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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition featuring by gradual degradation of the cortical and hippocampal neurons, which results in impaired cognitive and memory functions. Objectives: To assess the effect of chronic moderate and high intensity pattern of exercise on brain functions regarding memory and implication changes of adiponectin (APN) and brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) gene expression. Subjects and methods: Sixty adult male albino rats were subdivided randomly into two main groups (n=30), control group and AD group. Each main group was suballocated into three subgroups (n=10) according to intensity of exercise. Finally we had 6 groups: Subgroup Ia: vehicle only. Subgroup Ib: vehicle + Moderate intensity exercise. Subgroup Ic: vehicle + High intensity exercise. Subgroup IIa: AlCl3. Subgroup IIb: AlCl3 + Moderate intensity exercise. Subgroup IIc:AlCl3+ High intensity exercise. APN and BDNF gene expression were assessed and histopathological examination of cerebral cortex and hippocampus was done. Evaluation of behavioral parameters was done using modified T-maze to evaluate short term and working memory. Results: Gene expressions of APN and BDNF were substantially decreased in the all AD subgroups compared to their corresponding control subgroups. However, they were remarkably elevated in moderately exercised subgroups compared to the sedentary subgroups. Moreover, in high intensity exercised subgroups, they were significantly higher than that of the sedentary and moderately exercised subgroups. Conclusion: APN & BDNF gene expression can be employed as a biomarker for early diagnosis of AD. Also regular exercise with increased intensity should be recommended for all patients with AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), an emerging enteropathogenic coronavirus, is a serious threat to piglets and has zoonotic potential. Here, we aimed to further explore the role of aminopeptidase N (APN) as a receptor for PDCoV and test the inhibitory effect of a chimeric APN protein strategy on PDCoV infection. PK-15 cells and LLC-PK1 cells expressing chimeric APN were selected and infected with PDCoV. Viral replication was significantly decreased in these chimeric APN cells compared with that in control group cells. To further characterize the effect of the chimeric APN strategy on PDCoV infection in vitro, primary intestinal epithelial cells isolated from chimeric APN pigs were inoculated with PDCoV. Viral challenge of these cells led to decreased PDCoV infection. More importantly, virally challenged chimeric APN neonatal piglets displayed reduced viral load, significantly fewer microscopic lesions in the intestinal tissue, and no diarrhea. Taken together, these findings deepen our understanding of the mechanism of PDCoV infection and provide a valuable model for the production of disease-resistant animals. IMPORTANCE Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), an emerging enteropathogenic coronavirus, causes diarrhea in piglets and possesses the potential to infect humans. However, there are currently no effective measures for the prevention or control of PDCoV infection. Here, we have developed PK-15 cells, LLC-PK1 cells, and primary intestinal epithelial cells expressing chimeric APN, and viral challenge of these cells led to decreased PDCoV infection. Furthermore, virally challenged chimeric APN neonatal piglets displayed reduced viral load, significantly fewer microscopic lesions in the intestinal tissue, and no diarrhea. These data show that chimeric APN is a promising strategy to combat PDCoV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study is to contribute to an understanding of the role deployment of advanced practice nurses (APNs) in French healthcare settings. Introduction: The introduction of APNs was formalised in France by the decrees issued on 18 July 2018, which described the areas, activities and training of APNs. Background: A qualitative study on the role implementation of APNs was conducted between July 2021 and May 2022 following a call for projects launched by the Île‐de‐France Regional Health Agency to evaluate the deployment of APNs in the area. Methods: Data were collected through field observations and semi‐structured interviews in order to explore both the APNs deployment processes in nine healthcare structures and the roles played by APN networks and associations with regard to the deployment of APN activities in their working environments. Results: The projects proved to be evolutionary, and their development was marked by various forms of APN isolation and multiple obstacles that were specific to their professional practice settings. Some APNs relied on a variety of forms of mutual assistance and advocacy deployed throughout APN networks and associations. Discussion: The deployment of APNs' role was impacted by diverse configurations of professional power relations and the nature of the obstacles that were structural for APNs in primary care. Their experience of isolation derived from the novelty of their role, the challenge they posed to the cohesion of the nursing profession and a lack of supportive policies for their deployment. Their participation in APN networks and associations enabled them to access advocacy and manage the uncertainties and unknowns related to the deployment of their activities. Conclusion: The results suggest that the formalisation of schemes for mutual assistance among APNs and advocacy should be integrated into the guidelines for the implementation of their role. Implications for nursing policy: APN policy should strengthen a bottom‐up approach, relying in particular on the development of different forms of collaboration and communication between APN networks and associations on the one hand and the public authorities on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The big APN problem is one of the most important challenges in the theory of Boolean functions, i.e. finding a new APN permutation in even dimension. Among this class of functions, those with the lowest possible degree are cubic. Yet, none has been found so far. In this paper, we introduce new parameters for Boolean functions and for vectorial Boolean functions, mostly derived from the behavior of their second-order derivatives. These parameters are invariant under extended affine equivalence, and they are particularly relevant for small-degree functions. They allow studying bent, semi-bent and APN functions of degrees two and three. In particular, they allow tackling the big APN problem for cubic permutations. Notably, we focus on the case of dimension 8, providing some computational results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronaviruses (CoVs) have continuously posed a threat to human and animal health. However, existing antiviral drugs are still insufficient in overcoming the challenges caused by multiple strains of CoVs. And methods for developing multi‐target drugs are limited in terms of exploring drug targets with similar functions or structures. In this study, four rounds of structural design and modification on salinomycin were performed for novel antiviral compounds. It was based on the strategy of similar topological structure binding properties of protein targets (STSBPT), resulting in the high‐efficient synthesis of the optimal compound M1, which could bind to aminopeptidase N and 3C‐like protease from hosts and viruses, respectively, and exhibit a broad‐spectrum antiviral effect against severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV 2 pseudovirus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, transmissible gastroenteritis virus, feline infectious peritonitis virus and mouse hepatitis virus. Furthermore, the drug‐binding domains of these proteins were found to be structurally similar based on the STSBPT strategy. The compounds screened and designed based on this region were expected to have broad‐spectrum and strong antiviral activities. The STSBPT strategy is expected to be a fundamental tool in accelerating the discovery of multiple targets with similar effects and drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To report the results of a mapping exercise by the European Federation of Nurses on current advanced practice nursing frameworks and developments across Europe. Design: Online, cross‐sectional, questionnaire study. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed among 35 national nurses' associations across Europe in March 2021. The questionnaire solicited input on 60 items concerning key features of advanced practice nursing, intending to map existing developments and better understand the current state of advanced practice nursing in Europe. Data analysis used descriptive statistics, including counts and percentages, tabulation; open‐text responses were handled with thematic synthesis techniques. Results: The definition, sense‐making and operationalization of advanced practice nursing vary across Europe. Important variations were noted in the definition and requirements of advanced practice nursing, resulting in different views on the competencies and scope of practice associated with this role. Importantly, the level of education and training required to qualify and practice as an advanced practice nurse varies across European countries. Furthermore, only 11 countries reported the existence of a national legislation establishing minimum educational requirements. Conclusion: Significant variation exists in how countries define advanced practice nursing and how it is regulated at academic and practice levels. More research is needed to clarify whether this variation results from designing models of advanced practice nursing that work in different contexts; and what impact a standardized regulatory framework could have to grow the volume of advanced practice nurses across Europe. Impact: The current paper exposes the lack of clarity on the development and implementation of advanced practice nursing across Europe. We found significant variation in the definition, recognition, regulation and education of advanced practice nurses. Our data are essential to policymakers, professional associations and employers to ensure a coordinated and systematic effort in the consistency and ongoing development of advanced practice nurses across Europe. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution applied; the participants were national nurses' associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first commercial service of the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), IOWN1.0, was launched in March 2023. This article introduces its accomplishments as well as the future that will be possible with its successors IOWN2.0, 3.0, and beyond. This article is based on the keynote speech given by Katsuhiko Kawazoe, NTT senior executive vice president, at Tsukuba Forum 2023, held on May 17 and 18, 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NTT laboratories are engaged in the research and development of technologies to overcome increasing data volume, power consumption, and network delay. This article introduces the technologies that contribute to low latency and power saving of optical access networks being researched and developed by the Optical Access System Project at NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canine coronavirus-human pneumonia-2018 (CCoV-HuPn-2018) was recently isolated from a child with pneumonia. This novel human pathogen resulted from cross-species transmission of a canine coronavirus. It has been known that CCoV-HuPn-2018 uses aminopeptidase N (APN) from canines, felines, and porcines, but not humans, as functional receptors for cell entry. The molecular mechanism of cell entry in CCoV-HuPn-2018 remains poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that among the nine APN orthologs tested, the APN of the Mexican free-tailed bat could also efficiently support CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike (S) protein-mediated entry, raising the possibility that bats may also be an alternative host epidemiologically important for the transmission of this virus. The glycosylation at residue N747 of canine APN is critical for its receptor activity. The gain of glycosylation at the corresponding residues in human and rabbit APNs converted them to functional receptors for CCoV-HuPn-2018. Interestingly, the CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike protein pseudotyped virus infected multiple human cancer cell lines in a human APN-independent manner, whereas sialic acid appeared to facilitate the entry of the pseudotyped virus into human cancer cells. Moreover, while host cell surface proteases trypsin and TMPRSS2 did not promote the entry of CCoV-HuPn-2018, endosomal proteases cathepsin L and B are required for the entry of CCoV-HuPn-2018 in a pH-dependent manner. IFITMs and LY6E are host restriction factors for the CCoV-HuPn-2018 entry. Our results thus suggest that CCoV-HuPn-2018 has not yet evolved to be an efficient human pathogen. Collectively, this study helps us understand the cell tropism, receptor usage, cross-species transmission, natural reservoir, and pathogenesis of this potential human coronavirus. IMPORTANCE: Viral entry is driven by the interaction between the viral spike protein and its specific cellular receptor, which determines cell tropism and host range and is the major constraint to interspecies transmission of coronaviruses. Aminopeptidase N (APN; also called CD13) is a cellular receptor for HCoV-229E, the newly discovered canine coronavirus-human pneumonia-2018 (CCoV-HuPn-2018), and many other animal alphacoronaviruses. We examined the receptor activity of nine APN orthologs and found that CCoV-HuPn-2018 utilizes APN from a broad range of animal species, including bats but not humans, to enter host cells. To our surprise, we found that CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike protein pseudotyped viral particles successfully infected multiple human hepatomaderived cell lines and a lung cancer cell line, which is independent of the expression of human APN. Our findings thus provide mechanistic insight into the natural hosts and interspecies transmission of CCoV-HuPn-2018-like coronaviruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metamaterial absorbers have become a popular research direction due to their broad application prospects, such as in radar, infrared imaging, and solar cell fields. Usually, nanostructured metamaterials are associated with a large number of geometric parameters, and traditional simulation designs are time consuming. In this paper, we propose a framework for designing plasma metamaterial absorbers in both a forward prediction and inverse design composed of a primary prediction network (PPN) and an auxiliary prediction network (APN). The framework can build the relationship between the geometric parameters of metamaterials and their optical response (reflection spectra, absorption spectra) from a large number of training samples, thus solving the problem of time-consuming and case-by-case numerical simulations in traditional metamaterial design. This framework can not only improve forward prediction more accurately and efficiently but also inverse design metamaterial absorbers from a given required optical response. It was verified that it is also applicable to absorbers of different structures and materials. Our results show that it can be used in metamaterial absorbers, chiral metamaterials, metamaterial filters, and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Common chronic infections induced low-grade inflammation has been correlated with atherosclerosis as supported by strong evidence. The balance between pro-and anti-inflammatory factors was exploited to elucidate the effects of chronic periodontitis on diabetes-associated atherosclerosis. Methods Study subjects encompassed 30 SPF male rats randomly divided into four groups: A group (NC), B group (T2DM), C group (CP), D group (DM + CP). After developing the model, blood samples were collected from the angular vein analyze serum APN, hs-CRP, and blood lipid. the carotid artery was isolated for HE staining. Result Compared with group A, the serum APN in group B, C and D decreased gradually with the progression of the disease. Serum hs-CRP in group B, C and D was significantly increased. At T3, T4 and T5 in group B, C and D, APN/hs-CRP significantly decreased. TC, LDL and TG significantly increased in group B, D; HDL significantly decreased in group C. Carotid artery HE staining showed: compared with group A, different degrees of endothelial defect, destruction of elastic fibers in the middle membrane, disorder of smooth muscle arrangement, and partial dissolution 、 fragmentation and Calcium salt deposition necrosis occurred in group B, C and D. Conclusion Enhanced systemic inflammation, decreased adiponectin level, and disorganized lipid metabolism with or without type 2 diabetes attributed to local inflammation of periodontitis can result in an imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, it’s more meaningful to predict the progression of DAA with anti-inflammatory/pro-inflammatory variation.

Adiponectin (APN) is an essential adipokine for a variety of reproductive processes. To investigate the role of APN in goat corpora lutea (CLs), CLs and sera from different luteal phases were collected for analysis. The results showed that the APN structure and content had no significant divergence in different luteal phases both in CLs and sera; however, high molecular weight APN was dominant in serum, while low molecular weight APN was more present in CLs. The luteal expression of both AdipoR1/2 and T-cadherin (T-Ca) increased on D11 and 17. APN and its receptors (AdipoR1/2 and T-Ca) were mainly expressed in goat luteal steroidogenic cells. The steroidogenesis and APN structure in pregnant CLs had a similar model as in the mid-cycle CLs. To further explore the effects and mechanisms of APN in CLs, steroidogenic cells from pregnant CLs were isolated to detect the AMPK-mediated pathway by the activation of APN (AdipoRon) and knockdown of APN receptors. The results revealed that P-AMPK in goat luteal cells increased after incubation with APN (1 μg/mL) or AdipoRon (25 μM) for 1 h, and progesterone (P4) and steroidogenic proteins levels (STAR/CYP11A1/HSD3B) decreased after 24 h. APN did not affect the steroidogenic protein expression when cells were pretreated with Compound C or SiAMPK. APN increased P-AMPK and reduced the CYP11A1 expression and P4 levels when cells were pretreated with SiAdipoR1 or SiT-Ca, while APN failed to affect P-AMPK, the CYP11A1 expression or the P4 levels when pretreated with SiAdipoR2. Therefore, the different structural forms of APN in CLs and sera may possess distinct functions; APN might regulate luteal steroidogenesis through AdipoR2 which is most likely dependent on AMPK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the spike protein of human coronaviruses can bind to a secondary receptor, or coreceptor, to facilitate the virus entry. While HCoV-229E uses human aminopeptidase N (hAPN) as a receptor, HCoV-OC43 binds to 9-O-acetyl-sialic acid (9-O-Ac-Sia), which is linked in a terminal way to the oligosaccharides that decorate glycoproteins and gangliosides on the surface of the host cell. Thus, evaluating the possible inhibitory activity of heparan sulfate, a linear polysaccharide found in animal tissues, and enoxaparin sodium on these viral strains can be considered attractive. Therefore, our study also aims to evaluate these molecules' antiviral activity as possible adsorption inhibitors against non-SARS-CoV. Once the molecules' activity was verified in in vitro experiments, the binding was studied by molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations confirming the interactions at the interface of the spike proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces research and development efforts and the latest results on the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN). It is based on the keynote speech given by Atsuko Oka, executive vice president, head of the Research and Development Planning Department of NTT Corporation, at the "NTT R&D Forum--Road to IOWN 2022" held from November 16th to 18th, 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) service that is due to launch in March 2023. It is based on the keynote speech given by Akira Shimada, president and chief executive officer of NTT Corporation, at the "NTT R&D Forum--Road to IOWN 2022" held from November 16th to 18th, 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Common chronic infections induced low-grade inflammation has been correlated with atherosclerosis as supported by strong evidence. The balance between pro-and anti-inflammatory factors was exploited to elucidate the effects of chronic periodontitis on diabetes-associated atherosclerosis. Methods: Study subjects encompassed 30 SPF male rats randomly divided into four groups: A group (NC), B group (T2DM), C group (CP), D group (DM + CP). After developing the model, blood samples were collected from the angular vein analyze serum APN, hs-CRP, and blood lipid. the carotid artery was isolated for HE staining. Result: Compared with group A, the serum APN in group B, C and D decreased gradually with the progression of the disease. Serum hs-CRP in group B, C and D was significantly increased. At T3, T4 and T5 in group B, C and D, APN/hs-CRP significantly decreased. TC, LDL and TG significantly increased in group B, D; HDL significantly decreased in group C. Carotid artery HE staining showed: compared with group A, different degrees of endothelial defect, destruction of elastic fibers in the middle membrane, disorder of smooth muscle arrangement, and partial dissolution 、 fragmentation and Calcium salt deposition necrosis occurred in group B, C and D. Conclusion: Enhanced systemic inflammation, decreased adiponectin level, and disorganized lipid metabolism with or without type 2 diabetes attributed to local inflammation of periodontitis can result in an imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, it's more meaningful to predict the progression of DAA with anti-inflammatory/pro-inflammatory variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the independent works by Kalgin and Idrisova and by Beierle, Leander and Perrin, it was observed that the Gold APN functions over F 2 5 give rise to a quadratic APN function in dimension 6 having maximum possible linearity of 2 5 (that is, minimum possible nonlinearity 2 4 ). In this article, we show that the case of n ≤ 5 is quite special in the sense that Gold APN functions in dimension n > 5 cannot be extended to quadratic APN functions in dimension n + 1 having maximum possible linearity. In the second part of this work, we show that this is also the case for APN functions of the form x ↦ x 3 + μ (x) with μ being a quadratic Boolean function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If used as S-boxes, APN functions provide optimal resilience against differential attacks. However, the very existence of APN permutations operating on an even number n of bits (with n ≥ 8) has been an open problem for nearly 30 years. A possible method to solve this problem consists in generating APN functions, and then exploring the CCZ-equivalence classes of these functions looking for a permutation. Following this goal, we found 5412 new quadratic APN functions on F 2 8 using an approach based on so-called Quadratic APN Matrices (QAM). This brings the number of known CCZ-inequivalent APN functions on F 2 8 to 26525. Unfortunately, none of these new functions are CCZ-equivalent to permutations. A complete list (to the best of our knowledge) of known quadratic APN functions, including our new ones, has been added to sboxU for ease of study by others. In this paper, we recall how to construct new QAMs from a known one. Based on these results and on others on smaller fields, we make two conjectures: that the total number of CCZ-inequivalent quadratic APN functions on F 2 8 exceeds 50000, and that the full list of quadratic APN functions could be obtained by modifying only a small number of entries of the QAM, though such a search remains computationally infeasible at this stage. Finally, we propose a new model which can handle the last two columns together and avoid some redundant computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Overall, viral receptors are cell surface molecules that allow for virus binding and cell entry leading to productive infection. The presence and distribution of these receptors across tissues can determine susceptibility and the outcome of the infection. This study demonstrates the presence of the main protein receptors used by different coronaviruses in the respiratory and intestinal tract of pigs. The present study has important implications for the development of research models and for the assessment of the potential risk and introduction of coronaviruses into the swine population. Coronaviruses use a broad range of host receptors for binding and cell entry, essential steps in establishing viral infections. This pilot study evaluated the overall distribution of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), aminopeptidase N (APN), carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1), and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) receptors in the pig respiratory and intestinal tract. All the receptors evaluated in this study were expressed and differentially distributed through the respiratory and intestinal tract. The presence and expression levels of these receptors could determine susceptibility to coronavirus infections. This study may have important implications for the development of research models and the assessment of the potential risk and introduction of novel coronaviruses into the swine population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), an emerging enteropathogenic coronavirus, is a serious threat to piglets and has zoonotic potential. Here, we aimed to further explore the role of aminopeptidase N (APN) as a receptor for PDCoV and test the inhibitory effect of a chimeric APN protein strategy on PDCoV infection. PK-15 cells and LLC-PK1 cells expressing chimeric APN were selected and infected with PDCoV. Viral replication was significantly decreased in these chimeric APN cells compared with that in control group cells. To further characterize the effect of the chimeric APN strategy on PDCoV infection in vitro , primary intestinal epithelial cells isolated from chimeric APN pigs were inoculated with PDCoV. Viral challenge of these cells led to decreased PDCoV infection. More importantly, virally challenged chimeric APN neonatal piglets displayed reduced viral load, significantly fewer microscopic lesions in the intestinal tissue, and no diarrhea. Taken together, these findings deepen our understanding of the mechanism of PDCoV infection and provide a valuable model for the production of disease-resistant animals., Importance: Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), an emerging enteropathogenic coronavirus, causes diarrhea in piglets and possesses the potential to infect humans. However, there are currently no effective measures for the prevention or control of PDCoV infection. Here, we have developed PK-15 cells, LLC-PK1 cells, and primary intestinal epithelial cells expressing chimeric APN, and viral challenge of these cells led to decreased PDCoV infection. Furthermore, virally challenged chimeric APN neonatal piglets displayed reduced viral load, significantly fewer microscopic lesions in the intestinal tissue, and no diarrhea. These data show that chimeric APN is a promising strategy to combat PDCoV infection., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative injury, which contribute to worsening of neurological deficits and poor clinical outcomes, are hallmarks of secondary brain injury after TBI. Adiponectin (APN), beyond its well-established regulatory effects on metabolism, is also essential for maintaining normal brain functions by binding APN receptors that are ubiquitously expressed in the brain. Currently, the significance of the APN/APN receptor (AdipoR) signaling pathway in secondary injury after TBI and the specific mechanisms have not been conclusively determined. In this study, we found that APN knockout aggravated brain functional deficits, increased brain edema and lesion volume, and exacerbated oxidative stress as well as apoptosis after TBI. These effects were significantly alleviated after APN receptor agonist (AdipoRon) treatment. Moreover, we found that AdipoR1, rather than AdipoR2, mediated the protective effects of APN/AdipoR signaling against oxidative stress and brain injury after TBI. In neuron-specific AdipoR1 knockout mice, mitochondrial damage was more severe after TBI, indicating a potential association between APN/AdipoR1 signaling inactivation and mitochondrial damage. Mechanistically, neuron-specific knockout of SIRT3, the most important deacetylase in the mitochondria, reversed the neuroprotective effects of AdipoRon after TBI. Then, PRDX3, a critical antioxidant enzyme in the mitochondria, was identified as a vital downstream target of the APN/SIRT3 axis to alleviate oxidative injury after TBI. Finally, we revealed that APN/AdipoR1 signaling promotes SIRT3 transcription by activating the AMPK-PGC pathway. In conclusion, APN/AdipoR1 signaling plays a protective role in post-TBI oxidative damage by restoring the SIRT3-mediated mitochondrial homeostasis and antioxidant system.

Metamaterial absorbers have become a popular research direction due to their broad application prospects, such as in radar, infrared imaging, and solar cell fields. Usually, nanostructured metamaterials are associated with a large number of geometric parameters, and traditional simulation designs are time consuming. In this paper, we propose a framework for designing plasma metamaterial absorbers in both a forward prediction and inverse design composed of a primary prediction network (PPN) and an auxiliary prediction network (APN). The framework can build the relationship between the geometric parameters of metamaterials and their optical response (reflection spectra, absorption spectra) from a large number of training samples, thus solving the problem of time-consuming and case-by-case numerical simulations in traditional metamaterial design. This framework can not only improve forward prediction more accurately and efficiently but also inverse design metamaterial absorbers from a given required optical response. It was verified that it is also applicable to absorbers of different structures and materials. Our results show that it can be used in metamaterial absorbers, chiral metamaterials, metamaterial filters, and other fields.

Adiponectin (APN) is an essential adipokine for a variety of reproductive processes. To investigate the role of APN in goat corpora lutea (CLs), CLs and sera from different luteal phases were collected for analysis. The results showed that the APN structure and content had no significant divergence in different luteal phases both in CLs and sera; however, high molecular weight APN was dominant in serum, while low molecular weight APN was more present in CLs. The luteal expression of both AdipoR1/2 and T-cadherin (T-Ca) increased on D11 and 17. APN and its receptors (AdipoR1/2 and T-Ca) were mainly expressed in goat luteal steroidogenic cells. The steroidogenesis and APN structure in pregnant CLs had a similar model as in the mid-cycle CLs. To further explore the effects and mechanisms of APN in CLs, steroidogenic cells from pregnant CLs were isolated to detect the AMPK-mediated pathway by the activation of APN (AdipoRon) and knockdown of APN receptors. The results revealed that P-AMPK in goat luteal cells increased after incubation with APN (1 μg/mL) or AdipoRon (25 μM) for 1 h, and progesterone (P4) and steroidogenic proteins levels (STAR/CYP11A1/HSD3B) decreased after 24 h. APN did not affect the steroidogenic protein expression when cells were pretreated with Compound C or SiAMPK. APN increased P-AMPK and reduced the CYP11A1 expression and P4 levels when cells were pretreated with SiAdipoR1 or SiT-Ca, while APN failed to affect P-AMPK, the CYP11A1 expression or the P4 levels when pretreated with SiAdipoR2. Therefore, the different structural forms of APN in CLs and sera may possess distinct functions; APN might regulate luteal steroidogenesis through AdipoR2 which is most likely dependent on AMPK.

It is known that the spike protein of human coronaviruses can bind to a secondary receptor, or coreceptor, to facilitate the virus entry. While HCoV-229E uses human aminopeptidase N (hAPN) as a receptor, HCoV-OC43 binds to 9-O-acetyl-sialic acid (9-O-Ac-Sia), which is linked in a terminal way to the oligosaccharides that decorate glycoproteins and gangliosides on the surface of the host cell. Thus, evaluating the possible inhibitory activity of heparan sulfate, a linear polysaccharide found in animal tissues, and enoxaparin sodium on these viral strains can be considered attractive. Therefore, our study also aims to evaluate these molecules’ antiviral activity as possible adsorption inhibitors against non-SARS-CoV. Once the molecules’ activity was verified in in vitro experiments, the binding was studied by molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations confirming the interactions at the interface of the spike proteins.

Abstract Background Women with vulvar neoplasia often complain about physical and psychological distress after surgical treatment. Lack of information and support can influence resilience. Whether an information-related intervention through an advanced practice nurse supports resilience and which other factors affect resilience in women with vulvar neoplasia has never been investigated. Methods The aims of this study were (a) to analyse whether counselling based on the WOMAN-PRO II program causes a significant improvement in the resilience scores of women with vulvar neoplasia compared to written information and (b) to identify the potential predictors of resilience. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in women with vulvar neoplasia (n = 49) 6 months after surgical treatment in four Swiss hospitals and one Austrian hospital. Analyses of resilience and its predictors were performed using a linear mixed model. Results Thirty-six women (intervention I, n = 8; intervention II, n = 28) completed the randomized controlled trial. In total, 13 women (26.5%) dropped out of the trial. The resilience score did not differ significantly between the two interventions three and six months after randomisation (p = 0.759). Age (b = .04, p = 0.001), social support (b = .28, p = 0.009), counselling time (b = .03, p = 0.018) and local recurrence (b = −.56, p = 0.009) were identified as significant predictors of resilience in the linear mixed model analyses. Conclusion The results indicate that the WOMAN-PRO II program as single intervention does not cause a significant change in the resilience scores of women with vulvar neoplasia 6 months after surgery. Predictors that promote or minimise resilience have been identified and should be considered when developing resilience programs for women with vulvar neoplasia. A repetition of the study with a larger sample size is recommended. Trial registration The WOMAN-PRO II program was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01986725 on 18 November 2013.

Coronaviruses use a broad range of host receptors for binding and cell entry, essential steps in establishing viral infections. This pilot study evaluated the overall distribution of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), aminopeptidase N (APN), carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1), and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) receptors in the pig respiratory and intestinal tract. All the receptors evaluated in this study were expressed and differentially distributed through the respiratory and intestinal tract. The presence and expression levels of these receptors could determine susceptibility to coronavirus infections. This study may have important implications for the development of research models and the assessment of the potential risk and introduction of novel coronaviruses into the swine population.

Background: It is now commonplace for acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) to work in positions that include an on-call component or management of emergent concerns through telephone. There are no published reports on the inclusion of an on-call component in ACNP clinical preparation of students; novice ACNPs feel unprepared to competently and confidently manage emergent patient situations and on-call responsibilities. Purpose: To examine ACNP student perception of stress, necessary skills, confidence, and benefit of participating in a simulated on-call experience. Methods: Using simulated faculty callers as nurses, ACNP students participated in a simulated on-call experience that included receiving two calls, eliciting key information from the nurse, diagnosing and managing the patient, and submitting documentation of the encounter. Students completed preparticipation and postparticipation perception surveys, and they were evaluated by the simulated nurse (faculty) using standardized evaluation tools. Results: Acute care nurse practitioner students rated the simulated on-call experience as educationally valuable. High levels of anxiety before participation were notably improved after participation. Students identified critical thinking, clear communication, and knowledge with the specific disease as the most important skills needed to manage nurse calls successfully. Students reported marked improvement in their confidence and were receptive to accepting an nurse practitioner position with call/triage responsibilities after their on-call experience. Implications for practice: Inclusion of a simulated on-call experience in the final semester of an ACNP program is both feasible and relevant to ACNP student development. On-call exposure within the clinical practicum is inconsistent and, therefore, should be added through simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of drug carrier design, lysosome degradation in cells is often neglected, which makes a considerable number of drugs not play a role. Here, we have constructed a tumor treatment platform (Apn/siRNA/NLS/HA/Apt) with unique lysosomal escape function and excellent cancer treatment effect. Apoferritin (Apn) has attracted more and more attention because of its high uniformity, modifiability, and controllability. Meanwhile, its endogenous nature can avoid the risk of immune response being eliminated. We used aptamer modified iron deficient protein nanocages (Apn) to tightly encapsulate the combination of siRNA and NLS (siRNA/NLS) with influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA peptide). After Apn/siRNA/NLS/HA/Apt was targeted into cells, the acidic environment of lysosome led to the cleavage of Apn nanocages, and the release of siRNA/NLS and HA peptide. HA peptide can destroy lysosome membrane, make siRNA/NLS escape lysosome, and enter the nucleus under the action of NLS, resulting in efficient gene silencing effect. This kind of cancer treatment strategy based on Apn nanocage shows high biocompatibility and unique lysosome escape property, which significantly improves the drug delivery and treatment efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Autonomy in practice is an important attribute of all professions and a cornerstone of advanced nursing practice. The Dempster Practice Behavior Scale was conceptualized, constructed, and psychometrically tested to make available a generalizable, empirically sound, and useful tool capable of measuring previously unrecognized dimensions of autonomy in practice. Nurse practitioner (NP) practice continues to evolve as new models of care emerge, requiring more autonomy in the NP role. Purpose: The purpose was to describe the development and psychometric testing of the Dempster Practice Behavior Scale (DPBS), review the extant research on its use in research on nursing and other professions, and determine where future research is needed on the concept of autonomy in professional practice with a focus on advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Methods: Research articles, theses, dissertations using the DPBS as an instrument to measure practice autonomy were reviewed. Results: Twenty-one unique publications were examined for reports of psychometric properties in various populations. For the APRN population (total N = 1,669 in 10 studies), psychometrics for the DPBS support the reliability of the instrument for research. The remaining 11 studies included 2,285 participants who were not APRNs. Implications for practice: Questions remain about the relationships between autonomy and external factors such as regulatory environment, practice setting, models of care, years of experience, and practice mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently Budaghyan et al. (Cryptogr. Commun. 12, 85–100, 2020) introduced a procedure for investigating if CCZ-equivalence can be more general than EA-equivalence together with inverse transformation (when applicable). In this paper, we show that it is possible to use this procedure for classifying, up to EA-equivalence, all known APN functions in dimension 6. We also give some discussion for dimension 7, 8 and 9. In particular, in these cases it is possible to give an upper bound on the EA-classes contained in the CCZ-classes of the known APN functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an economically important enteropathogen of swine with worldwide distribution. PDCoV primarily infects the small intestine instead of the large intestine in vivo. However, the underlying mechanism of PDCoV tropism to different intestinal segments remains poorly understood as a result of the lack of a suitable in vitro intestinal model that recapitulates the cellular diversity and complex functions of the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we established the PDCoV infection model of crypt-derived enteroids from different intestinal segments. Enteroids were susceptible to PDCoV and multiple types of different functional intestinal epithelia were infected by PDCoV in vitro and in vivo. We further found that PDCoV favorably infected the jejunum and ileum, and restrictedly replicated in the duodenum and colon. Mechanistically, enteroids from different intestinal regions displayed a distinct gene expression profile, and the differential expression of primary viral receptor host aminopeptidase N (APN) instead of the IFN responses determined the susceptibility of different intestinal segments to PDCoV although PDCoV substantially elicited antiviral genes production in enteroids after infection. Additional studies showed that PDCoV infection significantly induced the expression of type I and γ IFNs at the late stage of infection, and exogenous IFN inhibited PDCoV replication in enteroids. Hence, our results provide critical inputs to further dissect the molecular mechanisms of PDCoV-host interactions and pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women with vulvar neoplasia often complain about physical and psychological distress after surgical treatment. Lack of information and support can influence resilience. Whether an information-related intervention through an advanced practice nurse supports resilience and which other factors affect resilience in women with vulvar neoplasia has never been investigated.Methods: The aims of this study were (a) to analyse whether counselling based on the WOMAN-PRO II program causes a significant improvement in the resilience scores of women with vulvar neoplasia compared to written information and (b) to identify the potential predictors of resilience. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in women with vulvar neoplasia (n = 49) 6 months after surgical treatment in four Swiss hospitals and one Austrian hospital. Analyses of resilience and its predictors were performed using a linear mixed model.Results: Thirty-six women (intervention I, n = 8; intervention II, n = 28) completed the randomized controlled trial. In total, 13 women (26.5%) dropped out of the trial. The resilience score did not differ significantly between the two interventions three and six months after randomisation (p = 0.759). Age (b = .04, p = 0.001), social support (b = .28, p = 0.009), counselling time (b = .03, p = 0.018) and local recurrence (b = -.56, p = 0.009) were identified as significant predictors of resilience in the linear mixed model analyses.Conclusion: The results indicate that the WOMAN-PRO II program as single intervention does not cause a significant change in the resilience scores of women with vulvar neoplasia 6 months after surgery. Predictors that promote or minimise resilience have been identified and should be considered when developing resilience programs for women with vulvar neoplasia. A repetition of the study with a larger sample size is recommended.Trial Registration: The WOMAN-PRO II program was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01986725 on 18 November 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a severe disease without effective therapeutic means. Adiponectin (APN) is strongly expressed in human brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid and may play an anti-inflammatory role following ICH. NLR family pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) is a member of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor (NLR) family. Following ICH, activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome promotes neuroinflammation and brain edema. Here, we examined the effect of APN and the NLRP3 inflammasome on brain injury in an autologous blood model of ICH in rats and assessed whether APN could provide neuroprotection against inflammation by inhibiting NLRP3 activity. Methods: The ICH model was produced by injection of 50 μl fresh autologous blood into brain, we used lentiviral-mediated overexpression of APN to determine the efficacy and mechanism of APN therapy in ICH injury. Results: APN decreased interleukin-1β(IL-1β) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) production, attenuated neurological deficits, and reduced perihematomal brain edema 24 h after ICH. In rats with ICH, the protective effect of APN was associated with the reduced expression of NLRP3. APN and MCC950 (an NLRP3 inhibitor) both showed the same neuroprotective effect of reducing the expression of NLRP3, IL-1β and IL-18. Conclusions: These results indicated that APN and the NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, MCC950, played the similar function in reducing brain injury and improving prognosis. Although further research is needed to confirm this, our findings suggest that APN may regulate inflammation injury via NLRP3 signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronaviruses, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) represent important sources of neonatal diarrhea on pig farms. The requirement for aminopeptidase N (APN) as a receptor for TGEV, but not for PEDV, is well established. In this study, the biological relevance of APN as a receptor for PDCoV was tested by using CRISPR/Cas9 to knockout the APN gene, ANPEP , in pigs. Porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) from ANPEP knockout (KO) pigs showed resistance to PDCoV infection. However, lung fibroblast-like cells, derived from the ANPEP KO PAM cultures, supported PDCoV infection to high levels. The results suggest that APN is a receptor for PDCoV in PAMs but is not necessary for infection of lung-derived fibroblast cells. The infection of the ANPEP KO pigs with PDCoV further confirmed that APN is dispensable as a receptor for PDCoV. • APN is a receptor for PDCoV in PAMS, but not fibroblast cells. • ANPEP KO pigs are not resistant to PDCoV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature pyramids of convolutional neural networks (ConvNets)—from bottom to top—are used by most recent researchers for the improvement of object detection accuracy, but they seldom aim to address the correlation of each feature channel and the fusion of low-level features and high-level features. In this paper, an Attention Pyramid Network (APN) is proposed, which mainly contains the adaptive transformation module and feature attention block. The adaptive transformation module utilizes the multiscale feature fusion, and makes full use of the accurate target location information of low-level features and the semantic information of high-level features. Then, the feature attention block strengthens the features of important channels and weakens the features of unimportant channels through learning. By implementing the APN in a basic Mask R-CNN system, our method achieves state-of-the-art results on the MS COCO dataset and 2018 WAD database without bells and whistles. In addition, the structure of the APN makes the network parameters lighter, and runs at 4 ms on average, which is ignorable when compared to the inference time of the backbone of ConvNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sought to investigate the expression characteristics of adiponectin (APN) and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand (RANKL) in the periodontal tissues of rats with periodontitis and the effect on vascular calcification. Thirty-six Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into a normal control group, periodontitis group, and vascular calcification group. Western blotting was employed to detect the expressions of APN and RANKL in the periodontal tissues of rats. Calcium content and alkaline phosphatase activity in the vascular tissue of rats were determined. Compared to the normal control group, the periodontitis and vascular calcification groups presented lower expressions of APN and RANKL. The expression of APN in the periodontal tissues of rats in the vascular calcification group was significantly lower than that in the periodontitis group. As for the calcium content and alkaline phosphatase activity in rats' vascular tissues, the vascular calcification group displayed significantly higher rates than the other two groups, whereas the periodontitis group presented lower calcium content and alkaline phosphatase activity than the normal control group. APN and RANKL may be involved in the process of periodontitis and vascular calcification in rats, and some kinds of relationship may exist between periodontitis and vascular calcification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper we introduce some sufficient conditions and a procedure for checking whether, for a given function, CCZ-equivalence is more general than EA-equivalence together with taking inverses of permutations. It is known from Budaghyan et al. (IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 52.3, 1141–1152 2006; Finite Fields Appl. 15(2), 150–159 2009) that for quadratic APN functions (both monomial and polynomial cases) CCZ-equivalence is more general. We prove hereby that for non-quadratic APN functions CCZ-equivalence can be more general (by studying the only known APN function which is CCZ-inequivalent to both power functions and quadratics). On the contrary, we prove that for power non-Gold APN functions, CCZ equivalence coincides with EA-equivalence and inverse transformation for n ≤ 8. We conjecture that this is true for any n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether there exist Almost Perfect Non-linear permutations (APN) operating on an even number of bits is the so-called Big APN Problem. It has been solved in the 6-bit case by Dillon et al. in 2009 but, since then, the general case has remained an open problem. In 2016, Perrin et al. discovered the butterfly structure which contains Dillon et al.'s permutation over F 2 6 . Later, Canteaut et al. generalised this structure and proved that no other butterflies with exponent 3 can be APN. Recently, Yongqiang et al. further generalized the structure with Gold exponent and obtained more differentially 4-uniform permutations with optimal nonlinearity. However, the existence of more APN permutations in their generalization was left as an open problem. In this paper, we adapt the proof technique of Canteaut et al. to handle all Gold exponents and prove that a generalised butterfly with Gold exponents over F 2 n can never be APN when n > 3. More precisely, we prove that such a generalised butterfly being APN implies that the branch size is strictly smaller than 5. Hence, the only APN butterflies operate on 3-bit branches, i.e. on 6 bits in total. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

APN functions have the lowest differential uniform over finite fields with characteristic 2 and the APN power functions are the most classical ones.APN power functions are all 3-1 functions over F 2 2n .By generalizing the idea of changing 2-1 functions to 1-1 functions over finite fields with odd characteristics,methods to change 3-1 functions over finite fields with even characteristics into permutations were obtained and permutations from APN power functions over F 2 2n were constructed.According to the construction,the differential properties of permutations obtained by this method were discussed.

Background/Aims: Adiponectin (Apn) is a multifunctional adipokine that circulates as several oligomeric complexes in the blood stream. Previous reports showed that several conserved lysine residues within the N-terminal collagenous domain of Apn are modified by hydroxylation and glycosylation. Here, we investigated the potential roles of post-translational modifications of Apn on the function of human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Methods: Blood samples of 92 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and 20 healthy volunteers were collected and total and high molecular weight (HMW) Apn concentration and glycosylation were analyzed. Results: The results revealed that total and HMW Apn derived from blood samples of CAD patients with severe stenosis significantly increased, however the glycosylation of HMW Apn significantly decreased. Functional studies of human VSMCs revealed that glycosylated Apn significantly inhibited the oxidized LDL-induced lipid accumulation, proliferation and migration of VSMCs, whereas non-glycosylated Apn had no inhibitory effects. Conclusion: Taken together, these data suggest that glycosylation of Apn is critically involved in regulating function against atherosclerosis by inhibiting lipid accumulation and proliferation and migration of VSMCs.

Many block ciphers use permutations defined over the finite field F22k with low differential uniformity, high nonlinearity, and high algebraic degree to provide confusion. Due to the lack of knowledge about the existence of almost perfect nonlinear (APN) permutations over F22k, which have lowest possible differential uniformity, when k > 3, constructions of differentially 4-uniform permutations are usually considered. However, it is also very difficult to construct such permutations together with high nonlinearity; there are very few known families of such functions, which can have the best known nonlinearity and a high algebraic degree. At Crypto’16, Perrin et al. introduced a structure named butterfly, which leads to permutations over F22k with differential uniformity at most 4 and very high algebraic degree when k is odd. It is posed as an open problem in Perrin et al.’s paper and solved by Canteaut et al. that the nonlinearity is equal to 22k−1−2k. In this paper, we extend Perrin et al.’s work and study the functions constructed from butterflies with exponent e = 2i + 1. It turns out that these functions over F22k with odd k have differential uniformity at most 4 and algebraic degree k +1. Moreover, we prove that for any integer i and odd k such that gcd(i, k) = 1, the nonlinearity equality holds, which also gives another solution to the open problem proposed by Perrin et al. This greatly expands the list of differentially 4-uniform permutations with good nonlinearity and hence provides more candidates for the design of block ciphers.

In this extended abstract, we computationally check and list the CCZ-inequivalent APN functions from infinite families on F2n for n from 6 to 11. These functions are selected with simplest coefficients from CCZ-inequivalent classes. This work can simplify checking CCZ-equivalence between any APN function and infinite APN families.

Pyroptosis, a newly discovered programmed cell death process, is characterized by NLRP3 inflammasome activation and pro-inflammatory mediator release. Nucleus pulposus (NP) cell pyroptosis is an important cause of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Adiponectin (APN) is an adipokine and has an anti-inflammatory effect. However, whether and how APN protects against NP cell pyroptosis remains unexplored. Our results showed that human degenerated NP tissue displayed a significant increase in the protein levels of NLRP3, caspase-1 and GSDMD-N. APN expression was down-regulated in human degenerated NP tissue and NP cells challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Lentivirus-mediated overexpression of APN increased miR-135a-5p levels, decreased thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) expression and its interaction with NLRP3, and inhibited pyroptosis in human NP cells stimulated with LPS. TXNIP was identified as a direct target of miR-135a-5p. The inhibitory effects of APN on pyroptosis were reversed by pretreatment with miR-135a-5p inhibitor or lentiviral vector expressing TXNIP in LPS-treated human NP cells. In summary, these data suggest that APN restrains LPS-induced pyroptosis through the miR-135a-5p/TXNIP signaling pathway in human NP cells. Increasing APN levels could be a new approach to retard IDD.

Background: Distinct tube size is critical for the function of human tubular organs such as the lung, vascular system, and kidney. Aberrant tube sizes can lead to devastating human illnesses, including polycystic kidney disease. The Drosophila trachea provides a premier genetic system to investigate the fundamental mechanisms that regulate tube size. Results: Here we describe the function of a novel gene, apnoia, in tube‐size regulation. apn encodes an apical membrane protein, Apnoia (Apn), with three helical transmembrane domains. Loss‐of‐function apn mutants show shorter‐tube and air‐filling defects in larval trachea, whereas there are no obvious defects in embryonic trachea. Conversely, overexpression of apn in trachea leads to significant tube over‐elongation. We analyzed apical luminal matrix and cell polarity in these longer tubes. It is interesting to note that we observed normal establishment of cell polarity, whereas all luminal matrix components are significantly reduced. In addition, we observed that some matrix components are localized in cytoplasmic vesicles, suggesting secretion defects in apn overexpressing trachea. Conclusion: Taken together, these results strongly suggest the possibility that apn is directly or indirectly involved in vesicular trafficking to regulate tube size. Key Findings: apn encodes a novel apical membrane protein.Loss of function of apn causes shorter tubes and air‐filling defects.Overexpression of apn gene in trachea leads to overelongated tubes.Luminal matrix components is profoundly reduced in apn overexpressing trachea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Two vectorial Boolean functions are "CCZ-equivalent" if there exists an affine permutation mapping the graph of one to the other. It preserves many of the cryptographic properties of a function such as its differential and Walsh spectra, which is why it could be used by Dillon et al. to find the first APN permutation on an even number of variables. However, the meaning of this form of equivalence remains unclear. In fact, to the best of our knowledge, it is not known how to partition a CCZ-equivalence class into its Extended-Affine (EA) equivalence classes; EA-equivalence being a simple particular case of CCZ-equivalence. In this paper, we characterize CCZ-equivalence as a property of the zeroes in the Walsh spectrum of a function F : F 2 n → F 2 m or, equivalently, of the zeroes in its Difference Distribution Table. We use this framework to show how to efficiently upper bound the number of distinct EA-equivalence classes in a given CCZ-equivalence class. More importantly, we prove that it is possible to go from a specific member of any EA-equivalence class to a specific member of another EA-equivalence class in the same CCZ-equivalence class using an operation called twisting ; so that CCZ-equivalence can be reduced to the association of EA-equivalence and twisting. Twisting a function is a simple process and its possibility is equivalent to the existence of a particular decomposition of the function considered. Using this knowledge, we revisit several results from the literature on CCZ-equivalence and show how they can be interpreted in light of our new framework. Our results rely on a new concept, the "thickness" of a space (or linear permutation), which can be of independent interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we discuss two notions of differential equivalence on Sboxes. First, we introduce the notion of DDT-equivalence which applies to vectorial Boolean functions that share the same difference distribution table (DDT). Next, we compare this notion to what we call the γ-equivalence, applying to vectorial Boolean functions whose DDTs have the same support. We discuss the relation between these two equivalence notions, demonstrate that the number of DDT- or γ-equivalent functions is invariant under EA- and CCZ-equivalence and provide an algorithm for computing the DDT-equivalence and the γ-equivalence classes of a given function. We study the sizes of these classes for some families of Sboxes. Finally, we prove a result that shows that the rows of the DDT of an APN permutation are pairwise distinct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in expression levels of serum interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-10 and adiponectin (APN) in patients with postoperative infection of colorectal cancer were studied. The clinical data of 159 patients receiving radical surgery for colorectal cancer in Xiangyang No. 1 People's Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine from January 2014 to December 2017, were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 67 patients with postoperative infection were enrolled into the infection group, while the remaining 92 patients without infection were enrolled into the non-infection group. The expression levels of serum IL-4, IL-10 and APN of patients were detected via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The correlation of IL-4, IL-10 and APN levels with stage of colorectal cancer were explored by the Spearmans correlation analysis. The expression levels of IL-4 and IL-10 in the infection group were significantly higher than those in the non-infection group at day 3 after surgery (P<0.05). The expression level of APN in the infection group was lower than that in the non-infection group at day 3 after surgery (P<0.05). The serum IL-4 and IL-10 levels in pulmonary infection was higher and the serum IL-10 level in pulmonary infection was higher than those in incision infection and abdominal infection (P<0.05). The IL-4 and IL-10 levels in patients with colorectal cancer in the infection group at day 3 after surgery had a significant positive correlation with the stage of colorectal cancer (r=0.9357, P<0.001; r=0.9717, P<0.001), and the APN level in patients with colorectal cancer in the infection group at day 3 after surgery had a significant negative correlation with the stage of colorectal cancer (r=−0.9736, P<0.001). The serum IL-4 and IL-10 levels in patients with postoperative infection of colorectal cancer are positively correlated with the stage of cancer, while the serum APN level was negatively correlated with the stage of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature pyramids of convolutional neural networks (ConvNets)—from bottom to top—are used by most recent researchers for the improvement of object detection accuracy, but they seldom aim to address the correlation of each feature channel and the fusion of low-level features and high-level features. In this paper, an Attention Pyramid Network (APN) is proposed, which mainly contains the adaptive transformation module and feature attention block. The adaptive transformation module utilizes the multiscale feature fusion, and makes full use of the accurate target location information of low-level features and the semantic information of high-level features. Then, the feature attention block strengthens the features of important channels and weakens the features of unimportant channels through learning. By implementing the APN in a basic Mask R-CNN system, our method achieves state-of-the-art results on the MS COCO dataset and 2018 WAD database without bells and whistles. In addition, the structure of the APN makes the network parameters lighter, and runs at 4 ms on average, which is ignorable when compared to the inference time of the backbone of ConvNet.

Canine coronavirus-human pneumonia-2018 (CCoV-HuPn-2018) was recently isolated from a child with pneumonia. This novel human pathogen resulted from cross-species transmission of a canine coronavirus. It has been known that CCoV-HuPn-2018 uses aminopeptidase N (APN) from canines, felines, and porcines, but not humans, as functional receptors for cell entry. The molecular mechanism of cell entry in CCoV-HuPn-2018 remains poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that among the nine APN orthologs tested, the APN of the Mexican free-tailed bat could also efficiently support CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike (S) protein-mediated entry, raising the possibility that bats may also be an alternative host epidemiologically important for the transmission of this virus. The glycosylation at residue N747 of canine APN is critical for its receptor activity. The gain of glycosylation at the corresponding residues in human and rabbit APNs converted them to functional receptors for CCoV-HuPn-2018. Interestingly, the CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike protein pseudotyped virus infected multiple human cancer cell lines in a human APN-independent manner, whereas sialic acid appeared to facilitate the entry of the pseudotyped virus into human cancer cells. Moreover, while host cell surface proteases trypsin and TMPRSS2 did not promote the entry of CCoV-HuPn-2018, endosomal proteases cathepsin L and B are required for the entry of CCoV-HuPn-2018 in a pH-dependent manner. IFITMs and LY6E are host restriction factors for the CCoV-HuPn-2018 entry. Our results thus suggest that CCoV-HuPn-2018 has not yet evolved to be an efficient human pathogen. Collectively, this study helps us understand the cell tropism, receptor usage, cross-species transmission, natural reservoir, and pathogenesis of this potential human coronavirus. IMPORTANCE Viral entry is driven by the interaction between the viral spike protein and its specific cellular receptor, which determines cell tropism and host range and is the major constraint to interspecies transmission of coronaviruses. Aminopeptidase N (APN; also called CD13) is a cellular receptor for HCoV-229E, the newly discovered canine coronavirus-human pneumonia-2018 (CCoV-HuPn-2018), and many other animal alphacoronaviruses. We examined the receptor activity of nine APN orthologs and found that CCoV-HuPn-2018 utilizes APN from a broad range of animal species, including bats but not humans, to enter host cells. To our surprise, we found that CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike protein pseudotyped viral particles successfully infected multiple human hepatoma-derived cell lines and a lung cancer cell line, which is independent of the expression of human APN. Our findings thus provide mechanistic insight into the natural hosts and interspecies transmission of CCoV-HuPn-2018-like coronaviruses., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Oxidative stress and blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction contribute to brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Adiponectin (APN) inhibits oxidative stress in the CNS, but the role of APN in ICH is not clear. Thus, we elucidated the possible neuroprotective effect of APN in ICH-induced brain injury in rats and investigated the neuroprotective mechanisms. A lentivirus-carrying APN gene was injected into rats 14 days before ICH induced via intracerebral injection of autologous blood. The effects of lentiviral overexpression of APN on brain injury were evaluated 24 h after ICH. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and the ratio of oxidized glutathione to reduced glutathione (GSSG/GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured. Oxidative stress-related proteins were measured by Western blot and qRT-PCR. APN overexpression improved neurological function, reduced brain edema, preserved the BBB and increased the expression of APN and decreased the expression of NADPH oxidase-2 (NOX 2) compared with null vector controls ( p <  0.01). SOD, GSH, and GSSG/GSH increased, and MDA was reduced. Furthermore, tetrabromocinnamic acid (TBCA, a NADPH oxidase activator) blocked the effect of APN on cerebral protection and antioxidant activity. Our results demonstrate the importance of APN in regulating oxidative stress and BBB function and suggest APN may be a novel treatment for brain damage after ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]