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Glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene composites (GF/PP) were fabricated in this study by direct fiber feeding injection molding technology (DFFIM) equipped with specially designed plasticizing units. By analyzing the fiber length distribution, scanning electron microscopy micrographs, and the mechanical properties of GF/PP composites, the effect of three process parameters, namely the number of fiber bundles, screw rotational speed, and injection pressure, on the properties of GF/PP composites fabricated by DFFIM were investigated. The results show that the mechanical properties of GF/PP composites gradually increase as the fiber content increases and the screw rotational speed decreases; however, when the fiber content exceeds a certain range, the enhancement effect of mechanical property is reduced due to the increase of fiber breakage and fiber aggregation. Appropriately increasing the injection pressure can increase the fiber length and make the fiber and PP more tightly bonded, and the mechanical properties of GF/PP composites gradually improve, but the fiber breakage phenomenon is more severe under excessive injection pressure, the mechanical property enhancement effect is reduced or even the mechanical property is decreased due to the decrease of the fiber length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study on the learning curve of inflatable video-assisted mediastinoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy (IVMTE), a surgical procedure used to treat early esophageal cancer. The study analyzed the clinical data of 55 patients who underwent IVMTE and found that the learning curve for this procedure was approximately 22 cases. After performing 22 cases, there was a significant reduction in operative time and intraoperative blood loss, as well as stable postoperative complication rates and hospital stay. However, the study has limitations, such as being a single-center retrospective analysis, and further research is needed to validate these findings. [Extracted from the article]

Malnutrition often induces an adverse prognosis in cancer surgery patients. The elderly nutrition risk index (GNRI) is an example of the objective indicators of nutrition-related risks. We performed a meta-analysis to thoroughly examine the evidence for the GNRI in predicting the outcomes of patients undergoing stomach cancer surgery. Eligible articles were retrieved using PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Google Scholar by 24 October 2022. The clinical outcomes were overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and post-operative complications. A total of 11 articles with 5593 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The combined forest plot showed that for every unit increase in the preoperative GNRI score in patients with stomach cancer, their postoperative mortality was reduced by 5.6% (HR: 0.944; 95% CI: 0.933–0.956, p < 0.001). The pooled results also demonstrated that a low GNRI was correlated with poor OS (HR: 2.052; 95% CI: 1.726–2.440, p < 0.001) and CSS (HR: 1.684; 95% CI: 1.249–2.270, p = 0.001) in patients who underwent stomach cancer surgery. Postoperative complications were more likely to occur in patients with a low GNRI, as opposed to those with a high GNRI (OR: 1.768; 95% CI: 1.445–2.163, p < 0.001). There was no evidence of significant heterogeneity, and the sensitivity analysis supported the stability and dependability of the above results. the GNRI is a valuable predictor of long-term outcomes and complications in stomach cancer patients undergoing surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the real-world scenario, data often have a long-tailed distribution and training deep neural networks on such an imbalanced dataset has become a great challenge. The main problem caused by a long-tailed data distribution is that common classes will dominate the training results and achieve a very low accuracy on the rare classes. Recent work focuses on improving the network representation ability to overcome the long-tailed problem, while it always ignores adapting the network classifier to a long-tailed case, which will cause the "incompatibility" problem of network representation and network classifier. In this paper, we use knowledge distillation to solve the long-tailed data distribution problem and fully optimize the network representation and classifier simultaneously. We propose multiexperts knowledge distillation with class-balanced sampling to jointly learn high-quality network representation and classifier. Also, a channel activation-based knowledge distillation method is also proposed to improve the performance further. State-of-the-art performance on several large-scale long-tailed classification datasets shows the superior generalization of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently constructed eggplant genome provides an opportunity for genome-wide marker exploration to be used for variety identification and genetic analysis. SNPs with high density across the genome and genetic stability are suitable for DNA fingerprint and genetic analysis. In this study, we used the eggplant reference genome of line 63/7 and resequencing data of 45 unique lines to select 219 genome-wide perfect SNPs in the eggplant. The high-throughput SNP genotyping technique target SNP-seq was used to successfully validate the 219 SNPs across 377 eggplant varieties to establish the unique DNA fingerprint for each variety. In addition, we chose 36 SNPs as a core SNP set with the ability to differentiate 95% of 377 eggplant varieties. Model-based structure and principal component analysis suggested three major population groups and indicated a significant impact of long-term selection for fruit shape in eggplant varieties. Further genetic diversity analysis within the three population groups showed a considerably narrow genetic background in round- and oval-fruited eggplants. This could be a result of limited choices of varieties used for breeding of round- and oval-fruited eggplants in Asia, indicated by its low observed heterozygosity (Ho) value (0.152) and high inbreeding coefficient (0.442). Finally, a genome-wide association study based on the 219 SNPs identified five associated SNPs located near the SUN and OVATE homologs, which had conserved function in controlling the fruit shape. This study signals a risk of genetic erosion in the round- and oval-fruited eggplants and provides valuable information for future variety management and breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1,7‐Bis(4‐hydroxyphenyl)‐1,4‐heptadien‐3‐one (EB30) is a diarylheptanoid‐like compound isolated from Viscum coloratum. This curcumin analog exhibits significant cytotoxic activity against HeLa, SGC‐7901, and MCF‐7 cells. However, little is known about the anticancer effects and mechanisms of EB30 in human lung cancer. The current study reports that EB30 significantly reduced the cell viability of A549 and NCI‐H292 human lung cancer cells. Further examination revealed that EB30 not only induced cell cycle arrest and promoted the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) but also induced cell apoptosis through the intrinsic and extrinsic signaling pathways. Furthermore, EB30 upregulated the expression levels of p‐ERK1/2 and p‐P90RSK, whereas downregulating the phosphorylation of Akt and P70RSK. Cell viability was further inhibited by the combination of EB30 with LY294002 (a specific PI3K inhibitor) or U0126 (a MEK inhibitor). The current study indicates that EB30 is a potential anticancer agent that induces cell apoptosis via suppression of the PI3K/Akt pathway and activation of the ERK1/2 pathway. The results of this study indicated that EB30 could decrease cell viability, induce apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest. The induction of apoptosis was found to be mediated through the mitochondrial intrinsic pathway and extrinsic pathway. The apoptotic effects of EB30 were mediated by suppressing the PI3K/Akt pathway, whereas activating the ERK1/2 signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein hydrolyzation is activated and involved in response to various stress signals. In the present study, a full-length cDNA, named MsCP1, encoding a papain-like cysteine protease was obtained by degenerated primers and 3'- and 5'-RACE from salt-tolerant alfalfa. The cDNA contained an open reading frame encoding a deduced protein of 350 amino acids with a putative N-terminal signal peptide, NPIR vacuole-sorting signal sequence and potential N-linked glycosylation sites. The deduced sequence showed a high similarity to deduced proteins from pea, tobacco, tomato and ryegrass. Fusion expression analysis in Escherichia coli showed that the putative eukaryotic signal peptide prevented its expression in prokaryotic system. The integration and transcript of the expression elements in transgenic tobacco plants were detected with Southern blot and RT-PCR analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pyrolytic carbon black (PCB) made from used tires was used in styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). The basic properties of PCB were characterized. The effects of PCB on the processing properties of SBR compounds and the mechanical properties of vulcanizates were investigated and compared with other traditional fillers. The results showed that the chemical composition of PCB was mainly C, O, S, Zn and Si. The content of ash wa as much as 13.3%. The SEM photos showed that the primary particle size of PCB was smaller than that of N774, but the aggregate size was larger than that of N774. The effect of PCB on the processing properties of SBR compounds was similar to that of other fillers. The reinforcing effect of PCB was similar to that of N774, but inferior to that of N330. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]