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This study aims to analyze the clinical characteristics and risk factors of high-risk groups of neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) in term infants. High-risk groups of NLE infants whose mothers were positive for anti-SSA, anti-SSB or anti-U1RNP antibodies during pregnancy were enrolled. They were born between February 2013 and February 2020, with a gestational age not less than 37 weeks. We analyzed their clinical data from birth to 24 months after birth. A total of 105 patients in the NLE high-risk group were included. Among them, 30 patients were diagnosed with NLE (NLE group), and 75 patients were not (non-NLE group). The affected systems of the NLE group included the dermal (13.3%), hepatic (76.0%), and hematological systems (43.3%). Hepatic involvement, anemia and thrombocytopenia did not emerge until 60 days, 41 days and 22 days after birth, respectively, in some cases. Systemic involvement could be cured within 3 to 12 months after birth. The clearance time of specific autoantibodies was 12 months after birth. There was no significant difference in the clinical characteristics of babies and their mothers between the two groups, neither in the positive rate nor in the clearance time of specific autoantibodies. Conclusion: After standardized prenatal health care, there is still a high risk of dermal, hepatic, or hematological system involvement for high-risk groups of NLE. There are no specific indicators for the prediction of whether babies will develop NLE. All of these patients need to be followed up closely within one year after birth. What is Known: • Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLEs) can affect the cardiac, dermal, hepatic, and hematological systems of infants. What is New: • After standardized prenatal health care employing good multidepartment cooperation in our center, no neonates had cardiac block in this study. However, dermal, hepatic, and hematological system involvement of NLE can still gradually appear (as long as 60 days after birth in some cases) during follow-up, and some of these conditions are serious and require timely and active intervention. No single factor has been found to predict whether offspring at high-risk of NLE whose mothers are positive for anti-SSA, SSB and/or RNP will develop NLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road extraction from a remote sensing image is a research hotspot due to its broad range of applications. Despite recent advancements, achieving precise road extraction remains challenging. Since a road is thin and long, roadside objects and shadows cause occlusions, thus influencing the distinguishment of the road. Masked image modeling reconstructs masked areas from unmasked areas, which is similar to the process of inferring occluded roads from nonoccluded areas. Therefore, we believe that mask image modeling is beneficial for indicating occluded areas from other areas, thus alleviating the occlusion issue in remote sensing image road extraction. In this paper, we propose a remote sensing image road extraction network named RemainNet, which is based on mask image modeling. RemainNet consists of a backbone, image prediction module, and semantic prediction module. An image prediction module reconstructs a masked area RGB value from unmasked areas. Apart from reconstructing original remote sensing images, a semantic prediction module of RemainNet also extracts roads from masked images. Extensive experiments are carried out on the Massachusetts Roads dataset and DeepGlobe Road Extraction dataset; the proposed RemainNet improves 0.82–1.70% IoU compared with other state-of-the-art road extraction methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The breastfeeding rates of late preterm infants are lower than both term and extremely preterm infants. To explore the interventions of increasing full breast milk feeding rate of hospitalized late preterm infants on the 7th day after birth (D7) and evaluate the effect of these quality improvement (QI) interventions. Methods: The full breast milk feeding (amount of enteral breast milk reached 120ml/kg/d on D7) rate of hospitalized late preterm infants during May 2017 and November 2017 was set as the baseline before intervention, and the specific aim of promoting breast milk feeding was put forward. The Pareto Chart was used to analyze the factors that affect breast milk feeding process, as well as the discussion of multidisciplinary experts. Key drivers were constructed, including informational materials and education about breast milk feeding, consultations and support on optimal breast milk initiation, initiating breast milk expression within one hour after birth, accurate measurement and recording of expressed breast milk, stimulating continuous and effective lactation, proper breast pump selection in and out of hospital and sending and preserving of expressed milk to NICU. Control chart was used to monitor the monthly change of full breast milk feeding rate until the aim was achieved and sustained. Results: The baseline of full breast milk feeding rate of late preterm infants was 10%, and the aim of QI was to increase the rate to 60% within a two-year period. Control chart dynamically showed the full breast milk feeding rate increased to 80% with the implementation of the interventions, achieved and made the aim of QI sustained. Conclusion: QI interventions including breast milk feeding education, early postpartum breast milk pumping, kangaroo care to stimulate breast milk secretion, and convenient way of transporting breast milk to NICU, could significantly improve the full breast milk feeding rate of hospitalized late preterm infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road extraction from remote sensing imagery is a popular and frontier research focus, since road information plays an essential role in application fields, such as urban management, map updating and traffic planning. Deep learning based methods have shown their dominance on road extraction from remote sensing imagery. However, the performance of the existing road extraction methods relies heavily on a large amount of high-quality annotated training data, which is usually hard to obtain in practice. Current semi-supervised road extraction models can effectively reduce the dependency on the labeled data, nevertheless they cannot fully utilize the latent information of low-confidence pixels in pseudo-labels effectively. These pixels are usually a border between road and non-road area and of importance for the prediction accuracy of road extraction models. In order to address these issues, we proposed a novel semi-supervised road extraction network, named SemiRoadExNet. SemiRoadExNet is based on a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), containing one generator with two discriminators. Firstly, both labeled and unlabeled images are put into the generator network for road extraction, and the outputs of the generator not only include road segmentation results but also the corresponding entropy maps. The entropy maps represent the confidence of prediction (road or non-road) for each pixel. Then, the two discriminators enforce the feature distributions keeping the consistency of road prediction maps and entropy maps between the labeled and unlabeled data. During the adversarial training, the generator is continuously regularized by exploiting the potential information from unlabeled data, thus the generalization capacity of the proposed model can be improved effectively. Compared to several state-of-the-art semi-supervised semantic segmentation methods, the proposed SemiRoadExNet achieves 0.96–5.38% IoU improvements on DeepGlobe Road Extraction, Massachusetts Roads and CHN6-CUG datasets respectively. The source code of d SemiRoadExNet is freely available at https://github.com/hchen118/SemiRoadExNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data on primary hypothyroidism and its long‐term impact on the health, cognition, and quality of life (QOL) of childhood cancer survivors are limited. This study examined the prevalence of and risk factors for primary hypothyroidism and its associations with physical, neurocognitive, and psychosocial outcomes. Methods: This was a retrospective study with a cross‐sectional health outcome analysis of an established cohort comprising 2965 survivors of childhood cancer (52.8% male; median current age, 30.9 years, median time since cancer diagnosis, 22.3 years). Multivariable logistic regression estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between primary hypothyroidism and cancer‐related risk factors, cardiovascular disease risk factors, frailty, neurocognitive and QOL outcomes, social attainment, and subsequent thyroid carcinoma. Associations between serum free thyroxine and thyrotropin levels at assessment and health outcomes were explored. Results: The prevalence of primary hypothyroidism was 14.7% (95% CI, 13.5%‐16.0%). It was more likely in females (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.03‐1.08), was less likely in non‐Whites (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93‐0.99), was associated with thyroid radiotherapy (higher risk at higher doses), and was more common if cancer was diagnosed at an age ≥ 15.0 years versus an age < 5 years (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01‐1.09). Primary hypothyroidism was associated with frailty (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.05‐2.26), dyslipidemia (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.14‐2.04), impaired physical QOL (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.12‐2.48), and having health care insurance (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.07‐2.12). Conclusions: Primary hypothyroidism is common in survivors and is associated with unfavorable physical health and QOL outcomes. The impact of thyroid hormone replacement practices on these outcomes should be investigated further. In this study, primary hypothyroidism affects 14.7% of 2965 survivors of childhood cancer, and it is associated with adverse health and quality of life. Associations between thyroid function tests and health outcomes are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mounting evidence supports the occurrence of accelerating aging among long-term survivors of childhood cancer. We aimed to investigate epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) in survivors and evaluate associations between EAA, treatment exposures, health behaviors, and chronic health conditions (CHCs).Methods: Genome-wide methylation data were generated with Infinium EPIC BeadChip on blood-derived DNA from 2139 survivors and 282 frequency matched controls from the St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study. EAAs were estimated as residuals from a linear regression of epigenetic age (Levine's clock) against chronological age. Adjusted least square mean (ALSM) of EAA was calculated and compared between survivors and controls, across treatment exposures and health behaviors. Associations of EAA with 20 clinically assessed CHCs were evaluated with multivariable piecewise-exponential models. All statistical tests for P values below were 2-sided.Results: EAA was statistically significantly higher in survivors than controls (ALSM = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.26 to 1.01 vs -3.61, 95% CI = -4.43 to 2.80). In a multivariable model among survivors, statistically significantly higher EAA (P < .05) was observed in those exposed to chest radiotherapy, abdomen or pelvic radiotherapy, alkylating agents, glucocorticoids, or epipodophyllotoxins. Compared with survivors with favorable health behaviors (ALSM = 0.26, 95% CI=-0.36 to 0.87), EAA was statistically significantly higher among survivors with intermediate (ALSM = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.59 to 1.54) or unfavorable health behaviors (ALSM = 1.45, 95% CI = 0.60 to 2.30). In time-to-event analyses, statistically significant associations were identified between EAA tertiles and incidence of 7 CHCs: hypertension (3rd vs 1st tertile, relative rate [RR] = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.17 to 2.83), myocardial infarction (RR = 2.91, 95% CI = 1.27 to 7.21), obesity (RR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.66), obstructive pulmonary deficit (RR = 1.86, 95% CI = 0.95 to 3.77), peripheral motor neuropathy (RR = 2.89, 95% CI = 1.24 to 6.97), peripheral sensory neuropathy (RR = 2.04, 95% CI = 0.99 to 4.26), and pulmonary diffusion deficits (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 0.95 to 7.63).Conclusions: EAA is statistically significantly higher in survivors of childhood cancer than in noncancer controls and is associated with specific treatment exposures, unfavorable health behaviors, and presence of specific CHCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flavonoids are a large family of plant and fungal natural products, among which many have been found to possess outstanding biological activities. Utilization of engineered microbes as surrogate hosts for heterologous biosynthesis of flavonoids has been investigated extensively. However, current microbial biosynthesis strategies mostly rely on using one microbial strain to accommodate the long and complicated flavonoid pathways, which presents a major challenge for production optimization. Here, we adapt the emerging modular co-culture engineering approach to rationally design, establish and optimize an Escherichia coli co-culture for de novo biosynthesis of flavonoid sakuranetin from simple carbon substrate glucose. Specifically, two E. coli strains were employed to accommodate the sakuranetin biosynthesis pathway. The upstream strain was engineered for pathway intermediate p-coumaric acid production, whereas the downstream strain converted p-coumaric acid to sakuranetin. Through step-wise optimization of the co-culture system, we were able to produce 29.7 mg/L sakuranetin from 5 g/L glucose within 48 h, which is significantly higher than the production by the conventional monoculture-based approach. The co-culture biosynthesis was successfully scaled up in a fed-batch bioreactor, resulting in the production of 79.0 mg/L sakuranetin. To our knowledge, this is the highest bioproduction concentration reported so far for de novo sakuranetin biosynthesis using the heterologous host E. coli. The findings of this work expand the applicability of modular co-culture engineering for addressing the challenges associated with heterologous biosynthesis of complex natural products. Key points: • De novo biosynthesis of sakuranetin was achieved using E. coli-E. coli co-cultures. • Sakuranetin production by co-cultures was significantly higher than the mono-culture controls. • The co-culture system was optimized by multiple metabolic engineering strategies. • The co-culture biosynthesis was scaled up in fed-batch bioreactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a model for controlling and enhancing the entanglement between the two cavity fields and mirror with a hybrid optomechanical system consisting of Λ -type three-level 85 Rb atomic ensembles driven by two externally modulated laser fields. When one (another) cavity mode is driven at the red (blue) mechanical sideband and both cavity modes are blue-detuned by the mechanical frequency to the respective atomic resonant transitions, the dynamic coupling control of the cavity field and mirror can be realized by periodically modulating the amplitudes of the two incident laser fields. Compared to the unmodulated case, the periodic modulation of the laser fields in a cavity optomechanical system embedded with a small number of atoms has the capability to enhance the entanglement between the two cavity fields and mirror. This scheme provides a new approach to the generation and control of entanglement in cavity optomechanical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathway balancing is a critical and common challenge for microbial biosynthesis using metabolic engineering approaches. Non-linear biosynthetic pathways, such as diverging and converging pathways, are particularly difficult for bioproduction optimization, because they require delicate balancing between all interconnected constituent pathway modules. The emergence of modular co-culture engineering offers a new perspective for biosynthetic pathways modularization and balancing, as the biosynthetic capabilities of individual pathway modules can be coordinated by flexible adjustment of the subpopulation ratio of the co-culture strains carrying the designated modules. This study developed microbial co-cultures composed of multiple metabolically engineered E. coli strains for heterologous biosynthesis of complex natural product rosmarinic acid (RA) whose biosynthesis involves a complex diverging-converging pathway. Our results showed that, compared with the conventional mono-culture strategy, the engineered two-strain co-cultures significantly improved the RA production. Further pathway modularization and balancing in the context of three-strain co-cultures resulted in additional production improvement. Moreover, metabolically engineered co-culture strains utilizing different carbon substrates were recruited to improve the three-strain co-culture stability. The optimized co-culture based on these efforts produced 172 mg/L RA, exhibiting 38-fold biosynthesis improvement over the parent strain used in mono-culture biosynthesis. The findings of this work demonstrate the strong potentials of modular co-culture engineering for overcoming the challenges of complex natural product biosynthesis involving non-linear pathways. • De novo biosynthesis of natural product rosmarinic acid was achieved in engineered E. coli. • Two-strain and three-strain E. coli co-cultures were developed for balancing the non-linear biosynthetic pathways. • Utilization of mixed carbon substrates improved the co-culture stability and biosynthetic performance. • Rosmarinic acid bioproduction by the optimized three-strain co-culture was 38-fold higher than that of the mono-culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Converting renewable feedstocks to aromatic compounds using engineered microbes offers a robust approach for sustainable, environment‐friendly, and cost‐effective production of these value‐added products without the reliance on petroleum. In this study, rationally designed E. coli–E. coli co‐culture systems were established for converting glycerol to 3‐hydroxybenzoic acid (3HB). Specifically, the 3HB pathway was modularized and accommodated by two metabolically engineered E. coli strains. The co‐culture biosynthesis was optimized by using different cultivation temperatures, varying the inoculum ratio between the co‐culture strains, recruitment of a key pathway intermediate transporter, strengthening the critical pathway enzyme expression, and adjusting the timing for inducing pathway gene expression. Compared with the E. coli mono‐culture, the optimized co‐culture showed 5.3‐fold improvement for 3HB biosynthesis. This study demonstrated the applicability of modular co‐culture engineering for addressing the challenges of aromatic compound biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triple-shape memory effect (triple-SME) in amorphous polymers arises from the staged structural rearrangement of their macromolecular chains upon heating. However, the working mechanism behind the heating-rate dependence of the triple-SME in shape memory polymers (SMPs) is not well understood due to the complex compositions. Herein, we adopt the extended free volume theory to investigate the effect of local vibration and structural rearrangement of macromolecular chains on the shape memory behavior of SMPs. By introducing the phase transition theory, the dependences of the glass transition, thermomechanical behavior, and triple-shape recovery behavior of SMPs on thermal history are then discussed. The accumulation of the remote free volume upon heating is identified as the driving force for the SME in SMPs. The effectiveness of the proposed model is further evaluated by applying it to predict the shape memory behavior of epoxy SMPs with dual- and triple-SMEs at various heating rates. This study is expected to provide a practical methodology for understanding the working mechanism of triple-SME in amorphous polymers. [Display omitted] • Modeling of thermal strain and stored strain in SMPs from the perspective of free volume. • Theoretical characterization of the enthalpy relaxation and time-dependent shape memory behavior of amorphous polymers. • Investigating the role of heating rate on the triple-shape memory effect of amorphous polymers. • Model validated by experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface browning is an important cause of deterioration of fresh-cut fruit during postharvest handling. In this paper, four pear cultivars with different extents of natural browning were selected to analyse the factors involved in browning. The main results are as follows: the lipoxygenase (LOX) activity of ‘Mantianhong’ and ‘Yali’ pears was higher accompanied by a stronger degree of browning, while the LOX activity in ‘Xueqing’ and ‘Xinli 7’ pears was lower, with less browning. A higher unsaturated fatty acid ratio of pear resulted in reduced browning. The cell membranes disappeared 30 min after being cut in ‘Mantianhong’ pear, which browns easily; however, the cell membranes were still intact 30 min after being cut in ‘Xueqing’ pear, which does not brown easily. Therefore, it can be assumed that the stability of the cell membrane plays an important role in inhibiting browning of fresh-cut pears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To compare the details of preterm infants enteral feeding between the two hospitals in China and in the United States, and to analyze the reason of the differences.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Infants < 32 weeks were enrolled from Cincinnati University Hospital (CUH) during January 2011 to January 2012 and Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) during January 2011 to May 2012. Basic data and enteral feeding data of the two groups were compared.Results: Eighty-two infants in CUH group and 74 infants in PUMCH group were enrolled, infants in CUH group were much smaller than PUMCH group (gestational age (29.1 ± 2.0) versus (30.6 ± 1.3) weeks, p = 0.000, birth weight (1204 ± 328) versus (1406 ± 320) g, p = 0.000). Significantly more infants in CUH group received human milk as the first enteral feeding (78/82 versus 7/74, p = 0.000). Human milk feeding rate in first 28 days in CUH group was much higher (77/82 versus 7/74, p = 0.000). The initial milk volume, and the milk volume on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 27th day of CUH group were significant larger [(15.9 versus 9.3 ml/kg·d, p = 0.000), (79.8 versus 35.2 ml/kg·d, p = 0.000), (133.2 versus 76.4 ml/kg·d, p = 0.000), (140.6 versus 108.6 ml/kg·d, p = 0.000), (142.2 versus 121.5 ml/kg·d, p = 0.002)]. CUH group achieved full enteral feeding sooner (12.0 versus 22.4 d, p = 0.000).Conclusion: Preterm infants achieved full enteral feeding sooner at CUH compared to PUMCH. Human milk feeding may improve enteral feeding tolerance. We need more aggressive enteral feeding proposal in PUMCH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective approach to significantly improve the thermomechanical properties of shape memory polymer (SMP) nanocomposites that show fast thermally responsive shape recovery.Design/methodology/approach Hexagonal boron nitrides (h-BNs) were incorporated into polymer matrix in an attempt to improve the thermal conductivity and thermally responsive shape recovery behaviour of SMP, respectively. Thermally actuated shape recovery behaviour was recorded and monitored instrumentally.Findings The results show that both glass transition temperature (Tg) and thermomechanical properties of the SMP nanocomposites have been progressively improved with increasing concentration of h-BNs. Analytical results also suggest that the fast-responsive recovery behaviour of the SMP nanocomposite incorporated with h-BNs was due to the increased thermal conductivity.Research limitations/implications A simple way for fabricating SMP nanocomposites with enhanced thermally responsive shape recovery based on the incorporation of h-BNs was developed.Originality/value The outcome of this study may help fabrication of SMP nanocomposites with fast responsive recovery behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid tritium breeding blanket applying pebble bed concept is promising for fusion reactors. Tritium bred in the pebble bed is purged out by inert gas. The flow characteristics of the purge gas are important for the tritium transport from the solid breeder materials. In this study, a randomly packed pebble bed was generated by Discrete Element Method (DEM) and verified by radial porosity distribution. The flow parameters of the purge gas in channels were solved by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method. The results show that the normalized velocity magnitudes have the same damped oscillating patterns with radial porosity distribution. Besides, the bypass flow near the wall cannot be ignored in this model, and it has a slight increase with inlet velocity. Furthermore, higher purging efficiency becomes with higher inlet velocity and especially higher in near wall region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on a typical low-permeability carbonate reservoir in Middle East that has been developed by miscible hydrocarbon (HC) gas flooding for more than 10 years. The oilfield is now suffering from gas channeling, high gas/oil ratio (GOR), and invalid gas circulation. To figure out the reasons and propose an optimized development plan, it is necessary to accurately determine the characteristics and behavior of miscible gas flooding. To achieve this, a comprehensive performance evaluation method for miscible gas flooding is established in this work by integrating production data, inter-well gas tracer test, saturation surveillance, pressure surveillance, minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) variation, and streamline simulation. The following miscible HC gas flooding characteristics are interpreted, including typical gas flow path, miscibility behavior, major controlling factors impacting performance, and the main challenges of the current development scheme, which provides a fundament for proposing mitigation plan. By using this evaluation method, the behavior of gas flow in the ongoing miscible flooding process is precisely characterized, which is a "gravity override-gas coning" mode in which gas override is formed by an upward injected gas flow and then gas flows through gas cap to producers that leads to gas coning, resulting in high GOR and invalid gas circulation. This flow mode mainly resulted from the unsatisfied miscibility that led to gas escaping from miscible phase and gas channeling. Furthermore, it was found out that pressure difference is the dominating factor for gas channeling. In addition, we also found that MMP varies during HC gas injection process due to the change in the oil composition, which emphasizes the importance of recovering and maintaining pressure. Based on these findings obtained from extensive dynamic performance analysis and numerical simulations, an optimization strategy is finally proposed for improving the performance of miscible HC gas flooding. [Display omitted] • A comprehensive performance evaluation method for miscible gas flooding is built. • A gas flow characteristic of "gravity override-gas coning" is verified and depicted. • Pressure difference is dominant factor for gas channel in miscible flooding process. • MMP varies with hydrocarbon gas injection caused by the change in oil composition. • Pressure recovery is required to achieve an adequate miscibility of oil and gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocyte proliferation and collagen I (COLI) secretion are important processes during liver regeneration. This study aimed to investigate the role of CXCL6 in hepatocyte proliferation and COLI secretion. Serum CXCL6 levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were examined and the effects of CXCL6 on the proliferation of L02 hepatocytes and the secretion of COLI from LX2 human hepatic stellate cells were evaluated. We found that serum CXCL6 levels increased gradually with disease progression of CHB, and there was positive correlation between serum CXCL6 level and alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST). In vitro, CXCL6 promoted L02 proliferation but this was blocked upon CXCR1 knockdown. The level of phospho-IκBα was upregulated by CXCL6 but downregulated by CXCR1 siRNA in L02 cells. CXCL6 inhibited the secretion of COLI by LX2 cells, dependent on CXCR1 and CXCR2. Taken together, these data suggest that increased expression of CXCL6 during CHB could promote hepatocyte proliferation through the CXCR1-NFκB pathway and inhibit the secretion of COLI by hepatic stellate cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: To investigate the effect of Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) on the regulation of the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway in peritoneal mesothelial cells with an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Methods: EMT of human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HMrSV5) was induced using 2 ng/ml TGF-β1. Cells were randomly divided into a vehicle group, a vehicle group with AS-IV, a TGF-β1 treated group, and a TGF-β1 treated group receiving varied doses of AS-IV or NAC. Real-time quantitative PCR and western blot were used to detect the expression of genes and proteins associated with the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway and EMT. DCFH-DA was used to detect the generation of ROS in HMrSV5 cells, and a transwell migration assay was used to verify the capacity of AS-IV to inhibit EMT in HMrSV5 cells. Lentiviruses were used as carriers for the overexpression or knockdown of the Smad7 gene. Results: Expression levels of E-cadherin (epithelial marker) was decreased and vimentin, α-SMA (EMT markers) and collagen I (extracellular matrix protein) phospho-Smad2/3, Snail1 and Snail2 was increased significantly in the TGF-β1-treated HMrSV5 cells. AS-IV was associated with downregulated expression of vimentin and phospho-Smad2/3 in a dose-dependent manner, while the expression of Smad7 increased. Silenced or forced expression of Smad7 verified its role in the inhibitory effect of AS-IV on TGF-β1-induced EMT in HMrSV5 cells. Conclusion: AS-IV effectively promotes the upregulation of Smad7 in the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway during the EMT of HMrSV5 cells, indicating its potential therapeutic effect for the control of PF. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ahe Formation is one of the significant hydrocarbon units in the Kuqa Depression of Tarim Basin, which is characterized by poor reservoir quality and strong heterogeneities due to the diagenetic effects. Thus, 'diagenetic facies' are introduced to explore high-quality reservoir layers. According to the reservoir spaces, main diagenetic minerals and diagenesis, four types of diagenetic facies are categorized: tightly compacted facies, dissolution facies, carbonated cemented facies and microfracture facies. Petrophysical characteristics of different diagenetic facies are summarized, which shows that the dissolution facies and microfracture facies have higher porosities, permeabilities and bigger pore radii. Logging characteristics indicate that logging values of four diagenetic facies are overlapped seriously, making it impossible to classify them by original logging crossplot. Principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and back propagation neural networks (BPNN) are used to build diagenetic facies identification models, and the former two belong to the linear statistical algorithms, while the latter is a nonlinear algorithm. By comparing the identification accuracy of these three algorithms, principal components (PCs) crossplot cannot recognize diagenetic facies effectively. LDA can achieve automatic identification by establishing discriminant functions, but its identification accuracy (71.7%) is too low to satisfy the exploration requirements. However, the trained BPNN yield 80% accuracy, which is more advantageous than PCA and LDA. The blind test shows that the predicted results by trained BPNN have a very high coincidence with the thin section analysis and the logging interpretation results. Therefore, the BPNN as provided in this paper can be effectively used for diagenetic facies identification based on conventional well logs. • Four types of diagenetic facies are identified in the tight sandstone reservoirs of the Ahe Formation. • Principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and back propagation neural network (BPNN) are used to recognize diagenetic facies. • The trained BPNN model is selected to recognize favorable diagenetic facies at a field-scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4-hydroxystyrene is an important commodity chemical with recognized industrial values. In this study, 4-hydroxystyrene biosynthesis was achieved using engineered E. coli. An amino acid exporter protein PhpCAT was utilized in combination with a previously developed biosensor-assisted cell selection mechanism to strengthen the biosynthesis of the pathway intermediate tyrosine. When incorporated into an E. coli-E. coli co-culture, the exporter also improved tyrosine's mass transfer between the co-culture members to facilitate the streamlined 4-hydroxystyrene bioproduction. It was shown that the resulting co-culture produced 298 mg/L 4-hydroxystyrene from 5 g/L glucose, which is 96% higher than the control co-culture without the exporter. The achieved yield of 0.06 g/g glucose, to our knowledge, is the highest among previous studies on microbial biosynthesis. Our finding demonstrates that the utilization of the exporter protein for a pathway intermediate is an effective methodology for enhancing biosynthesis performance of microbial co-cultures. • The use of a tyrosine exporter protein enhanced the tyrosine production in E. coli. • The pathway intermediate transfer between the co-culture strains was improved. • De novo biosynthesis of 298 mg/L 4-Hydroxystyrene from 5 g/L glucose was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical robustness is one of the challenges for soft hydrogels, which are difficult to repair once fractured, mainly because of their chemical bonds and large binding energies required to heal the fractured surfaces within a reasonable time scale. In this study, an extended Maxwell model is proposed to describe intra-chain ionic bonds and inter-chain hydrogen bonds, coupled in physical hydrogels undergoing self-assembly and mechanical toughening, during both of which the intra-chain and inter-chain bonds are working as sub-entanglement and physical crosslink, respectively. According to the rubber elastic theory, a topology model is formulated to identify the working principle of intra-chain and inter-chain coupled binding in the physical hydrogels. Furthermore, a constitutive stress-strain relationship is developed to understand their self-assembling topology signatures and topological transitions. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed model is verified using molecular dynamic simulations and experimental results of physical hydrogels reported in literature. Illustration of dependence of mechanical behaviors on topology signature in terms of intra-chain and inter-chain coupled binding in a hydrogel, where topological geometry is determined by the number of chains and the number of crosslinks. [Display omitted] • An extended Maxwell model is proposed for the physical hydrogels. • A topology model is formulated to identify the working principle of coupled binding. • A constitutive relationship is developed to understand the self-assembly and topological transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferulic acid (FA) is a component found in plants that has free radical scavenging and liver-protective properties. Acute liver injury (ALI) is a serious complication of sepsis and is closely associated with changes in the levels of inflammatory factors. This study was taken to examine the role of FA in cecal ligation and perforation (CLP)-induced murine ALI and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cellular ALI models. An in vivo ALI model was established by performing CLP surgery on C57BL/6 mice. After the ALI model was established, mice were examined for liver injury, including HE staining to observe tissue sections, the percentage of liver/body weight and inflammatory factor levels. Myeloperoxidase (MPO), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities were measured in liver or serum using commercial kits. An in vitro ALI model was established using LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Cell viability was measured by MTT method and the intracellular levels of IL-10, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-α inflammatory factors were measured using kits. The expression of GSK-3β, NF-κB and CREB was measured by western blot or immunofluorescence. FA pretreatment significantly reduced liver/body weight ratio, decreased MPO, AST and ALT activity, alleviated the inflammatory responses and improved CLP-induced histopathological changes in liver. In addition, in vitro results showed that FA could dose-dependently increase the viability of RAW264.7 cells and decrease the levels of pro-inflammatory factors. In conclusion, our data suggest that FA can ameliorate ALI-induced inflammation via the GSK-3β/NF-κB/CREB pathway, suggesting that FA can be used to protect the liver against ALI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent programmed cell death form resulting from lipid peroxidation damage, it plays a key role in organ damage and tumor development from various causes. Sepsis leads to severe host response after infection with high mortality. The long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) are involved in different pathophysiological mechanisms of multiple diseases. Here, we used cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) operation to mimic sepsis induced myocardial injury (SIMI) in mouse model, and LncRNAs and mRNAs were profiled by Arraystar mouse LncRNA Array V3.0. Based on the microarray results, 552 LncRNAs and 520 mRNAs were differentially expressed in the sham and CLP groups, among them, LncRNA Lcn2–204 was the highest differentially expressed up-regulated LncRNA. Iron metabolism disorder was involved in SIMI by bioinformatics analysis, meanwhile, myocardial iron content and lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) protein expressions were increased. The CNC network comprised 137 positive interactions and 138 negative interactions. Bioinformatics analysis showed several iron-related terms were enriched and six genes (Scara5, Tfrc, Lcn2, Cp, Clic5, Ank1) were closely associated with iron metabolism. Then, we constructed knockdown LncRNA Lcn2–204 targeting myocardium and found that it ameliorated cardiac injury in mouse sepsis model through modulating iron overload and ferroptosis. In addition, we found that LncRNA Lcn2–204 was involved in the regulation of Lcn2 expression in septic myocardial injury. Based on these findings, we conclude that iron overload and ferroptosis are the key mechanisms leading to myocardial injury in sepsis, knockdown of LncRNA Lcn2–204 plays the cardioprotective effect through inhibition of iron overload, ferroptosis and Lcn2 expression. It may provide a novel therapeutic approach to ameliorate sepsis-induced myocardial injury. [Display omitted] • LncRNA Lcn2-204 was the highly expressed in the CLP mouse heart. • Knockdown of LncRNA Lcn2-204 in CLP-hearts attenuates cardiac injury. • Iron disorder was involved in SIMI, and LncRNA Lcn2-204 is involved and may act through Lcn2. • Knockdown of LncRNA Lcn2-204 alleviates sepsis-induced cardiomyocyte iron overload and ferroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PENTEC (Pediatric Normal Tissue Effects in the Clinic) task force aimed to quantify effects of radiation therapy (RT) dose to the female reproductive organs after treatment for childhood cancer. Relevant studies published 1970 to 2017 were identified systematically through PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane databases with additional articles before 2021 identified by the group. Two large studies reported sufficient data to allow modeling of acute ovarian failure (AOF; loss of function ≤5 year from diagnosis) and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI; loss of function at attained age <40 years) based on maximum dose to least affected ovary. Although normal tissue complication probability modeling was not feasible for the uterus due to limited data, the relationship between ultrasound-measured uterine volume and estimated amount of RT was plotted. Limited data regarding vaginal toxicity were available. The risk of AOF increases with RT dose to least affected ovary, alkylating agent cumulative dose (cyclophosphamide equivalent dose [CED] in g/m2), age at RT, and stem cell transplantation: Two Gy to the least affected ovary resulted in AOF risk of 1% to 5% (CED = 0, risk increasing with age), 4% to 7% (CED = 10 g/m2, risk increasing with age), and 6% to 13% (CED = 30 g/m2, risk increasing with age). For patients aged 1 and 20 years at time of RT, AOF risk was ≥50% at doses of 24 Gy and 20 Gy with no alkylating chemotherapy, 22.5 Gy and 17 Gy with intermediate alkylator dose (10 g/m2), and 17 Gy and 13 Gy with high alkylator dose (30 g/m2). Risk of POI increases with survivor (attained) age (rather than age at time of RT), radiation dose to least affected ovary, and alkylator dose. Data review suggested that higher radiation doses to the uterus are associated with uterine toxicity, with uterine size considerably restricted after 12 Gy. Vaginal radiation in children is associated with high toxicity risk, although dose-volume data are not available for quantification. Risk of AOF increases with age at RT, CED exposure, and RT dose; risk of POI likewise increases with RT dose, CED exposure, and survivor age. Both AOF and POI are expected to affect fertility and estrogen production. Data suggest that RT uterine dose >12 Gy may be associated with uterine size restriction. Adult literature suggests that maintaining vaginal dose <5 Gy may limit toxicity. Treatment of life-threatening malignancy remains a priority over reproductive preservation; however, when possible, radiation and surgical techniques should be considered to minimize dose to least affected ovary, uterus, and vagina. Survivors should receive endocrine and gynecologic support; those desiring pregnancy should be counseled early to maximize reproductive options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multi-field synergistic agglomerator coupling charged ultrasonic atomization and turbulent agglomeration is put forward. • Maximum mass agglomeration efficiency of the PM 1 for the agglomerator is 68.9%. • Charge-to-mass ratio of the designed electrode is in the range of 1–5 mC∙kg−1. • Atomization quantity of the agglomerator is recommended as 1.6–2.7 kg∙h−1. Multi-field synergistic agglomeration is a promising pretreatment technology for improving the control and removal of fine particles. In this work, a novel agglomerator coupling with plasma charged ultrasonic spray and turbulent vortex generator was put forward, which has three agglomeration modes, namely turbulent agglomeration, atomized turbulent agglomeration and charged atomized turbulent agglomeration. As a pretreatment device, the agglomerator was combined with a fabric filter for the experimental investigation. The result indicated that the agglomeration efficiencies of the PM 1 for the three agglomeration modes were 21.8%, 53.2% and 68.9%, respectively; and the removal efficiencies of the PM 1 for the only fabric filter and the fabric filter combined with the three agglomeration modes were 66.5%, 83.9%, 86.8% and 89.7%, respectively. The characteristic experiment of the designed electrode showed that the stable voltage was about 19–38 kV and the charge-to-mass ratio was in the range of 1–5 mC kg−1. The optimization study of the two important parameters showed that the atomization quantity was recommended in the range of 1.6–2.7 kg∙h−1 and the inlet flue gas velocity should be as small as possible and close to 4.8 m/s to ensure the agglomeration effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver cirrhosis is the end stage of various chronic liver diseases. Early diagnosis and staging of liver cirrhosis, as well as effective disease assessment, are of great clinical significance. The application of liver biopsy, serological testing, and radiological examination in the clinical diagnosis of liver cirhosis and the research advances in evaluation of liver reserve function, complications, a d prognosis are reviewed. It is pointed out that with the development of molecular biological and imaging techniques, the accuracy and specificity of noninvasive diagnosis wiil be increased, and the disease assessment system wiil be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Biosynthesis of anthranilic acid was achieved in E. coli by over-expression of key pathway genes. • Biosensor-assisted cell selection system was employed to enhance the anthranilic acid production. • In situ product removal strategy was used to facilitate the biosensor-assisted cell selection. • The optimized system produced 688 mg/L anthranilic acid within 48 h. Anthranilic acid is an important chemical with recognized industrial values. As a precursor of amino acid tryptophan, anthranilic acid can be over-produced by engineering the tryptophan biosynthesis pathway. In this study, we utilized metabolic engineering approaches to enable anthranilic acid production in bacterium E. coli. Furthermore, an anthranilic acid biosensor-assisted cell selection technique was adopted to improve the microbial cell population composition and the overall production performance. An anthranilic acid in situ extraction method was also recruited to reduce the product accumulation and facilitate the cell selection. Based on these efforts, the engineered E. coli produced 688 mg/L anthranilic acid from glucose within 48 h. The results of this work hereby demonstrate the effectiveness of coupling biosensor-assisted cell selection and in situ product removal for microbial biosynthesis enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare gut microbiota of healthy infants that were exclusively breast-fed or formula-fed, we recruited 91 infants, who were assigned into three different groups and fed by breast milk (30 babies), formula A (30 babies) or formula B (31 babies) exclusively for more than 4 months after birth. Faecal bacterial composition was tested. Among different groups, α diversity was lower in breast-fed group than formula-fed groups in 40 days of age, but increased significantly in 6 months of age. The Bifidobacterium represented the most predominant genus and Enterobacteriaceae the second in all groups. In 40 days of age, Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides were significantly higher, while Streptococcus and Enterococcus were significantly lower in breast-fed group than they were in formula A-fed group. Lachnospiraceae was lower in breast-fed than formula B-fed group. Veillonella and Clostridioides were lower in breast-fed than formula-fed groups. In 3 months of age there were less Lachnospiraceae and Clostridioides in breast-fed group than formula-fed groups. There were also significant differences of microbiota between formula A-fed and formula B-fed groups. Those differences may have impacts on their long-term health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-position refining furnaces are a critical strategy for energy-intensive industries to meet its demands of fast-paced production. In most literature, however, they serve only as a buffer, holding up to at most two ladles to maintain the proper temperature of ladles. These studies do not take full advantage of them, nor do they study the production scheduling of energy-intensive enterprises with multi-position refining furnaces under time-of-use (TOU) tariffs. Therefore, this paper presents a steelmaking-continuous casting (SCC) scheduling problem with multi-position refining furnaces under TOU tariffs. We firstly develop a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model with the goals of minimizing jobs completion time, machines idle time, and total electricity costs, which subjects to the double-position characteristics and other process constraints. Owing to the complexity between the time-slots of TOU tariffs and the processing cycles of jobs, we design an intermediate function to calculate objectives efficiently. Furthermore, a Lagrangian relaxation (LR) algorithm based on a subgradient algorithm is utilized to solve the proposed model, and an interior point algorithm is adopted to solve sub-problems obtained by job-level and batch-level decomposition, whose solution approximates optimality comparing to GUROBI solver. The computational results demonstrate that the solution of job-level decomposition algorithm approximates the optimal scheduling scheme in an acceptable time and is superior to that of GUROBI solver. In addition, double-position instance can find a better scheduling scheme than nondouble-position one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver cirrhosis can do great harm to human health due to irreversible function impairment of hepatocytes and severe complications caused by portal hypertension. Liver fibrosis is an inevitable stage through which chronic liver disease progresses to cirhosis. So far, most studies have demonstrated that the liver disease in fibrosis stage can be reversed. This paper reviews recent research on liver fibrosis and cir-rhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microchannel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are frequently used in experimental diagnostics, where they are operated in single-pulse current measurement mode. However, considering the significant amplitude fluctuations in the measured signal, the resulting output signal from the MCP-PMT is inevitably distorted by gain saturation. Therefore, understanding the correlation between the MCP-PMT output signal and gain saturation is critical in assessing the extent of output signal distortion and determining the MCP-PMT saturation level. This knowledge allows for a more precise assessment of the input signal's features. In this paper, we present an experimental method for restoring the initial waveform from the saturated MCP-PMT signal. To correct the amplitude-drop caused by gain saturation, our technique involves calibrating the MCP-PMT's relative gain as a function of the accumulated output charge using a square-wave light source. We then applied this approach to restore a ∼500 ns saturated pulse from a double-layer 10 mm diameter MCP-PMT. The restored signal showed a deviation of less than 6% from the reference waveform, which validates the effectiveness of the technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Promoting and supporting breastfeeding is an important public health intervention with multiple benefits for both infants and mothers. Even modest increases in the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding could significantly reduce healthcare costs and improve maternal and child health outcomes. However, widespread adoption of breastfeeding recommendations remains poor in most settings, which contributes to widening health and social inequalities. Pediatricians have a duty to advocate for improving child health, including promoting and supporting breastfeeding. Summary: This paper, from the International Pediatric Association Special Advisory Group on Nutrition, considers common barriers to breastfeeding and addresses how pediatricians can better promote and support breastfeeding, both at an individual level and by influencing practice and policy. All pediatricians need to understand the basics of breastfeeding, including lactation physiology, recognize common breastfeeding problems, and advise mothers or refer them for appropriate support; training curricula for general pediatricians and all pediatric subspecialties should reflect this. Even in the situation where their day-to-day work does not involve direct contact with mothers and infants, pediatricians can have an important influence on policy and practice. They should support colleagues who work directly with mothers and infants, ensuring that systems and environments are conducive to breastfeeding and, where appropriate, milk expression. Pediatricians and pediatric organizations should also promote policies aimed at promoting and supporting breastfeeding at local, regional, national, and international levels. Key Messages: Pediatricians have a duty to promote and support breastfeeding, regardless of their day-to-day role and responsibilities. Pediatric training curricula should ensure that all trainees acquire a good understanding of breastfeeding so they are able to effectively support mothers in their personal practice but also influence breastfeeding practice and policy at a local, regional, national, and international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an effective method to remove fine particulate matter (FPM) in coal-fired industries, the aerodynamic agglomeration has recently received increasing attention due to its application value. In this paper, a CFD–PBM coupled model of the particle agglomeration for industrial application was developed to predict the particle size distributions (PSDs) using Eulerian multiphase approach and Population Balance Model. Three kinds of particles with different inertia (i.e. inertialess, finite inertial, and inertial) and Brownian motion were considered, and a collision efficiency was induced to modify the kernel functions. Furthermore, the impacts of inlet velocity, initial particle concentration and flow field on the PSDs and the agglomeration efficiency were investigated. The results show that the agglomeration efficiencies of particulate matters with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μ m and ≤ 10 μ m (i.e. PM 2. 5 and PM 1 0 ) both present logarithmic curves with the inlet velocity or the initial particle concentration. Under the working condition of the calculation, the optimal inlet velocity is in the range of 11–15 m ⋅ s − 1 , and the optimal agglomeration efficiency of P M 2. 5 and P M 1 0 is about 40%. The aerodynamic agglomerator is suitable for the traditional coal-fired power plants and cement plants, but it is not recommended when the initial particle concentration is less than 16.9 g ⋅ m − 3 . The analysis of the flow field shows that the longitudinal edge of the vortex and the windward side of the vortex generator are the main regions where particles agglomerate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Glucocorticoids used to treat childhood leukemia and lymphoma can result in osteonecrosis, leading to physical dysfunction and pain. Improving survival rates warrants research into long-term outcomes among this population. Objective The objective of this study was to compare the physical function and quality of life (QOL) of survivors of childhood cancer who had an osteonecrosis history with that of survivors who had no osteonecrosis history and with that of people who were healthy (controls). Design This was a cross-sectional study. Methods This study included St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study participants who were ≥ 10 years from the diagnosis of childhood leukemia or lymphoma and ≥ 18 years old; 135 had osteonecrosis (52.5% men; mean age = 27.7 [SD = 6.08] years) and 1560 had no osteonecrosis history (52.4% men; mean age = 33.3 [SD = 8.54] years). This study also included 272 people who were from the community and who were healthy (community controls) (47.7% men; mean age = 35.1 [SD = 10.46] years). The participants completed functional assessments and questionnaires about QOL. Results Survivors with osteonecrosis scored lower than other survivors and controls for dorsiflexion strength (mean score = 16.50 [SD = 7.91] vs 24.17 [SD = 8.61] N·m/kg) and scored lower than controls for flexibility with the sit-and-reach test (20.61 [SD = 9.70] vs 23.96 [SD = 10.73] cm), function on the Physical Performance Test (mean score = 22.73 [SD = 2.05] vs 23.58 [SD = 0.88]), and mobility on the Timed "Up & Go" Test (5.66 [SD = 2.25] vs 5.12 [SD = 1.28] seconds). Survivors with hip osteonecrosis requiring surgery scored lower than survivors without osteonecrosis for dorsiflexion strength (13.75 [SD = 8.82] vs 18.48 [SD = 9.04] N·m/kg), flexibility (15.79 [SD = 8.93] vs 20.37 [SD = 10.14] cm), and endurance on the 6-minute walk test (523.50 [SD = 103.00] vs 572.10 [SD = 102.40] m). Limitations Because some eligible survivors declined to participate, possible selection bias was a limitation of this study. Conclusions Survivors of childhood leukemia and lymphoma with and without osteonecrosis demonstrated impaired physical performance and reported reduced QOL compared with controls, with those requiring surgery for osteonecrosis most at risk for impairments. It may be beneficial to provide strengthening, flexibility, and endurance interventions for patients who have pediatric cancer and osteonecrosis for long-term function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a scheme to greatly enhance tripartite entanglement in an atom-optomechanical hybrid system driven by a single input laser field. The enhancement of the tripartite entanglement among two longitudinal cavity modes and a mirror oscillation mode is realized via atomic coherence when the cavity free spectral range is about equal to twice the frequency of mechanical oscillation and both cavity modes are blue-detuned by the mechanical frequency to the respective atomic resonant transitions while keeping the two-photon resonance satisfied. Moreover, the entanglement between the two cavity modes exhibits robustness to the variation of the environment temperature. The present atom-assisted optomechanical system provides an alternative platform for the quantum state exchange between light and light, as well as light and matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing year by year. Clinical findings show that Banxia Xiexin Decoction (BXD) can be combined to treat MCI and DM. However, the principle and mechanism of BXD in treating MCI and DM remain unclear. In this study, to explore the common mechanism of BXD in treating MCI and DM by using the method of network pharmacology. Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP) was used to screen the main active components of BXD, as well as to predict and screen its potential targets. Using Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Therapeutic Target Database (TTD), DisGeNET, GeneCards to select the target proteins of two diseases, and intersecting the drug target and the disease target to obtain the common target of drug diseases, which is imported into cytoscape software to draw the network diagram of "drug components-target diseases" and the interaction network diagram between the common target proteins. According to the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) database, we analyzed the common targets using two methods, gene ontology Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) biological pathway enrichment analysis and Gene Ontology (GO) function enrichment analysis, as well as studied the interaction mechanism of the two diseases, with the results validated using molecular docking. A total of 267 main active components of BXD were screened, together with the two diseases shared 233 common targets. The top five key targets identified by the topological analysis were TP53, AKT1, STAT3, TNF, and MAPK3. Go enrichment results indicated that it was primarily related to response to drug, extracellular space, enzyme binding, RNA polymerase II transcription factor activity, ligand-activated sequence-specific DNA binding. t KEGG enrichment pathway analysis identified 20 significant pathways, the majority of which are AGE-RAGE signaling pathways in diabetic complications, lipid and atherosclerosis, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, IL-17 signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and so on. The results of molecular docking revealed that the key components of BXD, baicalein, licochalcone a, quercetin, and naringenin, had strong binding ability with core targets TP53, AKT1, STAT3, TNF, MAPK3. BXD can treat MCI and DM by multi-targets and multi-channels,and plays a role of "homotherapy for heteropathy" mainly through response to drug, positive regulation of gene expression, extracellular space and enzyme binding and other ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the ROS signalling alteration of the mutant in response to drought and salt stress, we measured the key ion flux and analysed related gene expression in roots. Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; poplar; HyPRP1; salt stress; drought stress; ROS; ion flux EN CRISPR/Cas9 poplar HyPRP1 salt stress drought stress ROS ion flux 2160 2162 3 10/19/23 20231101 NES 231101 Afforestation and vegetation restoration are challenging tasks in arid, semi-arid and saline-alkali areas. CRISPR/Cas9, poplar, HyPRP1, salt stress, drought stress, ROS, ion flux. [Extracted from the article]

Graphical abstract Highlights • A toxin/antitoxin-based cell selection system was developed to select for high-producing cells in a mixed population. • Off-switch and on-switch biosensors can both be utilized in this design. • The developed systems successfully improved the tryptophan and phenylalanine bioproduction in engineering E. coli. • The bioproduction showed better performance than the antibiotic-based cell selection system. Abstract Selection for high-producing cells in a mixed population is of great significance for synthetic biology and metabolic engineering applications. Here, we developed a cell selection mechanism that utilized a product-responsive biosensor to control the expression of E. coli endogenous toxin hipA or antitoxin hipB genes for selective removal of low-performing cells. This approach eliminates the use of exogenous antibiotics as the selection marker and offers a solution to flexibly meet the need of using either downregulating (off-switch) or upregulating (on-switch) biosensors. As a proof-of-concept, we showed that the developed cell selection systems encompassing a tryptophan biosensor (off-switch) and the toxin hipA gene dramatically enhanced the tryptophan production in E. coli , which was mechanistically characterized by monitoring the dynamic expression of the GFP-labelled hipA gene. The cell selection system was also extended for phenylalanine over-production using a phenylalanine biosensor (on-switch) and the antitoxin gene hipB. Our findings show that this approach has strong potential for wide applications in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is limited understanding of associations between a combination of health behaviors (physical activity, sedentary/screen‐time, diet) and cardiometabolic health risk factors, physical performance, and emotional health among young (<18) childhood cancer survivors (CCS). The aims of this research were to address this gap by 1) deriving health behavior adherence profiles among CCS, and 2) examining associations among demographic, diagnosis and/or treatment exposures, cardiometabolic, physical performance, and emotional functioning with health behavior profile membership. Methods: Participants included 397 CCS (≥5 years post‐diagnosis; 10–17 years old) enrolled in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study who completed physical health evaluations and questionnaires assessing health behaviors and psychological functioning. Latent profile analysis was used to derive profiles of health behavior adherence. Logistic regression and t‐tests were used to examine mean‐level differences and associations between profile membership with demographic, diagnosis, treatment exposures, cardiometabolic health, psychological functioning, and physical performance. Results: Two profiles emerged: inactive‐unhealthy‐diet ("IU") and active‐sedentary‐unhealthy‐diet ("ASU") to guidelines. More participants in IU demonstrated higher resting heart rate (mean [M], 76.54; SD = 12.00) and lower motor proficiency scores (M = 34.73; SD = 29.15) compared to ASU (resting heart rate, M = 71.95, SD = 10.74; motor proficiency, M = 50.40, SD = 31.02). Conclusions: CCS exhibited low adherence to multiple health behavior guidelines, with adherence patterns differentially associated with cardiometabolic health (i.e., resting heart rate) and physical performance. However, robust protection against all health variables was not observed. Findings suggest interventions designed to improve health outcomes should target multiple health behaviors simultaneously. Plain Language Summary: Pediatric cancer survivors are at‐risk for detrimental health outcomes associated with cancer and treatment.Engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors serves to reduce health vulnerabilities among adult survivors but less is known about associations with lifestyle behaviors on young survivors.This study documents patterns of lifestyle behaviors among survivors of pediatric cancer, factors that increase susceptibility to nonadherence, and associations among lifestyle behaviors and health indicators. Young (<18 years of age) survivors of pediatric cancer exhibit poor adherence to diet and physical activity guidelines. Adherence is associated with clinical health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise of the Study: To investigate the genetic background and population characteristics of Rhododendron longipedicellatum (Ericaceae), a newly discovered and critically endangered species, expressed sequence tag–simple sequence repeat markers were developed, and transferability was tested in two congeners, R. molle and R. simsii. Methods and Results: Based on the transcriptome sequences of R. longipedicellatum, 102 primer sets were designed; 48 primer sets were successfully amplified, with 15 showing polymorphisms in 150 individuals from five extant populations of R. longipedicellatum. The number of alleles per locus ranged from four to 18, and the levels of observed and expected heterozygosity for the 15 loci varied from 0.255 to 0.913 and from 0.306 to 0.851, respectively. All 15 loci were found to amplify in R. molle and R. simsii. Conclusions: These polymorphic SSR markers can be used in conservation genetic and phylogeographic studies to elucidate the rarity and origin of R. longipedicellatum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new algorithm to model resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in Z-pinches has been developed. Two-dimensional axisymmetric geometry with azimuthal magnetic field B θ is considered. Discretization is carried out using unstructured meshes made up of arbitrarily connected polygons. The algorithm is fully conservative for mass, momentum, and energy. Matter energy and magnetic energy are managed separately. The diffusion of magnetic field is solved using a derivative of the Symmetric-Semi-Implicit scheme, Livne et al. (1985) [23] , where unconditional stability is obtained without needing to solve large sparse systems of equations. This MHD package has been integrated into the radiation-hydrodynamics code MULTI-2D, Ramis et al. (2009) [20] , that includes hydrodynamics, laser energy deposition, heat conduction, and radiation transport. This setup allows to simulate Z-pinch configurations relevant for Inertial Confinement Fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some important properties of a dynamic hohlraum radiation source intended to study the high-temperature opacity of medium-Z atoms. The time-resolved axial radiation power in two x-ray diodes gives the time-evolution of an equivalent black-body temperature that peaks at ∼260 eV at stagnation. Time-gated framing pinhole images show that the source comprises an intense high-temperature core that lasts for ∼2 ns preceded by a 10-ns-long lower-temperature implosion phase that emits mostly softer x rays. Combining pinhole images with soft x-ray power gives a time-resolved brightness radiation temperature that reaches 130 eV. Thus, the lower-temperature source could ionize an opacity sample, then the intense high-temperature radiation pulse could measure its opacity. Likewise, the time-integrated spectrum measured with a spherically bent crystal spectrometer is compatible with multiple blackbodies with different temperatures, from 176 to 185 eV. These characterizations suggest that this dynamic hohlraum can be used for high-temperature opacity measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: γδ T cells for tumor cell immunotherapy has recently become a hot topic. Objective: To investigate the stimulation of expanded γδ T cells in vitro to kill liver cancer cells and its mechanism, and in vivo validation. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated and amplified. The proportion of γδ T cells in T cells was determined using flow cytometry. γδ T cells were selected as effector cells, and HepG2 cells as target cells in the cytotoxicity experiment. NKG2D blocker was used to block effector cells from identifying target cells, and PD98059 was used to block intracellular signaling pathways. The nude mice tumor model was established in two batches, the tumor growth curve was drawn, and the tumor formation effect was tested using small animal imager to verify the killing effect of γδ T cells. Results: The γδ T cells in the three experimental groups exhibited a large amount of amplification (P < 0.01). In the killing experiment, the killing rate of γδ T cells stimulated by zoledronate (ZOL) in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the HDMAPP group and the Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra strain (Mtb-Hag) group (P < 0.05). The blocking effect of PD98059 is stronger than that of the NKG2D blocker (P < 0.05). Among them, in the HDMAPP group, when the target ratio was 40:1, the NKG2D blocker exhibited a significant blocking effect (P < 0.05). Alternatively, in the ZOL group, when the effect ratio was 10:1, the effector cells were blocked significantly after treatment using PD98059 (P < 0.05). In vivo experiments verified the killing effect of γδ T cells. According to the tumor growth curve, there was a difference between the experimental and control groups after cell treatment (P < 0.05). Conclusion: ZOL has high amplification efficiency and a positive effect on killing tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ablation processes of ribbon-array loads, as well as wire-array loads for comparison, were investigated on Qiangguang-1 accelerator. The ultraviolet framing images indicate that the ribbon-array loads have stable passages of currents, which produce axially uniform ablated plasma. The end-on x-ray framing camera observed the azimuthally modulated distribution of the early ablated ribbon-array plasma and the shrink process of the x-ray radiation region. Magnetic probes measured the total and precursor currents of ribbon-array and wire-array loads, and there exists no evident difference between the precursor currents of the two types of loads. The proportion of the precursor current to the total current is 15% to 20%, and the start time of the precursor current is about 25 ns later than that of the total current. The melting time of the load material is about 16 ns, when the inward drift velocity of the ablated plasma is taken to be 1.5 × 107 cm/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To explore the roles of Annexin A2 (ANXA2) on hepatocyte pyroptosis and hepatic fibrosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and underlying molecular mechanism.Methods: Bioinformatics analyses were performed on transcriptome data of liver tissues from mice and patients with liver fibrosis for screening the hepatocyte pyroptosis-related differential genes. The in vivo NASH mouse model and in vitro NASH cellular model were established. The expression levels of Anxa2/ANXA2 were quantified. Then, the upstream transcription factor of Anxa2 was screened by ChIP-Seq and experimentally verified. The effects of the p-STAT3/ANXA2 axis on Caspase-1 mediated pyroptosis and fibrosis were explored by in vivo and in vitro experiments.Results: Bioinformatics analyses suggested that the expression of Anxa2/ANXA2 was significantly up-regulated in liver tissues of both NASH mice and patients scoring with high pyroptotic activity. Experimental data showed that the ANXA2 expression was positively associated with the development of hepatocyte pyroptosis and fibrosis. As a transcription factor of ANXA2, p-STAT3 can bind to the promoter of Anxa2 and promote its transcription. The inhibition of p-STAT3 can significantly suppress hepatocyte pyroptosis and fibrosis, which was significantly reversed after the over-expression of Anxa2. Caspase-1 was verified as the player of the p-STAT3/ANXA2 axis to promote pyroptosis and fibrosis. By specifically inhibiting Caspase-1, the promotion effect of the p-STAT3/ANXA2 axis on pyroptosis and fibrosis can be significantly weakened.Conclusion: The p-STAT3 promoted Anxa2 expression at the transcription level, thus activating the Caspase-1 mediated hepatocyte pyroptosis and fibrosis in NASH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been few reports on the simultaneous isolation of multiple liver cell populations thus far. As such, this study was aimed at establishing a protocol for the simultaneous separation of hepatocytes (HCs), hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) and Kupffer cells (KCs) from the rat liver and assessing the in vitro culture of these cells. Single-cell suspensions from the liver were obtained by ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid/collagenase perfusion. After low-speed centrifugal separation of HCs, pronase was added to the nonparenchymal cell fraction to eliminate the remaining HCs. Subsequently, HSCs, LSECs and KCs were purified by two steps of density gradient centrifugation using Nycodenz and Percoll in addition to selective attachment. Pronase treatment increased the HSC yield (1.5 ± 0.2 vs. 0.7 ± 0.3 cells/g liver, p < 0.05) and improved LSEC purity (93.6 ± 3.6 vs. 82.5 ± 5.6%, p < 0.01). The isolated cells could also be cultured in vitro. LSEC apoptosis began on day 3 and reached a maximum on day 7. A few surviving LSECs began proliferating and split to form a cobblestone, sheet-like appearance on day 14. The LSECs on day 14 lost fenestrations but retained scavenger function. Thus, viable and purified liver cells were obtained with a high yield from the rat liver using the developed method, which may be useful for studying the physiology and pathology of the liver in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To estimate the prevalence of central precocious puberty ( CPP) after treatment for tumours and malignancies involving the central nervous system ( CNS) and examine repercussions on growth and pubertal outcomes. Design Retrospective study of patients with tumours near and/or exposed to radiotherapy to the hypothalamus/pituitary axis ( HPA). Patients and Measurements Patients with CPP were evaluated at puberty onset, completion of Gn RH agonist treatment (Gn RHa) and last follow-up. Multivariable analysis was used to test associations between tumour location, sex, age at CPP, Gn RHa duration and a diagnosis of CPP with final height <-2 SD score ( SDS), gonadotropin deficiency ( LH/ FSHD) and obesity, respectively. Results Eighty patients (47 females) had CPP and were followed for 11·4 ± 5·0 years (mean ± SD). The prevalence of CPP was 15·2% overall, 29·2% following HPA tumours and 6·6% after radiotherapy for non- HPA tumours. Height <-2 SDS was more common at the last follow-up than at the puberty onset (21·4% vs 2·4%, P = 0·005). Obesity was more prevalent at the last follow-up than at the completion of Gn RHa or the puberty onset (37·7%, 22·6% and 20·8%, respectively, P = 0·03). Longer duration of Gn RHa was associated with increased odds of final height <-2 SDS ( OR = 2·1, 95% CI 1·0-4·3) and longer follow-up with obesity ( OR = 1·3, 95% CI 1·1-1·6). LH/ FSHD was diagnosed in 32·6%. There was no independent association between CPP and final height <-2 SDS, and LH/ FSHD and obesity in the subset of patients with HPA low-grade gliomas. Conclusions Patients with organic CPP experience an incomplete recovery of growth and a high prevalence of LH/ FSHD and obesity. Early diagnosis and treatment of CPP may limit further deterioration of final height prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Survivors of childhood cancer who are treated with platinum-based chemotherapy and/or cranial radiation are at risk of treatment-induced hearing loss. However, the effects of such hearing loss on adult social attainment have not been well elucidated.Methods: Adult survivors of pediatric central nervous system (CNS) solid tumors (180 survivors) and non-CNS solid tumors (226 survivors) who were treated with potentially ototoxic cancer therapy completed audiologic evaluations and questionnaires assessing their perception of social functioning and social attainment (ie, independent living, marriage, and employment). Audiograms were graded with the Chang ototoxicity grading scale. Analyses were stratified by tumor type (ie, CNS vs non-CNS). Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted with adjustment for age; sex; chronic health conditions; and, for the CNS group, IQ. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were reported.Results: Serious hearing loss (that requiring a hearing aid or deafness) was detected in 36% of survivors of CNS tumors and 39% of survivors of non-CNS tumors. Serious hearing loss was associated with an increased risk of perceived negative impact in ≥1 areas of social functioning (survivors of non-CNS tumors: OR, 1.83 [95% CI, 1.00-3.34]). Among survivors of non-CNS tumors, serious hearing loss was associated with 2-fold increased risk of nonindependent living (OR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.19-4.04) and unemployment or not graduating from high school (OR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.00-3.34).Conclusions: A substantial proportion of adult survivors of childhood cancer treated with potentially ototoxic therapy have serious hearing loss. Treatment-induced hearing loss was found to be associated with reduced social attainment, both perceived and actual, in this study sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]