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To evaluate the effects of different interventions on Internet addiction (IA), a meta-analysis and network meta-analyses were performed.We searched PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, ProQuest, CNKI, WanFang, VIP database, and CBM from their inception to August 2021 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) where the effects of interventions on IA were assessed. The risk of bias was evaluated according to the Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB2). The R studio Software and Stata 14.0 were used to perform traditional meta-analysis and network meta-analyses.A total of 59 RCTs including 3832 participants were incorporated into meta-analysis. The results of the traditional meta-analysis of 24 studies showed that CBT, group counseling, sports intervention, and Internet-based intervention could significantly reduce IA levels (SMD = -1.90, 95%CI: -2.26 to -1.55, P 0.01, IMost interventions have significant effects on the treatment of IA. Compared with single interventions, combined interventions showed a more pronounced improvement in Internet addiction symptoms.

To conduct a meta-analysis to quantitatively assess the association between mobile phone addiction (MPA) and sleep disorder (SD) by reviewing current evidence from observational studies.The meta-analysis was conducted by searching Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of science using a retrieval strategy related to MPA and SD. Pooled Odds ratios and Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated by R software using a random effects model.29 studies including a total of 20041 participants were identified. We found that MPA was significantly associated with an increased risk of adolescents having SD (OR = 2.25, 95%CI= 1.72-2.94). Additionally, the findings also demonstrated that weak-to-moderate positive correlations were found between MPA and SD (summary r = 0.30, 95%CI= 0.25-0.34). The meta-regression analysis and subgroup analysis suggested that the geographic location and the measurement of MPA might be the sources of heterogeneity, and the robustness of the findings was confirmed by sensitivity analysis.The information collected was self-reported, and the recall bias was inevitable.This study updated the findings of the association between MPA and SD from the previous reviews and was also the first meta-analysis to assess the association between MPA and SD using Odds Radios and correlation coefficients concurrently. The result of this study re-emphasized that paying more attention to the public health concerns of MPA and SD is needed in the future, whether implementation more relevant researches or developing targeted policies.

BackgroundSmartphone addiction (SA) is associated with adverse consequences, especially for freshmen. Evidence indicates that SA is associated with depression, and it is necessary to conduct a longitudinal study to explore the association further.MethodsSA (measured by the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version) and depression (measured by the Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale) among 1,186 freshmen were surveyed at baseline and a respective 12-month follow-up for each participant. The application of a cross-lagged panel model approach (CLPM) revealed an association between SA and depression after adjusting for demographic variables.ResultsThe CLPM results showed a significant path from baseline SA to follow-up depression (β = 0.08, P < 0.001) and a significant path from baseline depression to follow-up SA (β = 0.08, P < 0.001). Compared with the overall cross-lagged model, the cross-lagged coefficient of the path from baseline SA to follow-up depression increased in the female group (β = 0.10, P = 0.015), and the cross-lagged coefficient of the path from baseline depression to follow-up SA also increased significantly (β = 0.15, P < 0.001). In contrast, the cross-lagged model in the male group showed no predictive effect between SA and depression (P > 0.05).ConclusionsThe current study showed a significant bidirectional association between smartphone addiction and depression among freshmen, but only in the female population.

Background Although neurotransmitter receptors have a role in cancer formation, it is uncertain how they impact renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC) development and the surrounding immune system. This work intended to explore the role of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Type B Receptor Subunit 1 (GABBR1) in renal clear cell carcinoma formation, methylation, immunological milieu, and immune dysfunction. Method The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database supplied the patients' clinical data and gene expression pattern, as well as the UALCAN and MethSurv databases provided the methylation data. The single sample gene enrichment approach was utilized to determine immune cell infiltration, and the TIDE database was used to quantify the therapeutic value of immunological checkpoints. R (version 3.6.3) was used to conduct each and every statistical analysis. Result The data indicated that increased GABBR1 expression was related with lower overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) (p

To promote the development of enhanced tubes in heat exchangers, forced convection experiments were carried out using R410A in the annular region outside enhanced tubes. Three enhanced tubes were i...

The combustion characteristics and NOx emissions of a newly designed flue gas internal recirculation low-NOx burner (FIR) were studied. In the study, experimental and numerical simulations of the FIR low-NOx burner were conducted under natural inlet air conditions at three different powers. Results show that the fuel inlet strongly influences the jet effect, thus influencing the flue gas recirculation rate, flame stability, and NOx emissions. With a medium power of 20 kW, the NOx emission of a FIR low-NOx burner is lower than 30 mg/N m

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether social capital played a mediating role in the relationship between negative life events (NLE) and quality of life (QoL) among adults in China after proposed a conceptual model based on stress buffering theory.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted based on baseline survey from the Chinese Multi-ethnic Cohort (CMEC) in Yunnan province. A total of 22,866 adults were recruited by multistage stratified cluster sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the general demographic characteristics and the occurrence of NLE. A self-developed brief social capital scale was utilized to assess the social capital and the EQ-5D-5L scale was used to measure the QoL. The relationships among NLE, social capital and QoL were analyzed using multiple linear regression analyses. Structural equation models were used to evaluate whether social capital had a mediating effect on the relationship between NLE and QoL. The standardize coefficient (β) and it's 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated in this process.ResultsThe mean age of participants was 52.70 years old. The mean of EQ-5D index value was 0.92 (SD = 0.12) and the mean of EQ-VAS score was 71.77 (SD = 13.80). NLE not only directly affected EQ-5D index value [β = −0.127, 95% CI (−0.144, −0.110)] but also indirectly negatively affected EQ-5D index value through social capital [β = −0.019, 95% CI (−0.023, −0.015)]. Social capital had a direct positive effect on EQ-5D index value [β = 0.114, 95% CI (0.097, 0.133)]. A similar pattern was identified for the association between NLE and EQ-VAS score. The direct effect of NLE on EQ-VAS score was negatively significant [β = −0.132, 95% CI (−0.146, −0.118)]. Moreover, the indirect effect through social capital was also negatively significant [β = −0.022, 95% CI (−0.026, −0.019)]. There was a positive direct effect of social capital on EQ-VAS score [β = 0.135, 95% CI (0.117, 0.151)].ConclusionSocial capital played an important mediating role in the relationship between NLE and QoL, and it alleviated the negative effects of NLE on the QoL of the community residents in China. Providing reliable social capital for community residents experiencing NLE could effectively improve their quality of life.

Sulphur dioxide (SO

Isopropylamine dodecylbenzene sulfonate (IDS) is a new kind of anionic surfactant (ANS). To preliminarily evaluate the aquatic toxicity of IDS, this study took gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) as the research object. The well-acclimatized fish were divided into six groups and exposed to 0 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L, 1.0 mg/L, 2.0 mg/L, 4.0 mg/L, or 8.0 mg/L of IDS for 7, 14, 21 or 28 days. Our results showed that the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of the liver were unaffected by IDS exposure, while glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity was significantly inhibited. Hepatic tissue exhibited pathological damage, characterized by nuclear migration and dissolution and cell boundary blurring. The results suggest that IDS does not cause oxidative stress in the liver, but cause hepatic histopathological damage. GSH-Px can be considered as a biomarker of IDS exposure in gibel carp.

Ploidy level affects both the cell size and metabolic rate (MR) of organisms. The present study aimed to examine whether ploidy levels cause differences in cell surface area (SA), MR and metabolic scaling. The resting MR (RMR), red blood cell SA (SARBC), red blood cell count (RBCC), gill SA (GSA), and ventilation frequency (VF) were measured in diploid and triploid common carp with different body masses (M). The results showed that both M and ploidy level affected the RMR, GSA, VF, and SARBC, with interactions between M and ploidy level. The triploids had larger SARBC but lower RBCC than those of the diploids. The SARBC increased weakly but significantly with increasing M, by an exponent of 0.043, in the triploids but did not increase in the diploids. The RMR of the triploids and diploids scaled with M, by exponents of 0.696 and 1.007, respectively. The RMR was higher in the triploids than the diploids. The GSA scaled with M, with an exponent of 0.906 in the triploids and an exponent of 1.043 in the diploids. The VF scaled with M by an exponent of − 0.305 in the triploids but showed no correlation with M in the diploids. The larger SARBC and RMR and smaller scaling exponents of both the GSA and VF of the triploids were consistent with the finding that the bR was smaller in the triploids than in the diploids. This suggests that the ploidy-induced changes of SA and SA scaling affect the metabolic scaling of fish.

Background: Studies have found that HIV is mainly transmitted through the mucosal surface, and the entrance of early progression of the disease is the rectal and colonic mucosa. So, this paper aimed to explore and analyze the structural differences of gut microbiome between men who have sex with men (MSM) and those who don’t have sex with men (Non-MSM), expecting to find novel biological factors that potentially impact transmission and/or disease in MSM population. Methods: We collected a total of 33 stool samples, 16 were MSM and 17 were Non-MSM. The 16S rRNA gene amplification sequencing was used to detect the alteration and structure of the gut microbiome community in two groups. Results: The difference in β diversity of gut microbiome of two groups of subjects was statistically significant (P2), and the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, genera Erysipelotrichaceae incertae sedis, Bilophila, Holdemania, Clostridium XIVb and Bacteroidaceae in MSM group were lower (P2). Conclusions: There are some differences in the structure of gut microbiome between MSM group and Non-MSM group. It indicates the differences in behavior and characteristics between MSM and Non-MSM populations may be related to the difference in the structure of gut microbiome.

Increasing attention has been paid to the flow and heat transfer in annular channels since their intensive applications in engineering. In this study, evaporation of the outer surface of two enhanc...

With the development of genome sequencing, many researchers have investigated the mechanism by which the intestinal microbiota influences sleep across the brain-gut axis. However, the relationship between gut microbiota and sleep disorder remains unclear. Thus, we studied the difference in gut microbiota composition between poor sleep quality- and normal populations, which helps set the ground for future research. The recruited college students provided baseline information and stool samples and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We compared the two groups’ gut microbiota composition and functional differentiation by using the 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The main bacterial difference and the most critical effect were mainly concentrated within Tenericutes and Elusimicrobia. Compared with the healthy control group, some functions of the gut microbiota were impaired in the poor sleep quality group, such as butanoate metabolism and propanoate metabolism. Bacterial taxa with significant differences raised the possibility for future diagnosis and treatment of sleep problems.

In the process of installation and debugging of the plenoptic sensor, due to the existence of uncertain factors, assembly errors exist among the components, which adversely affect the distortion wavefront detection of the plenoptic sensor. In this paper, a numerical simulation model of the plenoptic sensor is established, the Zernike polynomial method is used to simulate the distorted wavefront of different turbulence intensities, and the phase reconstruction error RMS of the plenoptic sensor is used as an evaluation index to simulate and analyze the assembly errors that may occur during installation and commissioning. Through simulation research, it is found that the assembly error of the plenoptic sensor in the installation and debugging process will reduce the wavefront detection accuracy of the plenoptic sensor, and the degree of influence of the assembly error on the wavefront detection accuracy has a certain relationship with the turbulence intensity. The influence law of assembly errors with different turbulence intensities, different error types and different error ranges on the wavefront detection of the plenoptic sensor is summarized, which has guiding significance for the installation and debugging of the plenoptic sensor and the analysis of the wavefront detection error.

Objective Life events and social capital can affect one’s quality of life. Stress buffering theory holds that social capital can buffer the negative effects of life events. A conceptual model based on stress buffering theory was proposed to test whether social capital played a mediating role in the relationship between life events and quality of life among adults in Yunnan, China. Methods This study was based on baseline survey data from the Yunnan Cohort in the Chinese Multi-ethnic Cohort (CMEC). A total of 22881 adults were recruited by multistage stratified cluster sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to collect participants’ information, including general demographic characteristics and life events. A self-developed ultra-brief social capital scale was utilized to assess the participants’ social capital and the EQ-5D-5L scale was used to measure their quality of life. Correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationships among life events, social capital and quality of life, and structural equation models were used to evaluate whether social capital had a mediating effect on the relationship between negative life events and quality of life. Results Social capital had a direct positive effect on quality of life (β = 0.108, 95% CI [0.089, 0.128]). Life events not only directly affected quality of life (β= -0.117, 95% CI [-0.135, -0.099]) but also indirectly negatively affected quality of life through social capital (β= -0.018, 95% CI [-0.022, -0.014]). The results showed that social capital had a mediating effect on the relationship between negative life events and quality of life. Conclusion Social capital played an important mediating role in the relationship between life events and quality of life, and social capital alleviated the negative effects of life events. Providing better social capital for adults experiencing negative life events could effectively improve their quality of life.

The association between temperature and metabolic scaling varies among species, which could be due to variation in the surface area and its scaling. This study aims to examine the effect of temperature on metabolic scaling and to verify the links between metabolic scaling and surface area scaling at both the whole body and the cell levels. The routine metabolic rate (RMR), gill surface area (GSA), ventilation frequency (VF), red blood cell surface area (SRBC ), and metabolic rate (MRRBC ) were determined in silver carp, and their mass-scaling exponents were analyzed at 10 and 25°C. These results showed that body mass and temperature independently affected the RMR, GSA, and VF, suggesting constant scaling exponents of RMR (0.772), GSA (0.912), and VF (-0.282) with changing temperature. The RMR at 25°C was 2.29 times higher than that at 10°C, suggesting increased metabolic demand at a higher temperature. The results showed that the RMR increased, while the scaling exponents of RMR, GSA, and VF remained unchanged with increasing temperature. These results support the view that the scaling of oxygen supply capacity importantly affects metabolic scaling. The SRBC did not change with either temperature or body mass. However, the MRRBC increased by 5.48 times from 10 to 25°C but did not change with body mass. As the scaling exponents of RMR did not change between temperatures, the results indicate that no obvious link exists between the scaling of both the cell size and cell metabolic rate and the metabolic scaling of silver carp.

Single-phase and flow condensation experiments were performed using refrigerant R410A in the outer annular region of horizontal enhanced tube with different enhanced surfaces at a saturation temperature of 45°C in the range of mass flux 44.43–102.23kg/(m2s). The vapor quality ranges from 0.8 to 0.2. The outer diameters of the tubes are all 19.05mm, but the inner diameters are slightly different due to different surface structures. The surface structures of the three enhanced tubes are fins(EHT1 tube), toothed structures (EHT2 tube) and fine cavities(EHT3 tube) of different sizes and densities. Among them, the EHT3 tube has internal threads. Wilson diagram method was used to determine the enhancement ratio of the water side heat transfer coefficient of EHT3 tube. It was found that the pressure drop increased with the increase of mass flux, while the heat transfer coefficient showed different trends, and the smooth tube was always the lowest of the four tubes. A comprehensive evaluation factor α combining heat transfer enhancement factor (EF) and pressure drop penalty factor (PF) was defined, in which EHT2 tube (1.38–1.75) was the largest, with strong heat transfer capacity and small pressure drop, so the condensing heat transfer capacity of EHT2 tube was the best.

Cotton is one of the major cash crops in Xinjiang, an arid region in northwestern China. Most cotton fields in this region are drip irrigated with plastic film mulch. However, few studies have tested the performance of the DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer) model on cotton under film-mulched drip irrigation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the modified CSM-CROPGRO-Cotton model and determine the genetic coefficients of cotton using data from different irrigation treatments conducted at the irrigation experiment station in Bayingol Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Korla, China. Based on the selected genetic coefficients, the model was calibrated using field experiment datasets in 2016 and validated using datasets in 2015. The simulation results of soil water content, leaf area index, phenological period and cotton yield were compared with their corresponding measurements. Absolute relative error (ARE) of seeding emergence date, flowing date, maturity date and cotton yield simulated by the original model were 5.8%, 7.3%, 5.0% and 70.6%, respectively, while those of the modified model were 1.7%, 1.1%, 1.1% and 0.1%, respectively. Simulated leaf area index agreed well with the field observations with the coefficient of determination (R2) > 0.739, the index of agreement (d) > 0.910 and the root mean square error (RMSE)

An experimental investigation was conducted for flow boiling inside three horizontal stainless-steel tubes with a series of newly-developed three-dimensional enhanced surfaces. Both the inner and outer surfaces of the 1EHT tubes were composed of dimples in different sizes and depths, and with an array of rectangular cavities for the 3EHT tube. These enhanced tubes have the same outer and inner diameters of 9.52 mm and of 8.32 mm, respectively. The evaporation experiments were performed using R410A as the working fluid at a constant saturation temperature of 279 K. The mass fluxes varied from 160 to 390 kg/m2s, with inlet and outlet vapor qualities of 0.2 and 0.8, respectively. As the mass velocity increased, the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop penalty increased accordingly. Experimental results showed that the pressure drop of the 1EHT-1 tube is larger than those of the 1EHT-2 and 3EHT tubes, while the 1EHT-2 tube has the highest evaporation heat transfer coefficient.

Background: A Hematuria colorimetric card could unify the description of gross hematuria, but the consistency in assessing hematuria samples of a hematuria colorimetric card for gross hematuria is still inconclusive. The consistency testing and improving of hematuria colorimetric card has potential clinical application value.Methods: According to 6 color scales (0~5), 31 hematuria samples were made. One sample was used to explain the use of hematuria colorimetric cards, and then the evaluator was asked to describe the color. After the remaining 30 samples were arranged in a random number table, 30 evaluators independently completed the hematuria sample assessment under the same conditions. Kendall W coordination coefficient was used to test inter-observer consistency. After 1 hour, 30 hematuria samples were rearranged by random digital table method, 15 of which were randomly selected from 30 evaluators, and 30 samples were evaluated independently under the same conditions. Adopt the method of Kappa to test the consistency of the two evaluation results. Results: In the study, the evaluator lacked unity in describing the same hematuria color, including six groups of descriptive words: gross hematuria, light blood, light red, blood, scarlet, carmine. Inter-observer (inter-group) consistency test, Kendall coordination factor was 0.881(F=766.34), Pth color block with low discrimination in the primary hematuria colorimetric card was eliminated, and the 5th color block was reassigned to 4th. Thus the modified hematuria colorimetric card was divided into 5 grades.Conclusions: The improved hematuria colorimetric card has good consistency in hematuria evaluation and is an effective tool for evaluating hematuria grade, which is helpful to unify the evaluation standard of gross hematuria grade.

A flow boiling heat transfer experimental investigation on the shell-side of a smooth tube and two enhanced tubes (C-EHT, P-EHT) was performed using R410A as working fluid. The outer surface of the C-EHT tube is covered with special fins having a salient height, and the inner surface has a thread structure with the same distribution density. The outer surface of the P-EHT tube has lots of tiny pits formed by high-strength sandblasting and smooth inner surface. The inlet and outlet vapor quality is 0.2 and 0.8 at a saturation temperature of 279K. The flow boiling experimental results show that the evaporation heat transfer coefficient of C-EHT tube is the largest among the tested tubes. However, for the P-EHT tube, its heat transfer coefficient is lower than that of smooth tube. C-EHT tube with special fins has higher heat transfer area, which can also intensify the interfacial turbulence with increasing fins. The reason why the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of the P-EHT tube is lower than that of the smooth tube is that the diameter of the pit on P-EHT tube is too small to form the nucleation cites, which results in bubble retention under the condition of low mass flux and deteriorates the flow boiling heat transfer performance.

An experimental investigation of condensation and evaporation heat transfer characteristics was performed in a smooth tube and two enhanced tubes (1EHT, 3EHT) using R134A as refrigerant. All tested tubes have the same inner diameter of 14.68mm and outer diameter of 15.88mm. The enhanced surface of the 1EHT tube is made up by dimples and a series of petal arrays, while that of 3EHT tube is rectangular cavities. The test runs are performed at a saturation temperature of 45°C, over the quality range of 0.8–0.2 for condensation and at a saturation temperature of 6°C, over the quality range of 0.1–0.6 for evaporation. For evaporation, the heat transfer coefficient ratio (hEHT/hs) is approximately 1.2–1.4 for mass from 50–90 kg/m2s. For condensation, the 1EHT tube provides the best condensation heat transfer performance. This is mainly due to the dimples and rectangular cavities that increase heat transfer surface area and interface turbulence, producing additional disturbances, secondary flows near the boundary and flow separation.

Robust object tracking is a challenging task in multimedia understanding and computer vision. The traditional tracking algorithms only use the forward tracking information while neglecting the inverse information. An inverse relocation strategy is used to learn the translation and scale filters in the proposed tracking algorithm. To begin with, we learn a translation filter using both the forward and the inverse tracking information based on the ridge regression. The object position can be attained using the translation filter by the inverse relocation strategy. Secondly, the scale filter can be attained using the ridge regression and a smooth strategy is adopted to integrate the forward and inverse scale factors. Experiments are performed on the scale variation dataset and the OTB-50 dataset. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs favorably against several state-of-the-art methods in terms of precision and success rate. Meanwhile, the proposed algorithm is also robustness to the deformation to a great extent.

In order to further explore the influence of the outer fin structure on flow boiling heat transfer, the refrigerant R410A was used to conduct flow boiling heat transfer experiments outside three kinds of enhanced tubes with different outer fin structures (including micro-porous, integral-fin, and independent small bosses structures). The outer diameter of the tubes is 19.05 mm with a mass flux range of 50 kg/m2 s–80 kg/m2 s, and the inlet and outlet vapor quality is maintained at 0.2 and 0.8, respectively. The micro-porous tube showed the best heat transfer performance in the test conditions (the heat transfer coefficient is about 2.52–2.64 times of that of the smooth tube), and the next is the integral-fin tube. Due to local evaporation to dryness, the performance of the independent small bosses tube is inferior to that of the smooth tube. In addition, the heat transfer characteristics of the micro-porous tube under different average vapor qualities were tested and analyzed. Finally, the heat transfer coefficient of the tested tubes can be accurately predicted by modified correlations in the deviation of ±10%.

The surface area (SA) of organs and cells may vary with temperature, which changes the SA exchange limitation on metabolic flows as well as the influence of temperature on metabolic scaling. The effect of SA change can intensify (when the effect is the same as that of temperature) or compensate for (when the effect is the opposite of that of temperature) the negative effects of temperature on metabolic scaling, which can result in multiple patterns of metabolic scaling with temperature among species. The present study aimed to examine whether metabolic scaling in black carp changes with temperature and to identify the link between metabolic scaling and SA at the organ and cellular levels at different temperatures. The resting metabolic rate (RMR), gill surface area (GSA) and red blood cell (RBC) size of black carp with different body masses were measured at 10 °C and 25 °C, and the scaling exponents of these parameters were compared. The results showed that both body mass and temperature independently affected the RMR, GSA and RBC size of black carp. A consistent scaling exponent of RMR (0.764, 95% CI [0.718–0.809]) was obtained for both temperatures. The RMR at 25 °C was 2.7 times higher than that at 10 °C. At both temperatures, the GSA scaled consistently with body mass by an exponent of 0.802 (95% CI [0.759–0.846]), while RBC size scaled consistently with body mass by an exponent of 0.042 (95% CI [0.010–0.075]). The constant GSA scaling can explain the constant metabolic scaling as temperature increases, as metabolism may be constrained by fluxes across surfaces. The GSA at 10 °C was 1.2 times higher than that at 25 °C, which suggests that the constraints of GSA on the metabolism of black carp is induced by the higher temperature. The RBC size at 10 °C was 1.1 times higher than that at 25 °C. The smaller RBC size (a larger surface-to-volume ratio) at higher temperature suggests an enhanced oxygen supply and a reduced surface boundary limit onbR, which offset the negative effect of temperature onbR.

The application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a thermo-electrochemical cell (TEC) electrode is still difficult due to their weak contact with the substrate during the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method. In this study, by doping the suspension of the CNTs with Mg2+ and Ag powder, Ag–MgO–CNT nanocomposites were successfully prepared on a stainless steel (SS) substrate using the EPD method. The products were confirmed using characterization by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The TEC performance of the Ag–MgO–CNTs nanocomposite electrodes was significantly improved due to their higher conductivity, thermal conductivity and improved adhesion between the composite film and the SS substrate, depending on the concentrations of the Ag powder. The results suggest that constructing Ag–MgO–CNTs nanocomposite electrodes can effectively enhance the performance of CNTs-based TECs, which might be a promising way for energy harvesting using CNTs-based TECs prepared via the EPD technique.

The formation of vascular structures requires precisely controlled proliferation of endothelial cells (ECs), which occurs through strict regulation of the cell cycle. However, the mechanism by which EC proliferation is coordinated during vascular formation remains largely unknown, since a method of analyzing cell-cycle progression of ECs in living animals has been lacking. Thus, we devised a novel system allowing the cell-cycle progression of ECs to be visualized in vivo. To achieve this aim, we generated a transgenic zebrafish line that expresses zFucci (zebrafish fluorescent ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator) specifically in ECs (an EC-zFucci Tg line). We first assessed whether this system works by labeling the S phase ECs with EdU, then performing time-lapse imaging analyses and, finally, examining the effects of cell-cycle inhibitors. Employing the EC-zFucci Tg line, we analyzed the cell-cycle progression of ECs during vascular development in different regions and at different time points and found that ECs proliferate actively in the developing vasculature. The proliferation of ECs also contributes to the elongation of newly formed blood vessels. While ECs divide during elongation in intersegmental vessels, ECs proliferate in the primordial hindbrain channel to serve as an EC reservoir and migrate into basilar and central arteries, thereby contributing to new blood vessel formation. Furthermore, while EC proliferation is not essential for the formation of the basic framework structures of intersegmental and caudal vessels, it appears to be required for full maturation of these vessels. In addition, venous ECs mainly proliferate in the late stage of vascular development, whereas arterial ECs become quiescent at this stage. Thus, we anticipate that the EC-zFucci Tg line can serve as a tool for detailed studies of the proliferation of ECs in various forms of vascular development in vivo.

The requirement of human-robot interaction has become increasingly high with the improvement of the robot technology. This paper presents a robot control system which is based on the Kinect. The system through the body movements and gestures to control the robot. This system is divided into two parts: information collection system and action execution system. The human action information is collected by Kinect somatosensory equipment' after the PC analysis parse out the appropriate action' the information is transmitted to the actions performed robot through the bluetooth wireless module. Information will be received by the robot and the robot controller will control the robot to make the corresponding action' this enables it to achieve real-time human imitation.

temperature measurement instrument is based on thermocouple, with AT89C51 single chip as kernel. Dedicated chip max6675K for cold junction compensation of thermocouple is adopted to perform cold junction compensation to K-type thermocouple and to perform amplification, AD conversion and digital processing to input signal from Tand T+ end of K-type thermocouple. It is transmitted to single chip by passing through spi serial port. Convert into ROM address after operation processing of single chip. Practical temperature value will be calculated by twice table-finding method and relevant procedure will be called to transmit the temperature value to 4 common-anode LED nixie tube display or outrange alarm. Software of temperature instrument of this thermocouple is compiled with C language and modular construction design is adopted.

The effects on heat transfer and rational efficiency are studied experimentally by inserting trapezoidal elements into the inner tube of a double tube heat exchanger. In the experiments, hot water is kept still outside of the inner tube where the cold water passes. Though the pressure drops with the wider insert increase, obviously, 2.0 times the convection heat transfer coefficient and 1.4 times the exergetic efficiency are obtained compared to the empty tube in the experiments. The experiments are performed at Reynolds numbers between 1532 and 3677.With the increase of the Reynolds number, the rational efficiency reduces rapidly in all cases.

This article provides a graphical parameter tuning method of PIλ controllers for fractional-order time-delay systems. First, the complete stabilizing region of PIλ controller in proportional-integral plane, for a fixed λ, is determined in terms of a graphical stability criterion applicable to fractional-delay systems. Then, the stabilizing region is maximized analytically with respect to parameter λ to expect the most various behaviors of the closed-loop systems. Finally, by defining appropriate functions relative to the requirements of gain and phase margins, the curves in the maximized stabilizing region satisfying the pre-specified gain and phase margins are drawn, which releases a flexible parameter tuning procedure. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the design steps.

Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) regulates both vascular quiescence and angiogenesis through the receptor tyrosine kinase Tie2. We and another group previously showed that Ang1 and Tie2 form distinct signaling complexes at cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts. We further demonstrated that the former up-regulates Notch ligand delta-like 4 (Dll4) only in the presence of cell-cell contacts. Because Dll4/Notch signal restricts sprouting angiogenesis and promotes vascular stabilization, we investigated the mechanism of how the Ang1/Tie2 signal induces Dll4 expression to clarify the role of the Dll4/Notch signal in Ang1/Tie2 signal-mediated vascular quiescence. Under confluent endothelial cells, the basal Notch signal was observed. Ang1, moreover, induced Dll4 expression and production of the Notch intracellular domain (NICD). Ang1 stimulated transcriptional activity of β-catenin through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT-mediated phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β). Correspondingly, the GSK3β inhibitor up-regulated Dll4, whereas depletion of β-catenin by siRNA blocked Ang1-induced Dll4 expression, indicating the indispensability of β-catenin in Ang1-mediated up-regulation of Dll4. In addition, Dll4 expression by the GSK3β inhibitor was only observed in confluent cells, and was impeded by DAPT, a γ-secretase inhibitor, implying requirement of the Notch signal in β-catenin-dependent Dll4 expression. Consistently, we found that either Ang1 or NICD up-regulates Dll4 through the RBP-J binding site within intron 3 of the DLL4 gene and that β-catenin forms a complex with NICD/RBP-J to enhance Dll4 expression. Ang1 induced the deposition of extracellular matrix that is preferable for basement membrane formation through Dll4/Notch signaling. Collectively, the Ang1/Tie2 signal potentiates basal Notch signal controlling vascular quiescence by up-regulating Dll4 through AKT-mediated activation of β-catenin.

Background Adhesion formation after spine surgery is a result of normal wound healing that may place patients at increased risk for complications during revision surgery. Preventing adhesions could reduce the risk of complications during revision surgery, and possibly reduce the need for revision procedures. This study evaluates the ability of DuraSeal Xact Adhesion Barrier System (DSX) (Covidien, Mansfield, Massachusetts) and Oxiplex/SP gel (OX) (FzioMed, San Luis Obispo, California) to affect the extent and severity of postoperative perivascular adhesion development in an anterior spinal surgical rabbit model. Methods We determined the extent and severity of postoperative adhesion development 34 days after surgery in 12 male New Zealand White rabbits randomly assigned to intraoperative treatment with either DSX or OX, or to an untreated control group. Adhesion severity and extent were scored on scale from 0 (none) to 3 (severe). Results The extent and severity of adhesions in the DSX group were significantly less than in the untreated control group. The DSX group mean extent score was 1.3 ± 0.5 (vs 2.5, P = .01) and the mean severity score was 1.25 ± 0.5 (vs 2.8, P = .005). The extent and severity of adhesions in the OX group were not significantly different from the control group. Conclusion In this study, we found DSX to be the most effective compound in preventing adhesion formation after anterior spine surgery. Clinical Relevance Extrapolating these results in rabbits to humans, less scarring between the major blood vessels could decrease the rate of complications in revision spine procedures.

There are approximately 100 million new cases of dengue (DEN) virus infection each year. Infection can result in illness ranging from a mild fever to hemorrhaging, shock, or even death. There are four serotypes of dengue virus (DEN1-4), and immunity to one serotype does not cross protect from infection with other serotypes. Currently there are no approved vaccines for dengue fever. In this report, we describe the construction of a bivalent dengue virus vaccine using a complex recombinant adenovirus approach to express multiple genes of DEN1 and DEN2 serotypes. In vaccinated mice, this vector induced humoral immune responses against all four dengue serotypes as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. However, the neutralizing antibody responses were specific for DEN1 and DEN2 serotypes. Expansion of this vaccine development platform towards the DEN3 and DEN4 serotypes can lead towards the development of an adenovirus-based tetravalent dengue vaccine.

Dengue virus infections can cause hemorrhagic fever, shock, encephalitis, and even death. Worldwide, approximately 2.5 billion people live in dengue-infested regions with about 100 million new cases each year, although many of these infections are believed to be silent. There are four antigenically distinct serotypes of dengue virus; thus, immunity from one serotype will not cross-protect from infection with the other three. The difficulties that hamper vaccine development include requirements of the natural conformation of the envelope glycoprotein to induce neutralizing immune responses and the necessity of presenting antigens of all four serotypes. Currently, the only way to meet these requirements is to use a mixture of four serotypes of live attenuated dengue viruses, but safety remains a major problem. In this study, we have developed the basis for a tetravalent dengue vaccine using a novel complex adenovirus platform that is capable of expressing multiple antigens de novo. This dengue vaccine is constructed as a pair of vectors that each expresses the premembrane and envelope genes of two different dengue virus serotypes. Upon vaccination, the vaccine expressed high levels of the dengue virus antigens in cells to mimic a natural infection and induced both humoral and cellular immune responses against multiple serotypes of dengue virus in an animal model. Further analyses show the humoral responses were indeed neutralizing against all four serotypes. Our studies demonstrate the concept of mimicking infections to induce immune responses by synthesizing dengue virus membrane antigens de novo and the feasibility of developing an effective tetravalent dengue vaccine by vector-mediated expression of glycoproteins of the four serotypes.

Angiopoietin (Ang) 1 is a ligand for endothelium-specific receptor tyrosine kinase Tie-2. In adult vasculature, Ang1/Tie2 signaling is thought to regulate both maintenance of vascular quiescence and promotion of angiogenesis. However, it has been unknown how Tie2 signal regulates these distinct biological functions. Recently, we and Alitalo's group have clarified that Ang1 assembles distinct Tie2 signaling complexes in either presence or absence of endothelial cell-cell adhesions. Ang1 induces trans-association of Tie2 at cell-cell contacts, whereas Tie2 is anchored to the extracellular matrix (ECM) by Ang1 at the cell-substratum interface. Trans-associated Tie2 and ECM-anchored Tie2 activate distinct signaling pathways. In this review, we discuss how Ang1/Tie2 signal regulates both maintenance of vascular quiescence and promotion of angiogenesis, especially focusing on the roles of trans-associated Tie2 and ECM-anchored Tie2.

Vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin is a cell-cell adhesion molecule involved in endothelial barrier function. Here, we show that initial circumferential actin bundling induced by cyclic AMP-Epac-Rap1 signal and its linkage to VE-cadherin through α- and β-catenins lead to the stabilization of VE-cadherin at cell-cell contacts., Vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin is a cell–cell adhesion molecule involved in endothelial barrier functions. Previously, we reported that cAMP-Epac-Rap1 signal enhances VE-cadherin–dependent cell adhesion. Here, we further scrutinized how cAMP-Epac-Rap1 pathway promotes stabilization of VE-cadherin at the cell–cell contacts. Forskolin induced circumferential actin bundling and accumulation of VE-cadherin fused with green fluorescence protein (VEC-GFP) on the bundled actin filaments. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) analyses using VEC-GFP revealed that forskolin stabilizes VE-cadherin at cell–cell contacts. These effects of forskolin were mimicked by an activator for Epac but not by that for protein kinase A. Forskolin-induced both accumulation and stabilization of junctional VEC-GFP was impeded by latrunculin A. VE-cadherin, α-catenin, and β-catenin were dispensable for forskolin-induced circumferential actin bundling, indicating that homophilic VE-cadherin association is not the trigger of actin bundling. Requirement of α- and β-catenins for forskolin-induced stabilization of VE-cadherin on the actin bundles was confirmed by FRAP analyses using VEC-GFP mutants, supporting the classical model that α-catenin could potentially link the bundled actin to cadherin. Collectively, circumferential actin bundle formation and subsequent linkage between actin bundles and VE-cadherin through α- and β-catenins are important for the stabilization of VE-cadherin at the cell–cell contacts in cAMP-Epac-Rap1 signal-activated cells.

A PC-based package THPSA has been developed to assist in fault tree analysis. The package is designed in such a way that it can be used for practical research of PSA level 1. In this paper, the functions and structure of this package have been given followed by a worked example. The example is based on level 1 PSA research for Guangdong Nuclear Power Plant. The results show that the THPSA is a useful tool in fault tree analysis and it will result in low expense and great convenience in your research.