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Objective Both porous metal cones and metaphyseal sleeves are excellent implants for reconstructing severe bone defects in the knee joint, but they both exhibit design limitations. The porous metal cone, especially, has significant room for improvement in its shape design. The existing porous metal cones often feature a conical external surface with a relatively small taper, potentially compromising both rotational and axial stability. To improve both axial and rotational stability in porous metal cones, we developed a 3D‐printed stepped porous metal cone. This study aimed to assess the short‐term clinical outcome of the 3D‐printed stepped porous metal cone and to compare it with the clinical outcome of patients who underwent revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA) with the metaphyseal sleeves during the same period. Method Patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty revision with metaphyseal bone defect reconstruction from 2019 to 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 61 patients were enrolled in the study, including 15 patients using 3D‐printed stepped porous metal cones and 46 patients using metaphyseal metal sleeves. Thirty patients using metaphyseal sleeves were screened by propensity score matching method and compared with those using stepped cones. Analysis included the American Knee Society Score, the Hospital for Special Surgery knee score, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis index, the Short Form 12 (SF‐12) health survey, and radiographic assessment with a mean follow‐up of 28.5 ± 8.3 months. To conduct comparative analyses, unpaired Student's t‐tests were employed for continuous variables, while categorical variables were analyzed using the appropriate Fisher exact or chi‐squared test. Results In this study, the survival rates of both the stepped cone and metaphyseal sleeve were 100%. There was no statistically significant difference in postoperative knee function scores between the two groups (p > 0.05). However, patients in the cone group had significantly higher mental component summary scores on the SF‐12 scale (p

Abstract Background Clostridium spp. has demonstrated therapeutic potential in cancer treatment through intravenous or intratumoral administration. This approach has expanded to include non-pathogenic clostridia for the treatment of various diseases, underscoring the innovative concept of oral-spore vaccination using clostridia. Recent advancements in the field of synthetic biology have significantly enhanced the development of Clostridium-based bio-therapeutics. These advancements are particularly notable in the areas of efficient protein overexpression and secretion, which are crucial for the feasibility of oral vaccination strategies. Here, we present two examples of genetically engineered Clostridium candidates: one as an oral cancer vaccine and the other as an antiviral oral vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Results Using five validated promoters and a signal peptide derived from Clostridium sporogenes, a series of full-length NY-ESO-1/CTAG1, a promising cancer vaccine candidate, expression vectors were constructed and transformed into C. sporogenes and Clostridium butyricum. Western blotting analysis confirmed efficient expression and secretion of NY-ESO-1 in clostridia, with specific promoters leading to enhanced detection signals. Additionally, the fusion of a reported bacterial adjuvant to NY-ESO-1 for improved immune recognition led to the cloning difficulties in E. coli. The use of an AUU start codon successfully mitigated potential toxicity issues in E. coli, enabling the secretion of recombinant proteins in C. sporogenes and C. butyricum. We further demonstrate the successful replacement of PyrE loci with high-expression cassettes carrying NY-ESO-1 and adjuvant-fused NY-ESO-1, achieving plasmid-free clostridia capable of secreting the antigens. Lastly, the study successfully extends its multiplex genetic manipulations to engineer clostridia for the secretion of SARS-CoV-2-related Spike_S1 antigens. Conclusions This study successfully demonstrated that C. butyricum and C. sporogenes can produce the two recombinant antigen proteins (NY-ESO-1 and SARS-CoV-2-related Spike_S1 antigens) through genetic manipulations, utilizing the AUU start codon. This approach overcomes challenges in cloning difficult proteins in E. coli. These findings underscore the feasibility of harnessing commensal clostridia for antigen protein secretion, emphasizing the applicability of non-canonical translation initiation across diverse species with broad implications for medical or industrial biotechnology.

Objective Management of bone loss in complex primary and revision total knee arthroplasty is key to the surgeries. Metaphyseal metal sleeves have been increasingly used recently to reconstruct severe knee metaphyseal bone defects. This study aimed to investigate the outcomes of the metaphyseal sleeve reconstructing Anderson Orthopedic Research Institute (AORI) type II and type III bone defects of knee joint. Methods From 2014 to 2019, a total of 44 knees were enrolled in this clinical retrospective study after the screening, including seven cases of primary TKA and 37 cases of revision TKA. The types of bone defects involved in this study were AORI types II and III, and did not involve AORI type I bone defects. Patients' knee function preoperatively and postoperatively as well as quality of life were recorded and analyzed. Analysis included the American Knee Society Score (KSS), hospital for special surgery knee score (HSS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) index, the Short Form 12 (SF‐12) health survey, visual analogue scale score, and radiographic assessment with a mean follow‐up of 6.4 years. Paired t‐tests were used to determine the significance of changes in clinical scores and knee mobility. Results A mean follow‐up of 77.2 (±17.6, standard deviation [SD]) months was performed, and none of the patients underwent knee revision for infection or aseptic loosening. At the last follow‐up, the KSS knee score changed statistically from 37.1 (±19.7) preoperatively to 86.5 (±13.6, SD, p

To address the high cost associated with acquiring hyperspectral data, spectral reconstruction (SR) has emerged as a prominent research area. However, contemporary SR techniques are more focused on image processing tasks in computer vision than on practical applications. Furthermore, the prevalent approach of employing single-dimensional features to guide reconstruction, aimed at reducing computational overhead, invariably compromises reconstruction accuracy, particularly in complex environments with intricate ground features and severe spectral mixing. Effectively utilizing both local and global information in spatial and spectral dimensions for spectral reconstruction remains a significant challenge. To tackle these challenges, this study proposes an integrated network of 3D CNN and U-shaped Transformer for heterogeneous spectral reconstruction, ICTH, which comprises a shallow feature extraction module (CSSM) and a deep feature extraction module (TDEM), implementing a coarse-to-fine spectral reconstruction scheme. To minimize information loss, we designed a novel spatial–spectral attention module (S2AM) as the foundation for constructing a U-transformer, enhancing the capture of long-range information across all dimensions. On three hyperspectral datasets, ICTH has exhibited remarkable strengths across quantitative, qualitative, and single-band detail assessments, while also revealing significant potential for subsequent applications, such as generalizability and vegetation index calculations) in two real-world datasets.

Aiming at the demand for long-range and high-resolution imaging detection of small targets such as submerged submarine markers in shallow coastal waters, research on single-photon lidar imaging technology is carried out. This paper reports the sequential two-mode fusion imaging algorithm, which has a strong information extraction capability and can reconstruct scene target depth and reflection intensity images from complex signal photon counts. The algorithm consists of four steps: data preprocessing, extremely large group value estimation, noise sieving, and total variation smoothing constraints to image the target with high quality. Simulation and test results show that the imaging performance and imaging characteristics of the method are better than the current high-performance first-photon group imaging algorithm, indicating that the method has a great advantage in sparse photon counting imaging, and the method proposed in this paper constructs a clear depth and reflectance intensity image of the target scene, even in the 50,828 Lux ambient strong light and strong interference, the 0.1 Lux low-light environment, or the underwater high-attenuation environment.

Oil monitoring plays an important role in early maintenance of mechanical equipment on account of the fact that lubricating oil contains a large amount of wear information. However, due to extreme industrial environment and long-term service, the data history and the sample size of lubricating oil are very limited. Therefore, to address problems due to a lack of oil samples, this paper proposes a new prediction strategy that fuses the domain shifts with uncertainty (DSU) method and long short-term memory (LSTM) method. The proposed DSU-LSTM model combines the advantages of the DSU model, such as increasing data diversity and uncertainty, reducing the impact of independent or identical domains on neural network training, and mitigating domain changes between different oil data histories, with the advantages of LSTM in predicting time series, thereby improving prediction capability. To validate the proposed method, a case study with real lubricating oil data is conducted, and comparisons are given by calculating the root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean relative error (MRE) with LSTM, support vector machine (SVM), and DSU-SVM models. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed DSU-LSTM method for lubricating oil, and the robustness of the prediction model can be improved as well.

Ischemic teat necrosis (ITN) is a growing problem in the dairy industry characterized by teat lesions, necrosis, pruritus and automutilation. Despite the economic and welfare consequences, there is no treatment, and the etiology of the disease remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate ITN by analyzing its clinical presentation, potential risk factors and microbial involvement. Methods included collection of milk and swab samples from affected cows over a period of one-and-a-half years and completion of questionnaires by veterinarians and farmers. Microbial testing included PCR testing for Treponema spp. and cultural testing by anaerobic and aerobic incubation on blood agar. The results showed a high and significant prevalence of Treponema spp. and Staphylococcus aureus in affected teats compared to non-ITN-affected control teats, indicating their potential role in the development of ITN. Other factors such as edema and milking practices also appear to contribute to the tissue damage. First-lactation and early-lactation heifers are particularly at risk. In conclusion, ITN appears to have a multifactorial etiology with both infectious and non-infectious factors playing a role. Further research is needed to better understand the complex interplay of these factors and to develop effective prevention and management strategies.

Prevention of new intramammary infection (NIMI) during the dry period (DP) is essential to prevent the development of mastitis in dairy cows. To investigate risk factors for NIMI, 212 cows, comprising a total of 848 udder quarters, were examined in this study. Quarter milk samples were taken on the day of drying off and 7 ± 3 days after calving. Cow- and quarter-level associated risk factors were assessed at the beginning of the DP and after calving. In total, 7.1% of the udder quarters developed an NIMI between the samplings. Non-aureus staphylococci (40.4%) and Gram-negative pathogens (22.8%) were most frequently the cause of NIMI. The observed milk leakage prevalence was 16.7%, with a peak 24 h after drying off. Simultaneously, the udder pressure peaked 24 h after drying off. A significant correlation between milk yield on the day before drying off and milk leakage could be proven. Cows with quarters leaking milk produced an average milk yield of 28.32 kg on the day before drying off. Generalised linear mixed models and odds ratios were calculated to determine the significant risk factors for NIMI during the DP and early lactation. Quarters leaking milk had 3.4 higher odds for NIMI between the samplings compared to quarters without milk leakage. Quarters from cows with dirty udders had 3.1 higher odds of developing an NIMI between the samplings compared to quarters from cows with clean udders. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of dry cow management before drying off and during the critical period of active involution of the udder tissue.

Abstract Liver resection (LR) is the only recommended effective curative treatment for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), but the prognosis of patients with ICC is still poor even after curative resection. Recently, many researchers focused on the therapeutic value of LT for patients with ICC. This study aimed to identify the role of liver transplantation in patients with ICC by internally comparing with LR in ICC and externally comparing with LT in HCC. We obtained patient data from SEER database. Propensity score methods were applied to control confounders. Survival outcome was estimated using Kaplan–Meier survival curves and compared using the log-rank test. A total of 2538 patients with ICC after surgery and 5048 patients with HCC after LT between 2000 and 2019 were included in this study. The prognosis of patients with ICC after LT were better than patients with ICC after LR in both unmatched (HR 0.65, P = 0.002) and matched cohorts (HR 0.62, P = 0.009). The 5-year OS rate after LT could be improved to 61.7% in patients with local advanced ICC after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that the prognosis of patients with ICC after LT was better than patients with ICC after LR, but was still worse than patients with HCC after LT. LT with neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be considered as a treatment option for patients with locally advanced ICC, but more prospective multicenter clinical trials are needed to further confirm these results.

The use of strong intermolecular interaction force to promote the formation of ion transport channels is one of the common methods to increase the conductivity of AEMs. In this work, a series of poly(acenaphthylenyl aryl piperidinium) membranes and ionomer were prepared by ultra-strong acid-catalyzed polymerization. The π-π self-assembly of acenaphthylene monomer promoted the aggregation of piperidinium cation and the formation of efficient ion transport channel, which was confirmed by well aggregated transmission electron micrographs of the ion clusters. Therefore, the prepared membrane had desirable conductivity (173.38 mS cm−1 at 80 °C). Meanwhile, the membrane exhibited excellent alkaline stability (99 % retention of conductivity in 3 M NaOH solution immersed at 80 °C for 1000 h), acceptable dimensional stability (swelling rate < 27.78 % at 80 °C), and high mechanical properties (tensile strength >33.9 MPa). The H2/O2 fuel cell assembled based on the prepared QPANTP-20 membrane and ionomer exhibited peak power density of 266 mW cm−2 at 80 °C.

ABSTRACT Clostridium species have gained attention in industrial and medical applications, and the development of genetic tools has enabled the advancement of the CRISPR-Cas systems for these bacteria. Compared to the primarily used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes, the utilization of Cas12a (previously known as Cpf1) proteins remains incomplete in clostridia, although they exhibit potential advantages, including T-rich recognition for Clostridium genomes and lower toxicity. In this study, we expanded the CRISPR-Cas tools in clostridia by establishing a CRISPR-Cas12a system with two different cas12a genes (Ascas12a from Acidaminococcus and Fncas12a from Francisella novicida). The optimized tetracycline-inducible systems were initially determined by the glucuronidase reporter and were used to drive expression of the cas12a genes and crRNAs. Our results demonstrate that the CRISPR-FnCas12a system offers flexible target selection in clostridia, and a specific folding pattern of the precursor crRNA is important to enable high mutation generation efficiency. By using sacB (encoding levansucrase) as a negative marker for plasmid curing and determining the optimal size of the donor DNA template for gene integration in the CRISPR-FnCas12a system, we achieved highly efficient and rapid genome modification, exemplified by the successful engineering of clostridia (Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium sporogenes) to produce near-infrared fluorescence from biliverdin and hemin. IMPORTANCE Continued efforts in developing the CRISPR-Cas systems will further enhance our understanding and utilization of Clostridium species. This study demonstrates the development and application of a genome-engineering tool in two Clostridium strains, Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium sporogenes, which have promising potential as probiotics and oncolytic agents. Particular attention was given to the folding of precursor crRNA and the role of this process in off-target DNA cleavage by Cas12a. The results provide the guidelines necessary for efficient genome engineering using this system in clostridia. Our findings not only expand our fundamental understanding of genome-engineering tools in clostridia but also improve this technology to allow use of its full potential in a plethora of biotechnological applications.

Objectives While many studies have presented excellent short‐term outcomes of the metaphyseal sleeves used in revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA), currently published mid‐term results remain limited and some controversial issues remain unresolved. The purpose of this study was to investigate clinical and radiographic mid‐term outcomes of the sleeves for the management of metaphyseal bone defects in revision TKAs. Methods From 2015 to 2019, 44 patients (45 knees) who were operated with cementless porous‐coated metaphyseal sleeve in revision TKA were included in this study. Bone defects were assessed according to Anderson Orthopaedic Research Institute Classification. On the tibial side, there were 37 type II and six type III, and with regards to the femur, 15 were type II, and four were type III. Through reviewing electronic records, data were collected, including baseline demographics, operative details, information of prothesis, and complications. Clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed, including Knee Society Scores (KSS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), range of motion (ROM), the radiolucent line, level of joint line, and implant survival rate. Statistical analysis was performed by paired t‐test for clinical and radiographic indexes. Results The mean follow‐up time was 4.4 ± 1.4 years. During surgery, sleeve‐related fractures were encountered in four (8.9%) knees, including incomplete tibial fracture of lateral cortex in one knee and of medial cortex in two knees, and longitudinal femoral metaphyseal fracture in one knee. Unions were achieved in all cases at the final follow‐up. Significant improvements in KSS and WOMAC scores were found at the final follow‐up, respectively, from 83.8 ± 29.1 to 152.9 ± 31.0 (t = −12.146, p

Despite considerable clinical success, the potential of cancer immunotherapy is restricted by a lack of tumour-targeting strategies. Treatment requires systemic delivery of cytokines or antibodies at high levels to achieve clinically effective doses at malignant sites. This is exacerbated by poor penetration of tumour tissue by therapeutic antibodies. High-grade immune-related adverse events (irAEs) occur in a significant number of patients (5-15%, cancer- and therapeutic-dependent) that can lead to lifelong issues and can exclude from treatment patients with pre-existing autoimmune diseases. Tumour-homing bacteria, genetically engineered to produce therapeutics, is one of the approaches that seeks to mitigate these drawbacks. The ability of Clostridium sporogenes to form spores that are unable to germinate in the presence of oxygen (typical of healthy tissue) offers a unique advantage over other vectors. However, the limited utility of existing gene editing tools hinders the development of therapeutic strains. To overcome the limitations of previous systems, expression of the Cas9 protein and the gRNA was controlled using tetracycline inducible promoters. Furthermore, the components of the system were divided across two plasmids, improving the efficiency of cloning and conjugation. Genome integrated therapeutic genes were assayed biochemically and in cell-based functional assays. The potency of these strains was further improved through rationally-conceived gene knock-outs. The new system was validated by demonstrating the efficient addition and deletion of large sequences from the genome. This included the creation of recombinant strains expressing two pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and a pro-drug converting enzyme (PCE). A comparative, temporal in vitro analysis of the integrant strains and their plasmid-based equivalents revealed a substantial reduction of cytokine activity in chromosome-based constructs. To compensate for this loss, a 7.6 kb operon of proteolytic genes was deleted from the genome. The resultant knock-out strains showed an 8- to 10-fold increase in cytokine activity compared to parental strains.

Summary: Reported herein is a new set of vectors designed to streamline molecular cloning and genome editing by exploiting modern cloning methods. The new vectors build on the existing pMTL8000 vectors that have been a staple of Clostridium research for more than a decade. The introduction of two pairs of type IIS restriction sites flanking an insulated multiple cloning site in both a cloning vector and a CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing vector enables plasmid construction in a “one-pot” reaction, avoiding the more laborious steps of conventional cloning. A synthetic lacZα expression cassette introduced between the cloning sites enables visual detection of background colonies. In addition, distinct selection markers on each vector permit selection of the desired clones according to antibiotic resistance. An example of strain development using the new vectors is demonstrated.

Objective Early prediction of stem version aids in optimization of combined version during total hip arthroplasty (THA). This study aimed to analyze the discrepancy between stem version and native femoral version measured by different methods, and to explore which method can better predict the stem version. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 26 patients (39 hips) treated with robot‐assisted THA in our hospital between September 2019 and December 2019. A straight, single‐wedge, cementless stem (Accolade II) was used in all cases. Preoperative femoral version was measured at three levels on computerized tomography (CT) scan from the top to the middle level of femoral neck (Level 1 to Level 3). During THA, the version on cutting surface was measured prior to femoral broaching based on two reference lines: mid‐cortical line and T line (trochanteric fossa to the middle of medial cortex). After femoral broaching, stem version was measured based on the femoral neck trial using Mako system (Stryker). In the statistical analysis, the difference and absolute discrepancy between stem version and femoral version measured with various methods were examined using paired t‐test, and the relationship between stem version and various femoral versions were examined using correlation analysis. Results Mean femoral neck version (Level 1) was 9.5° ± 2.6° (range, −16.8°‐42.5°), while mean stem version measured by Mako system was 19.9° ± 2.0° (range, −8.0°‐49.0°). Femoral version measured with each method showed a moderate correlation with stem version (p

Abstract Background With the development of radiology and three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, custom-made 3D-printed titanium augments have been more widely used. However, the radiological and clinical outcomes of custom-made augments lack reports. To better understand the clinical effect of using 3D-printed titanium augments and the significance of accurate placement, the aim of this study was to assess the outcomes when using custom-made 3D-printed titanium augments and to validate the idea that surgical simulation should be done before designing custom-made augments. Methods A retrospective review was conducted on 31 surgical simulations and revision total hip arthroplasties using custom-made 3D-printed titanium augments. The safe zone, cup position, and hip rotation center were measured on anteroposterior radiographs. Clinical outcomes were assessed with a mean 21.1 months of follow-up. Results All patients were positioned within the safe zone, and none of the acetabular cups nor the custom-made augments had any evidence of migration at the latest follow-up. A strong correlation was found between the planned cup position and the postoperative position. The average vertical position of the center of rotation was significantly increased from 3.55 cm to 2.35 cm. The mean Harris Hip Score was increased from 40.81 preoperatively to 65.46 postoperatively. Complications included gait abnormality, groin pain, fracture of the greater trochanter, and partial palsy of the sciatic nerve. However, patient satisfaction reached 92.3%. Conclusion Surgical simulations help to design custom-made augments accurately and improve surgical plans. Acetabular components supported with custom-made 3D-printed augments is a useful method to bridge severe bone deficiencies. In this study, both the radiologic results and clinical outcomes were favorable. Level of evidence Level 4.

Abstract Background Bridging bone defects in revision total hip arthroplasty is a challenge to orthopedic surgeons. The eccentric revision cup is a progression of jumbo cup. Our aim is to confirm the optimal screw-hole positions of the eccentric revision cup by morphological measurements of three-dimensional pelvic reconstruction. Methods Eighty CT images were converted to virtual three-dimensional bones. After simulating the surgery procedure, all available screw holes were inserted with the screws in virtual. By measuring the length of the screw in the pelvic bone, we determined the rich bone stock area. Then the screw holes were designed according to the characteristics of bone stock distribution. The peripheral screw-hole cluster and inner screw-hole cluster were studied respectively. Results For peripheral screw-hole cluster, five screw holes were evenly distributed between point A and point B in the thicker rim. For inner screw-hole cluster, screw hole 1 and screw hole 2 are the recommended inner screw holes. Conclusion The eccentric revision cup has inherited the strengths of jumbo cup besides several unique advantages, including using the peripheral screws enhancing primary stability; decreasing the shift of hip rotation center and restoring biomechanical function; reducing the risk of dislocation because of the smaller head-cup differences; increasing the contact area between the outer cup and the host bone while maintaining a normal inclination of the inner cup. In this study, we confirmed the optimal screw-hole positions of the eccentric revision cup by surgical simulation and morphological measurement. However, biomechanical tests are still being further explored.

Penoxsulam is an acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide usually applied by post-emergence foliar spraying (PFS) for the control of Echinochloa crus-galli and numerous annual weeds in paddy fields. Herbicides applied by foliar spraying can have negative impacts on the environment, ecosystems, and human health. In this study, the response of E. crus-galli and rice to the PFS and post-emergence water-dispersal (PWD) applications of penoxsulam, and the differences in the detoxification displayed by them between the two treatment methods were compared. The results showed that the PWD application of penoxsulam provides a similar control efficacy against E. crus-galli as PFS at the 1-, 3-, and 5-leaf stages. Meanwhile, the PWD application had a higher safety for the rice. After being treated with 30 g a.i. ha−1 penoxsulam, residues were not detected in the rice treated by the PWD application method, whereas, with the PFS treatment, there was 59.0 µg/kg penoxsulam remaining. With the PFS application, there were many more residues of penoxsulam in the E. crus-galli than with the PWD method; the amount of residues was 32-fold higher 12 h after treatment. The in vitro enzyme activity assays revealed that the activities of ALS, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450) were increased in the PWD treatments, and were 1.5-, 1.3-, and 2.3-fold higher than with PFS 72 h after treatment. The real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) revealed that the GST1 and P450 genes, CYP81A14, CYP81A12, CYP81A18, and CYP81A21 were upregulated with the PWD application versus PFS in the E. crus-galli. In summary, these results demonstrate that the herbicidal activity was not affected by the upregulation of target and metabolic enzyme activities with the PWD application of penoxsulam. This research could contribute to application strategies reducing the risk of rice injury and environmental impacts by using water-dispersal formulations of penoxsulam.

LiDAR point clouds often suffer from sparsity and uneven distributions in outdoor scenes, leading to the poor performance of cutting-edge 3D object detectors. In this paper, we propose Point-Rich, which is designed to improve the performance of 3D object detection. Point-Rich consists of two key modules: HighDensity and HighLight. The HighDensity module addresses the issue of density imbalance by enhancing the point cloud density. The HighLight module leverages image semantic features to enrich the point clouds. Importantly, Point-Rich imposes no restrictions on the 3D object detection architecture and remains unaffected by feature or depth blur. The experimental results show that compared with the Pointpillars on the KITTI dataset, the mAP of Point-Rich under the bird’s eyes view improves by 5.53% on average.

Belt drive has been widely used in front end auxiliary system of vehicle internal combustion engine. The vibration and noise of belt have drawn more and more attention，which directly affects the safe and comfortable driving experience of market customers. In order to solve the belt noise problem，the abnormal noise of the engine bay during the acceleration of a compact SUV model is taken as an example to systematically carry out the identification and investigation of the belt noise. The potential mechanism of the belt transverse vibration and noise is expounded. By optimizing the dynamic characteristics of the crankshaft damper TVD，the torsional vibration excitation of the accessory belt train is reduced. Then，the belt abnormal noise is eliminated and the dynamic sound quality of the vehicle is improved. The paper provides a new engineering development idea for solving similar belt noise problems.

The recent development of tough tissue adhesives has stimulated intense interests among material scientists and medical doctors. However, these adhesives have seldom been tested in clinically demanding surgeries. Here we demonstrate adhesive anastomosis in organ transplantation. Anastomosis is commonly conducted by dense sutures and takes a long time, during which all the vessels are occluded. Prolonged occlusion may damage organs and even cause death. We formulate a tough, biocompatible, bioabsorbable adhesive that can sustain tissue tension and pressurized flow. We expose the endothelial surface of vessels onto a gasket, press two endothelial surfaces to the adhesive using a pair of magnetic rings, and reopen the bloodstream immediately. The time for adhesive anastomosis is shortened compared to the time for sutured anastomosis. We have achieved adhesive anastomosis of a great vein in transplanting the liver of a pig. After the surgery, the adhesive is absorbed, the vein heals, and the pig lives for over one month.

Abstract Background Managing periprosthetic joint infections are variable in practices. Debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention (DAIR) is one of the favorable interventions. Given that the success rate of the two-stage revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA) might be overestimated. The purpose of this study is to compare the success rate between DAIR and standard two-stage rTKA with a comparable intervention time. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the consecutive knee periprosthetic joint infection cases which underwent DAIR or two-stage rTKA (all procedures were performed by the senior author) within 12 weeks since their primary TKA between July 2009 and October 2019. Average follow-up was 72.20 ± 40.70 months (range 29–148 months) in the DAIR group compared to 89.14 ± 43.06 months after spacer insertion (range 29–163 months) in the two-stage revision group (P = 0.156). According to different interventions, demographic data; timing of surgical intervention; hospital for special surgery knee score; and success rate were collected and compared between the DAIR group and two-stage revision group. Failure of treatment was based on the Delphi consensus and the fate of spacers. The pathogen types and failure cases were also recorded and analyzed. Results Average follow-up was 72.20 ± 40.70 months (range 29–148 months) in the DAIR group compared to 89.14 ± 43.06 months after spacer insertion (range 29–163 months) in the two-stage revision group. Time from index surgery was 3.90 ± 2.92 weeks (range 0–12 weeks) in the DAIR group, and 5.11 ± 2.86 weeks (range 0–12 weeks) in the 2-stage exchange group, respectively. The success rate was 70.0% and 75.0% in the DAIR group and two-stage revision group, respectively. But no significant differences were observed between the two groups. Conclusion DAIR demonstrated comparable effectiveness with two-stage rTKA. We recommended DAIR as a choice for patients with current infection within 12 weeks after primary TKA. For methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections and fungal infections, two-stage rTKA might be preferred.

Because of the radial clearance, the radial stiffness of rolling bearing will show obvious time-varying characteristics, which may cause a certain vibration. The small defects on the raceway of the rolling bearing maybe caused by the vibration under the poor lubrication conditions. A dynamic model of rolling bearing rotor system considering the radial clearance and outer raceway defect is established in this paper. The time-varying stiffness of rolling bearing is fitted by 8-order Fourier series and substituted into the dynamic model. The vibration response of rotor system is obtained to analyze the fault characteristic frequency of rolling bearing. The vibration test of rolling bearing rotor system is carried out, and the fault characteristic frequency of the test bearing is identified by analyzing the frequency spectrum of the obtained vibration signal. The test results are in good agreement with the theoretical values, which verifies the correctness of the dynamic model.

BackgroundInfective endocarditis (IE), though uncommon, is a potentially lethal disease. Blood culture-negative endocarditis (BCNIE) accounts for 2.5%–31% of all cases of IE and can lead to life-threatening complications, including aortic root pseudoaneurysm. It is associated with considerable diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas. TrueVue and TrueVue Glass include the latest two technologies applied in advanced three-dimensional echocardiography, which allow for novel photorealistic images of cardiac structures, and provide abundant previously unavailable diagnostic information. Herein, based on a series of novel three-dimensional echocardiographic methods, we report a case of BCNIE with aortic valve involvement, leading to aortic valve perforation and prolapse, and developing into a giant aortic root pseudoaneurysm.Case summaryIn this study, we presented a case of a 64-year-old man exhibiting symptoms of intermittent fever, asthenia, and dyspnea following light exertion. Physical examination, laboratory tests, and electrocardiograms were suspected of IE, though the results of blood cultures were exactly negative. Three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography, as well as a series of novel advanced techniques, was adopted to clearly visualize the lesions of the aortic valve and aortic root. However, despite active medical treatment modalities, the patient eventually suffered from a sudden, unexpected death 5 days later.ConclusionBCNIE with aortic valve involvement and development into a giant aortic root pseudoaneurysm is a rare and serious clinical event. In addition, TrueVue and TrueVue Glass offer unprecedented photographic stereoscopic images, enhancing the diagnostic performance of such structural heart diseases.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate associated factors of the severity of clinical mastitis (CM). Milk samples of 249 cases of CM were microbiologically examined, of which 27.2% were mild, 38.5% moderate, and 34.3% severe mastitis. The samples were incubated aerobically and anaerobically to investigate the role of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. In addition, the pathogen shedding was quantitatively examined, and animal individual data, outside temperature and relative humidity, were collected to determine associated factors for the severity of CM. The pathogen isolated the most was Escherichia coli (35.2%), followed by Streptococcus spp. (16.4%). Non-aureus staphylococci (NaS) (15.4%) and other pathogens (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, coryneforms) (15.4%) were the pathogens that were isolated the most for mild mastitis. Moderate mastitis was mostly caused by E. coli (38%). E. coli was also the most common pathogen in severe mastitis (50.6%), followed by Streptococcus spp. (16.4%), and Klebsiella spp. (10.3%). Obligate anaerobes (Clostridium spp.) were isolated in one case (0.4%) of moderate mastitis. The mortality rate (deceased or culled due to the mastitis in the following two weeks) was 34.5% for severe mastitis, 21.7% for moderate mastitis, and 4.4% for mild mastitis. The overall mortality rate of CM was 21.1%. The pathogen shedding (back logarithmized) was highest for severe mastitis (55,000 cfu/mL) and E. coli (91,200 cfu/mL). High pathogen shedding, low previous somatic cell count (SCC) before mastitis, high outside temperature, and high humidity were associated with severe courses of mastitis.

BackgroundPancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) are a group of uncommon tumors derived from peptide neurons and neuroendocrine cells, and account for roughly 2% to 4% of all pancreatic neoplasms. This study aimed to construct and validate a nomogram for predicting the prognosis of patients with pNETs. Our data came from the SEER database.MethodsA total of 5927 pNETs patients between 2004 and 2018 were included in this study. The nomogram was constructed base on eight prognostic factors and validated by C-index, ROC curve and calibration curves. A nomogram based on eight independent prognostic factors (patient age, sex, race, tumor grade, AJCC T, AJCC N, AJCC M, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, tumor function and marital status) was developed for the prediction of CSS at 3 and 5 years.ResultsThe C-index and AUCs of the nomogram demonstrated that its superiority in discrimination over AJCC staging system. The calibration plots showed the good consistency between predictions and actual observations.ConclusionsIn conclusion, our nomogram could better predict the prognosis of pNETs patients than AJCC staging system. The nomogram could be improved by integrating more important factors other than SEER database.

Background and AimsIntrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma has an increasing global incidence and mortality rate. Hepatectomy is still the most effective curative treatment for patients with ICC, but the prognosis of patients with ICC is still poor even after curative resection. This study aimed to incorporate important factors obtained from SEER database to construct and validate a nomogram for predicting the cancer-specific survival of patients with ICC after hepatectomy.MethodsWe obtained patient data from SEER database. The nomogram was constructed base on six prognostic factors for predicting CSS rates in ICC patients. The nomogram was validated by C-index, ROC curve and calibration curves.ResultsA total of 919 patients with ICC after hepatectomy between 2000 and 2018 were included in this study. A nomogram based on six independent prognostic factors (Black race, AJCC T, AJCC N, AJCC M, chemotherapy and PLNR ≥ 0.15) was developed for the prediction of CSS at 3 and 5 years. The C-index of the nomogram and AJCC stage system were 0.709 and 0.657 in the training cohort respectively. The 3- and 5-year AUCs of nomogram were 0.744 and 0.75 in the training cohort. The calibration plots indicated that there was good agreement between the actual observations and predictions.ConclusionsIn conclusion, we constructed and validated a nomogram for predicting the 3- and 5-year CSS in ICC patients after hepatectomy. We have confirmed the precise calibration and acceptable discrimination power of our nomogram. The predictive power of this nomogram may be improved by considering other potential important factors and also by external validation.

Abstract Objective We aimed to determine the association between serum receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (sRANKL) levels and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Chinese patients. Methods The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Database, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP, and Wan Fang databases were searched for studies conducted before October 1, 2020, without language restrictions. STATA version 12.0 and Revman version 5.3 were used to analyze the data. The standard mean differences (SMDs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Results Twelve clinical case–control studies, including 585 patients with AS and 423 healthy controls, were included. The combined SMD for sRANKL suggested that the sRANKL level was significantly higher in Chinese patients with AS than in healthy controls (SMD: 3.27, 95% CI 2.11–4.43, P 4 than those of patients in other subgroups. In terms of duration, patients with AS for > 8 years had higher sRANKL levels than health controls. Other subgroup analyses were conducted by region, language, source of control, age, and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI). In these subgroups, the sRANKL levels were significantly higher in the patients with AS than in healthy controls. The BASFI and BASDAI were sources of heterogeneity. Conclusions The sRANKL levels are higher in Chinese patients with AS, especially among those from South China. sRANKL levels may be positively correlated with the pathogenesis of AS among Chinese patients.

The influences of the superficial velocity and particle diameter on gas–solid flow characterizations in a rolling circulation fluidized bed (RCFB) are clarified by using the electrical capacitance tomography method. Gas–solid flow characterizations include the time-space averaged particle volume fraction ᾱz′, the time transition of the cross-sectional average particle volume fraction 〈α〉t, and the radial profile of the particle volume fraction 〈α〉r/R. Two kinds of particles are selected in the case that the particle diameter is 0.22 mm and the superficial velocity is set to 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 m/s and in the case that the particle diameter is 0.45 mm and the superficial velocity is set to 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 m/s. After analyzing the results, the main conclusions are able to be summarized as follows: First, when compared with the superficial velocity, ᾱz′ visualized from particle distribution images is much more influenced by the particle diameter. Second, the fluctuations of 〈α〉t and 〈α〉r/R tend to be more serious under the conditions of larger particle and lower riser’s height, which are able to be quantitatively explained by the fast Fourier transform of 〈α〉t and the spatial standard deviation 〈σs〉 of 〈α〉r/R. Consequently, a strategy to guarantee both particle distribution stability and particle distribution uniformity within the RCFB is proposed.

Object-space model optimization (OSMO) has been proven to be a simple and high-accuracy approach for additive manufacturing of tomographic reconstructions compared with other approaches. In this paper, an improved OSMO algorithm is proposed in the context of OSMO. In addition to the two model optimization steps in each iteration of OSMO, another two steps are introduced: one step enhances the target regions’ in-part edges of the intermediate model, and the other step weakens the target regions’ out-of-part edges of the intermediate model to further improve the reconstruction accuracy of the target boundary. Accordingly, a new quality metric for volumetric printing, named ‘Edge Error’, is defined. Finally, reconstructions on diverse exemplary geometries show that all the quality metrics, such as VER, PW, IPDR, and Edge Error, of the new algorithm are significantly improved; thus, this improved OSMO approach achieves better performance in convergence and accuracy compared with OSMO.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the occurrence of bacteremia in severe mastitis cases of dairy cows. Milk and corresponding blood samples of 77 cases of severe mastitis were bacteriologically examined. All samples (milk and blood) were incubated aerobically and anaerobically to also investigate the role of obligate anaerobic microorganisms in addition to aerobic microorganisms in severe mastitis. Bacteremia occurred if identical bacterial strains were isolated from milk and blood samples of the same case. In addition, pathogen shedding was examined, and the data of animals and weather were collected to determine associated factors for the occurrence of bacteremia in severe mastitis. If Gram-negative bacteria were detected in milk samples, a Limulus test (detection of endotoxins) was also performed for corresponding blood samples without the growth of Gram-negative bacteria. In 74 cases (96.1%), microbial growth was detected in aerobically incubated milk samples. The most-frequently isolated bacteria in milk samples were Escherichia (E.) coli (48.9%), Streptococcus (S.) spp. (18.1%), and Klebsiella (K.) spp. (16%). Obligatory anaerobic microorganisms were not isolated. In 72 cases (93.5%) of the aerobically examined blood samples, microbial growth was detected. The most-frequently isolated pathogens in blood samples were non-aureus Staphylococci (NaS) (40.6%) and Bacillus spp. (12.3%). The Limulus test was positive for 60.5% of cases, which means a detection of endotoxins in most blood samples without the growth of Gram-negative bacteria. Bacteremia was confirmed in 12 cases (15.5%) for K. pneumoniae (5/12), E. coli (4/12), S. dysgalactiae (2/12), and S. uberis (1/12). The mortality rate (deceased or culled) was 66.6% for cases with bacteremia and 34.1% for cases without bacteremia. High pathogen shedding and high humidity were associated with the occurrence of bacteremia in severe mastitis.

Based on fieldwork and the analysis of the historical literature, this article studies the development of material culture in the cult of popular goddess Mazu, exploring in particular the materialization mechanisms and strategies deployed by various actors in her worship nowadays. Through the ages, people in China have expressed their religious feelings and experiences in the objects they display, worship, and exchange, as well as in the spaces that they build and inhabit. In this process, religious beliefs are externalized in forms of material culture, including symbols, texts, relics, music, and temples. As a result, these artifacts and places carry individual and collective memories and affects that allow believers to experience religion not only at special events like festivals and pilgrimages, but in everyday life. In modern China, the connotations and forms of material carriers have diversified. The rise of souvenirs and other forms of cultural consumption have transformed the materialization of religiosity. In the worship of Mazu, the relationship between pilgrimage, tourism, entertainment, and the production and circulation of commodities has become increasingly tight, changing the cult’s beliefs and their physical expression. That connection also brings social and economic sustenance to the local community. Taking the Mazu Temple in Meizhou as a case, this paper adopts a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to examine the pilgrimage–tourism–commerce nexus, as well as other contemporary forms of the materialization of her cult.

To design cost-effective prevention strategies against mastitis in dairy cow farms, knowledge about infection pathways of causative pathogens is necessary. Therefore, we investigated the reservoirs of bacterial strains causing intramammary infections in one dairy cow herd. Quarter foremilk samples (n = 8056) and milking- and housing-related samples (n = 251; from drinking troughs, bedding material, walking areas, cow brushes, fly traps, milking liners, and milker gloves), were collected and examined using culture-based methods. Species were identified with MALDI-TOF MS, and selected Staphylococcus and Streptococcus spp. typed with randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR. Staphylococci were isolated from all and streptococci from most investigated locations. However, only for Staphylococcus aureus, matching strain types (n = 2) were isolated from milk and milking-related samples (milking liners and milker gloves). Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus haemolyticus showed a large genetic diversity without any matches of strain types from milk and other samples. Streptococcus uberis was the only Streptococcus spp. isolated from milk and milking- or housing-related samples. However, no matching strains were found. This study underlines the importance of measures preventing the spread of Staphylococcus aureus between quarters during milking.

In order to research the influence of the time-varying stiffness of rolling bearings on the precision of spindle rotation of machine tools， a time-varying stiffness model of rolling bearings are established by considering the radial clearance. And the average stiffness and stiffness amplitude change rate are proposed to characterize the time-varying characteristics of stiffness. Taking deep groove ball bearings as an example， the influences of different radial clearances， loads， and numbers of bearing rolling elements on the time-varying stiffness of rolling bearings are analyzed. The results show that the average stiffness of the bearing is negatively related to the radial clearance and positively related to the load and the number of rolling elements； the stiffness amplitude change rate generally increases with the increase of the radial clearance， and decreases with the increase of the load and the number of rolling elements. But when the number of equivalent bearing rolling elements is an integer， the time-varying characteristics of rolling bearing stiffness are the most significant. In order to reduce the time-varying characteristics of bearing stiffness， a reasonable clearance and number of rolling elements should be selected according to the working conditions such as load and speed.

During machine milking, pathogenic microorganisms can be transmitted from cow to cow through liners. Therefore, in Germany, a spray method for the intermediate disinfection of the milking cluster is often used for prevention. This method of cluster disinfection is easy to perform, requires little time and no extra materials, and the disinfection solution is safe from outside contamination in the spray bottle. Since no data on a systematic efficacy trial are available, the aim of this study was to determine the microbial reduction effect of intermediate disinfection. Therefore, laboratory and field trials were conducted. In both trials, two sprays of 0.85 mL per burst of different disinfectant solutions were sprayed into the contaminated liners. For sampling, a quantitative swabbing method using a modified wet–dry swab (WDS) technique based on DIN 10113-1: 1997-07 was applied. Thus, the effectiveness of disinfectants based on Peracetic Acid, Hydrogen Peroxide and Plasma-Activated Buffered Solution (PABS) was compared. In the laboratory trial, the inner surfaces of liners were contaminated with pure cultures of Escherichia (E.) coli, Staphylococcus (S.) aureus, Streptococcus (Sc.) uberis and Sc. agalactiae. The disinfection of the contaminated liners with the disinfectants resulted in a significant reduction in bacteria with values averaging 1 log for E. coli, 0.7 log for S. aureus, 0.7 log for Sc. uberis and 0.8 log for Sc. agalactiae. The highest reduction was obtained for contamination with E. coli (1.3 log) and Sc. uberis (0.8 log) when PABS was applied and for contamination with S. aureus (1.1 log) and Sc. agalactiae (1 log) when Peracetic Acid Solution (PAS) was used. Treatment with sterile water only led to an average reduction of 0.4 log. In the field trial, after the milking of 575 cows, the liners were disinfected and the total microorganism count from the liner surface was performed. The reduction was measured against an untreated liner within the cluster. Although a reduction in microorganisms was achieved in the field trial, it was not significant. When using PAS, a log reduction of 0.3 was achieved; when using PABS, a log reduction of 0.2 was obtained. The difference between the two disinfection methods was also not significant. Treatment with sterile water only led to a reduction of 0.1 log. The results show that spray disinfection under these circumstances does result in a reduction in the bacteria on the milking liner surface, but for effective disinfection a higher reduction would be preferred.

Ultrasonic-assisted wire–arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) can refine microstructures, enhancing performance and improving stress concentration and anisotropy. It has important application prospects in aerospace, weaponry, energy, transportation, and other frontier fields. However, the process parameters of ultrasonic treatment as an auxiliary technology in the WAAM process still have an important impact on product performance indicators, such as the amplitude of the ultrasonic tool, the distance between the points of action of the product, and the scanning speed. The number of ultrasonic impacts influences the performance indexes. Therefore, these parameters must be optimized. This paper describes the advantages and the defects of WAAM components, as well as the principle and development status of ultrasonic treatment technology. Subsequently, this paper also briefly describes how ultrasonic-assisted technology can refine the crystal and improve the mechanical properties of WAAM components. Finally, we review the influence of process parameters (such as ultrasonic amplitude, application direction, and impact times) on the product materials. In this paper, a comprehensive optimization method for ultrasonic parameters is proposed to improve the mechanical properties of WAAM components.

This paper mainly proposed a dynamic control method of particle distribution uniformity in a rolling circulating fluidized bed (RCFB) by using an air distribution plate. An Euler–Euler numerical simulation approach which is called two-fluid flow model is used to simulate the behaviors multiphase flow within the RCFB. Six different tilt angles θ which are θ = 2°, 5°, 8°, 10°, 12° and 15° are used for the fixed inclination state of the RCFB, meanwhile, eight different inclined angles φ which are φ = −2°, −5°, 0°, 2°, 5°,8°, 10° and 12° are used for the location of the air distribution plate. After performing the simulation, the following three different conclusions are obtained. Firstly, with the increase of θ, serious uneven distribution behaviors for particles are founded at the lower position of the riser which is a part of the RCFB. Secondly, by adjusting φ, the uneven phenomenon of particles distribution behaviors is able to be alleviated no matter how θ changes for the RCFB. Thirdly, a function relation between θ and φ is obtained, which is verified by using the dynamic control method based on the dynamic mesh model in the RCFB.

The fusion quality of infrared and visible image is very important for subsequent human understanding of image information and target processing. The fusion quality of the existing infrared and visible image fusion methods still has room for improvement in terms of image contrast, sharpness and richness of detailed information. To obtain better fusion performance, an infrared and visible image fusion algorithm based on latent low-rank representation (LatLRR) nested with rolling guided image filtering (RGIF) is proposed that is a novel solution that integrates two-level decomposition and three-layer fusion. First, infrared and visible images are decomposed using LatLRR to obtain the low-rank sublayers, saliency sublayers, and sparse noise sublayers. Then, RGIF is used to perform further multiscale decomposition of the low-rank sublayers to extract multiple detail layers, which are fused using convolutional neural network (CNN)-based fusion rules to obtain the detail-enhanced layer. Next, an algorithm based on improved visual saliency mapping with weighted guided image filtering (IVSM-GIF) is used to fuse the low-rank sublayers, and an algorithm for adaptive weighting of regional energy features based on Laplacian pyramid decomposition is used to fuse the saliency sublayers. Finally, the fused low-rank sublayer, saliency sublayer, and detail-enhanced layer are used to reconstruct the final image. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-art fusion methods in terms of visual quality and objective evaluation, achieving the highest average values in six objective evaluation metrics.

Although the traditional image fusion method can obtain rich image results, obvious artificial noise and artifacts are often present in the resulting image. Fusion algorithms based on neural networks can avoid the shortcomings of traditional methods, but they are more complex and less flexible. In this study, we proposed a fusion method using the deep residual neural network ResNet152, which can not only effectively suppress artificial noise but also preserve the edge details of the image and improve the efficiency of the neural network. The proposed method is characterized by a multiscale transformation of an infrared image and visible light image in the optimized nonsubsampled contourlet transformation domain, and the deep residual neural network ResNet152 is used to extract the deep features of the low-pass component to guide the fusion of the low-pass component. The bandpass component is fused by taking the modulus maximum. This method can fully retain the global features and structural information of the source image in the result image. Compared to existing fusion methods using public test image sets, the experimental results show that on a subjective level, the fusion method creates sharper depth edges and fewer noise artifacts than traditional fusion methods. From an objective perspective, the average value for the results of the evaluation function is greater than that of other fusion methods.

Abstract Objective We evaluated the association between monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and osteoarthritis. Methods We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP (Chinese database), and Wan Fang (Chinese database) (before May 10, 2020), with no language limitations. STATA version 12.0 and Revman version 5.3 were used for data analysis. The standard mean difference (SMD) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Nine clinical studies, including 376 patients with osteoarthritis and 306 healthy controls, were evaluated. Results The combined SMDs of MCP-1 expression levels suggested that MCP-1 expression was significantly higher in patients with osteoarthritis than healthy controls (SMD = 1.97, 95% CI = 0.66–3.28, p = 0.003). Moreover, subgroup analysis implied that osteoarthritis patients from both Asians and mixed populations had higher MCP-1 expression levels than controls, whereas Caucasians did not (p > 0.05). Serum MCP-1 levels (SMD = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.07–4.6, p < 0.00001) were significantly higher in patients with osteoarthritis than in controls; however, this difference was not significant in synovial fluid and cartilage tissue. Subgroup analysis for ethnicity showed that MCP-1 levels were significantly higher in Chinese, Dutch, and Brazilian patients with osteoarthritis than in control groups, although significant differences were not observed for American and Italian subgroups. Conclusions Our meta-analysis demonstrated that MCP-1 expression levels were higher in patients with osteoarthritis than in healthy controls and that MCP-1 may play important roles in the progression of osteoarthritis. Serum MCP-1 levels may serve as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis.

As a viable substitute for bisphenol A (BPA), BPF has been widely used in the plastic industry and daily consumer goods, resulting in its detection in humans at a comparable concentration. Evidence reveals that BPF and BPA may have similar toxic effects due to their similar structures. However, there is less information about BPF and its latent implications on the immune system, which is associated with many disorders. In this study, the in vitro toxicity of BPF on RAW264.7 macrophages was explored. The cells were treated with different concentrations of BPF (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 μM), the cell viability and apoptosis were detected, the gene expression profile was analyzed by whole-transcriptome sequencing, and the mRNA levels were detected by qRT-PCR. The results showed a high concentration of BPF could significantly reduce the survival rate of RAW264.7 macrophages. Although the medium concentration (20–50 μM) of BPF seemed to have no impact on the cell activity of macrophages, it caused the occurrence of apoptosis. The results of differential transcription showed that compared with the control group, 121 genes were upregulated and 82 genes were downregulated in the BPF group. The significantly changed gene functions were mainly concentrated in cell cycle, phagosome, lysosome, and antigen processing and presentation. These findings provide valuable information for correctly understanding the immunotoxicity risk of BPF and may help to improve the hazard identification of bisphenol compounds.

Obesity is one of the risk factors of metabolic diseases. Decreased sensitivity to insulin or impairment of the insulin signaling pathway may affect the metabolism of adipose tissue. Bisphenol F (BPF) has been widely used in various products as a substitute for bisphenol A (BPA). BPA has been defined as “obesogen”. However, knowledge about the correlation between BPF and obesity is very limited. This study was aimed to explore the effects of BPF on glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity in mammalian tissues, using a mouse 3T3-L1 adipocyte line as the model. Differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with BPF at various concentrations for 24 h or 48 h, followed by the measurement of cell viability, lipid accumulation, expression levels of adipocytokines, glucose consumption, and impairment of the insulin signaling pathway. The results indicated that BPF had no effect on the size of 3T3-L1 adipocytes, but the expression of leptin, adiponectin and apelin was decreased, while that of chemerin and resistin was increased after 48 h of BPF treatment. Moreover, BPF inhibited the glucose consumption, the expression of GLUT4, and its translocation to the plasma membranes in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Western blot analysis indicated that the activation of IRS-1/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was inhibited by BPF, which resulted in reduced GLUT4 translocation. In conclusion, our data suggest that exposure of adipocytes to BPF may alter the expression of calorie metabolism-related adipokines and suppress insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism by impairing the insulin signaling (IRS-1/PI3K/AKT) pathway.

As the widely use of electronic equipment and the limitation of distribution lines, power quality issues have been more and more critical, and quantifying the power quality, monitoring the power disturbances are getting more and more attention. It crucial for the electric compensation and the improvement of electrical safety to analyze the power quality issues and locate the disturbances. Because of the limitation that most time-frequency algorithms cannot take both time and frequency resolution into account, an improved S transform based on sigmoid function which is used to adjust window width factor is proposed to obtain the characteristics of electrical disturbances, such as occurrence time, magnitude, duration, harmonics and so on. By introducing evaluation index, to measure the effect of different methods on signal analysis. Through the simulation of different kinds of power quality disturbances, and comparing with the S transform, the improved S transform based on sigmoid has the advantages of high accuracy for the extraction of characteristics. Meanwhile, it meets the requirements of most power quality disturbances and the parameters setting are simple, hence the algorithm is convenient for applications. In practice, the effect of noise on power quality disturbance signal is effectively reduced by the improved S transform.

Corynebacterium spp. are frequently detected in bovine quarter milk samples, yet their impact on udder health has not been determined completely. In this longitudinal study, we collected quarter milk samples from a dairy herd of approximately 200 cows, ten times at 14 d intervals. Bacteriologically, Catalase-positive and Gram-positive rods were detected in 22.7% of the samples. For further species diagnosis, colonies were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. Corynebacterium bovis, C. amycolatum, C. xerosis and 10 other Corynebacterium spp. were detected. The three aforementioned species accounted for 88.4%, 8.65% and 0.94% of all cultured Corynebacterium spp., respectively. For further evaluation of infection dynamics, the following three infection definitions were applied: A (2/3 consecutive samples positive for the same species), B (≥1000 cfu/mL in one sample), C (isolated from a clinical mastitis case). Infections according to definition B occurred most frequently and clinical mastitis with Corynebacterium spp. occurred once during sampling. Life tables were used to determine the duration of infection. According to infection definition A, infection durations of 111 d and 98 d were obtained for C. bovis and C. amycolatum, respectively. Exemplarily, longer lasting infections were examined for their strain diversity by RAPD PCR. A low strain diversity was found in the individual quarters that indicates a longer colonization of the udder parenchyma by C. bovis and C. amycolatum.

Although Corynebacterium spp. can be regularly associated with subclinical and clinical mastitis cases in dairy cows, knowledge on their reservoirs in dairy farms is sparse. Therefore, samples were collected at 10 visits with 14 day intervals from bedding material (n = 50), drinking troughs (n = 20), different walking areas (n = 60), cow brushes (n = 8), fly traps (n = 4), the passage to pasture (n = 9) as well as milking liners (n = 80) and milker gloves (n = 20) in one dairy cow farm. Additionally, quarter foremilk samples from all lactating cows (approximately 200) were collected at each visit. All samples underwent microbiological examination and cultured isolates were identified using MALDI-TOF MS. Most Corynebacterium spp. that were cultivated from milk were also isolated from the housing environment and milking-related niches (C. amycolatum, C. confusum, C. stationis, C. variabile, C. xerosis) or from milking-related niches only (C. frankenforstense, C. pilosum, C. suicordis). C. bovis was not cultivated from any environmental niche, while being the dominant species in milk samples. This study demonstrates that many Corynebacterium spp. present in milk samples can also be isolated from the cows’ environment. For C. bovis, the most relevant Corynebacterium species with regard to intramammary infections, it indicates that environmental reservoirs are of little relevance.

Aiming at the dynamic characteristics test bench of sliding bearings, the dynamic model is established. Based on the forward and inverse dynamic problems of the bearing, a simulation evaluation method for the identification accuracy of the sliding bearing dynamic characteristics is proposed and the algorithm is verified. The identification errors of dynamic characteristic coefficients under different excitation frequencies are analyzed, the sensitivities of single frequency excitation method and dual-frequency excitation method to test error are contrastively analyzed, and the influence laws of dynamic characteristic identification accuracy of sliding bearing are evaluated. Based on which the traditional single frequency excitation method has been improved. The dynamic characteristic test should be carried out respectively in the low frequency range and the high frequency range. The main stiffness and cross damping are the average of two tests, the main damping is the identification value in the high frequency, and the cross stiffness is the identification value in the low frequency. That will effectively reduce the impact of test error. The obtained data and laws could support the improvement of the dynamic characteristics test method of sliding bearings and the confirmation of test parameters, thereby the accuracy of dynamic characteristics identification is improved.

Severe mastitis can lead to considerable disturbances in the cows’ general condition and even to septicemia and death. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify factors associated with the severity of the clinical expression of mastitis. Streptococcus (Str.) uberis (29.9%) was the most frequently isolated pathogen, followed by coliform bacteria (22.3%). The majority of all mastitis cases (n = 854) in this study were either mild or moderate, but 21.1% were severe. It can be deduced that the combination of coliform pathogens and increasing pathogen shedding of these showed associations with severe mastitis. Furthermore, animal-related factors associated with severe disease progression were stages of lactation, and previous diseases in the period prior to the mastitis episode. Cows in early lactation had more severe mastitis. Ketosis and uterine diseases in temporal relation to the mastitis were associated with more severe mastitis in the diseased cows. Hypocalcemia was significantly associated with milder mastitis. As another factor, treatment with corticosteroids within two weeks before mastitis was associated with higher severity of mastitis. Knowledge of these risk factors may provide the basis for randomized controlled trials of the exact influence of these on the severity of mastitis.

To reduce ineffective antimicrobial usage in the treatment of non-severe clinical mastitis (CM) in cows with long-lasting udder diseases, non-antibiotic therapy with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) was conducted and evaluated in a non-blinded, positively controlled, non-inferiority trial. Therefore, three-time systemic ketoprofen treatment at intervals of 24 h was evaluated in comparison with the reference treatment of solely antibiotic therapy in a field study on nine free-stall dairy farms located in Northern Germany. Cows with previous CM cases in current lactation and/or with long-lasting high somatic cell counts in preceding dairy herd improvement test days were randomly allocated to one of the two treatment groups in cases of mild to moderate CM. Quarter foremilk samples of the affected quarters were taken for cyto-bacteriological investigation before treatment as well as ~14 and 21 d after termination of therapy. Both treatment groups were compared regarding the bacteriological cure (BC) as the primary outcome. Clinical cure (CC) and no CM relapse within 60 d after the end of treatment (no R60) were chosen as secondary outcomes. The study resulted in the following outcomes: Streptococcus uberis was most frequently identified in microbiological culture from pre-treatment samples, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and other coliforms. No significant differences between the NSAID treatment and the reference treatment were detected regarding CC and CM recurrence (no R60). Although the sole ketoprofen therapy resulted in a numerically lower likelihood of BC, there were no significant differences to the reference treatment. Considering the selection criteria in this study, the results indicate that in mild to moderate CM cases exclusive treatment with ketoprofen may constitute an alternative to antimicrobial intramammary therapy, providing an opportunity for reduction of antibiotic usage. However, non-inferiority evaluations were inconclusive. Further investigations with a larger sample size are required to confirm the results and to make a distinct statement on non-inferiority.

The tribological performance of the friction pair between the rotor and finger feet is a crucial index affecting the service life of finger seals. In recent years, the surface texture has attracted a considerable number of researchers owing to its extraordinary potential in improving antifriction and wear resistance. This paper, inspired by snakeskins, introduces three texture forms (e.g., diamond, ellipse, and hexagon) into the rotor. The effects on finger-sealing performance are analyzed by considering finger seals’ varied working conditions. First, a numerical model of textured finger seals under hydrodynamic lubrication is established based on the Reynolds equation. Then, the sealing performance analysis of textured finger seals is performed considering varied working conditions given rotation speed, pressure difference, seal clearance, and working temperature. The numerical results show that: (1) the textured domain produces a noticeable hydrodynamic pressure effect and cavitation, which effectively improves the bearing capacity of the fluid film; (2) the higher the rotation speed or the lower the inlet/outlet pressure difference, the stronger the dynamic pressure effect of textured finger seals and the better the antifriction and wear resistance; (3) for good antifriction and wear resistance of a textured finger seal, the seal clearance should be as shallow as possible (≤10 μm), and the working temperature should be as low as possible (≤120 °C); and (4) the ellipse texture has a higher average dimensionless pressure and a lower friction coefficient, which is superior to diamond and hexagon ones in terms of friction and wear performance.

In this paper, we, for the first time, apply angle diversity transmitters (ADTs) to enhance the performance of multiple-input multiple-output visible light communication (MIMO-VLC) systems. The ADT is designed to consist of one center light emitting diode (LED) and multiple inclined side LEDs. We calculate the line-of-sight (LOS) channel gain of the MIMO-VLC system using ADTs and further derive the average achievable rate of the system. We show that the average achievable rate is related to both the inclination angle of the side LEDs and the spacing between two adjacent ADTs in the MIMO-VLC system. Simulations are conducted to verify that the average achievable rate of the ADT-enhanced MIMO-VLC system can be maximized by setting the optimal inclination angle of the side LEDs and the optimal spacing between adjacent ADTs. The obtained results further show that the average achievable rate of the ADT-enhanced MIMO-VLC system can be greatly improved when there are more LEDs in each ADT. Specifically, a substantial 42.9% average achievable rate improvement can be achieved by using the optimized ADT in comparison to using a conventional non-angle diversity transmitter.