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Complete mesocolic excision (CME) with central vascular ligation (CVL) was proposed by Hohenberger in 2009. The CME principle has gradually become the technical standard for colon cancer surgery. How to achieve CME with CVL in laparoscopic right hemicolectomy (LRH) is controversial, and a unified standard approach is not yet available. In recent years, the authors' team has integrated the theory of membrane anatomy, tried to combine the cephalic approach with the classic medial approach (MA) for technical optimization, and proposed a cranial-medial mixed dominant approach (CMA).To explore the feasibility of operational approaches for LRH with CME.In this retrospective cohort study, the clinical data of 57 patients with right-sided colon cancer (TNM stage I, II, or III) who underwent LRH with CME from January 2016 to June 2020 were collected and summarized. There were 31 patients in the traditional MA group and 26 in the CMA group.There were no significant differences in baseline data between the two groups. The operation was shorter and the number of lymph nodes dissected was higher in the CMA group than in the MA group, but there was no significant difference in the number of positive lymph nodes, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative exhaust time, feeding time, postoperative hospital stay or postoperative complication incidence.Our study shows that the CMA is a safe and feasible procedure for LRH with CME and has a unique advantage.

Isochromanone is the core structure of many active natural products.

Trace amounts of components in traditional Chinese medicine are considered pharmacological active substances used for treating many serious diseases. However, purifying all the trace substances and making clear their structures are not easy. In this context, high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry based molecular networking was applied to investigate the chemical constituents of the roots of Aconitum kusnezoffii Reichb., which led to the identification of 33 nodes in different groups (N1-N33). Based on the excremental fragmentation pathway of known diterpenoid alkaloids (1-9) and comparisons of characteristic ions and characteristic loss of analogs in literature, the structures of unknown ions were deduced. This work lays a foundation for the evaluation of the clinical basis and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine from the aspects of chemistry. In this paper, the method speculation of unknown natural products by means of molecular network method is expected to be applied in the discovery and change law of relevant active components in clinical pharmacology and the change of complex systems caused by trace active compounds.

Whether the definition of hypertension according to 2017 AHA/ACC guidelines and blood pressure (BP) changes was related to the increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remained debated. This prospective cohort study aimed to investigate the association of BP and long‐term BP change with CKD risk with different glucose metabolism according to the new hypertension guidelines. This study examined 12 951 participants and 11 183 participants derived from the older people cohort study, respectively. Participants were divided into three groups based on blood glucose and the risks were assessmented by the logistic regression model. During a 10 years of follow‐up period, 2727 individuals developed CKD (21.1%). Compared with those with BP

Tea, as a beverage, has been reputed for its health benefits and gained worldwide popularity. Tea polyphenols, especially catechins, as the main bioactive compounds in tea, exhibit diverse health benefits and have wide applications in the food industry. The development of tea polyphenol-incorporated products is dependent on the extraction, purification, and identification of tea polyphenols. Recent years, many green and novel extraction, purification, and identification techniques have been developed for the preparation of tea polyphenols. This review, therefore, introduces the classification of tea and summarizes the main conventional and novel techniques for the extraction of polyphenols from various tea products. The advantages and disadvantages of these techniques are also intensively discussed and compared. In addition, the purification and identification techniques are summarized. It is hoped that this updated review can provide a research basis for the green and efficient extraction, purification, and identification of tea polyphenols, which can facilitate their utilization in the production of various functional food products and nutraceuticals.

Symmetry has attracted extensive attention in the field of mathematics and physics. However, the previous studies of symmetry paid less attention to macroscopic system analysis. In this paper, the symmetry of macroscopic energy conversion systems/cycles is explored, and the symmetry analysis method is established for the first time. We found that general energy conversion systems/cycles show a certain symmetry after parameter transformations. Brayton cycle is analyzed as an example, and the potential-displacement-energy (PDE) diagram for system symmetry analysis is proposed. By establishing the specific C-P diagram (a kind of PDE diagram) to analyze the Brayton cycle, it is found that the ideal Brayton cycle has a regular symmetrical structure. When the rotational symmetry is the strongest, the maximum work is generated; and when the reflection symmetry is the strongest, the system is most efficient with constant specific heat capacity (cp). When the integral of varied cp to temperature can be decomposed into the symmetric structure of temperature along with the constraints met, cp has no effect on the intermediate maximum-work temperature, and this condition for cp is greatly broaden compared with previous literatures. Meanwhile, a more symmetrical cycle with circular-shaped structure is established with π/2 times greater of work output compared to conventional Brayton cycle, and the system efficiency is also improved due to its symmetry. By constructing the symmetrical structure, general energy conversion systems including P-V-T cycles can also be analyzed with the proposed symmetry analysis method.

The associations of sleep duration and midday napping with homocysteine (Hcy) levels, and whether these sleep behaviors modify the association between genetic predisposition and Hcy levels, has yet to be investigated. We included 19,426 participants without severe health conditions at baseline from the Dongfeng–Tongji cohort. In a subgroup of 15,126 participants with genetic data, a genetic risk score (GRS) based on 18 Hcy-related loci was constructed to test the gene–sleep interactions in Hcy. Hcy levels were higher in subjects with a long sleep duration (≥9 h) and midday napping (>90 min), as compared to those who reported a moderate sleep duration (7 to

As a significant pest of rice the white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera is a focus of pest management. However, traditional chemical-based control methods risk the development of pesticide resistance as well as severe ecological repercussions. Although nanoparticle-encapsulated dsRNAs provide a promising alternative method for sustainable pest management, gene targets specific to WBPH have yet to be optimized. Genes in the tyrosine-melanin pathway impact epidermal melanization and sclerotization, two processes essential for insect development and metabolism, have been proposed as good candidate targets for pest management. Seven genes (aaNAT, black, DDC, ebony, tan, TH, and yellow-y) in this group were identified from WBPH genome and functionally characterized by using RNAi for their impact on WBPH body color, development, and mortality. Knockdown of SfDDC, Sfblack, SfaaNAT, and Sftan caused cuticles to turn black, whereas Sfyellow-y and Sfebony knockdown resulted in yellow coloration. SfTH knockdown resulted in pale-colored bodies and high mortality. Additionally, an Escherichia coli expression system for large-scale dsRNA production was coupled with star polycation nanoparticles to develop a sprayable RNAi method targeting SfTH that induced high WBPH mortality rates on rice seedlings. These findings lay the groundwork for the development of large-scale dsRNA nanoparticle sprays as a WBPH control method.

This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between polymorphisms in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene and coronary heart disease (CHD) in populations from the Gansu region of China. The MTHFR C677T polymorphism genotypes from 209 patients with CHD, as confirmed by coronary angiography, and 212 non-CHD control patients were identified using PCR gold magnetic particle chromatography. We simultaneously evaluated homocysteine (Hcy) and folate levels in these samples using biochemical methods. The TT genotype of the MTHFR C677T locus was significantly more frequent in the CHD group than in the control, while the CC genotype was significantly less frequent in CHD patients than in non-CHD patients (

Metal exposure has been associated with risk of various cardio-metabolic disorders, and investigation on the association between exposure to multiple metals and metabolic responses may reveal novel clues to the underlying mechanisms. Based on a metabolome-wide association study of 17 plasma metals with untargeted metabolomic profiling of 189 serum metabolites among 1992 participants within the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort, we replicated two metal-associated pathways, linoleic acid metabolism and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, with novel metal associations (false discovery rate, FDR0.05), and we also identified two novel pathways, including biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, as associated with metal exposure (FDR0.05). Moreover, two-way orthogonal partial least-squares analysis showed that five metabolites, including aspartylphenylalanine, free fatty acid 14:1, uridine, carnitine C14:2, and LPC 18:2, contributed most to the joint covariation between the two data matrices (12.3%, 8.3%, 8.0%, 7.4%, and 7.3%, respectively). Further BKMR analysis showed significant positive joint associations of plasma Al, As, Ba, and Zn with aspartylphenylalanine and of plasma Ba, Co, Mn, and Pb with carnitine C14:2, when all the metals were at the 55th percentiles or above, compared with the median. We also found significant interactions between As and Ba in the association with aspartylphenylalanine (

This study aims to establish a biological age (BA) predictor and to investigate the roles of lifestyles on biological aging. The 14,848 participants with the available information of multisystem measurements from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort were used to estimate BA. We developed a composite BA predictor showing a high correlation with chronological age (CA) (r = 0.82) by using an extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm. The average frequency hearing threshold, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1 ), gender, systolic blood pressure, and homocysteine ranked as the top five important features for the BA predictor. Two aging indexes, recorded as the AgingAccel (the residual from regressing predicted age on CA) and aging rate (the ratio of predicted age to CA), showed positive associations with the risks of all-cause (HR (95% CI) = 1.12 (1.10-1.14) and 1.08 (1.07-1.10), respectively) and cause-specific (HRs ranged from 1.06 to ∼1.15) mortality. Each 1-point increase in healthy lifestyle score (including normal body mass index, never smoking, moderate alcohol drinking, physically active, and sleep 7-9 h/night) was associated with a 0.21-year decrease in the AgingAccel (95% CI: -0.27 to -0.15) and a 0.4% decrease in the aging rate (95% CI: -0.5% to -0.3%). This study developed a machine learning-based BA predictor in a prospective Chinese cohort. Adherence to healthy lifestyles showed associations with delayed biological aging, which highlights potential preventive interventions.

Considering the high reactivity, cost-efficiency, environmental friendliness, the zero-valent iron-microbe (bio-ZVI) technology for refractory organic wastewater treatment has obtained worldwide attentions. This paper submerged sponge iron (SFe, a typical ZVI material) in activated sludge to form biological sponge iron (bio-SFe) systems, while the iron sludge and ordinary activated sludge systems were taken as blank control. To study the strengthening effect and degradation mechanism of bio-SFe systems, Nitrobenzene (NB) was chose as a target contaminant. The interaction between SFe and microorganisms improved the NB removal efficiency, prompted the formation of Fe(II)/ROS and facilitated the biodegradation process. Specifically, the Fenton-like effects for NB removal increased from 3.6 % in mono-SFe system to 11.79 % in SFe coupled with iron sludge system. This facilitated the production of OH could constantly attack and eventually mineralize NB. Additionally, biodegradation of NB was the predominant pathway (64.25 %), when iron sludge combined with SFe, the removal of NB could ascend to 92.11 %. SFe created a more favorable environment for certain core functional genera related to recalcitrant pollutants reduction and iron cycle. According to the accumulation of NH4+-N content and the identification of the degradation intermediates of NB in bio-SFe system, the partial reduction biodegradation of NB was finally confirmed.

Two previously undescribed diarylheptanoids, diosniponol E (1) and F (2), and a new phenylhexanol derivative, (rel-2R,4R)-6-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-hexane-1,2,4-triol (3), together with seven known compounds, were isolated from the bulbils of Dioscorea opposita Thunb.. Their structures were elucidated by HRESIMS and 1D/2D NMR as well as by comparison with the literature, and absolute configurations of compounds 1 and 2 were deduced by comparison of their experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroic (ECD) spectra. All the isolated compounds were evaluated in vitro for their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. The results indicated that compounds 3 and 7 exhibited inhibitory effect against α-glucosidase with the IC50 values of 16.2 ± 2.2 and 8.7 ± 1.6 μM, respectively. Molecular docking experiments were performed to identify the probable binding mode of compound 7 in the binding sites of α-glucosidase and molecular dynamics simulations were performed to evaluate the stability over time of the main interactions observed in docking experiments.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereal crops and is consumed as a staple food around the globe. Wheat authentication has become a crucial issue over the last decades. Recently, many techniques have been applied in wheat authentication including the authentication of wheat geographical origin, wheat variety, organic wheat, and wheat flour from other cereals. This paper collected related literature in the last ten years, and attempted to highlight the recent studies on the discrimination and authentication of wheat using different determination techniques and chemometric methods. The stable isotope analysis and elemental profile of wheat are promising tools to obtain information regarding the origin, and variety, and to differentiate organic from conventional farming of wheat. Image analysis, genetic parameters, and omics analysis can provide solutions for wheat variety, organic wheat, and wheat adulteration. Vibrational spectroscopy analyses, such as NIR, FTIR, and HIS, in combination with multivariate data analysis methods, such as PCA, LDA, and PLS-DA, show great potential in wheat authenticity and offer many advantages such as user-friendly, cost-effective, time-saving, and environment friendly. In conclusion, analytical techniques combining with appropriate multivariate analysis are very effective to discriminate geographical origin, cultivar classification, and adulterant detection of wheat.

Patients suffering from trigeminal neuralgia are often accompanied by anxiety and depression. Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation is involved in the development of neuropathic pain and anxiodepression pathogenesis. Whether and how microglia are involved in trigeminal neuralgia-induced anxiodepression remains unclear.Unilateral constriction of the infraorbital nerve (CION) was performed to establish trigeminal neuralgia in rat and mouse models. Mechanical allodynia and anxiodepressive-like behaviours were measured. Optogenetic and pharmacological manipulations were employed to investigate the role of hippocampal microglia in anxiety and depression caused by trigeminal neuralgia.Trigeminal neuralgia activated ipsilateral but not contralateral hippocampal microglia, up-regulated ipsilateral hippocampal ATP and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) levels, impaired ipsilateral hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and induced anxiodepressive-like behaviours in a time-dependent manner in rodents. Pharmacological or optogenetic inhibition of ipsilateral hippocampal microglia completely blocked trigeminal neuralgia-induced anxiodepressive-like behaviours. Activation of unilateral hippocampal microglia directly elicited an anxiodepressive state and impaired hippocampal LTP. Knockdown of ipsilateral hippocampal P2X7 receptors prevented trigeminal neuralgia-induced microglial activation and anxiodepressive-like behaviours. Furthermore, we demonstrated that microglia-derived IL-1β mediated microglial activation-induced anxiodepressive-like behaviours and LTP impairment.These findings suggest that priming of microglia with ATP/P2X7 receptors in the ipsilateral hippocampus drives pain-related anxiodepressive-like behaviours via IL-1β. An asymmetric role of the bilateral hippocampus in trigeminal neuralgia-induced anxiety and depression was uncovered. The approaches targeting microglia and P2X7 signalling might offer novel therapies for trigeminal neuralgia-related anxiety and depressive disorder.

Aging is related to a progressive decline in physiological functions and is affected by environmental factors. Metal exposures are linked with many health effects, but have poorly understood associations with aging. In this study, a total of 33,916 participants from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort were included to establish biological age (BA) predictors by using recent advanced algorithms, Klemera and Doubal method (KDM) and Mahalanobis distance. Two biological aging indexes (BAIs), recorded as KDM-accel [the residual from regressing KDM-BA on chronological age] and physiological dysregulation (PD), were separately defined and tested on their associations with mortality by using Cox proportional hazard models. Among 3320 subjects with laboratory determinations of 23 metals in plasma, the individual and overall associations between these metals and BAIs were evaluated by using multiple-linear regression and weighted quantile sum (WQS) models. Both BAIs were prospectively associated with all-cause mortality among the whole participants [KDM-accel: HR(95%CI) = 1.23(1.18, 1.29); PD: HR(95%CI) = 1.37(1.31, 1.42)]. Each 1-unit increment in ln-transformed strontium and molybdenum were cross-sectionally associated with a separate 0.71- and 0.34-year increase in KDM-accel, and each 1 % increment in copper, rubidium, strontium, cobalt was cross-sectionally associated with a separate 0.10 %, 0.10 %, 0.09 %, 0.02 % increase in PD (all FDR 0.05). The WQS models observed mixture effects of multi-metals on aging, with a 0.20-year increase in KDM-accel and a 0.04 % increase in PD for each quartile increase in ln-transformed concentrations of all metals [KDM-accel: β(95%CI) = 0.20(0.08, 0.32); PD: β(95%CI) = 0.04(0.02, 0.06)]. Our findings revealed that plasma strontium, molybdenum, copper, rubidium and cobalt were associated with accelerated aging. Multi-metals exposure showed mixture effects on the aging process, which highlights potential preventative interventions.

Data-independent acquisition (DIA) technology for protein identification from mass spectrometry and related algorithms is developing rapidly. The spectrum-centric analysis of DIA data without the use of spectra library from data-dependent acquisition (DDA) data represents a promising direction. In this paper, we proposed an untargeted analysis method, Dear-DIAXMBD, for direct analysis of DIA data. Dear-DIAXMBD first integrates the deep variational autoencoder and triplet loss to learn the representations of the extracted fragment ion chromatograms, then uses the k-means clustering algorithm to aggregate fragments with similar representations into the same classes, and finally establishes the inverted index tables to determine the precursors of fragment clusters between precursors and peptides, and between fragments and peptides. We show that Dear-DIAXMBD performs superiorly with the highly complicated DIA data of different species obtained by different instrument platforms. Dear-DIAXMBD is publicly available at https://github.com/jianweishuai/Dear-DIA-XMBD.

Although sweet tea is rich in bioactive polysaccharides, the knowledge regarding their structures, bioactivities, and gut microbial metabolism is still limited. Therefore, in order to promote the application of sweet tea polysaccharide (STP) in the food industry, the pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) of STP was optimized, and its structural properties and biological effects as well as microbial fermentation characteristics were investigated. The maximum extraction yield (4.64 % ± 0.03 %) of STP extracted by PHWE was obtained under the optimal conditions. Both homogalacturonan and arabinogalactan might exist as major polysaccharide fragments in STP. Additionally, STP exerted obviously in vitro antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and immunostimulatory effects, which might be related to its chemical properties, such as uronic acids, conjugated polyphenolics, and esterification degree. Furthermore, STP could be consumed by intestinal microbiota, and its fermentability was about 54 % at the end stage of fecal fermentation. Indeed, STP could modulate the microbial composition via improving the growth of several beneficial microbes, causing the release of beneficial short-chain fatty acids. Collectively, the findings indicate that the PHWE is an efficient method for extracting bioactive polysaccharides from sweet tea, and results can also provide a scientific basis for developing STP into functional foods or functional ingredients.

The jet formation and penetration behaviors of shaped charge with a reactive material double-layered liner (RM-DLL) are presented in this paper based on the AUTODYN-2D code. Numerical results show that the wall thickness ratio of the RM-liner to the metal liner has a significant influence on the formation and penetration characteristics of composite jet. As the wall thickness ratio increases, the tip velocity of composite jet, the pressure on the RM-liner, and the temperature of RM-elements decrease. The effect of the wall thickness ratio on the penetration performance of RM-DLL shaped charges against steel targets significantly depends on the RM-initiation delay time (τ). The penetration depth (PD) of the composite jet with titanium liner into the steel target is limited. In the case of the RM-tungsten liner, the RM-mass following into the penetration crater is very small. In the case of the RM-copper liner, the penetration capability of composite jet is well matched with the mass of follow-thru RMs. Compared with the PD, the standoff has a more significant impact on the RM-mass entering the penetration hole.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key regulators of post-transcriptional degradation and/or translational repression in both plants and animals. Increasing evidence has pointed to the important role of intergenic miRNAs in response to environmental stresses; however, detailed information about intronic miRNAs in plants is not clear. Here, we performed quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis using transgenic plants to investigate the relationship between intronic miRNAs and their respective host genes in Arabidopsis. Here, we found that three Arabidopsis thaliana intronic miRNAs (miR400, miR838, and miR848) were co-transcribed with their host genes in different organs. Intriguingly, both miR400 and its host gene (At1g32583) were up-regulated during cold stress. Unlike intronic miRNAs in animals, the change of expression levels of plant intronic miRNAs in transgenic lines did not affect the transcriptional levels of their host genes. This result indicates that there is no feedback regulation loop between the intronic miRNAs and their host genes in Arabidopsis. In miRNAs-cropping mutants, the mature miRNAs were significantly reduced, while the expression levels of host genes did not change, suggestting the microprocessor also play roles in intronic miRNA processing. Together, these results provide the evidence that there is an independent relationship between the processing of intronic miRNAs and their host genes in Arabidopsis.

The injection molding process of a mold with multiple cavities can reduce the mold space, but the process is complicated and the product is prone to warpage. In order to reduce the transparent parts warpage of such a mold, by optimizing injection molding process parameters, an optimization technique combining orthogonal experiment, Kriging model and an optimization algorithm is proposed. First, the orthogonal experiment is designed, based on Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) simulation results, while the significant factors affecting the warpage are selected. On this basis, the Kriging model is established to map the nonlinear function relationship between the significant factors and the warpage. Specifically in this paper, four types of correlation functions, affecting the model precision accuracy, are used to establish the Kriging model and the high-precision accuracy model is selected. A numerical optimization algorithm, direct search approach and global exploration method are used to optimize the model, so as to obtain the optimal injection molding parameters producing the minimum warpage. Finally, CAE simulation and experimental validation prove the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed optimization method.

Weijie Xie,1 Huan Guo,1 Jiawei Zhang,1 Li Hu,2 Yuqi Wu,1 Xiangwei Wang1,3 1Department of Urology & Carson International Cancer Center, Shenzhen University General Hospital & Shenzhen University Clinical Medical Academy Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Physiology, Shantou University of Medical College, Shantou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Urology, 3rd Affiliated Hospital and Department of Perioperative Medicine of Southern University of Science and Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xiangwei Wang; Yuqi WuDepartment of Urology & Carson International Cancer Center, Shenzhen University General Hospital & Shenzhen University Clinical Medical Academy Center, Shenzhen University, No. 1098, Xueyuan Road, Shenzhen University City, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 17796349157Fax +86 075521839000Email winn0324@szu.edu.cn; wuyq0531@szu.edu.cnPurpose: Prostate cancer is the most common malignant urinary tumor among men. Treatments are currently unsatisfactory for advanced prostate cancer. Cancer biology remains the basis for developing new antitumor drugs. Therefore, it is crucial to study the metabolic reprogramming, immune microenvironment, and immune evasion of tumors. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between tumor glycolysis and immune function in prostate cancer.Materials and Methods: We downloaded the gene expression matrix and clinical data of prostate cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We studied the expression profiles and prognostic significance of glycolysis-related genes and used CIBERSORT to identify the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Through differential gene expression analysis, gene ontology analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis, gene set enrichment analysis, and correlation analysis, we further explored the relationship between glycolytic activity and immune function. We also performed immunohistochemistry, Western blot and RT-qPCR experiments using human prostate cancer tissue and cell lines to verify the expression of some glycolytic genes, macrophage infiltration and polarization.Results: Among glycolysis-related genes, the expression of SLC16A3 in prostate cancer tissues was lower than that in normal tissues, but its high expression was associated with poor prognosis. In the high SLC16A3 expression group, several glycolysis-related genes also showed high expression, which was confirmed by immunohistochemistry experiments and Western blot. In high-glycolysis group, the expression of immune-related genes and the interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling pathway were upregulated. CD8+ T cells, regulatory T cells, macrophages, and other immune cells were highly enriched. Among them, M2 macrophage infiltration was associated with poor prognosis.Conclusion: The enhanced glycolytic activity of prostate cancer may contribute to the formation of a pro-tumor immune microenvironment. The IL-17 signaling pathway may play an important mediating role in the interaction between tumor glycolysis and immune function.Keywords: glycolysis, tumor-infiltrating immune cells, IL-17 signaling pathway, TCGA

Chain damage is a new phenomenon that occurs when a reactive jet impacts and penetrates multi-spaced plates. The reactive jet produces mechanical perforations on the spaced plates by its kinetic energy (KE), and then results in unusual chain rupturing effects and excessive structural damage on the spaced plates by its deflagration reaction. In the present study, the chain damage behavior is initially demonstrated by experiments. The reactive liners, composed of 26 wt%Al and 74 wt% PTFE, are fabricated through a pressing and sintering process. Three reactive liner thicknesses of 0.08 CD, 0.10 CD and 0.12 CD (charge diameter) are chosen to carry out the chain damage experiments. The results show a chain rupturing phenomenon caused by reactive jet. The constant reaction delay time and the different penetration velocities of reactive jets from liners with different thicknesses result in the variation of the deflagration position, which consequently determines the number of ruptured plates behind the armor. Then, the finite-element code AUTODYN-3D has been used to simulate the kinetic energy only-induced rupturing effects on plates, based on the mechanism of behind armor debris (BAD). The significant discrepancies between simulations and experiments indicate that one enhanced damage mechanism, the behind armor blast (BAB), has acted on the ruptured plates. Finally, a theoretical model is used to consider the BAB-induced enhancement, and the analysis shows that the rupturing area on aluminum plates depends strongly upon the KE only-induced pre-perforations, the mass of reactive materials, and the thickness of plates.

Enhanced damage to the full-filled fuel tank, impacted by the cold pressed and sintered PTFE/Al/W reactive material projectile (RMP) with a density of 7.8 g/cm3, is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The fuel tank is a rectangular structure, welded by six pieces of 2024 aluminum plate with a thickness of 6 mm, and filled with RP-3 aviation kerosene. Experimental results show that the kerosene is ignited by the RMP impact at a velocity above 1062 m/s, and a novel interior ignition phenomenon which is closely related to the rupture effect of the fuel tank is observed. However, the traditional steel projectile with the same mass and dimension requires a velocity up to 1649 m/s to ignite the kerosene. Based on the experimental results, the radial pressure field is considered to be the main reason for the shear failure of weld. For mechanism considerations, the chemical energy released by the RMP enhances the hydrodynamic ram (HRAM) effect and provides additional ignition sources inside the fuel tank, thereby enhancing both rupture and ignition effects. Moreover, to further understand the enhanced ignition effect of RMP, the reactive debris temperature inside the kerosene is analyzed theoretically. The initiated reactive debris with high temperature provides effective interior ignition sources to ignite the kerosene, resulting in the enhanced ignition of the kerosene.

Existing studies found that both plasma selenium and NRF2 promoter variants (e.g., rs6721961) were associated with cardiovascular disease risk in the general population. However, epidemiological evidence on the interaction between plasma selenium and NRF2 genetic susceptibility in relation to incident coronary heart disease (CHD) risk remains scarce, especially among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Thus, we examined whether rs6721961 in the NRF2 gene might modify the association between plasma selenium levels and incident CHD risk among T2D. During a mean (SD) follow-up period of 6.90 (2.96) years, 798 incident CHD cases were identified in 2,251 T2D cases. Risk allele carriers (GT/TT) of rs6721961 showed a higher risk of incident CHD among T2D (adjusted HR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.02–1.35) vs. non-risk allele carriers (GG). Each 22.8 μg/L increase in plasma selenium levels was associated with a reduced risk of incident CHD among T2D with risk allele (GT/TT; HR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.71–0.89), whereas no association was found in those with non-risk allele (GG; Pinteraction = 0.004), indicating that NRF2 promoter polymorphism might modify the association between plasma selenium levels and incident CHD risk among T2D. Our study suggests that redox-related genetic variants should be considered to identify populations that might benefit most from selenium supplementation. Further mechanistic studies are warranted.

Mitochondria are essential organelles that execute fundamental biological processes, while mitochondrial DNA is vulnerable to environmental insults. The aim of this study was to investigate the individual and mixture effect of plasma metals on blood mitochondria DNA copy number (mtDNAcn).This study involved 1399 randomly selected subcohort participants from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort. The blood mtDNAcn and plasma levels of 23 metals were determined by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), respectively. The multiple linear regression was used to explore the association between each metal and mtDNAcn, and the LASSO penalized regression was performed to select the most significant metals. We also used the quantile g-computation analysis to assess the mixture effect of multiple metals.Based on multiple linear regression models, each 1% increase in plasma concentration of copper (Cu), rubidium (Rb), and titanium (Ti) was associated with a separate 0.16% [β(95% CI) = 0.158 (0.066, 0.249), P = 0.001], 0.20% [β(95% CI) = 0.196 (0.073, 0.318), P = 0.002], and 0.25% [β(95% CI) = 0.245 (0.081, 0.409), P = 0.003] increase in blood mtDNAcn. The LASSO regression also confirmed Cu, Rb, and Ti as significant predictors for mtDNAcn. There was a significant mixture effect of multiple metals on increasing mtDNAcn among the elder participants (aged ≥65), with an approximately 11% increase in mtDNAcn for each quartile increase in all metal concentrations [β(95% CI) = 0.146 (0.048, 0.243), P = 0.004].Our results show that plasma Cu, Rb and Ti were associated with increased blood mtDNA, and we further revealed a significant mixture effect of all metals on mtDNAcn among elder population. These findings may provide a novel perspective on the effect of metals on mitochondrial dysfunction.

We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association between pretreatment body mass index (BMI) and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Case-control and cohort studies were searched from PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and CNKI databases. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overall survival (OS) or distant metastasis-free survival (DMSF) were used to estimate the prognostic value. Bias in the included studies was evaluated using funnel plots. The results showed that compared with normal weight patients, the estimated HR of OS was 1.54 (95% CI: 1.25-1.90

The vital signaling molecule 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) plays critical roles in signal transduction and biological modulation under abiotic stresses. In this study, we explored the effects of exogenous ALA on low-light (LL) stress-induced photosynthesis and antioxidant system damage in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) seedlings. LL stress decreased morphological index values and chlorophyll contents, while also reduced net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II photochemistry (F

Objective: To explore differentially expressed miRNA in type 2 diabetes mellitus and the potential cell function of miRNA. Methods: We examined the plasma miRNA among 113 newly diagnosed untreated diabetic cases and 113 healthy controls by miRNA array screening and Taqman real-time PCR validation. The low-abundance proteins coded by miR-193b-3p target genes were explored in plasma among the same study population. We further investigated the potential cell function of differentially expressed miRNA in HepG2 cells. Results: The miR-193b-3p was differentially expressed (fold change = 2.01, P = 0.006) in diabetic cases compared with healthy controls. The levels of triosephosphate isomerase (TPI1) decreased in plasma of type 2 diabetes (fold change = 1.37, P =0.002). The effect of miR-193b-3p on TPI1 was validated after transfection with miR-193b-3p in HepG2 cells. Additionally, miR-193b-3p suppressed expression of YWHAZ/14-3-3ζ in PI3K-AKT pathway, subsequently altered the FOXO1 and PCK1 expression. When the cells were incubated in glucose free media for another 4h after transfection, the glucose level in media was significantly higher in cells with elevated miR-193b-3p level than negative control cells (P = 0.016). Additionally, elevated miR-193b-3p also decreased glucose uptake by suppressed insulin receptor (IR) and GLUT2 expression. Conclusion: miR-193b-3p was differentially expressed in plasma of patients with type 2 diabetes, and the level of TPI1 was decreased in both plasma and HepG2 cells with elevated miR-193b-3p level. Moreover, miR-193b-3p may impair the glucose metabolism by directly targeting to YWHAZ/14-3-3ζ and up-regulating the transcription factor FOXO1 in the downstream of PI3K-AKT pathway. Funding: This work was supported by the grants from the Program for HUST Academic Frontier Youth Team, the National Natural Science Foundation (grants NSFC-81473051 and 81522040), and the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0900800). Declaration of Interest: None. Ethical Approval: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics and Human Subject Committee of School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Dongfeng General Hospital, DMC.