group, and PT was longer than in the LM group. After adjustment using multiple logistic regression analysis, adenomyosis was correlated with Hb concentration (or = 0.971, 95% CI 0.954–0.988, p < 0.001), PC (or = 1.006, 95% CI 1.002–1.011, p = 0.004), PT (or = 3.878, 95% CI 2.347–6.409, p < 0.001), age (or = 1.062, 95% CI 1.013–1.114, p = 0.013), and uterine size (or = 1.103, 95% CI 1.011–1.203, p = 0.028). Correlation analysis showed that PC (r = −0.309) and PT (r = −0.252) were negatively correlated with anemia. The increase in Hb-related PC and PT in patients with adenomyosis indicates that the timely and early detection of coagulation parameters is needed for patients with severe anemia, older age, and larger uterine volume.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a type of urinary tumor with a high incidence and is often associated with tumor metastasis. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) regulates tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis. However, the role and the predictive value of lncRNA in RCC progression and metastasis have not been elucidated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a newly discovered lncRNA LOC648987 on RCC proliferation and metastasis. LOC648987 was identified by RT-PCR for high expression in human RCC tissues as well as in metastatic RCC tissues. In the cell experiments, we infected the RCC cell lines ACHN and 786-O cells with LOC648987-shRNA and its negative control (shNC). The results showed that the knockdown of LOC648987 inhibited the proliferation of ACHN and 786-O cells and colony formation. The cell cycle and the apoptosis progression of ACHN and 786-O cells were assessed using flow cytometry. The knockdown of LOC648987 significantly inhibited the progression of ACHN and 786-O cells from G0/G1 to S phase and promoted cell apoptosis. The metastasis promoting effects of LOC648987 on ACHN and 786-O cells were verified by transwell migration assays, which depended on vimentin and MMP-9 to regulate the epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Finally, the promotion of LOC648987 on RCC tumorigenesis was evaluated in BALb/c nude mice. These data confirmed that lncRNA LOC648987 promoted RCC cell proliferation and tumor metastasis and regulated the expression of EMT-related proteins in RCC cells.

Intestinal barrier dysfunction is an important contributor to morbidity caused by sepsis. This study investigates the molecular mechanism by which Ghrelin affects intestinal dysfunction in rat model of sepsis. A rat model of sepsis was established by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), revealing that Ghrelin was downregulated when sepsis occurs. Increases in the levels of inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1β), IL-6, gastrin, γ-H2AX and 8-OHdG was also detected in this model system, as was an overall increase in oxidative stress. Introduction of exogenous Ghrelin inhibited these increases in inflammatory response and oxidative stress, leading to a reduction of overall sepsis-induced intestinal dysfunction. Ghrelin was then shown to activate SIRT1 expression in vitro, while SIRT1 was found to co-express with KLF4, which in turn was predicted to bind to matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) promoter. Finally, gain- and loss-of-function experiment demonstrated that SIRT1 upregulated the expression of KLF4 to downregulate MMP2. Collectively, Ghrelin inhibits the oxidative stress and intestinal dysfunction to attenuate sepsis by activating SIRT1 and regulating a KLF4/MMP2 regulatory axis.

Objectives To develop a model of in-hospital mortality using medical record front page (MRFP) data and assess its validity in case-mix standardisation by comparison with a model developed using the complete medical record data.Design A nationally representative retrospective study.Setting Representative hospitals in China, covering 161 hospitals in modelling cohort and 156 hospitals in validation cohort.Participants Representative patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction. 8370 patients in modelling cohort and 9704 patients in validation cohort.Primary outcome measures In-hospital mortality, which was defined explicitly as death that occurred during hospitalisation, and the hospital-level risk standardised mortality rate (RSMR).Results A total of 14 variables were included in the model predicting in-hospital mortality based on MRFP data, with the area under receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78 among modelling cohort and 0.79 among validation cohort. The median of absolute difference between the hospital RSMR predicted by hierarchical generalised linear models established based on MRFP data and complete medical record data, which was built as ‘reference model’, was 0.08% (10th and 90th percentiles: −1.8% and 1.6%). In the regression model comparing the RSMR between two models, the slope and intercept of the regression equation is 0.90 and 0.007 in modelling cohort, while 0.85 and 0.010 in validation cohort, which indicated that the evaluation capability from two models were very similar.Conclusions The models based on MRFP data showed good discrimination and calibration capability, as well as similar risk prediction effect in comparison with the model based on complete medical record data, which proved that MRFP data could be suitable for risk adjustment in hospital performance measurement.

Wildfires could pose a significant danger to electrical transmission lines and cause considerable losses to the power grids and residents nearby. Previous studies of preventing wildfire damages to electrical transmission lines mostly analyze wildfire and power system security independently due to their differences in disciplines and cannot satisfy the requirement of the power grid for active and timely responses. In this paper, we have designed an integrated wildfire early warning system framework for power grids, taking prediction of wildfires and early warning of line outage probability together. First, the proposed model simulates the spatiotemporal process of wildfires via a geography cellular automata model and predicts when and where wildfires initially get into the security buffer of an electrical transmission line. It is developed in the context of electrical transmission line operating with various situations of topography, vegetation, wind and, especially, multiple ignition points. Second, we have proposed a line outage model (LOM), based on wildfire prediction and breakdown mechanisms of the air gap, to predict the breakdown probability varying with time and the most vulnerable poles at the holistic line scale. Finally, to illustrate the validation and rationality of our proposed system, a case study for a 500-kV transmission line near Miyi county, China, is presented, and the results under various wildfire situations are studied and compared. By integrating wildfire prediction into the LOM and alarming the holistic line breakdown probability along time, this paper makes a significant contribution in the early warning system to prevent transmission lines to be damaged by wildfires, illustrating the related breakdown mechanisms at the line operation level rather than laboratory experiments only. Meanwhile, the implementation of cellular automata model under comprehensive environmental conditions and simulation of the breakdown probability for the 500-kV transmission line could serve as references for other studies in the community.

An osteochondral defect is a common and frequent disease in orthopedics and treatment effects are not good, which can be harmful to patients. Hydrogels have been applied in the repair of cartilage defects. Many studies have reported that hydrogels can effectively repair osteochondral defects through loaded cells or non-loaded cells. As a new type of hydrogel, photo-crosslinked hydrogel has been widely applied in more and more fields. Meanwhile, 3D bioprinting serves as an attractive platform to fabricate customized tissue-engineered substitutes from biomaterials and cells for the repair or replacement of injured tissues and organs. Although photo-crosslinkable hydrogel-based 3D bioprinting has some advantages for repairing bone cartilage defects, it also has some disadvantages. Our aim of this paper is to review the current status and prospect of photo-crosslinkable hydrogel-based 3D bioprinting for repairing osteochondral defects.

Meloxicam (MLX) is efficient in relieving pain and inflammatory symptoms, which, however, is limited by the poor solubility and gastrointestinal side effects. The objective of this study is to develop a nanocrystal formulation to enhance transdermal delivery of MLX. MLX nanocrystals were successfully prepared by the nanoprecipitation technique based on acid-base neutralization. With poloxamer 407 and Tween 80 (80/20, w/w) as mixed stabilizers, MLX nanocrystals with particle size of 175 nm were obtained. The crystalline structure of MLX nanocrystals was confirmed by both differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray powder diffractometry. However, the nanoprecipitation process reduced the crystallinity of MLX. Nanocrystals increased both in vitro and in vivo transdermal permeation of MLX compared with the solution and suspension counterparts. Due to the enhanced apparent solubility and dissolution as well as the facilitated hair follicular penetration, nanocrystals present a high and prolonged plasma MLX concentration. And 2.58- and 4.4-fold increase in AUC0→24h was achieved by nanocrystals comparing with solution and suspension, respectively. In conclusion, nanocrystal is advantageous for transdermal delivery of MLX. Keywords: Meloxicam, Nanocrystals, Transdermal delivery, Nanoprecipitation, Acid-base neutralization

BackgroundThe prompt diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) remains a challenge in clinical practice. The present study aimed to optimize an algorithm for rapid diagnosis of PTB in a real-world setting.Methods28,171 adult inpatients suspected of having PTB in China were retrospectively analyzed. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and/or sputum were used for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear, Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert), and culture. A positive mycobacterial culture was used as the reference standard. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were used for T-SPOT.TB. We analyzed specimen types’ effect on these assays’ performance, determined the number of smears for diagnosing PTB, and evaluated the ability of these assays performed alone, or in combination, to diagnose PTB and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections.ResultsSputum and BALF showed moderate to substantial consistency when they were used for AFB smear or Xpert, with a higher positive detection rate by BALF. 3-4 smears had a higher sensitivity than 1-2 smears. Moreover, simultaneous combination of AFB and Xpert correctly identified 44/51 of AFB+/Xpert+ and 6/7 of AFB+/Xpert- cases as PTB and NTM, respectively. Lastly, when combined with AFB/Xpert sequentially, T-SPOT showed limited roles in patients that were either AFB+ or Xpert+. However, T-SPOTMDC (manufacturer-defined cut-off) showed a high negative predicative value (99.1%) and suboptimal sensitivity (74.4%), and TBAg/PHA (ratio of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antigens to phytohaemagglutinin spot-forming cells, which is a modified method calculating T-SPOT.TB assay results) ≥0.3 demonstrated a high specificity (95.7%) and a relatively low sensitivity (16.3%) in AFB-/Xpert- patients.ConclusionsConcurrently performing AFB smear (at least 3 smears) and Xpert on sputum and/or BALF could aid in rapid diagnosis of PTB and NTM infections in a real-world high-burden setting. If available, BALF is preferred for both AFB smear and Xpert. Expanding this algorithm, PBMC T-SPOTMDC and TBAg/PHA ratios have a supplementary role for PTB diagnosis in AFB-/Xpert- patients (moderately ruling out PTB and ruling in PTB, respectively). Our findings may also inform policy makers’ decisions regarding prevention and control of TB in a high burden setting.

Dinitroanilines are microtubule inhibitors, targeting tubulin proteins in plants and protists. Dinitroaniline herbicides, such as trifluralin, pendimethalin and oryzalin, have been used as pre-emergence herbicides for weed control for decades. With widespread resistance to post-emergence herbicides in weeds, the use of pre-emergence herbicides such as dinitroanilines has increased, in part, due to relatively slow evolution of resistance in weeds to these herbicides. Target-site resistance (TSR) to dinitroaniline herbicides due to point mutations in α-tubulin genes has been confirmed in a few weedy plant species (e.g., Eleusine indica, Setaria viridis, and recently in Lolium rigidum). Of particular interest is the resistance mutation Arg-243-Met identified from dinitroaniline-resistant L. rigidum that causes helical growth when plants are homozygous for the mutation. The recessive nature of the TSR, plus possible fitness cost for some resistance mutations, likely slows resistance evolution. Furthermore, non-target-site resistance (NTSR) to dinitroanilines has been rarely reported and only confirmed in Lolium rigidum due to enhanced herbicide metabolism (metabolic resistance). A cytochrome P450 gene (CYP81A10) has been recently identified in L. rigidum that confers resistance to trifluralin. Moreover, TSR and NTSR have been shown to co-exist in the same weedy species, population, and plant. The implication of knowledge and information on TSR and NTSR in management of dinitroaniline resistance is discussed.

BackgroundLung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a common lung cancer with a high mortality, for which microRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in its regulation. Multiple messenger RNAs (mRNAs) may be regulated by miRNAs, involved in LUAD tumorigenesis and progression. However, the miRNA–mRNA regulatory network involved in LUAD has not been fully elucidated.MethodsDifferentially expressed miRNAs and mRNA were derived from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset in tissue samples and from our microarray data in plasma (GSE151963). Then, common differentially expressed (Co-DE) miRNAs were obtained through intersected analyses between the above two datasets. An overlap was applied to confirm the Co-DEmRNAs identified both in targeted mRNAs and DEmRNAs in TCGA. A miRNA–mRNA regulatory network was constructed using Cytoscape. The top five miRNA were identified as hub miRNA by degrees in the network. The functions and signaling pathways associated with the hub miRNA-targeted genes were revealed through Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway. The key mRNAs in the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network were identified using the STRING database and CytoHubba. Survival analyses were performed using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA).ResultsThe miRNA–mRNA regulatory network consists of 19 Co-DEmiRNAs and 760 Co-DEmRNAs. The five miRNAs (miR-539-5p, miR-656-3p, miR-2110, let-7b-5p, and miR-92b-3p) in the network were identified as hub miRNAs by degrees (>100). The 677 Co-DEmRNAs were targeted mRNAs from the five hub miRNAs, showing the roles in the functional analyses of the GO analysis and KEGG pathways (inclusion criteria: 836 and 48, respectively). The PPI network and Cytoscape analyses revealed that the top ten key mRNAs were NOTCH1, MMP2, IGF1, KDR, SPP1, FLT1, HGF, TEK, ANGPT1, and PDGFB. SPP1 and HGF emerged as hub genes through survival analysis. A high SPP1 expression indicated a poor survival, whereas HGF positively associated with survival outcomes in LUAD.ConclusionThis study investigated a miRNA–mRNA regulatory network associated with LUAD, exploring the hub miRNAs and potential functions of mRNA in the network. These findings contribute to identify new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for LUAD patients in clinical settings.

Low frequency oscillation is an important attribute of human brain activity, and the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) is an effective method to reflect the characteristics of low frequency oscillation, which has been widely used in the treatment of brain diseases and other fields. However, due to the low accuracy of the current analysis methods for low frequency signal extraction of ALFF, we propose the Fourier-based synchrosqueezing transform (FSST), which is often used in the field of signal processing to extract the ALFF of the low frequency power spectrum of the whole-time dimension. The low frequency characteristics of the extracted signal are compared with those of FSST and fast Fourier transform (FFT) through the resting-state data. It is clear that the signal extracted by FSST has more low frequency characteristics, which is significantly different from FFT.

Background: The density and the activity of mast cells are associated with endometriosis. However, the role of mast cells on the pathogenesis of endometriosis remains unclear. Our study aims to investigate whether endometrial cells interact with mast cells and the involvement of their crosstalk in the development of endometriosis. Methods: The transwell assay was applied to investigate the effect of mast cells on the migratory ability of human primary endometrial cells. Mast cells were cocultured with endometrial epithelial and stromal cells respectively and total RNAs were isolated and subjected to mRNA sequencing. Next, the transwell assay, CCK-8, and tube formation were applied to study the role of CCL8 on the endometrial and endothelial cells in vitro. The mouse model was also established to confirm the role of CCL8 in the development and angiogenesis of endometriosis. Results: CCL8 was up-regulated in mast cells when cocultured with endometrial cells. CCL8 was highly expressed in the ectopic endometrium and the serum of patients with endometriosis. CCL8 promoted the migratory ability of endometrial epithelial and stromal cells and increased the proliferation, migration, and tube formation of endothelial cells. CCR1, the receptor of CCL8, was over-expressed in the ectopic endometrium and colocalized with blood vessels in ovarian endometriomas. The inhibition of CCR1 suppressed the development and angiogenesis of endometriosis in vivo. Conclusion: The crosstalk between endometrial cells and mast cells in the development of endometriosis via CCL8/CCR1 was demonstrated, thereby providing a new treatment strategy for endometriosis.

Objective This study aimed to determine the relationship between serum testosterone levels and depressive symptoms in an adult male population. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1166 male participants from Zunyi, Guizhou, China. Each participant completed a questionnaire, a brief clinical exam, and had a fasting blood sample taken. We measured serum testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, and luteinizing hormone levels. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the effect of demographic factors on the relationship between the depressive symptom score and serum sex hormone levels. Results Mean testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, and luteinizing hormone levels were significantly higher in the depressive symptom group than in the non-depressed group. The mean calculated free serum testosterone level and free testosterone index (FTI) were significantly lower in the depressive symptom group than in the non-depressed group. Additionally, the mean FTI was significantly negatively correlated with the Beck Depression Inventory scale score in the multiple linear regression model (95% confidence interval: −3.274 to −0.406). Conclusions Decreased bioactive testosterone levels might be a contributing factor of depression in adult men. The FTI could be the most sensitive biomarker reflecting the level of bioavailable testosterone in patients with depression.

The evolution of herbicide resistance in weedy plants leads to various adaptation traits including flowering time and seed germination. In our previous studies, we found an association of the early flowering phenotype with the ACCase inhibitor herbicide resistance genotype in a population of Polypogon fugax. MADS-box transcription factors are known to play pivotal roles in regulating plant flowering time. In this study, a SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP)-like gene, belonging to the StMADS11 subfamily in the MADS-box family, was cloned from the early flowering P. fugax population (referred to as PfMADS16) and resistant to the herbicide clodinafop- propargyl. Overexpression of the SVP-like gene PfMADS16 in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in early flowering and seed abortion. This is consistent with the phenotypic characters of resistant P. fugax plants, but contrary to the conventional role of SVP-like genes that usually suppress flowering. In addition, down regulation of the seed formation gene AtKTN1 in flowers of PfMADS16 transgenic Arabidopsis plants indicates that PfMADS16 may be indirectly associated with seed viability. Furthermore, one protein (PfMADS2) from the APETALA1 (AP1) subfamily interacting with PfMADS16 in P. fugax was identified with relevance to flowering time regulation. These results suggest that the PfMADS16 gene is an early flowering regulation gene associated with seed formation and viability in resistant P. fugax population. Our study provides potential application of PfMADS16 for integrated weed management (such as genetic-based weed control strategies) aiming to reduce the soil weed seedbank.

Colored wheat is a valuable resource that is rich in anthocyanins and minerals and thus contributes additional nutritional value to a healthy human diet. However, the effects of nitrogen fertilization on anthocyanin content (AC) and the balance between quality and yield still merit discussion. In this study, blue, purple, and common-colored wheat genotypes were used to investigate three nutrient quality traits, seven processing quality traits, three yield traits and seven grain morphology traits at three nitrogen levels in two years to excavate their possible plasticity under low-nitrogen stress and the tradeoffs among these traits. The highest AC was found in the blue genotypes followed by the purple genotypes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that AC could be significantly increased by reducing N application, especially in the purple genotypes. Therefore, growing colored wheat with low nitrogen input could allow efficient harvesting of grain with higher AC. However, the other nutrient quality traits and most processing quality traits were observed to decrease under low-nitrogen (LN) stress. Additionally, a correlation analysis indicated that the nutrient quality traits had stable tradeoffs with thousand kernel weight at all N levels because of the significantly negative correlations among them. Therefore, the additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model was used to further identify the most suitable colored genotypes with the best yield potential and also nutrient quality relative characteristics under LN stress. The blue lines Lanmai2999 and purple varieties Zhongkezinuomai 168 were found to be specifically adapted to LN stress with the highest AC values and showed stable performance in the other nutrient quality- and yield-related features. To further investigate the possible mechanism of anthocyanin accumulation in response to reduced N application, the expression of four genes (TaCHS, TaFDR, TaCHI and TaANS) involved in the anthocyanin synthesis pathway was evaluated. All four genes were downregulated under high nitrogen fertilizer application, indicating that anthocyanin synthesis in colored wheat might be inhibited by nitrogen fertilizer. Therefore, this research provided information for optimizing nitrogen fertilizer management in producing colored wheat and also demonstrated that it is efficient and economical to plant colored wheat genotypes in nitrogen-poor areas for use in a healthy human diet, improving the benefits of wheat planting and facilitating nitrogen pollution control.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is well known for many foodborne outbreaks that lead to fatal infections in human being worldwide. The objective of this study was to develop a rapid and sensitive method for detection of EHEC O157:H7 from ground beef using a method that combined immunomagnetic separation (IMS) with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The EHEC O157:H7 cells were separated with Dynabeads coated with anti- EHEC O157:H7 after a short enrichment for 4 h. Then, EHEC O157:H7 was identified by LAMP assay for amplifying and detecting the rfbE gene, which is highly conserved in all EHEC O157:H7 strains and exhibits strain-specifi c gene expression. The LAMP method results analyzed with real time turbidity measurements showed a high specificity and sensitivity, with a positive detection rate of amplifi cation of EHEC O157:H7 DNA diluted to a minimum equivalent concentration of 1.8 × 101 CFU/mL, which was 10 times more sensitive than the conventional PCR assay. The IMS followed with LAMP could capture and detect a bacterial concentration as low as 3×101 CFU/mL from the meat samples, which was close to the sensitivity of LAMP assay with pure culture. IMS combined with realistic LAMP method is a simple, rapid, highly specific gene amplifi cation technology that is suitable for implementing as a screening assay in basic laboratory and field test for detecting food contamination.

Micro layer of GO was obtained by micro adjustment and control. LiFePO4/graphene composite cathode materials were synthesized using a spray drying followed by high temperature reduction modification method, to improve conductivity of LiFePO4 with excellent conductivity of graphene. The structure, morphology and electrochemical performance of the composite materials were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM and electrochemical measurement technologies. The three-dimensional conductive network was constructed by graphene composite in material particles, which can improve the charge transfer rate of the interface of electrolyte/electrode materials and the electrochemical performance of LiFePO4. The results show that the discharge specific capacity of LiFePO4 without graphene is only 155mAh/g, while the discharge specific capacity of LiFePO4/graphene is 164mAh/g at 0.1C.The discharge specific capacity of LiFePO4/graphene is 140,119mAh/g at 1,2C,respectively.

The interdisciplinary research of the radio-frequency (RF) signal-based wireless power and information transfer is expected to address the energy shortage issue in the massively deployed low-power Internet of Things devices. Different from conventional wireless powered communication networks (WPCNs), the hybrid base station (H-BS) adopts the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) for the sake of satisfying the downlink data and energy requests of the multiple user equipments (UEs). The energy harvested from the downlink transmissions can be depleted for supporting the UEs' uplink transmissions. Integrating SWIPT in the downlink transmission of the WPCN yields a generic integrated data and energy communication network, where the H-BS is equipped with multiple antennas and both the downlink and uplink transmissions are slotted in the time-domain. Furthermore, both the sum-throughput and the fair-throughput of the uplink transmissions are maximized by jointly optimizing the transmit beamformer of the H-BS in the spatial-domain, the time-slot allocation in the time-domain and the signal splitting strategies of the UEs in the power domain, while satisfying the UEs' minimum downlink transmission requirements. Due to the non-convexity of the problem, a low-complexity successive convex approximation-based algorithm is relied upon for obtaining the optimal resource allocation scheme in the time-domain, power-domain, and spatial-domain. The numerical results validate the efficiency of our proposed resource allocation algorithm and they also demonstrate that supporting low-rate data services during the downlink transmissions does not degrade the wireless power transfer and hence does not reduce the uplink throughput.

Imbalanced data exists commonly in machine learning classification applications. Popular classification algorithms are based on the assumption that data in different classes are roughly equally distributed; however, extremely skewed data, with instances from one class taking up most of the dataset, is not exceptional in practice. Thus, performance of algorithm often degrades significantly when encountering skewed data. Mitigating the problem caused by imbalanced data has been an open challenge for years, and previous researches mostly have proposed solutions from the perspectives of data re-sampling and algorithm improvement. In this paper, focusing on two-class imbalanced data, we have proposed a novel divergence-encouraging autoencoder (DEA) to explicitly learn features from both of the two classes and have designed an imbalanced data classification algorithm based on the proposed autoencoder. By encouraging maximization of divergence loss between different classes in the bottleneck layer, the proposed DEA can learn features for both majority and minority classes simultaneously. The training procedure of the proposed autoencoder is to alternately optimize reconstruction and divergence losses. After obtaining the features, we directly compute the cosine distances between the training and testing features and compare the median of distances between classes to perform classification. Experimental results illustrate that our algorithm outperform ordinary and loss-sensitive CNN models both in terms of performance evaluation metrics and convergence properties. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper proposed to solve the imbalanced data classification problem from the perspective of explicitly learning representations of different classes simultaneously. In addition, designing of the proposed DEA is also an innovative work, which could improve the performance of imbalanced data classification without data re-sampling and benefit future researches in the field.

Tea [Camellia sinensis (L.)] plants are important economic crop in China. Chilling stress and freezing damages have seriously affected the quality of tea products that have been already regarded as the main restricting factors to industry’s development. Nitric oxide (NO) plays a crucial role in resistance of abiotic stresses. An experiment was conducted in an artificial climate chamber to study the effect of NO on tea plants grown under chilling stress (−2 °C) for 0, 6, 24, 48, and 72 h. Foliar application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) at a rate of 500 μmol·L−1 was used as NO donor. The experiment contained two factors: the first was the foliar application with SNP or distilled water, and the scond one was the chilling (−2 °C) exposure time (0, 6, 24, 48, and 72 h). The effects of NO on membrane lipid peroxidation, osmotic adjustment substances, and antioxidant activity under cold stress were studied. In addition, the gene expression of CsICE1 and CsCBF1 in respond to NO addition were also investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results show that foliar addition of NO (500 μmol·L−1 of SNP) reduce the relative conductivity of tea leaves, inhibits the elevated malondialdehyde content, promotes the accumulation of proline, soluble protein and sugar, and increases the superoxide dismutase, catalase activities, thereby alleviates the damage of cold stress on tea leaves. The CsICE1 expression in 500 μM SNP treatment was peaked at 24 h of low temperature stress, while it did not express at normal temperature. Therefore, the current study is considered a good scientific material in understanding how tea plants sense and defense the chilling stress and that plays an important role to improve the level of production and economic benefits. It is also provided significant theory bas to control chilling stress in tea plants.

ABSTRACT IMPACT: We are developing the 3D perfusion system for use with patient-derived bacteria to further characterize the mechanism behind bacterial-induced inflammation and cancer. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: We previously reported the adherent invasive E. coli NC101 promote colorectal cancer (CRC) in mice. FimH, a mannose-specific adhesin on type 1 fimbriae, is involved in bacterial surface adhesion. Herein, we investigated the role of FimH in E. coli NC101-induced adherence and carcinogenesis in a novel 3D perfusion culture imaging plate. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: E. coli NC101 gene fimH was deleted byï ŲRed Recombinase System. Biofilm formation was assessed by crystal violet and congo red staining. 5 dpf (wild-type strain) zebrafish embryos were infected in 6x107 cfu/ml wild type (WT) or fimH-deleted (ï ,,fimH) E. coli NC101 for 24hr and gut dissected for bacterial culture. A 2D/3D infection culture system for IEC-6 and HT-29 cells was infected for 4 hr and imaged and then DNA damage examined by comet assay, cell cycle andÎ3H2AX accumulation. Germ-free (GF) Il10-/- (colitis) mice were orally gavaged with 108 cfu WT orï ,,fimH E. coli NC101 for 16 weeks. E. coli colonization were quantified by plate culture and qPCR. Lipocalin2 was quantified by ELISA. PCNA and β-catenin were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Biofilm formation was reduced by more than 40% (p

Chen, Y., Zhu, J. Y., Qin, Y., Zhang, Z. M., & Yuan, S. C. (March-April, 2017). Reactivation of hypersaline aerobic granular sludge after low-temperature storage. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 8 (2), 61-70. Reactivation of hypersaline aerobic granular sludge after low-temperature storage was studied by slowly increasing the organic loading. Results indicated that the basic external features of thawed hypersaline aerobic granules were still largely intact after a six-week low temperature storage, but the colors and internal structure changed greatly. Aerobic granules experienced a process of particle disintegration, fragmentary particles, filamentous bacteria-like particles, and dense granules during the recovery process. After more than one-month re-cultivation, the settling property, dehydrogenase activity, and nitrification properties of hypersaline aerobic granules returned to normal. During the re-cultivated process, the decentralized growth pattern of particles can be effectively controlled, and granules can grow compactly by controlling water alkalinity, aeration rate and reactor settling time.

Qin, Y., Guo, J., & Fang, F. (March-April, 2017). Comparison on nitrosation and anaerobic ammonium oxidation between activated sludge and biofilm from an autotrophic nitrogen removal SBBR. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 8(2), 141-149. Activated sludge and biofilm from a Sequencing Biofilm Batch Reactor (SBBR) were studied to analyze their different roles in autotrophic nitrogen removal process. Results showed that under aerobic conditions, the ammonia oxidation rate of activated sludge was 100% and the maximum rate was 0.23 mgN mgVSS−1 d−1 during a 48 h test cycle. Under the same conditions, the ammonia oxidation rate of the biofilm was 72% and the maximum rate was 0.08 mgN mgVSS−1 d−1. The population of AOB (ammonium oxidizing bacteria) in activated sludge was 1.88×1011 cells/g, 10 times that in biofilm. The TN (total nitrogen) removal rate of activated sludge and biofilm under anaerobic conditions were 37% and 83%, respectively. The rate of anaerobic ammonium oxidation by activated sludge was 0.09 mgN mgVSS−1 d−1 and that of biofilm was 0.22 mgN mgVSS−1 d−1. ANAMMOX (anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria) were the dominant bacteria in terms of cell number in this system, with 2.66×1012 cells/g in biofilm—2.6 times more than in activated sludge. TN was removed mainly by anaerobic ammonium oxidation.

The CNTs/rGO/NG composite lithiumion battery anode material was synthesized by thermal reducing, using graphene oxide (GO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as precursors for a 5 ∶ 3 proportion. The morphology, structure, and electrochemical performance of the composite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffractometry(XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and electrochemical measurements. The results show that reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes form a perfect three-dimensional network structure on the surface of natural graphite. CNTs/rGO/NG composite has good rate performance and cycle life,compared with pure natural graphite.The initial discharge capacity of designed anode is 479mAh/g at 0.1C, the reversible capacity up to 473mAh/g after 100 cycles,the capacity is still 439.5mAh/g, the capacity retention rate is 92%,and the capacity is 457, 433, 394mAh/g at 0.5, 1, 5C, respectively.

We provide detailed datasets from our analysis of proteins that are differentially expressed in gastric cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal gastric tissues, as identified by iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics. Also included is a set of representative images of immunohistochemical staining of gastric cancer tissues showing four levels of expression of fatty acid binding protein (FABP1) and fatty acid synthase (FASN). The data presented in this paper support the research article “Quantitative proteomic analysis reveals that proteins required for fatty acid metabolism may serve as diagnostic markers for gastric cancer” (Jiang et al., 2017) [1]. We expect that the data will contribute to the identification of sensitive and specific biomarkers for early detection of gastric cancer.

AIM: To compare visual quality after femtosecond laser in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK), between the coaxially sighted corneal light reflex (CSCLR) group and conventional ablation line of sight (LOS) group. METHODS: In total, 243 eyes (122 patients) were treated with centration on the CSCLR (visual axis) and 238 eyes (119 patients) treated with centration on the pupil center (LOS). Postoperative outcomes [uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA)], safety index, efficacy index, refractive outcome, ablation center distance from the visual axis, corneal high-order aberrations, subjective discomfort glare and shadowing incidence rate, and contrast sensitivity at 1, 3, and 6mo were measured and compared. RESULTS: The mean age was 27.77±7.1y in the CSCLR group and 26.03±7.70y in the LOS group. Preoperatively, the manifest refraction spherical equivalent (MRSE) was -6.68±2.60 D in the CSCLR group and -6.65±2.68 D in the LOS group. The postoperative UCVA, BSCVA, MRSE (-0.03±0.263 D in the CSCLR group, -0.05±0.265 D in the LOS group), efficacy index (1.04, 1.03), and safety index (1.09, 1.08) were not significantly different between the groups (all P>0.05). In total, 3% lost one line and more of BSCVA in the CSCLR group, as 9% in the LOS group postoperatively (P

Targeted therapy with epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKIs) is regarded as the main accepted first-line treatment on EGFR mutation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although targeted therapy for the first and two generation of TKIs may lead to longer progression-free survival (PFS) and better tolerance for patients, the long-term treatment will inevitably lead to drug resistance. Among them, more than 50% of acquired resistance is associated with T790M mutation. The latest guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) have been proposed that the three generation of TKI (Osimertinib) can be used in first-line TKI therapy progress with detecting T790M mutations in patients. Encouraged by the treatment time of the median PFS up to 13 months and sequential EGFR-TKIs treatment which brought from the three generation of TKI, we also face serious challenges, such as how to achieve the detecting and the dynamic monitoring of T790M, the research progress, mechanism of drug resistance and subsequent treatment of the existing three generation TKI etc. This article will revolve around the above hot issues.

C9H4Na2O6, monoclinic, C2/c (no. 15), a = 14.6828(15) Å, b = 9.8602(10) Å, c = 6.5024(7) Å, β = 101.360(4)°, V = 922.94(17) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0337, wRref(F2) = 0.0775, T = 173(2) K.

C16H21BrFNO4, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 9.0896(4) Å, b = 10.8609(4) Å, c = 18.5637(8) Å, β = 99.5050(10)°, V = 1807.47(13) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0382, wRref(F2) = 0.0900, T = 170 K.

C14H12Br2O2, monoclinic, C2/c (no. 15), a = 27.323(3) Å, b = 5.8516(6) Å, c = 8.9145(10) Å, β = 103.596(3)°, V = 1385.4(3) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0378, wRref(F2) = 0.1019, T = 296(2) K.

C22H21NO3, triclinic, P1̄ (no. 2), a = 5.757(3) Å, b = 12.106(5) Å, c = 13.139(6) Å, α = 93.725(12)°, β = 92.508(15)°, γ = 92.508(15)° V = 891.3(7) Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0474, wRref(F2) = 0.1429, T = 296(2) K.

Objective To compare the diagnostic performance of the manual BACTEC™ Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT™) system (M-MGIT) with the automated BACTEC™ MGIT™ 960 system (A-MGIT) and Löwenstein-Jensen (L-J) culture method in detecting mycobacteria in sputum specimens from patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Methods For this cross-sectional study, sputum samples were taken from patients aged ≥18 years attending a TB clinic in Beijing, China between July 2015 and October 2016. Processed sputum samples were inoculated into the MGIT systems and L-J medium for up to 6 and 8 weeks, respectively. Results The M-MGIT and A-MGIT methods detected significantly more Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) isolates than L-J culture from the 565 sputum samples (39%, 40% and 32%, respectively). Using a positive result from any of the three culture systems as reference, the sensitivity of M-MGIT, A-MGIT and L-J methods were 92%, 94%, and 74%, respectively. The time-to-detection of mycobacteria was 12.9±4.2 days for M-MGIT, 11.8±5.2 days for A-MGIT and 24.2±8.7 days for L-J. Conclusions M-MGIT has a similar diagnostic performance to A-MGIT, and is a fast and reliable alternative to conventional culture methods in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB in a developing country.

DNA replication is precisely regulated in cells and its dysregulation can trigger tumorigenesis. Here we identified that the TOPBP1 interacting checkpoint and replication regulator (TICRR) mRNA level was universally and highly expressed in 15 solid cancer types. Depletion of TICRR significantly inhibited tumor cell growth, colony formation and migration in vitro, and strikingly inhibited tumor growth in the xenograft model. We reveal that knockdown of TICRR inhibited not only the initiation but also the fork progression of DNA replication. Suppression of DNA synthesis by TICRR silencing caused DNA damage accumulation, subsequently activated the ATM/CHK2 dependent p53 signaling, and finally induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis at least in p53-wild cancer cells. Further, we show that a higher TICRR level was associated with poorer overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) in multiple cancer types. In conclusion, our study shows that TICRR is involved in tumorigenesis by regulating DNA replication, acting as a common biomarker for cancer prognosis and could be a promising target for drug-development and cancer treatment.