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The blood clam (Tegillarca granosa) is an economically important marine shellfish in the southeast coastal area of China. In T. granosa breeding practice, growth-related traits are most important phenotypic selection index. In order to increase the breeding efficiency, we used a previously published genetic linkage map of T. granosa to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for growth-related traits in a single full sibling F1 family. Eight growth-related traits including shell length (SL), shell height (SH), shell width (SW), shell weight (Swi), shell umbo width (SUW), as well as outer ligament length (OLL), meat weight (MW) and total weight (TW) of T. granosa were measured for QTL mapping. The estimated phenotypic correlations between any 2 of the 8 growth-related traits were significant (P < 0.001). Twenty-nine QTL were identified for growth-related traits, including 13 QTL with the phenotypic variance of 4.20-15.63% in the female map and 16 QTL of 3.99%-14.58% in the male map. Thirteen amplification fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were validated to closely link to seven QTL except the shell height. This is the first report of QTL mapping on growth-related traits in T. granosa. These QTL and their tightly linked markers present the initial step towards the goal of marker-assisted selection in T. granosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling the flow of light is fundamental for on-chip optical signal processing. In this paper, we investigate how to realize high contrast, high unidirectional transmission rate, and reconfigurable nonreciprocal light transmission, based on a nonlinear nanocavity asymmetrically side-coupled with a specially designed slow-light waveguide. We analytically and numerically demonstrate that the unusual multiple threshold pump power points for trigging the photon transitions between bistable states, as well as the sensitivity of the dynamic interactions to the relative delay time between the signal light and pump pulse, play crucial roles in this optical diode system. Based on these findings, a high contrast (over 22 dB) and high unidirectional transmission rate (over 70%) optical diode is achieved. More importantly, the conducting direction of the optical diode can be controllably reversed, without the need of changing the signal's wavelength or power as usually done. This approach is promising in the fields of optical information processing and quantum computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of artificial intelligence technology, especially the emergence of deep learning, has promoted new developments of agriculture, and is regarded as a new direction of modern agricultural production. Deep learning has the advantages of strong learning ability, wide coverage, strong adaptability, and great portability. Considering that its development of simulated datasets can solve real-world problems, it is more and more widely used in monitoring, forecasting and risk assessment of agricultural drought. This paper used the method of literature review to summarize the development and application of monitoring, forecasting and risk assessment of agricultural drought, and summarized the principles, advantages and disadvantages of the deep learning model. The practical applications of depth learning model in monitoring, prediction and risk assessment of agricultural drought were systematically summarized. The existing problems of large dataset requirements, long data preprocessing time, narrow predefined category range, and complex remote sensing images were discussed, and the future research directions were prospected. The results showed that in recent years, the technologies of monitoring, prediction and risk assessment of agricultural drought had made important progress. However, due to the nonlinearity of agricultural system and the complexity of disasters, existing technologies were still difficult to meet the needs of actual agricultural production in the new situation in terms of applicable regions, objects and accuracies. The deep learning technology provided a new means for agricultural drought research. However, the deep learning model could not accurately express the specific process and mechanism of crop growth, so coupling of crop growth model with deep learning model could ensure the interpretability of deep learning model. For correcting the prediction sequence, coupling models based on general circulation model and depth learning model could be established to further improve the prediction ability of deep learning model for medium and long-term agricultural drought. Aiming at the problem of limited disaster sample size, strengthening the research on agricultural drought monitoring and evaluation based on migration learning could further improve the precisions in fine monitoring and evaluation of agricultural drought. In view of the fact that the factors affecting agricultural drought formation was characterized by large amount of data, diverse types and nonlinearity, the method of combining deep learning and information fusion was adopted to further improve the accuracies in regional monitoring, prediction and risk assessment of agricultural drought. Therefore, the coupling of deep learning models and crop growth models, agricultural drought prediction by integrating deep learning models and general circulation models, fine monitoring and evaluation of agricultural drought based on deep learning and migration learning, regional monitoring, prediction and risk assessment of agricultural drought based on deep learning and information fusion were considered as the development trends of applicating deep learning technologies in monitoring, prediction and risk assessment of agricultural drought in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate their compliance with postoperative oral nutritional supplementation and nutritional outcomes. Methods: A total of 84 patients with colorectal cancer surgery with NRS-2002 risk score ≥ 3 who were treated with oral nutritional supplementation were selected and divided into control and observation groups according to the random number table method, with 42 cases in each group. The control group received conventional oral nutritional supplementation and dietary nutrition education; the observation group established a nutrition intervention group based on the Goal Attainment Theory and carried out individualized nutrition education based on the Goal Attainment Theory. The nutritional indicators at 1 day postoperative, 7 days postoperative, oral nutritional supplementation adherence scores at 7 and 14 days postoperative, and the attainment rate of trans-oral nutritional intake at 21 days postoperative were compared between the 2 groups of patients. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the nutritional status indexes of the 2 groups of patients before the intervention, p > 0.05; when comparing the prealbumin of the 2 groups of patients at 7 days postoperatively, the prealbumin level of the patients in the observation group at 7 days postoperatively (200.25 ± 53.25) was better than that of the control group (165.73 ± 43.00), with a p value of 0.002, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Comparison of oral nutritional supplementation adherence scores at 7 and 14 days postoperatively showed that ONS treatment adherence scores were better than those of the control group, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). When comparing the attainment rate of oral nutritional intake at 21 days after surgery, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Nutritional education based on the Goal Attainment Theory can effectively improve the adherence to oral nutritional supplementation therapy and protein intake attainment rate of colorectal cancer patients after surgery and effectively improve the nutritional status of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to alleviate the increasingly serious traffic congestion problem in China, realize intelligent traffic control, and provide accurate and real-time traffic flow prediction data for traffic flow guidance and traffic travel, this paper designs a GPS-based vehicle trajectory fusion optimization deep model BN-LSTM-CNN which makes full use of the temporal and spatial correlation characteristics of dynamic traffic flow to improve the accuracy of short-term traffic flow prediction. The parameters of the historical GPS dynamic trajectory of the traffic network link are converted into a two-dimensional matrix image of time and space relationship. First, the spatial features are input to the CNN network, and the spatial dependence relationship between the links is mined, then the traffic flow time series modeling is performed with a four-layer ConvLSTM network, and the BN normalization layer is added to normalize the activation value of the previous layer on each batch, so that the model can obtain higher training accuracy and quickly complete the prediction of the traffic flow state in a certain period of time in the future. The experimental results show that the prediction model is fast to optimize, the prediction error is the smallest compared with other methods, and it can meet the real-time requirements of urban traffic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a cause of stroke and dementia. Retinal capillary microvessels revealed by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) are developmentally related to brain microvessels. We quantified retinal vessel density (VD) and branching complexity, investigating relationships with SVD lesions, white matter integrity on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to CO2 in patients with minor stroke. We enrolled 123 patients (mean age 68.1 ± SD 9.9 years), 115 contributed retinal data. Right (R) and left (L) eyes are reported. After adjusting for age, eye disease, diabetes, blood pressure and image quality, lower VD remained associated with higher mean diffusivity (MD) (standardized β; R −0.16 [95%CI −0.32 to −0.01]) and lower CVR (L 0.17 [0.03 to 0.31] and R 0.19 [0.02 to 0.36]) in normal appearing white matter (NAWM). Sparser branching remained associated with sub-visible white matter damage shown by higher MD (R −0.24 [−0.08 to −0.40]), lower fractional anisotropy (FA) (L 0.17 [0.01 to 0.33]), and lower CVR (R 0.20 [0.02 to 0.38]) in NAWM. OCTA-derived metrics provide evidence of microvessel abnormalities that may underpin SVD lesions in the brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been found to be effective in neutralizing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) due to their cationic characteristics. LHH1 and LGH2 are two AMPs that we previously identified from the genome of Lactobacillus casei HZ1, which is originated from Chinese traditional fermented milk. In present study, the anti-inflammatory capacity of the two AMPs was investigated via a LPS-induced RAW264.7 macrophages inflammation model. Cell viability assay results showed that the AMPs showed a lower cytotoxicity on RAW264.7 cells at a concentration of lower than 32 μM. Compared to LGH2, LHH1 exhibited a good anti-inflammatory effect with a markedly declined release of nitric oxide (NO) from RAW264.7 cells. What’s more, LHH1 could effectively decrease the secretion of pro-inflammatory TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β. ITC data depicted that LHH1 could interact with LPS in an exothermic reaction. These data confirmed the efficacy of LHH1 from Lactobacillus casei HZ1 in exerting anti-inflammatory activity, which provided a novel AMP candidate in treating inflammation-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Water pipeline condition monitoring, especially that of potable water pipeline, has attracted more research interest due to the increasing public concern in pipeline serviceability. This study focuses on the condition monitoring and temporal‐spatial assessment of potable‐water‐filled composite pipeline by using a network of specially designed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. In responding to the challenges imposed by the operational environment in the pipeline, the sensory network development is guided by application‐specific design with three phases, including suitable sensor development, applicability validation, and implementation. A 200‐m‐long buried fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) pipeline for conveying potable water is instrumented and the in‐service pipeline has been monitored mainly by the properly designed and fixed strain sensors for nearly 2 years, forming a database with its data acquired in different conditions. Furthermore, targeting at the difficulty in the online anomaly identification of longitudinally extended structure, this study proposes a temporal‐spatial condition assessment scheme for identifying the anomalous time slots and locations of pipeline. This scheme consists of an offline modeling and validation process taking advantages of random forest (RF) algorithm for serviceability‐state classification, an online temporal‐spatial assessment process featured by a two‐stage assessment strategy which employs the temporal and then the spatial RF offline models for online state identification, and a reporting mechanism based on the analysis of anomaly types. The performance of the proposed state assessment scheme is examined by using the database, and its effectiveness is demonstrated by the high accordance between the identified results and the real conditions of the pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the effect of doxycycline on vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation and the potential mechanism in human pterygium fibroblasts in order to find novel targets for pterygium therapy. First, we demonstrate the existence of VM in 73 pterygium specimens by CD31 and periodic acid Schiff (PAS) dual staining. Then we used cell counting kit-8, clone formation assay and flow cytometry to prove the inhibitory effect of doxycycline on cell proliferation and apoptosis. The VM formation was evaluated through wound healing assay, cell transwell assay and three-dimensional cell culture combined with PAS staining. Finally, we used Western blot to testify the correlation of the VM and the factors in protein level preliminarily. Our results showed that VM existed in human pterygium specimens exactly. Otherwise, in human pterygium fibroblasts, doxycycline induced a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis induction. Besides, doxycycline significantly suppressed vasculogenic mimicry tube formation, cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, doxycycline impaired the expression of MMP-9, MMP-2 and VEGF which may related to pterygium VM formation. Doxycycline decelerated pterygium progression might be through inhibiting VM formation according to the downregulation of MMP-9, MMP-2 and VEGF, which may provide the basis of further studies involving doxycycline for pterygium treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strapdown seeker with limited field-of-view (FOV) can simplify and decrease cost of the guidance system for a munition. However, the inherent defect of the strapdown seeker is that it could not provide the necessary line-of-sight (LOS) angular information for typical guidance application. This paper proposed an optimal look-angle guidance law (OLAGL) which directly utilized seeker angle information and satisfies the constraints of FOV and terminal impact angle. The coefficient determination, effects of switching threshold, and gains for the guidance law are analyzed and detailed. The simulation results compared with typical trajectory shaping guidance for a ground target show that the presented guidance law can satisfy the impact angle constraint under the limitation of FOV and provide a well engineering reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Triacylglycerols are the major component of intramuscular fat, and the final step in their biosynthesis is catalyzed by DGAT2. Bovine skeletal muscle satellite cells were infected with the overexpression adenovirus Ad-DGAT2 and interfering adenovirus sh-DGAT2. The results showed that overexpression of DGAT2 upregulated the expression of genes involved in lipid accumulation and adipogenesis and increased cellular triacylglycerol content. The differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in the PPAR signaling, glycerolipid metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and AMPK signaling pathways. These results highlight the important regulatory role of DGAT2 during adipogenic transdifferentiation of BSCs and the complexity of intramuscular adipogenesis, as well as providing a theoretical basis for producing high marbling content beef. Intramuscular fat (IMF) is closely related to the tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of beef, and is an important indicator for beef quality assessment internationally. The main components of skeletal intramuscular fat (IMF) are phospholipids and triacylglycerols (TAG), and the final step of TAG biosynthesis is catalyzed by diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2). To explore the effect of DGAT2 on the differentiation of bovine muscle satellite cells (BSCs) and its role in the signaling pathway related to lipid metabolism, the adenovirus overexpression and interference vector of the DGAT2 gene was constructed in this study, and the overexpression adenovirus Ad-DGAT2 and interfering adenovirus sh-DGAT2 were used to infect BSCs. Overexpression of DGAT2 resulted in a significant increase in the contents of TAG and ADP, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of PPARγ, C/EBPα, and SREBF1 (p < 0.05). Interfering with the expression of DGAT2 reduced the intracellular TAG content and lipid droplet accumulation. Furthermore, the mRNA and protein expression levels of PPARγ, C/EBPα, and SREBF1 (p < 0.05) were significantly downregulated. Transcriptome sequencing showed that a total of 598 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened in BSCs infected with Ad-DGAT2, and these DEGs included 292 upregulated genes and 306 downregulated genes. A total of 49 DEGs were screened in BSCs infected with sh-DGAT2, and these DEGs included 25 upregulated and 24 downregulated genes. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs, after overexpression of DGAT2, were mainly enriched in the PPAR signaling pathway, and the fat digestion and absorption, glycerophospholipid metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and AMPK signaling pathways. The DEGs obtained after interfering with DGAT2 were mainly enriched in the metabolic pathways, such as the PPAR signaling pathway and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. In summary, our study demonstrated that the lipid droplet formation, TAG accumulation, and adipogenic gene expression in BSCs overexpressing DGAT2 were higher than those in the control cells. These results highlight the important role of DGAT2 in regulating BSCs during adipogenic transdifferentiation and underscore the complexity of intramuscular adipogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative DNA damage contributes to aging and the pathogenesis of numerous human diseases including cancer. 8-hydroxyguanine (8-oxoG) is the major product of oxidative DNA lesions. Although OGG1-mediated base excision repair is the primary mechanism for 8-oxoG removal, DNA mismatch repair has also been implicated in processing oxidative DNA damage. However, the mechanism of the latter is not fully understood. Here, we treated human cells defective in various 8-oxoG repair factors with H2O2 and performed biochemical, live cell imaging, and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing analyses to determine their response to the treatment. We show that the mismatch repair processing of oxidative DNA damage involves cohesive interactions between mismatch recognition protein MutSa, histone mark H3K36me3, and H3K36 trimethyltransferase SETD2, which activates the ATM DNA damage signaling pathway. We found that cells depleted of MutSa or SETD2 accumulate 8-oxoG adducts and fail to trigger H2O2-induced ATM activation. Furthermore, we show that SETD2 physically interacts with both MutSa and ATM, which suggests a role for SETD2 in transducing DNA damage signals from lesion-bound MutSa to ATM. Consistently, MutSa and SETD2 are highly coenriched at oxidative damage sites. The data presented here support a model wherein MutSa, SETD2, ATM, and H3K36me3 constitute a positive feedback loop to help cells cope with oxidative DNA damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arbitrary control of photon flow is of fundamental significance in many applications of light. Here, we propose a new approach that can trap, store, and move the signal photons to arbitrary desired place, just like what optical tweezers do on micro particles. In addition, the trapped photons can also be released at a given direction. The mechanism is based on an ultrahigh- Q nanocavity formed by two dynamically-generated potential barriers in a photonic crystal (PC) waveguide. Different from the traditional fixed ultrahigh- Q nanocavities, this new-type cavity can be formed instantaneously at any moment and any position in a PC waveguide, and is completely movable while keeps ultrahigh Q factor simultaneously. These novel features make controlling the flow of light like an optical tweezer possible, and open up new opportunities for dynamic lightâ€"matter interactions and on-chip optical signal processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast Ewald methods are widely used to compute the point-charge electrostatic interactions in molecular simulations. The key step that introduces errors in the computation is the particle-mesh interpolation. In this work, the optimal interpolation basis is derived by minimizing the estimated error of the fast Ewald method. The basis can be either general or model specific, depending on whether or not the charge correlation has been taken into account. By using the TIP3P water as an example system, we demonstrate that the general optimal basis is always more accurate than the B-spline basis in the investigated parameter range, while the computational cost is at most 5% more expensive. In some cases, the optimal basis is found to be two orders of magnitude more accurate. The model specific optimal basis further improves the accuracy of the general optimal basis, but requires more computational effort in the optimization, and may not be transferable to systems with different charge correlations. Therefore, the choice between the general and model specific optimal bases is a trade-off between the generality and the accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TIC236 is an essential component of the translocon for protein import into chloroplasts, as evidenced by the embryonic lethality of the knockout mutant. Here, we unveil a TIC236-allied component, the chloroplast outer membrane protein CRUMPLED LEAF (CRL), absence of which impairs plastid division and induces autoimmune responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. A forward genetic screen exploring CRL function found multiple dominant TIC236 gain-of-function (tic236-gf) mutations that abolished crl-induced phenotypes. Moreover, CRL associates with TIC236, and a tic236-knockdown mutant exhibited multiple lesions similar to the crl mutant, supporting their shared functionality. Consistent with the defective plastid division phenotype of crl, CRL interacts with the transit peptides of proteins essential in plastid division, with tic236-gf mutations reinforcing their import via increased TIC236 stability. Ensuing reverse genetic analyses further revealed genetic interaction between CRL and SP1, a RING-type ubiquitin E3 ligase, as well as with the plastid protease FTSH11, which function in TOC and TIC protein turnover, respectively. Loss of either SP1 or FTSH11 rescued crl mutant phenotypes to varying degrees due to increased translocon levels. Collectively, our data shed light on the links between plastid protein import, plastid division, and plant stress responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the flame spread rate (FSR) is controlled by either chemistry or heat transfer is important for industrial process safety. In this study, we study the effect of width on flame spread transition from chemical to thermal regime at sub-atmospheric pressure using thin paper sample with widths from 10 mm to 90 mm. Results show that the transition boundary can be identified using not only reported FSR but also the flame image or radiation, as each of them has significantly different characteristics in different regimes. We find that the orientation significantly affects the flame spread in the thermal regime but has negligible influence in chemical regime. A width dependent characteristic Damkohler number coupled lateral heat and mass transfer has been developed to analyze this transition. The Damkohler number increases as the width increases only if the width is narrow. When the width is higher than a critical value, its effect on the Damkohler number can be neglected. For this reason, the transition pressure first shifts from 25kPa (10 mm and 20 mm width) to 20kPa (30 mm width), and then keeps unchanged at 15kPa (width>50 mm). This work strengthens our understanding on the effect of width on fire risks in aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different types of new phosphinamide α‐amino ester derivatives have been prepared in moderate to high yields via ruthenium(II) and rhodium(III)‐catalyzed ortho‐C−H functionalization under microwave irradiation. Specifically, the ortho‐alkenylated phosphinamides were produced through coupling of phosphinamides containing an α‐substituted or α,α‐disubstituted α‐amino ester with internal alkynes under ruthenium catalysis. In contrast, Ru and the more effective Rh‐catalyzed coupling of the α‐unsubstituted glycine ester phosphinamide with alkynes resulted in formation of oxidative annulation products, phosphaisoquinolin‐1‐ones. The developed methods feature the use of easily accessible starting materials, short reaction time, exclusive E‐stereoselectivity (for ortho‐alkenylation) and good functional group tolerance. The alkenylation reaction was readily scaled up to gram scale. Furthermore, the obtained alkenylated phosphinamide could be transformed into P‐containing dipeptides through hydrolysis of the ester group in the catalysis product and subsequent condensation with an α‐amino ester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although class B scavenger receptors (SR-Bs) in mammals are multifunctional molecules, the functions of SR-Bs in invertebrates remain largely unknown. In this study, we characterized an SR-B homolog, namely Sp SR-B2, from Scylla paramamosain. Sp SR-B2 shared high similarity with mammalian SR-Bs, and exhibited specific binding activity to ac-LDL, indicating that it may be a new member of SR-B class in invertebrates. SpSR-B2 was upregulated after challenge with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) or bacteria. Binding assays showed that Sp SR-B2 specifically interacted with WSSV envelope protein VP24. Besides, Sp SR-B2 could bind to all tested bacterial cells and agglutinate these bacteria. Sp SR-B2 also exhibited a strong binding activity to LPS but weak binding activities to other tested polysaccharides. These findings indicated that Sp SR-B2 was a potential recognition molecule for viral protein VP24 and bacterial LPS. Knockdown of SpSR-B2 resulted in dramatically decreased expressions of certain antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), and overexpression of Sp SR-B2 led to the increased expression of the AMP of Sp ALF2, suggesting that Sp SR-B2 could regulate the expression of AMPs. Taken together, this study revealed that Sp SR-B2 functioned as a potential pattern recognition receptor participating in antiviral and antibacterial immunity, and provided new insights into the immune functions of invertebrate SR-Bs. • Sp SR-B2 specifically interacted with WSSV envelope protein VP24. • Sp SR-B2 displayed strong binding activity to LPS. • Sp SR-B2 regulated the expressions of certain AMPs. • Sp SR-B2 functioned as a potential PRR participating in antiviral and antibacterial immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wake-up stroke (WUS) is a subgroup of ischemic stroke in which patients show no abnormality before sleep while wake up with neurological deficits. In addition to the uncertain onset, WUS patients have difficulty to receive prompt and effective thrombolytic or reperfusion therapy, leading to relatively poor prognosis. A number of researches have indicated that CT or MRI based thrombolysis and endovascular therapy might have benefits for WUS patients. This review article narratively discusses the pathogenesis, risk factors, imaging-based diagnosis and recanalization treatments of WUS with the purpose of expanding current treatment options for this group of stroke patients and exploring better therapeutic methods. The result showed that multimodal MRI or CT scan might be the best methods for extending the time window of WUS and, therefore, a large proportion of WUS patients could have favorable prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Raised signal in CSF on FLAIR may indicate raised CSF protein or debris. • Inferior frontal sulcal hyperintensities (IFSH) were associated with ageing. • IFSH were associated with PVS score in centrum semiovale in stroke patients. Raised signal in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) may indicate raised CSF protein or debris and is seen in inferior frontal sulci on routine MRI. To explore its clinical relevance, we assessed the association of inferior frontal sulcal hyperintensities (IFSH) on FLAIR with demographics, risk factors, and small vessel disease markers in three cohorts (healthy volunteers, n=44; mild stroke patients, n=105; older community-dwelling participants from Lothian birth cohort 1936, n=101). We collected detailed clinical data, scanned all subjects on the same 3T MRI scanner and 3-dimensional FLAIR sequence and developed a scale to rate IFSH. In adjusted analyses, the IFSH score increased with age (per 10-year increase; OR 1.69; 95% CI, 1.42-2.02), and perivascular spaces score in centrum semiovale in stroke patients (OR 1.73; 95% CI, 1.13-2.69). Since glymphatic CSF clearance declines with age and drains partially via the cribriform plate to the nasal lymphatics, IFSH on 3T MRI may be a non-invasive biomarker of altered CSF clearance and justifies further research in larger, more diverse samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a two-stage launch miniature shoulder munition steered with a laser beam riding system, the laser beam points to the target with a limited field radius and approximate straight-line spatial path; thus, the munition could not fly into the laser information field after the powered flight. The miniature munition dynamics are established firstly; then, an adaptive multiple power reachable sliding mode controller is presented and adopted to constrain both the trajectory inclination and pitch angle, which makes the munition enter the field and fly under control in the field with desired attitude angles, respectively. Considering the constraints of the incidence angle and the radius of the laser information field, an arctangent function curve is selected as the expected trajectory, and an adaptive multiple power reachable integral sliding mode guidance law is detailed, which makes the munition trajectory approach and converges to the expected curve fastly with limited acceleration. Therefore, the miniature munition flight trajectory is planned and optimized. Convergence and stability are analyzed based on the Lyapunov method. The numerical simulation against the stationary target is performed to fully demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a two-stage launch miniature shoulder munition steered with a laser beam riding system, the laser beam points to the target with a limited field radius and approximate straight-line spatial path; thus, the munition could not fly into the laser information field after the powered flight. The miniature munition dynamics are established firstly; then, an adaptive multiple power reachable sliding mode controller is presented and adopted to constrain both the trajectory inclination and pitch angle, which makes the munition enter the field and fly under control in the field with desired attitude angles, respectively. Considering the constraints of the incidence angle and the radius of the laser information field, an arctangent function curve is selected as the expected trajectory, and an adaptive multiple power reachable integral sliding mode guidance law is detailed, which makes the munition trajectory approach and converges to the expected curve fastly with limited acceleration. Therefore, the miniature munition flight trajectory is planned and optimized. Convergence and stability are analyzed based on the Lyapunov method. The numerical simulation against the stationary target is performed to fully demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wavefunction extrapolation greatly reduces the number of self-consistent field (SCF) iterations and thus the overall computational cost of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) that is based on the Kohn-Sham density functional theory. Going against the intuition that the higher order of extrapolation possesses a better accuracy, we demonstrate, from both theoretical and numerical perspectives, that the extrapolation accuracy firstly increases and then decreases with respect to the order, and an optimal extrapolation order in terms of minimal number of SCF iterations always exists. We also prove that the optimal order tends to be larger when using larger MD time steps or more strict SCF convergence criteria. By example BOMD simulations of a solid copper system, we show that the optimal extrapolation order covers a broad range when varying the MD time step or the SCF convergence criterion. Therefore, we suggest the necessity for BOMD simulation packages to open the user interface and to provide more choices on the extrapolation order. Another factor that may influence the extrapolation accuracy is the alignment scheme that eliminates the discontinuity in the wavefunctions with respect to the atomic or cell variables. We prove the equivalence between the two existing schemes, thus the implementation of either of them does not lead to essential difference in the extrapolation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new method of conducting fully flexible-cell molecular dynamics simulation in isothermal-isobaric ensemble based on Langevin equations of motion. The stochastic coupling to all particle and cell degrees of freedoms is introduced in a correct way, in the sense that the stationary configurational distribution is proved to be consistent with that of the isothermal-isobaric ensemble. In order to apply the proposed method in computer simulations, a second order symmetric numerical integration scheme is developed by Trotter's splitting of the single-step propagator. Moreover, a practical guide of choosing working parameters is suggested for user specified thermo- and barocoupling time scales. The method and software implementation are carefully validated by a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a two-stage launch miniature shoulder munition steered with a laser beam riding system, the laser beam points to the target with a limited field radius and approximate straight-line spatial path; thus, the munition could not fly into the laser information field after the powered flight. The miniature munition dynamics are established firstly; then, an adaptive multiple power reachable sliding mode controller is presented and adopted to constrain both the trajectory inclination and pitch angle, which makes the munition enter the field and fly under control in the field with desired attitude angles, respectively. Considering the constraints of the incidence angle and the radius of the laser information field, an arctangent function curve is selected as the expected trajectory, and an adaptive multiple power reachable integral sliding mode guidance law is detailed, which makes the munition trajectory approach and converges to the expected curve fastly with limited acceleration. Therefore, the miniature munition flight trajectory is planned and optimized. Convergence and stability are analyzed based on the Lyapunov method. The numerical simulation against the stationary target is performed to fully demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serum calcium abnormality is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes, but the effects of serum calcium level on stroke outcomes remain unknown. We aimed to assess the relationship between serum calcium level and 1-year outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack. We included 9375 stroke patients from the China National Stroke Registry III for analysis. Participants were divided into 4 groups according to albumin corrected-calcium quartiles. Composite end point comprised recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction, other ischemic vascular events, and all-cause mortality. Multivariable Cox or logistic regression was used to evaluate the independent association of albumin corrected-calcium with all-cause mortality, recurrent stroke, composite end point, and poor functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3). Compared with the lowest calcium quartile (<2.16 mmol/L), the adjusted hazard ratio (95% CI) of the top quartile (≥2.31 mmol/L) was 1.56 (1.11–2.18) for all-cause mortality, 1.06 (0.87–1.28) for recurrent stroke and 1.08 (0.90–1.01) for composite end point, and the adjusted odds ratio for poor functional outcome was 1.18 (0.96–1.44). The addition of serum calcium to conventional risk factors improved risk prediction of all-cause mortality, leading to a small but significant increase in C-statistics and reclassification with non-significant integrated discrimination improvement (C-statistics, p = 0.02; net reclassification index 11.8%, p = 0.038; integrated discrimination improvement 0.08%, p = 0.42). High serum calcium levels at baseline were associated with all-cause mortality at 1-year after ischemic stroke, suggesting that serum calcium may be a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for ischemic stroke. [Display omitted] • This large multicenter cohort study investigates the association between serum calcium and outcome after ischemic stroke. • In this prospective study, we found high calcium level was associated with all-cause mortality. • Our data suggest that serum calcium may be a potential prognostic biomarker for ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mannose-modified perylene monoimide derivative PMI-Man was developed, which shows highly selective binding to double-stranded DNA molecules, potent live/dead cell imaging, and histological imaging via both confocal and light microscopies. This approach can be used to develop a universal colorful staining method for human tissues for both confocal and light microscopies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the variety and occlusion of vehicle target motion on the urban intersection, it is difficult to accurately detect the traffic flow parameters in all directions and categories of the intersection, so an improved k-means trajectory clustering method based on NURBS curve fitting is designed to obtain the traffic flow parameters. Firstly, the B-spline quadratic interpolation function is used to fit the smooth NURBS curve of vehicle trajectory; secondly, K-means clustering is used to measure the minimum distance, and the location of the first and last end points of the vehicle trajectory is used to realize the automatic division of the intersection area; finally, according to the intersection area where the start and end points of vehicle trajectory belong, respectively, the moving mode of a vehicle is determined, and the traffic flow parameters are classified and counted. Experiments show that the method has high accuracy and simple algorithm, which can meet the application requirements of intelligent transportation. It can provide effective data for traffic congestion analysis and lane occupancy estimation, and it is an important parameter for dynamic time setting of intersection information lights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a new secretion system that is widely distributed among Gram-negative bacteria. The core component hemolysin-coregulated protein (Hcp) can be used as both its structural protein and secretory protein or chaperone protein. Studies on Hcp are important to elucidate the overall virulence mechanism of T6SS. Salmonella typhimurium is an important foodborne pathogen. There are three copies of hcp genes identified in S. Typhimurium 14028s. This study aimed to characterize the functions of the three Hcp family proteins and to elucidate the interactions among them. The hcp gene deletion mutants were constructed by λ Red-based recombination system. Effects of hcp mutation on the pathogenicity of 14028s were studied by bacterial competition assays, Dictyostelium discoideum assays and mouse model. The three Hcp family proteins were found to play different roles. Hcp1 can affect the transcription of rpoS and type 2 flagellar gene and influence the motility of 14028s. It is also involved in the intracellular survival of 14028s in Dictyostelium discoideum; Hcp2 is involved in the early proliferative capacity of 14028s in mice and can prevent its excessive proliferation; Hcp3 did not show direct functions in these assays. Hcp1 can interact with Hcp2 and Hcp3. Deletion of one hcp gene can result in a transcription level variation in the other two hcp genes. Our findings elucidated the functions of the three Hcp family proteins in S.Typhimurium and illustrated that there are interactions between different Hcp proteins. This study will be helpful to fully understand how T6SS actions in an organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a 5-year survival rate unsatisfied malignancies. The study aimed to identify the novel diagnostic and prognostic targets for ESCC. Expression profiling (GSE89102, GSE97051, and GSE59973) data were downloaded from the GEO database. Then, differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs, DEmiRNAs, and genes (DEGs) with P-values < 0.05, and |log2FC| ≥ 2, were identified using GEO2R. Functional enrichment analysis of miRNA-related mRNAs and lncRNA co-expressed mRNA was performed. LncRNA–miRNA–mRNA, protein–protein interaction of miRNA-related mRNAs and DEGs, co-expression, and transcription factors-hub genes network were constructed. The transcriptional data, the diagnostic and prognostic value of hub genes were estimated with ONCOMINE, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses, and Kaplan–Meier plotter, respectively. Also, the expressions of hub genes were assessed through qPCR and Western blot assays. The CDK1, VEGFA, PRDM10, RUNX1, CDK6, HSP90AA1, MYC, EGR1, and SOX2 used as hub genes. And among them, PRDM10, RUNX1, and CDK6 predicted worse overall survival (OS) in ESCC patients. Our results showed that the hub genes were significantly up-regulated in ESCA primary tumor tissues and cell lines, and exhibited excellent diagnostic efficiency. These results suggest that the hub genes may server as potential targets for the diagnosis and treatment of ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint blockade treatments bring remarkable clinical benefits to fighting several solid malignancies. However, the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade in breast cancer remains controversial. Several clinical trials of immune checkpoint blockades focused on the effect of CTLA4 and PD1/PDL1 checkpoint inhibitors on breast cancer. Only a small portion of patients benefited from these therapies. Here we systematically investigated the expression of 50 immune checkpoint genes, including ADORA2A, LAG-3, TIM-3, PD1, PDL1, PDL2, CTLA-4, IDO1, B7-H3, B7-H4, CD244, BTLA, TIGIT, CD80, CD86, VISTA, CD28, ICOS, ICOSLG, HVEM, CD160, LIGHT, CD137, CD137L, OX40, CD70, CD27, CD40, CD40LG, LGALS9, GITRL, CEACAM1, CD47, SIRPA, DNAM1, CD155, 2B4, CD48, TMIGD2, HHLA2, BTN2A1, DC-SIGN, BTN2A2, BTN3A1, BTNL3, BTNL9, CD96, TDO, CD200 and CD200R, in different subtypes of breast cancer and assessed their prognostic value. The results showed that the expression patterns of these 50 immune checkpoint genes were distinct in breast cancer. High expression of B7-H3 mRNA was significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS), especially in patients with luminal A and luminal B breast cancer. The mRNA expression levels of TIM-3, ADORA2A, LAG3, CD86, CD80, PD1 and IDO1 had no relationship with OS in breast cancer. High expression levels of CTLA-4 and TIGIT were correlated with favorable prognosis in breast cancer. Interestingly, we observed that B7-H3 expression was negatively correlated with the efficacy of cyclophosphamide (CTX). In summary, our study suggested that B7-H3 has potential prognostic value in breast cancer and is a promising target for immune therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: By the end of October 2019, there were 958 thousand people were reported living with HIV/AIDS in China. Unhealthy lifestyle factors, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, using illicit drugs and no physical activity have been found to mitigate the positive impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on viral load and HIV-related quality of life. Moreover, risky sexual behavior among HIV-positive persons places their partners at risk for HIV transmission and other sexually transmitted infections. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of unhealthy behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS and related influencing factors, particularly those that are closely connected with HIV infection and ART effects. Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional study design was used to collect data from people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Beijing and Yunnan Province. The following information was included in the questionnaire survey: social-demographic characteristics, health behavior information, sexual risk behaviors. Binary logistic regression model was conducted to analyze the influencing factors of unhealthy general health behaviors and risky sexual behaviors. Results: In total, 2575 PLWHA were included in the study and 78.3% (2017/2575) were male. For the general health behaviors, 34.2% (987/2544) smoke; 33.8% (870/2575) drank alcohol and 2.3% (49/2134) reported the use of illicit drugs in the previous 6 months. From the sexual behaviors perspective, 59.0% (1519/2575) had sex in the previous 6 months. Among people who had sex, 92.0% (1398/1519) had fixed sexual partners. Among those with no fixed sexual partner, 38.0% (46/121) had more than three partners. Among men who had sex, 34.7% (448/1292) reported having sex with men in the previous 6 months and 16.7% (75/448) of these had group sexual activity. Among participants, 72.2% (1053/1458) used condoms every time they had sex while 6.4% (94/1458) of people never used condom. Male people living with HIV/AIDS were more likely to have sexual risk behaviors (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.208, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.147–4.252) and unhealthy general health behaviors (adjusted OR = 2.029, 95% CI: 1.480–2.783). The odds of higher risk sexual behaviors was 1.546 times (95% CI: 1.302–1.827, P = 0.001) greater among participants who drank alcohol compared with their non-drinking counterparts. Conclusions: PLWHA is a group that is vulnerable to problematic health behaviors, especially for men who were more likely to drink alcohol, have more sexual partners, more sexual risk behaviors including group sexual activity, not using condoms and using drugs. Therefore, interventions focusing on gender-specific risk behaviors reduction for people living with HIV/AIDS are now necessary to control the spread of HIV infection and improve the efficacy of antiviral treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurological disorders are an economic and public health burden which requires efficient and adequate medical resources. Currently, little is known about the status of the quality of neurological care services available in China. As neurological primary care is mostly provided at the county hospital level, investigation of this geographical level is required. The aim of this study is to evaluate currently available neurology care services in Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations in east China.Methods: A multi-site, county-level hospital-based observational survey was conducted in east China from January 2017 to December 2017. A questionnaire was made to assess hospital and the departmental patient care capabilities, human resources and technical capacity in neurology departments.Results: Of 228 hospitals across the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations, 217 documents were returned. Of these, 22 were excluded due to invalid hospital information or duplicate submission. Overall, most hospitals have neurology departments (162, 83.1%) while less than half of the hospitals have a stroke center (80, 41.0%) and neurology emergency department (46, 23.6%). Among 162 hospitals with neurology department, 5 were excluded due to inadequate sharing, leaving 157 hospitals for analysis. About 84.1% of these neurology departments can administer intravenous thrombolysis while about one third of them has the ability to perform arterial thrombectomy (36.9%). In addition, 46.2% of hospitals can carry out computed tomography angiography (CTA) in emergency room. Tertiary care hospitals are much more equipped with modern medical resources compared to the secondary hospitals. In four administrative regions, the neurology services are better in more economically advanced regions.Conclusions: Neurological care services need to be enhanced at the county-level hospitals to improve health care delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contradiction between "high yielding" and "early maturing" hampers further improvement of annual rice yield. Here we report the positional cloning of a major maturity duration regulatory gene, Early flowering-completely dominant (Ef-cd), and demonstrate that natural variation in Ef-cd could be used to overcome the above contradictory. The Ef-cd locus gives rise to a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) antisense transcript overlapping the OsSOC1 gene. Ef-cd lncRNA expression positively correlates with the expression of OsSOC1 and H3K36me3 deposition. Field test comparisons of early maturing Ef-cd near-isogenic lines with their wild types as well as of the derivative early maturing hybrids with their wild-type hybrids conducted under different latitudes determined that the early maturing Ef-cd allele shortens maturity duration (ranging from 7 to 20 d) without a concomitant yield penalty. Ef-cd facilitates nitrogen utilization and also improves the photosynthesis rate. Analysis of 1,439 elite hybrid rice varieties revealed that the 16 homozygotes and 299 heterozygotes possessing Ef-cd matured significantly earlier. Therefore, Ef-cd could be a vital contributor of elite early maturing hybrid varieties in balancing grain yield with maturity duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paranasal sinus mucosal thickening, visible in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), maybe a source of inflammation in microvessels, but its relationship with small vessel disease (SVD) is unclear. We reviewed the literature and analysed a sample of patients with sporadic SVD to identify any association between paranasal sinus opacification severity and SVD neuroimaging markers. We systematically reviewed MEDLINE and EMBASE databases up to April 2020 for studies on paranasal sinus mucosal changes in patients with SVD, cerebrovascular disease (CVD), and age-related neurodegenerative diseases. We analysed clinical and MRI data from 100 participants in a prospective study, the Mild Stroke Study 3 (ISRCTN 12113543) at 1–3, 6 and 12 months following a minor stroke to test key outcomes from the literature review. We used multivariate linear regression to explore associations between modified Lund-Mackay (LM) scores and brain, white matter hyperintensities (WMH), enlarged perivascular spaces (PVS) volumes at each time point, adjusted for baseline age, sex, diabetes, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertension and smoking. The literature review, after screening 3652 publications, yielded 11 primary studies, for qualitative synthesis with contradictory results, as positive associations/higher risk from 5/7 CVD studies were contradicted by the two studies with largest samples, and data from dementia studies was equally split in their outcome. From the pilot sample of patients analysed (female N = 33, mean age 67.42 (9.70) years), total LM scores had a borderline negative association with PVS in the centrum semiovale at baseline and 6 months (B = -0.25, SE = 0.14, p = 0.06) but were not associated with average brain tissue, WMH or normal-appearing white matter volumes. The inconclusive results from the literature review and empirical study justify larger studies between PVS volume and paranasal sinuses opacification in patients with sporadic SVD. • First systematic review on paranasal sinuses opacification in small vessel disease (SVD). • First pilot analysis of paranasal sinuses opacification during a year after mild stroke in patients with sporadic SVD. • Putative association between paranasal sinuses opacification and perivascular spaces requires further investigation. • SVD not associated with paranasal sinuses opacification in pilot study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nuclear factor-kB is highly activated in cardiovascular disorders. However, few articles have targeted at the role of nuclear factor-kB inhibitor in heart failure. Aims: To evaluate the effects of nuclear factor-kB inhibitor pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate on cardiocyte apoptosis and cardiac function in a rat heart failure model. Study Design: Animal experiment Methods: A stable and reproducible rat heart failure model (n=64) was prepared by injecting homologous microthrombotic particles into the left ventricle of Sprague--Dawley rats while obstructing the ascending aorta to produce coronary microembolization. Rats with heart failure were randomized into untreated (HFu) and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate-treated (HFp) groups; the latter received an intraperitoneal injection of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (100 mg/kg/ day) 1 h prior to surgery as well as on postoperative days 1-7. The sham group comprised 32 Sprague--Dawley rats. Eight rats from each group were sacrificed on days 1, 3, 7, and 14 postoperatively. Masson's trichrome staining was used to determine the micro-fibrotic area to indicate the severity of myocardial loss. Terminal transferase uridine triphosphate nick end labeling staining was used to detect apoptotic cardiomyocytes. Echocardiography and hemodynamics were performed to evaluate left ventricular function. Results: Rats with heart failure exhibited pathological changes evidenced by patchy myocardial fibrosis, remarkably elevated severity of myocardial loss, and persistently reduced left ventricular function. At the end of the study, compared with the HFu group, myocardial infarct size was reduced by 28% (p=0.001), cardiocyte apoptosis was suppressed (7.17%±1.47% vs 2.83%±0.75%, p<0.001), cardiac function parameters such as left ventricular ejection fraction (80%±4% vs 61%±6%), left ventricular + dP/dt max (4828±289 vs 2918±76 mmHg.s-1), left ventricular - dP/dt max (4398±269 vs 2481±365 mmHg.s-1), and left ventricular systolic pressure (126±13 vs 100±10 mmHg) were significantly increased, and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was reduced (18±2 vs 13±1 mmHg) (p<0.001, for all) in the HFu group. Conclusion: Our rat model can adequately mimic heart failure via coronary vessel embolization. Moreover, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate treatment can reduce cardiocyte apoptosis and improve cardiac function, which may be beneficial for patients with heart failure secondary to myocardial infarction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insulin therapy in the setting of type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes is complicated by increased risk of hypoglycemia. This potentially fatal complication could bemitigated by a glucose-responsive insulin analog. We report an insulin-facilitated glucose transporter (Glut) inhibitor conjugate, in which the insulin molecule is rendered glucose-responsive via conjugation to an inhibitor of Glut. The binding affinity of this insulin analog to endogenous Glut is modulated by plasma and tissue glucose levels. In hyperglycemic conditions (e.g., uncontrolled diabetes or the postprandial state), the in situ-generated insulin analog-Glut complex is driven to dissociate, freeing the insulin analog and glucose-accessible Glut to restore normoglycemia. Upon overdose, enhanced binding of insulin analog to Glut suppresses the glucose transport activity of Glut to attenuate further uptake of glucose. We demonstrate the ability of this insulin conjugate to regulate blood glucose levels within a normal range while mitigating the risk of hypoglycemia in a type 1 diabetic mouse model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc Methionine chelate (Met-Zn) shows a better palatability, stability, and bioactivity than traditional zinc preparations, therefore this study evaluated the effect on the growth performance and immunologic functions of the weaned piglets. Two in vivo tests were conducted: (I) crossbreeding piglets [duroc × (landrace × large white pigs)] were fed 80 mg/kg ZnSO4 or 20, 40, 60, or 80 mg/kg Met-Zn after the weaning on day 21.The content of serum globulin and lymphocyte transformation rate were measured on days 21, 35, 45 and 60; (II) another group of piglets weaned on day 28 days were fed 80 mg/kg ZnSO4 or 80 mg/kg Met-Zn after orally administrated of Escherichia coli. The levels of some immune factors in the small intestine were measured after the feeding for one month. An in vitro experiment studied the expression of some immune factors and zinc transporters in the porcine small intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2) after treatments with ZnSO4+LPS and Met-Zn+LPS. Both Met-Zn and ZnSO4 increased the lymphocyte transformation rate and the content of serum globulin. But, Met-Zn showed better effect than ZnSO4 in improving the growth performance, particularly the average daily gain, after E. coli insults. With E. coli insults, Met-Zn promoted the expression of TNF-a and IL-6 in the anterior and middle segments of the small intestine respectively, but inhibited the expression of IL-8 in the middle segment. ZnSO4 promoted the expression of IL-6 in the posterior segment of the small intestine, but inhibited the expression of TNF-a in the middle segment. Both Met-Zn and ZnSO4 dose-dependently increased the expression levels of TNF-a, IL-6, and IL-8 in IPEC-J2 cells after the LPS stimulation. In summary, Met-Zn improved the growth performance of piglets and changed the immunologic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christisonia kwangtungensis is a new combination proposed in this study on the basis of both molecular andmorphological evidence. The basionym, Gleadovia kwangtungensis, was subsumed into Christisonia hookeri by Zhang in 1986. Because the type material of C. hookeri lacks important diagnostic characters and no fresh materials from Sikkim were available, Chinese plants with white flowers were conservatively treated as C. sinensis. Phylogenetic analyses showed that samples of G. kwangtungensis from the type locality on Danxia Mountain were monophyletic and sister to a clade including the reciprocally monophyletic C. sinensis and C. siamensis. Moreover, morphological comparisons showed that C. kwangtungensis differs from C. sinensis by having a conspicuously inflated (vs. scarcely inflated) corolla and clustered hairs in the throat of the corolla (vs. hairs scattered throughout the interior of the corolla). Further, C. kwangtungensis differs from both C. sinensis and C. siamensis by the length and color of the corolla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Phosphoinositide-3-kinase-δ (PI3Kδ) is a key regulator in the process of IgE mediated mast cell degranulation, which directly induces allergic diseases, such as asthma. This study is aimed at discovery of natural PI3Kδ inhibitors from Chinese medicine and evaluating their anti-mast cell degranulation activity. A combined virtual screening based on 3D pharmacophore model and molecular docking was used to screen for bioactive ingredients directly targeting PI3Kδ. Then, an in vitro kinase inhibition assay was conducted to evaluate the PI3Kδ inhibitory activity of the virtual screening hits. Subsequently, a β-hexosaminidase release assay was performed to verify the anti-mast cell degranulation activity of the active compounds. Finally, ginkgoneolic acid was identified as a PI3Kδ inhibitor (IC 50 = 2.49 μM) and exhibited anti-mast cell degranulation activity in vitro (IC 50 = 2.40 μM). Docking studies showed that Glu826, Val827 and Val828 were key amino acid residues for PI3Kδ inhibitory activity. Ginkgoneolic acid may be a potential lead compound for developing effective and safe PI3Kδ-inhibiting drugs. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Ginkgoneolic acid derived from TCM was identified as a PI3Kδ inhibitor with IC 50 of 2.49μM. • Ginkgoneolic acid significantly inhibited degranulation of mast cellswith an IC 50 of 2.40μM. • The inhibition of ginkgoneolic acid on PI3Kδ was revealed by interacting with residues such as Glu826, Val827 and Val828. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramsay Hunt syndrome, associated with varicella zoster virus infection is characterized by herpes zoster oticus, facial nerve palsy, and cochleovestibular symptoms. Ramsay Hunt syndrome associated cranial polyneuropathy occasionally occurs with involvement beyond VII and VIII. We represent a patient of Ramsay Hunt syndrome who presented with only VI involvement at the first visit followed by cranial polyneuropathy. Varicella zoster virus infection was confirmed by the detection of varicella zoster virus-DNA in cerebrospinal fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target detection based on image/video, being involved to deal with the geometry and scale deformation, as well as the change in the form of movement caused by camera imaging, algorithms are always designed complexly. Though, object shelter and adhesion still cannot be well resolved. Considering of that, a new method for target detection on true 3D space based on the inverse projection transformation and a mixing component model is proposed. Firstly, the inverse projective arrays parallel to target local surface are established on 3D space. Then, the 2D image is inversely projected to these planes through 3D point cloud re-projection, and a lot of inverse projective images with target local apparent characteristics are gained. After that, component HOG feature dictionaries are trained using the inverse projective images as samples, and on account of it, sparse decomposition approach is adopted to detect target local components. Finally, 3D centroid clustering for all the components is further used to identify the target. Experiment results indicate that the target detection method on true 3D space based on multi-components model and inverse projection transformation can not only deal with the object occlusion and adhesion perfectly, but also adapt to the multi-angle target detection well, and the accuracy and speed is far beyond that of the algorithm on 2D image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic surveillance is an important issue in intelligent transportation systems. Efficient and accurate vehicle detection is one challenging problem for complex urban traffic surveillance. As such, this paper proposes a new vehicle detection method using spatial relationship GMM for daytime and nighttime based on a high-resolution camera. First, the vehicle is treated as an object composed of multiple components, including the license plate, rear lamps and headlights. These components are localized using their distinctive color, texture, and region feature. Deriving plate color converting model, plate hypothesis score calculation and cascade plate refining were accomplished for license plate localization. Multi-threshold segmentation and connected component analysis are accomplished for rear lamps localization. Frame difference and geometric features similarity analysis are accomplished for headlights localization. After that, the detected components are taken to construct the spatial relationship using GMM. Finally, similar probability measures of the model and the GMM, including GMM of plate and rear lamp, GMM of both rear lamps and GMM of both headlights are adopted to localize vehicle. Experiments in practical urban scenarios are carried out under daytime and nighttime. It can be shown that our method can adapt to the partial occlusion and various lighting conditions well, meanwhile it has a fast detection speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic mutations on glycine 34 of histone H3 (H3G34) cause pediatric cancers, but the underlying oncogenic mechanism remains unknown. We demonstrate that substituting H3G34 with arginine, valine, or aspartate (H3G34R/V/D), which converts the non-side chain glycine to a large side chain-containing residue, blocks H3 lysine 36 (H3K36) dimethylation and trimethylation by histone methyltransferases, including SETD2, an H3K36-specific trimethyltransferase. Our structural analysis reveals that the H3 "G33-G34" motif is recognized by a narrow substrate channel, and that H3G34/R/V/D mutations impair the catalytic activity of SETD2 due to steric clashes that impede optimal SETD2-H3K36 interaction. H3G34R/V/D mutations also block H3K36me3 from interacting with mismatch repair (MMR) protein MutSα, preventing the recruitment of the MMR machinery to chromatin. Cells harboring H3G34R/V/D mutations display a mutator phenotype similar to that observed in MMR-defective cells. Therefore, H3G34R/V/D mutations promote genome instability and tumorigenesis by inhibiting MMR activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR) has a periphery that clearly deviates from a spherical shape, based on X-ray and radio observations. The forward shock from the south-east to the north of the remnant has a deformed outline with a depression in the east, although in the west it is generally round and smooth. Moreover, at some locations in the shell, the supernova ejecta is located close to the forward shock, resulting in protrusions. Using 3D hydrodynamical simulations, we studied the dynamical evolution of the supernova ejecta in an inhomogeneous medium and the formation process of the profile of the forward shock. In order to reproduce the peculiar periphery of the remnant, we propose a model in which the supernova ejecta has evolved in a cavity blown by a latitude-dependent outflow. The results indicate that the depression to the east and the protrusion to the south-east on the observed periphery of the remnant can be generally reproduced if we assume a wind bubble driven by an anisotropic wind with a mass-loss rate of ~10-7M ⨀ yr-1, a pole velocity of ~100 km s-1, a duration of ~105 yr prior to the supernova explosion, and a spatial velocity of ~30 km s-1 of the progenitor with respect to the circumstellar medium. In conclusion, an explanation of the peculiar shape of the periphery of Tycho's SNR is that the supernova ejecta evolved in the cavity driven by a latitude-dependent wind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: miR‐21a is well‐known to inhibit PTEN expression. We have previously shown that PTEN suppressed the transformation of M2 macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, we hypothesized that miR‐21a could influence M2 macrophage transformation by regulating PTEN expression. In this study, we identified how miR‐21a reduced the expression of both PTEN mRNA and protein in murine macrophage cell lines and primary macrophages. Moreover, opposite effects were identified upon the use of a miR‐21a inhibitor. Using a cytokine array, we identified the cytokines closely associated with miR‐21a‐mediated macrophage transformation to the M2 phenotype. miR‐21a mimics could also enhance the migratory ability of murine breast cancer 4T1 cells, the growth of breast cancer in vivo and CD206 intratumor expression. In addition, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and methylation‐specific PCR analysis showed that miR‐21a enhanced miR‐200c methylation and then decreased miR‐200c and PTEN expression. These effects could be reversed by treatment with 5′‐Aza, a DNA‐demethylating agent. MiR‐200c was predicted to target the PTEN 3′UTR, but qPCR illustrated the miR‐200c mimic that increased PTEN expression, and 5′‐Aza could enhance its effect. The above results indicate that miR‐21a negatively modulates two tumor suppressor genes, miR‐200c and PTEN, thereby promoting M2 macrophage transformation. This demonstrates that miR‐21a represents a novel target for improving the overall tumor microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) has been confirmed to be an important target for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The purpose of the present study was to identify PDE10A inhibitors from herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. Pharmacophore and molecular docking techniques were used to virtually screen the chemical molecule database of Sophora flavescens, a well-known Chinese herb that has been used for improving mental health and regulating the CNS. The pharmacophore model generated recognized the common functional groups of known PDE10A inhibitors. In addition, molecular docking was used to calculate the binding affinity of ligand-PDE10A interactions and to investigate the possible binding pattern. Virtual screening based on the pharmacophore model and molecular docking was performed to identify potential PDE10A inhibitors from S. flavescens. The results demonstrated that nine hits from S. flavescens were potential PDE10A inhibitors, and their biological activity was further validated using literature mining. A total of two compounds were reported to inhibit cyclic adenosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase, and one protected against glutamate-induced oxidative stress in the CNS. The remaining six compounds require further bioactivity validation. The results of the present study demonstrated that this method was a time- and cost-saving strategy for the identification of bioactive compounds from traditional Chinese medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method based on multiscale base-scale entropy (MBSE) and random forests (RF) for roller bearings faults diagnosis is presented in this study. Firstly, the roller bearings vibration signals were decomposed into base-scale entropy (BSE), sample entropy (SE) and permutation entropy (PE) values by using MBSE, multiscale sample entropy (MSE) and multiscale permutation entropy (MPE) under different scales. Then the computation time of the MBSE/MSE/MPE methods were compared. Secondly, the entropy values of BSE, SE, and PE under different scales were regarded as the input of RF and SVM optimized by particle swarm ion (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA) algorithms for fulfilling the fault identification, and the classification accuracy was utilized to verify the effect of the MBSE/MSE/MPE methods by using RF/PSO/GA-SVM models. Finally, the experiment result shows that the computational efficiency and classification accuracy of MBSE method are superior to MSE and MPE with RF and SVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]