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In recent years, with the rapid growth of the internet of things (IoT), the number of devices connected to the network has increased significantly. The rising trend of mass data that objects send to the network has become a big challenge for cloud networks. The next generation IoT applications require low delay and real-time responses. Hence, IoT applications need a new processing paradigm to be able to access distributed cloud services at the network edge. In recent years, fog computing has emerged as a distributed computing model compatible with heterogeneous environments that can provide cloud services with low delay at the network edge. Meanwhile, services provided by the IoT suffer from varying workload changes over time, and approaches are needed to automatically provision resources and satisfy quality of service (QoS) requirements. With this motivation, this study presents an improved political optimizer-based resource management scheme for fog-enabled cloud environments, which is named IPORM. IPORM seeks to efficiently allocate resources to IoT requests with the purpose of maximizing resource utilization. In addition, other objectives such as energy, bandwidth, and delay are also included in IPORM. Simulation results show that our scheme significantly improves network performance in terms of various metrics compared to its counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aim: Panax notoginseng saponins are believed to promote wound healing due to its anti‐proliferative effect on fibroblasts. The present work was therefore aimed to examine the beneficial effect of PNS on wound healing in vitro and in a murine model of cutaneous wound. Methods: The in vitro effects of Panax notoginseng saponins on the proliferation of and nitric oxide (NO) synthesis in human fibroblast 3T3 cells were studied. The in vivo effects of Panax notoginseng saponins were examined in C57 mice with dorsal cutaneous wound. The healing rate and scar formation were followed after treatment with Panax notoginseng saponins. The histology and fibroblast accumulation in the wounds were studied using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Expression of α‐smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) was examined by immunohistochemistry. Results: Panax notoginseng saponins inhibited the proliferation of human fibroblast 3T3 with an EC50 of 1.825 mM Panax notoginseng saponins (0.1 mM) significantly promoted NO production (P < 0.01) and NO synthase activity (P < 0.01) of 3T3. In C57 mice with dorsal cutaneous wounds, 0.1 mM Panax notoginseng saponins significant expedited wound healing by reducing the size of lesions and suppressing the formation of scar. H&E staining revealed that treatment with Panax notoginseng saponins suppressed fibroblast accumulation in wound areas, while immunohistochemistry showed a significant reduction in α‐SMA expression by 0.1 mM Panax notoginseng saponins. Conclusion: Panax notoginseng saponins are a promising drug candidate that can accelerate wound healing and reduce scar formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to saddle point programming, a mathematical measuring model of cone error based on adaptive fitting method and minimum zone principle is established, which is solved by sequential quadratic programming. Since the global optimum is dependent of the initial point for this complex saddle point programming problem, a step by step fitting method is adopted to obtain a better one by analyzing the geometrical relation between the measurement model and the ideal cone model. The results of many examples indicate that based on initial points obtained with step by step fitting method and the adaptive fitting cone optimization model, a repeatable and high-precision evaluation results of the cone error can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It's important to explore the water sources of sand-binding plants and their relationship to reveal the mechanism underling species coexistence and vegetation stability. In the present study, 12 sand-binding species in two typical habitats (fixed dune and dune slack) in southern Horqin Sandy Land were selected. The δD and δ 18 O values of plant water, rain water, ground water and soil water were determined, and the percentages of soil water at different depths used by plants were calculated with the IsoSource model. Our results showed that the δD and δ 18 O values of stem water were significantly different among various life forms in both habitats except for those of trees and shrubs in dune slack. From trees to grass, the depth of soil water contributed to main water source of plant became shallower in dune slack: trees and shrubs mainly used soil water in 50-150 cm or 30-50 cm layer, subshrubs mainly used soil water in 10-30 cm layer while grass relied on soil water of 0-10 cm layer. Shrubs mainly used soil water of 0-30 cm layer and subshrubs mainly used soil water around 50 cm at fixed dune. This study indicated that in dry season plants at fixed dune are more dependent on soil water of 0-50 cm layer compared with those in dune slack. The water sources of sand-binding plants are correlated with plant life form and root distribution range, and the later might play a more important role.

Objective: To explore the effect of arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) blood stasis syndrome (BSS) serum on vascular endothelial cell injury and to study the regulation of Taohong Siwu Decoction (TSD) on it., Methods: Umbilical vein endothelial cell culture system was established. The serum endothelial cell injury model with ASO BSS was prepared. Low, medium, and high concentrations TSD containing serums were respectively added. The endothelial cell proliferation activity was observed by MTT method. Ultrastructures of endothelial cells were observed under transmission electron microscope. Changes of intracellular calcium ion concentration and the cytoskeleton were observed under laser confocal microscope. Contents of ET, NO, and transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) in endothelial cell culture supernatant were detected by ELISA., Results: In ASO BSS serum group endothelial cell proliferation activities decreased, the cell structure was obviously destroyed, calcium ion concentration increased, contents of ET, NO and TGF-beta1 increased significantly (P < 0.01), and ET/NO ratio was imbalanced. After incubating with TSD drug containing serum, endothelial cell proliferation activities and injured cell structures were obviously improved; ET, NO and TGF-beta1 levels decreased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), ET/NO ratios approximated to the normal level., Conclusion: The main mechanism of TSD for treating ASO ASS lied in improving injured vascular endothelial cells and endocrine disorder.

Objective: To investigate the phenotypic characteristics of human fetal liver cells (FLCs) and to obtain the homogenous hepatic progenitors with cloning., Methods: Immunofluorescence and flow cytometry were used to determine the phenotypes of the FLCs. The proliferating colonies were isolated using clone ring in different culture conditions. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to determine the mRNA expression after further cultivation., Results: The cultured FLCs showed a non-typical epithelial morphology. The positive rate for hepatic cell specific markers alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin (Alb), cytokeratin 8 (CK8) and CK19 were approximately 28.1%, 84.7%, 55.1% and 9.1% respectively. Furthermore, the FLCs expressed the hematopoietic stem cell markers CD34 and CD45 with percentages of 0.04% and 0.09%. 71.8% and 75.3% of the FLCs were positive for the mesenchymal cell marker CD105 and CD166. Most of the colonies showed an elongated morphology, some with an unregular spreading-out morphology, only a small number of colonies with an epithelial-like morphology. RT-PCR results showed that among the 19 colonies obtained after further cultivation and the percentages of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), AFP, Alb and CK19 were 52.6%, 21.1%, 52.6% and 84.2%, respectively., Conclusions: The clonal culture system is beneficial to obtain the homogenous hepatic progenitor cells from the heterogeneous culture of FLCs.