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For a long time, seasonal drought occurs frequently in Southwest China, and the management of water and fertilizer in kiwifruit orchards has no quantitative standards, which seriously affects the yield and quality of kiwifruit. Therefore, the effects of water and fertilizer deficit regulation with drip irrigation (WFDRDI) on the quality of kiwifruit at different growth stages were explored to achieve water and fertilizer saving, and green and efficient production of kiwifruit. We select ‘Jin Yan’ kiwifruit and set two water deficit levels (WD20% and WD40%) and three fertilizer deficit levels (FD15%, FD30% and FD45%) at bud burst to leafing stage (stage I), flowering to fruit set stage (stage II), fruit expansion stage (stage III) and fruit maturation stage (stage IV), respectively, with a full irrigation and fertilization as the control treatment (CK) in 2017 and 2018. Results showed that the WFDRDI at stage II and III had significant effect on fruit physical quality of kiwifruit, specifically, the III-WD40%FD30% and III-WD20%FD45% treatments significantly increased fruit firmness by 13.62 and 15.59% (P

BackgroundInitial choices of antimicrobial therapy for most cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children under 5 years of age are typically based on local epidemiology, risk factors assessment, and subsequent clinical parameters and positive cultures, which can lead to the underdiagnosis and underestimation of lung infections caused by uncommon pathogens. Contezolid, an orally administered oxazolidinone antibiotic, gained approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China in June 2021 for managing complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTI) caused by staphylococcus aureus (SA), streptococcus pyogenes, or streptococcus agalactis. Owing to its enhanced safety profile and ongoing clinical progress, the scope of contezolid's clinical application continues to expand, benefiting a growing number of patients with Gram-positive bacterial infections.Case summaryIn this report, we present the first use of contezolid in a toddler with severe CAP caused by SA, aiming to avoid potential adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with vancomycin and linezolid.ConclusionAlthough contezolid has not been officially indicated for CAP, it has been shown to be effective and safe in the management of SA-induced severe CAP in this toddler, suggesting its potential as an alternative option in the dilemma, especially for patients who are susceptible or intolerant to ADRs associated with first-line anti-methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) antimicrobial agents.

This paper has aimed to review the available evidence on the association between Interleukin (IL) -10 -1082G/A, -592C/A gene polymorphisms and the risk of human immunodeficiency virus-1(HIV-1) infection. The data of PubMed updated in May 2021 were retrieved. The HIV infection risks were estimated in allelic, recessive, dominant, homozygous, heterozygous, over-dominant models of IL-10-1082G/A and-592C/A gene locus as odds ratio (OR) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The correlation was not significant between -1082G/A polymorphism and HIV-1 susceptibility (allelic model (G vs. A: OR (95% CI)=0.968 (0.878-1.067)); recessive model (GG vs. AA+AG: OR (95% CI)=0.940, (0.771-1.146)); dominant model (GG+AG vs. AA: OR (95% CI)=0.967(0.846-1.106)); homozygous model (GG vs. AA: OR (95% CI)=0.971(0.780-1.209)); heterozygous model (AG vs. AA: OR (95% CI)=0.988(0.797-1.224)) and over-dominant model (GG+AA vs. AG: OR (95% CI)=0.969(0.781-1.201)). IL-10-592C/A polymorphism might be related to HIV-1 in allelic model, dominant model, homozygous model and heterozygous model (OR (95% CI)(0.796-0.965); OR (95% CI)=0.793(0.664-0.948); OR (95% CI)=0.755,(0.612-0.930); OR (95% CI)=0.820(0.679-0.991), respectively), but not to recessive model and over-dominant model (OR (95% CI)=0.882(0.770-1.010) and OR (95% CI)=1.009(0.897-1.148)).

AIM: To investigate the current quality of life in children with amblyopia and its influencing factors.METHODS: Cross-sectional study. Using random sampling method, 178 children with amblyopia were selected as the research objects, and the Chinese version of the Universal Core Scale of Children's Quality of Life was used to investigate the research objects. The impact of amblyopia on children's quality of life was analyzed. RESULTS:The quality of life score of children with amblyopia was(77.23±15.52)points. The results of multiple linear regression showed that parental education, left eye best-corrected visual acuity, right eye corrected visual acuity, coverage, premature delivery, hypoxia at birth and delivery way were the main factors affecting the quality of life of amblyopic children. It can explain 38.6% of the variance in the quality of life of children with amblyopia(F=15.242, P

Background. Acute liver failure (ALF), previously known as fulminant hepatic failure, has become a common, rapidly progressive, and life-threatening catastrophic hepatic disease in intensive care unit (ICU) due to the continuous increase in drug abuse, viral infection, metabolic insult, and auto-immune cause. At present, plasma exchange (PE) is the main effective alternative treatment for ALF in ICU clinical practice, and high-volume plasma exchange (HVP) has been listed as a grade I recommendation for ALF management in the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) guidelines. However, no existing models can provide a satisfactory performance for clinical prediction on 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE. Our study aims to identify a novel and simple clinical predictor of 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE. Methods. This retrospective study contained adult patients with ALF undergoing PE from the Medical ICU (MICU) in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University between January 2017 and December 2020. Baseline and clinical data were collected and calculated on admission to ICU before PE, including gender, age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), etiology, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, prothrombin activity, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score. Enrolled adult patients with ALF undergoing PE were divided into a survival group and a death group at discharge and 90 days on account of medical records and telephone follow-up. After each PE, decreased rates of total bilirubin and MELD score and increased rates of prothrombin activity were calculated according to the clinical parameters. In clinical practice, different patients underwent different times of PE, and thus, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score and mean increase rate of prothrombin activity were obtained for further statistical analysis. Results. A total of 73 adult patients with ALF undergoing 204 PE were included in our retrospective study, and their transplant-free mortality at discharge and 90 days was 6.85% (5/73) and 31.51% (23/73), respectively. All deaths could be attributed to ALF-induced severe and life-threatening complications or even multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Most of the enrolled adult patients with ALF were men (76.71%, 56/73), with a median age of 48.77 years. Various hepatitis virus infections, unknown etiology, auto-immune liver disease, drug-induced liver injury, and acute pancreatitis (AP) accounted for 75.34%, 12.33%, 6.85%, 4.11%, and 1.37% of the etiologies in adult patients with ALF, respectively. Univariate analysis showed a significant difference in age, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score mean increase rate of prothrombin activity, decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, and increase rate of prothrombin activity after the first PE between the death group and survival group. Multivariate analysis showed that age and mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score were closely associated with 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE. The 90-day transplant-free mortality was 1.081, 0.908, and 0.893 times of the original value with each one-unit increase in age and mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, respectively. The areas under the receiver operatingcharacteristic (ROC) curve of age, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, and the three combined were 0.689, 0.225, 0.123, and 0.912, respectively. The cut-off values of age, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, and the three combined were 61.50, 3.12, 1.21, and 0.33, respectively. The specificity and sensitivity of combined age with mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score for predicting 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE were 87% and 14%. Conclusion. Combined age with mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score as a novel and simple clinical predictor can accurately predict 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE, which is worthy of application and promotion in clinical practice, especially in the identification of potential transplant candidates.

Abstract. Background:. Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) have emerged as potential alternatives to drug-eluting stents in specific lesion subsets for de novo coronary lesions. Quantitative flow ratio (QFR) is a method based on the three-dimensional quantitative coronary angiography and contrast flow velocity during coronary angiography (CAG), obviating the need for an invasive fractional flow reserve procedural. This study aimed to assess the serial angiographic changes of de novo lesions post-DCB therapy and further explore the cut-off values of lesion and vessel QFR, which predict vessel restenosis (diameter stenosis [DS] ≥50%) at mid-term follow-up. Methods:. The data of patients who underwent DCB therapy between January 2014 and December 2019 from the multicenter hospital were retrospectively collected for QFR analysis. From their QFR performances, which were analyzed by CAG images at follow-up, we divided them into two groups: group A, showing target vessel DS ≥50%, and group B, showing target vessel DS

Abstract We study the CP violation in two-body nonleptonic decays of $$B_c$$ B c meson. We concentrate on the decay channels which contain at least one excited heavy meson in the final states. Specifically, the following channels are considered: $$B_c\rightarrow c{\bar{c}}(2S, 2P)+{\bar{c}}q(1S, 1P)$$ B c → c c ¯ ( 2 S , 2 P ) + c ¯ q ( 1 S , 1 P ) , $$B_c\rightarrow c{\bar{c}}(1S)+{\bar{c}}q(2S, 2P)$$ B c → c c ¯ ( 1 S ) + c ¯ q ( 2 S , 2 P ) , $$B_c\rightarrow c{\bar{c}}(1P)+{\bar{c}}q(2S)$$ B c → c c ¯ ( 1 P ) + c ¯ q ( 2 S ) , $$B_c\rightarrow c{\bar{c}}(1D)+{\bar{c}}q(1S, 1P)$$ B c → c c ¯ ( 1 D ) + c ¯ q ( 1 S , 1 P ) , and $$B_c\rightarrow c{\bar{c}}(3S)+{\bar{c}}q(1S)$$ B c → c c ¯ ( 3 S ) + c ¯ q ( 1 S ) . The improved Bethe-Salpeter method is applied to calculate the hadronic transition matrix element. Our results show that some decay modes have large branching ratios, which is of the order of $$10^{-3}$$ 10 - 3 . The CP violation effect in $$B_c \rightarrow \eta _c(1S)+D(2S)$$ B c → η c ( 1 S ) + D ( 2 S ) , $$B_c \rightarrow \eta _c(1S)+D_0^{*}(2P)$$ B c → η c ( 1 S ) + D 0 ∗ ( 2 P ) , and $$B_c \rightarrow J/\psi +D^{*}(2S)$$ B c → J / ψ + D ∗ ( 2 S ) are most likely to be found. If the detection precision of the CP asymmetry in such channels can reach the $$3\sigma $$ 3 σ level, at least $$10^7$$ 10 7 $$B_c$$ B c events are needed.

Abstract Considering Z(3930) and X(4160) as $$\chi _{c2}(2P)$$ χc2(2P) and $$\chi _{c2}(3P)$$ χc2(3P) states, the semileptonic and nonleptonic of $$B_c$$ Bc decays to Z(3930) and X(4160) are studied by the improved Bethe–Salpeter (B–S) Method. The form factors of decay are calculated through the overlap integrals of the meson wave functions in the whole accessible kinematical range. The influence of relativistic corrections are considered in the exclusive decays. Branching ratios of $$B_c$$ Bc weak decays to Z(3930) and X(4160) are predicted. Some of the branching ratios are: $$Br(B_c^+\rightarrow Z(3930)e^+\nu _e)=(3.03^{+0.09}_{-0.16})\times 10^{-4}$$ Br(Bc+→Z(3930)e+νe)=(3.03-0.16+0.09)×10-4 and $$Br(B_c^+\rightarrow X(4160)e^+\nu _e)=(3.55^{+0.83}_{-0.35})\times 10^{-6}$$ Br(Bc+→X(4160)e+νe)=(3.55-0.35+0.83)×10-6 . These results may provide useful information to discover Z(3930) and X(4160) and the necessary information for the phenomenological study of $$B_c$$ Bc physics.

The first-line treatment options for high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) are definitive external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with or without androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and radical prostatectomy (RP) with or without adjuvant therapies. However, few randomized trials have compared the survival outcomes of these two treatments. To systematically evaluate the survival outcomes of high-risk PCa patients treated with EBRT- or RP-based therapy, a comprehensive and up-to-date meta-analysis was performed. A systematic online search was conducted for randomized or observational studies that investigated biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and/or overall survival (OS), in relation to the use of RP or EBRT in patients with high-risk PCa. The summary hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated under the random effects models. We identified heterogeneity between studies using Q tests and measured it using I2 statistics. We evaluated publication bias using funnel plots and Egger's regression asymmetry tests. Seventeen studies (including one randomized controlled trial [RCT]) of low risk of bias were selected and up to 9504 patients were pooled. When comparing EBRT-based treatment with RP-based treatment, the pooled HRs for bRFS, CSS, and OS were 0.40 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.24–0.67), 1.36 (95% CI: 0.94–1.97), and 1.39 (95% CI: 1.18–1.62), respectively. Better OS for RP-based treatment and better bRFS for EBRT-based treatment have been identified, and there was no significant difference in CSS between the two treatments. RP-based treatment is recommended for high-risk PCa patients who value long-term survival, and EBRT-based treatment might be a promising alternative for elderly patients.

The dynamic interaction between the ground fissure and an oblique two-section horseshoe-shaped subway tunnel under the subway dynamic load was investigated based on a series of model tests in this study. The results indicated that the subway subway-induced vibration attenuated in different degrees when propagating in the directions in the soil layer, while the ground fissure had an attenuation effect on subway vibration. Furthermore, the vibration of the soil layer below the tunnel near the ground fissure was stronger than that of the upper soil layer, and the vibration response at the tunnel bottom was stronger than that of the arch waist and the tunnel crown. The additional contact pressure between the tunnel bottom and the soil was relatively large when the ground fissure was not active, while the additional strain at the top and bottom of the tunnel caused by the excitation was small. Moreover, when the hanging wall of the ground fissure descended, the additional contact pressure at the tunnel crown in the hanging wall and the tunnel bottom in the footwall significantly increased, and a negative additional stain was identified at those two positions. Meanwhile, a positive additional stain was identified at the tunnel crown in the footwall and the tunnel crown in the hanging wall, increasing with the descent of the hanging wall.

BackgroundBladder cancer is the 10th most common cancer and most common urothelial malignancy worldwide. Prognostic biomarkers for bladder cancer patients are required for individualized treatment. Monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4), encoded by SLC16A3 gene, is a potential biomarker for bladder cancer because of its crucial role in the lactate efflux in the aerobic glycolysis process. We aimed to study the association between MCT4 expression and the overall survival (OS) of bladder cancer patients.MethodsThe published single-cell RNA sequencing data of 49,869 bladder cancer cells and 15,827 normal bladder mucosa cells and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) bladder cancer cohort data were used to explore the mRNA expression of SLC16A3 in bladder cancer. Eighty-nine consecutive bladder cancer patients who had undergone radical cystectomy were enrolled as a validation cohort. The expression of MCT4 proteins in bladder cancer specimens was detected using immunohistochemistry staining. The Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox regression were performed to analyze the association between MCT4 protein expression and OS in bladder cancer patients.ResultsSLC16A3 mRNA was upregulated in bladder cancer cells. The upregulated genes in SLC16A3-positive epithelial cells were enriched in the glycolysis process pathway and monocarboxylic acid metabolic process pathway. Patients with high SLC16A3 mRNA expression showed significantly poor OS (p = 0.016). High MCT4 protein expression was also found to be an independent predictor for poor OS in bladder cancer patients (HR: 2.462; 95% CI: 1.202~5.042, p = 0.014). A nomogram was built based on the results of the multivariate Cox analysis.ConclusionBladder cancer with high SLC16A3 mRNA expression has a poor OS. High MCT4 protein expression is an independent prognostic factor for bladder cancer patients who had undergone radical cystectomy.

The platinum-based, two-drug, 3-week regimen is currently the main first-line chemotherapy program for the treatment of advanced squamous cell lung cancer. The aim of this phase II clinical study was to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of the bi-weekly program of liposomal paclitaxel combined with nedaplatin as a first-line treatment for advanced squamous cell lung cancer. A total of 52 cases of advanced squamous cell lung cancer were included in this phase II clinical trial. Patients received intravenous infusion of liposomal paclitaxel (100 mg/m2) and nedaplatin (50 mg/m2) on days 1 and 15 of a 4-week cycle. Each patient received two to six cycles of chemotherapy, consistent with the regimen of combined liposomal paclitaxel and nedaplatin. The total effective rate of this chemotherapy program was 37.5%. The median progression-free survival time was 8.5 months (95% confidence interval: 7.8–9.2). The median survival time was 16 months (95% confidence interval: 14.1–17.9). The main adverse event was myelosuppression. Grade 3 leukopenia was noted in seven patients (13.5%), and no grade 4 leukopenia was observed. Grade 3 anemia was noted in four patients (7.7%), and no grade 4 anemia was observed. In addition, no grade 2 or higher thrombocytopenia and no grade 3 or 4 non-bone marrow toxicity was detected. The bi-weekly program of liposomal paclitaxel combined with nedaplatin is effective for the treatment of advanced squamous cell lung cancer, with high safety and few adverse events. However, additional studies are warranted to confirm these results. The trial was registered under the number ChiCTR-OIN-17011423.

Background According to the current clinical guidelines, chemoradiotherapy is considered the standard treatment for locally advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We analyzed the prognostic effect of adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in resected patients using the new eighth tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging systems based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database. Methods We identified 3008 patients with stage IIIA NSCLC (T4N0M0) who underwent sublobar resection, lobectomy, or pneumonectomy. Covariates affecting treatment selection or survival were included as part of propensity score models for matching and weighting. The effect of ACT on survival was assessed, stratified by postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) use, tumor size, and age. Results Analyses of 2016 patients were conducted with standardized differences in covariates < 10% after matching. ACT was associated with significantly improved five‐year overall survival (51.1% vs. 39.7%; P = 0.0260) in patients aged 21–65 with > 7 cm tumors, even after adjusting for the presence or absence of the superior sulcus (P = 0.0003). No significant outcomes were observed using other stratifications in the matched analysis. Moreover, ACT with PORT conferred a potential survival benefit in 21–65‐year‐old patients with 0–7 cm tumors (for all causes of death: hazard ratio 0.414, 95% confidence interval 0.251–0.684). Conclusion In this population‐based cohort, ACT prolonged the survival of patients aged 21–65 with a tumor > 7 cm, with or without PORT. Inverse probability of treatment weighting can estimate the treatment effect and is suitable for use with survival data.

Real-world images usually contain multiple objects, as a result, generating an image from a multi-instance sketch is an attractive research topic. However, existing generative networks usually produce a similar texture on different instances for those methods focus on learning the distribution of the whole image. To address this problem, we propose a progressive instance texture reserved generative approach to generate more convincible images by decoupling the generation of the instances and the whole image. Specifically, we create an instance generator to synthesize the primitive color distribution and the detailed texture for each instance. Then, an image generator is designed to combine all of these instances to synthesize an image retaining texture and color. Besides, to generate more significant details, such as eyes, ears, and so on, we propose a novel technique called discriminative sketch augmentation, which can provide structural constraint by obtaining the sketch of the discriminative region. The extensive experiments demonstrate that our model not only generates convincing images but also achieves higher inception score and lower Fréchet Inception Distance on the MS-COCO dataset.

In this paper, a dual-independent-output inverter, which consists of four power switches, one inductor, and one capacitor, is proposed for segmented-track dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) system. It can generate two independently controllable outputs and operate in four output states, to drive two primary tracks independently. Moreover, the voltage gain ranges of both outputs of the proposed inverter are wider than that of a voltage-fed full-bridge inverter (VFFBI). These features enable the inverter to replace conventional VFFBI with less number of power switches and higher redundancy than the existing multi-output inverters to realize on-demand driving of the same number of primary tracks so as to simplify the design and control of the system. First, the topology and operating principle of the proposed inverter are introduced, and two output voltages are analyzed. Second, load voltage in different output states are analyzed, based on which the steady-state modulation strategy, output state switching strategy, and parameters of the proposed inverter are designed. Further, the soft switching state of the proposed inverter is also analyzed. Finally, a Matlab/Simulink simulation and an experimental setup are implemented to verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis and the feasibility and superiority of the proposed inverter.

Secret image sharing has been attracting considerable research attention in recent years as images become ubiquitous on the Internet and mobile applications. In traditional $(t, n)$ threshold secret image sharing schemes, the sender embeds the secret image into several shadow images and sends them to all participants. However, the shadow images are vulnerable during the transmission process on the Internet. In order to ensure the security of the shadow images which contain secret information, a new secret sharing scheme is proposed based on Faster region convolutional neural networks (Faster R-CNNs). This scheme uses a query image which does not have any secret information but looks similar to the original shadow image. Each participant retrieves the corresponding shadow image to search the query image in a big image database. As a result shadow images are searched by using Faster R-CNNs and stored in a database which is protected from being attacked, rather than transmitted over the network directly in the proposed scheme. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can automatically retrieve the accurate shadow images by Faster R-CNNs and recover the secret image correctly.

Background/Aims: Although increased expression and gain function of transient receptor potential cation channel 6 (TRPC6) has been associated with the pathogenesis of some proteinuric glomerular diseases, it remains elusive how TRPC6 participates in the process of podocyte damage. Methods: The potential signaling responsible for TRPC6 activation was investigated using immunoblot assays in an in vitro podocyte injury model induced by Adriamycin (ADR). Podocyte apoptosis was measured using FITC-conjugated Annexin V and Propidium Iodide staining. The channel activity of TRPC6 was assessed using the Ca2+ influx assay. Results: Increase of TRPC6 expression was detected in ADR-treated podocytes, and TRPC6 knockdown significantly decreased ADR-induced podocytes apoptosis. Following ADR treatment, phospho-mTORSer2481 and phospho-AktSer473 was significantly increased in a time-dependent manner, whereas phospho-mTORSer2448 and phospho-p70S6KThr389 showed no change. ADR-induced apoptosis was prevented by ku0063794 (a dual mTOR complexes inhibitor), not by rapamycin (a specific mTORC1 inhibitor). Furthermore, nuclear translocation of NFκB/p65 was detected in ADR-treated podocytes, which was prevented by an Akt inhibitor triciribine. Of note, NFκB inhibitor PDTC prevented ADR-induced increase of TRPC6, and decreased ADR-induced apoptosis. We found that Akt activation and NFκB nuclear translocation was significantly inhibited by knockdown of mTORC2 protein Rictor, not by mTORC1 protein Raptor. In comparison with control, the Ca2+ influx was significantly increased in ADR-treated podocytes, which was remarkably prevented by TRPC6 knockdown. ADR-induced increase of TRPC6 channel activity was dramatically prevented by ku0063794, but not by rapamycin. Additionally, knockdown of Rictor, not Raptor, prevented ADR-induced increase of the Ca2+ influx. Moreover, the application of NFκB inhibitor PDTC also prevented the Ca2+ influx in ADR-treated podocytes. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that the mTORC2/Akt/NFκB pathway-mediated activation of TRPC6 participates in ADR-induced podocyte apoptosis.

Background:β-adrenoceptors play a crucial regulatory role in blood vessel endothelial cells. Isoprenaline (ISO, a β-adrenergic agonist) has been reported to promote angiogenesis through upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression; however, the underlying mechanism remains to be investigated. It is widely accepted that certain noncoding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), can regulate endothelial cell behavior, including their involvement in angiogenesis. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether noncoding RNAs participate in ISO-mediated angiogenesis using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods: We evaluated VEGF-A messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels in ISO-treated HUVECs by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. To establish whether noncoding RNAs are associated with ISO-mediated angiogenesis, we measured expression of the miRNAs miR-210, miR-21, and miR-1, as well as that of the lncRNAs growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5), maternally expressed 3 (MEG3), and metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in HUVECs exposed to ISO. Furthermore, to ascertain its importance in ISO-mediated angiogenesis, we constructed the HUVECs with overexpressing miR-210 and detected the subsequent expression of VEGF-A and noncoding RNAs. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 16.0 software. Intergroup comparisons were carried out by one-way analysis of variance. Results: VEGF-A mRNA levels were elevated in the ISO group (1.57 ± 0.09) compared to those in the control group (P < 0.01). Moreover, concentrations of VEGF-A in culture supernatants significantly differed between the control (113.00 ± 19.21 pg/ml) and ISO groups (287.00 ± 20.27 pg/ml; P< 0.01). Expression of miR-1, miR-21, and miR-210 was higher (3.89 ± 0.44, 2.87 ± 087, and 3.33 ± 1.31, respectively) in ISO-treated cells than that in controls (P < 0.01), whereas that of GAS5 and MEG3 (0.22 ± 0.10 and 0.58 ± 0.16, respectively) was lower as a result of ISO administration (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression of MALAT1 between the groups. Interestingly, miR-210 overexpression heightened the levels of VEGF-A and miR-21 (5.87 ± 1.24 and 2.74 ± 1.15, respectively; P< 0.01) and reduced those of GAS5 and MEG3 (0.19 ± 0.01 and 0.09 ± 0.05, respectively; P< 0.01). Conclusions: ISO-mediated angiogenesis was associated with altered expression of miR-210, miR-21, and the lncRNAs GAS5 and MEG3. The effects of miR-210 on the expression of VEGF-A and noncoding RNAs were similar to those of ISO, indicating that it might play an important role in ISO-mediated angiogenesis.

Background: In this multi-institutional prospective study, we aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of nedaplatin plus S-1 (NS) chemotherapy for patients with recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) when platinum-containing regimens failed. Methods: A total of 52 recurrent and metastatic NPC patients who previously received, but failed with platinum-containing chemotherapy, had oral S-1 chemotherapy (twice daily from the first day to the fourteenth day) and nedaplatin (80 mg/ m 2 , day 1) every 3 weeks. The body surface area (BSA) decided the dose of S-1: 40 mg twice a day when BSA < 1.25 m 2 ; 50 mg twice daily when 1.25 m 2 ⩽ BSA < 1.5 m 2 ; and 60 mg twice daily when BSA ⩾ 1.5 m 2 . Results: Treatment was well tolerated. The main hematological adverse event was neutropenia. Five patients (9.6%) had grade 3 neutropenia. Three patients were found with grade 3 anemia (5.8%). One patient was found with grade 3 thrombocytopenia (1.9%). No patient was found with grade 3 or 4 nonhematological toxicity. The rates of complete response, partial response and overall response were 3.8%, 38.5% and 42.3%, respectively. Median time to progression was 6.2 months and median survival was 14.6 months. The rates of 1-year survival and 2-year survival were 63% and 27%, respectively. Conclusions: NS chemotherapy provides a satisfactory and safe clinical activity for patients with recurrent and metastatic NPC after platinum-containing chemotherapy failed.

Chlorination is the most popular method for disinfecting swimming pool water; however, although pathogens are being killed, many toxic compounds, called disinfection by-products (DBPs), are formed. Numerous epidemiological publications have associated the chlorination of pools with dysfunctions of the respiratory system and with some other diseases. However, the findings concerning these associations are not always consistent and have not been confirmed by toxicological studies. Therefore, the health effects from swimming in chlorinated pools and the corresponding stress reactions in organisms are unclear. In this study, we show that although the growth and behaviors of experimental rats were not affected, their health, training effects and metabolic profiles were significantly affected by a 12-week swimming training program in chlorinated water identical to that of public pools. Interestingly, the eyes and skin are the organs that are more directly affected than the lungs by the irritants in chlorinated water; instead of chlorination, training intensity, training frequency and choking on water may be the primary factors for lung damage induced by swimming. Among the five major organs (the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys), the liver is the most likely target of DBPs. Through metabolomics analysis, the corresponding metabolic stress pathways and a defensive system focusing on taurine were presented, based on which the corresponding countermeasures can be developed for swimming athletes and for others who spend a lot of time in chlorinated swimming pools.

The title compound, [Cu(C22H22N2O8)], is a tetradentate Schiff base complex. The CuII ion has a nearly square-planar geometry, being coordinated by two N atoms and two O atoms. The two chemically equivalent halves of the molecule are crystallographically independent. One of the carboxylic acid methyl ester units is located in the main plane of the molecule and the other is rotated by 65.3 (5)° with respect to this unit. In the crystal structure, there are π–π stacking interactions between adjacent six-membered chelate rings, with centroid-to-centroid distances of 3.602 (2) Å.

Traditional sandstorm detection methods use radiation differences among dust, underlying surface, and cloud to distinguish them by setting appropriate thresholds. Owing to the complex structure of the underlying surface, dust, and cloud, it is difficult to set a uniform threshold to achieve high-precision separation. Deep learning (DL) has powerful information mining capabilities and can fully use spectral differences between dust, land surface, and clouds. However, under the limited band information provided by satellite sensors, DL cannot easily distinguish highly heterogeneous land surfaces from multi-modal dust and cloud. This study proposes a sandstorm detection algorithm with DL supported by a land surface reflectance (LSR) dataset. The clear sky LSR dataset was obtained based on the MOD09A1 product. Based on the dataset, the difference between the reflectance observed by the satellite and the corresponding LSR is generated, which is used as a characteristic parameter of sandstorm detection with the deep learning method. The sandstorm detection of MODIS data is realized using multi-band radiation and radiation difference with DL. Results showed that the sandstorm detection algorithm used in this study was consistent with the OMI AI product with a detection accuracy of 84.6%. Compared with the detection results without the LSR dataset, this method effectively improves the accuracy of sandstorm identification.

Heat and mass transports through a rough surface are among the most fundamental and important phenomena in either natural or engineering problems. In this paper, theoretical modelling and direct simulation Monte Carlo method are employed to study the heterogeneous reaction-diffusion features induced by microscale roughness which is comparable to the molecular mean free path of the ambient gas. A quasi-one-dimensional homogeneous model is proposed, and it consists of an external diffusion region outside the roughness elements and an internal reaction-diffusion region which could be equivalent to a smooth surface with an effective chemical property. The external macroscopic diffusion can be characterized by a non-equilibrium criterion - the Damköhler number. The internal diffusion in micro-cavities must be analysed by considering the rarefied gas effects on the diffusivity, and another non-equilibrium criterion, the Thiele number, is introduced to evaluate the effective boundary condition imposed on the external region. Analytical formulae based on these criteria are derived to predict the equivalent surface reaction-diffusion performance, and the predictions compare well with the numerical results of different types of surface reaction, even on the three-dimensional roughness. This reveals that the roughness could either enhance or weaken the apparent reaction rate depending on the non-equilibrium degree. This study could enrich our understanding of the gas-surface interactions on a rough wall, such as the oxidation, catalysis and energy accommodation, and also preliminarily provides a practical method for evaluation of the aerothermochemical performance of coating materials of hypersonic vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many plants have been widely used in monitoring and assessing heavy metal pollution in soil, air and water. However, few studies have considered the unique value of bryophyte communities in monitoring manganese ore pollution and the diversity characteristics of bryophytes in different natural succession stages. Tongluojing Manganese Mine in Guizhou Province, China, was chosen for identifying bryophytes and statistical analyses. In total 61 species of mosses in 21 genera of 7 families were identified, including 8 dominant species, primarily representing the turf life-form. Following the successive stages from bare rock to woodland, single-species moss communities decreased while multi-species communities increased, with increment of the α diversity index. However, the β diversity index showed the opposite trend. The moss similarity index was the highest (0.43) and Cody index lowest (7.5) on bare rock, while the indices were the lowest (0.17) and the highest (18), respectively, in woodland. The Nemerow pollution index decreased gradually with the successive stages, with the bare rock area being the most polluted. The soil was polluted by Pb, Cr, Zn, Cd and Mn to varying degrees, among which Mn was the biggest pollutant with a concentration 129 times higher than the background value of the soil in Guizhou Province. There was a positive correlation between the contents of Cd, Cr, Zn and Mn in Weissia planifolia Dix and those in the substrate, suggesting that W. planifolia can be used as an indicator plant. This study highlighted multiple effects of mosses on heavy metal absorption, which could be used as pioneer plants for vegetation restoration in the manganese ore waste rock accumulation area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vibrational excitation and chemical reaction of diatomic molecules are two typical real gas effects that can significantly influence the flow and aeroheating characteristics of hypersonic vehicles, and the qualitative similarity between them has been observed long before. In this paper, based on the theoretical modeling method, a specific analogy of their effects on nonequilibrium stagnation flow is proposed. Therefore, the physical models and mathematical techniques employed in our previous studies on the chemical nonequilibrium flows can be extended to study the vibrational nonequilibrium effects that are dominant in the relatively lower-temperature flows. This analogy study introduces several nonequilibrium flow criteria and a formula that can be used to assess the vibrational nonequilibrium effects on stagnation point heat transfer to wall surfaces with an incomplete accommodation of the vibrational energy. The direct simulation Monte Carlo method is employed to validate the analytical results. This study could enrich the understanding of the nonequilibrium flow physics and similarity of the real gas flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the generalized hypersonic equivalence principle for viscous flows is proposed in this paper. The traditional hypersonic equivalence principle applies only to the inviscid flows and pressure prediction. The present generalized principle indicates that the skin friction and the heat flux resulting from a steady viscous flow over a slender body could also be approximately analogous to the counterparts in an equivalent unsteady flow in one less space dimension. The key point is that the hypersonic velocity component perpendicular to the reduced unsteady flow plane should be retained and its evolution with time be properly treated to produce strong shear and dissipation effects. The generalized principle is specifically implemented by using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method to study the fundamental boundary-layer flow models and a practical complex viscous-interaction flow over a typical vehicle model. The results of the pressure, skin friction, and heat flux from the steady flows and the corresponding reduced unsteady flows are compared and analyzed. This study points out an inherent similarity between the hypersonic steady flow and the dimension-reduced unsteady flow, and also shows a potential application value in the engineering practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most capacitive power transfer applications, a reliable signal transfer link between the primary side and the secondary side plays an essential role. The parameters design of the system has a key effect on the operating performance, however, the existing parameter design method can only get an acceptable solution, instead of a globally optimal solution. This study has proposed a general and global optimal parameter design method based on the constraint multi-objective algorithm. The mathematical models of the power and signal channels as long as the power noise is established and all the objective functions are given according to the models. Besides, the constraints considering the reasonable region of the parameter values and the limitation of the voltage and current on the elements are given. Then the multi-objective optimisation problem with the objective functions and constraints are solved by the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II, and the proper global optimal parameters are selected from the Pareto set. Finally, a simulation model and an experimental setup with 180 W power and 200 kbps signal transfer capability are constructed, and the results verified the effectiveness and correctness of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aeroheating performance of hypersonic vehicles is usually significantly influenced by the chemical reaction processes. For the new-generation hypersonic cruise vehicles, the boundary-layer flow is shown to be in chemical nonequilibrium due to rarefied gas effects. As a result, there will be a competition between the homogeneous recombination of atoms in the near-wall flowfield and the heterogeneous recombination on the catalytic wall surface, which, leading to a coupling of the heat diffusion and conduction, is beyond the application scope of the classical theories developed originally for the traditional blunt reentry vehicles. In this paper, the theoretical modeling and the direct simulation Monte Carlo method are employed to study the corresponding rarefied nonequilibrium flow and heat transfer phenomena near the sharp leading edges. A generalized model is proposed to evaluate the deviation of the actual aeroheating performance from the classical description. Based on this model, an integrated nonequilibrium criterion and a simple but effective bridging function are introduced to predict the stagnation-point heat transfer under the competitive effects between the homogeneous and heterogeneous recombination of atoms. The analytical formula is validated by the numerical results under various flow conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed and nedaplatin followed by pemetrexed maintenance therapy in advanced lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: A total of 53 advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients hospitalized between July 2013 and June 2016 with a performance status =2 were enrolled in this study. All patients received 4-6 cycles of combination chemotherapy comprising pemetrexed (500 mg/m2 dL) and nedaplatin (80 mg/m2 dL). Each chemotherapy cycle consisted of 21 days. After the efficacy of the combination chemotherapy was assessed, patients with stable disease, partial remission, or complete remission received pemetrexed maintenance therapy (500 mg/m2 dL) until disease progression or intolerable side effects occurred. Each pemetrexed maintenance therapy cycle was 28 days. Results: After completion of the pemetrexed and nedaplatin combination chemotherapy, 26 (49.1%), 15 (28.3%), and 12 (22.6%) patients exhibited partial remission, stable disease, and progressive disease, respectively. Complete remission was not achieved in any patient. Therefore, the response and disease control percentages were 49.1% and 77.4%, respectively. A total of 38 patients were further administered pemetrexed maintenance chemotherapy for an average of 9.8 cycles. The median progression-free survival and overall survival of the 38 patients receiving the pemetrexed maintenance therapy were 9.3 (95% confidence interval: 8.6-10) months and 16.3 (95% confidence interval: 14.5-18.2) months, respectively. The major adverse effects included bone marrow suppression and gastrointestinal reactions, which were well tolerated. Conclusions: Combination chemotherapy based on pemetrexed and nedaplatin is effective for the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma with a high tolerance by patients. In addition, pemetrexed maintenance therapy of advanced lung adenocarcinoma is safe and effective for the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma following pemetrexed and nedaplatin combination chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new mesons X(3940) and X(4160) have been found by Belle Collaboration in the processes e+e-→J/ψD(∗)D¯(∗)e+e-→J/ψD(∗)D¯(∗). Considering X(3940) and X(4160) as ηc(3S)ηc(3S) and ηc(4S)ηc(4S) states, the two-body open charm OZI-allowed strong decay of ηc(3S)ηc(3S) and ηc(4S)ηc(4S) are studied by the improved Bethe-Salpeter method combined with the 3P03P0 model. The strong decay width of ηc(3S)ηc(3S) is Γηc(3S)=(33.5+18.4-15.3)Γηc(3S)=(33.5-15.3+18.4) MeV, which is close to the result of X(3940); therefore, ηc(3S)ηc(3S) is a good candidate of X(3940). The strong decay width of ηc(4S)ηc(4S) is Γηc(4S)=(69.9+22.4-21.1)Γηc(4S)=(69.9-21.1+22.4) MeV, considering the errors of the results, it is close to the lower limit of X(4160). But the ratio of the decay width Γ(DD¯*)Γ(D*D¯*)Γ(DD*)Γ(D*D¯*) of ηc(4S)ηc(4S) is larger than the experimental data of X(4160). According to the above analysis, ηc(4S)ηc(4S) is not the candidate of X(4160), and more investigations of X(4160) is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the OZI-allowed twobody strong decays of 3-heavy-light mesons. Experimentally the charmed D*3 (2760) and the charm-strange D*s3(2860) states with these quantum numbers have been discovered. For the bottomed B(5970) state, which was found by the CDF Collaboration recently, its quantum number has not been decided yet and we assume it is a 3-meson in this paper. The theoretical prediction for the strong decays of bottom-strange state B*s3 is also given. The relativistic wave functions of 3-heavy mesons are constructed and their numerical values are obtained by solving the corresponding Bethe-Salpeter equation with instantaneous approximation. The transition matrix is calculated by using the PCAC and low energy theorem, following which the decay widths are obtained. For D*3 (2760) and D*s3(2860), the total strong decay widths are 72.6 and 47.6 MeV, respectively. For B* 3 with M = 5978 MeV and B*s3 with M = 6178 MeV, their strong decay widths are 22.9 and 40.8 MeV, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the OZI-allowed twobody strong decays of 3-heavy-light mesons. Experimentally the charmed D*3 (2760) and the charm-strange D*s3(2860) states with these quantum numbers have been discovered. For the bottomed B(5970) state, which was found by the CDF Collaboration recently, its quantum number has not been decided yet and we assume it is a 3-meson in this paper. The theoretical prediction for the strong decays of bottom-strange state B*s3 is also given. The relativistic wave functions of 3-heavy mesons are constructed and their numerical values are obtained by solving the corresponding Bethe-Salpeter equation with instantaneous approximation. The transition matrix is calculated by using the PCAC and low energy theorem, following which the decay widths are obtained. For D*3 (2760) and D*s3(2860), the total strong decay widths are 72.6 and 47.6 MeV, respectively. For B* 3 with M = 5978 MeV and B*s3 with M = 6178 MeV, their strong decay widths are 22.9 and 40.8 MeV, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital watermarking techniques are widely applied to protect the integrity and copyright of digital content. In a majority of the literature for watermarking techniques, the watermarked image often causes some distortions after embedding a watermark. For image-quality-concerned users, the distortions froma watermarked image are unacceptable. In this article, we propose a removable watermarking scheme that can restore an original-like image and resist signal-processing attacks to protect the ownership of an image by utilizing the property of singular value decomposition (SVD). The experimental results reveal that the proposed scheme meets the requirements of watermarking robustness, and also reestablishes an image like the original with average PSNR values of 59.07 dB for reconstructed images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has a high relapse and metastatic rates; hence, development of new therapeutics is an immediate requirement. Lapatinib and everolimus have been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of several carcinomas. This preclinical study aimed to investigate the effect and mechanism of lapatinib combined with everolimus on NPC cells. Methods: The Cell Counting Kit 8 and colony formation assay were used to detect the effect of lapatinib alone or lapatinib combined with everolimus on the growth and proliferation of cells. Apoptosis was tested by flow cytometry and was further confirmed by western blot. The targets of lapatinib and the effects of lapatinib or everolimus on the eukaryotic elongation factor-2 (eEF-2) kinase pathway were analyzed by western blot, which also evaluated autophagy activity. Results: Lapatinib inhibited the cellular viability and colony formation in NPC cells. At 24-72 h, the average half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of lapatinib were ranging from 3 to 5 µM. This study further found that lapatinib induced both apoptosis and autophagy in NPC cells, and this autophagic activity was described as type II programmed cell death via an eEF-2 kinase-dependent pathway. In addition, augmentation of lapatinib-induced autophagy by mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor everolimus enhanced the cytocidal effect of lapatinib in NPC cells via the mTOR/S6 kinase/eEF-2 kinase pathway. Conclusion: This study reveals that everolimus can sensitize NPC cells to lapatinib by the activation of eEF-2 kinase and provides a potential model of combination therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel progressive secret image-hiding scheme based on the inpainting technique, the vector quantization technique (VQ) and the exploiting modification direction (EMD) technique. The proposed scheme first divides the secret image into non-overlapping blocks and categorizes the blocks into two groups: complex and smooth. The blocks in the complex group are compressed by VQ with PCA sorted codebook to obtain the VQ index table. Instead of embedding the original secret image, the proposed method progressively embeds the VQ index table into the cover images by using the EMD technique. After the receiver recovers the complex parts of the secret image by decoding the VQ index table from the shadow images, the smooth parts can be reconstructed by using the inpainting technique based on the content of the complex parts. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme not only has the advantage of progressive data hiding, which involves more shadow images joining to recover the secret image so as to produce a higher quality steganography image, but also can achieve high hiding capacity with acceptable recovered image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the investigation on the general Reynolds analogy or the relation between heat transfer and skin friction in hypersonic flows of blunt-nosed bodies. Topics mentioned include the use of the direct-simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and theoretical modeling methods, the find of the proportional ratio of heat transfer and skin friction, and the derive for circular cylinders to demonstrate the ratio expression.

In recent years, asparaginase-based chemotherapy regimens have produced excellent short-term efficacy in patients with extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL). However, few long-term outcomes have been reported to date. A phase II clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of a combination of gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and asparaginase (GELOX), followed by radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of localized ENKTL, was reported by this group in 2012. By the time of the present analysis, detailed information had been collected for all 27 patients in the phase II trial, over an extended follow-up period. The median follow-up time was 63.15 months. The 5-year overall survival and progression-free survival were 85.0 and 74.0%, respectively. Recurrence within the RT field was observed in three patients, and the planning target-volume control rate at 5 years was 88.9%. One patient with confirmed lung invasion who did not respond to autologus stem cell transplantation (ASCT) was successfully treated by salvage therapy with lenalidomide monotherapy, and the EBV DNA load in this individual reflected disease progression and treatment response. No clinically significant late toxicities were identified during follow-up visits. In conclusion, this updated analysis confirmed the long-term benefit of the GELOX regimen followed by RT, and demonstrated a good safety profile for this treatment. This strategy may be one of the most suitable options for the treatment of early stage ENKTL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two organic dyes XS51 and XS52 derivated from triarylamine and indoline are synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) employing cobalt and iodine redox shuttles. The effects of dye structure upon the photophysical, electro-chemical characteristics and cell performance are investigated. XS51 with four hexyloxyl groups on triarylamine performs better steric hindrance and an improvement of photovoltage. XS52 provides higher short-circuit photocurrent density due to the strong electron-donating capability of indoline unit. The results from the redox electrolyte on cell performances indicate that the synthesized dyes are more suitable for tris(1,10-phenanthroline)cobalt(II/III) redox couple than I-/I3-redox couple in assembling DSCs. Application of XS52 in the cobalt electrolyte yields a DSC with an overall power conversion efficiency of 6.58% under AM 1.5 (100 mW/cm2) irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a theoretical modeling study of the nonlinear transport of momentum and energy in a hypersonic rarefied flow past a sharp leading-edge flat plate at zero angle of attack. A characteristic parameter Vrx is introduced to describe the non-Newtonian shear and non-Fourier heat transfer features in the near-continuum flow regime via approximate analyses on the corresponding terms from the Burnett equation. Modified formulas based on Vrx are proposed to quantitatively predict the skin friction and heat flux along the plate, and the Reynolds analogy is proved to still be valid in the near-continuum flow regime. The physical meaning of Vrx and the flow mechanism are discussed. The direct simulation Monte Carlo method is also employed to validate the analytical results and to show the existence of a general analogy between the skin friction and heat flux in the whole flow regime from the continuum through the transition to the free molecular flow limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional vector quantization (VQ) schemes encode image blocks as VQ indices, in which there is significant similarity between the image block and the codeword of the VQ index. Thus, the method can compress an image and maintain good image quality. This paper proposes a novel lossless VQ indices compression algorithm to further compress the VQ index table. Our scheme exploits the high correlation of adjacent image blocks to search for the same VQ index with the current encoding index from the neighboring indices. To increase compression efficiency, codewords in the codebook are sorted according to the degree of similarity of adjacent VQ indices to generate a state codebook to find the same index with the current encoding index. Note that the repetition indices both on the search path and in the state codebooks are excluded to increase the possibility for matching the current encoding index. Experimental results illustrated the superiority of our scheme over other compression schemes in the index domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 (MACC1) is a newly identified gene that has been shown to promote tumor cell invasion and metastasis. The present study investigated the effect of MACC1 downregulation on the biological characteristics of the ovarian cancer OVCAR3 cell line. In this study, MACC1 expression was blocked using the RNA interference technique. The downregulation of MACC1 mRNA and protein expression was confirmed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. The proliferative activity and adhesion rate of the cells were detected using cell counting kit-8 and a cell adhesion assay, while cell invasion was determined using a Matrigel invasion assay and migration capacity was observed using migration and wound-healing assays. A tube formation assay was also used to examine the angiogenic capacity of cells, and a luciferase assay was performed to assess whether MACC1 binds to the c-MET gene. The MACC1 mRNA and protein expression levels were significantly downregulated using sequence-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA). The inhibition of MACC1 expression markedly decreased the invasive, metastatic and angiogenic capacities of the cells, but only slightly inhibited growth and adhesion. In addition, a putative MACC1-binding site was identified in the 3'-untranslated region of c-MET. MACC1-siRNA was also found to significantly reduce the expression of the c-MET protein and a luciferase reporter assay confirmed that c-MET was the target gene of MACC1. These results demonstrated that the attenuation of MACC1 suppresses cell invasion and migration and that MACC1 may regulate cell metastasis through targeting the expression of c.MET. Inhibition of the function of MACC1 may represent a new strategy for treating ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on energy injection and free resonant mode, an approach to optimize the startup frequency setting of the voltage-fed inductive power transfer (IPT) system is proposed to mitigate the effects of uncertain system parameters and load conditions. Differential equations of the primary resonant network on the free resonant mode is firstly established, then the free resonant frequency with different parameters and load conditions is calculated and verified with the soft-switching frequency of system based on stroboscopic mapping modeling method and fixed points theory. By controlling the micro-energy injection of system and free resonance, the frequency of free resonant mode is detected, and is regarded as the fixed frequency of startup process. Hence, the proposed strategy solves the uncertainty of the startup frequency and system re-setting to fit with changed system parameters and load conditions. This method also initiates immediate protection when the system operates under zero loads. In sum, our experimental results verify the theoretical implication, effectiveness, and merits of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to hiding information into digital image, hiding information into digital text file requires less storage space and smaller bandwidth for data transmission, and it has obvious universality and extensiveness. However, text files have low redundancy, so it is more difficult to hide information in text files. To overcome this difficulty, Wang et al. proposed a reversible information hiding scheme using left-right and up-down representations of Chinese characters, but, when the scheme is implemented, it does not provide good visual steganographic effectiveness, and the embedding and extracting processes are too complicated to be done with reasonable effort and cost. We observed that a lot of traditional and simplified Chinese characters look somewhat the same (also called lookalike), so we utilize this feature to propose a novel information hiding scheme for hiding secret data in lookalike Chinese characters. Comparing to Wang et al.'s scheme, the proposed scheme simplifies the embedding and extracting procedures significantly and improves the effectiveness of visual steganographic images. The experimental results demonstrated the advantages of our proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, there are many authentication schemes have been proposed for smart cards. However, when a smart card is stolen or the authentication token is intercepted, most of these schemes will be insecure. In 2012, Chang et al. proposed an authentication scheme for smart card to avoid the aforementioned problem. They combined the smart card and image encryption technology for authentication. However, their scheme has lower quality for the restored image. Hence, we propose two image-encryption schemes in frequency domain. In the first scheme, we scramble the positions of the DCT coefficients. In the second scheme, we scramble the positions of the DCT coefficients; meanwhile, the values of the DCT coefficients are diffused. The experimental results showed that both of our proposed schemes have higher quality of the restored images with low storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a method to construct an optical cluster-state analyzer based on cross-Kerr nonlinearity combined with linear optics elements. In the scheme, we employ two four-qubit parity gates and the controlled phase gate (CPG) from only the cross-Kerr nonlinearity and show that all the orthogonal four-qubit cluster states can be completely identified. The scheme is significant for the large-scale quantum communication and quantum information processing networks. In addition, the scheme is feasible and deterministic under current experimental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate spin decoherence of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Using the spin coherent-state P-representation method, we simulate coherence evolution of the NV center coupled to surrounding nitrogen electron (N) spins. In the system, the strength of N-N coupling is the same order as that of NV-N coupling (the strong intrabath coupling regime). We find that spin decoherence time as well as free-induction decay of the NV center depend on the spatial configuration of N spins. Both the spin decoherence rate (1/T2) and dephasing rate (1/T2*) of the NV center increase linearly with the concentration of the N spins. Using the P-representation method, we also demonstrate extracting the noise spectrum of the N spin bath. The capability to calculate the noise spectrum will provide promising pathways to suppress decoherence of spin systems in the strong intrabath coupling regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the production of first radial excited states Dq(2S) (q = u, d, s) and Bq(2S) in exclusive semi-leptonic Bq' (q' = u, d, s, c) decays by the improved Bethe-Salpeter method. These 2S states can be detected through their strong decays to ground mesons, where the strong decays are calculated by the low-energy approximation as well as the impulse approximation. Some channels have ratios of order 10-4: Br(B+ → &Dmacr;0(2S)ℓ+νℓ) × Br(&Dmacr;0(2S) → &Dmacr;*&pgr;) " (4.9 ± 4.0) × 10-4, Br(B0 → D-(2S)ℓ+νℓ) × Br(&Dmacr;0(2S) → &Dmacr;*π) " (4.4 ± 3.4) × 10-4. These channels could be measured by the current B-factories. For Ds(2S), we also obtain a relative large ratio: Br(B0s → D-s (2S)ℓ+νℓ) × Br(D-s(2S) → &Dmacr;* &Kmacr) " (9.9 ± 14.9) × 10-4. Although there are discrepancies in the full decay width between the theoretical predictions of D0(2S) and the experimental results of D(2550)0, the new detected state D(2550)0 is very likely the D0(2S) state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]