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Atmospheric pollutants increase the risk of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) which has been widely reported. However, little is known about the relationships between air pollution and specific subsets of AIS, such as wake-up stroke (WUS) and non-wake-up stroke (non-WUS). This study aimed to explore the relationship between WUS and non-WUS and atmospheric pollutants. A total of 1432 patients (331 WUS patients and 1101 non-WUS patients) were admitted to a tertiary hospital from 2016 to 2019. A time-stratified case-crossover design and a conditional logistic regression model to study the associations of change in pollutant concentration with WUS and non-WUS events were constructed. Data analysis revealed that WUS-related risks increased 48 to 72 h after the increase in the PM

Wake-up stroke (WUS) is a subgroup of ischemic stroke in which patients show no abnormality before sleep while wake up with neurological deficits. In addition to the uncertain onset, WUS patients have difficulty to receive prompt and effective thrombolytic or reperfusion therapy, leading to relatively poor prognosis. A number of researches have indicated that CT or MRI based thrombolysis and endovascular therapy might have benefits for WUS patients. This review article narratively discusses the pathogenesis, risk factors, imaging-based diagnosis and recanalization treatments of WUS with the purpose of expanding current treatment options for this group of stroke patients and exploring better therapeutic methods. The result showed that multimodal MRI or CT scan might be the best methods for extending the time window of WUS and, therefore, a large proportion of WUS patients could have favorable prognosis.

Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is a mitochondrial enzyme detoxifying acetaldehyde and endogenous lipid aldehydes; previous studies suggest a protective role of ALDH2 against cardiovascular disease (CVD). Around 40% of East Asians carrying the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) ALDH2 rs671 have an increased incidence of CVD. However, the role of ALDH2 in CVD beyond alcohol consumption remains poorly defined. Here we report that ALDH2/LDLR double knockout (DKO) mice have decreased atherosclerosis compared with LDLR-KO mice, whereas ALDH2/APOE-DKO mice have increased atherosclerosis, suggesting an unexpected interaction of ALDH2 with LDLR. Further studies demonstrate that in the absence of LDLR, AMPK phosphorylates ALDH2 at threonine 356 and enables its nuclear translocation. Nuclear ALDH2 interacts with HDAC3 and represses transcription of a lysosomal proton pump protein ATP6V0E2, critical for maintaining lysosomal function, autophagy, and degradation of oxidized low-density lipid protein. Interestingly, an interaction of cytosolic LDLR C-terminus with AMPK blocks ALDH2 phosphorylation and subsequent nuclear translocation, whereas ALDH2 rs671 mutant in human macrophages attenuates this interaction, which releases ALDH2 to the nucleus to suppress ATP6V0E2 expression, resulting in increased foam cells due to impaired lysosomal function. Our studies reveal a novel role of ALDH2 and LDLR in atherosclerosis and provide a molecular mechanism by which ALDH2 rs671 SNP increases CVD.

Background Neurological disorders are an economic and public health burden which requires efficient and adequate medical resources. Currently, little is known about the status of the quality of neurological care services available in China. As neurological primary care is mostly provided at the county hospital level, investigation of this geographical level is required. The aim of this study is to evaluate currently available neurology care services in Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations in east China. Methods A multi-site, county-level hospital-based observational survey was conducted in east China from January 2017 to December 2017. A questionnaire was made to assess hospital and the departmental patient care capabilities, human resources and technical capacity in neurology departments. Results Of 228 hospitals across the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations, 217 documents were returned. Of these, 22 were excluded due to invalid hospital information or duplicate submission. Overall, most hospitals have neurology departments (162, 83.1%) while less than half of the hospitals have a stroke center (80, 41.0%) and neurology emergency department (46, 23.6%). Among 162 hospitals with neurology department, 5 were excluded due to inadequate sharing, leaving 157 hospitals for analysis. About 84.1% of these neurology departments can administer intravenous thrombolysis while about one third of them has the ability to perform arterial thrombectomy (36.9%). In addition, 46.2% of hospitals can carry out computed tomography angiography (CTA) in emergency room. Tertiary care hospitals are much more equipped with modern medical resources compared to the secondary hospitals. In four administrative regions, the neurology services are better in more economically advanced regions. Conclusions Neurological care services need to be enhanced at the county-level hospitals to improve health care delivery.

The effects of various carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS)-gelatin (GL) based edible coating combinations with calcium chloride (CaCl2) and/or ascorbic acid (AA) on the quality and antioxidant properties of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L. cv. “Red Agate”) were investigated. Sweet cherries were treated with tap water (control), 2 % CaCl2, CMCS-GL, CaCl2 + CMCS-GL, CaCl2-CMCS-GL, or AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL for 2 min and dried at ambient temperature. All fruit were stored at 0 ± 0.5 °C under Relative Humidity (RH) of 85–90 % for 30 d, and 23 ± 1 °C, RH 40-50 %, for a further 3 d. Weight loss, fruit firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), SSC/TA, AA, skin color characteristics (L⁎, chroma, and hue angle), total phenolics compounds (TPC), total anthocyanins concentration (TAC), and antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS+ radical scavenging capacity) were measured, in addition to fruit decay ratio, pedicel browning incidence, and pedicel moisture content. AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL treatment decreased fruit decay ratio, weight loss, respiration rate, and pedicel browning incidence; slowed the increase of SSC and SSC/TA; maintained high fruit firmness, pedicel moisture content, TA, AA, TPC, TAC, and antioxidant activity. Fruit coated with AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL exhibited better skin color with higher L⁎, chroma, and hue angle values throughout the storage period. AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL treatment is a promising management strategy to control the quality of sweet cherries during postharvest storage.

Silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (Sirt1), a nicotine adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent enzyme, is well-known in playing a part in longevity. Ischemic stroke is a major neurological disorder and is a leading cause of death and adult disability worldwide. Recently, many studies have focused on the role of Sirt1 in ischemic stroke. Numerous studies consider Sirt1 as a protective factor and investigate the signaling pathways involved in the process under ischemic stress. However, the answer to whether upregulation of Sirt1 improves the outcome of stroke is still a controversy. In this review, we discuss the role and mechanisms of Sirt1 in the setting of ischemic stroke.

Sweet cherry has many cultivars with different storability and nutritional properties. To reveal the reasons for the differences in storability among cultivars and improve the quality of sweet cherries, the surface microstructure of four representative sweet cherry cultivars (Red Light, Ranier, Red Agate, Friendship) epidermis and peduncle at harvest were examined and the effects of carboxymethyl chitosan-gelatin (CMCS-GL) based edible coating incorporating CaCl2 and ascorbic acid (AA) (AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL) on the quality and nutritional characteristics of sweet cherry were evaluated. Results showed there were significant differences in the wax distribution of the epidermis and the number of stomata on the peduncle surface between four cultivars of sweet cherries at harvest, which was closely related to fruit decay ratio during storage. AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL coating delayed the onset of decay and the fruit decay ratio in coated groups (3.0–15.3%) was significantly lower than in control groups (17.7–63.0%) after 33 d storage. The coating also helped to maintain the quality and nutritional characteristics of four sweet cherry cultivars, including reducing weight loss, maintaining better skin color, peduncle freshness, higher fruit firmness, titratable acidity, AA, total phenolics content, total anthocyanins concentration, and antioxidant capacity. These results suggested that AA-CaCl2-CMCS-GL coating could be considered as a new preservation method for improving postharvest quality and nutritional properties of different sweet cherry cultivars.

The herbal orchid Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb.f. has a long cultivation history and has been widely used in medicines and cosmetics. The fungal infection leaf blight (LB) seriously threatens B. striata cultivation. Here, we systemically collected wild B. striata accessions and isolated the accessions with strong resistance against LB. We carried out proteomic profiling analysis of LB-resistant and LB-susceptible accessions, and identified a large number of differentially expressed proteins with significant gene ontology enrichment for ‘oxidoreductase activity.’ Of the proteins identified in the reactive oxygen species signalling pathway, the protein abundance of the Cu–Zn superoxide dismutase BsSOD1 and its gene expression level were higher in LB-resistant accessions than in LB-susceptible lines. Transient expression of the dismutase fused with yellow fluorescent protein determined that its subcellular localisation is in the cytoplasm. Our study provides new insights into the molecular markers associated with fungal infection in B. striata.

In order to understand the microbial community composition and mechanism of purifying aquaculture water with a biofilter that was been applied to spotted parrotfish recirculating aquaculture systems with microglass beads as the biofilter filler, the changes in the nutrients of different biological filter beds and the water treatment performance of a fluidized-sand biofilter were analyzed. By using high-throughput sequencing technology, the microbial community structure of the surface area and bottom area at different times were studied. The results show that the fluidized-sand biofilter successfully start-up after one month under marine culture. Nitrification of the biofilter occurred mainly in the lower bed layer; the surface area played a small role in eliminating the NH

Similar to the orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, the carrier frequency offset (CFO) is a challenging problem in the single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system, which can destroy the orthogonality among the subcarriers. As a consequence, multi-access interference (MAI) along with serious performance degradation will be induced. In this paper, a zero forcing (ZF)-based MAI cancellation scheme is proposed. Compared with other cancellation schemes, the proposed one mitigates the interferences in the time domain instead of the frequency domain. Simulation results show that the proposed method can significantly reduce the degradation and enhance the Bit Error Ratio (BER) performance.

To improve the oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites at high temperature, the C/C composites were first slurry-coated by carbon, then pack cemented by mixtures of Si and graphite powder (60-80:10-25 wt/wt), followed by heat treatment to form C/C composites coated with a C/SiC layer, and finally a Si-Mo-Cr oxidation protective coating was prepared on the surface of the these composites by pack cementation. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive spectroscopy were used to characterize the compositions and microstructure of the coating. The oxidation behavior of the coated C/C composites at 1873 and 1 973 K in air was investigated. The coating showed excellent oxidation resistance at 1 873 K due to the formation of a glassy layer of SiO 2 and Cr 2 O 3 during the oxidation test, which could effectively protect C/C composites from oxidation for 135 h. The coating failed after oxidation for 30 h at 1973 K because the protective glass layer was disrupted.

In this paper, detonation parameters of fuel cloud, such as propylene oxide (PO), isopropyl nitrate (IPN), hexane, 90# oil and decane were measured in a self-designed and constructed vertical shock tube. Results show that the detonation pressure and velocity of PO increase to a peak value and then decrease smoothly with increasing equivalence ratio. Several nitrate sensitizers were added into PO to make fuel mixtures, and test results indicated that the additives can efficiently enhance detonation velocity and pressure of fuel cloud and one type of additive n-propyl nitrate (NPN) played the best in the improvement. The critical initiation energy that directly initiated detonation of all the test liquid fuel clouds showed a U-shape curve relationship with equivalence ratios. The optimum concentration lies on the rich-fuel side (ϕ > 1). The critical initiation energy is closely related to molecular structure and volatility of fuels. IPN and PO have similar critical values while that of alkanes are larger. Detonation cell sizes of PO were respectively investigated at 25°C, 35°C and 50°C with smoked foil technique. The cell width shows a U-shape curve relationship with equivalence ratios at all temperatures. The minimal cell width also lies on the rich-fuel side (ϕ > 1). The cell width of PO vapor is slightly larger than that of PO cloud. Therefore, the detonation reaction of PO at normal temperature is controlled by gas phase reaction.

To improve the oxidation resistance of the SiC-MoSi2 coating prepared by two-step pack cementation, a liquid Si infiltrating method was adopted to modify it. The phase composition and microstructure of the coatings were analyzed by XRD and SEM. The results show that the size and number of the cracks in the modified coating decreased evidently after infiltrating Si. The oxidation test results in air at 1773 K show that the mass loss of the SiC-MoSi2 coating coated carbon/carbon (C/C) composites was up to 1.18% after oxidation for 206 h, while that of the modified coating coated C/C composites was only 0.77% after oxidation for 460 h. The reason is that the cracks formed in the pack cementation process were partly sealed and there were no penetrable cracks in the modified coating. Therefore, there were no direct channels for the oxygen to diffuse into the C/C substrate.

This paper presents a novel approach toward high precision biology species categorization which is mainly based on KNN algorithm. KNN has been successfully used in natural language processing (NLP). Our work extends the learning method for biological data. We view the DNA or RNA sequences of certain species as special natural language texts. The approach for constructing composition vectors of DNA and RNA sequences is described. A learning method based on KNN algorithm is proposed. An experimental system for biology species categorization is implemented. Forty three different bacteria organisms selected randomly from EMBL are used for evaluation purpose. And the preliminary experiments show promising results on precision.

Predicting the secondary structure of RNA molecules from the knowledge of the primary structure (the sequence of bases) is still a challenging task. This paper presents a novel efficient statistical parser to predict RNA secondary structure. The parser is based on Role Inverse algorithm which combines the advantages of both traditional Chart algorithm and LR algorithm, saving both space and time. The Role Inverse algorithm is revised into a probabilistic version to implement the parser. Then a PCFG grammar is established according to the base-pairing structure to predict RNA secondary structure.