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In realistic metrology, entangled probes are more sensitive to noise, especially for a correlated environment. The precision of parameter estimation with entangled probes is even lower than that of the unentangled ones in a correlated environment. In this paper, we propose a measurement scheme with only one auxiliary qubit, which can selectively offset the impact of environmental noise under this situation. We analyse the estimation precision of our scheme and find out that it approaches the Heisenberg limit when prepared in a proper auxiliary state. We further discuss employing auxiliary states to improve the precision of measurement in other environment models such as a partially-correlated environment. In order to verify our scheme, we apply a recently-developed quantum algorithm to simulate the quantum dynamics of our proposal and show that it outperform the other proposals with less resources., 10 pages, 5 figures

Background: Accumulating evidence has revealed that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients may be complicated with myocardial injury during hospitalization. However, data regarding persistent cardiac involvement in patients who recovered from COVID-19 are limited. Our goal is to further explore the sustained impact of COVID-19 during follow-up, focusing on the cardiac involvement in the recovered patients.Methods: In this prospective observational follow-up study, we enrolled a total of 40 COVID-19 patients (20 with and 20 without cardiac injury during hospitalization) who were discharged from Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University for more than 6 months, and 27 patients (13 with and 14 without cardiac injury during hospitalization) were finally included in the analysis. Clinical information including self-reported symptoms, medications, laboratory findings, Short Form 36-item scores, 6-min walk test, clinical events, electrocardiogram assessment, echocardiography measurement, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was collected and analyzed.Results: Among 27 patients finally included, none of patients reported any obvious cardiopulmonary symptoms at the 6-month follow-up. There were no statistically significant differences in terms of the quality of life and exercise capacity between the patients with and without cardiac injury. No significant abnormalities were detected in electrocardiogram manifestations in both groups, except for nonspecific ST-T changes, premature beats, sinus tachycardia/bradycardia, PR interval prolongation, and bundle-branch block. All patients showed normal cardiac structure and function, without any statistical differences between patients with and without cardiac injury by echocardiography. Compared with patients without cardiac injury, patients with cardiac injury exhibited a significantly higher positive proportion in late gadolinium enhancement sequences [7/13 (53.8%) vs. 1/14 (7.1%), p = 0.013], accompanied by the elevation of circulating ST2 level [median (interquartile range) = 16.6 (12.1, 22.5) vs. 12.5 (9.5, 16.7); p = 0.044]. Patients with cardiac injury presented higher levels of aspartate aminotransferase, creatinine, high-sensitivity troponin I, lactate dehydrogenase, and N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide than those without cardiac injury, although these indexes were within the normal range for all recovered patients at the 6-month follow-up. Among patients with cardiac injury, patients with positive late gadolinium enhancement presented higher cardiac biomarker (high-sensitivity troponin I) and inflammatory factor (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) on admission than the late gadolinium enhancement–negative subgroup.Conclusions: Our preliminary 6-month follow-up study with a limited number of patients revealed persistent cardiac involvement in 29.6% (8/27) of recovered patients from COVID-19 after discharge. Patients with cardiac injury during hospitalization were more prone to develop cardiac fibrosis during their recovery. Among patients with cardiac injury, those with relatively higher cardiac biomarkers and inflammatory factors on admission appeared more likely to have cardiac involvement in the convalescence phase.

Hepatocyte nuclear receptor 4 α (HNF4α) is known to be a master transcription regulator of gene expression in multiple biological processes, particularly in liver development and liver function. To date, the function of HNF4α in human cancers has been widely investigated; however, the critical roles of HNF4α in tumorigenesis remain unclear. Numerous controversies exist, even in studies from different research groups but on the same type of cancer. In the present review, the critical roles of HNF4α in tumorigenesis will be summarized and discussed. Furthermore, HNF4α expression profile and alterations will be examined by pan-cancer analysis through bioinformatics, in order to provide a better understanding of the functional roles of this gene in human cancers.

Background To retrospectively evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness and safety of flexible ureteroscopes without preoperative ureteral stent placement. Methods A total of 243 patients who had undergone flexible ureteroscopy (fURS) lithotripsy were reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups: 119 patients without preoperative ureteral stent placement were set as group A; and the remaining 124 patients who received preoperative ureteral stent placement were set as group B. The operative time, length of hospital stay, hospital costs, stone-free rates (SFRs), complications, and re-operation rates of the two groups were respectively compared. Results Pairwise analysis indicated the following: the average operative time of group A was longer than that of group B (66.53±10.19 versus 59.85±9.85 min, P=0.0001), the average length of hospital stay of group A was considerably shorter than that of group B (6.56±0.90 versus 10.67±1.50 d, P=0.0001), the SFRs of group A were significantly lower than those of group B at 3 days postoperatively (36.1%, 43/119 versus 51.6%, 64/124, P=0.0034), and the average hospital costs were substantially lower in group A than those in group B (18,756 versus 23,450 RMB, P=0.0001). However, there were no notable differences observed in the following: SFRs between the groups at 1 month postoperatively (84.0%, 100/119 of group A versus 85.5%, 106/124 of group B, P=0.895), complications rates (20.1%, 26/124 in group A versus 20.1%, 23/114 in group B, P=0.597), and re-operation rates (15.1%, 18/119 in group A versus 16.9%, 21/124 in group B, P=0.558). Conclusions These results indicated that fURS without preoperative ureteral stent placement is safe and effective for the treatment of upper urinary calculi.

The practical application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in hot fields is summarized. It is found that compared with traditional monitoring methods, it has better adaptability to complex environments and low cost. It is suitable for monitoring power grid operation parameters. Therefore, this paper combines the above network and cascading failures, analyzes its 24-hour continuous and dynamic monitoring of the operation parameters of the power grid, and considers how to use the obtained parameters to analyze the disturbance of the remaining lines after the initial fault of the power grid. To prevent cascading failures in the power grid, a preventive control model considering safety and economy is proposed, and the model is solved by nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II and particle swarm optimization (NSGA2-PSO). Finally, the rationality of this method is verified in the IEEE39 node system.

This article introduces a method by which the power grid's security level can be observed in advance based on the expected initial failure. Firstly, based on the general form of cascading trip, this paper gives a mathematical expression of grid tripping based on cascading trip relay protection action behavior. According to the mathematical expression, the relationship between grid tripping and grid node injection power is discussed. According to this relationship, the distance between the node injection power under the current operation state and the nearest critical state node injection power is taken as the index to measure the power grid's security for cascading trip. According to this index, combined with various power grid constraints before and after the initial fault, a mathematical model for obtaining this safety index is given. This model is an optimized mathematical model. For the model, this paper gives a solution idea based on particle swarm. Finally, a few cases are performed in the IEEE-14 node system, and the calculations of the cases proved the accuracy of the proposed model and method.

In this study, the influence of rod waveguide on the acoustic emission (AE) signals of different frequencies was investigated. Two influential factors were considered: the rod waveguide and the interface between specimen and rod waveguide. Firstly, the attenuation effects of AE signals with different frequencies transmitting in rod waveguide were studied. Secondly, the variation of the wave when the AE signal went through the interface was studied. The results were compared to the data gotten in the first step. According to these experiments, the following experimental phenomena can be observed: the energy and amplitude of the acoustic signal are attenuated by the rod waveguide more strongly with the increase of frequency; The maximum rates of attenuation respectively reach 98.81% and 99.18%; When the frequency of signal is less than 300 kHz, the rate of attenuation is within 30%; On the contrary, the interface enhances the energy and amplitude. According to further analysis, it can be drawn that when the AE signal is lower than a certain frequency, the energy, amplitude and frequency are all can be used as characteristic parameters under the condition of rod waveguide is used. Besides, frequency is a better parameter than energy and amplitude when the AE signal is higher than the threshold.

The use of prepaid electricity meters appeared in many countries a few years ago and has been widely recognized by consumers and managed to find solutions to too many problems faced by distribution companies. But for traditional systems, users must purchase electricity and manually charge the meter. For example, if he is in the office and needs to charge the house electricity meter, then he must go home to do this, which is considered a waste of time and energy. However, the advanced low-cost smart prepaid electricity meter is a solution to the problem mentioned earlier. By sending GSM text messages to the Arduino as a microcontroller through the GSM module, consumers can use their mobile phones to charge the electricity meter anywhere. This is the main reason for the microcontroller. The control process is also connected to an electricity meter and also to a relay module to provide power for consumers or consumers when the balance is equal to zero.

In the case of power grid cascading trip, this study puts forward a strategy to prevent cascading trip by changing the output of generator set. Firstly, according to the specific performance of the power grid under the cascade tripping, combined with the action behavior of the line current-type backup protection, and an expression equation for measuring the safety level index between the power grid and the cascading trip failure is given. Secondly, the vulnerable branch is found out through the safety level index, the output of the key power generation nodes on the branch is taken as the optimization variable, and the optimization model is established to improve the safety level index under the chain trip of the power grid. Finally, a combination of sensitivity analysis and particle swarm optimization(PSO) was used to analyze an example on the IEEE-39 node system. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the model and method, and provide a reference for preventing chain trip accidents.

Short-term load forecasting can reasonably allocate power resources and keep modern power systems in a stable and reliable working state. Due to the increasing requirements of modern power systems in recent years and the close integration of computer technology and smart grids, artificial intelligence has been widely used in power load forecasting. The least-square support vector machine (LSSVM) model is used in It has good forecasting effect in short-term load forecasting. This article introduces several artificial intelligence algorithms that can be used to optimize model parameters and summarize methods to make model prediction results more accurate.

With the development of science and technology, many scholars study artificial intelligence technology in distribution network fault location. In recent times, there have been many achievements made by many researchers, of which some were the application of particle swarm optimization [1, 2], genetic algorithm [3, 4], ant colony algorithm [5]. This paper describes the application of a bi-state binary particle swarm optimization algorithm, multiple population genetic algorithm, and hybrid ant colony algorithm, the optimized intelligent algorithm in the distribution network's fault location. In distribution network fault location, traditional algorithms have more limitations, which need further improvement to make them more perfect—comparing the simulation data obtained before and after optimization shows that the optimized algorithm has faster convergence speed, higher accuracy, and higher fault location efficiency.

View of preventing cascading trips, this paper mainly studies the security level model of how to effectively prevent cascading failures in the system is studied. First of all, from the point of view of relay protection, we consider the case of backup protection for current protection, by judging the electrical distance between the operating parameters of the branch and the relay protection fixed value after the initial fault of the system, it can be judged whether the branch will undergo cascading trips or not. Then, considering the critical state of cascading trips in branch grids, a safety index is proposed to measure the shortest distance between the critical state of power grids and the current operation state, and the specific calculation method is given. Finally, an optimization model is given, which aims to find the nearest state on the boundary from the current operation state. Aiming at this model, this paper presents a solution method based on PSO algorithm, which is verified by simulation through an example analysis.

With the continuous development of the smart wireless communications, the importance of electric energy becomes increasingly evident. Intricately interconnected power grids will also suffer from the threats of blackouts caused by grid cascading failure while bringing convenience to the masses. The grid cascading trip is closely related to cascading failure. Generally, the cascading failure shows a cascading trip at early stage. Hence, the avoidance of occurrence of cascading trip at an early stage may restrain the occurrence of complex cascading failure, thereby avoiding the occurrence of the blackout. In this paper, the occurrence principle of the cascading trip is firstly analyzed from the perspective of relay protection. The output of the generator is taken as the optimization variable, and the optimization model for restraining the grid trip is presented. Finally, the example of IEEE14 node system is analyzed in this paper in combination with the particle swarm algorithm, which verifies the rationality of the proposed method.

Background The development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy involves the coordination of a series of transcription activators and repressors, while their interplay to trigger pathological gene reprogramming remains unclear. NULP1 (nuclear localized protein 1) is a member of the basic helix‐loop‐helix family of transcription factors and its biological functions in pathological cardiac hypertrophy are barely understood. Methods and Results Immunoblot and immunostaining analyses showed that NULP1 expression was consistently reduced in the failing hearts of patients and hypertrophic mouse hearts and rat cardiomyocytes. Nulp1 knockout exacerbates aortic banding‐induced cardiac hypertrophy pathology, which was significantly blunted by transgenic overexpression of Nulp1 . Signal pathway screening revealed the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) pathway to be dramatically suppressed by NULP1. Coimmunoprecipitation showed that NULP1 directly interacted with the topologically associating domain of NFAT3 via its C‐terminal region, which was sufficient to suppress NFAT3 transcriptional activity. Inactivation of the NFAT pathway by VIVIT peptides in vivo rescued the aggravated pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy resulting from Nulp1 deficiency. Conclusions NULP1 is an endogenous suppressor of NFAT3 signaling under hypertrophic stress and thus negatively regulates the pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy. Targeting overactivated NFAT by NULP1 may be a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of pathological cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.

Chinese herbal formulas including the lung-cleaning and toxicity-excluding (LCTE) soup have played an important role in treating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (caused by SARS-CoV-2) in China. Applying LCTE outside of China may prove challenging due to the unfamiliar rationale behind its application in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine. To overcome this barrier, a biochemical understanding of the clinical effects of LCTE is needed. Here, we explore the chemical compounds present in the reported LCTE ingredients and the proteins targeted by these compounds via a network pharmacology analysis. Our results indicate that LCTE contains compounds with the potential to directly inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and inflammation, and that the compound targets proteins highly related to COVID-19’s main symptoms. We predict the general effect of LCTE is to affect the pathways involved in viral and other microbial infections, inflammation/cytokine response, and lung diseases. Our work provides a biochemical basis for using LCTE to treat COVID-19 and its main symptoms., Deng-hai Zhang et al. report a network pharmacology analysis of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) lung-cleaning and toxicity-excluding (LCTE) soup. By exploring the chemical compounds that make up LCTE and the likely pathways and proteins that they target, the authors show that LCTE may have the potential to directly inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 virus and relieve inflammatory symptoms.

Background Calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM), the major crystalline composition of most kidney stones, induces inflammatory infiltration and injures in renal tubular cells. However, the mechanism of COM-induced toxic effects in renal tubular cells remain ambiguous. The present study aimed to investigate the potential changes in proteomic landscape of proximal renal tubular cells in response to the stimulation of COM crystals. Methods Clinical kidney stone samples were collected and characterized by a stone component analyzer. Three COM-enriched samples were applied to treat human proximal tubular epithelial cells HK-2. The proteomic landscape of COM-crystal treated HK-2 cells was screened by TMT-labeled quantitative proteomics analysis. The differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified by pair-wise analysis. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of DEPs were performed. Protein interaction networks were identified by STRING database. Results The data of TMT-labeled quantitative proteomic analysis showed that a total of 1141 proteins were differentially expressed in HK-2 cells, of which 699 were up-regulated and 442 were down-regulated. Functional characterization by KEGG, along with GO enrichments, suggests that the DEPs are mainly involved in cellular components and cellular processes, including regulation of actin cytoskeleton, tight junction and focal adhesion. 3 high-degree hub nodes, CFL1, ACTN and MYH9 were identified by STRING analysis. Conclusion These results suggested that calcium oxalate crystal has a significant effect on protein expression profile in human proximal renal tubular epithelial cells.

Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) is one of the most common birth defects, and occurs in approximately 1/700 live births worldwide. The correlation between theWe performed chromosome microarray analysis (CMA) for two consecutive abnormal fetuses and whole exome sequencing (WES) for the family, including 3 patients and 2 normal family members, Sanger sequencing and RT-PCR were used to confirm the mutation.We identified a novel splice donor mutation (In this study, we successfully diagnosed the genetic cause of NSCL/P in a family and first report that the c.1920 + 1G A mutation in

NOX5 (NADPH oxidase 5) is a homolog of the gp91

Background: Statins have multiple protective effects on inflammation, immunity and coagulation, and may help alleviate pneumonia. However, there was no report focusing on the association of statin use with in-hospital outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We investigated the association between the use of statins and in-hospital outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Methods: In this retrospective case series, consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted at 2 hospitals in Wuhan, China, from March 12, 2020 to April 14, 2020 were analyzed. A 1:1 matched cohort was created by propensity score-matched analysis. Demographic data, laboratory findings, comorbidities, treatments and in-hospital outcomes were collected and compared between COVID-19 patients taking and not taking statins. Result: A total of 2,147 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled in this study. Of which, 250 patients were on statin therapy. The mortality was 2.4% (6/250) for patients taking statins while 3.7% (70/1,897) for those not taking statins. In the multivariate Cox model, after adjusting for age, gender, admitted hospital, comorbidities, in-hospital medications and blood lipids, the risk was lower for mortality (adjusted HR, 0.428; 95% CI, 0.169-0.907; P = 0.029), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (adjusted HR, 0.371; 95% CI, 0.180-0.772; P = 0.008) or intensive care unit (ICU) care (adjusted HR, 0.319; 95% CI, 0.270-0.945; P = 0.032) in the statin group vs. the non-statin group. After propensity score-matched analysis based on 18 potential confounders, a 1:1 matched cohort (206:206) was created. In the matched cohort, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the use of statins was associated with better survival (P = 0.025). In a Cox regression model, the use of statins was associated with lower risk of mortality (unadjusted HR, 0.254; 95% CI, 0.070-0.926; P = 0.038), development of ARDS (unadjusted HR, 0.240; 95% CI, 0.087-0.657; P = 0.006), and admission of ICU (unadjusted HR, 0.349; 95% CI, 0.150-0.813; P = 0.015). The results remained consistent when being adjusted for age, gender, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, procalcitonin, and brain natriuretic peptide. The favorable outcomes in statin users remained statistically significant in the first sensitivity analysis with comorbid diabetes being excluded in matching and in the second sensitivity analysis with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease being added in matching. Conclusion: In this retrospective analysis, the use of statins in COVID-19 patients was associated with better clinical outcomes and is recommended to be continued in patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND Aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) plays an important role in the alcohol detoxification and acetaldehyde metabolism. Published studies have demonstrated some inconsistent associations between ALDH2 rs671 G>A polymorphism and head and neck cancer (HNC) risk. METHODS A meta-analysis was performed to provide pooled data on the association between the ALDH2 rs671 G>A polymorphism and HNC risk. Electronic databases were searched to identify relevant studies. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to examine the pooled effect size of each genetic model. In addition, heterogeneity test, accumulative analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias were conducted to test the statistical power. RESULTS Thirteen publications (14 independent case-control studies) involving 10,939 subjects were selected. The stratified analysis indicated that both light/moderated drinking (e.g., GA vs. GG: OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.16 to 1.86, p A mutation (e.g., GA vs. GG: OR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.11 to 4.77, p = 0.03, I2 = 81.9%). CONCLUSIONS In summary, this meta-analysis suggested that the ALDH2 rs671 G>A polymorphism may play an important synergistic effect in the pathogenesis of HNC development in East Asians.

Chinese herbal formulas, notably the lung-cleaning and toxicity-excluding (LCTE) soup has played an important role in treating an ongoing and life-threating worldwide pandemic, COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2). Applying LCTE outside of China may be difficult for medical society to approach due to the unfamiliar rationale behind its application in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine. To overcome this barrier, we illuminate the chemical and biological mechanisms behind LCTE’s effects, by exploring the chemical compounds contained in LCTE ingredients, the proteins targeted by these compounds as well as undertaking the network pharmacology analysis. The results disclosed that LCTE contains compounds with the potential to directly inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and inflammation, and that the compounds targeted proteins significantly related to the main symptoms seen in COVID-19. The general effect of LCTE was to affect the pathways involved in viral and other microbe infection, inflammation/cytokine response, and lung diseases. Our work provided chemical biological explanations for using LCTE to treat COVID-19.

Objective We aimed to investigate the value of whole-exome sequencing (WES) in fetuses with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) with or without other structural anomalies but with normal findings upon karyotyping and chromosome microarray analysis (CMA). Methods Cases with CAKUT with or without other structural anomalies were screened for eligibility. Fetuses with abnormal karyotyping or CMA results were excluded. We performed WES on DNA samples from eligible fetus-parental trios and identified diagnostic genetic variants based on ultrasonographic features. Results A total of 163 eligible fetus-parental trios were successfully analyzed by WES. We found 26 likely pathogenic or pathogenic variants in 18 genes from 20 fetuses, with a total proportion of diagnostic genetic variants of 12.3% (20/163). Genetic variants were significantly more frequently detected in fetuses with multisystem anomalies (27.0%, 10/37), enlarged kidney/echogenic kidney (20%, 4/20), and multicystic dysplastic kidney (11.1%, 4/36). Pregnancy outcome data showed that 88 (94.6%, 88/93) of the surviving cases with negative WES results had a good prognosis in early childhood. Conclusions Our study is the largest to use WES prenatally for CAKUT and shows that WES can be used diagnostically to define the molecular defects that underlie unexplained CAKUT.

Background: Increasing numbers of confirmed cases and deaths due to 2019-coronavirus infected disease (COVID-19) have occurred in Wuhan, China since December 20

This paper proposes a method to prevent cascading trip based on the action of relay protection and the output of generator as the optimization variable for aiming at the cascading trip in power grid. Firstly, the critical state of cascading trip is discussed, and the safety index of cascading trip in power grid is analyzed based on the analysis of the performance of cascading trip and the action of relay protection. On the basis of this index, a kind of optimized model of cascading trip prevention is given while considering the various constraints of power grid synthetically. This paper presents a complete algorithm flow for solving the optimized model combined with particle swarm optimization algorithm aiming at the proposed optimized model. Finally, on a IEEE39 system, an example is analyzed by the MATLAB program, which verifies the rationality of the proposed method.

In this paper, a grid security index considering cascade tripping is proposed, and an algorithm is proposed for this index combination with the operating behavior of relay protection so as to solve the cascading tripping problem of the power system. Firstly, according to the current behavior of branch cascading tripping and the action of line current-mode backup protection, the critical state of grid cascading trip is analyzed, and it is proved that the input power of grid nodes can be used to describe the security of grid. Then, based on the relationship between the input power of nodes and the security level of power grid, a model is presented to represent the security level of power system without cascading failures under the impact of initial faults, and the model is solved by particle swarm optimization. An example proves the validity of the algorithm.

Androgen and its receptor (AR) play an important role in maintaining spermatogenesis and male fertility. The nonclassical androgen signaling pathway is proposed to be mediated by an AR in plasma membrane in Sertoli cells. Our previous studies showed that testosterone induces cytoplasmic AR translocation to plasma membrane by binding with caveolin-1. This study was conducted to the underlying molecular mechanism mediating AR trafficking. Data from mass spectrometry using membrane coimmunoprecipitation sample by anti-AR antibody indicated VAPA is a candidate protein. Knockdown of VAPA by shRNA decreased the amount of AR localized to membrane and nuclear fraction and prevented AR trafficking after being exposed to testosterone. Further studies indicated AR trafficking in Sertoli cells might be mediated by VAPA via association with vesicle transport protein OSBP. This study can enrich the mechanism of the androgen actions and will be helpful for further clarifying the nonclassical signaling pathway of androgens in Sertoli cells.

In this study, AZ31 magnesium alloy plates with fine grained microstructure were processed by cold dynamic extrusion followed by low temperature annealing. The corresponding microstructure evolution and mechanical properties were systematically investigated, with a great emphasis on the effect of high {10−12} extension twin density. Profuse {10–12} extension twin and nanograined structure was generated in various regions after 20% cold dynamic extrusion. Thus, pre-twinning greatly improved the strength and ductility in magnesium alloy. In addition, the introduction of high twin density can be an effective way to improve mechanical properties of magnesium alloy via twin-dislocation interaction during plastic deformation. With mechanical behavior properly described, high twin density increases the uniformity of localized dislocation plasticity, thereby improving the strain hardening property. Also, we conclude that high strain rate in cold dynamic extrusion can be considered as an effective method for preparation of pre-twinning magnesium alloy, which exhibits good mechanical properties.

The mechanical behaviour and microstructure evolution of twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel subjected to tensile tests at high strain rate and low temperature were investigated. Under extreme conditions (3 × 103 s−1 and liquid nitrogen temperature), the TWIP steel exhibits high strain hardening capability and high strength, which are intimately related to deformation twinning. Here we investigate the plasticity and failure processes of a TWIP steel under extreme conditions, such as shock and/or cryogenic loading, and identify that deformation twinning no longer serves the fine plasticity. Obvious ductility loss has been found in TWIP steel even with strong strain hardening capability, which always leads to large uniform tensile ductility against local necking. In this study, the microstructure observations suggest that both of the second twin systems and nanotwin structures are highly active under extreme conditions. Twin-twin and dislocation-twin interactions accelerate the crack nucleation at and propagation along the twin boundaries. The conversion from twinning-induced plasticity to twinning-assisted cracking is controlled by twin structure and its spatio-temporal evolution, which are most susceptible to strain rate and temperature. These results provide an underlying micromechanism that controls the plasticity and failure in TWIP materials under extreme conditions and contributes to the understanding of twin structure-related processes to a broad community.

The transcription factor NFAT1 (nuclear factor of activated T-cells 1), with the aid of transcriptional coactivators, has been recognized for its necessity and sufficiency to drive pathological cardiac hypertrophy. However, how the transcriptional activity of NFAT1 in terms of cardiac hypertrophy is controlled at the transcriptional level has not been well defined. Herein, we showed that a cardiac-enriched protein IRF2BP2 (interferon regulatory factor-2 binding protein 2) was further upregulated in both human and mouse hypertrophied myocardium and negatively regulated cardiomyocyte hypertrophic response in vitro. By generating cardiomyocyte-specific Irf2bp2 knockout and Irf2bp2 -transgenic mouse strains, our in vivo experiments showed that, whereas IRF2BP2 loss-of-function exacerbated both aortic banding- and angiotensin II infusion-induced cardiac hypertrophic response, IRF2BP2 overexpression exerted a strong protective effect against these maladaptive processes. Particularly, IRF2BP2 directly interacted with the C-terminal transactivation domain of NFAT1 by competing with myocyte enhancer factor-2C and disturbing their transcriptional synergism, thereby impeding NFAT1-transactivated hypertrophic transcriptome. As a result, the devastating effect of Irf2bp2 deficiency on cardiac hypertrophy was largely rescued by NFAT1 blockage. Our study, thus, defined IRF2BP2 as a novel negative regulator in controlling pathological cardiac hypertrophy at the transcriptional level.

Background: Testosterone is critical for maintaining spermatogenesis and male fertility. The accomplishment of these processes requires the synergistic actions of the classical and non-classical signaling pathways of androgens. Methods: A murine testicular Sertoli cell line, TM4 cell was used to examine androgen actions in Sertoli cells. Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence assay were employed to study the testosterone-induced Androgen receptor (AR) translocation. Protein phosphorylation antibody array was applied to identify the phosphorylation sites under testosterone treatment, and these findings were verified by Western blot analysis. Results: We found that a physiological dose of testosterone induced fast membrane association of AR. By using a phosphorylation antibody array, several phosphorylation sites, such as MEK1/2 (Ser217/221), Akt (Ser473), and Erk1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204) were rapidly phosphorylated within 5 min of testosterone treatment. Inhibition of the MEK and Akt signaling pathways prevented AR trafficking. Blocking of AR by flutamide eliminated the stimulation effect of testosterone on kinase phosphorylation. Testosterone induced kinase Src phosphorylation, and inhibition of Src restricted AR translocation to the membrane and the nucleus. Conclusion: Findings suggested that the membrane association of AR was mediated by the MEK and Akt phosphorylation signaling pathways, which resulted in Src activation and was initiated by testosterone binding to the membrane-localized AR. This study provides new insights into the testosterone signaling pathway in Sertoli cells, which mediate spermatogenesis. In addition, the study can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of male infertility caused by disorders in spermatogenesis.

Tripartite motif (TRIM) 8 functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase, interacting with and ubiquitinating diverse substrates, and is implicated in various pathological processes. However, the function of TRIM8 in the heart remains largely uncharacterized. This study aims to explore the role of TRIM8 in the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Mice and isolated neonatal rat cardiomyocytes overexpressing or lacking TRIM8 were examined in several experiments. The effect of aortic banding–induced cardiac hypertrophy was analyzed by echocardiographic, pathological and molecular analyses. Our results indicated that the TRIM8 overexpression in hearts exacerbated the cardiac hypertrophy triggered by aortic banding. In contrast, the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy was profoundly blocked in TRIM8-deficient hearts. Mechanistically, our study suggests that TRIM8 may elicit cardiodetrimental effects by promoting the activation of transforming growth factor β–activated kinase 1 (TAK1)-p38/JNK signaling pathways. Similar results were observed in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes treated with angiotensin II. The rescue experiments using the TAK1-specific inhibitor 5z-7-ox confirmed the requirement of TAK1 activation in TRIM8-mediated pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Furthermore, TRIM8 contributed to TAK1 activation by binding to and promoting TAK1 ubiquitination. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that TRIM8 plays a deleterious role in pressure overload–induced cardiac hypertrophy by accelerating the activation of TAK1-dependent signaling pathways.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the genetic causes and clinical outcomes of nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF). METHODS Cohort of cases of NIHF between July 2013 and December 2018. Initial genetic testing included quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction for aneuploidies, karyotyping and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA). In negative results, whole exome sequencing (WES) of the fetuses and parents was performed. Clinical post-natal follow-up assessments were conducted. RESULTS One hundred and nine patients fulfilled the study inclusion criteria and were sequentially genetically assessed by karyotype, CMA and WES. Among them, 24.8% (27/109) had a clinically significant genetic abnormality: 21 (19%) had abnormal karyotypes; 3/72 had pathogenic/likely pathogenic copy number variants (additional yield = 4.2%); and 3 had single gene disorders. The pregnancy termination and live birth rates of the cases with positive genetic testing results were significantly different from those with negative results (92.6% vs 53.7% and 3.7% vs 31.7%, respectively, P

Carbapenem-resistant

To explore the copy number variations (CNVs) of fetal congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM).Fetuses with CCAM were investigated by karyotypes and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA). The cases were classified as isolated or CCAM with additional structural anomalies. The pregnancy outcome and neonatal prognosis were reported after the follow-up investigation.The karyotypes of 43 fetuses were analyzed and no abnormal karyotype was detected. Thirty-seven cases were further tested using CMA. The CMA identified pathogenic CNVs in three fetuses with a pathogenic detection rate of 8.1%. Well-known microdeletion or microduplication syndromes, including RCAD syndrome, HNPP, and CMT1A were identified, among which HNPP and CMT1A were incidental findings. After excluding two incidental findings, there were no pathogenic CNVs in isolated CCAM. There were no significant differences in pathogenic CNVs between isolated CCAM and CCAM with additional structural anomalies (0%, 0/31 versus 16.7%, 1/6,The results demonstrated the value of CMA in the prenatal diagnosis of CCAM. CCAM associated with other structural defects enhanced the frequency of pathogenic CNVs while isolated CCAM may not be associated with an increase in the prevalence of pathogenic CNVs. CCAMs have an overall good prognosis.

Aiming at the phenomenon of the cascading trip in power system, this paper studies a calculation method of safety margin of power system considering the cascading trip. First, this paper analyses the behavior of cascading trip according to the action equation of relay protector, and proposes the concept of the critical state according to find out whether there are cascading trip events occurring in a power system. Then, this paper proposes an index for measuring the safety margin of power system in the case of considering a cascading trip, and proposes a model and an algorithm for calculating the safety margin. Finally, the rationality of the algorithm is demonstrated by the example of IEEE39 system.

Background Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the proteins that contributes to the survival, growth, maintenance of neurons, and plays important roles in the pathophysiology of depression. It has been reported that depression is closely associated with the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris disease. But, there is no report of serum BDNF levels in patients with acne vulgaris. The study aimed to determine the potential association between BDNF and depressive symptoms in young adults with acne vulgaris. Methods In this analytical cross-sectional study, the serum BDNF levels were measured in peripheral blood samples of 20 consecutive acne vulgaris patients with depression and 98 consecutive acne vulgaris patients without depression and also compared it with a 59 healthy control group by using a ELISA. The potential correlation between the BDNF levels, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and depressive symptoms such as nine-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Athens insomnia scale (AIS) were evaluated with multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results Our results showed that levels of BDNF expression were lower in consecutive acne vulgaris patients when compared with healthy control (P 0.05). Similarly, the overall area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic was 0.82, indicating the highly conserving of serum BDNF levels as an biomarker for screening of depression in young adults with acne vulgaris (72% sensitivity and 85% specificity). Conclusion Serum BDNF levels were decreased and negatively associated with depressive symptoms in young Chinese adults with acne vulgaris. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-019-2182-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Backgound Silent electrocardiographic ST change predicts future coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence and mortality, but the prognostic significance of painless ST-segment depression (STD) with respect to sudden cardiac death (SCD) in subjects without apparent CHD remain unclear. This study sought to test the association between non-ischemic resting STD and risk of SCD in the general population. Methods A total of 14,935 middle-aged subjects from the prospective, population-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study were included in this analysis. Cox models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for possible confounding factors. STD was defined as ST-segment depression of ≥0.05 mV in two or more contiguous leads. Results A total of 626 sudden cardiac death occurred during the mean follow-up of 20.4 years. Compared with those without STD, subjects with resting painless STD of at least 0.05 mV had a significantly increased risk of developing SCD (adjusted HR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.76), and those with STD ≥ 0.1 mV had even higher risk of SCD (adjusted HR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.88). Significant interactions were present between gender and STD (P = .03), and between race and STD (P = .01). STD was significantly predictive of SCD in males (adjusted HR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.22–2.01) and in whites (adjusted HR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.27–2.14). STD in lateral leads and global leads were strong predictors of SCD. Conclusions Resting painless STD was an independent predictor of SCD in the middle-aged population without previously diagnosed CHD.

Table S1. Assessment of BDNF levels with age, disease durations, GAGS score, DLQI score, serum IL-6 and TNF-Îą levels. (DOCX 15 kb)

A new method for calculating danger distance of cascading trips is proposed in this paper. The method is based on enhanced particle swarm optimization. An example on IEEE 39-system proves the effectiveness of the method.

Introduction This work reports a patient with recurrent renal calculi subjected to three surgeries in half a year to be in the same position, and the high-throughput sequencing data showed different species in the renal pus and urine samples, which suggested that partial renal infection or stone formation can be judged by the bacteria in urine. Patient concerns The female patient aged 43 years was referred to the authors' department on April 13, 2020, due to left waist pain and fever for 3 days. Diagnosis Kidney stones and hydronephrosis were determined by a urinary system computed tomography scan. Interventions On April 20, 2020 and June 15, 2020, the patient was successfully treated with left percutaneous nephrolithotomy twice under general anesthesia. An investigation on the health and eating habits of the patient within 6 months was completed at the last admission. The components of the second renal calculus sample were analyzed with an infrared spectrum analyzer. The third renal stone (renal pus, triplicates) was subjected to microbial metagenome sequencing, and urine samples before and after surgery were subjected to 16S RNA sequencing by SEQHEALTH (Wuhan, China). Outcomes After percutaneous nephrolithotomy, the left kidney stones were basically cleared, stone analysis revealed that the main components were calcium oxalate monohydrate, silica, and a small amount of calcium oxalate dehydrate. Although the urine samples exhibited differences, the renal pus and urine sample shared a single species. Conclusion It is not clear that the prospects of partial renal infection or stone formation can be judged by the bacteria in urine.

Hopkinson bar has already worked to measure mechanical properties of materials under high strain rates, but it fails to conduct intermediate strain rates loading with considerable deformation. Thereby, a methodology is proposed for achieving enough large strains under intermediate strain rates. The experimental system based on it is then constructed: a striker bar with same length as incident bar is selected to generate continuous stress wave loading, and a long polymethylmethacrylate bar is preferred as the transmitted bar to guide and record transmitted signals. Thus, loading stress wave is achievable with a nearly constant amplitude and an infinite loading duration. The involved data interpretations are deduced, and verified both theoretically and experimentally. Its measurement capacity is confirmed by loading a thermoplastic polyurethane, and maximum strains up to 12% and 65% under strain rates of 40/s and 270/s, respectively. Finally, the involved influences and factor sensitivities are analyzed for enough experimental accuracy and extensive measurements.

Tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) is a ubiquitin E3 ligase that regulates important biological processes. However, the role of TRAF6 in cardiac hypertrophy remains unknown. Here, we show that TRAF6 levels are increased in human and murine hypertrophied hearts, which is regulated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Cardiac-specific Traf6 overexpression exacerbates cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload or angiotensin II (Ang II) challenge, whereas Traf6 deficiency causes an alleviated hypertrophic phenotype in mice. Mechanistically, we show that ROS, generated during hypertrophic progression, triggers TRAF6 auto-ubiquitination that facilitates recruitment of TAB2 and its binding to transforming growth factor beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), which, in turn, enables the direct TRAF6–TAK1 interaction and promotes TAK1 ubiquitination. The binding of TRAF6 to TAK1 and the induction of TAK1 ubiquitination and activation are indispensable for TRAF6-regulated cardiac remodelling. Taken together, we define TRAF6 as an essential molecular switch leading to cardiac hypertrophy in a TAK1-dependent manner., TRAF6 is a ubiquitin E3 ligase regulating a number of biological processes. Here the authors show that ROS, generated during pathological cardiac stress, induces TRAF6 auto-ubiquitination and activation, promoting its interaction with and ubiquitination of TAK1 that contributes to development of cardiac hypertrophy.

This paper is focused on the determination of dynamic elastic modulus of polymer materials under high strain rate loading using the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique. Experiments conducted on the epoxy specimen by the traditional SHPB and the proposed vertical SHPB equipment demonstrates that the vertical SHPB can give more accurate measurements. The related factors, namely, the effect of stress inequilibrium in specimen, indentation in bars due to specimen and the tilt between specimen and bars, are extensively studied. It is concluded through theoretical analysis and numerical calculations that the influence of stress inequilibrium becomes negligible after two characteristic times. The numerical study on the indentation effect shows that the bar to specimen specific elastic modulus ratio and specific diameter ratio are critical to the level of influence on indentation. However, polymers with low elastic modulus values can still be accurately measured regardless of the indentation displayed. The numerical investigation on tilt effect indicates that the imperfect contact condition severely affects the accuracy of measured elastic modulus. This issue can be rectified by the newly proposed vertical SHPB. It can improve the contact conditions between bars and specimen significantly and offer acceptable accurate measurements for the dynamic elastic modulus of polymeric materials.

Aims: This study aims to clarify the effects of polyadenylation status on M-phase promoting factors (MPFs) during in vitro porcine oocyte maturation. Methods: In this study, porcine follicular oocytes from large follicles (> 5 millimeter (mm)) and small follicles (< 3 mm) were examined at different follicular developmental stages. The polyadenylation of maternal mRNAs was inhibited by the addition of 3'-deoxyadenosine (3'-da) during the germinal vesicle (GV)(0 h), GV breakdown (GVBD)(18 h), metaphase I (MI)(28 h), and metaphase II (MII) (44 h) stages. In addition, the expression levels and poly-(A) tail lengths of the maternal mRNAs Cyclin B1 and cell division cycle 2 (Cdc2) were determined by real-time quantitative PCR. Immunofluorescence was used to assess spindle formation and chromosome alignment in the examined oocytes. Results: In large-follicle oocytes, the effects of inhibiting polyadenylation caused the percentage of mature to be significantly lower for the treated group than for the untreated group (p < 0.01). 3'-da can significantly improve the rate of small oocyte maturation in vitro and inhibits Cdc2 polyadenylation. Cyclin B1 plays a significant role in promoting the maturation of large-follicle oocytes. Polyadenylation contributes to the formation of dominant follicles and facilitates the selection of dominant follicles. However, the inhibition of adenylation affected spindle formation-related propulsion and chromosome alignment in both large- and small-follicle oocytes. The first polar body could not be extruded in certain large follicles. Conclusions: 3'-da can significantly improve the rate of small oocyte maturation in vitro, but it can also affect spindle formation-related propulsion and chromosome alignment.