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Frailty is a geriatric syndrome caused by a decrease in multi ⁃ system physiological reserve and function, which reduces the elderly's ability to stress the internal and external environment and maintain homeostasis, and increases the risk of adverse health events. The incidence of frailty and pre ⁃ frailty in stroke patients is the highest and significantly higher than that in non ⁃ stroke patients, while the prevalence of cerebrovascular disease in frailty patients is also significantly increased and the prognosis is worse. This paper intends to review the potential association between frailty and cerebrovascular disease.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the vascular wall with multiple causes. AS is the primary pathological basis of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Moreover, carotid plaque rupture and thrombus formation are the main causes of ischemic stroke. Therefore, understanding the formation of carotid plaques may help improve the prediction and prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Endothelial cell dysfunction results in re-endothelialization and angiogenesis in atherosclerotic plaques, thus promoting plaque destabilization. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of circular RNA (circRNA) molecules in serum exosomes (serum-Exos) from patients with stable plaque atherosclerosis (SA) and unstable/vulnerable plaque atherosclerosis (UA). Specifically, the effect of circRNA on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) behavior and the mechanisms underlying plaque destabilization in AS were evaluated. Serum-Exos were isolated, then identified using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis and western blotting. The serum-Exo-circRNA expression profile of patients with SA or UA was investigated using a circRNA array. The relationship between circRNA-006896 in serum-Exos and biochemical parameters of patients with SA and UA were analyzed using Spearman's correlation. In addition, HUVECs were incubated with serum-Exos for in vitro functional assays. The present study demonstrated that circRNAs expression profiles in SA and UA serum-Exos were significantly different, indicating a potential role for circRNAs in carotid plaque destabilization. The expression of circRNA-0006896 was positively correlated with triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and C-reactive protein levels, and negatively correlated with albumin levels in patients with UA. However, circRNA-0006896 expression was positively correlated with LDL-C in patients with SA. Using bioinformatic analysis, a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was selected to study the regulatory roles of circRNA-0006896 in serum-Exos. Additionally, in HUVECs treated with serum-Exos derived from patients with UA, the expression of circRNA-0006896 in HUVECs was upregulated. This was accompanied by decreased expression of microRNA-1264 and SOCS3, increased levels of DNMT1 and phosphorylated STAT3. HUVEC proliferation and migration were significantly increased in the UA group, compared with the mock and SA groups. This finding indicates that the circRNA-0006896-miR-1264-DNMT1 axis plays an important role in carotid plaque destabilization by regulating the behavior of endothelial cells. Moreover, it suggests that circRNA-0006896 may represent a therapeutic target for controlling JNK/STAT3 signaling in HUVECs. Thus, this study may provide insight on potential interventions against vulnerable plaque formation in patients with AS.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, the detailed mechanism is still largely unknown. High-glucose treated SV40-MES13 cells was used to mimic diabetic nephropathy in vitro. qRT-PCR was introduced to measure Hottip, collagen type I (Col. I), collagen type IV (Col. IV), fibronectin (FN), PAI-1, miR-455-3p and Wnt2B, IL-6, TNF-α mRNA level. Ellisa was used to examine the expression level of IL-6, TNF-α in the cell culture medium. Western blotting was employed to detect the protein level of Col. I, Col. IV, FN, PAI-1, Wnt2B, β-catenin and cyclin D1. Cell viability was examined by MTT assay, luciferase reporter assay were used to determine the relationship between Hottip, miR-455-3p and Wnt2B. In the results, Hottip and Wnt2B was upregulated in db/db DN mice and high-glucose treated mouse mesangial cells (MMCs) while miR-455-3p was downregulated. High glucose treatment could enhance cell proliferation, and inflammation, increase fibrosis-related protein expression and active Wnt2B/β-catenin/cyclin D1 pathway, while Hottip silencing reversed all the effects caused by high-glucose treatment. miR-455-3p was a sponge target of Hottip while Wnt2B was a downstream target of miR-445-3p. miR-445-3p inhibitor could suppress the effect of Hottip knockdown in cell proliferation, inflammation and fibrosis-related protein expression. Our data supported lncRNA Hottip/miR-455-3p/Wnt2B axis plays an important role in cell proliferation, inflammation, and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation in diabetic nephropathy.

Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to optimize the process parameters during machining of monocrystalline silicon by wire cut electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The experiments were designed and performed according to Box-Behnken design (BBD) method of RSM. The process parameters of WEDM namely servo voltage(U), wire saw speed(V), pulse-on-time(Ton) and pulse interval ratio(T>off) are selected as control variables to study of workpiece surface quality. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is carried out to study influence of process parameters on the process performance, it is also concluded that the input parameters have interacted and the influence of interaction parameters on the response results. Genetic Algorithm (GA) as an Intelligent Algorithm(IA) is used to optimize the process parameters, and the optimization result is compared with the RSM own optimization result. The optimal solution deviation of the two optimization methods is reasonable. The machined surface of the workpiece have been scanned carefully by scanning electron microscopic (SEM) then analyze the morphology structure.

Mao’ershan region is a representative natural secondary forested region in the eastern mountainous region, northeast of China. Under the support of ARC/INFO, the landscape pattern and landscape diversity of Mao’ershan region were studied by combining the forest type map (1:10000), which was drawn from the aerial photograph (1999), field investigation and land utilization, map (1:10000). The selected indices included patch number, patch size, patch density index, richness index, domonance index, evenness index and diversity index. The results showed that the landscape dominant forest type in Mao’ershan region was softwood broad-leaved forest. In all landscape types,the average patch area of natural secondary forests was bigger than that of artificial forest. The patch density index of each landscape formed in artificial forest was higher than that of natural secondary forest. The landscape diversity index and landscape evenness index of natural forest were highest, the landscape heterogeneity was also, but the landscape dominance was lower. In natural forest, the control effects of landscape elements on landscape-structure, function and its change were weakened. The artificial forest was on the contrary.

Mao'ershan region is representative in the natural secondary forested region of the eastern mountainous region, northeast China. The landscape nearest neighbor index and landscape connectivity index were calculated with ARC/INFO software for Mao'ershan region. The spatial distribution of the landscape of the region was analyzed. The results showed that the landscape connectivity index of non-woodland was significantly higher than that of woodland. The landscape connectivity index of natural forest was nearly equal to zero, which means its fragmentation degree is high. The nearest neighbor index of plantation was lower than that of natural forest and non-forestland. Among the man-made forests, the distance index of the coniferous mixed plantation is the lowest, and its pattern is nearly glomeration. The landscape pattern of natural forest presented nearly random distribution. Among non-forest land, the distance index of cut blank was the lowest, and its pattern was also nearly glomeration.

With the help of GIS tool of ARC/INFO, ARCVIEW and FRAGSTATS, the map of forest resource distribution of Heilongjiang Province was analyzed in 1896, 1949 and 1981. Using total area, mean patch size, patch density, coefficient of patch size variation, mean patch fractal dimension and mean shape index, we studied the change of forest landscape pattern and the change of each patch types in this region. As a result, the total area of forest landscape and mean patch size decreased sharply, the quantity and density of patches increased, the juxtaposition of patches weakened, the shape of patch tended to become regular, and the border of patch simplified. All these showed that the forest landscape of this area tended to fragment gradually, and the fragment of Korean pine forest is the severest. The diversity of whole forest landscape and the evenness of landscape types distribution reduced gradually. Human impact, instead of climate change and forest community succession, is the most important reason for such dramatic changes.