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Programmed cell death (PCD) is a process that eliminates infected, damaged, or possibly neoplastic cells to sustain homeostatic multicellular organisms. Although long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in various types of PCD and regulate tumor growth, invasion, and migration, the role of PCD-related lncRNAs in bladder cancer still lacks systematic exploration. In this research, we integrated multiple types of PCD as pan-PCD and identified eight pan-PCD-related lncRNAs (LINC00174, HCP5, HCG27, UCA1, SNHG15, GHRLOS, CYB561D2, and AGAP11). Then, we generated a pan-PCD-related lncRNA prognostic signature (PPlncPS) with excellent predictive power and reliability, which performed equally well in the E-MTAB-4321 cohort. In comparison with the low-PPlncPS score group, the high-PPlncPS score group had remarkably higher levels of angiogenesis, matrix, cancer-associated fibroblasts, myeloid cell traffic, and protumor cytokine signatures. In addition, the low-PPlncPS score group was positively correlated with relatively abundant immune cell infiltration, upregulated expression levels of immune checkpoints, and high tumor mutation burden (TMB). Immunogenomic profiles revealed that patients with both low PPlncPS scores and high TMB had the best prognosis and may benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors. Furthermore, for patients with high PPlncPS scores, docetaxel, staurosporine, and luminespib were screened as potential therapeutic candidates. In conclusion, we generated a pan-PCD-related lncRNA signature, providing precise and individualized prediction for clinical prognosis and some new insights into chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a algorithm of fast-solving forward kinematics for a class of three-degrees-of-freedom (3-DoF) of planar parallel mechanisms (PPMs) based on the kinematic mapping of constrained planar motions and planar quaternions. Firstly, a kinematic mapping is established based on planar quaternions, which formulates the forward kinematics equations of PPMs into the quadratic equations in the form of planar quaternion. The constrained trajectory equations for the RR-type limbs in the kinematic mapping image space are parameterized. Secondly, an efficient algorithm is proposed to obtain numerical solutions to the equation system. The convergence and singularity issues of the algorithm are discussed, revealing the inherent connection between algorithm singularity and PPMs motion characteristics. Finally, the application of the new algorithm is demonstrated through two examples: a 3-RPR PPM and a 3-PRR PMM. The computational results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve competitive convergence speed and computational efficiency compared with Newton's method and quasi-Newton methods. The proposed algorithm provides a possible solution for real-time control based on forward kinematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a Nd : YLF-YVO4 intracavity Raman laser in the 1.5 μm eye-safe region. The fundamental wave at 1314 nm from the end-pumped Nd :YLF is down-converted to 1488 nm, utilizing the 890 cm−1 Raman shift of an YVO4 laser crystal. We use two etalons in the fundamental cavity and Stokes cavity, respectively, to suppress their spectral line width. Under a diode pump power of 43 W at 806 nm, we obtain an average Stokes output power of 3.75 W at an acousto-optic Q-switched pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz, corresponding to an optical efficiency of 8.7%. With the etalons used, the spectral line width of the Stokes laser is narrowed from over 0.2 to 0.04 nm. The beam quality factor of the eye-safe Stokes output is measured to be 1.12 and 1.19 in the x and y directions, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we prepared a novel binary heterojunction comprising ZnAl–LDHs and F-modified g-C3N4 (FCN) with a notable 2D/2D configuration via a facile hydrothermal method. The visible-light-driven FCN/ZnAl–LDHs (FCN/LDHs) binary heterojunctions exhibited superior increased photocatalytic performance towards the removal of tetracycline (TC, antibiotics) contaminant, which is far better than that observed for pristine FCN and LDHs. Moreover, the addition of F atoms strikingly narrowed the bandgap energy and increased the separation rate of the photogenerated charge carrier of pristine g-C3N4, further enhancing the degradation efficiency of TC under different environmental conditions. Particularly, the FCN/LDHs binary heterojunctions with the optimized doping contents (30 mg) of FCN exhibited the best photodegradation activity among all the synthesized samples. And it also showed significant stability and reusability according to recycling experiments due to the intimate interfacial contact between FCN and LDHs promoted via their precise 2D/2D arrangement. Results of trapping experiments and band energy analysis obviously illustrate that superoxide radical and hole are the auxiliary active species increasing TC photodegradation, and further, the plausible photocatalytic mechanism for TC degradation over FCN/LDHs are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dynamic modeling and generalized force analysis of three-(rotation pair)-(prismatic pair)-spherical pair (3-RPS) parallel mechanism were carried out for the first time based on the five-dimensional geometric algebra space—(4,0,1) conformal geometric. Compared with the traditional homogeneous matrix method, the maximum error values of generalized force of the three branch chains are 1.90 × 10 - 4 N , 1.39 × 10 - 4 N and 6.0 × 10 - 5 N ,respectively. The results are basically consistent with the homogeneous matrix method. For composite rigid body transformation of two rotational motions, the rotation matrix method needs 27 times of multiplication and 18 times of addition, while the conformal geometric method only needs 16 times of multiplication and 15 times of addition. The computational efficiency of this method can be improved. In five-dimensional space, derivative operation can be linearly mapped to multiplication operation in three-dimensional space, so that dynamic equation has no derivative term. The dynamic model can separate variables of known and unknown, and realize parallel computation. This method provides a new idea for dynamic modeling and solving of parallel mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third space robotic and endoscopic cooperative surgery (TS-RECS) is a novel minimally invasive surgery for resecting gastric submucosal tumours (GSMTs), which could accomplish the completely oncological curability and maximal functional preservation. This study investigated the clinical outcomes and gastrointestinal function after TS-RECS versus laparoscopic wedge resection (LWR) for GSMTs. This was a single-centre retrospective study that included 130 patients with GSMTs who underwent LWR or TS-RECS from 2013 to 2019. To overcome selection biases, we performed propensity score matching (1:1) using seven covariates that could impact the group assignment and outcomes. Then, the clinical outcomes and gastrointestinal function in the LWR and TS-RECS groups were compared in a matched cohort. Among the 130 enrolled patients, 96 patients underwent LWR, and 34 underwent TS-RECS and were matched into 30 patients for each group. There was no significant difference in the operation time between the two groups (P = 0.543). However, the TS-RECS group had significantly less blood loss (20,5–100 vs 95,10–310 ml, P < 0.0001) and better postoperative recovery in terms of time to oral intake (2,2–4 vs 3,2–6 days, P < 0.0001) and postoperative hospital stay (5,4–10 vs 8.5,5–16 days, P < 0.0001) than the LWR group. The severity and frequency scores of postoperative gastrointestinal symptoms in the TS-RECS group were significantly lower than those in the LWR group. The median follow-up period was 24 months (10–60 months) in the LWR group and 18 months (10–27 months) in the TS-RECS group, and there was in total a single recurrence in the LWR group. TS-RECS appears to be a technically safe and effective surgery with preservation of gastrointestinal function for resection of GSMT resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Nitrogenous fertilizer has been recognized as a key factor regulating nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural soils. However, the effect of nitrogen (N) fertilization of preceding season on soil N2O emission in subsequent season remain poorly understood. Methods: Herein, a field-based study was done to examine the effect of prior N fertilization on N2O emissions under a rapeseed-rice rotation (RR) system in central China. Treatments were as follows: no N fertilizer was applied in both rapeseed and rice-growing seasons (N0-0), N fertilizer (150 kg N ha−1 y−1) was only applied during rapeseed-growing season (N150-0,), N fertilizer (150 kg N ha−1 y−1) was applied in both rapeseed and rice-growing seasons (N150-150), and N fertilizer (150 kg N ha−1 y−1) was only applied during rice-growing season (N0-150). Soil N2O fluxes and the key soil factors (soil available C and N and their ratios, soil temperature and moisture) that further drive N2O emissions were determined after N fertilization in preceding and subsequent seasons. Results: The application of N fertilizer during the rapeseed-growing season caused a significant increase in soil N2O emission from rice-growing season, but no such promotion effect was observed during rapeseed growing season due to N fertilization during prior rice season. Higher N2O emission from rapeseed-growing season, after N fertilization was attributed to high soil mineral nitrogen content (including NH4+-N and NO3−-N). N2O efflux was higher when dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to NO3− content ratio (DOC/NO3−) was < 0.5 but lower when DOC/NO3− ratio was > 0.5 for both N150-0 and N150-150 treatments. Pulse N2O emission during the rice-growing period was observed due to higher soil DOC content derived from soil organic matter decomposition. The positive correlation between soil N2O fluxes and DOC/NO3− ratio for both N150-150 and N0-150, also revealed that soil available carbon to nitrogen ratio could be a crucial factor regulating peaks of N2O during the rice season. Structural equation model (SEM) displayed the explanation of impact factors on N2O emission was 62% during the rapeseed-growing season, while that explanation was 45% during the rice-growing season. Conclusions: These results showed that not only labile C and N content, but also soil DOC/NO3−, influenced by prior N fertilization, play a key role in soil N2O emissions under the RR system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease associated with advanced joint dysfunction. Madhuca indica J. F. Gmel, from the family Sapotaceae, is an Indian medicinal plant reported to have an array of pharmacological properties. The aim of present investigation was to determine the anti-arthritic potential of an isolated phytoconstituent from methanolic leaf extract of Madhuca indica (MI-ALC) against FCA-induced experimental arthritis. Polyarthritis was induced in female rats (strain: Wistar) via an intradermal injection of FCA (0.1 mL) into the tail. Polyarthritis developed after 32 days of FCA administration. Then rats were treated orally with an isolated phytoconstituent from MI-ALC at doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg. Findings suggested that High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry spectral analyses of the phytoconstituent isolated from MI-ALC confirmed the structure as 3,5,7,3′,4′-Pentahydroxy flavone (i.e., QTN). Treatment with QTN (10 and 20 mg/kg) showed significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of increased joint diameter, paw volume, paw withdrawal threshold, and latency. The elevated synovial oxidative stress (Superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, and malondialdehyde) and protein levels of Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and Interleukin (ILs) were markedly (p < 0.05) reduced by QTN. It also effectively (p < 0.05) ameliorated cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), Nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B cells (NF-kβ) and its inhibitor-α (Ikβα), and ATP-activated P2 purinergic receptors (P2X7) protein expressions as determined by western blot analysis. In conclusion, QTN ameliorates FCA-induced hyperalgesia through modulation of elevated inflammatory release (NF-kβ, Ikβα, P2X7, and COX-2), oxido-nitrosative stress, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (ILs and TNF-α) in experimental rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For high performance control of cable-driven robots, a new model-free robust adaptive control is proposed using adaptive proportional-integral-derivative nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (PID-NFTSM) in this paper. The designed control scheme has three elements, which are time-delay estimation (TDE) and a new PID-NFTSM manifold and a combined adaptive reaching law. The TDE element is applied to achieve the lumped system dynamics and hence founds a practical model-free structure. Meanwhile, a new PID-NFTSM manifold is designed to inherit the advantages of the NFTSM and high-order SM (HOSM) and integral SM (ISM) controls. Because of this design, the PID-NFTSM manifold can effectively ensure the non-singularity and high comprehensive control performance. Then, by combining the fast-TSM-type reaching law and a constant speed one with adaptive gain, we design a new combined adaptive reaching law for performance reinforcement. Benefiting from above three parts, our proposed control is model-free, highly precise and strongly robust. Stability is analyzed using Lyapunov theory. The effectiveness of our control is proved by comparative simulation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Liming is the most widely used agricultural practice for acidic paddy soils amelioration, which is usually applied before rice transplanting. Both liming and soil moisture can affect the generation of CO2 and N2O. This study aimed to investigate the optimal water management strategy after liming in paddy field under the consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. Materials and methods: A 45-day incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of dolomite application on the CO2 and N2O emissions in an acidic paddy soil under three soil moisture levels, including 50% (low, L), 90% (medium, M), and 130% (high, H) of water holding capacity. Results and discussion: Dolomite application significantly increased CO2 emissions in all moisture levels, with the highest emission in treatment M and the lowest in L. This result may be attributed to increases in soil pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) contents. Dolomite application decreased N2O emission in all moisture levels, while the significant difference was only detected in treatment H. Dolomite application and soil moisture regulated N2O fluxes through the alteration of the DOC and mineral nitrogen contents and their stoichiometry in treatments M and H. Dolomite application resulted in an optimal pH that considerably matches the target value (pH 6.50) and the lowest global warming potential in treatment L. Conclusions: The present study suggests that the response of CO2 and N2O emissions to liming is moisture dependent in acidic paddy soil. This study also recommends that maintaining low soil moisture is the optimal water management strategy after dolomite application in the field to mitigate GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel microfeed mechanism for cell injection driven by a piezoelectric actuator (PEA) was developed in this study to fulfill the requirement of a precise cell membrane puncture. A bridge-type displacement amplification mechanism was designed based on a compliant mechanism principle and the micrometric displacement characteristic of the PEA to realize the zero-clearance precision motion of the microfeed mechanism using a flexure hinge as a supporting member. Static and modal analyses and structural optimization specific to the bridge-type amplification mechanism were performed to acquire a high inherent frequency and a large displacement amplification coefficient. A simulation verification of the mechanism's mechanical performance was implemented. A sliding-mode control strategy was proposed, considering that the complicated nonlinear hysteresis effect of PEA might cause low system precision. Cell puncturing experiments were performed on zebrafish embryos to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methodology. In comparison with existing studies, the manipulation precision of the proposed technique was less than 1.1 μm with a strong robustness. Thus, this new approach could be beneficial for the progress of cell puncture technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computationally efficient inverse dynamics is crucial to the real-time application of parallel robots. This paper provides a computationally more efficient solution to the inverse dynamics of a class of six-DOF parallel robots based on the dual quaternion approach under the principle of virtual power. A unit dual quaternion is selected as the generalized coordinates of the system. The equations of motion are then constructed by the principle of virtual power. The dual quaternion constraints are eliminated by the null space formulation to obtain the inverse dynamic solution. It is revealed that in the new solution, the Jacobian matrices and the orthogonal complement matrix are all linear with respect to the generalized coordinates. Additionally, the positions, velocities and accelerations of all bodies are quadratic with respect to the generalized coordinates, velocities and accelerations. Such succinct expressions render the new solution computationally more efficient. The execution time of the dual quaternion approach and the traditional one are compared under the same condition by two different six-DOF parallel robots: 6-UPS and 6-PUS. The results show that the new solution can save the computational cost by 43.45% and 38.45% respectively for the two robots, illustrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel fog-degraded image restoration model is proposed. This model is comprised of two parts: the defogging and the enhancement. The defogging work uses the three-dimensional color model to correct the weight of the multiscale retinex algebraic model and determine the golden defogging surround scale by the golden section. The enhancement part firstly marks the region of interesting (ROI) by double template, four-dimensional projection and morphological method. Then, the illumination is equalized in the frequency domain of the image, and the color fidelity is improved by power transformation. Subsequently, ROI is enhanced by adaptive piecewise linear method. Eventually, the enhanced ROI and the non-ROI are combined together by linear weight to generate the final result. The sufficient synthetic and real experiments prove that the proposed method has the satisfactory effects on the image detail recovery, the color fidelity and the balanced image vision in different image depth, thus meeting the demands of image monitoring and recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a novel hybrid CHAOS-PSO algorithm for dimensional syntheses of redundant manipulators while not following common design principles of arm length or arm length ratio of a human in previous literatures. More specifically, we employ the clamping weighted least-norm (CWLN) method to solve inverse kinematics of the redundant manipulator tracking desired nonsingular or singular trajectories considering joint limits. Thus, an optimal solution of flexible D-H parameters of manipulator is explored in the search space based on evaluations by the defined fitness functions with the proposed algorithm. As an optimization tool in this work, the hybrid CHAOS-PSO algorithm incorporates chaos into the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm as population initialization and global perturbation technique in order to enhance swarm diversity and escape from premature convergence. To demonstrate validity and practicability of the proposed algorithm compared to PSO, simulations of dimensional syntheses of a 7-degree-of-freedom (7-DOF) redundant manipulator with complex structures along the planed nonsingular or singular trajectories are performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general method is presented for the inverse kinematics resolution of redundant manipulators with joint limits. The success of avoiding joint angular position limits of the original clamping weighted least-norm method is ascribable to the strength of the repulsive potential field function. However, the repulsive potential field function may lead to excessive joint angular velocities that can exceed the corresponding limits. We propose an improved clamping weighted least-norm method that adds an elastic field function into the original method for the sake of sustaining the constraints of joint angular velocity limits. Moreover, for hierarchical task-level construction, the priority of avoiding joint angular velocity limits is lower than that of avoiding joint angular position limits. To adequately illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, case studies were performed in comparison with other methods in singular configurations of a redundant manipulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A six-axis vibration isolation system is essential to high-precision space systems for attenuating vibrations on precise instruments. The kinematic optimal design is researched for the space six-axis vibration isolator via Stewart mechanism. Jacobian matrix is the basis of the kinematic performance index. However, the conventional Jacobian matrix is not usually dimensionally homogeneous due to the inhomogeneous physical units, caused by the different mathematical representations of the rotation and translation. In this paper, we propose a dual quaternion approach to derive the dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian matrix of a general six-axis parallel mechanism. Two quaternions are used to parameterize the rotation and translation of the platform. The dimensionally scaling factor for the generalized Jacobian matrix is defined as the ratio of the norms of the two quaternions. The dimensionally homogenous Jacobian matrix is then obtained and applied to the optimal design of the six-axis vibration isolator. The performance index of isotropy is considered to make the isolator minimum kinematic coupling in its working configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nondestructive testing technique based on magnetic flux leakage is presented to inspect automatically the stay cables with large diameters of a cable-stayed bridge. Using the proposed inspection method, an online nondestructive testing (NDT) modular sensor is developed. The wreath-like sensor is composed of several sensor units that embrace the cable at equal angles. Each sensor unit consists of two permanent magnets and a hall sensor to detect the magnetic flux density. The modular sensor can be installed conveniently on cables with various diameters by increasing the number of sensor units and adjusting the relative distances between adjacent sensor units. Results of the experiments performed on a man-made cable with faults prove that the proposed sensor can inspect the status signals of the inner wires of the cables. To filter the interfering signals, three processing algorithms are discussed, including the moving average method, improved detrending algorithm, and signal processing based on a digital filter. Results show that the developed NDT sensor carried by a cable inspection robot can move along the cable and monitor the state of the stay cables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singularity analysis is a basic problem of parallel mechanism, and this problem cannot be avoided in both workspace and motion planning. How to express the singularity locus in an analytical form is the research emphasis for many researchers for a long time. This paper presents a new method for the singularity analysis of the 6-SPS parallel mechanism. The rotation matrix is described by quaternion, and both the rotation matrix and the coordinate vectors have been expanded to four-dimensional forms. Through analyzing the coupling relationship between the position variables and the orientation variables, utilizing properties of the quaternion, eight equivalent equations can be obtained. A new kind of Jacobian matrix is derived from those equations, and the analytical expression of the singularity locus is obtained by calculating the determinant of the new Jacobian matrix. The singularity analysis of parallel mechanisms, whose moving platform actuated by 6 links and the vertices of both the base and the moving platforms has been placed on a circle respectively, can be solved by this analytical expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High mammalian gene expression was obtained for more than twenty different proteins in different cell types by just a few laboratory scale stable gene transfections for each protein. The stable expression vectors were constructed by inserting a naturally-occurring 1.006 kb or a synthetic 0.733 kb DNA fragment (including intron) of extremely GC-rich at the 5′ or/and 3′ flanking regions of these protein genes or their gene promoters. This experiment is the first experimental evidence showing that a non-coding extremely GC-rich DNA fragment is a super “chromatin opening element” and plays an important role in mammalian gene expression. This experiment has further indicated that chromatin-based regulation of mammalian gene expression is at least partially embedded in DNA primary structure, namely DNA GC-content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ketogulonigenium sp. may convert L-sorbose into 2-keto-L-gulonic acid, the vitamin C precursor. The genome of Ketogulonigenium sp. WB0104 consists of a circular 2765030 bp chromosome with 61.69% G+C content and two circular plasmids of 267968 and 242707 bp. The genome contains 2727 open reading frames (ORF5). The systems of replication, transcription, translation, carbohydrate and energy metabolism are intact, but the repair system is incomplete. About 640 predicted ORFs have been found to encode transporter proteins, which account for about one fourth of total predicted ORFs, noticeably higher than other documented bacteria. This may be due to the fact that WB0104 adapts to soil circumstance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video dehazing is a critical research area in computer vision that aims to enhance the quality of hazy frames, which benefits many downstream tasks, e.g. semantic segmentation. Recent work devise CNN-based structure or attention mechanism to fuse temporal information, while some others utilize offset between frames to align frames explicitly. Another significant line of video dehazing research focuses on constructing paired datasets by synthesizing foggy effect on clear video or generating real haze effect on indoor scenes. Despite the significant contributions of these dehazing networks and datasets to the advancement of video dehazing, current methods still suffer from spatial–temporal inconsistency and poor generalization ability. We address the aforementioned issues by proposing a triplane smoothing module to explicitly benefit from spatial–temporal smooth prior of the input video and generate temporally coherent dehazing results. We further devise a query base decoder to extract haze-relevant information while also aggregate temporal clues implicitly. To increase the generalization ability of our dehazing model we utilize CLIP guidance with a rich and high-level understanding of hazy effect. We conduct extensive experiments to verify the effectiveness of our model to generate spatial–temporally consistent dehazing results and produce pleasing dehazing results of real-world data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]