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Abstract Human actions are predominantly presented in 2D format in video surveillance scenarios, which hinders the accurate determination of action details not apparent in 2D data. Depth estimation can aid human action recognition tasks, enhancing accuracy with neural networks. However, reliance on images for depth estimation requires extensive computational resources and cannot utilise the connectivity between human body structures. Besides, the depth information may not accurately reflect actual depth ranges, necessitating improved reliability. Therefore, a 2D human skeleton action recognition method with spatial constraints (2D‐SCHAR) is introduced. 2D‐SCHAR employs graph convolution networks to process graph‐structured human action skeleton data comprising three parts: depth estimation, spatial transformation, and action recognition. The initial two components, which infer 3D information from 2D human skeleton actions and generate spatial transformation parameters to correct abnormal deviations in action data, support the latter in the model to enhance the accuracy of action recognition. The model is designed in an end‐to‐end, multitasking manner, allowing parameter sharing among these three components to boost performance. The experimental results validate the model's effectiveness and superiority in human skeleton action recognition.

Abstract Background Loneliness is a risk factor for numerous negative life outcomes and diseases among older adults. Physical exercise can reduce social isolation among older adults and improve their health status. This study focused on the relationships among physical exercise, perceived social support, resilience and loneliness to provide theoretical support for physical exercise interventions to address loneliness in older adults. Methods This study used a structural equation model and bootstrap method to test a serial mediation model of physical exercise and loneliness and the role of perceived social support and resilience. In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 516 older adults from 5 January 2024 to 20 January 2024. The data were collected using the physical activity rating scale (PARS-3), UCLA loneliness Scale-8 (ULS-8), perceived social support scale (PSSS) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Results The results showed that physical exercise among older adults had a direct negative relationship with loneliness (Effect = -0.049, 95% CI: -0.072 to -0.027). In addition, perceived social support and resilience mediated the relationship between physical exercise and loneliness both independent and serially, with the independent mediation effect of perceived social support being − 0.041 (95% CI: -0.056 to -0.028), the independent mediation effect of resilience being − 0.018 (95% CI: -0.026 to -0.011), and the serial mediation effect of perceived social support and resilience being − 0.009 (95% CI: -0.015 to -0.005). The total indirect effect of the three mediation paths was 58.47%. Conclusions (1) In this study, physical exercise and loneliness in older adults were negatively correlated. Perceived social support and resilience play mediating roles in the relationship between physical exercise and loneliness. (2) This study suggests that participation in group events or team sports is valuable for alleviating loneliness caused by a lack of social interaction.

Background As women age, especially after menopause, cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence rises, posing a significant global health concern. Regular exercise can mitigate CVD risks by improving blood pressure and lipid levels in postmenopausal women. Yet, the optimal exercise modality for enhancing vascular structure and function in this demographic remains uncertain. This study aims to compare five exercise forms to discern the most effective interventions for reducing cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women. Methods The study searched PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, EBSCO, and Embase databases. It conducted a network meta-analysis (NMA) of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on five exercise interventions: continuous endurance training (CET), interval training (INT), resistance training (RT), aerobic combined with resistance training (CT), and hybrid-type training (HYB). Outcome measures included carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), nitric oxide (NO), augmentation index (AIx), pulse wave velocity (PWV), and flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery. Eligible studies were assessed for bias using the Cochrane tool. A frequentist random-effects NMA was employed to rank exercise effects, calculating standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results The analysis of 32 studies (n = 1,427) indicates significant increases in FMD with CET, INT, RT, and HYB in postmenopausal women. Reductions in PWV were significant with CET, INT, RT, CT, and HYB. AIx decreased significantly with INT and HYB. CET, INT, and CT significantly increased NO levels. However, no significant reduction in IMT was observed. SUCRA probabilities show INT as most effective for increasing FMD, CT for reducing PWV, INT for decreasing AIx, CT for lowering IMT, and INT for increasing NO in postmenopausal women. Conclusion The study demonstrates that CET, INT, RT, and HYB have a significant positive impact on FMD in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, all five forms of exercise significantly enhance PWV in this population. INT and HYB were found to have a significant positive effect on AIx in postmenopausal women, while CET, INT, and CT were found to significantly improve NO levels. For improving vascular function in postmenopausal women, it is recommended to prioritize INT and CT exercise modalities. On the other hand, as CET and RT were not ranked at the top of the Sucra value ranking in this study and were less effective than INT and CT as exercise interventions to improve vascular function in postmenopausal women, it is not recommended that CET and RT be considered the preferred exercise modality.

The uniformity of growth and mechanical properties of grafted seedlings affect the quality of mechanical grafting operations. The growth uniformity of grafted seedlings in a greenhouse will be poor due to the uneven and unstable light and temperature conditions. Plant factories can cultivate grafted seedlings in the most suitable environment by regulating environmental parameters such as light and temperature. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the light conditions on tomato seedlings in plant factory and to develop an optimal cultivation light formula. The effects of light intensity (50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 μmol m−2 s−2) and photoperiod (10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 h a day(h/d)) on the morphological and mechanical properties of tomato seedlings were experimentally investigated. Orthogonal experiments were conducted involving light quality (R:B = 75:25, R:B = 50:50, and R:B = 25:75), light intensity (150 μmol m−2 s−2, 200 μmol m−2 s−2, and 250 μmol m−2 s−2), and photoperiod (14, 16, and 18 h/d) as independent variables to determine the optimal combination. Finally, a comparative grafting experiment was conducted between the seedlings cultivated using the optimal light formula and commercially available seedlings. The result showed that increasing light intensity inhibited hypocotyl length and promoted seedling stem growth, and excessive light intensity decreased seedling mechanical properties. The optimal light intensity for rootstocks is 200 μmol m−2 s−2, and the optimal light intensity for scions is 250 μmol m−2 s−2. Shortening the photoperiod would promote hypocotyl growth and inhibit seedling stem elongation. Different photoperiods had a significant impact on the mechanical properties of tomato seedlings. The most suitable photoperiod for rootstocks was 18 h/d and for scions was 16 h/d. The most suitable light formula was R:B = 50:50, 250 μmol m−2 s−2, 18 h/d. By analyzing the experimental results, the mechanical properties of seedlings grown by the regulated light environment were better than those of commercially available seedlings, and the success rate of mechanical grafting was 7% higher. Overall, in plant factories compared to commercially available tomato seedlings, tomato seedlings cultivated by the regulated light environment were more suitable for mechanical grafting. This research result provides theoretical support for subsequent research on grafting machinery.

Abstract Purpose The study retrospectively analyzed the accuracy and predictive ability of preoperative integrated whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT for the assessment of high-risk factors in patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC). Materials and methods A total of 205 patients with endometrial cancer who underwent preoperative PET/CT at Shanghai General Hospital from January 2018 to December 2021 were retrospectively evaluated and last follow-up was June 2023. Our study evaluated the ability and optimal cutoff values of three metabolic and volumetric parameters—standardized uptake value (SUV), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG)—to predict deep myometrial invasion (DMI), endocervical stroma invasion (ESI) and lymph node metastases (LNM) in endometrial cancer. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of PET/CT were used to assess the diagnostic performance for the prediction. Results Our study demonstrated a significant relationship between SUVmax (11.29, 17.38, 9.47), SUVmean (5.20, 6.12, 4.49), MTV (38.15, 36.28, 33.79 ml), and TLG (199.30, 225.10, 156.40 g) on PET/CT and histologically confirmed DMI, ESI and LNM in endometrial carcinoma (EC), with sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV, and NPV of 100%/100%/100%, 96.53%/98.89%/87.14%, 97.56%/99.02%/91.22%, 92.42%/92.85%/78.31%, and 100%/100%/100%, respectively. Our study showed a risk model based on optimal cutoff values for MTV and TLG of 19.6 ml/126.3 g, 20.54 ml/84.80 g and 24 ml/49.83 g to preoperatively predict DMI, ESI, and LNM, respectively, in endometrial carcinoma. The 4-year OS (HR) for Stage IA, IB, II, III and IV according to 2009 FIGO was 98.00% (0.22), 95.20% (0.04), 83.90% (0.18), 90.50% (0.09) and 60% (0.51). Accordingly, estimated 4-year DFS (HR) for the stage IA-III was 98% (0.02), 95.20% (0.05), 76.90% (0.27) and 76.30% (0.35), all the patients in stage IV occurred recurrence and progression. Conclusion The present study showed patients with MTV > = 19.6 ml of MI and PET- positive LN with MTV cutoff > = 24 ml tended to predict poor OS and PFS in endometrial carcinoma. The cutoff of MTV and TLG in PET/CT assessment could be an independent prognostic factors to predict aggressive forms of EC. Graphic Abstract

Objective To design appropriate orthosis for hallux valgus, a difficult foot condition that affects a quarter of the body's bones, we need to clarify the numerical biomechanical features, which have not been established in previous biomechanical studies. Therefore, we constructed a finite element model of the bunion foot to investigate the orthopaedic force compensation mechanism. Methods A patient with moderate hallux valgus was recruited. CT imaging data in DICOM format were extracted for three‐dimensional foot model reconstruction. In conjunction with the need for rapid design of bunion orthosis, a metatarsal force application sizing method based on an orthogonal test design was investigated. The orthogonal test design was used to obtain the hallux valgus angle (HVA) and the inter metatarsal angle (IMA) data for different force combinations. Based on the extreme difference analysis and analysis of variance of the test results, the influence of different force combinations on the bunion angle was quickly determined. Results The results showed that the stress concentration occurred mainly in the first metatarsal bone. The distribution trend was in the medial and lateral middle of the bone and gradually decreased to the dorsal base of the bone body. The greatest stress occurs in the cartilage between the phalanges and metatarsals. In 25 groups of simulation experiments, HVA was reduced from 27.7° to 13°, and IMA was reduced from 12.5° to 7.3°. Conclusion Applying detailed orthopaedic force collocation to the first metatarsal column can effectively restore the mechanics and kinematics of hallux valgus, and provide a reference for the treatment of bunion valgus and the design of orthopaedic devices.

Abstract In practical engineering, whilst estimating the jacking force of rectangular pipe jacking using an empirical formula, the results obtained from said formula deviate from reality and manifest inadequate engineering guidance. The equations governing the applied force during the installation of rectangular pipe jacking have been derived for various contact states involving the interaction between the pipe, slurry, and soil. The distinct stress conditions in the pipe jacking process as well as the shear-friction mechanism between the pipe and the surrounding soil have been taken into account. The displacement control method is introduced to simulate the pipe–slurry–soil contact friction during the pipe jacking process in FLAC3D. Additionally, the pipe jacking behavior, pipe–slurry–soil contact frictional force, and variation law of the jacking force are also simulated. Mutual verification was carried out using the results obtained from field monitoring, numerical and theoretical. The findings are as follows: the established equations for calculating pipe jacking force are highly applicable across various conditions of pipe–slurry–soil contact, and the outcomes derived from theoretical formulas align remarkably well with those obtained through field monitoring and numerical simulation. During the jacking process, the sidewalls exhibit initial partial sliding followed by a complete movement as the jacking force intensifies and subsequently diminishes, eventually attaining stability during the behavior adjustment phase. Moreover, the bottom pipe–soil contact is the most common situation in actual construction.

Abstract Skeleton‐based neural networks have been considered a focus for human action recognition (HAR). It is noteworthy that the existing skeleton‐based methods are not capable of combining the spatial and temporal features reasonably to derive more effective high‐level representations, and it continues to be a challenging task of learning and representing the skeleton action discriminatively. In this study, a novel two‐stream spatiotemporal network (TSTN) is proposed, which is capable of processing the spatial and temporal features respectively and collectively to achieve a better representation and understanding of human action. The temporal branch stacks three gate recurrent unit (GRU) blocks in a new architecture to encode the temporal correlations from different aspects of human action, achieving high‐level temporal semantic feature expressions. The spatial branch encodes the spatial features with multi‐stacked graph convolutional network (GCN) blocks. Self‐attention mechanisms incorporated with the graph structure of the skeleton are explored to add weight influence and structural hints to further enhance the performance. The experimental results verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed model in skeleton action recognition; the model reaches state‐of‐the‐art on specific datasets.

Background & Aims: Hepatoblastoma (HB) is a common pediatric malignant liver tumor that is characterized by a low level of genetic mutations. Alternative splicing (AS) has been shown to be closely associated with cancer progression, especially in tumors with a low mutational burden. However, the role of AS in HB remains unknown. Methods: Transcriptome sequencing was performed on 5 pairs of HB tissues and matched non-tumor tissues to delineate the AS landscape in HB. AS events were validated in 92 samples from 46 patients. RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were carried out to identify splicing factors that regulate the AS of small nucleolar RNA host genes (SNHG). Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) were established to investigate the role of the splicing factor polyadenylate-binding nuclear protein 1 (PABPN1). Results: This study uncovered aberrant alternative splicing in HB, including lncRNAs from SNHG family that undergo intron retention in HB. Further investigations revealed that PABPN1, a significantly upregulated RNA binding protein, interacts with splicing machinery in HB, inducing the intron retention of these SNHG RNAs and the downregulation of intronic small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). Functionally, PABPN1 acts as an oncofetal splicing regulator in HB by promoting cell proliferation and DNA damage repair via inducing the intron retention of SNHG19. Knock-down of PABPN1 increases the cisplatin sensitivity of HB PDOs. Conclusions: Our findings revealed the role of intron retention in regulating snoRNA expression in hepatoblastoma, explained detailed regulatory mechanism between PABPN1 and the intron retention of SNHG RNAs, and provided insight into the development of new HB treatment options.

Abstract Dynamic covalent chemistry offers a solution to tackle the recycling issue of epoxy resins (EPs) and their carbon fiber‐reinforced composites; however, the vulnerability to creep associated with the inflammable nature of the EPs are the key obstacles for their applications. Herein, we propose a feasible and facile strategy to overcome these obstacles by incorporating phosphorus‐influenced Diels‐Alder (DA) chemistry to construct dynamic epoxy networks. In the strategy, the electron‐withdrawing phosphonate in the dienophile maleimide greatly promotes the thermal stability of the DA reaction, exhibiting excellent creep resistance, repairability, and malleability; while its flame‐retardant activity improves the fire safety of the resultant thermosets. Meanwhile, nondestructive recycling of carbon fiber is achieved. The ease with which EP and its composites can be manufactured, used, recycled and re‐used–without losing service performance–points to new orientation in sustainable composites.

Summary: Single-cell transcriptome sequencing can characterize various cell types in human liver tissue and facilitate understanding of hepatoblastoma heterogeneity. Here, we present a protocol for isolating hepatocytes and immune cells from human hepatoblastoma samples with high viability. We describe steps for tissue processing, enzymatic digestion, Percoll density gradient separation, cell lysis, cell suspension quality control, and scRNA library construction. We then detail sequencing and data analysis. This protocol is applicable to preparing single-cell suspensions from other human liver tissue samples. : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

The accurate detection and counting of flowers ensure the grading quality of the ornamental plants. In automated potted flower grading scenarios, low detection precision, occlusions and overlaps impact counting accuracy. This study proposed a counting method combining a deep learning algorithm with multiple viewpoints. Firstly, a flower detection model, PA-YOLO, was developed based on YOLOv5 by designing a two-scale detection branch, optimizing the number of bottlenecks and integrating a dynamic head framework. Next, PA-YOLO was used to detect grouped 360-viewpoint images of each potted plant to determine the optimal number of viewpoints for counting. The detection results indicated that PA-YOLO achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 95.4% and an average precision (AP) of 91.9% for occluded blooms on our Phalaenopsis flower dataset. For the optimal number of viewpoints, the average counting accuracy of buds and blooms was highest at three viewpoints, with scores of 96.25% and 93.33%, respectively. The final counting accuracy reached 95.56% in flower counting tests conducted from three viewpoints. The overall results suggest that the proposed method can effectively detect and count flowers in complex occlusion and overlap environments, providing guidance for designing and implementing the vision component in an automated potted flower grading system.

Abstract Background Accumulating studies have shown that La‐related protein 1 (LARP1) is involved in the occurrence and development of various tumours. However, the expression pattern and biological role of LARP1 in hepatoblastoma (HB) remain unclear so far. Methods LARP1 expression level in HB and adjacent normal liver tissues was analysed by qRT‐PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry assays. The prognostic significance of LARP1 was evaluated by Kaplan–Meier method and multivariate Cox regression analysis. In vitro and in vivo functional assays were implemented to clarify the biological effects of LARP1 on HB cells. Mechanistically, the regulatory roles of O‐GlcNAcylation and circCLNS1A in LARP1 expression were investigated by co‐immunoprecipitation (co‐IP), immunofluorescence, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA pull‐down and protein stability assays. Moreover, RNA‐sequencing, co‐IP, RIP, mRNA stability and poly(A)‐tail length assays were performed to investigate the association between LARP1 and DKK4. The expression and diagnostic significance of plasma DKK4 protein in multi‐centre cohorts were evaluated by ELISA and ROC curves. Results LARP1 mRNA and protein levels were remarkably elevated in HB tissues and associated with worse prognosis of HB patients. LARP1 knockdown abolished cell proliferation, triggered cell apoptosis in vitro as well as prohibited tumour growth in vivo, whereas LARP1 overexpression incited HB progression. Mechanistically, O‐GlcNAcylation of LARP1 Ser672 by O‐GlcNAc transferase strengthened its binding to circCLNS1A and then protected LARP1 from TRIM‐25‐mediated ubiquitination and proteolysis. LARP1 upregulation subsequently led to DKK4 mRNA stabilisation by competitively interacting with PABPC1 to prevent DKK4 mRNA from B‐cell translocation gene 2‐dependent deadenylation and degradation, thus facilitating β‐catenin protein expression and nuclear import. Conclusion This study indicates that upregulated protein level of O‐GlcNAcylated LARP1 mediated by circCLNS1A promotes the tumorigenesis and progression of HB through LARP1/DKK4/β‐catenin axis. Hence, LARP1 and DKK4 are promising therapeutical target and diagnostic/prognostic plasma biomarker for HB.

Abstract Background This study examined and compared the attitudes and willingness of guardians of children with cancer and adult cancer patients toward donating biospecimens and clinical data for cancer research. Methods We conducted a cross‐sectional study among guardians of children with cancer (Guardian group) from Shanghai Children's Medical Center and adult cancer patients (Adult group) from Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital between February 1, 2019, and January 31, 2020. Participants’ demographic data, willingness, and motivations for biospecimen donation were collected and analyzed. Results Of 670 participants, 90.8% (318/350) in the Guardian group and 88.1% (282/320) in the Adult group completed the questionnaire. Most participants were willing to donate residual tissue samples (92.8% in the Guardian group vs. 79.4% in the Adult group, pψ = 0.032) and clinical data (94.0% vs. 72.3%, pψ

BackgroundCoach-athlete relationship (CAR), thriving and athlete engagement are important psychological variables that affect sports performance. On the basis of self-determination theory, this study constructs a mediation model to examine the influence of CAR on athlete engagement and the mediating effect of thriving between them.MethodsThis cross-sectional study involves a questionnaire survey with 287 Chinese active athletes (M = 19.63, SD = 2.53) aged 14-26 years (64.5% male, 35.5% female) from eight sports. CAR, thriving and athlete engagement were assessed using the CAR Questionnaire, the Thriving Scale, and the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire, respectively.ResultsCAR and its dimensions can significantly and positively predict athlete engagement, complementarity, commitment, and closeness, accounting for 35.1%, 34.6%, and 30.4% of the cumulative variance in dominance analysis, respectively. The direct and indirect paths show that CAR affects athlete engagement through the mediating effect of thriving. The mediating effect model has a good fit and indirect effects account for 56.9% of the total effects.ConclusionThe effect of CAR on athlete engagement reflects a practical application of interpersonal dynamics in competitive sports to a certain extent. The following suggestions can be used to improve athlete engagement. First, setting common goals, emphasizing mutual cooperation, and building trust and support, promote coaches and athletes to have a higher sense of commitment and complementarity to each other, thereby helping improve athlete engagement. Second, meeting the vitality and progress needs of athletes effectively mobilizes CAR resources to promote athlete engagement, which can be manipulated by cultivating closeness, commitment, and complementarity. Third, to ensure the athletes' sports state and mental health, the sports team should focus on the cultivation of athletes' capacities to thrive and internally form a dynamic and positive sports atmosphere in their team. In the future, we can track and compare the influence of the improvement of CAR on thriving and athlete engagement can be tracked and compared from the dual perspectives of coaches and athletes.

PurposeTo evaluate the long-term curative effect analysis of trans-articular plate combined with Kirschner wires in the treatment of fracture-dislocation of the fifth carpometacarpal joint.MethodsFrom July 2016 to September 2021, 21 patients with fracture-dislocation of the fifth carpometacarpal joint were treated with trans-articular plate combined with Kirschner wires internal fixation. Each patient's gender, age, dominant hand, injured hand, trauma mechanism, the time between injury and surgery, the range of motion of the bilateral wrist in flexion, extension, radial deviation and ulnar deviation, grip strength of each side, the time of return to work, and follow-up time were recorded. The QDASH score and Cooney wrist function score were used to evaluate the postoperative function. The VAS system was used to evaluate postoperative pain.ResultsThe follow-up time was 37.0 ± 19.0 months and the time between injury and surgery was 1.3 ± 0.5 days. In the injured side and the contralateral side, the range of motion of the wrist flexion were 58.3 ± 4.0° and 60.5 ± 3.1°, the range of motion of the wrist radial deviation were 25.7 ± 3.3° and 26.9 ± 2.9°, the range of motion of the wrist ulnar deviation were 28.1 ± 3.7° and 29.5 ± 3.1° respectively with no significant difference. The range of motion of the wrist extension (54.0 ± 3.4°) in the injured side was smaller than that in the contralateral side (56.7 ± 3.7°) with significant difference. The grip strength of the injured side and the contralateral side were 96.1 ± 9.5 LB and 100.7 ± 9.7LB respectively with no significant difference. The QDASH score was 3.8 ± 1.8, Cooney wrist function score was 94.5 ± 4.2, VAS score was 1.0 ± 0.8 and the time of return to work was 5.1 ± 0.9 weeks. In the 21 cases, no postoperative complications such as incision infection, failure of internal fixation, fracture nonunion or fracture malunion occurred.ConclusionThe method of trans-articular plate combined with Kirschner wires is one of the alternative treatments for the fracture-dislocation of the fifth carpometacarpal joint. The long-term follow-up results were satisfactory.

Background Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is the preferred treatment for CTEPH patients which can significantly improve symptoms and pulmonary hemodynamics. Therefore, this retrospective study evaluated the long-term outcomes after pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) and analyze the predictors of long-term outcomes for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Methods From 2002–2020, 76 CTEPH patients successfully discharged after PEA in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital were followed-up by scheduled clinical visits or telephone interviews. The follow-up time lasted for 18 years and median time was 7.29 years. Results The survival rate at 1,3,5,10,15 years postoperatively was 100.00%, 97.10%, 95.40%, 89.80% and 82.90%, respectively. Multivariate logistics regression analysis showed that postoperative mPAP (hazard ratio: 1.144; 95%confidence interval: 1.018–1.285; P = 0.023) was associated with a higher risk of late death, right atrium right and left diameters (hazard ratio: 1.113; 95%confidence interval, 1.006–1.231; P = 0.038) were associated with a higher risk of major adverse events. Conclusion Pulmonary endarterectomy is an effective way to treat CTEPH. Long-term outcome is excellent for patients who undergoing pulmonary endarterectomy who survived from peri-operation time. Postoperative mPAP is a significant prognostic factor for long-term death and right atrium right and left diameters is a significant prognostic factor for major adverse events. That shows patients with high postoperative mPAP and right atrium right and left diameter should be followed up closely.

The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery plays a key role in the repair of damaged plasma membranes with puncta form and removes pores from the plasma membrane in regulated cell death, apoptosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and autophagy. ESCRT-I overexpression and ESCRT-III-associated charged multivesicular body protein (CHMP) 4B participate in apoptosis, and the ESCRT-1 protein TSG 101 maintains low levels of ALIX and ALG-2 and prevents predisposition to apoptosis. The ESCRT-III components CHMP2A and CHMP4B are recruited to broken membrane bubble sites with the requirement of extracellular Ca2+, remove membrane vesicles from cells, and delay the time required for active MLKL to mediate necroptosis, thus preserving cell survival. CHMP4B disturbed pyroptosis by recruiting around the plasma membrane neck to remove the GSDMD pores and preserve plasma membrane integrity depending on Ca2+ influx. The accumulation of the ESCRT-III subunits CHMP5 and CHMP6 in the plasma membrane is increased by the classical ferroptosis activators erastin-1 and ras-selective lethal small molecule 3 (RSL3) upon cytosolic calcium influx and repairs the ferroptotic plasma membrane. ESCRT-III- and VPS4-induced macroautophagy, ESCRT-0-initiated microautophagy. ESCRT-I, ESCRT-II, ESCRT-III, ALIX, and VPS4A are recruited to damaged lysosomes and precede lysophagy, indicating that ESCRT is a potential target to overcome drug resistance during tumor therapy.

Self-healing hydrogel products have attracted a great deal of interest in wound healing due to their ability to repair their own structural damage. Herein, an all-natural self-healing hydrogel based on methacrylated chitosan (CSMA) and dialdehyde bacterial cellulose (DABC) is developed. MA is used to modify CS and obtain water-soluble biomaterial-based CSMA with photo crosslinking effects. BC is modified through a simple oxidation method to gain dialdehyde on the polymer chain. The success of the modification is confirmed via FTIR. Hydrogels are formed within 11 min through the establishment of a Schiff base between the amino of CSMA and the aldehyde of DABC. A dynamically reversible Schiff base bond endows hydrogel with good self-healing properties through macroscopic and microscopic observations. We observe the uniform and porous structure in the hydrogel using SEM images, and DABC nanofibers are found to be well distributed in the hydrogel. The compressive strength of the hydrogel is more than 20 kPa and the swelling rate sees over a 10-fold increase. In addition, the CSMA/DABC hydrogel has good cytocompatibility, with cell viability exceeding 90%. These results indicate that the all-natural self-healable CSMA/DABC hydrogel demonstrates strong application potential in wound healing and tissue repair.

The fractal characteristics of low-velocity-impact concrete slabs were studied using fractal theory, and the fractal dimension value of cracks of each concrete specimen plate was calculated using box dimension as the basic principle and digital image analysis technology in conjunction with MATLAB software (R2021b) calculation functions. The energy dissipation of concrete slabs during low-velocity impact is calculated using the elastic sheet theory. The calculation results are realistic, and the energy conversion of concrete slabs during low-velocity impact is analyzed based on these results. The research findings indicate that concrete slab cracks exhibit good fractal characteristics during low-velocity impact, and their values can be utilized as a parameter to determine the extent of concrete slab failure. Moreover, the study found that the fractal dimension value of concrete slab cracks and the associated plastic deformation energy display good exponential function characteristics in the energy dissipation mechanism of low-velocity concrete slabs.

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the efficacy of a modified internal fixation method for the treatment of fifth metacarpal neck fracture. Methods From March 2018 to December 2019, 12 patients with the fifth metacarpal neck fractures of the hands were treated with the Kirschner wires and locking plate internal fixation method. Each patient’s gender, age, dominant hand, injured hand, trauma mechanism, preoperative and postoperative deformity (angulation and the length of the fifth metacarpal), the range of motion of the metacarpophalangeal joint and grip strength of each side, the time of return to work, and follow-up time were recorded and calculated. Results The mean follow-up time was 16.8 months, and the angulations of preoperative and postoperative deformity were 40.0 ± 3.7°and 17.6 ± 1.7°, respectively. The length of the fifth metacarpals of preoperative and postoperative deformity were 51.5 ± 2.1 mm and 60.0 ± 1.8 mm, respectively. At the last follow-up, the range of motion of the fifth metacarpophalangeal joint of the injured side and the contralateral side were 84.3 ± 3.6°and 86.5 ± 2.0°, and the grip strength of the injured side and the contralateral side were 74.8 ± 6.1 LB and 78.6 ± 8.3 LB, respectively, without statistically significant differences. QDASH score was 2.0 ± 1.0, and the time of return to work was 6.0 ± 0.7 weeks. Conclusion The modified internal fixation method is one of the alternative treatments for the fifth metacarpal neck fracture with good curative effects.

A person’s eye gaze can effectively express that person’s intentions. Thus, gaze estimation is an important approach in intelligent manufacturing to analyze a person’s intentions. Many gaze estimation methods regress the direction of the gaze by analyzing images of the eyes, also known as eye patches. However, it is very difficult to construct a person-independent model that can estimate an accurate gaze direction for every person due to individual differences. In this paper, we hypothesize that the difference in the appearance of each of a person’s eyes is related to the difference in the corresponding gaze directions. Based on this hypothesis, a differential eyes’ appearances network (DEANet) is trained on public datasets to predict the gaze differences of pairwise eye patches belonging to the same individual. Our proposed DEANet is based on a Siamese neural network (SNNet) framework which has two identical branches. A multi-stream architecture is fed into each branch of the SNNet. Both branches of the DEANet that share the same weights extract the features of the patches; then the features are concatenated to obtain the difference of the gaze directions. Once the differential gaze model is trained, a new person’s gaze direction can be estimated when a few calibrated eye patches for that person are provided. Because person-specific calibrated eye patches are involved in the testing stage, the estimation accuracy is improved. Furthermore, the problem of requiring a large amount of data when training a person-specific model is effectively avoided. A reference grid strategy is also proposed in order to select a few references as some of the DEANet’s inputs directly based on the estimation values, further thereby improving the estimation accuracy. Experiments on public datasets show that our proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Abstract Background Whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) can impair patients’ cognitive function. Hippocampal avoidance during WBRT can potentially prevent this side effect. However, manually delineating the target area is time-consuming and difficult. Here, we proposed a credible approach of automatic hippocampal delineation based on convolutional neural networks. Methods Referring to the hippocampus contouring atlas proposed by RTOG 0933, we manually delineated (MD) the hippocampus on the MRI data sets (3-dimensional T1-weighted with slice thickness of 1 mm, n = 175), which were used to construct a three-dimensional convolutional neural network aiming for the hippocampus automatic delineation (AD). The performance of this AD tool was tested on three cohorts: (a) 3D T1 MRI with 1-mm slice thickness (n = 30); (b) non-3D T1-weighted MRI with 3-mm slice thickness (n = 19); (c) non-3D T1-weighted MRI with 1-mm slice thickness (n = 11). All MRIs confirmed with normal hippocampus has not been violated by any disease. Virtual radiation plans were created for AD and MD hippocampi in cohort c to evaluate the clinical feasibility of the artificial intelligence approach. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 23. P

Abstract Background Solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) is overexpressed in multiple human tumours and functions as a transporter importing cystine for glutathione biosynthesis. It promotes tumour development in part by suppressing ferroptosis, a newly identified form of cell death that plays a pivotal role in the suppression of tumorigenesis. However, the role and underlying mechanisms of SLC7A11‐mediated ferroptosis in hepatoblastoma (HB) remain largely unknown. Methods Reverse transcription quantitative real‐time PCR (RT‐qPCR) and western blotting were used to measure SLC7A11 levels. Cell proliferation, colony formation, lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS), MDA concentration, 4‐HNE, GSH/GSSG ratio and cell death assays as well as subcutaneous xenograft experiments were used to elucidate the effects of SLC7A11 in HB cell proliferation and ferroptosis. Furthermore, MeRIP‐qPCR, dual luciferase reporter, RNA pulldown, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RACE‐PAT assays were performed to elucidate the underlying mechanism through which SLC7A11 was regulated by the m6A modification in HB. Results SLC7A11 expression was highly upregulated in HB. SLC7A11 upregulation promoted HB cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, inhibiting HB cell ferroptosis. Mechanistically, SLC7A11 mRNA exhibited abnormal METTL3‐mediated m6A modification, which enhanced its stability and expression. IGF2 mRNA‐binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) was identified as the m6A reader of SLC7A11, enhancing SLC7A11 mRNA stability and expression by inhibiting SLC7A11 mRNA deadenylation in an m6A‐dependent manner. Moreover, IGF2BP1 was found to block BTG2/CCR4‐NOT complex recruitment via competitively binding to PABPC1, thereby suppressing SLC7A11 mRNA deadenylation. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that the METTL3‐mediated SLC7A11 m6A modification enhances HB ferroptosis resistance. The METTL3/IGF2BP1/m6A modification promotes SLC7A11 mRNA stability and upregulates its expression by inhibiting the deadenylation process. Our study highlights a critical role of the m6A modification in SLC7A11‐mediated ferroptosis, providing a potential strategy for HB therapy through blockade of the m6A‐SLC7A11 axis.

Fractures have an extraordinarily negative impact on an individual’s quality of life and functional status, particularly delayed or non-union fractures. Osteogenesis and angiogenesis are closely related to bone growth and regeneration, and bone modeling and remodeling. Recently Chinese medicine has been extensively studied to promote osteogenic differentiation in MSCs. Studies have found that Ginseng can be used as an alternative for tissue regeneration and engineering. Ginseng is a commonly used herbal medicine in clinical practice, and one of its components, Ginsenoside Compound K (CK), has received much attention. Evidence indicates that CK has health-promoting effects in inflammation, atherosclerosis, diabetics, aging, etc. But relatively little is known about its effect on bone regeneration and the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. In this study, CK was found to promote osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) by RT-PCR and Alizarin Red S staining in vitro. Mechanistically, we found CK could promote osteogenesis through activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by immunofluorescence staining and luciferase reporter assay. And we also showed that the tube formation capacity of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was increased by CK. Furthermore, using the rat open femoral fracture model, we found that CK could improve fracture repair as demonstrated by Micro-CT, biomechanical and histology staining analysis. The formation of H type vessel in the fracture callus was also increased by CK. These findings provide a scientific basis for treating fractures with CK, which may expand its application in clinical practice.

Introduction and objectives: Infantile hepatic hemangioendothelioma (IHHE) is a benign liver tumor, associated with hypothyroidism and vascular malformations along the skin, brain, digestive tract and other organs. Here, we determined a single-center patient cohort by evaluating the effectiveness and safety of propranolol and sirolimus for the treatment of IHHE. Patients and methods: We performed a monocentric and observational study, based on clinical data obtained from 20 cases of IHHE treated with oral propranolol and sirolimus at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center (SCMC), between December 2017 and April 2019. All cases were confirmed by abdominal enhanced CT examination (18/20, 90%) and sustained decrease of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) (2/20, 10%).Propranolol treatment was standardized as once a day at 1.0 mg/kg for patients younger than 2 months, and twice a day at 1.0 mg/kg (per dose) for patients older than 2 months. Sirolimus was used to treat refractory IHHE patients after 6 months of propranolol treatment, and initial dosing was at 0.8 mg/m2 body surface per dose, administered every 12 h. Upon treatment, abdominal ultrasound scanning was regularly performed to evaluate any therapeutic effects. All children were followed up for 6–22 months (mean value of 12.75 months). The clinical manifestations and therapeutic effects, including complications during drug management, were reviewed after periodic follow-up. Results: The effective rate of propranolol for the treatment of children with IHHE was 85% (17/20). In most cases, the AFP levels gradually decreased into the normal range. A complete response (CR) was achieved in 3 cases, partial response (PR) for 14 cases, progressive disease (PD) for 2 cases and stable disease (SD) was only detected once. Lesions decreased in two PD patients after administration of oral sirolimus. No serious adverse reactions were observed. Conclusion: This study indicates that both propranolol and sirolimus were effective drugs for the treatment of children with IHHE at SCMC.

Abstract Background Gorham-Stout disease (GSD) is a rare disease characterized by bone lesions and osteolysis. Therapy usually involves surgical resection. Sirolimus (Rapamycin) is used in some patients with GSD but the efficacy and safety of Sirolimus remains unclear. We propose that Sirolimus may be a novel therapeutic for GSD and present a case and review of literature that supports this. Case presentation We presented a 1-year-old boy with GSD involving osteolysis of the right humerus with fracture of the left femur complicated by an effusion in the right pleural cavity. X-rays showed osteolysis in the right clavicle. A large pleural effusion was observed on the right-side, and the left lung was significantly compressed. X-rays also showed a fracture of the left femur. A femoral biopsy was performed that showed necrotic tissue in the cortical bone and a large number of irregularly shaped capillaries that proliferated within the necrotic tissue. Dilated lymphatic vessels were seen adjacent to the cortex, with fibrous tissue hyperplasia. We prescribed sirolimus, which is an oral mTOR inhibitor, for two consecutive years. The boy recovered well without other progressive bone lesions and participates in normal daily activities. His growth and development are the same as that of his peers. Discussion and conclusion Gorham-Stout disease is a rare and enigmatic disease characterized by the presentation of an intraosseous lymphatic anomaly (LM), which results in progressive bone resorption. Based on this case report and a literature review, we conclude that sirolimus may be an effective alternative medication for GSD.

Abstract Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of limb dysfunction, and distraction arthroplasty which generates intermittent hydrostatic pressure (IHP) is an effective approach for OA treatment. However, the result was not always satisfactory and the reasons remained unresolved. Because aging is recognized as an important risk factor for OA and chondrogenic progenitor cells (CPCs) could acquire senescent phenotype, we made a hypothesis that CPCs senescence could have harmful effect on chondrogenesis and the outcome of distraction arthroplasty could be improved by eliminating senescent CPCs pharmacologically. Methods The role of senescent CPCs on distraction arthroplasty was first determined by comparing the cartilage samples from the failure and non-failure patients. Next, the biological behaviors of senescent CPCs were observed in the in vitro cell culture and IHP model. Finally, the beneficial effect of senescent CPCs clearance by senolytic dasatinib and quercetin (DQ) on cartilage regeneration was observed in the in vitro and in vivo IHP model. Results Larger quantities of senescent CPCs along with increased IL-1 β secretion were demonstrated in the failure patients of distraction arthroplasty. Senescent CPCs revealed impaired proliferation and chondrogenic capability and also had increased IL-1 β synthesis, typical of senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). CPCs senescence and SASP formation were mutually dependent in vitro. Greater amounts of senescent CPCs were negatively correlated with IHP-induced chondrogenesis. In contrast, chondrogenesis could be significantly improved by DQ pretreatment which selectively induced senescent CPCs into apoptosis in the in vitro and in vivo IHP model. Mechanistically, senescent CPCs elimination could decrease SASP formation and therefore promote the proliferation and chondrogenic regeneration capacity of the surrounding survived CPCs under IHP stimulation. Conclusions Eliminating senescent CPCs by senolytics could decrease SASP formation and improve the result of joint distraction arthroplasty effectively. Our study provided a novel CPCs senescence-based therapeutic target for improving the outcome of OA treatment.

Human cells tightly control their dimensions, but in some cancers, normal cell size control is lost. In this study we measure cell volumes of epithelial cells from human lung adenocarcinoma progression in situ. By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), we reconstruct tumor cell shapes in three dimensions (3D) and find airway type 2 cells display up to 10-fold increases in volume. Surprisingly, cell size increase is not caused by altered ploidy, and up to 80% of near-euploid tumor cells show abnormal sizes. Size dysregulation is not explained by cell swelling or senescence because cells maintain cytoplasmic density and proper organelle size scaling, but is correlated with changes in tissue organization and loss of a novel network of processes that appear to connect alveolar type 2 cells. To validate size dysregulation in near-euploid cells, we sorted cells from tumor single-cell suspensions on the basis of size. Our study provides data of unprecedented detail for cell volume dysregulation in a human cancer. Broadly, loss of size control may be a common feature of lung adenocarcinomas in humans and mice that is relevant to disease and identification of these cells provides a useful model for investigating cell size control and consequences of cell size dysregulation.

Covalent adaptable networks (CANs) combine the uniqueness of thermoplastics and thermosets to allow for reprocessability while being covalently crosslinked. However, it is highly desirable but rarely achieved for CANs to simultaneously demonstrate reversibility and mechanical robustness. Herein, we report a feasible strategy to develop a novel epoxy vitrimer (EV) composed of adaptable phosphate networks (APNs), by which the EVs exhibit promising mechanical properties (tensile strength of 62.5 ~ 87.8 MPa and tensile modulus of 1360.1 ~ 2975.3 MPa) under ambient conditions. At elevated temperatures, the topology rearrangement occurs relied on phosphate transesterification, which contributes to the shape memory performance, self-healing, reprocessing, and welding behaviors. Moreover, the incorporation of APNs allows for improvements in anti-ignition and also the inhibition of both heat release and smoke generation to avoid empyrosis, asphyxiation, and toxication during burning, showing expected intrinsic fire safety. Thermal, mechanical properties, and flame retardancy of the reprocessed EVs after hot pressing are very close to those of the original EVs, which is attributed to the sufficient reversibility of APNs. Accordingly, combining the aforementioned features, EVs are manufactured as flame-triggered switches for fire alarms, which symbolizes the innovative development of high-performance covalent adaptable polymeric materials.

Study Region: Three-River Source Region, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Study Focus: Evapotranspiration (ET) is often the largest loss of water from grassland ecosystems and consists of two constituents: evaporation (E) and transpiration (T), but it is very difficult to separate E and T. In this study, we used an energy balance model (Shuttleworth-Wallace) and a water balance model (SOILWAT2) to estimate the water budget variables over a 10-year period (2007–2016) in a degraded alpine meadow in the Three-River Source Region on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. New Hydrological Insights for the Region: The models produced contrasting patterns of precipitation and ET partitioning at the study site. Precipitation partitioning by SW2 resulted in substantial fluxes of both ET and deep drainage, while ET estimated by SW consumed almost all precipitation. ET was partitioned by the models into different annual E and T fluxes as well as different monthly and annual T/ET. Our study site located in an important water source region suggests that its water balance would contribute to drainage which aligns better with SW2 results. The surprising discrepancies between the models in the partitioning of precipitation into T, E, and deep drainage, however, is limiting our understanding and management of the degraded site and will require future work to reconcile.

Background: Data on one-stop hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) are limited. This study aimed to compare the early and midterm outcomes of one-stop HCR with off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease.Methods: From April 2018 to May 2021, 752 patients with multivessel coronary artery disease who underwent isolated one-stop HCR or OPCAB were retrospectively included in this analysis. After exclusion and propensity score matching, 151 patients who underwent HCR were matched with 151 patients who underwent OPCAB. The primary endpoints were midterm major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) after the procedure. The secondary endpoints were in-hospital complications and outcomes.Results: The preprocedural characteristics were well balanced between the two groups after matching. The HCR group was associated with a lower rate of perioperative transfusion (23.8 vs. 53.0%, p < 0.001) and new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) (5.3 vs. 15.2%, p = 0.004), shorter time of mechanical ventilation (h) [15 (16, 17) vs. 17 (16, 20), p < 0.001], and shorter length of stay (LOS) in the hospital (days) [19 (16, 24) vs. 22 (18, 27), p = 0.001]. Cumulated MACCE rates were similar between the two groups (15.9 vs. 14.0%, p = 0.59) during a median follow-up of 20 months.Conclusions: One-stop HCR is safe and efficacious with less invasiveness and faster postoperative recovery in selected patients with multivessel coronary artery disease. Randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes and long-term follow-up are warranted to confirm these findings.

Background: The optimal loading dose of clopidogrel in one-stop hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) remains an “evidence-free” zone. This study aimed to compare the major bleeding and ischemic thrombotic events between different clopidogrel loading doses (300 vs. 600 mg) in one-stop HCR.Methods: In this prospective, single-center, randomized, and parallel pilot study, 100 patients receiving one-stop HCR were randomly assigned to the clopidogrel loading dose 300-mg group or 600-mg group in a 1:1 ratio. Major bleeding events and composite in-hospital ischemic thrombotic and adverse complications were evaluated after the procedure.Results: The results showed that postoperative mean chest drainage of the first 4 days and total drainage were comparable between the two groups. No differences were found in Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) related bleeding (4 vs. 2%, P = 1), PLATelet inhibition and patient Outcomes (PLATO) life-threatening bleeding (20 vs. 26%, P = 0.48), and PLATO major bleeding (70 vs. 76%, P = 0.5) in the two groups. The composite ischemic thrombotic and adverse events were also similar.Conclusions: In patients receiving one-stop HCR, clopidogrel 600 mg loading dose did not increase major bleeding events compared with 300 mg. More sufficient data is necessary to evaluate the potential benefits of 600 mg loading dose in one-stop HCR.

Automatic grafting and cutting machines can be employed to satisfy the increasing demand for seedlings without soil-borne diseases in a short period. The main approach used to feed seedlings for automatic grafting and cutting machines is artificial, which limits the improvement of grafting and cutting machine productivity. The separation system with a subdivision air stream can stably feed seedlings for cutting and grafting machines; however, the separation efficiency is low when a few seedlings are in the separator. To solve this problem, a feedback monitoring device with a photosensitive sensor as the sensing element and feedback functions on the status of seedlings in the separator was developed. Through experiments using a photosensitive sensor to monitor the separation process of tomato seedlings, the results showed that the effect on the effective seedling blowing rate varied from large to small depending on the seedling size, light intensity, and sensor diameter. The results of separation experiment showed that the productivity of the entire system was 8784 plants/h, which satisfies the productivity needs of the grafting and cutting machine. Compared with the separation device without feedback monitoring, the productivity increased by 39%, the damage rate decreased by 4%, and the number of subdivided air stream operations was reduced by 47%.

Aiming at simulating the surface morphology of corroded steel and providing a modeling method with higher accuracy, the accelerated corrosion test was used to obtain six groups of corroded specimens, and then applied to stochastic finite element analysis (FEA) for studying the mechanical behavior of corroded steel. The pitting parameters (the depth, width, and diameter–depth ratio) of all specimens were investigated and statistically analyzed. Considering the irregularity of corroded surface, the random pitting model (RPM) was established based on the secondary development of ABAQUS. Moreover, the rough surface meshing method (RSMM) was subsequently proposed to optimize the element quality of the FEA model. At last, the modeling method was applied to investigate the bearing capacity of corroded steel beams. The results indicate that, firstly, the pitting parameters of all specimens obeyed log-normal distribution, and their logarithmic mean values grew with increase in corrosion time. The corroded surface the RPM can reproduce the evolution behaviors of a corroded surface with higher accuracy. In addition, the FEA model of corroded steel structures can be meshed easily into hexahedron elements by using the RSMM and effectively optimizing the number and quality of elements. By comparing with other test results, the calculation results of the FEA model of steel beams established by using the modeling method proposed in this study demonstrate a good accuracy in mechanical behavior analysis. The modeling method provides further support for the study of mechanical properties of corroded steel structures.

Abstract Background N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) modification has been implicated in many biological processes. It is important for the regulation of messenger RNA (mRNA) stability, splicing, and translation. However, its role in cancer has not been studied in detail. Here we investigated the biological role and underlying mechanism of m6A modification in hepatoblastoma (HB). Methods We used Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting to determine the expression of m6A related factors. And we clarified the effects of these factors on HB cells using cell proliferation assay, colony formation, apoptotic assay. Then we investigated of methyltransferase-like 13 (METTL3) and its correlation with clinicopathological features and used xenograft experiment to check METTL3 effect in vivo. m6A-Seq was used to profiled m6A transcriptome-wide in hepatoblastoma tumor tissue and normal tissue. Finally, methylated RNA immunoprecipitation (MeRIP) assay, RNA remaining assay to perform the regulator mechanism of MEETL3 on the target CTNNB1 in HB. Results In this research, we discovered that m6A modifications are increased in hepatoblastoma, and METTL3 is the main factor involved with aberrant m6A modification. We also profiled m6A across the whole transcriptome in hepatoblastoma tumor tissues and normal tissues. Our findings suggest that m6A is highly expressed in hepatoblastoma tumors. Also, m6A is enriched not only around the stop codon, but also around the coding sequence (CDS) region. Gene ontology analysis indicates that m6A mRNA methylation contributes significantly to regulate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Reduced m6A methylation can lead to a decrease in expression and stability of the CTNNB1. Conclusion Overall our findings suggest enhanced m6A mRNA methylation as an oncogenic mechanism in hepatoblastoma, METTL3 is significantly up-regulated in HB and promotes HB development. And identify CTNNB1 as a regulator of METTL3 guided m6A modification in HB.

Video object segmentation has been extensively investigated in computer vision recently because of its wide range of applications. The key factor of the segmentation is the construction of the spatiotemporal coherence. Inaccurate motion approximation as a measurement of the coherence usually leads to an inaccurate segmentation result. To obtain an accurate segmentation result, a low‐rank sparse (LRS)‐based approach is proposed. Regarding each superpixel as an element, this algorithm has a good segmentation accuracy compared with other pixel‐level algorithms. Each element can be represented by the sparse linear combinations of dictionary templates, and this algorithm capitalises on the inherent low‐rank structure of representations that are learnt jointly. The represented coefficients construct an affinity matrix which measures the elements’ similarity between the current frame and the templates in the dictionary. For video object segmentation, a principled spatiotemporal objective function that uses LRS saliency term to propagate information between frames. Furthermore, an online parameter updating scheme is proposed to enhance the system's robustness. The online model propagates information forward without the need to access future frames. Evaluations on many challenging sequences demonstrate that the authors' approach outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of object segmentation accuracy.

Graphcut-based algorithm is adopted in many video object segmentation systems because different terms can be probabilistically fused together in a framework. Constructing spatio-temporal coherences is an important stage in segmentation systems. However, many steps are involved when computing a key term with good discriminative power. If the cascade steps are adopted, the inaccurate output of the previous step will definitely affect the next step, leading to inaccurate segmentation. In this paper, a key term that is computed by a single framework referred to as boundary-constrained low-rank sparse representation (BCLRSR) is proposed to achieve the accurate segmentation. By treating the elements as linear combinations of dictionary templates, low-rank sparse optimization is adopted to achieve the spatio-temporal saliency. For adding the spatial information to the low-rank sparse model, a boundary constraint is adopted in the framework as a Laplacian regularization. A BCLRSR saliency is then obtained by the represented coefficients, which measure the similarity between the elements in the current frame and the ones in the dictionary. At last, the object is segmented by minimizing the energy function, which is formalized by the spatio-temporal coherences. The experiments on some public datasets show that our proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of venous free thenar flaps for reconstructing palmar soft tissue defects in fingers. Methods From December 2018 to October 2019, 11 patients with palmar soft tissue defects in fingers were treated using venous free thenar flaps. At the final follow-up, the range of thumb radial and palmar abduction on the injured side and opposite side was calculated. The total active movement (TAM) of the injured and opposite fingers and flap sensibility recovery were also recorded. Results The mean follow-up time was 13.4 months, all flaps survived, and all wounds at the donor sites healed with no skin necrosis. At the last follow-up, the average range of thumb radial abduction and thumb palmar abduction on the injured side was 96.6% and 95.9% of the value on the opposite side, respectively. The average TAM of the injured fingers was 98.2% of the value of the opposite fingers. Sensation in the flaps was restored to grade S2 to S3. Conclusion Venous free thenar flaps can be alternatives for reconstructing palmar soft tissue defects in fingers.

Background Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracellular solid tumor among children accounting for serious mortality. Macroautophagy, a common housekeeping mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis in eukaryotic cells, is involved in tumorigenesis and chemoresistance in a spectrum of cancers.Data resources Based on the terms of ‘autophagy’ and ‘neuroblastoma’, all the recent literature was searched and reviewed through PubMed.Results Autophagy is associated with apoptosis, histone modifications, angiogenesis, metabolism in NB. With those facts we assume that NB is an autophagy-dependent tumor, which means that autophagy inhibition therapy is desirable.Conclusion Autophagy in NB is pro-oncogenic, so inhibiting autophagy in high-risk NB may benefit treatment outcomes.

Objective This study was performed to compare the modified direct closure method and traditional skin grafting for wounds at the anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap donor site. Methods Among 29 consecutive patients with wounds at the ALT flap donor site, 14 underwent the modified direct closure method (MDC group) and 15 underwent traditional skin grafting (SG group). The operative time, follow-up time, complications, Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) score, and Scar Cosmesis Assessment and Rating (SCAR) score of the two groups were statistically analyzed. Results The mean follow-up times in the MDC and SG group were 16.1 and 16.7 months, respectively. Two patients showed partial skin necrosis after skin grafting, but the remaining patients’ wounds healed uneventfully. The operative time in the MDC group was an average of about 64 minutes shorter than that in the SG group. The average VSS and SCAR scores in the MDC group were 2.1 and 3.0 points lower, respectively, than those in the SG group. Conclusions Compared with traditional skin grafting, the modified direct closure method is more efficient for repair of wounds at the ALT flap donor site because of its shorter operative time, better postoperative appearance of the donor site, and higher patient satisfaction.

p53 is one of the most extensively studied proteins in cancer research. Mutations in p53 generally abolish normal p53 function, and some mutants can gain new oncogenic functions. However, the mechanisms underlying p53 mutation-driven cancer remains to be elucidated. Our study investigated the function of a heterozygous p53 mutation (p.Asn268Glufs*4) in a Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) patient. We used episomal technology to perform somatic reprogramming, and used molecular and cell biology methods to determine the p53 mutation levels in patient-originated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells at the RNA and protein levels. We found that p53 protein expression was not increased in this patient's somatic cells compared with those of a healthy control. p53 mutation facilitates the proliferation of tumor cells by inhibiting apoptosis and promoting cell division. It can inhibit the efficiency of somatic reprogramming by inhibiting OCT4 expression during reprogramming stage. Moreover, not all p53 mutant iPS cell lines have mutant p53 RNA sequences. A small percentage of mutant p53 mRNA is present in the somatic cells from the patient and his mother. In summary, this p53 mutation can promote tumor cell proliferation, inhibit somatic reprogramming, and exhibit random p53 allelic expression of heterozygous mutations in the patient and iPS cells which may be one of the reasons why the people with p53 mutations develop cancer at random. This finding suggested that mutant p53 allelic expression should be added to the risk forecasting of cancer.

Automatic transport can improve the operational efficiency in plant factory production and reduce the use of labor. However, a determination of a plant factory automation operation mode should comprehensively consider the economic strength of the enterprise, operation objects and operation mode, production scale, technical strength, labor costs, and other factors. In this study, a logistics transport system comprising a set of cultivation units was developed for plant factories, using a mode based on shelf-end delivery without power inside the shelf. Moreover, an analysis was conducted on four modes of common transportation methods for the cultivation units for vertical cultivation in plant factories. The results showed that, when comparing the progressive transport type and warehousing/reciprocating transport type for cultivation units, the transport productivity of the former is higher than that of the latter, and the difference in the two transport productivities is proportional to the capacity for cultivation units in each layer. When the capacities for cultivation units in each layer are 20 and 40, the transport productivity of the former is 115–200% and 130–250% higher than that of the latter, respectively. Moreover, the logistics transport system developed herein reaches an input (output) transport productivity of 330 (270) cultivation units h−1.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common pediatric extra-cranial solid tumor with heterogeneous characteristics, and the prognosis of patients with high-risk NB is usually poor. Discovery of novel biomarkers for early detection and investigation of the underlying mechanisms governing invasion and metastasis of NB are urgently needed. Recently, exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play vital regulatory or communication roles in the process of various types of cancers. However, the roles and mechanisms of exosomal miRNAs in NB remain unknown. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the detailed functions of tumor-derived exosomal miRNAs in progression and migration of NB in vivo and in vitro. By examining different exosomal miRNA expression profiles in the plasma of NB patients, we identified that the expression of hsa-miR199a-3p from exosomes was significantly upregulated, which was correlated with the severity of NB patients. Furthermore, we confirmed that exosomal hsa-miR199a-3p could facilitate proliferation and migration of NB via regulating NEDD4 expression. In summary, our data, for the first time, revealed that exosomal hsa-miR199a-3p could promote tumor proliferation and migration via decreasing NEDD4 expression in NB, suggesting that exosomal hsa-miR199a-3p may be applicated as a fast, easy, and non-invasive detection biomarker and contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for NB in the future.

After the publication of this work [1], the authors noticed that the affiliations were incorrectly provided. Updated affiliation section is provided in this paper.

Background: Inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a severe clinical syndrome characterized by right cardiac failure and possibly subsequent liver dysfunction. However, whether serum markers of liver dysfunction can predict prognosis in inoperable CTEPH patients has not been determined. Our study aimed to evaluate the potential role of liver function markers (such as serum levels of transaminase, bilirubin, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase [GGT]) combined with 6-min walk test in the prediction of prognosis in patients with inoperable CTEPH. Methods: From June 2005 to May 2013, 77 consecutive patients with inoperable CTEPH without confounding co-morbidities were recruited for this prospective cohort study. Baseline clinical characteristics and 6-min walk distance (6MWD) results were collected. Serum biomarkers of liver function, including levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, GGT, uric acid, and serum bilirubin, were also determined at enrollment. All-cause mortality was recorded during the follow-up period. Results: During the follow-up, 22 patients (29%) died. Cox regression analyses demonstrated that increased serum concentration of total bilirubin (hazard ratio [HR] = 7.755, P < 0.001), elevated N-terminal of the prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (HR = 1.001, P = 0.001), decreased 6MWD (HR = 0.990, P < 0.001), increased central venous pressure (HR = 1.074, P = 0.040), and higher pulmonary vascular resistance (HR = 1.001, P = 0.018) were associated with an increased risk of mortality. Serum concentrations of total bilirubin (HR = 4.755, P = 0.007) and 6MWD (HR = 0.994, P = 0.017) were independent prognostic predictors for CTEPH patients. Patients with hyperbilirubinemia (≥23.7 μmol/L) had markedly worse survival than those with normobilirubinemia. Conclusion: Elevated serum bilirubin and decreased 6MWD are potential predictors for poor prognosis in inoperable CTEPH.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between the atmosphere and grassland ecosystems is very important for the global carbon balance. To assess the CO2 flux and its relationship to environmental factors, the eddy covariance method was used to evaluate the diurnal cycle and seasonal pattern of the net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) of a cultivated pasture in the Three-River Source Region (TRSR) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from January 1 to December 31, 2008. The diurnal variations in the NEE and ecosystem respiration (Re) during the growing season exhibited single-peak patterns, the maximum and minimum CO2 uptake observed during the noon hours and night; and the maximum and minimum Re took place in the afternoon and early morning, respectively. The minimum hourly NEE rate and the maximum hourly Re rate were -7.89 and 5.03 μmol CO2 m-2 s-1, respectively. The NEE and Re showed clear seasonal variations, with lower values in winter and higher values in the peak growth period. The highest daily values for C uptake and Re were observed on August 12 (-2.91 g C m-2 d-1) and July 28 (5.04 g C m-2 day-1), respectively. The annual total NEE and Re were -140.01 and 403.57 g C m-2 year-1, respectively. The apparent quantum yield (α) was -0.0275 μmol μmol-1 for the entire growing period, and the α values for the pasture's light response curve varied with the leaf area index (LAI), air temperature (Ta), soil water content (SWC) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Piecewise regression results indicated that the optimum Ta and VPD for the daytime NEE were 14.1°C and 0.65 kPa, respectively. The daytime NEE decreased with increasing SWC, and the temperature sensitivity of respiration (Q10) was 3.0 during the growing season, which was controlled by the SWC conditions. Path analysis suggested that the soil temperature at a depth of 5 cm (Tsoil) was the most important environmental factor affecting daily variations in NEE during the growing season, and the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) was the major limiting factor for this cultivated pasture.

Prorocentrum lima is a typical benthic toxic dinoflagellate, which can produce phycotoxins such as okadaic acid (OA). In this study, we identified three ABC transporter genes (ABCB1, ABCC1 and ABCG2) and characterized their expression patterns, as well as OA production under different environmental conditions in P. lima. We found that the three ABC transporters all showed high identity with related ABC proteins from other species, and contained classical features of ABC transport proteins. Among them, ABCG2 was a half size transporter. The three ABC transporter genes displayed various expression profiles under different conditions. The high concentration of Cu2+ could up-regulate ABCB1, ABCC1 and ABCG2 transcripts in P. lima, suggesting the potential defensive role of ABC transporters against metal ions in surrounding waters. Cu2+, in some concentration, could induce OA production; meanwhile, tributyltin inhibited OA accumulation. The grazer Artemia salina could induce OA production, and P. lima displayed some toxicity to the grazer, indicating the possibility of OA as an anti-grazing chemical. Collectively, our results revealed intriguing data about OA production and the expression patterns of three ABC transporter genes. However, we could not find any significant correlation between OA production and expression pattern of the three ABC transporters in P. lima. Our results might provide new molecular insights on the defensive responses of P. lima to the surrounding environment.

The present study uses a method to address microvibrations effects on an optical satellite by combining simulations and experiments based on high-precision acceleration sensors. The displacement and angular displacement of each optical component can be obtained by introducing flywheel perturbation data from a six-component test bench to the finite element model of the optical satellite. Combined with an optical amplification factor inferred from the linear optical model, the pixel offset of the whole optical system is calculated. A high accuracy and broad frequency range for a new microvibration measurement experimental system is established to validate the simulation. The pixel offset of the whole optical system can be measured by testing the acceleration signals of each optical component and calculating optical amplification factors. The results are consistent with optical imaging test results, indicating correctness of the experimental scheme and the effectiveness of the simulation. The results suggest that the effect of microvibrations on a camera can be verified by using mechanical simulators instead of a whole optical camera for the experiment scheme, which is demonstrated to be an effective way for increasing efficiency in jitter measurements.