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ZF2001, a protein subunit vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), contains recombinant tandem repeat of dimeric receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with an aluminium-based adjuvant. During the development of this vaccine, two nonclinical studies were conducted to evaluate female fertility, embryo-fetal development, and postnatal developmental toxicity in Sprague‒Dawley rats according to the ICH S5 (R3) guideline. In Study 1 (embryo-fetal developmental toxicity, EFD), 144 virgin female rats were randomly assigned into four groups and received three doses of vaccine (25 μg or 50 μg RBD protein/dose, containing the aluminium-based adjuvant), the aluminium-based adjuvant or a sodium chloride injection administered intramuscularly on days 21 and 7 prior to mating and on gestation day (GD) 6. In Study 2 (pre- and postnatal developmental toxicity, PPND), ZF2001 at a dose of 25 μg RBD protein/dose or sodium chloride injection was administered intramuscularly to female rats (n = 28 per group) 7 days prior to mating and on GD 6, GD 20 and postnatal day (PND) 10. There were no obvious adverse effects in dams, except for local injection site reactions related to the aluminium-based adjuvant (yellow nodular deposits in the interstitial muscle fibres). There were also no effects of ZF2001 on the mating performance, fertility or reproductive performance of parental females, embryo-fetal development, postnatal survival, growth, physical development, reflex ontogeny, behavioural and neurofunctional development, or reproductive performance of the offspring. The strong immune responses associated with binding and neutralising antibodies were both confirmed in dams and fetuses or offspring in these two studies. These results would support clinical trials or the use of ZF2001 in maternal immunisation campaigns, including those involving women with childbearing potential, regardless of pregnancy status.

In August 1991, the book Chinese Nation’s Traditional Sports History was published, and it was hailed as the “masterpiece of Chinese folk sports” by academic circles. In this masterpiece, the traditional horsemanship of 23 ethnic minorities and that of 10 southern ethnic minorities represented by the Miao, Yi, Bai, Shui, Hani, Naxi, and other ethnic groups has been included. For the first time, this masterpiece integrates the traditional horsemanship of the ethnic minorities in Southern China in one volume. The disadvantage is that most of the included traditional horsemanship of ethnic minorities only made a brief introduction to the time, place, and form of its development. However, under the global trend of the transition from traditional society to modern society and post-modern society, the traditional horsemanship of ethnic minorities in Southern China is facing an increasingly serious crisis of inheritance and disconnection, resulting in a gradual extinction of related traditional cultural heritage. The characteristics are gradually lost because of it. Therefore, it is essential to return to the historical and cultural field of traditional horsemanship, conduct rescue excavation, sort out the traditional horsemanship of ethnic minorities in Southern China, rescue the records of traditional horsemanship that is disappearing or undergoing drastic changes, as well as carry out comparative studies on this basis. This is not only an important way to inherit the traditional culture of ethnic minorities, but also means to protect the diversity of ethnic cultures and promote the development of exotic villages.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is among the most important vegetables across the world, but cold stress usually affects its yield and quality. The wild tomato species Solanum habrochaites is commonly utilized as rootstock for enhancing resistance against abiotic stresses in cultivated tomato, especially cold resistance. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this research, we confirmed that S. habrochaites rootstock can improve the cold tolerance of cultivated tomato scions, as revealed by growth, physiological, and biochemical indicators. Furthermore, transcriptome profiling indicated significant differences in the scion of homo- and heterografted seedlings, including substantial changes in jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthesis and signaling, which were validated by RT–qPCR analysis. S. habrochaites plants had a high basal level of jasmonate, and cold stress caused a greater amount of active JA-isoleucine in S. habrochaites heterografts. Moreover, exogenous JA enhanced while JA inhibitor decreased the cold tolerance of tomato grafts. The JA biosynthesis-defective mutant spr8 also showed increased sensitivity to cold stress. All of these results demonstrated the significance of JA in the cold tolerance of grafted tomato seedlings with S. habrochaites rootstock, suggesting a future direction for the characterization of the natural variation involved in S. habrochaites rootstock-mediated cold tolerance.

Cohesin regulates sister chromatid cohesion but also contributes to chromosome folding by promoting the formation of chromatin loops, a process mediated by loop extrusion. Although PDS5 regulates cohesin dynamics on chromatin, the exact function of PDS5 in cohesin-mediated chromatin looping remains unclear. Two paralogs of PDS5 exist in vertebrates, PDS5A and PDS5B. Here we show that PDS5A and PDS5B co-localize with RAD21 and CTCF at loop anchors. Rapid PDS5A or PDS5B degradation in liver cancer cells using an inducible degron system reduces chromatin loops and increases loop size. RAD21 enrichment at loop anchors is decreased upon depletion of PDS5A or PDS5B. PDS5B loss also reduces CTCF signals at loop anchors and has a stronger effect on loop enlargement compared with PDS5A. Co-depletion of PDS5A and PDS5B reduces RAD21 levels at loop anchors although the amount of cohesin on chromatin is increased. Our study provides insight into how PDS5 proteins regulate cohesin-mediated chromatin looping.

Purpose The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular characteristics and potential resistance mechanisms of linezolid-resistant (LZR) Staphylococcus capitis isolates from a tertiary hospital in China. Methods S. capitis isolates were obtained from clinical patient specimens; three of the isolates came from blood cultures and one from the hydrothorax. The agar dilution and E-test methods were used to identify antibiotic resistance. The chloramphenicol-florfenicol resistance (cfr) gene carrier status of the strains was determined by PCR. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was used to identify point mutations and L3, L4, and L22 mutations and to study the genetic environment of the cfr gene and the relationships between strains. Results The 4 isolates obtained in this study were all linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus strains. A similar of susceptibility profile pattern was observed in all four S. capitis strains, each of which exhibited a multidrug-resistant phenotype. A potentially novel mutation, C2128T, was identified, and the cfr genes of S. capitis strains were all positive. Additionally, the same mutations (C2128T and G2600T) were identified in all 23S rRNA sequences of the isolates, whereas mutations were lacking in the L3, L4, and L22 ribosomal proteins. The genetic environments surrounding cfr were identical in all four isolates. A schematic diagram of the phylogenetic tree showed that they were closely related to AYP1020, CR01, and TW2795, and a total of seven drug resistance genes were identified in these strains. Conclusions The study indicated that the resistance of the Staphylococcus capitis strains to linezolid was caused by multiple mechanisms, and a potential novel mutation, C2128T, that may have an impact on bacterial resistance was identified.

Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo (D. officinale) is a traditional medicinal and food homologous plant that has been used for thousands of years in folk medicine and nutritious food. Recent studies have shown that polysaccharide is one of the main biologically active components in D. officinale. D. officinale polysaccharides possess several biological activities, such as anti-oxidant, heptatoprotective, immunomodulatory, gastrointestinal protection, hypoglycemic, and anti-tumor activities. In the past decade, polysaccharides have been isolated from D. officinale by physical and enzymatic methods and have been subjected to structural characterization and activity studies. Progress in extraction, purification, structural characterization, bioactivity, structure-activity relationship, and possible bioactivity mechanism of polysaccharides D. officinale were reviewed. In order to provide reference for the in-depth study of D. officinale polysaccharides and the application in functional food and biomedical research.

Purpose: Linezolid is the first oral oxazolidinone antibiotic approved for clinical application. With the widespread use of the linezolid, there are increasing reports of the linezolid-resistant (LZR). The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular characteristics and the potential resistance mechanisms of the LZR Staphylococcus capitis isolates from a tertiary hospital in China.Methods: The agar dilution and E-test methods were used to detect antibiotic resistance. The carrying status of the chloramphenicol-florfenicol resistance (cfr) gene in the strains was detected by PCR. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was used to detect point mutations, L3, L4, and L22 mutations, and also to study the genetic environment of the cfr gene and the relationship between strains. Results: A similar pattern in susceptibility profiles were observed in all four S. capitis strains, each exhibiting a multidrug-resistant phenotype. A potential novel mutation, C2128T, was identified, and the cfr genes of S. capitis strains were all positive. Additionally, the same mutation (C2128T and G2600T) was identified in all 23S rRNA sequences of isolates, while the mutation was lacking in the L3, L4, and L22 ribosomal proteins. The genetic environments surrounding cfr were identical in all four isolates. A schematic diagram of the phylogenetic tree exhibited that they were closely related to AYP1020, CR01, and TW2795, and a total of seven drug-resistant genes were detected in these strains. Conclusions: The study indicated that the resistance of the Staphylococcus capitis strains to linezolid was caused by multiple mechanisms and a potential novel mutation C2128T was identified which may have an impact on bacterial resistance.

Aging is characterized by the loss of homeostasis and the general decline of physiological functions, accompanied by various degenerative diseases and increased rates of mortality. Aging targeting small molecule screens have been performed many times, however, few have focused on endogenous metabolic intermediates—metabolites. Here, using C. elegans lifespan assays, we conducted a worm metabolite screen and identified an eukaryotes conserved metabolite, myo-inositol (MI), to extend lifespan, increase mobility and reduce fat content. Genetic analysis of enzymes in MI metabolic pathway suggest that MI alleviates aging through its derivative PI(4,5)P2. MI and PI(4,5)P2 are precursors of PI(3,4,5)P3, which is negatively related to longevity. The longevity effect of MI is dependent on the tumor suppressor gene, daf-18 (homologous to mouse Pten), independent of its classical pathway downstream genes, akt or daf-16. Furthermore, we found MI effects on aging and lifespan act through mitophagy regulator PTEN induced kinase-1 (pink-1) and mitophagy. MI’s anti-aging effect is also conserved in mouse, indicating a conserved mechanism in mammals., Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalyzes the reaction from PI(4,5)P2 to PI(3,4,5)P3 and is encoded by the age-1 gene known to regulate lifespan. Here the researchers found that the metabolite myo-inositol, which can be converted to PI(3,4,5)P3 extends worm lifespan and alleviates worm as well as mouse health decline during aging.

Although the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak occurred in late 2019, it is still endemic worldwide, and has become a global public health problem. Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is considered to be the most effective intervention to prevent the spread of COVID-19. ZF2001 is a recombinant protein vaccine based on SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) subunit which contains aluminum adjuvant. In order to advance our research on ZF2001 into clinical trial, we investigated the general toxicity and immunogenicity of ZF2001 in cynomolgus monkeys and assessed the possible target organs for vaccine-induced toxicity. In the present research, we observed no significant systemic toxicities and abnormal cardiovascular and respiratory events following four times injections of intramuscular ZF2001 in cynomolgus monkeys. Histological examination revealed recoverable inflammatory changes in quadricep muscle and adjacent lymph node at the vaccine injection site. As expected, the vaccine can produce a strongly specific binding antibody and neutralizing antibodies in cynomolgus monkeys after inoculation. Taken together, our regulatory toxicology research proves the safety and immunogenicity of the ZF2001 vaccine, supporting its entry into large scale clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the roles and functions of nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) in exosome secretion and exosomal microRNA (miRNA) changes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. METHODS: HepG2 and HuH-7 cells were divided into two groups: Lv-control (which were infected with lentivirus without NEAT1 expression) and Lv-NEAT1 (which were infected with lentivirus with NEAT1 overexpression). Each group was used to study cell function (proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis) and exosome secretion by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), electron microscopy, and nanoflow cytometry (nanoFCM). Different levels of messenger RNA (mRNA), miRNA, and exosomal miRNA were detected by RNA sequencing. Next, potential target RNAs were verified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Changed exosomal miRNAs were found and miRNA mimics were used to study cell function in NEAT1-overexpression and NEAT1-knockdown HCC cells. RESULTS: The data showed that NEAT1-overexpression promoted exosome secretion. The overexpression of NEAT1 altered global genes, including exosome-related genes. Compared with the control group, we observed that several miRNAs changed in the exosomes secreted by NEAT1-overexpressing cells. Our study found that these changed exosomal miRNAs played a suppressor role in HCC. Transfection of miR-634, miR-638, and miR-3960 reversed the enhanced invasion and proliferation in HCC cells with a high level of NEAT1 expression. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that NEAT1 regulates exosome-related genes, which might be associated with increasing exosome secretion by NEAT1-overexpressing cells. Furthermore, NEAT1 promotes cell invasion and proliferation via downregulation of miR-634, miR-638, and miR-3960 in exosomes. This study may provide potential targets for exosome-mediated miRNA transfer in HCCs with a high level of NEAT1 expression therapy.

Measuring with Coriolis flowmeter under the condition of gas-liquid two-phase flow, the vibration signal frequency, phase and amplitude of the measuring pipe fluctuate randomly. The traditional phase difference extraction algorithm is difficult to ensure the measurement accuracy of mass flow. In order to improve the extraction accuracy of mass flow, this paper presents a dynamic error correction method of mass flow based on LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory). The water flow test platform and data acquisition system are built, and the mass flow corrected by this method is compared with the mass flow corrected by ARMA (Autoregressive moving average) model and the mass flow obtained by flow meter. The experimental results show that the mean error of mass flow corrected by this method is 0.0357, and the variance is 0.0453, which is far less than the static error correction of 0.0988 and 0.1068, and far less than the mass flow meter of 0.3816 and 0.4045.

Coriolis mass flow meter is widely used in industrial production due to their high precision and high stability. When the traditional phase difference extraction algorithm is used to extract the phase difference, Because of the influence of spectrum leakage, environmental noise and interference, the extraction error of the algorithm increases by using of traditional phase difference extraction algorithms. To improve the accuracy of phase difference extraction, an improved correlation analysis method is proposed in this paper. The improved correlation analysis method combines the Hilbert transform. First, the signals at both ends of the sensor are superimposed, and then the Hilbert transform is performed to form a reference signal, and finally the correlation analysis method is used to solve the phase difference between the original signal and the reference signal. Through simulation experiments, comparing the phase difference extraction accuracy of the improved correlation analysis method with other traditional methods, the improved correlation analysis method has higher measurement accuracy and better stability.

In recent years, a variety of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) have been proposed in the literature. As pointed out in some recent studies, the performance of most existing MOEAs is sensitive to the Pareto front (PF) shapes of the problem to be solved, and it is difficult for these algorithms to manage diversity on various types of Pareto fronts (PFs) effectively. To address these issues, this paper proposes an evolutionary algorithm based on diversity ranking method for multi-objective and many-objective optimization. The proposed evolutionary algorithm introduces reference vector adaptation method to solve different shapes of Pareto fronts, and proposes the diversity ranking method to manage diversity. The extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can solve various types of Pareto fronts, surpassing several state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms for multi-objective and many-objective optimization.

The development of algorithms to solve Many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs) has attracted significant research interest in recent years. Solving various types of Pareto front (PF) is a daunting challenge for evolutionary algorithm. A Research mode based evolutionary algorithm (RMEA) is proposed for many-objective optimization. The archive in the RMEA is used to store non-dominated solutions that can reflect the shape of the PF to guide the reference vector adaptation. Information concerning the population is collected, once the number of non-dominated solutions reaches its limit after many generations without exceeding a given threshold, RMEA introduces a research mode that generates more reference vectors to search through the solutions. The proposed algorithm showed competitive performance with four state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms in a large number of experiments.

Recent studies have shown difficulties in balancing convergence and diversity for many-objective optimization problems with various types of Pareto fronts. This paper proposes an adaptive reference vector based evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization, termed as ARVEA. The ARVEA develops a reference vector adaptation method, which can adapt different types of Pareto fronts by adjusting the distribution of reference vectors. Besides, this algorithm adopts Pareto dominance as the first selection criterion, and the achievement scalarizing function (ASF) is introduced as the secondary selection criterion. The empirical results demonstrate that the proposed ARVEA has good performance for solving problems with various types of Pareto fronts, surpassing several state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms designed for many-objective optimization.

Because of the contradiction between the production requirements of compact camera modules (CCMs) to achieve high efficiency and quality and the low efficiency and poor accuracy of traditional solder joint inspection methods, an automatic inspection method of CCM solder joint based on machine vision is proposed. After optimizing the imaging parameters according to the CCM inspection process, the region of interest is dynamically identified based on feature matching and image enhancement methods to remove background interference. On this basis, an improved adaptive particle swarm optimization is used to optimize the kernel extreme learning machine to automatically classify the solder joint defects. Experimental results showed that with its low latency, high precision and robustness, the CCM surface solder joint defect detection and classification method based on machine vision can effectively solve the problem of low efficiency and high cost of the current CCM solder joint defect detection technology.

Vertical tanks are commonly used appliances for liquids, and its capacity is very important for quantitative liquid ratio and liquid trade. In order to measure the capacity of vertical tanks more conveniently, this paper proposes a vertical tank capacity measurement method based on Monte Carlo Method. The method arranges a plurality of sensor points on the inner surface of the tank, and then performs Monte Carlo tests by generating a large number of random sample points, and finally calculates the capacity by counting the sample points that meet the criterion. The criterion for whether a sample point is located in the tank, which is the core issue, is established with the coordinates of sensor points and the distance between different sensor points along the surface of the tank. The results show that the absolute error of the measurement results of the proposed method does not exceed ±0.0003[m3], and the absolute error of capacity per unit volume has a linear relationship with the height of the vertical tank, and has little effect with the radial size of the vertical tank.

Clinical and radiological signs are named after natural signs. This chapter summarizes the imaging features and theories regarding the pathophysiology of various relatively common head-and-neck abnormalities. Understanding of MRI sequences is essential for the correct and reliable interpretation of lesions in the head and neck, as well as careful selection of MRI protocols based on relevant clinical information.

Not all individuals age at the same rate. Methods such as the 'methylation clock' are invasive, rely on expensive assays of tissue samples and infer the ageing rate by training on chronological age, which is used as a reference for prediction errors. Here, we develop models based on convoluted neural networks through training on non-invasive three-dimensional (3D) facial images of approximately 5,000 Han Chinese individuals that achieve an average difference between chronological or perceived age and predicted age of ±2.8 and 2.9 yr, respectively. We further profile blood transcriptomes from 280 individuals and infer the molecular regulators mediating the impact of lifestyle on the facial-ageing rate through a causal-inference model. These relationships have been deposited and visualized in the Human Blood Gene Expression-3D Facial Image (HuB-Fi) database. Overall, we find that humans age at different rates both in the blood and in the face, but do so coherently and with heterogeneity peaking at middle age. Our study provides an example of how artificial intelligence can be leveraged to determine the perceived age of humans as a marker of biological age, while no longer relying on prediction errors of chronological age, and to estimate the heterogeneity of ageing rates within a population.

With the rapid development of smart grid, collaborative communication among many subsystems of power system is becoming more and more frequent. With the progress of communication technology, distribution network communication network is gradually developing towards the direction of heterogeneous network integration. Traditional network management system based on equipment status monitoring cannot fully reflect the operation status of communication network, so this paper studies the network and service monitoring technology of intelligent distribution network communication system. Firstly, the system services of the distribution network communication system are analyzed from the typical business requirements. The traffic requirements, security requirements and real-time requirements are introduced respectively. The flow measurement technology based on passive measurement and the network quality monitoring technology based on active measurement are designed. According to different service requirements, different service detection technologies can be provided to monitor the quality of distribution network service communication network in real time.

Indicator based many-objective evolutionary algorithms generally introduce the performance indicator as the selection criterion in environmental selection. In the calculation of some indicators, the reference points as sampled points on Pareto fronts are very important for their calculation. However, it is difficult to obtain good reference points on various types of Pareto fronts. To address this issue, this paper proposes an enhanced-indicator based many-objective evolutionary algorithm with adaptive reference point, termed EIEA. The algorithm proposes a reference point adaptation method to dynamically adapt the reference points for the calculation of indicators. Moreover, the calculation of IGD-NS is enhanced by employing the modified distance calculation to introduce the Pareto compliant which can further comprehensively measure the convergence and diversity. The proposed EIEA adopts Pareto dominance and the enhanced IGD-NS as the first selection criterion and the secondary selection criterion in environmental selection, respectively. The intensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has good performance in solving problems with various types of Pareto fronts, surpassing several representative many-objective evolutionary algorithms for many-objective optimization.

Increasing the coverage rate of ultrasonic path to flow field is helpful to improve measurement results’ accuracy of transit-time ultrasonic flowmeters while asymmetric flow or turbulence exists. In this paper, a 3D isosceles triangular ultrasonic path is presented considering the width of the ultrasonic signal and the maximum coverage rate of the ultrasonic path to flow field. To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the path proposed, computational fluid dynamics simulations of three pipeline configurations, including straight pipeline, single elbow, and contracted pipeline upstream ultrasonic flowmeter $3D_{\rm pipe}$ (diameter of pipeline, $D_{\rm pipe})$ , $5D_{\rm pipe}$ , or $8D_{\rm pipe}$ long are performed. In particular, inlet velocity of flow ranges from 0.1 to 10 m/s. Meanwhile, control simulation of U-type ultrasonic path is discussed to verify the effect of coverage rate of ultrasonic path to flow field on measurement results. It is shown that the proposed 3D isosceles triangular ultrasonic path, whose coverage rate is 54%, does well in improving the stability and accuracy of measurement results while pipeline configuration upstream flowmeter changes.

Aim: The clinical value of FibroScan in evaluation of hepatic fibrosis was assessed in Chinese patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: Liver stiffness and other NAFLD related variables were measured in NAFLD patients with either elevated or normal hyaluronic acid (HA) levels, and in healthy volunteers respectively. Moreover, hepatic fibrosis rat model was used for the correlation analysis between the measured liver elasticity and its corresponding pathological changes. Results: The severity of NAFLD in patients was positively correlated with both HA level and FibroScan values suggesting that fibrosis occured along with the progression of NAFLD. Interestingly, the FibroScan value was found to change at an earlier stage of the disease than that of HA level. The mean liver elasticity in the sampling volume of the region of interest in experimental rats, which were subject to the induction of liver fibrosis using peritoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) for 6 or 9 weeks respectively, was measured using Fibroscan. The examination of pathological changes of these experimental rats demonstrated the positive correlation of the measured elasticity values with the extent (severity) of the corresponding pathological changes in the rats of 6 weeks post induction of liver fibrosis with a moderate liver fibrosis, or 9 weeks with a severe liver fibrosis. The average liver stiffness for the normal liver (S0) was 4.51 ± 0.82 kPa, for moderate liver fibrosis (S2) was 6.91 ± 1.32 kPa, and for severe liver fibrosis (S3) 9.62 ± 1.82 kPa. Conclusion: FibroScan can be used to objectively and quantitatively identify the trend in the changing stiffness of the liver and noninvasively detect the development of liver fibrosis.

Large deployable mesh reflectors for space applications have continuously been developed in the past several decades. A well-designed cable web configuration is essential to the performance of a deployable mesh reflector. To meet the requirements of high precision and uniform distribution of tension forces, this paper proposes a new approach to design the cable web for elliptical ring truss reflectors based on the pseudo-geodesic method. An offset parabolic reflector is used as an example to further discuss and compare different design approaches. Moreover, an optimization method is introduced to systematically determine an initial profile and tension forces for the reflector. The results illustrate that tension forces using the approach developed by this study are more uniform than that using the traditional method. Finally, a prototype is made to test according to design and analysis. By photogrammetry, the surface precision is less than 0.5mm (RMS). The tension level is better than analysis result. The thermal deformation is less than 0.05mm (RMS) for 40 temperature change, which is measured by photogrammetry.

Taking ship-bridge collision as an example, how the wave propagation and the dynamic behavior of materials influence the impact force and energy transformation are studied from the impact dynamics viewpoint. By using a new flexible, energy-dissipating crashworthy device developed by the authors, both the impact force and energy transformed can be markedly reduced, which is much conductive to protect both bridge and ship.

Altered DNA repair can be associated with aggressive tumor biology and impact on survival of cancer patients. We investigated whether genetic variation of human apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease, a key multifunctional gene involved in the base excision repair pathway, would play a role in gastric cancer survival outcomes. We genotyped APE1 rs1760944 by the TaqMan method in 925 gastric cancer patients. Analyses of association between the polymorphism and survival outcomes were carried out using the Kaplan–Meier method, Cox proportional hazards models, and the log–rank test. Survival analyses for all patients showed that the differences in median survival time between gastric cancer carriers with APE1 rs1760944 TT (55 months) and those with GT/GG (78 months), were statistically significant (P = 0.025, log–rank test). Kaplan–Meier survival estimates revealed that gastric cancer patients carrying the GT/GG genotypes had a higher survival than TT, and this protective effect was also more pronounced among subgroups with tumor size >5 cm (hazard ratio = 0.66, 95% confidence interval = 0.49–0.88), diffuse-type gastric cancer (0.76, 0.60–0.97), T3 depth of invasion (0.73, 0.57–0.93), lymph node metastasis (0.73, 0.58–0.92), no distant metastasis (0.81, 0.66–0.99), and TNM stage III and IV (0.75, 0.58–0.99 for stage III; 0.50, 0.29–0.88 for stage IV). Our results showed that the genetic variant rs1760944 in APE1 was associated with gastric cancer survival in a Chinese population. Larger studies are needed to verify our findings in different populations. (Cancer Sci 2011; 102: 1293–1297)

It is helpful to improve the accuracy of the flying-start-stop liquid flow calibration facilities used to calibrate different types of flowmeters by studying and decreasing the flow diverter timing error. In this paper, a transforming relationship model of diverting flow error and timing error is proposed to reveal the principle of the timing error. Meanwhile, a same directional diverter based on the transforming relationship model is also proposed, which has the following advantages: a small timing error, a high repeatability accuracy, no need to adjust the trigger position, easy to implement ISO4185 calibration test, a wide range of working flow rates, easy to be manufactured, and a good portability. To verify the advantageous characteristics of the same directional diverter, the performance comparing experiments of the same directional diverter and the traditional diverter under different flow rates, trigger positions, and diverter moving velocities are proposed. The results show that the timing error of the same directional diverter has no relationship with trigger position and has low sensitivity in both flow rate and the diverter moving velocity. While the diverter moving velocity is 0.1 m/s, the absolute value of the timing error of the same directional diverter just varies from 0.251 to 1.473 ms, which is much smaller than the traditional diverter’s (varies from 9.940 to 532.302 ms). The uncertainty caused by the timing error and the total uncertainty of measuring time of the same directional diverter vary from 0.000454% to 0.000883% and 0.000529% to 0.000924%, respectively.

The impact force during ship-bridge collision based on quasi-static mechanics and impact dynamic are analyzed and compared. How the wave propagation and the dynamic behavior of materials influence the impact force are studied from the view-point of stress wave propagation.