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Hyperspectral images are a valuable tool for remotely sensing important characteristics of a variety of landscapes, including water quality and the status of marine disasters. However, hyperspectral data are rare or expensive to obtain, which has spurred interest in low-cost, fast methods for reconstructing hyperspectral data from much more common RGB images. We designed a novel algorithm to achieve this goal using multi-scale atrous convolution residual network (MACRN). The algorithm includes three parts: low-level feature extraction, high-level feature extraction, and feature transformation. The high-level feature extraction module is composed of cascading multi-scale atrous convolution residual blocks (ACRB). It stacks multiple modules to form a depth network for extracting high-level features from the RGB image used as an input. The algorithm uses jump connection for residual learning, and the final high-level feature combines the output of the low-level feature extraction module and the output of the cascaded atrous convolution residual block element by element, so as to prevent gradient dispersion and gradient explosion in the deep network. Without adding too many parameters, the model can extract multi-scale features under different receptive fields, make better use of the spatial information in RGB images, and enrich the contextual information. As a proof of concept, we ran an experiment using the algorithm to reconstruct hyperspectral Sentinel-2 satellite data from the northern coast of Australia. The algorithm achieves hyperspectral spectral reconstruction in 443nm-2190nm band with less computational cost, and the results are stable. On the Realworld dataset, the reconstruction error MARE index is less than 0.0645, and the reconstruction time is less than 9.24S. Therefore, in the near infrared band, MACRN reconstruction accuracy is significantly better than other spectral reconstruction algorithms. MACRN hyperspectral reconstruction algorithm has the characteristics of low reconstruction cost and high reconstruction accuracy, and its advantages in ocean spectral reconstruction are more obvious.

An acid- and base-stable halide coordination polymer exhibits excitation-dependent dual self-trapped exciton emissions and colorimetric and turn-off sensing on Hg2+ ions.

Additional file 2: Figure S1. Volcano plot of differentially expressed genes in (A) liver and (B) pancreas. Each dot represents one gene. Red dots represent up-regulated differentially expressed genes, and blue dots represent down-regulated differentially expressed genes. Grey dots represent no significantly biased gene. The number at the top right represented the number of DEGs in pairwise comparison. Figure S2. The expression level of genes calculated by qRT-PCR.Y-axis represents relative expression levels of each gene by using 2−ΔΔCT method. Figure S3. (A) The methylation degree in promoters for convergently expressed nutrition metabolism-related genes in liver samples. (B) The methylation degree in promoters for convergently expressed nutrition metabolism-related genes inpancreas samples. Y-axis represents methylation levels in promoters. * indicates P < 0.05 between the comparison, ** indicates P < 0.01 between the comparison, *** indicates P < 0.001 between the comparison, **** indicates P < 0.0001 between the comparison. Figure S4. Distributions of coefficient of variance of gene expression levels among liver and pancreas samples before and after normalization, for all 1:1 single-copy orthologues. Histogram was created with a density scale. A normal density curve was added to the histogram to make the distribution of CV more appealing. Figure S5. The ORF and amino acid sequence of giant panda NR3C1 gene.

Peripherally-induced neuropathic pain (pNP) is a kind of NP that is common, frequent, and difficult to treat. Tuina, also known as massage and manual therapy, has been used to treat pain in China for thousands of years. It has been clinically proven to be effective in the treatment of pNP caused by cervical spondylosis, lumbar disc herniation, etc. However, its analgesic mechanism is still not clear and has been the focus of research. In this review, we summarize the existing research progress, so as to provide guidance for clinical and basic studies. The analgesic mechanism of tuina is mainly manifested in suppressing peripheral inflammation by regulating the TLR4 pathway and miRNA, modulating ion channels (such as P2X3 and piezo), inhibiting the activation of glial cells, and adjusting the brain functional alterations. Overall, tuina has an analgesic effect by acting on different levels of targets, and it is an effective therapy for the treatment of pNP. It is necessary to continue to study the mechanism of tuina analgesia.

There is increasing evidence that angiotensin (1-7) [Ang (1-7)] is an endogenous biologically active component of the renin-angiotensin system. However, the role of the Ang (1-7)-MasR axis in postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction (PRMD) and its associated mechanism are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of the Ang (1-7)-MasR axis on myocardial injury after cardiac arrest-cardiopulmonary resuscitation-restoration of spontaneous circulation. We established a model of oxygen/glucose deprivation-reperfusion in myocardial cells in vitro and a rat model of cardiac arrest-cardiopulmonary resuscitation-restoration of spontaneous circulation in vivo. The cell apoptosis rate and the expression of the superoxide anion 3-nitrotyrosine were decreased in the Ang (1-7) group in vitro and in vivo. The mean arterial pressure was decreased, whereas +LVdp/dtmax and -LVdp/dtmax were increased in rats in the Ang (1-7) group. The mRNA and protein levels of Ang II type 1 receptor, MasR, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, protein kinase B, and endothelial nitric oxide synthase were increased in the Ang (1-7) group in vivo. These results indicate that the Ang (1-7)-MasR axis can alleviate PRMD by reducing myocardial tissue damage and oxidative stress through activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-protein kinase B-endothelial nitric oxide synthase signaling pathway and provide a new direction for the clinical treatment of PRMD.

Giant panda 3D reconstruction technology plays an important role in the research of giant panda protection. Through the analysis of giant panda video image sequence (GPVS), we prove that it has the long-range–dependent characteristics. This article proposes an algorithm to accurately reconstruct the giant panda 3D model by using the long-range–dependent characteristics of GPVS. First, the algorithm uses a skinned multi-animal linear model (SMAL) to obtain the initial 3D model of giant panda, and the 3D model of the single-frame giant panda image is reconstructed by controlling shape parameters and attitude parameters; then, we use the coherence information contained in the long-range–dependent characteristics between video sequence images to construct a smooth energy function to correct the error of the 3D model. Through this error, we can judge whether the 3D reconstruction result of the giant panda is consistent with the real structural characteristics of the giant panda. The algorithm solves the problem of low 3D reconstruction accuracy and the problem that 3D reconstruction is easily affected by occlusion or interference. Finally, we realize the accurate reconstruction of the giant panda 3D model.

As a highly endangered species, the giant panda (panda) has attracted significant attention in the past decades. Considerable efforts have been put on panda conservation and reproduction, offering the promising outcome of maintaining the population size of pandas. To evaluate the effectiveness of conservation and management strategies, recognizing individual pandas is critical. However, it remains a challenging task because the existing methods, such as traditional tracking method, discrimination method based on footprint identification, and molecular biology method, are invasive, inaccurate, expensive, or challenging to perform. The advances of imaging technologies have led to the wide applications of digital images and videos in panda conservation and management, which makes it possible for individual panda recognition in a noninvasive manner by using image‐based panda face recognition method.In recent years, deep learning has achieved great success in the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. For panda face recognition, a fully automatic deep learning algorithm which consists of a sequence of deep neural networks (DNNs) used for panda face detection, segmentation, alignment, and identity prediction is developed in this study. To develop and evaluate the algorithm, the largest panda image dataset containing 6,441 images from 218 different pandas, which is 39.78% of captive pandas in the world, is established.The algorithm achieved 96.27% accuracy in panda recognition and 100% accuracy in detection.This study shows that panda faces can be used for panda recognition. It enables the use of the cameras installed in their habitat for monitoring their population and behavior. This noninvasive approach is much more cost‐effective than the approaches used in the previous panda surveys., This study shows that panda faces can be used for panda recognition. It enables the use of the cameras installed in their habitat for monitoring their population and behaviour. This noninvasive approach that leverages on deep learning is much more cost‐effective than the approaches used in the previous panda surveys.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to pose a global threat to the human population. Identifying animal species susceptible to infection with the SARS-CoV-2/ HCoV-19 pathogen is essential for controlling the outbreak and for testing valid prophylactics or therapeutics based on animal model studies. Here, different aged Chinese tree shrews (adult group, 1 year old; old group, 5–6 years old), which are close relatives to primates, were infected with SARS-CoV-2. X-ray, viral shedding, laboratory, and histological analyses were performed on different days post-inoculation (dpi). Results showed that Chinese tree shrews could be infected by SARS-CoV-2. Lung infiltrates were visible in X-ray radiographs in most infected animals. Viral RNA was consistently detected in lung tissues from infected animals at 3, 5, and 7 dpi, along with alterations in related parameters from routine blood tests and serum biochemistry, including increased levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Histological analysis of lung tissues from animals at 3 dpi (adult group) and 7 dpi (old group) showed thickened alveolar septa and interstitial hemorrhage. Several differences were found between the two different aged groups in regard to viral shedding peak. Our results indicate that Chinese tree shrews have the potential to be used as animal models for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Immunosuppressive therapy is the main treatment for patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILD) secondary to dermatomyositis (DM). Microbial colonization or infection might be very common for these patients. However, the relationship between immunotherapy and microorganism isolates are not fully understood in these patients.This study retrospectively analyzed on the clinical features in DM-ILD patients who had positive microbiological results during immunosuppressive therapy in our hospital.Patients were divided into two groups, according to the result of microbiological study. Comparisons in infection-related data in various contexts were carried out.As a result, patients who had positive microbiological findings were manifested as higher fever degree [p = 0.01; positive group: mean ± SEM: 38.83 ± 0.15 °C, N = 28; negative group: mean ± SEM: 38.27 ± 0.15 °C; N = 28], higher serum C-reactive protein (CRP) [p less than 0.001, positive group (mean ± SEM: 31.6 ± 5.2 mg/L; N = 43); negative (mean ± SEM: 11.1 ± 1.6 mg/L; N = 86)], and lower CD3Occurrence of positive isolates in DM-ILD patients may relate to higher inflammatory markers CRP, lower CD4 + T cells counts, high concentration of serum FK-506, and longer hospital stay.

Background: The hepatic artery has several variations that can be observed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA). In recent years, clinical studies have continued to explore its diversity, leading to the discovery of rare variations and the development of new classifications.Methods: Institutional Review Board approval was attained. This retrospective study was based on analysis of DSA images in 1141 patients who were pathologically or clinically diagnosed with liver tumor from May 2015 to December 2019. All patients involved in this study had undergone hepatic arteriography at our hospital. The study aimed to complete angiographic assessments of the left gastric artery (LGA), superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and HA, which supply the liver parenchyma. Results: It was worth mentioning that we found five new cases of hepatic artery variations. The four major types of hepatic artery anatomy were identified. Normal hepatic artery anatomy was pointed in 871 (76.3%) of 1141 patients, and the incidence of hepatic artery variation was 270 (23.7%) cases. Variation in hepatic artery origin was identified in 240 (21.1%) cases. Variation in bifurcation was identified in 18 (1.6%) cases. Three (0.5%) cases had synchronized bifurcate and variation of origin, which has not been reported previously. Conclusion: Hepatic artery variation have diversity and complexity. The known and newly is covered variations were thoroughly analyzed in detail, which has important clinical significance for hepatobiliary surgeries and interventional operations.

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Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been shown to have critical regulatory roles in tumor biology, whereas their contributions in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still remains enigmatic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in hsa_circ_0110102 in the occurrence and development of HCC. Results hsa_circ_0110102 was significantly down-regulated in HCC cell lines and tissues, low hsa_circ_0110102 expression levels were associated with poor prognosis. Knockdown hsa_circ_0110102 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In addition, the interaction between hsa_circ_0110102 and miR-580-5p was predicted and verified by luciferase assay and RNA pull-down, indicating that hsa_circ_0110102 function as sponge of miR-580-5p. Moreover, miR-580-5p which could directly bind to the 3’-UTR of CCL2 and induce its expression, then active the COX-2/PGE2 pathway in macrophage via FoxO1 in p38 MAPK dependent manner. Furthermore, the Δ256 mutant of FoxO1 showed no activation effect. These results concluded that hsa_circ_0110102 act as a sponge for miR-580-5p and decreased CCL2 secretion in HCC cells, then inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokine release from activated macrophage by regulating the COX-2/PGE2 pathway. Conclusions These results indicating that hsa_circ_0110102 serves as a potential prognostic predictor or therapeutic target for HCC.

Additional file 1 : Fig. S1 Chinese monal rarefaction curves (A) and rank abundance curves (B).

Additional file 1. Complete blood count and biochemical analysis for the red panda.

To investigate the effects of Nb addition on transformation kinetics and microstructure properties in low-carbon bainitic steels, two C–Si–Mn bainitic steels were designed, one of which was added with 0.025 (wt%) Nb and the other was C–Si–Mn steel. Heat treatment experiments were carried out on thermal simulator. The microstructures were observed by scanning electron microscope. The results show that lath-like bainite is obtained in both two steels. Film-like retained austenite distributes between bainite laths. In addition, Nb retards bainite transformation owing to smaller parent austenite grains in steel with Nb addition. However, Nb improves the strength of the low-carbon bainitic steel by grain refinement. Moreover, transformation kinetics equations for two tested steels are established based on the experimental data. The experimental results are useful to clarify the function of Nb in low-carbon bainitic steels and provide the theoretical reference for the composition design of low-carbon bainitic steels.

In this paper, all dielectric metamaterial frequency selective surface based on Y shaped barium strontium titanate ceramic resonator is proposed. The simulation results show the bandwidth of the frequency selective surface can reach 2GHz, and the angle stability of the TE and TM mode is well. By introducing a Y shaped cavity into the ceramic resonator, the transmission characteristic curve of the frequency selective surface achieves two stop bands with bandwidths of 4.56GHz and 0.68GHz respectively and a pass band with a bandwidth of 0.28GHz. When the incident angle changes to 75°, a pass band with a bandwidth of 1.8GHz will appear for the TM mode. These results demonstrate that the proposed structure is an excellent candidate of all dielectric metamaterial and broadband frequency selective surface for high power microwaves.

Individual identification is essential to animal behavior and ecology research and is of significant importance for protecting endangered species. Red pandas, among the world's rarest animals, are currently identified mainly by visual inspection and microelectronic chips, which are costly and inefficient. Motivated by recent advancement in computer-vision-based animal identification, in this paper, we propose an automatic framework for identifying individual red pandas based on their face images. We implement the framework by exploring well-established deep learning models with necessary adaptation for effectively dealing with red panda images. Based on a database of red panda images constructed by ourselves, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed automatic individual red panda identification method. The evaluation results show the promising potential of automatically recognizing individual red pandas from their faces. We are going to release our database and model in the public domain to promote the research on automatic animal identification and particularly on the technique for protecting red pandas., Comment: Accepted by the 2nd Chinese Conference on Pattern Recognition and Computer Vision (PRCV 2019)

Although melatonin has been extensively studied in animal reproduction, the mechanism of melatonin in puberty remains elusive. This study was designed to explore the effect of intraperitoneal administration of melatonin on puberty onset in female mice. The injection of melatonin into postnatal days 10 mice at a dose of 15 mg/kg accelerated the puberty onset in mice. Mechanistically, there was no difference in physical growth and serum Leptin levels after melatonin administration. Meanwhile, the serum levels of reproductive hormones involved in hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, such as FSH and estrogen level in serum were increased. The mRNA levels of GnRH and GnRHr were not affected by melatonin, while the expressions of FSHβ in pituitary and Cyp19a1 in ovary were significantly up-regulated. In addition, melatonin still promoted FSH synthesis after ovariectomy. Furthermore, the enhanced activity of ERK1/2 signaling verified that the expression of FSHβ increased in pituitary. We confirmed that melatonin promoted the FSH synthesis in pituitary, thereby increased serum estrogen levels and ultimately accelerated puberty onset. However, these effects of melatonin may be pharmacological due to the high dose. This study would help us to understand the functions of melatonin in pubertal regulation comprehensively.

The cooling technology after hot-rolling influences the microstructure and mechanical properties of steels. Combined with dynamic continuous cooling transformation (CCT) curve by the thermal simulation experiments of Q235B steel, the effects of ultra-fast cooling technology on microstructure and properties of Q235B steel were investigated by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, tensile and impact tests. Also, the fracture morphology analysis was conducted by scanning electron microscope. The results show that both yield and tensile strength are enhanced by ultra-fast cooling technology. Moreover, the yield and tensile strength increase with the increase of cooling rate of ultra-fast cooling process, while the ductility has no significant change. Furthermore, the yield and tensile strength increase with the decrease of final cooling temperature of ultra-fast cooling process with a little reduction in ductility. The impact tests show that all samples possess excellent impact toughness varying within a small range. The yield strength, tensile strength, and impact toughness of Q235B steel could increase to 395, 516 MPa, and 143 J, respectively, using ultra-fast cooling technology. The study provides theoretical guidance for industrial application of ultra-fast cooling technology.

Activation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is one of the pathological mechanisms associated with myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury following resuscitation. The present study aimed to determine whether erythropoietin (EPO) improves post‑resuscitation myocardial dysfunction and how it affects the renin‑angiotensin system. Sprague‑Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham, vehicle, epinephrine (EP), EPO and EP + EPO groups. Excluding the sham group, all groups underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) 4 min after asphyxia‑induced cardiac arrest (CA). EP and/or EPO was administrated by intravenous injection when CPR began. The results demonstrated that the vehicle group exhibited lower mean arterial pressure, left ventricular systolic pressure, maximal ascending rate of left ventricular pressure during left ventricular isovolumic contraction and maximal descending rate of left ventricular pressure during left ventricular isovolumic relaxation (+LVdP/dt max and ‑LVdP/dt max, respectively), and higher left ventricular end‑diastolic pressure, compared with the sham group following return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Few significant differences were observed concerning the myocardial function between the vehicle and EP groups; however, compared with the vehicle group, EPO reversed myocardial function indices following ROSC, excluding‑LVdP/dt max. Serum renin and angiotensin (Ang) II levels were measured by ELISA. The serum levels of renin and Ang II were significantly increased in the vehicle group compared with the sham group, which was also observed for the myocardial expression of renin and Ang II receptor type 1 (AT1R), as determined by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. EPO alone did not significantly reduce the high serum levels of renin and Ang II post-resuscitation, but changed the protein levels of renin and AT1R expression in myocardial tissues. However, EPO enhanced the myocardial expression of Ang II receptor type 2 (AT2R) following ROSC. In conclusion, the present study confirmed that CA resuscitation activated the renin‑Ang II‑AT1R signaling pathway, which may contribute to myocardial dysfunction in rats. The present study confirmed that EPO treatment is beneficial for protecting cardiac function post‑resuscitation, and the roles of EPO in alleviating post‑resuscitation myocardial dysfunction may potentially be associated with enhanced myocardial expression of AT2R.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic and prognostic values of serum KL-6 levels in Chinese patients with interstitial lung disease (ILDs). Methods A total of 1084 subjects including 373 cases of ILDs, 584 cases of non-ILD pulmonary diseases, and 127 healthy individuals were recruited from three clinical centers in China between January 2011 and December 2013. A total of 106 patients undergoing treatments for ILDs in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital between January 2011 and December 2013 were enrolled. Baseline and posttreatment serum KL-6 levels were determined. Results Serum KL-6 levels in patients with ILDs were significantly higher than those in patients with non-ILD pulmonary diseases or in healthy individuals (1492.09 ± 2230.08 U/mL vs 258.67 ± 268.73 U/mL or 178.73 ± 71.17 U/mL, all P

Although the serum granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor autoantibody (GMAb) levels have been recognised as a diagnostic marker in primary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), their role in PAP with occupational inhalational exposure (PAPo) remains unclear.Forty-five consecutive patients with PAP were enrolled. Each patient with PAP was assessed for baseline clinical characteristics, chest high-resolution CT (HRCT), serum GMAb and occupational exposure. Fifty healthy controls were included to define normal ranges for GMAb levels. Ninety-seven hospital controls with other respiratory diseases were included to establish prevalence of a history of occupational inhalation exposure.According to the serum GMAb cut-off value of 2.39 μg/mL, 84.4% of the recruited patients with PAP had positive serum GMAb with a median level of 28.7 μg/mL, defined as autoimmune PAP, and the remaining 15.6% had negative serum GMAb with a median level of 0.16 μg/mL, defined as non-autoimmune PAP. Also, 34.2% of patients with autoimmune PAP had a history of occupational inhalational exposure, which was not significantly higher than that of hospital controls (34.2% vs 19.6%, p=0.072). Four patients with PAPo showed negative GMAb. Their arterial oxygen tension, pulmonary function parameters and chest HRCT features were significantly different when compared with patients with autoimmune PAP (p0.05). These four non-autoimmune occupational lung disease cases culminated in 3 deaths and a lung transplant.A number of patients with PAP who may have occupational inhalational exposure and negative serum GMAb represent a high possibility of silicoproteinosis and very poor survival.

Microbes may play a substantial role in the weathering and alteration of minerals. However, not enough concerns have been realized about the complexity of microbe-mineral interactions. The present work reports the interactions between fungi and minerals with emphasis on the role of silicate minerals as the metal donor for the precipitation of secondary mineral. Herein, two magnesium-bearing silicate minerals with different structures, forsterite and talc, were added to the submerged cultures of Aspergillus niger (A. niger). It is shown that forsterite exhibits a better solubilization effect than talc, and the secondary mineral glushinskite only precipitates in the presence of forsterite substrates. Oxalic acid excreted by A. niger plays a key role in the biological leaching and mineralization processes. Moreover, the forsterite particles with certain size added to the cultures tend to inhibit the aggregation of fungal biomass, and therefore affect the morphology of A. niger aggregates in the submerged cul...

Previous approaches for innovation of construction technologies are constrained by the existing processes or engineer's experience and knowledge, thus are essentially incremental. This paper presents a self-evolutionary approach to assist automated innovation of construction technologies. The proposed approach integrates a text mining technique, patent analysis, and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to form a prototype automated radical technology innovation model that has not been developed before. Previous technology information stored in the public technological repositories (e.g., published specifications, public patent databases, etc.) is adopted as the design knowledge for building the function model of a target technology. It is then translated into a genetic operation tree (GOT) for the self-guided evolution with a GA. Finally, the innovative solution is recovered as a function model and realized in a 3D model. A traditional road manhole construction technology is selected as demonstration case study to show the feasibility and potentials of the proposed method for automated innovation of construction technologies.

Background A major function of the captive panda population is to preserve the genetic diversity of wild panda populations in their natural habitats. Understanding the genetic composition of the captive panda population in terms of genetic contributions from the wild panda populations provides necessary knowledge for breeding plans to preserve the genetic diversity of the wild panda populations. Results The genetic contributions from different wild populations to the captive panda population were highly unbalanced, with Qionglai accounting for 52.2 % of the captive panda gene pool, followed by Minshan with 21.5 %, Qinling with 10.6 %, Liangshan with 8.2 %, and Xiaoxiangling with 3.6 %, whereas Daxiangling, which had similar population size as Xiaoxiangling, had no genetic representation in the captive population. The current breeding recommendations may increase the contribution of some small wild populations at the expense of decreasing the contributions of other small wild populations, i.e., increasing the Xiaoxiangling contribution while decreasing the contribution of Liangshan, or sharply increasing the Qinling contribution while decreasing the contributions of Xiaoxiangling and Liangshan, which were two of the three smallest wild populations and were already severely under-represented in the captive population. We developed three habitat-controlled breeding plans that could increase the genetic contributions from the smallest wild populations to 6.7–11.2 % for Xiaoxiangling, 11.5–12.3 % for Liangshan and 12.9–20.0 % for Qinling among the offspring of one breeding season while reducing the risk of hidden inbreeding due to related founders from the same habitat undetectable by pedigree data. Conclusion The three smallest wild panda populations of Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling and Liangshan either had no representation or were severely unrepresented in the current captive panda population. By incorporating the breeding goal of increasing the genetic contributions from the smallest wild populations into breeding plans, the severely under-represented small wild populations in the current captive panda population could be increased steadily for the near future. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-016-0441-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recent evidence haas indicated that meningioma-associate protein (MAC30) exhibits different expression patterns in various tumors. However, little is known about the value of MAC30 in human squamous cell carcinoma of lung (SQCLC). The purpose of our study was to investigate the expression of MAC30 and to explore its clinical significance in SQCLC patients. A total of 156 Chinese patients diagnosed with SQCLC were selected for this study. The expression of MAC30 in all tissues was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to analyze MAC30 mRNA expression in 32 cases of SQCLC patients with corresponding non-tumor lung tissues. We observed enhanced mRNA expression of MAC30 in SQCLC as compared to control samples. Further, elevated MAC30 protein expression was strongly associated with poor tumor differentiation, TNM stage, and lymph node metastasis. In addition, we observed that patients with increased MAC30 expression demonstrated poor overall survival. Multivariate analysis explicated that increased MAC30 expression was a valuable independent predictable factor for poor tumor differentiation and short survival in SQCLC patients. Our present study suggests that MAC30 may serve as a biomarker for poor tumor differentiation and outcomes of patients with SQCLC.

AIM: To investigate the mechanisms and effects of sphincter of Oddi (SO) motility on cholesterol gallbladder stone formation in guinea pigs. METHODS: Thirty-four adult male Hartley guinea pigs were divided randomly into two groups, the control group (n = 10) and the cholesterol gallstone group (n = 24), which was sequentially divided into four subgroups with six guinea pigs each according to time of sacrifice. The guinea pigs in the cholesterol gallstone group were fed a cholesterol lithogenic diet and sacrificed after 3, 6, 9, and 12 wk. SO manometry and recording of myoelectric activity were obtained by a multifunctional physiograph at each stage. Cholecystokinin-A receptor (CCKAR) expression levels in SO smooth muscle were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and serum vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), gastrin, and cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at each stage in the process of cholesterol gallstone formation. RESULTS: The gallstone formation rate was 0%, 0%, 16.7%, and 83.3% in the 3, 6, 9, and 12 wk groups, respectively. The frequency of myoelectric activity in the 9 wk group, the amplitude of myoelectric activity in the 9 and 12 wk groups, and the amplitude and the frequency of SO in the 9 wk group were all significantly decreased compared to the control group. The SO basal pressure and common bile duct pressure increased markedly in the 12 wk group, and the CCKAR expression levels increased in the 6 and 12 wk groups compared to the control group. Serum VIP was elevated significantly in the 9 and 12 wk groups and gastrin decreased significantly in the 3 and 9 wk groups. There was no difference in serum CCK-8 between the groups. CONCLUSION: A cholesterol gallstone-causing diet can induce SO dysfunction. The increasing tension of the SO along with its decreasing activity may play an important role in cholesterol gallstone formation. Expression changes of CCKAR in SO smooth muscle and serum VIP and CCK-8 may be important causes of SO dysfunction.

Living wild founders without descendants in the captive population. (PDF 17 kb)

Historical pedigree of the captive panda population as of October 2014. Founders without descendants and not in the current captive population were removed from the pedigree drawing. Square: male. Circle: female. Diamond: sex unknown. Pink filled color: in the current population. White filled color: not in the current population. (PDF 156 kb)

Catalytic degradation of organic pollutants by nanomaterials is an effective way for environmental remediation. The Fenton reaction involving H2O2 oxidation catalysed by Fe3+ is an advisable way for wastewater degradation. Herein, Fe3O4/SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were prepared as catalyst by coprecipitation and sol-gel methods, and this catalyst is used for degradation of fuchsin in wastewater by H2O2. The Fenton reaction between H2O2 and Fe3O4 is proposed to explain the catalytic performance. The coating of SiO2 on Fe3O4 nanoparticles could dramatically stabilize the Fe3O4 in aqueous solution and prevent their oxidation. More importantly, the magnetic property of Fe3O4 nanoparticles endows them with good recyclability. Thus, due to the outstanding catalytic results, almost 100% removal degradation was achieved within 5 min over a wide pH value range at room temperature, which is better than that without catalysts. Temperature is a positive factor for improving the degradation rate, but room temperature is selected as the best temperature for economic and energy savings reasons, because more than 98% of fuchsins can still be degraded at room temperature. Moreover, these Fe3O4/SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles exhibit excellent magnetic recyclability and stable properties after repeated utilization. Therefore, these as-presented Fe3O4/SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles with low-cost and high performance are expected to be applied in practical industry wastewater degradation.

Rationale Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare lung disorder characterized by the abnormal accumulation of alveolar surfactant protein in alveolar spaces. Secondary PAP can result from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Patient concerns But most reports described a single case; here we reported 2 cases of PAP secondary to MDS. One case developed secondary PAP at the same time as MDS, and the other developed during the course of MDS. Diagnoses The diagnosis of PAP was made by bronchoalveolar lavage and based on the identification of periodic acid-Schiff-positive proteinaceous material. Chest high resolution CT (HRCT) scans showed variable distribution of ground glass opacities, but crazy-paving appearance was not seen in our 2 cases. Interventions Because the patients' general conditions were poor, whole lung lavage was not used in the 2 cases. Outcomes And the 2 cases' prognoses were poor. Lessons In conclusion, pulmonary physicians should suspect the possibility of secondary PAP when they encounter unexplained pulmonary infiltrates with some hematologic or infectious disease that shows diffuse bilateral GGO on an HRCT scan.

In the framework of a chiral constituent quark model, considering the contributions of $\pi$ annihilation and one-gluon annihilation, the proton-antiproton $S$-wave elastic scattering cross section experimental data can be reproduced by adjusting properly one-gluon annihilation coupling constant. Meanwhile, using the fixed model parameter, we do a dynamical calculation for all possible $S$-wave nucleon-antinucleon states, the results show that, there is no $S$-wave bound state as indicated by a strong enhancement at threshold of $p\bar{p}$ in $J/\psi$ and $B$ decays.

The symmetric spin–orbit interactions of one-gluon-exchange and confinement are included in the nucleon—nucleon phase shift calculation in the framework of quark delocalization colour screening model. The spin–orbit interaction has little influence on D wave phase shift. For the triplet P waves, 3PT is in good agreement with the experimental data and 3PLS is attractive but not strong enough, whereas 3PC is too strongly repulsive. Our results indicate that the symmetric spin–orbit interaction of one-gluon-exchange and confinement potential cannot give a good description of the triplet P wave phase shifts. More sophisticated considerations, the delocalization depending on the relative orientation between two cluster, might be needed to improve the description of P-wave NN interaction.

The quark delocalization colour screening model provides an alternative approach for the NN intermediate range attraction, which is attributed to the σ meson exchange in the meson exchange and chiral quark model. However the quark delocalization induces the spurious centre-of-mass motion (CMM). A method for subtracting the spurious CMM proposed before is applied to the new scattering calculation. The subtraction of the spurious CMM results in an additional NN attraction. The NN scattering data are refitted by a fine tune of the colour screening constant.

In this work, the effects from one-pion exchange in ep and μp bound states by two-photon coupling are discussed. We at first calculate the effective couplings of a pion with a lepton (electron or muon) by two-photon coupling and the corresponding effective nonrelativistic potential. Then we calculate its corrections to the hyperfine structure of 2S and 2P states. We find that the corrections to the hyperfine structures of electronic hydrogen's 2S and 2P states and muonic hydrogen's 2P state are small and can be neglected, while the correction to the hyperfine structure of muonic hydrogen's 2S state ΔEHFS2S(F=1,μp) is about 0.0028 meV. And after some further discussion we suggest that the similar exchange of a scalar meson such as σ between μp by two-photon coupling may give a much larger contribution to the Lamb shift of muonic hydrogen.

The roles of bile acid microaspiration and bile acid-activated farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remain unclear. We hypothesized that bile acids activate alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) and lung fibroblasts, which may be regulated by FXR activation.Human AECs and normal or IPF-derived lung fibroblast cells were incubated with the three major bile acids: lithocholic acid (LCA), deoxycholic acid (DCA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA). The AECs injury indices, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and lung fibroblast activation were evaluated. FXR expression in IPF lungs and the roles of FXR and FXR-independent pathways in bile acid-induced profibrotic effects were also investigated.LCA, DCA and CDCA reduced cell viability and increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in A549 cells. They all induced EMT, as shown by enhanced α-SMA and vimentin and decreased E-cadherin levels. LCA directly induced differentiation of lung fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. All three bile acids promoted cellular migration but not proliferation of lung fibroblasts. FXR expression was upregulated in IPF lungs, and inhibition of FXR restrained the bile acid-induced EMT and lung fibroblast activation. Differentiation and proliferation were enhanced in lung fibroblasts exposed to conditioned medium from bile acid-stimulated A549 cells, which contained increased levels of profibrotic factors. TGF-β/Smad3 signaling was also involved in the bile acid-induced EMT and lung fibroblast differentiation.Bile acid microaspiration may promote the development of pulmonary fibrosis by inducing activation of AECs and lung fibroblasts via FXR-dependent and independent pathways.

Let K 2 be the Milnor functor and let Φ n (x) ∈ ℚ[x] be the n-th cyclotomic polynomial. Let G n (ℚ) denote a subset consisting of elements of the form {a,Φ n (a)}, where a ∈ ℚ*. and {, } denotes the Steinberg symbol in K 2ℚ. J. Browkin proved that G n(ℚ) is a subgroup of K 2ℚ if n = 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 and conjectured that G n (ℚ) is not a group for any other values of n. This conjecture was confirmed for n = 2 r 3 s or n = p r , where p ≥ 5 is a prime number such that h(ℚ(ζ p )) is not divisible by p. In this paper we confirm the conjecture for some n, where n is not of the above forms, more precisely, for n = 15, 21, 33, 35, 60 or 105.

The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic and prognostic values of serum KL-6 levels in Chinese patients with interstitial lung disease (ILDs).A total of 1084 subjects including 373 cases of ILDs, 584 cases of non-ILD pulmonary diseases, and 127 healthy individuals were recruited from three clinical centers in China between January 2011 and December 2013. A total of 106 patients undergoing treatments for ILDs in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital between January 2011 and December 2013 were enrolled. Baseline and posttreatment serum KL-6 levels were determined.Serum KL-6 levels in patients with ILDs were significantly higher than those in patients with non-ILD pulmonary diseases or in healthy individuals (1492.09 ± 2230.08 U/mL vs 258.67 ± 268.73 U/mL or 178.73 ± 71.17 U/mL, all P 0.05). At the cut-off value of 500 U/mL, the sensitivity and specificity of serum KL-6 as a diagnostic marker for ILDs was 77.75% and 94.51%, respectively. The Kappa value was 0.743 (P 0.001). The area below the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.922 with a 95% Confidence interval of 0.904-0.941 (P 0.001). The posttreatment serum KL-6 levels significantly reduced in patients with improved ILDs, whereas markedly increased in patients with exacerbated ILDs (All P 0.05).Serum KL-6 levels might be a promising diagnostic biomarker for ILDs in Chinese patients. The prognostic value of serum KL-6 levels for ILDs remains to be verified by large-scaled studies.

We try to apply a constituent quark model (a variety chiral constituent quark model) and the resonating group approach for the multi-quark problems to compute the effective potential between the $N\bar{N}$ in $S$-wave (the quarks in the nucleons $N$ and $\bar{N}$, and the two nucleons relatively as well, are in $S$ wave) so as to see the possibility if there may be a tight bound state of six quarks as indicated by a strong enhancement at threshold of $p\bar{p}$ in $J/\psi$ and B decays. The effective potential which we obtain in terms of the model and approach shows if the experimental enhancement is really caused by a tight $S$-wave bound state of six quarks, then the quantum number of the bound state is very likely to be $I=1, J^{PC}=0^{-+}$., Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures

The gluon and Goldstone boson induced tensor interaction effect on the dibaryon mass and the D-wavedecay width has been studied in the quark delocalization, color screening model. The effective S-D wave transition interactions induced by gluon and Goldstone boson exchanges decrease quickly as the increasing of the channel strangeness. The K and eta meson tenser contribution is negligible in this model. No six-quark state in the light flavor world can become a bound one by the help of these tensor interactions except the deuteron. The partial D-wave decay width of IJ(P) = (1)(/2) 2(divided by) NOmega state to spin 0,1 DeltaXi final state is 20.7 keV and 63.1 keV respectively. It is a very narrow dibaryon resonance and might be detected in the relativistic heavy ion reaction by the existing RHIC detectors through the reconstruction of the DeltaXi vertex mass and the future COMPAS detector at CERN and FAIR project in Germany.

The reaction p d -> d phi p_{sp} is studied within the Bethe-Salpeter formalism. Under special kinematical conditions (slow backward spectator proton p_{sp} and fast forward deuteron) relevant for forthcoming experiments at COSY, the cross section and a set of polarization observables factorize in the contribution of the pure subprocess p n -> d phi and a contribution stemming from deuteron quantities and kinematical factors. This provides a theoretical basis for studying threshold-near processes at quasi-free neutrons.

Promising high strangeness dibaryons are studied by the extended quark delocalization and color screening model. It is shown that besides H particle and di-Omega, there might be other dibaryon candidates worth to be searched experimentally such as NOmega.

Resonating-group method has been applied to calculate the dibaryon state in the framework of the extended quark-delocalization color-screening model. The mass of the di-Ω is predicted to be about 45 MeV lower than the threshold. The effect of channel coupling due to the tensor force and sensitivity to meson exchange short-range cutoff radius, have also been studied.

The adiabatic effective baryon-baryon interactions and dibaryon candidates are studied systematically with three constituent quark models based on different effective degrees of freedom: Glozman–Riska–Brown Goldstone boson exchange model based on constituent quark and Goldstone boson coupling; Fujiwara model based on constituent quark gluon coupling and Nijmegen one-boson exchange; QDCSM based on constituent quark and gluon coupling with quark delocalization and color screening. We find that the three models predicted the similar effective baryon-baryon interactions for roughly two thirds among the 64 states consisted of octet and decuplet baryons. The differences among three models and their separate characteristics are also studied.