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The heavy metal-binding domain is involved in heavy metal transporting and plays a significant role in plant detoxification. However, the functions of HMAs are less well known in cotton. In this study, a total of 143 GhHMAs (heavy metal-binding domain) were detected by genome-wide identification in G. hirsutum L. All the GhHMAs were classified into four groups via phylogenetic analysis. The exon/intron structure and protein motifs indicated that each branch of the GhHMA genes was highly conserved. 212 paralogous GhHMA gene pairs were identified, and the segmental duplications were the main role to the expansion of GhHMAs. The Ka/Ks values suggested that the GhHMA gene family has undergone purifying selection during the long-term evolutionary process. GhHMA3 and GhHMA75 were located in the plasma membrane, while GhHMA26, GhHMA117 and GhHMA121 were located in the nucleus, respectively. Transcriptomic data and qRT-PCR showed that GhHMA26 exhibited different expression patterns in each tissue and during fiber development or under different abiotic stresses. Overexpressing GhHMA26 significantly promoted the elongation of leaf trichomes and also improved the tolerance to salt stress. Therefore, GhHMA26 may positively regulate fiber elongation and abiotic stress. Yeast two-hybrid assays indicated that GhHMA26 and GhHMA75 participated in multiple biological functions. Our results suggest some genes in the GhHMAs might be associated with fiber development and the abiotic stress response, which could promote further research involving functional analysis of GhHMA genes in cotton.

In the analysis and processing of massive surveillance videos, target behavior recognition is an important task. Most researchers pay more attention to the lightweight of convolution operators in intelligent recognition systems or increase the complexity of lightweight modules, but lack of lightweight research on point-by-point convolution modules which occupy a large number of parameters and computation. For this reason, this article carries out the research on intelligent recognition of key frame target behavior in video surveillance based on lightweight convolution neural network. The three-dimensional position information of bone joints is extracted as the target behavior feature. Based on local vector aggregation descriptor, it makes a more compact representation of key frames of the surveillance video, and gives the generation process of local vector aggregation descriptor. After the structured pruning of the filter, the memory occupation of the processed network model is significantly reduced, and the lightweight of the model is realized. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of the model.

The objective of this research is to analyze the quantitative evaluation of human small intestinal bleeding by observing and analyzing animal experiments of small intestinal hemorrhage in rabbit models for the convenience of understanding the role of energy spectrum CT iodine-water diagram in animal experimental research of quantitative evaluation of small intestinal bleeding in rabbit models. Compared with the energy spectrum of iodine-water graph of a rabbit CT model, the present study studied the quantitative evaluation of small intestinal bleeding by using a rabbit model instead of human. According to the method mentioned above and the analysis of experimental data, the role of energy spectrum CT iodine-water map and the quantitative evaluation of human small intestinal bleeding have been understood. It was found that the energy spectrum CT iodine-water map replaces humans in the rabbit model for quantitative evaluation of small intestinal bleeding in animal experiments, which is important in the present study. Besides, based upon the combination of theoretical and experimental data, the ten flow rates set on the base material iodine (water) maps of the arterial phase and the portal phase can be analyzed to detect the leakage of contrast agent. The yield was 100%. The research results showed that the animal experiment of quantitative assessment of small intestinal bleeding by replacing the human body with the rabbit model in the energy spectrum CT iodine-water diagram is critical to humans in the study of small intestinal hemorrhagic diseases. In addition, it can be used to adjust the treatment plan timely according to the amount of bleeding to prevent shock or heavy bleeding that threatens patients’ lives.

The emergence of new hybrid nanomaterial has enabled prosthetic devices to have more performance and significantly improved the quality of life of the disabled. Due to the biosensing properties of prosthetic limbs made of nanomaterials, a large number of nanocomposites have been designed, developed, and evaluated for various prosthetic limbs, such as e-skin, e-skin’s neurotactility sensing, human prosthetic interface tissue engineering, bones, and biosensors. Nano-based materials are also considered to be the new generation of scientific and technological materials for the preparation of various prosthetic devices for the disabled, which can effectively improve the sense of use of the disabled and achieve functional diversity. The study described various nanomaterials for prosthetic devices, and introduced some basic components of nanocomposites; their applications are in three areas, such as bone, skin, and nerve, and evaluated and summarized the advantages of these applications. The results show that (1) carbon-based nanomaterials as neural materials have been studied most deeply. Due to that strong stability of the carbon-based material and the simple transmission mechanism, the cost can be controlled in manufacturing the artificial limb. Materials with human-computer interaction function are the research focus in the future. (2) Skin nanomaterials are mainly composite materials, generally containing metal- and carbon-based materials. Ionic gels, ionic liquids, hydrogels, and elastomers have become the focus of attention due to the sensitivity, multimodal, and memory properties of their materials. (3) Outstanding nanomaterials for bone are fibrous materials, metallic synthetic materials, and composite materials, with extremely high hardness, weight, and toughness. Of the skeletal materials, the choice of prosthetic socket material is the most important and is typically based on fiber laminate composites. Some of these materials make sensors for durability and performance that can be used for large-scale clinical testing.

Gene editing technology has been a hotspot in the field of biotechnology. CRISPR/Cas systems are efficient gene editing tools because of its specificity, simplicity and flexibility, these features enabled the rapid application of CRISPR/Cas systems in a variety of organisms. Moreover, the combination of transcriptional activator with dead Cas protein can achieve specific regulation of gene expression at the transcription level, which has made important contributions to the development of biotechnology in medical and agriculture. Overexpression of foreign genes is a common method to verify gene function and regulation. However, due to the limitation of vector capacity, it is difficult to achieve overexpression of multiple genes. CRISPR/Cas9 activation system can regulate the expression of multiple genes under the guidance of different guide RNAs to verify gene functions at the regulatory level. This review summarizes the composition of the CRISPR/Cas9 activation system and different activation strategies, and summarizes solutions for excessive activation. It may facilitate the application of CRISPR/Cas9 activation system in genetic improvement of cotton and herbicide resistance research.

Background: Relatively few studies have reported quality of life (QoL) and psychosocial distress in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This study aims to assess the QoL and psychological distress and the impact from sociodemographic and clinical parameters in the Chinese context.Methods: Taking advantage of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 questionnaire with QLQ-CLL17 module and DASS-21 questionnaire, a total of 50 Chinese patients with CLL completed self-reported questionnaires, assessing the level of depression, anxiety, stress and QoL.Results: A significantly higher proportion of patients in the active-treatment group had impaired physical function than the “watch and wait” group (90% vs. 65%, P=0.03). Patients with active treatment reported a significantly lower QoL in the role functioning subscale (84.44±25.50 vs. 95.83±9.17, P=0.031) and cognitive functioning subscale (76.67±18.88 vs. 89.17±12.42, P=0.007). The symptom scales had a negative impact on the functioning subscale. A dramatically high proportion of patients reported psychological distress. With regard to sociodemographic parameters, gender, age, education background and income had certain impact on functional subscales. 5 patients retested the questionnaires after median 8（2-18）months. Compared to the initial assessment, they scored significantly worse on the emotional scales (P=0.0237).Conclusions: There are unique correlates of QoL and disease status among Chinese CLL patients. This finding illuminates individual differences that may be associated with QoL. Therefore, psychosocial interventions and survivorship care plans should be made in the management of CLL survivors.

A novel family of three types of charged (0, -1, -2) ligands based phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes with different carboxyl-containing dianionic (-2) ligands have been synthesized. Their single-crystal structures show that all neutral complexes (Ir1, Ir2, and Ir3) show a trans-N^N configuration between dianionic (-2) and monoanionic (-1) ligands, which is in contrast with the trans-N^C configuration in cationic complex Ir4, which has an interesting hydrogen bond in the solid state. Notably, Ir4 shows higher luminescence efficiency and an obvious blue shift emission relative to those in Ir1, Ir2, and Ir3. DFT calculations demonstrate that all neutral complexes (Ir1, Ir2, and Ir3) exhibit ligand-to-ligand charge transfer (LLCT) excited state character from the dianionic (-2) ligand to the neutral (0) ligand, which are completely different from the cationic complex Ir4 that exhibits an LLCT excited state from the monoanionic (-1) ligand to the neutral (0) ligand. Considering better solubility, Ir1 was eventually used in solution-processed OLED and achieved moderate efficiency (6.6%, 14.3 cd A-1, 2.8 lm W-1) with an orange light displaying CIEx,y coordinates of (0.53, 0.46). This work provides a new strategy to construct three types of charged (0, -1, -2) ligands based phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes and extends the range of iridium complex luminescent materials.

Two novel N‐embedded polycyclic units functionalized phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes (Ir‐1 and Ir‐2) with substituents in different positions have been prepared. Complex Ir‐1 bearing the substituent at the 3‐position shows a distinct blue shift single‐peak emission (524 nm) with a higher luminescence efficiency (ΦPL=42 %) and shorter emission lifetime (τ=282 ns) by comparison with 4‐position substitution based complex Ir‐2 (ΦPL=23 %, τ=562 ns), which exhibits a dual‐peak emission (564 nm and 602 nm), and phosphorescence color can be tuned from green to yellow. In addition, DFT calculations demonstrate that unusual ligand‐to‐metal charge transfer (3LMCT) excited state property can be found in Ir‐2, which is in contrast to metal‐to‐ligand charge transfer (3MLCT) excited state character in Ir‐1. This result can be attribute to strong electron‐donating character and 4‐position substitution effect of the unit.

The emergence of energy spectrum CT provides greater diagnostic value for clinical practice. Its advantage is that it can provide more functional imaging parameters and accurate image information for clinical practice, which represents a mainstream direction of CT technology development at present. This paper mainly studies the clinical trial of CAMPO Precision128 Max ENERGY spectrum CT combined with multiple parameters to evaluate the benign and malignant pleural effusion. This paper analyzes the principle and key performance parameters of energy spectrum CT imaging, the etiology of pleural effusion, and its conventional diagnostic methods and uses energy spectrum CT to detect the benign and malignant pleural effusion. In this paper, two groups of patients with different types of pleural effusions were scanned by line spectrum chest CT scans, and energy spectrum analysis software was used to measure and calculate the CT values of conventional mixed energy values of ROI of patients with pleural effusions. For the CT value and energy curve slope measurement value of different single energy keV, independent sample t-test was used to analyze and compare the two sets of data, and finally it has been found out that the two sets of data were similar. According to the experimental results, the curves of energy spectrum of the two groups of data are similar in the descending curve of bow-back. The slope of energy spectrum curve in the leakage group was lower than that in the exudate group, showing statistical significance ( P < 0.05 ). The slope of energy spectrum curve K in the malignant pleural effusion group was significantly higher than that in the benign pleural effusion group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05 ). The trend of energy spectrum curves of the two is roughly the same, while at the high energy level, part of the energy spectrum curves of the two are overlapped. The above conclusion indicates that energy spectrum CT plays a certain role in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. At the same time, energy spectrum CT also provides a noninvasive and rapid examination method for clinical differentiation of pleural effusion, which has certain clinical application value and prospect.

Although bortezomib (BTZ) displays efficacy in treating multiple myeloma (MM), BTZ resistance in MM patients has been reported. Meanwhile, treating BTZ resistant MM cells with β-catenin inhibitors have demonstrated the ability to reserve BTZ resistance. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the synergistic effect of the β-catenin inhibitors, ICG-001 and pyrvinium (PP), with BTZ in the treatment of BTZ-resistant MM cells. Different concentrations of ICG-001 (0-32 µM) or PP (0-32 nM) were used to treat the BTZ-resistant RPMI-8226 (RPMI-8226BR) and BTZ-resistant KMS-11 (KMS-11BR) cell lines, followed by a BTZ combination treatment. Subsequently, cell viability and apoptosis in these two cell lines were determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The proteins involved in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway were detected using western blotting. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was activated in the RPMI-8226BR and the KMS-11BR cells. In addition, the cell viability of RPMI-8226BR and KMS-11BR cells were decreased following β-catenin inhibitor (ICG-001 and PP) treatment alone. Furthermore, the β-catenin inhibitors, ICG-001 and PP, plus BTZ combination treatment revealed a notable decrease in cell viability and a marked increase in cell apoptosis rate, compared with that in cells treated with ICG-001, PP or BTZ alone in the RPMI-8226BR and KMS-11BR cell lines. In conclusion, the β-catenin inhibitors, ICG-001 and PP not only increased apoptosis, but also sensitized BTZ-resistant MM cells to BTZ, indicating their potential therapeutic application in MM.

The Pd/SBA-15 catalyst was synthesised through the reduction of PdCl2 by the surface-bonded vinyl group on vinyl-functionalized SBA-15, which was prepared via co-polymerization. XRD and XPS characterization confirmed the successful reduction of Pd(II) to Pd(0). Pd/SBA-15 showed a narrow palladium particle-size distribution of about 5–6 nm in the TEM image. The Pd/SBA-15 catalyst was effective for the hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds with zero-order kinetics, and the TOF for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene was 1124 h−1 at 313 K and 1 atm H2. A steric effect was observed for the substituted nitroarenes.

To investigate the feasibilities and clinical values of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid autoantibodies in predicting differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).500 patients with thyroid nodules who underwent surgery for the first time in our hospital from January 2014 to December 2016 were selected, including 250 patients definitely diagnosed pathologically with DTC and 250 patients definitely diagnosed with benign thyroid nodules after operation. Serum thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) and TSH levels before operation were evaluated in both groups. According to the reference ranges of TgAb and TPOAb, they were divided into negative and positive groups. According to the TSH reference range, they were divided into decreased, normal and increased groups. Statistical analyses were conducted, respectively.The serum TgAb level in the DTC group was significantly increased compared with that in benign thyroid nodule group (p=0.01). The positive rate of TgAb in DTC group was also significantly higher than that in benign thyroid nodule group (p0.01). The level of serum TPOAb in the DTC group was not significantly different from that in the benign thyroid nodule group (p=0.25). The level of serum TSH in the DTC group was significantly increased compared with that in the benign thyroid nodule group (p0.01). There was a statistically significant difference in the comparison of the distribution of TSH between the DTC group and benign thyroid nodule group (p0.01). Univariate analysis showed that TgAb and TSH were correlated with DTC. Multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that serum positive TgAb and increased TSH wre significantly correlated with DTC. TSH level in DTC with cervical lymph node metastasis group was significantly increased compared with DTC without such metastasis group (p0.01).Increased levels of serum TgAb and TSH may be risk factors for DTC. Whether the two indicators can be used as predictors of DTC screening needs to be confirmed in large-sample prospective trials. Increased serum TSH level is closely related to DTC with cervical lymph node metastasis.

A multi-beam antenna which can realize 360° beam scanning in the horizontal plane is proposed. It consists of eight fan-shaped horns, which are located along a circle line. Adjacent horns are connected to achieve a compact size. Each horn is fed by a coaxial probe from its bottom surface. A good impedance matching can be obtained through tuning the height and location of the probe. Simulation results show that a full azimuth coverage can be achieved because the 3-dB beamwidth of each sector of the antenna can reach up to 45°. The proposed antenna can be useful in applications such as automotive collision avoidance radar.

Vesicular silica (VS) with hierarchical structure was prepared by utilizing cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as the structure directing agents, and 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene (TIPB) as the micelle expander. The resulting unilamellar and multilamellar VS with interlamellar mean mesopore size of 15–20 nm and shell thickness of 5–15 nm were used as supports for immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) through physical adsorption. Possible mechanisms for the formation of VS and the immobilization of CRL on VS are proposed. N 2 adsorption-desorption experiments and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) measurements demonstrated that CRL was adsorbed into the curved channels of the VS. The catalytic activity, thermal stability, and reusability of VS immobilized CRL were assayed in phosphate buffer medium by hydrolysis of triacetin. The effects of pH and temperature on enzyme activity were also investigated. We report that VS immobilized CRL exhibited outstanding adaptability at higher pH and temperature, and excellent thermal stability and reusability compared with free CRL.

Nitrogen-modified cobalt-doped TiO2 materials were successfully prepared via a modified sol–gel method. The structure and properties of the catalysts were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM, ultraviolet–visible light diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–Vis DRS), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The XRD patterns of the pure and co-doped TiO2 samples indicate that the predominant phase was anatase. The average grain size obtained from TEM was approximately 10 nm. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis results indicate that the specific surface area was 77.7 m2 g−1. The UV–Vis DRS results for the co-doped sample reveal an absorption edge that had been red-shifted to 500 nm. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated through photodegradation of papermaking wastewater under UV and visible light irradiation. Compared with the cobalt-doped TiO2 sample and Degussa P25, the 3 mol% N-doped mesoporous N/Co-TiO2 photocatalyst exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity, which can be ascribed to the synergistic effect of the N and Co co-doping.

A novel method has been developed to design an aperture apodizer for high-power laser system. Unlike current methods having the edge serrated, the method in this paper introduces an assembly of transparent cells at the edge with varying cell size or cell pitch to modulate the transmission intensity, using gray-tone coding method as a reference. The new approach can overcome the difficulty of coordinating the long side and the short side when it comes to rectangular aperture faced by the traditional ways. Based on the scalar diffraction theory, the intensity distribution of laser beam propagating through the slot aperture with softened edge and then the spatial pinhole filter was simulated and contrasted with that of the traditional slot with sharp edge. Finally a slot structure with softened edge designed with this new method has been fabricated with a photolithographic operation.

Ordered mesoporous SBA-15 was prepared by hydrothermal process and was functionalized with(3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) by post-synthesis-grafting method. The materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), small-angle X-ray powder diffraction (SAXRD), N2 adsorption-desorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results indicated that SBA-15 had a 2-dimensional hexagonal p6mm mesoscopic structure and the mesoscopic structure was remained after the functionalization procedure. The activities of porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) immobilized in SBA-15 by physical adsorption and in APTES functionalized SBA-15 by chemical adsorption were studied by hydrolysis of triacetin. Chemically adsorbed PPL showed higher loading amount and catalytic activity comparing with physically adsorbed PPL. The stability of immobilized PPL against thermal and pH of reaction medium was significantly improved. Recycling experiments showed that chemically adsorbed PPL exhibited better reusability than physically adsorbed PPL.

Nitrogen and lanthanum co-doped titania photocatalysts were prepared by a modified sol–gel process with urea and lanthanum nitrate doping precursors and characterized by various techniques including XRD, FTIR, TEM, EDS, and UV–Vis DRS. The average crystallite size was ca. 12–15 nm as calculated from XRD patterns, and anatase was the dominant crystalline type in the as-prepared samples. The UV–Vis DRS of the samples revealed significant absorption within the range of 400–500 nm. The optimum composition of N(0.020)La(0.012)TiO2 exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange (MO) aqueous solution under simulated sunlight. The percent degradation of MO was ca. 97% for N(0.020)La(0.012)TiO2 under simulated sunlight irradiation for 9 h. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was ascribed to the synergistic effects of the nitrogen and lanthanum co-doping.

The effect on system stability of load shedding has been a popular research topic for many years, especially in an islanded power system. But seldom studies gave full considerations to the actions of Primary Frequency Regulations (PFRs) and Overspeed Protection Control (OPC) systems of the generation units, which may have great impacts on the system responses against disturbances or emergency situations. When accidents occurred in the islanded power system, the power between generator units and load will be unbalanced. The rotating speed of steam turbine will clearly drop (rise) to a lower (higher) level. That may cause the action of load shedding control system (OPC of the generation units) to ensure the stability of the whole system. In this paper, a frequency response model incorporating an under-frequency load-shedding scheme is presented for islanded power system simulations and it is applied for a practical power system with both hydro and fossil fired power generators. Load shedding controls and OPCs are involved in the mathematic model. Some useful conclusions are obtained from the simulation results, based on which the mathematic model of the power system has been optimized in latter sections. Reasonable agreements are observed between the simulation results and the accident records. The simulation results also show that an optimized load shedding scheme may lead to better system stability which means the frequency oscillation will be reduced. When the PFR of hydropower isn't operated during the speed governing process, the frequency response of the whole system will be much better. It also suggests that if more electric power is generated by fossil fired turbine units, the system could get an advantageous frequency response.

Many researches have focused on the stability analysis of power systems based on frequency response models. A constant gain value is often used to represent a governing system of a prime mover, which may be proper for a classic hydraulic governor but not suitable for modern digital electro-hydraulic (DEH) control systems. PID controllers, pressure or load feedbacks, frequency deviation feed-forwards and coordinated boiler-turbine controls are used widely for practical generation units to optimize the response characteristics of the units. Few studies have considered the effects of most elements mentioned above on the dynamic analysis of power systems. Most typical governing systems are modeled in this paper. Their effects are studied for power system stability analysis. Some of the elements are verified to be critical for the system dynamics and are proposed for power system modeling on dynamic stabilities. The results may help for power system modeling or grid stability analysis.