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The utilization of fly ash is of great significance for the sustainable development of waste resource utilization and environmental protection. In this study, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and high-throughput sequencing techniques were used to investigate physicochemical properties and archaea composition in rhizosphere fly ash, respectively. The results showed that heavy metal elements in rhizosphere fly ash could be transported and accumulated in the taproot, fibrous root, stem and leaf of Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge. Meanwhile, the contents of P, K, Mg, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and the organic matter in rhizosphere fly ash increased after planting X. sorbifolia, suggesting that planting X. sorbifolia can increase the fertility of fly ash. The planting of X. sorbifolia decreased the number of archaea (Operational Taxonomic Units) OTU and species abundance of fly ash. But the abundance of beneficial archaea such as Firmicutes and Euryarchaeota increased after planting X. sorbifolia. In the potential phenotypes predicted by BugBase, the number of aerobic, mobile element containing, facultatively anaerobic, biofilm forming, potentially pathogenic decreased. anaerobic, gram-negative, gram-positive, stress tolerant amount increased. These results indicated that planting X. sorbifolia has positive effect on the utilization of fly ash by phytoremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We fabricate CrP4 single crystal under high pressure and high temperature at 5 GPa and 1373 K. The comprehensive physical properties including electronic transport, magnetic properties, specific heat, Hall, thermal Seebeck and thermal conductivity are reported here. The resistivity shows a good metallic conductivity and T2.7 law relation in the low temperature, which indicates a weak correlation of electrons. It is interesting to note that CrP4 shows large magnetoresistance (MR) of 500% under T = 2 K and B = 9 T, and the MR does not reach saturation until 9 T. The mechanism of large MR in CrP4 is interpreted as the Fermi surface anisotropy. The Hall measurement shows that there is only one single type of carriers in CrP4 with holes. CrP4 exhibits paramagnetic behavior observed from the magnetic susceptibility measurement. Though CrP4 exhibits high electrical conductivity, unexpected low thermal conductivity is observed at low temperature, which is due to the zigzag chain of CrP6 octahedra along the c-axis. Low thermal conductivity is useful to design thermoelectric materials or devices by properly doping in CrP4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of high-mobility group nucleosome-binding domain 5 (HMGN5) in colorectal cancer tissues, to explore the function of HMGN5 on the proliferation and metastasis of colorectal cancer cells, and to further study the molecular mechanism of HMGN5 in the malignant progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The cancer tissues and para-carcinoma tissues were harvested from 40 patients with CRC. The expression of HMGN5 was detected via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and the relation between HMGN5 and clinical indexes of CRC patients was further analyzed. The CRC HT29 and HCT116 cell lines with high expression levels of HMGN5 were selected, and the HMGN5 knockdown model was established. The functions of HMGN5 on CRC cells were stated by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and transwell migration assay. Then, the association between HMGN5 and fibroblast growth factor 12 (FGF12) was further explored via Dual-Luciferase reporter assay and reverse assay. RESULTS: The qRT-PCR showed that HMGN5 expression was significantly rising in cancer tissues compared to the control group. The incidence rate of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis was higher in higher expression HMGN5 group than the lower expression HMGN5 group. The results of cell function experiments revealed that silence of HMGN5 could suppress the proliferation and migration of HT29 and HCT116. In addition, it was found using qRTPCR that knockdown of HMGN5 could significantly down-regulate the expressions of FGF12, FGFR, PI3K and AKT in HT29 and HCT116 cells. The targeted binding relation between HMGN5 and FGF12 was also indicated by the dual-luciferase reporter assay. The consequence of qRTPCR manifested that FGF12 expression markedly rose in CRC tissues, which had a positive correlation with HMGN5. Moreover, reverse assay indicated that the inhibitory effect of HMGN5 knockdown on the malignant progression of CRC could be reversed by recombinant FGF12, indicating once again that there is a mutual regulatory effect between HMGN5 and FGF12. CONCLUSIONS: HMGN5 can increase the proliferative and migrative capacity of CRC cells via targeted binding to FGF12. In addition, clinical data analyses demonstrate that HMGN5 is intimately related to the incidence rate of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis in patients with CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ever increasing development of traffic volume, traffic safety has attracted wide attention, among which rear end collision is a very common accident. In order to avoid rear end collision, this study investigated the braking protection of automobiles. An automobile brake protection system was designed based on real-time laser pulse ranging. First, the laser ranging technology and the brake protection system designed were briefly introduced. Then, the laser receiving and transmitting module and the time interval measuring module were designed, the braking process of the automobile was briefly introduced, and the safety distance of automobile automatic braking was put forward. The simulation experiment of the system found that the system could effectively control the speed within 1.6 seconds, with a braking distance of 20 m and a system error of 0.06 to 0.14 m, which verified the reliability of the system. Laser pulse real-time ranging technology was applied to automobile brake protection and its value was proved, which provides some theoretical support for the popularization of the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective laser melting (SLM) was used to form 316L stainless steel. Furthermore, as-built samples were subjected to two solution treatments at 1050°C for 2 hours followed by air cooling, and 1150°C for 2 hours followed by water cooling. Microstructural characteristics and grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) are determined and tested by optical metallography, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), etc. The results showed that the as-built specimens consist of columnar crystal with the molten pool boundaries. After heat treatment, the molten pool boundaries and the dendrites disappears, the austenite grains grow, and the grain is mainly composed of columnar crystals that grow parallel to the direction of heat flow after HT at 1050°C, and there is an obvious texture in the <101> direction. After solution treatment at 1150°C, the grain is mainly composed of equiaxed grains, and the texture is no longer obvious. The small angle grain boundaries at 0 to 10° after 1050oC solution treatment account for about 80% of the total grain boundaries, S3 CSL is the most in low-SCSL. Compared with the solution treatment at 1050°C, the grain growth was obvious at 1150°C, the content of low-SCSL increased obviously, the grain boundary energy of low-SCSL was lower than that of the random boundary, the corrosion resistance was enhanced. The small angle grain boundary of the sample cross-section decreases, the large angle grain boundary increases and the twin crystals appear, in which the increase of the large angle grain boundary is the most obvious with the difference of the misorientation angle of 60°, which is mainly <111>/60° twin boundaries, which belongs to the S3 CSL boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Accounting for 25% of all the cancers and 20% of the cancer-related mortality, lung cancer is one of the devastating types of cancers. Due to an increase in the incidence of lung cancer and limited treatment options, there is a pressing need to look for novel drug options and to identify potential therapeutic targets. Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been considered to be important therapeutic targets due to their plethora of cellular roles. Herein, we investigated the therapeutic potential of UCA1 in lung cancer and also attempted to examine the underlying mechanism through UCA1 exerts its growth inhibitory effects on cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quantitative Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to perform the expression analysis. The CCK-8 assay was used to monitor the growth of the cells. The AO/EB assay was used to check apoptosis and flow cytometry was used for cell cycle distribution. The wound heal and transwell assays were used to monitor the cell migration and invasion. RESULTS: It was found that the lncRNA UCA was significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated in the lung cancer cells and silencing of UCA1 could inhibit the proliferation of the SK-MES-1 lung cancer cells via induction of G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Moreover, UCA1 silencing could also suppress the migration and invasion of the SK-MES-1 cells. The LncRNA UCA1 was also found to upregulate the expression of miR-143, and overexpression of miR-143 could also suppress the proliferation, migration, and invasion of the SK-MES-1 lung cancer cells. Both UCA1 silencing and miR-143 overexpression could cause a significant decrease in the expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1). Therefore, it is concluded that UCA1 regulates the growth of the SK-MES-1 lung cancer by inhibition of MAPK1 via miR-143 upregulation. CONCLUSIONS: UCA1, as well as miR-143, may be essential therapeutic targets for the management of lung cancer and warrant further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers responsible for significant mortality and morbidity across the globe. The unavailability of efficient treatments, lack of reliable biomarkers and potent therapeutic targets, limit the treatment of lung cancer. In this study, we explored the potential of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) as the therapeutic target for lung cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression analysis was carried out by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Cell viability was monitored by cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8) assay. The 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), annexin-V/Propidium iodide staining and comet assays were used to detect apoptosis. Boyden chamber and wound heal assays were used for cell to asses cell invasion and migration respectively. Protein expression was determined by immunoblotting. RESULTS: The expression of lncRNA UCA1 was determined by qRT-PCR in six different types of lung cancer cell lines. It was observed that lncRNA UCA1 was significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated in all the lung cancer cell lines. To investigate the role of lncRNA UCA1 in lung cancer, its expression was suppressed by transfection of the lung cancer NCI-H23 cells by si-UCA1. The results showed that suppression of lncRNA UCA1 significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the viability of NCI-H23 cancer cells via induction of the apoptosis. Furthermore, the lncRNA UCA1 suppression (p < 0.05) significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of the NCI-H23 lung cancer at least in part via inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1). Additionally, the suppression of MAPK1 exhibited similar effects on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of the NCI-H23 cells as that of UCA1 silencing. Finally, the co-suppression of lncRNA UCA1 and MAPK1 exhibited synergistic effects on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that lncRNA UCA1 could be an important therapeutic target for curbing lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive adsorption desulfurization over metal oxides adsorbents was carried out to remove the sulfur of real fluid catalytic cracking gasoline and model gasoline in a batch reactor at low pressures in the presence of hydrogen. The results show that Ni appearing after reduction and higher temperature leads to a significant improvement in the desulfurization ability of the adsorbents. When the initial concentration of thiophene in the model gasoline raised the sulfur, removal rate decreased while the adsorption capacity of the adsorbents increased and the maximum sulfur removal rate and sulfur adsorption capacity were 86.33% and 13.72 mg/g, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pharmacologic prophylaxis is the most commonly used prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the pharmacologic prophylaxis is limited in patients at high risk of bleeding. Mechanical prophylaxis alone or in combination is an important method of VTE prophylaxis in patients at high risk of bleeding, but the current mainstream mechanical prophylaxis, which includes graded compression stockings, intermittent inflatable compression pumps and plantar venous compression pumps, has some limitations, leading to discomfort for patients wearing them due to the large contact area, and even affecting ability to perform daily activities. Many clinical studies have found that NMES combined with pharmacological prophylaxis has better efficacy and safety than pharmacological prophylaxis alone in preventing VTE in medical and surgical patients, and the preventive effect of NMES alone is not inferior to other mechanical prophylaxis. Besides, it also has the advantages of ease of wear and patient compliance. Currently, clinicians have limited experience and knowledge of NMES. We aimed to present the rationale, progress in clinical research and future perspective of NMES in VTE prophylaxis.

In the present study, we focused on whether the analgesic effect of Electroacupuncture (EA) is related to the regulation of oxidative stress. We established a chronic inflammatory pain model in male rats by a single injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) and then treated the animals with daily EA stimulation at the site of "zusanli". The analgesic effect of EA was evaluated by measuring the paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) when rats received mechanical and thermal pain stimulation. The levels of inflammation-related molecules and oxidative stress-related markers in the spinal cord were measured by western blotting or ELISA kits. EA stimulation and antioxidants effectively increased the PWT in CFA rats. Co-treatment of CFA rats with the ROS donor t-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BOOH) further decreased the PWT and weakened the analgesic effect of EA. EA treatment inhibited inflammation and oxidative stress, as shown by decreased levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6, and MDA and increased activity of SOD and catalase. Moreover, EA reduced the expression of p-p38, p-ERK, and p-p65 and simultaneously downregulated the expression of TRPV1 and TRPV4 in CFA rats. In an in vitro study, direct stimulation with t-BOOH to the C6 cells increased the production of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, activated p38, ERK, and p65 and up-regulated the expression of TRPV1 and TRPV4, and these effects could be prevented by the ROS scavenger PBN. Taken together, our data indicate that the inhibition of oxidative stress and the generation of ROS contribute to the analgesic effect of EA in male CFA rats.

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic efficiency and clinical application value of an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis model based on a three-dimensional convolutional neural network (3D CNN) on echocardiographic videos of patients with hypertensive heart disease, chronic renal failure (CRF) and hypothyroidism with cardiac involvement. Methods: This study is a retrospective study. The patients with hypertensive heart disease, CRF and hypothyroidism with cardiac involvement, who admitted in Henan Provincial People's Hospital from April 2019 to October 2021, were enrolled. Patients were divided into hypertension group, CRF group, and hypothyroidism group. Additionally, a simple random sampling method was used to select control healthy individuals, who underwent physical examination at the same period. The echocardiographic video data of enrolled participants were analyzed. The video data in each group was divided into a training set and an independent testing set in a ratio of 5 to 1. The temporal and spatial characteristics of videos were extracted using an inflated 3D convolutional network (I3D). The artificial intelligence assisted diagnosis model was trained and tested. There was no case overlapped between the training and validation sets. A model was established according to cases or videos based on video data from 3 different views (single apical four chamber (A4C) view, single parasternal left ventricular long-axis (PLAX) view and all views). The statistical analysis of diagnostic performance was completed to calculate sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve ( AUC ). The time required for the artificial intelligence and ultrasound physicians to process cases was compared. Results: A total of 730 subjects aged (41.9±12.7) years were enrolled, including 362 males (49.6%), and 17 703 videos were collected. There were 212 cases in the hypertensive group, 210 cases in the CRF group, 105 cases in the hypothyroidism group, and 203 cases in the normal control group. The diagnostic performance of the model predicted by cases based on single PLAX view and all views data was excellent: (1) in the hypertensive group, the sensitivity, specificity and AUC of models based on all views data were 97%, 89% and 0.93, respectively, while those of models based on a single PLAX view were 94%, 95%, and 0.94, respectively; (2) in the CRF group, the sensitivity, specificity and AUC of models based on all views data were 97%, 95% and 0.96, respectively, while those of models based on a single PLAX view were 97%, 89%, and 0.93, respectively; (3) in the hypothyroidism group, the sensitivity, specificity and AUC of models based on all views data were 64%, 100% and 0.82, respectively, while those of models based on a single PLAX view were 82%, 89%, and 0.86, respectively. The time required for the 3D CNN model to measure and analyze the echocardiographic videos of each subject was significantly shorter than that for the ultrasound physicians ((23.96±6.65)s vs. (958.25±266.17)s, P <0.001). Conclusions: The artificial intelligence assisted diagnosis model based on 3D CNN can extract the dynamic temporal and spatial characteristics of echocardiographic videos jointly, and quickly and efficiently identify hypertensive heart disease and cardiac changes caused by CRF and hypothyroidism.

Objective: To analyze the influencing factors of iron metabolism assessment in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome. Methods: MRI and/or DECT were used to detect liver and cardiac iron content in 181 patients with MDS, among whom, 41 received regular iron chelation therapy during two examinations. The adjusted ferritin (ASF) , erythropoietin (EPO) , cardiac function, liver transaminase, hepatitis antibody, and peripheral blood T cell polarization were detected and the results of myelofibrosis, splenomegaly, and cyclosporine were collected and comparative analyzed in patients. Results: We observed a positive correlation between liver iron concentration and ASF both in the MRI group and DECT groups ( r =0.512 and 0.606, respectively, P <0.001) , only a weak correlation between the heart iron concentration and ASF in the MRI group ( r =0.303, P <0.001) , and no significant correlation between cardiac iron concentration and ASF in the DECT group ( r =0.231, P =0.053) . Moreover, transfusion dependence in liver and cardiac [MRI group was significantly associated with the concentration of iron in: LIC: (28.370±10.706) mg/g vs (7.593±3.508) mg/g, t =24.30, P <0.001; MIC: 1.81 vs 0.95, z =2.625, P <0.05; DECT group: liver VIC: (4.269±1.258) g/L vs (1.078±0.383) g/L, t =23.14, P <0.001: cardiac VIC: 1.69 vs 0.68, z =3.142, P <0.05]. The concentration of EPO in the severe iron overload group was significantly higher than that in the mild to moderate iron overload group and normal group ( P <0.001) . Compared to the low-risk MDS group, the liver iron concentration in patients with MDS with cyclic sideroblasts (MDS-RS) was significantly elevated [DECT group: 3.80 (1.97, 5.51) g/L vs 1.66 (0.67, 2.94) g/L, P =0.004; MRI group: 13.7 (8.1,29.1) mg/g vs 11.6 (7.1,21.1) mg/g, P =0.032]. Factors including age, bone marrow fibrosis, splenomegaly, T cell polarization, use of cyclosporine A, liver aminotransferase, and hepatitis antibody positive had no obvious effect on iron metabolism. Conclusion: There was a positive correlation between liver iron concentration and ASF in patients with MDS, whereas there was no significant correlation between cardiac iron concentration and ASF. Iron metabolism was affected by transfusion dependence, EPO concentration, and RS.

Objective: To determine the prognostic value of the intraductal carcinoma of the prostate IDC-P in metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) patients of different subgroups. Methods: Data of 582 de novo mPCa patients between January 2011 and December 2017 diagnosed at Departments of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University were retrospectively analyzed. The age was (70±8) years (range: 45 to 89 years). IDC-P was identified from 12-core prostate biopsy. The prognostic role of IDC-P was assessed by Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression. Subgroup analysis was conducted by the forest plot. The endpoints were castration-resistant prostate cancer free survival (CFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: In total, 177/582 (30.4%) patients harbored IDC-P. Patients with IDC-P had poorer CFS and OS than those without IDC-P (mCFS: 12.1 months vs . 16.9 months, P= 0.000; mOS: 39.7 months vs . not reached, P= 0.000). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that, the existence of IDC-P was an independent prognosticator of both CFS ( HR= 1.40, 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.79, P= 0.006) and OS ( HR= 1.51, 95% CI: 1.02 to 2.25, P= 0.041). Subanalysis indicated that, in most subgroups, IDC-P was an adverse prognosticator of both CFS and OS. Even in subgroups with adverse clinicopathological features, e.g. Gleason score 9 to 10 (CFS: HR= 1.467, P= 0.007; OS: HR= 1.807, P= 0.013), baseline prostate specific antigen≥50 μg/L (CFS: HR= 1.616, P= 0.000; OS: HR= 1.749, P= 0.006), anemia (CFS: HR= 1.653, P= 0.036; OS: HR= 2.100, P= 0.038), alkaline phosphatase≥160 U/L (CFS: HR= 1.326, P= 0.038; OS: HR= 1.725, P= 0.010) or abnormal lactate dehydrogenase level (CFS: HR= 1.614, P= 0.001; OS: HR= 1.900, P= 0.003), IDC-P was still closely associated with shorter CFS and OS. Conclusions: The presence of IDC-P was closely related to poor survival outcomes for patients with mPCa. IDC-P was an adverse prognosticator in most subgroup patients. The description of IDC-P in the pathological report of prostate biopsy would help clinicians to evaluate the prognosis of mPCa patients more accurately and make better treatment choices.

Objective: To investigate the value of MRI in the prenatal diagnosis of abnormal fetal kidneys. Methods: From December 2014 to March 2016, 51 women underwent MRI and were confirmed as having fetuses with abnormal fetal kidneys when follow up. Their clinical and MRI profiles were analyzed retrospectively, including MRI manifestation, the fetal kidney signal intensity of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The signal intensity of DWI and ADC of the abnormal kidney and the normal opposite kidney, and those of the normal and abnormal kidneys in different individuals were compared. The accuracies of MRI and ultrasound in evaluating abnormal fetal kidneys were also compared. Results: MRI could accurately demonstrate the morphological features of abnormal fetal kidneys. There was no statistically significant difference between DWI signal intensity and ADC value of the abnormal kidney[368 ± 125, (1.516 ± 0.420) × 10 -3 mm 2 /s] and the normal opposite one[410 ± 125, (1.362 ± 0.251) × 10 -3 mm 2 /s], P values were 0.165 and 0.184, respectively. The DWI signal intensity of normal kidneys (401 ± 124) was higher than that of renal cysts (182 ± 40, P <0.01), and the ADC value of normal kidneys[(1.306 ± 0.252) × 10 -3 mm 2 /s] was lower than that of renal cysts[(2.912 ± 0.235) × 10 -3 mm 2 /s] and multicystic dysplastic kidneys[(1.870±0.654) ×10 -3 mm 2 /s], P values were <0.01 and 0.045, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of MRI and prenatal ultrasound for abnormal fetal kidneys were 94% (63/67) and 85% (57/67), respectively. However, there was no statistical difference between the two methods ( P =0.070). Conclusion: MRI have an important role in the prenatal diagnosis and evaluation of abnormal fetal kidneys.