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Parameters of foam penetration in earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunnelling, such as permeability coefficients and penetration distances, significantly impact tunnel face stability. However, existing studies have faced inaccuracies in analysing these parameters due to imitations in experimental methods. This study addresses this issue by employing enhanced methods for a more precise analysis of foam penetration. Experiments involving three distinct sand types (coarse, medium, and fine) and three foam expansion ratios (FER) (10, 15, and 20) are conducted using a modified model test setup. Benefiting from a novel computer vision-based method, the model test outcomes unveil two distinct foam penetration paths: liquid migration (Lw) and bubble migration (Lf). Three penetration phases-namely, injection, blockage & drainage, and breakage - are identified based on Lw and Lf variations. The initial "injection" phase conforms to Darcy's law and is amenable to mathematical description. The foam with FER of 15 has the maximum viscosity and, hence the Lf and permeability in the penetration tests with FER of 15 are the lowest in the same sand. The bubble size distribution of foam with different FER shows minor differences. Nevertheless, the characteristics of foam penetration vary due to the distinct particle size distribution (PSD) of different sands. Foam penetration creates low-permeability layers in both medium and fine sands due to the larger bubble size of the foam compared to the estimated pore sizes of medium and fine sands. While the coarse sand results in a different situation due to its large pore size. The distinctive characteristics of foam penetration in different sand strata are notably shaped by FER, PSD, and pore size distributions. These insights shed light on the complex interactions during foam penetration at the tunnel face, contributing valuable knowledge to EPB shield tunnelling practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To review and analyze the airway and anesthesia management methods for patients who underwent endoscopic closure of tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) and to summarize the experience of intraoperative airway management. Method: We searched the anesthesia information system of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University for anesthesia cases of TEF from July 2020 to July 2023 and obtained a total of 34 anesthesia records for endoscopic TEF occlusion. The intraoperative airway management methods and vital signs were recorded, and the patients' disease course and follow-up records were analyzed and summarized. Results: The airway management strategies used for TEF occlusion patients included nasal catheter oxygen (NCO, n = 5), high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy (HFNC, n = 4) and tracheal intubation (TI, n = 25). The patients who underwent tracheal intubation with an inner diameter of 5.5 mm had stable hemodynamics and oxygenation status during surgery, while intravenous anesthesia without intubation could not effectively inhibit the stress response caused by occluder implantation, which could easily cause hemodynamic fluctuations, hypoxemia, and carbon dioxide accumulation. Compared with those in the TI group, the NCO group and the HFNC group had significantly longer surgical times, and the satisfaction score of the endoscopists was significantly lower. In addition, two patients in the NCO group experienced postoperative hypoxemia. Conclusion: During the anesthesia process for TEF occlusions, a tracheal catheter with an inner diameter of 5.5 mm can provide a safe and effective airway management method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the relevant risk factors of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in patients with Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and their correlations with the central macular thickness (CMT). Methods: This is a retrospective study. The clinical data of 300 patients with T2DM were collected and divided into a PDR group (observation group) and non-PDR group (control group) according to the occurrence of PDR in Aier Eye Hospital (Taiyuan) from February 2019 to February 2022. The relevant risk factors were screened out through the t test and the χ2 test, and analyzed by logistic regression. Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, course of diabetes, fasting blood glucose (FBG), two hours postprandial blood glucose (two hours PBG) and urinary albumin were independent risk factors for T2DM complicated with PDR. ROC curve revealed that systolic blood pressure, course of diabetes and urinary albumin had the highest diagnostic efficiency. Correlation analysis demonstrated that CMT was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure, course of diabetes, HbA1c level and urinary albumin level. Conclusion: For patients with T2DM, blood pressure, course of diabetes, FBG, 2hPBG and urinary albumin are independent risk factors for PDR, and increased systolic blood pressure, course of diabetes, HbA1c level and urinary albumin level will increase CMT. Combining the above indexes to predict the occurrence of PDR has a synergistic effect, and the increase in systolic blood pressure, course of diabetes, HbA1c level and urinary albumin level will increase the CMT of the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influence of harpagide isolated from Scrophularia ningpoensis Hemsl. on human umbilical vascular endothelial cells damage induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein and its possible mechanism. Human umbilical vascular endothelial cells were cultured in vitro. Different doses (20, 40, 80 µmol/l) of harpagide were applied to treat human umbilical vascular endothelial cells induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein, human umbilical vascular endothelial cells overexpressing microRNA-140-5p were induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein, and 80 µg/ml harpagide was applied to treat oxidized low-density lipoprotein induced human umbilical vascular endothelial cells with microRNA-140-5p downregulation. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were used to detect malondialdehyde content as well as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities. Flow cytometry and Western blot were utilized to investigate cell apoptosis. Ribonucleic acid expression was analyzed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Different doses of harpagide (20, 40, 80 µmol/l) reduced the malondialdehyde content and the rate of apoptosis in oxidized low-density lipoprotein-stimulated human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (p<0.05), while elevated superoxide dismutase as well as glutathione peroxidase activities (p<0.05). MicroRNA-140-5p overexpression reduced the malondialdehyde content and apoptosis in oxidized low-density lipoproteinstimulated human umbilical vascular endothelial cells while elevated superoxide dismutase as well as glutathione peroxidase activities (p<0.05). Harpagide promoted microRNA-140-5p expression in human umbilical vascular endothelial cells after oxidized low-density lipoprotein stimulation (p<0.05). MicroRNA-140-5p knockdown reversed the inhibitory effect of harpagide in human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (p<0.05). Harpagide up-regulates microRNA-140-5p to inhibit the oxidative stress and apoptosis of oxidized low-density lipoprotein-induced human umbilical vascular endothelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events, such as extreme cold events (ECEs), are occurring more frequently due to climate change and variability. The ECEs have severe impacts on people's lives and the economy. In this study, we used observational data for the period 1978-2020 from three national meteorological stations and forty-nine automatic weather stations located in the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA), China, to analyze the spatio-temporal characteristics of ECEs and evaluate their impacts on population and economy. Our results indicate that the annual extreme minimum temperature showed a slight upward trend in the TBNA during the past 43 years. Extreme minimum temperatures were higher in the central part (-15 to -19°C) and lower in the northern and southern parts of the TBNA (-19 to -23°C). The cumulative decreases in temperature were higher in the west and lower in the east. ECEs were most frequent in autumn, followed by winter, and least frequent in summer. The months with the most ECEs were October and November. The ECEs lasted longer in the southern part of the TBNA and were shorter in the central and northern parts. The ECEs lasted, on average, approximately 15 days in the south and 7-10 days in most other areas. Places in the TBNA at a high risk of experiencing the ECEs include Gulin subdistrict and other areas in the central part of the TBNA, whereas Zhongtang town and other places in the southern TBNA are low-risk areas. In terms of the impact of ECEs on populations, the central parts of the TBNA such as Hangzhou subdistrict and the northern parts of the TBNA such as Hangu subdistrict are areas of moderate risk; most others are low-risk areas. In terms of the impact of ECEs on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), central parts of the TBNA such as Hujiayuan subdistrict are moderate-risk areas while most others are low-risk areas. Our findings serve as a basis for decision-making and provide a reference for local governments to mitigate the negative impacts of ECEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online social networks are increasingly being used to conduct commercial activities, and many online social networking platforms allow users to sell products to their online connections. Although extensive research has been conducted on the interactions among buyers within a social network, interactions among sellers have rarely been explored. Using seller data from a company that sells on a major online social networking platform in China, we empirically examine how sellers' efforts and sales performance are affected by the efforts and sales performance of other sellers they are connected to (i.e., their inviters and invitees) and the commissions they themselves have received. We find evidence for social influence and competition effects in the "inviter-to-invitee" direction and sellers' free-riding behavior driven by the commissions they receive from their invitees' sales. These results extend the social network literature that has largely focused on connected buyers (or users) to connected sellers and offer implications for social networking platforms to promote seller participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether for insects or for aircrafts, landing is one of the indispensable links in the verification of airworthiness safety. The mechanisms by which insects achieve a fast and stable landing remain unclear. An intriguing example is provided by honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica), which use the swinging motion of their abdomen to dissipate residual flying energy and to achieve a smooth, stable, and quick landing. By using a high-speed camera, we observed that touchdown is initiated by honeybees extending their front legs or antennae and then landing softly on a wall. After touchdown, they swing the rest of their bodies until all flying energy is dissipated. We suggested a simplified model with mass-spring dampers for the body of the honeybee and revealed the mechanism of flying energy transfer and dissipation in detail. Results demonstrate that body translation and abdomen swinging help honeybees dissipate residual flying energy and orchestrate smooth landings. The initial kinetic energy of flying is transformed into the kinetic energy of the abdomen's rotary movement. Then, the kinetic energy of rotary movement is converted into thermal energy during the swinging cycle. This strategy provides more insight into the mechanism of insect flying, which further inspires better design on aerial vehicle with better landing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Optimal pulse technology-intense pulse light (OPT-IPL) treatment on patients with post-LASIK refractory dry eye (DE). Background: The prevalence of dry eye disease is common and can lead to ocular discomfort, reduced visual acuity, lowered quality of vision and life. Materials and methods: A prospective study was conducted on 72 eyes of 36 patients (treatment group, n = 42 eyes; control group, n = 30 eyes) who had previously undergone myopic LASIK correction with subsequent refractory DE. All eyes fulfilled the Japanese DE criteria and had not responded to conventional DE treatment. The treatment group underwent two OPT-IPL treatment sessions at 2-week intervals, while the control group received no treatment. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), ocular surface disease index (OSDI), noninvasive breakup time (NITBUT), tear film lipid layer (TFLL) quality, corneal fluorescein staining, meibum gland (MG), endothelial cell count (ECC), and intraocular pressure (IOP) were assessed at baseline (D0), day-14 (D14) and day-28 (D28) after OPT-IPL treatment. Results: The mean age of treatment group and control group was 30.48 - 5.16 years (12 females, 57%) and 31.00 - 4.33 years (8 females, 53%), respectively. Treatment group had clinically and statistically significant improvement in NITBUT and was observed at D14 (p < 0.001) and D28 (p < 0.001). OSDI, TFLL score, and MG quality and expressibility improved significantly (p < 0.05) at D28, whereas BCVA, ECC, and IOP showed no significant changes at D14 and D28 between the groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that post-LASIK refractory DE is safely treated with OPT-IPL treatment. OPT-IPL treatment reduced the severity of symptoms and improved the overall tear film stability in patients with severe refractory DE post-LASIK surgery. In addition, the frequency of artificial tears usage was significantly less and can be attributed to the reduction in OSDI scores due to improved TFLL and tear film stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study that explores the regulatory enzymes and protein substrates for the lysine-hydroxybutyrylation pathway. It mentions about the metabolism-mediated epigenetic changes represent an adapted mechanism for cellular signaling, in which lysine acetylation and methylation have been the historical focus of interest.

The objective of this study was to use luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone A3 (LRH-A3) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) to improve pregnancy rate of dairy cows during timed artificial insemination (TAI). In experiment 1, the TAI process (0 d, GnRH, 100 µg; 7 d, PGF2a, 0.4 mg; 56 hr, GnRH, 100 µg; 16 hr, AI) was applied to 160 dairy cows on 50th and 60th days after parturition respectively. In experiment 2, 320 postpartum dairy cows were treated with TAI (Group A), TAI + 25 µg LRH-A3 (Group B), TAI + 1,500 IU HCG 5 days after AI (Group C), and TAI + 25 µg LRH-A3 + 1,500 IU HCG 5 days after AI (Group D). In experiment 3, endometrial cells were treated with HCG. The results showed that TAI did not affect the pregnancy rate, while LRH-A3 and HCG increased the pregnancy rate of the cow. HCG of 5 IU/ml and 10 IU/ml increased the expressions of leukemia inhibitory factor but decreased those of interleukin-6, epidermal growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor in endometrial cells. This study provided a plan for the use of LRH-A3 and HCG to increase pregnancy rate during TAI in dairy cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today’s highly competitive business environment, a growing number of high-tech firms are opening their technologies. We explore the rationale behind this unusual sharing behavior in order to understand whether it is altruism or a shrewd business move. We construct an analytical model where competing firms can choose technology openness, prototype release, or technology closedness as the technology openness strategy and make subsequent innovations on the adopted technology. In contrast to literature focusing on the demand side, our study reveals a novel explanation by shedding light on two effects of supply side. First, openness generates an information effect through which it reveals technology information to the competitor. Second, openness might also lead to an access effect in which the competitor might become a “copycat” by exerting a learning effort. Our analysis suggests that a firm’s openness decision depends upon the trade-off between both effects, and the interplay is moderated by the learning costs. We find that sharing technology can alleviate costly innovation competition under certain conditions. More importantly, our results reveal that openness does not necessarily translate to higher innovation and greater consumer surplus as conventional wisdom suggests. We also illustrate the robustness of the basic rationale and enrich our findings through several extended models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a swarm intelligence technique is presented for solving the fractional differential equations (FDE) based on the cubic spline function and cuckoo search algorithm. In this technique, we approximate FDE with the cubic spline approximation and use the cuckoo search algorithm as a tool for the accurate and rapid solution. Based on this method, the given problem is transformed into a problem for solving a nonlinear equation system, and by solving this system, we obtain the solution of FDE. Furthermore, special attention is given to the error analysis of this method. The presented scheme is evaluated on two initial value problems of FDE. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has higher accuracy and is feasible and effective in solving initial value problem of FDE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radical-initiated carboxylative cyclization of allylamines with CO2 represents an efficient and highly promising strategy to afford valuable 2-oxazolidinones. However, the radical precursors and pathways to generate radicals in such processes are still limited. Herein, we report the first Cu-catalyzed selective oxy-cyanoalkylation of allylamines with cycloketone oxime esters and CO2 via C--C bond cleavage. Many cyanoalkyl-substituted 2-oxazolidinones are obtained in moderate to good yields with high regio- and chemo-selectivities. The utility of this redox- neutral and cyanide-free method is demonstrated with mild conditions, broad substrate scope, good functional group tolerance and easy scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Rituximab with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone administered every 3 weeks (R-CHOP-21) is the standard care for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). It is unknown whether the dose-dense R-CHOP (R-CHOP-14) could improve the outcome of the disease in Asian population. Materials and Methods Newly diagnosed DLBCL patients were centrally, randomly assigned (1:1) to receive R-CHOP- 14 or R-CHOP-21. R-CHOP-14 was administered every 2 weeks, and R-CHOP-21 was administered every 3 weeks. Primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS). Secondary end points included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), response rate and toxicities. Results Seven hundred and two patients were randomly assigned to receive R-CHOP-14 (n=349) or R-CHOP-21 (n=353). With a median follow-up of 45.6 months, the two groups did not differ significantly in 3-year DFS (79.6% for R-CHOP-14 vs. 83.2% for R-CHOP-21, p=0.311), 3-year OS (77.5% for R-CHOP-14 vs. 77.6% for R-CHOP-21, p=0.903), or 3-year PFS (63.2% for R-CHOP-14 vs. 66.1% for R-CHOP-21, p=0.447). Patients with an International Prognostic Index (IPI) score ! 2 had a poorer prognosis compared to those with an IPI score < 2. Grade 3/4 hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities were manageable and similar between R-CHOP-14 and R-CHOP-21. Conclusion R-CHOP-14 did not improve the outcome of DLBCL compared to R-CHOP-21 in Asian population. With manageable and similar toxicities, both of the two regimens were suitable for Asian DLBCL patients. For high-risk patients with IPI ≥ 2, new combination regimens based on R-CHOP deserve further investigation to improve efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The members of the phytochrome (phy) family of bilin-containing photoreceptors are major regulators of plant photomorphogenesis through their unique ability to photointerconvert between a biologically inactive red light-absorbing Pr state and an active farred light-absorbing Pfr state. While the initial steps in Pfr signaling are unclear, an early event for the phyB isoform after photoconversion is its redistribution from the cytoplasm into subnuclear foci known as photobodies (PBs), which dissipate after Pfr reverts back to Pr by far-red irradiation or by temperature-dependent nonphotochemical reversion. Here we present evidence that PHOTOPERIODIC CONTROL OF HYPOCOTYL 1 (PCH1) functions both as an essential structural component of phyB-containing PBs and as a direct regulator of thermal reversion that is sufficient to stabilize phyB as Pfr in vitro. By examining the genetic interaction between a constitutively active phyBY276H-YFP allele (YHB-YFP) and PCH1, we show that the loss of PCH1 prevents YHB from coalescing into PBs without affecting its nuclear localization, whereas overexpression of PCH1 dramatically increases PB levels. Loss of PCH1, presumably by impacting phyB-PB assembly, compromises a number of events elicited in YHB-YFP plants, including their constitutive photomorphogenic phenotype, red light-regulated thermomorphogenesis, and input of phyB into the circadian clock. Conversely, elevated levels of both phyB and PCH1 generate stable, yet far-red light-reversible PBs that persisted for days. Collectively, our data demonstrate that the assembly of PCH1-containing PBs is critical for phyB signaling to multiple outputs and suggest that altering PB dynamics could be exploited to modulate plant responses to light and temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from common intermediate methyl 1-hydroxy-9Hcarbazole- 3-carboxylate, synthetic routes toward murrayaquinone A, olivacine, and N-methylcalothrixin B were developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA interference (RNAi) is widely used in gene knockdown analysis and as a tool to screen host genes involved in viral infection. Owing to the limitations of transducing cells with synthetic small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), lentiviral short hairpin RNA (shRNA) vectors are more widely used. However, we found that stable transduction with lentiviral shRNA vectors inhibited hepatitis C virus (HCV) propagation in human hepatoma cells. We found by microRNA (miRNA) microarray analysis that this inhibition was induced by the alteration of host miRNA expression. In addition to one miRNA (miR-196b-5p) previously reported to be involved in HCV infection, other miRNAs (miR-216a-5p, -216b-5p, 217, and -30b-5p) were found to influence HCV infection in this study. Further studies suggested that this effect was independent of the transcription of shRNAs. The lentiviral vector itself and the integration site of the lentiviral vector might determine the change in miRNA expression. Moreover, the upregulation of JUN contributed to the dysregulation of miR-216a-5p, -216b-5p, and -217 in stably transduced cells. Although the changes in miRNA expression were beneficial for inhibiting HCV infection in our study, this off-target effect should be considered when transduction with lentiviral vectors is performed for other purposes, especially in therapy. IMPORTANCE We found that stable transduction with lentiviral shRNA was able to nonspecifically inhibit HCV infection by the dysregulation of host miRNAs. Previous studies showed that the overexpression of shRNAs oversaturated the host miRNA pathways to inhibit HCV infection. In contrast, the miRNA machinery was not affected in our study. Knockout studies suggested that the nonspecific effect was independent of the transcription of shRNAs. The lentiviral vector itself and the integration sites in the host genome determined the changes in miRNAs. Stable transduction with lentiviral vectors was able to increase the expression of JUN, which in turn upregulated miR-216a-5p, miR-216b-5p, and miR-217. miR-216a-5p and miR216b-5p might inhibit HCV by suppressing the host autophagic machinery. Our study suggested a novel nonspecific effect of lentiviral vectors, and this side effect should be considered when transduction with lentiviral vectors is performed for other purposes, especially in therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the relationships between transport Jc, the core density and texture are systematically studied by fabricating silver sheathed Sr1-xKx Fe2As2 superconducting tapes with different thickness. The cores densities increase when the tape thickness decreases to 0.5 mm. But the core density of 0.4 mm tapes is the same with that of the 0.5 mm ones as the core density has been saturated in such rolling deformation. However, there is a positive correlation between the transport Jc and texture of superconducting tapes. We conclude that the core density and the texture have a combined influence on the final performance of tapes and the Jc of iron-based superconducting tapes can be further improved by increasing the texture degree when the core density saturated within the experimental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional crossbreeding remains an effective technique for chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum ×morifolium Ramat.) breeding. However, there are always many problems when breeding chrysanthemum because of its complex genetic background, such as difficulty matching parents, selecting superior hybrid progenies, quantitatively describing certain target traits, and evaluating breeding results. A recent mathematical analysis method is an effective method for evaluating plant breeding progress. In this study, we used 505 multiflora chrysanthemum germplasm resources as test materials; we divided the flowering time into five groups using a grading analysis method, including extremely early group (genotypes that flowered when daylength was longer than 13.5 hours), early group (genotypes that flowered when daylength was 13.5-12.0 hours), medium group (genotypes that flowered when daylength was 12.0-11.0 hours), late group (genotypes that flowered when daylength was 11.0-10.0 hours), and extremely late group (genotypes that flowered when daylength was shorter than 10.0 hours). Moreover, the breeding objective was to breed early-flowering genotypes. Using 15 phenotypic characters as evaluation factors, 37 excellent genotypes, including four early-flowering genotypes, were screened out from the aforementioned resources according to an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighting of the gray relational grade. We selected one early-flowering genotype and eight medium-flowering genotypes from these 37 genotypes and matched six hybridized combinations based on the genetic distance between genotypes calculated by theQcluster analysis method.Weused a comprehensive evaluation method combining AHP and the gray relational analysis (GRA) method for the evaluation of 367 progenies. Moreover, we screened out 52 superior hybrids, including 36 early-flowering hybrids. The results of this study demonstrate that the mathematical analysis method is an immensely effective method to breed new cultivars of early-flowering multiflora chrysanthemum. This study also provides an effective method to define and improve the flowering time of other cultivated plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With high speed and broad view, airborne radar has a great advantage in moving vehicle tracing, recognition and strike. The high speed also causes complexity in feature extraction of radar echo. In view of this situation, point scatterer models are presented to depicting micro-Doppler effect of vehicle targets, and micro-Doppler signatures are analyzed in time and frequency domain. Also, eigenvalue spectrum is extracted as a feature distinguishing between wheeled vehicles and tracked vehicles, and classification experiments are performed using support vector machine. Experimental results validate the models, and show that the feature extraction method is robust and the classifier is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of finding the optimal routing policies with only trajectory information in a stochastic time-dependent network where all link travel times are temporally and spatially correlated. Two equivalent definitions are given for trajectory-adaptive routing policy. The first definition follows the mapping definition in a series of previous studies, where the trajectory information is included in the state variable. With that definition, any subpolicy of an optimal routing policy must also be optimal, and the algorithm developed in previous studies could serve as an exact solution, but the nature of the definition that trajectory information is included in the state variable determines that the number of states is prohibitively huge. Therefore, a second definition is given as a recursive definition, where the trajectory information is not included in the state variable. It is shown that, with the second definition, a subpolicy of an optimal/nondominated routing policy is not necessarily optimal/nondominated, but any subpolicy of a pure routing policy must also be pure which is a new property defined based on nondominance. An exact algorithm is designed to find optimal trajectory-adaptive routing policies based on the aforementioned property of pure routing policy. A comparison is made between the optimal trajectory-adaptive routing policies and the optimal paths in the same test networks to investigate the benefit of being adaptive. The results show that the benefit of being adaptive to trajectory information is more significant with a higher risk aversion, a higher correlation, and/or a larger network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RIOK1 has recently been shown to play important roles in cancers, but its posttranslational regulation is largely unknown. Here we report that RIOK1 is methylated at K411 by SETD7 methyltransferase and that lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) reverses its methylation. The mutated RIOK1 (K411R) that cannot be methylated exhibits a longer half-life than does the methylated RIOK1. FBXO6 specifically interacts with K411-methylated RIOK1 through its FBA domain to induce RIOK1 ubiquitination. Casein kinase 2 (CK2) phosphorylates RIOK1 at T410, which stabilizes RIOK1 by antagonizing K411 methylation and impeding the recruitment of FBXO6 to RIOK1. Functional experiments demonstrate the RIOK1 methylation reduces the tumor growth and metastasis in mice model. Importantly, the protein levels of CK2 and LSD1 show an inverse correlation with FBXO6 and SETD7 expression in human colorectal cancer tissues. Together, this study highlights the importance of a RIOK1 methylation-phosphorylation switch in determining colorectal and gastric cancer development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a graph Γ, a subset C of V (Γ) is called a perfect code in Γ if every vertex of Γ is at distance no more than one to exactly one vertex in C, and a subset C of V (Γ) is called a total perfect code in Γ if every vertex of Γ is adjacent to exactly one vertex in C. In this paper we study perfect codes and total perfect codes in Cayley graphs, with a focus on the following themes: when a subgroup of a given group is a (total) perfect code in a Cayley graph of the group; and how to construct new (total) perfect codes in a Cayley graph from known ones using automorphisms of the underlying group. We prove several results around these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three n-OS acceptors with Eg values of <1.4 eV were synthesized by introducing double-bond p-bridges into ITIC (ITVIC) and ITIC with monofluorine (ITVfIC) or bifluorine (ITVffIC) substituents on its end groups, and the structure-property relationships of the acceptors were systematically studied. The three n-OS films show broad absorption covering the wavelength range of 550-900 nm with narrow Eg values of 1.40 eV for ITVIC, 1.37 eV for ITVfIC, and 1.35 eV for ITVffIC. Additionally, the fluorine substitution downshifted the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of the compounds. The photovoltaic properties of the n-OS acceptors were investigated by using a medium bandgap conjugated polymer J71 as a donor. The optimized polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on J71:ITVffIC demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.54% with a high Jsc of 20.60 mA cm-2 and a Voc of 0.81 V, and the highest Jsc reached 22.83 mA cm-2. The high Jsc values of the devices could be attributed to the broad absorption and lower-lying HOMO energy levels of the acceptor. Considering the Voc of 0.81 V and the narrow bandgap of 1.35 eV for the acceptor ITVffIC, we found the energy loss (Eloss) of the ITVffIC-based PSCs was reduced to 0.54 eV, which is the lowest value in the PSCs with a PCE of >10%. The results indicate that ITVffIC is a promising narrow Eg acceptor for application in tandem and semitransparent PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbonic anhydrase III (CAIII) is expressed selectively in type I (slow-twitch) myofibers. To investigate the association between changes in the expression of CAIII and skeletal muscle structure following denervation, the present study stained adjacent sections of skeletal muscle for ATPase and immunohistochemically for CAIII. In addition, differences in the protein expression and phosphatase activity of CAIII were examined by western blot and phosphatase staining between rat soleus and extensol digitorum longus (EDL) muscles, which are composed of predominantly slowand fast-twitch fibers, respectively. Upon denervation, the EDL muscle showed more pronounced structural changes, compared with the soleus muscle. There was a transformation from fast to slow fibers, and a concomitant increase in fibers positive for CAIII. Following denervation, the protein expression of CAIII initially increased and then decreased in the soleus muscle, whereas the protein expression of CAIII in the EDL muscle increased gradually with time. In contrast to the protein changes, phosphatase activity in the soleus and EDL muscles decreased significantly following denervation. These results indicated that, following denervation, changes in the expression of CAIII were associated with myofiber remodeling. Specifically, the change in the expression of CAIII reflected the conversion to type I myofibers, suggesting the importance of CAIII in resistance to fatigue in skeletal muscle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus casei has drawn increasing attention as a health-promoting probiotic, while effective genetic manipulation tools are often not available, e.g., the single-gene knockout in L. casei still depends on the classic homologous recombinationdependent double-crossover strategy, which is quite labor-intensive and timeconsuming. In the present study, a rapid and precise genome editing plasmid, pLCNICK, was established for L. casei genome engineering based on CRISPR-Cas9D10A. In addition to the P23-Cas9D10A and Pldh-sgRNA (single guide RNA) expression cassettes, pLCNICK includes the homologous arms of the target gene as repair templates. The ability and efficiency of chromosomal engineering using pLCNICK were evaluated by in-frame deletions of four independent genes and chromosomal insertion of an enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) expression cassette at the LC2W_1628 locus. The efficiencies associated with in-frame deletions and chromosomal insertion is 25 to 62%. pLCNICK has been proved to be an effective, rapid, and precise tool for genome editing in L. casei, and its potential application in other lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is also discussed in this study. IMPORTANCE The lack of efficient genetic tools has limited the investigation and biotechnological application of many LAB. The CRISPR-Cas9D10A nickase-based genome editing in Lactobacillus casei, an important food industrial microorganism, was demonstrated in this study. This genetic tool allows efficient single-gene deletion and insertion to be accomplished by one-step transformation, and the cycle time is reduced to 9 days. It facilitates a rapid and precise chromosomal manipulation in L. casei and overcomes some limitations of previous methods. This editing system can serve as a basic technological platform and offers the possibility to start a comprehensive investigation on L. casei. As a broad-host-range plasmid, pLCNICK has the potential to be adapted to other Lactobacillus species for genome editing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) has been reported to contribute to the development and progression of atherosclerosis, which is also stimulated by viral infections, such as influenza. However, the mechanism underlining the promotion of atherosclerosis by both risk factors remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), which is one of key mediators of atherosclerosis progression, in oxLDL-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC)-C cells. The infection efficiency of H1N1 pdm2009 influenza virus in the HUVEC-C cells was subsequently examined, and the expression of MMP-9 and proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a, interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-6, were determined in the virus-infected HUVEC-C cells, with or without oxLDL treatment. Results demonstrated that oxLDL treatment with 10, 20 or 50 µg/ml markedly upregulated MMP-9 expression at the mRNA and protein levels. H1N1 pdm2009 influenza virus efficiently infected the HUVEC-C cells and significantly promoted the expression of MMP-9, TNF-a, IL-1ß and IL-6, synergistically with the oxLDL treatment. Taken together, these results demonstrated for the first time that oxidized-LDL treatment and influenza virus infection synergistically enhance the expression of MMP-9 and proinflammatory cytokines in human endothelial cells, suggesting that both factors are potent stimulators in atherosclerotic impairment to endothelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autologous fat grafting is a promising surgical technique for soft tissue augmentation, reconstruction and rejuvenation. However, it is limited by the low survival rate of the transplanted fat, due to the slow revascularization of such grafts. Previous studies have demonstrated that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell‑derived extracellular vesicles (BMSC‑EVs) are proangiogenic. The present study aimed to investigate whether BMSC‑EVs could improve the survival of transplanted fat grafts. Extracellular vesicles were isolated from the supernatant of cultured rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and characterized by flow cytometry and scanning electron microscopy. Their proangiogenic potential was measured in vitro using tube formation and cell migration assays. Subsequently, human fat tissue grafts, alongside various concentrations of BMSC‑EVs, were subcutaneously injected into nude mice. A total of 12 weeks following transplantation, the mice were sacrificed and the grafts were harvested. The grafts from the experimental group had a higher survival rate and an increased number of vessels compared with grafts from the control group, as demonstrated by tissue volume, weight and histological analyses. Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that the expression levels of proangiogenic factors were increased in the experimental group compared with in the control group, thus suggesting that BMSC‑EVs may promote neovascularization by stimulating the secretion of proangiogenic factors. The present study is the first, to the best of our knowledge, to demonstrate that supplementation of fat grafts with BMSC‑EVs improves the long‑term retention and quality of transplanted fat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council has proposed eight core professional nursing qualities including ethical literacy. Consequently, nursing ethics education is a required course for student nurses. These courses are intended to improve the ethical literacy. Moral sensitivity is the cornerstone of ethical literacy, and learning moral sensitivity is the initial step towards developing ethical literacy. Objectives: To explore the effect of nursing ethics educational interventions based on multiple teaching strategies on student nurses moral sensitivity. Based on the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic model, three strategies were developed for determining the programme components and corresponding learning styles. Research design: This was a quasi-experimental study. Participants: A total of 234 junior-college student nurses participated in this study. All participants were aged 18--19 years. Ethical considerations: The study protocol was approved by the institutional review boards of Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital. Only the participants who signed an informed consent form took part in the study. The participants were permitted to withdraw from the study at any point if they wished to do so without affecting their academic score. Results: The scores of Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses were significantly improved after the intervention of integrating multiple teaching strategies (p ¼ .042). Significant relationships were observed between the satisfaction scores of two teaching strategies and moral sensitivity. The results indicated that using multiple teaching strategies is effective for promoting nursing ethics learning. Conclusion: This strategy was consistent with the student nurses' preferred learning style and was used to correct their erroneous ethical conceptions, assisting in developing their ethical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been suggested that renal denervation (RD) may attenuate left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. However, the role that autophagy serves in this process is currently unclear. In the present study, utilizing a model of hypertension-induced cardiac hypertrophy in spontaneous hypertensive rats, it was demonstrated that RD was significantly associated with a reduction in LV hypertrophy. Furthermore, a decrease in the myocardial mRNA of hypertrophy-associated genes was demonstrated in RD rats compared with sham controls. In addition, RD in hypertension-induced LV hypertrophy rats was associated with the attenuation of cellular autophagic response over activation at a physiological level. This was indicated by a reduction in the expression of Beclin-1, autophagy related 9A and microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 II/I in RD rats to physiological levels that are observed in control rats. Furthermore, the number of autophagosomes was restored to physiological levels in the cardiomyocytes of RD rats. The results of the current study suggest that RD may attenuate LV hypertrophy via the regulation of autophagic responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper-catalyzed regioselective C-H sulfonyloxylation of electron-rich arenes with p-toluenesulfonic acid has been developed. Electron-rich benzene derivatives and heteroarenes can undergo this C-H sulfonyloxylation reaction to generate aryl tosylates. Furthermore, sulfonyloxylation of aryl(mesityl)iodonium sulfonates has also been investigated. Both aryl(mesityl)iodonium tosylates and triflates can react smoothly to get aryl sulfonates. The formed aryl sulfonates can be converted to phenols, as well as used as good partners of cross-coupling reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the multibody dynamics framework, the paper proposed an efficient procedure to calculate revolute joint wear of planar mechanism with low velocity. Firstly, based on the wear test data, a method to calculate the wear coefficient that corresponds to the actual working condition of the mechanism is proposed. Then, an efficient iterative prediction method for joint clearance wear evolving in the multibody dynamic system in is proposed based on the Archard's wear model. Meanwhile, the wear tests of the typical mechanism have verified the method proposed in this paper. The research shows that when the increments of the wear depth of revolute joints are not big, the method can provide high prediction accuracy; however, as the predicted wear depth increases, the prediction error increases as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the significance of C-X-C motif chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) and epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). CXCR4 and EGFR expression levels were immunohistochemically determined in 207 primary breast cancer specimens. The associations between receptor expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed, and receptor expression was also assessed as a prognostic factor. In the human MDA-MB-231 TNBC cell line, CXCR4 or EGFR was stably knocked down by short hairpin RNA, and the biological behavior of the cells, including migration, invasion and tumorigenesis, was investigated. The results revealed that TNBC was associated with younger age, higher histological grade and an aggressive phenotype. CXCR4 and EGFR were highly expressed in patients with TNBC, and those with high CXCR4 or EGFR expression exhibited an unfavorable prognosis in terms of disease-free survival and overall survival. In MDA-MB-231 cells, the expression of CXCR4 protein was decreased following EGFR silencing, while CXCR4 knockdown also caused a decrease in EGFR protein levels. The migratory and invasive capabilities of MDA-MB-231 cells were decreased following the knockdown of CXCR4 or EGFR expression. A strong correlation between CXCR4 and EGFR expression was identified in patients with TNBC. The results suggest that elevated expression levels of these two receptors may serve as predictive factors for poor prognosis in patients with TNBC. In addition, tumor proliferation, migration, invasion and tumorigenesis are weakened in MDA-MB-231 cells following suppression of CXCR4 or EGFR expression. Therefore, EGFR and CXCR4 may be potential therapeutic targets for TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this investigation, ultrasonic-assisted soldering at 260 °C in air produced high strength and high melting point Cu connections in 60 s using Ni foam reinforced Sn composite solder. Systematically examined were the microstructure, grain morphology, and shear strength of connections made with various porosities of Ni foam composite solders. Results shown that Ni foams as strengthening phases could reinforce Sn solder effectively. The addition of Ni foam accelerated the metallurgical reaction due to great amount of liquid/solid interfaces, and refined the intermetallic compounds (IMCs) grains by ultrasonic cavitation. The joints had different IMCs by using Ni foam with different porosity. Layered (Cu,Ni) 6 Sn 5 and (Ni,Cu) 3 Sn 4 phases both existed in Cu/Ni60-Sn/Cu joint while only (Cu,Ni) 6 Sn 5 IMCs grew in Cu/Ni98-Sn/Cu joint. As ultrasonic time increasing, Ni skeletons were dissolved and the IMCs were peeled off from substrates and broken into small particles. And then, the IMCs gradually dissociated into refined particles and distributed homogeneously in the whole soldering seam under cavitation effects. Herein, the Cu/Ni60-Sn/Cu joint ultrasonically soldered for 60 s exhibited the highest shear strength of 86.9 MPa, as well as a high melting point about 800 ℃ for the solder seam composed of Ni skeletons and Ni-Cu-Sn IMCs. The characterization indicated that the shearing failure mainly occurred in the interlayer of the soldering seam. The homogeneous distributed granular IMCs and Ni skeletons hindered the crack propagation and improved the strength of Cu alloy joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user’s daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five organic esters with different curing speeds: propylene carbonate (i.e. high-speed ester A); 1, 4-butyrolactone; glycerol triacetate (i.e. medium-speed ester B); glycerol diacetate; dibasic ester (DBE) (i.e. lowspeed ester C), were chosen to react with alkaline phenolic resin to analyze the application conditions of ester cured alkaline phenolic resin. The relationships between the curing performances of the resin (including pH value, gel pH value, gel time of resin solution, heat release rate of the curing reaction and tensile strength of the resin sand) and the amount of added organic ester and curing temperature were investigated. The results indicated the following: (1) The optimal added amount of organic ester should be 25wt.%-30wt.% of alkaline phenolic resin and it must be above 20wt.%-50 wt.% of the organic ester hydrolysis amount. (2) High-speed ester A (propylene carbonate) has a higher curing speed than 1, 4-butyrolactone, and they were both used as high-speed esters. Glycerol diacetate is not a high-speed ester in alkaline phenolic resin although it was used as a high-speed ester in ester cured sodium silicate sand; glycerol diacetate and glycerol triacetate can be used as medium-speed esters in alkaline phenolic resin. (3) High-speed ester A, medium-speed ester B (glycerol triacetate) and low-speed ester C (dibasic ester, i.e., DBE) should be used below 15 °C, 35 °C and 50 °C, respectively. High-speed ester A or lowspeed ester C should not be used alone but mixed with medium-speed ester B to improve the strength of the resin sand. (4) There should be a suitable solid content (generally 45wt.%-65wt.% of resin), alkali content (generally 10wt.%-15wt.% of resin) and viscosity of alkaline phenolic resin (generally 50-300 mPa•s) in the preparation of alkaline phenolic resin. Finally, the technique conditions of alkaline phenolic resin preparation and the application principles of organic ester were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solution to the unmet synthetic challenge of achieving highly atropo-enantioselective transesterification of Bringmann's lactones has been realized, employing a chiral bifunctional amine thiourea as promoter. The synergistic activation of the lactones and alcohols/phenols by the respective thiourea and amine groups is crucial for achieving the highly enantioselective, high-yielding dynamic kinetic resolution process. This protocol gives highly optically pure, axially chiral biaryl compounds with a broad substrate scope under mild reaction conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copper-catalyzed amidation of arylboronic acids with nitriles has been developed. This reaction provides an efficient and complementary methodology for the synthesis of various N-arylamides with a broad substrate scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Activin receptor-like kinase 7 (ALK7), one of the type I transforming growth factor-b receptors, is expressed in various tissues, including the heart. However, the participation of ALK7 in the regulation of cardiac hypertrophy has not yet been studied. Here, we sought to determine the regulatory role and underlying mechanisms of ALK7 in cardiac hypertrophy. Methods and results: We performed aortic banding (AB) in ALK7-knockout mice, cardiac-specific ALK7-transgenic mice, and the wild-type littermates of these mice. Cardiac hypertrophy was evaluated using pathological analysis, echocardiographic measurement, haemodynamic measurement, and molecular analysis. Our results revealed that ALK7 disruption led to an aggravated cardiac hypertrophic response that was accompanied by increased cardiac fibrosis and reduced contractile function, whereas cardiac-specific ALK7 overexpression exhibited the opposite phenotype in response to pressure overload. Similarly, ALK7 protected against angiotensin II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in vitro. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that ALK7-dependent cardioprotection was mediated largely through inhibition of the MEK-ERK1/2 signalling pathway. Conclusion: Our data suggest that ALK7 acts as a novel regulator of pathological cardiac hypertrophy via the negative regulation of MEK-ERK1/2 signalling and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for pathological cardiac hypertrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Morinda officinalis F.C. How. (MO) (Rubiaceae) can strengthen bone function. Objective: To examine the functional mechanism and effect of MO polysaccharides (MOPs) in rats with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP). Materials and methods: Rats with GIOP were treated with 5, 15 or 45 mL/kg of MOP [n=15 for each dose, intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection every other day for 8 weeks]. The body weight of rats and histomorphology of bone tissues were examined. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs)-derived exosomes (Exo) were collected and identified. Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) were induced to differentiate into osteoclasts and treated with BMSC-Exo for in vitro studies. Results: MOP reduced the body weight (5, 15, or 45 mg/kg MOP vs. phosphate-buffered saline: 8%, 15% and 25%, p<0.01), elevated the bone volume to tissue volume (BV/TV), mean trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), mean trabecular number (Tb.N) and mean connectivity density (Conn.D) (40-86%, p<0.01), decreased the mean trabecular separation/spacing (Tb.Sp) (22-37%, p<0.01), increased the cortical bone continuity (35-90%, p<0.01) and elevated RUNX family transcription factor 2 and RANK levels (5-12%, p<0.01), but suppressed matrix metallopeptidase 9 and cathepsin K levels (9-20%, p<0.01) in femur tissues. BMSC-Exo from MOP-treated rats (MOP-Exo) suppressed osteoclastic differentiation and proliferation of BMMs. The downregulation of microRNA-101-3p (miR-101-3p) or the upregulation of prostaglandinendoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) blocked the functions of MOP-Exo. Discussion and conclusions: MOP inhibits osteoclastic differentiation and could potentially be used for osteoporosis management. This suppression may be enhanced by the upregulation of miR-101-3p or the inhibition of PTGS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the quantitative proteomic analysis of histone modifications. Topics discussed include use of histone post-translational modification (PTM) in combination with DNA modifications by cells to modulate chromatin structure and function, roles of PMTs in modulating chromatin dynamics, and association of dysregulation of these processes with the development of diseases such as cancer.

Background: The restoration of damaged meniscus has always been a challenge due to its limited healing capacity. Recently, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) provide a promising alternative to repair meniscal defects. However, BMSCs are not ideal chondroprogenitor cells for meniscus repair because they have a high propensity for cartilage hypertrophy and bone formation. Our hypothesis is that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) reside in meniscus maintain specific traits distinct from others which may be more conducive to meniscus regeneration. Methods: MSCs were isolated from bone marrow and menisci of the rabbits. The similarities and differences between BMSCs and MMSCs were investigated in vitro by a cell culture model, ex vivo by a rabbit meniscus defect model and in vivo by a nude rat implantation model using histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, qRT-PCR and western blotting. Results: Our data showed that two types of MSCs have universal stem cell characteristics including clonogenicity, multi-potency and self-renewal capacity. They both express stem cell markers including SSEA-4, Nanog, nucleostemin, strol-1, CD44 and CD90. However, MMSCs differed from BMSCs. MMSC colonies were much smaller and grew more slowly than BMSC colonies. Moreover, fewer MMSCs expressed CD34 than BMSCs. Finally, MMSCs always appeared a pronounced tendency to chondrogenic differentiation while BMSCs exhibited significantly greater osteogenic potential, whatever in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: This study shows the similarities and differences between MMSCs and BMSCs for the first time. MMSCs are a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells in repairing meniscus defect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-angle Servo Method is one of the most important gyroscopic drift test schemes to separate some coefficients in gyroscopic drift error model such as DF, DO, DS and DSS. It has high precision but the error increases with test time. In order to improve the test accuracy, this paper analyzes the mechanism of the Low-angle Servo Method and derives its mathematical model. The identification error in the gyroscopic drift error model increases by the test error generating noise in the data matrix of the observation equation. Total least squares identification method is used to reduce the identification error. Compared to the traditional least squares method, the identification precision of DO and DS are significantly improved by total least squares identification method. The identification precision of DS and DSS are similar and the precision increases. The research results can improve test accuracy of gyroscope in application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unreliability of surface EMG recordings over time is a challenge for applying the EMG pattern recognition (PR)-controlled prostheses in clinical practice. Our previous study proposed a sensor fault-tolerant module (SFTM) by utilizing redundant information in multiple EMG signals. The SFTM consists of multiple sensor fault detectors and a self-recovery mechanism that can identify anomaly in EMG signals and remove the recordings of the disturbed signals from the input of the pattern classifier to recover the PR performance. While the proposed SFTM has shown great promise, the previous design is impractical. A practical SFTM has to be fast enough, lightweight, automatic, and robust under different conditions with or without disturbances. Methods: This paper presented a real-time, practical SFTM towards robust EMG PR. A novel fast LDA retraining algorithm and a fully automatic sensor fault detector based on outlier detection were developed, which allowed the SFTM to promptly detect disturbances and recover the PR performance immediately. These components of SFTM were then integrated with the EMG PR module and tested on five able-bodied subjects and a transradial amputee in real-time for classifying multiple hand and wrist motions under different conditions with different disturbance types and levels. Results: The proposed fast LDA retraining algorithm significantly shortened the retraining time from nearly 1 s to less than 4 ms when tested on the embedded system prototype, which demonstrated the feasibility of a nearly "zero-delay" SFTM that is imperceptible to the users. The results of the real-time tests suggested that the SFTM was able to handle different types of disturbances investigated in this study and significantly improve the classification performance when one or multiple EMG signals were disturbed. In addition, the SFTM could also maintain the system's classification performance when there was no disturbance. Conclusions: This paper presented a real-time, lightweight, and automatic SFTM, which paved the way for reliable and robust EMG PR for prosthesis control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPORTANCE Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is a serious complication for patients with lymphoma treated with rituximab-containing chemotherapies, despite lamivudine prophylaxis treatment. An optimal prophylactic antiviral protocol has not been determined. OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine in preventing HBV reactivation in patients seropositive for the hepatitis B surface antigen with untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma receiving chemotherapy treatment with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Randomized, open-label, phase 3 study conducted from February 2008 through December 2012 at 10 medical centers in China. This study was a substudy of a parent study designed to compare a 3-week with a 2-week R-CHOP chemotherapy regimen for untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Patients enrolled in the parent study who were seropositive for the hepatitis B surface antigen and had normal liver function, serum HBV DNA levels of less than 103 copies/mL, and no prior antiviral therapy were randomized to entecavir (n = 61) or lamivudine (n = 60). INTERVENTIONS Daily entecavir (0.5mg) or lamivudine (100mg) beginning 1 week before the initiation of R-CHOP treatment to 6 months after completion of chemotherapy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary efficacy end pointwas the incidence of HBV-related hepatitis. The secondary end points included rates of HBV reactivation, chemotherapy disruption due to hepatitis, and treatment-related adverse events. RESULTS The date of last patient follow-up wasMay 25, 2013. Incidence of HBV-related hepatitis was significantly lower for the entecavir group vs the lamivudine group. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients seropositive for the hepatitis B surface antigen with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma undergoing R-CHOP chemotherapy, the addition of entecavir compared with lamivudine resulted in a lower incidence of HBV-related hepatitis and HBV reactivation. If replicated, these findings support the use of entecavir in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Upregulator of cell proliferation 4 (URG4) has been implicated in the oncogenesis of certain cancers. However, the correlation between URG4 expression and clinicopathological significance in human cancer remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated its expression and clinicopathological significance in cervical cancer patients. Methods URG4 expression was examined using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blotting in normal cervical epithelial cells, cervical cancer cells, and eight matched pairs of cervical cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues from the same patient. In addition, immunohistochemistry (THC) was used to examine URG4 expression in paraffin-embedded tissues from 167 cervical cancer patients (FIGO stages Ibl-IIa2). Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate associations between URG4 expression and prognostic and diagnostic factors. Results URG4 was significantly upregulated in the cervical cancer cell lines and tissues compared with the normal cells and adjacent noncancerous cervical tissues. IHC revealed high URG4 expression in 59 out of the 167 (35.13%) cervical cancer specimens. Its expression was significantly correlated with clinical stage (P < 0.0001), tumour size (P = 0.012), T classification (P = 0.023), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001) and vaginal involvement (P = 0.002). Patients with high URG4 expression, particularly those who received concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (P < 0.0001), showed a shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared to those with the low expression of this protein. Multivariate analysis revealed that URG4 expression is an independent prognostic factor for cervical cancer patients. Conclusions Our results demonstrated that elevated URG4 protein expression is associated with a poor outcome in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. URG4 may be a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target for the treatment of cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Upregulator of cell proliferation 4 (URG4) has been implicated in the oncogenesis of certain cancers. However, the correlation between URG4 expression and clinicopathological significance in human cancer remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated its expression and clinicopathological significance in cervical cancer patients. Methods: URG4 expression was examined using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blotting in normal cervical epithelial cells, cervical cancer cells, and eight matched pairs of cervical cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues from the same patient. In addition, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to examine URG4 expression in paraffin-embedded tissues from 167 cervical cancer patients (FIGO stages Ib1-IIa2). Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate associations between URG4 expression and prognostic and diagnostic factors. Results: URG4 was significantly upregulated in the cervical cancer cell lines and tissues compared with the normal cells and adjacent noncancerous cervical tissues. IHC revealed high URG4 expression in 59 out of the 167 (35.13%) cervical cancer specimens. Its expression was significantly correlated with clinical stage (P < 0.0001), tumour size (P = 0.012), T classification (P = 0.023), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001) and vaginal involvement (P = 0.002). Patients with high URG4 expression, particularly those who received concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (P < 0.0001), showed a shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared to those with the low expression of this protein. Multivariate analysis revealed that URG4 expression is an independent prognostic factor for cervical cancer patients. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that elevated URG4 protein expression is associated with a poor outcome in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. URG4 may be a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target for the treatment of cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbonic anhydrase isozyme III (CAIII) is unique among the carbonic anhydrases because it exhibits phosphatase activity. CAIII is relatively specific to skeletal muscles, and may therefore be a useful diagnostic marker for muscular diseases. In the muscles of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), CAIII is deficient and previous studies have demonstrated that changes in the phosphatase activity of CAIII is a fundamental mechanism underlying the weakness and fatigability of MG. However, there have been no effective analytical methods for investigating its phosphatase activity until now. In the present study, a new method combining two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and phosphatase staining in situ on a nitrocellulose membrane was reported to detect the phosphatase of CAIII in skeletal muscle extracts. Furthermore, a recombinant CAIII was constructed and its phosphatase activity staining was demonstrated to be positive. This method allows for the effective detection of the phosphatase activity of CAIII following 2-DE and is a promising technique for functional proteomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall intensity and slope gradient are important factors that affect soil erosion; however, contradictory observations have been made due to different experimental conditions and materials. Colluvial deposits with loose, coarse material and steep slopes are easily erodible, but the erosion mechanism of colluvial deposition remains obscure. This work investigated the effects of heavy and storm rainfall intensity and steep slope gradients on the infiltration, runoff, and soil loss of colluvial soil. The rainfall intensity ranged from 1.00 to 2.33 mm min-1, and the slope gradient ranged from 36 to 84%. The infiltration rates declined sharply in the initial stage, whereas an opposite trend was observed for runoff rates until a steady state was reached after 5 min. Single- and multiple-peak models illustrated the two types of changes for the sediment yield process. The infiltration volume and the coefficient increased with increasing rainfall intensity and decreased with increasing slope, whereas the runoff coefficient decreased with increasing rainfall intensity and increased with increasing slope. Runoff volume and sediment yield increased with increasing rainfall intensity but had a critical slope gradient of 58% and >47%. The sediment concentration increased with increasing rainfall intensity, and first increased and then decreased with increasing slope gradients at rainfall intensities of 1.00 and 1.33 mm min-1 but increased at rainfall intensities of 1.67, 2.00, and 2.33 mm min-1. The findings of this study can be used to clarify the erosion mechanisms in disturbed soils with high coarse particle content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]