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Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys show high degrees of biocompatibility and biodegradability, used as biodegrad able materials in biomedical applications. In this study, Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) - mineralized collagen (nano-Hydroxyapatite/collagen; nHAC)/Mg-Ca composite materials were prepared, to study the angiogenesis ability of its composite materials on Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and its osteogenesis effect in vivo. The results showed that the PMMA-nHAC reinforcement materials can promote the proliferation and adhesion in HUVECs of Mg matrix significantly, it can enhance the migration motility and VEGF expression of HUVECs. In vivo, Micro-CT examination showed that with coated samples presenting the highest bone formation. Histologically, the materials and their corrosion products caused no systematic or local cytotoxicological effects. Therefore, the Mg matrix composites prepared in the present study has good biocompatibility and PMMA-nHAC/Mg-Ca composite may be an ideal orthopedic material to improve the bone formation, and biodegradable magnesium based implants with bioactivity have potential applications in bone tissue.

Owing to their excellent properties, magnesium alloys are widely used in bone tissue engineering. However, considerable work has been conducted to control the degradation rate and improve the cytocompatibility of magnesium alloys. In this study, low-cost production introduced a new bone repair composite (PCL-nHAC/Mg-Ca), which was composed of nano-hydroxylapatite-collagen (nHAC), polycaprolactone (PCL) and Mg-Ca alloy substrate treated by micro- arc oxidation (MAO). The experimental results showed that compared with the Mg-Ca alloy treated by MAO alone, the PCL-nHAC/Mg-Ca composite has a porous structure and a slower degradation rate. Cell experiments showed that the PCL-nHAC/Mg-Ca composite had good biocompatibility and significantly enhanced the proliferation of the MC3T3-E1 cells. The rabbit skull defect model further proved that the PCL-nHAC/Mg-Ca composite could regulate the degradation rate of the Mg-Ca alloy and promote the formation of bone tissue. Histological analyses showed that the PCL-nHAC/Mg-Ca composite had good stability in vivo and could better accelerate bone formation.

This study aims to compare the clinical efficacy of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral asymmetric compression fracture (OVACF).This study retrospectively reviewed the patients who were diagnosed with OVACF between September 2015 and July 2019. Forty-one patients received PVP surgery (group A), and 44 patients received PKP surgery (group B). The visual analog scale, Oswestry Disability Index, scoliosis angle (SA), height of long side, height of short side (HS), and lateral height difference (LHD) before operation and 3 days and 1 year after operation were compared between both groups. The operation time, fluoroscopic time, hospital stay, cement volume, and complications were also compared between both groups.The visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index differed significantly between the groups 1 year after operation (P0.05). Compared with the preoperative results, there were significant differences in SA, height of long side, HS, and LHD 3 days and 1 year after operation (P0.05). Compared with group A, group B showed significantly better in SA, HS, and LHD in group B 3 days and 1 year after operation (P0.05). More patients in group A suffered cement leakage and scoliosis than group B after operation (P0.05).In our study, PVP and PKP are both effective in the treatment of OVACF, but PKP surgery had better long-term clinical efficacy.

The rapid development of computers makes people’s production and life rich and colorful, and people communicate with each other in the world of the Internet. The daily downloads and uploads of network pictures are countless. The existing image recognition technology alone cannot meet the currently required functions, so technology is needed to meet the retrieval requirements. The purpose of this paper is to study the image recognition technology based on the computer platform. This paper takes vehicle image recognition as an example. By performing a deblurring operation on the vehicle image, the edge detection method is used to separate the target vehicle image from the background, and the image is binary. Processing. Based on different eigenvalue categories, intelligent recognition of vehicle models is achieved through Bayesian classifiers. Collect experimental data through simulation experiments. Experimental data shows that after a certain number of nodes, the recognition efficiency is higher than the image recognition technology running on a stand-alone platform. The experimental data show that the image recognition technology based on a cloud computing platform is conducive to the development of image recognition technology. It can quickly solve the problems of traditional image detection systems in terms of computing efficiency and data processing ability, and has guiding significance for the development of image recognition technology.

The intestinal tract, with high expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is a major site of extrapulmonary infection in COVID-19. During pulmonary infection, the virus enters the bloodstream forming viremia, which infects and damages extrapulmonary organs. Uncontrolled viral infection induces cytokine storm and promotes a hypercoagulable state, leading to systemic microthrombi. Both viral infection and microthrombi can damage the gut–blood barrier, resulting in malabsorption, malnutrition, and intestinal flora entering the blood, ultimately increasing disease severity and mortality. Early prophylactic antithrombotic therapy can prevent these damages, thereby reducing mortality. In this review, we discuss the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and intestinal thrombosis on intestinal injury and disease severity, as well as corresponding treatment strategies.

Tumor progression and cancer metastasis has been linked to the release of microparticles (MPs), which are shed upon cell activation or apoptosis and display parental cell antigens, phospholipids such as phosphatidylserine (PS), and nucleic acids on their external surfaces. In this review, we highlight the biogenesis of MPs as well as the pathophysiological processes of PS externalization and its involvement in coagulation activation. We review the available evidence, suggesting that coagulation factors (mainly tissue factor, thrombin, and fibrin) assist in multiple steps of tumor dissemination, including epithelial–mesenchymal transition, extracellular matrix remodeling, immune escape, and tumor angiogenesis to support the formation of the pre-metastatic niche. Platelets are not just bystander cells in circulation but are functional players in primary tumor growth and metastasis. Tumor-induced platelet aggregation protects circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood flow shear forces and immune cell attack while also promoting the binding of CTCs to endothelial cells and extravasation, which activates tumor invasion and sustains metastasis. Finally, in terms of therapy, lactadherin can inhibit coagulation by competing effectively with coagulation factors for PS binding sites and may similarly delay tumor progression. Furthermore, we also investigate the therapeutic potential of coagulation factor inhibitors within the context of cancer treatment. The development of multiple therapies targeting platelet activation and platelet–tumor cell interactions may not only reduce the lethal consequences of thrombosis but also impede tumor growth and spread.

Lung injury may persist during the recovery period of COVID-19 as shown through imaging, six-minute walk, and lung function tests. The pathophysiological mechanisms leading to long COVID have not been adequately explained. Our aim is to investigate the basis of pulmonary susceptibility during sequelae and the possibility that prothrombotic states may influence long-term pulmonary symptoms of COVID-19. The patient’s lungs remain vulnerable during the recovery stage due to persistent shedding of the virus, the inflammatory environment, the prothrombotic state, and injury and subsequent repair of the blood-air barrier. The transformation of inflammation to proliferation and fibrosis, hypoxia-involved vascular remodeling, vascular endothelial cell damage, phosphatidylserine-involved hypercoagulability, and continuous changes in serological markers all contribute to post-discharge lung injury. Considering the important role of microthrombus and arteriovenous thrombus in the process of pulmonary functional lesions to organic lesions, we further study the possibility that prothrombotic states, including pulmonary vascular endothelial cell activation and hypercoagulability, may affect long-term pulmonary symptoms in long COVID. Early use of combined anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy is a promising approach to reduce the incidence of pulmonary sequelae. Essentially, early treatment can block the occurrence of thrombotic events. Because impeded pulmonary circulation causes large pressure imbalances over the alveolar membrane leading to the infiltration of plasma into the alveolar cavity, inhibition of thrombotic events can prevent pulmonary hypertension, formation of lung hyaline membranes, and lung consolidation.

Many discharged COVID-19 patients affected by sequelae experience reduced quality of life leading to an increased burden on the healthcare system, their families and society at large. Possible pathophysiological mechanisms of long COVID include: persistent viral replication, chronic hypoxia and inflammation. Ongoing vascular endothelial damage promotes platelet adhesion and coagulation, resulting in the impairment of various organ functions. Meanwhile, thrombosis will further aggravate vasculitis contributing to further deterioration. Thus, long COVID is essentially a thrombotic sequela. Unfortunately, there is currently no effective treatment for long COVID. This article summarizes the evidence for coagulation abnormalities in long COVID, with a focus on the pathophysiological mechanisms of thrombosis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by various types of cells can carry SARS-CoV-2 through the circulation and attack distant tissues and organs. Furthermore, EVs express tissue factor and phosphatidylserine (PS) which aggravate thrombosis. Given the persistence of the virus, chronic inflammation and endothelial damage are inevitable. Pulmonary structural changes such as hypertension, embolism and fibrosis are common in long COVID. The resulting impaired lung function and chronic hypoxia again aggravates vascular inflammation and coagulation abnormalities. In this article, we also summarize recent research on antithrombotic therapy in COVID-19. There is increasing evidence that early anticoagulation can be effective in improving outcomes. In fact, persistent systemic vascular inflammation and dysfunction caused by thrombosis are key factors driving various complications of long COVID. Early prophylactic anticoagulation can prevent the release of or remove procoagulant substances, thereby protecting the vascular endothelium from damage, reducing thrombotic sequelae, and improving quality of life for long-COVID patients.

Magnesium (Mg) alloy with good mechanical properties and biodegradability is considered as one of the ideal bone repair materials. However, the rapid corrosion of Mg-based metals can pose harm to the function of an implant in clinical applications. In this study, micro-arc oxidation coating was prepared on the surface of the Mg–Ca matrix, then the chitosan and mineralized collagen (nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen; nHAC) were immobilized on the surface of the MAO/Mg–Ca matrix to construct the CS-nHAC/Mg–Ca composites of different component proportions (the ratio of CS to nHAC is 2:1, 1:1, and 1:2, respectively). The corrosion resistance, osteogenic activity, and angiogenic ability were extensively investigated. The results indicated that the CS-nHAC reinforcement materials can improve the corrosion resistance of the Mg matrix significantly and promote the proliferation and adhesion of mouse embryo osteoblast precursor cells (MC3T3-E1) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). In addition, the CS-nHAC/Mg–Ca composites can not only promote the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and extracellular matrix mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells but also enhance the migration motility and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression of HUVECs. Meanwhile, the 2CS-1nHAC/Mg–Ca composite exhibited the optimum function characteristics compared with other samples. Therefore, considering the improvement of corrosion resistance and biocompatibility, the CS-nHAC/Mg–Ca composites are expected to be a promising orthopedic implant.

Smart factories face the opportunities and challenges brought by globalization and new technologies, which requires flexible and practical approaches to lean manufacturing and optimization. The asset administration shell (AAS) is expected to help factories better cope with new challenges throughout the life cycle. This paper proposes a methodological framework for building AAS for the whole lifecycle of a smart factory. Based on the AAS methodological framework, the theory study of smart factories is developed.

Vortex structures are very popular research objects in turbulent boundary layers (TBLs) because of their prime importance in turbulence modelling. This work performs a tomographic particle image velocimetry measurement on the near-wall region ($y) of TBLs at three Reynolds numbers $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}=1238$, 2286 and 3081. The main attention is paid to the wall-normal evolution of the vortex geometries and topologies. The vortex is identified with swirl strength ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{ci}$), and its orientation is recognized by using the real eigenvector of the velocity gradient tensor. The vortex inclination angles in the streamwise–wall-normal plane and in the streamwise–spanwise plane as functions of wall-normal positions are investigated, which provide useful information to speculate on the three-dimensional shape of the vortex tubes in a TBL. The difference between the orientations of vorticity and swirl is discussed and their inherent relationship is revealed based on the governing equation of vorticity. Linear stochastic estimation (LSE) is further deployed to directly extract three-dimensional vortex models. The LSE velocity fields for ejection events happening at different wall-normal positions shed light on the evolution of the topologies for the vortices dominating ejection events. LSE based on a centred prograde spanwise vortex provides a typical packet model, which indicates that the population density of the packets in a TBL is large enough to leave footprints in conditionally averaged flow fields. This work should help to settle the severe debate on the existence of packet structures and also lays some foundation for the TBL model theory.

Numerous investigations aiming to reveal the underlying physics behind complex flows highlighted the important roles of vortices. This article proposes an integrative algorithm for visualizing and quantifying the vortices in three-dimensional flows. The algorithm not only extracts the vortex centerlines but also returns the vortex radii and circulations varying along the centerlines. The novel aspect of this algorithm is to represent the vortex field as a collection of discrete vortex atoms. By iteratively updating the positions of these vortex atoms, the algorithm manipulates them into marching toward the underlying vortex centerlines. The radii and circulations varying along the centerlines are estimated based on the vortex atoms converged on the vortex centerlines. The accuracy and robustness of the algorithm are first accessed by numerical tests based on a synthetic vortex ring. Subsequently, the algorithm is employed to investigate the complex vortices in a turbulent boundary layer, validating the scaling law of the vortices reported in the literature. At last, the algorithm is applied to the three-dimensional experimental data of the wake flow behind a wall-mounted hemisphere. It concludes that the algorithm can be used as an effective tool for analyzing vortices in complex flows.

Circulating neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) resistant to t-PA have not been studied completely although NETs in thrombi may contribute to tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) resistance. This research intended to elucidate whether circulating NETs are associated with t-PA resistance and the underlying mechanism. The levels of NETs were detected in the circulating neutrophils, ischemic brain tissue of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients, and transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) models. NET formation in blood, thrombi, and ischemic brain tissue of mice were analyzed by immunofluorescence. Exposed phosphatidylserine (PS) was assessed using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Procoagulant activity (PCA) was evaluated using fibrin formation assays, thrombin, and purified coagulation complex. The plasma levels of NETs in AIS patients were significantly higher than those in healthy individuals. After thrombolysis, a significant increase was noted in NET markers in no-improvement patients, while the changes in improvement patients were not significant. Importantly, NETs were decorated with von Willebrand factor (vWF) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in the blood and thrombi, which could reverse the fibrinolytic effects. In addition, NETs activated platelets (PLTs) and endothelial cells (ECs), stimulating a procoagulant phenotype and facilitating vWF and PAI-1 release. DNase I, activated protein C (APC), and sivelestat markedly inhibited these effects. Furthermore, targeting NETs protected mice from tMCAO-induced cerebral ischemia, possibly by regulating vWF and PAI-1. In summary, NETs may contribute to t-PA resistance in AIS through activation of PLTs and ECs. Strategies against NETs may present a promising therapeutic approach to improve the thrombolysis efficiency of t-PA in AIS patients.

Representing complex flows by evolving vortex structures is an important principle in many investigations of wall-bounded turbulence. The practice of this principle benefits from the bi-directional transformation between the velocity field and the corresponding vortex field. While the velocity-to-vortex transformation could be implemented by various vortex identification criteria, few efforts have been devoted to the inverse process. This work develops a linear reconstruction method, which allows an effective reconstruction for the velocity field of wall turbulence based on a given vortex field. The vortex field is defined as a vector field by combining the swirl strength and the real eigenvector of the velocity gradient tensor. The reconstructed velocity fields are calculated by convolution operations on the vortex fields, with the kernel functions derived by the field-based linear stochastic estimation. The method can effectively recover the turbulent motions in a large scale range, showing clear advantages over the Biot–Savart formula in the near-wall region. The method is also employed to investigate the inducing effects of vortices at different heights. The wall-bounding effect on the induced motions is observed from the contribution spectra of vortices. The higher-order moments of the reconstructed streamwise velocity component present larger deviations from the original data, which is discussed and explained reasonably. At last, the vortex fields filtered by prescribed thresholds are employed to reconstruct the velocity fields. It is found that the strongest vortex components occupying 5 % of the total volume can reasonably recover the main flow features including both the near-wall streaks and the large-scale motions.

High-level synthesis (HLS) tools have greatly improved the development efficiency of FPGA accelerators in many application areas. With the HLS tools, FPGA designers can focus more on algorithm specifications using software languages such as C/C++, OpenCL, and Python. However, due to the fact that CPU-oriented software languages are designed to describe sequential execution, the repurposing of these languages yields insufficient support for describing parallel data execution and flexible spatial structures on FPGA architecture. To strengthen HLS’s ability to describe configurable algorithmlevel spatial structures, we propose fusing hardware-friendly design patterns, namely high-level descriptive language, into imperative programming model on Python.

AlY alloys have many advantages and are widely used; nevertheless, few studies have been conducted on their mechanical properties. Dislocations strongly affect the properties of such materials, and therefore, the study of their core structure is fundamental to understanding their mechanical properties. In this study, we investigated the dislocation core characteristics of B2–AlY in the {110} plane through a truncated approximation method. The results show that the core width of an edge dislocation in the direction is more significant than those in the and directions. This proves that the slip system of AlY is in the {110} direction. In addition, we evaluated the dissociation widths of two partial dislocations, based on which the superdislocation can be decomposed. The Peierls stress and the Peierls energy of the Burgers vectors in the {110}, {110}, and {110} directions are also investigated. Our results show that as the dislocation angle increases, the elastic strain energy, misfit energy, Peierls energy, and Peierls stress decrease.

BACKGROUND Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients are at a high risk of developing venous thromboembolism, with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. The role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in procoagulant activity (PCA) in patients with NASH remains unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the formation of NETs in NASH patients stimulated by specific pro-inflammatory factors. Moreover, we evaluated the pivotal role of NETs in the induction of hypercoagulability in NASH and the interaction between NETs and endothelial injury. METHOD The levels of the NETs biomarkers were evaluated in the plasma samples of 27 NASH patients and 18 healthy subjects. The formation of NETs was visualized using immunofluorescence microscopy. The PCA of the NETs was assessed using coagulation time, purified coagulation complex, and fibrin formation assays. Confocal microscopy was further used to evaluate the interactions between the NETs and HUVECs. RESULTS The levels of NETs markers in the plasma of NASH patients were significantly higher than healthy controls. NETs derived from NASH enhanced thrombin and fibrin formation and significantly reduced CT (p

Tomographic particle image velocimetry (TPIV) measurement with six high-resolution charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras is conducted to investigate flow structures over a finite circular cylinder with an aspect ratio of 2 ($h/d=2$). This short wall-mounted cylinder is fully immersed in a thick turbulent boundary layer ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}/h=1.025$). Focus is placed on the three-dimensional instantaneous vortex structures and their dynamic characteristics in the wake flow fields. Based on the present results, a refined topological model of the mean wake field behind the finite circular cylinder is proposed, where the spatial locations of the typical vortex structures and their interactions are described in more detail. Among the reported typical vortex structures (i.e. the horseshoe, tip, base, trailing and arch vortex), emphasis is laid on discussion of the tip and arch vortex. The instantaneous 3D M-shape arch vortex and an alternating large-scale streamwise vortex are first found in the present experiment, and their developments are also discussed. Therefore, it is suggested that the instantaneous finite-cylinder wake is dominated by the arch vortex system and the large-scale streamwise vortices. Moreover, in the instantaneous volumetric flow fields, both the antisymmetric and the symmetric wake behaviours are observed. With proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis, the dynamic characteristics of the wake field are clarified. Different from the flow around an infinite cylinder without control, the third and fourth POD modes are characterized by low-frequency symmetric shedding. The low-frequency feature shown in the second mode pair is observed and associated with the occurrence of instantaneous symmetric 3D wake behaviour triggered by the low-aspect-ratio effect and the extension of the separated shear layer. The low frequency seems be attributed to the flapping phenomenon, i.e. oscillation of the recirculation in the backward-facing step flow. It is found that the flapping motion has a modulating effect on the occurrence of the antisymmetric shedding vortex and thus the large-scale streamwise vortex.

This study was aimed at assessing the effects of the porous mineralized collagen plug with or without the bilayer mineralized collagen-guided bone regeneration membrane on alveolar ridge preservation in dogs. The third premolars in the bilateral maxilla of mongrel dogs ( N = 12) were extracted. Twenty-four alveolar sockets were thus randomly divided into three groups: membrane + collagen plug (MP, n = 8), nonmembrane + collagen plug (NP, n = 8) and blank group without any implantation (BG, n = 8). Radiographic assessment was carried out immediately and in the 2nd, 6th, and 12th week after surgery. The bone-repairing effects of the two grafts were respectively evaluated by clinical observation, X-ray micro-computed tomography examination, and histological analysis in the 8th and 12th week after surgery. Three groups presented excellent osseointegration without any inflammation or dehiscence. X-ray micro-computed tomography and histological assessment indicated that the ratios of new bone formation of MP group were significantly higher than those of NP group and BG group in the 8th and 12th week after surgery ( P 0.05). As a result, the porous mineralized collagen plug with or without the bilayer mineralized collagen-guided bone regeneration membrane could reduce the absorption of alveolar ridge compared to BG group, and the combined use of porous mineralized collagen plug and bilayer mineralized collagen-guided bone regeneration could further improve the activity of bone regeneration.

To solve the problem of rapid degradation for magnesium-based implants, surface modification especially coating method is widely studied and showed the great potential for clinical application. However, as concerned to the further application and medical translation for biodegradable magnesium alloys, there are still lack of data and comparisons among different coatings on their degradation and biological properties. This work studied three commonly used coatings on Mg-Sr alloy, including micro-arc oxidation coating, electrodeposition coating and chemical conversion coating, and compared these coatings for requirements of favorable degradation and biological performances, how each of these coating systems has performed. Finally the mechanism for the discrepancy between these coatings is proposed. The results indicate that the micro-arc oxidation coating on Mg-Sr alloy exhibited the best corrosion resistance and cell response among these coatings, and is proved to be more suitable for the orthopedic application.

The exploding complexity and computation efficiency requirements of applications are stimulating a strong demand for hardware acceleration with heterogeneous platforms such as FPGAs. However, a high-quality FPGA design is very hard to create and optimize as it requires FPGA expertise and a long design iteration time. In contrast, software applications are typically developed in a short development cycle, with high-level languages like Python, which have much higher levels of abstraction than all existing hardware design flows. To close this gap between hardware design flows and software applications, and simplify FPGA programming, we create PyLog, a high-level, algorithm-centric Python-based programming and synthesis flow for FPGA. PyLog is powered by a set of compiler optimization passes and a type inference system to generate high-quality hardware design. It abstracts away the implementation details, and allows designers to focus on algorithm specification. PyLog takes in Python functions, generates PyLog intermediate representation (PyLog IR), performs several optimization passes, including pragma insertion, design space exploration, and memory customization, etc., and creates complete FPGA system designs. PyLog also has a runtime that allows users to run the PyLog code directly on the target FPGA platform without any extra code development. The whole design flow is automated. Evaluation shows that PyLog significantly improves FPGA design productivity and generates highly efficient FPGA designs that outperform highly optimized CPU implementation and state-of-the-art FPGA implementation by $3.17\times$ 3 . 17 × and $1.24\times$ 1 . 24 × on average.

Background Increasing evidence suggests a critical role for long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) and pseudogenes in cancer. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common primary renal neoplasm, is highly aggressive and difficult to treat because of its resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Despite many identified LncRNAs and pseudogenes, few have been clearly elucidated. Methods This study provides new insights into LncRNAs and pseudogenes in the prognosis of RCC. We searched an online database to interrogate alterations and clinical data on cBioPortal. We analysed LncRNA and pseudogene signatures to predict the prognosis of RCC based on a Cox model. We also found potential serum biomarkers of RCC and validated them in 32 RCC patients, as well as healthy controls. Results Alterations were found in 2553 LncRNAs and 8901 pseudogenes and occurred in up to 23% of all cases. Among these, 27 LncRNAs and 45 pseudogenes were closely related to prognosis. We also identified signatures of LncRNAs and pseudogenes that can predict overall survival and recurrence of RCC. We then validated the relative levels of these LncRNAs and pseudogenes in the serum of 32 patients. Six of these, including LINC00520, PIK3CD-AS1, LINC01559, CEACAM22P, MSL3P1 and TREML3P, could be non-invasive biomarkers of RCC. Finally, we selected PIK3CD-AS1 to determine its role in RCC and found that upregulation of PIK3CD-AS1 was closely associated with higher tumour stage and metastasis. Conclusions These signatures of LncRNAs and pseudogenes can predict overall survival and recurrence of RCC. LINC00520, PIK3CD-AS1, LINC01559, CEACAM22P, MSL3P1 and TREML3P could be non-invasive biomarkers of RCC. These data suggest the important roles of LncRNAs and pseudogenes in RCC, and therefore provides us new insights into the prognosis of RCC. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12935-018-0652-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Aim: This study aims the potential gene involved in the metastasis of prostate cancer (Pca). Methods: PubMed GEO datasets (GSE6605 and GSE6606) were downloaded. We used multiple bioinformatics methods to screen differentially expressed genes in Pca. Gene network was built by STRING and visualized by Cytoscape. All of the hub genes were analyzed by cBioPortal. Inhibition of CDK2 including siRNA, inhibitor and cas9-induced CDK2 knockout was followed by an invasion assay. Downstream genes of CDK2 were analyzed by western blot. Results: Sequencing data were analyzed to screen the genes with expression alterations. The top genes were validated in our samples. 11 hub genes were screened out. Among these genes, STAT3 and CDK2 were significantly associated with recurrence. Further study suggested that inhibition of CDK2 reduced invasion of Pca cell lines. The invasion ability was rescued after reintroduction of CDK2. Conclusion: These data indicated that CDK2 was a crucial factor in metastasis of Pca and might be a novel therapy target. [Formula: see text]

Forcing the experimental volumetric velocity fields to satisfy mass conversation principles has been proved beneficial for improving the quality of measured data. A number of correction methods including the divergence correction scheme (DCS) have been proposed to remove divergence errors from measurement velocity fields. For tomographic particle image velocimetry (TPIV) data, the measurement uncertainty for the velocity component along the light thickness direction is typically much larger than for the other two components. Such biased measurement errors would weaken the performance of traditional correction methods. The paper proposes a variant for the existing DCS by adding weighting coefficients to the three velocity components, named as the weighting DCS (WDCS). The generalized cross validation (GCV) method is employed to choose the suitable weighting coefficients. A fast algorithm for DCS or WDCS is developed, making the correction process significantly low-cost to implement. WDCS has strong advantages when correcting velocity components with biased noise levels. Numerical tests validate the accuracy and efficiency of the fast algorithm, the effectiveness of GCV method, and the advantages of WDCS. Lastly, DCS and WDCS are employed to process experimental velocity fields from the TPIV measurement of a turbulent boundary layer. This shows that WDCS achieves a better performance than DCS in improving some flow statistics.

The bone formation feasibility by a novel magnesium alloy device was evaluated using a canine vertical mandibular distraction osteogenesis (DO) model. Osteotomies were performed in the area where last 3 star׳s teeth of left mandibular were pulled out before 3 months. Both AZ31 magnesium alloy (n=6) and 316L stainless steel (n=6) distraction devices were implanted. The distraction osteogenesis was carried out with a latency of 5 days after mandibular osteotomy. Distraction proceeded at a rate of 0.3 mm/8 h for 7 days and followed by 4 weeks of consolidations. The evaluations were conducted by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histological examinations. There were osteoblasts and trabecular bones formations manifestly in both groups. There was no significant difference in the bone mineral density between the two groups. The surface of the magnesium alloy was much more cracked and uneven, resulting from the surface pitting corrosion. The crew nails were closely combined with the surrounding bone tissue. AZ31 magnesium alloy exhibited a certain degradation rate in mandibular and did not post a negative effect on the kidney and liver. The observations in magnesium alloys group is consistent with the stainless steel group.

The paper reported the controlled synthesis of dumbbell-style AuPd and dendrite-like AuPt by a simple seed-mediated growth method, respectively. The composition and performances of the resulting nanomaterials were measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), UV–vis absorption spectroscopy (UV–vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical methods. Moreover, the dumbbell-style AuPd modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) showed excellent electrocatalytic ability towards nitrite with a fairly wide concentration range from 2 μM to 4200 μM and a 0.67 μM detection limit. The dendrite-like AuPt modified GCE showed excellent electrocatalytic ability towards tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) with a linear range from 0.35 μM to 625 μM and a relatively low detection limit of 0.075 μM. The electrochemical testing results exhibited the two kinds of sensors, Au3Pd4/GCE and Au3Pt3/GCE, possessed accepted selectivity, long-term stability and good reproducibility. Thus, the proposed two sensors could be applied in the determination of food samples. It is expected that the unique AuPd and AuPt are promising materials, which have great potential application in many fields of clinical diagnosis, new energy technologies, catalysis and sensors.

Particle image velocimetry (PIV)-based pressure reconstruction has become a popular technique in experimental fluid mechanics. Noise or errors in raw velocity field would significantly affect the quality of pressure reconstruction in PIV measurement. To reduce experimental errors in pressure gradient and improve the precision of reconstructed pressure field, a minimal 2-norm criteria-based new technique called irrotation correction (IC) with orthogonal decomposition is developed. The pressure reconstruction is therefore composed of three steps: calculation of pressure gradient from time-resolved velocity fields of PIV, an irrotation correction on the pressure gradient field, and finally a simple orthogonal-path integration (OPI) for pressure. Systematic assessments of IC algorithm are performed on synthetic solid-body rotation flow, direct numerical simulations of a channel flow and an isotropic turbulent flow. The results show that IC is a robust algorithm which can significantly improve the accuracy of pressure reconstruction primarily in the low wave number domain. After irrotation correction, noisy pressure gradient field ideally becomes an irrotational field on which the pressure integration is independent of integrating paths. Therefore, an OPI algorithm is proposed to perform the pressure integration in an efficient way with very few integration paths. This makes the new technique to be a doable method on three-dimensional pressure reconstruction with acceptable computational cost.

Volumetric measurement for the leading-edge vortex (LEV) breakdown of a delta wing has been conducted by three-dimensional (3D) flow visualization and tomographic particle image velocimetry (TPIV). The 3D flow visualization is employed to show the vortex structures, which was recorded by four cameras with high resolution. 3D dye streaklines of the visualization are reconstructed using a similar way of particle reconstruction in TPIV. Tomographic PIV is carried out at the same time using same cameras with the dye visualization. Q criterion is employed to identify the LEV. Results of tomographic PIV agree well with the reconstructed 3D dye streaklines, which proves the validity of the measurements. The time-averaged flow field based on TPIV is shown and described by sections of velocity and streamwise vorticity. Combining the two measurement methods sheds light on the complex structures of both bubble type and spiral type of breakdown. The breakdown position is recognized by investigating both the streaklines and TPIV velocity fields. Proper orthogonal decomposition is applied to extract a pair of conjugated helical instability modes from TPIV data. Therefore, the dominant frequency of the instability modes is obtained from the corresponding POD coefficients of the modes based on wavelet transform analysis.

To compare the effect of bone regeneration with two different ratios of nano-hydroxyapatite(nHA)/collagen(Col) (nHAC) after tooth extraction in canine.Two kinds of nHAC grafts were prepared with different nHA/collagen ratio of 3∶7 and 5∶5. Eighteen male healthy adult dogs had been randomly divided into three groups. Immediately after extraction of the mandibular second premolars, each kind of nHAC was implanted into extraction sockets as follow: Group A, nHA/Col=3∶7(12 sites); Group B, nHA/Col=5∶5(12 sites); Group C, blank control group(12 sites). The bone repairing abilities of the two grafts such as vertical distance of alveolar, CT values, general observation, histological observation, trabecular volume fraction and porosity were separately analyzed at 1st, 3rd and 6th month, respectively (each group had 4 sites in different time periods).nHAC were absorbed gradually after they were implanted into alveolar bone defect and were replaced by new bone. The vertical distance of alveolar bone in Group A([15.76±0.28] mm) was significant higher than that in Group B([14.88±0.36] mm), and CT values of Group A([879±31] HU) were higher than those in Group B([718±29] HU) (P0.05). The trabecular bone volume percentage of Group A([22.2±0.4]%) was higher than that in Group B([20.3±0.4]%), and the bone porosity of Group A([23.6±0.9]%) was lower than that in Group B([27.6±0.6]%) (P0.05). In addition, the vertical distance, CT values and the trabecular bone volume percentage of Group C was lower than those in Group A and B, but the bone porosity of Group C was higher.The nHAC with nHA/collagen ratio of 3∶7 could better promote bone regeneration than nHAC with the nHA/collagen ratio of 5∶5 did.

This paper proposes a divergence-free smoothing (DFS) method for the post-process of volumetric particle image velocimetry (PIV) data, which can smooth out noise and divergence error at the same time. The method is a combination of the penalized least squares regression and the divergence corrective scheme (DCS), employing the generalized cross-validation method to automatically determine the best smoothing parameter. By introducing a weight-changing algorithm similar to the all-in-one method, a robust version of DFS can simultaneously deal with vector validation, replacement of outliers and missing vectors, smoothing, and zero-divergence correction of the velocity field. Direct numerical simulation data of turbulent channel flow (Johns Hopkins Turbulence Databases) added with artificial noise, outliers and missing vectors are used to test the accuracy of DFS. The results show that DFS can smooth the velocity field to divergence-free and performs better than the all-in-one method, DCS and some other available conventional processing methods for post-process of velocity field, especially in dealing with clustered outliers and missing vectors. A block DFS is suggested to process large velocity field to save both time and memory. Tests on tomographic PIV data validate the effectiveness of DFS on improving both flow statistics and flow visualization.

To determine if locally administered bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) improved osteogenesis and new bone formation by trans-sutural distraction osteogenesis.Twenty four dogs were divided into three groups randomly and received new internal trans-sutural distraction osteogenesis treatment. Five days after operation, infusion apparatus with double-tube was inserted to submucosa near the distracted zone to deliver controlled release agent of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2/poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid)/fibrin sealant (rhBMP-2/PLGA/FS) in group A and group C. Recombinant human osteoprotegerin/fibrin sealant (rhOPG/ FS) was injected three weeks later in group B and group C. Histology staining and bone histomorphometry were used to measure the changes of maxillary bone sutura after distraction for 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks.New bone formation observed in distracted zone showed a significant increase in group A and C. Transmission electron microscope showed the osteoblast and osteocyte were active with dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum and a large number of chondriosomes and Golgi complex. After distraction for 6 weeks, indexes of osteoblast of group A, B, and C were 38.5 +/- 7.7, 35.7 +/- 6.5, and 41.7 +/- 11.0, indexes of osteoclast (Ioc) were 5.9 +/- 1.0, 1.2 +/- 0.3, and 2.8 +/- 0.4, bone trabecula thicknesses were (38.36 +/- 13.28), (66.20 +/- 9.16), and (51.85 +/- 9.92) microm respectively. Increased bone density and decreased Ioc were found in group B and C.The new elastic distractor is effective in inducing new bone formation. BMP-2 and OPG combination acts synergistically, and leads to significant enhancement of bone formation and remodeling.

Digital fingerprinting is an emerging technology to protect the digital data from illegal redistribution by dishonest customer, where each distributed copy is labeled with unique identification information. Industry design map is one of the most important digital assets for both of the designer and company. However, industry design maps are usually used for unintended purposes by those dishonest customers. Piracy of industry design map becomes increasingly rampant in recent years, since the dishonest customer can easily duplicate, modify and redistribute the received copy. How to effectively protect the costly industry design map from unauthorized using has become increasingly critical, especially considering the ease of manipulating digital industry design map and the open Internet environment. This paper proposed a secure and practical fingerprinting protocol for protecting the copyrighted industry design map. In the proposed scheme, the designer can trace the traitors from a pirated copy by means of the embedded unique fingerprint information, while the customer is immune of being framed due to the asymmetric property.

Based on the pharmacokinetic model of conventional agents, through introduction of sustained-release effect factor, we build a pharmacokinetic model of sustained-release agents so as to provide a new model of agents for clinical application. We discuss the properties of the new model and make a comparison with the conventional ones. By theoretical analysis and clinical data validation of metformin conventional agents and sustained-release ones, the model we build in this paper accords with the properties of sustained-release agents and it has practical value for clinical applications.

A multiple-input Triple-Half-Bridge (THB) bidirectional dc-dc converter is presented when this THB converter is applied to the fuel cell electrical vehicle drive system. A dual close-loop control system is designed through bode diagram. Decoupling network is designed to obtain better control performance. Finally, the analysis and design validation are verified through the experiment.