Search

Supplemental Material for Prognostic Value of Tumor Size in Colon Cancer—Smaller is Better? by Yan Meng, Bingyan Wang, Hsinyi Lin, Fei Li, Siyi Lu, Junwei Wang, Hao Wang, Limei Guo, Xin Zhou, and Wei Fu in The American Surgeon

Bifurcations in kinetic pathways decide the evolution of a system. An example is crystallization, in which the thermodynamically stable polymorph may not form due to kinetic hindrance. Here, we use confined self-assembly to investigate the interplay of thermodynamics and kinetics in the crystallization pathways of finite clusters. We report the observation of decahedral clusters from colloidal particles in emulsion droplets and show that these decahedral clusters can be thermodynamically stable just like icosahedral clusters. Our hard sphere simulations reveal how the development of the early nucleus shape passes through a bifurcation that decides the cluster symmetry. A geometric argument explains why decahedral clusters are kinetically hindered and why icosahedral clusters can be dominant even if they are not the thermodynamic ground state., Comment: Article + supplementary information. 41 pages, 22 figures

Ocean acidification is predicted to have significant implications for marine calcifying organisms. However, little is known about the physiological responses of Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, to elevated partial pressure of atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO2) under natural fluctuations associated with a farm environment. The present study evaluated the effect of two pCO2 levels (i.e. ambient ∼625 μatm and elevated ∼1432 μatm) on the physiological processes and growth of C. gigas in in situ mesocosms that simulated the farm environment. Oysters were exposed for 30 days over a sensitive period during their production cycle when they are first exposed to natural coastal conditions. Despite this being a well-known “bottleneck” in production, it remains understudied with respect to climate change. Results showed that elevated pCO2 levels decreased clearance rate, ingestion rate, absorption efficiency, and oxygen to nitrogen ratio, while increasing oxygen consumption and ammonia-N excretion rates. These physiological responses of oysters resulted in a reduction in energy available for growth (scope for growth). No mortality was observed in the control or elevated pCO2 treatments, indicating that although oyster may survive future coastal acidification, the allocation of energy towards production within aquaculture systems will decrease in the future, affecting the culture of these economically important marine bivalves.

Background: Xihuang pill, a famous traditional Chinese medicine formulation, is a broad-spectrum anti-tumor drug and has been widely used for the treatment of lung cancer in China. The aim of this study is to systematically investigate the efficacy and safety of Xihuang pill for the treatment of lung cancer. Methods: We will perform the comprehensive literature search in the following databases from their inceptions to August 2020 for data extraction: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. Cochrane Risk of Bias tool will be used to assess the risk of bias of included studies. The RevMan 5.4 and Stata 16.0 software will be applied for statistical analyses. Statistical heterogeneity will be computed by I2 tests. Sensitivity analysis will be conducted to evaluate the stability of the results. The publication bias will be evaluated by funnel plots and Egger test. The quality of evidence will be assessed by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluate system (GRADE) system. Results: The results of our research will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study will provide evidence to show whether Xihuang pill is an effective intervention for patient with lung cancer. OSF registration number: 10.17605/OSF.IO/W2GHN

Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) is a neurotropic herpesvirus that causes infectious rhinotracheitis and vulvovaginitis in cattle. The virion host shutoff protein encoded by the BHV-1 UL41 gene is highly conserved in the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily. This protein can degrade viral and host messenger RNA (mRNA) to interrupt host defense and facilitate the rapid proliferation of BHV-1. However, studies on the BHV-1 UL41 gene are limited, and BHV-1 defective virus construction using the CRISPR/Cas9 system is somewhat challenging. In this study, we rapidly constructed a BHV-1 UL41-deficient strain using the CRISPR/Cas9 system in BL primary bovine-derived cells. BHV-1 UL41-defective mutants were screened by Western blot analysis using specific polyclonal antibodies as the primary antibodies. During the isolation and purification of the defective strain, a mixed virus pool edited by an efficient single-guide RNA (sgRNA) showed a plaque number reduction. Viral growth property assessment showed that BHV-1 UL41 was dispensable for replication, but the UL41-defective strain exhibited early and slowed viral replication. Furthermore, the BHV-1 UL41-deficient strain exhibited enhanced sensitivity to temperature and acidic environments. The BHV-1 UL41-deficient strain regulated viral and host mRNA levels to affect viral replication.

Trueperella pyogenes (T. pyogenes) is a commensal and an opportunistic pathogen of animals. This organism can cause inflammatory diseases, such as pneumonia, mastitis and endometritis in hosts. However, the molecular basis for the pro-inflammatory properties of this organism is still largely unknown. In the current study, using murine macrophages as model, the ability of T. pyogenes to induce pyroptosis was first determined. Then, pyolysin (PLO), a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin secreted by T. pyogenes, was found to be closely related to T. pyogenes-induced pyroptosis. Next, our work showed that PLO can form pores in the cell membrane, leading to the efflux of potassium (K+), NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome-mediated caspase-1 activation, and gasdermin D (GSDMD) cleavage. Inhibition of the K+/NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD pathway abolished T. pyogenes and PLO-induced IL-1β release. Taken together, these results indicate T. pyogenes-induced inflammation is related to PLO-induced pyroptosis and IL-1β release. Our work shed light on the pathogenesis of T. pyogenes and the interaction between T. pyogenes and hosts’ immune system.

In this article, a new evaporative condenser with an annular elliptic finned tube heat exchanger that includes a round inner tube and elliptic outer finned tube was designed and analyzed. The refrigerant flows between the round inner tube and the elliptic outer tube, and it simultaneously exchanges heat with the cooling water in the inner tube, the spray water, and the cooling air flowing past the outer tube. Using field measurement for the traditional round finned tube evaporative condenser in the Futong Metro Station of Line 14 in Beijing, China, the theoretical heat transfer performance of the annular elliptic finned tube evaporative condenser was analyzed and simulated. Compared with a round finned tube heat exchanger, the heat exchange capacity of the annular elliptic finned tube increased by 2.34% to 9.28%; the total heat transfer coefficient increased by 47.42%, and the power consumption of the fan in the air-conditioning system with an annular elliptic finned tube heat exchanger decreased by 11.18% to 14.65%. Therefore, the energy-saving performance and the heat transfer performance of the new annular elliptic finned tube heat exchanger were enhanced compared to the round finned tube heat exchanger.

Aquaculture is a rapidly increasing industry, and managers in China are searching sustainable development in the context of much more intensive culture. Our study area focused on an embayment that exposed to suspended culture of oysters. Impact of oyster expansion was evaluated in the context of ecosystem which do not limits to the phytoplankton−oyster relationship but other interspecific relations by the use of food web model. Following recently proposed measures, the ecological carrying capacity (ECC) was defined as the maximum amount of oyster biomass that would not yet cause ecosystem function to depredate beyond their resilience capacity, i.e., not to cause any other group’s biomass to fall below 10% of its original biomass. The result suggests that an increase of oyster biomass caused negative impact on the ecosystem in terms of biomass of the most of functional groups and ecosystem indicators such as flow diversity and transfer efficiency. The ECC of oyster in suspended culture was 976 t km−2 (1.8 times of present biomass), and exceeding the levels will cause zooplanktivorous fish biomasses to fall below the 10% threshold. The ecosystem-based ECC assessment method in the present simulation dynamically predicted the impact of oyster development on other organisms in the environment to guide the sustainable development of bivalve culture in Sanggou Bay and provides an approach for the assessment of bivalve ECC in other parts of the world.

With alumina sol as binder and Ni metal as sintering aids, the Ni–TiB2/Al2O3 composite cathode material for aluminum electrolysis was prepared by cold-pressed sintering. The mechanical properties of the composite cathode material were measured. Its electrolytic properties were identified by a 20-A electrolysis test. Cathode samples before and after electrolysis test were measured by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The migration behavior of various elements in the electrolysis process was studied by phase analysis. The result shows that Ni metal can effectively fill the gap between the aggregate during the sintering process, which can improve the sintering density of the composite cathode material significantly. The voltage of the 20-A electrolysis test is stable. The impurity of aluminum liquid is 0.42%. The aluminum liquid can wet the cathode surface effectively, and the Ni–TiB2/Al2O3 composite is an ideal wettable cathode material. In the process of electrolysis, the alkali elements in the electrolyte penetrate the electrode, where K goes deeper than Na. Al generated on the cathode surface will also penetrate the cathode through the gap of the composite material, while Ni in the electrode will spread into the aluminum liquid layer.

The effects of S and Se treatment on cabbage, especially the interactions of S and Se metabolism with the biosynthesis of glucosinolate (GSL), including glucoraphanin, which is a major aliphatic GSL in cruciferous vegetables and the precursor of the anticancer compound sulforaphane, were examined. Cabbage plants were treated with sulfate and selenite (SeO32−), and the total S, Se, and GSL contents of cabbage head and outer foliage leaves were measured. Results showed that selenite treatment was beneficial to GSL biosynthesis and Se accumulation in cabbage head and outer foliage leaves. GSL synthesis was induced by exogenous selenite-elevated sulfate treatment at certain concentration ratios, i.e., 50-μΜ selenite + 1-mΜ sulfate or 100-μΜ selenite + 4-mΜ sulfate. A high exogenous sulfate concentration was more favorable to GSL accumulation than a low sulfate concentration. According to the relative expression of genes on GSL synthesis, an increase in the GSL content was attributed to the upregulation of gene expression and possible transportation from the outer foliage leaf to the head of cabbage. These results might be helpful for increasing the health benefits of cabbage by supplying exogenous S and Se. Further research should explore the effects of sulfate and selenite on GSL precursor substances to reveal the reason why total GSL contents increased.

A new anode material of Sn-Ti thin film was successfully prepared by magnetron co-sputtering of two separate targets at the atmosphere of Ar at normal temperature. The structure, surface morphology, and electrochemical performance of the Sn-Ti thin film electrodes are examined by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electrochemical tests. Furthermore, the effects on the electrochemical performance of the Ti content in the Sn-Ti thin films are studied. Results show that increasing the power of Ti target can improve the cyclic performance of Sn-Ti thin film electrodes. It is very interesting that no any cracks or material pulverization are observed on these Sn-Ti thin films, which indicate that the Ti can improve the stability of Sn-based anode materials. Such improved electrochemical properties benefit from the good mechanical support by Ti and uniform Ti doping.

This paper focuses on energy efficiency that is a key performance metric in heterogeneous cellular networks to two key areas. First, based on the Poisson point process distributions of small-cell base stations (SBSs) and macrocell base stations (MBSs), the energy-efficiency model is formulated, and the effect of base stations’ distribution on energy efficiency is analyzed. For maximizing energy efficiency, the joint optimal densities of SBSs and MBSs are deduced under the constraint of quality of service. Second, according to this, we propose a joint sleep strategy of MBSs and that of SBSs. We deduce the optimal threshold of traffic load according to the joint optimal densities. If the traffic load of SBSs (or MBSs) is less than the optimal threshold of traffic load, these SBSs (or MBSs) go to sleep; otherwise, it is activated. This makes the SBSs and MBSs adaptively and distributively sleep according to their own traffic loads. The simulation results verify that the deduced joint optimal densities of the SBS and the MBS are accurate, and energy efficiency is improved when SBSs and MBSs adaptively sleep.

A new integrated energy-saving technology characteristic with protruding cathode blocks and high conductivity cathode collector bars was tested in 300 kA electrolysis cells. In order to maintain the normal operation at super low voltage, the technical parameters and operation management were optimized. Gauging was improved in anode changing and appropriate energy compensation was carried out, the heat loss and contact voltage drop were reduced as much as possible, and all the equipment was maintained in time. Under the determined process conditions, the cells ran efficiently and stably, the electrolyte superheat was kept in moderate range, the cell side ledge was kept at appropriate thickness, no sludge agglomerated on the bottom surface, and no carbon dust accumulated on the electrolyte surface. The following economic technological indexes of the test cells were achieved, the average voltage was 3.714–3.783 V, the current efficiency was 91.09–92.05%, and the DC power consumption was 12080–12246 kWh/tAl.

In the process of aerial photographing, due to the wide range of complex scene conditions such as air flow changes and the influence of light and atmosphere, which lead to the large dynamic instability phenomenon such as mechanical vibration and even violent shaking when the camera carrier moves, this paper proposes a new video stabilization algorithm for the wide range and large dynamic state. Firstly, the feature points of reference frame are extracted by GFTT algorithm, and the motion vector between frames is obtained by using sparse optical flow method to find matching feature points in the current frame of continuous video image. Secondly, on the basis of traditional Kalman filter, a hybrid filter composed of Kalman filter and Gauss discrete filter is used to smooth the motion of each frame image. Finally, a stable video sequence is obtained by motion compensation. The experimental results show that the MSE parameters of this algorithm are 21.4% lower than those of the traditional Kalman filter based image stabilization algorithm, which can meet the requirements of wide range and dynamic video image stabilization.

In order to meet the requirements of ground verification test at various stages of space station development, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive performance test verification platform for space station environmental control system. According to the test requirements, the ground comprehensive performance verification cabin must have a stable thermal environment. When the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the cabin is higher than 5 °C, the leakage heat of the cabin is not more than 300W. Taking the cargo spacecraft as an example, the cabin structure was modeled, and the computational fluid dynamics method was used to simulate the fluid-solid coupling heat transfer. The rationality of the design of the leak-proof thermal structure was verified, and the experiment was designed to test the temperature uniformity and heat leakage. The results show that both uniformity and heat leakage meet the requirements.

New media technology advances the innovation of higher education systems in China. In the wake of new media, learning environments have become more relaxing and accessible than before. This benefits leaners who want to obtain higher and more in-depth learning. Learners may have fragmented learning opportunities and create fragmented content during their spare time. Online education systems provide a platform for participatory learning and offer online users opportunities to achieve co-creation.

In this paper, a new evaporative condenser with an annular elliptic finned tube heat exchanger was studied and some of its main performance parameters were simulated. For comparison, the actual operating parameters of the round finned tube evaporative condensation air-conditioning system using in a subway station were also measured and simulated. This paper provides a reference for related researches on the actual operation of subway stations. Meanwhile, the heat transfer performance of the annular elliptic finned tube heat exchanger was compared with the round finned tube heat exchanger by numerical simulation. The results showed that the annular elliptic finned tube heat exchanger had a smaller air resistance and a larger heat transfer coefficient. Besides, the new annular elliptic finned tube proposed in this paper could increase the COP of the air-conditioning system by roughly 5–17%, and the energy consumption is reduced by about 8–22%.

The autonomous route planning in coverage search is an important subject of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mission planning. Pre-planning is simple and feasible for the coverage search mission of single UAV in regular areas. As to the dynamic mission in complicated environment of multi-UAV, the route planning will encounter the difficulties of reasonable task distribution and the real-time environment changes which include the changes of the mission area, the detection of threat area, the interference of communication and so on. At this point, making the UAV to do real-time autonomous planning is necessary. However, it is hard to fulfil requirements of real-time, autonomous and efficient at the same time. According to a scalable knowledge base, this paper proposes a coverage search algorithm which is based on the mapping between the basic behavior combination and surroundings. A UAV’s coverage search simulation model with random shapes is built with a discrete map to update the environment and the changes of the mission on time. Comparison of the simulation analysis and the dynamic programming shows that the method has amazing expandability and can change the search strategy feasibly. It is efficient, and the ratio of coverage redundancy can be decreased to 1.21. It also has the potentiality in real-time calculation, and the computing time can be shortened to about 2 s.

NaCl and its mixed salt have many advantages as a medium of solar energy phase change thermal storage at moderate and high temperature. But molten chloride has sharp corrosive action on metal thermal storage vessel. The corrosion behavior of three kinds of Ni-10 wt% Fe based alloy (1#, 2# and 3#) in 850 °C molten NaCl was studied. The content of Al in 1#, 2# and 3# sample was 0.0 wt%, 5.0 wt% and 10.0 wt%, respectively. The components of NaCl after corroding and corrosion products on samples surface were analyzed. Elements change trend and corrosion characteristics on cross section of the three samples were contrasted. Corrosion mechanisms were discussed finally. Results show that the kinetics curves of the three kinds of sample obey a liner rule. The average mass loss rate declines when Al is added in the sample. The rate of 2# and 3# is only 12% and 20% of that of 1#, respectively. There are two reasons for the value reduction: firstly, Al will be oxidized prior to oxidization of Fe or Ni, and the atomic mass of Al is small; secondly, Al2O3 is very stable at high temperature as corrosion products. However, when the content of Al is very high (for example 10 wt% in here) in Ni-10 wt% Fe based alloy, Al oxidized on sample surface provides a convenient condition for Al atom transmission from sample inside to surface. Al2O3 film becomes thick and exfoliates easily. The exfoliation increases the average mass loss rate in turn.

In the present study, the volumetric thermal capacity and thermal conductivity of hollow block wall were changed by filling soil and perlite in the cavities to improve wall thermal performance. The results show that filling soil or perlite in the cavities of hollow blocks is a feasible way of improving the thermal performance of north wall of Chinese solar greenhouses. Filling hollow blocks with soil increases the thermal capacity of wall, and more heat can be stored. Filling hollow blocks with perlite increases the thermal resistance of north wall so less heat is lost. Then, two layered composite walls (wall HB-2P4S and HB-4P2S) were designed and their performance was compared. Model simulation and experimental results suggest that the composite wall with 40 cm of hollow block filled with soil and 20 cm of hollow block filled with perlite had better thermal performance than the composite wall that was composed of with 40 cm hollow block filled with perlite and 20 cm filled with soil.

Eggs continue to be significant in terms of the world economy and human nutrition. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in a cross section of egg production types in China and to examine the virulence features of the isolated pathogens. Three hundred eggs from three provinces were tested for Salmonella , Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , and Campylobacter . Two eggs were positive for Salmonella , one was positive for both E. coli and S. aureus , and none were positive for Campylobacter . When comparing different egg laying systems, there were no significant differences in findings between packaged and unpackaged eggs and between battery cage and cage-free eggs, but there were significant differences in the findings among pathogens and among provinces. Other potential foodborne pathogens were identified in addition to the targeted pathogens. The virulence of Serratia marcescens was higher than that of the isolated Salmonella Typhimurium, and the virulence of Staphylococcus saprophyticus was comparable to that of the isolated S. aureus . These findings are important for local risk assessments concerning possible human foodborne infections via cross-contamination of eggs.

Fe-TiB2 composite cathode materials were prepared by cold pressing sintering in which metal Fe was added as sintering aids. The electrolysis performance was studied in a 20 A electrolysis test, and the composition phase analyses of the composite cathode materials before and after the electrolysis test were carried out by using an energy spectrometer (EDS), and the migration behavior of various elements in the electrolysis process was studied. The results showed that the Fe could effectively fill the gap between the aggregate during the sintering process and improve the sintering density of the composite cathode material significantly. The voltage of the 20 A electrolysis test is stable. The impurity of the aluminum is 0.81%. The surface of the composite cathode is wetted obviously by the aluminum liquid. In the process of electrolysis, the alkali metal is main. In the permeation of the liquid electrolyte into the cathode material, the permeation of K element was more deeply than that of Na element; the Al produced on the cathode surface and the Fe in the cathode material will diffuse to each other until the relative equilibrium is reached.

Selecting a solar greenhouse type that suits local conditions is an important issue for the development of protected horticulture in Northern China. In this study, type selection was treated as a multi-objective fuzzy decision-making problem. According to building features and microclimate, an assessment framework system was constructed that consisted of four levels: objective level (A), criteria hierarchy (B), sub-criteria hierarchy (C), and alternatives (D). The indicators for sub-criteria hierarchy were first quantified by a set of formulas and survey of experts. The surveyed data were classified using the Analysis Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Next, the weights of the indicators were obtained from 15 experts. The results show that the weight of structure safety (B2) is the highest, while the aesthetic property is the lowest in the criteria hierarchy. In the sub-criteria hierarchy, the weight of structural stability (C4), useful life (C5) and land utilization (C11) are higher than others. A case study was performed for northern Jiangsu province to screen out the optimal solar greenhouse types that suit the local conditions using his methodology. The result suggests that the method of multi-objective fuzzy decision-making and classical AHP could be used to deal with the selection of solar greenhouse designs.

The optic-thermal coupling effect evaluation system for aerospace materials is mainly used to simulate the environment of solar radiation with different intensities in a constant-pressure and temperature-varying environment to test the photochemical effect and optic-thermal effect tolerance of aerospace materials. This paper introduces the key design and numerical simulation results of the system. The results show that the temperature and radiation intensity range of system is sufficient to meet the test requirements of the national military standard. The deviation between the temperature setting value and the measured value is within 0.5°C, and the light deviation is less than 5%.

The homogenization heat-treatments were implemented to the experimental as-cast Cux(Ni1.67Fe)100-x alloys with x = 60,52,44 wt%, which have a two-phase structure to obtain a uniform microstructure. Moreover, the oxidation kinetics of the as-cast and as-homogenized Cux(Ni1.67Fe)100-x alloys were investigated by the thermogravimetry at 850 °C under 1atm O2 atmosphere. The thermogravimetry results showed that all the samples approximately follow the parabolic law during oxidation under this condition. The homogeneous alloys have the lower oxidation rate than the as-cast alloys due to the inhibition of outward diffusion of Cu. Furthermore, the as-cast and as-homogenized 52Cu–30Ni–18Fe alloys were tested as inert anode materials in laboratory aluminium electrolysis tests. The as-homogenized 52Cu–30Ni–18Fe alloy anode performs significantly better corrosion resistance due to the formation of NiFe2O4. In the end, there is less impurity contents of Cu in the produced aluminium after electrolysis using the as-homogenized 52Cu–30Ni–18Fe alloy anode than using the as-cast 52Cu–30Ni–18Fe anode.

The separation technology in the large-scale sand-dust environment ground simulation test system applicable to the environmental adaptability and reliability verification of aerospace electromechanical products is studied. The gas-solid two-phase numerical simulation method is adopted, and the possible cyclone separation, inertial separation methods are used to study the separation efficiency and regularity technology, which provides a basis for the separation design and test of the sand-dust environment simulation of large electromechanical products.

In this paper, ceramic based inert anodes and TiB2-C composite cathodes were used for electrolysis tests in KF-NaF-AlF3 based low-temperature electrolyte with vertical oriented electrodes, and the effects of current density on current efficiency and cathode performance were studied. The results showed that current efficiency could be significantly improved by increasing current density, but when the current density was increased to a certain value, the current efficiency would significantly reduce. When the current density of cathode projection plane was in the range of 0.27–0.47 A/cm2, current efficiency could be reached more than 90%. When it was higher than 0.54 A/cm2, current efficiency was reduced significantly and unstable. And when it was over 0.65 A/cm2, cathodes were easy to crack or crust. Under the condition of high current density, the increase of aluminum loss was the main reason leading to the decrease and instability of current efficiency.

In this study, two new types of greenhouses have been presented with removable back walls particularly suitable for composite climate (cold days in winter and spring, as well as hot days in summer) as a replacement for conventional single-span polyethylene film covered greenhouse (SPG) in Changshu (120°58' E, 31°40' N), Jiangsu province China. One greenhouse had a fully-removable back wall (FRG) and one had a half-removable back wall (HRG). The removable back walls, made of jute fiber boards, were installed in cold days for heat preservation and removed in summer for ventilation. Experimental evaluation of two greenhouses was conducted during spring and summer months by growing a tomato crop and compared with the SPG condition. The results suggest that the air temperatures inside HRG and FRG were above 9.5°C during the spring. The average air temperatures at night (17:00-07:00 h next day) inside two greenhouses were 4.5°C (HRG) and 4.7°C (FRG) higher than SPG. In the summer, as the back wall was removed, with 50% shade net inside the FRG, a drop of 4.3°C of average air temperature during the period of 07:00-18:00 h was observed. It was observed that the micro-climatic parameters like air temperature, soil temperature, and relative humidity remained within desirable range during different stages of crop growth. The tomato yield was 21.7% (HRG) and 23.9% (FRG) higher than SPG. Therefore, two types of greenhouses with removable back walls could be an alternative to the conventional greenhouse in southern Jiangsu.

Avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) is the etiologic agent of avian colibacillosis, the most common disease responsible for chicken morbidity in the world. Although multiple virulence-associated factors were identified, their prevalence in Algeria is still poorly known. In the present research, 92 avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) isolates were recovered from broilers with clinical signs and lesions of colibacillosis. In addition, 32 E. coli isolates collected from feces of healthy birds (AFEC) were included for comparison. All isolates were investigated by PCR for the presence of a total of 11 virulence-associated genes described for avian pathogenic (iroN, ompT, hlyF, iss, iutA, and fimC) and diarrheagenic E. coli (eae, stx, elt/est, ipaH, and aggR). The sensitivity of 39 APEC isolates to 16 antibiotics was also determined using antimicrobial pretreated microplates. Here, we report that 98% of the examined isolates host at least one of the tested virulence factors. The most prevalent genes in APEC were iutA (90.6%), ompT (86.9%), and iss (85.8%); whereas, iutA (78.1%), fimC (78.1%), and iroN (68.7%) were the highest prevalent genes in AFEC. Our data showed that none of the AFEC isolates harbor any of the tested diarrheagenic genes. Moreover, only elt/est (5.4%), stx (2.1%), and ipaH (2.1%) genes were carried by APEC isolates. We further established that ceftazodime, ceftiofur, mequindox, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and meropenem were the most efficient antibiotics against the analyzed APEC isolates. Overall, our findings provide more insights about APEC and AFEC virulence potential in Algeria which could participate in the fight against colibacillosis.

Background Since cytotoxic T cell (CTL) response is the major cellular type in attacking tumor cells, most immunotherapy targets to manipulate the CTL response. Immunotherapies targeting melanoma-specific antigens (MAGEs), a group of tumor-specific shared antigen, have shown to be promising. Our previous study has shown that MAGE1/TBHSP70 and MAGE3/TBHSP70 could induce a robust immune response against B-16 melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice. In this study, we used an animal model to further demonstrate MAGEs as a potential immunotherapy target for tumorigenesis in vivo. Methods In the current study, we developed a MAGE1/MAGE3/TBHSP70 recombinant protein vaccine and evaluated its protective efficacy against tumor development by challenge vaccine-immunized mice with MAGE-expressing human tumor cell lines in a Hu-PBL-SCID mouse model. The cellular immune reactions were monitored by ELISPOT and cytotoxicity assays. Results Splenocytes isolated from vaccine-immunized mice presented potent cytokine secretion capacity and CTL-specific cytotoxic. Vaccine-immunized mice had a significant tumor regression and prolonged survival compared with controls (both p

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a major health problem worldwide. HBV X (HBx) protein is the most common open reading frame that may undergo mutations, resulting in the development of HCC. This study aimed to determine specific HBx mutations that differentiate the central- and para-tumor tissues, and identify their association with HCC development. HBx gene from HCC tumor and para-tumor tissues of 47 HCC patients was amplified, sequenced and statistically analyzed. A novel combination of 2 mutations at residues 10 and 144 was identified which might play a significant role in HCC development. Expression vectors carrying HBx with the specific mutations were constructed and transfected into HepG2 and p53-null HepG2 cells. Compared to wild type (WT) and single mutation of HBx at residue 10 or 144, the 10/144 double mutations strongly up-regulated p21 expression and prolonged G1/S transition in WT- and p53-null HepG2 cells. Apoptosis was also inhibited by HBx harboring 10/44 double-mutation. Binding of 10/144 double-mutant HBx to p53 was lower than WT HBx. Conclusively, the 10/144 double mutation of HBx might play a crucial role in HCC formation.

Phylogeny of hard ticks (Ixodidae) remains unresolved. Mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) are increasingly used to resolve phylogenetic controversies, but remain unavailable for the entire large Hyalomma genus. Hyalomma asiaticum is a parasitic tick distributed throughout the Asia. As a result of great morphological variability, two subspecies have been recognised historically; until a morphological data-based synonymization was proposed. However, this hypothesis was never tested using molecular data. Therefore, objectives of this study were to: 1. sequence the first Hyalomma mitogenome; 2. scrutinise the proposed synonymization using molecular data, i.e. complete mitogenomes of both subspecies: H. a. asiaticum and kozlovi; 3. conduct phylogenomic and comparative analyses of all available Ixodidae mitogenomes. Results corroborate the proposed synonymization: the two mitogenomes are almost identical (99.6%). Genomic features of both mitogenomes are standard for Metastriata; which includes the presence of two control regions and all three "Tick-Box" motifs. Gene order and strand distribution are perfectly conserved for the entire Metastriata group. Suspecting compositional biases, we conducted phylogenetic analyses (29 almost complete mitogenomes) using homogeneous and heterogeneous (CAT) models of substitution. The results were congruent, apart from the deep-level topology of prostriate ticks (Ixodes): the homogeneous model produced a monophyletic Ixodes, but the CAT model produced a paraphyletic Ixodes (and thereby Prostriata), divided into Australasian and non-Australasian clades. This topology implies that all metastriate ticks have evolved from the ancestor of the non-Australian branch of prostriate ticks. Metastriata was divided into three clades: 1. Amblyomminae and Rhipicephalinae (Rhipicephalus, Hyalomma, Dermacentor); 2. Haemaphysalinae and Bothriocrotoninae, plus Amblyomma sphenodonti; 3. Amblyomma elaphense, basal to all Metastriata. We conclude that mitogenomes have the potential to resolve the long-standing debate about the evolutionary history of ticks, but heterogeneous evolutionary models should be used to alleviate the effects of compositional heterogeneity on deep-level relationships.

Electric propulsion is an important technology in the future space missions. The verification and testing system is mainly used for the manufacturers to fully understand the propulsion behavior in the most diverse conditions, and to indentify and eliminate potential failure modes to advance its validity and reliability, explore the applied potential for space missions. The paper presents a new verification and testing system for spacecraft propulsion and the key technologies needed to be developed are studied. The debugging data and research indicate that ultimate pressure of system is better than the 5.0×10-6Pa. Both the cold plate used for xenon pumping and sputtering protective system get an excellent performance in system. The DSMC numerical simulation method is verified that is beneficial to the research of optimization design and plume effect of electric propulsion in future.

In this paper, we develop a new mathematical model for the mammalian circadian clock, which incorporates both transcriptional/translational feedback loops (TTFLs) and a cAMP-mediated feedback loop. The model shows that TTFLs and cAMP signalling cooperatively drive the circadian rhythms. It reproduces typical experimental observations with qualitative similarities, e.g. circadian oscillations in constant darkness and entrainment to light–dark cycles. In addition, it can explain the phenotypes of cAMP-mutant and Rev-erbα−/−-mutant mice, and help us make an experimentally-testable prediction: oscillations may be rescued when arrhythmic mice with constitutively low concentrations of cAMP are crossed with Rev-erbα−/− mutant mice. The model enhances our understanding of the mammalian circadian clockwork from the viewpoint of the entire cell.

This paper focuses on the consensus problem of multi-agent systems with double-integrator dynamics, in which the interaction topology is switching constrained by an average dwell time switching signal. A novel general distributed protocol is constructed based on the information received from neighbours, under which the multi-agent systems can exhibit not only static consensus but also dynamic consensus. Then, a sufficient condition on consensus is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities, which can be easily solved by efficient convex optimization algorithms. Finally, the validity of the theoretical results is verified by a simulation example.

Deployed in harsh environment of wireless sensor network node is physically captured or damage easily, and its wireless communication pattern may lead network vulnerable by all kinds of interference and attacks. Therefore, the routing security is particularly important. Based on the in-depth analysis of wireless sensor networks protocol — TEEN protocol, combined with the trustworthy evaluation mechanism, an improved TEEN based trust routing algorithm in wireless sensor networks is put forward. A dynamic trust management mode is designed to ensure the credibility of node. The cluster head selection strategy and routing strategy of TEEN are improved to ensure the energy efficiency of the network, and the periodic data collection mechanism is introduced to determine the survival state of node. The simulation and performance evaluation show that the proposed algorithm has better performance.

With the rapid development of networks and constant renewal of network devices, the energy problem of network attracts more and more attention. High energy consumption and low efficiency have become an important factor of obstructing the network further development. In this paper, a dynamic topology based network energy-saving mechanism is proposed. It consists of three parts: data acquisition module, traffic prediction module and information decision module. The data acquisition module is responsible for collecting the network topology, the traffic and the routers' load. It is the basis of the other two parts. The traffic prediction module is responsible for forecasting the traffic of network in real-time. And it also sends the result to the decision module. The information decision module will process information send by the collection module and the traffic prediction to make a good decision, which let some route to be sleeping or wake-up state. This mechanism will save network energy effectively without affecting the quality of network service. The simulation and performance evaluation show that the proposed algorithm has better performance.

Stable clay/waterborne polyurethane nanocompostie dispersions were synthesized by sulfonated poly (butylene adipate) diol, 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, dimethyl propionic acid, 1,4-butanediol, triethyl amine and clay-water dispersion through a route named prepolymer acetone mixing progress. The reinforced mechanical properties and thermal resistance of films casting from it were examined by dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and tensile tests. Furthermore, the morphology of these nanocompostie films and dispersions were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction analyses (WXRD). The experimental results reveal that the clay could be predominantly dispersed in the pristine polymer forming nanocomposties, and evidently enhanced the tensile properties and modulus of it. Additionally, the best-reinforced effect could occur when the clay content was near 1 wt%.

A bovine interferon α (BoIFNα) gene that included signal sequence was amplified from bovine liver genomic DNA. The gene was named BoIFN-α1 according to the position at which the encoded gene of the bovine IFN was located in the bovine genome. The sequence included a 23-amino-acid signal peptide and a 166-amino-acid mature peptide. The structural characteristics and phylogenetic relationships of the BoIFN-α1 gene were analyzed. A recombinant mature BoIFN-α1 (rBoIFN-α1) was expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris. Physicochemical characteristics and antiviral activity were determined in vitro. Recombinant BoIFN-α1 was found to be highly sensitive to trypsin and stable at pH 2.0 or 65°C. It also exhibited antiviral activity, which was neutralized by a rabbit anti-rBoIFNα polyclonal antibody. This study revealed that rBoIFN-α1 has the typical characteristics of IFNα and can be used for both research and industrial application.

The nematophagous fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora is a potential biological agent against parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes. Its subtilisin-like serine proteases play an important role in nematode cuticle breach. In this study, the cDNA of the mature serine protease XAoz1 from A. oligospora XJ-XAo1 was expressed in Pichia pastoris to assess the in vitro nematicidal activity of recombinant XAoz1 (reXAoz1) on Caenorhabditis elegans and Haemonchus contortus. The cDNA sequence of the protease XAoz1 was amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and inserted into the vector pPIC9K for expression in P.pastoris GS115. Our results show that the reXAoz1 had a molecular mass of 50 kDa after 3 days of 1.5%-methanol induction at 28 °C. The highest specific protease activity was achieved at 12 168 U mg(-1) protein. The reXAoz1 had the highest hydrolytic activity at pH 6.5-9.5 with an optimal pH at 8.5. Moreover, the purified reXAoz1 displayed a highly toxic and biological activity to immobilize C. elegans and H. contortus by degrading their cuticles and inducing death.

This paper mainly researched the influence of slit-vent modification on the flow field variation of a circular cylinder's wake flow and the modulating effect on vortex shedding frequency. Experiment contents contained qualitative flow visualization and quantitative measurements. A huge amount of PIV data was acquired and evaluated to obtain the instantaneous flow structure as well as the time-averaged feature of wake flow past both slit circular cylinder and baseline circular cylinder. Meanwhile, complete periodical evolution of vortex generation and shedding in the near wake flow was analyzed, and the vortex shedding frequency alteration under different water channel speeds was also studied. The results of flow visualization revealed that, the vortex shedding frequency of slit cylinder was faster than baseline cylinder. It demonstrated that the slit structure of cylinder enhanced the intension of wake flow variation.

Contactless electrical energy transmission system realizes power transmission to electrical equipment with no electrical or physical connection by the perfect combination of inductive coupling technique and electronics. This paper introduces the basic principle of contactless electrical energy transmission, establishes the mathematic model based on the loosely coupled circuit, and analyzes the influence factor of the transmission efficiency. Finally combined with the engineering application, this paper foresees the perspective application of this system in harsh environments.