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Abstract Background Cervical cancer is a prevalent malignancy of the female reproductive system. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is a precursor lesion for CC. Various studies have examined circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) as potential early diagnostic markers for CC and CIN. However, the findings have been inconclusive. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and identify potential sources of variability among these studies. Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched to identify relevant literature. Then, Stata 14.0 was utilized to calculate summary estimates for diagnostic parameters, including sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC). To scrutinize the heterogeneity, the Cochran-Q test and I2 statistic were utilized. As significant heterogeneity was observed, the random effects model was chosen. To explore potential sources of the heterogeneity, subgroup and regression analyses were conducted. Results: We analysed 12 articles reporting on 24 studies involving 1817 patients and 1731 healthy controls. The pooled sensitivity was 0.77 (95% CI 0.73–0.81), the specificity was 0.81 (95% CI 0.73–0.86), the PLR was 3.99 (95% CI 2.81–5.65), the NLR was 0.28 (95% CI 0.23–0.35), the DOR was 14.18 (95% CI 8.47–23.73), and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.85 (95% CI 0.81–0.87). Subgroup analysis revealed that multiple miRNAs can improve diagnostic performance; the pooled sensitivity of multiple miRNAs was 0.78 (95% CI 0.68–0.86), the specificity was 0.85 (95% CI 0.78–0.90), and the AUC was 0.89 (95% CI 0.86–0.91). Conclusion: This study suggested that circulating microRNAs may be biomarkers for early CC diagnosis.

High gravity (high-g) combustion can significantly increase flame propagation speed, thereby potentially shortening the axial length of aero-engines and increasing their thrust-to-weight ratio. In this study, we utilized the large eddy simulation model to investigate the combustion characteristics and flame morphology evolution of premixed propane–air flames in a channel with a backward-facing step. The study reveals that both the increase in centrifugal force and flow velocity can enhance pressure fluctuations during combustion and increase the turbulence intensity. The presence of centrifugal force promotes the occurrence of Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) between hot and cold fluids. The combined effects of RTI and Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) enhance the disturbance between hot and cold fluids, shorten the fuel combustion time, and intensify the dissipation of large-scale vortices. The increase in fluid flow velocity can raise the flame front’s hydrodynamic stretch rate, thereby enhancing the turbulence level during combustion to a certain extent and increasing the fuel consumption rate. When a strong centrifugal force is applied, the global flame propagation speed can be more than doubled. Within a certain range, the increase in high-g field strength can enhance the intensity of RTI and accelerate the transition of RTI to the nonlinear stage.

Abstract Mitochondrial linear plasmids have been sporadically reported in fungi and plants. Yet, much remains obscure about the diversity, distribution, and evolution of mitochondrial linear plasmids. Here, through phylogenomic analyses across 7,163 cellular organisms (including 991 plants), we find that mitochondrial linear plasmids are widely present in land plants and fungi. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that plants are likely to have acquired mitochondrial linear plasmids horizontally from fungi before or during the conquest of terrestrial environments by plants. Gene content analyses show that mitochondrial linear plasmids harbor a highly dynamic and promiscuous repertoire of genes. Our study refines the understanding of the origin and evolution of mitochondrial linear plasmids.

Abstract Background The relationships of college students’ learning stress, psychological resilience and learning burnout remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the status quo and relationship of college students’ learning stress, psychological resilience and learning burnout, to provide insights to the management and nursing care of college students. Methods From September 1 to October 31, 2022, students in our college were selected by stratified cluster sampling and underwent survey with the learning stress scale, college students’ learning burnout scale and the psychological resilience scale of college students. Results A total of 1680 college students were surveyed in this study. The score of learning burnout was positively correlated with the score of learning stress (r = 0.69), and negatively correlated with the score of psychological resilience (r = 0.59), and the score of learning stress was negatively correlated with the score of psychological resilience (r = 0.61). Learning pressure was correlated with the age(r=-0.60) and monthly family income(r=-0.56), the burnout was correlated with the monthly family income(r=-0.61), and psychological resilience was correlated with the age(r = 0.66) (all P

High risk of braking easily causes more safety accidents. In this paper, the driving experiments on G350 Gengda-Yingxiu section containing continuous downhill tunnel group. Three-axle trucks under standard load and overload conditions were considered. The research proposes a method for ensuring safe truck driving on continuous downhill sections of mountain roads based on the rise in brake drum temperature. The study collects data on brake drum temperature and braking duration from an experimental vehicle under the coupling action of human-vehicle-road-environment. Through comparative analysis, theoretical derivation, and model construction, conclusions are drawn. The results indicate that the rise in brake drum temperature is influenced by the factors such as overload, alignment, road slope, and sections with bright and dark lines. The initial brake drum temperature, operating speed, and total vehicle mass are identified as the main controlling factors for the change in brake drum temperature. The study also demonstrates that water drenching can significantly reduce the rate of brake drum temperature rise, thereby ensuring driving safety. Furthermore, a model is constructed based on the relationship between brake drum temperature rise and various factors, which allows for the calculation of the corresponding safe slope length and average slope gradient. This model can be used for evaluating or designing overall load requirements. The research on brake drum temperature rise characteristics and braking behaviour under drenching conditions provides effective support for route design, traffic management, and the establishment of safety service facilities.

Introduction: The consistency of clinical target volume is essential to guiding radiotherapy with precision for postoperative uterine malignancy patients. By introducing a three-dimensional ultrasound system (3D-US) into image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), this study was designed to investigate the initial workflow set-up, the therapeutic potential, and the adverse events of 3D-US and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) dual-guided radiotherapy in postoperative uterine malignancy treatment. Methods: From April 2021 to December 2021, postoperative uterine malignancy patients were instructed to follow the previously standard protocol of daily radiation treatment, particularly a 3D-US (Clarity system) guiding was involved before CBCT. Soft-tissue-based displacements resulting from the additional US-IGRT were acquired in the LT (left)/RT (right), ANT (anterior)/POST (posterior), and SUP (superior)/INF(inferior) directions of the patient before fractional treatment. Displacement distributions before and after treatment either from 3D-US or from CBCT were also estimated and compared subsequently, and the urinary and rectal toxicity was further evaluated. Results: All the patients completed radiation treatment as planned. The assessment of 170 scans resulted in a mean displacement of (0.17 ± 0.24) cm, (0.19 ± 0.23) cm, (0.22 ± 0.26) cm for bladder in LT/RT, ANT/POST, and SUP/INF directions. A mean deviation of (0.26 ± 0.22) cm, (0.58 ± 0.5) cm, and (0.3 ± 0.23) cm was also observed for the bladder centroid between the CBCT and computed tomography -simulation images in three directions. Paired comparison between these two guidance shows that the variations from 3D-US are much smaller than those from CBCT in three directions, especially in ANT/POST and SUP/INF directions with significance ( P = 0.000, 0.001, respectively). During treatment, and 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after treatment, there was no severe urinary and rectal toxicity happened. Conclusion: A primary workflow of 3D-US and CBCT dual-guided radiotherapy has been established, which showed great therapeutic potential with mild to moderate urinary and rectal toxicity for postoperative uterine malignancy patients. But the clinical outcomes of this non-invasive technique need to be investigated further.

Abstract Severe harmonics propagation in power systems may result in increased power losses and equipment damages. In this paper, an elliptic formula is derived to analyse the harmonic spatial distribution not only at the substations but also along the power lines or cables and to give a system‐wide overview of harmonic levels. It is observed that harmonic distortion along power lines can be higher than that at the busbars and the maximum amplitude of harmonic voltage and current denoted as weak positions along power lines depends on the steady‐state harmonic angle difference of voltage and current at busbars, the length of power lines, and the harmonic order. All cases are modelled in detail by analytical geometry and analysed in MATLAB. In this regard, a method to identify the weak positions in terms of maximum harmonic levels in a power system is presented, and its corresponding harmonic orders are determined. The accuracy of the model is tested using time‐domain simulations in PSCAD/EMTDC.

The most unique characteristic of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is persistence in the human host, and the biofilm formation is related to the persistance. Polyphosphate (polyP) kinase 1 (PPK1) is conserved in Mycobacteria and is responsible for polyP synthesis. polyP is a chain molecule linked by high-energy phosphate bonds, which is considered to play a very important role in bacterial persistence. However, the relationship of PPK1 and mycobacterial biofilm formation is still adequately unclear. In current study, ppk1-deficient mutant (MT), ppk1-complemented (CT) and wild-type strains of M. smegmatis mc2 155 were used to investigate the formation, morphology and ultramicrostructure of the biofilm and to analyze the lipid levels and susceptibility to vancomycin antibiotic. And then WT, MT and CT strains were used to infect macrophages and to analyze the expression levels of various inflammatory factors, respectively. We found that PPK1 was required for M. smegmatis polyP production in vivo and polyP deficiency not only attenuated the biofilm formation, but also altered the phenotype and ultramicrostructure of the biofilm and reduced the cell lipid composition (except for C16.1 and C17.1, most of the fatty acid components from C8–C24). Moreover, the ppk1-deficient mutant was also significantly more sensitive to vancomycin which targets the cell wall, and its ability to survive in macrophages was decreased, which was related to the change of the expression level of inflammatory factors in macrophage. This study demonstrates that the PPK1 can affect the biofilm structure through affecting the content of short chain fatty acid and promote intracellular survival of M. smegmatis by altering the expression of inflammatory factors. These findings establish a basis for investigating the role of PPK1 in the persistence of M. tuberculosis, and provide clues for treating latent infection of M. tuberculosis with PPK1 as a potential drug target.

The genome sequence of the deep-sea echinoderm Chiridota heheva and comparative analyses identify genes that are suggested to be associated with deep-sea adaptation.

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) have attracted increasing research interest because of the natural abundance and low cost of potassium. Nevertheless, lacking of suitable anode materials that can deliver high reversible capacity and long cycle life highly hinder the further development of PIBs. Here, we report a flour chemistry strategy to establish a porous phosphorus-doped carbon (PPDC) as anode for high-performance PIBs. The as-prepared PPDC with high hierarchically porous structure and rich P-doping not only offers fast transport of K+ and electrons during continuous cycling, but also affords sufficient inner space to relieve volume expansion of active electrode. Therefore, the PPDC displayed high reversible capacity, excellent cyclic stability, outstanding rate performance. These results imply a great potential for applications in the field of high-energy storage devices.

Abstract The simulation of complex power grid adopts the method of model segmentation. The system is divided into two or more subsystems. Each subsystem is calculated and solved in different computing units. Because the simulation model runs on different hardware, the time synchronization between subsystems may bring errors and stability problems. In this paper, a time synchronization method based on virtual power is proposed. It is assumed that there is a virtual load composed of resistance and inductance between different simulation subsystems, and two identical voltage sources are set at both terminals of the virtual load. When there is no time error between the subsystems, the power consumed by the virtual load should be zero, otherwise virtual power will be generated. The virtual power is sent to the PI regulator as the error signal, and the output of the regulator is used as the time error correction signal of the subsystem until the virtual power is zero, so as to realize the clock synchronization between multiple computers. In this paper, the theoretical analysis and implementation method of this time synchronization scheme are given in detail, and the simulation results show that the method is correct.

In response to the new situation and new needs of international industrial modernization transformation, machine learning provides important data basis for monitoring air pollution in industrial parks and can control exhaust emissions in industrial production on a human basis. In all kinds of systems, the time series obtained in practice are generally non-stationary, noisy and complicated data influenced by multiple factors. In this paper, the EMD-FUSION model based on the self-organizing model is proposed. First, the complex original data were decomposed into empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Based on the volatility and periodicity of each intrinsic mode function (IMF), the three subs modal time series with similar change rates were obtained; Secondly, use a back propagation (BP) to predict simpler sub-modal time series data, while the more complicated sub-mode timing series data of the two groups were predicted by the gated recurrent unit (GRU) network. Finally, the prediction results of three sub-series are added and fused to obtain the prediction data of the original data. Through experiments on the atmospheric data of the industrial park provided by Taiyuan environmental monitoring center station, the correctness of the model is verified.

Salt stress is an important factor restricting crop growth. Thus, genes related to plant responses to high salinity at the sprout stage of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) should be identified and characterized. In this study, on the basis of the common bean germination index, 0.4% NaCl and day 5 of the incubation period were selected as the optimal salt concentration and sampling time, respectively. Salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive plant materials suitable for the local region were selected as representative common bean materials with contrasting salt-related phenotypes. A total of 441 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by analyzing the generated RNA-seq data. The enriched Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways indicated the DEGs were associated with oxidoreductase activities and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Furthermore, the superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase activities and the lignin content, which are related to oxidoreductase activities and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, were revealed to be significantly associated with common bean salt tolerance. The six DEGs with salt tolerance-related Arabidopsis thaliana homologs may be important candidate genes mediating the salt stress responses of common bean during the sprout stage. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.1954091 .

AimEmerging evidence indicates that palmitic acid (PA) can regulate the progression and development of many diseases. However, the studies examining the association between PA and thyroid function remain sparse. We aimed to investigate the association between serum PA (sPA) and thyroid function in the US population.MethodsIn this retrospective study, a cross-sectional analysis was performed using the data pooled from the database of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2012. The thyroid parameters investigated were mainly free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), total T3 (TT3), TT4, thyroglobulin (Tg), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), and anti-thyroperoxidase antibody (TPOAb). The central sensitivity to thyroid function was evaluated by the thyroid feedback quantile-based index (TFQI), thyrotrophin thyroxine resistance index (TT4RI), and thyrotropin index (TSHI). The FT3 to FT4 ratio (FT3/FT4) was employed to evaluate peripheral sensitivity to thyroid hormones. Multiple imputation was applied to handle the missing data, and weighted multivariable linear regression, subgroup, and interaction analyses were then employed to estimate the association between sPA and thyroid parameters.ResultsIn the 737 adults, after adjusting covariates, we demonstrated a significant negative association between sPA and FT4 [β = -1.078, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.729 to -0.427], as well as a positive relationship between sPA and FT3/FT4 ratio (β = 0.073, 95% CI: 0.044 to 0.102). These results did not change on multiple imputations. In the subgroup analyses, the associations were more significant in male and obese subjects.ConclusionThis investigation demonstrated the significant correlation between sPA and thyroid dysfunction, which suggested the close relationship between lipotoxicity and hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism. Future research is required to confirm these findings.

BackgroundAnti-TIF1γ antibodies are a class of myositis-specific antibodies (MSAs) and are closely associated with adult cancer-associated myositis (CAM). The heterogeneity in anti-TIF1γ+ myositis is poorly explored, and whether anti-TIF1γ+ patients will develop cancer or not is unknown at their first diagnosis. Here, we aimed to explore the subtypes of anti-TIF1γ+ myositis and construct machine learning classifiers to predict cancer in anti-TIF1γ+ patients based on clinical features.MethodsA cohort of 87 anti-TIF1γ+ patients were enrolled and followed up in Xiangya Hospital from June 2017 to June 2021. Sankey diagrams indicating temporal relationships between anti-TIF1γ+ myositis and cancer were plotted. Elastic net and random forest were used to select and rank the most important variables. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed to identify subtypes of anti-TIF1γ+ myositis. The clinical characteristics were compared among subtypes of anti-TIF1γ+ patients. Machine learning classifiers were constructed to predict cancer in anti-TIF1γ+ myositis, the accuracy of which was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.ResultsForty-seven (54.0%) anti-TIF1γ+ patients had cancer, 78.7% of which were diagnosed within 0.5 years of the myositis diagnosis. Fourteen variables contributing most to distinguishing cancer and non-cancer were selected and used for the calculation of the similarities (proximities) of samples and the construction of machine learning classifiers. The top 10 were disease duration, percentage of lymphocytes (L%), percentage of neutrophils (N%), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), sex, C-reactive protein (CRP), shawl sign, arthritis/arthralgia, V-neck sign, and anti-PM-Scl75 antibodies. Anti-TIF1γ+ myositis patients can be clearly separated into three clinical subtypes, which correspond to patients with low, intermediate, and high cancer risk, respectively. Machine learning classifiers [random forest, support vector machines (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), elastic net, and decision tree] had good predictions for cancer in anti-TIF1γ+ myositis patients. In particular, the prediction accuracy of random forest was >90%, and decision tree highlighted disease duration, NLR, and CRP as critical clinical parameters for recognizing cancer patients.ConclusionAnti-TIF1γ+ myositis can be separated into three distinct subtypes with low, intermediate, and high risk of cancer. Machine learning classifiers constructed with clinical characteristics have favorable performance in predicting cancer in anti-TIF1γ+ myositis, which can help physicians in choosing appropriate cancer screening programs.

The ancestor of cetaceans underwent a macroevolutionary transition from land to water early in the Eocene Period >50 million years ago. However, little is known about how diverse retroviruses evolved during this shift from terrestrial to aquatic environments. Did retroviruses transition into water accompanying their hosts? Did retroviruses infect cetaceans through cross-species transmission after cetaceans invaded the aquatic environments? Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) provide important molecular fossils for tracing the evolution of retroviruses during this macroevolutionary transition. Here, we use a phylogenomic approach to study the origin and evolution of ERVs in cetaceans. We identify a total of 8,724 ERVs within the genomes of 25 cetaceans, and phylogenetic analyses suggest these ERVs cluster into 315 independent lineages, each of which represents one or more independent endogenization events. We find that cetacean ERVs originated through two possible routes. 298 ERV lineages may derive from retrovirus endogenization that occurred before or during the transition from land to water of cetaceans, and most of these cetacean ERVs were reaching evolutionary dead-ends. 17 ERV lineages are likely to arise from independent retrovirus endogenization events that occurred after the split of mysticetes and odontocetes, indicating that diverse retroviruses infected cetaceans through cross-species transmission from non-cetacean mammals after the transition to aquatic life of cetaceans. Both integration time and synteny analyses support the recent or ongoing activity of multiple retroviral lineages in cetaceans, some of which proliferated into hundreds of copies within the host genomes. Although ERVs only recorded a proportion of past retroviral infections, our findings illuminate the complex evolution of retroviruses during one of the most marked macroevolutionary transitions in vertebrate history.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a highly contagious public health threat. Precise and prompt diagnosis and monitoring of treatment responses are urgently needed for clinics. To pursue novel and satisfied host blood-derived biomarkers, we streamlined a bioinformatic pipeline by integrating differentially expressed genes, a gene co-expression network, and short time-series analysis to mine the published transcriptomes derived from whole blood of TB patients in the GEO database, followed by validating the diagnostic performance of biomarkers in both independent datasets and blood samples of Chinese patients using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). We found that four genes, namely UBE2L6 (Ubiquitin/ISG15-conjugating enzyme E2 L6), BATF2 (Basic leucine zipper transcriptional factor ATF-like), SERPING1 (Plasma protease C1 inhibitor), and VAMP5 (Vesicle-associated membrane protein 5), had high diagnostic value for active TB. The transcription levels of these four gene combinations can reach up to 88% sensitivity and 78% specificity (average) for the diagnosis of active TB; the highest sensitivity can achieve 100% by parallel of BATF2 and VAMP5, and the highest specificity can reach 89.5% through a combination of SERPIG1, UBE2L6, and VAMP5, which were significantly higher than 75.3% sensitivity and 69.1% specificity by T-SPOT.TB in the same patients. Quite unexpectedly, the gene set can assess the efficacy of anti-TB response and differentiate active TB from Latent TB infection. The data demonstrated these four biomarkers might have great potency and advantage over IGRAs in the diagnosis of TB.

Abstract Ovarian cancer remains the most fatal gynecologic malignancy worldwide due to delayed diagnosis as well as recurrence and drug resistance. Thus, the development of new tumor-related molecules with high sensitivity and specificity to replace or supplement existing tools is urgently needed. Cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) are exclusively expressed in normal testis tissues but abundantly found in several types of cancers, including ovarian cancer. Numerous novel CTAs have been identified by high-throughput sequencing techniques, and some aberrantly expressed CTAs are associated with ovarian cancer initiation, clinical outcomes and chemotherapy resistance. More importantly, CTAs are immunogenic and may be novel targets for antigen-specific immunotherapy in ovarian cancer. In this review, we attempt to characterize the expression of candidate CTAs in ovarian cancer and their clinical significance as biomarkers, activation mechanisms, function in malignant phenotypes and applications in immunotherapy.

Background/Aims: Emerging evidence suggests that curcumin possesses chemopreventive properties against various cancers. However, its poor bioavailability limits its clinical application. In this study, we aimed to utilize encapsulation in liposomes (Lipo) as a strategy for the clinical administration of curcumin for endometrial carcinoma (EC). Methods: Curcumin was encapsulated in a liposomal delivery system to prepare a formulation of liposomal curcumin (LC). EC cell lines Ishikawa and HEC-1 were treated with the compound and cell proliferation was measured using MTT assay. Hoechst 33258 staining assay and flow cytometry were used to detect apoptosis of the cells. Wound healing and cell invasion assays were employed to monitor cell motility. Underlying target signaling, such as NF-κB, caspases, and MMPs, were further studied via qRT-PCR and western blot. Thereafter, a zebrafish model was used to assess the toxicity of LC. Finally, a zebrafish transplantation tumor model of EC was grown and treated with LC. Tumors were monitored and harvested to study the expression of NF-κB. Results: The formation of LC was successfully developed with excellent purity and physical properties. In vitro, LC resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of proliferation, induction of apoptosis, and suppression of Ishikawa and HEC-1 cell motility. LC treatment also suppressed the activation and/or expression of NF-κB, caspase-3, and MMP-9. No demonstrable toxicity was found in the zebrafish model and tumors were suppressed after treatment with LC. PCR analysis also showed down-regulated expression of NF-κB. Conclusions: LC was successfully prepared and played biological roles against EC probably through negative regulation of the NF-κB pathway in vitro and in vivo, which demonstrates its potential therapeutic effects in EC.

The interaction of oxygen and fluorine (F&O) in an F-doped SnO2 film, prepared by regulating oxygen partial pressure and the content of doped fluorine from 2.5 at% to 10 at%, was investigated in the large perspective through characterization methods including XRD, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, wettability measurement and a Hall effect test system. The results show that F&O’s competitive and cooperative relationship would be reflected in the structure and electrical characteristics of SnO2 films. The oxygen action is overwhelming and restricts fluorine, so a growing number of F atoms occupy the position by the order of co-edge oxygen of tin–oxygen octahedron chains > oxygen vacancies > segregation, which leads to that carrier concentration modestly increasing from ~1015 to ~1017/cm−3. As oxygen action is inadequate to restrain fluorine, more F atoms are likely to enter the SnO2 lattice in a solid-solution way to replace the O atoms at the co-edge position of the octahedron chains, causing a dramatic increase in carrier concentration from ~1016 to ~1019/cm−3. Furthermore, by continuing to weaken oxygen action, only 2.5 at% of fluorine content could bring about a carrier concentration augment from ~1016/cm−3 to ~1018/cm−3, then going up to ~1021/cm−3 by post-annealing. However, the impairment of oxygen action contributes to a more effective doping of fluorine on SnO2 film. Such mutual action between fluorine and oxygen provides a direction for highly efficient production and tunable regulation of SnO2 film on demand.

Lower limb kinematics and kinetics during the landing phase of jumping might change because of localized muscle fatigue. This study aimed to investigate the acute influence of running-induced fatigue on the performance and lower limb kinematics and kinetics of a countermovement jump. A running-induced fatigue protocol was applied to fifteen male subjects. Participants were asked to perform three successful countermovement jumps before and after fatigue. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected to compare any fatigue influences. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and paired-sample t-tests were used to analyze the data. Running-induced fatigue did not significantly change vertical jump height and peak vertical ground reaction forces (GRF) during the push-off and landing phases. Lower limb biomechanics significantly changed, especially kinematic parameters. During the push-off phase, fatigue resulted in an increased ankle peak inversion angle, knee minimal flexion angle, knee peak abduction angle, and hip peak flexion moment. In addition, the range of motion (ROM) of the ankle and knee joints in the frontal plane was also increased. Certain parameters decreased as a result of fatigue, such as the ankle peak internal rotation angle, hip peak abduction angle, the ROM of the ankle joint in the sagittal plane, and ROM of the hip joint in the frontal plane. During the landing phase, the peak inversion angle and peak external rotation angle of the ankle joint, peak abduction angle of the knee and hip joint, ROM of the ankle joint in the horizontal plane, ROM of the ankle and knee joint in the frontal plane were all increased as a result of fatigue. The knee peak flexion moment and hip peak extension moment, however, were decreased. Under fatigue conditions, lower limb kinetics and kinematics were changed during both the push-off and landing phases. More attention should be focused on the landing phase and the last period of the push-off phase due to potentially higher risks of injury. The findings of the current study may be beneficial to athletes and coaches in preventing jumping related injuries.

Persisters, stochastic dormant variants of normal bacteria cell, represent a significant portion of the survivors upon exposure to antibiotics and other environmental stresses, which contributes substantially to high level antibiotics tolerance. Glutamine is a crucial component of the Mycobacteria nitrogen pool that is indispensable for survival upon stresses. To study whether a synergistic effect exists between glutamine and antibiotics against Mycobacterial persisters, the efficacy of rifampicin alone or together with exogenous glutamine upon Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 persisters was monitored. The result showed that glutamine decreases M. smegmatis tolerance to rifampicin upon starvation. The reactive oxygen species level of the strains treated with rifampicin and glutamine increased. The synergism of glutamine and rifampicin to kill persisters might derive from altering the oxidative phosphorylation and TCA cycle, as both evidenced by both ATP level increase and transcriptome change. Glutamine might represent a synergistic agent of rifampicin to kill Mycobacteria persisters.

Introduction. Opioid-induced constipation (OIC) is a principal complication secondary to analgesic therapy for cancer pain patients who suffer moderate to severe pain. In this study, we observe the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous acupoint interferential current (IFC) stimulation in those patients with OIC. Methods. A total of 198 patients were randomly allocated to the IFC group and control group in a 1:1 ratio. Finally, 98 patients in the IFC group received 14 sessions administered over 2 weeks, whereas 100 patients in the control group took lactulose orally during the same period. Observation items were documented at management stage and at follow-up stage according to Cleveland Constipation Scales (CCS), pain Numeric Rating Scales (NRS) and Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QoL). Results. The total curative effects of the IFC group and the control group were indistinguishable (76.5% vs 70.0%, P = .299). Regarding CCS and PAC-QoL scores, no significant difference was observed between the 2 groups during the management time and at the follow-up stage of week 3 ( P > .05, respectively), but groups were distinguished at the follow-up stage of week 4 ( P < .001 and P = .031, respectively). The pain NRS decreased significantly at management stage week 2 and follow-up stage week 3 and week 4 ( P = .013, P = .041, P = .011, respectively). Conclusions. Transcutaneous acupoint IFC therapy over acupoints of Tianshu (ST25) and Zhongwan (RN12) may improve constipation and quality of life in cancer patients receiving opiates; further studies are worthwhile.

The deep history and early diversification of retroviruses remains elusive, largely because few retroviruses have been characterized in vertebrates other than mammals and birds. Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) documented past retroviral infections and thus provide 'molecular fossils' for studying the deep history of retroviruses. Here we perform a comprehensive phylogenomic analysis of ERVs within the genomes of 92 non-avian/mammalian vertebrates, including 72 fishes, 4 amphibians, and 16 reptiles. We find that ERVs are present in all the genomes of jawed vertebrates, revealing the ubiquitous presence of ERVs in jawed vertebrates. We identify a total of >8,000 ERVs and reconstruct ~450 complete or partial ERV genomes, which dramatically expands the phylogenetic diversity of retroviruses and suggests that the diversity of exogenous retroviruses might be much underestimated in non-avian/mammalian vertebrates. Phylogenetic analyses show that retroviruses cluster into five major groups with different host distributions, providing important insights into the classification and diversification of retroviruses. Moreover, we find retroviruses mainly underwent frequent host switches in non-avian/mammalian vertebrates, with exception of spumavirus-related viruses that codiverged with their ray-finned fish hosts. Interestingly, ray-finned fishes and turtles appear to serve as unappreciated hubs for the transmission of retroviruses. Finally, we find retroviruses underwent many independent water-land transmissions, indicating the water-land interface is not a strict barrier for retrovirus transmission. Our analyses provide unprecedented insights into and valuable resources for studying the diversification, key evolutionary transitions, and macroevolution of retroviruses.

Abstract The ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) is an oncogene and its expression is upregulated in many types of cancer. In the nucleus, USP22 functions as one subunit of the SAGA to regulate gene transcription. However, the genome-wide USP22 binding sites and its direct target genes are yet clear. In this study, we characterized the potential genomic binding sites of UPS22 and GCN5 by ChIP-seq using specific antibodies in HeLa cells. There were 408 overlapping putative target genes bound by both USP22 and GCN5. Motif analysis showed that the sequences bound by USP22 and GCN5 shared two common motifs. Gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis indicated that the genes targeted by USP22 and GCN5 were involved in different physiological processes and pathways. Further RNA-seq, GO and pathway analyses revealed that knockdown of UPS22 induced differential expression of many genes that participated in diverse physiological processes, such as metabolic process. Integration of ChIP-seq and RNA-seq data revealed that UPS22 bound to the promoters of 56 genes. These findings may provide new insights into the regulation of USP22 on gene expression during the development of cervical cancer.

Background/Aims: The aim of this study was to develop a novel model by transplanting human bladder cancer xenografts into humanized immunodeficient mice (SCID). Methods: The animals first underwent sublethal irradiation and then were subjected to simultaneous transplantation of human lymphocytes (5 × 107 cells/mouse i.p.) and human bladder cancer cells (3 × 106 cells/mouse s.c.). Results: The xenografts developed in all 12 mice that had received bladder cancer BIU-87 cells, and the tumor specimens were evaluated histologically. All 6 model mice expressed human CD3 mRNA and/or protein in the peripheral blood, spleens and xenografts. The mean proportion of human CD3+ cells was 19% with a level of human IgG 532.4µ/ml in the peripheral blood at Week 6 after transplant inoculation. The re-constructed human immune system in these mice was confirmed to be functional by individual in vitro testing of their proliferative, secretory and cytotoxic responses. Conclusion: The successful engraftment of the human bladder cancer xenografts and the establishment of the human immune system in our in vivo model described here may provide a useful tool for the development of novel therapeutic strategies targeting at bladder cancer.

This paper uses various Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) approaches to study the efficiency of major airlines in Asia-Pacific region. To evaluate the operation efficiency of fourteen major airlines in Asia-Pacific region from 2003-2011, Available Seat Kilometers(ASK), Available Ton Kilometers(ATK), the number of employees are used as input factors, Revenue Passenger Kilometers(RPK), Revenue Ton Kilometers(RTK), the amount of Sales are used as output factors. The non-radial SBM-DEA (Slacks-based Measure of Efficiency) model was able to provide a more comprehensive efficiency of combining economic performance and regional difference. And it was also able to capture slack values in input excess and output shortage. The results demonstrate that Korea and Japan airlines are operated efficiently and could be regarded as the benchmarking airlines. On the other hand, most of the China and ASEAN airlines are deemed to be inefficient. Also analyzing slacks may be more suitable way for the evaluation or suggestion of an improvement scheme for the inefficient airlines. The excess of labor is the major cause of the airlines’ inefficiency.

The membrane proximal region (MPR, residues 649-683) and transmembrane domain (TMD, residues 684-705) of the gp41 subunit of HIV-1's envelope protein are highly conserved and are important in viral mucosal transmission, virus attachment and membrane fusion with target cells. Several structures of the trimeric membrane proximal external region (residues 662-683) of MPR have been reported at the atomic level; however, the atomic structure of the TMD still remains unknown. To elucidate the structure of both MPR and TMD, we expressed the region spanning both domains, MPR-TM (residues 649-705), in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with maltose binding protein (MBP). MPR-TM was initially fused to the C-terminus of MBP via a 42 aa-long linker containing a TEV protease recognition site (MBP-linker-MPR-TM). Biophysical characterization indicated that the purified MBP-linker-MPR-TM protein was a monodisperse and stable candidate for crystallization. However, crystals of the MBP-linker-MPR-TM protein could not be obtained in extensive crystallization screens. It is possible that the 42 residue-long linker between MBP and MPR-TM was interfering with crystal formation. To test this hypothesis, the 42 residue-long linker was replaced with three alanine residues. The fusion protein, MBP-AAA-MPR-TM, was similarly purified and characterized. Significantly, both the MBP-linker-MPR-TM and MBP-AAA-MPR-TM proteins strongly interacted with broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies 2F5 and 4E10. With epitopes accessible to the broadly neutralizing antibodies, these MBP/MPR-TM recombinant proteins may be in immunologically relevant conformations that mimic a pre-hairpin intermediate of gp41.

Ubiquitin-specific processing enzyme 22 (USP22) plays a direct role in regulating cell cycle, and its overexpression has been reported to be involved in tumor progression. However, little is known about the regulation of USP22 transcription. In this study, we cloned and characterized the human USP22 promoter. Using 5' RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) analysis, the transcriptional initiation site was identified. Promoter deletion analysis showed that the sequence between -210 and -7 contains the basal promoter for USP22 in human fibroblast and tumor cells. Surprisingly, mutations in a putative Sp1 binding site immediately upstream of the USP22 transcriptional start site (-13 to -7) resulted in a significant induction of promoter activity. Further study revealed that Sp1 binds to this site in human normal fibroblast cells, and treatment with the Sp1 inhibitor mithramycin A led to a marked increase in USP22 transcript levels. Forced expression of exogenous Sp1 repressed the USP22 promoter activity in HeLa cells. In contrast, knockdown of Sp1 enhanced USP22 promoter activity and mRNA levels. These data suggest that Sp1 is a crucial regulator of USP22 transcription.

Background: Previous studies have shown that MCM3 plays a key role in initiating DNA replication. However, the mechanism of MCM3 function in most cancers is still unknown. The aim of our study was to explore the expression, prognostic role, and immunological characteristics of MCM3 across cancers. Methods: We explored the expression pattern of MCM3 across cancers. We subsequently explored the prognostic value of MCM3 expression by using univariate Cox regression analysis. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to determine the correlations between MCM3 and immune-related characteristics, mismatching repair (MMR) signatures, RNA modulator genes, cancer stemness, programmed cell death (PCD) gene expression, tumour mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and neoantigen levels. The role of MCM3 in predicting the response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy was further evaluated in four immunotherapy cohorts. Single-cell data from CancerSEA were analysed to assess the biological functions associated with MCM3 in 14 cancers. The clinical correlation and independent prognostic significance of MCM3 were further analysed in the TCGA and CGGA lower-grade glioma (LGG) cohorts, and a prognostic nomogram was constructed. Immunohistochemistry in a clinical cohort was utilized to validate the prognostic utility of MCM3 expression in LGG. Results: MCM3 expression was upregulated in most tumours and strongly associated with patient outcomes in many cancers. Correlation analyses demonstrated that MCM3 expression was closely linked to immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, MMR genes, RNA modulator genes, cancer stemness, PCD genes and the TMB in most tumours. There was an obvious difference in outcomes between patients with high MCM3 expression and those with low MCM3 expression in the 4 ICB treatment cohorts. Single-cell analysis indicated that MCM3 was mainly linked to the cell cycle, DNA damage and DNA repair. The expression of MCM3 was associated with the clinical features of LGG patients and was an independent prognostic indicator. Finally, the prognostic significance of MCM3 in LGG was validated in a clinical cohort. Conclusion: Our study suggested that MCM3 can be used as a potential prognostic marker for cancers and may be associated with tumour immunity. In addition, MCM3 is a promising predictor of immunotherapy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combustion of fuel under intense volumetric forces has the potential to enhance the velocity of flame propagation. To investigate the influence of volumetric forces on the combustion process and the characteristics of flame propagation within fuel, this research paper conducted a numerical analysis of a 2-D rotating pipe subjected to varying volumetric forces. The findings reveal that, within a specific range, an augmentation in volumetric forces progressively elevates both the global and localized speeds of flame propagation. The primary rationale behind the heightened flame propagation speed under intense volumetric forces lies in the fact that the increase in such forces facilitates an enlargement of the interface area between the burned and unburned gases. This, in turn, fortifies the transfer of heat and the chemical reaction rate between the two, effectively shortening the duration of combustion and augmenting the speed of flame propagation. At exceedingly low volumetric forces, the pressure wave generated by combustion in the pipe exerts a certain influence on the speed of flame propagation and the progression of the flame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]