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A compact ultrawideband circularly polarized crossed-dipole antenna with post fence and parasitic elements is proposed in this letter. The proposed antenna consists of two dipoles with unequal semiellipses, four symmetrical rectangular patches, and a post fence structure. Two vacant-quarter rings are utilized to provide the 90° phase difference for feeding the cross-arranged dipoles. Wide axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is achieved by employing a metal pillar-back cavity through the introduction of five cavity modes, while also compacting the overall antenna structure. Four sequential rotating patches are positioned along the substrate edges to improve the axial ratio at higher frequencies. The proposed antenna exhibits an impedance bandwidth (IBW) from 0.87 GHz to 3.17 GHz and an ARBW from 0.98 GHz to 2.99 GHz. This indicates that the overlapped IBW and ARBW reach 101.3%. Moreover, the overall dimensions of the proposed antenna are 0.52 × 0.83 × 0.17λL3 corresponding to the lowest operating frequency, showing that it has great potential in wireless communications.

Campesterol is a kind of important functional food additive. Therefore, stable and efficient campesterol biosynthesis is significant. Herein, we first knocked out the sterol 22-desaturase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiaeand expressed sterol Δ7-reductase from Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, obtaining a strain that produced 6.6 mg/L campesterol. Then, the modular expression of campesterol synthesis enzymes was performed, and a campesterol titer of 88.3 mg/L was achieved. Because campesterol is a lipid-soluble macromolecule, we promoted lipid droplet formation by exploring regulatory factors, and campesterol production was improved to 169.20 mg/L. Next, triacylglycerol lipase was used to achieve compartment campesterol synthesis. After enhancing the expression of sterol Δ7-reductase and screening cations, the campesterol titer reached 438.28 mg/L in a shake flask and 1.44 g/L in a 5 L bioreactor, which represents the highest campesterol titer reported to date. Metabolic regulation combined with lipid droplet engineering may be useful for the synthesis of other steroids as well.

Bacillus licheniformisis an industrially significant microorganism known for its broad carbon source utilization compared to other bacteria. However, the mechanisms underlying this utilization are tightly controlled by global regulatory proteins such as CodY, and the details of these mechanisms remain elusive. This poses challenges for metabolic engineering efforts. In this study, we used the urease encoding gene as a reporter to establish a CRISPRi system based on conditional dCas9 expression in B. licheniformis. The induction with mannose resulted in an 84% transcriptional inhibition of ureA, and a 57% reduction in urease activity, confirming the system's successful construction. We designed three different sgRNA sites within the 5'-end coding region of the codYgene to achieve varying degrees of protein expression knockdown. The results showed that a 10–75% knockdown of codYled to a 23–87% decrease in the maximum specific uptake rates of glucose and maltose. Concurrently, the accumulation of carbon overflow metabolites such as 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) and acetate decreased by 38% and 26%, respectively. These findings enhance our understanding of CodY’s regulatory role in catabolism and metabolism. The CRISPRi system with conditional dCas9 expression developed here serves as an effective synthetic biology tool for metabolic pathway engineering.

8-Prenylnaringenin (8-PN) is a valuable medical phytoestrogen, which is a precursor to many prenylated flavonoids. However, the availability of 8-PN is limited by inefficient prenyltransferases (PTs) and inadequate substrate precursor levels in microbial chassis. First, six PTs from different sources and their truncated cognates were expressed in a (2S)-naringenin producing strain. Only SfN8DT-1 derived from Sophora flavescensand its truncated cognate, tSfN8DT-1, could synthesize 8-PN. Second, tSfN8DT-1 was engineered by multiple sequence alignment and a mutant tSfN8DT-1Q12Ewith greater catalytic activity was obtained. Third, key genes, tHMGRand IDI1,of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway were overexpressed using a copy number combinatorial strategy, which greatly improved 8-PN titer by 368.75%. Fourth, a predicted structure of tSfN8DT-1Q12Ewas used for molecular docking and virtual saturation mutagenesis. Two key residues, P229 and N305, were identified and saturation mutagenesis on these two sites resulted in an improved mutant N305M. The best-performing mutant, tSfN8DT-1Q12EN305M, produced 49.35 ±0.05 mg/L (5.57 ±0.01 mg/g DCW) 8-PN in a shaking flask. Finally, 101.40 ±2.55 mg/L of 8-PN was obtained in a 5-L bioreactor, which is the greatest titer reported to date for 8-PN. This study combined metabolic engineering and protein engineering methods to enhance precursor supplements and improve the catalytic ability of SfN8DT-1. The production of 8-PN in Saccharomyces cerevisiaewas greatly increased through these methods, which may provide a feasible strategy for the biosynthesis of prenylated flavonoids.

Optimization of supply and conversion efficiency of geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) is important for enhancing geranylgeraniol (GGOH) production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, first, a strain producing 26.92 ± 1.59 mg/g of dry cell weight squalene was constructed with overexpression of all genes of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway, and an engineered strain producing 597.12 mg/L GGOH at the shake flask level was obtained. Second, through additional expression of PaGGPPs-ERG20and PaGGPPs-DPP1, and downregulating expression of ERG9, the GGOH titer was increased to 1221.96 mg/L. Then, a NADH HMG-CoA reductase from Silicibacter pomeroyi(SpHMGR) was introduced to alleviate the high dependence of the strain upon NADPH, and the GGOH production was further increased to 1271.14 mg/L. Finally, the GGOH titer reached 6.33 g/L after optimizing the fed-batch fermentation method in a 5 L bioreactor, with a 24.9% improvement from the previous report. This study might accelerate the process of developing S. cerevisiaecell factories for diterpenoid and tetraterpenoid production.

This letter presents a miniaturized dual-wideband millimeter-wave (mm-wave) antenna in package with filtering function. The proposed antenna mainly consists of four radiation patches and metallized vias. By introducing a pair of shorting pins underneath each radiation patch, the proposed antenna realizes dual-band operation in different modes. The upper band operates in the magnetoelectric dipole mode, while the lower band radiates through a new magnetic dipole. Besides, a radiation null is generated in-between the two operating bands to suppress signals. Furthermore, another pair of shorting pins is loaded on both sides of the probe, which generates two radiation nulls in the upper stopband. The dimensions of antenna are only 0.28λl × 0.28λl × 0.075λl at 24 GHz. To verify the proposed approach, a prototype of 1 × 4 array is fabricated using a high density interconnection process. The measured −10 dB bandwidth of the array covers 24−30 GHz and 37−43.5 GHz with an average gain of 8 and 9.1 dBi, respectively. Besides, three radiation nulls are formed, suppressing the out-of-band gain by more than 13 dB. The proposed antenna with such superior performance demonstrates great potential for millimeter-wave applications.

A planar conical beam array antenna with low-profile, high-gain, and low-sidelobe level (SLL) is proposed in this letter. The array is composed of three concentric annular planar inverted-F antenna (APIFA) elements, each of which is excited by uniform distributed feeding points with the same excitation amplitude and phase and thus obtain an axisymmetric conical beam. Shorting pins and cambered slots are employed on the APIFA element to realize impedance matching for a given number of feeding points. Synthesis of conical beam for the array can be flexibly realized by adjusting the excitation amplitudes and phases of the elements. A prototype with a low profile of 0.11λ0 is designed, fabricated, and measured. Measured results show that the prototype achieves 11.2% (4.71–5.27 GHz) −10 dB impedance bandwidth. Within the impedance bandwidth, a stable gain of 11.3–12.7 dBi, a stable beam-pointing angle of about 15°, and a low SLL of less than −12.5 dB is obtained, indicating good conical beam performance.

Wideband high-gain low-profile endfire linearly polarized (LP)/circularly polarized (CP) antennas for 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications are presented in this letter. The basic structure of the antennas include a stripline fed horn as the feeder and multiple magnetic diploe directors (MDDs) printed on a single layer substrate. The stripline fed horn exhibits a wide bandwidth and stable endfire radiation, and magnetic dipole directors help further improvement the endfire gain. A LP antenna based on a LP feeder and vertically polarized (VP) MDDs (supporting VP resonance) working at the 5G mmWave band is first designed. Then, on this basis, CP antenna based on a CP feeder and dual-polarized MDDs (supporting two orthogonal polarized resonances) working at the same band is designed. The two proposed antennas with the low profile of 0.14λ0 are fabricated and measured, both of which show good impedance matching, high gain, and low cross polarization within the 5G mmWave band.

A cross-band tunable relativistic magnetron (RM) with all-cavity axial extraction (ACAE) is presented. In this configuration, a single tuner with six sectorial metal plates is placed between the cavity and the extraction waveguide of a relativistic magnetron with all-cavity axial extraction (ACAE-RM) in the axial direction. The resonant frequency is tuned agilely by this tuner when it moves in the axial direction. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation results showed that this tube has a tuning range between 1.76 and 2.49 GHz, corresponding to a relative bandwidth of 34.3% about a center frequency of 2.125 GHz. A wideband horn antenna had been designed to radiate high-power microwave (HPM) in the desired frequency range for experimental research. Preliminary experimental research had been carried out that validated that the presented tunable RM has a wide tuning range. HPM oscillating from 1.79 to 2.55 GHz with power from 0.7 to 1.5 GW had been detected when the tube was tuned to specific parameters.

ABSTRACTThis study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of relevant parameters of 18F-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-1007 PET/CT in predicting the pathological grade of primary prostate cancer. Briefly, a prospective analysis was performed on 53 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer by systematic puncture biopsy, followed by 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT examination prior to treatment within 10 d. The patients were grouped in accordance with the Gleason grading system revised by the International Association of Urology Pathology (ISUP). They were divided into high-grade group (ISUP 4–5 group) and low-grade group (ISUP 1–3 group). The differences in maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), tumor-to-background ratio (TBR), intraprostatic PSMA-derived tumor volume (iPSMA-TV), and intraprostatic total lesion PSMA (iTL-PSMA) between the high- and low-grade group were statistically significant (p < .001). No significant difference was found for mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) between the high- and low-grade groups (Z =  −1.131, p = .258). Besides, binary multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only iPSMA-TV and iTL-PSMA were independent predictors of the pathological grading, for which the odds ratios were 18.821 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.040–173.614, p = .010] and 0.758 (95% CI: 0.613–0.938, p = .011), respectively. The area under the ROC of this regression model was 0.983 (95% CI: 0.958–1.00, p < .001). Only iTL-PSMA was a significant parameter for distinguishing ISUP-4 and ISUP-5 groups (Z =  −2.043, p = .041). In a nutshell, 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT has good application value in predicting the histopathological grade of primary prostate cancer. Three-dimensional volume metabolism parameters iPSMA-TV and iTL-PSMA were found to be independent predictors for pathological grade.

Previous research has confirmed the involvement of the lac1gene cluster in lactose metabolism in Bacillus licheniformis, which is able to co-utilize lactose and low concentrations of glucose or certain carbon sources. However, the internal regulatory mechanisms underlying specific lactose utilization remain elusive. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive investigation to elucidate the modulation mechanism of the lac1gene cluster. We discovered a 162 bp bidirectional promoter located between the lacDCABand lacRgenes, which encodes a GntR family transcriptional regulatory factor. A 38 bp perfectly palindromic sequence (BOX1) within this promoter is critical for inducing lac1expression. LacR and CcpA were shown to bind specifically to BOX1, and their novel binding motifs were identified. In BL2ΔlacR, BL2ΔccpA, and BL2ΔlacRΔccpAmutant strains, we confirmed the differential inhibitory levels of LacR and CcpA on bidirectional promoters. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that TnrA also binds BOX1 and exerts a positive regulatory effect on the lac1cluster. Finally, we proposed a novel model to unravel the complex molecular interactions controlling the expression of the lac1gene. These insights provide a foundation for exploring rational design strategies to optimize lactose fermentation processes and improve the efficiency of industrial lactose utilization.

Background: The traditional Chinese theory of acupuncture emphasizes that the intensity of acupuncture must reach a threshold to generate de qi, which is necessary to achieve the best therapeutic effect. De qi is an internal compound sensation of soreness, tingling, fullness, aching, cool, warmth and heaviness, and a radiating sensation at and around the acupoints. However, the notion that de qi must be achieved for maximum benefit has not been confirmed by modern scientific evidence. Methods: We performed a prospective multicentre randomized controlled trial involving patients with Bell palsy. Patients were randomly assigned to the de qi (n = 167) or control (n = 171) group. Both groups received acupuncture: in the de qi group, the needles were manipulated manually until de qi was reached, whereas in the control group, the needles were inserted without any manipulation. All patients received prednisone as a basic treatment. The primary outcome was facial nerve function at month 6. We also assessed disability and quality of life 6 months after randomization. Results: After 6 months, patients in the de qi group had better facial function (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 4.16, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.23-7.78), better disability assessment (differences of least squares means 9.80, 95% CI 6.29-13.30) and better quality of life (differences of least squares means 29.86, 95% CI 22.33-37.38). Logistic regression analysis showed a positive effect of the de qi score on facial-nerve function (adjusted OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.04-1.09). Interpretation: Among patients with Bell palsy, acupuncture with strong stimulation that elicited de qi had a greater therapeutic effect, and stronger intensity of de qi was associated with the better therapeutic effects. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov no. NCT00685789., The use of acupuncture has gained increasing attention worldwide. (1,2) There is a long-held belief in the traditional theory and clinical practice of acupuncture that the intensity of the stimulus [...]

The gram-positive bacterium Bacillus licheniformisexhibits obvious selective utilization on carbon sources. This process is mainly governed by the global regulator catabolite control protein A (CcpA), which can recognize and bind to multiple target genes that are widely distributed in metabolic pathways. Although the DNA-binding domain of CcpA has been predicted, the influence of key amino acids on target gene recognition and binding has yet to be uncovered. In this study, the impact of Lys31, Ile42 and Leu56 on in vitro protein–DNA interactions and in vivo carbon source selective utilization was investigated. The results showed that alanine substitution of Lys31 and Ile42, located within the 3rd helices of the DNA-binding domain, significantly weakened the binding strength between CcpA and target genes. These mutations also lead to alleviated repression of xylose utilization in the presence of glucose. On the other hand, the Leu56Arg mutant in the 4th helices exhibited enhanced binding affinity compared with that of the wild-type one. When this mutant was used to replace the native one in B. licheniformiscells, the selective utilization of glucose over xylose increased. This study provides a new strategy for understanding the relationship between the function and structure of regulatory proteins. This study also used a new strategy was used to regulate carbon source utilization beyond CCR engineering.

This report highlights the outcome of intravenous alteplase in a patient with acute ischemic stroke subsequent to purulent meningitis. This type of meningitis has not been defined in the guideline for early treatment of acute ischemic stroke. A 58-year-old woman with purulent meningitis developed a sudden stroke and was admitted to our emergency department. She received 0.6 mg/kg of alteplase intravenously 90 minutes after stroke onset. At 1 hour after thrombolysis, the patient’s National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score improved from 9 to 4. At 2 hours, she developed a sudden severe headache that progressed to coma, and her National Institute Health Stroke Scale score rapidly deteriorated to 20. Cranial computed tomography revealed subarachnoid hemorrhage and multiple bilateral lobar brain hemorrhages. She died of a cerebellar tonsillar hernia. Intravenous alteplase might be hazardous in patients with acute ischemic stroke subsequent to purulent meningitis.

Maximizing the flux of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) to farnesene biosynthesis is the main challenge of farnesene overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, we screened α-farnesene synthase from soybean (Fsso) with a higher catalytic ability. Combining the overexpression of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway with the expression of Fsso, an engineered yeast strain producing 190.5 mg/L α-farnesene was screened with poor growth. By decreasing the copies of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme (HMGR) overexpressed, the titer was increased to 417.8 mg/L. Then, the coexpression of Fssoand HMGR under the control of the GAL promoter and inactivation of lipid phosphate phosphatase encoded by DPP1promoted the titer to 1163.7 mg/L. The titer was further increased to 1477.2 mg/L at the shake flask level with better growth by the construction of a prototrophic strain. Finally, the highest α-farnesene production of 10.4 g/L in S. cerevisiaewas obtained by fed-batch fermentation in a 5 L bioreactor.

Aims: A series of 8-methoxy ciprofloxacin- hydrazone/acylhydrazone hybrids were evaluated for their activity against a panel of cancer cell lines including HepG2 liver cancer cells, MCF-7, doxorubicin- resistant MCF-7 (MCF-7/DOX) breast cancer cells, DU-145 and multidrug-resistant DU145 (MDR DU-145) prostate cancer cells to seek for novel anticancer agents. Background: Ciprofloxacin with excellent pharmacokinetic properties as well as few side effects, is one of the most common used antibacterial agents. Notably, Ciprofloxacin could induce cancer cells apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest at the S/G2 stage. The structure-activity relationship reveals that the introduction of the methoxy group into the C-8 position of the fluoroquinolone moiety has resulted in a greater binding affinity to the binding site, and 8-methoxy ciprofloxacin derivatives have proved a variety of biological activities even against drug-resistant organisms. However, to the best of our current knowledge, there are no studies that have reported the anticancer activity of 8-methoxy ciprofloxacin derivatives so far. Furthermore, many fluoroquinolone-hydrazone/acylhydrazone hybrids possess promising anticancer activity. Thus, it is rational to screen the anticancer activity of 8-methoxy ciprofloxacin derivatives. Objective: To enrich the structure-activity relationship and provide new anticancer candidates for further investigations. Methods: The desired 8-methoxy ciprofloxacin-hydrazone/acylhydrazone hybrids 5 and 6 were screened for their in vitro anticancer activity against liver cancer cells HepG2, breast cancer cells MCF-7, MCF7/DOX, prostate cancer cells DU-145 and MDR DU-145 by MTT assay. Results: Some of 8-methoxy ciprofloxacin-hydrazone hybrids showed potential activity against HepG2, MCF-7, MCF-7/DOX, DU-145 and MDR DU-145 cancer cell lines, low cytotoxicity towards VERO cells and promising inhibitory activity on tubulin polymerization. Conclusion: Compounds 5d and 5f showed promising anticancer activity, low cytotoxicity, and potential tubulin polymerization inhibitory activity, were worthy of investigation. Other: The structure-activity relationship was enriched.

IMPORTANCE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has subsequently spread worldwide. Risk factors for the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 pneumonia have not yet been well delineated. OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or died. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study of 201 patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital in China between December 25, 2019, and January 26, 2020. The final date of follow-up was February 13, 2020. EXPOSURES: Confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The development of ARDS and death. Epidemiological, demographic, clinical, laboratory, management, treatment, and outcome data were also collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Of 201 patients, the median age was 51 years (interquartile range, 43-60 years), and 128 (63.7%) patients were men. Eighty-four patients (41.8%) developed ARDS, and of those 84 patients, 44 (52.4%) died. In those who developed ARDS, compared with those who did not, more patients presented with dyspnea (50 of 84 [59.5%] patients and 30 of 117 [25.6%] patients, respectively [difference, 33.9%; 95% CI, 19.7%-48.1%]) and had comorbidities such as hypertension (23 of 84 [27.4%] patients and 16 of 117 [13.7%] patients, respectively [difference, 13.7%; 95% CI, 1.3%-26.1%]) and diabetes (16 of 84 [19.0%] patients and 6 of 117 [5.1%] patients, respectively [difference, 13.9%; 95% CI, 3.6%-24.2%]). In bivariate Cox regression analysis, risk factors associated with the development of ARDS and progression from ARDS to death included older age (hazard ratio [HR], 3.26; 95% CI 2.08-5.11; and HR, 6.17; 95% CI, 3.26-11.67, respectively), neutrophilia (HR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.09-1.19; and HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01-1.17, respectively), and organ and coagulation dysfunction (eg, higher lactate dehydrogenase [HR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.44-1.79; and HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.11-1.52, respectively] and D-dimer [HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04; and HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04, respectively]). High fever (≥39 °C) was associated with higher likelihood of ARDS development (HR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.11-2.84) and lower likelihood of death (HR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.21-0.82). Among patients with ARDS, treatment with methylprednisolone decreased the risk of death (HR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.20-0.72). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Older age was associated with greater risk of development of ARDS and death likely owing to less rigorous immune response. Although high fever was associated with the development of ARDS, it was also associated with better outcomes among patients with ARDS. Moreover, treatment with methylprednisolone may be beneficial for patients who develop ARDS.

A vaccine to protect against COVID-19 is urgently needed. We aimed to assess the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a recombinant adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) vectored COVID-19 vaccine expressing the spike glycoprotein of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain.

Retinol is a lipid-soluble form of vitamin A that is crucial for human visual and immune functions. The production of retinol through microbial fermentation has been the focus of recent exploration. However, the obtained titer remains limited and the product is often a mixture of retinal, retinol, and retinoic acid, necessitating purification. To achieve efficient biosynthesis of retinol in Yarrowia lipolytica, we improved the metabolic flux of β-carotene to provide sufficient precursors for retinol in this study. Coupled with the optimization of the expression level of β-carotene 15,15′-dioxygenase, de novoproduction of retinol was achieved. Furthermore, Tween 80 was used as an extractant and butylated hydroxytoluene as an antioxidant to extract intracellular retinol and prevent retinol oxidation, respectively. This strategy significantly increased the level of retinol production. By optimizing the enzymes converting retinal to retinol, the proportion of extracellular retinol in the produced retinoids reached 100%, totaling 1042.3 mg/L. Finally, total retinol production reached 5.4 g/L through fed-batch fermentation in a 5 L bioreactor, comprising 4.2 g/L extracellular retinol and 1.2 g/L intracellular retinol. This achievement represents the highest reported titer so far and advances the industrial production of retinol.

Rolling element bearings are key components of mechanical equipment. The bearing fault characteristics are affected by the interaction in the vibration signals. The low harmonics of the bearing characteristic frequencies cannot be usually observed in the Fourier spectrum. The frequency loss in the bearing vibration signal is presented through two independent experiments in this paper. The existence of frequency loss phenomenon in the low frequencies, side band frequencies and resonant frequencies and revealed. It is demonstrated that the lost frequencies are actually suppressed by the internal action in the bearing fault signal rather than the external interference. The amplitude and distribution of the spectrum are changed due to the interaction of the bearing fault signal. The interaction mechanism of bearing fault signal is revealed through theoretical and practical analysis. Based on mathematical morphology, a new method is provided to recover the lost frequencies. The multi-resonant response signal of the defective bearing are decomposed into low frequency and high frequency response, and the lost frequencies are recovered by the combination morphological filter (CMF). The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated on simulated and experimental data.

AbstractObjectiveWe analyzed research themes in the field of disaster medicine in China to provide references for researchers to understand the research status and developing trends of this field.MethodsPublished journal articles were retrieved. A social network analysis was conducted to visualize the relations of high-frequency key words. A cluster analysis was used to classify key words. A strategic diagram analysis was conducted to visualize clusters across the entire research field.ResultsWe retrieved 3,079 articles, from which 1,749 articles and 8,284 key words were identified after screening. High-frequency key words were classified into 6 clusters. “Medical rescue” had the highest degree and betweenness centralities. Cluster 4 was located in Quadrant I of the strategic diagrams.Conclusions“Medical rescue” is the core key word, and it serves a pivotal “bridge” function. “Emergencies” and similar terms are key words with special statuses. “Natural disaster medical rescue” and “fundamental theories of disaster medicine” constitute the primary and secondary core themes, respectively. “On-site emergency treatment techniques” is a marginalized theme. The other themes are emerging themes that offer considerable scope for future development. Generally, the scope and depth of investigations in this field should be improved. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:405-409)

Auto-body lightweight is becoming an important trend of energy saving and emission reduction. Various materials assembled together would be used to fabricate the auto-body to satisfy this demand. However, the assembly dimensional quality is difficult to be controlled in the real processing due to the huge differences in material properties. Therefore, it is necessary to control and analyze the welding deformation of aluminum alloy and steel. In this work, the orthogonal design experiment has been adopted to analyze the welding deformation of steel–aluminum sheet parts. Subsequently, the response surface model is proposed to establish the relationship between welding deformation and welding parameters by finite element analysis, which is verified by physical experiments again. Meanwhile, the anti-deformation method is also used to decrease the assembly deformation successfully. And the case of Z-shaped planes is applied to further illustrate the proposed method of this work. Finally, the results show that both the methods have a good simulation effect and a high prediction accuracy for the assembly dimensional quality.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects ∼2%–3% of the population globally. Studying spontaneous OCD-like behaviors in non-human primates may improve our understanding of the disorder. In large rhesus monkey colonies, we found 10 monkeys spontaneously exhibiting persistent sequential motor behaviors (SMBs) in individual-specific sequences that were repetitive, time-consuming and stable over prolonged periods. Genetic analysis revealed severely damaging mutations in genes associated with OCD risk in humans. Brain imaging showed that monkeys with SMBs had larger gray matter (GM) volumes in the left caudate nucleus and lower fractional anisotropy of the corpus callosum. The GM volume of the left caudate nucleus correlated positively with the daily duration of SMBs. Notably, exposure to a stressor (human presence) significantly increased SMBs. In addition, fluoxetine, a serotonergic medication commonly used for OCD, decreased SMBs in these monkeys. These findings provide a novel foundation for developing better understanding and treatment of OCD.

An equivalent damage model was established to study the fatigue damage behavior of steel–aluminum friction stir welding (FSW) joints. Internal defects of friction stir welding joint under various cyclic loading stages were observed by X-ray microcomputed tomography (X-CT). For the characteristics of defects of the steel–aluminum FSW joints, a simplified method of defects considering key parameters is proposed, and then, the defect model is established. The FSW joint model was established based on the steel–aluminum boundary contour identified by using image processing techniques. Based on the defect model and the FSW joint model, the equivalent damage model was developed. The equivalent damage model was subjected to finite element analysis and compared with the test using strain amplitude as the damage variable. The equivalent damage model can be used to assess fatigue damage in steel–aluminum FSW joints, which provides some theoretical basis for fatigue life prediction.

Pathological examination of histopathological images remains the main method of cancer diagnosis. We proposed a novel automatic feature-based analysis scheme for classification of the histopathological images. An animal model of intestinal carcinogenesis-multiple intestinal neoplasia mouse model was used to evaluate the feasibility of the nuclear structure feature for detecting early-stage carcinogenesis and assessing cancer risk. Firstly, the cell nuclei are segmented based on collaborate cell localization and the improved morphology method. Then several types of features, including shape features, statistical features and textual features (Gabor and Markov random field features) are extracted. Feature selection methods including wrapper, filter and the maximum relevance-minimum multicollinearity are applied to obtain the optimal feature set. Experimental results show that the proposed segmentation method can automatically segment histopathological images and has effective segmentation results. The maximum relevance-minimum multicollinearity method outperformed all other methods in term of classification accuracy. The textual features can effectively improve the characterization of cell nuclei structure and feature selection methods can get better classification results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the elderly often reveals white matter changes (WMCs) with substantial variability across individuals. Our study was designed to explore MRI features and site-specific factors of ischemic WMCs. Clinical data of consecutive patients diagnosed with ischemic cerebral vascular disease who had undergone brain MRI were collected and analyzed. Multi-logistic regression analysis comparing patients with mild versus severe WMCs was performed to detect independent associations. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to detect regionally specific differences in lesions. We found that lesion distribution differed significantly across five cerebral areas, with lesions being predominant in the frontal lobe and parieto-occipital area. To explore WMCs risk factors, after adjusting for gender, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, only age (P<0.01), creatinine (P=0.01), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P=0.01) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P=0.03) were found to be independently associated with severe WMCs. Age (P<0.001) was strongly associated with WMCs in the frontal lobe while hypertension was independently related to lesions in the basal ganglia (P=0.048) or infratentorial area (P=0.016). In conclusion, MRI of WMCs showed that ischemic WMCs occurred mostly in the frontal lobe and parieto-occipital area. The infratentorial area was least affected by WMCs. Typically, age-related WMCs were observed in the frontal lobes, while hypertension-related WMCs tended to occur in the basal ganglia and infratentorial area.

Recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (RSM) affects 1%–2% of fertile women worldwide and poses a risk of future pregnancy complications. Increasing evidence has indicated that defective endometrial stromal decidualization is a potential cause of RSM. Here, we perform liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolite profiling in human endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) and differentiated ESCs (DESCs) and find that accumulated α-ketoglutarate (αKG) derived from activated glutaminolysis contributes to maternal decidualization. Contrarily, ESCs obtained from patients with RSM show glutaminolysis blockade and aberrant decidualization. We further find that enhanced Gln-Glu-αKG flux decreases histone methylation and supports ATP production during decidualization. In vivo, feeding mice a Glu-free diet leads to a reduction of αKG, impaired decidualization, and an increase of fetal loss rate. Isotopic tracing approaches demonstrate Gln-dependent oxidative metabolism as a prevalent direction during decidualization. Our results demonstrate an essential prerequisite of Gln-Glu-αKG flux to regulate maternal decidualization, suggesting αKG supplementation as a putative strategy to rectify deficient decidualization in patients with RSM.

Abstract:Peridinium umbonatumcauses harmful algal blooms in freshwater ecosystems; however, environmental conditions that promote accelerated growth and blooming of this organism have not been resolved. Increasing global temperatures has been suggested as a possible factor for shifts in phytoplankton composition to more harmful species. Therefore, this study investigated the physiological responses of this freshwater dinoflagellate to different temperatures, a factor that will strongly be affected by future climate change scenarios. Specific growth rates of P. umbonatumwere markedly lower at 10°C and 14°C than at 18°C, 25°C and 30°C, with the highest growth rate measured at 18°C. Cell mobility was significantly inhibited at 10°C and 14°C. The maximum photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) of photosystem II and maximum relative electron transport rate decreased significantly at temperatures below 14°C. However, nonphotochemical quenching significantly increased at 10°C and 14°C. Variable fluorescence at phase J increased in chlorophyll afluorescence transients for P. umbonatumgrown at 10°C and 14°C. The density of reaction centres and quantum energy flux ratios increased with increasing temperature, whereas the absorption and trapping energy flux, as well as the relative variable fluorescence intensity at the J-step, decreased with increasing temperature. These results suggest that low temperatures inhibit photosynthesis in P. umbonatum, resulting in low specific growth rates and increased cell immobility. This finding suggests that exposure to a temperature of 18°C plays an important role in the growth and cyst germination of Peridinium, implying that increasing temperature might promote dinoflagellate Peridiniumblooms.

Constructed grasslands are primary restoration measures in areas with degraded natural grasslands. Grass–legume mixtures are chosen to obtain high production and forage quality; however, the photosynthetic and other traits of such mixtures are not well understood. In this study, we evaluated the effects of grass–legume mixtures on the growth and photosynthetic capacity of three forage crops over two growing seasons. Bromus inermis and Elymus nutans were grown as monocultures or in mixtures with Medicago sativa. We analysed forage yields, quality, gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. The grass–legume mixtures improved the forage yield, root:shoot ratio, and contents of crude protein and lignin. Compared with the monoculture, grasses in the mixtures had higher net photosynthesis, water-use efficiency (WUE), and leaf nitrogen (N) content, but lower carbon:N ratio, and distributed more absorbed light to photosynthetic electron transport and thermal dissipation. In the mixture, B. inermis had a higher light-saturation point, indicating high light-use efficiency. Elymus nutans had a lower light-compensation point and dark respiration rate, suggesting good shade tolerance. However, water deficits decreased biomass and photosynthetic capacity in the E. nutans–M. sativa mixture, suggesting that E. nutans was sensitive to soil moisture. The B. inermis–M. sativa mixture had greater and more consistent biomass and WUE.

The dermal papilla cells in hair follicles function as critical regulators of hair growth. In particular, alopecia areata (AA) is closely related to the malfunctioning of the human dermal papilla cells (hDPCs). Thus, identifying the regulatory mechanism of hDPCs is important in inducing hair follicle (HF) regeneration in AA patients. Recently, growing evidence has indicated that 3′ untranslated regions (3′ UTR) of key genes may participate in the regulatory circuitry underlying cell differentiation and diseases through a so-called competing endogenous mechanism, but none have been reported in HF regeneration. Here, we demonstrate that the 3′ UTR of junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) could act as an essential competing endogenous RNA to maintain hDPCs function and promote HF regeneration in AA. We showed that the 3′ UTR of JAM-A shares many microRNA (miRNA) response elements, especially miR-221–3p, with versican (VCAN) mRNA, and JAM-A 3′ UTR could directly modulate the miRNA-mediated suppression of VCAN in self-renewing hDPCs. Furthermore, upregulated VCAN can in turn promote the expression level of JAM-A. Overall, we propose that JAM-A 3′ UTR forms a feedback loop with VCAN and miR-221–3p to regulate hDPC maintenance, proliferation, and differentiation, which may lead to developing new therapies for hair loss.

The pre-stressed modal and random vibration of electron gun are calculated by finite element software ANSYS Workbench. The results show that electron gun under the excitation of radial load (X direction) can be in danger of disable structure. Some measures can be taken to avoid electron gun failure due to resonance, such as replacing the materials, changing the structure of weak links and changing TWT installation to make external incentives along the axial direction (Y direction). The analysis results can provide effective reference and guidance for TWT development.

This paper carried out temperature analysis in the working state of the electron gun structure, the thermal deformation under high temperature and thermal stress analysis. Firstly, from the steady state temperature cloud chart of the electron gun we can see the cathode temperature is 985 °C, shadow grid temperature is same as cathode temperature, and the controlled-grid temperature is as high as 540 °C. Secondly, on the basis of thermal analysis, the coupled thermo-mechanical simulation technology is broken through; further thermal stress and thermal deformation at high temperature are analyzed. Thermal stress analysis results show that the maximum stress point is at contact area of cathode and its supporting tube. And the thermal deformation result shows that at high temperature under the action of thermal deformation, the axial distance of cathode-grid distance reduced 0.078 mm. Based on thermal deformation, the development personnel of microwave tube can use simulator to analysis the influence of thermal deformation to the electron gun design parameters, which can provide theoretical basis for tube design.

Virtual manufacturing technology is used to simulate the computer numerical control (CNC) lathe, virtual prototype of the CNC lathe is established. In the simulating process, the explain module and the check module of the CNC code are analyzed, the differential radial dynamic scaling technology is used to simulate the workpiece forming process, then the motion simulation of the virtual CNC lathe system is realized, and the system is drived by the CNC code. The machining process and workpiece forming process can be observed directly in the virtual environment, so the correctness of the CNC code can be checked in advance to avoid the interference, collisions or other problems in the actual lathe processing and reduce the the scrap rate of the workpiece and tool in the actual machining process.

With the method of two-stage mixing, two different tread rubbers have been mixed in internal mixer under the different process conditions. After the experiments, test the temperature rise of rubber compound, mooney viscosity and carbon black disperisity. Study the effect of process condition change on the temperature rise of two kinds of rubber compounds and analyze the relationships between the rubber temperature rise and mooney viscosity, carbon black dispersity. The study finds that the temperature rise of rubber compound has a relationship with the rotor speed of internal mixer, rubber viscosity and filling factors, but when the temperature rise of rubber compound is steady, the carbon black dispersity of rubber compound also can be steady. After two-stage mixing, carbon black dispersity of rubber compounds have been improved obviously. These results also imply that rotor speed of internal mixer and filling factor are very important to carbon black dispersity of rubber compounds.

A functional analytic method was developed by E.K.Ifantis in 1987 to prove that certain non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) have a unique power series solution which converges absolutely in a specified disc of the complex plane. In this paper, we first applied this method to certain systems of two non-linear ordinary differential equations. We proved that the power series solutions can be determined by some recurrence relations which depend on the parameters of the equations and the initial conditions. Then, we found a method to extend the range of the converge bound. At last, we applied the functional analytic method to the resistant virus infection model to obtain a power series solution and compared our solution with the numerical solution obtained by the Runge-Kutta method using the software Matlab (Version 7.0.1).

ABSTRACTThe p35 molecule is unique to interleukin-12 (IL-12), while p40 is shared by both IL-12 and IL-23. IL-12 promotes Th1 T cell responses, while IL-23 promotes Th17 T cell responses. The roles of IL-12p35- and IL-12p40-mediated responses in chlamydial infection were compared in mice following an intravaginal infection with Chlamydia muridarum. Mice deficient in either IL-12p35 or p40 both developed similar but prolonged infection time courses, confirming the roles of IL-12-mediated immune responses in clearing primary infection. However, all mice, regardless of genotype, cleared reinfection within 2 weeks, suggesting that an IL-12- or IL-23-independent adaptive immunity is protective against chlamydial infection. All infected mice developed severe oviduct hydrosalpinx despite the increased Th2 responses in IL-12p35- or IL-12p40-deficient mice, suggesting that Th2-dominant responses can contribute to Chlamydia-induced inflammatory pathology. Compared to IL-12p35 knockout mice, the IL-12p40-deficient mice exhibited more extensive spreading of chlamydial organisms into kidney tissues, leading to significantly increased incidence of pyelonephritis, which both confirms the role of IL-12 or IL-23-independent host responses in Chlamydia-induced pathologies and suggests that in the absence of IL-12/IFN-?-mediated Th1 immunity, an IL-23-mediated response may play an important role in restricting chlamydial organisms from spreading into distal organs. These observations together provide important information for both understanding chlamydial pathogenesis and developing anti-Chlamydiavaccines.

In the presented work, the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were successfully wrapped with alkli lignin. Both transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations show that the CNTs are coated with a layer of lignin, which is also verified by Raman spectra. SEM images demonstrate that lignin-wrapped CNTs (lignin-w-CNTs) can more uniformly dispersed in ABS matrix relative to pristine CNTs. Moreover, compared with CNTs and lignin, incorporating lignin-w-CNTs results in slightly higher tensile stress at the same loading level.

Abstract: This study investigated that the importing of compatible solute proline could enhance the growth of the yeast Torulopsis glabrata under hyperosmotic stress. Osmolarity progressively increased from 860 to 2,603 mOsmol/kg by accumulation of sodium pyruvate in the culture broth, leading to a significant decrease in cell growth. When 1.0 g/L of proline as a compatible solute was added to the culture medium, it was imported and enhanced cell growth by 59.0% at 2,603 mOsmol/kg. By addition of proline during pyruvate production, the concentration, productivity, and yield of pyruvate increased 22.1, 38.4, and 14.3%, respectively. These results suggested that T. glabrata can import proline as an osmoprotectant against high osmotic stress, thus enhance pyruvate productivity. The improvement of yeast growth and viability under hyperosmotic stress by the addition of proline provided an alternative approach to enhance the organic acids production by yeast.

The small subunit, ssPOXA3a/b, and the large subunit, POXA3, are indispensable components of typical heterodimeric laccase (Lacc2) in white rot fungi. However, the enzymatic and biological functions of ssPOXA3a/b remain unclear. The present study revealed that neither ssPOXA3a nor ssPOXA3b per se has a catalytic ability, whereas their combination with POXA3 (and especially ssPOXA3b) enhances the activity, thermostability, and pH stability of POXA3. In Pleurotus eryngii var. ferulae, there was no regulatory relationship between ssPOXA3a/b and POXA3 at the transcriptional level. However, sspoxa3a/boverexpression had a negative feedback effect on lacc6transcription. By contrast, poxa3transcripts had no effect on any other laccase isoenzyme. Overexpression of sspoxa3a/bresulted in small fungal pellets, thin mycelial walls, and facilitated laccase secretion. However, poxa3overexpression had no influence on pellet morphology. Collectively, this work elucidated the functions of ssPOXA3a/b and laid an empirical foundation for the development of high-yield laccase.

The amount of geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) is vital for microbial production of geranylgeraniol (GGOH) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, a GGPP synthase with stronger catalytic ability was used to increase the supply of GGPP, and an engineered strain producing 374.02 mg/L GGOH at the shake flask level was constructed. Then, by increasing the metabolic flux of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway and the supply of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), the titer was further increased to 772.98 mg/L at the shake flask level, and we achieved the highest GGOH titer to date of 5.07 g/L in a 5 L bioreactor. This is the first report on the utilization of isoprenol for increasing the amount of IPP and enhancing GGOH production in S. cerevisiae. In the future, these strategies and engineered strains can be used to enhance the production of other terpenoids in S. cerevisiae.

Evidence from neuroimaging has implicated abnormal cerebral cortical patterns in schizophrenia. Application of machine learning techniques is required for identifying structural signature reflecting neurobiological substrates of schizophrenia at the individual level. We aimed to develop a method to identify patients with schizophrenia from healthy individuals via the features of cerebral cortex using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and finite element method are combined to study the damage behavior of aluminum alloy resistance spot-welded joints. Fatigue damage of spot-welded joints under different cyclic loading stages was obtained by X-ray microcomputed tomography (X-ray micro CT). Then, avizo software was used to reconstruct the scanned data of joints with different damage degrees, and the distribution and variation of defects in the joints are obtained. On this basis, 3D finite element damage models were established. Finite element calculations were carried out to analyze the fatigue damage of spot-welded joints by adopting the effective elastic modulus as the damage parameter. The results show that the effective elastic modulus is consistent with the experimental results. The method of combining 3D reconstruction with the finite element method can be used to evaluate the internal damage of spot-welded joints and provide theoretical basis for the prediction of fatigue life.

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