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Abstract Background Microbial adaptation to salinity has been a classic inquiry in the field of microbiology. It has been demonstrated that microorganisms can endure salinity stress via either the “salt-in” strategy, involving inorganic ion uptake, or the “salt-out” strategy, relying on compatible solutes. While these insights are mostly based on laboratory-cultured isolates, exploring the adaptive mechanisms of microorganisms within natural salinity gradient is crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of microbial adaptation in the estuarine ecosystem. Results Here, we conducted metagenomic analyses on filtered surface water samples collected from a typical subtropical short residence-time estuary and categorized them by salinity into low-, intermediate-, and high-salinity metagenomes. Our findings highlighted salinity-driven variations in microbial community composition and function, as revealed through taxonomic and Clusters of Orthologous Group (COG) functional annotations. Through metagenomic binning, 127 bacterial and archaeal metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were reconstructed. These MAGs were categorized as stenohaline—specific to low-, intermediate-, or high-salinity—based on the average relative abundance in one salinity category significantly exceeding those in the other two categories by an order of magnitude. Those that did not meet this criterion were classified as euryhaline, indicating a broader range of salinity tolerance. Applying the Boruta algorithm, a machine learning-based feature selection method, we discerned important genomic features from the stenohaline bacterial MAGs. Of the total 12,162 COGs obtained, 40 were identified as important features, with the “inorganic ion transport and metabolism” COG category emerging as the most prominent. Furthermore, eight COGs were implicated in microbial osmoregulation, of which four were related to the “salt-in” strategy, three to the “salt-out” strategy, and one to the regulation of water channel activity. COG0168, annotated as the Trk-type K+ transporter related to the “salt-in” strategy, was ranked as the most important feature. The relative abundance of COG0168 was observed to increase with rising salinity across metagenomes, the stenohaline strains, and the dominant Actinobacteriota and Proteobacteria phyla. Conclusions We demonstrated that salinity exerts influences on both the taxonomic and functional profiles of the microbial communities inhabiting the estuarine ecosystem. Our findings shed light on diverse salinity adaptation strategies employed by the estuarine microbial communities, highlighting the crucial role of the “salt-in” strategy mediated by Trk-type K+ transporters for microorganisms thriving under osmotic stress in the short residence-time estuary. Video Abstract

Abstract The purpose of clustering is to partition data similar with each other into a same group and partition data dissimilar with each other into different groups. However, in most existing fuzzy clustering approaches, the membership degrees of an individual belonging to different clusters are relied on the different distances between the individual and different cluster centroids, the similarity between the individual and data in different clusters are ignored, besides, the outliers cannot be distinguished effectively. For improving the clustering performance and addressing the problems in most existing fuzzy clustering approaches, based on the concept that data close to each other should be grouped together and be assigned to a same cluster, in this paper, we present a novel efficient fuzzy clustering approach, in which the adaptive local neighborhood information of each data referring to different clusters is taken into consideration; an entirely new idea that the membership degree values of an individual referring to different clusters should not only depend on the distances between the individual and different cluster centers, but also rely on the distances between the individual and several nearest neighbor data in different clusters is put forward; a new scheme to search for the outliers is presented, a method for identifying the different importance of different features is introduced. Experiments on synthetic and publicly real-world datasets were conducted, the clustering results show that the approach put forward can yield consistently satisfying clustering performance and has significant advantages.

PURPOSE: To evaluate 6-month outcomes of drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty of infrapopliteal lesions in patients with diabetic foot. METHODS: We analyzed 6-month follow-up data from the prospective PRIME-WIFI study with 203 consecutive patientswith diabetic foot who underwent DCB angioplasty for infrapopliteal arterial occlusive disease. The primary outcome was freedom from major adverse event (MAE), a composite of major amputation, all-cause death, and clinically-driven target limb reintervention (CD-TLR). Secondary outcomes included amputation-free survival (AFS), freedom from each primary outcome component, and complete wound healing. RESULTS: The mean age was 69.78 ± 9.50 years and 61 were female. A total of 271 lesions, with an average length of 26.02 ± 12.94 cm, accepted DCB angioplasty. Both infrapopliteal runoff score and pedal runoff score improved significantly after procedure compared with baseline. The score changes were − 5.73 and − 0.39, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Within 6-month follow-up, 16 of the 203 patients died and 32 (15.76%) were lost to follow-up. By Kaplan–Meier analysis, at 6 months postprocedure, freedom from MAE was 85.77% (95% confidence interval [CI], 80.92%–90.91%); AFS was 88.88% (95% CI, 84.49%–93.49%); and freedom from major amputation, all-cause death, and CD-TLR were 95.65% (95% CI, 92.73%–98.65%), 92.57% (95% CI, 88.88%–96.4%), and 95.51% (95% CI, 92.51%–98.61%), respectively. During the 6-month follow up, complete wound healing was achieved in 67.11% patients. CONCLUSION: In patients with diabetic foot, DCB angioplasty of infrapopliteal lesions was effective and safe.

Fish oil is the primary oil source in aquafeeds, but is susceptible to oxidation during production and storage, thereby leading to oxidative stress in fish. Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a novel redox cofactor that possesses numerous pharmacological properties. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate whether dietary PQQ supplementation could alleviate stress response of yellow catfish (Tachysurus fulvidraco) caused by oxidized fish oil. Fish were fed four experimental diets containing fresh and oxidized fish oil either with or without PQQ (0 or 5 mg kg−1) supplementation for 8 weeks. Results revealed that dietary oxidized fish oil significantly decreased growth performance of fish, fat content in whole-body, and the immunological parameters. Also, it significantly elevated aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities, as well as the levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose in serum. Meanwhile, oxidized fish oil decreased antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) and total antioxidant capacity but increased MDA level in serum. However, the addition of PQQ in the oxidized fish oil diet could overcome the negative impacts of oxidized fish oil on yellow catfish and normalise the detected parameters nearly to the control values. Taken together, long-term feeding of oxidized fish oil diet destroyed liver, disordered lipid metabolism, diminished nonspecific immunity as well as caused oxidative stress, and eventually resulted in growth retardation of yellow catfish, whereas dietary PQQ supplementation had a significant ameliorative role in adverse effects induced by dietary oxidized fish oil, and therefore, may be recommended for use in aquaculture to prevent oxidized lipid.

Introduction In this study, we investigated the role of the long non-coding RNA GAPLINC in atherosclerosis under oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) treatment. Material and methods We utilized ox-LDL exposed human aortic endothelial cells as an in-vitro model. The expression level of GAPLINC was quantified by qPCR in different times and concentrations of ox-LDL treatment conditions. Cell apoptosis rate and cell cycle profiles were assessed by flow cytometry and TUNEL assay. The target association was confirmed using a luciferase reporter assay and Western blot. Results We found that GAPLINC expression was induced by ox-LDL treatment, but cell proliferation ability was significantly inhibited. We further confirmed that overexpressing of lncRNA GAPLINC in ox-LDL-exposed HAECs decreased cell proliferation by increasing cell apoptosis and arresting cell cycle in G2/M and S phase. Importantly, the detailed mechanistic analysis elucidated that LncRNA GAPLINC acts as a decoy to sequester miR-183-5p to prevent it from binding to target PDCD4. MiR-183-5p targets GAPLINC, and PDCD4 is a downstream target of miR-183-5p, and the cellular effects of this direct interaction were confirmed by a rescue assay experiment. Conclusions The present study demonstrates that upregulation of lncRNA GAPLINC represses the binding of miR-183-5p to the PDCD4 promoter region and then promotes PDCD4 expression, thereby inducing cell apoptosis and suppressing endothelial cell proliferation.

Beam oscillation is an attractive method to achieve melt pool and microstructure control in laser powder bed additive manufacturing. Here, in-situ X-ray imaging and high-fidelity modeling reveal the unique keyhole dynamics in a kHz laser oscillation mode.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a revolutionary technology. One of the key AM categories, metal powder-based fusion processes, has many advantages compared to conventional methods for fabricating structural materials, such as permitting increased geometric complexity. While single material metal powder AM has advanced significantly in the past decade, multi-material AM is gradually attracting more attention owing to the recent breakthrough in multi-material feedstock delivery and the growing interest of fabricating functionally graded components. Multi-material AM offers an alternative route for applications that require location dependent material properties and high geometrical complexity. The AM community has invented several ways to achieve compositional gradients and discrete boundaries in two and three dimensions using mechanical spreading, nozzle-based, electrophotographic, and hybrid techniques. This article reviews the current state of laser powder bed fusion based multi-material AM of metals with focuses on the characteristics of the material interface as well as the properties and performance of the AM built functionally graded materials. We show the common challenges and issues related to material transitions, such as defects, segregation, phase separation, and the efficacy of some potential solutions including material and process optimizations. Additionally, this study evaluates the applicability and limitations of the existing testing standards and methods for measuring mechanical performance of functionally graded materials. Finally, we discuss mechanical testing development opportunities, which can help multi-material AM move towards higher technological maturity. In general, we find that the link between gradient microstructure and mechanical properties is not well understood or studied and suggest several mechanical tests that may better inform this knowledge gap.

Intracardiac foreign bodies (IFB) are rare clinical conditions. There are now several reports on the percutaneous retrieval of IFB under fluoroscopy. However, some IFB are not radiopaque, and retrieval requires combined fluoroscopic and ultrasound guidance. We report the case of a bedridden 23-year-old male patient with T-lymphoblastic lymphoma treated with long-term chemotherapy. Ultrasound examination diagnosed a huge thrombus in the right atrium near the opening of the inferior vena cava which affected the patency of his PICC line. Ten days of anticoagulant therapy did not modify the thrombus size. Open heart surgery was not feasible because of the patient clinical condition. Snare-capture of the non-opaque thrombus was done from the femoral vein under fluoroscopic and ultrasound guidance with excellent outcomes. We also present a systematic review of IFB. We found out that percutaneous removal of IFBs is a safe and effective procedure. The youngest patient who received percutaneous IFB retrieval was 10 days old and weighed only 800 g, while the oldest patient was 70 years old. Port catheters (43.5%) and PICC lines (42.3%) were the most commonly found IFBs. Snare catheters and forceps were the most commonly used instruments.

ObjectiveTo present our experience of preserving the isolated left vertebral artery (ILVA) with physician-modified fenestration (PM-F) or in situ fenestration (ISF) during thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for aortic pathologies involving aortic arch.MethodsThis is a single-center, retrospective, observational cohort study. Between June 2016 and December 2021, 9 patients (8 men; median age 60.0 years old) underwent TEVAR with ILVA reconstruction (PM-F, n = 6; ISF, n = 3) were identified and analyzed.ResultsThe technical success rate was 100%. No early (

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to compare short and mid-term outcomes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients undergoing open or minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy (MIE) after neoadjuvant PD-1 inhibitor plus chemotherapy.MethodsPatients with locally advanced ESCC underwent open or minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy after neoadjuvant PD-1 inhibitor plus chemotherapy were retrospectively included from June 2019 to June 2021. The baseline characteristics, pathological data, short-and mid-term outcomes were collected and compared based on the surgical approach.ResultsA total of 35 patients were included in the study. An open procedure was performed for 13 patients (37.1%), and 22 (62.9%) patients underwent MIE after neoadjuvant therapy. Compared with open group, MIE group had shorter operative times (350.8± 117.8 vs. 277.9 ± 30.2 min, P = 0.009). The total number of resected lymph nodes was not significantly different, but more left recurrent laryngeal lymph nodes were harvested from the Open group (2.6 ± 3.2 vs. 0.9 ± 1.7, P = 0.047). The median follow-up time was 1.42 years (range, 0.35–2.59 years) from the first day of treatment. Three patients (8.6%) died during follow-up, one in the open surgery group and two in the MIE group. There were six (17.1%) patients developed recurrence, three in each group. The 2-year cumulative survival rates were 92.3 ± 7.4% and 89.5 ± 7.1% for the open and MIE groups, respectively. Overall survival was not different between the two surgical approaches.ConclusionsMIE might be safe and feasible for patients with locally advanced ESCC undergoing neoadjuvant PD-1 inhibitor plus chemotherapy.

Thoracic aortic pathologies involving the aortic arch are a great challenge for vascular surgeons. Maintaining the patency of supra-aortic branches while excluding the aortic lesion remains difficult. Thoracic EndoVascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) with fenestrations provides a feasible and effective approach for this type of disease. The devices needed in the procedure are off-the-shelf, with promising results reported in many medical centers. Up until now, there have been no guidelines focusing exclusively on the details of the TEVAR technique with fenestrations. Experts from China have discussed the technical parts of both in situ fenestrations (needle and laser) and fenestrations in vitro (direction inversion strategy and guidewire-assisted strategy), providing a technical reference to standardize the procedure and improve its results.

Introduction Femoropopliteal artery in-stent restenosis (FP-ISR) represents one of the main obstacles for stent implantation in peripheral artery disease patients, especially Tosaka III FP-ISR, which is also referred to as in-stent occlusion. Diverse endovascular treatments of Tosaka III FP-ISR are available, and the results are unequivocal. However, real-world data are limited. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy, safety and health economics evaluation of various endovascular procedures in the treatment of Tosaka III FP-ISR.Method and analysis This study is a prospective, multicentre, real-world, observational clinical study. Patients diagnosed with Tosaka III FP-ISR and treated with endovascular procedures in nine centres from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2022 will be recruited. The relevant clinical information, Ankle-Brachial Index and CT angiography will be collected. All the participants will undergo follow-up at 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after the operation. The primary outcome is freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularisation at 24 months. Safety and health economics issues will also be reported.Ethics and dissemination The FP-RESTORE clinical trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov/). This study was also approved by the Institutional Review Board and Human Research Ethics Committee of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University (approval number: B2021-427). Moreover, written informed consent will be obtained at the time of recruitment. The study outcomes will be disseminated by publication in a peer-reviewed journal to provide information for further clinical practice.Trial registration number NCT04801004.

The functionality of DNA biomacromolecules has been widely excavated, as therapeutic drugs, carriers, and functionalized modification derivatives. In this study, we developed a series of DNA tetrahedron nanocages (Td), via synchronous conjugating different numbers of i-(X) and therapeutic siRNA on four vertexes of tetrahedral DNA nanocage (aX-Td@bsiRNA, a+b = 4). This i-motif-conjugated Td exhibited good endosomal escape behaviours in A549 tumor cells, and the escape efficiency was affected by the number of i-motif. Furthermore, the downregulating mRNA and protein expression level of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) caused by this siRNA embedded Td were verified in A549 cells. The tumor growth inhibition efficiency of the 2X-Td@2siRNA treated group in tumor-bearing mice was significantly higher than that of non-i-motif-conjugated Td@2siRNA (3.14-fold) and free siRNA (3.63-fold). These results demonstrate a general strategy for endowing DNA nanostructures with endosomal escape behaviours to achieve effective in vivo gene delivery and therapy.

BackgroundNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still of concern in differentiating it from benign disease. This study aims to validate the diagnostic efficacy of a novel seven-autoantibody (7-AAB) panel for the diagnosis of NSCLC.MethodsWe retrospectively enrolled 2650 patients who underwent both the 7-AAB panel test and CT scanning. We compared the sensitivity, specificity, and PPV of 7-AAB, CT, and PET-CT in the diagnosis of NSCLC in different subgroups. Then, we established a nomogram based on CT image features and the 7-AAB panel to further improve diagnostic efficiency. Moreover, we compared the pathological and molecular results of NSCLC patients in the 7-AABs positive group and the negative group to verify the prognostic value of the 7-AAB panel.ResultsThe strategy of a “both-positive rule” combination of 7-AABs and CT had a specificity of 95.4% and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 95.8%, significantly higher than those of CT or PET-CT used alone (P0.05) with an AUC of 0.791. Interestingly, it was found that the 7-AABs positive group was associated with higher proportion of EGFR mutations (P

IntroductionCurrent evidence indicates endovascular intervention is a safe and effective treatment for peripheral artery disease of the lower extremity. However, the clinical outcome of endovascular intervention for femoropopliteal lesions has been shown to be affected by the status of tibial runoff. It remains unclear whether endovascular intervention for tibial runoff is associated with additional benefits.Methods and analysisThis prospective, multicenter, real-world observational study is carried out from January 2021 to December 2022 in 8 designated centers across China with an estimated sample size of 1200 patients with severe femoropopliteal disease. The pre-procedural status of tibial runoff is evaluated with the modified SVS score and categorized as good (SVS 10). Whether the patient will be treated with endovascular intervention for tibial runoff is determined by the treating vascular surgeons. Patients are dichotomized into the intervention group and the non-intervention group, with each group further divided into the good, compromised and poor tibial run-off subgroup, yielding 6 subgroups in total. Patients within various subgroups are compared with regard to the primary patency rate of the femoropopliteal artery, changes in quality of life, changes of Rutherford category, improvement of the Wound, Ischemia, and Foot Infection Classification, and incidence of major adverse events over 24-months follow-up. The results of this study may provide important information to help vascular sspecialists to decide whether the tibial runoff should be endovascularly intervened and which patient population benefits most from tibial runoff intervention.Clinical trial registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04675632?id=NCT04675632&draw=2&rank=1, NCT04675632.

BackgroundEsophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is an aggressive tumor with a 5-year survival rate of only 20%. More than 80% of ESCC patients possess TP53 mutation, which abolishes the G1/S checkpoint and accelerates the cell cycle. Thus, WEE1 and PKMYT1, regulators of G2/M phase in cell cycle, play essential roles in TP53-mutated cancer cells. PD0166285(PD) is a pyridopyrimidine compound that can inhibit WEE1 and PKMYT1 simultaneously, however, the effects of PD on ESCC, either as monotherapy or in combination therapy with radiotherapy, remain unclear.MethodsTo measure the anti-tumor efficacy of PD in ESCC cells, cell viability, cell cycle and cell apoptosis assays were examined in KYSE150 and TE1 cells with PD treatment. The combination therapy of PD and irradiation was also performed in ESCC cells to find whether PD can sensitize ESCC cells to irradiation. Vivo assays were also performed to investigate the efficacy of PD.ResultsWe found that the IC50 values of PD among ESCC cells ranged from 234 to 694 nM, PD can regulate cell cycle and induce cell apoptosis in ESCC cells in a dose-dependent manner. When combined with irradiation, PD sensitized ESCC cells to irradiation by abolishing G2/M phase arrest, inducing a high ratio of mitosis catastrophe, eventually leading to cell death. We also demonstrated that PD can attenuate DNA damage repair by inhibiting Rad51, further research also found the interaction of WEE1 and Rad51. In vivo assays, PD inhibited the tumor growth in mice, combination therapy showed better therapeutic efficacy.ConclusionPD0166285 can exert antitumor effect by inhibiting the function of WEE1 and PKMYT1 in ESCC cells, and also sensitize ESCC cells to irradiation not only by abolishing G2/M arrest but also attenuating DNA repair directly. We believe PD0166285 can be a potent treatment option for ESCC in the future.

ObjectivesPeripheral artery disease with calcification is extremely prevalent in the elderly. Due to the calcification, it requires a different clinical approach than the more common arteriosclerosis obliterans of the lower extremity. The introduction of novel technologies such as the drug-coated balloon, directional atherectomy, supera and drug-eluting stent has improved the prognosis of these patients. This study will contribute to the development of higher-quality evidence-based medicine for clinical treatment by assessing the quality of life (QOL), clinical treatment effect, and health economics of patients with calcification.Method and analysisThe Evolution study is designed as a prospective, multicenter, observational, real-world study. From January 2021 to December 2022, 600 patients with moderate to severe femoropopliteal artery calcification will be recruited from ten locations in China. After discharge, information on demographics, disease history, procedure details, imaging findings, and follow-up will be collected. Patients will undergo follow-up at 1, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after operation. Technical success rate, vascular quality of life questionnaire, primary patency rate of the target lesion, clinically driven target lesion revascularization rate (CD-TLR), and health economics evaluation are all included as outcome measures.ConclusionsThe Evolution study helps to investigate the clinical and financial results of various endovascular therapy modalities for patients with moderate and severe femoropopliteal artery calcification. These actual facts may help to harmonize therapy recommendations for peripheral artery disease.Clinical trial registrationThe study protocol was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (registration number: NCT04716361).

Abstract Background Early-stage non-small lung cancer patients may survive long enough to develop second primary lung cancers. However, few studies have accurately described the therapeutic method, evaluation or prognostic factors for long-term survival in this complex clinical scenario. Methods Patients who had first and second primary non-small lung cancer in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between 2004 and 2015 were evaluated. Patients were included when their tumors were pathologically diagnosed as non-small lung cancer and in the early-stage (less than 3 cm and with no lymph node metastasis). Therapeutic methods were categorized as lobectomy, sublobectomy or no surgery. The influence of different therapeutic methods on the overall survival rate was compared. Results For the first primary tumor, patients who underwent lobectomy achieved superior survival benefits compared with patients who underwent sublobectomy. For the second primary tumor, long-term survival was similar in patients who underwent lobectomy and those who underwent sublobectomy treatment. The multivariate analysis indicated that age, disease-free time interval, sex, and first and second types of surgery were independent prognostic factors for long-term survival. Our results showed that the 5-year overall survival rate was 91.9% when the disease-free interval exceeded 24 months. Conclusion Lobectomy for the first primary tumor followed by sublobectomy for the second primary tumor may be a beneficial therapeutic method for patients. If the disease-free interval exceeds 24 months, the second primary tumor will have no influence on the natural course for patients diagnosed with a first primary non-small lung cancer.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the characteristics and predictors of aortic remodeling over a long-term follow-up period after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for acute, subacute, and chronic type B aortic dissections (TBADs).MethodsPatients who underwent TEVAR for TBAD from July 2011 to December 2013 were included, and relevant data were retrospectively analyzed.ResultsAfter TEVAR, the true lumen (TL) dimension increased and the false lumen (FL) dimension decreased or did not change over a 5-year follow-up period in all three temporal groups. Shrinkage proportion of the thoracic aorta was the highest in the subacute group (acute, 28.1%; subacute, 39.1%; and chronic, 17.4%; p = 0.048), while abdominal expansion showed no significant differences among the groups (acute, 29.6%; subacute, 40.5%; and chronic, 44.4%; p = 0.502). The chronic group had a rate of complete FL regression, which is lower than the subacute or acute group at all anatomic sections, with significant differences only in the stented section (chronic, 21.7%; acute, 92.2%; and subacute, 80.4%; p < 0.05) and in the distal thoracic aortic section (chronic, 13.0%; acute, 31.1%; and subacute, 50.0%; p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that chronic dissection, TL compression, endoleak, the number of branches from FL, and the number of residual tears affected optimal FL remodeling.ConclusionThe present study provides data on aortic remodeling of TBAD after TEVAR during a long-term follow-up period. The features and risk factors of aortic remodeling in the acute, subacute, and chronic phases are different in different aortic segments. These findings may have implications in the timing of TEVAR.

K-means clustering algorithm is one of the most popular technique for clustering in machine learning, however, in the existing k-means clustering algorithm, the ability of the different features and the importance of the different data objects are treated equally; the discriminative ability of the different features and the importance of the different data objects cannot be differentiated effectively. In the light of this limitation, this paper put forward an enhanced regularized k-means type clustering algorithm with adaptive weights in which we introduced an adaptive feature weights matrix and an adaptive data weights vector into the objective function of the k-means clustering algorithm and we developed a new objective function with l2-norm regularization to the weights of data objects and features, then we obtained the corresponding scientific updating iterative rules of the weights of the different features, the weights of the different data objects and the cluster centers theoretically. In order to evaluate the performance of the new algorithm put forward, extensive experiments were conducted. Experimental results have indicated that our proposed algorithm can improve the clustering performance significantly and are more effective with respects to three metrics: the successful clustering rate (SCR), normal mutual information (NMI) and RandIndex.

Predicting traffic speed accurately is a very challenging task of the intelligent traffic system (ITS), due to the complex and dynamic spatial-temporal dependencies from both temporal and spatial aspects. There not only exits short-term local neighboring fluctuation and long-term global trend in temporal aspect, but also local and global correlations in spatial aspect. Most existing work focus on the local spatial-temporal dependencies, ignoring the global dynamic spatial-temporal corrections, which is comparably critical for traffic speed prediction. To address this problem, we propose a novel Dynamic Global-Local Spatial-Temporal Network(DGLSTNet) for traffic speed prediction, which consists of multiple spatial-temporal module considering the local and global information simultaneously from both temporal and spatial perspective. Each temporal module applies stacked dilated convolution block to exploit multi-scale local temporal information. Moreover, we empoly a global temporal attention block to capture global dependencies of temporal domain in an attention mechanism. In each spatial module, we not only learn the local but also focus on dynamic global spatial information learned by dymamic graph learning block. Combining the feature results from local and global perspective, the capability and expressiveness of traffic predicting model is improved. Experiment results on two real-world traffic datasets have demonstrated that our proposed model can effectively capture the comprehensive spatial-temporal dependencies and can achieve state-of-the-art prediction performance compared with the existing works.

In this study, we investigated the role ofhistone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) and MEG3/miR-125a-5p/interferonregulatoryfactor 1 (IRF1) on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMCs)proliferation. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB was used toinduce the proliferation and migration of VSMCs. The expressionsof MEG3, miR-125a-5p, HDAC4 and IRF1in VSMCs were detectedby qRT-PCR and western blot, respectively. ChIP assay was usedto determine the relationship between MEG3 and HDAC4. Doubleluciferase reporter assay was used to test the regulation betweenmiR-125-5p and IRF1. Results showed that PDGF-BB decreasedthe expression of MEG3 and IRF1, while increased the expressionof miR-125a-5p and HDAC4. In addition, HDAC4 knockdowninhibited the proliferation and migration of VSMCs via upregulatingMEG3 and downregulating miR-125a-5p. MiR-125a-5p inhibitorcould repress the proliferation and migration of VSMCs andalleviate intimal hyperplasia (IH) by directly upregulating IRF1expression. These results suggested that HDAC4 interferenceinhibited PDGF-BB-induced VSMCs proliferation via regulatingMEG3/miR-125a-5p/IRF1 axis, and then alleviated IH.

The nickel-based superalloy, Haynes 230 (H230), is widely used in high-temperature applications, e.g., heat exchangers, because of its excellent high-temperature mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. As of today, H230 is not yet in common use for 3D printing, i.e., metal additive manufacturing (AM), primarily because of its hot cracking tendency under fast solidification. The ability to additively fabricate components in H230 attracts many applications that require the additional advantages leveraged by adopting AM, e.g., higher design complexity and faster prototyping. In this study, we fabricated nearly fully dense H230 in a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process through parameter optimization. The efforts revealed the optimal process space which could guide future fabrication of H230 in various metal powder bed fusion processes. The metallurgical analysis identified the cracking problem, which was resolved by increasing the pre-heat temperature from 80 °C to 200 °C. A finite element simulation suggested that the pre-heat temperature has limited impacts on the maximum stress experienced by each location during solidification. Additionally, the crack morphology and the microstructural features imply that solidification and liquation cracking are the more probable mechanisms. Both the room temperature tensile test and the creep tests under two conditions, (a) 760 °C and 100 MPa and (b) 816 °C and 121 MPa, confirmed that the AM H230 has properties comparable to its wrought counterpart. The fractography showed that the heat treatment (anneal at 1200 °C for 2 h, followed by water quench) balances the strength and the ductility, while the printing defects did not appreciably accelerate part failure.

Objective: The majority of patients with COVID-19 showed mild symptoms. However, approximately 5% of them were critically ill and require intensive care unit admission for advanced life supports. Patients in the intensive care unit were high risk for venous thromboembolism and hemorrhage due to the immobility and anticoagulants used during advanced life supports. The aim of the study was to report the incidence and treatments of the two complications in such patients. Method: Patients with COVID-19 (Group 1) and patients with community-acquired pneumonia (Group 2) that required intensive care unit admission were enrolled in this retrospective study. Their demographics, laboratory results, ultrasound findings and complications such as venous thromboembolism and hemorrhage were collected and compared. Results: Thirty-four patients with COVID-19 and 51 patients with community-acquired pneumonia were included. The mean ages were 66 and 63 years in Groups 1 and 2, respectively. Venous thromboembolism was detected in 6 (18%) patients with COVID-19 and 18 (35%) patients with community-acquired pneumonia (P = 0.09). The major type was distal deep venous thrombosis. Twenty-one bleeding events occurred in 12 (35%) patients with COVID-19 and 5 bleeding events occurred in 5 (10%) patients with community-acquired pneumonia, respectively (P = 0.01). Gastrointestinal system was the most common source of bleeding. With the exception of one death due to intracranial bleeding, blood transfusion with or without surgical/endoscopic treatments was able to manage the bleeding in the remaining patients. Multivariable logistic regression showed increasing odds of hemorrhage with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (odds ratio: 13.9, 95% confidence interval: 4.0–48.1) and COVID-19 (odds ratio: 4.7, 95% confidence interval: 1.2–17.9). Conclusion: Venous thromboembolism and hemorrhage were common in both groups. The predominant type of venous thromboembolism was distal deep venous thrombosis, which presented a low risk of progression. COVID-19 and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were risk factors for hemorrhage. Blood transfusion with or without surgical/endoscopic treatments was able to manage it in most cases.

Introduction: In this study, we investigated the role of the long non-coding RNA GAPLINC in atherosclerosis under oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) treatment. Material and methods: We utilized ox-LDL exposed human aortic endothelial cells as an in-vitro model. The expression level of GAPLINC was quantified by qPCR in different times and concentrations of ox-LDL treatment conditions. Cell apoptosis rate and cell cycle profiles were assessed by flow cytometry and TUNEL assay. The target association was confirmed using a luciferase reporter assay and Western blot. Results: We found that GAPLINC expression was induced by ox-LDL treatment, but cell proliferation ability was significantly inhibited. We further confirmed that overexpressing of lncRNA GAPLINC in ox-LDL-exposed HAECs decreased cell proliferation by increasing cell apoptosis and arresting cell cycle in G2/M and S phase. Importantly, the detailed mechanistic analysis elucidated that LncRNA GAPLINC acts as a decoy to sequester miR-183-5p to prevent it from binding to target PDCD4. MiR-183-5p targets GAPLINC, and PDCD4 is a downstream target of miR-183-5p, and the cellular effects of this direct interaction were confirmed by a rescue assay experiment. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that upregulation of lncRNA GAPLINC represses the binding of miR-183-5p to the PDCD4 promoter region and then promotes PDCD4 expression, thereby inducing cell apoptosis and suppressing endothelial cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]