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Abstract Background Previous studies have reported that rod composition and diameter, as well as the correction technique are key factors associated with thoracic kyphosis (TK) restoration. However, few study has analyzed the correlation between screw density and TK restoration in hypokyphotic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Methods Fifty-seven thoracic AIS patients with preoperative TK

Cotton fiber is a seed trichome that protrudes from the outer epidermis of cotton ovule on the day of anthesis (0 day past anthesis, 0 DPA). The initial number and timing of fiber cells are closely related to fiber yield and quality. However, the mechanism underlying fiber initiation is still unclear. Here, we detected and compared the contents and compositions of sphingolipids and sterols in 0 DPA ovules of Xuzhou142 lintless-fuzzless mutants (Xufl) and Xinxiangxiaoji lintless-fuzzless mutants (Xinfl) and upland cotton wild-type Xuzhou142 (XuFL). Nine classes of sphingolipids and sixty-six sphingolipid molecular species were detected in wild-type and mutants. Compared with the wild type, the contents of Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), Sphingosine (Sph), Glucosylceramide (GluCer), and Glycosyl-inositol-phospho-ceramides (GIPC) were decreased in the mutants, while the contents of Ceramide (Cer) were increased. Detail, the contents of two Cer molecular species, d18:1/22:0 and d18:1/24:0, and two Phyto-Cer molecular species, t18:0/22:0 and t18:0/h22:1 were significantly increased, while the contents of all GluCer and GIPC molecular species were decreased. Consistent with this result, the expression levels of seven genes involved in GluCer and GIPC synthesis were decreased in the mutants. Furthermore, exogenous application of a specific inhibitor of GluCer synthase, PDMP (1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol), in ovule culture system, significantly inhibited the initiation of cotton fiber cells. In addition, five sterols and four sterol esters were detected in wild-type and mutant ovules. Compared with the wild type, the contents of total sterol were not significantly changed. While the contents of stigmasterol and campesterol were significantly increased, the contents of cholesterol were significantly decreased, and the contents of total sterol esters were significantly increased. In particular, the contents of campesterol esters and stigmasterol esters increased significantly in the two mutants. Consistently, the expression levels of some sterol synthase genes and sterol ester synthase genes were also changed in the two mutants. These results suggested that sphingolipids and sterols might have some roles in the initiation of fiber cells. Our results provided a novel insight into the regulatory mechanism of fiber cell initiation.

Cotton fiber is a single-celled seed trichrome that arises from the epidermis of the ovule’s outer integument. The fiber cell displays high polar expansion and thickens but not is disrupted by cell division. Therefore, it is an ideal model for studying the growth and development of plant cells. Sphingolipids are important components of membranes and are also active molecules in cells. However, the sphingolipid profile during fiber growth and the differences in sphingolipid metabolism at different developmental stages are still unclear. In this study, we detected that there were 6 classes and 95 molecular species of sphingolipids in cotton fibers by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-MS/MS (UHPLC-MS/MS). Among these, the phytoceramides (PhytoCer) contained the most molecular species, and the PhytoCer content was highest, while that of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) was the lowest. The content of PhytoCer, phytoceramides with hydroxylated fatty acyls (PhytoCer-OHFA), phyto-glucosylceramides (Phyto-GluCer), and glycosyl-inositol-phospho-ceramides (GIPC) was higher than that of other classes in fiber cells. With the development of fiber cells, phytosphingosine-1-phosphate (t-S1P) and PhytoCer changed greatly. The sphingolipid molecular species Ceramide (Cer) d18:1/26:1, PhytoCer t18:1/26:0, PhytoCer t18:0/26:0, PhytoCer t18:1/h20:0, PhytoCer t18:1/h26:0, PhytoCer t18:0/h26:0, and GIPC t18:0/h16:0 were significantly enriched in 10-DPA fiber cells while Cer d18:1/20:0, Cer d18:1/22:0, and GIPC t18:0/h18:0 were significantly enriched in 20-DPA fiber cells, indicating that unsaturated PhytoCer containing hydroxylated and saturated very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA) play some role in fiber cell elongation. Consistent with the content analysis results, the related genes involved in long chain base (LCB) hydroxylation and unsaturation as well as VLCFA synthesis and hydroxylation were highly expressed in rapidly elongating fiber cells. Furthermore, the exogenous application of a potent inhibitor of serine palmitoyltransferase, myriocin, severely blocked fiber cell elongation, and the exogenous application of sphingosine antagonized the inhibition of myriocin for fiber elongation. Taking these points together, we concluded that sphingolipids play crucial roles in fiber cell elongation and SCW deposition. This provides a new perspective for further studies on the regulatory mechanism of the growth and development of cotton fiber cells.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are vital epigenetic modifiers not only in regulating plant development but also in abiotic- and biotic-stress responses. Though to date, the functions of HD2C—an HD2-type HDAC—In plant development and abiotic stress have been intensively explored, its function in biotic stress remains unknown. In this study, we have identified HD2C as an interaction partner of the Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) P6 protein. It functions as a positive regulator in defending against CaMV infection. The hd2c mutants show enhanced susceptibility to CaMV infection. In support, the accumulation of viral DNA, viral transcripts, and the deposition of histone acetylation on the viral minichromosomes are increased in hd2c mutants. P6 interferes with the interaction between HD2C and HDA6, and P6 overexpression lines have similar phenotypes with hd2c mutants. In further investigations, P6 overexpression lines, together with CaMV infection plants, are more sensitive to ABA and NaCl with a concomitant increasing expression of ABA/NaCl-regulated genes. Moreover, the global levels of histone acetylation are increased in P6 overexpression lines and CaMV infection plants. Collectively, our results suggest that P6 dysfunctions histone deacetylase HD2C by physical interaction to promote CaMV infection.

Cancer has long been viewed as a disease of normal development gone awry. Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs), also termed as tumor-initiating cells (TICs), are increasingly recognized as a critical tumor cell population that drives not only tumorigenesis but also cancer progression, treatment resistance and metastatic relapse. The let-7 family of microRNAs (miRNAs), first identified in C. elegans but functionally conserved from worms to human, constitutes an important class of regulators for diverse cellular functions ranging from cell proliferation, differentiation and pluripotency to cancer development and progression. Here, we review the current state of knowledge regarding the roles of let-7 miRNAs in regulating cancer stemness. We outline several key RNA-binding proteins, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) involved in the regulation of let-7 biogenesis, maturation and function. We then highlight key gene targets and signaling pathways that are regulated or mutually regulated by the let-7 family of miRNAs to modulate CSC characteristics in various types of cancer. We also summarize the existing evidence indicating distinct metabolic pathways regulated by the let-7 miRNAs to impact CSC self-renewal, differentiation and treatment resistance. Lastly, we review current preclinical studies and discuss the clinical implications for developing let-7-based replacement strategies as potential cancer therapeutics that can be delivered through different platforms to target CSCs and reduce/overcome treatment resistance when applied alone or in combination with current chemo/radiation or molecularly targeted therapies. By specifically targeting CSCs, these strategies have the potential to significantly improve the efficacy of cancer therapies.

NAC transcription factors (TFs) are plant-specific TFs that play essential roles in plant development; however, the function of NAC TFs in loquat development remains unknown. The natural triploid loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.), Longquan No.1. B355, has larger organs than its corresponding diploid loquat (B2). Here, we cloned an NAC-like TF (EjNACL47 (NAC-like 47)) from the cDNA of triploid loquat B355 flowers. EjNACL47 has a conserved domain of NAC TFs and is homologous to AtNAC47. Transient expression in tobacco leaves revealed that EjNACL47 localized to the nucleus, and yeast-two-hybrid screening confirmed that the C-terminus displayed transcriptional activity. Interestingly, real-time qRT-PCR indicated that the expression levels of EjNACL47 in leaves and flower organs in triploid loquat (B355) were higher than those in diploid loquat (B2), implying that EjNACL47 might be associated with the larger organ size in B355. Moreover, Arabidopsis lines ectopically expressing EjNACL47 presented obviously larger leaves, flowers, and siliques than the wild-type variant, suggesting that EjNACL47 plays a positive role in Arabidopsis organ enlargement. These results offer insight into the molecular mechanism of NAC TFs involved in regulating organ size in loquat.

Cotton fiber is an extremely elongated single cell derived from the ovule epidermis and is an ideal model for studying cell development. The plasma membrane is tremendously expanded and accompanied by the coordination of various physiological and biochemical activities on the membrane, one of the three major systems of a eukaryotic cell. This review compiles the recent progress and advances for the roles of the membrane in cotton fiber development: the functions of membrane lipids, especially the fatty acids, sphingolipids, and phytosterols; membrane channels, including aquaporins, the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, vacuolar invertase, and plasmodesmata; and the regulation mechanism of membrane proteins, such as membrane binding enzymes, annexins, and receptor-like kinases.

Inconel 718 is widely used in the aviation, space, automotive and biomedical industries because of its outstanding properties. Near-surface residual stresses that are induced by ball end milling in Inconel 718 can be crucial for the performance and service time of the machined parts. In this paper, the influences of cutting conditions, including the use of cutting parameters, cutting fluid and spindle angles, on the residual stresses in the ball end milling process of Inconel 718 alloy were investigated experimentally. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that residual stress distributions are highly influenced by cutting parameters, especially the depth of cut and cutting speed. The milling operation with cooling induces more compressive stresses trend and the magnitude of the residual stresses increases in the tensile direction with the increase of spindle angles. These cutting induced effects were further discussed with respect to thermal- mechanical coupling theory and some observations made by optical microscopy. From this investigation, it is suggested that the machining process parameters are not the smaller the better for the control of residual stresses in the ball end milling process of Inconel 718.

Abstract Background The correlation between implant density and deformity correction has not yet led to a precise conclusion in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of low density (LD) and high density (HD) pedicle screw instrumentation in terms of the clinical, radiological and Scoliosis Research Society (SRS)-22 outcomes in Lenke 1 AIS. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 62 consecutive Lenke 1 AIS patients who underwent posterior spinal arthrodesis using all-pedicle screw instrumentation with a minimum follow-up of 24 months. The implant density was defined as the number of screws per spinal level fused. Patients were then divided into two groups according to the average implant density for the entire study. The LD group (n = 28) had fewer than 1.61 screws per level, while the HD group (n = 34) had more than 1.61 screws per level. The radiographs were analysed preoperatively, postoperatively and at final follow-up. The perioperative and SRS-22 outcomes were also assessed. Independent sample t tests were used between the two groups. Results Comparisons between the two groups showed no significant differences in the correction of the main thoracic curve and thoracic kyphosis, blood transfusion, hospital stay, and SRS-22 scores. Compared with the HD group, there was a decreased operating time (278.4 vs. 331.0 min, p = 0.004) and decreased blood loss (823.6 vs. 1010.9 ml, p = 0.048), pedicle screws needed (15.1 vs. 19.6, p

Abstract Background Photosynthetic oleaginous microalgae are considered promising feedstocks for biofuels. The marine microalga, Nannochloropsis oceanica, has been attracting ever-increasing interest because of its fast growth, high triacylglycerol (TAG) content, and available genome sequence and genetic tools. Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) catalyzes the last and committed step of TAG biosynthesis in the acyl-CoA-dependent pathway. Previous studies have identified 13 putative DGAT-encoding genes in the genome of N. oceanica, but the functional role of DGAT genes, especially type-I DGAT (DGAT1), remains ambiguous. Results Nannochloropsis oceanica IMET1 possesses two DGAT1 genes: NoDGAT1A and NoDGAT1B. Functional complementation demonstrated the capability of NoDGAT1A rather than NoDGAT1B to restore TAG synthesis in a TAG-deficient yeast strain. In vitro DGAT assays revealed that NoDGAT1A preferred saturated/monounsaturated acyl-CoAs and eukaryotic diacylglycerols (DAGs) for TAG synthesis, while NoDGAT1B had no detectable enzymatic activity. Assisted with green fluorescence protein (GFP) fusion, fluorescence microscopy analysis indicated the localization of NoDGAT1A in the chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum (cER) of N. oceanica. NoDGAT1A knockdown caused ~25% decline in TAG content upon nitrogen depletion, accompanied by the reduced C16:0, C18:0, and C18:1 in TAG sn-1/sn-3 positions and C18:1 in the TAG sn-2 position. NoDGAT1A overexpression, on the other hand, led to ~39% increase in TAG content upon nitrogen depletion, accompanied by the enhanced C16:0 and C18:1 in the TAG sn-1/sn-3 positions and C18:1 in the TAG sn-2 position. Interestingly, NoDGAT1A overexpression also promoted TAG accumulation (by ~2.4-fold) under nitrogen-replete conditions without compromising cell growth, and TAG yield of the overexpression line reached 0.49 g L−1 at the end of a 10-day batch culture, 47% greater than that of the control line. Conclusions Taken together, our work demonstrates the functional role of NoDGAT1A and sheds light on the underlying mechanism for the biosynthesis of various TAG species in N. oceanica. NoDGAT1A resides likely in cER and prefers to transfer C16 and C18 saturated/monounsaturated fatty acids to eukaryotic DAGs for TAG assembly. This work also provides insights into the rational genetic engineering of microalgae by manipulating rate-limiting enzymes such as DGAT to modulate TAG biosynthesis and fatty acid composition for biofuel production.

Objective: To explore the association between serum homocysteine (Hcy) concentration and T-cell subsets from patients with essential hypertension. Patients and Methods: A total of 218 essential hypertension patients were recruited, of which 170 were H-type essential hypertensive and 48 were non-H-type essential hypertensive. H-type essential hypertensive patients were divided into three groups by concentration of serum Hcy. The peripheral blood T-cell subsets (CD3+%, CD4+%, CD8+ T%, CD4+/CD8+) and clinical features including age, sex, serum creatinine, uric acid, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were recorded and analyzed with T-cell subsets which were counted by fluorescence activated cytometry. Results: Compared with non-H-type hypertensive patients, CD4+ T-cell percentage in peripheral blood was significantly decreased in H-type hypertensive patients. Because of the increase of Hcy level, CD4+ T-cell percentage decreased. Linear regression analysis showed that Hcy level was negatively correlated with CD4+ T-cell percentage; however, it was positively correlated with CD3+ T-cell percentage. Conclusion: A direct association between serum Hcy concentrations and T-cell percentage was observed in patients with essential hypertension. This observation indicates that T-cell subsets might play an important role in hypertension.

Elevated serum leptin concentrations are closely related to sympathetic nervous system activation in essential hypertension (EH); however, it is not clear whether or not they are associated with parasympathetic nervous system impairment in EH. Heart rate recovery (HRR) is a reproducible method used to assess parasympathetic activity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum leptin and HRR in Chinese untreated EH patients. This was a cross-sectional study enrolling 471 Chinese EH patients (205 men, 266 women; mean age 63.1 years). HRR was calculated during an incremental cardiopulmonary exercise test. Simple and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the correlation between serum leptin level and HRR value. Serum leptin levels elevated with increasing BP values. Moreover, univariate analysis revealed that the HRR value was negatively correlated with serum leptin (r = −0.037, P < 0.01). In multiple regression analysis, the age-adjusted serum leptin level was negatively correlated with HRR (β = −0.268, P < 0.01). Serum leptin remained negatively associated with HRR (β = −0.017, P < 0.01) after further adjustments for factors including age, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and several factors that correlated with HRR. Our findings demonstrated that a raised serum leptin concentration is related to HRR blunt, which suggests that the role of leptin in the development of EH might be associated with impairment of the parasympathetic nervous system as well.

Human enterovirus 68 (EV-D68) is a rarely reported virus that has been linked to respiratory disease. In recent years, reports about EV-D68 infection have markedly increased worldwide. However, the epidemiological features of this emerging infection are not well understood. To evaluate the emerging EV-D68 epidemic, we isolated the circulating viral strain and investigated the seroprevalence of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in Beijing between 2004 and 2011. We found that the titers of EV-D68 NAbs were generally low in all age groups in sampled populations in 2004 but significantly higher in 2009. From 2007 to 2011, the NAbs against EV-D68 significantly increased over time. These findings indicate that EV-D68 has spread widely in the Chinese population in recent years, although only a limited number of cases were reported.Emerging Microbes & Infections (2017) 6, e32; doi:10.1038/emi.2017.14; published online 10 May 2017

In this paper, a delta-sigma modulation is proposed for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexed-passive optical network (OFDM-PON) to enable transmission of OFDM signals via binary intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) channels. The delta-sigma modulation is an independent digital signal processing block that converts the analog OFDM signal into binary bit sequence. The OFDM signal can be simply retrieved from the bit sequence, using a low-pass filter at the receiver. Neither the analog-to-digital converter (ADC)/digital-to-analog converter (DAC) nor the linear modulator/detector are required, which means the proposed system can be fulfilled by employing cost-effective 10- or 40-Gb/s binary optics and electronics. Besides, the delta-sigma-modulated OFDM-PON is able to offer excellent robustness against noises and nonlinear distortions. In the experimental demonstration, the performance of proposed delta-sigma-modulated OFDM-PON system has been investigated. It is found that around a 4-dB improvement in receiver sensitivity is achieved, compared to a traditional analog OFDM-PON scheme.

We experimentally demonstrate on-chip dual-channel all-optical AND logic operations based on four-wave mixing (FWM) for on-off keying (OOK) signals in a multimode silicon waveguide. A two-mode (de)multiplexing circuit consisting of tapered directional coupler-based (de)multiplexers and a multimode waveguide is designed and fabricated for this application. Experimental results show open eye-diagrams and confirm the logic operations with moderate power penalties for both modes.

Conceal the time delay of the electro-optic chaotic system is important for its security. In this paper, we propose a new two-dimensional coupled electro-optic chaotic system. Two electro-optic systems are coupled by combining their electronic signals. This system can conceal the time delay naturally without any additional operations. Meanwhile, the new system can also improve the dynamical complexity of the original system, as well as extend the key space by bringing in some new tunable control coefficients. Keywords: Chaos, Electro-optic chaotic system, Time delay concealment

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Se bio-absorption and toxicity of Se-RGP were evaluated and compared with inorganic selenium salt using a mouse model. Antioxidant capacities of Se-RGP and original RGP were compared using in vitro and vivo models. Se-RGP showed low toxicity with MTD over 20 g/kg bw. The mice in Se-RGP treatment had significantly higher Se level in blood, liver, lung, spleen and bone than the mice administered by sodium selenite at a dose close to MLD. In in vitro antioxidant activity assays, Se-RGP exhibited higher activity than RGP, but much lower than VC in scavenging hydroxyl, DPPH, and superoxide free radicals. In in vivo model, the mice in RGP and Se-RGP groups had better SOD and GSH-Px activities, T-AOC and MDA level than the mice in VC group. Se-RGP significantly strengthened the antioxidant capability of original RGP by increasing of SOD and GSH-Px activities and T-AOC in mouse serum, heart, liver, and kidney.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) enters host by glycoprotein B (gB)-mediated membrane fusion upon receptor-binding to gH/gL-related complexes, causing devastating diseases such as birth defects. Although an X-ray crystal structure of the recombinant gB ectodomain at postfusion conformation is available, the structures of prefusion gB and its complex with gH/gL on the viral envelope remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate the utility of cryo electron tomography (cryoET) with energy filtering and the cutting-edge technologies of Volta phase plate (VPP) and direct electron-counting detection to capture metastable prefusion viral fusion proteins and report the structures of glycoproteins in the native environment of HCMV virions. We established the validity of our approach by obtaining cryoET in situ structures of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) glycoprotein G trimer (171 kD) in prefusion and postfusion conformations, which agree with the known crystal structures of purified G trimers in both conformations. The excellent contrast afforded by these technologies has enabled us to identify gB trimers (303kD) in two distinct conformations in HCMV tomograms and obtain their in situ structures at up to 21 Å resolution through subtomographic averaging. The predominant conformation (79%), which we designate as gB prefusion conformation, fashions a globular endodomain and a Christmas tree-shaped ectodomain, while the minority conformation (21%) has a columnar tree-shaped ectodomain that matches the crystal structure of the "postfusion" gB ectodomain. We also observed prefusion gB in complex with an "L"-shaped density attributed to the gH/gL complex. Integration of these structures of HCMV glycoproteins in multiple functional states and oligomeric forms with existing biochemical data and domain organization of other class III viral fusion proteins suggests that gH/gL receptor-binding triggers conformational changes of gB endodomain, which in turn triggers two essential steps to actuate virus-cell membrane fusion: exposure of gB fusion loops and unfurling of gB ectodomain.

Sphingolipids are essential membrane components and signal molecules, but their regulatory role in cotton embryo growth is largely unclear. In this study, we evaluated the effects of treatment with the sphingolipid synthesis inhibitor fumonisin B1 (FB1), the serine palmityl transferase (SPT) inhibitor myriocin, the SPT sphingolipid product DHS (d18:0 dihydrosphingosine), and the post-hydroxylation DHS product PHS (t18:0 phytosphingosine) on embryo growth in culture, and performed comparative transcriptomic analysis on control and PHS-treated samples. We found that FB1 could inhibit cotton embryo development. At the five-day ovule/embryo developmental stage, PHS was the most abundant sphingolipid. An SPT enzyme inhibitor reduced the fresh weight of embryos, while PHS had the opposite effect. The transcriptomic analysis identified 2769 differentially expressed genes (1983 upregulated and 786 downregulated) in the PHS samples. A large number of transcription factors were highly upregulated, such as zinc finger, MYB, NAC, bHLH, WRKY, MADS, and GRF in PHS-treated samples compared to controls. The lipid metabolism and plant hormone (auxin, brassinosteroid, and zeatin) related genes were also altered. Our findings provide target metabolites and genes for cotton seed improvement.

Missing data in weather radar image sequences may cause bias in quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) studies, and also the obtainment of corresponding high-quality QPE and QPF products. The traditional approaches that are used to reconstruct missing weather radar images replace missing frames with the nearest image or with interpolated images. However, the performance of these approaches is defective, and their accuracy is quite limited due to neglecting the intensification and disappearance of radar echoes. In this study, we propose a deep neuron network (DNN), which combines convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and bi-directional convolutional long short-term memory networks (CNN-BiConvLSTMs), to address this problem and establish a deep-learning benchmark. The model is trained to be capable of dealing with arbitrary missing patterns by using the proposed training schedule. Then the performances of the model are evaluated and compared with baseline models for different missing patterns. These baseline models include the nearest neighbor approach, linear interpolation, optical flow methods, and two DNN models three-dimensional CNN (3DCNN) and CNN-ConvLSTM. Experimental results show that the CNN-BiConvLSTM model outperforms all other baseline models. The influence of data quality on interpolation methods is further investigated, and the CNN-BiConvLSTM model is found to be basically uninfluenced by less qualified input weather radar images, which reflects the robustness of the model. Our results suggest good prospects for applying the CNN-BiConvLSTM model to improve the quality of weather radar datasets.

The effect of Ti and B microalloying on the hardenability, prior austenite grain size (PAGS), mechanical properties, and sulfide stress cracking (SSC) of C110 grade steel was studied by Jominy testing, static tensile testing, an optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and double cantilever beam (DCB) testing. The results show that the addition of 0.015% Ti and 0.002% B into a medium-carbon Fe-Cr-Mo-Nb-V steel increased the hardenability and refined the PAGS and quenched martensite packets, and the size of carbides was reduced. It is believed that these behaviors are responsible for the improvement in the threshold stress intensity factor KISSC.

Based on the Ø195 mm round bloom continuous casting of oil pipe steel, a two dimensional thermal-mechanical coupled model has been developed to investigate the deformation behavior of round bloom during soft reduction (SR) in the reduction force mode. Good agreement was achieved in surface temperature, shell thickness and contact zone width from modeling and measurement. Under the same reduction force, the reduction amount of round bloom at the front unit is much larger than back unit. Moreover, due to its higher temperature and lower center solid fraction, the deformation penetration before solidification is much stronger than that after solidification. Considering the limitation of the round bloom ovality, the maximum allowable force in reduction unit is calculated. According to the simulation results, a multi-unit soft reduction plan was proposed and carried out on the Ø195 mm round bloom. After the reduction process of No.1 to No.3 withdrawal units, the shrinkage porosity in the center of the round bloom was almost vanished, while the number and size of spot segregation were significantly reduced. Moreover, the oil pipe produced by the round bloom with SR got a better resistance to sulfide stress corrosion (SSC). It indicates that SR is an effective technology for the round bloom to control the shrinkage porosity and spot segregation in the continuous casting.

Single-channel 112-Gb/s PAM-4 transmission based on low-cost intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) optics is experimentally demonstrated over 1-km standard single-mode fiber. By employing a digital precompensation, duobinary encode/decoding with PAM-4 signal and 7-level training-sequence-aided least mean square (TS-LMS) algorithm, we successfully achieve a receiver sensitivity of about -2 dBm with 7% overhead HD-FEC. Chirp management is applied at the transmitter side to extend the reach to 1 km for transmission at 1500 nm. This is the first demonstration, to the best of our knowledge, that 112-Gb/s PAM-4 modulation is achieved using only a 18-GHz (3-dB-bandwidth) commercial directly modulated laser. The method proposed in this paper is both bandwidth and computationally efficient, which is thought to be feasible in the low-cost short-reach optical applications.

AIM:To observe the clinical effect of the midperipherv additional designed lenses and adjustment training on myopia in childhood.METHODS: Eighty childhood(160 eyes in all)with myopia were included in this study. All patients were divided into two groups according to the methods of correcting refractive error: the midperipherv additional designed lenses and adjustment training group(treatment group, 80 eyes of 40 cases)and frame glasses group(comparison group, 80 eyes of 40 cases). The two groups had been measured myopia progress indicators and adjustment function indicators for ever 3mo. The results were compared and analyzed after 1a follow-up.RESULTS: The visual acuity, refraction, axial length had a little change after wearing lens 1a in treatment group, there was no statistically significant difference compared with wearing before(P>0.05). The visual acuity decreased, refraction and axial length increased in comparison group, the differences were statistically significant(PPPP>0.05). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant(PCONCLUSION: Midperipherv additional designed lenses and adjustment training treatment of juvenile myopia is effective, which can delay the diopters development of myopic children, improve the regulatory function, control the development of myopia, improve the adjustment function.

Tool wear monitoring is necessary for cost reduction and productivity improvement in the machining industry. Machine learning has been proven to be an effective means of tool wear monitoring. Feature engineering is the core of the machining learning model. In complex parts milling, cutting conditions are time-varying due to the variable engagement between cutting tool and the complex geometric features of the workpiece. In such cases, the features for accurate tool wear monitoring are tricky to select. Besides, usually few sensors are available in an actual machining situation. This causes a high correlation between the hand-designed features, leading to the low accuracy and weak generalization ability of the machine learning model. This paper presents a tool wear monitoring method for complex part milling based on deep learning. The features are pre-selected based on cutting force model and wavelet packet decomposition. The pre-selected cutting forces, cutting vibration and cutting condition features are input to a deep autoencoder for dimension reduction. Then, a deep multi-layer perceptron is developed to estimate the tool wear. The dataset is obtained with a carefully designed varying cutting depth milling experiment. The proposed method works well, with an error of 8.2% on testing samples, which shows an obvious advantage over the classic machine learning method.

This study implemented kinematic wave and dynamic wave approximation of flood routing for a prismatic rectangular channel. The results of the two methods were compared by differences in maximum flow depth, and the applicability of kinematic wave equation was discussed. The influences of hydraulic and geometrical factors on the applicability of kinematic wave equation were considered. It was found that a portion of the numerical results violated existing criteria used to indicate the applicability of kinematic wave equation, particularly when geometrical and hydraulic factors were considered together. This is because the characteristics of upstream inflow were rarely or incompletely considered in these criteria. Therefore, the present study proposed a new criterion. The theoretical influence of all factors was considered using three parameters, namely, KF02, ηts/T0′ and Qbottom/Qpeak (K, F0, ηts, T0′, Qbottom, and Qpeak represent the kinematic wave number, Froude number, the time span of discharge exceeding 90% of maximum discharge in hydrograph, wave travel time in the channel, base flow discharge, and peak discharge, respectively, while the subscript 0 represent the value of reference discharge). The influences of these three parameters were illustrated by the momentum equation of one-dimensional Saint-Venant equation. The numerical results showed that the value of ηts/T0′ (KF02)D could be used to determine the relative error ξh of kinematic wave equation. In addition, for each Qbottom/Qpeak the value of ηts/T0′ (KF02)D used to depict the same relative error ξh was different. This new criterion was validated using two real case studies, and it showed a good performance.

Sphingolipids are essential biomolecules and membrane components, but their regulatory role in cotton fiber development is poorly understood. Here, we found that fumonisin B1 (FB1)—a sphingolipid synthesis inhibitor—could block fiber elongation severely. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), we detected 95 sphingolipids that were altered by FB1 treatment; of these, 29 (mainly simple sphingolipids) were significantly increased, while 33 (mostly complex sphingolipids) were significantly decreased. A quantitative analysis of the global proteome, using an integrated quantitative approach with tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling and LC-MS/MS, indicated the upregulation of 633 and the downregulation of 672 proteins after FB1 treatment. Most differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were involved in processes related to phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis. In addition, up to 20 peroxidases (POD) were found to be upregulated, and POD activity was also increased by the inhibitor. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the effects of FB1 treatment on cotton fiber and ovule sphingolipidomics and proteomics. Our findings provide target metabolites and biological pathways for cotton fiber improvement.

Negative strand RNA viruses (NSVs) include many important human pathogens, such as influenza virus, Ebola virus, and rabies virus. One of the unique characteristics that NSVs share is the assembly of the nucleocapsid and its role in viral RNA synthesis. In NSVs, the single strand RNA genome is encapsidated in the linear nucleocapsid throughout the viral replication cycle. Subunits of the nucleocapsid protein are parallelly aligned along the RNA genome that is sandwiched between two domains composed of conserved helix motifs. The viral RNA-dependent-RNA polymerase (vRdRp) must recognize the protein–RNA complex of the nucleocapsid and unveil the protected genomic RNA in order to initiate viral RNA synthesis. In addition, vRdRp must continuously translocate along the protein–RNA complex during elongation in viral RNA synthesis. This unique mechanism of viral RNA synthesis suggests that the nucleocapsid may play a regulatory role during NSV replication.

Understanding the variations of extreme weather/climate events is important to improve the seasonal forecast skill of such harmful events. Previous studies have linked boreal summer hot extremes to decaying El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events at the interannual scale, but how these hot extreme episodes respond to developing ENSO events remains unclear. Using observational analyses, we demonstrate strong linkages between developing ENSO and extreme heat events in northern continents. In particular, heat extremes in North America, Eastern Europe–Central Asia and Northeast Asia tend to be more frequent during La Niña developing summers and less frequent during El Niño developing phases. Associated atmospheric changes reveal that developing ENSO events feature a circumglobal teleconnection (CGT) pattern over the mid-latitudes. In the La Niña developing summer, this CGT pattern exhibits enhanced geopotential height and anomalous anticyclones over North Pacific, North America, Eastern Europe–Central Asia and Northeastern Asia, and the jet stream generally shifts northward. The atmospheric circulation changes lead to more persistent weather conditions that favor extreme heat events in mid-latitudes. Conversely, opposite changes associated with developing El Niño can inhibit heat extremes in the above locations. The responses of heat extremes to different types (i.e., conventional Eastern Pacific and Modoki Central Pacific) and durations (1 and 2 year) of ENSO events are also discussed.

Advances in soft robotics provide a unique approach for delivering haptic feedback to a user by a soft wearable device. Such devices can apply forces directly on the human joints, while still maintaining the safety and flexibility necessary for use in close proximity to the human body. To take advantage of these properties, we present a new haptic wrist device using pressure-driven soft actuators called reverse pneumatic artificial muscles (rPAMs) mounted on four sides of the wrist. These actuators are originally pre-strained and release compressive stress under pressure, applying a safe torque around the wrist joints while being compact and portable, representing the first soft haptic device capable of real-time feedback. To demonstrate the functional utility of this device, we created a virtual path-following task, wherein the user employs the motion of their wrist to control their embodied agent. We used the haptic wrist device to assist the user in following the path and study their performance with and without haptic feedback in multiple scenarios. Our results quantify the effect of wearable soft robotic haptic feedback on user performance. Specifically, we observed that our haptic feedback system improved the performance of users following complicated paths in a statistically significant manner, but did not show improvement for simple linear paths. Based on our findings, we anticipate broader applications of wearable soft robotic haptic devices toward intuitive user interactions with robots, computers, and other users.

Fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR), as an important index for evaluating yields and biomass production, is key to providing the guidance for crop management. However, the shortage of good hyperspectral data can frequently result in the hindrance of accurate and reliable FPAR assessment, especially for wheat. In the present research, aiming at developing a strategy for accurate FPAR assessment, the relationships between wheat canopy FPAR and vegetation indexes derived from concurrent ground-measured hyperspectral data were explored. FPAR revealed the most strongly correlation with normalized difference index (NDI), and scaled difference index (N*). Both NDI and N* revealed the increase as the increase of FPAR; however, NDI value presented the stagnation as FPAR value beyond 0.70. On the other hand, N* showed a decreasing tendency when FPAR value was higher than 0.70. This special relationship between FPAR and vegetation index could be employed to establish a piecewise FPAR assessment model with NDI as a regression variable during FPAR value lower than 0.70, or N* as the regression variable during FPAR value higher than 0.70. The model revealed higher assessment accuracy up to 16% when compared with FPAR assessment models based on a single vegetation index. In summary, it is feasible to apply NDI and N* for accomplishing wheat canopy FPAR assessment, and establish an FPAR assessment model to overcome the limitations from vegetation index saturation under the condition with high FPAR value.

GH 909 alloy is a kind of low thermal expansion superalloy with high strength and low expansion coefficient. It is mainly used for manufacturing of aero-engine turbine casings, sealing ring, vanes and other gap control parts, to improve the working efficiency and thrust of the engine as well as to reduce gas loss and fuel consumption. However, the machinability is still a problem that restricts the application of GH909. This paper investigated the machinability referring to cutting forces, surface quality and tool wear in the milling process with carbide tool. The main conclusions are: (1) GH909 has similar machinability with other Nickel-based alloys, cutting velocity does not have great influence on cutting forces for small radial cutting depth. (2) Good machined surface quality can be get for cutting velocity around 70m/min. (3) To get good tool performance and reduce tool wear rate, cutting velocity can be set to no larger than 80m/min.

Hyperspectral remote sensing is a rapid non-destructive method for diagnosing nitrogen status in wheat crops. In this study, a quantitative correlation was associated with following parameters: leaf nitrogen accumulation (LNA), raw hyperspectral reflectance, first-order differential hyperspectra, and hyperspectral characteristics of wheat. In this study, integrated linear regression of LNA was obtained with raw hyperspectral reflectance (measurement wavelength = 790.4 nm). Furthermore, an exponential regression of LNA was obtained with first-order differential hyperspectra (measurement wavelength = 831.7 nm). Coefficients (R2) were 0.813 and 0.847; root mean squared errors (RMSE) were 2.02 g·m−2 and 1.72 g·m−2; and relative errors (RE) were 25.97% and 20.85%, respectively. Both the techniques were considered as optimal in the diagnoses of wheat LNA. Nevertheless, the better one was the new normalized variable (SDr − SDb)/(SDr + SDb), which was based on vegetation indices of R2 = 0.935, RMSE = 0.98, and RE = 11.25%. In addition, (SDr − SDb)/(SDr + SDb) was reliable in the application of a different cultivar or even wheat grown elsewhere. This indicated a superior fit and better performance for (SDr − SDb)/(SDr + SDb). For diagnosing LNA in wheat, the newly normalized variable (SDr − SDb)/(SDr + SDb) was more effective than the previously reported data of raw hyperspectral reflectance, first-order differential hyperspectra, and red-edge parameters.

Lesion mimic mutants display spontaneous cell death, and thus are valuable for understanding the molecular mechanism of cell death and disease resistance. Although a lot of such mutants have been characterized in rice, the relationship between lesion formation and abscisic acid (ABA) synthesis pathway is not reported. In the present study, we identified a rice mutant, lesion mimic mutant 9150 (lmm9150), exhibiting spontaneous cell death, pre-harvest sprouting, enhanced growth, and resistance to rice bacterial and blast diseases. Cell death in the mutant was accompanied with excessive accumulation of H2O2. Enhanced disease resistance was associated with cell death and upregulation of defense-related genes. Map-based cloning identified a G-to-A point mutation resulting in a D-to-N substitution at the amino acid position 110 of OsABA2 (LOC_Os03g59610) in lmm9150. Knock-out of OsABA2 through CRISPR/Cas9 led to phenotypes similar to those of lmm9150. Consistent with the function of OsABA2 in ABA biosynthesis, ABA level in the lmm9150 mutant was significantly reduced. Moreover, exogenous application of ABA could rescue all the mutant phenotypes of lmm9150. Taken together, our data linked ABA deficiency to cell death and provided insight into the role of ABA in rice disease resistance.

During all the machining process, the milling cutter has to enter the workpiece either from the boundary or from the machined/unmachined surface, due to the change of machining sequence/cutter or the variation of cutting depth. Unlike the stable cutting process, the contact between cutter and machined workpiece changes significantly in the entering process, resulting in vibration and leaving marks on the machined surface. Aiming at in-depth understanding the mechanism of this phenomenon, this paper presents a novel time-domain simulation model to predict the dynamic response of the cutter during the entering process. Two typical entering conditions, including entering from the workpiece boundary and from the machined surface along the cycle path, are modeled based on the dynamic cutting force calculation by considering dynamic undeformed chip thickness created by consequential teeth engagement. Then, it is synthesized with the time-varying immersion angle and exit angle of cutter teeth in the entering process to simulate the dynamic cutting forces and cutter vibrations. To validate the developed model, eight conditions in boundary entering and six conditions in cycle path entering are carried out by comparing the collected data and the predicted results. Results show that the developed model could precisely predict the dynamic cutting forces and cutter vibration, especially the forces and displacements under the varied cutter-workpiece contact.

Despite offering many advantages over traditional rigid actuators, soft pneumatic actuators suffer from a lack of comprehensive, computationally efficient models and precise embedded control schemes without bulky flow-control valves and extensive computer hardware. In this article, we consider an inexpensive and reliable soft linear actuator, called the reverse pneumatic artificial muscle (rPAM), which consists of silicone rubber that is radially constrained by symmetrical double-helix threading. We describe analytical and numerical static models of this actuator, and compare their performance against experimental results. To study the application of rPAMs to operate underlying kinematic linkage skeletons, we consider a single degree-of-freedom revolute joint that is driven antagonistically by two of these actuators. An analytical model is then derived, and its accuracy in predicting the static joint angle as a function of input pressures is presented. Using this analytical model, we perform dynamic characterization of this system. Finally, we propose a sliding-mode controller, and a sliding mode controller augmented by a feed-forward term to modulate miniature solenoid valves that control air flow to each actuator. Experiments show that both controllers function well, while the feed-forward term improves the performance of the controller following dynamic trajectories.

Enveloped viruses, such as HIV, Ebola and Influenza, are among the most deadly known viruses. Cellular membrane penetration of enveloped viruses is a critical step in the cascade of events that lead to entry into the host cell. Conventional ensemble fusion assays rely on collective responses to membrane fusion events, and do not allow direct and quantitative studies of the subtle and intricate fusion details. Such details are accessible via single particle investigation techniques, however. Here, we implement nano-infrared spectroscopic imaging to investigate the chemical and structural modifications that occur prior to membrane fusion in the single archetypal enveloped virus, influenza X31. We traced in real-space structural and spectroscopic alterations that occur during environmental pH variations in single virus particles. In addition, using nanospectroscopic imaging we quantified the effectiveness of an antiviral compound in stopping viral membrane disruption (a novel mechanism for inhibiting viral entry into cells) during environmental pH variations.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Buffon’s river garfish Zenarchopterus buffonis from South China Sea has been obtained for the first time. It is 16,462 bp long, and contains 21 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), and 1 control region. The overall base composition is significantly biased (A, G, T, and C was 33%, 12.94%, 29.78%, and 24.27%, respectively) with A + T contents of 62.79%. In total, most PCGs use the initiation codon ATG except COX1 uses GTG. Seven PCGs have a complete codon TAA or TAG, whereas the other six genes end with the incomplete stop codon T–– or TA–. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Z. buffonis forms a monophyletic cluster with the species of Belonidae, Zenarchopteridae, and Sconberesocidae.

In eukaryotic cells, histone acetylation and deacetylation play an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Histone acetylation levels are modulated by histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (HDACs). Recent studies indicate that HDACs play essential roles in the regulation of gene expression in plant response to environmental stress. In this review, we discussed the recent advance regarding the plant HDACs and their functions in the regulation of abiotic stress responses. The role of HDACs in autophagy was also discussed.

With the rapid development of the information society，the demand for the transmission capacity of the backbone network is becoming more and more urgent.Firstly，the background of 100 Tbit/s optical transmission technology on single mode fiber（SMF）was introduced.Then some large capacity optical transmission experiments on SMF in recent years were compared.Next，the technical route of 100 Tbit/s optical transmission system on SMF was analyzed，and it was focused on the system experiment of C and L band 100.2 Tbit/s dual polarization DFT-S 128QAM OFDM signal transmission over 80 km G.652 fiber which was first in China.Finally，research foreground of 100 Tbit/s optical transmission technology on SMF was prospected.

Brassinosteroids (BRs), a class of steroidal phytohormones are essential for many biological processes in plant. However, little is known about their roles in fruit development. Tomato is a highly valuable vegetable and has been adopted as the model species for studying fruit growth, development, and ripening. To understand the role of endogenous BRs in the development of tomato fruit, the expression patterns of three homologues of DWF4 gene were investigated and the transgenic tomato plants were generated in which the GhDWF4 gene from upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) was ectopically expressed. The contents of main quality components were analyzed in fruits of transgenic tomato line and non-transgenic line (control plant, CP) when the fruit was mature. SlCYP90B3 that possesses high homology with GhDWF4 preferentially expressed in mature fruit. Significantly higher contents of soluble sugar, soluble proteins, and vitamin C were obtained in fruit of transgenic tomato lines compared with those in the CP. Furthermore, overexpressing GhDWF4 promoted fruit growth and ripening. The weight per fruit was increased by about 23% in transgenic lines. In addition, overexpressing GhDWF4 promoted the germination of transgenic tomato seeds and hypocotyl elongation of seedlings. These results indicated that overexpressing GhDWF4 gene in tomato could increase the contents of many nutrients in fruit and accelerate fruit ripening. It is suggested that increased endogenous BRs in fruit affect the growth and development of tomato fruit and therefore improved the nutrient quality of tomato.

Background: Neurite outgrowth is one of the important therapeutic strategies for neuronal plasticity and regeneration in neural disorders. Fasudil is a clinical medication that is used to treat subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and that is beneficial for many animal models of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In this study, we hypothesised that fasudil administration would promote neurite outgrowth in neural stem cells (NSCs). Methods: Changes in cell morphology were imaged under a light microscope, and neurite-bearing cells were counted. Cell viability and the necrosis rate were determined by MTT and LDH assays, respectively. Additionally, western blot and immunofluorescence analyses were performed to detect protein expression levels. Results: We found that fasudil promoted neurite outgrowth in C17.2 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The neurite-bearing C17.2 cells were differentiated by detecting the changes in neural and astrocytic markers after fasudil treatment through down-regulating Notch signalling. Previously, fasudil was reported to induce autophagy, which plays an important role in neural differentiation. However, both rapamycin, an autophagy inducer, and 3-methyl-adenine (3-MA), an autophagy inhibitor, had no effects on the fasudil-induced neurite outgrowth, suggesting that autophagy may be not involved in this process. Conclusion: In summary, fasudil could stimulate neurite outgrowth and differentiation in C17.2 cells by modulating Notch signalling but not autophagy.

Digital coherent superposition (DCS) for optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier pairs with Hermitian symmetry can simultaneously reduce the inter-carrier interference (ICI) from laser phase noise and cancel the fiber nonlinearity to the first order. In this paper, we study an interesting scenario, where we upgrade the conventional OFDM with 4-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) to DCS-OFDM with 16-QAM, which have equal spectrum efficiency and require no change on hardware. We conduct a simulation to compare the tolerance to the laser phase noise and fiber nonlinearity, which are the main concerns for such an upgrading. First, the 16-QAM DCS-OFDM relaxes the laser linewidth requirement and performs better with a smaller fast Fourier transform size. Second, the nonlinear tolerance of 16-QAM DCS-OFDM is better when the nonlinear effects appear. The nonlinear tolerance of DCS-OFDM depends on the dispersion compensation scheme. The maximum SNR improvement is 3.4 dB with full post-dispersion compensation, and it can increase to 6.6 dB with symmetrical dispersion compensation at the launch power of 4 dBm. Finally, we verify that the maximum SNR improvement of 16-QAM DCS-OFDM with full post-dispersion compensation is 3.7 dB at the launch power of 6.2 dBm in the experiment.

A macroscopic three-dimensional physical simulating model of multi-well fracture-cavity units was designed and constructed based on similarity theory. The characteristics and the water breakthrough pattern of fracture-cavity reservoirs developed in bottom water depletion and water injection modes were investigated by the model. The results show that, in bottom water drive, under the effect of bottom water depletion and water breakthrough, the wells had high productivity in early stage and fast decline. After energy supplement by injecting water, the productivity rebounded in a short time and then began a slow decline. The bottom water tended to coning to the wells at the place of bottom water entry. The water breakthrough pattern is spot pattern and the water breakthrough time is controlled by the well's connectivity to the bottom water; the water injection can inhibit coning and intrusion of bottom water, turning the spot pattern water breakthrough in bottom water drive period into planar line form, and the water breakthrough time in water injection period was mainly influenced by the well depth. The water cut of wells in water flooding multi-well fracture-cavity units changes in three patterns: slow rise, staircase rise and abrupt watered-out, which is influenced by the reservoir type and the coordination number. When the well encounters cavity, the water cut increasing rate slows down with the increase of the coordination number; when the well drilled fractures, the water cut changes in staircase pattern with the increase of coordination number. Key words: fracture-cavity reservoir, macroscopic three-dimensional physical simulation model, similarity theory, bottom water coning, inhibit coning by water injection, varying pattern of water cut

C110 oil well casing tubes should have high strength and corrosion resistance which is commonly used for deep wells operation containing corrosive media. In this paper, the microstructure evolution of a kind of semi-macro segregation originated banded structure in casing tubes is studied under different heat treatments. It is shown that the characteristics of the banded structure will change significantly in subsequent hot working and heat treatment processes. For the hot-rolled ones, the banded structure is composed of pearlite plus bainite. After quenching, it evolves into martensite band with high concentration solute elements. Finally, the banded structure will change into a carbide banding under the following tempering process. The temperature and cooling rate of the tempering practice show an obvious effect on the final band structure. To improve anti-SSC (sulfide stress corrosion cracking) performance, the favorable QT (quenching and tempering) practice for C110 steel should be a higher tempering temperature and a quicker cooling rate, from which the banded structure defects can be decreased together with an obvious improvement of the tube wall hardness uniformity.

Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen. Serotype 2 and sequence type (ST) 1 are the most frequently reported strains in both infected humans and pigs. ST7 is only endemic to China, and it was responsible for outbreaks in 1998 and 2005 in China. In the present study, 38 sporadic ST7 S. suis strains, which mostly caused sepsis, were collected from patients in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GX) between 2007 and 2018. Of 38 sporadic ST7 strains, serotype 14 was the most frequent (27 strains, 71.1%), followed by serotype 2 (11 strains, 28.9%). The phylogenetic structure of the ST7 population, including epidemic and sporadic ST7 strains, was constructed using mutational single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). High diversity within the ST7 population was revealed and divided into five lineages. Only one sporadic ST7 strain, GX14, from a Streptococcal toxic-shock-like syndrome (STSLS) patient was clustered into the same lineage as the epidemic strains. GX14 and the epidemic strains diverged in 1974. The sporadic ST7 strains of GX were mainly clustered into lineage 5, which emerged in 1980. Comparing to genome of epidemic strain, the major differences in genome of sporadic ST7 strains of GX was the absence of 89 kb pathogenicity island (PAI) specific to epidemic strain and insertion of 128 kb ICE_phage tandem MGE or ICE portion of the MGE. These mobile elements play a significant role in the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in sporadic ST7 strains. Our results enhanced the understanding of the evolution of the ST7 strains and their ability to cause life-threatening infections in humans.

Titanium alloys are widely used in the manufacture of aircraft and aeroengine components. However, tool wear is a serious concern in milling titanium alloys, which are known as hard-to-cut materials. Trochoidal milling is a promising technology for the high-efficiency machining of hard-to-cut materials. Aiming to realize green machining titanium alloy, this paper investigates the effects of undeformed chip thickness on tool wear and chip morphology in the dry trochoidal milling of titanium alloy Ti−6Al−4V. A tool wear model related to the radial depth of cut based on the volume of material removed (VMR) is established for trochoidal milling, and optimized cutting parameters in terms of cutting speed and axial depth of cut are selected to improve machining efficiency through reduced tool wear. The investigation enables the environmentally clean rough machining of Ti−6Al−4V.

This paper reports a novel coaxial cable Fabry-Perot interferometer for sensing applications. The sensor is fabricated by drilling two holes half-way into a coaxial cable. The device physics was described. The temperature and strain responses of the sensor were tested. The measurement error was calculated and analyzed.