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Abstract Cancer is a disease with molecular heterogeneity that is closely related to gene mutations and epigenetic changes. The principal histological subtype of lung cancer is non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is a kind of RNA that is without protein coding function, playing a critical role in the progression of cancer. In this research, the regulatory mechanisms of lncRNA phosphorylase kinase regulatory subunit alpha 1 antisense RNA 1 (PHKA1‐AS1) in the progression of NSCLC were explored. The increased level of N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) modification in NSCLC caused the high expression of PHKA1‐AS1. Subsequently, high‐expressed PHKA1‐AS1 significantly facilitated the proliferation and metastasis of NSCLC cells, and these effects could be reversed upon the inhibition of PHKA1‐AS1 expression, both in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, the target protein of PHKA1‐AS1 was actinin alpha 4 (ACTN4), which is known as an oncogene. Herein, PHKA1‐AS1 could enhance the protein stability of ACTN4 by inhibiting its ubiquitination degradation process, thus exerting the function of ACTN4 in promoting the progress of NSCLC. In conclusion, this research provided a theoretical basis for further exploring the potential mechanism of NSCLC metastasis and searching novel biomarkers related to the pathogenesis and progression of NSCLC.

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is an autosomal dominant genetic condition of the skeletal muscle triggered by inhaled general anesthetic agents or succinylcholine and associated with a hypermetabolic state and skeletal muscle rigidity. Tachycardia, increased carbon dioxide production, hypercarbia, hyperthermia, acidosis, hyperkalemia, cardiac arrhythmias, muscle rigidity, and rhabdomyolysis are common symptoms of MH. As the progression of the syndrome could be rapid or less evident, even experienced physicians have difficulty in diagnosing MH, which can lead to delays in treatment and increased mortality. We report a rare case of a 36-year-old man, who underwent open reduction and internal fixation of the left clavicle after inhaled anesthetics. The patient developed dyspnea, hypotension, unremitting hyperthermia, tachycardia, and elevated serum myoglobin, and finally died of pyemia and disseminated intravascular coagulation. We reviewed the process of disease development, summarized the steps of diagnosis, and improved genetic testing. Exome sequencing revealed a new mutation c.8519G>A (p.arg2840 GLN) in the RYR1 gene that could be associated with MH. The gene mutation was also found in his daughter’s genetic test. This case emphasized the importance of the awareness of MH and its atypical clinical symptoms. The presence of dyspnea, hypotension, unremitting hyperthermia, tachycardia, and raised myoglobin in serum might further strengthen the clinical diagnosis of suspected MH.

During the installation of a cable oil terminal, it is easy to leave scratches on the main insulation owing to uneven forces when removing the semi-conductive layer. Scratch defects cause field intensity distortion, which leads to partial discharge and insulation failure. This study attempts to establish a simulation model of a 220 kV cable terminal to determine the effect of the length, depth, and position of the scratch on the maximum field strength at the defect. The simulation and experiment demonstrate that the maximum field strength at the defect increases with greater length and decreases as the depth increases. Therefore, a prediction method for the terminal defect field strength based on a multivariate nonlinear regression model was proposed in this study. When the defect is located at 20mmfromthe root of the stress cone, the maximum field strength is 14.5 MV/ m when the length and depth are 2mmand 1mm, respectively. The maximum field strength at the defect was predicted based on the length, depth, and position of the scratch defect to evaluate the severity of the defect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent studies have established a correlation between folate levels and the incidence of cervical cancer. Given that Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a primary etiological factor in the development of cervical cancer, the nature of the relationship between dietary folate intake and HPV infection remains an area of ongoing investigation. Methods: To investigate the association between dietary folate intake and HPV infection, this study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning from 2005 to 2016. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the potential associations. Furthermore, the use of restricted cubic splines (RCS) facilitated the exploration of any non-linear correlations. Additionally, subgroup analyses were used to explore this correlation in different populations. Results: The study encompassed a total of 6747 women aged between 18 and 59 years. For every one mcg increase in folate intake, the incidence of HPV infection is reduced by 1% (OR = 0.99, p<0.05). Besides, folate intake was categorized into quartiles as follows: Q1 (<211 mcg/day), Q2 (211–311 mcg/day), Q3 (311–448 mcg/day), and Q4 (>448 mcg/day). The adjusted odds ratios (OR) for the different folate levels were as follows: Q2: 0.94 (95% CI: 0.76–1.16), Q3: 0.84 (95% CI: 0.67–1.04), and Q4: 0.63 (95% CI: 0.49–0.81). The RCS analysis confirmed a nonlinear relationship between dietary folate intake and HPV infection risk. Notably, a significant inverse association was observed when dietary folate intake exceeded 193.847 mcg/day. Conclusions: In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate a negative association between dietary folate intake and the risk of HPV infection. This association demonstrates a nonlinear pattern, particularly evident at higher levels of folate consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer‐derived ceramics (PDCs) have become promising candidates for electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption due to their high thermal stability, design flexibility, and versatile functionality. However, the inevitable porous structure formed during pyrolysis greatly limits its mechanical performance. In this work, Ni–Fe–C/HfO2/SiCN ceramic was prepared by simultaneously doping nickel and iron‐containing metal‐organic framework (Ni–Fe–MOF) nanoparticles and hafnium dioxide (HfO2) nanoparticles into the ceramic precursor, thereby improving its intrinsic brittle structure while granting it extraordinary EMW absorption performance. The flexural strength, flexural modulus, and Vickers hardness of Ni–Fe–C/HfO2/SiCN ceramic were 101.06 MPa, 40.19 GPa, and 13.31 GPa, respectively. These values were 1 132%, 749%, and 191% higher than those of the initial SiCN ceramics. In addition, by optimizing the content of Ni–Fe–MOF, the Ni–Fe–C/HfO2/SiCN ceramic demonstrated satisfying EMW absorption performance from 25°C to 500°C. At 25°C, the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) were −54.07 dB and 3.95 GHz, covering 94% of the X‐band at a thickness of 2.27 mm. At 500°C, the RLmin and EAB were −33.72 dB and 1.82 GHz, still covering 43% of the X‐band at a thickness of only 1.65 mm. This work provides valuable insight into the integration of mechanical and EMW absorbing functions of PDC materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-turn short circuit fault (ISCF) is the main fault type of dry-type air-core reactors (DARs), and the reactor burnout event caused by winding ISCF seriously threatens the safe and stable operation of the electric power system. In order to effectively curb the further worsening of ISCF in DARs, a fault detection method based on frequency response analysis was proposed. First, the effect of ISCF on the frequency response curve of the windings was investigated based on the distributed parameter model of DARs. Then, four sets of eigenvalues were proposed for ISCF diagnosis based on the influence law and curve data analysis theory. Finally, based on the eigenvalues, the support vector machine model optimized by the sparrow search algorithm was used to effectively classify the degree of ISCF of the reactor, and the accuracy reached 96%. Furthermore, a test platform was built based on the theoretical analysis for experimental verification, and the test results are consistent with the simulation results. Hence, the method proposed in this paper could effectively classify the ISCF and its severity in DARs. The research in this paper could provide effective guidance for the diagnosis of ISCF in DARs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a disease with molecular heterogeneity that is closely related to gene mutations and epigenetic changes. The principal histological subtype of lung cancer is non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is a kind of RNA that is without protein coding function, playing a critical role in the progression of cancer. In this research, the regulatory mechanisms of lncRNA phosphorylase kinase regulatory subunit alpha 1 antisense RNA 1 (PHKA1‐AS1) in the progression of NSCLC were explored. The increased level of N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) modification in NSCLC caused the high expression of PHKA1‐AS1. Subsequently, high‐expressed PHKA1‐AS1 significantly facilitated the proliferation and metastasis of NSCLC cells, and these effects could be reversed upon the inhibition of PHKA1‐AS1 expression, both in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, the target protein of PHKA1‐AS1 was actinin alpha 4 (ACTN4), which is known as an oncogene. Herein, PHKA1‐AS1 could enhance the protein stability of ACTN4 by inhibiting its ubiquitination degradation process, thus exerting the function of ACTN4 in promoting the progress of NSCLC. In conclusion, this research provided a theoretical basis for further exploring the potential mechanism of NSCLC metastasis and searching novel biomarkers related to the pathogenesis and progression of NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employed a novel technique combining wire and powder co-delivery to fabricate a functionally gradient material (FGM) structure consisting of Al-based composites reinforced with alternating TiC and B4C particles. The TiC content increases from the bottom up and then decreases, while the B4C content gradually increases, resulting in a continuous gradient structure. Correspondingly, the grain size of the Al matrix also changes with the variation of ceramic particles, forming a dual-gradient change trend. This FGM structure exhibits a multi-performance balance of strength, ductility, anti-wear and damping properties, making it a promising candidate for the cost-effective application in multi-performance heterostructured components. This article reports a novel technique to manufacture FGM structures using a wire-and-powder co-delivery method. The resulting dual-gradient TiC-B4C/Al composite structure exhibits a balance of strength, ductility, anti-wear and damping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundOsteoradionecrosis of the hip is a serious complication of radiotherapy that is easily overlooked by physicians and patients in the early stages. There are relatively few reports on this subject, so there is no clear scientific consensus for the pathogenesis, early diagnosis, and clinical treatment of hip osteoradionecrosis. In this paper, we report two cases of hip osteoradionecrosis and systematically review the related literature.Case PresentationWe report two cases of hip osteoradionecrosis. One patient successfully underwent total hip arthroplasty in our hospital and recovered well postoperatively. Another patient although we offered a variety of surgical options for this patient, the patient was worried that the bone loss would lead to poor prosthesis fixation, resulting in prosthesis loosening and infection, and therefore ultimately refused surgical treatment.ConclusionWith the development of radiological techniques, the incidence of hip osteoradionecrosis is decreasing year by year, but early diagnosis and rational treatment remain challenging. The effects of non-surgical treatment are limited. Early prevention, early detection, and early intervention are crucial to delay or prevent the emergence of more serious complications.

The surveying of forestry resources has recently shifted toward precision and real-time monitoring. This study utilized the BlendMask algorithm for accurately outlining tree crowns and introduced a Bayesian neural network to create a model linking individual tree crown size with diameter at breast height (DBH). BlendMask accurately outlines tree crown shapes and contours, outperforming traditional watershed algorithms in segmentation accuracy while preserving edge details across different scales. Subsequently, the Bayesian neural network constructs a model predicting DBH from the measured crown area, providing essential data for managing forest resources and conducting biodiversity research. Evaluation metrics like precision rate, recall rate, F1-score, and mAP index comprehensively assess the method's performance regarding tree density. BlendMask demonstrated higher accuracy at 0.893 compared to the traditional watershed algorithm's 0.721 accuracy based on experimental results. Importantly, BlendMask effectively handles over-segmentation problems while preserving edge details across different scales. Moreover, adjusting parameters during execution allows for flexibility in achieving diverse image segmentation effects. This study addresses image segmentation challenges and builds a model linking crown area to DBH using the BlendMask algorithm and a Bayesian neural network. The average discrepancies between calculated and measured DBH for Ginkgo biloba, Pinus tabuliformis, and Populus nigra varitalica were 0.15 cm, 0.29 cm, and 0.49cm, respectively, all within the acceptable forestry error margin of 1 cm. BlendMask, besides its effectiveness in crown segmentation, proves useful for various vegetation classification tasks like broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, and grasslands. With abundant training data and ongoing parameter adjustments, BlendMask attains improved classification accuracy. This new approach shows great potential for real-world use, offering crucial data for managing forest resources, biodiversity research, and related fields, aiding decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fouling is inevitable on the surfaces of industrial equipment, especially on heat-exchanging surfaces in contact with fluids, which causes water pollution and destroys the ecological environment. In this paper, a novel fouling-removal methodology for plate structure based on cavitation by multi-frequency ultrasonic guided waves is proposed, which can remove fouling on stainless steel plates. A numerical simulation method has been developed to study the acoustic pressure distribution on a steel plate. According to the simulation results, the distribution of sound pressure on the plate under triple-frequency excitation is denser and more prone to cavitation than in single-frequency cases and dual-frequency cases, which improves fouling removal rate. The stainless steel plate is immersed in water for the descaling experiment, and the results show that the fouling removal rates of three water-loaded stainless steel plates under different single-frequency excitation seem unsatisfactory. However, the multi-frequency excitation improves the descaling performance and the removal rate of fouling reaches 80%. This new method can be applied to the surface descaling of large equipment plates, which is of great significance for purifying water quality and protecting the ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regular operation of transformers is significantly impacted by the insulation effectiveness of the transformer insulation oil–paper. In order to explore the mechanism of the influence of an electric field on the thermal decomposition performance of insulating oil–paper, this paper simulated the process of electrothermal coupling decomposition of insulating oil–paper from the micro-level based on molecular dynamics. It was determined that the insulating oil is made up of three 16-carbon hydrocarbon molecules, while the insulating paper is made up of 30 fibrous disaccharide molecules. Using the molecular dynamics simulation approach, the pyrolysis of the insulating oil and insulating paper under various electric field strengths was simulated, and the lysis of reactants and the distribution of products were statistically examined. This paper also studied how the electric field affected the microscopic process of the insulating oil–paper pyrolysis. The findings demonstrate that under the influence of electrothermal coupling, the big molecules of the insulating oil and insulating paper are pyrolyzed to produce a variety of tiny molecules. For the insulating oil, it is easily subject to electron displacement polarization under the influence of an external electric field since it contains non-polar molecules, especially impacted by an electric field of 100 V/m. For the insulating paper, its polar nature, on the other hand, makes itself a good candidate for guiding polarization when exposed to an external electric field. So, the greater the electric field strength is, the greater the impact on the thermal decomposition of the insulating paper is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the development of the nanomaterials discipline, many new pesticide drug-carrying systems—such as pesticide nano-metal particles, nano-metal oxides, and other drug-carrying materials—had been developed and applied to pesticide formulations. Although these new drug-loading systems are relatively friendly to the environment, the direct exposure of many metal nanoparticles to the environment will inevitably lead to potential effects. In response to these problems, organic nanomaterials have been rapidly developed due to their high-quality biodegradation and biocompatibility. Most of these organic nanomaterials were mainly polysaccharide materials, such as chitosan, carboxymethyl chitosan, sodium alginate, β-cyclodextrin, cellulose, starch, guar gum, etc. Some of these materials could be used to carry inorganic materials to develop a temperature- or pH-sensitive pesticide drug delivery system. Herein, the pesticide drug-carrying system developed based on polysaccharide materials, such as chitosan, was referred to as the pesticide polymer drug-carrying system based on polysaccharide materials. This kind of drug-loading system could be used to protect the pesticide molecules from harsh environments, such as pH, light, temperature, etc., and was used to develop the function of a sustained release, targeted release of pesticides in the intestine of insects, and achieve the goal of precise application, reduction, and efficiency of pesticides. In this review, the recent progress in the field of polysaccharide-based polymer drug delivery systems for pesticides has been discussed, and suggestions for future development were proposed based on the current situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Smell is an important sense for insects. The olfactory sense of insects is involved in their feeding, mating, egg-laying, predation avoidance, and communication behaviors. The use of insect-specific odorants to control insect behavior is an important control method. Here, we built iORandLigandDB, a platform for the batch prediction of insect-specific odorants based on artificial intelligence technology. The 3D structure of existing ORs in insects and the docking data with relevant odorants can be retrieved from the database. The use of insect-specific odorants to control the behavior of insects has always been a hot spot in research on "green" control strategies of insects. However, it is generally time-consuming and laborious to explore insect-specific odorants with traditional reverse chemical ecology methods. Here, an insect odorant receptor (OR) and ligand database website (iORandLigandDB) was developed for the specific exploration of insect-specific odorants by using deep learning algorithms. The website provides a range of specific odorants before molecular biology experiments as well as the properties of ORs in closely related insects. At present, the existing three-dimensional structures of ORs in insects and the docking data with related odorants can be retrieved from the database and further analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of drug-resistance in the opportunistic pathogen Escherichia coli has become a global public health concern. Due to the share of similar flora between pets and their owners, the detection of pet-origin antibiotic-resistant E. coli is necessary. This study aimed to detect the prevalence of feline-origin ESBL E. coli in China and to explore the resistance elimination effect of garlic oil to cefquinome on ESBL E. coli. Cat fecal samples were collected from animal hospitals. The E. coli isolates were separated and purified by indicator media and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). ESBL genes were detected by PCR and Sanger sequencing. The MICs were determined. The synergistic effect of garlic oil and cefquinome against ESBL E. coli was investigated by checkerboard assays, time-kill and growth curves, drug-resistance curves, PI and NPN staining, and a scanning electronic microscope. A total of 80 E. coli strains were isolated from 101 fecal samples. The rate of ESBL E. coli was 52.5% (42/80). The prevailing ESBL genotypes in China were CTX-M-1, CTX-M-14, and TEM-116. In ESBL E. coli, garlic oil increased the susceptibility to cefquinome with FICIs from 0.2 to 0.7 and enhanced the killing effect of cefquinome with membrane destruction. Resistance to cefquinome decreased with treatment of garlic oil after 15 generations. Our study indicates that ESBL E. coli has been detected in cats kept as pets. The sensitivity of ESBL E. coli to cefquinome was enhanced by garlic oil, indicating that garlic oil may be a potential antibiotic enhancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chinese medicinal retention enemas have gradually attracted the attention of clinicians as an alternative approach for tubal obstructive infertility. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of conventional surgery combined with traditional Chinese medicinal retention enemas for the treatment of tubal obstructive infertility. Materials and methods: Eight electronic databases were searched from their inception to November 30, 2022. To assess the efficacy and safety of different treatments, following outcomes were measured: clinical pregnancy rate, clinical total effective rate, incidence of ectopic pregnancy, the improvement of Traditional Chinese Medicinal (TCM) symptoms, the improvement of the signs of obstructive tubal infertility and side effects. Results: A total of 23 Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) with 1909 patients met the inclusion criteria. The pooled results showed a higher pregnancy rate in the experimental group than in the control group (RR 1.75, 95% CI [1.58, 1.94], Z = 10.55, P<0.00001). The clinical total effective rate in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (RR 1.28, 95% CI [1.23, 1.34], Z = 11.07, P<0.00001). The incidence of ectopic pregnancy in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (RR 0.40, 95% CI [0.20, 0.77], Z = -2.73, P = 0.01). Conclusion: Based on current evidence, we concluded that conventional surgery combined with traditional Chinese medicinal retention enema for tubal obstructive infertility was superior to conventional surgery alone in improving the clinical pregnancy rate, improving clinical total effective rate, improving TCM symptoms, improving the signs of obstructive tubal infertility and lowering the incidence of ectopic pregnancy. However, further clinical trials with high-quality methodologies need to be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Objective: Perineural invasion is an important biological feature of hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HCCA). We developed a whole-mount histologic large sections (WHLS) of the liver to evaluate peripheral nerve invasion (PNI) of HCCA. Methods: Using sampling, fixation, dehydration, embedding, sectioning, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, and scanning, the characteristics of intrahepatic and extrahepatic PNI in 20 patients with Bismuth type III and type IV HCCA were analyzed with WHLS. Correlation between the characteristics of nerve invasion and tumor size, vascular invasion (artery, portal vein), degree of differentiation, microvascular invasion (MVI), carbohydrate antigen19-9 (CA19-9), and differentiation degree of HCCA was statistically evaluated. Results: The WHLS of the liver was successfully established, which enabled us to observe intrahepatic and extrahepatic distribution of HCCA and whether surrounding tissues including nervous, blood, and lymph vessels were infiltrated. Extrahepatic and intrahepatic PNI were identified in 20 (100%) patients and 1 (5.0%) patient, respectively. Vessel density decreased in most invaded nerves presented by CD-34, which correlated with 100% of poorly differentiated and 83% of moderately differentiated tumors (P<0.008). Conclusion: This study established a WHLS of the liver that can be used for clinical diagnosis and research, and confirmed that extrahepatic PNI is prevalent, but intrahepatic nerve invasion is rare and does not accompany the invasion scope of bile ducts in types III and IV HCCA. In addition, moderately and poorly differentiated malignant tumors are more prone to PNI, independent of blood supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tungsten (W) is considered to be the most promising plasma-facing material in fusion reactors. During their service, severe irradiation conditions create plenty of point defects in W, which can significantly degrade their performance. In this work, we first employ the molecular static simulations to investigate the interaction between a 1/2[111] dislocation loop and a vacancy-type defect including a vacancy, di-vacancy, and vacancy cluster in W. The distributions of the binding energies of a 1/2[111] interstitial and vacancy dislocation loop to a vacancy along different directions at 0 K are obtained, which are validated by using the elasticity theory. The calculated distributions of the binding energies of a 1/2[111] interstitial dislocation loop to a di-vacancy and a vacancy cluster, showing a similar behavior to the case of a vacancy. Furthermore, we use the molecular dynamics simulation to study the effect of a vacancy cluster on the mobility of the 1/2[111] interstitial dislocation loop. The interaction is closely related to the temperature and their relative positions. A vacancy cluster can attract the 1/2[111] interstitial dislocation loop and pin it at low temperatures. At high temperatures, the 1/2[111] interstitial dislocation loop can move randomly. These results will help us to understand the essence of the interaction behaviors between the dislocation loop and a vacancy-type defect and provide necessary parameters for mesoscopic scale simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quaternary siliconboron carbonitride (SiBCN) ceramics show excellent high‐temperature stability and oxidation resistance, indicating great potential as high‐temperature electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbing materials. In this contribution, an efficient and facile method was developed to prepare bulk iron‐containing SiBCN (Fe–SiBCN) ceramics with remarkable EM wave absorption at high temperature by pyrolyzing boron and iron containing precursors (PSZV‐B–Fe). The introduction of boron and iron not only improves the high‐temperature stability but also influences the complex permittivity and EM wave absorption. The minimum reflection coefficient (RCmin) is −61.05 dB, and the effective bandwidth absorption (EAB) is 3.35 GHz (9.05–12.4 GHz). The RCmin will be decreased to −52.3 dB at 600°C as well as the EAB covers more than 67% of the X band (2.8 GHz). The high‐temperature stable Fe–SiBCN ceramics with adjustable dielectric properties can be utilized as high‐performance EM wave‐absorbing materials in high‐temperature and harsh environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel (Ni) compounds is recognized industrial carcinogen, which could increase the risk of lung cancer in Ni refineries workers. However, the underlying carcinogenic mechanism still remains to elucidate. Metformin has shown the anticancer properties through suppressing aerobic glycolysis. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of Ni-refining fumes exposure on aerobic glycolysis and the role of AMPK/GOLPH3 , as well as how metformin alleviated nickel-induced aerobic glycolysis in vitro and vivo. Firstly, Beas-2B cells were exposed to different concentrations of Ni-refining fumes and pretreated with metformin (activation of AMPK), compound C (AMPK inhibitor) in vitro. Our findings indicated that Ni fumes expose evoked aerobic glycolysis by AMPK/GOLPH3 , while metformin attenuated Ni particles-promoted GOLPH3 -mediated aerobic glycolysis by p-AMPK expression increase. Then Mito-TEMPT (a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS, ROS activator) were pretreated to affect ROS production in Beas-2B cells. Ni-induced ROS prevented AMPK activation. Moreover, C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 2 mg/kg Ni by non-exposed endotracheal instillation and metformin (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg) via oral gavage for 4 weeks. The effects of AMPK/GOLPH3 axis on Ni-induced aerobic glycolysis were assessed. The results indicated that metformin decreased the protein levels of GOLPH3 , LDHA , HK2 , MCT-4 and improved p-AMPK expression. Thus, our findings demonstrated metformin antagonized Ni-refining fumes-caused aerobic glycolysis via AMPK/GOLPH3. [Display omitted] • Ni-refining fumes treatment could induce aerobic glycolysis in lung. • Ni-refining fumes induced aerobic glycolysis in Beas-2B cells via GOLPH3/mTOR signaling. • AMPK suppressed GOLPH3 expression regulating Ni-refining fumes-induced aerobic glycolysis dependent on ROS. • Metformin antagonized nickel-refining fumes-induced aerobic glycolysis in lung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image denoising is an important low-level computer vision task, which aims to reconstruct a noise-free and high-quality image from a noisy image. With the development of deep learning, convolutional neural network (CNN) has been gradually applied and achieved great success in image denoising, image compression, image enhancement, etc. Recently, Transformer has been a hot technique, which is widely used to tackle computer vision tasks. However, few Transformer-based methods have been proposed for low-level vision tasks. In this paper, we proposed an image denoising network structure based on Transformer, which is named DenSformer. DenSformer consists of three modules, including a preprocessing module, a local-global feature extraction module, and a reconstruction module. Specifically, the local-global feature extraction module consists of several Sformer groups, each of which has several ETransformer layers and a convolution layer, together with a residual connection. These Sformer groups are densely skip-connected to fuse the feature of different layers, and they jointly capture the local and global information from the given noisy images. We conduct our model on comprehensive experiments. In synthetic noise removal, DenSformer outperforms other state-of-the-art methods by up to 0.06–0.28 dB in gray-scale images and 0.57–1.19 dB in color images. In real noise removal, DenSformer can achieve comparable performance, while the number of parameters can be reduced by up to 40%. Experimental results prove that our DenSformer achieves improvement compared to some state-of-the-art methods, both for the synthetic noise data and real noise data, in the objective and subjective evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Machine learning driven study is developed to optimize the interfacial thermal transport between solid/solid heterostructure via interfacial nanostructuring. • Diverse guidance for the optimization of interfacial thermal transport via interfacial structural parameters and contact area are proposed. • The optimization of interfacial thermal transport is uncovered from the phonon mode mismatch and wavelength of phonons. Heat dissipation through interfaces becomes challenging in nanodevices which impedes the dissipation of waste heat. Accordingly, effective approaches are needed to optimize interfacial thermal transport. In this work, by combining the molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning technique, we systematically study the optimization of interfacial thermal transport in Si/Ge heterostructures through interfacial nanostructuring. Three structural parameters are proposed to describe the nanostructures at interfaces and applied to the machine learning driven predictions. The results demonstrate that the interfacial thermal transport significantly depends on the interfacial nanostructures and diverse guidances are discovered for the optimization. When fixing the density of nanostructures, the interfacial thermal resistance has a minimum at specific heights of nanostructures with small angles, while the minimum is gradually disappeared for the nanostructures with larger angles. When fixing the height of nanostructures, there is also a minimum versus density but gradually disappeared with increasing angles. The nonmonotonic dependences on density and height open spaces for the optimization of interfacial thermal transport. Our spectral decomposition analysis provides physical insights into machine learning predictions and optimizations. Finally, we also summarize the machine learning predictions from the perspective of contact area, in which the distinct dependencies on nanostructuring angle and height manifest the feasibility for the further optimization of interfacial thermal transport. Our machine learning driven study provides comprehensive knowledge and guidances for the optimization of interfacial heat dissipation in nanodevices through nanostructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To explore the technique of surgical treatment of hand and foot gout stone by using 3D CT reconstruction images and influence factors on prognosis. Method. 48 cases of hand and foot gout were treated surgically and retrospective analyzed. Before operation, we used 3D CT reconstruction images to check the accurate site and amount of uric acid (white chalk foam) deposition. Different surgical methods were applied depending on the different deposition site of urine acid stone. The frequency of gout attack and blood uric acid was compared before and after surgery. Patients were followed up to observe the recovery and recurrence and then analyzed the reason of unsuccessful healing. Result. Sutures were removed 2 weeks after operation in all cases. The frequency of gout attack and blood uric acid of patients 3 months after operation was lower than those before operation, and the differences were statistically significant. Follow-up ranged from 1 to 3 years, with an average of 1.8 years. Three cases were not followed up. The remaining 45 cases were healed in the first stage. 40 cases had improved joint function, increased range of motion, and relieved discomfort after movement. 5 cases had no improvement in joint function after operation, and 3 of them had gout stone recurrence (nonoperative area) and were treated by second hospital operation. Conclusion. Surgical treatment of gout stone in hand and foot under the guidance of three-dimensional CT reconstruction image can effectively alleviate the local symptoms of gout stone and improve the function of hand and foot. Deep tissue can be thoroughly washed by the pressure of pulse gun after resection of the lesion, which can reduce the incidence of gout stone. Malnutrition, hypoproteinemia, and residual urine acid in the wound are the main reasons for unsuccessful healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]