Search

Abstract Objective For traumatic lower extremity artery injury, it is unclear whether it is better to perform endovascular therapy (ET) or open surgical repair (OSR). This study aimed to compare the clinical outcomes of ET versus OSR for traumatic lower extremity artery injury. Methods The Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Databases were searched for studies. Cohort studies and case series reporting outcomes of ET or OSR were eligible for inclusion. Robins-I tool and an 18-item tool were used to assess the risk of bias. The primary outcome was amputation. The secondary outcomes included fasciotomy or compartment syndrome, mortality, length of stay and lower extremity nerve injury. We used the random effects model to calculate pooled estimates. Results A total of 32 studies with low or moderate risk of bias were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that patients who underwent ET had a significantly decreased risk of major amputation (OR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.21–0.85; I2=34%) and fasciotomy or compartment syndrome (OR = 0.31, 95% CI 0.20–0.50, I2 = 14%) than patients who underwent OSR. No significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding all-cause mortality (OR = 1.11, 95% CI 0.75–1.64, I2 = 31%). Patients with ET repair had a shorter length of stay than patients with OSR repair (MD=-5.06, 95% CI -6.76 to -3.36, I2 = 65%). Intraoperative nerve injury was just reported in OSR patients with a pooled incidence of 15% (95% CI 6%–27%). Conclusion Endovascular therapy may represent a better choice for patients with traumatic lower extremity arterial injury, because it can provide lower risks of amputation, fasciotomy or compartment syndrome, and nerve injury, as well as shorter length of stay.

Abstract Background Small RNAs are essential for germ cell development and fertilization. However, fundamental questions remain, such as the level of conservation in small RNA composition between species and whether small RNAs control transposable elements in mammalian oocytes. Results Here, we use high-throughput sequencing to profile small RNAs and poly(A)-bearing long RNAs in oocytes of 12 representative vertebrate species (including 11 mammals). The results show that miRNAs are generally expressed in the oocytes of each representative species (although at low levels), whereas endo-siRNAs are specific to mice. Notably, piRNAs are predominant in oocytes of all species (except mice) and vary widely in length. We find PIWIL3-associated piRNAs are widespread in mammals and generally lack 3′-2′-O-methylation. Additionally, sequence identity is low between homologous piRNAs in different species, even among those present in syntenic piRNA clusters. Despite the species-specific divergence, piRNAs retain the capacity to silence younger TE subfamilies in oocytes. Conclusions Collectively, our findings illustrate a high level of diversity in the small RNA populations of mammalian oocytes. Furthermore, we identify sequence features related to conserved roles of small RNAs in silencing TEs, providing a large-scale reference for future in-depth study of small RNA functions in oocytes.

Abstract Graphite is considered to be the most auspicious anode candidate for potassium ion batteries. However, the inferior rate performances and cycling stability restrict its practical applications. Few studies have investigated the modulating the graphitization degree of graphitic materials. Herein, a nitrogen‐doped carbon‐coated carbon fiber composite with tunable graphitization (CNF@NC) through etching growth, in‐situ oxidative polymerization, and subsequent carbonization process is reported. The prepared CNF@NC with abundant electrochemical active sites and a rapid K+/electron transfer pathway, can effectively shorten the K+ transfer distance and promote the rapid insertion/removal of K+. Amorphous domains and short‐range curved graphite layers can provide ample mitigation spaces for K+ storage, alleviating the volume expansion of the highly graphitized CNF during repeated K+ insertion/de‐intercalation. As expected, the CNF@NC‐5 electrode presents a high initial coulombic efficiency (ICE) of 69.3%, an unprecedented reversible volumetric capacity of 510.2 mA h cm−3 at 0.1 A g−1 after 100 cycles with the mass‐capacity of 294.9 mA h g−1. The K+ storage mechanism and reaction kinetic analysis are studied by combining in‐situ analysis and first‐principles calculation. It manifests that the K+ storage mechanism in CNF@NC‐5 is an adsorption‐insertion‐insertion mechanism (i.e., the “1+2” model). The solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film forming is also detected.

The directions and gains of the paths with significant power can reconstruct mm-wave channel estimation, attributed to spatial sparsity resulting from severe propagation loss. Leveraging this feature, the two-dimensional beamspace method of direction estimation (2-D BMODE) is developed to estimate the path directions, including angles of departure and arrival. The least-squares(LS) method is then employed to estimate the path gains. Different from the beamspace two-dimensional multiple signal classification (MUSIC) method, the method proposed in this paper significantly ruduces computational complexity without spectral search. Moreover, the DODs and DOAs can be paired automatically by reduced-dimension(RD) MUSIC. Meanwhile, the performance of this method deteriorates when the covariance matrix of gains isn’t of full column rank. This paper also enhances the performance using spatial smoothing technique and oblique projecting to overcome the influence of rank deficiency. The 2-D BMODE method, as illustrated in this paper, outperforms in terms of both unity in computational complexity and estimation accuracy. Numerical simulations validate the advantages and demonstrate the method can serve as a superior alternative.

Abstract Background Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent malignancy in the world. Chemotherapy (CT) is a common treatment for BC but is accompanied by toxicity and side effects. Shenqi Fuzheng Injection (SFI) is an adjuvant therapy with promising results in improving efficacy and reducing toxicity in clinical studies. This overview of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (SRs/MAs) aimed to summarize the benefits and evaluate the quality of evidence supporting SFI adjuvant as CT for BC. Methods A systematic search for SRs/MAs of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on SFI treatment for BC was performed by searching PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and SinoMed databases from inception to October 1, 2022. The quality of SRs/MAs was evaluated using AMSTAR-2, PRISMA 2020, ROBIS, and GRADE by two reviewers. The corrected covered area (CCA) was used to quantify the degree of duplication of the original SRs/MAs. Finally, quantitative analysis of RCTs was conducted using RevMan 5.4 software. This study was registered with PROSPERO, CRD42022377290. Results Six SRs/MAs including 61 RCTs with 5593 patients were included in this study. Studies were published between 2015 and 2019, the original RCTs ranged from 7–49, with sample sizes ranging from 336–1989. The quantitative meta-analysis found that adjuvant CT of SFI improved the clinical response rate (RR=1.37, 95% CI=1.28, 1.46; P

Abstract Objective The effectiveness and security of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in combination with toripalimab (anti‐PD‐1) for the treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was studied in this article. Methods Total of 40 patients were enrolled in the study between September 2019 and November 2021. Data follow‐up ends in April 2022. The study’s main focus is on recurrence free survival (RFS), while the secondary objectives was safety. Chi‐square tests, Kaplan‐Meier, and Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to analyze the data. Results The median follow‐up period was 21.40 months, and the median RFS was 15.40 months in the group that received combination therapy, which was statistically significantly different (HR: 0.44, p = 0.04) compared with the RFA group (8.2 months). RFS rates (RFSr) at 6, 12 and 18 months in the combination therapy groups and RFA groups were 80% vs 65%, 62.7% vs 35% and 48.7% vs 18.8%, respectively. Between the two groups, significant difference of RFSr was found at 18 months (p = 0.04). No statistical differences were observed between the two groups in terms of safeness (p > 0.05). The subgroup analysis indicated that the combination of RFA and anti‐PD‐1 led to better RFS than RFA alone. Moreover, patients benefited more from combination therapy in the groups younger than 60 years (HR: 0.26, p = 0.018), male (HR: 0.32, p = 0.028) and Child‐Pugh grade A (HR: 0.38, p = 0.032). Conclusions Combining RFA with anti‐PD‐1 showed improved RFS and was deemed safe for patients with recurrent HCC who had previously undergone RFA treatment alone.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common tumor. Our group has previously reported that sorcin (SRI) plays an important role in the progression and prognosis of HCC. This study aims to explore the mechanism of SRI inhibiting the mitochondrial apoptosis. Bioinformatics analysis, co-IP and immunofluorescence were used to analyze the relationship between SRI and STAT3. MMP and Hoechst staining were performed to detect the effect of SRI on cell apoptosis. The expression of apoptosis-related proteins and NF-κB signaling pathway were examined by Western blot and immunohistochemistry when SRI overexpression or underexpression in vivo and in vitro were found. Moreover, inhibitors were used to further explore the molecular mechanism. Overexpression of SRI inhibited cell apoptosis, which was attenuated by SRI knockdown in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we identified that STAT3 is an SRI-interacting protein. Mechanistically, SRI interacts with STAT3 and then activates the NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro and in vivo. SRI interacting with STAT3 inhibits apoptosis by the NF-κB pathway and further contributes to the proliferation in HCC, which offers a novel clue and a new potential therapeutic target for HCC.

The purpose of this study was to check the moderating role of individualism/collectivism in predicting male Chinese university students’ exercise behavior using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model. The TPB model was validated through SEM (structure equation model), and the moderating effect of individualism and collectivism was validated through a hierarchical regression and simple slopes analysis using a sample collected from 115 male Chinese university students. The results showed that the product terms of individualism and TPB factors were not able to significantly predict exercise intention after inclusion in the regression equation, nor were the product terms of collectivism and PBC (perceived behavior control) able to do so. However, the product terms of collectivism and attitude, as well as collectivism and SN (subjective norm) were able to significantly predict exercise intention when included in the regression equation. That is, horizontal and vertical collectivism can significantly moderate TPB constructs, primarily by moderating the relationship between attitude-exercise intention and SN-exercise intention. This study found that the predictive validity of exercise attitudes on exercise intentions in TPB constructs is greater only at low levels of horizontal and vertical collectivism and low at high levels. The predictive validity of SN is greater at high levels of horizontal and vertical collectivism and low in the inverse case. This research serves to enrich the theoretical framework for the theory of planned behavior and provides useful information for understanding university students’ exercise intentions and behaviors.

Abstract The piRNA pathway is essential for female fertility in golden hamsters and likely humans, but not in mice. However, the role of individual PIWIs in mammalian reproduction remains poorly understood outside of mice. Here, we describe the expression profiles, subcellular localization, and knockout-associated reproductive defects for all four PIWIs in golden hamsters. In female golden hamsters, PIWIL1 and PIWIL3 are highly expressed throughout oogenesis and early embryogenesis, while knockout of PIWIL1 leads to sterility, and PIWIL3 deficiency results in subfertility with lagging zygotic development. PIWIL1 can partially compensate for TE silencing in PIWIL3 knockout females, but not vice versa. PIWIL1 and PIWIL4 are the predominant PIWIs expressed in adult and postnatal testes, respectively, while PIWIL2 is present at both stages. Loss of any PIWI expressed in testes leads to sterility and severe but distinct spermatogenesis disorders. These findings illustrate the non-redundant regulatory functions of PIWI-piRNAs in gametogenesis and early embryogenesis in golden hamsters, facilitating study of their role in human fertility.

Abstract Background The hypomethylating agent decitabine is the standard therapy for intermediate or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Methods In this trial, 191 adult patients with intermediate/high risk MDS (IPSS score ≥ 0.5) randomly received decitabine using a standard regimen (20 mg/m2/day for 5 consecutive days; n = 94) or an extended regimen with lower daily dose (12 mg/m2/day for 8 consecutive days; n = 97) every 4 weeks, for a total of 4 cycles. Results The median follow‐up was 14 months (range 2–36). The primary end point of overall response rate in the intent‐to‐treat analysis was 41.5% and 38.1% in the standard and extended dosing arms, respectively (p = 0.660). Complete remission and marrow complete remission also did not differ between the two arms. Cytopenia was the most frequent adverse event (76.4%). The median duration of neutropenia per cycle did not differ between the two arms during the first two cycles, but significantly shorter in the extended dosing arm in the third cycle (8.5 vs. 15.5 days, p = 0.049) and in the fourth cycle (8 vs. 14 days, p = 0.294). Conclusion The 5‐day 20‐mg/m2/day and 8‐day 12‐mg/m2/day decitabine regimens have similar efficacy and safety in patients with intermediate or high risk MDS.

Abstract Background Metabolic disorders are a hallmark feature of cancer. However, the evidence for the causality of circulating metabolites to promote or prevent colorectal cancer (CRC) is still lacking. We performed a two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to assess the causality from genetically proxied 486 blood metabolites to CRC. Methods Genome‐wide association study (GWAS) data for exposures were extracted from 7824 Europeans GWAS on metabolite levels. GWAS data for CRC from the GWAS catalog database GCST012879 were used for the preliminary analysis. The random inverse variance weighted (IVW) is the primary analysis for causality analysis while MR‐Egger and weighted median as complementary analyses. Cochran Q test, MR‐Egger intercept test, MR‐PRESSO, Radial MR, and leave‐one‐out analysis were used for sensitivity analyses. For significant associations, additional independent CRC GWAS data GCST012880 were used for replication analysis and meta‐analysis. For the final identification of metabolites, Steiger test, linkage disequilibrium score regression, and colocalization analysis were performed for further evaluation. Multivariable MR was performed to assess the direct effect of metabolites on CRC. Results The results of this study indicated significant associations between six metabolites pyruvate (odds ratio [OR]: 0.49, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.32–0.77, p = 0.002), 1,6‐anhydroglucose (OR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.11–1.59, p = 0.002), nonadecanoate (19:0) (OR: 0.40, 95% C I:0.4–0.68, p = 0.0008), 1‐linoleoylglycerophosphoethanolamine (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.30–0.75, p = 0.001), 2‐hydroxystearate (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.23–0.67, p = 0.0007), gamma‐glutamylthreonine (OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.02–4.50, p = 0.040) and CRC. MVMR analysis revealed that genetically predicted pyruvate, 1‐linoleoylglycerophosphoethanolamine and gamma‐glutamylthreonine can directly influence CRC independently of other metabolites. Conclusion The current work provides evidence to support the causality of the six circulating metabolites on CRC and a new perspective on the exploration of the biological mechanisms of CRC by combining genomics and metabolomics. These findings contribute to the screening, prevention and treatment of CRC.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of seven oral Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) as adjuvant therapy for cancer-related anemia (CRA) by network meta-analysis (NMA). Methods: A literature search to obtain randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of seven oral CPMs in the adjuvant treatment of CRA was conducted in multiple databases from the inception to April 2022. The RevMan5.3 and R 4.1.1 software were used for NMA. Results: We ultimately included 29 RCTs with 2140 patients. Traditional meta-analysis showed that Fufang E'jiao syrup (FFEJS), Shengxuebao mixture (SXBM), Shengxuening tablets (SXNT), Jianpi Shengxue granules (JPSXG), and Yixuesheng capsule (YXSC) combined with basic Western treatment (BWT) could improve the hemoglobin (HGB) level. JPSXG combined with BWT could improve the red blood cell (RBC). FFEJS combined with BWT improved the Karnofsky performance status (KPS). NMA showed that FFEJS, JPSXG, SXBM, and SXNT plus BWT improved HGB better than Shengxue tablets (SXT) plus BWT, with top three ranking results being JPSXG plus BWT > SXNT plus BWT > FFEJS plus BWT. FFEJS plus BWT, JPSXG plus BWT, SXBM plus BWT, SXNT plus BWT, and SXT plus BWT improved RBC better than BWT, with top three ranking results being SXNT plus BWT > JPSXG plus BWT > FFEJS plus BWT. In terms of the KPS score, compared with SXT plus BWT, FFEJS, JPSXG, SXBM, SXNT, and Yizhong Shengxue capsule (YZSXC) plus BWT had higher KPS, with top three ranking results being SXBM plus BWT > JPSXG plus BWT > FFEJS plus BWT. Conclusions: Our NMA demonstrated that seven oral CPMs used as adjuvant treatment of CRA had a definite clinical effect. JPSXG not only increases the levels of HGB and RBC to enhance the clinical effect but also improves patients' quality of life. More accurate conclusions need to be verified by more high-quality RCTs.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a prevalent malignant tumor of the digestive tract. Chemotherapy (CT) is the primary treatment for GC, but it is accompanied by toxic side effects. Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) on the combination of Shenqi Fuzheng injection (SFI) with CT for GC have been published; however, the conclusions have been inconsistent. This overview of SRs/MAs aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of SFI for GC, establishing a dependable foundation for its clinical application. Methods: We utilized 7 databases, namely PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and SinoMed, to conduct our search. The retrieval period spanned from inception to August 2023. The methodological quality, bias risk, reporting quality, and evidence quality of the SRs/MAs were assessed using the evaluation tools AMSTAR-2, ROBIS, PRISMA 2020, and GRADE, respectively. Subsequently, the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) included in the SRs/MAs were quantitatively analyzed through the implementation of RevMan 5.4 software. Results: Eleven SRs/MAs were included in this study, comprising 54 RCTs involving a total of 9539 patients with GC. The studies covered the period from 2012 to 2021, with the number of original RCTs per study ranging from 3 to 20 and sample sizes ranging from 159 to 1413. The methodological quality of all 11 SRs/MAs was assessed as low or very low, and the quality of evidence was determined to range from moderate to very low. The comprehensive quantitative meta-analysis revealed that the combination of SFI with CT improved the objective response rate (ORR) (RR = 1.30, 95% CI = [1.21, 1.41], P

Researchers have begun to investigate the relationship between eye movement characteristics of gaze patterns and cognitive abilities, and have attempted to use eye-tracking technology as a new method to evaluate cognitive abilities. Traditional eye movement analysis methods typically separate spatial and temporal information of eye movements, mostly analyze averaged data, and consider individual differences as noise. In addition, current eye movement studies on gaze patterns mostly involve adults, while research on infants and toddlers is limited with small sample sizes and narrow age ranges. It is still unknown whether the conclusions drawn from adult-based research can be applied to children. Consequently, eye movement research on gaze patterns in children is necessary. To address the concerns stated above, this study used the Hidden Markov machine learning method to model gaze patterns of 330 children aged 1–6 years while observing faces freely, and analyzed characteristics of eye movement gaze patterns. Additionally, we analyzed the correlation between gaze patterns of 31 toddlers aged 1–3 years and 37 preschoolers aged 4–6 years, and the different dimensions of cognitive abilities. The findings indicated that children exhibited holistic and analytic gaze patterns while observing different faces freely. More children adopted a holistic gaze pattern, and there were age-specific gaze pattern characteristics and regularities. Gaze patterns of toddlers may be correlated with their adaptive abilities and gaze patterns of preschoolers may be correlated with their visual space abilities. Specifically, toddlers aged 1–3 years showed a moderate negative correlation between the H-A scale and the adaptive dimension, while preschoolers aged 4–6 years showed a low negative correlation between the H-A scale and the visual space dimension. This study may provide new insights into the characteristics of children’s eye-movement gaze patterns during face observation, and potentially offer objective evidence for future research aimed at promoting the use of eye-tracking technology in the assessment of toddlers’ adaptive abilities and preschoolers’ visual space abilities in the field of face perception.

Fostering sustainable development through green supply chains is of paramount significance. Government subsidies emerge as a successful strategy for motivating businesses to actively participate in such eco-friendly practices. This study employs prospect theory and an evolutionary game model to analyze the transition toward carbon peaking and neutrality while promoting the expansion of highly sustainable businesses. By exploring the decision-making processes of businesses and governments regarding sustainability, we develop an evolutionary game-based decision model to assess the impact of government subsidies on businesses engaged in green supply chains. Through numerical simulation obtained via MATLAB, we examine various factors influencing the evolution of the game system between green supply chain businesses and the government. Additionally, we investigate how government incentives impact the decision-making behavior of green supply chain businesses. Our findings indicate that governmental fines can effectively encourage the adoption of green supply chains. Furthermore, moderate government subsidies incentivize enterprises to opt for sustainable supply chains, benefiting both the government and businesses. However, providing hefty government subsidies not only fails to encourage the adoption of green supply chains but also incurs costs for the government, without yielding any positive change in the businesses’ approach. By incorporating evolutionary game theory and prospect theory, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on government-supported green supply chains, offering incentive programs tailored to the real-world conditions faced by businesses while demonstrating practical application values.

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide and has a moderate treatment outcome. The traditional Chinese medicine KangXianYiAi formula (KXYA) has shown a clinically therapeutic effect on liver lesions. Here, we aimed to explore the effect and mechanism of KXYA in treating HCC. Methods: The rat HCC model induced with diethylnitrosamine was treated with KXYA. After treatment, the rat's serum and the liver tissues were used to detect biochemical indices and perform pathological examinations, second-generation sequencing (RNA-seq), and phosphoproteomics analysis (PPOA). The hepatoma cells were treated with KXYA in vitro and a nude-mice model. The expression levels of genes were detected by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blotting (WB), and immunohistochemistry approaches. The expression and prognosis data of genes in HCC were obtained from the public database. Results: Compared to the model, KXYA treatment significantly downregulated the rats’ serum hepatitis index, inflammatory damage, collagen deposition, and malignant proliferation of hepatocytes. And through the RNA-seq and PPOA analysis of rat liver tissues, we obtained the key pathways of KXYA including glutathione metabolism and ferroptosis. The qRT-PCR and WB results suggested that the key targets of UGDH, AKR1B10, and SLC7A11 were abnormally upregulated in HCC and downregulated to normal levels after KXYA treatment. In the public database, UGDH, AKR1B10, and SLC7A11 expression was significantly upregulated in HCC and indicated a poor prognosis. Discussion: Our study showed that KXYA treatment could effectively inhibit the progression of HCC by reducing glutathione and inducing ferroptosis of liver cancer cells.

Abstract Five new toosendanin limonoids with highly oxidative furan ring walsurobustones A-D (1–4), and one new furan ring degraded limonoid walsurobustone E (5) together with one known compound toonapubesic acid B (6) were isolated from the leaves of Walsura robusta. Their structures were elucidated by NMR and MS data. Especially, the absolute configuration of toonapubesic acid B (6) was confirmed by X-ray diffraction study. Compounds 1–6 exhibited good cytotoxicity against the cancer cell lines HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480.

Abstract Objective Despite the availability of new agents, elderly patients with multiple myeloma (MM) usually present with poor outcomes due to the heterogeneity of disease conditions, especially immune deficiency. Regulatory B cells (Bregs) can be involved in immune defects by exerting immune regulatory functions in MM. In order to provide more evidence‐based practice for the elderly MM, the study established and assessed a stratified therapeutic model with studies on Bregs for Chinese Elderly Multiple Myeloma in 2021 (CEMM2021). Methods In this open‐label, non‐interventional, prospective study in the real world, 159 newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) patients over 65 years old were sequentially recruited and bone marrow aspirates prior to treatment were obtained to detect the ratios of Bregs by flow cytometry. Results Based on the CEMM2021 model, 147 patients had received at least one cycle of induction therapy, including bortezomib/dexamethasone (Bd) (n = 80), lenalidomide/dexamethasone (Rd) (n = 27), Bd with a third agent X (Bd + X) (n = 27), and other regimens (n = 13). The proportions of patients achieving very good partial response or better were comparable among Bd, Bd + X, and Rd groups (41.9% vs. 54.5% vs. 44.0%, p = 0.472). Besides, the progression‐free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were not significantly different among Rd, Bd, and Bd + X groups. Multivariable analysis showed that induction efficacy less than partial response (PR) were poor prognostic factors for PFS, while Revised‐International Staging System (R‐ISS) III and efficacy less than PR were poor prognostic factors for OS. This study also found that the ratios of bone marrow Bregs 4.2 (p = 0.000) were closely correlated with OS in the elderly MM. Conclusions For the elderly NDMM, the CEMM2021 algorithm in our center might provide a valuable reference for the guidance of therapeutic strategies, with the combination of Bregs resulting in an effective and clinically meaningful prediction in contemporary treatment.

Medical procedure entity normalization is an important task to realize medical information sharing at the semantic level; it faces main challenges such as variety and similarity in real-world practice. Although deep learning-based methods have been successfully applied to biomedical entity normalization, they often depend on traditional context-independent word embeddings, and there is minimal research on medical entity recognition in Chinese Regarding the entity normalization task as a sentence pair classification task, we applied a three-step framework to normalize Chinese medical procedure terms, and it consists of dataset construction, candidate concept generation and candidate concept ranking. For dataset construction, external knowledge base and easy data augmentation skills were used to increase the diversity of training samples. For candidate concept generation, we implemented the BM25 retrieval method based on integrating synonym knowledge of SNOMED CT and train data. For candidate concept ranking, we designed a stacking-BERT model, including the original BERT-based and Siamese-BERT ranking models, to capture the semantic information and choose the optimal mapping pairs by the stacking mechanism. In the training process, we also added the tricks of adversarial training to improve the learning ability of the model on small-scale training data. Based on the clinical entity normalization task dataset of the 5th China Health Information Processing Conference, our stacking-BERT model achieved an accuracy of 93.1%, which outperformed the single BERT models and other traditional deep learning models. In conclusion, this paper presents an effective method for Chinese medical procedure entity normalization and validation of different BERT-based models. In addition, we found that the tricks of adversarial training and data augmentation can effectively improve the effect of the deep learning model for small samples, which might provide some useful ideas for future research.

Crystalline phase engineering is a prominent strategy for synergistically optimizing the surface–body phases of a catalyst. In this work, TiO2 nanosheets assembled into nanotubes (TNSTs) with two phases, anatase and rutile, were firstly synthesized via crystal engineering by simple thermal annealing. These were subsequently loaded with Ru nanoparticles, with a mean size of 5.0 nm, to create the efficient benzene hydrogenation catalyst Ru/TNSTs. The well-designed nanosheet-tube structure boasts a large specific surface area and excellent transmission channels, which effectively prevents the agglomeration and deactivation of loaded Ru nanoparticles, as well as promoting the internal diffusion in the reaction process of benzene hydrogenation to cyclohexene. Furthermore, titanium dioxide nanosheet-tubes contain numerous Ti3+ defects, which not only improves the overall conversion rate of cyclohexene but also enhances the suppression of cyclohexene adsorption. Most importantly, the titanium dioxide with its two-phase composition of 75 wt% anatase and 25 wt% rutile increases the ratio of electron deficiencies of Ru and promotes cyclohexene desorption. These synergistic properties enhance the selectivity and efficiency of the Ru/TNSTs catalysts, resulting in excellent performance in the hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexene. In particular, the Ru/TNSTs-4 catalyst (annealed for 4 h), under the specific conditions of 140 °C temperature and 5 MPa hydrogen pressure for the hydrogenation process, achieves a 95% initial selectivity and 51% yield of cyclohexene in the reaction, outperforming most supported Ru-based catalysts. This work may provide new perspectives for designing efficient benzene hydrogenation catalysts via crystalline phase engineering.

Using recycled concrete fines (RFs) as a supplementary cementitious material in blended cement systems offers potential benefits for the construction industry. This study investigated the mechanical properties, hydration development, and microstructural evolutions of blended Portland cement systems incorporating different particle-size distributions of untreated RFs. The results highlighted that finer RFs improved the compressive strength of mortar and influenced hydration by promoting monocarbonate formation. The incorporation of RFs optimizes the pore structure in the early stage but increases porosity. RFs affected the distribution of capillary pores and created a rougher and more complex surface compared to inert mineral admixtures. Furthermore, the particle size of RFs impacted the fractal dimension of multi-scale pore sizes.

Objective:The growth and migration of airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) are dysregulated in asthma. MicroRNAs(miRNAs) are associated with the pathogenesis of many diseases including asthma. Instead, the function of miR-140-3p in ASMCs’ dysregulation in asthma remains inconclusive. This study aimed to explore the role and mechanism ofmiR-140-3p in ASMCs’ dysregulation.Materials and Methods:In this experimental study, ASMCs were stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB to construct an asthma cell model in vitro. MiR-140-3p expression level in the plasma of 50 asthmatic patients and50 healthy volunteers was measured with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Besides, theenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to detect the contents of interleukin (IL) -1β, IL-6, and tumornecrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the cell culture supernatant of ASMCs. Additionally, CCK-8 and transwell assays wereadopted to probe the multiplication and migration of ASMCs. In addition, the western blot was employed to examineHMGB1, JAK2, and STAT3 protein expressions in ASMCs after miR-140-3p and HMGB1 were selectively regulated.Results:miR-140-3p expression was declined in asthmatic patients' plasma and ASMCs stimulated by PDGF-BB.Upregulating miR-140-3p suppressed the viability and migration of the cells and alleviated the inflammatory responsewhile inhibiting miR-140-3p showed opposite effects. Additionally, HMGB1 was testified as the target of miR-140-3p.HMGB1 overexpression could reverse the impact of miR-140-3p upregulation on the inflammatory response of ASMCsstimulated by PDGF-BB. MiR-140-3p could repress the activation of JAK2/STAT3 via suppressing HMGB1.Conclusion:In ASMCs, miR-140-3p can inhibit the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway by targeting HMGB1, thusameliorating airway inflammation and remodeling in the pathogenesis of asthma.

Introduction: Exploring the potential efficacy of a drug is a valid approach for drug development with shorter development times and lower costs. Recently, several computational drug repositioning methods have been introduced to learn multi-features for potential association prediction. However, fully leveraging the vast amount of information in the scientific literature to enhance drug-disease association prediction is a great challenge.Methods: We constructed a drug-disease association prediction method called Literature Based Multi-Feature Fusion (LBMFF), which effectively integrated known drugs, diseases, side effects and target associations from public databases as well as literature semantic features. Specifically, a pre-training and fine-tuning BERT model was introduced to extract literature semantic information for similarity assessment. Then, we revealed drug and disease embeddings from the constructed fusion similarity matrix by a graph convolutional network with an attention mechanism.Results: LBMFF achieved superior performance in drug-disease association prediction with an AUC value of 0.8818 and an AUPR value of 0.5916.Discussion: LBMFF achieved relative improvements of 31.67% and 16.09%, respectively, over the second-best results, compared to single feature methods and seven existing state-of-the-art prediction methods on the same test datasets. Meanwhile, case studies have verified that LBMFF can discover new associations to accelerate drug development. The proposed benchmark dataset and source code are available at: https://github.com/kang-hongyu/LBMFF.

Abstract Chemokine receptors are a family of G-protein-coupled receptors with key roles in leukocyte migration and inflammatory responses. Here, we present cryo-electron microscopy structures of two human CC chemokine receptor–G-protein complexes: CCR2 bound to its endogenous ligand CCL2, and CCR3 in the apo state. The structure of the CCL2–CCR2–G-protein complex reveals that CCL2 inserts deeply into the extracellular half of the transmembrane domain, and forms substantial interactions with the receptor through the most N-terminal glutamine. Extensive hydrophobic and polar interactions are present between both two chemokine receptors and the Gα-protein, contributing to the constitutive activity of these receptors. Notably, complemented with functional experiments, the interactions around intracellular loop 2 of the receptors are found to be conserved and play a more critical role in G-protein activation than those around intracellular loop 3. Together, our findings provide structural insights into chemokine recognition and receptor activation, shedding lights on drug design targeting chemokine receptors.

Objective: To explore the hemostatic mechanism of Jianpi Yiqi Shexue decoction (JYSD) by regulating vascular factors in an immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) mouse model. Methods: An ITP mouse model was established by the passive-immune modeling method, and interventional drugs used were prednisone tablets and JYSD. The platelet count; vascular activity–related factors vWF, VCAM-1, and TM; and VEGF and bFGF were used as observational indicators. Results: On the 8th day of administration, compared with the model group, platelet counts in the prednisone and JYSD groups increased (both P .05). Conclusion: A vascular factor disorder is involved in the pathogenesis of ITP. JYSD can increase the platelet count, upregulate VEGF expression, and reduce the TM level. JYSD has the same effect as prednisone tablets in regulating platelet, vWF, VEGF, and bFGF, with a stronger effect in normalizing VCAM-1 and TM levels. The hemostatic mechanism of JYSD is closely related to the effective balance of vascular factors.

BackgroundPrevious observational studies suggested inconsistent insights on the associations between meat intake and the risk of digestive tract cancers (DCTs). The causal effect of meat intake on DCTs is unclear.MethodsTwo-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was performed based on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary data from UK Biobank and FinnGen to evaluate the causal effect of meat intake [processed meat, red meat (pork, beef, and lamb), and white meat (poultry)] on DCTs (esophageal, stomach, liver, biliary tract, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers). The causal effects were estimated using a primary analysis that employed inverse-variance weighting (IVW) and complementary analysis that utilized MR-Egger weighted by the median. A sensitivity analysis was conducted using the Cochran Q statistic, a funnel plot, the MR-Egger intercept, and a leave-one-out approach. MR-PRESSO and Radial MR were performed to identify and remove outliers. To demonstrate direct causal effects, multivariable MR (MVMR) was applied. In addition, risk factors were introduced to explore potential mediators of the relationship between exposure and outcome.ResultsThe results of the univariable MR analysis indicated that genetically proxied processed meat intake was associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer [IVW: odds ratio (OR) = 2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07–4.19; P = 0.031]. The causal effect is consistent in MVMR (OR = 3.85, 95% CI 1.14–13.04; P = 0.030) after controlling for the influence of other types of exposure. The body mass index and total cholesterol did not mediate the causal effects described above. There was no evidence to support the causal effects of processed meat intake on other cancers, except for colorectal cancer. Similarly, there is no causal association between red meat, white meat intake, and DCTs.ConclusionsOur study reported that processed meat intake increases the risk of colorectal cancer rather than other DCTs. No causal relationship was observed between red and white meat intake and DCTs.

RNA vaccines, including conventional messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, circular RNA (circRNA) vaccines, and self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccines, have ushered in a promising future and revolutionized vaccine development. The success of mRNA vaccines in combating the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that emerged in 2019 has highlighted the potential of RNA vaccines. These vaccines possess several advantages, such as high efficacy, adaptability, simplicity in antigen design, and the ability to induce both humoral and cellular immunity. They also offer rapid and cost-effective manufacturing, flexibility to target emerging or mutant pathogens and a potential approach for clearing immunotolerant microbes by targeting bacterial or parasitic survival mechanisms. The self-adjuvant effect of mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations or circular RNA further enhances the potential of RNA vaccines. However, some challenges need to be addressed. These include the technology’s immaturity, high research expenses, limited duration of antibody response, mRNA instability, low efficiency of circRNA cyclization, and the production of double-stranded RNA as a side product. These factors hinder the widespread adoption and utilization of RNA vaccines, particularly in developing countries. This review provides a comprehensive overview of mRNA, circRNA, and saRNA vaccines for infectious diseases while also discussing their development, current applications, and challenges.

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and metastasis is the major cause of the high mortality of HCC. In this study, we identified that AnnexinA7 (ANXA7) and Sorcin (SRI) are overexpressed and interacting proteins in HCC tissues and cells. In vitro functional investigations revealed that the interaction between ANXA7 and SRI regulated epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), and then affected migration, invasion, and proliferation in HCC cells. Furthermore overexpression/knockdown of ANXA7 was remarkably effective in promoting/inhibiting tumorigenicity and EMT in vivo. Altogether, our study unveiled a mechanism that ANXA7 promotes EMT by interacting with SRI and further contributes to the aggressiveness in HCC, which provides a novel potential therapeutic target for preventing recurrence and metastasis in HCC.

Zircon is a widely-used heavy mineral in geochronological and geochemical research because it can extract important information to understand the history and genesis of rocks. Zircon has various types, and an accurate examination of zircon type is a prerequisite procedure before further analysis. Cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging is one of the most reliable ways to classify zircons. However, current CL image examination is conducted by manual work, which is time-consuming, bias-prone, and requires expertise. An automated and bias-free method for zircon classification is absent but necessary. To this end, deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) and transfer learning are applied in this study to classify the common types of zircons, i.e., igneous, metamorphic, and hydrothermal zircons. An atlas with over 4000 CL images of these three types of zircons is created, and three DCNNs are trained using these images. The results of this study indicate that the DCNNs can distinguish hydrothermal zircons from other zircons, as indicated by the highest accuracy of 100%. Although similar textures in igneous and metamorphic zircons pose great challenges for zircon classification, the DCNNs successfully classify 95% igneous and 92% metamorphic zircons. This study demonstrates the high accuracy of DCNNs in zircon classification and presents the great potentiality of deep learning techniques in numerous geoscientific disciplines.

Abstract Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has shown its destructiveness with more than one million confirmed cases and dozens of thousands of death, which is highly contagious and still spreading globally. World-wide studies have been conducted aiming to understand the COVID-19 mechanism, transmission, clinical features, etc. A cross-language terminology of COVID-19 is essential for improving knowledge sharing and scientific discovery dissemination. Methods We developed a bilingual terminology of COVID-19 named COVID Term with mapping Chinese and English terms. The terminology was constructed as follows: (1) Classification schema design; (2) Concept representation model building; (3) Term source selection and term extraction; (4) Hierarchical structure construction; (5) Quality control (6) Web service. We built open access for the terminology, providing search, browse, and download services. Results The proposed COVID Term include 10 categories: disease, anatomic site, clinical manifestation, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, living organism, qualifiers, psychological assistance, medical equipment, instruments and materials, epidemic prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment technique respectively. In total, COVID Terms covered 464 concepts with 724 Chinese terms and 887 English terms. All terms are openly available online (COVID Term URL: http://covidterm.imicams.ac.cn ). Conclusions COVID Term is a bilingual terminology focused on COVID-19, the epidemic pneumonia with a high risk of infection around the world. It will provide updated bilingual terms of the disease to help health providers and medical professionals retrieve and exchange information and knowledge in multiple languages. COVID Term was released in machine-readable formats (e.g., XML and JSON), which would contribute to the information retrieval, machine translation and advanced intelligent techniques application.

The hypoxia inducible factor (Hif) pathway is functionally conserved across metazoans in modulating cellular adaptations to hypoxia. However, the functions of this pathway under aerobic physiological conditions are rarely investigated. Here, we show that Hif-1α2, a locust Hif-1α isoform, does not induce canonical hypoxic responses but functions as a specific regulator of locust flight, which is a completely aerobic physiological process. Two Hif-1α splice variants were identified in locusts, a ubiquitously expressed Hif-1α1 and a muscle-predominantly expressed Hif-1α2. Hif-1α1 that induces typical hypoxic responses upon hypoxia exposure remains inactive during flight. By contrast, the expression of Hif-1α2, which lacks C-terminal transactivation domain, is less sensitive to oxygen tension but induced extensively by flying. Hif-1α2 regulates physiological processes involved in glucose metabolism and antioxidation during flight and sustains flight endurance by maintaining redox homeostasis through upregulating the production of a reactive oxygen species (ROS) quencher, DJ-1. Overall, this study reveals a novel Hif-mediated mechanism underlying prolonged aerobic physiological activity.

Background: The farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a key factor regulating hepatic bile acid synthesis and enterohepatic circulation. Repression of bile acid synthesis by the FXR is a potential strategy for treating cholestatic liver disease. However, the role of intestinal FXR on the intestinal barrier and intestinal microbiota needs further investigation.Materials: Intestinal tissues were collected from patients with biliary atresia or without hepatobiliary disease. Then, intestinal mRNA levels of FXR-related molecules were determined. To investigate the effect of FXR activation, bile-duct-ligation rats were treated with obeticholic acid [OCA (5 mg/kg/day)] or vehicle (0.5% methyl cellulose) per oral gavage for 14 days. The mRNA levels of intestinal FXR, SHP, TNF-α, FGF15 and bile acid transporter levels were determined. In addition, the intestinal permeability, morphologic changes, and composition of the intestinal microbiota were evaluated. Gut Microbiome was determined by 16S rDNA MiSeq sequencing, and functional profiling of microbial communities was predicted with BugBase and PICRUSt2. Finally, the role of OCA in injured intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis and proliferation was examined by pretreatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in Caco-2 cells.Results: The downstream of the FXR in ileum tissues was inhibited in biliary obstruction. Activation of the FXR signaling pathway by OCA significantly reduced liver fibrosis and intestinal inflammation, improved intestinal microbiota, and protected intestinal mucosa in BDL rats. OCA also altered the functional capacities of ileum microbiota in BDL rats. Significant differences existed between the controls and BDL rats, which were attenuated by OCA in the alpha diversity analysis. Principal coordinates analysis showed that microbial communities in BDL rats clustered separately from controls, and OCA treatment attenuated the distinction. Bugbase and PICRUSt2 analysis showed that OCA changed the composition and structure of the intestinal microbiota and improved the metabolic function of the intestinal microbiota by increasing the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria and reducing the relative abundance of harmful bacteria. Moreover, OCA reduced the apoptosis induced by LPS in Caco-2 cells.Conclusion: The FXR agonist, OCA, activates the intestinal FXR signaling pathway and improves the composition and structure of the intestinal microbiota and intestinal barrier in BDL rats.

In the design and evaluation process of the module configuration for the special machine tool of variable hyperbolic circular-arc-tooth-trace cylindrical gear, the similar coefficient of each module attribute is calculated by using fuzzy mathematics theory, and the closest module is retrieved, so as to obtain the module configuration design scheme set. It is difficult to judge the influence degree of different evaluation factors precisely because of the strong fuzziness of many evaluation factors. Using the improved set pair analysis theory to analyze the uncertainty and fuzziness of the evaluation factors of the machine tool module configuration scheme, fuzzy linguistic values are constructed for evaluation factors and transformed into triangular fuzzy numbers, thus the evaluation decision matrix is established. At the identity time, the entropy weight method is used to determine the factor weight to improve the objectivity of the scheme optimization. The IDO (identical different opposite) relation degree between the module configuration scheme and the most ideal scheme is established. The scheme closeness degree is introduced to sort the alternative schemes, and the comprehensive evaluation decision-making model is established to realize the optimization of the machine tool module configuration design scheme and obtain the optimal configuration design scheme.

A multicolor visual method for the detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was reported based on the iodide-mediated surface etching of gold nanostar (AuNS). First, AuNS was prepared by a seed-mediated method in a HEPES buffer. AuNS shows two different LSPR absorbance bands at 736 nm and 550 nm, respectively. Multicolor was generated by iodide-mediated surface etching of AuNS in the presence of H2O2. Under the optimized conditions, the absorption peak Δλ had a good linear relationship with the concentration of H2O2 with a linear range from 0.67~66.67 μmol L−1, and the detection limit is 0.44 μmol L−1. It can be used to detect residual H2O2 in tap water samples. This method offered a promising visual method for point-of-care testing of H2O2-related biomarkers.

Abstract Background Non-Drosophila insects provide diverse aging types and important complementary systems for studies of aging biology. However, little attention has been paid to the special roles of non-Drosophila insects in aging research. Here, the aging-related features of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria, were determined at the physiological, cellular, and transcriptional levels. Results In physiological assessments, the flight performance and sperm state of locusts displayed clear aging-related decline in male adults. Transcriptional analyses demonstrated locusts have similar aging-related genes with model species. However, different from those of Drosophila and mammals, the organ-specific aging transcriptional features of locusts were characterized by intensive expression changes in flight muscle and fat body and little transcriptional changes in brain. The predominant transcriptional characteristics of flight muscle and fat body aging were changes in expression of mitochondrion-related genes and detoxification and phagocytosis genes, respectively. Cellular assessments revealed the incidence of mitochondrial abnormalities significantly increased in aged flight muscle, and apoptotic signals and nuclear abnormalities were enhanced in aged fat body but not in brain. In addition, some well-known aging genes and locust aging-related genes (i.e., IAP1, PGRP-SA, and LIPT1), whose roles in aging regulation were rarely reported, were demonstrated to affect lifespan, metabolism, and flight ability of locusts after RNAi. Conclusion This study revealed multi-level aging signatures of locust, thus laying a foundation for further investigation of aging mechanisms in this famous insect in the future.

A ratiometric fluorescent method based on the difunctional copper (II)-based metal-organic framework (Cu-MOF) for label-free monitoring pyrophosphatase (PPase) activity and pyrophosphate ion (PPi) was developed. Difunctional Cu-MOF possessed peroxidase mimetic activity and fluorescent emission property. The catalytic activity of Cu-MOF would be inhibited by the coordination reaction between Cu2+ and PPi because of the good affinity between Cu2+ and PPi. However, the PPi can be hydrolyzed by PPase catalyzation to Pi which can hardly affect the Cu-MOF nanozyme activity. Once the PPase participated, the catalytic activity of Cu-MOF was recovered and catalyzed the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to oxidize o-phenylenediamine (OPD) to form a 2,3-diaminophenazine (DAP) solution and turns on the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from Cu-MOF as a donor to DAP as an acceptor. The LODs of the fluorescence sensing platform were 0.30 mU mL−1 for PPase and 0.53 μmol L−1 for PPi, respectively. This method will broaden the applications of nanozyme and shows a great potential application in the diagnosis of PPi or PPase-related diseases.

Reproductive synchrony generally occurs in various group-living animals. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. The migratory locust, Locusta migratoria, a worldwide agricultural pest species, displays synchronous maturation and oviposition when forms huge swarm. The reproductive synchrony among group members is critical for the maintenance of locust swarms and population density of next generation. Here, we showed that gregarious female locusts displayed more synchronous sexual maturation and oviposition than solitarious females and olfactory deficiency mutants. Only the presence of gregarious male adults can stimulate sexual maturation synchrony of female adults. Of the volatiles emitted abundantly by gregarious male adults, the aggregation pheromone, 4-vinylanisole, was identified to play key role in inducing female sexual maturation synchrony. This maturation-accelerating effect of 4-vinylanisole disappeared in the females of Or35-/- lines, the mutants of 4-vinylanisole receptor. Interestingly, 4-vinylanisole displayed a time window action by which mainly accelerates oocyte maturation of young females aged at middle developmental stages (3–4 days post adult eclosion). We further revealed that juvenile hormone/vitellogenin pathway mediated female sexual maturation triggered by 4-vinylanisole. Our results highlight a ‘catch-up’ strategy by which gregarious females synchronize their oocyte maturation and oviposition by time-dependent endocrinal response to 4-vinylanisole, and provide insight into reproductive synchrony induced by olfactory signal released by heterosexual conspecifics in a given group.

The deep learning technique has proven to be effective in the classification and localization of objects on the image or ground plane over time. The strength of the technique's features has enabled researchers to analyze object trajectories across multiple cameras for online multi-object tracking (MOT) systems. In the past five years, these technical features have gained a reputation in handling several real-time multiple object tracking challenges. This contributed to the increasing number of proposed deep learning methods (DLMs) and networks seen by the computer vision community. The technique efficiently handled various challenges in real-time MOT systems and improved overall tracking performance. However, it experienced difficulties in the detection and tracking of objects in overcrowded scenes and motion variations and confused appearance variations. Therefore, in this paper, we summarize and analyze the 95 contributions made in the past five years on deep learning-based online MOT methods and networks that rank highest in the public benchmark. We review their expedition, performance, advantages, and challenges under different experimental setups and tracking conditions. We also further categorize these methods and networks into four main themes: Online MOT Based Detection Quality and Associations, Real-Time MOT with High-Speed Tracking and Low Computational Costs, Modeling Target Uncertainty in Online MOT, and Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN), Affinity and Data Association. Finally, we discuss the ongoing challenges and directions for future research.

The surface urban heat island (SUHI) phenomenon, arising from rapid urbanization, has become a crucial research topic across various fields due to its adverse impacts on the natural environment and human well-being. This article investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of summer SUHI from 2001 to 2018 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration, China. On this basis, it examined the influence of natural and socio-economic factors on summer SUHI using the spatial regression model and ordinary regression model. We found that the mean summer SUHI intensity in August was the highest at 0.76 °C, followed by July and June (0.57 °C and –0.08 °C, respectively). The spatiotemporal trend analysis revealed that the summer SUHI intensity of more than one-third of districts and counties (68 of 200) had significant increasing trends from 2001 to 2018. The largest significant increasing trend was observed in Dongli District, Tianjin (0.17 °C/year). Besides, most of the high SUHI were dispersedly located in the southeast plain areas, while low SUHI were mainly congregated in the northwest mountain areas. For the relationships between summer SUHI intensity and drivers, different models have different goodness of fit. Compared with the ordinary regression model, the spatial regression model performed better. The optimal model indicated that the proportion of impervious surface and air temperature should play the leading role in the summer SUHI intensity. The findings are of great help for understanding the dynamic features of the summer SUHI and provide a theoretical basis for optimizing urban agglomeration planning.

In this paper, the iterative learning control (ILC) problem is investigated for the motion system of an open container with sloshing constraints in industrial fluid packaging. Initially, a broader class of second-order in space and first-order in time linear time-invariant singular distributed parameter system is decomposed by analyzing the motion system of an open container with sloshing constraints. Meanwhile, to eliminate the influence of singular terms on the system, a closed-loop D-type ILC algorithm is designed, and the corresponding convergence conditions are manifested. Then the convergence of the control algorithm is proved strictly. The resulting tracking error of systems can converge to any small tracking accuracy. Finally, a numerical example is given to verify the convergence and effectiveness of the closed-loop D-type ILC algorithm.

Abstract This study aimed to develop and validate a novel rabbit fixator made from a thermoplastic mask for awake imaging experiments. When heated in a hot-water bath at 65–70 °C for 2–5 min, the thermoplastic mask became soft and could be molded to fit over the entire body of an anesthetized rabbit (4 ml of 3% pentobarbital sodium solution by intramuscular injection). Twenty rabbits were randomly divided into fixator (n = 10) and anesthesia (n = 10) groups. The animals’ vital signs, stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline), and subjective image quality scores for the computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning were measured and compared. Phantom CT, MRI and PET studies were performed to assess the performance with and without the thermoplastic mask by using image agents at different concentrations or with different radioactivity. The respiration rate (RR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) and body temperature (T) decreased after anesthesia (all P 0.05). The heart rate (HR), cortisol and adrenaline did not significantly decrease after either anesthesia or fixation (all P > 0.05). The subjective image quality scores for the CT and MRI images of the head, thorax, liver, kidney, intestines and pelvis and the subjective image quality scores for the PET images did not significantly differ between the two groups (all P > 0.05). For all examined organs except the muscle, 18F-FDG metabolism was lower after fixation than after anesthesia, and was almost identical of liver between two groups. The phantom study showed that the CT values, standard uptake values and MR T2 signal values did not differ significantly with or without the mask (all P > 0.05). A novel rabbit fixator created using a thermoplastic mask could be used to obtain high-quality images for different imaging modalities in an awake and near-physiological state.

Abstract Valerian root (Valeriana officinalis) is a popular and widely available herbal supplement used to treat sleeping disorders and insomnia. The herb’s ability to ameliorate sleep dysfunction may signify an unexplored anti-tumorigenic effect due to the connection between circadian factors and tumorigenesis. Of particular interest are the structural similarities shared between valeric acid, valerian's active chemical ingredient, and certain histone deacteylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which imply that valerian may play a role in epigenetic gene regulation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the circadian-related herb valerian can inhibit breast cancer cell growth and explored epigenetic changes associated with valeric acid treatment. Our results showed that aqueous valerian extract reduced growth of breast cancer cells. In addition, treatment of valeric acid was associated with decreased breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, colony formation and 3D formation in vitro in a dose- and time-dependent manner, as well as reduced HDAC activity and a global DNA hypomethylation. Overall, these findings demonstrate that valeric acid can decrease the breast cancer cell proliferation possibly by mediating epigenetic modifications such as the inhibition of histone deacetylases and alterations of DNA methylation. This study highlights a potential utility of valeric acid as a novel HDAC inhibitor and a therapeutic agent in the treatment of breast cancer.

In order to study the meshing stiffness of variable hyperbolic arc gear， the tooth surface equation of variable hyperbolic arc gear is obtained according to the forming principle， and its accurate three-dimensional model is established. Based on the theory of contact finite element analysis， the calculation method of meshing stiffness is studied. Using the finite element software， a pair of gear finite element model is constructed. The comprehensive elastic deformation of the tooth surface is extracted， and the normal contact force of the tooth surface is calculated by the torque formula. The single tooth mesh stiffness and the double tooth comprehensive mesh stiffness are calculated， which the results show that the stiffness curve of single tooth mesh increases first and then decreases with the increase of driving wheel angle. Then， the influence of different loads on the meshing stiffness curve is analyzed. The results show that the peak value of the stiffness curve increases with the increase of the load， and the load has more obvious influence on the peak value of the comprehensive meshing stiffness curve of the double teeth. At last， the influence of different tooth radius on the meshing stiffness curve is analyzed. The results reveal that the peak stiffness curve decreases with the increase of tooth radius， and the stiffness difference between the meshing area of single and double teeth decreases.

Based on the tooth surface equation of the Variable hyperbolic circular-arc-tooth-trace （VH-CATT）， the gear meshing principle is used to analyze the tooth surface contact during the meshing process， the positions distribution of the VH-CATT meshing point during meshing process of the concave and convex tooth surface is obtained. According to the principles of gear geometry， the formulas for calculating the important parameters of EHL such as the principal curvatures and entrainment velocity of the VH-CATT meshing point during meshing process of the concave and convex tooth surface is obtained. The Downson-Higginson minimum film thickness model is used to analyze the minimum film thickness of EHL in the VH-CATT meshing process， and the variation rules of EHL minimum film thickness in the meshing process of gear pairs with different gear design parameters are obtained. Theoretical analysis shows that the lubrication condition between the dedendum of driver gear （the concave tooth surface） and the addendum of driven gear （the convex tooth surface） of VH-CATT is the worst， where the wear failure of tooth surface is most likely to occur. When the input load increases， the minimum film thickness decreases slightly， and the gear is provided with the characteristics of impact load resistance. With the increase of pressure angle， the minimum film thickness increases so that the lubricity and bearing capacity are improved. When the tooth trace radius becomes longer， the minimum film thickness decreases slightly， selecting a reasonable cutter head radius to process the gear can improve the lubricity. The results provide a theoretical basis for the lubrication design and wear calculation of VH-CATT.

The lubrication characteristics of a cylindrical gear transmission with a variable hyperbolic circular-arc-tooth-trace (VH-CATT) are important theoretical bases for the tribology design of the gear and its fatigue life prediction. Existing lubrication characteristics studies of it are based on simplified linear contact models, which are limited to one specific meshing position only. Therefore, the mathematical models for tooth contact analysis (TCA) and loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) are established to calculate most time-varying parameters in a meshing period, such as the kinematic parameters, spatial geometric parameters, and contact parameters, are calculated. Accordingly, a thermo-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) model of an elliptical contact of this gear transmission is presented. Using all the proposed mathematical models, the TEHL results with smooth and rough tooth surfaces in a meshing period are analyzed. The obtained results reveal that these models can be used to predict the distribution of the film thickness, pressure, and temperature rise on the smooth and rough tooth surfaces of VH-CATT cylindrical gear transmission in each contact area of a meshing period. And it shows that the time-varying parameters have great influences on lubrication performance. Furthermore, the lubrication mechanism in a meshing period is investigated systematically in VH-CATT cylindrical gear transmission.