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Background: Aberrant iron metabolism is commonly observed in multiple tumor types, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, as the key regulator of iron metabolism involved in iron absorption, the role of transferrin receptor (TFRC) in HCC remains elusive. Methods: The mRNA and protein expression of TFRC were evaluated in paired HCC and adjacent non-tumor specimens. The correlation between TFRC level and clinicopathological features or prognostic significance was also analyzed. The role of TFRC on biological functions was finally studied in vitro and in vivo. Results: The TFRC level was remarkably upregulated in HCC tissues compared to paired peritumor tissues. Overexpressed TFRC positively correlated with serum alpha-fetoprotein, carcinoembryonic antigen, and poor tumor differentiation. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that upregulated TFRC was an independent predictive marker for poorer overall survival and disease-free survival in HCC patients. Loss of TFRC markedly impaired cell proliferation and migration in vitro and notably suppressed HCC growth and metastasis in vivo, while overexpression of TFRC performed an opposite effect. Mechanistically, the mTOR signaling pathway was downregulated with TFRC knockdown, and the mTOR agonist MHY1485 completely reversed the biological inhibition in HCC cells caused by TFRC knockdown. Furthermore, exogenous ferric citrate (FAC) or iron chelator reversed the changed biological functions and signaling pathway expression of HCC cells caused by TFRC knockdown or overexpression, respectively. Conclusions: Our study indicates that TFRC exerts an oncogenic role in HCC and may become a promising therapeutic target to restrain HCC progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for precise radio telescope pointing has driven great attention to investigating the effect of antenna local deformation or irregularity, such as unevenness in the azimuth track. Although the track-alidade interaction model is commonly used to investigate the pointing effect of track unevenness (such as the works on DSN 34 m antennas and the Green Bank Telescope), few experiments have been done to test the effectiveness of this model independently from the overall pointing model. To address this issue, a method utilizing an optical pointing telescope (OPT) for determining the impact of track unevenness on pointing is proposed. This method uses a group of reference pointing data collected by an OPT mounted at the bottom of the antenna alidade to extract the twist effect of the alidade from the radio telescope pointing data, thus compared with the predicted twist by the track-alidade model. This method was applied to the 26 meter Nanshan Radio Telescope (NSRT 26 m), achieving good agreement with the model-predicted values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to present an accessible C-shaped partial stapled hemorrhoidopexy (C-PSH) in the treatment of grade IV hemorrhoids and to assess long-term outcomes of this technique compared with circular stapled hemorrhoidopexy (CSH). Methods: Conventional CSH kits combined with an intestinal spatula were used for performing C-PSH. A total of 256 patients with grade IV hemorrhoids referred to Hangzhou Third People's Hospital between January 2016 and June 2017 were obtained: 122 (47.7%) with C-PSH, and 134 (52.3%) with CSH. After propensity score matching, 222 patients (111 in C-PSH group and 111 in CSH group) were ultimately analyzed. The primary outcome was the five-year recurrence rate of hemorrhoids. Secondary outcomes included intraoperative outcomes, postoperative outcomes and complications. Results: The operative time in the C-PSH group was slightly longer than that in the CSH group (p < 0.01). The vertical length of rectal mucosa specimen in the C-PSH group was shorter than that in the CSH group (p < 0.01). Compared with the CSH group, fecal urgency incidence and numeric rating scale (NRS) score at first defecation were lower in the C-PSH group (p < 0.05). Major complication rate in the CSH group was higher than that in the C-PSH group (p = 0.03). Five-year recurrence rate between the C-PSH group and CSH group was comparable (p > 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that constipation was an independent prognostic factor for hemorrhoidal recurrence. Conclusions: The accessible C-PSH seems to be a safe and effective technique in managing grade IV hemorrhoids. It has advantages in alleviating postoperative pain at first defecation, fecal urgency and major complications compared with CSH. It could be an alternative technique in the treatment of grade IV hemorrhoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron-containing metal–organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) are promising photocatalysts for the activation of peroxysulphate. In this work, a new robust MOF (Fe2In-TCA) was successfully prepared through single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SC–SC) transformation using an indium-MOF template (In3-TCA) (TCA = 4,4′,4′′-nitrilotribenzoic acid). The SC–SC transformation led to the obtention of large-sized Fe2In-TCA crystals suitable for single-crystal X-ray diffraction. More fascinatingly, compared to the sample (Fe2In-TCA-D) synthesized by the one-pot in situ method, Fe2In-TCA not only showed a higher specific surface area but also showed better charge separation and migration efficiency, indicating that postsynthetic metal metathesis is an advanced strategy for preparing Fe-MOFs. With these advantages, Fe2In-TCA exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for activating peroxydisulfate (PDS). Under optimum conditions, Fe2In-TCA removed about 98% of ofloxacin (OFL) in 30 minutes and could be reused over five cycles. Further mechanism studies showed that free radicals (˙SO4−, ˙OH, O2˙−), singlet oxygen (1O2), and photogenerated holes (h+) were the main active species for OFL degradation. These results show that Fe2In-TCA can be used as a potential photocatalyst to activate PDS to degrade OFL. This work provides a new perspective for the construction of robust Fe-MOFs for photocatalytic OFL degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First-principles calculations were performed on a plutonium and americium mixed oxide (PuAmO4), aiming at revealing the effects of electron correlation, Pu/Am 5f-conduction electrons' hybridization, and relativity on its electronic properties. The many-body calculation suggests that the spin–orbit-coupling (SOC)-splitting of j = 5/2 and j = 7/2 manifolds are both in the weakly and moderately correlated states, respectively, implying that the jj coupling scheme is more appropriate for Pu/Am 5f electrons. The density of states, 5f occupation numbers, and Green's functions all suggest that both Pu and Am 5f electrons exhibit the coexistence of the localized and delocalized states. The admixture of 5fn atomic configurations, Pu/Am 5f-conduction electrons' hybridization, and dual characteristics of 5f electrons yield average occupation numbers of 5f electrons n5f = 4.78 and 5.86 for Pu and Am ions, respectively. Within the DFT+DMFT calculation, the weighted-summation-derived occupation numbers in terms of 5f4/5f5/5f6 and 5f5/5f6 configurations for Pu and Am 5f electrons, respectively, are in reasonable agreement with those of other DFT-based calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic properties in particular the occupation number of 5f electrons and the valence state of Am ions in americium trichloride (AmCl3) are studied by using density functional theory (DFT) merged with dynamical mean‐field theory (DMFT). We find that j = 5/2, j = 7/2 manifolds both are in the insulating regimes, resulting in the semiconducting band gap of about 0.837 eV, together with the weak Am 5f‐conduction electrons hybridization and the localized 5f‐derived spectra feature in the vicinity of the Fermi level. The weighted summation for the occupation probabilities of 5fn (n = 3–7) atomic configurations suggests that 5f electrons have the inter‐configuration fluctuation with an average occupation number of 5f electrons n5f ~ 5.182, corresponding to the valence state of Am3.818+ in AmCl3. The 5fn‐mixing‐driven inter‐configuration fluctuation might originate from the complicated quantum mechanics processes such as the dual nature of 5f electrons and the flexible electronic configuration of Am ions. Finally, the so‐called quasiparticle band structure is also predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To summarize the clinical characteristic of stroke in the plateau area with altitude of 4000 m above, and to screen the risk factors of hemorrhagic stroke. Methods The clinical data of 103 stroke patients (including 71 hemorrhagic stroke and 32 ischemic stroke) admitted to Ngari Prefecture People's Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region from January 2017 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed, and the clinical characteristic of hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke were compared. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses were used to screen the risk factors of hemorrhagic stroke. Results The age of hemorrhagic stroke patients was lower than that of ischemic stroke patients [(57.48 ± 10.81) years vs. (64.03 ± 10.96) years; t = 2.836, P = 0.006], and the systolic blood pressure at admission [(171.92 ± 28.95) mm Hg vs. (141.81 ± 23.24) mm Hg; t = 5.174, P = 0.000], diastolic blood pressure [(107.58 ± 18.76) mm Hg vs. (93.44 ± 14.94) mm Hg; t = 3.757, P = 0.000], hemoglobin [(189.54 ± 28.12) g/L vs. (165.35 ± 25.42) g/L; t = 4.111, P = 0.000] and total cholesterol [(4.60 ± 0.88) mmol/L vs. (4.04 ± 0.82) mmol/L; t = 3.118, P = 0.002] were higher than those of ischemic stroke patients. Logistic regression analysis showed that systolic blood pressure on admission (OR = 1.048, 95%CI: 1.024-1.073; P = 0.000) and hemoglobin (OR = 1.043, 95%CI: 1.015-1.072; P = 0.002) elevation were risk factors of hemorrhagic stroke. Conclusions Hemorrhagic stroke is the main type of stroke in the plateau area with altitude of 4000 m above. Patients with high systolic blood pressure on admission and hemoglobin are more likely to have hemorrhagic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abnormal miRNA and mRNA expression and dysregulated immune microenvironment have been found to frequently induce the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in recent reports. In particular, the immune-related competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) mechanism plays a crucial role in HCC progression. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Methods: Differentially expressed immune-related genes were obtained from the Immport, GEO, and TCGA databases. The mRNA and protein expression levels in HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were confirmed, and we further investigated the methylation levels of these biomarkers to explore their function. Then, the TIMER and TISCH databases were used to assess the relationship between immune infiltration and hub genes. Survival analysis and univariate and multivariate Cox models were used to evaluate the association between hub genes and HCC diagnosis. Hub gene expression was experimentally validated in six HCC cell lines and 15 HCC samples using qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The hub genes were uploaded to DSigDB for drug prediction enrichment analysis. Results: We identified that patients with abnormal miRNAs (hsa-miR-125b-5p and hsa-miR-21-5p) and their targeted genes (NTF3, PSMD14, CD320, and SORT1) had a worse prognosis. Methylation analysis of miRNA-targeted genes suggested that alteration of methylation levels is also a factor in the induction of tumorigenesis. We also found that the development of HCC progression caused by miRNA-mRNA interactions may be closely correlated with the infiltration of immunocytes. Moreover, the GSEA, GO, and KEGG analysis suggested that several common immune-related biological processes and pathways were related to miRNA-targeted genes. The results of qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and western blotting were consistent with our bioinformatics results, suggesting that abnormal miRNAs and their targeted genes may affect HCC progression. Conclusions: Briefly, our study systematically describes the mechanisms of miRNA-mRNA interactions in HCC and predicts promising biomarkers that are associated with immune filtration for HCC progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary liver cancer (PLC) is a common gastrointestinal malignancy worldwide. While hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) are two major pathologic types of PLC, combined HCC and ICC (cHCC-ICC) is a relatively rare subtype that shares both hepatocyte and cholangiocyte differentiation. However, the molecular feature of this unique tumor remains elusive because of its low incidence and lack of a suitable animal model. Herein, we generated a novel spontaneous cHCC-ICC model using a Sleeping Beauty-dependent transposon plasmid co-expressing oncogenic Myc and AKT1 and a CRISPR-Cas9 plasmid expressing single-guide RNA targeting p53 into mouse hepatocytes via in situ electroporation. The histological and transcriptional analysis confirmed that this model exhibits cHCC-ICC features and activates pathways committing cHCC-ICC formation, such as TGF-β, WNT, and NF-κB. Using this model, we further screened and identified LAMB1, a protein involved in cell adhesion and migration, as a potential therapeutic target for cHCC-ICC. In conclusion, our work presents a novel genetic cHCC-ICC model and provides new insights into cHCC-ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Though circular RNAs (circRNAs) are the key regulators in tumor carcinogenesis, they remain largely unexplored in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: The expression of RanGAP1-derived circRNAs (circ_0063531, circ_0063534, circ_0063513, circ_0063518, circ_0063507, circ_0063723) were evaluated in eight paired HCC and normal tissues, and the correlation between circRanGAP1 (circ_0063531) expression and clinicopathological characteristics in 40 HCC patients was determined. The association between miR-27b-3p and circRanGAP1 or NRAS was predicted using bioinformatics analysis. The expression of circRanGAP1, miR-27b-3p, and NRAS were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The potential oncogenic role of circ-RanGAP1 was assessed using CCK-8, colony formation, transwell assays in vitro, subcutaneous tumor mouse model, vein tail metastatic model, and orthotopically implanted intrahepatic HCC model in vivo. Luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays were used to explore the binding site between miR-27b-3p and circ-RanGAP1 or NRAS. Protein expression was detected using western blotting. The localization of miR-27b-3p and circ-RanGAP1 was investigated using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The level of immune infiltration was assessed by bioinformatics analysis, flow cytometry, and orthotopically implanted intrahepatic HCC models. Results: Here, we found elevated circRanGAP1 in the cells and clinical tissues of patients with HCC. Increased circRanGAP1 levels are associated with enlarged tumors and the advanced stage of TNM. CircRanGAP1 promotes the growth, migration, and HCC cell invasion, concurrently with the growth and metastasis of tumors in-vivo. Moreover, circRanGAP1 is mainly located inside the cytoplasm. Mechanistically, circRanGAP1 as an oncogene promotes HCC progression by miR-27b-3p/NRAS/ERK axis, furthermore, affects the infiltration level of tumor-associated macrophages probably by sponging miR-27b-3p. Immune infiltration analysis shows that NRAS is positively correlated with the levels of CD68+ tumor-associated macrophages in HCC samples and that NRAS and CD68 are related to the poor outcome of HCC. Conclusion: These results reveal that circRanGAP1 is a HCC oncogene that function by the miR-27b-3p/NRAS/ERK axis and regulates the infiltration levels of tumor-associated macrophages by sponging miR-27b-3p. Therefore, circRANGAP1/ NRAS axis may be an important potential treatment target against HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) thin films were fabricated rapidly on LaMnO3/MgO/Y2O3/Al2O3/Hastelloy substrate by the self-built induction heating system. The growth rate can be more than 60 nm/s, which is much higher than the traditional Metal Organic Deposition (MOD) method. The effects of heating rate, oxygen partial pressure and growth temperature on the texture and morphology of YBCO films were studied, as well as the analysis of properties. The results of X-Ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy demonstrated that rapid heating can effectively reduce the residual of BaCO3 particles. The faster heating rate results in a faster YBCO growth rate, easier c-axis oriented grains growth and denser morphology. Moreover, the growth temperature and atmosphere window of YBCO films were obtained in the rapid heating condition. Meanwhile, the YBCO nucleation and growth models were established. This work realized the rapid crystallization of YBCO films by induction heating system and improved understanding of the nucleation mechanism of YBCO on the flexible metal substrate with buffer layers, which is extremely attractive for the industrialization development of Fluorine Free-MOD superconducting films in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The extent of interstitial fibrosis in the kidney not only correlates with renal function at the time of biopsy but also predicts future renal outcome. However, its assessment by pathologists lacks good agreement. The aim of this study is to construct a machine learning-based model that enables automatic and reliable assessment of interstitial fibrosis in human kidney biopsies. Methods Validated cortex, glomerulus and tubule segmentation algorithms were incorporated into a single model to assess the extent of interstitial fibrosis. The model performances were compared with expert renal pathologists and correlated with patients' renal functional data. Results Compared with human raters, the model had the best agreement [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.90] to the reference in 50 test cases. The model also had a low mean bias and the narrowest 95% limits of agreement. The model was robust against colour variation on images obtained at different times, through different scanners, or from outside institutions with excellent ICCs of 0.92–0.97. The model showed significantly better test-retest reliability (ICC 0.98) than humans (ICC 0.76–0.94) and the amount of interstitial fibrosis inferred by the model strongly correlated with 405 patients' serum creatinine (r  = 0.65–0.67) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (r = −0.74 to −0.76). Conclusions This study demonstrated that a trained machine learning-based model can faithfully simulate the whole process of interstitial fibrosis assessment, which traditionally can only be carried out by renal pathologists. Our data suggested that such a model may provide more reliable results, thus enabling precision medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant tumors to threaten human life, and the survival rate remains low due to delayed diagnosis. Meanwhile, lncRNAs have great potential for application in tumor prognosis, therefore relevant research in hepatocellular carcinoma is indispensable.Methods: Based on the EZH2 expression, the differentially expressed lncRNAs DElncRNAs), miRNAs (DEmiRNAs), and mRNAs (DEmRNAs) were identified in hepatocellular carcinoma by using the TCGA database. Bioinformatics technology was utilized to determine the effect of key genes in HCC progression. The methylation and immune infiltration analyses were performed to explore the underlying function of hub genes. Finally, cellular function experiments were performed to investigate the association between identified genes and biological phenotypes in HCC.Results: lncRNA-AC079061.1, hsa-miR-765, and VIPR1 were identified as independent factors that affect the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. The immune infiltration analyses revealed that lncRNA-AC079061.1 can alter the immune microenvironment and thus inhibit the development of HCC by regulating the expression of an immune-related gene (VIPR1). Methylation analyses demonstrated that VIPR1 expression is negatively related to the methylation level in HCC. Experimental results suggested that lncRNA-AC079061.1 and VIPR1 were frequently downregulated in HCC cells, while hsa-miR-765 was significantly upregulated. Moreover, the lncRNA-AC079061.1/VIPR1 axis suppressed the proliferation and invasion of HCC cells.Conclusion: The present study identified the lncRNA-AC079061.1/VIPR1 axis as a novel biomarker that inhibited the proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma, affecting the ultimate disease outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an engineering example, the characteristics of pump-stopping water hammer in a pipeline system with a local convex point are analyzed in this paper. Then based on the working principles of the air valve and water hammer relief valve, the water hammer protection effects of three measures, including the ordinary air valve, air valve with the function of "fast in and slow out", and ordinary air valve adding with water hammer relief valve, were compared and analyzed. The calculation results show that, compared with the ordinary air valve, the air valve with the function of "fast in and slow out" can effectively reduce the water hammer pressure caused by cavities collapsing by limiting the venting speed in the pressure raising stage, and has a better water hammer protection effect. The water hammer relief valve set at the place where the cavities collapsing first occurs can release the high pressure fluid in time, so it can be used as a water hammer protection backup measure after the failure of the function of the "fast in and slow out" the air valve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of fermented compound Chinese medicine feed additive on amniotic fluid amount and reproductive performance of sows. Twenty pregnant crossbred sows (LandracexLarge White) with similar body condition and parity were randomly divided into control group and experimental group, with ten replicates in each group and one pig in each replicate. All sows were fed the same basal diet, and sows in experimental group were supplemented with fermented compound Chinese medicine feed additive at 50 g/(head⋅d) from the 104th day of pregnancy to the end of lactation. Amniotic fluid was collected with urine collection pad during delivery period, and farrowing duration, live litter size, number of dead suckling piglets, number of suckling piglets with diarrhea and number of weaned piglets were recorded. The results showed that compared with the control group, the average amniotic fluid amount of sows in experimental group was significantly better than that in control group (P<0.05). The number of live litter and weaned piglets of sows in experimental group were higher than those in control group, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). Fetal birth time of sows in experimental group and diarrhea rate of suckling piglets were lower than those in control group, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). The experiment indicates that supplementation of fermented compound Chinese medicine feed additive at a level of 50 g/(head⋅d) to sows has benefits in increasing amniotic fluid amount and sow's yearly productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of property-based total water networks by using the concepts of operator potential is investigated with an iterative approach. The precedence order of demands is identified with the operator potential values of demands. The internal sources to be regenerated are selected based on the values of operator potential of sources. A linear programming approach is used to determine the allocation of sources to demands. With the proposed method, the networks which meet both the requirements of demands and environmental regulations can be obtained. Two examples are studied to illustrate the proposed method. It is shown that the results obtained by this work are comparable to that obtained by mathematical programming method in the literature. For Example 1, flowrate of regenerated stream is reduced 28.5% compared to that in the literature results with almost the same freshwater consumption. In addition, the number of interconnections for this work is smaller than that of literature, which means that the design structure of this work is simpler. For Example 2, freshwater consumption is reduced by 4.29% with almost the same regeneration flowrate. However, the number of interconnections for this work is 24, which is higher than 23, that is the value of the literature result. Compared to graphical methods, the method proposed in this paper can handle the networks with more than three properties. Compared to mathematical programming methods, the proposed method has clear engineering meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) are immunosuppressive cells that contribute to impaired anti-cancer immunity. Iron plays a critical role in regulating macrophage function. However, it is still elusive whether it can drive the functional polarization of macrophages in the context of cancer and how tumor cells affect the iron-handing properties of TAM. In this study, using hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a study model, we aimed to explore the effect and mechanism of reduced ferrous iron in TAM.Methods: TAM from HCC patients and mouse HCC tissues were collected to analyze the level of ferrous iron. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to assess M1 or M2 signature genes of macrophages treated with iron chelators. A co-culture system was established to explore the iron competition between macrophages and HCC cells. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to determine the holo-transferrin uptake of macrophages. HCC samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were enrolled to evaluate the prognostic value of transferrin receptor (TFRC) and its relevance to tumor-infiltrating M2 macrophages.Results: We revealed that ferrous iron in M2-like TAM is lower than that in M1-like TAM. In vitro analysis showed that loss of iron-induced immunosuppressive M2 polarization of mouse macrophages. Further experiments showed that TFRC, the primary receptor for transferrin-mediated iron uptake, was overexpressed on HCC cells but not TAM. Mechanistically, HCC cells competed with macrophages for iron to upregulate the expression of M2-related genes via induction of HIF-1α, thus contributing to M2-like TAM polarization. We further clarified the oncogenic role of TFRC in HCC patients by TCGA. TFRC is significantly increased in varieties of malignancies, including HCC, and HCC patients with high TFRC levels have considerably shortened overall survival. Also, TFRC is shown to be positively related to tumor-infiltrating M2 macrophages.Conclusions: Collectively, we identified iron starvation through TFRC-mediated iron competition drives functional immunosuppressive polarization of TAM, providing new insight into the interconnection between iron metabolism and tumor immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nucleic acid testing and antibody testing data from 143 recovered COVID-19 patients during the convalescent phase were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 23 (16.1%) recovered patients re-tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by RT-PCR. Three months after symptom onset, 100% and 99.3% of the patients remained positive for total and IgG antibodies, and the antibody levels remained high. IgM antibodies declined rapidly, with a median time to seroconversion of 67 (95% CI: 59, 75) days after onset. Approximately 25% of patients were seronegative for IgA antibodies at three months after onset. There was no statistically significant difference in antibody kinetics between patients with and without re-positive RT-PCR results during the convalescent phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor permeation of therapeutic agents and multidrug resistance (MDR) in solid tumors are the two major challenges that lead to the failure of the current chemotherapy methods. Herein, a zero‐waste doxorubicin‐loaded heparin/folic acid/l‐arginine (HFLA‐DOX) nanomotor with motion ability and sustained release of nitric oxide (NO) to achieve deep drug penetration and effective reversal of MDR in cancer chemotherapy is designed. The targeted recognition, penetration of blood vessels, intercellular penetration, special intracellular distribution (escaping from lysosomes and accumulating in Golgi and nucleus), 3D multicellular tumor spheroids (3D MTSs) penetration, degradation of tumor extracellular matrix (ECM), and reversal of MDR based on the synergistic effects of the motion ability and sustained NO release performance of the NO‐driven nanomotors are investigated in detail. Correspondingly, a new chemotherapy mode called recognition‐penetration‐reversal‐elimination is proposed, whose effectiveness is verified by in vitro cellular experiments and in vivo animal tumor model, which can not only provide effective solutions to these challenges encountered in cancer chemotherapy, but also apply to other therapy methods for the special deep‐tissue penetration ability of a therapeutic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac fibrosis is involved in adverse cardiac remodeling and heart failure, which is the leading cause of deteriorated cardiac function. Accumulative evidence has elucidated that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis. However, the exact molecular mechanism underlying miR-144 in cardiac fibrosis remains unknown. In the present study, a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) mouse model and angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) were constructed in order to investigate the expression levels of miR-144. It was demonstrated that miR-144 was significantly downregulated following pathological stimuli. CFs infected with miR-144 mimics were then used to test the effect of miR-144 on CF activation in vitro. The results revealed that overexpression of miR-144 led to a dramatically decreased proliferation and migration ability in CFs, as well as the transformation from fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, which was characterized by the decreased expression of collagen-I, collagen-III, CTGF, fibronectin and α-SMA. By contrast, such effects could be reversed by miR-144 knockdown. Mechanistically, the bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay in the present study demonstrated that cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) was a direct target of miR-144, and the expression of CREB was attenuated by miR-144. The results of the present study demonstrated that miR-144 played a key role in CF activation, partially by targeting CREB, which further suggested that the overexpression of miR-144 may be a promising strategy for the treatment of cardiac fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature correspondence lays the foundation for many computer vision and image processing tasks, which can be well formulated and solved by graph matching. Because of the high complexity, approximate methods are necessary for graph matching, and the continuous relaxation provides an efficient approximate scheme. But there are still many problems to be settled, such as the highly nonconvex objective function, the ignorance of the combinatorial nature of graph matching in the optimization process, and few attention to the outlier problem. Focusing on these problems, this paper introduces a continuation method directly targeting at the combinatorial optimization problem associated with graph matching. Specifically, first a regularization function incorporating the original objective function and the discrete constraints is proposed. Then a continuation method based on Gaussian smoothing is applied to it, in which the closed forms of relevant functions with respect to the outlier distribution are deduced. Experiments on both synthetic data and real world images validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the recurrence of positive SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in recovered COVID-19 patients is receiving more attention. Herein we report a cohort study on the follow-up of 182 recovered patients under medical isolation observation. Twenty (10.99%) patients out of the 182 were detected to be SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive (re-positives), although none showed any clinical symptomatic recurrence, indicating that COVID-19 responds well to treatment. Patients aged under 18 years had higher re-positive rates than average, and none of the severely ill patients re-tested positive. There were no significant differences in sex between re-positives and non-re-positives. Notably, most of the re-positives turned negative in the following tests, and all of them carried antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. This indicates that they might not be infectious, although it is still important to perform regular SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing and follow-up for assessment of infectivity. The findings of this study provide information for improving the management of recovered patients, and for differentiating the follow-up of recovered patients with different risk levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the role of dynamic changes of serum levels S100B protein in brain injury and poor outcome of sepsis. This is a prospective cohort study designed to include 104 adult patients with sepsis who are admitted to ICU from Jan 2015 to Aug 2016. Sepsis was defined as sepsis 3.0. Patients with a GCS score of <15, or at least one positive CAM-ICU score were thought to have brain dysfunction. 59 patients were diagnosed with SAE and the rest 45 patients were diagnosed with non-SAE. Serum S100B was measured on day 1 and 3 after ICU admission. Primary outcomes included brain dysfunction and 28-day/180-day mortality. The SAE group showed a significantly higher APACHE II score, SOFA scores, length of ICU stay, 28-day and 180-day mortality, serum S100B levels on day 1 and day 3. S100B levels on day 1 of 0.226 μg/L were diagnostic for SAE with 80.0% specificity and 66.1% sensitivity, and the area under (AUC) the curve was 0.728, S100B levels on day 3 of 0.144 μg/L were diagnostic for SAE with 84.44% specificity and 69.49% sensitivity, and the AUC was 0.819. In addition, the AUC for S100B on day 3 for predicting 180-day mortality was larger than for S100B on day 1 (0.731 vs. 0.611). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that S100B3 (p = 0.001) but not S100B1 (p = 0.927) were independently correlated with SAE. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with S100B levels higher than 0.144 μg/L had a lower probability of survival at day 180. There were more patients with encephalopathy and a higher 28-day or 180-day mortality in the ΔS100B + group than in the ΔS100B- group. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that SAE and IL-6 on day 3 were independently correlated with S100B dynamic increase. These findings suggest that elevated serum S100B levels on day 3 and the dynamic changes of serum S100B levels from day three to one were more associated with brain dysfunction and mortality than that on day 1 in patients with sepsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effects of Astragalus membranaceus oral solution on lifespan and learning and memory abilities of honey bees were evaluated. Two groups of bees were fed with sucrose syrup (50%) containing low dose (1.33%) and high dose (13.3%) of A. membranaceus oral solution, respectively. The proboscis extension response (PER) analysis was applied to examine the learning and memory capabilities of bees. Two genes related to memory formation in honey bees were determined by real-time PCR. High dose (13.3%) of A. membranaceus significantly decreased the mean lifespan of bees compared to the bees fed with low dose (1.33%) and control bees. No significant differences in lifespan of bees were found between low-dose-fed bees and control bees. The results of PER experiments showed apparent improvement in the memorizing ability of the high-dose group (in comparison with the control group). Moreover, the relative expression levels of Nmdar1 in the low-dose group and control group were significantly lower than those in the high-dose group. It is preliminarily concluded that A. membranaceus has an adverse effect on the mean lifespan of honey bees but might be helpful in strengthening memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph matching is a fundamental problem in theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, and lays the foundation for many computer vision and machine learning tasks. Approximate algorithms are necessary for graph matching due to its NP-complete nature. Inspired by the usage in network-related tasks, random walk is generalized to graph matching as a type of approximate algorithm. However, it may be inappropriate for the previous random walk-based graph matching algorithms to utilize continuous techniques without considering the discrete property. In this paper, we propose a novel random walk-based graph matching algorithm by incorporating both continuous and discrete constraints in the optimization process. Specifically, after interpreting graph matching by random walk, the continuous constraints are directly embedded in the random walk constraint in each iteration. Further, both the assignment matrix (vector) and the pairwise similarity measure between graphs are iteratively updated according the discrete constraints, which automatically leads the continuous solution to the discrete domain. Comparisons on both synthetic and real-world data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Periodontitis was reported to be associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the association between them has not been firmly established in the existing literature. Therefore, this meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between periodontitis and IBD. Methods: Electronic databases were searched for publications up to August 1, 2019 to include all eligible studies. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated to determine the association between periodontal disease and IBD using a random or fixed effects model according to heterogeneity. Results: Six eligible studies involving 599 IBD patients and 448 controls were included. The pooled OR between periodontitis and IBD was 3.17 (95% CI: 2.09–4.8) with no heterogeneity observed (I2 = 0.00%). The pooled ORs were 3.64 (95% CI: 2.33–5.67) and 5.37 (95% CI: 3.30–8.74) for the associations between periodontitis and the two sub-categories of IBD, Crohn' s disease and ulcerative colitis, respectively. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that periodontitis was significantly associated with IBD. However, the mechanisms underlying periodontitis and IBD development are undetermined. Further studies are needed to elucidate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Image stitching is important for the perception and manipulation of undersea robots. In spite of a well-developed technique, it is still challenging for undersea images because of their inevitable appearance ambiguity caused by the limited light in the undersea environment, and local disturbance caused by moving objects, ocean current, etc. To get a clean and stable background panorama in the undersea environment, this paper proposes an undersea image-stitching method by introducing graph-based registration and blending procedures. Specifically, in the registration procedure, matching the features in each undersea image pair is formulated and solved by graph matching, to incorporate the structural information between features. In the blending procedure, an energy function on the indirect graph Markov random field is proposed, which takes both image consistency and neighboring consistency into consideration. Coincidentally, both graph matching and energy minimization can be mathematically formulated by integer quadratic programming problems with different constraints; the recently proposed graduated nonconvexity and concavity procedure is used to optimize both problems. Experiments on both synthetic images and real-world undersea images witness the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-oxidation of As(III) and Fe(II) in acidic solutions by pressured oxygen was studied under an oxygen pressure between 0.5 and 2.0 MPa at a temperature of 150°C. It was confirmed that without Fe(II) ions, As(III) ions in the solutions are virtually non-oxidizable by pressured oxygen even at a temperature as high as 200°C and an oxygen pressure up to 2.0 MPa. Fe(II) ions in the solutions did have a catalysis effect on the oxidation of As(III), possibly attributable to the production of such strong oxidants as hydroxyl free radicals (OH·) and Fe(IV) in the oxidation process of Fe(II). The effects of such factors as the initial molar ratio of Fe(II)/As(III), initial pH value of the solution, oxygen pressure, and the addition of radical scavengers on the oxidation efficiencies of As(III) and Fe(II) were studied. It was found that the oxidation of As(III) was limited in the co-oxidation process due to the accumulation of the As(III) oxidation product, As(V), in the solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Zhejiang University: Science B is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Polyethyleneimine (PEI) with an amount of -NH2 groups used in precursor solution could effectively reduce Cu2+ volatilization during the pyrolysis process. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that the temperature window of low-temperature pyrolysis for precursor solution with PEI (PEI-YBCO) is widened significantly. The slower pyrolysis process can enrich Cu2+ and improve critical current density (Jc) of PEI-YBCO films. The highest Jc is 3.03 MA/cm2 at 77 K when the amount of PEI is 0.5 g/10 mL and the film thickness is 400 nm. Then the thickness increases from 0.4 to 2.0 μm by changing the coating times. The Jc values of PEI-YBCO films decrease gradually with the thickness increase. However, the critical current (Ic) can be up to 197 A/cm (at 77 K, self-field) and Jc can still keep 1.68 MA/cm2 at 1.2 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) control problem with an active deformation adjustment mechanism on a 5-metre deployable antenna panel. An adaptive reduced-dimension fuzzy decoupling (ARDFD) control strategy based on fusion functions is proposed to eliminate the effects uncertainties due to coupled subsystems by designing and incorporating a fuzzy decoupling disturbance observer. Moreover, the MIMO system can be decomposed into a number of single-input single-output (SISO) systems using the unit diagonal matrix decoupling theory. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, it was shown that the error of fuzzy interference observer and the error between the fuzzy rule post parameter matrix and optimal post parameter matrix converge to a small region. Results of the simulation also show that the ARDFD control strategy can significantly eliminate adverse effects of the coupled subsystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mold pressing process was applied to investigate the formability of closed-cell aluminum foam in solid-liquid-gas coexisting state. Results show that the shape formation of closed-cell aluminum foam in the solid-liquid-gas coexisting state was realized through cell wall deformation and cell movement caused by primary α-Al grains that slid, rotated, deformed, and ripened within cell walls. During formation, characteristic parameters of closed-cell aluminum foam were almost unchanged. Under proper forming conditions, shaped products of closed-cell aluminum foam could be fabricated through mold pressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigated the flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) behavior of 13Cr in a wet CO2-containing environment at different flowing gas velocities and impinging angles, with the natural-gas pipeline environment simulated by a self-assembled impingement jet system. Surface morphology determination, electrochemical measurements, and hydromechanics numerical analysis were carried out to study the FAC behavior. The results demonstrate that pitting corrosion was the primary mode of corrosion in 13Cr stainless steel. High-flow-rate gas destroyed the passive film and decreased the pitting potential, resulting in more serious corrosion. The corrosion degree with various impact angles showed the following order: 90° > 60° > 45°. The shear force and the electrolyte from the flowing gas were concluded to be the determinant factors of FAC, whereas the shear force was the main factor responsible for destroying the passive film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The large amount of dye wastewater requires efficient techniques, e.g., adsorption by activated carbon (AC), for removal of dyes to decrease water pollution. AC was modified by the basic ionic liquid 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hydroxide. The surface functional groups of AC changed evidently as detected by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Boehm titration. To evaluate the influence of functional group change on adsorption performance, AC and modified activated carbon (MAC) were employed to remove methylene blue. The results indicated an increase of adsorbance with lapse of contact time. The adsorption capability of AC was distinctly higher than that of MAC. From kinetic studies it follows that the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model can well describe the adsorption process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to produce cleaner fuels under the constraints of stricter environmental regulations, heavier and sour crude oils, and petroleum market needs has resulted in increased hydrogen demand in oil refineries. These demands are usually served by hydrogen networks, which collect hydrogen-containing streams from refinery processes and, after potential processing, redistribute the hydrogen content to recipient processes within the same site. Often, pure hydrogen is also necessary in order to satisfy the final demand. The introduction of one or more purification units into a hydrogen network is an economical way to reduce fresh hydrogen consumption. In the design and optimization of a hydrogen system, it is often important to find the target values (optimal lower bounds) for the fresh hydrogen consumption and the flowrate of the purified stream. However, the procedure for obtaining these targets becomes very complex when purification units are added, compared to that for a hydrogen network involving reuse only. This article presents a simple method for predicting the target values based on the balances of mass and flowrate and the features of the purification units. The proposed method not only can simplify the targeting procedure but can also provide valuable insights for the analysis and optimization of single-impurity hydrogen networks with purification units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop an external-electric-field (EEF)-assisted annealing treatment to improve the photoelectric performance of planar organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The new strategy can control the ion polarization orientation of perovskite films to obtain a good crystallization film and enhance the built-in electric field (BIF), which facilitates the effective promotion of charge separation and transport. Under an optimized treatment of up-EEF-assisted (2.5 V μm−1) annealing, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the inverted PSC is improved from 15.33% to 17.26%, and from 16.77% to 19.18% for regular PSCs, compared with the thermal-annealing-only process. The ion polarization and ferroelectricity in the perovskite layer induced by the EEF are intensively discussed. The finding in this work provides a new route to improve perovskite film quality and cell performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]