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The importance of angiogenesis in multiple myeloma (MM) is unquestionable; however, to date, the success of antiangiogenic therapies has been fairly limited. Exosomal circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been proven to be pivotal players in angiogenesis in various cancers. Nevertheless, their role in MM remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to identify differentially expressed circRNAs in peripheral blood exosomes from MM patients and explore their diagnostic and prognostic values. We screened 2,052 circRNAs with significant differential expression between MM patients and healthy controls via high-throughput sequencing. qRT-PCR confirmed that the expression of circ-ATP10A was significantly increased in MM patients. The bioinformatics analyses suggested that circ-ATP10A can act as a microRNA (miRNA) sponge and regulate the expression of downstream vascular endothelial growth factor-B (VEGFB), hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF1A), platelet-derived growth factor subunit A (PDGFA), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF). The immunohistochemical results indicated that the circ-ATP10A level was positively correlated with the protein levels of VEGFB and marrow microvessel density (MVD) in MM patients, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, area under the ROC curve (AUC) and Kaplan-Meier survival curve analyses confirmed it as a prognostic biomarker. Collectively, our study indicates that exosomal circ-ATP10A is a valuable prognostic biomarker in MM and may promote MM angiogenesis by targeting hsa-miR-6758-3p/hsa-miR-3977/hsa-miR-6804-3p/hsa-miR-1266-3p/hsa-miR-3620-3p and modulating their downstream mRNAs, such as VEGFB, HIF1A, PDGF, and FGF.

Multiple myeloma bone disease is the most common complication of multiple myeloma, which mutually promotes the progression of multiple myeloma, severely affects patients' survival quality and prognosis. Recently, many studies revealed that non-coding RNAs play an important role in the imbalance of bone remodeling by regulating gene expression and participating in various signaling pathways. Additionally, most bone lesions fail to heal even when myeloma patients are in complete remission due to the sustained suppression of osteoblast activity, while non-coding RNAs may become a novel research field and clinical intervention targets. In this review, the latest research advances of non-coding RNAs which affect the occurrence and progress of multiple myeloma bone disease are summarized briefly.非编码RNA在多发性骨髓瘤骨病中调控作用的最新研究进展. 多发性骨髓瘤骨病是多发性骨髓瘤最常见的并发症，与骨髓瘤的进展相互促进，严重影响患者的生存质量和预后。近年来，许多研究揭示了非编码RNA通过调控基因表达和参与多种信号通路，直接或间接在骨重建失衡中发挥重要作用。另外，由于成骨细胞活性被持续抑制，即使骨髓瘤患者处于完全缓解期，大多数骨损伤也无法愈合，而非编码RNA可作为新的研究方向和临床干预靶点。本文对影响多发性骨髓瘤骨病发生和进展的非编码RNA的最新研究进展作一综述.

Potentilla kleiniana Wight et Arn（PK, ‘Wu Pi Feng’ in Chinese） was recorded as Miao ethnic medicine for treatment of fever, cough, ulcer, and erysipelas for thousands years. This study aimed to evaluate the antiviral activity of four PK extracts and seven compounds by using HIV-1 protease (HIV-1 PR). In addition, Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS) was employed to identify the bioactive components. The toxicity assessment of the extracts was done before antiviral screening using a highly specific human aspartyl protease, renin protease by fluorimetric method. As a result, seven compounds and four extracts of PK inhibited HIV-1 PR with IC50 range from 0.009 to 0.36 mg/mL, and did not appreciably inhibit the general human protease renin. This study first demonstrated that four PK extracts, ellagic acid and ursolic acid potent inhibit HIV-1 protease, could be used as an efficacious drug candidate to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Some non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), as functional RNA molecules, lack potential to encode proteins, but can affect gene expression and disease progression through a variety of mechanisms. In multiple myeloma (MM), cardiovascular disease is one of the most common complications, which may be related to a variety of factors, including patient's own factors, disease-related factors, drug factors, etc. Non-coding RNA is considered to be an important regulator of cardiovascular event risk factors and cell function, and an important candidate target for improving the condition and prognostic assessment. This article briefly summarized the role of non-coding RNA in cardiac amyloidosis caused by MM, damage to the heart by inflammatory factors, and heart disease caused by chemotherapy drugs in recent years.非编码RNA在多发性骨髓瘤伴有心脏病变中的研究进展.部分非编码RNA作为功能性RNA分子，虽然缺乏编码蛋白质的潜力，但可以通过多种机制影响基因的表达和疾病的进展。在多发性骨髓瘤中，心血管疾病是最常见的合并症之一，其可能与患者自身相关，也与疾病本身、药物治疗等有关。非编码RNA被认为是心血管事件危险因素和细胞功能的重要调节因子，是改善病情和预后评估的重要候选靶标。本文就近年来在多发性骨髓瘤导致的心脏淀粉样变性、炎性因子对心脏的损害和化疗药物导致的心脏病变中，非编码RNA发挥的作用作一综述。.

Heart failure is a major health concern and often requires echocardiography to confirm the diagnosis. We introduce a new method that uses a wearable heart sound and electrocardiogram (ECG) device that can be used in the outpatient setting.The purpose of this study was to determine the value of synchronized analysis of heart sounds and ECG in identifying patients with depressed left ventricular ejection fraction (dLVEF)50%.One hundred eighty-nine patients (76 with dLVEF; 113 with normal ejection fraction) were enrolled. All were admitted to the hospital because of dyspnea or chest discomfort. N-Terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) was measured in all patients. LVEF was determined by echocardiography. Heart sound and ECG signals were simultaneously recorded using the wearable synchronized phonocardiogram and ECG device. Heart sound and ECG signals were automatically analyzed using wavelet analysis and utilized to determine electromechanical activation time (EMAT), EMAT/RR, S1-S2 time, and S1-S2/RR.EMAT in the dLVEF group was significantly higher than that in the control group (159.82 ± 83 ms vs 91.58 ± 28 ms). Pearson correlation test showed a negative correlation between EMAT and LVEF (r = -0.449; P.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that the sensitivity and specificity of EMAT ≥104 ms for the diagnosis of EF50% were 92.1% and 92%, respectively. Patients with intermediate NT-proBNP values were identified as dLVEF by EMAT ≥104 ms, with sensitivity of 93.5% and specificity of 92.8%.The heart sound and ECG signal index EMAT contributes to the diagnosis of EF50% and is especially helpful in patients with an inconclusive NT-proBNP value.

Ten new C9 polyketides (asperochratides A-J, 1-10) and 14 known miscellaneous compounds (11-24) were isolated from the deep-sea-derived fungus Aspergillus ochraceus. Structures of the new compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses, modified Mosher's method, Mo2(OAc)4 induced circular dichroism (ICD) experiments, and ECD calculations. Structurally, compounds 1-11 and 16-18 share the same polyketide origin of the skeleton and belong to aspyrone co-metabolites. All isolates were tested for cytotoxic, anti-food allergic, anti-H1N1 virus, anti-microbe, and anti-inflammatory activities in vitro. Results showed that compounds 5-8 and 13-17 exerted significant cytotoxic effects on BV-2 cell line, and compound 16 showed the potential of anti-inflammatory activities.

RATIONALE Nitromezuril is a novel triazine compound possessing remarkable anticoccidial activity that could have possible future use in the prevention of coccidiosis; however, its metabolic characteristics have still not been revealed. METHODS In the present study, the in vitro metabolism of nitromezuril in HepG2 cells, rat S9 and primary hepatocytes was investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The structures of metabolites and their product ions were easily and reliably characterized based on the accurate MS2 spectra and known structure of nitromezuril. RESULTS As expected, three metabolites (M1–M3) were detected in a HepG2 cells system, one metabolite was respectively detected and identified as M1 in rat S9 and M2 in rat primary hepatocytes. M1 and M2 were confirmed respectively based on comparing their retention times, full scan, product ion scan with available authentic standards and M3 was tentatively identified as hydroxyl compound of M2. CONCLUSIONS Pathways of nitromezuril were reported for the first time and no obvious species difference was shown. The proposed metabolic pathways of nitromezuril can be expected to play a key role in pharmacodynamics and food safety evaluations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

During the study of English sentence pronunciation evaluation system, we found that sentence pronunciation emotion and intonation evaluation are very important. Probabilistic neural network has been used to study English sentence pronunciation emotion, and DTW (Dynamic Time Warping) algorithm has been used in the intonation analysis. The probability neural network basic principle is introduced in this paper. An emotion recognition algorithm based on MFCC（Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient）is present. The keynote and energy of the sentences are used to analyse the accuracy of the tones. The experimental results of the proposed method effectiveness are given.

Based on the current studies on visual comfort of stereo images, we studied the brightness, hue and saturation factors impact the comfort of stereo images combining the characters of human visual system (HVS) quantitatively. According to the improved limit method and subjective assessment experiments, we defined the comfortable matching and difference map of brightness, hue, saturation, and verified their universal applicability. The accurate rate can reach 90%.

Several Acalypha australis Linn. species are used in traditional medicine in Southeast Asia. In this work, the ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry fingerprints and the antibacterial activities of A. australis Linn. were investigated. An in-depth discussion on the reliability of identifying and obtaining potentially active compounds by spectrum-effect relationship and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography was conducted. The result shows that gallic acid and a compound with molecular weight of 634.1 in the fingerprints were the main antibacterial compounds. Compared to the crude extract of A. australis Linn., both compounds increase the antibacterial efficacy 10 to 20 times. Compounds with molecular weights of 154.0, 292.0, and 485.1 in the fingerprints were the auxiliary antibacterial compounds. Through the entire isolation procedure, we obtained these antibacterial compounds with purities of 92.53, 87.98, 90.73, 89.36, and 88.14%, respectively. This work provides a general model of the combination of ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry fingerprinting and antibacterial test to study the spectrum-effect relationships of A. australis Linn. This model can be used to discover further the active compounds of this herb.

Background: Sulfur fumigation is one of the processing methods of Chinese medicinal herbs. This method can be used in bleaching herbs and controlling microorganisms, parasites and insects. Codonopsis Radix (Dangshen in Chinese), dried roots of Codonopsis pilosula, is one of the herbs commonly processed by sulfur fumigation. This study reports the influence of sulfur fumigation on the chemical constituents of the volatile oil of Dangshen.Materials and Methods: The volatile oil of air-dried or sulfur fumigated Dangshen was extracted by water-steam distillation and separated by GC capillary column chromatography. The components in the individual volatile oil were identified and quantitatively determined by GC-MS.Results: The results showed that 45 compounds were separated and identified from the volatile oil of Dangshen samples. Among them, the contents of 23 compounds in sulfur-fumigated Dangshen were much lower than that in air-dried Dangshen, such as 4-bromo-1-cyclohexene (6), 3,5-dimethylcyclopentene (7), phenylethyl alcohol (11), 2,3 diazabicyclo[2.2.1]hepy-2-ene,4-methyl-1-(pent-4-en-1-yl)- (22) and cedren-13-ol, 8- (35). On the contrary, the contents of 12 compounds were increased after sulfur fumigation, such as (+)-sativene (25), thujopsene (27), chamigren (30), a-guaiene (32) and 3- buten-2-one, 3-methyl-4-[(1R,2R,6S)-1,3,3-trimethyl-7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]hept-2-yl] , (3E)-rel- (43). Furthermore, two peaks [bicyclo[3.2.0]heptan-2-one,6 hydroxy-5-methyl-6-vinyl- (17) and bornyl bromide (20)] disappeared and four peaks [3-(decyloxy)-2-hydroxy-1-propanesulfonic acid (18), α-lonone (19) tetradecanoic acid (42) and methyl cis-9,10 epoxystearate (45)] newly appeared in the chromatogram of the volatile oil of sulfur-fumigated Dangshen.Conclusions: Sulfur fumigation caused significant variations in the constituents of volatile oil of Dangshen. Further explorations are needed to investigate how these chemical variations occurred and whether these variations would affect the clinical efficacy and safety of Dangshen in human use.Keywords: Sulfur fumigation; volatile oil; Dangshen; Codonopsis pilosula; GC-MS

Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was very low in China and a loss of as much as 70% of the applied nitrogen fertilizers was reported in high-yielding rice fields. In order to investigate the molecular basis of high-affinity ammonium transport or uptake into rice (Oryza sativa L.), we analyzed the expression profiles of nine ammonium transporters (AMT), three each of OsAMT1, OsAMT2 and OsAMT3, at two different N requirement stages (young seedling stage and tillering stage) of rice growth as well as the changes in these expression patterns according to external N status using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results suggested that the nine OsAMT genes were expressed in different organs of rice plants, including mature roots, new roots, stems, old leaves and new leaves and that the expression patterns were organ specific and independent of the positions of the corresponding proteins in the phylogenetic tree. OsAMT1; 1, 3;2 and 3;3 were expressed in the roots and shoots, primarily old leaves, OsAMT1;2 and 1;3 mainly in the roots, and OsAMT2;1, 2;2, 2;3 and 3;1 mainly in the shoots, primarily in new leaves, and relatively more in the stems than other genes. The expression patterns at the two different N requirement stages were the same; however, at the tillering stage with greater N requirements, the OsAMTs transcript levels were greater than those at the young seedling stage with low N requirements. N starvation for 48 h up-regulated OsAMT1;1, 1;2, 3;1, 3;2, 3;3 and down-regulated OsAMT1;3 mRNA abundance. Following N starvation, NH4+ and NH4NO3 re-supply down-regulated OsAMT1;2 and 3;3 and up-regulated OsAMT1;3, whereas NO3− re-supply down-regulated OsAMT1;1 and 1;2. These suggested that the organ-specific expression pattern of OsAMT could be regulated by N requirement and external N status.

Ce-doped silica films with various Ce concentrations were prepared via ion beam sputtering (IBS) and ion implantation. The samples containing 1.46 at.% Ce were annealed at various temperatures from 500 to 1100 °C in air ambient and a separate sample with the same Ce concentration was annealed at 1100 °C in nitrogen gas. The Ce-related photoluminescence (PL) was observed for the samples and found to be sensitive to the Ce concentrations, annealing conditions and fabricating processes. The PL intensity increases with increasing Ce concentrations from 0.09 to 0.58 at.%, and the concentration-induced quenching effect occurred as the Ce concentrations reached 1.46 at.%. Also, the PL intensity is enhanced as the samples were annealed at various temperatures from 500 to 900 °C in air ambient, then decreases remarkably as the annealing temperature reached 1100 °C. In addition, compared with the sample annealed in air, the PL intensity can be enhanced for the sample annealed in nitrogen gas. Distinctive PL spectra were found for the samples prepared via different processes.

The doping is one of important means in the semiconductor manufacturing techniques, by which the optical and electric properties of semiconductor materials can be significantly improved. The doping level and energy level structure of dopants have a great influence on the operating performances of micro-electronic devices. Beryllium is one of acceptors, which is frequently used to be doped in GaAs bulk, because it is very stable with respect to diffusion at higher temperatures. Therefore, it is significant for the application to optoelectronic devices that the energy-state structure of Be acceptors in GaAs bulk can be investigated in detail. The sample GaAs:Be used in experiment is a 5-μm-thick epitaxial single layer doped uniformly by Be acceptors with a doping level of 2 × 1016 cm–3, and grown by molecular beam epitaxy on 450-μm-thick semi-insulating (100) GaAs substrates in a VG V80 H reactor equipped with all solid sources. The transitions between the energy states of Be acceptors are studied experimentally by different spectroscopy techniques. The far-infrared absorption experiments are performed by using a Fourier-transform spectrometer equipped with a tungsten light source and a multilayer wide band beam splitter. Prior to the absorption spectrum measurement, the sample is thinned, polished and wedged to approximately a 5° angle to suppress optical interference between the front and back faces. Then, the sample is placed into the cryostat with liquid helium (4.2 K). The photoluminescence and Raman spectra are also measured at 4.2 K by a Renishaw Raman imaging microscope. The optical excitation to the sample is provided by an argon-ion laser with a wavelength of 514.5 nm, and the excited power is typically 5 mW. The odd-parity transitions from the Be acceptor ground state 1S3/2Γ8 to three excited states, i.e. 2P3/2Γ8, 2P5/2Γ8 and 2P5/2Γ7 are clearly observed in the far-infrared absorption spectra, then the respective transition energy values are obtained, which are in excellent agreement with the experimental results reported previously. In the photoluminescence spectrum, the emission peak labelled two holetransition, originating from the two-hole transition of recombination of the neutral-accptor bound excitons, is seen obviously, thus the energy of the even-parity transition between 1S3/2Γ8 and 2S3/2Γ8 states is found indirectly. Furthermore, in the Raman spectrum measured, the transition peak between 1S3/2Γ8 and 2S3/2Γ8 states is well resolved, and the transition energy between them is gained directly. By comparison, the transition energy values gained directly and indirectly are found to be consistent with each other.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE As chemotherapy is generally used in the clinical treatment of cancer, the problem of multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumors against the chemotherapeutic agents becomes more and more serious. It has been the major cause for the failure of the chemotherapy. We detected the expressions of beta-catenin and tumor drug resistance related proteins, MRP2, P-gp, and Bcl-2, in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) to explore their function and correlation in the occurrence and development of MDR in ESCC. METHODS We used the tissue microarray technique, immunohistochemistry, and image analysis methods to detect the expressions of MRP2, P-gp, beta-catenin, and Bcl-2 proteins and analyze their relationships with clinical data in a ESCC tissue microarray consisting of 582 specimens of ESCC, 294 specimens of normal mucosa, 92 specimens of basal cell hyperplasia, and 87 specimens of dysplasia adjacent to cancer tissue. RESULTS The integral optical density (IOD) of MRP2 and Bcl-2, which was 195.7 +/- 175.9 x 10(3)) and 90.5 +/- 112.5 x 10(3)), respectively, was significantly higher in ESCC than in normal mucosa, which was 104.8 +/- 86.1 x103) and 25.2 +/- 46.6 x 10(3)), respectively (P < 0.01). The IOD of P-gp and beta-catenin, which was 57.7 +/- 75.5 x 10(3)) and 32.0 +/- 47.0 x 10(3)) respectively, was significantly lower in ESCC than in normal mucosa, which was 114.8 +/- 106.6 x 10(3)) and 46.1 +/- 35.7 x 10(3)), respectively (P < 0.01). According to the following order, well differentiated moderately differentiated poorly differentiated, the IOD of MRP2 increased in ESCC (P < 0.01). The IOD of beta-catenin was higher in poorly differentiated ESCC than in well or moderately differentiated ESCC (P < 0.01). The IOD of Bcl-2 was lower in well differentiated ESCC than in poorly and moderately differentiated ESCC (P < 0.01). The IOD of beta-catenin and Bcl-2 was higher in the ESCC of specimens with infiltration depths that were in membrane mucosa than those in the muscular layer or serous coat (P < 0.01). The IOD of Bcl-2 was significantly higher in cases with lymph node metastasis than in cases without (P < 0.01). Positive correlations which were respectively between the expressions of P-gp and MRP2, the expressions of P-gp and Bcl-2 were found (r = 0.288 and r = 0.253, respectively, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS MRP2, P-gp, and Bcl-2 may be taken as prognostic factors for MDR of ESCC. beta-catenin may play an important role in carcinogenesis and progression of ESCC.

Rice grows in flooded paddy fields and takes up ammonium as the preferred nitrogen (N) source. Ammonium uptake is facilitated by a family of integral membrane proteins known as ammonium transporters found in all domains of life. However, the molecular mechanism and functional characteristics of the ammonium transporters (AMT) in rice have not been determined in detail yet. In this review, we report a genome-wide search for AMT genes in rice, resulting in the increase of the number of potential AMT proteins to at least 12, including members of both the alpha and beta sub-groups. Analysis of the predicted protein sequences for the 12 OsAMT proteins identified many conserved phosphorylation sites in both the alpha and beta group members, which could potentially play a role in controlling the activity of the transporters. Present knowledge of the expression of rice AMT genes is also summarized in detail. Future studies should focus on the structural and functional characteristics of OsAMT proteins to provide insight into the mechanism of ammonium uptake and its regulation in rice. Such research could improve utilization and decrease wastage of N fertilizer in rice cultivation.

Demand for low-input nitrogen sustainable rice is increasing to meet the need for environmentally friendly agriculture and thus development of rice with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a major objective. Hence, understanding how rice responds to growth under low-nitrogen conditions is essential to devise new ways of manipulating genes to improve rice NUE. In this study, using two rice varieties with different seedling-stage NUE obtained from previous field experiments, we investigated the physiological and molecular responses of young rice to low-nitrogen conditions. Our results suggest that glutamine synthetase (GS) and NADH-dependent glutamate synthase (NADH-GOGAT) play important roles in N assimilation of seedling rice roots under low-nitrogen conditions; the regulatory mechanisms of GS and NADH-GOGAT in seedling rice roots do not occur at the transcription level, and may be posttranscriptional; OsAMT1;1 play important roles in rice N acquisition by partially regulating N uptake under low-nitrogen conditions; and OsAMT1;1 and OsNRT2;1 also play important roles in rice N acquisition by partially regulating root growth and development under low-nitrogen conditions. The challenge for future studies is to characterize the functional roles of GS, NADH-GOGAT, OsAMT1;1, and OsNRT2;1 in young rice NUE using RNAi and mutant techniques.

To establish a simple and reliable method for rapid separation and identification of chemical components in Polygonum multiflorum Formula Granules.An ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometric method( UPLC/Q-TOF MS) was used. The separation was performed on an Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 RRHD(100 mm x 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm) column with a mobile phase of water and acetonitrile in a gradient elution mode. The flow rate was 0.4 mL/min and the column temperature was maintained at 25 degrees C. TOF MS was applied for qualitative analysis under positive ion mode.Five compounds were identified by the time of flight mass spectrometry and literature data.This method is accurate, rapid and sensitive, it can provide reference for the quality control of Polygonum multiflorum Formula Granules.

Shenmai injection (SMI) has been widely used as a therapy to treat a number of diseases. However, its anti-osteoarthritic properties have not yet been fully investigated. In the present study, the protective effect of SMI on knee articular cartilage of anterior cruciate ligament transected rabbits and interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-stimulated human chondrocytes was investigated. For the in vivo study, knee osteoarthritis (KOA) was induced in female New Zealand white rabbits by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) in the knee of right hind limb. Rabbits either underwent sham surgery or ACLT surgery. Out of the rabbits receiving ACLT surgery, half of the rabbits received one 0.3 ml Shenmai intra-articular injection in the knee per week for four weeks, following ACLT surgery. The other rabbits received the same volume of normal saline solution. The cartilage was subsequently collected for histological evaluation. For the in vitro study, cultured human chondrocytes were treated with 10 ng/ml IL-1β in the presence or absence of 5 and 2% (v/v) SMI for 24 h. Nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels in cell culture supernatant were assessed using a Griess reaction and ELISA respectively. The mRNA expression of cyclooxgenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, MMP-13 and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in chondrocytes were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results of the current study revealed that treatment with SMI ameliorated cartilage degradation in the ACLT rabbit model, and decreased levels of NO and PGE2. Furthermore, treatment with SMI decreased levels of COX-2, iNOS, MMP-1 and MMP-13 mRNA expression and increased TIMP-1 mRNA expression in IL-1β-stimulated human chondrocytes. These results indicate that SMI suppresses inflammation and ameliorated cartilage degradation, making it a potential and promising therapeutic option to treat KOA.

The neural network method is one of the most important methods in the field of speech recognition. In this paper, we propose a new speech recognition method, probabilistic neural network (PNN) ensembles, where the Bagging ensembles method is used to form a speech recognition model with probabilistic neural networks integrated, to implement a speaker-independent English speech recognition system. This paper also demonstrates that before speech recognition, applying segment clustering algorithm to the extracted speech data, i.e., the process of time warping, can ensure the validity of dataset and the performance of PNN. Through experiments, the experimental results show that the PNN ensembles method has faster modeling speed and higher recognition rate than the single BP (Back Propagation) and the BP ensembles method, and has higher recognition rate than the traditional PNN method.

To establish the quantitative model of naringin in Citrus Grandis Exocarpium by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy(NIRS).NIRSs of 54 Citrus Grandis Exocarpium samples were collected and pretreated by TQ Analyst 8.0 software with first derivative + Norris filter. The wavebands in 10,000-4000 cm(-1) were collected and 9 numbers of factors were used. The calibration model was built with partial least squares (PLS).The quantitative calibration model had good correlation coefficients (r = 0.9927) and low root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC = 0.0746). Root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) was 0.282. The average rate of recovery of validation was 101.65% (n = 9).The quantitative calibration model is trustworthy and it can be used to predict naringin in Citrus Grandis Exocarpium accurately. This simple, fast and non-destructive advantages of NIRS can be used for quality control and exploitation of Citrus Grandis Exocarpium.

Three samples of GaAs/AlAs multiple-quantum wells with different quantum well widths and δ-doped with Be acceptors at the well center were grown on (100) GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Polarized Raman spectra were recorded on the three samples at temperatures in a range of 4–50 K in a backscattering configuration. The two branches of coupled modes due to the interaction of the hole intersubband transitions and the quantum-well longitudinal optical (LO) phonon were observed clearly. The evaluation formalism of the Green function was employed and each lineshape of the Raman spectrum of the coupled modes was simulated. The dependence of the peak position of Raman shifts of the two coupled modes as well as the quantum-well LO phonon on the quantum-well size and measured temperature were given, and the coupling interaction mechanism between the hole subband transitions and the quantum-well LO phonon was researched.

Ce-doped silica films with different Ce concentrations were prepared by ion-beam sputtering and ion implantation. The films containing 1.2 at% Ce were annealed at temperatures from 500 °C to 1200 °C in air ambient, and were annealed in different ambient at 1100 °C. Ce-related photoluminescence was observed in films sensitive to the Ce concentrations, annealing temperatures and the annealing ambient. The peak intensity of the photoluminescence band is approximately linear with Ce concentrations. Also, the photoluminescence intensity is dependent on the annealing temperatures and reaches its highest value after annealing at 700 °C. In addition, the experimental results show that compared with the annealing in an air ambient, the photoluminescence intensity can be enhanced with nitrogen gas. There would be no obvious change for the photoluminescence position or shape.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are one of the important components in ecosystems, which not only have the diversity in genetics, species composition, and function, but also have the diversity in distribution and habitat. AMF infect plant root, form mycorrhiza, and nourish as obligate biotroph symbiont, with strong ecological adaptability. They not only distribute in forest, prairie, and farm land, but also distribute in the special habitats with less plant species diversity, such as commercial greenhouse soil, saline-alkali soil, mining pollution land, petroleum-contaminated land, pesticide-polluted soil, desert, dry land, wetland, marsh, plateau, volcanic, cooler, and arctic tundra, composing a unique community structure and playing an important irreplaceable role in the physiological and ecological functions. This paper summarized the species diversity and mycorrhizal morphological features of AMF in special habitats, aimed to provide essential information for the further studies on the AMF in these special habitats and extreme environments.

In this paper, the study of methods of multi-parameter objective evaluation of pronunciation is introduced. The accuracy of sentences, the emotional expression, the volume matching degree, tone, speaking rate and rhythm are selected as the parameters for evaluating an English sentence. As the result of the evaluation, an objective rating of the input voice, as well as the feedback are presented to the user. And the experiment shows that the method of this paper is effective.

Adiponectin plays an important role in the development of hypertension, atherosclerosis, and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, but very little was known about the influence of serum adiponectin or the adiponectin gene polymorphism on myocardial fibrosis. Our study investigates the influence of the SNP +45 polymorphism of the adiponectin gene and serum levels of adiponectin on myocardial fibrosis in patients with essential hypertension. A case-control study was conducted on 165 hypertensive patients and 126 normotensive healthy controls. The genotypes of adiponectin gene polymorphisms were detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Serum concentrations of procollagen were measured by a double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in all subjects. The integrated backscatter score (IBS) was measured in the left ventricular myocardium using echocardiography. The serum levels of adiponectin in hypertensive patients were significantly lower than those in the normal control group ((2.69±1.0) μg/ml vs. (4.21±2.89) μg/ml, respectively, P

A series of GaAs/AlAs multiple-quantum wells doped with Be is grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The photoluminescence spectra are measured at 4, 20, 40, 80, 120, and 200 K, respectively. The recombination transition emission of heavy-hole and light-hole free excitons is clearly observed and the transition energies are measured with different quantum well widths. In addition, a theoretical model of excitonic states in the quantum wells is used, in which the symmetry of the component of the exciton wave function representing the relative motion is allowed to vary between the two- and three-dimensional limits. Then, within the effective mass and envelope function approximation, the recombination transition energies of the heavy- and light-hole excitons in GaAs/AlAs multiple-quantum wells are calculated each as a function of quantum well width by the shooting method and variational principle with two variational parameters. The results show that the excitons are neither 2D nor 3D like, but are in between in character and that the theoretical calculation is in good agreement with the experimental results.

The current status and species of Taenia sp. were investigated in Midu County by sedimentation method to examine eggs of Taenia sp. in stool, questionnairing as well as deworming by areca-pumpkin seeds in October-December, 2010. The infection rate of Taenia sp. was 15.7% (65/414). Among the positives, it was fairly high in the age groups of 40- and 50-, being 24% (21/85) and 26% (15/57), respectively. 26 cases with positive stool examination and 47 cases with a history of discharging proglottids were treated. Adult worms were collected from all 26 egg positive cases and 23 persons discharging proglottids. The highest number of adult worms expelled was 11 in a woman, 2 worms from another villager, but only one worm each from all other cases. 15 tapeworms with scolex and mature proglottids were examined and morphologically identified as T. asiatia. The high prevalence was related to the residents' dietetic habits (eg. eating raw pork and liver) , behaviour (eg. defecating in field) , and the egg-contaminated environment (eg. by untreated feces).

To compare the pulmonary alveolitis and the early fibrosis of pulmonary fibrosis induced by quartz dust and bleomycin in rats, and investigate their mechanism.The female rats were divided into three groups: control group exposed to normal saline by the trachea; SiO2 group exposed to SiO2 by the trachea; BLM group exposed to BLM A5 by the trachea. Each half of the animals were sacrificed on the 7th and 14th day after exposure. The lungs of rats were collected to observe pulmonary alveolitis by HE staining and to observe fibrosis by saturated picric acid sirius red staining. The expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and CD68 in pulmonary tissues were analyzed quantitatively by immunohistochemistry and image analysis system.(1) The alveolitis and pulmonary fibrosis of rats in both SiO2 group and BLM group were became more serious gradually over time, HE staining under light microscope showed that BLM group on the 7th day had the most obvious alveolitis (2.814 +/- 0.832), the saturated picric acid sirius red staining under polarized light showed that BLM group on the 14th day had the worst pulmonary fibrosis (1284.57 +/- 554.72), which were significantly higher than those (103.69 +/- 18.29 and 111.78 +/- 37.45) in control group and SiO2 group on the 7th day (P0.05). (2) The results of immunohistochemistry examination indicated that the expression (17.100 +/- 1.831) of TNF-alpha in the BLM group on the 7th day was significantly higher than those (0.451 +/- 0.441, 7.909 +/- 1.275 and 13.506 +/- 1.454) in control group, SiO2 group on 7th day and BLM group on 14th day (P0.05). The expression (22.778 +/- 2.512) of TNF-alpha in the SiO2 group on the 14th day was significantly higher than those in control group, SiO2 group on 7th day and BLM group on 14th day (P0.05). The expression (134.941 +/- 35.951) of CD68 in the SiO2 group on the 14th day was significantly higher than those in control group, SiO2 group on 7th day and BLM group on 14th day (P0.05).The early alveolitis of BLM-induced lung injury model was more serious than that of SiO2-induced lung injury model, and the fibrosis process of BLM-induced lung injury model was earlier than that of SiO2-induced lung injury model. TNF-alpha plays an important role in the course of both models, but macrophages is involved in SiO2-induced pulmonary in a more continuous way than in BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

To explore the status of iodine nutrition and iodine deficiency disorders in the pasturing areas and agricultural regions in Tibet.30 families were selected respectively in pastoral Dangxiong county and agricultural Qushui county of Lasa. Drinking water and edible salt were collected for testing the iodine contents. In each type of the following populations including children aged 8 - 10, women of child-bearing age and male adults, 50 subjects were randomly sampled to examine their urinary iodine contents. Among them, 50 children and 50 women were randomly selected for goiter examination by palpation.Water iodine content was less than 2 µg/L, both in pasturing area and in agricultural areas. There was no iodized salt used in the families of pasturing areas, while 90% people consumed iodized salt in agricultural areas. The median of urinary iodine in pasturing area was 50.2 µg/L, significantly lower than that of agricultural area (193.2 µg/L). However, the goiter rate of children and women in pasturing area was significantly lower than that in agricultural area.Although iodine intake of populations in pasturing area of Tibet was severely deficient, there was no epidemic of Iodine Deficiency Disorders. This phenomenon noticed by the researchers deserved further investigation.

To evaluate the efficacy of trephination under lacrimal endoscopy in the treatment of relapse canalicular obstruction.In this retrospective cases series, 67 patients (73 eyes) with relapse canalicular obstruction were examined and treated in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between Feb. 2007 and Feb. 2008. These patients were examined by endoscopy of the lacrimal drainage system under local anesthesia, the obstructions were treated with miniature annular drill and silicone stent intubation. All patients were followed up for 6 months postoperatively.Silicone tubes were successfully removed after 3 to 5 months postoperatively in all eyes. After followed up for 6 months, the complete successful rate, as defined on a total relief of epiphora and patent on nasolacrimal irrigation, was 69.86% (51/73). Nineteen eyes (26.03%) showed improvement, which showed slight epiphora and were unobstructed during irrigation of lacrimal passage. Three eyes (4.11%) were failure, which still had epiphora and showed reflex during nasolacrimal irrigation. The effective rate of treatment was 95.89% (70/73). The effective rate for the treatment of upper and lower canalicular obstruction combined with nasolacrimal duct obstruction was lower than that of simple lower canalicular obstruction or common canalicular obstruction.Trephination under lacrimal endoscopy is a nontraumatic and effective procedure for the treatment of relapse canalicular obstruction. It significantly improves the effective rate of treatment for canalicular obstruction.

To explore the association between excessive iodine intake and lipid disorder in human bodies.Based on the NTTST sample survey on water iodine in Suining of Jiangsu province, this study involved 81 residents whose drinking water containing excessive iodine and 101 residents who drank water with normal iodine content. Blood samples were tested and compared on lipids (TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, apoA1, apoB) between the two groups, after adjusting the influences of age and gender. The study also compared the abnormal rate of each lipid indicator between the two groups. Corresponding RR values and 95% confidence interval were calculated. Correlation between iodine content in drinking water and blood lipid was also studied.apoA1 in the group with excessive iodine intake was significantly lower than that in the normal iodine group, while there were no significant differences between the two groups in other lipid indicators. The abnormal rate of HDL-C of excess iodine group (16.88%) was significantly higher than the rate of normal iodine group (7.22%) while there were no significant differences between the two groups in other lipid indicators. Both apoA1 and HDL-C in the excess iodine group had a negative correlation with water iodine, while the other indicators of two groups had no correlation with water iodine.Drinking water with excess iodine might increase the risk of lipid disorder.

A typical p-DCB production process was selected in this study. A series of p-DCB product samples, 1 Japanese sample and 1 chlorobenzene sample were collected and analyzed for by-product polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). It is a common phenomenon that byproduct PCBs exists in the p-DCB production process. The PCBs levels in the p-DCB samples were 62-781 ng/g and the highest WHO-TEQ in the process was 0.24 ng/g, while the PCBs level in the Japanese sample reached 881 ng/g. PCB31 was the dominate PCB congener in all the p-DCB samples with the maximum 98.5% of the total PCBs. Maximum content of PCBs was TrCBs in the p-DCB samples with the next TeCBs, DiCBs and PeCBs, while MoCBs were the highest in the chlorobenzene sample. Furthermore, a formation mechanism of PCBs in the production process was proposed and proved by the analysis result. It suggested that the formation of PCBs form the condensation of polychlorobenzenes had a relation with the concentration of polychlorobenzenes and the chlorine position in the benzene ring.

To compare the changes of urinary iodine levels among the family members with iodine content of 5 - 150 microg/L in drinking water, before and after non-iodized salt intervention through a field trail study.Family members who routinely drank water with iodine content 5 - 150 microg/L were chosen to substitute non-iodized salt for their current iodized salt for 2 months, and urine samples of the family members were collected for determination of iodine change before and after intervention was carried out.Median urinary iodine of school children, women with productive age and male adults exceeding 370 microg/L before intervention and the frequency distribution of urinary iodine were all above 70%. Our results revealed that iodine excess exited in three groups of family members. After intervention, all median urinary iodine level seemed to have decreased significantly, and groups with drinking water iodine 5.0 - 99.9 microg/L reduced to adequate or close to adequate while the group that drinking water iodine was 100 - 150 microg/L reached the cut-off point of excessive iodine level (300 microg/L).Results from your study posed the idea that the iodine adequate areas should be defined as the areas with iodine content of 5.0 - 100 microg/L in drinking water, and edible salt not be iodized in these areas. Areas with iodine content of 100 - 150 microg/L in drinking water should be classified as iodine excessive.

Approaches of ROI (regions of interest) confirmed and similarity calculated are key techniques for ROIBIR (regions of interest-based image retrieval) system. In this paper, two approaches of confirming ROI and a region-based similarity measure approach are proposed. Two approaches of confirming ROI which consider enough the visibility of image regions,the possibility of designating region and itpsilas weight by users make the image retrieval system include human perception and accord with human vision habits. For the proposed calculating similarity approach, firstly, the similarity of two regions with the combination features, histogram and region shape features, is computed respectively. Then,the similarity of two regions is calculated by the weight product method. The average similarity of all regions is regarded as the similarity between ROI and target image. Experiments show the proposed approaches are available.