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In recent years, UNet and its derivative networks have gained widespread recognition as major methods of medical image segmentation. However, networks like UNet often struggle with Point-of-Care (POC) healthcare applications due to their high number of parameters and computational complexity. To tackle these challenges, this paper introduces an efficient network designed for medical image segmentation called MCU-Net, which leverages ConvNeXt to enhance UNet. 1) Based on ConvNeXt, MCU-Net proposes the MCU Block, which employs techniques such as large kernel convolution, depth-wise separable convolution, and an inverted bottleneck design. To ensure stable segmentation performance, it also integrates global response normalization (GRN) layers and Gaussian Error Linear Unit (GELU) activation functions. 2) Additionally, MCU-Net introduces an enhanced Multi-Scale Convolution Attention (MSCA) module after the original UNet's skip connections, emphasizing medical image features and capturing semantic insights across multiple scales. 3)The downsampling process replaces pooling layers with convolutions, and both upsampling and downsampling stages incorporate batch normalization (BN) layers to enhance model stability during training. The experimental results demonstrate that MCU-Net, with a parameter count of 2.19 million and computational complexity of 19.73 FLOPs, outperforms other segmentation models. The overall performance of MCU-Net in medical image segmentation surpasses that of other models, achieving a Dice score of 91.8% and mIoU of 84.7% on the GlaS dataset. When compared to UNet on the BUSI dataset, MCU-Net shows an improvement of 2% in Dice and 2.9% in mIoU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic β-cell dysfunction is commonly observed in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) plays an important role in pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. However, the detailed mechanisms remain largely unknown. Methods: RT-qPCR, western blotting, and immunofluorescence assays were used to evaluate PRMT1 and miR-574-3p levels. Cell Counting Kit-8, Advanced Dlycation End products (AGEs), Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion were assayed, and flow cytometry and RT-qPCR were performed to detect the role of PRMT1 and miR-574-3p in MIN6 cells. Luciferase reporter assays were performed to determine the interactions between PRMT1 and miR-574-3p. Results: High-glucose treatment resulted in the high expression of PRMT1. PRMT1 silencing could alleviate the reduced proliferation, insulin secretion, and GLUT1 level, in addition to suppressing the induced apoptosis, and AGEs and ROS levels, under high glucose conditions. MiR-574-3p was established as an upstream regulator of PRMT1 using luciferase reporter assays. More importantly, miR-574-3p reversed the effect of PRMT1 silencing in MIN6 cells. Conclusions: miR-574-3p suppresses glucose toxicity-induced pancreatic β-cell dysfunction by targeting PRMT1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancement of smartphones, mobile crowdsourcing has become a new computing paradigm to efficiently support novel mobile applications. Achieving good service quality of these applications, however, necessitates the participation of large number of smartphones, which can be obtained via providing suitable incentives to smartphone users. Nonetheless, most existing incentive mechanisms assume a centralized platform for recruiting smartphones, which is prone to expose the privacy of both smartphones and task requesters. In this context, this article studies a distributed truthful incentive mechanism (DTIM) for mobile crowdsourcing, where multiple auction rounds can be conducted locally in each smartphone and task requester. Specifically, in each auction round, the participating smartphones act as the sellers and submit bids to compete for their intended crowdsourcing tasks. The task requesters, on the other hand, act as the buyers that decide on the sellers and corresponding payments, depending on their submitted bids. Finally, based on the offered payment, each smartphone selects a buyer for trading to optimize its utility. It is shown that the proposed incentive mechanism is strategy-proof, budget balanced, individually rational, and computationally efficient. Numerical results provided corroborate the beneficial properties of the scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been revealed to play vital roles in modulating gene expression and participate in several pathological responses including gastric cancer (GC). However, the larger numbers of the circRNAs in GC progression remain undetermined. In the present study, four GC related circRNAs expression profiles from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were enrolled. We identified hsa_ circRNA_00067997 (circ_0067997) as an oncogene in GC. qRT-PCR was used to validate the expression of circ_0067997 in GC tissues and cell lines. The results revealed that circ_0067997 was upregulated in GC, and high circ_0067997 expression was associated with the poor overall survival rate of GC patients. Knockdown of circ_0067997 significantly reduced cell viability, inhibited colony formation, and attenuated invasive ability, whereas overexpression of circ_0067997 exhibited opposed effects. Circ_0067997 was identified to be a sponge for miR-515-5p directly. Moreover, XIAP was demonstrated to be targeted and regulated by miR-515-5p. In conclusion, circ_0067997 was identified to be an oncogene in GC by regulating miR-515-5p/XIAP axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, vehicles have been increasingly adopted in mobile crowdsensing applications. Due to their predictable mobility trajectories, vehicles as participants bring new insight in improving the crowdsensing quality. The predictable mobility of vehicles provides not only the current locations of the vehicles, but also their future mobility trajectory. In this context, the existing participant recruitment solutions, which are mainly based on the current locations of the participants, cannot be directly used in vehicle-based mobile crowdsensing. Utilizing the predicted mobility trajectory of vehicles, this paper aims to propose efficient vehicle recruitment algorithms for mobile crowdsensing, so as to minimize the overall recruitment cost. Specifically, we study two mobility trajectory models of the vehicles, named deterministic and probabilistic models. We first prove that the vehicle recruitment problem under both models is NP-hard. Then, for the deterministic trajectory model, an efficient LP-relaxation-based heuristic algorithm is proposed, and an approximation ratio is analyzed. For the probabilistic trajectory model, we propose a greedy algorithm and analyze its performance with a guaranteed approximation ratio. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the proposed schemes through simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate the aggregation behavior of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the surfaces of SiO2 and CaCO3. The results indicate that SDS molecules formed a spherical micelle structure near the SiO2 surface; moreover, there were more head groups near the SiO2 surface. However, they could form a self‐assemble film on the CaCO3 surface. The self‐assemble film of SDS on the CaCO3 surface was more stable than that on the SiO2 surface. Our simulation results have a certain significance to understand the aggregation behavior of SDS on different surfaces on molecular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations were applied to investigate the coating repair agent dicyclopentadience (DCPD) in pH-sensitive micelles. The results show micelles self-assembled from triblock copolymers with strong hydrophobic interaction are not conducive to loading DCPD, and only micelles with weak interaction parameter can encapsulate DCPD well. After protonation, the structure of micelle was disassembled and DCPD beads have a stronger ability to shrink polymer chains and exposed to water. This work provides mesoscopic insight into self-assembly and disassembly of desired agent-loaded micelle, and might be useful for the design of new materials for agent delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NZ2114 and MP1102 are novel plectasin-derived peptides with potent activity against Gram-positive bacteria. The antibacterial characteristics and mechanism of NZ2114 and MP1102 against gas gangrene-associated Clostridium perfringens were studied for the first time. The minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration of NZ2114 and MP1102 against resistant C. perfringens type A strain CVCC 46 were 0.91 μM. Based on the fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) result, an additive or synergic effect was observed between NZ2114 (FICI = 0.5~0.75) or MP1102 (FICI = 0.375~1.0) and antibiotics. The flow cytometry, scanning and transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that both NZ2114 and MP1102 induced obviously membrane damage, such as the leakage of cellular materials, partial disappearance of the cell membrane and membrane peeling, as well as retracting cytoplasm and ghost cell. The gel retardation and circular dichroism (CD) detection showed that NZ2114 and MP1102 could bind to C. perfringens genomic DNA and change the DNA conformation. Moreover, NZ2114 also interfered with the double helix and unwind the genomic DNA. The cell cycle analysis showed that C. perfringens CVCC 46 cells exposed to NZ2114 and MP1102 were arrested at the phase I. These data indicated that both NZ2114 and MP1102 have potential as new antimicrobial agents for gas gangrene infection resulting from resistant C. perfringens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foucard, Krishna and Lekshmi introduced a new graph-theoretic concept in the area of network monitoring. Let G be a graph with vertex set V (G) , there exists a subset S ⊆ V (G) , if deleting any edge in G, one can find that there exist at least two vertices in S whose distance is changed, then we call S is a monitoring edge-geodetic set (MEG-set for short). The minimum size of the MEG-set of G is called the monitoring edge-geodetic number of G (meg(G) for short). In this paper, we study the monitoring edge-geodetic number of some well-known networks, including Ladder, butterfly, circulant and Benes networks and convex polytopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plectasin is a cationic antimicrobial peptide (AMP) that is 40 residues long and belongs to the cysteine-stabilized α-helix and β-sheet superfamily. This peptide, which was first isolated from the saprophytic fungus Pseudoplectania nigrella , exhibits strong bactericidal activity toward several gram-positive pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae . In this review, we discuss the latest advances made to improve plectasin antimicrobial activity and reduce its cytotoxicity, namely a variety of methods for the design and construction of plectasin derivatives, hybrids, and available expression systems. In addition, we focused on the investigations regarding the biological activity, therapeutic properties, and mechanisms of action of this promising antibiotic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactoferrin (Lf), a multifunctional glycoprotein, is an important antimicrobial and immune regulatory protein present in neutrophils and most exocrine secretions of mammals. Lactoferricin (Lfcin) is located in the N-terminal region of this protein. In this review, the current state of research into Lf and Lfcin in China is described. Searching with HistCite software in Web Sci located 118 papers published by Chinese researchers from 2011-2015, making China one of the top 3 producers of Lf research and development in the world. The biological functions of Lf and Lfcin are discussed, including antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anticarcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities; targeted drug delivery, induction of neurocyte, osteoblast, and tenocyte growth, and possible mechanisms of action. The preparation and heterologous expression of Lf in animals, bacteria, and yeast are discussed in detail. Five Lf-related food additive factories and 9 Lf-related health food production companies are certified by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA). The latest progress in the generation of transgenic livestock in China, the safety of the use of transgenic animals, and future prospects for the uses of Lf and Lfcin are also covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NZ17074, a member of the arenicin family from Arenicola marina , exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi, but had some toxicity to human erythrocytes and porcine intestinal epithelial cells. To resolve this problem, one novel peptide N2 was designed based on NZ17074 by replacing Gly in position 1, 12 with Ala. N2 exhibited a typical β-sheet conformation in aqueous and almost had no hemolysis. N2 was expressed in Pichia pastoris using the small ubiquitin-like modifier fusion technology. The yield of N2 was approximately 6.5 mg/l, and its molecular weight was 2665.0 Da. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of N2 against Gram-negative bacteria ranged from 0.125 to 4 μg/ml. The antibacterial activity of N2 against Escherichia coli CVCC 195 and Salmonella enteritidis CVCC 3377 was enhanced up to 1–3-fold over parent NZ17074. This result provides some information that assists in the rational design of toxic antimicrobial peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A scaling technique is employed to improve the performance of a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) precoded optical intensity-modulated direct detection (IM/DD) OFDM system, which fully exploits the dynamic range of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The theoretical analysis shows that the proposed scaling scheme can improve the BER performance of DCT precoded and scaled OFDM systems. The experiment results also show that the proposed scheme significantly improves the BER performance without changing the receiver structure. The measured received sensitivity at a BER of 10−3 for a 4 G samples/s (2.7 Gbits/s) DCT precoded and scaled OFDM signal and after 100 km standard single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission has been improved by 3 and 1.3 dB when compared with the original OFDM system and conventional DCT precoded OFDM system, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the ever-increasing demand for detection of genetically modified crops (GMCs), low-cost, high-throughput and high-accuracy detection assays are needed. The new multiplex asymmetric polymerase chain reaction and asymmetric hyper-branched rolling circle amplification coupled with reverse dot blot (RDB) systems were developed to detect GMCs. Thirteen oligonucleotide probes were designed to identify endogenous targets ( Lec1 , Hmg and Sad1 ), event-specific targets ( RRS-5C , RRS-3C , Bt176 - 3C and MON810 - 3C ), screening targets ( 35S promoter and NOS terminator), and control targets ( 18S and PLX ). Optimised conditions were as follows: tailed hybridization probes (1–2 pmol/l) were immobilized on a membrane by baking for 2 h, and a 10:1 ratio of forward to reverse primers was used. The detection limits were 0.1 μg/l of 2% RRS and 0.5 ng/l of DNA from genetically modified (GM) soybean. These results indicate that the RDB assay could be used to detect multiplex target genes of GMCs rapidly and inexpensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food-borne bacterial gastrointestinal infection is a serious public health threat. Defensins are evolutionarily conserved innate immune components with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity that do not easily induce resistance. AvBD103b, an avian defensin with potent activity against Salmonella enteritidis, was isolated from the stomach contents of the king penguin ( Aptenodytes patagonicus). To elucidate further the antibacterial mechanism of AvBD103b, its effect on the S. enteritidis CVCC3377 cell membrane and intracellular DNA was researched. The cell surface hydrophobicity and a N-phenyl-1-naphthylamine uptake assay demonstrated that AvBD103b treatment increased the cell surface hydrophobicity and outer membrane permeability. Atomic absorption spectrometry, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, flow cytometry, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that AvBD103b treatment can lead to the release of the cellular contents and cell death through damage of the membrane. DNA gel retardation and circular dichroism analysis demonstrated that AvBD103b interacted with DNA and intercalated into the DNA base pairs. A cell cycle assay demonstrated that AvBD103b affected cellular functions, such as DNA synthesis. Our results confirmed that AvBD103b exerts its antibacterial activity by damaging the cell membrane and interfering with intracellular DNA, ultimately causing cell death, and suggested that AvBD103b may be a promising candidate as an alternative to antibiotics against S. enteritidis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The candidacidal mechanisms of NZ17074, which is a variant of arenicin-3 from Arenicola marina, against human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans are reported in this work. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of NZ17074 toward C. albicans was 4 μg/ml, and this peptide exerted marked candidacidal activity in an energy-dependent and salt-sensitive manner. The flow cytometric analysis using propidium iodide (PI) showed that the plasma membrane of cells treated with NZ17074 was perturbed and that the cells were arrested in the G2/M phase. The dihydrorhodamine-123 (DHR-123) staining showed that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of C. albicans increased after exposure to NZ17074. Typical cellular disruption events, such as mitochondrial degradation, nuclear fragmentation, nuclear membrane disruption, and chromatin condensation, were further revealed through rhodamine 123 (RH123) staining, 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the intracellular localization of this peptide was concentration dependent: it was located in the membrane at low concentrations (4 to 8 μg/ml) and penetrated into the cytoplasm at high concentrations (16 to 32 μg/ml). Our results suggested that NZ17074 exerts its candidacidal effects by disrupting the cell membrane, inducing apoptosis, and interrupting the cell cycle. These findings showed the potential of NZ17074 as a new candidacidal peptide, in addition to its antibacterial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we dynamically select the transmission rate and design wireless network coding to improve the quality of services, such as delay for time-critical applications. In a network coded system, with a low transmission rate and, hence, a longer transmission range, more packets may be encoded, which increases the coding opportunity. However, a low transmission rate may incur extra transmission delay, which is intolerable for time-critical applications. We design a novel joint rate selection and wireless network coding (RSNC) scheme with a delay constraint to maximize the total benefit (where we can define the benefit based on the priority or importance of a packet for example) of the packets that are successfully received at the destinations without missing their deadlines. We prove that the proposed problem is NP-hard and propose a novel graph model to mathematically formulate the problem. For the general case, we propose a transmission metric and design an efficient algorithm to determine the transmission rate and coding strategy for each transmission. For a special case when all delay constraints are the same, we study pairwise coding and present a polynomial-time pairwise coding algorithm that achieves an approximation ratio of \1 -(\1/e) to the optimal pairwise coding solution, where $e$ is the base of the natural logarithm. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed RSNC scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To efficiently archive and query data in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), distributed storage systems, and multisink schemes have been proposed recently. However, such distributed access cannot be fully supported and exploited by existing routing protocols in a large-scale WSN. In this paper, we will address this challenging issue and propose a distributed geographic $(K)$-anycast routing (GKAR) protocol for WSNs, which can efficiently route data from a source sensor to any $(K)$ destinations (e.g., storage nodes or sinks). To guarantee $(K)$-delivery, an iterative approach is adopted in GKAR where in each round, GKAR will determine not only the next hops at each node, but also a set of potential destinations for every next hop node to reach. Efficient algorithms are designed to determine the selection of the next hops and destination set division at each intermediate node. We analyze the complexity of GKAR in each round and we also theoretically analyze the expected number of rounds required to guarantee $(K)$-delivery. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the GKAP scheme in reducing the total duration and the communication overhead for finding $(K)$ destinations, by comparing with the existing schemes, e.g., $(K 1)$-anycast [10]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bartter’s syndrome is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by deficient renal reabsorption of sodium and chloride, and hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis with hyper-reninemia and hyperaldosteronemia. Bartter syndrome type III (BS type III), due to mutations in the CLCNKB gene, is highly variable. The aim of our study was to describe the clinical presentation in a Chinese girl with BS type III and to explore mutations or SNPs of CLCNKB gene in her family. Case Presentation: The clinic data of the patient was collected. Mutations or SNPs were investigated by sequencing of the exon of CLCNKB gene. The clinic analysis confirmed the diagnosis of BS type III. The coexistence of 13 reported SNPs and 11 novel SNPs of CLCNKB gene were found in the patient and her parent. a novel heterozygous C to G transition at nucleotide 2471 in exon 20 of CLCNKB gene harbored uniquely by the patient were revealed. Conclusion: A novel heterozygous C to G mutation at nucleotide 2471 of CLCNKB gene and some new SNPs were identified in a Chinese girl with BS type III having persistent hypokalemia. The novel mutation and SNPs make the genetic background of the patient more complicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Standard reference molecules play a significant role for the detection of genetically modified (GM) crops and products. The newest reference molecules should catch up with the rapid development of GM crops in the world. In this work, a reference plasmid containing ten targets from GM soybean, maize and cotton was constructed on the basis of the pTLE8 harboring eight targets only from GM soybean and cotton. Three target segments of the Bt176 event-specific 3′-junction (Bt176G3′), MON810 event-specific 3′-junction (MON810G3′) and the endogenous maize Hmg genes, were fused into the 890bp fragment by overlap extension PCR. The CP4 EPSPS gene in the plasmid pTLE8 previously constructed in our laboratory was replaced with above fusion fragment, thus generating a new plasmid pTLH10 containing ten target genes from GM soybean, maize and cotton. The PCR efficiencies with pTLH10 as a calibrator ranged from 93.3% to 99.9% for the standard curves of the Bt176G3′, MON810G3′ and Hmg genes. The standard deviation (SD) values of repeatability were from 0.04 to 0.8 for three different days and from 0.12 to 1.14 for one day, respectively. These results indicated that the reference plasmid constructed in this work is also suitable for the identification of GM maize, and would be an important tool to establish a feasible identification management for various GM crops components. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: LAMP–LFD, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) combined with a lateral-flow dipstick (LFD), was developed and evaluated as a new method for the detection of Roundup Ready soybean (RRS). Biotinylated LAMP amplicons were produced by two sets of six designed primers that specifically recognized the endogenous gene (Lec1) and the event-specific 5′ -junction region (G35S) of RRS followed by hybridization with FITC-labeled probes and LFD detection. The following optimized conditions for the LAMP assay were used: deoxynucleotide triphosphate (dNTP) concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 3.2 mM, 6 mM Mg2+, 4 U Bst DNA polymerase and a 1:6 ratio of outer to inner primers. The LAMP–LFD results were generated within 50 min. The detection limit of LAMP–LFD was 2.4 copies of the linearized plasmid pTLH10 and was 20 times more sensitive than conventional PCR. We demonstrated the high specificity of LAMP–LFD by testing processed soybean products, genetically modified (GM) maize and Bt-cotton meal. The novel LAMP–LFD setup presented here is simple, rapid, and has the potential for future use in the detection of GM ingredients in feed and food products. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective. This study investigated the long-term effects of high-fat/high-energy and high-protein diets on insulin secretion and ghrelin expression. Methods. Dams of Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a standard, high-fat/high-energy, or high-protein diet during pregnancy and lactation, and their pups were defined as control, high-fat and high-energy, and high-protein groups, respectively. The pups were fed the same diet as their dams after weaning. Plasma glucose, ghrelin, and insulin were analyzed on the first, third, seventh, and tenth postnatal days and at the end of second, third, fourth, eighth, and twelfth weeks. Ghrelin and insulin expression in the pancreas was measured using radioimmunoassay, double-staining immunohistochemistry, and confocal microscopy. Results. Fasting blood glucose, plasma insulin concentrations, and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index increased with age. Total plasma ghrelin concentrations decreased with age. Plasma ghrelin concentrations were negatively correlated with glucose levels in all three groups. Plasma ghrelin was negatively correlated with plasma insulin only in the high-fat and high-energy group. Insulin secretion in the high-protein and high-fat and high-energy groups and pancreatic ghrelin content, pancreatic ghrelin-positive cells, and beta cells in all groups decreased with age. The percentage of ghrelin-positive cells correlated with the percentage of beta cells in all groups. Conclusion. Insulin and ghrelin expression in the plasma and pancreas was adversely affected by long-term high-fat/high-energy and high-protein diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to investigate the effects of high-fat and high-energy (HFHE) diets on the hepatic expression of cytochrome P-450 3A (CYP3A) in developing female rats. The pups of the dams fed with the standard diet were defined as the NN group and those fed the HFHE diet were defined as the NH group. The mRNA and protein expression, the protein localization and activity was determined. The mRNA expression of CYP3A1 on day 3 in the NH group were higher versus NN groups (p < 0.05) and the expression of the NH group on days 28 and 56 were lower versus the NN group (p < 0.01). CYP3A1 immunolabeling had a zonal-restricted expressions pattern on day 28 and after in the NN groups, while the obvious zonal expression pattern was observed in the NH group on day 84. The mean activity for the NH groups on days 3, 7, 14 and 28 was higher versus the NN groups (p < 0.05). On day 84, the activity was lower for the NH group versus the NN group (p < 0.05). Our findings provide a basis for further studies on appropriate medication regimen in obese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless mesh networks, delay and reliability are two critical issues in the support of delay-sensitive applications. Due to sleep scheduling designed for energy efficiency, a node along an end-to-end path needs to wait for its next hop to wake up before it can transmit, which incurs extra delay. In addition, because of unreliable wireless communications, a node may not successfully receive the packet even when it is in active mode. In this paper, we propose a coded anycast packet forwarding (CAPF) scheme for both unicast and multicast communications such that the delay can be reduced and the reliability can be improved. We theoretically analyze the impact of nodes' awake probability and the link loss probability on the end-to-end delay and the reliability. A tradeoff between the end-to-end delay and the reliability is also investigated. Simulation results demonstrate that CAPF provides a flexible mechanism to make good delay-reliability tradeoff and is effective to reduce the end-to-end delay and enhance the reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is aimed at examining the impact of ChatGPT on pediatric endocrine and metabolic conditions, particularly in the areas of screening and diagnosis, in both Chinese and English modes. A 40-question questionnaire covering the four most common pediatric endocrine and metabolic conditions was posed to ChatGPT in both Chinese and English three times each. Six pediatric endocrinologists evaluated the responses. ChatGPT performed better when responding to questions in English, with an unreliable rate of 7.5% compared to 27.5% for Chinese questions, indicating a more consistent response pattern in English. Among the reliable questions, the answers were more comprehensive and satisfactory in the English mode. We also found disparities in ChatGPT's performance when interacting with different target groups and diseases, with improved performance for questions posed by clinicians in English and better performance for questions related to diabetes and overweight/obesity in Chinese for both clinicians and patients. Language comprehension, providing incomprehensive answers, and errors in key data were the main contributors to the low scores, according to reviewer feedback. Conclusion: Despite these limitations, as ChatGPT continues to evolve and expand its network, it has significant potential as a practical and effective tool for clinical diagnosis and treatment. What is Known: • The deep learning-based large-language model ChatGPT holds great promise for improving clinical practice for both physicians and patients and has the potential to increase the speed and accuracy of disease screening and diagnosis, as well as enhance the overall efficiency of the medical process. However, the reliability and appropriateness of AI model responses in specific field remains unclear. • This study focused on the reliability and appropriateness of AI model responses to straightforward and fundamental questions related to the four most prevalent pediatric endocrine and metabolic disorders, for both healthcare providers and patients, in different language scenarios. What is New: • The AI model performed better when responding to questions in English, with more consistent, as well as more comprehensive and satisfactory responses. In addition, we also found disparities in ChatGPT's performance when interacting with different target groups and different diseases. • Despite these limitations, as ChatGPT continues to evolve and expand its network, it has significant potential as a practical and effective tool for clinical diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A traditional successive cancellation (SC) decoding algorithm produces error propagation in the decoding process. In order to improve the SC decoding performance, it is important to solve the error propagation. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm combining reinforcement learning and SC flip (SCF) decoding of polar codes, which is called a Q-learning-assisted SCF (QLSCF) decoding algorithm. The proposed QLSCF decoding algorithm uses reinforcement learning technology to select candidate bits for the SC flipping decoding. We establish a reinforcement learning model for selecting candidate bits, and the agent selects candidate bits to decode the information sequence. In our scheme, the decoding delay caused by the metric ordering can be removed during the decoding process. Simulation results demonstrate that the decoding delay of the proposed algorithm is reduced compared with the SCF decoding algorithm, based on critical set without loss of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to maximize energy efficiency in heterogeneous networks (HetNets), a turbo Q-Learning (TQL) combined with multistage decision process and tabular Q-Learning is proposed to optimize the resource configuration. For the large dimensions of action space, the problem of energy efficiency optimization is designed as a multistage decision process in this paper, according to the resource allocation of optimization objectives, the initial problem is divided into several subproblems which are solved by tabular Q-Learning, and the traditional exponential increasing size of action space is decomposed into linear increase. By iterating the solutions of subproblems, the initial problem is solved. The simple stability analysis of the algorithm is given in this paper. As to the large dimension of state space, we use a deep neural network (DNN) to classify states where the optimization policy of novel Q-Learning is set to label samples. Thus far, the dimensions of action and state space have been solved. The simulation results show that our approach is convergent, improves the convergence speed by 60% while maintaining almost the same energy efficiency and having the characteristics of system adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural network-based decoding algorithms have potential value to be researched in the field of polar codes due to their low decoding latency. The neural successive cancellation (NSC) algorithm, combining deep learning and successive cancellation (SC) algorithm of polar codes, was proposed to reduce the latency of decoding. In terms of overall latency, the NSC algorithm does not fully consider the parallel decoding of special nodes in SC decoding tree, which limits the reduction of system delay to a certain extent. In this paper, we propose a multi-in-one neural simplified successive cancellation (MIO-NSSC) decoding algorithm for polar codes based on deep learning. The proposed MIO-NSSC algorithm, which is suitable for general nodes, mainly improves the existing fast simplified successive cancellation (FSSC) and the NSC algorithms to obtain a multi-in-one neural network instead of multiple neural networks in the NSC algorithm by using a new training strategy. Through applying the FSSC algorithm to a special node, the decoding delay of the proposed algorithm is further reduced. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MIO-NSSC algorithm can achieve significant latency reduction and resource consumption efficiency improvement compared with the NSC algorithm. The latency of the proposed MIO-NSSC decoding algorithm is about 21% lower than that of the NSC algorithm, and approximately seven neural networks are saved compared with the NSC algorithm. Furthermore, the MIO-NSSC algorithm can reduce the computational complexity without loss of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 5G communication system, because of incomplete polarization of the polar codes, the performance of the polar codes is poor at low and medium SNR. Concatenating the polar codes and low-density parity-check codes (LDPC), the Polar-LDPC concatenated scheme improves decoding performance. Although the decoding performance of the Polar-LDPC concatenated scheme is improved, the decoding delay is increased compared with the non-concatenated scheme. In order to solve this problem, we propose a Polar-LDPC concatenated scheme based on deep learning by paralleling multiple neural networks. The decoding delay of the polar codes assisted by the neural network is reduced in the proposed Polar-LDPC concatenated scheme. The experiment results show that the proposed concatenated scheme can reduce time complexity compared with the non-concatenated scheme under the same code length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the adaptive successive cancellation list (AD-SCL) algorithm and the segmented-CRC adaptive successive cancellation list (SCAD-SCL) algorithm based on the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) can greatly reduce the computational complexity of the successive cancellation list (SCL) algorithm, these two algorithms discard the previous decoding result and re-decode by increasing L, where L is the size of list. When CRC fails, these two algorithms waste useful information from the previous decoding. In this paper, a simplified adaptive successive cancellation list (SAD-SCL) is proposed. Before the re-decoding of updating value L each time, SAD-SCL uses the existing log likelihood ratio (LLR) information to locate the range of burst error bits, and then re-decoding starts at the incorrect bit with the smallest index in this range. Moreover, when the segmented information sequence cannot get the correct result of decoding, the SAD-SCL algorithm uses SC decoding to complete the decoding of the subsequent segmentation information sequence. Furthermore, its decoding performance is almost the same as that of the subsequent segmentation information sequence using the AD-SCL algorithm. The simulation results show that the SAD-SCL algorithm has lower computational complexity than AD-SCL and SCAD-SCL with negligible loss of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many different encoding algorithms for systematic polar codes (SPC) have been introduced since SPC was proposed in 2011. However, the number of the computing units of exclusive OR (XOR) has not been optimized yet. According to an iterative property of the generator matrix and particular lower triangular structure of the matrix, we propose an optimized encoding algorithm (OEA) of SPC that can reduce the number of XOR computing units compared with existing non-recursive algorithms. We also prove that this property of the generator matrix could extend to different code lengths and rates of the polar codes. Through the matrix segmentation and transformation, we obtain a submatrix with all zero elements to save computation resources. The proportion of zero elements in the matrix can reach up to 58.5% from the OEA for SPC when the code length and code rate are 2048 and 0.5, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed OEA is beneficial to hardware implementation compared with the existing recursive algorithms in which signals are transmitted bidirectionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic and precise segmentation of lung images can assist doctors in locating and diagnosing lung lesions. However, current traditional lung CT image lesion segmentation algorithms suffer from the problem of low segmentation accuracy, while deep learning-based segmentation algorithms struggle to strike a better balance between lightweight and high accuracy. In response to this issue, a multi-scale and lightweight U-Net lung image segmentation algorithm with an attention mechanism is proposed. This algorithm introduces CA convolution after the convolution in the encoding stage to extract channel relationships and positional information from the feature maps. Furthermore, the RFB module is employed to extract features from different perspectives. Lastly, upward residual connections are introduced between the RFB modules in the encoder and decoder to enhance inter-network information interaction. Experiments conducted on the LUNA (lung nodule analysis) dataset and the COVID-QU-Ex dataset for COVID-19 pneumonia demonstrate that the proposed MSA-UNet algorithm achieves the best results in terms of Precision and Dice metrics. It outperforms mainstream models such as U-Net++ and DeeplabV3+ in terms of segmentation effectiveness and segmentation generality. The model has a floating-point operation count (FLOPs) of 18.15 G, a network parameter counts of 8.83×106, and achieves a Precision of 99.37%. The algorithm achieves a good balance between computational efficiency, model size, and segmentation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on density evolution analysis of the existing belief propagation (BP) algorithm, the Turbo Decoding Message Passing (TDMP) algorithm was analyzed from the perspective of density evolution and Gaussian approximation, and the theoretical analysis process of TDMP algorithm was given. When calculating the prior message of each layer of the TDMP algorithm, the check message of the previous iteration should be subtracted. Therefore, the result will not be convergent, if the TDMP algorithm is directly analyzed based on density evolution and Gaussian approximation. We researched the TDMP algorithm based on the symmetry conditions to obtain the convergent result. When using density evolution (DE) and Gaussian approximation to analyze the decoding convergence of the TDMP algorithm, we can provide a theoretical basis for proving the superiority of the algorithm. Then, based on the DE theory, we calculated the probability density function (PDF) of the check-to-variable information of TDMP and its simplified algorithm, and then gave it a calculation based on the process of the normalization factor. Simulation results show that the decoding convergence speed of the TDMP algorithm was faster and the iterations were smaller compared to the BP algorithm under the same conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ABCC8 variants can cause hyperinsulinemia by activating or deactivating gene expression. This study used targeted exon sequencing to investigate genetic variants of ABCC8 and the associated phenotypic features in Chinese patients with hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH). Methods: We enrolled eight Chinese children with HH and analyzed their clinical characteristics, laboratory results, and genetic variations. Results: The age at presentation among the patients ranged from neonates to 0.6 years old, and the age at diagnosis ranged from 1 month to 5 years, with an average of 1.3 ± 0.7 years. Among these patients, three presented with seizures, and five with hypoglycemia. One patient (Patient 7) also had microcephaly. All eight patients exhibited ABCC8 abnormalities, including six missense mutations (c. 2521 C > G, c. 3784G > A, c. 4478G > A, c. 4532T > C, c. 2669T > C, and c. 331G > A), two deletion-insertion mutations (c. 3126_3129delinsTC and c. 3124_3126delins13), and one splicing mutation (c. 1332 + 2T > C). Two of these mutations (c. 3126_3129delinsTC and c. 4532T > C) are novel. Six variations were paternal, two were maternal, and one was de novo. Three patients responded to diazoxide and one patient responded to octreotide treatment. All there patients had diazoxide withdrawal with age. Two patients (patients 3 and 7) were unresponsive to both diazoxide and octreotide and had mental retardation. Conclusions: Gene analysis can aid in the classification, treatment, and prognosis of children with HH. In this study, the identification of seven known and two novel variants in the ABCC8 gene further enriched the variation spectrum of the gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fumonisins (FBs), particularly fumonisin B1 (FB1) and fumonisin B2 (FB2) produced mainly by Fusarium verticillioide and Fusarium proliferatum, are common contaminants in animal feed and pose a serious threat to both animal and human health. The use of microbial enzymes to efficiently and specifically convert fumonisins into non-toxic or low-toxic metabolites has emerged as the most promising approach. However, most of the available enzymes have only been evaluated in vitro and lack systematic evaluation in vivo. In this study, the detoxification efficacy of two carboxylesterases, FumD (FUMzyme®) and FumDSB, was evaluated comparatively in piglets. The results show that feeding piglets 4.4 mg/kg FBs-contaminated diets for 32 days did not significantly affect the average daily gain, organ indices, and immunoglobulins of the piglets. However, a significant reduction (21.2%) in anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-4 was observed in the FBs group, and supplementation with FUMzyme® and FumDSB significantly increased interleukin-4 by 62.1% and 28.0%, respectively. In addition, FBs-contaminated diets resulted in a 3-fold increase in the serum sphinganine/sphingosine (Sa/So) ratio, which is a specific biomarker that has been used to accurately reflect fumonisin levels. The serum Sa/So ratio was significantly reduced by 48.8% after the addition of FUMzyme®, and was insignificantly reduced by 8.2% in the FumDSB group. These results suggested that FUMzyme was more effective than FumDSB in mitigating FBs toxicity in piglets by down-regulating the Sa/So ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is a rare autosomal-recessive disease characterized by extensive arterial calcification in infancy, with clinical manifestations such as arterial stenoses and heart failure. The ENPP1 inactivation mutation has been identified as a potential defect in most of the cases of GACI, while mutations in ABCC6 are demonstrated in patients who are genotyped as pseudoxanthoma elasticum and only limited cases of GACI are reported. Whole-exome sequencing was applied for the detection of pathogenic variants. Copy-number variants of pathogenic genes were also evaluated through a bioinformatic process and were further validated by real-time quantitative PCR. In this report, we described the clinical information and treatment of a patient with extensive arterial calcification. We have identified the underlying cause as biallelic mutations in ABCC6 (NM_00117: exon30, c.4223_4227dupAGCTC p.(Leu1410Serfs*56)) and a unique exonic deletion that spans from the first to the fourth exons of ABCC6 (chr16:16313388-16330869)). This discovery was made by utilizing a combined genetic testing approach. With the review of previously reported GACI patients with ABCC6 mutation, our work contributed to enriching the mutation spectrum of GACI and providing further information on this rare form of inherited disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Imaging or killing of a specific pathogen is of significance for precise therapy. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an infectious gram-positive bacteria relying on Sortase A (SrtA) to anchor cell surface protein on peptidoglycan. We herein report signal-on labeling of S. aureus with self-quenched optical probes featuring vancomycin-conjugated SrtA substrate that is flanked by a dabcyl moiety paired with either fluorescein or eosine photosensizer (PS). SrtA-mediated cleavage of the substrate motif releases the dabcyl quencher, leading to covalent labeling of peptidoglycan with fluorescein or PS of restored photophysical property. The dual biomarked-enabled peptidoglycan labeling enables signal-on imaging and effective photodynamic destruction of S. aureus , suggesting a protheranostic approch activatable to SrtA-positive bacteria engaged in myriad diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cardio-facio-cutaneous (CFC) syndrome is a RASopathy subtype that presents with unique craniofacial dysmorphology, congenital heart disease, dermatologic abnormalities, growth retardation, and intellectual disability. This study describes the phenotypic spectrum of CFC in China and its association with CFC syndrome gene variants. Results: Twenty Chinese CFC patients, aged 0.6–9.5 years old, were included in this study and their clinical phenotypic spectrum was compared with that of 186 patients with CFC from non-Chinese ethnicities. All 20 Chinese patients with CFC carried de novo heterozygous BRAF, MAP2K1, and MAP2K2 variants. Two novel variants were detected and consistently predicted to be deleterious using bioinformatic tools. The clinical features of CFC in the Chinese patients included hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (2/20, 10%), pulmonary valve stenosis (2/20, 10%), curly or sparse hair (7/20, 35%), epilepsy (1/20, 5%), and hypotonia (10/20, 50%); these features were less frequently observed in Chinese patients than non-Chinese patients (p < 0.05). In contrast, feeding difficulties (19/20, 95%) were more frequently observed in the Chinese patients. Absent eyebrows and severe short stature were more common in patients with BRAF variants than in those with MAP2K1/2 variants. Facial recognition software was used to recognize most CFC patients using artificial intelligence. Conclusion: This study identified novel and common variants in our cohort of 20 Chinese patients with CFC. We uncovered differences in clinical features between Chinese and non-Chinese patients and detected genotype–phenotype correlations among the BRAF and MAP2K1/2 variant subgroups. This is the largest cohort of Chinese CFC patients to our knowledge, providing new insights into a subtype of RASopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a type of ciliary dyskinesia that is usually caused by autosomal recessive inheritance and can manifest as recurrent respiratory infections, bronchiectasis, infertility, laterality defects, and chronic otolaryngological disease. Although ependymal cilia, which affect the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the central nervous system, have much in common with respiratory cilia in terms of structure and function, hydrocephalus is rarely associated with PCD. Recently, variants of Forkhead box J1 (FOXJ1) have been found to cause PCD combined with hydrocephalus in a de novo, autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. Methods: We performed DNA extraction, whole‐exome sequencing (WES) analysis, and mutation analysis of FOXJ1 and analyzed the patient's clinical and genetic data. Results: The patient was a 4‐year‐old female exhibiting normal growth and development. At 3 years and 2 months of age, the patient experienced hand shaking and weakness in the lower limbs. Cardiac ultrasonography showed a right‐sided heart, and cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed obstructive hydrocephalus. The nasal nitric oxide level was 54 nL/min. WES indicated a de novo, heterozygous variant of FOXJ1, c.734–735 ins20. This variant was novel, not included in the Human Gene Mutation and Genome Aggregation Database, and likely pathogenic according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, causing earlier termination of amino acid translation. The patient underwent a neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy after the diagnosis of obstructive hydrocephalus. Six months after the operation, the patient's motor deficits had improved. Conclusion: This is the first report of a de novo, autosomal dominant pattern of FOXJ1 causing PCD combined with hydrocephalus in China. The patient's clinical symptoms were similar to those previously reported. WES confirmed that a novel variant of FOXJ1 was the cause of the PCD combined with hydrocephalus, expanding the spectrum of the genotypes associated with this condition. Physicians should be aware of the correlation of hydrocephalus and PCD and test for FOXJ1 variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging mobile crowdsensing applications are able to facilitate people's life in various aspects. A key factor to ensure that these applications can provide high-quality service is the sufficient participation of normal smartphone users. Therefore, a lot of effort has been made to design incentive mechanisms to motivate users to participate. Most of these works assume that users are associated with homogeneous costs across the whole sensing area, based on which many utility optimization models are proposed. In this paper, we consider the scenario where smartphone users have heterogeneous costs across the sensing area, i.e., users in different regions have different cost distributions. In this scenario, traditional mechanisms may generate sensing holes and recruit insufficient users in some regions with higher costs, which may lead to unsatisfactory service. To accommodate this issue, we propose two optimization models, which aim at maximizing the user cardinality and the sensing utility function for each region of the whole sensing area, respectively. We then design effective incentive mechanisms, which possess the desirable properties, including computational efficiency, individual rationality, budget feasibility, truthfulness, and good competitiveness. By conducting extensive experiments on the real-world geographical dataset, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanisms in achieving the good quality of service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML) is an aggressive paediatric leukaemia characterized by mutations in five canonical RAS pathway genes, including the NF1 gene. JMML is driven by germline NF1 gene mutations, with additional somatic aberrations resulting in the NF1 biallelic inactivation, leading to disease progression. Germline mutations in the NF1 gene alone primarily cause benign neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) tumours rather than malignant JMML, yet the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that with reduced NF1 gene dose, immune cells are promoted in anti‐tumour immune response. Comparing the biological properties of JMML and NF1 patients, we found that not only JMML but also NF1 patients driven by NF1 mutations could increase monocytes generation. But monocytes cannot further malignant development in NF1 patients. Utilizing haematopoietic and macrophage differentiation from iPSCs, we revealed that NF1 mutations or knockout (KO) recapitulated the classical haematopoietic pathological features of JMML with reduced NF1 gene dose. NF1 mutations or KO promoted the proliferation and immune function of NK cells and iMacs derived from iPSCs. Moreover, NF1‐mutated iNKs had a high capacity to kill NF1‐KO iMacs. NF1‐mutated or KO iNKs administration delayed leukaemia progression in a xenograft animal model. Our findings demonstrate that germline NF1 mutations alone cannot directly drive JMML development and suggest a potential cell immunotherapy for JMML patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: With linear network coding (LNC), the data packets transmitted in a communication network are coded packets, which are linear combinations of original data packets. Since the coded packets can be useful for multiple destinations in multicast, LNC has been shown as a promising technology to improve the network throughput. On the other hand, the original data packets can be encoded with random symbols and transmitted in the network to make sure that a passive attacker cannot obtain the information of these original data packets when the passive attacker cannot obtain enough coded packets. Therefore, LNC also provides secure transmission without using the traditional encryption and decryption. In this paper, we will study an Information Theoretically Secure Multiple Multicasts (ITSMM) problem with the following objectives: (1) maximizing the secure transmission rate (STR), (2) minimizing the random symbol rate (RSR), and (3) minimizing the bandwidth cost (BC), when the data transmission is information theoretically secure. We firstly theoretically analyze the ITSMM problem, which shows that it is equivalent to a problem of network flow with constraints on each intermediate node. We then formulate the ITSMM problem by 3 linear programmings to get the maximum STR, the minimum RSR, and the minimum BC. After that, we prove the sufficient condition for the size of finite field over which the information theoretically secure linear multicast code (ITSLMC) can be designed. At last, we give extensive simulations, which show that the proposed algorithms are effective and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinases are among the most important families of biomolecules and play an essential role in the regulation of cell proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism, and other critical physiological processes. The dysregulation and gene mutation of kinases are linked to the occurrence and development of various human diseases, especially cancer. As a result, a growing number of small-molecule drugs based on kinase targets are being successfully developed and approved for the treatment of many diseases. The indole/azaindole/oxindole moieties are important key pharmacophores of many bioactive compounds and are generally used as excellent scaffolds for drug discovery in medicinal chemistry. To date, 30 ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors bearing the indole/azaindole/oxindole scaffold have been approved for the treatment of diseases. Herein, we summarize their research and development (R&D) process and describe their binding models to the ATP-binding sites of the target kinases. Moreover, we discuss the significant role of the indole/azaindole/oxindole skeletons in the interaction of their parent drug and target kinases, providing new medicinal chemistry inspiration and ideas for the subsequent development and optimization of kinase inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corynoline is an active substance extracted from Corydalis bungeana Turcz and exerts a therapeutic effect in multiple diseases by alleviating inflammatory response. The present study sought to elucidate the role of corynoline in ulcerative colitis (UC). The experimental colitis models were induced in BALB/c mice via receiving a drinking water supplemented with 3.5% (I) dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) ad libitum for 7 days. Corynoline administration inhibited body weight loss, colon shortening, disease activity index and colonic pathomorphological changes in DSS-treated mice. Besides, corynoline down-regulated the levels of pro-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor Alpha (TNF-α), as well as decreased myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the colon of DSS-treated mice. In addition, severe oxidative stress in the colonic tissues of DSS-treated was mitigated by corynoline treatment. However, these beneficial effects were reversed by a specific nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) inhibitor ML385 intervention. Further evidence confirmed that corynoline promoted Nrf2 nuclear migration and heme oxygenase-1 gene expression in the colonic tissues of UC mice. Besides, corynoline treatment restrained colonic nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation as proved by the decrease in phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of NF-κB. Corynoline ameliorates DSS-induced mouse colitis, which may provide a promising therapeutic strategy for UC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) integration provides many benefits including high density, high bandwidth and low power consumption. Through-silicon via (TSV), which provides communication links for dies in vertical direction, is a critical design issue in 3D integration. Nevertheless, TSV is susceptible to failure in the fabrication and bonding, which may lead to partial interconnection in vertical direction, and thus can severely increase the cost and decrease the yield. To solve this issue, this paper proposes a TSV fault-tolerant scheme based on failure classification. Specifically, a 32-bit TSV channel is divided into four groups. Based on the results of TSV testing, inter-group TSV serialization, intra-group TSV serialization and localized fault-tolerant routing are proposed to solve different TSV failure classifications. By comparing with the existing works, the experiment results show the superiority of the proposed method in improving the overall network performance with an acceptable area and power overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is related to repeated upper airway collapse, intermittent hypoxia, and intestinal barrier dysfunction. The resulting damage to the intestinal barrier may affect or be affected by the intestinal microbiota. A prospective case–control was used, including 48 subjects from Sleep Medicine Center of Nanfang Hospital. Sleep apnea was diagnosed by overnight polysomnography. Fecal samples and blood samples were collected from subjects to detect fecal microbiome composition (by 16S rDNA gene amplification and sequencing) and intestinal barrier biomarkers—intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) and D-lactic acid (D-LA) (by ELISA and colorimetry, respectively). Plasma D-LA and I-FABP were significantly elevated in patients with OSA. The severity of OSA was related to differences in the structure and composition of the fecal microbiome. Enriched Fusobacterium, Megamonas, Lachnospiraceae_UCG_006, and reduced Anaerostipes was found in patients with severe OSA. Enriched Ruminococcus_2, Lachnoclostridium, Lachnospiraceae_UCG_006, and Alloprevotella was found in patients with high intestinal barrier biomarkers. Lachnoclostridium and Lachnospiraceae_UCG_006 were the common dominant bacteria of OSA and intestinal barrier damage. Fusobacterium and Peptoclostridium was independently associated with apnea–hypopnea index (AHI). The dominant genera of severe OSA were also related to glucose, lipid, neutrophils, monocytes and BMI. Network analysis identified links between the fecal microbiome, intestinal barrier biomarkers, and AHI. The study confirms that changes in the intestinal microbiota are associated with intestinal barrier biomarkers among patients in OSA. These changes may play a pathophysiological role in the systemic inflammation and metabolic comorbidities associated with OSA, leading to multi-organ morbidity of OSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Precocious puberty in boys generally remains an etiology. In addition to the causes of endogenous hormone changes, endocrine-disrupting chemicals of exogenous substances may interfere with children's pubertal development. Case Presentation: A 20-month-old boy presented with peripheral precocious puberty may be due to a phytosterol-containing diet. The patient came to see a doctor because of acne, hairiness, increased penis size, and coarse voice. Genital examination revealed a Tanner stage of 2 for pubic hair and a stretched penile length of 5 cm, which disagreed with the prepubertal testicular volume (2 mL bilaterally). At the same time, he was found to have pigmentation on both nipples and areola. The concentrations of estradiol and testosterone increased significantly. Since the age of 6 months, the patient had taken food added with a large amount of chicken essence seasoning (a flavoring in Chinese cooking), with an average of 15 g of this seasoning a day. A kind of phytosterol (C29H48O) was detected in chicken essence seasoning by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). After avoidance of the chicken essence seasoning, the patient's sex hormone levels decreased, all clinical symptoms returned to normal, and no further development of secondary sexual characteristics was detected. Conclusion: This phytosterol-containing diet may be responsible for the sexual development of this patient. However, the mechanism of how phytosterols affect the process of development in children needs to be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is the first to report the antibacterial characteristics and antibacterial mechanisms of MP1102, which is a variant of NZ2114, against pathogenic Clostridium perfringens. MP1102 exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against C. perfringens strains CVCC 61, CVCC 1163, and CVCC 2032 at a low minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.91 μM. MP1102 showed anti- C. perfringens activity over a wide pH range of 2.0 and 10.0, high thermal stability from 20 to 80 °C, and remarkable resistance to pepsin. The fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) indicated an additive or synergic effect between MP1102 and bacitracin zinc, nisin, vancomycin, virginiamycin, aureomycin, and ampicillin against C. perfringens (FICI = 0.3125-1.0). To further elucidate the antibacterial mechanism of MP1102, its effect on the C. perfringens CVCC 61 cell membrane and intracellular DNA was studied. Flow cytometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that MP1102 treatment resulted in the release of cellular contents by damaging the membrane. A DNA gel retardation and circular dichroism analysis demonstrated that MP1102 interacted with DNA and intercalated into the DNA base pairs. A cell cycle assay demonstrated that MP1102 affected cellular functions, such as DNA synthesis. These results suggested that MP1102 exhibited potential as a new antimicrobial agent against C. perfringens infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]