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Neurons pose a particular challenge to degradative processes like autophagy due to their long and thin processes. Autophagic vesicles (AVs) are formed at the tip of the axon and transported back to the soma. This transport is essential since the final degradation of the vesicular content occurs only close to or in the soma. Here, we established an in vivo live-imaging model in the rat optic nerve using viral vector mediated LC3-labeling and two-photon-microscopy to analyze axonal transport of AVs. Under basal conditions in vivo, 50% of the AVs are moving with a majority of 85% being transported in the retrograde direction. Transport velocity is higher in the retrograde than in the anterograde direction. A crush lesion of the optic nerve results in a rapid breakdown of retrograde axonal transport while the anterograde transport stays intact over several hours. Close to the lesion site, the formation of AVs is upregulated within the first 6 h after crush, but the clearance of AVs and the levels of lysosomal markers in the adjacent axon are reduced. Expression of p150Glued, an adaptor protein of dynein, is significantly reduced after crush lesion. In vitro, fusion and colocalization of the lysosomal marker cathepsin D with AVs are reduced after axotomy. Taken together, we present here the first in vivo analysis of axonal AV transport in the mammalian CNS using live-imaging. We find that axotomy leads to severe defects of retrograde motility and a decreased clearance of AVs via the lysosomal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there is a growing demand for materials that can both improve the mechanical properties of structures and carry out health monitoring and risk warning. In this case, in order to realize distributed deformation monitoring, a new method of making geogrid by 3D printing technology is proposed. The grille rib is made by embedding the conductive polymer (ground carbon fiber as conductive filler) into the insulating shell (PLA material) in the specified path, and then the rib is vertically crossed into each other to form a grille sample. In order to study the distributed deformation monitoring function of this grid, a manual push–pull testing machine was used to conduct a load–unload experiment to analyze the change rule of resistance on the grid plane. The following conclusions were obtained: the closer the ribs are to the load bearing point, the greater the change in resistance, and conversely, the farther the ribs are from the load bearing point, the smaller the change in resistance. Depending on the geogrid network characteristics, the electrical resistance distribution on the geogrid plane can be obtained by superimposing the resistance values of the horizontal and longitudinal ribs, then the location and the magnitude of deformation can be estimated. Additionally, this study carried out numerical simulation of the grid model based on ANSYS 15.0 software and compared with the loading experiment results to verify that the force deformation position can be retrieved through the change of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser deposition manufacturing (LDM) technology provides the potential to manufacture large, difficult-to-process metal components for aerospace and other applications. However, the residual stresses resulting from the considerable temperature gradients in the LDM process can lead to distortion and even cracking of the fabricated components. Rapidly predicting the distortion for large additive metal components is critical to controlling the distortion and achieving high-quality forming of large components. Considering the principle of LDM technology, the partitioning method based on typical geometric features for aerospace titanium alloy frames, beams, and wall plates is proposed in this paper. It establishes a rapid prediction method for distortion of large additive metal components based on feature partitioning and temperature function method (TFM) by considering the effect of critical parameters of temperature function on distortion prediction. The results show that the prediction of additive component distortion through this method agrees with the results predicted by the traditional method and experimental results. Furthermore, the computational efficiency of the method has improved by 96% compared to the traditional approach, meeting the need for rapid distortion prediction in large metal additive components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase of people's awareness of food safety, it is crucial to find natural and green antimicrobial agents to replace traditional antimicrobial agents. Essential oils of spices (SEOs) are low toxicity or nontoxic, which exhibited antioxidants and antimicrobial activity according to many in vitro and in situ experiments. Spices are widely available and low cost as a plant raw material for the extraction of SEOs. This review summarized highly efficient extraction techniques for SEOs, such as physical field assisted extraction technology, supercritical fluid extraction, and biological-based techniques. Furthermore, purification of SEOs and components were also recapitulated. Purification techniques of SEOs improve their utilization value due to the increased content of bioactive components. Finally, the review concentrated on the applications of SEOs in food industry, including food preservation, food active packaging by means of films or coatings, antioxidant properties. In addition, addressing the problem of unstability of SEOs and its role to inhibit the pathogenic bacteria, the encapsulation of SEOs for use in the food industrial sectors reduces the safety risk to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase of people's awareness of food safety, it is crucial to find natural and green antimicrobial agents to replace traditional antimicrobial agents. Essential oils of spices (SEOs) are low toxicity or nontoxic, which exhibited antioxidants and antimicrobial activity according to many in vitro and in situ experiments. Spices are widely available and low cost as a plant raw material for the extraction of SEOs. This review summarized highly efficient extraction techniques for SEOs, such as physical field assisted extraction technology, supercritical fluid extraction, and biological-based techniques. Furthermore, purification of SEOs and components were also recapitulated. Purification techniques of SEOs improve their utilization value due to the increased content of bioactive components. Finally, the review concentrated on the applications of SEOs in food industry, including food preservation, food active packaging by means of films or coatings, antioxidant properties. In addition, addressing the problem of unstability of SEOs and its role to inhibit the pathogenic bacteria, the encapsulation of SEOs for use in the food industrial sectors reduces the safety risk to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As the third largest source of energy in addition to carbohydrates and proteins, lipids provide the body with more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates and proteins and are the accumulated “fuel bank” of the body. They are widely stored in animals, plants and microorganisms and are effectively extracted for dietary use by improved and novel technologies. Under the pressure of the current environment, we should immediately look for new strategies to improve or develop dietary lipids that are compatible with the development of the future food industry, in order to mitigate the environmental and climatic degradation caused by the lipid-producing activities of the animal husbandry industry, to avoid the contradiction between the demand for high quality of human beings and the strain on the resources, and to reduce the health risks caused by saturated fats and trans-fats in meat products. At present, workers concerned are opening up new avenues for the future edible lipids, for example, researches into fat and oil substitutes, the use of biotechnology in lipids and the value-added reuse of waste products is in full swing. The article therefore began with a detailed overview of the known lipids available, understanding their origins and the ways in which they were classified by region. Secondly, possible trends and potential strategies for dietary lipids for use in future foods were presented. Finally, constructive comments are made on the problems and challenges that may be encountered in the research and subsequent industrialization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) contributes to increased morbidity and mortality among patients with diabetes and presents a considerable global health challenge. However, reliable biomarkers of DN have not yet been established. Phosphorylated proteins are crucial for disease progression. However, their diagnostic potential remains unexplored. In this study, we used ultra-high-sensitivity quantitative phosphoproteomics to identify phosphoproteins in urinary extracellular vesicles (uEVs) as potential biomarkers of DN. We detected 233 phosphopeptides within the uEVs, with 47 phosphoproteins exhibiting significant alterations in patients with DN compared to those in patients with diabetes. From these phosphoproteins, we selected phosphorylated aquaporin-2 (p-AQP2[S256]) and phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3β (p-GSK3β[Y216]) for validation, as they were significantly overrepresented in pathway analyses and previously implicated in DN pathogenesis. Both phosphoproteins were successfully confirmed through Phos-tag western blotting in uEVs and immunohistochemistry staining in kidney sections, suggesting that phosphoprotein alterations in uEVs reflect corresponding changes within the kidney and their potential as candidate biomarkers for DN. Our research proposes the utilization of phosphoproteins in uEVs as a liquid biopsy, presenting a highly feasible diagnostic tool for kidney disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With higher standards in terms of diet and leisure enjoyment, spices and essential oils of aromatic plants (APEOs) are no longer confined to the food industry. The essential oils (EOs) produced from them are the active ingredients that contribute to different flavors. The multiple odor sensory properties and their taste characteristics of APEOs are responsible for their widespread use. The research on the flavor of APEOs is an evolving process attracting the attention among scientists in the past decades. For APEOs, which are used for a long time in the catering and leisure industries, it is necessary to analyze the components associated with the aromas and the tastes. It is important to identify the volatile components and assure quality of APEOs in order to expand their application. It is worth celebrating the different means by which the loss of flavor of APEOs can be retarded in practice. Unfortunately, relatively little research has been done on the structure and flavor mechanisms of APEOs. This also points the way to future research on APEOs.Therefore, this paper reviews the principles of flavor, identification of components and sensory pathways in humans for APEOs. Moreover, the article outlines the means of increasing the efficiency of using of APEOs. Finally, with respect to the sensory applications of APEOs, the review focuses on the practical application of APEOs in food sector and in aromatherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The permeability coefficient is the foundation of evaluating the clogging and maintenance. In this study, 384 field tests were carried out on 9 positions using single-ring and double-ring permeameters with different diameters. Both falling head and constant head methods were evaluated. At the same time, core samples were drilled from the 9 test positions, and their permeability coefficients were measured in the laboratory. The results show that there is a good correlation between falling head method and constant head method, both of them can be used to measure in-situ permeability coefficient of pervious pavement. Although the double-ring method can reduce the transverse seepage inside the pavement, the effect of double-ring permeameters with different cylinder diameters is different, and permeameters with larger cylinder diameters are better. For sites with permeability greater than 2 mm/s, it is not recommended to use permeameters with small cylinder diameters.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study evaluated the mechanism underlying how the inhibition of Drp1-mediated mitochondrial fission improves acute kidney injury induced by treatment with contrast agents in vitro and in vivo. • Using a mouse model of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI), we found that Drp1 inhibition reduced the expression of proteins associated with the NLRP3 inflammasome and increased the levels of kidney injury markers. • In vitro , these effects were reversed by Drp1 overexpression. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to the literature because we have shown that Drp1 inhibition could alleviate the deleterious effects of CI-AKI by regulating mitochondrial fission, reducing mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production, and reducing the interaction between thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) and the NLRP3 inflammasome complex. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a critical complication known for their extremely high mortality rate and lack of effective clinical therapy. Disorders in mitochondrial dynamics possess a pivotal role in the occurrence and progression of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) by activating NLRP3 inflammasome. The activation of dynamin-related protein-1 (Drp1) can trigger mitochondrial dynamic disorders by regulating excessive mitochondrial fission. However, the precise role of Drp1 during CIN has not been clarified. In vivo experiments revealed that inhibiting Drp1 through Mdivi-1 (one selective inhibitor of Drp1) can significantly decrease the expression of p-Drp1 (Ser616), mitochondrial p-Drp1 (Ser616), mitochondrial Bax, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS), NLRP3, caspase-1, ASC, TNF-α, IL-1β, interleukin (IL)-18, IL-6, creatinine (Cr), malondialdehyde (MDA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and KIM-1. Moreover, Mdivi-1 reduced kidney pathological injury and downregulated the interaction between NLRP3 and thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), which was accompanied by decreased interactions between TRX and TXNIP. This resulted in increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) and CAT activity, TRX expression, up-regulating mitochondrial membrane potential, and augmenting ATP contents and p-Drp1 (Ser616) levels in the cytoplasm. However, it did not bring impact on the expression of p-Drp1 (Ser637) and TXNIP. Activating Drp-1though Acetaldehyde abrogated the effects of Mdivi-1. In addition, the results of in vitro studies employing siRNA-Drp1 and plasmid-Drp1 intervention in HK-2 cells treated with iohexol were consistent with the in vivo experiments. Our findings revealed inhibiting Drp1 phosphorylation at Ser616 could ameliorate iohexol –induced acute kidney injury though alleviating the activation of the TXNIP-NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The market share of Sichuan pepper oleoresin (SPO) in the flavor industry is increasing steadily; however, its high volatility, low water solubility, and poor stability continue to pose significant challenges to application. The microencapsulation prepared by emulsion embedding and spray drying is considered as an effective technique to solve the above problems. Sodium octenyl succinate starch (OSA starch) and tea polyphenols (TPs) were used to develop OSA-TPs complex as encapsulants for SPO to prepare orally soluble microcapsules. And the optimum doping of TPs was determined. SPO microcapsules have good properties with high encapsulation efficiency up to 88.13 ± 1.48% and high payload up to 41.58 ± 1.86% with low water content and high heat resistance. The binding mechanism of OSA starch with TPs and its regulation mechanism and effect on SPOs were further analyzed and clarified. The binding mechanism between OSA starch and TPs was clarified in further analyses. The OSA-TPs complexes enhanced the rehydration, release in food matrix and storage stability of SPO, and exhibited good sensory immediacy. Flavor-improved mooncakes were successfully developed, achieving the combination of mooncake flavor and SPO flavor. This study provided a valuable way to prepare flavoring microcapsules suitable for the catering industry, opened up the combined application of SPO and bakery ingredients, and was of great practical value and significance for improving the processing quality of flavor foods, driving the development of the SPO industry, and enhancing the national dietary experience. [Display omitted] • Monolayer wall material was prepared from OSA starch and TPs to encapsulate SPO. • The OSA-TPs complex (1:0.3) had good encapsulation, heat resistance and safety. • Doping of TPs improved the stability of OSA starch by hydrogen bonding between them. • Uneven morphology of SPO microcapsules improved solubility and releasability of SPO. • The orally soluble OSA-TPs shell helped the flavor of SPO to be rapidly perceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel instrument for measuring absolute gravity, the atom gravimeter has shown high sensitivity and stability in the past three decades. In this work, we report a car-based portable atom gravimeter whose sensitivity is at the level of 1. 9 m G a l / H z (1 Gal = 0.01 m/s2) both for lab and outdoor measurements. Its resolution can reach 30 μGal within an integration time of 10 000 s when located in a quiet place. During four months of gravity observation, there is no drift for the measurement result, showing that this car-based gravimeter has a competitive advantage at long term stability. By using this car-based atom gravimeter in the open air, the field gravity measurements with sub-mGal performance have been demonstrated in the mountain gravity survey. According to the gravity measurement results from our car-based atom gravimeter, the density distribution of this mountain is inverted, which is consistent with the result from the geological exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As increasing data-driven control strategies are applied in electric arc furnace systems, the problem of novelty detection has drawn more attentions than before. The presence of outliers should be the main obstacle in practical applications for these advanced control techniques. To this end, this paper proposes a dynamically selective support vector data description model to discover novelties in electric arc furnace. In this model, support vector data description plays the role of base detector. Artificial outliers are generated with two objectives, one is to assist the dynamic selection, and the other is to optimize two parameters of support vector data description. Then clustering technique is used to determine the validation set for each test point. Finally, a probabilistic method is used to compute the competence of base detectors. In contrast to other novelty ensembles that have parallel structures, our ensemble model has a dynamic selection mechanism that could facilitate the mining of the potential of base detectors. Three synthetic and three real-world datasets are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed detection model. Experimental results have approved our method by comparing it with several competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compression behavior of a damaged I-section stiffened panel repaired by the bolted metal patch method is studied experimentally and numerically by the finite element method in this paper. In the finite element model, the bolt was simulated by a combination of beam elements coupled to rigid contact surfaces, the coupling failure criterion and a new delamination criterion were used to analyze the failure of composite laminates and bonding interfaces, respectively. The repairing effects of the mechanical fastening method are compared with the panels with damage. The results show that the load-carrying capacity of the repaired panel increases significantly compared with the panel with damage. The experimental results validate the proposed finite element model. Finally, an improved repair configuration is proposed based on the finite element simulation. This shows that the presented repair is useful and effective to repair the damaged composite structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a micromechanical method to analyze the thermal stresses in a finite plane containing multiple elliptical inclusions. Firstly, the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method is employed to solve the elastic fields of a two-dimensional infinite plane containing multiple elliptical inclusions under a uniform temperature change. Both the interior Eshelby's tensor and the exterior Eshelby's tensor are employed. Then the boundary of the plane is modeled by continuous distributions of dislocation densities. By combining the two steps, a system of singular integral equations is formulated based on the traction-free boundary condition. Then the thermal stresses of the plane can be obtained by the superposition of the stresses obtained by the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method and distributed dislocation method. Additionally, some examples are given to show the effects of the presented method. The effects of the material constants, geometric parameters and fiber packing arrangement on the thermal stresses are also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Changes in the physical and chemical properties of SPO before and after cooking. • Identification of volatile organic compounds in SPO before and after cooking. • Thirteen compounds were selected as markers of SPO before and after cooking. • E-nose, E-tongue, GC–MS and HPLC to analyze quality and flavor of cooked SPO. • PLS-R for sensory attributes and volatile components of cooked SPO were set up. Sichuan pepper oleoresin (SPO) is highly appreciated by the food industry as well as consumers for flavor. To understand the overall flavor of SPO and how the quality changes during practical application, this study investigated the effects of five cooking methods on the quality, sensory, and flavor compounds of SPO. The differences in physicochemical properties and sensory evaluation responded to potential changes in SPO after cooking. The SPO after different cooking could be clearly distinguished by E-nose and PCA. Based on the qualitative analysis of volatile compounds, 13 compounds were screened by OPLS-DA that had the ability to explain above differences. Further analysis of taste substances revealed that pungent substances (hydroxy-α-sanshool) were significantly reduced in SPO after cooking. And the conclusion that the degree of bitterness significantly increased was predicted by E-tongue. The PLS-R model was developed to achieve correlation analysis between aroma molecules and sensory quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) has become pandemic. It brings serious threat to hemodialysis (HD) patients. Therefore, we carried out a study on the clinical characteristics of HD patients with COVID-19. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 31 HD patients with COVID-19. The clinical features of patients include epidemiology, clinical symptoms, laboratory and imaging test, treatment and prognosis. 61.3% were severe, and 38.7% were mild. 83.9% had a close contact history with COVID-19 patients. The average age was 62.3 years comprising of 58.1% men and 41.9% women. Ninety percent had chronic diseases except ESRD. Clinical symptoms include cough (85%), fever (43%), and shortness of breath (48.4%), etc. Complications included ARDS (25.8%), AHF (22.6%), and septic shock (16.1%), etc. 64.5% of patients had remission, and 35.5% of patients had no remission with 6.5% deaths. Compared with the baseline before infection, HD patients with COVID-19 had lower lymphocytes, albumin and glucose, and higher D-dimer, albumin, phosphorus, lactate dehydrogenase, and CRP. There was no significant correlation between the neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio and the severity of the disease. Compared with the reported general population, the HD patients are susceptible to COVID-19 infection, especially older men and those with other underlying diseases. Moreover, HD patients have more severe infection and inflammation with less symptoms and worse outcome. COVID-19 infection can cause dialysis patients lower immunity, stronger inflammation, malnutrition, and internal environment disorder. Neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio does not reflect the severity of the HD patients with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to further the understanding of support structures and the likely impacts on maraging steel MS1 parts fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) at 45°, 60° and 75° building angles. Design/methodology/approach: Two groups of samples, one group with support structures and the other group without support structures, were designed with the same specifications and printed under the same conditions by SLM at 45°, 60° and 75° building angles. Differences in dimensional accuracy, surface roughness, Vickers microhardness, residual stress and microstructure were compared between groups. Findings: The results showed that with support structures, more accurate dimension and slightly higher Vickers microhardness could be obtained. Larger compressive stress dominated and was more uniformly distributed on the supporting surface. Without support structures, the dimension became more precise as the building angle increased and alternating compressive and tensile stress was unevenly distributed on the supporting surface. In addition, the surface roughness of the outer surface decreased with the increase of the built angle, regardless of the support structures. Furthermore, whether the building angle was 45°, 60° or 75°, the observed microstructures revealed that the support structures altered the orientation of the molten pool and the direction of grain growth. Originality/value: This paper studies the influence of support structures on the workpieces printed at different building angles. Support structures affect the residual stress distribution, heat dissipation rate and microstructure of the parts, and thus affecting the printing quality. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the support strategy and printing quality to better apply or design the support structures in SLM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise characterization and analysis of corneal nerve fiber tortuosity are of great importance in facilitating examination and diagnosis of many eye-related diseases. In this paper we propose a fully automated method for image-level tortuosity estimation, comprising image enhancement, exponential curvature estimation, and tortuosity level classification. The image enhancement component is based on an extended Retinex model, which not only corrects imbalanced illumination and improves image contrast in an image, but also models noise explicitly to aid removal of imaging noise. Afterwards, we take advantage of exponential curvature estimation in the 3D space of positions and orientations to directly measure curvature based on the enhanced images, rather than relying on the explicit segmentation and skeletonization steps in a conventional pipeline usually with accumulated pre-processing errors. The proposed method has been applied over two corneal nerve microscopy datasets for the estimation of a tortuosity level for each image. The experimental results show that it performs better than several selected state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, we have performed manual gradings at tortuosity level of four hundred and three corneal nerve microscopic images, and this dataset has been released for public access to facilitate other researchers in the community in carrying out further research on the same and related topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High precision atom interferometers have shown attractive prospects in laboratory for testing fundamental physics and inertial sensing. Efforts on applying this innovative technology to field applications are also being made intensively. As the manipulation of cold atoms and related matching technologies mature, inertial sensors based on atom interferometry can be adapted to various indoor or mobile platforms. A series of experiments have been conducted and high performance has been achieved. In this paper, we will introduce the principles, the key technologies, and the applications of atom interferometers, and mainly review the recent progress of movable atom gravimeters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As increasing data-driven control strategies are applied in electric arc furnace systems, the problem of novelty detection has drawn more attentions than before. The presence of outliers should be the main obstacle in practical applications for these advanced control techniques. To this end, this paper proposes a dynamically selective support vector data description model to discover novelties in electric arc furnace. In this model, support vector data description plays the role of base detector. Artificial outliers are generated with two objectives, one is to assist the dynamic selection, and the other is to optimize two parameters of support vector data description. Then clustering technique is used to determine the validation set for each test point. Finally, a probabilistic method is used to compute the competence of base detectors. In contrast to other novelty ensembles that have parallel structures, our ensemble model has a dynamic selection mechanism that could facilitate the mining of the potential of base detectors. Three synthetic and three real-world datasets are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed detection model. Experimental results have approved our method by comparing it with several competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) is a novel and non-invasive imaging modality for analyzing retinal diseases. The studies of microvasculature in 2D en face projection images have been widely implemented, but comprehensive 3D analysis of OCT-A images with rich depth-resolved microvascular information is rarely considered. In this paper, we propose a robust, effective, and automatic 3D shape modeling framework to provide a high-quality 3D vessel representation and to preserve valuable 3D geometric and topological information for vessel analysis. Effective vessel enhancement and extraction steps by means of curvelet denoising and optimally oriented flux (OOF) filtering are first designed to produce 3D microvascular networks. Afterwards, a novel 3D data representation of OCT-A microvasculature is reconstructed via advanced mesh reconstruction techniques. Based on the 3D surfaces, shape analysis is established to extract novel shape-based microvascular area distortion via the Laplace-Beltrami eigen-projection. The extracted feature is integrated into a graph-cut segmentation system to categorize large vessels and small capillaries for more precise shape analysis. The proposed framework is validated on a dedicated repeated scan dataset including 260 volume images and shows high repeatability. Statistical analysis using the surface area biomarker is performed on small capillaries to avoid the effect of tailing artifact from large vessels. It shows significant differences ($p< 0.001$) between DR stages on 100 subjects in a OCTA-DR dataset. The proposed shape modeling and analysis framework opens the possibility for further investigating OCT-A microvasculature in a new perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a significant microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and a leading cause of vision impairment in working age adults. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a routinely used clinical tool to observe retinal structural and thickness alterations in DR. Pathological changes that alter the normal anatomy of the retina, such as intraretinal edema, pose great challenges for conventional layer-based analysis of OCT images. We present an alternative approach for the automated analysis of OCT volumes in DR research based on nonlinear registration. In this paper, we first obtain an anatomically consistent volume of interest (VOI) in different OCT images via carefully designed masking and affine registration. After that, efficient B-spline transformations are computed using stochastic gradient descent optimization. Using the OCT volumes of normal controls, for which layer-based segmentation works well, we demonstrate the accuracy of our registration-based analysis in aligning layer boundaries. By nonlinearly registering the OCT volumes of DR subjects to an atlas constructed from normal controls and measuring the Jacobian determinant of the deformation, we can simultaneously visualize tissue contraction and expansion due to DR pathology. Tensor-based morphometry (TBM) can also be performed for quantitative analysis of local structural changes. In our experimental results, we apply our method to a dataset of 105 subjects and demonstrate that volumetric OCT registration and TBM analysis can successfully detect local retinal structural alterations due to DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High throughput screening towards chemical libraries is the primary way to discover lead compounds in developing innovative drugs, especially new molecular entities. Accordingly, the preparation of chemical libraries is the key step for drug development. Now, conventional small molecule chemical libraries and DNA‐encoded chemical libraries are the main models of chemical libraries for high‐throughput screening. Recently, a new model of chemical library, called modular click chemistry library, was proposed, which gives us an alternative choice to construct chemical libraries for high throughput screening and exhibits broad prospects to accelerate drug development. Herein, this article mainly focuses on the strategy to prepare the modular click chemistry library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an automatic fatigue crack propagation solution for particulate-reinforced composites. In this solution, the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method is used to solve the elastic fields of a two-dimensional plane containing multiple elliptical inclusions. Then the continuous distributed dislocations in an infinite plane are adopted to model the multiple cracks in the plane containing multiple elliptical inclusions. By combining the two methods, a system of singular integral equations can be formulated based on the stress condition of the cracks. The stress intensity factor of each crack can be obtained by solving the singular integral equations. The propagation of the cracks is studied based on the maximum circumferential stress criterion. Numerical examples are presented to show the complicated changes in the stress intensity factors and crack growth behaviors of the cracks affected by the inclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, an automated numerical simulation of the propagation of multiple cracks in a finite elastic plane by the distributed dislocation method is developed. Firstly, a solution to the problem of a two-dimensional finite elastic plane containing multiple straight cracks and kinked cracks is presented. A serial of distributed dislocations in an infinite plane are used to model all the cracks and the boundary of the finite plane. The mixed-mode stress intensity factors of all the cracks can be calculated by solving a system of singular integral equations with the Gauss–Chebyshev quadrature method. Based on the solution, the propagation of multiple cracks is modeled according to the maximum circumferential stress criterion and Paris' law. Several numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and efficiency of this method for the simulation of multiple cracks in a 2D finite plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pervious concrete pavements have good drainage capabilities; however, storm water runoff during extreme events can cause the pores clogging in permeable pavement. This study aims to preliminarily reveal the mechanism of sediment clogging in the pores of the pervious concrete pavement under storm water runoff. An innovative continuous permeability measurement system combined with the electrical conductivity measurement is developed. Laboratory simulation tests are conducted with this system to demonstrate the effects of four factors on the permeability reduction. The tests indicate that the pore clogging process generally includes three phases, i.e. quick clogging, temporary mitigation of clogging and progressive clogging. The clogging is more prone to occur in specimens with large porosity. Meanwhile, the variation of electrical conductivity of pervious concrete can accurately reflect the clogging process of pervious concrete. A rapid clogging model has been developed and validated. Research results obtained are important in optimising the design and evaluation of pervious concrete pavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to explore the protective mechanism of curcumin-precondition in renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Thirty male SD rats were randomly equally divided into Sham, IRI, and Curcumin groups (n = 10). The model of IRI was induced by clamping the left renal artery for 45 min followed by 24 h reperfusion with the contralateral nephrectomy. ELISA was used to examine the expression of Cr, BUN, IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-6 in the serum; RT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA level of IL-8,TNF-α, and IL-6 in the kidney; The morphology of kidney was examined by Periodic Acid-Schiff stain (PAS). The expression of JAK2, p-JAK2, STAT3, p-STAT3, p65, and p-p65 in kidney were detected by Western blotting. The result displayed that Curcumin pretreatment can significantly increase the expression of p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 and reduce the expression of Cr, BUN, IL-8, TNF-α, IL-6, and p-p65. In addition, Curcumin can attenuate the kidney pathological injury and have no effect on the expression of JAK2, STAT3, and p65. Our findings showed the protective effect of Curcumin in I/R injury is associated with suppressing NF-κB mediating inflammation by activating JAK2/STAT3 signal pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Visualized method is developed to study the mechanism of pervious pavement clogging. • Clogging process especially the internal movement of sediments is studied. • The effects of porosity, horizontal runoff, seepage and sediment size are studied. Abstract Permeability reduction caused by clogging is a major issue with porous concrete pavements. Particulate matter infiltration owing to rainwater, movement, and accumulation/deposition in the pores is the main cause of clogging in porous pavements. In this study, in order to observe the internal movement of particles in pores and the clogging evolution directly, we focus on the accumulation of transparent sodium polyacrylate beads instead of pervious concrete aggregate. The clogging process caused by particles in surface runoff entering the internal pores of porous concrete was studied, and a visualization method was applied to analyze the clogging process in porous media. The effects of the porous concrete porosity, horizontal runoff velocity, seepage velocity, and particle size distribution on the clogging development with time, clogging development rate, and particle distribution in the clogging state were studied using the control variable method. The results demonstrate that the clogging process exhibits four stages, namely rapid clogging, partial recovery, slow clogging, and clogging stability. The effects of porosity and clogging particle size on the clogging development rate are significant. Porous concrete porosity, seepage velocity, and clogging particle size all have impacts on the distributions of clogging particle in the final clogging process, while the horizontal runoff effect can be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents a novel magnetically driven polishing tool for internal surface finishing. Differing from the existing magnetic abrasive finishing or magnetic field assisted finishing (MAF) methods; this new technique performs material removal inside a tube using a spherical magnet with abrasives driven by external bar magnets. This configuration of magnets not only simplifies the design but also allows more flexibility in the potential application to internal finishing of manifolds. The physical principle was introduced and polishing experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of magnetic abrasive particles and abrasive size based on the two major criteria of surface roughness and material removal. The results unequivocally substantiated the capability of the developed method with a more than 98% improvement in surface roughness for ring polishing and an 86% improvement for section polishing. An analytical model was devised to illustrate the material removal mechanism of the proposed internal polishing technique based on the experimental results. The technique developed in the paper shows signs of future success in finishing internal surface of complex components in a wide range of industrial applications. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • A novel magnetically driven polishing technique for internal surface is developed. • Using clear sphere magnet, surface roughness Ra as low as 53 nm can be achieved. • A significant improvement of 86% in Ra has been achieved for section polishing. • Employing magnetic abrasive powders can greatly increase material removal rate. • An analytical model is devised to illustrate the material removal mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The CFD-DEM model reveals the pore clogging mechanism and clogging development. • The factors that influence clogging development are researched. • Relationship between clogging depth and the sediments size distribution is studied. Abstract The most distinguished characteristic of pervious concrete is its connected porosity that allows water to percolate. And the permeable capacity will decrease rapidly once the pervious concrete is clogged by the sediments. Despite the relationship between permeability and clogging is extensively researched, there is limited information about pore clogging mechanism in pervious pavements. The aim of this paper is using the computational fluid dynamics – discrete element method (CFD-DEM) model to numerically reveal the pore clogging mechanism and clogging development taking into account of the porosity of pervious pavements, sediments size distribution, the horizontal runoff velocity, and the seepage velocity. Pore clogging is determined by the D l /D s ratio—the equivalent diameter of aggregate particles (D l) to equivalent diameter of sediments (D s). A fitted curve is utilized to depict the tendency of clogging. Sediments secondary movement is revealed. Results show that the well-graded sands is able to percolate into the depth of 30 mm in pervious pavements; coarse sands will settle on the shallow surface within depth of 20 mm in pervious pavements; and fine sands will percolate into the depth of 60–100 mm in pervious pavements. As the increase of porosity, horizontal runoff velocity, and seepage velocity, the sediments will transport into pervious pavements deeply. The cycle simulation of raining and draining shows it has limited influence to clogging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

V-groove structure is the key composing feature of many optical products such as gratings and optical fibre connectors. The quality of the V-groove structure depends on multiple factors of manufacturing routines, process parameters, material properties, etc. among which the machinability of the workpiece materials plays a crucial role in achieving high-quality V-grooves. Due to the superior mechanical and material properties, rapidly solidified aluminium RSA-905 emerges as an ideal alternative for stainless steel and conventional aluminium alloys for optical components. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental investigation on ultra-precision machining of V-groove structures on RSA-905 using single crystal diamond tools, aiming to reveal some new insights into the material removal mechanism of V-grooving process. A model was established to explain chip flow and material removal phenomena, and effects of depth of cut and feed rate on cutting forces, surface quality and form accuracy were quantitatively evaluated. The results showed that less than 1 μm peak-to-valley (PV) form accuracy and 15 nm Ra surface roughness were obtained on V-groove surface under the best machining condition. A high-stress concentration existed in the vicinity of the straight cutting edges along the slope of the V-grooves, resulting in surface and subsurface damages due to the loss of harder particles. Besides, the unremarkable tool wear and smooth chip morphology demonstrated the good machinability of RSA-905. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal microaneurysms (MAs) are the earliest clinical sign of diabetic retinopathy disease. Detection of MAs is crucial for the early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy and prevention of blindness. In this paper, a novel and reliable method for automatic detection of MAs in retinal images is proposed. In the first stage of the proposed method, several preliminary microaneurysm candidates are extracted using a gradient weighting technique and an iterative thresholding approach. In the next stage, in addition to intensity and shape descriptors, a new set of features based on local convergence index filters is extracted for each candidate. Finally, the collective set of features is fed to a hybrid sampling/boosting classifier to discriminate the MAs from non-MAs candidates. The method is evaluated on images with different resolutions and modalities (color and scanning laser ophthalmoscope) using six publicly available data sets including the retinopathy online challenges (ROC) data set. The proposed method achieves an average sensitivity score of 0.471 on the ROC data set outperforming state-of-the-art approaches in an extensive comparison. The experimental results on the other five data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed MAs detection method regardless of different image resolutions and modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their high permeability and high strength, pervious concrete piles (PCPs) can improve ground bearing capacity. However, clogging of pervious concrete in practice is a potential disadvantage. To investigate the clogging mechanism of PCPs due to sand piping, a series of laboratory simulation tests is conducted on a developed hydraulic conductivity test system. This testing demonstrates the effects of pervious concrete porosity, grading of fine movable particles, mix ratio of skeleton particles to movable particles, relative density of soil, and distance between PCPs on PCP clogging. The experimental test results show that the hydraulic conductivity of PCP decreases for approximately 70 min and then becomes relatively stable. In addition, it is observed that PCP clogging rarely occurs in cases of low pervious concrete porosity, small movable sand particle size, high sand relative density, and large pile distance. The results also show that measurement of electrical conductivity can be an alternative method of hydraulic conductivity measurement. Based on the test results, preliminary clogging models are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this paper, we propose a robust, efficient, and automatic reconnection algorithm for bridging interrupted curvilinear skeletons in ophthalmologic images. Methods: This method employs the contour completion process, i.e., mathematical modeling of the direction process in the roto-translation group SE(2) \equiv \mathbb R^2 \rtimes S^1 to achieve line propagation/completion. The completion process can be used to reconstruct interrupted curves by considering their local consistency. An explicit scheme with finite-difference approximation is used to construct the three-dimensional (3-D) completion kernel, where we choose the Gamma distribution for time integration. To process structures in $SE(2)$, the orientation score framework is exploited to lift the 2-D curvilinear segments into the 3-D space. The propagation and reconnection of interrupted segments are achieved by convolving the completion kernel with orientation scores via iterative group convolutions. To overcome the problem of incorrect skeletonization of 2-D structures at junctions, a 3-D segment-wise thinning technique is proposed to process each segment separately in orientation scores. Results: Validations on 4 datasets with different image modalities show that our method achieves an average success rate of $95.24\%$ in reconnecting $40\,457$ gaps of sizes from $7 \times 7$ to $39 \times 39$, including challenging junction structures. Conclusion: The reconnection approach can be a useful and reliable technique for bridging complex curvilinear interruptions. Significance: The presented method is a critical work to obtain more complete curvilinear structures in ophthalmologic images. It provides better topological and geometric connectivities for further analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pervious concrete specimens are prepared for CT (Computed Tomography) imaging and numerical simulation to observe pore characteristics and study law of seepage flow. 3D reconstruction based on CT imaging is utilized to generate virtual 3D pervious concrete structures, extract the connected pore network models, and analyze the target porosity, actual porosity, 3D porosity etc. Pore characteristics analysis shows the 3D porosity, and average planar porosity can generally represent the actual porosity, and 3D connected porosity is close to the effective porosity. The connected pore network models are used to simulate the water seepage flow using CFD (Computed Fluid Dynamics) method. The seepage flow simulation shows the permeable capacity increases clearly with increasing porosity under the same inlet pressure. The relationship between seepage velocity and pressure gradient is obtained and fitted by the nonlinear Forchheimer formula. The acquired hydraulic conductivity can be used to assess the seepage flow capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a supervised retinal vessel segmentation by incorporating vessel filtering and wavelet transform features from orientation scores (OSs), and green intensity. Through an anisotropic wavelet-type transform, a 2D image is lifted to a 3D orientation score in the Lie-group domain of positions and orientations R 2 ⋊ S 1 . Elongated structures are disentangled into their corresponding orientation planes and enhanced via multi-orientation vessel filtering. In addition, scale-selective OSs (in the domain of positions, orientations and scales R 2 ⋊ S 1 × R + ) are obtained by adding a scale adaptation to the wavelet transform. Features are optimally extracted by taking maximum orientation responses at multiple scales, to represent vessels of changing calibers. Finally, we train a Random Forest classifier for vessel segmentation. Extensive validations show that our method achieves a competitive segmentation, and better vessel preservation with less false detections compared with the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural images contain often curvilinear structures, which might be disconnected, or partly occluded. Recovering the missing connection of disconnected structures is an open issue and needs appropriate geometric reasoning. We propose to find line co-occurrence statistics from the centerlines of blood vessels in retinal images and show its remarkable similarity to a well-known probabilistic model for the connectivity pattern in the primary visual cortex. Furthermore, the probabilistic model is trained from the data via statistics and used for automated grouping of interrupted vessels in a spectral clustering based approach. Several challenging image patches are investigated around junction points, where successful results indicate the perfect match of the trained model to the profiles of blood vessels in retinal images. Also, comparisons among several statistical models obtained from different datasets reveal their high similarity, i.e., they are independent of the dataset. On top of that the best approximation of the statistical model with the symmetrized extension of the probabilistic model on the projective line bundle is found with a least square error smaller than $$2\%$$ . Apparently, the direction process on the projective line bundle is a good continuation model for vessels in retinal images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The approximate simulation of storm water run-off over pervious pavement is carried out using both experimental method and numerical simulation. The slope and flow rate changeable flume and uniform porous media are used to approximately simulate the pervious pavement. A 3D computational fluid dynamics – discrete element method is used for numerical simulation of interaction between pervious pavement and fluid. The effects of variation of parameters, including inflow rate, infiltration outflow rate and slope on surface run-off are analysed. The average flow velocity within the surface run-off region and shear velocity increases with the increasing permeability of pervious pavement. The turbulent kinetic energy distribution along depth in the free-flow region is more uniform than empirical relationship for flow over impermeable surfaces. Equations for flow depth and velocity over pervious pavement have been deduced. The results of this study are helpful for the hydraulic design of pervious concrete pavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we report the synthesis of a series of chalcone–benzoxaborole hybrid molecules and the evaluation of their anticancer activity. Their anticancer potency and toxicity were tested on three human cancer cell lines and two normal cell lines. The 4-fluoro compound 15 was found to be the most potent compound with an IC 50 value of 1.4 μM on SKOV3 cells. The 4-iodo compound 18 and 3-methyloxy-4-amino compound 47 showed good potency on SKOV3 cells while exhibiting low toxicity on normal cells. This work extended the application of benzoxaboroles to the field of anticancer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a robust and fully automatic filter-based approach for retinal vessel segmentation. We propose new filters based on 3D rotating frames in so-called orientation scores, which are functions on the Lie-group domain of positions and orientations \mathbb R^2 \rtimes S^1 . By means of a wavelet-type transform, a 2D image is lifted to a 3D orientation score, where elongated structures are disentangled into their corresponding orientation planes. In the lifted domain \mathbb R^2 \rtimes S^1 , vessels are enhanced by means of multi-scale second-order Gaussian derivatives perpendicular to the line structures. More precisely, we use a left-invariant rotating derivative (LID) frame, and a locally adaptive derivative (LAD) frame. The LAD is adaptive to the local line structures and is found by eigensystem analysis of the left-invariant Hessian matrix (computed with the LID). After multi-scale filtering via the LID or LAD in the orientation score domain, the results are projected back to the 2D image plane giving us the enhanced vessels. Then a binary segmentation is obtained through thresholding. The proposed methods are validated on six retinal image datasets with different image types, on which competitive segmentation performances are achieved. In particular, the proposed algorithm of applying the LAD filter on orientation scores (LAD-OS) outperforms most of the state-of-the-art methods. The LAD-OS is capable of dealing with typically difficult cases like crossings, central arterial reflex, closely parallel and tiny vessels. The high computational speed of the proposed methods allows processing of large datasets in a screening setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: To investigate the etiology and management of male iatrogenic urethral stricture in China. Methods: The data of 172 patients with iatrogenic urethral stricture who underwent treatment at a high volume reference center in China from January 2008 to February 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. Databases were analyzed to understand the impact of different types of iatrogenic injury on stricture location, length and treatment of urethral strictures, as well as success rates. Results: The most common type of iatrogenic stricture was urethral instrumentations in 80 patients (46.51%). Mean stricture length was 3.3 ± 2.54 cm and the longest strictures were those caused by intravesical instillation. Substitution urethroplasty was the most common intervention and was performed in 60.47% (104/172) of patients. The overall success rate was 85.00% (136/160). Univariable analyses revealed that the type of iatrogenic injury was significantly related to restenosis (p = 0.036), and it is more apt to postoperative restenosis in the type of intravesical instillation than others. Conclusion: Our results showed that urethral instrumentation is the most common etiology of iatrogenic urethral stricture, and most iatrogenic urethral strictures involve the anterior urethra. The different etiologies are closely associated with stricture location, length and the overall prognosis of urethral strictures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the research on the termination time of the Large Igneous Province due to the eruption of Emeishan flood basalt volcanism at the Buotuo region in Sichuan Province, China. Topics include the analysis of Xuanwei Formation in China, the use of zircon uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating and hafnium isotopic for analyse of sedimentary tuff, and the geochemical and paleogeography analysis of sedimentary tuff.

[Display omitted] • Crustal electrical structures reveal the deformation in the SE Tibetan Plateau. • High conductor C3 results in the geothermal activities in the Lugu Lake region. • Ninglang fault has a high potential for large earthquakes. • Ductile flow has been moving from SW to NE at the Lijiang-Xiaojinhe fault. We used data from 62 broadband magnetotelluric (MT) stations along two NNW - SSE profiles cross sections around the Lijiang - Xiaojinhe fault (LXF) using 3-D inversion. This is a crucial area where the long-wavelength topography can be used to identify motions of the ductile flow beneath the eastern Tibetan Plateau to the Yangtze platform. The results indicate that there are two high conductors (1–10 Ωm) beneath the LXF zone. One of the conductors is at a depth of approximately 15–35 km with a length of 40 km in the southwest profile, whereas the other is at a depth of approximately 10–20 km with a length of 20 km in the northeast profile. These results indicate that the conductors along the LXF zone become shallower and smaller from the SW to NE. Based on the framework of the material escape to the east of the Tibetan Plateau and the strike-slip polarity of the active faults, we propose a new geodynamic model for the study area. The high conductors probably originated northwest of the Lijiang area. After crossing the LXF, part of the mid-crustal ductile material moved to the NE between the LXF and Ninglang fault. Therefore, the LXF presents significant left-lateral strike-slip deformation, and the Ninglang fault presents right-lateral strike-slip deformation. In addition, with the thermal springs exposed in the subsurface of the Lugu Lake region, we suggest that a potential geothermal field could be developed underneath the LXF and NW sides of the Lugu Lake region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cinchonine-derived prolinamide in Brønsted acidic ionic liquids was utilized for the first time as a novel and recyclable catalytic system for the asymmetric direct aldol reaction of acetone with aromatic aldehydes. The effects of the Brønsted acidity and amount of ionic liquid, co-solvents, catalyst amount, and reaction temperature on the catalytic activity and enantioselectivity were studied in detail. Good to high yields and ee values were achieved for the aldol reaction of various aromatic aldehydes with neat acetone in 1-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Hmim] + BF 4 − ) in the presence of 10 mol% of catalyst at room temperature. [Hmim] + BF 4 − was also identified as a Brønsted acid additive for the reaction and beneficial to the enhancement of catalytic performance. Moreover, the enhanced interaction between prolinamide and acidic ionic liquid facilitated the recoverability and reusability of organocatalyst. The catalyst recycling experiments indicated that there was only a slight loss in activity and enantioselectivity after four runs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a numerical solution to calculate the two-dimensional elastic fields of a finite plate containing a circular inclusion. The boundaries of the plate are modeled by distributed dislocations. This method results in a system of singular integral equations with Cauchy kernels which can be solved by Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature method. The elastic fields of the plate can be solved with the integral along the whole boundary which is modeled by distributed dislocations. Several numerical examples are given to assess the performance of the presented method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thiazolidinedione pioglitazone, which is also a PPAR-γ agonist, now is widely used in patients with hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. NF-κB is a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor controlling the expression of numerous genes involved in inflammation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the activation of PPAR-γ attenuates the cisplatin-induced NF-κB activation in cisplatin nephrotoxicity. The results showed that the PPAR-γ agonist pioglitazone decreased the expression of NF-κB p65 transcription target genes (e.g., IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) and inhibited histological injury and inflammatory cells infiltration in cisplatin nephrotoxicity. The suppression of NF-κB activity following pioglitazone treatment inhibited the cisplatin-induced IκB-α degredation and NF-κB p65 subunit translocation. Translocation of the NF-κB p65 subunit depends on p65 acetylation, which primarily regulated by SIRT1 or p300. Notably, AMP kinase (AMPK) activation not only decreased the phosphorylation, activation and p65 interaction of p300 but also increased SIRT1 expression, activation and p65 binding, thus leading to a significant reduction in p65 acetylation. Interestingly, the reduction of IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β, the inhibition of histological injury and the inflammatory cells infiltration following pioglitazone treatment in cisplatin nephrotoxicity were attenuated after treatment with the PPAR-γ antagonist GW9662. These results suggest that the PPAR-γ agonist pioglitazone prevents NF-κB activation in cisplatin nephrotoxicity through a reduction in p65 acetylation via the AMPK-SIRT1/p300 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moisture damage of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement is an extremely complicated mode of distress. Previous researches on moisture damage mainly focused on the performances of undamaged pavement at the initial stage of opening to traffic. So with the permeability tests and the Hamburg Wheel Tracking Device (HWTD) tests, trial works were done to study the effect of traffic-load-induced mechanical damage on the evolution of moisture damage in HMA pavement. The monotonous uniaxial compression loading method and the repetitive compression loading method were employed to make the mechanical damages of the styrene–butadiene–styrene block copolymer-modified HMA specimens, respectively. Comparisons demonstrated that there were slight differences between the damages from the two kinds of damage making methods. The damages were characterised with two kinds of nondestructive testing methods (dynamic modulus testing method and ultrasonic wave testing method), and the relationship of the characterised damages with the two methods was obtained. The permeability tests of HMA showed that the coefficient of permeability initially decreases and then increases with the damage. HWTD test results implied that the mechanical damage had a significant influence on the moisture damage, especially in hot and humid environment. In HWTD test, the mechanical damage induced by the undesirable stress state in pavement accelerates the appearance of the striping inflection point and increases the cumulative deformation of HMA specimen. Therefore, in order to reflect the performance of asphalt pavement during its life cycle, the effect of mechanical damage on the evolution of moisture damage should be considered in pavement design and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inspired by the physical nature and functionality of morphable surfaces, this paper develops the polishing tools with such surface characteristics. The surface textures of morphable polishing tools can be tuned and adapted according to the stage and requirements of the targeted surface finish and material removal rate. To investigate the performance of morphable surfaces in polishing, morphable polishing tools with labyrinth, dimple and hybrid textures were fabricated by curing silicone materials with different Young's moduli. The morphable polishing tools can be produced with fast responsiveness and reversibility by controlling the air pressure in the tool cavity. Fixed-spot polishing experiments with the developed morphable tools were performed on a copper surface, and the surface morphology, surface roughness and removed volume of polished copper were measured with a laser confocal microscope. Furthermore, static and dynamic polishing forces, polishing pressure distribution and interfacial friction coefficient between the tool and workpiece were obtained and benchmarked in polishing experiments regarding the labyrinth, dimple and hybrid tools. The results show that under the investigated polishing parameters, the roughness of polished surface is the smallest with the dimple tool, higher with the hybrid tool and the labyrinth tool. The material removal volume, static and dynamic polishing forces under different tool offsets are larger in the polishing processes with a dimple tool. In addition, the theoretical and experimental study indicates that the tool surface texture significantly affects the polishing pressure distribution. Labyrinth tools show denser pressure distribution owing to the finer textures of a smaller characteristic length, while dimple tools show sparsely distributed pressure owing to the coarser surface texture. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]