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Nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) is widely used in the cultivation of the cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). In fact, in mixed nitrogen forms, partially substituting NO3−-N with NH4+-N can promote the absorption and utilization of nitrogen. However, is this still the case when the cucumber seedling is vulnerable to the suboptimal-temperature stress? It remains unclear as to how the uptake and metabolism of ammonium affect the suboptimal-temperature tolerance in cucumber seedlings. In this study, cucumber seedlings were grown under suboptimal temperatures at five ammonium ratios (0NH4+, 25%NH4+, 50%NH4+, 75%NH4+, 100%NH4+) for 14 days. Firstly, increasing ammonium to 50% promoted the growth and root activity and increased protein and proline contents but decreased MDA content in cucumber seedlings. This indicated that increasing ammonium to 50% enhanced the suboptimal-temperature tolerance of cucumber seedlings. Furthermore, increasing ammonium to 50% up-regulated the expression of the nitrogen uptake-transport genes CsNRT1.3, CsNRT1.5 and CsAMT1.1, which promoted the uptake and transport of nitrogen, as well as the up-regulation of the expression of the glutamate cycle genes CsGOGAT-1-2, CsGOGAT-2-1, CsGOGAT-2-2, CsGS-2 and CsGS-3, which promoted the metabolism of nitrogen. Meanwhile, increased ammonium up-regulated the expression of the PM H+-ATP genes CSHA2 and CSHA3 in roots, which maintained nitrogen transport and membranes at a suboptimal temperature. In addition, 13 of 16 genes detected in the study were preferentially expressed in the roots in the increasing ammonium treatments under suboptimal temperatures, which, thus, promoted nitrogen assimilation in roots to the enhance the suboptimal-temperature tolerance of cucumber seedlings.

Recent studies proposed a general psychopathology factor underlying common comorbidities among psychiatric disorders. However, its neurobiological mechanisms and generalizability remain elusive. In this study, we used a large longitudinal neuroimaging cohort from adolescence to young adulthood (IMAGEN) to define a neuropsychopathological (NP) factor across externalizing and internalizing symptoms using multitask connectomes. We demonstrate that this NP factor might represent a unified, genetically determined, delayed development of the prefrontal cortex that further leads to poor executive function. We also show this NP factor to be reproducible in multiple developmental periods, from preadolescence to early adulthood, and generalizable to the resting-state connectome and clinical samples (the ADHD-200 Sample and the Stratify Project). In conclusion, we identify a reproducible and general neural basis underlying symptoms of multiple mental health disorders, bridging multidimensional evidence from behavioral, neuroimaging and genetic substrates. These findings may help to develop new therapeutic interventions for psychiatric comorbidities.

Recent studies proposed a general psychopathology factor underlying common comorbidities among psychiatric disorders. However, its neurobiological mechanisms and generalizability remain elusive. In this study, we used a large longitudinal neuroimaging cohort from adolescence to young adulthood (IMAGEN) to define a neuropsychopathological (NP) factor across externalizing and internalizing symptoms using multitask connectomes. We demonstrate that this NP factor might represent a unified, genetically determined, delayed development of the prefrontal cortex that further leads to poor executive function. We also show this NP factor to be reproducible in multiple developmental periods, from preadolescence to early adulthood, and generalizable to the resting-state connectome and clinical samples (the ADHD-200 Sample and the Stratify Project). In conclusion, we identify a reproducible and general neural basis underlying symptoms of multiple mental health disorders, bridging multidimensional evidence from behavioral, neuroimaging and genetic substrates. These findings may help to develop new therapeutic interventions for psychiatric comorbidities.

The right aortic arch (RAA) is a rare congenital vascular variant disease. We reported a case of subclavian steal syndrome associated with RAA. The primary clinical symptoms were vertigo and ischemic symptoms of the left upper extremity. We diagnosed the condition using aortic computed tomography angiography and digital subtraction angiography. The patient underwent carotid-subclavian bypass surgery.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primer sequences for qRT-PCR in this study.

Quorum sensing (QS) can function to shape the microbial community interactions, composition, and function. In wastewater treatment systems, acylated homoserine lactone (AHL)-based QS has been correlated with the conversion of floccular biomass into microbial granules, as well as EPS production and the nitrogen removal process. However, the role of QS in such complex communities is still not fully understood, including the QS-proficient taxa and the functional QS genes involved. To address these questions, we performed a metagenomic screen for AHL genes in an activated sludge microbial community from the Ulu Pandan wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Singapore followed by functional validation of luxI activity using AHL biosensors and LC-MSMS profiling. We identified 13 luxI and 30 luxR homologs from the activated sludge metagenome. Of those genes, two represented a cognate pair of luxIR genes belonging to a Nitrospira spp. and those genes were demonstrated to be functionally active. The LuxI homolog synthesized AHLs that were consistent with the dominant AHLs in the activated sludge system. Furthermore, the LuxR homolog was shown to bind to and induce expression of the luxI promoter, suggesting this represents an autoinduction feedback system, characteristic of QS circuits. Additionally, a second, active promoter was upstream of a gene encoding a protein with a GGDEF/EAL domain, commonly associated with modulating the intracellular concentration of the secondary messenger, c-di-GMP. Thus, the metagenomic approach used here was demonstrated to effectively identify functional QS genes and suggests that Nitrospira spp. maybe QS is active in the activated sludge community. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from National Research Foundation and Ministry of Education Singapore under its Research Center of Excellence Program.

Small-diameter vascular grafts (diameter

The development of novel wastewater treatment processes that use heterogeneous catalysts to activate hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with bicarbonate (HCO3−) has been a subject of great interest in recent years; however, significant challenges remain, despite research into numerous metal-based catalysts. The work presented herein employed oxygen-doped graphitic carbon nitride (O/g-C3N4) as a non-metal catalyst for activating H2O2 in the presence of HCO3−, and this method represented the first system capable of removing organic pollutants in the dark, to our knowledge. The catalysts were characterized using several microscopic imaging, spectroscopic, electrochemical, and crystallographic techniques, as well as N2-physorption procedures. Analysis of the results revealed that the O/g-C3N4 catalyst possessed a high specific surface area and many defect sites. Various operational parameters, including the relative amounts of HCO3−, H2O2, and O/g-C3N4, were systemically investigated. A clear performance enhancement was observed in the degradation of organic contaminants when subjected to the HCO3−–H2O2–O/g-C3N4 system, and this result was ascribed to the synchronous adsorption and chemical oxidation processes. The novel system presented herein represented a new water treatment technology that was effective for removing organic contaminants.

This paper presents a new voice conversion (VC) framework capable of dealing with both additive noise and reverberation, and its performance evaluation. There have been studied some VC researches focusing on real-world circumstances where speech data are interfered with background noise and reverberation. To deal with more practical conditions where no clean target dataset is available, one possible approach is zero-shot VC, but its performance tends to degrade compared with VC using sufficient amount of target speech data. To leverage large amount of noisy-reverberant target speech data, we propose a three-stage VC framework based on denoising process using a pretrained denoising model, dereverberation process using a dereverberation model, and VC process using a nonparallel VC model based on a variational autoencoder. The experimental results show that 1) noise and reverberation additively cause significant VC performance degradation, 2) the proposed method alleviates the adverse effects caused by both noise and reverberation, and significantly outperforms the baseline directly trained on the noisy-reverberant speech data, and 3) the potential degradation introduced by the denoising and dereverberation still causes noticeable adverse effects on VC performance., Comment: Accepted to INTERSPEECH 2022

Operation parameters restrict the performance of hydrocyclone in offshore platforms. Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Fluent and the similarity parameter criterion experiment, the numerical simulation of the separation flow field and separation efficiency of hydrocyclone at different feed solid concentration was carried out, taking short circuit flow into account, a new correcting separation size equation was derived according to the locus of zero vertical velocity (LZVV) method. The results shown that when the feed solid concentration was more than 40%, the peak value of tangential velocity decreased and the increasing amplitude of underflow pressure drop will decrease compared with the increasing amplitude of overflow pressure drop, the region with the highest turbulence intensity increased when the concentration was more than 40%. The total separation efficiency and the feed solid concentration showed a positive correlation at 0 ~ 40%, and the increase in total separation efficiency was the smallest when it was higher than 40%, with a value of 0.63%. There was a large difference between the values of d50c* and d50c while the feed solid concentration was 50%. From the above results, it could be concluded that the optimum feed solid concentration ranges were 0 ~ 40%. The new correcting separation size equation could be used in the range of 0 ~ 40%. This study could have certain guiding significance for the field application of the offshore platform desanding hydrocyclone.

PM2.5 is a class of airborne particles and droplets with sustained high levels in many developing countries. Epidemiological studies have indicated that PM2.5 is closely associated with the increased morbidity and mortality of lung cancer in the world. Unfortunately, the effects of PM2.5 on lung cancer are largely unknown. In the present study, we attempted to explore the role of PM2.5 in the etiology of NSCLC. Here, we found that long-term PM2.5 exposure led to significant pulmonary injury. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells (CSC) properties were highly induced by PM2.5 exposure. EMT was evidenced by the significant up-regulation of MMP2, MMP9, TGF-β1, α-SMA, Fibronectin and Vimentin. Lung cancer progression was associated with the increased expression of Kras, c-Myc, breast cancer resistance protein BCRP (ABCG2), OCT4, SOX2 and Aldh1a1, but the decreased expression of p53 and PTEN. Importantly, mice with IL-17a knockout (IL-17a-/-) showed significantly alleviated lung injury and CSC properties following PM2.5 exposure. Also, IL-17a-/--attenuated tumor growth was recovered in PM2.5-exposed mice injected with recombinant mouse IL-17a, accompanied with significantly restored lung metastasis. Taken together, these data revealed that PM2.5 could promote the progression of lung cancer by enhancing the proliferation and metastasis through IL-17a signaling.

Recycling is the most effective way to dispose of waste polymer materials. It can not only reduce the harm of polymer materials to the natural environment, but also achieve the purpose of saving cost and turning waste into treasure. A self-made melt differential electrospinning device was used to recover the degraded polypropylene (PP) non-woven fabric as a raw material, and the special powder for recycling and degrading PP non-woven fabric after acid treatment and adding different plasticizers with a mass fraction of 10%. A blend of materials of sodium stearate, acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC), and dioctyl adipate (DOA) was spun, and a nanofiber membrane was prepared at 300 ℃. The optimum degradation time of PP nonwoven fabric spinning and the effect of adding different plasticizers on the morphology, oil absorption performance and reusability of PP-degraded non-woven fabric nanofibers were investigated. Studies have shown that the addition of plasticizer ATBC works best. When the spinning voltage is 40 kV, the spinning distance is 70 mm, the spinning temperature is 300 ℃, and the ATBC mass fraction is 10%, the fiber diameter is as fine as 1.13 μm. The fiber membrane oil absorption ratio is 115.4 g/g, and the oil retention ratio is 70.3 g/g, which are 4 times and 3 times that of the initially commercially available PP nonwoven fabric, and has good reusability.

Purpose Primary squamous cell carcinoma is a rare malignancy in the thyroid gland (SCCTh). The overall prognosis of this carcinoma is poor. This study aimed to explore the application of Raman spectroscopy in investigating the expression of CK5/6 and P63 in SCCTh. Patients and Methods Tissues of the SCCTh and adjacent normal thyroid, as well as blood serum, were collected from a patient with pathology-confirmed SCCTh. Whole genome sequencing analysis was performed with the tissue of the SCCTh. The expressions of keratins and TP53 family gene were investigated by the Raman spectroscopy in tissues of the SCCTh and adjacent normal thyroid. The serum was also investigated by the Raman spectroscopy for the expression of keratins and TP53 family gene. Results The whole genome sequencing analysis identified the mutation of the TP53 gene (42%) in the tissues of SCCTh. Accordingly, the Raman spectra analyses showed higher expression of keratins and TP53 family gene in the tissues of SCCTh compared with that in the adjacent normal thyroid. Raman spectra analyses of the serum of the patient also showed the expressions of the keratins and TP53 family gene. Conclusion The expressions of the keratins and TP53 are different in the tissues of SCCTh and adjacent normal thyroid, and the difference could be identified with high sensitivity by the Raman spectra analyses.

Prompted by recent evidence of neural circuitry in rodent models, functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional connectivity analyses were conducted for a large adolescent population at two ages, together with alcohol abuse measures, to characterize a neural network that may underlie the onset of alcoholism. A network centered on the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), as well as including the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG), central nucleus of the amygdala, and nucleus accumbens, was identified, consistent with the rodent models, with evidence of both inhibitory and excitatory coregulation by the mOFC over the dPAG. Furthermore, significant relationships were detected between raised baseline excitatory coregulation in this network and impulsivity measures, supporting a role for negative urgency in alcohol dependence.

This paper presents a study of a three-row opposed gripping mechanism made of bioinspired spiny toes. An insect Serica orientalis Motschulsky’s tarsal system was first described and studied. A compliant single spiny toe model was established assuming that the contact asperities were spheres. Following the single toe contact model, a spiny toe array’s contact model was then developed using asperity height’s distribution function. By studying the engaging and disengaging process of the single toe, the mechanical behavior of the toe and toe array were addressed. The toes as well as the arrays were manufactured via rapid prototyping. A customized apparatus using displacement-control method has been carried out to measure the pull-in forces and pull-off positions of the single toe and toe array under various compression conditions. Based on the understanding, a three-row opposed gripping mechanism with radial configuration for wall-climbing robots was designed and fabricated according to the mechanical behaviors of the toe and array. Using an opposed spoke configuration with 3 rows of 31 toes on each linkage array, the mechanism designed as a foot of climbing robots can vertically resist at least 1 kg of load on rough inverted surface, while the maximum normal load is as high as 31 N. The findings may provide a way in developing a high payload wall-climbing robot system for practical applications.

In a conventional voice conversion (VC) framework, a VC model is often trained with a clean dataset consisting of speech data carefully recorded and selected by minimizing background interference. However, collecting such a high-quality dataset is expensive and time-consuming. Leveraging crowd-sourced speech data in training is more economical. Moreover, for some real-world VC scenarios such as VC in video and VC-based data augmentation for speech recognition systems, the background sounds themselves are also informative and need to be maintained. In this paper, to explore VC with the flexibility of handling background sounds, we propose a noisy-to-noisy (N2N) VC framework composed of a denoising module and a VC module. With the proposed framework, we can convert the speaker's identity while preserving the background sounds. Both objective and subjective evaluations are conducted, and the results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

The three-row opposed gripping mechanism has good adhesion on the rough surface. This paper proposes the design of a quadruped climbing robot with this gripping mechanism. The robot is simplified by imitating the body structure of gecko, and its degree of freedom is demonstrated. The trotting gait is adopted as the climbing mode of the robot. The feasibility of the mechanical structure and gait scheme is verified by simulation. A prototype of the robot is made, with a total weight of 2778.8g. Finally, a preliminary experiment is carried out on a rough vertical wall, and the robot can grasp on the wall with four feet.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology has been increasingly used in neuroscience studies. Reproducibility of statistically significant findings generated by MRI-based studies, especially association studies (phenotype vs. MRI metric) and task-induced brain activation, has been recently heavily debated. However, most currently available reproducibility measures depend on thresholds for the test statistics and cannot be use to evaluate overall study reproducibility. It is also crucial to elucidate the relationship between overall study reproducibility and sample size in an experimental design. In this study, we proposed a model-based reproducibility index to quantify reproducibility which could be used in large-scale high-throughput MRI-based studies including both association studies and task-induced brain activation. We performed the model-based reproducibility assessments for a few association studies and task-induced brain activation by using several recent large sMRI/fMRI databases. For large sample size association studies between brain structure/function features and some basic physiological phenotypes (i.e. Sex, BMI), we demonstrated that the model-based reproducibility of these studies is more than 0.99. For MID task activation, similar results could be observed. Furthermore, we proposed a model-based analytical tool to evaluate minimal sample size for the purpose of achieving a desirable model-based reproducibility. Additionally, we evaluated the model-based reproducibility of gray matter volume (GMV) changes for UK Biobank (UKB) vs. Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) and UK Biobank (UKB) vs. Human Connectome Project (HCP). We demonstrated that both sample size and study-specific experimental factors play important roles in the model-based reproducibility assessments for different experiments. In summary, a systematic assessment of reproducibility is fundamental and important in the current large-scale high-throughput MRI-based studies.

Herein, we describe a variety of chiral hybrid pyrroidine-indole polycyclic derivatives with quaternary and continuous chiral centers were synthesized in good yields with excellent stereoselectivities through an asymmetric, intermolecular, and formal [3 + 2] cyclization reaction catalyzed by a bifunctional catalyst. In addition, the selection of substituents of substrates is the key to success, and both the hydroxyl group and the trifluoromethyl group play essential roles in the reaction.

The flow of cement-based slurry within concentric annular geometry is a major problem of study in the field of engineering, especially regarding the prevention of water ingress in an annulus formed during shaft construction utilizing the artificial freezing technique in China. In this study, an analytical governing equation of motion for the axial flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid in a long concentric annulus is derived under the condition of high groundwater pressure. A stepwise calculation method is proposed to describe the grouting process based on two injection modes, namely, flow rate control and pressure control. The injection time is divided into a series of time segments; correspondingly, the grouted zone is subdivided into infinitesimal elements. Some key parameters, such as the location, dimension, slurry viscosity, and pressure gradient of each element, can be obtained using the developed MATLAB program. On this basis, the distribution of pressure and slurry viscosity in the grouted zone and the variations in injection pressure at the grouting point and grouting flow rate are determined. Two injection mode cases are investigated to reveal the grout propagation in the concentric annulus. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted and employed to validate and calibrate the calculated results. The results obtained by the present stepwise calculation method show good agreement with the numerical results.

DNA damage in oocytes can cause infertility and birth defects. DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are highly deleterious and can substantially impair genome integrity. Homologous recombination (HR)-mediated DNA DSB repair plays dominant roles in safeguarding oocyte quantity and quality. However, little is known regarding the key players of the HR repair pathway in oocytes. Here, we identified oocyte-specific gene Ooep as a novel key component of the HR repair pathway in mouse oocytes. OOEP was required for efficient ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase activation and Rad51 recombinase (RAD51) focal accumulation at DNA DSBs. Ooep null oocytes were defective in DNA DSB repair and prone to apoptosis upon exogenous DNA damage insults. Moreover, Ooep null oocytes exhibited delayed meiotic maturation. Therefore, OOEP played roles in preserving oocyte quantity and quality by maintaining genome stability. Ooep expression decreased with the advance of maternal age, suggesting its involvement in maternal aging.

BackgroundThe orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in depression. The hypothesis investigated was whether the OFC sensitivity to reward and nonreward is related to the severity of depressive symptoms.MethodsActivations in the monetary incentive delay task were measured in the IMAGEN cohort at ages 14 years (n = 1877) and 19 years (n = 1140) with a longitudinal design. Clinically relevant subgroups were compared at ages 19 (high-severity group: n = 116; low-severity group: n = 206) and 14.ResultsThe medial OFC exhibited graded activation increases to reward, and the lateral OFC had graded activation increases to nonreward. In this general population, the medial and lateral OFC activations were associated with concurrent depressive symptoms at both ages 14 and 19 years. In a stratified high-severity depressive symptom group versus control group comparison, the lateral OFC showed greater sensitivity for the magnitudes of activations related to nonreward in the high-severity group at age 19 (p = .027), and the medial OFC showed decreased sensitivity to the reward magnitudes in the high-severity group at both ages 14 (p = .002) and 19 (p = .002). In a longitudinal design, there was greater sensitivity to nonreward of the lateral OFC at age 14 for those who exhibited high depressive symptom severity later at age 19 (p = .003).ConclusionsActivations in the lateral OFC relate to sensitivity to not winning, were associated with high depressive symptom scores, and at age 14 predicted the depressive symptoms at ages 16 and 19. Activations in the medial OFC were related to sensitivity to winning, and reduced reward sensitivity was associated with concurrent high depressive symptom scores.

Prompted by recent evidence of neural circuitry in rodent models, functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional connectivity analyses were conducted for a large adolescent population at two ages, together with alcohol abuse measures, to characterize a neural network that may underlie the onset of alcoholism. A network centered on the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), as well as including the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG), central nucleus of the amygdala, and nucleus accumbens, was identified, consistent with the rodent models, with evidence of both inhibitory and excitatory coregulation by the mOFC over the dPAG. Furthermore, significant relationships were detected between raised baseline excitatory coregulation in this network and impulsivity measures, supporting a role for negative urgency in alcohol dependence.

In order to study the internal flow field and oil-water separation mechanism of double cone hydrocyclone, based on fluid dynamics software Fluent, the effects of oil phase volume distribution, tangential velocity distribution, feed flow rate at different oil droplet sizes and fractional ratio at different oil concentration on the separation efficiency of the hydrocyclone were analyzed. The results show that the feed flow rate should be less than or equal to 3.5 m3/h to reduce the energy loss; The separation efficiency is the best when the oil droplet size is 1 mm–1.5 mm and the feed flow rate is in the range of 2.5 m3/h–3.5 m3/h; In order to achieve the highest separation efficiency, the split ratio should be 1.2–1.3 times of the inlet oil concentration. The research can provide reference for the separation mechanism and flow field characteristics of hydrocyclone.

Existing design equations can hardly provide reliable guidance in hydrocyclone designs and give explanations for the selected optimum range of spiral tube inlet. In this paper, the spiral tube inlet hydrocyclone for offshore oil-water separation was optimized by using the response surface method and multi-objective optimization method. With optimization results which were verified by numerical simulation and experiments discussed and analyzed, the optimal entrance structural parameters were obtained: d = 7.45 mm; D = 32.50 mm; h = 7.80 mm; C = 2.00, and the separation efficiency of the optimized hydrocyclone was increased by 8.34% and Euler number reduces 4.12. The optimization process show that the response surface method is reliable for the optimization of the inlet structure of the spiral tube, which provides technical guidance for the development and optimization of the sea oil produced water treatment equipment.

Public data provided by the International GNSS Service (IGS) website shows that from 0:00 UTC on February 14, 2020, the power of the P(Y) code signal of some GPS satellites at the L2 frequency point has been increased significantly. An automatic analysis method of GPS satellite signal power sudden changes based on data from multiple ground stations is proposed. This method is based on the post-observation data of multiple ground stations and automatically analyzes the time of the sudden change in the power of the navigation satellite signal through computer software, so as to determine the satellite power enhancement period, and then analyze the availability of the satellite in the power enhancement state. The method can be applied to the analysis and research of the power enhancement effect of GPS system.

In order to reduce the fine particles in the underflow when the hydrocyclone is used to treat coalbed gas fracturing Flow-back fluids, a V-shaped outlet hydrocyclone was designed. Internal flow field of two hydrocyclones was simulated by RSM (Reynolds stress model) and Mixture model. The study shows that the V-shape outlet hydrocyclone can reduce concentration of the underflow particles with a diameter of 2.5 μm to 4.1%, which is 5.29 times lower than that of the ordinary hydrocyclone, and the particle concentration of 10 μm is reduced by 55.17%. In the internal flow field, the maximum pressure value of the V-shaped outlet hydrocyclone is 59.61% lower than that of the ordinary one. Compared with the ordinary hydrocyclone, the maximum negative pressure of V-shaped outlet hydrocyclone is reduced by a factor of 2.1. The maximum value of the tangential velocity in the semi-freedom vortex zone at the V-shaped outlet is 28.32% lower than that of the ordinary structure; the maximum of the axial velocity in the forced vortex zone is 40.03% higher than that of the ordinary one; the radial velocity of the V-shaped structure is reduced by 1.5 times as compared with the ordinary structure.

Epstein-Barr virus-positive follicular lymphoma (EBV-positive FL) is extremely uncommon, especially a histiocytoid morphology. Here we present a 70-year-old man who had EBV-positive FL with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) transformation in the left cervical lymph nodes.

Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are extremely rare, usually related to specific tumor syndromes such as familial GIST syndrome, neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), and the Carney triad. A 27-year-old man came to the hospital for treatment due to watery bloody stool. Abdominal CT disclosed multiple tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. The postoperative pathological examination showed multiple GISTs and diffuse hyperplasia of interstitial cells of Cajal. The c-KIT mutation at exon 11 c.1676T>C (p.V559A) was detected in the paraffin-embedded tumor tissue. He had skin hyperpigmentation from childhood, but had no family history of GIST. This case of multiple GISTs without family history attracted our attention.

Inspired by the mechanisms of some insects which are capable of climbing and moving freely on various vertical rough surfaces with their claws and accessory components, we presented a new design of a flexible spiny structure called DNspine (a spine with double needles) featuring two anchoring points to enhance the mobility of wall-climbing robots (WCR). Each flexible spine consists of two separate suspension systems so that the near subspines in the flexible spiny structure will not interface with each other. The two-anchoring point design increases the contact area of spiny array to achieve a better attachment for WCRs. The single DNspine and its array were fabricated via fast prototyping. A customized setup using displacement-control method was carried out to characterize the contact performance of the single DNspine as well as its DNspine array. Their adhesion forces were measured on a sandpaper surface. The results show that both the DNspine and the DNspine array are able to increase the spine adhesion significantly compared with a single flexible spine and its array with only one anchoring point on rough surfaces.

Si-si Wang, Dao-xiong Ye, Bo Wang, Chao Xie Department of General Surgery, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, The People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dao-xiong YeDepartment of General Surgery, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, 29 Xinquan Road, Fuzhou, Fujian Province 350001, The People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-591-86218015Email daoxiongy@163.comPurpose: Primary squamous cell carcinoma is a rare malignancy in the thyroid gland (SCCTh). The overall prognosis of this carcinoma is poor. This study aimed to explore the application of Raman spectroscopy in investigating the expression of CK5/6 and P63 in SCCTh.Patients and Methods: Tissues of the SCCTh and adjacent normal thyroid, as well as blood serum, were collected from a patient with pathology-confirmed SCCTh. Whole genome sequencing analysis was performed with the tissue of the SCCTh. The expressions of keratins and TP53 family gene were investigated by the Raman spectroscopy in tissues of the SCCTh and adjacent normal thyroid. The serum was also investigated by the Raman spectroscopy for the expression of keratins and TP53 family gene.Results: The whole genome sequencing analysis identified the mutation of the TP53 gene (42%) in the tissues of SCCTh. Accordingly, the Raman spectra analyses showed higher expression of keratins and TP53 family gene in the tissues of SCCTh compared with that in the adjacent normal thyroid. Raman spectra analyses of the serum of the patient also showed the expressions of the keratins and TP53 family gene.Conclusion: The expressions of the keratins and TP53 are different in the tissues of SCCTh and adjacent normal thyroid, and the difference could be identified with high sensitivity by the Raman spectra analyses.Keywords: SCCTh, thyroid neoplasms, CK5/6, P53, Raman spectrum analysis

Traditional data processing thinking mode and technology cannot meet the needs; big data technology is entering our life with an irresistible trend. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of e-commerce user data in the context of large data, this paper elaborates on the process of e-commerce user data mining in the context of large data. Finally, the Apriori algorithm is applied to mine e-commerce user data. The experimental results show that the use of Apriori algorithm can make an e-commerce platform more accurate marketing and commodity recommendation.

A large amount of uranium-containing wastewater is produced by the nuclear industry, which causes harm to human health and the environment. Goethite (α-FeOOH) is highly insoluble in water and has a net positive surface charge, making it an effective sorbent for metal–anion complexes in aqueous solutions. In this study, goethite (α-FeOOH) and Fe2+-modified magnetic goethite (M-α-FeOOH) were prepared using an easy one-pot chemical precipitation method and used to remove uranium from solution. The adsorbents were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), BET surface area analysis, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). When Fe2+ partially substitutes for Fe3+, the material is magnetic, has a larger specific surface area and can be rapidly separated in a magnetic field. The uranium adsorption performance of M-α-FeOOH was substantially better than that of α-FeOOH, and its maximum adsorption capacity increased by 46.09%. The data fitted well with the quasi-second order kinetic model and the Langmuir isothermal adsorption model. According to the results of this study, the increase in the uranium removal performance of M-α-FeOOH was attributed to its higher specific surface area, better dispersion, and larger quantity of activated adsorption sites. These results, along with its low-cost, environmentally friendly, and facile synthesis, reveal M-α-FeOOH is a promising material for uranium capture.

In order to study the effect of limestone powder as an auxiliary cementing material replacing part of cement on the properties and pore structure of cement mortar, the working performance, mechanical properties and pore structure characteristics of cement mortar with 0%, 10%, 20% and 40% substitutions of limestone powder were tested. The experimental results show that with the increase of the amount of limestone powder, the fluidity of mortar increases continuously and the water retention also becomes better. The addition of limestone powder improves the workability of mortar, but with the increase of limestone powder, the compressive strength of mortar decreases continuously. The results of low field NMR show that the porosity of cement mortar increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of limestone powder content. Compared with the reference mortar, its porosity is improved to some extent, however the pore throat distribution indicates that the increase of porosity is caused by the increase of small pores between 0.01μm and 0.16μm. The harmful macropores between 0.16μm and 0.63μm in mortar are reduced, which indicate that the addition of limestone powder can effectively improve the pore diameter distribution of mortar.

This paper presents a three-row opposed gripping mechanism with radial configuration for wall-climbing robots inspired by the structure of the gripper of LEMUR IIB. The mechanism builds upon a kind of microspines for climbing robots. This work utilizes an opposed spoke configuration with 3 rows of 31 microspines on each linkage array, splayed around a central bracket. A single motor drives the 3 linkage arrays by a set of gears to achieve attachment and detachment procedures, and the trajectory of each linkage array tip makes the miniature spines easy to penetrate in and pull off the surfaces. The mechanism designed as a foot of climbing robots can vertically resist at least 1kg of load on rough surface. The findings provide a foundation for constructing a system for a rough-wall-climbing robot.

A variety of axially chiral biaryldiols were synthesized in good yields with excellent atropo-enantioselectivities through construction of axially chiral indoles catalyzed by asymmetric hydrogen-bond donors. In addition, the new axially chiral compounds were proved to be efficient and practical catalysts for asymmetric catalysis. The strategy not only provides a novel method to synthesize axially chiral compounds but also extends the scope of chiral catalysts.

To evaluate the actual effect of the schistosomiasis control program in Jiangsu Province from 2010 to 2015.A total of 67 schistosomiasis-endemic counties in 10 cities were selected, and a combination of retrospective investigation and on-site investigation was adopted to collect and record the epidemic data of the counties from 2010 to 2015, and a retrospective survey database of epidemic situation was established. The effects of integrated control strategies with bothFrom 2010 to 2015, 2 465 911 persons who lived in endemic areas were detected for schistosomiasis, with 16 974 positive cases of blood examinations, and 8 positive cases of fecal examinations. Totally 5 145 people with advanced schistosomiasis were treated and 40 460 people with the history of schistosome cercarial-infested water contact received the expanded chemotherapy. A total of 127 636 cattle raised in the endemic areas were detected, and 51 619 cattle (head-times) with the history of cercarial-infested water contact also received the expanded chemotherapy. The area with snails control by molluscicides was 18 604.84 hmAfter the implementation of the plan for the prevention and control of schistosomiasis in Jiangsu Province (2010-2015), the prevention and control of schistosomiasis has achieved remarkable effects and realized the goal of the plan.[

To understand the prevalence ofThe HIV/AIDS patients, tumor patients, pregnant women, and people with livestock and poultry breeding or processing works were selected as the study subjects from September to November 2015. The venous blood samples were collected from each participant for detecting IgG and IgM antibodies againstThe overall prevalence ofThe infection rate of[

To determine the Late Palaeozoic evolution of the Lhasa terrane, we report the results of field mapping, petrological and fossil investigations, and U–Pb dating of detrital zircon grains (n = 474) from lower-greenschist-facies clastic rocks of the Lagar Formation in the Baruo area, Tibet. Our results indicate that the Lagar Formation was deposited during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian in a shallow-marine environment on the northern margin of Gondwana. Glacial marine diamictites are common within the Lagar Formation and record glaciation of Gondwana during the Late Palaeozoic. Moreover, the detrital materials of the Lagar formation originated mostly from the collision orogenic belt. The ages of detrital zircon grains from the Lagar Formation make up five main groups with ages of 410–540 Ma, 550–650 Ma, 800–1100 Ma, 1600–1800 Ma, and 2300–2500 Ma, which display three characteristic age peaks at ~1150, 2390 and 2648 Ma. We tentatively suggest that the Lhasa terrane was a shallow-marine basin under the influence of the Gondwanan glaciation during the Late Carboniferous–Early Permian.

The flexible deployment structure has played an increasingly important role in space missions such as manned spaceflight, deep space exploration, due to its light weight and high storage ratio. In this study, we present a simple flexible deployment structure, which contains CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) boom, airbag and Velcro. We introduce the Velcro to constrain the coiled boom and the airbag to drive the deployment. Inflation process of tubular airbag is simulated to get the structural stress characteristics of the structure. The peeling process of Velcro is also simulated and a good comparation with the peeling experiments results is presented. Based on the analysis of Velcro and airbag, A complex finite element model of this structure is built to simulate the deployment process of the coiled boom constrained by Velcro.

Graphene wrapped nitrogen-doped active carbon fibers (ACF@GR) of a core-shell structure were successfully prepared by a simple dip-coating method using natural silk as template. Compared to pure silk active carbon, the as-prepared ACF@GR composites exhibit high specific surface area in a range of 1628–2035 m 2 g −1 , as well as superior energy storage capability, an extremely high single-electrode capacitance of 552.8 F g −1 was achieved at a current density of 0.1 A g −1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The assembled aqueous symmetric supercapacitors are capable of deliver both high energy density and high power density, for instance, 17.1 Wh kg −1 at a power density of 50.0 W kg −1 , and 12.2 Wh kg −1 at 4.7 kW kg −1 with a retention rate of 71.3% for ACF@GR1-based supercapacitor.

Graphene nanosheets (GNs) functionalized attapulgite (ATTP)/sulfur (ATTP@GNs/S) composites were prepared through the melt-diffusion method, and investigated as cathode of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Owing to the strong adsorption capability and sulfur/lithium polysulfides (Li 2 S n ) confinement of the natural ATTP nanofibers and partially reduced GNs, ATTP/S and ATTP@GNs/S exhibit improved electrochemical performance compared to elemental sulfur. The ATTP@GNs/S composite shows an initial discharge capacity of 1143.9 mAh g −1 , and a reversible capacity of ca. 512.0 mAh g −1 after 100 cycles at 0.1C, giving a capacity decay rate of as low as 0.5% per cycle. This research demonstrates the possibility of utilizing ATTP as sulfur host matrix or as cathode additives for enhanced energy storage capability of Li–S batteries.

Low-cost and high performance electrode materials are critical for rapid development and wide applications of supercapacitors. Herein, we report a cost-effective approach to prepare nitrogen-doped active carbon/graphene (N-AC/Gr) composites using renewable corn straw and soy protein as precursors, respectively. The as-prepared composites have moderate specific surface areas in a range of 1233.6–1412.9 m2 g–1 and abundant porosity. Furthermore, the composites demonstrate high single electrode gravimetric and volumetric specific capacitances of 378.9 F g–1 and 257.7 F cm–3 at 0.05 A g–1 and of 321.1 F g–1 and 213.2 F cm–3 at 20 A g–1, accounting for an excellent rate capability with a retention of 66.4% in 6 M KOH electrolyte. The assembled N-AC/Gr-based aqueous symmetric supercapacitor exhibits superior cycling durability with 93% retention after 10,000 cycles at 2 A g–1 and delivers a high energy density of 13.1 Wh kg–1 (11.1 Wh L–1) with a power density of 12.5 W kg–1 (10.6 W L–1).

Sandwich-like nitrogen-enriched porous carbon/graphene composites were prepared by carbonization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber paper with bulk-doped and/or surface-coated graphene oxide (GO), and followed by activation with KOH at high temperatures. The composites exhibit high specific surface areas in a range of 1957.2–2631.8 m 2 g −1 , as well as superior energy storage capability as electrodes for supercapacitors. A very high specific capacitance of 381.6 F g −1 at a current density of 0.1 A g −1 was achieved in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte for N-ACGrF@Gr1 that contains two types of graphene. According to the investigation results, the surface-coated graphene plays a more positive effect on improved supercapacitance than the bulk-doped graphene in the composites. Additionally, the assembled aqueous symmetric supercapacitors deliver a high energy density of 13.2 W h kg −1 at a power density of 25.0 W kg −1 , and 8.3 W h kg −1 at 4.7 kW kg −1 with a retention rate of 62.9%.

Reed straw-derived active carbon@graphene (AC@GR) hybrids were prepared by one-step carbonization/activation process using a mixture of reed straw and graphene oxide (GO) as raw materials and ZnCl2 as activation agent. The as-prepared hybrids exhibit high specific surface area in a range of 1971–2497 m2 g−1, abundant porosity, as well as excellent energy storage capability. The symmetric C//C supercapacitor using the hybrid obtained at 700 °C as electrodes demonstrates superior cycling durability, ca. 90 % retention after 6000 cycles at 2 A g−1, and a high energy density of 6.12 Wh kg−1 at a power density of up to 4660 W kg−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The excellent capacitive performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of AC and GR.

To improve the properties of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and utilize ground granulated blast furnace slag efficiently, this study investigates the effect of fineness on the hydration activity index (HAI) of ground granulated blast furnace slag. The hydration activity index of GGBS with six specific surface areas (SSAs) was characterized by the ratio of compressive strength of the prismatic mortar test block. The particle size distribution of GGBS with different grinding times was tested by laser particle size analyzer. The paste of different specific surface area GGBSs in different curing ages was investigated at the micro level by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometer, thermogravimetric scanning calorimeter, and differential scanning calorimeter. The effect of particle distribution of GGBS on the hydration activity index of different curing ages was studied by gray correlation analysis. The results indicated that the compressive strength and hydration activity index increases with the increase of a specific surface area of GGBS at different curing ages. The hydration activity index at different curing ages is almost a linear role for specific surface areas. With the increase in the specific surface area of GGBS, the content of Ca(OH)2 in paste decreases gradually. When GGBS was added into a mortar test block, the hydrate calcium silicate gel in paste changed from a high Ca/Si ratio to a low Ca/Si ratio. The 0&ndash, 10 micron particles of GGBS particle distribution were highly correlated with the hydration activity index at different curing ages.