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Previous studies demonstrated a piezoelectric proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PZT-PEMFC) stack design composed of three bi-cells in series and a single bi-cell, with a maximum net power density of 0.1608 W cm−2. The present study developed a modified bi-cell design with lower volume and weight by using gold-plated aluminum 6061. A groove-designed PZT actuator enclosed with poly-di-methyl-siloxane (PDMS) curing for 30 min can reduce uneven air feeding. Such an actuator can also improve the performance of both sides of a bi-cell, with only a 0.7% difference in the open circuit voltage (OCV). The experimental results showed that the net power density of the new version of the single bi-cell PZT-PEMFC module was 0.1658 W cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study objective was to examine the correlation between regional ventilation distribution measured with electrical impedance tomography (EIT) and weaning outcomes during spontaneous breathing trial (SBT).Methods: Fifteen patients received 100% automatic tube compensation (ATC) during the first and 70% during the second hour. Another 15 patients received external continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) of 5 and 7.5 cmH2 O during the first and second hours, respectively. Regional ventilation distributions were monitored with EIT.Results: Tidal volume and tidal variation of impedance correlated significantly during assist-control ventilation and ATC in all patients (r2 = 0.80 ± 0.18, P < 0.001). Higher support levels resulted in similar ventilation distribution and tidal volume, but higher end-expiratory lung impedance (EELI) (P < 0.05). Analysis of regional intratidal gas distribution revealed a redistribution of ventilation towards dorsal regions with lower support level in 13 of 30 patients. These patients had a higher weaning success rate (only 1 of 13 patients failed). Eight of 17 other patient failed (P < 0.05). The number of SBT days needed for weaning was significantly lower in the former group of 13 patients (13.1 ± 4.0 vs. 20.9 ± 11.2 days, P < 0.05).Conclusions: Regional ventilation distribution patterns during inspiration were associated with weaning outcomes, and they may be used to predict the success of extubation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with metastasis underlying majority of related deaths. Angiomotin (AMOT), a scaffold protein, has been shown to interact with oncogenic Yes-associated protein/transcriptional co-activator with a PDZ-binding motif (YAP/TAZ) proteins, suggesting a potential role in tumor progression. However, the functional role of AMOT in lung cancer remains unknown. This study aimed to identify the patho-physiological characteristics of AMOT in lung cancer progression. Results revealed that AMOT expression was significantly decreased in clinical lung cancer specimens. Knockdown of AMOT in a low metastatic CL1-0 lung cancer cell line initiated cancer proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. The trigger of cancer progression caused by AMOT loss was transduced by decreased cytoplasmic sequestration and increased nuclear translocation of oncogenic co-activators YAP/TAZ, leading to increased expression of the growth factor, Cyr61. Tumor promotion by AMOT knockdown was reversed when YAP/TAZ or Cyr61 was absent. Further, AMOT knockdown increased the growth and spread of Lewis lung carcinoma in vivo. These findings suggest that AMOT is a crucial suppressor of lung cancer metastasis and highlight its critical role as a tumor suppressor and its potential as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Pressure injuries caused by prolonged pressure remain a significant health care issue for bed-ridden older adults in various settings. Pressure monitoring was found to be one of the most promising current solutions (Mansfield et al., 2019). A motion-sensing smart mattress (WhizPad®) has been developed for patient fall prevention. It is a comfortable mattress made with viscoelastic, temperature-sensitive, polyurethane memory foam. In a study with 254 participants at risk of developing pressure injuries recruited from the intensive care unit of a medical center, the use of the pressure redistributing foam mattress was associated with an 88% reduced risk of pressure injury development (Bai et al., 2020). This study aims to develop the function of prolonged pressure monitoring for the smart mattress and provide visual feedback to the healthcare staff to reduce further the risk of bed-ridden older adults developing pressure injuries. Method The smart mattress contains 30 sensing areas for on/off pressure sensing. When an event is detected, the control box sends out a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) broadcast message, which contains the duration of time a sensing area has been under pressure. As shown in Figure 1, the system displays sensing areas in deep blue (under pressure within 1 hour), orange, between 1 and 2 hours) and red (over 2 hours) for the real-time status. In addition, the control box sends out a beacon message every 10 minutes, which also contains the duration of time a sensing area has been under pressure. The data is accumulated for 24 hours (8 am to 8 am the next day). The system displays the prolonged pressure record on the next day, including the continuous pressure areas in different colors, the maximum time, and the accumulated pressure areas for 24 hours (Figure 2). Results and discussion The real-time status has been implemented in the system. Nursing home caregivers responded that this visual display, together with the audio alert, helps remind them to do back tapping and body turning for bed-ridden older adults every two hours. The prototype of the prolonged pressure record function has been built and tested. We are conducting a field trial to collect feedback. We expect the record of continuous pressure area and maximum time can reflect whether the caregivers have regularly performed back tapping and body turning for the bed-ridden older adults. The accumulated pressure areas and time can also provide helpful information for assessing the risk of pressure injury in bed-ridden older adults, particularly the body areas that have a higher risk of developing pressure injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Dementia has become one of the most important and challenging areas in health care (Gauthier et al., 2021). Improving quality of life for people with dementia (PwD) relies heavily on optimal care quality and efficiency, which however, is difficult to be achieved as most health institutions are understaffed. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies provides an alternative approach of increasing the health outcomes of PwD as well as reducing the care burden for caregivers. As part of the European Union 'Active and Assisted Living Programme' project "HAAL: HeAlthy Ageing eco-system for peopLe with dementia", this study aimed to investigate the perspectives of formal caregivers working with PwD to establish priorities and components of designing a HAAL platform which combined different AAL technologies. Method There were nine major technologies combined in the HAAL platform to assist and/or improve the care quality for PwD including a senior tablet, indoor sensors, a smart mattress, a GPS tracker, a medicine dispenser, a care robot, cognitive and physical game, rehabilitation game, and a fall detection sensor. MoSCoW analysis (Kuhn, 2009) and Meaningful Try-out cards (Cornelissen & Suijkerbuijk, 2022) were mainly used as the co-design methods. We recruited 24 participants between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022. At the beginning of the session, all products were introduced to them, and then they were asked to rate individual products or combinations of the technological products as whether they thought a certain technology or combination as a 'must have', 'should have', 'could have' or a 'would (nice to) have'? To evaluate the requirement levels of different technologies, weighted average was applied by taking into account the varying degrees of the number of participants who chose different levels. We labelled the level 'must have' as 4 and 'would (nice to) have' as 1, with higher scores indicating higher requirement level. In addition to the requirement level, we also asked participants the reasons why they gave that rate for a certain product or combination. The Meaningful Try-out cards contains seven themes as functionality, usability, stakeholders, communication, organization, environment, and suppliers. We recruited 20 formal caregivers in Feb 2022 and interviewed them for their perceptions of the HAAL platform regarding different Meaningful Try-out themes. Twenty participants were asked to choose two themes out of seven and gave their opinions for each product. We received 39 replies for functionality, 79 replies for usability, 3 replies for stakeholders, 52 replies for communication, 2 replies for organization, 40 replies for environment, and 10 replies for suppliers. Results and Discussion Twenty-four formal caregivers attended the MoSCoW analysis session, and rated the requirement levels for all nine products and twenty combinations of different products based on their functions. Of all the nine products, the weighted requirement level was ranged from 2.0 to 3.6. The first three high rated technologies were fall detection sensor, smart mattress, and GPS tracker. The primary reasons of such rating were the wellbeing of PwD, psychological relief, and workload reduction. The top rated combinations of different technologies were (1) indoor sensors + smart mattress; (2) indoor sensors+ GPS tracker + fall detection sensor; (3) indoor sensors+ smart mattress + fall detection sensor. Despite of the high requirement level for these technologies, formal caregivers proposed valuable concerns and suggestions for the design of more feasible features or concise interfaces to solve the dementia care problems or fit the care process. For the Meaningful Try-out session, design components for each product were collected for further development. Take usability as example, we asked the learning time to start using each product, and the results were less than 0.5 hour (39%), 0.5-1 hour (46%), 1-2 hours (11%), and more than 2 hours (4%), we further asked them if this was acceptable and if not, what possible suggestions they would like to propose. The co-design process provided both quantitative and qualitative data on both priorities and components of the HAAL platform to help achieve a more adaptive user centered technological design for dementia care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skeleton is the most common metastatic site for breast cancer, with bone metastasis causing pain as well as risk of pathological fractures. Interaction between tumors and the bone microenvironment creates a vicious cycle that accelerates both bone destruction and cancer progression. This study is the first to analyze the soluble factors secreted by breast tumor-associated osteoblasts (TAOBs), which are responsible for promoting cancer progression. The addition of CXCL5 (chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 5), present in large amounts in TAOB-condition medium (TAOB-CM), mimicked the inductive effect of TAOB-CM on breast cancer epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration and invasion. In contrast, inhibition of CXCL5 in OBs decreased TAOB-mediated cancer progression. Inducement of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cancer progression by TAOB-derived CXCL5 is associated with increased Raf/MEK/ERK activation, and mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase 1 (MSK1) and Elk-1 phosphorylation, as well as Snail upregulation. Activation of Elk-1 facilitates recruitment of phosphorylated MSK1, which in turn enhances histone H3 acetylation and phosphorylation (serine 10) of Snail promoter, resulting in Snail enhancement and E-cadherin downregulation. Moreover, mice treated with anti-CXCL5 antibodies showed decreased metastasis of 4T1 breast cancer cells. Our study suggests that inhibition of CXCL5-mediated ERK/Snail signaling is an attractive therapeutic target for treating metastases in breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the means of detecting steel strip surface defects produced by a hot strip mill downcoiler. The analysis is based on the force feedback signals taken from the side-guide and the pinch-roll of the steel mill. The study compares the results from two approaches. One approach is to apply principal component analysis (PCA) on the autoregressive (AR) model spectrum, and the other is to apply PCA on the signal periodogram. The spectrum estimation processes help eliminate the noise effects, and the PCA then distinguishes the signals into different clusters. Some of these clusters will then represent the problematic strips. The analysis results on the data from China Steel Corporation (CSC) show that PCA in conjunction with the AR model is able to separate a major portion of the defective processes, and that PCA with the periodogram is not as effective. However, the two processes sometimes compensate for each other, and the combination of the methods may provide improved results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In the development of autoimmune diseases, dendritic cells (DC) play critical roles. Here, we examined the effect of aspirin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced DC activation.Methods: The monocyte-derived DC were established. The cytokine production was measured by ELISA, reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction, or intracellular staining analyzed by flow cytometry. The expression of cell surface molecules was determined by flow cytometry.Results: Aspirin inhibited LPS-induced DC maturation and costimulatory molecules expression. Aspirin, at therapeutic concentrations, also decreased LPS-induced IL-12 and IL-10 production. In contrast, the LPS-induced TNF-alpha production was enhanced by aspirin. The differential effects of aspirin on IL-12 and TNF-alpha production may not be due to down-regulation of cyclooxygenase activities.Conclusion: The various effects of aspirin on LPS-stimulated DC may influence the understanding of the diverse immunomodulatory mechanisms of this anti-inflammatory drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) causes an acute, contagious disease in a number of economically important fish species (Pilcher & Fryer 1980). It is a member of the Birnaviridae (Brown 1986). In this study, the present authors first characterized the process of fish cell damage caused by IPNV infection in cultured cells, and found that it induced fragmentation of chromosomal DNA into oligonucleosomes and also caused nuclear fragmentation by secondary necrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six isolates of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) were obtained from trout or eel farms in Taiwan in 1987. By using the electrophoretic analysis of 35S-methioninelabelled early viral polypeptide patterns and silver-stained ds RNA gel patterns, a comparison of these isolates with the three archetypal IPNV serotypes (AB, SP and VR-299) was made. They were all identical with VR-299, both in the RNA and early viral polypeptide patterns. From the results obtained, it was apparent that the VR-299 serotype of IPNV was just as widespread in eel as in trout in Taiwan. This is the first case of VR-299 isolation from eel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative study of immunological methods for detecting infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) was made. The anti-IHNV antibody titre was measured by solid phase direct binding assays with 125iodinated Protein A from Slaphylococcus aureus and with immunoperoxidase staining. The binding antibody titre was much higher than that obtained in the virus neutralization assay. The high binding antibody titre of rabbit anti-IHNV sera made the development of two immunological tests for IHNV possible. Virus-specific proteins were detected on nitrocellulose membranes after transfer from denaturing polyacrylamide gels. The immunological methods were highly specific, sensitive to less than 10 ng of virus protein, and were useful in characterizing the different strains of IHNV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter studies resistance variations of the Co salicide interconnect accompanied by various surrounding in a sub-0.13-µm CMOS technology. Our analysis shows that, during the salicidation processes, the diffusion of Co atoms and thus salicide thickness and forms of Co salicide layer are greatly affected by the stresses from surrounding structures. Moreover, variations in resistance among the various structures could exceed 100%. Thus, these stress effects were analyzed in detail based on transmission electron microscopy micrographs of Co salicide layers accompanied by four different surrounding structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An argon implanted polysilicon thin-film resistor is proposed to raise the sheet resistance and preserve the original electrical characteristics of a resistor for high voltage CMOS technology applications. The experiment results indicate the resistance can be raised by almost two times in magnitude while the voltage coefficient of resistance (VCR) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) are shifted by only 7% and 11% at maximum, respectively. The technology offers potential applications for enhancing flexible circuit design in high voltage CMOS technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultivation of Bacillus thuringiensis for thuringiensin production is a mixed-growth-associated system. Cultivation conditions should be different during the cell growth stage and production stage. In this study, agitation speed and aeration rate were varied during the exponential growth phase and stationary phase in order to investigate the effect of shear stress via agitation on cultivation of B. thuringiensis for thuringiensin production. It was found that shear stress had a significant effect on thuringiensin production during the stationary phase. By decreasing the agitation speed during the stationary phase, product formation was increased up to 43%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor on the presence human papillomavirus in the lesions of Hailey-Hailey disease is presented.