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Background: The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family belongs to the transmembrane protein receptor of the tyrosine kinase I subfamily and has 4 members: EGFR/ERBB1, ERBB2, ERBB3, and ERBB4. The EGFR family is closely related to the occurrence and development of a variety of cancers.Materials/methods: In this study, we used multiple online bioinformatics websites, including ONCOMINE, TCGA, CGGA, TIMER, cBioPortal, GeneMANIA and DAVID, to study the expression profiles, prognostic values and immune infiltration correlations of the EGFR family in glioma.Results: We found that EGFR and ERBB2 mRNA expression levels were higher in glioblastoma (GBM, WHO IV) than in other grades (WHO grade II & III), while the ERBB3 and ERBB4 mRNA expression levels were the opposite. EGFR and ERBB2 were notably downregulated in IDH mutant gliomas, while ERBB3 and ERBB4 were upregulated, which was associated with a poor prognosis. In addition, correlation analysis between EGFR family expression levels and immune infiltrating levels in glioma showed that EGFR family expression and immune infiltrating levels were significantly correlated. The PPI network of the EGFR family in glioma and enrichment analysis showed that the EGFR family and its interactors mainly participated in the regulation of cell motility, involving integrin receptors and Rho family GTPases.Conclusions: In summary, the results of this study indicate that the EGFR family members may become potential therapeutic targets and new prognostic markers for glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease with an unsatisfactory therapy outcome and characterized by the degradation of articular cartilage and synovial inflammation. Here, we isolated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) from rat's bone marrow and BMSC-derived exosome (BMSCs-Exo) from BMSCs successfully. MiR-135b was proved to be highly expressed in TGF-β1-stimulated BMSC-derived exosomes (BMSCs-ExoTGF-β1). Then, our results demonstrated that BMSCs-ExoTGF-β1 reduced OA-induced upregulation of pro-inflammatory factors in rat's serum and damage in cartilage tissues, which was then reversed by miR-135b decreasing. Subsequently, we found that the OA-resulted M1 polarization of synovial macrophages (SMs) was repressed by BMSCs-ExoTGF-β1, this effect of BMSCs-ExoTGF-β1 was limited by miR-135b decreasing. We also proved that M2 polarization of SMs can be induced by miR-135b mimics. Furthermore, we found that the promotory effect of miR-135b and BMSCs-ExoTGF-β1 on M2 SMs polarization was reversed by increasing of MAPK6. Overall, our data showed that BMSCs-ExoTGF-β1 attenuated cartilage damage in OA rats through carrying highly expressed miR-135b. Mechanistically, miR-135b promoted M2 polarization of SMs through targeting MAPK6, thus improving cartilage damage. Our study provided a novel regulatory mechanism of BMSCs-Exo in OA development and revealed a new potential treatment target of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focus on parameter identification of the main cables of cable suspension structures. Based on the dynamic stiffness theory, an inverse analysis characteristic function (IAC function) for identifying the main cable parameters (such as cable tension, moment of inertia, cable length, and mass per unit length) is established. This function allows for the consideration of cable flexural rigidity, sag, inclination, and additional lumped masses sustained by the suspender. The effects of the cable tension and moment of inertia on the IAC function are investigated via a numerical method. On this basis, a method for identifying the two parameters based on the peak-ridges of the IAC function is proposed. The method comprehensively utilizes measured multimode frequencies. It is unnecessary to determine the fundamental frequency and frequency order. A 20-m real cable test with suspended lumped masses is conducted to verify the correctness of the proposed methods. With the increase in the weight of suspended lumped masses, the advantages of the proposed method are more obvious. For operational cable tension less than 50% of the cable breaking tension, the cable moment of inertia is less affected by suspended lumped masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the shortcomings of the traditional high-pressure common rail electronically controlled injector in needle valve driving mode and driving components, a direct-drive type giant magnetostrictive injector (GMI) is designed. Based on the working principle of the GMI, the magnetic field model, hysteresis nonlinear model, and magnetostrictive model are established. The magnetic field model and hysteresis nonlinear model are simulated and analyzed, and the GMA magnetostrictive model is solved numerically and verified experimentally. Finally, COMSOL Multiphysics software is used to conduct electro-magnetic-mechanical coupling simulation analysis on the whole GMI output model, and the relationship between the needle valve lift of the injector and the output displacement of the actuator was obtained. The research results show that the displacement curve calculated using the GMA magnetostrictive model is basically consistent with the displacement curve measured by experiment, which proves that the established model can reflect the actual situation and verify the correctness of the model. The magnitude and direction of the GMI needle valve lift are determined by the magnitude and direction of GMA output displacement. The two directions are opposite, and the size ratio is 4, so when the current is 6 A, the GMA output displacement is 0.12 mm, and the needle valve lift is 0.48 mm, which meets the requirements of the injector needle valve lift, verifies the feasibility of GMI structure design, and has good theoretical and practical guiding values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Printed circuit board (PCB) can provide assembly support and electrical connection for components in electronic systems. The machining of micro-holes in PCB is a necessary process and key step for its application in electronic components. Therefore, micro-holes are the key structures of PCB. At present, high-speed drilling based on micro-bit is the key supporting technology for machining PCB micro-holes. However, when the copper foil layer in PCB is machined by this technology, the micro-holes are prone to defects such as hole mouth burr and hole nail head, which could seriously affect the performance of PCB. Focusing on the above problems, this paper proposed to use micro electro-discharge machining (micro-EDM) for assisted machining of PCB micro-holes. With this method, the copper foil layer in PCB was machined by micro-EDM, so as to remove hole mouth burr and hole nail head. The paper detailedly studied the influence of micro-EDM voltage, pulse width and pulse interval on hole mouth burr and hole nail head. Finally, under the effects of 10,000 rpm rotational speed, 40 V voltage, 80 ns pulse width and 160 ns pulse interval, the micro-bit with diameter of 200 μm was used to carry out micro-EDM-assisted machining of the copper foil in PCB. From the machining results, it can be found that the hole mouth burr and the hole nail head were basically eliminated and PCB micro-holes with good quality were obtained by the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of slope stability reliability under the condition of incomplete probability information is one of the most popular issues in geotechnical engineering. The key difficulty in the issue lies in how to effectively establish a joint probability distribution model that conforms to the distribution characteristics of shear strength parameters under the condition of incomplete probability information. In this paper, based on the incomplete probability information of the nonlinear strength parameters of rockfill, the joint distribution model of the nonlinear strength parameters will be established using the Copula function. Combined with a radial basis function network (RBFN), an intelligent response surface method for reliability analysis of rockfill dam slope stability systems will be proposed. Its feasibility and validity will be demonstrated through an example. The influences of the Copula function type and sample number on the reliability of the stability system of rockfill dam slope will be systematically studied based on the constructed intelligent response surface. The results indicate that the Copula function could reasonably describe the correlated, nonnormal distribution characteristics of the nonlinear strength parameters and effectively construct their joint distribution model. The Copula function could provide reliable, statistically significant parameter samples for reliability analysis of the stability system of rockfill dam slopes. The traditional independent normal distribution ignores the correlated, nonnormal distribution characteristics of the nonlinear strength parameters of the rockfill, which result in the smaller failure probability and overestimation on the reliability of the stability system of the dam slope. The Copula function type and the number of samples have a significant impact on the reliability of the stability system of a rockfill dam slope. Therefore, it is recommended that as much test data as possible is obtained for statistical analysis, and the optimal marginal distribution function and Copula function are selected to improve the accuracy of the failure probability analysis of the rockfill dam slope stability system, which is of great engineering significance in the safety evaluation of a dam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sudden increases in the dc-link voltage, caused by ac grid side voltage drops, can lead to potential damage in the equipment. Therefore, dc choppers are widely used in offshore wind power links to absorb the excess energy and keep the voltage within safe margins. This article investigates the existing chopper topologies and summarizes their advantages and disadvantages. On this basis, a novel dc chopper topology with both centralized and distributed resistances is proposed. It is a combination of two mainstream chopper topologies and gives the flexibility to tradeoff among the pros and cons of them. In this way, the proposed topology achieves great electromagnetic interference performance, precise power control, and very small system disturbance. In addition, the maximum power dissipation of the distributed resistance is reduced by 75%. The switching frequency and the loss of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are also decreased. Finally, the claimed attributes of the proposed topology are verified by test and simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural topology optimization considering both performance and manufacturability is very attractive in engineering applications. This work proposes a formulation for structural topology optimization to achieve such a design, in which material strength, structural stiffness, and connectivity are simultaneously considered by integrating stress and simply-connected constraints into the compliance minimization problem. An effective solution algorithm consisting of different optimization techniques is introduced to handle various numerical difficulties resulted from this relatively complex multi-constraint and multi-field problem. Except for the stress penalization and aggregation techniques, the regional measure strategy is used together with the stability transformation method-based correction scheme to address stress constraints, which is also applied to the Poisson equation-based scalar field constraint in the simply-connected constraint. Numerical examples are presented to assess the features of the achieved design along with the performance of the employed algorithm. Comparisons with pure compliance, pure stress, and pure connectivity designs are provided to illustrate differences arising in the proposed design with respect to traditional approaches, also the necessity. Innovative manufacturing-oriented designs with consideration of the strength, stiffness, and connectivity are now available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress-based topology optimization and nonlinear structural topology optimization is gaining increasing attention in order to make topology optimization more realistic. Thus, this paper extends current concepts of topology optimization to the design of structures made of nonlinear materials. An extended bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method for stress minimization topology optimization of material nonlinear structures is proposed in this work. BESO method based on discrete variables can effectively avoid the well-known singularity problem in density-based methods with low-density elements. The maximum von Mises stress is approximated by the p-norm global stress. The sensitivity information for designing variable updates is derived in detail by adjoint method. As for the highly nonlinear stress behavior, the updated scheme takes advantages from two filters respectively of the sensitivity and topological variables to improve convergence. Moreover, the filtered sensitivity numbers are combined with their historical sensitivity information to further stabilize the optimization process. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by several 2D benchmark design problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Pathologic tumor size assessment highly depends on the gross specimen size once microscopic cancer size exceeds its macroscopic size, in particular if the dimension along the plane of sectioning is the greatest. We hypothesize that the method by which the specimen size is estimated can yield significantly different tumor size measurements and thus affect breast cancer staging and treatment. Methods: The size in the plane of sectioning of 50 lumpectomies over 4 cm was examined by 5 methods: measured grossly in the fresh state and postfixation, and calculated from the gross measurements by 3 different methods. For 15 mastectomies, we measured and calculated the span of the middle 4 and 6 slices using 3 methods. Results: For all 50 lumpectomies, fresh measurement yielded the largest size. The difference in size of lumpectomies was greater with increasing specimen size (P <.001). Using the method of adding 0.4 cm per each submitted sequential section yielded the smallest size in most cases. In mastectomies the span of the middle 4 and 6 slices was significantly larger if calculated from the average slice thickness based on the specimen size. Conclusion: The method of specimen size measurement has implications in estimation of tumor size and patient management. It is essential that pathologists be aware of the technique used and its limitations. For individual slice thickness, we highly recommend using the measurements obtained at the time of grossing rather than calculating the average slice thickness from the specimen size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical method will be proposed to investigate the bearing mechanism of piles in an anisotropic discontinuous rock mass. Based on the characteristic line method, the discontinuous part of the rock is considered as the boundary condition of the plastified zone, and Riemann's invariant governing equation will be applied at the boundary conditions to link these boundaries. It was found that four different failure mechanisms exist that depend on the inclination angle of weakness planes (χ): (1) conditioned by the planes of weakness in the intermediate zone (MC), (2) conditioned by the planes of weakness close to Boundary 2 in the active zone (M2), (3) conditioned by the planes of weakness close to Boundary 1 in the passive zone (M1), and (4) not conditioned by the planes of weakness (MI). Each pile failure mechanism contains four failure modes under different pile embedment and geostatic loads: (1) deep pile with minor overburden (DL), (2) deep pile and large overburden (DH), (3) semideep pile and small overburden (SL), and (4) semideep pile and large overburden (SH). Therefore, 16 pile failure modes exist and are distinguished by χ and the embedment ratios (n). The friction angles of the weakness planes (φ) have significant effects on the pile failure mechanisms. Under the failure mechanism of MC, M2, and M1, the peak of the percentage of pile bearing capacity in anisotropic discontinuous rock over that in isotropic continuous rock (NβP,DL/NβP,MI) increased with φ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the robust adaptive neural control of nonminimum phase hypersonic flight vehicle using composite learning. To overcome the nonminimum phase behavior, the output redefinition is employed and the attitude subsystem is transformed to the internal subsystem and the input–output subsystem. For the input–output subsystem, the adaptive neural control works together with the robust control to follow the reference command of pitch angle derived from the internal subsystem. Furthermore, the sliding mode control is constructed in a similar way. For the update of the neural weights, the composite learning is constructed using the prediction error. The stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed via the Lyapunov approach and the ultimately uniform boundedness of the tracking errors can be guaranteed. The effectiveness of the methodology is illustrated by the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Homogeneous CZTSSe absorber has been prepared by replacing acetate with chloride. • Substituting CuCl 2 with CuCl, large-grained CZTSSe absorber has been obtained. • 8.48% efficient CZTSSe solar cell has been yield by using CuCl as a copper source. Excellent crystallinity and uniform composition distribution of the Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) absorber are indispensable factors for the fabrication of photovoltaic device with excellent performance. Here, a facile and effective method is developed to improve the composition uniformity of CZTSSe absorber. It is inspiring that by replacing the acetates with chlorides as the solutes in the precursor solution, the issue of the composition non-uniformity especially for the distribution of Cu and Sn, which is ascribed to the rich-carbon in the acetate-based CZTSSe absorber, is able to be avoided. Due to less organic residues and composition uniformity, the grain size and the crystallinity of absorber could be significantly enhanced, and the photovoltaic performance of chloride-based CZTSSe solar cell is improved remarkably. Furthermore, substituting CuCl 2 with CuCl as the copper source in the precursor solution is able to obtain a stable solution, and the quality of CZTSSe absorber is further improved. As a consequence, 8.48% efficient CZTSSe solar cell has been yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Analyzing the refractory element on Ni 2 TiAl by first-principles calculation. • Nb provides the maximum toughness and maintains hardness simultaneously. • Hf provides the largest hardness and maximum toughness loss. • V and Cr significantly enhance the bonding strength and stability. Refractory high entropy alloys (RHEAs) are attracting wide attention due to their excellent high-temperature strength. L2 1 -Ni 2 TiAl was found as a strengthening phase in high entropy alloys (HEAs) which significantly improves room and elevated-temperature mechanical properties. To explore the potential application in RHEAs, we address the calculations of 7 refractory elements (i.e., V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, and Ta) doping from first principles on the site preference, elastic properties and bonding effect of Ni 2 TiAl. The results show that the antisite defects is more stable than the vacancy defects. Elements Cr and Mo prefer the Ni-sites, while V, Zr, Nb, Hf, and Ta prefer the Ti-sites. Moreover, all the doping elements lead to a lattice shrinkage, among which V cause the largest distortion. For the normalized shear modulus (G/G 0), all the elements increase except Nb, of which Hf rank the top. While for the normalized bulk modulus (B/B 0), all the elements slightly increase except Hf. Furthermore, Nb is the only one to improve the toughness but has little impact on hardness (Hv), then Hf improves hardness the most. Additionally, all the doping elements decrease the anisotropy of Young's modulus for Ni 2 TiAl, of which Nb has the largest anisotropy, leading to a weak resistance to deformation. Notably, the density of states (DOS) shows that V and Cr can effectively improve the bonding stability and strength of Ni 2 TiAl. Overall, the alloying of Nb, V, and Cr may synergistically improve the stability and toughness of Ni 2 TiAl, which is expected to develop novel RHEAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frozen dough technology has been widely used in the food industry at home and abroad due to its advantages of extending shelf life, preventing aging, and facilitating refrigeration and transportation. However, during the transportation and storage process of frozen dough, the growth and recrystallization of ice crystals caused by temperature fluctuations can lead to a deterioration in the quality of the dough, resulting in poor sensory characteristics of the final product and decreased consumption, which limits the large-scale application of frozen dough. In response to this issue, antifreeze proteins (AFPs) could be used as a beneficial additive to frozen dough that can combine with ice crystals, modify the ice crystal morphology, reduce the freezing point of water, and inhibit the recrystallization of ice crystals. Because of its special structure and function, it can well alleviate the quality deterioration problem caused by ice crystal recrystallization during frozen storage of dough, especially the plant-derived AFPs, which have a prominent effect on inhibiting ice crystal recrystallization. In this review, we introduce the characteristics and mechanisms of action of plant-derived AFPs. Furthermore, the application of plant-derived AFPs in frozen dough are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frozen dough technology has been widely used in the food industry at home and abroad due to its advantages of extending shelf life, preventing aging, and facilitating refrigeration and transportation. However, during the transportation and storage process of frozen dough, the growth and recrystallization of ice crystals caused by temperature fluctuations can lead to a deterioration in the quality of the dough, resulting in poor sensory characteristics of the final product and decreased consumption, which limits the large-scale application of frozen dough. In response to this issue, antifreeze proteins (AFPs) could be used as a beneficial additive to frozen dough that can combine with ice crystals, modify the ice crystal morphology, reduce the freezing point of water, and inhibit the recrystallization of ice crystals. Because of its special structure and function, it can well alleviate the quality deterioration problem caused by ice crystal recrystallization during frozen storage of dough, especially the plant-derived AFPs, which have a prominent effect on inhibiting ice crystal recrystallization. In this review, we introduce the characteristics and mechanisms of action of plant-derived AFPs. Furthermore, the application of plant-derived AFPs in frozen dough are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Plasma partial oxidative reforming of the tar model compound was carried out. • A detailed kinetics model was established based on the calculated G-values of active species. • Performance was evaluated under pure N 2 and gasification gas atmospheres. • The highest toluene conversion was 100.0 % with an energy efficiency of 25.7 g/kWh, without catalysts usage. In this study, partial oxidation of toluene as a biomass tar surrogate was carried out in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. In order to understand the reaction characteristics and thus potential of the approach, the effect of reaction temperature, O 2 /toluene molar ratio (OTR) and discharge power on performances was investigated by experiments and kinetic modeling. The results showed that the three factors could change the E/n and hence the G-values of species, as well as alter O 2 concentration in background gas and input energy, leading to the variation in active species production and thus, the performance. Appropriate high temperatures, as well as higher OTRs and discharge power obtained better performances by promoting toluene destruction and gas product production. Excited N 2 species play a crucial role in the process, by means of participating in reactions directly and strongly influencing on the production of secondary active species. At 300 °C, the highest toluene conversion of 100.0 % with an energy efficiency of 25.7 g/kWh was achieved without catalysts usage, a comparable performance as compared to the steam reforming by plasma catalysis, demonstrating the potential of this method for the purification of gasification gases. Furthermore, based on the rate of production (ROP) and sensitivity analyses of the model developed, as well as experimental results, the reaction mechanism was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel mild and recyclable ethylenediamine (EDA) pretreatment method was developed. This pretreatment process efficiently eliminated lignin and facilitated the recovery of pretreatment reagents. Under optimized conditions at 70 °C, more than half of lignin was removed from the corn stover (CS). Consequently, the enzymatic hydrolysis of glucose and xylose achieved yields of 82.1% and 50.4%, respectively. Notably, the recovered EDA was efficiently reused and maintained comparable pretreatment efficiency even after five rounds of recovery. The pretreated CS was effectively used for bacterial cellulose fermentation without requiring additional detoxification steps. Furthermore, the analysis of EDA lignin (EL) revealed the presence of numerous amino groups introduced into the lignin structure. Subsequently, EL was used in the polyurethane (PU) foam preparation. The results revealed that EL-based PU foam featured higher compressive strength, density, thermal stability, and adsorption capacity for dyes and heavy metal ions compared with alkali lignin-based PU foam. [Display omitted] • A mild and recyclable pretreatment process was developed. • Pretreated biomass achieved high bacterial cellulose yield without detoxification. • Lignin was separated and aminated during pretreatment. • Properties of aminated lignin-based polyurethane foam surpass alkaline lignin's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, financial development and renewable energy technologies have become new tools to stimulate wind power development, attracting attention from the government and academia. However, most existing literature uses linear methods to investigate wind power, masking the nonlinear relationship between these factors and wind power development. The objective of this study is to reveal the nonlinear relationships between these economic factors and wind power development, providing a basis for the government to design differentiated phased policies. Compared to traditional linear methods, the nonparametric models can truly simulate the nonlinear relationship between these economic factors and wind power development. Given this, this article uses the nonparametric additive regression model to investigate these links. The result of this study shows: (1) financial decentralization produces a U-shaped impact on wind power, indicating that expanding the autonomy of local financial institutions has driven wind power development in the later stage. (2) The impact of renewable energy technologies demonstrates an inverted U-shaped pattern, signifying that the driving effect of green technology has shifted from being prominent in the early stage to being reduced in the later stage. (3) Energy subsidies also exert an inverted U-shaped effect, meaning that its driving role is prominent in the early stage. (4) In addition, the impacts of CO 2 emissions, wind power prices, environmental governance investments, and urbanization on wind power development also exhibit non-linear characteristics. Finally, this article proposes policies in response to the stage where economic tools don't play a role in driving wind power development. [Display omitted] • Financial decentralization has a U-shaped impact on the wind power industry. • The impact of renewable energy technologies is an inverted U-shaped pattern. • Energy subsidies exert an inverted U-shaped effect on wind power. • Wind power prices produce a positive U-shaped influence. • Environmental governance investments impose a W-shaped effect on wind power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyaminoamide (PAMAM) dendrimers with different generations from 1 G to 5 G were grafted on magnetic core-shell Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 composite particles, respectively. Using Fe 3 O 4 as a magnetic center and SiO 2 as the connecting layer, the PAMAM dendrimers with amino functional groups were modified on SiO 2 successfully, while laccase was immobilized to the surface of Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 -PAMAM x by covalent cross-linking using amide bond. Under the optimal conditions, the loading capacity of laccase reached 65.5 mg/g, and about 62.8 % of its initial activity of free laccase was reserved. Immobilized laccase degradated 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) with a degradation ratio of 91.5 % after 24 h. The degradation ratio of 82.9 % was maintained after 5 cycles of the operation, and when enhanced to the 10 cycles degradation, the degradation rate was still remained close to 80 %. Compared with free laccase, the comprehensive stability of immobilized laccase was improved significantly, and it displayed the excellent catalytic degradation ability for 2,4-DCP. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an innovative methodology applied to blade optimization for hydrodynamic performance improvement of a horizontal axial tidal current turbine (HATCT) considering the effect of Reynolds number. Axial induction factor, tangential induction factor and angle of attack are employed for identifying the accuracy and applicability of modified Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory. Combined with the XFoil software, the hydrofoil shape function is represented by trigonometric functions through Theodorsen method. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the hydrofoil are employed as the optimization targets, and the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to optimize the original hydrofoil. Based on the modified BEM theory and the optimized hydrofoil, the tidal current turbine power coefficient at different tip speed ratio (TSR) is optimized according to the MATLAB function. The optimized tidal current turbine shows better performance compared with the original tidal current turbine. • A comprehensive examination of a RE_BEM algorithm was conducted. • The algorithm's accuracy and applicability were confirmed through calculations of the NACA63-8XX hydrofoil. • Multipoint optimization was employed to enhance the hydrodynamics of the NACA63-8XX hydrofoil. • Expanding the high-efficiency region and enhancing the power coefficient of tidal current turbines were accomplished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Both effects of oxidation and LSPR coupling are considered in the model. • Mean shell thickness or extinction spectrum of coupled CuNPs can be calculated. • Synergistic effect of distance and environmental n weakens as oxidation deepens. Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) possess localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect. Cu thin films composed of individual CuNPs exhibit stronger LSPR than the individual CuNPs due to the LSPR coupling among CuNPs. However, CuNPs are easy to be oxidized, which results in the rapid LSPR damping of the CuNPs thin films. Simulation of the variations of the coupled LSPR of two adjacent CuNPs with the thickness of oxide shells formed during oxidation is of great importance for understanding the mechanisms of the strong LSPR of CuNPs thin films and its rapid attenuation. In this paper, Discrete-dipole approximation method is used to simulate the extinction spectra of two adjacent spherical CuNPs as a function of the shell thickness (t), the ambient refractive index (n), the diameter (D) of the CuNPs, and the inter-nanoparticle spacing (L). The calculation is validated by experimental results. According to our model, for a definite CuNPs thin films, the oxide shell thickness of CuNPs can be calculated only if the extinction spectra and the morphology are provided. Further, it is found when the oxide shell thickness is small (t/R < 0.3), increasing n and decreasing L/D have an obvious synergistic effect on enhancing the coupled LSPR, but this synergistic effect weakens with the deepening of oxidation, and disappeared when t/R > 0.5. This study provides a calculation method for coupled core-shell nanoparticles and throws light on the role of oxidation on the rapid damped LSPR of CuNPs thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced-scale building models have been widely used in experiments because of their convenience and flexibility. However, it is difficult to reduce its indoor temperature and maintain the low temperature at low cost. There is also a lack of accurate numerical modelling and verification of the indoor temperature control process in this model. For this purpose, a reduced-scale test chamber was constructed that can be used to conduct experiments in real outdoor environmental conditions. Lower the indoor air temperature by placing ice in the test chamber and maintain it within the range of 10–15 °C, with a temperature difference of approximately 20 °C from the outdoor air temperature. In addition, the temperature control process in experiment was modelled in detail. The experimental values were compared with the simulated values, and the coefficient of variation of the root mean square error between the two is in the range of 3.64–7.71%. This work integrates experiments into numerical modelling, which not only cross-validates the reliability of each other, but also the verified model can be used for subsequent simulation analysis, including in-depth exploration of key factors affecting experimental results, and calculation of important results that are difficult to measure directly in experiments. • New method is proposed to reduce indoor temperature in reduced-scale model. • Temperature difference between indoor and outdoor environments is approximately 20 °C. • Integrating experiments into numerical modelling and verifying reliability of the two. • The verified model can be used to further analyse key factors affecting the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat-flux meter is affected by various uncertain factors in practical applications, which brings some difficulties to scholars in postprocessing data. Therefore, a modified method for calculating the heat flux of the building surface is proposed. It can make the simulated heat flux value consistent with the experimental heat flux value, thus verifying the accuracy of the model with the heat flux value. On this basis, through artificial neural network (ANN) training, the heat conduction flux inside the wall is predicted by using the measured heat flux and temperature of inner surfaces. The results show that the root mean square errors obtained by the heat flux error correction method are all less than 1.12 W·m−2. The ANN fitting coefficients are also greater than 0.9. The error correction method proposed in this work comprehensively considers the influence of solar radiation and the total heat transfer coefficient and is also applicable to passive buildings and buildings with PCM in the envelope. The well-performing network built by ANN can predict the thermal conductivity heat flux inside the wall more accurately, providing a new method to measure or check whether the thermal resistance of the wall is qualified in the field. • Propose a modified method for calculating the heat flux of building surfaces. • This method is suitable for passive buildings and buildings with PCM. • Expand the formula of comprehensive outdoor air temperature. • Inversion of wall thermal resistance with artificial neural network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During heat extraction in fractured reservoir, the perturbation of pressure, stress, temperature could alter the fracture aperture, which feeds back to the long-term performance of EGS. In this work, a 3D THM coupled model was developed for the long-term performance based on the discrete fracture network. The apparent improvement of this model is both shear dilatancy and normal closure/opening are considered in a complete constitutive relationship under the THM coupled framework TOUGH2M-FLAC3D. The feasibility is verified and validated through comparing with analytical solution and previous numerical work. In application of the new approach in a fractured reservoir, it is found that the phenomenon of channel flow will concentrate the heat mining in partial fractures, and the fracture enhancement further reinforce the channel flow. The pressure effect on fracture transfers faster than the thermal effect. In the sensitivity analysis, the zero-stress aperture has a positive impact on heat extraction. Higher thermal expansion coefficient promotes the heat extraction as well. While, the dilation angle in this work has a neglectable impact on heat extraction performance. The thermal effect accounts for the most fracture variation under high thermal expansion coefficient. Therefore, the thermal effect should be considered especially in high temperature geothermal reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate wave predictions are crucial for many marine-related activities, including offshore operations, navigation, and marine renewable energy. To improve the forecast performance, this study presents a data assimilation system that utilizes the WAVEWATCH III wave model and the local Ensemble Optimal Interpolation scheme to assimilate significant wave heights data from HY-2B altimeter in the China Seas. The effects of assimilation are analyzed in both coastal and offshore regions at different distances from assimilated satellite data points during a forecast period. The results show that systematic bias in wave forecasting for both offshore and nearshore locations can be effectively reduced through the use of data assimilation, with localization employed to minimize the influence of random errors. Nearshore forecasting benefits from assimilation to a greater extent than offshore forecasting, with a more enduring improvement observed. Additionally, the decline in forecast improvement with increasing distance from assimilated data highlights the necessity of assimilating a greater quantity of observational satellite data. Furthermore, careful consideration should be given to the size of the ensemble when using a specific localization radius, as the improvement in skill may stagnate with larger ensembles. Finally, assimilating additional nearshore satellite data does not negatively impact the predictive precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal switching provides an effective way for active heat flow control, which has recently attracted increasing attention in terms of nanoscale thermal management technologies. In magnetic and spintronic materials, the thermal conductivity depends on the magnetization configuration: this is the magnetothermal resistance effect. Here, we show that an epitaxial Cu/Co50Fe50 multilayer film exhibits giant magnetic-field-induced modulation of the cross-plane thermal conductivity. The magnetothermal resistance ratio for the Cu/Co50Fe50 multilayer reaches 150% at room temperature, which is much larger than the previous record high. Although the ratio decreases with increasing the temperature, the giant magnetothermal resistance effect of ∼100% still appears up to 400 K. The magnetic field dependence of the thermal conductivity of the Cu/Co50Fe50 multilayer was observed to be about twice greater than that of the cross-plane electrical conductivity. The observation of the giant magnetothermal resistance effect clarifies the potential of spintronic multilayers as thermal switching devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global production of glycerol is increasing year by year since the demands of biodiesel is rising. It is benefit for high-yield succinate synthesis due to its high reducing property. A. succinogenes, a succinate-producing candidate, cannot grow on glycerol anaerobically, as it needs a terminal electron acceptor to maintain the balance of intracellular NADH and NAD+. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been widely used to release extra intracellular electrons. However, A. succinogenes is a non-electroactive strain which need the support of electron shuttle in MFC, and pervious research showed that acid-tolerant A. succinogenes has higher content of unsaturated fatty acids, which may be beneficial for the transmembrane transport of lipophilic electron shuttle. Results: MFC-assisted succinate production was evaluated using neutral red as an electron shuttle to recover the glycerol utilization. First, an acid-tolerant mutant JF1315 was selected by atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) mutagenesis aiming to improve transmembrane transport of neutral red (NR). Additionally, MFC was established to increase the ratio of oxidized NR to reduced NR. By combining these two strategies, ability of JF1315 for glycerol utilization was significantly enhanced, and 23.92 g/L succinate was accumulated with a yield of 0.88 g/g from around 30 g/L initial glycerol, along with an output voltage above 300 mV. Conclusions: A novel MFC-assisted system was established to improve glycerol utilization by A. succinogenes for succinate and electricity production, making this system as a platform for chemicals production and electrical supply simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let F be a p-adic field of characteristic 0. We study a twisted local descent construction for the metaplectic groups Sp ~ 2 n (F) , and also its relation to the corresponding local descent construction for odd special orthogonal groups via local theta correspondence. In consequence, we show that this descent construction gives irreducible supercuspidal genuine representations of Sp ~ 2 n (F) parametrized by a simple local L-parameter φτ corresponding to an irreducible supercuspidal representation τ of GL2n(F) of symplectic type, and the genericity of the representations constructed can be indicated by a local epsilon factor condition. In particular, this local descent construction recovers the local Shimura correspondence for supercuspidal representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightweight manufacturing reduces energy consumption and protects the environment; therefore, it offers an important direction of development in engineering. Variable polarity plasma arc (VPPA) welding is a light gauge aluminum and magnesium alloy joining technology capable of the highly efficient welding of medium-thickness metals via the keyhole effect, and without the complex pre-processing required by traditional methods. However, the stability of the keyhole weld pool is easily lost, resulting in a much narrower parameter window than that of conventional methods. Here, through keyhole morphology analysis and x-ray in situ imaging experiments, we reveal the material flow behavior, the mechanism behind the stability of the keyhole weld pool, and the reason for the very narrow process parameter window in VPPA welding processes. We discovered that the polarity pressure difference of the plasma arc, which is induced by the keyhole boundary shape and plasma arc intensity, drives the flow pattern to the top side of the keyhole, which is beneficial for keyhole filling and the formation of a stable weld bead. The influence of the difference in plasma arc pressure and the keyhole boundary on the flow field revealed in this study may guide the optimization process of light metal joining to achieve the highly efficient and defect-free manufacturing of large and complex structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous studies have shown that the short-term efficacy of three-dimensional (3D) laparoscopic radical gastrectomy (LG) is comparable to that of two-dimensional (2D)-LG. Whether 3D-LG affects the recurrence patterns of gastric cancer (GC) patients has not been investigated. Methods: From January 2015 to April 2016, a total of 419 patients were recruited for a phase III clinical trial (NCT02327481), which compared the short-term outcomes between the 2D and 3D groups. The long-term efficacy including recurrence patterns was compared between the 2D and 3D groups in this retrospective study. Multivariate analyses were performed to determine whether 3D-LG affects the recurrence patterns. Results: Ultimately, 401 patients were analyzed (197 in the 2D-LG group and 204 in the 3D-LG group), and no differences were observed in the clinicopathological data between the two groups. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the recurrence types, first recurrence time or recurrence-free survival (RFS) (all p > 0.05). According to the 7th American Joint Committee on Cancer tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system, both groups were stratified into pathological stages I, II, and III. The stratified analysis showed no significant differences in RFS or overall survival (OS) among patients in each subgroup (all p > 0.05). The multivariate analysis of RFS showed that tumor diameter, pTNM stage, lymphovascular invasion, and adjuvant chemotherapy were independent factors (all p < 0.05). The multivariate analysis of post-recurrence survival (PRS) showed that adjuvant chemotherapy was an independent protective factor (p = 0.043). Conclusions: 3D-LG for GC did not differ significantly from 2D-LG in the effects on 3-year recurrence patterns, RFS and OS, which provides more tumor-related evidence for 3D technology. And due to the technological similarity, it may have certain reference value for robotic-assisted gastrectomy. Further multicenter, large-scale clinical trials are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) plays a vital role in cancer stem cells. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of the circular RNA (circRNA) antisense to the cerebellar degeneration-related protein 1 transcript (CDR1as) during competitive inhibition of microRNA-7 (miR-7) in the regulation of autophagy to modulate the proliferation and migration of breast cancer stem cells. The CD44+/CD24− phenotype breast cancer stem cells were sorted from the original MCF7 cell by flow cytometry. RT-qPCR was applied to assess the expression of CDR1as and miR-7 in MCF7-Parent and MCF7-Stem cells. The activity of autophagy was evaluated followed the knockdown and overexpression of CDR1as. The correlation between CDR1as and miR-7 and between CDR1as and miR-7-target mRNAs were evaluated. This study revealed that CDR1as overexpression was associated with up-regulation of autophagy and that CDR1as competitive inhibition of miR-7 enhanced the LKB1-AMPK-mTOR signaling and autophagy-associated genes in breast cancer stem cells. CDR1as promoted the cell growth and migration of breast CSCs via the CDR1as/miR-7 axis, and knockdown of CDR1as and miR-7 overexpression obviously impaired the ability of growth and migration. The present study added a new view of developing a new therapeutic strategy against breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Perioperative C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels have effects on the prognosis of cancer patients. We intended to determine the prognostic value of combining the two for gastric cancer (GC). Methods: Data were extracted from a clinical trial. By calculating the area under the curve (AUC) and the C‐index, the predictive value of CRPs among different time points, including preoperative (pre‐CRP), postoperative days 1, 3, and 5 (post‐CRPs), and postoperative maximum CRP (post‐CRPmax), was derived. Multivariate analysis was performed to further explore the independent variates for recurrence‐free survival (RFS). Results: Finally, 401 patients were available in the present study. For RFS, higher AUC (0.692) and concordance index (0.678) of pre‐CRP were observed when compared with those of post‐CRPs. Further, among post‐CRPs, post‐CRPmax had the highest predictive values (AUC: 0.591; concordance index: 0.585) among the other post‐CRPs. The threshold values in predicting RFS for pre‐CRP and post‐CRPmax were 3.1 mg/L and 77.1 mg/L. Multivariate analysis showed both pre‐CRP≥3.1 mg/L (high‐pre‐CRP) and post‐CRPmax≥77.1 mg/L (high‐post‐CRPmax) were risk factors for RFS. Postoperative chemotherapy benefit was further analyzed for patients with stage II/III GC and indicated that patients with pre‐CRP<3.1 mg/L had better prognosis without benefit from postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT), p = 0.557. In high‐pre‐CRP patients, only patients with post‐CRPmax≥77.1 mg/L but not post‐CRPmax<77.1 mg/L benefited from postoperative ACT (RFS: 33.2% vs 49.9% for non‐chemotherapy group and chemotherapy group, respectively, p = 0.037). Analyses for overall survival obtained the similar outcomes. Conclusions: Both high‐pre‐CRP and high‐post‐CRPmax are associated with worse prognosis in GC. ACT seems to only improve the prognosis for stage II/III GC with pre‐CRP≥3.1 mg/L and post‐CRPmax≥77.1 mg/L after radical gastrectomy. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore the potential mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdifferentiation of human non-muscle cells directly into myogenic cells by forced expression of MyoD represents one route to obtain highly desirable human myogenic cells. However, functional properties of the tissue constructs derived from these transdifferentiated cells have been rarely studied. Here, we report that three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs engineered with iMyoD-hTERT-NHDFs, normal human dermal fibroblasts transduced with genes encoding human telomerase reverse transcriptase and doxycycline-inducible MyoD, generate detectable contractile forces in response to electrical stimuli upon MyoD expression. Withdrawal of doxycycline in the middle of 3D culture results in 3.05 and 2.28 times increases in twitch and tetanic forces, respectively, suggesting that temporally-controlled MyoD expression benefits functional myogenic differentiation of transdifferentiated myoblast-like cells. Treatment with CHIR99021, a Wnt activator, and DAPT, a Notch inhibitor, leads to further enhanced contractile forces. The ability of these abundant and potentially patient-specific and disease-specific cells to develop into functional skeletal muscle constructs makes them highly valuable for many applications, such as disease modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the regional and age-specific distribution of AIDS/HIV in China from 2004 to 2017 and to conduct time series analysis of the epidemiological trends.Method: Using official surveillance data from publicly accessible database of the national infectious disease reporting system, we described long-term patterns of incidence and death in AIDS/HIV, analyzed age group and regional epidemic characteristics, and established Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models for time series analysis.Result: The incidence and death of AIDS/HIV have increased rapidly from 2004 to 2017, with significant difference regarding age groups and provincial regions (a few provinces appear as hot spots). With goodness-of-fit criteria and using data from 2004 to 2015, ARIMA (0,1,3) × (2,0,0), ARIMA (3,1,0) × (1,0,1), and ARIMA (0,1,2) × (2,0,0) were chosen as the optimal model for the incidence of AIDS, HIV, and combined; ARIMA (0,1,3) × (1,0,0) was chosen as the optimal model for the death of AIDS, HIV, and combined. ARIMA models robustly predicted the incidence and death of AIDS/HIV in 2016 and 2017.Conclusion: A focused intervention strategy targeting specific regions and age groups is essential for the prevention and control of AIDS/HIV. ARIMA models function as data-driven and evidence-based methods to forecast the trends of infectious diseases and formulate public health policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An 8‐week feeding trial was conducted to study the effects of replacing dietary fishmeal with fermented soybean meal (FSM) on the growth performance, feed utilization and protein metabolism of Nibea diacanthus. Five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated to contain 0, 90, 180, 270 and 360 g/kg FSM, replacing approximately 0%, 12.5%, 25%, 37.5% and 50% of the FM protein (designated as FSM0, FSM9, FSM18, FSM27 and FSM36, respectively). Results showed that the weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR) and final body weight (FBW) of juvenile fish decreased with increasing substitution levels of FSM. The FSM36 treatment showed significantly lower feed efficiency (FE) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) than the control. Both feed intake (FI) and protein retention (PR) were significantly lower in FSM27 treatment compared to control group. The protein and lipid content of whole body, muscle and liver decreased significantly with increasing substitution levels. In addition, lysine and methionine composition of the whole body and muscle was significantly correlated to those of dietary FSM replacement levels. Hepatic insulin‐like growth factor I (IGF‐I) gene expression level significantly decreased in fish fed the diet with 360 g/kg FSM compared with the control group. These results demonstrate that dietary FSM level may affect fish growth by reducing FI, and deficiency of essential amino acid, which partly accounted for the down‐regulation of IGF‐I gene expression level in liver. Analysis of WG and FE by broken‐line regression model indicated that the supplementation of FSM could be up to 227.3 g/kg and 196.5 g/kg at the dry matter basis in N. diacanthus, which representing up to 31.57% and 27.29% of dietary FM protein replacement, respectively, in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

miRNAs are a class of small non‐coding RNAs that are involved in various biological processes. In the preliminary work of the laboratory, found that miR‐383‐5p was down‐regulated in the liver tissue of acute cold stress rats and has been shown to be an important regulatory factor in tumour proliferation, but there are very few studies involving the mediation of cold stress in rat liver tissues. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of miR‐383‐5p on the livers of cold stress rats by simulating the cold stress state of rat liver tissues in vitro using H2O2 to induce rat hepatocyte oxidative stress. The results showed that MDA content, Caspase 3 and Cyto C protein levels increased significantly; GPx activity and SOD1 protein levels decreased significantly and miR‐383‐5p expression was significantly down‐regulated in rat liver tissues after cold stress. Different concentrations of H2O2 was added to rat hepatocytes, and the results showed that the expression of miR‐383‐5p, the ROS level, and the apoptosis rate in rat hepatocytes was increased significantly in a concentration‐dependent fashion. Transfection of miR‐383‐5p inhibitor revealed that the apoptosis rate of rat hepatocytes, and the protein level of apoptosis‐related protein Caspase 3 were reduced; the results of the dual‐luciferase reporter gene assay showed that miR‐383‐5p targeted regulation of Bcl2. The results suggested that the expression of miR‐383‐5p was up‐regulated in oxidative stress rat hepatocytes and may aggravate the apoptosis of rat hepatocytes induced by targeting inhibition of Bcl2 translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Barley has played a critical role in mankind civilisation. Despite being underexploited, highland barley (HB) is an economical crop demonstrating superior nutritional and health benefits compared to most common cereals. In recent years, germination has drawn a great attention because of its ability to increase nutrients in grains. This review aimed to elucidate the implication of germination in improving the qualities of HB. Because of germination, amelioration in nutrients and digestibility was observed in germinated HB (GHB) than ungerminated HB, due to activation of various enzymes. An increase in polyphenols and antioxidant activity was achieved in GHB. GHB‐based products exhibited better water‐holding capacity, water solubility index, oil‐holding capacity, sensory attributes and cooking time. However, excessive germination may have negative impact on starch‐protein network, which might be detrimental during food processing. Overall, controlled‐germination could be a viable approach to improve the digestibility, palatability, acceptability and shelf‐life of HB‐based products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine whether TLR4 knockdown induced by miRNA-140-5p improves tendinopathy in an in vitro experiment. Material and methods: Extraction of tendon-derived stem cells (TDSCs) from SD rats was performed using TGF-β1 to develop a tendinopathy cell model. In the first step, we knocked down TLR4 by si-TLR4 to investigate TLR4 in tendinopathy development, and the next we used miRNA-140-5p to investigate miRNA-140-5p in tendinopathy development. The inflammatory factors and Hyp concentration were evaluated by ELISA assay; the cell viability was measured by MTT assay; the cell apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL and/or flow cytometry. The relative mRNA was measured by RT-qPCR assay; the relative proteins expression was evaluated by cellular immunofluorescence and/or WB assay. The correlation between miRNA-140-5p and TLR4 was analyzed by Luciferase reporter assay. Results: With miRNA-140-5p overexpression or TLR4 knockdown, the cell viability was significantly increased with cell apoptosis depressing compared with the Model group (p < 0.05, respectively). Meanwhile, the inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 and Hyp concentration were significantly improved (p < 0.05, respectively), whereas the TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB(p65) protein expression levels were significantly depressed with TLR4 knockdown by si-TLR4 or miRNA-140-5p which target TLR4. Conclusions: The present results showed that TLR4 knockdown induced by miRNA-140-5p or si-TLR4 improved tendinopathy in an in vitro cell experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucine is a weak alkaline indole alkaloid with wide pharmacological activities and has been identified to protect against rheumatoid arthritis (RA) process. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are also reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of RA. Here, we aimed to probe the role and mechanism of Brucine and circ_0139658 in RA progression. The fibroblast‐like synoviocytes of RA (RA‐FLSs) were isolated for functional analysis. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration, as well as inflammatory response were evaluated by CCK‐8 assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry, transwell assay, and ELISA analysis, respectively. qRT‐PCR and western blotting analyses were utilized to measure the levels of genes and proteins. The binding between miR‐653‐5p and circ_0139658 or Yin Yang 1 (YY1), was verified using dual‐luciferase reporter and RNA pull‐down assays. Brucine suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of RA‐FLSs, and alleviated inflammation by reducing the release of pro‐inflammatory factors and macrophage M1 polarization. RA‐FLSs showed increased circ_0139658 and YY1 levels and decreased miR‐653‐5p levels. Circ_0139658 is directly bound to miR‐653‐5p to regulate YY1 expression. Brucine treatment suppressed circ_0139658 and YY1 expression but increased YY1 expression in RA‐FLSs. Functionally, circ_0139658 overexpression reversed the suppressing effects of Brucine on RA‐FLS dysfunction and inflammation. Moreover, circ_0139658 silencing alleviated the dysfunction and inflammation in RA‐FLSs, which were reverted by YY1 overexpression. Brucine suppressed the proliferation, migration, invasion, and inflammation in RA‐FLSs by decreasing YY1 via circ_0139658/miR‐653‐5p axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curcumin (Cur) considered as a golden nutraceutical, is emerging as one of bioactive compounds demonstrating the most promising biological activities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer. It is also used for coloring and seasoning in foods. However, Cur applications are limited due to factors like low aqueous solubility, poor colloidal stability and bioavailability. Extensive efforts were made using pure zein (Ze) to develop nanoparticles (NPs) for encapsulation of Cur to overcome the aforementioned issues. Nevertheless, zein nanoparticles (ZeNPs) have limitations related to their instability to neutral pH and rapid degradation by gastric proteases. Thus, the combination between Ze and different biopolymers to produce zein nanocomposites (ZeNCs) for improving the stability of ZeNPs were scrutinized in this study. The mass ratio of Ze/polymer played a critical in the formation and stability of ZeNCs. Electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding and intermolecular interaction were responsible for ZeNCs formation. High encapsulation efficiency (EE), storage stability, solubility, bioaccessibility, intestinal permeability and antioxidant activity (AA) for Cur were achieved in ZeNCs compared to ZeNPs. ZeNCs did not show toxicity towards normal NCM460 and 293 cells, but potent anticancer activity against MCF-7, HepG2, Hela, and HCT 116 cells. ZeNCs displayed potential applications in different food matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gefitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and represents the first-line treatment for EGFR mutation patients with NSCLC (non-small-cell lung cancer) therapeutics. However, NSCLC patients are inclined to develop acquired gefitinib drug resistance through nowadays, unarticulated mechanisms of chemoresistance. Here, we investigated the role of TF (Trifolium flavonoids) on sensitizing gefitinib resistance in NSCLC cells and revealed its potential mechanism of action. We demonstrated that TF exerted significantly potential chemosensitivity in gefitinib resistant NSCLC cells. MTT assay and cytological methods were used to analyze cell viability and apoptosis in NSCLC cell line PC-9R. Both TF and gefitinib suppressed PC-9R cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. Subtoxic concentrations of TF did significantly augment gefitinib-induced apoptosis in PC-9R cell line. The TF promoted chemosensitivity was major mediated by the PARP and caspases activation. Meanwhile, the TF promoted chemosensitivity also decreased the expression of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1. Finally, TF significantly reduced the phosphorylation levels of STAT3 and ERK. Altogether, the results of the present study indicated the potential mechanisms of chemosensitivity of TF in gefitinib-induced apoptosis of NSCLC by downregulating ERK and STAT3 signaling pathways and Bcl2 and Mcl-1 expression and a promising application of TF in therapy of NSCLC with gefitinib resistant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To clarify the synthesis mechanism of cubic boron nitride (cBN) with catalysts at high temperature and high pressure, we calculate the surface energy of the main phases in the Li-N-B synthesis system using the first-principle method. Based on the density functional theory, the surface energy of low-index surfaces of cBN, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and lithium boron nitride (Li3BN2) at the cBN synthetic temperature of 1700 K and synthetic pressure of 5.0 GPa is calculated. The surface energy of the main low-index surfaces of cBN is σ (111) > σ (001) > σ (110), that of hBN is σ 10 1 ¯ 0 > σ 11 2 ¯ 0 > σ (0001), and that of Li3BN2 is σ (100) > σ (110) > σ (001). The energy orders of the main low-index surfaces were well contrary to the corresponding orders of the valence electron density of the low-index surfaces of cBN, hBN, and Li3BN2, which were calculated by the empirical electron theory (EET) of solids and molecules. The result shows that the calculation results in this paper are well consistent with the previous results of the EET theory and support for the results of the "direct transformation of hBN to cBN under the catalysis of Li3BN2" obtained by the EET theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetting deformation of the rockfill material, which is generated by particle sliding, breakage, and rearrangement, plays a vital role in earth-rockfill dam deformation that determines the safety of the dam. However, the previous wetting deformation particle breakage test was performed under the conventional stress path, which could not reflect the influence of stress path. This paper investigates the particle breakage of the basalt rockfill used in the Gushui dam during wetting deformation tests under the equal stress ratio path and drained triaxial shearing tests under the complex stress path. The results indicate that stress path, stress level, stress intensity, and particle breakage determine the wetting deformation under the equal stress ratio path. Under a low confining pressure (1,000 kPa), rockfill particle sliding and roll over are loosely constrained, and negligible particle breakage occurs during wetting deformation, which is mostly generated by particle sliding and rearrangement. Under a high confining pressure (2,000 kPa), rockfill particle sliding and roll over are more constrained. Thus, the contact force significantly increases and significant particle breakage occurs during wetting deformation. In addition, the relationship between the relative particle breakage index and plastic work under the equal stress ratio path and the following wetting deformation period can be simulated with a hyperbolic formulation, which cannot reasonably simulate the particle breakage under the transitional stress path after wetting deformation. The wetting deformation function under the equal stress ratio path was developed to incorporate the influence of the particle breakage and stress path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is nearly always fatal. Large studies on ATC are exceedingly rare. We aimed to study the clinical, genotypic, and histologic characteristics of ATC in the largest retrospective cohort of ATC to date. Methods: Three hundred sixty patients with ATC from two tertiary centers were studied. Molecular testing was performed in 126 cases including 107 using next-generation sequencing. Results: The median patients' age was 68 years. Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) was present in 208 cases (58%), the most common being papillary carcinoma (n = 150). The 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) was 36%, 17%, 13%, and 11%, respectively. On univariate analysis, age, resectability, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, margin status, encapsulation, gross residual disease, gross extrathyroidal extension, percentage, and size of ATC in the primary tumor predicted OS (p < 0.05). Age, resectability, chemotherapy, and gross residual disease were independent prognostic factors in the entire cohort, while gross residual disease was the only independent predictor of OS in patients who had resection of their tumor. BRAF, RAS, TERT promoter, TP53, PIK3CA, E1F1AX, and PTEN mutations were detected in 45%, 24%, 75%, 63%, 18%, 14%, and 14% of ATC, respectively. Concomitant BRAF/RAS and TERT mutations were associated with worse outcome than mutation in only one of the genes. BRAF-mutated and RAS-mutated ATCs had similar frequency of nodal and distant metastasis. Twelve cases were pure squamous cell carcinoma, 60% of which carried BRAFV600E mutation and showed a similar OS to other ATCs. Conclusions: (i) Gross residual disease remains the most crucial indicator of outcome in ATC. (ii) Encapsulation, margin status, percentage, and size of ATC in the primary were prognostically relevant. (iii) Pure thyroid squamous cell carcinoma may be considered as ATC given a BRAFV600E genotype and similar outcome. (iv) In contrast to DTC, BRAF-mutated and RAS-mutated ATCs have similar metastatic spread. (v) Concomitant mutations of BRAF or RAS with TERT confer a worse prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can affect tumorigenesis. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCAG) suggest that LINC02783 is highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and is expected to be a potential biological target. We conducted this study to verify this. Patients and Methods: We conducted this study to verify the opinion that "LINC02783 is highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and is expected to be a potential biological target". We employed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to test LINC02783 expression in RCC tissues, CKK-8 assay and transwell assay to assess the viability and invasion of RCC cells, Western blot to quantify Sox-4 expression, dual-luciferase reporter (DLR) assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay to analyze the interaction between LINC02783 and miR-20b, in vivo experiments to test tumor formation. Results: We detected high LINC02783 expression in RCC patients. Patients with higher LINC02783 levels had a markedly poorer prognosis. In vitro and in vivo, the down-regulation of LINC02783 suppressed the viability and invasion of RCC cells. The DLR assay results revealed that LINC02783 enhanced Sox-4 expression by regulating miR-20b. LINC02783 can act as a sponge for miR-20b to inhibit Sox-4 expression. Conclusion: LINC02783 is highly expressed in RCC patients and indicates a poor prognosis. LINC02783 can affect the occurrence and progression of RCC through the miR-20b/Sox-4 axis, making it a promising target for the treatment of RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clogging effect surrounding prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) is a typical problem when vacuum preloading is applied to a dredged fill foundation. A large-scale model test was designed to clarify the cause and mechanism of the clogging effect, and the basic physical and mechanical parameters of the soil in the clogging zone were tracked during the test. The results demonstrated that a clogging zone was formed around the PVD in the early stage of improvement with conventional vacuum preloading, and the boundary of the clogging zone was approximately 0.2–0.4 of the boundary radius. The clogging zone surrounding the PVD was formed because of the overall movement of the soil toward the PVD under the high vacuum pressure gradient, rather than fine particle migration. The soil in the clogging zone exhibited permeability anisotropy and equivalent 'smear' effect. The permeability ratio (k h / k v) was less than 1, and the ratio of horizontal permeability coefficients at the test distances of 45 cm and 10 cm were 9.6 at a depth of 20 cm and 8.9 at a depth of 80 cm. An analysis of the microstructure of the soil in the clogging zone demonstrated that the clay particles tended to be vertically oriented. The re-orientation of the clay particles reduced the horizontal permeability coefficient and led to the permeability anisotropy of the soil in the clogging zone. Thus, decrease in the horizontal permeability coefficient and equivalent 'smear' effect of the soil in the clogging zone affect the consolidation of dredged fill, which leads to the clogging effect. The permeability anisotropy also slightly affects consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]