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Abstract The morbidity and mortality rates of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remain high worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify a new prognostic biomarker to guide the personalized treatment of HNSCC patients. Increasing evidence suggests that circadian rhythm genes play an important role in the development and progression of cancer. We aimed to explore the value of circadian rhythm genes in predicting prognosis and guiding the treatment of HNSCC. We first obtained a list of circadian rhythm genes from previous research. The sequencing data were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Finally, univariate Cox proportional hazard analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis were performed to develop a prognostic signature (Circadian Rhythm-Related Gene Prognostic Index, CRRGPI) consisting of nine circadian rhythm genes. The signature exhibited good performance in predicting overall survival. Patients with low CRRGPI scores had lower metabolic activities and an active antitumour immunity ability. Additionally, a clinical cohort was used to further evaluate the ability of the CRRGPI to predict the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors. In conclusion, the novel circadian rhythm-related gene signature can provide a precise prognostic evaluation with the potential capacity to guide individualized treatment regimens for HNSCC patients.

ABSTRACT: The effects of dietary Bacillus subtilis (BS) on the meat quality of broilers were evaluated, with an emphasis on the regulation of muscle fiber types and antioxidant capabilities. One hundred and forty-four Arbor Acres male broilers were divided into 3 treatment groups (0, 300 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg dietary BS) and raised for 35 d. The results suggested that BS improved meat quality by improving the muscular pH, meat color, water holding capacity and shear force. Immunofluorescence staining revealed a positive impact of BS on the muscle fiber transformation in thigh muscles, and the gene/protein expression data from specific muscle fiber types confirmed this finding. BS activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), silent information regulator 1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha. The postmortem analysis revealed that BS increased the activity of glutathione peroxidase and total antioxidant capacity while decreasing the malondialdehyde content. Additionally, BS increased the gene and protein expression of nuclear factor-like 2 (Nrf2) and activated the Nrf2 signaling pathway, including its downstream factors, such as heme oxygenase-1, catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. In conclusion, dietary BS improved meat quality by modifying muscle fiber types and enhancing the antioxidant capacity in broilers.

BackgroundGut microbiota is closely related to the occurrence and development of sepsis. However, the causal effects between the gut microbiota and sepsis, and whether circulating inflammatory proteins act as mediators, remain unclear.MethodsGut microbiota, circulating inflammatory proteins, and four sepsis-related outcomes were identified from large-scale genome wide association studies (GWAS) summary data. Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) was the primary statistical method. Additionally, we investigated whether circulating inflammatory proteins play a mediating role in the pathway from gut microbiota to the four sepsis-related outcomes.ResultsThere were 14 positive and 15 negative causal effects between genetic liability in the gut microbiota and four sepsis-related outcomes. Additionally, eight positive and four negative causal effects were observed between circulating inflammatory proteins and the four sepsis-related outcomes. Circulating inflammatory proteins do not act as mediators.ConclusionsGut microbiota and circulating inflammatory proteins were causally associated with the four sepsis-related outcomes. However, circulating inflammatory proteins did not appear to mediate the pathway from gut microbiota to the four sepsis-related outcomes.

A 79-year-old man underwent operative drainage and 2-week cephalosporin treatment due to a maxillofacial space infection (bilateral submaxillaris, submentum, and left face). However, he experienced anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and emaciation in the following 2 months. It was initially considered that a malignancy might be present, thus a series of examinations were performed. Laboratory investigations showed increases in inflammatory markers and a significant eosinophilia, which seemed to be a hematological system disease. Combined with the gastrointestinal endoscopes and histology examination, the patient was diagnosed with eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE). After cessation of antibiotic treatment and administration of corticosteroid, our patient experienced a rapid progress in his clinical condition. Despite the low incidence, EGE should be considered in patients with unknown cause of gastrointestinal disorder, elevated eosinophilia, and so on.

BackgroundFollowing COVID-19, reports suggest Long COVID and autoimmune diseases (AIDs) in infected individuals. However, bidirectional causal effects between Long COVID and AIDs, which may help to prevent diseases, have not been fully investigated.MethodsSummary-level data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of Long COVID (N = 52615) and AIDs including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (N = 377277), Crohn’s disease (CD) (N = 361508), ulcerative colitis (UC) (N = 376564), etc. were employed. Bidirectional causal effects were gauged between AIDs and Long COVID by exploiting Mendelian randomization (MR) and Bayesian model averaging (BMA).ResultsThe evidence of causal effects of IBD (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.00–1.11, p = 3.13E-02), CD (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.01–1.19, p = 2.21E-02) and UC (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.03–1.13, p = 2.35E-03) on Long COVID was found. In MR-BMA, UC was estimated as the highest-ranked causal factor (MIP = 0.488, MACE = 0.035), followed by IBD and CD.ConclusionThis MR study found that IBD, CD and UC had causal effects on Long COVID, which suggests a necessity to screen high-risk populations.

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of calcium quantification on photon-counting detector CT (PCD-CT) with high-pitch at low radiation doses compared to third-generation dual-source energy-integrating detector CT (EID-CT). Materials and methods: The phantom with three calcium inserts (50, 100, and 300 mg of calcium per milliliter), with and without the elliptical outer layer, was evaluated using high-pitch (3.2) and standard pitch (0.8) on PCD-CT, and standard pitch on EID-CT. Scans were performed with different tube voltages (PCD-CT: 120 and 140 kilo-voltage peak [kVp]; EID-CT: 70/Sn150 and 100/Sn150 kVp) and four radiation doses (1, 3, 5, and, 10 milli-Gray [mGy]). Utilizing the true calcium concentrations (CCtrue) of the phantom as the gold standard references, regression equations for each kVp setting were formulated to convert CT attenuations (CaCT) into measured calcium concentrations (CCm). The correlation analysis between CaCT and CCtrue was performed. The percentage absolute bias (PAB) was calculated from the differences between CCm and CCtrue and used to analyze the effects of scanning parameters on calcium quantification accuracy. Results: A strong correlation was found between CaCT and CCtrue on PCD-CT (r > 0.99) and EID-CT (r > 0.98). For high- and standard-pitch scans on PCD-CT, the accuracy of calcium quantification is comparable (p = 0.615): the median (interquartile range [IQR]) of PAB was 5.59% (2.79%–8.31%) and 4.87 % (2.62%–8.01%), respectively. The PAB median (IQR) was 7.43% (3.77%–11.75%) for EID-CT. The calcium quantification accuracy of PCD-CT is superior to EID-CT at the large phantom (5.46% [2.68%–9.55%] versus 9.01% [6.22%–12.74%]), and at the radiation dose of 1 mGy (4.43% [2.08%–8.59%] versus 13.89% [8.93%–23.09%]) and 3 mGy (4.61% [2.75%–6.51%] versus 9.97% [5.17%–14.41%]), all p < 0.001. Conclusions: Calcium quantification using low-dose PCD-CT with high-pitch scanning is feasible and accurate, and superior to EID-CT.

Abstract Background Circadian rhythm is crucial to the function of the immune system. Disorders of the circadian rhythm can contribute to inflammatory diseases such as Ulcerative colitis (UC). This Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis applies genetic tools to represent the aggregated statistical results of exposure to circadian rhythm disorders and UC and its comorbidities, allowing for causal inferences. Methods Summary statistics of protein, DNA methylation and gene expression quantitative trait loci in individuals of European ancestry (pQTL, mQTL, and eQTL, respectively) were used. Genetic variants located within or near 152 circadian clock-related genes and closely related to circadian rhythm disorders were selected as instrumental variables. Causal relationships with UC and its comorbidities were then estimated through employed Summary data-based Mendelian Randomization (SMR) and Inverse-Variance-Weighted MR (IVW-MR). Results Through preliminary SMR analysis, we identified a potential causal relationship between circadian clock-related genes and UC along with its comorbidities, which was further confirmed by IVW-MR analysis. Our study identified strong evidence of positive correlation involving seven overlapping genes (CSNK1E, OPRL1, PIWIL2, RORC, MAX, PPP5C, and AANAT) through MWAS and TWAS in UC, four overlapping genes (OPRL1, CHRNB2, FBXL17, and SIRT1) in UC with PSC, and three overlapping genes (ARNTL, USP7, and KRAS) in UC with arthropathy. Conclusions This SMR study demonstrates the causal effect of circadian rhythm disorders in UC and its comorbidities. Furthermore, our investigation pinpointed candidate genes that could potentially serve as drug targets.

Abstract Objective Traditional observational research has suggested a connection between socioeconomic position, mental health, and sleep apnea (SA), but the specifics of this connection are still unclear. Using the Mendelian randomization approach, we intended to evaluate the potential causal link between mental health, socioeconomic status, and SA. Methods Our research employed summary statistics data from large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on mental health, socioeconomic status, and SA. In the main study, the connection between mental health, socioeconomic status, and SA was examined using the inverse variance weighted approach. In addition, as a supplement, we also used other Mendelian randomization methods, including MR Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode. Results The primary analysis showed that educational attainment, including longer years of schooling, college or university degree, and higher intelligence was associated with a lower risk of SA (OR = 0.750, 95%CI = 0.653–0.862; OR = 0.558, 95%CI = 0.423–0.735; OR = 0.871, 95%CI = 0.760–0.999, respectively), while social deprivation was associated with a higher risk of SA (OR = 1.821, 95%CI = 1.075–3.085). And the income was not associated with the risk of sleep apnea (OR = 0.877, 95%CI = 0.682–1.129). In mental health exposure, major depressive disorder was associated with a higher risk of sleep apnea (OR = 1.196, 95%CI = 1.015–1.409), while attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia were not associated with the risk of sleep apnea (OR = 1.064, 95%CI = 0.958–1.181; OR = 1.030, 95%CI = 0.942–1.127; OR = 0.990, 95%CI = 0.957–1.025, respectively). Reverse MR analysis failed to find a causal effect from SA on mental health and socioeconomic status. Conclusions This MR investigation offers proof of a possible causal relationship between SA, socioeconomic level, and mental health.

Hydrogen is increasingly recognized as a clean and reliable energy vector for decarbonization in the future. In the marine sector, marine solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that employ hydrogen as an energy source have already been developed. In this study, a multi-channel plate-anode-loaded SOFC was taken as the research object. A three-dimensional steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for anode-supported SOFC was established, which is based on the mass conservation, energy conservation, momentum conservation, electrochemical reactions, and charge transport equations, including detailed geometric shapes, model boundary condition settings, and the numerical methods employed. The polarization curves calculated from the numerical simulation were compared with experimental results from the literature to verify the model’s accuracy. The curved model was applied by enlarging the flow channels or adding blocks. Numerical calculations were employed to obtain the current density, temperature distribution, and component concentration distribution under the operating conditions of the SOFC. Subsequently, the distribution patterns of various physical parameters during the SOFC operation were analyzed. Compared to the classical model, the temperature of the curved model was reduced by 1.3%, and the velocities of the cathode and anode were increased by 4.9% and 5.0%, respectively, with a 2.42% enhancement in performance. The findings of this study provide robust support for research into and the application of marine SOFCs, and offer they insights into how we may achieving “dual carbon” goals.

In this study, the thermoforming formability of continuous glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene (CGFRPP) laminates below the melting temperature were investigated. The forming limits of CGFRPP laminates were explored using flexural tests, Erichsen tests and deep drawing tests. The failure mechanism of CGFRPP in thermoforming was investigated by observing typical failure specimens using a microscope. The results show that the flexural performance and Erichsen performance are optimal at 130 °C and 2 mm/min. At 160 °C and 100 mm/min, the deep drawing performance is optimal. The restriction of fibers by the matrix is affected by the deformation temperature, and the creation of defects is affected by the deformation rate. During forming, the CGFRPP laminates undergo shear and extrusion deformations, resulting in wrinkles, delamination, and fiber aggregation.

BackgroundLong COVID is a major challenge facing the public. Gut microbiota is closely related to Long COVID. However, the causal effects between gut microbiota and Long COVID remains unclear.MethodsUsing summary statistics from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between gut microbiota and Long COVID. The primary statistical method employed was Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW). Sensitivity analyses were then conducted to evaluate the reliability of the findings and account for potential confounding variables. Finally, a reverse MR analysis was conducted to examine potential associations between Long COVID and genetically predicted gut microbiota compositions.ResultsThere were 2 positive and 1 negative causal effect between gut microbiota and Long COVID. Meta-analysis results show that genus Parasutterella (OR = 1.145, 95%CI = 1.035 ∼ 1.266, P = 0.008) and genus Oscillospira (OR = 1.425, 95%CI = 1.235 ∼ 1.645, P < 0.001) significantly increased the risk of Long COVID. And genus Eisenbergiella (OR = 0.861, 95%CI = 0.785 ∼ 0.943, P = 0.001) significantly decreased the risk of Long COVID. Neither the pleiotropy nor the heterogeneity was observed. Reverse causal effect does not hold.ConclusionOur research has provided genetic evidence that establishes multiple causal relationships between the gut microbiota and Long COVID, supporting the role of the gut microbiota in Long COVID. It is possible that different taxa play a role in the development of Long COVID. The causal relationships identified in this study require further investigation.

Thanks to the line-scanning camera, the measurement method based on line-scanning stereo vision has high optical accuracy, data transmission efficiency, and a wide field of vision. It is more suitable for continuous operation and high-speed transmission of industrial product detection sites. However, the one-dimensional imaging characteristics of the line-scanning camera cause motion distortion during image data acquisition, which directly affects the accuracy of detection. Effectively reducing the influence of motion distortion is the primary problem to ensure detection accuracy. To obtain the two-dimensional color image and three-dimensional contour data of the heavy rail surface at the same time, a binocular color line-scanning stereo vision system is designed to collect the heavy rail surface data combined with the bright field illumination of the symmetrical linear light source. Aiming at the image motion distortion caused by system installation error and collaborative acquisition frame rate mismatch, this paper uses the checkerboard target and two-step cubature Kalman filter algorithm to solve the nonlinear parameters in the motion distortion model, estimate the real motion, and correct the image information. The experiments show that the accuracy of the data contained in the image is improved by 57.3% after correction.

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: The cardiopulmonary function of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is significantly lower than that of patients with simple snoring and is significantly related to the severity of OSA. Currently, only a few studies have been conducted on cardiopulmonary exercise testing in overweight patients with OSA. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the correlation between cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) indices and the condition of overweight patients with OSA. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective study in Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. METHODS: This study included 73 hospitalized overweight patients. The patients were divided into no, mild, moderate, and severe OSA groups. Differences in the CPET indices among the four groups were compared. The correlation between the CPET indices and conditions was analyzed. RESULTS: No, mild, moderate, and severe OSA groups had 18 men and 5 women, 11 men and 3 women, 12 men and 2 women, and 21 men and 1 woman, respectively (P > 0.05). No significant difference was observed in resting pulmonary function among the four groups (P > 0.05). In the CPET, the anaerobic threshold, maximum oxygen uptake, and oxygen pulse were significantly lower in the severe OSA group than those in the normal OSA group (P < 0.05). Moreover, CPET indices negatively correlated with the apnea-hypopnea index. CONCLUSION: Changes in CPET indices occurred earlier than changes in resting pulmonary function in patients with OSA. CPET might be a potential method for evaluating the severity of OSA combined with overweight status.

Unsupervised person re-identification (Re-ID) aims to match the query image of a person with images in the gallery without the use of supervision labels. Most existing methods usually generate pseudo-labels through clustering algorithms for contrastive learning, which inevitably results in noisy labels assigned to samples. In addition, methods that only apply contrastive learning at the clustering level fail to fully consider instance-level relationships between instances. Motivated by this, we propose a joint contrastive learning (JCL) framework for unsupervised person Re-ID. Our proposed method involves creating two memory banks to store features of cluster centroids and instances and applies cluster and instance-level contrastive learning, respectively, to jointly optimize the neural networks. The cluster-level contrastive loss is used to promote feature compactness within the same cluster and reinforce identity similarity. The instance-level contrastive loss is used to distinguish easily confused samples. In addition, we use a WaveBlock attention module (WAM), which can continuously wave feature map blocks and introduce attention mechanisms to produce more robust feature representations of a person without considerable information loss. Furthermore, we enhance the quality of our clustering by leveraging camera label information to eliminate clusters containing single camera captures. Extensive experimental results on two widely used person Re-ID datasets verify the effectiveness of our JCL method. Meanwhile, we also used two remote sensing datasets to demonstrate the generalizability of our method.

This paper focuses predominantly on the multi-tasks carried out by the cooperative unmanned surface vehicle-unmanned aerial vehicle (USV-UAV) system in which the input quantization is considered. The proposed cooperative scheme consists of the asynchronous separate guidance and adaptive fuzzy quantized control algorithm. The proposed guidance law takes full advantage of subsystems whilst considering the maneuverability of these subsystems in order to achieve the goal of executing multi-tasks. In contrast to previous guidance laws, although the same waypoint path is planned, the calculation for guidance law proposed is based on speed rather than time, which in reality is more relevant. As for the controls, an adaptive fuzzy quantized controller was developed to reduce undue exertion on the actuator. By fusing the dynamic surface control (DSC) and fuzzy logic system (FLS), a hysteresis quantizer has been introduced to reduce the transmission load. By properly adjusting the quantization density, the number of quantizations was reduced whilst maintaining a favorable control performance. All of the stated variables are semi-global uniform ultimate bounded (SGUUB) and the stability of the USV-UAV system is proofed through the Lyapunov theorem. Finally, the advantages of the proposed scheme are evaluated by two simulative experiments, exhibiting the favorable tracking accuracy and reduced wear on the actuators.

BackgroundAnti-type 2 inflammation therapy has been proposed as a treatment strategy for eosinophil-associated chronic airway disorders that could reduce exacerbations and improve lung function. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to assess the effectiveness of type 2 monoclonal antibodies (anti-T2s) for eosinophil-associated chronic airway disorders.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched from their inception to 21 August 2022. Randomized clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of anti-T2s versus placebo in the treatment of chronic airway diseases were selected. The outcomes were exacerbation rate and change in pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) from baseline. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool 1.0 was used to evaluate the risk of bias, and the random-effects or fixed-effect model were used to pool the data.ResultsThirty-eight articles concerning forty-one randomized clinical trials with 17,115 patients were included. Compared with placebo, anti-T2s therapy yielded a significant reduction in exacerbation rate in COPD and asthma (Rate Ratio (RR)=0.89, 95%CI, 0.83-0.95, I2 = 29.4%; RR= 0.59, 95%CI, 0.52-0.68, I2 = 83.9%, respectively) and improvement in FEV1 in asthma (Standard Mean Difference (SMD)=0.09, 95%CI, 0.08-0.11, I2 = 42.6%). Anti-T2s therapy had no effect on FEV1 improvement in COPD (SMD=0.05, 95%CI, -0.01-0.10, I2 = 69.8%).ConclusionDespite inconsistent findings across trials, anti-T2s had a positive overall impact on patients’ exacerbation rate in asthma and COPD and FEV1 in asthma. Anti-T2s may be effective in treating chronic airway illnesses related to eosinophils.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42022362280.

Tooth surface friction has an important impact on the scoring，macro and micro pitting corrosion and transmission efficiency of meshing gear pairs. The research on the calculation and control method of tooth surface friction has significant engineering significance for the performance optimization and efficiency improvement of meshing gear pairs. It is precisely based on the important role of tooth surface friction that many scholars at home and abroad have conducted comprehensive studies on the calculation of friction coefficient and the influence of tooth surface friction on the contact damage and dynamic characteristics of meshing gear pairs. However，there is still no unified calculation method and design specification，there are still many technical research deficiencies，and it is still difficult to obtain reliable application in engineering. By summarizing relevant technical literatures at home and abroad，the current research status of tooth surface friction is expounded，the difficulties and hotspots in the research are sorted out， the development trend of tooth surface friction is predicted， and reference technical direction for further research on tooth surface friction is provided.

With the increasing requirements of power density，load capacity and service life of gear transmission for aviation，wind power and other equipment，gear contact fatigue failure has become an important bottleneck limiting the service performance and reliability of modern gear equipment，and the material microstructure characteristics determine the fatigue performance of gear and other service parts. Through the surveys of the current related research situation both at home and abroad，the main microstructure features of gear materials such as retained austenite，carbide，grain size and their influence on the contact fatigue performance of gears are introduced. The reported numerical simulations of gear contact fatigue based on microstructure modeling and micromechanics constitutive model are summarized to describe the microscopic mechanical behavior of in gear contact fatigue，and to improve the understanding of the key characteristics and mechanism of gear fatigue. The various contact fatigue failure forms of gears occurred in the engineering practice are expounded in detail，and the main factors affecting the contact fatigue failure of gears，the induced microstructure evolution and degradation of mechanical properties，as well as the potential mechanisms of the gear contact fatigue failure，are analyzed. This review aims to provide the further understanding of the relationship between microstructure evolution characteristics and mechanical property degradation during the service process of gears，as well as the internal mechanism of contact fatigue failure，and providing the reference for anti-fatigue design and manufacturing method of high-performance gears.

The addendum and root of involute gear are modified，and the modified gear and unmodified gear are placed on the contact fatigue tester for comparative test. The variation of micro pitting corrosion on the tooth surface is reflected by measuring the profile fluctuation deviation and the tooth surface morphology. The experimental results show that the size and area of micropitting corrosion of the modified gear are much smaller than those of the unmodified gear under the same number of cycles，the micropitting propagation rate of the modified gear is also much lower than that of the unmodified gear. When the gear fatigue failure occurs，the number of cycles of the profile modification gear is much higher than that of the unmodified gear. It can be concluded that the profile modification greatly improves the anti micropitting ability and contact fatigue property of the gear.

ObjectiveThis study aims to systematically evaluate the curative efficacy of different acupuncture methods in the treatment of obesity combined with insulin resistance in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) by network meta-analysis.MethodsFour Chinese databases (CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, and SinoMed) and four English databases (PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and www.clinicaltrial.gov) were electronically searched to identify qualified studies. Two reviewers independently screened the literature in accordance with the inclusion/exclusion criteria by EndNote 20 software and extracted data by ADDIS1.16.8 software, and then the risk of bias of the included studies were evaluated by the Cochrane tool. Network meta-analysis was performed by Stata 15.1 software. The primary outcomes included fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting serum insulin (FINS), homeostasis model assessment—insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and body mass index (BMI). The secondary outcomes included waistline, waist–hip ratio, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL).ResultsFive RCTs with a total of 410 patients with obesity combined with insulin resistance were included. The results of the network meta-analysis showed that, compared with the control group, three kinds of acupuncture methods (electropuncture, acupoint catgut embedding, and acupuncture point patch) had significant efficacy in reducing FBG [electropuncture (MD = -0.44, 95% CI: -0.83, -0.05) and acupoint catgut embedding (MD = -0.36, 95% CI: -0.51, -0.21)], FINS [electropuncture (MD = -6.17, 95% CI: -9.69, -2.65), acupoint catgut embedding (MD = -5.87, 95% CI: -6.92, -4.82), and acupuncture point patch (MD = -5.86, 95% CI: -11.40, -0.32)], HOMA-IR [electropuncture (MD = -1.59, 95% CI: -2.73, -0.45) and acupoint catgut embedding (MD =-0.91, 95% CI: -1.07, -0.75)], BMI [electropuncture (MD = -1.68, 95% CI: -2.70, -0.66), acupoint catgut embedding (MD = -3.39, 95% CI: -4.38, -2.40), and acupuncture point patch [MD = -2.90, 95%CI: -4.93, -0.87)], and waistline [electropuncture (MD = -5.49, 95% CI: -8.56, -2.42) and acupoint catgut embedding (MD = -4.91, 95% CI: -7.51, -2.31)] in obese patients with insulin resistance, suggesting that their efficacy was better than that of the western medicine group in some of the outcome indicators. For the index related to blood lipid, the efficacy of electropuncture was significantly better than behavioral therapy and western medicine. Except that acupoint catgut embedding was superior to electroacupuncture in reducing the BMI, there was no statistically significant difference in efficacy among the three acupuncture methods.ConclusionsThe results showed that the therapeutic effect of acupuncture methods was superior to conventional western treatment alone. Acupuncture methods could serve as an alternative or adjunctive treatment in obese patients with insulin resistance.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://inplasy.com, identifier 202280075.

Permeability sensitivity to stress experiments were conducted on standard core samples taken from Wen 23 Gas Storage at multi-cycle injection and production conditions of the gas storage to study the change pattern of stress sensitivity of permeability. A method for calculating permeability under overburden pressure in the multi-cycle injection and production process was proposed, and the effect of stress sensitivity of reservoir permeability on gas well injectivity and productivity in UGS was analyzed. Retention rate of permeability decreased sharply first and then slowly with the increase of the UGS cycles. The stress sensitivity index of permeability decreased with the increase of cycle number of net stress variations in the increase process of net stress. The stress sensitivity index of permeability hardly changed with the increase of cycle number of net stress variations in the decrease process of net stress. With the increase of cycle number of net stress variation, the stress sensitivity index of permeability in the increase process of net stress approached that in the decrease process of net stress. The lower the reservoir permeability, the greater the irreversible permeability loss rate, the stronger the cyclic stress sensitivity, and the higher the stress sensitivity index of the reservoir, the stronger the reservoir stress sensitivity. The gas zones with permeability lower than 0.3×10−3 μm2 are not suitable as gas storage regions. Stress sensitivity of reservoir permeability has strong impact on gas well injectivity and productivity and mainly in the first few cycles.

With the development of social economy, facing the challenge of depletion of fossil fuel energy, countries in the world have paid close attention to the development of new energy sources in recent years attention is being focused on power engines that use new renewable energy. The Stirling engine is such a power engine. Compared with traditional combustion engines, Stirling engine has the advantages of wide fuel sources, no knocking, high thermal efficiency, low noise, low operating costs, low gas pollution, and high economy. Then, the waste heat can be used to power the Stirling engine. This waste heat will be used in aviation, aerospace, land, ocean, and other fields. The study studied the changes in power and efficiency by changing the ratio according to the dynamic configuration of the Stirling engine and by changing the thermodynamic ratio of the engine. In addition, when installing the regenerator in the Stirling engine system, the changes in output and efficiency were also studied. The results show that the dynamic parameter α is increased, the engine efficiency decreases. When the temperature ratio β increased, the engine efficiency decreased. Then, the efficiency of the Stirling engine with a regenerator was found to be higher than that of the Stirling engine without the regenerator. The results focused on dynamic configuration of the Stirling engine to utilize new renewable energy. This work provides a reliable model and theoretical guidance for improving the FPSE’s performance.

In order to study the influence of lubrication conditions on the scuffing damage of gear under low speed and heavy load， the meshing of gear teeth is simulated by a pair of ring specimens in rolling and sliding contact， and the scuffing tests of 18CrNiMo7-6 carburized steel gear material under different lubrication conditions are carried out on MJP-30A rolling wear testing machine. The variation of friction coefficient among different tests and the surface morphology of the specimens after tests are analyzed. The results show that the contact stress of scuffing damage is 1 927 MPa under the dry friction condition， and the friction coefficient decreases with the increase of contact stress before scuffing damage occurs. Under the good lubrication， no scuffing occurs even when the contact stress is increased as high as 3 047 MPa， and the friction coefficient decreases with the increase of contact stress during the test. Under the condition of oil scarcity， the friction coefficient increases obviously with the increase of oil scarcity， and the scuffing damage occurs only when the friction coefficient almost increases to the level of dry friction coefficient. Therefore， in order to avoid the scuffing damage of the gear tooth surfaces in the operation under low speed and heavy load， the lubrication status should be taken as an important monitoring index of preventing the serious starvation of lubrication or dry friction contact from occurring in the meshing of tooth surfaces.

In view of the service characteristics of driving devices such as construction machinery， aerospace， rail transit and electric vehicle in the variable speed and variable torsion， the damage mechanism of thermal-scuffing failure for gear transmission is expounded， the multi factor coupling correlation relationship of thermal-scuffing is constructed， and the influences of transmission torque， gear speed， oil viscosity and oil temperature on the contact temperature for meshing tooth surfaces are analyzed， the corresponding design ideas to improve the thermal-scuffing load capacity is formed. At the same time， aiming at the combination of 18CrNiMo7-6 carburizing and quenching +ISO-VG 220 lubricating oil transmission gear， series of tests are carried out. The action weights of contact temperature and oil film thickness in thermal-scuffing analysis are determined. The value of failure boundary temperature for thermal-scuffing is also measured， the basis data for accurate evaluation on the gear thermal-scuffing bearing capacity in variable speed and variable torque in engineering application can be provided.

The existing models for calculating the water breakthrough time of gas wells in gas reservoirs with edge water ignore the effects of reservoir's interlayer heterogeneity, so their calculation results are more deviated from the actual water breakthrough time of gas wells. As a result, they cannot accurately and effectively guide the adjustment of gas well production system and the formulation of technical water control measures. In this paper, a water-flooding seepage experiment of parallel core was conducted by taking the gas reservoir with edge water of Lower Triassic Feixianguan Formation in the Puguang Gas Field of the Sichuan Basin as an example. Then, the effects of edge water inrush caused by the interlayer heterogeneity of reservoir on water breakthrough time of gas wells was analyzed by means of reservoir numerical simulation. Based on this, the inrush coefficient was introduced to characterize the interlayer heterogeneity of reservoir, and a model for calculating the water breakthrough time of gas wells in the commingled gas reservoir with edge water considering the influence of interlayer heterogeneity was established. Finally, five wells in the gas reservoir of Feixianguan Formation in the Puguang Gas Field were selected for case calculation. And the following research results were obtained. First, the interlayer heterogeneity of gas reservoir results in edge water burst. And the stronger the interlayer heterogeneity, the more severe the edge water coning and the sooner the water breakthrough. The water breakthrough time of gas wells depends on the water breakthrough time in the reservoir with the highest permeability. Second, a model for calculating the water breakthrough time of gas wells in the gas reservoirs with edge water considering the influence of reservoir interlayer heterogeneity is established based on the seepage theory. And the relative errors of its calculation results are in the range of −3.43–4.70%, which can satisfy the accuracy requirement of engineering errors. In conclusion, this newly established model can provide an effective method for accurately calculating the water breakthrough time of the gas well in the commingled gas reservoir with edge water. Furthermore, it is conducive to the adjustment of the production system of gas wells in the gas reservoir with edge water and the formulation of technical water control measures.

Background: Fc gamma receptor 3A (FCGR3A) encodes a receptor for the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G, which plays a significant role in the immune response. However, the role of FCGR3A in cancers remains unclear. This study aimed to visualize the prognostic landscape of FCGR3A in pan-cancer and investigate the relationship between FCGR3A expression and tumor microenvironment.Method: Based on the TCGA database, GTEx database, and GDSC database, we analyzed the expression of FCGR3A in pan-cancers and adjacent normal tissues and its relationship with prognosis, immune cells infiltration, immune-related genes, DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, DNA methylation, and drugs sensitivity. The gene alteration frequency of FCGR3A was acquired on the cBioportal website. Moreover, we constructed PPI networks, performed GO and KEGG analysis to illustrate the function, and signaling pathways of FCGR3A-related genes, and conducted gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of FCGR3A to further explore its potential biological functions.Result: The differential analysis results of the publicly available databases showed that FCGR3A was generally highly expressed in pan-cancer. Survival analysis revealed that FCGR3A predominated as a risk prognostic factor in most cancers. Additionally, the expression of FCGR3A was confirmed to be associated with several immune cells infiltration, multiple immune checkpoint genes, and DNA mismatch repair genes expression in generalized carcinoma. We also identified a negative correlation between FCGR3A and DNA methylation levels. Through GO/KEGG and GESA, we found that FCGR3A was involved in many pathologic and physiological processes, and was most closely related to tumor immune-related pathways. Drug sensitivity analysis showed that higher FCGR3A expression predicts a low IC50 value for the vast majority of drugs.Conclusions: FCGR3A may be an immune-oncogenic molecule that correlates with tumor immune infiltration levels and affects drug sensitivity, thus it can be served as a promising biomarker for cancer detection, prognosis, therapeutic design, and follow-up.

Diabetes and its related metabolic disorders have been reported as the leading comorbidities in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This clinical study aims to investigate the clinical features, radiographic and laboratory tests, complications, treatments, and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients with or without diabetes. This retrospective study included 208 hospitalized patients (≥ 45 years old) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 during the period between 12 January and 25 March 2020. Information from the medical record, including clinical features, radiographic and laboratory tests, complications, treatments, and clinical outcomes, were extracted for the analysis. 96 (46.2%) patients had comorbidity with type 2 diabetes. In COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes, the coexistence of hypertension (58.3% vs 31.2%), coronary heart disease (17.1% vs 8.0%), and chronic kidney diseases (6.2% vs 0%) was significantly higher than in COVID-19 patients without type 2 diabetes. The frequency and degree of abnormalities in computed tomography (CT) chest scans in COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes were markedly increased, including ground-glass opacity (85.6% vs 64.9%, P

The existence of nonmetallic inclusions in gear materials can significantly reduce the contact fatigue strength of gears， and the research on the related mechanism can provide important guidance for the control of production quality and service evaluation. A finite element contact analysis model of gear pair with randomly distributed inclusions is established. Based on Brown-Miller multiaxial fatigue criterion， the influence of inclusion distribution characteristics on contact fatigue performance of gears is studied. The R-S-N curves of gear contact fatigue under three different reliability levels are predicted. The results show that， the presence of inclusions in the subsurface， especially the aggregation of inclusions， the considerable stress concentration will occur and the contact fatigue life will be significantly reduced. The minimum fatigue life depth is mainly in the range of 0.35bH to 0.75bH， and the statistical distribution is the most consistent with the logarithmic normal function， followed by the three parameter Weibull distribution function. The contact fatigue life conforms to the three parameter Weibull distribution better.

Past research indicates that childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) undermines the quality of adult romantic relationships by fostering negative characteristics in survivors. Two longitudinal studies investigated the hypothesis that decreased compassionate goals toward partners over time explain the association between CEM and declining relationship quality. In Study 1, CEM predicted decreased compassionate goals over time, which in turn predicted decreased relationship quality in individuals in romantic relationships. Study 2 replicated this effect in romantically involved couples and showed that partners’ high compassionate goals attenuated the decline in compassionate goals associated with reported CEM. These results point to the importance of examining how CEM may affect positive relationship processes and the protective roles of partners’ compassionate goals.

The utilization of heterosis is a successful strategy in increasing yield for many crops. However, it consumes tremendous manpower to test the combining ability of the parents in fields. Here, we applied the genomic-selection (GS) strategy and developed models that significantly increase the predictability of heterosis by introducing the concept of a regional parental genetic-similarity index (PGSI) and reducing dimension in the calculation matrix in a machine-learning approach. Overall, PGSI negatively affected grain yield and several other traits but positively influenced the thousand-seed weight of the hybrids. It was found that the C subgenome of rapeseed had a greater impact on heterosis than the A subgenome. We drew maps with overviews of quantitative-trait loci that were responsible for the heterosis (h-QTLs) of various agronomic traits. Identifications and annotations of genes underlying high impacting h-QTLs were provided. Using models that we elaborated, combining abilities between an Ogu-CMS-pool member and a potential restorer can be simulated in silico, sidestepping laborious work, such as testing crosses in fields. The achievements here provide a case of heterosis prediction in polyploid genomes with relatively large genome sizes.

To adapt to complex navigation conditions, this paper addresses the coordination formation of autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) with the constraint of information interruption. For this purpose, a distributed robust fast finite-time formation control algorithm is proposed by fusion of the directed graph and neural network method. In the strategy, the graph theory is utilized for the channel of information transmission to maintain the stability of the formation system. In addition, the radial basic function (RBF) neural network is employed to approximate the structure uncertainty. Due to the merits of the robust neural damping technique, only two adaptive parameters are designed to compensate the perturbation from the model uncertainty and external environmental. Furthermore, an improved dynamic surface control (DSC) technology is developed for constituting the exponential term of the Lyapunov function. It is proven that the proposed scheme is able to achieve consensus tracking in finite time quickly, and the errors rapidly approach a small region around the origin. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the algorithm are verified by two numerical simulations.

Corynebacterium striatum has developed into a new community-acquired and hospital-acquired multi-drug resistance (MDR) bacterium, and is a potential target pathogen for infection control and antibacterial management projects. In this study, non-duplicate samples of inpatients were collected from a local central hospital. Mass spectrometry showed that 54 C. striatum isolates mainly appeared in secretion and sputum from 14 departments. Protein fingerprint cluster analysis showed that the isolates were divided into four groups, most of which appeared in summer. The drug resistance test showed that all strains had multi-drug resistance, with high resistance rates to lincosamides, quinolones and tetracycline detected. Further analysis of the phylogenetic tree of C. striatum was conducted by cloning the 16S rRNA gene. It was found that isolates in the same department had high homology and tended to be located in the same branch or to be crossed in the same main branch. The strains in the same evolutionary branch group had the same drug resistance. Screening of site-specific recombinant elements revealed that 18 strains had integrase genes with the same sequence. This study shows that there may be mobile genetic elements in clinical isolates that drive gene exchange among strains, thus causing the cross-infection, spread and evolution of pathogenic bacteria in the hospital.

Abstract Establishment of productivity equation is an important premise for rational and efficient development of low-permeability condensate gas reservoir and accurate analysis of production performance. Based on two-phase seepage mechanism of gas and condensate oil in formation, the productivity equation is established considering threshold pressure, stress sensitivity, slippage effect, retrograde condensate effect and high-velocity non-Darcy effect. The integrals of pseudo-pressure, turbulence factor and pseudo-threshold pressure are calculated with numerical method to resolve the productivity equation. Example calculation results indicate that with the decrease in bottom hole pressure, the increase in condensate gas well production rate is near linear first and then the increase is getting slower and slower. Slippage effect increases apparent permeability and condensate gas well productivity. Retrograde condensate effect, stress sensitivity and threshold pressure decrease apparent permeability and condensate gas well productivity. Based on orthogonal experiment design, the sensitive parameters influencing the productivity of low-permeability condensate gas well are analyzed. Various factors have different influence degrees on gas well productivity in different ranges of bottom hole pressure. Research results lay a theoretical foundation for taking measures to improve gas well productivity in the gas field.

Pollination success is essential for hybrid oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus) seed production, and the pollination method has some influences on the OSR plant growth traits. In order to explore the roles of different pollination methods, four pollination methods of “unmanned agricultural aerial system” (UAAS), “natural wind + UAAS” (NW+UAAS), “honeybee” (HB), and “no pollinators” (NP) were set in a hybrid OSR field to investigate their effects on OSR plant traits and rapeseed yields in this study. The control check (CK) area with natural wind (NW) pollination was set as a reference for comparison. The experiments were conducted continuously for 20 days during the OSR plant early to full-bloom stage. The results based on the evaluated OSR plants showed that the growth traits and the rapeseed yields exhibited some differences under different pollination methods. The average plant height under NP pollination was maximum, which was 231.52 cm, while the average plant heights under the other pollination methods exhibited nearly no difference. Except for the HB pollination, the average first-branch heights of the evaluated plants all exceeded 100 cm under the other pollination methods. The average once branch quantity of all the evaluated plants under different pollination methods was 5–7. The average number of effective siliques per plant varied greatly. The average quantity of effective siliques in each OSR plant was about 160 under UAAS, NW+UAAS, and NW pollination, about 100 under HB pollination, and only 2.12 under NP pollination. The thousand-rapeseed weight was 7.32 g under HB pollination, which was the highest of all of the pollination areas. In terms of rapeseed yield, the average rapeseed yields per plant were all more than 10 g, except for the one under NP pollination; the yield per hectare was highest under NW+UAAS pollination, reaching 4741.28 kg, and the yield under NP pollination was lowest, which was only 360.39 kg. The research results provide technical support for supplementary pollination in hybrid OSR seed production.

Background: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) hold huge potential for both clinical applications and basic research into the management of cancer, but the relationship between CTC count and cervical cancer prognosis remains unclear. Therefore, research on this topic is urgently required. Objective: This study investigated whether CTCs were detectable in patients with cervical cancer and whether CTC count was an indicator of prognosis. Methods: We enrolled 107 patients with pathologically confirmed cervical cancer. CTCs were detected after radiotherapy or concurrent cisplatin-containing chemotherapy in all patients. We evaluated all medical records and imaging data as well as follow-up information to calculate progression-free survival (PFS). PFS was defined as the time until first diagnosis of tumor progression or death. We also analyzed the relationship between CTC count and patient age, disease stage, histological differentiation, tumor size, and pathological type. Results: CTCs were identified in 86 of 107 patients (80%), and the CTC count ranged from 0 to 27 cells in 3.2 mL blood. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 43.1 months. Patients in which CTCs were detected had a significantly shorter PFS than CTC-negative patients (P = 0.018). Multivariate analysis indicated that CTC count was an independent negative prognostic factor for survival. However, no correlation was observed between CTC count and patient age, disease stage, histological differentiation, tumor size, and pathological type. Conclusion: CTC count is an independent negative prognostic factor for cervical cancer.

Around the cooperative path-following control for the underactuated surface vessel (USV) and the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a logic virtual ship-logic virtual aircraft (LVS-LVA) guidance principle is developed to generate the reference heading signals for the USV-UAV system by using the “virtual ship” and the “virtual aircraft”, which is critical to establish an effective correlation between the USV and the UAV. Taking the steerable variables (the main engine speed and the rudder angle of the USV, and the rotor angular velocities of the UAV) as the control input, a robust adaptive neural cooperative control algorithm was designed by employing the dynamic surface control (DSC), radial basic function neural networks (RBF-NNs) and the event-triggered technique. In the proposed algorithm, the reference roll angle and pitch angle for the UAV can be calculated from the position control loop by virtue of the nonlinear decouple technique. In addition, the system uncertainties were approximated through the RBF-NNs and the transmission burden from the controller to the actuators was reduced for merits of the event-triggered technique. Thus, the derived control law is superior in terms of the concise form, low transmission burden and robustness. Furthermore, the tracking errors of the USV-UAV cooperative control system can converge to a small compact set through adjusting the designed control parameters appropriately, and it can be also guaranteed that all the signals are the semi-global uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been verified via numerical simulations in the presence of the time-varying disturbances.

The production process in the gas reservoir with an aquifer is complex. With gas production, aquifer water could possibly flow into the production well and accumulate within the well bore, which leads to a lower production rate and may even block the producer. However, few studies in the literature investigate the damage caused by the liquid phase in this kind of reservoir or predict gas productivity using the relationship between reservoir pressure and water gas ratio (WGR). For this reason, it is important to know the effects of the formation of liquid phase behavior on production when an aquifer is present under a gas reservoir.From the results of published literature reviews, we found that studies focused on the production of a gas reservoir with bottom water. Nevertheless, for gas well damage from the liquid phase behavior, we found that there was no statistical data or mathematical model of the relationship between reservoir pressure and the gas oil ratio (GOR), which affects production.In this research, based on the theory of fluid flow in porous media, a new mathematical model of water and gas production and a new equation on gas well productivity is developed. To verify the model and equation, gas production data collected from the field are applied. By analyzing the typical gas reservoir with bottom water and the collected data, influences from the liquid phase behavior are shown. In this way, mathematical relationships between reservoir pressure and the WGR and between the GOR and production decline were obtained. The new gas productivity model is derived from the gas and water pseudo pressure functions, which can be applied to analyze well damage caused by the liquid phase.In order to verify the mathematical model, production data were collected from a typical gas reservoir with an aquifer located in the Changxing gas reservoir. The results indicate that a semi-logarithmic linear relationship is obtained between the WGR and productivity decrease. When the WGR increases from 0.5 to 15 m3/104 m3, damage caused by liquid phase decreases to 59%.The tendency of gas productivity in the Changxing gas reservoir was obtained so that it decreases as reservoir pressure decreases and increases as the WGR decreases. The gradient of the gas productivity deduction increases as the WGR increases. By the end of the data analysis, two linear equations indicating the relationship between gas productivity and reservoir pressure and the relationship between gas productivity and the water gas ratio are obtained: QAOF=−A1lnWGR−B1 and QAOF=A2lnP−B2, respectively.The new model and these two equations can be applied to predict gas productivity in the gas reservoir with an aquifer and determine the damage level to the gas well. They also can be used to guide development plans in the gas reservoir with an aquifer. Keywords: Mathematical model, Liquid phase, Well productivity, Gas reservoir with an aquifer

Abstract Background Chemokines and their cognate receptors play important role in the control of leukocyte chemotaxis, HIV entry and other inflammatory diseases. Developing an effcient method to investigate the functional expression of chemokines and its interactions with specific receptors will be helpful to asses the structural and functional characteristics as well as the design of new approach to therapeutic intervention. Results By making systematic optimization study of expression conditions, soluble and functional production of chemokine C-C motif ligand 8 (CCL8) in Escherichia coli (E. coli) has been achieved with approx. 1.5 mg protein/l culture. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) analysis exhibited that the purified CCL8 could bind with C-C chemokine receptor type 3 (CCR3) with dissociation equilibrium constant (K D) as 1.2 × 10−7 M in vitro. Obvious internalization of CCR3 in vivo could be detected in 1 h when exposed to 100 nM of CCL8. Compared with chemokine C-C motif ligand 11 (CCL11) and chemokine C-C motif ligand 24 (CCL24), a weaker chemotactic effect of CCR3 expressing cells was observed when induced by CCL8 with same concentration. Conclusion This study delivers a simple and applicable way to produce functional chemokines in E. coli. The results clearly confirms that CCL8 can interact with chemokine receptor CCR3, therefore, it is promising area to develop drugs for the treatment of related diseases.

Pollination success is essential for hybrid oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus) seed production, but traditional pollination methods are not efficient. The unmanned agricultural aerial system (UAAS) has developed rapidly and has been widely used in China. When flying, the wind field generated by the rotors overcomes the UAAS gravity, and it blows and disturbs the crops below, which helps the pollen spread. In order to investigate the distribution law of the three-dimensional (direction x, y, z) airflow field, experiments involving three levels of flight speed (FS) at 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 m/s, and three levels of flight height (FH) at 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 m were conducted in the OSR field by using an electric four-rotor UAAS P20. The effects of FS and FH on airflow velocities (vx, vy, vz) were analyzed. High-speed dynamic camera (HSDC) technology was used to capture the swings of OSR plants under airflow field disturbance. OSR pollen samples were collected during the experiments. The results showed that the airflow field in the direction x was mainly concentrated on the center of the flight path (S3), and the maximum wind velocity of direction x was 8.01 m/s (T1, S3). The direction x airflow field width was distributed almost symmetrically, but the center position shifted easily, due to crosswind. The airflow field in the direction y was distributed on both sides of the center flight path, and the velocity was generally larger, with the maximum at 7.91 m/s (T1, S2). The airflow field in the direction z was distributed irregularly, and the velocity was small. The FH had highly significant impacts on vx (p < 0.01), and the interaction of FS and FH had significant impacts on vx (0.01 < p < 0.05), while the FS had no significant impact on vx (p = 0.70804 > 0.05). The FS, FH, and interaction of FS and FH all had highly significant impacts on vy (p < 0.01). The swings of the OSR plant captured by the HSDC proved that the UAAS airflow field could effectively blow the OSR plant. The swing amplitude changes showed a positive correlation with airflow velocities (vx) in general. Although the observed OSR plant swung forward and backward repeatedly, there was a law of first forward, and then backward, and forward again at the beginning of each swing. The pollen collected on the sampler verified that the UAAS airflow field could help with pollen spread. The research results provide technical support for UAAS application on supplementary pollination for hybrid OSR seed production.

After synthesis of transmembrane proteins (TMPs), they are transferred and inserted into plasma membranes to play biological functions. Crucially, orientation of TMPs in membranes determines whether they have biological activities. In cellular environments, a number of cofactors, such as translocon, can assist TMPs to be inserted into membranes in defined orientations. During in vitro reconstitution of TMPs with mimic membranes, both insertion and orientation of TMPs are primarily determined by interactions with the membrane. Yet the knowledge is limited, hindering the in vitro applications of TMPs. Here, we take Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) as a model TMP, using fluorescence quenching titration experiment to identify orientation of bR in mimic membranes, examining effects of a number of factors, including lipid composition, pH value, ionic strength and membrane curvature. The most effective determinant is the lipid type, which modulates insertion and orientation of bR in membranes by changing the membrane surface charge and the membrane fluidity. Both the pH value and the ionic strength play secondary roles by tuning the nature of the electrostatic interaction. The membrane curvature was found to have a minor effect on orientation of bR in membranes. By comparing orientations of bR in folded and unfolded states, no obvious change was observed, informing that nascent proteins could be inserted into membranes in defined orientations before folding into the native state inside the membrane.