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Item does not contain fulltext TSPEAR variants cause autosomal recessive ectodermal dysplasia (ARED) 14. The function of TSPEAR is unknown. The clinical features, the mutation spectrum, and the underlying mechanisms of ARED14 are poorly understood. Combining data from new and previously published individuals established that ARED14 is primarily characterized by dental anomalies such as conical tooth cusps and hypodontia, like those seen in individuals with WNT10A-related odontoonychodermal dysplasia. AlphaFold-predicted structure-based analysis showed that most of the pathogenic TSPEAR missense variants likely destabilize the β-propeller of the protein. Analysis of 100000 Genomes Project (100KGP) data revealed multiple founder TSPEAR variants across different populations. Mutational and recombination clock analyses demonstrated that non-Finnish European founder variants likely originated around the end of the last ice age, a period of major climatic transition. Analysis of gnomAD data showed that the non-Finnish European population TSPEAR gene-carrier rate is ∼1/140, making it one of the commonest AREDs. Phylogenetic and AlphaFold structural analyses showed that TSPEAR is an ortholog of drosophila Closca, an extracellular matrix-dependent signaling regulator. We, therefore, hypothesized that TSPEAR could have a role in enamel knot, a structure that coordinates patterning of developing tooth cusps. Analysis of mouse single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data revealed highly restricted expression of Tspear in clusters representing enamel knots. A tspeara (-/-);tspearb (-/-) double-knockout zebrafish model recapitulated the clinical features of ARED14 and fin regeneration abnormalities of wnt10a knockout fish, thus suggesting interaction between tspear and wnt10a. In summary, we provide insights into the role of TSPEAR in ectodermal development and the evolutionary history, epidemiology, mechanisms, and consequences of its loss of function variants.

Purpose Little research exits on the effect of the aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio on the incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM). This study used the large-scale cohort study data of the Chinese population to explore the effect of the AST/ALT ratio on the incidence of DM. Patients and methods The data was downloaded from a computerized database (DATADRYAD, available at www.datadryad.org) including 32 sites and 11 cities in China which were collected between 2010 and 2016 by the Rich Healthcare Group in China. This study was a retrospective cohort study that, included 86,145 participants for the secondary analysis. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression and a two-piecewise linear regression model were used to explore the relationship between the AST/ ALT ratio and DM. Results The AST/ALT ratio was negatively correlated with the incidence of DM after adjusting for potential co-variables [HR = 0.44, (95%CI:0.38–0.51), P

Purpose: The mediator (MED) multisubunit-complex modulates the activity of the transcriptional machinery, and genetic defects in different MED subunits (17, 20, 27) have been implicated in neurologic diseases. In this study, we identified a recurrent homozygous variant in MED11 (c.325C>T; p.Arg109Ter) in 7 affected individuals from 5 unrelated families. Methods: To investigate the genetic cause of the disease, exome or genome sequencing were performed in 5 unrelated families identified via different research networks and Matchmaker Exchange. Deep clinical and brain imaging evaluations were performed by clinical pediatric neurologists and neuroradiologists. The functional effect of the candidate variant on both MED11 RNA and protein was assessed using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting using fibroblast cell lines derived from 1 affected individual and controls and through computational approaches. Knockouts in zebrafish were generated using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9. Results: The disease was characterized by microcephaly, profound neurodevelopmental impairment, exaggerated startle response, myoclonic seizures, progressive widespread neurodegeneration, and premature death. Functional studies on patient-derived fibroblasts did not show a loss of protein function but rather disruption of the C-terminal of MED11, likely impairing binding to other MED subunits. A zebrafish knockout model recapitulates key clinical phenotypes. Conclusion: Loss of the C-terminal of MED subunit 11 may affect its binding efficiency to other MED subunits, thus implicating the MED-complex stability in brain development and neurodegeneration.

Soft Magneto-active Elastomer (MAE) with soft magnetic particles arranged in chains (chain-like structure) can be driven by homogenous magnetic fields, which has great application potential in the area of soft robots. It is important to reveal the relationship between the magneto-actuation characteristics and the arrangement of chain angle, which is one of the essential issues for the practical application of the MAE with chain-like structure. In this study, the kinetic deformation properties of centimeter-scale soft MAE samples with different chain angles subjected to applied homogenous magnetic fields will be investigated based on the designed experimental set-up, and then a mathematical model will be proposed to describe the kinetic deformation properties. The presented research work will provide fundamental investigation on the application of soft robots based on MAE type materials.

Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a general term for persistent postoperative back pain with or without accompanying radicular pain. FBSS may present as chronic facet joint pain.We introduced full endoscopic lumbar rhizotomy for patients suffering from facet joint pain due to FBSS. Facet joint block was introduced into the facet joint to determine whether pain improved after the injection.With full endoscopic lumbar rhizotomy, the surgeon can identify the regions involved more clearly and directly. Although it is an invasive procedure, it provides a more effective and safe treatment for patients with FBSS-related facet joint pain.

Objective To analyze the rule of acupoint combination of insomnia treated with modern acupuncture-moxibustion with complex network technology and further reveal the internal characteristics of acupoint combination. Methods Using computer retrieval, the relevant clinical trials of acupuncture and moxibustion in treatment of insomnia were searched from China National knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform (Wanfang), VIP Chinese Journal Service Platform (VIP) and Pubmed Database in recent 5 years. The articles were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then the database was set up and the acupoint prescriptions of acupuncture and moxibustion were extracted. Using Excel 2016 software, the data were processed and the frequency analysis was conducted. With SPSS Modeler 18.0, the association rules were analyzed. Using Gephi 0.9.2, the community analysis and complex network analysis were conducted. Results Finally, 766 articles were eligible and 1276 acupoint prescriptions were extracted with 186 acupoints involved. The acupoints with the highest frequency of use were Shenmen (神门HT7), Baihui (百会GV20) and Sānyīnjiāo (三阴交SP6). The meridians with the highest frequency were bladder meridian and the governor vessel. The acupoints located on the head and foot were mostly selected. The specific points involved were the crossing points, five-shu points and yuan-source points. The main core paired points referred to HT7 and SP6, HT7 and GV20 as well as HT7 and Neiguān (内关PC6). The meridians with the highest confidence level appeared among heart meridian of hand-shaoyin, spleen meridian of foot-taiyin and kidney meridian of foot-shaoyin. The modular analysis of complex network obtained 4 core communities and topology analysis obtained 35 core points. The main prescription was composed of HT7, GV20, SP6, Sishencōng (四神聪EX-HN1), PC6, Taixī (太溪KI3), Zusānlĭ (足三里ST36), Taichōng (太冲LR3), Ānmian (安眠EX-HN18), Yintang (印堂EX-HN3), Zhaohai (照海KI6), Shēnmai (申脉BL62) and Fēngchi (风池GB20). Conclusion Acupuncture-moxibustion therapy focuses on regulating the mind/spirit of the heart and brain, as well as of five zang organs. The general treatment principles are regaining consciousness and opening the orifice, replenishing yin and reducing yang, nourishing the heart and tranquilizing. The supplementary points are mostly the combination of distal and nearby points and the combination of the acupoints located in the upper and the lower parts of the body. The back-shu points and the front-mu points are generally used, while the crossing point as the specific point is especially applied. All of these summaries provide the reference and guidance for clinical application and scientific research.

For safety-critical industrial systems, standby redundancy is widely applied to guarantee safety requirements. With the advancement of sensing technology, real-time system reliability evaluation can be executed to prevent failures, for which the load-sharing characteristic has to be considered because multiple components jointly accomplish the mission. In this article, a novel methodology is proposed to online assess the reliability and optimize the mode transfer scheduling of the degrading standby system considering the load-sharing characteristic. First, the stepwise drifted Wiener process is invoked to characterize the component degradation process. Then, to deal with the process and measurement noise, the monitored degradation data are processed online to update the component degradation state and rate, based on the particle filter. Besides, a Monte Carlo method involving the closed Newton–Cotes quadrature rule is employed to quantify the real-time system reliability. Finally, the mode transfer scheduling of standby components is optimized online to maximize the system reliability at mission time. A numerical example and a case study referring to the aircraft hydraulic system are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed methodology.

Objective Accumulating evidence suggests a close relationship between metabolic disturbance and increased arterial stiffness. However, whether there is an association between pulse pressure (PP) and diabetes and how this association might be impacted by sex is not clear. Methods A total of 209,635 adult Chinese individuals > 20 years old across 32 sites and 11 cities in China (Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Changzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hefei, Wuhan, Nantong) were included in the study; participants were free of diabetes at baseline. In the present study, we analyzed the relationship between PP at baseline and incident diabetes using the Cox proportional hazard model. Results During a median follow-up of 2.99 years, a total of 3971 participants (2885 men and 1086 women) developed diabetes, and the incidence was 6.3 per 1000 person-years. With each 10 mmHg increase in PP, the multivariable adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval) for incident diabetes was 1.117 (1.061, 1.176) in females and 0.981 (0.951, 1.012) in males. Using the lowest quartile of PP as the reference category, the hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI) of the highest quartile of PP for incident diabetes was 1.494 (1.225, 1.822) in females and 0.939 (0.843, 1.045) in males. Smooth plots revealed a significant difference between males and females in the HRs for new-onset diabetes according to PP. Conclusion Higher PP was related to future diabetes development in females but not in males and further research is needed to explore the mechanism.

Using the complex network technology, the characteristics of the core acupoint prescriptions and the application of acupuncture-moxibustion techniques were analyzed in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) so as to provide the evidences for acupoint selection and therapeutic methods for RA treated with acupuncture and moxibustion. The articles of acupuncture and moxibustion for treatment of RA in recent 20 years were collated and imported, and the database of the acupoint prescriptions was developed. Using Cytoscape 3.9.2 software, the acupoints in the prescriptions were visualized for the common occurrence network analysis. The association rule analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0 software and the complex network analysis was by Gephi 0.9.2 software. A total of 798 articles were screened, in which, 3 258 prescriptions were extracted with 253 acupoints involved. The analysis of acupoint selection was conducted in terms of syndrome/pattern differentiation, acupoint locations and main acupoints, and therapeutic methods. The results showed that the most common TCM syndromes of RA included painful利用复杂网络技术分析针灸治疗类风湿关节炎的核心腧穴处方以及刺灸法应用特点，为临床针灸治疗类风湿关节炎提供选穴、治法依据。对近20年针灸治疗类风湿关节炎的文献进行收集、整理、录入，建立针灸处方数据库，对处方中的腧穴运用Cytoscape3.9.0进行共现网络可视化、运用IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0进行关联规则分析、利用Gephi0.9.2软件进行复杂网络分析。共筛选出798篇文献，提取3 258条针灸处方，涉及253个腧穴，主要从辨证分型选穴、分部选穴、主穴处方及疗法进行分析。结果表明最常见的中医证型为痛痹、行痹、着痹及风湿热痹；辨证选穴核心腧穴组合为痛痹：关元、肾俞；着痹：阴陵泉、三阴交、足三里、脾俞、丰隆；行痹：风池、膈俞、风门、血海、外关；风湿热痹：大椎、曲池、合谷。分部选穴以上肢部、下肢部、脊柱部腧穴多见。曲池在主穴处方中使用频次最高，足三里-肾俞的共现强度最高；相关性最高的腧穴组合为足三里-曲池。针灸治疗类风湿关节炎选穴多遵循“主穴-局部配穴-辨证配穴”的原则，温针灸及针药联合为最常用的施治方法。.

Adding flow channel between main and annular chambers in same strut of roll-coupled Hydro-pneumatic Inter-connected Suspension (HIS) can effectively avoid the negative hydraulic pressure caused by the high damping factor of connected pipes under high velocity condition. This flow channel is usually closed in previous research in HIS area. In this study, the effect of orifice between main and annular chambers in same strut to the dynamic properties of HIS under the different road excitations is investigated by the established AMEsim half-car simulation model. The bounce and roll displacement/acceleration of the sprung mass are used to evaluate the dynamic properties of HIS. The results illustrate that (1) the added orifice can reduce the roll displacement/acceleration with slight influence on the vertical displacement/acceleration under the transient and road loop excitations; (2) the added orifice will not change the resonance frequency of the bounce and roll modes; (3) comparing with the traditional HIS design (without the added orifices), the maximum roll transmissibility can decrease 30.17% with 2.89% increase of the maximum vertical transmission for the added orifice with 2 mm2 area. Overall, the results suggest that the proper size of the orifices will significantly increase the roll-stability properties with slight effect on the bounce mode under the road excitations.

Underground water reservoir (UWR) technology has been used to protect mine water resources. The main underground space for UWRs is the caving zone formed by longwall mining. Broken rock mass movement in the caving zone affects the porosity distribution and seepage characteristics during the UWR’s circulation, storage, and discharge. We used a fluid-solid coupled model, implemented in PFC3D and combined with Python, to simulate water seepage in the caving zone. The influence of particle size and fluid element size on the error of the simulation results was analysed. Then, we investigated the effect of seepage on broken rock mass porosity under different stress states. Simulations with various particle sizes and compaction stresses show that the average displacement of broken rock decreases exponentially with increased stress. Because large broken particles form the primary bearing structure in the model, it is mostly small particles that move under high-stress levels, so porosity is less affected. Larger particles also migrate if the compaction stress is low; this significantly changes the porosity and leads to roof uplift. Finally, we designed an engineering scale model based on our simulation method using the actual UWR situation in a coal mine.

Deep learning has made substantial progress in crowd density estimation, but in practical application, due to the interference factors such as uneven distribution of crowd and changes in illumination, the existing methods still have large errors in counting. To solve the above problems, a crowd density estimation method based on multichannel dense grouping network is proposed. To solve the problem that it is difficult to extract the multiscale information of the crowd due to the uneven distribution of the crowd, multichannel dense grouping module (McDGM) is designed. In the module, Improved grouping convolution block (IGCB) is dense connected with other layers to obtain different levels of crowd characteristics, so as to avoid the loss of multi-scale information. In addition, the parameters of IGCB are reduced by group convolution. Then, to overcome the change of illumination, a crowd image enhancement algorithm is designed, which makes the image clear by the average pixel value and adjusting the contrast. Finally, to enhance the sensitivity of the network to crowd counting, a new loss function is proposed, which adds counting loss to the previous pixel space loss to improve the accuracy of crowd counting. The algorithm in this paper has been tested on ShanghaiTech and UCF_CC_50 datasets. The test results show that the algorithm in this paper has better statistical accuracy.

Thyroid hormones (TH) regulate systemic glucose metabolism through incompletely understood mechanisms. Here, we show that improved glucose metabolism in hypothyroid mice after T3 treatment is accompanied with increased glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) production and insulin secretion, while co-treatment with a GLP-1 receptor antagonist attenuates the effects of T3 on insulin and glucose levels. By using mice lacking hepatic TH receptor β (TRβ) and a liver-specific TRβ-selective agonist, we demonstrate that TRβ-mediated hepatic TH signalling is required for both the regulation of GLP-1 production and the insulinotropic and glucose-lowering effects of T3. Moreover, administration of a liver-targeted TRβ-selective agonist increases GLP-1 and insulin levels and alleviates hyperglycemia in diet-induced obesity. Mechanistically, T3 suppresses Cyp8b1 expression, resulting in increased the levels of Farnesoid X receptor (FXR)-antagonistic bile acids, thereby potentiating GLP-1 production and insulin secretion by repressing intestinal FXR signalling. T3 correlates with both plasma GLP-1 and fecal FXR-antagonistic bile acid levels in people with normal thyroid function. Thus, our study reveals a role for hepatic TH signalling in glucose homeostasis through the regulation of GLP-1 production via bile acid-mediated FXR antagonism.

To analyze the application characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion in clinical treatment of Meniere's disease by using complex network technology, so as to provide evidence for selecting acupoints, needling and moxibustion methods and treatment ideas.Articles both in English and Chinese published from the inception of databases of CNKI, Wanfang VIP, Chinese biomedical literature database (SinoMed), PubMed, Embase, EBSCO (Academic Search Pre-mier), Web of Science and Ovid to April of 2021 were retrieved by using key words "acupuncture" or "moxibustion" or "acupuncture and moxibustion" and "Meniere disease" or "Meniere's syndrome" or "Ménières vertigo" or "otogenic vertigo" or "auditory vertigo", followed by screening the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and establishing a database of clinical li-terature about acupuncture treatment of Meniere's Disease with software Epidata 3.1. Then, the descriptive analysis was conducted first, followed by association rule analysis using SPSS Modeler 18.0, and complex network analysis using Gephi 0.9.2 software.A total of 232 articles were included, containing 152 acupoints [97 body acupoints as Baihui (GV20), Fengchi (GB20), Neiguan (PC6), etc., 28 otopoints as Ershenmen (MA-TF1), Shen (MA-SC), etc., 20 scalp points as Yunting Area, 7 extra-points as Sishencong (EX-HN1), Taiyang (EX-HN5), etc.] which were used to be a total frequency of 1 569. Descriptive analysis showed that the main meridians were the Governor Vessel, Stomach Meridian of Foot Yangming, Trienergizer Meridian of Hand Shaoyang, and Gallbladder Meridian of Foot Shaoyang. Acupuncture was the most commonly used therapy for Meniere's disease. The association analysis showed that the most relevant combination of acupoints was GV20 and GB20, GV20 and PC6, reflecting the principles of local acupoint selection and combination of local and distant acupoints. Finally, "K-core Analytic Hierarchy Process" and "Community Analysis" revealed that 3 core acupoint groups were most frequently used in clinical treatment of Meniere's disease, including 1) auricular acupoints, as MA-TF1, MA-SC, Neier(MA-L), Zhen(MA-AT) and Pizhixia(MA-AT1), 2) acupoints of the 14 meridians and extra-points, as Tinggong(SI19), Yifeng(TE17), GB20, 3) acupoints of the Shaoyang meri-dians of hand and foot, as Shuaigu (GB8), Tinghui (GB2), Zhongzhu (TE3), Ermen (TE21), etc.The principle of acupoint selection is mainly based on the combination of acupoints along the meridians and local areas, while paying attention to the coordination among the auricular points, scalp acupoints and extra-points, which may provide a reference for the clinical treatment and scientific research on acupuncture treatment of Meniere's disease.

Objective Oesophageal foreign bodies (EFBs) are a common emergency issue in paediatrics, and few studies have revealed its clinical features and treatment methods. We conducted this retrospective study to provide our 10-year clinical evidence for the diagnosis and treatment of EFB and reduce the incidence of complications. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all paediatric cases diagnosed with EFB from January 2012 to December 2021 at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital. The age and sex of the patients, types of foreign bodies (FBs), preoperative examination, location and duration of FB impaction, clinical symptoms, surgical methods, therapeutic effects and complications were analysed. Results Among the 1355 cases, 759 were boys and 596 were girls, with a median age of 2.9 years (4 months to 16 years). The shortest FB lodged time was 1 hour, while the longest time was 3 months. The types of foreign bodies included coins and blunt objects (812,59.9%), bones and sharp objects (278,20.5%), button batteries (86,6.3%), food impactions (84,6.2%), toys (51,3.8%) and plastic objects (44,3.2%). A total of 720 of 812 cases impacted by coins and blunt subjects were successfully treated with a Foley catheter without any complications. A total of 558 patients underwent rigid oesophageal endoscopy under general anaesthesia, and foreign bodies were successfully removed in 525 cases. No FB was found in 33 cases, and FBs pushed into the lower digestive tract during operation in 5 cases. Oesophageal injury was found in 130 cases (23.3%). Our study showed that the age of the patient, time of foreign body incarceration, type of foreign body, location of the lodged foreign body, and fever or cough were risk factors leading to oesophageal foreign body complications, and the differences were statistically significant (P Conclusion Children with EFB have a risk of complications, especially if the FB is a button battery. The appropriate surgical method should be selected through the analysis of the clinical characteristics of the foreign body in the oesophagus and the risk factors for complications to reduce the incidence of complications. Health education and effective care are the keys to the prevention of EFB.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are essential enzymes for faithful assignment of amino acids to their cognate tRNA. Variants in ARS genes are frequently associated with clinically heterogeneous phenotypes in humans and follow both autosomal dominant or recessive inheritance patterns in many instances. Variants in tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase 1 (WARS1) cause autosomal dominantly inherited distal hereditary motor neuropathy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Presently, only one family with biallelic WARS1 variants has been described. We present three affected individuals from two families with biallelic variants (p.Met1? and p.(Asp419Asn)) in WARS1, showing varying severities of developmental delay and intellectual disability. Hearing impairment and microcephaly, as well as abnormalities of the brain, skeletal system, movement/gait, and behavior were variable features. Phenotyping of knocked down wars-1 in a C. elegans model showed depletion is associated with defects in germ cell development. A wars1 knockout vertebrate model recapitulates the human clinical phenotypes, confirms variant pathogenicity and uncovers evidence implicating the p.Met1? variant as potentially impacting an exon critical for normal hearing. Together, our findings provide consolidating evidence for biallelic disruption of WARS1 as causal for an autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental syndrome and present a vertebrate model that recapitulates key phenotypes observed in patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

When the picking robot picks green peaches, there are problems such as the color of the fruit being similar to the background color, overlapping fruits, and small fruit size, uneven lighting, and branches and leaves occlusion. As a result, the picking robot cannot quickly detect green peaches. In order to solve the above problems, a lightweight object detection network for fast detection of green peaches is proposed, which is composed of a backbone network, feature enhancement network, Lightweight Self-Attention (LSA) network, and four-scale prediction network. First, the lightweight detection unit LeanNet of the backbone network is designed, which uses the idea of deep separable convolution to achieve fast detection. Secondly, the feature enhancement module (P-Enhance) is designed, which uses convolution kernels of different receptive fields to extract different perceptual information in the feature map, which enhances the network’s feature extraction ability for green peach. Then, the LSA module is designed to generate a local saliency map based on green peach features, which effectively suppressed the irrelevant area of the branch and leaf background. Finally, a four-scale prediction network is designed, in which the Four-scale Pyramid Fusion (FSPF) module can generate a four-scale feature pyramid, which includes the color and shape of the green peach at different network depths, and is conducive to the detection of small volume green peaches. The experimental results show that precision, recall, and F1 of our method in the green peach test set reached 97.3%, 99.7%, and 98.5%, respectively. In the actual picking scenes, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 embedded devices equipped with different state-of-the-art methods are used. Through comparative experiments in various scenarios, compared with the state-of-the-art method, both in terms of experimental data and visual effects, there is a significant improvement, which can meet the real-time object detection needs of picking robots.

Objective Incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD) initially presenting as retropharyngeal abnormality is very rare and is prone to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis, often leading to poor prognosis. Most patients were misdiagnosed with retropharyngeal abscesses. Here, we describe and compare IKD patients initially presenting with retropharyngeal abnormalities, typical KD patients without retropharyngeal abnormalities and retropharyngeal abscess patients. Methods We performed a retrospective case–control study comparing IKD patients initially presenting with retropharyngeal abnormalities to both KD patients without retropharyngeal abnormalities and retropharyngeal abscess patients admitted to Shenzhen Children’s Hospital between January 2016 and December 2021. Results We evaluated data from 10 IKD patients initially presenting with retropharyngeal abnormalities (Group A), 20 typical KD patients (Group B) and 16 surgical drainage confirmed retropharyngeal abscess patients (Group C). Compared to Group B, we observed that Group A was older and had a more intense inflammatory response. On the day of admission, Groups A and C had similar early clinical presentations, and there were no significant differences in any major signs or symptoms. Close observation for the development of new KD signs and symptoms and unresponsiveness to empirical antibiotic therapy after 3 days is extremely important. The CRP (p = 0.011), AST (p = 0.002) and ALT (p = 0.013) levels were significantly higher and the WBC (P = 0.040) levels were significantly lower in Group A than in Group C. Neck radiological findings, such as the presence of ring enhancement (p = 0.001) and mass effects on the airway, are also useful tools for distinguishing these two diseases. Conclusion The careful observation of the signs and symptoms of this disease and the comprehensive analysis of the laboratory tests and neck radiological findings may help clinicians become aware of retropharyngeal abnormality as an atypical presentation of KD. Then, unnecessary treatments could be reduced, and the occurrence of serious complications can be avoided.

Grid cells or grid-like responses have been reported in the rodent, bat and human brains during various spatial and non-spatial tasks. However, the functions of grid-like representations beyond the classical hippocampal formation remain elusive. Based on accumulating evidence from recent rodent recordings and human fMRI data, we make speculative accounts regarding the mechanisms and functional significance of the sensory cortical grid cells and further make theory-driven predictions. We argue and reason the rationale why grid responses may be universal in the brain for a wide range of perceptual and cognitive tasks that involve locomotion and mental navigation. Computational modeling may provide an alternative and complementary means to investigate the grid code or grid-like map. We hope that the new discussion will lead to experimentally testable hypotheses and drive future experimental data collection.

Graphs are suitable data structures for expressing the relationship between different types of data. With a continuous increase in the graph size, using suitable methods to divide graphs and parallelize the processing load becomes crucial. Balanced graph partitioning has been extensively studied for static and streaming graphs. However, for a time-evolving graph (TEG), whose size and structure are periodically updated, related partitioning methods are lacking. A straightforward approach is to capture snapshots of a TEG and adopt the partitioning methods designed for static or streaming graphs. Although feasible partitioning quality can be expected, the time overhead is high due to frequent repartitioning. This paper proposes two TEG partitioning methods, namely seed and similarity, to decrease the partitioning time. According to the experimental results, on average, seed and similarity require 29–39% of the partitioning time required by snapshot. Moreover, the proposed methods maintain reasonable partitioning quality.

Herein, we describe a highly effective 1,8-conjugate-addition-mediated formal (3+3)-annulation of (aza)-para-quinone methides in situ generated from propargylic alcohols with 4-hydroxycoumarins and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds under the catalysis of a Bronsted acid. This methodology affords efficient and practical access to synthetically important and highly functionalized pyranocoumarins and pyrans in excellent yields under mild conditions. Importantly, these products exhibit impressive inhibitory activity toward α-glucosidase.

Standby redundancy can meet system safety requirements in industries with high reliability standards. To evaluate reliability of standby systems, failure dependency among components has to be considered especially when systems have load-sharing characteristics. In this paper, a reliability analysis and state transfer scheduling optimization framework is proposed for the load-sharing 1-out-of- N: G system equipped with M warm standby components and subject to continuous degradation process. First, the system reliability function considering multiple dependent components is derived in a recursive way. Then, a Monte Carlo method is developed and the closed Newton-Cotes quadrature rule is invoked for the system reliability quantification. Besides, likelihood functions are constructed based on the measurement information to estimate the model parameters of both active and standby components, whose degradation paths are modeled by the step-wise drifted Wiener processes. Finally, the system state transfer scheduling is optimized by the genetic algorithm to maximize the system reliability at mission time. The proposed methodology and its effectiveness are illustrated through a case study referring to a simplified aircraft hydraulic system.

The advance speed of a longwall face is an essential factor affecting the mining pressure and overburden movement, and an effective approach for choosing a reasonable advance speed to realise coal mine safety and efficient production is needed. To clarify the influence of advance speed on the overburden movement law of a fully mechanised longwall face, a time-space subsidence model of overburden movement is established by the continuous medium analysis method. The movement law of overburden in terms of the advance speed is obtained, and mining stress characteristics at different advance speeds are reasonably explained. The theoretical results of this model are further verified by a physical simulation experiment. The results support the following conclusions. (i) With increasing advance speed of the longwall face, the first (periodic) rupture interval of the main roof and the key stratum increase, while the subsidence of the roof, the fracture angle and the rotation angle of the roof decrease. (ii) With increasing advance speed, the roof displacement range decreases gradually, and the influence range of the advance speed on the roof subsidence is 75 m behind the longwall face. (iii) An increase in the advance speed of the longwall face from 4.89 to 15.23 m/d (daily advancing of the longwall face) results in a 3.28% increase in the impact load caused by the sliding instability of the fractured rock of the main roof and a 5.79% decrease in the additional load caused by the rotation of the main roof, ultimately resulting in a 9.63% increase in the average dynamic load coefficient of the support. The roof subsidence model based on advance speed is proposed to provide theoretical support for rational mining design and mining-pressure-control early warning for a fully mechanised longwall face.

We investigate the behavior of the Josephson current in a system composed of a quantum dot (QD) sandwiched between two nanowires by using the nonequilibrium Green’s function technique. We consider that the nanowires are in proximity to s-wave superconducror substrates, and Majorana bound states (MBSs) are induced at their ends. It is also assumed that the two nanowires are not aligned in the same orientation, but form a bent angle with respect to each other. It is found that when only one spin state on the QD is coupled to the left nanowire, the Josephson current is the typical sinusoidal function of the phase difference between the two nanowires. If both spin states hybridize to the MBSs with equal coupling strengths, the Josephson current then is not a sinusoidal function of the phase difference. In particular, when the bent angle between the two nanowires is π/2 and the two modes of the MBSs in each nanowire are decoupled from each other, the Josephson current is enhanced by about twenty times in magnitude as compared to the former case. Moreover, the simultaneously enhanced currents of the two spin directions are of the same magnitude but flow in opposite directions and they induce a large pure spin current. Our results also show that this abnormally enhanced Josephson current will be suppressed by a vertical magnetic field applied to the QD.

We study the Josephson current (supercurrent) in a system consisting of two superconductors connected to a single-level quantum dot (QD), which is also side-coupled to a nanowire hosting Majorana bound states (MBSs). Our results show that the MBSs change both the peak height and position in the current-carrying density of states (CCDOS), and this determines the amplitude of the Josephson current due to the phase difference between the superconductors. By adjusting the energy level in the QD and MBSs-QD hybridization strengths, the magnetic flux penetrating through the closed circuit formed by the QD and the nanowire as well as the direct overlap between the MBSs, one can fully control the electron transport processes. The present results are useful in superconductor-based electrical devices and the newly developed area of superconducting coated conductors.

Spatially selective firing of place cells, grid cells, boundary vector/border cells and head direction cells constitutes the basic building blocks of a canonical spatial navigation system centered on the hippocampal-entorhinal complex. While head direction cells can be found throughout the brain, spatial tuning outside the hippocampal formation is often non-specific or conjunctive to other representations such as a reward. Although the precise mechanism of spatially selective firing activity is not understood, various studies show sensory inputs, particularly vision, heavily modulate spatial representation in the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit. To better understand the contribution of other sensory inputs in shaping spatial representation in the brain, we performed recording from the primary somatosensory cortex in foraging rats. To our surprise, we were able to detect the full complement of spatially selective firing patterns similar to that reported in the hippocampal-entorhinal network, namely, place cells, head direction cells, boundary vector/border cells, grid cells and conjunctive cells, in the somatosensory cortex. These newly identified somatosensory spatial cells form a spatial map outside the hippocampal formation and support the hypothesis that location information modulates body representation in the somatosensory cortex. Our findings provide transformative insights into our understanding of how spatial information is processed and integrated in the brain, as well as functional operations of the somatosensory cortex in the context of rehabilitation with brain-machine interfaces.