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Abstract: This study addresses the current difficulties in accurately controlling the indoor temperature of double-skin facades (DSFs), and its optimization, with a focus on the window opening angles of double-skin facades. The Spearman correlation coefficient method was used to select the main meteorological factors, including outdoor temperature, dew point temperature, scattered radiation, direct radiation, and window opening angle. A modified random forest algorithm was used to construct the optimization model and 80% of the data were used for model training. In the experiments, the average accuracy of the optimization model was as high as 93.5% for all window opening angles. This study provides a data-driven method for application to double-skin facades, which can effectively determine and control the window opening angles of double-skin facades to achieve energy saving and emission reduction, reduce indoor temperature, improve comfort, and provide a practical basis for decision-making. Future research will further explore the applicability and accuracy of the model under different climatic conditions.

Abstract Cattle and the draught force provided by its skeletal muscle have been integral to agro‐ecosystems of agricultural civilization for millennia. However, relatively little is known about the cattle muscle functional genomics (including protein coding genes, non‐coding RNA, etc.). Circular RNAs (circRNAs), as a new class of non‐coding RNAs, can be effectively translated into detectable peptides, which enlightened us on the importance of circRNAs in cattle muscle physiology function. Here, RNA‐seq, Ribosome profiling (Ribo‐seq), and peptidome data are integrated from cattle skeletal muscle, and detected five encoded peptides from circRNAs. It is further identified and functionally characterize a 907‐amino acids muscle‐specific peptide that is named circNEB‐peptide because derived by the splicing of Nebulin (NEB) gene. This peptide localizes to the nucleus and cytoplasm and directly interacts with SKP1 and TPM1, key factors regulating physiological activities of myoblasts, via ubiquitination and myoblast fusion, respectively. The circNEB‐peptide is found to promote myoblasts proliferation and differentiation in vitro, and induce muscle regeneration in vivo. These findings suggest circNEB‐peptide is an important regulator of skeletal muscle regeneration and underscore the possibility that more encoding polypeptides derived by RNAs currently annotated as non‐coding exist.

As the core of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control system, the sensor directly determines whether the HVAC control system is running normally. Poor natural and artificial environments can cause sensors to simultaneously fault, called multi-source sensor faults. Compared to the other methods, the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) has a better effect on high-dimensional data classification. In this paper, an improved ensemble empirical mode decomposition hard threshold denoising (EEMD-HTD) is first proposed to denoise the collected data and highlight each sensor’s fault characteristics. Secondly, the single-source and multi-source faults of the sensors are analyzed by the GMM at different points. The above fault diagnosis processes are collectively referred to as EEMD-HTD-GMM. Experimental results show that the EEMD-HTD-GMM has a higher diagnostic ability and distinguishes between the fault types that cause GMM classification confusion.

The ocean is a crucial area for future economic development. The marine environment has high energy-efficient and ecological requirements for building construction. Meteorological parameters are the key basis for the analysis and design of building energy efficiency. The lack of meteorological parameters for energy efficiency, particularly hourly data, under oceanic climatic conditions is a universal problem. The appropriate calculation methods of hourly meteorological parameters under oceanic climatic conditions are explored in this study. The impact of the calculation errors of the hourly meteorological parameters on building energy consumption is also analyzed. Three key meteorological parameters are selected: temperature, humidity, and wind speed. Five hourly calculations methods, including linear interpolation, cubic spline interpolation, pieceated three-Hermite interpolation, Akima interpolation, and radial basis function interpolation, are selected to calculate the error of the difference method, with Xiamen, Haikou, and Sanya as the locations of meteorological research. Appropriate interpolation methods are selected for the three parameters, and the seasonal and regional characteristics of the errors of each parameter are compared. Different interpolation methods should be selected for different meteorological parameters in different seasons. The error data of the three parameters of different magnitudes are constructed. A quantitative relationship between the sum of squares due to error of the three meteorological parameters and the rate of change of cooling energy consumption is established. The hourly calculation errors of meteorological parameters have an important impact on the calculation of dynamic energy consumption. The energy consumption differences caused by the errors of different parameters are significant. Obvious regional and seasonal differences also exist. This research strengthens the research foundation of building energy consumption calculation under oceanic climate conditions.

The mammary gland of mammals can generate numerous bioactive proteins. To express the human amylin protein in the mammary glands of domestic animals, we engineered a transgenic mammary gland bioreactor. For this study, we produced transgenic mice through prokaryotic microinjection. RT-PCR, qPCR, and Western blotting confirmed the presence of transgenes in the mice. The ELISA assay indicated an amylin yield of approximately 1.44 μg/mL in the mice milk. Further research revealed that consuming milk containing amylin resulted in a slight, but insignificant enhancement in food consumption, blood sugar equilibrium, and glucose tolerance. The influence of amylin-fortified milk on the abundance of fecal strains in mice was examined, and a significant difference in the quantity of strains needed for fatty acid synthesis and metabolism was discovered. The amylin protein gathered from humans is safe to consume, as no harmful effects were detected in the mice. Our study examined the production of human amylin using a new safety strategy that could potentially alleviate diabetic symptoms in the future through oral administration of milk containing amylin.

Hirudo nipponia is the only blood-sucking leech included in Chinese Pharmacopoeia having distinct features of anticoagulation, exorcizing blood stasis, and promoting menstruation. Despite such significant characteristics, very little is known about its molecular genetics and related physiological mechanisms. In this study, the transcriptomes of H. nipponia at three developmental stages (larvae, young, and adults), revealed a total of 1,348 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 223 differentially expressed lncRNAs, and 88 novel mRNAs. A significant diverse gene expression patterns were observed at different developmental stages which were analyzed by differential gene expression trends, and the overall gene expression trends consist of three overall down-regulated trends, and two overall up-regulated trends. Furthermore, the GO and KEGG enrichment functional annotation analysis revealed that these DEGs were mainly associated with protein hydrolysis, signal transduction, energy metabolism, and lipid metabolism while growth, development, metabolism, and reproduction-related DEGs were also found. Additionally, real-time quantitative PCR results confirmed deep sequencing results based on the relative expression levels of nine randomly selected genes. This is the first transcriptome-based comprehensive study of H. irudo nipponia at different developmental stages which provided considerable deep understanding related to gene expression patterns and their relevant developmental pathways, neurodevelopmental and reproductive characteristics of the leech.

Medical leeches are widely been used in biochemical and clinical medical studies, helping to restore blood circulation to grafted or severely injured tissue. Mostly, adult leeches are being used in the traditional pharmacopeia, but the gene expression profiling of leeches in different growth periods is not well-reported. So, in this study, we used transcriptome analysis to analyze the comparative gene expression patterns of Hirudinaria manillensis (H. manillensis) in different growth periods, including larval, young, and adult stages. We constructed 24 cDNA libraries from H. manillensis larval, young, and adult stages, and about 54,639,118 sequences were generated, 18,106 mRNA transcripts of which 958 novel mRNAs and 491 lncRNAs were also assembled as well. Furthermore, the results of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses revealed that the differentially upregulated genes from the larval to adult stages were enriched in pathways such as cilium, myofibril, contractile fiber, cytoskeleton proteins, dilated cardiomyopathy, adrenergic signaling in cardiomyocytes, etc. Moreover, in the adult stages, a significant increase in the expression of the Hirudin-HM (HIRM2) genes was detected. In addition, our comparative transcriptome profiling data from different growth stages of H. manillensis also identified a large number of DEGs and DElncRNAs which were tentatively found to be associated with the growth of H. manillensis; as it grew, the muscle-related gene expression increased, while the lipid metabolism and need for stimulation and nutrition-related genes decreased. Similarly, the higher expression of HIRM2 might attribute to the high expression of protein disulfide isomerase gene family (PDI) family genes in adulthood, which provides an important clue that why adult leeches rather than young leeches are widely used in clinical therapeutics and traditional Chinese medicine.

Grass carp reovirus (GCRV) is the causative agent of grass carp hemorrhagic disease, which has detrimental effects on the grass carp aquaculture industry. There are four known genotypes of GCRV and strains of different GCRV genotypes differ greatly. In this study, the diversity of the protein VP6 from different GCRV stains and the effect of genotype GCRV 096 on replication was investigated in CIK cells. Our results showed that the VP6 protein of GCRV 096 (genotype Ι) exhibited limited homology to that of GCRV GD108 (genotype Ш), with few residues conserved in predicted protein-protein interaction domains. GCRV 096 VP6 protein was expressed and purified and an antiserum against it was characterized. Addition of purified VP6 protein or antiserum to culture media of CIK cells inhibited the replication of GCRV 096 in these cells. In contrast, replication of GCRV GD108 (genotype Ш) was not affected in CIK cells under the same condition. Overall, our results indicated that the protein VP6 and VP6 antiserum did not provide cross-protection against GCRV strains and this can be attributed to differences among GCRV genotypes. It will be important to consider multiple GCRV genotypes in the development of effective GCRV vaccines and other therapies against grass carp hemorrhagic disease. In addition, bioinformatics analysis also suggested that the protein VP6 may have a role in the process of GCRV infection. This study lays the foundation for the prevention of grass carp hemorrhagic disease and further detailed studies on the pathogenesis of GCRV. Keywords: Grass carp reovirus (GCRV), Protein VP6, Replication, Functional analysis

Temperature measuring point is the key to room environment control. Temperature measuring points and climate changes are directly related to the room control effect. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the temperature measuring points and control strategy based on climate compensation. In this study, first, the climate compensation concept in a heating system was introduced into a variable air volume (VAV) air-conditioning system. The heating load was modeled as a function of supply air temperature by analyzing the heat exchange. Based on each control link of subsystems, a climate compensation scheme is proposed to determine the optimal set-point of the supply air temperature. At the same time, a layout of multiple temperature measuring points of an air-conditioned room was studied. Furthermore, the optimal indoor temperature measuring point was determined using an adaptive weighted fusion method. Finally, simulation results show that the proposed method has better control effects on indoor temperature adjustment compared with the traditional method. The optimal supply air temperature in summer and winter was determined according to the proposed climate compensation scheme, and the supply air temperature was controlled using an improved single-neuron adaptive control strategy. Experimental results show that the maximum energy saving can reach up to 35.5% in winter and 6.1% in summer.

Obesity is a metabolic disorder due to over-accumulation of adipose tissue and ultimately becomes a “disease”. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and white adipose tissue (WAT) browning emerge as a potential strategy of anti-obesity by dissipating energy as heat. However, drugs based on adipose tissue thermogenesis have not been successfully approved yet. In current study, we found that black tea extract (BTE) obtained by patent-authorized manufacturing process prevented body weight gain as novel thermogenic activator with reduction of adiposity, improvement of adipose distribution, and glucose metabolism improvement in diet-induced obesity mice. Mechanismly, anti-obesity effect of BTE depends on promoting BAT thermogenesis and WAT browning with upregulation of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), especially visceral adipose tissue (VAT) with browning resistance. Specifically, utilizing in silico approach of network pharmacology and molecular docking, we identified carbonic anhydrase 2 (CA2) in nitrogen metabolism as anti-obesity target of BTE and further elucidated that protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway linked CA2 and UCP1. Meanwhile gut microbiota regulation may prompt the CA2-dependent thermogenesis activation. Our findings demonstrated anti-obesity effect of BTE as thermogenic activator through CA2-mediated BAT thermogenesis and WAT browning via CA2-AKT-UCP1 signaling pathway, which could be developed as promising anti-obesity agent with good safety and efficacy.

Many studies in China investigated how the lockdown following the coronavirus disease 2019 substantially affected air quality; however, few were conducted in Northeastern China. Here, the changes in six criteria air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3), were investigated in Shenyang from January to May 2015–2020. Compared with the pre-lockdown, the mass concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and CO during the lockdown decreased by 40.3% to 48.6%, indicating a positive impact of lockdown policies on reducing pollutant emissions. The responses of PM2.5, PM10, and CO to the lockdown measures in downtown areas were more sensitive than in the suburbs. However, the O3 concentration showed the opposite trend, attributed to the drop in NOx and particulate matters. Compared to the same period in 2015–2019, the proportion of days with good air quality increased from 63.2% to 77.2% during the lockdown and Shenyang experienced no severe pollution. Our results suggest that reducing human activities can improve air quality; however, coordinated control policies of O3, PM2.5, and NO2 are imperative.

In order to search for active components from Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim (ZBM) in treating hemorrhoids. A bioassayguided separation method was used to study the chemical constituents of ZBM by taking the different extracts and fractions of ZBM to promote the healing of ulcer in the external hemorrhoids model of perianal ulcer in rats induced by acetic acid as active index. It was found that the ethanol extract of ZBM was chromatographed on an ODS open tubular column to get three fractions which the second fractions reflected good therapeutic effect on hemorrhoids model rats. The second fractions were further isolated and purified to obtain three compounds which were identified as hydroxy-α-sanshool (Hαss), hydroxyl-β-sanshool (Hβss) and hydroxy-γ-sanshool (Hγss), respectively. The content of these three sanshools in ZBM is relatively high. Correlation studies showed that these three sanshools had the function of activating some specific receptors to play the role of analgesia, anti-inflammation and promoting ulcer healing. So, it is preliminarily judged that these three sanshools are the main active components of ZBM in the treatment of external hemorrhoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis is a common public health problem characterized by decreased bone mass, increased bone brittleness and damage to the bone microstructure. Excessive bone resorption by osteoclasts is the main target of the currently used drugs or treatment for osteoporosis. Effective antiresorptive drugs without side effects following long-term administration have become a major focus of anti-osteoporotic drugs. In the present study, we investigated the effect of berbamine, a small molecule natural product from Berberis amurensis Rupr, a traditional Chinese medicine, on RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in vitro and ovariectomy-induced bone loss in vivo. The results demonstrated that berbamine at a safe and effective dose inhibited osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption function in vitro by suppressing the nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway. In addition, berbamine protected against osteoporosis by inhibiting osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption function without affecting osteogenesis in the ovariectomy mouse model. These findings revealed that berbamine has a protective role against osteoporosis and may represent a novel promising treatment strategy for osteoporosis.

Abstract Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is a cellular state that results from the overload of unfolded/misfolded protein in the ER that, if not resolved properly, can lead to cell death. Both acute lung infections and chronic lung diseases have been found related to ER stress. Yet no study has been presented integrating metabolomic and transcriptomic data from total lung in interpreting the pathogenic state of ER stress. Total mouse lungs were used to perform LC–MS and RNA sequencing in relevance to ER stress. Untargeted metabolomics revealed 16 metabolites of aberrant levels with statistical significance while transcriptomics revealed 1593 genes abnormally expressed. Enrichment results demonstrated the injury ER stress inflicted upon lung through the alteration of multiple critical pathways involving energy expenditure, signal transduction, and redox homeostasis. Ultimately, we have presented p-cresol sulfate (PCS) and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) as two potential ER stress biomarkers. Glutathione metabolism stood out in both omics as a notably altered pathway that believed to take important roles in maintaining the redox homeostasis in the cells critical for the development and relief of ER stress, in consistence with the existing reports.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease. Effective drugs that can halt or decelerate osteoarthritis progression are still lacking. Omaveloxolone is a semisynthetic oleanane triterpenoid exerting antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. The present study aims to determine whether omaveloxolone has a therapeutic effect on OA. Chondrocytes were treated with interleukin (IL)-1β to establish an OA cell model in vitro. Indicators of cell viability, oxidative stress, inflammation, cell apoptosis and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation were investigated. Proteins related to the Nuclear factor erythroid derived-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) signalling pathways were assessed using Western blotting. A destabilized medial meniscus surgery-induced OA rat model was used in vivo. Gait analysis, microcomputed tomography analysis, and histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to determine the therapeutic effect of omaveloxolone on attenuating osteoarthritis in vivo. The results showed that omaveloxolone exerts antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic and anti-ECM degradation effects via activation of the Nrf2/ARE signalling pathway and inhibition of the NF-κB signalling pathway in chondrocytes in vitro and attenuates OA progression in vivo, suggesting that omaveloxolone may be a potential therapeutic agent for OA.

As an important platform for the combination of theory and practice, college students' innovative and entrepreneurial training program has an important impact on improving the comprehensive ability of undergraduates. The major of aquatic animal medicine is a new sea-related major. The continuous development and transformation and upgrading of aquaculture in the new period have put forward newer and higher requirements for the innovative and practical ability and comprehensive quality of aquatic animal medicine graduates. Taking the innovation and entrepreneurship program of college students majoring in aquatic animal medicine as an example, this paper analyzes the significance of the innovation training program for college students, the cultivation of students' scientific research ability, and the problems existing in the application and operation of the program, in order to provide a reference for the innovative education and talent training for students majoring in aquatic animal medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to develop an effective treatment for diabetes and diabetic complications, based on the advantage complementary strategy of drug–drug salt, by designing and synthesizing the multicomponent molecular salts containing metformin (MET) and rhein (RHE). Finally, the salts of MET–RHE (1:1), MET–RHE–H2O (1:1:1), MET–RHE–ethanol–H2O (1:1:1:1), and MET–RHE–acetonitrile (2:2:1) were obtained, indicating the polymorphism of salts formed by MET and RHE. The structures were analyzed by the combination of characterization experiments and theoretical calculation, and the formation mechanism of polymorphism was discussed. The obtained results of in vitro evaluation showed that MET–RHE had a similar hygroscopicity with metformin hydrochloride (MET·HCl), and the solubility of the component of RHE increased by approximately 93 times, which laid a foundation for improving the bioavailability of MET and RHE in vivo. The evaluation of hypoglycemic activity in mice (C57BL/6N) indicated that MET–RHE exhibited better hypoglycemic activity than the parent drugs and the physical mixtures of MET and RHE. The above findings demonstrate that this study achieved the complementary advantages of MET and RHE through the multicomponent pharmaceutical salification technique, and provides new possibilities for the treatment of diabetic complications.

This paper presents mechanical properties of fast-growing poplar specimens reinforced with carbon fibers. A total of 90 specimens including 10 contrast specimens were tested to investigate the influence from the following parameters: (a) different carbon fiber ratios (0.167%, 0.251%, 0.334%, 0.401%, and 0.501%) and (b) different fiber locations. The failure mode, compressive strength, elastic modulus, and axial deformation of specimens were analyzed. The test results indicate the following: (1) The compressive strength, elastic modulus, and axial deformation of specimens reinforced with carbon fiber were significantly improved compared with that of fast-growing poplar specimens. The compressive strength, elastic modulus, and axial deformation increased by 54.1–76.03%, 11.58–22.89%, and 24.86–60.06%, respectively. (2) There was little effect on the compressive strength of the specimen with the increase of carbon fiber ratio. With the increase of carbon fiber ratio, the elastic modulus of specimens slightly decreased and the axial deformation increased. The elastic modulus decreased by 1.39–18.69%, and the axial deformation increased by 10%–48%. (3) The different locations of the carbon fiber distribution resulted in a large difference in the compressive strength of the specimens, while the effects on the modulus of elasticity and axial deformation were not significant. Finally, the compressive strength calculation formula was proposed.

The urotensin receptor (UT receptor), a G-protein-coupled receptor mediating urotensin-II and urotensin-II-related peptide signaling in the urotensinergic system, has multiple pharmacological activities. However, there is no drug targeting the UT receptor currently in clinical use, and the discovery of new leads is still important. The complete crystal structure of the UT receptor has not yet been resolved and a screening strategy combining multiple methods can improve the accuracy and efficiency of drug screening. This study aimed to identify novel UT receptor agonists using a combination of docking-based, pharmacophore-based, and cell-based drug screening. First, the three-dimensional structures of the UT receptor were constructed through single-template, multi-template homologous modeling and threading strategies. After structure evaluation and ligand enrichment analysis, a model from the threading modeling was selected for docking-based virtual screening based on stepwise filtering, and 1368 positive compounds were obtained from our compound library. Second, the pharmacophore models were constructed using known ligands targeting the UT receptor for pharmacophore-based virtual screening. A model was selected after model validation, and 300 positive compounds were retrieved. Then, after intersecting the results of two different virtual screening methods with 570 compound entities from our primary screening, 14 compounds were obtained. Finally, three hits were obtained after in vitro confirmation. Furthermore, preliminary evaluation of the hits showed that they influenced glucose consumption. In summary, by integrating docking-based, pharmacophore-based, and in vitro drug screening, three new agonists targeting the UT receptor were identified which may serve as promising therapeutic agents for urotensinergic system disorders.

The composite slab with steel trusses is composed of precast bottom plate and cast-in-place concrete. In engineering applications, cracks often appear in the bottom plate before casting the upper concrete, which even leads to the failure of the composite slab. To improve the crack resistance of the slab, a composite slab with additional steel trusses is proposed; that is, on the basis of the original longitudinal steel trusses, the transverse steel trusses are added. Static test and numerical analysis were carried out on the bottom plate of the new type of composite slab with the additional transverse steel trusses. The experimental and analytical results show that the load level of the plate with additional steel trusses can be increased by 33% under the normal service limit state; the deflection of the plate is significantly reduced and the crack development is effectively controlled, which illustrates that the new type of composite slab can improve the bearing capacity, increase the bending stiffness, and enhance the crack resistance effectively.

Grey correlation analysis uses grey correlations to describe the strength, magnitude, and order of relationships among factors. The data sequence of the drmined data is used as a reference data string, and the data sequence matrix of each influence factor is used as a control data matrix to calculate the correlation between the data sequence and the reference of each factor in the control data matrix. The basic idea of quantitatively measuring the correlation between each factor and the object is to determine the similarity between the reference data sequence and the shape of multiple comparison data sequences and to determine whether the connection is strong. It reflects the degree of correlation between curves. In this paper, we examine the problem of evaluating the quality of undergraduate education by multiple indicators and establish a comprehensive evaluation model of the quality of undergraduate education in the 13 prefecture level cities by using the grey correlation analysis. The correlation coefficient of each index was obtained by the grey correlation analysis, the correlation number of each index was analyzed and ranked, and finally the improvement of the number of “advanced teachers” and the education of 13 prefectures were reduced as much as possible.

Metabolic changes associated with diabetes are reported to lead to the onset of early-stage diabetic nephropathy (DN). Furthermore, lipotoxicity is implicated in renal dysfunction. Most studies of DN have focused on a single or limited number of lipids, and the lipidome of the kidney during early-stage DN remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we aimed to comprehensively identify lipid abnormalities during early-stage DN; to this end, we established an early-stage DN rat model by feeding a high-sucrose and high-fat diet combined with administration of low-dose streptozotocin. Using a high-coverage, targeted lipidomic approach, we established the lipid profile, comprising 437 lipid species and 25 lipid classes, of the kidney cortex in normal rats and the DN rat model. Our findings additionally confirmed that the DN rat model had been successfully established. We observed distinct lipidomic signatures in the DN kidney, with characteristic alterations in side chain composition and degree of unsaturation. Glyceride lipids, especially cholesteryl esters, showed a significant increase in the DN kidney cortex. The levels of most phospholipids exhibited a decline, except those of phospholipids with side chain of 36:1. Furthermore, the levels of lyso-phospholipids and sphingolipids, including ceramide and its derivatives, were dramatically elevated in the present DN rat model. Our findings, which provide a comprehensive lipidome of the kidney cortex in rats with DN, are expected to be useful for the identification of pathologically relevant lipid species in DN. Furthermore, the results represent novel insights into the mechanistic basis of DN.