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[EN] Growth and development of hair follicles (HF) is a complex and dynamic process in most mammals. As HF growth and development regulate rabbit wool yield, exploring the role of genes involved in HF growth and development may be relevant. In this study, the coding sequence of the Angora rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) WIF1 gene was cloned. The length of the coding region sequence was found to be 1140 bp, which encodes 379 amino acids. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the WIF1 protein was unstable, hydrophilic and located in the extracellular region, contained a putative signal peptide and exhibited a high homology in different mammals. Moreover, WIF1 was significantly downregulated in the high wool production in the Angora rabbit group. Overexpression and knockdown studies revealed that WIF1 regulates HF growth and development-related genes and proteins, such as LEF1 and CCND1. WIF1 activated β-catenin/TCF transcriptional activity, promoted cell apoptosis and inhibited cellular proliferation. These results indicate that WIF1 might be important for HF development. This study, therefore, provides a theoretical foundation for investigating WIF1 in HF growth and development., This research was funded by This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32102529), China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-43-A-1).

Hypersaline wastewater has been widely used in industrial processes in some countries short of freshwater, but calcium ions in such wastewater should be removed due to the danger of limescale being produced. In this study, calcium ions in hypersaline (sodium chloride: 5%) wastewater was biomineralized into different carbonate minerals under the action of free and immobilized Virgibacillus dokdonensis WLR1 bacteria. The results show that the calcium ion precipitation rate was much higher under the conditions of immobilized bacteria (p < 0.01), and that there was a significant difference in the mineral phases, the diversity of protein secondary structures and morphologies, and chemical characteristics of the mineral surfaces between the free and the immobilized bacteria based on XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDS, and XPS analyses. TG, DTG, and DSC results show that with increasing calcium ion concentrations, the thermal stability of calcium carbonate under the conditions of free bacteria decreased due to the decline in crystallinity. The stable carbon isotope values (δ13CPDB) of calcium carbonate formed by free bacteria changed from −16.80‰ to −18.17‰; the much more negative δ13CPDB values suggest that the calcium carbonate minerals are biotic. From ultrathin slices analyzed by HRTEM-mapping-SAED, it was observed that calcite is formed inside the cell, thus also facilitating calcium ion removal. Research concerning intracellular calcite has rarely been reported. This study helps to further understand the mechanisms of biomineralization, and also provides an environmentally friendly method to remove calcium ions from hypersaline wastewater.

Supplementary Material 1

BackgroundThere are huge differences in female breast cancer mortality between urban and rural China. In order to better prevent breast cancer equally in urban and rural areas, it is critical to trace the root causes of past inequities and predict how future differences will change. Moreover, carcinogenic factors from micro-individual to macro-environment also need to be analyzed in detail. However, there is no systematic research covering these two aspects in the current literature.MethodsBreast cancer mortality data in urban and rural China from 1994 to 2019 are collected, which from China Health Statistical Yearbook. The Age-Period-Cohort model is used to examine the effects of different age groups, periods, and birth cohorts on breast cancer mortality. Nordpred project is used to predict breast cancer mortality from 2020 to 2039.ResultsThe age effect gradually increases and changes from negative to positive at the age of 40–44. The period effect fluctuates very little and shows the largest difference between urban and rural areas in 2019. The birth cohort effect gradually decreases with urban-rural effects alternating between strong and weak. In the predicted results, the urban-rural mortality gap becomes first narrow and then wide and shows a trend of younger death.ConclusionsFrom the perspective of a temporal system, the changing trend of breast cancer mortality is highly consistent with the history of social and economic structural changes in China. From the perspective of the theory of social determinants of health, individuals, families, institutions and governments need to participate in the prevention of breast cancer.

Deep learning approaches have exhibited a great ability on automatic interpretation of the electrocardiogram (ECG). However, large-scale public 12-lead ECG data are still limited, and the diagnostic labels are not uniform, which increases the semantic gap between clinical practice. In this study, we present a large-scale multi-label 12-lead ECG database with standardized diagnostic statements. The dataset contains 25770 ECG records from 24666 patients, which were acquired from Shandong Provincial Hospital (SPH) between 2019/08 and 2020/08. The record length is between 10 and 60 seconds. The diagnostic statements of all ECG records are in full compliance with the AHA/ACC/HRS recommendations, which aims for the standardization and interpretation of the electrocardiogram, and consist of 44 primary statements and 15 modifiers as per the standard. 46.04% records in the dataset contain ECG abnormalities, and 14.45% records have multiple diagnostic statements. The dataset also contains additional patient demographics.

Additional file 1. Comparison of major basic medical insurance systems in China.

Additional file 2. Main source of independent variables.

Additional file 1: Appendix Fig. 1. The robustness test results of AQI related results.

Aiming at the non-linearity and uncertainty of patient spastic disturbance in the trajectory tracking control of upper limb rehabilitation robot, an iterative learning control algorithm is proposed based on RBF neural network. This paper considers repetitive nature of the rehabilitation robot system, the algorithm combines a single hidden layer feedforward neural network with iterative learning. In the upper limb rehabilitation process, the algorithm accelerate the convergence speed of the trajectory tracking error, and quickly suppress the interference in the interference environment. The Lyapunov stability theory is used to prove the globally asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system, then simulation proves the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Background: The high speed maglev centralized control subsystem (CCS), which realizes the display, automatic train operation (ATO) and diagnose. The CCS is an important security assurance for train operation. System testing (ST) can detect design defects early and performed effective repair to improve the efficiency of the system’ on-site coordinated operation. Therefore, the quality of test cases directly determines the achievements and efficiency of CCS, and it is necessary to be tested before put it into use. Aim: The generation of test case of centralized control subsystem is proposed. Methods: In order to meet the requirements of the system, the first step is operating the extraction of functional features. Then, the unified modeling language is using to develop the test model in this paper. Then the corresponding unified modeling language models, use case diagram, state diagram, activity diagram and sequence diagram, are developed. The state diagram of operation process is using to describe the state transition during the period from initial state of the OTS to the completion of the operation. The activity diagram of train operation process focuses on the control relationship during the period from one activity to another, which can describe the interaction exactly between OTS, DCS and VCS. The sequence diagram, behavior of use case, focuses on the sequence of information sent by objectives, in which a group of objectives and information transfer are presented. And according to these models, the test cases of the specified case are generated. Results: The generated test cases are all executed in the developed lab-test system. The results show that the generated test cases can fully simulate the common situations of the operation scene, and effectively improve the test efficiency and test quality. We designed the experiments as followings: 85 test cases for terminal system design of operator, 68 test cases for train automatic operation design, 31 test cases for central diagnostic system design. All of the designed test cases are examined through the test platform, covering all main scenes in operation process. The errors or detects found in tests are solved by finding the reasons and modifying the code, etc. Finally, the pass rate of the method proposed in this paper is 100 %. Conclusion: The UML based method of test case generation implements the generation process and achieves the test cases and verification for CCS. Through the test practice, test cases designed can fully simulate all kinds of common situations in the operation site. What’s more, the test cases also realize early detection of errors and defects in the system and repair them. It is useful to improve the efficiency on-site testing process, to reduce the cost of time and test quality. The method can provide theoretical basis and reference for further testing of high speed maglev CCS.

Background. Yuquan Pill (YQP), a Chinese patent medicine for the treatment of diabetes, is widely used in the treatment of diabetes and its complications in China. However, the efficacy of YQP on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has not been completely assessed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of YQP in the treatment of T2DM. Materials and Methods. We systematically searched 9 databases for specific keywords from inception to Oct 2021. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving YQP in the treatment of T2DM without language limitation. The study conformed to the Cochrane Handbook and Review Manager software was used for data analysis. The weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to measure treatment effects. Results. The final analysis included 10 publications. Analysis showed that the combination of YQP and conventional treatment was more effective than conventional treatment alone with regard to the levels of fasting blood glucose (WMD = −0.83; 95% CI [−1.01,−0.66]; p

Background: Obesity is an independent risk factor for the occurrence and development of diabetes. Patients with diabetes combined with obesity will face serious burdens such as increase in insulin resistance and difficulty in blood glucose control. As a safe, effective, economical, and simple intervention, Tuina is more acceptable to the public than drugs. The objective of this systematic evaluation and meta-analysis is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tuina for diabetes with obesity. Methods: We will search the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Sino Med, Wanfang, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry System, China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM). The time limit for retrieving studies is from establishment to November 2020 for each database. Randomized controlled clinical trials related to Tuina intervention on diabetes with obesity will be included. Data synthesis, sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis as well as the assessment of bias risk will be conducted by using Stata V.13.0 and Review manager 5.3 software. Results: This study will provide a quantitative and standardized evaluation for the efficacy of Tuina therapy on diabetes with obesity. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide the high-quality evidence of whether Tuina is an effective intervention for diabetes with obesity. Registration number: INPLASY2020110106.

Additional file 1. Table S1. Classification criteria of depression level and anxiety level.

Background: Senile diabetes with depression is a common and frequently-occurring disease, and it is also a difficult and hot point in domestic and international research. However, the efficiency of combination hypoglycemic agents and antidepressants in the treatment of senile diabetes with depression is poor, and new intervention methods are urgently needed. Research shows the 5-element therapy, as a Chinese traditional non-drug intervention, has definite curative effect on the prevention and treatment of various physical and mental diseases. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the efficacy of 5-element therapy on senile diabetes with depression. Methods: The electronic databases including Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Sino Med,China Biomedical Literature Database will be searched. The time limit for retrieving studies is from establishment to October 2020 for each database. Randomized controlled clinical trials related to 5-element therapy intervention on senile diabetes with depression will be included. Stata V.13.0 and Review manager 5.3 software will be implemented for data synthesis, sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis, and the assessment of bias risk. We will use the grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation system to assess the quality of evidence. Results: This study will provide a quantitative and standardized evaluation for the efficacy of 5-element therapy on senile diabetes with depression. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide the high-quality evidence to assess whether the 5-element therapy has a positive treatment effect for senile diabetes with depression. Registration number: INPLASY2020100081.

Background: The prevalence of gout is increasing worldwide, and the symptoms of acute arthritis appearing in gout patients seriously affect the quality of life. The pain and functional limitation caused by acute gouty arthritis (AGA) bring great pain to patients. At present, mainstream drugs have problems such as poor efficacy and side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine has extensive clinical experience in the prevention and treatment of gout, and it also shows clear advantages in the treatment of AGA. Clinical studies have confirmed that si-miao-san decoction (SMSD), a traditional Chinese medicine decoction, can improve the clinical symptoms and signs of AGA patients. Therefore, we will conduct a systematic review to clarify the effectiveness and safety of SMSD for AGA. Methods: We will search different database from the built-in to October 2020. The electronic database includes PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang, VIP, and CBM. At the same time, we will also search for clinical registration tests and gray literatures. This study only screened clinical randomized controlled trials (RCT) for SMSD for AGA. The 2 researchers independently conducted literature selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. Dichotomous data are represented by relative risk (RR), continuous data are represented by mean difference (MD) or standard mean deviation (SMD), and the final data are fixed effect model (FEM) or random effect model (REM), depending on whether it exists heterogeneity. The main outcomes are clinical efficacy, including pain score, joint function, and degree of swelling. The secondary outcomes include: blood uric acid (BUA), C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Finally, a meta-analysis was conducted through Review Manager software version 5.3. Results: This study will conduct a comprehensive analysis based on the currently released Si-Miao-San data for the treatment of AGA and provide high-quality evidence of clinical efficacy and safety. Conclusion: This systematic review aims to provide new options for SMSD treatment of AGA in terms of its efficacy and safety. Ethics and dissemination: The review is based solely on a secondary study of published literatures and does not require ethics committee approval. Its conclusion will be disseminated in conference papers, magazines, or peer-reviewed journals. INPLASY registration number: INPLASY202040163.

Coke oven gas (COG), a considerable byproduct in coke production, has been utilized as the feedstock for methanol production. A “cradle-to-gate” life cycle assessment (LCA) of COG-based methanol production (COG route) was conducted and compared with the coal and natural gas routes by applying CML 2001 method with GaBi 6.0 software. Besides, the economic analysis of the three methanol routes were performed. The results indicate that COG route shows lower impacts than coal route to all the selected environmental categories. Moreover, the average methanol production cost of COG route is lower than that of coal and natural gas routes by 25.1% and 19.8%, respectively. In COG route, 82.1% of the overall normalized environmental burden occurs at methanol production stage dominated by electricity and steam consumption. The environmental impact of COG route could be reduced by supplying medium-pressure steam from coke dry quenching system for methanol production. This work intends to provide useful insights on the sustainability development of COG utilization in coke industry.

The nanotubes with an anatase structure were hydrothermally synthesized using the Fe-doped anatase nanopowder precursors that were annealed in air and reductive atmospheres. The microstructure and physicochemical properties of the nanotubes were comparably investigated. Results show that the reductive pre-annealing yields more surface-chemisorbed oxygen by introducing lower valance Fe2+ and Ti3+ ions. The specific surface area, methylene blue adsorption and photoabsorption threshold of the nanotubes are greatly enhanced by the reductive annealing when comparing with annealing in air. 1 mol% Fe doping and reductive annealing yield the highest adsorption, photocatalytic efficiency and durability for degradation of MB solution; extreme Fe doping decreases the photocatalytic efficiency. The Fe content of the nanotubes is decreased by the hydrothermal synthesis, especially in the case of annealing in air. Moreover, the action mechanism of the Fe doping and reductive annealing was discussed.

Due to insufficient muscle strength, a novel rehabilitation mechanism of the shoulder joint exoskeleton is proposed and analyzed based on gear and rack transmission, which solves the problem that stroke patients need repetitive exercise rehabilitation training. First, the range of motion angle of the shoulder joint is determined, and the mechanical structure of shoulder joint rehabilitation is designed. The arc rack is engaged with the output shaft gear of the reducer, and the servo motor is utilized as the driving force to realize the internal/external rotation movement of the shoulder joint. The motor connects the horizontal connecting rod and the rotating rod through the cross roller bearing to realize the abduction/adduction and flexion/extension movement of the shoulder joint. Second, the kinematics and dynamics of the shoulder joint exoskeleton are analyzed, investigated, and verified for the rehabilitation mechanism. The simulation analysis of the mechanism is completed in the virtual prototype. The changes in the joint angle and end trajectory and joint moment with time and angular velocity under the given working conditions are obtained, which directly reflect the movement of each joint of the rehabilitation mechanism. Finally, aiming at the nonlinear disturbance in the trajectory tracking control of the rehabilitation mechanism of the shoulder joint exoskeleton, the trajectory tracking approach of the mechanism is achieved aided with the closed-loop PD iterative learning control method. The results demonstrate that the actual trajectories are in good agreement with the desired trajectories, which can achieve effective tracking and improve the control quality of the system.

Background: The number of people with diabetes and pre-diabetes is growing exponentially. Human studies have shown that zinc supplementation is beneficial for pre-diabetes. However, owing to the low quality, small sample size, and methodological heterogeneity of these studies, this conclusion is not convincing. Consequently, in order to determine whether zinc supplementation is effective and safe in pre-diabetic patients, it is necessary to conduct a meta-analysis of high-quality clinical trials. Methods: We will retrieve MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, the Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and the ClinicalTrials.gov website without restriction on language. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Zinc supplementation for adult patients with pre-diabetes will be searched in multiple databases from inception to October 2020. The primary outcome of the meta-analysis is the HbA1c. The secondary outcomes include the fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin (FINS), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI). Two assessors will utilize the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool to evaluate the RCTs and all statistical data will be analyzed by using the Review Manage software V5.3.0. Results: This study will provide high-quality synthesis of effectiveness and safety of zinc supplementation for pre-diabetes. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide the available evidence to assess whether the zinc supplementation is beneficial to glucose control and insulin resistance in patients with pre-diabetes. PROSPERO registration number: CRD 42018095724

Understanding patronage networks in Chinese Bureaucracy helps us quantify the promotion mechanism underlying autocratic political systems. Although there are qualitative studies analyzing political promotions, few use quantitative methods to model promotions and make inferences on the fitted mathematical model. Using publicly available datasets, we implement network analysis techniques to advance scholarly understanding of patronage networks in autocratic regimes, using the Chinese bureaucracy as an example. Using graph-based and non-graph-based features, we design three studies to examine drivers of political promotions. We find that careers of politicians are closely associated with their genders, home origins, and positions in the patronage networks., Comment: 23 pages, Submit to Journal of Computational Social Science 2019

Due to hostile and rigorous environment, the copper pipe is subject to pits occurring on the external surface of the pipe. It is crucial and highly demanded to noninvasively detect and evaluate this flaw which has posed a severe threat to integrity of copper pipes. In light of the advantages of gradient-field pulsed eddy current technique (GPEC), this paper intensively investigates the detection and evaluation of subsurface pits in copper pipes via GPEC. A GPEC probe consisting of a bobbin-type excitation coil and array of magnetic sensors has been proposed for efficient pipe inspection. A new feature extracted from the differential signal of gradient-field is utilized for localization and assessment of pits distributing circumferentially and axially. Through a series of experiments, it can be found that the subsurface pit of ixQ.imm2 in diameterxdepth can be localized and quantitatively evaluated by using GPEC which is also found advantageous over conventional pulsed eddy current technique (PEC) in terms of higher efficiency and sensitivity to subsurface pits in copper pipes.

This paper studies the softening-treatment technology of aluminium alloy LY12 and the subsequent superplastic mechanical behavior of the material. The research results show that the resistance to deformation is reduced by 20–30% after the as-supplied LY12 has been softened. The deformation technology parameters after the softening treatment are: a deformation temperature of 420–440°C; a strain-rate of 5 × 10−3/s; when the flow stress is less than 15 MPa, the strain is comparatively stable within one minute under different temperature conditions; when the stress is greater than 20 MPa and the deformation temperature is increased, the strain increases very quickly with further elapse of time. These referential technological parameters provided are used for complex plate reinforcement in superplastic isothermal die forging.

Based on analysis of the two main deficiencies of the current evaluation methods of carbonic acid erosion of groundwater to the concrete in China: a), the carbonic acid erosion indexes [CO2]s of different water samples have no comparability with each other; b). It is difficult to draw carbonic acid erosion partitioning map, a universal 'discriminant of groundwater' was deduced in this article. By employing special compiled 'calculation procedure of discriminant of carbonic acid erosion', not only calculation of the newly defined 'discriminant of carbonic acid erosion' has been completed, but also the calculation of carbonic acid erosion indexes [CO2]s by artificial table checking and interpolation in the past has been realized in computer. With the help of the discriminant and the calculation procedure proposed in this paper, not only horizontal comparison of the carbonic acid erosion between water samples is feasible, but also the partitioning map of the carbonic acid erosion can be compiled quantitatively. Furthermore, the two main deficiencies of the current evaluation method and the feasibility of drawing carbonic acid erosion partitioning map quantitatively by the discriminant in this paper the are shown in cases.