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BackgroundEnterostomy is important for radical resection of colorectal cancer (CRC). Nevertheless, the notable occurrence of complications linked to enterostomy results in a reduction in patients’ quality of life and impedes adjuvant therapy. This study sought to forecast early stoma-related complications (ESRCs) by leveraging easily accessible nutrition-inflammation markers in CRC patients.MethodsThis study involved 470 individuals with colorectal cancer who underwent intestinal ostomy at Changhai Hospital Affiliated with Naval Medical University as the internal cohort. Between January 2016 and December 2018, the patients were enrolled and randomly allocated into a primary training group and a secondary validation group, with a ratio of 2:1 being upheld. The research encompassed collecting data on each patient’s clinical and pathological status, along with preoperative laboratory results. Independent risk factors were identified through Lasso regression and multivariate analysis, leading to the development of clinical models represented by a nomogram. The model’s utility was assessed using decision curve analysis, calibration curve, and ROC curve. The final model was validated using an external validation set of 179 individuals from January 2015 to December 2021.ResultsAmong the internal cohort, stoma complications were observed in 93 cases. Multivariate regression analysis confirmed that age, stoma site, and elevated markers (Mon, NAR, and GLR) in conjunction with diminished markers (GLB and LMR) independently contributed to an increased risk of ESRCs. The clinical model was established based on these seven factors. The training, internal, and external validation groups exhibited ROC curve areas of 0.839, 0.812, and 0.793, respectively. The calibration curve showed good concordance among the forecasted model with real incidence of ostomy complications. The model displayed outstanding predictive capability and is deemed applicable in clinical settings, as evidenced by Decision Curve Analysis.ConclusionThis study identified nutrition-inflammation markers (GLB, NAR, and GLR) in combination with demographic data as crucial predictors for forecasting ESRCs in colorectal cancer patients. A novel prognostic model was formulated and validated utilizing these markers.

Objective To analyze the correlation between the distribution interval of minipool nucleic acid testing(NAT) positive CT value and the resolution rate, so as to improve the retest model and reduce residual risk of blood transfusion. Methods The resolution testing results by Cobas S201 system of our blood center from January 2017 to December 2021 were retrospective analyzed, and the retest model was developed based on the distribution interval of CT values. For minipool NAT HBV positive samples from March 2022 to March 2023, synchronous detection was conducted by Cobas S201 and Panther detection system, and the detection results were statistically analyzed. Results From 2017 to 2021, 474 were minipool NAT positive, among which 324 were HBV positive, accounting for 68.35%. From 2017 to 2020, the proportion of HBV positive per year was significantly higher than that of HCV and HIV(P40, with the resolution rate at 95.8%, 56.5% and 14.8% respectively(P40, 36

The emerging cryptocurrency market is one of the largest financial markets in the world, with a market capitalization that is already surpassing the gross domestic product of many developed economies. Cryptocurrencies are increasingly being adopted as a means of transaction and ownership in the digital domain, particularly in areas like decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens. Known for its high volatility, this market offers investors the potential for higher returns than traditional financial markets like stocks, foreign exchange, and commodities. However, it remains underexplored in academic research. In this paper, we propose the use of social network analysis to effectively model and analyze the cryptocurrency market and conduct a comprehensive numerical study to explore its key properties, including correlation structure, topological characteristics, stability, and influence. Furthermore, we propose the use of centrality measures as novel indicators to improve the accuracy of cryptocurrency price movement predictions. Our research introduces a novel method for understanding and navigating the cryptocurrency market, enabling investors to integrate advanced analytical tools into their decision-making processes.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), as a group of persistent organic pollutants among environmental endocrine disruptors, are widely used in industrial production and daily life. PFASs are widely and persistently present in the environment and organisms due to their bioaccumulation, long half-life, and low degradability properties. Published studies have proved that PFASs have immunotoxicity, endocrine toxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and hepatotoxicity. At present, several epidemiological studies have been conducted on the effects of PFASs on allergic diseases, the research endpoints include asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and the expression of allergic biomarkers such as serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), but no consistent results have been observed yet. PFASs have the potential to activate several signaling pathways, including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and JAK/STAT pathways. These mechanisms, along with increasing mast cell calcium influx and sex hormone synergistic effects, may contribute to immunomodulation in allergic diseases. At present, the exact human effect of PFASs exposure on allergic diseases and the related mechanisms are still uncertain. This review focused on the impacts of PFASs on asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis and their possible mechanisms, so as to provide research ideas for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of allergic diseases.

In order to achieve goat localization to help prevent goats from wandering, we proposed an efficient target localization method based on machine vision. Albas velvet goats from a farm in Ertok Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, were the main objects of study. First, we proposed detecting the goats using a shallow convolutional neural network, ShallowSE, with the channel attention mechanism SENet, the GeLU activation function and layer normalization. Second, we designed three fully connected coordinate regression network models to predict the spatial coordinates of the goats. Finally, the target detection algorithm and the coordinate regression algorithm were combined to localize the flock. We experimentally confirmed the proposed method using our dataset. The proposed algorithm obtained a good detection accuracy and successful localization rate compared to other popular algorithms. The overall number of parameters in the target detection algorithm model was only 4.5 M. The average detection accuracy reached 95.89% and the detection time was only 8.5 ms. The average localization error of the group localization algorithm was only 0.94 m and the localization time was 0.21 s. In conclusion, the method achieved fast and accurate localization, which helped to rationalize the use of grassland resources and to promote the sustainable development of rangelands.

This research aims to improve the durability of skid resistance of asphalt pavement from the perspective of coarse aggregates based on on-site investigation. Firstly, the skid resistance of six representative actual roads was tested during two years by employing the Dynamic Friction Tester and the attenuation characteristics of skid resistance of different types of asphalt pavements were analyzed. Secondly, core samples were drilled onsite and coarse aggregates were extracted from the surface layer of the core samples. The morphological parameters of coarse aggregates were collected by a “backlighting photography” system and three-dimensional profilometer, and the variation rules of angularity and micro-texture of coarse aggregates were investigated. Finally, the correlation between the morphological characteristics of coarse aggregates and the pavement skid resistance was established based on the grey correlation entropy. The research results show that with the increase in service time, the attenuation rate of skid resistance of asphalt pavement gradually slows down; the angularity of coarse aggregates gradually decreases, and the micro-texture on the wearing surface gradually wears away. The grey correlation entropy between all the micro-texture indexes of coarse aggregates and dynamic friction coefficient, as well as between the roundness and skid resistance is more than 0.7, whereas the correlation between other evaluation indicators and the dynamic friction coefficient is poor, indicating that compared with the angularity of coarse aggregates, the micro-texture affects the skid resistance of actual asphalt pavement more greatly. In engineering applications, the use of coarse gradation, coarse aggregates with high roughness or high anti-wear performance can slow down the attenuation of pavement skid resistance, so that the pavement can maintain superior long-term anti-skidding performance.

Abstract Real‐world classification often encounters a problem called class imbalance. When the data of some classes are redundant than that of other classes, traditional classifiers usually bias their decision boundaries to the redundant majority classes. Most proposed cost‐sensitive strategies often ignore the hard‐to‐learn examples or have a large amount of hyper‐parameters. This article proposes an adaptive learning cost‐sensitive convolutional neural network to solve this problem. During the training process, the proposed method embeds a class‐dependent cost to each class in the global error, making the decision boundary bias to the minority classes. Meanwhile, a distribution weight is assigned to each example to enhance the learning of the hard‐to‐learn examples. Both the class‐dependent costs and distribution weights are learnt automatically in the net. This cost‐sensitive approach makes the algorithm focus on the examples in the minority classes as well as the hard‐to‐learn examples in each class. Besides, this approach can be applied to both binary and multi‐class image classification problems without any modification. Experiments are conducted on four image classification datasets to evaluate this algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better performance than the baseline algorithms and some other algorithms.

Sedimentary phosphate rocks are characteristically rich in organic matter, and contain sulfides and a high concentration of trace elements, including cadmium (Cd), which is harmful to the human body. The mining of phosphate rock and phosphogypsum at Qingping has expanded the release of Cd into groundwater and farmland soil. To prevent and control Cd pollution it is critical to reveal the carrier mineral phase(s) and migration mechanism of Cd and other elements in phosphate rock and phosphogypsum. The elemental and mineral composition of bulk samples were analysed by XRF, ICP-MS, and XRD, respectively. The results showed that from phosphate rock to phosphogypsum, the main constituent elements changed from CaO (49.43%) and P2O5 (36.63%) to CaO (33.65%) and SO3 (>34%), and the main mineral changed from fluorapatite to gypsum. Among all the elements, the element transfer factor (ETF) of P2O5, F, Co, U, Cd, and other elements was low; the ETF (Cd) was only 10.85%, and only a small amount of Cd entered the acidic phosphogypsum during the production process. Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed two types of apatite: the brown–black apatite with organic matter (type 1) and the yellow–light brown apatite without organic matter (type 2). LA-ICP-MS analysis showed that the Cd element content in type 2 was lower, while the organic matter and Cd element content in type 1 were higher, suggesting that Cd may be controlled by organic matter, and the relationship with apatite is not apparent. Electron probe analysis and XRD semiquantitative results show that the content of Cd in pyrite is higher (511 ppm), which is significantly higher than that of bulk rock. In addition, pyrite is rich in Co, As, Ni, Zn, and other elements. The content of Cd in phosphate ore shows a good correlation with that of pyrite. Cd in Qingping phosphate rock is mainly controlled by organic matter and pyrite, and only a small amount of Cd is transferred to phosphogypsum. Reducing the environment leads to the enrichment of Cd in phosphate rock.

BackgroundThe incidence of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in children and adolescents has increased, but the data on long-term outcomes are limited. There are few literatures on the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of PTC in children and adolescents in China. Therefore, it is necessary to identify clinicopathological features to precisely predict clinical prognosis and to help choose the optimal method and perform the best therapeutic regimen.MethodsThis study was a retrospective analysis of patients undergoing thyroidectomy at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital. We analyzed the factors related to the clinicopathological features and prognosis of PTC in children and adolescents.ResultsA total of 95 juvenile PTC patients who underwent thyroidectomy were enrolled. Our research found that patients with younger age (2 cm, T stage, and multifocality were the risk factors for LNM and the number of LNM (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis displayed the number of central LNM as the independent risk factor for lateral LNM, and multifocality was the independent risk factor for the number of central and lateral LNM. Younger age at diagnosis, positive preoperative thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), maximal tumor size >2 cm, lateral LNM, number of LNM, N staging, and American Thyroid Association (ATA) pediatric risk were related to poor prognosis in PTC patients (p < 0.05). Cox regression analysis found that younger age at diagnosis and positive preoperative TSH were independent risk factors for recurrence of PTC in children and adolescents.ConclusionsOur study showed that the clinicopathological characteristics of younger age compared with older age were as follows: highly aggressive, prone to metastases, and higher recurrence rate. In our opinion, patients with characteristics such as younger age at diagnosis, positive preoperative TSH, maximal tumor size >2 cm, lateral LNM, and number of LNM >5 may be considered for prophylactic or therapeutic dissection of additional metastatic LNs by high-volume surgeons to prevent and reduce the recurrence rate of patients during long-term follow-up.

This paper analyzes the dynamic time-frequency volatility spillovers among the international stock markets during the Russian-Ukraine conflict. We use the VAR-based connectedness framework to calculate the volatility spillovers. Results show that (1) the trend of the total spillover is consistent with the time of the Russian-Ukraine conflict; (2) Russian stock market is the primary source and net exporter of risk; (3) the Russian government has effectively controlled the further spread of risk through policy adjustments; and (4) Russian stock market may generate long-run volatility spillovers among the international stock market. We add research related to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on international stock markets by analyzing the results of the volatility spillovers.

The damage of road auxiliary facilities poses a major hidden danger to driving safety. It is urgent to study a method that can automatically detect the damage of the road auxiliary facilities and provide help for the maintenance of traffic safety auxiliary facilities. In the method for identifying the absence of road auxiliary facilities based on deep convolutional network for image segmentation and image region correction, the PointRend model based on the deep convolutional networks (CNN) is first used to achieve the pixel-level fine segmentation of the auxiliary facilities area, and then, the multiple images in the same image are segmented. In anti-glare panel area, on the largest outer polygon estimated by the convex hull algorithm, the optimal outer quadrilateral is determined according to the distance between the vertices, and then, the anti-glare panel area correction is completed by affine transformation and finally through the image one-dimensional projection mapping and adjacent shading. The distance correlation between the boards realizes the identification and positioning of the missing light-shielding board. The highway anti-glare panel missing recognition method based on deep convolution image segmentation and correction uses the vertex distance to quickly determine the external quadrilateral, which is suitable for estimating the shape of the area in a dynamic scene. After actual testing and verification, it can accurately and efficiently identify the disease of the anti-glare plate. Compared with traditional image segmentation methods, the method using the PointRend target segmentation model has better segmentation quality for target details, and it is more robust when dealing with background interference.

This paper focuses on the disposal of iron tailings sand (ITS) and recycled aggregate of inorganic (RAI) and proposed the “ITS plus RAI” solid waste treatment methods, which uses ITS and RAI as a new base course material to replace new aggregates by 100% to apply in the pavement renovation project of national and provincial roads in Linfen city, Shanxi Province. In this paper, the compressive strength characteristic of recycled mixture with different ratios is studied for the dual waste treatment methods, and the influence factors are analyzed by multiple regression analysis. Results show that the strength of the recycled mixture composed of a high content of ITS (the mass ratio to RAI exceeds 60 : 40) ups to 7 MPa, which can meet the pavement requirements of 7d unconfined compressive strength of inorganic stabilized base material under various traffic load conditions. The factors affecting the strength of recycled materials include the content of various components, while the particle size of iron tailings sand is the most significant influence factor. Therefore, the proportion of iron tailings sand in the recycled mixture can be further improved by screening coarse iron tailings sand so as to maximize the content of iron tailings sand, which will lead to an excellent engineering value.

Abstract Objective The basic pathological changes of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) include ovarian tissue fibrosis and follicular development disorders. The human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (hUMSC) transplantation has been shown an effective method to improve the ovarian function in POI rat model; however, the exact mechanisms are still unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the recovery of ovarian function in POI rats is related to the inhibition of tissue fibrosis following hUMSC transplantation. Furthermore, the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signaling pathway is explored to determine the mechanisms of ovarian function recovery through its inhibition of tissue fibrosis. Methods The primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) rat model was established by intraperitoneal injection of chemotherapy drug cisplatin (CDDP) for 7 days. The levels of serum sex hormones were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The tissue fibrosis in the ovary was examined using Masson staining and Sirius red staining. The collagen fibers in the ovarian tissues were detected by Western blot analysis. To investigate the mechanisms of ovarian function recovery following hUMSC transplantation, ovarian stromal cells were isolated from the ovarian cortex of immature rats. The expression of Cytochrome P450 17A1 (Cyp17a1) and fibrosis marker of alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in ovarian stromal cells was examined using immunofluorescence analysis. Also, the protein levels of Cyp17a1 and α-SMA in ovarian stromal cells were examined by Western blot analysis. The expression of TGF-β1 and Smad3 signals was measured by Western blot and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. Results The results show that the function of the ovary in POI rats was significantly improved after hUMSC transplantation. The expression of fibrosis markers (α-SMA) and production of Collagen Type I (Collagen I) and Collagen Type III (Collagen III) in POI rats were significantly inhibited in POI rats following hUMSC transplantation. In the cultured ovarian stromal cells, the decrease of TGF-β1 and p-Smad3 protein expression was observed in hUMSC-treated POI rats. The treatment with TGF-β1 inhibitor of SB431542 further confirmed this signal pathway was involved in the process. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that the TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling pathway was involved in the inhibition of ovarian tissue fibrosis, which contributed to the restoration of ovarian function in POI rats following hUMSC transplantation.

Abstract Introduction The therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been limited by their apoptosis induced by oxidative stress after delivery into the injured sites. Therefore, strategies designed to improve the MSC therapeutic efficacy need to be explored. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) can promote the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells. In this study, we first evaluated the effects and mechanism of TMP on H2O2-stimulated human umbilical cord MSCs (hUCMSCs) and then further investigated the therapeutic effects of TMP-stimulated hUCMSCs on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice. Methods The toxicity of hUCMSCs against of TMP was determined by cell count kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The effects of TMP on the hUCMSC cell cycle, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and the apoptosis of H2O2-stimulated hUCMSCs were determined by flow cytometry. The expression of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were also measured by colorimetry. The signaling pathway of TMP induced on H2O2-stimulated hUCMSCs was investigated by western blot. EAE was induced using immunization with MOG35-55 in C57BL/6 mice. The inflammatory cell infiltration and demyelination were detected by immunofluorescence staining. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption was detected by Evans blue (EB) stain and the expression of tight junction protein (ZO-1) by western blot. Results TMP significantly increased cell viability and changed the cell cycle of hUCMSCs. In addition, TMP (100 μM) significantly reduced intracellular ROS production, expression of MDA, and apoptosis, but increased expression of SOD through nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) signaling pathway in H2O2-stimulated hUCMSCs. Most importantly, compared with wild hUCMSCs, TMP-stimulated hUCMSCs significantly ameliorated EAE, by attenuation of inflammation, demyelination, and BBB disruption. Conclusion The TMP-stimulated hUCMSCs provide a potential therapeutical protocol to enhance the therapeutic effects of hUCMSCs in multiple sclerosis.

Social learning particle swarm optimization (SL-PSO) allows individuals to learn from others to improve the scalability with easy parameter settings. However, it still suffers from the poor convergence for those multi-modal problems due to the loss of swarm diversity. To improve both the diversity and the convergence, this paper proposes a novel algorithm to apply the mechanism of molecular interactions to SL-PSO, in which the molecular attraction aims to improve the convergence, and the molecular repulsion intends to enhance the diversity. In the experiments, we compare our algorithm with the SL-PSO algorithm and other representative PSO and evolutionary algorithms on 49 benchmark functions. The results show the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than that of the SL-PSO algorithm and other representative PSO and evolutionary algorithms on average. This work builds the solid foundation for the integration of the molecular interaction mechanism with PSO and other optimization algorithms.

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-кB) inhibition represents a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of neuroinflammatory diseases. In this study, a series of 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one (DHN; 6a-n, 7a-c) derivatives were synthesised and characterised by NMR and HRMS. We assessed the toxicity and anti-neuroinflammatory properties of these compounds and found that 6m showed the greatest anti-neuroinflammatory properties, with relatively low toxicity. Specifically, 6m significantly reduced reactive oxygen species production, down-regulated the expression of NOD-like receptor pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), and caspase-1 and prevented lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV2 microglia cells polarisation towards an M1 phenotype. Furthermore, 6m significantly decreased IκBα and NF-кB p65 phosphorylation, thus inhibiting the NF-кB signalling pathway. This suggests that 6m may be explored as a functional anti-neuroinflammatory agent for the treatment of inflammatory diseases in the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, stroke and spinal cord injury.

Microplastics (MPs) considered as a new persistent environmental pollutant could enter into the circulatory system and result in decrease of sperm quantity and quality in mice. However, the effects of Polystyrene MPs (PS MPs) on the ovary and its mechanism in rats remained unclear. In this present study, thirty-two healthy female Wistar rats were exposed to different concentrations of 0.5 µm PS MPs dispersed in deionized water for 90 days. Using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, the number of growing follicles was decreased compared to the control group. In addition, the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were decreased while the expression level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was increased in ovary tissue. Confirmed by immunohistochemistry, the integrated optical density of NLRP3 and Cleaved-Caspase-1 had been elevated by 13.9 and 14 in granulosa cells in the 1.5 mg/kg/d group. Furthermore, compared to the control group, the level of AMH had been decreased by 23.3 pg/ml while IL-1β and IL-18 had been increased by 32 and 18.5 pg/ml in the 1.5 mg/kg/d group using the enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Besides, the apoptosis of granulosa cells was elevated measured by terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase-mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining and flow cytometry. Moreover, western blot assays showed that the expressions of NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathway related factors and Cleaved-Caspase-3 were increased. These results demonstrated that PS MPs could induce pyroptosis and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells via the NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathway maybe triggered by oxidative stress. The present study suggested that exposure to microplastics had adverse effects on ovary and could be a potential risk factor for female infertility, which provided new insights into the toxicity of MPs on female reproduction.

Feature selection is an important method to reduce the number of attributes of high-dimensional data and an essential preprocess work in classification. It eliminates irrelevant, redundant, and noisy features improves the performance of the model and reduces the computational burden. Fruit fly optimization algorithm is a new algorithm proposed in recent years, which imitates the foraging behavior of fruit fly. To the best of our knowledge, it has not been systematically applied to feature selection. This paper uses the fruit fly optimization algorithm as a search strategy and designs a wrapper-based feature selection method, named binary improved fruit fly optimization algorithm (BIFFOA). Besides, four different strategies based on evolutionary population dynamics (EPD) and new mutation operators are employed to enhance the BIFFOA. The extensive experiments on 25 datasets (see Table 1) show that the performance of the BIFFOA is better than several state-of-the-art algorithms.

Novel hydroxyl-substituted double Schiff-base 4-piperidone/cyclohexanone derivatives, 3a–e, 4a–e, 5a–d, and 6a–c, were synthesized and fully characterized by 1H NMR, IR and elemental analysis. The cytotoxicity against human carcinoma cell lines A549, SGC7901, HePG2, HeLa, K562, THP-1 and non-malignant LO2 cell lines were evaluated. The results showed 4-piperidinone derivatives displayed better cytotoxicity than cyclohexanone derivatives, especially for 3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl-substituted BAP 5c. The western blot and flow cytometry results proved 5c can effectively promote cell apoptosis through up-regulating Bax protein and down-regulating Bcl-2 protein expression. Molecular docking modes showed that 5c could reasonably bind to the active site of Bcl-2 protein through strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds and significant hydrophobic effect. In vivo, 5c can effectively suppress the growth of HepG2 xenografts without apparent body weight changes. This study indicates that 5c can be a potential anticancer agent for early treatment of liver cancers.

Inhibition of NF-κB signalling has been demonstrated as a therapeutic option in treating inflammatory diseases and cancers. Herein, we synthesized novel dissymmetric 3,5-bis(arylidene)-4-piperidones (BAPs, 83–102) and characterized fully. MTT and ELISA assay were performed to screen the anti-hepatoma and anti-inflammation properties. 96 showed the most potential bioactivity. 96 could promote HepG2 apoptosis through up-regulating the expression of C-Caspase-3 and Bax, down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2, while markedly inhibit LPS or TNF-α-induced activation of NF-κB through both inhibiting the phosphorylation of IκBα and p65, and preventing the p65 nuclear translocation to exhibit both anti-hepatoma and anti-inflammatory activities. Molecular docking verified that simulated 96 can effectively bond to the active site of Bcl-2 and NF-κB/p65 proteins. 96 inhibited xenografts growth by reducing the expression of TNF-α and Bcl-2 in the tumour tissue. This study suggested that 96 could be developed as a potential multifunctional agent for treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancers.

Objective(s): The purpose of this study was to detect the protective effects of adiponectin on coagulation dysfunction and its mechanism in sepsis of rats.Materials and Methods: The experimental samples were composed of sham group, model group that was underwent cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) and three adiponectin treatment groups that treated by adiponectin with different dose (72 μg/kg, 96 μg/kg and 120 μg/kg) after CLP. The prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was measured, respectively, the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), tissue factor (TF), activated coagulation factor VIIa and Xa, p-selectin were detected, the histology structure of vascular was observed, the expressions of Caspase 9, Caspase 3, Bax, Bcl-2 and vWF in vascular were measured.Results: The results demonstrated that adiponectin treatment lengthened PT and APTT, reduced the expression of MDA, TF, activated coagulation factor VIIa, Xa and p-selectin in plasma of septic rats. Additionally, adiponectin treatment alleviated endothelial cell apoptosis and oxidative stress, down-regulated the levels of Caspase 3, Caspase 9, Bax, Bcl-2 and vWF in vascular.Conclusion: These findings suggest that adiponectin treatment might be a promising therapeutic strategy for relieving septic endothelial cell injury and coagulation dysfunction via inhibiting endothelial cell apoptosis in septic rats.

This paper focuses on the disposal of iron tailings sand (ITS) and reclaimed inorganic binder stabilized aggregate (RAI), and a new “ITS plus RAI” solid waste treatment method is innovatively proposed, which uses ITS and RAI as a new base course material to replace of new aggregates by 100%. It is found that the new ITS and RAI mixture has excellent compressive performance by designing the material composition of the mixture, which can meet the design strength of different levels of pavement under various load conditions. A series of laboratory tests are used to study the effect of the content of special cementitious material and iron tailings on the uniaxial compressive strength, flexural-tensile strength, compressive resilience modulus, and flexural-tensile resilience modulus of recycled mixture. And, the scanning electron microscope test (SEM) and X-ray diffraction test (XRD) are used to compare the surface morphology characteristics and hydration products of the recycled mixture under different ratios and to discuss the formation mechanism of the strength of the mixture. The test results show that the macroscopic change pattern in laboratory tests is basically consistent with the results in microanalysis. The relationship between compressive strength and compressive resilience modulus and flexural resilience modulus is also established by linear regression. This solid waste treatment method is applied to the pavement renovation project of national and provincial roads in Shanxi Province (within Linfen), to replace the existing base material by using recycled mixture, and the results show that it can save not only the carbon emission from stone mining and processing but also the construction cost, while producing good social and economic benefits and promoting the process of carbon neutralization in the world.

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, is a serious pest of rice throughout Asia. Yeast-like symbionts (YLS) are endosymbionts closely linked with the development of BPH and the adapted mechanism of BPH virulence to resistant plants. In this study, we used semi-quantitative DGGE and absolute quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to quantify the number of the three YLS strains (Ascomycetes symbionts, Pichia-like symbionts, and Candida-like symbionts) that typically infect BPH in the nymphal stages and in newly emerged female adults. The quantities of each of the three YLS assessed increased in tandem with the developing nymphal instar stages, peaking at the fourth instar stage, and then declined significantly at the fifth instar stage. However, the amount of YLS present recovered sharply within the emerging adult females. Additionally, we estimated the quantities of YLS for up to eight generations after their inoculation onto resistant cultivars (Mudgo, ASD7, and RH) to reassociate the dynamics of YLS with the fitness of BPH. The minimum number of each YLS was detected in the second generation and gradually increased from the third generation with regard to resistant rice varieties. In addition, the Ascomycetes symbionts of YLS were found to be the most abundant of the three YLS strains tested for all of the development stages of BPH.

Abstract Background This study was performed to determine the effects of human placenta mesenchymal stem cell (hPMSC) transplantation on granulosa cell apoptosis and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) expression in autoimmune drug-induced premature ovarian failure (POF) mice. The aim of this research is to investigate the mechanisms of hPMSCs on ovarian reserve capacity. Methods The POF mice model was established by injection of zona pellucida 3 peptide (pZP3). hPMSC transplantation was conducted by intravenous injection into mice following pZP3 treatment. The follicle number was examined by histopathology. The serum levels of FSH, LH, E2, AMH and anti-zona pellucida antibody (AzpAb) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. AMH and FSHR expression in the ovary was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Granulosa cell apoptosis of the ovaries was examined by In Situ Cell Death Detection Kit. Granulosa cells were isolated and treated with SiAmh interference and hPMSC supernatant to observe the effects of AMH expression on granulosa cell apoptosis in vitro. Results The results showed that hPMSC transplantation can significantly recover the estrus cycle in the POF group. Morphological staining showed that the basal follicles and sinus follicles after hPMSC transplantation were higher in POF mice than in those without treatment, and the follicle number was significantly decreased with atresia. The serum levels of FSH, LH and AzpAb in the hPMSC transplantation group were reduced considerably, but the E2 and AMH levels were significantly increased. After hPMSC transplantation, the AMH and FSHR expression in ovarian tissue was significantly higher than in the POF group as determined by immunochemistry and western blot analysis. The FSHR expression was shown in granulosa cells only, and FSHR expression increases with AMH expressed in the ovary; granulosa cell apoptosis was decreased following hPMSC transplantation. The same results were observed from the in-vitro study. Conclusions hPMSC transplantation can significantly improve the serum levels of high gonadotropin and low estrogen of POF mice, promote follicular development, inhibit excessive follicular atresia and granulosa cell apoptosis, and improve the ovarian reserve capacity. The mechanism may be achieved by increasing the expression of AMH and FSHR in ovaries.

Traditional bridge monitoring has found it difficult to meet the current diversified needs, and frequent replacement of sensor batteries is neither economical nor environmentally friendly. This paper presents a wireless acceleration sensor with low power consumption and high sensitivity through integrated circuit design, data acquisition and wireless communication design, package design, etc. The accuracy of the sensor in data collection was verified through calibration and performance comparison tests. The ability of triangular piezoelectric cantilever beam (PCB) was tested through design and physical manufacture. Finally, the self-powered performance of the sensor was tested by connecting the sensor and the triangular PCB through a circuit, which verifies the feasibility of using the PCB to collect bridge vibration energy and convert it into electrical energy to supply power for sensor, and also explore the green energy collection and application.

Scar formation after spinal cord injury is regarded as an obstacle to axonal regeneration and functional recovery. Epothilone B provides moderate microtubule stabilization and is mainly used for anti-tumor therapy. It also reduces scar tissue formation and promotes axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect and mechanism of the microtubule-stabilizing reagent epothilone B in decreasing fibrotic scarring through its action on pericytes after spinal cord injury. A rat model of spinal cord injury was established via dorsal complete transection at the T10 vertebra. The rats received an intraperitoneal injection of epothilone B (0.75 mg/kg) at 1 and 15 days post-injury in the epothilone B group or normal saline in the vehicle group. Neuron-glial antigen 2, platelet-derived growth factor receptor β, and fibronectin protein expression were dramatically lower in the epothilone B group than in the vehicle group, but β-tubulin protein expression was greater. Glial fibrillary acidic protein at the injury site was not affected by epothilone B treatment. The Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotor scores were significantly higher in the epothilone B group than in the vehicle group. The results of this study demonstrated that epothilone B reduced the number of pericytes, inhibited extracellular matrix formation, and suppressed scar formation after spinal cord injury.

In order to study dynamic characteristics of warm mix foamed asphalt mixture in seasonal frozen area, cylinder dynamic modulus test of four kinds of mixture with two gradations and three kinds of asphalt was carried out by UTM-100. Then, the effects of test temperature, loading frequency, and foaming water consumption on dynamic modulus were analyzed. Finally, the compressive resilient modulus trial was made to compare mechanical properties. Results show that dynamic modulus for warm mix foamed asphalt mixture increases with rising temperature and decreased frequency. The inflection points of the dynamic modulus vs frequency curves at low temperature, normal temperature, and high temperature are 2 Hz, 10 Hz, and 15 Hz, respectively. Static modulus of SBS# modified and nonmodified warm mix foamed asphalt mixture is corresponding to the dynamic modulus 0.001 Hz–0.1 Hz and 0.00001 Hz–0.05 Hz. The effect on gradation type on the dynamic modulus of asphalt mixture is AC-20 > AC-13, and the degree of sensitivity of the water consumption to the master curve equation of dynamic modulus under different gradations is AC-13 > AC-20.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is a critical molecular mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of sepsis. Hence, strategies for alleviating this stress may be essential for preventing cardiovascular injuries under sepsis. Adiponectin is secreted by adipocytes and its levels are decreased in sepsis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effects of adiponectin treatment on endothelial cells and its mechanism. Male Wistar rats underwent cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) before being treated with adiponectin (72 and 120 μg/kg). The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma, histological structure, and apoptosis of endothelial cells were evaluated. In vitro, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with adiponectin at 10 and 20 μg/mL for 24 h after stimulation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), ultrastructure, rate of apoptosis, the expression of inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) protein, and its downstream molecules (78 kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), and caspase-12) were detected. The results showed that the levels of MDA and ROS induced by CLP or LPS stimulation were increased. Furthermore, endothelial cell apoptosis was increased under sepsis. The IRE1α pathway was initiated, as evidenced by activated IRE1α, increased GRP78, and up-regulated CHOP and caspase-12 in HUVECs. Following treatment with adiponectin, the number of apoptotic endothelial cells was markedly decreased. These findings demonstrated that treatment with adiponectin decreased apoptosis of endothelial cells caused by sepsis by attenuating the ER stress IRE1α pathway activated by oxidative stress.

NiMn _2 O _4 (NMO) thin films with different thicknesses (0.47–1.90 μ m) were grown on Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)(100) substrates by chemical solution deposition (CSD). The effects of different growth conditions on the structural and thermal properties of NMO films were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements show that both the average grain size of the samples and the surface roughness become larger with an increase of thickness. Based on isothermal surface condition, the corresponding thermal conductivity of NMO films was extracted from the optothermal Raman measurement and the obtained thermal conductivity is ∼4.0 ± 0.8 W m ^−1 K ^−1 for micrometer-scale films, suggesting that the (grain) boundary phonon scattering plays a minor role to affect the thermal conductivity of thin NMO films.

Abstract Objective To determine excess mortality in a cohort of people with tuberculosis in Shanghai. Methods Participants were local residents in 4 (of 19) districts in Shanghai, registered in one of four tuberculosis clinics between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2008. Baseline data were collected at the most recent diagnosis of tuberculosis and mortality was assessed between March and May of 2014. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and case-fatality rates for all participants and for subgroups. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to quantify associations between co-morbidities and mortality from all causes and from tuberculosis. Findings We registered 4569 subjects in the cohort. Overall, the cohort had an SMR for deaths from all causes of 5.2 (95% confidence interval, CI: 4.8-5.6). Males had a higher SMR than females (6.1 versus 3.0). After adjustment for age and sex, hazard ratios (HR) for deaths from all causes were significantly greater in previously treated people (HR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.08-1.49) and sputum smear-test positive people (HR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.35-1.78). The risk of death from tuberculosis was also significantly greater for previously treated people (HR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.24-2.86) and smear positive people (HR: 3.16; 95% CI: 2.06-4.87). Conclusion People with tuberculosis in Shanghai have an increased risk of mortality. Earlier diagnosis and more vigilant follow-up may help to reduce mortality in this group.

Porphyran is a sulfate galactan in the cell wall of Porphyra. Its acid hydrolysis product, oligo-porphyran (OP), was prepared and the structure studied by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS). This oligosaccharide was mainly composed of monosulfate-oligo-galactan, disufate-oligo-galactan, trisulfate-oligo-galactan, trisulfate oligo-methyl-galactan, and 3,6-anhydrogalactose with the degree of polymerization ranging from 1 to 8. The effects of OP were investigated in the glycerol-induced acute renal failure (ARF) model. Compared with the normal group, rats from the glycerol-induced group exhibited collecting duct and medullary ascending limb dilation and casts. The OP-treated group exerted a protective effect against glycerol-induced changes. The results showed that the administration of OP markedly decreased mortality in female ARF rats. For male ARF rats, all of which survived, OP significantly decreased the blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels. Ion levels in plasma and urine were significantly changed in ARF rats, whereas OP treatment almost recovered ion levels back to normal. This study showed a noticeable renal morphologic and functional protection by OP in glycerol-induced ARF rats.